Not What People Here Adore

What cannot be thought with the mind, but that whereby the mind can think,
Know that to be Brahman, the spirit, and not what people here adore.
Kena Upanishads (from Sacred Scriptures of the World's Religions)

What the heck does that mean, crazy lady?

Having a hard time with other scripture?

People, who are not followers of Hinduism, may read that and see the yogic and Hindu philosophy, the reference to God as "Brahman" and the word "spirit" and immediately pull back  as if stung by a poisonous snake. I know...I have heard it all before. 

Many devote followers of monotheistic  religions  believe it is blasphemous to refer to "false Gods", to speak of spirit out of context of the trinity and most importantly to have someone  insinuate that they may be too attached to the superficial  while they focus their pursuit of "knowledge" and happiness ' in the wrong direction. This line ( all lines) from these Upanishads may ruffle more than a few feathers.

Truth beyond the resistance

Putting aside our fear of the different, our conditioning, the enforced sense of right and wrong our religious upbringings may have left us with, what do these words mean? How can we understand them in a way that will help us grow as human beings, regardless of what religion we adhere to?

Kena Upanishads

The Kena Upanishads,  among many ancient Sanskrit texts, also known as the vedantas,  possibly written in the first millennium BCE are indeed the foundations on which Hinduism was built.  Yet, their deepest literal meanings imply more to the yogic search for truth in Self and therefore offer , I believe, teachings that  can transcend religious barriers.  I particularly find a certain resonance with the above words.

In this translation, which may be lacking a bit of the poetry that I have read  in other translations, the teaching refers to our need to get beyond our thoughts to what is actually doing the thinking.

Huh?

Brahman is the eternal, creative force that lies in the basis of  all things. It is the ultimate reality,  the ultimate truth.  Hmmm!  Does that sound familiar?  The spirit referred to here is translated from the word Atman which basically means the inner Self or what many of us know of  as the "soul". So, beyond the names and the words,  we have the Supreme Creative Force, the Source of all things and the soul within. How far from your own religious beliefs is that?

What it means

Anyway...these lines are saying that it is not what the mind thinks but that which makes the mind think that is God, that is the soul within us.  It is not what is going on in the mind or outside us in the physical world that we mistakenly adore, that is important but what has always been there on the  inside  of us.  The truth is not out there...the truth is within.

Here we are lost in all the mind is telling us, lost in the materialism of this world...much too identified with it, much too attached to it , that we fail to tap into that which lies beneath it all, that  from which it all sprang and was created, that which is truly important.

Whether you use "Brahman" or "God", "Atman or soul...the teaching is universal, is it not?

Turn your direction inward, away from what was created to What creates it all.  We do not need to be one of those people who adore the superficial and the false. We can be people who see and experience the truth.

Well that is how I see it...but... what do I know?

All is well.



Price, Joan. (2010) Sacred Scriptures of the World's Religions. London: Continuum Books

Yes...I am citing Wikipedia...because it had the most comprehensive information I could find.  Koodles to that site!:
Upanishads . Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads

That whereby the mind can think

What cannot be spoken with words, but that thereby words are spoken:
know that alone to be Brahman, the spirit, and not what people here adore.
What can not be thought with the mind, but that whereby the mind can think:
know that alone to be Brahman, the spirit, and not what people here adore.
-Kena Upanishads (excerpt from Sacred Scriptures of the world's religions, Joan A. Price, 2010)


How do I serve?  How do I give what is left of "my life" ( Life) away? What is my Life? Who am I?

I  am praying on that  and I am meditating on that  and ...the answer I keep coming up with is I just don't know!

I used to be so terrified of those words, "I don't know."  I thought they diminished "me"...made me smaller and less adequate. I would ceaselessly attempt to find the answer to every question brought to me. Now I see how absolutely freeing and powerful those words are.

There is beauty in "I don't know." There is freedom, peace and "relief".  Not just because it is an easy way to answer all questions and dilemmas that come our way.  Not because it is an escape and a cop out...but because it is actually a key that takes us further into stillness, presence and truth. It takes us to Self.


We do not need to know everything with the mind.  We do not have to understand it all with thinking.  Beneath all that thought and that mental schemata, what Patanjali referred to as "mental modifications",  is something that cannot be known.  It is that something we wish to tap into.  It is the "I don't know" that teaches, not words or explanations.

When we remove all the pseudo understanding from our experience as we do something so simple as look out upon a tree, we  are   going to slip into something a little deeper than a mental construct.  When we remove the "Oh that is an O ak and those are its branches.  Those seeds are acorns that the Blue Jays like to eat," and instead just sit there looking at it with an, "I really don't know this," something amazing happens.  We get out of our limited   heads  and sink into a true experience of alertness, stiness,    appreciation and awe. We stop thinking, narrating, describing and we just are with the tree.

We can do the same when we look inward and ask that age old question, "who am I?"  And by that we are not asking what is going on in my psyche; we are not necessarily trying to analyze out r thinking.  We are taking it farther than words or any idea we have of self.  We see that we truly cannot understand who we are with the mind.


"Man, know thyself!" should really be, "Man, be okay with not knowing Self."  Self realization is all about realizing how little we do know, how much of our being, our experience here is so miraculous and mysterious we could never understand fully with these limited minds we are given.  And the thing is...we don't have to.  We do not have to reduce all that beauty, all that mystery into words and concepts that we bound together under the term "knowledge."

We can simply be in awe as we don't know.  Mind cannot go into that ultimate stillness within where "not knowing" takes us.  No words, concepts or ideas will ever be able to describe it.  So we do not limit its magnitude with thinking...we simply experience the truth that is there.

How cool is that?

All is well in my world.


Eckhart Tolle ( March, 2016) Omega 3. Namaste Publishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld2YRg23vkY

Serving

Helping others is not limited to providing food, shelter, and so forth but includes relieving the basic causes of suffering and providing the basic causes of happiness.
Dalai Lama (Desktop calendar; Andrews McMeel, 2018)

Hmmm!  I am so blown away over the synchronized way these quotes show up as the day's quotes just when I am pondering the very same thing. 

Ego's View on Service

Anyway, I went to bed wondering what to do with the rest of my life.  I am ready to give it away, to truly serve.  (Well, at least  I think I am until ego chimes in.) 

I awoke this morning to hear ego chattering away in the mess that is my head.  :):   Are you crazy lady?  You are absolutely exhausted from offering four yoga classes a week...what are you going to physically be able to do? You can't even clean your house.  Besides you blew away your real chance to serve as a nurse...now that is a devoted service...what can you possibly give the world now that trumps that? Besides you have been hiding from the world.  You really want to go back out there and "do' something? You don't even have the "oompf" to deal with the problems your own family brings to you.  Get real!

Sigh...ego is a nasty dude, isn't he ( I picture ego as a "he" for some reason and I don't know why)? But it does make us think. I do have some physical limitations...my body cries out when I step over that very delicate line between "just enough" and "too much". Right now my finances are very, very limited. I give what I can but it is not enough. I have a soap opera of drama and events right in my immediate surroundings.  Emotionally and mentally I feel overwhelmed processing through my own petty issues. How do I help others?

Sigh!

Giving Our Limited  Life Away

How can I give my life away, knowing that it has these limitations? Would it be like feeding the hungry with a bag of potatoes that are half rotten?  Seeking to help build shelter when I have no tools? Listening to those who need to talk when I have no ears?  I don't know?

What can I "do"?  As much as I prefer "be" to "do"...there is a time for doing when it comes to service to the world.  How can I serve the world? I want to serve...I truly, truly do.

What would we  do if we had no perception of limitation ( because that is all it is...a perception, right?) We could go out and take care of sick and dying bodies in areas where there was not enough people doing such.  We could bring food to the hungry.  We could help build houses for those without homes, dig wells for those with no running water.  We could sit with the lonely and those afraid.  We could teach those who needed basic education. We could offer our non-judgmental presence to those who have been judged or condemned. There is a lot we can do!

Hmmm!

Though I am no longer a nurse...I can still volunteer some service to those bodies that need it, can't I? That skill set and knowledge is a part of me now. I can still teach...I have that skill set too. Though it would not be a lot...I still have some of these things in me to give away, don't I?

 But the thing is,  it doesn't have to be elaborate, does it?  If I had the energy I would do anything.  Can I help to bring food to the hungry?  I am sure there is a way. Can I help build homes? After the sloppy  DIY's I did around here I am sure that others would want that  that help to be very minimal lol. but maybe I could do something. There are things I can do.

 I want to do something that benefits others. I want to help relieve the basic cause of suffering and provide the basic source of happiness for those in need.  I am so, so aware now...that this living thing is not all about me anymore. My problems are so petty.

I will find my way...we all will eventually serve humanity in a beneficial way.

But I do need to listen to ego just a bit...there is some truth there.  I do have bodily , financial and circumstantial limitations right now.  I must allow them...and then   find my way around those and through those. 

And it is true... I have been hiding out from the world instead of interacting in it.  It felt so heavy to me for so long I wanted to get away from it. I have also  allowed my fear of getting further hurt to prevent me from truly serving others.  Now I want to step back out there and serve in some way.

Help

"Help" is a tricky concept to deal with.  I must be careful how I use it. Before I begin any "action" I do need to further establish this sense of being.  I will give far more from practicing stillness perception than I ever would from jumping down into other's misery and drowning with them.

And I can begin my serving here...in my home ...with my loved ones.  When they come to me with their suffering, I can meet them in non reactive spaciousness.  I don't have to have the answers or the physical ability to help...I just need to offer my presence without slipping into their story and getting lost in it. Hmmm!

There is a way to help and to serve...and I will! That is my mission now.  Besides opening up to the peace of mind that is within me, I want to serve from there. I am going to pray and meditate on that.  :)

All is well.

Eckhart Tolle ( March 2016) Omega 3. Namaste Publishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld2YRg23vkY

hmmm!

Through the Cracks

 Through the Cracks


The artillery has ceased its firing

and the smoke is thinning out.

The  eyes, squeezed shut so tightly,

I open, and quietly look about.

 

I force myself to face this devastation

but it takes all my remaining will

to look out upon the  battlefield around me

where things are suddenly  deathly still

 
 I find my heart grieving loudly  

as I see the bodies of fallen brothers.

I feel the boiling heat of vengeance

and I spit my wrath  upon the others.

 

 I can't tell who won or lost here.

I suppose, it doesn't really matter.

Amongst the debris on either side

all sense of victory is shattered.
 

  I feel the stinging pain within my chest

and look down to see that I ‘ve been hit.

I have taken on more than one bullet from life

but this time it might be it.

 

There is a crack in my protective armour now

a large, pathetic,  gaping hole

I bow my head ... a shameful victim,

Not worthy of my role.

 

 My heavy  personalized sense of self

that protected me for so long,

has failed to keep me going;

it has failed to keep me strong.


 
Broken, shattered, open...

I wait for  remaining  life to trickle through

I  take a breath and close my eyes.

What else can a dying soldier do?


Then I feel the warmth of  something,

Emerging through the armour’s crack

It isn’t blood, it isn’t life

It isn’t loss, or grief or lack.

 

In this trickling warmth there is a peace

That shines from deep inside.

I watch as it comes pouring through

Until there is nothing left to hide.

 

Then above us all, the sun shines down

From a sky that was so grey.

And brothers and enemies together awaken

From the bloody fields on which they lay.

 


It is from these tiny cracks in the world's falsehoods

That Grace will so eloquently  flow through

Offering her gracious, healing power

From the depth of what is true.

 

It is in this truth that she brings with her

That we will finally be free

Of the heavy chains of self defense

And the demands of “little me”.

 
Peace is in her offering

Her special gift to all.

So let go of your defenses,

Just let your armour fall

 

Let go to what Life offers you,

With Grace your gentle guide.

Instead of  leaving cracks for her to pour through

We can simply   open wide.


Dale-Lyn 2019


Man...I wasn't going to put that here.  Yesterday it started to come out here.  I took it off the blog page into a word doc so I could finish it.  Different day...different flow. 

It started out rhyming...not that I ever, ever intend it to...it just does.  Maybe if I  go with the flow when it is ready to come out , as it is ready to come out, that may not be a problem...but when I  go back after...rhyme scheme gets in the way.  You know the story lol.

Ego tells me not to publish it but something else tells me to put it down where it started.  :) Oh the mind of someone who writes poetry is a strange and twisted thing lol.

All is well

Added note: This is so uncanny.  I wrote this the day before yesterday and was not sure why the image of battlefields kept coming in to my mind...when I was simply wanting to write about cracks for Grace to come through. Well it came out in the poem. After I published this yesterday, I read the quote of the day from my desktop calendar:

People who fight with other human beings out of anger, hatred, and strong emotion, even if they gain victory over their enemies in battle, are not in reality true heroes. ....The true hero is the one who gains victory over hatred and anger.
Dalai Lama
 
How cool is that?

Grace comes in through the cracks.

Grace comes in through the cracks. When the personal self looses its density, presence begins to emerge.
Eckhart Tolle

How beautiful is that?

I was working on a poem in response to that teaching and learning(well I was opening up and letting one come through)...but had to give it up for yoga class. I will plop it down when I finish it...if it still wants to come through.

All is well

The Social Consequences of Seeking Self

As social animals we need friends.  But real friends are not attracted by fear but by warm heartedness and compassion.  By using our intelligence, we have the ability to develop concern for limitless sentient beings.
-Dalai Lama (Desktop calendar; Andrews McMeel; 2018)

My yoga studio is okay! That is wonderful news and I am glad...but at the same time I know I was in a place that would have accepted the other alternative as well. It is all good. I see my Self a little better because of this experience...I am a little closer to achieving the "know thyself"goal put out there by Socrates so many years ago.

Know Thy Self 

I love this journey of getting to know my Self. Every real life practice with circumstance and relationships helps me go farther or in this case "deeper" into this journey. It is quite amazing to witness the different dimensions of one's being.

Of course, there are times when I question if I am being self centered in my solitary search for Self.  I have with drawn  from many of the interactions most of us take for granted.  Though I still interact with my family, those who come to my studio and others I might bump into out there when I do go out in public...I am far from a social butterfly. My fear is that I may not be "giving" enough in my semi-reclusive state. 

As I become more and more evolved, as slow and tedious as that process is for me, I think less and less of "little me".   My thoughts and prayers are not so much for this little me but for others and my ability to serve in a way that does the most good.  Yet, how am I going to know what specific needs people have  if I am not out there chit chatting away or checking my Facebook page to see what is going on in anyone's lives? How am I going to " be there" for them in a way they feel would serve them best? 

Not About Ego Anymore

That is just it isn't it?  I don't want to be there in that context any more...a context that was dictated by social conditioning, based on "little me's"  fear of "not fitting in" and a superficial desire to meet the ego needs of others or myself. I am attempting to step away from the need for other's to like me, from opinion, judgment and assumption...both mine and theirs.  I want to see clearly so I can truly serve and I can only do that if I go beyond this "fear" that ego places between me and them, until I heal more from past injury and wrongful thinking, until  I can develop true "warmheartedness and compassion."

For now it seems fitting to step back and away.  Oh ego still protests on both sides of this equation.  I assume others are feeling like I am a "stuck up, selfish b*&^%", who thinks she "is too good for them".  (If only they knew just how untrue those statements actually are.)   I , in my remaining "little me" identity still fears offending and alienating; hurting  and not giving enough.  But, at the same time, I don't want this to be about ego anymore.  I want this to be about something deeper and more meaningful.

So I will let them have their opinions. I won't explain or defend my choices...I won't try to repair the damage done to the image they once had of me.  It was just an image.  I won't step away from my own healing, to give them what their egos are telling them they need.  I will be there in a real way, when I am ready...a way that benefits us all.

Hmmm! It is all so very good.

That Which Brings Happiness

           Mindfulness brings happiness.

                    - Thich Nhat Hanh

 

 

Mindfulness is....

Mindfulness is...

Mindfulness is...
the energy that makes us fully present,
fully alive in the here and the now. (page 6)

Mindfulness is...
what brings us back in touch with
what's happening in the present moment
in the body,
in our feelings,
in our thinking,
and also in our environment. ( page 6)

Mindfulness is...
attention...
the capacity to recognize
what's happening in each moment. ( page 13)

Mindfulness is....
the capacity to shine the light of awareness
onto what's going on here and now. ( page 20)

Mindfulness [is...
that which] helps us live deeply every moment
 of our daily life. ( page 20)

Mindfulness is....
the energy that can recognize
whatever is occurring,
including your own negative habit energies
coming up ( page 25)

Mindfulness [is]...
recognition-
[that which] helps us drop that habit
of continually reliving the past. (page 65)

Mindfulness is...
not for sale. (page 74-75)

Mindfulness is...
the most precious asset we can have;
it makes love, happiness,
and so many other gifts
to ourselves and to others possible. (page 75)

Mindfulness [is...
that which] helps us to recognize-
more and more clearly the longer we practice-
which things we really need and want in our life,
and which things we can do very well without. (page 75)

Mindfulness is...
insight...
and with it,
we can pierce the veil of ignorance,
see clearly the true nature of reality,
and be liberated from the anxiety,
fear, anger and despair in us.(page 80)

Mindfulness is....
(together with concentration and insight),
the very essence of meditation.  (page 80)

Mindfulness [is...
that which] brings us happiness. (page 100)
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Direct definitions of mindfulness from:
 Thich Nhat Hanh (2011). peace is every breath. New York; Harper One

When Things Go "Wrong"

You don't do Life.  Life does you.
- Me...from all I learned so far :)

The Questions

"Why did this have to happen?" " Why do things like this always seem to happen to me?" " Why me?"

Have you ever asked yourself these questions?  I do all the time...and yesterday afternoon, I was asking them with a great intensity.

When Things Go "wrong"

My yoga studio flooded because of a plumbing malfunction.  Something seemed to go tragically "wrong". And as I stood there ankle deep in water looking about my beautiful little studio I looked up and asked, almost expecting an answer. "Why??"

Something, "some One"  has to explain why my circumstances are so freaking crazy, don't they? Isn't a basement flood,  after everything one had, in terms of finances,  was put into the renovation of it( and when one doesn't have insurance),  enough to rattle anyone? And this, on top of everything else that I got "slapped around" with over the last few years, the last few months??? Come on!!! Really?

The studio was my  hope, my reprieve, my way to pull myself back up...my way to get myself healthy and to serve others as it gave me an opportunity, once again, to teach in some capacity. Sigh!

It takes a lot to break me...it does.  But as I stood there looking around at the mess, it was like my hope was being sucked up into the shop vacs with the water, being dried up with all the industrial fans that were blowing my dreams away. I felt so  very broken.

 I felt so "punished"too without knowing what I did that was so terrible to deserve one slap across the face after the other.  That is why I cried out "why?" If this is karma, what have I done in this life or another to deserve such retaliation?

Choosing where the mind will go

My mind went there, it did...and for a moment I was broken.  My thoughts were numerous  and very negative.  My thinking was irrational. My heart was so, so heavy. I was snappy and sharp with the people I love.  I was not healthy.  I was allowing mind to carry me away into a reaction that did not serve me or others, even if it was deemed a normal reaction to such a stressor. I watched myself choosing this reaction.

Then, as I was fruitlessly wringing  towel after towel into a bucket, I decided to choose differently. I decided to perceive it all differently.  I decided to respond with peace rather than what was considered "normal" .  I took a deep breath and went back to my learning.

Going Back to the Learning

"It is just a room! And what I thought it could bring me was just a concept, an idea. I was too attached to outcome.  It can not make me, it cannot break me.   What a wonderful learning opportunity Life has presented me, at the same time I have been teaching and writing about the need to "let go", to turn the other cheek to Life, to accept and allow rather than resist.  I won't break under the pressure of resisting what is happening.  It is happening. I accept it, I allow it to happen. "

As soon as I said that, I felt this tremendous relief....the kind of relief that comes from letting go.  The heaviness fell off me as I continued to do what needed to be done to rectify the situation and prevent further damage.  My thinking was clearer.  My actions were smoother.  I was much, much easier on the people around me who were helping.  Rather than looking for someone or something to blame, I was appreciating how everyone was coming together.  I literally found myself smiling and cracking jokes at some point.

 I also had to accept how the crisis physically drained me.  My body was exhausted!! Later that evening my mind responded to the exhausted body with a certain foggy heaviness that can be a bit of a downer for me and the others around me. I allowed that too.

Detaching from Outcome

The "outcome" is yet to be determined.  I am not yet sure about the extent of damage.  My carpenter will let me know later today.  I do know that it is out of my control.  Whatever will be will be.

It is almost like I am perched on some ledge looking into my little life from a distance and waiting to see what will happen next.  "What will Life  do through  me next, I wonder?"   I am detached from outcome.

So I literally can wait peacefully for that news and I know I will accept whatever news I get.  It will not break me; it will not make me. Of that I am certain.

All is well.

Shared Humanity

Regardless of race, creed, ideology, political bloc, or economic region, the most important and basic aspect of all people is their shared humanity, the fact that each person-old, young, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, male or female- is a human.  This shared humanness, and thus the shared aspiration of gaining happiness and avoiding suffering, and the basic right to bring these about, is of prime importance.
-Dalai Lama (the desk top calendar, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2018)

I love those words for today.  They arrive synchronistically on the tail of a national election in my country.  I liked to think this was a common thought amongst Canadians because , for me, it is the essence of everything that is most important.  Though I won't share if I voted in  that direction  or not, I think our elected leader gets that.  For that reason, I am happy with the outcome.

All is well!

Being Home

I have arrived

I am home

In the here

and the now.

I am solid;

I am free.

In the ultimate,

I dwell.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Walking meditation; peace is every breath.(page 30)

 

We all want to go home whether we know it or not.  We want to stop running, hiding, attacking, defending, searching, striving, wanting, thinking  and doing...for at least a moment, don't we? We want to go home to the place where there is nothing but peace so we can at least get a breather? We want to return to the ultimate  Source of unconditional love and presence (what I refer to as God) if only for an instant?

 

The thing is...an instant is all there is.  Go home now...Be home now.

 

You do not have to do anything to get there.  You literally do not have to move a muscle. :) Just put down your resistance to Life, and simply allow home to open up in you. Resistance is all about doing. Non resistance is all about allowing.

 

Allow! Know you have already arrived; you are home in the here and the now; solid and free, dwelling in the ultimate.

 

You don't "do" Life.  Life does you.

 

All is well!

 

Thich Nhat Hanh (2011) peace is every breath. New York: HarperOne.

 

Eckhart Tolle. (March 2016) Omega 6. Namaste Publishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zcurl7QUCw

In Pieces

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
Earnest Hemingway (Brainy Quote)


Broken Pieces

Sigh!  I am looking down at a little yoga figure a friend had given me months ago.  He fell off the window and broke into pieces.  I look at him and see the brokenness of me somehow.  All I thought I was is now a bunch of pieces that don't seem to fit together anymore.

I am going to glue him back together but I wonder if I want to do the same with this idea I had of  "me".  I definitely don't want it back the way it was.  It was, I know now, built on a foundation of shame and fear, false hood and a need for the good opinion of others. It was built on the need to block, defend and hide from the trauma of my past.  It is time to let go of all that.

Without that glue maybe nothing really belongs together anyway. I may no longer be presentable to others but maybe I will be a hell of a lot more peaceful than I was trying to hold those broken  pieces together.

 The Exercise

Last year at this time I wrote about an exercise I did to help me make sense of this "broken pieces" experience.  I compartmentalized the pieces of me into  concept map, pointing each piece out and extending beyond the center of who I am which was covered over by this "sense of limited holistic wellness"; this perception of being caught and stuck under the rubble of life circumstance.

It was a very healing activity, to take the pieces of me and to visually create space between them and the center of who I am.  It  showed me just how much space there can be.  These pieces...these life circumstances, are not who I am so therefore they do not need to bury me, cover me or keep me stuck. I can still breathe! From there I can heal the bruises in my heart and in my mind.

I redid the map so it is a little neater and easier to read.  Each has a section title : "Parenting", "Health Experience",  and "Writing" etc (there are eleven pieces) . I focused mostly on how these things are limiting my sense of wellness.  It is easy to see and understand why I feel a little "stressed and burn out" as I look down at this map.  There is a lot.

There is so much we have control over in Life and so much we don't. Knowing the difference is crucial to our well being. I know  can fix this little yoga dude.  I can also look down at this map and see what I can change but most importantly, I see where I need to let go. It is in the letting go that I will find the peace I long for, the peace/piece that makes me whole.

 Life simply is what it is and that is okay.

Beneath all this rubble, broken pieces  and circumstance it surrounds "me" with," I "am still breathing.  I still am! I am!

Hmmm! There is something very comforting in knowing that.

All is well

Let it Be

Let it be....Let it Be
Whisper words of wisdom ...Let it Be...
The Beatles

They are words of wisdom..."Let it be".  Just let it all be what it is.  If only we could remember to do that in times of trouble.  Sigh!

Let it be!

All is well.

Not Good or Bad

Wealth exists not in great possessions, but in having few wants.
Epictetus

It is not that the things we tend to desire in our misdirected way when ego is in charge are "bad".  They are neither good or bad.  The problem is our attachment to them as a means of finding the ultimate long term goal we seek. 

Money: not good or bad

There is nothing wrong or bad or evil about money, for example.  It is just paper and metal symbols. There is nothing wrong with wanting or having a big bank account or the material things that account provides. But if our "striving" for it is never ceasing because we feel we will not reach our ultimate goal without a certain amount of it, then that is a problem. 

We may  strive too hard at the expense of appreciating the very moment we are in. We may cling. We may compete.  We may defend and attack for it.  We may ironically  lose sight of what it is we are hoping to gain from the money: peace and joy and get lost in the short term goal instead.   We may then feel constantly dissatisfied and confused.  "Why am I not happy?  I got what I wanted.  I achieved my short term goal.  I guess I just must need a little more of this thing."

We go searching for more. This type of desire then intensifies and multiplies in number.

Hmmm!

Money like most things in this world is a temporary phenomena that comes and goes.  In itself it is not a problem.  The short term goal of it is not a problem.  Our attachment to outcome is.

"I will not be happy, or rest peacefully until I have a six figure bank account." 

Now that is a problem because we end up putting off the happiness and peace that is already in us, searching and striving and waiting for Life to be different than what it is this very moment. We need to be careful not to use our short term goals as fundamental stepping stones toward our future. As long as we try to "skip over" what is to get to something else...we are missing the only  time and space where joy and peace can be experienced...and that is now.

What about the possibility of never reaching that short term goal?  What happens then? What if you never get a six digit account?    You will spend your life focusing on what you don't have, feeling like failure.  Is that anyway to live?

What if it takes you fifty years of striving, working, putting off time with your family , having no fun at all ...is that a successful life? 

And what about the thing you had to do in those fifty years of attempting to meet that goal? How much of you will be in the doing when you are focusing on outcome rather than process?

Lost

If we get lost in our short term goals and fail to see what it is that we really want, we are indeed lost and helplessly dependent on something that can never ultimately make us happy to do so.

Money, like many of the things on our wish list, won't make us  happy and it cannot make us unhappy either if it is taken away or  if we have so much of it we feel overwhelmed by the pressure to hold onto it. 

It is not the money that creates joy or suffering...it is our attachment to it and our seeking something from it that it cannot give us, that keeps us from experiencing true peace and joy.  If we get the money or keep the money...it will not bring us the joy we truly hunger for. Our inability to get the money  or our losing it  is also not responsible for any sense of suffering we may experience. Not because money is a good thing or a bad thing but because it does not have the power to bless us or harm us.

Already are what we are looking for

We have actually already reached this long term goal we seek. Our natural state of being is already peaceful and joyful.  We just do not experience joy and peace  because we are so busy seeking  it in some-thing 'out there' when it is already 'in here'. Our getting lost in short term goals that are pointing in the wrong direction, our  prioritizing the need for physical gratification instead of experiencing the joy and peace of something a whole lot deeper... is the problem.

We already are what we are looking to achieve from money. We are peace and we are joy.

Hmm! I am tired...not making much sense today. lol.   All good .

It Takes Time

When I am told that it is possible to reach a certain peace of mind in no time at all, I become skeptical.  It would be like asking your physician for an injection of peace of mind.  I think the doctor would burst out laughing.
Dalai Lama ( Desk top calendar; Andrew McMeel Publsihing, 2018)

Wanting and Striving: Short Term Goals

Fulfilled desire may provide a sense of temporary satisfaction; however, the pleasure... is usually short lived. When we indulge our desires, they tend to increase in intensity and multiply in number.  We become more demanding and less content, finding it more difficult to satisfy our needs.
-Dalai Lama ( Desktop calendar, Andrew McMeel Publishing, 2018)

Hmmm!  Now those are words to ponder this morning, aren't they?

In some spiritual traditions "wanting," "craving," and "striving for" are seen as vices that hold us back from achieving spiritual enlightenment.  How does that piece of wisdom apply, then, in secular reality when few of us are striving to achieve "Buddha" status?

Well we may not be consciously striving for enlightenment but  many of us would admit to wanting to find "happiness" in our lives, would we not? Some of us, like me, just want peace of mind and freedom from the "stressors" we are living through.

Long Term Goals of Happiness and Peace

There is nothing wrong with that.

Happiness and peace are  our natural birthright.  They can be viewed as our life long goals. We are meant to be peaceful and joyful. These long term goals, however, are punctuated by many short term goals. 

Short Term Goals

It is what we choose as short term goals,  I believe the Dalai Lama is referring to, that cause the problem with being satisfied. As we attain each one, they intensify and increase in numbers and our wanting becomes more difficult to find contentment.

Misdirected short term goals

I want happiness. I therefore desire:

• perfect health
• a six digit bank account
• the perfect job
• a great house in a great neighborhood
•  a certain degree of recognition and praise
• a  relationship with an outwardly seeming perfect person
• the car of my dreams
• the ability to travel everywhere
• a Facebook family others will be envious of
• etc etc

Breaking it Down: What happens when we meet a misdirected short term goal?

When we get that perfect checkup that says we are in perfect health, we will feel pretty darn satisfied for a bit...  but it won't last.  We may look in the mirror a few weeks later and see we are aging.  Regardless of how perfectly healthy we are, we are all  going to age.  We may then desire youth and seek a reconstructive process that takes the lines out of our brow and from around our mouths.  We get that done and then  feel pretty satisfied for a while...until we notice that body parts are sagging as they are meant to at a certain part of our life spans...so we seek reconstructive surgery to repair that. We get it done and feel happy for a while.  Then we see a need for another surgery, and then  another to repair the first one we had done... And on and on it goes.

Or

After striving our whole lives we finally get that perfect job promotion that gives us a six figure salary.  Oh happy day!! Our bank account is soon full.  We get the house, the car, the recognition and reward we craved  so desperately all our lives.  Our dream has come true. We are finally there.  We can stop striving...or can we? We feel good and satisfied ...for a while. We will soon realize that  with this new position more is expected of us.  We need to work harder to keep it until we can move up to the next rung in the corporate ladder which seems to be what is also expected.  We work even harder now to get the next promotion, a bigger home, a nicer car. We will never be satisfied. Sigh!

In these examples , it is easy to see how wanting and desiring things that are so physically centered and at the mercy of natural laws because of their temporary nature, can lead us to get caught in a never ending cycle of needing and wanting more. 

What happens if things work the other way and one does not reach these short term goals or so called pinnacles of success?  

Desiring the removal of Life circumstance

In my own life, my desires were somewhat different than above. I did want things like perfect health and a "comfortable " income but I also wanted to publish books, be known as a writer. I lost both perfect health and a comfortable income (and have yet to publish a book which is irrelevant to this example lol).  The "stress" in my life was often overwhelming. So my "striving" changed gears. Instead of wanting things added, I wanted things removed.

My wanting became more of a "take this away please" kind of thing .  Many of you may relate.

I want peace of mind.  I therefore desire:

• a removal of parenting stressors from my life
• a removal of financial stressors
• a removal of this illness
• a removal of this shame related to my health seeking
• a removal of conflict
• a removal of life circumstance
• etc etc

A less demanding type of wanting?

It seems a less demanding type of wanting to some degree but it isn't.  In fact...maybe it is even more demanding. 

In my wishing, desiring and striving I am asking Life not so much to give me something...but to stop being Life and to remove something it has already given me from my experience.  The ideology here is that if I work really hard at it, put everything into controlling and fixing what is broken, Life could take away some of my parenting stressors, for example,  and I may be satisfied and "peaceful" for a while.  But It will also have to take away some precious learning opportunity for both me and my children when it does that.  I will not be peaceful for long. The much needed learning will present itself in another challenge.

If I work myself past the brink of my physical limitations and into exhaustion, Life may somehow end all my financial stress by putting money in my account but it may also have to  remove health and learning.  I won't be satisfied for long because  another similar challenge will show up in my Life that I will have to process through....and this time I will be too exhausted to deal with it.

My wanting and striving for  things to leave my life experience  is just as destructive to my growth as wanting Life to give me more, is.

External world short term goals are the problem

The problem is not in the wanting and striving to be happy ( though I am not fond of that word) or peaceful.  No that is perfectly okay...that is what we should all be striving toward.  The problem is in what we assume are the short term goals that will take us there. 

Looking out there into the external and very material world for happiness and peace is looking in the wrong direction. 

The reason why we are not satisfied for long when we get the new house or car is that those things are not what we are "really" wanting and needing.  They don't bring us closer to happiness.   The new house or car cannot give us happiness.  When we get them, something in us knows that.  They do not fill us  up.  We begin to feel dissatisfied again but instead of turning in the right direction...we just go onto the next worldly thing or goal on our list.  ...leading to more and more dissatisfaction...more and more desperation to fill in those holes...more and realizing that they don't.

The reason why the attempts made to change or end our negative  circumstances don't keep us peaceful for long is because they also  lead us in the  wrong direction.  We don't need to end challenge...we just need to go through it.  Challenges are blessing in our lives, learning opportunities and necessary for our spiritual growth.

Our short term goals need to be internal

If we truly want contentment, happiness and peace we do not need to strive for more or seek the removal of outer world things, to bring that to us.  These things can't.  We need to set some goals that will lead us in a different direction.

Look inward rather than outward.  We need to change our focus direction and create  new list short term of goals.

I want peace.  I therefore desire:

• more stillness in my day
• more quiet
• more presence
• more acceptance
• more awareness
• more appreciation
• more kindness ( that comes from me)
• more compassion
• more laughter
• more knowledge of who I am beyond all the monkey chatter in my mind
• etc etc

It is with the attainment of these goals that we will find a satisfaction that doesn't go away.  We know, finally, we are going in a direction that will take us to where we really want to be. We are on our way home.  We then become less demanding and more content with each moment Life offers us.

Hmmm!  Does that make sense?

All is well.

What does turning the other cheek look like?

Surrender is not weakness, There is great strength in it.  Only a surrendered person has spiritual power.
Eckhart Tolle ( The Power of Now, page 83)

Turning the Other Cheek

What does it look like, in the practical sense, to turn the other cheek? 

Of course the image of literally turning the left cheek toward a violent offender comes to mind but it is much deeper than that. I don't think that passage  was meant as literally as we often take it. Only the highly evolved would offer both sides of their being...their whole being....  in a real physical confrontation with a so called "enemy" or "evil doer".  Few of us are that evolved. I certainly, am not.

Can you picture yourself, in the midst of a violent attack against you, bowing your head with hands in prayer position saying "Namaste" or "peace be with you"  to your offender while they whacked you across the head?  Probably not? Nor are you expected too.

In the real world sense, I believe,  turning the other cheek refers to  an opening up and an acceptance of what is.  It is a putting down of  our shields and our weapons that we have been using to resist life with or using to  defend  this insignificant idea of self with. How better could Christ exemplify the perfection in that letting go than by comparing it to a turning of a cheek?

 Few of us will reach that level of evolving in this life time...but we will encounter many, many opportunities where we can practice allowing that which is valueless to be exposed for potential destruction, where we can practice putting away our need to resist and attack what is, and where we can practice surrendering to what life has to offer openly with our full beings.

Practicing

We can practice this in our relations with others and in our response to any  life circumstances that seem to be "attacking" us.

Each moment offers us a chance to learn. Some impatient driver, for example,  lays on the horn behind you because you hesitated to pull out into an intersection. What would you be inclined to do? Most of us would "react" in a less than Christ-like way, right?  We would possibly roll down the window and mouth or hand gesture some obscenity to alert the other driver that we are defending ourselves and fighting back. This is not turning the other cheek, this is resisting and putting ourselves in attack and defense mode to either prevent damage or repair damage to this flimsy shield of "me" we wear.

Say what, crazy lady?


We are always automatically defending and attacking on behalf of this idea of "me".   In the above example, this idea we have of ourselves as a 'good driver" is being threatened by the reaction of the  person behind us. We fear!

"If this small section  of who I believe is me  gets damaged, than maybe my whole sense of "me" will be damaged.  If I no longer have this idea of me, what will I have?  What will I be?  A nobody?"

Just that possibility makes us feel so uncomfortable.  We react, often so quickly we are not even aware we are doing it. We have quickly judged the blowing of the horn a bad thing, and the  person that is blowing it, an enemy or evil doer. We are at war.


Affirming, defending and repairing "little me"

So instinctively and often with lightening speed we retaliate in an attempt to affirm, defend or repair this idea of self we have. That is what ego does.  Ego doesn't want us turning the other cheek.  It wants us defending and attacking for everything it stands for...which ironically often does not serve us or anyone else.

An Opportunity to Learn in Relationships

We are so identified with this sense of self, of "little me", "my and mine",  that we defend and attack for it in almost every relationship we have.  We are doing this with the people we live with, work with, befriend, date or meet in passing.  As long as they help us affirm our egoic "little mes' the relations we have with them will be smooth.

If someone, however,  "attacks" our beliefs, our life styles, our nationality, our actions, however innocently...we feel threatened, don't we?  Just like we would feel threatened if they were physically attacking our bodies.  By all means if that were the case and someone was coming at us to cause physical harm or take our lives away we need to defend and even possibly attack.  But why do we attack and defend so viciously when someone tells us our "beliefs are wrong", the way we look is wrong, our work is wrong, our choices are wrong, the way we look is wrong or our thinking/feeling is wrong? We do this not only personally but collectively.  And this "feeling threatened"  is often the cause of war. 

Special , loving relationships also offer plenty of opportunity for practice. They seem so great  and conflict free until our loved one innocently attacks this idea of who we are  with, "Oh My God!  You are so messy!" or "Why do you always do that thing with your mouth?  It is so annoying." Man do we get defensive and scrappy! And if they say or do something that implies that we are not special enough or the source of their pain...we counter attack with a vengeance.  Even our loved ones can become enemies or evil doers pretty quick, can't they?

Life as the Enemy

And Life can also be seen as the enemy or evil doer. When things don't work out the way we want them to, we often feel attacked by Life, don't we? We certainly do not offer it our other cheek to beat upon. We resist what is handed to us and "struggle" and "fight" against it. If circumstance  takes away something we use to maintain that sense of self with, like our appearance, our jobs, our belongings, our health ...we fear ...and once again go on a mission to affirm, defend and repair who we think we are.

I have done that in my own life and continue to do so.  I often feel attacked by the  cartload of circumstances that seem to have landed on my lap from out of the blue. I am like wonder woman crossing my arms in front of me to deflect each bullet coming my way.  Of course, I have no golden bracelets ( if I did I would sell them to pay the bills lol) and I am no superhero. Defending against Life's bullets  is absolutely exhausting and I get hit by more than I deflect! 

What are we defending?

What the heck am I defending anyway?  This unrealistic idea I have of me as a good mom who can fix every one's problems?  This idea I had of me as a successful professional?  This idea I had of me as an extremely active and physically fit individual?    What about me as a financially independent woman?   A well respected member of the community?  There are so many gaping holes in this image now it offers me nothing anymore.

Am I lost without this image? Am I invisible or nobody? 

No..."I am" still here but "me" isn't as much as it used to be.

What I was trying so hard to defend was an illusion of me, an image that was not who I am.  It is not worth defending.  So why don't I just hand what is left of it over to my would be attackers and let them have it? What would happen if I did that?  If we all did that?

If there is truly nothing that you can do to change your here and now, and you can't remove yourself from the situation, then accept your here and now by dropping all inner resistance.  The false, unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself can then no longer survive. This is called surrender.  ( Tolle, page 83)

The Gift of Surrender

If we would surrender graciously, we would realize that what we are protecting is just our "psychological form identity" (Eckhart Tolle, Omega 6)... not anything of truth or value.  It is merely an ego concept created in the mind and not substantial or worth defending.

We would realize as this image got bopped around and torn apart, as I was fortunate enough to experience,  that it never was who we are.  Who we are is much deeper and lies peacefully , undisturbed beneath all that idea we have of self.  Who we really are is much more than a fragile  image and It cannot be hurt, offended, harmed in anyway.  We would find a certain peace and mental freedom in discovering that.

Without a need to defend, we would look at our attackers, be they Life or the person bonking the horn behind us ...and not see an enemy or an evildoer.  We would simply see someone lost in their own ego or Life doing what Life is here to do.  We would realize that we are all in the same boat and would pray for that person's liberation as we pray for our own.  We would see the teacher before us and honor them as such.

Without this heavy armour  of "little me", we all so ineffectively wear, we are going to feel lighter, freer and more alive.

Without resistance, by offering our entire being through turning the other cheek,  we are going to put aside the valueless for the valuable.  We are going to finally be open and accepting of  all that Life has in store for us. 

We will find our strength in surrender.  We will embrace our spiritual power.

Hmmm!  Well that is the way I see it but then again, what do I know?

All is well.

Eckhart Tolle ( March 2016) Omega 6 .Namaste Publishing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zcurl7QUCw

Eckhart Tolle ( 2004) The Power of Now. Novato: Namaste Publishing

Turn the Other Cheek

But I say to you, Do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;

Matt 5:39  NRSV

(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A39&version=NRSV)

Hmmm!  I would almost swear someone or something is doing whatever they can so that I do not publish those words lol. They were the opening for yesterday’s blog that I put two hours of time and limited energy into to only have the post disappear.  And this morning there was one glitch after another, both on site and in Microsoft document, leading to over thirty minutes just to get that passage down.  This is not going to be a smooth writing experience.

But that’s okay because today I would like to write about “tolerance”.  The Dalai Lama’s quote for today on my desk top calendar reads: In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher. (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2018).  Is it not fitting that I actually publish an entry about turning the other cheek on the day I read that quote?

The enemy or “evil doer”

So before I begin explaining what I think Jesus’s words, thusly being echoed by the Dalai Lama’s words, mean….let’s understand what I believe is meant by “enemy” or “evil doer.”

I much prefer “evil doer” to enemy or as described in many other versions of the bible, “evil person”.  I hate labelling people by their actions…just because a person does what we believe to be bad or evil…it doesn’t make them evil.  I don’t believe there are evil people in the world, just people who do nasty things.  I see these individuals as unconscious, un-evolved, lost in ego, and acting “insanely” or “stupidly” at the time of their action…not evil. And enemy is only a concept…it is a judgement we make based on circumstances…totally relative. What we may refer to as an enemy, someone else is referring to as an ally…and we, without meaning to are likely enemies to someone somewhere…right now.

Our egos tend to make “enemies” and “evil doers” out of anyone or anything that threatens our sense of self.  And I believe that is what the above bible passage is actually reflecting.  It teaches metaphorically how we should respond when that sense of self (not just the flesh on our cheek) is threatened.

What is this sense of self?

This sense of self is who we believe we are in the body we are in, the mind we are using and the persona we have worked so hard to create.  It is in reality nothing more than “idea” we have of ourselves and an idea we want others to have of us. It is based on thought and image…created by years of conditioning, attaining (or losing), owning ( or not having),socially accepted success (or failure), conforming ( or nonconforming), “fitting in” ( or social rejection) etc etc.  It is a compilation of our learning or what we have experienced or told we ‘should’ be in order to meet outer world expectation.   It is not who we really are!

Our sense of “little me” is a flimsy outer garment we wear and that we have come to believe is us. Because of that it is fragile…easily bruised and wounded.  It hurts like the dickens when it gets slapped around by circumstances or other egos.

How does the so called “evil doer” threaten or damage this sense of self.

The passage, I believe, is not so much referring to what happens when   the body is being attacked and when our very survival is threatened.  Like many of Christ’s teachings…it is more metaphorical than that. Life or another ego may not give us what we were expecting or believed it should…we feel threatened, cheated, and struck with an enemy’s blow.  People may attack our personal beliefs, or our fragile sense of belonging to a collective belief system, which acts as the glue that keeps us together and it feels like we received another rattling blow…we begin to come apart.

The  “evil doer” (be it another being or circumstance) may take away something we believe helps to keep this idea we have of self  intact…our belongings, our  jobs, our looks, our reputation, or our physical health…another blow to the cheek that may actually knock us down.

How do we respond?

Every time Life or the egos of others fail to give us what we feel they “should” in order to keep this sense of self together…we make enemies and “evil doers’ out of them because they are putting holes in our personas. We fear we will be reduced to invisible nobodies without this “idea” of who we are. We have a tendency then to do whatever we can to further affirm this idea of “me”, to protect it, defend it and repair it whenever it is threatened or damaged.  We do that by creating borders around self (both the individual and the collective), defending “self” and what is considered “mine”, or “attacking” before or after we are attacked.  In order to do that, we create distinct borders between us and them.  We need to judge and label our enemies and determine what is “good” and what is “evil”. We, then, put a large amount of our energy into “war” be it personal or worldly.

We do not often do…as Jesus teaches…turn the other cheek.  We are seldom tolerant as the Dalia Lama advises we should be. We are not at peace.  We are not open to Life and what each moment offers us…instead we are resistant to it and constantly on guard. We make what shows up in the moment...the enemy. Is that how we really want to live?

Jesus teaches us that what we are defending is not worth defending or repairing.  This little egoic me is not who we are…we are so much more. Let it be slapped around by our so called enemies.  They are actually doing us a favour by creating holes in something that is hiding who we are from us.  The cheek is nothing of value.  The ego and idea we have of ourselves is nothing of value.. Every time something that is valueless is taken away from us, we are getting closer to what is valuable.  

Nothing real can be threatened,

Nothing unreal exists

Herein lies the peace of God.(ACIM Introduction)

I believe, He is teaching us to be so open to what life has in store for us, be it “good” or be it “evil" , that we are willing to turn the other cheek to it…knowing in our very core it cannot hurt who we really are. Our enemies, be they life circumstance or other beings on this planet, are our greatest teachers.  They teach us tolerance….and with tolerance we will find freedom in knowing who we truly are.

All is well!