Second Birth

Discussion of the nature of Ultimate Reality and the path to Enlightenment.
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divine focus
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Second Birth

Post by divine focus »

There is a type of awakening called Second Birth by a spiritual community called Waking Down in Mutuality. It involves a "landing in" or "dropping into" your body in a way that is unique to Waking Down. It comes about through the reception of transmission from someone in their "Second Life," either in person, through gazing with a photo or video, or through reading his or her writings. The landing or dropping can be gradual or sudden, depending on the choice of your subjective.

I have experienced a significant shift in my awareness since my Second Birth. There is easier expression of insights and a desire to clearly communicate. I am more connected to other people who, like all of you, live in their own reality and are experiencing their own unique and individual world. There is also more awareness of my body and my physical feelings. Second Birth is what is called an "embodied awakening," one which may or may not include any occurrence of consciousness awakening or level of enlightenment.

There are many events in the United States that may be attended, but for me this was not necessary. I have participated in two, but all that was necessary was gazing with videos on Youtube. I gazed with a video for 5 minutes twice a day for 4 months until my Second Birth. This was all just a creation of consequence (cause and effect) by my subjective awareness and is not really necessary, but it depends on your subjective self.

At the Sambhogakaya level of enlightenment (9th Oxherding picture), Second Life is experienced as a fullness. Many describe this stage as an emptiness, but with the degree of bodily sensation I experience, it is a physical fullness of life.
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Pam Seeback
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Re: Second Birth

Post by Pam Seeback »

df, have you read The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake? A key passage:

"Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion,
Reason and Energy, Love and Hate are necessary to Human existence.
From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil.
Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing
from Energy. Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell."

His language is distinctly of his time, but his intent is clear, to reconcile God (and therefore man) with its spirit (Atman) and flesh (Brahman) nature. It sounds to me as if your experience with Waking Down, your Second Birth relates to Blake's nondual theme. What I enjoy so much about Blake's philosophy is his presentation of the passions as being equal to (or perhaps superior to) reason in the attainment of wisdom. Some of my favourites:

The cut worm forgives the plow.
No bird soars too high if she soars with her own wings.
If the fool were to persist in her folly she would become wise.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps.
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ardy
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Re: Second Birth

Post by ardy »

My view is that you must always die to be 'reborn' and I have been interested in the 'death' not the new, possibly illegitimate birth.
Pam Seeback
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Re: Second Birth

Post by Pam Seeback »

ardy wrote:My view is that you must always die to be 'reborn' and I have been interested in the 'death' not the new, possibly illegitimate birth.
The birth of you is where you are right now in your thoughts. For this reason your interest only in the death is a futile activity. Because your births of "thinking me" are your births and only your births, they can only be legitimate.
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ardy
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Re: Second Birth

Post by ardy »

movingalways wrote:
ardy wrote:My view is that you must always die to be 'reborn' and I have been interested in the 'death' not the new, possibly illegitimate birth.
The birth of you is where you are right now in your thoughts. For this reason your interest only in the death is a futile activity. Because your births of "thinking me" are your births and only your births, they can only be legitimate.
I agree to some extent, but you are talking about after the death, as few have been through that death and been reborn into enlightenment, the experience is very rare. I find that there are many people claiming to be enlightened and that goes from 'I had a new thought bubble' to a spiritual experience of some depth.

I would be surprised if there are more than a few hundred fully enlightened people in the world today. Still how would you know? You need to be in that state to recognise someone who has gone through. Having gone through to that state there is also the time necessary to stabilise and expand the original breakthrough and that is normally done with an enlightened person.
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Tomas
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Re: Second Birth

Post by Tomas »

Yeah, the Vietnam experience fades somewhat but every now and then
Don't run to your death
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ardy
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Re: Second Birth

Post by ardy »

Tomas wrote:Yeah, the Vietnam experience fades somewhat but every now and then
Nothing like the reality of death to bring about a profound change in most of us. I am reminded of a Zen quote where a new monk was asked what he saw on the way there, he replied 'a dead donkey by the side of the road'. The abbott said 'sit there and take that thought out of your head'. When the monk said he could not the abbott said something like 'now you know how little you control your mind'.

Your flashbacks to Vietnam show the power of the mind to control all of us.
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