Turq, Well aren't we just a little busy bee lately. Good form, good concepts, glad your small self is getting its clap on.
I was surprised that you used the bardo concept -- er, do you believe that the "astral/causal body" actually can exist without a "living" physical nervous system? If so, do you believe that such a 2/3rds existence allows for evolution? It seems the TM dogma would allow for evolution after death but only rarely. I think I heard that Guru Dev had to die in order to evolve to the "sixteenth calla" or something like that, but that might have been his last in-the-body action, not an after life action. Why am I not clear about this when I was a true believer for decades -- see? -- the TM movement never cared for an educated "work force." Ramana Maharishi talks about the afterlife, reincarnation, etc., but for the most part, he didn't dwell upon such possibilities, since it's all small self stuff. I don't even think Ramana was all that hepped up to try all that hard to get the small selves coming to him to freedom -- he just operated like a dictionary -- people could look up the true meanings life's words in him, but he wasn't urgent about everyone reading him. More like, "Well, if you must know, yes, it's possible to greatly reduce suffering while in the body, but even a perfect life is not worth attachment." Maharishi Mahesh Yogi agreed and said that angels want to evolve beyond their status, but they're cul-de-sacally as close to the godhead as possible without dissolving individuality, so they have to get a human body/mind to get to unity. I guess being on the right hand of the Throne is just as stifling as being, well, merely on the throne that's in a small room in my home. My jury's out on this afterlife thingy. My ego sure loves the idea, but, as a homonunculus-philosopher-in-my-own-mind, my ego holds that it would be wrong to live a life based on a tarbaby fantasy and be so unwilling to face the oblivion of Ozymandias. I think facing "complete egoic death" has wonderful fear-killing, real life egoic benefits. Meditate on a corpse thingy. Afterall, who WOULD want to psychologically reinforce the egoic patterns of "hoping-for-more-life-ness?" That's fershur going to bite one in the ass on the deathbed, me figures, as those patterns do as they have been trained to so and start screaming for fulfillment instead of being quiet while "I" lovingly give back my very small entirety to the Self. This is a central problem of religions -- to prepare personalities for death. But I've watched good folks die, and "I'm going to the Lord" was not the predominate experience for even the most religious of them. It's more like, "Oh Lord, can I have one more breath?" Simple beggary may be the most common of deathbed actions. I don't know -- do religions prepare most folks with an ability to calmly face death? Seems not, but maybe if I worked in a hospital I'd see more faith in the face of death. I hope I would. I think posting here has done me some great good along these lines. I've put some powerful words together -- methought -- and watched them worn down to Ozzy's legs as each person here ignored my precious offerings -- not even deigning to correct me if I needed it. My ego has to face that. At best, my words might still be googlable a thousand years from now, but my ego won't be one speck happier today even if my ego has that "form of immortality" as a deep belief (hard wired conceptual addiction.) For the ego to want to be preserved in print, in memories in other brains, in photos -- is such a tell. Those are not living embodiments -- yet the ego relates to them!!!! See? A fox knows its own scent. Who here doesn't smell their own farts like a connoisseur? My ego loves the waftings of conceptual-certainty's turds. The Advaita dogmatic stance at death seems preferable. There cannot be death if there hasn't ever been life. Identify with The Real for crissakes! Matthew 6:18-20 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "tomandcindytraynoratfairfieldlis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Barry writes snipped: > Being forgotten. > > It fears oblivion. > > IMO, it's not even that the self fears death > itself. Most selves have caught a clue and have > realized that they're gonna die, and have come > to some sense of comfort with that fact. But > what the self fears is that it'll be completely > forgotten when it dies, as if its life had made > no difference whatsoever to the other lives it > touched. > > TomT > from reading Byron Katie she encourages all to focus on the Big Three > that will generally cover all the fears. > Fear of dying ------ > 1. Alone > 2. Unloved > 3. Broke > you put them in the order that suits you. Seems to cover most > eventualities. Tom >
