Good morning, good afternoon and good night!

[MrZ]

My name is Z... New and not sure where to go with this?!

My current problem i'm challenging is that I have a very strong intellect. My mind is very good at creating reasons and logic. However, the more I read only suggests that intellect is dangerous... My mind (intellect) is the master of me and it should be the opposite; it should be the slave. Again, I realize this but i ask the question - "How do i change this" - but "How" is still on the level of thinking and I'm using my intellect once again... a vicious cycle - I'm stuck... at least I think I'm stuck... ahhh!

Is it just me or you wish sometimes that there was an ancient old man sitting next to you that would whisper just the right words that all of sudden you understand or see the truth... maybe it's just me :-(

I "think" my intellect is stopping me from blossoming further and I need a way to uncover my unconscious mind and remove layer by layer my past.

Well, that was a mouthful. Again, salute to everyone and enjoy the day!

p.s. I work a lot building my little house on a mountain, so the mornings and nights are when I am on the pc... :-)

Chao!

[Echo]

Be Welcome, Mr Z. I look forward to getting to know you a little better here. The house on the mountain sounds intriguing.

[Haruth]

Welcome to the forum MrZ

My current problem i'm challenging is that I have a very strong intellect. My mind is very good at creating reasons and logic. However, the more I read only suggests that intellect is dangerous... My mind (intellect) is the master of me and it should be the opposite; it should be the slave. Again, I realize this but i ask the question - "How do i change this" - but "How" is still on the level of thinking and I'm using my intellect once again... a vicious cycle - I'm stuck... at least I think I'm stuck

From one wisened old man... <whisper> The fact that you have recognised this in yourself means that you have come further than most.

Modern education is all about utilising the logical side of the brain, judging events by intellectual analysis and rejecting anything which has no scientific / financial value. Once that is instilled in a person, it can prove very hard to get beyond that mindset.

"Come to me as a child" is a good start from the Christian tradition. As a child, you; no - all of us; managed to interact quite successfully with the world without intellectualisiing anything. All was experience, and accepted for what it was. If we didn't like it (brocolli ), we rejected it. If we got much from it (the swing park) we embraced every moment with joy.

Learn to cultivate joy. Learn to accept the weird without questioning it. Inspect ant's nests. Breathe, live, experience. It is all we ever had...

Looking forward to learning and growing with you MrZ . (Enjoy the journey, for we know not the destination...)

Namaste

[Hestia]

Welcome Z! Your intro makes me smile, inside and out. I agree with Haruth, it seems to me you are well on your way to the right path. Your Quote about balance is very inspirational it me. I have always felt that my purpose is to find authentic balance and harmony in this life. I am still traveling my path. I look forward to learning and traveling with you.

Life is not the destination, it is the journey.

[MrZ]

Welcome to the forum MrZ

From one wisened old man... <whisper> The fact that you have recognised this in yourself means that you have come further than most.

Modern education is all about utilising the logical side of the brain, judging events by intellectual analysis and rejecting anything which has no scientific / financial value. Once that is instilled in a person, it can prove very hard to get beyond that mindset.

"Come to me as a child" is a good start from the Christian tradition. As a child, you; no - all of us; managed to interact quite successfully with the world without intellectualisiing anything. All was experience, and accepted for what it was. If we didn't like it (brocolli ), we rejected it. If we got much from it (the swing park) we embraced every moment with joy.

Learn to cultivate joy. Learn to accept the weird without questioning it. Inspect ant's nests. Breathe, live, experience. It is all we ever had...

Looking forward to learning and growing with you MrZ . (Enjoy the journey, for we know not the destination...)

Namaste

Ahhh... "further then most" is interesting. It's nice because it's a warm felt compliment. It's great for my *******ly ego as well ! Also it's interesting because there is no way to measure one's self especially a society... unless we were making generalizations - which sometimes often are correct... scary... cautious we must be in using them...

Anyways I am rambling... Thanks for the compliment if I didn't say yet..

I have heard this saying from the Christian bible and it does make sense... children are innocent, thinking freely in pictures not words... more like dreams rather then reality as we know it...

I am currently building a small house on a mountain, and as much as I can, I try not to think... I just try to do, just dig, just nail... I try to raise the intensity of what im doing and only do that... not think about digging, or think about whats next after digging...

Although theres that intellect/ego side that aknowledges all of this, but still finds times and ways to continue running my mind... I'm pretty determined in some aspects of my life (hiking 1200 lbs of concrete and 250 peices of wood) however the discipline needed to challenge my mind and take on this task seems to fall short a bit...

And btw, kudos to everyone else who welcomes me here ;-P

and I love and admire ants... If we could only have such discipline sometimes... to work together, for each other and the benefit of the whole society... there isn't an ant that is selfish, jealous, envious, angry, tired... they are very admirable creatures... it's funny you mentioned that...

[Chrlsbarone]

Mr. Z, let us take a journey together for a brief moment so as to perhaps gain a bit of insight into the nature of our self.

Imagine that you have no attributes at all. Imagine that you simply exist as a Witness, watching reality unfold within and without you. You observe elements of reality that are fleeting and pass by. You observe elements of reality that hold firm within your awareness. Some things seem to last and others obviously change. You, however, have not passed away, yet again, you have not remained unchanged. You have simply been what you have always been, The Witness.

This Witness, or consciousness, which so indiscriminately observes reality cannot be seen... it is in fact the seer. It cannot be pointed to, as it is in fact that which points. It cannot be known, for it in fact is the knower. This consciousness is not. So how can we know it? How can our mind so easily craft this conceptual understanding of our very essence, merely using some parts of our whole experience.

Well this is where is gets really interesting. Consciousness, being nothing at all, or better said, being the space in which all might manifest, is only known through our understanding. Undifferentiated mind is invisible, lets say. To gain awareness of this we must cover it with something like a blanket. The knowledge we build with our intellect is always changing and always taking new forms, potentially. We delve into a book, or experience some peak in our practice and this changes our blanket of understanding, which we then throw over this Witness, during meditation, and we receive a greater synchronicity with that which we are truly.

What you are is unchanging. The part of your where thoughts dwell is always now, but with our will we might push that potential in a certain direction, leading our linear thought to a place where our mind might reflect a bit of the contradiction that language is based upon. The duality our thoughts work within. This creates quite the intricate blanket, and when thrown over this consciousness in this darkness we may just be able to bring a bit of detail to light

Your brother in this Holy Science,
-Charles