To cal about scorching spirituality and other metaphors

[Guest guest]

Dear cal ~ I think you are relatively new to the list. If not, please accept

my apologies. I am quite ill, and periodically I "get behind" with the

digests, which essentially means there are some I don't read. This is especially

disturbing to me since I coordinate the weekly prayer list, so puleeeezeee send

your requests to my personal email: _Nierika_

(Nierika) rather than the digest. If they are in the digest,

there is the

possibility I will miss them, much to my sorrow. (sorry, cal, for the little

ad, I

stuck in there)

 

Because I have been more ill over the past week or so, I missed the actual

quotes that included the "duty 'scorching' spirituality, and the other two. So

I was basically responding to the responses. If you can repost these quotes

to the digest (or send them to my personal email, since, I guess, mostly

everyone else has seen them), I will write a response that applies more

directly

to the quotes. Many thanks ~ Linda

 

Cal wrote:

 

>> ...The specific

>> metaphor of duty 'scorching' spirituality is baffling to me. In my

>> mind, if a reasonable interpretation of the metaphor isn't appropriate

>> or warranted what use is the metaphor? The same could said for the

>> other two quotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Linda, here are the three quotes. I am better with them now, as it

dawned on me finally that they didn't come from Amma. Yes, I'm new to

this group. And to Amma too. I've received her darshan twice, but have

only recently committed to her as my guru and God mother. I am

attracted to Amma because of her authentic love for humanity and for

all life. The work does with Amritapura is deeply compelling to me.

 

I hope you are feeling better. I am sending prayer. Please put

yourself on the prayer list. ONS C

 

 

 

• Even a thought is a hindrance to realize the Self.

 

• Duty is the midday sun which scorches the tender plant of spirituality.

 

• Ordinary beings are shattered by the floods of lust, anger, greed,

pride, envy etc…

 

 

 

Ammachi, nierika wrote:

>

>

> Dear cal ~ I think you are relatively new to the list. If not,

please accept

> my apologies. I am quite ill, and periodically I "get behind" with the

> digests, which essentially means there are some I don't read. This

is especially

> disturbing to me since I coordinate the weekly prayer list, so

puleeeezeee send

> your requests to my personal email: _Nierika_

> (Nierika) rather than the digest. If they are in the

digest, there is the

> possibility I will miss them, much to my sorrow. (sorry, cal, for

the little ad, I

> stuck in there)

>

> Because I have been more ill over the past week or so, I missed the

actual

> quotes that included the "duty 'scorching' spirituality, and the

other two. So

> I was basically responding to the responses. If you can repost

these quotes

> to the digest (or send them to my personal email, since, I guess,

mostly

> everyone else has seen them), I will write a response that applies

more directly

> to the quotes. Many thanks ~ Linda

>

> Cal wrote:

>

> >> ...The specific

> >> metaphor of duty 'scorching' spirituality is baffling to me. In my

> >> mind, if a reasonable interpretation of the metaphor isn't

appropriate

> >> or warranted what use is the metaphor? The same could said for the

> >> other two quotes.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Cal ~ ah, well, I did read the first one and wrote an "epistle" as a

response. Some felt the same, others probably didn't. But to sum it up, if you

missed it, I think thoughts are tools, just as are our feelings, our

physical bodies, and our energetic bodies. It might be a bit different to think

of

thought/feeling/physicality/energy in this way, but this is how I've come to

think of these gifts. A tool or a gift can be misused or used to help, to

create beauty, to serve others. If you want to read the whole thing I wrote

about

it, go back in the posts and look for subject lines with something like

"Thoughts as tools."

 

I've already logged in with my understanding of "duty" in terms of the

second one.

 

So it is only the third one that I had not seen. IMHO lust, anger, greed,

pride, envy are feelings, and so come under the same frame of reference for me

in terms of feelings being tools and the question of how are we using our

tools. Lust could transform into sincere admiration; anger could transform into

acceptance; greed could transform into a desire to give, into gratitude for

what we have, or, again, into admiration; pride could become humility; envy

.... same as greed.

 

And so what do we do if we have one of these thoughtbots or feelingbots

comes up? (A person on another digest used these terms, and I really like them.

I

think ithey signify automatic,habitual thoughts and feelings as well as

spontaneous thoughts and feelings that arise in a situation.) We can feel bad

about ourselves (I've been there; it isn't really very useful); we can feel

frightened of the feelings or thoughts because we asign them a negative value

(again, not really helpful); we can acknowledge they are there, say thank you,

but no thanks, pranams and all that, and let them pass by like clouds. Most

importantly, we can choose to not turn the thoughts or the feelings into

action.

 

Besides clubbing myself unrelentingly for having "bad" thoughts or feelings,

after a lot of hard inner work, I made friends with the thoughts and

feelings that troubled me. I accepted them. I learned that the energy behind

them

was energy for me to utilize, and of course, I get to choose how to use the

energy. Amma models for us so perfectly how to appropriately express feelings,

where the usefulness of a thought might lie (a though to build a hospital,

like AIMS, for example), and She models the behavioral equivalents of thoughts

and feelings with Her unconditional love, Her playful moods, Her childlike

innocence and enthusiasm, and Her no-nonsense approach to getting something

important done (like helping the tsunami victims).

 

I can't think of anything else to say about this topic, but I hope I've

gotten the gist of what

I believe across.

 

Cal wrote:

 

>> Hi Linda, here are the three quotes. I am better with them now, as it

>> dawned on me finally that they didn't come from Amma....

 

>> • Even a thought is a hindrance to realize the Self.

 

>> • Duty is the midday sun which scorches the tender plant of spirituality.

 

>> • Ordinary beings are shattered by the floods of lust, anger, greed,

pride, envy etc…