Magic and Technology - Arthur C. Clarke

Written on June 25, 2009 by Tom Stine

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

We don’t appreciate magic enough. The universe is a magical place to say the least. I love this suggestion of Clarke’s, though. Will technology ever become “sufficiently advanced” to replace magic? I doubt it. And no, by magic I do not Harry Potter or something more like the arcane or Wicca. I’m referring to the magic that seems to happen as we awaken more and more to the Truth. Maybe miracle would be a better word. But I kind of like the word magic.

credit: nsaplayer

Fortnightly Tweets for 2009-06-21

Written on June 21, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Anything in life can and will disappoint you as long as you look for things to please you. Quit looking outside yourself for happiness. #
• Twitter makes even idiots sound like spiritual savants. Including yours truly! #
• I still like being forced to be succinct. In the world of spirituality, brevity is a rarity! Anything beyond “All is One” is just noise. #
• Death. Can you accept the death of your “self” or someone else’s “self.” You better! Cause it’s going to happen. #
• After decades of believing that some people had the truth and others didn’t, how nice to discover that everyone has it. A gift that was! #
• Everything, everything, I mean EVERYTHING we were told about spirituality was wrong. Oh my God! Literally. #
• Have you noticed what Puritans most spiritual people are? Sheesh. #
• What if you woke up one morning and had NO identity. You were 100% no one, nobody, nothing. All you could really say was “I exist.” Bingo! #

Fortnightly Tweets for 2009-06-07

Written on June 7, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Adya likes to say that the hardest thing for a human being to do is: do one simple thing consistently. Like sitting! LOL #
• When I say sit, I mean SIT. Not meditate like the Buddhists mean. Just SIT. Let things be. Let life be exactly as it is. Just sit. Sit. #
• Try sitting. Go on. It is perversely simple. Amazingly beautiful. Peaceful. Joyous. And hard as hell to do. And yet, I do it. Weird. #
• It’s all about identity. Everything. #
• While much abused, the movie analogy for awakening and life is really a good one. We are but characters in a film. Wearing borrowed clothes #
• I travel a lot. I’m not sure why. Anything my mind tells me about why isn’t true. Better to notice that this body is 1000 miles from home. #
• Don’t you get it? Everything is allowed! Everything. Forget all that spiritual crap you’ve heard. Nothing is off limits to the One. #
• And yet, the One always seems to move in the direction of what we can…

Fortnightly Tweets for 2009-05-24

Written on May 24, 2009 by Tom Stine

• We seek. But do we find? If we are honest we say no. We never find what we are looking for. Why bother seeking? Because we have no choice. #
• What is enlightened? What a term! I wish I had a dollar for every enlightened person who isn’t. I’d be rich! #
• Do you need awakening? I think yes, at least to wake up to the truth. Maybe not full awakening, but knowing a bit of truth is very helpful. #
• Nothing you do will cause you to wake up. The only thing you can “do” is let awakening happen. It’s a not-doing. #
• Without your thoughts about someone, they can end-up being pretty spectacular. Even when they aren’t. #
• Awareness rocks! #

Weekly Tweets for 2009-05-11

Written on May 11, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Ben Franklin said that sitting is essential to life. Sitting and letting awareness be. Okay, Ben didn’t really say that. But he should have! #
• You know the awareness that “you” have of everything that happens? What if THAT is what you are? What would you do with that knowledge? Hmm. #
• Right now, are YOU aware? Or is awareness just happening? #
• Most of what you seek, most of what you do, is part of the “trap” you are caught in. Probably all of it is the trap. Get out of the trap! #
• What if the entire spiritual journey was a waste of time? What if all you needed to “do” was to sit and rest as the awareness that you are? #
• Most days it probably seems as if the world is INSANE! What if it is? What if it is insane when seen through the the mind? #
• What if that insanity that you see isn’t really true? What if everything you see and is merely interpreted by the mind? What then?…

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-04

Written on May 4, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Pizza. You do know that awakening might change your perception of life, but it doesn’t change life? Pizza is still pizza. And it is good! #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-04-27

Written on April 27, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Do you want to know everything there is to know about awakening? Watch a French waiter open a bottle of wine. THAT’S AWAKENING! #
• Awakening is about LIFE! FUCKING LIFE! Do you get it? LIFE! Oh my God, how did I miss this for so long?! Thank God for the French! #
• When you sit down at a table in Paris, you OWN that table. For a country of atheists, the French GET awakening! #
• Does anyone who is awake ever apologize? #
• Seriously, why would you ever be sorry for anything? Everything is perfect as it is. No regrets, no disagreements with life. #
• I’m rocketing across France on Thalys. Belgium then Amsterdam next. What the human mind can create is astounding. #
• But in the end, we move through life like this train through France. Just spectators on the way. #
• Bikes. Everywhere bikes in Amsterdam. Why are they rushing around? Why? There’s no hurry. None. #
• KLM is a great airline. And what does this have to do with awakening? Nothing. Duh! #
• I spent 8…

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-04-20

Written on April 20, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Suffering. Did the Buddha get it right? It sure seems like he did. Inherent in all attachment and aversion is suffering. It’s so obvious. #
• Susan Boyle ROCKS http://tinyurl.com/c49rgl #
• Why does Susan Boyle move us? Because she touches something in us? No, because she IS you and she IS me. One, one, one. We are Susan Boyle. #
• Life is a movement of arising from nothing. Then falling back to nothing. I am the arising and the falling and the nothing and the life. #
• The “answer” is always in the question “Who?” Ramana always would say to people, “Find out who wants to know.” Who has the question? #
• All my life I’ve felt this strong desire to express myself. To talk. To tell you something. The funny thing is: who’s doing the talking? #
• I sit at a café and watch the people walk by. Who are they? What are they thinking? They are me. Could they be thinking what I’m thinking? #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-04-13

Written on April 13, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Your last realization doesn’t mean much. It may have been transformative, but what is here now? What do you see now? Separation? Look again! #
• Awakening is gritty, a rough and tumble kind of thing at times. Forget the sweetness and light garbage. Get your hands dirty! #
• Something to remember about all teachers: they, too, are limited in their perspective. They may have seen ALL, but they can’t report ALL. #
• I hate to admit it, but I doubt I can sit too much. Whatever seems to arise, sitting with it always pays off. I think I’ll sit now. #
• What’s the pay off of sitting? Peace. Nothing more, nothing less. #
• Everywhere you go, there is a Starbucks in Paris. Oh la la! I remember in 2004 there was only one. The French must love frappuccinos! #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-04-05

Written on April 5, 2009 by Tom Stine

• I read a book review that used the phrase “self-empowerment.” Right now, stop, look within, and find the self we are supposed to empower. #
• I love Paris. But one must ask What’s the point to all of this? Ah, no point at all…. #
• Un autre cafe, s’il vous plait. #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-29

Written on March 29, 2009 by Tom Stine

• Love. I have no idea “what” it is. But I feel it flowing through me like a river. #

How Do You Know If Someone Is Enlightened?

Written on March 18, 2009 by Tom Stine

A reader sent me an email letting me know that a statement of mine in my last post I Want to Be Like Jed sounded like I was claiming that I’m enlightened. The line in question was a bit misleading, so I’ve changed it. However, the line in question did cause me to think of something that I want to share with all of you before heading to bed.

So, how would you know if “I” am enlightened? How would you know if anyone is enlightened? What’s great about these questions is that (1) they are questions that most spiritual people ask about various teachers and gurus and (2) they are so misguided as to be a bit comical.

First of all, you have absolutely no way of knowing if someone is enlightened or not. Period. No way. Zero. Zip. Nada. How can I be so utterly certain? Because you can’t know anything about another. All you can do is have an experience of them. You may have an experience of where their…

I Want to Be Like Jed

Written on March 18, 2009 by Tom Stine

A reader sent me the following email:

I was interested to see you recommend McKenna’s books. His description of enlightenment strikes me as a empty, boring state, in sharp contrast to most people’s ideas. Is his “enlightenment” something you find attractive and seek?

Assuming the books are factual, I have to wonder if he got stuck in a dead end on his spiritual path. If enlightenment means pitying, rather than loving, everyone else, and spending days playing video games to stave off the boredom, count me out.

As you can tell by my somewhat tongue in cheek title, I have to answer my reader’s question “yes.” I do find Jed’s enlightenment attractive. And the primary reason is quite simple: I desire the truth. If what Jed describes is the truth, the Truth with a capital T, then I want it. I want nothing but the truth. As Morpheus tells Neo: “I offer only the truth, nothing more.” Even if the truth is I wake-up from my nice comfy world and discover I…

A Few Thoughts on Jed McKenna

Written on March 4, 2009 by Tom Stine

I’ve received a few emails lately about my recommendation of Jed McKenna’s books, both in praise and a few negative ones. I responded to one friend’s email, and in the process, realized I wrote a blog post! I had wanted to do so anyway, so here is somewhat edited version of the email I sent my friend.

First:  I have a sneaking suspicion that Jed McKenna is none other than Adyashanti writing under a pseudonym. I could be wrong. But I’ve listened to hundreds of hours of Adya’s talks, and I have a strange ability to remember the most trivial things. And so when Jed McKenna uses an example that is almost identical to one I’ve heard Adya use, and one that seems quite original at that, I get curious. After 15 times of this happening, I get suspicious. Honestly, it makes me laugh.t

Second:  Jed’s books serve a very important purpose. They are descriptive of what may in fact be one facet of the awakening process. Basically, our attachment to…