Why we are here

Why are we here? What does all this mean? These questions have been pondered by every philosopher that has existed. When you live moment to moment doing what you do totally involved or sit and follow the breath with no other thoughts, all these questions become irrelevant and the answer is not important. Note that the Buddha when asked philosophical questions would just sit in silence? Why did he do that? Because pondering and following this line of thinking is a never ending chain. There will always be another question. Drop the thinking and watch the thinker.

Transitions

I haven't posted for a while as I have just transitioned between jobs. I have found transitions to almost always end up being positive as they provide for an opportunity to refresh and renew myself. I have to admit that in my old job I had become complacent and bored. In this state a new opportunity came knocking and it all has worked out for the better. Life seems to do this, when one door closes another one opens. I know that's a cliche but it is true enough. I should be posting close to everyday now, so please come and visit.

Making Others Change

No matter how much it pains us, we cannot make others change. The only thing you can do is change yourself and the way you look at things. When you live your life with less ego involved the less you try to change others and learn to just be with whatever is happening. In reality we cannot know what is better for another person. Thinking we know what is best for others and judging them is merely a way for us to deflect from doing what we really need to do, which is look at oursleves and our own lives.

Who are you?

You've probably spent most of your life trying to figure out who you are and you still don't know. Why can't you truly see what this means?

How the world can change.

I hear a lot about the world undergoing some transformation of consciousness where people are becoming more spiritually enlightened than at any time. Whether that is true or not I cannot say. I do know the bookshelves seem to be littered with more spiritual and self-help books than at any time I can remember. The simple reality is that the consciousness of the world can change but it has to be done one individual at a time.

Have you ever asked yourself why, with all of our scientific knowledge and supposed understanding, our primary activity on the planet is tribal warfare? If the group consciousness were really radically changed then this would not be allowed to take place. George Bush exists as a thought construct backed up by the thought construct of millions of people behind him. It is a certain set of beliefs held by many that allow a George Bush to exist. If the thought patterns of individuals had not been constructed in a certain way he would have no power. This thought pattern has no objective reality and it holds no truth. It is a group consciousness that lacks compassion, understanding and the ability to see things as they really are. It is madness just like all other thought constructs are. It is a way of separating the world into us vs. them. Good and bad. Black and white. It is an overly simplistic view of the human condition and does not conform to reality.

To change the world millions of people have to wake up and throw away their religious books and start seeing reality. When I say see reality I mean what you see before your mind separates experience into this and that. Before your mind labels or throws the religious spin of your upbringing on what you are seeing. There is no fundamental religious person alive that has any sort of awakening because all of their knowledge comes from a book or a pulpit. We all have to start seeing in a new way. This is the true way to freedom. If all of your thoughts about the world come from a book or a preacher you are just a computer program. You have no true freedom. You are only thinking like you have been told to think and separate reality into something that doesn't exist. If you really want to see just look right here right now. It is already in front of your face.

From "The Power of Intention"

Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.

Charity Case

The person who gives to charity,
with thoughts of being charitable
is the worlds biggest charity case.

Starting a Meditation Practice

There are numerous studies on the benefits of meditation. It has been shown to help people with anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, nervousness, lack of focus etc. I did a quick google search on "medical benefits of meditation" and got 661,000 results. I know from my own experience that a regular practice makes a tremendous difference in quality of life.

I've come up with a few easy pointers to get you started on a regular meditation practice.

1. Make it easy
I'm going to make this very simple. This will also make it more enjoyable. Stick with the method I give you for at least one month. Then if you feel you would like to learn more ways to practice check out any number of books, websites, etc. Or check back here as I'll post various methods I've found enjoyable. Also, don't worry about where you are going to practice. You don't need a special room, special robe, special spot, or any extra trappings. All you need is the desire to start. The easier it is in the beginning the more likely you will be to stick with it and reap the greatest benefits.

2. Dedicate time daily
You should make time to sit twice daily. However, you must sit at least once a day. Meditation is like any skill, it gets better with regular practice. Try to stick to the twice daily schedule but don't beat yourself up if you can only sit once. The first week limit your time to 10 minutes. Week two fifteen minutes. Week three 20 minutes. Week four 30 minutes. After week four, add ten minutes weekly until you can sit for 1 hr. 40 minutes to 1 hour is perfect but I still sometimes only get 10 minutes if it's a hectic day. Just go with the flow and remember that a few minutes is better than none.

3. Choose a sitting postures
Choose a sitting posture. I don't reccomend lying down as it facilitates sleepiness. Here are some sitting postures to choose from: http://www.mkzc.org/beginzen.html

4. Do the count
At first start with counting the breath. Count 1 on the in breath and 2 on the out breath up to 10. Then start back at one. If your mind wanders just start back at 1. After one week of this abandon the counting and soley focus on following the breath in and out. For the eyes, look down at the floor in front of you with an unfocused gaze.

5. Don't try to turn off your thoughts
Thoughts will come and go. Don't try to repress thinking but don't engage it either. If you find your mind projecting to the future or past simply let the thought pass without hanging on. Imagine your thoughts are clouds passing in the sky, none more or less important than any other.

These steps should help you with starting a regular practice. If there are anyquestions feel free to post a comment or email me.

ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

Anxiety and depression seem to be the two most common afflictions in our society today. The T.V. ads won't let us forget this. Depression is now called a disease and I'm sure that anxiety will not be far behind. I would like to first start out by saying that depression is not a disease (1,2) is not related to a chemical imbalance and neither is anxiety. There is no test in existence that can demonstrate or determine a chemical imbalance (2,3). This is a popular myth that has been so ingrained in our psychology that it is hard to imagine there is not some truth to it. However, those with a vested interest in selling you pills, namely “big pharma”, have perpetuated the myth. But enough about that. What I would like to discuss is the origin and nature of these two emotions and how to overcome their negative psychological and physiological aspects. Both anxiety and depression arise from incorrect views of the past, present or future states of being.

Depression is the result of feeling of sadness, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, etc. These feelings result when the mind views the past as undesirable and tries to project it into the present. The depressed person is overly focused on what the past has been and often projects this into an imagined future resulting in more of the same.

Anxiety as defined by dicitonary.com: A state of apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a realistic or fantasized threatening event or situation, often impairing physical and psychological functioning. Again the mind takes an imagined situation of some future event and regresses it into the present moment.

The simple fact is that neither of these emotions has any substantiality other than what your mind is giving them right now. You can defeat these negative emotions by establishing a regular meditation practice. I used to suffer from some anxiety before I would engage in wrestling matches. Most of this would be rising blood pressure and rapid heart beat. When I had established a regular meditation practice I found that I could relieve all the anxiety by simply following my breath and returning to the present moment. All of the anxiety disappeared. It was only if I was thinking of the performance that I would get the emotion back. I have found that a regular meditation practice is necessary to be able to defeat these emotions effectively. Our minds are simply too scattered in the regular state and for most people returning to the present is a daunting task. The reason is because all of their lives they have either regressed to the past or projected into the future and very rarely do they get to the here and now. However, if you do not have a regular meditation practice, returning to the present by focusing only on your breathing will alleviate any power negative emotions that you are experiencing. If you cannot focus on the breath without being involved in some mind state then repeat a simple mantra while focusing on the breath. On the in breath say 'right here', on the out breath say 'right now'. The words are said silently in your head as you focus on the breath. On my next post I will share how to establish a regular meditation practice.

1.http://www.centerforconsciousliving.com/nf_depression.html 2.http://www.schaler.net/wtjan182003.html 3.http://www.freedominla.org/issue08i2/page04.htm 4.http://members.fortunecity.com/siriusw/Biochemical-Imbalance.htm

Right Speech

How often do we engage in worthless speech? How much of our speech is potentially harmful to others? Try for one day to not gossip, not say anything negative, and not say anything about anyone that you would not say if they were standing in front of you.

Refusing Gifts

Once the Buddha, who was awakening from his meditation, looked down and declared that he would bring blessings to those who brought him evil and do good to those who harmed him. A man from the village nearby, hearing this, came to him the next day, cursed at him, and struck him. The Buddha said nothing. The man cursed and struck again, demanding a response. Again the Buddha said nothing. A third time the man cursed and struck him, this time with a stick leaving a large black bruise across the Buddha's shoulder. The Buddha did not respond. As the man turned to leave the Buddha finally spoke to him "when one man gives another a gift, but the person will not take it, who does the gift belong to?" The man responded that it belonged to the giver. The Buddha returned, "Likewise do I refuse your gift." There are a few variations of this story but the gist of them and the endings are all essentially the same. It has remained one of my favorites since I first heard it more than ten years ago. It seems obvious enough what the message is but putting it into practice is the hard part. How many of us take everything personally? How often do we let the words of others affect how we behave? If we allow ourselves to be so easily affected than who is in control, others or ourselves? The truth is that we let others control us all the time. We all have rules that say if we are talked to in a certain way then we will be offended, angry, sad, etc. When a person is using harsh or discourteous language they are usually expecting to gain a specific result from the intended target. So what happens if they don't get what they are expecting? What if they don't get the anger or offense they intended to receive? The effect is that all the power is sapped out of their actions. The bomb didn't go off!! What the hell do we do now? When someone is trying to discourage you from a course of action, refuse their gift. When someone is trying to insult you, refuse their gift. When someone talks behind your back and you find out about it, refuse the gift. Don't take anything personally. When we take things personally we are giving power to those who would like to knock us down. We are feeding into their negative energy. We are also involved with a false identity of of ourselves. We believe that there is some permanent thing that has been hurt. We say I have been hurt. But what is this "I" that has been damaged? It is a false mind created mirage. It has no objective reality. That which we call "I" is nothing more than a series of constantly changing mental perceptions and formations derived from our physical senses.
We can also use others negativity to practice mindfully. It is the obstacles in our lives, the challenges that really allow us to transcend our false view of reality and connect with something deeper. These challenges allow us to take serious self-examination and see that there really is nothing that has been damaged or hurt. The only damage exists in the mind as the ego tries to reassert itself and its limited view of the world. It is the ego that makes us embarrassed, angry, sad etc. If you turn your attention fully to the present and drop the past and future then there can be nothing to be angry about. One thing I've found that helps to transform the negativity of others is to imagine myself as a sort of vaporous form that the negativity just passes through. You do this while the negativity is coming at you. Just imagine that you are not solid and the force of the negative energy just passes right through.

How many dung piles litter the pasture of your mind?

Big Ego

Do you know someone who has a big ego? I'm sure you do. What do you think of when you imagine that person? Probably someone who is very proud of themselves and very self-involved. The person that has a big ego lives in a serious state of self-delusion. Their identity is built on a house of cards. They believe they are their possessions and desires or perhaps they are very good looking and their entire identity is based on forms and judging others based on forms. People with big egos spend their days trying to separate reality into little boxes that make them feel comfortable with themselves and think they have it all figured out. I'm better than so and so because I've done x. So and so is a loser because of ____. That person is fat. That person is ugly. That person is too skinny. I'm smarter than Bill because I went to college and he didn't. All of these points of view foster the false belief that one is superior to others in some way. It also exposes the true inner workings of such a mind; insecure and inwardly embarrassed. Why is this over inflated sense of self so dangerous? One reason is that the person is set up for a monumental fall if one of their false notions of reality is not met. As soon as the world doesn't conform to their preconceived notions they are in for a reality that their beliefs cannot explain and that makes them uncomfortable. So what is a big ego? False identification of self and others. False identification of sense objects. False identification of mental objects. If one honestly asks, who am I, they will not find one permanent lasting thing that they can point to. The ego is a mind trick that is based on memory traces and future projections. I am my past, is false because the past is merely a memory trace in the mind. You may object and say that other people also may view the person based on their past memory traces of that person. This is unreliable. If you ask ten different people their opinion on a person you will come up with ten different opinions. So which one do you rely on? This is why it is insanity to worry about what other people think of you. What they think of you is only their own false projection. So if the mind looks at ego what does it find that it can grasp hold of that will not change? Some people identify themselves strongly through the body, but the body lives and dies each moment. The liver completely renews it self every few weeks. Cells die and are replaced with new ones. Every cell in your body has been replaced in five years. Some people identify themselves through their thoughts and corresponding emotions. Today I'm happy. Right now I'm mad. Tomorrow when I'm off work it will be great. The thoughts are not stable and even in the most rigid personality are constantly changing so we cannot rely on this basis either. How about our accomplishments? I'm a professor, I'm a mechanic, I'm a computer analyst, I climbed Mt. Everest. When we meet someone, how often do we ask what they do for a living? Quite often. The reason we do this is because we feel that if we know someone’s occupation we know all about him or her. So think for a moment about your job and ask yourself if that is all there is to you. Almost everyone will say naught. We all have extra likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams, and desires apart from our jobs. If identifying someone through their occupation were all there was to knowing that person we could say that since Ralph is a college professor and hates broccoli all college professors hate broccoli. Of course this is ridiculous. So the next time you are going to ask someone what they do for a living try and remember that you cannot base your view of them on the answer. What of the people that identify themselves thorough their desires and goals? In two years I'll be ___. I want to ___. It seems needless to say that the answer to those statements will also constantly change based on present circumstances. What then does the ego have to justify its existence? If there is not one thing in us that is not permanent and unchanging then the ego is truly a false sense of self. What we can know is the pure essence of being by quieting down all this self created nonsense and returning to our source. The source cannot be named, described, or chopped into bits. Thinking separates reality apart from what it really is. As soon as we label or sector our experience we have lost the true experience. Try to describe what chocolate tastes like. Try to give words to how the cool breeze on a hot summer day feels on your face. You may come up with certain adjectives but they will not give anyone the actual experience. It is beyond words and mental projections. As Lao Tzu said, “The way that can be named is not the eternal way.”

Who?

Who? That is the question to ask yourself when you encounter any negative emotion. Who is embarrassed? Who is angry? Who, Who, Who? Like an owl. To get the appropriate answer you must penetrate deeply to the core of your being. At first who? will have little effect because it is just a surface scraping but if you persist you can have a tremendous insight into the nature of your self. If you are angry, ask who is angry. Who, what permanent thing can I find within that is experiencing this anger? Are my toes angry, are my hands angry, is my belly button angry? Who is the one that is angry? Is it just my mind? Is it my mental construct of self that is angry. Who is the permanent entity that exists in me that is angry? Can I find any part of myself from birth till now that is changeless and unceasing? If not then who is angry?
Who?

Time Sickness

Almost everyone I know seems to suffer from what I call time sickness. By time sickness I mean an overidentification of the self based on time. Most people obtain their sense of self from a reference that exists in the past or what they would like to achieve in the future. This is a false ego centered creation that has no basis in reality. Why? Because there is no past and there will be no future.
What we perceive as the past is really just a series of former present moments. What we project of the future is a future present moment. In other words all you have is right now, the present moment.
Reality is not "clock time". Clock time is an artificial creation that is a useful reference tool for our daily lives other that that there is no clock time. The only time you ever have or that has ever existed is right now. There could be no other time. If you are thinking of the past you are doing it right now. If you are projecting into the future you are doing it right now. This is not to say that we should not use the past as a useful reference to what is happening right now but that is the only function it should serve.
If you are experiencing great anxiety over an event that has passed you only need to remember that you are right here right now. The past transgression exists only in your mind and only has the power that you give to it. This is not an oversimplification. Once you drop the ego identified clock time creation it is a truly liberating experience. People claim that you cannot change the past but this is untrue. You can transform the past right now by turning all of your attention to the present moment.
I'm not saying that you should abandon all future plans either. It is fine to have a general idea of where you want to go. However, you should not become so concerned with the future that you lose track of the present. Ultimately if you have some objective you would like to achieve what you do right now is what really matters the most. It is the actions we complete right now that will ultimately affect whether our future objective is met or not. If you are so lost on what you would like to happen that you spend all of your time in thought how will you ever manifest the desired outcome. The answer is by returning to the here and now.

Meditation

This is a meditation that I use when it seems my mind is having trouble shutting off and returning to the present. Sit in your favorite chair or meditation posture. On your in breath silently say right here, out breath right now. In: right here, out: right now. Another variation is In: just this, out: right here.