1. Welcome to Issue #143 (December 17, 2004) of MIND CHATTER
Mind Chatter is published once a month, on or about the 16th of each month.
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2. Please send Mind Chatter to a friend, and please send us your questions, comments, and suggestions.
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3. In This Issue
* MindQuotes (scroll to #5)
* A few recommendations that may benefit you (scroll to item #6)
* Feature Article
by Bill Harris, Director (scroll to item #7)
Part 1 of Spiral Dynamics: A New Model for Understanding the Values that Shape Our World
* Glowing Testimonial of the Month (scroll to #8)
* BOOK REVIEW (scroll to #9)
Naked Buddhism: 39 Ways to Free Your Heart and Awaken to Now
By David Deida
Reviewed by Katie Sparks
* Important Announcements (scroll to #10)
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4. MIND CHATTER contains articles about:
*How you create your life--and how you can stop unconsciously creating experiences and outcomes you do not want, and instead begin to create exactly what you do want
*Personal and spiritual growth in general
*Meditation (high- and low-tech)
*Recovery from emotional trauma
*Pretty much any other subject I get excited about and want to write about. After all, it's my company and my newsletter, and I can do whatever I want with it. So there.
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5. Mind Quotes
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
There is a time to let things happen, and a time to make things happen.
The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.
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6. I want to show you how to create the exact life you want--inside and out!
Yes, it is possible. I know you've probably been told that you can create your own reality by plenty of other people, but I really do know how it's done. And, I know how to show you how to do it, step-by-step. This is not something you do overnight, and it does involve some effort on your part, but I'll tell you it is VERY possible, and you really can do it. And, it's well worth the trouble to learn.
Unless you're new to Mind Chatter, you know that in May of 2003 I started a series of teleconference lessons--three courses of 12 lessons each--collectively called The Life Principles Integration Process. Now over 2,521 people are participating in these courses, and people in these courses are experiencing huge positive changes.
These courses are now available in a very inexpensive and very easy to use on-line form.
Here's the idea: Whether you know it or not, you are creating your internal and external reality (if that doesn't seem to be true to you, it's because you're doing it, for the most part, unconsciously and automatically, outside your awareness). When you live this way, part of the time you get what you want and part of the time you won't--but it's not always clear why.
If, however, you can learn to operate the part of you that creates your internal and external results, and do so consciously and intentionally, you really can create whatever you want.
I can teach you how to do this. In fact, I GUARANTEE that I can teach you how to do it--if you're willing to learn.
This is NOT the same old stuff you've read about in all those books about "manifesting your dreams" and so on. I promise that if you take these courses, you will have a HUGE "ah-ha" about your life and how to create what you want, both inside and out.
You can take these courses on your computer, either by audio-streaming, or by downloading the lessons to listen to later or to burn onto a CD. You also receive written notes for each lesson, making them easy to review, and many lessons have very interesting and revealing self-tests to help you learn more about some of the ways you create your reality.
In addition, I am making myself personally available, by email, to answer any and all questions you have about anything during the course. This means unlimited email access to me for any questions you have.
You do not need to be a participant in The Holosync Solution to take these courses, by the way.
I've made these courses VERY inexpensive. If I was to teach this material in person, in a seminar or retreat, it would cost several thousand dollars (and be well worth it). Instead, the cost is a small fraction of that.
What's more, I've created a free preview lesson, so you can find out what it's about with no risk.
Here are a few emails I've received from people in the course:
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! The first lesson was worth the price of this course, and more. I have heard and read similar material before, but somehow you manage to present it so that it gets through in a powerful way. I simply can't tell you how grateful I am to you-and you're plenty funny!
--Jean M.
*
Wow, you are not kidding when you say you really want to help. I knew that already though. Thank you so much. You, your program, and your teachings have changed my life completely -- much needed.
--Lee
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You really know your stuff! Razor sharp.
--Andrew
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Wow! I'm impressed by all the time and energy you are putting into this course. Thank you!
--Ellen
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I absolutely love your impeccable program. You've summed up just about everything that I've heard from many other tapes and books, but they did not hand you the formula for the answers the way in which you did. I feel that there are many thousands of beings who are truly grateful for all that you have gone through to bring about such change for so many. May we all find the joy and blessings that you have come to live. Bright Blessings,
--Janet G.
*
So please go listen to the FREE preview lesson, which is available now for you to listen to online. This free lesson contains some great stuff, so please go listen to it.
It really is possible to master the ability to create whatever you want in life, both inside and out. For more information about the course and to actually listen to a FREE preview lesson, click here:
http://www.centerpointe.com/life/preview
I'd love to get an email from you in a few weeks telling me how much YOU have benefited!
Be well.
Bill
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Spiritual Cinema Circle
Get this for yourself, or give it as a gift (great gift memberships--including organic popcorn and chocolate!)
What if you could see the best of the spiritually-oriented, uplifting, and heart-filled movies and short-subjects made each year, in the privacy of your own home--personally chosen for you by noted Hollywood film producer Steven Simon from the top movies, shown at top film festivals?
Steven Simon knows movies. Some of his work as a Hollywood producer includes
Somewhere in Time starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve, and
What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding.
Steven, though, left Hollywood a couple of years ago to pursue his dream of spreading uplifting, spiritual entertainment--movies that rarely make it to theaters, and often don't even make it to the rental market--yet are uplifting, thought-provoking, heart-opening movies. To bring these movies to people who will really appreciate them, such as you and me, Steven has started The Spiritual Cinema Circle.
Here's what Steven told me: "Before now, hardly anybody got to see the best movies made each year. Now, with The Circle, you can enjoy heartful, soulful movies ... without leaving home."
Here's how the Spiritual Cinema Circle works:
* Each month you receive 3-5 features and shorts on DVD. The movies are personally selected by Steven Simon and his team. These movies represent the best of spiritual cinema and art.
* The movies are new films you're unlikely to see anywhere else.
* The DVDs are yours to keep. You don't have to return them. In fact, you're encouraged to share them with friends and family, in order to broaden the worldwide Spiritual Cinema community.
* The cost of the service is kept deliberately low, so the maximum number of people can participate. If you join now, you become a Charter Member of The CIRCLE. Charter members pay only $24 per month instead of the regular $29 fee (plus $1.95 shipping and handling; outside USA $5.95).
* There's no risk - you may cancel your membership at any time. And remember, you never have to return any of your DVDs, even if you decide to cancel your membership.
I'm sending this email because I've enjoyed these movies so much I just new I had to share this resource with all of you--and also because I just learned they're going to raise the price after the first of the month. I wanted you to be able to join as a Charter Member right now, if you're interested, at the lower price.
Go check out their web page for descriptions of the movies you'll see, comments from other members, and other details. I know you'll be inspired to join, and if you don't like it for some reason (which I doubt), you can always un-join at any time.
As I said above, the Spiritual Cinema Circle has added three different gift packages. What a great gift to give to someone you care about! Or, go join just for yourself.
Check it out by clicking here:
http://www.spiritualcinemacircle.com/public/gifts/?af=SCC020
Be well.
Bill
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7. Feature Article
Spiral Dynamics: A New Model for Understanding the Values that Shape Our World
by Bill Harris, Director
Values are one of the most powerful determinants of human behavior and experience. I've written about values in the past, but always regarding how values affect the individual. In particular, I've emphasized whether or not a person focuses on what they want or what they do not want in each important values area, since the results of each approach are very different.
Over the next three issues I want to go more deeply into the subject by describing a developmental model of values that applies to both individuals and social groups. This model is called Spiral Dynamics, and was the subject of my November 2004 talk at the United Nations.
Understanding Spiral Dynamics will allow you to:
* Determine the most highly valued criteria of an individual or social group?
* Know what drives their thinking and behavior?
* Know how to communicate with them, manage them, help them, or defend yourself from them?
* Understand your own motives, actions, and personal evolution?
* Understand the real driving force between national and international conflicts that seem to be about religion, class, gender, politics, economics, nationalism, and other common distinctions...
* Understand why current attempts to solve these problems don't work and what really needs to be done to resolve them.
Values are a set of assumptions about the world that indicate what is important. As such, they determine how time is spent, which is hugely important in determining what happens in life. On a societal level, values have a great impact on what is important to a society, how resources are allocated and distributed, and how decisions are made. In this way, societal values determine almost every aspect of life.
Values also act as a way of evaluating behavior and other decisions after the fact, both for your own actions and those of others.
The Spiral Dynamics model of values is based on decades of research by Clare Graves, a professor at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Graves was a contemporary and colleague of Abraham Maslow of
Hierarchy of Needs fame.
Graves set out to verify the Maslow model but found that it did not fit large segments of society. As a result, he began to explore other alternatives. After decades of research, he found that Maslow's model was only one of eight possible values structures, one of eight different models of the world.
Graves discovered that there are two major aspects of any values structure:
1) An existential situation; in other words, a set of social conditions and their related problems and challenges
2) A set of responses and coping mechanisms which evolve in order to deal with the existential situation and its attendant problems and challenges.
Graves noted that as life conditions change, the related responses and values also change. In other words, a person or group lives at and responds from a certain values level because of the environmental situations they are faced with. You, too, go through various values levels as you grow up and face different life situations, something I'll discuss in more detail later on.
According to Graves, eight values systems have appeared up to now, and he postulated the emergence of others as new existential situations arise. As you will see, identifying the values level from which a given person or social group is operating gives a tremendous amount of information about what is important to them, how they will behave, how they will make decisions, and how to relate to them.
We'll also see that most, if not all, current world problems--and many problems you might face as an individual in various social interactions--are actually conflicts between values levels. In fact, I think you'll find this to be the most fascinating aspect of this subject.
I'm going to give you an overview of each values level but first we need to cover a few more basics. Values levels consist of two basic and alternating types. One type is individualistic and expressive, where individuals break away from the group, creatively break new ground, and take action for individualistic and expressive rather than group-oriented reasons.
The other type, alternating with the individualistic and expressive systems, is group-oriented and sacrificial. In this type, actions are based on group needs, and individuals are asked to sacrifice for the good of the group. As time passes, the insoluble problems of each values level--whether it is of the individualistic or sacrificial type--eventually lead to the emergence of the next level, each type alternating with the other.
As each values level gives way to the next, each new level is more complex than the preceding level and can handle a more complex set of problems. You may recognize this concept from my writings about Ilya Prigogine regarding how complex systems evolve to higher levels of functioning in response to environmental input that the old system is incapable of handling.
In this case, as biopsychosocial conditions become more complex, and as the responses of the current values level fail to adequately handle them, new responses and new ways of thinking evolve. These new responses are more complex, and give society more choices and more flexibility. Each new values level involves a new and different way of thinking, different decision-making processes, and different criteria for what is important. Each new level relies upon or is associated with a new set of ideas, variables, problems, and solutions.
In this article I'm going to summarize the eight values levels, and then in the next two articles I'll go into each level more deeply. I will then discuss the positive and negative qualities of each, how and why and under what circumstances each level may evolve into the next, and finally discuss how your understanding of these values levels allows you to understand current world problems, why they are happening, and what the potential solutions might be.
I think you will be very surprised to see that from this new perspective, both the world situation--and your life--are not at all what you thought they were. I think you're going to be very intrigued by how these values levels relate to your own personal and spiritual growth.
There are various naming protocols for these values levels. For the purposes of this article I'll use the terminology of the National Values Center, who have continued Graves' work after his death. In their system each level is assigned a color. In addition, I'm going to number each level, which I think makes them easier to remember and keep track of, especially when first learning them.
Level One is Beige. This is the level of the band, as depicted, for instance, in the
Clan of the Cave Bear books. Beige first appeared about 100,000 years ago. This is the level of pure survival through sensory acuity. At this level, individual everything is about day-to-day procurement of food, water, warmth, and shelter. This level represents the beginning of human experience, the first step away from our animal nature. Though people did interact in this level, all behavior and decision-making is individually driven. The basic theme is to act individually to ensure survival. The only people on the planet at this level today are homeless people, and a few others groups I will describe later.
Level Two is Purple. This is the level of the
Tribe, where a group is formed for protection against what appear to be mysterious and dangerous forces and first appeared about 50,000 years ago. Purple is a sacrificial system, in which the basic theme is to sacrifice self for the tribe and the spirits. If asked to describe what life is all about, Purple would say, "To please the spirits and honor the ancestors. We live for the tribe." There are still many people in the world living at this values level, including many aspects of Purple that appear in modern, industrialized societies.
Level Three is Red. This is another expressive, individualistic level, that of
Power Gods. In this level, individuals go outside the tribal group to meet their needs, in effect grabbing whatever they want because they are stronger and more powerful. Red is the law of the jungle, and the basic theme is to express self now, impulsively, and the hell with others. Red first appeared about 10,000 years ago. One way Red manifests today (there are others I will discuss later) is in street gangs. If asked to describe what life is all about, Red would say, "Life's a bitch... You gotta watch your backside, because no one else will. Everyone's on the take, everyone has a price. If you want something, you gotta take it. You might be dead tomorrow. All I want from people is respect."
Level Four is Blue. This is another group-oriented, sacrificial system. At this level, a certain set of ideas are seen as
The Truth, and all behavior and decision making centers around promoting, preserving, and adhering to this truth. The basic theme of Blue is to sacrifice self as authority dictates in order to obtain later. Blue first appeared about 5,000 years ago. This is the level of monotheism, purpose, and right and wrong, in which truth brings order to a chaotic world.
Blue can be about any perceived truth, whether it is "the American Way," Communism, the Catholic Church, the views of a religious cult, the British Empire, or any other collection of rules and beliefs. When asked what life is all about, a "Blue" West Point cadet might say, "There is a higher calling that transcends everything else: Duty, honor, and country. It's in the Army. It's in my religion. I learned it from my parents. It's part of our nation's heritage. I've taken an oath to defend it and the flag that represents it. I'm prepared to die for it. In this way we guarantee our way of life for future generations. It is God's will that we spread freedom and democracy across the Earth."
Level Five is Orange. This is another individualistic, expressive values level, often referred to as
Strive Drive. This is the capitalist system, where individual effort strives to create certain outcomes and increased wealth. At this level, mobility, individualism, economics, science and technology, and entrepreneurial action are important. The basic theme of Orange is to express self now in a calculated way to obtain benefit now.
Orange first appeared about 1,000 years ago, and there are many people and societies, or parts of societies, operating at this values level. If an example of Orange, such as an entrepreneur, is asked what life is all about they might say, "The world is my oyster. The challenge of life is to win the biggest and finest pearls one can, then sell them and grow bigger ones. I enjoy the best life has to offer since this may be all there is. I've worked hard. I play the game well. There are risks, but that's what makes it exciting."
Level Six is Green. This level is often called
Circle Bond, and is another group-oriented, sacrificial system. This is the level of the network, feelings, environmentalism, human rights, liberty, equality, collectivism, and social activism. The basic theme of Green is to sacrifice self to obtain now, but for self and others. Green first appeared about 150 years ago, and over the last several decades has become an increasingly prominent part of western culture.
A typical Green--for instance, a social activist--might give this answer when asked what life is all about: "What a marvelous question. I'll answer first, but then you must share your views with me. I feel that life's all about people and belonging, understanding the need for harmony and community. There are so many in need, but government does so little to help. It all boils down to love. We must move away from materialism and competitiveness before we lose our humanity."
Level Seven is Yellow, often called
Flex Flow, and is an expressive, individualistic system. In Yellow, a holistic and existential awareness of systems and their interactions is important. The basic theme is to express self, but not at the expense of others or the Earth.
You may remember that the Spiral Dynamics model is cyclic in nature. Yellow, the seventh values level, is the first level in what Graves called "the second tier." At this point the second turn of the spiral begins, with Yellow revisiting Beige survival needs, but at a planetary, rather than individual, level. For Yellow, complexity, competency, chaos theory, systemic interconnections, and information are of primary importance.
Yellow first appeared about 50 years ago. The number of individuals operating at this level is small at this point. A parks ranger might be an example of Yellow--a more solitary individual working on his own to deal with an aspect of planetary problems. When asked what life is all about, the parks ranger might say, "I get a lot of personal satisfaction from working here to reclaim and preserve our natural habitat. I believe we should be celebrating and respecting life as it is. The world is incredibly complex, and I think we should seek to understand how everything relates to everything else, how nature has its own tempo and flow, of which we're but a small part."
Level Eight is Turquoise. This is another sacrificial, group-oriented system, in which addressing global species-wide issues in order to bring order out of chaos is of primary importance. The basic theme of Turquoise is to sacrifice self and others, as needed, for global survival. Globalism, eco-consciousness, and the ability to deal with the complex patterns of human and ecological interaction, are important issues for Turquoise, which first appeared about 30 years ago. There are very few individuals operating at this level.
Graves postulated that other levels would emerge as conditions warranted. Ken Wilber has offered the suggestion that the ninth, tenth, and eleventh levels might correspond to what Eastern philosophy calls Cosmic Consciousness, God Consciousness, and Unity Consciousness. At this point, we'll have to wait to find out if he is right about this.
There is much more to say about each of these values levels. The above is just a brief taste. In the next two articles I will examine each in detail, and then discuss how this model can be applied to various individual and societal situations. To finish this introductory overview, and prepare you for that deeper analysis, I want to offer several definitions and assumptions, and then in the next two issues we'll look much more closely at each of these levels and how they operate.
First, it's important to note that all levels are potentially present in all of us at different times and in different situations. A person could, for instance, be Green in one area of life, Red in another, and Blue in another. For instance, a person might be Green politically, Red when playing sports, and Blue when practicing his or her religion. In previous centuries, most societies were limited to a mix of only a few values levels values--mostly two, three, four, and perhaps five. In addition, there was much less interaction between values levels. In the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, with the increase in global exploration and communications, societies have become a complex mix of many more, or even all, values levels. As we will see, this has led to a variety of serious problems at almost every level, from personal to local to international.
In the United States, the political right is primarily Blue, the left is primarily Green, while the business community--along with the science and technology sector--is mainly Orange. Many aspects of the labor movement are Purple, as are many fraternal organizations. Bikers, street gangs, organized crime, and prison populations are examples of Red. There are also a small number of homeless or mentally ill people operating from Beige. And, a few are operating from Yellow and Turquoise, and perhaps a very small number of individuals are operating at the even higher levels postulated by Ken Wilber.
It is also important to realize that Spiral Dynamics is a developmental model, in that each person or society must experience each level sequentially?--with no skipping of levels. We'll see later why this is significant as we look at the various problems created by the complex interactions between these various values levels.
As we look more carefully at each values level, and it's interaction with the others, also keep in mind that to a person operating from a given values level the levels below seem criminal and insane, and the levels above seem incomprehensible.
It's also important to realize that Spiral Dynamics describes types of behavior, NOT types of people. Values levels represent behavioral responses to situational problems and challenges, and as these situations change, the human responses to them change--even though the same people may be involved.
In the next two parts of this three part series we'll look more deeply at each values level, how and why each evolves into the next. We'll look at how world and societal problems are a direct outgrowth of the interaction of these various values levels. Finally, we'll discuss how as individuals we move through various values levels as our life progresses, and how this model directly affects you as an individual.
Until next time, be well.
Bill Harris, Director
[If you found this article helpful, please send a copy of this issue to a friend!]
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8. Glowing Testimonials and Letters
Hi Bill!
.....Much appreciation. I knew from your literature that you had done TM and so I suspected that you might have practiced the sidhis [an advanced program offered by the TM organization--editor] and so it comes as no surprise. I'm delighted that you and I have that as a common frame of reference.
Yes, I have no doubt whatsoever that I have only scratched the surface of the tip of the iceberg. Given that and given that I am really blown away with what I have already experienced in less than a month, well..... my excitement is through the roof. And my partner, April, who started when I did with her own purchase of the first level, is having her own version of marvelousness. We are constantly comparing notes and feeding each other with our excitement and gratitude.
Bill, I also want to thank you so very much for the compilation of wisdom in your book, THRESHOLDS OF THE MIND, especially regarding moving through the releasing of the unconsious programming that comes up into awareness as the nervous system reorganizes itself from one level to another. Through many years of living and learning I have come to many of the same conclusions on my own and yet you have added some new perspectives and concepts that have helped me so much to fill in some blanks and make more sense out of it all. Your articulations are very simple, consise and yet comprehensive. I wish I had had this book 25 years ago. It would have saved me alot of grief, tears and anguish. And yet, I can appreciate the journey of having lived without it and having to come to similar realizations on my own.
I also deeply appreciate your attitude and your orientation of service to others and the world. I sense absolutely no pretentiousness or arrogance in your demeanor, just a real solid heart felt love for life and its possibilities. Thank you for being REAL AND AUTHENTIC. And thank you for being the "crackpot" that you say you are (on the 5 CD retreat recording that you sent).
And most of all, THANK YOU FOR HOLOSYNC!!! My experiences are evolving so rapidly that I sometimes have to pinch myself (figuratively) and think.... "Wow, this is really happening!!!"
>From the bottom of my heart I thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will be in touch. No doubt. The future looks so tremendously exciting...
Gratefully,
Ray
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Bill,
.....I have deep experiences meditating with [Holosync]. These have intrinsic value to me, aside from any changes they produce in my personality and intellectual capabilities. Holosync takes me into wonderful realms of mind-body unity and subtle, ecstatic configurations of form. I learned the difference between rapture, ectascy, and deep peace from such experiences (all of them have happened when meditating with the tapes). I found subtle energy patterns that seem to vary indefinitely and have something to do with the manifestation of WORLD and my role in that. The Good, the True and the Beautiful unite in such experiences. The nature of Time seems close to being revealed. What can I say? 99% of it is inexpressible, intrinsically wonderful, deeper than anything written in any philosophical text.
-Phil
*
Bill,
I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for your product. I am on the Prologue level and have been using the Dive and Immersion for about one month. In this short amount of time I have stopped the unnecessary snacking on food during the day. My uncontrollable cravings for sugar is now gone and my insomnia is a thing of the past. I have also notice that things do not upset me as much as they used to and I am able to handle stress with more ease.
At first I wasn't sure if your product was working and then one day at work I received a phone call that a dear friend had passed away and the receiving of friends was that evening. I went after work and gave my condolences to her family. I found myself grieving as usual, but I wasn't obsessed with death and immortality like I usually am. I wasn't dreaming about death and it wasn't consuming my thoughts for weeks. I was able to go up and view the body, something I have a horrible time with. I slept like a baby that night.
That's when I realized that your product is worth it's weight in gold.
If this is the results from the Prologue, I am ecstatic about the next level.
Thank you again,
Kimberly
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9. Book Review
Naked Buddhism: 39 Ways to Free Your Heart and Awaken to Now
by David Deida
Reviewed by Katie Sparks
***If you would like to read more about or order this book click here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1889762199/centerpointer-20
Books sometimes appear in my life at exactly the "right" moment. Just when I discover a new truth and am yearning for more understanding, I am guided. As this journey of personal and spiritual growth continues to take new twists and turns, I continue to receive the next tool for the trek. David Deida's Naked Buddhism is such a tool.
The other day I came home from work to a messy house, a variety of projects, and a chorus of voices pulling my attention and raising my anxiety. Each barked its commands. Each warned that I wouldn't be good enough if I didn't react to life...now. Each tried to seduce me into frenzy, but for the first time I realized I could acknowledge these cries and yet remain peaceful. I didn't react. I stayed present, in the moment, and relaxed into an incredible, deep bodily bliss.
Words don't translate easily into bliss. Even writers, who make their living turning words into bliss, don't have an easy time of it. David Deida's poetic and moving writing perfectly narrates that moment's experience. His book, Naked Buddhism, is a collection of 39 meditations that inspire us and instruct us to feel, to open, and to love in each moment. The material is raw, naked of meaning, and revels in acceptance.
Lama Surya Das (author of Awakening the Buddha Within) writes in the book's forward, "Although not a Buddhist or part of any pre-existing spiritual tradition, David Deida's fresh, original teaching lays bare the essence behind each moment's appearance...David is far more concerned with your authentic realization of openness and love than he is with creating more clothing for yet another spiritual outfit. His teaching serves to remove any cloaks your heart might be wearing, especially any garment knit of sexual confusion."
Deida's provacative and practical teachings seek to change the way men and women grow spritually and sexually. He challenges the common misunderstanding that spiritual awakening is all about feeling good and encourages the idea that each moment we can open in love. Deida's work takes personal growth to a new level. Awareness rules all--each moment, each touch of a lover's body, and each rush of confusion, judgement, or anger.
"What are you afraid will happen if you stopped trying to think or act, right now?" Deida poses such questions in essays entitled, "Wear everyone's shape," "Unclench as if asleep," "Remain open while disgusted," "Allow love's hurt," and "Awaken sexuality as bliss and emptiness." Deida reminds us that in each moment we are either opening as love or resisting with fear.
The meditation, "Remain open when disgusted," suggests opening not only to pleasant experiences, but also to all things unacceptable. "Your separation is the deed of unlove, not your loathing or judgement." Deida explains. "You can try not to judge others, but even that is based on a judgement: 'People who are non-judgemental are better than people who judge.' "
In a deep dreamless sleep there is no fear. In the chapter, "Unclench as if asleep," Deida directs our attention to the fear that underlies most of our lives. "You are afraid of poverty so you work to earn money...you are afraid of relaxing without a future so you think, and think, and think," he says. You worry, "what will happen if I stop paying attention to everything that needs to be done?"
Deida invites us to consider a level of spritual growth beyond that of self-improvement, positive thinking, affirmations, the need to feel good about oneself, and the need to feel successful and lovable. Instead, he is interested in growing beyond identity ("who am I?"). Naked Buddhism calls for acknowledging the depth of each experience, whether "good" or "bad," "healthy" or "unhealthy." Deida points out that even those who have handled their emotional issues and are working to create positive change can, at same time, be closed to fully feeling.
Deida wants you to realize that you are completely terrified of being open, and that every feeling, action, strategy and thought is an effort to sustain this sense of separateness. You become totally aware of every muscle in your body and its resistance to life's handouts.
Why pay attention to the body? Intellectually, we all know many things. We may even know them emotionally. Yet we still don't live them. We talk about them, think about them, create whole philosophies around them. The truth we know and the truth we live are often quite different. Deida teaches that the body is the last aspect of a person to be "transformed by truth." He beckons us to observe the microscopic level--the body and it's infinitesimal, moment-by-moment sensations and reactions that create the experience of opening in love or resistance to life.
A key focus of Deida's work, both in this book and others, is sexuality. Healing the old hurts of our sexual essence provides an opportunity for opening to life. Naked Buddhism emphasizes sex as both bliss and emptiness--an opportunity for awareness and opening to the deepest of feelings, but at the same time inherently no different from brushing your teeth. His descriptions of masculinity and femininity exist without roles or gender, merely as two polar energies necessary for attraction. Each person's core sexual essence is either masculine or feminine, although layers of hurt can yield masculine or feminine defenses.
Deida writes, "Modern-day spiritual culture tends to be a lukewarm miasma of stiffened women and spineless men--very efficient and quite prudent. Once you have balanced your inner masculine and feminine, after you have achieved self-sufficient wholeness, you may naturally desire to outgrow the boundaries of a merely safe and comfortable life...Deep down, would you rather settle for safety and comfort, or open so wide you live as love's tremendum, sometimes shouting, sometimes fighting, always unprotected, your heart exposed as a free gift, your body quaking with the force of love unbound?"
A brief 200 pages, Naked Buddhism is full of those life truths that shoot through your body as if you've known them all along. Deida's view of growth is both ancient and cutting-edge at once. It is a philosophy where love alone remains when all else is stripped away. Not love as some abstract emotion, but as a doing, an acceptance, an unfolding.
David Deida is a founding associate of Ken Wilber's Integral Institute. The author of 10 books, he leads transformational workshops and trainings for men and women who seek a new model of spiritual awakening in mind, body, and heart.
***If you would like to read more about or order this book click here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1889762199/centerpointer-20
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10. Announcements
A. My speech at the United Nations (for the UN Values Caucus) was a big success, and may even lead to a similar presentation for the city government in New York. We did record the talk, and at some point I'm sure we will make available the recording. In the next issue of Mind Chatter I will begin a series of articles on the topic of my UN talk, a developmental model of individual and societal values called Spiral Dynamics.
My meeting in New York that evening with area Centerpointe participants was also a big success, with over 250 people in attendance. Thank you to everyone who attended! We also recorded this talk, which will also be made available sometime soon.
B. Our next Centerpointe Retreat at Glen Ivy Hotsprings and Spa is approaching...
The dates for Centerpointe's Spring Retreat, at Glen Ivy Hot Springs near Los Angeles, are April 5-11, 2005. Though it's filling up, there still are spots available.
If you have a big issue you'd like to resolve, if you're in a transition period in your life and you just can't seem to complete it, or if you just want to take things to a higher level--one where you understand more completely how you're creating your life--please, do yourself a favor and come spend a week with me at Glen Ivy Hot Springs.
I promise that you'll have an incredible experience you'll never forget.
I tell people they'll receive six months of growth in just 5 days at these retreats, but they keep improving every time, and people now tell me they're received much more than that.
I tailor each retreat to the needs of the specific people who attend (which means YOU). My goal is to help you see the ways you may be unconsciously and unintentionally creating your internal and external reality, and how easy it actually is to consciously and intentionally create the life you want, both inside and out.
This is your chance to make a big change, and to work with me personally.
So click on this link for more information:
http://www.centerpointe.com/index.php?page=retreats
And, I guarantee results! Here's the guarantee: Attend the entire retreat. If by the end of the retreat you don't think it was the most incredible growth experience you've ever had, just see me before you leave, and I'll refund your tuition.
You do not need to be a program participant to attend (though most people who attend are). (And if you're not a program participant, why the heck aren't you? Quit procrastinating and join.)
Click here for more information:
http://www.centerpointe.com/index.php?page=retreats
Or, call us between 9:30 and 5:00 Pacific time, M-F, at 1-800-945-2741 or 503-672-7117.
Here's what some of the participants from this year's retreats have said:
The greatest benefit I got from the retreat was the realization that I am in control of things and there's nothing wrong with me. The future looks very bright if I'm willing to put in the work, and I certainly am!
In a lot of ways this was the greatest week of my life.
John
**
The doors (of my previous view of who I was and what I could not do) were not only blown to bits, they are no longer anywhere in sight. I am now leaving with clarity and vision for my next steps forward in my life.
Adeline
**
I'm even more convinced that Holosync and Bill's material is the most profound spiritual process I have found. If someone truly wants to "blow the doors off," the retreat is the place to go. The work is very deep and very powerful as long as you are willing to really engage in the process fully.
Maya
**
I really appreciate your dedication to helping others (including me) achieve personal growth in their lives. You do so out of a passion and true interest in helping others; it is your calling. Having met you, I experienced a truly multifaceted (point of consciousness) - music, flying, intellectual, fun & love. It is my pleasure and benefit to meet you personally. I hope that we connect again soon. Many Thanks,
John
**
Since the retreat, my life has been filled with moments of deep joy I had not previously experienced. These moments happen frequently and leave me with an outward smile and a profound peace. I feel as if I am glowing and radiant inside with joy.
I'm not sure exactly what happened to me at the retreat, but I know my life is different. Something is healed and life is joyful. Thank you for providing the environment, the people and the teachings for this to take place. And thank you for taking me on this wonderful journey of a life of delicious surprises.
Take care-
Anne
**
I did have a very positive experience at the retreat and plan to return next year, hopefully with my husband. As I mentioned in the closing remarks, I laughed a lot, and I felt joy and a real connection to others despite only knowing them a little or not at all. I was able to drop the separateness (being different, better, or worst, or just separate) that I usually identify with/carry around. How liberating!
I really appreciate, as I dive more deeply into the Life Principles Integration Process how much you've integrated and explained in these lessons with such clarity and depth. It's taken me years of practice (~18 years) and a lifetime of dharma talks to have a basic understanding of some of these principles. You clarified so much in just a few lessons.
Colette
**
Thank you from my heart for your words of wisdom and mostly for your kindness and love. Thanks for the chance to open my heart wider and feel love flowing from almost 60 hearts during our retreat! We call this retreat "Circle of LOVE"!
I was in blessing condition after the Retreat, than in chaos state (with pleasure!), now I am feeling growing process and enjoying that! Thanks for my jump!
You are doing amazing job, Bill! I am sure this is REAL help for people! I am ready to send information about Centerpointe to everyone in my mailing list. It will be nice to get from you idea how to do it the best.
I would like to send my daughter to next retreat! It will be my birthday gift for her!
Love-
Alla (from Russia)
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