August 2020 Bardo Buzz (02-08)

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 EATING

One should give to guests from one's own bowl.

One should say before each mouthful, "I had nothing but myself with which to create the world; out of myself the world was made."

One should say at the beginning of each meal, "I wish to remember myself," at the same time holding in mind the image of Sanctuary.

One should partake of food as if it were medicine. Those who have passed the first six stations may dispense with this rule.

Dissolve food by repeating the Great Mantra and by revealing to yourself the nature of all food.

No one should say to another, "Eat this food," unless it is the teacher, who may do this to encourage a shy gust at his table.

The kitchen is the center of work; the table the receptive to the Grace of God; and Sanctuary is the source of their power.

When one eats in company, he should not withdraw from the table before the others.

When asked what kind of food was unlawful, one teacher answered, "Any food you cannot refuse from desire."

One may not return food presented to him as a guest. A guest is only entitled to dispose of food by ingestion.


THE ETHICS OF SLEEP

Sleep is regenerative; guilt should not be associated with it.

Prolonged sleep is not the custom of the wise.

One should not lie down to sleep while in the company of people who are seated.

Sleep is intended to provide energy for work in Sanctuary.

To be continued...

PRACTICAL MATTERS

Many years ago I was asked what attracted me to Mr. Gold and his method of teaching the ideas. My response was and still is that it is practical. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a practical person so naturally a practical method of working was a perfect match for my temperament.

Not long after I had been introduced to Mr. Gold's work, at an invitation only invocational dinner, ( I had no idea what I was getting myself into.) I began attending a weekly study group who were working with the

"Big 24". It was called that because there are twenty-four exercises in Practical Work on Self - the book we were studying at the time.

All twenty-four exercises could be done in ordinary day-to-day life. What a wonderful opportunity to use my life.

My understanding of the first exercise, "Awakening the Machine", was that I was to use the usual attention to observe the posture and movements of the machine with no psychological or emotional significance.

Doing the exercise proved to be a life-changing experience.

I had been gifted a Porsche on my 30th birthday by my husband from whom I was now divorced. I found myself using it as my "school taxi". I loved driving that car and put it through its paces more than once. On the day in question, I had driven my daughter to her after school program and was on my way home. I thought it would be a great opportunity to do the exercise as there was a lot of movement required throughout the body to drive the car.

I stopped at the red light at the top of a hill. As I revved up turning right through the now green light (being sure to do the exercise - keeping my attention on the left leg/foot action of the clutch and the right leg/foot on the accelerator with the left hand on the steering wheel and the right hand on the gear shift, head cocked to one side, eyes checking the rear view mirror) the world suddenly changed. The colors became clearer and brighter and everything slowed down. I was acutely aware of the need to continue to keep pace with traffic and though everything seemed slower, keeping in the flow of the traffic felt very fluid and easeful. I found myself aware of the drivers in the other cars and of the atmosphere between us which seemed to glow a light honey gold. It took me the usual time to get home (about 10 mins.). I felt a great deal of gratitude toward my car for delivering me safely and said so -- knowing that it was a living creature. I went inside and began to write still feeling myself apart and a part of what was happening. The experience lasted a total of half an hour. It was unforgettable.

I had tried the zafu cushion, attended meditation retreats, sat in the company of several teachers but nothing had the same effect as the practice of the exercise "Awakening the Machine". Because of Mr. Gold's book Practical Work on Self, I had discovered the Power of Attention. Even attention as untrained as mine seemed able, through the practice of the exercise of "Awakening the Machine," to open my eyes to the other world I longed to make a part of my life.

I was hooked.

Barbara Haynes

MUSINGS OF A LABYRINTH READER

What's In Your Learning Inner Equation?

Learning something new, what's your response? Has your response been characterized a particular way and then it has been transformed into something else? From the list of words below, do you recognize what makes up your learning inner equation?

1) Focused concentration

2) Accepting the challenge
3) Seeking the familiar
4) Adventurous
5) Persistent
6) Disciplined
7) Enthusiastic
8) Judgmental
9) Accepting
10) Direct approach
11) Initiatory
12) Jumping in
13) Accurate observation
14) Cause / effect perception
15) Quick apperception
16) Fit the puzzle together
17) Creative solutions
18) Able to ask for help
19) Inquisitive
20) Exploratory
21) Conscientious
22) Intuitive
23) Excellent recall
24) Openness
25) Flexible
26) Communication skills
27) Impulse to pass it on
28) Sensitive
29) Realistic
30) Optimistic
31) Self-observing
32) Responsible
33) Supportive
34) Methodical
35) Arrogant
36) Rewarding
37) Acknowledging
38) Giving space
39) Anxious
40) Breaking it down into segments
41) Pacing yourself
42) Confident
43) Compatible working with others

Easily distracted
Drowning in overwhelm
Comfortable with / tolerant of the
unknown
Timid
Procrastinating
Sporadic efforts
Negative
Suspending judgment
Rejecting
Avoidance strategy
Fearful
Hesitating
Oblivious
Vague assumptions
Slow recognition
Lost in detail
Predominance of problems
Stubbornness
Apathetic
Aimless wandering
Uncaring
Linear
No memory
Closed
Rigid
Unclear expression
Retentive
Callous
Cynical
Pessimistic
Occluded
Blaming
Critical
Chaotic
Self-effacing
Shaming
Punishing
Restrictive
Calm
Tackling the whole thing at once
Overdoing it
Low self-esteem
Do it your own way by yourself

The above describes a few attitudes and belief structures which you may evaluate and honestly consider in terms of asking the question: Does this support my learning process or inhibit my learning process?

Suggestion: Replace those things that inhibit you with those that will set up the optimum conditions for learning.

Good luck with Diablo III.

Marvette Kort

REINCARNATION & AWARENESS

ICW Workshop June 24, 2012 by E.J. Gold

"Unlocking Postures are related to what we call the Movements. They're not very well known anymore and I guess a few people do them, but most folks don't. Those are the unlocking devices that you can use for certain spaces, certain things. You use this at your altar space and then you will address the entity in the other dimension. You're going to actually start talking to yourself in the alternate world. You'll be having conversations with yourself in the alternate worlds.

"So, be aware that that's how that works. You're going to start establishing a connection, a friendship between yourself and your avatars in a variety of worlds. That will give you a bigger spiritual footprint and you'll also learn how to turn on the juice so that you get some serious results so you can show those results and get moving onto the levels that you need to actually work in, although it wouldn't hurt you to go through 30 or 40 of the Remedies. You shouldn't have to. You should within, I think, within 15 Remedies, have shown some definite life indicators. Life indications are indications of things that happen in your life that you can directly trace back to the activity that you are now engaged in, the Extra Dimensional Activity, or EDA. Don't forget that. You're going to use that 1000 times that phrase, so remember it. Work with it. Try to remember that phrase.

"Don't let notes take the place of attention. They can add to your attention, but don't let them take the place of your attention. So you'll be doing these Unlocking Postures. What they are, the postures themselves are unlocking, but you have to transition properly or it's not going to work. I've said many times the key is in the transition. The postures are easy to learn. The transitions are a little harder to get from one posture to the next. Now, the postures are a means of encoding something. They're used the way that Hebrew letters would be used, for instance, in a motion Prayer. So, in motion blessings, they'll use this kind of stuff."

Excerpt from workshop talk
edited by T. Jones

GREETINGS FROM A MAGICAL PLACE

Christiane Wolters

GORBY'S PLACE
6/28/20

"If you do what you always do, you get what you always get".- E.J. Gold

I tuned in to Gorby's Place a bit late that morning in the last week of June this year. Claude and Tom were talking about musicial notes and how, when different notes or variants of notes are combined, totally different sounds are produced. When you change something even slightly you get a different result. He and Tom spent sometime discussing this.

He encouraged us to discover what these tape loops are - those reoccuring situations we find ourselves in, which repeatedly bring up the same thoughts, emotions, sensations and response. When they occur, we put into place a new thought pattern -- could be a mantra, a prayer, a Work wish. By repeatedly striking a different chord or inner response to the situation, the outcome will change.

If you are able to do this, first in one area of your life, and then eventually in many areas, the inner work becomes like the root prim which holds together and maintains that which you have established.

It is archived on Livestream -- well worth a listen.

Blessings to all,

Jewel

Giving and Giving Up
Real and Not Real

When we don't ask to receive anymore, we give.
To give, we have to realize that we have nothing. When I realize deeply that I have nothing, there is joy and peace inside me.

And as long as I want something from others, as long as I need to be given, loved or respected, I am in misery, because I deny my essential nature, which is to give.
I was looking to receive, to be loved, to be understood - all this time from the outside world - when I really just need to give, to love, to care for the benefit of all beings everywhere.
When I want to be loved and want to receive, I am no longer in my essence, in my being and it makes me suffer. What makes me deeply happy is giving.
When we deeply love, whether others love us or not, doesn't matter to us. We are fed with our love and in this love, we find what is essential inside us, what really matters, what really counts ....

"...often we would be walking down the street, or be in the park or a movie theater -- then, turning to me, say, 'Not this. This doesn't count. This is not real." E.J. Gold - Conflict Management

When I can open to all that is given to me all the time, I live in gratitude with a total clarity and discernment on what is real and not real.
Michele Marie

REAL POETS IN A VIRTUAL WORLD

Poetry from Prosperity Path Ashram

"You are this very minute grasping a transdimensional device. A device that can be used to travel to the farthest regions of the multiverse... Only voyagers who know that they are voyagers can use this volume to go beyond the confines of the literary jungle or the consensus primate reality that currently may imprison them." -- from the "Introduction" by Gerald Porter to Real Poets in a Virtual World

Since some of you may not be aware of our poetry anthology featuring community writers, I'd like to plug it here -- and make you a special purchase offer! This collection is the brainchild of Gerald and Gailyn Porter, based on the meetings of Prosperity Poets that Gerald was leading for several years in the Prosperity Ashram. Gerald (AKA gnosticman) has left this plane -- but he left us an artifact of his presence with this book since he introduces each grouping of poems with a short essay on the prompt and the rationale for the writing exercises. These intros are a series of gems, and those alone make the book worth your while. Then there are the poems from a diverse group of writers, including Gerry himself, and community members from California and all over the world -- since the Prosperity Poets met and still meet in virtual reality (hence the title). Gailyn Porter designed the book and contributed both poetry and art works, and, finally, there are art works as color plates included by many of the poets!

This book was an experiment for Gateways Books. We learned a lot from adding color plates to this book, from working on the layout, and from choosing from such a diverse pool of exercises and of personal writings. Its retail price is $24.95 -- partly due to the color plates -- but we currently have about 20 or 25 copies of this book that were returned from our distributor. They may have damaged covers, scuffing, or even bends or kinks in them, but otherwise, they are fine and perfectly readable. If you would like one of these "seconds," you may order for $10 (while they last) plus $3.50 postage in the U.S., contact us about shipping cost for Canada or any other country outside the U.S. Contact Renee Alexia or Jewel at IDHHB to order, or write to me personally via Info@gatewaysbooksandtapes.com.

Here is one short poem to give you more of a taste of this book:
Introduction
by auntiematter

You ask me, "Why poetry?" and I answer:

Poetry is the holy ordinary.
It is light arising in an empty room.
The dream of a common language.
Life re-membering life.
Dangerous borderland, atlas of the unknown.
Body and breath, tears and sweat, messenger and mystery.
The annunciation of you to You.

Why poetry...? Because I cannot live without it.

Iven Lourie

Labyrinth, Orbs and Quarantine - 2

Further in the chapter, The Ultimate Puzzle, Mr. Gold adds:

Because the game conforms to the same set of mathematical laws which govern the multi-dimensional labyrinth, both lateral and vertical movement through the domains will obey a subset of probability; connectives may or may not be apparent to the voyager; fortunately for the peace of mind of shamen everywhere, the factors which allow movement can be discovered by the attentive voyager only during the course of intentional involvement with the game.

The ability to think in new categories and extend the boundaries of one's presence are the two most important tools we have available; they provide the ability to establish new relationships between objects, events and characters, new patterns of action, and new solutions to problems old and new.

In the labyrinth, reality is fleeting and intensely subjective. That is why we must first know who we are, only then can we even begin to understand where we are, why we are here, and our possible destinations. -- Life in the Labyrinth

It seems the central theme in labyrinth voyaging in-game or real-life would make us explore these questions as mentioned in the above paragraph being who we are, where we are, why we are here and our possible destinations. Key to this answer mostly lies as discussed above in terms of ability to think in new categories and extend the boundaries of one's presence. Because only these two tools provide an opportunity to establish new relationships between objects, events, characters and action. And these are the foundations based on which we try to find answers to our who, why, what and where category of questions!

Nishit Gajjar