Topics

1

General Discussion / Robert Burton

« on: September 03, 2011, 04:44:13 PM »

In some early channelings, Michael says that "THE MAN, ROBERT BURTON, WILL BE A VEHICLE FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF THE HIGH CAUSAL BODY." (A number of the earliest Michael group members came from the Gurdjieff tradition; Burton was involved with the Gurdjieiff teachings).

They also say "THE EGO SEEKS INTRIGUE AND ADVENTURE; THE ESSENCE DOES NOT. THIS IS WHY THE MAN ROBERT BURTON COULD PLAY IT STRAIGHT. HE HAD PERMISSION TO HAVE A FEMALE FOLLOWING, AND THERE WAS NO GUILT. THERE WAS ALSO NO EGO-SATISFACTION. THIS IS WHY HE COULD NOT BE SEDUCED — SEDUCTION WAS NOT A SUITABLE REWARD TO HIM."

At the same time, there are allegations of sexual coercion that were put forward against Burton.

When I first encountered Burton's name years ago, I remember puzzling over all of this. I've just encountered this information again, both the very high role Michael says Burton was to fulfill, and the less than flattering accounts of Burton elsewhere.

Has anybody else pondered this?

2

Spirituality / Practice

« on: August 12, 2011, 10:57:30 PM »

Someone on the Michael listserv recently noted something that I've often thought about: that the Michael teachings aren't really about practice, in the sense of meditation. They mention meditation, including chakra scrubs, but the poster said, rightly I think, that the teachings are more about a personality system (of course there's a lot, lot more to them than that), and not a "how to" for spiritual enlightenment. The Michaels themselves say "we are not the way."

Personally I like having a meditation practice - without one I can get stuck in unproductive modes of thought. I've tried Buddhist meditations in the past, Zen and mindfulness, but I'd love to find a practice that's more philosophically in line with the Michael teachings.

Mindfulness in particular requires no belief system to perform, but I still would like a more Michael-y meditation. Scratch the surface of mindfulness and you soon get into the Buddhist concept of no-self which can be analyzed six ways to Sunday, but I would prefer a practice which is directly connected to putting personality aside and letting Essence shine through as much as possible.

Has anyone discovered such a practice? How about chakra scrubs - anyone have any experience with that one?

3

Introductions / National Geographic

« on: July 05, 2011, 03:48:40 PM »

I don't know if others feel this way, but I'd be interested in knowing where in the country forum members are from. I'm not asking for "identifying information," just city and state kind of thing.

Why this interest? A) I'm just curious - a scholar. B) It'd be interesting to see if there are any patterns (see A). C) For me, knowing where folks are located helps me make the material more concrete somehow, less disembodied (all puns intended). D) Perhaps folks in nearby locales want to get together to discuss the teachings.

I know some posters have included their whereabouts. I thought a gathering of such info could be fun.

I'm a Jersey boy, living in St. Louis, MO for the last 4.5 years.

4

General Discussion / Self-Karma

« on: July 03, 2011, 06:40:30 PM »

Is anyone else out there living a lifetime of self-karma?

I'm gay, Jewish and adopted. None of these things are "bad," whatever that might mean, but over the years they've provided me much motivation to delve deeply, meditate (which I don't do much of anymore), and search for healing. At almost 50 (in October), I look back and see what a stimulus to self-growth this triad has been. Some pain and confusion at times, but I'm grateful to say that as I age I've grown more content, more at home in my own skin. Things that bothered me, whether internally or externally, when I was younger are often less of an issue now.

It's because of this self-karma lifetime that I think I'm probably at 6th level Mature.

5

The Roles (or Soul Types) / What it's like to be a (fill in the role)....

« on: June 11, 2011, 08:45:32 PM »

I've been curious about getting an inside view of the roles in Essence other than Scholar (my own). I'll try to explain as best I can. I mean: what do you think about all / much of the day? What's your default thought stream about?

I remember Dave G. saying he often has a jazz riff going on inside that head of is. Very Artisan-y. As a language-oriented Scholar, I think a lot about origins of words and how best to translate a particular phrase in English into French or Spanish. Or I think about history. If you're a Server, to take another role, what do you think about? I know the specific content varies tremendously by individual and current circumstances, but I'm curious to see if the content falls into a more general form. Eg one Server may think a lot about taking care of her elderly dad, while another Server may think a lot about a business project, but do they both think about these things in a way which reflects "serving the common good?"

Does this make sense? I'd love to know what your typical internal patter is.

6

General Discussion / Cooperation vs. Competition

« on: May 30, 2011, 08:11:32 AM »

I'm in education, and the assumption that students should be competing with one another for a limited number of top grades, rather than learning now to cooperate with each other, is so deeply ingrained in minds and society that it scarcely sees the light of day. What a potentially happier place school at all levels could be if cooperation, with the proviso that everyone contribute in some way appropriate to their interests, abilities and perceptions of the project, were the norm. Take it out a step further into the workaday world. At what general soul age level will a culture have to arrive before the very nature of competition among human animals can be seriously examined?

A dark though intervenes: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." Do we have to let the memory of Marx's dictum scare us into never looking again at cooperative models of learning and working?

Just wondering, prior to breakfast.

7

Past Lives & Reincarnation / Weather

« on: May 30, 2011, 07:22:17 AM »

Joni Mitchell, one of my loves in this life, sings about folks from her part of Canada being "such sky-oriented people." This Jersey boy is as well, in the following way: when it's unambiguously sunny outside--blue skies, minimal clouds, the whole bit, I am often --- infused with a sense ---  of lives in tropical and especially Mediterranean climes, both ancient Greece and the US Southwest and Mexico. My entire life has been about living in northern climes and feeling incredibly drawn to the flora, fauna, weather, and ways of life of more southerly places. The first time my Dad took me on a trip to Florida (I was , I went ecstatically berserk upon seen my "first" palm tree.

More somber skies put me in the mind of NYC in the 1940s, or was it London, walking by shop after shop after shop. Not as pleasant a set of recollections, but equally evocative.