Carrying the Ocean Around. Carrying Source Around?

Yesterday I argued that we evolved as bags of seawater, so we could do stuff.  Do-ing alternating with Be-ing.

Can we do both at the same time?  Can we combine the contemplative meditative mind with our everyday doing? 

Start easy, perhaps, be-ing and do-ing in the shower, brushing your teeth, folding clothes.  A whole new world of pleasure may open up for you.  Truly and deeply feeling the water, the feel of clothes or clean teeth. 

Then mindfully eating.  Eat slowly, chew slowly, savor each bite.  Probably a good way to eat less. 

Hmmm, maybe while making love.  Works best if you are both tuned in to this exercise. 

Can you be in the mind-state of All-That-Is while writing?  What would it read like afterward?  What about various forms of art?  Many artists enter these states to increase creativity. 

What would it feel like to spend most of the day in that state?  Easier to practice in a retreat setting where everything is done for you except for your 1 hour “yogi-job.” 

The ultimate state of the Samurai warrior was to be one with the enemy.  Then there was no enemy.  There was no opponent.  There was no hate in killing.  There was no one there to kill or be killed, until only one warrior was physically left alive. 

The best martial artists and athletes enter the flow, where the self disappears. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi

Just like we are bags of seawater, do we carry Source around within us?  Is Source staring out from behind our eyes?   

Or, are we always already Source.  Therefore, Source carries us around. 

 

Both are true.  The truth is always found in paradox. 

Every particle that exists is a holograph of the entire Universe.  Your fingernail reflects the entire Universe.  Like Indra’s net, every particle, every being, reflects the whole enchilada. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra's_net

Words fail to adequately describe these states of brain-body function.  In deepest sleep there is no one aware.  In the deepest state of meditation everything drops away, even the witness.  There is no “you” to be aware. 

But, these can be a continuum of brain-states, from the deepest states to the lightest state of “keeping a toe dipped in at all times.” 

Each depends on how much beta, the frequency of awareness, is present, along with theta and perhaps other brain frequencies that reflect the meditative state. 

http://www.finerminds.com/mind-power/brain-waves/

There are many ways to practice.  Read and experience widely, see to what methods you are attracted.  See what might be scary!  Maybe within the fear is a great practice for you. 

Explore and experience methods, and then perhaps dedicate to practice deeply a method for a few weeks, months, or even years. 

Each method of practice can be a boat to get to a higher level.  Then often we need to leave that boat behind and find a different boat to take to the next level.  If we stay with the same boat we may get stuck.  Yet, be careful that you are really done with that boat before moving on. 

Remember, people tend to get attached to their particular method they have used for evolution.  They will often try to convince you to use their favorite methods.  Check in with your inner wisdom first. 

There is no end to your evolution.  There is always more unfolding to be done.  There is always more stuff to be dropped. 

Drop some more stuff that gets in your way, over and over again.  Become more and more transparent to the world. 

Shed the comfortable coat of the ego.  You can always put it back on when you need it. 

No thoughts of the past, no thoughts for the future. 

Be-ing and Do-ing. 

Beautiful, perfect, steps spiraling you ever higher to the next levels.  

Just Bags of Saltwater, Carrying the Ocean Around

 Really that is what we are.  We came from the sea.  The only way to live on land is to carry the ocean within this skin barrier.

But why did we need to get onto the land? 

In my past blogs I have argued that we are the sensory organs of the Universe, of Source, All-That-Is. 

The Universe hides away from itself, so it can appreciate itself. 

I want to make another, further, argument. 

The Universe needs us not only to be, but also to do. 

We are also the hands of the Universe, able to create beautiful objects and then admire them.  We are able to discover hidden knowledge and bask in the beauty we uncover within.  We smash atoms together and uncover the secrets of the Universe. 

By doing, we are able to deeply discover who we are in the left upper quadrant of science.  Further we can also discover ourselves in all quadrants, including the lower quadrants of inner and outer relationships, right lower and left lower, respectively.     

http://www.integralhealthresources.com/integral-health-2/the-four-quadrants/

In the past mysticism was thought of as only going within.  Contemplation.  Learning how to be, to gather wisdom in meditation and prayer. 

The new world story is to enter the state of meditation and then gather this wisdom found within, and then bring this wisdom back to the world to improve the world, to take the world to a higher level of evolution.  This can be labeled as compassion. 

http://globalresonance.net/message.cfm?messageid=258345&pf=1

We can deeply appreciate the discoveries of science and medicine.  And to enjoy the fruits of our science and good health, so that we can have the leisure time to explore how to better “just be.” 

What a beautiful cycle.  Entering contemplation and meditation, just being, in order to gather wisdom, then returning to the world to practice doing, as compassion for the world. 

That is why we needed to evolve to crawl onto the land.  We needed to evolve to manipulate with our hands.  We needed to invent and build on the knowledge of those who have gone before. 

Do we sometimes screw up?  Most definitely, examples include nuclear weapons and pollution, all byproducts of unskillful doing. 

But, we are a very young species, less than a few hundred thousands of years old.  I hope we can evolve socially fast enough so that we keep up with our scientific evolution.  So we don’t wipe ourselves off the face of the earth. 

But as I’ve said before, the radiation and pollution resistant cockroaches will evolve to do, creating with their creepy little claw-like hands.  Just kidding, they will practice doing with their beautiful chitinous hands (beautiful to them anyway!). 

Yet, I am a meliorist.  I believe that humans can make the world a better place.  And I am an optimist.  I believe we can avoid the most disastrous doing of which we might be capable. 

I hope we can evolve each of us personally, and, thereby, elevate our evolution as a society.  Joining together to make the world better. 

We have a very long way to go. 

Join me in the beautiful cycle of being and doing.  Making our doing reflect the beauty within our shared consciousness. 

 

Follow the three commandments with me, in order:

1-There is only One Source.

          2-Love everything. 

                    3-Have fun. 

And have lots of fun.  That is truly what the Universe asks of us.  

Intimate Partner, Family and Friends, Work

Damn, three things again!

I am interested in how we can live life to the fullest. 

Often things go wrong.  People get ill or in trouble, a not so competent boss is hired, you change and a relationship which was previously satisfactory, is no longer. 

I’ve noted that you can have one big part of your life going wrong and life can be OK.  When two big problems occur, life starts falling apart.  With three big problems looming, life is just about intolerable. 

A former CEO of Coca-Cola, Brian Dyson, said at a commencement address at Georgia Tech in 1996:  “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air.  You name them, work, family, health, friends, and spirit, and you are keeping all of these in the air.  You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball; if you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls, family, health, friends, and spirit, are made of glass.  If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even, shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

This was circulating recently on the Internet and used in many books and blogs since.

Something seems amiss here to me, and being the curmudgeonly heretic that I am I need to straighten them out.

I would divide the statement above quite differently. 

I would first divide them into three relationships:

1-Your intimate life-partner

2-Family and Friends

3-My translation for work is, “your source of energy or money for living.”

Not everyone has an intimate life-partner.  Not everyone needs an intimate partner.  I feel that an intimate partner can help us grow.  Sometimes this growth comes painfully, yet, often with much joy (see my blogs on Conscious Relationship 1-5). 

I put family and friends together.  Perhaps blood is thicker than water.  Yet, many people are not very close to their families, and their friends are more their family.  Sometimes they have no blood relatives.   As I’ve outlined previously, the more highly evolved you are, the larger the group you consider to be in your family. 

Friends and family are clearly different from an intimate life-partner. 

Having sex has the potential to change a relationship.  I have heard that people can “hook-up,” without adverse effects on their friendship, “friends with benefits.”  I have heard that that 2 people can make love for a while, perhaps testing the waters for a life-partnership, and then part and continue that friendship at the highest level of radical acceptance.  I just have not experienced that myself.  Although, I should confess that I’ve not had very many intimate partners.  Yes you can easily count them using only 2 hands. 

Perhaps, I should also make clear that your designated intimate life-partner may be present in your life in many forms, not always requiring sex, not always monogamous.  Further, the designation of “life-partner” is a designation of a trajectory.  Right now they are your life-partner, that may change in the future, for many possible reasons, and then you may have a different life-partner, or none for a while. 

Not everyone works some sort of job as their source of energy or money for living.  Some people work the land and are off the grid.  Some have no use for money and only use barter.  Some people have trust funds, sometimes so much money that they don’t even manage their own finances.  Often they do work anyway.  Sometimes the trust funds cripple them so that they really don’t accomplish much in life.  Sometimes they are very unhappy.  Why would they be unhappy? 

Think about people who win the lottery, very few of them end up happier than they were before winning.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/11/28/why-winning-powerball-wont-make-you-happy/

That is where the “meaning in life” comes in.  Some label this as spirituality.  I also count in here growth and evolution as well.  I feel if you are not growing and changing, then you are stuck, and likely not happy. 

Spirituality, or meaning in life, flows across all 3 of these relationships. 

Perhaps those with some lower level of cognitive or emotional intelligences can be happy without growth.  I think most of us cannot.  Perhaps being stuck seems a safer way to be, growth can be painful.  Be careful to inquire whether this is truly a satisfaction with where you are right now, or really a fear of growth? 

An intimate partner can bring meaning in life. 

Family and friends can bring meaning in life. 

Often work brings meaning in life, if you are lucky, or have chosen well.  Or, perhaps, if you are able hold any work as meaningful.  That is the highest way of being in the world.  Chop wood , carry water.  

Additionally, just as an intimate life-partner can only contribute at most 25% of what we need, perhaps the same is true of our work, and pretty much everything. 

Good physical health is not a requirement for happiness.  But, it doesn’t hurt.  All of us have imperfect health to a smaller or larger extent. 

Each of these 3 relationships can be damaged and can shatter, or can bounce. 

The outcome is based on personality and personal evolution.  Think about how you cope with adversity?  If you feel you don’t cope very well, then start practices to change that (now you have to read ALL of my prior blogs). 

Nothing can be shattered if you don’t let it be shattered.  We are very resilient creatures.  Yes, we are mortal.  Our health can be in a terminal state.  That does not preclude happiness, or resilience 

You may outgrow your intimate partner.  Or, they might outgrow you. 

You may lose family and friends to death, or also lose them to different levels of growth, so that you can no longer feel close to them. 

Your work may change, and you may change in relationship to your work.  You may find that you have a “day-job,” a job that does not provide meaning in life.  You may have a hobby or avocation that provides that meaning for you.  You may have a day-job so that you can move to a better job in the future that carries more potential for providing meaning in life. 

Change is inevitable.  How you cope with change is what is important.

Practice for change. 

---------------------------

To this end we contemplate a poem by Rumi:

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

(Translated by Coleman Barks, from The Essential Rumi)

Who Lives In There?

Pointing with a finger at the outside world. 

Pointing at the feet below you.

Pointing at the face in the mirror. 

Then pointing toward the eye. 

Pointing within the head. 

Who is in there?

Who is watching that pointing finger?

Drop the thinking. 

Feel who is at home behind the eyes?

Can you see who is there?

Can you turn the mind to see?

Can you see the center of Being?

Be still, the Golden Flower arises.  

Wordless Wednesday

Cluttered Desk, Empty MInd

My desk circa 2003.  

Eat your heart out Albert!  

Oh, wait a minute.  

Empty Mind?

The Three Beauties

I seem to be stuck on threes recently.

The Three Commandments.  The Three Emotions. 

Well, stick with me here.  Let’s see what comes up. 

This blog also relates to the three emotions, particularly the first 2 emotions, or stances:  Attraction to something, and Repulsion from something.

When we describe something as beautiful, that usually means we are attracted to that something.  We want to be near it, we want to engage with it.  Or, maybe we want to own it.  Maybe, we think that that owning this something will make us happy. 

We often find beauty in symmetry.  Symmetrical faces are seen as more beautiful.  Even birds find increased attraction in potential mates with higher levels of symmetry. 

The structures of molecules are often seen as beautiful.  I assume the structures of these molecules resonate with some part of the way our brain-bodies are constructed.  

http://pinterest.com/tabiken/beautiful-molecules/

When we describe something as ugly, that usually means we are repulsed and want to get away from that something.  We think being near that something will make us unhappy. 

But we often find beauty within the “ugly.” 

Take for instance the art of Joel Peter Witkin:

http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkin.htm

Or, perhaps the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.  http://www.abcgallery.com/B/bruegel/bruegel.html

Within the grossness there is great beauty.  Many artists take up the “ugly,” the monsters, and show us the beauty within.

http://marikamccoolaceramics.blogspot.com

http://www.redbubble.com/explore/beautiful+ugly

http://www.denisdesigns.com/blog/2011/09/beautiful-photographs-of-ugly-subjects/

The same case can be made for a woman or man who at first glance is very attractive, but, perhaps, on the inside is not very nice, and once you hear them speak you can see that actually they are quite ugly overall. 

The same might be true for someone who initially, perhaps from across the room, is not very attractive to you.  Again, once you interact with them, their true beauty becomes clear.  

Perhaps there is a lesson within this of how to be present with something that may make us feel a bit uncomfortable, without running away, before making any clear pronouncements of beautifulness or ugliness. 

Like the Yin and Yang of life there is always beauty within the ugly, and there is always ugliness within the beautiful. 

So what is the third beauty?

The third beauty is that Beauty that transcends all that we label beautiful or ugly.  It it's the Beauty that is present within All-That-Is. 

That is You. 

It is the higher consideration of everything that we observe. 

In actuality, this Beauty arises from the loss of the observer.  Thereby, clearly seeing that the observer and the observed are all One. 

Perhaps, again, try the exercises in Richard Lang’s videos: 

http://www.headless.org/experiments-video.htm

This Beauty does not arise from our consideration of something outside of ourselves that we observe. 

This Beauty arises from the core of All Being.  It is Source, G-d, All-That-Is, and All-That-Is-Not. 

You are beautiful, just as you are. 

And, you will change. 

Yes, sit still, and let Beauty arise.  

Sometimes Sitting

In Stillness

 

Hearing the World Sound

The Face Softens

Monkey Mind Slows

A Soft Compassion Arises

A Firm Stone Remains

The Warrior is Always Ready

No Doing

Only Being

Breathe

The Three Emotions

Emotions are interesting.

Why are we happy or sad?  We often ask questions:  What are my inner or outer causes of being happy or sad?  How can I be happier? 

Sometimes happiness and sadness seems to have nothing to do with what is happening right now.  Sometimes we use the past or the future to blame our happiness or sadness.

Further, you can ask: How can I know happiness without sadness?  How would I know the difference?  Therefore, I need to be sad sometimes.  Maybe…

The inner critic may yell at you for something or other that you did or did not do.  Or the inner critic may yell at you for being sad! 

The emotion wheel is an interesting way to think about the ranges of emotions:  

http://www.do2learn.com/organizationtools/EmotionsColorWheel/index.htm

Wiki gives a nice scientific overview, including neurochemistry: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion

I love to distill what is in front of me into the simplest considerations possible

(See my blog entry The Three Commandments). 

I will postulate that the wheel of emotions comes from just 3 basic emotions.  I think about these emotions as “stances” toward life and objects.  Like a martial arts stance, this is how you interact with life at each moment. 

1-Positive emotions are an attraction toward. 

2-Negative emotions are a pushing away from. 

3-The third emotion is ignorance. 

Yes, you can argue with me about how ignorance is not really an emotion.  Maybe... 

My argument is that ignorance might be the most important stance to uncover.  

It is easier to deal with any positive and negative emotions that might be getting in your way.  It is harder to deal with ignorance.  When you are not awake to what is present, then it is more difficult to develop a healthy stance in your life. 

My method toward uncovering my own ignorance, is to continually inquire deeply.  Ask inside, what am I not seeing?  Asking others, what am I not seeing? 

And really what is happiness or sadness anyway?  Another thought to inquire within. 

Remember this when you are sad, “clouds come, clouds go.” 

Treat happiness in the same way.    

Perhaps, take the practice of entering deeply into the depths of sadness, until the soft subtle light of life arises to dispel the darkness (see my blog poem, When I’m Lost). 

Inquire deeply into, “Who is feeling sad?”

Any inquiry into “Who I Am,” can bring up many emotions.  Excellent!  More fodder for inquiry!

Wei Wu Wei says:  Why are you unhappy?  Because 99.9 per cent of everything you think, and everything you do, is for yourself – And there isn’t one.

Try these experiments based on the work of Douglas Harding, using these 8 short videos by Richard Lang: 

http://www.headless.org/experiments-video.htm

Discovering who you are is a never-ending process of unfolding.  But, with each step, you can see more clearly.  Like climbing higher in a tree, in a building, in an airplane, you see everything with a larger perspective, including this construct you call “self.” 

Drop the attraction toward, and the repulsion from, and then enter into ignorance.   

Let blossom a deep appreciation of true beauty that transcends all emotions.  

March Guru Bracket Madness

We should put together a list of the greatest Gurus, alive and dead, even perhaps imaginary, from each of the major traditions and non-traditions. 

Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna, Dögen, Nisargadatta, Anandamayi Ma, Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, Gurdjieff, Suzuki Roshi, Wei Wu Wei, Alan Watts, Bernadette Roberts, Franklin Merrell-Wolff, Suzanne Segal, Satyam Nadeen, Chögyam Trungpa, Meher Baba, Lama Ole Nydahl, Osho, Pema Chödrön, Philip Kapleau, Toni Packer, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sylvia Boorstein, Sharon Salzberg, Byron Katie, Andrew Cohen, Ken Wilber, Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, etc, etc.             (I know I left out YOUR favorite guru…)

I have 2 books to help out:   

“Great Thinkers of the Eastern World,” IP McGreal ed, 1995

“The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers of Eastern Traditions,” A Rawlinson, 1997

Another shorter list is here:

http://www.kheper.net/topics/gurus/listing.html

And here with excellent links and ratings!

http://www.spiritualteachers.org/ratings.htm

Then set up a standard bracket and vote! 

We can then see who wins the most votes. 

The best guru of all time! 

I love this viewpoint on gurus and enlightenment from Krishnamurti:

http://www.messagefrommasters.com/Enlightenment/Authentic-Gurus.htm

And from Richard Rose here:

http://www.searchwithin.org/download/grand_work_tat.pdf

But, wait a minute! 

If we are all One, then who is there to win? 

Damn! 

Oh, well.  It was a fun idea anyway.  

Why We Can No Longer Go to War

I was going to make this a long treatise on evolution, neurochemistry, the internet the media, and so on.

I won’t. 

I will make this simple.  This is not a scientific paper for publication.  It is just my blog.  I don’t have to give a zillion references! 

But, I have to ask the question regarding why are we having such an increase in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?  Examples of likely labels for the clinical expressions of many forms of PTSD for those coming back from wars include the Gulf War Syndrome, battle fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and all sorts of chronic pain syndromes.  Many of these cases arise without any clear personal physical injury to the individual. 

For more nuances see these entries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_stress_reaction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder

We are spending billions to patch up these brave individuals both physically and mentally. 

Further, suicide for members of the military, after they come back, is on the rise as well. 

But, even without physical injury, can we go to war without incurring psychological or spiritual injury?

There may be some psychological protection when we go to war against a clearly “Evil Regime,” those with people who torture and kill innocents.  But, there is still the injury that occurs from seeing your comrades in arms maimed and killed. 

If you are a psychopath, you probably are fine killing people, and maybe even seeing your buddies die. 

http://www.wisdomofpsychopaths.com

Most of us are not psychopaths.  Although, the military does try to train us in that direction. 

It is probably also easier to kill, “The Other.”  If you do not consider the enemy to be human, then they are, perhaps, more likely to seem like fair game to kill. 

The problem with going to war arises when our society becomes more evolved.  This is a reflection of the individuals in our society becoming on average more highly evolved. 

Remember with higher evolution, more people are considered to be part of your family.  With the rise in communication by using the internet and television, we know so much more about the whole world, and about people we may have formerly thought of as “The Other.”    

Additionally, when you spend time in a country, there is more opportunity to interact with the civilians and children that live there, this allows you to see that they are as human as you are. 

Further evidence that we are becoming a more evolved society is the acceptance of LGBT individuals, even by the Republican Party. 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/03/18/slowly_surely_republicans_bail_on_the_gay_marriage_wars.html

When you kill members of your family, or when you see your family member hurt or killed, that is a severe psychological and spiritual injury (perhaps read “spiritual” as how you find meaning in life). 

Only the psychopaths are safe. 

Interestingly, even those involved in the drone wars, where you no longer see someone die right in front of you, and you don’t see your comrades killed, these drone operators are still prone to psychological injury. 

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/drone-pilot-ptsd/

My thesis is simple: We can no longer go to war because we have already evolved too far.  We cannot go to war without paying too huge a price of damage to our emotional and spiritual brain-bodies. 

Can there even be a “just war” anymore, war against a clearly “Evil Regime?”  How do you define this? 

Once again, perhaps a much too difficult question to give any definitive answer here right now. 

But, think deeply, and consider very carefully, before you commit your children to any war.