Here's Ken Wilbers photo page.
Click on 2000's section, Its the 5th pic. and when you see the torso shot scroll by, click on it and it will display properly. DAMM fine!
If that isn't an incentive to 'get spiritual' I don't know WHAT is!!!
Men who have a lot of mind control have a lot more choices than the likes of you or I. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean they get off lightly. They are going to ANY LENGTHS too by the way.
A monastic would not choose to develop their bodies in this way as I don't think it would assist their celibacy very much! But I dare say they might have the ability to exercise their will power along these lines if they wanted.
"Spiritual" isn't this fluffy, feel good, ego massaging, comfy, tree hugging, kitted-muesli-jumper, baggy option.
Well for me it isn't anyway. Yes there is incredible compassion, but that compassion stems from a RUTHLESS UNWAVERING commitment to REALITY.
'Proper' spiritual people are pretty tough people. Incredible persistence and staying power. Often they are just born like that, as opposed to 'made'. Having said that, even the ones who are born like that can choose a very demanding life path of learning with REALLY tough obstacles. What I mean is, they don't 'have it easy'. No Siree! There are no days off, not even for those guys.
Anyway I digress. I'm not drawing your attention to this to make you feel bad about your body, but to make a point about what it means to be spiritual. Its actually hard to put into words. And pictures help a bit. But it is a very common misconception that there is something 'malleable' about it. That's not the same as open minded by the way. Remaining open minded is actually a VERY tough doctrine to maintain in my opinion.
Basically spirituality (from what I have seen of it anyway) is INCREDIBLY tough. But in a GOOD way. Like when you see the Shaolin monks bend pointed steel poles on their chest. These guys are not Nancys!
They're not vague. They're not wooly. They are very, very precise in their thinking.
Anyway I think this picture communicates what I mean FAR better than my words can. But this is how I 'see' spirituality. I do NOT see it in a 'therapy' view. That approach is MUCH softer in my opinion than this stuff. Put it this way, you don't see many therapists that look like this, do you? EXACTLY! (Anthony Robbins doesn't count by the way! Sorry but he's just not in the same league.) They are two very different doctrines. Personally I prefer this one! It goes WAY beyond 'knowledge'. It REALLY relies on what is utterly unknown and mysterious.
Anyway I DO love AA, but these guys have chosen to make themselves publicly known as teachers, and they are not celibate monastics, so it gives you an idea of what I think a non monastic spiritual life can look like. Now you know why I think it is terribly cool to do this stuff.
You can be beautiful inside AND outside!! Cool! Sign me up!
Obviously this is a very personal view, but I just thought I would share it with you. Each to their own. But this is what 'proper' (non celibate) spirituality looks like to me. The really 'top quality' stuff anyway. Monks may be similar in mind, but not in body shape! Except if you are a Shaolin monk I suppose...
I'm not saying I EXPECT spiritual people to look like this, but this is how I 'see' it. Anyway, I hope you get an idea of what I mean. Basically there are no knitted muesli jumpers in my spiritual view!
(This is actually more difficult !! to explain! than I thought it would be!) Hope that makes sense! Sorry if you think I am a body fascist! I'm not really!
About Me
- An Irish Friend of Bill
- I have recovered from the disease of Alcoholism. I believe there is only one person really,.. everybody. And that peace of mind is everything. -So treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself, because your neighbor IS yourself. I think most of recovery is what I would call common sense, but that learning to be ordinary is a true gift very few people acquire. My ambition is to accept everything unflinchingly, with compassion, and therefore be intrinsically comfortable in my own skin, no matter what. I am comfortable being uncomfortable and am willing to go to any lengths to improve my life. I believe the Big Book was divinely inspired, and is extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately AA's best kept secret a lot of the time. (In my opinion). I just try to do what works, no matter what it is.
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2 comments:
I think that commitment to something is a form of spirituality if done with passion. I'm still too raw to understand or even really feel spiritual every moment. I still lapse into defensive mode. To my mind, it is tough to be in the real world and be spiritual. In a monastery, there is a lot of shelter from life. I guess that I prefer the hard edge of reality.
cool. yeah passionate commitment is a very powerful mindset. I certainly don't feel 'spiritual' every moment! I feel a connection a LOT, but my random thoughts and moods are very human! I can sill feel very defensive in response to certain triggers, and the best I can do is to not act out on those impulses. it IS very tough to be in the real world! I don't know if I like hard reality or not. I like refined atmospheres, but I have not wanted to live in a monastery. Thanks for that perspective!
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