Zigzag Idiot

This topic will be on the book. There is a lot to be had on YouTube,,,,

Ted Nottingham's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe4MMC-2xAHvKDPxQo_A1YA

Youre comment reminded me of the James Franco quote above which I remember appreciating at the time when he said it. I've described myself to others as a psychologically gay, heterosexual.

"There is a bit of overfocusing on my sexuality, both by the straight press and the gay press, and so the first question is why do they care? Well, because I’m a celebrity, so I guess they care who I’m having sex with. But if your definition of gay and straight is who I sleep with, then I guess you could say I’m a gay c—k tease. It’s where my allegiance lies, where my sensibilities lie, how I define myself. Yeah, I’m a little gay, and there’s a gay James." https://time.com/4300920/james-franco-says-hes-a-little-gay/

In order to help letting go of inner considering, I feel the need to point out my hyperbole and lying in the above post. My remark about working in a nursing home was sincere but I have no practice that involves laughing about at everything.

I should have added, just do two 20 minute sessions of Centering Prayer Meditation a day. It's a concentrated practice of letting go of thoughts. Besides being an Idiot, my nature has been overburdened with false seriousness and so learning to laugh at everything has been a beneficial practice for me. "Absence of joy is slow suicide." - Ocke de Boer

This is only speculative on my part but if you don't like reading then go get a job in a nursing home, to get Realization. If you have children then neither are required. You're already most of the way there,,,,

My favorite Almaas book - https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/facets-unity

Right brained feeling types will do better starting with this very digestible series. https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/diamond-heart-book-one-elements-real-man https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/diamond-heart-book-two-freedom-be https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/diamond-heart-book-three-being-and-meaning-life https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/diamond-heart-book-four-indestructible-innocence https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/diamond-heart-book-five-inexhaustible-mystery Left brained rational types will appreciate the two monsters from the Diamond Mind series. https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/point-existence https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/pearl-beyond-price

https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/diamond-approach by John Davis, a long time student of Ali, is a good overview of the Diamond Approach but for you maybe https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/alchemy-freedom would be better.

Letting go quotes from the glossary. 2 of 12 from https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/letting-go The Personality Can't Let Go; It Just Stops Pushing If the personality stops pushing, it ceases to exist, because the very existence of the personality is a contraction, a pushing. So, when you follow this process, the part of the personality which is holding a particular tension will disappear when you see no more reason to push. When you realize that the pushing is useless, you stop doing it. This is still not exactly what is called surrender; it is what is sometimes called letting go. We sometimes think of it as the personality letting go, but even this is not accurate. The personality can't let go. It just stops pushing. And when it stops pushing, it disappears. There is no person which is letting go of something. There is no entity letting go of another object. When Ego Ceases Its Defensive Posture Completely then Being Acts This interdependence between ego and Being can also be seen in the process of inner metabolism. Ego on its own cannot complete the metabolism of experience and hence cannot bring about complete human development; Being is needed for this process to take place. On the other hand, Being cannot accomplish on its own the whole process of metabolism; it cannot dislodge ego when ego is defensive. From the perspective of the mind, Being can be resisted easily with a slight movement of ego; thus ego must first cooperate by relinquishing its defensive posture. It is up to ego to cease resisting. When it ceases its defensive posture completely, then Being acts. This is an important understanding for methods of inner realization. The work on purifying or understanding ego will not lead, by itself, to transformation. Being by itself cannot do it either. The work must be done from both directions—the letting go of ego defenses and the development of Essence.

@SilentTears Thanks, and me too. I fell asleep late last night composing a response. Reading a lot of books about strange phenomena. Perhaps someone has died and they're in the lower Astral realms stuck in fear or obsession. The movie The Sixth Sense is a good example of a movie even though it's fictional. Maybe it doesn't have to be a negative thing and a very spiritually gifted being can have the option of hanging out with someone they like using a cat body here in physical Reality. ?‍♂️ That's how I was applying the idea to my cat.

Thank you @Bill W and I hope you continue to post here. The spirit is heartfelt with these guys but I differ in technical ways when it comes to understanding Jesus Christ and I remember the wisdom of Rumi. "Don't scold the lover, the wrong way he talks is better than a hundred right ways of others.

I feel that I understand a part of @tsuki and @Bill W enough to make this claim. They appreciate and offer community. @ Ero expresses it well.

@ValiantSalvatore Great idea for thread that's just Buddha at the Gas pump interviews. This is Rick Archer's new 1 minute introductory video he just put out a month ago.

I may let go of this thread and just share from my journal on occasion. I throw the coins for a reading at the start of every day but I've become lax about daily recording of the reading. Today's reading was interesting. 43 Resoluteness/Breakthrough with line 6 changing which creates a second hexagram 1 The Cosmic Consciousness A very small piece of this morning's reading- ,,,,,,,,, "the mental program that creates the ego has been installed in the psyche with the help of threats, punishments, flatteries, and rewards. Therefore, the ego takes on a "bully" character that keeps the true self intimidated and locked in self-doubt . The person needs to clearly realize that the ego is a parasite in his psyche that not only feeds on his life energy, but that, if not counteracted, will eventually destroy him. To rid himself of it requires that he recognize and deprogram all the false phrases and images on which is based. The purpose of the I Ching, as a gift of the Cosmos to humans, is to help the individual achieve this divestiture." From page 63 of The Oracle of the Cosmic Way. To condense and paraphrase more. We create spells in our lives with thoughts and words. I like Red Hawks phrase. " A relaxed body is an honest body." Or maybe he phrases it in reverse? An honest body is a relaxed body from his book Self Observation. I may look it up later. A relaxed body and a quiet, still mind. It happens for a bit every now and then.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/216 @mandyjw You could start the topic with this or maybe one of the links given here,,,,I think,, ?‍♂️

Had an interesting thought a few hours ago and googled -the sun is a nucleus of an atom

I'm pondering this.

@K VIL I don't understand?

Sometimes being sick is a relief. Since I read Maurice Nicoll's Psychological Commentaries back around 2012 I've observed something within myself. The majority of the time when I get a slight fever, the mind quitens down,,,, As he put it, the instinctive center overtakes the intellectual center. The body then uses this energy for healing that would otherwise produce neurotic noise. Also, I get a kick out of when my throat is affected and I develop an extremely bass voice. Its fun to just keep saying over and over - "Guns or knives Butch ?" Having a voice that looks like it should come from Harvey in Butch Cassidy. "Guns or knives?"

Don't know how you feel about others posting a response. I'll take this down if you want to keep it private. I have a nature that's more like a cat than a dog. The cat that lives with me now showed up one late summer day a couple of years ago. When she saw me she started a constant meowing in a cadence and tone that struck me as one of recognition. It was actually hilarious in a way,,,, I've wondered if someone on the 'other side' inhabits my cat off and on at times.