bernie
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- Joined: 11/22/2007
- Location: TX (transplanted New Yorker; world citizen)
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Self-Renewal
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10/27/2009 4:09 AM
( #1 )
Self-Renewal
The highest form of inner seeing is illumination, which can be called the revelation of the Divinity immanent in all things – the Presence of God in manifestation, in nature, in every existing being.
‘Being creative is not limited to artists, but is an important quality which everyone should try to awaken within themselves. The most important form of creativity is self-creation – renewing and redeeming the self by transcending the ego. It is the process of turning all your experiences, good and bad, into something more for your growth as a person. (‘Be the kind of person on whom nothing is lost.’ – Wm. James)…Once he does that he becomes the new man whom psychoanalysis is seeking to create. (Reuben Fine, A History of Psychoanalysis.)
To integrate & unify these two polar opposites, the existential & transcendental orders, is no easy task, indeed, because it virtually takes a radically different approach that turns everything around full circle. Our thoughts are the foundation for everything else & the meaning we attach to an event is how we feel, how we react and respond… The cognitive model of coping w/ depression & anxiety, for example, may begin thusly: thoughts w/ self-criticism, hopelessness, that generate feelings of sadness, anxiety, irritability, which, in turn, generate such actions as inactivity & poor coping and back again to increasingly negative thoughts, ad nauseam; thus creating negative, destructive schemas, or core beliefs, that perpetuate an unhealthy, destructive cycle of hopelessness & despair.
The ultimate goal is to get out of the rut, of perseverating, by changing 'stinking thinking' towards becoming evermore responsible – i.e., you can choose to understand the consequences of your actions/reactions to reach your goal … to help reinforce, empower one’s self through healthier ways of coping, practicing, putting into practice; &, becoming aware of negative thought patterns through small incremental steps… The Goals of Cognitive Therapy are thus: a) Correct cognitive distortions; b) Reduce emotional distress; c) &, Cope w/ problems effectively.
"And the Buddha taught that the root of suffering is to be found in our constant wanting and craving... Resistance to the Now as a collective dysfunction is intrinsically connected to loss of awareness of Being and forms the basis of our dehumanized industrial civilization. Freud, by the way, also recognized the existence of this undercurrent of unease and wrote about it in his book Civilization and Its Discontents, but he did not realize the true root of the unease and failed to realize that freedom from it is possible. This collective dysfunction has created a very unhappy and extraordinarily violent civilization that has become a threat not only to itself but also to all life on the planet." - (Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment)
If healing is to genuinely take hold, the body-mind-spirit (onto-psychosomatic) entity or continuum, must evolve holistically, nondually, meaningfully, transformatively ad infinitum, not perseverating ad nauseam. Amen.
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