DJ DAMIAN AND 6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION

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Congratulations to my nephew Damian.
He's a bit of a "world traveller" and an aspiring playwright.  
He continues to build a resumé of dramatic experiences that may
become the substance of his dramatic works.

Currently Damian is in Dawson City experiencing a little bit of "early 20th century style" living.

He has already successfully performed surgery on his 'axed' leg and is now experimenting in the "art of DJaying" at the Dawson City community radio station - CFYT 106.9FM 'The Spirit of Dawson'.  I listened to one of his broadcasts last night and managed to record 
some of the streaming audio.  Adding a few pictures made this into a video memory of my nephew's DJ experience in Dawson City.

Play the video below to have a listen - very OK for a beginner! 

IDENTITY

Identity

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If you wish to continue to “develop the PERSON”
as in “Personal Development” then please continue,
for that is the clearest way that you can see and
understand at this moment of your life experience.

However, there is a “secret” that few have understood.

It is not really a secret.
It only appears to be a secret because we have blocked
or covered up access to it by our own limiting concepts of identity.
“Personal” identity is a by-product of imagination and thought.
Your true identity supersedes both thought and imagination.

All the great sages have taught this throughout recorded history
and even before: But only a very few have understood the teachings.
Most who hear the teachings think that the teachings apply
to the betterment and growth of the “person”.
On one level this may be true to a degree, but it is not permanent.

The person is a psychological identity.
"Personal" identity is a derivative of thought.
This identity is easily affected by all sorts of circumstances
which are conceptually related. Personal identity, being sourced
from thought, is impermanent, unstable and susceptible to the
ever-changing “whims of thought”. It is only an ephemeral identity.

Mastery of self is one approach to “drawing back the veil”
that covers this mystery. Your true identity begins to reveal
itself as your conditioned habits of thought and behaviour
are understood for what they are. You are the silent witness.

The Ending of Time

“Time, oh time,
Where did you go?” – from Michael Merchant’s song “TIME”

Physicist Dr. David Bohm had several talks
with the renowned master of intellectual/spiritual dialogue J. Krishnamurti.
The in-depth dialogue was about time as it is seen and understood
from many different levels and aspects.

As a physicist, Dr. Bohm wanted to know how a scientific/intellectual
understanding of time related to our understanding of life.
This dialogue reached far beyond any expected intellectual ideations.

To his surprise, through the process of dialogue with J. Krishnamurti,
Dr. Bohm discovered that the deeper levels of scientific understanding of time
were beginning to reach far beyond the outdated scientific understandings
that existed before quantum theory established a foothold in scientific thought.

The exchange between Dr. Bohm and J. Krishnamurti extended to a total
of 13 dialogues which were all recorded and then transcribed into book form
under the title “The Ending of Time” which was published in 1985.

It became quite clear that the concept of time is a useful unit of measurement,
like the inch, yard, or ounce in practical areas of application.
Scientific calculations, contract terms, appointment and meeting schedules, etc.
are useful applications of the concept of time.

However, when one includes time in their belief system
where time acquires meanings beyond practical conceptual applications,
then various conundrums and calamities begin to invade and contaminate
one’s understanding of life.

When the psyche gets attached to a certain idea of time
it can cause psychological distortions of all sorts in the way one relates to the world
and oneself.

A fixed idea of time introduces limitations that can shape one’s beliefs
and mislead one’s approach to living life in a more auspicious manner.

Ideas of past, present, and future, have their practical place;
but when they lead to neurosis and fear of what will happen in the future and so on,
then we begin to see the far-reaching misunderstanding of this thing we call ‘time’.

What is your understanding of time?

Does time rule your life,
or have you mastered this tricky concept
as it relates to your daily life?

How do you understand the ending of time?

I Heard There Was A Secret Chord

The first line from Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”
stirs the spirit and ‘plucks heart-strings’.

Speechless, one can only say “Hallelujah”, and
it says everything! The mind cannot decode
this.

The mind can hypothesize, and imagine many things,
but when the “spirit” and “heart” move in full vibrancy,
the mind is dumbfounded. It can only “babble”.

Where are YOU when this happens?
Who are you? What are you?

This “stunning of the mind”, is like the blast of bright
sunlight that hits your eyes when you quickly throw
open heavy window curtains. The “heavy curtains of
inhibiting concepts” have suddenly parted transporting“you” into non-local reality.

In that instant of non-local disorientation, where is the "personal" you? Your mind/thoughts, self-image, opinions about who
you are etc. are incapable of entering the dimension beyond mind.
That “you”, the “personal” you, the self-image you, are all constructs
of mind. They are limited ephemeral images that are always changing
with no concrete substance.

That YOU that you ‘think’ you are, had a beginning
and will come to an end when the body/brain/mind
passes away. But, there is a YOU that is not bound
by the limitations of body/mind. That YOU, knows
that it exists.

The body/mind “you”, the “you” that you normally think of
when you refer to yourself, your ideas, your feelings, your plans,
your desires, your fears, etc., that “you” is constantly changing.
It was once with a baby body; next “you” were associated with
the feelings and body of a school youngster; later “you” became
a teenager – then an adult.

Which “you” was the real you and not a conceptual mental
image-based “you”? Through all those “life experiences” of “you” there was
a steadfast, consistent YOU that was there “witnessing” all those
characters that you thought were “you”.

Begin with small steps, with little things of everyday experience.
Observe the activity of mind, the thoughts that cross your attention.
Notice how certain thoughts ‘grab’ your attention in such a way
that you feel helpless in reacting to the demands and stimuli affecting
body and mind.

Become a “witness.” A dispassionate witness. Do not get involved in the
thoughts parading before your awareness. Do not give them your attention.
Just watch them with curiosity. These thoughts cannot harm you, they
cannot move you to do anything undesirable – unless you let them.

These are the initial steps to Mastery of self. That “self” that is the
image of the mind. Go slowly, gradually. Note that you cannot really
define the real YOU which is not of the mind. That YOU might be
labelled as the “Self” as opposed to the “self” of the mind.

As you begin to be Master of self,
the greater Self has more and more opportunities
to guide you through life experiences.
There will be a lessening of inner conflict and turmoil.
You are on the road to the peace.

Not peace from something, but the peace that you naturally are.
Mastery of self is the road to freedom – not freedom from something,
but freedom itself, which is a state of being rather than a condition.

And then perhaps you might say
that you “heard a secret chord”
that the “holy spirit” played
on your “heart-strings”.

Hallelujah

The Day the World Stood Still

The Day the World Stood Still

Each of us lives in a world that is unique to our
perception. One might say that in a strange way,
we see what we expect to see, what our conditioning
and preconceived notions make us believe we see.

That is why sometimes we cannot agree exactly on what we

- see, saw
__or__think
we__see or saw.

There is, of course, a collective consensus of human
consciousness that sort of sets the background ideas
and beliefs upon which we all agree, or use as a
foundation upon which we 'build' our personal
'world'.

So, in many ways by this consensus of consciousness,
we all appear to live in and see a very similar world,
that we have 'bought into it' to 'protect' us from deeply
ingrained personal feelings of insecurity.

This reliance of the foundation of a consensus consciousness
allays many of the fears that might otherwise push us closer
to more insane behaviour. We feel the security of a larger
group of people that share a similar foundation of beliefs.
This is the only common element in 'seeing' a world to
appear to be the same or similar for everyone who is part of
the collective.

However, in the seclusion of our 'personal' minds (thoughts)
we can still feel totally separate and lonely whenever the
collective concepts or beliefs of the world fail to meet our
needs or our personal vision of what the world should be.

Some of us are courageous enough to question the very thinking
that has conditioned us, that has given us our beliefs and our
basic sense of security in the world. Some of us have
refused to “march to the same drummer”. We question the
reality of those very assumptions and beliefs that have promised
much, but have failed to produce a deep sense of security.

No matter what you “believe” it still does not seem to change
social behaviour or take away the fears of aggression, wars, or
unfair treatment.

Will such things as Personal Development really lead you to
freedom? Even if you meticulously practise the teachings of
such offerings, and do achieve a modicum of success, will
you have found freedom and joy? There are countless stories
of those who have acquired those 'heights', have delighted and
bathed in those riches and still came crashing down and
learned the illusory power of beliefs that promise to make
something of you that is really not possible.

The only way any work on yourself will lead to some
great discoveries and maybe even a marvellous transformation,
is by some deep self enquiry. In a sense you must find out
what really “makes you tick”; why you are the way you are.
Is what you fancy yourself to be, or to become, a viable growth
strategy?

Mastery of self has been taught by all the great teachers this
world has known. None of them promised to make a better you.
They all pointed to the fact that you have veiled your ability
to see and understand with various inhibiting beliefs and
degenerative ideas. They asked you to meet the challenge of
being “true to yourself”. The "better" you is already there, but
you are blind to the uncovering of it.

You see the world “out there” a certain way. But it is really the
world “in there” - within you, conditioned by your beliefs, your
thinking that creates the illusory world you struggle in, find
fault with, and try to overcome.

Can you make that world within stand still, just for a moment:
Long enough to see that it is the image built of your desires
and shortcomings? If you can take this challenge, and muster
just enough courage to question the very substance
of that illusory world, then you can transform it.
YOU are the only one
who can make THAT world release its hold on you.
Yes, YOU can transform your world!

Through Mastery of self you can move the “mountains” of your
inner world to forge a brave new world that is a reflection of
of a deep integrity of life. But even in a very practical way,
you can affect the change in the course of your destiny by your
choosing to be Master over mind.

You may come to really know yourself for the first time
on the day you make the 'WORLD' STAND STILL.

PLAY THE GAME!

PLAY the GAME!

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Life is the grandest game that you can play.
It is the game of games, the basis for the
conceived and the conceivable.

In a very real sense, LIFE is what you ARE.
But that may be too quick a jump for some
people to grasp. So look at it as a game.

In essence, you are the game. You determine
how you will play it. There is one important
detail that must be understood first. The Rules.

Are there Rules to the “Game of Life”?
Well, we can call them “Conditions” or
“Understandings”. The interesting thing is
that you are the holder of those understandings
or conditions. They emanate from the source
of your being.

This “Game of Life” is designed for you to
experience various phenoma. In a certain way
of speaking, you have put yourself into a scenario
similar to that in the movie “MATRIX”. Because
we need a concept of some sort to communicate
an idea, I say “similar” to the move MATRIX,
but not the same.

This game is possible, because in from a certain
point of view you have put yourself (i.e. your true
beingness) to sleep so that you can experience
a pseudo reality of a world through the medium of
mind (which is thought).

In this “game” (played in the field of a “dream”),
you have forgotten your true source and nature
by choice, so that you can experience the life that
you are from many different aspects. Your interface
for experiencing is the human body with the 5
traditional senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing and
taste.

The stimulus coming via these senses reach
the brain where the incoming sensory signals are
interpreted and acted upon or reacted to, depending
on your level of focus of attention – through the
awareness that you are.

Consciousness is a facet of the awareness.
Consciousness is the field of energy within which
your world of experience, including the body and
mind, manifest.

Your “mission” in this game of life, should you choose
to accept it, is to learn from the experiences that you
“go through” (that is what experience literally means -
“to go through”).

The “learning” is not a memorizing of facts like in
school, but a kind of “remembering” of who you
really are. Through these experiences of life
you gain Mastery of self (i.e. understanding how
the 'self' of the game is NOT the Self that you
really are. In other words you “learn” that what is
going on in the mind is not who you are and has
no control over your destiny unless you are still
asleep to reality.

By promoting a singly focused attitude to
discern the actual or 'real' from the ephemeral
throughout the course of the game of life you
start removing the 'blockages' or the 'veil' that
covers the 'truth of what actually is”.

Thus you begin to “awaken from the dream”
of the life that you project through a personally
conceived world that appears to be full of
contradictions, problems and suffering in
general.

Mastery of self is the road to the discovery
of the “Kingdom of Heaven” or the “Kingdom
of Happiness” WITHIN THE REAL YOU.

These are only words and thoughts, a limited
method available to us to communicate something
of the reality we seek to understand. However,
words are sometimes effective when they can
carry the energy of a metaphor, or parable, or some
poetic verse to communicate a deeper understanding
than thought could ever manage.