The problem with in-laws Is the concern For their family values Not you The mind’s orientation Toward the soul Is similar ———– jh
It’s impossible to judge a book by its cover if there is no comparing mind. If there is no reference point for comparison then, it’s damn difficult to find fault with anything.
Now, a comparing mind can be a good thing when it’s functioning free of the “judging mind”; “inner critic”; superego; or “junkyard dog”. It helps us to get home with a sack of oranges instead of a box of zucchini. But, unless we have engaged in specific work on this part of ourselves, it’s a given that it is running amok and causing us an enormous amount of suffering.
If we really look into the situation, we find that this junkyard dog is just plain mean and nasty. It’s being driven by self-hatred and it’s using our libidinal energy (life force) against us. I wish it weren’t so, but the situation is even worse. (more…)
I got on the spiritual path at age 19. The experience that precipitated my interest in spiritual development, self-realization, God-realization, enlightenment and such was, at that time, just mind boggling. Today, I realize that the experience involved a descent of essence into my consciousness and body, and an awakening of the point.
Like many, I have spent years seeking, searching, making half-assed attempts at meditation (daily practice), attending workshops, retreats and in the course of events spending more than tens of thousands of dollars. In the process of all of that, I matured (to some degree!) physically, emotionally and spiritually. My journey or process deepened. My orientation reoriented. My interests and curiosity started going places I could not have imagined.
Today, I find myself here – not going anywhere, no interest in changing or making something happen. It seems things change on their own and that there is an intelligence guiding it all that is more in touch with what I need to unwind than my mind on it’s best day could offer up. A real weight-lifting experience – so to speak.
I recently attended Byron Brown’s Soul without Shame workshop, a 3 1/2 day teaching on disengaging from the superego / inner critic. The superego / inner critic is one of the places of arrested development in our psyches and souls that constantly attacks and undermines our realization. Interestingly, in the beginning it actually serves us to move toward deeper realization, but then it really gets in the way. Doubt is one of it’s most effective tools. It also works through other people by producing attacks from the outside.
So there I was minding my own business two days after the workshop reading a magazine when I came upon this:
And that is where and how the words bulletproof and realization crossed paths in my brain and got me to thinking and contemplating bulletproof realization. I haven’t the time, nor inclination to share the breadth and depth of my contemplation, but I will say this – if we want to bulletproof our realization – live our realization, without goals & artifice, penness, curiosity and not-knowing are better supports and servants for orienting us.
Now, a comparing mind can be a good thing when it’s functioning free of the “judging mind”; “inner critic”; superego; or “junkyard dog”. It helps us to get home with a sack of oranges instead of a box of zucchini. But, unless we have engaged in specific work on this part of ourselves, it’s a given that it is running amok and causing us an enormous amount of suffering.
