Pictures for Thought
Transcript of Pictures for Thought
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Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950),
Advaita sageOf all the thoughts thatarise in the mind, the 'I'thought is the first. It isonly after the rise of this
that the other thoughtsarise. It is after theappearance of the firstpersonal pronoun that thesecond and third personal
pronouns appear; withoutthe first personal pronounthere will not be thesecond and third.
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Robert Adams (1928-1997), Advaita
sage, knew Ramana Maharshi
Problems just mean that the
world isnt turning the way you
want it to. But in truth, there are
no problems. Everything is
unfolding as it should.Everything is right. You have to
forget about yourself and
expand your consciousness
until you become the wholeuniverse. The reality in back of
the universe is pure
awareness. It has no problems.
And you are that.
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Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981),
student of Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj,
and Advaita sage"The seeker is he who is in search of
himself. Give up all questions exceptone: Who am I? After all, the only factyou are sure of is that you are. The Iam is certain. The I am this is not.Struggle to find out what you are in
reality. To know what you are, you mustfirst investigate and know what you arenot. Discover all that you are not -- body,feelings, thoughts, time, space, this orthat -- nothing, concrete or abstract,which you perceive can be you. Thevery act of perceiving shows that youare not what you perceive. The cleareryou understand that on the level of mindyou can be described in negative termsonly, the quicker will you come to theend of your search and realise that youare the limitless being.
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Wei Wu Wei (Terence Gray, 1895-1986),
Irish aristocrat, student of Ramana Maharshi
and of Chan Buddhism, and Advaita sage
Why are youunhappy?
Because 99.9 percentOf everything youthink,
And of everything youdo,Is for yourself -
And there isn't one.
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Jean Klein (1916-1998)
student of "Panditji" Rao, and Advaita sage
The only obstacle [to realizing
freedom] is your belief that you arean independent entity. You are
stuck in this belief. It belongs to a
personality invented by society,
education, experience, beliefs,
second-hand information and all
kinds of reading. You have
identified yourself with this
fictitious I and you live from this
point of view. You look at andcontact the surroundings from this
viewpoint. Because the personality
is an object like any other, you live
in object-object relationship.
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Francis Lucille (1944- ), student of
Jean Klein, and Advaita sage
Advaita is a sanskrit word thatliterally means "not two". Synonymsof Advaita are non-duality(nonduality, non duality). Advaita is
not a philosophy or a religion. Non-duality is an experience in whichthere is no separation betweensubject and object; a "me" and therest of the universe; a "me" andGod. It is the experience of
consciousness, our true nature,which reveals itself as absolutehappiness, love and beauty.Consciousness is defined as that,whatever that is, which is aware ofthese very words right here, right
now.
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Rupert Spira (1960- )Ceramicist and nonduality teacher
Experience is all we have andConsciousness is the primal andmost intimate fact of experience.
Every experience that we ever have,that we ever could have, that we everwill have, is experienced by this
Consciousness. Meditation is simply to abide
knowingly as that. It is very easy. Infact it is the easiest thing because wealready are that. It would beimpossible to be anything else.
We just remain as we are, as wealways have been. And we allow themind, the body and world to be justas they are.
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Adyashanti (Stephen Gray, 1965- ) Zen
student of Arvis Joen Justi
Truth is only discovered in
the moment.
There is no truth that canbe carried over to the next
moment, the next day, the
next year.
Memory never contains
truth, only what is past,
dead, gone.
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Greg Goode (1953- )Philosophical counselor and nonduality teacher
I experience no edges or borders or limits.I cannot experience a difference between"me" and "you." Your inquiry will confirmthis as "your" experience as well. It is notpersonal, but global, unlimited. It isalready that. That is, inquiry will reveal the
lack of difference between a "you" and an"other." Ironically, the desire to attain thisas a personal experience is as close toseparation as you'll ever get - and eventhen it is not truly separate. The desire toexperience what another experiences isbased on unsubstantiated beliefs, all ofwhich lead to suffering. Wanting toexperience what we project "anenlightened person" experiences is thevery feeling of suffering; it's not the path tothe ending of suffering.
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Ramesh Balsekar (1917-2009), student of
Nisargadatta, and Advaita sage
A simple examination of one'spersonal experience will revealthat what usually disrupts thepeace and harmony in life is athought about something wethink we or someone elseshould or shouldn't have done.What mystics have said forages, is viewed from theperspective of modern living:
that actions are 'happenings'and not something done bysomeone. This understanding iswhat actually contributes to andhelps us in discovering the stateof equanimity and peace whichwe most ardently seek.
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Wayne Liquorman (1951- ), student of
Ramesh Balsekar, and Advaita sage
You have probably spent your whole lifetrying to control and modify the eventsyou see are connected to your guilt andsuffering. You try to be more patient,more honest, more loving, more chaste,more generous, more open, more
tolerant, more productive or moreeffective. Despite your efforts it is likelythat some, perhaps many of the eventsconnected to your suffering and guiltcontinue to occur.
Look deeply into the assumption thatyou COULD have acted/reacteddifferently in the moment that you didwhat you did. Examine the claim by theego that you were the author, theindependent source of that event forwhich there is now a feeling of guilt.
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Candice ODenver
Great Freedoms teacherRest as flawlessawareness, seeing all asflawless awareness, until allis flawless awareness. Inother words, rest as theawareness which is theunderlying essence of allthoughts and emotions,seeing the anger and lust asforms of that awareness,and eventually you will findthat the anger and lust arenothing but pure awarenessin disguise.
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Scott Kiloby (Advaita teacher)
In seeing that awareness isever present, we realize that
awareness is our real identity.
This naturally and effortlessly
releases the tendency toidentify with the various
appearances that come and
go within awareness.
Appearances include thoughts,
emotions, sensations, statesand experiences.
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Papaji (1910-1997), student of Ramana
Maharshi, and Advaita sage
Again and again we speak of this thing:only get rid of your impediments, andsimply stay quiet, thats all. With thevery burning desire, like somebody
who is burning, and will run to a well,or a river, or a stream, only for water.Someone who is burning must go tothe water; he will not go anywhereelse. Like this, if you have the burningdesire, I want to be free, in this life,
before the end of this life, this mustbe a longing always in your mind, thenyou will be successful. You will havewon the game and you will be veryhappy always because freedom andhappiness and bliss go together.
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Gangaji (Merle Antoinette ("Toni")
Roberson,1942- ), student of Papaji, and
Advaita sageI truly have nothing toteach you. There havebeen many teachers whohave taught exquisite and
useful codes of conduct,methods of meditation,ways of living andmanifesting in the world. Iam simply pointing to the
stillness that is alive inthe core of your beingand inviting you to turnyour attention to That, tolet That live your life.
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Ram Dass (Richard Alpert, 1931- ), student
of Neem Karoli Baba, and guru of selfless
service and compassion
Ram Dass changed the world in 1971with the publication of his hugelyinfluential Be Here Now - a book thatquickly brought spiritual practice andmeditation to millions of Westerners.
Not only did its stunning informationand design impel readers right into arealization of the essential present, itintroduced Eastern spiritual practice tothe West in a totally accessibleway. The book still stands as thehighly readable centerpiece ofWestern articulation of Easternphilosophy, and how to live joyously ahundred per cent of the time in thepresent, luminous or mundane. It isstill part of the timeless present. Beinghere now is still being here now.
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Swami Muktananda (1908-1982),
disciple of Nityananda, and controversial guru of
siddha yoga
In this world of desires, a personbecomes his own enemy and begins totorture himself. He himself becomes asinner and then groans. He himselfserves the poison of ignorance to himself
and thus commits suicide. While he ishostile to himself, he blames others. Whydo you commit suicide for lack ofknowledge? Give up your illusions andsee yourself as you really are. Upliftyourself by means of knowledge. Serve
the nectar of wisdom to yourself. Achievegreatness. The soul dwells as theperceiving Consciousness in everybeing. Reflect on the inner Truth. Exploreyour own depths. Direct your seekingwithin. Revel in your own being.
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Satchidananda (1914-2002), founder of
Integral Yoga and of Satchidananda Ashram
There is only one cause for allmental problems, worries andanxieties: selfishness. Restlessnessof mind is caused bydisappointments. Only selfishness
can cause unhappiness. Tomaintain your tranquility you mustkeep your mind away from dualitypleasure, pain; profit, loss; praise,blame. If you can keep your mind
away from duality, you can still haveideas and perform actions, but theywon't affect you. When yourenounce your attachment, there isnothing to shake you. It is thefeeling of possession, of clinging,
that disturbs the mind.
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Leslie Temple-Thurston (1950?-), awakened
through TM, and Advaita sage and founder
of Corelight
Using our capacity to be in thewitness, we must use vigilance towatch ourselves throughout theday. We must observe
dispassionately what sort of statewe are in all the time. The criteriawe would be watching for aretiredness or tension in the body; aslumping posture; irritability;
exhaustion; tunnel vision on amental, emotional, or physicallevel; or feelings of overwhelm,depression and boredom.
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Catherine Ingram (1950?- ),
Advaita teacher
Love gets twistedsometimes. And it showsup in all kinds of sad andtragic ways when it hasbeen perverted,suppressed, and denied.Though love is everyone'sessence, not everyone is
aware of that at all times.Stay with your own knowingof love. It transforms yourvision of the horrors.
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Tenzin Gyatso (1935- ),14 th Dalai Lama of
Tibetan Buddhism
I believe that thepurpose of life is to behappy. From themoment of birth,
every human beingwants happiness anddoes not wantsuffering. Neithersocial conditioning
nor education norideology affect this.From the very core ofour being, we simplydesire contentment.
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Sharon Salzberg (1952- ), Buddhist
meditation teacher and cofounder of Insight
Meditation Society
It is hard to look at our ownproblems, negativities, hatreds,fears, and to admit they arethere. We tend to cut off these
parts of ourselves, to push themaway. Or we succumb to themat times. But there is a way oflearning how to see these thingsin ourselves without taking them
so to heart, so to speak. We canlearn to say, "This is a habit ofthe mind or this is a conditioningof the mind and it doesnt feelgood."
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Joseph Goldstein (1944- ), Buddhist
meditation teacher and cofounder of Insight
Meditation Society
I don't think there'sever an escape from
the world as long aswe are alive. Thegoal is freedom fromattachment. It's
being free from thethirst of desire. It'snotnonexistence.
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J K b Zi (1944 ) i df l di i
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Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944- ), mindfulness meditation
teacher and founder of the Center for Mindfulness
in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at University
of Massachusetts Medical SchoolThe two fundamental thingsthat most people get out ofthe Mindfulness Based Stress
Reduction program,independent of symptomreduction, are these. First, thebreath is an ally and can beused to calm down and see
more clearly. The other,related discovery, is that youare not the content of yourthoughts. You don't have tobelieve them or react to them.That's incredibly liberating.
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Master Charles Cannon (1945- )Student of Muktananda, Founder of
Synchronicity FoundationFaber, VA
"Life is Divine...Youare alive.You are Divine...Alland everything isDivine.Honor the divinity
of Life".
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Next
some autobiography
P l G S h lh (1904)
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Poplar Grove Schoolhouse (1904)
Plum City, WI (my dad is in front row, 6th
from left)
Parents and three oldest of nine
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Parents and three oldest of nine
children in 1933, at house where I
was born in 1930
In 2003 after remodeling and
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In 2003, after remodeling and
under different ownership, the
house looked like this
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Another 2003 view of my birthplace
One of two other things Pierce County
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One of two other things Pierce County,
WI is noted for: The birthplace of Laura
Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)Little house in the big
woods, reconstructed
on original site near
Pepin WI.
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The second other thing is:
In 1984, the Ellsworth Cooperative
Creamery was proclaimed the "Cheese
Curd Capital of Wiscons in
Our Mantra:
Cheese Curds in Every Home
Cheese Curds in Every Store
Cheese Curds in Every Restaurant
Cheese Curds in Every Life Style
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Namaste
I as Awareness/Presence saluteYou as Awareness/Presence