September 2009

SuperWisdom Foundation

Tom Russell, Editor

New audio lesson: The Three Primary Elements of Enriching Spiritual Growth. (Collecting knowledge, Self-observation, Direct perception) A Sparks of Life entry – concise and concentrated, only a few minutes. Click here for the play button.

1. INSPIRATIONS

A. Never mind the ridicule, never mind the defeat: up again, old heart! (Emerson)

Note: The Universe flourishes through the growth and expansion of sparks, so when you get “up again” it is the Universe lifting you, thereby unfolding itself. Need there be a “self” who takes credit for the lifting?

B. When God touches the soul with truth, its light floods the soul’s agents and that man knows more than anyone could ever teach him. (Meister Eckhart)

Note: All authentic spiritual teachings aim for the day when they are left behind, and the student dares Direct Perception. If one tries to ride the horse (the words, the books, the tapes) into the palace, well, it’s likely not to go over so well.

C. As the air is everywhere, flowing around a pot and filling it, so God is everywhere, filling all things and flowing through them forever. (Ashtavakra Gita)

Note: Allow empty space within and God/Truth/Reality fills it. How about experimenting with not knowing, no mental movement for awhile, since this, more than anything else, clears the space for Something Else?
2. CHALLENGES

A. Above all it is essential not to select some particular teaching suited to a certain occasion, and regard it as an immutable concept. (Huang Po)

Note: Huge relief.

B. Can we believe that the Chief Feature in each of us is going to let us understand truths that are utterly opposed to its hidden power over us? (Maurice Nicoll)

Note: Gurdjieff/4th Way studies refer often to the Chief Feature. It indicates the hub around which the entire false personality revolves. What is it? It cannot be told to someone. They must uncover it for themselves.

C. You may have a great deal of money that does not belong to you, but you would be better off to have far less, even a hundred dollars that is your own, but nothing you have is yours. (Gurdjieff)

Note: The last words of Buddha were reported as, “Be a lamp unto yourself. Attach yourselves to no external refuge.” Rumi refused to allow his students prolonged contact with him, knowing it breeds dependency. Gurdjieff sent people away also, often to work on their own for years before renewing contact with him.

3. RELATIONSHIPS & SELF-RELIANCE

A. Who would purify their world first purifies their mind. As their mind becomes pure, their world becomes pure. (Buddha)

Note: A pure mind perceives the spark of life in another, knowing this spark lacks nothing.

B. Greatness is always built upon this foundation: the ability to appear, speak, and act as the most common man. (Sufi poet Hafiz)

Note: Travel this path and you’ll meet people who have locked themselves in a “teacher” role. You’ll see “followers” endorsing that role. This is a perfect example of a false relationship.

C. You think you, by joining that organization or club, can make this a better world? All organizations, from top to bottom, are filled with schemers, and they are trying to con you. (Vernon Howard – 1/20/88)

Note: As you’ll hear in the audio recording sited above (The Three Primary Elements of Enriching Spiritual Growth), learning from books and talks conveys much potential benefit. However, since society today abounds with sophisticated marketing efforts to bring spiritual seekers into authority orbits, information like this from Vernon Howard is truly essential. Not popular, but essential.

The fraud occurs when the organizers sell you on the idea that the organization exists, and you have a relationship with it. No, you never have relationships with organizations, but only with individuals who seem to comprise them.

By the way, enjoy your next great book or talk! How? Another thing Vernon Howard said once is, “No true book has an author.” Consider.

4. THE NOW NATURE

A. Learn what it means to experience something fully, then drop it and move on to the next moment, uninfluenced by the previous one. (Anthony de Mello)

Note: This includes a passing negative mood. Instead of resisting it, move closer to it. YOU fill the space that contains the mood. The attempt to squeeze the mood into a smaller space gives it more influence. What happens if you allow it more space?

B. F.M. Alexander often used to say that whenever you’ve got anything good, throw it away, or at least be prepared to let it go. Any attempt to keep it will be certain to disrupt the condition. (Patrick Macdonald)

Note: In a very profound and simple way, the Alexander Technique connects activities of daily life with universal awareness principles, revealing vast, new and practical opportunities. Read more about the Alexander Technique.

C. The human mind seeks to move toward happiness, not realizing that in generating motion toward a projected happiness it moves away from it. (Tom Russell)

Note: Wouldn’t that be silly, to comment on my own sentence?

SUPERWISDOM FOUNDATION UPDATES

1. The SuperWisdom Presents: Time Out for Truth podcast is on break until October 17th. We then begin our fourth year of broadcasting. Enjoy the extensive archives, especially this highly enjoyable category on great works of literature.

2. Ready for a new and powerful influence? Reap the benefits of an inner development study group, no matter where you live. Check out the SuperWisdom Live Classes. Next class Saturday, September 5th. Meet friendly people from all over the world.

A pleasure being with you today!

Cordially,

Tom Russell

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August 2009

SuperWisdom Foundation

Tom Russell, Editor

Please forward this newsletter on to your friends.

Table of Contents:

1) Inner Vision Picture, by Tom Russell

2) Quick List of Ten Best SuperWisdom Podcasts

3) Open Your Inner Eyes — Ten Vernon Howard Thoughts

4) Re-awakening Exercise, by Tom Russell

INNER VISION PICTURE

Tom Russell

Picture yourself sitting quietly at home. Someone knocks on your door. The deliveryman hands you an express mail envelope. You sign for it. You open it. Inside you find an inheritance from a long lost uncle, including several ownership deeds, one of them being for a castle in Europe. You soon take your first trip to the new castle. The driver stops at an overlook.  He points way in the distance to a dot on top of a hill. You can barely make it out.  “There is your new home!” the driver says.

When viewed at a distance the newly discovered center of your inner life looks small, if it can even be seen at all; however, it increases in size and available power as we descend deep inside.

TWO NEW SUPERWISDOM PODCAST RESOUCES:

Audio, especially a dialogue, can go places where the written word cannot.  Two new resources:

1. Audio dialogue/discussion on, “When your spouse or significant other shows little or no interest in higher ideas, what do you do?” Lots of fun and humor too! Listen now.

2. With over 140 podcast episodes, this new Quick List of ten “not to miss” episodes may prove very useful to you.

OPEN YOUR INNER EYES

Ten Vernon Howard Thoughts

1. To be free of internal conflict there must be at least one small part of us that does not love the artificial stimulation supplied by the conflict.

2. Authentic happiness can be recognized by its complete ease, that is, it never needs to protect itself against enemies, for it has none.

3. When we finally grasp the fantastic fact that seeing is doing, we never again ask what to do in this or that situation.

4. If your nature consists of self-peace and self-command, you will know these conditions only, even when social conditions are riotous.

5. If you want to understand the cosmic universe, study yourself first, for the same atoms make up both. You are not separate from the universe; you are One with it.

6. Replace “How can I change this other person?” with “How can I change the way I think toward this person?”

7. If you make a thousand errors in order to make one truly right move, you have achieved something tremendous — truly tremendous.

8. Any teacher, whether a person or a book, is trying to awaken the truths you already possess within yourself, so eventually you become your own teacher.

9. A certain kind of boldness is necessary, not the boldness of a reckless mind, but that which plunges onward because self-honesty is replacing self-pretense.

10. For today’s self-observation, notice how your physical posture and your body movements correspond to the mood of your thoughts and feelings.

From a super inspiring Vernon Howard book you may not yet have: The Power of Esoterics

RE-AWAKENING EXERCISE

Tom Russell

Re-awakening? Yes, because what you seek you already have. Though the present connection may seem elusive and unreliable, your internal power of silent speech facilitates repair.

NowFacts first affirm the connection, then strenthen it. They send new energy along rarely used roads. Say silently to yourself often, or audibly if alone:

I AM HERE TO LEARN

The spiritual path gets more difficult, yet in other ways it gets easier.

It is easier because we’re closer to our Central Self and its endless supply of wisdom and refreshment, yet it is more difficult in that to grow Life brings about new and often challenging experiences. We are not here for comfort or soothing. Leave that to the false teachers. We’re here to wake up from the gigantic dream and rediscover our rich and purpose-filled life. “I am here to learn.”

For example, an exceptionally difficult person may appear in our life after years of study. This is an opportunity to learn. It teaches us self-command and jolts us out of complacent patterns. Yet, how often do we let our self-images take over and resist the lesson with whispers like, “You’re a spiritual person. You don’t need this.” The fact is that it might be precisely what we need.

At the same time this is true, it is also true that you need never consent to another person treating you badly. What to do is never cast in stone. Every situation is different. Our aim is flexibility. With the NowFact “I am here to learn” you can go against what the false pattern wants in favor of what is truly best for you.

Here’s another NowFact: “The only reason I made a mistake is because I did not understand something. Since it is possible to acquire the needed understanding, I will do so.”

(NowFacts comprise a major part of the free online eCourse at SuperWisdom.)

That’s all for today.

Cordially,

Tom Russell

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July 2009

SuperWisdom Foundation

Tom Russell, Editor

Table of Contents:

1) Ten Costly Detours on the Spiritual Path

2) The Tree of Life and the Ancient Law of Attraction

3) Your Power to Say NO, by Vernon Howard

Ten Costly Detours on the Spiritual Path

By Tom Russell

1. Placing more value on what others think, than on what you think.

2. Craving intellectual stimulation over practical application.

3. Straining with spiritual principles rather than gently playing with them.

4. Falling into lazy and distracting entertainment rather than participating in natural and energizing leisure activities.

5. Forgetting that the apparent act of teaching spiritual wisdom to others is an illusion, since “others” do not exist as separate entities apart from the whole of Life.

6. Trying to win the favor, attention or goodwill of someone placed on a pedestal as a spiritual teacher, rather than doing the real work of releasing the original vitality in the Heart.

7. Taking lightly the unrelenting attempts of “The Matrix” (human mind) to turn everyone into an automaton, instead of rising up in real defiance that dares to declare spiritually, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

8. Scorning the mechanical, such as using reminders, regular reading and writing down insights, rather than using every means possible to remember who you are.

9. Thinking a dedicated and sincere “self” will arrive at enlightenment eventually, rather than resolutely clearing away all debris clouding the fact that Essence manifests enlightenment right now.

10. Orbiting the brain rather than settling down and blending with the natural currents of Essence.

The Tree of Life and the Ancient Law of Attraction

SuperWisdom Presents: Time Out for Truth

This two part podcast series exposes the modern myths surrounding this sacred ancient law. This is perhaps the best assemblage of the principles taught in this ongoing podcast. Absorb grand truths with power to energize your understanding, including:

* How stress gets all knotted up in the upper part of the tree, and divorces itself from the roots in your Heart. * How all energy flows with purity from the Source, and how awareness reveals the misuse of this originally pure energy. * A wonderful secret for harmonious relationships. * How Socrates and Henry David Thoreau taught an absolutely
invaluable component of the Law of Attraction. * How the Tree of
Life compares to the Tree of Knowledge.

Click Here to Enjoy Part One

Your Power to Say NO, by Vernon Howard

I invite you to take the time to thoroughly study this amazing booklet. It is posted online in its entirety at Scribd.com. You can read from your screen, but if you wish to download or print out a copy, you’ll need to register as a free member.

Much here for you in this July newsletter!

That’s all for today.

Cordially,

Tom Russell

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