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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 04 2007 : 8:29:51 PM
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| It's ironic, but fulfilling the purpose that your body has on earth helps one to dis-identify with the body, and aging. |
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Sep 04 2007 : 8:39:34 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Etherfish
It's ironic, but fulfilling the purpose that your body has on earth helps one to dis-identify with the body, and aging.
Great insight Ether, and so true. I think it's just a matter of what becomes more interesting: one's physical appearance/stamina or one's inner journey. Once the focus goes inward, the outer world loses its allure. And then once you realize that the inner journey is the reason you're here, everything else becomes subordinate. |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Sep 05 2007 : 12:45:15 AM
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What I meant was not so much appearance and stamina, but I believe most of us have something physical to fulfill on earth. Mother Teresa had lots of poor people to help; Steve Irwin had lots of animals to help; both very physical tasks.
Of course the inner journey is why you're here, and you can always let your physical purpose go completely and spend the rest of your life on the inner journey.
But often people who have advanced on their inner journey return to their physical purpose for the rest for their lives and give physically in divine love.
We are after all, God's hands. Each of us has something that we are uniquely good at, which happens to coincide with something that God needs. This is our physical purpose. |
Edited by - Etherfish on Sep 05 2007 06:50:29 AM |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Sep 05 2007 : 11:42:34 AM
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| Though you may fulfill your purpose on earth, it doesn't make you non attached (unless you intend). That's the problem, isnt it. So it doesn't take away your fear of death & ageing because you still want to continue helping poor children or poor animals. |
Edited by - Maximus on Sep 05 2007 11:47:00 AM |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Sep 05 2007 : 7:39:17 PM
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Yes nothing forces you into non-attachment; it's all up to you.
But fulfilling your purpose in divine love will make you sure that not an hour of your life is wasted, thereby getting rid of the source of that fear.
You don't fulfill your purpose because of a "desire" to do so. You fulfill it because God presents you with opportunities; you know you are perfect to fill the need; so you just do it in joy or non-attachment, it doesn't matter.
If it were controlled by your ego, your desire would drive you to find big, powerful ways to help a lot with little effort, then sit on your couch and talk about how great it was.
But when it is controlled by God, you are just given one thing at a time, mostly not big important things, but things you know you are perfect for, and you do your best because you know you are in the right place doing the right thing.
There's no wanting to do more or wanting to continue, or fearing some loss. You just keep God in mind as you live moment by moment because he is the provider of everything
you need.
As long as the ego drives you, you will never be satisfied, and it will steer you wrong, grasping at imaginary things.
If you have faith in God, and by that I mean just keep in mind that he is the only provider, people are not, all fears are quickly dispelled. Think of him as much as possible instead of idle thoughts, and all things will be provided, and all fears will vanish. Then when a fear pops up, think "I wonder what God will do with this?" and let it go like samyama, and in a while you will see what he will do with it.
Sometimes it takes a couple days or more, sometimes a response is immediate. You just wait for it patiently, and don't dwell on it. |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 02:02:28 AM
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| I fully agree with you Etherfish. You earlier talked as if physical purpose on earth is a different activity from inner journey tht's why I gave that answer. Your new reply indicates that you didn't mean them to be different activities and that you perhaps just couldn't express it correctly. |
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 08:07:44 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Maximus
I fully agree with you Etherfish. You earlier talked as if physical purpose on earth is a different activity from inner journey tht's why I gave that answer. Your new reply indicates that you didn't mean them to be different activities and that you perhaps just couldn't express it correctly.
I understood your meaning too, Ether, and I agree with you that the finding and fulfilling of our life's purpose takes the focus off from aging and the passing of time. My angle addresses more of the fearful aspect of aging and time passing. What ARE people afraid of? Everyone has their own answer, but if you dissect the answers, I think it comes down to loss of control. We have the illusion of control when we're young, and as we age we come to terms with the fact that there is very little that's in our control. Less and less the older we get. For some that's a terrifying realization; for others it's a comfort, and for the rest there's a period of reconciliation as we accept our limitations and move into our life's purpose. Commonly referred to as a mid-life crisis. Knowing that you're in the right place doing the right thing is a life-long process, and it's inevitable that doubts are had and mistakes are made. It's all part of the process of uncovering your purpose. I agree with what you've written - the only part that I think you've left out is how messy the whole business is. It should be so easy - just place your heart on God and ignore the rest - but I've never met a person whose path is so clear. Picasso in his later years was plagued by doubts so powerful that he sometimes couldn't get out of bed. |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 11:16:37 AM
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Hi All:
The cultivation of abiding inner silence goes a long way toward resolving issues of aging, fear, death, and the role of service in our life. In fact, inner silence goes all the way.
The role of the mind is elevated as inner silence comes up underneath, where our thoughts and reactions to life become objects we can accept as being "true" or not. This is the subject matter of the upcoming book:
"Self-Inquiry - Dawn of the Witness and the End of Suffering"
It is what this discussion is really about -- inquiring about finding peace with the inevitabilities of life, which we must face every day. The answer is in inner silence and our doing, allowing our actions to come from stillness. Under the right circumstances the mind can be an aid in this. The rest of the time, the mind is mostly a pitfall. It is not possible to analyze our way out of fear. Fortunately, there is a vastly bigger dimension within us, which we call inner silence -- pure bliss consciousness. 
The greatest asset the mind brings to the table is not in its ability to analyze, but in its ability enabling us to choose.
What is it we are choosing today? Are we choosing with intensity what will uplift us? This is how we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. And as we become committed, all of nature will run to help us. Understanding that, we will understand everything, and fear no more.
The guru is in you.
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 2:39:51 PM
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Thank you for a wonderful post, Yogani!
"The role of the mind is elevated as inner silence comes up underneath, where our thoughts and reactions to life become objects we can accept as being "true" or not."
By true what do you mean? Is it like some thoughts will suddently stem from the Pure One Mind, and then will be recognized as brand new and true in contrast to all the fuzzy, false, old, recycled thoughts that usually pop up in our minds?
The choosing is truly a great opportunity! Is that what is implied in the saying "realization is not a permanent state" - that you have to continue to choose even as realized otherwise ego-mind will always be there ready to mud you all up again?
Found out my watch stopped a few days ago and I have been forced to mangage life without a watch. It's not an old battery. It is broken. It's obviously time to stop! And time stopped!
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:24:41 PM
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Hi EMC:
By "true" I mean perceptions that lead to expansion rather than contraction -- to abiding peace, joy and boundless creativity.
We make a choice about everything that occurs in our life, consciously or not, and these choices are what determine our life experience.
Life is 100% an interpretation by us, no matter what our circumstances may be.
Of particular significance are the choices we make about daily spiritual practices, which can leverage our desire for expansion tremendously.
Seeing what is true is much easier with a foundation of inner silence arising within us. There is a snowball effect -- more clarity in stillness leads to more of the same. Then contractive perceptions tend to roll off us like water off a duck's back. In time, we lose the habit of contractive perception, because it has no traction in stillness, and becomes insignificant. The illusion of negative thinking is then continuously dissolved before it can arise to the point of dictating our mood or our actions. What remains is a constant flow of divine love.
This has many practical consequences in daily living.
We cannot think our way to this condition. It is an inner transformation that is beyond thinking. This, by definition, is meditation -- the movement of our attention from objects to reside in inner silence. This residing in inner silence, whether for an instant, or a lifetime, is samadhi. There are many grades of it.
To the extent self-inquiry promotes inner silence/samadhi, it is meditation. Sincere self-inquiry is also an effect of rising inner silence. All the limbs of yoga are connected within us like that.
And, of course, this is a journey beyond the constraints of time and space. Waves on the infinite ocean... 
The guru is in you.
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Wolfgang
Germany
470 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 07:12:58 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by yogani
We cannot think our way to this condition. It is an inner transformation that is beyond thinking.
I would like to interject here.
True, wishful thinking alone will not bring us far.
However, thought-desire/bhakti-intent does have great effects,
it is the starting point of our movement, isn't it ?
So, it just is our understanding/perception of what
we mean by thinking - thought ...
Any input welcome ! |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Sep 08 2007 : 07:43:50 AM
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| Yes. Buddha talked about right thinking as one of the starting points. Patanjali's Yoga Sutra mentions that "right knowledge" is also a contraction of consciousness but it is the last of the impediments to transcend (as I read from one particular translation). |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Sep 08 2007 : 3:49:56 PM
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| Thanks for the clarification, Yogani! Beautiful post! |
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LittleTurtle
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Sep 13 2007 : 1:18:24 PM
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Hello everyone, it's been a while since I've been around here.
I've had the very profound experience of time almost stopping I think twice but for some reason I can only recall one of the incidents at this moment (!).
I was on a long bus trip and during the middle of the night (i was asleep) just before reaching our destination we crashed full speed and head-on into the back of another bus that was stopped on the road. At that moment everything went into very very slow motion. Just like in the movies or something. And it was as if part of me was just there witnessing the slow motion and the other part of me, in the body, was experiencing it at the normal rate smashing my face into the seat in front of me and crunching my nose. As I experienced this slow motion thing I also could witness the others on the bus responding to the crash in slow motion. Weird but very revealing experience of time.
After that experience I understood better how time is relative and sort of unreal. Time is totally experiential and based in part on where we are at in that moment consciously. Just as time seemed to zip by during those long meditations I used to do. And when when one takes a 10 minute nap during the middle of the day it can seem like a couple hours. |
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clk1710
92 Posts |
Posted - Sep 13 2007 : 10:33:55 PM
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| thanks for sharing little turtle, but i must first pray that you are healing from this accident. i'm so sorry to hear about this unfortunate situation, however, you brought up a good point about time. isn't it amazing... i notice when i'm in pain (physically or mentall) time drags and when i'm have an a good time it flys. i know this is true for everyone, but it really is interesting... so you made some good points. take care of yourself!! |
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LittleTurtle
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Sep 14 2007 : 08:59:10 AM
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| Oh yes, I'm quite alright! That incident happened about thirty years ago. Thanks for your concern. :) |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Sep 20 2007 : 09:30:50 AM
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The word dropping down in my inbox today was Animation:
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Animation
Thursday 20 september 2007
An animation is pictures in motion. An illusion built by quickly showing several pictures or drawings after each other, with small adjustments between each.
The word has been used in the Swedish language since the 1960's and stems from the word animate. Animate has its origins in latin and means "to give life to something".
In Swedish, animate has been used since the 17th century about doing something lively. "The ball seems utterly animated - everybody talks, nobody listens" (Gunnar Wennerberg 1849)
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Beautiful, isn't it? We are animated in existence. We are so busy talking and not listening. If we would only listen, everything would be silence. Pure silence. If we weren't animated, there would be no movement, no time. Just stillness. 
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Edited by - emc on Sep 20 2007 4:31:17 PM |
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Wil
Sweden
160 Posts |
Posted - Dec 31 2019 : 2:25:41 PM
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I read almost all of the posts in this tread, sloppily at the end. Of what I read the perspectives and comments are both interesting and helpful.
I simply picked up a fragrance of anxiety so I will leave a trace for the curious, one that helped me see time as a friend: Nietzsches saying about eternal recurrence, he didn't dare to say it loud so I wont state it here either(https://www.thoughtco.com/nietzsche...ence-2670659).. Secondly, Pink Floyd's song "Julia dream" has one line stating: are we really dying.
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Dogboy
USA
2294 Posts |
Posted - Dec 31 2019 : 10:27:25 PM
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quote:
Beautiful, isn't it? We are animated in existence. We are so busy talking and not listening. If we would only listen, everything would be silence. Pure silence. If we weren't animated, there would be no movement, no time. Just stillness.
Every day on the cushion  |
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The Passing of Time
