Awareness!

[Katrine]

Hi Ananda

What a treat to come home tonight to find this topic. Anthony De Mello....never heard of him. I love the exerpts on Amazon....I ordered Awareness, The Song of the Bird and The Way to Love....

It is funny....because after years of being very attracted to advaita (still am).....everything seems to be about Jesus Christ here these days.......and then you come here with this Jesuit priest....who is actually talking advaita.......

I love it

Ananda - thank you

[karl]

quote:Originally posted by Ananda

 

by the way i always like reading your posts even though i might disagree with some of them but still you are offering an interesting angle.

kindest regards,

Ananda

Aww stop it

Well, having read a few more posts maybe it's a case of 'not jusdging a book by the first 8 pages and an Amazon synopsis'[]

I'm very picky when it comes to reading books as I can devour great armfuls of paper.....I have 3 books on the go at the moment.

The reason I decided to start doing meditation was by way of a sort of 'vision' (I think I would call it that). The vision was responsible for me truly understanding that pride and to some extent ego is what I should try and work towards removing from my life. This is often referred to as the 'truth' and seems to appear with regularity in every religion. This is something easy to think and far harder to do.......to become without pride/ego is automatically a source of pride Such is the Universe though, as in Quantum physics, it is impossible to measure something without directly effecting the measurement by measuring it (if you know what I mean).

Anyway, I happened upon Yogani after looking for a way of reaching that inner truth. It just seemed an amazingly simple and elegant way of inner discovery. I like simple, because simple is definitely how the best things work and is usually a great framework for results in nature.

So, now after posting my auto biography[] what I am trying to say is that there are a lot of great books and fantastic spiritual leaders. Most say great, but rarely new things things. Yogani was the first book I read that promised nothing at all and did so without any cost. There were no beautiful awareness stories or theories, it was just like 'get down and give me ten push ups' and do it twice a day everyday and you will get what you get.

[Shanti]

I am not sure.. but maybe anyone who has read the book can tell for sure.. but the YouTube link I posted above (here it is again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y3Q7H2urto&feature=PlayList&p=EC25151943DE0F35&index=0&playnext=1) seems to have all the lines you guys have quoted above, and is called Awareness, so maybe it is the book?
I have been enjoying them.. always loved him.. but now hearing him from where I am now is just amazing.

[karl]

I did have a good read of his website. It did seem to me to be covering the same material we learned during NLP practitioner training. Thats not to say NLP is exactly new, mostly a collection of ideas bound up in one training session.

Probably worth covering the pre suppositions of NLP if you have not come across them:


Cause and Effect
most people are in effect
Results vs Excuses.
remove the excuses and you get the results
Perception is projection.
this is the internal representation projected onto the external world and runs through all neurons and cells
Responsiblity for results.
Is with the person who wishes to achieve results 100%
Mind body connection.
there is a direct connection between the body and mind, what the body does, the mind will follow-ie looking depressed will result in feeling depressed

Everyone has a unique model of the world
Respect other peoples MOW
The Map is not the territory
People are not their behaviour
All behaviour has a positive intention
The most important imformation about  aperson is how they are behaving.
Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have available.
There are no unresourceful people -only unresourceful states
Everyone has the resources they need to succeed and achieve the desired outcome.
The person with he most flexible behaviour has the greatest influence on others.
There is no failure only feedback.
Everyone is in charge of their minds and therefore the results.
The meaning of communication is the response you get.
Resistance in a person is a sign of lack of rapport.

I'm not going through exactly what each means, when I was first confronted with them I had adverse reactions to several until I understood the philosophy. These presuppositions are not 'real' or true in any sense, they are simply codes and actions that work.

Taking practitioner training was a really big awakening. This is a tiny fraction of the training. Bare in mind that I'm really a pragmatist and sceptic, or was []I regarded training and ideas like this as crazy...........now I'm either a crazy person, or I have come a long way.

[Ananda]

quote:Originally posted by Katrine

Hi Ananda

What a treat to come home tonight to find this topic. Anthony De Mello....never heard of him. I love the exerpts on Amazon....I ordered Awareness, The Song of the Bird and The Way to Love....

It is funny....because after years of being very attracted to advaita (still am).....everything seems to be about Jesus Christ here these days.......and then you come here with this Jesuit priest....who is actually talking advaita.......

I love it

Ananda - thank you

you are most welcome sweet katrine[], and i read that it is suggested to read awareness first to get started on Anthony's de mello.

plus i am going to get these two other books and maybe the heart of the enlightened as well.

light and love,

Ananda (f)

[Ananda]

quote:Originally posted by Shanti

I am not sure.. but maybe anyone who has read the book can tell for sure.. but the YouTube link I posted above (here it is again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y3Q7H2urto&feature=PlayList&p=EC25151943DE0F35&index=0&playnext=1) seems to have all the lines you guys have quoted above, and is called Awareness, so maybe it is the book?
I have been enjoying them.. always loved him.. but now hearing him from where I am now is just amazing.

hi Shanti,

i wish i could watch the vids but i really can't.

first the connection is too slowwwwwww and scd my i can't download adobe flash newest version for some god knows what reason.

love,

Ananda

[Ananda]

hi karl[],

thk you for the up close and personal insights and for the lesson on NlP really there are some similarities.

and you are both crazy and have come a long way, everyone here is or else we wouldn't be here but the ones who are sane are the ones who know that they are crazy[].

namaste bro and thks for the laughs,

Ananda

[Sparkle]

Thanks Karl, thats very interesting info about NLP[]

quote:Posted by Karl:
Cause and Effect
most people are in effect
Results vs Excuses.
remove the excuses and you get the results
Perception is projection.
this is the internal representation projected onto the external world and runs through all neurons and cells
Responsiblity for results.
Is with the person who wishes to achieve results 100%
Mind body connection.
there is a direct connection between the body and mind, what the body does, the mind will follow-ie looking depressed will result in feeling depressed

Everyone has a unique model of the world
Respect other peoples MOW
The Map is not the territory
People are not their behaviour
All behaviour has a positive intention
The most important imformation about aperson is how they are behaving.
Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have available.
There are no unresourceful people -only unresourceful states
Everyone has the resources they need to succeed and achieve the desired outcome.
The person with he most flexible behaviour has the greatest influence on others.
There is no failure only feedback.
Everyone is in charge of their minds and therefore the results.
The meaning of communication is the response you get.
Resistance in a person is a sign of lack of rapport

[karl]

quote:Originally posted by Sparkle


Thanks Karl, thats very interesting info about NLP[]

quote:Posted by Karl:
Cause and Effect
most people are in effect
Results vs Excuses.
remove the excuses and you get the results
Perception is projection.
this is the internal representation projected onto the external world and runs through all neurons and cells
Responsiblity for results.
Is with the person who wishes to achieve results 100%
Mind body connection.
there is a direct connection between the body and mind, what the body does, the mind will follow-ie looking depressed will result in feeling depressed

Everyone has a unique model of the world
Respect other peoples MOW
The Map is not the territory
People are not their behaviour
All behaviour has a positive intention
The most important imformation about aperson is how they are behaving.
Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have available.
There are no unresourceful people -only unresourceful states
Everyone has the resources they need to succeed and achieve the desired outcome.
The person with he most flexible behaviour has the greatest influence on others.
There is no failure only feedback.
Everyone is in charge of their minds and therefore the results.
The meaning of communication is the response you get.
Resistance in a person is a sign of lack of rapport

It's funny and slightly shocking to read that back in quote form I suddenly realised how much I have changed in the last few years. From being a self centred egotist to finding pleasure in helping people find their own way. Its like going from a soldier to a priest (metaphorically of course as I am very unlikely ever to be a priest ).

I still get the odd grump, feel a bit sorry for myself, want to thump someone who is annoying me. But these moods last a very short time, usually minutes before I'm laughing at my own crass stupidity ( I always remember a quote from a film 'that's just pride f%%%% with you man'. Thinking about it makes me laugh even more, infact I'm always laughing a the daft things I think and do Well, here come the men in white coats.

[Holy]

Hi Ananda,

to your question about overloading. I tried most combinations. If you don't have a mind challenging work, the combo of sitting practices and being more aware what is happening here and now during the day increases the witness state very fast.

Only doing sitting practices for a longer time of some months or years makes you even more unaware during the whole day. At least for me it was like an excuse not to be aware during the rest of the day except the sitting part. On the other side, just "trying to be more aware", "coming back to this moment in more awareness everytime you find yourself lost in thoughts" alone doesn't work either. It's very hard, friction is high, awarenes is low and increases very slowly. It's like a full time job that seems to feel even harder. In combination, you are on a fst track, but not without heavy overloads, awareness peaks, breathing stops mny times the whole day etc. Perhaps that's the reason why "this" comes very late in Yogani's enlightenment series. After some practices as you yourself say, fingerpointers like that really do something big.

It's also interesting, that many people talk about their years and years of pranayama and meditation and afterwards about a meeting with someone like papaji or ramesh balsekar etc. who give them some perfect hints and bam. The hints come from everywhere when you are near the point of being able to get what is behind the words.

Two days ago, I spoke with my cousin via tlephone who started working in a bank. After her school and university life, now she earns her money and there is not much need to think anymore to do some simple money management. I asked her, how life is for her now. She said, it's the same sh*t like before =P So it never gets better. You do stuff you think you need to do because of this living system, but don't want to do. And yeah, the grave is coming nearer and nearer. So hey, what is it, what's the difference then between sleepwalking and enlightenment? It must be life itself moment for moment. Not the doing on the surface, but watching the movie happening.

My favorites are Samarpan , Maitreya Ishwara, Gangaji, Papaji. They are some more, but they mostly don't have any English translation. The vids on the site are mostly belingual with English and German. Watching one or two in weeks or months always gave me some special hint that was perfect for that moment in time. Seems like it's the same with your book. Also books like -the power of now- come like a hammer on your head =)

[Ananda]

hi Holy[],

thk you for the very interesting post it explains a lot and i don't know if that was your intent but it furthermore gives support to Yogani's theory on relational and non relational self enquiry which are mentioned in the self enquiry book plus the purification needed for someone to really relate to the words of teachers such as good old Papaji who is one of the best and others such as Gangaji who was a student of Papaji i think.

guess one size doesn't fit all, i have been involved with spiritual practices for seven years until now and in pure advaita for three years and advaita teachers did strike a chord and wakened up something within me and expanded my mind when i first started got some hints and pointers from a druze friend who lead into them.

reading Sri krishna Menon and his lebanese student Kamal Joumblat teachings did put me on the right track but after finding AYP and doing the practices it's a whole new deal suddenly being on the path is more real and present plus reading pure advaita know makes more sense.

thk you for the nice pointers i appreciate them, i'll check them out.

namaste,

Ananda

[Sparkle]

Hi ananda

A couple of days ago I was pleasantly surprised to to find the book Awarenwss by Anthony de Mello in the middle of one of the kids bookshelfs. I thought I had given it away a while back.
I bought it many years ago and didn't really get into it then but now - as you say it is springing to life in my hands - wonderful stuff and pure advaita[]
Highly recommended and thanks for the reminder[]

[Ananda]

namaste brother Sparkle[],

glad to do the honors and everything happens in due time as i'm sure you know[].

warmest regards,

Ananda

p.s: the stuff on that book are from a workshop done in new york and they are available via audio recording on the net and they are the only ones which father Tony allowed recording.

[IcedEarth]

interesting book... I ran across it a couple of years ago in my Mom's collection of books.  It was a bit of an awakener, but it is hard in earlier stages of spiritual development to have someone tell you so upfront about what reality is.

[Ananda]

hi IcedEarth[],

i totally agree with you and here is the role of deep meditation to prepare us for such a straight forward self enquiry.

love,

Ananda