Very Nice

[Neo]

Cool new digs!

I like being able to indent. I notice it has a automatic spell checker too. I really needed that.

I hope the hawk that used to be at the top of the page did not get devoured by the software change?

[Peggy Sue]

Yes, Neo, "cool digs" indeed. A curious thing: The change in appearance somehow makes the text in the articles seem a little different to me. The ones I have read in the old location and then today reread in this location seemed to have a slightly different flavor. Is it possible that color and layout affect perception that much? No need to answer that stupid question!

[zoofence]

Neo, the kestrel is back. Like any new home, this new version needs a little tweaking here and there to make it "ours". Bit by bit.

Peggy Sue, I noticed that, too. The mind is a, uh, that is, -- okay, it's the season, let's be generous -- wondrous thing!

[jenjulian]

Okay, I'm having this same experience, as Peggy Sue. I'd swear there are new threads thrown in here.
I think of a philosopher, can't remember who, for sure, as I'm in the beginning stages of Alzheimers, but he thought that in every school class, something very shocking and unexpected should be done to students, to shake them out of their stupor. Like, our brain gets into a rut and runs on auto, do something to knock it out of it's rut and suddenly we have to wake up and grab the steer wheel and see what is going on. Oh, it was Walker Percy. His novel, The Second Coming, very good book, the main character is walking to his door when gunshots ring and he hits the ground, In that moment he is shocked out of his stupor of mudane daily living to a state of paying attention... Anyway, this change in the forum is having this effect on me.

[W4TVQ]

"that in every school class, something very shocking and unexpected should be done to students, to shake them out of their stupor"

Reminds me of the 2 years we were living on Kwajalein. At that time, we were practicing Roman Catholics, and worked with the Jesuit priest assigned there. At the Easter vigil, he had us sing "The First Noel," and at Christmas midnight mass we sang "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." His reasoning was, "All of these events are eternal, not confined to a single day." I thought he had a good point. The Incarnation of the Word of God is not an event that happened once: it is the event, besides which there is no other event, and you, and I , and the Andromeda galaxy, and Beethoven's 5th symphony, are all "The incarnation of the Word of God" happening just as it pleases Him. How very liberating it is to know that!

Namaste
Art

[Ihavesayso]

Where is the spell check button? I did not see anything in FAQ about it.

I prefer the Avatars to be on the left, as my eyes hang up on them when I get to the end of a sentence; thereby slowing my reading pace.

Instant messaging programs use way to much memory IMNSHO. I prefer "SKYPE," the voice over protocal program, that permits users to talk with one another (computer-to-computer) for FREE, regardless of their Earth location.

My "SKYPE HANDLE" is "Hapster1928." Those of you who have "SKYPE," (if any) know how to call me using it. And, oh yes, the "SKYPE" software is also FREE!

Oh, I really like being able to modify my post while viewing its preview!

[zoofence]

Where is the spell check button? I did not see anything in FAQ about it.

There is no spell check (unfortunately). The only thing I can think is that, Neo, you must have been using the Firefox browser. Firefox comes with a spell checker. Actually, it is a nice browser, and some say more secure than IE.

I prefer the Avatars to be on the left, as my eyes hang up on them when I get to the end of a sentence; thereby slowing my reading pace.

I had gotten used to having the Avatars on the left, too. There is a way to make that change, but it is a little complicated; so before I even consider trying something that ambitious, I want to become more familiar with the underlying code (HTML and PHP).

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It is interesting that others are experiencing the "shock" generated by the shift. I remember reading a long time ago that Gurdieff talked about the salutary effect of shocks on his students. Here are a couple of paragraphs about that lifted from a site dedicated to his teaching.

What we call ordinary life is played out within a field of energies whose limits are strictly circumscribed, and which, using the musical metaphor, rise and fall within a small number of scales. Thus the level of our awareness is low, our power of thought is limited, and these energies produce little vision. little purpose. Gurdjieff demonstrates that there are two exact points in every scale where an evolving movement comes to a stop, where there is an interval that can be bridged only by the introduction of a new vibration of precisely the necessary quality. Otherwise. as nothing in the universe can stay still, the rising energy will inevitably sink again to its starting point. This is an astonishing and radical notion: it implies that all energies, and consequently all human activities, can only rise up to a certain point on their own initiative, like the arrow shot into the into the sky which must at a certain point exhaust the impulse that launched it, so that it reaches its peak and curries downward toward the earth. However, if the crucial point where the first energy begins to fade can be accurately observed, at this point what Gurdjieff calls a "shock" can occur - which is the conscious introduction of a new impulse that will carry the rising movement across the incisible barrier and permit it to continue in its upward path. This image enables us to understand how it is that without this "shock" lives decay, enterprises and empires pass into decline, calculations are proved false, and heroic revolutions turn back on themselves and betray their great ideals. The same laws show that a certain force exactly applied could have prevented this return to zero, but the basic principle is seldom recognized. So we blame others and ourselves with bitterness and frustration.

If however, at the crucial moment, the energies that are in action can make contact with energies of a different order, a change of quality takes place. This can lead to intense airtistic experiences and to social transformations, but the process does not end here. Intermingling with energies made finer by the intensity of their vibrations, consciousness rises to a higher scale that transcends art; this in turn can lead to spiritual awakening - and eventually to absolute purity, to the sacred - for the sacred can also be understood in terms of energy, but of a quality our instruments are incapable of recording.

[Ihavesayso]

What proof did he offer of this theory?

[zoofence]

What proof did he offer of this theory?

My knowledge of Gurdjieff is not extensive, so do not rely on this reply.

However, from what I do know of him and his teaching method, my guess is that he did not take kindly to students who challenged him to “Prove it!”. And if a student were to be so bold, my guess is, his response would be, “Because I said so”.

I remember reading (I don't recall where) a long time ago about an incident in which Gurdjieff was at a dinner party, I think it was, with several people from whom he hoped to receive financial support for his work, and one of the persons present, a woman, asked him for his advice concerning some marital or other personal problem, and his response to her was “Smoke Gauloise”. (For those who have never been smokers, Gauloise is a French brand of cigarettes, strong and pungent as can be. A real smoker’s smoke.)

That story, particularly when coupled with some understanding of his way, which he called “the Work” and is based upon disciplined self-observation, seems to me to relay a sense of the kind of person Gurdjieff must have been: clear, focused, tough, no-nonsense. But that’s just a guess.

[Ihavesayso]

Stefan, I just saved as a draft, my reply to your response to my question about "proof;" but, now I cannot find it. Do you know how I can retrieve it?

[jenjulian]

In the spirit of this conversation, I served---for my very small family gathering this evening---a very untraditional menu. That shook a few cages. Not sure how it went over, simply a lot of confused looks about he whole thing. Ain't life fun???

I don't need Guidjief'fs proof, I like to put together what he discovered with what others have and with what I have, that is when I become so amazed at the similarities.

Happy Winter Solstice and Merry Christmas, etc...all of you are my teachers, thank you.

Hugs,
jen

[zoofence]

ihavesayso, Until you asked, I had not noticed the new "Save" feature.

It took me a while of backing and forthing, but here's how to re-open the draft. Log in, then at the Board Index (or maybe even on any page), click on "User Control Panel". When that opens, click on the tab labeled "Overview" (I think it is the one that is open at the outset). At the left, click on "Manage Drafts". When you see your saved title, open it ("Load Draft" worked for me, but I noticed there was also an "Edit" button), and go from there.

Let me know if this does not work for you.

Thanks for having this issue. I now know more about this new version than I did a few minutes ago. Actually, it's a nice feature.

We are all learning by doing! That's the best way.

[Ihavesayso]

Then neither you, with your "sez who?" attitude or me, clothed in my skepticism suit, would last very long as his students, Stefan! As an idea, his theory is real, but as a reality ...? I rejected dogmas based upon "because I said so," or because a book says so, in my youth.

Thanks, Stefan, for the "draft" research. The above is what I saved.

[W4TVQ]

"I rejected dogmas based upon "because I said so," or because a book says so, in my youth."

It took me a while longer, but I found that step at last to be the doorway to awakening. I had to get past not only "because I said so" but past "because the bible said so" as well. The lure of just surrendering to an authority that could tell me what to think, do and believe was strong enough to get me into the Roman Catholic Church for a while, confirmation and all.

Not that I regret anything that has transpired in my journey to here; all of it put together is what and who I am in this temporary state, the kernel which will eventually fall away. I look forward to becoming the "Grand Cosmic Being" described by Ruby Nelson in The Door of Everything. Or rather, to becoming aware of that reality when the smoke has blown away.

BTW, Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Glorious Yule and all that.

Namaste
Art

[Ihavesayso]

Not that I regret anything that has transpired in my journey to here; all of it put together is what and who I am in this temporary state, the kernel which will eventually fall away.

That statement aptly describes each of us, Art and I, for one, feel that whatever point on the path that may be for us, it is the correct point for each of us NOW! As the Cosmic Being, who as Stefan says, "...is (as far as i am concerned) focusing completly upon being ihavesayso, I sometimes think of the different life I might be living, had just one of my multitude of choices been different. Then, I conjuncture about how long it might take me to experiance all of the lives the Cosmic could have just as this one carnation of all possible incarnations, and I am stunned at the unexpressable liner time hours involved.

This glimpse of the utterly vast expanse of eternity, humbles me into a state of mouth-gaping awe! Still, it comforts me with the inner knowledge that despite outward appearances, that are the sand traps on the golf course of life...all is WELL!