Working for the liberation of all beings everywhere. Bringing higher consciousness to the planet, one eternal moment at a time.
March 2020 Bardo Buzz (02-03)
Each issue of The Bardo Buzz comes with an installment
The Joy of Sacrifice:
Secrets of the Sufi Way by E.J. Gold
The Ethics of Hospitality
We should give a guest whatever food or drink we have reserved for ourselves.
Even if we have little, we should not be ashamed, nor should a guest despise what is offered in hospitality.
Hospitality is the greatest law given to man. If he knew how to obey this one law, he could overcome his imperfections,
We must accept hospitality if offered, and not avoid offering it to others.
A guest ceases to be a guest on the fourth day of his visit, and only
then, may he be asked to join in work for the household or community.
If one does not have food in one's house for the guest, one must meet him outside one's home.
One should not force oneself to accept a guest one cannot treat with honor,''
The Ethics of Wandering
He can only be an aristocrat who asks where you are taking him when you invite him to walk with you.
Travel is a way of self-discipline.
One should not travel just for amusement.
If one has companions, one should serve them whenever possible.
When entering a city, one should visit the sanctuary.
When entering sanctuary, one should take off one's shoes, left shoe
first, before entering and in reverse order when leaving, then wash in
the water provided at the door, and bow twice with hands folded at the
heart. Only after this is he ready to enter the space and to greet
those within it. If there is a teacher present, he should kiss
the head, but If the guest is a novice, he should kiss his hand
instead.
When visiting with a teacher, one should sit for a while without
speaking except when asked a question. During this time, tea or
coffee may be served. If a toast is made with wine or cognac, one
is obligated to honor it.
If the teacher offers food or drink, it may not be refused. If the
teacher is equal in rank to the teacher, he may talk freely. One
who needs knowledge of another should not dwell upon his faults.
To be continued...
MUSINGS OF A LABYRINTH READER
Falling In Love With My Teacher
A good friend of mine just got a new guitar today. I wrote him saying,
"I hope you're having fun right now being creative." Later it came to me
what I really wanted to say, "I hope you "˜fall in love' with your new
teacher." Some people recognize their relationship with their guitar
immediately. Others, like myself, slowly warm up to this opportunity.
"Falling in love," what does that mean? In this case, it's climbing the
ladder, making it the thread connecting to the space of following the
beloved, merging into the openness of creating a sound, weaving a
tapestry of music. The heart opens and one's focus is fixed on blending
with your instrument, your lover. Time doesn't exist; the rhythm carries
one through the space.
The first hit is free, but how does one reveal the path? It starts with
daily effort. One doesn't have to understand music or be skilled at
playing the guitar. What's more important is attitude -- surrender to not
knowing and be willing to learn. Turn off judgment, apply attention to
all necessary elements, be receptive to the flow and breathe -- allow the
reconciling force.
While playing the guitar, extend your strength and sensing into your
fingers. Listen to what they are doing. Allow rhythm to rule your
movement. Relax and have fun.
I started playing the guitar as a practice, five minutes per day. It was
a birthday gift that I needed to honor. Now nearly 3 years later, I've
accepted the invitation and I'm opening the door. Responsibility has
transformed into gratitude and discipline is becoming a friend. It's
okay that I know nothing about music or that I only know 15 chords, a
handful of songs and a few strumming rhythms are an emerging skill
because the "love" is in walking the ever-creative path with my gaze
fixed on my teacher.
Marvette Kort
LIFE ATTITUDE
by E.J. Gold
ICW 2010
"When you are a child, when you are a little baby, the only thing you can think about is ME. What's in it for me? What do I get out of this? Where's my food? Where's my comfort? Where's my diaper change? Where's my nappy? Where's my binky, my little pacifier? Eventually you are brought to the sandbox, and in the sandbox, with your little friends, you learn the next level of evolution, which is not me, but WE. Actually, you're on your way to We through a process of learning how to give and take, how to share, how to consider others, to be considerate of others, to see their weaknesses and allow them to have those weaknesses, to give up something that you want for the sake of someone else. So you go to the process, you go to the level of we . . . WE . . . then you go to the level -- and people have this usually reversed -- to the level of THEE, which is your good before my good. What can I do to help you? What can I do for you, putting my own needs aside? So that's the level of Thee.
"And then you go to the level of See. The level of See means the level of LIGHT, the level of Light in Infinite Extension -- Light -- where all of us are not just bonded to each other, we are actually all one thing. So how can I see in You that which is all of us? It's the ultimate in respect. It's the highest form of respect, and you see that, you hold that individual in respect no matter how they behave, no matter what they do, to you, to others. No matter what they do, you bow to the level of Light in that individual, regardless of what a total asshole they might be, regardless of how mean, how stingy, how nasty, how foul they might be. You still bow to respect what they actually are, which is Light in Infinite Extension."
-- excerpt by Tabatha Jones
ALMOST SPRING
The weather has been acting as if it were early spring and yes, we have been busy outside. Gone is the winter slumber, in an accelerated cycle that had been going on for thousands of years.
But
the world is getting crazier and more unpredictable every day. I could
tell you about the mason bee cocoons from last year, or that my
favorite chicken died just this week, and how she gradually slowed down,
how every day for the last two weeks she would prefer
a different "favorite' food, and not want the things that one or
two days earlier where "it", or tell you about a few days before she
visibly slowed down, she was so very vocal and wanted to cuddle, how two
days before she died she still wanted to "help" looking for worms, one
of her most favorite things to do, as I was doing some weeding, how I
told her about her life, was reading for her from the ABD or how
peaceful the last day was, or how good a mama she was when she was just
two years old, about how she said goodbye to one of her rooster friends,
how she sat so many times in the field of heart-love ...or...many more
little things. She was almost 8 years old, a respectable age for an
outdoor, free range chicken.
As she was lying in the grass and I was getting ready to shovel, a flock
of birds I had never seen or heard made a lot of noise and was high
high up circling in the air, slowly moving in an unusual migratory
pattern above us, eventually on their way Northeast....and all I could
think and feel is: I love you, I love you. The love for this natural
world, and their living creatures, how we are to honor it, and when we
take, we give back, even if only our gratitude. And how it is lawful to
never take more than you need. How different an approach to the
creatures and environment than the Euro/American, the Western
Civilization's way. How different is the conditioning of infants, even
under generally non-traumatic conditions, in different cultures and how
it leads to different kinds of adults. For me, humans are, for the most
part, work to be around. And there are reasons for that. For some
it apparently can be most often different, as in safe and
relaxing, inspiring or fun. I have really no idea how that would feel
like on a deep level as a baseline mode of being on this earth as a
human. But I have observed, felt, studied this body-mind and its
nervous system conditioning, and just because you know something, does
not mean it suddenly gets to live with higher functioning or capacity.
You are more understanding and compassionate, you become more
flexible and you know your limitations and habits better. Not that
those, with practice, can't be changed, but you have to see what is
actually there first, to become conscious of what is the case with you. I
saw a quote today from E.J. Gold, it was on Facebook, Prosperity Path Forum:
"Recognition that the machine is a machine and realization of how it
works, what makes it tick and work and change, can be learned, and
should be learned".
That makes sense. And so my love for nature, this particular feeling
sense, the responsibility, the intensity, the purpose and function of it
in my life, it too has a reason that goes back to very, very early
conditioning. And yet, as I got more experience and deeper
knowing, as higher feelings emerge -- it makes sense, seems
lawful and feels right to deeply respect and care for our natural world
and all the beings in it. To not waste resources, not pollute. At the
very least, we can be conscious enough to be grateful. As the deep
connection is sensed or perceived, words to explain it start to fail.
When you realize even in a glimpse the interconnected and paradoxical
relational oneness and sentience of it all, there is silence.
Christiane Wolters
STILL SMALL VOICE
We
are always encouraged to follow our instincts. Listen to the still
small voice within. But listening to the still small voice within can
sometimes be a challenge because of all the noise of living. Recently I
was gifted with the experience of satisfaction in the smallest following
of that voice. I was prompted (by that still small voice) to fill
E.J.'s soap dispenser at the kitchen sink. When I checked it did indeed
need filling. It seems such a small thing but I felt in touch with the
universe, connected to the spirit of my world. I do remember, in the
early years of my spiritual practice, expecting that being "in the flow"
would be experienced as kinds of unusual things happening. Now I know
filling the soap dispenser because I listened to the still small voice
is how it works for me. Though it is a small conversation it is a
satisfying one -- and it let's me know that I am in touch with that still
small voice within.
Barbara Haynes
Wings for Our Work
We can weave our caring into our work, into the words we choose to use, into the relationships we cultivate, and into the art we create.
https://www.yoyodyneindustries.com/boxes/tantric-box.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YETb689lXrc
Michele Marie
This Is Your Life
"This life is the only life you have. You are your life. Your life is you. You don't live your life, your are your life. What creates your identity is the life you live, otherwise, you have no identity. You have your territory which creates your identity. Unless your identity changes, your territory will remain the same. And your identity will never change as long as your territory is biological. You have no identity whatever in your natural state, none whatever. All boundaries are imaginary. Nothing that happens to you in life will change as long as you remain the same. The only change possible is who you are. You cannot change what happens to you, you can only change who you are, the only thing you think is unchangeable. As long as you define yourself as the primate with which you are identified, you cannot change. The voyage defines the voyager. Where you go is who you are. And who you are is defined by where you go and what you do. The best you could hope for is to stop being a primate from now on. As long as you believe yourself to be one, you will be one. And at some point, when you say, 'I've had enough', then you'll have had enough."
Excerpts from Talk of the Month, #58 Kicking the Banana Habit by E.J. Gold
Submitted by Jewel McInroy
TINY EVERY DAY MIRACLES
Months ago I planted an orange seed and waited hopefully for it to sprout. It did! But months went by and, while it remained a spritely green, nothing more happened. I sang to it, watered it and sent it love but - - - nada.
Then I received a special stone painted with spirals. "Why not?" I asked myself and placed it in the pot next to my nano-orange tree. In no time at all to my extreme delight it raised up another layer of leaves!
See? Gailyn Porter
AS IF TRUE"
It has been difficult for me. I've been asleep during all of
this and got into the belief that it was all happening as if true. I
have just completed a guided tour of myself, composed entirely of the
primal elements of my own beingness. Each of the visions or cognitions
I've had is simply one or another of the basic modules of consciousness
itself.
-Chamber #18
American Book Of the Dead
The
known reality which comprises of our day to day life is mostly filled
with distractions! The quote which was shared few days ago on the forum
shows that it is very easy to get sucked into this unconscious vent of
distraction filled unreal attribute of life. It does bring up agitation
in the mind and the machine easily succumbs to the power of disquietude.
The machine is programmed and due to its vulnerable nature of holding
onto negativity (by choice or vice versa), the other side of the fence
of mental and emotional imbalance is readily available. The difficult
task is not to succumb to that and kind of work towards enhancing the
endurance of the being.
Recently the machine of the writer was into an unusual mental and
emotional space and seemed "as if" it was drawn and tried grasping the
other side of the fence. The other side of the fence I would define in
this case as the "known territory of machine's limited gimmicks". That
went on for few days. But one morning while I was observing the
beautiful mountain ranges from the windows of my room I had an intense
desire to dive into American Book Of The Dead (This is a recurring
phenomena). Despite reading this text numerous times, every time I read
it, it brings up new insights and plethora of knowledge which I try to
share as and when I can. With unobtrusive sunlight falling on the
mountain top, birds flocking around the palm trees and faint shimmer of
wind blowing around I started reading the book and decided to complete
it in one single sitting.
As I was absorbed in the book (and trying to keep active Attention in
the physical realm at least), I came on the section of Choosing Rebirth.
The reading of Chamber 18 sounded "as if" it was throwing light on my
current situation!
"I've been asleep during all of this and got into the belief that it was all happening as if true."
An aha! moment for me. I felt relieved, calm and experienced a subtle
yet deeper change in the being after completing the book.
Nishit Gajjar