There is a correlation between one's/ a person's predominant mental and emotional state and who they are with, who their friends are, where they work, and even what happens to them.
Eckhart Tolle
Are you sick of all my lamenting yet? I know it is quite redundant and boring but what it represents is a human search for the truth that hides in those deep recesses of our minds. I am really trying to see clearly how this clump of flesh and mental activity I call "me" operates. Right now, my learning platform seems to be my present living situation...(well I should say, the platform is actually my mind in response to what is going on around me...most specifically, an "aversion" tendency).
The mind that inquires, investigates, and explores conditions wisdom. pg 143
If you get anything from what I have been writing lately, let it be about the importance of observing mental habits and mind patterns in order to free Self from suffering tendencies. Don't be afraid to look inside that mind of yours, to watch how your body responds to its activity. Watch what actions you choose as a result of it and then determine just how skillful, or unskillful, those thoughts, feelings and behavioral choices are in bringing you to the ultimate goal of Self realization. Don't be afraid, then, to look at your life and ask, "What predominant mind pattern am I stuck in, that is being reflected back to me by the experiences I am encountering?"
Not only does each action, no matter how insignificant it may seem, condition a future result, it also reconditions the mind. page 144
Most of us, have "mind habits" or predominant thinking tendencies, based on our conditioning and core beliefs, that have the power take over our experiences and directly and indirectly lay the foundations for the types of life experiences we are having now or will have in the future. Many of those mind patterns are negative or what a buddhist may refer to as "unwholesome" or "unskillful." These mind patterns will definitely affect your life.
I am going to throw the word "Karma" out there and I know many will have a prickly reaction to that word, because maybe the mind makes a judgement of it as "Eastern Woo-woo". I look at Karma in a whole new light now and see it, not only as a spiritual law, but as very valid, natural law.
Karma: Cause and Effect
If we act motivated by greed, hatred, or delusion, we are planting the seed of suffering; when our acts are motivated by generosity, love, or wisdom, then we are creating the karmic conditions for abundance and happiness. 137
We would all agree to the validity of cause and effect, wouldn't we? There is usually a cause for an action and there is usually an effect of that action, right? It is obvious that what is going on up in that head of mine is predominantly negative by what is being reflected back to me. There is a cause for what is unfolding and there is an effect. The cause , in a sense , is my mind pattern of fear, shame, a belief that others rights are more important than my own, a conditioning that says I must play nice and be unselfish, judgements about others and myself, a feeling of unpleasantness and this automatic reflex of pushing the unpleasnat away etc etc. This situaton I am presently in, at least indirectly, unfolded because of this mind state. There is a lot going on up there..a pattern of thinking that has been repeated from past experiences and will likely be repeated in future experiences if I do not resolve to break the cycle now! I can change my external environment but until I change the internal one...I will keep coming across such situations. ...in different places and with different others but the energy behind it all will be the same. This is Karma!
When we understand that our lives are the unfolding of Karmic law, that we are the heirs to our own deeds, then there grows in us a deepening sense of responsibility for how we live, the choices we make, and teh actions we undertake. pg 141
How to work with Karma:
Put away your fearful reservations and explore this law of Karma. Objectively but compassionately observe the cause and effect of your actions and the actions of others or things around you ...be they atual behaviours or thoughts. Then focus on you! Weed out that which is unwholesome or unskilful in you. Plant the seeds that will lead to wholesome and skillful growth in you! Then observe what happens.
It is true that I have to make changes in my environment but the real change has to take place within me. I have to notice, accept, look deeply into what is going on in my mind as a reaction or response to what is going on in my life and make that correlation. I need to determine which mind patterns will bring me to what I really want and need...which is freedom from suffering , peace of mind, truth and wisdom and which ones will bring more suffering for me or others. I need to let go of a lot of these mind habits that do not serve me or others and most importantly my identification with them. I have to replace them with mind patterns that will bring peace.
Now when I look at my specific patterns of thinking and feeling...I can take it a step farther and apply the dharma to it . I can take what I have been learning and remove the specifics from "my" experience to see the universal nature of it. I see and understand my "aversion" and by that better understand the human tendency towards aversion when we feel something unpleasant. I can then have more understanding for myself and in turn more compassion for others who are suffering the cause or effects of aversion.
Hmmm! Well that is what came out of me today. Again, you need to come to your own understanding of this by reflecting on your own Life and your response to it.
All is well!
Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield ( 2001) Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. Shambala Classics: Colorado.
Eckhart Tolle ( June , 2021) How to Calm the Voice Inside/ Eckhart Tolle Teachings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBXpFbOPUdA
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