A Day in the Life of...

No need to do that. Just stay where you are.
 

The composer Tippett was inspired by Tankman.

I agree we're all more influential for better or worse than we sometimes think.
 

if you are certain that there is FREE WILL, I guess you could see it that way...possibly he was simply compelled and had no choise but to stand there...why such a search for heroes...what about focusing on awareness and leaving heroes and others alone...
 

The tank man did a defiant act that strikes a cord in every human who sees that picture. Who knows what horrible things he saw that made him decide to stand up to the tanks, but he inspired countless people. It was such a small selfless act, yet it obviously was the right thing to do at that particular point in time. I believe that everyone has moments in his or her life where a critical decision needs to be made - a small thing that will have big consequences further down the road of that person's life. For some, the consequences are big and immediate - life or death. Every person's life is unique. Each of us has a role to play in this Universal play.
 

and who did he "defy"...are there bad guys and good guys here? and the tank driver, are they not all supporting the same cause, discovering that there is no "other side"...
 

The tank crew were blindly following orders. The People's Army were blindly following orders. They shot unarmed peaceful civilians of their own citizenry that they are supposed to protect. They broke up peaceful demonstrations, peaceful assemblies that we take for granted in the West. The same cause? Killing innocents to keep the peace is the same cause? The defiance by this man was against blind obedience to the State's orders by a few tank crews. The defiance was peaceful disobedience against naked blind force of arms in response to the actions of that naked blind force. Even if ineffective as an act, it stands as a threatening symbol that even today, the Chinese government censors from all Chinese browsers. It is an idea that the Chinese State can not tolerate.
 

what is real and what is illusion...who is at war with who...and I quote from the opening page:

"If you become excessively focused on your goal, perhaps because you are seeking happiness, fulfillment, or a more complete sense of self in it, the Now is no longer honored. It becomes reduced to a mere stepping-stone to the future, with no intrinsic value." Eckhart Tolle

Can you tell the difference between your hero and your villan? if both 'thought' that they were doing what was best, who do you fault...why so much eagerness to side with the good guy, if there is such a thing
 

There is right action in the moment. The Tank Man committed right action in that moment. Likely, the tank driver committed right action by not running him over. One overcame fear of Death to defy the actions of the State in a moment, in that Now. Something rings True in his action. He defied illusion briefly, for an instant. I side for humanity against inhumanity. Is there something wrong with that? What God's Plans are I do not know, but I can treat my fellow men with kindness and compassion, speak out against cruelty when I see it, applaude true courage when I see it, true compassion. There is no shame in that.
 

no shame at all, but do you see the possibility that the tank driver and the man standing in front are not one and the same...

is God something outside of you, separate and apart or love and unity itself?

these men were not enemies...the man on the ground had never even introduced himself to the man inside the tank...just like the Catholic child in Northern Ireland who never met the Protestant man before he through a grenade...these are minds, egos fighting to survive and to support one side or one belief system over another only fuels the fire...your contribution is not useful if you can not see from another level of consciousness.

why not step out of the age old, unconscious ways of being...and consider this, your "fellow men" are you, you are them, kindness and compassion are not yours to "give", they just are...
 

I know that intellectually I and my fellow men are One, and sometimes I know that Truth in my Heart, when I awake. Yet, Jesus, the Enlightened Being that he was, spoke out against inequality and injustice when he saw it. Even though he was speaking to himself and it wasn't personal, he still did it. He didn't just observe; he acted when required even if it was all just a molecular dance, Consciousness clothed in human forms. All I can be ultimately is a conduit for Consciousness to act in this World. I can doing nothing on my own.
 

can you be a conduit for consciousness if you are not conscious...

"be the change you want to see in the world" Gandhi

"love your neighbor as yourself" Jesus

how are you "helping"...most action taken on the planet is mind and ego based, can you come from another angle
 

Sometimes. I am not fully awake all the time, but the periods are lengthening. I have to work at it. I don't know if I am "helping". How can I if I am "asleep" most of the time? I can only "help" when "awake". I am in a no-mans land at the moment. Not quite awake, yet not fully asleep either - not lost entirely in the dream. Not run by my Ego, yet not entirely free of my mind. How are you "helping" in all this? What is your purpose? Who am I dealing with, an egoic mind or am I bantering with pure Consciousness?
 

it's not important who I am...who cares...it's the harm that is done in the name of "help" that needs to be considered...

all the best
 

Your last comment means that you are still lost in ego as well. Why should you care what another does or thinks? You can only control your own actions.
 

I don't understand why you continue to be concerned with who is commenting and whether or not they too "are lost in ego"..."who" is it who cares? Why does it matter even one iota ?

And do you know for sure that YOU control your own actions...if you are willing to really look, not respond too quickly and watch yourself for even a day, you might discover something that you hadn't seen before, before you really looked. Scientist are well practiced at observing, but it is quite different when the observer and the observed are known to be ONE and the same...not separate as they are viewed in the mind of a scientist in the lab (and the world at large).

Mark ~ have you experienced someone who was not awake making the world a "better place"...to "improve" an illusion, is that helpful really, to anyone...or is the only real "help" going to come from one who has realized the illusion and is willing to share the truth? What assistance can one drowning man possibly give to another?
 

It is tough enough to watch oneself and one's own mind. Yes, you are reminding me to awaken each and every moment, but you do me no favors. Each of us awakens in his own way in his own moment. I have been reminded of this by another, anonymous-julie. It has always been thus. All I can do is make space and allow things to be as they are. Making Enlightenment a goal is self defeating . Even that desire must be erased. Scientists test reality as objectively as they can. But this experience is entirely subjective because subject and object are becoming One. This experience is outside of everything I've been taught as a Scientist because the psychological experiment and the experimenter are One. Certain subatomic physics experiments and perhaps some psychological experiments point to this experience, but each person has to experience the experience for him or herself. That makes the experiment a very subjective experience and this is to an extent not testable as Science because what reality is is changing every moment as is the experience for each person. No two people's experiences will be the same. In quantum physics, each person's wavefunction will likely be unique due to variations in mass, although due to mass, each person's wavefunction is infinitely very small as well, but not zero.

So, everyone enters Zen in his or her own unique way, but telling me probably isn't going to help me. Is your telling me without trace of ego? Is my response without trace of ego? Who is responding back to you, my egoic mind or I AM? How can you tell in this limited forum of mind? Even if you are doing this out of selflessness, if there's any hint of ego in it, it will be tainted. You are also violating your own advice to just Be. Perhaps you should find a less confrontational way of Awakening others.
 

there is no intention of awakening "others"...and it doesn't matter if you wake up or not...why does it keep coming back to that...this all started as an alternate way of viewing a tank driver and his assistant who was directing from the ground...it's really not about you
 

It is about how each of us perceives the World. You perceive it one way and I perceive it another. Neither is right or wrong. Both perceptions are fragments of the whole fabric of reality. Neither of us can encapsulate the totality in thought. I recognize this. Therefore, this whole discussion is on one level very pointless and futile.
 

one level, separated and fragmented...until one notices and the illusion is seen as just that...
 

Or one dream or illusion is replaced by another illusion or dream that is closer to reality.
 

anonymous puts his pants on and off like everyone else, he is mirroring the thoughts and talking trash because he is dehumanizing the material. Standing and fighting is as good as dying, both save in their own way. Advocating the cessation of resistance is itself against God. No one should be enslaved, everyone should resist. But that does not rule out Altruism as an ideal for the future, the problem is now vs then, now we fight that then we might live.

the right and wrong were real and in the minds of the driver and the stander, the driver was wrong, in his mind, the stander was right in his mind, not by me, but by an Absolute Measure. Usually there is such and the divided parties are so, some right some wrong, and right does battle wrong and never will stop. Yet the two forces are one, even in their distinctness that is indisputable. If you want to pollute each with Oneness ill-defined you will be wrong. Now, is always a stepping stone to the future, for there is no standing still.
 

He impressed me.My song about him is on http://npublici.blogspot.com,in the archives.Delbert W Allegood
 

I'm curious to know who anonymous is.