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Articles from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock | Selfgrowth.com
- How to Recognize a Saint if You Meet One On the Street - by Submitted on Feb 02, 2010 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockSaints have fourteen unforgettable characteristics that distinguish them, and when even just one of these traits are observed in someone, that observation prompts us to exclaim, "He/She is a saint!" As we read about these fourteen traits, we might think that we can become saintly too by ...
Views: 1910(3 votes) - A True Story of Lust and Seduction - With a Twist! - by Submitted on Jan 31, 2010 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockA True Story of Lust and Seduction - with a Twist! Twenty-six hundred years ago, Subbha the Buddhist nun was walking through a mango grove when a lustful young man blocked her path. Subbha the Nun: “What wrong have I done you that you stand in my way? It’s not proper my friend that a man ...
Views: 5353(1 vote) - Why Do We Get Angry When Someone Disagrees With Us? - by Submitted on Jan 27, 2010 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockLet's say that one person loves the president, Bush or Obama, and another hates him. Then, anything that one would write positively about the president would be hated and disbelieved by the other, regardless of whether it was true or not. A strong bias would blind the president hater to any ...
Views: 5358(3 votes) - Playing Racquetball, Playing Life - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2010 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockIn order to get good "court sense," a beginning racquetball player must put up with the difficulties of learning how the ball bounces; only then will they understand the ball's nature and become relaxed and proficient. The player must face the problems through practice, however. If they try to ...
Views: 1463(1 vote) - Living Mechanically - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2010 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockA machine does what it is programmed to do until it eventually breaks down. Until then, it repeats its limited, repetitive actions endlessly. As human beings we are programmed as well, by our culture, our traditions, our education, but most importantly by our minds. There is usually very ...
Views: 2335(1 vote) - Silent Prayer: Part 3 - How to Pray Silently - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWhile we are praying silently, we are going to let go of all the baggage we carry on our shoulders regarding the past and future. When thoughts of the past come up, whether it be who we are, what we have accomplished, what titles we have earned, our childhood, our relatives, our relationships, ...
Views: 1658(4 votes) - Silent Prayer: Part 2 - What Silent Prayer Is, and Isn't - by Submitted on Nov 03, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWhen we think about prayer, what comes to mind is some kind of request or solicitation of God . Maybe we are ill and ask to get better, or ask forgiveness, or maybe a little help with the lottery. These are the kinds of prayers that we mostly engage in. We might also repeat a mantra, for ...
Views: 2876(2 votes) - Waking Up By Yourself - by Submitted on Oct 29, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWe know when it's not working; it's like a slap in the face. We thought that it was working but then something happens to remind us that nothing has fundamentally changed at all, and we find ourselves back at square one after all these years. We were smug for awhile, even bragging to friends ...
Views: 1415(1 vote) - A Different Way to Live - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockThe way that we have been living is called the way of least resistance. This way involves emotionally and logically going after what we believe will make us happy. For the vast majority of us, this usually includes a career, a partner, then a house, cars, furniture, kids, college tuition, ...
Views: 916(2 votes) - Dont Fall For These Three Fallacious Debating Tactics - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockThese are three of the most common underhanded tactics used in debates.They come into play as an attempted deflection from the main argument that your opponent is usually losing and can no longer argue intelligently. If you watch out for them and keep bringing your opponent back to the original ...
Views: 20907(5 votes) - Locating God - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockHello, God? Are you there? HellOOoo. Are you listening? I know; you have a gazillion other things to do and billions of people to keep happy just here on earth, let alone all the people on all the planets around all the billions of stars in just our small galaxy. And then how about the ...
Views: 1624(1 vote) - Why Doesn't God Come Down and Just Say Hello? - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWell. Why doesn't he, or she? I guess that's the first problem, one of gender. The Bible is gender blind, I mean Adam has all of his ribs but somehow his wife was created out of one of them instead of out of the earth from which Adam was created. And another question, If Adam and Eve had three ...
Views: 1507(1 vote) - Living Life Unconsciously - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockDo you feel at times that you are just going through the motions, living life unconsciously? Did you know that this feeling is actually close to spirituality, more so than being entirely and endlessly enthralled with life? Now, there is a difference between living life unconsciously and ...
Views: 2562(4 votes) - Making Smaller Footprints - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockOn my way up the mountain carrying some roofing materials I stopped to catch my breath, and as I unconsciously gazed at a scrub cedar tree that I had trimmed a month before to make the trail, an insight popped up. They happen at random like this, and seldom have anything to do with the thinking ...
Views: 1567(2 votes) - Meditation - What's the Point? - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockSitting quietly, doing nothing, what a waste of valuable time, right? You could be on the computer or cell phone talking with friends, or doing something really productive or fun. Why sit quietly? In life, two things separate successful people from ordinary people: creativity and energy. ...
Views: 1505(2 votes) - Spiraling Toward Oblivion - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockHave you noticed, as you get older, that the months have turned into weeks, and the years into months? Time passes relentlessly, and as we look back on all the things that we have done, where is the significance? I was watching the white tailed deer that frequent our meditation center here in ...
Views: 1492(1 vote) - Can We Save Our Democracy? - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWe are a democratic people who believe in democracy, which means equality, due process, freedom, privacy, consent and dissent, toleration, and the common good. We believe in it so adamantly that we advocate it for the world. This is because in the past, democracy has worked well for our country. ...
Views: 781 - Let Them Eat Cake - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockIt seems to me that too many people are taking a big cut out of the health care pie for themselves. Instead of a middleman, we have numerous middlemen that come between the sick person and his or her care. And it has gotten too top heavy, way out of control. The medical schools reap huge ...
Views: 1625 - What Step are You On? Evolution of Religion - Six Steps - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockThese six major steps weave in and around each other, and there are many others, all revealing a transition between materiality consciousness and heightened consciousness, or between an outward emphasis (thinking, remembering, body and mind), and an inward emphasis (the replacing of thought and ...
Views: 1524(1 vote) - Spiritual Insight - Extraordinary, Yet Very Ordinary - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockA direct experience of spiritual insight will change your life, a fact which is irrefutable and well documented. But spiritual searching, rather than spiritual insight - well, that's another story. Most people who embark upon a spiritual quest aren't satisfied with answers that they are ...
Views: 1545(1 vote) - E. Raymond Rock Life Situations - The Usual Mistakes (and how to avoid them) Part 4 - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2009 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock4. Thinking that life is a cake walk. This has the potential to be one of the bigger mistakes because it means that we are blind to the realities around us, and usually insensitive to others. When we have blinders on, we tend to create a personal little world that is in fact very fragile, ...
Views: 1506 - Loving And Hating - by Submitted on Sep 18, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockDo you love and hate? If you do, then you are very normal. If you just hated, or only loved, there would be consistency, but when you do both, the mind finds itself in conflict all the time, and this produces stress. So if you want to find the underlying cause of your stress, look no further ...
Views: 857 - People Ask Me, "Why Do You Meditate?" - by Submitted on Sep 12, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockThe mind is a curious thing. Oddly enough, it seeks security in such silly concepts as the past. But what if the mind learned not to do that? What if the mind trained itself not to seek security in the past and only focused on what was happening in the present? What would happen then? That, ...
Views: 650 - Dying to Everything - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockAs long as there is hope, there will be despair. As long as there is experience, there will be death. Yet fervently we seek both. Human beings are strange creatures. What creatures of earth aren't? For one thing, we eat each other. The child Buddha saw this one day at a ploughing festival in ...
Views: 570 - The Key (A Fairytale) - The Final Chapter (Part 6) A Promise To Keep - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockOne evening on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Ayatana, an old man in rags with one eye, leading a lame white horse, came upon an old beggar who lay dying by the side of the road. The old man gently sat the beggar up, and holding him up in his arms, gave him some water. But the beggar could not ...
Views: 805 - Freedom Is What We Already Are - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWhen we strive to be free, when we try to release ourselves from the burdens that we have laid upon ourselves, we miss the point: we are already free. We simply forget that we are free. We forget by becoming bogged down in our difficulties, by pitting ourselves against others, and fighting for ...
Views: 895 - The Key (A Fairytale) - The Final Chapter (Part 5) A Promise To Keep - by Submitted on Aug 29, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockSuddenly, I found myself in a mist, and through the mist, I dimly made out what appeared to be a cave. As I moved closer, my perfected insight revealed exactly what it was – the den of the Great Dragon of Atta. Three of the dragon's guards lie dead and decomposing at the entrance, obviously ...
Views: 940 - Images of Life - by Submitted on Aug 28, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockImages. . . . What are images? None of our religions asks us to look into images, which would be a shift of consciousness. Instead, our religions reinforce our images. So, what are images, and why do we create them? More importantly, why do we then use images to direct our lives, instead of ...
Views: 748(1 vote) - The Key (A Fairytale) - The Final Chapter (Part 4) A Promise To Keep - by Submitted on Aug 27, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockI resignedly went back to my training, somewhat relieved, but in my heart, I knew this whole episode with Weepasa was simply my mind trying to squirm out of the inevitable – the constant mindfulness he insisted would be required. In time, I was able to see that these questions were not ...
Views: 831 - The Key (A Fairytale) - The Final Chapter (Part 3) A Promise To Keep - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock"What now, my ‘king,'" he greeted me sarcastically, his face expressing his obvious exasperation. "I have been experiencing unusual wisdom, and wondered what I should do?" "The wisdom you have experienced and are now telling me about is dead and gone. Do you see that? The truth can only ...
Views: 834 - The Article from Hell - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockI began as a normal type article, pretty laid back and entertaining, but then, suddenly. I found myself in hell! Well, I can tell you, hell is no place for a nice article like me, and I certainly did nothing to deserve it (hmm). At any rate, there I was, in the middle of Hades, and it was a . . ...
Views: 747 - The Key (A Fairytale) - The Final Chapter (Part 2) A Promise To Keep - by Submitted on Aug 24, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock"Trying to change this ‘I thought' requires trying to change something very ingrained," cautioned Weepasa. "It involves the destruction of ‘ourselves' because this ‘I', this ‘Me' is mixed up with our every thought and emotion. We can never put aside this ‘I' thought ...
Views: 845 - How Do You Escape? - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockIf we don't like our job, our house, or if we are generally unhappy about our position in life, we naturally try to change our circumstances. When we are uncomfortable with any situation, we instinctively attempt to escape from it. We might feel angry inside, or frustrated thinking that ...
Views: 855 - Creating A Universe In Your Mind - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockScientists say that everything began in the emptiness of space when a pea-sized piece of intensely dense matter and energy exploded into what has become our universe. In the Zen Buddhist religion, it is said, "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Emptiness is no other than form, form is no ...
Views: 696 - The Key (A Fairytale) - The Final Chapter: A Promise To Keep (Part 1) - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock"What is troubling my great king now," Weepasa inquired with a disinterested look on his face, as he carefully peeled a mango. "There are many things I have learned throughout my travels, but some of my questions have never been answered," I complained, "and they are now a constant burden." ...
Views: 924 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 14 — Seven Days (Part 4) - by Submitted on Aug 21, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock"There is only one way that my training can be taken to heart," Weepasa warned, "and that is if mindfulness is uninterrupted each wakeful moment of each day. Do you understand what I have just said? Each wakeful moment of the day! Initially you will feel lost and confused because when your mind ...
Views: 854 - Get a Grip On Yourself! - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockOkay, don't get a grip if you don't want to! You can wait until your life partner leaves you, your career goes down in flames, or your health goes south. But then it might be too late to get a grip; and you might end up going completely bonkers! Things untoward happen to everyone, eventually. ...
Views: 826 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 14 — Seven Days (Part 3) - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWhen I entered Weepasa's room the next morning, he asked me to sit down and immediately began talking about insight, "Insight results from a concentrated mind that is aware of everything it comes in contact with, but it clings to nothing. Insight is not a focused concentration centered the ...
Views: 886 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 14 - Seven Days (Part 2) - by Submitted on Aug 17, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockFinally, I knew that I couldn't jump and reluctantly made my way back to the old man's room and stood there in front of everybody, pathetically defeated. Weepasa laughed heartily, "Well, you actually do have some wisdom to go along with your tiny bit of compassion. Good! You cannot train with ...
Views: 867 - The Most Discouraging Things In The World - by Submitted on Aug 16, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockA glass half-empty is discouraging, but not as discouraging as how misled people can be when a glass half-full is perceived as brimming over the top. War is discouraging, too, especially wars that seem to go on forever. It's as if the countries involved grow to believe that everything is ...
Views: 2226 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 14 — Seven Days (Part 1) - by Submitted on Aug 15, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockConqueror, my mystical horse, was not getting any younger. He had lived well beyond a normal lifespan and I wondered how many trips he could still make. Was that old, robed man, who brought an enchanted colt to the Kingdom of Ayatana those many years ago, the sorcerer? Of course, he was, and he ...
Views: 837 - Martial Arts Training - Balancing Mind and Body - by Submitted on Aug 13, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockA very special kind of training is critical in martial arts because martial arts is about life and death. In one split second, your life will be either spared or taken, and that outcome depends entirely upon your preparation. The adversary you face will be stronger, faster, better trained, ...
Views: 5264 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 13 — When The Dust Blows Away? (Part 5) - by Submitted on Aug 12, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock"Everybody knows that you are here," he said, putting up a good front. "Killing me will do you no good." Expressing no emotion, I calmly asked, "Why would I want to kill you?" "You know why. You are a threat to the king and I know that you are here," he haughtily replied. "But I am the ...
Views: 891 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 13 - When The Dust Blows Away? (Part 4) - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockI threw myself into my practice of investigation, and did exactly as Weeja instructed, alternating between the Calms and Investigation for the next two months, but I was having problems. I investigated my body and mind tirelessly by observing the various contacts with my senses, then I watched ...
Views: 840 - A Tear Drops - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockShe finds herself at a McDonald's late one night, sipping black coffee from a plastic cup. The place is empty, except for a small night crew, half asleep. She finishes her coffee and looks around, and realizes that no longer is there anywhere to go. She waves to a worker cleaning the floor, ...
Views: 934 - What Interests You Most? - by Submitted on Aug 08, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockThis is a very important question; what interests you most, because your answer to this question determines your destiny. So before you answer, look carefully at all the options and decide which is truly the one thing that interests you more than any other. The obvious ones - relationship, ...
Views: 1207 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 13 — When The Dust Blows Away? (Part 3) - by Submitted on Aug 08, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWeeja apparently felt that he was making a crucial point as he repeated it to make certain we understood: " Contact is that instant when a sound touches my ear or a sight touches my eye. This contact lasts but an instant because right after the moment of contact, a feeling arises; desire, ...
Views: 843 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 13 — When The Dust Blows Away? (Part 2) - by Submitted on Aug 06, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockThe routine in the community was delightful, and I immediately felt comfortable with these men and their shaved heads. Conqueror roamed freely among the key seekers who took an immediate liking to the crippled, old horse, spoiling him with rice and honey cakes they saved from their meals, which ...
Views: 856 - How To Make A Mess Of Your Life - by Submitted on Aug 05, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockEveryone wants happiness. Happiness is the driving force behind almost all of our actions, and even when we are unhappy, we are involved with somehow changing that unhappiness into happiness for ourselves. When we are confronted with someone or something, we either have a compulsion to pull ...
Views: 1052 - The Key (A Fairytale) Chapter 13 — When The Dust Blows Away? (Part 1) - by Submitted on Aug 03, 2008 from E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond RockWe walked across great plains and countless farm fields framed against pristine days of clear morning skies, yellow-white days and nights filled with endless stars. Eventually the plains gave way to forests, and as we continued our trek, we soon could see the tangled jungle ahead. Before long, ...
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