Why Stress?

Stress is not the cause of all our ills. The cause is our inability to cope

with changing conditions. Stress accumulates and intensifies and then we feel the

negative results in our lives.  – Swami Niranjan

http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1998/cmay98/stress.shtml

We live in times of ubiquitous stress.  It so prevalent in our lives that we fail to perceive it until the volume is turned all the way up.  Many people seem to believe that stress is inevitable and natural, just part of the way things are.  However our stressful lifestyle is making us sick.  Chronic stress is implicated in a myriad of psychological and physical illnesses.  As Psychologist Sheldon Cohen states, "Effects of stress on regulation of immune and inflammatory processes have the potential to influence depression, infectious, autoimmune, and coronary artery disease, and at least some (e.g., viral) cancers," (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009164122.htm)

Stress is an underlying factor in a number of our societal ills as well, such as, violence, substance abuse, relationship problems, etc.  And because these “symptoms” create more stress it just snowballs.  However we can’t just identify stress as the underlying cause of our psychological, physiological and sociological problems.  Stress itself is a symptom and a signal that we need to change and adapt.  It is a sign that we need to shed old patterns of thought and behavior. 

As Peter Merry writes, “At this moment of transition, there are two options.  Either we can begin to open up to what we are perceiving, allow it in to disturb our current way of doing things and explore what it has to teach us.  Or we can try and deny its existence and bury ourselves in the old, stable, seemingly safe way of doing things.”  Often we opt for the second response but this is what causes us to accumulate stress.  We choose to be mindless and run on autopilot.  We can use substances, food, entertainment, sex, whatever to distract us from the signs and signals but they will continue to be there until we are willing to make necessary changes.  “When we can no longer make sense of the world around us,” says Merry, “when we can’t find our place in it, we get sick.” (http://www.petermerry.org/blog/books/evolutionary-leadership/)

Meditation first came into prominence within our scientific culture when Herbert Benson identified the “relaxation response,” which was seen as a way of countering the “fight or flight” response of our autonomic nervous systems.  It was seen as an antidote to stress.  Meditation, however, has much more significant benefits.  In fact, it is a way of cultivating our potential for deeper awareness, a way to step away from our preconceived patterns of thought and behavior.  This has been referred to as the capacity for inner witnessing awareness, or “mindfulness.”  However we choose to describe it, it is an inner experience rather than a concept.  Here is one description from Dr. Jonty Heaversedge and Ed Halliwell, “Mindfulness means observing things just as they are—our thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and what’s happening in the world around us. It shows us the world just as a mirror reflects images: clearly, openly, and without bias. It’s what happens when the mind watches and engages consciously with life, rather than being blindly caught up in what’s going on.”  (http://www.healyourlife.com/author-dr-jonty-heaversedge-and-ed-halliwell/2012/04/wisdom/inspiration/what-is-mindfulness)

We might try to imagine some higher being who embodies this awareness but it is really just us, you and me, as we are.  At the same time, it is definitely not who we think we are.  In fact, when we first encounter this awareness in meditation, or otherwise, it might seem like an alien being looking over our shoulder.  A friend of mine often reaches back over her shoulder when describing her experience of the inner witness.  There is no other, there is no inner guide, there is no “god,” really.  There is only just this present miracle of awareness.  I will be bold here and assert that this is IT and IT is “I”.  Awakening is nothing more than this. 

This simple “fact” of awareness though, changes everything.  When we are able to disengage from our contextual focus and open to an awareness of who we truly are, then things don’t matter so much.  At the same time we are more open and able to help ourselves and others.  It gives us space.  It gives us perspective.  We open to compassion.  We open to unconditional love.  It is important to remember to stay present and not to space out. 

Ultimately, it seems to boil down to the ego-principal.  “Ego” is our sense of being a separate “self” apart from everything and everyone else.  This is not bad or wrong, it is simply something which we can regard from a higher or more expansive and inclusive perspective.  It is actually very important and very healthy to have strong interpersonal ego boundaries.  On the other hand, a self-centered identity and value system has ceased to be a viable mode in our global community.  We simply have to see our individual needs and desires relatively.  Is that possible?

The stress of our times is the result of our need to let go of our self-centered ego perspectives and to move into an “aperspectival” consciousness as identified by Jean Gebser.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAeXdm5XGEc) Mindfulness means stepping outside of our usual contextual awareness, stepping outside of our conditioning and looking at everything anew.  It doesn’t mean turning our minds off or embracing stupidity.  Let’s not use it for an excuse to join the “dumbing down” of our culture.  Instead we can become truly meta-cognitive, not just thinking about thinking but reflecting upon thinking from a wisdom perspective.