I love the endless connections a person can make on this good old interweb. It is truly amazing how this creation has changed my (and obviously billions of others) life. I have always loved to intake various kinds of information and the internet makes this almost infinitely possible. Today's journey has been particularly interesting so I thought I would share.
The catalyst for today's journey was a podcast series that I have been listening to lately. The C-Realm Podcast has been running for a couple of years now, but I have only discovered it recently. The "C" stands for consciousness and the host, KMO, has created a show which truly examines AND feeds consciousness from a tremendous variety of directions. I think anyone who is a return visitor to this blog will find KMO's work to be informative and mentally stimulating.
Back to the topic at hand...
By listening to the C-Realm Podcast, I was introduced to another Podcast series called Psychonautica. These casts can be found at the Dopefiend network website. In listening to one of the Psychonautica podcasts today, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Stanislav Grof, a psychiatrist with more than fifty years experience researching the healing and transformative potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness. This connection alone has been tremendous due to my rather large interest in his areas of expertise, but there was more to come.
Thanks to Youtube's automatic viewing suggestions, one of the Grof videos led me to this short 2-part video:
This video really resonated with me for a couple of reasons. For one, I have been increasingly drawn to yoga, also for various reasons. Not the least of these is the fact that yoga comes from one of the oldest eastern philosophies, the one to which I feel most drawn (albeit from limited knowledge). Indeed, there are theories that yoga was created (or given to mankind) as a means to deal with catastrophic occurrences, not unlike those we are likely to be facing very soon.
The other reason that I was inspired to share this video was the concept of service as opposed to charity. I agree completely that charity is divisive in that it tends to signify the giver as being higher in status than the receiver. I much prefer the idea that all individuals making effort to be of service to the whole (by which I do not mean the whole of humanity). I cannot help but see this as a much healthier mindset and one more likely to be of lasting benefit to both the individuals and the whole.
It is a mindset that I have not yet achieved, but I definitely see it as part of finding balance which I am fond of pointing out to be so incredibly important.
3 years ago
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3 comments:
How cool! I haven't watched it yet, but will. I spent much of yesterday looking for yoga videos on youtube and in real classes. I have felt drawn to it as well without delving in but lately feel that I need it on a deep level these days. So to find you on the same path and offering more information is awesome!
Thanks for posting this.
I love the idea of being of service. I'm in total agreement with you about the difference between charity and service. You are so on the mark about the condescending aspects of 'charity'. As someone trying to move toward equality, service, and especially the act of working together, makes a bigger difference for the world.
I made it through about half of the video--don't get me wrong, it was great, but I have trouble sitting watching videos--as I've said to you before.
Still, I loved the quote from Mark Lilly (is he related to John Lilly?): "For us to move beyond ourselves is one of the most important spiritual acts." Absolutely. The point that they were both making about how we are all interconnected is so on target. This is what needs to fuel activism, not the idea of saving someone, something, or the world.
Very cool indeed Linda. I hope you enjoyed it and found what you were looking for.
Thanks for the comment, MoonRaven, AND for setting yourself down to try and watch it!
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