Serious Discussions about Life

[ifyoucantfixit]

        With this concept in mind.  Would it be right to say that Timothy Leary was right..Just tune out turn on and tune in..........a gigantic trip...Lucy in the sky with diamonds?

[Daniel]

I hope you all can forgive me, I seem to have lost the train of conversation. It's all getting very Krishnamurti blurry and not making a whole lot of sense for me right now.

[louisev]

You know what is interesting, Scott, is that your teacher's commentary on "self" is very close to the mystical hermetic teachings to which my tradition subscribes.  (Rosicrucianism).  In the Rosicrucian tradition "soul" is spoken of as the undifferentiated Cosmic which is intelligent, and individual "souls" are the material expression of that universal and undifferentiated Soul to which we return between incarnations.  Very interesting stuff here, thanks for posting it!

[injest]

Reading about Circle Justice..(Native American)

interesting their view (as I understand it) of forgiveness. I was taught that all you had to do to be forgiven is to ask for it. The onus is on the victim to just accept it. Or THEY are wrong.

I always have felt there was something askew there...that the perpetrator of the wrong had to do less than the victim to make things right. All it took was a simple "I am sorry" and everything was supposed to be better. I have seen instances where victims COULDN"T forgive and the church turned on THEM....while the agressor sat there all sweetness and light.

In Circle Justice both the victim and the criminal have to work together to make things right. This helps the victim by showing the violator was truly working to do better.

[Daniel]

So, Jess, as I understand what you are describing as Circle Justice, both the victim and the aggressor work together on bringing harmony back into the whole. This makes perfect sense, and is often what is practiced de facto by many people, not only Native Americans. In this way the agressor learns that his actions are connected to the whole and that a future desire to perform the same types of actions would likely be met with strong mental resistance because of this knowledge. In the same way, the victims of cruelty realize that they do not need to simply remain a victim indefinitely, they can do something about their circumstances, and work for the betterment of themselves and their communities.... As I mentioned before, bringing harmony back into the whole.

[injest]

yes, Daniel

for some reason the ideas I see in Native American spirituality really speak to me. Seems very comforting.

I like the idea of working toward being in harmony, that you have some control over your circumstances. Even if part of that control is realizing and accepting that some things ARE beyond your control.

You have heard of the prayer:

Lord, grant me the Strength to change that which I can change;
 the Grace to accept that which I can not change;
 and the Wisdom to know the difference.

[Shasta542]

I love Touching Spirit Bear, Ben Mikaelsen's YA novel about Circle Justice.

[injest]

I love Touching Spirit Bear, Ben Mikaelsen's YA novel about Circle Justice.

it is hard to find anything on Spirituality that is not so hard to understand. People start writing and forget that you have to be accessible before you can teach. If your reader has to use a dictionary for every other word or do research about each phrase....you lose most of your audience.

(which is what Daniel has been saying for several pages and I just 'got') 

[Shasta542]

"Touching Spirit Bear" is very understandable. I understood it--so there ya go. I'm not too deep!  

[Daniel]

I know what you're going through, Jess. The Divine Milieu was particularly difficult for me, but I managed to get through it. What a mental workout that was. I had to read every sentence three to four times (out loud), before I finally understood what it was saying. But I'm glad I did. It's a beautiful and intriguing philosophy on life, the universe, and everything that fits in well with what I didn't know I already believed.

And if you think that statement is slightly confusing, you're probably right.