Simple Seekers

Comparing oneself with others is as a one-to-one measurement, while judging is not. Or is it? Perhaps we necessarily measure ourselves in every way, with some others, or with group norms, as we understand them to be.

So many times we hear that old warning, “Judge not lest thou be judged.” And yet, how can we ever know how we compare with any other person, or even with our own idea of how we should live and/or respond to whatever situations or relationship, if we have had no experience in observing how others, or at least some others, live, and/or respond?

Little children play dress-up, and pretend to be adults. How can they play these roles if they have never witnessed and, to some degree, internalized the actions and responses of some adults in their life? These children have been influenced by some adults and are practicing how to be an adult. Hopefully, their adult role models are expressing behaviors that are worthy of being learned by the children, and a benefit to their society.

Everything we think, say, or do will contribute to our community in a more and/or less positive or negative way. We develop our own personality as we live, one minute at a time. Comparing ourself with others can help us choose our future way of life. And, expressing a positive attitude can serve others as a role model, when they compare themselves with us, and they will. It’s human nature.

A simple seeker was meditating, and trying to clear her simple mind.

“If it’s that simple, then what’s the problem?”

“You seem intent on interrupting my thinking about not thinking.”

“Did I win, again?”

“Yes. I forget what it was that I was trying to forget.”

“Then we both win.”

“It’s not as simple as that.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I’m supposed to let go of thinking, on my own.”

“Who told you that nonsense?”

“Why would it be nonsense?”

“Because it’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“When you, or anyone, sincerely meditates, then your sincerity attracts, as if it had put in a call to Higher Help.”

“We each have an open line to Higher Help?”

“Yes. It’s a Law of Life.”

…..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I wonder what an open line to Higher Help really means.

“It means what I said it means.”

“Yes, but how does it work?”

“It’s a reward for effort.”

“Please explain.”

“When we have a problem that we’re trying to solve, no matter what kind of problem, and then just walk away from it, or do something else, then suddenly we may know the answer. We’ve prepared our mind to receive. We’ve opened the door between intellect and intuition, a higher level of understanding life’s problems.”

…..

“The quality of our intention makes the difference.” What does it mean?

From the land of dreams, as I was waking up, a silent voice spoke in my head, and told me that “Individual goals are no different from Universal goals. The ways and means we choose to achieve them, and the quality of our intention, makes the difference.”

Why was intention not plural? And, do we each have only one primary intention, and everything else is no more nor less than a part of that intention? If so, then what is our primary intention? Is it necesarily the same for everyone, as the voice seemed to claim?

If the so-called pairs of opposites are as the two ends of one piece of string, then …

Then, why isn’t psychology easier to understand? Why do we make it seem complex?

Perhaps, Jung’s concept of Shadow is only dense light. He must have been aware of that. There can be no light that can’t be less light, or more. Or shadow that can’t be less or more.

It may be Jung’s followers, or some of them, who try to mystify it all. If so, then why? For money? Or is it due to shallow or sloppy thinking?

The simple seeker in me seems to need to question anything that isn’t easy to understand.

Walking the talk and talking the walk. Is it all about keeping on keeping on?

Change the name of the countries and the story is the same, and perhaps, so is the ending, a sad one for all who care.

A repost from five years ago – “But that was yesterday, and yesterday’s gone.” Of has it?

Brutus was an honorable man, Mark Anthony told his Roman audience, so many years ago. And yet, because Brutus and some of his fellow senators were discontent with their leader, they tore him and their country apart.

“When will we ever learn?” Pete Seeger sang of the futility of war, away back in the 60s and 70s, when Vietnam was being torn apart, and yet, today, Syria is being torn apart, and millions of people suffer destruction of their way of life, and, for tens of thousands, their very life itself.

And the rest of the world looks on, or rushes eagerly to exploit the tragic situation, for their own ends. “Everything old is new again.” Who sang that song?

When will I ever learn all the things that should be learned, if they could be learned. Or does it go the other way?

My Tarot relationship card for the day – the Ten of Swords – as dead as dead can be.

This card, a generally reliable source tells me, expresses very hard experience, accepting an irrevocable ending. Life is as it is, and so are relationships. Form is not essence, and yet form often exists on its own, to serve an end.

Some relationships are like that, an inner voice tells me, and I must learn through experience, how to become aware of which relationships have value, and which are means to some other end, worthy or otherwise.

Why do I keep thinking that life should be simple and easy, even when a lifetime of experience denies my illusion?

What the world needs now is an emotional yoga program. What would it look like?

We have physical exercise programs as well as education programs, to develop our thinking capacity, and yet our emotions are neglected. Why?

How to learn about the incredibly rich variety of every possible emotion? We could practice happy, from mild to great, as well as the many variables of sad, depressed, frightened, angry, etc.

If children learned, from an early age, that they can be in control of their emotions, and choose what level of quality and strength is appropriate in any given situations and/or relationship, at any particular time, then there might not be so many extremes of emotions expressed. Our emotions could be controlled by an inner dimmer swithch from less to more, and this ability might reduce violent physical expressions of uncontrolled emotions. Violent actions do not likely stem from controlled emotions.

Someone suggested that practicing yoga would be the answer to controlling emotions. I agree, except that before we learn to control them, for its own sake, we should first explore them, understand them and the useful purpose that each might serve, if it is used wisely, and in keeping with the situation. Cooks use many ingredients, and yet, they measure the quantity and quality of each ingredient they use, more and/or less. The human mind can be trained to play that game, with emotions, thoughts, and actions.

How to learn about and practice all the in-between possibilities between happy and not happy, or angry and not angry? We could place them on a scale ranging from one to nine. Which to choose? Which is our dominant number? And why?

How can we possibly expect anyone to learn to come to terms with (understand) outside influences if she or he has not yet learned to understand and express in as socially acceptable ways as possible, inside influences. And, we must learn that emotions don’t come from outside influences, though outside influences may trigger an established pattern of emotional response. We develop habits by repeating how we responded in the past, or we choose to develop a new habit of thinking before responding emotionally to whatever situation.

Perhaps, some day, social scientists will discover the source of the production of emotions within the human body. There are enzymes that are produced in various places within us, that serve us well or not so well, depending upon our awareness of what triggers them and then, intention to control, at least to some extent, whether they produce mild, medium, or extreme amounts of whatever. Can this be done with emotions? Only the future will tell.

A simple seeker was reading ALan Seale’s “Create a World that Works.” How can that be done? she asked herself.

“It’s being done.”

“By whom?”

“By everyone.”

“And everything?”

“Yes.”

“How are we doing it?”

“Simply by being.”

“Being what?”

“No what necessary.”

“What does that mean?

“What might it mean?”

“Is being the same as living?”

“In what way?”

“Existing.”

“How?”

“Just as we are.”

“We?”

“All of us.”

“No.”

“Then, what?”

“We each of us exist.”

“Separately?”

“No.”

“Then, what’s wrong with my saying ‘we’?”

“It suggests one way.”

“Is there more than one way?”

“For what?”

“For each of us to exist.”

“Yes, and no.”

“Please explain.”

“We each are as we each are, in a continuous process of becoming.”

“Becoming what?”

“We can never become a what.”

“Then, becoming whom?”

“We are, now, whom we are.”

“Then, whom are we?”

“We each are we.”

“One?”

“Yes.”

…..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Thinking back on my discussion with Spirit, I must confess, if only to myself, that I still have a long way to go when it comes to understanding life, and I’m still not sure that I understand what Spirit was teacing me.

“What don’t you understand about life?”

“What it’s all about, and why?”

“The general picture, or your own individual life?”

“Both.”

“One fits into the other.”

“In what way?”

“In every possible way.”

“Then, how should I live my individual life?”

“Your way.”

“How can I know which way is my way?”

“Whatever way works to help you feel satisfied with how you live.”

…..

“Will you honor; will you trust me, til the bylaws go bye.”

“Will you honor; will you trust me, til the bylaws go by.” The closing song of a dream. What does it mean? He acted like a loser with an incredible potential. I was a nag – a real bitch. And yet, at the end, there he was in all his nakedness and drunkenness, wooing me. I felt such deep compassion for the first time in the dream. I had been so digusted with him.