Gaia: Now I Can See the Moon - SPIRITUALITY - On My Own

Re: On My Own

http://SilentTemple.gaia.com — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:06:47 GMT

Most "success" is commercial. :O)

Re: On My Own

http://hohochiheaven.gaia.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:56:12 GMT

Of course, being awkward I have the opposite problem. Having mastered some exciting new techniques in music I seem unable to find any students. It seems that most people are happier with what they already know.
Perhaps there is an opening here for some kind of "wisdom dating agency"

Re: On My Own

http://christine-arpita.gaia.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:13:48 GMT

hi there...

hi Lucius and ST - i like what you wrote. "when the student is ready - the teacher will appear" ... yes - however, seems to me that sometimes the teacher is no teacher - or sometimes the teacher is simply how one lives life in the relationships that are present now. then there is the opportunity to look at your thoughts - dissapointments, dissillusionments, longings, neediness...

and when you visit a sangha then you can see the enormous projections that the students place on the teacher.... and if the teacher is a good teacher then the teacher will be aware of the projections - but will not identify with them... seeing these projections as a "step along the way"... because the mind needs to hold onto something for awhile... and a teacher and specific form of teachings would do fine (like taking refuge) - that is, until the mind no longer needs to hold onto something.... and a good teacher will know this and have no attachment to having students - or not.

who knows why some have a physical teacher and others don't? - neither is higher or more evolved or special than the other... and someone not having a teacher can be more attached to mind than someone who does... or vise versa.
In the tibetan lineage that i have my loose association with, it is taught that guru yoga is central to "success". when one identifies with the guru so that the blessing of the lineage can take place.(which is the recognition of the natural state - a pipeline of naked awareness as embodied through a lineage) .. but this can be easily misunderstood by people who dismiss the value of a guru-student relationship. there are though, levels,for lack of a better way to describe,of maturity - of perceiving what the guru actually is... students without teachers misunderstand this, students with teachers misunderstand this and lots of teachers misunderstand this...

anyway... blah blah blah...
thing is - there is a danger regardless of having an embodied teacher or not - of identifying one's own egoic self as a master... and that is problematic and does not loosen the knots of mind...

oh - mind is so subtle and tricky...
there is though a beautiful balance of humanness in it's natural state... of seeing things as they are, not hiding from anything ... not hiding in thought or hiding in religion or spirituality, not hiding in a cloistered protected little life...

because we are not separate from anything...
from the underpaid staff of the developing country that made your computer, or the clothes you wear, or picked the tea or coffee beans you consume...
not hiding from ANY of those relationships that already are present.
the balance of being human is the common empathy. of bliss and joy and also of immense sorrow... and being fine with it. but don't believe me... live your experience. holy crap... why am i typing all of this... i better press the "post reply" button before i delete it all.

Re: On My Own

http://SilentTemple.gaia.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:28:35 GMT

Hi Lucius! :O)

Thanks for joining the group! :O)

You know ... in the heart, we look and look for the master, the spiritual mom or dad that has our best interests in mind and heart - someone to help us ... and for some like us, it never really happens. For the longest time I thought, "What is wrong with these so called spiritual people?" But all along, I really knew the answer. And now I realize, I am a master, and that this understanding and relating was always in me. It's a good feeling. Once feeling, "If only this!" or "If only that," the entire Universe now stands mysteriously behind me as a great benediction and affirmation, and each day, I am so grateful just to breathe, just to see, just to hear, just to smell, just to do a little thing here or there.

“You go into the marketplace barefooted, unadorned,

Smeared with mud, covered with dust, smiling.

Using no supernatural power

You bring the withered trees to bloom.”

Kuoan

Re: On My Own

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:54:08 GMT

I've felt the same way (re: the original question in this thread). When I realized Buddhism was right for me, I studied a lot. I found sanghas, but none ever seemed to be right. I think this was mostly because I had expectations that were not realistic. I have been a lone practitioner (a term I use loosely) for about six years now (haven't really kept track).

I've taken refuge twice - once in a Gelugpa ceremony that was so impersonal (50+ people, Tibetan-only - no translation) that it reminded me of my military swearing-in ceremony. The second time was a nice small and personal ceremony with a Nyingma lineage holder. Both times, however, I took the vows seriously and to heart. But that was the extent of it.

I was always told that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. I thought that I had been ready.

I believe I have come to the same conclusion as you. For now, I am on my own. But, then again, am I?

When it comes to my own spiritual growth, isn't that what it is supposed to be - on my own? There are teachings all around every day, it's up to me to learn.

Re: On My Own

http://lifeweaver.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:58:34 GMT

I havent seen rabbit-proof fence thought it might hurt too much nearly ready though, Careful of Once were Warriors its gutwrenching. I cried all through it.

Re: On My Own

http://ingebrita.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:18:48 GMT

Jenny, I've been so frustrated since yesterday trying to remember the name of a movie that came to mind when you mentioned the Stolen Generation. Finally it has just come to me: Rabbit-Proof Fence. Have you seen it? Is it dealing with the same aboriginal people you are referring to?
I have not seen Once Were Warriors and so have just added it to my Netflix list. Will let you know when I watch it.

Re: On My Own

http://druidcircle.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:44:31 GMT

that's how any kind of spiritual healing used to be seen here too, do the drugs first, then as a last resort healing, it has turned around now. I think that if the healing de-stresses then it has gone a long way to helping the distress someone feels at being ill

Re: On My Own

http://lifeweaver.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:40:59 GMT

The Geography of Lograire was about cargo culture but was a poem I think.

Re: On My Own

http://lifeweaver.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:34:43 GMT

Thats interesting. Some hospitals here allow reiki and other alternative healing but only in the ocology wards, its like you have to be terminal and it doesnt matter, last resort.

Re: On My Own

http://druidcircle.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:15:54 GMT

Hi Jen, it's such a shame spirituality is swept under the carpet, I think it's because people are scared what they might find lurking in their own psyches. They are too afraid to open the door and see the light!
Our local hospital is now running a reiki unit, so things are changing over in England, albeit very slowly

Best wishes for your project
Tai

Re: On My Own

http://SilentTemple.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:10:33 GMT

No. It was an article about Cargo Culture.

Oh, I'm sorry to say Jim died last year. He was a great guy!

Re: On My Own

http://lifeweaver.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 04:26:21 GMT

Was it a poem? Was it the Geography of Lograire?

Re: On My Own

http://lifeweaver.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 04:13:21 GMT

It is a big job Tai but I have to try and keep it contained. I have 2 supervisors but they wont be doing any of it for me and I have no funding and have even been discouraged from applying by 1 supervisor. I applied last year for funding from Health but missed out. Spirituality isnt considered important enough. Although a big hospital in Sydney recently did research into spirituality in health care in the hospital and had about 8 researchers on it.
My problem is i'm stubborn and am doing it my way so people arent inclined to help me. My response to that is I need to be passionate about what I do and theres no point starting something I wont finish becasue it doesnt inspire me. If had a few dolloars for each person who has confided in me they would like to research something similar... They all confess to being too scared to be regarded as a bit weird or lose respect in their field.
To be honest I really dont care. I've been around too long and worked in too many jobs to worry what other people think.

Re: On My Own

http://SilentTemple.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:03:55 GMT

The horrible results of Colonialism are global.

Island peoples were particularly hard hit. Thomas Merton wrote a beautiful article about it called ... Cargo Culture or Cago Culture or something like that - and it explained so many of life's dysfunctional dynamics. I asked one of Merton's friends, Jim Knight, about the Merton article I had lost but he only knew of their friend Ed Rice writing on the subject (However, Merton and Ed would agree to write on subject simultaneously), and I contacted Merton's monastery and they were clueless but I noticed on a recent documentary about Merton they cited him having written on the subject. I WANT that article. Brilliant!

Re: On My Own

http://SilentTemple.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:38:53 GMT

Jenny wrote, "Maybe Cherith you are the person your ancestors have chosen to carry
the spirituality through the dark days when other family members dont
feel the pull."

That's SO beautiful!

Re: On My Own

http://druidcircle.gaia.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:44:00 GMT

This sounds like a big job, are you working with others on this project.
Love Tai

Re: On My Own

http://lifeweaver.gaia.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:28:57 GMT

This is why I want to do research to bring it out more and trying to make spirituality an important part of working in health. As workers we have a tendency to be floundering around trying to avoid it and its the basis of everything we do.

Re: On My Own

http://druidcircle.gaia.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:37:53 GMT

I am feeling what you are saying and it is the truth - going tingly just reading. You are doing very important work and are obviously in the right place at the right time. Your interaction with the young boy was so valuable to him and his mother - they will have benefitted enormously from the meeting you had with them.

It can be a difficult job to hold the light for the family and it is important that if anyone feels on their own to join a group,so they can have support and encouragement.

Re: On My Own

http://lifeweaver.gaia.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:34:04 GMT

I have seen whale rider. Great movie. Have you seen Once were warriors. That shows a different side. It was filmed in the same region that my husband Colin grew up in and last time we went to New Zealand we drove past the hotel where much of it was filmed. Both movies point to the need to access the cultural and spiritual strengths of a people to overcome the trauma caused by colonosation and industrialisation though they dont quite put it that way.