Existential & Transcendental Orders

Re:Existential & Transcendental Orders (bernie)

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:07:00 GMT

"If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is already enough presence in you to recognize presence in another. There were many people who did not recognize Jesus or the Buddha, as there are and always have been many people who are drawn to false teachers. Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot recognize light. So don't believe that the light is outside you or that it can only come from one particular form. If only your master is an incarnation of God, then who are you? Any kind of exclusivity is identification with form, and identification with form means ego, no matter how well disguised.

'Use the master's presence to reflect your own identity beyond name and form back to you and to become more intensely present yourself. You will soon realize that there is no 'mine' or 'yours' in presence. Presence is one."

Eckhart Tolle

"Essence is not something we have to work toward, for it is what we truly are. Therefore, a spiritual path is really one of removing the obstructions that disguise this essence. This presence is a practical, day-to-day kind of experience, not something abstract or otherworldly. It has an innate intelligence that is beyond anyone's mind. At first I didn't exactly think of it as God, although I may have thought of it as the God within. Eventually, this presence revealed itself to be the inner nature of everything, and I began feeling more and more that this living conscious-ness, this pure essence of being, was God. I called it Truth, Reality, Being, or God. In my experience, as I open myself to seeing the truth of who and what I am, God is a truth that reveals itself on its own. It is independent from anyone's mind or preferences, and has always existed and always will exist inside each of us."

A.H. Almaas

Re:Existential & Transcendental Orders (sandra67)

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:57:32 GMT

The rose has blossomed. My miracle is my life. My miracle is all life. My miracle is life after life. My miracle is my child's life. My miracle is that each and every one of us has a miracle ... is a miracle.

This is very true Bernie but I would change 'My' to 'Our'

Re:Existential & Transcendental Orders (bernie)

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:30:27 GMT

So true! - Let's hope that more & more will eventually leave the cave & ascend thru the tunnel & bask in the Sun in time...

The rose has blossomed.

My miracle is my life.

My miracle is all life.

My miracle is life after life.

My miracle is my child's life.

My miracle is that each and every one of us has a miracle ... is a miracle.

Rosemary Altea, The Eagle and The Rose: A Remarkable True Story

Re:Existential & Transcendental Orders (buttington)

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:56:37 GMT

As the chained slave in the cave begins to undo her chains & is enabled to leave the cave through the tunnel after seeing the Sun, Highest Knowledge, the Good, the Beatific Vision; &, thus, empowered after glimpsing ultimate reality & truth (Noesis). She, then, post-attempting to convince the others whom are shackled from leaving their state of bondage; however, is unable to convince them because they are too complacent, smug, & cannot be bothered to change at this point.

None of us can change until we are ready, and no-one can change us as we need to see it for ourselves.

We all come to it in our own time. All one can do is sow the seeds....

Jude

Existential & Transcendental Orders (bernie)

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:39:55 GMT

There are, w/out a doubt, different levels of knowledge, of consciousness & levels of being... And it's not so much how learned or erudite you are, but how one ultimately learns. There are so many, for instance, who are still living in caves, so to speak, and are unable to see the daylight objects or even their reflections. I.e., they're still unaware of the intelligible world because they are stuck, yes, deeply rooted, in the sensible world of shadows as "foolish persons" (Eikasia) or "solid persons" (Pistis). As in Plato's Allegory of the Cave which is often referred to as a footnote to all of Western culture and thought in its philosophical wisdom & allegorical insight.

As the chained slave in the cave begins to undo her chains & is enabled to leave the cave through the tunnel after seeing the Sun, Highest Knowledge, the Good, the Beatific Vision; &, thus, empowered after glimpsing ultimate reality & truth (Noesis). She, then, post-attempting to convince the others whom are shackled from leaving their state of bondage; however, is unable to convince them because they are too complacent, smug, & cannot be bothered to change at this point. Thus, the divided line between these 2-worlds: the visible, sensible world & the often incomprehensible, intelligible world are at odds w/ one another.

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)