To: K-list
Recieved: 2004/06/16 16:40
Subject: [K-list] tainting of mantras etc
From: Forrest Curo
On 2004/06/16 16:40, Forrest Curo posted thus to the K-list:
Wouldn't this work the same with symbols and songs?
The rabbi of the Jewish Renewal congregation in Philadelphia was saying
that certain tunes were good for reaching higher states because they'd
been used as sacred music for thousands of years.
The swastika was a perfectly good symbol among Native Americans, also
among Hindus--and then some people put it to a very bad use, and at
least one Native American shaman says, "We can't use that one now;
they've screwed it all up!"
Yeshua was a good Jewish name a couple thousand years ago; then it came
to stand for this weird goyim religion that was persecuting Jews, and
got less popular. Jesus, our version of that name, stands for some very
good things--and also for some very bad ones. If saying it makes you
think of all the terrible things it's been used to support over the
years, it's hard to use it for the good meanings. You know what you
mean, another person may not.
And there's that English drinking song that got turned into a jingoistic
American tune, and lately it seems we should have let the Brits keep it;
it wasn't making them that stupid.
Wearing long hair used to mean seeking something worthwhile beyond the
generic American culture; then it came to stand for being a low-life;
now I think it's settling down.
There are good tunes & bad ones, words that flow trippingly & words that
drag... but their meanings drift. Singing Hebrew verses seemed to get me
higher because the translations just sounded clumsy--and maybe because I
didn't entirely understand them, and knew they went back quite a ways.
There's a site:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/prothro/meditate.htm where the
guy suggests meditating to "Yahweh" or "Allah". I've tried this a couple
times so far; what I like about it is that it does direct my attention
to that "Person" I know from "his" effect on (actually the very
existence of!) my whole life. It also has the side effect of forcing me
to think about all the things, good and bad, true and mistaken, people
have made of those names. And what the One behind the names has to say
about that.
Doing this in heartbeat time, rather than breaths--We're told to follow
our breaths, not try to change them, but deeper breaths than usual are
often desireable. The advantage of following a heartbeat rhythym
(assuming we aren't advanced enough to change it) is that it lets the
breathing take care of itself. Discursive thought is derailed; what
thoughts arise about God and the nature of Itall can be completed and
left behind, sometimes I vary the words ("Daddy," "Mommy", "Hey You,",
"Teacher", etc etc) but as long as I pick something that keeps my
attention on Whom I'm trying to keep it on, so far it feels right!
Perhaps universe should really be Youknowverse? Why are people stuck in
mean little Meanoverses. Should I try mangled German for to make an
Iknowverse an Ein-iverse? What could be verse?
Forrest Curo
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