Assimilation

[No_One]

Just wanted to hear some oppinions and get some advice from the more enlightened amongst us.

I'm a neophyte when it comes to spirituality and altered states of conscious. I'm on a mission to destruct my ego and live through my true self. I have found this to be both devestating and rewarding. I'm finding that to fit into society you need to hold on to some of your ego to avoid social ostracism. What I'm trying to say is there's like these unwritten laws that go against my new found understanding of reality and to not abide by them you're seen as a "weirdo". Is this a common thing to realise in spiritual pursuits? If so what advice would you offer in acting through your true self but having to exist in a world full of ego's and people who are closed minded? Is it fair to play, lie to or manipulate people that are more ignorant than ones self?

I hope I'm making sense here. I guess my problem is having different perceptions/understandings to most of the people I come into contact with but to avoid being an outsider/weirdo having to comply to there more ignorant view of things.

Do you have any suggested reading for someone in such a dilemma or is there a direction I could be pointed in. Maybe dilemma is a bad word it's just a hurdle I need to get over.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[mescalito]

Just wanted to hear some oppinions and get some advice from the more enlightened amongst us.

Hey Shiva,it's ironic you chose the username you did.

Don't worry,I'm quite cryptic in that I like people to consider rather than take a mere mortals' advice as sage or truth.

I'm a neophyte when it comes to spirituality and altered states of conscious. I'm on a mission to destruct my ego and live through my true self.

Good to see you're struggling with this as to me it means you're on a quest and therefore a kindred spirit.

If one were to want to function effectively in the "real" or tangeable and accountable world,then complete destruction of the ego would be a life-long painful endeavor IMHO...after all it is the glue that binds your reality with others'... and a big mis-conception is that the ego is a bad thing being associated with selfishness etc.

The ego is rather a paradox in that it exists because it is an essential part of your being and is only concerned with the safety of what you 'perceive' as you.

It could be and is considered in some disciplines as the safety-net and resides in the either the subconscious mind or the external self (maybe even in the subcoccal...who knows?) .

However, altered states allow you to see things as they really are; if the ego is left out of the equation for enough time to collect the self and experience it...then again,some may say that time is a construct of the ego anyway!

(as I said I don't propose to have the answers,but instinctively I respond by leaving question marks )

I have found this to be both devestating and rewarding. I'm finding that to fit into society you need to hold on to some of your ego to avoid social ostracism. What I'm trying to say is there's like these unwritten laws that go against my new found understanding of reality and to not abide by them you're seen as a "weirdo".

Definitely,and the further down the rabbit burrow you go......

Psychedelics,meditation,dreaming in fact anything other than what we call "waking consciousness" is predominantly out of the hands of the ego and consequentially the percentage of your being it has control over.

To me a weirdo is someone/group who bombs the hell out of a country to stop a war ....the dichotomy of an out of control collective ego,not having a shot at the overall public,but those in the league that consider themselves followers of the prophet/s.

Is this a common thing to realise in spiritual pursuits? If so what advice would you offer in acting through your true self but having to exist in a world full of ego's and people who are closed minded? Is it fair to play, lie to or manipulate people that are more ignorant than ones self?

A hard one to answer,though IME,yes this realisation tends to be the catalyst...for what I'm unsure,but I gather there is a plan and realisation is the starting point.For myself lying to and manipulating myself are far worse than doing this to others and ignorance is just a word.

I hope I'm making sense here. I guess my problem is having different perceptions/understandings to most of the people I come into contact with but to avoid being an outsider/weirdo having to comply to there more ignorant view of things.

Ditto!

Do you have any suggested reading for someone in such a dilemma or is there a direction I could be pointed in. Maybe dilemma is a bad word it's just a hurdle I need to get over.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Read whatever you feel is right for you and absorb what is useful.Learn to trust your instincts and follow the path with heart.

I guess what I'm getting at is you've already chosen a direction so don't give in....and that total destruction of the ego is virtually impossible if you're going to show up for work tomorrow

Edited November 30, 2006 by mescalito

[Auxin]

Its entirely possible to abandon grasping to ego in a sense of ultimate reality while still maintaining the ceremonial/linguistic vestiges of ego to help one interact on the level of relative reality.

For instance you may find that there is no object or idea that you can positively point to as a self, thus making the word "I" meaningless on the level of ultimate reality. But when interacting with others on the level of relative reality you could still use the convention "I" for ease of communication. If you truly understand the illusory nature of an "I" then using it as a convenient expression in conversations with others wouldnt be bad. To try and eliminate the sociological conventions of relative reality would look quite odd to others.

Waitress: What'll ya have mate?

Spiritual Guy: The universe made manifest through this fleshy blob and imbued with consciousness from the great mother-life-stream of wisdom seeks, without grasping, to consume a cuppa coffee

Waitress: Wierdo

[nabraxas]

rejoice in your weirdness. wear it w/pride. if people don't 'get it' that's their problem, your true friends will accept & love you regardless & maybe through your steadfast weirdness they'll begin to see the light.

a couple ov books worth reading:

Listen, Little Man &

Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

also, checkout this website pinkboy:

http://www.subgenius.com/

[reptyle]

i guess, put into it what you want to get out of it,

the weirder it seems to you, the weirder you seem to it, its either comical or shit scary, i think you get to chose which you think it is.

your ego is trying to convince you you need protection because your going to die, if you didnt think you needed that, you wouldnt need your ego and there wouldbe no weirdness, just isness.

all this however sorta goes out the window in the face of psychic television characters in hollywood screaming at you to stop whatever the hell it is your doing whilst critiqueing your new haircut. that is i guess until you give up and get lazya bout trying to find an explaination and just think their weird vueyers for whom you can put on a show.

the truth will set you free is weird, the truth is not hiding who you are and being able to be it infront of hidden cameras all around you everywhere and laughing at your paranoia, then continueing on the path that brought you to that point, whilst making the most of your new found access to multimedia recording.

keep doing what your doing, the more you trip "it" out the more itll trip you out. equal and opposite reactions and all that. which doesnt really hold up anymore but its a good working model.

peace.

[ramon]

Sounds to me like two conflicting needs.

1. The need to be true to yourself.

2. Need for acceptance.

The first is by far the most important. You live with yourself 24 hrs a day.

As had been mentioned above once you are behaving according to the values of your true self then the people you will attract into your life will be true friends

Edited November 30, 2006 by Ramon

[No_One]

Thanks for your replies,

Sounds to me like two conflicting needs.

1. The need to be true to yourself.

2. Need for acceptance.

This is right on the money, moving from a conformist into more into an individual has me in bit of a limbo. I'm not really the person I was when I built the friendships I have now so I feel like a bit of a faker playing the role expected of me to maintain those friendships. I guess I need to find people to associate with more in line with my new way of thinking.

rejoice in your weirdness. wear it w/pride. if people don't 'get it' that's their problem, your true friends will accept & love you regardless & maybe through your steadfast weirdness they'll begin to see the light.

This is a fear I need to come to terms with - I need to work up the balls/understanding to just throw caution to the wind.

total destruction of the ego is virtually impossible if you're going to show up for work tomorrow

To try and eliminate the sociological conventions of relative reality would look quite odd to others

This is what I'm working out/trying to deal with. It's making Shakespeares "the world's a stage" quote a bit more meaningful to me, which ties in with what reptyle said. If you could distill socialological conventions down into a basic "script" how would it read?

[Lono]

Sorry Guys, nitpicking definition time...

If the ego is the manifestation of the individual self then shunning egotism does not in itself free ones self from one's ego.

In fact whatever your impression of your physical self or your place in the world is then that constitutes your ego which is therefore an inescapable part of your being.

In fact the closest you could come to freeing yourself from your ego would be to base all your thoughts feelings and actions on those of someone else, to do everything you could to be someone else, to conform...

So my advice, embrace your ego mate, it might be making you weird, but shit, it doesn't take both hands to count the number of people I know outside this forum who would spend all day at work logged on to an exotic plants forum talking about the role of the psyche in existentialism.

I think your among kindred spirits here... Though don't lose sight of yourself through that association will you. Otherwise we're back where we started.

[No_One]

don't lose sight of yourself through that association will you. Otherwise we're back where we started.

This is what the gist of this thread is about - coming from a place of thinking the physical world is everything and then discovering spirituality and a higher being. I was/am after advice and oppinions on trying to learn to assimilate this new sense of self into a world where most of the participants are deeply rooted in the physical realm AKA consensual reality.

Edited December 1, 2006 by Shiva

[puffingfish]

All excellent and thoughtful replies.

I would just like to add though that this sort of process takes time Shiva. Be careful not to burn too many bridges by assuming that other people are ignorant or that you are so different from them. Everything is interconnected and people who you think are your enemies today could be your friends tomorrow. Besides, we all deserve people to be kind and understanding towards us - ie; treat people like you would like to be treated - with acceptance and understanding that we all have our idiosynchrasies.

Anyways, when you really look deeply, we are actually more alike than you think. On a basic level all anybody wants is happiness. Contemplating on this you can develop a sense of compassion for all beings and thus work with positive emotions first.

There is a saying that I can't quite think of at the moment - something about watering the seeds of joy before attempting to work with the aspects of yourself/others that you don't like...we all have the potential to change and grow and we need to respect that in others as well no matter how they treat us.

Edited December 1, 2006 by puffingfish

[thunderbird]

Hi Shiva

(when i was living in India my name was Rudrabhima, Rudra is a more primitive

version of Shiva, a storm God, interestingly so is thunderbird in a sense upon

thinking about it)

You might want to have a look a the chapters in the Bhagavad Gita on Karma Yoga.

(its probably online somewhere).

In this there are a lot of teachings about how to approach life so that ones consciousness

is not ensnared by the world. In that context Karma is the force that binds ones consciousness

to the world not so much the fruit of action. It involves detachment from action, and action done

for noble purposes as a way to free oneselve from this binding power rather than abandonment

of action (the world)

there is a saying in this regard that he who acts upon what he knows is shown knowledge that

he didn't know. People following spiritual paths tend to get to a level where they intiut what the

appropiate way to deal with the world, but this comes with experience and time.

one other thing IMHO is that one shouldn't use plants as the only source of spiritual unfoldment

it has to be done with hard yakka in normal states otherwise the normal states will become

inimical (to put it in simple terms). Being forced to deal with the world is a natural process of

spiritual maturation in most cases, just like a growing plant.

best of luck.

[No_One]

thanks thunderbird,

I haven't used anything plants/synthetics for almost a year now, just been concentrating on understanding what I've learnt from them. In trying to understand what I learnt I found spirituality, trying to incorporate this into the "real world" is my joyful struggle at the moment. Basically mastering the new me.

he who acts upon what he knows is shown knowledge that

he didn't know

I think I can relate to this, it's like I reach a level of understanding and act through this and in doing so something happens, some sort of magic, that says to me your on the right track but you've got more to learn. It's like I'm constantly chipping away at a stone little by little mining for something but I don't know what and this process is as enjoyable as I expect finding what I'm searching for will be. Does that make sense? I'm in a constant state of change and learning to enjoy the change.

[komodo]

nice topic shiva

heres some of my perspective, a bit longwinded as hard to convey but hope its interesting:

ego is for me connected to language[virus], as literally a 'little voice' inside the mind. the information/symbols (memes) that are stored in it's neural matrix are cultural and social, and they come in preset configurations with values attached. although the individuality can inject change[chaos] into this matrix, most of the time this is prevented by protective reinforcements and mechanisms; both internal to the mind/constructs and external in the surrounding culture/society of origin. what this means is that if you reconfigure your ego matrix in a way that is in opposition to that described by your culture, you are likely to experience psychological or physical conflict.

in conservative cultures, executive rewiring is seen as a threat/offence against the secure matrix. this is a protective mechanism for the underlying terms and values of existing social contracts. psychedelics are illegal in australia for this reason. i think to be a radical thinker in this society involves a fair bit of suffering. if you believe that life is about being happy, or tribal belonging, or raising children, it may be best not to stray too far from the cultural mind/matrix. if you value other, more abstract things such as evolution, naked beauty, or being fiercely true to your unique space/time/awareness, then unless you live surrounded by fellow searchers the structure of the ego will need to be profoundly different from most of your community.

personally i think its worth it, i can see consensus ego patterns/attractors which badly need updating and as i feel capable of coming up with some fixes i feel some responsibility to do so, but this hasnt make me happier. the painful part is that as much as it is possible to playact on the consensus stage, the deeper self becomes more isolated the further it strays from the pack.

Edited December 2, 2006 by komodo

[Micromegas]

Interesting thread... Shiva, I certainly can sympathize with this problem of integrating one's spiritual life into daily awareness. But this, after all, is the whole point. Healing will in the end leave no stone unturned, or so it seems to someone who's in the process of turning oven their own stones, figuratively speaking. Stay true to the path, if you are aligned, the spirit will be in your favour. There are forces at work...

Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all else will be given unto thee...

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you; if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you...

Don't worry overmuch about terms and concepts, seek experience instead, body and soul...

To him that has, more will be given; to him that has not, even what he does have will be taken away...

I enjoyed the Bhagavad Gita too, a wonderful spritual work...

Another read worth considering are the works of Castaneda. Not everyones cup of tea, granted, but they have been steady companions of mine, works of genius that sit alongside or independently of work with power plants.

Some may say they are trash, but they contain absolute gems and jewels of wisdom... works that will leave you astounded if they click with you, and astonished at the illimitable potential of human perception.

Best of luck to you on your path; may you have the strength to overcome yourself again and again, as we all must do.

No salvation comes with struggle; and you seem to be doing just fine

Edited December 2, 2006 by Micromegas

[No_One]

Just want to thank you all for contributing to this thread, it's helping me a lot.

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you; if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you...

This is a good description of what I'm experiencing, for example, someone will do something or say something and you wanna unleash everything you have in regards to your new perception of things and If you did it would feel great but you have to check yourself and provide the watered down "expected" thing so in essence your not bringing forth all that is within you and the parts that you keep in fuck with you cause you didn't do/say them. Does that make sense; it's hard to put it into words. It's learning to suppress some parts while exposing others I guess.

Don't worry overmuch about terms and concepts, seek experience instead, body and soul...

Generally this is what I'm doing. I found plants/synthetics before I found the texts so the texts are generally assurances that the devine experiences I've had have been experienced by others with or without substances. I haven't been using anything for ages now; trying to rig the wiring in my brain so it runs more inline with the ultimate truth and energy of the universe.

[mescalito]

Another read worth considering are the works of Castaneda. Not everyones cup of tea, granted, but they have been steady companions of mine, works of genius that sit alongside or independently of work with power plants.

The very catalyst for my journey...or was it a sign at the crossroads

[mescalito]

I will get around to responding to your pm Shiva,but I've been inundated with pm's lately for some reason.

IMO you will inevitably lose some so called "friends" along your path,but treat these as temptations or distractions...and let me tell you from the heart you'll gain more true friends in your quest as you progress.....and you may never meet them face-to face!

Your concept of friendship is one more of kinship and in the material world theses days it's like a lost art and therefore almost like heresy

In the words of one of the best blues artists ever "Thing's gonna change",and I know you're waiting in line for the ticket

[Jagger]

They say… All it takes is one true thought and all the illusions in this world will crumble for everyone.

Who here can cast the first stone?

When you look at someone do you only see love and a like child learning and playing?

We built this playground and we are all just playing. Nothing matters. But yes, there is cause and effect.

Are you willing to see what happens when you push aside your neighbor just because they don’t understand that you were just being a like soul on a journey?

[The Dude]

They say… All it takes is one true thought and all the illusions in this world will crumble for everyone.

Who here can cast the first stone?

When you look at someone do you only see love and a like child learning and playing?

We built this playground and we are all just playing. Nothing matters. But yes, there is cause and effect.

Are you willing to see what happens when you push aside your neighbor just because they don’t understand that you were just being a like soul on a journey?

Okay we can split the world in to two groups.. uninterested, and seek4ers. Seekers being vastly outnumbered... So the mainstream is uninterested. Sometimes people get preachy and shit but it makes no difference if they're uninterested. Seekers are shocked at this disregard for the very important issues (I mean god knows i spend too much time reading/writing on this shit).

And this elitist superiority complex slowly starts to set it. At 1st it's an amazing feeling to meet kindred spirits that think just like you, and I feel we do have common ground for things to talk about, experiences to share etc, best group of people in the world...

But with our superiority complex comes snobbery. I think, in part, the reason people hate hippies is because we think we're better than other people... That and we're lazy and stinky.

ermm what am I getting at? Don't be preachy don't try to spread the word.. that is, there's no point over-complicating things and explaining them in laymen terms to the un-enlightened masses, Your best bet is to give yer mates some mushies (A good sized dose) and let the experience.. shake things up.

Also, the whole 'Thing' of reality is about interweaving that pure energy or cosmic consciounsess or divine energy or life force or 'god essense in a bottle' with the material world, that slows all this shit down. Transcendence is great but we must integrate back into the world and bring these heavenly gifts back down.. Tryh to enrich all our lives.

[Micromegas]

This is a good description of what I'm experiencing, for example, someone will do something or say something and you wanna unleash everything you have in regards to your new perception of things and If you did it would feel great but you have to check yourself and provide the watered down "expected" thing so in essence your not bringing forth all that is within you and the parts that you keep in fuck with you cause you didn't do/say them. Does that make sense; it's hard to put it into words. It's learning to suppress some parts while exposing others I guess.

Shiva, again, I understand completely what you are going through, I've been through it myself. After my first profound experience, and after a trip to Peru, I had all these new views about reality etc. etc. and I told everyone about it: family, friends, strangers etc. I just had to get it out. Just had to!

But after I had, I realised it was a mistake. It drained the personal power out of the experiences and flattened me out. The response I got was a blank-eyed stare; people just blinked back at me, smiled, and then got on with their own affairs.

That's what people do, most of the time, and that's OK.

What's more, the spiritual path is just that, a path. Telling people was part of my path; now I know it's best to be guarded. Not because they aren't good stories; not only because your views will most likely be considerably different in a year's time; but because the stories are nothing compared to the radiant presence of knowledge that shines through your eyes when you grasp the unspeakable.

When the light shines, people will see and then they will WANT to know; they will ask. It is not when you TELL them that they are ready to hear, but when they ASK, on the strength of their own longing and due to the unmistakable presence of your new-found, silent, energy.

But you need not compromise yourself and keep things in that 'fuck with you'. If I hadn't emptied myself of my stories, I wouldn't have moved foward... perhaps, who knows. Whatever the case, the end-game is self-knowledge. You needn't speak your self-knowledge; let your self-knowledge work through action and intent. The world is the place for the application of silent truths; it is not an open forum to spill your guts, unless you want to... and you may well want to do that, and that's fine. It is, after all, a path. It twists and turns and undulates. Maybe it is your time to speak out, only you know best.

I used to like putting my opinions on forums like this; now I have trouble forming opinions. Quite frankly, I like it that way. I feel slightly uneasy writing this in fact.

Now I like to read on forums like this (and this one in particular ). I like to feel and know that people feel the same as me. Not just my kindred spirits, but all of my kin, the brotherhood of which I am part. And that was a revelation for me, because I used to be so superior, although I liked to kid myself otherwise.

Now I like to feel sad that not everyone will find their divinity in this lifetime, because I see the beauty that unfolds as result, over a longer stretch of time that I can conceive. I like to feel sad that my parents may never drink ayahuasca with me, or understand what I've been through; because through this I see them unfolding and healing, in their own way. I like to feel this way because, though we are apart, we are still connected... I like to feel the universe moving all spirits along their own path, and I cry sometimes because that is is so despairingly wonderful: the lonliness of unity, the divisions that keep us together so uniquely, like bells ringing in a void... I like to feel as if all worlds and souls will coalesce out of love, in unity, eventually, on the strength of their longing...

And I like to be silent, because I don't know what's what or where I'm going. But I know I have a light in my heart like everyone else - like you do - and that is what Jesus meant when he said "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you; if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you..."

If you bring forth your divinity, the goodness of your soul, of your heart, what you believe ceases to be of much importance. The spirit will guide you home, and all of us, too. You will not need to speak your truths to people for validation and observation; you will simply give them your love, quietly, peacefully. Love is more true than Truth; the universe does not hand out any better secret than this. You can be, the love that flows through you, as you have become a conduit for the Great Spirit. Nothing will fuck with you in this mode of being, not even when you head into that great immensity that lies out there waiting for you...

This is not my truth, but what I feel. My body knows it even better than my mind, and my silence speaks it more clearly than my words. My path unfolds, yours alongside mine. We learn from each other, and jump over ourselves again and again...

You are on you way, kudos, fellow seeker. But we are all seeking, in our own way, and in our own time.

So I will SHUT UP, and get on with it

[komodo]

ultimately assimilation is boring, life is an excursion into diversity, not singularity.

[Guest Warrioe-Sage]

A great book on this subject is 'Whispering winds of change'

by Stuart Wilde.

He says we are the first people or group to make an inner move from a wave to ticle en masse.

In doing this we have created a slip in the evolution of our world .

In society there are many misfits- hoboes, hermits, dopers, bandidos, terrorists, and a host of others, these groups may seem different but they are still very much apart of the wave of human experience. The hobo is still surviving, the doper is on the street looking for drugs, bandidos are occupied stealing things, terrorists are ploting.

But fringe dwellers he speaks of are those whos spirit - the very core of their being is leaving the system.

Are these people just a few mystics or hippie wakos ? no way millions have already taken the step. Many are normal and socially well adjusted. they live ordinary lives. you cant tell from the external indications, but in their minds and in their hearts they have left, they are on the outer edges of the world mind, in a dimension removed from the mainstream.

Shiva, the first thing to do is to admit you are a fringe dweller. You have projected your self out of this world. So, you may neve again fit. People will reject your ideas. you may never again gain the recognition or acceptance to which your talents may suggest you are entitled to.

But you dont need recognition, and to crave it only fuels the ego and affirms a lack of acceptance of self. just agree thaty your life is a wonderful place..at least you are not earth bound.

Trying to fit in is silly... it burns energy. Wake up to the weirdo within you and don't apologize for it. just be it. love it, nature it. look with in it. It has value it serves in a silent way. If people dont agree - fuck em. Your not in their game you have invented a new game.

This sets you free to be yourself or to change into what you are becoming. Everyoneone wants something all of the time, so they are trapped by sesire. They need support, recogntition, and encouragement; to get it they have to please others - it holds them down

to be is to become. If we are thinking and feeling aright, good action will automatically follow, the requiste magnetism will inevitably flow from usand the necessary people will be drawn to.

Stuart say, Conformity is a tenant of tick tocks hold over people. But when you think of it, how many people in the world do you really need ?

Conformity sells us the idea that we can't make it without a whole bunch of morons who agree with us. But isn't it the morons who are selling that idea ? how many people do you actually need ?

Stuart Wilde Articles

The cult of the the warrior-sage

we see a new form of spirituality based on naturalness, truth, and an unpretendous lifestyle. We demend preception and power we know is our birth right. We settle in the spirituality of being ourselves, of accepting self. We are happy to be real and to live in truth. Wr are no longer trying to accommondate everyone to win their effection.

thats over. No more excuses, no more explaining ourselves.

"Iam what Iam. If that pleases you, great, if it doesn't eat it!"

the warrior knows he is not perfect , but he is content with what he is where he finds himself. Tick tock is dominated by the ego, the primary motivation or which is survival. People want to know that life will be cozy, safe, and guarnteed.

The warrior, detached as he is from death, is not looking to survive. He concentrates instead on living, experiencing each moment to the fullest, knowing it may be the last. He accepts circumstances as they come even if they are uncomfortable, dangerous, and uncertain.

He realizes that many of the mysteries of life will always remain hidden, so he settles comfortably into "not knowing" and turns his attention from pondering the future into concentratimg on the present and what ever he finds in front of him.

By consertrating on your own life, you become powerful. You can't help the world with fine ideals. First, you have to be strong. Cut out distrations. Drop off the wimpos at the bus stop. Dedicate your self to your own quest, nothing else. Realize that dedication is the Warriors silent prayer unto himself. To fix the world is to infringement on it. The warrior knows that his power comes from leaving things alone, for machanical man will change only when he is good and ready. All you can offer the world is your strength, your honor, and the quality of your quest exemplified by your life.

The world only needs a few people who are good warriors and true. One man took Buddhism to China.

The world of the command men is unraveling like never before. We seek the attention of those who are strong and getting stronger. It is only through the power of 'individuals' that spirituality and freedom of the world will survive the hurrican of change. There is little time.

If you give your power away to the institutions, circumstance will eat your lunch. If you step inside the warrior sage philosophy, you are left with just yourself, but least you are left with a person you can trust.

May the sweet scent of true freedom ride as your constant companion.

Stuart Wilde

We live in a funny world, a changing world that's not really designed for us. There are millions of people on the planet today who don't fit into the way society has been structured.

The reason they dont fit into the planet of today is becaurse the system has been devised. They were created under the terms of the partriarchal/religious authority where by royal, church owners, land owner, and what eventually becam governments, conrolled the people. This system was established centuries ago, yet, when we look at Western democracoies, we can see that they are built on massive amounts of restriction.

There still is'nt any space for real creativity, individuality, or disagreement. We are completely free on one condition and one only - that we dont do anything. As long as we don't do anything. As long as we do bugger all for the rest of our lives, we are going to be free

Why ? becaurse there are a million rules that cover anything we want to do. My policy is stuff the rules. Interestingly, you would image that, as we advance, our societies would becomemore liberated and suitable for humans to live in. But they're not, becaurse they are built on ego-based precepts which are crumbling and falling apart. The result is that the system is becoming more increasingly oriented.

Our systems are bound to collapse. They ahve no place to go other then fall apart. Why Becaurse untill they fallapart we can never set ou people free, and the desire in the hearts of the people is freedom At the moment it freedom is scary But ssoon people will understnd what true freedom is all about and the systems will disappear.

You have to understand that fringe dwellers are a minute part of the world, we don't yet amount to even one per cent of this planet yet. Butthe message is going out I beleive we are all in silent communication all the time with each other.

Whats happening is that, while thereare millions of us who adopted this fringe dweller menality, the stem wasnt desighed for this type of being.

Our people are only as good as whatthey create. That is why societies which are not based on honoring the creators will eventually collapse. You have to look at our own societies. If you are a creator you will be discriminated against, beacurse our systems regard creators as not being of any value to them. The figurheads running these systems just want to buy votes and they need your energy to sustain the political manipulation.

There is no system in the world that you can get rid of on your own. You can only eliminate them when everyone changes their minds.

More and more people are becoming fringe dwellers, there heart and soul have left the system . Anyone who loks at these political, religious, financial systems and says," this ist for me. I need freedom, I need to breath." We are at the forefront of this phenomenon. Many of us are conjuring up the courage to leave- and leaving what you know is difficult to do. thats what hold people back This idea of leaving the prison they have created for themselves.

But fringe dwellers are saying, "hey, we dont accept. Wer not going to necessarily blow the whole system up, although we would like to. But what we are saying is that we want a world that we can organize ourselves into small communities. We want a world that looks after our planet, a world based on love and fairness, not on political manipulation and hatred. we want a world built on conservation not consumption.

People become fringe dwellers becaurse they take on a new set of values, so it is a conscious choice. However, sometimes people are fringe dwellers becaurse they had parents who distanced themselves from societys standards. The whole process of distancing your conscious from the evolution of tick-tock is really a by-product of detachment. Seeing the present problems in the context of the evolution of humanity; having compassion for people and the pain and anguish socity goes through, but not necessarily buying into the emotion.

As fringe dwellers the only obligations we really have is setting a good example. Showing other people that - with courage and tenacity and a certain amount of self-discipline - you can sustain yourself while remaining distant from the system and without falling apart econimically, spiritually or physically. Each person who walk away from the system represent on grain of sand removed from the pillars that support the old institutions.

The obligations of the fringe dweller is to demonstate, through love and compassion, that thereis an evolution outside conformity and tick-tock. The fringe dweller also has the ability to show fearlessness. And in that fearlessness offer hope and courage to others who maybe a little timid, or insecure about the idea of embracing freedom and emotionally removing thmselves from the old system.

Your responsibility is to become strong. To stand for others and show the way. To look the sytem in the eye and, when it tries to manipulate you, say "no". Bacause at some point we have to make a stand. it only takes one Gandhi. It only takes one man or woman to put the foot over that emotional line and say to the system , "You're finished"

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do." ~Edward Everett Hale

We, members of this forum, "fringe dwellers" if you will, represent a truly norrow group. We are literate, technically mindediconclastic idealists. You find in this forum opinions on everything and anything. But one thing I have noticed is beneath our cynical, sarcastic exteriors is an enormous compassion bundled with a desire to help.

The world of the fringe dweller is individual and different. be yourself. Allow the world to bitch and moan. it's their right but they have no real power to stop you. The possum can't tell the kangerooo not to hop - so hop on

Edited December 15, 2006 by Warrioe-Sage

[Guest Warrioe-Sage]

All excellent and thoughtful replies.

I would just like to add though that this sort of process takes time Shiva. Be careful not to burn too many bridges by assuming that other people are ignorant or that you are so different from them. Everything is interconnected and people who you think are your enemies today could be your friends tomorrow. Besides, we all deserve people to be kind and understanding towards us - ie; treat people like you would like to be treated - with acceptance and understanding that we all have our idiosynchrasies.

Anyways, when you really look deeply, we are actually more alike than you think. On a basic level all anybody wants is happiness. Contemplating on this you can develop a sense of compassion for all beings and thus work with positive emotions first.

There is a saying that I can't quite think of at the moment - something about watering the seeds of joy before attempting to work with the aspects of yourself/others that you don't like...we all have the potential to change and grow and we need to respect that in others as well no matter how they treat us.

Let us remember, that soul is joy, the reflection of Spirit which is Bliss. The surest link with the soul in the fourth dimension lies in the existance within us of an eternal note of joy, sounding steadily through out all our earthly dilemmas, pains, and tortures.

Those that have achieved this link can testify that it is so.

Joy is what this poor world needs.

Its loss has been the greatest tribulation and sacrifice attendant on man's submergence in matter.

[Μορφέας]

'the little prince' is my ideal version of enlightenment, he lives free and without the 'ego'