Really great essay on self and self reflection. And a couple truly great synchronicities with me right now as I begin to explore a little of Krishnamurti.
When I came to Joan's quotation I quickly jotted down:
"The Joan Holme’s statement doesn’t bother me because by experience I know that the Universe is ‘friendly’ in a tough-love kind of way. How do I know this, ‘by experience’? Because I paid close attention to synchronicities, especially the so-called ‘negative’ ones. Their is guidance they have towards the 'ahas' of life. And the biggest 'ahas' are often associated with digging ourselves out from under our self-created messes. As you so greatly described above.
I would also add that the 'friendliness often comes with a truly wicked sense of humour. Is that actually friendly? Certainly would say that that *isn't* not friendly. Friendliness is kind of irrelevant in this existence which seems to be looking for us and maybe itself, to expand awareness in a myriad of ways.
Thank you Guy. Sometimes it is fun to revisit old stories and see the lessons at the time not learnt and see what might be different about that story with older eyes. I overheard someone say "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" in a gloomy sort of way and it reminded me of the boat and the past and started me thinking about whether it is 'true' and/or whether I believe the universe to be friendly or unfriendly. I would consider that I have been very 'lucky', my sufferings have largely been self inflicted as you stated above with the aha moments, so therefore of benefit to me. But some people seem to get dealt a significant amount of hardship and I am contemplating the 'unfairness' of that as I type. No answers of course, just musings as always!
Sep 7, 2023·edited Sep 8, 2023Liked by April Whalley
Some people do get the brunt of what seems like an unfairness of life at its worst.
Interesting challenge!
In the book *The Nature of Personal Reality* the book Seth channeled through Jane Roberts, Seth claimed that each of us experience what we chose to experience. Is that true? Fascinating question. At the time I first read that, 1978(?) or so, it had a deep resonance with me, even with the serious physical, psychological and emotional trauma I was in at the time. Delusion or not on my part? On my sisters' parts? Hmmm.
Have you heard of Anneke Lucas? Her story is the absolutely most horrific I have ever encountered, and at the end of the day the inspiration from it matches and more to cancel out the horror.
Fascinating. I'll be responding to your email soon. Your request prompted some real soul searching on my part! Thank you. Or as my partner taught me to say, 'Domo arigato gozaimasu'. どうもありがとうございます.
It is a question I think about often. Why that person? Why did that happen to them? But why not them? Why not you or me? These things keep us having interesting discussions and keep us working on ourselves because we ask these questions of the universe, of life. I understand the soul searching, not your specific questions of course, but the premise. It is important for us to understand our motivations and our sincerity and through this to learn what we are able to offer. I respect this absolutely and thank you too. It is always inspiring to read your comments.
Caroline Myss talks about this being our chosen experience as well. One of my friends likens it to a video game, to which I comment that then lets get to it and play it as best we can. I don't think he likes because he has taken on a strong idea of being a victim in the game rather a co-creating participant. I like the analogy, though, because it suggests that there is a structure to the game of life, otherwise it isn't a game. And that the 'game' aspect is that it is not rigidily predictable even with the rules.
Outside the rules then it is no longer a game, of course. It becomes something else. And even that something 'else' loses its grip of terror when addressed by the path of addressing the 'problem' of motivation and intention. These begin to merge together at some point, because quality of intention actually becomes the basis of what motivates us and the quality of the effort we put into it. (This is a key part of my evolving awareness at this time.) At some point that becomes the Taoist concept of effortless effort. There is no motivation or intention at all! There is simply doing as the moment asks to be fulfilled, with appropriate eccentric action.
Isn't it curious that we can 'reasonably' talk about all this as if it was the ground point of existence. And yet, how do we know that that is the case? For me, it was studying 30 years plus of closely paying attention to synchronicities and dreams.
Good night! I'm feeling sleepy, even though I have a big write to do. I'm doing my first look, ever, at Krishnamurti. Three synchronicities popped up around him. Very interesting, not at all what I expected. I'll post that for my next essay. Again, good night.
Maybe you will like this song! No Eminem for sure, let alone shady slim. Laura Mvula.
"These begin to merge together at some point, because quality of intention actually becomes the basis of what motivates us and the quality of the effort we put into it."
I hadn't thought about it this way but I am looking at the moments before going into cold water. The dread of the 'pain' of it.... okay, I understand it the first time but then the rewards are huge and the bliss of calibration between mind and body.. perfect. So the following week, I am interested to see the same resistance of mind. The desire to stay in bed? And yet? I WANT to do this? The knowing that it is hard... why is that there again? Week after week, it makes no sense because the reward is so great? I have been musing on it for months... watching how the brain deceives... what I game. I am constantly trying to work out the rules and yet I know I never will. I am seeking that sweet spot where I will simply be doing and the ego will subside and stop telling me the stories of the game!
I enjoyed the way you started with the quotes, which pertained to the idea that would underpin the whole piece. And how you then lead into a story which helped explore the idea before circling back to the idea to give your final thoughts — a very well laid out and thought-provoking piece indeed.
And I totally agree with you when you said, “When you are on a boat called Murphy’s law, your sorta asking for trouble” —- gold.
What a great comment! Thanks so much Michael. It's a great feeling for me to be 'understood' ! I seem to spend a lot of time blab blab blabbing and often get blank stares from bored friends (or just rando people at bus stops ha ha). Substack is a great way for me to express something, think clearly and lay out my idea with better focus!
I can totally relate April. I get the blank stares as well. And so, like you, I’ve found some sort of solace in writing, as it helps me arrange all my rants into something more structured and (hopefully) digestible. And it seems substack is the best place to put these structured rants.
Nice! Much better that we vent this here than end up as one of those people walking down the street talking to themselves. Ahh, maybe I do that too now I come to think of it. Hmm. Just reading and enjoying one of your pieces now.... comments to follow 🙂
Oh my, how the law of attraction has manifested here. up until this post I didn't quite know we spoke the same language (considered woo-woo by many, so we tend to shut up about it).
When you mentioned Meister Eckhart, I thought you were talking about Eckhart Tolle who began my journey to self awareness and ego death many moons ago. Now I have to go check out this original source of wisdom.
You come from a lot of adventure and I wanna hear more about it!
Oh how I love Eckhart Tolle, he helped me so much too. I believe that he changed his name to Eckhart because of Meister Eckhart? I think I am right in saying that. Half of my posts are my woo woo side and half are my Slim Shady side ha ha. If you have time (I know there is so much juicy stuff to read on here we don't have time for it all) read my post about Slim Shady and Jung's shadow. I am so weird and diverse I surprise myself on a daily basis!
I am delighted you read this - so good to feel heard 🙏 thank you
Really great essay on self and self reflection. And a couple truly great synchronicities with me right now as I begin to explore a little of Krishnamurti.
When I came to Joan's quotation I quickly jotted down:
"The Joan Holme’s statement doesn’t bother me because by experience I know that the Universe is ‘friendly’ in a tough-love kind of way. How do I know this, ‘by experience’? Because I paid close attention to synchronicities, especially the so-called ‘negative’ ones. Their is guidance they have towards the 'ahas' of life. And the biggest 'ahas' are often associated with digging ourselves out from under our self-created messes. As you so greatly described above.
I would also add that the 'friendliness often comes with a truly wicked sense of humour. Is that actually friendly? Certainly would say that that *isn't* not friendly. Friendliness is kind of irrelevant in this existence which seems to be looking for us and maybe itself, to expand awareness in a myriad of ways.
Great and wise share, delightfully told.
Thank you Guy. Sometimes it is fun to revisit old stories and see the lessons at the time not learnt and see what might be different about that story with older eyes. I overheard someone say "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" in a gloomy sort of way and it reminded me of the boat and the past and started me thinking about whether it is 'true' and/or whether I believe the universe to be friendly or unfriendly. I would consider that I have been very 'lucky', my sufferings have largely been self inflicted as you stated above with the aha moments, so therefore of benefit to me. But some people seem to get dealt a significant amount of hardship and I am contemplating the 'unfairness' of that as I type. No answers of course, just musings as always!
Some people do get the brunt of what seems like an unfairness of life at its worst.
Interesting challenge!
In the book *The Nature of Personal Reality* the book Seth channeled through Jane Roberts, Seth claimed that each of us experience what we chose to experience. Is that true? Fascinating question. At the time I first read that, 1978(?) or so, it had a deep resonance with me, even with the serious physical, psychological and emotional trauma I was in at the time. Delusion or not on my part? On my sisters' parts? Hmmm.
Have you heard of Anneke Lucas? Her story is the absolutely most horrific I have ever encountered, and at the end of the day the inspiration from it matches and more to cancel out the horror.
Fascinating. I'll be responding to your email soon. Your request prompted some real soul searching on my part! Thank you. Or as my partner taught me to say, 'Domo arigato gozaimasu'. どうもありがとうございます.
All the best!
🙏❤️🧘🏿♀️🙌🧘🏿♀️❤️🙏
It is a question I think about often. Why that person? Why did that happen to them? But why not them? Why not you or me? These things keep us having interesting discussions and keep us working on ourselves because we ask these questions of the universe, of life. I understand the soul searching, not your specific questions of course, but the premise. It is important for us to understand our motivations and our sincerity and through this to learn what we are able to offer. I respect this absolutely and thank you too. It is always inspiring to read your comments.
Hola, April.
Caroline Myss talks about this being our chosen experience as well. One of my friends likens it to a video game, to which I comment that then lets get to it and play it as best we can. I don't think he likes because he has taken on a strong idea of being a victim in the game rather a co-creating participant. I like the analogy, though, because it suggests that there is a structure to the game of life, otherwise it isn't a game. And that the 'game' aspect is that it is not rigidily predictable even with the rules.
Outside the rules then it is no longer a game, of course. It becomes something else. And even that something 'else' loses its grip of terror when addressed by the path of addressing the 'problem' of motivation and intention. These begin to merge together at some point, because quality of intention actually becomes the basis of what motivates us and the quality of the effort we put into it. (This is a key part of my evolving awareness at this time.) At some point that becomes the Taoist concept of effortless effort. There is no motivation or intention at all! There is simply doing as the moment asks to be fulfilled, with appropriate eccentric action.
Isn't it curious that we can 'reasonably' talk about all this as if it was the ground point of existence. And yet, how do we know that that is the case? For me, it was studying 30 years plus of closely paying attention to synchronicities and dreams.
Good night! I'm feeling sleepy, even though I have a big write to do. I'm doing my first look, ever, at Krishnamurti. Three synchronicities popped up around him. Very interesting, not at all what I expected. I'll post that for my next essay. Again, good night.
Maybe you will like this song! No Eminem for sure, let alone shady slim. Laura Mvula.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1SniLCGHvhHJAiGe3hLboq
🙏❤️🧘🏿♀️🙌🧘🏿♀️❤️🙏
Yes! I realise I am also looking at this..
"These begin to merge together at some point, because quality of intention actually becomes the basis of what motivates us and the quality of the effort we put into it."
I hadn't thought about it this way but I am looking at the moments before going into cold water. The dread of the 'pain' of it.... okay, I understand it the first time but then the rewards are huge and the bliss of calibration between mind and body.. perfect. So the following week, I am interested to see the same resistance of mind. The desire to stay in bed? And yet? I WANT to do this? The knowing that it is hard... why is that there again? Week after week, it makes no sense because the reward is so great? I have been musing on it for months... watching how the brain deceives... what I game. I am constantly trying to work out the rules and yet I know I never will. I am seeking that sweet spot where I will simply be doing and the ego will subside and stop telling me the stories of the game!
This was a great piece.
I enjoyed the way you started with the quotes, which pertained to the idea that would underpin the whole piece. And how you then lead into a story which helped explore the idea before circling back to the idea to give your final thoughts — a very well laid out and thought-provoking piece indeed.
And I totally agree with you when you said, “When you are on a boat called Murphy’s law, your sorta asking for trouble” —- gold.
What a great comment! Thanks so much Michael. It's a great feeling for me to be 'understood' ! I seem to spend a lot of time blab blab blabbing and often get blank stares from bored friends (or just rando people at bus stops ha ha). Substack is a great way for me to express something, think clearly and lay out my idea with better focus!
I can totally relate April. I get the blank stares as well. And so, like you, I’ve found some sort of solace in writing, as it helps me arrange all my rants into something more structured and (hopefully) digestible. And it seems substack is the best place to put these structured rants.
Thanks April :)
Nice! Much better that we vent this here than end up as one of those people walking down the street talking to themselves. Ahh, maybe I do that too now I come to think of it. Hmm. Just reading and enjoying one of your pieces now.... comments to follow 🙂
Ohh I still walk down the street talking to myself ... but whenever my legs get sore it’s nice to have substack ;)
How lovely, I look forward to hearing what you thought.
Oh my, how the law of attraction has manifested here. up until this post I didn't quite know we spoke the same language (considered woo-woo by many, so we tend to shut up about it).
When you mentioned Meister Eckhart, I thought you were talking about Eckhart Tolle who began my journey to self awareness and ego death many moons ago. Now I have to go check out this original source of wisdom.
You come from a lot of adventure and I wanna hear more about it!
Oh how I love Eckhart Tolle, he helped me so much too. I believe that he changed his name to Eckhart because of Meister Eckhart? I think I am right in saying that. Half of my posts are my woo woo side and half are my Slim Shady side ha ha. If you have time (I know there is so much juicy stuff to read on here we don't have time for it all) read my post about Slim Shady and Jung's shadow. I am so weird and diverse I surprise myself on a daily basis!
I am delighted you read this - so good to feel heard 🙏 thank you