- Call for contributions

[Guest guest]

Hello Members,

 

We would like your ideas! We all learn from each other, and can support

each other, provide companionship, friendship and love to each other.

 

There are about 150 members in this list. Only a small fraction

contributes. But who knows what fascinating insights and observations are

available from each and every one of you on the list!! Before Harsha left

for a week or so, he briefly discussed with the co-moderators how to

provide a forum where more people contribute.

 

On behalf of the moderators, let me encourage you to get involved if you

can! Consider writing on something like the following:

 

1. How did you become interested in Self-Awareness, Kundalini, etc.?

 

2. Have you had a good teacher? Have you been a teacher?

 

3. Do you have any interesting experiences or observations to share?

 

4. Do you currently have a spiritual practice of any kind?

 

5. Is there anything you would like to see on this list

(i) talked about more?

(ii) talked about less?

 

6. Can you offer something about one of these topics:

A poem, song lyrics, a mantra, a math problem, your religious

upbringing or background, your favorite path, your favorite book,

Hatha yoga, Ashtanga yoga, kriya yoga, raja yoga, jnana yoga,

chakras, Tree of Life, Vedanta, Greek Orthodox Christianity,

Tai Chi, Judo, Jeet Kun Do, Savate, Kapoeira, Buddhism in your

community, colors and health, crystals, loyalty to teachers,

Egyptian mysticism, Freemasonry, the sentience of plants,

Pleiadian wisdom, consciousness in post-modern physics,

obscure wise teachers, Rosicrucian mystery schools, mystical

visions you have had, the prettiest sight you ever saw...

 

7. Throwing my own hat into the ring, I have some questions I'd like to see

discussed, because I don't have any knowledge of the topics.

(a) Is Christianity growing these days or declining?

(b) In Tibetan Buddhism, what is the difference between

Dzogchen and Yogachara?

© I forget the name, but I once heard of a yogic teaching

that divides the components of the human being into 172

levels (the highest finite number of levels I'd heard

about - advaita vedanta has only 5 sheaths). The aspirant

must transcend each and every one. My acquaintance was

only at level 74 after about 12 years. He was a bit

discouraged. Does anyone know the name of that path?

(d) Colors: What is the significance of blue in Japanese culture?

What is the significance of red and blue in Jewish culture?

(in New York city, it seems that kosher deli's that serve meat

have red signs, and kosher deli's that serve dairy have blue signs).

 

8. YOU suggest a topic!!

 

With love,

 

--Greg

[Guest guest]

Dear Greg,

 

At 02:16 AM 11/21/99 -0500, you wrote:

>Greg Goode <goode

>

>Hello Members,

>

>There are about 150 members in this list. Only a small fraction

>contributes.

 

As Harsha has noted, all who are on the list contribute by their presence

and attention. Additionally, many contribute in private dialogue inspired

by on-list discussion as well.

 

I assume there are many individual reasons for varying levels of

participation, and an exploration of some of them, as suggested by other

list members recently, will probably help us increase our dialogue on list.

 

I post rarely due to time constraints, but still value the list and the few

minutes each day I have the opportunity to scan through the mail for

meaningful posts.

 

But I have wanted also to mention an aspect of my own experience in

relation to the list--it is probably minor and coincidental, but my

experience has been that of getting no almost response to any post I make.

Perhaps my posts are not germane to the tone of this particular list. That

was my earlier theory--I noticed in its early months this list was

predominantly male and predominantly theory-based in its discourse. For a

while I wondered if there was a link between the gender weight of the list

and the left-brain approach to spiritual topics--a theory I still haven't

figured out. I compared this list experience to the Kundalini list I had

been on for a while--that list tended to have more female posters than

male, and the dialogue was more based in subjective experience than

analytic or theorectical discussion of spiritual topics. Anyway, for the

first months on the list, I noted my posts only engendered

(no pun intended!) responses from women, with Harsha being the male

exception. Wacky theory, perhaps. I don't know. I realized I had stopped

posting after a while, thinking that my perspective was not relevant to the

direction the list wanted to go. I have stayed on the list anyway after

thinking of leaving, and I do find the list has changed in it's make-up and

discourse in ways which seem more balanced and whole.

 

If there is anything to conclude from this for me, it is that we serve our

list community well by responding to what is posted. Mainly I think this

list and particularly Harsha, is very good at this---keeping us feeling

that we are all valued members of a community. Probably my own experience

with feeling invisible on the list is anomalous, but I have wanted to

mention it, since the question arose as to why many list members don't post.

 

Your list of ideas is a good one, Greg, with material for a year of list

discourse. Perhaps you could spur us on to lively discussion by asking one

or two of these at a time! The beloved Hillary on the Kundalini list keeps

us wide awake by her timely posting of polls based on a couple of

questions, whenever things get slow on the list.

I've noted over the last year how effective this is.

 

What do you think?

 

Jill