This is a message i decided to send to the Chopra Forum in October, 2000 - message # (if I forget to look it up it will be around 53, 770 JUST depending on how much 'traffic' occured at the Forum 'overnight' ...)

If you find any of this post remotely useful please send donations to:
Starving Poet, 21 King George Pde, Dandenong, Austraia, 3175.

Then consult a doctor. :)

Breathe ~ Let go ~ Smile

Namaste.

NOW to the past 30 or so pages of my notebk ...

Somebody mentioned cliches a while back ... um, were you perhaps expecting something 'new' ... humanity has'nt (overall) learned the basics ... so they are re-packaged and re-stated and re-presented over & over ...

My latest mantra is -

"My life is the KELKABRONDO of all lifetimes"

That has been my frustration all along ... I could see with crystal clarity the inadequacies and insufficiencies of what 'everyone else' does & I felt there JUST has to be a better WAY ... but if SO why hadnt somebody FOUND it and if so why were SO many doing 'stuff' which just doesn't work ...

Now that I have glimpsed how it could be ... what use is it unless everyone is 'plugged in' ...

I don't actually SEE a lot of love in this world - I see a lot of people clinging and a lot of unhealthy attachment and a lot of controlling but not a lot of true love ... (see above) ...

Satish kumar links -

here & here

Is a LOT of the above (and other stuff at my 'site') just nothing more than wanting to appear 'clever' or 'deep' ... I wonder ...

The funny thing is I have (often) been to the 'place' where there are 'no questions' ... is it TOO good to be true ... or is it like much of this world ... unsustainable ... hmmm ...

And a couple of more passing thoughts on self-esteem and role models may also go into that (growing) file ... yes, one could well argue that those who are so driven to 'achieve' & 'accomplish' and set 'goals' are actually suffering from a low or fragile self-esteem because they feel this need to do something 'remarkable' in order to feel validated or to 'win' the approval or esteem of others ... true self-esteem just can't be manufactured from worldly pursuits or 'status' ... one day we'll see this ... I mean in a society where people do not feel as if they have unconditional worth ... well, look around you - this is what you get - drugs, suicide, violence, addictions, anger, frustration etc etc ... and I really hate to bring you down like that but unless/until people realise the root cause of these problems there will never be anything but band-aid solutions ...

I flicked through a copy of Melbourne's Child which I picked up from the library ... got me thinking ... on a number of levels ...

One of the columns was 'question which successful parents ask themselves' ... well, firstly how does one define 'successful parent' - if you did 'everyhting humanly possible' we are still talking about another living entity with its own resources and agenda and karma ...

I mean it is virtually impossible to 'explain' the way any human being 'turns out' by looking at the present lifetime in isolation. A so=called 'problem child' may be carrying a lot of negative karma into this lifetime and so the actions of their parents may be almost inconsequential in determining what their life is like. (On the OTHER hand, the parents themselves may have been no angels in their past incarnations and so may be balancing karma by experiencing this 'problem' ...

Yes, we generally do NOT see ourselves and those around us as souls on a journey ... and hardly anyone views children and parenting this way ... as 'spirits entering bodies' ... it does put a completley differnet spin on the whole situation because (a) They are NOT blank sheets - your kids may indeed have more earth-time experience & wisdom than the parents (b) The current arrangement may be the reslut of the same souls having been together in past incarnations and leaving unresolved matters. Possibly in different roles - a parent in THIS life may have been a hated 'enemy' form a past life and so on ...

{Plus not a LOT of mention that the true secret of life is to walk around saying 'I am the goodness of life.' wherever you go. My parents taught me to believe that I could be anything I wanted to be. So, I decided to be Jesus Christ and I'm so happy I could cry.}

Plus a lot of the letters/articles while endeavouring to be positive (in the conventional manner) carried a real sense of apprehensionthat you better get the 'absolute best education' for your kids and do everything you can for their 'prospects' ... and yet it could still go horribly wrong and they could get in trouble which they might not know how to get out of ... I mean you don't have to be a genius to see the world is ruled by fear & worry at present. And I must confess in my cynical atheist days I was absolutely flabbergasted at why people with no belief system would bring kids into a world as troubled as this one and how could they possibly avoid being driven crazy with worry as there are soe dreadful experiences 'out there' and since it's all just 'random chance' there's no way to make sure a little or a LOT of it won't drift your way and if it does then it's just 'devastating' because they believe 'this is it - you live once and that's it' ... it puzzled me no end and still does really ...

Plus there didn't seem to be a lot of discussion of bliss states or spiritual pursuits and you realise many are in the same place I used to be and there is precious little peace of mind in such a world-view ... not to mention the fact that the generally accepted criteria for a 'successful life' (in non-spiritual terms) involves concepts and things and pursuits which an enlightened being would tell you can never fully ever satisfy a human being ...

... made me feel like dashing off an email or two ... in the nicest possible way ...

Yes, I realise I have come a LONG way - the 'old me' would have acually delighted in saying to someone who had kids that 'there's no point worrying - you could do everything humanly possible and it still might not be good enough. I mean look at the world and get real - there's a lotta mixed up people out there ..." (or even worse) ... many of the adverts for schools promise 'knowledge, happiness & fulfilment' - I wonder if any offer a 'guarantee' because each of them is a tricky business with a myriad of factors ...

People talk about 'quality of life' ... but really unless you are consciously working towards loving everyone you encounter the 'quality' is highly questionable ...

Yes, at first glance, the idea of 'make no comparisons' sounds ludicrous - surely NOBODY would say that the bahviour (and disturbed thinking) of Manson is on a par with that of the Dalai Lama ...

I had a few thoughts last night about scales - if you set a scale of experiences from 1 to 10 where anything below 1 is suicidal and 10 is absolute bliss and contentment. If you oscillate between about 4 and 6 then life is 'okay' and we all do comparisons and if you look at most people and they seem to be (bear in mind you ONLY ever directly witness their experiences which happen in YOUR presence) in a similar range to your own experiences then you tend to figure well 'this is as good as it gets' or this is the way of things and I shouldn't complain because there are some poor souls who seem to be hovering around 2 or 3 at best

Okay ... supposing your situation is unchanged and you continue to live in the '4 to 6' range ... suppose you wake up one day nad everyone you see is bright and radiant and glowing with pure joy and they seem to be continuously and effortlessly in the '9 to 10' range no matter what happens to them ... suddenly your experience seems FAR below theirs and you would wonder (a) What the **** is going on here? and (b) Why am I the 'unlucky' one ... so all things are relative ...

The same would apply to you finding yourself inexplicably in the '9 to 10' range while everyone else hovers aound 4 or 5 ...

A bit more (well a LOT more could be and has been written - as in Who Are You?) ... about identity ... If I say "I am a 42 year old male, slim build, white, etc and my name is Geoff... NONE of those is my actual identity ... this was headed somewhere ... Yes, most people would give you a funny look if they introduce themselves as "I'm Paul Smith" and you say they are NOT! If I was a female in my past life and a different name then "I'm Geoff." is indeed an unenlightened statement. This 'I' is a temporary thing if it is attached to a NAME ... more on this later ...

By october 9 - i have nearly 50 pages of 'stuff' to type up ... it's far too fascinating & absorbing (literally) creating it all ... whether it means anything to anyone else I have no control over so i shall not worry myself about that ... often I write merely to remind myself of the what 'mood' i was in when I that 'stuff' manifested in my mind ...

"I can understand why you think that way."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"That's one way of looking at things."
- Anon

"Life is an opportunity."

Yes, the post was # 53,840 ... cannot actually create a 'link' to any actual post ... well, i could create a separate HTM but then it is within this file you're curreently reading ...

"I believe that the resident and resonant harmonics of life are largely responsible for the evolution of human consciousness as we know it today."
- Cindy Crawford

Don't tell me this is a fabulous or amazing post ... that will only perpetuate the addiction! Tell me it's complete rubbish as we all know that truth is in the eye of the beholder (think about that one - meditate on it) :)

Hands up everyone who thought i would be unable to stay away from this place. I am an addict. That's the first step - admit that you have a problem. What's the second step? Simply observe the experience of being 'an addict' and don't identify with it or make any judgement about it.

I need 'tough love'. Don't tell me my posts are 'wonderful'. Abuse me. Ridicule me. Tell me I'm a smug, patronising hypocrite who wouldn't know truth if it started drilling holes in my head. That's the only way to show me you care. :)

Not that I'm attached to your responses either way. Good. Bad. Indifferent. All in the eye of the beholder. :)

You could say that complimenting people is actually a 'bad' thing because it serves to reinforce the ego structures they have come to rely on. So long as we feel or desire 'validation' from some 'externeal' source then we are not in deep touch with who we truly are ...

A statement can never be more than a momentary truth. :)

"Do we ever really know anybody?"
- Never Ending Story II

(Plus a couple from the Matrix ...

There's a simple answer to the 'drug problem'. Simply tell people that each human being has a variety of bliss states which cna be accessed at will once you learn how ...

"I used to believe in the early warnings of the lifetimes." (mantra)

I mean this is an Internet Forum for God's sake ... a few words on a screen ... if you read anything here that enhances your actual life ... be grateful ...

And if you don't read anything 'new' here ... be grateful anyway ... :)

Here's one reply -

(Though the ultimate act of nonatttachment would be to never even glance at the 'replies' or 'reactions' which my post 'generated' ... hmmm ... :)

Geoff, don't leave us. We will be so lost and diminished without your presence! (presents?) I will miss your warmth, your wit and your wisdom. You say not to make 'comparisons' but your 'last post' was far and away the most _________ I have ever read.

And I should know - I am devoting my life to reading this entire forum over & over again. If message # 53, 840 is indeed your last (serious) visit then I intend to print it out and frame it and pin it on my bedroom wall right next to my autographed poster of Buddha on tour. I will read it with silence and reverence 47 times a day until I have fully absorbed and considered its vast implications. I intend to do this until I have attained full enlightenment which ought to take about six months or so. I would urge all Forum regulars (and even the irregulars) to do likewise.

I think I speak for everyone here when I say I want to have your children. You can read me a bedtime story anyday. I particularly like the one where Snow White and Goldilocks climb the magic beanstalk and discover the true nature of human consciousness and they all live happily ever after in a little town just outside of Moscow.

I propose that for the next six months we simply re-post the best of geoff's contirbutions until we fully understand them. He is surely our most sublime spiritual teacher since Sgt Schultz uttered those immortal words on Hogan's heroes: "I know nothing."

I would urge anyone who reads this to go out into the world and preach the word of Geoff to all who have ears to listen. Go out into the forests and the deserts and scream these words into the great beyond. Then you can all pop over to my place for a bedtime story.

Thanks again.

Bon Voyage.

I love the Ghandi quote! though I can't recall seeing it anywhere else ... :)

Then someone else found an intreview with Satish Kumar which (a) mentions Gandhi! (b) also raises the idea of spirtual egoism which is something worth consideration ...

Here's the link - Satish Kumar Interview

I have completely dismantled my personality structure. It' wonderful. I'd recommend it to anyone.

"Life is an interpretation"

Going back over some of the messages at this forum ... it's very analogous to our actual lives in many ways. Some things can slip past your nose and you were'nt really paying full attention ... and you may not realise its full significance until much later ...

Anyway, in reply to a message a while back (no names) ...I offer the following:

What were you expecting to find here? The answers to all your problems perhaps? Well, there are always several way of looking at 'things'. Take your pick -

* Deepak's books CONTAIN the answers to all your problems

* His books provide a way to awaken your own 'inner wisdom' so that you can create your own 'solutions'.

* You may not be ready for what he has to say.

* These ideas and methods may not work for certain people.

* You don't actually have any problems. You are simply encountering events and circumstances to which you have attached the label 'problem'.

* All of the above.

* To my mind, what Deepak and Neale Walsch & several others are saying is that the only thing preventing anyone from being a Master is the idea that he/she is not already a Master.

Just a thought - the word 'Master' has certain gender connotations. If a female should reach the same 'level' is she a 'Mistress'? :)

[Actually there is an asian woman who is refered to as 'Master Ching Hai' (link?)]

'Exercises in forgiveness' - I love it.

Actually it's quite ironic or paradoxical or whatever to contemplate that in a world where absolutely nobody took anything 'personally' there would literally be no need for a word like 'forgiveness' ... hmmmm ...

I'm sure most (if not all) people really want to be kind and helpful etc ... we're currently so mixed up we're not sure how to help ourselves ... let alone others ...

Then I had this interesting idea to get to a SINGLE message in the 53, 000 at the forum - ah, yes, one can say 'messages per page=1' and then plug in a number from 1 to 53,000 ... well to test if it 'accepts' large numbers I select 1234 ... and this is part of message # (well, the numbering gets 'confused' as it was 53,865 when I plug in '1234' so that should make it # 52,631 ?? ... July 10, 2000

Now to test even further ... plug in '12345' ... took me to Feb 12, 1999 and same contributor!!! ...

You are not going to find what you are looking for, if what you are looking for is an easy way out!

I also had an idea to 'randomise it by java ??? - I'd have to read up on if that is possible ...

A bit more playing around took me back to 1997 & this link ... Ferris Wisdom Centre

As an example, here's one of the ... then again IT all depends on which number you START from and since that is in reverse you need a specific message number ... hmmm ... for example # 53,840 ... need to subtract it from whatever is the current most recent number ... oh well ...

Anyway ... from # 53, 865 I plug in this - 26 messages back - think 'inclusive' with your counting ??? ...

Instead of Java ... could simply have a few options - taking you back (as they do in the newspapers):

100 messages ago

500 messages ago

1000 messages ago

5000 messages ago

10000 messages ago

20000 messages ago

30000 messages ago

40000 messages ago

50000 messages ago

Interestingly if such a list was WITHIN the forum ... better as a separate file and link ... and the destination would shift as more messages are added and so the numbers change ...

Interesting one by 'deepak' around 48,808 - never sure if it's one up or down - should be a way ... anyway it way plugging in '5057' when current one is 53865 ... but as a FEW have pointed out - one can merely look at the IP address and see if it coincides with someone's previous contributions ...

Plus an interesting post on "Psychological defense mechanisms" - may post in here?? ... why not - the following is NOT my own words - then as deepak says, some thoughts are experienced more personally, I call them 'mine' ...

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Psychological defense mechanisms: unconscious psychological processes that provide relief from intrapsychic conflict and anxiety. The following is a brief description of a few that some of us see the subject using in his posts.

Compensation: an unconscious attempt to make up for real or imagined short-comings.

The subject used this technique even in his early days at the forum. He found his reality so unacceptable (to himself and therefore, he assumed, to others) that he constantly dropped names and described adventures that he did not have. He was a "consultant." (We all know what that really means.) He was a guest lecturer on a university level. (Ironically, his "lectures" were supposedly about career choices.)These are just two examples. If we believed that he had done these things, then he would be more acceptable to himself. This defense mechanism still shows up in his claims to have "clients," a term usually reserved for someone who seeks professional services as rendered by a psychologist, a doctor, a lawyer, etc. He also claims to be a writer. (It's one thing to write a book, another to be publishable.) Of course, there is always the possibility that these prevarications may be conscious in order to impress people so that he could take advantage of them. In that case, this would no longer be a defense mechanism.

Denial: an unconscious attempt to reject unacceptable feelings, needs, thoughts, wishes, or external reality factors. I see only the broad use of denial as a tactic and not the unconscious use. I defer to Hadi's astute perception in matters of the human psyche.

Displacement: the unconscious transfer of unacceptable thoughts, feelings or desires from the self to a more acceptable external substitute.

The subject frequently refers to bodily functions having to do with the anus. (Remember past references to the sandbox, the slang term for human waste, the slang term for anus, the slang term for the expellation of human gas, etc.?) Denis apparently sees himself as what he would call an asshole. Even his reference to hemorroid cream calls attention back to this part of the body.

Projection: an unconscious phenomenon, in which that which is unacceptable or intolerable within the self is rejected and attributed to an external other or others.

Most notable is the subject's frequent use of the mirror analogy. (He also has made multiple references to the "three fingers pointing back" analogy.) The subject fails to understand that all analogies break down at some point. But in using these analogies repeatedly, he has backed himself into a corner. If he believes that criticism of others is always a reflection, then, in his constant criticism of others, he must believe that he is a terrible person. The mirror analogy was never meant to be used/true in all circumstances. As Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Likewise, a mirror is just a mirror; a pointing finger is just part of a hand, etc. Just because the subject dislikes intellectualizing doesn't mean that he is guilty of it. Just because we dislike the subject's dishonesty, we are not automatically guilty of it.

Rationalization: the unconscious effort to justify or make consciously tolerable behaviors, feelings, thoughts or desires that are unacceptable.

One of the most recent examples of the subject's use of this technique is when he credits people here at the forum with making him an "outlaw." Yet, it is he that admittedly violated the court order. In the book Games People Play, such tactics are known as the game of "See what you made me do."

Regression: unconscious return to more infantile behaviors or thoughts. Most obvious is the subject's constant need for attention. The desire is so strong within him that he had rather have negative attention than no attention at all. If we ignore him, he attacks. If we respond negatively, he attacks. If we try to be pleasant, our "intentions are veiled," to use his words. He somehow sees the forum as a place to play out a game of hostility as if someone wins and someone loses. He has verbal tantrums. He resorts to name-calling. He pouts. Any alternative action is viewed as "dragging his tail between his legs." It never occurs to him to actually put into use some of the spiritual lessons that were once considered valuable. (See also displacement above.)

Repression: withholding from consciousness or expulsion from awareness of an idea or affect. This usually pertains to an internal reality, whereas denial more generally affects the perception of external reality.

An example of particular interest to me is the subject's constant reference to the author's cyclical nature. It probably never occurs to him that some cyclical nature is normal. ("No one gets his shit together once and for all" was the way the daughter of a friend put it.) Nor does he seem to notice that even pathological cycles are preferable to an unceasing diabolical nature.

And a bit more dredging through old messages turns up this ...

I was sitting on a bench in a quiet comer of the garden, enjoying the variety of flowers with their glorious colors. They reminded me of Your matchless creativity and infinite beauty. What a wonder!

In response to this fleeting appreciation, You appeared before me with a smile of good humor. Being everywhere, You can manifest anywhere, although it may seem as if You come from nowhere! I was so stunned that I greeted You with an awed and grateful silence.

Before I could recover from this unexpected heavenly surprise, You asked me casually, "How are you?

I'm okay, I replied vaguely, still under the spell of Your arrival.

You looked probingly at me. Really?

I felt my mood shift, and answered somewhat defensively Why? Don't you think so?

But are you at peace with yourself? You asked gently.

Your loving concern disarmed me completely, and gave me the courage to open my wounded heart. In fact, my mind is in shambles, and my peace is in pieces! I confessed.

Yet you look quite composed, You observed.

That is only camouflage, I answered.

You nodded, as though in sympathy. I'm glad you say so. Generally, people do camouflage themselves, especially when they are at parties and public gatherings.

But aren't these occasions supposed to be times for relaxation and relief from the stress of life?

Yes, but you soon find that all this merriment is only temporary. By the time you reach home, you begin to brood on unpleasant events connected with some of the persons you have had conversations with.

You're right, I admitted. Even when I open certain letters, the contents irritate me. Or when I occasionally hear comments made during the day that I disagree with, I feel aggravated. I often lose my mental balance as a result. How can I get over this?

Don't lose heart, and you will receive My help, You assured me.

But what is the real cause of all this annoyance and irritation? I asked.

It is natural that many unexpected things happen to you which annoy you, and this creates a sense of frustration. Sometimes you cannot help but express your irritation outwardly. But the more you see your life as being harmoniously interwoven with those you meet, your responses will be less selfish and more loving. The truth is, meeting others is really a meeting with your own many selves, in order that you may eventually find your real Self in Me. When you begin to feel My presence in others, then the qualities that you envy in them will exude a new perfume of appreciation for you. Discovering My presence in others is always a joyous surprise, and goes a long way toward helping Me to help you.

You are right, I acknowledged. I have experienced this. But then I totally forget the blessings You have showered on me, and I continue the bad habit of keeping a careful count of all my troubles. This seems to be deeply ingrained in me.

That is because you forget that delightful encounters are waiting for you just around the comer.

Are they?

Yes, because life is always moving, consciously or unconsciously, toward that Bliss which is your Real Nature.

Yet it seems that in spite of anticipating this Bliss, I am constantly passing through disturbing experiences.

Again, I saw a look of deep sympathy in Your eyes. The disturbances you speak of are always relative to your acceptance of My will. If you take the things that happen to you as expressions of My will, you will feel less annoyed, and the spirit of acceptance will be awakened in you. Learn to accept life as it is, without getting annoyed, and I will help you. Do you think that I am cruel?

I could only look at You.

You shook Your head solemnly. No. Even if I wished to be, I could not. I love you. I love all.

From INTIMATE CONVERSATIONS WITH THE AWAKENER,
by Bal Natu, pages 27-30

Heaps more thoughts flitted through my open mind, posessing and caressing me ... thoughts about identity and names and the fact that no human being 'grows up' in isolation so how do we know what the 'natural' state of being human is ... plus thoughts about the stomach and society and 'circles of friends' ... there are porbably few minds as fluid as mine ... I mean being able to somehow navigate dozens of extreme psychotic 'episodes' without taking psychiatric medication and without turning to narcotics or alcohol ... is a rare feat at this point in human history ...

{Some good stuff in Journal October 8 and 9 also}

We speak of 'kindred spirits' ... but aren't we ALL kindred ...

What would the world be like if nobody was 'searching' for something ...

"I could teach you what to do but it would require you to let go of being timid and conforming ... you have to be prepared to let your mind float freely in a sea of infinite possible states and have a preference for none of them in particular ... do you think you can do that?" (If not, simply proceed as normal. - I am wicked aren't I!)

A general principle regarding all 'conflict' situations (personal, interpersonal, international etc etc) -
Somebody or tother is taking their self a little too seriously. Remember that 'light' is not only the opposite of 'dark' it is also the opposite of 'serious'

Gary Zukav site?? - click here

I could be worng but the whole concept of 'soul mate' actually creates attachment. If you truly believe there is one person who you are 'destined to be with' and you happen to find him or her (as the case may be) then you will firstly thank your lucky stars but then you will tend to cling to him or her for grim death because 'nobody else can possibly make me feel this way' ...

What do others think??

Having said that, let me say this ...

"I'm actually an alien from a distant galaxy - I have powers and abilities you can barely imagine. I find your species very interesting - you have enormous potential but you still have a lot of growing up to do. I mean really ... war ... what are you thinking!"

I think that most people tend to feel a little threatened or uncomfortable when they encounter beings who are simply not prepared to live a LIMITED or CONFINED existence like them ... (rephrase) ...

I had this great idea for a line of a poem -
'I'm guiding reality as we speak'

Note: this is based on my life because i have recently discovered that I am the captain of the universe and i am guiding reality towards an unexpected conclusion. Wish me luck.

What I am doing is really the EXACT opposite of what most folk do. They constantly fill their heads withh all kinds of stuff whereas I consciously focus my attention on emptying my mind of as much stuff as I can find. This has taken me to places that are completely beyond the capacity of words to describe. :) But it's a tricky business dancing along the edge of your own consciousness. There's always a chance you might fall off.

Note: 'stuff' consists of thoughts, plans, opinions, judgements, memories, & other stuff ... most people fear that if they 'let go' of all this stuff they'll have nothing. They are wrong about that ... in many ways ...

Plus a few more idle 'speculations' along the lines of just what a NARROW range human 'survival' consciousness fits into! - you need to be able to focus, sometimes for long periods when quite bored, follow routines, interact with others - language being a prime factor - ... so somebody whose 'mind' was in a state of constant amazement wondering at the fact that anything exists ... would be classified as having a serious 'disbility' ... interesting - may write more on this later ...

(Yes, I mean during my 'best' meditative/mindful states ... words do become literally 'meaningless' as you focus on each moment and the 'spaces' between moments ... so you'd be diagnosed as being 'catatonic' quite possibly ... :)

Ah yes, as well as memory & learning and how things get 'easier' with 'practice' ... otherwise nobody could progress beyond the absolute basics in any 'profession' like a pilot ...

Plus reasonable emotional & psychological stability and consistency otherwise you might in a 'moment of madness' decide 'what the hell, let's crash this plane and see what's on the other side of the threshold of this existence ... :)

Yes, the delicate balance between being stable enough to survive but not TOO stable so you don't experience 'fun' ... many seem to be unbalanced in this environment ...

That idle speculation sounds like the basis for a poem or something ... yes, in all the above we haven't even considered those pursuits which are only possible with creative abilities ...

"I used to believe in all the CREDAFOLLICKS orf the lifetimes"
- Jesus of Melbourne, Australia

Ah yes, some recent events have brought back to my mind Three Christs of Ypsilanti esp where one of them wants to be called "Mr Dung" and his motive and explanation and how difficult it is (generally) for one human being to call another human being "Dung" ... that's yet another book I may type up excerpts ... one day ...

On the whole question of 'identity' ...what does it matter 'who' the message comes from. Does something have more clout and impact and 'authority' coming from somebody like Mr Deepak Chopra as opposed to coming from a homeless or 'crazy' person? Deepak's books certainly seem to have resonated with millions of people and so he has a reputation as something of a spiritual genius ... but if tomorrow he starts advocating child pornography or random torture then that reputation might fade a little ... but would that render his earlier work 'suspect' ... beside which, he and most true guides are merely telling people how to awaken to their own 'inner wisdom' ...

Some of the Chopra Forum's distilled wisdom -

[  Make no comparisons

[  All judgements are relative and are based on comparisons

[  Consciously wipe the following words from your vocabulary - should, blame, stranger, enemy and probably a few others I can't quite bring to mind as I have forgotten what they mean. :) Make your own list.

[  Love yourself enough to be at least a little crazy. Don't be afraid to be really 'out there'.

[  Feel perfectly free to embrace or reject any of these statements as you see fit

[  If your compassion does not include yoursefl then it is incomplete

[  Let Go

[  Ask yourself, 'Is it really worth losing my cool over this?' whenever necessary

[  Smile

[  Love everyone and everything you encounter regardless of their (apparent) attitude towards you.

[  Lose your self in everything you do

[  Go with the flow

[  Things are not as they seem, nor are they otherwise

[  He who knows doesn't speak. So I guess that lets me off-the-hook. :)

[  She who doesn't speakmust have had her tongue surgically removed. :)

On 'discussions' in general ... well, many do degenerate into arguments & disputes ... "I don't see much point in what you are doing at the moment ... now, if this was moving towards something ... but it's going nowhere ... and it's perfectly alright to go 'nowhere' just as long as you aren't generating a whole lot of mutual negative emotional energy ... "

The following popped into my head recently:
"The real solution to most 'problems' lies not in 'resolving' any particular situation but in transforming the way you perceive it and the way you react to it."

Hope this helps.

"Everyone is special in their own special way."
- Kate (my 8 year old niece)

- 'What do I think? I think that if we are not treating each other with love then winning an argument is an extremely hollow victory ... '
- Besides which, victory (like everything else) is in the eye of the beholder ...

Some more interesting posts - I say not to be selective but these caught my eye ...
53,894 & 5 and the few before that ... yes, 53,000 of them ... a LOT to sift through ... or just trust 'luck' ...

Also from the Forum in October, 2000 -

'Since we've been talking about depression for the last few days, why not do the other side of the coin. NOT MANIA! LOL! How about talking about those things which have brought us utter joy.'

Good idea. On a good day, just the beingness of it all gives me joy that is often indescribable and almost overwhelming. All the 'ordinary' things we barely pay attention to - the sun, the rain, the earth, the way plants grow and provide us with flowers and food ... growth itself - in all its forms ... the smile of a child ... the smile of a stranger - that's when I know I'm having a REALLY good day - sympathetic joy - joy in the joy of others ... the way it all 'fits' together ... a favourite song ... watching an ant crawling on my leg ... the sound of a bird in the trees ... the enormous and incomprehensible variety of 'life' in all its forms ... and above all my own capacity to appreciate it all ...

Thanks. :)

You only need to spend a little time around young children to realise that our true nature is indeed joyous & unconditional. I'ts only when we become 'grown ups' that we learn how to be serious and sombre and joyless. Why is that? Must be the flouride in the water or something.

Then I got 'really weird' ... you know me ... I can't resist ...

Greetings Dick,

I was just enjoying a nice little rest but your posts intrigued me enough to return. :)

I had a few thoughts or observations on the subject of 'proof' and skepticism - for me, JOY is the only real proof. How many joyous skeptics does one see? Not many. The proof of the puddin is in the eatin. Actually, I recently watched the movie Contact on video and there's an interesting scene where the scientist is arguing with the 'believer'. Anyway, the scientist says she can't comprehend how anyone can believe in a God and she would need some kind of 'proof'. So, the believer asks her did she love her Father (now deceased). She says, "Of course I did.". So he simply says, "Prove it." :)

The ONLY things that make anyone's life worth living are those which reside in the realm beyond the concept of 'proof'. I mean there is no rational 'proof' that love exists and if you have never experienced it then you might well believe it is a myth. The sad thing about this world is that many people do not know what real love is through direct personal experience and so they do the crazy things they do.

Besides which, if you are going to take skepticism to its logical conclusion, it is a lot like the idea of nonjudgement. You would probably remain completely silent because what can any human being ever know beyond ALL possible doubt? Any being can only ever know one thing for sure - their own existence. It is entirely possible everything else is an elaborate dream or delusion. So a true skeptic has to concede that he/she may very well be debating with figments (or fragments) of his/her imagination. Which is fine as long as you're having fun doin it. :)

Like Anne, I have found that a really interesting question to explore is 'Why does this bother me?' Believe me, I used to be a huge Skep Dick at one stage, and I'm sure many at this Forum were also. I used to be infuriated by people's seemingly 'irrational' beliefs when there's no proof about any of them. But there was also this little voice asking 'Why does it bother me? Why do I care what they believe?' And the answer in my case was jealousy. Which is a curse. I was jealous that they derived comfort and in many cases JOY from their beliefs. Though one also has to note that many people do not seem to derive much joy from their belief system. I now would say that my jealousy was in fact my soul trying to wake up and smell the roses. :) The great irony is that while I was a skeptic I don't think I had the first idea of what love really is and I think that probably rings true for all in that boat, which is why the world is experiencing such un-rest just at the moment.

And if you ask me for a 'rational' explanation of how I have found myself at the opposite end of the 'belief' spectrum - I have none. The belief that everything has a rational explanation is in itself something one can be skeptical about. :) Love being again the finest example of a human experience which is utterly beyond any concept of 'explanation' or 'rationality'. Indeed, I often say that I would absolutely loathe to live in a universe where everything had a 'rational' explanation. Fortunately, the universe is not like that.

At the risk of labouring the point, we had an English teacher at our school and one day he spoke about his beliefs. He said there were undoubtedly some brilliant intellectuals who could take each and every one of his 'reasons' for believing and tear them to shreds with their logic and their intellect. And thus 'prove' to him that his beliefs had no basis. He said that at the end of all that, he would still believe. :)

So, I now do what i never imagined I would do - I pray for all the skeptics and cynics because I know what a barren, joyless experience it can be. And I try to see their 'criticism' as a good sign that deep down they really want to wake up. They just need a helping hand. Even though they would vehemently deny this interpretation as I would have myself once-upon-a-time. :) Methinks they do protest too much - it's a strange phenomenon, this evangelical desire to strip people of their beliefs (and their joy). I once suffered from this myself so I know whereof I speak.

Deepak's book is called 'How to know God', not 'How to believe in God'. I must get around to reading it myself one of these days. :)

At the end of the day, there is probably only one question of any real value to any human individual and to the human race in general. "How do I go about creating more joy and love inmy life and in the lives of others?" Compared with this question, most other concerns are stuff and nonsense. This is the sort of world you get when the majority focus their energies and efforts on this stuff and nonsense.

Namaste.

Note: this message contains many statements which may or may not be true, depending on how you personally define the word 'truth'. In my experience, the only truth is experience. Anything else is idle sepulation. If anyone is offended by any statement in this post, I sincerely apologise and you can come over to my place and I will sing you to sleep with a lullaby and a cup of warm milk.

Lighten up, folks. Life is too precious a gift to be taken too seriously. Be grateful. Not grating.

If you are a truly joyous and loving skeptic then my hats off to you. Keep it up. Though the 'tone' of your posts suggest to me that this is unlikely to be the case. And there is a vast difference between being personally skeptical and attacking all those who dare to embrace a different picture of reality than your own. Skepticism per se is actually healthy, attacking others is not. As Anne so beautifully pointed out, 'all attack is a call for help'. Just keep asking yourself 'Why does it bother me?' - I mean if all those who follow the 'cult' of Chopra are away with the fairies why should that concern you one iota? Unless you fear they are going to do you some personal damage. And if their 'fantasies' give them abundant joy why begrudge them that joy? Interesting questions to explore.

Besides which, I have esp and I am a world renowned expert at deciphering emotional states from reading internet messages. I can tell that you have an agitated soul but the good news is it may be about to awaken. Mine awoke in a psychiatric hospital, so I'd definitely recommend the experience. :) I have made a few attempts to describe that experience, some of those attempts have been here at the forum. The trouble is, any descriptive word only takes on meaning if the other person has had a similar experience and until it happened to me ... well actually, I had read about near-death experiences and the experiences of mystics but the words meant little until I experienced it personally. This experience took me to a place of 'total knowing' where all my doubts and insecurities and questions and barriers evaporated like steam on a hot stove. Mystics have described this place or level of consciousness but usually it comes after many years of devotion to meditation & other spiritual practices. For it to spontaneously happen to a complete 'atheist' is somewhat unusual. Many times in the year or so since then, I have asked "Why me?" Is it a natural consequence of burning off past karma by enduring 17 years of schizophrenia? Who can say? It's a profound puzzle and I wouldn't pretend for a moment that i have all the answers. You might venture to suggest that I imagined it or that I am deluding myself. I used to say similar things (and worse) about the believers so i can fully understand where you are coming from. And one thing is certain, without that experience I would be as cynical and skeptical today as I ever was.

A natural question is to ask why a few people have such transformative experiences while most do not. I have no answer for that question - it is just one of a long list of mysteries about this earthly existence of ours. If there were a way to 'bottle' the experience, I'd gladly share it with whoever was interested but so far we have not evolved to the point where we can truly share each other's experiences. I have tried many times since then so 'recapture' the experience with varying degrees of success. Initially I thought this has the potential to drive me completely round the bend because ordinary everyday levels of awareness and consciousness seem utterly pale by comparison. I think Caroline Myss refers to this as 'Mystic Depression'. It's a fairly natural reaction to any peak experience once it has subsided.

Actually, whenever I do try to describe the experience, I wonder if I should just keep mum because nobody's words would have ever persuaded me to alter my stance one millimeter during my stint as an 'atheist'. So, I realise these few words of mine may have no impact on you at all, or anyone else for that matter.

When I speak about the 'tone' of your posts ... I have loads of stuff in my old diaries that would absolutely curl your hair by comparison. By comparison with what I used to say about people, you are one of nature's gentlemen. Believe me.

I guess my sabbatical will have to wait. Conflict is interesting. Having spent 99% of my past lives on a planet where conflict is virtually unheard of, I was fascinated to be offered this opportunity to dwell for a lifetime or two on your lovely blue earth. I shall be making a full report on all I have observed. Though I don't think my superiors will believe most of the stuff that goes on in this world. I may have to take back some solid proof. This place is just too weird to be believed. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

I will pray for you, Dick. If that is your real name. So, if you happen to go to bed tonight, don't be enormously surprised if your dreams are somewhat more vivid and memorable and symbolic than usual. One advantage of having lived on non-conflict planets in the past is that I have the power to guide and influence the dreams of others if they are open to the experience. I'll be seeing you. By the way, if you dream about beautiful fairies and magical animals doing amazing things and you experience a feeling of total bliss and euphoria then you're on your way.

Note: I have no proof of these abilities. Sometimes you just have to trust people if you want to get to the really fun places. :)

Happy Trails.

Pleasant Dreams.

'Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love'
- Gandhi

{And yes, I'll wear the criticism that bits of this post were ego-driven and not entirely motivated by love. I am not a saint just yet - few of us are.}

I thank you for creating this opportunity to remind myself of where my focus would be best directed. I can't speak for anyoe else's experiences but whenever I feel any negative impulse towards anyone, I try to 'step back' and ask myself the question, 'What do I believe is really preventing me from feeling love for this person?' It doesn't always work but it often transforms a momentary negative impulse or feeling into a warmer one. May not work for everyone but I feel it's another interesting question to explore. Sometimes easier to explore when the heat-of-the-moment has passed and you are alone with your thoughts.

People are always talking about 'challenges'. Well if you want a real challenge, try loving as Christ loved - equally and unconditionally given to all you encounter. Climbing Mt Everest is a doddle by comparison. I thank you for reminding me of that challenge. I agree with you that the true test is to 'walk the talk'. I was watching the movie, The Matrix the other day and one memorable line was: "Sooner or later, Neo, you will realise just as I did that there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." Who can imagine what life will be like on this lovely blue planet when we are ALL walking the path. I mean it is dead easy to love perfection. But to love real human beings with real flaws ... ah, there's the rub.

I would also recommend a new mantra which was revealed to me at 6 AM Melbourne time. Whenever you're feeling a bit blue or maybe a little hostile, simply chant "I am the catchness of catchness" for a little while. It may be the perfect way to return the smile to your dial.

At first glance such a phrase may sound like gibberish but then you probably felt the same way the first time you ecountered the the word supercalifragilisticexpialidosis (I think it comes from Mary Poppins?) The key to reciting any mantra - whether it is a silent recitation in your head because you're too shy or an audible chanting - is that it forces your conscious to shift gears so to speak. Unless your consciousness shifts from a reactive level to a creative level then the repeated chanting of the same phrase will bore you senseless. This is the magic of chanting - but of course it requires constant practice. You can't expect to jump into a Jumbo Jet after a couple of lessons and expect to fly like a master. :)

Sorry for the long rant. :) As always, don't take anything I say as gospel. I sure don't.

Here's wishing everyone the best on their chosen path.

Namaste.

The I posted this excerpt:

"Remember," Merlin said. "Love is not a mere feeling but a universal force, and as such it must contain truth." If you are able to go this deep, you will find that every emotion turns out to be love in disguise. Jealousy and hatred seem to be the opposite of love, but they can also be seen as distorted ways to return to love. The jealous person is seeking love but has a distorted way of going about it; the hating person may desperately want love, but hates out of despair at ever getting it. Once you stop seeing love as a mere emotion, it makes sense that a universal force is drawing everyone toward it--this is the wizard's love. Thus we should honor every expression of love, however distorted. Though few people may be able to experience universal love at its fullest, all are walking the path toward it.'

- Deepak Chopra, from The Way of the Wizard

Update October 18 -

Heaps more activity at forum around message # 54,000 as the focus shifts to skepticism and the nature of 'proof' and truth 'seeking' ... naturally that starts the old cogs in my head spinning ...

And I have to admit some of the criticism is valid - using spirituality to fell 'superior' from others is NOT healthy and I did assume that skeptics can't be as joyous ... and a skeptic is NOT necessarily a cynic - as one person pointed out -

Not all skeptics are suicidal and forlorn. Not all of them advocate atheism and anarchy. Not all are lost. And some of them do not require salvation.

Then again there are always numerous ways of interpreting things ... one could say that skeptics ulterior motive is fear in the sense that the idea of spiritual growth requires deep and honest analysis of one's life and one's self and that can be a bit confronting ... I know from personal experience ...

Anyway, here's some of the stuff I sent ...

(Someone posted a wonderful piece on atheist spirituality - www.teleport.com/~packham/atheist2.htm)

Yet, on the other side of the coin - an atheist's near-death experience which totally 'converted' him - Howard Storm - I should look up the exact web address - it's at the same site as this one - "Broken by the Light" - look for 'Howard Storm' ...

Anyway, to me, the whole question of 'why do you believe that?' is by its nature unanswerable because if there was incontrovertible 'evidence' or 'proof' then it would be FACT not belief. It's a lot like asking somebody 'why do you love your wife?' They have NO doubt that they do but they may not be able to articulate the 'reasons' in a way that will 'persuade' you to share the experience ...

Ah yes, as the exchanges got a bit personal - and I was sucked into doing that myself - I reached a point where I realised like any war, nobody wins a 'war of words'. Both parties are damaged in the process. One thing is dead certain - so long as your main focus is on the disagreement and 'winning' the argument you are not focusing on feeling love for the other.

That's why 'Love thy enemy' is such brilliant advice. You cannot love someone as long as you are perceiving them as the 'enemy'. Generally we do tend to reserve our positive emotions for those of a similar mind. So, it requires a fundamental shift in perception and focus to even conceive of the possibility of loving thy 'enemy'.

Such a SHIFT on a global scale is what many people are now seriously talking about.

Good morning all,

I hope we all get a good night's sleep with some pleasant dreams. :)

Great questions, Anne. I offer the following thoughts I response to them. I would say you are spot on about 'isms' - most of them tend to be divisive. In other words, they tend to divide the world up into 'Us' and 'Them'. Any belief system which does this is not healthy. I was at a mental health conference a while back and heard THE best ever definition of the 'Us & Them' mentality - "Us is everyone who thinks like me and 'Them' is everybody else." We have spent millenia dividing the world up into us and them in a myriad of ways. None of which fosters unity or harmony or peace on earth.

One thing is undeniable - the human race is restless and many people would describe themselves as 'seekers' of truth. What does it all mean? Why do people seek the truth? What value is it? There seems to be an implicit assumption that 'finding' the truth wiill bring peace of mind and happiness and love. I mean UNLESS you believe that truth will enhance the quality of your experiences why bother seeking it?

I'm fond of speculation so let's speculate a bit ... supposing somebody wrote a book called 'How to be blissfully happy every moment'. Suppose the opening lines of the book are as follows:

I stumbled on the secret of absolute happiness the other day when I received an email from my friend, Richard. He was feeling a bit down in the dumps and I wondered what I could do to cheer him up. Almost instantly the following idea simply popped into my head. I wrote an email to him along these lines -

Hi Richard, :) Nice to hear from you! If we all let go of our egos there would most likely be nothing to talk about! :) Here's a mantra I devised just for you - it is the result of ten year's of intense and rigorous testing in the mountains of Nepal. It is recommended by nine out of ten Dalai Lamas:
"My little doctor taught me how to believe in the strangeness of my own life."

I then realised this mantra would work for everyone on the planet. But only if they recite it aloud for an hour each morning and an hour each night as well as dozens of times throughout their busy days. The resultant changes in biology and psychology would be slow and almost imperceptible at first and many people might be tempted to give up or regard the whole exercise as complete madness. But if they persisited for long enough they would be transported to a magical wonderland beyond the capacity of human words to describe.

I felt wonderful for the rest of that day and Richard said my idea was the greatest piece of divine revelation in human history. He sent me a box of chocolates and we all lived happily ever after.

Mind you, I'm just speculating about a hypothetical book by a hypothetical author. :) Supposing this book became a best-seller. My first desire would be to see if the author was indeed blissfully happy every moment - this would be a tough thing to fake! :) I mean it is easy to imagine being happy all-the-time but nobody I know actually comes close to being happy every moment regardless of circumstances. It's always puzzled and often disturbed me that we can imagine a state of being which is far beyond what most people actually experience.

Actually, I'm not quite sure where this speculation was headed ... ah yes, happiness. That is the key word. You do not need to be Albert Einstein to realise the human race overall is not in a happy state at present. You would not have wars, suicide, addictions, anger, psychiatry, injustice and intolerance manifesting if the population as a whole is happy.

MIllions of words have been written over human history about this state of affairs and ideas for how to remedy the predicament. One could debate whether we are any closer to 'solving' it than we were in Buddha's day or Christ's. Anyway, supposing such a book was written and the author had 'found' the key but everyone had been so conditioned and limited in their thinking that their initial reaction was 'He's mad! I'm not going to do that! I'm happy just the way I am.' ... :)

If you were looking for an individual who is a walking advertisement for a particular belief system, you'd struggle to find a better example than the Dalai Lama.

That doesn't necessarily mean he has found some 'ultimate truth' but it doesn't seem to bother him! Yet, if one investigated the matter more deeply and discovered that his present joyous state was the result of hundreds of lifetimes of rigid discipline then that might just drive you nuts. We have a 'quick fix' mentality at the moment. We want everything right HERE and right NOW. Supposing the key was to simply find a way to jettison that mentality ... to let it go ... maybe that's why they say patience is a virtue ...

I'm not sure if any of this idle speculation is of much help to you. Don't worry about having vague days - you're not alone in that experience.

I sincerely wish all forum readers as much peace, love & happiness as they can stand.

Namaste.

Your post got me wondering - always a dangerous thing to start my mind wondering ... I do regard the whole question of 'mental illness' as one of the most mysterious and misunderstood human experiences. Let's stick to the specific subject of schizophrenia which is the one I have personal experience of. Here's a list of possible ways of looking at it -

* Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder caused by a chemical imbalance in a person's brain resulting in delusions, hallucinations and disorded thinking thus rendering them unable to function effectively in normal society. We think it may have something to do with genetic defects. Medication is somewhat effective in lessening the delusions and hallucinations but many patients refuse to take it either due to unpleasant side-effects or because they prefer their hallucinations to reality.

* Schizophrenia is a spontaneous experience of altered states of consciousness which only goes awry due to the ignorance of the people around the person intrevening in the mistaken belief that this is something 'bad'.

* Schizophrenia is a rapid burning up of karma from past lives so it must be allowed to run its course without sedation by medication. Such intervention does immense harm to the person's spiritual evolution.

* Schizophrenia is the soul spontaneously awakening to absolute reality which can be frightening or it can be unspeakably wonderful. It would have more chance of being unspeakably wonderful if people at large were not so fear-oriented in their reactions to behaviour which goes beyond the crushing confines of normality ...

* There is no such thing as schizophrenia - it is like labelling a 'problem' child as having Attention Defecit Disorder. Namely, it is a label attached to a set of behaviours - there is no hard evidence the so-called 'chemical imbalance' exists. Psychiatry is pseudo-science which does more harm than good.

* Schizophrenia is the only honest reaction to living in a plastic society full of plastic people. The only therapy is pure, unconditional love. Unfortunately few humans currently are capable of such a love which is why people go loopy in the first place. It's a catch-22 situation.

* Schizophrenia is actually telepathic contact with advanced beings from distant galaxies. They only bother contacting those humans with the most highly developed minds but even so, a lot of them are unable to handle the experience initially.

* Schizophrenia is the result of being possessed by demons. You need a priest to fix it. Not a shrink.

* Schizophrenia is a real condition but many people who are undergoing a spiritual awakening are mistakenly diagnosed as having schizophrenia. Our knowledge is imperfect.

* From New Paradigm June 2000 there was an article about the cultural context of diagnosing someone as having 'schizophrenia':
- Among the Plains Indians, for example, religious leaders were EXPECTED to hallucinate. if they didn't have visions and weren't somewhat eccentric, they didn't become, by tribal consensus, shamans or advisors.

- In India, there are Sufi mystics who self-induce psychosis. They are regarded as holy people and given community support. They are not excluded, incarcerated, driven out or forced into hiding and isolation. Their communities support them and consider housing, feeding and learning from them to be a great honour.

- In parts of South America, people still practice cultic goddess religions that involve transcendent states, known to Americans as 'psychosis'. These altered states of mind are times of learning for the experiencers, who are never mistreated or punished for valuing an alternate consciousness.

* From Conversations With God comes this passage: All illness is self-created. Most people do so unconsciously. So, when they get sick, they don't know what hit them. It feels as if something has befallen them, rather than that they did something to themselves ...

Each of those ways of viewing schizophrenia (or any illness) has different numbers of 'supporters'. It all depends on who you take as your 'authority' figure. My own journey through schizophrenia has meant that at one time or other I have held many of the above views as you might have guessed. Nowadays, I try not to extrapolate too far from my own experiences. I do know many people whose experiences seem nightmarish and apart from the little magic pills nobody seems to have a real answer. At least not in the public system. Yet there are other people who are transformed by their ordeals. Most of them do so by refusing the medication and the 'system' and going within themselves one way or another.

And each of those views depends VERY much on your picture of reality. I mean the very word 'delusion' is intimately tied in with what you believe is 'real'. If indeed schizophrenia is contact with extraterrestrials then you're in a bit of a pickle because you open your mouth to explain that opinion to a psychiatrist and he will automatically say you are suffering from a paranoid delusion. :) He will then prescribe some mind-altering medication to set you straight. I suppose some of my attitudes have been a reaction to the public system here in Australia which is a few billion light-years away from being 'perfect' and the fact that I never ASKED for psychiatric assistance. It was determined that my behaviour needed enforced hospitalisation and being required against my will to take medication which had unbelievably unsettling side-effects which were in turn interpreted as being further evidence of a 'psychotic' state. If this was repaying a karmic debt then I must have done some pretty terrible things with my past lives! :)

If guess the point I'm getting at is that there IS no general agreement on many aspects of the phenomenon of 'mental illness' - on definitions, causes, diagnoses, treatments, prospects etc ... and even if there was general agreement, that doesn't necessarily mean it is accurate. There used to be general agreement that the earth is flat. And, to be honest, I would put a LOT of current psychiatric theory and practice in the flat-earth category. I can clearly envision a future time when people of that era will look back on 20th century psychiatry and wonder how on earth human beings could ever have believed it to be true. Much in the same way that we now look back on those who regarded the earth as flat and if you sail too far you'll slip off it. :)

And of course, to be fair, I have to acknowledge the possibility that i could be completely mistaken. Anyone who does not acknowledge this is on an ego trip (which can be fun while it lasts). Which takes us back to Anne's question of how does one possibly select from a multitude of seemingly equally plausible explanations. :) It's entirely possible that I am actually hallucinating the entire happenings on planet earth and that in 'reality' I am having these hallucinations because of some drug being administered to me on my home planet of Krypton by evils scientists who want to steal my girlfriend. :)

Nowadays, I endeavour whenever possible to say "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." And I must remind myself that I did experience Unity Consciousness for seven days in a psychiatric hospital which is a tale not many people can tell. :) Funny thing is, I felt sure I had absolutely no need to be hospitalised so I must thank those who made their mistaken 'diagnosis'. God works in some VERY mysterious ways. Whether I would have had the same experience in another environment is extremely debatable.

If I haven't bored everyone senseless on the subject of schizophrenia, there are even more views to be found by clickin here. One memorable quote is: "There is in every madman a misunderstood genius whose idea, shining in his head, frightened people, and for whom delirium was the only solution to the strangulation that life had prepared for him."

Have fun.

To anyone reading this forum for the first time, stay tuned. Occasionally we do actually discuss the merits or otherwise of the works of Deepak Chopra. I clearly remember one time back in 1998 ... Yes, some of the best advice comes in the form of the right question, and allow the person to answer it for themselves. 'Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? If your beliefs and opinions are standing in the way of your happiness then why cling to them?'

That is why individuals like Christ and Gandhi are so fondly remembered. I mean who among us could say "Father forgive them" after being cruxified? Or "God bless you" as Gandhi said to his assassin. Most people didvide the world up into 'friend', 'stranger' and 'enemy'. The Buddhists have some excellent meditations on equanimity where you consciously challenge the basis for such divisions until you realise they exist nowhere but in your mind.

Someone else posted some excellent questions and an illustration of how your belief system plays a huge role in creating your experiences.

Then mid October I compose Proof of the existence of souls ... tongue in cheek but like my poem written while mowing the lawn - reminds me to be grateful of all the 'everyday' stuff we barely pay attention to ... somebody replied with that Einstein quote about "There really are only to ways to live: as if everything is a miracle, or as if nothing is" ... and as I said, I really did cmpose the list as if it were being dictated to me by an 'inner voice' ...

Then a week or so later ... picked up Native Wisdom for White Minds by Anne Wilson Schaef and it relates to the recent Forum themes so I decide to trancribe bits of it into a HTM file as one does ... click here ...

And I am sure (when i don't get drawn into the game of trying to 'prove a point') that most people are quite sincere in their beliefs or lack thereof ... and it is quite easy to be skeptical as the seemingly contradictory belief systems do say different things about reincarnation, karma, heaven & hell, sin, salvation, self-realisation etc etc ...

By defintion, God is beyond definition - yes, some excellent stuff in those excerpts about god - some people have no word for god as they see god in everything & everybody ...

Then I had this idea for a whimsical post to the forum along these lines -

Good Morning Folks,

I have been very busy these past couple of days reprogramming my consciousness at a subatomic level. It is not common knowledge but there are infinitesimal beings who spend their entire existence amongst the neurons and cells in human brains.

Anyway, I found a few brain cells which were behaving in an undisciplined and random chaotic manner. So I simply trained all the other brain cells to mimic them. The next few days should be fun.

If some of my next few posts seem a bit obscure or unintelligible, there's no need to worry. It's all part of growing up and being British. (apologies to Monty Python) :)

Then the idea developed a litle further ...

These beings live a life of complete leisure (draw picture - no stomach as they live off the electrical energy inside your brain) ... they pursue many and varied leisure activities including poetry and philosophy ...

... when one of these beings attains enlightenment you may derive some subsidiary benefit by being in an inexplicably good mood for 'no reason at all' ... if on the other hand ...

space craft to journey between brain cells? ... or submarines to travel into the blood stream ...

Early November - a bit of my 'stuff' went into -

Meditate-meditate-meditate ...

When you empty your mind of all thought, you empty it of all the ways you have learned to categorise human beings ... which actually makes equanimity much easier to attain ...

I saw a report on 'political correctness' and gender-specific language ... "It wouldn't bother me as our true nature is neither male nor female."

November 8 Update -

{Quite a few 'odds & ends' in my Journal early November ... as always I suppose ... including the idea for "What the world might be like if everyone suddenly became a Buddhist"} - click here

November 12 Update -

Watching a TV discussion on the relative merits of public versus private (religious) schools - yes, I hadn't thought of the notion that you might not produce terribly 'well-rounded' adults by educating them in an environment where all share much the same world-view.

It also helped crystallise some of my views. I believe that anyone who sees their way as the ONLY way has lost their way. To believe yours is the ONLY path to God is dogma and dogma is always based in fear. Fear of a judging and punishing God. Otherwise there is absolutely no need to believe there is ONE TRUE path. Dead simple really. It's a pity more people don't see it like that ...

... I mean can anyone who believes in the concept of 'damnation' truly be comfortable with the notion that somebody like the Dalai Lama is headed for Hell because he doesn't subscribe to the ONE true path? Actually, come to think of it, he would probably be profoundly happier in 'Hell' than most of the righteous would be i 'Heaven' ... :)

---

November 17 Update -

These thoughts mainly sparked by some discussion at the Chopra Forum about auras and again the notions of 'proof' & 'verification' ... plus the word 'weird' ...

... as in the link "Why people believe weird things" - at a skeptic site ...

I have to be honest in saying i still do feel the initial impulse to 'defend' my point of view when a skeptic mocks or scoffs at such things - astral travel, ESP, aliens, NDE, OOBE, auras, benefits of meditation, higher states of awareness etc ... but it is good in one sense as it forces me to ask just WHY do I see things this way ... yet having spent so much time myself as an 'atheist' I fully realise that no words of mine are likely to budge anyone one millimeter ... :)

My initial response was along these lines - If you spend your days trying to restrict and constrict reality so that you can wrap yur intellect around it, your journey is bound to be unbearably linear ... it really does work like that - reality (and your experience of it is as bounded or as unbounded as you believe it to be ... and this desire to limit and constrain is always sponsored by deep-rooted fears ... though one never realises this until one has transcended such fears - life's a bit strange that way ... :)

I had a few other variations on the same basic theme ... such as ... The desire to label people and phenomena is sponsored by fear. The mind in its more sublime states attaches no labels of any description ... and one experiences these sublime states through ... you guessed it ... meditation ...

Then while I was walking the dog ... I vaguely remember reading somewhere or other that Buddha urged his disciples & teachers not to perform 'miraculous' or 'superhuman' feats as the greatest mircle is the transformation of the huan heart and really turning hatred into love is the only 'magic' trick worthy of focusing our attention on. So, in the final analysis, seeing auras or levitating or reading people's minds are not terribly important except as indicators that each of us is vastly more than we ordinarily allow ourselves to believe we are ...

More to come ... as if that's not enough already to go away and work on or scratch your head about ... :)

... yes, it can be a tough balancing act - taking on board the advice of letting go of the desire to 'defend' one's point of view while still holding onto the mystery & wonder of it all ... you know what I mean ...

One other discussion centred around 'spontaneous remissions' and the fact that some people who never seek 'alternative' therapies like meditation or spiritual healing sometimes experience such a seemingly 'miraculous' recovery is cited as evidence thatthe others are not miraculous or resulting from prayer etc. But what if the other cases had relatives or even strangers praying for them - this whole paragraphneeds reworking but you catch my drift ... and if you don't then don't worry about it ... :)

Ultimately it's a pointless 'debate' really - if a person doesn't see life itself as a miracle then ... but that can change ... sometimes unexpectedly ... with a spontaneous remission from that impoverished world-view ... :)

And yes, ultimately whether you believe in ESP. levitation, miracle cures etc may be of little consequence ... but when someone claims you can be "happy no matter what" or that you can learn to consciously transform your painful experiences like anger or hatred or jealousy into positive experiences and that anyone can learn to do this ... you'd have to be crazy to dismiss such a claim without giving it at least some consideration and personal exploration ... :) - read the messages I sent in a really 'funny' mood - around # 55193 ...

... I'm back again ... with a few random thoughts about 'hallucinations' - well it was in response to a forum question - here is what i evenntually came up with ...

Apologies seem to be in order again. It looks like I skipped over your most interesting (recent) question which touches on some fundamental questions about the nature of reality & experience & the senses. You asked if I had ever had a similar experience to the one you described with the crow. Well, I must be one of the few people ever diagnosed with schizophrenia who hasn't experienced a hallucination. I feel somewhat cheated. :)

Anyway, your question does raise (in my mind anyways) some fascinating issues. Actually, before I get to them, I have been watching The Matrix again and one of the memorable scenes is where one of the characters asks, "What is real? How do you define real? If real is what you can see, what you can touch, what you can smell and hear then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

The whole question of hallucinations and 'chemical imbalances' has intrigued me ever since a psychiatrist first tried to sell me the notion. I never bought it. :) The conventional psychiatric 'wisdom' is that the hallucinations and delusions and disordered thinking associated with schizophrenia is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. You'd expect such a claim to be suported by some hard evidence. I am unaware of such evidence if it exists. I mean has any doctor ever examined the chemical balance of a human brain while it is functioning 'normally' and then compared the results with the brain of somebody expriencing a hallucination. I doubt if it's even possible. The most complex and mysterious region of the physical universe is the grey matter that rests inside our skulls. It rests more peacefully in some skulls than in others. :)

Even if one accepts the 'chemical imbalance' theory (and that's all it is) it's not much of an explanation in my book. The obvious follow-up question is to ask what caused the imbalance. One of my pet analogies is to compare it with a cancer patient in extreme pain. A doctor can administer morphine to 'take away' the pain but nobody is suggesting that the source of the experience of pain is merely a chemical imbalance in the brain. The morphine hasn't removed the source of the pain, merely the awareness of it. The cancer is the actual source of the pain and left untreated the pain will return. This leaves aside the whole question of what caused the cancer ...

If we define a hallucination as 'seeing something which isn't there', this raises the question of how do we establish what is or is not 'there'. Which brings us right back to the Matrix quote. Usually we do rely on consensus. If only one person in a room sees something then they are likely to dismiss it as their eyes 'playing tricks' on them. There are many schools of thought that declare the entire realm of physical 'reality' to be a kind of sophisticated mass hallucination as we discussed a few weeks back - comparing it with a movie that our spirits are watching.

I hate to labour the point about 'proof' but with regards auras that would have to remain forever an open question in your mind as nobody could ever prove beyond all doubt what they are seeing through their eyes. Many believe that seeing auras, astral travel, telepathy etc are perfectly 'natural' human capabilities but they need to be developed and practiced. For the sake of argument, consider the pilot of a jumbo jet. He wasn't born knowing how to fly a jet and if he never took lessons he'd be quite unlikely to be able to successfully fly one. Only a relatively tiny percentage of the population have developed this ability to fly a jumbo. If you took a person from the time of Christ and time-transported to the present day ... well, firstly they would be astonished that there even are such things as planes but if you said a human being can fly one of them he'd probably question your sanity as it was not part of his everyday experience. This analogy needs some major repairs but I trust you catch my drift.

Okay, we don't normally see our senses in this light. We see them as basically operating on automatic pilot if you'll excuse the terrible pun. :) And maybe in 99.99% of people they do operate this way at this point in human history. At the end of the day, I suppose the issue of seeing or not seeing auras is not really of paramount importance anyway. I'm far more interested in ways of cultivating compassion, kindness, gratitude, wonder & forgiveness.

Would you be more likely to believe that auras are 'real' if MOST people claimed to see them rather than a FEW people even if you yourself never saw auras? Is a claim somehow more believable when made by the majority of the population? Most people would say so. Likewise, with our addiction to linear thinking, most people would deduce that if I swallowed one of these lovely blue pills for the first time two hours ago and now I'm seeing blood and tears seeping from one of my garden gnomes as it strolls amongst the rose bushes then there is most likely a causal link between the two events.

I seemed to have meandered a bit but that's okay there are no rules in this place. :) Oh yes, the major piece of 'evidence' for psychiatrists to believe that the experiences of schizophrenia are due to a 'chemical imbalance' would seem to be the anti-psychotic drugs that have been developed in the past 50 years or so. People who take these medications often report their hallucinations disappear - but not in every case which is verrrry interesting. But that brings us back to my morphine analogy and tracing the causal link back to its actual source. Is everyone following this? If not, don't worry. All will be revealed in the fullness of time. One of my other pet analogies about 'chemical imbalance' is to consider someone experiencing the fright of their life and the adrenalin races through their bloodstream. Nobody would suggest this excess of adrenalin in the blood is what caused the experience of fright. It's the other way around.

This whole question reminds me of a scene from a movie where the psychiatrist proclaims that one of his patients only believes he is talking to God because the dopamine receptors in his brain are malfunctioning. One of his friends replies by saying that maybe when God wishes to talk to somebody that is how he does it. :) The psychiatirst then says that God is just a concept of man and his friend whimsically suggests that many people see man as a concept of God.

Yes, we do make certain assumptions about our senses. We tend to assume they function in a more or less identical manner in all humans unless there is some damage to the sensory organ. With sight, we tend to assume that if we see something with our eyes then the object exists in some physical form and is thus 'real'. We tend to believe that if only a minority of people see something that they are probably hallucinating or partaking of mind-altering substances. Our eyes are actually extremely limited in that they only detect wavelengths of light that are part of the visible spectrum. There is a vast spectrum of wavelengths that our eyes do not normally 'see'. That alone tells us that there is a LOT more to reality than what meets the eye. Not quite sure where I'm headed with all this. It's rather a fuzzy and expansive answer to one little question. But I do feel the general public needs to hear this. :)

In short, no I have never experienced an actual hallucination but there was that one time aboard the alien mothership where I thought I saw a pink dinosaur wearing a dinner suit and singing Waltzing Matilda but it had been a long day visiting other galaxies and speaking with various microscopic entities so maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me. It's hard to be sure. :) (It's also less fun)

(Editor's Note: Geoff is probably right about the dinosaur being an hallucination. Everyone knows pink dinosaurs invariably wear wetsuits whenever they travel on intergalactic missions)

---

My Dad always told me that the day would come when I would have to let go of my addiction to linear thinking if i ever hoped to know the truth of my existence. But did I listen to him ...

{More in journal around November 19 to 23 or so}

A few more notes from recent scraps of paper -

I don't know that you could ever astablish for certain one way or the other just exactly what information is stored in human DNA and just how that information is used by the body, the mind and the soul ...

Actually, for me personally, the deepest mystery by far is how I came from being 100% cynical and closed-off and thinking all this spiritual stuff is a bunch of hooey ... to where I am now, where most days I am cerifiably blissful in a way I could never have begun to imagine previously ... I like the mystery but it means when someone asks me 'how did you get from that place to where you are now' ... I have to honestly say i haven't a clue ... it all makes me believe in guardian angels or some higher powere ... but then i also realise that sparks questions in skeptics minds of why a FEW people should experience such 'miraculous' transformations and millions do not ... I wish I knew the answer to that ...

But I have learned that the mystics ARE right ... words and linear thinking can take you only so far ... then you need to let go of them ...

... and people sitting around waiting for 'proof' will be waiting a while ... I mean if the only sure way to explore the nature of consciousness is through meditative techiniques ... then again I have seen at various websites that people adverise CD's which promise to 'synchronise' your brain waves to match the results of deep and expert meditators ... hmm ...

Science analyses the graspable. Meditation explores the ungraspable.

Nobody can upset you without your consent. (Could replace the word 'upset' with any of the following: 'irritate', 'anger', 'insult' etc etc) Could also replace the phrase 'your consent' with 'your active participation' ...

Then on a nice walk around the park feeding the ducks and the seagulls ... a few more thoughts flowed through my open mind ... posessing and caressing me ...

'Can I play with madness' ... NOT many people can - it's a bit like jumping out of a plane and trusting you'll land on something soft only far more dangerous & exciting ... and those who can manage such trust gain access to regions of consciousness that are utterly inaccessible to normal folk ... in actual fact, these regions are beyond anything that the normals are capable of imagining and therein lies the problem ... on the other hand, there are always numerous ways of looking at human experience ... perhaps those things which we currently label as 'madness' may in reality be perfectly natural states of consciousness and access to these states has simply been blocked by holding onto a variety of fears ...

yes, feeding the ducks at a locl park this afternoon I had the idea for yet another analogy or visualisation techinique ... I mean there is 'nthing new under the sun' - merely an infinite number of ways of expressing the same truth of our existence ...

Anyway, this idea was to visualise the human mind as being like a garden. Actually, it was part of an idea for somethingto post to the Chopra Forum - (starting out quite tongue-in-cheek as usual)

In case anyone was wondering, my last post contained several inaccuracies. What can I say? Words are quite inadequate vehicles to unveil the splendour of our existence. Reality (and your experience of it) is as bounded or boundless as you believe it is.

Think of your mind as a garden. Each experience is a flower that has grown from a previously planted seed. The seeds are your thoughts and beliefs. You have the choice as to whether you sow the seeds of anger or the seeds of forgiveness; the seeds of iritability and annoyance or the seeds of tolerance and equanimity. Others to list are - hatred, greed, cynicism, etc versus gratitude, wonder, peace, kindness, understanding, compassion and all the other good stuff. Openness.

The mind is very fertile ground, like the earth itself. And like the earth, it is absolutely impartial. A weed will grow as well as a flower (some would argue that weeds actually grow faster and easier than flowers) ...

I had the iea that this visualisation may be a more appealing technique for those who haven't gotten into meditation as such ... and many people don't ... though I would say that pulling up the existing weeds and the thought patterns and belief structures that sowed the seeds of those weeds probly does require meditation to probe a person's own habits deeply enough to turn the soil over. I hope I'm not labouring this analogy too much. There's nothing worse than flogging a dead horse ... :)

As with seeds, the flowers don't appear overnight and if they aren't nourished they may briefly flower and then wither ...

---

---

---

       

Back to Home Page