Gravity Sucks

Warning:  Religious concepts and discussion ahead. For those travelling with narrow and dogmatic views please take the next exit.

What is it about religion and religious systems and the number 3?  The Holy Trinity, the three objects of refuge, three levels of faith, to name a few.  Speaking of things in threes another “A’ha” moment came when considering religious systems and what they teach and then about what causes the conflicts.

As we discussed about the three villages religions seem to get caught up in the means and not the meaning of the religion.  For one I am confused when I hear expressions such as “there is only one God, and THEY believe in a false God”.  By definition, if there is ONLY one God then there can’t be a God of any other type, false or not.  It was for this reason that I am sure there were some confusion during the Crusades when God was being delivered to another monotheistic race who already believed in the same God.  Or when the Catholic Philippines were invaded in the name of bringing God to the islands.  Anyway, digression, rule of threes and pulling apart elements of religion.  This particular “A’ha” moment came about while considering what causes the disagreements between beliefs.

Usually disagreements, wars, banning of Lady Gaga, etc comes down to things like: creationism versus evolution, the number of wives you can have, worshipping on Saturday versus on Sunday, wearing a hat in the place of worship or, not wearing a hat in the place of worship, how we are born, which bits we cut off or are not allowed to touch, how we treat our hair or show our hair, what we wear, how we get married, what happens to the body after we die, obligations to family members, etc etc etc (with apologies to Yul Brynner) .  If we pull all of the elements of a religion apart I found that we have three categories.  Spiritual, Social, and Physical.  Remember these are my categories only.

Spiritual.  This is the bit that is how we relate to the bigger picture that can be called [insert name of deity here], sidebar – I vote that we call the bigger picture, god, God, the Universal Spirit or US, so we can all say that we worship “US”, and that we put our faith in “US”, unifying and unitary.  How we relate to “US” is the same as how we relate to other natural forces such as gravity.  Usually the “US” is put in terms of an image that we can relate to that means BIG and POWERFUL and worthy of worship.  Whatever we call it, it is still the same “bigger picture” whether we believe in it or not and no matter what we call it.  I am pretty sure that gravity still has an effect on us whether we believe in it or not.  Similarly, the spiritual element is related to the natural law of us and our life force, soul, spirit, consciousness etc. The “US”.

Social. This is the bit that relates to how we treat each other.  Whether a man can beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb, or to discipline his wife with a toothbrush (btw), a woman can divorce her husband with certain words, actions and time frames, and whether we cut off bits or cover up other bits and what food we can eat and when.  All of these become a social decision about how we live in a community to ensure peace and concord, and in some cases have a healthy lifestyle related to our environment.  They are, at the end of the day, rules and social agreements about how we live with each other.

Physical.  The other part of this trinity is the Physical element of religion.  This is the bit that relates to how this earth was created, etc.  As we know, this is often stated as “God created the earth”.  Now there is, I am sure, considerably more detail than this.  And as we gain a better understanding of science and means of assessing the age of the earth we are getting a better idea.  In fact the whole creation of the earth and how we came to be on it is quite amazing in and of itself and arguments over how this universe was created is an exercise in futility and is not an expression of the effectiveness of a belief system.

So, of these three areas, my experience is that it is usually the Social and Physical elements that get quoted as why other religions and belief systems are WRONG.  The argument over Creationism v Evolution is a key point, it is not about whether there is a [insert name of big picture and/or controller] or not but about how we came to be here.  Or arguments about whether this teacher said this or that teacher said something else.  And whether THOSE people will lower the value of the neighbourhood because they are [insert favourite generalised religion here].  Surely the lesson is more important than the teacher?  Truth is truth no matter who is teaching it and dogmatic arguments over dogma have no effect except to groom, feed and motivate the Ego Hound.  Religion is NOT a club that we belong to that is in competition with others.

At the end of the day (pun intended), it is not up to us to criticise others for the way that they practice their life, or to criticise them for their views so long as we live with the knowledge that we all end up subject to the same natural laws.

3 Villages

In a time long ago there were three villages around the base of a large mountain.  One village was on the left of the mountain and every day they looked up and saw a large peak and to go to the top of the mountain they would follow the path in a zig zag pattern to the top which was not so hard but took a long time.  They saw that the mountain was mighty and they worshipped this mountain.  The second village was at the base of the mountain in the middle and every day they lived in the shadow of the mountain and to go to the top of the mountain they would follow a very steep path straight up and would arrive there after an immense amount of effort.  They knew that any mountain that could control the power of the sun must be mighty and they worshipped this mountain.  The third villagewas to the right of the mountain where it was on a small hill and to them the mountain was smooth and not so powerful and to get to the top they would take a gentle stroll along the smooth hill.  They didn’t think much of the mountain, anyway they much preferred to look the other way where they had a view of the mighty sea and they worshipped the ocean.

Because the mountain was mighty to the first two villages and because it was irrelevant to the third village, none of the villagers had climbed the mountain as to do so would have been disrespectful to some and waste of good energy to the other.

However, one day, a meeting was arranged by the three villages to discuss trade and cooperation.  During this meeting the chief from the first village insisted that they all worship the mighty mountain peak, the second chief insisted that they all worship the mighty mountain that controls the sun.  The third chief thought they were both a bit crazy as the mountain wasn’t powerful or even particularly impressive.  They then insisted that to prove the power of the mountain that they climb to the top.  All three chiefs started arguing over the best way to get to the top of the mountain with no chief ready to give up his claim on the best way.  They then started fighting with first two chiefs started fighting amongst themselves for worshipping a false deity and then attacked the third chief for being a non-believer.  At this the meeting broke up and a period of inter-village warfare began.

Not once during this period did anybody venture to climb the mountain to see the truth of the mountain but continued to stay at the foot of the mountain and attacked the other villages for their false beliefs.  Subsequently each of the paths to the top started to become overgrown through lack of use as everyone was too busy arguing over the best way to actually see the truth and to gain realisation of the Truth that there is only one mountain with many aspects and many ways to get to the top.

Are you stuck waging a war or are you climbing to find the truth?  Time to put on my hiking boots and continue to climb …  And, what will you do once you get to the top?

Your Friends and Me

Note:  The names, sex, and reality of the following have been changed and there is no resemblance to any person living or deceased or anywhere in between.

I would like to introduce you to three of your acquaintances .  Lets just call them Acquaintance 1 (A1), Acquaintance 2 (A2), and Acquaintance 3 (A3).  These three acquaintances represent three different groups of people that you have met.   All of them have embarked on a quest of spiritualism for various reasons, as we do.  They have followed different teachers, methods, religions, and cultures.   A1 is a Spiritual Materialist, A2 is a Spiritual Shopper and A3 is a Spiritual Supremacist.  Lets talk about these:

Spiritual Materialist.  The Spiritual Materialist has been mentioned in earlier posts.  A1 is very outgoing and very social person with most of their friends being of a spiritual nature.  They are often the centre of attention and like to hold court about lots of subjects.  One of their favourite subjects is often the recent or upcoming attendance at “amazing”, “uplifting”, and/or “empowering” sessions with this guru or that teacher.  And to prove it they will be sporting the Empowering wrist bands, carrying the latest book from the guru or wearing the amazing T-Shirt that they purchased from the lifestyle coach.  There are often conversations about “have you attended [insert name of guru]’s workshops? You really MUST”.  Then the next month it is off to another session, different teacher, group, approach, location and accessories to prove that they have been to this or that AMAZING workshop and they, therefore, are also AMAZING.

Spiritual Shopper.  A2 is quiet and reserved and you suspect that somewhere, in their past, someone told them that they were not quite good enough and they believed them.   The Spiritual Shopper will often be seen attending some of the same workshops and events as A1 but they don’t engage in the self promotion.  However, they attend on their own, or buy the books, or the CDs or DVDs and have every intention of feeling better about themselves.  After attending, reading and listening to the various gurus/teachers they continue believe that the answer lies outside of them and what they have seen is not quite right.  They believe that if they attend enough, or read enough they will finally be good enough.  They usually find that attendance has the opposite effect as they see people like A1 with their confidence and their social engagement and compare themselves and, in their own judgement, fall short.   To admit that they are on this journey to other people is a bridge too far and therefore they keep it to themselves and continue looking for that ONE workshop, guru, book that will make them feel good about themself.

Spiritual Supremacist.  A3 is an interesting person.  It is hard to talk to them without feeling that they are comparing, judging and criticising.  They would have you believe that they already know the truth and that what they know is the only way to arrive at that truth.  This teacher said this and it is the Truth, therefore, what your teacher said, or what you read, MUST be WRONGGGGGGG.  Or maybe we didn’t understand that that what we thought we knew to be true must be misconstrued and therefore we are WRONGGGGG. “ BUT”, you say,” the means that I use to gain an understanding of Truth also includes …”. . “NO that is not taught in my belief system so therefore you are WRONGGGGG”.  After a while you start to believe that they are not looking for friends, they are looking for disciples.

A common thread through these three acquaintances of yours is that they are all using Spritualism as a crutch for their Ego Hound.  A1 feels the need to self promote so that they can feel superior to others based on their presence to greatness, their ego has them in a continual search for acceptance and gratification.  A2 has an ego that that keeps telling them that they are not good enough but CAN be good if they indulge in external stimulus that is never quite what they need, move on to the next one.  A3’s Ego Hound is doing double time by elevating itself by chomping down on all the others around them.

My “A’ha” moment came when I realised that the Ego Hound is sneaky and comes in different forms.  And that the best approach to each of these is compassion.  The wish for them to be free from suffering so that they can experience true happiness.  Or, the wish for them to be free from the bite of their own personal Ego Hound.  With compassion we don’t buy into the: Attention Seeking, Negative Talk, or the Self Elevation by putting other people down.  We see them as suffering and know that application of true Mindfulness is required.  Mindfulness in our approach, our method, and our relationships.

Note:  As Mahatma Ghandi once said, or approximately:  “I will not allow anyone to walk through my mind in their dirty shoes”.

What is this thing called, love?

“Jealousy is a sign of love”.

This has been said to me on quite a few occasions. First response, “interesting”. And then the question, “Why is jealousy a sign of love”. And then the standard answer, “well if you get jealous of someone then that shows that you care about them”. “Give me an example” , I ask. “Well, there is a tale of a wife that got jealous because another woman gave her husband soup”. “AND” I ask? “That is all, she got jealous that someone else gave him soup”. “Did he like the soup?” “Maybe”, “So why was she jealous”? “Because someone else gave him the soup”. Curiouser and curiouser.

And then, A’HA, “So she wasn’t really jealous for HIM, she was upset that she didn’t do something for her husband?” Hmmmm?

In previous blogs we have spoken about being mindful that relates to how we observe our feelings and the ego that tries to trick us into feeding the “Ego Hound” that puts the perception of self to the forefront. By feeding the Soul/Spirit dog we focus on benefiting others so that our ego is ignored and subsequently starts to fade away and the Soul Dog is able to grow and prosper. So how does this relate to love. Well, what is this thing called, love. Oops, what is this thing called love.

Definition time: (btw a certain search engine gives more than 10 BILLION returns for a search on Love)

• Love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection; and “the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”. Love may also be described as actions towards others or oneself based on compassion, or as actions towards others based on affection.
• a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person,  a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend, sexual passion or desire.
• Love is expressed as an action and experienced as a feeling. Yet, love has an essence that resists defining in any single way––it encompasses compassion, tolerance, endurance, support, faith, determination and more. Love reaches beyond romance and embraces us in all walks of life as we encounter one another and make choices about respecting and caring for each other.
• God is love.
• A wish for all sentient beings to experience happiness and the causes of happiness.
• Greek Categories: Agape generally refers to a “pure,” ideal type of love, rather than the physical attraction suggested by eros. Eros is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. Philia a dispassionate virtuous love. Storge is natural affection. Xenia refers to hospitality.

Common themes seem to be about compassion, unselfishness (interesting), emotion towards another, benevolent.  So it does seem to mean that love is that emotion whereby we wish good things for others without regard for our own well being. Nowhere do we see that love is dependent on the emotions of another, love generated from within and not dependent on external influences.

In other words, love is the emotion that is related to the Spirit/Soul with all its positive consequences.   The Soul Dog is thriving. Soul relates to the concept of God and if Soul is related to love then God is Love.

So what is jealousy. Just one definition will capture the essence of this (only 41 million returns in the search):

• Jealousy is an emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection

In this, jealousy is the emotion that relates to the protection of the perceived self. Jealousy is another name for the feeling that the Ego Hound experiences when it is not being fed. Or jealousy is the feeling of the ego experiencing a loss of power and status.

Therefore, to eliminate feelings of jealousy we can practice mindfulness in terms of being aware of the emotion and the lack of foundation of the self that is causing the emotion. By then wishing the object of our love to be happy with true benevolence (taking the self out of the situation) then the Ego Hound is left with an empty bowl.

If we go the first example. You see someone giving your partner something that they enjoy, something that will benefit them. If you truly love that person what feeling would you experience?

Comments please.

Breaking Up Mindfully, by DB

Note:  This post is by a very good friend of mine, her experience is an example of how we can achieve clarity through mindfulness.  I encourage sharing of experiences. Thank you very much DB.

This is the story, between my old loyal lover and me. And how the love between us ended, without me resenting him.

The relationship lasted for the best part of 15 years.  It was a deep, compassionate and yet complicated relationship. He was very loyal, always there whenever I needed him, especially when I felt sad, depressed, anxious, stressed or any other negative feeling. He was always there without any complaints or expecting anything in return from me. He was the dependable crutch that I leant on to support me, however, people said whenever I was with him he endangered my love and my health. Because his name was often seen in billboards and advertisements – he was also known as cigarettes.

Yes, I was addicted to cigarettes for 15 years. Within a day, on average, I consumed him 20-30 times.  Just like everybody else, I was totally aware of the danger from smoking as well as the benefit of quitting.  At work, we even made a comprehensive campaign on Quit Smoking for one of our clients. But yet, I did not have any will to part from my lover.

I am the kind of person who has an unusual hobby:  I attend meditation retreats.  From one retreat to another, from the 3 day retreat to the 5 days to the 7 days up to 10 days.  And every time I attended a retreat I automatically took an enforced break from my lover.  After that, I would come back to my old lover.  But last August, the story between my lover and me were totally different.

It was a retreat lead by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn. At that retreat I took Five Mindfulness Training. One of the points from that training is that I vow to keep my body healthy thru selective consumption for body and mind. Out of nowhere, I decided to train myself to refrain from smoking. The first four weeks, I survived. However, after the four weeks had passed, I suffered from deep stress at the office.  And yes…. as you may guess, I was tempted to go back to my lover. However, this time was different. I made a very great innovation called: Mindful Smoking.  Well at least I still did it mindfully.

And this is how Mindful Smoking worked. I look deeply at the cigarette box, then gently tear the seal and open the box.  And again, I took a deep look at those beautiful cigarettes inside the box.  Slowly I reach for one of them, pull it out and let it dance in the beautiful fire from the cigarette lighter. Take a deep breath of clean air before I allow it touch my lips. And finally that sacred moment finally arrived. I smoke it! Slowly, gently, deeply, mindfully. Ahhhhh…… One puff…. Two puffs…three puffs… but waitttt…. It did not feel as good as before. Instead, my throat hurt, my mouth got hot, my chest felt tight. And suddenly the realisation came to me. I realized that it was all in my mind saying smoking was good and relaxing. The reality was that smoking did not feel good at all, physically to be more precise.  And at that moment I also realized that all of these times, I smoked just to please, distract and run away from any unpleasant feelings such as stress, sadness, and loneliness. I did not want to face them.

Those stressed, sad, angry and, lonely feelings would always be there in my life.  I cannot avoid them.  But yes, I have the option to embrace them or to run away / distract myself from them. And I choose to learn, as often as possible and I can, to embrace them as friends. When those friends come to visit me, I will sit quietly and take care of them. Just like my master Thich Nhat Hahn taught us, treat those feelings like a mother takes care of her baby. If her baby is crying, then another will hold her baby gently, communicate deeply and finally the baby will sleep again. So if those friends are visiting me, then I will sit quietly, take deep breath. Then I will recognize their presence and take a gentle care of them through breathing mindfully.  Slowly those friends will leave me.

It’s been 7 months and I am still learning to break up with my old lover. And this learning to break up process becomes easier for me, with a mindful and gentle approach. No resentment and no broken hearts….

Which One Will You Feed Today?

Scared Aware – Mindfulness in Action

Have you ever had one of those moments where time seems to slow down and your mind is completely and totally focussed on the task at hand with no value judgements, complaints, comparisons or other mind chatter?  Sometimes this state is called being “in the zone” and it may happen in moments of abject terror.  It is this feeling that adrenalin junkies chase, not so much the adrenalin but the feeling “at one” with something.  It is also this promise that Spiritual Materialists (SM) chase (more of SMs in later posts)

I can recall a couple of times where this state of being “in the zone” was brought on by a clear and impending threat to my “self” with the resultant  super-heightened state of awareness.  One was whilst skydiving and the “toggle/handle” for the main parachute had managed to be tucked up inside the parachute casing and was therefore hidden from site.  Being at around 1000 feet above sea level and plummeting towards the earth at terminal velocity was not the time to be going into denial about my situation.  Now was the time to work on the problem with no thoughts for “how dare this happen to me” or, more correctly, “who was the idiot that packed my parachute?” (it was me by the way).  Now was the time to eliminate all extraneous thoughts and focus on the task at hand.  And, yes, time did appear to slow down, and I did successfully deploy the reserve parachute. Another time was whilst playing sport and all thoughts except for the here and now were eliminated and a level of heightened awareness was attained.

This state of awareness is also called being “mindful”.  In some ways it is mis-named as it is really about being “ego-less” as much as it is about being “mind-full” .  As we have seen in earlier posts the ego is the one that concentrates on the impression of self and applies all the value judgements to situations in an attempt to elevate its own status, usually at the expense of others (including the Consciousness/Spirit/Soul .    It is interesting that when the source of the ego, the body, is threatened that the Ego goes into hiding and we are able to attain a state of mindfulness, in other words the ego is a COWARD.

The good news is that being mindful doesn’t require having the bejeebers scared out of you and we can bring this level of heightened awareness into everyday situations.  This level of mindfulness is attained by establishing a practice that thrives on Soul Food as mentioned in previous postings and results in the Ego Hound being hounded into submission.  Simply it involves the practice of being in the here and now.  This is one of the purposes of meditation, in all its formed, as it trains the mind to be able to ignore the ego and, as a result, we can bring our mind to bear on our choice of subject.

The advantages of being mindful include:

• We see situations as they are,
• We are not swayed by the concept of self or self aggrandizement,
• We can be more analytical and less swayed by negative emotions,
• We can establish and attain a state of happiness,
• We are able to identify the true source and path of happiness.

For this reason practices that encourage waking, and every day, mindfulness include the awareness that the self as a self sustaining and existing entity is a myth and that by focussing on the well being of others we are able to realise happiness. Ahhh the joy of contradictions, by focussing on others we can benefit our own state of being. However if our motivation in doing good works is based on self reward I am sure that this would be feeding the Ego Hound.  Motivation Matters!

Next time you are in traffic (walking, driving, riding) and somebody does something that annoys you, be mindful, and compassionate, towards them and, “A’ha” you will find that you are not drawn into the aggressive state.  If you can maintain this you will find that your emotion will elevate until you actually feel a sustained level of happiness.  This is equally applicable to our work colleagues, our loved ones, our children or total strangers.  Be mindful, compassionate, and be happy.

Soul Food or Ego Food?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

OK, so now I had a little insight into the difference between Consciousness/Spirit/Soul etc  and the Ego.    More thinking and contemplation required.  What is the difference between the two and what is the role of each of them.   Also, what sustains them?  Headaches coming on then I was reading and came across the following and “A’ha”,  it all fell into place.

“Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog, all of the time.”  When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied “The one I feed the most.”

The problem I had was the definition of evil and the definition of good.  Both of which are subjective in that what is evil to one person might be good to another.  One persons Robin Hood is another persons Criminal, so to speak.  How about if we move some terms around?  To be evil can mean: Profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, or transgression against a moral code.  These are sometimes called sins.  Originally the word Sin meant to “miss the mark” as in archery.  Therefore to be evil means to miss the mark or to act in way which does not have a positive result.  Bear with me, we are getting somewhere.  Not necessarily negative results but “not positive”.   Sort of similar to the expression that darkness is not an entity in itself but an absence of light. So if you are not doing something positive you are doing something “not-positive”.

Therefore one dog inside us is preoccupied with activities, behaviours and development of characteristics that “miss the mark” or are “not positive”.   Most of these behaviours are premised on the belief that the “Self” is the pre-eminent character in the play of life.  And given that the perception of Self is absent of any actual basis and is thereby based on the concept of a physical “self” I could see that the first dog was the Ego.

The other dog is called the “Good” dog.  This would mean that this dog was the opposite of Evil (aka Ego).  It would also mean that the other dog was the opposite of “Not-Positive” which would make it the “Positive” motivator.  And, being the counter to Ego it must be related to the Consciousness or Soul.  So inside us we have two drivers, one for the Ego and one for the Consciousness/Spirit/Soul.

So what do we feed each of these dogs to sustain them and to ensure their victory in the fight?  Ego food and Soul Food, of course.  No not THAT kind of Soul Food.

Food for the Ego

Food for the Ego would be anything that is “Not Positive” this would mean that it would include the absence of acting positively and may include (in no set order):

-          Traditional Mainstream Old Testament type Transgressions including: Murder, Stealing, Lying, coveting thy neighbours ass, gossip (tabloid journalism?)

-          Wasting of time that could be used for positive things: Video Games, reality shows, soap operas, gossip, wanton focus on accumulation of wealth and property, chatting, texting, social media, smoking cats, talking dogs, etc (thoughts?)

In this day and age of technology the number of avenues to feed the ego are many and varied and the common ego mantra is “I am bored” and therefore the endless craving for stimulation either mental or physical that is encouraged through the media that seems intent on convincing us that we are less than complete without the addition of some externally impressive addition, or subtraction (for body image issues).  All of these result in the nourishing of the Ego with the resultant malnutrition of the Soul.

Food for the Soul/Spirit

If the Ego menu consists of self indulgent sustenance then logically Soul Food would be the diet of contribution outside of the constraints of the physical body.  The fare on offer may include activities with a positive motivation:

-          Prayer/meditation where the thoughts are for others

-          Working to improve the lot of others

-          Donations without thoughts of return or benefit

-          Thought and effort to create a positive outcome with positive motivation

-          Non-Attachment to physical elements

-          Research, study, activities with a positive motivation

All of these have that two main elements, they have a positive motivation and they have effort, in this way the Spirit and the Body work together where the body is subjugated to the positive motivation of the Spirit.

Even when we are indulging in Soul Food the Ego continues to try to attract our attention.  There you are in prayer or meditation and the mind skips from topic to topic like a mental stock market ticker, or that annoying strip at the bottom of daily talk shows:  “I really want that new bag, looks like he has put on some weight, wonder if my boss noticed the mistake in my report, I am bored, wonder if everyone else is bored” OOOOPS focus focus focus.

It is amazing how the ego doesn’t like it when we focus on the external but, eventually, it too sees the futility as it is deprived of nourishment and realises that it doesn’t have the strength to fight against the continued consumption of Soul Food.  And when the Ego gives up the ghost we can then see things as they are and bring our pure thoughts to focus through the practice of “Mindfulness”.

Taxiiiiiii!

One day while sitting and standing and walking and pondering the question/concept of impermanence and no-self I had the vague understanding that this was going to be hard to get my head around. Of course there is a self, what is all this about, I have a name and a body and people walk up to me in the street and, most of the time, get my name right. So I must have a self. And, of course, this self must be very delicate because we must protect it, right? It would make sense, we are taught that we must be respected, that is, this “self” must be respected and we must even “self respect”. Sort of like the cult of “Self”, in a selfish sort of way.

One day I tried an experiment, can I identify where this “self” exists? “How to do this?”, this self thinks to myself in a selfish way. “How about a visualisation meditation?” OK, sit calmly, single point meditation, shoo the monkeys out of the mind, lets go. “ Self”, I thinks to my self, “stand calmly and slowly rise. Come on, up you go” I prompt. This self image was rooted to the ground in a sincere effort on being land based until self was reassured that this was a visualisation and therefore no harm would come to ones self.

Try again. Visualise this aggregate self to rise slowly into the air. “Well done, we have levitation”, I think to my self. “OK, lets try something a bit different and find where this self is located.” While rising my foot falls off, “WHAT?” Cries my self. Its ok, its just a visualisation. OK, lets keep it going. Now that I am levitating minus my left foot am I still my “self”? Well of course I am! Me thinks to my self, my friends would still associate this self with me and the correct name would still be used. Lets see what happens next. Continue to rise as the right foot falls off, its ok, we are levitating (and it is a visualisation after all. Now that we are footless is this still my self, yes it is. I guess we haven’t located the source of this “self” just yet. It certainly wasn’t in my feet.

Keep rising as my left leg detaches and plummets. Am I still my self? Yes I am, so we have determined it wasn’t in my leg. This continues as my right leg goes the same way as the left. Shortly followed by the pelvic region, left arm, right arm, and chest. All that remains is my head. OK, this is starting to sound kind of spooky but it is just an exercise. “So, head”, I say to myself, “are you still me.” “ Yes I am my self answers”, so none of the meaty bits that have since removed themselves from this exercise in “self” exploration are, in fact, my “self”.

Nothing else left to do, except, lose the head. Yes, piece by piece the head dissolves and fades away until just the brain is left. Hmmm, so now that I can see my brain, and I can observe my thoughts. And I know that my brain produces my thoughts, I am guessing that my brain is not actually my “self”. Away with you then.

A’ha – So what was I left with? I was left with the realisation that nowhere in the physical, bag of bones and meat is my “self” that I spend so much time protecting. In fact, this physical aggregate is nothing more than a temporary means of transportation for the thing that was conscious all through this exercise. So what do we call this bit that was conscious of all of this? I choose to call it my “consciousness”.  Others might call it soul, eternal self, the absolute truth, or psyche.  So this physical aggregate might be called a Consciousness Taxi!

This exercise prompted more searching and research into the body. Apparently it was made from dust and a deity blew life into the nostrils, or so goes one belief system. I also learned that we are not all one age. Our brain is as old as we are, the gut lining is about 5 days old, our muscles about 15 years old, and our skin cells are about 14 days old. No wonder the house gets dusty with all those cells flicking everywhere. And, apparently, there is a Body Control Room – sort of like a command centre – for the body. I think we call it – “ego”.

A’ha Moments on the Path to …

There are a number of types of people in relation to the search for meaning and truth.  Those that latch onto the ritual and the dogma and those that look for the common meaning of the methods they choose.  These methods vary and include the popular religions as well as the spiritual and personal development movements.  And, boy, do some people latch on. From those that wage wars to show that their version is correct to the Spiritual Materialists that collect seminars, quotes and t-shirts.

This blog is one sentient beings version of the path and the “a’ha” moments along the way.  You know those moments when you just get “it”.  Whether we call these a’ha moments realisations or glimpses of the blindingly obvious they do make the journey worthwhile.  And, just between you and me, the “it” is not as complex as some make out.

The intention is to be inclusive as most of the “a’ha” moments have shown a commonality to the belief systems.  Any variance from others understandings is natural and will, if considered, support the intention if not the dogma.  Same destination, different path.

Keep posted.