Emily’s Comments (group member since Sep 30, 2009)

Emily’s comments from the Open Mind, Open Heart group.

No tar and feathers ("Deep-pockets" is pretty funny), but I'm a fan of Chopra.

I've read his books Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment and Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment, and I have Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet checked out from the library right now but I haven't cracked it yet. I like the two novels I've read in this series about enlightened masters, but I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as some of his nonfiction: The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life (although I tried to read this one 3 times before I actually finished it; it was so much wisdom at once that I felt confused and overwhelmed until I finally just pushed through by listening to it on audiobook; so glad i did!), Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How to Create a New You, and The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self.

And this one is on my to-read list: The Dark Side of the Light Chasers.

Should you want to contain something,
you must deliberately let it expand.
Should you want to weaken something,
you must deliberately let it grow strong.
Should you want to eliminate something,
you must deliberately allow it to flourish.
Should you want to take something away,
you must deliberately grant it access.

The lesson here is called
the wisdom of obscurity.
The gentle outlasts the strong.
The obscure outlasts the obvious.

Fish cannot leave deep waters,
and a country's weapons should not be displayed.

My therapist just recommended Shadow Dance by David Richo, along with another of his books, When the Past Is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds that Sabotage our Relationships . I haven't read either one yet, but she's led me to some really helpful/inspiring books in the past, so I bet these are good ones.

All men will come to him
who keeps to the one.
They flock to him and receive no harm,
for in him they find peace, security, and happiness.

Music and dining are passing pleasures,
yet they cause people to stop.
How bland and insipid are the things of this world
when one compares them to the Tao!

When you look for it, there is nothing to see.
When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.
When you use it, it cannot be exhausted.

The Great Way is universal;
it can apply to the left or the right.
All beings depend on it for life;
even so, it does not take possession of them.

It accomplishes its purpose,
but makes no claim for itself.
It covers all creatures like the sky,
but does not dominate them.

All things return to it as their home,
but it does not lord it over them;
thus, it may be called "great."

The sage imitates this conduct:
By not claiming greatness,
the sage achieves greatness.

I think this verse is asking us to remember what's really valuable. Is it enough to be knowledgeable, or would we rather have true wisdom? Would we prefer riches or contentment? Do we really want long lives, or do we want infinite being?

What's especially cool to me about this verse is that Lao Tzu seems to be saying it's our choice. If you want those things of true value, put in the effort: get to know yourself, light and shadow. Change your mindset: instead of always desiring more/other/better, be grateful for what you have. Let go of clinging to the small "you," and acknowledge the vastness of who you really are, one with everything. All of this potential is not outside of us, but is within our power.

One who understands others has knowledge;
one who understands himself has wisdom.
Mastering others requires force;
mastering the self needs strength.

If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.

One who gives himself to his position
surely lives long.
One who gives himself to the Tao
surely lives forever.

I'm so sorry. There are no words that can ease the pain that you must be feeling. May your mother and everyone who loves her find the light in this darkness. I hold you all in my heart.

I have that book too! :) And I'm working today, but I should be able to post something new this weekend. Glad to help.

And, I don't know or need to know what your situation is, but helping my mom through cancer (a time when I got a lot of insight from Buddhist books) and currently going through divorce (I have a bookshelf devoted to this too.) have been some of the most spiritual/open-hearted times of my life. Let me know if my experience (or other group members'?) can be of help to you here.

Be well, be well, be well.

Sending you love and strength and light.

How can I help? Grad school's keeping me pretty busy, but I will do what I can.

Learning to keep my heart open though the world knows a million ways to break it, keeping it open to everything: beauty, pain, joy, sorrow, my fellow beings in all their forms. Letting the world break my heart over and over again. Turning toward the pain of that heartbreak, rather than away from it until I learned not to fear heartbreak any longer. In the absence of that fear is love.

The Holy Longing

Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,
because the massman will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
what longs to be burned to death.

In the calm water of the love-nights,
where you were begotten, where you have begotten,
a strange feeling comes over you
when you see the silent candle burning.

Now you are no longer caught
in the obsession with darkness,
and a desire for higher love-making
sweeps you upward.

Distance does not make you falter,
now, arriving in magic, flying,
and finally, insane for the light,
you are the butterfly and you are gone.

And so long as you haven't experienced
this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubled guest
on the dark earth.

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

This reminds me of something I just read in The Seeker's Guide by Elizabeth Lesser. The author, writing about the Zen concept of "Beginner's Mind," compares a mind full of thoughts to a sky full of clouds. Be the sky before there was weather, she says. Be the mind before there were thoughts. That really resonated with me, and this description of Tao before the Universe existed does too.

What an enlightened perspective he has: When you've got big dharma you get big challenges, and as I'm going through this, I can help others do the same. Such an amazing teacher.

OMG, Peni! These videos are awesome! I've already passed them on to other friends. Thanks so much for sharing! I love when Carl Sagan says this line in the second video: "If you wish to bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the Universe." Made me laugh aloud with delight. :)

Well, thanks, Peni. I have lots of practice communicating in writing. I rarely speak half as clearly! But I think you get your thoughts across quite well too.

Definitely makes sense, Peni. This verse rings so true for me. When I'm in the moment, in the flow, in the zone - whatever you want to call it - I don't have to think about how to act, the right action just arises naturally, beyond thinking. The hard part is remembering to keep going back to that place!

It seems like the masters - like the Dalai Lama and Eckhart Tolle, etc. - spend almost all of their time in the flow/the Tao, and they just radiate peace because of it. I think that's one way we can really make the world a more peaceful place: spending more time in the present moment.

If we're striving for something, even something good, we're not in the present. And the present is the only place where life happens.

"What I want is what I've not got, and what I need is all around me." - Dave Matthews

Agreed, Peni. I'm interested to hear what you think of the book when you get a chance to read it. :)