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  • Bill Smith

    From Bill Smith on The Whole Internal and External World

    Beautiful Sylvia. I love this, though I haven’t solved the mystery of who I think I am.
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    2022/03/04 at 4:08 pm
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    From H Hubbs on Rumi: A Community of the Spirit

    Thank you David (-; I want to be gentle in my reply to you.

    “Confusion” arises in the finite mind.

    Is a “vexation of spirit” a welcome opportunity?

    Thank you for your openness to “work” with it,
    to allow your “I don’t like this”… and to inquire into the assumed “me”, here and now.

    And on another level it is also legitimate to keep it simple and say “I don’t like this poem” and move on…

    Life as art, not a problem.

    Who cares?
    … but Love.

    Who am I?
    Not the one I think to be.

    How to discern “mind” from “myself” (Mooji asks this)?

    Peace, inner space, presence.

    Thank you!

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    2022/03/02 at 5:08 pm
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    From David Spector on Rumi: A Community of the Spirit

    I find most poetry “a vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes, 6:9), offering confusion in place of the clear prose equivalent. Apparently, this poem is confusing for others as well as for me. I find the three differing explanations at [https://www.quora.com/What-does-Rumi-mean-for-you-in-his-poem-A-Community-of-the-Spirit-when-he-states-Move-outside-the-tangle-of-fear-thinking-Live-in-silence-Glow-down-and-down-in-always-widening-rings-of-being] unconvincing.

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    2022/03/02 at 2:10 pm
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    From David Spector on End all Wars...

    What a wonderful message of peace in time of war. I’m been saying stuff like this in our group and getting criticized for it, but I believe that peace and the survival of innocent civilians as well as of all of nature is of great importance. The extreme advocates of a nonduality in which the relative is abandoned for a dogmatic and imagined absolute is not in keeping with Divine peace and happiness, in my opinion. To me, self realization is the full value of relative and absolute in harmony and unity, not a disparagement of the relative as being “only” an illusion and of no intrinsic importance.

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    2022/03/01 at 11:40 am
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      From Theophilus41 on End all Wars...

      The “me” gets too much criticism and not enough credit in the group 😉
      Is it true?

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      2022/03/02 at 11:09 am
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      From H Hubbs on End all Wars...

      Calling the “relative” an illusion is a temporary teaching tool.

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      2022/03/01 at 11:53 am
  • Walter Cecchini

    From Walter Cecchini on End all Wars...

    It is for noble responsibility of following my dharma and awaken peace that I will “utilize” social media. It has a utility that allows for the reach of more apparent persons to possibly recognize their “apparentness”. Is it MY doing? How could it be? There is no other.

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    2022/02/28 at 2:27 pm
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      From H Hubbs on End all Wars...

      Is “doing” just a mechanical aspect that plays out automatically? Peace or agitation?

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      2022/02/28 at 4:44 pm
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    From David Spector on What to do?

    Thank you for this! Enlightenment and strength go together beautifully. Strength, of course, isn’t just muscular development, but the use of the body to its best advantage.

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    2022/02/27 at 10:13 am
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    From Allen on The Gate

    Yes.

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    2022/02/26 at 11:03 am
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    From David Spector on Nisargadatta Maharaj - "I am" - A Guided Meditation

    I love this simplicity!

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    2022/02/23 at 1:44 pm
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    From David Spector on Suffering a gift?

    Your reply sounds like you did not watch the video. What did you learn from the video? Can you see yourself in the portrayal of a nonduality teacher?

    What is wrong with a form of meditation, like the one I teach, that disappears when it is no longer needed? How is this different in results from what Ramana Maharshi taught (atma vichara)? (Reference: https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/8595/atma-vichara)

    “David, it seems you have a different audience, a different clientele, a different aim, with your TM. ”

    Quite possibly. My audience for my teaching activities is any of the 7.2 billion people in the world who wish to obtain peace, happiness, productivity, harmony, freedom from psychological stress, and fulfillment, or wish the same for others. What is your audience, or the audience you perceive for nonduality? Is it really different? In what way, exactly?

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    2022/02/22 at 10:40 am
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      From H Hubbs on Suffering a gift?

      David, I don’t recall where, but you yourself mentioned recently that your audience is only interested in stress-reduction, without the interest in inquiring into the nature of mind and reality. Do I remember incorrectly?

      If you don’t uproot the source of stress you are only replacing a bucket under a dripping faucet.

      There is nothing wrong with your ‘teaching’, but simply listening to you… you say something on your side seems to be missing, some sort of self-realization (whatever this may be) is missing on your side.

      I hope you don’t take my words personally.

      We share the same interest in demystifying spirituality and to help people see the elephant in the room.

      Peace.

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      2022/02/22 at 12:49 pm
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    From David Spector on Ask and you will receive

    “I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly…” (Bible, John 16:25)

    The best teachings of nonduality are those that are clear to the intellect and the heart. Religion and dogma, which support ego through an attempt to be perfect in the relative world, enjoy using stories, similes, or parables that need interpretation to be understood properly.

    Poetry and art are, in addition, ways of “speaking figuratively”, not ways of speaking plainly and clearly, in my opinion. They can be capable of communicating subtle aspects of thought, such as emotions, but not of effective pointing to our true nature as unbounded wholeness, again in my opinion.

    Any time interpretation is needed, we can be led astray: “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” (Shakespeare, Antonio in Merchant of Venice, Act 1 Scene 3, based on Bible, Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-12)

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    2022/02/22 at 10:30 am
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      From H Hubbs on Ask and you will receive

      Yes David, clear to the intellect and the heart:

      “Awareness does not need to be made free, unlimited, ever-present, peaceful and fulfilled through any effort, discipline or practice. Its nature is already such. All that is required is to recognise this and to lead a life that is consistent with this understanding.”
      Rupert Spira

      Any more questions?

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      2022/02/22 at 12:36 pm