Monday, July 20, 2009

Donna & Hamlet   Donna & Hamlet   From:  Elder Ed Sent:  Sunday, July 19, 2009 Subject:  RE: Don’t Push the River        Thanks for the reference.  Just today I was talking with a lady who, in the course of the conversation, said "But I don't have to do that now, I'm retired."  But she had just referred to her need to have scientific details to back up something she was reading which she didn't fully understand.  There is something askew here, when one says she's "retired," but at the same time needs scientific and statistical details to absorb every thesis that comes to her attention!  That would appear to me to imply that the lady in question is still mired in Second Age.  In the Third Age and beyond, I believe, one finally must advance into the intuitive, not linger in the world of proofs.   From:  Father William Sent:  Monday, July 20, 2009 Subject:  Donna & Hamlet   I couldn’t agree more – for you and me!  There comes a time in Third Age when one chooses to balance dimensions of life, like surgeon Barbara did by realizing she needed to expand her feminine dimension in July’s newsletter.  I believe you and I have spent a great deal of time in “the rational “world of proofs” during earlier years, and so we seek balance in the intuitive “world of knowing” now.   Donna, on the other hand, has operated intuitively for as long as she can remember and feels she might move more into “the world of proofs” as part of achieving her unique wholeness in Third Age.   In my 70’s I am spending more and more time in the land of “knowing” and enjoying it profoundly.  To have done this earlier would have fed my righteous fundamentalism (about Gestalt, Psychosynthesis, leadership, etc., etc.), but it feels quite different now, especially when I regularly wake during the night and observe my hyper-active monkey mind at play.  As I relax into observing all the mental activity, I can see the great foundation that is my Self and rejoice in its peace and calm.  How solid it is!   It is hard for me to imagine everyone wouldn’t unfold as you and I are from “proving” to “knowing,” but Donna assures me...      “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,    Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”   11:07:50 AM    comment []

“Don’t Push the River”   “Don’t Push the River”   From:  Elder Ed Sent:  Thursday, July 16, 2009 Subject:  RE: Where I Think I Am        To be fully here much more of the time seems to me to require that one should not resist the possibility of a confluence of what is "there" with what is here--in other words that there is always an inflow from what is outside of immediacy into our own here and now.  We should regard the river of our lives as being supported by that confluence from what is now outside of our immediacy--to relax into participation is to be fully open to what we don't already know.   From:  Father William Sent:  Saturday, July 18, 2009 Subject:  Don’t Push the River   I agree – being fully here must mean not trying to be – or not be – anywhere.  Barry Stevens wrote a wonderful book years ago called Don’t Push the River (It Flows by Itself).  That’s a pretty good way of alternatively defining RIP...   Here’s more info on her if you’re interested...   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Stevens_%28therapist%29     11:07:07 AM    comment []

Where I Think I Am   Where I Think I Am   From:  Elder Ed Sent:  Thursday, July 16, 2009 Subject:  RE: Forgetting Our Essence        Exactly.        Do you ever wonder where you'll go from "here"?  I often do.  Then something comes up which redefines where I think I am!   From:  Father William Sent:  Thursday, July 16, 2009 Subject:  Where I Think I Am   This is a very timely question/reflection for me.  Just yesterday I was wondering if I shouldn’t stop all outward activity (my radio show, newsletter, internet, etc.) and so any writing/creating I do is only for me (and you, of course) and not audiences.   So the answer to your question is I don’t think about going somewhere from here, but how to be fully here much more of the time.  Rod MacIver of the Heron Dance is having an impact on me in this direction.  We’ll see.   11:06:27 AM    comment []

Forgetting Our Essence   Forgetting Our Essence   From:  Elder Ed Sent:  Sunday, July 12, 2009 Subject:  RE: “Checking Your Baggage”        What to do with the essence that we bring to the table of "participation"?  I'd say that when we arrive at such a point it becomes necessary to forget the essence if we truly want to participate since that essence will be present for all to see anyway.  It's the opposite of what the ego wants to do (to dominate the situation).  The ego wants to hide from being perceived, but the essence has nothing to hide because it is reality, it is the genuine.    From:  Father William Sent:  Thursday, July 16, 2009 Subject:  Forgetting Our Essence   What you say about it becoming “necessary to forget the essence if we truly want to participate” rings true for me – it would seem any form of recognizing or remembering the essence would be a signal the ego is still hard at work at “dominating the situation”...   11:05:54 AM    comment []