Samma Ditthi

 Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans.

John Lennon

I have been contemplating the purpose and meaning of Life for quite some time. Wondering how best can we humans experience these gifts of Life we have been given to play with for a few decades of earthly time? I came up with this after listening to this Sounds True offering today:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKBiaOnoMmg

Your life takes its shape from what your mind dwells upon...

Huh? 

Your personal mind takes its shape from what the individual dwells upon on...Your brain takes its shape from what the mind focuses on (neuroplasticity)...Your body takes the shape from what the brain focuses on. Are we, then, what the mind focuses on and can we then control body and life by changing the way we think? 

What I got from this is that...yes...it can and we do need to work with our minds if we want to change the lives we are living. We also need to change our view of the world...what we are looking on and what we are expecting from that which we are looking on.

Does that mean that we are shaping what it is we are looking at? That we are creating lives of struggle and scarcity or lives of abundance and ease? That we have the power to get what we want by changing our thoughts and manifesting etc.? 

"Can I use my spiritual powers of will to force the moments in front of me to be the way I want them to be?...

Yes, you can ,,,,but I feel sorry for you...cuz there's a whole lot of people who didn't want it that way and they didn't get  to have it the way it naturally would have been....

So, there is a ripple effect of manifesting that goes beyond the wants and desires of the "little me" that we often fail to consider? We do not tend to explore the far reaching consequences of getting what the "little me" wants ...how pulling that from the universe may impact other beings, nature, karma, the natural flow of universal laws. 

So much of manifesting is all about the "little me's" desire to be comfortable, isn't it? It isn't about experiencing the natural flow of reality or about why we are wanting to manifest certain outcomes in the first place. What we fail to see is that the answer to our so called pursuit of happiness is not about manifesting and changing the "out there", it is about dealing with the "in here."

This brings me right back to where I was in my discomfort...back to the painful but neccessary process  purification.

Either you accept reality and let go of  the garbage you stored inside because you couldn't handle the realiy that happened before, or you go out and try to manipulate reality to be the way you want it to be right now....what about everyone else? 

Maybe the big question isn't so much, "How can I change the neuroplasticity in "my" brain, so both "my" Life and "my" health are more comfortable for "me"."  Maybe it isn't about, how can I learn to manifest so I can change what shows up in front of "me".  Maybe the big question is how do I view reality now?

The big question is: 

How do we tend to view reality when things happen? The "right way" or the "wrong way"?

The first "Right" in the Buddhist Eight Fold Path is "Right View" or Samma Ditthi. Right View is all about seeing reality exactly as it is. It is all about seeing Life through the Four Noble Truths: There is suffering; more importantly, there is a cause for that suffering (our pulling in and pushing away from our experiences based on our preferences) and there is a way to get beyond suffering- the Eight-Fold Path.

The practice of right view is to make a choice, moment by moment, not to focus our gaze on what we want things to be, nor to ignore the parts we wish were not there, and not to close our eyes. Its looking at what is right in front of us. Koun Franz/ Lion's Roar

Can you look at what is right in front of you? Can you accept Life for what it is, even when painful things happen? 

Can I honor and accept its [the happening's] right to exist? Singer

Most of us are taught to resist those things, aren't we? To pretend, deny, hide, avoid, numb, suppress and repress. First, we judge the happening as being good or bad, right or wrong, should be or shouldn't be. Then, if it is painful...we close our eyes! Our judgements and resistance prevent us from experiencing the lives we were given to experience fully. 

It is not that it is good or bad, right or wrong- it just is.... Why? ...It is because...

I have been having a challenging time over the course of the last few months.  I have been practicing samskara release through purification for years now...which simply means attempting to heal by releasing all that stored trauma etc from within.  I am really getting somehwere with that.  I have, or life has, peeled away so many layers and I have hit the samskara layers. It isn't easy when all that stuff that was stored in pain comes back up to conscious awareness. I spent my life running from it and here it is ...smack dab in my face and I have to deal with it for the first time probably. Yuck!  I have also been looking around at these present "life circumstances" I erroneously call "my life". ...and sometimes, despite my awareness and practice, find myself judging it as "bad, wrong, shouldn't be". I resist the moment by wanting something other than it. I also personalize the experience by focusing on this human's little slice of existence, saying things like, "When is this human going to catch a break?"

After months of narrowing this focus of awareness...this view...down onto the "me" and its problematic life drama, it was getting really dark and heavy in here.  I just wanted happy change...for things "out there"  to become easier, so I could feel better "in here".  So, I began this week to dream and visualize, positively affirm, and attempt to manifest a better life.  Now, I know there is nothing wrong with doing that. Science has proven that hope and positivity are powerful energies that can change the neuroplasticity of our brains, and therefore our life experience. It is much better to focus on the positive than it is to focus on the negative.

 I found myself in the last couple of days looking into the idea that maybe I can change the reality of what is happening around me and to this "me" by changing my perspective, my view.  By being more positive and hopeful...by ...heaven forbid... "manifesting".  Though I loved the increase in energy, the focus didn't really feel right. Why? This type of focus  keeps me from exploring the real question that will set me free. 

How can I accept, allow, and honor life as it is? 

The temporary manifesting focus was all about 'me'...this entity that is really nothing more than a self concept. It was denying the truth that though I could, through this powerful mind once it is trained, get what I desire.... Life isn't here to serve this "me"...it isn't all about "me". I am just one of 8.3 billion humans on this planet. My time here is just a blink of an eye. What can I know in this blink of an eye compared to what the planet, which has been here for 4.5 billion years, knows...and the cosmos which has been here for over 13 billion years knows?  

It isn't all about me and my desires or aversions. This idea of "me" is in the way of the true experience of Life. That being said, we do need to love all of who we are, including this me identity, I believe, in order to truly love others, to truly love and experience Life.  We also have to gently love this "self" away....if that makes sense... with Right View. Hmm! Back to the drawing board and not the dream board for this human.

A great spiritual being... they don't want it to be the way they want...they don't have a want...there is just experiencing reality and doing what can be done to raise the energy in that moment.

All is well! 

Michael Singer/Temple of the Universe/ Sounds True ( June 1, 2026)  You don't need to Rise; You Need to Release. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goVMUe6yJrA

Koan Franz (May 24, 2023)  The Eight Fold Path: Right View in Lion's Roar.  https://www.lionsroar.com/right-view/

Sounds True ( May 31, 2026) Your Brain Was Built for Predators...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKBiaOnoMmg