Weakness is strength??

That’s a positive sign Mags … at the end of this post I reprinted some babble I wrote about 15 years ago … at the time I was already 10 years past my ‘milestone’ experience and still wasn’t sure what was going on.

I have always found we get precisely the help we need … when we need it … even when we are not aware that we need it.

There may be a mathematical relationship between the severity of the ‘jolt’ and the difficulty of the task(s) that lie ahead. Such a serious ‘jolt’ suggests you will be facing some serious and difficult task(s).

Hibernation is a wonderful choice of words … it’s a survival instinct … sleep when nature doesn’t provide conditions or food conducive to survival. I went into “hibernation” mode several times during the past 25 years. Seems we are brought out of hibernation when the circumstances are appropriate to our journey.

I do not think I am yet in a position to self-analyse my situation, but I can see the manifestation of the effect from the cause(s) and the journey that got me there… my visualisation of the situation is of a train… as opposed to your egg, but a rusty rust-bucket of a train… a deserted one… not one all shiny and in service.

Not a good situation for those that aren’t great with responsibility to find themselves in :neutral_face:

Do you have any idea what triggered yours? Did the state diminish the quality of your life… relationship/career wise? and what brought you out of it/of the cycle?

“a rusty rust-bucket of a train” … very a propos analogy Mags … a caterpillar is not very attractive either … but who doesn’t love a butterfly. :slight_smile:

Mags … not sure if my memory serves me well … senility set in some time ago … seems I recall you taking some test post on ILP and the results clearly labelled you as a “leader” … you replied something to the effect … I prefer to sit in the middle of the bus and observe. The term “reluctant saint” comes to mind. :slight_smile:

I prefer to believe the “how it happened” is irrelevant … the result is always the same … it’s like being “thrown off the train” … “plucked out of the crowd” . In the very early stages of my milestone experience the local priest said to me … “If God is calling you … He will call you alone” I understood his comment to mean God will hearken no competition … no distractions. :slight_smile:

Mags I have published more than 700 pages of babble … some anecdotal (answers to your questions) … some thoughts … some opinions etc. When I read my earlier babble I clearly see how my thinking has changed … evolved … over the past 25 years.

pilgrimtom.weebly.com/

thoughtsofamisfit.weebly.com/

Mags … I learned the term “reluctant saint” recently … here … decentfilms.com/articles/reluctantsaint

Not so much a transformation as a re-introduction to self… I guess a jolt would facilitate the need for that in anyone?

…or simply just nosey? :smiley:

…it is indeed a lone predicament to be in… a retrospective journey for one, but yet they compete and distract. How did you cope?

Over 700 pages :astonished: I hope it’s chaptered and headed…

Apologies for the late reply… I’ve been taken up with gathering myself and my thoughts of late…

What were you doing there Tom? :smiley:

From that article, it seems that Saints are simply different/stand out, but that’s what I got out of it. What did you glean from the words?

A re-introduction to self has a familiar ring to it. In the early years … after my watershed moment … a look at my former self revealed that my former self was not my true self. The demands of society/culture pounded some of my true self into oblivion. Since that time my true self has percolated to the surface.

At times … too many to count … coping was a serious struggle. Eventually the following strategies took hold …

  1. Surrender

  2. Wu Wei

Does that suggest you haven’t read all my babble yet? :open_mouth:

Happy to learn you are making some progress.

Can’t remember the details but Youtube/Google algorithms triggered the visit … first to the movie and later the article.

Every once in a while Guiseppe …the reluctant saint … talks to me … or I talk to him. :slight_smile:

Happens when I’m reluctant to feed my wife’s geese, chickens and ducks … 21 in total. I’m usually totally spent at the time from helping with my wife’s farming project.

Guess that means Guiseppe encourages me to be more thoughtful towards animals … kindness to animals must surely lead to an uptick in kindness to people … no?

…and now I have joined you in that percolation of true self… it’s a less-stressful self to be, and simply means taking a step back from society and once again observing rather than partaking, and only partake of life with those of a similar ilk or not partake at all… I simply cannot not afford to do that any more.

…once the decision is made, and wheels set in motion, coping isn’t a struggle anymore. The decision to please others at the expense of self has come to an abrupt end, for they are happy when we suffer discontent… my mother would be so pleased. :icon-rolleyes:

If you only hang out with people of “a similar ilk”, then you don’t grow.

One becomes better by being challenged.

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Reminds me of John Lennon … the community he sings about is growing steadily … one individual at a time … in their own way … on their own terms … at the appropriate time.

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Cave dwellers, desert fathers, the monastic culture were born of the same sentiment. Some people lament at the decline of church and monastic patrons … I see it as positive. The institutional church continues to fulfill it’s role and “death” is a part of the process … the last phase. As Augustine said … each successive word we utter must die to make room for the next word.

The “death” of the institutional church has created empty space as a womb for the next paradigm. For the past several centuries secular institutions filled this space … though they have chosen to play the same game … expecting a different result … ergo Thucydides “The strong will do as they wish and the weak will suffer as they must.”

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Ah yes … the “decision” … the mysterious inflection point … a decision so many contemplate … a decision so few make. NT “many are invited … few are chosen.”

I like Augustine’s metaphor …

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I watched a documentary on part of the life of Ste Teresa of Avila … yesterday was her Feast Day.

youtube.com/watch?v=A9xJe_aabaI

Seems it took her 20+ years to reach the deflection point … and she wrestled with church leaders all along the way … she wanted to “wake up” and church leaders wanted her to go back to sleep.

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Anything less would be suicidal.

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Your comment triggers … at least in me … a torrent of empathy and compassion. Like so many others your mother lived a life conscious of her misery yet without the blessing associated with “waking up”.

If you “wake up” you will feel differently … and feel much better.

Wake up to what? Wake up how? :sleeping-sleeping:

Maybe THIS is my true self. Why not? O:)

Why should weakness be strength? Don’t you know that weakness is already weakness and that sterngth is already strength?

Phyllo … it’s usually recognized by looking back … some time after the mysterious inflection point. Like our birth … we have no idea how or when we were born … the recollection is buried in the shadows of memory. We accept what other people tell us about our birth. Ditto for conception … I wonder at what age Steve Job realized his caretakers were not his biological parents.

“Self” is a transient entity … never remains the same for one instant.

pilgrim-seeker_tom

…and do you find this to be a positive?

pilgrim-seeker_tom

So what are you saying here - that the above-listed are part of our “true” Self?

The notion of “Collective Consciousness” has not graduated from the realm of ideas into the realm of generally accepted reality … yet! Although it is gaining more traction and new adherents every day.

Collective Unconsciousness —> Collective Consciousness —> Collective Will

I find the above ‘idea’ positive.

If one accepts that “self” is a transient entity … logic compels us to believe the “true” Self is the product of many life times … each lifetime building on the aggregate of previous lifetimes. This idea dovetails nicely with the Buddhist notion of reincarnation … the connection is not so clear in the Arahamic traditions.

Well, for me, at first glance, the Borg, Nazi Germany and Isis come to mind.

Is THAT positive to you?

Can be a very dangerous concept or ideal.