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raquel.
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March 7, 2016 at 9:38 am #98301
JoeParticipantAnita
Maybe I’m not sure what this metaphorical pot of gold contains. I guess for me it’s just this need to always want to be somewhere else, a point in the future where we might find happiness or that thing we have dreamed about for so long (travelling, the nice job, the slice of cake etc). We stress the importance of these things and liken them to this pot of gold. Maybe we do arrive at these things and we may believe that these things will bring everlasting happiness but we just want more of what we have found. This idea of chasing what we crave is a wild goose chase…The pot of gold is an illusion…
Joe
March 7, 2016 at 10:15 am #98308
AnonymousGuestDear Joe:
I am building a theory in my mind as I type here to you. Now, I am not anyone’s fan, and I don’t celebrate “celebrities”- so as I write about Robin Williams next, it is not as a fan or as someone who likes him beyond his acting and comedy performances.
Robin Williams, the latest casualty of suicide in the Rich and Famous community: I would say he was as close to rainbows as possible, deep inside a pot of gold. My goodness, how many people have achieved his level of international fame? And he could have had many more slices of cake and he could travel anywhere, right?
But that night when he hanged himself and I think tried to slice his wrists before hand, that night- what was going on?
Society, social convention, marketing, movies tell us that the top of success in life is wealth and fame.
What happened that night? My theory is that he was afraid. He wasn’t able to endure that fear. He has endured it many times before, but not that night. He couldn’t and wouldn’t endure it one more minute, so he didn’t wait to kill himself in a more humane way. He did it as fast as he could.
The rainbows, the pot of gold, I think, is a fearless existence, an existence in which we are no longer afraid. That feeling of safety and calm.. that eternal hug by someone who will forever protect us, the memory of some time in childhood when you felt safe- that is the pot of gold. We imagine different things will get us there, but nothing will, because in our very nature, we are afraid, and … every one of us has to find a better way to live with fear. Fear is inescapable.
Thoughts…?
anita
March 7, 2016 at 10:53 am #98318JoeParticipantAnita
My sentiments exactly. I guess people need to stop believing that attaining this pot of gold, this whatever it is that they are after isn’t the be-all-and-end-all, and placing so much importance on the end result. This all keeps coming back to what I have been reading about for the past three years or so in ‘The Power Of Now’ by Eckhard Tolle. If we’re not constantly re-living the past or alternate takes on the past, we’re projecting into a future where we will attain this false sense of salvation. The present moment is all we have. I’m not saying I am an expert on staying present but this book just makes so much sense for me.
Have you ever read ‘The Power Of Now’? If so, what are your thoughts on that book?
Joe
March 7, 2016 at 11:16 am #98320AnonymousGuestDear Joe:
Yes, I read it and I summarized it at the time. I have a word document with the summary. I also printed it. At the moment I don’t remember much but at the time thought highly of the book. I bet if I read it now i will question some things as I am more of a critical reader, but yes, I read it and took a lot of it in.
By the way, talking about traveling, I read that Eckard Tolle lives in Vancouver, British Colunbia which is just north of where I live! More than an hour drive, way less than two if traffic is clear and no border wait.
Back to our topic: The “false sense of salvation”- I wonder if it was mentioned in the book, the nature of that delusion of salvation, if he mentions it as forever-free-of-fear salvation.
The present moment is all we have. Becoming aware of the present moment is something else, never imagined there is so much to it. I think it is a developing skill, to be present. It has been taking me five years, since I was introduced to the concept more seriously by my then therapist, it has taken me five years and I am still just scratching the surface of awareness to the present moment.
anita
April 3, 2016 at 7:53 am #100735AnonymousGuestDear Joe:
How nice it is to see your face!
The pot-of-gold, there is a lot in it, your last post here. A very important element in your mind and life. You wrote about what the pot-of-gold may be: “That thing which will finally give me happiness and satisfaction? That which will suddenly make me see and understand everything in my life? Love? More cake?”
I would like to examine this with you further…?
The quote I placed here reminds me of what I read some months ago, the term “The Salvation Fantasy”- that many clients/ patients expect from psychotherapy. That their healing, their understanding of everything in their lives will bring that “happily ever after” existence following the healing and understanding. Like in the fairy tale book and like in religions: happily ever after life in heaven or Paradise Earth, or Nirvana.
And there is no such thing. So the expectation is a set up for failure. What do you think? Does this bring any more light to your figuring out what is the-pot-of-gold for you?
anita
April 4, 2016 at 8:41 pm #100906AnonymousGuestDear Joe:
I am hoping you spot this thread as well, worthy to keep it going, I believe!
anitaApril 5, 2016 at 8:12 am #100923
humourParticipantHi Joe,
May be you would like ‘cave in the snow’ by Tenzin Palmo.April 6, 2016 at 2:23 pm #101061JoeParticipantAnita
For me, the pot of gold isn’t a tangible object or person. The pot of gold in my case would be a state of being – a clean state, a new beginning. The thought of just taking off and leaving everything and everybody behind – no reminders of my life so far, nobody to know about my past, nobody to remind me of everything I would rather forget, nobody to push me around…Only then would I be able to bring about my healing…My pot of gold would be some kind of escape route from my family and the town I live. There is nothing for me here – my grandmother is gone (the only important person in my life), I’m getting nowhere with my career, I don’t have many friends here – a close friend chose to terminate the friendship as discussed in ‘End Of A Friendship That Wasn’t Really A Friendship’ – I haven’t spoken to schoolfriends in 6 years and I get the impression they never really liked me anyway, my other friends live in a different part of the UK or they live abroad and I accept that I am never going to have a close relationship with my family.
You were right about healing being a non-linear process – things have been a bit hairy the past few days – siblings excluding me, older sister expecting everybody to drop everything they are doing to help plan her wedding – more bad memories have resurfaced, I’m trying to work through them…
My pot of gold would be to get away from all of that.
@humour
I will have to check that out, thanks for recommending this 😀April 7, 2016 at 6:26 am #101166AnonymousGuestDear Joe:
I support your pot of gold, leaving behind the places and people in your current life. Get away and stay away. The adventure of it, in itself will be refreshing beyond words. Make it happen, sooner than later.
anita
August 8, 2016 at 7:53 am #111849
Simon OsbornParticipantThe Sight (fictional, Wolves)
The Book with No Name by Anon (fictional, mystery, multi charter reading)
The Shack (fictional, spiritual)
Subliminal: The Revolution of the New Unconscious and What It Teaches Us about Ourselves (non-fictional, mind)
August 16, 2016 at 2:12 am #112466
ClaireParticipant‘Stillness’ By Eckhart Tolle – one of the only books I have found to put the ego into perspective – calm the system and
be able to relax in a space of ‘observer’.November 29, 2016 at 11:01 pm #121548
raquelParticipantEckhard Tolle is my favorite author too.
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