Universoul Mind

We are intimately connected to infinity. Osho, Alan Watts, J. Krishnamurti, Carl Jung, Aldous Huxley, Ram Dass, Universoul, Tunes, Quotes, Visuals, Videos ::: CD, DiscoverBeing.org, ±

[cosmicobservist]

The best way to correct the difficulty of language is to be quiet.

Cosmic Observist (via cosmicobservist)

[cosmicobservist]

Have you ever wondered why libraries have special atmospheres? They are places where many congregate but where silence is the code. Quietness in an atmosphere means there is the presence of quiet minds, and quiet minds are not only relaxed, they can concentrate easily and create more freely. Imagine you are in the library of your mind, browsing the accumulated wisdom on the shelves of your life - listen to the silence, be aware of the stillness. Now you can really listen. Now you can really hear. Now you can really think. Now you can create. And behold, you are an artist. Did you not know that silence and creativity are lovers?

Innerspace (via cosmicobservist)

[cosmicobservist]

Learning to pause inwardly in the midst of action, to step back from and look impartially at the mental, emotional, and physical energies, associations, and impulses that are driving your life right now, is one of the most profound actions you can take on your own behalf. But you have to pause many times to understand. It is not something you can just think about doing. It is something you actually have to do.

Dennis Lewis, Harmonious Awakening (via cosmicobservist)

[cosmicobservist]

The mind is a very powerful instrument. We cannot say much about it at this juncture except that it can be compared with material of electrical constituency which has, if concentrated to one point, the same burning quality as fire. If a mind is divided upon several thoughts its burning force is dispersed in various directions. If concentrated upon one point it becomes as a burning-glass to the ‘Sun’ of its own Ego.

Alder, Vera Stanley. The Finding of the ‘Third Eye’. Rider & Co., London, 1938. (via cosmicobservist)

[cosmicobservist]

Have you ever thought about your own conditioning? Not many do. These are the automatic responses and behaviors we blindly go about without having to think. For centuries we have been conditioned by nationality, class, tradition, religion, language, education, literature, art, custom, convention, propaganda of all kinds, economic pressure, the food we eat, the climate we live in, our family, our friends, our experiences — every influence you can think of — and, therefore, our responses to every problem are conditioned. Conditioning, on the other hand, is beneficial because it allows us to operate on auto-pilot and leaves our mind to think about other things, and perform other actions simultaneously for our personal benefit. It is a ‘program’ that is written in your unconscious, a survival mechanism. Conditioning is also synonymous with habit. The trouble is that most of us are run by our conditioning and go unnoticed. They can run our lives without our conscious attention. We are conditioned to make assumptions, conditioned to think in fear, conditioned to believe what is 'sexy’, what is 'skinny’, 'fat’, when all of it just a very crude way of looking at things. It’s simplified, destructive thinking. We are also conditioned to think that 'love’ is what you see in the movies, when in fact, it has been detrimental to our established perception of love and has caused more confusion than anything. Can we take an honest look at our own conditioned behaviors and observe without judgement? Can we hone in on these habits and make way for change? Luckily, because of our brain’s plasticity, our conditioning can be modified over time with practice and repetition. The latest research suggests it takes around an average of 66 days to form most habits. But the first and most important step is to be aware of your conditioning. You can rewrite these pathways but it is up to you to identify what is holding you back before they can be transformed.

Cosmic Observist (via cosmicobservist)

[cosmicobservist]

Medication: Drop the “c” and add “t”.

Cosmic Observist (via cosmicobservist)

[universoul]

Gurdjieff remembers his father. His father died when Gurdjieff was only nine years old, and must have been a very unique man. He called Gurdjieff close to him and told him, "I'm dying, and I don't have anything as a heritage for you. I'm leaving you poor and orphaned. Just one advice I want to give to you — that is the advice given to me by my father. I have found that that advice has proved to me the richest thing that any father can give to his son. You are so young; perhaps you may not be able to understand it. Just remember it; soon you will be able to understand it also, and whether you understand it or not, start behaving accordingly. Listen very closely and then repeat to me what I'm saying." It was simple advice. The advice was that "If somebody insults you, humiliates you, hurts you, you are not to react immediately. You have to say to that person, "You will have to wait twenty-four hours, and then I will come to answer you. This is something sacred to me; I have given a promise to my dying father. So wait twenty-four hours and then go to the person. In those twenty-four hours you will see that he was right, or you may see that he was not right, but it is absolutely stupid to get into a quarrel. Those twenty-four hours will have given you a chance to be more alert. People react immediately — there is not time enough to be aware. They react just like machines. So if you find that he was right, go and thank him. If you find he was wrong, there is no need to go; or if you want to go, you can go and say `You seem to be in a misunderstanding.'" And Gurdjieff used to say, later in his life, "That simple advice of my dying father has transformed my whole life because it gave me a certain awareness, a certain awakening. I could not do anything immediately, instantly. I had to wait for twenty-four hours. And you cannot remain angry for twenty-four hours."

Osho, The Golden Future

[universoul]

The compelling draw of what children say. With their innocent yet profound perceptions, they shake your soul while you delight in their raw, unconditioned intelligence. They teach us how to see again especially with all the layers, the filters, the walls we have built around us. Children are pure and uncorrupt, are more curious, more playful, more open, more loving. And this is something we've always had inside of us, and it can be found again. It was never lost. We just have to unlearn what has disrupted this playful flow and let God out, and let it speak. It is our center, the silence, the light.

Universoul

[universoul]

I walk lighter, stumble less, with more spring in leg and lung, keeping my center of gravity deep in the belly, and letting that center 'see.' At these times, I am free of vertigo, even in dangerous places; my feet move naturally to firm footholds, and I flow. But sometimes for a day or more, I lose this feel of things, my breath is high up in my chest, and then I cling to the cliff edge as to life itself. And of course it is this clinging, the tightness of panic, that gets people killed: 'to clutch,' in ancient Egyptian, 'to clutch the mountain,' in Assyrian, were euphemisms that signified 'to die'.

Peter Matthiessen, "The Snow Leopard"

[universoul]

Our real home is inner peace.

Ajahn Chah Subatto

[universoul]

The human mind is charming in its unreasonableness, its inveterate prejudices, and its waywardness and unpredictability. If we haven’t learned this truth, we have learned nothing from the century of study of human psychology. In other words, our minds still retain the aimless, fumbling quality of simian intelligence.

Lin Yutang

[universoul]

Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.

Andre Dubus I feel that Dubus carefully chose his words, mentioning that shyness hints a form of narcissism, but not necessarily in the extreme sense of the word. What is the source of narcissistic behavior anyway? Is it because we see ourselves as inferior? And this feeling of inferiority can be expressed through shyness (passive/quiet) or through narcissism (aggressive/vocal). If we observe closely, they represent two sides of the same coin as both expressions point to a hidden fear of disapproval/criticism. I, too, grew up being an extremely shy person and it did take quite a bit of experience to understand the psychological subtleties of my own self-esteem. —Universoul

[universoul]

In this information-rich world, myriads of content and images hijack our attention. There is an ambiguous power when it comes to images/content displayed through the world of media whether it's through print, television, or the internet. It has never been so pervasive, especially on our own consciousness. They affect us through emotional reactions and override our opinions, our beliefs, and how we decide to express them. I can see this often on personal online news feeds, where we share stories that impact us on a deep level. Yet, there is a difference between having an awareness of particular issues/subjects and how we choose to share that awareness. We sometimes bash on the ignorant for their lack of understanding, but it is through such attitudes that nullify our honest intentions. There is a kind of responsibility required and how we choose to approach others and inform without spite, and to at least consider the array of contextual angles that we can apply towards each issue. It is difficult expressing what we know, especially when we think we know. May our involvement with the sharing of new information invite mature discussion, healthy speculation, and progressive integration. For it is through this kind of sharing can we grow our understandings, develop more empathy, and be more forgiving amongst the diversity, especially within this saturated, modern life.

Universoul

[universoul]

Being mindful is not a matter of thinking more clearly about experience; it is the act of experiencing more clearly, including the arising of thoughts themselves. Mindfulness is a vivid awareness of whatever is appearing in one’s mind or body—thoughts, sensations, moods—without grasping at the pleasant or recoiling from the unpleasant. One of the great strengths of this technique of meditation, from a secular point of view, is that it does not require us to adopt any cultural affectations or unjustified beliefs. It simply demands that we pay close attention to the flow of experience in each moment.

Sam Harris

[universoul]

Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.

Shira Tamir

[universoul]

"We must learn how to sit in shit." The notion of eliminating strong negative emotions is a dangerous and unattainable message. Without pain we cannot feel empathy. Without loss we cannot appreciate what we have. To give up one side means the loss of its counter point. Anyone who has attempted this knows it only results in repression, not release, which ultimately resurfaces. It will leak out of you if you do not face it. So when you're angry, be angry. When you're sad, be sad. When you're in some kind of pain, be with it for those moments. Also, whenever you're in these states of "shit", be aware of whether you're approaching it with constructive anguish or repetitious, useless rumination - know the difference.

Universoul

[universoul]

Anger is information; it tells us something about who we are and what is on our mind and in our heart. Physical pain is negative, because it hurts, yet also positive, because it’s the body’s way of protecting itself by indicating that something is wrong and where it is wrong. Anger is a bit like this. It can show us something crucial about our emotional life that we may need to know in order to be healthy. Anger indicates that something needs attention; something needs investigation. If we are angry it’s because we are thwarted and frustrated or afraid somehow and possibly we don’t know it and we need to know it so that we can shift and grow. Almost always our various fears and frustrations signal times and opportunities for growth and change—if only we look them in the face. When we are willing to do that, we see things differently, more accurately. Instead of avoiding our fears and frustrations or beating our heads against them in anger as we lash out at ourselves, others, and the world, we are able to pass through them and become larger, more inclusive, and more compassionate people.

Norman Fischer