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TAT Forum

May 2019

Convictions & Concerns

TAT members share their personal convictions and/or concerns

Life Is like a Flame

Life is like a flame. It's going to go out, isn't it … possibly unexpectedly, as happened with the actress Natasha Richardson. She was taking ski lessons on the bunny slope at Mt. Tremblant, in Quebec, and took a spill. Falling down on a bunny slope would be about like falling over when you're standing still. She got up, laughed, and refused medical attention. Back in the hotel a few hours later, she developed a splitting headache, was rushed to the hospital, and was dead within a couple days.

We find ourselves between two voids. Where were you before birth? Where will you be after death? And there's no guarantee that death either will bring oblivion (if that's your preference) or it won't (if that's what you'd prefer).

You may be thinking, "I'm not afraid of death … just the suffering that might precede it." If that's the case, is pride then what's keeping you from facing your mortality?

Before awakening we sleepwalk through life, dreaming life. What if the dream ends before we awake?

Where do you hear the voice that's speaking to you? You have to turn your attention around momentarily to see where you hear it, don't you … to the vast unknown within. That vast unknown within is the doorway to your essential being. And the path to it is one of increasing unknowing. The knowing mind is like a clenched fist. The unknowing mind is like an open hand … an open doorway.

Going through most doorways, the knower remains much as it was. Going through the doorway to your essential nature, the known and the knower remain behind.

See the complete essay.

~ From a 2009 presentation by TAT member and Richard Rose student Art Ticknor. Would you like to share your impressions with other TAT Forum readers? Please email your comments to the .

 

TAT Foundation News

It's all about "ladder work" – helping and being helped

Downloadable/rental versions of the Mister Rose video and of April TAT talks Remembering Your True Desire (details).

Local Group News

Update from the Central New Jersey Group: The Central Jersey Self Inquiry Group had its first meeting on Jan. 4th, with the founding members plus one other person. On February 11th we opened up the meeting to others in our Eckhart Tolle Group community, and we had a good meeting with 6 attendees. The topic was: "What annoys you?" We plan to meet every 2 weeks. ~ Email for more details.

Update from the Central Ohio Non-Duality Group:
The Columbus group operated under the name OSU Self-Inquiry Group and met for many years in a church next to The Ohio State University. After attendance dropped off, the venue was changed to a local Panera restaurant, and the name changed to Central Ohio Non-Duality Group. The group has exposure to seekers through Meetup, but has only occasional visitors outside a core group of 4 people.
     Due to schedules, we have met infrequently the past semester, and in deference to an effort to try to do other things, like rapport sittings, in private meetings.
     Meeting format is a discussion format on topics of interest to seekers, and often bridges from the concerns, questions and interests of the core members in attendance into the topic which we intend to discuss. See the rest of the update.
     We continue to meet on Monday evenings at Panera across from The Ohio State University. ~ For further information, contact or . We're also on Facebook.

"Double Take on Life" blog
Two friends—one a TAT member, one a TAT friend; one living in Canada, one across the border in the US; one male, one female—have partnered to create a blog site, which they hope other TAT members and friends will enjoy and respond to.
     "We are two friends who were encouraged to continue our spirited and free-wheeling conversation about life with a blog. This bipolar labor of love intends to roam between various forms of expression and perspective, both serious and amused. And traverse between the nitty-gritty of the everyday to the essence of being. As above, so below."

Update from the email self-inquiry groups:
An update on the women's self-inquiry group from Anima:
     The Women's Online Confrontation (WOC) group consists of weekly reports where participants can include:
     > What is on your mind?
     > Any projects that you want to be held accountable for?
     > Responses to a selected excerpt (in the previous report).
     > Comments/responses/questions for other participants.
     A philosophical/spiritual excerpt with two or three questions is included in each report. Based on what we share, participants ask questions to help get clarity about our thinking. The intention is to help each other see our underlying beliefs about who we are.
     One rule we try to adhere to is not to give advice or solve problems. The number of participants, to make it work efficiently, is between 4 and 7 including the leader.

Both the women's and the men's weekly email groups are active and welcome serious participants. ~ Contact or for more information.

Update from the Gainesville, FL self-inquiry group:

We continue to meet at the Alachua County library on alternate Sundays. ~ Email or for more information.

Update from Galway, Ireland:
Tess Hughes is currently working with seekers one-to-one and holding occasional group self-inquiry retreats. Anyone who's interested in self-inquiry activity in Ireland is welcome to contact .

TAT Press publishes Tess's easy to read, profound This Above All, the story of her journey of Self-Discovery.

This is a new listing for the self-inquiry group in Goldsboro, NC: The Goldsboro Inquiry Group (GIG) meets on the first and third Monday evenings of the month. We begin the meeting with a short reading, then sit in silence for 20 minutes before opening it up to what I like to call group assisted self inquiry. ~ For details on when and where, contact .

Update from the Google Hangouts self-inquiry group:
Thanks to the advent of technology, we have a group that meets electronically on Google Hangouts every Sunday at 6.30pm UK time.
Our goal is to investigate and confront our unexamined beliefs in a group dynamic, within a safe environment. And at the same time we aim to serve as mirrors for the other group members to see themselves more clearly.
We have one person elected to be the moderator of the group, who brings a question to the discussion, and then each participant answers with follow up questions from the others. Questions range from the psychological type, i.e., "What kind of people annoy you, and why?" to the more abstract "What is the nature of perception?"
The group has been running for well over a year now, and we have all become good friends. A number of us have met in person at various events. We welcome any new members who are committed to self-inquiry and look forward to meeting you. ~ Email .

Update from the Greensburg, PA self-inquiry group:
The Greensburg Self-Inquiry Group is still in hiatus. I do plan to start it up again at some point as I see it as a lifeline to my own spiritual path. Things got stale with my group's participants, but I will e-mail them at some point to schedule another SIG meeting. In the meantime, I participate in a local "Socrates Cafe" group at the coffeehouse/art gallery where I have had my meetings. This group is not into esoteric philosophy as such, but they're supposed to be into "Socratic Inquiry," and I figure it's better than not engaging in any discussions with people. At least we sometimes touch upon spiritual matters, and this makes attending their meetings worthwhile. ~ Contact if interested in local self-inquiry meetings.

A new self-inquiry group is forming in Hartland, VT:
Located in central Vermont, along I-91, the group will be using TAT videos from past conferences as a primer for discussion. ~ Contact for more information.

Update from the Lynchburg, VA self-inquiry group:
We're currently using Alfred Pulyan's correspondence with Richard Rose as inspiration for our weekly gathering. We're perusing the letters during the week and then coming together to see what got our attention. This activity was inspired by several online groups who have used them in past years with good results. The women's group, run by Anima Pundeer, also inspired us as we already have some questions posed by Anima to go with each letter. It's always good to share additional questions among groups!
     We continue to meet at The Drowsy Poet cafe at Little Dickens Bookstore, from 6:30-8:00 every Thursday evening. ~ Email or for information on the meetings.

Update from the New York City self-inquiry group:
We meet every Monday in New York City's Financial District, where all great spiritual realizations take place ;) Our goal is to investigate and examine our beliefs (definition of examine: from Old French examiner "interrogate, question, torture"). We aim to serve as mirrors for each other, to see ourselves more clearly, in a group dynamic, within a safe environment. Recent topics include critiques of pema chodron, what it would be like to be god, and the consciousness of trees. If you believe something and are interested in doubting it, we are here for you :)
~ We have open meetings for first-timers; so if interested please reach out to or find out more through our Meetup link above.

Update from the Pittsburgh, PA self-inquiry group: We meet on the 1st & 3rd Wednesdays of each month, from 7-9 PM, at the Friends Meeting House in Oakland (4836 Ellsworth Ave, PGH 15213) and on the 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, also 7-9 PM, at Panera Bread in Shadyside (5430 Centre Ave, PGH 15232). Last month's topics were: Mar 6: "Ego: the boundary-maker and gatekeeper, drawing lines and dividing me from you." Could ego be our best friend, worst enemy or a necessary challenge on our path? Mar 13: "What are you searching for? What are your main underlying beliefs?" What personal beliefs define your path? Mar 20: "Awareness Games: Playing with Your Mind to Create Joy," an evening of exercises by Brian Tom O'Connor, hosted by Mike W. Mar 27: "What is the Question that Drives You?" Welcome to An Evening of Self-Inquiry hosted by Mike W. ~ For further information, contact or .

Update from the Portland, OR self-inquiry group:
We have two kinds of meetings in Portland. One is a small closed group that meets at a local coffee shop. The format for this meeting is to give each person 20 minutes or so to talk about whatever is coming up for them in their practice. The other is an open meeting, held at a local library, that is advertised through Meetup. These meetings usually have a topic with questions, and the format is to give each person approximately 10 minutes to comment on the topic and then to answer questions from others. We haven't been holding open meetings regularly but hope to get them back on track for the new year. ~ Email for more information.

Update from the Raleigh, NC Triangle Inquiry Group:
The Triangle Inquiry Group (TIG) meets on Wednesday evenings near NCSU. ~ See the website for more information.

Announcement of the newly formed Richmond Self Inquiry Group:
The Richmond Self Inquiry Group provides an opportunity to meet and work with others involved in the search for Truth and Self-Realization via meditation and self-inquiry. The underlying tenet of this path is that Truth is something to be found through one's own direct experience. Group Inquiry recognizes that working with others may expedite this process, and provides a platform for genuine friendship along the way. ~ Email for information about upcoming meetings and events.

Update from the San Francisco Bay area self-inquiry group:
See the Shawn Nevins interview by Iain McNay of Conscious.tv, kicking off the publication of Shawn's book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment. ~ Email for information about upcoming meetings and events.

Update from the Sarasota, FL self-inquiry group:
Meetings are on alternate Wednesdays. ~ Email for more information.

Members-Only Area

A password-protected section of the website is available for TAT members. The area contains information on product discounts for members as well as a substantial amount of helpful and historical information, including audio recordings, Newsletter archives, Retrospect archives, policies, conference proceedings, business meeting notes, photographs, and suggestions for ways to help.

TAT's November 2017 Gathering was titled The Treasure Within our Lives Unconnected to Experience. The following audio recordings are now available in the members-only website area (there's also a text file describing the speakers and their sessions, not all of which were successfully recorded due to equipment malfunctioning):

• "Obstacles" by Anima Pundeer,
• "Navigating Our Spiritual Waters" by Paul Constant,
• "By His Logic, Man Can Do Nothing" by Shawn Nevins, and
• "TAT Weekend Key Take-Home Highlights" with Tess Hughes

TAT's April 2018 Gathering was titled Steps on the Path. The following audio recordings are now available in the members-only website area:

• "Rose's Jacob's Ladder: Steps on the Path" by Bob Fergeson,
• "The Threefold Path" by Paul Constant,
• "What Keeps Us from Being Awake?" by Paul Rezendes,
• "Allowing Exploration" by Shawn Nevins, and
• "What's Trying to Get Your Attention?" by Mark Seabright.

TAT's June 2018 Gathering was titled In Search of Happiness. The following audio recordings are now available in the members-only website area:

• "Four Views of Happiness: Three steps beyond the search" by Avery Solomon,
• "How You Can Be 'Free of Happiness'" by Gary Weber,
• "A Personal Perspective on Friendship: Ode to 'Mrs. C.'" by Larry Inderbitzin, and
• "Seeker Stories and Q&A" by Michael W., Penny W., and Michael R.

TAT's August 2018 Workshop was titled Beyond Imagination and included three guest speakers who each led separate workshops. The following audio recordings are now available in the members-only website area:

• "Nurturing What We Are" with Jenny Clarke,
• "The Art of Seeing" with Norio Kushi, and
• "Seeing Through Imaginary Traps" with Shawn Pethel.

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

Amazon and eBay

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

"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

~ Thanks to TAT member

We're hoping to present more humor from TAT members and friends here. Please your written or graphic creations. Exact sources are necessary for other submissions, since we need to make sure they're either in the public domain or that we have permission to use them.

 

Inspiration & Irritation

Irritation moves us; inspiration provides a direction

 

Please your thoughts on the above items.

 

Reader Commentary

Encouraging interactive readership among TAT members and friends

The question we asked readers for this month's Reader Commentary: What do you think Mr. Rose meant in his poem "Tweeny Town" when he wrote, "In Tweeny Town, in Tweeny Town there lived a boy and maid. / And they went up and they went down, but all their children stayed."? What does between-ness mean to you? Responses follow.

From :

From :

From :

From Brett S:
My guess is that a boy and maid going up and down—but their children staying—has to do with equanimity during life's ups and downs. Equanimity means being neutral towards my thoughts, which after all are just a "movie." My guess about the meaning of between-ness is that it is a state of mind that is not doing but intentionally being. Being focused on something other than thinking and other than the external world of sensations. It's to be "half inside and half outside," with regards to my attention. I also have ideas about it meaning "wanting something desperately and then letting it go," and also that it refers to when someone keeps their head "on dead center." These seem possible, and related.

From :

From :

From Anonymous:

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Other Reader Feedback

From Diana B. [referencing the reader responses to last month's question]:

There is a right way to meditate and a wrong way. The right way is to challenge yourself, ask yourself the hard questions until you get answers, to imagine dying and becoming comfortable with it. It should bring you to an awakening in a reasonable amount of time (under six months). Sitting on your ass "observing your thoughts" accomplishes nothing.

Lester Levenson never sat and meditated: instead, he spent three months letting go of his ego, which he was good at because he had received four years of psychoanalysis with an associate of Sigmund Freud. That was four days a week for four years. Levenson then developed the Sedona Method, and in spite of the unavoidable mistakes that his followers have put into it, the method is still the most effective means of removing the psychological blocks that keep us from becoming awake to what D. T. Suzuki calls the Cosmic Unconscious. These blocks are repressed memories and desires that are accumulated in the unconscious.

Suzuki and Erich Fromm's little book, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis has a wealth of wisdom on this subject, i.e., why the Sedona Method is so powerful. I am at a loss to understand why no one has researched the connection between Freudian psychoanalysis and enlightenment.

Incidentally, there is no need to take a course; it is sufficient to read the short biography about Lester written by Lawrence Crane (available for free at http://www.presentlove.com/lester-levenson/) and to download (again, free) the handbook written by Dr. Susan Kriegler.

The Lester Levenson love exercise replicates what he did, which was to go through every person he had ever known and change unloving feelings to a feeling of love. (Make a list of everyone you have ever had feelings about). Doing just this will change your life; refusing to do this means you're going to be reborn, blindfolded, and have to go through the pain of living all over again. One hour a day of doing the love exercise and releasing repressed memories is worth more than 20 years of sitting "observing your thoughts." I know this because I know people in Zen Centers who have sat for 30 years and gotten nowhere.

Regarding the bit about the evolutionary purpose of the self [in last month's Inspiration & Irritation section], no-one who is enlightened believes in evolution. No-one who understands quantum physics believes in evolution—Robert Lanza's Biocentrism explains this. The universe and sentient beings rose together, at the same time, because without the beings there is no universe. Neither the beings nor the universe is real: they are simply manifestations of God or the Absolute, which is the only reality. The first path of the Noble Eightfold Path is Right View, because nobody attains enlightenment without understanding the Dharma. Look at Genesis: Adam and Eve were separated from God because they became aware of themselves and aware of differences between things. They came out from the Absolute at the same time as the universe came into existence. (Actually they came out shortly after, but there are some problems with the Babylonian creation myth).

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 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.

 

Did you enjoy the Forum? Then buy the book!
Beyond Mind, Beyond Death is available at Amazon.com.