193 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
193 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
This document can be acquired from a sub-directory coombspapers via anonymous
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FTP and COOMBSQUEST gopher on the node COOMBS.ANU.EDU.AU
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The document's ftp filename and the full directory path are given in the
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coombspapers top level INDEX file.
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date of the document's last update/modification 03/09/93
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===============================================================================
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This file is the work of Stan Rosenthal. It has been placed here, with his
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kind permission, by Bill Fear. The author has asked that no hard copies,
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ie. paper copies, are made.
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Stan Rosenthal may be contacted at 44 High street, St. Davids, Pembrokeshire,
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Dyfed, Wales, UK. Bill Fear may be contacted at 29 Blackweir Terrace, Cathays,
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Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK. email fear@thor.cf.ac.uk. Please use email
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as first method of contact, if possible. Messages can be sent to Stan Rosenthal
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via the above email address - they will be forwarded on in person by myself.
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...............................Beginning of file...............................
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A TIME OF BLOSSOMING
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SUITEKI: ROSENTHAL: WISBEY
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THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF BOMPU ZEN: 1975
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10 From the seed there grows the shoot, and then the bud appears, a tight
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but secure knot, providing its own protection. But the bud does not remain
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the bud for ever, for as the plant matures, the bud begins to struggle to
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free itself, and with a mighty effort, bursts open to become the flower.
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12 From the baby there should grow the child, secure in the environment
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which its parents provide. And the baby should grow into the adolescent,
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who, through maturation, develops into the self actualized adult, safe and
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secure in the knowledge of his or her own being.
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14 It would indeed be wonderful if we lived in a society in which
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childhood and adolescence were accepted as the time in which the bud appears,
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and with the tremendous strength with which youth should be endowed, begins
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to blossom into the flower of self being.
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16 What a great joy it would be, if in the process of maturation, we
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became open to receive experience, just as the blossoming flower receives the
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summer dew, and became free to accept ourselves for what we are, which is the
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birthright of every being, just as the life giving warmth of the sun is the
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right of everything that grows.
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18 The society in which we live cannot allow us complete freeedom.
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Indeed, the very nature of man prohibits such a society from ever existing.
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But this is not to say that we cannot blossom as does the flower. To become
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fully alive, to live our lives to the full, complete in our self being,
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we should accept as a gift, every moment of life.
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20 We should use life for the purpose for which it was intended, for
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living. If we choose to use it for that purpose, the whole of life becomes a
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time of blossoming.
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24 One of the major inhibitors of human blossoming is probably life itself,
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for in living our lives to the full, we are required to accept that much
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of what we will experience cannot be described (in terms of our 'I'ness)
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as either beautiful or enjoyable. Because of this, we might erect barriers
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to the reception of experience.
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26 One of the experiences which we sometimes deny ourselves is the
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experience of love. This denial may easily result from our fear of failure
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because we may fear that by becoming worthy of love, we might win love, and
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might then become unworthy of it, and thus lose it.
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28 Fear of losing love is caused by the fact that we live in a society
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which values that which it terms 'success', and condemns that which it calls
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'failure'. And yet, it can only breed success at the expense of those whom
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it describes as failures. We must learn to live without this fear of failure,
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and so allow ourselves to live within our human right .....to live.
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30 If we erect barriers to the giving and receiving of love, we may, in
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our folly, inhibit both ourselves and those who love us, from blossoming
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into true being.
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32 We must each look into ourselves, and so find the courage to break
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free from those concepts of ourselves, which we have allowed to predetermine
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what we are, what we should be, or what we should remain.
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34 We should realise that there is no limit to human potential, other
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than those limits which we ourselves set, or allow others to set in our
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name.
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36 When we can accept that there are no limits to our potential, then
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we can begin to find that energy which changes the whole of man; for just
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as the parting of the petals which form the bud, allows that bud to blossom
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into the flower, and thus change the face of the earth, so does the blossoming
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of one indiviudal into a self actualized being, change the face of mankind.
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40 The flowers and trees have sun and rain to aid their blossoming. As
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human beings, we should have love to help us grow into self being.
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42 When we live in true being, self being, we gain the ability to love,
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for love has many forms. We may gain the ability to change the shape of
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things with our hands, and thus change the function of those things. This
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may be an act of love.
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44 We may gain the ability, by the use of our hands and minds, to produce
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things which have beauty, and whose beauty may be shared by those who are
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open to accept it. The creation of such a thing as has beauty is an act
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of love. The acceptance of the beauty in a thing which a fellow being has
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created is an act of love.
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46 When we have true being, self being, in which to dwell, then we may
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learn to love our fellow beings. When we can see our own imperfections
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as readily as we can see the imperfections of others, and when we can allow
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those others their imperfections as readily as we ignore our own, then it
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may be said that we love our fellow beings.
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48 When we can accept others for what they are, rather than try to change
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them to what we would have them be, or even wish that they are something
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other than they are, then we perform an act of love.
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50 When we have true being, self being, instead of 'I', then we have the
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ability to become one with our fellow beings. This we may achieve only
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by ceasing to consider ourselves as the primary subject, and our fellow
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beings merely as objects which are there for us to manipulate. This act,
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the act of treating others as we would ourselves wish to be treated, this
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act is an act of love.
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52 There is the love between brothers and sisters. This form of love may
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develop and grow where wise parents do not use one of their offspring as
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a goad or spur to the other. Treating our offspring as equals is an act
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of love.
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54 As parents, if we can see that our offspring are not mere 'objects',
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and no less 'subjects' than are we, then we can cease to manipulate them.
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Thus, we allow the child to become the adolescent, and the adolescent to
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become the adult, to the mutual benefit of all.
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56 In parential love, we should place the development of our offspring
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before our own wishes, and even before our own self delusion. When, as
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parents, we give our offspring the same rights as we give ourselves, and
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thus prevent ourselves from inhibiting their development, then our offspring
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may grow into adults, secure in their own self being, as a result of our
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act of love.
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60 Although all acts of love are transcendental in themselves, most are
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but minor forms of the greatest act of love, which is therefore the greatest
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transcendental act, the act of sharing love. Only when we have true being,
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self being, and so no longer need the 'I', then we are ready to take part
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in this greatest act of love, for, in sharing love with the one who is our
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counterpart, and so helping them to become complete, we may ourselves become
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complete.
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62 In the act of sharing love all other forms of love are manifest. We
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each accept that the other has the same rights as we have ourselves.
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64 In the act of sharing love we are not jealous of the achievements or
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attainments of the other, but welcome and share them as our own, for they
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are the fruits of our love.
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66 In the act of sharing love we do not look for the imperfections of
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the other, but accept each other for what we are, in our totality. We look
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for our own imperfections, and we each ask the other to help us overcome
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those imperfections; and thus we help each other to grow. Each of us ceases
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to consider our own 'I'ness, and so banish our own needs in subordination
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to the needs of the other.
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68 In the great transcendental act of sharing love, all other
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transcendental acts are also encompassed. In such an act as sharing love we
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may change our function from that of satisfying our own needs to that of
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satisfying the needs of our counterpart, this is a transcendental act.
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70 In such an act as sharing love we may use our bodies to create a beauty
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which both may share, and so become a part, this is a transcendental act.
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72 In such an act as sharing love we cease to consider ourselves as the
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primary subject, and thus may become one with the other with whom we share
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our love, this is a transcendental act.
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74 In the act of giving love there is no concept of who we are, of what
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we should be, or of what we should remain, for only in the act of giving
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love may we receive and so share love.
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76 In the act of sharing love, there is no subject and no object, for
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both are one. This union of the two is a transcendental act.
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78 When we give and receive love in the greatest transcendental act of
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all, then each of us (who is one) and the universe (which is one) unite
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to become the absolute. Then there is no longer even one, for we are part
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of it, and it is part of us, all in the now. We thus become free to give
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and receive that which only true love can provide, Peace and ecstacy, and
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the freedom to grow.
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..................................End of file..............................
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