Jane Chin thinks Aug 30, 2008 06:39PM the more connected we are to external influences, the less connected we become to our inner self. Does this explain the connection paradox?
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 06:42PM since we're linked up plugged in via the internet and daily gadgets but we can't find our way back to ourselves if our lives depended on it.
DSN is Aug 30, 2008 06:42PM not sure he buys the "limited # of connections" implied by your statement.
pritcharddesign thinks Aug 30, 2008 06:42PM sometimes connecting with the external is a distraction from the internal. Sometimes it helps clarify the internal. It's about focus.
Jane Chin says Aug 30, 2008 06:43PM DSN I believe that only because we have a set amt of time and attention span per unit time (being physically human in physical world)
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 07:08PM CHiC I hadn't looked at that (self connect not profitable), but really, the most profitable biz come from individual passions
frankmartin says Aug 30, 2008 07:11PM janechin, I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion - there's nothing to suggest to me that the connection to oneself
onepinktee says Aug 30, 2008 07:11PM actually, I'm not sure I believe that - I've found myself more connected to my inner self, not less
frankmartin says Aug 30, 2008 07:11PM shrinks with the number or the extent of external connectedness
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 07:12PM maybe I didn't qualify the question properly, I was looking at connecting to the outside as a distraction. Ex. I spend a lot of time on the
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 07:12PM internet as well, but I know there are many times when I am surfing or plurking bc I'm avoiding something difficult
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 07:13PM when distractions become accessible, then it becomes easier to be fully distracted.
onepinktee says Aug 30, 2008 07:15PM I see your point - and I think that distraction has always been accessible - books, food, TV, etc.
onepinktee says Aug 30, 2008 07:18PM I think the difference is that the external connections feel different - you're not "alone"
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 07:16PM onepinktee right - i'm using "connection" in a couple of diff ways, one being "logistically/mechanically" the other more spiritual sense
frankmartin says Aug 30, 2008 07:19PM I feel "connected" to people here I have never met personally, but whom I feel as if I know
frankmartin says Aug 30, 2008 07:17PM And this **helps** me connect with myself - as friends typically do
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 07:56PM for some of us we need to first love others in order to believe we can give the same to ourselves, even as we are the source of that love
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 07:56PM but due to social conditioning or other factors, we learn to deprive ourselves of the same love we can give, and in some cases,
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 08:19PM drb74 there was a story re: a spiritual master who was asked by someone who said she had trouble meditating
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 08:22PM the master asked her if she really loves anyone, and she said her nephew. the master suggested that she meditate on her love for her
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 08:23PM nephew. this is an example of the act of loving another that leads us back to loving ourselves.
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 08:30PM yep! gilbert definitely referenced a similar story (same one probably), and i loved her own re: her nephew.
TeresaDKG says Aug 30, 2008 08:28PM janechin, this is a really remarkable thread. It's one I need to really, really chew on. Thank you.
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 08:29PM the final phase of god consciousness is annihilation of the ego, surrendering. hence "for another" would make sense.
Starman1 says Aug 30, 2008 09:49PM Some of the discussion presented here is remarkably contained in the publications of Joseph Campbell .
Starman1 says Aug 30, 2008 09:50PM The link I plurked there takes you to the Joseph Campbell Foundation for more reference material. I highly suggest reading
Starman1 says Aug 30, 2008 09:51PM some of his works. You may know him from the TV Series presented *Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyer*.
Jane Chin Aug 30, 2008 10:17PM i love that series. the defn of "bliss" i go by is campbell's "what makes you feel most alive"
Starman1 says Aug 30, 2008 11:15PM one of my fav quotes of J. Campbell is: "Find a place (inside) where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."
