Emptiness

Emptiness, or shunyata, basically refers to that inner space of awareness between stimulus and response.  It is a wonderful but sometimes scary space.  It is the space of uncertainty in which we might feel unsure of ourselves.  When we really move into that space all of our self and world definitions are up for grabs.  All of the sudden we don’t have any answers.  We don’t have any baggage.  Everything and nothing is possible.  It is a perspective which is “out of the box,” it is a step into extraordinary mind, beyond ego.

Stimulus refers to anything that might trigger a response in us.  Our response is based on our interpretation, our conditioning and ignorance.  It arises out of the dual forces of desire and aversion, love and hate.  It is centered in ego, a limited perspective in which we are separate from the all.  In life we often seem to have little or no control over what happens in the world, however within our freedom of response we assume power.  Paradoxically, when we let go of our need to control situations we discover an inner process of transformation.  When we make an inward shift in consciousness our world shifts in accord.  When we step out of our limited ego-identities, we enter a new world.

Shunyata is not a negative state.  Often we fear the feeling of emptiness, loss, or confusion.  It is actually the gateway to enlightenment.  Emptiness refers to the state of mind in which we are free of any preconceived notions and are hence able to see clearly.  As the Buddha taught, ”When appearances and names are put away and all discrimination ceases, that which remains is the true and essential nature of things and, as nothing can be predicated as to the nature of essence, it is called the “Suchness” of Reality.”  We tend to cling tenaciously to our words and concepts.  They give us an illusion of stability and certainty.  In truth, they are just symbolic constructs which describe reality to some limited extent.  To enter Shunyata means to be open to the mystery of being, always and ultimately indefinable.  As the French say, it has a certain “Je n’ sais quoi.” 

Meditation is the art of entering into shunyata.  It allows us to disconnect from the thought constructs of our minds and to rest in our original being.  At first we may find ourselves wrestling with the restless energy of our “monkey-mind.”  It doesn’t work very well to try to subdue this monkey.  In fact, if you wrestle with it, it will kick your ass.  Instead it is better to just leave it be and to observe, to watch, listen and realize the underlying stillness which is deeper within.  Our deeper being is always present beneath the surface of things like the canvas under the painting, or the screen on which the video is displayed.  For us the inner surface, the inner screen is pure emptiness, the boundless expanse of consciousness. 

Emptiness in this sense is not “nothingness.”  This is not like nihilism which states that nothing is real.  Instead it is the creative source of everything.  It is like the zero-point field (ZPF) in physics; an all pervasive field of potential underlying and supporting the physical universe.  As Michael Talbot explains, “According to our current understanding of physics, every region of space is awash with different kinds of fields composed of waves of varying lengths. Each wave always has at least some energy. When physicists calculate the minimum amount of energy a wave can possess, they find that every cubic centimeter of empty space contains more energy than the total energy of all the matter in the known universe!”  (The Holographic Universe, 1991)

Our entire universe, as vast as it is, is like a bubble floating in an immense sea of energy.  Similarly, our personal “universes” of experience are tiny bubbles floating in an immense inner ocean of consciousness-energy.  When we are able let go of the temporary forms associated with the mind and senses we enter into this inner reservoir of creative potential.  Our various bodies, minds and consciousness all originate in and ultimately belong to this singular underlying field of consciousness-energy.  It is our true Self. 

Samsara

Suffering is definitely relative.  For some people life is a daily struggle to survive, for others it may be the failure to find the ideal relationship, job or latté.  I’m not making fun here really.  No matter how well off we are we suffer.  It’s a good idea sometimes to look around and realize how well off we are in comparison.  Even better, of course, to devote some of our resources to helping those who are less fortunate.  The truth, however, is that suffering is universal. 

When things are going well we feel content and happy.  Unfortunately life, existence, nature, or whatever we call it, involves change.  The ancient Greek philosopher Hereclitus observed that, “the only constant is change.”  When we depend upon outward circumstances for our sense of well-being we are always vulnerable to devastation.  Another word for this dependence is attachment.  Attachment is at the heart of suffering.  Deeper still, however, is ignorance.  Ignorance in this sense doesn’t mean lack of education; it means that we have forgotten who we truly are.  We don’t know ourselves. 

Samsara means the continuous cycle of birth, decay, death and rebirth.  It is a cycle that happens every lifetime, but it also happens each day and every moment.  When we were born we entered into this life experience, into this particular physical, familial, socio-economic, cultural and historical context.  Although we are unaware of it, it has all been preconditioned by our past karmas.  On a soul level we have chosen this life experience in order to develop spiritually.  Imagine writing a screenplay full of drama, comedy, action, etc. then submitting it and forgetting about it.  Suddenly you are at the theatre and watching the movie.  You laugh, cry, cringe and groan with each scene completely forgetting that you are the author.  Because it has been so well produced, you become so involved with the main character that you even forget you are actually in the audience. 

The true purpose of human life is to awaken to our true nature.  As Thich Nhat Hahn says, “We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”  The ego-self belongs to the drama.  It is the character we have identified with.  The ego-self is involved with duality.  It loves this and hates that.  Our lives are the tragic-comic dramas of our egos.  We have friends and enemies.  We fall in and out of love with others, experience success and failure, health and sickness, joy and sorrow.  We fail realize that everyone and everything is our Self in disguise.  As we awaken our lives change from drama to love story.  Ego tells us that there is a particular person with whom we will find true love.  Spirit reveals to us that we are love itself. 

There is a wonderful verse from the Bhagavad Gita which gives us a glimpse of what this universal Self-love might be like.  “Enlightened ones,” says Krishna, “look with an equal eye upon one who is intelligent and humble, an uneducated janitor, a cow, elephant or dog.”  A friend once commented that it seems like the enlightened person is indistinguishable from an idiot.  This is the perspective of the intellectual ego.  We have to go beyond the rational intellect in order to know a deeper reality.  Our True Self is beyond mind and intellect.  As we awaken in consciousness we begin to recognize ourselves in all beings.  This is the birth of compassion, the birth of love.

It is also the gateway to freedom, moksha.  Moksha, or nirvana, is the release from samsara.  It is the recognition of the eternal being behind the appearances of life.  When we are aware of our eternal beingness; when we are at rest in Atman, i.e. Self, we have a higher perspective.  We can recognize that this life, this incarnation is temporary while we are eternal.  It doesn’t really matter what kind of past you or I might have had.  Once we awaken to our authentic being we are liberated from that narrative, from that dream.  Attachment will try to take us back there again, so we have to be on guard.

I have found a simple way of understanding non-attachment and liberation in a quote from Victor Frankl, MD, who said, "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."  Consciousness, compassion, non-attachment and liberation might here be considered as roughly synonymous.  Consciousness develops as we are able to enter that space between stimulus and response; when we practice inner non-attachment.  Compassion and liberation, or moksha, arise naturally when we are able to this. 

Love and Ego

Every path or every yoga demands the entire annihilation of egoism.

– Swami Sivananda

Love and consciousness are one and the same thing. So that as you get into a higher state of consciousness you come closer to being in love. That doesn't mean interpersonal love. It means being - love.

-    Ram Dass

We are so deeply conditioned by this thing we call ego that it is hard to imagine ourselves beyond it.  We live our lives imbedded in a false reality.  When our true self, i.e. love, comes knocking we run for cover.  We are attached to our assumed limitations and one of our greatest defenses is the concept of unworthiness.  More than simply being attached to our bodies, these organic sheaths that we express in and through, we become attached to the narrative of our unique shame, abandonment, loss and suffering.  Another great defense against opening to love is resentment.

Rest assured that as long as we wield these twin defenses we are safe from love’s onslaughts.  Ego, or the identification with a false sense of self, arises out of a basic and equally false sense of separation from our authentic being.  At its most extreme it might be expressed in the saying “Every man for himself.”  Of course, this could also be “Every woman . . .” Attachment and aversion are the primary mechanisms of ego.  We attach to that which gives us comfort and pleasure, we resist that which is painful.  However, in our convoluted strategies we often find comfort in our special sense of pain and suffering.  It all becomes confused.  From a spiritual perspective, it is all suffering because it keeps us separate from the loving awareness at the core of our beings.

As adults we are each responsible for ourselves.  We need to make rational decisions, manage finances, and carefully consider who we allow into our lives.  There is a healthy side to this ego thing!  It is important to have healthy boundaries on the spiritual path.  Too often we surrender to something other than our higher self whether it is a substance, career, games, abusive relationships, ideology, porn, politics or consumerism.  Don’t let your ego be annihilated by a false god.  Life is really just a passing show.  On a deeper, soul level we are simply passing through.  We do our best but we can’t hold onto anything.  As the saying goes, “You can’t take it with you.”  You can, of course, enjoy it for the moment.

Ego, this sense of individualized self-being, is annihilated when we encounter our authentic, transpersonal, Kosmocentric Self.  However there is nothing lost except a false belief.  In truth, we still are unique expressions of that One Mind and Intelligence.  It is the same intelligence which informs the universe and it expresses itself as the evolving creature which is you.  We are creatures of evolving Love-Consciousness-Energy.

Don’t Pursue Happiness

The only happiness there is, is of the Self. That is the truth. There is no happiness in worldly objects. Because of our ignorance we imagine we derive happiness from them.

– Ramana Maharshi

 

Everyone wants to be happy.  This seems to be a basic truth.  At the same time we seem to be very bad at making it happen.  Happiness seems to be very fleeting and illusive.  We project this concept of happiness onto “objects:” commodities, relationships, “vacation getaways,” sexual experiences, real estate, career success, children and family, escape from children and family . . .  This list could go on and on and might be a lot of fun.  The wisdom of experience tells us that what makes us happy one day may very well make us miserable on another. 

What is this “happiness” we seek?  Can it be found in a possession, another person, a degree, a job, location, community, pill or fast food meal?  Put this way most of us would say no.  On the other hand we go about our lives unconsciously seeking for satisfaction through any and all of these.  We are like “hungry ghosts.”  Hungry ghosts are beings within the Tibetan Buddhist view who live in a special kind of hell where they suffer from a hunger that can’t be satisfied. 

Any kind of happiness that we experience which is dependent on the objects and events of the world is bound to be temporary at best.  When we pursue happiness through material means we are bound to suffer.  We are seeking outside of ourselves for what we already are.  Happiness is an inner state of being, we mistakenly correlate it with the things and circumstances of our lives.  As we begin to awaken we realize that these are unnecessary.  Real happiness arises when we are connected with the Self.  It is not dependent on anything or anyone.

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