A New Year’s Revolution

May we light the sacred fire that burns out the ego and enables us to pass from fearful fragmentation to fearless fullness in the changeless whole.
~ Katha Upanishad 

Although there was no singular cataclysmic event on the Winter Solstice of 2012, it still marks the transition point from one age to the next.  It marks the end of a time when we believed that the world was something outside of us and an awakening to the world as our collective creative effort.  Our world is as we dream it. 

The remnants of the old dream are crumbling fast around us.  The idea that we could control nature through technology is coming apart as we encounter super storms, glacial melting and epidemic diseases which defy medical intervention.  Global capitalism is becoming increasingly nonviable.  Large areas of our cities look like disaster areas, and that’s in the “first” world. 

Neither technology nor capitalism is really at issue though.  Technology can be wonderful as any new ipad owner knows (never mind that they are built in horribly inhuman factories.)  Capitalism can be fun.  As somewhat of an entrepreneur, I have enjoyed the challenges of trying to make self-employment work.  The real issue though is deeper and more fundamental.  It is “interior.”  It is the belief that we are each inviolably separate from each other, from our world and universe. 

Ego is a belief system which cuts of us off from the whole.  As A Course in Miracles tells us it is based in fear and the antithesis of love.  Yoga tells us that it is based in ignorance of our true being.  It is based in the disconnection between our rational/rationalizing brain and the deeper wisdom of the heart.  “Intellect a head-based operation incorporating ever more complex variations and applications, each needing further explications and qualifications,” writes Joseph Chilton Pearce, “has become separated from intelligence— the automatic and natural state of the heart that brings coherence.” (2012, Heart-Mind Matrix: How the Heart Can Teach the Mind New Ways to Think)

Simply put, our hearts generate an electromagnetic field that connects us with everyone and everything.  Our consciousness belongs to that field rather than the physical structure of the body.  We are an aspect of that field before and after we leave the body.  We are immortal beings of Love.  That field gives birth to all things, contains all things and eventually all things dissolve back into that field. 

The way to move beyond ego and to enter into that greater wholeness is through meditation, i.e. inner stillness.  We have to be willing to let go of the constructs of intellect to understand the coherence of intelligence.  It is deeper intuitive knowing, light-years away from symbolic manipulation.  It might seem like a scary place to go at first but it is the entrance way to peace.

Let’s make it our New Year’s revolution to ignite a sacred inner fire that burns away ignorance and ego and allows us to see beyond imaginary boundaries, to release fear-based thinking and to embrace humanity and the planet as a whole.  Let’s promise to practice self-reflection, inner silence, forgiveness and compassion.  It might sound crazy but it is the only way forward.  We can’t stay in the past.

Making Sense of Suffering

 

After many births the wise seek refuge in me.

-    Bhagavad Gita

 

In order to understand the suffering in this world we have to go beyond it.  We have to see beyond the limitations of bodily existence and come to know ourselves on a deeper level.  On the level of form we have to accept that life is temporary and we are prone to pain, disappointment, grief and loss.  There seems to be no way of getting around it.  When we awaken to our true nature, however we see beyond the illusory limitations of temporal forms.  We recognize ourselves as beings of boundless consciousness, infinite light.  It is our attachment to impermanent objects that creates our suffering. 

“Our bodies and our minds,” writes Brian L. Weiss, MD, “are the masks our real self— the soul— wears in the physical world. When we die, we remove our masks and we rest in our natural state. There is no disappearance, no oblivion. We simply take off our masks, our clothes, and other outer coverings, and we return home to the spiritual realms.”  (Miracles Happen, 2012)  His words echo the teachings of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, “As a man abandons worn-out clothes and acquires new ones, so when the body is worn out a new one is acquired by the Self, who lives within.”  This ancient knowledge although disregarded and despised in the modern age continues to resurface in dreams, meditation, past-life regression and psychedelic experiences.  As we collectively awaken from the dark age this knowledge is becoming more common place.  For example “According to data released last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a quarter of Americans now believe in reincarnation.” (http://personalityspirituality.net/2010/09/05/western-belief-in-reincarnation-on-the-increase/)

Of course you might say belief is purely subjective and doesn’t prove anything.  However, many people report having meaningful past-life memories.  These memories can have a healing effect on both physical and psychological levels, as Dr. Weiss points out. 

Reincarnation enables us to make sense of life, to put suffering into perspective.  Instead of seeing our lives as meaningless, chance events, this spiritual perspective allows us to understand them as stages in the evolution of our souls.  A religious perspective that excludes reincarnation doesn’t give us room to grow.  As “The Healer,” a character in Bill Douglas’s novel “2012 the Awakening” says, “The denial of reincarnation is anti-evolutionary. The essence of evolution, which is required of us now more than at any other time in our history, is fluidity of spirit.  The rejection of reincarnation rigidifies people, causing them to grit their teeth and resist who they really are, in order to follow dogmatic and arbitrary rules so they can avoid eternal damnation when they die. They stop evolving and live in obedient fear of a wrathful, vengeful God – who will either give them a not guilty sentence for their self-denial, or will damn them to eternal suffering for stepping outside the rigid lines.”  Reincarnation gives us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes.

The concept of karma goes along with reincarnation.  It simply implies that there are antecedents to our current life experiences.  We come into this life with certain tendencies, abilities, needs and desires.  We come to learn from this experience.  Karma is both personal and collective.  Sometimes it seems to represent a callous attitude towards other – after all it seems to imply that we all get what we deserve.  Instead we might better understand this world of our experience as a collective creation.  It is an opportunity to develop love, compassion and generosity, and to evolve beyond the narrow limits of our self-serving ego consciousness.  Perhaps the innocent child who is killed so tragically is actually an aspect of God telling us to wake up.  Marianne Williamson writes, “Starving children in Africa are not poor because their consciousness is unaligned with love; they’re poor because ours is. A billion people on earth live in “deep poverty”— that is, on less than a dollar and twenty-five cents a day. A billion more live on less than two dollars a day. Yet this is not an “exception” to the rule that love casts out fear. Quite the opposite, it is a collective lovelessness on the part of the advanced nations of the world that allows us to accept the reality of deep poverty, thus deflecting a miraculous solution.” (Williamson, Marianne (2012-11-27). The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money, and Miracles . HarperOne. Kindle Edition.)

Beyond belief in reincarnation or even past-life memories however is our real task of awakening to our true nature as beings of consciousness.  We are responsible for the reality we create out of self-centered desire, hatred, fear, greed, etc.  We are here to overcome these and to awaken to the Loving Presence of Who We Are.  We must awaken beyond the dream, beyond the nightmare, beyond ego.  Ultimately we are here to awaken from all attachment to outward form and to recognize our inner unity and perfection. 

Meditation is the time proven method for spiritual evolution.  Research indicates that if meditation became the central activity of humanity then violence would be eliminated.  Is this possible?  It starts with each of us.  Practice meditation regularly,” taught Swami Sivananda. “Meditation leads to eternal bliss. Therefore meditate, meditate.” 

OM

 

Meditation, Work and Unconditional Love

Bhakti is like making love to everything continuously, from humans to birds, flowers everything; you have no choice, for you realise their real nature and the nature of yourself and with this '"impossible" relationship, how is it possible not to feel love for everything?  - Paramhamsa Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Human life, our daily life is about balance; balancing our responsibilities, needs, desires, fears, aspirations and losses.  We do this best when we are connected to our inner central being, our Divine Essence. 

When we are caught up in the world, which takes place on the surface of things, we can get quickly thrown off balance.  We can get overwhelmed by emotions: anxiety, anger, jealousy, resentment, guilt, joy and grief.  Emotions are not to be avoided, but when we become lost in them we forget that everything in this world is temporary.  Permanence is an illusion.  Just like separation.

The spiritual path of Yoga is a balance between immanence, this shared world of mutual illusion, and transcendence.  Too much immanence and we are caught up in anger and anxiety.  Too much transcendence and we are spaced out.  Psychological and spiritual growth requires us to stay present with one foot in both worlds. 

In a sense there are two selves; one in each world.  The ego-self is bound by illusion and desire.  The Greater Self is free and is unconditional love.  The bound self is limited to five senses and mind.  The Greater Self is intimately connected with our omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent source. 

The Bhagavad Gita has an interesting verse in this regard.  In it Krishna says:

The self is the friend of the self for him who has conquered himself by the Self, but to the unconquered self, this self stands in the position of an enemy like the (external) foe.  (6:6 as translated by Swami Sivananda)

 

As ego-selves bound by illusion we have the responsibility of making a decision whether to become more bound or to move towards freedom; the choice to awaken from the nightmare of self-centered desire to the bliss of unconditional love.  When in doubt, I say, go for the bliss.  The ego becomes our enemy when we are caught up in fear and anger. 

Meditation means becoming inwardly still and silent.  It is a means of connecting with that greater Self within.  As St. Teresa counseled, “Settle yourself in solitude, and you will come upon Him in yourself.”  The regular practice of meditation helps us to break open the cage of ego, to release anxiety and to open to love.  Karma Yoga is meditation in action, love in action.

When we perform work as service, with spiritual dedication we are much less vulnerable to the stress and anxiety inherent in the world.  When we are simply working for a paycheck then we are subject to the ups and downs of increases, decreases, job loss, office politics, difficult co-workers and unreasonable supervisors, etc.  When we practice Karma Yoga we are learning to observe our limited ego-self in action and to operate from a deeper place of unconditional love. 

What if the job you had right now was given to you by God both as a means for your own spiritual growth and also as a way for you to serve others in his name?  We are socially conditioned to think of our work much differently.  We are taught to look for a job, study for a career with which we can make a living and possibly finance the “good life.”  Generally we are not encouraged to discover and develop our talents and abilities as a gift to all.  The experience of work can change dramatically with this change of attitude.

The spiritual path of Yoga requires renunciation and non-attachment: letting go of personal desires and fears.  We do this not out of some perverse need for self-denial but to raise our level of consciousness.  As the Krishna teaches:

The Supreme Reality stands revealed in the

         consciousness of those who have conquered
         themselves. They live in peace, alike in cold
    and heat, pleasure and pain, praise and blame.

(Bhagavad Gita, 6:7)

 

This really does not mean that we cannot enjoy the pleasures of life.  Instead we are simply conscious of a greater reality; our own greater Self.  When we simply pursue the satisfaction of our personal needs and desires we are choosing to live in a narrow world.  We are choosing to live in desire and anxiety.  To release ourselves from our ego-cage however requires letting go of some of our most cherished assumed values:

They are completely fulfilled by spiritual wisdom

     and Self-realization. Having conquered
     their senses, they have climbed to the summit
     of human consciousness. To such people a
     clod of dirt, a stone and gold are the same.
         They are equally disposed to family, enemies,
     and friends, to those who support them and
     those who are hostile, to the good and the evil
     alike. Because they are impartial, they rise to
     great heights.

(Bhagavad Gita 6:8 – 9, Easwaren, 1985.)

It might seem that Yoga in this sense is all about self-suppression.  After all isn’t it natural for us to love our families?  Of course it is.  It is not about turning your back on friends and family but loving them and expanding that circle of love to include all beings.  It’s not about being an imbecile who can’t distinguish between dirt and gold, but developing an awareness which discerns deeper spiritual values.  It is about connecting with the all-pervading loving awareness present behind the scenes and bringing into expression in this world.  As Amma states, “Understand that God dwells as pure consciousness in all beings, including you. As this experience becomes stronger and stronger, the love in you also grows. This love is the best cure for all emotional blocks.”

Through meditation we release the fearful and judgmental ideation that has been planted in our minds.  We open to the transcendent love and wisdom which doesn’t come from “above,” but is residing quietly within us.  Through our service in the world we share this love and wisdom with others.  We are all awakening to our spiritual unity, our connection in consciousness.  As Krishna confides,

With the mind harmonised by Yoga he sees the Self abiding in all beings and all beings in the Self; he sees the same everywhere. (Bhagavad Gita 6:29, Swami Sivananda)

We have to approach this Yoga step by step.  It is a developmental process whereby we go from ego-centric awareness, to ethno-centric and then world-centric.  Don’t get discouraged when you run up against your attachments, love yourself anyway instead.  Research has shown that meditation “restarts and catalyzes” psycho-spiritual development.  (Roger Walsh, MD)

Mastery of life is the opposite of control. You become aligned with the greater consciousness. It acts, speaks, does the works. ~ Eckhart Tolle

But Seriously Folks . . .

When we are fully conscious of our perception, we realize how full of crap we really are. -  Tom Von Deck, “Oceanic Mind”

"After meditating for some years, I began to see the patterns of my own behavior. As you quiet your mind, you begin to see the nature of your own resistance more clearly, struggles, inner dialogues, the way in which you procrastinate and develop passive resistance against life. As you cultivate the witness, things change. You don't have to change them. Things just change." - Ram Dass

Sometimes I catch myself taking things too seriously, especially this “thing” called me.  Somehow, despite years of practice, I forget to observe and simply become absorbed in my thought constructs.  It’s kind of like building a cage around my consciousness and then getting pissed off because I’m stuck.  A lot of things can seemingly entrap me: attachments, assumed responsibilities, guilt, fear, unconscious habits, feelings of obligation, etc.  And I suspect I’m not the only one.

The cage that we unconsciously create around ourselves becomes the object of our stress, anxiety, anger, frustration and discouragement.  It blocks the flow of life-energy in and through us and leads to illness, perhaps even death.  (Yes, you can literally die from taking things too seriously – especially sickness and death.)  It affects our relationships, careers and core spirituality.

Successful people build a highly functional structure around themselves.  It serves them in positive ways.  The rest of us include self-sabotage as part of our structure.  We believe negative things about ourselves and we take them very seriously.  Even those successful ones need to become conscious of their inner construct to remain successful; to continue to evolve. 

Fortunately my daily meditation practice will clue me in to when and how I am getting caught.  Through meditation I can become aware of the stress reflected in my body, the fixations within my mind and the fact that I have disconnected from my soul, my deeper essence.  Sometimes it takes awhile to disconnect from “the world,” i.e. my construct of the world, and to reconnect with inner peace and joy.  It is not so much an effort as just lightening up and letting go; surrender.  Often times I feel like I am being helped by my Guru on the subtle level.  Such is the gift of spiritual relationship!

Ultimately all of the elements of our ego construct are relative.  Our world is as we dream it.  Sure, there seem to be hard realities we have to face, but it is not the situations that we encounter but our interpretation of them that is crucial.  The world we encounter is our interpreted experience of that world.  “Man’s mind,” writes Joseph Chilton Pearce, “is a mirror of a universe that mirrors Man’s mind.”  Our world is a shared interpretation, a mutual hallucination or a work of art in which we each participate.  Separation, or “duality,” is the greatest illusion of all. 

When I get stuck in my ego-centric perspective my world can seem like a pretty messed up place.  Other people seem greedy and self-centered.  The economy, environment, crime, drugs, disease, corporate interests, etc. all seem like they are out to get me.  I get defensive and passive-aggressive.  I don’t trust nobody.  I feel alienated and alone.  Nobody understands me.  When I surrender I know that I am held in an interconnected web of being, Oneness of heart, mind and spirit which is beyond ordinary thought.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t address all those things in the world but that I know to address them within myself first and foremost.  I can’t see clearly to help the world when I am deluded by my own fear and aggression. 

We have to come from a place of love.  Love is not something we have to work on, something we have to do.  It is the core of who we are.  It is Sat-Chit-Ananda, the Being-Consciousness-Bliss of the Universal Self residing within each of us.  The world is immediately a better place when we awaken to the Love within.  We can start by not taking ourselves too seriously.

Jesus, God and Yoga

 

There is nothing wrong with stretching, exercising, or regulating one’s stress through breathing. But when the tenets of yoga are included, it’s by definition a worship act to spirit beings other than the God of the Bible. By way of analogy, there is nothing inherently wrong with intimacy, sex, and pleasure. But when the tenets of adultery are included, it’s a sinfully idolatrous worship act. A faithful Christian can no more say they are practicing yoga for Jesus than they can say they are committing adultery for Jesus.  – Pastor Mark Driscoll (http://pastormark.tv/2011/11/02/christian-yoga-its-a-stretch)

Jesus was a teacher of the ancient organization called The Way. The Way goes back many thousands of years; some believe it goes back to Mithra (the earlier date of c. 2000BC). We have archaeological evidence of The Way from Mohenjo-daro and Harappa and in some of the older Great Flood legends. Remnants of The Way’s understanding of Mother Nature and God the Mother linger in some ancient religious ideas. We have parallel symbols in the birth of Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Zoroaster and Mithra. To name a few . . .    

- The Yoga of Jesus (http://churchoftheeast.ca/yoga_of_jesus_(1).htm)

These are just some thoughts. 

Suppose that there is no “correct” religion and that in fact every possible religion is an attempt to reunite us with the timeless primordial source of ourselves, our world and our universe.  In such case it would be clear that all of our attachment to this or that religious symbol, dogma, ritual, etc. is actually in itself an act of idolatry.  The symbols are like language itself: attempts at encoding actual experience.  The experience itself is what is truly and ultimately sacred.  And because it is something that we experience it is not at all separate from who we are.  It is our innermost and central identity.

The historical Jesus Christ is said to have lived two thousand or so years ago in the Middle East.  As far as I can determine the actual historical evidence of him is questionable.  In fact some might argue that he was simply a mythological figure himself.  This is presented in the popular internet video Zeitgeist produced in 2007 (http://vimeo.com/13726978).  On the other hand some scholars have focused on “the missing years” to discover whether or not his teachings may have been influenced by a journey to the East.  It is clear that the religion referred to as “Christianity” has been filtered, edited and used for political power over the centuries since his time.  Most notable is the Council of Constantinople and the Nicene Creed of 325 AD.  The Nicene Council effectively edited all of the writings about Jesus (he never published himself) in order to arrive at a dogma consistent with the first “Christian” Emperor’s rule.  (Could this be the origin of the tale of “The Emperor’s Clothes?)  In any case it seems that any direct references to reincarnation were expunged and the teachings were directed to the worship of Jesus as God (consubstantial) and the idea that the rest of us are definitely not. 

Mystical spirituality seems to be somewhat consistent between religions.  For instance Meister Eckhart, a 13^th century Christian philosopher, mystic and theologian often made statements that are fundamentally in sync with Vedantic and Buddhist teachings.  For instance a favorite quote for me is, “The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.”  It is recognition of oneness, non-duality which is the basis of all of us.  As Jesus also said, “The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” (Matt 6:22)  The Gospel of Thomas which was edited out of the Nicene Canon but later rediscovered in 1945 gives this additional emphasis, "If those who lead you say, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

Our ego-self is that poverty.  It is that mistaken identity that lives in fear.  In Yogic terms this is called “avidya,” ignorance or delusion.  It seems to me that Jesus tried to teach us a universal truth, not something to be confined to one religious tradition.  It is the truth of the divinity that appears to be hidden within us.  In fact it is not really hidden, we have just been hypnotized into believing otherwise.  Traditional religion is often implicit in this cultural control system.  Culture, religion, education and politics all conspire to keep us from realizing our true nature, and our true potential.  As Jesus said, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS?” (John 10:34)