We hold a weekly study group in Quincy, MA, part of Edgar Cayce's greater-Boston area Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.)
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 23, 2009
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.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
If... ??
- 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. To Register: 2 Canton Street (Rt. 27) "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 |
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 16, 2009
Listen for the Voice in Your Head
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.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 9, 2009
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.
Friday, November 6, 2009
The "Inner Teacher"
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