Zigzag Idiot and the ladder of Objective Reason

[Zigzag Idiot]

On 12/1/2023 at 3:53 AM, tsuki said:

I felt an urge to check in after a long absence and seeing you here, still chipping away at it, makes me feel all warm. Hi my dear friend!

 @tsuki  Hi friend! Good to hear from you. I would enjoy seeing you journal here again if you decide to,,,,.

Hope all is well,,,,

[Zigzag Idiot]

Poetry by Arnold Keyserling

 

Truth

Only that truth which is recognized by all can become a fellow-being.

You should grow up around your grievous mistakes like a tree, and let them be, until one day they become a part of your strength, and they no longer hinder your ascent.

Thinking is a force, feeling leads to new motivations.

Remain receptive to both and truth will become attainable.

Truth is that knowledge which becomes one with being.

You will become one with being when all of your burdens and loves, objects and fears, sorrows and joys have found their place in the whole.

 

Sorrow

No one would make the decisive step without sorrow and doubt.

But taking that step has nothing to do with sadness.

It is shed like the skin of a snake.

The darkness is able to generate the right reason, one more difficult, but also better, than the next.

But it will not always be so.

Some day love will shine upon you.

Then sorrow will simply be the undertone of the resulting harmony.

The path is there from the very beginning.

Sometimes it is easier, sometimes harder.

But one thing is essential: the depth emerges from the strength of sorrow.

Without sorrow there is no course; without the course the path is not passable.

Mourn – not over the self – but over what is yet to be done.

Each day brings further sorrows, and eventually you will reach the original cause of sorrow.

Then you can finally begin the ascent back.

Rejoice in your sorrow, for the darkness will not remain with you much longer.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Names that are difficult to pronounce
 

• Englebert Humperdinck 
• Tod Rundgren 
• Itzhak Bentov
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 
• Knecht Ruprect 
• Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff

[MuadDib]

The schadenfreude is strong with this one.

[MysticalSnow]

Still here. Awesome.

[Zigzag Idiot]

Slept fitfully last night. Had a vivid and interesting dream right before I woke. Listening to the schizophrenic voices in my head as I sit here. They are singing a song like most always and that’s okay. I know how to multitask. Time to get out of the bed and go fix some oatmeal. Nearly every morning I have some oatmeal with my sugar and margarine with a pinch of salt and cinnamon.

Good morning everyone.

[Zigzag Idiot]

A wannabe passivist with an interdimensional warlock starter kit

I'm captain Oblivious much of the time.

Moreso when my attention is concentrated and drawn away from me rather than directed at a focal point. Two days ago, while working on a project outdoors, a mind flash occurred that added to a previous insight/concept. As G. once stated. As soon as I realized the sense of this idea, I got up and began to run around the spring, without knowing what I was doing, like a young calf. I've always been this way to a degree,,,. Of being in a world of my own making, excluding the goings-on of my immediate environment. This happens in a number of ways and includes a very distilled, if you will, element of psychological /sensorial projection which takes on a life of its own with characters independent of my volition, who then begin acting on their own. I wonder/postulate that connection is being made with the collective unconscious and perhaps simultaneously the imaginal/causal realm. There's a lot going on here that needs to be sorted out.

This morning after I woke while still laying horizontal. i saw a difficult situation in a different light. There was a felt sense of communication with someone at a distance and simultaneously, a healing. This healing was similar and commiserate with understanding and forgiveness. Nisargadatta's statement comes to mind. "Nothing is wrong anymore".

 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

This was an observation about myself that I shared with an online group. It’s the kind of self observation that should be shared here instead of my usual hyperbolic or exaggerated expressions.

—I was cynical and noticed that it perpetuated a subtle sense of guilt. The Commentaries introduced me to the treasures of light-heartedness. To me goofy is equal to being lighthearted. I’ve backslid in the last couple of years and perhaps found the value of letting hatred burn hot and clean instead of repressing the hatred which seems to perpetuate the guilt as well. I’m a work in progress. Sometimes 2 steps forward then 3 steps back.—

The Commentaries mentioned are The Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky by Maurice Nicoll. 
It’s in my understanding and experience that actualizing one’s potential is not an experience of crossing the finish line once and for all ending with an illuminated enlightenment. Falling back into some degree of neurotic condition is usually the rule and will occur for years. Even after a major transformative realization. Because there are many to be potentially realized. 
The practice of sensing one’s feet or of breathing into the belly center. Not holding your gut in like many adults do. Let it relax like a little kid who is free from self consciousness. 
Having excessive internal dialogue and being trapped inside your head is the experience of being a poor bastard with innumerable problems to be solved.  In contrast, having inner quiet is a wonderful experience.

[Zigzag Idiot]

I was advised by someone I respect that Love is something that should never be discussed, I can see the wisdom in the idea,,,,

Let me contradict myself and seemingly disregard that statement with what I’ve expressed before.

Romantic love and infatuation are both instances of love with a small “l”ove. Unconditional Love often means sacrificing one’s own wants and needs. That’s Love with a big “L”ove. 
To hold unconditional Love as a standard to live up to. This does more harm than good. The vast majority of humans are incapable of the state of consciousness that is unconditional Love. It is sometimes ‘touched’ as a state but I’ve never have known a human who lived in the state of unconditional Love as a permanent stage of consciousness.

A quote from Lao tsu comes to mind. “He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.”

Soooo, with the idea given to me that one should not speak about Love. That is all for now. I’m going to observe myself in the future and see if I ramble on,,,

And now for something different. This guy incorporated the use of a shotgun with his drumming. I get a kick out of his drumming. Truly impressive!

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Preciseness, beneficial, abbreviated and beautiful.

[Zigzag Idiot]

There is a conversation around the idea of AI girlfriend/boyfriend robots. It's an interesting idea but not one that I really want to be an advocate for. The above You tubes are not about that. The covers are clickbait. They are very much worth watching though.  

One of my primary interests in the potential abuse of technology that results in the abuse of human rights and loss of privacy. There is an ironic situation at present. In hindsight I see my total disregard for pc maintenance and safety which would probably allow for potential hacking. if this has happened. Does the idea of being psychologically integrated and individuated make a difference. You bet it does.  Integration and individuation are key elements in actualizing one's human potential. It allows you to express or display your idiot selves without need for defensiveness or justification. An Asterix or perhaps 3-5 belongs with the last couple of statements. 😉

https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/integration

 https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/individuation

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

                        DID You know?

It's Ok.

Everything is just Okay.

I don't know anything about what's to come.

The future for all of us may be filled with terror and painful death if humankind does not wise up to the uselessness of war. I can think of nothing sadder than children and the innocent among us facing extreme terror produced by the weapons of modern warfare. 

Did this get too melodramatic?

It's sobering. Perception becomes more vivid when you face your own mortality. When death is near,,,,

The present moment can become a cherished gift. Even if by others I'm perceived as a fool. I'm so thankful I don't care what others think of me.

With no shame. Do your eyes fill with tears? If so, I've entered your heart. or perhaps you've entered mine.

My heart is a perceptual filter used to examine reality. It has a dimensional range. Both vertical and horizontal it seems. Tender and mild at times. Indifferent and cold when it closes up.  Then there is boredom, rage, lust, awe, gratitude and other qualities. My heart is like your heart.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

                 The Work is for losers.                                                            
 

                    Scale of being,,,,

I heard a teacher of the fourth way once say this. A person must be disillusioned with life. The following is from Maurice Nicole’s work. I enjoy his humorous style of speaking which was written from transcripts from speeches given to his work groups.

 

The illusion of doing and knowing

Now let us sketch the person who is full of vanity, self-merit, self-admiration, self-love, self-estimation, self-worthiness, self-conceit, self-importance, self-esteem, self-excitement, and so on. That person is very identified with himself or herself. This person is rich -- "the rich man" (or the rich woman). 

Such people have no idea that they cannot do. This idea would startle them. They also have no notion that they do not know. They are sure they know best. 

They feel depressed only when their vanity meets with a check, or no doubt they feel furious. But they cannot see themselves. They may be very kind so long as they are gratified with thanks and praise. They help the poor, they give money to those in distress, provided they get proper recognition and feel they are properly treated. Such people may be very useful in mechanical life, but in the Work, which is under a reverse sign from life, they may find themselves at a loss.

The Work grows out of our "poorness", not our "richness"

I remember many years ago that some people of this kind who were in the Work decided to get together and make the Work "really go." They felt that it was all too slow and that they could rapidly make it a great success and they no doubt pictured themselves sitting on the platform at some great meeting at the Albert Hall or some such place bowing to thousands of people.

They felt that out of their "richness" -- I am speaking psychologically -- they could enlarge the Work. But it is out of our "poorness" that the Work grows. It is not from the rich personality that the Work grows in us but from the starved and real essence.

If impressions fall on essence you see in a new way. Now a "rich" person, very identified with himself or herself, cannot expect to see things without associations or to get any new impressions falling on essence which is the growing point of a person. That person will live always in associations -- in the past.

Also an opinionated person, a man or woman openly or secretly in love with themselves, and certain of themselves and their virtue, and standpoint, such a man or woman, wholly identified with themselves, will not be able to divide themselves into two. That is, they will not be able to shift their position but must always remain where they are and so what they are in the Scale of Being. Where and what are the same in this scale. That is, the level of being where you are, is also what you are.

If you begin to see yourself passively you begin to see the level of being you are chained down to by the active, self-acting side of you -- the side that calls itself "I" and which, in my case, expects to be "Maurice Nicoll." This side, in everyone, usurps the throne and sits on it.

 

Scale of being,,,, hmm

[Zigzag Idiot]

There seems to be a simultaneously movement of direction in the following poem, by  Dzou'l Noun.

 

All men are dead, except those who know.

All those who know are dead, except those who practice.

All those who practice are dead, except those who act.

All those who act are lost, except those who act with righteous intent.

All those who act with righteous intent are in grave danger.

 

This is what I hear. It speaks of the need to return to beginners mind every day or as needed. 

This is the springboard used to leap out of my grave.

I strive and then I don't strive. Simultaneously observing inward and observing outward at times creates a unified perceptual field, difficult to describe and the more I try to do so, cheapens it.
 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Being independent minded

 

 

             Breakfast

I have my usual mixture of sugar, margarine, salt, cinnamon, and just a little bit of oatmeal and water. I return to my bed and crumble as many chocolate chip cookies as I dare into the bowl to offset the inevitable overabundance of margarine.

Just because I'm into actualizing my potential in terms of realization of awareness and cognition doesn't mean I have to sign on to the idea of proper nutrition. I applaud those who eat in a healthy way and for those who try to do so but sometimes fail. Please excuse me for being a bad example.

Lunch-midday

Gatorade, 3-4 pieces of raisin bread and a couple of chocolate chip cookies or perhaps some fried sausage with 3 greasy fried eggs and a couple of chocolate chip cookies for my sweet tooth.

Suppertime

Salted greasy fried potatoes with macaroni and cheese and 2=3 chocolate chip cookies. Then a bowl of chocolate ice cream at bedtime.

My practice is inquiry. To observe with ruthless honesty when I become negative in my inner world or perhaps seek merit and praise from others. Also, this means not to fall into self-criticism but rather to sit with and observe my weaknesses in regard to emotional negativity and its effects.

 

* Note- Intake of sugar, caffeine and other stuff,,, often produce a greater likelihood of reactivity and the expression of negative emotion.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

        Kip demonstrating his salesmanship. 

I can relate to this scene.
 

Uncle Rico- “How much you want to make a bet, I could throw this football over the them mountains.”

[Zigzag Idiot]

To endeavor to persevere. To remember yourSelf in not splitting off and fragmenting your instinctual drives.

Strategy of putting the whammy of a Care-bear mindmeld on others who are causing trouble,,,

[Zigzag Idiot]

Thoughts on shift between first tier and second tier of Spiral Dynamics map of Human worldviews or levels of consciousness.

 

There seems to be an energized empathy at the green level which precedes the yellow level beginning the shift into the second level. It seems to me that people at the yellow level and above have emerged after being overwhelmed in a ‘dark night’ of sorts. They have died to parts of themselves that were constructed out of a naïve imagination which kept them in an all-knowing certainty devoid of the harsh realities that are at the basis of human survival in which a scarcity of resources mandates that a form of narcissistic competition must exist. This competition has a dominant theme which includes social acceptance through demonstrating wealth. Those who are not born into wealthy families and even those who are, are conditioned into the idea of getting a “higher education” with the promise of wisdom and success for those who make it through. 
From my perspective I see an eroding of common sense and in its place a construction of self importance based in part on the ability to confuse or intimidate others with an attitude of glib, erudite confidence. Otherwise known as the ability or capacity for successfully bullshiting others.

The building of this capacity can also overtime put one through the meat grinder of higher education. So it’s not a this or that choice. It’s the half measures on the path of struggle which leaves people in cul-de-sacs of chronic depression or an overwhelmed apathy.

Actualization is not solely for the educated. In part It’s about discovering and expressing in some way that uniqueness that is yours alone. 
Do you see a distinction between identifying with multiculturalism or relating with transcultural non attachment? One is an “ism” and the other one is not. It’s not the 3 letters of ism that cause a blind spot but rather the identifying with ————— fill in the blank. Pluralism, socialism, capitalism, monotheism, etc., I’ve digressed,,, As Gurdjieff put it- Identification is one of our worst foes.

Going back now to being overwhelmed on the path, stalling out and just barely surviving day to day or week to week. A distinction was made by Abraham Maslow between “survival or deficiency needs” and what he referred to as “being needs”.  The lower levels below 2nd tier are concerned mostly with deficiency needs; food, shelter, sex, social acceptance. He equated “being needs” with whatever you do that inspires you. It’s where a person works because of a selfish fulfillment, in a sense. Say that a someone works above and beyond what’s expected in order to finish a job. They are willing to endure tiredness and perhaps criticism from others in order to accomplish whatever it is that they are doing. That’s a path with heart as Castaneda phrased it. 

People who are confident and at peace are trustworthy. They know the difference between a neurotic state of mind juxtaposed to having inner quiet. They know that unbalanced or neurotic states of consciousness come and go with varying intensity. The same can be said of having inner quiet or as some Buddhists have defined wisdom as understanding silence.  A distinction should be realized between unconstrained imagination and constrained imagination. Unconstrained imagination may be one of our worst enemies. It runs hand in hand with self deception. Also with either fear or hope. 
Trustworthy people are disciplined people for the most part. But not always. You can also find many disciplined people who are deceptive, devious and cunning, I guess,,,

It’s almost a fad for people these days to be pointing out someone that they think are narcissistic. We are all narcissists to a degree. It just means being selfish or self absorbed to a degree that they are willing to actively step all over other people. I know someone who absolutely exhausts themselves trying to do the right thing while viewing themselves through the eyes of other people. There is little joy to be found there because the inner critic in them never lets them off the hook. Do something for others when you WANT to. There are times when you choose to help others when you really don’t want to but a sense of responsibility beyond that of self condemnation mandates that you do it. It is very important to take care of yourself and charge your own batteries. You can be of service to others more effectively when you are doing it from a place of exuberance and finding a selfish fulfillment while doing it. Helping others or doing a good job or creating something of quality or value pays an inner reward that speaks to your inner quiet.

Writing this out on my phone has taken a little time and I’m ready to step off my soapbox.

Good night.
 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Some of what I wrote in my last entry is garbage. Thats okay with me though. Making mistakes. inaccuracies, summarizing wrongly.

It does matter and it doesn't matter. Never mind. If it doesn’t matter then I don’t mind. If it’s a question about mind over matter then it’s a sometimes but not always situation. Like pouring empty into the void which to me seems opposite to all and everything. Then does that constitute a matter over mind equation which is in essence a brain juxtaposed to mind consideration. Brain being more basic to mind similar to the analogy of what the body is to the Soul. What about the nucleus of an atom to the circling electrons? Seems like that is similar but much lower of an octave comparatively to a central star in a solar system that has orbiting planets. Theorizing that God is a collection of galactic clusters,,,,then perhaps a human being’s lifetime is a quark in the body of God,

I'm pondering my unacknowledged fear of death as well.

The death of the body is pretty much unescapable. for all of us. Although there are some glimmers of hope in the sciences with age reversal. There are so many advances nowadays in connection with A.I.

Fell asleep last night editing on my phone. Got carried away with all that gibberish,,,, It’s cathartic somehow.

Edited February 14, 2024 by Zigzag Idiot