What we’re about
This is a friendly confrontation group. The object of the work is to seek the answer to the "Who am I?" question. We use the tool of self-inquiry to retreat from errors in our thinking, through the critical examination of our beliefs and thinking processes. This process should and will prove itself along the way in proportion to the seeker's honesty, persistence, and commitment.
We hold meetings currently through the "Microsoft Teams" online platform advertised in the events section. To log into meetings, you need to become a member first by clicking on the "request to join" tab at the bottom of the page. Joining a meeting on the night, click on the upcoming event, where there will be a link to the meeting on the right-hand side as you scroll down that page. If you are having any difficulties with this, contact me, the organiser, using the Meetup messaging facility.
A meeting will be advertised at least a week in advance, where there is usually some stimulating material presented in the topic heading and meeting information to think about. Generally, on the night each participant is given a block of time of around 10 minutes (dependent upon the number of participants on the night) to share thoughts on the topic after which will be quizzed on their opinions for the following 10 minutes. This helps seekers to itemise areas in their perspective that may feel false or not fully understood and provides questions for the seeker to reflect on when the meeting is over. A pen and paper at the ready may be beneficial to record anything that resonates during the meetings to reflect on later.
[Here is the link to the previous group from which this group started: Awareness, Spiritual, Zen, Psychological, Philosophy Group | Meetup]
Some main guidelines are:
Own what you say. Use "I" statements rather than "you", "one" or "we". Depersonalizing avoids ownership of feelings, experiences, opinions, and issues, making change an uphill battle. By using the word “we”, it seeks validation and acceptance of others. “My” puts your truth before your need to fit in.
Be honest with yourself and others.
No one is obligated to share or do anything.
Ask questions with a sincere desire to understand how the other person thinks.
Do not give advice.
Some participants ask if it is ok to leave their camera off during a meeting and that is perfectly fine, whatever is preferable.
Do not try to convince anyone of anything or play God by preaching.
When asking questions do not make it about you, the questioner.
Loaded questions are not helpful, where you imply in the question some opinion about the character of the person being questioned. The monitor will bring these types of questions into the open during the meeting to highlight a style of questioning not tolerated.
The rule is that if participants go against the set out rules, without genuine efforts to change their approach to the meeting accordingly, they will be given three chances before being dropped by the monitor from the meeting. It is then up to the monitor if the person is allowed back for future meetings, which will only happen if an amicable agreement has been reached to comply with the rules for future meetings.
Recommended books to read (also please give ratings for these books as the more ratings a book gets, it will appear more often in the searches):
Essential Books for the Spiritual Search: Books - (tatfoundation.org)
I Am That: Nisargadatta Maharaj, Translated by Maurice Frydman, Sudhakar S. Dikshit: I am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj : Maharaj Sri Nisargadatta, Sudhakar S. Dikshit, no: Amazon.co.uk: Books
The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi: The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi: Amazon.co.uk: Maharshi, Ramana, Osborne, Arthur: 9781597310048: Books
"There is no greater religion than human friendship" - Richard Rose
[Thanks to Wikipedia Commons for the cover picture]
Upcoming events (3)
See all- Resentment; To what degree do you suffer the disease of resentment? (Philosophy)Link visible for attendees
Tonight's meeting is on the topic of "resentment". Although I feel much more free of this phenomenon these days I still notice that it is operating in me in more subtle unconscious ways. It was put to me before that all society is sick with resentment, and that comment has really stuck with me since. Is resentment natural? Is it just something that you manage or should you work to completely root it out? How would that be done, especially if it is operating on more unconscious subtle levels?
Another comment that was put to me before was "expectations are pre-resentments". Is this the problem? Do I carry expectations about different aspects in my life only to be constantly disappointed when reality fails to live up to my version of how things should happen or manifest. Is resentment therefore tied to "control", my belief that I have "free will" to affect things to create the future and environment that "I" want and not what reality/God/creation lets unfold naturally?
As an unrealised seeker I know I will struggle with this topic of free will, until satori/awakening/surrender happens. So therefore as seekers are we tied to having to struggle with these icky feelings of resentment? How can we become fully aware of the inner battle, my will versus Thy will? And once we become aware of this battle, how best do we transcend it? Are there tools at our disposal, ways of approaching this, how can a seeker go deep into this so he at least can gain a modicum of control around this important battle to feel that he/she is moving in the right direction?
Definition of "resentment": bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly. (Data from Oxford Languages)
The etymology of the word seems to suggest that "re" means again, once more and that "sentment" comes from the french word "sentir" meaning "to feel". Putting it together it means "to feel again" which suggests to me it means "stuck feelings" that just play out again and again, that they are not being dealt with adequately enough for them to pass through naturally. Here is a link to that page: Resentment etymology in English
Thanks to Wiki Commons for the event's image.
Check out the "What we are about" section in the groups' main page for some guidelines we work to adhere to. Meetings are run on the Microsoft Teams platform. Please contemplate the topic in advance of the meeting to get the best out of it and bring your views and convictions to the meeting, if possible have a pen and paper close by to record anything useful that may come up that you resonate with on the night, little things you may want to contemplate further.
- Is "Nest-Building" one of the main human drives that blinds us? (Philosophy)Link visible for attendees
The theme of tonight's meeting is on the topic of "nest-building". From what I see of society, it seems that the main drive behind human life is to have kids and put your meaning for life into providing the best for them. People are doing this as far as I can see to the exclusion of everything else, but that then begs the question, what is the meaning of life? Is our sole purpose really just to reproduce and propagate the species? Are we being led by the innate drive for species survival?
The topic for tonight's meeting is inspired by the piece "I had a dream last night" taken from Richard Rose's book, "The unpublished works of Richard Rose". He had a very nostalgic dream about being back in an old house he was familiar with, with his ex-wife. They were going about making the place good as it was run down, dilapadated. Richard Rose called it nest-building in the dream, they were going about making it into a comfortable home. Then suddenly he grew very weary. He was 54 when he had the dream and I feel that the message of his dream was trying to communicate to him that the innate drive to nest build, have and provide for family was still quite potent in him. The fact that he got real weary was because he had been through all this and felt the true weight of having to go through this all again, especially at the age of 54, an age where I personally feel would be more conducive to slowing down and reflecting on life rather than getting caught up in it all over again.
For me personally, I felt the pang, tug at the heart of where he was coming from, what the message of the dream was conveying. I am 42 now and I'm caught up in my own family game. I have a lot of good things to say about it because I have learnt/learn a lot from it, it is very insightful, and overall an important part of my path. But I definitely resonated with the message from the dream, I wouldn't like to go through it all again, and what really hit home was the power of the drive to nest build, it is so strong in me I am largely blinded by it.
As life games to play, the family game is one of the sweeter games. The wealth/career game, where folks put all their focus into their career is considered the "empire-building" game. This is the concept taken from Robert S Da Ropp's list of meta life games:
1. The Master Game - Awakening
2. Religion Game - Salvation
3. Science Game - Knowledge
4. Art Game - Beauty
5. Householder Game - Raise family
6. No Game - No aim
7. Hog in a Trough - Wealth
8. Cock on a dunghill - Fame
9. Moloch Game - Glory or VictoryAlso the topic brings up the phenomenon of dreams that are trying to communicate a message, bridging the divide from the inner self to the outer self was how Jim Burns put it. What are your dreams communicating to you? Please come along and share your thoughts and ideas about this great heartbreaking topic, look forward to seeing you there.
Thanks to Unsplash.com for the event photo: Photo by Yiju Cheng on Unsplash
Check out the "What we are about" section in the groups' main page for some guidelines we work to adhere to. Meetings are run on the Microsoft Teams platform. Please contemplate the topic in advance of the meeting to get the best out of it and bring your views and convictions to the meeting, if possible have a pen and paper close by to record anything useful that may come up that you resonate with on the night, little things you may want to contemplate further.
- On a Spiritual path where do Self-inquiry and Religious paths Merge and Diverge?Link visible for attendees
Tonight's meeting we will discuss what we feel is relevant to seekers of Truth. I feel religion has a lot to offer, personally I have been raised Catholic and have recently taken an interest in practicing the faith again. It is easy to overlook religion in these fast-paced days, it barely seems relevant to our "modern" lives. However, there seems to be a light coming from the church, a light in the darkness if you will.
From studying the saints over the past while I sense that they all have a certain "quality" that is lacking in everyday man, which is why we call them saints I guess. My researching of the saints is to try to touch upon the "highest good" that we mere mortals can get in touch with. The heart and soul seem to be drawn to this "quality" that emanates from the saints and the holy figures like Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the disciples etc. What is the quality of being "holy"? What is it to be holy? What set saints apart from everyday man? Were they deranged people as many of them were tortured to death because of their faith?
So how does religion "connect" with a self-inquiry path? I'm not sure, at the moment on my path, I seem to be pulled in both directions. I want to use this meeting to ascertain how congruent or incongruent these paths are when put together. Self-inquiry is about becoming conscious of myself, my interior operations. These interior operations include my thoughts, feelings, reactions, intuitions etc. The goal of the self-inquiry path to me is to find the answer of the age old zen koan "who/what am I?" Enlightenment/Awakening is to become the answer, it is not an intellectual understanding, although intellectual reasoning is a tool to use on the path. I believe Awakening to be the answer to the "existential angst" problem that resides in the root/core of the soul. I feel existential angst is that root problem in every man only we have so many outer layers of dissatisfaction like an onion and our attention gets trapped in the outer layers. Happiness to me means to solve the root problem, my "identity".
Two areas that I feel overlap between the religious and self inquiry paths are (1) a devotion to something higher. A higher Perfection, The highest Love, The greatest Good, Thy will and (2) Prayer. To enter into a practice of prayer I feel of great necessity. As a mere mortal I can only pray, try to raise my heart and soul to God, Thy will, the Highest Perfection that I can conceive, that I long for to become aligned with.
Although I do certainly face doubts about whether I am on a bone fide spiritual path. I wonder if I am cooking up my path as legit and progressive when it could have major flaws and be seriously lacking. Does any of this strike a chord with your path? Do you have a spiritual path? Ever considered about getting serious about your spiritual path? Please join the meeting to discuss this topic further and challenge and question these ideas put forward here. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Thanks to unsplash.com for the event image: Photo by Michael Carruth on Unsplash
Check out the "What we are about" section in the groups' main page for some guidelines we work to adhere to. Meetings are run on the Microsoft Teams platform. Please contemplate the topic in advance of the meeting to get the best out of it and bring your views and convictions to the meeting, if possible have a pen and paper close by to record anything useful that may come up that you resonate with on the night, little things you may want to contemplate further.