gnoselph

ValentinTomberg

Learn at first concentration without effort; transform work into play; …– Anonymous (Valentin Tomberg) Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

  • talking about that the goal of the experience is to experience “the joy that can arise in the moment that makes all things become effortless.”
  • Here we will need to speak a little more about ourselves, set a new signal to identify ourselves, and speak some about feelings and emotions.
  • March 17 is a peculiar anniversary for us. It is the first time we have had a suicide attempt and according to those who resuscitated us, we weren’t breathing and had no pulse. We were in our late 20’s then (the late 80’s) and haven’t had such urges for several decades. Our journey from that point was a series of institutions where we believe we eventually received our most accurate diagnosis of complex (childhood) post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorder, and anxiety driven depressive disorder.
  • For a long time, we struggled with our identity until we accepted that we were multiple identities and finally found some sort of federacy (although in the beginning it was a fragile confederacy) to become a functioning human being.
  • Thus, we usually refer to us as, tahdah!, we. From here on out though, to identify when we are speaking of the personal, we, we will be capitalized, We. When we refer to the common, we, (which we are sensitive to limit so as not to should on the collective we), it will be as usual, we.
  • Apologetically, when it is more accurate, We may even use I. The I is reserved for past selves before we became federated. This is times when various egos predominated and even fully dominated our other selves.
  • Okay, what We have perceived and learned through our decades of struggles is that most of what others perceive in Us (We) as disorders, is often nothing more than exaggerated distinctions that we all really share.
  • A wonderful example of what I am trying to say is the Pixar movie Inside Out. Hardly a usual movie We would watch (or recommend), but We had a therapist who insisted, and while, critically, it has its failures, therapeutically, it is spot on, remembering only that there is a spectrum and we all fall somewhere differently, no matter how close and majority some points may be.
  • So, let’s talk about emotions and feelings.
  • There is a biased saying about women that is wrong on many levels but that can be more appropriately applied our feelings and emotions, “You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them.”
  • Like all things, the opinions will range from left to right. How a person chooses to engage with their feelings is their own business. We only hope to help others understand in a way that can help them choose wisely.
  • For example,
  • Most would agree that liberty and equality are admiral goals for society. But when it comes to our offspring, we really want more of what’s best for our offspring even if at the expense of others. Throw life and death into the mix, and all ideals of liberty for all quickly goes out the window.
  • As moral antirealists, We don’t judge such truths. Both perspectives are valid depending on context, perspectives, feelings, and projected justification.
  • The reason we can say We don’t moralize either way is because as much as we as a society may agree on acceptable behaviors, what drives us as a society and individually are the evolutionary drives that allowed us to ascend the evolutionary pyramid. We didn’t ascend evolution harmoniously and now, even amongst our peers, our beliefs and feelings can be divergent.
  • What this means is that an emotion or feeling of joy came into existence for a reason, and most often, it arises for purely natural reasons regarding survival and reproduction, not rational or logical reasons.
  • Let’s talk about extreme joy, or ecstasy. This is most known as an accompaniment to sex. Would we choose to get all sweaty and mix bodily fluids if there was no ecstasy? We don’t think so. From an objective perspective, sex could even be said to be disgusting (hello Puritans). But as our genes demand to be reproduced, our genes needed something to make us do the dirty.
  • The point is, nonjudgmentally, our emotions are functions, they have a purpose designed by evolution and nature. Remember, evolution and nature are irrational and illogical. Thus, our emotion’s purpose is not always (some would say never, even when beneficial) rational or logical. And in fact, extreme emotions can rob us of our rational capabilities.
  • Feels are volatile and dangerous. But also, would life be worth living without them? They can be said to be a catch 22. Can’t live with them and can’t live without them.
  • Clearly an ideal would be an Aristotelian means. As anarchists though, no means should be right or wrong and certainly not made into laws. We are all free to determine our own means, even unto disaster. The only thing We want to do, as already said, is help in educating others so they can discover the means that is most useful for every individual’s personal thriving.
  • Our emotions and feelings are less ours than they are our programmers, our genes. But as sapient beings, we can affect our emotions and feelings, where other organisms cannot. We are aware of our evolution, and that knowledge gives us “some” power over who we are and want to be. All things natural are not good and some unnatural things can be better than what is natural.
  • We seek a world where everyone is free to be, feel, and do, whatever brings them joy (without desiring to harm or exploit). But we don’t seem able to allow others to be, feel, and do, whatever they want because we are threatened by those who are different. This isn’t rational, but, the scary thing is, it is natural.
  • Everybody’s Free by Rozalla feat. David Anthony on piano

Ephemeral Gnoselph Prat Discuss...

Learn at first concentration without effort; transform work into play; make every yoke you accept easy; and every burden you carry light! – Anonymous (Valentin Tomberg) Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

  • Our goal in these personal meditations is to share the influence these words and others have had on our life and how to best implement them into a truly free and equal existence.
  • We are atheists and anarchists (Libertarian Socialism comes close to our political and social vision). But we have been influenced by many deistic and theistic writings, never wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater, nor indulge in black and white fanatical thinking.
  • We are not aware of anywhere the words of the first two lines of the quote above are written. The words of third and fourth lines are echoed in Mark 11:30, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
  • Tomberg spends several pages describing these words and you can get a detailed synopsis here The Magician.
  • The first line is the most elusive to practice. We find a simple Daoist meditation on the present and passing moment the simplest. Become aware of the moment as it comes into being and passes away (Gospel of Thomas, saying 42). This is also the nature of Daoist influence on Zen and other forms of Buddhism and ephemeral spiritual beliefs.
  • But we need not spiritualize such truth, we can simply accept it as it is. Although, the tendency to spiritualize is natural, evolutions way of helping (tricking) us into living, and reproducing. If we weren’t capable of primitively making sense, fantasize, of such existential truth, early sentience would most likely have been impossible as early organism would have been too terrified and crippled into inaction, unable to see past the ever-present existential dangers to gather and hunt, let alone reproduce. It was necessary for evolution to pull the wool over our eyes to get us to do its business of consuming and reproducing.
  • Ok, a bit of sideline there, but it is a deep understanding that is important to process the path to personal thriving.
  • This is because for many, to simply sit and become aware of the ever-evolving moment can be anxiety provoking (to cease movement, to cease work, goes against our programming). So, to concentrate with ease, is way more difficult to do than say, for many.
  • But the second line gives us a clue, “transform work into play.”
  • The overarching goal of the first two lines is to become aware of the ever-slipping moment and experience joy. To do so intentionally is, at least at first, work. Yet, all of us have experienced this eternal moment at some point in our lives, through sex, music, dancing, singing, nature, playing, sports, and many other moments of sublimity.
  • We, humans, are unlike any other creatures in that we first come into the world completely passive, with our only ability being perception. Even the other apes, are born to cling, whereas human children must be carried by their caregivers or some invention to carry them. They are unable to cling effectively to their caregiver as the caregiver goes about its business of surviving and providing. We perceive first whereas other animals are able to “do” at the beginning. Not that they don’t perceive, but at the very least, then can perceive and do.
  • This beginning, whereas all is achieved by perception, everything else is done for us, magically. This has profound implications on our drive to be entertained. We learn by being entertained. This is natural, and neither good nor bad, it just is. But to exceed our programming, if one desires to do so, one must be aware of our natural truth.
  • Likewise, we can experience the infinite now (Tolle, Eckhart; The Power of Now) simply by being entertained. One trick is, while one attempts to work at experiencing this now, is to use music, meditation tapes, exercise, sex, or any other method one finds useful, to help one become aware of the river of time.
  • There is no one size fits all recipe to achieve the deceptively simple task of concentration without effort. Play, experiment, be adventurous. All you want to do now is overcome any hurdles of anxiety or stress about doing nothing but focusing on the moment. And do not make it work like so many fanatics would have you believe.
  • The goal is to experience the joy that can arise in the moment that makes all things become effortless (Csikszentimihalyi, Mihaly; Flow). At some point, like when it happens dancing, or whatever, this will emerge as joy. A song we like (among many) is “Let the Joy Rise,” by Abigail.
  • En-joy
Read more...