re pattern of higher entombment

Well said, Robert! I think you've hit the nail on the head, and that
the essence of spiritual growth is letting go of the defenses that keep
us feeling separate. Certainly one of the practices I use the lists for
is of paying attention to the posts that cause a defensive reaction in
me and then asking myself what defense I am running that evokes that
response. For that reason, it is useful to me to have posts that use
language in ways that push my buttons. I certainly respect Harsha's
desire to maintain a civilized, non-harmful sangha, so I hang out on NDS
and The End of the Rope lists as well, because there I am more likely to
encounter the button pushers. (I tease the poor man incessantly about
his desire for a civilized sanga, calling him a hoodlum, but I wouldn't
do that if I didn't love him. Or at least, I wouldn't do it if I
weren't such a cruel and heartless creep... Yeah, that's it....
projection.)

so, what am I trying to say? Well, communication that is kind as well
as perceptive can do a great deal to open us up to the love that we are,
and I am a huge fan of it. But I also believe that language that
insults, threatens, or demeans us can be used to open us up to the love
that we are if we are willing to invest the energy in vigilant self
examination, especially when such language pushes our buttons. And
then, there are those posts which are meant one way and taken another.
So much of my life seems to be playing out the infinite possibilities of
that one!!!! What a hoot we are! Laughing at it seems to help take down
those defenses and enable us to hear the quiet voice of love. (of
course I hallucinate a bit now and then too...)


Love, Mark
PS Ahhhh, fuck the whole lot of ya's. You're all assholes. Not a scrap
of decency amongst you. Your type really makes me sick. Putrid
malefaction en masse. Why the very smell of your recently laundered
shorts is enough to annihilate whole solar systems, never mind the way
you stink... oops. I left the projector on. sorry. careful with
those buttons, Eugene...

Lobster said: Effective communication may sometimes remove the element
of
choice and insist on being heard. This is when we have
to listen most
carefully for there is a pattern of higher attunement
being transmitted in
every contact.
Care and sensitivity often exists more
in receptivity than in expression . . .


To carry on what Lobster sated, if possible: As with
all things we encounter
daily in life, and this goes for emails too, we have to
learn to listen
without reaction (most difficult at times). However,
learning to listen is
not possible without trust. And, without trust we are
always on our guard;
we have barriers of self-protection that defends us
from what we cannot
control. Listening is a state of openness, and the more
we are open the more
we are able to hear. And because spiritual listening is
done with the ear of
the heart as well as with our physical ears, the heart
has to be open.
Listening to the teacher (whatever or whoever that is
for the individual)
requires a degree of vulnerability in which we lay down
our defenses, we
abandon our patterns of censorship. Listening to what
we call God means
being totally open and surrendered... otherwise we will
obscure God's hint
with our own little self and miss out on the teaching.

Love, Robert

Mark Otter wrote:
snip -
>
PS Ahhhh, *bleep* the whole lot of ya's. You're all *bleep*. *bleep*
*bleep* *bleep* *bleep* *bleep* *bleep* *bleep* *bleep*
*Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*
.... oops. I left the projector on. sorry. careful with those
buttons, Eugene...
>

LOL!