"What is Real I?" 3/3/2011

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Rumpelteazer
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"What is Real I?" 3/3/2011

Postby Rumpelteazer » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:39 pm

Reading before meditation:
Sincerity in Meditation.doc
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After meditation, there was some discussion about part of the quotation from H.H. that we had read beforehand:
H.H. wrote:... people sometimes meditate for the sake of meditation …. Such meditation is no meditation. It is a waste of time.

One person said she always thought that this was exactly why we do meditate. Another said that he meditated for union with Param-Atman. A third agreed and said she meditated from a strong and natural need to meditate, and that if her morning meditation was delayed for some reason, it felt worse than not brushing her teeth.

The group was asked whether any further thoughts had arisen during the week on last week’s paper. It seems that the difference in views (described in last week's report) still persisted. One person said he didn’t like our current state being described as mechanical because it felt cold and robotic. He also didn’t like the use of the word “we” in the paper. He felt the author should say “I” and not “we”, as what was being described did not apply to him, the reader. He preferred the use of the words “hindrances” or “impediments”. He knew all about mechanicalness as he had been taught this long ago and he didn’t want to see it mentioned in papers. He wanted to hear about the world outside prison, not the prison itself.

Another group member said he knew that everything he did was mechanical and he was not at all worried about it. He explained that Mr Ouspensky had talked a lot about mechanicalness in order to shock us. He realised he had no choice over anything. Things just happen and there’s nothing he can do about them, other than accept the situation as it is. But mechanicalness can be quite nice.

A third member of the group suggested that actually there is choice in those moments between desires when we momentarily wake up. If we remember, we can choose to stay in the stillness; not doing anything, just being there, watching. She went on to say she had found that discovering her own mechanicalness was an enormous help as it strengthens the longing for freedom and the desire to escape from prison. Her view of the prison is that it is a very comfortable place. We lie around on wonderfully soft goose-down mattresses, with everything we need to keep us content and occupied – a library of books, a piano, a computer, radio 4. And of course we have each other as good company, and we sit around discussing spiritual ideas. But it’s still prison, and recognising this can help.

A fourth member said that he disagreed with the use of the words “prison” and “mechanical” as they are both negative.

We moved on to read the paper, “What is Real I?”
Paper_09_14.pdf
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A number of examples were given of the ‘unconscious dissolving when brought into the conscious’, mostly involving negative emotions dissolving when we look at them impartially. The group liked the idea of observing our ‘vice and weaknesses’ with “humour and tolerance”. One person reminded us of the advice to “measure but not judge”.

There was then some discussion of “ignorance”. One person said she had always felt that ignorance was a kind of hole, an absence of knowledge. But H.H. seems to mean something more concrete than that. It was suggested that perhaps ignorance, in the sense H.H. used the word, is a false perception, something we think we know but are quite wrong about.

We ended with some extracts from the paper “Towards a Practice – Part 5: The need for a practice”.
Paper_09_07.pdf
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The following personal advice from H.H. to Dr Roles seemed particularly relevant to our earlier discussion, as was his subsequent answer about the need to do away with Mal, Vikshepa and Kashaya:
H.H. wrote:This approach of "not being able to do" is not helpful. In spite of knowing that Dr.
Roles has transcended many limits - this is a constant feature which he exhibits every
time. He should refrain from this; he should feel that he is capable of manifesting the
glory and he will see that it will keep on increasing.

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Rumpelteazer
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:30 pm
Group: Cheltenham
Location: Gloucestershire, UK

Re: "What is Real I?" 3/3/2011

Postby Rumpelteazer » Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:41 pm

Following the meeting, and the difficulty of whether or not we have choice, it occurred to me that perhaps we should be more pragmatic about it. Whenever we think we have a choice, we should make a choice. Attention, listening, being still and just watching seem like good options.

Clinging to the idea that we don't have choice so cannot make any effort, or equally, clinging to the idea that we do have choice and are choosing to do what we do, both seem to me like holding on to the bars of prison for fear of venturing outside.


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