"Blah, Blah, Blah"
Enlightenment is not like a sudden realization of something mysterious. Enlightenment is nothing but awakening from illusions and returning to the reality of life.
--Uchiyama
Enlightenment is the ultimate and final disappointment. Treading the spiritual path is painful. It is a constant unmasking, peeling off layer after layer of masks.
It involves insult after insult.
--Chogyam Trungpa
Waking up is a continuing process. No one wakes up once and for all. There is no limit to wakefulness, just as there is no limit to aliveness....The surprise within the surprise of every new discovery is that there is ever more to be discovered.
--Brother David Steindl-Rast
So what is it about some who have had our common WCG/COG experience, either as minister or member that allowing others to have their own experience is an invitation for derision? Some who continue to stay, pray, obey and pay seem incapable of allowing those who won't stay, can't pray, obey?-no way, can't pay and won't stay their own experience. As well, some who can't stay abuse those who have and we can't seem to rest until they utter the words, "you're right, I agree and quit too...thank you."
I'm not speaking of our normal human tendency to want to explain our perspectives newly acquired or held on to firmly as ever, but rather the ratcheting up of what I call "snark" or just simple insults and derision towards those having a different journey or experience. No two people process the same experience the same way or for the same reasons. As I tell my massage students, "you can have 100 people go to the same school, sit through the same classes, meet the same people who have the same way of thinking and you will still get 100 different ways of doing massage, and it is ok."
There are certainly many characters in the movie of waking life who experience or manifest more or less stormy weather – more or less anger, more or less depression, more or less compulsive behavior, more or less upset. Such differences may have little to do with enlightenment and everything to do with genetics, neurochemistry, brain function, hormone levels, and conditioning. Some bodyminds have stormier weather just as some cities have stormier weather. It's not personal.
Joan Tolifsen
I doubt anyone can be insulted back into the perspectives of another. Humans just don't work that way. I doubt name calling or even the glittering generalities we try to apply to very complicated situations change the minds of many on whatever the topic might be. EVERYONE PROCESSES EXPERIENCES DIFFERENTLY and that also is OK.
I had always wished The Plain Truth of the WCG had been called The Present Truth as even the Apostle Paul, who I have issues with, called it. Plain Truth is seldom plain or permanently true. Truth is dicey at times if not at most times as it gets filtered through the minds of men. My mistake was allowing others to filter my own desire to "know" through their perspectives. Not uncommon. The whole Bible is an effort on the part of many divergent types to coerce the beliefs of others through their real or imagined experiences which they personally view as "The Truth."
We do have to be careful with "God says," "We know...," "Jesus actually said...," As the Apostle Paul said...," and so on. Most can't get their minds around the idea that maybe it is others doing the saying and giving credit to people who never really said that. Nuther story I suppose. If we are not careful...
"When we speak to God, it is called prayer.
When God speaks to us, it is called schizophrenia."
One of the interesting things about blog comments is how often remarks have little or nothing to do with the posting. How rare it is for someone to say, "Interesting, but this is how I view that topic." It just rarely happens. How often there is no really intelligent discussion about the topic, but rather charge and counter charge. Snark and counter snark.
I recall on particular responder from Britain who simply could not function without damning everyone not on his team to hell. He never met me and we certainly never had lunch together but my insincere and "hireling" self was just worthy of his truly God inspired revelations, which of course, did not go in my favor.. I believe he was a one man church of truth and claimed only his wife and kids as members as they did not go to any real church. However, that's his journey. That type of person demands others validate it and get more and more strange the more and more they don't.
A couple days ago my counselor, a man who really did make a difference in my own journey out of literalism and into reality popped up behind me at the grocery store. He was the one who told me years ago,
And that's how it went and goes. I reminded him of what he said and he lit up. Something had happened to him since I last saw him. He looked rather bad. He did not have the spark that I remembered. I didn't ask, but it was obvious he was also on his own continued journey and perhaps it had gotten difficult. I did not, however, press him or tell him he looked like hell. It was just interesting to see his own humanity poking through his well educated and able to inspire others self. I told him I have quoted him to thousands and that seemed to encourage him.
Sooooooo, just some thoughts. More "blah, blah" I suppose. I don't personally have a need to be right. I don't care if anything I might observe in my own journey helps or is even agreed with. I do need to be free to seek and look. I will never again allow others to tell me how it all is. Coming to some interesting conclusions, true or false is my right, and yours. This is my journey. Others have theirs. Some do, however, seem unable to share anything deeper than their scorn or snark. And I suppose that also is their journey.
I don't expect much to change in blogging or postings on topics that may cause some to think and others to simply react. But something to think about perhaps that will bring the quality of the opportunity to exchange experiences and even pain up a few notches for the benefit of others who really may need a positive way to process the experiences, all different, we have had with the same religious experience.
PS Not bothering to check speling, punktuation or tiepoz. Whyle important...its the thawt that cowntz :)
I can't do it here because the computer spell checks most words, but I understand that as long as we spell things with the correct first and last letter of a word, the mind recognizes the word and we can read it just fine. So at least God programmed us to still get the point no matter the mistakes along the way in print or in life.
