Fireside III
It is to the Village Square that the townspeople come to exchange views and thoughts on their beloved spiritual philosophy, learning from each other in kindness and wisdom. Then when their minds have been filled, they retire to the tavern on the western side of the square where they share in social discussion, learning of each other’s events and challenges, happinesses and sometimes sadnesses, too. With a mug or glass in hand, they collect in front of the great Fireplace that dominates the long wall. Benches and chairs are often filled on market day with those who have come from farther away, bringing news of events and views the local people delight in hearing.
If you are feeling disoriented by all the philosophical talk by the fountain in the Village Square, then come sit down on the bench here with us for a while just to soothe your mind and share a mug of tea or coffee. Let’s all make sure the conversation is quiet and simple, caring and thougtful, exactly the kind of talk you might have around a warm hearth, the only light filling the room coming from the fireplace.
This is the third installment in the Fireside discussion series. After we reach 900 comments, the page takes too long to load on your computer, and so we start another fresh page. To review previous discussions, we keep the old pages (Fireside I and Fireside II) which you can find under the ‘Village’ tab on the navigation bar at the top of screen under the image of the tree.
Sir Lawrence — you got the big b=day wishes in to our dearest Annie on the big 1000 numbered comment. love that ! (:
Happy, happy birthday, dearest Annie…bet you never got a birthday greeting from Saigon/(Ho Chi Minh City) — there’s a beautiful (english) song playing in the hotel lobby computer (where guests can use computers for free) – (i never travel with a laptop)
The song (hope you like it !) is Starry, starry night (:
love you,
a
Happy birthday {{{{{{annie}}}}}} And warm wishes for everyone else also (:
happy birthday annie
happy best wishes to you
am so thankful you found me
you appeared with such joy
a wonderful happy holy encounter
wishing you alllllll the best
love to you
happy to see so many gathering here
sir lawrence, while you may be going through a lot these days, your warm kind heart and inner light is shining bright
am so happy you are here
you’re a blessing and comfort
am so wishing you find a way to rest in God while having so much put upon you in this chapter of your life
this village is alive this morning
can see people moving about the place and having conversations
can feel love and friendship … lots of people happy to see each other
there is welcome and greetings
a on his continuous voyages and travels … sort of a where’s waldo, where’s a today
how wonderful is that
never know where he’ll turn up
am thankful for his check ins and shared family stories
am happy to see bernard and pam and michele and jacalyn and nina too… am sure tex is around here somewhere ….
have heard from winnie … she’s such a joy and blessing too
am happy and thankful for this place
the people
the sharings
hawaii update is all good
mom is doing superbly well …
she’s become so loving and full of light in this chapter of her life
makes the constant care and attention easier to do
my daily walks have become longer
have added snorkeling and almost always swim or snorkel after the walk
my inner mermaid is demanding her fair share of time in the ocean
swam with the biggest octopus I’ve ever seen … he rock hopped …
his big yellow eyes were watching me watch him
he would shift his color and shape perfectly onto the exact match of whatever surface he landed on … large tentacles showing as he would reattach and settle in
the only visible sign that it was him were the yellow eyes
he could look rough or smooth or fuzzy … when he floated to a different rock he’d be smooth and purple
it’s all so wonderful and beautiful
my love and blessings and best wishes and gratitude for each of you
aloha and mahalo
Aloha, Mahalo and Thank You All.
Annie ❤
Aloha and mahalo, one and all. Greetings from a fiery France, with temperatures well over a hundred this week.
You’re certainly all a blessing in my life, I’m so glad we managed to come together here and create this place.
We have yet again hit 1000 comments by the Fireside. I’m sure a number of you have had a hard time loading this page. Soooo, we’ll have to think about starting a new page. Of course this one is just moved into archives under the Village tab. Maybe it would be nice to go over some of the comments we’ve made this past year before I file it.
Deep blessings to everyone today, B.
Good Mayor, dear friend of our heart —
Your message was promptly acted on by me. I went back up to around 400/500 and started reading through till I came to about 660. I had to stop. The messages made me laugh and made me cry.
The love that suffused it all was palpable.
Am grateful.
Truly.
a
ps. I don’t want to end on a sad note, especially as I laughed so much at so many of the beautiful and witty turns of phrases, but…. (:
Here’s the first few lines of a lovely poem that Hedda sent us…
“I saw a wise man dying of starvation.
Leaves fall in the gentlest of winds in December.
I saw a wealthy man
beating his cook
for some mistake over spices.
………”
Hmm. Mr a, I think you’re leaving us a little in suspense there, no? How ’bout the rest of that poem. Does it get better??? Just an additional little question to everyone that came to me reading that poem… Do we really die of starvation, do we really die of a disease, do we really die of an accident…? I have found so much comfort in the thought that our death is never really caused by any of these things, but by our guilt. Our unspoken, unseen guilt whispers to us that we must die of something, because we must be punished for our cruel act of (imaginary) separation. It is our guilt that we experience when we are dying, and not the situation before our eyes or in our bodies. There is so much hope in this idea because our guilt is nothing more than a fanciful idea. Albeit one that we have a hard time relativizing and seeing its true, non-existent nature, but still just a tiny, crazy idea.
I had a thought recently that pain is a condition in the body, but suffering is the psychological attachment to that condition. My understanding is that it is possible to undergo physical pain and even death, but not to experience it as suffering. It is just body-pain, sensations in the body that touch the surface of the mind. When we have given up using the pain in order to demonstrate (unconsciously) that we are innocent victims, when we have given up the thought that we deserve this pain and death because of our (imaginary) act of separation, then there is a simple experience of pain, but no suffering. This thought helps me feel much less guilty about all the suffering I see in the world, which I think unconsciously all of us take on ourselves as proof of our ‘guilt’.
That is the goal of anyone’s suffering, to make others feel guilty. I don’t know about you, but it usually works on me! So this idea of unconsciously choosing our suffering instead of ‘peaceful pain’ really helps me. Now, of course, I have to make sure that I put it into practice next time I hurt my back or get the flu!
Apparently we can all be peaceful and in physical pain at the same time. Our goal is to try to find the peacefulness that is present despite the pain, reminding ourselves that the reason we have made the pain is because it feels fitting, given our secret self-concept. “Life is painful.” That seems like a reasonable statement to a part of us, the part that uses the pain to maintain a sense of separateness. It takes time and patience to begin to undo our attachment to our self-concept, so we must be very gentle with ourselves. Oh, and we must learn to laugh and smile a lot, which is a good reason to come to this site and read each other’s messages and say ‘aloha’ now and again. 🙂
Wonderful post, dear mayor! You could publish a book using the insights you’ve posted- it would make a great read.
Nouk Sanchez says on that Ken Bok interview that her husband Tomas didn’t suffer during the dying process, that he was “awake”, but had not released the guilt. She said that if he had released the guilt, that he would have been healed.
Thank you, dear Lawrence, for your words of wisdom! You are a true sage, and a shining example of living the Course. How we all love and admire you!
Yes!!! yes to your in sight dear Bernard, ditto Jacalyn’s post re the book and gratitude to you dear Sir Lawrence!!
Thank you a for the Hedda poem and do let us know eh?
Oh! Peggy….the Octopus descriptions….my inner mermaid delights in knowing you’re exploring and giving yours more time in morning rejuvenating time.
Annie and I were supposed to get together this last weekend as part of her and John driving Nicholas up. It was rearranged for this coming weekend and a spontaneous weekend of having my granddaughter with me unfolded. It was lovely. She flys out this coming Sat am to join her Mom in their new home in CT.
Okay, I’m making a mayoral decision here and declaring that Michele’s 1010 is the last post in Fireside III. Please click on Fireside IV to continue our discussion. I’ll leave this page here for a while so we can follow the thread. Mayor Bernie.