I am separate from nothing. I am part of everything. You are too. Do you feel it?

P

Phoenix

Senior Member
Location
Oregon, U S
Carl Sagan said, "The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff."

Paul Kingsnorth said, "Something I have come to understand slowly over my lifetime is that nature, earth, the world - whatever you call it - is not simply something I am on but something I am. It is not outside of me: it is me and I am it. There is no outside."

For me this was a wonderful realization, one which is still dawning. Anything I can do for another living being, anything I can do for the planet, I do for myself. As such I will practice compassion, for in so doing, I am being compassionate to myself.


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That's a concept that most people have zero understanding of I think. We live in a world that encourages isolationism and me-ism as an operating system. What also makes this a 'hard' philosophy is that because we need to live like that for the sake of survival, even when you understand that we're all part of the same 'All', it's awfully easy to get caught up in the materialistic drama and forget what we're really part of. I have to remind myself constantly and I still get caught up in this life's stuff. It's always two steps forward, one step back so the journey seems slow. But by golly, we'll all get there eventually (even though it takes many lifetimes;))
 

So you feel the oneness too, Shalimar. Like you, Debby, I've felt the isolation. I still feel it. But, being here is a learning process for me. Evaluating all my experiences, I've come to realize that while sometimes people and circumstance push me mentally away from all-that-is, I can bring myself back to what I was before I was born and grow from there. Have you ever thought what your face looked like before you were born?
 
Shalimar said:
Yes I have Phoenix. As a visual person, I see a smooth surface, constantly flickering from identity to identity, some past, some only possibilities.
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Interesting. One morning just before dawn I was just coming out of the fog of sleep and beside me I saw images holographed over my night stand. They were lined up single file and presented themselves one at a time. I realized they me in various lives. That was during my New Age period.
 
Fascinating Phoenix. I have, I believe, a memory fragment from my life in ancient Egypt. This picture has been with me since I was a child. I am walking on the beach, not the Nile, the water on my left. Small, brown, young, no more than fourteen.

A black wig, bare feet, a skirt, perhaps. I am walking away, so only the back view is visible. I am not an important person, but I am happy.
 
No I haven't and apart from curiosity, I see little need to.

Paul Kingsnorth seems to be influenced by the words of John Donne (1572-1631)

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main...any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee"

I go along with Debby's observation that we are mainly driven by the need to survive as an individual. This seems to be built into the DNA of all living ceatures. We are all made of Stardust and that is where we will end up, but while we're here, it's up to us to make the best of it. Look at my 'signature' - that's how I see life.
 
Shalimar said:
Fascinating Phoenix. I have, I believe, a memory fragment from my life in ancient Egypt. This picture has been with me since I was a child. I am walking on the beach, not the Nile, the water on my left. Small, brown, young, no more than fourteen.

A black wig, bare feet, a skirt, perhaps. I am walking away, so only the back view is visible. I am not an important person, but I am happy.
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So cool. I've had visions of an Egyptian life as well. I even had my name at the time come to me once, I wrote it down in some journal and have forgotten where that is. I was seated by the Mediterranean with some handsome man.

Captain Lightning, we each decide what is important to us.
 
Phoenix said:
I am separate from nothing. I am part of everything. You are too. Do you feel it?
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When I walk my dogs I sometimes can pull my mind away from thinking about the past, or thinking about the future; I just listen to our footsteps, the dogs breathing , and any breeze that might rustling things.

In the moment is the goal, along with not having verbal thoughts.
 
Shalimar said:
I meditate twice daily. My body lets me know when it is time for the afternoon one. It is peaceful just to stop, slip within, embrace the moment, and let go of the day.
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Meditation is very relaxing. I used to do it and should get back into it. It certainly wouldn't hurt! :)
 
"The carbon in our apple pies."

“The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
 
tnthomas said:
When I walk my dogs I sometimes can pull my mind away from thinking about the past, or thinking about the future; I just listen to our footsteps, the dogs breathing , and any breeze that might rustling things.

In the moment is the goal, along with not having verbal thoughts.
Click to expand...


And isn't that the hardest thing to do Thomas or am I the only one here who finds it extremely tough to turn off the mental activity? The other thing that you also referenced in your comment that I have trouble with is continuously reliving the past and doing the 'I should have said this, I should have done that, I should have...' and 'when he said this, when he did that, blah, blah, blah....'. A total waste of time and energy and so hard to quit doing!

I used to find it a little easier to accomplish in those quiet moments when I'd sit outside in the quietness of the evening with only the sound of the horses munching their hay and the frogs calling from the pond. Deep, deep breathe, let the shoulders relax and drop and open my soul to the quiet of the universe......lately much more difficult:(.
 
Just out of curiosity Phoenix, do you have any particular authors that you would credit with helping you to see things differently? I'd be interested to get another name or two to add to the mix of ideas and understandings.
 
It can be very hard to turn off the inner chatter. It takes practice. And like you, Debby, for me sometimes it is more difficult. One of the things I say to myself is, "Look you've been over this same thought umpteen times, no need to do it now." The thing is, we can think about the past and the future, but we are living in the moment. It's been called mindfulness. All we have is the moment. In the moment, if I am not in immediate danger, I can let myself drift. Therein, I can find peace.

At the end of one of his meditations sessions on DVD, Rodney Yee, a yoga instructor says, "There is no fear of the process of birth, life and death, for when we stand in the present moment, we are timeless." What he says helps me reign in all the worry. He has a number of DVDs. He has a soothing voice and helps me get into the space of letting go.

My first understanding of this kind of thing came from Richard Bach and his work Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I read it when I was 21. It freed me in so many way. His books, The Bridge Across Forever and One helped me remarkably. In 1988 when my sweetheart died, I read The Bridge Across Forever, and wrote to him through the publisher about how much it touched me. I was sitting in my dining room trying to stay afloat, miserable and feeling like I couldn't make it, when the phone rang. It was Richard Bach. I had not given him my phone number in the letter. He looked it up, called and asked me if I was alright. He walked his talk. I was overwhelmed by his kindness. He wrote to me for a while, and when I told him about the book I was writing about the murders my brother had committed, he referred me to his editor for his books. She was quite famous in the industry at the time. By then she was a literary agent and semi-retired. With the help of her associate they found the book a publishing home. I will be forever grateful to the man.

New Age teachings as well as the Buddhist concept of mindfulness helped me. The oneness I know now comes from a synthesis. I studied the religions of the world and gleaned the positive from each of them. Huston Smith's The World's Religions helped me with that. Man's Eternal Quest by Paramahansa Yogananda helped me. What is Zen by D.T. Suzuki is good. Interacting with nature is helping me now. From what I understand it takes ongoing practice and each day we begin anew. I hope I've answered your question adequately. If not, let me know and I'll see what else I can find.
 
Thank you Phoenix for those suggestions. I've written them down and will check them out.

When you wrote about receiving that phone call from Richard Bach, I admit that it gave me a huge 'lump in the throat' kind of feeling to think about his kindness and the serendipity of him calling you just at a moment when you were feeling lost. The Universe knows, you know, and reaches out when we need it.

(just got back from my favourite online used book seller [Abe Books] and have ordered 'Man's Eternal Quest'. I'm looking forward to reading it after doing a bit of research about the contents. Sounded pretty good so thanks for the suggestion :)
 
Debby, I was high for a long time from Richard's call and his kindness. More recently, I was in contact with him through his forum and again he gave me a contact in the writing world to help with one of my books. It didn't work this time, but I at least got an audience with one of the persons in the upper ranks in the company. She knew Richard and tried to push my book through. This time his former editor had passed away, so it did not get published. But what a kindness. My last agent is dying of cancer. Since I'm learned a lot about writing in the last thirty-five years, I know that even if a major publisher publishes ones work, that does not mean it will have a budget for the promotion. Most people have to do it themselves, or their book languishes. Publishers also often cut important things out of the book. They did that with my murder story. Which is why I'm redoing it all these years later. I'm doing it to get the story out and help create understanding. They do it for the money.

I hope you like Man's Eternal Quest. I read it and a lot of others when I was trying to get over my sweetheart's death.
 
That's amazing that you wrote a book! I love reading and I developed a real appreciation for 'words' and their use. I remember when I was young and reading that book 'The Vampire Lestat', there is a portion of the story where he's only begun to realize that the transformation is happening to him and you read about how things looked different and the feelings he was having .....I found the descriptions almost intoxicating and the words that were used were fabulous! One of these days I should give that one another read just for fun. I did buy and read a book from my childhood to read and then give to my grandkids. I'm hoping one of them likes to read because this little book, A Wrinkle in Time, was my introduction to science fiction.

I admire your stick-to-itiveness (?). Takes great self motivation Phoenix so kudos to you on that score.
 
Thanks, Debby. Actually I've written eight. Only two of them are published. Both are out of print. 9/11 changed the publishing for the kind of books I write. Publishers and agents want what to me are ain't-it-awful stories, after that. I've lived through horror. I have no need to experience it vicariously. I've written one kids' book and a bunch of adult fiction. They are paranormal verging on fantasy. If the murder story isn't a pain in the butt to get out there doing it through Smashwords, I will publish the rest of them that way, myself. I know more about writing after 35 years than most of those I'm trying to get to accept my stuff. Enough.
 

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