Listening...

July 9, 2009

It¡¦s been an interesting couple of weeks. I guess it¡¦s all interesting and

fun, even when it¡¦s not fun. There has been loads of movement. In the outer

world, I have moved to a temporary apartment in Taipei for two months until I go

home. An old colleague and spiritual friend came to stay for a week, and it was

good to hang out with him, and watch his karma unfolding. I finished the first

draft of a little book about manifestation and inner work I am writing, so that

feels good. My energy peaked again with the moon.. one of these days I will grow

claws.. lol¡K I watched the new Transformers movie¡K and enjoyed the special

effects and the mythology thrown in..

In the inner world, Shakti has been teaching me about listening. My learning

prior to about a week ago was egoic. Without an effective and strong ego it¡¦s

impossible to function in the world. I had tests in putting up boundaries,

asserting myself and using anger as a tool. I finally made sense of an ongoing

dream series, where I am looking for a new car to drive, and now view the car as

symbolic of my egoic structures with which I navigate through life. For example,

when a belief (an ego structure, often shadow) that doesn¡¦t serve me is bought

into awareness and shifted, I need a new belief that lets me ¡¥drive¡¦ through

the world, or in other world, forms the way through which I navigate life and

act in the world. The car represents a belief or frame which I use as a source

of action to move through life.

Then, I was asked to begin to drop my wonderful ego..lol.... It started last

Friday when I went surfing and ended up with a totally blocked left ear. There

was some natural wax in the inner ear which swelled with the sea water and it

formed a block, making me pretty deaf on the left. I found it difficult hearing

people speak and making out sounds. I was wondering if this was just chance or

if I was being taught to listen more, to pay attention to the left receptive

feminine component of my being. The deafness lasted for sat, sun and on Monday I

went to a doctor, who gave me drops to dissolve the plug, but couldn¡¦t remove

it. I stopped resisting being deaf and paid careful attention to whatever sound

was coming in. There has also been continual throat energetic activity for a

while and a lot of tension kind of around my spine in my lower neck.. Anyway, my

friend who as staying with me also had a copy of the latest Caroline Myss book,

I think its called ¡¥the inner castle¡¦ or something of that sort. The book came

into my hands so I was grateful for the gift and the message. From reading parts

of it, I was drawn to the prayer of surrender and the prayer of recollection,

which is essentially (as I understand it) a process of surrender, inviting the

presence of God, and waiting (listening). My deafness continued for another few

days and has been lifting today. It became suddenly noticeably better tonight,

and for a minute or two, as it cleared, I felt I was clearly listening to a

small waterfall, even though I was standing on a busy street. It was a beautiful

sound. The blocked ear has effectively bought my attention to the fact that I

need to listen increasingly carefully, to all experiences (not just sound) that

is arising¡K.listen to myself, my body, others, the world around me. It¡¦s been

a good lesson, lasting long enough, almost a week, to get me to take real

notice.. haha..and when listening, I am asked, again and again, to surrender the

egoic mind, simply by witnessing any thoughts and inner tensions and allowing

them to liberate. The last two nights I have had dreams with lots of sound in

them.... My meditations have been deep (if it could explain it like that), and I

am enjoying the silence of being when I do that..

Anyway, I enjoy reading the posts from everyone¡K. I really hope the bats can be

saved ƒº and you can continue to swim naked on the full moon nights¡K. Reminds

me of the classic REM song Nightswimming¡K listening to the Pixies ¡¥Where is my

mind¡¦ as I write this¡K. A musical form of Self Inquiry?..lol..

Love and blessings

bruce

July 10, 2009

Hi Bruce,

I enjoyed reading your post very much. I just felt moved to tell you that.

Blessings,

Bill

, " bruce_oom "

<bruce_oom wrote:

>

> It¡¦s been an interesting couple of weeks. I guess it¡¦s all interesting and