Signs Of The Times Forum - A Gem Of A Find

I've just found an absolute gem in cyberspace land. A true find as they say.

I don't subscribe to Forums all that much, to be honest. I do like to read, lurk and follow discussions, but i rarely involve myself in thoses discussions as they can be noisy, easily sabotaged, and change tangents before you can blink.

That was until I found the Signs Of The Times Forum.

It's not every day I find seriously thought-provoking discussions involving politics, esoteric thoughts, scientific breakthroughs, cointelpro and environmental issues, all under the one roof - AND moderated in a manner that allows forum members to actually SHARE knowledge in a useful manner. In short; i'm blown away!

Take this discussion for example regarding Gurdjieff's and Mouravieff's take on 'SELF REMEMBERING':

" Mouravieff has given to us the "Doctrine of the Present" which is the method by which one exerts the self, under conditions of shock, to do precisely that. It consists in shining the light of consciousness on any situation, while holding the emotions of the shock at a certain "level" so that the energy of the emotional center does not flood the intellectual center.

But again, this practice - which effectively begins to re-wire the neurological circuitry (as I explain in some clinical detail in my alchemy lectures) - must be assisted. Most people cannot stop, at the instant of a shock, and apply consciousness to a situation without some serious help from others to keep them focused.

I'll give you an example: I learned from my pediatrician a nifty trick for dealing with a crying child: ask a question. No matter what the child is crying about, a boo boo or hurt feelings, if you ask them a question, ask them to describe for you what happened, with repeated questions about the details, they will stop being "lost in the emotion" and will begin to think. And as they begin to think, the whole issue changes for them, the light of consciousness is brought to bear on the problem and you are then able to add input to the newly forming circuit that helps them to heal internally or, at least, to prevent the formation of a "crybaby circuit." It can turn the entire event into a mode of consciousness raising.

But when a person is adult, is acting on old, strong circuits of programming, and something from the environment triggers those old programs, it can be VERY difficult to get them to stop the emotion from flooding the intellect and to actually shine the light of consciousness on the matter with full objectivity.

Certainly, you can observe yourself as you become emotional about something, notice how you say and do things that are exactly against your conscious aims, or which lead you into situations where you just screw up again and again. Heck, some people aren't even aware that it is their programs that lead them into creating messes in their lives over and over again. They think that they are really thinking and that the thoughts they are thinking are accurate reflections of reality.

That's where the tuning of the instrument comes in.

Surely you have had the experience where some emotional upset has occurred between you and some other person. Maybe it creates a break in relations that is very hurtful. So, years go by in which you think about it again and again. And each time you think about it, as time passes, you find that the emotional content fades away until finally, one day, you see that you did a very dumb thing and the whole problem was your own ideas that something was a certain way, that you misunderstood, and then - after all that time - you finally see that it could have turned out so differently if you had just not been under that emotional cloud that twisted your thinking.

Now, imagine being shocked into such situations and having help from others to go through this process very, very fast, to be able to work through the emotional layers and get to the objective truth by having the light of consciousness - without emotion - directed on the event.

In short, THAT is the process of self-remembering: it can really only be done under conditions of shock for it to be useful to you, however. Though, for a time it is helpful to just observe yourself and take note of all the programs in you that you can identify... all the ways in which you react mechanically to things based on the emotional programs set in you by your familial and social programming, as well as based on certain tendencies of your physiological nature, and of course, varied experiences. "

That was written by Laura Knight-Jadczyk who thankfully interacts with the forum regularly.

And these writings really make you think....

Years and years of research, learning and observations have been interjected into this ALIVE FORUM, allowing anyone with a real interest in pursuing truthful matters, to involve themselves in this growing learning tool. An absolute gem.

I urge all to take the time and involve themselves in this amazing board.