Clarity and Illusion

[Kutso]

Very good WW. I particularly liked the part about pushing buttons in a positive way. That really coincides with what I try to do all the time.

yeah, yeah, way to go, I totally feel you!

Very good. Please allow me to point out another similarity. Both you and great2be are jackasses

I guess you're just on the verge of succeeding! Give it a final push

Look at what I've highlighted above. I rest my case.

[runstrails]

I want to openly thank the moderators and other inisightful teachers on this forum.

The posts of Kiki, Ananda, Sighclone, WW, James, Karmarider (to name only a few) as well as newbies and other regular posters have been so important to me. I consider this little blue island as a modern-day Sangha. I hope that posters will not stay away from posting. In addition to reading their posts, writing about my own insights helps to solidify them. As readers, we can easily decide for ourselves which posts resonate with us. We don't need to be dictated to.

As I tell my 7 year old daughter: We need to stand up against bullying in the playground.

Everyone's opinion is valid. But please consider the tone and manner of expression. The best teachers know that the message is only heard properly when the environment in which it is taught is relaxed, open and conducive.

This Sangha is very important to me (and I know I am not alone).

[Webwanderer]

It's interesting that you should call it an attack on James.

And now I turn my attention to you James.

Who would not feel the ominous nature of this entrance? Isn't there other ways to approach your comments without such a threatening tone? What's the point of starting out so contentiously? It certainly feels authoritarian. I kind of get the sense of a warrior taking on his next battle.

I don't know what's in your heart, but if it's love, it's not particularly obvious in such aggressive statements. And this tone is commonplace in your posts.

This matter of awakening is a very serious affair.

Maybe, but is it really your responsibility to wake someone else up? Is it your charge in life to do? You may "offer" assistance in another's effort to wake up by sharing your own experience, or by offering pointers you have found effective, but by aggressively pushing a particular perspective as if it's the only right way to awakening is unlikely to be particularly helpful. As we've seen, most people recoil from such an approach.

It is a tragedy that those who have a serious interest are being misguided by Moderators and other senior posters who mis-represent the truth.
And it is a mis-representation to make pronouncements as if they come from a place of insightful authority, when in fact they are only beliefs.

For all our "misguidance" this forum has prospered as demonstrated by the many expressions of thanks from our continually growing membership. This thanks comes from those who have experienced their own direct insight as a result of pointers picked up on these pages. It's true that there is not universal agreement from contributors, or for that matter moderators. But when and where has it ever been different save in some authoritative utopia.

If you think your methods are superior, I genuinely suggest starting your own forum. You may actually have a better approach and it would be interesting to see how well you fare.

WW