CAMELOT FANTASIES
CAMELOT FANTASIES => EMMA'S CAFE => Topic started by: Emma on December 15, 2013, 12:47:25 pm
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Anything that is not permanent, is not real.
What is then permanent, you ask.
I say, if you can find it, let me know. Because I am That.
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From the point of view of the separate self, yourself - yes, there's a meaning, there's a purpose, there's a destiny. There's something to be discovered. There's something to be achieved. There's a purpose to evaluation.
But from the point of I awareness, I am the only real point of view - I am already everything I could ever be. There's no becoming. There's nothing for me to find. Wherever I look, I only find more of me.
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you are getting pretty deep and profound with your philosophy.
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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I come from no one. No one came from me.
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that is profound stuff emma.
keep it coming.
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I am never born and I never die. Anything that is born and dies, is not real.
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I am here; I am alive; and I am aware.
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I am nothing and yet, I am all there is. I am a paradox. I am God.
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Know The Ego
Here are some of the characteristics of the Sense of Separate Self (Ego):
1. It is looking for problems, issues, mistakes, misconducts, and flaws for identification.
2. It does not accept what is. There is a shortcoming, or something wrong, not enough and unpleasant at this moment. It wants to escape it as much as it can by going to the past and searching for mistakes, harping on them while feeling regretful and judgmental. Or it may go to an unknown fantasy of the future to have a better life and fix those pains and issues of the past. In this path, the mind will learn to value the ordinariness of the presence. It will honor and respect the simplicity of the presence.
3. The promise of the future never shows up for the Ego, because we are always in the “here-and-now.” There is always now; no other time exists. In this path, one would realize that now is all there is.
4. The Mind likes separation. Mind is in the duality vision. It sees itself as a separate entity, apart from the rest of the world. This separation will cause a great source of pain and suffering.
5. The Mind wants to compete. It wants to beat others in everything to feel better. It is a temporary satisfaction being bigger, better and wealthier than others; however, deep down, since separation is not our nature, the mind will become isolated and sad.
6. The Mind is into the “what ifs.” What if I lose my job? What if my parents die? And so on.
7. Waiting is the characteristic of the Mind. Waiting for a better job, or a vacation, or better future. True life is here and now.
8. Where is the enemy? The Mind is looking for “the enemy” everyday. Who is my new enemy today? This is, once again, due to the illusion of separation.
9. The Mind is looking to prove others wrong in order to feel bigger and better, even for temporary gratification.
10. The Mind is looking for approval from others. When people approve the Mind, it is becomes inflated and happy. When people criticize the Mind, it will shrink and become unhappy. Its happiness depends upon others.
11. The Mind needs this consciousness to survive; however, consciousness does not need the mind to survive. We are beyond the mind.
12. We are beyond our emotions. Once the Truth is realized, all emotions are more than welcome. As long as you know who you are, there will be no identification to these feelings and emotions. They will come and go. There will be no identification, since there will be no individuality...
13. The mind likes to go back to the past and make stories from the past. These stories could be very sad and some of them big tragedies. The stories are there; however, one need to investigate, although the story is there as an event, is there a separate entity as "I" exist which is claiming these events? One needs to go within and check it out. This false self, would like to claim them for identity. We are not our history.
14. Being the awareness will teach us that our identification is this pure, silent watcher who is a witness that acts spontaneously when it is needed here and now. No previous knowledge is needed.
15. The Mind is into "becoming" and "searching” in order to become successful in this world. This includes spiritual success. After all, when worldly success is gained, it then goes after the spiritual success. The Mind wants to become loving, caring, silent, non-judgmental and to love unconditionally. The Mind is trying to become God.
As long as there is a sense of separate self, it is not possible for the mind to be non-judgmental. As long as the mind is diluted by appearances, it sees itself apart from the rest of the world and it will judge against the rest of the world.
With all of these aspects it is striving to achieve, the mind becomes exhausted and frustrated. This is because these are not the jobs of the mind. To be the Truth for the mind is impossible. Once the Truth is realized, the mind will be free from becoming. At this time, the search is over. The mind will be at rest; it will be liberated.
Meditation will point to our True nature. Our True nature is eternal. It will never come, never go. Once the Truth is realized, any thought or emotion is more than welcome. The thought or emotion will be there; however, there is no sense of "me" to identify with that thought or emotion as "my thought” or “my emotion.”
Remember, pleasure or pain are created by the mind. Our true essence is Joy. We forget our True Self (Silent watcher, awareness) and imagine the physical body or the mind to be the Self. This is a false identity that gives rise to misery. Reality (awareness) lies beyond our mind.
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One of my favourite documentaries on poet Sufi Rumi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5UxOANuR8
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Lovely documentary on Einstein.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcXxHZssCh4
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From one of the greatest teachers out there...Perception and Reality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FgGZ1xBAQw
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wow emma. that is pretty heavy stuff. keep it coming.
I will have to think about some of this.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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The Great Philosopher Buddha and His Path to Enlightenment
INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM
As a child, Siddhartha the Buddha, was troubled by some of the same thoughts that children today have. They wonder about birth and death. They wonder why they get sick and why grandfather died. They wonder why their wishes do not come true. Children also wonder about happiness and the beauty in nature.
Because the Buddha knew what was in the hearts of children and human kind, he taught everyone how to live a happy and peaceful life. Buddhism is not learning about strange beliefs from faraway lands. It is about looking at and thinking about our own lives. It shows us how to understand ourselves and how to cope with our daily problems.
THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA
Life in the Palace
Buddhism is one of the major religions in the world. It began around 2,500 years ago in India when Siddhartha Gautama discovered how to bring happiness into the world. He was born around 566 BC, in the small kingdom of Kapilavastu. His father was King Suddhodana and his mother was Queen Maya.
Soon after Prince Siddhartha was born, the wise men predicted that he would become a Buddha. When the king heard this, he was deeply disturbed, for he wanted his son to become a mighty ruler. He told Queen Maya, "I will make life in the palace so pleasant that our son will never want to leave."
At the age of sixteen, Prince Siddhartha married a beautiful princess, Yasodhara. The king built them three palaces, one for each season, and lavished them with luxuries. They passed their days in enjoyment and never thought about life outside the palace.
The Four Sights
Soon Siddhartha became disillusioned with the palace life and wanted to see the outside world. He made four trips outside the palace and saw four things that changed his life. On the first three trips, he saw sickness, old age and death. He asked himself, "How can I enjoy a life of pleasure when there is so much suffering in the world?"
On his fourth trip, he saw a wandering monk who had given up everything he owned to seek an end to suffering. "I shall be like him." Siddhartha thought.
Renunciation
Leaving his kingdom and loved ones behind, Siddhartha became a wandering monk. He cut off his hair to show that he had renounced the worldly lifestyle and called himself Gautama. He wore ragged robes and wandered from place to place. In his search for truth, he studied with the wisest teachers of his day. None of them knew how to end suffering, so he continued the search on his own.
For six years he practiced severe asceticism thinking this would lead him to enlightenment. He sat in meditation and ate only roots, leaves and fruit. At times he ate nothing. He could endure more hardships than anyone else, but this did not take him anywhere. He thought, "Neither my life of luxury in the palace nor my life as an ascetic in the forest is the way to freedom. Overdoing things can not lead to happiness. " He began to eat nourishing food again and regained his strength.
Enlightenment
On a full-moon day in May, he sat under the Bodhi tree in deep meditation and said. "I will not leave this spot until I find an end to suffering." During the night, he was visited by Mara, the evil one, who tried to tempt him away from his virtuous path. First he sent his beautiful daughters to lure Gautama into pleasure. Next he sent bolts of lightning, wind and heavy rain. Last he sent his demonic armies with weapons and flaming rocks. One by one, Gautama met the armies and defeated them with his virtue.
As the struggle ended, he realized the cause of suffering and how to remove it. He had gained the most supreme wisdom and understood things as they truly are. He became the Buddha, 'The Awakened One'. From then on, he was called Shakyamuni Buddha.
The Buddha Teaches
After his enlightenment, he went to the Deer Park near the holy city of Benares and shared his new understanding with five holy men. They understood immediately and became his disciples. This marked the beginning of the Buddhist community.
For the next forty-five years, the Buddha and his disciples went from place to place in India spreading the Dharma, his teachings. Their compassion knew no bounds, they helped everyone along the way, beggars, kings and slave girls. At night, they would sleep where they were; when hungry they would ask for a little food.
Whenever the Buddha went, he won the hearts of the people because he dealt with their true feelings. He advised them not to accept his words on blind faith, but to decide for themselves whether his teachings are right or wrong, then follow them. He encouraged everyone to have compassion for each other and develop their own virtue, "You should do your own work, for I can teach only the way."
He never became angry or impatient or spoke harshly to anyone, not even to those who opposed him. He always taught in such a way that everyone could understand. Each person thought the Buddha was speaking especially for him. The Buddha told his followers to help each other on the Way. Following is a story of the Buddha living as an example to his disciples.
Once the Buddha and Ananda visited a monastery where a monk was suffering from a contagious disease. The poor man lay in a mess with no one looking after him. The Buddha himself washed the sick monk and placed him on a new bed. Afterwards, he admonished the other monks. "Monks, you have neither mother nor father to look after you. If you do not look after each other, who will look after you? Whoever serves the sick and suffering, serves me."
The Last Years
Shakyamuni Buddha passed away around 486 BC at the age of eighty. Although he has left the world, the spirit of his kindness and compassion remains.
The Buddha realized that that he was not the first to become a Buddha. "There have been many Buddhas before me and will be many Buddhas in the future," The Buddha recalled to his disciples. "All living beings have the Buddha nature and can become Buddhas." For this reason, he taught the way to Buddhahood.
The two main goals of Buddhism are getting to know ourselves and learning the Buddha's teachings. To know who we are, we need to understand that we have two natures. One is called our ordinary nature, which is made up of unpleasant feelings such as fear, anger, and jealousy. The other is our true nature, the part of us that is pure, wise, and perfect. In Buddhism, it is called the Buddha nature. The only difference between us and the Buddha is that we have not awakened to our true nature.
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Causes Of Suffering
All the great Teachers of Ancient Wisdom have taught the reason for suffering. Jesus taught that suffering was caused by separating from the love of God, disconnecting through negative thoughts, actions, and emotions that take us away from God. Essentially, Jesus taught that falling away from our real nature, our true being, causes us to suffer. In order to connect again with our real nature, we have to love God first and love all of our brothers and sisters without exception. Jesus further elaborated the way to get back into oneness with God through the simple teachings of the Beatitudes. For example, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
Buddha taught that desire causes suffering. When we do not have what we want, we long for it and this causes a burning in our being until it is satisfied. If we withdraw our attention from the object of our desire or craving, then we cease to suffer. Buddha taught this to his disciples 500 years before Jesus came.
An ancient teaching that comes from Vedanta in India describes five causes of suffering called the Five Kleshas. The first cause of suffering is not knowing the true nature of Reality. The second cause of suffering is grasping or holding onto what is illusory or insubstantial. The third cause of suffering is from an aversion to something, a fear of something, a revulsion to something that is insubstantial. The fourth is identification with the false self or ego and thus we are constricted and limited in our consciousness. The fifth cause of suffering is the fear of death. As you can figure out, all of these causes of suffering are contained in the first one which does not know the true nature of reality. Not knowing the true nature of reality is thinking and seeing things in ways that distort reality.
The teaching boils down to this: if you look outside yourself for what will fulfill you or make you happy, you are very likely to be disappointed. If you desire something outside yourself, you are suffering from a misconception about reality. All goodness and love is inside you at the core of your being where God resides. If you travel within and focus completely inside in the center of your being, you will find the love, peace and fulfillment you have been looking for. Anything outside is transitory and shallow compared with what is within. It takes courage to make the journey to the center of your being as you have to let go of the illusion of separateness or emptiness. You will stop suffering as you enter into that relationship with God and let go of the idea that you are vacuously empty. When you discover God within, all craving ceases along with any fear, revulsion, prejudice or anger. You are in peace because you lack nothing as you openly enter into the embrace of oneness with God within.
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Is it any wonder that all human problems lie in Ignorance? Root of all evil and primary cause of all human sufferings.
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Ignorance
Non-science, untrue, bogus, illusion, delusion, lack of awareness of reality or the real, unenlightened, backward. It is also the ground in which the four other Kleshas fertilize. Thus Ignorance is when we think the unreal is actually real; that matter is the ultimate or only important real substance; mistaking religion, dogmas, or superstitions for spirituality; when we think in terms of "I," "I am the body," "This is me." Ignorance is absence of knowledge of the spirit of man.
Ego
The "I" or "Me-maker," the opinion we have of ourselves, but one which is seldom shared by others. An imagined personality. Mistaken identification of nature, mind, and spirit as the body. To identify oneself with worldly life, the body, and the senses. Arrogant conceit is often a cover to hide one's inferiority; Real men and women have no need to advertise themselves. Ego is a mask we wear to try to hide and veil what we are.
Repulsion
Aversion or repulsion to people, things, or ideas. Its counterpoise is obviously a state of Equipoise Neutrality. The true nature of the Spirit (Atman) is non-discriminating. Aghora (the Lord Shiva) means nothing horrible in itself.
Attachment
Possessiveness, ownership, liking, attraction. Attachment to people, things, and ideas. To join, connect, or associate ourselves with something. "This is ours," "This is mine." Attachment in its negative sense to things we cannot own or keep. Often the cause of quarrels, violent conflicts, and even war. Expressed also as race, nationality, my country, my money. Attachment can only have free play on lower mind levels.
Repulsion and attraction are two sides of a single coin. Their obstacle value can be impediments and overcome by: Contentment, Neutrality, Tranquility, and Knowledge.
Clinging to life
Fear of Death. Desire for body continuity. Though most of human life is pain, misery, sickness and woe, delusion gives most people an abnormal desire to live. The other four Kleshas help to strengthen the delusion. Every living body has a limited lifespan to live on earth, and humans are no exception to what are but natural laws.
from: Five Kleshas - International Nath Order
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What is Brahman:
Brahman is the Absolute Reality or universal substrate (not to be confused with the Creator god Brahmā) is said to be eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and ultimately indescribable in human language. The sage-seers of the Upanishads had fully realized Brahman as the reality behind their own being and of everything else in this universe. They were thus Brahmins in the true sense of the word. These rishis described Brahman as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness, and infinite Bliss (satcitananda). Brahman is regarded as the source and essence of the material universe. The initial unmanifest state of singularity of the universe is described as a beyond being and non-being in the Nasadiya Sukta. The Rig Veda says that by the desire of the Supreme Being (RV 10.129.4), the initial manifestation of the material universe came into being from Hiranyagarbha (literally "golden womb"), out of which all worlds, organisms and divine beings (devas) arise:
"Great indeed are the devas who have sprung out of Brahman." — Atharva Veda
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I would like to contribute something to this thread while I wait for Andy's match (but I will watch other matches too in the meantime).
Five main causes of human suffering - based on Vedanta and Budhism teaching. I am simply copying and pasting here:
"There are five reasons why human beings suffer, according to Vedanta. These are the five kleshas on which Buddhism drew for the Four Noble Truths.
First, they do not know who they are.
Second, they grasp, hold on, cling to that which is impermanent, transient, intangible, ephemeral, dreamlike, which has no real existence.
Third, they are afraid of, run from that which is transient, intangible, insubstantial, dreamlike, ephemeral, which has no real existence.
Fourth, they identify with the false self, a moment-by-moment fabrication, which is a figment of the imagination, they sacrifice their souls, their spirits for a false identity.
Fifth, they are afraid of death, of the unknown. And then Vedanta says, all those five reasons are contained in the first. So find out who you are, and the other four dissipate, disappear as if it was a dream.
So find out who you are, and the truth will set you free: Satyamev Jayate.
Vedanta says, beyond the secret passages, beyond the dark alleys of the mind, there's a domain of awareness, atman, and that atman is one with Brahman. Today, science calls it (Brahman) the virtual domain, from where the quantum and the physical arise. This virtual domain is immortal and eternal, is a field of infinite correlations, has infinite organizing power, infinite dynamism, and is the source of energy, space, time, matter and information. It is simultaneously infinity-time. It is here that we will find the meaning of choice, freedom, insight, intention, imagination, intuition, creativity, knowingness, understanding, and spirit.
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welcome to Emma's Philosophy Corner.
post away and have fun.
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Did you know that Muhammad was given the title Al Amin (The Trustworthy) at a very young age even before his commission by God? They gave him this title because they considered him to be the best man among them, one who was never known to have told a lie.
And Buddha's mother, the Queen, did give birth to Buddha after 10 months of that dream and died only a week after giving birth to Sidartha, Buddha's original name given at birth.
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This seems slightly controversial but it has some of Jesus' messages interpreted by the author of this video in a wonderful and meaningful way, so I personally liked that bit a great deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRLKDLJnX0
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXpiqyrPnhg
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSIsB5TRfUY
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I AM (2010)
http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/i_am_2010/
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Please post your favourite documentaries here. I will start with one of my very favourites with a small introduction taken from the documentary itself.
"Twenty five hundred years ago, nestled in a fertile valley along the border in between Nepal and India, a child was born who was to become The Budha. The story says before the birth of Budha, his mother the Queen of a small Indian kingdom, had a dream. A beautiful white elephant offered the Queen a lotus flower and then entered inside of her body. When Sages were asked to interpret the dream, they predicted, the Queen would give birth to a son destined to become either a great ruler or a holly man. One day they said, he would either conquer the World or become an enlightened being - The Budha."
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enAFLrtFelk
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFlnBs68sOo
"There is no knowledge won without the sacrifice. In order to gain anything, one must first lose everything."