Increasing the Value
ML;
Your practice is going well and you offered a positive example to JO. Then you started running the next application of that reasoning when you cited the examples in your own life. Two very good practicals.
Now, I can see you can do this level of application and you can see it too. What is your third time going to produce and then the fourth and fifth? Bear in mind that the value must be increasing towards source each time and also be a more sourceful value to the matters you are applying yourself in. We do not need to see more lateral examples, where there is differing content showing the same resolution.
Lateral improvement and repetition is for the novice. It certainly has an importance in how it offers practice with comparative values. And I am not de-valuing that practice. Rather I am placing more value of an improvement in resolve. You should practice to ever increase the value with each running of the principles. You should be able to show a direct line of increasing value through each running that presents the value line as a contiuum, not laterally, but more sourcefully valuable to the line of reason. And the value should also be more applicable to the roots of more matter. And this should exponentially increase with every running or you are not applying the principles to your own efforts.
sensei
August 4, 2009 at 19:31 | sensei
Thank you for your reply, Sensei. I need to reflect on what you have said before I can make a coherent response. So it could be a day or two before I respond in more detail.
August 5, 2009 at 5:02 | ML
Sensei... thank you for your response... reviewing material is a very helpful suggestion, as I think I can have a tendency to keep forging on, finding myself repeating myself and running in circles, and there are resources that are right here already...
the timing of both the posting of this response and when i read it has been extraordinary... reinforced by several other at first seemingly unrelated events today, it's all tied together by this single thread... and i'm actually seeing the common thread... which is the direction i'm facing... i can see myself facing inward and then outward (and back again)...
sometimes there is a delay in the awareness... like a gap in between... it would be nice to be better at practicing in an actual moment, rather than doing the practice after the moment has passed...
August 5, 2009 at 12:44 | JO
JO;
I want you to know that I understand your position and how it can be difficult to practice in the moment. I have been teaching ideas like this for many years and over the years I have worked with clients and students who have presented countless variations in their understandings and applications. I have seen what works well and where students can have difficulty.
I have written several posts here detailing some general ideas for more serious study, and I have also given several examples to consider. I can tell you that anyone with an interest in the potential of these teachings would be well served to review the teachings repetitively. And it would also be of benefit to practice with the examples I have given.
There are understandings contained here that will open differently each time you read them. I would like to explain this somewhat with an example: If you owned a book treating a subject of understanding, you could read this book and find different values to focus on depending on your mindset at the time. In one reading you might look at the general idea and at another time you might focus on a particular. Then, after working with the idea, you might re-read the book and have questions you didn't know to have on your initial reading. And then again on another reading you might pick up on something from an angle you didn't have until you had practiced more. Some ideas should be considered and re-considered because the inner mind needs exercise and repetition can be very good.
Think about how many times you repeat some way of being that you don’t even like. Think about how many times you fall in the habitual trappings of the lower self. Now, think about building some positive repetitive value. We practice repetition every day. Learn to use it on the teachings.
I have seen many people who think they understand, but when they enter the moment with me, they are not able to do what they think they understand. I have seen this on ideas that are from their own choice and areas of interest. Talking about it is not the same as doing it and we should be able to do as we talk and as we live each moment.
These teachings and lessons offer anyone, willing to study and practice, a further understanding. If someone understands them a little, they can learn a little more. If someone understands them a lot, they can learn a lot more. It can happen for anyone willing to re-read them and willing to practice them more diligently. Whenever I re-read them, I think of still more ideas, and in those moments understanding once again opens its doors for me to share its reasoning and truths in my practice.
How many books do we need to read? How many lives do we need to live? The answer is many. And we need to improve our practice through a more quantitative, qualitative way of being. Think of the principles we are here to study. Apply it to this. Respect the Teachings as something to study and review and something to practice over and over. Appreciate the detailed explanations and examples. Show your Gratitude by demonstrating how you are connecting deeper and deeper to the lessons. Offer the Value of your practice as something that truly deserves an even deeper Respect. Now, Appreciate that increase in Respect and show a demonstration of the increased Value through Gratitude by plugging it back into the teachings again. See the new Value and continue your practice.
If you practice this way, as I have already suggested before, you will discover, if you reconnect value back into the teachings as a form of Gratitude, that the teachings are waiting for you to return. The teachings have your next step and the next step after that, plus many, many more.
This is a very good way to practice and it is one that many people fail to do.
Another idea that can be helpful in your practice is the idea of practicing more in the moment. When you write a post, you can practice and see how you are doing. When you begin, state the value you want to share. Then practice running the principles we are learning about here as I have described them. Just pick some part of the teaching and say what it is. Then practice that on the value you presented. Do several repetitions and look to grow your understanding of the value in ways that fit the particular teaching you are practicing. See if you can do three runs through the principles holding to the idea, using the particular teaching you chose, and working to build the value each time through. Afterwards, evaluate it. You can even evaluate it from another post using the same principles to evaluate your work.
This will help you practice more in the moment and it will help you use the principles, or lesson material to reflect on your practice.
Remember, it’s just practice and that's a key point to really learning. You don't want to be someone who simply reads about the wonders of life, but cannot live in harmony with them. Practice helps us all to grow and improve, and if we are going to be better givers, we better give ourselves the practice we need.
Remember, have fun!
sensei
August 5, 2009 at 20:29 | sensei
Sensei...
your use of the example of reading a book hits home for me in a big way, and has created openings all over the place inside of me... i've not only always loved to read, but have done a lot of it (whether for learning or enjoyment)... wow...i have no recollection of ever having read any book more than once (even books that have so affected me as to be life changing)...
carrying this a bit further, something you said in an earlier discussion about having to "un-learn" established ways of learning, i now can see that so much of the way i approach learning has been a carry-over from so many years spent in school (most especially college)... a student is required to read, listen to lectures, take tests, and then move on to the next topic... understanding of the material is graded by a system of letters which ultimately only reflect how well you can take that instructor's particular test, not how deeply you understand the material...that isn't to say there isn't learning that takes place or that there won't be classes later that will revisit some material more deeply to give you an opportunity for further understanding, but the method of learning itself in any given class is the same... read and study material, be tested, graded, and then move on... how many of us who graduated came out of college to say that the really valuable stuff we learned came afterward... in this job or that job... in the actual doing (not the talking about doing)...
i have so fully adopted this way of learning that i don't take the time to stop, repeat, re-read, do it again and then repeat it again... i don't think i even practice all that much... i'm often in a hurry to get from one thing to the next and then the next (thus the loop and running in circles)... keep moving... but moving where? in circles?... that doesn't seem very productive... i need to give practice itself much more consideration...
as you suggest, with each repetition there will be more to open up to because with any given cycle, i will be looking with different eyes at the material and approaching it with the experience of having done some practice... therefore, re-reading and further study will always have something new to offer to me... it seems like stating the obvious, but this feels like a very big realization to me...
August 5, 2009 at 21:25 | JO
JO,
A couple notes...
One, you could have practiced the lesson just now. You can use exactly the same ideas and thoughts. Just PRACTICE and see what can happen.
Second, you spoke about tests and poorly aimed learning. The only test here is whether your practice is actuating an EVER MORE REALIZED relationship to your goals, dreams and inner reason for being. It’s your test and it’s your life to use… we can either step up to practice and play our parts better, or we can sit back for another day or another life.
Aim your learning to pass the test of your own life value. And remember that value is based on the Givings of your life.
August 5, 2009 at 23:33 | sensei