Advice

There is lots of advice given in the WordPress world, and I am guilty of giving on occasion. There is a piece of advice I came across the other day in book two or three of Carlos Castenada’s series of books. I would not give this piece of advice to you, but will repeat it for what its worth.

What Don Juan wanted to do to Carlos, which I wouldn’t, of course want to do to you- is to find some way of motivating him to be congruent and expressive in his behaviour at all times, as creative as he could be as a human being.

Juan wanted Carlos to mobilise his resources so that each act Carlos performed would be a full representation of all the potential that was available to him. To be the best man he could be at every moment of his life!

The advice that Don Juan gave to Carlos was: “At any moment that you find yourself hesitating, or if at any moment you find yourself putting off until tomorrow trying some new piece of behaviour that you could do today, or doing something you’ve done before, then all you need to do is glance over your left shoulder and there will be a fleeting shadow. That shadow represents your death, and at any moment it might step forward, place its hand on your shoulder and take you. So that the act that you are presently engaged in might be your very last act and therefore fully representative of you as your last act on this planet.”

When you hesitate, you are acting as though you are immortal. And you, faithful reader, are not. Act now, on whatever it is you have been putting off. Act now and begin what you have been dreaming of. Act now and feel fantastic!

Belief

What one believes in life is the fundamental screen in which they view the world. You can believe in God, Jesus, Allah, The Universe, The Law of Attraction, or an unlimited number of possible systems.

If you believe in something too rigidly you will be unable to see things from another, a different angle. This is what happens when a person is closed minded and uses terms like: ‘thats a load of rubbish’, or ‘in my religion it says this..’ or ‘it cant be that easy!’

If you simply change your belief system, you will have a new set of resources and a new set of limitations. Having the new choice of being able to operate out of different models of thought is very valuable in comparison to being able only to operate out of one model. If you believe any of them, you will remain limited in the same way those models are limited.

Once you realise that the world in which your living right now is completely made up, you can make up new worlds. Now is the time to start.

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The Man and the Lion

A Man and a Lion were discussing the relative strength of men and lions in general. The Man contended that he and his fellows were stronger than lions by reason of their greater intelligence. “Come now with me,” he cried, “and I will soon prove that I am right.” So he took him into the public gardens and showed him a statue of Hercules overcoming the Lion and tearing his mouth in two.

“That is all very well,” said the Lion, “but proves nothing, for it was a man who made the statue.”

We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.

The Law of Belief

This blog post is for you! You are the one reading and you are the one who must put the idea into practice! If you choose to share it with someone else, this again is up to you.

The following quote is from a book called, ‘The power of your subconscious mind’ by Dr Joseph Murphy. I recommend you go and buy this book. But for now read on and see if you like.

“All religions of the world represent forms of belief, and these beliefs are explained in many ways. The law of life is belief. What do you believe about yourself, life, and the universe? It is done unto you as you believe.

“Belief is a thought in your mind that causes the power of your subconscious to be distributed into all phases of your life according to your thinking habits. You must realise when the Bible speaks of belief, it is not talking about your belief in some ritual, ceremony, form, institution or formula. It is talking about belief itself. The belief of your mind is simply the thought of your mind.

If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. MARK 9:23

“It is foolish to believe in something that will hurt or harm you. Remember, it is not the thing believed in that hurts or harms you, but the belief or thought in your mind that creates the result. All your experiences, all your actions, and all the events and circumstances of your life are but the reflections and reactions of your own thought.”

I will be brief in concluding. What thoughts and beliefs take up the majority of your day? Positive; negative, Happy; sad, Grand; tiny?

Do these thoughts reflect your life circumstances? If you are sincere with yourself you will have to answer ‘yes’. Now you are aware of this idea, this universal law, you can begin using it to benefit yourself and those around you. Start now, creating the world you want to live!

The Ride of Life

“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly colored, and it’s very loud, and it’s fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, “Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?” And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, “Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.” And we … kill those people. “Shut him up! I’ve got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn’t matter, because it’s just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”

Bill Hicks (1961-1994)

I came across this quote on http://thewondrousdharma.com/ and I would recommend you go and check this blog out. Full with words of wisdom and insight.

Every-Minute Zen

Zen students are with their masters at least ten years before they presume to teach others. Nan-in was visited by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship, had become a teacher. The day happened to be rainy, so Tenno wore wooden clogs and carried an umbrella. After greeting him Nan-in remarked: ‘I suppose you left your wooden clogs in the vestibule. I want to know if your umbrella is on the right or the left side of the clogs.’
Tenno, confused, had no instant answer. He realised that he was unable to carry his Zen in every minute. He became Nan-in’s pupil, and he studied six more years to accomplish his every-minute Zen.

Have you given a thought to what this last statement means? To accomplish every-minute Zen? For Tenno, who, already assumed to be a master after ten years of training, and the teaching of others, we can see he was unable. For me this means that it is not an easy thing to acquire and takes much attention and effort.

But it must be attainable otherwise their would be no trace of the idea. This is the interesting point! It is spoken about, often, in certain circles. It is a thing that interests me a great deal.

The constant striving for every-minute Zen is all that we can hope for. If it was difficult for Tenno in fortuitous circumstances, what hope do I have in London? But to think like this is to be already defeated!

Taste it now for a second.. Be present to yourself and your surroundings. Register this impression and see if it is possible to come back to it later on. Only you will be able to answer, and if you answer yourself sincerely you will have begun.

The Dog and the Wolf

Today I will share another of Aesop’s fine fables. It’s been a while since I shared something of this nature, but this fable has a beautiful message.

A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by. “Ah, Cousin,” said the Dog. “I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin of you. Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly given to you?”

“I would have no objection,” said the Wolf, “if I could only get a place.”

“I will easily arrange that for you,” said the Dog; “come with me to my master and you shall share my work.”

So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog’s neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had come about.

“Oh, it is nothing,” said the Dog. “That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it.”

“Is that all?” said the Wolf. “Then good-bye to you, Master Dog.”

Better starve free than be a fat slave.

Better starve free than be a fat slave! There are certain laws one must abide by, universal laws, state laws, family laws and work laws. But once you are aware of the situation, you can choose your attitude towards it. Like the wolf in the above fable, he knows the laws, the demands if he wants regular food, but he is not interested in it. He made the choice to be free and hungry.

Conclusion

Gurdjieff taught that there are several roads to human evolution, to evolve from the carriage to the aeroplane. To increase awareness.

Each one of us will have a preferred route to reach this aim. All I am trying to do with these blogs is to make one aware that it is possible. Many other blogs on this site would agree with me. The key is to find your route, your path and begin to walk it. You don’t have to abstain from life or pleasure to reach your aim, all you have to do is to be more aware. Realise your potential, that of an aeroplane rather than a horse-carriage.

I don’t for a second think I hold all the answers, and so I will not pretend I do.

To finish I will share a quote I came across the other day that illustrates the point I am trying to make beautifully.

“Man is in the making but henceforth he must make himself. To that point Nature has led him out of the primeval slime. She has given him limbs, she has given him a brain, she has given him the rudiments of a soul. Now it is for him to make or mar that splendid torso. Let him no more look to her for aid; for it is her will to create one who has the power to create himself.”

Lowes Dickinson

Create yourself each and every day, and never forget that you can.

Consciousness

“If we return for a moment to the analogy of an aeroplane, what is the reason why our aeroplane cannot fly? Naturally the first reason because we do not know the machine, how to work it and how to put it in motion. And the second reason is that the result of this ignorance the machine works at a very slow speed. The effect of this slow speed is much greater than if we compare a horse-carriage and an aeroplane.

“All study, all thinking and investigation must have one aim, one purpose in view, and this aim must be attaining consciousness. It is useless to study oneself without this purpose. There are reasons to study oneself only if one has already realised that one does not have consciousness and one wishes to attain it. Otherwise it becomes just futile.

“Attaining consciousness is connected with the gradual liberation from mechanicalness, for man as he is is fully and completely under mechanical laws.

“The more a man attains consciousness, the more he leaves mechanicalness, which means he becomes more free from accidental laws.”

Tomorrow I will conclude this four part piece on consciousness, with the help of Ouspensky.

We all hear and know a little about consciousness, but the question we must ask ourselves is; do we want it? If we don’t then we can carry on as always. But, if we do then we must make efforts to attain it.