--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Marek Reavis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Jim, you're correct. I'm pretty confident, too, that no one here > thinks that you hold the belief that anyone who feels differently than > you regarding Guru Dev's and Maharishi's influence on global > consciousness is somehow doomed. But at the same time, I do think > that you post condescendingly at times and do characterize Barry and > Curtis particularly as 'lessers' that just don't get what it is that > you know to be true. That's got to chap the hide. > > But it's a 'give as good as you get' type of place here, you know that > as well as I do, and some folks are more argumentative than > diplomatic; points made are often barbed, sometimes they overshoot the > mark, feelings get hurt and the cycle starts up again. But it always > seems to settle down after awhile. > > I'm stoked that you have this great thing with Guru Dev; so totally > fine in my books and a delight to hear about and admire. I don't > personally have any problems with the position you hold, either; only, > sometimes it sounds like it's being delivered from on high, that's > all. At least that's what I feel. > > Jai Guru Dev > > Marek >
Hi Marek, and thanks for your response. I appreciate your assessment of the energy of my posts. I do often match the energy of that which I am responding to, both positive and negative, gently and more forcefully. I tend to also write here in a very straightforward way. The straightforwardness is a "symptom" of the clarity I live. Not to be confused by rigidity, though I suppose to some it can appear that way. I was for decades a seeker, judging every experience as closer or further away from the sustained experience of enlightenment that I had dedicated my life to finding. Not in any formal way-- it just occurred naturally that way as a process following on from what all the great teachers said, "find your Self first". I also recognized that being grounded in the blissful absolute nature of life while living dynamically was the only hope for me of lasting happiness. Forgive me if that sounds like a TM brochure, but that is the only way I know to express it. Unlike many here who have delved deeper into the terminology of spirituality, my focus has always been experiential, so I don't know many traditional ways to express spiritual phenomena. Anyway, push came to shove, and one magical day, I felt the last of my encumberances give way, and achieved my lasting liberation. It hasn't been all darkness on one side and all light on the other. There has continued to be an ongoing discovery of deeper and deeper silence, bliss, and freedom integrated into my daily life. But the transition from bondage to freedom was unmistakable, the transition from always seeking to always finding was unique. I should also say that I have had transient experiences, including some with Guru Dev, as you mention, which although a lasting treasure in my heart, were not indicative of a permanent state of enlightenment. And this is certainly consistent with everything I have heard and read- that each of us does, and will, express his or her enlightenment differently, and that there are no outward signs of the enlightened man, save someone who is generally balanced and joyful- though the same might be seen in a brief timeslice of someone enjoying themselves on a good day. The reality, the timeless reality is just that, a lasting and permanent freedom within. It cannot be reliably expressed externally so that others can look at the surface values of the enlightened one and proclaim, "there, did'ja see that? He is/isn't enlightened". Though, rest assured, the experience of a lasting and permanent state is so real that it is unmistakable, as is the accompanying experience that all of earth, heaven and hell are available at any moment, and the absence of boundaries is a natural and moment by moment aspect of an enlightened existence. So if I come across as delivering my thoughts from on high, it is again the clarity gained in this wondrous state of mine that I am blessed to find myself in day and night. Not an expression of rigidity, but rather ever growing and expanding wonder, while remaining grounded in my eternal and infinite enlightenment. Cheers.:-)