Thursday, October 29, 2015
How did you know when you 'found yourself'?
When asked a question, to really know the answer means to find it deep within yourself. But what does that mean?
There is a big difference between feeling as deeply within as you are capable of feeling and feeling all the way to the depth. Commonly, people are taught that the depth of their being is an emotional level. That is not correct. Others believe that it is an intellectual level of clarity, which is also incorrect.
The depth of your being is generally a highly elusive thing. Why? Because of what I call ‘astral echoes’. When you drop a pebble in a pond, rings ripple out in concentric circles. Each circle corresponds to the circle closer to the center. All existence, including your being and your psyche, is like that. For example, when someone says they feel their oneness with everything, it means different things on different levels. New Agers may hold hands and emotionally feel they are one with everything. Many religions incite this emotional response with music and pomp. I remember when I would lecture about oneness in the early 1970s, hippies would say they took LSD and had the experience of Oneness, or God, and therefore, knew everything I was talking about. Even intellectuals reflect on modern physics theories of Oneness and decide that they ‘get it’. Spiritual leaders also decide that they ‘get it’ and promote their perspective. I call that the ‘I Get It Syndrome’. Due to astral echoes, everything has a corresponding meaning on all levels (concentric rings around the pebble in the pond) and the listener is certain they know exactly what you are talking about. This is why spiritual knowledge is so highly elusive.
Memorizing spiritual teachings and texts is not the solution. Why? Because they are read from the level of understanding of the reader and are thusly interpreted. That is why so many spiritually oriented people think they are ‘enlightened’. After all, they totally ‘get it’. Right?
To truly under-stand is to look deeper, to see deeper, to experience deeper and deeper levels until the very depth of your being is known.
The depth of your being lies beyond the reach of thoughts… beyond the reach of emotions. It transcends relativity. To attain it is to refine, refine, refine, your awareness. The most powerful tool to do that is PROPER MEDITATION. The cultivation of discernment is also essential. Otherwise, you lose yourself to echoes of Truth, perceived as Truth, which then holds Truth at bay.
Indeed, the path to Truth is highly elusive. Of course, that is actually a good thing. If not so elusive, everyone would have figured it all out long ago and the game would be over!
What Do You Know, and How Do You Know It?
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What kind of meditation is effective for enlightenment?
This simple principle is responsible for the profoundly elusive mysteries of life. Everything is an echo of something deeper. Unless we are attentive, we equate the echo with the real thing. Many well-intended teachers provide meditation techniques that provide students with an echo. Echoes of truth, perceived as truth, hold truth at bay. This exists eternally in all of life. It is why true spiritual growth is likened to traversing a razors edge or passing through the eye of the needle.
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So how do you take this and decide if you are doing a proper meditation that is actually working? Well, there are a few fundamental qualities… the meditation must be natural… easy… simple… etc. However, you can say that about many things. So the ultimate answer boils down to the cultivation of discernment. You must become discerning in your evaluation of all things… including the choice of the meditation technique you use.
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Keep in mind that we do not meditate to attain a particular experience during meditation. We meditate for the benefits meditation provides… the purification of the nervous system and physiology. The actual experience of meditation can vary, based upon the way each individual’s physiology is purifying at a particular time.
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I know this can be unsatisfying, but it is the truth. We all would like to have a signpost along the way, confirming we are moving in the right direction. However, the only genuine signpost is accessible deep within you. As you cultivate and employ wise discernment, it becomes more accessible to you.
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Listen carefully in life and choose wisely. Admittedly, it is enjoyable and encouraging to have a meditation that feels deep and profound, but let the path of discernment be your guiding light.
Learn Surya Ram Meditation
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Friday, October 23, 2015
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
What is the best way to practice patience?
“Genius is eternal patience.” – Michelangelo
What does it mean to be patient? On the surface, it may involve some self-control… resisting the impulse to speak or act. However, at the depth it is rooted in something quite different.
The Transcendent is infinitely patient. There is no time. There is infinite silence… infinite peace… infinite love, infinite understanding. The Transcendent stands under all that is… underlies all that is… understands all that is. It is the wellspring of infinite intelligence, infinite wisdom, infinite love, and infinite creativity. It is the very source of all the intelligence and creativity that birthed this entire universe. It is the silent, eternal witness.
By resting into that and living from that place within, you give nature the time and conditions required to well up through you with the full grandeur of all those qualities… intelligence, wisdom, love, creativity, understanding… i.e. the genius which is eternal patience… Divinity… Your True Nature.
Patience
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How do you become less attached?
Some speak of enlightenment as a state of non-attachment. However, the state of non-attachment is generally misunderstood as an outward state of no material possessions or affinities. That is not correct. Such non-attachment on the surface of life is more a personality trait than an attribute of enlightenment.
There certainly is the state of being where you are eternally awake to that which is the source of all that is… one with all that is. On that level, you need not cling to (be attached to) anything because you are already one with it. You do not desire something when you already have it. However, the surface of your life is still active on the level of duality… separation. On that level, desires still exist.
“Cross realm projection” means taking the laws of nature on one level and trying to project them upon another level where they are simply not valid. That type of error is the source of the notion of no desire or attachment on the surface of life. It is nonsense. Enlightened people still love their families. They still have desires. They are still compelled to act, for example, out of their desire to help others. However, they are also simultaneously awake to the level of their being that is eternally one with everything… non-attached… desire-less.
The Law of Subtraction, in the deepest sense, refers to your depth being overshadowed by less and less. The Sun shines forth more and more as the clouds are subtracted away. On the more relativistic (i.e. more dualistic or superficial) levels of life, the Law of Subtraction means the discarding of unhealthy habits, addictions, lifestyles, etc. Slowly your life is lived more in harmony with your true nature. In so doing joy, happiness, fulfillment etc. are experienced more and more fully. This sort of distinction (between how laws of nature apply differently to the depth and the surface) is critical in many areas of life.
The Sun within is always shining. It need only be revealed to each and every level of your being in a manner unique to each level.
Non-Attachment
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Friday, October 9, 2015
How can I vote responsibly when my views are non-partisan and candidates (or their publicists) continuously lie about what they are going to do in office?
We should be asking ourselves what is the nature of their character.
How do we evaluate character?
Through a feeling we get from watching them during debates and public appearances on the campaign trail. Yet, if we are not careful, the feeling is swayed, not by the integrity of the person, but by superficial criterion.
Does a candidate’s moral code need to align with ours? How do we reconcile their career success with their polarizing stances on hot button topics like immigration? Does the lack of charisma or good looks turn us off?
Asking these questions requires brutal honesty and self-enquiry.
Are we capable of taking a step back and looking at the candidates anew?
Only by taking a step back and feeling that person from an unbiased place within ourselves, can we get a sense of that individual’s character.
The point here is that we should look out for our knee-jerk reactions and tendency to dismiss certain candidates without asking the deeper questions. Wisdom means balance. It’s not black and white.
Before we can evaluate a Presidential candidate, we must be able to find the place of balance within ourselves.
I have no intention here of offering my personal perspective on any of the candidates. Instead, I offer questions as food for thought.
I ask you to look beyond your biases and conditioned responses, because only then can you access the wisdom that lies deep within you.
As you watch the presidential debates, remember that a wise, discerning and effective leader will only be elected by wise, discerning and reflective voters.
Presidential Debates: What We Should be Asking Ourselves.
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What qualities and accomplishments do you look for in a presidential candidate?
We should be asking ourselves what is the nature of their character.
How do we evaluate character?
Through a feeling we get from watching them during debates and public appearances on the campaign trail. Yet, if we are not careful, the feeling is swayed, not by the integrity of the person, but by superficial criterion.
Does a candidate’s moral code need to align with ours? How do we reconcile their career success with their polarizing stances on hot button topics like immigration? Does the lack of charisma or good looks turn us off?
Asking these questions requires brutal honesty and self-enquiry.
Are we capable of taking a step back and looking at the candidates anew?
Only by taking a step back and feeling that person from an unbiased place within ourselves, can we get a sense of that individual’s character.
Wouldn’t it be refreshing if one candidate could respond to the other by saying, “That is an excellent point you make. On the other hand, let’s consider this.”
The point here is that we should look out for our knee-jerk reactions and tendency to dismiss certain candidates without asking the deeper questions. Wisdom means balance. It’s not black and white.
Before we can evaluate a Presidential candidate, we must be able to find the place of balance within ourselves.
I have no intention here of offering my personal perspective on any of the candidates. Instead, I offer questions as food for thought.
I ask you to look beyond your biases and conditioned responses, because only then can you access the wisdom that lies deep within you.
As you watch the presidential debates, remember that a wise, discerning and effective leader will only be elected by wise, discerning and reflective voters.
Presidential Debates: What We Should be Asking Ourselves.
Michael Mamas Blog
See Questions On Quora
from Michael Mamas on Quora http://ift.tt/1RysRF0
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