Gaia Community: Ian Gardner's Blog

Photos of "Gardens by Ian".

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:22:10 GMT

In about 1977 - 1981 in Australia I had a business named "Gardens by Ian" designing and landscaping gardens. Here is a link to a web album of seven of the nearly one hundred I worked on.
CLICK

Tags: Garden landscape & design

Do you consider yourself fortunate?

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:00:53 GMT

A toughie! However, after brief cogitation:

It is all karma. I am neither fortunate nor unfortunate. On my journey to enlightenment I simply make my life and learn from it.
It is all positive as the ultimate result is guaranteed!
:-)
()

Tags: Q&R, luck, good fortune

Meditation. A procedure from Ian.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:41:38 GMT

Meditation

Everyone benefits from meditation. Even those who practice it solely for physical and/or mental reasons benefit by the positive changes that occur in attitudes and emotions.
There are many different types and methods of meditation and aspirants should select what best suits them or what attracts them most. The important thing is to start and then persist. One may be progressively 'self-guided' to what is most suitable according to one's need and degree of vibration i.e. degree of enlightenment. Some meditation focuses on attaining peace of mind and bodily health; some call for focusing the mind on some specific problem, thought or aspect of something; part of Buddhist meditation is to keep the focus at all times on what one is doing in the moment; and another calls for completely clearing the mind of everything and "entering the void". As I see it, the last mentioned is the 'deepest' meditation, the one that opens the practitioner to his or her greatest potential, whatever that may be in accordance with the individual's state of being and state of mind.
Meditation is not an end in itself, it is a disciplinary process that clears the mind of all the mind's creations, thus opening the way to Absolute Reality, the Truth, or the Great Spirit - all the same. One may say that Absolute Reality is where all is known, but this would be incorrect because, firstly, 'where' suggests a place or point and it is neither; and secondly, "all is known" suggests a quantifiable sum of knowledge which it is not.

One way to achieve deep meditation (Developed by me since 1968):

The best time is at around dawn, when there is stillness in the air. The best environment is solitude and quiet. However, where the time is concerned, it is not always possible to do this at dawn or at the same time each day but, whatever the time, it is best if the meditation is done each time at the same point in the habitual sequence of events. Best results are obtained when one meditates when the body and mind are conditioned by a habitual pattern leading up to meditation and at a time before the commencement of the day’s main mental and physical activities.

1. Choose a place, by trial and error if necessary, which meets the above criteria, a comfortable chair, or bed to sit on, or a place on the floor. You may sit cross-legged or, in the chair, with the legs extended on a support, or with the legs flexed. It is important to keep your back straight (but not stiff); you may support it if you wish. Place your hands loosely and comfortably in your lap with the fingers of one hand inside those of the other.
2. Get comfortable and relax. Loosen tight garments if any.
3. To assist relaxation, inhale deeply through the nose and exhale fully through the mouth. Do this three times, with the inhaling and exhaling being at moderate speed. Wiggle shoulders and neck if required to relax the muscles.
4. Close your eyes lightly but fully.
5. It helps if you have a sequence of prayers, an affirmation or a sequential visualization at this point. This will help you drift away from worldly thoughts.
6. Try to do your 'seeing' through the "third eye" (6th chakra). You may feel a sensation between, and just above, the eyebrows - this is normal, and indicates the effectiveness of what you are doing.
If you see colours, or swirling coloured clouds, moving pinpoints of light etc. watch them peacefully for a bit and then 'take yourself behind them’, as if you were moving through a screen on which they were playing. You have to move beyond, or behind at some point.
7. If thoughts keep flitting across your mind or try to get your attention - the purpose of meditation is to still the mind - do not fight them, just gently 'see yourself' gently picking them up and putting them away outside your 'area of vision', or give them to your god or Master, or put them gently into a golden box; any symbolic receptacle - keep on 'looking' beyond what is in front of you, going deeper and deeper - you may be aware of thoughts around you at the edge of where you are; gently ignore them - eventually, there will be 'nothing', 'stillness' - the void. Do not stress.
8. Stay in the void for as long as happens. With practice this period will get longer. Let it take its course.
9. Next you will 'wake up', perhaps slowly, and time has passed although it felt like a few minutes, if that.

You have been meditating!

Ω

(i) Do not look for results because that is negative and counterproductive - just let changes occur. You will soon notice them.
(ii) One's motive in meditating should be pure and the activity free of expectation as expectation is a creation of the mind and a movement in the opposite direction to meditation. Purity in motive means being devoid of seeking power over others, self aggrandizement, monetary gain, curiosity, expectation - anything negative. In other words one's purpose should be to humbly seek spiritual growth. Impure motivation blocks the channels of access available through meditation.
(iii) It is said that twenty minutes of meditation is equivalent to eighty minutes of sleep. I certainly never felt deprived of sleep when I got up early to meditate.
(iv) A word of caution - it is dangerous to attempt this activity without the proper attitude. One should be serious about it and not attempt it as a playful experiment or with the assistance of drugs. As has been said earlier we are a tripartite entity of electromagnetic energy and a frivolous approach that releases the kundalini force is like plugging a 240-volt appliance into a high voltage power source; mental and/or physical burnout can occur. Be respectful.

Notes:
1. Use the same place and position for each meditation and, if you are away somewhere, visualise your usual place and position so as to minimize the effects of the change.

2. Keeping the eyes open is possible but this could be too distracting.

3. Provided you are comfortable with it you may use this affirmation whilst visualizing each line:

"As the droplet is to the ocean,
I am.
As the lick of flame is to the fire,
I am.
As the sunbeam is to sunlight,
I am.
As the Great Spirit is,
I am."

As you silently state each of these four sub-affirmations, visualise and understand the description and affirm it with the "I am."
The three sub-affirmations illustrate symbolically our oneness with The Great Spirit - the droplet, lick of flame and sunbeam are each separate, but part of, the ocean, fire and sunlight; and the three illustrations are in ascending order in terms of density, or vibration, and lead 'up' to the last sub-affirmation of "As the Great Spirit is, I am."

4. Sequential Visualisation: For example - You are in a beautiful garden and you move yourself through it, going deeper and deeper into it. Or, you are in a boat at the shore and move further and further out towards, and even beyond, the horizon.

Tags: meditation. A procedure.

Self-healing by Meditational Focus.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:44:30 GMT

Healing Affirmations for “meditational focus”.

How to formulate a specific affirmation for healing:

1. Visualize the afflicted part of the body relating to one affliction.
2. Remember the inherent perfection of the body.
3. Remember that all imperfections are self-created.
4. Determine specifically what you want to achieve.
5. For the affirmation start with the Truth i.e. that the part or parts are inherently perfect; as you are perfect.
6. Meditational Focus –
[a] Prepare yourself as you would for meditation but instead of meditating close your eyes and visualise the specific part of your body.
[b] Affirm the inherent perfection of the body.
[c] As in the note 1 formulate an affirmation and repeat it as many times as you are comfortable with but do not force the healing mentally.
[d] Be in the “now” as that is where the healing takes effect.

7. Adopt a positive attitude to signs of healing.
8. Put aside ments (thoughts) of what will or will not happen.
9. Do not doubt – just do!

Note 1.
Ref. 6 [b] & [c] here is an example - say for the eyes:
‘As this body is perfect, these eyes are perfect.
These eyes are perfect, so I eliminate the cause* and symptoms of the imperfection/s in them.’
Other examples: Lungs, bone/s, valves, sphincter muscle/s, mouth part/s. Let’s say you wanted to cure something in the lungs; your affirmation would be something like this, ‘These lungs are perfect as I am perfect and this body is perfect, so I eliminate the cause of any imperfections.’ And pinpoint the area if you can.
[*When affirming this try to take your focus "behind" the eyes and away to the place in the mind where the cause is; to the place in the mind where lies the imperfection that is the cause of the physical imperfection. Remember that it is the mind that is the primary cause of all dis-ease]

Note 2. If you feel like visualizing an action like using a brush on the organ or area concerned, or a cloth on a sheet of glass representing the mind, and thereby either brushing away, or wiping clean, the imperfection/s, feel free to do so.

Note 3†. It is possible that you feel a mild sensation in the organ or area you are healing. This is a positive sign.

Note 4.
There is no permanent quick fix or silver bullet; you have taken a long time to cause your imperfections, even those apparently caused by “accidents”, so healing usually takes time. Be patient!
To understand the inherent perfection of the body you may have to read or refer to my book The Milk Is White. [See www.themilkiswhite.com] but, put simply: the body was created perfect and since then we made it imperfect and are now in the process of returning it to its pristine perfection.

† re. Note 3. It is possible that you feel a mild sensation in the organ or area you are healing. This is a positive sign.

I would like to say this about the sensation:
As soon as I affirm the perfection of 'this body' a significant sensation starts in my head [perhaps in my 7th. chakra] and flows down my body in a wave to my feet. Then, when I affirm the perfection of the organ or area of my body on which I am focussing I feel a similar, but static, sensation there.

Interestingly*, when I once did some healing on the rear neck/shoulder area of a neighbour who had fallen and was bruised in many places and asked her how it felt, she said it had felt good but the sensation had slid down her back to the lower back. A couple of weeks or so later she had to go to her doctor because of pain and they found a large blood clot in the small of her back they had not known about before - but the healing done by me knew about it and went to where it was needed most! Marvelous!!

* Isn't life interesting!

TO GO TO THE GROUP CLICK HERE.

Tags: Self-healing, meditational focus

Life is a Succession of Choices.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:48:09 GMT

When all is said and done we are like farmers: as we sow we reap.
The seed is present and we have to feed, weed and water.
Life is a succession of choices in a succession of Earthly sojourns -
Until the cycle of birth and death ceases.

Tags: Choices

Demise of the Moul.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:56:47 GMT

The moul is the Spirit acting out the feelings created by all its previous experiences.
When the moul stops feeling it is free of the consequences of all its experiences.
When the moul is free of all feeling it is that created in the image of The Great Spirit - the unadulterated ‘godself’, the ‘I am’, in all its glory.

Note:
1. Feelings are attachments.
2. The ‘I am’ (non-attached) + the moul (attachments) = earthling.

Tags: feelings

Old Age, the Body and Vanity.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:40:49 GMT

In the self-designated First World of the so-called civilized peoples our vanity is such that we even have to find a euphemism for “old” in reference to the human body although, paradoxically, we make every effort to extend its life across the entire spectrum of possibilities.
The underlying flaw in all this is our excessive identification with our body as our main identity instead of viewing it for what it is - a temporary vehicle serving a temporary purpose; a vehicle we should accept, respect and nurture but not worship vaingloriously.
What is required for spiritual progress is non-attachment to the body in the course of attaining non-attachment to all things.

Tags: Vanity, ageing

Seeing One’s Reflection in Another.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:38:12 GMT

It is often said that when we see something in another person we are seeing a reflection of ourselves; that we are seeing ourselves - or words to this effect.
The fact is that our existence as earthlings necessitates the latent existence in us of all human qualities and traits. However, it is only those of these qualities and traits that are active in us, or that we choose to activate, that we can see as reflections of ourselves.
Hence, not all that we see in others is a true reflection of ourselves.

Tags: reflections of ourselves

Words and Meanings.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:39:27 GMT

The language of Spirit is wordless. Hence, to express the language of Spirit in words is fraught with difficulty. Similarly fraught with difficulty is the interpretation of the words of one by another where nuances of meaning vary with the individual.
Therefore, be cautious in ascribing meaning to the words of another and be tolerant of any perceived variance with what you hold to be the meaning.

Tags:

Love.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:12:53 GMT

Love is very much glorified, but remember this; there is love of self (selfish love), selagrandisement, love of money, position, power and so many more unethical and immoral things.
Love is a thing of this world of duality.

Tags: Love

Despair of Life.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:10:47 GMT

Not surprisingly, many despair of life as they see and experience it because they see life in terms of a single life, a single opportunity. In this context they see selfishness in all its manifestations occurring and often being rewarded or at least condoned. They see mans’ inhumanity to man rampant in a world where attempts to kerb it are at best largely ineffective or at worst, tokenistic; and they see injustice everywhere.
However, were they to be aware of the Reality they would see a world where all is geared to the glory of spiritual progress through the law of karma and where the only thing one might be sad about is the fact that some have earned, or are earning, painful or uncomfortable karma; but even this sadness is ameliorated by the awareness that the final result of this is positive.

Tags: despair

Was It Jesus That Was Crucified?

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:29:19 GMT

Whilst I was doing something mundane the cogs of my mind were slowly turning on something unrelated to what followed, when I suddenly neopted this:

The “Word” is the “Logos”, is the Christ, is Jesus. . . . . . . . . . Jesus was crucified . . . . . . . the “Word”, the “Logos” was crucified . . . . .

Next was probably a mental deduction from the preceding neoption - but perhaps even the continuation of the neoption - which proceeded thus:

It was not Jesus that was crucified, it was the Word, the message; crucified by the people. Jesus was the central character in a myth symbolising the message because a character is more easily understood than something abstract like the “Word” or “Logos”. Thus, it was the message that was abused, denied, forgotten, (crucified) and, as Jesus resurrected himself, the message would.
Hence, salvation.

For the first time ever I was very much affected by the enormous negative effect this would have in the world but I have not hesitated in committing it to words for the consideration of all people.
As an essential truth there is, of course, no harm in this because the essential truth remains unchanged. The repercussions will stem from the loss of an emotional crutch - the proverbial pulling out of the carpet from under someone’s feet - and an emotional reaction to this loss.

For my part, I am very much aware of the far greater probity this will instill into Christian theology in particular and spirituality in general.

Tags: The Crucifiction

Freedom from Belief.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:26:21 GMT

It is only when one is free from the tyranny of belief that one is free to learn and understand the truth about the Reality.

Tags: Belief and freedom

Experiencing Knowledge.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:24:40 GMT

Knowledge, though a means to an end, is of itself insufficient because the end is achieved by experiencing the knowledge. For example, one may know how to put together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but one has to do it to completion to gain the experience of the knowledge. Similarly, one may know how to drive a vehicle but one needs the experience of driving it for the knowledge to become one (oneself). Therefore, after the experience theory becomes practice.

In the case of driving the vehicle of life, however, most of us drive without the knowledge.

Tags: Knowledge and experience

Questions About "Thought".

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:58:00 GMT

Questions from an inquiring mind and my answers to them.

Question: I have a query and it is about the thinker and thought. Is the thought different from the thinker or thinker itself is thought. What is the role of words in thinking, can we think without words?

Q 1: Is the thought different from the thinker or thinker itself is thought.
A 1: Since "God" is "Thought" as I have described IT, and each Spirit (entity) is "God", the thinker is thought. ∴there is no difference.

Q 2: What is the role of words in thinking?
A 2: Words are simply a means of communication in the phenomenal, or physical, world. They are only an expression of the mind. Telepathy is communication of mind to mind without words.

Q 3: Can we think without words?
A 3: If by "think" you mean ment (mental activity) the answer is 'Yes'. If by "think" your refer to thought, the answer is 'No' because thought is still - there is no activity. It cannot be described because, like the Great Spirit, it is not of this world. Remember the my use of the word Thought is specific to what I have written and I have used it because it best describes the Reality as I see it. These are abstract things, hence often indescribable although understandable to some.

Acknowledgement: Thank you for your answer it really helped me to understand the “thought” more clearly, before I was confused between the thought and the thinker.

Tags: Thought and the thinker.

The Suffering of Animals.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:42:50 GMT

[A letter dated 26.07.09. in response to a question from a friend.]

Let me tell you something which may fall into the category of what Jesus and the Buddha said, viz. ‘There are things I can tell you but you will not understand.’

For a long time I have wondered why animals have to suffer. When some are killed by other animals I have noticed that they show no signs of pain e.g. an insect being eaten by a praying mantis. While the mantis eats from the rear end of the insect the front end seems to be unaffected and, if it had one, would read the newspaper!!

Although I have long known, and written, that all we perceive as real is, in fact, an illusion (dreamlike) - a creation of the collective mind, the link to the answer to my question was not forged until recently when I had a clear neoption that, despite appearances, it was only happening "in the mind".

NB. Some may use this as an excuse to do what they will to the detriment of others but those who even consider such action should realise that the law of karma applies in the mental state and that suffering is as valid and "painful" in that state because, in any case, it is there that it is acted out!

Tags: the suffering of animals

Tecnological Progress.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:28:26 GMT

The true value of technological progress is the answer to this question, ‘To what extent does it increase the spiritual quality of human beings?’

Tags: value of technological progress

The Perils of Rainbow Chasing.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:21:58 GMT

When one is chasing a rainbow one cannot see where one is putting one’s feet.

Tags: rainbow chasing

Suicide and its Opposite.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:39:58 GMT

Some say that the unnatural termination of one’s life is a sin. It follows, therefore, that the unnatural prolongation of one’s life, by self or others, is also a sin.

Tags: suicide, prolongation of life

Evil.

http://ian-maleny.gaia.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:52:26 GMT

Robert McNamara, having participated at the highest level of the United States government in the debacle of Vietnam, posed this question, "How much evil must we do to do good?"
The answer is, of course, ‘“Evil” begets “evil”, there is no good in “evil"’ or, in other words, ‘Negative creates negative and there is no positive in negative.’
As an analogy take the a pond in which the water is dirty. Can one clean the water by stirring it up and raising sediment from the bottom? However, let nature take its course and purification occurs naturally.

Tags: negative & positive