Thankyou thankyou thankyou MM for dropping the name of Basil Pennington in front of my nose!!!
It led me to an article my heart yearned to see...What an awesome Sunday sermon from on high! And it's very well written, easy to read to boot... and seems to cover most of my inner ponderings about the subject. Take a peek at it won't you? I think it even supports the need and perhaps is a slightly opening door for dance practices like my own to ease into the Church, as it helps us get beyond thinking of each other as either male or female, and free's up expression of a chaste but full bodied expression of our sexuality..with NO SHAME!!!
That inner voice I heard so long ago about my purpose keeps getting affimed, louder and louder and louder.....yippee!...sniff sniff sniff
"Our noses know the way to the Truth inside us"
I only scanned it so far, but I may open a thread on it after the New Year..I am spending way too much time here in cyber space again,and my unattended to, much more boring responsibities are mounting. But thank you again for this article in link below.

http://www.wie.org/j16/pennington.asp?page=1

Virya (Pauline),

You are just what the doctor ordered, and the energy
you are manifesting is very much the parts of me which I have repressed most of my life and sacrificed as an offering to the "controlling paradigm" diety. It as though if I were my true androgenous self, I might be labeled as gay or something worse. I liked the rock and roll culture and guys with guitars reveling in their androgeny and wearing long hair like the founding fathers.

Nowadays "it's hip to be a square." Well, everything runs in cycles. I seem to get around women with the so called masculine traits, and they are into science and computers and math and sports and have met more than my share of "tomboys" and wind up exchanging hugs and backrubs
with lesbians. I like them and they like me. Still, I often wind up with "girly girls" as girlfreinds, since being not too incredibly macho,
it provides a good contrast. Then there are my hairy, gruff, Green Beret type male freinds that
assist me in developing macho, but I think they take it a tad bit too far at times, so I have always had some sissy boy intellectuals in my orbit as well. It's all very confusing, but Pennington, who will no doubt be remembered as a truly great Christian mystic, cuts through much of the controversy.

I was watching a very conservative Baptist preacher last night, speaking of the revelation it was to him that the word for Holy Spirit in the New Testament could be a "he" or a "she" or an "it", so take your pick.

The planet Venus, often associated with women, is the only planet which revolves clockwise. Go figure!!! There, that will make you blush!

projecting_the_archetypes_electronically.org

I didn't know this about Venus! How could that have possibly escaped my astute attention for aberations and mysterious clues to the nature of the universe for all these years?

I did well in my astronomy classes . . I had to. It was the only way I would ever be able to get the respect and attention of my cute, shy, sort of uptight, scorpio Luthern lab professor who I desperately wanted to know better in order to better pick his fine, probing,more analytical cosmiclly attuned mind..(and maybe see if everything they say about Scorpio's was true...) But how could we possibly have failed to not have pondered this together? I wonder WHY Venus spins that way? I mean astro-nomically speaking, the physics of it you know? It's the closest 2nd closest planet to the Sun right? Very interesting...

I will ponder this information further and maybe talk to my astrology buddies for a more metaphoric, possibly mythical understanding of the phenomina and get back to you with my findings dear Muse.

Till then, Venosu lao mooksha ...Virya(Pauline)
(That's a venutian term of endearment for whatever you want it to mean.)

"Men are from Earth, women are from Earth, DEAL WITH IT!" --A bumper sticker I saw once.

I too, am afflicted with a Lutheran upbringing, but perhaps blessed by it as well...

This might give us a bit of common ground to meet on
and introduce the fourth dimension and alternate universes, etc. I got trapped at this site for months, and came out forever altered. There's even a picture of Phil with a beard!

http://www.innerexplorations.com

http://www.innerexplorations.com/ewtext/east-wes.htm

Enjoy!

I saw a special on Public TV about Luther...a remarkable man..I cannot fathom why the Catholic Church excommunicates some it most visionary people.

I don't have time to get trapped in cyber space anymore then I already am MM...I don't think it's healthy for me...I've already gained weight from too much sitting, and my eyes and back often ache.

But if you are serious and earnest about further exploring some of the things you mention, I'd like to suggest that YOU suggest an interesting area of discussion from the websites for now, (since you are already familar with them) and or choose one of the Aurabindo books, to which I will agree to reading, but only 1 to 3 pages a day, and I will try to make myself available to discuss them (a similar amount of text on the website would also be my limit) Or perhaps you have some other idea might agree upon.

I'm open to anything that would feel like a manageable amount of time for me.
Venusia tinga, Virya

Venusia tinga, Virya,

The most difficult negotiations often begin with a single gesture...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...:Bush_Dalai_Lama.jpg

Well now ...that looks like a good sign...
I would love to see and hear a recording of it.

Let me know which article or book you want to tango on tinga, if you are really interested in persuing any of the links or the Orabinda books you mentioned,

Venilu meowu wah, virya .

Venus de Milo,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_Divine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Synthesis_of_Yoga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_Yoga

I've been giving that some thought. If we use an online text, then others might follow along. The Life Divine, apparently his "philosophical magnum opus", is available online in it's entirety. The drawback is that it is very long, 1100 pages. Have
Essays on the Gita here and it is almost as long.

The Synthesis of Yoga has lengthy excerpts online,
and The Integral Yoga which I just got a look at yesterday seems to be a compilation from other works. It has the virtue of being shorter, about 370 pages plus notes, and is arranged in bite sized sections of one to three pages each, which you mentioned had a certain appeal for it's manageability. Amazon has the book for $10.17. The drawback is that posters/viewers who do not have the book might have some trouble following along.

Right now I would say let's go with The Life Divine, even though we might not finish it. We can sit at the teachers feet and learn why he sat in that room for 23 years and wrote it all down. Maybe he was just tired of political activism and
demonsrtations/courtrooms and needed a long rest.

aura_bending.com

http://www.sriaurobindoashram....LifeDivine/index.htm

If that link does not work, try this one:

http://www.gurusoftware.com/Gu.../Creation.htm#Divine

Ok vindusu, like I said you choose. I would love to explore where the universe comes from, as I didn't think as anybody knew that. Which aurobindo site?

Pauline, I did start a thread on the Universe. I would be happy if you joined in with your thoughts. If you have the time.

Yes I saw that Eric thank you for asking me. That's so sweet...

I think your thread is on the 'Purpose of the Universe', and as I found everybody did a pretty thorough job of speculating on that, I didn't really feel I had anytning original to add, not that I think any of us ever really do. Word is, that most thoughts have already been thought of somewhere before at some point in time, we just tune in to them..via God. It's the ole "No such thing as an original thought" idea. Maybe I could come up with a poem about it though.

I think the Aurabindo book that MM has suggested, (just from a very brief glance I took at the site) somehow actually explores and actually EXPAINS the origin of the universe. And for me THAT is question of all questions. I mean who or what started it all anyway? And where did the Creator come from? That's what I would like to fathom...because it's so darn infathamable.
Also, I'm already spending way too much time on this computer. So I have to put myself on an internet diet of sorts...
Peace and blessing to you..A poem maybe to follow at some point.

To all,

This is very ambitious. Aurobindo writes for a European consciousness, with an eye toward Western concepts of evolution, in combination with Eastern philosophy, hence the word "integral." Not just another wacky holy man from India, he is considered
by many to be the greatest 20th century Indian philosopher. His ideas resemble Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's but consider this; David Hawkins has calibrated Teilhard de Chardin at 500, or the beginning of transrational thought. Aurobindo was
calibrated at 605, the level of enlightenment. 605
is an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE above 500.

Sure you want to try this?

http://www.gurusoftware.com/Gu.../LifeDivineFrame.htm

I want to try it as long as it is at a NICE, SLOW and EASY pace.

http://www.kheper.net/topics/W...er_on_Aurobindo.html

"the world's greatest philosopher-sage"

"India's greatest modern sage"

"ultimate Realizer" -Ken Wilber (who is taking flak
from all sides these days, while making millions for
spiritual publishing enterprises) Money, power, ego, ho hum...(relatively small turf to fight over
compared to Christian publishing) I read that one out of three books sold is of a spiritual nature.
One book which makes me wink is Even Mystics Have to Pay the Bills.

Review of Aurobindo:

http://www.kheper.net/topics/A...ndo/SriAurobindo.htm


And of Life Divine:

http://kheper.net/topics/Aurobindo/Life_Divine.html

"I want to try is as long as it is at a NICE, SLOW, and EASY pace." --common Venusian saying

Yes ..veow mu.
I realized that was way too typically and obviously female after I posted it.. oh well

So MM, I would like to suggest that we start this with a SHORT specific reading assignment of your choosing.

And I for one would prefer that there be some kind of agreements made about the process, which I think could enhance all of our learning.
Something of a satsang nature. The following would be my suggestion:

1.We all read the pages.

2.We all reflect on our own experience in realationship to what we read.

3.Any one who chooses to, posts their thoughts on their reflection'.
(You may want to have quidelines they follow the thread from the beginning if they want to particpate..but that may not be necessary.)

4. We all ponder one anothers reflections in light of our own experience

5. We then post again about our noticings of how the reflections of others, assisted our own capacity to find more meaning in the passage we read.

The intention of this format would be to decrease the propensity for a more debative, ananlytical and even critical tone, so that we move more into deeper soul to soul sharing.

What do you think? Does that sound controlling or creative...it's hard for me to tell.

vla poo poo, virya.

quote:

This is a radical vision indeed. Not a politically radical view, but a radically new psychological view, social-oriented view, philosophical and metaphysical view. Most of all it is a radically synthetic, integral view that embraces all aspects of life. The Life Divine begins with the premise that the spirit that was lost in the universe that emerged from creation, needs to be discovered and regained, and then be applied to all aspects of life -- from our inner psychological existence to the social existence outside ourselves. From our inner makeup, nature and capacities to all of the outer fields of life, from sociology, religion, literature, science, governance, education, economics, and business, to child rearing, and family life.

Before you start the game officially, I�d just like to note that if one were an anaerobic bacterium floating around in one of earth�s oceans 3-1/2 billion years ago or so, and if said bacterium could, for sake of argument, think complex thoughts, do you suppose everyone (the algae, the rocks, the trilobites) would scoff at that little bacterium if she were to say �In the far future there will be creatures capable of manufacturing computers and traveling to the moon. That creature will walk on land on two legs and breath the air.�

That said, and noting my love for science fiction, I�m always quite dubious when it comes to these visions whereby we have dispensed with greed, the need for armies, maybe even the need for governments, and where everybody just does the right thing all the time. I�m dubious not because there is such a thing as spirit which helps orient us to the good, the truthful and beautiful, but because the overwhelming aspect of life seems to be to grow, to get ahead, to take every little advantage that one can, to germinate, culminate and procreate with the only constraint on this being our sense of justice and morality�if the social structures and institutions are in place to give these moral desires teeth.

The nature of existence seems to be that achieving spirituality and goodness will always be a struggle. And although we do seem to be making progress, utopic schemes often hinder progress rather than help it.

I will quite literally shut up now on this topic. I don�t want to be a wet blanket and I agree to abide by Pauline�s rules if I have more to say.

What do you think? Does that sound controlling or creative...it's hard for me to tell

I think it sounds like a very good idea.

That was a fun bit it science fiction you wrote Brad. I always find science fiction hard to read..to many technical terms and such. Truth be known most of what I read is non-fiction. This book sounds right up my alley though. Increasingly I find spirituality is not so much about "becoming", but about "rememering" who we are, and I have lots to share about ways to assist that rememberance,in case you are interested. Glad you will join us. Feel free to add in you own ideas on format (as long as they don't 'battle with me.') Seriously though, you may have some ideas that could enhance the process, so please share if you do.

"The most vital issue of the age is whether the future progress of humanity is to be governed by the
modern economic and materialistic mind of the West or by a nobler pragmatism guided, uplifted and enlightened by spiritual culture and knowledge....
-Sri Aurobindo

Another quote from the back cover:

Aurobindo treatises are among the most important works of our time in philosophy, ethics, and the humanities. Sri Aurobindo himself (is) one of the greatest living sages of our time, and a most eminent moral leader." - Pitirim A. Sorokin, Harvard University

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitirim_Sorokin

"Sri Aurobindo (is) the foremost of Indian thinkers, who has realized the most complete synthesis between the genius of the West and the East." Romain Rolland, Nobel Laureate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romain_Rolland

Roland wrote biographies of Goethe, Tolstoy, Ramakrishna and Vivakananda.

David Hawkins has calibrated this philosophy at 395:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

Since Aurobindo calibrates at 605, he may have something to say about social attitudes and the evolving nature of consciousness.

Hey I'm sold lets start MM. What are you waitting for?

What did you think of the satsang format I suggested? Are you ready to start a thread and give instructions to partipants? It sounds like a wonderful choice of study
Veni...Virya
Hey did you know Venus also moves slower then any planet? One day is equal to one year here.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi.../0941524612?v=glance

Seven rave reviews over at amazon above.

A bit more about Aurobindo's politics:

http://tamilnation.org/aurobindo.htm

One thing which has me balking is that the online version that appealed to me was over at the Aurobindo ashram, and that section of the site is "temporarily unavailable."

Will this one do?

http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/sa/18-19/1_1_e.htm

The other thing about this is that I have a feeling that after reading this book I will never view the world in the same way, the downside of discovery.
I might have to grieve and mourn a bit over the person I shall never be again. The stream I will never again step into. Yes, the time stream.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time

Venus seems like a nice, slow pace, but very hot!

namaste, mm <*))))><

Virya (Pauline),

Aurobindo is more closely related to Theosophy than
to Vedanta or Tantra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy

Ken Wilber's thinking, which relies heavily on his perception of Aurobindo, remains very much in the neighborhood of the "Perennial Philosophy." The Theosophical Publishing House was Wilber's first publisher, after fifty others rejected the manuscript. Integrate all the ideas about Divinity and it all adds up to God somehow.

David Hawkins seems rather Theosophical as well. For Hawkins, "Truth =God. God =Truth."

Dane Rhudyar appears in the wikipedia page, as well as a link to "The Liberal Catholic Church."

Just recieved Aurobindo book #6, and there is a Theosophical symbol on the first page.

Wilber and Hawkins both consider Aurobindo to be the greatest philosopher since Plato and Plotinus,
who are notable perennial philosophers.

Yes, it's all coming together now...

MM:
Just let me know when your ready to start ok? I don't really care what it's called, should I?
I just liked the way the little bit I've read made me feel and where it took me.
I think you should start a new thread on it though, and consider my suggestios or anyone elses that wants to join in.
venanu, Virya

...and consider my suggestios or anyone elses that wants to join in.

Yes. I think we need to find some snappy Java programmer who can put my mug and my running comments in a little oval window to the right, sort of like closed captioning for the hearing impaired where they have a person doing sign language. I will be giving the conservative translation of all the leftist muck so that no one gets to far off the beaten track. Okay. Not a very useful suggestion, but I just thought I'd thrown in my two cetns.

You are too funny.