Zigzag Idiot

Magnetic center Ted brings in the specific Fourth Way term "magnetic center" which refers to those who have a hard-on for spiritual awakening more than the average person. Arnold Keyserling gets credit for the earthy phrase of someone having a hard-on for spiritual awakening. ? This attribute is also indicated by a certain line in the palm of the left hand. See the end of Chance and Choice chapter 7 - http://www.chanceandchoice.com/course-overview/energy/ Interesting theory anyway,,,, From a certain angle, prayer has become a polluted concept/activity, tangled with magical thinking along with a childish petitionary helplessness. Petitionary Prayer is most often divorced from authentic reverence, gratitude and the law of attraction. Ken Wilber has described petitionary Prayer as - " Hey God, here is my ego,,, now give me something." In this ten minute talk, Ted offers some good articulation. I used to follow abstract thinker, Jonathon Zap, in years past. Below this link to his website is an article he wrote and later made into a podcast which gives good food for thought. https://zaporacle.com/

Thank you, @fridjonk Also, in regards to resistance there is a saying in the Work that says the act of opposing second force only increases second force. An example is trying to oppose alcoholism with will power. One reason why that method doesn't work very often. Whatever I fight only increases the power of whatever it Is I fight. What a weird thing,,, ?‍♂️ -------------------------------- Now, metaphorically, I'm going to write a little bit about my struggle with the issue of gossip. In the right hemisphere of my brain, there is a tiny strip mall. One of the establishments in this strip mall is a magnet for juicy gossip. There's a pretty steady hand running the joint now, finally. It hasn't always been that way. I drop in there now from time to time and put out some special air freshener that secretly neutralizes cynicism. That seems to help a lot. Resisting the temptation to gossip has been a long ongoing battle among my ship of fools. There's law somewhere that states if you hold your tongue and successfully outmaneuver acting out the inner gossip Queen, you get bonus points in addition to attracting even more juicy gossip which presents to you once again the temptation associated with knowing secrets. A part of this law states that if you spill your guts in order to get the short lived inner sunburn of relating juicy gossip; then all your power is swept away, a quick amnesia appears and you're also automatically cast into the cultural storm of confusion-ignorance. Gossiping dims third eye capacity. Gossiping can have an especially pernicious tendency with some people. Having compassion towards these people helps me which secretly helps them I discovered. We're all alike in ways and connected too. One bad mood with an episode of word vomit in accompaniment can temporarily destroy it all. The stakes are high in this game. But the fact that it's a game that's so big that we're in the middle of it and can't even see its a game, is also our saving grace. So, that makes it a really weird game,,,, A few months ago I watched a Brad Warner podcast that opened up a can of worms about a spiritual teacher who was in the process of having a messy separation from Jack Cornfields Retreat Center out in California called Spirit Rock. I like Brad and really do consider him a contemporary Zen Master. The manner in which he was addressing these issues were appropriate in my estimation. A part of all this scuttlebutt was that Jack and his crew had supposedly declared that a certain kind of psychedelic was more or less now a part of their spiritual practice. I didn't relate this to the forum at the time because it just felt like gossiping. For reasons I can't explain it no longer feels like gossip but as a relevant issue and consideration. I like Jack Cornfield. The dude has been around awhile. I've been waiting to learn more about this story as well as what the "substance" they have allegedly incorporated into their practice is. If anyone runs across any recent articles or podcasts which are credible and shed light on this, please share,,, It seems like sometimes what determines the difference of whether something feels like gossip or not is simply the presence of a cynical atmosphere. ?‍♂️ I could be flacky also. That's always a possibility, as well. One which is most often never recognized until the revelatory perception of hindsight. It's not the end of the world though. I've been busted a lot of times for being flacky. ??‍???❤️

@Waken Hi, The daily exercises/lessons were a chore for me. Some of them are a little more time consuming but most of them require just a few moments scattered throughout the day. I knew I would have little chance in maintaining a daily discipline with them so I cut myself some slack and tried to do at least 3-4 days a week but really try to do them the best I could on the days I did them. It may have been closer to 3 years before I finally got through them all. My ACIM teacher stressed though that the lessons go congruently somewhat with the text. I went ahead and did it the way that I thought I could more realistically carry them out, though. IMO - The daily lessons strengthen the 'muscle' of -continuity of Consciousness- in addition to boosting the information given in the text. I read the text in just a little over a year and still enjoy rereading it. Not so much the lessons though. They are kind of a chore,,,,

In defense of Astrology as having relevance in regards to Self Actualization I post an excerpt from Keyserling and Losey's Chance and Choice. In short, the argument goes that the astrological wheel represent the multidimensional archetypal energies that are within each human as well as God if I understand it right. Self similarity over scales,,,,, In 2360 B.C., the Chaldean's made the spatial Zodiac of the constellations fit the geometric circle of 360 degrees by inventing the twelfth sector. They did this by inventing and arranging the last missing constellation of Libra. (Before there were only eleven.) With this development there was a star group for each of the 360 degree sectors. Time then became accessible to full brained understanding. By the year 2340 B.C., 20 years later, Astrology was the official religion of Babylonia, not as a science, but as a wisdom teaching to create a personal Way. This coincided with the Babylonian invention of the seven day week in accordance with the basic human energies. In their culture the King and Queen were joined on the Zikkurath - the Great Tower - at each of the four moon constellations. With the seven day week the year was divided into 52 cycles. As will be seen in the last chapter, this is one of the prime numbers of spiritual development. The day itself was also made to follow the basic twelve-fold structure of the year: twelve hours of left brain day, twelve hours of right brain night. This creation of the basic units of time - the seven day week -- changed the potentialities of the visible planets, and the moon and sun, into creative time. From that point in history to today, time and society has been ordered according to the twelve-fold Zodiac with the 12 months and hours, and the sevenfold time-cycle of the week comprised of the five visible planets, the sun and the moon. Unfortunately, most people today have no idea or understanding of the original meaning behind this structure. The seven days of the week and their cosmic origin are summarized in the following heptagon: ,,The time planets took their significance from their spatial Zodiacal "Homes". Each time planet corresponded to a space Zodiac sign where it was said to be at home. This is shown on Keyserling's Wheel. The order differed between the traditions. But Keyserling has been able to harmonize these differences and synthesize all of the traditions. Now that we have knowledge of all of the planets, not just the five visible planets known to early Man, we arrive at the following time cycles. This shows the twelve basis types of human potential associated with each time cycle. The chart also shows the relation to the grammatical parts of speech. THE TWELVE BASIC HUMAN POTENTIALS The planets symbolize the twelve archetypal human capacities or potentials which can be realized in time. They are divided into subsets of nine and three. The twelve potentials of time follow the basic pattern of the mind. The one or two word "Meanings" given above for these concepts should be understood very broadly. The words are "cluster words" which represent a wide spectrum of related capacities which come within that basic field of consciousness. They are like the twelve sides of a diamond which are unified by the crystal center of pure light - the Awareness behind the diverse manifestations of the Self. The twelve basic capacities are potential powers until chosen in time. In life they can appear at three times in a person's development: (1) As Apprentice Learning (2) As Companion Acting (3) As Master Teaching You must choose to use all twelve of the basic potentials, both in language and in life, when the opportunity is presented by life. Otherwise, they will remain latent. These potentials do not automatically grow. They require choice and intentional efforts. First, your language must become holistic and coherent. To make sense of your life you have to make sense in your speech. The twelve basic concepts presented in the chart above are the keys to making sense. You have to learn to use these concepts in your speech, your language. Then, eventually, you will learn to master these conceptual cluster-words in a three step process: apprentice, companion, master. This mastery of language allows for mastery of the human faculties which they represent. This means mastery of the full human capacities in controlled actions, or as Don Juan said, "Controlled Folly". Both learning processes - language and life - must go hand in hand. One without the other will not allow for full development. Words alone are hollow. Life alone is incomprehensible. Only both - language and action - allow you to actualize these potential powers. With both you can integrate them into your being, and thereby make sense of life. You can walk your talk. You fully master the twelve time potentials in a three step process. First, you learn them. Next, you learn them even better by acting them out. Finally, you master them after you have taught them to others. In the final Master teaching stage the Self can merge with the Sun. The Self then can become radiating, full of life giving light. But, until all nine of the potentials are integrated, and the whole potential of your Being is realized, you will be submitted to reincarnation. As Keyserling says, you will be stuck in the "cosmic game of bowling". Only when all of your pins, your potential, have been set up and mastered, can you survive the inevitable black ball of death. The nine planets represent talents available to everyone at any time. The last three - Rahu, Ketu (19 year "moon nodes" or Metonic cycle points) and the newly discovered tenth planet, "Lucifer"(1) - are different. They can only be tapped by taking part in a larger social movement, or assuming a historical role. The nine planets are ordered in the Wheel according to the geometric pattern called the "Enneagram" - shown below. The Sun is in the center of the Enneagram and represents the essence. All of the planets take their nourishment and light from the Sun. In the same way the nine personalties take their light from the inner essence. The nine sided Enneagram comes out of the Sufi tradition. It was first brought to the West in the esoteric teachings of George Gurdjieff, one of Arnold Keyserling's mentors and teachers. The ninefold structure can also be used as a key to understanding personality types. When a person emphasizes a particular potential, they naturally have a personality type associated with that planet. This system of personality analysis works because most successful people are at any one time dominated by one or two of the nine basic impulses to the exclusion of most of the others. They are successful because they at least have some personality of their own, even if only one dimensional. The majority of people today never develop any personality of their own at all. Instead, they have a false personality imposed on them from their parents, friends, job or society. The false personality has no connection with any of their innate capacities. For this reason it is usually weak, and the person has little energy or vitality. Only personality which is in connection with a person's essence - their inner sun - can vitalize. The false, unconnected personalities only block energy. They act as a negative mask to hide true potential, instead of express it. Such lifeless personalities should be dropped and replaced by impulses and roles which you choose. They should be replaced by personalities that are more in accord with your essence and true potential. In the Gurdjieff tradition this process of liberation from false personalities is called "waking up". It is accomplished in part through a process called "self remembering" where you observe the false personalities in action. If you are lucky enough to wake up and tap your inner essence and develop a true personality, you are on your way. But this is only the beginning, and many fall prey to the danger at this initial stage of development. They fall into the trap of domination by the first strong energy they develop. They may improve the quality of that type, and become more mature, but they do not fully grow or diversify. They do not become a real human. A real human awakens to all nine time forms. Instead, they become freakish, unidimensional beings. Strong perhaps, in their own little area, but narrow and imbalanced. They are only partially awake. They have knowledge and mastery of only one of the many forms of time. Their other potentials remain undeveloped, dormant or childlike. You avoid this danger by using your beginning personality as a springboard to master all of the others. Aware of the trap, you take steps to avoid stagnation in one type of time. You seek out continual change and flowing. You look for new ways to be, new roles in accord with your essence. You strive for multi-dimensionality. Normal "fully actualizing" people let the false personalities die. They awaken to all of the forms of time. They are able to grow and change personality types. They can diversify their character without identification to any one impulse. They learn and emphasize other potentials. They are not satisfied with the "one of nine" that is naturally the strongest for them. They go beyond, and add to the first real personality they happen to awaken. The goal is to divest yourself of all false personalities. To instead become a "well rounded" personality. Such a being is connected with all of their essence. They are filled with many different kinds of energy. Such a whole person has learned and mastered all of the archetypal capacities possible in time. They can adopt or "put on" one of the personalities like a mask as the occasion requires. The particular mask worn at any one time allows the inner essence to shine through, with color and style. The Master is not attached to any of their twelve sides. They do not identify with the various personality masks used to express their essence. Instead, they identify with the Essence of Being, the white light Sun - Zero dimension Awareness - behind all personalities. They are centered. They are like an actor with a role. They use the masks or personalities as a tool to interact with other beings. When the Ego and the Self are in this type of healthy relationship, the positive traits of a personality type naturally dominate over the negative. Time is filled with meaning and diversity. In these circumstances the perception of time can change dramatically. It intensifies and grows in duration. Ten minutes of peak time can seem like hours. Conversely, hours of intensity in a flow experience can pass in what seems like no time at all. Normal "fully actualizing" people let the false personalities die. They awaken to all of the forms of time. They are able to grow and change personality types. They can diversify their character without identification to any one impulse. They learn and emphasize other potentials. They are not satisfied with the "one of nine" that is naturally the strongest for them. They go beyond, and add to the first real personality they happen to awaken. The goal is to divest yourself of all false personalities. To instead become a "well rounded" personality. Such a being is connected with all of their essence. They are filled with many different kinds of energy. Such a whole person has learned and mastered all of the archetypal capacities possible in time. They can adopt or "put on" one of the personalities like a mask as the occasion requires. The particular mask worn at any one time allows the inner essence to shine through, with color and style. The Master is not attached to any of their twelve sides. They do not identify with the various personality masks used to express their essence. Instead, they identify with the Essence of Being, the white light Sun - Zero dimension Awareness - behind all personalities. They are centered. from : http://www.chanceandchoice.com/course-overview/time-cycles/

More hippy music.

To experience Love means having basic trust in others. To have trust means to be open. So the first thing to do is to Let Go. Let go and be empty and receptive.

Alarm Clock. ? Has some good descriptions.

H I repeat songs the way old people repeat telling stories. I'm almost old. 52 ??‍?

I'm interested in the change of direction Leo has taken. He makes a good point about rewatching his previously released episodes. The talk he gave a week ago was over 3 hours yet I watched it twice and would probably gain something if I watched it a 3rd time. His series on self deception is one I watched repeatedly. The idea of observing and processing one's own schadenfreude is something I've kept returning to. Purifying the emotional center is another way of putting it. The way it's expressed in Gurdjieff groups or Fourth Way Work,,, Metanoia is another rarely used word that has significance in regards to personal transformation. In the King James Bible, this Greek word - 'metanoia' was horribly translated as repentance. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metanoia_(theology) Martin Butler's last podcast is relevant to the idea that it's negativity that makes the world go around. How does ordinary resentment feed schadenfreude? Negative, lower emotions like resentment trashes out our third eye or intuitive capacities.

You're willing to express yourself in front of the camera. To be vulnerable in that way is a courageous act. I'm unable to do it. I just watched Teal Swan's latest. There's an interesting correlation I can't define at the moment, between the 'spirit' of her video and the 'spirit ' of yours. ?

@VeganAwake Thanks for posting. I kind of knew who he was but have never watched many of his videos. He was certainly a foundational member from the beginning. I think he helped edit the Book and start the nonprofit foundation. I have a feeling there will be many more of his videos added here over time.

When I was an active alcoholic, my favorite time to be completely snockered was on Monday or Tuesday mornings when the rest of the world out there became serious with work responsibilities, time cards, traffic laws, being productive, work orders, commitments, goals, self righteous indignation, political opinions, sincere identifications, and all the other things that gives one the right to be a breathing, voting, American citizen. But I was also raised a halfway fundamentalist Christian, by very well meaning parents. This, though, left me beginning everyday as a lowly unworthy sinner stained with guilt. Now there's a good reason to drink and dissociate! What a vicious cycle that kind of confusion creates. Confusion which perpetually perturbs the mind and keeps one divorced from the natural essence of one's Being. Or in hindsight, it seems to play out that way. It's no wonder orange Spiral Dynamic materialists have such devotion and determination. Abstract philosophical ways of being appearantly quickly leads to insanity or at least, maybe just becoming a loser. The Buddhist definition of Wisdom as - understanding silence, seems to make no sense at all to those of the western mindset. Maybe the times are slowly changing though.

If you like AC/DC, you probably like some of Joan Jett's music.

Although I liked Judas Priest some, I never did warm up to Metallica. AC DC I really enjoyed. Back in Black was a great Album.

Thanks @Applegarden , I fell asleep last night while forming a response centered around my interpretation of Gurdjieffs idea of Kundalini. By the way,, very impressive guitar work! A part of my ongoing troubles also is that I have a throat chakra that near chronicly malfunctions. I have hope because at times I catch a glimpse of what George Gurdjieff metaphorically referred to as the organ Kundabuffer. This metaphorical organ Kundabuffer represents the curse of our unconstrained imagination which pollutes our objectivity. It's my hypothesis for now that working with this notion of Kundabuffer will eventually undo the twist that exists for me in regard to the fifth chakra. After studying Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson, I produced the following homemade equation around my interpretation of what Gurdjieff was trying to get at. Kundalini = Prana = Kundabuffer = uncontrolled imagination = dispersed attention and chi/ Prana energy versus Kundalini + 3 Centered Awareness = Holy Prana which leads to full awakening and Self realization through the ability of Consciously directing one's attention. 3 Centered awareness is synonymous with his invented word fulasnitamnian awareness. Itoklanoz awareness represents an imbalance of the instinctual, feeling, and intellectual centers resulting in 'waking sleep' or spititual sleep. A numerology reading of my numbers indicates a struggle with imagination until the latter years of this current lifetime. I've always been a daydreamer who builds castles in the air. This seems to be a part of my delimma. I don't know whether it may be considered karmic or not. Anyway, In my interpretation, this is a condition Gurdjieff considered the main downfall in the psyche of all contemporary humanity. This statement of yours reminded me of the Sufi's notion of " the Lataif. Presence of the Lataif Can be Overlooked This particular one of the lataif, the heart center, is connected with the experience of compassion. At this level of experience, all of the excitement, glitter and drama of the heart chakra are gone. Instead, what is experienced in the chest cavity is emptiness. The whole chest feels as if it is gone. There is nothing left but a very clear, peaceful and silent emptiness. It feels as if nothing is occurring there, yet it is open and lucid. If the person pays closer attention, it will become apparent that this peaceful emptiness is pervaded by a very fine and subtle Presence, so fine and subtle that it is usually overlooked by the one having the experience. This fine and subtle Presence pervading the emptiness of the heart is the latifa or the first manifestation of it. The person will experience a subtle but exquisite sense of compassion, for himself and all others. Essence with the Elixir of Enlightenment, pg. 31 For more info. about the Lataif : https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/lataif

Please ignore me if I begin to infuriate you. We can become tortured by the mind. When the locus of my experience shifts down into and emanates from the belly and especially the Hara, I feel as though I have my will and I have my being. When the locus of my experience radiates from the head brain, then, I'm just a poor bastard who thinks too much. Especially when the heart center is buying into the whole narrative. Becoming grounded in the body is like going through the quiet door. Being is in the - I am of the heart. The essence of Being is presence without the conceptual mind putting name tags on everything. Escaping the Trap of the Mind Ultimately, everybody loves absolute absence whether they know it or not. You know you love it when you become aware of pure consciousness. Before pure consciousness you are trapped within the differentiating consciousness, discriminating, rejecting, and prizing one aspect of consciousness over another. You want essence or are angry because there is pain; you reject this person because they don't like you, judge that person because they're different from you, and so on. Within the differentiating consciousness, you are busy within the knowable world, trapped within your own mind. To go from consciousness to absence is to break out of the cycle of birth and death, to escape the trap. Diamond Heart Book Five, pg. 137

Synchronicity for me is nearly always an affirming kind of experience. Even when the circumstances are dark. As a teenager, I was sitting out in the car after church waiting for the folks to get through shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. Like always, I turned on the radio to listen to Casey Kasem's Top 40 Countdown. It ran 3 hours every Sunday from 10:00 - 1:00. This particular day Casey Kasem told a story about James Taylor and his writing the song Fire and Rain when he was in rehab for Heroin addiction and his life was just a wreck. For some reason the story just stuck with me. Fast forward about 3-4 years. I feel completely out of control and couldn't keep myself away from alcohol. In a turbulent state of anxiety, I more or less begged to be locked up somewhere. I got my wish. The facility was in a larger city about an hour and a half away. From a small admissions office, I was led into the lockdown area where shoestrings weren't allowed and everyone in this section was more or less on suicide watch. Going through the white big metal locking door made it feel like a prison. A short walk down a hall in this lockdown section with a nurse and we stopped at a nurse's station. I'll never forget the weird feeling I got when I heard the small radio tucked away behind the nurses desk as it was quietly playing James Taylor's - Fire and Rain. So, in a way, this song has always held a special significance for me.

Thought I'd just make a small pile of my favorite Supertramp songs. "If you're the joke of the neighborhood, why should you care, if you're feeling good."

Aaron Abke Makes to the point explanations about what the ego actually is. I put it here because he references ACIM.