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 Deviate
newbie
Registered: 04/20/03
Posts: 4,497
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
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 enlightened beings 
#4440747 - 07/22/05 11:33 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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if you go to the spirituality section in a bookstore you will find all kinds of books on spirituality, liberation, enlightenment. but how many of these books were actually written by enlightened people? in my opinion there are really only a very few teachers that were truly enlightened (ramana maharshi and lau-tzu being two of them). something seems a little off about all these people who profit from selling books on enlightenment. how do you feel about this? what (if any) teachings/teachers do you trust as comming from people who are truly speaking from the place that is being discussed?
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crunchytoast
oppositional
Registered: 04/07/05
Posts: 1,133
Loc: aporia
Last seen: 17 years, 20 days
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Re: enlightened beings [Re: Deviate]
#4441034 - 07/23/05 12:50 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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i guess when you're selling hope, there's unlimited demand
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"consensus on the nature of equilibrium is usually established by periodic conflict." -henry kissinger
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 redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,172
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we are all already enlightened
this might be the hardest truth to accept
your next teacher might be a doorknob or the wind.
it's always about what you do with the informations
and that might be about attitude and openness -
best to be a student and open.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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your next teacher might be a doorknob or the wind.
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Red, you've been smoking Salvia again. 
Good post. 
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
Edited by Icelander (07/23/05 07:31 AM)
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Reborn222
Stranger
Registered: 07/26/05
Posts: 5
Last seen: 18 years, 8 months
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Re: enlightened beings [Re: Icelander]
#4454457 - 07/26/05 06:28 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Great question.
We often find ourselves teaching what we need to learn.
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,172
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Re: enlightened beings [Re: Reborn222]
#4454635 - 07/26/05 08:03 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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self teaching machines
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Ped
Interested In Your Brain
Registered: 08/30/99
Posts: 5,494
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 7 years, 4 months
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Re: enlightened beings [Re: Deviate]
#4455512 - 07/26/05 12:48 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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The author of the book and the words contained in it possess no inherent enlightened qualities which can be extracted and applied to one's self. Such attributes are determined by the reader.
I'll use myself as an example. I became interested in spirituality because I felt unsure about myself, about life and it's purpose, and about what I was to do with my time. In an attempt to alleviate my confusion, doubt, and hesitation, I was searching for an enlightened teacher, or for literature composed by an enlightened teacher. I found only further confusion, further doubt, and further hesitation. It was after years of this frustrating process that I finally realized I was the source of my own problems and, as part of letting go of those problems, began to more humbly conceive of myself as a deluded individual patiently concerned with achieving my full spiritual potential. It was at this time that the already existing attributes of my life began to appear as spiritual teachings. As redgreenvines put it, your next teacher could be a person, a book, a doorknob, or the wind.
Since spirtuality is about self-realization, a teacher cannot download enlightenment into another person. They can only behave as mirrors. If an individual is not yet willing or able to examine himself in a spiritual mirror with earnestness, patience, and humility, then the teacher shall be of no use to the individual.
If, while reading a spiritual book, the reader is of a deluded state of mind, then the book shall reflect only deluded qualities, and it shall be full of bad lessons. Even if the book was written by a fully enlightened Buddha, a reader with bad intentions will only receive bad lessons. As an example, one of those lessons may be that spirituality can be used to manipulate others and acquire influence, power, and stature, and that this is a gainful thing to do.
However, if the reader conceives of himself as a humble individual seeking true knowledge and true self-actualization, the book shall reflect these good qualities and enable the reader's spiritual potential. It shall be filled with spiritual lessons regardless of what the words say. As an example, one of those lessons may be the recognition that authors sometimes produce spiritual literature for personal gain, and that this is a terribly hurtful thing to do.
With a pure mind, the darkest and most hateful literature can be a magnificent teacher. With an impure mind, the most inspiring and divine teachings can be wielded as a terrifying weapon. What matters only is the practitioner's intention and motivation, as the fruit of any action is determined by the karma of it's intent. Actions, like books and the people who write them, possess no inherent qualities and therefore appear merely as reflections of the minds perceiving them.
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 Dark Triangles - New Psychedelic Techno Single - Listen on Soundcloud
Gyroscope full album available SoundCloud or MySpace
Edited by Ped (07/26/05 01:07 PM)
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falcon
Registered: 04/01/02
Posts: 8,043
Last seen: 4 hours, 50 minutes
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Re: enlightened beings [Re: Deviate]
#4455834 - 07/26/05 01:54 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Book store people for the most part love books. They will sell what they
have to make a living. Most of them are pretty knowlegeable about what
they sell and if you ask them what you are looking for they will
find it or order it for you.
If you are carrying a book and wearing glasses it is much more likely that
you will get a ride while hitchhiking. 
- A message from the Literary Council of America
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Gomp
¡(Bound to·(O))be free!
Registered: 09/11/04
Posts: 10,888
Loc: I re·side [primarily] in...
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
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 To cause to be, beings! [Re: falcon]
#4455866 - 07/26/05 02:00 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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En = IN
light = light
en = in
ed = 'Used to form the past participle of regular verbs' and/or 'Used to form the past tense of regular verbs'
We are all the light, in the light!
black light, are more than it seems? :P hehe
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Disclaimer!?
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falcon
Registered: 04/01/02
Posts: 8,043
Last seen: 4 hours, 50 minutes
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Re: To cause to be, beings! [Re: Gomp]
#4456117 - 07/26/05 03:16 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Hey, Gomp
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