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May 2022
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Convictions & Concerns
TAT members share their personal convictions and/or concerns
Write Something True
A friend once pointed out that while they “feel their thoughts” I clearly “think my feelings”—this was very insightful, they know me well. What’s going on beneath the surface of the rather mental exercise that follows is a longing to know what’s True, to feel Whole, to find Love. All of this is Bhakti—and a strained attempt to give words to paradox in experience, all with the hope of directing attention to THIS. What is THIS? The felt, almost pulsing SOMETHING that’s right HERE but undefined? Where are you, God?
A while back I came across an experimental writing exercise with a simple instruction: write something true. The implication was that this would be elusive. While I suppose there are multiple angles from which this could be approached, I entered into the exercise writing only about direct experience, with an eye towards self definition....
See the complete article.
~ Thanks to Michael R. The photo is from a recent hike, and he describes it as: "a 5 hour hike straight uphill to a glacial lake. This picture is where glacier ice-melt merges into the lake, then disappears into the fog. Seems appropriate to me."
Please email Reader Commentary to the .
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 Readers
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 . 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!
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With the intention of increasing awareness of TAT's meetings, books, and Forum among younger serious seekers, the TAT Foundation is now on
Project: Beyond Mind, Beyond Death II
We've had 14 additional years of monthly TAT Forum issues since then. And we're getting ready to launch a project to solicit recommendations from all readers for a 2nd volume of BMBD from the seven years of monthly issues spanning January 2008 to December 2014. Our approach will be to have a brief, interactive survey each week for participants to rate the items in one issue of the Forum for inclusion in volume II. That will take about 20 months, during which time volunteer co-editors Abhay D. and Michael R. will arrange the selections into chapters and organize the book's contents. Within 2 years BMBD II should be available in paperback and e-book formats.
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TAT Press's
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2022 TAT Meeting Calendar
February Virtual Gathering: Saturday, February 5, 2022
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The following video recordings of presentations from a previous April TAT meeting are available, along with many other presentations by Richard Rose and TAT presenters, on TAT's YouTube channel and other sources:
Meet Richard Rose is a 34-minute audio recording of an audiovisual presentation by Michael Whitely at the August 2017 TAT meeting that explores the arc of Richard Rose's life as seeker, finder, family man, and teacher.
There are many additional audio recordings by TAT presenters along with Meet Richard Rose in the audio recordings section of the TAT Foundation website.
Downloadable/rental versions of the Mister Rose video and of TAT talks from a different April TAT gathering from the one above, on the theme of Remembering Your True Desire, are now available.
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See TAT's Facebook page. |
TAT's YouTube ChannelHave 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, Bart Marshall, Paul Rezendes, Tess Hughes, Art Ticknor, Howdie Mickoski, Shawn Pethel and other speakers. This month's video is from a talk by Tyler Matthew in the August 2020 TAT spiritual retreat, one of four weekend gatherings each year. The theme of that gathering was "Through the Eyes of a Child." The talk by Tess Hughes that was featured last month was given during the same weekend.
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Local Group News
Groups with new updates are featured below. Link here for a complete listing of local groups.
Update from the Gainesville, FL self-inquiry group:
The Alachua County library reopened its meeting rooms on July 5th, and we were the first group to meet after the reopening.
We decided to change our meeting day from Sunday to Saturday, at the same time as previously (2 to 4 PM). Our first meeting was on July 10th, and subsequent meetings are scheduled for alternate Saturdays with an occasional extra week between meetings due to holidays or the TAT meeting schedule and our group's associated retreats.
~ Email
or
for more information.
TAT Press publishes three of Art's books: Solid Ground of Being: A Personal Story of the Impersonal, Beyond Relativity: Transcending the Split Between Knower & Known and Sense of Self: The Source of All Existential Suffering?
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The Gainesville self-inquiry group is planning a five-day intensive retreat for those who can arrive by Sunday evening—a four-day or three-day intensive retreat for those who can't make it until Monday or Tuesday—at the TAT Center in NC on Sunday-Friday, June 5–10, 2022, segueing into the TAT weekend gathering on the evening of June 10th.
The theme is "The Real Problem": ~ E-mail for more information. |
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The GMT support group group held a
weekend intensive retreat in West Sussex, UK on Friday-Sunday, Nov. 12–13.
On the weekend of 12-14th November a small number of people gathered for an in-person spiritual retreat in West Sussex
U.K. The aim was to foster a spirit of friendship and provide a face to face retreat for TAT interested European folks with the
theme of ‘Make Your Whole Life a Prayer’.
Tess Hughes joined us via Zoom and Peter O. made a moving talk about his life and spiritual path. Freddie L. offered a very
powerful guided meditation, we conducted Harding experiments, rapport, and it was a great opportunity for discussion and a
deepening of friendship. We hope to run another similar retreat sometime next year.
See "A Seeker-Organized Weekend Intensive Retreat" for feedback from participants including a poem by one of them.
~ E-mail
for more details.
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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,
- Audio recordings of selected sessions from 2008–2019 in-person meetings and from February and November 2021 Zoom meetings,
- Resources and ideas for those planning a group spiritual retreat,
- Photographs of TAT meeting facilities, the Richard Rose gravesite, 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:
TAT's Novemeber 2021 online gathering, titled What Do You Really, Really Want From Life?: 3.5 hours of selected sessions.
TAT's February 2021 online gathering, titled In Thought, Word and Deed : 2.5 hours of selected sessions.
TAT's August 2019 Workshop was titled Beyond Mindfulness: Meditation and the Path Within and included three guest speakers who each led separate workshops. The following audio recordings are now available in the members-only website area:
- "Mindfulness. Is it just another spiritual buzzword?" with Bob Cergol,
- "The Path of Direct Sensory Perception" with Bob Harwood, and
- "The Art of Mindfulness is the Passion for Truth" with Paul Rezendes.
TAT's June 2019 Spiritual Retreat Weekend was titled Between You and the Infinite. The following audio recordings are now available in the members-only website area:
- "Coming Home (aka The End of Seeking)" by Don Oakley, and
- "What's in the Way?" by Eshwar Segobind.
TAT's April 2019 Spiritual Retreat Weekend was titled Once in a Lifetime is Now. The following audio recordings are now available in the members-only website area:
- "Recognizing the Human Dilemma" by Norio Kushi,
- "Strategies for Self-Realization" by Bart Marshall,
- Untitled session by Paul Hedderman, and
- "A Session in the Now" by Paul Rezendes.
Please us if you have questions. (Look here for info on TAT membership.)
Amazon and eBay
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As an Amazon Associate TAT earns from qualifying purchases made through links on our website. 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. |
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
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~ Cartoon by John Atkinson. ©John Atkinson, Wrong Hands. Distributed widely across the Internet by Universal UClick.
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"No problem," says the German Shepherd's human. "Just watch this." He pulls out a pair of sunglasses and walks into the bar. "Hey, no dogs!" yells the bartender. "But this is a seeing eye dog," says the German Shepherd's human. The bartender apologizes and shows them to a chair. So, the Poodle owner decides to follow suit, whips out his sunglasses, and walks into the bar. "Hey, no dogs!" yells the bartender. * "But this is a seeing eye dog," says the Poodle's human. The bartender objects, "Hey, Poodles can't be seeing eye dogs!" The Poodle owner gasps, "What! The agency gave me a poodle?!"
~ Thanks to Jokes.One
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~ Origin of the cartoon unknown. It's spread widely across the Internet.
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We enjoy presenting humor here from TAT members and friends. 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
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In the cold light of day,
When the countdown is given,
Death never loses,
I keep walking that dusty road by the old tavern,
~ Thanks to Patrick K., who wrote that he "Remembered a poem I wrote five years ago and dug it out. My favourite fiction book series was Stepthen King's The Dark Tower.... It was a great story about a gunslinger and kind of inspired the poem. I edit it every so often." |
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I read your book The Experience of No-Self. The experience you describe seems it might be that which I am seeking - something beyond our relative world of light and dark; something even beyond mystic bliss. I am trying to find out who I am by identifying all that is not me. It is a subtractive approach. I am continually looking for some way to speed up my search, so I read what others did. In your book you state, "Whether or not there honestly exists certain techniques of mind-manipulation that can bypass the need for divine intervention, or the need to wait upon God, is something I do not know." Since your book's publication, have you learned anything more about how people may be helped to an experience such as yours? I thank you for any help you may give. **
1/30/1996 To answer your question: no, I know of no human techniques that can bypass the need for God and His intervention in our lives. Can man do what God can do - if he can, then who needs God? Techniques are all an exercise of self - the doer. They are self-centered, relying solely on self. If anything, techniques only reinforce self. To think self can go beyond itself or get rid of itself is a contradiction - it is impossible. Also, it is futile to desire other people's experiences; what people "think" they are, never turns out to be what they thought they were. If people really understood what life without self meant, they would never desire it, it is not the proper goal of life in this world - it is not even meant for this world. If you wish a better understanding of this, I am enclosing notice of my third book, What is Self?, which goes into this subject. I wish you well on your journey. **
2/17/1996 Thank you for the reply to my letter. Part of me does not desire life without self, but another part wants to know the truth of my situation regardless of the cost. I feel a struggle between those two desires. Experiences such as yours may not be meant for this world, but surely people have the right to define theirselves, or at least to try. Surely you do not advise that I just sit like a knot on a log and wait for grace. Isn't there some way to improve one's chances? Why write books unless people will read them and act? I've read that enlightenment is an accident, but there are ways to make oneself more accident-prone. Enclosed is an order for one copy of your radio interview. I'll get your new book soon, as well. Thank you. **
Date unknown I'm not acquainted with eastern "enlightenment," but I can tell you the falling away of everything that could be called "self" is NOT an accident. It is a very specific "Grace," an act of God, it is nothing we do and nothing anyone or anything can do to us or for us. I have no idea what you mean by "accident." All you can ever do is wait for God's grace while striving with your whole being to love God and do His will. The reason for writing my books was to clarify and inform, specifically for Christian contemplatives who have already come to the unitive state. There is more to this state and beyond it than is described in the literature. God bless!
Thanks to Shawn Nevins, who comments: "Truth is, I don't know what Bernadette had in mind, nor do I know how she saw/experienced God. But I do know she sincerely tried to help and I think in her words there is the residual of that desire."
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180. Later, the same gentleman said that sleep was a state of oblivion and the wakeful state was the mind's activity. The mind was in a potential state in sleep. M.: Were you not in sleep? D.: Yes, I was. But in a state of oblivion. There must be a witness of oblivion and of the mind which says that 'I' am continuous in both states. M.: Who is this witness? You speak of 'witness'. There must be an object and a subject to witness. These are creations of the mind. The idea of witness is in the mind. If there was the witness of oblivion did he say, 'I witness oblivion?' You, with your mind, said just now that there must be a witness. Who was the witness? You must reply with the ego and say 'I'. Is this ego 'I', the witness? It is the mind that speaks. It cannot be witness of itself. With self-imposed limitations you think that there is a witness of mind and of oblivion. You also say, 'I am the witness'. That one who witnesses the oblivion must say, 'I witness oblivion'. The present mind cannot arrogate to itself that position. The whole position becomes thus untenable. Consciousness is unlimited. On becoming limited it simply arrogates to itself the position. There is really nothing to witness. IT is simple BEING. * Thanks to Shawn Nevins, who wrote: "While thumbing through Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi for material to read on my podcast, I came across this short exchange that could be of interest for the Forum. Talks was a constant companion while living on the [Rose] Farm. I distinctly remember sitting in the Emblem Lodge at that ancient formica table with a broken leg, pondering Maharshi's words. I had no idea what he was talking about. Now, I see the words were driving directly at the Truth"
Chela [follower and student of a guru]: “There is really nothing to witness.”
Chela [ignoring the question]: “Ramana said: ‘There is really nothing to witness.’”
Chela [repeating the guru's admonition]: “Ramana said: ‘There is really nothing to witness.’” * Couln't resist tweaking Sri Ramana, who can't tweak back, about giving devotees something to agree with rather than looking for themselves. - Ed.
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Satori
Shawn wrote: "I believe you gave me this when I moved off the Farm in '97. Might be of interest for the Forum. At the time, I don't think I understood it at all. Now with a "few" years distance, I think I see the writer (it is Benoit's material?) struggling to capture not this/not that and the always immediate nature of Realization."" |
Please
your thoughts on the above items.
Reader Commentary
Encouraging interactive readership among TAT members and friends
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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? |
Helen Keller as a young woman decided: “I will not just live my life. I will not just spend my life. I will invest my life.”
The Reader Commentary question for the May TAT Forum is:
How do you spend your life vs. invest your life?
Responses follow.
From Isaac H:
If your "life" is the amount of attention, vital energy, time, etc. that you have in one lifetime, spending it is quite easy: just allow yourself to be jerked around by fears and desires. This is often called "dissipation"; you have a finite quantity of energy, and you spend it on gratification of sensual pleasures. If you want to invest your attention, vital energy, time, etc, this requires the conservation of energy, enough self-knowledge to at least know what your most important/higher drives are, and discernment to tell if what you're doing with your available energy is moving you towards those higher desires or not. It seems like uncovering your deepest desire is the most important step, because if you know what you really want, spending your attention, vital energy, and time on passing pleasures isn't quite as appealing, and directing your vector towards that deeper desire is rather natural.
From Colm H:
'Spending' implies short-term transactions for some immediate indulgence and no return on investment, likely with no higher aim or objective. 'Investing' implies exchanging short term indulgence for growth and return on investment, potentially compounding towards a greater aim or objective. Therefore anything that delays gratification to aim at a higher life aim, objective or ideal would be investing. In that context:
Investment (ROI towards higher aims):
- The time I spend on spiritual work is an investment towards the larger objective of self-realisation.
- Given that one of the main ways the money I need to live is generated from some of my life energy put into work, not spending my money on pointless things that only provide some short-term distraction and instead putting that money into financial investments is an investment of that life energy—e.g., to enable more choice and freedom later.
- Learning and education can be an investment of my life.
- Some time spent with good friends is an investment of life.
- Spending some time exercising and trying to eat well to keep my body healthy and my house in order, is an investment of my life to provide a foundation for the above and other general more mundane day-to-day life objectives.
Spending (no significant ROI, short term gratification):
- Time spent on distraction. For me, it could be a movie or a Netflix series, watching pointless stuff on YouTube, scrolling through Facebook, etc.
While I try to, and feel I largely do, 'invest' my life, I think that 'spending' a little life on distraction occasionally—some fun, laughter, etc.—is needed. That seems to me to be healthy and indirectly supports the longer-term Investments. As Rose said, 'Life doesn't take you seriously, so why take it seriously'. Wise words. I agree that it's important from time to time to remember to laugh at oneself, life, etc. and the absurdity of much of it.
From Paul Rezendes:
Helen Keller and these two questions bring up a question for me and for all seekers: who is it that is going to make the choice of how I live my life? Is it the mind? Does the mind have control over these things? Does the mind have anything to do with one getting enlightened? Again, who is making the choice? What is making the choice?
From Katie H:
Being raised by a young mother in the 1950s who instilled “do, do, do, and do more” with your days, that principle has always carried me. My life is driven by the knowing that we are all one on this earth, all important, and all valued. I am the gal who saves the four rescue dogs that no one else would consider. Their love brought to my life is invaluable as is the toad we named “Thomas” who we put water and food out for & for our Prairie lizards at the front porch. I am the gal at the garden store who goes to the Clearance plants to see who I might save for Mother Earth. I am the gal who took her granddaughter to a roadside plant stand to buy for Earth Day yesterday. Managing the Good Samaritan Clinic, we put through many unqualified people who needed a hand up, let the unhomed sleep in the parking lot in their cars, take showers in our clinic, and fed all. I am the gal who has written to our President and Vice President to do more for Ukraine as the “world power” to stop the bloodshed and will continue to plea. I am the gal who takes a tissue to catch the fly or bee in the window to let outside. I am the gal who took her grandchildren to McGalliard Falls to run barefoot on the rocks and cold, cold water to understand what this life offers us, to be in nature, only in the sound of running water, to value this precious opportunity. We chant in meditation “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.” Burn sage for purification. Hold Mother Earth gems and crystals close. I am the gal who plans my parents' 70th Anniversary Party and pulls everyone together. I am the gal who puts out food in the food pantry and places money in the hands of those standing on the roadside.
It's perspective and insight. Sitting quietly. Contemplating. For me, purposeful. Appreciation. Letting in what is being offered.
Have I done enough? Probably not, but that's okay. Can I do more? Hopefully today. My impact is small, but it has great meaning and direction to me. Invest as you are led with what is in front of you. You are important. Life is not to be measured. Spend your days with meaning. Meaning is everywhere. I have never been able to do “big,” but my “small” is my contribution and my pleasure from within my soul. Mine is a simple life.
I spend my life in giving with the hopes that my moments have meaning to all as they do for me. Fill your heart. My heart is tender.
From Tess Hughes:
Spend or Invest
In terms of how Helen is using these words, I take it that the difference is a matter of superficial versus profound. We don’t think of investing in the weekly groceries. Investing suggests a long term interest or commitment. Investing is not about the causal activities of daily functioning.
I take that Helen was thinking about the difference between our mundane functioning in the relative world and fundamental issues of our absolute nature, although she might not have used the language of relative versus absolute.
The very fact that she could make this statement shows that she was already what we nowadays call a seeker. Whether through her own intuition or by means of spiritual/religious teachings she had come across, she recognised that our mundane functional self is not all of who/what we really are. She was stating a commitment to finding her deeper, truer self.
This is the same goal of all seekers, whether they call themselves by that word or not.
It is the goal of all true religions, even though the language and mythology may differ.
We humans are gifted with the intuition that we are more that our human selves. Some follow up on this intuition. It seems that there are many who do not.
The question for you reading this is are you willing to invest your life in finding your essential self and if so how to go about that.
This is the business of the TAT Foundation—to help seekers invest their lives to finding their absolute selves.
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TAT Press publishes Tess's This Above All: A Journey of Self-Discovery.
From Brett S:
Investing is just spending with intention. It prioritizes long-term goals over short-term gratifications. Investment requires being willing to “stick it out” through ups and downs; spending doesn’t need that discipline. To invest my life I have to know what my goal is, be able to recognize what furthers my goal and what hinders it, and act in alignment with that. Unlike spending my life (which can be wonton), I think investing my life requires research, reevaluation, and readjustment. I think investing my life requires a commitment. Spending my life just requires an ability to spend. I think the two most valuable resources I have are time and energy. Investing those means using them where I think they’ll do the most good.
From Michael R:
Spending and investing—to me this highlights the difference between energy lost and energy saved. Spending the energy of my life, this moment, this day, would be likened to immediate but likely short lived return. Investing the energy of my life would be closer to saving for a future and ultimately longer lasting return. Ways that I spend my life include mindless entertainment, distraction, and various other ways to dissipate energy and tension. Investing in my life includes closing some of these doors, clarifying and reminding myself of my life’s deepest longing, and focusing energy towards that delayed-gratification longer-term aim.
From Art Ticknor:
- Money: assets, property and resources owned.
- Human energy can be used to earn money.
- Money and physical/mental energy can be stored.
- Expenses: money or human energy paid for something.
- Expenses often can be reduced.
- Money / stored energy can be spent in pursuit of temporal acquisition or invested in pursuit of eternal acquisition.
- Eternal acquisition: Self-Realization, becoming Real, recognizing one's true identity, sahaja (spontaneous enlightenment) nirvikalpa (without the support of an object of meditation) samadhi (oneness with the object of meditation), nirvana ("blown out," liberation from suffering).
From Don A:
For me, the phrase "to spend my life" has a sad and fatalistic feeling, like spending something precious that afterward would never be returned to me. Whatever benefits purchased could not be worth any more than what was spent.
On the other hand, an investment implies a hope for something in return, resulting in far more value than, in my case, an entire life-time spent on myriad desires. Rose's was an example of a life lived to the fullest for a single intention that paid off. A reminder that one would never know what amount of an "unlimited effort" would need to be invested in order to accomplish that to which one was committed—yet, also, never know what to expect.
From BH:
Spending and investing each have goals. To spend usually is so you can have something right now. To invest is to spend differently, with the ideal of getting some greater reward later. In the context of her quote, I take “spend” to signify passing the time. Killing time. You have so much money (time in your life) and you spend it until it runs out. One of the definitions of “invest” from Merriam-Webster is “to make use of for future benefits or advantages.” That signifies to me sacrificing comfort and pleasure for an ultimate goal.
In terms of my ultimate goal, I could frame it this way: I am often drawn to spend my time on easier, immediate desires and pleasures. Distractions, entertainment, socializing. But I can see that spending my limited time and limited energy on activities and practices that are more likely to bring me to achieving self-definition is a wiser investment. Meditation, journaling, confrontation groups, small-group retreats, isolations. When the desire to watch TV comes up, listening to an interview with a spiritual teacher instead. Instead of scrolling social media, going for a walk outside. Instead of going out for drinks, attending a meeting of friends on the spiritual path. Like any investment, I don’t know for sure that they will pay off, but I feel it’s the only chance I have to achieve my highest goal.
From Anima Pundeer:
During one of the weekends retreats [as a seeker], we did a session on taking an inventory of our time. It was quite an eye opener session as I realized that most of my waking hours went in maintenance activities like food, homework, schoolwork, socializing, entertainment (mindless TV watching). Of course there were 20 mins of meditation time scheduled for each day. But if any urgent matter came up, which happened quite frequently like unfinished assignments, getting late, etc., meditation time was first to get filled up by other activities.
I realized that I don’t have to do anything much but simply react to life, and time will get spent. However, if I am saying that finding Truth is my life purpose then I will have to be mindful of how I want to use my time and energy. Meditation couldn’t just be 20 mins of morning/evening activity. If seeking Truth is what I am committed to, then it has to become my way of life. I started to see inconsistencies in my actions, words and thoughts.
Seeking Truth is the path of Knowing Yourself at all levels—from being a little gutter worm to being Absolute.
Living life towards the pursuit of most exquisite experiences, when you don’t know the experiencer, is a sheer waste of life.
All experiences get over. Life gets spent.
When you know your Self, you’ll know Everything. Invest your time in pursuit of Self.
Kabir, the mystic from India says: "Night was spent sleeping, day spent in eating. Priceless life, value of a diamond, has been exchanged for pennies." (In my opinion: Kabir was a nondual, very confrontational teacher of his time.)
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TAT Press publishes Anima's and Art's book: Always Right Behind You: Parables & Poems of Love & Completion.
From Tina N:
I spend my life seeking what is temporary. I invest my life seeking what is eternal.
From Dan G:
Helen Keller did advocate for the blind rather energetically (though not the deaf, apparently, per this Radiolab article). It seems she found salvation from her closed-off world and her ego in a higher purpose than her self. Transmuting the self into something greater seems like one of the last needs people have as they age. And I’ve felt if I can skip close to my final set of values on my deathbed, I can invest more of my self, my life in what matters at the end.
At death, I imagine wanting to know, is there any spiritual reality; and what of me will survive what’s about to happen? I’ve invested a lot of life in answering those questions. I haven’t invested a lot of myself. That seems an untapped resource I could use to place a bet on Truth as a higher purpose.
From Paulette R:
My initial reaction to the question was a question itself having to do with “vs.” Seems to me that set up a conflict or opposition in the words “spend” and “invest” from the get go. Also there seems to be an implied hierarchy in Helen’s words with the use of the word “just” before “live” and “spend,” so my interpretation was that a value judgement is being made that it’s better to invest than just live or just spend. With all of this swirling around in my mind, I reflected on spending first. Regarding money, if you spend it, then you don’t have it any more, which could be seen as a loss, but if there was an exchange of goods, then perhaps it’s a gain. Or if what I purchased broke or spoiled, I could think of that as a waste of my money. Then I started thinking of spending in terms of time, “spending time,” a phrase we’ve probably all said at some point in our lives. Spending time sucked into an online game could be seen as a waste of time, but what about spending time playing with my grandkids, or being with my mom, both while she was living and while she was dying? I certainly value those moments of relationship with loved ones as positive and not a waste of time, although in all those instances, the moments are here and gone, done, past. Then I got to thinking that, in the case of relationships, the actions might actually be an investing rather than a spending, so you can see by these ruminations that the “vs.” wasn’t working for me and had to go!
I went on to think about investing, investing money for the practical purposes of retirement, or your kids college fund, whereby you put aside money now in the hopes/expectation it will grow so you’ll have more in the “future.” On a practical level, that might make sense, though it could be risky. That “future” may never arrive, and it’s a crap shoot as to whether the investments will produce a gain or a loss. Which got me thinking about investing in a spiritual search, and whether it’s comparable to investing money or time. Questions arose, among them: Am I wasting time spending my time investing in a search for something I expect to get/gain in the future? How about investing in terms of commitment? Maybe that’s what Helen Keller was really saying about investing her life. How about investing, committing now, right NOW? Committing to living now, Investigating, questioning, observing, NOW! Living truth, NOW… In this moment, and this moment, and this moment….
So, that’s where this exploration of the words/questions traveled in this mind, with the observation of the process being much more interesting and informative than the content it produced!
From Anton L:
Ms. Keller had an important insight. Investment brings up for me the idea of prudent husbandry of time and energy; stewardship; of “beginning with the end in mind.” Spending connotes decisions taken tactically, in the heat of day under the pressure of immediate desires and fears.
Imagine attending the annual meeting of a well-funded non-profit, with a wealthy and well-connected membership, many of whom have invested in the non-profit over many years. The white-haired members investing in a non-profit or other business must also accept risk and trust the executive leadership. As both board investor and executive on the spiritual quest, I remind myself here, that there is not only careful stewardship of life energies and time. There is also risk in this project. I must be willing to try, to fail, to venture into unknown areas. There are no mountains climbed, unknown seas traversed, families or businesses or careers started, without some risk.
From Mark C:
For me, "spending your life" is just passing the time, doing what one has to do to get the bills paid and keeping one as comfortable as possible...basically the avoidance of suffering and the maximizing of pleasure...or peace and a lack of suffering at the very least. "Investing your life" is about finding meaning beyond the drudgery of everyday life...and finding out who we really are and what's really happening. Everyone of us will pass away and "nothing of you will remain of you" as Pulyan put it so succinctly, but some of us can pass from this world having gained a real insight or understanding as to who we are and what it was all about...Instead of just waiting for our time to expire.
From the editor:
I was hoping that more responders would provide more commentary on their personal relationship to the question of spending vs. investing ... as in the reader commentary at the top of this section:
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.
From searchers, information like their estimated split of time or energy between spending and investing, how they see their split in priorities, and other things like the ones mentioned in the above paragraph. From finders, in addition to the above from their own history as searchers, any suggestions they may have for searchers.
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Next Month
What’s your take on what you really want out of life? Please your responses by the 25th of May and indicate your preferred identification (the default is your first name and the initial letter of your last name).
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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?
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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.
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Hello Lee, Your letter of Dec. 18th has been sticking on top of my typewriter until now... [ellipses are in the letter] in fact I was surprised at the date when I saw it. I am glad to hear that your business is maintain[ing] good momentum. I am always concerned about the stasis, or stagnation of business ventures by people in the group. Because it is the red light of trauma for the individual. The cause of such trauma is difficult to assess or correct because it can be from a lack of attention by the individual... or it can be entirely from an opposite direction -- it can be the take-over of some internal spiritual hunger or attending HGA [Holy Guardian Angel] coming with a shell-bursting Koan. And there is yet a third factor, or possible cause. The third cause comes from entities... parasites (of a spiritual energy addiction) which throw blocks into any spiritual endeavor that might threaten their food supply. What do we do about it? We must cover all three possibilities. If adversity is reflected in what seems to be our actual, physical survival, we must double our efforts and attention... and never give into blaming it on the times or on persecution. If we think it might be a spiritual Koan we plug along with an eye [to] any possible gains from such a Koan. If it [is] a negative attack, we must eliminate all action or habits that would feed the power of a physical attack that threatens the mental energy, so that we [don’t] surrender like a falling house of cards, all the while babbling to one’s self about the many possible diagnoses that might have caused the dead-end state of mind. Just this morning I ran across a book-mark. I cannot remember the exact message... or its author... I thought it might have been placed in the mail by some well-meaning Christian sect. It said in effect -- Do all things for the sake of a higher power, and it will correctly guide your every step. Amazing! I thought. For this I have always believe[d] since I was in my early twenties. The advice covers all three possibilities to problems of adversity. There is a god within every man... that finds his contact with the chief Engineer of this scenario... the Absolute God that has everything planned or is able to at least enable us to see that everything is for the best. And the best includes eternal contentment at the cost of momentary inconvenience. Back to the mundane. Cecy’s dad died Sunday evening. She will be back from Kentucky tonight. Thanks for the letter and the unusual Xmas card -- R. * ~ Lee gave his permission to TAT to publish this letter. He died on 5/12/2015. Shawn Nevins described the letter: "It's classic Rose dispensing wonderfully practical advice."
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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
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Readers' favorite selections from seven years of issues.
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