14 Comments
Sep 24, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Ah, Joan, This is just what I needed to read. I loved this: "...at the level of bare presence, we are identical, but in our shining forth, we are unique and beautifully so." Every form and every moment is sacred, as you wrote, and every form and every moment is empty. I shall have to read it several times to let it sink in. Thank you so much!

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Sep 24, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Yes! Just yes! Magnificent writing.

Your words are so heartfelt. They mirror my own experience of this recognition filled with paradox and irony that we attempt to express. That mirroring adds to the joy of being alive. The continual

deepening and refining of discernment together with opening, opening, opening....to what is here now... come alive in your laser sharp seamless articulations. Thank you and much love to you, Joan

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This is exactly the kind of spiritual writing we need. It cuts right through what seems at first opaque and cryptic about Advaita or Zen and lays it out beautifully for Western ears. I am also delighted to hear someone point out the deep contentment arising from "don't know," something often missed by our hungry minds. As a four-time cancer survivor and an "aholic" of great breadth and depth (mostly depth), I gotta say, you leave folks like ET in the dust, and as this world slowly turns to dust from climate change, voices like yours become more and more essential for human survival.

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Sep 24, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

...The importance of suffering.....(I hadn't seen that in the fine print until now). And yes, the suffering IS the beauty, although we don't choose it(the suffering), it is that which lets us see the individual uniqueness and the no-need-to-fret(resist or reject)which leads, I think, to deeper appreciation of the whole of life. Thank you, Joan.

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Thank you for your vulnerable writing about who you are. It made me know that I wanted to read your future posts when they come.

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Loved this!❣Such an earnestness of sharing. Life...a balancing of soul and spirit🙏

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Sep 24, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Joan

In I am that Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj states Awareness as primordial and Consciousness is on contact, this is what I thought of when you touched on John Tarrant’s book. I so relate to desire for pure things, clarity, certainty and serenity. These are sacred only because of the contrast that the soul of our human experience brings out.

I appreciate your time and work you give me the pointers I use in contemplation. Thank you for reminding that the questions are not about answers, they are about wonderment.

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Thank you Joan.

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Sep 25, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Everything you write is so true and so layered. Thank you

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Sep 25, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Thanks again Joan. You’re grasped at what cannot possibly grasp hits the nail on the head. Contradictory, what isn’t!

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Sep 25, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Snug fitting parallel to the last post. Appeared today when (I thought) I needed something more than *just what is.* Restorative. Balanced. Appreciated. Thanks to Joan the story teller, the explainer, as well as the source that informs all.

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Sep 25, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

As I read this, I began to remember the words of the Fransican Philosopher, John Lakers who introduced me to the idea that, "All is gift." Thanks again Joan, for your wonderful words that shed a light on the path through the mental commotion. Namaste.

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Sep 28, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Thank you 🙏🏽❤️

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Sep 28, 2023Liked by Joan Tollifson

Amazing pointers very inspiring I love your honesty...and yes we are both everything included... muchas Gracias beautiful spirit Soul...

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