Parts and the Whole

Consideration of the many individual parts of the whole.  

Seems perhaps more complicated than the whole.

Consideration of the whole seems simpler than the parts.

And yet, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Climbing up into a tree.

Perhaps a tall building,

or an airplane.

Gives us the wider view! 

Allows us to see the beauty of our life.

Instead of drowning in the sea of the many parts if our life. 

 

Allows us to surf …

The whole of our life.   

Philip Seymour Hoffman Died Recently

With a needle in his arm.

Talented, successful, very rich.  Well, rich with money anyway. 

Somehow, also, very poor. 

 How can this be? 

We can wax eloquently about inner demons. 

About abusive parents. 

About our horrible society. 

Kevin D Williamson wrote an article about “The Big White Ghetto.”

Appalachia, stretching from northern Mississippi to southern New York. 

Laid to waste by a crumbling economy.  

Perhaps it makes some sense that people here are addicted to Oxycontin, heroin, and methamphetamine.  

Perhaps. 

So why do rich successful people become addicts?

Same reasons as everyone else. 

 

They are unhappy. 

And they often die way too early. 

With heroin, they don’t really mean to die, not just then, with a needle in their arm. 

They just want to “get the nod on.” 

To feel embraced by the false love and beauty they get while dancing in the arms of Morpheus. 

They die because they don’t really know what they are injecting.

That is one argument for legalization of drugs.   Regulation is knowledge. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/addictions.html

I am more interested in how we may live so fully in the here and now that we have no need for these drugs. 

How can we grow as these beings embodying Source, pushing at the edges of our being ever more present for ourselves and each other, as if there is really any “other.“

So that is why this blog exists.  

I am tossing out these words into the Universe.

To help you find your own Path.

To find a way to live fully in the present. 

Yet, to be an adult and plan for your future self.

Remember, no matter what your external circumstances. 

You can create your own beautiful embodiment of Source. 

Go do it!

Right now… 

Goodbye Philip Seymour Hoffman, may your memory be for a blessing. 

Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the Personality

I was noticing during meditation the partial or sometimes full deconstruction of the personality, depending on the depth of meditation.

Within deepest meditation, the personality completely deconstructs.

There is no Other. 

There is no inner, there is no outer. 

There is no one home. 

All-That-Is, and All-That-Is-Not, undifferentiated.   

Empty Fullness. 

Entheogens can do this as well, usually with a little less control. 

What is interesting is when the meditation session ends, the personality seems to spontaneously pop back into existence. 

But, each time you deconstruct the personality, there is a chance to reassemble this personality in a slightly different form. 

One possibility is to let go of unneeded emotional defenses.  This might raise you up on the evolutionary scale.

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

There is also the possibility of uncovering all sorts of shadows, those things you may have stuffed away in that long black bag you carry behind you.

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/taming-monsters-and-dragons.html

When shadows are uncovered there may be anxiety or even panic. 

Perhaps you may need to do some psychological or spiritual work for resolution. 

Something simple such as journaling might help.  Consider a self-guided visualization practice.  Maybe EFT, or EMDR could be helpful. 

Sometimes you just need some outside help.  A good psychotherapist can be invaluable to help to reconstruct the personality. 

Remember to forge your own path.

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/happiness-prescription.html

And use the 3 Commandments, in strict order, to test for truth:

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/enlightenment-part-5-final-secret.html 

        1-There is only one Source.

                    2-Love everything.

                              3-Enjoy yourself.

Then relax into clear seeing and enjoy this wonderful unfolding. 

Who Am I?

My wife was musing the other morning about a group of monks who were highly successful and known worldwide for their product, without using any advertising, just word of mouth.  The author then posited they were so successful because they answered the question “Who am I?”  Therefore, they followed their values and skills accordingly.

So she asked me how do I answer the question “Who am I?” 

That is always an interesting question!   

My first response is that the only true answer is, “we really can never know who we are.  It is the greatest mystery.” 

This is the central question used in an inner enquiry method call the “Enlightenment Intensive.” 

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

For me this question has been an important and wonderful contemplation within meditation. 

However, always the philosopher, I also added that the closest I can get to describing, “Who am I,” using words, might be the following:   

Although we think we are this constant “self.”  We are actually an ever-changing ebb and flow of energy as a manifestation of Source.

Source wants to appreciate itself, so “All That Is “arose so Source can hide away from Itself, and therefore, enjoy the mystery of Itself.

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/just-bags-of-saltwater-carrying-ocean.html

This reminds me of the book and movie, “The River Why.” 

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

Titus, the philosopher, is using a metaphor to explain to Gus, the fisherman, his relationship to Source (soul, essence).  He uses the metaphor of the fishing pole that Gus made and named Rodney.  Titus explains that the fishing pole is as aware of Gus as Gus is aware of Source.  It is a mystery that cannot easily be explained.  Titus at the end of this conversation says he swiped this metaphor from the great philosopher Plotinus. 

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

So, for this New Year I wish for each of you a wonderful contemplation of the question:   “Who am I?”

May your answers, or even simply the contemplation of this wonderful mystery, bring you peace, happiness, and joy! 

Feeling Source, Feeling Responsible

My wife and I fell into a discussion this morning about feeling responsible in the world.

What came up for me was that if you touch Source, you might realize that you are all of Source.  Then, as Source, you might feel responsible for everything that might be considered wrong in the world. 

However, when you put back on your comfortable overcoat of ego, you might make the mistake of thinking you, as a perceived “individual,” are still responsible for all the wrongs in the world. 

The truth is that you are fully responsible, but only when you are all of Source. 

When you put back on your overcoat of ego, you then have a choice of how to act. 

How will you choose to act, in order to co-create with Source?

One mistake we can make is to feel that we must right a perceived wrong, but we might be using idiot compassion.  For instance, we become fundamentalist about babies dying during an abortion, so we blow up a clinic, and end up killing adults. 

Or perhaps we blow up a bus or a building full of innocent people, to make a political statement regarding the wrongs that have been done. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-second-commandment-love-everything_20.html

So, how do we avoid these mistakes? 

Again, consider the 3 Commandments, in strict order: 

1-There is only One Source.

            2-Love Everything.

                        3-Enjoy yourself. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/enlightenment-part-5-final-secret.html

Why do we fail to put our actions in proper order?  

I feel this mistake comes from thinking we know what is the best correct action. 

Perhaps we don’t always. 

Before performing any action.  Give it the test of the Three Commandments. 

Respecting that there is only One Source, G-d, “All-that-Is,” is easy. 

Love Everything is where we often make our errors.