Blissing Out
Watch out for blissing out.
It’s often a red herring, often spiritualized ego.
Right-minded bliss is quiet. It’s not a big deal; it’s recognized as our natural state, so there’s no need for hoopla. There’s nothing to compare it to, to be especially excited about.
Wrong-minded bliss says, “Oh thank God I have overcome that dirty ego, gotten away from the terribleness of the ego for a moment.” That’s not-so-quiet. There’s a frenetic edge, an element of fear, because there is a recognition it is a temporary state. It makes the ego real, and “bliss” a triumph over the ego, not the quiet recognition of its nothingness.
The right mind doesn’t make a big deal out of anything. Even itself.
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[Audio exceprt from yesterday's class.]
July 9th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I know what you are talking about. The ego is so subtle that is very easy to jump into his boat.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Jamie, Thanks for this important observation of truth about peace and joy. This blog and class excerpt helped me, since I have erroneously put joy on a much higher plane of experience than peace. I never considered them aspects of each other. In my perspective, joy has been the ultimate goal, e.g., the orgasm of peacemaking, winning the Academy Award (whereas peace is just being nominated), riding the surf on Mission Beach (San Diego) versus taking a bath in Phoenix. In contrast, seeing peace and joy as aspects of one being is a relief to me, since I find peace much more attainable than my insane impressions of joy (someone in the manic stage of a bi-polar state, someone on Ecstasy, or a child for a few precious moments after receiving a new toy). That old Christian song “I’ve got joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” also just gave me heartburn. When a choir would sing this in frantic smiles, I’d envision throwing cream pies in their faces (”Will Christie attacks church choir with Marie Calendar pies! Film at 11″).
I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I appreciate your blog today.
July 9th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Right about now, I’ll take the red herring, right minded peace, wrong minded peace, joy of any kind…..anything but the enormous wall of resistance that seems all too real, except when I’m listening to an oratory class, or reading this blog. Hmmmmm, all because “I want it thus!!!” I’ve got the looking down pat,—— without judgment….so/so…better when watching myself watching myself watching myself watching myself watching myself…….(you get the idea) watch myself…..but the waiting part…….uh…..on my way to the Oratory to listen to a class!
With Gratitude and Love
July 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Hugs to you, m’nonymous. I relate to your big wall of resistance. So nice to feel I have company in that lonely place. :)
July 9th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Hi, Jess: You have a lot of company. I also relate to m´nonymous big wall of resistance. I´m waiting for tomorrow´s class. Today´s excerpt only tempted me.
July 9th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I had a big “Ah ha” moment today. I realized the fear I was feeling about moving toward awakening was because I was not trusting Truth. I was not trusting Love, the Holy Spirit, to guide me to Love without harm. Instead I was busy creating my own resistance, which I realized was only setting myself up for pain. I remembered that all pain comes only from our resistance.
What a relief once I let that go! Aaaaaaaahhhhh…. And now I have a warm, comforting feeling that I may be able to do the same again and let go of my fear the next time it surfaces.
July 9th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Dear jamie
you are extremely talented at choosing pictures to go with your blog. I always and enjoy and marvel at their aptness and overall beauty.
Todays is awesome! A red herring is a delberate attempt to divert attention which is the quintessence of the ego`s job description.
The picture shows a beautiful female dancer expressing joy and excitement, but when we really look we see that it is the representation of the ego in its seductive full bloom.
The “joy” portrayed by the red colour is actually is an upside-down love heart cunningly concealed and what is it doing? Why, giving birth to form of course.
And then the colour/mood changes quickly from the instantly gratifying exuberant red to
ongoing and offscreen waves of depressed blue…
July 9th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Lonnie and m’nonymous you both say it so well about the fear, the trust, the resistance. I am beginning to be aware of fear I have about taking Jesus’ hand…and I have felt close to him all my life so that’s perplexing. But it seems it was a “pseudo” closeness because now as I move into this greater trust of him or the Holy Spirit…looking at all of my shadows with them…the shadows that aren’t real but seem so…I recognize real fear of doing that (looking with them with love) surfacing. There is actually a sense of unworthiness to just be there with him to look. Or is it my ego setting it all up that way to stop me because it knows…the jig is up.
Jaime I love “the quiet recognition of nothingness.” It makes my heart sing. I am so soothed when I visit here. It feels safe…gentle.
Much love….
Donna
July 9th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Wow Winnie,
I had noticed the upside-down heart and thought “Yup, we live in an upside-down world with upside-down notions of love.” I hadn’t picked up on the rest of it. Thanks for sharing.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Winnie: Loved your description, and all the details; so glad you shared it. That’s exactly how I look at the photos when I’m choosing them. (Wish I could show my second choice, a lot of times.)
I’d had this particular photo waiting for 3-4 years, I think. She had received a lot of no’s, but today was her day… and it couldn’t have been more perfect, so it was nice to read how you enjoyed it right along with me.
Choosing pictures is probably my favorite job on the blog. I really enjoy it because I love metaphor and symbolism so much — they speak much more deeply than words for me, and for many, I’m sure. So to hear back how someone liked a particular picture, or got what I was trying to convey, or why I chose it, or what I saw in it… it’s more satisfying to me than liking what I wrote. :)
We can forget the words in a post pretty quickly, but a picture sticks with you and holds the meaning close to the heart. As a random example: I can’t remember what exactly I wrote in the Ambivalence post, but I can’t forget the photo. It instantly conjures up all the different aspects of my feelings of ambivalence.
Sometimes I can’t quite find what I’m looking for… and I HAVE spent 3-4 hours looking for JUST the right photo. The worst ever was the post Normal is as Normal Does, which took 4.5 hours. It was getting late, I was tired, but I have this bad stubborn streak. :) In the end it was the perfect photo for the post, and I remember the post now only because of the photo.
And there are a lot of phenomenal photos I’ve been waiting to use for just the right post… some for a long time. It’s always tempting to put them with a post where they fit but would be ‘just ok’, but I resist and am always glad I do. When their day comes, we can enjoy them together. :)
Thanks for sharing in a love of mine.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Jamie, could you share where you find most of those photos?- it must be several sites you visit often, right?
All the monks, for instance – they seem to belong to the same family or painters. I search on Google images myself, but find nothing of what you find here.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Nina,
I have a theory for where Jamie gets his pictures.
For years, people have been telling me to stick various things, concepts and ideas “where the sun doesn’t shine”. I never understood that.
I’ve given this a lot of thought. I sincerely think that a ton of stuff has been placed by millions of people “where the sun doesn’t shine”, since millions of other people have urged them to put their stuff there!
My theory is this: I suspect that Jamie knows where this mysterious place is “where the sun doesn’t shine” and he has an access code (or old fashioned key) that allows him to retrieve stuff from this location. This is the only logical explanation for it.
However, I have a sub-theory (as a back-up). Is it possible that Jamie has a box of his baby teeth? When he needs a fresh perfect picture for a blog, he puts one of his baby teeth under his pillow at night. In the morning, the tooth is gone but the perfect picture is there! The tooth fairy has modernized her approach, and now leaves jpeg picture files under your pillow. I have some of my golden retriever’s baby teeth, and I am going to try it tonight.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:36 am
Will, please share the result of the dog-teeth-picture-finder-thingy. Amazingly new discoveries coming up, I can’t wait!
And Will, have you ever written something published? like for children? I think we have some of the same crazy imagination. I truly enjoy all your postings.
July 11th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Nina,
Thanks for the kind words. I was once a technical writer, which often involves translating highly complicated computer system logic and technology into a 4th grade child level. Other than this, I have not been published. There’s a funny idea in that phrase somewhere….we’ve all published ourselves into bodily form, and often don’t like the literary reviews, right? :-)
I put one of my dog’s teeth under my pillow. I looked this morning and I found a coupon for a free sample of Viagra. However, now I am suspicious that this was not a gift from the Tooth Fairy, but instead a subtle suggestion from my bed partner! :-(
Well, our Monk Meister is in Temecula this weekend, so we can all wish him a….what do we wish him? A good time (like a tourist in gaudy clothes sucking on a Big Slurpy while lounging at the hotel pool)? Not so sure that is what he seeks. Wisdom? OK, let’s go with that. We can all wish him wisdom!
July 11th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Nina and Will…
You guys are blowing my mind…your mind…our mind….maybe The One Big Mind. I HAVE published books…for children…the most prominent one about a talking dog…(okay, so maybe no dog teeth figured prominently in it)and now I read all these “connections” in your collective posts. Excuse me…I have to go unconnect the seemingly connected or unboggle the boggled. Or show ego to the Exit.
Peace
July 11th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Oh no, Laura, don’tleave without giving the title on the book, please.I will google it.
July 11th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
If I wrote a children’s book, it would probably be like the one I saw in Walmart a couple years ago. It was about a dog with excessive gas, and the family that owned him. They were about to get rid of him, but then burglars came and the dog “gassed them” away! After that, the family was glad their dog had serious digestive problems. They just wore gas masks all the time. No kidding!
Laura, you have a great talent if you have been published. I think it is probably hard to do nowadays.
Will
July 11th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Nina…
First, put a halt on any having-been-published groupie stuff, Girl. Don’t mean nothing. What is more important for you to know is that my life (like Pursah of Gary Renard fame) has been divided between
the publishing career pre and post to the Big Dive…translation…Pursah’s career as a professor went south when students lied…mine went south after a personal event that changed the course of my life (no pun). But don’t shed any crocodile tears for Pursah or me either. These things are the kind of stuff that reels a person into a spinning dive, crash and burn…and emerge from the ashes to find The Course. Consequently, my children’s books are out of print. But you can still locate them as used books for sale on Amazon. Google the title: Figment, Your Dog, Speaking.
Will: I know of the book about the dog with gas. Someone brought a copy into work. How
cute it is!!!!
Publishing…yes, very very very difficult. It was back when I was doing it…probably harder now. It was fun…and thankfully, it gave me a springboard to a new career.
So…any lesson? I would trade my fifteen minutes of fame as a published author for 15 minutes of direct connection with God. No contest. Publishing is fleeting and egoic. God lasts.
Something tells me I have done a TMI here.
But you all will forgive me…as I forgive myself.
Write on!
Hugs, Laura
July 12th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Laura,
just to be clear: I am not into being famous and envying your fame and such – but i do love childrens books almost above all books, especially the illustrated kind of surrealistic ones. I love them because they are straightforward, and have essence – or else kids wouldn’t love them. By seeing the book you had written would show me a little more about my fellow nun, see.
flying hug from Norway to you!
July 12th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Nina…
You were such a dear to ask…and I was such a silly to let my ego color my response.
Felt that Norway hug…a Toto lick on the face back to you from Kansas.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:41 am
it is a non-existent lick from an imaginary dog in an imaginary dream, and I have to say I loved it, and it made me feel very special – thank God it’s not serious!