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Name: matthew
Nickname: Matthew | loving-awareness.org
Member since: 2007-09-02 00:49:14
Website URL: http://www.loving-awareness.org
About me: Matthew is a teacher, writer, coach, and sometimes activist living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is a founding member of the federal Work Less Party of Canada, a party about less consumerism and more community and interconnection. He is a world traveler, having been to most of the continents on the Earth, with a special connection with India, where he spent 6 months exploring and learning. Aside from channeled material, Matthew has been a student of the teachings of Krishnamurthi, Ramana Maharishi, Eckhart Tolle, Buddhism, Sufism, and Taoism. Matthew is also totally with the Dalai Lama when he says “my religion is love†- he strives to practising loving-kindness towards everyone, including George Bush. Really, he needs it. On a personal level, Matthew brings his years of application of this teaching towards living in more “difficult†situations as well, such as many years of depression and severe chronic pain, to name a couple. Now these processes are seen largely for the gifts that they were, as something to allow to flow, for they too passed by.
Name: matthew
Nickname: Matthew | loving-awareness.org
Member since: 2007-09-02 00:49:14
Website URL: http://www.loving-awareness.org
About me: Matthew is a teacher, writer, coach, and sometimes activist living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is a founding member of the federal Work Less Party of Canada, a party about less consumerism and more community and interconnection. He is a world traveler, having been to most of the continents on the Earth, with a special connection with India, where he spent 6 months exploring and learning. Aside from channeled material, Matthew has been a student of the teachings of Krishnamurthi, Ramana Maharishi, Eckhart Tolle, Buddhism, Sufism, and Taoism. Matthew is also totally with the Dalai Lama when he says “my religion is love†- he strives to practising loving-kindness towards everyone, including George Bush. Really, he needs it. On a personal level, Matthew brings his years of application of this teaching towards living in more “difficult†situations as well, such as many years of depression and severe chronic pain, to name a couple. Now these processes are seen largely for the gifts that they were, as something to allow to flow, for they too passed by.
The Void
May 14th, 2008 at 2:56 pmYou posted on this topic – the Void – and not the Centering posts. But let me reply briefly here.
“Mental pictures” are just a larger topic. Some can be in the emotional part of the intellectual center, and some can be purely intellectual. A different type of picture (e.g., the images in “What Dreams May Come”) can be emotionally based.
But certainly the trap of thinking about a mental picture, having a reaction to it and replaying it over and over in the intellect is in that part!
Balancing the centers of your body, part 1
April 28th, 2008 at 8:19 amI’m not sure what exactly you’re condemning here, other than seeming just flaming? I’m not attempting to recreate Gurdjieff’s thoughts, nor trying to put myself off as someone in the lineage.
I have been in a Gurdjieff group for years, and unfortunately there is often a subtle (and sometimes not subtle) harshness involved. There’s great things there, but it’s not complete, and much of the teachings turned stale where I was. The books were treated like a bible with dogma – and condemning people who thought for themselves.
When I write, I write from my own perceptions, channeling, and experience. Yes, this does make me ‘qualified’. It doesn’t put me on a pedestal above others, but I don’t want to be there.
I 'should' heal and grow.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:19 pmIn the Michael Teachings, there is a motto that “All is Choice”. What is less expressed is that consciousness is nothing more than awareness of all the infinite choices available. We limit our choices. When we do this, it’s neither accepting or loving. The idea of “should” is a quite obvious manifestation of this limitation of choices!
I 'should' heal and grow.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:16 pmI’ve had lots of pain (lower back pain), and it is indeed a struggle. Right now I’m not facing a huge amount of pain, mostly a dizziness. But surrendering to the moment takes a lot of surrender. It sounds easy, but the trust in the universe it requires is immense. How is that trust generated? Mainly through experience. The pain screams “we need more protection, more control” and the voice asking for trust and surrender is a quiet whisper, but always there.
I 'should' heal and grow.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:28 pmYes, a bad back has been a part of this illness; chronic tensions in my body. Eckhart Tolle is wonderful for putting it down in terms of utmost simplicity. That kind of simplicity washes away all the subtle justifications and blocks in perception that makes ego and false personality. I don’t watch TV, but I love the book.
Matthew
What is healing, exactly?
March 8th, 2008 at 12:26 pmIt feels like this comment ’should’ have been for the ’should article!
As I wrote, I’m learning about all these ’shoulds’. Being aware of them is usually necessary (not always) to letting them go. It helps. Really it’s about allowing it all to dissipate rather than ‘work’, or at least so I’m learning!
I 'should' heal and grow.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:22 pmWell, yes, absolutely. Being completely your Self.
I also wrote about enlightenment in The What Is Enlightenment post !
I 'should' heal and grow.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:35 amMy health unfortunately is definitely not improving – I think what I have is a Arnold-Chiari Malformation. Which is good to get a name, but I need an MRI and possibly an operation depending on what the neurologist says. In the meantime there’s not much I can do! The Canadian health care system covers it, but that doesn’t mean it’s fast.
I 'should' heal and grow.
March 5th, 2008 at 3:04 pmYes, I totally agree. There I am. There you are. Which is so utterly simple that we find it so hard to understand. The paradox is that so many people who write healing or spiritually based topics are doing it because of ’shoulds’. Which isn’t to say that I wouldn’t be doing it if I had no ’shoulds’, because this type of perception is very much a part of my Self. It would be the same, but very different. Like chopping wood.
True Rest
February 1st, 2008 at 11:03 amSounds very much like that post. A state of pure potential, like what a baby is like. The formlessness that is described as the Tao. Bring those words to your meditation group.
True Rest
February 1st, 2008 at 11:01 amI would really like to get a full night’s sleep one of these days!
What is enlightenment?
February 1st, 2008 at 11:01 amImpatience is great, isn’t it? There’s a certain irony to the thought that you can miss out and “waste” minutes. It creates waste and not being present, which is a missing out in itself.
Thank you Mary! It’s so much nicer writing to you having met you once over a year ago!
True Rest
February 1st, 2008 at 10:58 amI was recently reading a Seth-based approach to illness, which started with the question: “What does this illness permit you to do that you would not normally be doing?”
In my case, there’s certainly more rest. There’s more time and permission to explore a lot of the stored emotions in my body, leftover hurt and pain from childhood, and many assumptions I’ve carried since then. It forces me to move through life more slowly and with deliberation. So there are many gifts.
It would be nice if we created a society that gave lots of time for rest for “healthy” people as well. I think it is heading there, but it’ll take hundreds of years to see it in Western society. In Ladakh in India, which felt like a second home to me, I saw that built into the culture there. It was so peaceful.
True Rest
January 31st, 2008 at 8:38 amFor myself as well. I regularly go to a spot in the forest at night and simply sit and breathe.
True Rest
January 30th, 2008 at 8:36 pmI have only felt a true restful state last summer while I was at the beach. I was laying on a couch watching uninteresting tv, and I felt this complete relaxation bliss, like I could just flop & it was okay for once. In that moment, I realized I hadn’t felt that way since I was a child.
But, I was also hanging out with a friend of mine who has a very big heart. That’s just who he is. I feel like everything is okay when I’ve spent time with him.
Have you looked into the Cerebellum. When mine is low I get dizzy. It has to do with recalling/deciphering truths & the past. Would that make sense~ if you were detoxing a lot of energy there.
*Well Wishes*
~heidi
True Rest
January 30th, 2008 at 8:26 pmNature has always had the power to bring me back to my natural state, and how fitting, don’t you think? When I first began learning about how to meditate, it was almost impossible, especially when I thought there was a certain way to do it and a certain outcome to be expected from it. Then one day it hit me that I’ve always been able to meditate, and had spent many days of my childhood doing so, sitting out in the woods or by the riverside, just being and becoming one with my surroundings. There is no pressure to be this or that, and the animals lead a great example. So when you can, find a quiet place in God’s Garden and just BE.
~Peace~
Rachel
True Rest
January 30th, 2008 at 8:25 pmThanks for sharing that. I really liked it.
This is ironic, and speaking of channeling, I have something in relation to this topic in my blog, but it’s about channeling with art.
Anyways, I have recently entered a phase of my life where I actually learned how to do just what you are describing. The way I do it, since you asked, is by doing nothing, just as you described. It happened by accident, actually, when I reached a day when I was so completely worn out, from years of self-whipping into shape, that I had no choice. My whole body, mind, and spirit seemed to collapse, and I found myself in bed the entire day. I slept most of the time too. I would wake up, look at the clock, see the sunlight outside, and think, “I should get up.” But, deep inside I felt this, “No, you shouldn’t. Just stay.” I listened to this and layed back down each time, closed my eyes again, and went to sleep. When I awoke for about the 5th time, I looked out the window to see the sun setting. Then I thought, “I am so pathetic. I did nothing today.” Then I thought about this a little more and changed my perspective to, “I am so happy. I did nothing today. This was incredible. I did nothing.” This was an awakening for me, because I realized that doing nothing did more than doing something at this point, for it was the only thing I wasn’t doing……if that makes any sense. It was, therefore, the only activity whose rewards were not able to reach me, since I was already doing everything else there was to do.
Right away, I noticed mental clarity and new insights which have improved my productivity when I am doing something. This has re-inforced my conviction that I did the right thing that day by doing nothing, and I am allowing myself to do this more often now.
That was a long response.
Thanks for sharing this.
Slavery in our lives - Martin Luther King Jr day
January 27th, 2008 at 4:04 pmOops, that’s what comes of my comments responder page. Didn’t see the history, and I had the full name in my mind. Yes!
Slavery in our lives - Martin Luther King Jr day
January 27th, 2008 at 2:28 pmFrankl? I seem to be missing something!
What is enlightenment?
January 27th, 2008 at 7:52 amThat’s the “lighten” in “enlighten”!
There are of course an infinite number of ways to say what enlightenment is. Certainly what you say is equivalent to “becoming what we are already”.
Slavery in our lives - Martin Luther King Jr day
January 25th, 2008 at 2:24 pmI haven’t read any of Victor Frankl’s writings, but I’m browsing his wikipedia entry now. That quote definitely resonated, thank you!
Knowing what choices we have in every moment is a powerful thing indeed.
Slavery in our lives - Martin Luther King Jr day
January 24th, 2008 at 4:29 pmI see your point, but it’s important not to see as an adult when looking through a child’s eyes. Children are playing all the time and making lots of choices – but their worlds are very small. They haven’t been “educated” into thinking one way, either. That’s not to say that there are no children with no choices, but a child’s world is a very different one. I still think the definition applies, but you’re welcome to point out more!
What is enlightenment?
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:36 pmThis is a good suggestion! Thank you!
What is healing, exactly?
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:01 amI’m continually learning about healing. We all are. I think the moment we think there’s nothing left to heal, that’s the moment we start to atrophy. There’s always more to discover about who we are.
Slavery in our lives - Martin Luther King Jr day
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:24 pmThat was the point – yes, most people do not know their own freedom.
The other point is that everyone’s freedom helps our own. When we’re surrounded by people in bondage, chances are we’ll be pulled that way too. So it’s in everyone’s best interest to help each other attain true freedom.