Spiritual counsel for fear-evoking times

Here's another Eckhart Tolle...

There’s obviously truth in what he has to say, but imagine being a lone mother in a tiny flat with two small kids and no money under lockdown. I would like to hear what he would say about that. No doubt he’d come up with something better than I’d expect.

There’s obviously truth in what he has to say, but imagine being a lone mother in a tiny flat with two small kids and no money under lockdown. I would like to hear what he would say about that. No doubt he’d come up with something better than I’d expect.

The being 'cooped up' bit is bad enough (I'll bet) in such a situation, never mind having to deal with restless kids.

I always wondered how I would feel/cope with something very much worse, like being put into solitary confinement for instance. Don't know about you, Stan but it scares me (the thought of that).

There are stories though that offer some crumbs of comfort should we ever find ourselves in such a terrible predicament. Have you read Ed Morrell's twenty fifth man, the inspiration for Jack London's "Star rover"? In these cases, the boundaries of the physical body seem to be able to be escaped from, in a very real way. 

Morrell wasn't just in a tiny cell, he was also trussed up as tight as possible (tortured to try and break him) in a straight-jacket which had also been soaked with water so that it would shrink even further around him (nice prison guards). 

During these excruciating torture sessions (that lasted many days), Morrell claimed to be able to have a relationship with the flies that landed on his nose. He claimed they all had different personalities and he knew how to communicate with them.

At the height of his torment, he was able to leave his body behind and wander around the streets of the nearby city, where he identified his future wife. He provided accurate veridical information (later) to back this up even though for most people this would only be sneered at as a fantasy (understandably so) 

Lets hope we never find ourselves in such a predicament.  No use whatsoever to a young wife and her kids locked up in a flat, of course.

Morrell wasn't just in a tiny cell, he was also trussed up as tight as possible (tortured to try and break him) in a straight-jacket which had also been soaked with water so that it would shrink even further around him (nice prison guards). 

Maybe when we’re in extreme suffering, such as this man, or women I’ve read about being sexually abused etc, something sometimes steps in to ease our pain. Is it our higher self or simply our own subconscious that does so, or something else? I wouldn’t like to say.

Maybe when we’re in extreme suffering, such as this man, or women I’ve read about being sexually abused etc, something sometimes steps in to ease our pain. Is it our higher self or simply our own subconscious that does so, or something else? I wouldn’t like to say.

I would suggest the first or the latter.

The Runestone: Spring 1998

Pages 3-5, "Fire and the Fog".

Memento mori, or love in the age of corona

I don't agree with everything he writes, but the "memento mori" part of this blog post is great.

[Ninshub]

For malf:

Stoicism in a time of pandemic: how Marcus Aurelius can help


Btw, Eckhart Tolle had done a presentation using the Meditations. (I've got the full thing on my computer drive, but it's no longer on youtube.) Here's an excerpt: