Sunday, March 31, 2024

Yoga on Easter

Yoga is the deepest science...it is not about studying what you are looking at...Yoga studies the One that is looking. 

Michael A. Singer ( somewaht paraphrased)


It is a beautiful Easter Sunday in my part of the world.  The sun is shining after days of rain.  I even saw my first Robin this morning.  He landed on the little tree behind me casting his little shadow over my wall until I turned around and there he was, staring in at me as if to say, "Happy Easter/Happy Spring. We are back!" I opened up with that visit. 

I am open now.  As I listen to Michael A. Singer, I open even more. I have never heard a more like minded individual speak. It is like we are sharing the same thought waves lol. It might simply be two westerners understanding or attempting to understand and then share  the fundamentals of yoga that make us like-minded. Maybe it isn't our like-mindedness drawing me to him.  It might just be Yoga doing that. Truth is , I don't know many yogis. I mean, I know people who teach hatha yoga around here but they don't seem to understand what I am sharing or they see it as the "woo-woo" side of yoga and choose not "to go there."I don't know...but man when I listen to Michael A. Singer...it's like, "I see. I see. I see.  I agree. I agree. I agree."  I would love to sit down and talk to someone who thinks like I do...I really would.  It is a bit lonely here in my sadhanna...in my realm of understanding. Sometimes, I feel like an outsider, a 'strange-er' in this community. That is okay.  I know 'I am' actually  not lonely; I am merely observing a psyche that feels alone in this new understanding of things. It won't detere my practice. I am okay with doing this thing I am doing alone but it would be nice to talk to someone who gets it. I imagine being able to sit across the table over tea with someone like Michael Singer and just listen, share, learn, and teach as I grew a bit from that experience.

My crows are calling me: They come to my window to get my attention when they want to be fed and then they make these sounds until I go out to feed them. I am going to ignore them a bit for a few minutes.  They are getting spoiled lol. 

Getting Pulled Away from "I Am"  by Distraction and Identification 

Anyway, today's podcast was on distraction and identification. We, who we are at the deepest level: unchangable, undisturbable, untaintable consciousness, often get distracted by and pulled down into the psyche's "little-me's drama" ...so much so we begin to become identified with it to the point we forget who we are.  We are not that which we are observing or experiencing.  We are that which observes and experiences! I am not that suffering going on around me and in me...I am the consciousness, the Witness that is observing it. You are not the depression, the illness, the addiction, or the grief you are observing or going through...those are just objects of consciousness.  You are the Witness, the Consciousness, the Objective Observer, and the "I am" back here watching what is going on around you and in you. 

Hmm!

That makes all the difference, does it not? 

On this Easter Sunday, whether you are a yogi or not, remember who you are. And remember what Christ taught..."My Father and I are One." That is Yoga!

All is well! 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( March 31, 2024) The Power of Distarction and False Identification. https://tou.org/talks/


Saturday, March 30, 2024

Wisdom from Vivekananda

 More words of wisdom from Vivekananda: 

  • Until the inner teacher opens, all outside teaching is in vain. page 21
  • We are the living books and books are but the words we have spoken  page 38
  • Concentration on the powers of the mind is our only instrument to help us see God. If you know one soul ( your own), you know all souls, past, present, and to come....The concentrated mind is a lamp that shows us every corner of the soul.  page 40
  • The word God has been used from time immemorial, and the idea of this cosmic intelligence, and all that is great and holy, is associated with it. page 41
  • What is the God of Vedanta? He is principle, not person. ...The absolute God of the universe, the creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe, is impersonal; principle...The Lord is all blissfulness. He is the reality behind all that exists. He is the goodness, the truth in everything. You are His incarnations. That is what is glorious. The nearer you are to Him, the less you will have occassions to cry or weep.
  • God is the infinite, impersonal being-ever existent, unchanging, immortal, fearless; and you are all His incarnations, His embodiments. This is the God of Vedanta, and His heaven is everywhere. page 43
  • Be grateful to him who curses you, for he gives you a mirror to show what cursing is, also a chance to practice self-restraint; so bless him and be glad. Without exercise, power cannot come out; without the mirror, we cannot see ourselves...page 47
Swami Vivekananda ( 2019) Meditation and Its Methods. General Press ( Kindle Edition)

Psychology Takes Us to the Screen; Yoga Takes Us Beyond It.

 Suppose here is a screen, and behind the screen is wonderful scenery. There is a small hole in the screen through which we can catch only a little bit of the scenery behind. Suppose that hole becomes increased in size. As the hole increases in size, more and more of the scenery behind comes within the range of vision, and when the whole screen has disappeared, there is nothing between the scenery and you; you see the whole of it. This screen is the mind of man. Behind it is the majesty, the purity, the infinite power of the soul, and as the mind becomes clearer and clearer, purer and purer, more of the majesty of the soul manifests itself. Not that the soul is changing, but the change is in the screen. The soul is the unchangeable One, the immortal, the pure, the ever -blessed one. Page 47

I often speak to how Yoga is the ultimate psychology, taking us through the mess of the mind to that which exists behind it.  Psychology, as we know it,  tends to focus on the screen in an attempt to soothe the flickering images on it, in an attempt to fix any holes in it, and in an attempt to preserve it.  Yoga,  on the other hand, attempts to gently wipe those flickering images off the screen, making it as clean and as transparent as possible so we can see and experience the soul behind it. Yoga knows that this screen is in the way of what is truly important. It encourages the hole in the screen of mind to expand and expand until there is no screen,  so we become one with the majestic scenery of spirit. 

This screen is personal mind and like so many other screens it pulls consciousness in and holds onto it to the point we become one with it, assuming we are the screen. 

Indian philosphy: the soul of man is like a piece of crystal, but it takes the colour of whatever is near it....The colour is so strong, the crystal forgets itself and identifies itself with the colour. ...We have taken the colour of the body and forgotten what we are. All our fears, all worries, anxieties, troubles, mistakes, weakness, evil, are from that one great blunder-that we are bodies. page 46

We, of course, suffer with all our grasping, clinging, and pushing away in an attempt to preserve this screen, to prevent it from ripping, when we do that. We have this conditioned tendency to attempt to fix and control what is happening out there so we feel better in here. Yet, Life is determined to do what Life does...sending blow after blow our way.  Not even psychology can help us with that one. 

Unlike contemporary psychology, yoga teaches we are not the screen...we are that which exists behind it. Yoga encourages those blows or challenges to the mind that creates holes. It sees the holes as a positive thing for our growth and eventual freedom. 

Blows are what awaken us and help us to break the dream. They show us the insufficiency of this world and make us long to escape, to have freedom...page 44

Yoga encourages the holes to expand. It wants the screen clean and pure.  It therefore wants the mind to be free and clear of all that is blocking Shakti, that is clouding up our ability to see what is truly real behind this psyche illusion. Our Yoga practice, then, expands the holes.

We need to stop putting all our energy on attempting to stop Life from tearing at these screens of personal mind. We need to welcome the blows,  and the holes, knowing  that who we truly are and what is truly important is that which exists beyond the screen, not on it. 

All is well!

Swami Vivekananda ( 2019) Meditation and Its Methods. General Press ( Kindle Edition)


Friday, March 29, 2024

Mental Schemata

 Even the wise act within the limitations of their own nature. Every creature is subject to prakriti; what is the use of repression? The senses have been conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant. Do not be ruled by them, they are obstacles in your path. 

The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2: 33

This is basically what Singer was talking about in the below linked podcast. He was making it clear that there really is no use for repression or suppression and, in fact, it causes great suffering.  If we want freedom from suffering... we need to decondition our senses, or at least our mind's attachment to them. We need to learn to accept, honor and appreciate all that comes into our experience through these senses. Can we do that?

How are the sense conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant in the first place?

Well the yogi would say we view and respond to sensory input, therefore Life, through the  lens of our samskaras ( our stuffed and stored life expereinces) and a psychologist might use the term "Mental Schemata". They are basically the same thing. 

What is a mental  schemata, crazy lady, and what has it got to do with our aversion and attractions?

"In psychology, a schema is a mental framework that helps individuals organize, process, and store information about their environment. These mental frameworks are essential for understanding the complexities of the world, as they allow us to interpret new experiences through the lens of pre-existing schemas. (Structural-learning.com)

Interpreting New Experiences Through the Lens of Pre-existing Schemas. 

Attraction

A flock of yellow Grossbeaks have just landed on the tree behind me.  I have not been feeding them here though I once fed them in a place  I lived before and there I had them  almost eating out of my hands. I was attracted and attached to their presence then. I stored those sweet and pleasant experiences in my psyche. "Bird-lover", became a part of my identity because of this experience. I also stuffed and stored that identity inside me. That part of my life, however, had ended. I moved on and I moved here.  If it wasn't for my cats, who won't keep their bell collars on, I would put feeders out here for the birds. But alas, it is as it is. I won'tfeed the birds for their own protection.  Anyway, I have never seen Grossbeaks in this yard before. It surprised me to see them covering this tree this morning. It stimulated a pleasant memory.  Watching these birds was very pleasing  to my senses because of what I have stored inside. My senses, because of the past experience with Grossbeaks, were conditioned to view them as pleasant and to allow this experience in. A  "positive  samskara",  a particular mental schemata,  was the filter through which I viewed this little experience unfolding in front of me this morning. I opened fully to it: Feeling grateful for the visit, accepting, honoring, and appreciating Life in this moment. :)

Aversion

Nothing stays the same. 

As I was having my moment here, afterwards, practicing in what I loosely refer to as "sacred time" to my family,  a suffering individual plopped down into my space and started expressing their anger, their negativity, and their strong  distaste for how life is and was for them.  I have had a long history with such expressed suffering.Their story is something I heard many, many times and it has become a part of my mental schemata. I also have past experiences stored within me where this "expression of feeling" and the "seeking of validation" they tell me they "need to do in this way" has escalated  into something very toxic for all involved. So when I hear a certain tone, a certain expectation of me, a certain list of reasons why they are the way  they are and why they cannot get better coming from them...Slam!...the door closes. It's becoming more and more automatic. Why? My overactive amygdala warns me and tells me to close down for self protective reasons.  The whirlwind of  many different untamed emotions, all with their own virbration or nature (prakriti), too often in the past, was blown both intentionally and unintentionally in my direction. I was overwhelmed by it too many times. It left me with this belief that this persons emotions and subsequent choices can be strong enough to blow the strongest person down or suck one in completely. I am therefore physically told by almost every cell in my body, not just the sensory neurons,  to shut down! My senses, therefore,  have become  conditioned to pick up signs that would likley go unnoticed in other situations, by other people, and the moment my senses detect those signs I go into self protection mode...especially when I am feeling as phyiscally exhausted and vulnerable as I feel now.  So this morning, just a few minutes after the pleasant opening expereince I had because of bird visitors, I found myself closing.  The moment the person sat down in my space and I heard that tone,  I found my gut twisting, as it does when I am closing and resisting in aversion. I don't seem to have enough oompf in me these days to tolerate it, let alone handle it in the way a higher being would. I feel like injured prey and I need to hide. Sounds so dramatic, doesn't it?  

When I break it down for objective examination, I see that this individual, just trying to express themself in their mind, was simply triggering some "negative samskaras", and a mental schemata that pre-existed  in my mind. They are not the cause of my suffering, not the casue of my closing...just a trigger finger on the automatic door of my psyche. My senses would not let them all the way  in. because something was telling me it would be dangerous, or at least even more physically exhausting,  to do so. I did not want to add to this person's suffering by closing down but the aversion to that behaviour has become  a conditioned response.  The slamming of the door of the senses, because of my physical fatigue and my desperate need for healing through this sadhanna,  has become so automatic.

I want to be a being that stays open , no matter what...a being that is not ruled by their senses.  That begins with recognizing and understanding how these senses have been conditioned, to understand why my mind sees certain things as pleasant and lets them in and why it sees others things as unpleasant and closes up to them. 

My practice continues.

All is well.

The Bhagavad Gita as translated by Eknath Easwaran ( 2007)  The Bhagavad Gita. Nilgiri Press...Kindle Edition.

Stuctural-learning.com ( May 5, 2023) What is a schema in psychology.  https://www.structural-learning.com/post/schema-in-psychology#:~:text=In%20psychology%2C%20a%20schema%20is,lens%20of%20pre-existing%20sche

Michael A. Singer/Temple of the Universe ( March 29, 2024) Step Back and Be open to Reality. https://tou.org/talks/


Wednesday, March 27, 2024

An Advanced Form of Psychology

 Yoga is a very advanced form of psychology.

me

I do believe that Yoga, as a science of the mind, offers a very advanced form of psychology.  It is all about observing, examining, and studying our mental modifications...but.... not in order to discover how to fix the outside world so it doesn't disturb the mind patterns, but in order to see  beyond the mind patterns so Life can be accepted exactly as it is. It is "advanced" in that way.  It takes us through the mind to that which exists beyond the mind. 

All is well.





Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Liberate God

 Liberate God from having to stare at you.

Michael Singer

We need to keep reminding ourselves of the importance of raising our selves up away from that which we are staring at...our personal dramas  The One Consciousness is looking out through our eyes...let's give it something valuable to look at. 

All is well

Micheal A. Singer/Temple of the Universe. ( March 25, 2024) Freedom Beyond Ego's Frame of Reference. https://tou.org/talks/


Monday, March 25, 2024

Bored and Sitting Alone

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit in a room alone. 

Blaise Pascal

 

So as I sat down this morning, after I read/listened to some old entries that showed up as viewed today on my stats page, and  before I listened to any new stuff, I had this idea I was going to start today's entry with the above quote from Pascal that I was reminded of this morning.  Then, not being sure of what I would listen to, I decide on Eckhart Tolle and open up videos at random...finding this one. And guess what...he is referring to this very same quote. Serendipity! 

What I got from him related to the above quote:

  • The mind constantly wants to be stimulated
  • but it is important to become aware of the mind's demand for food...for stimulus.
  • If the mind doesn't get to the point it is adeqautely distracted, we recognize that feeling of "pervasive unsatisfactoriness" that is always there beneath our constant distractions.
  • All these distractions are subsititutes for the feeling of true aliveness.
  • It is important to stop feeding the mind all the time and sit with yourself and allow boredom to arise without running away fom it. That is the first step of getting past it...if you don't run away from it, you can get through it.
  • He quoted Pascal here
  • To sit quitely in a room requires that you be connected to something deeper in you.
  • Go through boredom into being.
  • You need to break through that mental barrier or otherwise you will spend the rest of your life not being able to sit in a room alone.
  • Come home to yourself! So that you can enjoy your own company...
Hmm! Well this is the entry that I read today that inspired me to use that quote: https://dale-lynwritin.blogspot.com/2017/09/another-video.html and this is the article I had published in 2017 on that quote: https://thewisdomdaily.com/author/nancyd/

Go figure. Anyway, I have been realizing that I need to work more on solitude and getting past my boredom.  I have been distracting big time and resisting boredom! Though I still practice and teach yoga, go for the odd walk with the dogs, and work a couple of mornings a week, I have been spending most of my daylight  here and time has been flying by in complete diversion. Evenings are spent  knitting, reading, or binging on Netflix as I snack on unhealthy food.  

Why? Because I am not comfortable with myself right now.  As I awaken a lot of samskaras are untangling, bringing  up a bunch of stored pain.  I am also dealing nonstop, it seems,  with all the suffering that is going on in this household, let alone in the world. The body also is noisy.  As a result,I don't like sitting still in a room alone. I want the  diversions and distractions. I am even making excuses for meditation. I am resisting doing what Yogis do. 

Sigh! I know the only way out is through.  Made it a point to show up in my studio every morning where there are no distractions or diversions, to just sit with what is there for an hour or so. Will carry that practice on into the evening as well. Boring maybe, but necessary.

All is well! 

Eckhart Tolle ( March, 2024) Stop Running from Boredom: Eckhart Tolle's Guide to fnding Peace in Solitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRXRnDYwePk



Sunday, March 24, 2024

The Quantum Field

 

[All this that you are expereincing as Life is ...]God creating creation and dancing in it and you are His ambassodor for the moment that is in front of you.

Michael A. Singer

Wow! I love when someone can connect God with science as Michael A. Singer has done so well in this morning's podcast. 

Yogis have known what Quantum physicists are now discovering in their study of subatomic particles. There is really nothing there...everything comes from nothing ( no- thing). There are no particles; there are only waves or vibrations, fields of potentiality that create the appearance of matter. Absolutely everything we interact with comes from that field.

What is that underlying field from which all things emerge? 

Physicists may call it the "quantum field" but yogis know it as consciousness and that consciousness is God. Devotion is having appreaciation for this field. 

I am not going to regurgitate too much because I want you to hear this basic yogic teaching from someone who explains it so much better than I ever could. Beautiful! 

All is well.

Micheal A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( March 24, 2024) True Devotion: Gratitude for Reality.https://tou.org/talks/


Saturday, March 23, 2024

Allowing Body, Mind, and Heart to Purge

 The touch of the soul can paint the brightest colour even in the dingiest places; it can cast a fragrance over the vilest thing; it can make the wicked divine-and all enmity, all selfishness is effaced. The less the thought of the body, the better. For it is the body that drags us down. It is attachment, identification, which makes us miserable. That is the secret: To think that I am the spirit and not the body, and that the whole of this universe with all its relations, with all its good and all its evil, is but a series of paintings-scenes on canvas-of which I am the witness.

Vivekananda, page 17

We are not the body, be it the physical, mental, or emotional body. We are the soul, here to experience Life and the body, mind, and heart are simply tools we have been gifted  to help us do that. 

Do you believe that you are the spirit and not the body? Do you see yourself as a witness of an amazing painting? 

I don't know about you, but the painting I find myself looking at is not always pretty and the artist doesn't really seem to have the right equipment.  I see this way when I am lost in  human drama, when I see myself as the body. 

It is not the body, mind, or heart, as Vivekananda says above, that makes us miserable but our attachment and identification with it that does. Singer takes that farther by telling us, it is how we use these things that make us miserable. Hmm!

I was thinking a lot of my body, heart ( both the physical and nonphysical one),  and mind over the last few days and weeks.  All seemed to be very noisy as I have expressed in long rampages on this site :) So it was both ironic and comforting to hear Michael A. Singer , in the below linked podcast, address these things. 

Making Body, Mind, and Heart Sick

What I got from Thursday's podcast ( I am finally catching up) is this image in my head of all being very similar in one way.  They are similar not in what they are, so much, but how we use them.  They are things...(if I use the word "thing" I am referring to something that is form...and form is not necessarily visible but made up of patterns of vibrations that may or may manifest into matter)...that we tend to  stuff our past experiences of life in until they are sick. 

We use these vehicles, often with disrespect by constantly stuffing things in them that are toxic and unwholesome. And when they react, in order to survive so they can continue doing what they are here to do for us, we judge them and blame them, seeing what they carry as defective. We blame them for making us sick, when we are actually making them sick! Like my body was physically sick earlier this week because of what I was stuffing in it in the form of substances and viruses, and then attempting to purge itself of that which was making it sick, our hearts and mind do the same. They just want to be able to do the job of making our life experience here as amazing as possible and in order to do that they need to be clean and pure inside so the world can pass right through us.  They will constantly try to  throw up or throw out  what is blocking this flow, making them less than healthy. 

Body 

Let's look firstly, at the amazing body we are in.  And, yes, we are "in" our body ( will use the dualistic term "in" so we understand). We are not our bodies, just like you are not the car you drive. We are driving the body. We are responsible for its maintenance and upkeep so it can do its job.  It is a gift we have been given. The body is a vehichle that serves an important purpose. It houses the senses and the senses allow us  to experience this amazing world, this Life. All systems of the body, excluding the reproductive system, are there to support the sensory system, the sensory experience of living. ( Singer, 2024)   Yet, most of us treat these bodies we have been gifted  with great disrespect and even contempt. We are constantly stuffing stuff into them and often that stuff is toxic to this amazing vessel. What happens? We get sick.  The body will then try to purge itself of these noxious substances ( a smoker coughs up what is in the lungs, an overdrinker or over eater may vomit etc) ...and if it cannot do so the body  will be permanently damaged by them. 

How does that apply to the mind and heart, crazy lady?

We...and I mean who we really are...have also been gifted mental and emotional bodies to use while we trample around on this planet. We have been given minds and hearts, minds for processing, creating, experiencing, thinking and hearts for expereincing all the waves of emotions we humans get to expereince. 

And what do we do with these mental and emotional bodies? We keep stuffing stuff in them. We stuff the pleasant emotions and thoughts from experiences we want to repeat and we stuff the unpleasant emotions and thoughts we did not want to experience from the past.  These bodies get sick. 

Disturbed

If you store in your mind everything that ever disturbed you, what will your mind be like? Disturbed

The mind is disturbed and the heart is disturbed in most of us. The heart and mind want to do their job so they naturally try to throw up and throw out what is making them sick.  They want to be pure. We, the drivers of the heart and mind, however, do not want to feel that inner disturbance again. We spend our lives trying to manipulate the world out there so it doesn't induce that tendency for that stuff to come back up.  No one really likes throwing up do they? We use suppression, repression, numbing, and distraction like  Gravol to prevent the vomiting. We then spend the rest of our lives trying to manipulate the future so things in it don't trigger that reflex like Syrup of Ipecac would. The effort it takes to do that is exhausting. 

The mind is not the problem...how we use it is. We use the mind to stuff and store and we use the mind as an anti-emetic to prevent that stored stuff from coming back up. All a while, we continue to stuff our hearts and minds to the brim with stuff  from life we cannot handle.

Cannot handle? What does that mean?

All of Life is meant  to come in through our senses and out again.  It is not supposed to get stuffed or stuck inside us.  The insides of body, mind, and heart are meant to be open, pure, clean, and spacious so we can experience Life and so it can pour right through us. Shakti, then is able to rise up bringing our experience of Life with it.  Yet, our insides are so cluttered by what we stuffed that life experiences get stuck inside us and Shakti gets blocked from flowing. Body, mind, and heart become sick.  They want to purge but too often our life energy is spent on not letting them do what they are naturally inclined to do.  We resist and we are not clean, healthy, and truly fulfilled as a result. 

What do we do then?

Allow for the vomiting.  See every challeng or problem not just as the nectar of life but as  the syrup of Ipecac of Life.  It will help us to purge...to get rid of that which is holding us back. Without that stuff stuck inside we will be able to handle life. 

If you get rid of the stuff that  is in there, it won't be there...and reality can pass right through. Michael A. Singer

The body, mind, and heart are amazing tools we have been given in order to better experience this life...but we do need to keep them clean. Stop stuffing more in and get rid of the stuff that is already in the way.Why? So we can enjoy the amazing scenes on this canvas as the witness.

All is well. 

Michael A. Singer/Temple of Universe ( March 21, 2024) Respecting the Gift of Body, Mind and Heart. https://tou.org/talks/

Swami Vivekananda (2019) Meditation and Its Methods. Kindle Edition. 


A Yogi?

 A Yogi?

He who hates none, 

who is the friend to all, 

who is merciful to all, 

who has nothing of his own, 

who is free from egoism, 

who is forbearing,

who is always satisfied,

who works always in Yoga,

whose self has become controlled,

whose will is firm,

whose mind and intellect are give up into Me,

such a one is my beloved Bhakta.


From whom comes no disturbance, 

who cannot be disturbed by others,

who is free from joy, anger, fear, and anxiety,

such a one is My beloved. 


He who does not depend on anything,

who is pure and active,

who does not care whether good comes or evil,

and never becomes miserable,

who has given up all efforts for himself,

who is the same in praise or in blame,

with a silent thoughtful mind,

blessed with what little comes in his way,

homeless,

for the whole world is his home,

and who is steady in his ideas,

such a one is My beloved bhakta,

[Such alone becomes  Yogis]

Translated exerpt, I assume,  from the Gita (Chapter 2?)where Lord Krishna is defining a true devotee to Arujuna,

and  shared by Vivekananda in Meditation and Its Methods, page 25


All is well.

Friday, March 22, 2024

The Pull Down

 Are you willing to give up God in order to go down to the garbage?

95% of what consumes us as problems and drama is meaningless, according to Michael Singer in Monday's podcast ( I am a bit behind). Yet, 95 plus % of our life is spent there rather than on the One thing that is meaningful: Our consciousness, our true Nature, our Sat Chit Ananda. Most of us humans are caught up in our personal dramas, in an attempt to get what the mixed up mind wants in order for us to feel okay inside.  We struggle our entire life spans pushing away that which makes us feel worse, clinging and grasping to that which might make us feel okay ( according to the psyche)...when we are already, naturally, okay inside, beneath the psyche.  Who we are, at the deepest level, is more than okay.  It is eternal conscious bliss. 

If we want to be free, to be so called "spiritual", to be who we are...we need to let go of the attraction to, the pull of  this very distracting thing we got ourselves all caught up in..."Me and its never ceasing drama". Not that is an easy thing to do.  No, this pull, I am discovering , is very , very powerful. 

The trick is to simply be aware of it...be aware of the pull the personal me has on our consciousness; be aware that the consciousness is being pulled down or has been pulled down once again; be aware of the consciousness that got pulled down; be aware that there is a consciousness watching your "me" prance around in its drama. Be aware that that consciousness never went away, we just had its gaze pointed in a different direction...down instead of up.  We were looking at the garbage down here instead of looking at what it was that was aware of the garbage down here. 

Hmm! Something to think about.

All is well!

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( Monday 18, 2024) Witness Consciousness-Releasing the Powerful Pull of the Personal. https://tou.org/talks/

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Raise Your Self! Look up!

The higher thought processes can free you from your lower self. 

Michael A. Singer.

Raise your Self! Just raise yourself.  Look up!

I often tell my students during hatha class to keep looking up. whether their eyes are open or not. I want them looking up toward the sky during most asanas and I want them lifting their gaze to the sixth chakra or above during seated or meditative practice.  "Just keep looking up". 

It no longer seems natural for us to look up, does it?

We are habitually drawn to, unfortunately, as in little me's never ceasing dramas, that which is down.  Ego brings us down, Spirit (or whatever you want to call it) naturally pulls us up. Focusing on this body, heart, and mind, and what is happening to it brings the energy of  consciousness which is meant to be elevated and euphoric...down. Most of us are spending our lives looking down rather than up.

I love Singer's reminder to his podcast audience last Sunday that this powerful flow of energy called Shakti is within us all.  For most of us,  it will remain coiled up and asleep at the base of our spines our entire life without us even knowing it is there ( Kundalini).  For yogis, however, who seek to gently and gradually wake this sleeping energy up, to unblock the Sushumna so Shakti can flow up through the higher chakras...there is the possibility that we just may experience that magnificent flow within us at some point in this life time. If we can do our best to stop creating more blockages to the flow with our preferences, resistance, supression, and repression; if we can learn to release and relax into life; if we can learn to refocus our awareness and to look up away from all that  we are so addicted to looking at ...keeping the gaze of consciousness on the subject of consciousness rather than the object...we just might wake up that coiled energy. So, look up instead of down...is my mantra.

Though I remind my students and  myself how important it is to keep the gaze up to where that higher energy comes from...sometimes I slip and find my focus pulled down as I did a few days ago. I found myself looking down into the muddy whirlpool of a "me" in a body that is constantly making noise that seems so difficult for others to hear because that just may be the way it is supposed to be, a "me" who is surrounded by the thick mud of circumstantial drama as it keeps getting  pulled down into it like quicksand. I find myself sinking, sinking, sinking until all I can see is the mud on either side of me.  This is what happens when I forget to keep my gaze up, when I fail to fall back into a much purer, mud free flow I cannot yet see or feel but know instinctively  is there. I forgot to look up. I got stuck in the mud, of human drama.

Whenever I realize I once again n fell into the mud of  mind created suffering rather than the clear, healing  flow of Shakti...I sigh...and return to my yoga practice. Again, and again, and again. My practice is all about not closing or resisting to what life is giving me, therefore, not adding more blockages to the Shakti flow.  It is about creating space for the samskaras to arise and be released as they are so inclined to do. It is about allowing: allowing  Life to be exactly as it is and allowing whatever I stuffed in my psyche to emerge so I can let it go. I know that is the only way to go.

How do I know it?

I don't know. I just do.  Though I practice all kinds of yoga : Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Kriya Yoga, sometimes Japa Yoga, and Raja Yoga...I think it is  the Jhana Yoga that has gotten me so far. I am trying to use the higher thought processes to bring this "me" up and out. I study and write what I learn from masters who studied and wrote because that is so natural for me.  I teach as I learn because that too is natural for me. Though I am keenly aware of the limitations of concepts and such knowing...I often use this means to raise me from the mud. 

I am not sure if I will ever truly expereince the free flow of Shakti within me in this carnation but somehow the learning I am doing is pointing the way there. If  I get there, this  method of freeing myself from the mud will be totally obselete, I am sure. It won't matter once I am floating in the Shakti.

As I practice Jhana and all other forms of yoga; as I take each step and breathe each braeth...I need to remember to keep looking up. Keep looking up.


All is well 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( March 17, 2024) Shakti-A Deep Dive Into Your Energy Flow. https://tou.org/talks/


Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Every Act is a Vehicle for Transformation

 May your every act in life, down to your very breath, be a vehicle for bringing matter into spirit and spirit into matter. May you become a transformation so you can live in the world but not of the world, so you are both the word and the silence, you are the form and the formless, with every breath.

Ram Dass

I have been out of commission the last few days. :) I have been up and down and all around physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I was pulled into the drama of being me in a body that was crying for attention, a mind that "thought it needed" to know why the body was crying out, and all this in the midst of the never ceasing drama occurring around me. Let me share a bit of the narrow story I was allowing my consciousness to focus on. ( Beware: It might be a little longwinded.)

I was booked for a simple procedure everyone my age  is recommended to have. I literally refused this procedure twice before because I didn't think I needed it and I did not want to waste tax payers money. That was before certain minor issues I was having were becoming more and more prevalent and annoying.  So, I eventually  straight out asked for this test because I thought it would give the answer as to why I was having that pain in my LLQ since 2017, and the other associated things.  A cyst under 4 cms could not be the cause of all this, I thought. There had to be something else.  

You see, I have a mind that needs to understand this body's signs and symptoms  in pathophysiological terms....just as a mechanic needs to understand why the car they are driving is acting up.   It drives me crazy when it doesn't make sense. I don't want all the fancy tests and procedures...I just want to be able to see and understand what is going on in my body. A sensible explanation...two miniutes in length...is all I need. If a plausible explanation makes sense to me...if I can see that this is related to this and that is caused by that...I am okay with whatever is thrown at me...but if I am told, "It is all good," when this body is still making all this noise,  I will respond with, "Tell me why it is all good when I still have this or that going on.What is causing this or that?  I am not asking you to fix it...I am just asking you to tell me what it is so I can understand it. "  

I don't want to hear that it is all good when this body is so noisy....you know? What is this body wanting me to hear?  I will do whatever I can, first,  to figure it out myself so I do not need to go ask someone else. I don't want to bother anybody with the body's nonsense.  I don't want all these tests and stuff.  If I can handle it on my own.  I will handle it on my own.  I have a fairly sound understanding of pathophysiology and I figure out about 85% of my stuff on my own. 15 % I can't .  But for the 15%  I can't figure  out ...I go to the experts. That is what drives me to health seek. I am not afraid of being ill.  I am not afraid of dying...but ...I have to understand what is happening so I can make peace with it. When I present or show up for a test, I am just needing an explaination as to  what this body is saying because at those times I can't understand its language. It is not the symptoms, or the possibility of being ill that bothers me...it is the "not knowing" what the body is saying that I have a hard time with. Sigh!  It is just the way my mind works! 

Anyway.... so I have been having a heck of a week with all that is going on around "me" prior to this procedure date.  I was really pulled from my Seat of Self and into the drama, as much as I didn't want to admit it.  That could have intensified the symptoms.  (The body does respond to stress, does it not? I possibly narrowed my focus on to the body's noise.) So, as the symptoms intensified...purely psychosomatic or not...I was even more determined to have this procedure explain the nature and cause of my symptoms once and for all. If I could find peace in what the body was doing I would have more space for handling the life circumstances. So, I was determined to have this procedure no matter what! I wanted to put an end to the not knowing. I wanted the  peace I assumed an answer would bring...regardless of that answer.  Despite the circumstances occurring around me, despite everything I might be feeling etc...I was determined!

Yet...it seemed that fate had other things in mind. 

Well the day before the procedure and while I was prepping for it...D. and I came down with the stomache flue...very high temps, nausea...the whole works. I mean sick. Like what are the chances of that? Still, I was not going to cancel! I needed an answer.  So, there I was having to prep with the most God awful stuff in the world ...making myself sicker than I already was but I was determined! It was very, very challenging. At one point I was laying on the bathroom floor sweating profusely...I think the sweat was coming out of my eyeballs...almost convinced I was going to die. I wasn't sure if it was the heart or the stomach but man...sick! 

Anyway...I get through it and I show up for the procedure ( fever had broken in the night so I was feeling better that way but literally wiped out.) 

I wait with the knowing that soon I would find out what has been going on down there for years now.  I would have this peace.  I am not nervous.  I am repeating "Om mani padme hum" to myself.  I am speaking to the support around me I cannot see...saying, "Whatever this is, it is. Give me the strength to make peace with it all." The nurse gives me the sedative and I go out.  

I didn't remember much right after the procedure  but I do remember now...the alarms going off behind me and some pressure in my belly and chest...not much just enough but I was still too drowsy to react.  Then I remember being wheeled back down to my cubicle,,,someone telling me it is over and asking how I am feeling...someone  calling for an ECG...someone  saying, "She had some ST changes during the procedure." 

I am too drowsy to wake up.  Infact, I don't really care about that. I want to know about the scope. I fall back to sleep and am awakened by an ECG tech putting leads on me. Everyone is asking if I am okay.  I am. I am pleasantly drowsy...no pain anywhere. I fall back to sleep. Then D. is there and the nurse.  I am told I had some ST changes during the procedure. Still not concerned. I am just wondering what the scope showed. I am told the ECG will be faxed to my doctor and I still don't care.  ST depression I have had plenty of times. I am shown the report and it is compared to the last one...Sure there are chnages but I have seen such changes before.  Not concerned.  What about the scope? 

They begin to prepare me for discharge.  I am super light headed but no chest discomfort what so ever. I see the surgeon walking down the hall . I feel my heart racing.  I need to know. They are talking about my ECG and my heart history.  He comes in and tells me right away that I had some ST changes during the procedure and that I need to see my doctor...to take my ASA etc...that the ECG report was faxed. I nod my head. He starts to walk away. Huh? "What about the scope?" "Oh scope is good. It is all good?" I am stunned, "It's good?"  The nurse beside him tries to reassure me, "That's a good thing." They do not understand that I just need an explanation as to what my body is doing.  I think I thanked him...I hope I did. He walks away. I reassure the nurse that  there is no reason for concern about the ST changes. She tells me to follow up with my doctor. I tell her I will even though I know I probably won't.   I go home and spend the hours up til now  very lightheaded with no answer for my need to know mind. 

The symptoms I was having that led me to the procedure continue. The symptoms I was having after it linger on as well. The drama continues around me.  I have no energy to help anyone. I think of how good it felt to be out of it for the 20 minutes I was out lol but know in my heart that is not what I want or need.  The peace I am longing for is not found in a temporary sedative...nor will it be found in an explanation for what my body is doing. 

The answer is not what I need to have peace! In fact, I didn't get my answer because I was not meant to... It was like wow....I really am not supposed to know am I? Why else would this thing in my heart that I spent decades trying to get people to diagnose and  had such a hard time proving to others was  even real show up distracting all  from the purpose at hand.  In my health seeking history for one bizarre reason after another, I never did get answers to all that was going on in my heart and with the other issues in this body until decades after presenting with them. I always seemed to go decades seeking and not finding. It would literally take decades for the answers to show up. Why would this situation be any different?

This is part of my karmic journey, my learning. For some reason, this having a mind that needs to know and the subsequent  not knowing is meant to be.  I am not supposed to find peace in an answer, in knowing conceptually what is going on in this body I have been given. I am supposed to find peace in the not knowing. It really doesn't matter what is happening to this vessel.  I am not it. I think the learning is telling me I am to have faith in this process... a process I don't understand or need to understand.  Hmm! 

Someday, maybe I will truly get that everything I do, every single thing that happens to this "me"  is a  vehicle for bringing matter into spirit, and spirit into matter. Maybe someday I will realize that I am more formless than form. Maybe, someday I will realize that the peace I am looking for is already in me. 

All is well. 



Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Cost of Sat Chit Ananda

The Song of Samadhi 

Lo! The sun is not, nor the comely moon,

All light extinct; in the great void of space

Floats shadow-like the image-universe.


In the void of mind involute, there floats

The fleeting Universe, rises and floats,

Sinks again, ceaseless, in the current "I".

Slowly, slowly, the shadow-multitude


Entered the primal womb, and flowed ceaseless,

The only current, the "I am", "I am". 

Lo! 'Tis stopped, ev'n that current flows no more,

Void merged into void-beyond speech and mind

Whose heart understands, he verily does.

Swami Vivekananda

(Meditation and Its Methods, page 25)

                                                                          
                                                                            All is well!


One Truth-Many Paths

We should always remember that the truth of the Self is the same, but when presented to you through words and forms and modes, it may appear in different ways to suit the individual or the trend of the age. That means rituals can be modified, language can be modified. But the truth can never be changed because truth is always the same. ...That is why, whatever be the scripture, whether from the East, West, South, or North, the basic truth should be in agreement. Satchidananda, page 13


I feel the urge to tie three recently learned streams of thought  together: The mantra I have been practicing again, what I am learning from Vivekananda, and what I listened to today and yesterday from Michael A. Singer.  Do they line up ? Absoultely. It is so uncanny how these things have been lining up. 

A few days ago, for some reason I returned to the Buddhist meditation mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum". Not sure why, but I felt pulled to it. I have since been reading up on its meaning, "The jewel of the lotus." Waht is teh jewel of the lotus? Enlightenment. 
Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.The Dalai Llama

 That very same day,  I came across this from Vivekananda's, Meditation and Its Method: You Cannot Know God Until You Know Yourself . ( A book I have been reading for the last week or so) : 

Imagine a lotus upon the top of the head, several inches up, with virtue at its centre, and knowledge at its stalk. The eight petals of the lotus are the eight powers of the Yogi. Inside, the stamens and pistils are renunciation. If the Yogi refuses the external powers he will come to salvation...Inside of the lotus think of the Golden One, the Almighty, the Intangible, He whose name is Om, the Inexpressible, surrounded by effulgent light.  Meditate on that. (page 14)

It was like wow! Not that I am trying to make this into something mystical or magical but sometimes things, like teachings, line up in a very serendiptious, non-scientifically explainable way for me. Can't help but say, " I guess I really  am suppose to meditate using this mantra."

 This connection between an ancient Yogic teaching and a Buddhist one reminded me of this line I always recite to myself, from Swami' Satchidanada's translation of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Truth is One; Paths are many.  My writing and learning has been based on that line. I have spent the last 25 years trying to connect the paths.  

In my practice, I am also not looking for what Patanjali referred to as Cittis...those yogic powers that can be attained through samadhi, that can be visualized as the petals surrounding the center of the lotus flower. I am looking for enlightenement, a "merging" with this OneTruth, Self, God. I am focusing on the center, the jewel of the lotus, when I meditate or when I practice in every way I practice. I am renouncing the powers surrounding enlightenment for enlightenment. 

So what does that have to do with Michael A. Singer's teachings, crazy lady?

Well,  he began by explaining that all the true paths to truth are taking us to the same place. The title of his podcast is, "Many Paths-One Destination". What is that destination he is referring to? He was not speaking about going or getting somewhere.  He was speaking about not leaving. about falling back into what we always were, what was always there: God consciousness, the highest vibration, merging with Self...like a drop of water falls into the ocean and becomes absorbed in what it is.  He was speaking about the need to rest in the Seat of consciousness and then fall back into that consciousness. The intended path for the Yogi, is to stop pouring this precious energy of consciousness down and out on little me's dramas.  It is about going  in and up to Who we always were. It doesn't matter how we do it it...as long as we are going in and up. 

In his podcast, Singer explains Patanjali's meditation steps: Pratyahara (premeditation, withdrawal of the senses), Dharna ( focused or single pointed concentration), dhyana( focusing on consciousness itself) and Samadhi...where the merging happens. This is what I read last night from Vivekananda's book: 
  • There are three stages in meditation. The first is what is called [Dharana], concentrating the mind upon an object. I try to concentrate my mind upon this glass, excluding every other object from my mind except this glass. But the mind is wavering....
  • When it becomes strong and does not waver so much, it is called [Dhyana], meditation...
  • And then there is a still higher state when the differentiation between the glass and myself is lost-[Samadhi or absorption]. 
  • Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself ( page 15)
Singer kept stressing over and over about the importance of this higher state of consciousness focusing on consciousness.  Attempting to go there...or better put...not leave there like we tend to do when we are pulled down and out into our distractions....is the One True Spiritual Path. 

Wow! I just see all these teachings lining up so perfectly for me in what seems like coincidence.  But something tells me, it is more than coincidence.  As somewhat of a Jhana Yogi by nature ( I do think that is the natural path for me on my way back to this destination I never left) I am being guided a bit by something I do not understand.  Not saying it is mystical woo-woo...just something I can not see or explain...a vibration, maybe. Maybe, all so called coincidence is purposeful vibration? 

 Yogis, centuries ago, have come to see all of Life as a vibration. They have been aware of the quantum field a lot longer than scientists have. Science is slowly catching up. Instead of doing what the yogis did...exploring consciosuness directly and firstly before examining the world outside, however,...scientists are making their way from the outside in. 

Just a different path, maybe, to the same Truth. 

All is well. 


Dalai Llama (2002) Om Mani Padme Hung.  Shambala Publications. https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/om-mani-padme-hum-dalai-lama/

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( March 15, 2024) Many Paths-One Destination. https://tou.org/talks/

Swami Vivekananda (2019) Meditation and Its Methods. New Delhi: General Press (Kindle Edition)

Patanjali/ Sri Swami Satchidananda( 2011)  The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Buckingham: Integral Yoga  Publications.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Observing with Equanimity.

Can you watch what is going on in your heart and mind with equanimity?  If so, you have fallen back into the seat of the Objective Observer.

Started the below podcast this morning but was drawn away from it again and again by the world around me. The above statement is the thing I was left with before the distractions. Will listen again tomorrow.

All is well.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( March 15, 2024) Many Paths-One Destination. https://tou.org/talks/



Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Aware

 You are not a human being. You just happen to be aware of one.

Michael A. Singer




Tuesday, March 12, 2024

From Wave to Ocean

 I am no longer the wave of consciousness thinking itself seperated from the sea of cosmic consciousness. I am the ocean of the Spirit that has become the wave of human life. 

Yogananda

Every single drop of consciousness is the same, Michael Singer tells us in the below podcast. What it shines on differs from person to person, wave to wave, but consciousness is the same.

Great beings know this. Knowing this is Yoga. The state that Christ was in and what he taught was the essence of yoga.  

I actually only opened Monday's podcast today and it was all about what I wrote about yesterday...who is enlightened and who isn't and why. etc. 

We are this amazing consciousness. Most of us spend our lives being pulled from deep consciousness/awareness of being (God) down to personal consciousness, 

Why? Consciousness identifies what it is focusing on. 

Spirituality is all about focusing...not on what the light is shining on...but the light itself.

Hmm! All is well. 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe. ( March 11, 2024) The Light of Consciousness. https://tou.org/talks/

Monday, March 11, 2024

Mind as Trap or Liberator?

 Not here to fix the world.  You are here to bring down something beautiful to the moment in front of you.

Michael A. Singer ( not exact, exact words maybe...but close :)) 

I had to remind myself of that a lot this morning. I am a day behind in my listening practice. Every morning I try to listen and read wise words from people who are awakening and who have awakened. Why? Because I want to awaken. 

 I have been pulled away from the height of this  practice over the last few days because I am dealing with the projected suffering of another. To be honest, I feel a certain degree of resistance to this suffering that is more or less thrown in my direction.  I have empathy and compassion but it is loaded down with my reluctance and resistance...I find myself physically feeling it in my gut and closing off.  I am  also aware of myself feeling a certain resistance to my resistance: "You are supposed to be waking up and accepting and embracing Life as it is.  This is Life. Deal with it!"  The twisiting in my gut gets worse as I hear that.

Then I hear this other little voice within me saying, "I don't want to deal with this right now. I really don't.  Maybe after my practice I will have more of that peace and light to share with this individual.  Maybe I will be more open."  I am reminded of the above quote  from the podcast this morning and this, (again somewhat paraphrased):

The only ones that are the part of the solution are the ones that can sit at the table and say, "That is not what I would do but I can understand why you think and feel that way."

 I resist some more telling myself I need my sadhana to evolve to the point I can handle things like this better. Then another little voice counters..."But this is part of your practice.  This will help you to wake up too."

Man, back and forth, I as this "troubled human," go. I just got called away again and I tried to remind myself and the other of these quotes but it did not go over very well. I was not validating enough which I see, and I could be right off the mark, in this person's eyes is equivalent to allowing myself to be pulled down into their very low, negative and toxic perceptions and emotions so I understand where they are at.  I don't allow myself to go there.  I know this person is there and it breaks my heart but I do not want this consciousness that is pouring through me and that can be so healing pulled down, and  eventually lost in that very narrow focus. I know it would not be beneficial to either of us. I see that this person is trapped in the mind...it is a curse for her.  I am hoping to free the mind. I want it to be a liberator not a trap. 

Man ..all this shows me that I am far from fully awakened...I am just in the early stages of  waking up where I am still yawning and stretching. Hmm!

Ironically, I was intending to write about the difference between a fully awakened individual and one that is still waking up when I sat down here this morning and before I even listened to Singer's podcast. There is a big difference right?  I don't look at Michael A. Singer and Eckhart Tolle, for example, as fully enlightened masters or rishis...I look at them as humans evolving beyond their humanness...learning so much about consciosuness as they do...knowing it is there...but not completely pulled into it...not completely merged with it in the way say, Ramana Maharshi, Rama Krishna, Meher Baba, Mahavatar Babaji (Yogananda's guru's guru's guru) was etc. (The way, of course, Christ and the Buddha were). Mind you they are much more awake than I am and that is why I, like a flower pulled by the heliotrophic effect to the sun, lean in their direction.  But do I think they have reached what those who have spent years in a cave without any distarctions have ? No.  One is likely still sipping the last of their coffee or crunching the last piece of their toast.  The other might already have the dishes in the dishwasher and heading off to work...but they are still not fully awake. Very few humans reach that state. I don't have any unrealistic notions about reaching that state in this life time but still I try to wake up more and more each day. Why?

If your consciousness is not distracted by your personal thoughts and emotions...what happens to it? It is not pulled down. A depressed person is pulled down into low negative stuff...a positive person is pulled down into positive stuff ( still pulled down because they are identified with  emotions and thoughts ...distracted by it).  An enlightened being is not pulled down, not distarcted. Singer ( again somewhat paraphrased...I was very distracted during the listening and the writing and couldn't get every exact  word down.).

I am so sick of being pulled down. Are you? Imagine being able to stay up there in that higher energy, the  Sat Chit Ananda, like the fully enlightened ones did and do?  Hmm! Imagine bringing that to the table and into every problem others are having? Wow! Game changer.

Anyway, I did not help this person today with any peace I might have been oozing.  I did not help my practice, and I did not help myself get a little farther away from the thing in the way of a liberated mind...me. Hmm! But I did observe and expereince it all as the conscious awareness. That has to stand for something, doesn't it?

All is well.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( March 10, 2024) Mind can be a blessing or a curse. https://tou.org/talks/



Sunday, March 10, 2024

Yogis Open Up to the Energy That Is


He alone is the yogi who, after long practice in self-concentartion, has attained to this truth. The Sushumna now opens and a current which never before entered into this new passage will find its way into it, and gradually ascend to ( what we call in figurative language) the different lotus centers, till at last it reaches the brain. Then the Yogi. becomes conscious of what he really is, God Himself. Vivekanandapage 11


 Michael A. Singer opened up his podcast from Thursday, (I only had the opportunity to listen to it this morning) with a talk about that state a true yogi reaches after years of practicing in a cave, free of all worldy distarctions. "Purified mind", he calls it.  The Buddhists would term it shunyata ( empty mind) and Nirvana. The Christians might refer to it as Salvation or heaven. 

The bottom of the lake is our own true Self;  the lake is the Chitta[mind-stuff] and the waves the vrittis[cyclical movements of conscious energy]...Then there is the state called Sattva, serenity, calmness, in which the waves cease, and the water of the mind-lake becomes clear. page 15

Man wants truth, wants to experience truth for himself; when he has grasped it, realised it, felt it within his heart of hearts, then alone , declare the Vedas, would all doubts vanish, all darkness be scattered, and all crookedness be made straight. page 15

He then gently approached the topic of God and linked all that  flows through us with energy.  Everything is energy, as science is finally realizing ...that which yogis realized long ago. ...which I strongly believe to be true.  But then again...what is belief?

What right has a man to say he has a soul if he does not feel it, or that therefore is a God if he does not see Him? If there is a God we must see him, if there is a soul we must perceive it; otherwise it is better not to believe. It is better to be an outspoken athiest than a hypocrite. page 10

Everything is energy...a vibration...but there is a place beyond all this energy that we can all reach. It is all about returning to the source and re acquanting ourselves with who we are. It isn't easy:

The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind! page 10

But there is a tried and true  process to follow...a process the ancient rishas practiced.:.

First  hear, then understand, and then, leaving all distractions, shut your minds to outside influences, and devote yourselves to developing the truths within you. page 15

Think of  a space in your heart, and in the midst of that space think that a flame is burning. Think of that flame as your own soul and inside the flame is another effulgent light, and that is the soul of your soul, God. Meditate upon that in the heart. page 11

Anyway, distracted right now by someone elses' crisis I have been dealing with off and on all morning so I am going to step away.  Just trying to say once again that the teachings all line up, don't they?  The One consciouness is the source of those energy vibrations lining up the way they do. 

All is well

Michael A. Singer ( March 7, 2024) It's all energy. https://tou.org/talks/

Swami Vivekananda (2019 ) Meditation and Its Methods: You cannot Believe in God until You Believe in Yourself. Kindle Edition



Saturday, March 9, 2024

Mastering the Bell; Inviting the Sound of Presence

 Om Mani Padme Hum

Popular Buddhist Mantra 

The above chant as I probably mentioned many times before  means , "Praise to the jewel in the lotus,"referring to the Divine within us all. 

I was reminded of that today upon listening to an old video with Thich Nhat Hanh from 2013.  In this video he was speaking to the idea of becoming a "Bell Master"...a person who rings the bell before, during, and after a dharma talk or practice .  I was introduced to the bell upon viewing the dharma talks from  Plum Village many years ago and have developed a deep respect for them and their meaning.  I was since gifted a lovely singing bowl and have been  learning to make it sing so I could use it during my yoga practice.  I can make it sing. I am, however, more intrigued by the prospect of using it as a bell  because I love how simply waiting for and then  listening to the rising and dissolving of each bell sound  brings me right back into the present moment. I couldn't understand why it had that effect on me until I listened to the below video. 

In the nonviolent language of Zen, the initiation of sound is referred to as "inviting the bell to sound" rather than striking or hitting the bell. I find that choice of words so soothing. Before beginning the bell a master must be centered and peaceful. A mantra/gatha can be used to ensure this peace:

In Breath: Body, space, mind in perfect oneness

Out Breath: I send my heart along with the sound of this bell.

In Breath: May the hearers awaken from their forgetfulness

Out Breath: and transcend  through the path of anxiety and sorrow. 

The bell is invited to ring three times at the beginning and ending of the session. It begins with a half sound to warn hearers that a full sound is about to happen very soon. This is done to prepare both the bell master and the hearer for the full sense of  the complete  sound. We need to stop talking, stop the body, stop the thinking to receive the full sound of the bell ( the voice of the Buddha). Hearers are given a ten second preparation time which equates to one full consciosu breath: four seconds for breathing in; six  seconds  for breathing out. 

Then the master invites the first full sound. With the full sound, everyone has the opportuinity to breathe in and out three times

"I listen...I listen.....I listen," on the in breath. And on the out breath "This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home."

The Bell Master is very conscious and considerate about giving the hearer enough time and space to receive and absorb each full sound of the bell. The time span from when the bell is first stroked to the time the next invitation for full sound occurs allows hearers three deep in breaths and three deep out breaths, followed by a ten second pause. 

I am going to practice this for the sheer joy of inviting and receiving the bell sound, as well as for being able to offer that healing invitation for presence to others.

All is well. 

Thich Nhat Hanh/ Quentin Genshu ( 2020?) How to Really Be Yourself All the Time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdlqUt3PfaY&t=1s


Friday, March 8, 2024

Wanting No More?

 If you sleep, desire grows in you like a vine in the forest. Like a monkey in the forest you jump from tree to tree, never  finding the fruit.- from life to life, never finding peace. If you are filled with desire your sorrows swell like the grass after the rain. But if you subdue desire your sorrows shall fall from you like drops of water from a lotus flower.

The Buddha


I know from what was read in the last few days my back and forth on"wanting" could be a little confusing for readers.  In 2017 I was trying out the "Law of Attraction", at the same time I was going deeper into Self. My life seemed to be a mess: I was sick, having to go off work again and again,denied support, and therefore barely surviving financially. Family life seemed to have one major issue after another etc. My whole focus was on these seemingly great problems unfolding in front of me.  I was desperately trying to escape my situation...looking for more, "craving" more actually. Thus my interest in what the Law of Attraction might provide= hope.  

I was also practicing yoga and studying Buddhist sutras and dogmas. These ancient wisdoms, ironically,  were reminding me of truths that were the opposite of the "wanting" prescribed by the law made popular in The Secret. They were all about accepting "what is". They prescribed "wanting and craving" as the problem...not the solution.  I would find some peace in these ancient teachings that resonated in every cell of me. But when Life threw another major challenge my way I found myself craving and wanting again. "How can I accept this?" I found myself shouting out to the Universe, turning to this idea, once again, that I might be able to think what I want into our lives...reaching  for a life line of hope to get myself and my family through this mess.  So yeah, I went back and forth between these two seemingly polar opposite approaches to Life for many years.  

What the Law of Attraction gave me in terms of hope was so superficial. It handed me a flimsy rain coat and a picture of a rainbow to hold on to  in the midst of a storm.  What the ancient teachings gave me was a solid shelter to return to again and again no matter what was happening out there. One approach  turned "me" outward as I looked up at the sky crying, "Please, please, stop raining down on me!"And the other approach ripped right through the raincoat, the form I call  "me" standing there drenched  with a picture of a rainbow in her hand [dreamboard]. It ripped right through everything this "me" seemed to have going on to the unharmed, untouched being beneath the "me". The shelter from this storm, I soon realized, was not out there, it was in here where it always was. There really was no storm, anywhere but in my mind.  The  sun was still shining brilliantly below that stormy cloud cover. It was always there.  The learning from these ancient teachings showed me that I created cloud cover with my resistance to what  Life was throwing my way...and that there was really no "my way" or "me".  Who I really was ...was this shelter.  I knew this truth! I was home! I knew it didn't matter what was happening to me or around me ....who I really was was okay. It was like Wow!

Of course I am still very much unevolved.  I still slip away from the shelter again and again.  I still have this impression at times that I am being poured upon by challenging life circumstances. I still slip into old habitual ways of perceiving and responding to Life.  I still find myself wanting and even "craving" for  Life circumstance to be different than what it is sometimes.  That is happening less and less though.  You will not see too many entries like the ones I wrote on wanting in 2017 or before anymore.  I see now that "Not wanting" is not the cancer I thought it was...'Wanting" is actually the life sapping malignancy. Realizing that, I have evolved, (at least a bit).

Well, that is what I have come to see. 

All is well. 

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Life is Only Difficult For Evolution's Sake: Be the Living Dharma

Dharma may be misunderstood as the wise teachings. There is a spoken dharma and a written dhharma, but there is also a living dharma...Radiating peace and joy and life all around us is what we call the living dharma.
Thich Nhat Hanh, page 120

I was multitasking today.  I was listening to the wisdom shared by Eckhart Tolle  and collecting passages of meaning as I read through Thich Nhat HAnh's book, Fear, at the same time.  This is what I came up with.  I am using exact quotations because I could not, obviously, say it any better than these two wise people did. Anything with an ET behind it is from Eckhart Tolle; anything with a page number behind it is from Thich Nhat Hanh. They will not be in the usual purple to indicate they are quotations but they are,

On Challenge and Difficulty

  •  Evolution happens only when there are obstacles...a demand for more energy. ET
  • Humans do not awaken as long as they are in their comfort zones...they need to be taken out of their comfort zones for evolution of consciousness to happen. ET
  • Quan Yin [Avalokiteshvara] is the boddhisatva who can listen and understand the sounds of the world, the cries of suffering.page 117
  • The suffering inside us reflects the suffering of the world. page 122
  • You want to do something - first of all to survive, and then to help reduce the suffering. page 122
  • When we see the suffering in the world, we know by comparison the suffering inside us is hardly nothing.  page 122
Intelligent/ Right Action
  • Intelligent action emerges as long as it is aligned with what is. ET
  • Is wisdom present...the higher intelligence that operates through you when you are in touch with the vertical dimension? ET
  • [With acceptance of what is]The path of right conduct will appear; we will make good use of our time and energy to do what's needed and not be carried away by senseless pursuits that can destroy our bodies and minds. What we need to do will become clear. page 33
  • What we do, say, and think continues on after the act is done, and its fruits follow us. page 37
Karma
  • Karma is the ground on which we stand. We have no other ground. We will recieve the fruits of any act we have done, whether wholesome of unwholesome. page 37
The Two Dimensions; Being In the World but Not Of It.
  • To represent the two dimensions of reality [Tolles vertical and horizontal plane analogy], we use the image of the wave and water. Looking at the dimension of the wave, the historical dimension[ Tolle's horizontal plane], we see the wave seems to have a beginning and an end. The wave can be high or low compared to other waves. The wave might be there or not there; it might be there now but not there later. All these notions are there when we first touch the historical dimension: birth and death, being and nonbeing, high and low, coming and going, and so on. But we know that when we touch the wave more deeply, we touch water. The water is the other dimension of the wave.[Tolle's vertical dimension]. It represents the untimate dimension. page 48
  • If the wave is capable of touching the water within herself, if the wave can live the life of water at the same time [Tolle's intersecting point between the vertical and horizontal plane?], then she will not be afraid of all these notions: beginning and ending, birth and death, being or nonbeing; nonfear will bring her solidity and joy. Her true nature is the nature of no-birth and no-death., no beginning and no end.That is the nature of water. page 48
  • The first step is to practice in the historical dimension, and the second step is to practice in the ultimate dimension. page 49
  • Our daily lives need to have a spiritual dimension to help us develop our capacity for taking good care of our pain and fear as well as our happiness. page 77
  • ...we all long for peace and security.  page 91

Knowing/ Insight
  • The two modalities of knowing are conceptual and direct knowing through awareness. ET
  • The way out is in. page 73
  • It is the energy of mindfulness that empowers you to recognize your pain and sorrow and embrace them tenderly. page 76
  • Don't let your mind carry you away with thinking, judgments, irritation, strong feelings, and projects. page 80
  • Instead of blaming others, we can look at our own being and work on whatever unskillfulness on our part may have contributed to our difficulty with another. page 84
  • Most likley the other person has also been a victim of wrong perceptions. page 97
  • The kingdom of Heaven can be hidden by a cloud of ignorance or by a tempest of anger, violence, and fear. page 101
  • To repent means to wake up and be aware that our fear, anger, and craving are covering up the blue sky.  page 101
  • When you throw a rock into the river, no matter how small it is, it will sink to the bottom. But if you have a boat, you can keep many rocks afloat. page 125
  • Descartes said, "I think therefore I am," but most of the time, the truth is more like, "I think, therefore I am not really here." page 127
  • We need some joy and happiness to give us the strength to transform suffering. page 132
  • If you're capable of producing a feeling of joy, a feeling of happiness, then you'll also be able to handle painful feelings. page 134
  • So we have to train ourselves to look in such a way as to see things more deeply and see their ultimately empty nature. page 142
  • So in your daily life, you keep that insight of nonself, of emptiness, of impermanence alive... You have to really see the nature of emptiness in yourself and others. page 142=143
  • But in the beginning, we can use the teaching, the notion of impermanence, as an instrument to help bring about the insight of impermanence. It's like a match and a flame. The match is not the flame, but the match can bring about the flame. And when we have the flame, the flame will consume the match. When we have the insight, the insight will burn away the notion. page 144

Reality and Accepting What is
  • It is madness to argue with what is. ET
  • "Nothing is created; nothing is lost." Antoine Lavoisier page 51
  • We have not come from anywhere, and will not go anywhere. When conditions are sufficient we manifest in a prticular way. When conditions are no longer sufficient, we no longer manifest in that way. This dosesn't mean that we don't exist. page 52
  • So to say that after something disintegrates there's nothing left is a wrong view, called the view of annihilation. page 54 ( Hanh uses the burning piece of paper analogy)
  • "This is because that is. This is not because that is not." The Buddha page 62 
  • Stopping and looking deeply are one; they're two saspects of the same reality. page 80
  • We need to have a nonviolent attitude towards our suffering, our pain, our fear. page  85
  • Being there with what is beautiful and healing inside us and around us is something we should do each day. And it is possible to do this in all your daily activities. page 114
  • We don't try to grab onto the painful sensation, and we don't try to push it away. We just acknowledg its existence.  When a painful feeling comes, we do the same thing. 135
  • Every time the pain manifests, we have to let it manifest; we should not push it down. We shouldn't try to suppress it. We should let it come and take care of it. page 139
  • The nature of reality transcends all notions and ideas, including the notions of birth and death, being and nonbeing, coming and going. page 147
  • We let go of our wrong perceptions of reality so as to be free. page 147
The Cause of Suffering= Resistance and Reactivity to What is
  • The world drama gets amplified through ego reactivity. ET
  • The basis of suffering is ignorance about the true nature of self and the world around you. When you don't understand , you are afraid, and your fear brings you much suffering. page 68
  • Your response to what's going on around you will be quite different if you are solid and not overwhelmed. page 73
  • While another person is able to allow the mountains, the glorious sunrise, the beauty of nature penetrate fully into his body or mind, we are blocked by our worries, our fear, and our anger, and the beauty of the sunrise cannot really enter us. Our emotions prevent us from getting in touch with the wonders of life....page 75
  • Now its a strong habit that many generations of your ancestors had before you and transmitted to you - the habit of running, being tense, and being carries away by many things, so that your mind is not totally, deeply, peacefully in the present moment. You get accustomed to looking at things in a very superficial way and being carried away by wrong perceptions and the negative emotions that result. This leads to behaving wrongly and making life difficult. page 79
  • We don't want to open the door for our fear, our sorrow, and our depression to come up, so we bring in all manner of other things to occupy us....Distraction is the policy for many of us. page 86
  • We have been taught to keep our fear out of sight and unacknowledged. page 91
  • "I have looked deeply into the state of mind of unhappy people and have seen hidden under their suffering a very sharp knife. Because they don't see that sharp knife in themselves, it is difficult for them to deal with suffering. page 92
  • As long as you continue to hang onto it, your pain magnifies and grows so large, you want to punish those you think are the cause of your suffering. ,,,see their great hatred but what is driving it? Perceived injustice.page 93
  • Scientists tell us that all objects are made mainly of space and that the amount of matter in a flower or a table is almost nothing at all-put together, all the matter in a table would be smaller than a grain of salt. ...we still think of the table as big and solid. page 142

The Present Moment/Embracing Presence
  • The past is gone, and the future is not yet here. So the place where you should look for the Kingdom of God or the Pure Land of the Buddha, the place where you should look for your happiness, your peace, and your fulfillment, has to be in the present moment. Its so simple and clear. page 44
  • "The miracle is not to walk on water or fire. The miracle is to walk on earth." Zen Master Linji. page 56 (in line with Singer's teachings)
  • Look deeply straight in front of you at what is wonderful in the present moment. Mother Earth is powerful, so generous, and so supportive. Your body is so wonderful. When you have practiced and you are solid like the earth, you face your difficulty directly and it begins to dissipate.  page 57
  • "The past no longer is; the future is not yet here; there is only one moment in which life is available, and that is the present moment." The Buddha page 57
  • Even amid the wonders of the present moment, it may be that you have a number of difficulties;but if you look deeply you will see you still have maybe 80 percent postive things to be in touch with and enjoy. So don't run. page 80
  • In our daily lives, every single moment we can help the kingdom of God reveal itself. 102
  • Really try to be there, for yourself, for life, for the people you love. page 112
  • Walk with your feet, not with your head. Bring your attention to your feet and walk.119

The Power of Awareness/Consciosuness
  • Our consciousness is like a circle in which the bottom part is our store consciousness, and the upper part is our mind consciosuness. page 39
  • There is a whole river of feelings flowing in us day and night. Every feeling is a drop in that river. A feeling is born, manifests, stays for a time, and then passes away. We can sit on the bank of th river of feelings and observe, recognizing each feeling as it manifests, and seeing it remain seeing it pass away. page 136
  • We shouldn't identify with the  feeling, nor should we try to push it away. We're free even from our own feelings. page 136. 
  • There are strong emotions that are very painful, zones of energy that manifest from the depths of  our consciousness. page 136
  • In the earliest hours of the morning, a lotus flower is still closed. As the sun comes up, the sunlight begins to touch the petals. The sunlight doesn't just surround the lotus flower; its photons actually penetrate the lotus flower with energy, and soon the flower will open. That is exactly the same as what we do. When we embrace our pain, particles of the energy of mindfulness and concentartion begin to penentrate like photons, into the zone of pain. And this will bring relief after some minutes. page 137
  • It's like when a room is cold, you turn on your radiator, and it emits waves of heat. Those heat waves don't chase out the cold; they embrace and permeate the cold, and after some time, the air becomes warmer. There is no violence in this; there's no fighting. page 138
  • A seed from the depth of consciousness manifests, it stays for a while as a zone of energy, and then it goes back down to its original place as a seed. page 139
  • There is a  river of mind flowing in which every thought is a drop of water. We sit on the bank and observe the manifestation and fading of each thought. We can simply recognize them as they arise, as they stay for some time, as they go away. We don't need to grasp, or fight, or push them away. page 140
  • To gladden the mind, we use a practice  called selective watering. page 141
  • First, we allow the negative seeds to sleep in our store consciousness, and don't give them a chance to manifest; if they manifest too often their base will be strengthened. [habit formation] page 141
  • Second, if a negative seed manifests into mind consciousness, we help it to go back to store consciosuness as quickly as possible, where it can sleep s a seed. 141
  • The third practice is to encourage wholesome mental formations to manifest in our conscious mind. 141
  • In the forth practice, when a good mental formation has manifested, we try to keep it there as long as we can. page 141
  • Concentration has the power to burn away afflictions, just like sunlight focusing on a lens can burn a piece of paper underneath. page 142
  • When we look at things in terms of interbeing, we see that the subject and the object of consciousness can not exist seperately. It's like left and right; one can't exist without the other. 145
  • Whenever we perceive something, whether it's a pen or a flower, the object of perception and the subject of perception always manifest at the same time. When we are conscious, we are always conscous of something; when we are mindful, we are always mindful of something; when we think, we always think about something. So object and subject always manifest at the same time. 145
Wisdom
  • Wisdom can only arise through awareness. ET
  • Only wisdom -which  is inseprable from the arising of awareness-can save us.ET
  • By practicing  nonattachment and sharing this wisdom with others, we give the gift of nonfear. Everything is impermanent. This moment passes. The object of our craving walks away, but we know happiness is always possible. page 60
  • [The Buddha taught his disciples on his death bed]...that they should look for the teacher within rather than relying on the teacher outside-that the body of the teacher may disintegrate, but the teaching has already entered the student. If you go back to the island of yourself, you will see the teacher.
  • The seed of wisdom, of perfect understanding, is in each of us. page 78
  • We have enough intelligence, courage, and stability to help the blue sky reveal itself again. page 102
  • When scientists enter the world of elementary particles, they have to put aside their habitual way of looking at things as existing seperately. page 142
  • The contemplation of impermanence can help us transform the delusion in manas so it becomes wisdom. page 146


All is Well!


Eckhart Tolle (Feb 6, 2024) Embracing Uncertainity: Eckhart tolle explains the Power of Not Knowing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVLX5a6nmzU&t=638s

Thich Nhat Hanh (2012) Fear. New York: Harper One.