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Manly P. Hall’s Lessons of Self-Unfoldment (Part 1): Personal Growth

Jason Cooper — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:29:29 +0000

I wish to share with you selected passages from the book ‘Self-unfoldment by Disciplines of Realization’ written by Manly P. Hall.

This book contains many wise lessons and practical instructions on how we can penetrate deep within ourselves so to understand the Truth of who we are, and how we fit into this universal existence.

The ultimate aim is to attain the self-knowledge for us to grow effortlessly towards wisdom and a blessed life.

I am still in the process of reading this fascinating book, and will endeavor to post more enlightening and insightful passages as I go along.

From ‘Chapter 1 – Theory of Disciplines’:

I

Growth is natural to man. No one thinks of a flower trying to bloom, or of a tree trying to grow. The blossoming of the flower is a manifestation of universal law flowering through the plant; it is the will of the Infinite made manifest in the finite. Illumination is the blossoming of the soul in man; it is just as natural, simple, and inevitable as the flowing of the rose. The wise man does not try to be wise; wisdom is as natural to him as folly is common to ordinary mortals. Man does not have to try to be himself.

Effort is evidence of inconsistency in the individual. Most religious organizations impose strict rules and regulations upon their members. These rules and regulations consist principally of “thou shalt nots, ” the purpose being to force man into a state of grace by inhibiting and limiting him. Any individual who tries to crush out with brute force of will the vices within himself, achieves only inhibition and neurosis.

What can we learn from the previous passage:

You cannot force growth, or more-so, no person or religious organisation (or any other type of ideological organisation for that matter) can teach you how to grow through discipline – in fact, they will instead constrict or stunt your opportunity for growth in life.

You must be absolutely independent, free and rational to plant the seed of wisdom within so that you can then, for yourself, sprinkle the invigorating water of self-knowledge, which is most needed for the seed to burst forth.

How does one then break into blossom? To encourage continuous growth, you must try to learn from every encounter and every experience in life – good or bad. Also, I highly recommend you to heighten your awareness and attentiveness to everything around you as much as possible. The illuminating lessons that can be learnt from this exercise of gaining self-understanding and elevating consciousness will be most rewarding.

This all will ultimately help to strengthen the roots of your mind and spirit in preparation for whatever the unpredictable winds of change brings.

Use your personal growth in a positive way towards:

learning to understand yourself so that you have better insight and can become a little more wiser
developing maturity of mind
improving relationships and connecting with others and nature
being able to deal with trials and tribulations in a positive way
discovering total contentment and joy

Jiddu Krishnamurti Points the Way Toward Wisdom

Jason Cooper — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:27:29 +0000

In the following two videos, Jiddu Krishnamurti advises us to illuminate the way, for ourselves, to freedom, peace, and spiritual enlightenment.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

From Wisdom to Understanding – Manly P. Hall

Jason Cooper — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:43:19 +0000

Carrying on The Wisdom Series (Click here to listen to ‘From Knowledge to Wisdom’) by Manly P. Hall, where he provides more enlightening knowledge we can all learn from.

This particular talk now focuses on From Wisdom to Understanding. Please do enjoy!

Part 1 of 7

Part 2 of 7

Part 3 of 7

Part 4 of 7

Part 5 of 7

Part 6 of 7

Part 7 of 7

Family and Friends are the Best Presents Money Can Never Buy

Jason Cooper — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:43:08 +0000

What heavenly delights awaits us this Christmas? A King’s feast? An abundance of expensive gifts? A chance to drink as much as what’s contained in a brewery? A chance to become the Karaoke King, or Queen, by participating in a good old sing-song despite having a voice like a bullfrog? Or maybe a time for joyful celebration amidst heated arguments over who gets the TV remote?

I say thee nay! Be wise, my friend and see Christmas for what it really is – which should be spent sharing precious time with friends and family.

Christmas should not be spent just on getting stressed and relinquishing the little money we have on meaningless stuff just to satisfy our guilty conscience.

In reality for most people, Christmas has become an expensive, stressful and superficial exercise that contradicts the true meaning of this particular holiday period.

What is most important is spending our limitless love on the human beings who are forever in our minds and who are etched into our hearts. This is what true giving is made of…and is much cheaper too.

If we can somehow emancipate ourselves from the commercial and consumeristic mockery man has created of Xmas, then we can take advantage of this holiday period to replenish our minds and spirits by renewing healthy relations with ourselves, family and friends.

No amount of money can buy us this reinvigorating presence of the people who love and respect us in our lives.

Save a thought for the amount of time we slaved away working or being preoccupied with something trivial throughout the past year rather than being around the human beings who are most important to us – or maybe you are someone who does everything in their power to escape the nagging girlfriend and crying baby – don’t look at me!

But I am the first to admit that it is not always rosy in the garden of close relationships, as in the case of my seemingly reliable friends and beloved family.

As much as I love the few friends that I do have, they always seem harder to get to than Barack Obama, and most of the time they cannot even be bothered to ring me much less pay me a visit – miserable bastards!

And yes, the family can also get on my nerves at the best of times, where there have been moments when I have had to quickly retire to the safe haven of my impregnable fortress of a room just to get some peace away from the screaming demands of the mob.

However, I’m of the opinion that Christmas is a great chance to catch up with the people you haven’t seen for a while and to take the opportunity to be in the company of family who can aid your growth in mind as well as bring happiness to your heart and soul.

This, I feel, is the best present anyone can ask for and is something that everyone should be blessed with this coming Christmas…or then again, maybe not.

What does Christmas mean to you?

What does it mean to me? Priceless relationships.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

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Code of Conduct to Living: 4 Rules You Must Follow To Achieve Personal Growth

Jason Cooper — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:50:39 +0000

Bruce Lee’s concept of Personal Growth

I’d just like to open this post by asking you a question – how many of you out there know who Bruce Lee was? I think the answer will obviously be “everyone” because of his legendary status as the greatest kung-fu movie star (he would kick both Jackie Chan’s and Jet Li’s ass if he were alive today) ever to grace the big screen – he became a superstar after the release of the major Hollywood produced movie “Enter The Dragon“.

However, other than the hardcore fans I can hazard a guess that many of you may not know anything much about the real Bruce off camera. I won’t go into too much detail regarding Bruce Lee the man, but all I will briefly say is he was a totally driven person who strived for success in every facet of his tragically short life (died of a cerebral oedema aged 32).

Success for Bruce was in the form of him reaching the ultimate peak of achievement, be it; in financial terms; in world stardom; in physical perfection; in his own personal growth, mentally and spiritually.

Bruce was not only a movie star and martial artist; he was also a voracious reader of philosophy (achieved major honours in the subject at the University of Washington) and materials on all combative styles. Being the innovator Bruce was, he used the knowledge and wisdom gained to create his own concept of a philosophical martial art called Jeet Kune Do.

Bruce the inspirational teacher

Personally, Bruce has been one of my biggest inspirations for me to empower myself towards self improvement in all areas of my life and to attain total harmony of mind, spirit and body. You may be all wondering by now, “what’s this all to do with the title of the post?” But don’t get too bored just yet – please bear with me as I will explain to you the important relevance of Jeet Kune Do in regards cultivating your own personal growth towards successful living.

Code of Jeet Kune Do: “Truth In Combat Is Different For Each Individual In This Style”

Jeet Kune Do is what Bruce called a concept, and not a style. Bruce was very much against styles or forms that can restrict one’s freedom of expressing themselves naturally. The code of practice that Bruce Lee created was a way of life that he encouraged his students to adhere to while studying under him.

These important precepts of Jeet Kune Do epitomized the message Bruce wanted every human being to follow, which was that the true essence within Jeet Kune Do was Freedom of Expression. This freedom enabled a person to adapt and to achieve continuous growth through their own self discovery without the restrictive external teaching of forms and katas.

The four rules of Jeet Kune Do are:

1. Research your own experience
2. Absorb what is useful
3. Reject what is useless
4. Add what is specifically your own

How can I apply the 4 rules of wisdom to my own personal growth?

What we can learn from Bruce’s concept is that we can fully adapt the code of Jeet Kune Do to our own personal lives. We can apply the rules as follows:

Code of Living: “Truth In Self-Growth Is Different For Each Individual In Their Life”

The four rules of personal growth are:

1. Research your own experience

Self-knowledge is the key towards continuous growth of your mind, and you alone must take the necessary steps to attain this goal. Through this research of learning about yourself, you will gain the daily experience necessary to cultivate your personal growth, which will provide you with the blossoming ability to live a more wiser and fulfilling life. Researching or self-learning can take the forms of:

being conscious about yourself and surroundings
being attentive and observant of your emotions and behaviour in certain situations and relationships
liberating your mind by eliminating all conditioned actions
reading and watching enlightening and inspirational material
spending time self-reflecting
independence of mind – not to be too influenced by outside forces when making decisions for yourself
learn from another person – although this is limited. You should know yourself better than another

2. Absorb what is useful
We cannot know everything and we should endeavour only to learn what will be useful in our lives. Life is too short to waste time with things that are not conducive to our personal growth. Rule one should provide you with the practical wisdom of being able to ascertain what forms of everyday things will be useful and beneficial to your life. Finding out what is useful for you is a unique experience because what someone may find is good for them may not be good for anyone else. What I find beneficial for me are:

self-knowledge
family and friends
time management
helping others
practical wisdom

3. Reject what is useless
Should be self-explanatory after reading rule two.

4. Add what is specifically your own
For your mind and spirit to grow you must carry out the action of watering it periodically with creativity and originality so that they will continue blossoming throughout the many seasons. Being original or in other words, being yourself is perhaps the most important remedy for personal growth and becoming the best you can be in life. What can one do to be both original and creative?

independent thought – think for yourself at all times
write down your own thoughts and observations
create something original which will go on to benefiting you and others
be true to yourself in everything you do or create

Conclusion

Hopefully these four rules to living will help you all towards achieving success in personal growth that will provide you with a wiser mind and an indomitable spirit, able to adapt to whatever life throws at them – in fact, be as adaptable as water…

“Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless. Like water.
Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You pour water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or creep or drip — or crash!
Be water my friend.”

~ Bruce Lee

Alan Watts: A Conversation with Myself

Jason Cooper — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:25:28 +0000

Balancing between family life and finding time for oneself is a major challenge, especially when you have a 10 month old boy (not to mention the nagging girlfriend) demanding attention at every inopportune moment. But as I mentioned in an email to a friend yesterday, there comes a time when…

“…every man needs to be alone with his thoughts once in a while.”

This then reminded me of a video of a man who was alone in the wilderness, and who expressed his thoughts about his surroundings and life in general in conversation with himself.

The man in question was the late British philosopher, writer and speaker, Alan Watts (1915-1973).

Alan Watts: A Conversation with Myself (1971)

Watch Alan Watts – A Conversation with Myself in Lifestyle | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com