JerryAndJeff

Good morning. The reality of our work is the expression of the now. Not an imaginary reality we hold in our minds, not our ideas of the work or ideas about changing our selves, just this, right here and now.

Our work is about embodying a finer energy, becoming sensitive to a finer material. This requires a strong and active attention.

Can we become sensitive now to a life in us of another quality. If we are situated in this, we don’t have to make a ME of everything that happens

We go into the street and keep something of this energy alive in our life. We bring our conscious attention into the world. I do not need to get something. I need to open to a larger attention now.

Don’t allow your negativity to become pervasive habit, where contempt and intolerance become malignant.

As the song states, “We’re too old to rock ‘n’ roll and too young to die”.

Hope” is the thing with feathers
By Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

Mr. Bennett:
“Group is a home, heart
Strength, an energy source
At a high level it is self-sufficient.
The means for “to presence of group” is not within human hands – it does descend from above and from within (essence)
It relates to both a need and to the dharma pattern inherent; it does not depend on the outside.
Personality cannot belong to a group – only to a hierarchical structure. (authority) or a chaotic tense “grouping”
There is a special kind of sharing in Group – every cell is responsible, caring for every other cell.
The Work is Essence.”

We are working deeply with our negativity. To quote a bit of what we listened to from JGB:
“To replace all negative attitudes towards the existing world by a feeling of confidence and love towards the new world which is being born, towards the still unborn child that is the future of human-kind.

To arouse in oneself constantly this love of the future of humanity. Every time one observes in oneself some kind of negative attitude, take this as a reminder that we human beings live on this earth in order to serve, particularly to serve the future. And to serve with love, with hope, with confidence, that it is possible for human-kind to be born again.

This is a very hard thing that I am proposing to you, because in all of us negative habits are so ingrained. In the very midst of feeling compassion, one finds oneself finding fault, judging. This is a disease that overcomes mankind and we are all infected by it.

It is a technical matter. It is not a matter of thinking “it would be nice to be like that”. It is a matter of knowing how to bring oneself to that place where our attitudes are under our own control, where it is possible for us to say this, and not that.”

So how to do this. This is more than working with ‘world 24′ energy, where we see our negativity and we try and do something about it.

As stated on Saturday: We dwell strongly in our awareness and not identify with the content of the awareness. If it is my attention, it is not the other attention, which transforms. We connect with another attention, energy, intelligence, by simply being in our awareness and not identifying.

This is an inner shift.  Dwelling in stillness so another current can flow. By not identifying and being in awareness, we relate to higher energies, come under another influence.

Not opinions, ideas, thoughts, stories, emotions, techniques, beliefs, not thinking about the work. Only this active awareness.

What we bring is our intensity of attention, capacity to stay in our attention. And not identify with anything. That’s all. We come back to this strong attention and awareness that is not identified, over and over again all day long.

Our theme remains Sacrifice. Remember our sacrifices need to be invisible, “A sacrifice that is seen to be a sacrifice, is not a true sacrifice”.

“Sacrifice and struggle work in opposite ways. When we struggle, separation comes first and choice or decision afterwards. In sacrifice we decide to separate ourselves from something that we are attached to. We separate from something in our present moment.”

We have spoken about Help and how receiving help is indispensable to our aim. Can we connect ourselves to a source which is outside of our present moment, be open to help, aware of its necessity in our lives. Its presence during the course of our day. Help comes in many forms and when we least expect it.

We have connected at the end of our meetings through Mr. G Web Exercise. Let us do this together each day at noon or whenever we remember. To establish our connection through a web, through the energy of our work together.

To continue our recent discussion: Cultivating empathy is far more challenging without first believing—or seeing—that we are each essentially the same as all other beings.

And to paraphrase what has been said with a sentence from Rumi—’Don’t look for water Be Thirsty’

The quality of courage we have is the hearts capacity to open to things in life no matter what they are. Whatever comes – that is the path.

JGB:

Here are some rules I have found useful in the practice of sacrifice.

1. Any desire for reward the creeps into sacrifice destroys its value. 

2. Be intelligent in your choice of objects to sacrifice.

3. Do not sacrifice at the expense of others, unless you are able to make it up to them.

4. A half hearted sacrifice is not much of a sacrifice.

5. Sacrifice what is precious to you in this present moment.

6. Never bargain over sacrifice.

7. Do not be fool-hardy and attempt sacrifices that you will regret.

8. Measure what you can bear. This is the measure of what you are.

9. Search yourself for attachments and ask yourself whether you are ready to sacrifice any of them.

10. Right sacrifice is made for a good reason, but not for a good result.

11. Keep your sacrifices hidden from others, or if this is impossible contrive to make it seem that you did well out of them.

12. Sacrifice must not be the result of struggle, but of decision. It is a decisive act that is made in a moment and there must be no hesitation or second thoughts once the decision is made.

There is a word, Dukkha in Pali, Duhkha in Sanskrit, that is considered the starting place of the path in Buddhism. It is the condition we find ourselves in, a state of Dissatisfaction. It is so deep we often do not see it. Dissatisfaction with ourselves, others, the world, the way things are going, the future, the weather this day, how others treat us, give us our do, pay attention to us, and so on. The suffering of change and craving. Unease!

Every moment of mindfulness is also a moment of equanimity. It is not a disengagement from the object of awareness but rather a full and complete engagement with it.

Our Theme is Dis-satisfaction. Seeing it within ourselves, its depth. What changes when we recognize it.

There is a need to be very active, intentional and very receptive and open. Both are essential. What reconciles these, what enables these to be genuine?

Seeing our nothingness. Having remorse, understanding that our aim is humility. Not knowing.

Not knowing can bring about openness. Engaging without an expected outcome, being willing to be wrong. Ultimately to open to Conscience within.

Our ego gets in the way of everything. For some folks, this manifests as avoidance, hiding, feeling inadequate.

And of course it’s opposite. I want everyone to know about my high experience, or I have always something to teach everyone, or to show my great understanding of the work, etc.

Self-importance, egoism, pride, can manifest in wildly different ways. Can we manifest from a place that is real, less separate, less hiding or showing me. This is where the reconciling force comes in, has to come in.

If you  feel not up to snuff at times, down, there is the blessing of being nothing. Transform that by letting go of the negative side of it and seeing the favor of it. Self-pity, feeling sorry for oneself, depressed at oneself and all of that, keeps us from connecting to a deeper reality that is a gift. For all of us, be nothing and be ok. As stated, our most difficult emotions can sometimes be our most profound teachers.

We can come to a non-interfering attentiveness.

Coming to meetings on a regular basis enables.