Tea with Harold, or, killing off the ego
Submitted by Catherine Sword on Sun, 2007-01-28 20:03.
Lovely tea, Harold, and now I'm thinking of the teacher's task of killing the student's ego. It's not *all* the teacher's task and now I'd like to know how to be a better student. Let's say I'm looking for the water. As you've said before, we should question a teacher who teaches one how to swim by staying on dry land and describing the techniques without having actual experience. Yet there are teachers and students who choose to learn this way. I know that I've done this "book-learning" for years but at some point somebody has got to take the plunge.
Man, even as I write this I realize there is some serious fear happening. Interesting. Perhaps this is a first step into the water.
OK. I'm standing ankle deep in the water trying to resist the urge to grab a book. How does a student prepare for a confrontation with ego? This doesn't have to be a sneak attack on the part of the teacher, does it? Is the ego the prison or just part of the prison?
Tea for Two
The ego is part of the prison. The ego prison is in the relative and the other prison is in the absolute. How does a student prepare to confront their ego. How do you prepare to confront the illusion that is your ego or yourself. How do confront the "VIEW" that you are not the dreamer but the "DREAMED". How do you do that Catherine, how indeed. A true teacher does not push the student into the water. They stand there with their hand out waiting for you to grab it after you have plunged in. Then when your ready you can go swimming with your teacher.
prison break
So it's a prison complex. Yes, two different meanings of that word - complex - and I think both apply. The personal comlex(es) of my own psyche but also a complex as in a series of buildings, the collective. Is this the relative and absolute you refer to?
As for the confrontation, I think you have nicely sidestepped that answer, or you are saying I'm not ready. Guess I need to organize a prison break 'cause I think my teacher is standing in the water, hand out-stretched.
Breaking out of what?
The only prison to break out of is the prison of your own mind. The mind that says you really exist. The idea of human beings, world and universes only exist in that coarse human mind. The very poisoned mind that only exists as a reflection.
no locks on the door
I am suspicious. Maybe there is no lock on the door of this prison. No door! I can come and go as I please, with some limitations of the course mind. What are the true or natural limitations or qualities of the course mind? So not the bars I make but the "bars" the course mind makes. Does it stand to reason that the subtle mind also has limitations because it keeps getting caught up in the course mind. Or is this related to memories we carry through lifetimes? This is a tangled web we weave.
Memories Dreams
All your coarse mind does is carry the dreamed memories of your dreamed life. The memories of one dreamed lifetime become the ground work of your next dreamed life. It is this coarse mind that has you in this dream prison. It tells you that this dream prison and you are both real. All of the other prisoners there are reinforcing your belief in that dream prison. Remember " Like the rest of us YOU were born into BONDAGE. born into a PRISON you can not see, smell or touch. A PRISON for your MIND".
from view to experience
I think there is an implied weaving and interlacing of all the memories of all the course minds of my being. When we are born into this prison we are given the "bars", the beliefs, the "dream" of our parents and society. Our 'engergy being' also brings with it the memories of our previous dreams (lives). Would you say that the view you suggest I adopt is the first step in stopping the creation of more dreams? If I could maintain that view, that all is a dream, while I'm watching that I'm not creating more and perhaps I can focus on letting go of the previous dreams.
There is no lock on the door. There is no door. There is no prison. It's just a wide open view to experience.
Ah, am I ready to be taught about experience?
You are self taught.
What are you doing right now is this very thing called EXPERIENCE. You are teaching yourself. Morpheus said "I can not show you the MATRIX (the prison) you must see (experience) it yourself. All I give you is my VIEW, you do all the rest Catherine.
self teaching?
Does this bring me to the throat chakra and the importance of communication? Or at least, the "attempt" to communicate, or to bring together the view and experiences. Is the best we can do in this form realm to get "impressions" and leave ourselves clues so that eventually we get a bigger picture?
Let me try a little picture. Let's say you and I are sitting at a table with an object between us. You tell me the object is roughly 9-10 inches in height. I agree.
You say it's a container holding a fire-engine red substance. I'll give you container and substance but I disagree slightly on the colour. It's a deeper, not so bright red.
You tell me you see the label and this is "ketc".
I say you're wrong. I have the label and from my viewpoint it clearly says "hup".
So, if we were each left only to our own view and our own experience, we'd have a good impression (maybe) but by trying to come together with our view and experience we may actually get more info. Ah! The colour difference is a subtle change in lighting from our viewpoints. If we put the label together we discover "ketchup".
Give me another viewpoint, another clue. Another bush to beat.
What can we put on the table now?
self teaching?
How about a cloth? A table cloth.
You rest your hands on the cloth on your side of the table. I rest my hands on the cloth on my side of the table.
Then suddenly, I tug on the cloth. Why? I don't know. Sheer impulse.
Isn't that what happens when we talk? One person speaks, the air vibrates, both people hear.