Didgeridoo Sound & Silence World-wide Meditation - Dec 21st

[Click image above for more clarity...]

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 23, 2009

Free Yourself from Your Mind

Adapted from Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from The Power of Now (p. 21–22)

The best way of assimilating the teachings of A New Earth is through reading, contemplating and slowly digesting the concepts in the book. You can also take any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and give it your fullest attention.

Choose one or two activities you do routinely and bring your attention to them. Here are three examples.

• Every time you walk up and down the stairs in your house or place of work, pay close attention to every step, every movement…even your breathing. Be totally present.
• When you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sensory perceptions associated with the activity: the sound and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, the scent of the soap and so on.
• When you get into your car, after you close the door, pause for a few seconds and observe the flow of your breath. Become aware of a silent but powerful sense of presence.

[The group read up to the top of page 46.]

~CLICK~ to listen to the web discussion on Chapter 2 with Oprah & Eckhart.

If... ??

If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.

- Yogi Berra

Drumming circle this Friday eve, 7-9, Stoughton, MA

"Sharing the Bounty" Presented by: Jean Fox and Jane Mooney Co-founders of the drumming circle "Sisters of the Spiral"		Friday, November 20th 7:00 –9:00 pm $5.00 Suggested Donation
Dating back to the beginning of the human race, drumming continues to be an integral part of many cultures. Research has shown drumming to be an "efficient technique which may lead to emotional and physical healing experiences". Many people have described a sense of peace and increased awareness after participating in a drumming circle. A sampling of drums and varied percussion will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring their own drums. To Register: Please contact us at (781) 341-0939 or via e-mail at Nancy.Conroy@onekicenter.org 2 Canton Street (Rt. 27) Stoughton, MA 02072 781.341.0939 "Drum sound rises on the air, its throb, my heart. A voice inside the beat says; I know you’re tired, but come. This is the way." ~ Rumi

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 16, 2009

Awakening Exercise for Chapter 2:
Listen for the Voice in Your Head

Adapted from Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from The Power of Now (p. 18–20)

A few times a day, listen quietly for the voice in your head, the stream of continuous self-talk. Then ponder the following questions. Just be with the questions. Don't necessarily try to answer them.

• Am I the thoughts that are going through my head?
• Or, am I the one who is aware that these thoughts are going through my head?

Pay attention to the gap between your thoughts—when one thought subsides and before another arises. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. When these gaps occur, you disidentify from your mind and feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the essence of meditation and the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment.

[The group read up to the middle of page 42.]

>CLICK<< to listen to the web discussion on Chapter 2 with Oprah & Eckhart.

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 9, 2009

The group read up to the middle of page 34, to just before "CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE EGO"



Exercise [from page 64]:

See if you can catch, that is to say, notice, the voice in the head, perhaps in the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a conditioned mind-pattern, a thought.


Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. In fact, you are the awareness that is aware of the voice.
In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground, there is the voice, the thinker. In this way you are becoming free of the ego, free of the unobserved mind. The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist. The old mind-pattern or mental habit may still survive and reoccur for a while because it has the momentum of thousands of years of collective human unconsciousness behind it, but every time it is recognized, it is weakened.

The "Inner Teacher"

Our buddha nature has an active aspect, which is our “inner teacher.” From the very moment we became obscured, this “inner teacher” has worked tirelessly for us, tirelessly trying to bring us back to the radiance and spaciousness of our true being.
Not for one second, my master Jamyang Khyentse said, has the inner teacher given up on us. In its infinite compassion, one with the infinite compassion of all the buddhas and all the enlightened beings, it has been ceaselessly working for our evolution—not only in this life but in all our past lives—using all kinds of skillful means and all types of situations to teach and awaken us and to guide us back to the truth.

- Sogyal Rinpoche

Labyrinth Workshop - Tuesday, November 10 at 7 pm.

A Labyrinth Workshop will take place in the Parish House of Old Ship Church, First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 107 Main Street in Hingham, on Tuesday, November 10 at 7 pm. Arrival and welcome from 6:45pm.

Labyrinth walking has been practiced in a great variety of cultures and religions for many thousands of years. This form of meditative walk, is known to clear the mind and to bring up personal insights.

In this 2 hours workshop you will discover :

• prehistorical labyrinths and their metaphorical meanings
• fascinating symbols of medieval Christian floor labyrinths, such as ours
• different strategies to walk any labyrinth
• guidance to prepare yourself for a deeply meaningful meditative walk.

We will start with an illustrated lecture presentation, proceed to the labyrinth floor for your silent candle lit walking meditation, then silent writing about your experience, followed by voluntary circle sharing and exploring how to possibly integrate your new found insight into your life.


Liliane Verdier has been presenting this well received workshop to the public and special interest groups, such as a Bible Study Class and a Men’s Spiritual Quest Groups since 2000. 20% of the $15 admission fee will go to support Old Ship.

No pre-registration. Please put the date on your calendar and post. Thank you.

For more information contact Liliane at 781-749-9581 or Lilianevhing@aol.com

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Oct 26, 2009

This week, take some time to consider what your life purpose is. Not the ultimate, join-with-God, but the specific: what are you focusing on now. Look at those tendencies, aversions, and desires that have been with you since you were very young. What do they imply about what you are doing here this time?

thinking...

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

-William James

10 Rules for Being Human

By Cherie Carter-Scott (website)

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.


2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."


3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."


4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.


5. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.


6. "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."


7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.


8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.


9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.


10. You will forget all this.

As Edgar Cayce put it, “You grow to heaven, you don't go to heaven.” More at EdgarCayce.org.

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Oct 19, 2009

This week, keep an eye out for a glimpse of ego. At some point, you will find yourself complaining, or justifying your actions, or worrying about some outcome, or being ashamed, or proud, or...


When you do, stop. Just step back gently in your mind, and have a look, without judgement:

What is going on? What is the mechanism? Are you arguing with someone in particular? Are you being judged by someone in particular? Are you trying to fit yourself into some particular shape?


Is the intended result that 'you feel good'? - or that you avoid 'feeling bad'?
What, exactly, is the feeling that you are trying to achieve or avoid?


Just look and see. Write it down, Patty. Like taking apart a pocket watch... How does it work?

It is To Dream

Day’s echoes fade,
But still I lie, unable
To drift away.

When finally I awaken near dawn,
With images fresh
From another world,
I resent it;

Why does it pull me so?
Is that other world better than this?

This strange World of Day, so little changing,
Hard as rock in it’s demands
and expectations.

Again I’m asked,
To wash clothes,
Pay bills,
Make money,

And follow rules,
Not of my own making.

Or are they?

In night-time’s world I sometimes know,
That it is I who builds it:
The curtain parts.

Day-time’s world has thicker curtains,
Yet –
At times it is given me to see:

I ask to serve, and
There you are,
Needful of a lift.

And a few loose phrases,
That I heard this morning,
Bouncing in my head:
Now come unbidden
From my own mouth.

Witness I am,
Or so I’d thought.
As first I struggled to know;

But now I wonder if,
The Reason I am drawn
To this World of Day,
Is any different from the Night’s:

-- It is To Dream
That I Am Compelled.


--------------------------

Alan Montgomery
September, 2006

Photos from Saturday's reincarnation conference in Lexington, MA

We had a great time this past Saturday! About 120 people attended the talk by Dr. Charles Thomas Cayce entitled “Is Reincarnation Unnecessary?”

The short answer, for each and every one of us, was a resounding “Yes.&rdquo Each of us has the opportunity to complete the work we came to do by the choices we make. Dr. Cayce provided seven key elements shared by the 18 people his grandfather Edgar Cayce told that this could be their last lifetime on the Earth, if they so chose. As with all the information Cayce provided, the keys are straightforward enough — forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, joyfulness, meditation and the like. But the will to do so is up to the individual.

To learn about other spiritual events we offer, check out our greater Boston A.R.E. website calendar at www.are-northeast.org/boston/cayce-calendar.html. Events are open to all. Hope to see you there next time!

A method is only a means

Remember: A method is only a means, not the meditation itself. It is through practicing the method skillfully that you reach the perfection of that pure state of total presence, which is the real meditation.

There is a revealing Tibetan saying: “Gompa ma yin, kompa yin,” which means literally: “ Meditation is not; getting used to is.”

It means that meditation is nothing other than getting used to the practice of meditation. As it is said: “Meditation is not striving, but naturally becoming assimilated into it.” As you continue to practice the method, then meditation slowly arises. Meditation is not something that you can “do”; it is something that has to happen spontaneously, only when you have perfected the practice.

Join us on Facebook

We’re on Facebook! Be a part of the Greater Boston A.R.E. community, no matter where you are. You can friend us (or become a fan, I forget which) in two ways: by a link or by keyword search. For the direct link, go here: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126683747575&ref=ts (if you haven’t already, you’ll need to sign up for a Facebook account). To find us by keyword search, from within Facebook search for Edgar Cayce A.R.E. Greater Boston.

P.S. Our official web site is at www.are-northeast.org/boston, where you can find all local events, study group information, and more.

November Retreat: Surfing the Waves of Change

Wisdom House (map)
229 East Litchfield Rd.
Litchfield, CT 06759
Friday, Nov. 6 – Sunday, Nov. 8
$100, including meals and lodging

The practical, profound teachings of Judith Pennington, integrating science and spirituality, have awakened thousands of people to an inner certainty of higher awareness. An internationally published journalist, author, speaker, singer, and coast-to-coast teacher of meditation and consciousness expansion, she is known for her warmth, sensitivity, inclusiveness, and clear communication. Ms. Pennington is a popular A.R.E. speaker from Virginia Beach. You may have heard her speak and play guitar at a previous all-day A.R.E. conference in Lexington, MA.

Please sign up early! This will help us with planning.

(Registration prices: ONLY $100 for weekend, including delicious meals (was $170); $50 for Saturday-only, with lunch (was $70); Saturday dinner $16. Event takes place at Wisdom House in Connecticut. Register by contacting Win Howie at cayce-northeast [at] comcast.net or 1-781-878-3828. Leave a message and your phone number and your call will be returned. Mail check made out to “A.R.E. of CT, Inc.” to A.R.E.-Northeast Region, 9 Bramble Circle, Rockland, MA 02370.)

Local Boston-area events calendar at www.are-northeast.org/boston/cayce-calendar.html.

Group meeting update: our next book

Well, we recently finished our “Search for God, Book II,” and “Experiments in a Search for God,” and then enjoyed the first half of a DVD called “Reincarnation” by John van Auken, a popular A.R.E. speaker. We’ll watch the last half on Monday (10/12). Then it’s time to begin our new book, which was unanimously, and quickly, selected by attendees at our recent meeting (miracle of miracles! Hee hee!). So... on Monday, October 19... 2009... we will be starting... our new book... (this part is called suspense building)... something different but very much in the be-here-now zone... a book... called... (drum roll)... “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle!

New and used copies can be bought on Amazon (or elsewhere). Here’s a link: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61)
You don’t need a book to attend meetings. See the column at right, under “About Us,” for meeting location.

Hope to see you soon! And remember: just Breathe.

"The Buddha Play," a one-man off-Broadway show this Sunday at the Cambridge Y

"The Buddha Play: The Life of the Buddha in His Own Words"
A one-man show by Evan Brenner (Website)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
7:00 - 9:00pm
Cambridge YMCA theatre
820 Massachusetts Avenue

This dramatic portrayal of the Buddha’s life and journey as gleaned from the earliest sutras, performed by the author as a special benefit for the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC website) endowment fund. Recently, this play went off-Broadway, so this is a very special performance, and something you don’t often encounter happening at your local Y!

Tickets: $40. Advance tickets available at brownpapertickets.com/event/73386, by calling 1-800-838-3006, or by stopping by the CIMC office at 331 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139. Please note: Pre-registration is encouraged for this event.

PROGRAM: The life of the Buddha in his own words — the evolution of his thought, his triumphs, and the rarely portrayed tragedy at the end of his life.

The man we know as the Buddha lived in Northern India around 500 BC and introduced the teaching known as Buddhism. Approximately 300 years after his death, an extensive oral history of the movement was written down, carried and copied throughout Asia, and this canon became the taproot of the entire Buddhist tradition. Framed in a most unusual and personal context, The Buddha Play brings to the stage these authentic texts to enact the extraordinary life of the man, start to finish.

The Buddha considered his own life a model for all our spiritual struggles saying, "He who knows me, knows the Dharma." It's no dry tale — The Buddha's life stands among the great archetypal adventure stories.

The performance is 90 minutes with a ten minute intermission.

Witness

Sometimes the mountain

is hidden from me in veils

of cloud, sometimes

I am hidden from the mountain

in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,

when I forget or refuse to go

down to the shore or a few yards

up the road, on a clear day,

to reconfirm

that witnessing presence.

Denise Levertov