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   Imagine a prison where the prisoners do not know or remember the life of freedom outside the walls. All their efforts are spent trying only to better their conditions inside the prison. Those in crowded, dirty, or isolated cells envy other prisoners who have greater privileges. Some decorate the walls of their cells, paint pretty stripes on the bars, without suspecting what these bars are really for.

   This is a very “enlightened” prison. There are recreation facilities, arts and crafts, there is a well-stocked library, though the prison authorities carefully exclude books with certain ideas about the world outside the prison. There are prison psychiatrists to help the prisoners adapt and adjust. There are prison priests to instill imaginary beliefs and form segregated little “monasteries.” Over time, this prison has even evolved to allow political groups and meetings. Philosophers and critics arise among the prisoners to argue for more equality and liberty – within the prison. Honors are handed out, prizes are given, great names are enshrined in the rolls of prison-science, prison-art, prison-morality.

   Occasionally, there appears a prisoner — sent from the outside — who speaks clearly and compellingly of a life outside the walls. What becomes of him or her? How is the messenger received? Sometimes he is met with mockery or hostility. Sometimes, the prisoners themselves kill him or dispatch him into isolation. Often his message, if it is particularly clear and persuasive, is taken up by the prison priests and psychologists, who adapt it to suit their purposes.

   But sometimes this messenger from outside the walls convinces a few people that another world exists and shows them how to escape. These prisoners begin to understand that the only sensible aim they can have is to escape from the prison and, if possible, to help others escape. A special, carefully guarded knowledge circulates among those who have “ears to hear.”

That’s all for today. Please share with friends, and Facebook. Tom

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A. Live Audio Presentation on this topic.

B. Roundtable open discussion on this topic: Access Here.

Key idea: Resistance and struggle with lower zones of Beingness only fortifies them. Likewise, attempts to hold and recreate higher zones of Beingness proves stressful and unproductive. Unattachment is a major key, allowing yourself to oscillate often through the zones of Beingness while in direct, willing communication with the confent of each zone.

Like magnets, a useable spiritual concept creates a structure that attracts insights.  As a metaphor, consider the existence of four zones of Beingness:  red, yellow, green and blue.
 

The Zones Described

RED:  The red zone is made up of memories, tendencies and reactions based on worry, blame, hostility, self-condemnation, painful demands and lingering regret.  

YELLOW: In the yellow zone positive influences converge toward one’s wish to break free of the red zone and regain one’s spiritual purpose.  The yellow zone is the domain of books, classes, teachers comprising a library of information and techniques  – some discovered (by your personal experimentation) to be of greater usefulness than others. 

GREEN: Spontaneity, flexibility, empathy and happiness blossom in the green zone.  Life lives itself directly and not through the filter of techniques and influences.  The color green connects with the season of spring and its budding new life.

BLUE:  Ralph Waldo Emerson once described the blue zone this way:  “The soul’s communication of truth is the highest event in nature, and this communication is an influx of the Divine Mind into our mind. Every moment when the individual feels invaded by it is memorable…”  The blue zone is the sudden and unplanned entrance (usually brief) of the Cosmos of Ideas into the receptive space of a clear, playful and unfettered mind.   

Ten Profitable Connections

1. Yellow zone techniques serve to bring the green zone into view. From the green zone of contentment and unfiltered perception, the blue zone may occasionally appear.

2.  Yellow zone techniques get stale if overused. No one technique works indefinitely, though after setting it aside for awhile one can profitably cycle back.  To perceive the limits of techniques, while working to develop mastery in their use, facilitates one’s approach to the green zone.  The blue zone touches the green zone, not the yellow zone. 

3. One naturally oscillates on this scale. For example, some people have driven themselves frantic trying to recreate a blue zone experience.  Something happened, yes, but the harder one tried with yellow zone techniques and red zone demands, the further the blue zone seemed to recede.

4. The red zone reacts with every touch of the blue zone. The immense power of the blue zone stirs up the red zone, making the patient and persistent use of yellow zone techniques profitable and necessary. 

5.  When possible, associate with yellow/green zone incliners and avoid chronic red zoners.  Red zoners sometimes pose as false positives, pretending interest in yellow zone influences with the aim of keeping you corralled. You often see them as “loyal fixtures” at spiritual groups!  They tend to gravitate towards positions of influence and power in organizations, sometimes even being skilled speakers and writers.  Also be leery of the hypnotic power of television – the primary dissemination tool of the red zone!  Yes, there are some great movies out there but they are few and far between. 

6.  Time slows in the green zone. The simplest acts, like a breath, a walk or drink of water reveal depths of pleasure and connection previously unperceived.  What two words best describe the green zone?  Engaging and fun! 

7. Let’s highlight once again the importance of oscillation and movement on this scale. One allows himself to float, giving up the tense battle to maintain a position.  Occasional blue zone visits alternate with the green zone, a plunge into the yellow zone when warranted, and perhaps even the red zone, though the red zone now taste like leather, devitalized, and one harbors no desire to linger there. 

8. Increasingly unattached to the red zone, your sparks of awareness and vitality move throughout your system to free more lifetrons. Speaking in spiritual symbolism the Bible declares, “The rich get richer.”  For example, energy wrapped around early childhood and family memories free up.  One’s yellow zone associations with particular teachers and programs release with great relief. This release grants respect and gratitude to one’s teachers instead of unhealthy reverence that can deteriorate into red zone agonies.  Only the blue zone warrants reverence.   

9.  A vast and expanding ocean of energy now honors your intentions. You find yourself much more resilient and able. People sink into discouragement and apathy because of low energy levels.

10.  You exist in the blue zone as an Idea. Christ, Buddha, Rabia, Lao Tzu, and the super wise woman running the local grocery store in 1832 that no seeker ever knew about, all discovered the idea within the mind of God/Truth/Reality that is themselves.   Like snowflakes, each one expresses pure originality. What you discover in the blue zone has never been found before, since no one else can find YOU. 

Attaching color to a field of activity can facilitate connections and differentiation. Remembering a color can help bring back into consciousness all one has learned about that field.  

Audio Resources on the Zones Metaphor

A. Live Audio Presentation on this topic.

B. Roundtable open discussion on this topic: Access Here.

(SuperWisdom Foundation www.SuperWisdom.com – Resources to develop spiritual self-reliance and penetrating inquiry, including the popular  Time Out for Truth Podcast.)

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SuperWisdom Foundation conducts a live monthly webcast the first Saturday of every month. You can ask questions, voice insights and meet friendly people all over the world who are deeply interested in these ideas.  Or you can just sit back and take it all in!  Unlike lectures, dialogues can sometimes evolve slowly, but the impact and benefits can reach far deeper.

Next Live Webcast, and YOU’RE invited: Saturday, September 4th at 8:AM Pacific. Access class here.

Topic: Free and Open Discussion – An unrestricted and fascinating format.
Transmit questions and insights during the event (or now) if you wish, for real time response.

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One great Sufi wrote he was concerned God had deserted him, since challenges and difficulties had disappeared from his outer life. What a diametrically opposed viewpoint to the mindset found in our modern times, where most students primarily seek comfort and ease under the guise of the “spiritual” search.

By Tom Russell

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It is a strange fact that students often get used to a tense state of struggle, and even feel “guilty” when they lay all effort aside for awhile. This is the same old tension patterns under a different coating.

J. Krishnamurti said it so well, “To be still after tilling and sowing, is to give birth to creation.” This Bible also teaches this by placing much importance on the Sabbath Day — the day of rest.

By Tom Russell

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We may investigate the viewpoints and discoveries of others to see what pieces of the jigsaw puzzle they may have found, that we can perhaps find within our own puzzle. However, thinking that any program or given teaching has all the pieces of the puzzle for you, closes off precious possibilities.

Many have found writing and journals to be a powerful piece of their puzzle; it is one that may work wonders for you also. Consider the immense benefits of having your own expanding row of journals on your bookshelf, teaming with insights and memories for your eyes only!

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What is the self? Big question. One way to perceive the self is as a membrane, with porous qualities allowing a two way exchange of energy from outer to inner, and from inner to outer.

The membrane has its concerns and quirks. Why be overly concerned with getting rid of them? Many have found that a direct frontal assault on imperfections does not work, and can in fact cause them to multiply.

Wholeness includes the eternal and the temporary. Touch the eternal, and the imperfections of the temporary membrane pose no concerns; however, to hunt down the quirks and imperfections is an indirect way to make a “god” out of them. It generates conflict that scars and solidifies the membrane, thus obstructing the touch of the eternal.

The membrane, no longer trying to perfect the temporary and “enlighten” it, turns instead to allowing more space and openness. The energy now flowing through has built in charm and lots of rejuvenating pep.

By Tom Russell

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We begin this quest with persistent efforts to stay alert, refusing to roam in the maze of associative, unchecked thinking. This initial (and necessary) stage of effort can be compared to the caterpillar stage of the butterfly. Without this initial struggle, there can be no stirring up of dormant inner powers.

Just as the butterfly breaks free of the shell and flies, so intelligent effort gradually gives way to understanding. In the beginning, to quote author Vernon Howard, “We work hard because we don’t yet know enough to work easy.” The transition from hard to easy, therefore, is from effort to listening — from movement to catch the butterfly to receptivity that invites the butterfly, and when it alights, to cherish it.

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