I am new on this group

[FunkyPlasma]

"stillness...when the mind becomes like a peaceful lake with no ripples"

source: http://www.ptsdassociation.com/ptsd-coping-strategies.php?Qigong%20and%20Tai%20Chi%20Chuan%20-11


Love,

Michaelwoof

[lavender orchid]

\!!

[FunkyPlasma]

"“Your beliefs form reality. Your individual beliefs and your joint beliefs. Now the intensity of a belief is extremely important...

And, if you believe, in very simple terms, that people mean you well, and will treat you kindly, they will. And, if you believe that the world is against you, then so it will be in your experience. And, if you believe...IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL BEGIN TO DETERIORATE AT 22, then so you shall.

And, if you believe that you are poor, and always will be, then so your experience will so prove to you. Your beliefs meet you in the face when you look in the mirror. They form your image. You cannot escape your beliefs. They are, however, the method by which you create your experience.

It is important that you here realize that you are not at the mercy of the unexplainable, that you are not at the mercy of events over which you have no control whether those events are psychological events or physical ones, in your terms.

As I have told you, there is little difference if you believe that your present life is caused by incidents in your early infancy or by past lives over which equally you feel you have no control. Your events, your lives, your experiences, are caused by your present beliefs. Change the beliefs and your life changes.” –Seth"

source: http://sethlearningcenter.com/


Love,

Michaelwoof

[FunkyPlasma]

Enlightenment: How to Attain Stillness

 
"Stillness
has no position.


Stillness is not a quality,
an action
or a state of being.


It does not even exist
in the outer world
but behind it.


Everything arises
out of stillness
but stillness
is unaffected
by whatever is arising.


So with this you can understand
that you cannot still anything
in the outer world.


Anything that is arising
is not meant to be stilled.


Thoughts, emotions, actions
are all arising and moving
according to their own nature.


Any trying to control anything
creates conflict.
It takes you further
away from stillness.


Even if you try and still
your mind,
it only pushes you further
into mind
and away from stillness.


But if you allow
everything to move
and change
by itself,
then stillness
begins to reveal itself.


Because if you stop
taking a position.
If you stop being involved
with everything that is moving,
if you stop trying to make things
a certain way,
then automatically,
you begin to experience what you really are
at your essence.


You awaken to stillness,
you realize stillness


and then you learn
to keep coming back
to stillness
and to remain there
for longer periods of time.


It becomes your sanctuary,
your home.


You do not rest there
as a person or a name
or as definition at all.


You rest there as essence
as stillness itself.


The insanity of the outer world
cannot affect it.


The outer world
cannot exist outside of stillness.
But stillness can and does
exist outside of the outer world."

source: http://www.spiritualnow.com/articles/702/1/Enlightenment--How-to-Attain-Stillness/Page1.html
Kip Mazuy


Love,

Michaelwoof

[FunkyPlasma]

"Stillness or emptiness is not an outside object to be grabbed and possessed but is how we are now - except we can't see it.

True stillness is not different from movement and stillness and enlightenment are two sides of the same coin.

Enlightenment can't be "attained" without stillness.

To experience true stillness or enlightenment we have to go beyond the thought of stillness or enlightenment.

It's no use saying literally don't desire stillness or enlightenment from the beginning, otherwise how could we even discuss it.

Enlightenment (or just our inner voice) is the answer to good and bad / heaven and hell."

source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081229224804AALVGhp


Love,

Michaelwoof

[FunkyPlasma]

"Wherever you go in the midst of movement and activity, carry your stillness with you. Then the chaotic movement around you will never overshadow your access to the reservoir of creativity, the field of pure potentiality." -- DeepakChopra

source: http://pencerahan.grouply.com/message/968


Love,

Michaelwoof

[lavender orchid]

too still to say hi to d.c.

[FunkyPlasma]

"Be Still...and Find Enlightenment

By Andrew Cohen

 

When sitting in meditation, it is important to be still and not to move. Relax as much as possible. Be at ease and free from tension but at the same time be alert. Do not concentrate on any particular point; allow your attention to become vast, wide and deep.


Not moving is a metaphor for the enlightened state. One who has realized the goal of liberation is one who never moves, never strays. Even though they may appear to walk and talk, to respond to life just like everybody else, inwardly they never move. That is why it's important to be still, to be completely still.


Profound relaxation and freedom from existential tension is the foundation for extraordinary transformation. Deep relaxation is not simply a pleasant state to be attained, but is the very ground of enlightenment.


It doesn't matter if thoughts come and go. It doesn't matter if feelings come and go, and it doesn't even matter if ecstasy comes and goes. The only thing that matters is not moving, remaining completely at ease and being fully awake.


Some people say that when we meditate, we shouldn't move physically. Others say that when we meditate our mind shouldn't wander. But the not moving I'm speaking about is deeper than that. It means never straying from our true nature.


Sooner or later after entering the path, we will have the liberating experience of wanting nothing and needing nothing. That is when we discover what our true nature is all about. That is when we fall deep within the Self. Like falling into the mouth of a volcano, down and down and down we go, sinking so deep that we even forget about the falling. When this happens, there is deep contentment because one recognizes that there is absolutely nothing missing.


The only way to understand what enlightenment is, is to experience for yourself a mystery which cannot be imagined and a depth which cannot be measured. In that depth, you will find out what it's like to want nothing at all. In that freedom from wanting, there is a peace so profound that the greatest challenge is simply not moving away from it. When I speak about not moving, this is what I'm referring to.


Moving away takes various shapes and forms. One form that it takes is the deeply held conviction that "something is wrong." This one catches almost everybody. When something is wrong, we want to find a way to fix it and we abandon our seat in order to find a solution. Through the act of seeking for a solution, unknowingly we wander away from where we were. But if we had resisted the temptation to do so, we would never have left that place that is free from wanting, which is where we were before we became convinced that there was a problem we needed to overcome.


As we look inside ourselves with more and more depth, we will see this desire to move away. We will see that this desire is the primordial impulse to become, which is for most of us all that we know. The impulse to become is antithetical to non-being the unconditional and unimaginable peace we have discovered. You see, unconsciously, subconsciously and even consciously we're always running away from that place of perfect peace. To where? To where we think we want to be.


So if we want to experience meditation, if we want to know that which answers every question but which the mind cannot comprehend, we must learn to resist the temptation to move away. The greatest challenge for the individual who wants to be free more than anything else is not to experience the truth which is the explosive recognition that one has never been away from home but is the heroic practice of ceaselessly resisting the temptation to ever move away from that truth.


Unless we can succeed in liberating ourselves from the compulsive need to move away which is the desire to become, to have, to be, it will be impossible to experience the kind of depth that I'm speaking about for more than an instant. Indeed, a life that expresses true liberation is a life in which we have not only experienced this depth, this stillness, this inconceivable fullness once or twice, but is one in which we are permanently abiding there. Unless when we turn within we're willing to leave the world behind in a way that is bold and fearless, the likelihood of a radical transformation actually occurring is very small.


For the ego, for that part of ourselves that only wants to be separate, understand that not moving represents dissolution and death. You see, not moving ultimately returns us to that profound and mysterious place where we were before we were born, before creation ever occurred. And the whole point of meditation is to experience that place, to know that ineffable mystery that reveals itself when we've left the world far behind while being fully created, fully human. That means not avoiding in any way the mysterious implications of this paradox. When we have tasted the end of becoming which is the extraordinary experience of perfect peace, even if only temporarily, our understanding of what it means to be a human being changes dramatically.


When meditation is deep and profound, that which is created recognizes itself to be that which is uncreated. It is only then that our potential for enlightenment reveals itself. But when we see ourselves to be only that which is created, that which is in a constant state of becoming, we will remain unconscious of our own unlimited depth. As long as we see ourselves to be only that which is in a constant state of becoming, all we will know is the endless striving, the perpetual movement that is its nature.


But when we recognize ourselves to be that which is uncreated, the perpetual striving to become ceases. That's when our perspective undergoes a radical shift. In an instant it becomes deep, vast and limitless. The radical transformation which is enlightenment occurs when we recognize ourselves to be that which is created and that which is uncreated, and never move from that realization. It is only the knowing of that which is uncreated in the midst of creation, that makes it possible to be free in this world.


Meditation can be the door to the direct experience of this kind of unconditional freedom. The way it works is not complicated. The recognition and discovery of that which is uncreated, supported by the renunciation of the compulsive need to become, liberates those who are truly sincere from the tyrannical grip of the ego. It is then that the pure conscious intelligence that is the source and expression of life begins to manifest its own true nature which is love. There is no why to this. This love, which is inconceivable, simply is. And it can only be known when the ceaseless striving to have and to become has been transcended.


That's why when we sit in meditation, it's so important to be still and not to move."

source: http://www.yogachicago.com/mar00/andrewcohen.shtml


Love,

Michaelwoof

[FunkyPlasma]

Osho Quotes on Enlightenment


Zen believes in sudden enlightenment because Zen believes that you are already enlightened; just a certain situation is needed which can wake you up. Just a little alarm may do the work. If you are a little alert, just a little alarm and you are suddenly awake. And all the dream with all its long long desires, journeys, kingdoms, mountains, oceans...they have all disappeared in a single instant.
 

Your enlightenment is perfect only when silence has come to be a celebration. Hence my insistence that after you meditate you must celebrate. After you have been silent you must enjoy it, you must have a thanksgiving. A deep gratitude must be shown towards the whole just for the opportunity that you are, that you can meditate, that you can be silent, that you can laugh.
 

Enlightenment is always sudden because it is not an achievement; it is already the case. It is only a remembering, it is only a reminding, it is only a recognition. You are already enlightened; you are just not aware of it. It is awareness of that which is already the case.
 

An enlightened person is one who has no barrier between him and existence. And knowledge is a barrier. Knowledge divides you from existence; it keeps you separate. Not knowing unites you. Love is a way of innocence. Innocence is a bridge: knowledge is a wall. Who has ever heard of knowledgeable people becoming enlightened? They are the farthest away from enlightenment. Enlightenment grows only in the soil of innocence.
 

The word 'enlightenment' belongs to the path of meditation. The meditator says, "Enough is enough. Long have I suffered; now let me be free." In fact, he cannot ask. He tries, but he cannot pray -- because to the man on the path of meditation, even prayer is a bondage. Mahavir never prayed, Buddha never prayed. Prayer was meaningless for Buddha; he made all efforts to get out of it.
 

Enlightenment means to live life without any hankering for meaning. Then whatsoever is, is good, and whatsoever is not, that too is good. Then each moment becomes so radiant, so luminous, so fun of fragrance, but still there is no meaning.
 

Nirvan means enlightenment, the state of ultimate realisation, the experience of one’s innermost core, the actualisation of all the potential that one has carried all along, the seed turning into the flower.
 

The ultimate enlightenment means the ultimate dissolution of the ego, the ultimate disappearance of the individual.
 

Try to be so wakeful that you don't fall asleep again. Remain so alert that the future is not allowed to deceive you again as you had allowed it before. What has become past is nothing, but once it is your future then you get deceived by it. Now it is past; now another future is arriving. Every moment future is arriving, and future can deceive you only if you are asleep. Then again it will become past. Now let me tell you one thing: if you remain alert and you don't allow the future to deceive you in the present, the past disappears. Then there is no memory left of it, no trace of it. Then one is just a clean slate, a sky without any clouds, a flame without smoke.
That's what the state of enlightenment is -- so alert that only the witness is real and everything else is nothing but ripples on the surface of the water. Everything is passing, everything is a flux. Only one thing remains and remains and remains, and that is your consciousness, your awareness.
 
 
After enlightenment, you have to disappear. The world is left behind, the body is left behind, the mind is left behind; just your consciousness, as individuality, is still there. To go beyond enlightenment is to go beyond individuality and to become universal. This way, each individual will go on moving into nothingness. And one day, the whole existence moves into nothingness and a great peace, a great night, a deep, dark womb, a great awaiting for the dawn.... And it has been happening always, and each time you are always born on a higher level of consciousness. Enlightenment is the goal of human beings. But those who are enlightened cannot remain static; they will have to move, they will have to change. And now they have only one thing to lose -- themselves. They have enjoyed everything. They have enjoyed the purity of individuality; now they have to enjoy the disappearing of individuality. They have seen the beauty of individuality; now they have to see the disappearance and its beauty, and the silence that follows, that abysmal serenity that follows.
 

The experience of enlightenment is also beyond description, but it has been described by all who have experienced it. They all say it is beyond description and still they describe it -- that it is full of light, that it is full of joy, that it is the ultimate in blissfulness. If this is not description then what is description? I am saying it for the first time: for thousands of years the people who have become enlightened have been saying that it cannot be described, and at the same time have been describing it, have been their whole lives singing it. But beyond enlightenment you certainly enter into a world which is indescribable. Because in enlightenment you still are; otherwise who is feeling the blissfulness, who is seeing the light? Kabir says, "... as if thousands of suns have risen." Who is seeing it? Enlightenment is the ultimate experience -- but still it is experience, and the experiencer is there. Going beyond it, there is no experiencer.

 
You have to understand one thing: that enlightenment is not an escape from pain but an understanding of pain, an understanding of your anguish, an understanding of your misery -- not a cover-up, not a substitute, but a deep insight: "Why am I miserable, why is there so much anxiety, why is there so much anguish, what are the causes in me that are creating it?" And to see those causes clearly is to be free from them. Just an insight into your misery brings a freedom from misery. And what remains is enlightenment. Enlightenment is not something that comes to you. It is when pain and misery and anguish and anxiety have been understood perfectly well and they have evaporated because now they have no cause to exist in you -- that state is enlightenment.

 
Nirvana means utter cessation, all disappears, there is simple emptiness. In that emptiness there is tremendous consciousness, fulfillment, but no centre to be fulfilled. To know it, it has to be experienced….

 
Enlightenment is not a desire, is not a goal, is not an ambition. It is a dropping of all goals, a dropping of all desires, a dropping of all ambitions. It is just being natural. That’s what is meant by flowing.

 
Enlightenment is the ultimate peak of sanity -- when one becomes perfectly sane, has come to a point where silence, serenity, consciousness are twenty-four hours his, waking or sleeping. There runs a current of tranquility, blissfulness, benediction which is a nourishment, food from the beyond. Eastern psychology accepts mind as the lowest part of human consciousness -- dismal and dark. You have to go beyond it. And enlightenment is not the end, because it is only individual consciousness. Individuality is still like two banks of a river. The moment the river moves into the ocean, all banks disappear, all boundaries are annihilated. You have gone beyond enlightenment.
 
source: http://www.messagefrommasters.com/Spiritual_Quotes/Osho/osho_Enlightenment_quotes1.htm


Love,

Michaelwoof

[lavender orchid]

 

[FunkyPlasma]

Narcissistic Personality Disorder Test‏‏:


http://www.lovesicklove.com/2010/10/narcissistic-personality-disorder-test.html
 

Love,

Michael

[FunkyPlasma]

Agoraphobia Test‏‏:


http://www.severe-social-anxiety.com/Agoraphobia_Online_Test.html


Love,

Michael
 

[FunkyPlasma]

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) Test:


http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm



Love,

Michael

[lavender orchid]

\!!

guilty as charged, on all counts.
awaiting life sentence, dead or alive. from autopilot.



dear Michael: in the above sense, yours truly has never been more UN-enlightened.