Thanks Joe, These are very good additions to this list. Maintaining a sense of order in life helps us maintain a simpler life. The statement keep your house in order means both our physical dwelling as well as our inner house, or our mind. When there is chaos in our lives, there are probably energy leaks, and a sense of order helps secure these leaks. When we pay our bills on time, keep in good health, etc., we keep bill collectors off our backs. Maintaining good health keeps our bodies and minds tuned for their best efficiency. I am not sure what you mean by family obligations. I may be reading too much into the word obligation here, but here goes anyway. Sometimes we do have obligations that are our willing commitment to care for our family and friends. This is quite healthy. On the other hand, sometimes we are trapped in what seem like obligations, but may be codependent behavior that cause us untold grief and energy expenditure. I don't suggest jumping ship necessarily, but if we can get away from the situation at least for a short time every day, then we stand to benefit. I guess what I am saying here is that sometimes family obligations can drag us down if we let them, but if we work at it, then there is a way to at least get some respite from these things. Set aside some time to close the door, take the phone off the hook, tell everybody to leave you alone for even a half hour a day so as to have some time to really go within. In statement 5 you cover this nicely by suggesting to keep your daily life as simple as possible. We may not be able to avoid all distracting obligations or engagements, but we can limit how much control they have over us.

As far as humor goes, by all means laugh when you can, it may save your life. It is easy to get caught up in the rat race. The ego loves it, if nothing else just to have something to complain about. I have taken some things so seriously that they stopped me in my tracks. I have poured energy into anxiety at being made late by a traffic jam, and allowed it to ruin my day when there was nothing I could do about it. At the same time, I have ridiculed others getting irate at the same situation . Some things can be serious business when applied to our own lives, but ridiculous overreaction when it is someone else. If I can laugh at myself it often dispels the anxiety altogether. I am spared a huge energy loss. I admit I am rarely able to do this on my own. I am fortunate to have a wife who gladly points out when I overreact, or get on a rant, or any number of other energy wasters I can indulge in. By all means, laugh like hell. If nothing else, others will think you have lost it, and they will leave you alone.

Keep building on this list, and keep the comments coming!

I would like to get a list together of things that help one on their journey to becoming. I will start with three things I feel are important. I invite you to help build this list of tips to help on the journey.

(1) Don't talk too much about what you are doing.
(2) Keep a journal.
(3) Be honest in your daily life.

I first want to thank Joe for the comment regarding the internet and Enlightenment. I think it is a very valuable resource in many ways. It provides a huge library of inspirational material for research on any topic you want. This is priceless for locating sacred texts, rare out of print material, and also cutting edge results in quantum philosophy. It brings people in touch with one another through user groups, blogs, chat and so on. The Web is great for the tangible elements of our search. Keep in mind though that there are really no words that can accurately convey Truth or that can give us Enlightenment. They can only inspire us.

What it can't do for you is take the place of the work a person must do on their own or the one on one transmission experience that happens with direct working with a teacher, and I don't want to be too quick in saying that either as I don't know the full mechanics of it. Richard Rose worked with a Zen teacher through the mail who apparently had a good rate of success.

I think that overall it is a good resource. I would watch out for a few pitfalls though. It is easy to get lost in threads of thought and end up way off topic moving from one link to the next. It is very easy to get distracted. Use your intuition regarding the integrity of the source of material. This is the same though with any group.

Just keep in mind that words can only go so far in this quest. I will close with a priceless quote from Bodhidharma, one of the founding fathers of Zen in China.

A special transmission outside the scriptures;
No dependence upon words and letters;
Direct pointing to the soul of man:
Seeing into one's own nature and attainment of Buddhahood.

Bodhidharma, First Patriarch of Zen (4-6 Cent. AD)

Greetings, as moderator of the Pyramid Zen Society blog I invite you to comment, present ideas, and get involved in the Search for TRUTH. From time to time I will initiate a project of sorts, or an idea that may shed light on the subject. My mind has been in research mode lately, so I thought it might stir things up a bit if we had some new material to chew on. I invite you to submit references you might run across in literature, sacred writings, even movies, or perhaps a song, that relates to Enlightenment or the search for Truth. Please be sure to include a detailed description of the source of your material. We can then comment on these things and maybe get a little insight in the process. Keep in mind that this blog focuses primarily on the philosophy of Richard Rose, and while Rose said to lave no stone unturned, we still need to maintain some framework for investigation. By this I mean that this should not end up as a platform for anyone's personal agenda, or to be a soap-box for self promotion. If we keep it to the point and honest we may get somewhere.

Thanks,
Your moderator,
John Rose

Here is what Richard Rose had to say about temptation. This paper is valuable for those trying to maintain their vector as a seeker.

TEMPTATION, by Richard Rose

Several days ago I chanced to have a discussion with my friend R.J. on the subject of temptation, and it struck me at the time that it might be worthwhile to put the thoughts down on paper.

The first thing of importance to consider is the existence of temptation, - next the advisability of dealing with it or submitting to it. I cannot help but conclude that there are salutary influences assailing man, and that there are also possibly unsalutary influences assailing man, either from within or without his being or both.

Of course there is the ever-present denial that temptation exists except in one's own mind. However, if only for the sake of tentative argument we take the concept of mind being universal (or Brahma), then we can assume that we are dealing with a problem in the mind-world and go on from there.

I believe that there is temptation from external sources, and temptation from within. A habit tends to repeat itself, but there is another urge to form new habits. There is the undeniable fact that others will tempt us to gratify their pleasure. Now if the thing or act into which one is tempted is not considered injurious then we can hardly say that we are tempted. With the word temptation must go the connotation then that the word is to be used in this writing in regards to some act that is injurious. We cannot say that we are tempted to eat. But we can say that we might be tempted toward gluttony. There are several acts indulged in by mankind that most of us will claim to be unimpairing either to body or spirit, such as normal sex desire in married life, [or] an occasional drink of alcohol.... It is my aim to try to draw the line of distinction as to that which I consider injurious.

How many people that we know flee to religions or psychiatrists and still consider their habits sane! Why does man need these stays? I have heard the hard-bitten alcoholic weep in his glass in one breath and in another minute philosophize that liquor is the best of pleasures.

If we are to take a glimpse at mankind we will find a universal striving to release itself from the forces that make its peace of mind less peaceful. Is war just, and a natural function of nations, and is the succeeding national remorse merely an aberration and a useless worry caused by world-religion-indoctrination, - or is the voice of remorse a questioning voice of a wiser ego checking on the organism? My answer is that actions invite counteractions, therefore a mind that seeks solution of problems without violent action is aiming at a more consistent progress.

In my estimation of things I place the man as being more valuable than his coat, and his brain as being more valuable than his epidermis. The skull that surrounds the brain can be seen as the house of the brain. The house is valuable and must be protected by the housekeeper against external elemental ravages in order that the housekeeper will have a place in which to live. The housekeeper must therefore manage his house.

In sexual excess, in alcoholic excess, or in any excess that is apt to debilitate or delude the mind we have an instance where the body habit conflicts with the equanimity which the mind is seeking. I will admit that if the entity or person is too phlegmatic to seek betterment by willed progress, then war will exist within the spirit until an adjustment is made. That is wisdom by attrition.

It is therefore my conclusion that mankind is dissatisfied with these excesses, that mankind strives against them, and that they are injurious because mankind as a whole repudiates them.

I am of the opinion that (as Spinoza infers) man is seeking more perfect happiness. In time he transcends certain pleasures in order that the mind may enjoy a longer and more perfect happiness or peace. I deny the existence of the pleasure that is sought after by most people. As far as the body is concerned, they exist. The body feels them, the mind denies them. They will detract from higher consciousness, from clear thinking. The drunkard awakes each morning to a new personality.

If we are to have a better mind to enjoy serenity, then that mind must be free from hypnoses. If we are obsessed we can hardly say that we own ourselves or possess the pleasure thus seemingly found.

In this perspective of the human being we can take either the monistic or dualistic viewpoint. The body can be part of the mind hence we would be monistic. In that case it would be the same as the arm getting burned, the central brain causing the arm to draw back. The mind could inhibit an organ which we recognize as the body.

Concerning the nature of these hypnoses it is possible that many of them come from external sources. It is possible that the real world is the world of the mind. We are constantly striving to find that which is more real. As we develop we begin to see the enormous and ever-expanding field that is the scope of the mind. If on this body world we have parasites and animals it does not seem illogical to me that we would have entities in the oceanic mind world. This brings to mind the various concepts on thought forms, poltergeists, incubi and succubi, and angels.

Although I advance no proofs on these entities we will not lose anything by taking those concepts into consideration when dealing with temptation. If their existence were valid, then parasitism would be possible. The mind could be inflicted with a false impression of pleasure while the parasite indulged in the more volatile ethers of the body and brain, and thus crippling the mind for future use. Although the concept seems far-fetched it is accepted by several different groups and is worth consideration.

Whatever the source of temptation we must find release from it. I will outline a system which I have employed, a system which is the result of years of thinking on the subject of continence and efforts toward it.

We must first learn the tricks that are played on the mind (perhaps by the mind) and then discover how to circumvent them. Man deludes himself with happy phrases, some of which are "In vino veritas," the rhyming aphorisms of Omar Khayam, the reverence for the word "Love" in relation to sexual satisfaction, and others. Love is a solemn sounding word that makes sexual excess seem almost a solemn duty. Few of us can give a definition for love, fewer will ever give a definition that is accepted by all lovers. Man loves himself.

Man's great adversary in dealing with temptation is rationalization. The mind plays tricks upon itself. I would like to say that the body argues for pleasure. I do not like to give the impression that the mind does not know what it wants, or that the body is arguing with another entity, the mind. Therefore, I think it apt to liken the workings of the mind to a court. Every act is first debated in the mind. Once it is accepted and acted upon, the second time will require less deliberation, the third time still less and so proportionately into habit. It will endanger itself and the body in order to learn. Thus, most harmful habits gain entry into the system.

Some of the rationalizations that assail the reasoning of the mind are: laying the faults of the pottery at the feet of the potter; reminding oneself of the total ignorance of man, hence his inability to do anything good or bad; escape from another seeming worse dissipation, and others. Man is also apt to remind himself that his life is very short and that his pleasures are few in regards to his sorrows, therefore he must indulge.

In contradiction to these rationalizations I might say that I believe man to be an individual, and that if we conclude ourselves to be pottery that shall be later thrown back into the furnace, then indeed there is not any need for self-betterment. As for good and bad, good is what is best for body and mind, and bad the opposite. If alcohol is good for body and mind then I would advise drinking. As for the shortness of life I would say there is no measurement of time, except in man's consciousness, and if a man is unconscious or possessed or obsessed, then a life-span of one hundred years lived in dissipation would not equal twenty years spent in freedom from hypnoses.

When I am confronted with temptation my greatest argument is "Why?" After having freed one's self from a binding habit, the person is struck with the imbecility of ever indulging in the habit in the first place. When you ask yourself, - what shall I gain from this pleasure-hypnosis, you can destroy much of the power of the suggestion. It is hard for a person to give a reason for pleasure outside of just saying "because it's fun." Eventually the mind denies itself the delusion, and finds a warming satisfaction in the freedom thus enjoyed. In time a general indifference to all fixations of pleasure will be the result of this method.

I have found that by developing indifference to temptation one also tends to develop total indifference unless a new driving power is found. Sex is the greatest driving power on earth. Man's mammoth achievements are all evolved from the sex-urge, - the urge leading him to feather his nest better. When indifference to all the maddening ambitions of conventional mankind is reached we are inclined to grow apathetic. Then there must be found a new motive or a higher motive for living, and one must study to find driving power to further it. It is possible that we must create and exert a will.

To revert to the methods used in overcoming temptation, besides applying "Why?" to deeds that might provoke a question, I have found that it is also beneficial to practice relaxation. Most of our excesses occur in periods of tension. There are various methods of relaxing, some are outlined in modern health education, some in hatha yoga. We must keep in mind that total relaxation promotes death unless will is exerted after freedom is gained from the animal motivation that automatically keeps our system fighting with its self.

Copyright © 2008 Rose Publications
Reprinted with permission from Rose Publications

The following is a response to a seeker who asks, "Could you write in more detail about this or suggest a source of information about healthy celibacy that avoids the harmful effects you referred to?"

Celibacy is a very unique challenge and is no lighthearted matter, but the benefits are worthwhile if approached properly. To begin with, you are addressing the most fundamental and strongest force in our physical being. Sexual energy is the source of nearly all our actions, and ideas. It is the force that drives us, and therefore must be treated with extreme caution at the very least. I don't know anything of your background so I can't begin to make any suggestions beyond a general set of guidelines, but that should be more than enough to set you on your way. As I gather from your comment, you seem to have had a taste of some of the difficulties associated with the balance of a celibate path.

The most important place to begin is probably related to getting the house in order. As I said before, I have no idea your level of experience in this matter, or your age maturity level , etc. Please forgive any assumptions I might make. Now on the topic. To begin with let me define as best as I can what celibacy is. It is essentially a vacation from sex and its many forms. This is rather simple. We refrain from sex in thought, word and deed. This includes sexual reverie (fantasy) or the mental aspects of sex. In other words, celibacy is a mental and physical abstinence from indulgence in all sexual acts-masturbation, oral sex, etc.

As with breaking any impulse, habit, addiction, etc. it involves a change in one's everyday patterns and routines. If you have any sort of sex related literature such as erotica or pornography it is best to get rid of it.

Proper attitude is very important and can get complicated. Our mind, especially under the influence of hormones and various stimuli whether external or internal can trick us in ways we may not immediately see or be aware of. Respite from the physical sex act is probably the easiest aspect of celibacy. The less tangible aspects are another story. When your mind drifts to a sexual thought then you have to turn your mental head in another direction. Here is where it gets tricky. Try focusing on unresolved problems, prayer, some uplifting verse, take a walk, observe yourself. Write what is on your mind. Examine why you are on the celibate path. Be very careful, I repeat, BE VERY CAREFUL not to let your thoughts drift into areas where you will lose the energy you have gained through celibacy. Steer clear of any sort of spiritual pride or elitism of any kind. Do not get caught up in attachment to anything in particular. Be mindful that any trait you have such as any neurosis, mental difficulty, depression, and so forth will likely be magnified during this time. It is important to have a plan and use the time to do Spiritual work, or whatever it is that motivated your celibacy in the first place. I recommend a lot of writing, a lot of physical exercise, (walking or bike riding is particularly good in my case) and a good diet.

It is important to keep the prostate in good health so I recommend herbs such as pumpkin seeds and saw palmetto, available at most any health food store. It doesn't hurt to do a little research in this department. I also recommend drinking a lot of water, and laying off too many stimulants and especially alcohol. BTW, this may be a strange question, but it just occurred to me that I don't know whether you are male or female. Regardless, even though the physiology is different, the approach is not so different and can be adjusted accordingly. As I am a man, I cannot speak from the female perspective. Resource materials are available though for anyone. I will try to post a few resources in the next little while that may be useful.

Near the top of the list of considerations when embarking on a celibate path is the impact it will have on others. It is probably easiest and logistically best if one isn't in a relationship, however, I have managed periods of celibacy with my wife for as long as we mutually wanted to keep it going. It also is not a bad idea to make a specific goal for being celibate for a specified time. This can be a month, ten years, or for as long as it may take to attain whatever it is you are after.

Most importantly keep a good mental attitude. Be celibate for the right reasons (my own reasons have nothing to do with religious convictions or to attain favor with God. In other words I do not see it as paying homage to anything. My reasons have been practical so I could have the energy needed to build intuition and to have the internal energy to explore the path of Self.) Whatever your reasons, they must not be out of forced obligation. You must act of your own free will. I think it best to approach it as a vacation from sex. I personally see no reason to make it a lifelong practice unless you are in a position of Spiritual leader, or have a need to keep clean so to speak, such as if you are a counselor, work with the mentally ill, are an exorcist, or a paranormal investigator for example.

Strong moral principles are highly underrated in our world today. We as a population seem to have lost our sensitivity to the more subtle essences of life. Celibacy can be a valuable and beautiful experience for those willing to approach it with the right attitude. There are reasons remarkable people have practiced it over the ages. It is at the core of all great success secrets, and mystical practices.

I hope this will help you out a bit. I will write more and post it on the blog as soon as I can.

Copyright © 2008 John Rose

Here is a little food for thought taken from a lecture of Richard Rose's entitled ENERGY AND ENTITIES. It addresses the subject of energy, a fundamental aspect of the Spiritual Path."The spiritual realm and the mental realm are pretty much the same thing, and I'll tell you how I differentiate. We have what I call physical quantum energy. These are all representative in the human being. The physical quantum energy is energy that we get from food, and it's stored in our muscles and in our fat. The mental, or neural energy is energy that's in the nervous system and in the coil. The brain isn't much more than a coil with which if enough charge is thrown in there it can even broadcast. It can put out telepathic mental messages that another brain can pick up. This is where the mental dimension comes in, in the neural system. Now, we take this and we aspire to a spiritual system, and there is no vehicle for spiritual energy, but yet, spiritual energy develops. What we call spiritual energy. In other words, by the transmutation of food, we get material energy, we get as I said, body energy, caloric energy, heat, and kinetic energy. It's also stored in the glands incidentally. By the transmutation of the glandular energy, we get neural energy. The sublimation of this neural energy produces an automatic projection of what I would call spiritual energy, and you can project it not in the form of telepathy, but you can heal people with it, or you can tap a mind with it, and that mind can reach a realization with it, and this is the maximum value of all energy." More to come soon.

The deeper I get into the esoteric realm of things, the more I become irritated with everyday life. Not so much everyday life, as the importance that seems to be placed on these events. It is almost to the absurd, like erecting a monument to try and immortalize a thing that no longer exists. I don't know how to explain much of what is going on in my head, or what causes my irritation in the first place. Perhaps it is some ego stuck in the throes of knowing it is without purpose, yet it still strives to survive.

I get frustrated at not being able to awaken those around me, and yet I am not fully awake myself. What is that all about?

I have been whittling away at untruths and keep facing mortality, and contemplating death. Contemplation of death sounds morbid, but it is all but that. The fact of such meditation is that it clears away the morbidity of the fact.

Just when I sit down to write, I so often lose my thread of thought and have no idea what to write. It is like there are clear thoughts and experiences, but no actual words to go with them. Doesn't do much for communication except to reinforce the need for direct mind rapport.

I really long for others to share the passion of Self Realization to the degree I do. I know there are others out there, but it is not exactly a popular topic. There is a tendency to put off thinking about such things until very late in life when it is more than likely too late to do much about them. I suffer deep frustration at this. I keep digging. Where am I now in the search. I realize I have spent much of life reading, discussing, thinking, and so forth about Reality and the Nature of who or what I am and yet I have spent really very little time really putting those things into action. Just when I start to squirm, I start to back off. The reality of it though is that it may be in those uncomfortable moments that the real progress begins. It is easy to say you don't fear death until given a death sentence from a health issue or something. It is only then that you truly know what your reaction will be. I am by no means asking for something like that, but I want to make breakthroughs in the realm of Self Awareness, Truth, Enlightenment. Call it what you will. I am really afraid to ask for catalysts as I am afraid I will get them, and I am sure they are more than likely unpleasant. I think we are all reluctant to embrace the unpleasant. In the meantime, I continue to look at things as best I can, and to try and live a life conducive to this line of work. Shut off energy drains, keep the house in order, keep asking questions and walking the path of the reverse vector.

There is a dilemma I often run up against. As things lose their significants I find it harder and harder to find the motivation to do anything other than maintain. On the up side, I seem to care less and less what I do in order to make a living as well as caring less about other events in life. This allows for a much deeper enjoyment of the moment for what it is because there isn't all this entanglement in whatever it happens to be. I do find myself hanging onto so many things though that saddle me with attachment. I get a twinge of freedom with each letting go of an ego or attachment of some sort. I waste so much time and energy with worry and fear that if I just let an experience pass through it would leave so much more energy in reserve, and things that I dread would pass with little notice. That is true freedom, to be able to truly live selflessly. Viewing some of the principles of Christ make so much more sense in that light.

I still do things with the anticipation of some sort of recognition even though I know on an intellectual level that the recognition I seek is foolish. The trouble is that I don't know it on a visceral level.