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Further research indicates to me now that after this experience, Douglas Harding went on to explain that the "headless" perspective is something simply available in every moment. See his book " on having no head".

After reading more resources, I need to correct my name initial impression. After this experience, Douglas Harding has gone on to explain that the "headless" perspective is not a mystical state but rather available simply every moment. This extract from his first book " on having no head" gives a glimpse of this. "This is not a matter of argument, or of philosophical acumen, or of working oneself up into a state, but of simple sight - of LOOK-WHO’S-HERE instead of IMAGINE-WHO’S-HERE, instead of TAKE-EVERYBODY-ELSE’S-WORD-FOR-WHO’S-HERE. If I fail to see what I am (and especially what I am not) it’s because I’m too busily imaginative, too “spiritual”, too adult and knowing, too credulous, too intimidated by society and language, too frightened of the obvious to accept the situation exactly as I find it at this moment. Only I am in a position to report on what’s here. A kind of alert naivety is what I need. It takes an innocent eye and an empty head (not to mention a stout heart) to admit their own perfect emptiness."

Blessed, you are. I have heard it said that it's not caused by us. Rather, it's Grace. These lines from the piece " A peculiar quiet, an odd kind of alert limpness or numbness, came over me. " seem to confirm that. But yes the cleaning up, the deep persistent (thoughtless enquiry) presumably create a receptiveness to that Grace. It has been a distinct experience for me once , though ,not as full. And fleeting moments now and then which act as a validation and motivation

This extract really blooms when one reads the complete article by Alisha Gorder. Movingly poignant. Ah, the feeling component of the human being !! What a wonderful part when consciously complemented with physical experience and thoughtful reflection.

If one feels just a state of satisfaction, peace and no lack, i will agree that it exists both when a no-desire state is there and when a simple desire has just been fulfilled. However, my experience has been that the actual state, after deeper desires are fulfilled, has been such that there arises a higher emotional charge compared to the state of my being in a no-desire state. It is another matter that this charged emotional 'enjoying' state is usually one in which I am lost in identification and, further, it gives rise to perpetuation of the tendency to hanker for the same gratification, as Stephen has observed so well in this blog extract.

Yes, negativity, egotistical, shameful, or never-good-enough attitudes are constricting. Gentle acceptance is relaxing and neutralising . Reverence to the (un-apparent) sublime in us is expanding. Frequent rememberance of this is an antidote to the unhelpful habits of the mind. Striving for perfection or doing better at whatever i aim for is, in itself, a necessary driving force. For example, for creating this very post, i have had to be patient, delve into my experiences and reflect. However, as Brian Plachta, explains, one ought not to tilt into imbalance. Usually keeping to deadlines of time and accepting the realities of situations is a balancing factor against getting too carried away with perfectionism. Loving / accepting myself unconditionally, in one recent situation for me, after having committed a mistake, arose in me naturally when i had an organic feel of something in my being which was unaffected, pure. The wallowing in guilt was broken.

Grasping for meaning .... What's lowndry , essle-tindering ? Ok, maybe ,let me take a hint from "The deep-now seeks to liberate my meaning-seeking mind."

One contextually relevant practice many of us engage in, in these times, is having these nourishing interactions over the World Wide Web. The experience of daily physical life anyway continues to be there as the laboratory. And i see a shift away from organized religions with narrow viewpoints to a more personal, at the same time, universal basis in striving. One personal example of "acting in solidarity with all life" was to get my neighbours in my housing community to let the beehive in my apartment balcony to thrive as long as it lasted. Some grumbled but, overall, there was acceptance. I reckon "completing the Work" is not fathomable. One lives from moment to moment, day to day and the spiral of awakening moves on magically.

Getting burnt and not be scarred ?! Is it in the nature of things for Being to manifest thru endurance and acceptance of pain ? As though this suffering becomes like an oil to burn the wick brighter ?

Thanks for choosing this piece for the week. For me, it has come at a time when i am in the midst of having started off on a regular meditation practice and also getting fresh influences from some "Eagles". My musings are that some rare folks naturally gravitate towards/discover and abide in "eagleness" and the vast majority are firmly ensconced in happy/unhappy "chickenhood". I reckon, i am one of a significant cohort of humanity who see glimpses of a different reality but remain majorly "earthbound". I am seeing promise in weakening the grip of past conditioning by coming back repeatedly to a state of "awareness of being" rather than, or even while, giving importance to the content of awareness, that is, usual life - guided by the talks and books of "eagles" who inspire me and to whom i can relate to. Devotion/Bhakti/love can be and is an added helpful force. In its steady gentle form, it is the ballast for moment-to-moment daily discipline.

This experience seems to be closest to what JK s words convey. The "other", the "all the things" are perceived thru my awareness. Staying intimately aware of that while experiencing and doing might shift me to sense the truth

I too have seen , David , that participating in the group just for its own sake and not with an aim of building the community (in terms of numbers) is appropriate. Somehow the addition of members and the value generation happens naturally.

Wonderful. Inspiring. Are you anchoring inwardly in some way while experiencing the myriad sensory impressions. What about expressing ? Silence mostly ?

...likely to be of little impact .. i meant , in the first line

But even this is likely to be of impact. The author , i suppose , is hinting at some transformation in the human psyche ( listening to a uniquely different " music" ) which can alone change direction once a critical mass of people get transformed.Till then those pioneers will just do/be whatever that ( divine ?) music impels them to

The conventional economic principles and human behaviour paradigms are deeply entrenched ( arising from the Instinctive assumption that I must compete with others for resources and , once I start accumulatung wealth, pander to greeds well beyond needs) . Can anything be done from within this system ( inexorably leading to self destruction on a planetary scale) ? I liked some fairly new concepts like carbon credits and I have heard of "goodness" credit in a European country where credits are recorded for hours spent volunteering for elder care which can be redeemed later in kind. Can there be a mechanism to directly tax excess resource consumers and transfer benefits in a simple way to those being more considerate to nature and fellow humans ?

Very true, Michael. Your post is a reminder to dust off my copy of The Prophet and read it again

Thurman's lines imply that the angel with the flaming sword obeys "me" and does not intervene when my consent ( "fluid" indeed , it often is ) permits any something to infuse my being. ( Whatever is placed on "my" altar, infuses my being). But who really is the deity of this temple/church ? "Me" or God ?. It helps me to make the tough decisions , quickly, timely, if i consider ( worshipfully) that the deity is God and not me, though instinctively, most of the time , "me" gets served

It's also there in between

"Already within" is very true for spiritual journeys as well. The Source within each of us , I guess, causes the wish to arise in the first place. Even while being influenced by various "techniques" and systems, and teachers, the deep and intuitive understanding that I need to be a temple for that Source to shine is a reminder i sorely need frequently