Mike Zonta, H.W., M. is editor of BathtubBulletin.com and ZontaPhotos.com, and co-editor of OccupySF.net.
The First Step of RHS – June 20, 2016
For students of Releasing the Hidden Splendour (RHS), there’s also a first step, just like there is in a Translation. (For a brief summary of these classes, see the “Mentors and Classes” tab on this site.) A Translation begins with the first step statement of being so that we begin a Translation, not as some woe-begotten schmuck, but as an expression of Infinite Mind, whole, complete and perfect in every respect.
It’s important to begin an RHS this way as well because it immediately puts the lie to whatever claim we may believe about who did what do whom. If we start out an RHS on the basis of wholeness already arrived, then we can undermine much more easily the claims of our inner child of the past when it gets to the point where we need to do that.
We still have to proceed with the accusation, of course, but identifying at the outset wth our ontological reality begs the question: How did an expression of Infinite Mine get caught up in this nonsense in the first place? Is Infinite Mind subject to poor parenting? Does Infinite Mind feel under-appreciated, abused or spoiled? Probably not.
The accusation then becomes the psychodrama it needs to be, with the emphasis on drama. And just like with any drama, we eventually arrive at a denouement, which is to say we end up where we started from, with the realization that our real identity is as an expression of Infinite Mind and certainly not some character caught up in some drama which is anything but whole, complete and perfect.
“Fuck God!” by Mike Zonta, H.W., M. — June 9, 2016
I was taking a shower the other day and jabbering on about this and that to myself. And I must have asked myself, “What would God think?” because my immediate answer was “Fuck God!”
Whatever concept we have of God, or Infinite Mind, or Universal Intelligence, or the Ultimate Reality or Truth has got to be colored by our individual perspectives and is as reliable as our own individual perspectives about anything, which is so say not very reliable.
So, “Fuck God!”
“On being 70” by Mike Zonta, H.W., M. — May 11, 2016
So, a few days ago, I turned 70. I know some of you have already joined that club and others have that to look forward to.
But what about me is really 70 years old? Is it my skin cells? Don’t think so. Is it my heart? My lungs? My brain? Scientists have confirmed that different tissues in the body replace cells at different rates (usually every 7 to 10 years), and that some or all of the cells of the cerebral cortex are never replaced.
So my cerebral cortex is 70 years old? What is my cerebral cortex? According to Wikipedia, “the cerebral cortex plays a key role in memory, attention, perception, awareness, thought, language, and consciousness.” Hmm.
So my consciousness is 70 years old? Maybe so. Of course, parts of my consciousness (or my subconsciousness) are millions of years old. Like my genetic makeup, for example. That’s got to be a few more years older than I am.
Not to mention my innate self, which is ageless. Always has been, always will be, ageless.
Nonetheless, turning 70 felt like a real accomplishment. Like getting my High Watch or my Prosperos mentorship or graduating from high school. If they gave out plaques for turning 70, I’d put it on my wall and point it out to my grandchildren, if I had any.
I realize now, perhaps more intimately than ever before, that I only have a limited amount of time left to fulfill my mission, and that somehow gives me a wonderful sense of freedom. I either succeed or fail. So why not succeed?
Either way, who cares?
So, again, why not succeed?
“Heart is One” by Mike Zonta, H.W., M. — April 14, 2016
On my way downtown yesterday, a woman had a medical emergency. We were told that she was having a heart attack. So as a good Prospero, I immediately started Translating (a system of syllogistic logic based on axiomatic, ontological Truth). And my first breakthrough was the realization that there are not many hearts (in the Absolute). There is only one Heart. Just like Mind is one, so is Heart.
And, so, as former Christian Scientist, I transposed Mrs. Eddy’s “All is Infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation” into “All is Infinite Heart and its infinite manifestation.” Or, said another way, “All is Infinite Love and its infinite manifestation.”
The woman was taken away in an ambulance and we proceeded downtown on the K-train.
I.Q. test for Intuition Quotient? — February 22, 2016
Perhaps one day we might have an IQ test for one’s Intuition Quotient. Don’t know if that’s possible or even desirable, but one’s Intuition Quotient is a lot more important in the success of one’s life than one’s Intelligence Quotient.
I once had my IQ tested at UC Berkeley when I was still a high school student. If I had been using my IQ.2 (my Intuition Quotient), perhaps I would have skipped that test altogether.
Being “bright” is fine, but we are all “bright” in different ways. There’s emotional intelligence, sexual intelligence, spiritual intelligence, being “educated,” “street smarts,” and, of course, the traditional idea of intelligence as one’s ability to grasp abstract and specific intellectual ideas and use deductive and inductive reasoning in a conscious and deliberate way.
The word intuition comes from the word tuition. Tuition means the act or profession of teaching as well as payment for that instruction. Intuition means the immediate knowledge without evident rational thought. Intuition bypasses tuition altogether. In + tuition = not + taught.
Maybe it’s not possible to test one’s Intuition Quotient, but its increased use and usefulness is the measure of a successful life. And somewhere at the base of every intuition is the foundation of wholeness, sanity, oneness, and love.
“The higher self: capitalist versus socialist mode” by Mike Zonta, H.W., M. — November 14, 2015
The higher self, capitalist mode: “My higher self is higher than yours.” “I’ve got mine. You’re on your own.”
The higher self, socialist mode: “There’s only one higher self and we all share it. Therefore we are equal. Therefore we are lovers.”
Group question: Can a computer be programmed to do the 5 steps of Translation? (There’s an app for that!) — November 8, 2015
Group question: Can a computer be programmed to do the 5 steps of Translation? That is, given a sense testimony, could a computer be taught or programmed to Translate so that one day, if you didn’t really feel like Translating, you could just give your sense testimony to a computer and . . . Voila!
Seems to me it would be like having your chart done by a computer. It would not be intuitive, but it might be helpful.
What do you think?
Translation teaches us the subjective truth — because there is no objective truth! (by Mike Zonta, H.W., M.) — October 13, 2015
Last night, as I was presenting lesson #3 in the Tag Team Translation class, I said something that I had not planned to say, but which I think is accurate. I said that Translation teaches us the subjective truth. Because it’s our C-field, it’s our clearing, and ultimately, it’s our Truth. And the only way we’ll ever experience our Godhood is subjectively. And maybe that’s why people have such a hard time trying to prove the existence of God. Because it’s not an objective existence. It’s a subjective existence. Something that each one of us has to get to on our own.
What I didn’t say last night because I hadn’t really thought it through ’til just now is that the reason that Translation teaches us the subjective truth is because there is no objective truth! How could there be? An objective truth would be something outside of ourselves (which is so say outside of consciousness) which has an independent existence (outside of consciousness). And what is outside of consciousness?
Nothing. Right?
Napoléon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and its associated wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Wikipedia
“Napoleon complex” by Mike Zonta, H.W., M. — August 30, 2015
A Napoleon complex is said to be a psychological condition in which men or women of short stature compensate by being overly aggressive in another facet of their life–like Napoleon Bonaparte. But I don’t think this kind of compensation is limited to those short in stature. We probably all have something we feel the need to compensate for. So in a sense we all suffer from a Napoleon complex of some sort or the other. That is, when we rely on self-constructed ego identification rather than the Reality Self, our identity that lies underneath and behind all the self-created ego states which often get in our way and get in each others’ way.
Even Napoleon had access to the Reality Self, if he but knew it.
“Death as the jettisoning of the booster rocket of the body” by Mike Zonta, H.W., M. — October 23, 2014
“Death is like the jettisoning of the booster rocket of the body so the soul can ascend into the heavens. Not that we have to wait ’til death to make this ascension.”
–Mike Zonta, H.W., M.
Go to www.theprosperos.com to listen to audio of Sunday Meeting called “Death (in quotes)”.
“Aloha Retreats” by Mike Zonta, H.W., M. — August 20, 2014
The subject of Aloha Retreats came up last night at FYL (“Find Yourself and Live”).
Aloha Retreats were therapeutic gatherings in the ’70s at Thane’s residence and they were guided entirely by Thane. It was an opportunity for participants to lay it all on the line in. Each person out of a group of 12 or so got an opportunity to “go to the mat” and be the protagonist in whatever “psychodrama” (Carol Carter’s psychodramas came later) they wished to work through about their past. If you always found yourself excluded from life, perhaps the group would form a circle and force you to get inside.
We are not allowed to say what went on with others in these groups. Strict confidentiality is always to be maintained. But you can talk about yourself. When it was my turn, I remember getting very hot. I took off my shirt. Thane said to me, “It gets hot all over.” I kept the rest of my clothes on. And after that, all I can remember is trying to get a whole bunch of people off of me (representing the things holding me back in my life), including one who I finally had to drag into the kitchen with me.
People had great expectations for these Aloha Retreats, and for me, it was the breaking up of a huge iceberg. But certainly not the ultimate or final release that I hoped for. I think before the Aloha Retreats in the ’70s, Thane conducted something called the “300 year weekend,” which was before my time, but of the same genre, I believe.
And, then, years later, Carol Carter, H.W., M., studied and developed her Psychodrama/RHS technique which she directed very successfully for many years at the Center in Santa Monica and around the country, including one very special one in which I participated in San Francisco in the early ’80s. And of course, Carol’s psychodramas were the central feature of our annual Prosperos Assemblies for many years.
If you have memories or comments about the Aloha Retreats, please feel free to comment below, remembering always, of course, to maintain strict confidentiality about what went on there, other than your own experience as protagonist.