From an email that has probably been forwarded to millions…
These two guys reared this lion from a baby in England but the authorities would not allow them to keep it once it reached maturity so they were forced to give it up.
They took it back to Africa and placed it in a wildlife sanctuary.
A year later they went to see it and were told it would not remember them …
[ad#post468]
In Googling rapprochement, 3.3 million results are returned. In scrolling down the page, it appears that more than 90% of the returns elate to rapprochement in its use in diplomatic relations.
A rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher (“to bring together”), is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries. In the political scene of an individual country rapprochement means the bringing together of diverse political factions.
In terms of human development, rapprochement refers to a human developmental milestone occurring around 18 months. The child moves away from and then returns to the mother for reassurance.
The rapprochement conflict is something that recurs on the spiritual path more than most people are aware of. The rapprochement conflict usually reasserts itself anytime we are challenged with leaving the familiar for the unknown. On the spiritual path, this happens a lot.
This rapprochement conflict is usually reenacted in our work, after the Personal Essence is experienced in a sustained manner… We find that every individual, regardless of how integrated he is on the ego level, has an unconscious rapprochement conflict. A.H. Almaas
Maintaining a familiar sense of self is JOB #1 at ego central. Thus, venturing afar from our familiar identity can trigger insecurity and anxiety. This usually quites down when we return to the familiar and is one of the reasons why the ego likes to reify or co-opt spiritual experience – so, it becomes part of the familiar.
When identity shifts from ego to true nature, the rapprochement conflict ends as identity is not fixated now but resides in a flow of consciousness from one unknown moment to the next.
What do you notice about your relationship between the unknown and the familiar? Do you love wandering afar into new territory, but also feel the need to return to the familiar? Can you spell – rapprochement?
[ad#post468]
This is a video that is worth every minute of your time and more. It is a must see for those who have an interest in the Eckhart Tolle – Oprah online presentations and all others interested in spiritual development. What is not addressed in this video is how one’s being can synthesize these two selfs into a real integrated, functioning person.
Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor studied her own stroke as it happened.
[ad#post468]
A new book by A.H. Almaas – The Unfolding Now – will be released 6/10/08. With all the interest generated in the NOW by Eckhart Tolle and Oprah, it will interesting to see if Almaas’ works become more widespread.
I have a manuscript copy of The Unfolding Now and I think it is one of Almaas’ most useful books for people interested in presence, the now, and spiritual development.
The Unfolding Now goes into great detail about the barriers and issues that keep us out of the now.
I love The Unfolding Now! Almaas’ clarity never diminishes, yet each book brings an increasing simplicity and gentleness. As I worked with this latest material, I felt like I was receiving a transmission of pure compassion. His strong, true voice reminds us that beyond the endless self-improvement projects and idealized mystical states with which the spiritual path is strewn lies the simple but exquisite taste of our own being.
Cynthia Bourgeault, author of Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing,
Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening
Almaas is a genius at revealing both the core qualities of Essence and the veils that obscure it, always in language that helps peel away those veils, always holding open the door to the unfolding presence and awareness that remains when the veils have dissolved. The Unfolding Now leads the reader through a masterful series of inquiry processes, invitations to sense and know ourselves at increasing levels of subtlety, gently walking us deeper and deeper into Truth.
Sally Kempton (Durgananda) spiritual teacher and author of
The Heart of Meditation: Pathways to a Deeper Experience
“Without heart, we are not really human. And the possibility of having an authentic and deeply satisfying human life is only a pipe dream when our love is not directed to what truly fulfills the heart. To find true fulfillment, many of us at some point in life turn to the spiritual search. But what is it in spirituality that gives this fulfillment? Where does this deep satisfaction come from?
First we need to find out why we become involved in the spiritual search in the first place. What are we looking for when we begin the journey? To experience new and remarkable states of consciousness? To travel to extraordinary realms beyond our everyday world? To be liberated from the difficulties and constraints of the world? Or are we looking to enrich and deepen the meaning of the lives we are living here on Earth? If our aim is to engage in our spiritual work so that it can impact and transform the way we live, we have to begin by seeing what we are actually doing in our lives. What are we up to? What do we really want?”
The Unfolding Now
[ad#post468]
,