Is it me or is a serious division of realities occuring?

[mach66]

Thank you all for replying,
I wanted to individually respond to each post, I simply don't have the time as I am trying to get some final things done before I leave tomorrow for a very long time.

All of your responses have nugget of wisdom and together I have a basket full of nuggets ;)

It is so hard to constantly be conscious and aware that one needs to operate within the construct of The work at all moments. I sure try my hardest yet it seems like those couple of seconds a day when I let my guard down, I stop operating in the conscious and let my sub conscious start running - BAM! that's when the attacks come.. then my response to the attack is completely EGO driven as it is the sub conscious that is running at that particular moment and the EGO isn't about to let anyone switch over to their conscious and get put back in it's cage..

I am new at this and I am very much looking forward to the time I will have alone as a truck driver to meditate and read and read and be allowed to do the work in seclusion. I will miss my family more than the dickens but I really feel a strong calling and feel like something is driving me so hard to do the work. To over come the illusions that keep catching me off guard.

I read something last night that had completely slipped by my thoughts throughout yesterday and it shouldn't have becasue it is my basic belief. The point of the comment I read was that there is only one of us here. So if you ever feel fear, anguish, anger, frustration etc.. towards someone, you are feeling those emotions towards yourself. After contemplating that a bit deeper than I had presently done so, I came to a fantastic conclusion.

It seems that there are a lot of things that I haven't liked about myself and as of a year or two ago, I decided to change those behaviors. Now that I have been meditating for awhile and learning about a whole new way of looking at reality and the world or should I say illusion that I am forced to participate in until I figure out how to get out of here (good luck right?), I have found most if not all of those behaviors were actually pretty easy to get rid of and change as long as I am being conscious. Once I let go and let the sub-conscious operate, it's back to the same old programs because those "are" the programs I've been programmed with. The only way to get a computer to stop running a program is to turn it off or delete the program and make sure you thoroughly clean out the registry or the program is always still there lurking in the shadows.

The beauty of all of this is that it seems to me that all of the "bad programs" I've been working so hard to get rid of, seem to be manifesting in those around me. I know energy can't be destroyed, but it can be recycled and I think there is a lot of that going on with our world right now. It's no wonder history keeps repeating itself. I realized that the bizarre behaviors I've been experiencing from my wife and my mom are closely related to the very behaviors I've been trying to get rid of. Now for the really weird part. I almost think that in the sense that we are part of a hologram being reflected back to the creator and we are the creator, then is it possible that the negative energies I have released are being reflected back to me via those closest to me? By experiencing these negative energies I am also seeing how those individuals were effected when the negative energy came from me. In other words, I can now experience their hurt or pain because those energies are being directed at me now.

It's as if I am learning a lesson given by myself to myself. Things can get really deep when you start getting into this stuff huh?

peace,
mach66

 

[Buddy]

...is it possible that the negative energies I have released are being reflected back to me via those closest to me? By experiencing these negative energies I am also seeing how those individuals were effected when the negative energy came from me. In other words, I can now experience their hurt or pain because those energies are being directed at me now.

Well, there are feedback loops and all kinds of energy can be communicated along those lines, but what I'm thinking is that the most effective way to deal with with the problems of 'other people' is to learn about those same issues within yourself - how 'things' work and how to eliminate one's own programs.

Sorta' like: "One sees in others what one finds in himself".
Or maybe: "If one's emotions respond to 'bait', then one must still be looking for 'food'.

This quote may be useful here:

One general law and one common system of manifestation rule throughout the universe, and in this fact lies the meaning of that wonderful Hermetic axiom: "As it is above, so is it below; as it is below, so is it above."

 

[anart]

It is so hard to constantly be conscious and aware that one needs to operate within the construct of The work at all moments.  I sure try my hardest yet it seems like those couple of seconds a day when I let my guard down, I stop operating in the conscious and let my sub conscious start running - BAM! that's when the attacks come.. then my response to the attack is completely EGO driven as it is the sub conscious that is running at that particular moment and the EGO isn't about to let anyone switch over to  their conscious and get put back in it's cage..

By focusing on the 'attack angle' here, it sounds as if you are not taking responsibility for your own situation - as if you are not the main cause of friction and problems.  Your life is a reflection of who YOU are.

I am new at this and I am very much looking forward to the time I will have alone as a truck driver to meditate and read and read and be allowed to do the work in seclusion.  I will miss my family more than the dickens but I really feel a strong calling and feel like something is driving me so hard to do the work.  To over come the illusions that keep catching me off guard.

The Work is not to be done in seclusion.  The more difficult your life is, the better conditions exist for the Work - provided you remember the Work.  It sounds like you want to run away from conditions you have created, instead of facing them and learning from them and changing yourself - NOT others.

I read something last night that had completely slipped by my thoughts throughout yesterday and it shouldn't have becasue it is my basic belief.  The point of the comment I read was that there is only one of us here.  So if you ever feel fear, anguish, anger, frustration etc.. towards someone, you are feeling those emotions towards yourself.  After contemplating that a bit deeper than I had presently done so, I came to a fantastic conclusion.

It seems that there are a lot of things that I haven't liked about myself and as of a year or two ago, I decided to change those behaviors.  Now that I have been meditating for awhile and learning about a whole new way of looking at reality and the world or should I say illusion that I am forced to participate in until I figure out how to get out of here (good luck right?), I have found most if not all of those behaviors were actually pretty easy to get rid of and change as long as I am being conscious.  Once I let go and let the sub-conscious operate, it's back to the same old programs because those "are" the programs I've been programmed with.  The only way to get a computer to stop running a program is to turn it off or delete the program and make sure you thoroughly clean out the registry or the program is always still there lurking in the shadows.

The beauty of all of this is that it seems to me that all of the "bad programs" I've been working so hard to get rid of, seem to be manifesting in those around me.

Or you are seeing parts of yourself in others - they bother you so much because they are you. 

  I know energy can't be destroyed, but it can be recycled and I think there is a lot of that going on with our world right now.  It's no wonder history keeps repeating itself. 
I realized that the bizarre behaviors I've been experiencing from my wife and my mom are closely related to the very behaviors I've been trying to get rid of.  Now for the really weird part.  I almost think that in the sense that we are part of a hologram being reflected back to the creator and we are the creator, then is it possible that the negative energies I have released are being reflected back to me via those closest to me?  By experiencing these negative energies I am also seeing how those individuals were effected when the negative energy came from me.  In other words, I can now experience their hurt or pain because those energies are being directed at me now.

Perhaps - though I think you are missing the general fact that what you bothers you most about them is what is strongest in you - and still strongest in you.  If it were not still strongest in you, it would not bother you so much to see it in them.  You seem to still be looking outward instead of looking at your own role in all of this, your own manifestations and your own actions/responsibilities and how they are affecting those around you.  It also sounds like you are trying to use the Work as a way to escape all that you have created with the people in your life.  It doesn't work that way.  You have a responsibility to these people - you are the one who created this situation and you are the one who must deal with it - in a way that is responsible and externally considerate - in a way that makes life easier for them, and you. 

It's as if I am learning a lesson given by myself to myself.

Of course, but it is also 'as if' you are thinking quite seriously about running away from it because you 'don't like it' - your family is your responsibility - where you find yourself is the perfect place for the Work - provided you remember the Work.   As a matter of fact, it seems that the people who want to leave relationships in order to Work are those who most need to stay in them, in order to Work.  fwiw.

 

[mach66]

anart,
this is where I would normally take a couple of your posts and say "well maybe, but I think you are making more of it than what it really is" However, after reading through your comments a couple of times, I find myself humbled and amazed at your depth of insight. You are a very wise person and have obviously been at this for a while ;)

thank you for your comments.

As far as the seclusion goes, I would like to read IOTM and a few more threads here while I have the alone time and be able to contemplate what I am learning and put those nuggets of wisdom in their respective places so that I can properly do the work while engaging with the rest of the world. With this whole Esoteric way of thinking and living being so new to me, I don't want to be the kid who gets a new light saber for Christmas and before learning how to use it, go out and slice my friends arm off.

Just from the beginning of this thread I realized I really needed to go back and re-study some of the basics that should be first and foremost. Things here at home have been so far from normal and so crazy that I have not read anything for over a month as far as IOTM or anything here on the forum etc. This is why I think some time alone will be good so that I can at least "start" the work. Obviously I need to be a part of the world and interact with it in order to do the work, after all that is the whole idea of the 4th way is it not? :)

Thank you kindly for your wisdom,
Much respect,
mach66

 

[T.C.]

I don't want to be the kid who gets a new light saber for Christmas and before learning how to use it, go out and slice my friends arm off.

That's understandable, but be sure not to use that as an excuse not to practice. One does not become a jedi by letting the light sabre hang idly from ones belt.

;)

 

[Breton]

I am new at this and I am very much looking forward to the time I will have alone as a truck driver to meditate and read and read and be allowed to do the work in seclusion. I will miss my family more than the dickens but I really feel a strong calling and feel like something is driving me so hard to do the work. To over come the illusions that keep catching me off guard.

The Work is not to be done in seclusion. The more difficult your life is, the better conditions exist for the Work - provided you remember the Work. It sounds like you want to run away from conditions you have created, instead of facing them and learning from them and changing yourself - NOT others.

I noticed I felt a trace of envy for mach66 when he said he might get a temporary couple of months of solitude.

Anart, do you think that if one temporarily took some solitude to try get a handle on some of these "mind stretching ideas" and the vast amounts of information uncovered by Laura and QFG, it could benefit a newbie in the Work? I imagine this would be ok, as long as we keep a balance. I suppose that having a timeout for awhile is quite different from changing one's life to one of seclusion - like a monk would do.

Perhaps the better advice for the Work, is to read and simultaneously try to apply what one has read. If one does this, then of course, it cannot be done in seclusion.

However, we are quite different in the way we learn too, and I imagine we all have a different optimum pace for learning. There could be quite a difference in our backgrounds too: one who has done research somewhat along the lines of Laura prior to this esoteric study might have an advantage over someone who hasn't done anything like it at all. Thus timeouts for study, as well as introspection, and recapitulation, might be more necessary for some people than others.

I think, (or imagine?) there might be a crucial "reading phase" wherein a newbie like me could benefit from a little distance from the heavy interactions that I see come from everyday intimate relationships of spouse and children for example.

After having said all that, now a brief mention about the main point of this thread: I cannot recall having any "reality shifts" spoken about by mach66 and some of the members. At least not yet. I would be interested in hearing anyone's experiences with this if they want to share.

Well, back to trying to finish "In Search of The Miraculous" by taking advantage of spare moments here and there, when nobody notices.

_Breton_

 

[nicklebleu]

Hmmmh ... I was wondering about this seclusion issue ... because right now I might be what you could call "secluded".

But life has a tendency to have it's own way. Are not humans everywhere and do you not take your Personality and all that baggage with you wherever you go? But if you end up in a situation, where the impact of television, mass consumption, advertisement, noise, EM etc. is lessened, is this not a beneficial situation to persue the Work? Of course you also have to care for your closest ones - as well as you can under the circumstances. And even then - the issues and problems within a family may not be lessend by distance - maybe quite to the contrary. So trying to escape a certain situation, I found that often you would land smack back in the middle of it - with a vengeance.

My point is - wherever you go, as long as there are human beings who will interact and cause "friction" it will be conducive to do the Work - kind of wherever you go/ whatever you do ... or am I wrong?

 

[anart]

Anart, do you think that if one temporarily took some solitude to try get a handle on some of these "mind stretching ideas" and the vast amounts of information uncovered by Laura and QFG, it could benefit a newbie in the Work? I imagine this would be ok, as long as we keep a balance. I suppose that having a timeout for awhile is quite different from changing one's life to one of seclusion - like a monk would do.

I don't think there is an absolute answer - however, I do think that most, if not all, impulses to 'get away', 'take a break', 'back off', 'get some space' are 'buffer' activities - they are impulses that lessen the pressure, the heat, and the learning.   One does not awaken if one is comfortable in their sleep, and we are all ingenious when it comes to making ourselves more comfortable in our sleep.

In other words, one should strive to do what IT does not want to do (IT being the predator/our programs/our need to be more comfortable in our sleep).  For example, one could describe your envy of mach66's 'solitude' as what IT wants to do.

So - in general, where one finds oneself is the perfect place to do the Work - it is not called Work for no reason, and it is not for everyone.  Of course, there are limitless variations of situations and experiences, but the core premise is the same.

When it comes to people who are in relationships, especially with children, then extra care must be taken - basically, one is responsible for their life decisions up to that point, even though they were made in sleep - they are still our own and our responsibility.  As such, to abdicate that responsibility in any way is to wander off the path into a deeper degree of self-service and self-delusion, not to mention the possibility that if the deeper learning is to be encountered where you are, then you are delaying that by 'running away', 'taking a break', 'backing off', 'getting some space'...  (granted - this learning can take many forms, and sometimes it does entail removing others from one's 'filmstrip' completely - but that is in very specific situations after much observation, effort and Work and not the usual route to take...  sometimes it is even much better for the kids and spouse if they are free, rather than involved with someone who is so narcissistic that they only think of themselves and their own needs! )

Of course, if the relationship is abusive or there are other extreme issues, that changes everything.

I do understand the problem of finding time to read, but, with everything, if there is a Will, there is a way - and if one is very externally considerate, one will find that by making things easier for others, things become easier for oneself, and time might just free itself up a bit.  Of course, there are always (always!) exceptions, but that's the general idea.  That's my current understanding, so hopefully it makes some sense.