...innocent and ignorant pupils as are not content with natural evolutionary methods for the awakening and satisfying of desire and ambition. The quiet, unostentatious movements of the slower processes of normal growth are "a weariness to the flesh" ; consequently, many are on the qui vive for something new-something that shall stimulate more rapidly the development of their psychic centres. ~Teachings of the Temple
Sunday, November 4, 2007
A Student's Work
I know how easy it is to quit when I don't see sudden growth or obvious changes when I am working on something. Perhaps this arises from boredom or lack of interest, even when the goal seems most desirous. I am admittedly guilty of this. It's like quitting a project before one is finished. Yep, I do that. Guilty as charged. I wonder how one can overcome this habit?
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42 comments:
Sophia,
I believe in evolution and non-violent r-evolution.
However, SPIRITUALITY in capital letters and religion are extremely dangerous in the hands of politicians, charlatans, priests, mediums, sociopaths and psychopaths.
And the slaves are no better than their masters. The student as bad as his teacher. I think even Jesus knew this.
But killing the master or teacher doesn't destroy the teaching. This will only corrupt it.
What did we build around love? Heaven on earth?
Or is it hero worship or idolatry?
Sophia, great to read all these posts, will return with more time online, I left a longer comment but it got lost I guess, Love and Peace to you this morning, you are always worth reading and enjoyable to know, keep on writing and posting, no matter the subject, it is you, you are the one and all else is icing on the cake, thanks always for being here. Jim.
I believe we all have things that we start with gusto and then lose steam or interest. The key is to do what you know is in alignment with your purpose. Stay true to yourself in your endeavors and your passion will carry you throught.
I have the same problem!
I think the answer might be to avoid feeling guilty and instead to try to put one's trust in life.
Rob MMMMM
As a crative person (I am relucant to call myself an Artist, as I do not feel I have attained that state of being), I have learned that every task we undertake will at some point "lose steam" or "interest". This is natural, and should not be maligned. It is at these moments where potential begins to meet reality--where the creative spirit rests to wait for the laggardly mind to catch up to the vision. Its like a difficult hike, where you can see the summit and the promise of a glorious view, but the body and the mind are tired from the work and dread the work still to come. You have to pause, catch your breath, realign your spirit with your mind, before you can continue on...
All too often, people let the mind win the battle against the spirit, and all the potential of the idea is lost. The will to continue is what separates the masters from the novices.
Siegfried,
We all want to change the world. :)
Sophia, how are you evolving or r-evolving today!
Hi Jim,
For you, I'll always be around. :)
I'm sorry your longer comment got lost. It must not have gone through the Google server because I didn't even get an email message with your post.
Mark,
It's like this in my daily life, too. I've spent so much money on things that I just absolutely had to have, which I'd only use a few times and then put in the closet never to touch again.
Hi Rob,
This is good advice which brings a little bit of relief, because I always tend to feel guilty for not following through on something.
On the other hand, I think if I had a personal coach who followed me around and pushed me really hard, I'd probably get a lot more done. A lot of these things take will power and self-discipline. But guilt is always there, even in the background.
Rachel,
That was beautifully said, and a nice analogy you've used to help us picture it.
I wonder how long is too long for a person to rest during the spiritual journey in regards to doing spiritual work and practice. I feel like I've been sitting out a while, but I also have other things going on lately for a change. I know my number one theme and goal in life is to grow spiritually and also to gain more knowledge, but I lately can't help myself from doing the mundane like watching movies, playing around on the computer, etc. It used to be I was so obsessed with this growth and learning that I'd spend most of my days and nights involved with it. I'm certain I'll end-up in that phase again, so maybe I'm just theoretically camping out, so to speak.
Thanks for your reassuring point of view on this topic.
By the way, you are very articulate. I like that. :)
Siegried,
I'm not sure; I no doubt have taken a few steps backwards lately, as I've succumbed to everything from laziness to anger, yes, even anger. When I get angry I feel like I'm nonspiritual or that I'm regressing. In these instances, I feel like I'll "never get there".
How are you evolving or r-evolving?
Whoops, I meant Siegfried. I know that is the second time I've misspelled your name like that!
Sophia,
Forget about becoming or being enlightened. And stop judging and condemning yourself.
Pretty well! I just found out I was judging myself for being funny, cocky and sexy. And I was becoming shy and unhappy.
Right now I had enough of myself, anyway.
People try to put me down many times but I don't give a damn. And I try to forget things right away. I think this is what crazy wisdom is all about. Say something stupid and not give a sh!t. It don't mean sh!t. But don't try it unless you are ready for it. This means you shouldn't become depressed because of some mistake you made. This requires a lot of nerves.
Never mind.
There was a time I did nothing but become angry. I just cursed and shouted to the top of my voice. And I didn't give a damn. But it was worth it. I learned a lot of things.
I don't become angry easily these days. I laugh all the time.
At the moment there is a lot of suppression going on at the workplace. Because some people don't like to be upstaged. Bullies like to think they know everything and can do anything.
I end up bullying people these days without meaning too.
I agree with Sigrfried and have similar occurances in my life.
What if life has no purpose other than whatever we feel like doing in the moment?
What would be the function of guilt if this were the case?
Who would we report to for corrective measures?
I think we often sell ourselves short by looking too much to what others tell us we should be doing. The real reason other people want us to do something is to make them feel good, even if they say they know it will make us feel good. They are looking for validation through association.
The only real standard to measure anything against is the internal one. And that's damn difficult to determine if that's just our parents talking to us anyway.
Do what you want and forget the guilt. At the same time, take full credit for whatever result does or doesn't occur and take glory in your power.
Siegfried,
I've been just the opposite. I used to not get angry easily and now I do, but it's only very recently. I think it's my medication, which also at times makes me anxious. I'd rather be anxious and apologize for my anger, though, than be depressed. :)
I haven't seen any bullies since high school. The last year I saw bullying was in 1996. I guess I've been lucky.
Sometimes it seems so instinctual when I judge myself, like I do it before acting. I think it's a fair trade, though, because I very rarely judge others. I'd rather judge myself than others.
Joe,
If life has no other purpose than doing what we feel like doing in this moment, things might become a bit chaotic! Instead of rules, we'd have to rely on the morals of individuals. But at least it's a purpose, and is a lot better than saying there is no purpose at all. Because, if there was no purpose, why would there be life?
There probably wouldn't be a lot of guilt in that kind of world, at least, not with the people who had no morals. We'd probably report to ourselves for corrective measures, or have no need for corrective measures in the first place.
But this analogy is a different world, so our meaning of good and bad wouldn't even apply. There would be no good or evil. Things would just be. Then, there would be no guilt and no morals. Just life.
In the animal kingdom, is there good and evil? No, it just is. But it seems that higher evolution has seen to it that good and evil are part of Truth.
When we were children, we needed people to tell us what to do. That was part of our growth. What would have happened had we not had that leadership? The difference is in knowing who is telling you what to do because it's good for you, or telling you what to do so they can feel powerful. Hopefully we can learn to intuit who the good guys and bad guys are.
Sophia,
There are really no easy answers to our problems and dilemmas. I don't really know.
Is there such a thing as basic goodness? And is it a basic animal and human instinct. Some people like the Buddhists like to think so. If so, can we rely on basic goodness?
Christianity and perhaps Judaism on the other hand teach human depravity due to the fall of man in Eden. But of course this is inferred from dogma, based on Hebrew beliefs (or myth).
But could this be the reason why we actually lose our basic goodness, thru suggestion, by believing we are depraved or by nature evil? Could this also be the reason why we are schizophrenic?
What if we follow our own basic instinct to survive and to seek our own happiness, call it selfishness if you will?
Will this lead to self-destruction, hatred, psychopathy and terrorism? Or will the achievement or personal success and happiness lead to real goodness? Without the influence of religion and spirituality? I guess there is only one way to find out.
"I know how easy it is to quit when I don't see sudden growth or obvious changes when I am working on something."
Everyone has that problem. That is why we need help.
Siegfried,
I like to look to the animal world when questioning the basics. Is there goodness between animals? This question even stumped Darwin once. He was looking at bees, and observed some bees would sacrifice themselves for the good of the rest of the hive, in order to protect the others. His friend Thomas Huxley explained that altruism is linked to blood kinship, and happens in order to secure the passing down of genes. So, to them it was a method of survival.
There is a rule called "Hamilton's Rule" which uses a little bit of easy mathematics to show when altruism pays off and how likely it is to occur. In other words, altruism happens because we think we'll get something in return.
This is, of course, only one theory presented by evolutionary biology.
http://sundaytimes.lk/070422/International/i506.html
I really think this theory is believable, but only in part. Therefore it is not fully believable to me. This is because many humans show altruism towards other animals, not just to their own kind. How can doing so help to continue the passing down of genes to other future humans? Not in any way I can see. I can imagine that altruism, at least in part, is spiritual in nature, simply based on the fact that we show goodness to other creatures. Were altruism simply genetic, we'd have no care for other creatures except our own.
This is just my point of view.
How can you expect fairness or decency on a planet of sleeping people? --- Gurdjieff
nature means 'that which gives birth'
it represents the negative pole in 'creation'
the creating process is motivated by a positive power which has no referent
the negative substance forms a union with the positive power and becomes increasingly more conscious of itself.... configurations of increasing complexity from 'atom' to 'human'
i put quote around these words to symbolize that they are abstractions.
the answer to the question about the beeeees and about decency are interesting and can be lumped together
unless you know where your thoughts come from you wont be about to see where the bees get their instructions
stare at the beez all u want darwin! if you expect to see objects....you will certainly miss the dynamic configuration of units of energy
the 'beez' are an image in the mind appearing substantive, but the dynamic energy structure function and order are real and observable
for the biologist looking into the object trying to determine a function....this will be baffling
the positive power is unmanifest literally
the functions of the negative substance will always reveal the postive power
just as an atom is merely indicator for a more subtle movement of energy.
words like animal oversoul dont fly with evolutionary biologists
Thing about Sophia, SHE has always attracted the GREATEST people, most of them are for sure!
See what ANONYMOUS SAID....
[ nature means 'that which gives birth'
it represents the negative pole in 'creation'
the creating process is motivated by a positive power which has no referent
the negative substance forms a union with the positive power and becomes increasingly more conscious of itself.... configurations of increasing complexity from 'atom' to 'human'
i put quote around these words to symbolize that they are abstractions.
the answer to the question about the beeeees and about decency are interesting and can be lumped together
unless you know where your thoughts come from you wont be about to see where the bees get their instructions ]
THAT IS SO RIGHT, whoever you are!
Thanks Sophia, love your blogs.
PS: I want to talk about pushing this kind of knowledge a few steps further, Anonymous, any thought on that?
haha push all the way :)
Mossy, I agree.
There are those who say I've supposedly got all the answers within. If I did, I wouldn't have gone to school for 16 years and got help from teachers!
Anonymous,
The union of the two poles becomes more conscious of itself or just the negative aspect of it does?
I think of a mother and a father, a mother with an unconscious egg and a father with unconscious sperm. The two create a union which then becomes.... conscious! Do you think this is a good analogy for what you are trying to describe here?
Hi Jim,
Ask my mom if she agrees with you. I'm sure she remembers some of my friends from high school. :)
The + power can been seen as potential. It is the power-to-be-conscious. We can not function in any state without a vehicle to function in. The - pole represents matter or mother. The postive power is as conscious as it will ever be (universally), but it is unknown to itself without the mother substance.
"Let me repeat that for emphasis. It is only by reason of the activity of the Mother that we know there is a positive power. "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son ... hath declared Him." The Positive Power itself is dependent upon the Mother for its own Self-awareness" http://www.sno.org/lessons2.htm
the postive power is bascially entombed in matter.
Sophia, we all attract the worst as well as the best as we live our lives. I should know, I live in extremes, even now, surrounded by the worst, hounded even, but even this serves the good in a way that is not worldly but which some would call spiritual. Some 'teachers' go to great lengths to explain how bad serves good, but for me that never suffices for I won't accept that bad SHOULD exist.
The solution to that is, I guess, that we have to weed our own gardens, our own thoughts and inclinations, before the world will be as I think it SHOULD be, filled with good experiences, devoid of bad ones.
I guess this is why people pray that we get what we need which will enable us to eventually arrive at this, meantime, here we are with memories and even present-time realities of some bad to go with our good and best.
Oh well, if you figure it out, let me know, for the time being, relax and be yourself as you see fitting, trust it to suffice in the long run and the short, and do what you can and are given.
Love and peace to you Sophia, and yours.
BTW, I am just one step from having enough info to send in those papers and get things started. Thanks for your excellent help which was right on time.
If I may say a word about the comment-last of Anonymous, that is no doubt true NOW, but sounds like a further justification of current failures, not anything that will open into a better future, just opens the door to MORE OF THE SAME mess which we exist in now. Gee, I thought someone wanted to actually get somewhere, alas, most don't think there is anywhere to get and that the way it is is all there is and so welcome my friends to the best that god can do, NOW.
Regardless where that idea posed to keep things in the status quo and make her the god, comes from here, be it Jew, Christian, or Islamic, I would reject it, say it smells mostly of Christian Kingdom teaching (which is that we are in the Kingdom of god and it is us polluted and perverted theives and dirtbags screwing each other right and left, positive and negative, for fun and profit), and maybe even Jehovahs Witnesses. Of course the base of it is in the Jewish/Hebrew, but it only is going so far, quitting, and giving up, surrender to Jesus (as projected today) perhaps?
Pardon me Sophia, just a point of view.
Seems to me that one way to overcome the habit is noticing it doesn't work that way - growth as sudden and obvious. Looks to me like you've started breaking the habit.
One caveate though: with some people, not all, change, maybe once or twice in a lifetime, does happen suddenly as a major breakthrough.
The thing is, this isn't under one's control, which makes thinking about the possibility - well, as you say, a bad habit!
Anonymous,
I know you said the positive power has no referent, but is that only because there are no words available in the human language to describe it? Sort of like the human mind is incapable of understanding the divine?
How could Darwin have observed the dynamic energy structure?
Hope I'm not asking too many questions here. I'm sure I'd understand better had I read the web pages you recommended earlier. Things have been hectic lately so I'm looking to find time shortly.
I'm thinking too much in a black-and-white manner, because I want to think of the negative pole as physical and the positive pole as more of an energy form, non-physical.
Your second comment probably answers these questions, I was just commenting again on your first comment.
The positive is the potential, the negative is the kinetic?
Sorry for all the questions and confusing thoughts on my end. I will try to read the link you posted so that I can better understand this. I just have a very superficial understanding at this point.
Hi Jim,
The only useful purpose I can see for the bad and evil, is that without them we'd not notice the good.
Jim,
All points of view welcome, of course.
I fail to see the justification of failures here, but then again, like I said I only have a superficial understanding of what's going on. This is unfortunately true of most things!
Paul,
I think I'm so slow to make change because I'm not doing it for a grade. When I was in high school and college I spent hours daily studying working towards A+ or A grades. Teachers and professors assigned homework and material that kept me on the straight path, so to speak.
I don't have a spiritual teacher so I'm just blindly going wherever I go, nothing to check against or anyone to push me forward. The lazy side of me is glad I don't have anyone pushing me, but the part of me that wants to see change and growth would like to have a teacher.
Sophia,
Hmmmm, interesting.
One side is lazy, one side wants to work, and yet another part is trying to decide which side to support.
To me that sounds like work.
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