|
January, 2006
I know that you are all busy. Your days are filled
with an endless stream of pressing matters. So
my current focus is to bring out what I teach
in the most efficient and easily received manner
possible. The challenge is that I'm not willing
to offer superficial quick-fixes or simplistic
step-by-step approaches. Knowledge of life is
subtle. Trying to put it in a box may give a false
sense of knowing at first, but ultimately prevents
you from really attaining the deeper sort of knowledge
for which every individual yearns. My commitment
is to helping you attain that deeper knowledge.
What follows is an article on a concept I call
"Relationship with." Real knowledge never boils
down to a handful of facts. It comes from an ongoing
exploration into abstraction. This is so for the
concept of "Relationship with." as is with every
concept in life. A healthy relationship with anything
is crucial to an ever-deepening understanding
of it. Needless to say, a healthy relationship
with the following article is crucial to an ever
deepening understanding of it. We will from time
to time revisit this and other concepts. In so
doing, your knowledge and relationship with concepts
in general will continue to change and deepen
as time goes by. To evolve your relationship with
life is to evolve your life.
 |
Key to Success: Relationship
with...
I was once driving down
the road and another driver pulled his car
right in front of me, running me right off
the road onto the shoulder. I was mad and
thought, "What a jerk." But then the next
moment I began laughing. There is the reality
that the guy's a jerk. But, then again,
you never know.
The Relationship with. principle
permeates everything. All too often, the
current state of the object of our attention
receives too much of our attention. In actuality,
the quality of our relationship with that
object is critically important. A healthy
Relationship with. is the key to success.
This is true of our relationship with people
and situations, be they personal, social,
or global.
A healthy Relationship with. is not
just an attitude or philosophy to cling
to. Developing a healthy Relationship
with. starts with cultivating a healthy
life-a life freed from conditioning.
Read the full article
|
Upcoming Surya Winter
Kaivalya Meditation Retreat
There is still room at the Surya Winter
Kaivalya Meditation Retreat in the beautiful
Blue Ridge Mountains!
Dates: Sunday, January 29 - Sunday, February
5, 2006.
Location: YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in
Black Mountain, NC.
Kaivalya is the infinite silence dwelling
within the Transcendent. It's the field
of limitless bliss and profound rest.
Come experience deep rest to the mind
and physiology and enjoy enhanced vitality
and mental clarity.
Winter retreats are deeply inward programs
for those intent upon their spiritual
growth and healing. Winter is a natural
time to settle and go inward. It is a
time of order and coherence. In summer,
a drop of water is an amorphous liquid;
in winter, it is a magnificently geometric,
crystalline snowflake. Surya Winter Meditation
Retreats emphasize group meditation and
silent time alone.
Also, dates have now been set for the
next summer retreat:
Friday, August 11 - Friday, August 18,
2006.
Learn
more about Surya Meditation Retreats /
Register Online
|
 |
 |
An Excerpt from The
Golden Frog by Michael Mamas
In The Golden Frog, the reader is
allowed to experience a variety of realities.
With each reading, the reader is able to
experience more.
The following excerpt takes place in a personal
development class given by Nathaniel. Partway
through the class, Bruce speaks up...
From Chapter 38 - The Churning Process
I was getting a little bored with Nathaniel
taking up so much class time working with
the issues of all these different people.
I was there to work on myself and didn't
really care much about these other people.
Finally, I decided to say something and
put my hand up.
"Nathaniel, I don't really feel like I'm
getting what I want here."
"Entertainers give people what they want.
Teachers are more concerned about giving
people what they need," he smiled back.
"Nathaniel, I understand that, but I'm
a therapist and I've already done a lot
of personal process work. Many people
in this group are beginners. I want to
progress and I wonder if a more advanced
class might be more suited to my needs."
Nathaniel looked at me before responding.
"What evolves us is the cultivation of
our 'relationship with...' What is important
is not the 'thing,' so much as it's our
relationship with the thing. By exploring
your 'relationship with' the group consciousness,
you will evolve. Everyone in the group
chips away at one another's identities.
At the same time, the group creates a
space that supports each and every individual
in the group."
"But Nathaniel," I interrupted, "What
about when people interrupt your talks
to ask you things I already understand?"
"Then you can benefit in many different
ways. For one, by watching how I work
with them. You can also benefit by feeling
into and exploring any impatience you
may be feeling with others. It does not
matter if you're in front of the boat
or in back of the boat; that boat will
take everyone to shore." He paused to
look around the group.
I felt scolded. He did it nicely, though.
Learn more
about The Golden Frog |
Upcoming Lectures
 Free
Introductory Lecture
Michael will be giving a free introductory
talk in La Jolla, CA on Saturday, January
14.
Michael's Upcoming Trip to India
Michael Mamas will soon be leaving for a
three-month tour of India which includes
private talks with influential people and
established spiritual gurus, invitations
to address the followers of these individuals,
and talks to the general public. The trip
will be filmed as part of a documentary
produced and shown in the U.S.
One of the places he'll be speaking is at
the India International Centre in New Delhi
(www.iicdelhi.nic.in)
on Saturday, February 11.
In recent years speakers at the India International
Center have included His Holiness the Dalai
Lama, Sogyal Rimpoche, Julius Nyerere, Willy
Brandt, Henry Kissinger, Lee Kuan Yiw, Shimon
Peres and Henry K. Cardoso. The talks and
symposia range from international and civic
affairs, ethics and human rights, environment,
ecology and wild life to dimensions in science
and medicine, to religion, philosophy, culture
and literature.
|
It is characteristic
of our species to want something to cling to,
something concrete, something definite, something
black and white. Unfortunately, life is not like
that. Working with the concepts I offer opens
the way to create a new relationship with life,
one in which you rest into nature's comforting
arms of abstraction. I invite you to continue
working with the notion of Relationship with..
In time, we will revisit that notion together.
Fondly,
Michael Mamas |
