Session 23 March 2013

[Carl]

Muxel, what's really up with you lately?

Programs were ticking away in me and eventually I came to feel like I'd been wronged by this forum in ways, and I felt like I'd lost faith, maybe it was my identification that I lost, but I was frustrated and angry in the sense of "Well, how should I be, then?!!!" or "How would you like me to be?!" And if there was fear, it was likely projected fears of rejection and exclusion, so yes, there were things eating away at me (if you want to put it that way) and frustration may have fueled what I wrote. I meant what I wrote at the time, but in different circumstances or a different state, I would've written something else and probably would have tagged along rather than be critical and blatantly state what I found fault with. But I don't suppose it could've happened any other way, because things were adding up for me.

That said, I do like Intothefield's design for the title page, which is why I said I'd rather he do the design for the booklet than do the calendar.

Why did you feel wronged? Perhaps you should update your swamp thread to let this stuff out, instead of it negatively affecting your posts on other topics that could otherwise be very constructive (and have been many times).

 

[Approaching Infinity]

OK, I worked on incorporating quotes and an extended glossary at the end. I rewrote a lot to make it more readable, so please check it over and see if I made stuff worse instead of better!

 

[whitecoast]

OK, I worked on incorporating quotes and an extended glossary at the end. I rewrote a lot to make it more readable, so please check it over and see if I made stuff worse instead of better!

Hi AI, I found some small corrections, but I'm not sure the best way to show the edited version. Should I post recommended changes here, the doc with comments in the review section (Word 07 onwards), or the doc with the edits just built in?

 

[Approaching Infinity]

OK, I worked on incorporating quotes and an extended glossary at the end. I rewrote a lot to make it more readable, so please check it over and see if I made stuff worse instead of better!

Hi AI, I found some small corrections, but I'm not sure the best way to show the edited version. Should I post recommended changes here, the doc with comments in the review section (Word 07 onwards), or the doc with the edits just built in?

If they're few and small, just post them here and I can put them into my file. Another option would be to make the changes using "track changes" and upload the file.

 

[whitecoast]

If they're few and small, just post them here and I can put them into my file. Another option would be to make the changes using "track changes" and upload the file.

I opted for the latter option. Duplicated comments in some, which you can just turn off. It's looking great so far. :)

 

[Voyageur]

OK, I worked on incorporating quotes and an extended glossary at the end. I rewrote a lot to make it more readable, so please check it over and see if I made stuff worse instead of better!

Some very good quotes AI, nice work. Was thinking if (in addition to the mention of the Prodigal Son) adding a few selected Parables to aid contemplation would be suitable?

 

[Psalehesost]

In section 2, "principle aim of self-work" should be "principal aim of self-work".

In section 4, "gain as much knowledge about how to do it right" is gramatically broken - could either have e.g. "as you can" added, or be simplified into "gain the knowledge of how to do it right".

In section 5, whitecoast suggested replacing "a nasty person" with "a brainwashed authoritarian". That's not all, though - there's also other kinds of pathological people. Perhaps simply "pathological" would do.

Suggestion for section 8: If you can get permission to republish 'The First Initiation', it might be a great addition. If not, if it's meaningful to extract something from it, that might make for a great quote addition.

In section 10, "builds willpower" is gramatically nicer as "building willpower", and "and helps" likewise as "and helping" - then the sentence is consistent. (Secondly, for completeness, the Viktor Frankl quote I posted is from Man's Search for Meaning.)

In the Paleo Diet Summary "chelation with DMSO" should be "chelation with DMSA". An added note that for those who are otherwise healthy and capable of it, regular exercise (both aerobic and anaerobic) can reduce ferritin levels might be useful. The resistance exercise is not mentioned - this might be a general point to add to "Lifestyle". A step-by-step initial change plan (for new adopters of the diet) that can perhaps be adapted for addition was described by Laura here: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,22916.msg308827.html#msg308827

 

[paralleloscope]

OK, I worked on incorporating quotes and an extended glossary at the end. I rewrote a lot to make it more readable, so please check it over and see if I made stuff worse instead of better!

An index on the front page could be helpful as a mnemonic aid of main objectives.

Following inflictions of narcissistic wounding and other trauma there will often be the loss of a felt sense, the detachment from body awareness making emotional reactions even more distant or intangible. A note on reconnection between body, feelings and emotions may also be a good reminder in ones doubled attention training. Bodywork could be mentioned alongside EE as an opener to emotional capacity?

From : In An Unspoken Voice - Peter Levine

Emotional reactivity almost always precludes conscious awareness. On the other hand, restraint and containment of expressive impulse allows us to become aware of our underlying postural attitude. Therefore it is the restraint that brings a feeling into conscious awareness. Change only occurs when there is mindfulness and mindfulness only occurs where there is bodily feeling (ie awareness of the postural attitude).

The uncoupling of sensation from image and thought is what diffuses the highly charged emotions and allows them to transform fluidly into sensation-based gradations of feelings. This is not at all the same as suppressing or repressing them.

 

[Zadius Sky]

OK, I worked on incorporating quotes and an extended glossary at the end. I rewrote a lot to make it more readable, so please check it over and see if I made stuff worse instead of better!

Some very good quotes AI, nice work. Was thinking if (in addition to the mention of the Prodigal Son) adding a few selected Parables to aid contemplation would be suitable?

It looks pretty good. Now, we're calling it a "Daily Exercise List." :)

I was also thinking about the parables to be added, including:

- Parable of the Coach

As long as man has not reached the point of fusion, his life will be in effect a factitious existence, as he himself will change from moment to moment. Since these changes will occur as a result of external shocks which he can almost never foresee, it will also be impossible for him to predict in advance the exact way he will change internally. Thus he will live subject to events as they occur, always preoccupied by constantly 'patching up' ('replastering'). He will in fact progress toward the unknown, at the mercy of chance. This state of things, named in the Tradition The Law of Chance, or The Law of Accident, is — for man as he is—the principal law under whose authority he leads his illusory existence.

Esoteric science indicates the possibilities and the means of freeing oneself from this law. It helps us to begin a new and purposeful life; first to become logical with ourselves, and finally, to become our own master.

But to begin effectively on this way, one must first clearly see the situation as it is. A parable found in the most ancient sources permits us to get a clear picture of this, and so keep this condition in mind. It is the parable of the Coach.

This image represents the characteristics of man by a coach. The physical body is represented by the coach itself; the horses represent sensations, feelings and passions; the coachman is the ensemble of the intellectual faculties including reason; the person sitting in the coach is the master. In its normal state, the whole system is in a perfect state of operation: the coachman holds the reins firmly in his hands and drives the horses in the direction indicated by the master. This, however, is not how things happen in the immense majority of cases. First of all, the master is absent. The coach must go and find him, and must then await his pleasure. All is in a bad state: the axles are not greased and they grate; the wheels are badly fixed; the shaft dangles dangerously; the horses, although of noble race, are dirty and ill-fed; the harness is worn and the reins are not strong. The coachman is asleep: his hands have slipped to his knees and hardly hold the reins, which can fall from them at any moment.

The coach nevertheless continues to move forward, but does so in a way which presages no happiness. Abandoning the road, it is rolling down the slope in such a way that the coach is now pushing the horses, which are unable to hold it back. The coachman, fallen into a deep sleep, is swaying in his seat at risk of falling off. Obviously a sad fate awaits such a coach.

This image provides a highly appropriate analogy for the condition of most men, and it is worth taking as an object of meditation.

Salvation may however present itself. Another coachman, this one quite awake, may pass by the same route and observe the coach in its sad situation. If he is not much in a hurry, he may perhaps stop to help the coach that is in distress. He will first help the horses hold back the coach from slipping down the slope. Then he will awaken the sleeping driver and together with him will try to bring the coach back to the road. He will lend fodder and money. He might also give advice on the care of the horses, the address of an inn and a coach repairer, and indicate the proper route to follow.

It will be up to the assisted coachman afterward to profit, by his own efforts, from the help and the information received. It will be incumbent on him from this point on to put all things in order and, open eyed, to follow the path he had abandoned.

He will above all fight against sleep, for if he falls asleep again, and if the coach leaves the road again and again finds itself in the same danger, he cannot hope that chance will smile upon him a second time; that another coachman will pass at that moment and at that place and come to his aid once again.

- Boris Mouravieff, Gnosis (Vol. 1, pp. 3-4)

- Parable of the Doorkeeper (being watchful, referring to not letting any negative energies into the house and not letting oneself "drunk." - under Number 10)

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good-man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

- Matthew 24:42-51 (King James Version)

- Parable of the Prodigal Son

And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

- Luke 15: 11-13 (King James Version)

I'm sure that there are other parables to be added, but the above are the top of my head. I thought about the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of Talents, but I was not sure which number they would go under.

Other have made good corrections (though I would add breaks in line between paragraph in the quotations, but that's just me), so I don't have any other thoughts on the booklet.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

OK, I think I got everything. I created a "parables for contemplation" section after the 12 entries. So, more can be included. Or, if you all think they'll go better in a certain specific exercise, let it be known.

(Note, this isn't the final file. It will still be formatted for print, so don't worry about layout details.)

 

[Bernhard]

OK, I think I got everything. I created a "parables for contemplation" section after the 12 entries. So, more can be included. Or, if you all think they'll go better in a certain specific exercise, let it be known.

(Note, this isn't the final file. It will still be formatted for print, so don't worry about layout details.)

Great compilation so far. Thank you, AI!

 

[Approaching Infinity]

OK, I think I got everything. I created a "parables for contemplation" section after the 12 entries. So, more can be included. Or, if you all think they'll go better in a certain specific exercise, let it be known.

(Note, this isn't the final file. It will still be formatted for print, so don't worry about layout details.)

Great compilation so far. Thank you, AI!

If you have any suggestions, let us know! :)

 

[dant]

For those who want PDF, the file is attached here.
Thanks to all who contributed!

 

[Bernhard]

OK, I think I got everything. I created a "parables for contemplation" section after the 12 entries. So, more can be included. Or, if you all think they'll go better in a certain specific exercise, let it be known.

(Note, this isn't the final file. It will still be formatted for print, so don't worry about layout details.)

Great compilation so far. Thank you, AI!

If you have any suggestions, let us know! :)

Will do. I just printed it out and in the process of reading it.

 

[Gawan]

I did a small graphic thing as an idea, so that at least something graphical could be added as well.

Symbolic for the mechanicalness of men and the work (as cogwheels) combined within the star constellation of Cassiopaea :). But it is very edged.