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

Nothingness

Thanks to Tim H. Image from Cliff Pollard on FB.

I Am Nothing!

One day at synagogue, the rabbi stops in the middle of the service, prostrates himself, and cries out, “O God. Before You, I am nothing!”

The cantor is so moved by this demonstration of piety that he immediately follows suit, throwing himself to the floor beside the rabbi and crying, “O God! Before you, I am nothing!”

In the ensuing silence, a shuffling is heard in the back row. Saul Blumenthal jumps from his seat, prostrates himself in the isle and cries, “O God! Before You, I am nothing!”

Seeing this, the cantor nudges the rabbi and whispers, “So look who thinks he’s nothing?”

*

~ Thanks to Brett S.

Warning Signs

*

~ Thanks to Michael R. Originally from philosophynews.com and widely spread on the web.

Inspiration & Irritation

Irritation moves us; inspiration provides a direction

                 Promise

Rustle of leaves
Under her feet
Trees almost bare
Chill in the air
Distant Chimes of gong
Shepherd hums his song

She walks up the hill
Her favorite rock is still

Crisp morning outside
Dark night inside
Beaten and chained
Pain ingrained

Eagle soaring in the sky
Deep valley holding a promise
Of freedom
Catches her eye

~ Thanks to Anima Pundeer.

“Fix thy soul’s gaze upon the star whose ray thou art….” ~ Helena Blavatsky quote in The Direct-Mind Experience by Richard Rose

“Fix thy Soul’s gaze upon the star whose ray thou art, the flaming star that shines within the lightless depths of ever-being, the boundless fields of the Unknown.” ~ Helena Blavatsky, The Voice of the Silence

~ Thanks to Colm H. Image widely available on the web.

“At first it is roses, roses; then it is thorns, thorns.” Quote attributed to G.I. Gurdjieff, from the Dharma Overground article “Helping seekers walk the path of self-inquiry – Discussion.” That actual quote hasn’t been found elsewhere on the web, but it may be a paraphrase from the gurdjieff.org article “An Inner-World Journey: A Spiritual Adventure,” by Kathryn Hulme:

A few weeks later, in a seemingly by-the-way association that flowed from a totally different subject, Gurdjieff referred again to my smoking denial. He had driven to Rouen that day, making the one hundred sixty-eight-mile round trip in his customary record time. He was back in the Café de la Paix by seven-fifteen that evening where the Rope was waiting for him. He dropped into the banquette with a sigh of pleasure and began talking about “roses, roses …” how he felt. He had consummated a successful business transaction which put off for one week a certain financial reckoning. Then, he told us, instead of “roses, roses …” there would soon be “thorns, thorns …” But thorns in one’s outer world were good, because then there were roses in the inner world.

~ Thanks to Dan G. for the Gurdjieff citation.

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?

We’re using the theme of the June 2023 TAT Meeting as the Reader Commentary question for the July TAT Forum:

The Search for Self-Definition: What’s Taking So Long?

Responses follow:

From Tim H:

I’m compelled to write something pragmatic. Honestly I’d only be expressing what I’ve learned over the years. I’ve often thought: “Am I insufficient to the task?”; “Unqualified?”; “I haven’t suffered enough or reformed my character”; “Is my success dependent upon sacrifice, hard work and hardship?” These thoughts have the taste of resentment, envy and expectations for me. Maybe that’s why.

From Doug D:

This seems to me like a question that might be better answered by those who have arrived at self-definition. Those of us who haven’t are just guessing, really.

A companion question might be: “Why is it so hard? If self-definition is merely a return to our natural state, why is it so difficult?”

But, if I had to guess why it’s taking ME so long, I’d guess that it’s lack of focus and dedication. I’m thinking that the harder I work at it, the sooner I’ll get there – and I haven’t really been working all that hard at it. I go in fits and spurts.

I also think it’s taken me a while to allow myself to find a practice / path that resonates with me. I’ve been influenced that I SHOULD do this or I SHOULD do that. Different teachers teach different things. And I look at a person who claims awakeness and they tell about their path to get there, and I think that needs to be my path, with no attention to what resonates with me.

So, lately I’ve decided to follow a certain teacher to whom I feel attracted, and whose words and story / path resonate with me. And at the same time ignore all the other teachers for the most part. Hopefully this will bear fruit.

From Patrick K:

I live in a world where “ignorance is bliss”. It takes a whole lot just to try and put the world away and take an honest look at myself. Listening to Bob Cergol before talking about how the lies that I have identified with growing up have been repeated every minute of every hour of every day to this point in my life now as a middle-aged man. Basically I am very lost, I need something to pull me back in, to where I was originally. But this is a good confrontational question because it probes at me, insinuating it is my choice up for grabs to not take so long. Is it my choice?

Then for Ramana Maharshi, he woke up in his mid teens, which is mind blowing. How did he have the intuition at that early age to make a breakthrough? What inkling did he have to pursue so early in life? It took Nisargadatta 3 years of work before he had his breakthrough. I would consider myself 10 years on this project right now. For me it may come down to not completely “serving one master,” being attached to DeRopp’s lesser games in life. I know I haven’t detached from the lesser games and surrendered completely to my spiritual path. It also takes a lot of mettle to stay focused on the challenging aspect of uncovering my true identity. It feels like a very vague nebulous study, which has to yield to me, and I can’t make it yield.

So in another way it will happen in it’s own good time, according to God’s grace, if it happens at all. Maybe love for my spiritual path needs to triumph over my duty to be on a spiritual path, something to apply the momentum inward. Right now I am still a rat caught up in a maze, a rat that hopefully is cleaning up his ratty behaviours and can go about his work with a pure purpose and can rapport with others of pure purpose. But the main problem of being in the maze too long, it becomes increasingly reinforcing that there is no way out. Each effort is pervaded by an unconscious belief that it is meaningless. So the rat just tries to be the best little rat it can be perhaps and can look for compensation by feeling superior to other lesser rats.

From Anima Pundeer:

The main reason why it takes time is that we have competing desires taking priority over our desire for Self-Definition. The very nature of desire is such that it never leads to complete satisfaction, even when we perceive it as fulfilled. In pursuit of other desires, we eventually realize that nothing else can bring that Wholeness we all want if we do not know the identity of the man with the desire.

I found that the purification of the desire for Truth is what all the seeking is about.

From Eric C:

At the mental level: 1) forgetting (my deeper desire, my commitment); 2) unfinished life business (life-fears not faced); 3) not willing to work closely with a teacher or put myself in situations which will get hot. Occasionally there is a mood or sense that I’m satisfied with life as it is – satisfied with self-definition as an “unknown separate thing.”

At the emotional level the core self is seen as “not acceptable.” What’s taking so long is 1) the failure to recognize this feeling, and 2) willingness is needed to turn toward it and “let it in.”

From Gavin A:

I might be partly or entirely wrong, but my initial response was, ‘Other people.’ At this point I believe that others will turn you round and point you in the opposite direction that you need to face. That could be work colleagues and even friends and family. They might mean well or they might not, but they could be equally harmful.

It’s how I’m feeling at this time. It might change, or it might be right enough for me at this point.

From Jerry S:

How long is it supposed to take? Every next moment to me has become a wonderful mystery. I have no idea of, nor am I expecting to get anywhere in, the next year, month or second. My intentions seem set like a steel trap, yet not knowing what I wait for or what awaits. Like creating a vacuum of expectation. But like a wing that enables flight through creating a vacuum, I want to take flight, too, through an honest vacuum created by my intentions. And yet it feels like the bridge just ahead is out and restlessness has no where to go. Whatever got me this far can’t take me any further, as if cornered now, in a dead end. But the sun is rising and continues to shine and I get another chance, maybe one more day for my attention to set upon something that would allow me to finally take flight.

From Art Ticknor:

Looking back over my path, I’ve concluded that my belief in individuality was the keystone in the arch of faulty self-beliefs that kept my focus hypnotized in un-enlightenment. I have the feeling that the big delay was in getting the life experience that loosened up the other stones in the arch, namely the identifications with aspects of personality (such as being a person who’s this body-mind with its characteristics, who’s the thinker, the decider, the doer, and so on). I also have the strong feeling that the challenge to individuality appeared with the help of some intelligence far greater than Art’s when the time was right. And I feel that Richard Rose nailed the needed revelation with this statement: “You are aware prior to birth and aware after you die, so you begin with awareness, but you are not conscious of awareness.”

From Mark W:

What’s taking me so long is that I’m so attached to and identify with myself as a separate entity and my experience. I’m so easily distracted by all of my experience, which seems to make it hard for me to notice what I’m observing.

From Brett S:

Confusion/lack of clarity/dishonesty about the goal. If the goal were actually Self-Definition–instead of happiness, easing of anxiety, validation, etc.–progress might be faster.

Next Month

The Reader Commentary question for the August TAT Forum is:

What are your convictions about finding Truth / becoming Real (Self-Realization)?

Please your responses by the 25th of July 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?

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.

Quotes and Notes X from Richard Rose Audiotapes

* Miracles *

• Losing yourself in God equals no thought.

* Zen *

• All forward motion comes by trauma.
• I feel that every human being is beautiful.
• You must reach a point where you are beyond physical memory.

~ From Shawn Nevins, who commented: “Notes I took from several Rose audiotapes. This must date
to 1994-95. Direct quotes are in quotation marks, but the rest I assume is paraphrasing.” There are quotes and notes from 20 audiotapes. The first set appeared in the July 2022 Forum with eight additional sets in subsequent Forum issues previous to this.

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.

July 2023:

A small uptick in donations during June brought us to 8.1% of our 2023 fundraising goal of $15,750. Thank you! We’ve been low-key with the donation requests this year, but that doesn’t mean our expenses are any less. A few dollars a month from just a portion of you who read the Forum each month would make a big difference, so please consider helping out.

Thanks to all of you for making TAT the extraordinary organization it is.

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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