dust

[sol72us@...]

dust in the wind

i close my eyes
only for a moment
and the moment's gone
all my dreams, pass before
my eyes a curiosity
dust in the wind, all they
are is dust in the wind...



from
the best of kansas
sony music, 1999

[Leonard A Wilkinson]

lovely words....i suggest you read 'the power of now' by eckhart
tolle to appreciate their depth more fully....or go to
<www.eckharttolle.com>.....with love, leonard.


--- in asc2k@y..., sol72us@y... wrote:
> dust in the wind
>
> i close my eyes
> only for a moment
> and the moment's gone
> all my dreams, pass before
> my eyes a curiosity
> dust in the wind, all they
> are is dust in the wind...
>
>
>
> from
> the best of kansas
> sony music, 1999

[jason w]

"the power of now - a guide to spiritual enlightenment"
by eckhart tolle

(some excerpts)

"realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. make
the now the primary focus of your life. whereas before you dwelt in
time and paid brief visits to the now, have your dwelling place in
the now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal
with the practical aspects of your life situation. always say 'yes'
to the present moment. what could be more futile, more insane, than
to create inner resistance to something that already is? what could
be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always
now? surrender to what is. say 'yes' to life and see how life
suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

to make the journey into the power of now we will need to leave our
analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. we are
not our mind, we can find our way out of psychological pain;
authentic human power is found by surrendering to the now. we also
find that the body is actually one of the keys to entry into a stage
of inner peace, as are the silence and space all around us. it is
here we find our joy and are able to embrace our true selves. it is
here we discover that we are already complete and perfect.

many of us will find that our biggest obstacle to this realisation is
our relationships, especially our intimate relationships. but again,
we are in "new territory" and all is not what it had seemed before.
we come to see that our relationships are yet another doorway into
spiritual enlightenment if we use them wisely, meaning if we use them
to become more conscious and therefore more loving human beings. the
result? real communication between self and others.

all problems are illusions of the mind

the mind unconsciously loves problems because they give you an
identity of sorts. this is normal and it is insane. "problem"
means that you are dwelling on a situation mentally without there
being a true intention or possibility of taking action now and that
you are unconsciously making it part of your sense of self. you
become so overwhelmed by your life situation that you lose your sense
of life, of being. or you are carrying in your mind the insane
burden of a hundred things that you will or may have to do in the
future instead of focusing your attention on the one thing that you
can do now. when you create a problem you create pain. all it takes
is a simple choice, a simple decision; no matter what happens, i
will create no more pain for myself. i will create no more
problems. although it is a simple choice, it is also very
radical. you won't make that choice unless you are truly fed up
with suffering, unless you have truly had enough. and you won't be
able to go through with it unless you access the power of the now.
if you create no more pain for yourself, then you create no more pain
for others. you also no longer contaminate the beautiful earth,
your inner space, and the collective human psyche with the negativity
of problem-making.

for most people, presence is experienced either never at all or only
accidentally and briefly on rare occasions without being recognised
for what it is. most humans alternate not between consciousness and
unconsciousness but only between different levels of
unconsciousness. what i call ordinary unconsciousness means being
identified with your thought processes and emotions, your reactions,
desires and aversions. it is most people's normal stage. in that
state, you are run by the egoic mind, and you are unaware of being.
it is a state not of acute pain or unhappiness but of an almost
continuous low level of unease, discontent, boredom, or nervousness -
a kind of background static. you may not realise this because it is
so much a part of "normal" living just as you are not aware of a
continuous low background noise, such as the hum of an air
conditioner, until it stops. when it suddenly does stop, there is a
sense of relief. many people use alcohol, drugs, sex, food, work,
television, or even shopping as anaesthetics in an unconscious
attempt to remove the basic unease. when this happens, an activity
that might be very enjoyable if used in moderation becomes imbued
with a compulsive or addictive quality, and all that is ever achieved
through it is extremely short-lived symptom relief.

the unease of ordinary unconsciousness turns into the pain of deep
unconsciousness - a state of more acute and more obvious suffering or
unhappiness - when things "go wrong,." when the ego is threatened or
there is a major challenge, threat, or loss, real or imagined, in
your life situation or conflict in a relationship. it is an
intensified version of ordinary unconsciousness, different from it
not in kind but in degree.

this can bring up intense negativity such as anger, acute fear,
aggression, depression, and so on. physical violence would be
impossible without deep unconsciousness.

the best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal
with life's challenges when they come. through those challenges, an
already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious,
and a conscious person more intensely conscious. you can use a
challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even
deeper sleep.

dissolving ordinary unconsciousness

so how can we be free of this affliction? make it conscious.
observe the many ways in which unease, discontent and tension arise
within you through unnecessary judgement, resistance to what is, and
denial of the now. anything unconscious dissolves when you shine
the light of consciousness on it. once you know how to dissolve
ordinary unconsciousness, the light of your presence will shine
brightly, and it will be much easier to deal with deep
unconsciousness whenever you feel its gravitational pull.

make it a habit to monitor your mental-emotional state through self-
observation. "am i at ease this moment" is a good question to ask
yourself frequently. or you can ask: "what is going on inside me at
this moment?" be at least as interested in which goes on inside you
as what happens outside. if you get the inside right, the outside
will fall into place.

are you polluting the world or cleaning up the mess? you are
responsible for your inner space; nobody else is, just as you are
responsible for the planet. as within, so without: if humans clear
inner pollution, then they will also cease to create outer
pollution."


--- in asc2k@y..., "leonard a wilkinson" <rainbowlen@y...> wrote:
> lovely words....i suggest you read 'the power of now' by eckhart
> tolle to appreciate their depth more fully....or go to
> <www.eckharttolle.com>.....with love, leonard.
>
>
> --- in asc2k@y..., sol72us@y... wrote:
> > dust in the wind
> >
> > i close my eyes
> > only for a moment
> > and the moment's gone
> > all my dreams, pass before
> > my eyes a curiosity
> > dust in the wind, all they
> > are is dust in the wind...
> >
> >
> >
> > from
> > the best of kansas
> > sony music, 1999

[jason w]

the realization is dawning on me that to remember the importance of
spiritual awareness is key in these turbulant times. i have been
prone at times to get caught up in wanting to know all the details,
the secrets, the trivial..etc. then i remember what matters...

---jason


fyi - more info on eckhart tolle..as i too have been appreciative of
his clear insightful way of communicating how we can all experience
that which cannot be put into words...


complete text of chapter 1 of his book -
http://members.surfeu.fi/wpk/tolle/index.htm#cont

practicing the power of now -
http://www.lightworks.com/monthlyaspectarian/2001/september/feature1.h
tm

ripples on the surface of being -
http://www.wie.org/j18/tolle.asp