Gaia Community: OK's Blog

Unprecedented

http://this.gaia.com — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:03:04 GMT

Nothing came before this
Nothing lead up to this
There is nothing that caused this

There is nothing that comes after this
This isn't leading anywhere
Nothing results from this

This is all there is

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Estrada do Sol (Road of the Sun) - Tom Jobim and Dolores Duran

http://this.gaia.com — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:43:34 GMT

Estrada do Sol

É de manhã

It’s morning

Vem o sol mas os pingos da chuva

The sun comes but the raindrops

Que ontem caiu

That fell yesterday

Ainda estão a brilhar

Are still shining

Ainda estão a dançar

Are still dancing

Ao vento alegre

To the the happy wind

Que me traz esta canção

That brings me this song

Quero que você me dê a mão

I want you to give me your hand

Vamos sair por aí

Let’s go out and about

Sem pensar no que foi

Without thinking of what it was

Que sonhei, que chorei, que sofri

That I dreamed, that I cried, that I suffered

Pois a nossa manhã

Because our morning

Já me fez esquecer

Has already made me forget

Me dê a mão, vamos sair pra ver o sol, o sol...

Give me your hand, let’s go out to see the sun, the sun...

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‘Biocentrism’: How life creates the universe

http://this.gaia.com — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:32:05 GMT

...As Emerson wrote in “Experience,” an essay that confronted the facile positivism of his age: “We have learned that we do not see directly, but mediately, and that we have no means of correcting these colored and distorting lenses which we are, or of computing the amount of their errors. Perhaps these subject-lenses have a creative power; perhaps there are no objects.”

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N/A

http://this.gaia.com — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:43:37 GMT

There can come a time when one is no longer interested in being ‘the person who ’_____ (fill in the innumerable possible blanks with anything great or small) and is ready to just be.

It can still happen that there are many crystal clear memories that no longer seem to apply to anyone. All those adventures, plans, and dreams. The dramas, the fears, the emotions, all those milestones, the important moments of insight or learning, the challenges, triumphs, defeats, embarrasments. All the sweet quiet moments as if filled with a silent music and those precious moments filled with irritation or boredom. All of it remembered with a sharp poignancy and endearment but all of it... Well how can I say this? Not in any way to deny experience but all of it is so completely and wonderfully irrelevant. The best words I can find to describe it are non applicable. They apply to no one. Though a story or program may appear to run it carries no weight nor any real momentum. All of that is completely irrelevant to This.

Everything that ever was, is, will, won’t or could be... none of it has anything to do with, or any effect on, This.

I know where I am and it’s exactly where I want to be. I know what I am. I am This, my birthright. My God, filled with gratitude I look into your eyes and you look into mine. End of story.

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Write a thank you letter to something you take for granted.

http://this.gaia.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:09:39 GMT

Thank you with all my heart
for this one breath
this great peace
for the smile of the Cheshire Cat that fills the sky

Tags: QaR, appreciation, thank you, things, life

Odd

http://this.gaia.com — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:21:56 GMT

...and then suddenly I have access to another set of memories. Actually it was 3 memories but I could see that they belonged to another complete set, like a whole other life going on. It didn't feel like a past life, just another life, but mine... I don't know. It was very clear but very brief. Less than a second and then they were gone, like "oops, you are not supposed to see these" and that door is slammed shut. I can't bring them back, they instantly become completely out of reach but, interestingly, I am left with the clear memory of having seen them.

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Do You Want This?

http://this.gaia.com — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:24:38 GMT

There is saying I've heard that goes something like “If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will know complete peace”. My question is how do I let go?

Generally speaking at least once a day you already relax and let go of everything completely. Everything that has happened, everything that you have planned, everything you've done or said or thought and everything that anyone else you know of has done, said, thought. Important matters that need to be dealt with at work, fun little projects that you are working on (including 'spiritual' ones of course) or even, let's say, the most critical issues concerning your life, your health, your family, your country, the world... At some point everyday you open your hands and let all of this fall away to the point of forgetting it all completely. In fact you drop everything you know and the whole world falls away. Though at times it might seem impossible for the mind to let go of your pain or excitement, your plans or suffering, important as they may be, at some point, whether you feel like you've “earned it” or not, you apparently give yourself permission (and on a pretty regular schedule) to let it go, lie down and fall headlong into shining darkness and mystery.

And once in a lifetime you relax and let it all go completely and forever. End of story.
And it's OK. It pretty much has to be OK right? I mean at that point it's not as if you had a choice or anything. No more arguing with it. No more waiting for a better tomorrow. There are no more tomorrows. You're done, this is it.

So maybe what you are asking is how can this happen before it's time for the body to die or without falling asleep? Or maybe you are asking for a kind of permission. Something like, if it's quite alright for me to completely let go at these already regularly scheduled times would it really matter all that much to the universe, would it be OK, if just I did the same thing right now but kept my eyes open?

If you don't relate to what I'm saying here that's perfectly OK. But if (big if) this is something you really want... well then it's already accomplished. Look around. It's already happened and you can relax. It doesn't have to look like anything in particular or like anything you expected. Nothing has to happen first in order for you to let go. If you're ready then it's done. As simple as that. And your story lies around you like the dead pine needles on the ground around the tree. You're free now. And check it out, you're still breathing. You haven't actually forgotten anything. You're alive and you're awake! In fact nothing has happened though a miracle seems to have occurred.

A friend of mine take took this picture below that perfectly captures this for me. An intimate portrait of the precise texture of the moment. So ordinary. So clear and clearly seen. So exactly perfect. Just here, like the feeling of air on your face. Weightless, simple, clear. Nothing much really to say or think about that is there? One really has to laugh :)

Nuts and Bolts

What greater boon, what greater treasure than this that you already have? To not only cease resisting or fighting with it but to rush to it. To open one's eyes and arms to it. To let go and let that which Is have you completely, because guess what, it already does!

So I find the only questions left to ask myself would be along the lines of:
Do I want this? Am I in line with what is? Am I ready to let go?
Very simple yes or no questions and actually nothing much to be done about it whichever way they are answered. All the same I would say that they are worth asking/answering.

Tags: Letting go

Stop Sign

http://this.gaia.com — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:18:15 GMT

"So what does one do when thoughts no longer have anything of real value to offer? When the interpretation that they give of oneself or the world is no longer believed or accepted. When they cannot be relied upon as a guide. Where does one go from there"?

Exactly.

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Eye of the Storm

http://this.gaia.com — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:43:08 GMT

I am sitting in a quiet clearing on some high ground amongst the pine trees and manzanita. I don't really know how I came to be here. Only by becoming good and lost it seems as there were no trails until very near the end. When I found myself here it was so quiet and peaceful that I stayed.

It's been some time now (months, years?) Apparently outside of this circle in the trees the wars still rage and bombs are still falling all around. So many urgent things remain to be done, issues to be resolved, points to be made, healing to take place, development and learning to occur. I make a movement to leave but then... don't.

When lying on my back many dreams can still be seen floating by overhead, some beautiful, some not so much. But here, in this clearing, there is only complete peace and utter stillness that nothing can disturb. Just a dazzling clearness in front of the eyes, behind the eyes and all around. A feeling of clearness fills what used to be my body and what used to be my mind.

Now there is dirt, pine needles and a scented wind that moves through the clearing and through this body completely unimpeded.

Clearing

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Another Glitch in the Matrix

http://this.gaia.com — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:58:31 GMT

A gathering at a friend's house of many people hanging out talking and eating. I was talking to a guy I know who had a number written on a piece of paper, a number that I was very interested in and needed to remember but it became apparent that I would have to copy it down so I went searching for a pen and paper. The paper I found was waxy and the pen not working so hot but I eventually got it all operating well enough to serve. 2311 - 2073 - 31... hmmm, there now appeared to be another problem, that is I coudn't seem to faithfully copy the number. I kept making mistakes. I finally asked my friend to please recite it to me while I wrote but even then after a couple of digits I noticed with astonishment that I was writing a different number than the one he was dictating to me! WTF??!! This was really puzzling to me and more than a little disconcerting until a few moments later when it became obvious what the problem was...

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New

http://this.gaia.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 05:17:59 GMT

I watch a baby being carried and cared for by it's mother and father. The child is completely supported in every way without having any knowledge or concern about it. It is held, fed, and kept warm and safe. In fact everything is being taken care of, everything is provided and there is absolutely nothing this young being needs to do beyond just hanging out and being loved.

...and so it is with me...

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Do you know your purpose in life?

http://this.gaia.com — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:08:45 GMT

OK, I'll chew on this again and I'll try answering yes this time.

It would say that my purpose is This. Whatever is happening now, exactly the way it is happening. Everything all around supporting it and everything apparently leading up to it. This particular view/experience/angle. How could it happen otherwise? It had to happen this way in order to get this and apparently I need to be here in order for This to be experienced in this way at this point.

But... there is no particular point. At least I can't find one.

My fingers reach out to push a bowl across the table. The table is not me. The bowl is not me. The fingers are not me. The signals from the brain are not me. The thought and motivation to move the bowl is not me nor was it planned or caused by me. The sequence of events leading up to and supporting the possibility of the thought, the moving of the bowl, and the existence of this room and everything in it is not me. That is to say the history, everything here and everything surrounding here, which at this point allows for the possibility of (or makes inevitable) all this, the way it is, and the moving of this bowl. I wonder at what points in this continually changing sequence could a line be drawn to say this is where 'I' start and this is where 'I' end? And even if a line could be drawn and an 'I' found, how long would it last? It's gone already.

A seemingly infinite number of things had to happen, or line up, in order for this bowl to be moved. An equally infinite number of things needed to not happen.

In order for the bowl to move -everything- must move.

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Good morning

http://this.gaia.com — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:25:49 GMT

A story I remember reading decades ago when I was young and I'm not sure where (a book by Hyemeyohsts Storm maybe?) anyway I'm not going to look it up to get it right so this will not be an accurate retelling.

What I remember is a description of a kind of test in which; while a young plains Indian warrior would be sleeping his father would slip into the dark tepee and, brandishing a spear, deliver a screaming war cry at the top of his lungs. The young warrior was to spring from his bed, grab the spear out of his fathers hands returning the war cry, ready to engage.

Tags: Ready

Deluge

http://this.gaia.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:49:18 GMT

This has nothing to do any longer with “letting nature take it's course” or “going with the flow”.
I AM nature taking it's course. I AM the flow. There IS nothing else.

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A Message

http://this.gaia.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:46:39 GMT

Mr. OK,
Your life of fantasy is over. There is zero time left for anything like that now and this is the last time I will even refer to that life that is now gone so you will have to stay focused and on track. There is only time now for attention and it's critical that you pay absolute attention. This is not for your benefit. Nothing from now on is for your benefit. You are ready to hear this now and so I will tell you what you already know that in fact there is no 'you' to benefit.
But you do have a job.

So here is your job now; to stay focused, pay complete attention and be ready at all times.

Good luck and stay in touch.

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Unconscious

http://this.gaia.com — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:50:10 GMT

Have you ever met someone that habitually, let's say, pulses their foot up an down or sniffs or scratches in some repeated way, unaware that they are doing it? Surely you've met someone, or heard an interview with someone on the radio, that had an unconscious habit of speech where they overused a certain word or phrase and seemed unable to notice that they were doing it. Repeatedly using the word "like" or "you know" are a couple of common examples that come to mind. Of course I've eventually seen (or had pointed out to me) many unconscious habits of my own which became glaringly obvious once they were brought to light.

So how about this? Have you ever met someone who unconsciously created a whole identity for themselves? Who, over a lifetime of reacting to their environment, believing and obeying those thoughts and emotions that appeared with the most regularity or intensity, became identified with these patterns and the behaviors which resulted (and the story resulting from that behavior)? Have you ever met someone who identified so strongly with this aggregation of thoughts, habits, or tendencies which have accumulated over time, and the story associated with them, that they could not with any clarity even conceive of any other possibility? So locked into this identity that everything perceived and experienced is passed through this filter as it were. Where everything is processed as to how it relates to this identity which has, by some miracle, become the 'subject' to which all else appears as 'object' or 'other'.

Maybe a better question would be; Have you ever met anyone who didn't do this?

Tags: Identity

The Cedars

http://this.gaia.com — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:44:02 GMT

In the quiet darkness before dawn, the sound of a southeast wind through the cedar boughs and rain falling on the ground. The smell of damp earth.

Such a very small step it is to step out of 'my life' and into Life. How simple.

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NoThing

http://this.gaia.com — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:08:59 GMT

No me, no you, no who

No here, no there, no where

No now, no then, no when

Just This

But This!

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The Shy One

http://this.gaia.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:37:05 GMT

What strange and wonderful animal is this that has stepped out of the twilight of the woods and is standing still and alert on the trail looking back at me. I have no name for it but I seem to have a memory of having glimpsed it before. I instinctively reach toward it and it naturally moves away. When I move to follow it returns to the darkness of the forest. I dive in behind with a determination not to let this thing escape me. It moves invisibly through the trees as I pursue blindly with increasing fervor although I can't shake the disorienting impression that I am actually the one being followed and so closely and silently that it's feet land in my own footprints as I step out of them. This creature is maddening! Lost, torn, and exhausted I finally have to give up the chase, stop where I am, and collapse in the ferns at my feet. This hunt is hopeless, I'm stopping here. But I wonder where here is. I have no idea how I came or how to get back. Too tired to care for the moment, I lean my back against a tree and close my eyes. Anyway this place is fine, in fact quite nice, and so utterly quiet now with just the sound of my own breathing slowly winding down...

How much time goes by before, without opening my eyes, I suddenly notice with amazement that I can feel the magical creature I've been chasing curled up in my lap?! I feel it's living heart beating under my fingers, it's soft fur quivering with aliveness, it's warm breath on my skin, and I am flooded with love!

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Effort

http://this.gaia.com — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:02:04 GMT

"It's so hard to stay present. This spiritual stuff can be hard work."

What if being present (or even waking up, embodying your true nature, enlightenment, and all that other fancy stuff) was just as simple as say suddenly noticing the sensation of your tongue in your mouth, the feeling of your feet on the floor, or the sound of rain on the roof? What if it took no more time, effort, understanding, or practice than that and what if it was just that ordinary?

What if instead we had to use all of our will, energy, effort, determination, intellect, imagination, and time just to maintain the ego, an identity for ourselves, or the belief that "I" am the one in the story? What if we had to pour all of our thought, attention, desire and intent into this continuous effort just in order to stay 'endarkened'?

In other words what if waking up started looking a lot less like something one does and a lot more like just giving it a rest!?

Hmmm... :)

-"Hey mister, why are you banging your head against that tree"?

-"Because it feels so good when I stop"!

Tags: effort, presence, awakening, enlightenment, desire, attention, energy, ego