Forum

September 2024 TAT Forum


This month’s contents include:

Convictions & Concerns: Spiritual Songs – Desperado pt. 2, by Brett S.

TAT Foundation News: Including the calendar of 2024 TAT events and a listing of local group meetings organized by TAT members.

Humor

Inspiration & Irritation

Reader Commentary: Which one of Einstein’s quotes do you like best (or worse), and why?

Founder’s Wisdom

A New Home for TAT update

Saturday, September 21, 2024
More information and registration.

Keep informed of TAT events and receive our free monthly Forum filled with inspiring essays, poems and images.


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Convictions & Concerns

TAT members share their personal convictions and/or concerns


Spiritual Songs – Desperado pt. 2

I first heard the song “Desperado” in a nostalgic family scene from the movie In America, about an Irish family’s struggle to start a new life in New York City. The song grabbed my emotional attention. It made me feel things in the indescribable way only music can. I made an attempt to describe it here. I’m making a second attempt now.

As an aside, I initially thought Desperado might be from the movie Brooklyn. When I looked up the Brooklyn soundtrack, I saw songs that reminded me of TAT:
     •  “Confrontation”
     •  “Rose Dies” / “Rose’s Grave”
     •  “The Pull of Home”
I was reminded of Richard Rose, his practice of confrontation, and nostalgia. A dose of serendipity.

Describing what’s happening internally when I hear that song is an attempt to see myself through music. To improve my self-awareness of my inner world, by listening.

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~ Thanks to Brett S. Image by jplenio1 on Freepik. Please email reader commentary to the TAT Forum.

TAT Foundation News

It’s all about “ladder work” – helping and being helped

Richard Rose, the founder of the TAT Foundation, spent his life searching for the Truth, finding it, and helping others to find their Way. Although not well known to the public, he touched the lives of thousands of spiritual seekers through his books and lectures and through personal contacts with local study groups that continue to work with his teachings today. He felt strongly that helping others generates help for ourselves as well in our climb up the ladder to the golden find beyond the mind.

Call To Action For TAT Forum Reader

With the intention of increasing awareness of TAT’s meetings, books, and the Forum among younger serious seekers, and to increase awareness of ways to approach the search for self-definition, the TAT Foundation is now on Instagram.

You can help! A volunteer is producing shareable text-quote and video content of Richard Rose and TAT-adjacent teachers. We need your suggestions for short, provocative 1-3 sentence quotes or 1 minute or less video clips of people like Rose, Art Ticknor, Bob Fergeson, Tess Hughes, Bob Cergol, Bart Marshall, Shawn Nevins, Anima Pundeer, Norio Kushi, Paul Rezendes, Paul Constant, & other favorites. (An example here is selected by the TAT member who volunteers to oversee the Instagram account.)

Please send favorite inspiring/irritating quotes—from books you have by those authors, from the TAT Forum, or any other place—to TAT quotes. If you have favorite parts of longer videos (ex: from a talk at a past TAT meeting), please email a link to the video and a timestamp.

Thank you!

TAT Foundation Press’s latest publications

Message In A Bottle: Reflections On The Spiritual Path

 

Message In A Bottle: Reflections On The Spiritual Path relates the ongoing struggles and triumphs of fellow seekers. This collection of insightful essays serves as a testament to resilience, patience, and unwavering determination in the pursuit of inner truth and understanding. It is now available in print and Kindle versions as well as TAT Press’s first audiobook (individual purchase or membership) on Amazon.com.

=> A review by Gus R.:

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Please add your review to the Amazon listing. It makes a difference!

Random rotation of
TAT Foundation Books & Videos

Beyond Relativity by Art Ticknor

Read more: Beyond Relativity by Art Ticknor

 
 

2024 TAT Meeting Calendar

January TAT Talks online event: January 27, 2024 at 12 PM ET
February Virtual Gathering: Saturday, February 24, 2024
March TAT Talks online event: March 23, 2024 at 12 PM ET
April Gathering: Friday evening through Sunday noon, April 12-14, 2024
May TAT Talks online event: May 11, 2024 at 12 PM ET
June Gathering: Friday evening through Sunday noon, June 14-16, 2024
July TAT Talks online event: July 13, 2024 at 12 PM ET
August Gathering: Friday evening through Sunday noon, August 16-18, 2024
** September Virtual Gathering: Saturday, September 21, 2024 **
November Gathering: Friday evening through Sunday noon, November 8-10, 2024

Comments or questions? Please email TAT Foundation events.

Photo of TAT’s open door by Phil Franta

TAT’s YouTube Channel

Have you seen the TAT Foundation’s YouTube channel? Subscribe now for spiritual inspiration (and irritation)!

Volunteers have been updating the channel with hours of new content! They’ve also curated some great playlists of talks by Richard Rose, teacher talks from recent & not so recent TAT meetings, episodes of the Journals of Spiritual Discovery podcast, and other great TAT related videos from around the internet.

Featuring: Richard Rose, Bob Cergol, Shawn Nevins, Bob Fergeson, Mike Conners, Anima Pundeer, Norio Kushi, Paul Rezendes, Bob Harwood, Tess Hughes, Art Ticknor, Shawn Pethel, Tyler Matthew and other speakers.

This month’s video is from a presentation at the April 2022 TAT Foundation spiritual retreat themed “What Does It Mean to be Awake?”:

Local Group News

(Groups with recently updated information are listed first. Click the “read more” link to see a complete listing of local groups. )

 Update for the Online Self-Inquiry Book Club:
> September plans being developed. Check the link below for updates.

TAT Forum readers are welcome to drop in any time (invitation to Sunday meetings).

 Update from the Pittsburgh, PA self-inquiry group:
> Use the e-mail link below for invitations to all meetings and to receive internal email announcements.
> In-person bi-weekly meetings Mon. 7-9 pm: Univ. of PGH Cathedral of Learning, Main Room (look for red raincoat on the back of a chair!)
– Mon, Sept 9, 7-9PM: Dean will host: “What do others know that we don’t about Ourselves?”
– Mon, Sept 23, 7-9PM: “Are you Conscious?”
> Online group confrontation and individual contributions every Wed, 8:00 pm ET via Zoom.
– Wed, Sept 4: Online: “Existence is Experience”
– Wed, Sept 11: Online Confrontation Meeting
– Wed, Sept 18: Online Confrontation Meeting
– Wed, Sept 25: Online Confrontation Meeting
> All Forum subscribers are welcome to join us.
Email to receive weekly topics with preparatory notes and Zoom invitations. Current events are listed on Meetup as Pittsburgh Self-inquiry Group and on www.pghsig.org.

 Update from the New York City self-inquiry group:
The NYC Self Inquiry Group is on indefinite hiatus. For questions about self-inquiry in New York City, contact.

 Update from the San Francisco Bay area self-inquiry group:
Our first meeting will be Saturday, Sept. 7 at Overfelt Gardens in San Jose. Biweekly meetings will alternate between in-person and virtual meetings. The meetings are open to anyone within driving distance of the San Francisco Bay area. ~ Email for information about upcoming meetings and events.

TAT Press publishes Shawn’s Images of Essence: The Standing Now, which features his poems with photos by Bob Fergeson, The Celibate Seeker: An Exploration of Celibacy as a Modern Spiritual PracticeSubtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment, Hydroglyphics: Reflections on the Sacred, which features his poems with photos by Phaedra Greenwood, and Passages: An Introduction and Commentary on Richard Rose’s Albigen System co-authored with Mike Gegenheimer.

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Members-Only Area

A password-protected section of the website is available for TAT members. (Note that there’s an occasional glitch that, when you try to link to the members-only area or a sections within it, you’ll get a page-not-found error. If you try the link a second time, it should work.) Contents include:

  • How you can help TAT and fellow seekers,
  • 11 NEW audio recordings of selected sessions from 2008-2023 in-person meetings and virtual gatherings,
  • Resources and ideas for those planning a group spiritual retreats,
  • Photographs of TAT meeting facilities, the Richard Rose grave site, a rare 1979 photo, and aerial photos of the Rose farm,
  • Presenters’ talk notes from April TAT meetings in 2005–2007, and
  • TAT News Letters from 1996–2013 and Annual Retrospectives from 1973 thru 2011. The Retrospectives from 1973–1985 were written by Richard Rose and are replete with ideas on the workings of a spiritual group—rich historical content.
  • TAT policies, TAT business meeting notes, and other information.

Latest recordings:

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Please us if you have questions. (Look here for info on TAT membership.)

Amazon and eBay

Let your Amazon purchases and eBay sales raise money for TAT!

As an Amazon Associate, TAT earns from qualifying purchases made through the above link or other links on our website. Click on the link and bookmark it in your browser for ease of use.

TAT has registered with the eBay Giving Works program. You can list an item there and select TAT to receive a portion of your sale. Or if you use the link and donate 100% of the proceeds to TAT, you won’t pay any seller fees when an item sells and eBay will transfer all the funds to TAT for you. Check out our Giving Works page on eBay. Click on the “For sellers” link on the left side of that page for details.

Downloadable/rental versions of the Mister Rose video and of April 2012 TAT sessions on Remembering Your True Desire:

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Your Contributions to TAT News

TAT founder Richard Rose believed that working with others accelerates our retreat from untruth. He also felt that such efforts were most effective when applied with discernment, meaning working with others on the rungs of the ladder closest to our own. The TAT News section is for TAT members to communicate about work they’ve been doing with or for other members and friends. Please your “ladder work” news.

Humor {(h)yo͞omər}

“One thing you must be able to do in the midst
of any experience is laugh. And experience
should show you that it isn’t real, that it’s a
movie. Life doesn’t take you seriously, so why
take it seriously.” ~ Richard Rose, Carillon

What’s a Htub?

Batman’s butler, Alfred, is used to hearing orders about the Batmobile, Batboat, Batcycle, Batgyro, Batmarine, and Batplane. Can you figure out why “bathtub” confused him?

*

~ Thanks to Dan G., who spotted the cartoon on Instagram.

Wise and Foolish?

Albert Einstein: “Before God we are all equally wise—and equally foolish.”

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~ Thanks to SwamiJ.com. As quoted, without citation, in Einstein on Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms, by Albert Einstein with an appreciation by George Bernard Shaw.

The Speeder
Best Read Aloud
(Even to Oneself)

I got pulled over by the police today.

I was apparently his first speeder because when he got to my window he said, “I’ve been waiting all day for you.”

I said, “I got here as fast as I could.”

He let me go.

*

~ Found by Michael R. at TikTok.com/@glitterizedlife/ @The Fun Center.
.

Inspiration & Irritation

Irritation moves us; inspiration provides a direction

What I Found
Questions and Answers From a Finder Questionnaire

  1. What did you find?

The source of creation. This sounds grandiose or abstract, but is in fact simple and intimate. In a way, I think words can throw us off course.

  1. What is your general advice to seekers?

Don’t give up on yourself. Take breaks, ease up on yourself when you feel like you are getting nowhere, try a different approach.

  1. Answer any or all of the following that you feel are relevant. What are your thoughts/feelings about:
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~ Thanks to Tess Hughes. Photo of Tess looking out over Clew Bay, Ireland.

Which Way Is Time Going?

Why do we say that the future is in front of us and the past behind us?
Why does time have to flow in just one direction?
Does time flow symmetrically away from the ego, the present observer?

~ Thanks to Brett S., who wrote: “Gave myself an existential crisis with this one #linguistics #etymology #language #time #philosophy go-to channel @etymology_nerd.”

Not for Ourselves Alone

Commentary on Richard Rohr’s meditation on not for ourselves alone:

This article reminds me of Richard Rose’s advice to serve others. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, is speaking to a subset of contemplative Christians who think that living a spiritual life is to close the door (their hearts?) to the sufferings around them. Though in general I find the article helpful, I’m curious how Rohr (or you, the reader) would comment on my thoughts below:

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Thanks to Ike H. Photo by Antenna on Unsplash.

Love as Our Source?

The Rose

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love, it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower
And you, its only seed

It’s the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It’s the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance

It’s the one who won’t be taking
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying
That never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong

Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love
In the spring becomes the rose

Lyrics and melody by Amanda Mc. Broom. Image by Bine from Pixabay.

Please your thoughts on the above items.

Reader Commentary

Encouraging interactive readership among TAT members and friends

A reader wrote that what would make the Forum more interesting would be:

Hearing from people who are searching—and have questions instead of those providing endless advice and “answers.” What challenges they are facing. What their doubts and questions are. How they perceive their path is going. What they are doing in their lives. Where they think they will end up, etc., etc.

Can you help make the Forum more interesting?

The Reader Commentary question for the September TAT Forum is:

Which one of these Einstein’s quotes do you like best (or worse), and why?

Sample of quotes from the initial video (no longer available):
– There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
– Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
– Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
– Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
– We all know that light travels faster than sound. That’s why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Responses follow:

From Rex H:

My favorite quote that struck me in this video was Einstein teaching that we need to drop attachments and desires and widen our circle of compassion to include all sentient beings, not just our own immediate family and friends. I see this as critical to the healing of humankind.

From Patrick K:

Years ago I would have been easily impressed by the quotes of an iconic scientific figure such as Einstein. I was anti-religious then and science was one of my big idols. I didn’t find one inspiring quote in this compilation. One that did irk me though was this, “Past is dead, future is uncertain; the present is all you have. So eat, drink and live merry”. That’s really bad advice.

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From Vince L:

My favorite quote of these is the first regarding the two ways of living one’s life.  Both “Nothing” and “Everything” are miracles.  What came to my mind upon first reading the quote was Richard Rose’s “Law of Paradoxical Immanence for All Things Relative” mentioned in his book The Albigen Papers.

Einstein’s quote touches upon the inherent paradox pervading our relative world.  Our relative mind’s tendency is to become attached to various opinions on all sorts of matters, such as our views of people, politics, religion, and our tastes in food and fashion, among other things.  We become attached, emotionally, to a particular tendency of thought, often based on whim and lacking an understanding of why we adhere to that tendency.  The result is that we identify with a particular point of view and hold that to be true.

However, as Rose points out in his Law of Paradoxical Immanence, the opposite of whatever opinion we are attached to can also be true.  That is why I think Rose said to hold “two things at once.”  The paradox pervades all.  So, perhaps Einstein’s quote stating that both nothing and everything are miracles can be said to be the ultimate paradox.  Don’t be attached to any one view, but wonder at the miracle of it!

From Jonathan P:

 “Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
I started off on the search sure there was a recipe, a system (Astaunga Yoga and Meditation) that would do it for me. This was coupled with no clear goal. Get happier, escape frequent gloom, get powers like the yogis. No more doubts! Both recipe and goal were smeared together, so to speak, and “out there,” on autopilot, robotic. A guru, a creed, a method—my external authorities. What was internal: an umpire, a judge of my compliance, less of the authorities themselves.

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From Mark W:

My favorite Einstein quote is ”Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” I like this quote because it becomes very comprehensive and challenging when I consider the seemingly endless variety that authority could include. For example, an authority can be anything said or written by anyone depending upon the beliefs, desires and fears of the listener, reader or viewer and what they’ve been programmed to believe. That’s especially true since AI has become so good at showing us what we want to see and hear. And since effectively an unlimited amount of material is available to reinforce our beliefs, which is what most of us want to begin with, what incentive is there to do the work to question the sources of what we read, see and hear which reinforce our beliefs. Therefore, blind belief in authority tends to be what someone else believes that conflicts with our own beliefs. And ironically and objectively, blind belief in authority can likewise be anything we believe.

It seems the best one can do is to sharpen critical thinking skills along with finding ways to develop intuition while directing attention to what one really wants most and regularly check beliefs. Then perhaps one can at least move away from the most blinding beliefs.

From  Robin-In Leeds:

Task: Agree with or disagree share a view on [alleged Einstein quotes]:

  • There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Guess I agree, my sons and others are probably fed up with one of my mantra’s “When you wake up in the morning, with breath in your body! THAT is the miracle! After that everything else is a bonus“. 

It is a miracle that we know that and can comprehend the two implications of the quote, too. 

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From Art Ticknor:

The two quotes I liked best from the first YouTube video, which has been taken down since the account was discontinued, were 1) “We all know that light travels faster than sound. That’s why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak” for its humor, and 2) “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters” for its serious implication regarding how naively our mental machinery formulates and adopts beliefs.

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From Anima Pundeer:

“Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change from one form to the other” is my favorite Einstein quote. These are the words that I feel are close to describing the Absolute—the Supreme Intelligence, the Source of all manifestation.

Next Month

The Reader Commentary question for the October TAT Forum, thanks to Colm H., is:

Does your life have a definite direction? If so, what is it?

Please your response by the 25th of September, and indicate your preferred identification (the default is your first name and the initial letter of your last name). “Anonymous” and pen names are fine, too.

PS: What question(s) would you like to ask other TAT Forum readers?

Q: What are your thoughts on this month’s reader commentary? Please your feedback.

Richard Rose described a spiritual path as living one’s life aimed at finding the meaning of that life. Did you find anything relevant to your life or search in this month’s TAT Forum?

Photo thanks to Quotefancy.

We like hearing from you! Please email your comments, suggestions, inquiries, and submissions.

Sign up for notices of TAT’s four annual events and free monthly Forums by email on our contact page.

Founder’s Wisdom

Richard Rose (1917-2005) established the TAT Foundation
in 1973 to encourage people to work together on what
he considered to be the “grand project” of spiritual work.

Psychology of Zen: Science of Knowing
Transcript of a public talk at Ohio State University in 1977 (part 2 of 5)
Continued from August 2024; indented paragraphs indicate where Rose was reading from notes.

Creation

When one part of a man fools another part, the part that has been fooled is the essential or anterior self.24

Now this is what we have to remember: somebody has been fooled. It isn’t the second-class self that’s been fooled, it’s always the better man who has been fooled.

With the ability to create, come visions and states of mind so powerful that the anterior self or mind accepts as valid all of these creations.

This is how the fooling takes place. Either in our environment or our desires, a package of things we want to do are so strong that the wiser part of us accepts them. And what is the wiser part of the self? Survival. If a man eats too much or drinks too much, he may bust a gut; or if he takes too much booze and mixes it with dope, he may have a heart attack and die. He does this as a result of something inside himself that strongly wants to do it. He can’t resist it. Some of them will tell you, “I’m doing this.” They say, “He OD’d.” But he didn’t OD. He was OD’d. His anterior self had long since gone to sleep, or it would have stopped it. Now there’s a name for this which we’ll get to later, a very simple name.

We might dramatize this idea of fooling yourself by mentioning the practice of some Tibetans.

———-
24 See footnote 17 above

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[to be continued….]

Definition of Terms

Index of many of the key terms and principles in Rose’s work, with brief definitions, from Richard Rose’s Psychology of the Observer: The Path to Reality Through the Self by John Kent.

Jacob’s Ladder © 2001 Richard Rose. See this transcript of a talk on the topic by Rose.

Homing Ground Update

… A spot on earth where people can do retreats and hold
meetings; where the emphasis is on friendship and the search.

January 2024:

As we start the new year, December donations brought us to just over 20% of our 2023 fundraising goal of $15,750. The bulk of that total came from monthly, recurring donations. A big thank you goes to those core supporters who are there for TAT month in and month out, as well as all of you who choose monthly supporting memberships in TAT. These steady commitments are greatly appreciated and very helpful for TAT’s long-term planning.

An additional $152 came from Amazon purchases in 2024. This is a simple, no-cost way to support TAT but does require remembering to visit the TAT website first and use the Amazon link on this page before you put items in your cart: https://tatfoundation.org/support-tat/. Almost any product is eligible. For example, someone purchased toothpaste on Amazon, and TAT received $0.25 on that purchase.

In 2024, expect to see less frequent, but more effective, reminders of fundraising goals. I think these monthly reminders are a bit like that inspiring quote you put on the refrigerator—it works for a few days and then you don’t notice it anymore.

Thanks to all of you for making TAT the extraordinary organization it is, and best wishes for the new year.

Sincerely,
Shawn Nevins

PS: Monthly contributions are a great way to support the TAT Center if making a larger one-time donation seems too much. If you’re so inspired, click the Donate button below, then check the box for “Make this a monthly donation” as in the example below:




Let’s bring this to life! “The job is upon us,” Richard Rose said, “and it is worthwhile.” To contribute to the TAT Center, mail a check made out to the TAT Foundation to:

TAT Foundation
PO Box 3402
Roxboro, NC 27573

Big checks, little checks, all are welcome. Or use the PayPal link above (though we lose 2.2% of your donation to PayPal fees).

* See photos and more on the Homing Ground page. *

Did you enjoy the Forum? Then buy the book!
Readers’ favorite selections from seven years of issues.
Beyond Mind, Beyond Death is available at Amazon.com.

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