Gaia Community

Page 35

suzanne [no longer around] said May 9, 2006, 12:36 AM:

Open up your favorite spiritual book. The old testament, new testament, upanishads, edgar cayce, The Berenstein Bears Go for a Walk, whatever.

Turn it to page 35. Skim through the page.

Is there a sentence or an idea that stands out to you? What is it? Why? What are your thoughts on it?

Is there an image? How does it make you feel?

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Re: Page 35

suzanne [no longer around] said May 9, 2006, 12:57 AM:

My response is right here:
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Re: Page 35

~C4Chaos said May 9, 2006, 1:22 AM:

it's not a classic spiritual text, but when i opened God's Debris by Scott Adams, here' what i get:

“Well, I don’t think rocks would be very interesting to
God,” I said. “They just sit on the ground and erode.”
“You think that way because you are unable to see the
storm of activity at the rock’s molecular level or the level
beneath that, and so on. And you are limited by your perception
of time. If you watched a rock your entire life it
would never look different. But if you were God and could
observe the rock over fifteen billion years as though only a
second had passed, the rock would be frantic with activity.

Re: Page 35

suzanne [no longer around] said May 9, 2006, 1:46 AM:

that's friggin awesome.

Re: Page 35

HeyOK said May 10, 2006, 8:04 AM:

When I opened and counted 35 pages into A Guide For The Advanced Soul - A Book of Insight I received this from Krishnamurti

“Only in relationship can you know yourself, not in abstraction and certainly not in isolation.

The movement of behaviour is a sure guide to yourself, it's the mirror of your consciousness; this mirror will reveal it's content, the images, the attachments, the fears, the lonliness, the joy and sorrow.

Poverty lies in running away from this, either in its sublimations or its identities.”

How perfectly timely and appropriate for my new relationships here at zaadz. I like these little assignments though assignment feels a little heavy for the fun. Gives me a chance to test my skills - cause look above if all goes well I think I've made a link. A linka dink dink - I'll do a backflip.

DITTO on Suzannes response to ~C4Chaos above. Luv All!

Re: Page 35

WH said May 10, 2006, 11:15 AM:

Nice idea. By the way, this is called bibliomancy. It's generally thought of as a way to know the future – but I think it's more like Tarot in that it can reveal whatever is lurking in the psyche that needs attention.

My current favorite book right now is Pema Chodron's Comfortable with Uncertainty. Here is what I found on page 35:

It's helpful to always remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing. It's definitely not meant to repress anything, and it's not intended to encourage grasping, either. Allen Ginsberg used the expression “surprise mind.” You sit down and–wham!–a rather nasty surprise arises. So be it. This part is not to be rejected but compassionately acknowledged as “thinkking” and let go. Then–wow!–a very delicious surprise appears. Okay. This part is not to be clung to but compassionately acknowledged as “thinking” and let go. The surprises are endless.

This is a favorite book of mine that I use for exactly this purpose when I feel like I need a little input from a “teacher.”

Re: Page 35

aeryck said May 10, 2006, 1:26 PM:

How about Page 35 from One Taste, by Ken Wilber:

Let it start right here, right now, with us -with you and me- and with our commitment to breathe into infinity until infinity alone is the only statement that the world will recognize. Let a radical realization shine from our faces, and roar from our hearts, and thunder from our brains - this simple fact, this obvious fact: that you, in the very immediateness of your present awareness, are in fact the entire world, in all its frost and fever, in all its glories and its grace, in all its triumphs and its tears. You do not see the sun, you are the sun; you do not hear the rain, you are the rain; you do not feel the earth, you are the earth. And in that simple, clear, unmistakable regard, translation has ceased in all domains, and you have transformed into the very Heart of the Kosmos itself - and there, right there, very simply, very quietly, it is all undone.

Re: Page 35

Brondu said May 11, 2006, 10:20 PM:

That I had wanted to travel anywhere, let alone Rome, had sent a shock through the family dinner table.

- p35 - Eleanor Rigby
a novel by Douglas Coupland

Re: Page 35

Sharon Joy said May 12, 2006, 9:04 AM:

ok… first thing i picked up…. “Be Here Now”

Page 35:
The Buddhists say: (I’m talking about the non-dualistic Buddhists)
Cut out all this middle stuff!
They say:
Don’t get hung up on all these different desire trips. Just go beyond it all.

BUDDHA’S 4 NOBLE TRUTHS
Are very straightforward and very simple.

The First One concerns the fact that life always has in it the element of unfulfillment:
Call it Suffering
Birth ~ Old Age ~ Sickness ~ Not getting what you want ~ Getting what you don’t want ~
Even getting what you want in this physical world is going to be SUFFERING because:
You’re going to lose it!
It’s always in Time!
Anything that is in time is going to pass away.

Lay not up your treasures
Where moth and rust doth corrupt

That’s the trap of time ~ As long as you want anything in time ~ It’s going to pass because
Time ~ Passes

Re: Page 35

Catherine said May 14, 2006, 2:44 PM:

That was an interesting exercise and a wonderful suggestion.

Page 35 of the book that I’m currently reading, “In the Buddha’s words, An anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon” from Wisdom Publications included passages on “A world in turmoil. The origins of conflict, and, Why do beings live in hate?”

That was my launching off point for this entry, called “What? No pie?” – where inner and outer conflicts really were remedied by taking the step to be spiritually generous rather than spiritually stingy.

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I hope it provides food for thought.

Imagine all the people….living for today… ooo ooo ooooo!

–Catherine–*

Re: Page 35

J~E~S~S said May 14, 2006, 8:42 PM:

My bible was within arm's reach. Page thirty five is Genesis 17:17, where Abraham laughs at the idea that his ninety year old wife will bear him a child. God tells Abraham that his son shall be called Isaac.

This is an interesting reminder that God is in our lives, working miracles and such, but here we sit, laughing at the will of God! Impossible, we think. Well, in this story, Sarah really does get pregnant and give birth to Isaac, at 90 years old!

Re: Page 35

Sadhana said Aug 10, 2006, 1:02 PM:

Page 35 of The Portable DO IT! by Peter McWilliams:

“The naked “but” is what we use when ignoring our own good advice. When ignoring the unbearably good advice of others, we use the hyphenated version: “yes-but.” When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them. Yes-but means, “Here come the arguments for my limitations.” Or, if you favor acronyms…

YES-BUT = Your Evaluation is Superb - Behold the Underlying Truth.”

Seemed like a good quote to get me started on my blog, which I've been yes-butting for weeks now. But I don't know how, I don't have time, but but but….

So thanks for the blog-starting ideas, I'll be using them!

Re: Page 35

FreeFun said Aug 10, 2006, 3:15 PM:

From Seven Herbs: Plants As Teachers: “Every healing plant, mineral, or animal is the embodiment of a conflict in the environment which has been reconciled.”

This is a chapter on the Easter Lily and how it embodies the Adam and Eve myth. Adam means “earth”, a lump of clay. Eve means “life”. This is a myth of how separation began. Out of the innocence comes hard work, pain, and fighting. This is the the conundrum of life. Creation separates us from Unity.

Embodied in healing is the resolution of the separation. We have a path back to unity through the resolution of the oppositions. The healing object has an energetic template that our soul uses to grow into health, another word for wholeness.

Next time you see an Easter Lily, remind yourself to see the seeming contradiction of purity and brazen sexuality. Then, dance with unemcumbered passion.

Re: Page 35

Suzanna said Aug 16, 2006, 2:23 PM:

From the New Illuminated Rumi:
“Come raise a joyful noise, for we have discovered the Friend, Beloved, and Guide…”

Re: Page 35

Diane [no longer around] said Aug 17, 2006, 7:50 AM:

I happen to have Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift From The Sea right here. Page 35 is the last page of the chapter titled “Channelled Whelk.”

     “… I can only carry back my little channelled whelk. It will sit on my desk in Connecticut, the remind me of the ideal of a simplified life, encourage me in the game I played on the beach. To ask how little, not how much, can I get along with. To say – is it necessary? – when I am tempted to add one for accumulation to my life, when I am pulled toward one more centrifugal activity.
     “Simplification of outward life is not enough. It is merely the outside. But I am starting with the outside. I am looking at the outside of a shell, the outside of my life – the shell. The complete answer is not to be found on the outside, in an outward mode of living. This is only a technique, a road to grace. The final answer, I know, is always inside. But the outside can give a clue, can help one to find the inside answer. One is free, like the hermit crab, to change one's shell.
     “Channelled whelk, I put you down again, but you have set my mind on a journey, up an inwardly winding spiral staircase of thought.”