Saturday, May 13, 2006
There is a Time...
Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books of the Bible.
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven --
A time to give birth, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted,
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance,
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time of Contemplation and Despair
Within this famous passage, can be seen that there is a time to despair - "a time to tear down", "a time to search", "a time to be silent". Maybe I am reading too much into the passage, but Ecclesiastes is a book of despair, of soul searching. A time of destroying beliefs and belief structures, of discovering one's place in the scheme of things and of attempting to rebuild from the bottom - a rebirth of spirit some would say.
A Time to Die and be Reborn
I despair. I seek. Underlying it all is a peaceful feeling. Sometimes it is papable, sometimes my mind completely drowns it out in a screen of thought. It is getting stronger, though. The despair or sadness is strong as well, maybe stronger than the peace. I know that this despair will pass. Is this birthing normal? Am I supposed to feel this way? Are others going through this process, this birth, feeling the same thing?
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven --
A time to give birth, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted,
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance,
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time of Contemplation and Despair
Within this famous passage, can be seen that there is a time to despair - "a time to tear down", "a time to search", "a time to be silent". Maybe I am reading too much into the passage, but Ecclesiastes is a book of despair, of soul searching. A time of destroying beliefs and belief structures, of discovering one's place in the scheme of things and of attempting to rebuild from the bottom - a rebirth of spirit some would say.
A Time to Die and be Reborn
I despair. I seek. Underlying it all is a peaceful feeling. Sometimes it is papable, sometimes my mind completely drowns it out in a screen of thought. It is getting stronger, though. The despair or sadness is strong as well, maybe stronger than the peace. I know that this despair will pass. Is this birthing normal? Am I supposed to feel this way? Are others going through this process, this birth, feeling the same thing?
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There seems to be a thin dividing line between becoming enlightened and becoming insane.
Last night I read about the experiences of people who have practice some techniques to awaken kundalini and "artificial" methods of meditation in order to become enlightened. There seems to be not only psychological transformation, or in many cases a form of psychosis involved, in the process together with some physical symptoms or discomfort. This is something I am trying to examine. I think any kind of transformation involves some uncertainty, fear, and resistance. It's not easy to talk about this without thinking very carefully about what constitute true enlightenment and its opposite. I think to avoid the dangers involved one must simply observed what's going on and not be afraid. Moreover, fear can be strengthened if there is a lot of suppression of fear being exercised consciously or otherwise.
If you read books written by enlightened teachers, you will find that many of them stresses the importance of being yourself, remaining yourself, being ordinary, being rational, self-confident, and not being impatient about it.
And there are also people or teachers who says you should forget about it.
In my opinion, fear and loneliness have always been there in the first place, and some psychological imbalance, or neurosis, and when one starts seeing them or experiencing them intensely without running away from them by way of pleasure-seeking or willful suppresion, repression, or resistance, and flight into religious or spiritual fantasies or grandiosity, they may actually disappear.
Last night I read about the experiences of people who have practice some techniques to awaken kundalini and "artificial" methods of meditation in order to become enlightened. There seems to be not only psychological transformation, or in many cases a form of psychosis involved, in the process together with some physical symptoms or discomfort. This is something I am trying to examine. I think any kind of transformation involves some uncertainty, fear, and resistance. It's not easy to talk about this without thinking very carefully about what constitute true enlightenment and its opposite. I think to avoid the dangers involved one must simply observed what's going on and not be afraid. Moreover, fear can be strengthened if there is a lot of suppression of fear being exercised consciously or otherwise.
If you read books written by enlightened teachers, you will find that many of them stresses the importance of being yourself, remaining yourself, being ordinary, being rational, self-confident, and not being impatient about it.
And there are also people or teachers who says you should forget about it.
In my opinion, fear and loneliness have always been there in the first place, and some psychological imbalance, or neurosis, and when one starts seeing them or experiencing them intensely without running away from them by way of pleasure-seeking or willful suppresion, repression, or resistance, and flight into religious or spiritual fantasies or grandiosity, they may actually disappear.
There are 2 Wisdoms, Solomon asked for and got that of Nature, That is very much (but changing) the Wisdom of Today, hence the acceptance and the solutions offered in the face of overwhelming odds and powers.
But the times are a'changin'.
IMEMINE talking about that Spiritual experimentation, that can be dangerous, there are powers in methods that can lasso the human mind, tie it up in knots and bind the personalities and then possess the egos. I know, I have studied it in depth, the organizations have data banks of experimental results, breathing control results, chant and mental repetition results, emotional stimuli results, they use their 'followers' for the source of the data, organize it and practise it as a science, to produce psychological and emotional and physical results. Much of the work is glandular based (chakras, centers). One organization in particular is world wide and wealthy, The School of Ageless Wisdom, books by Alice Bailey, volumes and volumes of scientific glandular knowledge and autonomous-systems control. Be Careful.
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But the times are a'changin'.
IMEMINE talking about that Spiritual experimentation, that can be dangerous, there are powers in methods that can lasso the human mind, tie it up in knots and bind the personalities and then possess the egos. I know, I have studied it in depth, the organizations have data banks of experimental results, breathing control results, chant and mental repetition results, emotional stimuli results, they use their 'followers' for the source of the data, organize it and practise it as a science, to produce psychological and emotional and physical results. Much of the work is glandular based (chakras, centers). One organization in particular is world wide and wealthy, The School of Ageless Wisdom, books by Alice Bailey, volumes and volumes of scientific glandular knowledge and autonomous-systems control. Be Careful.
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