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Ananda
3115 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 27 2011 : 02:42:38 AM
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The first thing you need to do is get in touch with negative feelings that you're not even aware of. Lots of people have negative feelings they're not aware of. Lots of people are depressed and they're not aware they are depressed. It's only when they make contact with joy that they understand how depressed they were. You can't deal with a cancer that you haven't detected. You can't get rid of boll weevils on your farm if you're not aware of their existence. The first thing you need is awareness of your negative feelings. What negative feelings? Gloominess, for instance. You're feeling gloomy and moody. You feel self-hatred or guilt. You feel that life is pointless, that it makes no sense; you've got hurt feelings, you're feeling nervous and tense. Get in touch with those feelings first.
The second step (this is a four-step program) is to understand that the feeling is in you, not in reality. That's such a self-evident thing, but do you think people know it? They don't, believe me. They've got Ph.D.s and are presidents of universities, but they haven't understood this. They didn't teach me how to live at school. They taught me everything else. As one man said, "I got a pretty good education. It took me years to get over it." That's what spirituality is all about, you know: unlearning. Unlearning all the rubbish they taught you.
Negative feelings are in you, not in reality. So stop trying to change reality. That's crazy! Stop trying to change the other person. We spend all our time and energy trying to change external circumstances, trying to change our spouses, our bosses, our friends, our enemies, and everybody else. We don't have to change anything. Negative feelings are in you. No person on earth has the power to make you unhappy. There is no event on earth that has the power to disturb you or hurt you. No event, condition, situation, or person. Nobody told you this; they told you the opposite. That's why you're in the mess that you're in right now. That is why you're asleep. They never told you this. But it's self-evident.
Let's suppose that rain washes out a picnic. Who is feeling negative? The rain? Or YOU? What's causing the negative feeling? The rain or your reaction? When you bump your knee against a table, the table's fine. It's busy being what it was made to Be -- a table. The pain is in your knee, not in the table. The mystics keep trying to tell us that reality is all right. Reality is not problematic. Problems exist only in the human mind. We might add: in the stupid, sleeping human mind. Reality is not problematic. Take away human beings from this planet and life would go on, nature would go on in all its loveliness and violence. Where would the problem be? No problem. You created the problem. You are the problem. You identified with "me" and that is the problem. The feeling is in you, not in reality.
The third step: Never identify with that feeling. It has nothing to do with the "I." Don't define your essential self in terms of that feeling. Don't say, "I am depressed." If you want to say, "It is depressed," that's all right. If you want to say depression is there, that's fine; if you want to say gloominess is there, that's fine. But not: I am gloomy. You're defining yourself in terms of the feeling. That's your illusion; that's your mistake. There is a depression there right now, there are hurt feelings there right now, but let it be, leave it alone. It will pass. Everything passes, everything. Your depressions and your thrills have nothing to do with happiness. Those are the swings of the pendulum. If you seek kicks or thrills, get ready for depression. Do you want your drug? Get ready for the hangover. One end of the pendulum swings to the other.
This has nothing to do with "I"; it has nothing to do with happiness. It is the "me." If you remember this, if you say it to yourself a thousand times, if you try these three steps a thousand times, you will get it. You might not need to do it even three times. I don't know; there's no rule for it. But do it a thousand times and you'll make the biggest discovery in your life. To hell with those gold mines in Alaska. What are you going to do with that gold? If you're not happy, you can't live. So you found gold. What does that matter? You're a king; you're a princess. You're free; you don't care anymore about being accepted or rejected, that makes no difference. Psychologists tell us how important it is to get a sense of belonging. Baloney! Why do you want to belong to anybody? It doesn't matter anymore.
A friend of mine told me that there's an African tribe where capital punishment consists of being ostracized. If you were kicked out of New York, or wherever you're residing, you wouldn't die. How is it that the African tribesman died? Because he partakes of the common stupidity of humanity. He thinks he will not be able to live if he does not belong. It's very different from most people, or is it? He's convinced he needs to belong. But you don't need to belong to anybody or anything or any group. You don't even need to be in love. Who told you you do? What you need is to be free. What you need is to love. That's it; that's your nature. But what you're really telling me is that you want to be desired. You want to be applauded, to be attractive, to have all the little monkeys running after you. You're wasting your life. WAKE UP! You don't need this. You can be blissfully happy without it.
Your society is not going to be happy to hear this, because you become terrifying when you open your eyes and understand this. How do you control a person like this? He doesn't need you; he's not threatened by your criticism; he doesn't care what you think of him or what you say about him. He's cut all those strings; he's not a puppet any longer. It's terrifying. "So we've got to get rid of him. He tells the truth; he has become fearless; he has stopped being human.'' HUMAN! Behold! A human being at last! He broke out of his slavery, broke out of their prison.
No event justifies a negative feeling. There is no situation in the world that justifies a negative feeling. That's what all our mystics have been crying themselves hoarse to tell us. But nobody listens. The negative feeling is in you. In the Bhagavad-Gita, the sacred book of the Hindus, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, "Plunge into the heat of battle and keep your heart at the lotus feet of the Lord." A marvelous sentence.
You don't have to do anything to acquire happiness. The great Meister Eckhart said very beautifully, "God is not attained by a process of addition to anything in the soul, but by a process of subtraction." You don't do anything to be free, you drop something. Then you're free.
It reminds me of the Irish prisoner who dug a tunnel under the prison wall and managed to escape. He comes out right in the middle of a school playground where little children are playing. Of course, when he emerges from the tunnel he can't restrain himself anymore and begins to jump up and down, crying, "I'm free, I'm free, I'm free! A little girl there looks at him scornfully and says, "That's nothing. I'm four."
The fourth step: How do you change things? How do you change yourselves? There are many things you must understand here, or rather, just one thing that can be expressed in many ways. Imagine a patient who goes to a doctor and tells him what he is suffering from. The doctor says, "Very well, I've understood your symptoms. Do you know what I will do? I will prescribe a medicine for your neighbor!" The patient replies, "Thank you very much, Doctor, that makes me feel much better." Isn't that absurd? But that's what we all do. The person who is asleep always thinks he'll feel better if somebody else changes. You're suffering because you are asleep, but you're thinking, "How wonderful life would be if somebody else would change; how wonderful life would be if my neighbor changed, my wife changed, my boss changed."
We always want someone else to change so that we will feel good. But has it ever struck you that even if your wife changes or your husband changes, what does that do to you? You're just as vulnerable as before; you're just as idiotic as before; you're just as asleep as before. You are the one who needs to change, who needs to take medicine. You keep insisting, "I feel good because the world is right." Wrong! The world is right because I feel good. That's what all the mystics are saying.
Anthony De Mello, SJ |
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maheswari
Lebanon
2516 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2011 : 03:18:04 AM
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 like our friend advice |
Edited by - maheswari on Sep 27 2011 06:05:04 AM |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2011 : 11:25:49 AM
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True It's good that I also stumbled with this text today after being refused at the UN. A lot of negative energy came up.
After coming back from Tunis, a series of bad events have been happening alongside with repeated strong sickness in the body which is unusual in my case. A heavy destructive process have been going on within me. Now I really sincerely from the depth of my inner silence know that I don't know anything.
Salam my friend [img]icon_heart.gif[/img] |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2011 : 4:13:46 PM
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I like his language, and he's got some really cutting stuff about not trying to change other people. It reminds me of Dr. David Hawkins, who in his 101 ways to happiness, lists as #1: Stop trying to change people!
But I can't help but mention that this kind of writing/teaching reminds me of non-relational self-inquiry. Seems like Mr. De Mello is expending alot of mental energy/strategization/algorithm-izing to get the point of surrender across. Still, I like it. Thanks for posting. |
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Delara
Lebanon
305 Posts |
Posted - Sep 28 2011 : 5:44:29 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Ananda
True It's good that I also stumbled with this text today after being refused at the UN. A lot of negative energy came up.
good for you,you were saved a lot of frustration! UN is good for nothing...just a name  |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2011 : 12:18:15 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Bodhi Tree
But I can't help but mention that this kind of writing/teaching reminds me of non-relational self-inquiry. Seems like Mr. De Mello is expending alot of mental energy/strategization/algorithm-izing to get the point of surrender across. Still, I like it. Thanks for posting.
Hi Bodhi,
Hope all is great well for you. I tend to disagree with you, if anything I think that Anthony's writings are as far as it can get from non relational self inquiry and they give direct results for beginners and old timers... Trust me I know what non relational Self Inquiry is. I've hit my head to the wall many times while reading the words of some Advaita Sages.
I've stumbled into a book yesterday and was reading some of the words of Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon... I was understanding his words and what he was aiming at but then he screamed out loud. Listening to advaita teachings, it's not about thoughts, it's not a mental understanding. One needs to hear the words directly from the sage, so that they would meet at the supreme. And then I remembered that Sri Atmananda says that what is written about his teaching is just for those who heard his teachings directly from him. The others won't benefit.
And I couldn't agree more, my personal experience in India is a proof of that. Reading the words or listening to audio tapes and watching videos is one thing and most of the time is non relational for me at least... While being in the presence of the sage and hearing the words directly is relational and has mystic written all over it.
Wow, sorry for getting carried on....
Peace |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2011 : 12:21:32 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Delara
quote:
Originally posted by Ananda
True It's good that I also stumbled with this text today after being refused at the UN. A lot of negative energy came up.
good for you,you were saved a lot of frustration! UN is good for nothing...just a name
 Sorry, but I disagree concerning the UN. I have a lot of respect for what this international entity is doing in some of the worst places on earth including Lebanon.
On the other hand, I might've been saved a lot of frustration because the position which I signed to involved working with refugees and that's a tough line of business but good karma yoga. Guess it's my karma now to be back and work for the family. If I get a new job, it will happen...
Peace |
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Delara
Lebanon
305 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2011 : 04:05:13 AM
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No worries,I knew ur opinion beforehand!
I don't know much about karma#1548;My knowledge is little in that.
"There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance dependeth on Allah: He knoweth the time and place of its definite abode and its temporary deposit: All is in a clear Record." ~Hud
Or in a simple term as we say in arabic :"Ma testa3jel rez2ak"...never rush ur sustenance...or as ya said when it happens...it happens
All the best
Peace |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2011 : 12:19:25 PM
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| Thanks |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Oct 01 2011 : 9:30:32 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Ananda
I've stumbled into a book yesterday and was reading some of the words of Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon... I was understanding his words and what he was aiming at but then he screamed out loud
"then he screamed out loud"...
Will you elaborate on this one, Ananda? Do you mean you were reading his book, and then Atmananda came alive through the writing? Very intriguing...
When I first read some of the AYP books, I remember being lit up like a Christmas tree--not from any intellectual understanding, but from an instant shaktipat-esque realization that I was reading the truth. I really felt it pulsing through me. Is this like your experience, or did you directly hear Atmananda's voice (a la an astral transmission)?
I like your style. |
Edited by - Bodhi Tree on Oct 01 2011 9:33:07 PM |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Oct 02 2011 : 09:33:15 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Bodhi Tree
When I first read some of the AYP books, I remember being lit up like a Christmas tree--not from any intellectual understanding, but from an instant shaktipat-esque realization that I was reading the truth. I really felt it pulsing through me. Is this like your experience, or did you directly hear Atmananda's voice (a la an astral transmission)?
It just feels like his character became alive and it was just another confirmation of this point which I've read about many times in Kamal Joumblat's books many years back... It's just me living the scenery in the playground of my mind and grasping that the understanding is not intellectual and that I have limits.
As for shaktipat and energetic experiences and also inner silence. I am very used to such experiences and to be honest I am sensing these days more and more that they are nothing more but refined good feelings. Also happening in the realm of body mind and space. Not so different from other feelings.
Just try and be aware with whatever human activity you're doing. That's the best way to be living your humanity and life fully.
Again you got me carried on, but I've written some cool stuff |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Oct 02 2011 : 7:47:12 PM
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If I may distill your sentiments into a formula:
Energetic experiences sprung from inner silence = refined good feelings.
Man, that really does echo with my experience as well. The mundane and the miraculous are One.
Hehehe, as long as I keep you "carrying on" with the beat of the divine drum, then we are having some good forum exchanges, aren't we?  It's take two to tango. On that note, I wonder if we could implement a congo line as part of the next retreat itinerary. Kidding. |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Oct 03 2011 : 12:23:13 AM
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Hahahahayyy |
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Tiarrastar
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2011 : 3:23:28 PM
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Ananda,
Greetings and nice to meet you. Thank you for your writing and everyone on the thread.
I was grateful to read the end. Which for me meant that someone else is willing to be completely honest. Like anyone else who might try to articulate this, dont get me wrong that there is something wrong with Bliss and other amazing experiencing.
But the way I confuse anyone the most is by stating that if it's coming from your brain, that's not IT. I'm grateful for people who can articulate this so well. At best, I can only contribute by being that Bliss. A bliss that doesn't come and go, no matter what emotion is happening.
with Love
~Kierra |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Oct 10 2011 : 11:53:46 AM
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Thank you for your input Kierra and welcome to the AYP forums Good to have you on board.
Love,
Ananda |
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FOUR STEPS TO WISDOM
