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lol avant garde...
I don't always reach that state of mind, but when it happens i am really happy:)
posted by
Marshallengraved
on March 23, 2006 at 10:59 AM
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hiiiii....
thanks avant & this has sparked something lets see what will come out of it...
posted by
abhilasha
on March 23, 2006 at 5:38 AM
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shelly
Thank you so much for reading.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 23, 2006 at 5:06 AM
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abhilasha
Keep swinging. One day you will come to rest.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 23, 2006 at 5:06 AM
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brettnik
It is certainly the way it appears. Thank you.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 23, 2006 at 5:06 AM
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blanche
Your words are profound. Thank you.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 23, 2006 at 5:05 AM
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This is so true. 
posted by
shelly_b
on March 23, 2006 at 4:29 AM
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hiii
I keep swinging between content & discontenet owning & renouncing.....like a pendulum!! great post..
posted by
abhilasha
on March 22, 2006 at 10:44 PM
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Love that line about preparing the way. Brilliant!!!!!
that's really what it is, isn't it?
posted by
brettnik
on March 22, 2006 at 6:49 PM
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Avant-Garde,
I find that even in solitude, I'm having a real challenge keeping an open mind, too much clutter rushing in to fill a vacuum which I feel inspired to keep open, but still my spirit insists that I shed those exterior things that have preoccupied me for so much of the past: judgments, preoccupations, resentments, bitterness, insecurity, defensiveness. I have to be constantly seeking to empty them.
I'm not sure if contentment is my aim, but still the seeking/searching spirit within insists on emptying the external.
posted by
Blanche.
on March 22, 2006 at 5:19 PM
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elysia
Yes, the body is a huge obstruction, but at the same time the only avenue through which enlightenment is achieved. A paradox, if you will. Thanks for this dialogue. It has been most enchanting.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 22, 2006 at 12:01 PM
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Isa
Oh, isn't it, though? Thank you.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 22, 2006 at 11:59 AM
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ooos - miscommunication - my bad
avant, didn't think for a moment that my own problems were being reduced to pettiness by your poem, but i was responding from a place of knowing pettiness - we've been quite close pals on this trek through life. upon further reflection on my last comment, it seems as if the body is the root of all our pettiness, and at the same time the key to our salvation. our body causes our mind to imagine all sorts of things, often enslaving our minds to the service of our whims...
posted by
astromuffy
on March 22, 2006 at 10:07 AM
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Being content is the best thing...
when we reach that state of mind, it is delightful:)
posted by
Marshallengraved
on March 22, 2006 at 9:58 AM
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Bright Irish
Thank you. Good to hear from you.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 22, 2006 at 9:43 AM
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elysia
Good point. I am in no way making light of your problem. I've been to the darkest recesses of the human mind, and denied it was my own making for many years.
It is true that we are creating God, but He is also experiencing Himself through us. What a joy, then for one of his children to stand in the full light of self-acknowledgment, unafraid of what his comrades will say about him..
posted by
avant-garde
on March 22, 2006 at 9:43 AM
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avant-garde
Very true and ispirationl words. thank you!
posted by
BrightIrish
on March 22, 2006 at 9:42 AM
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sannhet
Thank you, my friend.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 22, 2006 at 9:40 AM
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avant
are our problems really petty, or do they just look that way? one of your poems challanged us to look beyond appearances. my experience tells me, that when I'm able to see beyond the way something looks on first glance, it will take on another appearance.
same with our petty problems. they may seem petty on first glance, but they hide a deeper affliction. that affliction being the failure to contend successfully with the 'really important' problems.
in this life, we are forced to deal with the problems of material existence. if we don't, we will lose our body. we're going to lose it any way, but we do what we can, or what we have to, in the meantime to preserve it.
so, our material drive will directly correspond with our degree of attachment to our body, and left unchecked, our bodies will lust after every comfort and convenience imaginable. and we have quite the imagination...
chasing after these comforts, and conveniences will certainly distract us from the the really big problems we create with every new car, every new subdivision, every roll of paper towel...
Could pathological materialism be the source of pathological pettyness?
Ideally, we would set limits for the comforts and necessities that would enable well being, but discourage addiction.
Our material problems could then be cut down to size, resolved with little difficulty, leaving a lot more room to cultivate our destiny.
As for us never being seperate from God, I propose that we are always creating him, in one form, or another...
Jumping off the soap box now...
posted by
astromuffy
on March 22, 2006 at 8:10 AM
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Avant -
Beautifully written with a simple message!
posted by
sannhet
on March 22, 2006 at 6:44 AM
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elysia
You're right about detachment through attachment. Yet, anyone can own things without 'owning' them in the sense that to believe they provide what we search for.
As for God...
God is not separate from us. We are God. We choose to exclude the experience of Him, by our petty problems. We become obstructed, then project our inability to connect onto a deity.
Thank you for the incisive discussion.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 22, 2006 at 6:06 AM
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i beg to differ
is god really content all the time, or just sometimes? i think, just sometimes, just like the rest of us. contentement is an oasis, a temporary oasis providing rest, refreshemnt, and a time to celibrate - before we move on to the next level of challange that the drive to create brings.
owning? i'm convinced that the only way to detachment is through attachment, we can't give something up until we've possessed it...that's how buddah did it - his path to detached enlightment was paved with attachment.
your posts never fail to pull me out of a mental rut.
posted by
astromuffy
on March 22, 2006 at 5:41 AM
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Avant....
You're welcome!
Have a great day!
posted by
RckyMtnActivist
on March 22, 2006 at 5:40 AM
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Rcky
Yes, that is the gist of it. Thank you very much.
posted by
avant-garde
on March 22, 2006 at 5:36 AM
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Avant......
The thought that came into my head after reading this is..."accepting what is"
Great inspiration!
posted by
RckyMtnActivist
on March 22, 2006 at 5:34 AM
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