The art of Observation aka The Procrastination of Osiris at the King Street Arts Centre
Another post by Osiris
When you listen to music which you appreciate, there is no resistance. You go with it, you shake your head, you clap your hands, you do all kinds of things to express your understanding of the quality of that music. There is no form of defence, no form of resistance; you are flowing with it. In the same way, kindly listen, not to be instructed, not to be told what to do, but to understand what is written.
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Prometheus knows the score
Our consciousness is its content. That is, our consciousness is made up of its content, made up of one's beliefs, one's tendencies, one's desires, anxieties, loneliness, and so on. For without the content, there is no consciousness as we know it. Content makes
the consciousness and that consciousness is conditioned. And since it is conditioned, it is in conflict. This conflict arises when there is duality.
For example our little friend 'Chris' says one day "I am greedy, I should not be greedy" he has the ideal of non-greed or of practising non-greed, thus he is in conflict. The fact is Chris is greed, the non-greed is an idea, a concept, it is not an actuality. But Chris thinks pursuit of non-greed will help him to become non-greedy, that he will be free from greed. Chris has propagated this idea of non-greed, and yet being greedy, he is propagating something which he is not. Chris is gradually, day by day, practising, not to understand greed, but to become something which he has called non-greed. His mind is all the time saying `l must achieve non-greed', hence there is conflict.
But when Chris is observing, learning, enquiring into the fact, there is no conflict in his mind. He says "I am greedy, what is the root of greed? What is the nature of greed?" He doesn't condemn it, he simply observes it. Therefore, when he observes it, he eliminates altogether this inward sense of duality. Then there is no question of suppressing it, escaping from it, analysing it. It is there.
He has eliminated altogether the opposite. There is now only this 'what is', which he lives with like a precious jewel that he has discovered; he is watching it, seeing the beauty of the jewel, the light, the many aspects of it, which are parts of himself.
The fact is when there is such observation, it is not the word, it is not the memory, it is something totally new. Chris is facing this new reaction, called greed, anew. To observe requires great enquiry, energy, vitality, to see actually `what is'. Observation is light without any shadow of the past, and that very light is liberating.When you observe the full moon, do you really observe it, do you see the beauty of that light, it's extraordinary quality, or do you say it is a full moon, name it and simply move on? Have you seen the moon, the new moon that is coming up, as though for the first time in your life? Or do you just say it is a moon - just a mechanical observation?
posted by Mr Sensitive @ 6:23 AM
15 Comments:
Our consciousness is its content. That is, our consciousness is made up of its content
Ok, constructive criticism -
Our conscience can be made up of its content, that does not necessarily mean it IS its content. A human's eye is made up of cells and many other things - I can say that the eye is a collection of cells, but if I said an eye is its cells that wouldn't make much sense.
What you have written here and previously seem extremely influenced by the philosphies/writings/speeches of Krishnamurti... in fact, there are some things you write which appear almost as word for word repetition. Are you aware of this or is it a coincidence? My late uncle had an entire bookshelf dedicated to Krishnamurti's "works"... when we moved everything out of Nan's house, we threw most of the books away... But anyway, now with the Internet, all these works and talks are available online... freely accessible.
Our consciousness is made up of its content. That again is a fact. Our anxieties, our beliefs, our ideals, by our experiences—the content, the suffering, the pain, the remembrances of things that are past; all that, the doubt, the faith, the uncertainty, the confusion, all that makes our consciousness. Please as we are talking look, observe, if we will, our own consciousness: the beauty of the trees, the mountains, the lovely skies, if there is no smog, all that is part of our consciousness; the hatred, the disappointments, the success, the travail that one goes through life, all that makes up our consciousness. Your belief in god, or disbelief in god, your acceptance of a guru, or non-acceptance of a guru, and so on and so on, all that is the content that makes our consciousness. You can expand that consciousness, limit it, but it is still part of that consciousness, its content.
Sounds familiar........
Ah, I see now your opening paragraph to be a direct quote...
why not credit the source?
He's got some good flow;
So, please learn the art of listening, not to the speaker only, but to your wife, to your husband, to your children, to the birds, to the wind, to the breeze, so that you become extraordinarily sensitive in listening. When you listen, you catch up quickly, you don't have to have a lot of explanations, analyses and descriptions; you are flowing with each other. We are talking together as two friends sitting in a park, or in a wood, quiet, birds are singing, there's plenty of light coming through the leaves on the floor and there is a sense of appreciation of beauty. When you so listen, the miracle takes place. When you so listen, it is like sowing a seed. If the seed is vital, strong, healthy, and the ground is properly prepared, it inevitably grows. So one has to learn the art of listening. If you listen very, very carefully, you capture it so quickly, the meaning of what the other is saying. Perhaps many of you have listened to the speaker for a number of years, unfortunately; and you get used to it; you get used to his language, his gesture, how he looks and so on, and you gradually slip off. And you say, `Why haven't I, after years of listening to this man, changed?' It is because you have actually not listened with your heart, with your mind, with your whole energy. So, don't blame the speaker, but rather learn, if one may suggest most respectfully, the way of listening. There is great beauty in listening to a bird, to the wind among the leaves, and to a word that is spoken with depth, with meaning, with passion.
good stuff.
POONA 1ST PUBLIC TALK 7TH SEPTEMBER 1958
It all makes sense now, all your emails, responses, all summed up...
The age of aquarius, the revenge of the imagination on Christians, remember though, that Christianity is in a period of cultural decline. Of course this "New Awareness" appeals to your imagination...Yet,it is within the Church that the wisdom can be found... I offer you this poem:
Your voice speaks:
In my arms I still carry flowers from the wilderness,
the dew on my hair is from the valleys of the dawn of mankind.
I have prayers that the meadows lend an ear to,
I know how storms are tempered, how water is blessed.
I carry in my womb the secrets of the desert,
on my head the noble web of ancient thought.
For I am mother to all earth’s children:why do you scorn me,
world, when my Heavenly Father makes me so great?
Behold, in me long-vanished generations still kneel,
and out of my soul many pagans shine towards the infinite.
I lay hidden in the temples of their gods,
I was darkly present in the sayings of their wise men.
I was on the towers with their star-gazers,
I was with the solitary women on whom the spirit descended.
I was the desire of all times, I was the light of all times,
I am the fullness of all times.
I am their great union, I am their eternal oneness.
I am the way of all their ways,
on me the millennia are drawn to God.
Gertrude von Le Fort
Peace, brothers.
So even though other religions are false/wrong, or even dead ends, it doesn't matter even if they're right or whatever anyway, because the Christian God is ultimately behind and intwined in them all, yes?
Talk about the ultimate each way bet in that arguement! You can't lose with that.
Wait, it can go the other way around though. D'oh!
Professor Stephen Hawking? :D
"I've never hit a man with motor neuron's disease before."
Bruce Wayne, he's always the trendsetter.
So he'll be rushin' ,ahem, up the charts then?
I'm cashed up with the street slang.
I remember the Atari and Commodore 64 references.
Will there be any direct Melder references, or is that just going too hardcore?
The new Selwen or the old Jin? I now which one Turner thinks. ;)
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StayHuman have you met up with Tavo yet today? Organise some Secret Society business for tonight.
Show me your salvation?
the Holy Spirit begins to cultivate Christ in our hearts and minds, and from this cultivation comes fruit... this is a lifelong process...
Read Galatians 5:22... that is the best description of this fruit, and when I read it, I do not see much fruit in my life, but I do see change, slow but real and happening.
Do not label the "leaders" of the world 'Christians' - Only God knows if they truly are. The world is "run" by man not God, and man is very capable of sin, in fact man is not capable of much else. Look to the lives of the saints (ancient and recent) if you wish to see evidence of salvation, the fruits of the church,.
Am I a good ambassador for Christ? Probably not. One day I hope to be though.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge: and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long, and is kind; love enies not; charity does not build itself up, or gets a swelled head, does not behave itself unseemly, does not look after her own things, is not easily angered, and does not think evil; it does not rejoice in sin, but rejoices in the truth; Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but where there are prophecies, they shall fail; where there are tongues, they shall cease; where there is knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am know. And now abides faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
Osiris, the scorpion may be of use in the classroom, can you see any way of me incorporating it into the theme of 'rainforests'???
I've heard of this poltergeist before.
Any truth to the rumour that it's Tom Selleck's original moustache, from before he got the fake, glossy replacement he currently sports in it's place?
He looked all around. Something was wrong. On the edges of consciousness he could sense it. Mischief was afoot. He could almost visually perceive it, but some reflex action inside his brain stopped itself from processing it properly. Existence had been thrown out of whack. The sign of the dark covenant, that symbol of the faustian pact that had been made and the grand sum of all leecherous ambition was missing. Was it all for naught? Had he whored himself to evil for no reason? Yes he had his riches, and his past glory, but no longer did he have his precious looks.
Someone had shaved off Tom Selleck's mo' while he was sleeping.
The waiting had paid off for Max Walker, and finally, that modern day Perseus had struck!
Turner, are you reading this right now?!?
Reading these posts, isn't it funny, that virtually all of MJP's points are refuted. And the stuff he posted only works/adds meaning from a certain point of view (meaning Christian), by defacto thereby being useless and nigh on incomprehensible gibberish if you don't swing that way, while the stuff posted by the O to the S-I-R can fit in and work with any belief/religion/prejudice, and most importantly, makes sense, and doesn't get overly intwined in it's own rhetoric. Truth? Irony? Parody? You decide!
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