Ego (Eckhart Tolle “A new Earth”)

When the ego is at war, know that it is no more than an illusion that is fighting to survive. That illusion thinks it is you. It is not easy at first to be there as the witnessing presence, especially when the ego is in survival mood or some emotional pattern from the past has become activated, but once you have had a taste of it, you will grow in Presence power and the ego will lose its grip on you. And so a power comes into your life that is far greater than the ego, greater than the mind. All that is required to become free of the ego is to be aware of it, since awareness and ego are incompatible. Awareness is the power that is concealed within the present moment - This why we may also call it Presence. The ultimate purpose of human existence, which is to say, your purpose, is to bring that power into this world. And this is also why becoming free of the ego cannot be made into a goal to be attained at some point in the future. Only Presence can free you of the ego, and you can only be present NOW, not yesterday or tomorrow. Only Presence can undo the past in you and thus transform your state of consciousness.

What is spiritual realisation? The belief that you are spirit? No, that is a thought. A little closer to the truth than the thought that believes you are who your birth certificate says you are, but still a thought. Spiritual realisation is to see clearly that what I perceive, experience, think or feel is ultimately not who I am, that I cannot find myself in all those things that continuously pass away. The Buddha was probably the first human being to see this clearly, and so anata (no self) became one of the central points of his teaching. And when Jesus said “Deny thyself,” what he meant was: Negate (and thus undo) the illusion of self. If the self – ego – were truly who I am, it would be absurd to “deny” it.

What remains is the light of consciousness in which perceptions, experiences, thoughts and feelings come and go. That is Being, that is the deeper, true I. When I know myself as that, whatever happens in my life is no longer of absolute but only of relative importance. I honour it, but it loses its absolute seriousness, its heaviness. The only thing that ultimately matters is this: Can I sense my essential Being-ness, The I Am that I am at this moment? Can I sense my essential identity as consciousness itself? Or am I losing myself in what happens, losing myself in the mind, in the world?

The foregoing is worthy of careful study and places a totally new emphasis on the words inscribed above the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in ancient Greece: “Man, know thyself.” The Greek words reproduced on a stained glass window are shown above. Lionel

The Good Samaritan

I want to wish each one of you a very happy Christmas and a New Year full of peace and solid spiritual achievement. Thank you so much for reading my blog so regularly during the past twelve months.

Lionel


I read this true story on the BBC News website today and I want to share it with you all. It shows that no matter how belligerant, anti-social or unresponsive an individual may be, if we listen to their story, we can usually do something to help.

One act of kindness that befell British writer Bernard Hare in 1982 changed him profoundly. Then a student living just north of London, he tells the story to inspire troubled young people to help deal with their disrupted lives.

The police called at my student hovel early evening, but I didn't answer as I thought they'd come to evict me. I hadn't paid my rent in months.

But then I got to thinking: my mum hadn't been too good and what if it was something about her?

We had no phone in the hovel and mobiles hadn't been invented yet, so I had to nip down the phone box.

I rang home to Leeds to find my mother was in hospital and not expected to survive the night. "Get home, son," my dad said.

I got to the railway station to find I'd missed the last train. A train was going as far as Peterborough, but I would miss the connecting Leeds train by twenty minutes.
I bought a ticket home and got on anyway. I was a struggling student and didn't have the money for a taxi the whole way, but I had a screwdriver in my pocket and my bunch of skeleton keys.

I was so desperate to get home that I planned to nick a car in Peterborough, hitch hike, steal some money, something, anything. I just knew from my dad's tone of voice that my mother was going to die that night and I intended to get home if it killed me.

"Tickets, please," I heard, as I stared blankly out of the window at the passing darkness. I fumbled for my ticket and gave it to the guard when he approached. He stamped it, but then just stood there looking at me. I'd been crying, had red eyes and must have looked a fright.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Course I'm okay," I said. "Why wouldn't I be? And what's it got to do with you in any case?"

"You look awful," he said. "Is there anything I can do?"

"You could get lost and mind your own business," I said. "That'd be a big help." I wasn't in the mood for talking.

He was only a little bloke and he must have read the danger signals in my body language and tone of voice, but he sat down opposite me anyway and continued to engage me.

"If there's a problem, I'm here to help. That's what I'm paid for."

I was a big bloke in my prime, so I thought for a second about physically sending him on his way, but somehow it didn't seem appropriate. He wasn't really doing much wrong. I was going through all the stages of grief at once: denial, anger, guilt, withdrawal, everything but acceptance. I was a bubbling cauldron of emotion and he had placed himself in my line of fire.

The only other thing I could think of to get rid of him was to tell him my story.
"Look, my mum's in hospital, dying, she won't survive the night, I'm going to miss the connection to Leeds at Peterborough, I'm not sure how I'm going to get home.
"It's tonight or never, I won't get another chance, I'm a bit upset, I don't really feel like talking, I'd be grateful if you'd leave me alone. Okay?"

"Okay," he said, finally getting up. "Sorry to hear that, son. I'll leave you alone then. Hope you make it home in time." Then he wandered off down the carriage back the way he came.

I continued to look out of the window at the dark. Ten minutes later, he was back at the side of my table. Oh no, I thought, here we go again. This time I really am going to rag him down the train.

He touched my arm. "Listen, when we get to Peterborough, shoot straight over to Platform One as quick as you like. The Leeds train'll be there."

I looked at him dumbfounded. It wasn't really registering. "Come again," I said, stupidly. "What do you mean? Is it late, or something?"

"No, it isn't late," he said, defensively, as if he really cared whether trains were late or not. "No, I've just radioed Peterborough. They're going to hold the train up for you. As soon as you get on, it goes.

"Everyone will be complaining about how late it is, but let's not worry about that on this occasion. You'll get home and that's the main thing. Good luck and God bless."
Then he was off down the train again. "Tickets, please. Any more tickets now?"
I suddenly realised what a top-class, fully-fledged doilem I was and chased him down the train. I wanted to give him all the money from my wallet, my driver's licence, my keys, but I knew he would be offended.

I caught him up and grabbed his arm. "Oh, er, I just wanted to…" I was suddenly speechless. "I, erm…"

Bernard was desperate to see his mother, Joyce

"It's okay," he said. "Not a problem." He had a warm smile on his face and true compassion in his eyes. He was a good man for its own sake and required nothing in return.

"I wish I had some way to thank you," I said. "I appreciate what you've done."
"Not a problem," he said again. "If you feel the need to thank me, the next time you see someone in trouble, you help them out. That will pay me back amply.

"Tell them to pay you back the same way and soon the world will be a better place."
I was at my mother's side when she died in the early hours of the morning. Even now, I can't think of her without remembering the Good Conductor on that late-night train to Peterborough and, to this day, I won't hear a bad word said about British Rail.
My meeting with the Good Conductor changed me from a selfish, potentially violent hedonist into a decent human being, but it took time.

"I've paid him back a thousand times since then," I tell the young people I work with, "and I'll keep on doing so till the day I die. You don't owe me nothing. Nothing at all."

"And if you think you do, I'd give you the same advice the Good Conductor gave me. Pass it down the line."

A Life Without Television

As I watched with growing revulsion, the so called “peaceful demonstration” of students in London protesting against increases in fees for higher education and I remember all the violent terrorist acts around the globe, I began to wonder. What is the main objective of most demonstrators and terrorists?

The answer is abundantly clear, to obtain maximum publicity via television. This publicity is designed in both instances to provoke fear. In the case of demonstrators, fear amongst legislators of the side-effects within society of proposed new legislation and where terrorists are concerned fear amongst the general population. The fear in both instances leads to reaction on the part of the legislature. Any action based upon fear is likely to be ill-thought-out and almost certainly lead to a worsening rather than an improving situation.

The target of these comments of mine is not so much the organisers of protests or the master-minds of terrorism (though I have nothing but contempt for both) but television production companies and their journalists. I accept without reservation that television is such an important part of the fabric of society these days that under no circumstances would the majority of people be willing to contemplate its disappearance.

This fact in itself should give the television companies and their journalists pause for thought. Their pictures and the views of their commentators are received in the privacy of people’s homes. Many people are still uncritical of the views of journalists on most subjects other than part politics, so the power wielded by television over the thinking of the general population is enormous. What a responsibility! A responsibility which it seems to me is shrugged off by the use of phrases such as, “we have a duty to report life as it is”.

I agree with the sentiment expressed in this phrase but object most strongly to the manner in which television producers and their owners interpret it. It seems to me they are interested purely in what looks most dramatic (interpret this as ‘most violent’ if you will) on our TV screens. There seems little desire for objectivity in their reporting, they merely accept the ‘hand outs’ and press releases of the terrorists and organisers of demonstrations that turn violent without pausing to question the accuracy or fairness of their contents.

I am forced to conclude that were there no television cameras, the number of ‘peaceful demonstrations’ would decline dramatically, as also would the number of terrorist outrages. Demonstrations and terrorist violence are designed to force ordinary people to accept the bigoted and usually totally unrepresentative views of tiny minorities. Because we are foolish enough to report their statements so uncritically, we bring unreasonable pressure on the decent peace-loving majority of the communities these extremists say they represent. We end up cutting the ground from beneath the feet of the moderates. The more we do it, the more extremists are encouraged, which leads to greater and greater use of violence and terror to support their unrepresentative views.

We cannot allow this to continue surely? Something must be done. It is no use hoping “they” will do something for they won’t. If the TV companies and their owners and journalists are unwilling to act responsibly, one option remains to us. The “on/off” switch! Switch off our TV sets! Refuse to watch news programmes and so-called current affairs programmes. Bearing in mind the number of 24 hour news programmes that have to find ‘news’ of some kind to report continuously, one suspects there is sometimes a very creative interpretation of what constitutes ‘news’ to the producers of these programmes.

In my view the message would soon be received and a sea change would take place in TV reporting. News programmes would be cut back severely, extremists would have to depend more upon reasoned argument to persuade people of their points of view and we would all be freed to take more exercise and spend time talking to one another instead of being glued to news programmes.

I know it is useless to pretend we could ever achieve a future ‘life without television’ but we all need to think a great deal more about the impact it has upon our basic freedoms. Television of itself, just like the wheel, fire, atomic energy and gunpowder, poses no threat but the use to which it is put by unscrupulous people both in the so-called ‘free world’ and elsewhere, is a huge threat to human advancement and happiness. It is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity – a challenge to use our inventions responsibly and not to further narrow, self-interest. How we respond to the challenge as individuals will determine what kind of world our grand-children and our great grand-children will inherit.

The Whale

Another beautiful (True) story that it gives me much pleasure to pass on. Blessings to you all - Lionel

If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate ) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.


May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.


And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.

The Wooden Bowl

Friends, my apologies for not posting anything lately. My excuse is I am working on a new book. I received the following from a friend today and I want to share it with you because it is so true and so touching, Lionel

I guarantee you will remember the tale of the Wooden Bowl tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now.

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson.

The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered.
The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and
failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor.
When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.
'We must do something about father,' said the son. 'I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.'

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.

There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner.
Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor.

He asked the child sweetly, 'What are you making?' Just as sweetly, the boy responded,

'Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up. '

The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks.. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.
That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

On a positive note, I've learned that, no matter what happens, how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles four things:
a rainy day,the elderly, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as making a 'life.'
I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands.You need to be able to throw something back sometimes.

I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But, if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

Dark energy and Flat Universe exposed by simple method

Here is another survey that gives further evidence that scientists should abandon their unreasonable opposition to anything connected with Spirit and pay attention to what scientists from the Spiritual world can explain to them. In 1914, through automatic writing, Spirit explained the existence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy together with some of its properties. These included the means by which light is carried around the universe!


By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News

The measurement depends on hundreds of pairs of "binary galaxies"

Researchers have developed a simple technique that adds evidence to the theory that the Universe is flat.

Moreover, the method - developed by revisiting a 30-year-old idea - confirms that "dark energy" makes up nearly three-quarters of the Universe.

The research, published in Nature, uses existing data and relies on fewer assumptions than current approaches.

Author Christian Marinoni says the idea turns estimating the Universe's shape into "primary school" geometry.

While the idea of the Earth being flat preoccupied the first philosophers millennia ago, the question of whether the Universe itself is flat remains a debatable topic.
The degree to which the Universe is curved has an effect on what astronomers see when they look into the cosmos.

A telescope on or near Earth may see an image of a celestial object differently from how the object actually looks, because the very fabric of space and time bends the light coming from it.

Christian Marinoni and Adeline Buzzi of the University of Provence have made use of this phenomenon in their technique.

Dark prospect

The current model of cosmology holds that only 4% of what makes up our Universe is normal matter - the stuff of stars and planets with which we are familiar, and that astronomers can see directly.

Once you measure the abundance of matter and energy in the Universe, you have direct information on its geometry; you can do geometry as we learn in primary school”
End Quote Christian Marinoni University of Provence

The overwhelming majority of the Universe, the theory holds, is composed of dark matter and dark energy. They are "dark" because they evidently do not absorb, emit and reflect light like normal matter, making direct views impossible.

Dark energy - purported to make up 73% of the known Universe - was proposed as the source of the ongoing expansion of everything in the cosmos. Astronomers have also observed that this expansion of the Universe seems to be accelerating.

Even though gravity holds that everything should attract everything else, in every direction astronomers look there is evidence that things are in fact moving apart - with those objects further away moving faster.

Dark energy is believed to pervade the essence of space and time, forcing a kind of "anti-gravity" that fits cosmologists' equations but that is otherwise a mysterious quantity.

"The problem is that we do not see dark energy because it doesn't emit light, so we cannot measure it by designing a new machine, a new telescope," explained Professor Marinoni.

"What we have to do is to devise a new mathematical framework that allows us to dig into this mystery," he told BBC News.

Circular reasoning

The technique used in this study was first proposed in 1979 by researchers at the universities of Princeton and Berkeley in the US.

It relies on measuring the degree to which images of far-flung astronomical objects are a distortion of their real appearance. The authors originally suggested a spherical object would work.
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The way the image is distorted should shed light on both the curvature of the Universe and the recipe of matter, dark matter and dark energy it is composed of.
The problem until now has been to choose an object whose real, local appearance can be known with certainty.

Professor Marinoni and Dr Buzzi's idea was to use a number of binary galaxies - pairs of galaxies that orbit each other.

The idea was checked using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Since nature shows no preference for the direction these galaxies would be orbiting one another, a look across the whole sky should spot the full spectrum of orbital planes - up, down, left, right, side-on and so on.

Put all of them together and they should approximate a sphere.

The team formed a kind of average of all of those binary galaxies, and corrected for the varying speeds at which the galaxies might be orbiting each other.

The calculation also takes into account the relative proportion of dark energy in the Universe.

The equation was then juggled until the collection of binaries did indeed look like a uniform mix of directions.

The results suggest that the Universe is made up of about 70% dark energy.
"In general relativity, there is a direct connection between geometry and dynamics," Professor Marinoni explained, "so that once you measure the abundance of matter and energy in the Universe, you have direct information on its geometry; you can do geometry as we learn in primary school."

The team's conclusions suggest the Universe is indeed flat - an assumption first put forth by Albert Einstein and seemingly confirmed by more recent observations but that remains one of the most difficult ideas to put on solid theoretical footing.
Alan Heavens, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Edinburgh, said that the strength of the result lies in that it requires few assumptions about the nature of the cosmos.

"The problem that Marinoni and Buzzi have attacked is to see if we can get another, rather clean way of working out what the geometry of the Universe is without going through some fairly indirect reasoning, which is what we do at the moment," Professor Heavens told BBC News.

"They get complete consistency with [results from] existing methods, so there's nothing surprising coming out - thankfully - but it's a neat idea because it really goes rather directly from observations to conclusions."

However, while the abundance of dark energy seems on an ever-firmer footing, its nature remains a mystery.

"I don't think it can tell us in a lot of detail what the dark energy is," Professor Heavens said. "I think it's probably not precise enough - certainly not yet."

Thanksgiving Address

Tomorrow in American Thanksgiving Day and the world is facing ever more threats to peace and prosperity. It seems an appropriate time to remind ourselves that Thanksgiving did not begin with The Pilgrim Fathers and that not only Americans but all of us should give thanks for the marvellous bounty all around us. The following may help us do just that.

These words come to us from the Six Nations – Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onodaga, Seneca and Tucarora and date back at least one thousand years. They are still spoken at ceremonial and governmental gatherings of the Six Nations.

The People:

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.
Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother:

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother we send greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one.

The Waters:

We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms – waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.
Now our minds are one

The Fish:

We turn our minds to all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So we now turn to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one.

The Plants:

Now we turn towards the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.
Now our minds are one.

The Food Plants:

With one mind, we turn to honour and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, the vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them greeting and thanks.
Now our minds are one.

The Medicine Herbs:

Now we turn to all the Medicine Herbs of the world. From the beginning they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy they are still among us those special few who remember how to use the plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.
Now our minds are one.

The Animals:

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.
Now our minds are one.

The Trees:

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many peoples of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.
Now our minds are one.

The Four Winds:

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.
Now our minds are one.

The Thunderers:

Now we turn to the west where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightening and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.
Now our minds are one.

The Sun:

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest brother, the Sun. Each day, without fail, he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of the new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.
Now our minds are one.

Grandmother Moon:

We put our minds together and give thanks to lour oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.
Now our minds are one.

The Stars:

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewellery. We see them in the night, helping the moon to light the darkness and bring dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to all the Stars.
Now our minds are one.

The Enlightened Teachers:

We gather our minds to greet and thank the Enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring Teachers.
Now our minds are one.

The Creator:

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.
Now our minds are one.

Closing Words:

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way
Now our minds are one.