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Peter

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  • in reply to: Root Chakra Blocked – affecting my loved ones? #312125
    Peter
    Participant

    My understanding of the Chakra’s is that psychologically the root Chakra is the ID. A person who is all reaction, spending little time thinking for themselves or at all.

    The second Chakra would be the will to pleasure and the third the will to power. The first three Chakra’s or objective with the focus on the outer world.

    Chakra four is the heart as the focus moves inward, five the will to power directed inward as mastering the self, six will to pleasure transform as love inward and expanded, seven unification – problem of opposites.

    We tend to move from Chakra to Chakra, perhaps even within a single breath.  Unless you are really negative, controlling and demanding of those you care about follow the rules and provide for you I don’t think your stuck at the root Chakra.

    I didn’t get that impression from what I read. Continue on being the change you wish to see and the money issue will change

    in reply to: Do people answer on this site? #311941
    Peter
    Participant

    There are no answers only questions…. That said the following pretty much answers it all

    “I don’t get it,’ Caroline said, bemused. ‘She’s the only one with wings. Why is that?’
    There were so many questions in life. You couldn’t ever have all the answers. But I knew this one.
    It’s so she can fly,’ I said. Then I started to run.” ― Sarah Dessen , The Truth About Forever

    “You spend your whole life looking for answers because you think the next answer will solve all your problems: make you a little less miserable, because when you run out of questions you don’t just run out of answers… you run out hope.” – House

     

    The Riddle” – Five for Fighting

    There was a man back in ’95
    Whose heart ran out of summers
    But before he died, I asked him

    Wait, what’s the sense in life
    Come over me, Come over me

    He said,

    Son why you got to sing that tune
    Catch a Dylan song or some eclipse of the moon
    Let an angel swing and make you swoon
    Then you will see… You will see

    Then he said,

    Here’s a riddle for you
    Find the Answer
    There’s a reason for the world
    You and I…

    Picked up my kid from school today

    Did you learn anything cause in the world today
    You can’t live in a castle far away
    Now talk to me, come talk to me

    He said,

    Dad I’m big but we’re smaller than small
    In the scheme of things, well we’re nothing at all
    Still every mother’s child sings a lonely song
    So play with me, come play with me

    And Hey Dad
    Here’s a riddle for you
    Find the Answer
    There’s a reason for the world
    You and I…

    I said,

    Son for all I’ve told you
    When you get right down to the
    Reason for the world…
    Who am I?

    There are secrets that we still have left to find
    There have been mysteries from the beginning of time
    There are answers we’re not wise enough to see

    He said… You looking for a clue I Love You free…

    The batter swings and the summer flies
    As I look into my angel’s eyes
    A song plays on while the moon is high over me
    Something comes over me

    I guess we’re big and I guess we’re small
    If you think about it man you know we got it all
    Cause we’re all we got on this bouncing ball
    And I love you free
    I love you freely

    Here’s a riddle for you
    Find the Answer
    There’s a reason for the world
    You and I…

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Peter.
    • This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Peter.
    • This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Peter.
    in reply to: Nothing makes sense anymore. #311937
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi G

    I’m sorry to hear your struggling.

    “The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have.” ― Søren Kierkegaard

    Now that school is finished it appears your mourning the future you imagined before the illness. There is a time for all things and that includes mourning.

    Your reaching out so now may be a time to move on from where you’re at.

    Meditation and mindfulness may be helpful tools getting to a place where you can accept your situation. I might also seek out professional help in dealing with your depression.

    I wish you well. Be kind to yourself

    When in a similar emotional state, I found the book ‘Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life’ by Philip Simmons. The book helped me put things in perspective.

     

    in reply to: How do you bring purpose into your life? #311603
    Peter
    Participant

    We tend to desire Purpose as an objective experience, a job a passion… but such experiences can’t last. The truth is the experience exists in the moment and like all moments flows by.

    Whether you notice it or not, all that you are, as you are, and do is purpose and gives meaning to life (life does not give you meaning you give meaning to life). What your looking to experience then may not be purpose.

    Some Quotes on purpose and meaning by – Joseph Campbell

      “We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.  – Joseph Campbell

    “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”

    “Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived.”

    “We’re not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world”

    “We’re in a freefall into future. We don’t know where we’re going. Things are changing so fast, and always when you’re going through a long tunnel, anxiety comes along. And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. It’s a very interesting shift of perspective and that’s all it is… joyful participation in the sorrows and everything changes”

    in reply to: Lost boy #311305
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Daniel

    the book ‘Iron John’ by Robert Bly may be of interest to you.

     

     

    in reply to: THINKING ABOUT THINKING. #311247
    Peter
    Participant

    To think about thinking… Is there anything else we can do while doing it? See while seeing, hear while hearing, smell while smelling, taste while tasting, feel while feeling…

    “A simple enough process seems to be in the present and take it as it happens. This though easy to state, is not as easy when it comes to the practice of it.”

    The reality is that we are always in the present.  In that sense there is no try it already is. It’s an illusion that the thoughts of the past or the future happen in the past or the future. They occur in the present and we deal with them as we deal with all things as it happens. The practice isn’t to make it happen but to accept it’s how it is.

    Peter
    Participant

    There are many schools of thought when it comes to Buddhism. Vegetarianism is often a practice however not necessary.

    All life is life and the reality is that the body requires the sacrifice of life, whether animal, vegetable or mineral, to grow… and one day it will be our turn to feed life. (actually we all ready are)

    ‘Karma’ then isn’t about the eating of the animals but the consciousness of that reality.  Thus, we give thanks before a meal.  A unconscious gluttony and waist might be ‘bad’ Karma – viewing the world and life as something to be used vice entering into the flow of Life.

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Peter.
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi No-thing

    It sounds like you are in a lot of pain. If I’m reading you correctly the anger and frustration your holding has to do with the problem of justice. Lots of books written on that subject and still the idea is not understood.

    I get it. Everyday we watch as people that hurt others remain oblivious, untouched and or simply seemingly uncaring about the harm they do. We want them punished. Something about life is wrong and we want to fix it and condemn it.  I get it.

    The reality is life is not going to change. The choice then, remain angry and spend your life self-righteously shaking your fists at the heaven’s and all the wrong you see around you demanding Life be different, demanding Life conform to your expectations… or… let it go…

    Be the change you want to see, it’s the best anyone can do. (the reality is we always are weather we consciously choose it or not) Stand up when you see injustice but detached (not indifferent) from outcomes.  Life’s will, will be done. How other people experience that is their fate to face how you experience yours is yours. Its one of the few choices we get to make so choice wisely.

    in reply to: guilt and shame about a compulsion of mine #304663
    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Sofia

    “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – Henry Ford.

    That may sound trite however it’s a truth. We tend to learn by getting it wrong, picking ourselves up, and moving forward = Flow. when we block that flow (fear, obsessing…) we get stuck. One of the benefits of the practice of mindfulness and meditation it that it creates the opportunity to view our memories and thoughts for what they are, learn and let go. Flow with Life vice against it.

    ‘You’ are not your past, ‘you’ are not your memories, ‘you’ are not your experiences, ‘you’ are not your mistakes, ‘you’ are not your success… ‘You are more then the sum of your parts.

    Reading you post I might recommend the books by David Richo. At age 15 I wish I had read ‘How to be an Adult’ might have saved me a lot of self created heart ache

    Be Kind to yourself. That you are asking your self these question and seeking to do/be better bods well for you. I think your going to surprise yourself!

    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Nothing. (from nothing comes all things)

    You ask some really good questions.

    “All I teach is suffering and the end of suffering.” – “Life is suffering” – yet the Buddha was not arguing for the end of life or, in my opinion, the disengagement from Life though for some that is a path. (most of us are not called to be monks or hermits but to engage with life)

    In general: We see life as we are (karma) not as it is.  As we become more conscious – “enlightened” – the opposites fade and we experience Life as it is, which is as we are. Life is a wonder; we are a wonder which includes suffering. We say Yes to life and engage fully with it, Joyful suffering… Have you noticed that the experiences that becomes deeply meaningfully because they are bitter sweet.  The experience of pain and suffering transformed…. Which yes, raises many more questions.

    I am not a Buddhist so the following may be off the mark but maybe it will help.

    The purpose of the various practice of Buddhism is greater awareness. Consciousness arises from the tension we experience when confronted with opposites.   We don’t become conscious of the experience of cold without having the experience of hot.

    Perhaps the first confrontation we all experience is the knowledge of good and evil which is different from knowledge of what is good and what is evil. Knowledge “of” is not the same as knowing “what is” so we suffer. What I experience as good one minute is in the next experienced as bad. What I experience as good you might experience as bad. How can that be? How can one thing be at the same time both? Not Two?

    We “awaken” to the problem of opposites, becoming conscious through struggle. In general, we experience struggle as suffering so you might say that the price of consciousness is suffering or, the price of life is suffering.

    When we look to nature, we become conscious of the fact that Life lives off Life.  Life requires the sacrifice of Life.  Our life comes at the cost of life and the tendency is to repress that truth = we suffer. I would argue that the question behind all religions is in my opinion how are we to respond that truth. Yes, No, or We can Fix it. Interestingly most religions can be interpreted in any of these ways.

    If we answer No, that Life should not be, get me off this ride. We dissolve the ego, no ego no suffering because there is nothing that can be touched. Begs the question, what is the ego and what role does it play in consciousness? Many interpret the goal of Buddhism this way.

    If we answer life was good, but we broke it so must fix it. Well, I suspect you know that just creates allot of suffering although it’s a good way to experience suffering as meaning and purpose.

    If we answer Yes, we enter into the flow or life as it is, that we are one, intimately part of Life, its wonder and suffering. We Suffer however our relationship to suffering changes and becomes not suffering.

    I would argue that the Buddha, as was Christ, were showing the path to say Yes to Life As It Is. Each moment of life a moment of “birth – death – resurrection/reincarnation” – not opposites but intimately connected and interwoven that we are to enter into freely.

    Which brings us back to the problem of opposites, suffering, consciousness and ‘enlightenment’.  As we awaken, we realize that opposites are illusions of our own making. Not that the experiences aren’t real but that they aren’t separate, aren’t opposites. Good and Bad exist together as one, as the All is one. Joy and suffering are not opposites but are one as the All is one. This is a different kind of consciousness and being.

    • Objective consciousness:  Object and Subject or separate. This is our relationship to the outer world where “real” equals those things we experience through our 5 senses.
    • Subjective consciousness: Object and Subject or separate. This is our relationship to the inner world, how we feel and think about what our senses reveal to us.
    • “Dream” consciousness: Both Object and Subject arise from the self.  You are both Object and Subject. The division between Object and Subject disappear. Object and Subject no longer opposites.
    • Consciousness enveloped by unconscious: conscious of the unconscious…. Add silence and you have the sound of “one hand clapping” the sound of the Universe, the sound of Life, ‘Oum’.

    So, what am I saying?

    As we engage in the practice we will eventually be confronted with the problem of opposites. As we practice, contemplate and meditate and allow the levels of consciousness to arise (cycle) the opposites of object and subject merge and the experience of opposites dissolves. As the opposites dissolves the questions of good and evil, joy and suffering dissolve and so our relationship to Life and relation to ego transforms to something that is transparent to the transcendent . In other words, beyond the limitation of words. We return to where we started but see it for the first time.

     

    Peter
    Participant

    I think, like many you might have a incorrect understand the concept of Karma.

    Most people equate the word with idea of justice. Karma is not justice, which is a man-made concept that does not exist in nature. Karma is not a looming punishment or form of retribution. It is not meant to scare or threaten you with bad consequences for your ill-intended actions. Neither does it reward you with a winning lottery ticket a week after you helped an old lady cross the road. There is no such thing as “Instant Karma”.

    The Buddha explained karma as “this arises, that becomes.”  Alan Watts translates Karma as “The interdependent origination of all the forms and phases of life.”

    Some explain Karma as being a kind of cause and affect or translate it the word to mean action. Kicking a stone and breaking your toe is a kind of karma. The broken toe is not a punishment but a consequence of the flow life that is not personal. It gets more complicated as karma relates to the life, death, life cycle, the cycles of life, Life AS IT IS…

    With regards to reincarnation (which from one perspective occurs within every breath you take) Ones ‘Karma’ shapes what a person is capable of seeing  and experiencing… being reborn into.

    “Karma” shapes a person level of awareness. We tend to see what we expect to see or more often what we fear to see. We can’t easily change/influence what we can’t see… so we repeat = suffering…  Which is where all the various Buddhist practices come in.  To end the cycle of karma, we need to ‘awake’ and become conscious, so that we might ‘see’ (experience) life as it is. Fully entering into the flow of life, detached yet engaged… joyful suffering… which is a very difficult paradox to hold.

     

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by Peter.
    in reply to: Notoriously Single… #303421
    Peter
    Participant

    Its not just woman who find themselves in the same situation. I fear I am also a member of the club.

    My mother once warned that the older a person gets without entering a committed relationship the less likely they will.  Her theory being that entering into such relationships required a level of innocents,  blind ‘faith’ and ability to leap into the unknown.  The wide-eyed wonder of youth.

    I wonder sometimes if she was right.  I know as I have gotten older taking a leap of faith has become much harder. To be candid its been so long that I wouldn’t know where to start.  As INTJ I think to much and trust myself to little…  so, in my case I am getting in my own why.

    I agree with Valora though. I think for people like us we need to meet that person who is patient and that won’t panic when asked to move slow so that we might create that safe place.

    in reply to: Anxiety and nightmares about past relationship #302023
    Peter
    Participant

    Hello Moondrop

    The anxiety about not wanting to have such dreams could be reinforcing the dream.

    From what I understand about dream interpretation the dreamer is both the object and subject of the dreams contents – As such characters in a dream are created by the dreamer as a symbol or metaphor that the dreamer subconscious is attempting bringing whatever is being symbolized to the surface.  The theory is that if you make that conscious the dreams will stop.

    A place to start is to write down all the associations that come to mind when you think of your experience with your Ex. Its possible that the experience of your Ex represents a unconscious aspect of relationship (in general).  What is it you learned about yourself through the experience? Are you hanging on to anything? Anger, fear, resentment?? Have you forgiven yourself (we often unconsciously blame ourselves just for having taken the chance with someone, even when we haven’t don’t anything wrong)

    Once you have done the work instead of fearing the dream before you go to sleep ask that your dreams show you what it is you need to ‘awake’ to, to learn. If you can re-enter the dream and make it lucid and try to shape the dream to a conclusion to you liking.

     

    Peter
    Participant

    Hi Thalia

    My own experience with the concept of ‘passion’ is that their is so much noise concerning the subject that the search for passion turns out to be one of the things getting in the way of the experience of feeling passionate about what you do.

    In the end Passion isn’t something you find, its something you allow yourself to experience, what every you end up doing. Even exploring the “everything” you find interesting can be Passion

     

    Peter
    Participant

    I got really offended because I am extremely self-conscious about my looks.

    I’ve always like what the Stoic’s had to say about ‘taking offence’ – An offense is up to your interpretation that requires you to choose…  A child calling you ugly says more about them then you… Choosing to be offended on the other hand is all about you.

    When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you’ll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger. Your sense of good and evil may be the same as theirs, or near it, in which case you have to excuse them. Or your sense of good and evil may differ from theirs. In which case they’re misguided and deserve your compassion. – Marcus Aurelius

    My experience, life is much calmer choosing not to be offended. That said its important understand that having healthy boundaries is important and protecting those boundaries and taking offence are not connected.  Having healthy boundaries is sitting down with the child that called you ugly and letting him/her know that it was not acceptable. You don’t need to be offended to stand up for yourself.

    Also, because this is something you are actively working on (Which by that way you should give yourself a lot of credit for… well done for not only wanting better but working to do better!) The “Universe” is going to give you a lot of opportunity to face your fears. In this case the child calling you ugly could be seen as a opportunity to help you see where you’re at as well as the opportunity to teach them. One day, if you keep working on it, someone will push your buttons, call you names and it won’t have any affect on your sense of self.

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by Peter.
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