Hope, Productive Tension, Inward Vector of Attention, Taking Action (Philosophy)

The following are some takeaways from the Tat Virtual Retreat with Bob Cergol:

1. Hope in your life is well-founded because it arises from your Source and is reflected in your life.

2. A final and absolute realisation of what you are, where you came from and where you are going is possible.

3. Hope for that realisation presents the paradox that such hope must be lost before it can be fulfilled.

4. Meditation alone is insufficient. You will not complete the journey of going within solely by sitting and self-reflecting. You will fall asleep and dream. You must take witnessable action that reflects your commitment to your search, and that action will generate tension, and that tension will generate doubt, and that doubt will inspire deeper self-reflection, and a loosening of ego and self-concern.

5. If you are not troubled, you are just not going to look very deeply, and you will not be able to generate enough self-honesty - so absent some nagging trouble that compels you to search, it behooves you to make the kind of commitment to spiritual work that causes you some trouble.

6. The intensity of attention upon, and preoccupation with "the question" must surpass the intensity of attention upon and preoccupation with being you in the world. Only then will you have become an inward vector of the attention sufficient to transcend body-mind-ego.

Here are some notes from Wed 23rd July meeting:

Is man integral or a conglomerate of personalities, here is Ouspenky's take on it: The Psychology Of Man's Possible Evolution P D Ouspensky | The Many I's #3 - YouTube

What is it in us that wants to be the "life and soul" of the party? Is it egoic in nature? Is it a good trait or not so good? Where does that drive in us come from?

Are introvertism and extrovertism both aspects of a mind-made personality? How would you classify someone who is comfortable in his/her beingness?

What is the difference between acting and being?

Do you suffer from the need to escape yourself? Does this lead to mind numbing behaviors?

What did Richard Rose mean by saying, (to paraphrase), "if you feel the need for entertainment, you are asleep".

Do you believe in guardian angels? Before totally writing the topic off, please read the following book, https://tinyurl.com/253zw7gm . Ralph used his own term for guardian angels, "Inner-self-helpers". He accidently discovered these helpers whilst practicing hypnosis therapy with his many patients.

In moments of experiencing ourselves on a being level, what takes us out of that? Is it the ego-mind?

Is beingness just a form of higher mind? A more transcendent mind?

Was Tess Hughes correct when she alluded to the fact that most of us trade our innocence and naivety during childhood to cynicism as a coping mechanism as we grow older?

What did Jesus mean by his saying, paraphrase, "To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become like little children"?

Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-clouds-with-sun-piercing-through-it-45848/

Check out the "What we are about" section in the groups' main page for some guidelines we work to adhere to. Meetings are run on the popular Zoom platform. Please contemplate the topic in advance of the meeting to get the best out of it and bring your views and convictions to the meeting, if possible have a pen and paper close by to record anything useful that may come up that you resonate with on the night, little things you may want to contemplate further.