Who, What, Where is your i?

[sirguessalot]

feeling like the world is as crazy as its ever been...and likely more

so here is a light romp through a loose range of possibilities regarding "identification"

my intention is to find out if such a poll might help find our selves

even if we are somewhat "beside our selves"

please feel free to participate, not participate, comment, not comment...

...

note:

i intentionally left out "why," "when" and "how" because they seem like very different kinds of questions.

"Who," "what" and "where" seemed to point in too similar of a direction.

...and now that i've typed all the choices...i wish i would have started it in the open forum.

so it is

Edited July 19, 2009 by sirguessalot

[year2027]

God first

hi Todd

I voted but now what will you share of this vote that I made?

was there magic to change me?

did it give night dreams to see me in your dreams?

what was the reason for it all?

all of these questions race across my mind after I take vote like this one.

was it a test to see if i understand you words of gold?

while I can come with questing all day there does not have a purpose to anything I see your just having fun like I am?

love Roy

[sirguessalot]

no test Roy...mostly for fun

and for the racing questions you mentioned

i was hoping it might help some people understand how wide the range of possiblities really are

and i was hoping more would participate in the poll

i guess i must be in the wrong forum

thanks though

[year2027]

God first

hi Todd

I hope I did cause them to write back my friend

I saw that my friend my brain race with the possibly I had to choice from

cause I was only thinking out loud my friend

but do not give up to fast because it a good poll my friend

there just slow

love Roy

Todd I wrote before I before talk to you

but since I do not believe in editing my mistakes I will leave it

because I was thinking then now everything has change

love Roy

Edited July 19, 2009 by year2027

[cman]

the question is not understood i think

who am i

what am i

where am i

the poll gives some options to reflect on

and is not binding by any means

so lack of response is not a reflection of lack of thinking

imho

the question/s-i am still finding out the i

though i am, no doubt, and will continue to be

changing perspectives seem to merge at times

enhancing what was into what is and will be

though i am already, and have been,

i haven't seen all the i

not so sure if i can yet

i am sure it's more then i can see at this point

[Bolshevik]

ants move as a unit, like one organism, does the individual matter to the ants?

since all energy and matter is recycled, and can become parts of many new beings, do individuals really exist?

and individuals are constantly changing, each moment is a snapshot, and then it is gone and reinvented.

there is no "i", not really "I" don't think

[mstar1]

d i was hoping more would participate in the poll

i guess i must be in the wrong forum

well its a tough question , one not easily answered, especially by someone like myself who spends the majority of my time concerned with baser things... i could vote "all of the above" and still be woefully short, although the entire known universe seems a little bit broad-and I really dont identify hardly at all with "my stuff" -ultimately somehow I think everything is interrelated on some energy level, including I, so although I may word the choices differently I'd head in that direction ...I dreamed I was flowing rivers of vibrating colors just the other night...it was a passing sensation but the glimpse was real enough in that moment....I dont ever expect to know fully the depths of soul or spirit (or whatever you would want to call it) but the mystery of unknowing is more than enough to keep my sense of wonder alive.

To me, "i" varies and dances and flits around time and space changing moment to moment Right now Im a few electrical impulses dashing through time and space and showing up on your screen

In a few minutes I will be something else

There is no telling for sure---we're the stuff that dreams are made of....

Edited July 21, 2009 by mstar1

[sirguessalot]

thanks everyone for the input

i hope someone got something out of the exercise

...

one way ive come to understand the paradox of my "i"

is that there are basically two of them

we have an absolute "i"...

...and a relative "i"

...

the absolute "i" is the one that never changes

often called "God" ...or "God's view"

the "I AM" confession of Moses and Jesus

...the "was," "is" and "will be"

...

the relative "i" is the one that is always changing

...that arbitrary line between "self" and "other"

both are already always here with us

even though we typically try in vain to make our relative "i" stay put in some permanent way

...at least til we learn that which has been expressed so well by everyone on this thread

...we cant

...

if the absolute "i" is The one whole ocean of subjectivity

the relative "i" can be any wave...any stream...any droplet

never ever separate from the One

[cman]

cool way to illustrate it

the ocean and waves

i think of it like orbiting the sun

sometimes we get closer then other times

and with all that going through the constellations

some seasons are hotter then others...lol..

till gravity carries no weight

could use thousands of illustrations i suppose about i/i

[sirguessalot]

yeah...thousands of parabola

but even beyond illustration and metaphor

which are wonderful and necessary

is direct experience

(which can then only be pointed towards using illustration and metaphor)

but direct experience of "I amness" is something we tend to avoid in religion any more

as if we are more comfortable arguing over which long dead people experienced "it"

and which did not

this kind of "faith" seems only to justify ignorance and lack of experience

and is mostly limited to arguing which story is the best story

i see it in those familiar notions like "jesus suffered and died so we dont have to"

and the general lack of actual practice in churches

...at least the kinds of practices that seemed more common in ancient (and not-so-ancient) times

but those who pointed out "I Amness" were often persecuted and killed

for threatening the control of dogmatic myths

and it may be that direct experience of "I amness" is too small a path

too close to home

too direct

too free

too freeing

cynicism at the end of a long hard road

often keeps us from looking beneath the thinnest layer of dust

what fool would believe such a thing?

Edited July 23, 2009 by sirguessalot

[cman]

i thought cattcar9 did a good job explaining suffering

touching the tip of the essence of it

looking up her name will find the thread she posted on

there was only one thread, of which her words inspired

in general, that which is not experienced is unknown

so there is a certain hesitance about looking deeper into the i

and the i am of which most fear, avoiding the face of God

the little i-

the masculine wants to conquer and dominate, as it does with knowledge

the feminine is the wisdom to explore with understanding

wrap these together and a searcher is born-

beyond and including wisdom and understanding

though wisdom the domination is not of ourselves

nor the wisdom

but a gift of grace and mercy....and peace

hidden, yet open to all

the i am-

unfolds, reveals itself in it's time

and times again

[cman]

i/i = 1

on a calculator

[year2027]

God first

hi everybody

just putting on top

love Roy