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I’d like to add that it is entirely possible that Judas was an archetype of the advanced disciple who MUST betray his teacher, in order to equal or even surpass his teacher. After all, it was Jesus that said “I must leave in order for the Holy Ghost to enter my disciples” (paraphrase mine.) What is ...

You know, there was a time when that statement gave me the willies. Now, when you consider it, it is so obvious that I am surprised we all aren't aware of it. (Of course, we are, because we ARE it, but habits die hard, we are wrapped in buffers of me and mine that prevent it, and that conditioning i...

Or said another way from the Zen observation: the me is the problem - get the me out of the way, one way or another, and we see or know who we are, and were all along. The me was imposed on us, and through that imposition we narrow ourselves down ignorantly, and unknowingly, much to our misfortune. ...

Windabove: I like that very much!

Yes, whether we are smart or stupid, that’s what we all do, all the time. That explains to me why two different people, listening to the same thing, come away with entirely different understandings, sometimes. That also explains why groups tend to think similarly, without difference, because they ha...

W4 says: "Like the old Gospel song says, "I've never been this homesick before." " I don't know to which home you were referring, but it can be taken either way. In this case, I will take it to mean that there is a homesickness for "the old ways", because in my own case...

Investigating fear, I found that fear generated by spiritual study is fear created by the egocentric mind which, particularly if the study is productive, feels its loss of control and the destruction of its buffers and barriers as a threat, and thus, we experience fear. Thus, to the extent that we a...

UG Krishnamurti, the iconoclastic non-guru who maintained that all human beings are concerned primarily, and exclusively, with their survival, is, in my opinion, correct. I was overwhelmed with this realization this morning when considering desire, and all its multifarious manifestations, including ...

On second thought, let me put it another way: To assert that one is the creator, of a real or unreal universe, is to engage in magical thinking, and may, or may not, result in successful transformation of one's world. To retire from assertions of any kind, to find oneself in a position where the min...

Two quotes following, taken from earlier posts on this thread have prompted me to add my own contribution, and perhaps muddy the picture a bit?: “Shortly after posting that, I happened to open ACIM’s Text to a page where I read: “Anything in this world that you believe is good and valuable and worth...

Zen Buddhism is a wonderful discipline! It strips away so much noise and verbiage, and gets down to brass tacks. It was many years ago that I first stumbled onto Zen through Alan Watts, and shortly thereafter met a serious student of Zen who told me I was wasting my time with Watts. (She was a stude...

Yes, Neo, I agree with you, there is no "then", that's exactly right, seems to me. The problem is always the mind - the mind is the trouble-maker. A questioner, whenever a question is asked, does not want the answer, because that is the end of the mind. A questioner wants to ruminate over ...

Yes, Gulliver, I read the recent news about her - I am looking forward to reading the entire book. I love biographies of fellow strugglers. It is at first glimpse surprising, but NOT surprising once we realize that she was a human being, after all, and burdened by all the human frailties that all hu...

It may be relevant to inquire just who or what we consider God to be. Most of the struggles we are expressing here, and that seem to be also the prime struggles of most human beings, seem to be due to a restricted or limited view of what God is, and by extension, what we are. Or perhaps put another ...

You write : “Maybe we pray, not to "reach" God, but to "reach" ourselves.” Yes, I would agree with that, only I would amend that to read " "reach" the God within ourselves". Prayer is a kind of strong meditation – its quiets the monkey mind and focuses it dire...