posted June 07, 2004 09:36 AM         

The only influence I would desire to leave within these pages is unconditional love.

All of our beliefs/truths may be different. The we path walked will never be the same. Yet our earth school is a human one and riddled with human traits.

I believe we all came from the same source and will return to the source. How we get there is a souls contract to evolvement and achieving it will hold many tests, barriers and heartaches.

For that reason, unconditional love is the acceptance of each ones journey and I respect that. I am NO wiser or more evolved than the corner drunk or harlot. If one looks, perhaps they can see the corner drunk in worship of the Divine or the harlot donating her money to the local food bank. The point is, we don`t k-now that souls purpose and how they`re evolving. We can assume and guess which simply = a form of judgement.

I am a seeker and I grow and learn from all souls. Pixie has been a wonderful reminder to laugh and enjoy the life we chose.That playfulness and a soul as warm, loving and bright can be risque while k-nowing the higher truths. I need that as I`m too serious. Thanks Pixie.

Trillian reminds me to not dwell on the single aspect facing me but to see the balance of the issue. The Yin and Yang of life. A Virgo Moon can get stuck and it takes her Aries bluntness to snap me out of it. A more loving generous soul would be difficult to find. I love you both unconditionally

They both have given love, laughter, healing and hope. I see that as their influence.

Take what you need from Lindaland paras and let the rest pass you by. Your contributions are welcomed. I do not judge you; your path is as hard or harder than mine. I love the spark of the Divine within you but truely don`t understand the mental jogging going on.... But it does tantalize my Aquarian mind

juniperb

posted June 07, 2004 09:41 AM         

juniperb

posted June 07, 2004 09:53 AM           

Love,

posted June 07, 2004 10:19 AM         

juni, you always make my heart sing.

Tink, you're way cool. I hope today is better for you than yesterday.

daf, you and I are very different people but I have learned from you.

posted June 07, 2004 10:25 AM         

GARSH!

posted June 07, 2004 10:49 AM         

If we were all on the same path and stage of evolvement here, I would have nothing to learn and grow from. Hence, I would not be here, period. What would be the purpose except to pat each other on the back and say 'see we made it' and make ones s-elf exclusive and closed down? My thought process anyhow.

I have a long journey ahead of me and desire to listen, learn' and grow thru all spiritual aspects; not just the ones I believe in.

Everyone here makes a difference;I relish that difference and am grateful for this experience

juniperb

posted June 07, 2004 12:48 PM         

"Well, I can see that at least I still have the knack for getting others' attention when I really try. I believe this is the most responses any of my posts has generated in so short a time."

I, too, have posted queries that are REALLY important to me, only to receive no answers, or the suggestion that I ponder further. Since, (being a Cancer) I have pondered all of these for years, those answers hurt my feelings. (Cancer, again.) But, I'm pondering.

"Here are a few habits that 99% of people I have ever met have, and that inhibits their collective spiritual growth:
1.) Worrying that you will seem dumb to others. This keeps people from asking questions when they need to know something.
2.) Worrying that you will seem conceited to others. Because of this, those who say anything positive about themselves are instantly considered conceited. But saying negative things about yourself is common and quite accepted.
3.) Worrying that you will hurt other people's feelings. This is giving in to others' egos, either out of an exaggeratd sense of sympathy or for fear of that ego's retribution."
Yes, they can all slow your growth. But, if 1.) you've been told often enough, for a long enough time, that you ARE dumb, youcan learn to worry about it. 2.)Many of us have been taught that ANY self appreciation is vanity, and we rely on self-deprecation as a defense, so it won't hurt as much (!) to be shot down. 3.)Accurate. But many of us have been taught this habit all to well, too. Why be mad at us for being wounded, while we try to unlearn untruths?

I agree that there ARE some Absolute truths. And many people figure it's all a matter of where you're coming from. That doesn't change my opinion. You think alcohol in any form is bad. (my interpretation) You have reasons for that that are sound. We don't share those experiences, so we just don't quite see it that way. Linda felt strongly about vegetarianism. We don't all share that, but we all agree to admire her for the strength of her convictions.

It's hard to be objective when we care SO much, and want to share. Freedom of Speech = a Right to Speak. It DOES NOT (alas) = a Right to Be Heard and Agreed With.

Ok. I barked. Now I'm going back to my shell, and hie-ing to my hidey hole.

posted June 07, 2004 02:15 PM           

You seem to be a very, VERY wise crab..

Love,

posted June 07, 2004 02:20 PM         

oh, i see. right on. don't think i was attacking you in any way.

i just took a scroll through there (unity) and noticed how political that forum is.

that is something i try to stay away from. bad vibes for me. ive never trusted the government or any of its members. never voted - never will. don't want to take part in the ugly game.

guess that's my aquarius intercepted in the first house, uranus conj. MC in scorp., squared mars in leo talkin!

anyway, take care.

posted June 08, 2004 12:03 AM         

The sign of Libra is the only sign of teh Zodiac represented by an inanimate object, and the symbolism behind this is our ability to emotionally detach ourselves from things and see them objectively. While I value this natural aspect of my personality very highly, it does make for a lot of difficulties in relating to others. Much of what I say (not all, but most) comes from me with no emotional bias whatsoever. Of course this is far from normal in this world, so people will expect an emotional implication from me where I intend none. This is only natural and I do not resent it. I am very much a student of psychology, and I, too, expect certain behavior from people in general. You will often hear me use the words "most people", because psychological conclusions are drawn from statistical observation. All of us have an inner definition of what "most people" are like, and when we find ourselves dealing with an aspect of someone's personality that is odd or unusual by comparison, we will naturally misinterpret their actions/words until we get to know them better. I am no different than anyone else in this regard, so I can only be patient and understanding when others misinterpret what I do or say. It is wearying sometimes, though -- I am very different from "most people" in many, many ways, and I am misunderstood a LOT.

Just please, believe me when I say I was not being condescending; I just really think you would be better off not drinking, and I really do feel badly that you still do.

quote:

---

Sometimes paras, with all due respect, what you say smacks of religious zealotry.

---

26taurus, thank you sooooooo much for understanding!!! I needed that!

(yes, the above came purely from my emotional self)

Kells, you have a good handle on why those 3 habits exists. No one could have explained it better. Number 1 took me a long time to get over, I was probably the least popular kid in school throughout my time in it. I was picked on constantly, called ugly and dumb. (Ugly, I don't make judgements about, but I have NEVER been dumb.) In eleventh grade, I had finally figured out how to behave so that MOST other kids would just ignore me. But my self-esteem was shot to hell, and it took me YEARS to build it up to a healthy level.

I do feel somewhat bad for putting people "on the spot", but I am against shying away from an issue for the sake of emotions -- mine or yours. Again, I believe that would be a barrier to true growth. Hopefully, we should all be able to handle it when someone else challenges our way of thinking. I know I can; in fact, nothing pleases me more. But to change my way of thinking means giving me concrete proof that there is a better way. A strong chain of logic works just as well as physical evidence. In this context, emotional responses are so much fluff, and I ignore them. I respect logic and try to base my decisions on it. I am not perfect at this, of course, and whenever I realize that one of my habits/modes of thinking exists for purely emotional reasons, I am dismayed.

This is not to say that I do not appreciate emotions, or that I think they have no place in life. Positive emotion is like a bonus to me, a nice extra in life. When I achieve something good, and feel good about it, great. But they seem unreliable as a reason for anything.

Having said, all that let me now express some emotions I am feeling: happiness, relief, and pride in others.

None of you told me to "just go away".
Thank you.

It is obviously an emotional imprint I am still dealing with -- the pervasive feeling that I do not belong anywhere on this earth, and that no one really wants my company.

And that none of you told me to "just p*ss off" says something good about you, to my way of thinking. Your beliefs do not rest on such a shaky foundation that you cannot accept a challenge to them.

But I still can see no positive purpose to alcohol whatsoever. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. Show me ONE instance of alcohol doing something positive. And no, "it makes me feel good" doesn't count. I am willing to bet anything that it can't be done. I have babysat more drunken people (both alcoholics and the more casual, even rare, imbibers) than you can shake a stick at, and I have not one positive story to tell from it all.

I may be judgemental, but it is out of concern, not a need to feel superior. I may be zealous, but, hey, at least I believe in something. I have met a few people who believe in nothing, nothing at all... and I feel very sad for them. That kind of nihilistic thinking scares the crap out of me -- if I ever for a moment believed that there was no order to the universe and no purpose to human life, I would kill myself immediately. (Fortunately, I believe there IS a reason for everything, and I could never kill myself. Unthinkable!)

And I apologize for the way I started this string. That first post was driven by emotion (see how great they aren't as a basis for actions?); I was feeling my loneliness, and disappointmnet, and let it out on the page. I should have let it pass first. Maybe I can better express what was on my mind/heart at the time:

I have always felt very alone. I have never met anyone like me. No one I have ever met takes their values and beliefs and morals as seriously as I do. No one else i have ever met believes in all the "unorthodox" things that I do. I have no one with which to share my beliefs and hear agreement; always I am disliked for them. Linda Goodman, now, is special to me. Star Signs is to me what a Bible is to a Christian. I have never been able to disprove any of the things that Linda wrote, and her morals are beyond reproach. Her cosmology fits in with and actually has expanded my own understanding of All That Is. I suppose I could be called a "disciple" of Linda Goodman, though that is a very odd thing to be able to call me. I am not a follower in general, I am not the type that stands much in awe of "famous" people, I am not awed by wealth or power, I do not hearken to any "group" -- not religious or political or otherwise. But Linda is special to me. I think she was one of the wisest people who has ever walked the Earth, and I trust her even though i have never met her. After reading her chapter on Physical Immortality, there was never a doubt in my mind that that is how I must live. Knowing that it is possible, how could I say no? Anyway. I thought that perhaps, at a site bearing her name, and dedicated to her, I might actually find someone like me. But it doesn't seem so. Every idea I advance is argued with to the Nth degree. Nothing wrong with that, of course, I mean people disagreeing with me, but it doesn't make me feel any less lonely. And yes, I realize that I may invite a certain amount of said argument by my very nature. Linda wouldn't be suprised, and neither am I. But I have to also say that when i am on this board and people start talking about drinking and doing drugs and indiscriminately boffing each other, it embarrasses me. It embarrasses me for Linda. She was AGAINST those things. Why would anyone who isn't, be attracted to her writings? It doesn't make any sense to me. Wouldn't a person who indulged in these things feel the same "condescension" from Linda's writings that they would feel from me? I share Linda's viewpoint on those things, I am sure of it. My reading comprehension skills have always been excellent, I can't have misinterpreted her words. Anyway, do you understand now where the original post came from? I was just feeling the need for a sympathetic voice -- something I have never, ever, had -- and I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't found one here. That's all. Doesn't mean I hate anyone here, or even dislike tham, for being different in those respects. It's just that, just once, I would like to feel like I had a kindred spirit running around somewhere, someone I could share the joys and agonies of being a judgemental, hardheaded religious zealot with, you know? Again, I should not have acted from emotion and made that original post like I did. I am sorry.

Well, I am running out of steam again, and my poor computer (I am using my roommate's at the moment) is sitting waiting for me to finish "healing" it. (If you must tweak your hardware, at least start out with drivers from the manufacturer, eh?)

Love and light to you all...

posted June 08, 2004 12:26 AM         

your a cancer too?! so is my mom, and i mentioned you really reminded me of her!
ha!

no wonder i understand you so well!

I you little crabbies!

sounds like youre gonna stick around.
i'm glad.

posted June 08, 2004 12:55 AM         

guess i didn't read through all of the posts enough, daf was talking about someone else.

a libra! well nevermind then!

no seriously, i mean what said never the less.

us taurus' are a little slow sometimes

posted June 08, 2004 08:58 AM         

I think Linda would be delighted at the individualistic nature of LindaLand, people coming together to celebrate their differences, as well as their similarities.

Linda was also not opposed to changing her mind.

Belief and truth can be funny things. There were a whole lot of people who believed in a man so much they drank some Kool-Aide. Did it bring them to the truth? Who am I to say?

Judge not, lest ye be judged.

We'd love you to stay, jog your minds, we'll love you and perhaps you will love us, and celebrate our differences together.

I won't defend my sexual or recreational practices to you or anyone else. They're my choices, my life.

The only way to have a friend, is to be a friend. And to be a friend, one must be accepting.

posted June 08, 2004 08:59 AM         

If not, I`ve enjoyed your posts very much and wish you well on your journey!

http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000313.html

juniperb

posted June 08, 2004 11:04 AM         

"I have always felt very alone. I have never met anyone like me. No one I have ever met takes their values and beliefs and morals as seriously as I do. No one else i have ever met believes in all the "unorthodox" things that I do. I have no one with which to share my beliefs and hear agreement; always I am disliked for them."

May I ask sincerely, lovingly, with sparklies, if perhaps it's sometimes your "delivery" that affects your "reception"? I would hesitate to assert that you have NEVER met anyone who takes their beliefs so seriously. Maybe others sense the conviction and immutability of your beliefs, and choose not to share?

I have an idea about alcohol for you to consider. Could it be that alcohol, like scales, is an inanimate object? If so, is it innately good or bad of itself? Or is it the actions people choose to take with those inanimate objects that is good or bad? That's not meant to be a philosophical grenade . . .

Paras, please do not EVER apologize for your convictions. Perhaps for your actions, but not your beliefs. You have much to share that we can learn from. Maybe you can learn from us.

As a I cannot fathom how one can Think first and feel later. I admire that, as I always emote first, and logic after the fact.

Thanks to all the Knowflakes for caring about each other!

(Mr. Daf -- thanks for the warm fuzzies. I, ah, I have left 5 ?? on your other string. I'll peek and see if you have caught up with the list of requests yet.)

Back to the Shell to clean closets!
Love & Twinkly stars

posted June 08, 2004 01:33 PM         

The truth is, Trillian and Juniperb (along with Pixie) said everything I could say.

I will reinforce one main thing though that I believe it of the utmost importance.

We are ALL different. We are all on different paths, levels of enlightment, and we all have a different destiny to fulfill. Learning is through the challenge, understanding and experiencing of all things that life has to offer. What a person chooses to do with it, is just that...a Choice. God / Goddess has provided humans with a free will to make a choice on what is best for that person.

Wouldn't it be a sad world if we all just floated around with or head in the clouds quoting gems of spiritual enlightment to others that would not, could not, dared not dispute it? What a sad world if we all lived on the ground level, in only today, in what we can feel and never experienced others that lived in those "higher places".

What a sad world if we just "accepted" what others said as fact and did not use our minds to challenge, poke or prod other avenues of intelligence. Trillian is right---would that not lead us to being mindless...drinking Kool-aid in a strange country? Waiting for the comet to take us away? Then again, maybe we are the fools for not going along with it? Some of us may never reach the point of enlightenment necessary to grasp that concept.

We all have a role - like that movie Breakfast Club - the Geek, the Outcast, the Rebel, the Prom queen, the sporto...they / we all have to learn from the foot soldiers to the high priestess..

Myself, well, I see my role, to some extent, is to challenge, but to also accept that others have differing beliefs and belief systems. My analytical mind pushes me to find the answers, list the statistics, find the facts in order to disprove or prove a theory, point or fact...etc. do I feel sad about that? No, maybe I will not ever been that "enlightened soul" or maybe I already was in another life and learned that a person cannot live within their mind alone.

Of course there are things that others do that do not coincide with my own moral code, but I am sure I break their codes as well. One persons moral decay is another persons loving lifestyle.

One persons manner of speech may be ego-centric, condescending and bordering on self granduer - yet to others is it comforting, uplifting and perfectly normal.

What a sad world if we were all one zodiac sign or if we all had the same moon or mercury placements.

posted June 08, 2004 08:12 PM         

quote:

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Maybe others sense the conviction and immutability of your beliefs, and choose not to share?

---

I like nothing better than to have my mind changed, because it means I have learned something new. But I do not change it at the drop of a hat. I have strained this brain for most of my years to come up with the most correct world-view I possibly can, and this is an ongoing process. There are strong chains of logic behind what I believe in, and to knock down one link you would have to knock down the many that support it also.

quote:

---

Linda shared her knowledge and research in order to encourage others to find their own paths. Linda valued people as individuals, not as mindless followers.

---

The Truth is not personal or specific to you or to me. It is impersonal and gives not one whit about our ego games (much like Karma). "Everyone's personal truths" contradict each other, so I find no value in them. They are OPINIONS. I want something more solid; I want Uni-versal Truth.

And along THAT line, I notice no one has come up with anything good alcohol has done for anybody. Alcohol is indefensible. It is BAD. This is not "MY" belief or "MY" opinion, and therefore has nothing to do with me being any "better" than anyone. It is a FACT. If you disagree, prove me wrong. :laugh:

quote:

---

May I ask sincerely, lovingly, with sparklies, if perhaps it's sometimes your "delivery" that affects your "reception"?

---

quote:

---

One persons manner of speech may be ego-centric, condescending and bordering on self granduer - yet to others is it comforting, uplifting and perfectly normal.

---

There is real pain in the world, there is real hurt, and it is because of my desire to stop it that I have come to hate things like alcohol. But I suppose people's desire to "feel good" (ha, ha) through artificial means is more important than healing the world, hmmm?

I am done with this thread. If something I said made you feel bad, well, maybe it should have. When I was young, I heard the word "conscience" in daily life much more often than I do now, and that suggests something to me.

Yes, I am a grumpy old man stuffed into a young man's body. Deal wiff it.

I will be a bit more selective in what I post and what I respond to here. I do not like being the focal point of so much negativity.

To those that have had something positive to say, thank you. I need to be directed away from the world's negative energies, it is too easy to get sucked in by it all. Rain forests fall, more species have died than now live, war claims thousands upon thousands of lives every year, the air is polluted, the water is polluted, I have to wash pesticides off my grapes, America has the highest crime rate in the world, greed and commercialism destroy the quality of our lives, they ripped the limestone off the Pyramid and we'll never know what it said, and we have politicians deciding what is best for us. And despite all this, people are still worried about what makes them feel good for a moment. Yes, I find it very hard to "stay positive" on this fallen Eden.