My daughters' dog, Misty, is quite hysterical. When I arrive at their house, Misty comes running up, barking a continuous stream bark bark bark bbbark bbbbaark! She comes flying through the air crashes off my leg, flips over backward landing on her head -- never pausing for an instant -- bark bark bbbbbbbabark bark bark!!!!! She is a convulsive, hysterical mess. She is also a precious, lovable and cherished pet, for sure.

When I arrive at their house I have gotten into the routine of stopping first to greet Misty. Given the fact that if you don't, the barking and flailing about will go on non-stop, forever as far as we know, this is wise. When she calms down, it is a gentle moment.

Last night I had a dream about my new ritual with Misty.

"Bark Bark bbbbbBark, boing! crash! Bark Bark Bark!"
"Misty, Misty, shhhh, come here, shhh." She comes over, crawling adorably on her belly like soldier staying low. She settles down a bit, rolls over, and accepts a gentle scratch to her chest. I console her some more. "There you go, just relax, it’s ok. Yah, everything is ok. Shhhh."

All is quiet, and the dream scene expands to include my daughter Maddi. We are both gently caressing the now quiet, peaceful being before us. We are in the living room of her house, but we can hear the wind blowing gently through the trees outdoors. We look up, and there is no roof, only trees and soft sunshine.

Misty was calm and happy, lying on her back enjoying our affection, and Maddi says "There, there, you see? Allow your mind to be quiet and clear. If you do this, beauty and love come rushing in."

I woke up, my skull buzzing pleasantly.

I was watching the Daytona 500 pre-race show on television. I became very inspired by the awesomeness of the event. Watching Kelly Clarkson, I imagined I was watching my children' s generation expressing itself. I approved of what I saw and my imagination continued.

The the picture on my screen changed. An aerial view of the stage in the infield facing the grandstand. The opposite grandstand was in view in the back ground on the opposite side of the back straight-away. Another aerial view flashed before my eyes, and I saw the two million people energetically flooding to this huge structure, and the machines - machines everywhere! I was impressed and insprired, and I approved of what I saw and my imagination continued.

Another aerial view flashed on the screen of my mind and I saw the State of Florida, and and on its eastern shore a pulsing blossom with millions people with many thousands of machines accumulating to sing and scream and fly! The picture on my screen changed, and a gust of wind came from god and nearly blew Kelly Clarkson's top off, which brought me dramatically to the present moment of one primate in a small room, and I approved of what I saw and my imagination continued.

Wow looking at previous entries - Ken Wilber gets a lot of hits. 24 to 4, over Robert Thurman.

So, ATTENTION ALL KEN WILBER STUDENTS: I have found the writings of two other teachers of the way to enlightenment particularly powerful.

I draw your attention to Robert Thurman, a person in the green meme, possibly a second-tier thinker. American Ordained Tibetan Buddhist Monk - the first ever - if I have the story correct.

Thurman invites the reader to learn "the steps of thought toward enlightenment" that lead to Wilbers second-tier thinking and being. After reading certain sections of his books I have experienced heightened senses, greater understanding of my surroundings, and more deliberate control of my subjective state of being. 

I recognized Wilber's "all quadrants, all levels, all waves, all everything - integral", in Thurman's  "precise awareness of any relevant object of knowledge."

I suggest Thurman's Inner Revoloution, Infinite Life, and The Jewel Tree of Tibet.

Also, David R Hawkins proposes a beautiful hierarchical picture with his "Map of the Levels of Consciousness".  Most interesting in Hawkins are his dialogues of his experiences in very high consciousness fields. His "Eye of the I", and "I - Subjectivity and Reality" emanate transforming, awareness building truth.

What all three of these writers share explicitly is the statement that awareness, in and of itself, is transformative. Living and learning at this level of consciousness (as a human), at this time and under such favorable circumstances is truly a rare and precious gift and opportunity.

Discussion anyone?

Hey didj'ever just wanna talk to someone about Ken Wilber and disruptions to holonic flow?

Hey i dont know if anyone else out there has recently read Robert Thurman The Jewel Tree of Tibet but ive noticed since reading pages 96-148, a significant lightening of mood, and a more deliberate ability to disassociate the personality from the arch of experience that is the five senses.

I had a marvelous dream last night. A visit from my father, who died more than two decades ago, when I was 19.

Long story short - I never really knew my dad. Partly due to his early death, and partly due to our classic dysfunction family, I never knew his heart, his feelings, his fears or joys. I can recall no poignant moments shared, no transmissions of vital knowledge.

A legacy I carried from the years in which my rule/role mind was forming was my mother’s bitterly inappropriate proclamation, “You’re going to turn out just like your father.” She didn't mean it as encouragement. I was 14.

My enduring memory of how his illness came upon our family is of the day my mother came home from the doctor's appointment without him and announced scornfully to me, “He’s got a brain tumor. He’s not coming home.” I was 15.

Looking back, the young adolescent had no role model but an absent, silent, soon to be deceased father, declared by a hurtful, desperate mother to be a substantial disappointment.

The Marvelous Dream

A re-imagining of an actual memory of coming home one day, my father sitting alone in a dim, lifeless living room, maybe a year into his illness, modeling only hopeless, forlorn resignation at the ultimate failure of life – failing to live. I was 16.

In the dream, the living room, but warmer, cleaner. Long story short - my dad had been out living, in contrast to the resigned image of my actual memory. In the dream I am my adult, now self and I ask, “Where have you been…”

Dad had been out coaching football practice. Something he never actually did. His explanation, a lesson never intentionally taught - but a lesson, any lesson is all I’ve ever wanted. “Its important to spend time with the boys. And teach them things” he said. He smiled a wounded smile. He looked good.

I put my head in his chest and cried, and woke up with a smile on my face, excited and full of joy.

I now have a new enduring memory of my dad’s final years – the years when massive doses of chemicals destroyed his body and mind to keep the cancer in his brain from doing something supposedly worse. I now remember my dad as choosing to live and give and teach above all else.

And my mom was right. I will turn out just like him.

I was awake in bed recently, with my eyes closed, meditating on the orange dashes I see. They flow, in ranks, usually from the very bottom of my visual field.  (When I was a child I called this my "orange parade". I was never afraid of the dark, and rarely resisted when told it was bedtime.) 

Occasionally I will now see a splotch of white light. Just like the orange dashes, if I try to focus on it visually, it evades the attempt. If I relax, and sort of look beyond it or through it, it becomes larger and brighter, as if moving toward me. 

In a flash, and only for a flash instant, it enveloped me, so it seemed. I felt a warm and very pleasurable pulse in the middle of my spine. The pain I had been feeling there went away immediately and didn't return until I looked for it a day later. 

To me this represents an exposure to a certain energy field not commonly experienced. The experience occurs, if not spontaneously by grace, then perhaps by concentration, meditation, or will. I believe it is real, and not imagined. It is certainly attractive, due to its uniqueness and the pleasure principal. With practice, if it is desired, perhaps the experienced could be extended in linear time, attained at will, and controlled. What the result of that might be we can only postulate