I am going to divide my posts in to two from now on. The first part will concern my work and inspiration. The second part will basically consist of me moaning or observations on life. So in this way you are free to ignore the second part:¬)
I'm still working on a couple of models and they are not finished enough to be posted yet. In the meantime here are a couple of pictures taken local to me here in West Cornwall. The first is Mounts Bay, the other is of St Ives.
I'm still working on a couple of models and they are not finished enough to be posted yet. In the meantime here are a couple of pictures taken local to me here in West Cornwall. The first is Mounts Bay, the other is of St Ives.
'Oneness / Non-Duality' philosophy - A Cautionary Tale
Right here we go:¬) I have left facebook for a while. The final straw was when a 'friend' I have known for a some years removed me as a 'friend'. We had met on 'the Barefoot Doctors forum,' (The BFD a now defunct Taoist Guru in my eyes, after admitting to seducing vulnerable supposedly ex 'patients').
She got into this 'oneness/non duality' philosophy which I think changed her from a kind and generous person into an aggressive unkind one. Fortunately I didn't fully buy into the philosophy because frankly I wasn't intelligent enough to fully grasp the concept. She had been going to seminars hosted by Tony Parsons who instills in people the idea that there is no such thing as 'self.'
He describes a kind of liberation from identifying with self. This is an example of the philosophy:
'...It’s absolutely the divine play of being. And being isn’t the slightest bit interested in the idea of anybody seeing this or not, because there is nothing other than being … and non-realisation is also being. So being suffers, being laughs, being searches, being finds, being doesn’t find. There isn’t anything other than that. And of course all of that is totally immaculately whole – there is only that so that is all there is. But in that wholeness there is something that thinks it isn’t wholeness, which is also being, being separate. Being has no requirements. But what arises within being is an apparent need and requirement to find that there is no need and requirement'.
The upshot was my 'friend' got so into this that she started to lose her identity. When she got close to completely losing her mind she pulled back from the brink. She decided that the only way forward was to 'live the play.' Trouble is because life is just a play she now doesn't care that her forthright and rude comments have a detrimental effect.
The last time I tried to contact her I asked why she was no longer staying in touch. She said, 'why should I use up my valuable time talking to you. I am busy running the cafe, so any spare time I get is spent with my husband and family'.
Whether life is a game, play, dream or illusion, it feels convincing enough. What's the point in bending your brain out of shape. I can accept the idea that we are spiritual beings experiencing life in a physical form as humans. Not identifying with an ego is one thing but the so called liberation from self is asking for trouble.
Comments
I do hope we can stay friends, Hen has left a great comment on my blog re non attachment.
beautiful photos by the way...oh to be there!
I think when you get involved in the whole non-dualism thing to the degree that my friend did,mentally things can get quite weird. She is very intelligent so she could really look deeply into it. At times she would tell me about being really scared that she was losing her mind. Some things are beyond our brains ability to comprehend.
Hen's post was interesting like you said in reply, she is further up the road to enlightenment than I.
I hope we can stay friends too, it is other people who have left me.