The world is like a snake in the string – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

The world is like a snake in the string – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1. (Dr. Dillbeck:) This question Maharishi from the Community Television, Montgomery Community Television in Rockville, Maryland. Many Sages have talked about the illusory nature of life, what is it about our experience that is illusory and what is the experience of one who has awakened from that illusion?

2. Maharishi: Direct case of illusion is in the state of the dream.

3. The world is like a snake in the string. The string is there, but when you are not able to see the string properly, then you make a snake out of it.

4. The snake world is just like illusion, and when you are awake, when you know the string, then there was no snake.

5. The snake is just the physiology. Every fiber of the physiology is an impulse of consciousness. Different bodies are the various expressions of the one reality of consciousness.

6. There are seven states of consciousness, waking, dreaming, sleeping, TC (Transcendental Consicousness), CC (Cosmic Consciousness), GC (God Consciousness) and UC (Unity Consciousness).

7. Vedic knowledge means knowledge of all these seven states of consciousness.

8. Now is the time of the world to have an administration of life in unity consciousness.

9. Proper administration is administration through education, where the individual is trained to use the total brain.

10. The full brain of the individual is used only when the Transcendental Consciousness comes to direct experience. Transcendental Meditation, enlivening the full creative potential of the brain physiology, enables
a man to function from the level of Total Knowledge. Total Knowledge is Veda.

11. Highly enlightened individuals will create permanent peace on earth.

The Greatest Truth Never Told: 24. Think Outside Of The Cell 25. See The World Anew 26. Question Everything 27. Your Indoctrination 28. Technical Difficulties

24. Think Outside Of The Cell

25. See The World Anew

26. Question Everything

27. Your Indoctrination

28. Technical Difficulties

The junction point between unity and diversity – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1. Dr. Bevan Morris: One member of the press asks about Maharishi’s frequent references to the junction point–the area between the field of unity and the point of infinity. What is the junction point, and what is its practical significance?

2. Junction point is the junction point of unity and diversity. The junction point is very basic to what we want to achieve: All possibilities lively in the awareness of the individual. Then that individual will be utilizing all the laws with reference to dynamism and all the laws with reference to silence. This will be a perfect level of life.

3. Vedic Education, including the six Darshanas, trains the individual to use his total brain.

4. The junction point in Yoga terminology is called Samadhi: The Intelligence is even on the dynamic level
of awareness, and on the silent level of awareness.

5. Silence is lacking in education. When silence is lacking in the field of action, the individual becomes tired.
Now we are planning to establish beautiful oases in the desert.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is considered one of the foremost scientists in the field of consciousness.

The flow of fullness in the Gap – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1.Dr. Hagelin: There are a few questions, Maharishi, on some very deep principles and interesting principles that arose from your press conference of last week. If Maharishi would like to address one of these questions, it has to do with the nature of the gap and a comment that Maharishi made about that: Maharishi frequently speaks about two basic values of life-silence and dynamism. But Maharishi also speaks of what seems to be a third value, which is neither silent nor dynamic, and that is the gap which balances the two. Then last week, Maharishi said that silence is upheld by the devata Shiva, and dynamism is upheld by the devata Vishnu, with the devata Ganapati “holding the reins of coordination between the two.” Would Maharishi please talk more about Ganapati? And is the gap, in fact, a distinctly third value? And finally, how does it balance silence and dynamism?

2. Maharishi: Gap is like a tunnel. The train comes; it enters into the tunnel, and then comes out of the tunnel. The word for this flow is purnat purnamudachyate: “fullness emerges from fullness.”

3. In the mantra of the Veda, the previous word transforms itself in the gap into the following word. The previous fullness flows through the gap and comes out to be another fullness. That is how the whole Constitution of the Universe is a flow of fullness.

4. The process of evolution is a flow from fullness to fullness. And it is this, ultimately, that is said to be Brahm.

5. Vedic Science is a perfect science of life. It’s a science of unity, and science of diversity, in one expression.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is widely regarded as one of the foremost scientists in the field of consciousness.

Tao-Te Ching: Expressions of Consciousness

The Tao-te Ching, a classic of the literature of enlightenment, expresses the same reality of life as the Vedic literature of India. Speaker: Dr. Bevan Morris, President of Maharishi University of Management.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the Bhagawad Gita

Terrorists are cowards. Whenever terror has struck in any part of the world, we have heard people say it is an act of cowardice. A coward runs away from action but harbours all negative feelings and does it surreptitiously.

This is exactly what happened to Arjuna. Arjuna was angry, upset, sad and wanted to run away. In the Bhagawad Gita, Lord Krishna said not to be a coward. So, it is an antidote to terrorism. Shri Krishna said bravery is the way – face the war when it is inevitable and do your duty.

A terrorist is stuck in his identity – he hides it, has no rationale and inflicts pain. Whereas Bhagawad Gita helps one to transcend one’s identity, encourages reason and infuses wisdom. In this sense, it could be called the antidote to terrorism.

The duty of a policeman, a soldier or a king is to be impartial for the sake of the nation, whether it is their mentors or relatives. Terrorists are never impartial. A soldier is brave and a terrorist is a coward. A soldier is protecting and preventing violence and a terrorist is inflicting pain and suffering. The Bhagawad Gita is the scripture of bravery in both realms of physical and metaphysical.

Terrorism is deeply steeped in hatred. An act without hatred is what Gita propounds. The Gita epitomizes the correct action – of righteousness, of upliftment of spirit and an action or duty that ought to be performed even in the most compelling situation.

In the last 5149 years of the existence of the Gita, there is no evidence of someone becoming a terrorist after reading it. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi wrote commentaries on the Bhagawad Gita and it was an inspiration for his non-violent movement. The Bhagawad Gita is a unique scripture which caters to the entire range of human evolution, comprising every level of this vast existence.

Gita stands for poise and equanimity and for performing one’s designated duty. Krishna does not encourage everyone to take the weapons and fight but a soldier cannot sell bananas in the market. He has to take his weapon to bring security to his people. If Bhagawad Gita is a terrorist scripture then all military academies in the world are nothing but terrorist organizations. Doesn’t this sound strange? Would the courts ban Lenin, Marx and Mao Tso-Tung, who to stay in power inflicted terror on millions?

A terrorist or a coward hides and inflicts pain on others whereas a soldier sacrifices his own life to bring security and peace to people. They both may take the gun but their intentions are poles apart.

Gita encourages reasoning and dialogue while terrorists are blind to any reasoning and are closed to any form of dialogue.

Interestingly, in any military training all over the world, the soldiers are asked to see the enemies as dangerous objects which need to be eliminated. The psychology behind indoctrination of such an idea is that when they think the enemy is a human being the soldiers are unable to raise their arms. There are many such survival tactics where the army men are desensitized.

A similar situation happened to Arjuna. Lord Krishna went step by step to deal with Arjuna’s emotions, ego, mindsets and concepts. He finally touched on the nature of his spiritual being; revealing him the highest knowledge and making him realize his eternal nature. This brought him enormous strength and then propelled him to perform his worldly duties. A doctor cannot be taken as a dacoit just because he opens up the stomach of the patient.

Krishna says, no sin begets him whose intellect is unattached and free from cravings and aversions, even if he kills the whole world. Now, the condition of an intellect free from cravings and aversions itself counters terrorism. Terrorism is done when the intellect is deeply attached and is hateful. The metaphors and the high standards of humanism exhibited in the Gita are unparalleled.

Jesus had said, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.” In the Quran, there are many verses which talk about striking terror in the hearts of the infidels and cutting off their fingers. By these standards if you still call Gita a terrorist scripture then you have to precede such statements by Bible and Quran.

The fact is that it is not the scriptures that inflict terrorism; it is the mis-interpretation of an ignorant and stressed mind which justifies their actions quoting scriptures.

By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

This article is to cater to the common man. This piece was written in December 2011, in the midst of a Russian court case against the Bhagawad Gita. The case ended with the Russian court rejecting the ban.

DAVID ICKE – REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!!

Product Information
Remember Who You Are is destined to transform the way vast numbers of people see themselves and the world – and it could not have been published at a more pivotal moment in known human history.

We live in extraordinary times, and we face the most enormous challenge to our individual and collective freedom. David Icke has been a trailblazer for more than two decades, warning of the coming global fascist/communist state that is now unfolding on the television news and in our daily experience. He was subjected to mass ridicule and called a madman – but events have proved him right, and continue to do so.

David has exposed the global network of families behind Big Banking, Big Biotech, Big Food, Big Government, Big Media and Big Pharma in book after book as his awareness has expanded – and he takes this on to still new levels of exposure in Remember Who You Are. But David goes far deeper down the rabbit hole than merely our daily experience of the ‘five senses’. He reveals the true nature of our reality where there is no ‘solidity’ or ‘physical’ – only vibrational, electrical, digital and holographic information fields that we decode into what appears to be a ‘physical world’.

David calls this the ‘Cosmic Internet’, and in this amazing work he explains how a malevolent force has ‘hacked’ into the cosmic information source via the ‘Saturn–Moon Matrix’ to feed us a false reality very similar in theme to the illusory world portrayed in the Matrix movie series. Remember Who You Are breaks massive new ground as David connects the dots between apparently unconnected people, subjects and world events like never before. Suddenly, a world of apparent complexity, mystery and bewilderment makes sense.

The key is in the title. We are enslaved because we identity ‘self’ with our body and our name, when these are only vehicles and symbols for what we really are – Infinite Awareness, Infinite Consciousness. We are imprisoned in the realms of the five senses and ‘little me’ when we are All That Is, All That Has Been and All That Ever Can Be. To breach the perceptual walls of the Saturn–Moon Matrix and bring an end to mass human enslavement, we need to awaken to our true identity. Everything, but everything, comes from this. Remember Who You Are. Remember ‘where’ you are and where you ‘come’ from. Remember.

Remember who you are, your not Effel Jurnt , your not Charlie Smith, your not your Job, your not your income bracket, your not your colour or your race; that’s what your experiencing. You are consciousness, all powerful, infinite, eternal consciousness; all it is, can be and ever will be, and when we move to that perception of self, to that self identity and recognize who we are that’s is when we can bring this house of cards down! – The Great David Icke

David Icke: Remember Who You Are 1/4

David Icke: Remember Who You Are 2/4

David Icke: Remember Who You Are 3/4

David Icke: Remember Who You Are 4/4

Rubin Museum shows Bhagavad Gita film by Joshua Seftel (updated)

The film ‘Invitation to World Literature: the Bhagavad Gita’ (WGBH, Annenberg Media) will screen at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. The following is filmmaker Joshua Seftel’s interview with Hindu monk and Columbia University Chaplain Gadadhara Pandit Dasa, who appears in the film.

Joshua Seftel: When I was in college, I was walking through Washington Square Park, and a Hindu monk came up to me and handed me the Bhagavad Gita, and I remember I was too shy to know what to say so I just took it and I brought it home. But I didn’t open it for 20 years. The reason was I felt intimidated by it, and I felt it wouldn’t be relevant to me. It wasn’t until I worked on the film about the Bhagavad Gita that I realized it’s everywhere. It has influenced so many things I already knew about.

Gadadhara Pandit Dasa: The Bhagavad Gita did influence the lives of very prominent western people — not just Indian people like Ghandi — but Martin Luther King Jr., and Emerson, Thoreau, Oppenheimer.
The-Bhagavad-Gita—-Gandhi-517253153
Seftel: If you had to tweet what Bhagavad Gita is about, what would you say?

Pandit: (laughs) OK, what Bhagavad Gita is about (pause), “The guide to overcoming life’s biggest obstacles, which are caused by the mind and understanding the difference between the body and soul.”

Seftel: Would you say the main character, Arjuna, is having a nervous breakdown?

Pandit: Well, here is what Arjuna says: “My hair is standing on end. My skin is burning. My mind is whirling; my bow is slipping from my hand. I can no longer stand here any longer.” I would say that if you can’t stand on your own feet and things that you are holding are slipping from your hand, then that would qualify as a nervous breakdown.

Seftel: Arjuna, and his chariot driver, Krishna, have a relationship that is timeless and relatable. There’s a little “Tony Soprano and Dr. Melfi” or “Tiger Woods and his caddy” here.

Pandit: I don’t know if you saw the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance” with Will Smith and Matt Damon? That’s based on Bhagavad Gita actually, because Matt Damon’s golfer character is named Rannulph Junuh. So that’s Arjuna. And Will Smith, his caddy, is named Bagger Vance. If you take Bag and Vance, that’s Baggavan which means “god” (laughs). And there’s some Karate Kid here too. You know they’ve got Mr. Miyagi and Danielson (laughs). So Danielson, when he wants to learn he goes to Mr. Miyagi and asks him about karate and Mr. Miyagi then becomes a teacher. I think you can find this relationship everywhere in contemporary life.

Seftel: What about “The Matrix”?

Pandit: There’s definitely a good amount of the Gita in The Matrix. Neo is very much like Arjuna because in the movie you see that Neo is looking for something. He sits on his computer. He knows that the world he sees around him isn’t everything. He knows that there is something more out there. He just can’t figure out what it is. When he finally meets Morpheus, his guru or teacher, Morpheus says, “You know it’s out there, you just don’t know what it is. It’s kind of like a thorn. You have always felt it.”

Seftel: In our film, Amitav Kaul says that he had a breakthrough in understanding Hinduism and the Gita after seeing Star Wars.

Pandit: Yes, the scene where Obi Wan tells Luke about “the force.” That’s why in Hinduism many say “Happiness is found within,” because the divine is there. We are not able to access it because we are so busy doing so many things and progressing materially that we are not able to access that divine. So I think that is what he was referring to. The force is the divine.

The-Bhagavad-Gita—-Star-Wars-517253154
Seftel: How does the story of the Bhagavad Gita end?

Pandit: It ends in a really beautiful way. One of my favorite passages in the Gita is where Krishna says to Arjuna that I’ve told you everything that I want to tell you, deliberate on it fully. And now, you do as you wish to do. I think that is so wonderful from a spiritual point of view that God is detached from our life to some degree. He’s interested in educating us, but ultimately he says: You make your own decisions.

Seftel: I went to a bar mitzvah a few months ago, and I met a boy named Arjuna. Do you think Arjuna is going to become a popular name in the States?

Pandit: Well, it all depends on how well this documentary does (laughs). I think that is largely in your hands (laughs).

Seftel and Pandit will speak after the January 25th screening of the film at the Rubin Museum of Art.
If you missed the show, you can watch Joshua Seftel’s 26 minute film on-line.
Click here watch and view the transcript of the video clip on the top right hand column.

The Mystic Meaning of the Number 108 By hhteam

Throughout history, the number 108 has held a multi-dimensional meaning. In geometric terms it is a natural division of circle (108=36+72=9 X 12). In the Eastern part of the world, different traditions talk about the108 navamsas. The Shiva malas[1], or rosaries, both Tantric and Tibetan[2] are composed by 108 beads. The number 108 is also one of great significance inside of the Rosicrucian order, since it exemplifies the time-frame of some of their cycles. Interestingly enough, a leap year displays 366 days and 3 x 6 x 6 gives 108.

The number 108 is considered sacred in many Eastern religions and traditions, such as Hinduism[3], Buddhism, Jainism[4], Sikhism and connected yoga and dharma based practices. Even the pre-historic monument Stonehenge is 108 feet in diameter. 108 is a number known to be referring to spiritual completion, and it is no surprise that the early Vedic sages were renowned mathematicians and in fact invented our number system. 108 is a Harshad Number, an integer divisible by the sum of its digits. Harshad in Sanskrit means “joy-giver”. 108 was the number of choice for this simple reason: 108 represent the whole of existence. There are said to be 108 types of meditation. Some say there are 108 paths to God. Indian traditions have 108 dance forms.

Another interesting example, Hindu deities have 108 names, whilst in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, there are 108 gopis of Vrindavan. Recital of these names, often accompanied by the counting of the 108-beaded Mala, is considered sacred and often done during religious ceremonies. The recital is called namajapa. Accordingly, a mala usually has beads for 108 repetitions of a mantra.

In some schools of Buddhism, it is believed that there are 108 defilements. In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times in Buddhist temples to finish the old year and welcome the new one. Each ring represents one of 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve nirvana. Likewise, Zen priests wear juzu, a ring of prayer beads, around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads. The Lankavatara Sutra[5] has a section where the Bodhisattva Mahamati asks Buddha 108 questions.

In modern Gnosticism, through the teachings of Samael Aun Weor, it is believed that an individual has 108 chances, or lifetimes, to eliminate his egos and transcend the material world before “devolving” and having the egos forcefully removed in the infra-dimensions. In other words, each one of us carries the reminiscent memory cells of at least 108 previous incarnations, which constitutes the body of our incarnational selves. Inside of this essentially holographic template is stored the repository of the emotional and spiritual involvements that your Soul may have experienced and have retained the impression of, but that needed to be cleansed and integrated in order to continue the spiritual evolution.

The Buddhism tradition talks about the 108 earthly desires in mortals, 108 lies humans tell and 108 human delusions[6].

The esoteric presence of the number 108 can be seen in various spiritual practices and theories: In Kriya Yoga, the maximum number of repetitions allowed to be practiced in one sitting is 108. Also, 108 Sun Salutations in yoga practice is often used to honor change, for example the change of seasons, or at a time of tragedy to bring peace, respect and understanding. It is said that if one can be so calm in meditation practicing pranayama to have only 108 breaths a day that enlightenment will come.

Energy Points[7]

There are said to be 108 energy lines, or nadis, converging to form the heart chakra. Marma points are like Chakras, or intersection of energy, with fewer converging energy lines. On Sri Yantra, the Marmas have 54 intersecting energy lines where three lines intersect. Each has feminine, or shakti, and masculine, or shiva, qualities. 54 X 2 = 108. Therefore there are 108 points that define the human body and the Sri Yantra or the Yantra of Creation. The same rule is observed in the Sanskrit language, with its 54 letters, both representing the two genders and they are also called Shiva and Shakti respectively; again, 54 X 2= 108.

Importance in Astronomy and Astrology

The earth cycle is supposed to be of 2160 years = 20 x 108. The distance between the Earth and Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth. The distance between the Earth and Moon is 108 times the diameter of the Moon. The universe is made up of 108 elements according to ancient texts. The current periodic table claims a few more than 108.

There are 12 constellation and 9 arc segments. 9 times 12 equal 108. The 9 planets travelling through the 12 signs constitute the whole of existence. 9 x 12 = 108. The 27 nakshatras or lunar constellations spread over the 4 elements – fire, earth, air, water or the 4 directions – north, south, east, and west. This also constitutes the whole of existence. 27 x 4 = 108.

[1] – The Buddhist rosary, where from is inspired the rosary of the Moslems, then straight-away as an inheritance of crusades by Catholic Christians, is constituted of 108 fragments of distinctive different human skulls .

[2] 108 sacred books constitute the holy writings for Tibetans

[3] The Vedanta, according to the Hinduism tradition, recognizes 108 authentic doctrines (Upanishad) aiming to approach the Truth and to destroy Ignorance.

[4] In Jain tradition is believed that they are 108 virtues.

[5] Lankavatara Sutra ancient teachings refer repeatedly to many temples with 108 steps.

[6] In Tibetan Buddhism it is believed that there are 108 sins or 108 delusions of the mind: abuse, aggression, ambition, anger, arrogance, baseness, blasphemy calculation, callousness, capriciousness (unaccountable changes of mood or behavior) censoriousness (being severely critical of others), conceitedness, contempt, cruelty, cursing, debasement, deceit, deception, delusion, derision, desire for fame, dipsomania (alcoholism characterized by intermittent bouts of craving), discord, disrespect, disrespectfulness, dissatisfaction, dogmatism, dominance, eagerness for power, effrontery (insolent or impertinent behavior), egoism, enviousness, envy, excessiveness, faithlessness, falseness, furtiveness, gambling, garrulity (tediously talking about trivial matters), gluttony, greed, greed for money grudge, hardheartedness, hatred, haughtiness, high-handedness, hostility, humiliation, hurt, hypocrisy, ignorance, imperiousness (assuming power or authority without justification), imposture (pretending to be someone else in order to deceive), impudence, inattentiveness, indifference, ingratitude, insatiability, insidiousness, intolerance, intransigence (unwilling or refusing to change one’s views or to agree about something), irresponsibility, jealousy, know-it-all, lack of comprehension, lecherousness, lying, malignancy, manipulation, masochism, mercilessness, negativity, obsession, obstinacy, obstinacy, oppression, ostentatious, pessimism, prejudice, presumption, pretense, pride, prodigality (spending money or using resources freely and recklessly), quarrelsomeness, rage, rapacity (being aggressively greedy or grasping), ridicule, sadism, sarcasm, seduction, self-denial, self-hatred, sexual lust, shamelessness, stinginess, stubbornness, torment, tyranny, unkindness, unruliness, unyielding, vanity, vindictiveness, violence, violent temper, voluptuousness, wrath.

[7] According to Chinese and Indian Martial Arts: Marma Adi and Ayurveda, there are 108 pressure points in a human body.

This article, The Mystic Meaning of the Number 108, is syndicated from http://humanityhealing.net and is reposted here with permission.

The Transpersonal Ego: Is There a New Formation? – An interview with Kaisa Puhakka by Andrew Cohen

KAISA PUHAKKA, PhD, teaches psychotherapy and its integration with Buddhist practice as a core faculty member at California Institute of Integral Studies.
She also works with clients and supervises students and interns in private practice. Her ongoing personal inquiry draws from Dzogchen texts, Krishnamurti, and vipassana and Zen practices, among others.

Interview

ANDREW COHEN: I’d like to begin by asking you: Who is the most enlightened person you know of? Who has touched your heart the most and in whom do you have the greatest faith—alive or dead?

KAISA PUHAKKA: The Buddha would be one. Ramana Maharshi comes to mind. And I would say that I get that feeling from some of the Tibetan masters. And in the contemporary world, H.H. the Dalai Lama and Sasaki Roshi.

AC: Okay. So now what I want you to do is to imagine—even though I know this is impossible—but anyway, just for fun, imagine that you’re some conglomeration of the Buddha, H.H. the Dalai Lama, Ramana Maharshi and Sasaki Roshi. Imagine that you have embraced their minds. You have become one with their minds and one with their enlightenment—and one with their profound wisdom that comes from beyond the mind.

KP: Alright. Sounds wonderful.

AC: Kaisa Puhakka has stepped aside and now she’s just an empty vehicle for enlightened mind. So now, Enlightened One, I would like to ask you a couple of questions.

The first question is: Transpersonal psychologists seem to be in a double bind. On one hand, they have become experts in using the mind to conceptualize, communicate and facilitate the subtleties of the unfoldment of the evolution of consciousness. On the other hand, in order to truly know the real meaning of the spiritual path, we all have to be willing to give up not only the need to know but also the need to be the one who knows. Enlightened One, what do you have to say about this intriguing double bind that the transpersonal psychologists are in? What do you have to say about the enormous challenge of renouncing the great temptation of the intellectual and personal empowerment of transpersonal psychology’s all-encompassing, profoundly clarifying, intellectually satisfying theories of human development?

KP: The predicament that the transpersonal theorists find themselves in is kind of a heightened human predicament—the human predicament being that we really want to know. It’s very hard to legislate against this instinct to want to know, or this desire or longing to want to know, which is very fundamental and has to do with our desire to touch directly what is real. And so this is just one other expression of it.

There is something very funny about this, of course, because, as you said, in order to really touch enlightenment directly or be enlightened, you have to give up the need to know. So how do you get out of that? It’s a very profound predicament. Because if somebody tells you, “Just give up the need to know and that’s how you’ll get there”—it ain’t gonna work.

AC: So, what would you say to transpersonal psychologists? What would you tell them from your perspective of enlightened mind?

KP: What I would tell them is that in making maps, as they do—they characterize their theories as maps—if you do it like a child who is building sand castles, then there’s nothing wrong with it. The child in his or her most creative mode is excited when the waves come in and wipe out the castle; the child screams with joy as the whole thing crumbles. Then they get the chance to build another one. If we have the appreciation that these maps are something that we have fun doing and that stimulates our minds, but that there are always an infinite number of other ways of drawing maps, then there’s nothing wrong with the map-making activity, just as there’s nothing wrong with the child playing in the sand.

Now the trouble with the map making is when one takes one’s map very seriously and says, “Well, this is the correct road map, and there’s no other map that is as good as this one.” That’s when you are implicitly making the claim that you actually know the territory, that you have walked it, and that there’s some kind of correspondence between the territory and the map. As soon as the map making ceases to be fun and play, as soon as we take the maps too seriously, I think it actually becomes a hindrance to walking the terrain. If you are reading a map when you’re walking, you’re missing everything along the way. As Sasaki Roshi says, “You’re running around thinking that there’s some kind of a spiritual path or great way laid out in front of you like a road. You are fools. There is no road in front of you. The great way comes into being as you walk.” There is no road that is ready-made, let alone a map that will describe the road. The road itself comes into being in the walking.

AC: And besides your advice on making the maps, what would you tell them?

KP: Besides being map makers, as human beings who are concerned with becoming enlightened, they also need to sometimes just do the walking.

AC: Without the maps?

KP: Yes, everybody needs to do the walking without the maps.

AC: Enlightened One, do you think that because of their professional role, there is a strong potential in the ego of the transpersonal psychologist to take refuge in knowing in a way that protects them from the raw, undefended vulnerability of not knowing or having no idea? What I mean to say is: Do you think that it’s possible that the subtle, comprehensive and all-inclusive developmental theories of transpersonal psychology could be, from a certain point of view, the most sophisticated ego defense mechanism ever evolved?

KP: Well, certainly it has the potential to be a very powerful way of making you feel comfortable that you really know the lay of the land and also that you have all but arrived.

AC: Do you think that the challenge of letting go, for the transpersonal psychologist, could potentially be that much more difficult because, in their case, there is that much more to let go of? Indeed, the direct experience of profound letting go, of having to radically abandon identification with knowing or being the one who knows, could be that much more terrifying?

KP: Yes, that is true. Though I find that basically to be true of all intellectual-type people. With them it’s the philosophies or intellectual constructions that get in the way, and with other people it’s something else. But certainly, here the irony of it is heightened because here we have people who essentially are seeking to free themselves from all these trappings—whereas other people may not have that as a goal. In wanting to pursue freedom and enlightenment, the theories become the trappings, and they become very, very powerful trappings.

Michael Jackson – Heal The World

2012 theatrical trailer

Eckhart on Unemployment

Question: For those of us who are unemployed and seeking employment, how do you stay connected to the Source, and to your own sense of divinity, and still deal with the reality and the drama and the pain of trying to find a job?

ET: It’s challenging. Challenges are good, potentially – they can either wake you up, or they can pull you into more reactivity, unconsciousness and suffering. Every challenge that comes into your life can go either this way, or that way. Potentially the challenge is very helpful. Challenge means limitation in one form or another. I’m certainly grateful for the challenges that came into my life. I wouldn’t be here, and many of you realize that without the challenges in your life, you wouldn’t be here either.

This is something I have a little bit of personal experience with also. Or maybe even quite a lot of personal experience – because for a large part of my adult life I was actually not employed, as such. For a large part I lived on relatively little, for quite a few years, even in my thirties, below the poverty line. At that time I read the paper, and it mentioned the income level for a single person, for what was considered to be below the poverty line, and I thought “I’m much below that!” But I didn’t realize I was “poor”. I realized that there were things I couldn’t afford to buy. I could buy tomato sauce but I couldn’t buy spaghetti sauce. Tomato sauce is cheaper, much cheaper. That stayed with me for many years. Even as recently as four years ago, I still find myself getting tomato sauce instead of spaghetti sauce because it’s cheaper.

There are practical things that you need to re-adjust and deal with. There’s some action you need to take, in order to adjust to the new situation; all that is in the practical realm. Then there is the mental realm. In the mental realm is where the suffering could arise, not in the practical realm. There’s no suffering in eating spaghetti with a thin tomato sauce – this is just one little example here, that stands for many things – rather than a nice, specially prepared sauce for pasta. But if, suddenly thought arises, and you think “this is what it has come to”, or “I have to eat this watery sauce, the cheapest food there is”, or “I’ve failed” or “I probably won’t find another job, because billions of people are now looking for jobs and it’s pointless” or “I’ll have to eat the same thing tomorrow” – and [these thoughts] are where the suffering comes from.

The suffering also comes from the diminished sense of self-worth, now where is that? Of course that’s in your head. “I’m useless”, or “I’m too old and nobody will employ me anymore” or “I should have had a better education”, whatever the thoughts are – it creates a diminished sense of self-worth. That is because your self-worth before was derived from your function in this world – which is a very normal thing. But it wasn’t really derived from your function, it was derived from what your mind told you about your function in this world. You derived your sense of self-worth from certain thoughts in your head, and you got perhaps some feedback from others who also told you that you were useful – you were part of all that interaction that people have when they have a job. You have a boss, the boss might tell you that you’re doing well, you’re getting a promotion, the clients love you, and so on – and you’ve built up your sense of self from your thoughts and the thoughts of others.

The opportunity now, when you have a diminished sense of self-worth, is to go to a deeper place where a sense of self-worth has nothing to do with what you are doing in this world. Nothing to do with what anybody tells you about yourself. It is a sense of self-worth or value that has nothing to do with the structure of thinking. You can use this challenge to see if you can find something – a deeper place in you – where there is something far greater than anything that could be derived from thinking about yourself.

When you lose your job, the self-image can be damaged. And that is where the suffering comes from. The self-image is made up of thinking. The damaged self-image can lead to more suffering, and it will just go on and on – and it can pull you deeper. And perhaps they will even say “yes, you’re right”. Or, you step out of deriving your sense of who you are – ultimately – from thinking. You go into the aliveness of Being, of Presence. And you realize that who you actually are is much more vitally there than anything you can think about.

The ideas in your head – the thoughts that tell you something about who you are and what you are worth – are ultimately illusory. It is illusory both when the thoughts are good, and when the thoughts are negative. The illusory nature can perhaps be more easily recognized when the thoughts become negative and cause suffering. Suffering can be an awakener.

Use that opportunity of a diminished sense of self-worth and self-image, and step beyond. Then, perhaps, you’ll find a job – but your sense of worth no longer depends on what you do there, or what you don’t do, or achieve or don’t achieve. You will find some transcendence, and you can bring that transcendence into your next job. The clinging to mental images is not there anymore. You’ll be surprised how well you’ll do, in your next job, when the clinging to images isn’t there anymore.

The success that you are more likely to encounter in that state of consciousness will not be the cause of your feeling of fulfillment because the fulfillment has already been found directly – in the present moment, in the depth of who you are. You no longer look to external situations to fulfill you. When you no longer look to external situations to fulfill you, the miracle is that external situations become quite fulfilling. That is where you can use this challenge as part of your awakening.

There is no suffering in the practical things. For a while I didn’t even have a home and I would just drift around. Fortunately, I had already stepped out of identification with money. If I had still been stuck in the mental box, it would have been a time of great suffering, because my mind would have told me certain things about myself, which I would have completely believed. “I have failed”, “I have thrown away all these opportunities that life has given me”, “I was a graduate student at a great university”, “I could have done great things”, “I’ve thrown it all away”, “Why did this happen to me”, “I’m useless”, “Nobody’s going to employ me” – that’s suffering.

Fortunately, I had already stepped out of that, so there was no suffering, just the situation of this moment. There was actually beauty and aliveness in it. Self-worth was no longer dependent on what I was doing in this world.

Any challenge, whether it’s that kind of challenge, or a physical challenge, whatever it may be – it can be used as the fire that burns up unconsciousness.

Deepak Chopra – Life After Death – full show (short)

It’s the ultimate question: what happens when we die? Is there life after death? Deepak Chopra is a spiritual guru to millions. In his new book, he builds his case for the afterlife. The book is called Life After Death: The Burden of Proof.

The 2012 Mindshift -Meditations for Times of Accelerating Change

2012 marks the end of the Mayan calendar’s 5125-year cycle, leading many to prophecy this as a time of great change—for some the end of Western civilization, for others a time of transformation and renewal. Whatever may or may not happen in 2012, it is clear that we are living through a critical period of human history, and the need for a widespread shift in human thinking and values is becoming increasingly apparent. From this perspective, 2012 is a symbol of the times we are passing through. It represents the temporal epi-center of a cultural earthquake, whose reverberations are getting stronger day by day.

What do we need to adapt to these challenging times? Peter Russell teaches that we need to rebuild our inner resources. On The 2012 MindShift, he guides you through five simple meditations designed to help you stay grounded, nurture your resilience and remain composed—no matter what the tides of change may bring.

* Presence: Finding peace in the moment
* Befriending discomfort: Working with difficult feelings and rigid attitudes
* Inner wisdom: Tapping the guidance that awaits within you
* Loving kindness: Developing greater compassion and community
* Clarifying purpose: Strengthen your life’s vision

Each meditation segment is preceded by a 5-10 minute introduction explaining the meditation and its value in helping you successfully navigate your way through these turbulent times.

Listen to Introduction
to the CD (10 mins):

http://www.peterrussell.com/mp3s/2012intro.mp3.zip

Beyond Happiness: The Zen Way to True Contentment by Ezra Bayda

Description of Beyond Happiness

Happiness is available to all of us—right here, right now. All that’s required is that we learn to let go of our expectation that life should go according the agenda we have in mind. Zen teacher Ezra Bayda provides the teachings and practices we need to learn to let go into true happiness—the kind that goes far deeper than the kind that’s about getting what we think we want.

Most of our unhappiness, he explains, is the result of seeking satisfaction in things external to us: new jobs, better relationships, luxury vacations. By liberating ourselves from expectations about these outward things and looking inward instead, we can find a deeper and unshakable kind of satisfaction that not only makes things a lot more pleasant for us, but that generates in us generosity and compassion toward others.

Beyond Happiness includes simple meditation and mindfulness practices you can use to access true happiness, including basic sitting meditation, gratitude practice, loving-kindness practice, and the Three Questions practice, in which we ask ourselves: Am I happy now? What blocks happiness? and Can I surrender to what is?

Ezra Bayda on Beyond Happiness

Ezra Bayda, author of Beyond Happiness: The Zen Way to True Contentment, gives a teaching on happiness and how we mistakenly seek it from external sources like relationships and possessions. Bayda explains how happiness can be found in looking inward and in acts of generosity and compassion for others.

Speech By His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vasudevananda Saraswati Maharaj, Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math

Jyotirmath: Seat of the Shankaracharya Vasudevananda Saraswati

SHORT SUMMARY of the 12th January 2011 speech of His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vasudevananda Saraswati Maharaj, Shankaracharya of JyotirMath:

Maharaj Shankaracharya mentioned that about 75 years back, when Maharishi went to the feet of Guru Dev, on that time no one in the world would anticipate that a young man in this age, will establish the rule of Dharma in the whole earth. He was mentioning that on that time there were 4 Bramacharies who came to get the blessings of Guru Dev, one of them was from Maharashtra and he was sent to Randhavan. The rest of the 3 were working under the guidance of Guru Dev, and Maharishiji, at that time was taking care of all the writing work and whatever other work that has to be managed for Guru Dev.

Dandi Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati.
He also mentioned a very nice point – Adi Shankara established 4 seats of knowiedge, all over India he divided India to bring the knowledge in 4 parts. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Maharishi single handedly brought the knowledge to the whole world himself. Maharishi was forgetting whether he needs to eat, or whether he needs to do any other work, he was always busy bringing the knowledge to the whole world.

At that time itself Maharishi took Sankalpa that: I wil! bring this knowledge to the whole earth, all over the world. And that Sankalpa he actually not only established, but he really brought it into the practice as weil. In a practical shape he has really given the message of Guru Dev to the whole world. Shankaracharya also mentioned that no where
there is such an example in any religion or in any aspect of knowledge that any person who has taken the picture of the Guru to the whole world, and got the whole world enjoying the blessing of Guru Dev.

Another event in Africa, in 1983, Maharishiji brought the Shankaracharya of that time to Africa, and Maharaja the current Shankaracharya was a Bramachari and was there in Africa with them as weil. He mentioned the cook, who told Shankaracharya, that for 3 days, Maharishi did not take any food. So when Maharishi came to receive the blessings of Shankaracharya, he was told to stay in the room. When Maharishi asked what is the matter, Shankaracharya told him:

You did not take any food for 3 days. Maharishi replied: Oh, I completely forgot that I have to take the food. On that time Shankaracharya advised him that we have to take care of the body also, because only through that we will be able to bring the knowledge to the whole world. Because it is said:

Sharir Madham Kal Dharma Sadanam.
This body, also is needed in order to bring Dharma to the whole mankind.

Maharishi got this knowledge from Guru Dev, so from this seat Maharishi got this knowiedge, and Maharishi was not keeping anything to himself, always giving to others. And after bringing this knowledge to the whole world he left everything at the feet of Guru Dev, at the seat of Sankaracharya.

So gaining the victory of knowledge in the whole world, he just offered it at the seat of Guru Dev. Shankaracharya mentioned also that Maharishi called him and told him about the Brahmananda Saraswati Trust, which Maharishi established and he offered the whole trust at the seat of Knowiedge. The Patron of the trust was offered
to the seat of Guru Dev. Jai Guru Dev, -V.

What is a Mystic? Yogi? Siddhar? Sadhguru

A seeker asks what is meant by the words Mystic, Yogi & Siddhar. Sadhguru explains the word Siddha means established one, the word mystic is an English word. (AO62)

The 3 Faces of Evolving Spirit — Terry Patten

Terry Patten on socio-spiritual responsibility for our evolutionary emergency—from a nondual perspective. Full clip at www.integralheart.com.

Can We Trust The Bible Written 2000 Years Ago? Dr. William Lane Craig

Can We Trust The Bible Written 2000 Years Ago?

Best Argument for Belief in God? Dr. William Lane Craig

Best Argument for Belief in God?
Answered by
Dr. William Lane Craig

How to live Life before you die ~ Steve Job

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself.

You Know You Should Meditate, So Why Don’t You? ~ Philip Goldberg

Not very long ago, the only people who practiced meditation regularly were Hindus and Buddhists, mostly in ashrams and monasteries. Then, Westerners who were influenced by those traditions but did not adopt the religious labels took up meditation forms as spiritual practices. When scientific studies documented the benefits of meditation, it went secular: physicians recommended it to patients, corporations and hospitals created meditation rooms and psychologists prescribed it for anxiety and stress reduction. Then Christians and Jews adapted Eastern procedures — replacing Sanskrit mantras with words and phrases from their own traditions, for instance — and unlocked the vaults of their mystical past. Now, if you say you meditate for 20 minutes before breakfast every morning, no one will bat an eye. I assure you that in 1968, when I started meditating, people looked at me as though I was poking needles into a voodoo doll.

You would think that this stamp of approval would make meditating as common as stopping at Starbucks for a caffeine fix. Instead, for a great many people, it’s more like cutting down on carbs: they know it would be good for them, but they don’t get around to doing it.

Why don’t they? There are many reasons, of course, but in my experience two stand out.

The most frequently mentioned excuse, predictably, is lack of time. Virtually everyone feels that he or she has too much to do and too little time to do it in. But isn’t it interesting that we always find time for things we truly value, whether it’s exercising or reading the Sunday paper or taking the kids to soccer practice? If you really valued a period of silent meditation, you’d find the time. If not an hour, then half an hour; if not half an hour, then 15 minutes, or 10. With a little spiritual time management, most people find they can free up time to nurture their souls.

The real problem with people who say they don’t have time to meditate is that they have not come to see its value. Americans are pragmatic, bottom-line people. But we are also outwardly driven, deluded by the idea that fulfillment comes from what we do rather than what we are inside. So we think that ticking off items from our long to-do lists is more valuable than something like meditation. But there is a direct line from inner well-being to the quality and success of our actions. Meditation should not be considered an escape, but rather a way to enhance performance by reducing stress, quieting the mind and tapping into internal reservoirs of energy and creativity.

Consider Mahatma Gandhi, a rather busy fellow who was trying to drive a colonial power out of his homeland and keep Hindus and Muslims from slaughtering one another. At the start of one especially busy day, Gandhi said, “I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one.”

Meditate on that for a while.

The second reason people who want to meditate don’t is: they don’t know how. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say, “I’ve tried to meditate, but it doesn’t work for me” or, “I’m not good at it.” When I ask if they’ve ever been taught how to meditate, the answer is usually no. For some reason, people think they ought to be able to pick it up on their own. Well, you can pick up computer programming or scuba diving on your own too, but if you want to do such things well and get the most out of them, it’s a good idea to get some proper instruction.

And getting some haphazard directions in a self-help magazine or trying to remember a guided relaxation from a yoga class or a stress management seminar is not proper instruction. The problem with such cavalier approaches is that meditation is likely to be unsatisfying. Why? Because, having heard that meditation silences the mind, people try too hard to achieve that result, and that leads to strain. As a result, we find situations like this: someone suffers from anxiety; she decides to meditate to reduce that anxiety; but she hasn’t been properly instructed, so she gets anxious about her meditation; she tries hard to get it right; it becomes an unpleasant chore; she concludes it doesn’t work for her and gives it up.

The point is, an effective meditation practice should begin with proper instruction. Look for a form that that has an honorable history of proven use, is taught by a well-trained instructor, can be performed with ease on your own and that produces both immediate and long-term benefits.

There are other reasons why people don’t meditate. One is, “Life is good, so I don’t need it.” That’s like neglecting diet or exercise because you’re not sick at the moment. Then there’s the opposite: “I’m under too much stress now,” to which the best response is, “Duh! What better reason to do it?” But shortage of time and lack of proper instruction are the main obstacles, and they’re easy to overcome if, like Gandhi, you recognize the value of regular meditation. And that recognition comes over time. So, once you start, stick with it long enough to give peace a chance.

Why You Should Never Defend, Explain or Justify ~ Russell Bishop

Why do some people seem to be forever defending, explaining or justifying themselves? Do you enjoy being around this person? Are you one yourself?

Quite the opposite from the critics who have been the subject of recent articles on complaints and criticism, this person becomes tiresome not because of a string of complaints, but more because of the somewhat toxic nature of self-defense.

Years ago, as the personal transformation wave was cresting via large group seminars, several of us started using a made-up word to highlight the toxic nature of self-defense and explanation: dexify. The word even seems to connote something toxic all by itself.

Certainly, someone who engages in dexification (there’s another use that may suggest something kind of dark) seems to be sliding down a spiraling path of negativity. What’s so negative about defending yourself, you might ask?

On the one hand, nothing really, especially if there’s something there to defend. However, I am not referring to the kind of self-defense you might need when wrongly accused of something, especially something heinous or criminal. However, there’s a difference between that kind of self-defense and the more common defend-explain-justify behavior that many of us seem to engage in almost daily.

To be fair, I know I have certainly done my fair share of dexification. The main problem in day-to-day life is that when you choose to dexify, you almost always sound guilty-as-charged. I know that when I find myself in justification mode, there’s almost always some part of me that feels insecure about the area, perhaps even wondering-fearing-believing that it must be true.

There may well be several moving parts here, but allow me to underscore a critical aspect that may be operative and why dexification is usually not all that helpful. The worst possible scenario might be that the criticism is accurate and I’m simply digging myself a deeper hole by dexifying.

Some time ago, I wrote an article on this subject, citing a lesson learned from Bucky Fuller about how we can benefit from our perceived enemies. The gist of the story: after a wonderful lecture on the value of seeking to understand and be understood, Bucky took questions from the audience. One gentleman took the microphone and proceeded to tell Bucky that he was full of beans, didn’t know what he was talking about, and had no basis for his point of view. Bucky considered the comment, and replied, “Thank you.”

After a couple of more rounds of this kind of exchange-attack, wherein the gentleman kept going after Bucky, trying to provoke a reaction, Bucky taught us all a great lesson in self-awareness by saying something like this:

Did you not notice that each time I paused to consider what you had to say? I looked inside myself to see if some part of me was reacting to what you had said about me, particularly if some part of me were upset, prone to counterattack, or otherwise affected. I have found that when I am in that kind of reaction, there is typically something there for me to learn about myself, something for which I need to improve. In this instance, I found no reaction. Thus, you were simply sharing your opinion to which you are fully entitled and with which I have no argument. Therefore, “Thank you” seemed most appropriate.

Indeed, Bucky Fuller demonstrated considerable self-awareness and personal integrity throughout his life, and this little exchange has been a guiding light for me for years. Learning to see the reaction inside myself as feedback about me, pointing out areas of growth, not something to be defended, has been both expansive and liberating for me.

I have learned that when I feel the need to dexify myself, some part of me is almost always of the opinion that they must be right and I must be wrong. The defending, explaining and justifying never seems to change anything and, instead, tends to anchor me more deeply in the issue that needs to be addressed.

If you recognize this tendency in yourself, here’s a little tip that I have found personally useful whenever I have the courage to use it. Courage, by the way, is an interesting word that typically means something about physical or mental strength or bravery. Its roots, however, go to the Latin and French words for “heart.” I have heard it said that the suffix of the word, “age,” means something like “wisdom.” If you put the two together, you get “the wisdom of the heart.”

The next time you find yourself under attack and are about to resort to dexification, consider the wisdom of your own heart. Look inside yourself to your own reactions. If, like Bucky, you find yourself in reaction mode, consider that there might be a kernel of truth here for you, perhaps an entire bushel-full. If there is something there, then draw a bit more on that source of heartfelt wisdom and dive into the question even further, perhaps saying something like, “That’s very interesting. Can you say some more about what you see or how you see this playing out in my behavior?”

I know that for many this seems somewhere between silly and incomprehensible. Why on earth would you invite even more criticism, especially in an area where you might already feel uncomfortable?

It’s simple, really. You just might learn something that will liberate you. You may find yourself growing in confidence and inner strength as you choose inquiry over dexification. You might also wind up closing a gap between you and the other person. After all, it does take great courage to step closer in the face of criticism, and your sincere inquiry may melt away something that prevents you from being even more effective.
***

Russell Bishop is an educational psychologist, author, executive coach and management consultant based in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Book Summary of Workarounds That Work: How To Conquer Anything That Stands In Your Way At Work

Master the Art of the Workaround to Boost Your Productivity

About the Book:

You’ve experienced the frustration dozens of times: you need approval on a project, but a key sign-off person is out of town; a productis on a crash schedule, but you’re missing an important detail; you need to move ahead in a process, but company rules cause delays.What you need is a workaround.

In “Workarounds That Work,” Russell Bishop–an expert in personal and organization transformation–teaches the art of the workaround: a method for accomplishing a task or goal when the normal process isn’t producing the desired results. Workarounds help you breakthrough the tasks and systems that keep you from the important stuff. They even help you bring lasting change to your organization bydoing away with frustrating institutional inefficiencies once and for all.

Workarounds aren’t only about getting things done. They’re about getting the right things done. To ratchet up productivity, your organization needs someone who will ask the bigquestions, such as: How can our systems–from operational infrastructures to management processes–be more efficient and effective?Do we make the most of our talent?Do our teams work in isolation when collaboration would be more useful?Are we wasting time, placing blame, andfighting fires when we couldinstead be fixing problems?Is our direction clear, aligned, and focused?

“Are you ready to be that person–the one who gets things done, no matter what?”

“Workarounds That Work” explains how toidentify problems that make workaroundsnecessary and then create the best solutionavailable–without sacrificing quality ordoing a less-than-stellar job.

With Bishop’s strategies at your disposal, youcan conquer anything that stands in your wayat work–even when it seems like your organization’sculture is pitted against what youknow is best for it.

Meditation: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life ~ Deepak Chopra

The benefits of meditation can’t be called new. For decades, the practice has been endorsed — even by mainstream medicine — as a proven means to reduce stress and produce relaxation. In fact, if it were not for “the relaxation response,” a sanitized version of Eastern meditation that was popularized 30 years ago, it is doubtful that a secular society could be persuaded that meditation is real. Until recently, code words like “peacefulness” and “serenity” went about as far as anyone could go without seeming to bring religion in through the back door.

Now a new study from Massachusetts General Hospital has made headlines by showing that as little as eight weeks of meditation produces changes in various areas of the brain associated, not simply with feeling calmer, but with improved sense of self, empathy, and memory. Again this isn’t exactly new. Since the ’70s, a change in brain waves, particularly alpha waves, was associated with the regular practice of meditation. Today, with far more sophisticated brain imaging, researchers can pinpoint where these changes are taking place with remarkable precision.

The short period of time needed to produce benefits surprised everyone. Brain scans of Buddhist monks had already shown dramatic alteration of gamma waves in the prefrontal cortex, a region associated with higher cognitive responses as well as moral feelings like compassion. But learning that a life-long meditator produced gamma waves at 80 cycles per second instead of the usual 40, although fascinating to neuroscientists, still kept meditation far out of reach of busy, secular Westerners. Now we can say — without fear of seeming “too Eastern” — that meditation sharpens the mind and produces benefits everyone would want. The old bugaboo that navel-gazing makes you passive and “too peaceful” can be banished once and for all.

I imagine the next step will be the discovery that meditation changes the expression of your genes. Dr. Dean Ornish — who has championed meditation, along with diet and exercise, as a proven way to reverse heart disease — recently discovered changes to the expression of more than 400 genes among those who followed his program of positive lifestyle habits. The link between the brain and genes does come as something new, and it shows promise of overturning the most basic ideas about both.

For decades, it was taken as gospel in medical school that neither the brain nor our genes could be altered in any significant way (except negatively, through aging and disease), but now we know that the brain is far more dynamic and susceptible to change than anyone ever supposed. Moreover, any change inside the brain must be mediated by genetic expression. That is, a brain cell does things like grow new connections and heal itself only through the production of proteins and enzymes, and these require genetic signals — they don’t happen on their own.

If you back away and look at the bigger picture, what you see is startling. There is a direct path that begins in the mind — with meditation, mindfulness, or more basic things like beliefs and emotions. Then the path leads to the genes, where signals are sent that modify the brain cell, which in turn sends its own signals in the form of neurotransmitters to every cell in the body. The reason that eight weeks is enough to cause significant changes in the brain is that the underlying circuitry that connects mind, genes, and brain operates every second of our lives. Ultimately, I’m confident that the results will spread even farther. We will discover that a person’s awareness balances and controls almost any bodily process you can name.

The old phrase, “Biology is destiny,” will have to be seriously re-examined. A good replacement would be “Consciousness is destiny,” which is the guiding reason that meditation arose in the first place. I foresee enormous opportunities for personal freedom here. Instead of being dictated to by your genes and chemical processes in the brain, it may turn out that you are the author of your own life — capable of change, healing, creativity and personal transformation. Who wouldn’t want to be free to write the program that runs brain and body? Such has been the spiritual promise for thousands of years. It’s time that modern society woke up and realized that the promise still holds good.

What is Spirituality and What is a Spiritual Life?

Dr Roger Walsh is interviewed about the universal practices found in all the world’s spiritual and religious traditions such meditation, purification and so forth.

KRISHNAMURTI at United Nations. part 1 & 2

Part 1, of Talk on World Peace, at the United Nations, 1985.

Part 2, of Talk on World Peace, at the United Nations, 1985.

Leadership and Transformation Coaching with Alan Seale

Alan Seale talks about his work as a Leadership and Transformation Coach.

How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein

Excerpted from Chapter 1

Restless People
The Emergence of the Global Citizen Sector

Social entrepreneurs have existed throughout history. St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order, would qualify as a social entrepreneur — having built multiple organizations that advanced pattern changes in his “field.” Similarly, Florence Nightingale created the first professional school for nurses and established standards for hygiene and hospital care that have shaped norms worldwide.

What is different today is that social entrepreneurship is developing into a mainstream vocation, not only in the United States, Canada, and Europe, but increasingly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In fact, the rise of social entrepreneurship represents the leading edge of a remarkable development that has occurred across the world over the past three decades: the emergence of millions of new citizen organizations.

David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World, told Global X what happened when he was a young journalist and he first met Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh.

He also talks about his aunt Suzan, who taught him to climb the fence when necessary: “The world is a playground, and one shouldn’t follow the rules at all times.”

Alan Seale, The Ego-Soul Partnership.wmv

Rationality and Irrationality in Believers and Atheists ~ Deepak Chopra

An outspoken band of atheists has chalked up an impressive record of articles, best-selling books, and wide public recognition. To buttress their arguments against the existence of God, leading anti-religionists like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have borrowed the prestige of science. Which makes for a clean and simple dichotomy. Religion is irrational, bound up with superstition, emotions, and wishful thinking. Science is rational, dedicated to data, fact-finding, and impartial objectivity. The problem with such a simple picture is that it isn’t true and never was.

Without a hint of irony, New Scientist magazine has just published an article by Jonathan Lanman entitled “Religion is irrational, but so is atheism.” It’s an eye-opening piece, although by the time one gets to the end, it seems self-evident that atheists are of course emotional, biased, blinded to arguments that don’t fit their world view, and prone to gross over-statement. Lanman, a lecturer in anthropology at Oxford, makes the following points:

To begin, he cites research which questions the popular assumption that the more educated you are, the less likely you will be religious. In fact, the “Enlightenment assumption,” on which atheists lean heavily (equating religious belief with ignorance, to put it bluntly), isn’t proven to be valid. Lanman asserts that we have little real knowledge about why some people believe in God and others don’t. He points to a wealth of evidence that shows how vast the unconscious brain is and how mysterious the forces that shape us. This mystery applies to everyone, not simply the devout.

Instead of claiming that something has gone wrong in the brains of believers — another ploy favored in atheist rhetoric — Lanman suggests that environment has a great deal to do with what we believe. There is abundant evidence for that, too. Yet as a first step, we have to ask what we are studying. There isn’t one atheism but many, according to Lanman’s extensive research in the U.S., U.K., and Europe, ranging “from a lack of belief in God to a lack of belief in all supernatural agents to a moral opposition to all religions.”

In the midst of this confusion, he found that two phenomena leapt out as his studies progressed. The first was that a large number of people don’t believe in any supernatural agents in the universe, despite the fact that religion is worldwide. The second is moral opposition to religious belief. “For many, religions are not just factually wrong but morally harmful and to be opposed.” Looking at these two factors, Lanman notes that “nontheists,” people who have no particular religious beliefs, aren’t the same as “strong atheists,” who judge against and condemn religion. Lanman was intrigued that these two groups, which seem like allies, are negatively correlated. “Denmark and Sweden, for instance, have the highest proportion of non-theists but very little strong atheist sentiment or activity. The U.S., however, has a very low proportion of non-theists but significant levels of strong atheism.” Why?

In a word, threat, he says. There is compelling evidence that societies that rank high in security and well-being are much less religious than insecure societies where life is hard. Presumably, if you feel good about your life and others around you aren’t religious, there’s not much reason to adopt an attitude of moral outrage and condemnation of believers. Yet Pres. Obama wasn’t exactly right that people “cling to guns and religion” when life goes wrong — rather than turning to consoling beliefs, people in distress have negative religious views (as is evident from the hell fire and damnation style of much Bible Belt preaching). In contrast, the most comforting religious ideas, such as New Age spirituality or hell-less Christianity, flourish in the affluent west.

Here Lanman strikes down one of the cherished arguments of strong atheists: “Psychologically, we have little to no evidence that our minds will believe in something just because it would be comforting to do so.” It was always short-sighted — and incredibly condescending — for science-minded atheists to claim that believers are basically children looking for comforting fairy tales. If the comfort thesis is wrong, there’s a better explanation, which Lanman calls “threat and action”: there is strong evidence “that feeling under threat increases commitment to in-group ideologies, whether they are religious ideologies or not.” It should make atheists think twice to realize that their motives for attacking religion are kin to those who defend it. Both in-groups are motivated by emotion, bias, peer pressure, and the habit of “us” versus “them” thinking.

It’s crucial to note that Lanman isn’t defending religion, which he explains as a set of actions and beliefs rooted in many kinds of irrational responses to threat. Belonging to the in-group creates fertile ground for superstition and irrational behavior to grow. Atheists look much the same as viewed by an anthropologist: “Strong atheism is not the absence of an in-group ideology but the defense of one: modern secularism.” The ideology underpinning secularism sprang up in the West after the Reformation, leading to its present secular form, in which “citizens use their rational minds to cooperate and improve their lives.” Thus when religions stubbornly adhered to a belief “that the purpose of life should be transcendent rather than earthly well-being, religions themselves became anti-social and even immoral.”

Lanman has more evidence to cite, but his overall conclusion is simple. Our beliefs and behaviors are not based on dispassionate reason. In hindsight this may seem blindingly obvious, but in fact the cutting edge of brain research delves into the merging of reason and emotion in the brain, following the pathways that connect the two. Neuroscience has concluded that decisions are never devoid of emotion and that “lower” brain responses like emotion have privileged pathways that the higher brain cannot override until time has passed and the cerebral cortex is allowed to enter the picture with its rational faculties (that’s why you jump first when you hear a gunshot and only a few seconds later decide that it was only a car backfiring).

Speaking personally, as an advocate for spirituality but not for organized religion, I have rarely met debaters more disputatious, biased, close-minded, unfair in argument, and blinkered in their certainties than professional atheists. They believe that they are completely rational. Yet experience shows that people who think they have excluded their emotions in reality are unconscious about what emotions are and the power they exert over all of us. Science has much to say about spirituality, and vice versa. They aren’t enemies or natural opposites. What we should be aiming at is an expanded science that reveals the whole person, and using that perspective, we may be able to understand the wholeness of nature. At least we can take the first step, which is to throw out the claim that believers are superstitious and ignorant while atheists are the epitome of rationality. Neither, it turns out, is true.

Toward a Consciousness of Oneness by Robert Atkinson, PhD

At a press conference immediately following the earthquake in Japan, President Obama noted that “for all our differences in culture or language or religion, ultimately, humanity is one.” A century ago, earthquakes in California, India, and Italy similarly evoked shared grief and mutual assistance, although oneness was not yet part of our mainstream vocabulary – nor our consciousness. This significant shift in awareness during the last century illustrates the power and promise of evolution. A century and a half ago, evolution wasn’t discussed, but once Darwin’s work brought it into popular discussion, we grew to understand that everything evolves – life, societies, cultures, civilizations, science and technology, and consciousness itself.

Humanity’s Wake-Up Call

We stand at a critical juncture in our collective evolution. As our twenty-first century society undergoes rapid change, people seek more solid ground in ethical and moral values to serve as guideposts for navigating these uncertain times. We want answers to the deep questions, which continue to perplex us: Is there an underlying purpose that drives evolution, or do change and transformation happen randomly? And if there is a purpose, what is evolution moving us toward?

Humanity faces the crisis of a divided consciousness. As we struggle through a time that begs for a momentous breakthrough, will we let this crisis get the best of us, or will we midwife our current transformation-in-progress toward collective harmony and planetary sustainability?

Our collective story is lagging behind, resisting the flow of evolutionary change. The pre-twentieth-century story we have carried with us into the twenty-first century – built on the assumptions of duality, separation, and boundaries – has lost much of its meaning, power, and, most alarmingly, hope for the future. It faces crisis after crisis without offering any lasting resolution. The once well-understood principle of continual progress toward a collectively desired and beneficial goal is missing.

We need a new chapter in our evolving story that will restore hope, infuse new meaning into the wondrous process of creation, and unify our consciousness with a vision we intuitively trust. We need a story that keeps renewing itself. The one we have will not abruptly stop on December 21, 2012, with the end of the Mayan calendar, though some think it will. The Mayans believed in cycles: at the end of one calendar cycle, another begins with year zero. Our story is meant to continue and evolve, from one chapter to the next, just as natural cycles continue from one to the next.

Principles of an Evolving Story

We are living in a time of convergence. Some aspects of society are breaking down, while others are coming together more meaningfully. Dramas that have been considered fragments of chaotic circumstances, such as war and ecological breakdown, are increasingly being seen as elements of a greater transformational process – however difficult – which has played out over and over in our collective history and ultimately led to the advancement of civilization.

It may just be that a growing awareness of our oneness is at the heart of an evolutionary process designed to lead to personal and global transformation on ever-escalating levels. I have identified seven underlying principles shared by the world’s wisdom traditions that are governing this process of change and growth, which has been unfolding since the beginning of time and will continue to direct the course of our evolution for millennia to come. This process includes the progression of multiple communities with a duality consciousness (pitting one against another) toward a global community with a oneness consciousness (where equality, justice, and compassion prevail).

Using “principle” as an essential tenet that explains a natural action or order in the makeup of reality, here are the principles I believe are guiding our evolving story:

1. Consciousness is a potentiality set in motion by a dynamic process. We are born with an inherent urge to understand reality, unfolding through our desire to make sense of life’s mysteries. Our fullest potential for consciousness is realized as we independently investigate the twin knowledge systems of science and religion while integrating our own life’s lessons.

2. Change is inevitable and necessary for evolution. On both the micro and macro levels, from algae to weather systems, the nature of everything is constant change. There can be no evolution without change. To navigate this time of unusually rapid change, of universal reformation, we need a transformation of consciousness, which will become the change agent for the evolution of civilization.

3. Growth by degrees is inherent to life. The pace of growth enables all life forms to evolve toward their potential. Historians, mystics, and developmental theorists understand that growth on the individual and collective levels is regulated by a creative, dynamic, universal force and designed to occur in a gradual and ordered progression.

4. Transformation occurs through the conscious confrontation of opposing forces. Individually and collectively, we participate in the inherent dialectic of life not only by being tested to our limits but also by being pushed beyond them to confront unknown realms. Just as change is necessary for evolution, so is transformation. The trials and tribulations of life have purpose; they are the cause of great advancement. Opposition is a catalyst for transformation and is essential for maintaining the law of balance in the universe.

5. Consciousness expands along an eternal continuum. Consciousness pervades all of creation; it’s at the heart of an interconnectedness that links all beings. Our consciousness of ourselves, each other, and the universe – our spiritual development – has been ever-evolving and increasing in complexity over time. Evidence for this includes an increasing capacity among many to think globally and identify themselves as world citizens.

6. Consciousness progresses toward unity. As we journey through our lives, we discover many viewpoints, experience many identities, and confront endless pairs of opposites. At some point we may even glimpse an inherent unity to it all, a hidden wholeness. This is not a fluke. Evolution has been leading us toward a more complex understanding of this mystery and toward a greater appreciation of our essential oneness.

7. Reality is a unified whole, and revelation is continuous. On the horizon of eternity, out from behind the illusion of the many, all veils pass away, and all that remains is the One. Only through the eyes of unity does reality appear as changeless yet evolving. Unseen but ever-present spiritual forces, revealed progressively and cyclically, have always been and still are being released, pushing evolution to higher levels of convergence, signaling humanity’s coming of age.

The motifs and archetypes for a story of renewal and regeneration are embedded in these seven principles. They tell us a great deal about who we are at our core and where we are headed. They operate on an evolutionary basis, both linearly and cyclically as well as individually and collectively.

A World Giving Birth

The fourth principle, on the nature of transformation, is key because it is the bridge leading from the world of opposites and duality consciousness (the first three principles) to the realm of unity and oneness consciousness (the last three principles). Transformation is essential in the evolutionary process of birth-death-rebirth – we cannot get from birth to rebirth without it.

The end of the Mayan calendar represents the symbolic death of one cycle and its rebirth into another. As Jung noted some eighty years ago, “It seems to me that we are only at the threshold of a new spiritual epoch . . . What is significant in psychic life is always below the horizon of consciousness, and when we speak of the spiritual problem of modern man, we are dealing with things that are barely visible,” things that have their beginnings in the dark night. The birthing process of authentic transformation is usually long and difficult, and the emergence of a new global consciousness is now well into its natural cycle. According to Ervin Laszlo, the eventual result of the process we are witnessing and experiencing will be “a consciousness that recognizes our connections to each other and to the cosmos . . . a consciousness of connectedness and memory . . . [that] conveys a sense of belonging and ultimately of oneness . . . a wellspring of empathy with nature and solidarity among people.”

“We are already living in two worlds,” Deepak Chopra writes in the foreword to Laszlo’s Worldshift 2012. “One world moves ahead by inertia from the past, like a massive luxury liner drifting at sea, while the other steps into the unknown, like a child entering the woods for the first time.” The critical shift occurs in consciousness and nowhere else.

Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard also uses the birthing metaphor to describe this particular moment in our conscious evolution. We are in the midst of a great shift, she says, that is bringing about planetary birth. The crises we are facing are essential to the process. They are the evolutionary drivers, accelerating our spiritual development.

Moving Across the Consciousness Continuum

Jung’s notion of archetypes, in which the aptitudes, instincts, and preformed patterns we most need are provided to us by our heredity, puts consciousness on a continuum, which we move across as we grow and develop. These “inherited possibilities of ideas,” as Jung called them, not only represent “the authentic element of spirit” or “a spiritual goal toward which the whole nature of man strives” but also the first step in the evolution of consciousness that can be seen as our original state of inherited oneness. The archetype is that which potentially connects us to our divine nature.

We meet each challenge along the continuum as we live within the world of opposites and take on a divided consciousness – our acquired consciousness of duality. The final step brings us back to a consciousness of oneness when we recognize that reality is a unified whole. This would be our reacquired state of intended oneness.

The individual’s evolutionary journey has its parallel on the collective level as well. As part of our genetic makeup, these inherited possibilities help explain why tribal and indigenous cultures are based on the principle of unity in homogeneity, or unity in sameness. Unity is built upon the very qualities and values that define and sustain them – mutuality, cooperation, stability, and interconnectedness. Oneness, or unity, is then the first stage in the collective evolution of consciousness, in our movement across the consciousness continuum.

As cultures and societies migrated, became more complex, and experienced conflict with each other in the natural course of evolution, this consciousness of oneness was severely tested and an eventual shift occurred. Unity within and loyalty to one’s known group was replaced with a need to reconcile with a new and larger group which happened to carry different and often foreign views and values. The disruptive forces of colonization are an obvious example of this.

From this forced transition period of chaos and conflict came the second stage of our collective consciousness, duality, or unwanted, nonreciprocal pluralism, in which distinct cultures interact, find differences, and nevertheless need to get along. This second stage is characterized by separateness and disagreement, which has led to a long history of oppression, prejudice, and conflict between various cultural and ethnic groups, tensions that are still playing out on every continent.

At the same time, greater and greater levels of unity were slowly being established on social levels. This can be explained as a progression of cooperation, from simple levels of interpersonal interaction to more complex social or communal levels. The writings of the Baha’i Faith describe this as, “Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal toward which a harassed humanity is striving.”

This most basic pattern of the collective evolution of humanity is completed with the third stage, which returns us to where we began: a consciousness of oneness, or unity, but on the grandest scale. The pattern as a whole can be described as oneness followed by duality followed by oneness, or inherent unity followed by intentional separateness followed by intended unity.

Reclaiming Oneness

After a period of unity in sameness followed by phases of duality and forced pluralism, we are now entering the third stage, characterized by unity in difference, or unity in diversity. This entails nothing less than the unity of all humankind, in which, “all nations, races, creeds, and classes are closely and permanently united,” as the prophet-founder of the Baha’i faith, Baha’u’llah, envisaged in the mid-nineteenth century.

“Unity in diversity” is not just a slogan or buzz phrase. It is a way of explaining the principle of humanity’s oneness with itself and the entire creation. It honors and cherishes all the natural and unique forms of diversity that exist both within the human family, from every ethnic group to each individual temperament, and in the natural world. Diversity in the cultural, personal, and natural realms is just as vital and essential to the well-being of humanity as it is in the realm of the human gene pool.

As more and more individuals come to understand the essential unity of humankind and begin to live accordingly, our collective cultural and spiritual development will move ahead toward its next stage of maturity. As greater numbers embrace a global consciousness and identify themselves as world citizens, and as this is reflected in various spheres of action, from interpersonal to social, cultural, economic, and ecological, the principle of humanity’s oneness has the potential of becoming accepted in our time, as that of nationhood was in its time.

The awakening of a global consciousness, along with the acceptance of a global ethic, can only succeed when it is simultaneously linked to and understood as interdependent with the core principle of our time – the oneness of humanity. When this principle is affirmed as a common understanding, all will be in place for the practical organization of humanity into working relationships of oneness, harmony, and unity, which are the building blocks of world peace and prosperity. As Ervin Laszlo puts it, this would be when “all things are subtly but effectively tuned to all other things, and in some respects act as one. This has been known for thousands of years in the world’s religions and spiritual traditions. For religions and spirituality the key words have been love and oneness, and for scientists they are now connection and coherence. In the final count, they mean the same thing.”

References

Abdu’l-Baha. 1982. The Promulgation of Universal Peace. Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust.

Atkinson, Robert. 2002. Culture and the evolution of consciousness. The Baha’i World 2000-2001.Haifa: Baha’i World Centre.

Baha’i International Community. 2005. “The Search for Values in an Age of Transition.” Haifa. Accessible online at http://statements.bahai.org/05-1002.htm.

Effendi, Shoghi. 1974. The World Order of Baha’u’llah. Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust.

Jung, C. G. 1973. Psychological Reflections. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

—— 1933. Modern Man in Search of a Soul. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.

Laszlo,Ervin. 2009. Worldshift 2012: Making Green Business, New Politics, and Higher Consciousness Work Together. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.

Marx Hubbard, Barbara. 1998. Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential. Novato, CA: New World Library.

Robert Atkinson, PhD, is professor of human development and director of the Life Story Center at the University of Southern Maine. He is the author of seven books, as well as the forthcoming Humanity’s Evolving Story: Seven Principles Guiding Us Toward a Consciousness of Oneness.

Self-Directed Neuroplasticity: A 21st-Century View of Meditation by Rick Hanson, PhD

Ed. Note: In the following dialogue, excerpted and edited from the Institute of Noetic Sciences’ teleseminar series “Exploring the Noetic Sciences.” IONS Director of Research Cassandra Vieten talks with neuropsychologist and meditation teacher Rick Hanson, author with neurologist Richard Mendius, MD, of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom. Rick will be speaking at the upcoming IONS International Conference taking place this July in San Francisco.

Vieten: What exactly is contemplative neuroscience?

Hanson: Broadly defined, it’s the study of what happens in the brain when people are doing contemplative practices, how the brain changes with such practices.

Although the word contemplative sounds fancy, everyone has been contemplative – you know, looking up at the stars, going to the ocean and getting a sense of the enormity of it all, or looking into your baby’s eyes and thinking, Holy Moly, how did I get you and how did you get me? All of that is contemplative. In addition to that, all the major religions have formal contemplative practices. But people can engage in contemplative activity without framing it in terms of a relationship with God or something like that.

The contemplative tradition I know best is Buddhism. It’s also the contemplative tradition that has had the greatest crossover with Western science; much of the research on meditators has been on Buddhist meditators. Arguably, though, the majority of research has been on those who practice TM, or Transcendental Meditation, which is nested in the Hindu tradition.

The field of contemplative neuroscience is just exploding, in tandem with the explosion of knowledge about brain science in general. People know twice as much about the brain today than they did in 1990, and I’d have to say science knows a hundred times more today than it did in 1990 about what happens in the brain when people engage in contemplative practices.

I’ll give you a couple of examples. One of the enduring changes in the brain of those who routinely meditate is that the brain becomes thicker. In other words, those who routinely meditate build synapses, synaptic networks, and layers of capillaries (the tiny blood vessels that bring metabolic supplies such as glucose or oxygen to busy regions), which an MRI shows is measurably thicker in two major regions of the brain. One is in the pre-frontal cortex, located right behind the forehead. It’s involved in the executive control of attention – of deliberately paying attention to something.

This change makes sense because that’s what you’re doing when you meditate or engage in a contemplative activity. The second brain area that gets bigger is a very important part called the insula. The insula tracks both the interior state of the body and the feelings of other people, which is fundamental to empathy. So, people who routinely tune into their own bodies – through some kind of mindfulness practice – make their insula thicker, which helps them become more self-aware and empathic. This is a good illustration of neuroplasticity, which is the idea that as the mind changes, the brain changes, or as Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb put it, neurons that fire together wire together.

I think of thought as immaterial information that flows through the nervous system. Buddhism teaches that the mind takes the shape of whatever it rests upon – or more exactly, the brain takes the shape of whatever the mind rests upon. So, if you regularly rest your mind on regrets, resentments, quarrels with others, self-reproach – you know, the voice in the back of the head yammering away about what a nobody you really are and if others only knew better, et cetera – if you rest your mind there, it will change your brain in that direction, because neurons that fire together wire together, for better or worse. On the other hand, if you rest your mind on wholesome themes, those things that are going well, what you’re grateful for, good connections you have with others, your good qualities, what you accomplish in a day, the conditions in the world that are okay, you’re going to build up neural substrates and circuits of positivity.

I find this knowledge incredibly exciting at a time when the world obviously is on the edge of the sword. The fundamental skillfulness of self-directed neuroplasticity – of deliberately lighting up neural networks of happiness, love, and wisdom, let’s say – is a great resource as we face the challenges of a world that is overheated. People are way too driven by greed, hatred, and delusions, which are the three poisons Buddhism identifies. Our caveman brains are armed with nuclear weapons.

Vieten: Even though the field of contemplative neuroscience is burgeoning – making newspaper headlines, PBS programs, and even the cover of Time magazine ­­­­­­­­– it’s still groundbreaking to understand that the relationship between our mind and our subjective experience actually has physical effects on our body and brain, effects that are dramatic and can even be enduring.

How do you define mind?

Hanson: We’re talking about things that philosophers have written and argued about for thousands of years. There is a major movement in the West these days that’s a little bit like a giant salad blender mixing together all kinds of spiritual stuff. It does help when dealing with such important topics to be clear about the words; then we know what we’re talking about.

Basically, I think of the nervous system, headquartered in the brain, as matter – and by matter, I mean energy as well. E = MC2. That is materiality broadly defined. Mind is the flow of information through that material nervous system. Immaterial information is carried – or more exactly represented – by a physical substrate of some kind or another, whether it’s the vibration of air molecules as sound waves move through them or signals traveling across the Internet or cell phone towers transmitting this teleseminar. This is not only my view but also the common way of thinking about it in neuropsychology.

In this definition of mind, with information flowing through the nervous system, it becomes clear that most of mind is outside our awareness at any given time – and actually, most of mind is forever outside our awareness. When someone does something fairly routine, like picking up a coffee cup or scratching their ear, the motor scripts buried in the brain in different places aren’t accessible to consciousness. We don’t look at our hand and say, “Okay, hand, rise.” You know what I mean? We just intend it somehow, and it works, right? That’s outside our field of awareness. So, I find one of the takeaways here is that even though we tend to privilege what we find in our field of awareness, it’s just the tip of the iceberg of all of mind.

One of the useful things we can do is use our attention. Mindful attention is something like a combination spotlight and vacuum cleaner that illuminates what it rests upon and sucks it into the brain. Neuroplasticity is turbocharged for whatever is in the field of focused attention. And while neurons that fire together do wire together in terms of unconscious movements of information through the nervous system, the neurons that fire in the focal field of attention, particularly sustained attention – wow! – those neurons really, really wire together. It’s how Mother Nature wants us to learn from our conscious experiences. So, the point here is to use mindful attention to rest our awareness on what is useful to us and then work skillfully to get those neurons firing together so that they wire together wholesome tendencies inside ourselves.

Vieten: You use the metaphor of a vacuum cleaner, and it occurs to me that in their everyday lives many people experience a “reverse” vacuum cleaner – rather than people directing the focus of their attention, things in their environment compel their attention. Sometimes those things are wholesome, but other times they’re not so good for us. How do you propose we work with that involuntary “sucking up” of things that are not wholesome?

Hanson: What you’re describing is our nature as animals at the top of the food chain, and it’s the product of three-and-a-half billion years of evolution – in particular, six hundred million years of the evolution of the nervous system. In that long run, those ancestors who were good at resting their attention on something benign for long periods of time – chomp! – got eaten, because they weren’t nervously scanning for shadows, slithers, snarls, and things like that. We are the great, great, great, great grandchildren of very nervous and very cranky ancestors. So, the nature of the brain is to have a monkey mind – literally.

On top of that, we live in an ADD culture. We are bombarded. I’ve seen studies that look at the number of titillating media messages a person gets a day, and the number is in the zone of thousands, if not tens of thousands. We may not consciously be aware of them, but these messages do enter our field of awareness. Now think about how many messages a day people get that play on the theme of fear. I mean, just go to the airport; every ninety seconds you get a recorded message telling you that the threat level is orange, which is scary because orange is, as we know, the color before red.

So, the combination of our biological tendency, personal history, and culture has habituated us to an incredibly dense incoming stream of media. In that larger context, it’s totally understandable that the untrained mind is continually scanning for either something to want or something to fear – in other words, for a problem to solve. That’s why, as William James said, an education of attention would be an education par excellence. If we don’t have control over that spotlight and vacuum cleaner, if it’s “stimulus bound,” to use the phrase from cognitive psychology, then we pretty much have no control over how our brain is changing over time. And that is not a good thing.

Vieten: You talk about practical neuroscience and training so that we can begin to shift that habit of mind. What are some of the ways we can begin to do that?

Hanson: First, to contextualize it, there are thousands of years of methods of attention training that work if people really do them. People sometimes describe contemplative practitioners who have a lifelong practice of hours a day as the Olympic athletes of mental training. What neuroscience has added is scientific evidence of the value in these methods, and by studying what happens in the brain when it is stably mindful, we learn targeted ways to nourish the neural substrates of attention in people who do not live in a monastery but are dodging cars in Manhattan or something like that.

For example, here’s a basic practice made of five steps, or suggestions. Anyone can do any one of these to whatever extent he or she wants. But don’t do this while driving, and if you start to feel uncomfortable, feel free to stop. You can practice these suggestions with your eyes open or closed, though it might be simpler to do with your eyes closed.

To begin, bring your awareness to the sensations of breathing. If there’s anything about paying attention to your breathing that makes you uncomfortable, which is the case for some people with a history of trauma, rest your attention instead on something you find mildly pleasant or simply neutral, such as the sensations in your feet or a phrase such as “May I be happy” or “May my family be well.”

Now, set an intention to stay with the object of your attention for the next few minutes while doing this practice. Whether it’s your breath or a phrase or anything else, set the intention in your mind to stay present with that object of attention. You could either set this intention top down by using words such as “I’m going to stay attentive here” or set your intention from the bottom up by getting a felt sense inside yourself of mindfulness.

The second step or suggestion is to relax. Take some long exhalations, longer than your inhalations, and take care to relax your tongue.

The third suggestion is to feel as safe as you reasonably can. Sometimes this can be a challenge because it can make us nervous to lower our guard, and if so, take a moment to recognize that wherever you are is probably a protected and comfortable place. Get a sense of the good people who support you in your life, as well as a sense of your own strengths that enable you to deal with whatever life brings. With this basis, explore lowering your guard and being less braced against life.

Moving on to the fourth suggestion, open to feelings of simple well-being. Without straining or forcing anything, encourage gentle feelings of happiness and gratitude. For example, forests make me happy, and I am grateful for the smell of oranges. Whatever works for you, allow a sense of positive emotion to fill you. There may well be other feelings, even negative feelings; don’t resist them. Let them come and let them go, as you keep bringing your attention back to feeling as good as you can in the moment.

The fifth suggestion is to get a sense of your awareness being like boundless space. Notice that awareness has no edges, no bounds. In a sense, it is infinite, like the sky or space. In that vast space, different experiences come and go, and you now have a panoramic sense of experiences arising and passing in the vast space of your awareness. You have a kind of bird’s-eye view of thoughts, sensations, sounds, feelings, desires, memories, whatever, coming and going in boundless, open space. Feel free to enjoy whatever is worthwhile in whatever you’re feeling.

Vieten: Thank you for that exercise.

Hanson: I have found again and again that those five simple suggestions are a great preliminary practice. It takes about five minutes, and with practice, you can actually do it in even less time because you know how to go there, how to light up those circuits and steady the mind.

I’d like to explain what happens in the brain during each of those five stages. We begin with our intention to pay attention to our breathing or whatever we’ve chosen. When we set an intention top down, we light up the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain behind the forehead where there are a lot of executive systems. I find the bottom-up form of setting an intention really interesting; that’s when we get an embodied sense, an emotionally rich sense or inclination. Setting an intention from the bottom up is very powerful because it engages the limbic system, the subcortical regions underneath the cortex, which involve emotions. It’s where we begin to have emotionally positive rewards associated with our intention.

The second suggestion is to relax. In modern life, we chronically activate our stress response, our fight-or-flight system, which is related to the sympathetic nervous system. We did evolve to handle bursts of stress, but not chronic stress, and it’s hard to be mindful when we’re stressed out because stress activates the skittery, monkey-mind tendencies in the brain. To calm that monkey-brain as it scans for tigers in the environment, so to speak, it’s important to calm down sympathetic arousal, and the way to do that is to activate the parasympathetic wing of the nervous system. This is the rest-and-digest part of the autonomic nervous system, the part that keeps us on an even keel. A great way to activate the parasympathetic system is through our exhalations, because the parasympathetic system handles exhaling. As few as three to ten long exhalations will light up the parasympathetic circuits and calm down sympathetic arousal. Similarly, because the parasympathetic system handles digestion, relaxing the tongue or the lips also helps to light up this system.

The third suggestion focuses on feeling safe. This is a very important one, although it’s often hard for people because we have what I call “paper-tiger paranoia.” Essentially, we evolved to overestimate threats and to underestimate opportunities and resources for dealing with threats. Although that may have been a great way to pass on gene copies in Africa two million years ago, it’s a lousy way to experience quality of life in the twenty-first century. Most of us can feel safer than we normally do. I prompt people to feel as safe as they reasonably can because there is no perfect safety in life. None of us is safe from old age, disease, or death, for example, but most of us can afford to feel less guarded, less braced, and more confident in our capacities to meet life.

A sense of safety helps us with mindfulness because when we don’t feel safe, we continually scan for threats, which increases external vigilance and interferes with internal self-awareness. It’s probably no accident that in the traditional stories about the Buddha’s awakening, he has his back to the Bodhi tree. The tree “had his back.” It protected Buddha from the direction in which most lethal threats in the wild occur – from behind us – and it forced Mara and the other forces of delusion to come at the Buddha from the front, where he could deal with them.

The fourth suggestion invites a sense of well-being. To be mindful, to overcome the constant hijacking of the monkey mind, we rest our attention on one thing, such as the sensations of breathing, a loving-kindness phrase, or a prayer. To hold that focus in the field of attention requires holding it in what’s called working memory. The neural substrate of working memory has a kind of gate that is either open or closed. When it’s closed, the contents of it stay there, and what that translates to in our experience is that we maintain steadiness of mind.

We are able to stay with whatever we want to pay attention to. The way the gate works is through dopamine, a neurotransmitter that tracks rewards. A steady flow of dopamine keeps the gate closed. What pops the gate open is either a drop in dopamine, when a feeling of reward falls away, or a spike in dopamine, when new and sweeter rewards are introduced, distracting us from what we were paying attention to.

So, in this practice, when you encourage feelings of well-being, you’re doing two things. You’re creating a steady flow of dopamine, which keeps the gate closed, and because you’re directing a highly rewarding flow of dopamine, you cannot get a spike of it. Those two things keep the gate of working memory closed and thereby steady the mind.

The last suggestion to regard the field of awareness as boundless space is connected to some new research that shows it activates lateral networks – circuits on the side of the head that are associated with mindful, open, spacious awareness. It moves people out of the conventional state of mind in which the circuits in the middle of the brain are busy planning, thinking about the past, using language, and engaging in abstraction, all with a strong sense of self, of me-myself-and-I.

Although there’s a place for that, modern life overemphasizes the activation of these midline networks, and because neurons that fire together wire together, we get a strong buildup in those regions. So it takes training to stably activate the lateral networks. One of the ways to activate the lateral networks is through a panoramic view. There are a couple of others, such as not knowing and not needing things to make sense, but one of the easiest is cultivating a sense of boundless awareness – a bird’s-eye, panoramic view.

These five simple suggestions make up a basic practice that is based on good science. It’s a good illustration of self-directed neuroplasticity. This practice reliably stimulates the neural substrates of mindful attention, and over time, stimulating the neural substrates of mindful attention will naturally strengthen them, because neurons that fire together wire together. We can use this knowledge to build up the neural substrates of compassion, self-esteem, resilience, spiritual insight, and deep concentration. Pretty great, isn’t it?

Dr. Hanson is a neuropsychologist and meditation teacher. He is cofounder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and edits the monthly Wise Brain Bulletin. His newsletter, Just One Thing, provides a weekly practice. Readers can sign on via his website, http://www.rickhanson.net/home/rick-hanson.

The Hidden Gifts of Helping by Stephen Post, PhD

About The Hidden Gifts of Helping

“Everyone stumbles on hard times. After all, no one gets out of life alive. Today, even those who had considered themselves protected from hardship are being touched and their lives changed by volatile economic markets, job uncertainty, and the increasing isolation and loneliness of modern life.”

—From the Introduction

Research has revealed that when we show concern for others—empathizing with a friend who has lost a loved one, mowing the lawn for an elderly neighbor, or volunteering to mentor a school-aged child—we improve our own health and well-being and embrace and give voice to our deeper identity and dignity as human beings.

In this moving book, Stephen G. Post helps us discover how we can make “helping” a lifetime activity. The Hidden Gifts of Helping explores the very personal story of Post and his family’s difficult move and their experience with the healing power of helping others, as well as his passion about how this simple activity—expressed in an infinite number of small or large ways—can help you survive and thrive despite the expected and unexpected challenges life presents.

Post’s story is intertwined with supporting scientific research and spiritual understanding. This book can become your companion and guide to the power of giving, forgiving, and compassion in hard times.

The Hidden Gifts of Helping will leave you with the unshakable feeling that the world can be a good place if we act to make it so.

“We can be anywhere, so long as we are helping others and caring for them. This is probably the one source of stability in our lives that we can truly depend on, and so in the end we are never really out of place.”

—Stephen G. Post

Stephen G. Post is Professor of Preventive Medicine, Head of the Division of Medicine in Society, and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. He was previously (1988-2008) Professor of Bioethics, Religion and Philosophy, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, and Senior Research Scholar at the Becket Institute of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University. Post is a Senior Fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.

Since the late 1980s Post has focused on issues surrounding the care of persons with developmental cognitive disabilities and dementia. He is an elected member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel of Alzheimer’s Disease International, and was recognized for “distinguished service” by the Association’s National Board for educational efforts for Association Chapters and families throughout the United States (1998). In 2003 Post was elected a Member of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for “distinguished contributions to medicine.” His book entitled The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer Disease: Ethical Issues from Diagnosis to Dying (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, 2nd edition) was designated a “medical classic of the century” by the British Medical Journal in 2009.

He is equally recognized as a leader in the study of altruism, love, and compassion in the integrative context of scientific research, philosophy, and spirituality. He is President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, an Ohio-based 501 (c)(3) established in July 2001 with support from philanthropist John Templeton and the Templeton Foundation. The Institute has supported high level empirical research at more than fifty universities on topics related to unselfish love and its origins. Post became interested in these topics while a youth at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, where he studied the theology of agape love with the distinguished African-American Rev. John T. Walker, who later became Dean of the National Cathedral.

Post worked in biological research before completing his Ph.D. on the relationship between other-regarding love and happiness at the University of Chicago under James M. Gustafson, where he was an elected University Fellow, a preceptor in the Pritzker School of Medicine, and a Fellow in the Martin E. Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion. He received the Hope in Healthcare Award in 2008 for his “pioneering research and education in the field of unconditional love, altruism, compassion, and service.” He was included in Best American Spiritual Writing (2005), and in 2008 he was the recipient of the Kama Book Award in Medical Humanities from World Literacy Canada. Post is an elected member of the International Society for Science and Religion, and writes a blog for Psychology Today entitled “The Joy of Giving.”

Post has published over 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Science, The International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, The Journal of Religion, The American Journal of Psychiatry, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Lancet. He has written seven scholarly books on altruism and love, and is also the editor of eight other books, including Altruism & Health: Perspectives from Empirical Research, and Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy and Religion in Dialogue, both published by Oxford University Press. His most recent book, published with Jossey-Bass (2011), is The Hidden Gifts of Helping: How the Power of Giving, Compassion, and Hope Can Get Us Through Hard Times. In 2007 Post was lead author of the blockbuster book, published with Broadway Books/Random House, Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving, with a Foreword by Rev. Otis Moss, Jr. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A public intellectual committed to conveying important ideas in the wider culture, Post has appeared on a diverse range of radio and television programs including Nightline, 20/20, and National Public Radio. Post is sought after as a public speaker by community and professional groups, and is the recipient of the “Top Notch Public Speaker Award” from the Ohio Endowment for the Humanities.

Post is a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church. His grandfather, Edwin Main Post, was the husband of Emily Post by his first marriage. He is currently a Trustee of the John Templeton Foundation (2008-2011).

The Tao of Enlightenment ~ William Horden

“Within the mind there is yet another mind.” –Nei-yeh, trans. Harold D. Roth

The concept of the Tao (the Way) has profoundly impacted world culture, most notably through the many translations of the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang Tzu. Its impact on ancient China was foundational, in the sense that it gave rise to Taoist religion, spirituality, cosmology, theory of statecraft and war, social relationships, painting, poetry, medicine and alchemy. Moreover, Taoism became interwoven with Buddhism from India, giving birth to Chan Buddhism (later known as Zen when transplanted to Japan). It is also closely associated with the I Ching (Book of Changes).

What has most fascinated me about Taoist thought, though, are its roots in mysticism and efforts to establish a protocol whereby practitioners might experience the personal awakening often referred to as enlightenment. This is a tradition that can be traced back to Taoism’s earliest written text, the Nei-yeh (Inward Training), which was produced well before the more famous Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu.

The Tao, as the Way, may be best conceived of as the Way of Nature. Practitioners are encouraged to increase their sensitivity to the more subtle forces both within their environment and themselves (for example, through feng shui and t’ai chi, respectively). This recognition of the similarity of forces at work externally and internally proves instrumental in providing a first-hand experience of the unity of subject and object, which forms the very basis of the mystical experience.

This particularly shows up in the Taoist appreciation of naturalness. When turned outward, this appreciation produced some of the most sublime art and poetry based on a spontaneous identification with the places and seasons of nature. When turned inward, on the other hand, naturalness was used to make practitioners aware of their own original nature that exists prior to any familial or cultural conditioning. This inward training forms the basis of Taoist mind-body-spirit exercises aimed at returning the practitioner to the natural state of enlightenment.

“If you are able to cast off sorrow, happiness, joy, anger, desire, and profit-seeking,
Your mind will just revert to equanimity.
The true condition of the mind
Is that it finds calmness beneficial and, by it, attains repose.
Do not disturb it, do not disrupt it
And harmony will naturally develop.”
–Nei-yeh, trans. Harold D. Roth

The true condition of the mind is something we already possess — all that is needed is to empty ourselves of the conditioned reflexes we’ve acquired being raised in the historical era in which we are born. This emptying process is undertaken in a meditative state in which all the various objects of thought are progressively withdrawn from attention, until we arrive at an open awareness that is not clouded by habitual thoughts, emotions and memories. This is not conceived of as something necessarily difficult: The mind and body naturally tend toward this empty state when all the external stimuli are withdrawn.

“There is a numinous [mind] naturally residing within;
One moment it goes, the next it comes,
And no one is able to conceive of it.
If you lose it you are inevitably disordered;
If you attain it you are inevitably well-ordered.
Diligently clean out its lodging place
And its vital essence will naturally arrive.
Still your attempts to reflect on it and control it.
Be reverent and diligent
And its vital essence will naturally stabilize.
Grasp it and don’t let go
Then the eyes and ears won’t overflow
And the mind will have nothing else to seek.”

This “cleaning out its lodging place” is the emptying out process, a stilling of the conditioned mind so that the original mind might be fully experienced. As the above text demonstrates, it is not just our habit thoughts that need to be stilled but even our own imaginings of what the enlightened state is.

“The Way fills the entire world.
It is everywhere that people are,
But people are unable to understand this.
When you are released by this one word:
You reach up to the heavens above;
You stretch down to the earth below;
You pervade the nine regions.
What does it mean to be released by it?
The answer resides in the calmness of your mind.
When your mind is well-ordered, your senses are well-ordered.
When your mind is calm, your senses are calmed.
What makes them well-ordered is the mind;
What makes them calm is the mind.
By means of the mind you store the mind:
Within the mind there is yet another mind.
That mind within the mind: it is an awareness that precedes words.”

Here we encounter what may be the original protocol for awakening upon which later Taoist practices were based. First, we are encouraged to make ourselves sensitive to the Way that fills the entire world. This leads us to the experience of being released from our strictly human perceptions by identifying with this one word, the Way, so that our own awareness suddenly fills up the entire world along with the Way. This release into a higher awareness is established through a profound calmness of mind that is mirrored in the body’s calm. By reverting to this natural state of tranquility and then cultivating it through repetition, we experience the deeper awareness beneath the ordinary consciousness that we have come to think of as “mind.”

It is at this point that the really remarkable insight emerges to point us toward the awakened state: The original mind is an awareness that exists before language. Now we see that the early Taoists concentrated on experiencing the all-at-once kind of spatial awareness that exists prior to the linear thinking-in-words, timebound, consciousness of daily life. Nearly a thousand years after the Nei-yeh was written, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan, Huineng, would be spontaneously enlightened upon hearing a similar teaching from the later Diamond Sutra: “Enliven your mind without producing a single thought.” More than 500 years later, the great Zen teacher, Dogen, would further this teaching: “Think not-thinking.”

Taoism is, for all its esoteric roots, a practical philosophy of life, one in which enlightenment is not seen as an end unto itself but, rather, a naturally occurring state of profound harmony with all things that manifests as the purest form of participation in life.

“Those who can transform even a single thing, call them ‘numinous’;
Those who can alter ever a single situation, call them ‘wise.’
But to transform without expending vital energy; to alter without expending wisdom:
Only exemplary persons who hold fast to the One are able to do this.
Hold fast to the One; do not lose it,
And you will be able to master the myriad things.
Exemplary persons act upon things,
And are not acted upon by them,
Because they grasp the guiding principle of the One.”

Having awakened to the enlightened state, the sage is one who returns to daily life while maintaining contact with that transcendent awareness. By holding fast to the one Way that fills the entire world, sages are spontaneously and un-self-consciously participating in life as instruments of the Way: like the Tao, they act upon things and are not acted upon by things. They are able to change things for the better without clinging to concepts like “being spiritual” or “being wise.” They have grasped the Way of the One and returned to the natural state of uncontrived and unpremeditated benevolence.

As I hinted at in the beginning of this post, Taoism is a wide-ranging tradition with different forms of expression that have multiplied over the millennia. The material presented here is intended to point back to the original teachings of the Tao, in particular its practices of awakening individuals to their full potential. There is no better entry into those original teachings that Harold D. Roth’s highly esteemed translation and exposition of the Nei-yeh in his book, Original Tao: Inward Training and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism.

I had the very great pleasure of interviewing Dr. Roth on my radio show a while back (that file can be downloaded here).

Brief as this overview of the Way of Enlightenment is, it is my hope that it echoes the essential teachings in a way that both those familiar and unfamiliar with the Tao find useful.

William Douglas Horden has researched indigenous divinatory systems of ancient China and Mexico for more than 40 years. He is steeped in the shamanic world view from living in the Copper Canyon of Mexico with the Tarahumara Indians and in numerous other indigenous communities over the past few decades. William was initially trained in the I Ching by Master Khigh Alix Dhiegh and has since developed a fresh new approach to the ancient art. He currently lives in Roseburg, Oregon and Coatepec,
Mexico.

Reviews & Comments

“Once in a while a book appears that is exactly what the spirit of the times cries out for. The Toltec I Ching, a reworking of an ancient oracle by a contemporary sage, is one of those books. The use of oracles common in many civilizations of antiquity including the Greeks, Norse, and Egyptians. The most well-known is the Chinese I Ching, or ‘Book of Changes’, a collection of linear signs originating in the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC). Oracles have long had an important role in Tibet and the Dalai Lama still consults one. The Yucatec Mayas consulted the writings of an oracle priest who correctly predicted the disastrous coming of the Spaniards.

“Horden’s Toltec I Ching combines the ancient wisdom of the Chinese and Toltecs with the intellect and sensibility of a modern-day spirit person. For example, at the beginning of the 20th century Carl Jung said we each have a masculine and feminine side and repressing either creates psychological, cultural, and spiritual imbalance. Is there anything new about this message? No, spirit persons from every culture have always intuited this truth and devised wonderful teachings to convey it, but advancing civilization keeps forgetting and digging itself into ever-deeper holes. So just when we are waking up to the frightening darkness and depth of our current hole — featuring, among other things, terrorism, economic crises, worldwide violations of human rights, and environmental disasters on a global scale — along comes the Toltec I Ching.

“This brilliant and beautiful oracle is written in a series of 64 brief chapters that reads almost like a novel. The main character is the authentic Spirit Warrior. The setting is the dual inner and outer worlds of the would-be warrior’s awakening soul. The plot describes the warrior’s journey through a series of psycho-spiritual tests which develop his/her masculine and feminine sides, strengthen intention, motivate action, guide direction, and create growing awareness. And the theme is the exact same one found in my books: how to free oneself from ignorance and transcend duality to become a conscious, responsible, enlightened being capable of making healing choices of benefit to the world.

“William Douglas Horden’s writing style is clear and masterfully organized logos artfully combined with imaginative, symbolic mythos. And the format? Simply gorgeous! Martha Ramirez-Oropeza has painted 64 extraordinary full-color illustrations in a style as simple as it is profound; the print is plenty large for aging eyes; each page has a sense-satisfying heft; and the cover is as sturdy as a non-hardback book could possibly be.

“In short, the team of writer, painter, and Larson Publications has created a work of art worthy to sit on the shelf with the world’s spiritual classics. The only books I’ve underlined more are my King James Bible and the complete works of Carl Jung. If you have not yet added The Toltec I Ching to your spiritual library you’re missing a key to the mystery, and mastery, of your soul.”

~ Dr. Jean Raffa, PhD

http://jeanraffa.wordpress.com/about/

Work As A Spiritual Practice (Paperback) by Lewis Richmond

Book Summary of Work As A Spiritual Practice
A guide to developing and maintaining a spiritual life on the job, drawn from the teachings and practices of Buddhist tradition.

Most people associate Buddhism with developing calmness, kindness, and compassion through meditation. Lewis Richmond’s Work as a Spiritual Practice shows us another aspect of Buddhism: the active, engaged side that allows us to find creativity, inspiration, and accomplishment in our work lives. With over forty spiritual exercises that can be practiced in the middle of a busy workday, Work as a Spiritual Practice is based on the principle that “regardless of your rank and title at work, you are always the chief executive of your inner life.”

Drawn from the author’s diverse professional experience–as a Buddhist meditation teacher, business executive, musician, and high-tech entrepreneur–Work as a Spiritual Practice addresses a wide variety of on-the-job problems. Here you’ll learn how to:

perform spiritual practices while commuting to and from work

meditate while sitting, walking, or standing–a minute at a time

understand ambition, money, and power from a spiritual perspective

Work as a Spiritual Practice is an essential guide for anyone who wants to bring his or her spiritual life and work life together.

Work as a Spiritual Practice
From “Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job” by Lewis Richmond
Posted by: DailyOM

The Koan of Everyday Life

To find joy in your work is the greatest thing for a human being.
–Harry Roberts: agronomist, cowboy, woodworker, welder, boxer, gun-sight maker, spiritual teacher in the Native American tradition, and Ginger Rogers’s dance partner

“So. What do you do?”

How many times have you been asked that question and answered, without thinking, “I’m a lawyer,” or “I’m an aerobics instructor,” or “I’m a musician.” But beyond small talk, that question suggests a deeper inquiry. What, indeed, do you DO, here on this earth, here in your life? What is your work? What is your passion? What is your aspiration, your dream, your calling? Do you find joy in your work? Have you given up hoping that joy is something you might expect from work? Or do you love your work so much that you have no time to enjoy anything else? Why do you have the job you do? Is it just a way to make ends meet, or is it something more? What is the relationship between your inner self and your outer, public life on the job?

This book seeks to guide you on a path of spiritual discovery about the work that you do and offer practical ways to make that work more connected to your inner life. I don’t know if what you learn will improve your job in a conventional sense. Who knows, it might make you upset enough to quit your job and find a better one! But it may help you in a spiritual sense.

I am a Buddhist, which means I am also a realist. In our society, work is not expected to be spiritually satisfying. For the most part, our jobs are designed to make someone somewhere a profit. Listen to what one recent writer to Ann Landers had to say about his job:
Why should anybody give their best effort on the job? No one cares about the worker anymore. Growing up in the ’60s, we were taught that giving your best would always ensure your employment. That’s baloney. It’s all a matter of random chance whether or not your job continues. I’ve been laid off twice through no fault of my own.

Perhaps someday work will evolve to the point where it is once again integrated with family, community, spirituality, and nature, as it was in preindustrial times. Until then, the Buddhist worldview begins with today, just as it is, for good and ill–today’s job, today’s life, today’s “you.”

What this book offers are ways to help you become more aware, more awake, and more engaged in your work life. Even the worst job has its compensations, and even the greatest job has its demerits. This book can’t make your job perfect, but it may make it more workable. The reason I think so is because, spiritually speaking, you are in charge. Your employer may dictate every aspect of your work life, but no matter what kind of job you do, you are the boss of your inner life.

Most people think of Buddhists as people who meditate. That’s partly true. I spent many years living in a Buddhist retreat center, where I did indeed spend many hours each day in silent meditation. But Buddhism has its active side too, and some of its practices are adaptable to a busy, engaged life. Many of them aren’t meditation in the usual sense of the word but rather exercises in awareness and focus. Some address various emotional states, such as anger, fear, frustration, and boredom. Others work on how we interact with people, or on the speed and pace of our activity. All of them are designed to awaken the fundamental spiritual inquiry: Who am I? What am I doing here? How can I fulfill my life’s potential? These practices are all based on the conviction that we have the resources we need to make that inquiry come to life, and that the circumstances of our daily life can be the raw materials in that effort.

One thing’s for sure: You don’t have to be a Buddhist to benefit from these practices. During my career as a meditation teacher, I have taught and practiced with Catholic monks, rabbis, Protestant ministers, Muslims, nature worshipers, agnostics, atheists–people of many religious and nonreligious persuasions, many of whom, I’m sure, didn’t think of themselves as Buddhists. But they all benefited from Buddhist practices.

Work Life and Spiritual Life

Have you ever heard the saying “It’s not my wife and it’s not my life”? It’s something to say when things go badly at work. Well, your job may not be your wife (or husband), but it is your life, or a big part of it. Studies show that the average American is working 150 more hours a year than in 1910–a sobering thought! When we disassociate ourselves from our work by saying, in effect, “This is not the part of my life that really counts, I just do this for a living,” we close ourselves off from what my teacher Harry Roberts used to say was the greatest thing for a human being–to find joy in our work.

How do you feel about your job? Do you love your work but find that it takes up so much of your time that it really is your whole life? Or, is your work dull and drab, but you don’t mind because you are going to night school to prepare for a different, more satisfying career? Perhaps you work in the helping professions or in education, and it is not your boss but your clients (or patients, or students, or parents) who drive you to distraction.

Regardless of your situation, there are certain characteristics of work that are universal. Unless you work at home, you travel to work. When you get there, you perform some task, such as computer programming, carpentry, or management, for which you are financially rewarded. You interact with other people in an environment where power is unequally shared. Your job performance is measured in some way. You compete with others for rewards. You can quit your job. You can lose your job. And you have (we hope) a life outside your job.

Let’s contrast this description of life on the job with the life of the spirit. In our spiritual life, we are not in competition with anyone else for spiritual rewards. How well or badly we do is beside the point. We honor and appreciate all people (including ourselves!) for their intrinsic humanity. We care for others, we share and are generous, we forgive. The world of the spirit is not a matter of bonuses, promotions, or awards. Advancement is not the point. We are already whole and complete just as we are.

So it would seem that spiritual life is close to the opposite of work life! But suppose we stop for a moment and ask ourselves why the modern workplace is the way it is. Is it because evil tyrants created the modern workplace to torment us? Or is it because over the last few hundred years people have cooperated to create a world in which we live better, longer, and happier, and can provide a more secure future for our children? We are all collectively responsible for the way work is today, and to whatever extent that situation is far from perfect, we must keep exploring, experimenting, and trying. It may be that over time the nature of work will undergo some grand transformation. Some social theorists think that kind of change is already under way. I think so too, and in chapter 19, “The Transformation of Work,” I explore some of those trends. But let’s not wait for that great moment. Today there is something we can do. Today we can make a change. Today it is possible to make a difference.

As you begin exploring this book–and you need not read it from front to back; it is designed to be browsed–I ask you to make only one commitment, and that is to trust yourself. Trust your own instincts, your intuition, your judgment. The knowledge you need to change your work life for the better is already within you. Set aside, for now, the notion that on the job you work for somebody else. In your spiritual life, you are self-employed. You work for yourself. No one need know about this inner job. It can be your secret. Whatever efforts you make will be outside the realm of success or failure. I don’t know what will happen if you try the practices in this book, but I am sure of one thing: Something will happen.

The reason I am so sure is that something is always happening. The world is full of spiritual opportunity. The trick is to be alert enough to notice it. That is the real work, and the joy of work, and if we catch on to that trick, it doesn’t matter in the short run what our day job is. In the end, if we are kind to ourselves, our efforts will be fruitful.

The Koan of Everyday Life

But what kind of fruit will it be? A raise, a better job, a happier work and home life? Perhaps, but not necessarily. Spiritual practice is more about questions than answers, more about searching than finding, more about effort than accomplishment. In one school of Buddhism, those who practice ponder spiritual questions called ko-ans. There are hundreds of memorable stories, usually taken from the lives of ancient Buddhist teachers, that are used as koans. Some of them have even become part of popular culture. For instance, the question “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” was featured in an episode of The Simpsons television show.

In addition to these prefabricated questions, there is another kind of koan, called the koan of everyday life. Human life itself, the mystery of being thrust into the world by birth and swept out of it by death, is an imponderable puzzle, one that we can try to ignore but cannot escape. So much of what passes for “ordinary” life is, when seen through different eyes, not ordinary at all, but full of potential for spiritual learning. To practice the koan of everyday life means to confront every situation as though it were a profound spiritual question. In that sense, every koan story is a specific instance of the koan of everyday life.

One such koan story goes like this:

A monk asked his teacher, “What is the Buddha?” and the teacher answered, “The cypress tree in the garden.”

What does it mean? What does a cypress tree have to do with Buddha, that is, our awakened self? Let’s imagine this cypress tree, spreading over the path in the monastery garden. What could be more ordinary, or familiar, than the aged tree that each monk passed every day for the whole of his life? In that sense, the cypress tree means the most familiar thing. What familiar thing do you pass? Is it your kitchen table? Your car? Your good friend? Your spouse or children? Your coworkers? The copy machine in the office corner?

This book is based on the premise that our ordinary routine contains numerous treasures and the details of our workday, from the morning commute to the coffee break, the lunch hour, the afternoon meetings, the evening ride home, contain within them any number of gifts for our spirit, if only we would allow ourselves to receive them.

Here is a true story to illustrate this.

A woman named Julie managed a customer service department in an insurance company. Because of budget cuts, in addition to her managerial responsibilities, she had to spend a couple of hours each day taking overflow calls. The worst part of her job, she told me, was the unpredictable ringing of the telephone. As the week went on, she found herself resenting that sound more and more. She would try to turn the volume down, but if it got too soft she couldn’t hear it in time, which was even worse.

One day, without really thinking about it, she found herself pushing the button to lower the volume on the phone in rhythm with the ringing itself and suddenly thought, “I’m the one doing the ringing.” From then on, every time the ringing got on her nerves, she would raise and lower the volume of the ringing in time with the ringing, as though her finger were making the phone ring.

“It’s a silly thing,” she said, “but it made me feel in charge again.”

In this case the koan of everyday life took the form of a ringing phone. Anyone who works in an office understands only too well how large that ringing phone can loom. We all have to deal with it, none of us likes it, and yet that ringing phone can be a wake-up call to our inner life. In having to confront the irritation of the ringing phone, we also confront the fundamentals of who we are and want to be. The ringing phone stands for everything in our life that we cannot control, everything that makes our life unpredictable, confusing, and difficult. For those of us who think of spiritual life as something to be found in a church, a retreat center, or a walk by the seashore, the ringing phone is the last thing we wish to hear.

But for those who are willing to see a spiritual opportunity in the ordinariness of everyday circumstance, the ringing phone is no less profound an encounter than the cypress tree in the garden.

What makes the difference is the resource of spiritual practice, which is a way to transform the mundane into the sacred, the ordinary into the profound. In Julie’s case, her instinct to embrace the ringing not as something outside but as something inside was an example of a practice we will be exploring later as “Seeing and Hearing with the Heart.” She was hearing that phone not with her mundane ear, but with a more spiritual organ.

To understand that a sound is not something outside ourselves, but something within, is a shift of consciousness that can lead to a different understanding of who we are for others and who others are for us. From that insight comes generosity, compassion, and wisdom.

It may not seem like such a great accomplishment to tap our fingers in time with the ringing of a phone. But spiritual learning is nothing other than the accumulation, over time, of such small, modest awakenings. Eventually this can lead to a fundamental shift of perspective, a change in the sense of who “I” am and what “the world” is.

It is said that the monk, on hearing the words the cypress tree in the garden, experienced such a shift in perspective. In understanding such a story, it is important to realize how intimately that tree was a part of the monk’s daily life, just as the ringing phone was a part of Julie’s. The cypress tree in the garden was already in his heart. He passed it every day as he carried water to the kitchen, or firewood to the bathhouse, just as we might pass the office copier or the paper cup dispenser as we walk down the hall. That is why hearing the words the cypress tree in the garden caused his heart to open. Through spiritual practice, through concentrated attention over a long period of time, the tree was already growing within him.

The cypress tree in the garden can be anything, as long as we really see it and hear it, are open to it, and have an alert, caring, questioning mind.

This is the koan of everyday life. This is the potential of the workplace to be, for each of us, a spiritual place. This is the world seen with the eyes of awakening, a world in which everything we see and touch is offered to us as a gift.

Lift your eyes from this page, look up, look around you. Notice the first thing you see. What is it? A desk lamp? A window shade? A pencil? These humble objects are, indeed, capable of becoming your close spiritual friends.

Greet them as friends, because as you peruse this book, they will befriend as well as challenge you.

If nothing else, the next time the phone rings I hope that you will remember Julie, her tapping finger, the monk, and the cypress tree, and consider the possibility that the voice on the other end of the line might be someone other than the person who placed the call.

It might be you yourself.

Excerpted from Work as a Spiritual Practice by Lewis Richmond Copyright © 1999 by Lewis Richmond. Excerpted by permission of Broadway, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Lewis Richmond is a Buddhist teacher, workshop leader, software entrepreneur, and musician/composer. Formerly Executive Vice President of Smith & Hawken, Ltd., he is the founder and owner of Forerunner Systems, Inc., the leading provider of inventory management software to the catalog industry. Lake of No Shore, his debut solo piano album, was released by Artifex Records in February 1999. An ordained disciple of Buddhist master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Mr. Richmond co-leads Dharma Friends, a meditation group in Mill Valley, California, where he lives.

Who Gets to Chat with God? ~ Arjuna Ardagh

God and me have always had something of an up-and-down relationship. I really like Him (or is it a Her or an It? I’ve never been quite sure) a lot. I mean A LOT. More than anything else. But still, we’ve had our struggles.

My grandmother was my very favorite relative, complete with a friendly dog and a friendly cat, closets which smelled of mothball, and an endless supply of wonderful desserts. She went to church every Sunday and prayed, and she taught me to do the same. I picked it up pretty easy.

“God, this is Nicholas here.” (That was my name when I was a kid, Nicholas.) “God, thank you very, very much for making me captain of the cricket team. That was very nice of you. And thank you for the B grade in English. I was wondering if you could help me out with Biology, and maybe get me a B in that too? Oh and by the way, you know that girl with the blond pigtails, Molly Smithers? Well God, I’d really like to kiss her. God..? God..? Are you there, God..? Hello..?”

I was quite conscientious about my praying back then, but I was never quite sure if anyone was listening. Seemed there was a lot of static on the line, and I wasn’t quite sure if my mail was getting read or if my phone calls were being listened to.

When I got to be a teenager, my relationship with God became way more confusing, mainly because of what felt to me to like mixed messages about masturbation. “Ah, young Ardagh, come in. Sit down, my boy. Don’t be shy, for I am a good and kind God, if you obey me. I’ve seen that you’ve become a young man now. You may have noticed some interesting changes in your body in the last year or so. Young Ardagh, I want you to listen to me very carefully. You may have noticed that I’ve given you an organ of immense pleasure. If you touch this organ, it will make you feel very, very good. But, young man, you must NOT touch this organ. Do you understand me? If you do, I will throw you into internal damnation. Good! All understood? Now go forth and worship me.”

Perhaps it’s understandable that by the end of my teenage years, I was shopping around for a focus of divinity whom I could understand a little better. Back in the early 70s, everything was available. The Hare Krishnas were chanting on Oxford Street, and every kind of guru was setting up shop all over town. Shiva, Krishna, ascended masters, Elvis, it was all there. And then there was Buddhism, where it was all about emptiness: Nirvana, snuffing out the candle. Buddhists claim to have no personalized deity at all, but then they sneak one in the back door by offering flowers to a Buddha statue, or Quan Yin.

Finally, I met a great man in India called H.W.L. Poonja, a direct student of Ramana Maharshi. He was a fierce man, with a knack of intimidating people into awakening. As an ex-army officer from the British days, this was the boot camp approach to enlightenment. I lived with him on and off for seven years. He introduced me to a view where there is no separation anywhere. Relax deeply into your own nature, and there is only spacious consciousness. Look out into the world, and it is only the same spacious consciousness dancing.

Many, many, many people today have dropped into tasting this dimension of “awakening,” at least in snapshots. This epidemic of sanity was the subject of my 2005 book, The Translucent Revolution. As you hang out longer in this view, you discover that you are not a fixed thing, but more of a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum is solidity. You have thoughts and beliefs, an identity and a past and you appear to be very real. At the other end of the spectrum, there are no limits, only a spacious consciousness in which you and God and everything else are all one. Between the two limits dances the story of your life.

When the wave in the ocean looks out and sees other waves, it recognizes itself to be separate, with a beginning and ending in time. It might be faster than some waves and slower than others, bigger than some and smaller than others. When the wave looks into itself, gets curious about its deeper nature, it sees the ocean. In that moment, the wave doesn’t experience, “I am part of the ocean.” It looks into itself and sees “I am the ocean.” At that moment, it recognizes that all of the waves are expressions of the ocean.

We can call the dialogue between wave and ocean prayer. It’s the delicious dynamic where you neither feel separate enough to be cut off from God, but you’re just separate enough to feel a relationship with the divine. That’s when we experience benevolence in our lives. Small miracles happen. Prayers get answered. You find yourself showing up in the right place at the right time with the right people, not necessarily to get the pleasure you want, but so that you can move freely in the dance you were born to live.

OK, so who gets to hang out and chat with God?

Many of us were taught to believe that this was only possible for the special few: a pope or an avatar or a saint. Most of us grew up believing that we needed an intermediary. And for those of us, like me, who rejected the religion of their early years and dabbled in alternative imports from the east, we often replicated that same relationship. Now the intermediary had an Indian accent, long robes and beads.

Today there is a growing number of people who are becoming deeply spiritual without necessarily being religious. They realize that divinity is to be found wherever you direct a gaze of open-hearted reverence. You may find that divinity in your own heart, or in the person you’re married to or in your own children. Every moment and every interaction can become a possibility to hang out and have a good chat with God.

TIME WAVE 2013– sequel of 2012 the odyssey

A JOURNEY TO FIGURE OUT THE MEANING OF 2012 ..

Spiritual Ecology: The Solution to Our Climate Change Crisis? by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

This week’s United Nations Climate Change Conference at Cancun, Mexico is a global forum in response to a global crisis. As well as considering cutting carbon emissions, the conference hopes among other issues to advance green technologies and fund safeguards to prevent further deforestation of the Amazon. Already there are fears that it will fail to deliver real agreements and that as a result, the planet will be condemned to an uncertain or precipitous future. But this evokes in me a central question: can we respond to the true nature of global climate change from just an economic or political perspective?

Our ecological imbalance and the resulting crisis of climate change are caused by our industrial culture, by its chemicals, toxins and particularly carbon emissions. At the root of our predicament is a deep disregard for both the environment and for the consequences of our actions until it is almost too late. How can we expect to solve this ecological imbalance without an awareness of these roots — that part of the real cost of our materialistic way of life is our loss of a lived connection and reverence for the sacred that is in all of life? Surely we need to recognize that there is a direct relationship between our outer, physical, ecological predicament and our forgetfulness of the sacred in creation.

Spiritual Ecology is an exploration of the spiritual dimension of our present ecological crisis. At the core of Spiritual Ecology is an understanding that our present outer ecological crisis is a reflection of an inner spiritual crisis. Recently many people have been made aware that we are at the “eleventh hour,” or even a few minutes before midnight, of a global ecological situation that could result in catastrophic climate change or other irreversible global situations. However we are less aware of the inner spiritual crisis that underlies this outer crisis — that a lack of awareness of the sacred within ourselves and within all of life has created an inner wasteland as real as any outer landscape. The interconnection between the outer and inner is foundational to life, both our individual life and the life of all of creation, as has been understood by indigenous peoples since the very beginning; therefore we cannot address our outer ecological crisis without a real consciousness of the inner situation. We cannot redeem our physical environment without restoring our relationship to the sacred.

The first step is always to become aware of what is happening. The outer signs of our ecological crisis are only too visible in the pollution of our waters, the dying of species, the change in our climate. The inner changes are less understood, particularly as our Western culture has for centuries dismissed the inner worlds, claiming that only the physical world is real. For those of us who have directly experienced the inner world through dreams, visions or other experiences, we know its value. While those who hunger for the reality of the soul know the pain of dismissing this dimension. It is here within our hearts that the sacred is born. It is in the inner world of the soul that meaning comes into our lives. And here in the inner worlds there is a crisis as dangerous as what is happening in the physical world.

Our collective pursuit of materialism and our disregard for the sacred within all of life has had a devastating effect. We have dismissed our ancient role as guardians of the planet. As a result, the sacred fire that we were supposed to keep burning, the light of the sacred that nourishes all of creation, is slowly going out. We can see this in a culture that is increasingly soulless and fractured. We may feel it in an underlying collective anxiety that can easily become anger, projected onto outer situations. We may sense it within our own soul as if something is becoming lost. And we are responsible. We vitally need to become conscious of what is happening to this sacred light. We need to recognize this growing darkness which is a forgetfulness of the sacred within our own souls and within all of creation. Only when we are aware of what is happening can we begin to change our world.

We cannot respond to our outer ecological situation in isolation. We cannot heal the symptoms without knowing the cause. Indigenous peoples like the Kogi have warned about this present danger. And yet because our culture has dismissed the inner, it is difficult for us to perceive what is happening. We have even forgotten that the world also has a soul. The anima mundi, the world soul, is no longer part of our collective consciousness, even though for centuries it was understood as the root of everything sacred in creation.

Those of us who have been given a knowing of the sacred within ourselves and within the world have a responsibility at this time. We may ask ourselves, “What can I do?” but the inner world primarily requires consciousness rather than action. It is the lack of an awareness of the sacred that is at the root of this crisis. Therefore we first need to bring the light of our spiritual awareness into the present predicament. We need to recognize what is really happening within the inner world as much as the outer, within our own soul and within the soul of the world. Only then can we begin to redeem the sacred and open the door to any real change or transformation. Only then can we begin to heal the world and bring it back into balance.

Eckhart Tolle on Personal Love

Q: If we’re all one, why do we feel drawn toward certain individuals in an expression of “personal love”?

ET: True love is transcendental. Without recognition of the formless within yourself, there can be no true transcendental love. If you cannot recognize the formless in yourself, you cannot recognize yourself in the other. The recognition of the other as yourself in essence – not the form – is true love. As long as the conditioned mind operates and you are completely identified with it, there’s no true love. There may be substitutes, things that are called “love” but are not true love. For example, “falling in love”…perhaps most of us have experienced it. Maybe one or two at this moment are “in love”, and those who have experienced it have also experienced “falling out of love”.

We need to remember to understand [the difference between] true love and other forms of so-called love. We are in the relative as form, and in the absolute as formless consciousness. The two dimensions that the human being embodies are the ‘human’ and the ‘being’. The human is the form, the being is the formless, the timeless consciousness itself. It sometimes happens that the form has an affinity with other forms. It could happen for a number of reasons. One being that this form has come out of another form – called your mother – and so there is an affinity of this form with that other form.

You have a love toward your mother that might be called ‘personal’. Another aspect of affinity with another form is male/female. You can be drawn to another body in a sexual way, and it’s sometimes called “love”. Especially if the sexual act is denied long enough, it’s more likely to develop into obsessive love…so much so, that in cultures where you could not have sex until you were married, falling in love could be a huge thing and could lead to suicide. Naturally, there is an affinity of the male/female, the incompleteness of this form. The primary incompleteness of this form is that you are either a man or a woman. The oneness has become the duality of male/female.

The pull towards the other is an attempt to find wholeness, completeness, fulfillment through the opposite polarity, in an attempt to find the Oneness. That lies at the basis of the attraction. It’s to do with form, because on the level of form you are not whole – you are one half of the whole. One half of humanity is male, one half is female, roughly.

You have the attraction for the other, then there may be finding certain qualities in another human being that resonate with certain qualities in yourself. Or, if they don’t resonate, it may be the opposite that you feel drawn to. If you are a very peaceful person, maybe you feel drawn toward a dramatic person, or vice-versa. And again, you are hoping for some completion there. You can have an affinity with another form, which can be called ‘personal love’. If personal love is all that there is, then what is missing is the transcendental dimension of the formless – which is where true love arises. Is that part of the personal love, or is the personal level all that there is? That determines whether that so-called “love” is going to turn into something painful eventually, and frustrating, or if there is a deepening.

There may be an attraction that is initially sexual between two humans. If they start living together, this cannot endure for that long and be the fulfillment of the relationship. At some point, sexual/emotional [attraction] needs to deepen and the transcendental dimension needs to come in, to some extent, for it to deepen. Then true love shines through the personal. The important thing is that true love emanates from the timeless, non-formal dimension of who you are. Is that shining through the personal love that is to do with affinity of forms? If it is not, there is complete identification with form, and complete identification with form is ego.

Many times you may think “that’s it!” and after living together for a little while you realize “that was a mistake”, or “I was completely deluded”. Even in parent-children relationships, which is a very close bond on the level of form, if the transcendental dimension does not shine through, eventually the love between children and parents turns into something else. This is why so many people have very problematic relationships with their parents.

Some relationships may start as purely form-based, and then the other dimension comes in after a while. Perhaps only after a lot of problems, and perhaps you get close to a breakup, when suddenly there is a deepening and then you are able to bring in space.

The key is to ask, “Is there space in this relationship?” Or are there only thoughts and emotions? It’s dreadful prison to inhabit if you live with a person and all you have are thoughts and emotions. Occasionally you are okay, but there is disagreement, friction.

We need to acknowledge that there are personal affinities. But in themselves, they are never ultimately fulfilling. More often than not, they are a source of suffering. Love becomes a source of suffering when the transcendental is missing. How does the transcendent come in? By being spacious with the other. Which essentially means that you access the Stillness in yourself while you look at the other.

Not mental noise, not emotional waves. That does not mean that there cannot be emotions or thoughts, but there is something else present in the relationship. That applies not only to close personal relationships, but also to more superficial relationships at work.

With any human relationship, the question is, “Is there space?” It’s a pointer. Space is when thought becomes unimportant – even an emotion becomes unimportant.

When people live together, sometimes the other is no longer acknowledged in daily life because there is so much to do. If you wake up in the morning, is there a moment when you acknowledge the presence of the other?

It’s the most wonderful thing if you can be there for the other as space, rather than as a person. At this very moment, you can either be here as a person, or you can be here as the space.

What Would Jesus Do About Islam? ~ Deepak Chopra

When angry mullahs and oil despots want to stir up anger against the West, “Crusade” is an inflammatory term that comes automatically to their lips. The memory of Christian knights invading the Arab world is very long. The height of the Crusades ended seven centuries ago. But it’s not history that is at stake. Embedded in the worldview of many devout Muslims is a defensive and hostile attitude toward Christianity. The burning of the bible by a mullah somewhere in Iran wouldn’t incite mob action in the West, but a single extremist in Florida with a following of less than fifty led to violence and murder in Afghanistan.

Distasteful as it is, religion remains a major element in all three Arab conflicts that the U.S. has ventured into. The memoirs of former President George Bush are rife with religious motivations. There is little doubt that when he gave speeches about a “conflict of civilizations,” he meant a conflict between two religions. Such a conflict doesn’t exist, not inherently. Jesus is worshiped as the Prince of Peace; one definition of the word “Islam” is peace. But history has created its own dogmas, and when human nature wants to justify aggression, any rationale will do, including God.

This issue is facing us again because the uprisings that are revamping the Arab world include a strong Islamist influence. In some places the specter of new hostility between the Shia and Sunni is boiling up. In other places the Muslim Brotherhood has a strong voice, and almost everywhere the populace looks to their traditional leaders, the clerics, for guidance. Crowds consider Friday, the chief gathering time for the faithful going to mosques, as a significant day for protest. There is a real possibility that fundamentalist Islam will loom in the future of many states.

The direction of history will be decided by another faction, one that has proved stronger than religion in Egypt: young people who want a future in the modern world. Like the student uprisings in the West in the Sixties, a youth movement in Islam isn’t likely to seize power after expressing its discontent. In every Arab country an entrenched military, traditional clerics, and explosive extremists hold the spotlight. Protests aren’t equal to organized, empowered elites.

What’s important is that the West doesn’t repeat Bush’s doctrine of fighting for God. If we honestly asked what Jesus would do about Islam, it’s obvious that his solution wouldn’t be war. He might even apply the Golden Rule. So far, President Obama has been more Christian than his predecessor, not by applying Christian principles but by treating Muslims with common humanity, tolerance, and understanding. These uprisings are part of a global phenomenon, the rise of the dispossessed. People don’t emerge from political repression as model citizens, much less saints. They are angry and resentful, so they lash out. They have been deprived for generations of education, so they follow demagogues. They know little of the world beyond what religion tells them, so they see others through the lens of religion.

We have a reactionary wing in this country that shares the same traits, but they have much less excuse. They haven’t been oppressed, and for the most part every benefit of prosperity and education has been available to them. The jihadis and extremists of the Arab world have served well as bogeymen for the right wing, as they have served the Gaddafis and Mubaraks whose vested interests are just as reactionary. I doubt that Jesus would appreciate their values, and his response to religious intolerance would not be to praise it.

10 Hindu Environmental Teachings ~ Pankaj Jain, Ph.D.

Hinduism contains numerous references to the worship of the divine in nature in its Vedas,
Upanishads, Puranas, Sutras and its other sacred texts. Millions of Hindus recite Sanskrit mantras daily to revere their rivers, mountains, trees, animals and the earth. Although the Chipko (tree-hugging) Movement is the most widely known example of Hindu environmental leadership, there are examples of Hindu action for the environment that are centuries old.

Hinduism is a remarkably diverse religious and cultural phenomenon, with many local and
regional manifestations. Within this universe of beliefs, several important themes emerge. The diverse theologies of Hinduism suggest that:

• The earth can be seen as a manifestation of the goddess, and must be treated with respect.
• The five elements — space, air, fire, water and earth — are the foundation of an interconnected web of life.
• Dharma — often translated as “duty” — can be reinterpreted to include our responsibility to care for the earth.
• Simple living is a model for the development of sustainable economies.
• Our treatment of nature directly affects our karma.

Gandhi exemplified many of these teachings, and his example continues to inspire contemporary social, religious and environmental leaders in their efforts to protect the planet.

The following are 10 important Hindu teachings on the environment:

1. Pancha Mahabhutas (The five great elements) create a web of life that is shown forth in the structure and interconnectedness of the cosmos and the human body. Hinduism teaches that the five great elements (space, air, fire, water and earth) that constitute the environment are all derived from prakriti, the primal energy. Each of these elements has its own life and form; together the elements are interconnected and interdependent. The Upanishads explains the interdependence of these elements in relation to Brahman, the supreme reality, from which they arise: “From Brahman arises space, from space arises air, from air arises fire, from fire arises water, and from water arises earth.”

Hinduism recognizes that the human body is composed of and related to these five elements,
and connects each of the elements to one of the five senses. The human nose is related to earth, tongue to water, eyes to fire, skin to air and ears to space. This bond between our senses and the elements is the foundation of our human relationship with the natural world. For Hinduism, nature and the environment are not outside us, not alien or hostile to us. They are an inseparable part of our existence, and they constitute our very bodies.

2. Ishavasyam — Divinity is omnipresent and takes infinite forms. Hindu texts, such as the Bhagavad Gita (7.19, 13.13) and the Bhagavad Purana (2.2.41, 2.2.45), contain many references to the omnipresence of the Supreme divinity, including its presence throughout and within nature. Hindus worship and accept the presence of God in nature. For example, many Hindus think of India’s mighty rivers — such as the Ganges — as goddesses. In the Mahabharata, it is noted that the universe and every object in it has been created as an abode of the Supreme God meant for the benefit of all, implying that individual species should enjoy their role within a larger system, in relationship with other species.

3. Protecting the environment is part of Dharma. Dharma, one of the most important Hindu concepts, has been translated into English as duty, virtue, cosmic order and religion. In Hinduism, protecting the environment is an important expression of dharma.
In past centuries, Indian communities — like other traditional communities — did not have an understanding of “the environment” as separate from the other spheres of activity in their lives.

A number of rural Hindu communities such as the Bishnois, Bhils and Swadhyaya have maintained strong communal practices to protect local ecosystems such as forests and water sources. These communities carry out these conservation-oriented practices not as “environmental” acts but rather as expressions of dharma. When Bishnois are protecting animals and trees, when Swadhyayis are building Vrikshamandiras (tree temples) and Nirmal Nirs (water harvesting sites) and when Bhils are practicing their rituals in sacred groves, they are simply expressing their reverence for creation according to Hindu teachings, not “restoring the environment.” These traditional Indian groups do not see religion, ecology and ethics as separate arenas of life. Instead, they understand it to be part of their dharma to treat creation with respect.

4. Our environmental actions affect our karma. Karma, a central Hindu teaching, holds that each of our actions creates consequences — good and bad — which constitute our karma and determine our future fate, including the place we will assume when we are reincarnated in our next life. Moral behavior creates good karma, and our behavior toward the environment has karmic consequences. Because we have free choice, even though we may have harmed the environment in the past, we can choose to protect the environment in the future, replacing environmentally destructive karmic patterns with good ones.

5. The earth – Devi — is a goddess and our mother and deserves our devotion and protection. Many Hindu rituals recognize that human beings benefit from the earth, and offer gratitude and protection in response. Many Hindus touch the floor before getting out of bed every morning and ask Devi to forgive them for trampling on her body. Millions of Hindus create kolams daily — artwork consisting of bits of rice or other food placed at their doorways in the morning. These kolams express Hindu’s desire to offer sustenance to the earth, just as the earth sustains themselves. The Chipko movement — made famous by Chipko women’s commitment to “hugging” trees in their community to protect them from clear-cutting by outside interests — represents a similar devotion to the earth.

6. Hinduism’s tantric and yogic traditions affirm the sacredness of material reality and contain teachings and practices to unite people with divine energy. Hinduism’s Tantric tradition teaches that the entire universe is the manifestation of divine energy. Yoga, derived from the Sanskrit word meaning “to yoke” or “to unite,” refers to a series of mental and physical practices designed to connect the individual with this divine energy. Both these traditions affirm that all phenomena, objects and individuals are expressions of the divine. And because these traditions both envision the earth as a goddess, contemporary Hindu teachers have used these teachings to demonstrate the wrongness of the exploitation of the environment, women and indigenous peoples.

7. Belief in reincarnation supports a sense of interconnectedness of all creation. Hindus believe in the cycle of rebirth, wherein every being travels through millions of cycles of birth and rebirth in different forms, depending on their karma from previous lives. So a person may be reincarnated as a person, animal, bird or another part of the wider community of life. Because of this, and because all people are understood to pass through many lives on their pathway to ultimate liberation, reincarnation creates a sense of solidarity between people and all living things.

Through belief in reincarnation, Hinduism teaches that all species and all parts of the earth are part of an extended network of relationships connected over the millennia, with each part of this network deserving respect and reverence.

8. Non-violence — ahimsa — is the greatest dharma. Ahimsa to the earth improves one’s karma. For observant Hindus, hurting or harming another being damages one’s karma and obstructs advancement toward moksha — liberation. To prevent the further accrual of bad karma, Hindus are instructed to avoid activities associated with violence and to follow a vegetarian diet.

Based on this doctrine of ahimsa, many observant Hindus oppose the institutionalized breeding and killing of animals, birds and fish for human consumption.

9. Sanyasa (asceticism) represents a path to liberation and is good for the earth. Hinduism teaches that asceticism — restraint in consumption and simplicity in living — represents a pathway toward moksha (liberation), which treats the earth with respect. A well-known Hindu teaching — Tain tyakten bhunjitha — has been translated, “Take what you need for your sustenance without a sense of entitlement or ownership.”

One of the most prominent Hindu environmental leaders, Sunderlal Bahuguna, inspired many Hindus by his ascetic lifestyle. His repeated fasts and strenuous foot marches, undertaken to support and spread the message of the Chipko, distinguished him as a notable ascetic in our own time. In his capacity for suffering and his spirit of self-sacrifice, Hindus saw a living example of the renunciation of worldly ambition exhorted by Hindu scriptures.

10. Gandhi is a role model for simple living. Gandhi’s entire life can be seen as an ecological treatise. This is one life in which every minute act, emotion or thought functioned much like an ecosystem: his small meals of nuts and fruits, his morning ablutions and everyday bodily practices, his periodic observances of silence, his morning walks, his cultivation of the small as much as of the big, his spinning wheel, his abhorrence of waste, his resorting to basic Hindu and Jain values of truth, nonviolence, celibacy and fasting. The moralists, nonviolent activists, feminists, journalists, social reformers, trade union leaders, peasants, prohibitionists, nature-cure lovers, renouncers and environmentalists all take their inspirations from Gandhi’s life and writings.

(Acknowledgment: Adapted from the essays by Christopher K. Chapple, O. P. Dwivedi, K. L. Seshagiri Rao, Vinay Lal, and George A. James in Hinduism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water and Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life, both published by Harvard University Press. Thanks also to the essays by Harold Coward and Rita DasGupta Sherma in Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu India, published by SUNY Press.

Pankaj is the author of Sustenance and Sustainability: Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities (May 2011) and has also published articles in journals such as Religious Studies Review, Worldviews, Religion Compass, Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Union Seminary Quarterly Review and the Journal of Visual Anthropology. He also contributes to the Washington Post’s forum “On Faith” and the e-zine Patheos.com.

His research and teaching interests include Hinduism, Jainism, environmental ethics, Indian films, Sanskrit, and Hindi/Urdu languages and literatures. Before joining UNT, he taught at North Carolina State University, Rutgers, Kean and New Jersey City University. Interested in connecting ancient practices with contemporary issues, he is exploring the connections between religious traditions and sustainability in Hindu and Jain communities in the North Texas area. He serves as a research affiliate with Harvard University’s Pluralism Project and as scholar-in-residence with GreenFaith. He is also a Roving Professor at the Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity at UNT.

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and an M.A. from Columbia University (both in Religious Studies). In his “previous life” he had also earned a B.S. in Computer Science from India and had worked as a software engineer in India and in New Jersey.

infinity trailer

Infinity: The Ultimate Trip –Journey Beyond Death
A Film by Jay Weidner
Featuring Gregg Braden, Dannion Brinkley, Renate Dollinger, Stanislav Grof, John Holland, Dzogchen Ponlop, Robert Thurman, Alberto Villoldo, Neale Donald Walsch and Brian Weiss.
Gregg Braden, Dannion Brinkley, Renate
Dollinger. Stanislav Grof, John Holland, Dzogchen Ponlop, Robert
Thurman, Alberto Villoldo, Neale Donald Walsch and Brian Weiss

What happens after we pass from this world? Is there a life after this one? Or do we just disappear forever? These are the questions asked in this powerful and poignant feature documentary, Infinity: The Ultimate Trip. Many may be surprised by the answers.

Featuring noted experts Gregg Braden, Dannion Brinkley, Renate Dollinger. Stanislav Grof, John Holland, Dzogchen Ponlop, Robert Thurman, Alberto Villoldo, Neale Donald Walsch and Brian Weiss, Infinity: The Ultimate Trip brings a message of hope and optimism concerning the most mysterious act in a human life; the end of this life and journey to the beyond.

Using vital and beautiful imagery, along with personal accounts of near-death experiences, reincarnation and more, Infinity brings forth the story of our own infinite nature, what to expect after death and the magic and beauty that awaits us on the other side. Here we learn of the energetic landscape of the world that we enter after we die, the angels, or beings of light, who assist us in the passing and the promise of a new life. Infinity: The Ultimate Trip is an honest and hopeful assessment of the greatest journey that any of us will ever take. It changes our view from that of dread and pessimism to one of hope, joy and light.

The Power of Words

This short film illustrates the power of words to radically change your message and your effect upon the world.

The Compassionate Teacher: Karma ~ By Baba Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari

Knowledge of the Law of Karma, which governs human life, is very important. Once you understand the essential purpose of Karma, all confusion is removed. The purpose of Karma (the Universal Law of Cause and Effect) is not to punish you; it is only to awaken you to the reality that you are here for a higher purpose, to surrender to God and His Grace and live moment to moment in awareness of His infinite gifts and blessings.

Karma is sometimes interpreted as a punishment. At times, you feel as if you are being punished without knowing the reason for it. If you have done something wrong in this life, or if you believe in past lives, in some past life in ignorance, why should you be punished today?

How do you know the reason for the plight that you are going through today? You may not be able to correlate the agony you are going through with the Law of Karma, because you do not know when or where you made the mistake in some unknown past.

This has always remained a puzzle. It has also created a Karma-phobia in the minds of those who know of Karma only superficially, without realizing its deeper blessings. How could the universe, with all of its infinite intelligence and joy of continual creation, function by a law which is so heartless? But the laws of Nature are for the celebration of all creation. It is not and cannot be ruthless. The Universe is absolute joy, perennial celebration. How could the Law of Karma operate against the nature of universal love for beauty and harmony?

Don’t misunderstand Karma as only being negative. Karma is not only the difficult incidents of life such as emotional and physical afflictions. If you do well, it is Karma too. When you cry for those who suffer and do what little you can, you have added to your balance of positive and good Karma. If you are enjoying even a moment’s pleasure, however transient, that is a withdrawal from the account of your good Karma. It is simply cause and effect, a chain of actions and reactions manifesting in its own spontaneity.

Every good thought or small good action brings with it the blessings of the Karma of happiness. The seed of good Karma will bear fruits that ripen into joy and success in life. When you bring joy and peace in another person’s life, don’t forget you are clearing a Karmic debt to that person who has done something good for you at some time in the past. The bodies have changed through rebirth, but the Soul has not changed. The Soul is omniscient. It can recollect its past through its own state of pure consciousness. It always attracts those Souls with which it has to work to evolve further in order to move along its path of Self-Discovery.

Karma is the stairwell that must be climbed to the peak of human excellence. It is not only bondage. It is the pathway to the ultimate freedom of unity with your Beloved.

You search only when you are missing something. Your search is your Karma. When you find your way home, the searching ends. Karma begins with you and ends in the union of you with your Beloved.

There is nothing to fear in Karma. Are you afraid of the stairs to your home? Of course not! When you use the stairs you feel their utility, but do you remember the stairs when you have reached the door?

Your Karmic stairs are there for you to reach your home–your true Home within. And when you do finally reach your Home within, you will no longer need those stairs. They will effortlessly drop away.

Karma is only an educator, a true friend. It brings out of our past the most painful and also the most thrilling experiences of life. It gives you misery and also happiness. Remember that happiness is also a part of Karma. It, too, has no more of a reality than pain does. If it was a reality, it could not be so temporal. Who can hold happiness forever? From happiness and the greed for more happiness come the consequences of misery. Can Nature allow you to hold on to a shadow and think it is the reality? No. Karma is the instrument of Nature that gradually awakens in us the hunger for the reality of Life and living.

Therefore, Karma is not punitive. In Nature there is no deliberate punishment or reward. There are only manifestations of the energy
operating at diverse levels. Karma is only for our education. It is like the Compassionate Teacher who reminds you to read the lesson and come prepared for the test. Ultimately, the experience of Karma will remind you that there is nothing that your Soul does not know. It is only the veil of the material body-mind that puts you into a state of temporary forgetfulness. Karma is the reminder.

As you become more and more aware of the role of this teacher, Karma, you become an obedient student with earnestness to learn and excel. The past presents its fruits of happiness and sorrow, success and failures, praises and insults, but you have become aware of their unreality. You don’t identify yourself with either. You allow them to pass over the screen of your mind and over the physical body.

Rooted in the realm of inner Spirit which is unaffected by such superficial projections, you are on your way burning the old, not creating the fresh, moving toward a state beyond the bonds of Karma. This is the state of Yoga, the goal of meditation, the peak of spiritual illumination. Karma thus becomes your guru, guiding you toward your own kingdom of peace, beyond dualism. Remember, Life is an arduous, daunting journey, but God does not send us to this earth alone. Karma as the most compassionate teacher will continuously work in your heart till you have reached the pinnacle of spiritual experience, the realization of “Who am I”?

Does Resurrection Contradict Science? ~ Matt J. Rossano

The scientific case against resurrection is pretty straightforward: once dead you stay dead — that’s just the way it works. Coming back to life after having been dead (I mean really dead) would constitute a violation of natural law — a miracle — and miracles just don’t happen. Fair enough. But in his recent book on the last days of Jesus (Jesus of Nazareth Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection), Joseph Ratzinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI) argues that reckoning Resurrection as resuscitation of a corpse is to misunderstand its true significance. Jesus’ Resurrection, he contends, was an utterly singular event, straining the very limits of human understanding:

“Anyone approaching the Resurrection accounts in the belief that he knows what rising from the dead means will inevitably misunderstand those accounts and will then dismiss them as meaningless” (p. 243).

In fact, if Jesus’ Resurrection were “merely” coming back to life in any way that we might comprehend, then it would be of little significance.

“Now it must be acknowledged that if in Jesus’ Resurrection we were dealing simply with the miracle of a resuscitated corpse, it would ultimately be of no concern to us” (p. 243).

So what then does Resurrection mean? For Benedict it represents a new dimension of reality breaking through into human experience. It is not a violation of the old; it is the manifestation of something new.

“Jesus had not returned to a normal human life in this world like Lazarus and the others whom Jesus raised from the dead. He has entered upon a different life, a new life — he has entered the vast breadth of God himself…” (p. 244).

Because it is something entirely new, it cannot represent a violation of natural law as understood by science.

“Naturally there can be no contradiction of clear scientific data. The Resurrection accounts certainly speak of something outside our world of experience. They speak of something new, something unprecedented — a new dimension of reality that is revealed. What already exists is not called into question. Rather we are told that there is a further dimension, beyond what was previously known. Does that contradict science? Can there really only ever be what there has always been? Can there not be something unexpected, something unimaginable, something new? If there really is a God, is he not able to create a new dimension of human existence, a new dimension of reality altogether?” (p. 246-7)
Thus, in this view, Resurrection (as with all true miracles) is not contrary to science, but an indicator that science does not (yet?) describe the full expanse of reality. Indeed, some may argue that science itself contains similar “indicators.” The 11 (or so) dimensional universe required by some versions of string theory, the multiverse theory of the universe where ours is but one of an infinite array of universes with variable physical laws, quantum entanglements, “spooky” action at a distance, the mysterious emergence of consciousness from inorganic matter — all push the limits of human reason and imagination, suggesting to some that reality may be far more complex than the human mind can grasp.

For a moment, let us entertain the possibility that Resurrection is as Benedict interprets it: not a violation of natural law but an indicator of something beyond our scientific understanding of the universe. This has interesting implications for understanding how believers and skeptics approach the issue. If Resurrection does not violate science, then science does not necessarily constitute an impediment to accepting the reality of Resurrection. If the difference between the skeptic and believer is not science, then is it just a matter of imagination? The believer imagines greater possibilities for the universe than the non-believer. While this is possible, it seems questionable. To my knowledge, no research has found differences in imaginative abilities between religious and non-religious people. Moreover, contrarian examples easily come to mind: Isaac Asimov was an atheist but hardly lacking in imagination when it came to science fiction. I tend to think that both believers and non-believers can imagine (with varying degrees of effort, I’m sure) the new possibilities implied by Resurrection.

Thus, if it is neither imagination nor science that prompts skepticism about Resurrection, then what is left? I suggest that it comes down to a question of authority: At what point does one allow imaginative possibilities to have authority over how one lives? To the believer, Resurrection has an authority that science fiction does not. Resurrection is not thought-provoking entertainment. It requires far more than just imagining greater possibilities for the universe. It requires a change of life, here and now. Unlike the microscopic hidden dimensions of string theory, the new dimension implied by Resurrection has “broken though” into everyday reality and demands a response — even if that response is to actively ignore it.

Now, what convinces the believer that Resurrection merits such authority when other imaginative possibilities such as extraterrestrial life or time-travel do not? The answer here appears to be historical commitment. There’s no record of people committing themselves to the point of martyrdom to other imaginative possibilities as they have to Resurrection. The earliest example of such commitment being found, of course, in the dramatic post-crucifixion turn-around of the Apostles. Such an astounding change of heart, followed by an unwavering commitment capable of altering human history demands a categorically unique explanation: Resurrection.

The believer’s argument, however, remains unconvincing to the skeptic. However impressive they might be, a change of heart and steadfast commitment do not necessarily add up to a new dimension of reality. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Fair enough. So a key question regarding the interpretation of Resurrection is this: Is the post-crucifixion history of Christianity extraordinary? Does it compel the dispassionate observer to concede that a categorically unique event could plausibly be its best explanation?

There’s a message here, one quite in keeping with the Easter season when the notion of something radically new breaking through is uppermost in our minds. It ought to be upon questions such as those above that skeptics and believers respectfully engage one another, rather than the simplistic and often acrimonious sloganeering that has increasingly become the norm.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Matt J. Rossano received his doctorate in Psychology from the University of California at Riverside in 1991. He is Professor and Department Head of Psychology at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA. He is the author of Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved, released in June 2010 by Oxford Press.

Graham Hancock Presenting at the 2012 Conference

Graham Hancock Presentation at the 2012 Tipping Point Prophets Conference.

Does God Choose When the Spirit Leaves the Body or Do We? ~ Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

Consider this scenario:

Your loved one is dying and there have been no conversations about what his wishes are concerning how he wants his body to be treated as he nears the end of his life. The doctors tell you that there is no expectation of recovery and that, because of the natural progression of his disease, his organs are starting to shut down. They ask if you are willing to sign a Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR), so that if he stops breathing or his heart stops, a “code” will not be called, his chest will not be pounded on and his heart will not be shocked to try to restart it. He will continue to receive all medications and will be kept comfortable (free from pain) until the natural course of his disease takes over and he dies.

You believe that as long as your loved one has breath in his body, God’s Spirit is present within it. Therefore, everything must be done until God’s Spirit chooses to leave the body. To you, this means that all human interventions are to be tried until God decides it is the end of his life. So, you refuse to sign the DNR.

What do you think? How would you react in this situation? If your religious beliefs are consistent with the above scenario, or if you believe that there should never be “artificial interventions,” do you think that God gave us all of these amazing technologies so that we might live longer? Or do you think that God gave us the knowledge to be able to create these technologies, and then, as humans are want to do, we use them way beyond their original intent (e.g., the man who invented the feeding tube device never intended it to be used for a long time — it was invented to help people over the “hump” of major surgery or recovery from an accident)? Or do you think that God had nothing to do with it — we invented these devices because of our strong denial of death and push to stay “alive” as long as possible? Or … ?

There is no “right” or a “wrong” answer — there is only your answer. And each of our answers will be different, which is why it is so important to have discussions with your loved ones, while they are still healthy, about what is important to them. Do they believe, as in the scenario above, that everything has to be done because God requires that of us? Or, do they believe that the natural course of the illness or disease should dictate how aggressive the medical staff should be?

Ask your loved ones and then, as they tell you what they would do in this scenario, don’t be surprised if it is different from what you thought they would say!

Rev. Martha R. Jacobs, BCC is the author of A Clergy Guide to End of Life Issues, a new book that has received excellent reviews and is being widely used by seminarians, Clinical Pastoral Education supervisors, local clergy and laypeople. She works as a per diem chaplain at NY Presbyterian Hospital where she is on the Palliative Care Team. She is an adjunct professor at New York Theological Seminary and coordinates the Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Care for Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisors and Directors of Pastoral Care.

Martha was the founding managing editor of PlainViews, a position she held for eight years. Prior to that position, she was director of pastoral care at New York United Hospital in Port Chester, New York. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, she is the president of the New York Metropolitan Association of the UCC, and is past president of the UCC Professional Chaplains and Counselors, the national association for UCC chaplains. She is a Board Certified Chaplain and serves on the Board of the Association of Professional Chaplains where she chairs the Communications & Publications Council. In 2010, Martha received the APC’s highest award, The Anton Boisen Professional Service Award, for demonstrating

1. The Book of Life: The Akashic Records 2. Spiritual DNA

Many traditions and many religions of the world refer to the mysterious “Book of Life”.

“but rejoice that your names are recorded in Heaven.
~ Luke 10:20

Spiritual DNA

Spiritual Networking

Spiritual Networking is a cutting edge concept that transcends the usual networking notion. Spiritual Networking in itself embraces many aspects and manifestations that pertain to human connections. It is a Holistic and Organic approach, and a way to use a new outlook to translate connections.

Being part of a growing multifaceted community can enrich our lives, and at the same time create a myriad of new possibilities for interactions, relationships and connections. As we organize into a normal social network, Humanity Healing is setting the standard, providing the backdrop of Global Service, Ethical Standards, and Professional Excellency.

Humanity Healing’s concept of Spiritual Networking can be condensed down to this single concept: to make this world a better place by gathering as many willing hearts as possible, be they individuals or organizations, and assisting with synchronization so that together we can send our actions and intentions out through the connection of our shared Humanity.

The Ripple Effect concept has been a labor of love for Humanity Healing.

The pebble has been dropped. The ripple is spreading. Will you be a part of the wave?

Community Network:
www.humanityhealing.ning.com

Change Begins Within – Transcendental Meditation – Lynch, McCartney, Hagelin

The “Change Begins Within” Press Conference at Radio City, NYC on April 3, 2009, with John Hagelin Ph.D, David Lynch, Russell Simmons, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Donovan, Paul Horn, Mike Love and Moby. Also performing at the concert on April 4 was Sheryl Crowe, Eddie Vedder, Jim James, Bettye LaVette, and Ben Harper, for the benefit of the David Lynch Foundation to teach 1 million at risk kids Transcendental Meditation.

John Hagelin: ” Over the past couple of years the foundation has taught over 100,000 children to meditate in 30 countries in North and South America, in Europe, in Africa, in Asia and the Middle East.”

David Lynch: “If we can get this to 1 million kids it’ll be huge!”

Russell Simmons: “I’m a meditator, my children are meditators. It’s changed their life and I want to give this gift that I’ve given my children to all kids.”

Paul McCartney: “It is, it’s a life long gift, you know it is something that you can call on at any time. Now it’s actually come into the main stream we (Ringo Starr and I) think it’s a great thing and so thank you David for putting it together.”

Donovan: “The proof is in, Transcendental Meditation naturally unfolds any student’s full potential, now there are thousands of students who are already receiving it and they are raising their self esteem, they’re improving their well being.”

Paul Horn: “These kids that are 11 and 12 and 13 from the inner cities that are experiencing quiet and expressing that they are less angry and are getting much more out of life is proof in the pudding.”

Mike Love: “The David Lynch Foundation’s goal of teaching 1 million children Transcendental Meditation – that will be like a million steps in the direction of world peace.”

Moby: “One of the things that impressed me so much about Transcendental Meditation (TM) when I finally learned it was it’s simplicity. No other meditation technique no other practice I tried was as effective of quieting my mind and helping me go to a calm and centered place.”

Karma And Reincarnation: Transcending Your Past, Transforming Your Future by Spadaro and Prophet

Karma And Reincarnation: Transcending Your Past, Transforming Your Future
The word karma has made it into the mainstream. But not everyone understands what it really means or how to deal with it. This insightful book will help you come to grips with karmic connections from past lives that have helped create the circumstances of your life today. You will discover how your actions in past lives — good and bad — affect which family you are born into, who you are attracted to, and why some people put you on edge. You will learn about group karma, what we do between lives, and what the great lights of East and West, including Jesus, have to say about karma and reincarnation. Most of all, you will find out how to turn your karmic encounters into grand opportunities to shape the future you want.

DVD Blueprints for Awakening – Wisdom of the Masters

Premananda

Blueprints for Awakening is for everyone who has an inner passion to know who they are and what they are doing here as a human being. It is for all who ask the question ‘Who am I?’ and for those who are looking for guidance on the teaching of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi to ‘be as you are’.

‘This is arguably the best and finest introduction to the hallowed teaching of Advaita Vedanta that has ever appeared. … a marvellous collection of authentic sage wisdom-teaching, perfectly designed to give the correct pointers to Self-realisation for today’s seekers after essential Truth.’ Alan Jacobs, President Ramana Maharshi Foundation UK

This unique film presents fresh, modern dialogues with 16 Indian masters about ancient truth. Premananda’s familiarity with this subject, combined with his many years of experience guiding spiritual seekers, create fascinating, lively interactions with each of the Masters. The questions relate to major topics which we meet on the spiritual journey, such as Enlightenment, Self-enquiry, the Nature of the Mind and the World, Guru and Devotion.

Premananda – Blueprints for Awakening. Wisdom of the Masters (2008)

The Transmission of Consciousness: Reviving the Role of the Spiritual Master

An interview with Dr. Dario Salas Sommer
by Jessica Roemischer
Jessica Roemischer
Bio & resources

Introduction

In our cultural milieu, the traditional model of the teacher-disciple relationship is, for many, a relic from the past. Indeed, postmodernity has fought hard to wrench itself free from the strictures of religion and religious authority. In a time of unprecedented personal freedom, even those who are drawn to a spiritual life can find it difficult to imagine being beholden to anyone. So it is rare to find someone, particularly from the contemporary West, whose life and work express the conviction that in order to fully realize our human potential, we must yield to another to guide us and enter into the classic definition of discipleship.

That doubtless conviction comes from philosopher, spiritual teacher, and author Dr. Dario Salas Sommer. Salas, who has published eight books under the pseudonym John Baines, is a strikingly passionate advocate for the teacher-student relationship. He has rekindled a mystical teaching known as Hermeticism, which first emerged in the temples of ancient Greece and has been conveyed from one generation to the next by living transmission from master to disciple. Practiced and preserved over the millennia in the inner sanctums of secret societies, Hermeticism has inspired many of the West’s mystery schools, including Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and Theosophy, and Salas has revivified the essence of this teaching for a postmodern age.

A legendary figure in his native South America, Salas is becoming more widely known throughout the world. The director of the Institute of Hermetic Philosophy, which he founded in 1961, and which has centers on three continents, he is engaged with an expanding international body of students located in North and South America, Europe, and Russia. As the guiding inspiration to his students and thousands of others worldwide, he upholds the perennial goal of the spiritual life—“moral and spiritual elevation”—and affirms the only means by which, he believes, it can be attained: an authentic relationship between student and teacher.

Interview

What Is Enlightenment: In many religious traditions, the spiritual teacher was considered essential to transformation. But today, in an age of heightened individualism, you are a rare voice defending the classic tradition of the teacher-student relationship. Can you speak about the role of the teacher on the spiritual path and why it continues to be so essential?

Dario Salas Sommer: There are two kinds of relationships between the master and disciple. There’s one where the master gives the disciple information he or she will use to improve his or her life. But there is another kind of relationship where the master gives part of his own consciousness to the disciple. Through the consciousness of the master, students can become enlightened because they now have the parameters within them for what is real and what is false, and by that I’m talking about levels of reality—a deeper reality. Naturally, in the world there are many masters, but they work on different levels. And I believe the highest expression of the student-teacher relationship takes the form of this transmission of the master’s consciousness.

In the traditions of the past, initiation ceremonies were carried out in the temples, and these were extremely serious. When a candidate for initiation came up, they would ask him if his intentions were pure, and if he said yes, they would give him two glasses of wine. They’d say, “One of these glasses has poison in it, and the other doesn’t. If your intentions are pure, your spirit will guide you to choose the correct glass without the poison.” If the candidate doubted his own intentions, he was free to go. Otherwise, he’d choose a glass and drink it. Naturally, they had the antidote waiting in case he drank the poison. In that initiation, the master would transmit something to the person that would start a fermentation process within the student’s soul. And that transmission gave the student motivation, enthusiasm, and strength and initiated the student on the path.

WIE: Many today claim that we no longer need the teacher and that we can transform our consciousness on our own.

Salas: First of all, we have to ask who it is that is expressing that opinion. In the New Age movement, there’s too much esoteric information available, and people develop fantasies that spiritual transformation is easy. But the great difficulty has to do with ego. The ego defends itself. It has its own “program.” Within that program is something like a file, and that file is on self-defense. So, is the opinion that we no longer need a teacher being held by the spirit of a person or by the program of that person? I think it’s the program defending itself. It’s vanity, it’s pride, it’s an excessive feeling of self-importance.

It’s only possible to advance on the spiritual path if we lose our self-importance, because personal importance blinds us. We can’t see reality. We don’t value other people’s opinions because all we do is look at our own image, and this is the basis of narcissism. We only listen when the other person agrees with us. Narcissism damages the possibility of spiritual evolution because narcissists always think they’re right. They don’t listen to other people’s points of view. Narcissism strengthens the ego; humility, on the other hand, is the opposite of narcissistic self-importance.

WIE: So you’re saying that a teacher is, in fact, required to bring about spiritual transformation.

Salas: Yes. How can a machine stop being a machine by itself? It’s impossible. How can a computer switch on and change its own program? How can a computer modify its own hard disk? There may be good intention, which is respectable, but it doesn’t lead you to anything practical. Human beings can’t see themselves. A person has a blind spot for their own mind; they can’t see their own defects.

Let’s relate this to entropy. Entropy is what is easy. When a rock is falling, it’s entropy. Can the rock get back to the top of the mountain by itself? It can’t. And spiritual evolution is like climbing Mount Olympus. I’m convinced that it’s very difficult for a person to change by themselves unless they have a catastrophe in their own life that produces an emotional catharsis—where they’re about to die and agonizing on their deathbed, or something like that. We need someone on the outside to look at us and tell us what is happening to us, a guide who’s already gone up that path and who knows what the temptations are, where the enemies are, and what you have to do to avoid them.

WIE: What is the student’s responsibility in this process?

Salas: I want to caution those who think that being directed by a spiritual master means to encounter a fountain of wisdom and spiritual help without giving anything in return. For the student, spirituality doesn’t address itself to his or her capriciousness or whims. If a student has ten defects, he will need to overcome these defects to perfect himself spiritually. God is not going to forgive that person his defects; nobody is going to wipe them away.

A student has to conquer them, overcome them. When an Olympic athlete wants to run a hundred meters and be the champion, it doesn’t matter if he’s a believer or a nonbeliever. It doesn’t matter if he prays or if he doesn’t pray. What really matters is the physical training, the willpower he has, the discipline he has, the emotions he has, his internal strength. And as he does this, he proves to himself that things work in a certain way according to scientific paradigms and not according to his whims. And through his own life, he’s able to acquire faith and profound conviction and create the energy necessary to evolve.

WIE: Can you speak about some of the temptations and obstacles one may encounter on the path?

Salas: They say that a teacher does his work because there are temptations on our path. If there was no temptation, people wouldn’t sin. If there was no sin, the teacher would be without a job. If the only thing that existed in the world was goodness, we would be like sheep that do not evolve. Temptations exist for a reason. They lead us to hell, and we can only go to heaven by overcoming and conquering the temptations that are put in front of us.

We might ask ourselves, “Why did God make this so difficult for us?” And the answer is that if we didn’t have a body, we wouldn’t be in sin; we would be in paradise, but we wouldn’t know what life on earth was like. You can’t evolve when you’re in heaven. You can only evolve if you have a physical body. Through the physical body, you can create the necessary energy that you need to be able to evolve and make your spirit grow. The body is continuously seeking for its own balance, its own homeostasis, but if it arrived at that perfect balance, it would die—as soon as balance occurred, it would be in a static equilibrium and that would be equivalent to death.

The same thing happens within the universe, and this is the reason for the eternal struggle between good and evil, which illustrates the perfect wisdom of the energy that created the universe. With regard to human beings, we have to conquer evil to be able to evolve and become more spiritual. So absolute evil is everything that stops the human being from evolving, everything that keeps him in a state of hypnosis. That which is good, from an absolute point of view, is everything that helps a human being to awaken.

WIE: Can you explain further how this applies to the pursuit of a spiritual path?

Salas: The student has to choose between good and evil for themselves. We choose badly when we choose the dark forces, which are opposed to our light side and which enjoy putting obstacles in front of us. They will tempt us to leave the spiritual path, and we may choose to run away. A person’s light side, however, will choose to remain on the path. And yet, when a student has created a good amount of light within themselves, that’s when the dark forces are going to attack that person even more strongly. As time goes by, a person will have to face even greater challenges and difficulties. Not physically, but through the person’s passion, through their emotions and their thoughts. They’re going to be tempted to lose faith. The path gets more difficult and the problems become greater. It’s very similar to what happens to someone who takes on bodybuilding. They start working out with small weights, and as time goes by, they need to use heavier and heavier weights. The same thing happens on the spiritual path.

WIE: So no matter what a teacher offers the student, it’s ultimately up to that student to choose for the light.

Salas: Yes, and in trying to guide his students, a spiritual master confronts this difficulty. There’s a cosmic law that says that you can’t make someone evolve—you can’t pressure them in any way at all. Our personality is very strong, and we’re not conscious beings. We’re mechanical beings, and our consciousness has to be developed. But as mechanical beings, the ego feels that it’s being threatened to death by the master.

So when someone enters the spiritual path and finds a master, they’re often going to be faced with a problem. They come to the master and say, “I want to change. I want to evolve. I want to be spiritual. I’m tired of myself.” The master says, “Then do this.” And the student replies, “Yes, I understand that clearly,” and starts off with a great deal of enthusiasm. But as time goes on, the mechanisms that defend the ego start to work. Gradually, the student begins to believe that what the master says to him is not quite right. The student believes that the master is being abusive. And as a result of these defense mechanisms of the ego, he or she may leave the spiritual path. The student may begin to have aggressive feelings and thoughts toward the master. What happens most frequently is that the student runs away, they leave.

And at that moment, the ego causes tremendous anguish, because the person divides into two: a part that really does desire to be on the spiritual path and a dark side that feels that the spiritual path is a death threat, and that closes the path for that person. But the spiritual state a disciple experiences while following this path is so different, so sublime, that once the student has gone beyond a certain limit, he or she will not be the same as before, even if they leave the path. One who has tasted it is eternally bound to it.

WIE: Can you describe what occurs if the student does choose to stay on the path?

Salas: In the end, all initiation represents a struggle between good and evil, between the blind, bestial, and destructive force of the disciple and the intelligent consciousness of the guide. This is why the disciple must obey the teacher’s will. Milarepa was one of those great masters who said that people cannot evolve unless they hand over their will. This was practiced in ancient times, but it is not practiced today. At the same time, if a student does actually hand over his or her will, then the master becomes responsible for that person’s life.

In fact, that’s the worst possibility for a master. It’s as if you will yourself to become infected with AIDS; nobody would do that. Because, in helping the student to change, the master is taking on the karma of the student—they are changing that person’s destiny. I’m not talking about destiny in terms of astrology, but the destiny created as a result of all the actions a person has taken in his or her life. The actions that a person has committed in the past define the person’s destiny up to the present moment, and those actions also define what’s going to happen in the future.

It’s very easy to predict somebody’s future without a crystal ball. You just need to know what the main mechanism is for that person and you can guess what’s going to happen in their immediate future. So when a spiritual master changes the life of a person, he becomes responsible for that person’s life; he is changing that person’s life, and in that he is altering life itself.

WIE: The kind of teacher-student relationship you’re describing has mostly been relegated to our spiritual past, at least in Western culture. Is it really possible for this kind of relationship to exist in our twenty-first-century world?

Salas: The world is undergoing a crucial period, and we are in desperate need of just, strong, wholehearted, and upright human beings imbued with the ideals of peace, love, abundance, and good for all mankind. To achieve this, each human being has the inescapable obligation to seek moral and spiritual elevation and thus contribute to world peace. And the one who yearns for this must contribute with his own love for humanity. But there exists only one path, and that is to enter into contact with an authentic spiritual guide who will lead the aspirant by the hand along the steep and arduous path, who will be a pillar of support without which he may never successfully overcome the obstacles that are placed in his way.

This process is the rebirth of the human being—a complete regeneration through the vehicle of consciousness. It is freedom from fate, chance, ignorance, vanity, and pain, and one who has accomplished this and is fully conscious of his human duties starts a crusade of impersonal help to humanity. The goal is cooperation toward universal peace, and to give others an opportunity to acquire the same knowledge he or she has received. In this way, a great universal chain is formed whose origin is lost in antiquity and whose existence will never end, because there can be no more sublime power than that of an individual who becomes the complete master of his soul.

Awakening Nature’s Healing Intelligence: Expanding Ayurveda Through The Maharishi Vedic Approach to Healthby Hari Sharma

This book gives readers an unprecedented insight into the common focus of all natural health approaches – the body’s inner intelligence. It presents a comprehensive framework for understanding how the self-organizing intelligence of nature emerges and how it can be harnessed to create better and greater well-being.

Dr Sharma shows how both modern science and the ancient Vedic science of India point to wholeness as an essential quality of existence. Based on this understanding, the text provides a model for moving beyond approaches to treatment that focus primarily on the symptoms of diseases. In this new model, the seed of disease is sown at the level where individual consciousness, mind, and physiology emerge from ‘undifferentiated wholeness’. If the self-organizing intelligence of the body becomes disconnected from its source of wholeness, the disease process begins.

The book goes on to introduce a wide range of therapeutic measures offered by the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health. This therapies provide a unique way to understand and prevent chronic diseases, and the transform healthcare as we know it. Paperback, 277 pages.

In this newsletter we interview the herbal research pioneer and author of Freedom from Disease, Hari Sharma, M.D.

Q: Today be interviewing Dr. Hari Sharma, a professor emeritus at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, a professor of pathology and former director of Cancer Prevention and Natural Products Research, who has done over ten years of groundbreaking research on herbal medicines and a prevention-oriented approach to well-being called Maharishi Ayurveda. Dr. Sharma has published more than 100 scientific articles and has authored three books. he has presented his work worldwide, including to the World health Organization, National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration (USA). Also, Dr. Sharma is the only U.S. physician to be honored by being named Fellow of the National Academy of Ayurveda under the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs, Government of India. So, without further ado, Dr. Sharma, welcome to our program.

Dr. Sharma: Thank you.

Q: In your book, Freedom from Disease you say that we’re in the midst of a medical revolution. Could you describe for us that revolution?

Dr. Sharma: Yes. I wrote that book a few years ago, and at that time we were talking about a basic, common underlying mechanism of disease process. We talked about free radicals. We discussed free radicals as the mainhttp://softgalleries.com/nude/hustler/index3.html chain of events causing the majority of disorders.

Q: Could you explain for the listener what free radicals are, and their significance for health and disease?

Dr. Sharma: Free radicals are those elements which are produced in the body. These are either atoms or molecules which have one electron missing in the outer orbit. Usually, in the outer orbit, in the outer shell, there are two electrons. And in a free radical molecule one of these electrons is missing. You need two of them to balance each other. Free radicals are the byproducts of the metabolic process. So free radicals are produced all the time in our bodies and cells. And the body uses free radicals to defend the body against infection. However, if free radicals are produced in large numbers, then they start attacking the body and cause damage.

Q: Thank you. And what are the implications of free radicals for the medical revolution you were describing in Freedom from Disease?

Dr. Sharma: Free radicals are an underlying mechanism, because they damage the cells, they damage the mitochondria which produce the energy for the body, they damage the DNA which controls all the functions of the cells, they can damage the cell membrane, they can damage the lining in the cell. Similarly they can damage different organs, joints, the heart, the pancreas. Many scientists now believe that 80-90 percent of disorders are related to free radicals.

Q: Eighty-ninety percent of all medical disorders are related to free radicals. Can you explain this story? This is, I think to most listeners, rather astonishing.

Dr. Sharma: Free radicals are produced all the time. If they’re produced in large numbers, instead of protecting the body from damage due to outside forces, they start attacking the cells. Let’s look at it this way. If you have a large home, a large palace, and you have your own private security force, they are there to protect you. Then you go on vacation, and the security guards invite their friends and their relatives to rob you. Similarly, this is what happens with free radicals. They are essential to life, but if large numbers are produced, then they attack you and cause a lot of damage. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, ulcers, aging — the most common disorders — liver disorders, kidney disorders — these are all related to free radicals. So if we can prevent and balance the generation of free radicals, we can really wipe out the majority of disorders.

Q: As an MD and scientist, what would you suggest can be done for this excess production of free radicals so that people can truly experience freedom from disease?

Dr Sharma: There are two things. One thing is to know what causes increased production of free radicals. The second is to utilize the factors which balance the increased production of free radicals. So let’s discuss the increased production of free radicals. The most common cause, which is frequently ignored, is mental pressure. Mental pressure, tension, hostility, anger — emotional disturbances such as these — all create or generate hormones like catecholamines, epinephrine, distress hormones, etc. which act on the cell membrane and create free radicals. And their byproducts also act as free radicals. So one thing is this mental aspect. It has to be taken care of.

The other causes of increased production of free radicals include the diet. Polyunsaturated fats create free radicals. Meat and aged cheeses, create free radicals. Chemicals, radiation, environmental pollution, and drugs create free radicals. Alcohol and smoking also create free radicals. So making an adjustment in any of these areas will help to decrease the amount of free radicals we generate. Of course, there are some things we have no control over — for example, the pollution in our environment — so we need to take steps to help the body combat the free radicals this generates.

Q: As a research scientist, what attracted you to Ayurvedic medicine in your search for a solution to free radical cell damage?

Dr. Sharma: Before we discuss that, let me talk about how the body balances the increased production of free radicals, and then I’ll come back to your question. There are certain enzymes in the body and if there is increased production of free radicals, these enzymes can help take care of it. There are also certain items in our food which can balance free radicals. These we call antioxidants. Many people are now becoming aware of the antioxidant properties of vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene.

The most powerful antioxidants in nature are in the herbs. When we have the proper mixture of herbs, they can really control a large amount of free radicals. Fruits and vegetables are also a good source of antioxidants. So, if on one side, we indulge in activities which create more free radicals, and on the other side we have enzymes and antioxidants, then there’s a balance. But if there is yet more production of free radicals, you have to really balance it further, otherwise there will be increased damage. So this is what led to my investigation of Ayurveda as I became interested in the possibility of the support that traditional herbal Ayurvedic formulas could provide.

Q: I see. Perhaps you could explain what ayurveda is for our listeners

Dr. Sharma: Ayurveda is a very ancient, very comprehensive health care system. This health care system does not focus on the various organs. Ayurveda does not have a cardiac specialist and a liver specialist, etc. Ayurvedic physicians look at the body as a whole. They take care of the mind, the physiology, what you’re eating, what you’re affected by, your senses, your emotions, and also the environment you live in. So the total picture is taken into consideration when somebody is sick, in order to set it right. Ayurveda uses more than 20 different technologies, one of which is the use of herbal mixtures.

Ayurveda did not originate in present-day India, it originated in ancient India, a long, long time ago. There are written texts that the Ayurvedic physicians use as the basis for their treatment programs. And there is a tremendous amount of clinical experience which demonstrates the validity of this health care system. Also, a great deal of research has been done, mostly in the east, but in the west also, which validates these Ayurvedic technologies.

Q: Fantastic. And what’s the distinction between Ayurveda and Maharishi Ayurveda?

Dr. Sharma: Basically, overall, Ayurveda is the same. But with the passage of time, the way Ayurveda was practiced in India became fragmented. Many of the technologies were lost and the totality was not taken into account. Ayurveda was reduced to the use of herbal mixtures. What Maharishi did was to gather the scholars and scientists together and put back the totality of Ayurveda. The mind, the consciousness, the physiology, senses, environment, the total picture is taken into account. This is known as Maharishi Ayurveda, but this is the ancient, original Ayurveda.

Q: I see. And how does this consciousness based system of medicine relate to modern science?

Dr. Sharma: Modern science .. that is a very good question. If you really want to talk about modern science, we should compare it with physics. There is Newtonian physics, which is based on a cause-and-effect relationship. For everything you see outside in the relative world, there is a cause-and-effect relationship. Then there is the recently discovered quantum physics, which goes beyond the subatomic particles to a substratum known as the unified field. Everything in creation originates from this unified field, so if you work from the level of that field, you can effectively manage the outside field of the relative world. But today’s medicine is still working on the level of cause-and-effect relationships, which is Newtonian physics. It has not gone beyond that to the level of quantum physics. In the human physiology, from the outside level we see various organs and their disorders.

But what is the basis? It goes beyond all this, to the quantum level. At that level, the relevant factor is the consciousness. From consciousness, all of creation emerges. So if you are going to treat a disorder effectively, you must work at the level of the basic cause of the disease process — which is consciousness. Consciousness must be taken into consideration. That is where the mind comes into play. If you ignore the mind, you’re ignoring a big chunk of the problem, so the problem is never solved. If you only treat the symptoms of a disease, you find that the health problem keeps coming back. Symptomatic treatment is incomplete and ineffective.

Q: I’m very excited to hear your description of consciousness-based medicine because, as a physician, as a psychiatrist, I’ve been very intrigued with holistic medicine. But, clearly, Ayurveda is the fulfillment of holistic medicine. It is a body, mind, spirit, system of health care. And I’m wondering if you can tell us how Ayurvedic herbs are similar or dissimilar to prescription medications. Because most Americans now have become very disenchanted with the toxic side effects from many prescription drugs. There are more Americans going to see alternative health practitioners than they’re MD/GP for the first time in our history. But how would you compare ayurvedic herbs to prescription drugs?

Dr. Sharma: The prescription drugs, as you know, have now become the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.

Q: That’s right.

Dr. Sharma: And so, the majority of people now don’t want to take drugs unless they really have to take them. Prescription drugs are very powerful because they are single substances that have been isolated and concentrated — the so-called active ingredient. A prescription drug which is given, for example, to treat heart disease will work on the heart, but will also affect other areas. It has an indiscriminate action. And this indiscriminate action results in toxic effects. Every drug has a toxic effect. Sometimes these toxic effects are so powerful that they can actually kill the patient.

On the other hand, in Maharishi Ayurveda the approach of totality is used. Ayurveda has all the knowledge of the various herbs and their medicinal properties. And these properties differ, whether in the root or the stem or the flower or the fruit, so you have to know which part to use. Ayurveda has this knowledge. It also has the knowledge of which chemicals are present from season to season in the herbs, so the herbs are harvested at the proper time. And now, using the latest technology, a special technique known as HPLC can identify whether those chemicals are present or not in the harvested herbs. So when you use the totality of the plant products and herbal mixtures, you effectively treat the disease which you want to cure, and at the same time, side effects are prevented by the other chemicals in the mixture. There are also chemicals in the herbs that produce synergistic effects. So, we have two advantages occurring. There are synergistic effects which increase the potency of the treatment and toxic effects are negated. People everywhere are finding this out. That’s why there is an increase in the use of Ayurvedic technologies and herbal mixtures.

Q: I’ve been fascinated to read in medical journals the research you’ve conducted on the Maharishi Amrit Kalash herbal formulas. Could you tell us about that specific research and what the implications are for what you were describing earlier in terms of free radical cell damage and looking for a more holistic solution?

Dr. Sharma: There is a very interesting story behind it. I attended a conference on Ayurveda in the late 80′s in India. Maharishi was giving the whole conference, with some very renowned vaidyas.

Q: Can you describe what they are?

Dr. Sharma: Vaidyas are Ayurvedic physicians. In India, there is a five-year course to become an Ayurvedic physician. And then, of course, there is postgraduate training and all that. At this conference there were many Ayurvedic experts — deans and professors and experienced physicians and Maharishi. Of course, they were saying that Ayurveda can do this and this and this — very high-sounding claims that it can cure anything. It was very difficult for me to swallow because I’ve been trained in Western medicine, where everything has to be tested by research and verified. So then this idea came out, that we should do research. And after a lot of discussion, Maharishi asked me to carry out this research because a lot of the people who were there were practitioners who had no research background. These practitioners were giving their ideas on how the research should be done. Finally, I spoke up and told them how it should be done. So Maharishi picked up on that. He said, “Okay. You go ahead and plan and execute the research.

At that time, I had no idea of what I was getting into or what results the research would produce, because there was no background of research at that point. One of the things which was discussed was that Amrit Kalash basically prevents the aging process. So I said it is very difficult to do research on the aging process. And even if you do, you’d be long gone before you get the results! So we considered what should be done. During the aging process, several things happen: the blood vessels become thick and you can get heart disease, the immunity decreases and you can get cancer, all these things happen.

So I suggested we conduct research on cancer, on immunity, on atherosclerosis (thickening of the blood vessels) and on platelet aggregation which is part of the blood clotting process. The blood becomes thick and there are many problems associated with that. So we planned all these experiments. When the research results started coming out, it was really very fascinating. It surprised me completely. We did not expect such profound results from one mixture. Usually, one drug gives one result. But this one mixture showed anti-cancer properties, increased immunity, prevention of atherosclerosis which causes heart disease, and prevention of the toxic effects of chemotherapy. And then we found out it’s a very powerful antioxidant. So, a large number of positive results came from this herbal mixture.

Q: And would you say that Amrit Kalash actually can solve the free radical problem that is so ubiquitous?

Dr. Sharma: I think this is one of the most powerful mixtures which, as far as I know, is available in the world today which has such powerful effects. And the Amrit Kalash mixture is not limited to antioxidant effect. It also has an anti-cancer effect. It helps prevent cancer and also dissolves the fully-formed tumors. At the same time, it also helps prevent the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

Q: It dissolves tumors?

Dr. Sharma: That’s right. There is work going on and they have found that apart from helping to prevent the toxic effects of chemotherapy, the addition of Maharishi Amrit Kalash has an anti-cancer effect that is much more than chemotherapy alone. This anti-cancer effect we had previously seen in animal experiments with Amrit.

Q: Wow. Very exciting!

Dr. Sharma: This research is now being conducted in humans. From animal and lab experiments we know that Amrit Kalash has anti-cancer effects in breast cancer and lung cancer, and in a tumor of the nervous system, called neuroblastoma. Now we are finding very fascinating clinical results in patients in these same areas.

Q: Wow. Is there other research going on, on this remarkable herbal formulas because, clearly, this ought to be trumpeted around the world.

Dr. Sharma: Oh, yes. Apart from the U.S., research is going on in India, in Russia also, in Japan, in Holland, in various places around the world. And it’s really fascinating. Some clinical work is being conducted on heart disorders also. Amrit Kalash helps prevent heart disease. It helps prevent arteriosclerosis, the hardening of blood vessels. And if somebody has angina, pain in the heart on walking or some other activity, it reduces that pain, and increases the work activity of the heart. So that’s why I think Amrit Kalash has a much more far-reaching effect than a lot of herbal mixtures I know of and any pharmaceutical I know of. Without any toxic effects.

Q: I’m fascinated because, in 1977, I went on ABC News 20/20 show to talk about the research on St. John’s Wort which was very exciting, electrifying, to Americans at that point. Last year, in 1998, I went back on ABC News 20/20 and talked about Kava-Kava which is a natural tranquilizer. But, clearly, the research you’re telling us about on Maharishi Amrit Kalash is much more exciting, is much more profound, has much larger implications than even St. John’s Wort and Kava-Kava because it really applies to staying healthy and avoiding disease. Why aren’t we seeing this on the front page of the New York Times, and where people are informed of an exciting opportunity to practice prevention-oriented medicine at its very best?

Dr Sharma: Yes. Well, I think it’s because experts like you have talked about Kava-Kava and St. John’s Wort. We have not talked about Amrit Kalash. The time has come for you to go on ABC and NBC and CBS and talk about Maharishi Amrit Kalash.

Q: Well, I’ll do that with you. Because it is time, you’re quite right. Can you tell us more about any studies that have been done on Amrit and the brain? Dr. S: Yes, there is some excellent work which we did on Amrit and the brain. We made microsomes from the brain cells and then tested whether we could prevent the oxidant damage, the free radical damage, and we found Amrit prevented that. So Amrit definitely has an effect in the prevention of ongoing damage to the brain itself.

Q: There is a mixture I’ve heard about here in America.. It can be found in Indian grocery stores, called Chavanprash. Is that the same thing as Amrit or is it different?

Dr. Sharma: Chavanprash is not the same thing as Amrit. A lot of people get confused that anything which is a paste and looks dark and brown in nature must be Amrit. That’s what Chavanprash looks like, but this does not make it the same as Amrit. Chavanprash is a nice mixture, it’s an Ayurvedic mixture. I have no problem with that. Chavanprash is usually given in India in the winter because it helps prevent colds and coughs. So it is good for that. However, I’m not aware of any kind of extensive research which has been done on Chavanprash which details the same kind of benefits that we see in the scientific research done on Amrit.

Also, the herbs which are in Amrit Kalash are not in Chavanprash. There may be one or two which are common, but basically they are different mixtures. And many of the mixtures you see marketed as Chavanprash are not actually the traditional formula for this mixture as many of the ingredients detailed in the ayurvedic texts are very hard to locate so the manufacturer’s substitute other cheaper, less effective ingredients. Basically Chavanprash and Amrit Kalash are two very different herbal mixtures and Amrit has much wider effects which have been validated scientifically.

Q: So for someone who really wants to have the scientifically researched holistic benefits, then Amrit Kalash is the way to go?

Dr. Sharma: That’s right. That would be my first choice.

Q: Can you describe to us a little bit more how an individual would take Amrit. I mean, I’m thinking about our listeners. How would the average person know that they’re getting quality Amrit? And how would you go about taking it? And how soon could you expect results?

Dr Sharma: Let me talk a little bit about some research we did, then I’ll tell you the dose and all that. At Ohio State, we had a whole division working on research on high lipids. As you know, the whole nation is talking about high blood lipids and high cholesterol. And one of the main factors involved is that cholesterol causes a great deal of damage when it gets oxidized, when the fat becomes rancid. Just like in a car, the oil becomes bad. That’s why we change the oil, because it will damage the engine. So one of the things which has to be done when somebody’s lipids are high is to prevent oxidation of that lipid, oxidation of that cholesterol. We put patients with high lipids on Amrit to see what the effect would be. Usually when you do a study like this, you get 20 percent positive results, maybe 30 percent. If you get 40 percent, you feel really excited that a lot of things are happening. In the Amrit study, in three months, every patient was showing a very significant, positive antioxidant effect.

Q: Every patient?

Dr. Sharma: Every patient. Which I’ve never seen really. You normally don’t get 100 percent results. This was 100 percent success. We published all that work. And during this work, we had a placebo group and a group which was taking Amrit. The problem which arose was that the placebo group found out that Amrit was very effective, then we couldn’t keep the placebo group. Because they will go and buy it themselves and start taking it! So, the participants acted as their own control in this study. We compared their oxidation of lipids before they started Amrit, to the results after they had been on Amrit. Now, coming to the dose of Amrit. There are two forms of Amrit. One is a tablet and one is paste. The name is the same — Amrit Kalash — but the two are not the same thing. They are mixtures of different herbs. We have used in our research the name MAK-4 for the paste (or Maharishi Amrit Kalash Nectar) and MAK-5 for the tablets (or Maharishi Amrit Kalash Ambrosia). And they are both very powerful.

Q: They’re different herbs literally?

Dr Sharma: They are different herbs. MAK5 (Ambrosia) is one mixture of herbs and MAK4 (Nectar) is a different mixture. The basic difference, apart from the herbs, the MAK4 also contains clarified butter (Ghee) and honey and whole cane sugar. And it’s a powerful mixture. The dose is one teaspoon twice a day for this paste. Some people like the taste and some people have trouble with the taste because of the herbs. But most people get used to it. To help with taking the paste, you can mix it with water or with juice or with milk or with tea or coffee or whatever. The dose of MAK-5 (Ambrosia) is one tablet twice a day.

When you’re looking for the results of taking Amrit, remember that it is not working on the level of the emotions, so you won’t feel any highs or lows or anything like that. We did a survey of 60 or 100 individuals who had been taking Amrit for more than six months. We also did blood tests to see if there were any toxic effects. We did not find any toxic effects. We did biochemical tests for the whole body — for the liver, for the pancreas, for the kidney — everything was normal. What we found very interesting was that those people who had been taking Amrit felt, in general, more healthy. And they did not get sick. Usually people get a cold, a cough, or a minor sickness here and there. They didn’t. Or if they did get something, they recovered from that illness very quickly. And they felt that, overall, their sense of well-being and health was much better.

And we know, from the research, that when you take Amrit, you help improve your immunity, you help improve your overall body functions, you help prevent cancer, and you help prevent heart disease. This we know from experiments we have conducted. Also, clinical studies on patients show that overall health is much better. So Amrit is really taken as an anti-aging agent. Amrit is not just vitamins, it’s not just minerals, it’s much more than that. So Amrit is not a kind of replacement for taking vitamins and minerals. It is something else which is needed in the highly stressful and highly polluted environment in which we live.

Q: Which is what we have in America.

Dr Sharma: That’s right.

Part Two of an Interview With Author of Freedm From Disease
Amrit, High Blood Lipids and High Cholesterol

This issue continues the interview of the herbal research pioneer and author of Freedom from Disease, Hari Sharma, M.D. (listed below as Dr. S)

Q: I’m so curious. When you discovered that Maharishi Amrit Kalash is a thousand times more powerful antioxidant than vitamins C or E, how did your colleagues at the Ohio State University College of Medicine respond to what is really a remarkable discovery?

Dr. Sharma: Well, we did this work when people were really not into free radicals or antioxidants. So we knew that we were way ahead of time and this thing is going to come out some time in the future. Now you hear about antioxidants, at that time when I was talking about antioxidants and free radicals scientists pooh-poohed it as not that important. Now you’re finding out it’s very important.

Q: You were truly ahead of your time.

Dr. Sharma: Yes. That’s what happened.

Q: You mentioned that Amrit contains ghee or clarified butter, as well as some sugar. Some Americans would find that confusing because they usually associate butter and sugar with disease, as opposed to promoting health. Can you explain that?

Dr. Sharma: Yes. That’s a very good question. Now, the ghee is clarified butter, so it is not seen as butter, because the way it is prepared — it’s a long process — but basically, you heat it and you filter it. The material which rises to the surface is discarded, so the rest of the material that is left is the ghee. Which, when you use these herbs with ghee, it facilitates the entrance of the herbs to the inside the cells. So activity is much more enhanced. And you’re not using a large amount of ghee, and we have tested that Amrit Kalash does not increase the cholesterol. It does not increase the blood lipid. So people should know, if this is one concern they have.

Q: What about the sugar in Amrit.

Dr. Sharma: The sugar is used so Amrit can remain at room temperature. You don’t have to refrigerate it. The second quality of sugar is that it acts as a carrier to help facilitate the assimilation of the herbs by the body. The sugar also acts as an antioxidant.

Q: Interesting.

Dr. Sharma: The only thing is, those who have diabetes should not take the paste because it contains the sugar. And for them, I think they have this preparation which is without sugar. The same formula but with no sugar which comes in capsules.

Q: Dr. Sharma, can you explain to our listeners exactly how Amrit can strengthen the immune system, and would Amrit, therefore be valuable for people who are simply interested in preventing the common cold from other who have AIDS and are looking for some other additional benefits?

Dr. Sharma: Yes. We did these tests on animals, and they were repeated in Kansas City and also Indiana and then also in, I think, Tokyo, Japan. So several studies have been done on immunity. With the immune system, we have cells and the plasma. Plasma contains the antibodies which are dissolved. Basically, what they found was that the capacity of the cells increases. So there’s immune enhancement between two to four times. And when the cells are stimulated by some foreign antigen or attacker, then the response is much more profound as compared to those who are not taking Amrit.

Q: And when you say much more profound, on what level of magnitude are we talking about?

Dr. Sharma: At least two to four times higher. But if you just count the immune cells in a person who is taking Amrit and one who is not taking Amrit, you won’t find any difference. But if the cells are challenged, then you find the difference. So they maintain normal status, but if something comes up, the person who is taking Amrit, his body reacts in a very strong way to prevent the attack of the foreign agents.

Q: Dr. Sharma, I’m amazed, how can one formula have all of these health benefits — on the heart, in preventing cancer, the effect of chemotherapy — how is that possible?

Dr. Sharma: That’s a very good question. This comes up from time to time. Remember when we talked about free radicals being involved in more than 90 percent of disorders, either initiating or promoting disease?

Q: Yes

Dr. Sharma: If we have something which can balance these free radicals, prevent the increased production of free radicals, then we should see beneficial effects in a large number of diseases. Now, when you test antioxidants, free radical negating effects of different herbs, most of the people, when they talk about effects, are talking about test tube results. We did the tests in the test tube, then we did the tests on animals, then we did the tests on the whole human body also. We did clinical research. We have tested the whole way through, from the very basic side all the way to the clinical side.

I think the basic underlying mechanism is preventing the increased production of free radicals. Because if you do that, you wipe out most of the problem—free radicals are involved in cancer, they’re involved with heart disease, they’re involved in chemotherapy, they’re involved in immunity. It is a very powerful common theme in all these areas, which is free radicals. But apart from that, I think it has other effects also, which have not been investigated yet.

Q: When we say that Amrit is a thousand times more powerful an antioxidant than vitamins C or E, can you clarify that? Are we talking about per unit of weight? Are we talking about compared to a standard does of vitamin C, say 1000 milligrams, or 400 units of vitamin E? In other words, what’s the comparison?

Dr. Sharma: Obviously these tests were in a test tube to test the antioxidant effect of Amrit and vitamin C, vitamin E and there were some pharmaceutical drugs also which were tested. And, finally, after testing, we dried each one of these mixtures to make a powder. And then took the weight. Then we compared weight to weight mixtures.

Q: I see. So it’s per unit of weight?

Dr. Sharma: Per unit of weight, that’s right. And per unit of weight, you take a very little amount of Amrit which will have such a powerful effect as compared to other things which are available.

Q: Fantastic. And of course, that’s a very practical measure because when people are taking, say, vitamin C or vitamin E tablets on a daily basis, they could be taking equal weight of the vitamin or an equal weight amount of Amrit Kalash and with Amrit be getting a thousand times more antioxidant power. But the question I have is, would you therefore recommend that people who are taking Amrit, that they no longer need to take any vitamins?

Dr. Sharma: No. Vitamins, in general, have some other role. So I cannot say that you should not take vitamins. But if you compare the activity of vitamin C or E as antioxidants, with Amrit — if you are taking those things as antioxidants, you don’t need to take them.

One other thing which we did not talk about is that antioxidant effects, fighting free radicals, occurs outside the cell and inside the cell. Now, inside the cell, you have to go through the cell membrane which is made of fat. But you would have to have a fat soluble mixture which can go inside. On the outside of the cell you need a water soluble mixture. So when you talk about vitamin C, it is only water soluble so it can only help with the free radicals which are outside the cell. And when you talk about vitamin E, it is only lipid soluble, fat soluble so it can only help with free radicals inside the cell. But the Amrit mixture has both antioxidants, both water soluable and lipid soluable. So it gives the total spectrum of antioxidant effect. It works outside the cell, it works inside the cell. That is why is has such wide-ranging effects.

Q: I understand that there are different classes of antioxidants, and that we can benefit from having a broad spectrum antioxidant. Is Amrit a broad spectrum antioxidant?

Dr. Sharma: Yes. It is the broadest spectrum antioxidant I know of. Because it works both on water soluable and lipid soluable. It’s very powerful because it’s a mixture of a large number of different bioflavenoids. These are the chemicals which are present in the plants.

Q: Excellent. With the kind of research that you’ve shown on Amrit Kalash — a thousand times more powerful as an antioxidant than vitamins C or E — have you been approached by the pharmaceutical companies? Because usually they’re looking for this kind of breakthrough product.

Dr. Sharma: You’re absolutely right. They are basically opposed to it. And the reason is because this kind of preparation they cannot patent, because it’s a natural preparation. They would like to really isolate the active ingredient. And there’s not a single active ingredient in Maharishi Amrit Kalash because it’s a mixture of different nutrients which are working in synergy. So you cannot really isolate one thing and use it. So basically, that’s why they really are not interested.

Initially, I tell you, about ten or fifteen years ago when people heard of Amrit at a conference, there were some specialists, some investigators from a major drug company. I’m not going to name it. And they were very excited. And I asked them, “You will be interested in research on this?” He said, “No, no, no. We are not interested in research. And as a matter of fact, if this thing becomes big, we’ll try to see that this thing is no good. Because if it really becomes a competitor, then we’ll try to fight it out. But I think times have changed.

Q: Hopefully. Hopefully, consciousness-based living is on the rise. Can you describe for us how Amrit Kalash is prepared? Because people have concerns sometimes, perhaps that India does not have state-of-the-art production methods in terms of how the herbs are cultivated and then refined and that the product is made with modern manufacturing standards.

Dr. Sharma: I think that’s a very good question. I’ve been there in the manufacturing plant where it is in India. And this area in India is an export zone. Whatever is being manufactured there goes outside the country. It is not consumed by the country. So there are very strictly monitored quality control measures there. And all these different herbs, when they’re collected, when they come into the manufacturing plant, each one is identified by a herbalist, by a botanist, to make sure this is the herb they are looking for, and it’s the proper part of the plant. If it’s not, it is discarded. The herbs are also tested for contamination by bacteria and heavy metals. Because if they find contamination, they discard it.

Then they are also tested by this HPLC chemical process to make sure the different chemicals are there in the herbs. When the herbs pass all these parameters, then they go through the process.

As far as the technology and equipment is concerned, they have state-of-the-art equipment. They imported the equipment from outside the country, and they manufacture under hygienic conditions and they have a very strict quality control. I know of different companies which are manufacturing ayurvedic mixtures, and I think the MAPI facilities are the best.

When it comes to the North American consumer, it’s tested again here in the US for heavy metals and bacterial contamination to make sure everything is proper. Otherwise it will not pass, even, through the FDA and the customs department. And then it is of course distributed here by MAPI.

Q: Magic wand for the moment. If every person in America was taking Amrit on a daily basis, what kind of changes would we see in American health care?

Dr. Sharma: I think you would see a tremendous change. However, f you really wanted to see a change in health, we would have to do more than just take Amrit.

Q: Of course.

Dr. Sharma: We would need to also change our behavior. We would need to do something for the mind also — like meditation for which I think Transcendental Meditation is very good. But Amrit alone will change a lot for the health of the people who take it. Because it has a lot of good qualities in a variety of different areas.

Q: That’s great. And what has been the history of Amrit? Were there people who lived into their hundreds practicing meditation and taking Amrit on a daily basis?

Dr. Sharma: Yes. Those who did really all these things, they lived a long life. But at the same time, people say, you go to India, people are dropping dead all the time. The thing is they are not practicing these things in every day India. So you cannot hold India up as an example of these things because unless people practice authentic, ayurveda they cannot reap the benefits.

Q: That’s really an important distinction because you’re quite right. Americans look over at India and they say, “But aren’t these people doing the ayurvedic practices that are being talked about?” And what you’re saying is that, to a very large degree, they are not?

Dr. Sharma: They’re not.

Q: Right. And that this knowledge of Ayurveda has really only recently come back into its wholeness and its purity.

Dr. Sharma: That’s right. It is very important to really give out this knowledge to as large a number of people as possible so they know what is available. If they don’t know, they’re missing the whole thing.

Q: Dr Sharma, you grew up in India and I understand that you had your training in western medicine. But as a child, did you show any interest in ayurveda? and the ayurveda that you were exposed to, is this the ayurveda that now is becoming so popular in this country?

Dr. Sharma: It’s a very interesting thing. When I was growing up, I was really taken over by the western medical system. And that was my total education. And I was introduced to ayurveda because ayurvedic physicians are all over India. My father-in-law was an ayurvedic physician. And when I was in medical school, he tried to teach me, but I sort of ignored it. So I didn’t learn anything.

And it’s only after I came in contact with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation program, that I learned a lot about ayurveda and vedic medicine. Then I did a lot of research. The effect is total transformation. Now, I’ve given up allopathic (Western) medicine completely. I was learning all those things at Ohio State and gave it up. So I took early retirement to do work full-time in ayurvedic medicine.

Q: And so you’re now continuing to explore, both personally and professionally, ayurvedic medicine.

Dr. Sharma: Yes

Q: Wonderful. Very exciting. Hopefully that will be the future of medicine in America, that more and more allopathic physicians get training in ayurvedic medicine.

Dr. Sharma: I hope so.

Q: When you give lectures are people in North America really interested in this knowledge?

Dr. Sharma: The interest in ayurveda is really rising. I mean, all the conferences I’m involved in giving, and there are more and more people coming to those conferences, more physicians and more interest.

Q: When you address physician groups across the country and let them know about the research on Amrit, how do they respond? Are they interested? Are they excited? Do they want to see their patients, whose health they are charged with, taking Amrit on a daily basis? What’s the pulse of the medical profession?

Dr. Sharma: They want to know where they can get it.

Q: Great

Dr. Sharma:
The one thing is they want to get it for their family, and then comes the patients. I think, when the knowledge is there, and they know the importance and the scientific basis, they want to have it, and they want to give it to their patients too.

Q: How many people in the United Sates, do you estimate, are currently taking Amrit Kalash on a daily basis?

Dr. Sharma: To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea.
Q:
Because it’d be fascinating to compare that group over time, a kind of Framingham study, to controls of the same age, and follow the morbidity and mortality.

Dr. Sharma: That would be a fascinating study. But a long term study like that is quite expensive.

Q: I’m trying to picture your days at the Ohio State College of Medicine. I know how conservative that medical schools and medical universities can be, and here you are, a professor of pathology and director of cancer prevention, and you say that you want to start researching Maharishi Amrit Kalash. That must have raised a few eyebrows. Did you get much resistance to your research proposals?

Dr. Sharma: I think, in general, there was resistance not only at Ohio State, but at every other place. But I must say that Ohio State left me alone because I was interested in investigating. And if you’re investigating something, they don’t really concern themselves with what you’re doing as far as the research. But the other researchers, they were talking behind my back that he’s gone off the deep end. He has done all this work for all of his life, he has a nice career, and now he’s working on this. They were concerned and they were sort of laughing behind my back. But when the results started coming, very good results, then they stopped talking behind my back. And when the results got published, then they wanted to join the team.

Now, the publication of this material was not easy, I can tell you that. When the results came out, I had to literally pick up the phone and fight with the editors because they were not prepared to publish it. The first thing was, “Well, it’s not allopathic medicine. It’s herbal medicine. This is not in our field, so we cannot publish it. So it took some time, after fighting, that these things got published. The same thing happened with presentations also. And now you have all these alternative medicine journals and all that. So a lot of things have changed. But it was, initially, not an easy thing to do research in herbal mixtures. And, even if you find something, it was not easy to get it published.

Q: Right. Well, on behalf of American medicine and the general public, I thank you for persisting because, really, you set the standard no only for researching ayurvedic medicine, but also, really, ushering in the herbal medicine revolution in this country. And it’s easy to forget how way out there you must have been perceived in coming up with such a radical answer to free radicals.

Dr. Sharma: Thank you.

Q: Let me have you step back for a moment and perhaps you and I can dialogue about where the future of medicine is going. You know, what we hear about is still mainly in terms of high-tech, the gene-nome project, organ transplantation, but what do you see as the future of medicine, and where we can be in the next century, in the new millennium?

Dr. Sharma: I think where medicine is really going to go forward now is in those areas it is receiving pressure from the consumers. And consumers are basically not very happy with what is going on. I know it’s high-tech medicine and there are a lot of pharmaceuticals, but the outcome is results. And the results show the diseases which were really giving a lot of trouble before, are still there. Also, many of the pharmaceuticals cause other problems. And the only way to come out of this rut, in my opinion, is to have a medicine based on consciousness. If the underlying mechanism is based on consciousness, from which everything comes out, and if we have that knowledge and then introduce that knowledge into the medical system. That is the future of medicine. And slowly but surely, I think it will get incorporated. I mean, in your field, you know psychiatry has changed, and more and more people are now interested in mind-body medicine. More people are jumping into this.

Q: You know, it’s interesting. Most of the potent medicines that we had even in the allopathic tradition are plant-derived, whether we’re talking about aspirin which comes from the bark of the white willow tree, or penicillin which is mold, a primitive plant-like structure, or digitalis, digoxins are coming from the foxglove plant, tomoxifen coming from a tree in the great northwest. Plants have always been a significant source of healing. And, certainly, 80 percent of the world still relies on herbal products for healing disease.

It seems new to most Americans because we have been sold such a bill of goods by the pharmaceutical companies who have been looking to isolate magic bullets, so to speak. But the future of medicine, I think, is going to come back to a realignment with Mother Nature once again, including our diets having less fat, highly processed foods, and more fruits and vegetables. And ayurvedic tradition pays a great deal of attention to various spices and foods that are important with the change of seasons and with optimizing health.

And the other shift I think we’re going to see in the medicine of the millennium is the medicine of optimum health. How do we recreate individuals who can live at their full human potential? And I certainly have been excited for the last 30 years about the research on the Transcendental Meditation technique, which has been researched in over 600 universities around the world in over 26 countries. And with research and science, the Scientific American, the American Journal of Physiology, showing that it produces a very unique state of restful alertness, a state of consciousness, transcendental consciousness that has profound health benefits. And we will see more and more Americans looking to practice transcendental meditation on a twice daily basis, turning to ayurvedic medicine, to help them stay in an optimal state of well-being so they will need less medical care during their lifetime.

Dr. Sharma: Very nicely put. I totally agree with you.

Q: It’s been my great pleasure to have as our guest today Dr. Hari Sharma, a professor emeritus at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, a professor of pathology and former director of the cancer prevention and natural products research, who has been one of the leading scientists and researchers of the herbal medicine revolution.

Reincarnation/Questions Answered by Expert Richard Salva

Reincarnation/How soon after death till someone takes rebirth and how can you know?

Question

I have recently lost my love in an accident, and i feel that he desired to come back to earth strongly. How soon after death does someone reincarnate? i believe that i have sensed that he has decided to take rebirth already. Can you try and find them again when they have taken rebirth and what are your chances? I have a strong desire to reconnect with him in whatever birth he takes or roles we play in each others lives, at a soul level i believe i would recognize him if i had the opportunity.

Answer

There are many possibilities for when someone might reincarnate after they pass on. Most return fairly quickly—less than ten years. Some come back almost immediately. Others may wait for decades.

If your lost love left his body with a strong desire to do or experience something in this world (such as seeing you again), and if he did not need a long period of time in the astral world to recover from his passing or some other pain or grief in his life, then it is possible that he has already returned.

To deepen your contact with him I would suggest, if you haven’t already, that you learn to meditate. In meditation you will raise your inner sensitivity, which will help you to recognize him when you meet.

For, if you do have a strong connection with this soul, and especially if there is a strong karma or mutual desire, you are bound to meet again, sooner or later, in this world or the next, in this life or a future lifetime.

The only question, as I say, is recognizing him. The great yoga master, Paramhansa Yogananda, used to point out that lost relatives may reincarnate next door without their former family members recognizing them.

Meditation, as I say, is very helpful in this process. And Yogananda himself described a technique that he himself used to find a lost student of his. He described this technique in his Autobiography of a Yogi:

In the chapter titled “Kashi, Reborn and Discovered,” Yogananda wrote: “My love for Kashi, and [my] pledge to find him after death, night and day haunted me. No matter where I went, his face loomed up before me. I began a memorable search for him, even as long ago I had searched for my lost mother.

“I felt that inasmuch as God had given me the faculty of reason, I must utilize it and tax my powers to the utmost in order to discover the subtle laws by which I could know the boy’s astral whereabouts. He was a soul vibrating with unfulfilled desires, I realized—a mass of light floating somewhere amidst millions of luminous souls in the astral regions. How was I to tune in with him, among so many vibrating lights of other souls?

“Using a secret yoga technique, I broadcasted my love to Kashi’s soul through the microphone of the spiritual eye, the inner point between the eyebrows. With the antenna of upraised hands and fingers, I often turned myself round and round, trying to locate the direction in which he had been reborn as an embryo. I hoped to receive response from him in the concentration-tuned radio of my heart.

“I intuitively felt that Kashi would soon return to the earth, and that if I kept unceasingly broadcasting my call to him, his soul would reply. I knew that the slightest impulse sent by Kashi would be felt in my fingers, hands, arms, spine, and nerves.

“With undiminished zeal, I practiced the yoga method steadily for about six months after Kashi’s death. Walking with a few friends one morning in the crowded Bowbazar section of Calcutta, I lifted my hands in the usual manner. For the first time, there was response. I thrilled to detect electrical impulses trickling down my fingers and palms. These currents translated themselves into one overpowering thought from a deep recess of my consciousness: ‘I am Kashi; I am Kashi; come to me!’

“The thought became almost audible as I concentrated on my heart radio. In the characteristic, slightly hoarse whisper of Kashi, I heard his summons again and again. . . .

“I began to turn round and round, to the undisguised amusement of my friends and the passing throng. The electrical impulses tingled through my fingers only when I faced toward a near-by path, aptly named ‘Serpentine Lane.’ The astral currents disappeared when I turned in other directions.

“‘Ah,’ I exclaimed, ‘Kashi’s soul must be living in the womb of some mother whose home is in this lane.’

“My companions and I approached closer to Serpentine Lane; the vibrations in my upraised hands grew stronger, more pronounced. As if by a magnet, I was pulled toward the right side of the road. Reaching the entrance of a certain house, I was astounded to find myself transfixed. I knocked at the door in a state of intense excitement, holding my very breath. I felt that the successful end had come for my long, arduous, and certainly unusual quest!

“The door was opened by a servant, who told me her master was at home. He descended the stairway from the second floor and smiled at me inquiringly. I hardly knew how to frame my question, at once pertinent and impertinent.

“‘Please tell me, sir, if you and your wife have been expecting a child for about six months?’

“‘Yes, it is so.’ Seeing that I was a swami . . . he added politely, ‘Pray inform me how you know my affairs.’

“When he heard about Kashi and the promise I had given, the astonished man believed my story.

“‘A male child of fair complexion will be born to you,’ I told him. ‘He will have a broad face, with a cowlick atop his forehead. His disposition will be notably spiritual.’ I felt certain that the coming child would bear these resemblances to Kashi.

“Later I visited the child, whose parents had given him his old name of Kashi. Even in infancy he was strikingly similar in appearance to my dear Ranchi student. The child showed me an instantaneous affection; the attraction of the past awoke with redoubled intensity.”

Yogananda went on to write how he helped the reborn Kashi in later years.

You might try this technique, coupled with meditation, to find your lost love. (Remember that a reborn soul will bear some physical similarities to his or her past life, and some changes as well.)

Richard Salva
Author of The Reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln
www.CrystarPress.com

Can people reincarnate with different relations?

Question
I just have a little simple question, I might sound stupid about it, but I need to know. Can our dead loved ones reincarnate in our own family? Can they reincarnate as our children or grand children? For example; Can my very own dad who passed away just 2 years back reborn as my own child? Can they take up any gender in new life? How long do they take to reborn after passing away from one life? Or do they wait for us to be our father again in our new life? I am very confused.

I lost my father 2 years back in Dec 2007. I am pregnant now and have a strong feeling my dad is coming back through me as right after he passed away, within 15 days of his demise with cancer I saw him in my dream where he told me very clearly, I will come to Bangalore(my city) in October. I came to know of my pregnancy in October itself.

Answer
There is evidence to support the assertions of many people that their deceased relatives have been reborn back into their former families as their own grandkids, nieces, nephews, and so on.

Some of these kids have correctly identified items that belonged to their grandparents, aunts or uncles, saying “that’s mine.” As their abilities to speak grew, they recalled specific details of the lives of the deceased, details that no one had shared with them, and sometimes events that their parents had forgotten or had not known.

And so it is certainly possible that your father may be reborn as your child, no matter which gender it is.

After the birth, look for signs without giving your child cues about them. Listen to what he or she says. Watch his or her habits of speech and relating to others.

Especially, look deep into his or her eyes. The eyes are “the windows of the soul” and you should see the same consciousness peering at you through your child’s eyes if he or she is your father reborn.

To answer your other question, it is also possible to have the same parent or parents in future lives, depending on the twin motivations of desire and karma.

Planetary Transformation: The Coming New Earth by Dolores Cannon

There have been many prophecies and visions of our future and the evolution of consciousness of our world. Dolores Cannon has been at the forefront of this investigation, researching what she calls the “lost knowledge”—the origins of life on Earth and throughout the universe. In this article she shares this information, which she admits is controversial: a view of planetary transformation that is both mind-bending and awe-inspiring.

AND I SAW A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH, FOR THE FIRST HEAVEN AND THE FIRST EARTH WERE PASSED AWAY. —REVELATION 21

My research in the field of hypnosis has taken me on unimaginable journeys through time and space to explore the history of the past and the possibilities of the future. When I first began my investigations through past life therapy, I thought I would only find people remembering lives on Earth, because naturally that was all we knew about. My belief system has really been stretched and extended over the past thirty years. As my work progressed, I was given a great deal of information about the beginning of life on Earth. I was told that this is the time for this knowledge to come forth. We are moving into a new world, a new dimension, where this information will be appreciated and applied. During my work, I have heard much about everything being composed of energy; the shape and form is only determined by the frequency and vibration. Energy never dies; it only changes. I have been told that the Earth is changing its vibration and frequency and preparing to rise into a new dimension. There are countless dimensions surrounding us all the time. We cannot see them because as the vibrations speed up, they are invisible to our eyes. It is important for us to know more about this shift to a new dimension because it is coming soon.

Earth is a school that we go to and learn lessons, but it is not the only school. You have lived on other planets and in other dimensions. You have done many, many things you cannot even imagine. Many of the people I have worked with in the last few years have regressed to lifetimes where they were light beings living in a state of bliss. They had no reason to come into the Earth’s density and negativity. They volunteered to come to help mankind and the Earth at this time. I have encountered what I consider to be three waves of these new souls who are living on Earth. They have come at this time because most of those who have been here for lifetime after lifetime have become bogged down in karma and are not advancing. They have lost sight of the purpose for being here. The first wave of these souls, in their late 40s to early 60s now, had the most difficult time adjusting. They didn’t like the violence and ugliness they found in this world and wanted to return “home”—even though they had no idea, consciously, where that might be. The second wave is now in their late 20s and early 30s. They are moving through life much more easily. They are generally focused on helping others, creating no karma, and normally going unnoticed. The third wave is the new children, many of whom are now in their teens. They have come in with all the knowledge needed, on an unconscious level. Their DNA has already been altered and they are prepared to proceed with little or no problems. Some of these children are only nine or ten years old and have already graduated from college. They are forming organizations, and amazingly, these are organizations to help the children of the world!

HOW LIFE ON EARTH BEGAN

In order to understand why these three waves of volunteers have come at this time, we have to go back to the beginning—the beginning of life on our world. I know this information is controversial, but when the same information has come to me over and over in thousands of regressions, I feel we cannot ignore it. Eons ago there was no life on Earth. There were many volcanoes and the atmosphere was full of ammonia. The planet had to be changed for life to begin. In my research I learned that there are Councils that make the rules and regulations for creating life throughout the universe. There are Councils over the solar system, Councils over the galaxy, and Councils over the universe. It is a very ordered system. These higher beings go throughout the universe looking for planets that are suitable for life. They say that when a planet reaches the point where it can sustain life, it is a very momentous occasion in the history of that planet. It is given its Life Charter.

Then various groups of ETs or higher beings are given the assignment to go and begin life on that planet. These beings are called the Archaic Ones or the Ancient Ones. They have been doing this since the beginning of time. This does not put God out of the picture at all—He is very much in the whole picture. These beings first bring in single-cell organisms to get them to divide and form multi-cell organisms. It depends upon the conditions on each planet which organisms form. After they have seeded a planet, they go back to check on the cells from time to time over the eons. Often the cells do not survive, and they find the planet lifeless again. These beings have told me, “You have no idea how fragile life is.”

So down through time they did this on Earth, and life began to form. And after a time plants began to form, because you have to have plants before you can introduce animals. As life began to develop, they kept coming back to see and care for it. They formed the oceans and cleansed the air so that various life forms could evolve. Eventually the higher beings began to create an intelligent being. This has happened on every planet; this is the way life is formed.

In my books, I have called these beings “keepers of the garden,” because we are the garden; we are their children. Now in order to create an intelligent being they had to take an animal with a large enough brain that it could begin to learn things, and one that had hands so it could develop tools. This is why they chose the ape. Some people don’t go along with this, but the truth is that we are 98% genetically compatible. You could give blood to an ape and it would live; that’s how close we are genetically. But even so, creating the human being required genetic manipulations and mixing in other cells and genes brought from all over the universe to create the different races. They said we will never find the missing link; it doesn’t exist. Our evolution jumped generations. It did not happen by random chance.

Over time, whenever something needed to be given to humanity, these beings would come and live with humans and give them what they needed. Every culture in the world has legends of the culture bringer. The Indians have the corn woman who taught them how to plant. There are legends of the ones who taught us about fire and how to develop agriculture. In all the legends of the world these beings come from the sky or from across the sea. These were the teachers, and they could live as long as they wanted. They are the ones who have come down to us as legends of gods and goddesses. It is still happening now, but they cannot live among us; they would be too conspicuous.

So when they want to give us new ideas to speed up our evolution, they put them into the atmosphere. Whoever picks up on that idea is the one who will invent it. They don’t care who invents it as long as it is in the timeline. An example of this is free energy, which I am hearing in my travels that people are developing all over the world.

THE LOST GARDEN OF EDEN

When an intelligent being was created on Earth, the Council decided to give us free will and see what we do with it. There are planets where there is no free will. The Star Trek directive of non-interference is very, very real. This is part of the Council’s directives: they cannot interfere with the development of an intelligent species. They can help by teaching us and giving us knowledge, but they cannot interfere. Even when we take what has been given to us and turn it into something destructive, they cannot interfere or tell us not to do it. We were supposed to be a perfect species that never got sick and could live as long as we want.

Earth was supposed to be like a Garden of Eden, a perfect place, but something unexpected happened and changed the whole plan. When life was beginning to develop nicely, a meteorite hit the Earth and it brought bacteria that caused disease. This was the first time disease was introduced to the Earth. When this happened the beings overseeing Earth’s evolution went back to the Council. They asked what to do now that their perfect experiment was spoiled. There was great sadness. The question was whether to destroy everything and start over, or to allow life to continue to develop. The Council decided to let it go ahead and evolve because so much time and effort had been involved. They allowed it even though they knew, because of disease, that life on Earth would never be perfect as originally planned. These higher beings continued to observe our evolution from afar, but something happened in the 1940s that really caught their attention: the explosion of the atomic bomb.

This is something we were not supposed to have at our stage of evolution. They knew we would not be able to control it, that we would use it for destruction. Destruction of the Earth would not be allowed because it would reverberate throughout the galaxies, disturbing too many planets and even life on other dimensions. It was during this time, at the end of the 1940s and beginning of the 1950s, that UFO sightings began to be publicized. The higher beings went back to the Council and asked what to do since they are not allowed to interfere with mankind’s free will. That is when the Council came up with what I think is a brilliant plan. They said, “We cannot interfere from the outside, but what about if we help from the inside?” It is not interfering when you ask for volunteers to come in and help. This is how the call was given throughout the universe for souls to come to help the Earth.

The people on Earth have been caught in the cycle of reincarnation, on the wheel of karma, for hundreds and hundreds of lives, coming back and making the same mistakes over and over again. We are supposed to be evolving but we are not. This was the main reason Jesus and the other great Prophets came to Earth: to teach people how to get off the wheel of karma, to help humanity to evolve. But we are still making the same mistakes over and over again: creating wars and so much violence. So the people on Earth were not going to be able to save the Earth.

It needed pure souls who are not caught in the wheel of karma, who have never been to Earth before. In the last five years of my work I am finding more and more souls who have come directly from God. I have had people go back to where they were ETs, to where they were on other dimensions, to where they were light beings and did not need a body. The volunteers who come have a sheath or cover over their souls so they cannot accumulate karma, because once they accumulate karma they have to be reborn again and again. Now there are tens of thousands of these new souls all over the world, and the higher beings have said they don’t have to worry about us destroying the Earth. They say we have finally tipped the balance. We are going to be able to save the world. I have asked to know what God is. They said that our conception is just a tiny thread of what He truly is. We cannot even begin to conceptualize what He is.

They all describe God in the same way: He is not a man—if anything He would have been a woman, because women are the creative force. But God is neither man nor woman. He is a huge Source of all energy, described as an immense Fire or Light. Some call God the Great Central Sun, a huge energy Source, and yet so full of love, total love. One being described the Source as “The heart of the Sun. The heart of God.” When the pure beings who have come directly from God go back to the Source, they do not want to leave. This is where we all began; we were originally one with this Source. The souls who have come directly from God say that there is no separation; it is all one. I have asked, if you loved it so much, why did you come? They all said the same thing: “I heard the call.” Even the ones who are ETs have said the same thing. And when they come in, like all of us, their memories are erased. I have asked, wouldn’t it be easier if we remember why we have come? They said it wouldn’t be a test if you knew the answers.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF 2012

The question has been asked whether there will be a fourth wave. It will not be necessary because something else is going to happen: we are moving into a New Earth—the first time it has ever happened in the history of the universe. Many civilizations have perished down through history because of man. Atlantis was one example but there were many others. Each of these civilizations had tremendous advances. They had psychic abilities; they could do anything with their minds. The men of those times wanted more—power and greed—so eventually they violated the laws of the universe and they had to be brought down.

Each time this happened, some humans were left to start civilization over again. This has happened time after time after time. The higher beings say we must understand this because we are reaching that point again. They do not want to have to destroy humanity, so they came up with this idea that has never been done before: the New Earth. The Earth is going to evolve to a higher dimension whether it takes us with it or not. It is a living being. If we want to go with it, our vibrations have to match the new vibrations. And beings all over the universe are watching us to see—are we going to be able to pull this off? Many civilizations have disappeared from the Earth without a trace. Among these are the Mayans, the Anasazi, and many others.

During regressions I have had people go back to those times. Each of these ancient cultures evolved spiritually to a point that their entire civilization moved into a higher dimension. The Mayans saw that the next great advancement was going to be when the entire world would shift into a higher dimension. This is what they saw happening in 2012. It is not the end of the world; it is when the entire world moves into a new dimension.

The transition began around 2003. The culmination is going to be in 2012. Time is speeding up. Earth’s frequencies and vibrations are changing. But not everyone is going to go, just as it says in the Bible: “Then two shall be in the field; the one will be taken, the other left.” It is very real. When the transformation reaches its peak in 2012 the energy becomes so strong it will push the Earth into the new dimension. There will not be anything dramatic; it will be very subtle, very slow, and only those who are really aware will know anything is happening.

Things will look different and feel different. The old Earth is where we are going to have all the catastrophes, and these are going to increase because the Earth is lifting itself as it shifts. You cannot change your frequency or vibration immediately; it would be too strong and would destroy your body. It has to be done in stages. Many of us can sense on another level of our being that something is happening. With the changes subtly going on around us, our physical bodies must also change in order to adjust. Some of these physical symptoms are unpleasant and cause concern. Just be aware of what is happening: the body is adjusting and adapting to different energy levels so it can move on.

PREPARING FOR THE NEW EARTH

As the New Earth is formed, when you first cross over, you will be in your physical body. Eventually over time it will turn into a light body, just the way these other beings are. My subjects are being told that they must change their diet in order to make the adjustment into the new world. You have to be lighter. Heavy foods will hold you to the old Earth. They have said many times that the ideal foods are live foods: fresh fruits and vegetables. Lighter foods will allow you to change your vibration and the frequency more easily. They say to stay away from sugar, and to drink lots and lots of water; the true value of water is unfathomable.

Many people have asked, “What am I supposed to be doing?” We are here to help each other, being there for each other. There are two things that we have to get rid of in order to go to the New Earth: negative karma and fear. There is good karma and negative karma. As long as you are bogged down with negative karma, you are going to remain on the old Earth, because the way the law of karma is set up, you must repay it. Too many people are caught up in negative karma and do not know how to release it. That is the reason why new souls had to come, because they don’t have karma, and they can help others to release theirs. You have had many lifetimes with the same people, going over the same circumstances and not resolving it.

Until you can stop that cycle and get off of the wheel of karma, you are not going to be able to evolve upward. The way to get rid of negative karma is to forgive and let go. Some of my clients have said, “I can’t forgive them, you don’t know what they did to me.” That is what makes people sick: holding on to this baggage and garbage and not letting it go. You have to let it go because it is not hurting the other person, it is only hurting you.

The first thing you’re going to have to do is forgive. Now, sometimes that is difficult to do face to face with the person. And sometimes the person with whom you have negative karma has died. You don’t have to face the person to ask for forgiveness and to forgive them; you can do it mentally. Picture the person in your mind and just speak to him or her mentally. Focus on the person and send your forgiveness and love. Everything comes back to love. It all goes back to your treating others as you would want to be treated yourself. It begins to turn to the vibration of love and that is the most powerful thing there is. Now, the second thing you have to do after that is to forgive yourself, which is also very difficult. People are always good at blaming others without looking at themselves. It takes two to create a situation.

Even though you consider yourself to be the victim, you’re still a part of the whole thing, perhaps even from a previous lifetime. You have to look deep inside to be able to see and accept your part in the circumstances, and then forgive yourself. Release it and let it go. It has no place in your life any more. The second most important thing they say you have to do if you want to go to the New Earth is let go of fear. Fear is a paralyzing emotion. It’s the strongest emotion a human has. If you don’t understand something you are going to be afraid of it. Fear drags you down and holds you back. If you have love there is no fear, but many people live their entire lives in fear. There is so much on TV, in movies, and elsewhere trying to generate fear. You have to think for yourself and ask lots of questions.

Make up your own mind. Then what you come up with will be your truth. Most of the time what we fear never happens anyway. Fear is so powerful that when you think of something on and on, through the law of attraction you draw that very thing toward you. You have to get rid of fear because it is debilitating and binding; it will hold you to the old Earth. Meditation is very helpful. They say the best time to meditate is just before the sun comes up, when all the Earth is quiet and still. Any time that you can set aside for yourself to be quiet, alone, and just relax will be beneficial. Then ask your questions and listen for your answers.

At a recent conference I attended, Annie Kirkwood, author of Mary’s Message to the World, described a vision she had of this transformation. She saw the Earth sphere begin to pull apart, like a cell when it divides in two, and then it separated into two Earths. And on the New Earth she heard them saying, “We did it, we did it!” On the old Earth she heard them saying, “Poor thing, she died believing all that.” One group is not even going to be aware that anything has happened.

I would like to end with a quotation from my book, Convoluted Universe Book Three, a message given during a session with one of the souls who have come directly from God “You are God. It is given to you to manifest your God beingness. Open your God self, and allow the light to enter. From within, will come such light. It will manifest from the very core of your being. The world which you envision is already inside of you. You are not moving to another planet. You are breaking out of your shell. This planet—this shell—is bringing forth that light. It is given to you to enter your light fully, fully and to draw it out. And to say, I AM LIGHT. Nothing in God’s beingness can exist without the permission of God. I say to you, YOU ARE GODS. YOU ARE THE LIGHT!”

© 2010 by Dolores Cannon. Dolores Cannon is a past-life regressionist and hypnotherapist who specializes in the recovery and cataloging of “Lost Knowledge.” She has been specializing in past-life therapy since 1979. She is the author of fifteen books and has made over 1000 radio appearances. She travels all over the world teaching her unique technique of hypnosis and bringing the message of the coming New Earth. This article was compiled from an interview with Dolores Cannon by Light of Consciousness, as well as her DVD, Awaken, from a November 2009 lecture in Long Beach, CA, and her books The Convoluted Universe Book Two and Book Three.

Dolores Cannon speaking on “Moving Into the New Earth” at the 16th Annual International UFO Congress Convention and Film Festival

Dolores Cannon on Earth Transformation

Past-life regressionist Dolores Cannon spoke about 2012 in terms of being a dimensional shift into the New Earth, and touched on her work with Nostradamus. She believes she communicated across time with the great seer, who told her the future is not set in stone, but there are certain nexus points that have to happen.

Sathya Sai Baba, Revered Hindu ‘Living God,’ Mourned In India After Death At 84

PUTTAPARTI, India (AP) — Thousands of mourners paid last respects Monday to Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian religious leader revered by millions for spiritual and healing powers but dismissed by some as a charlatan who passed off magic tricks as miracles. (Scroll down for photos)

Sai Baba’s death Sunday triggered an outpouring of grief from followers who included Indian politicians, movie stars, athletes and industrialists. Most remembered him as a pious, selfless person who worked to help others with the billions of dollars donated to his charitable trust.

Within India, the 84-year-old guru was instantly recognizable, with a halo of frizzy dark hair and orange robes – the color of holiness in India.

His photographs adorned millions of homes, car dashboards and lockets worn by Indian and foreign devotees. Many made annual pilgrimages to his ashram in Puttaparti, a town in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh where he was born.

Upon his death, thousands flocked to the ashram’s main auditorium, where his body lay displayed inside a glass coffin surrounded by flower garlands and devotees in prayer.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar wiped away tears as he sat with his family and other mourners. Some sang religious songs.

Hundreds of volunteers – men dressed in white trousers and shirts with blue scarves, and women in saris and yellow scarves – guided mourners in an orderly line around Sai Baba’s body, above which stood a life-sized portrait of the guru.

Piles of shoes, discarded by those entering the ashram, lined the road outside the temple complex. Police controlled road traffic and crowds in the town.

The Dalai Lama said Monday he was saddened by Sai Baba’s passing. “I would like to convey my condolences and prayers to all the followers, devotees and admirers of the late spiritual leader,” the Tibetan Buddhist leader said in a statement.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, said the country would remember Sai Baba as someone who “inspired millions to lead a moral and meaningful life.”

Sai Baba’s body will be on display through Tuesday, and hundreds of thousands are expected to visit before his state funeral Wednesday morning.

Sai Baba spiritual centers, or ashrams, exist in more than 126 countries. He was said to perform miracles, conjuring jewelry, Rolex watches and “vibhuti” – a sacred ash that his followers applied to their foreheads – from his hair.

But rationalist critics called him a charlatan and his miracles fake. Several news reports alleged he sexually abused devotees – accusations he denied as smear campaigns.

The allegations and criticism did not reduce the intense devotion from his followers.

Health problems forced Sai Baba to reduce public appearances in recent years. He had been hospitalized for nearly a month.

The trust – estimated to be worth at least $8.9 billion and possibly much more – has no named successor, but a statement said there would be no leadership vacuum.

Sai Baba devotees mourn death

Devotees of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who passed away on Sunday (April 24) morning due to a cardio-respiratory failure in Puttaparthi, mourned the sad demise of the spiritual guru. Baba, who was 86, breathed his last at 7.40 am at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences.

The Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President’s brother to arrive in puttaparthi to join thousands of others in paying their last respects to Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

From Spiritual Intoxication to Spiritual Evolution ~ Andrew Cohen

Whenever I contemplate the mystery of consciousness and how it evolves within and through us, I am always struck by the same thing: How easy it is to see a glorious future in those moments when we are spiritually awake, when our awareness is enlightened — and how difficult it is to see that glory when it is not.

When spirit overwhelms us, when we experience higher states of consciousness, previously unseen worlds open up to us. On the wings of spiritual ecstasy, deeper and higher human capacities for penetrating insight, profound cognition, blissful intimacy and all-encompassing love reveal themselves in all their glory.

It is, in many ways, very similar to what it’s like when we fall in love. When we fall in love, the surging waves of surrendered affection carry with them an experience of a trust and vulnerability that is intoxicating, spiritually fulfilling and life-affirming. And when we fall out of love, the bond of trust disintegrates, intimacy evaporates, and transparency and vulnerability disappear. The thrill of euphoric unity is gone and one is alone again, trapped in the prison of one’s own personal mind and separate ego.

The same sequence often follows extraordinary episodes of spiritual illumination. When we experience states of consciousness beyond ego and realize spiritual communion with others, we enter into another dimension that literally transcends the old and familiar. And in this new world, we discover a oneness, an ecstatic intimacy, an ease of being and a unity of mind that make all things possible. But when those higher states eventually dissipate, too often the palpable sense of unlimited possibility is nowhere to be found.

In the new enlightenment, in what I call Evolutionary Enlightenment, the goal is individual and collective conscious evolution in real time. That specifically points to the co-creation of new structures in consciousness, psyche and culture. It’s about creating the future from the inside out. And this process always begins with transformation at the very deepest depths of our own selves — a transformation that shines out and touches the world around us with the immediacy of its own radiance and potency.

In the early stages of our own spiritual development, we are dependent upon the experience of euphoric states to be able to see, feel and know that these higher potentials really do exist. The bliss and ecstasy of those states temporarily breaks the deep and often unconscious shackles of postmodernity: nihilism, cynicism, narcissism and materialism.

It frees our awareness to expand in all directions, to embrace not only the outer limits but also the innermost core of our larger body, the entire cosmos. When we share that liberating existential clarity with others, a truly enlightened perspective emerges. Together we can see and feel, directly cognize, and intuit a glorious future that is possible to create here and now, in the present moment — not as a remote ideal but as the most screamingly imminent potential imaginable.

When many individuals simultaneously know and experience the perfection of the possible, Spirit itself calls us all to its own next step. Indeed, we are compelled to be the future that we see. Under the intoxicating influence of spiritual bliss, all of the individual and collective ego’s fears and attachments are rendered null and void. But until the individual or individuals have actually taken that next step, until those higher potentials have become a permanent attainment, our ability to see the future that we want to create will always depend upon the experience of spiritual intoxication.

However, when we do the unthinkable, when we actually and demonstrably evolve to a higher stage beyond the veiling influence of postmodern existential confusion, we will be able to see that future as easily as we see our own face when we look in the mirror. Seeing that glory will no longer be dependent upon the presence of a higher state because we will already be there. From that point on, we will always only be creating the world that we have already become.

‘Discover Evolutionary Enlightenment, A New Path to Spiritual Awakening’

God Soul Mind Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Reflections on the Spirit World ~Michael Graziano

For 20 years at Princeton University I studied how the brain processes sensory information and controls movement, but lately I’ve become interested in a more esoteric question, the big question of neuroscience: the brain basis of consciousness. There is now a conceptually simple theory that in principle can account for consciousness, that has emerged over the past 10 to 15 years, and that in my view is likely to be correct at least in its general outlines, although a great deal of scientific controversy still surrounds the topic. I wrote about this theory in my recent book, God Soul Mind Brain.

This theory of consciousness begins with something called social perception. Humans are social animals, and not surprisingly the human brain has special-purpose machinery that allows us to be socially intelligent — to reconstruct information about the contents of other people’s minds. When I interact with another person, I reconstruct what he might be thinking and feeling. I monitor what he might be aware of or what he might be attending to. All of this information forms a linked, interconnected bundle of data, an informational model of another person’s mind, computed inside my own brain. It is a perceptual model of someone else’s consciousness, and the study of the brain circuitry that computes this type of perceptual model is called social neuroscience.

Social neuroscience arguably began in the 1960s with experiments on monkeys. Monkeys are social animals, and it was discovered that neurons in a particular brain area carry information of social relevance, such as visual information about faces or about body gestures. The scientist who made these initial discoveries was Charles Gross, my long-time mentor. I worked in his lab for many years.

The findings from monkeys were picked up by many scientists and extended to the human brain, mainly by putting people in MRI scanners and measuring brain activity. It turns out that the human brain contains specific areas, mainly in the right hemisphere, but to some extent on both sides, that emphasize the task of social perception: of building an informational model of another person’s mind. Damage to these brain areas can lead to a disability in social perception.

Now I would like to draw a distinction between two items: social perception and social cognition. The terms are used differently by different scientists, and the border between them is not absolute. We understand other people’s minds at many different levels, some more cognitive and some more perceptual. But generally speaking, one might think of social cognition as more a process of intellectually figuring out what might be in someone’s mind and social perception as more intuitive, more basic.

One of the best examples to get across this distinction is ventriloquism. In ventriloquism, as an audience member looking at the puppet, you know intellectually, cognitively, that there is no conscious mind in its head. But perceptually, you fall for the illusion. That is what makes ventriloquism fun. When a good ventriloquist makes the puppet move in realistic ways, directs its gaze with good timing, makes it react to its environment in a plausible way, the effect pops out. You can’t help feeling as if consciousness, awareness, agency were emanating from the puppet. The social machinery in your brain constructs an informational model of a conscious mind that you project onto the puppet. In fact, you build two perceptual models of minds, one that you project onto the performer and the other that you project onto the puppet. Ventriloquists have worked out a set of tricks to enhance this illusion of two separate minds. That is why the puppet always has a different tone of voice and usually argues with the performer.

Ventriloquism is an exotic example, but this tendency to perceive mind in things is something we do every day. How many times have you gotten mad at your car? You know it doesn’t have a mind, but you can’t help constructing that perceptual model. We do the same thing to our TVs and to our computers. Some people talk to their plants. Children talk to their stuffed animals.

We do the same thing with respect to each other. When I meet a new person, my brain constructs an informational model of a mind, a consciousness, and attributes it to that person. That model allows me to predict the person’s behavior, at least to some extent, and to interact more effectively.

According to the theory, I do the same thing with respect to myself. I perceive consciousness in myself. My brain constructs a perceptual model of a mind that thinks this and that, feels this and that and is aware of this and that; the mind is attributed to my own location. That model provides an organized, coherent way for me to understand myself — to predict and help guide my behavior. It is not always accurate; it is woefully incomplete; but it is a useful model of myself.

This realization that consciousness is a perception is counterintuitive. We think of consciousness as something ghostly that inhabits an object. But according to this neuro-social theory, consciousness is a perception that is attributed to something. Like beauty, consciousness is in the eye of the beholder. Our brains actively paint consciousness onto ourselves and onto the objects around us.

The implications for spiritual belief are rather startling. In this theory, the spirit world is the complex, richly detailed universe of social perception, the perception of mind. We not only perceive consciousness in ourselves and in others, but we perceive it in the objects and spaces around us. Spiritualism is a fundamental mode of perception by which humans relate to the world. In this view, spiritualism is not an incorrect theory; not a misapplication of rational thought; not pseudoscience. One of the reasons why scientific rationalism has such trouble dealing with religion is that spirituality is not generally about rational thought, evidence or logical inference. At root it is a built-in tendency to construct perceptions of mind, project them around us, and then move through and interact with that perceptual world.

I find myself in the end with a theory that does not fit neatly into anyone’s political bunker. It is decidedly materialistic and atheistic. Yet according to the theory, spirits exist — deities, ghosts, souls, the consciousness of other people, one’s own consciousness — as rich perceptual simulations run on the hardware of the brain. That perceptual world has psychological reality and genuine importance to human existence.

God Soul Mind Brain
By Michael Graziano

Reviewed by By Peter Clarke
As the title suggests, this short book deals with the role of the brain in thought, consciousness and religious experience (all in 170 pages!). The main claims are that certain parts of the brain contain “specialized social hardware” and that this is responsible for: 1) the perception of other people’s intentions and emotions; 2) the illusory perception of “presences, spirits, ghosts and gods”; 3) the perception of our own conscious self. The first half of the book approaches these questions in rather general philosophical terms, and the second half focuses on brain function.

The book is an easy and interesting read, intended for those with no specialized knowledge. It has no references at all, but a short list of suggested further reading. As a neuroscientist myself, and therefore not a member of the target readership, I may be too critical, but I feel that new and controversial theses should first be debated before a specialist audience before being presented in a book with no references.

Not that all in the book is new or controversial. Indeed, the first of Graziano’s claims is certainly not. He describes with admirable clarity some of the more interesting results of systems neurophysiology over the last fifteen years, including mirror neurons, and gives standard interpretations.

His second claim that “presences, spirits, ghosts and gods” result from the illusory attribution of mind to inanimate objects is also not new, because several anthropologists have made similar proposals since the 19th C to explain the origins of animism. But in claiming that all religious experience is illusory Graziano does brook controversy. He also states with almost no argument that “There are no fundamental moral truths of the universe. Morality is not defined outside of us; it is a physiological construct of the brain.” In saying this he appears to commit the fallacy of “nothingbuttery”. All beliefs and experiences are presumably constructs of the brain, but does that make them all illusory? Puzzlingly, he also claims that he is not anti-religious and that he does not want to explain away religion, which makes me wonder if I have misunderstood him, but he writes explicitly on p50 “The spirit world … is a creation of the brain. It is a perceptual illusion”.

Graziano’s third claim seems to me the most original, and it is here that I would have most wished for a less popular approach. He claims to have no less than a solution to the problem of consciousness (including qualia)! His essential idea is that our social brain machinery, which evolved to represent the minds of others, when turned inwards creates consciousness. I don’t know whether this idea is new, but it was to me. I find it very interesting, but not yet well supported and not a solution to the problem of consciousness. Graziano recognizes the difficulty of the problem on p16: “How can awareness itself be explained as the processing of information in the brain? It turns out, however, that even this long-sought philosophical – one might say alchemical – understanding of mind falls into place rather neatly when considering the brain hardware that is tuned to social perception.” He deals with this in more detail in chapter 4 (“Explaining Consciousness”). His arguments there do not convince me that he has solved problem of consciousness, but they are interesting.

There are a few minor errors. For example, Graziano writes on p141 that “the emotional content of the hypothalamus was dicovered in the 1950s in rats”, forgetting the pioneering stimulation experiments of Walter Hess in Zurich in the 1920s and 1930s (Nobel prize in 1949), which showed in great detail the emotional role of the hypothalamus. But on the whole the science in the book is accurate.

A good book for a train journey, even if it doesn’t solve the problem of consciousness.

Biography

Michael Graziano (1967-) is a scientist and novelist. He was born in Connecticut and grew up partly on a farm in upstate New York. He is now a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University and has published five novels, some under a pseudonym. His novels often take the form of parables or metaphors – fairy tales for the modern adult. He also publishes scientific books on the brain.

Saved by Beauty: Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran [Hardcover] By: Roger Housden

Roger Housden traveled to Iran to meet with artists, writers, film makers and religious scholars who embody the long Iranian tradition of humanism, the belief in scholarship and artistry that began with the reign of Cyrus the Great. He traveled to the mountains of Kurdistan to learn from Sufis, whose version of Islam exhorts nothing but tolerance and love. From the bustle of modern Tehran to the paradise gardens of Shiraz to the spectacular mosques and ancient palaces of Isfahan, Housden met Iranians who were warm, welcoming, generous, intellectually curious, and who would recite the poetry of Hafez or Rumi at the slightest opportunity.

Saved By Beauty weaves a richly textured story of many threads. It is a deeply poetic and perceptive appreciation of a culture that has endured for over three thousand years, while it also portrays the creative and spiritual cultures within contemporary Iran that are rarely given any mention in the West. It is a suspense story that reflects on the philosophical and aesthetic questions of good and evil, truth and beauty. And finally, it is the story of a man in his sixties on a personal quest to discover if the Iran of his youthful imagination continued to exist, or whether it had been lost forever under a strict totalitarian regime. In Iran, Roger Housden was brought face to face with the reality that beauty and truth, deceit and violence, are inextricably mingled in the affairs of human life, and was forever changed.

Forty years ago, Roger Housden discovered the poetry of Rumi and Hafez, read tales of exotic Sufis, and was carried away by the music and wisdom of a culture that reached back over three thousand years, ac culture that gave us our word for paradise. Longing to see is the Iran of his imagination continued to exist, or whether it had been lost forever in the revolutionary zeal of the last thirty years, Housden sets off on a journey to discover a country filled with remarkable contradictions. “This books is a pilgrimage, a prayer, a heartfelt reminder, a poet-traveler’s window into the eternal soul of Iran.” –Jack Kornfield

The Four Purposes of Life ~ Dan Millman (updated)

Full of encouraging guidance, The Four Purposes of Life speaks to all those who seek to better understand their place in the world. It can help bring your life into focus by providing a clear look at what you’re doing here — and what you’re really here to do — day by day, moment by moment.

Beginning in the realm of daily life, the book addresses career and calling, including the hidden calling (or destiny-path) you, as an individual, are here to fulfill — and it ends with the most important purpose of all, one that ties together all the others to bring more sense and meaning to all our lives.

Dan Millman’s THE FOUR PURPOSES OF LIFE

Official book trailer for Dan Millman author of THE WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR’s new book THE FOUR PURPOSES OF LIFE: Finding Meaning and Direction in a Changing World which will be landing on bookstore shelves in April 2011. For more information on Dan Milman visit http://www.peacefulwarrior.com.

The Natural Laws of Good Luck A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage By Ellen Graf

Description of The Natural Laws of Good Luck

Ellen is forty-six, divorced, and having no luck with personal ads when her Chinese girlfriend comes up with a plan: she has a brother in China, Zhong-hua, who’s lonely too. Maybe they’d like each other? Taking a leap of faith that most of us wouldn’t dare, Ellen travels to China to meet him. Though they speak only a few words of each other’s language, there’s an unspoken connection between them and they decide to marry.

What follows is a remarkably touching and humorous story of two people from completely different worlds trying to make a marriage work. Settling in at Ellen’s ramshackle farmhouse in upstate New York, they quickly discover the cultural chasm that lies between them. Ellen and her teenage daughter decide to adopt a policy of nonjudgment as Zhong-hua lobbies to sell their refrigerator (“Just three people, no need”), serves them giant sea slugs for dinner, and brusquely nudges Ellen aside without an “excuse me” (“Family no need these kind of words”).

Zhong-hua is not the type to offer his wife impromptu smiles or hugs, but in bed at night he holds her tightly like she’s “something long lost and precious that might not live until morning.” The Natural Laws of Good Luck is an unusual and exquisitely written love story—one that will resonate with anyone who has ever contemplated with wonder the spaces that exist between us and those we care about.

How Do I Pray? by Peter Russell

Mr. Russell is an author, public speaker, and one of the leading thinkers on consciousness and contemporary spirituality.
Someone recently asked me how I prayed. I answered that I pray not for divine intervention in the world around, but for divine intervention in my mind, for therein lies the root of my discontent.

We usually think of prayer as an appeal to God or some other spiritual entity to change the world in some way. We might pray for someone’s healing, for success in some venture, for a better life, or for guidance on some challenging issue. Behind such prayers is the recognition that we don’t have the power to make the world the way we would like it to be – if we did, we would simply get on with the task – so we beseech a higher power to change things for us.

Changing the world in some way or another occupies much of our time and attention. We want to get the possessions, opportunities, or experiences that we think will make us happy – or conversely, to avoid those that will make us suffer. We believe that if only things were different, we would be happy.

This is the ego’s way of thinking. It is founded on the belief that how we feel inside depends upon what is going on around us. When the world is not the way we think it should be, we experience discontent. This can take many forms: dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, annoyance, irritation, depression, despair, sadness, impatience, intolerance, judgment, grievance, even grumbling. Whatever form it may take, this discontent is actually a creation of our own minds. It stems from how we see things, from the interpretations we put on our experience.

For example, if I am stuck in a traffic jam, I can see it as something that is going to make me suffer later – being late for an appointment, missing some experience, or upsetting someone – and thus begin to feel anxious, frustrated, or impatient. Or I can see it as the chance to relax, take it easy, and do nothing for a few minutes. Same situation; two totally different reactions. And the difference is purely in my mind.

The ego believes it has my best interests at heart, and holds on to its view of what I need. Locked into a fixed perception like this, it’s hard for me to see that I am stuck. I blame the world out there, rather than my beliefs about how things should be. So I tell myself a story of what should change in order for me to be happy, and set about trying to make it so.

When I find I cannot make the world the way I think it should be, then I might, if the need seems sufficiently important, beseech some higher power to intervene and change things for me. I am, in effect, asking it to do the bidding of my ego. Yet as most of us have discovered, the ego seldom knows what is truly best for us.

If, on the other hand, I recognize that my suffering may be coming from the way I am seeing things, then it makes more sense to ask not for a change in the world but for a change in my thinking. Instead of praying for the traffic jam to go away, it might be wiser to pray that my feelings of frustration and tension go away.

The help I need is in stepping out of the ego’s way of seeing. So when I pray, I ask, with an attitude of innocent curiosity: “Could there, perhaps, be another way of seeing this?” I do not try to answer the question myself, for that would doubtless activate the ego-mind, which loves to try and work things out for me. I simply pose the question, let it go, and wait.

What then often happens is that a new way of seeing dawns on me. It doesn’t come in the form of words; it comes as an actual shift in perception. I find myself seeing the situation in a new way.

One of the first times I prayed this way concerned some difficulties that I was having with my partner. She wasn’t behaving the way I thought she should (and how many of us have not felt that at times?). After a couple of days of strained relationship, I decided to pray, just inquiring if there might be another way of perceiving this.

Almost immediately, I found myself seeing her in a very different light. Here was another human being, with her own history and her own needs, struggling to navigate a difficult situation. Suddenly everything looked different. I felt compassion for her rather than animosity, understanding rather than judgment. I realized that for the last two days I had been out of love; but now the love had returned.

With conventional prayer I might have prayed for her to change. But the divine intervention I needed was not in her behavior but in my own mind, in the mindsets that were running my thinking.

The results of praying like this never cease to impress me. Invariably, I find my fears and judgments drop away. In their place is a sense of ease. Whoever or whatever was troubling me, I now see through more loving and compassionate eyes. Moreover, the new way of seeing often seems so obvious: Why hadn’t I seen this before? Asking this simple question allows me access to my inner knowing, and lets it shine into my life.

The answer doesn’t always come as rapidly as in the above example, though. Sometimes the shift happens later – in a dream or when I’m relaxing with nothing to do in that moment. The prayer sows the seed; it germinates in its own time. I don’t always get answers to such prayers. But even if I only get an answer half the time, it makes the asking well worthwhile.

The beauty of this approach is that I am not praying to some power beyond myself. I am praying to my own self for guidance. Below the surface thinking of my ego-mind, my inner being knows the truth. It sees where I have become caught in a particular mindset, and is ever-willing to help set me free.

Moreover, since my prayers are directed within, to my own essence, I have no concerns whether or not they will be heard. The one offering the prayer and the one receiving it are the same.

This Is Your Brain On Meditation: Mingyur Rinpoche Describes The Science Of Happiness

A hush fell over the room as Youngey Mingyur Rinpoche took the stage to begin his teaching. Rinpoche, the revered Tibetan Buddhist lama, teacher, and so-called “happiest man in the world” was commencing an Introduction to Awareness Meditation event, hosted by the New York Open Center. Nearly every seat in the large auditorium was occupied.

“How many of you have learned meditation before?” he asked the crowd, solemnly. Many of the audience members raised their hands. “Oh, great. Then I don’t have to teach you!” he quipped, tilting his head back to chuckle. Though Rinpoche’s joking demeanor makes him a popular teacher, he is serious when it comes to meditation practices.

Rinpoche’s teaching is informed by contemporary scientific research. He considers himself to be, as he put it, “a short red guinea pig” — a test subject for some of the most cutting edge neurological theories, and a firm supporter of the ongoing dialogue between science and Buddhism.

Like the Dalai Lama, Mingyur Rinpoche had an early interest in scientific inquiry, and worked with Richard Davidson’s University of Wisconsin laboratory to explore the impact of meditation on the brain. Rinpoche’s interest started at the age of ten, when he met the scientist Francisco Varella in Nepal. “I was very curious” he told the The Huffington Post. “First I started with cosmology, and then learned a lot about neurology.” He came to believe that contemporary scientific theory and his meditation practices were aligned. “Science and meditation teachings are exactly parallel” he explained “but they don’t speak the same language.”

Neuroplasticity

In order to pursue his mission of understanding and transmitting the values of meditation, Rinpoche submitted himself to a series of fMRI tests at Wisconsin University. “After that, they told me I was totally crazy” he joked. What the laboratory tests found, however, had dramatic implications for the scientific community.

Working with the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Research, Mingyur underwent brain imaging scans to test the effects of meditation. The studies found that the brain changed significantly during meditation. “The result”, said Rinpoche, was that my gamma synchronicity was very high. They told me they had never seen this level of synchronicity before.” Gamma synchronicity is the synchronicity of gamma rhythms that represent different populations of neurons “working together” in a network, in order to carry out cognitive functions.

The gamma activity, increased by meditation, remained high even after meditation had ceased. The studies indicated that meditation was an example of neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to change). Simply put, the laboratory concluded that meditation physically alters the brain. “Thirteen years ago they said it was impossible to change the brain after a certain point.” Rinpoche said. “Now, they realize that the brain continues to develop your whole life. From a meditation point of view, of course, this has always been true.”

While participating in scientific discoveries played a significant part in Mingyur’s practice, as he writes, “theoretical understanding alone is simply not enough to overcome the psychological and biological habits that create so much heartache and pain in daily life.”

Making friends with gossipy neurons

By understanding how the mind changes the brain, Rinpoche hopes to inspire new audiences to try meditation. “Many studies have shown that meditation is good for the mind. It’s also good for the body; it is good for the immune system, blood circulation, and overall sense of happiness” he said. At the Open Center event, Rinpoche told his audience: “you know, you have gossipy neurons. One day, one of your neurons might say to another neuron ‘you’re very fat and ugly.’ Then another neuron might say ‘oh, yes! You’re very fat and ugly.’ Then the neurons start to gossip, and they decide it’s true. And if the neurons don’t gossip, you know, they get a little insecure. They like to make problems. Many of our problems we create for ourselves this way. Meditation can help stop the gossipy neurons, and show them how to relax.”

To his students, Rinpoche is a guide, who helps make difficult meditation practices and theories accessible. He recommends meditation for both bodily health and mental development. “In the West, some people try to use meditation to fight thoughts and emotions” he told The Huffington Post. “What I’ve found is that in meditation you don’t have to fight your thoughts and feelings. Instead, you can make friends with panic, depression, pain, or any other problem. You can use your thoughts and feelings to train your mind.”

As he concluded his talk, Rinpoche gave his audience two pieces of advice. “How do you make friends with your panic? Through meditation. You meditate by being aware, and relaxing. It’s very simple”.

Metamemory: How Does the Brain Predict Itself?

Dr. Alfred W. Kaszniak, Professor and Head, Psychology, presented on March 30, 2010, as the fifth lecture in the University of Arizona College of Science Mind and Body Lecture Series. Dr. Kaszniak’s research program is aimed at increasing our understanding of human brain systems involved in both cognition and emotion.

Our brains recreate past experience, monitor recall efforts, and predict our chances of remembering things in the future. The knowledge we each possess about our own memory, and strategies to aid memory, form what is called metamemory. Studies of persons with impaired metamemory due to neurological illness, along with brain imaging studies of healthy adults making judgments about memory, indicate that the brain systems active in retrieving information are distinct from those that self-monitor memory. Metamemory research is helping build an understanding of a wide range of experiences from tip-of-the-tongue forgetfulness to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

David Christian: Big history

Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is “Big History”: an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the “Sixth Sense” wearable tech, and “Lost” producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts.

The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being by Daniel J. Siegel.

Review By CHERYL CHESSICK, M.D.
Denver, Colo.

“Welcome to a journey into the heart of our lives.” With these words, Daniel J. Siegel, scientist, psychiatrist, educator, and leader in the field of mental health, draws us into a rich and illuminating exploration of what it means to live in the here-and-now, to be fully present in the moment, to be “mindfully aware.” Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and Director of the Mindsight Institute, Co-Director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center, and author of the internationally acclaimed, best-selling text The Developing Mind.

Dr. Siegel offers a rare opportunity to explore the world of “mindfulness” through his personal experience but also through the eyes of a researcher in child development and one who understands the workings of brain circuitry, which makes the reading in-depth as well as life changing.

I found it difficult to put the book down and at the same time, the book has a plethora of depth in ideas and references that one could read the book several times and still not fully grasp its content. Though many of the concepts in the book will be quite familiar to those who practice mindfulness or work in the neurosciences, the ability to interweave mindfulness, basic neuroscience, and child development reframes the individual’s attention of all three areas in new and interesting ways.

The book is divided into four sections: Mind, Brain, and Awareness; Immersion in Direct Experience; Facets of the Mindful Brain; and Reflections on the Mindful Brain. Appendices include Reflection and Mindfulness Resources, Glossary and Terms, and Neural Notes on the Anatomy of the Brain.

In the first section, Chapter One, “A Mindful Awareness,” Dr. Siegel gives us an overview of mindfulness and its applications as well as an outline of the history of mindfulness and its current uses in medicine. He argues that we spend much of our time on “autopilot” or “mindless,” which leads to feelings of numbness and emptiness (p. 14). He further explains that this book is about how we pay attention in the present moment can directly improve the functioning of body and brain and subjective mental and interpersonal relationships (p. 3).

Chapter Two, “Brain Basics,” explains about brain development and anatomical functions/circuitry. Particular attention is paid to the medial prefrontal areas responsible for body regulation, attuned communication, emotional balance, response flexibility, empathy, insight or self-knowing awareness, fear modulation, intuition, and morality (pp. 44, 45). Mindfulness is depicted as a function of the medial prefrontal cortex, while mindfulness practice can also improve the function of these same areas. Dr. Siegel introduces the concept of “The Brain in the Palm of Your Hand;” I have never had anyone explain brain anatomy in such an elegant yet easily understandable fashion.

Part II, Chapter 3, “A Week of Silence,” and Chapter 4, “Suffering and the Streams of Awareness,” explores Dr. Siegel’s personal experience with mindfulness training. His development of acronyms, such as SOCK, YODA, and the HUB, for understanding and developing different practices of mindfulness were interesting, and I would imagine useful for someone learning to do mindfulness and for those more familiar to enrich their existing practices.

Part III, Chapters 5–12, explores the concepts of mindfulness presented in the introductory chapter. The facets of mindfulness are reiterated to include 1) nonreactivity to inner experience, 2) observing/noticing/attending to sensations/perceptions/thoughts/feelings, 3) acting with awareness/nonautomatic pilot/concentration/nondistraction, 4) describing/labeling with words, and 5) nonjudging of experience (p. 91).

Dr. Siegel explains that mindfulness is learnable and introduces “ipseity” or the “bare essence” of the self as one of the key objectives of mindfulness practice. “To intentionally bring something into awareness means that rather than just registering input from sensory organs into the primary sensory cortical regions toward the back of the brain, we engage in an active search process, a purposeful seeking of perceptual data in the field of awareness; which is correlated with the side prefrontal region” (p. 108).

The concept of the “wheel of awareness” is introduced; the fifth (outer world), sixth (body), seventh (mind), and eighth (relationships) senses are introduced to give a more “spacious quality of mindful awareness” (p. 121). The result is that self-observation, attunement to oneself and others, as well as empathy are now able to be more easily developed, whether one is learning this as a child or for the first time as an adult.

Dimensions of the “top-down” concept are explained as a way to get to nonjudgmentalness. “Direct experience gives rise to the sense that mindful awareness involves the dissolution of the influences of prior learning on present sensation. This is the way we diminish the effects of automatic top-down processes and it enables us to create that state of ‘nonjudging’ experience” (p. 134).

Internal attunement and attention to intention create an internal emotional closeness or “becoming our own best friend” and also allow us to attune to others’ intentions (p. 172). “One example of intrapersonal attunement would be the practice of breath awareness” (p. 174), which is used very commonly in many mindfulness practices. “Repeated activation of such attuned states results in neuroplastic changes with the structural outcome of neural integration” (p. 189). If attunement produces integration in the brain, then interpersonal attunement in loving kindness directed toward others can occur. Ultimately, coherence, flexibility, affective regulation, and resiliency develop.

In the last section, Dr. Siegel explains how mindfulness practices can be applied to learning, the educational process for educators and students, as well as for those in mental health, both for the practitioner and the patient. Finally, the case examples in this section are both interesting and useful. In the end, I think the ideas in this book will both enrich one’s own mindfulness practice and enhance one’s therapeutic skills.

The Real Challenge of Our Times: The Need for a New Worldview By Anne Baring

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles; else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved. Matt. 9:17

To reclaim the sacred nature of the cosmos – and of planet Earth in particular – is one of the outstanding spiritual challenges of our time. Diarmuid O’Murchu, Quantum Theology

The threat of global warming, the urgent need to free ourselves from dependency on oil and the current financial crisis could be the triple catalyst that offers us the opportunity of bringing about a profound shift in our values, relinquishing an old story and defining a new one. Our lives and well-being depend upon the fertility and resources of the Earth, yet in relation to the Earth, it would seem that we have been autistic for centuries. Now, instead of treating our planetary home as the endless supplier of all our needs, without consideration for Her needs, we could rethink beliefs and attitudes which have influenced our behaviour for millennia.

Because of those beliefs we have come to look upon nature as something separate from ourselves, something we could master, control and manipulate to obtain specific benefits for our species alone because ours, we were taught, has been given dominion over all others and over the Earth itself. It has come as a bit of a shock to realise that our lives are intimately bound up with the fragile organism of planetary life and the inter-dependence of all species. If we destroy our habitat, whether inadvertently or deliberately by continuing on our present path, we may risk destroying ourselves. We have developed a formidable intellect, a formidable science, a formidable technology but all rest on the premise of our alienation from and mastery of nature, where nature was treated as object with ourselves as controlling subject.

Yet now, the foundation that seemed so secure is disintegrating: old structures and beliefs are breaking down. It is as if mortal danger is forcing us to take a great leap in our evolution that we might never have made were we not driven by the extremity of circumstance. Many people are defining a new kind of relationship with the Earth, based not on dominance but on respect, responsibility and conscious service. Because our capacity for destruction, both military and ecological, is so much greater today than it was even fifty years ago, and will be still greater tomorrow, we have only decades in which to change our thinking and respond to the challenge of this evolutionary leap.

There is a second problematic legacy from the past: the image of God shared by the three Abrahamic religions. This has presented God as a transcendent creator, separate and distinct from the created order and from ourselves. Western civilisation, despite its phenomenal achievements, developed on the foundation of this fundamental split between spirit and nature—between creator and creation. Only now are we brought face to face with the disastrous effects of this split.

Once again, as in the early centuries of the Christian era, it seems as if new bottles are needed to hold the wine of a new revelation, a new understanding of reality which could heal this split. But how do we create the vessel which can assimilate the wine of a new vision of reality and a different image of God or Spirit? How do we relinquish the dogmatic beliefs and certainties which have, over the millennia of the patriarchal era, caused indescribable and quite unnecessary suffering and the sacrifice of so many millions of lives?

I cannot answer these questions. But I do know that as the new understanding, the new wine comes into being, we have to hold the balance and the tension between the old and the new without destroying the old or rejecting the new. It must have been like this two thousand years ago when the disciples of Jesus tried to assimilate what he was telling them, something so utterly different from the belief-system and the brutal values which governed the world of their time. Even today, the revolutionary teachings and the different values he taught have barely touched the consciousness that governs the world of our time, however much political and religious leaders proclaim allegiance to them. What would Jesus have thought of WMD, depleted uranium and cluster bombs, and the massacre of helpless civilians in war, let alone the destruction of vast swathes of the Earth’s forests to supply crops for biofuels? What would he have thought of the fact that colossal sums of money are spent on the military when 17,000 children die every day from hunger and disease?.

The need for a more conscious relationship with both nature and spirit, bringing them closer together, is intrinsic to the creativity of the life-impulse itself—urging us to go beyond the boundaries of the known, to break through the concepts and beliefs, whether religious, scientific or economic, which currently govern our culture and constrict the expansion of our understanding and our compassion.

What is the emerging vision of our time which could offer a template for a new civilization? I believe it is a vision which takes us beyond an outdated paradigm or worldview where we are held in bondage to beliefs and habits specific to race, nation, religion or gender, which have led us to exclude and devalue those who are different from ourselves and neglect our relationship with the Earth, our planetary home. It is a vision which offers us a totally new concept of spirit as an energy field — a limitless sea of being — as well as the creative consciousness or organising intelligence active within that sea or field, and a totally new concept of ourselves as belonging to and participating in that incandescent ground or sea of consciousness.

It is a vision which recognises the sacredness and indissoluble unity of the great cosmic web of life and imposes on us the responsibility of becoming far more sensitive to the effects of our decisions and our actions. It invites our recognition of the needs of the planet and the life it sustains as primary, with ourselves as the humble servants of those needs. It invites us, as Einstein asked us to do, to widen our circle of compassion, to look upon every child as our child, every woman as our daughter or our mother, every man as our father or our son, every creature as our responsibility. Above all, it is a vision which asks that we relinquish our addiction to weapons and war and the pursuit of power; that we become more aware of the dark shadow cast by this addiction which threatens us with ever more barbarism, bloodshed and suffering—ultimately with the possible extinction of our species.

From this perspective, the crisis of our times is not only an ecological and political crisis but a spiritual one. The answers we seek cannot come from the limited consciousness which now rules the world but could grow from a deeper understanding born of the union of heart and head, helping us to see that all life is one, that each one of us participates in the life of a cosmic entity of immeasurable dimensions. The urgent need for this psychic balance, this deeper intelligence and insight, this wholeness, could help us to recover a perspective on life that has been increasingly lost until we have come to live without it — and without even noticing it has gone — recognising the existence of nothing beyond the parameters of the human mind. It is a dangerous time because it involves transforming entrenched belief systems and archaic survival habits of behaviour that are rooted in fear, as well as the greed and desire for power that are born of fear. But it is also an immense opportunity for evolutionary advance, if only we can understand what is happening and why.

For a rapidly increasing number of us, there is the possibility of choosing whether to follow in the tracks of the past, continuing to live our lives in servitude to the power principle and the institutions which embody it, however subtly expressed. Or to live and act from a different relationship with life and commit ourselves to the immense effort of consciousness we need to make to understand and serve its mystery.

Surely, after so many billion years of cosmic evolution, it is simply unacceptable that the beauty and marvel of the earth should be ravaged by us through the destructive power of our weapons, our insatiable greed and the misapplication of our science and technology. It is inconceivable that our extraordinary species, which has taken so many million years to evolve, should destroy itself and lay waste to the Earth through ignorance of the divinity in which we dwell and which dwells in us.

Soul Power: An Agenda for a Conscious Humanity by Anne Baring and Scilla Elworthy.

Soul Power

We live in an extraordinary age – an age of both mortal danger and unprecedented opportunity, if only we can understand what’s happening and why. Our capacity for destruction, both military and environmental, is vastly greater today than it was half a century ago, and will be greater still tomorrow.

It seems as if this mortal danger is forcing us to take a great leap in our evolution that we might never have made, were we not driven to it by the crises facing us. This leap consists of an expansion of human consciousness; a shift from seeing ourselves as the dominant species on this planet with a right to exploit its resources for our own needs, to seeing ourselves as utterly dependent for our survival on an extraordinary living web of planetary life. This great web of life, formed over countless millions of years, will not survive unless we respect the interdependence of its living systems.

At present we live irresponsibly, unconsciously, as if we can do what we like to the Earth, without consequences. We live as if there is no purpose or meaning to our lives beyond meeting our material needs. We live as if we are separate from each other and the planet. We live as if the presence of soul or spirit is irrelevant.

The treasure that we have lost is a living relationship with the soul. In the past, the word ‘soul’ conveyed meaning: the greatest artists, poets and mystics were engaged in keeping people in touch with their soul. Today the word means little in a culture unaware of the value of an inner life.

Our brilliant technological culture inflicts intolerable stress on us because it grants no value to mystery. It allows no time for relationship with the soul, no time to awaken to the beauty and wonder of the extraordinary treasure that lies within us, and the magnificence all around us.

Given that we may have only a few decades to heal ourselves and the planet, how do we recover our lost sense of being part of something totally sacred? How do we develop respect and compassion for Nature? How do we meet the needs of the human heart for love, relatedness, connection?

We can make radical shifts in our everyday lives in the way we do things, in the way we think, in how we are. Instead of seeing the current crises as frightening, we can see the opportunity they offer to transform the deficient values that currently drive our economies.

We can develop new energy technologies that are benign rather than destructive or polluting. We can adjust our domestic decisions – decisions about travel, heating, conserving food and precious resources – to the needs of the planet. We can take our business away from dehumanised organisations to more connected ones, where we can form a relationship with a person, such as local barter systems.

In our workplace, we can suggest and support moves away from hierarchical structures to horizontal ones that are personalised and connected and enable individuals to develop and thrive. We can demonstrate to leaders and managers that ‘top down’ change cannot succeed without ‘bottom up’ consultation and engagement. We can move away from the sickness of greed and ruthless competition towards an understanding of our path in life, of what we are really here to do.

We shall need emotional intelligence, understanding not simply the point of view but the needs of the ‘opponent’. Nonviolent communication is now being learned and used by people all over the world, simply because it works, and works wonders.

We are being offered new opportunities to grow and become more complete human beings. Servant leadership for example is a powerful way to learn how I – as an ego – can step back, and I as a servant can step forward. An ongoing practice of reflection or self-awareness could become a daily support. Self-knowledge enables us to develop the ability to confront and transform darker emotions.

Our book explains how each one of us can find our own unique path. In fact this may be the most important thing we ever do; to perceive how our particular skills can be of most use to the planet and future generations, and how this can inspire and guide our actions.

Soul Power: An Agenda for a Conscious Humanity by Anne Baring and Scilla Elworthy is published by Booksurge (2009), ISBN 978143923415.

Scilla Elworthy is Founder of Peace Direct, which supports grassroots peace-building in areas of conflict. www.peacedirect.org

Dr. Scilla Elworthy discussing inner change and transformations.

Dr. Scilla Elworthy co-author of Soul Power: An Agenda For A Conscious Humanity and Founder of Peace Direct shares her thoughts on inner change.

Soul Power: An Agenda for a Conscious Humanity by Anne Baring and Scilla Elworthy. This book enables us to understand the root causes of humanity’s current crises, which lie in the loss of connection with the soul and its vast power. http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Power-Agenda-Conscious-Humanity/dp/1439234159/ref=…

The Mystic Vision: Daily Encounters With the Divine ` Andrew Harvey & Anne Baring

THE MYSTIC VISION -
Daily Encounters with the Divine

The mystics tell us that life is Divine, that we, in this dimension, are in the eternal embrace of the Divine. They show us that our sole purpose in life is to open our heart to this Divine Presence, to know it and love it as the essence and ground of our own lives and as the life of every creature and every aspect of creation. They invite us to recognize its longing to be known in our own longing for relationship with what seems so far from us yet is closer to us than our breathing. Ruysbroeck expressed this with perfect clarity:-

When love has carried us above all things…we receive in peace the Incomprehensible Light, enfolding us and penetrating us. What is this Light, if it be not a contemplation of the Infinite, and an intuition of Eternity? We behold that which we are, and we are that which we behold; because our being, without losing anything of its own personality, is united with the Divine Truth.

Ramakrishna said that the sensitive mother cooks fish differently for each of her hungry children – plain and bland for one, rich and spicy for the other. In exactly the same way, the Mother of the Universe reveals various spiritual approaches to the Divine. Whether you follow the idea of a personal God or the impersonal Truth, Ramakrishna said, you will certainly realize the One Reality, provided that you experience passionate longing for it.

—– There are an infinite number of perspectives and each one of them is a path to God. Each individual is unique and follows a unique path. With the longing to discover it, the way unfolds in the rhythm of the life of each separate being. Forcing the pace can block the opening of the heart. Each one of us will know the flowering of consciousness as it returns to the Source or Ground of Being. As Ramakrishna said, some will receive their meal early in the morning, others at noon, still others not until evening. But none will go hungry. Without exception, all living beings will eventually know their own true nature to be the Great Light.

—– The Alchemists knew their work of transmuting the base metal of ignorance and separation into the gold of union would best be done gently, patiently and with great delicacy. As the windows of the heart are opened, the light pours in, revealing what was previously shrouded in darkness. Insight, wisdom, compassion grow with the experience of communion with the Divine.
—– In this book, we have gathered together from many different cultures, past and present, the magical, quickening words which guide and help us on our own journey of transformation. They transmit the vision of those women and men who discovered within themselves the quintessential treasure of the Divine. In a time as dark as ours they inspire and ennoble us all, giving us the hope, courage and strength to follow them into the heart of life.

Anne Baring and Andrew Harvey

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Real Challenge of Our Times: The Need for a New Worldview ~ Anne Baring

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles; else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved. Matt. 9:17

To reclaim the sacred nature of the cosmos – and of planet Earth in particular – is one of the outstanding spiritual challenges of our time. Diarmuid O’Murchu, Quantum Theology

The threat of global warming, the urgent need to free ourselves from dependency on oil and the current financial crisis could be the triple catalyst that offers us the opportunity of bringing about a profound shift in our values, relinquishing an old story and defining a new one. Our lives and well-being depend upon the fertility and resources of the Earth, yet in relation to the Earth, it would seem that we have been autistic for centuries. Now, instead of treating our planetary home as the endless supplier of all our needs, without consideration for Her needs, we could rethink beliefs and attitudes which have influenced our behaviour for millennia.

Because of those beliefs we have come to look upon nature as something separate from ourselves, something we could master, control and manipulate to obtain specific benefits for our species alone because ours, we were taught, has been given dominion over all others and over the Earth itself. It has come as a bit of a shock to realise that our lives are intimately bound up with the fragile organism of planetary life and the inter-dependence of all species. If we destroy our habitat, whether inadvertently or deliberately by continuing on our present path, we may risk destroying ourselves. We have developed a formidable intellect, a formidable science, a formidable technology but all rest on the premise of our alienation from and mastery of nature, where nature was treated as object with ourselves as controlling subject.

Yet now, the foundation that seemed so secure is disintegrating: old structures and beliefs are breaking down. It is as if mortal danger is forcing us to take a great leap in our evolution that we might never have made were we not driven by the extremity of circumstance. Many people are defining a new kind of relationship with the Earth, based not on dominance but on respect, responsibility and conscious service. Because our capacity for destruction, both military and ecological, is so much greater today than it was even fifty years ago, and will be still greater tomorrow, we have only decades in which to change our thinking and respond to the challenge of this evolutionary leap.

There is a second problematic legacy from the past: the image of God shared by the three Abrahamic religions. This has presented God as a transcendent creator, separate and distinct from the created order and from ourselves. Western civilisation, despite its phenomenal achievements, developed on the foundation of this fundamental split between spirit and nature—between creator and creation. Only now are we brought face to face with the disastrous effects of this split.

Once again, as in the early centuries of the Christian era, it seems as if new bottles are needed to hold the wine of a new revelation, a new understanding of reality which could heal this split. But how do we create the vessel which can assimilate the wine of a new vision of reality and a different image of God or Spirit? How do we relinquish the dogmatic beliefs and certainties which have, over the millennia of the patriarchal era, caused indescribable and quite unnecessary suffering and the sacrifice of so many millions of lives?

I cannot answer these questions. But I do know that as the new understanding, the new wine comes into being, we have to hold the balance and the tension between the old and the new without destroying the old or rejecting the new. It must have been like this two thousand years ago when the disciples of Jesus tried to assimilate what he was telling them, something so utterly different from the belief-system and the brutal values which governed the world of their time.

Even today, the revolutionary teachings and the different values he taught have barely touched the consciousness that governs the world of our time, however much political and religious leaders proclaim allegiance to them. What would Jesus have thought of WMD, depleted uranium and cluster bombs, and the massacre of helpless civilians in war, let alone the destruction of vast swathes of the Earth’s forests to supply crops for biofuels? What would he have thought of the fact that colossal sums of money are spent on the military when 17,000 children die every day from hunger and disease?.

The need for a more conscious relationship with both nature and spirit, bringing them closer together, is intrinsic to the creativity of the life-impulse itself—urging us to go beyond the boundaries of the known, to break through the concepts and beliefs, whether religious, scientific or economic, which currently govern our culture and constrict the expansion of our understanding and our compassion.

What is the emerging vision of our time which could offer a template for a new civilization? I believe it is a vision which takes us beyond an outdated paradigm or worldview where we are held in bondage to beliefs and habits specific to race, nation, religion or gender, which have led us to exclude and devalue those who are different from ourselves and neglect our relationship with the Earth, our planetary home. It is a vision which offers us a totally new concept of spirit as an energy field — a limitless sea of being — as well as the creative consciousness or organising intelligence active within that sea or field, and a totally new concept of ourselves as belonging to and participating in that incandescent ground or sea of consciousness.

It is a vision which recognises the sacredness and indissoluble unity of the great cosmic web of life and imposes on us the responsibility of becoming far more sensitive to the effects of our decisions and our actions. It invites our recognition of the needs of the planet and the life it sustains as primary, with ourselves as the humble servants of those needs.

It invites us, as Einstein asked us to do, to widen our circle of compassion, to look upon every child as our child, every woman as our daughter or our mother, every man as our father or our son, every creature as our responsibility. Above all, it is a vision which asks that we relinquish our addiction to weapons and war and the pursuit of power; that we become more aware of the dark shadow cast by this addiction which threatens us with ever more barbarism, bloodshed and suffering—ultimately with the possible extinction of our species.

From this perspective, the crisis of our times is not only an ecological and political crisis but a spiritual one. The answers we seek cannot come from the limited consciousness which now rules the world but could grow from a deeper understanding born of the union of heart and head, helping us to see that all life is one, that each one of us participates in the life of a cosmic entity of immeasurable dimensions.

The urgent need for this psychic balance, this deeper intelligence and insight, this wholeness, could help us to recover a perspective on life that has been increasingly lost until we have come to live without it — and without even noticing it has gone — recognising the existence of nothing beyond the parameters of the human mind. It is a dangerous time because it involves transforming entrenched belief systems and archaic survival habits of behaviour that are rooted in fear, as well as the greed and desire for power that are born of fear. But it is also an immense opportunity for evolutionary advance, if only we can understand what is happening and why.

For a rapidly increasing number of us, there is the possibility of choosing whether to follow in the tracks of the past, continuing to live our lives in servitude to the power principle and the institutions which embody it, however subtly expressed. Or to live and act from a different relationship with life and commit ourselves to the immense effort of consciousness we need to make to understand and serve its mystery.

Surely, after so many billion years of cosmic evolution, it is simply unacceptable that the beauty and marvel of the earth should be ravaged by us through the destructive power of our weapons, our insatiable greed and the misapplication of our science and technology. It is inconceivable that our extraordinary species, which has taken so many million years to evolve, should destroy itself and lay waste to the Earth through ignorance of the divinity in which we dwell and which dwells in us.

Autobiographical Notes

I travelled widely in India and the Far East during the 1950′s before training and practising as a Jungian analyst. I am a member of the Scientific and Medical Network and, until my retirement from private practice in 2000, I was a member of the Association of Jungian Analysts, London and the International Association for Analytical Psychology. I have lectured for several years in both the United Kingdom and the United States and have recently given a seminar course called The Sleeping Beauty, the Prince and the Dragon – an Exploration of the Soul, which drew together my interest in psychology, mythology, ecology, fairy tales and alchemy (see Seminars). I am currently working on a new book which integrates these different aspects of our quest to understand ourselves and our relationship to the universe. (For an amplification of these notes, please see in particular lectures 4 and 8, and seminar 1).

—–I have always been fascinated by the power of individuals to shape and influence history. Why do people feel, think and act the way they do? What is the anatomy of human creativity and human destructiveness – the root of the invisible influences, both individual and collective, which can both create and destroy civilization? Since I was deeply affected as a child by the Second World War, I wanted to understand the causes – religious, political and psychological – which could drive human beings to the depths of depravity and the heights of altruism and self-sacrifice. How are we conditioned by beliefs and habits of behaviour to respond to events in the way we do?

—–After I left Oxford University, I took off in 1956 for India and the Far East, having found a job in Italy that commissioned me to purchase photographs of the finest works of art from all the museums in Asia (except China, which was out of bounds at the time) for inclusion in an Italian Encyclopaedia of Art. Attracted to religion, I studied Hinduism and Buddhism as I travelled in search of the required photographs. At the same time, I was asking myself those perennial questions of the soul: Who am I? What is life? Why am I here on this planet? These two journeys to the East changed the course of my life because they put me in touch with the sacred literature and art of ancient and extraordinary cultures which had posed and responded to those questions. Only after studying these in depth did I begin to understand Christianity. My first book, The One Work: A Journey Towards the Self, describes these journeys to the East and what I learned from them about the essential message of all religious traditions.

—–After finishing the book, I turned in a totally new direction, becoming a dress designer and manufacturer with my own shop in London. Inspired by the beautiful materials I had discovered in India, I took immense delight in designing evening dresses. This phase lasted for twelve years. Then, issues in my personal life, in particular, severe depression, led me into analysis with a Jungian therapist and, eventually, to train and practise as an analyst myself. This experience deepened my understanding of the causes of human suffering and at the same time brought together a longing to write, a passionate interest in history and a new interest in mythology, religion and psychology.

—–During the 1980′s I embarked on writing The Myth of the Goddess; Evolution of an Image with Jules Cashford, a friend and fellow analyst who had specialised at university in philosophy and English literature. The book took us ten years to write. What interested us most was the influence of the sacred image on Western civilisation and the need to integrate the masculine and feminine principles. The quest to explore this theme led us back to the Neolithic and Palaeolithic eras and the origins of the sacred image, tracing its development through the Bronze Age and beyond. We wanted to know why and how the image of deity changed from being feminine to masculine (Great Mother to Great Father) at a specific historical time (c.2000 B.C.) and how this change came to polarise spirit and nature, mind and soul, in human consciousness. We discovered that the polarisation originating so long ago has deeply influenced Judeo-Christian civilisation and the paradigm of reality which presently governs our culture, leading ultimately to the ecological and spiritual crisis we now face.

—- My concern over this crisis and, in particular, over the carnage in Bosnia, led me to write a book for children – The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time – which was illustrated by a close friend, Thetis Blacker.

—–A later friendship and collaboration with the author and mystic Andrew Harvey, led to the publication of two more books, The Mystic Vision and The Divine Feminine.

—–Since 1960, I have been married to the artist, Robin Baring. I will show some of his pictures on this web-site, because, although I have never intruded on his painting with my ideas, somehow it seems that he has been painting the images that reflect what I have been writing about. Word and image have become intertwined in our life together.

The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World by John Francis

The activist John Francis didn’t speak for almost two decades. His new book, and his talks, show us what he learned.

In 1971, after the devastating 800,000-gallon oil spill in the San Francisco Bay, John Francis, then a young man, pledged to never ride a motorized vehicle again. Two years later, he added voluntary silence to his vow, spending 17 years in silence as he walked the world and became known as The Planetwalker. The first words that he spoke again were in Washington, D.C., on the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. In 2009, Francis, by then a National Geographic fellow with a Ph.D, told his remarkable story in the candid and deeply inspirational Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence.

This year, Dr. Francis is back with the highly anticipated and most excellent follow-up, The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World–a powerful and poetic exploration of the beauty of our world and our place in it, and a timely antidote to our increasingly networked, ping-scored existence.

The Ragged Edge of Silence explores the art of listening through a beautiful collage of personal accounts, interviews, science, storytelling, and a fascinating historical perspective on the role of silence across Hindu, Buddhist, and Native American cultures. Francis transcends the purely philosophical to offer practical ways of building constructive silence into our everyday routines as micro-oases of self-discovery amidst our stimulus-overloaded lives.

“The Ragged Edge of Silence digs deeply into the phenomenology of silence and the practice of listening. As in Planetwalker, I followed a methodology that recognizes the importance of personal documents, explanations, and interpretation of silence. This story, then, is my personal account and interpretation of silence as I experienced it.” John Francis

Part adventure story, part philosophical reflection, part heartfelt memoir, The Ragged Edge of Silence is a pure joy to read, lacking the self-righteous preachiness this line of thinking often festers into and instead extending a humble but powerful invitation to reexamine your worldview.
Finding Peace in a Noisy World

The Art of Listening: Secrets From 17 Years of Silence

Is life too loud? Learn to harness and master the incredible power of silence. After witnessing the devastating effects of a 1971 oil spill, John Francis embarked on a period of reflection that stretched into 17 years of self-imposed silence and 22 years of walking.

John Francis was in his 20s when a 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay jarred his comfortable life. Even as he joined the volunteers who scrubbed the beaches and fought to save birds and sea creatures poisoned by petroleum, he felt the need to make a deeper, more personal commitment. As an affirmation of his responsibility to our planet, he chose to stop using motorized vehicles and began walking wherever he went. His decision was greeted with surprise, disbelief, and even mockery—but it was only the start of a much deeper transformation. A few months later he took a vow of silence that would last 17 years.

In 2008, National Geographic published Francis’s stirring memoir Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking; 17 Years of Silence. It is the story of a man who, on foot and in silence, has rediscovered rhythms in nature that most of us have forgotten, and learned to communicate his understanding and empathy without speaking a word. He walked across the Pacific Northwest, crossed the Sierra and Rocky Mountains, and traversed America from coast to coast. Along the way—and without a word—he earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in science and environmental studies and a Ph.D. in land resources.

In an effort to share his insights with others, Francis founded “Planetwalk,” a non-profit educational organization dedicated to raising environmental consciousness and promoting Earth stewardship. Planetwalk’s work transcends cultural, social, and political boundaries by fostering communication and research between young people, scientists, and environmental practitioners through a global network and educational programs. In 2010, Francis became the first National Geographic Education Fellow.

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_francis_walks_the_earth.html

Earthquake Prediction 2011 Jim Berkland – A Major Earthquake in North America Imminent

Earthquake forecaster Jim Berkland warns of a ‘high risk’ seismic window and potential for a massive quake poised to strike somewhere in North America in between the dates of March 19th and 26th.

Berkland points to the recent mass fish die-off at King Harbor near Redondo Beach as a harbringer of a potential catastrophic quake in the near
future…

20 WORDS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

MUSIC=MUTE IF PREFERED.
20 WORDS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Uploaded by butterfly2729

Tasting the Universe: People Who See Colors in Words and Rainbows in Symphonies

Tasting the Universe: What Synesthesia Suggests about the Nature of Consciousness
by Maureen Seaberg

Among the beneficiaries of the various shifts in human consciousness now underway are a little-known group of outliers known as synesthetes. Synesthesia is defined as a blending of senses or a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

Those definitions are only a hint of what synesthetes experience in terms of form and color and other add-on impressions in their sensory lives. And “synnies” reject the word “condition,” as there are few deficits associated with what they prefer to call a “gift” or a “trait.” A synesthete may hear a symphony but also see amorphous, multi-colored shapes go by. She may say the word “table” and taste cake, just like Academy Award-winner Tilda Swinton. He may be able to compute pi to 22,500 places, like the British writer Daniel Tammet (who has Asperger syndrome and savantism), or be able to equate celestial imagery to communion with the Creator, like three-time Grammy Award-winner Pharrell Williams.

Just over 100 years ago, synesthesia was a blip on the radar of modern science for one shimmering moment. Ironically, the same man most credited for drawing attention to this trait would unwittingly help show it the door. Sir Francis Galton recognized synesthesia but then went on to be an early pioneer of behaviorism, which stamped out any shred of respect for or inquiry into inner experience.

Galton named the joining of senses synesthesia – from the Greek syn, meaning “union,” and aesthesia, meaning “sensation.” As he wrote in “The Visions of Sane Persons” for The Fortnightly Review in June 1881: “These strange ‘visions,’ for such they must be called, are extremely vivid in some cases but are almost incredible to the vast majority of mankind who would set them down as fantastic nonsense. Nevertheless, they are familiar parts of the mental furniture of the rest, whose imaginations they have unconsciously formed and where they remain unmodified and unmodifiable by teaching.” Galton had great sympathy for the synesthetes he encountered throughout his career, particularly when they would relate to him how strange they felt as children.

Not long after synesthesia made its modest, respectable appearance on the world’s scientific stage, a radical shift occurred in the field of psychology, foreshadowed by Galton’s interest in the psychology of the behavior of twins: the school of behaviorism emerged. Led by American psychologist John B. Watson, this new school of thought banished personal experience in favor of people’s observed interactions with one another.

A paper Watson wrote in 1913 started the wave, and in his 1924 book, Behaviorism, he explained it further: “Behaviorism . . . holds that the subject matter of human psychology is the behavior of the human being. Behaviorism claims that consciousness is neither a definite nor a usable concept. The behaviorist, who has been trained always as an experimentalist, holds, further, that belief in the existence of consciousness goes back to the ancient days of superstition and magic.” [Italics appear in the original.]

The impact of behaviorism was enormous. Synesthesia, perhaps one of the innermost of innermost experiences, became a forgotten curiosity. Not until the 1980s, when the cognitive revolution in psychiatry peaked, was it respectable to look once again into internal states. While behaviorists believed that since mental events could not be observed, psychiatrists should not focus on descriptions of the mind in their theories, cognitive proponents believed that investigating the mind helped scientists more reliably predict behavior.

The cognitive movement, which had its beginnings in the 1950s, was actually a backlash against behaviorism. It grew from new ideas in psychology, anthropology, and linguistics, and even the new fields of computer science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence (AI). Psychologist Donald Broadbent, who was among the movement’s early figures, wrote the book Perception and Communication in 1958, in which he compared thought to information processing and used computer terms such as input and output. His model is still in use today.

Psychologist Ulric Neisser, who wrote Cognitive Psychology in 1967, said that the mind has a perceptual structure. In the 1980s, philosopher Daniel Dennett added to the discipline with his thesis that in order to explain the mind, one needs a theory of content (how humans make meanings of things) and a theory of consciousness (what it is and how it works). And finally, AI expert Douglas Hofstadter shaped the conversation with his wide-ranging interests, including his beliefs that mental errors are a window to the mind and that analogy-making is at the root of cognition.

It is against this backdrop of a new, technologically advanced world that two scientists, Larry Marks and Richard Cytowic, were inspired to take a deep look inside the human experience, which led them to rediscover the gift of synesthesia in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They initiated a new wave of research that continues in countless learning institutions and labs around the world today. But the biases of behaviorism lingered and made it difficult for these early pioneers, who faced skepticism and sometimes outright censure from their peers.

Cytowic has said that “colleagues for years refused to accept synesthesia as real and warned that pursuing it would ‘ruin’ my career because it was ‘too weird’ and ‘New Age.’ They had the typical reaction of orthodoxy to something it can’t understand – deny it.” However, Cytowic remained fascinated by a case he encountered quite by chance. He knew it was real because this man, his dinner host one evening with friends, kept returning to the sauce he was making to see if it had “enough points.” He wasn’t referring to the texture of the sauce; rather, he would somehow know it was ready when he felt the familiar ping of “triangle-like shapes” on his tongue. Cytowic would title his second book The Man Who Tasted Shapes in his honor.

Diagnosing Synesthesia

For years, researchers relied on self-reporting by people who said they were synesthetes, and there was no way to objectively corroborate such fantastic claims. That has drastically changed. The scientific literature now speaks humanely of several generations of synesthetes who spent their lives keeping it a secret, afraid to admit their differences until it became a part of public discourse. Today, universities and labs openly advertise for synesthete subjects on their websites. Prominent artists and scientists have given interviews about their own synesthesia (a few for the first time in my book). Now that technology and diagnostics have proven this to be a real phenomenon, the skepticism and the shame have gone away.

Well before neuroimaging was available, scientists used ingenious diagnostic tools to explore what they suspected was happening in their synesthete subjects. Richard Cytowic created several such criteria to better test people making these claims:

1. It is automatic and involuntary.

2. Synesthetic images are spatially extended, meaning they often have a sense of location.

3. The experiences are consistent and generic (the latter meaning simple).

4. Synesthesia is highly memorable.

5. It is laden with effect; it causes an emotional response in the person experiencing it.

Across the pond in London, Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues developed the Test of Genuineness (TOG) in 1987. It measures how consistent people’s responses are when stimulated, for example, by a sound or a number or a letter. Synesthetes, who will almost always see the same color or feel a similar sensation for each stimulus (such as a flash of teal when listening to a G note), score very high – in the 70- to 90-percent range. Non-synesthetes typically score in the 20- to 38-percent range. This test is most effective when it is repeated several months later in order to confirm a consistency in the associations (Is that subject’s G note always teal, or does it change?).

At the University of California at San Diego, Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran and Dr. Edward M. Hubbard used “Stroop interference” to create another clever test. They would show the word “yellow” written in red ink to a subject and ask that subject to read it. What they found is that the non-synesthetes typically had slower response times. For synesthetes, however, if the color matched a subject’s own peculiar association for that word, his or her reaction time was much faster. In another similar test, the doctors created a field of 5s in which a small triangle of 2s was hidden and showed it to both synesthetes and non-synesthetes.

As might be expected, the synesthetes were much quicker than the non-synesthetes to find the hidden triangle because their number-to-color associations made the different number stand out. Dr. David Eagleman of Baylor University College of Medicine created The Synesthesia Battery, an online test which takes advantage of the custom color bars on computers so that synesthetes can find exactly the shade of indigo for their Hs or that perfect persimmon for their Rs. And now exacting brain scans can show locations of the brain that actually light up when synesthetes are stimulated by various sensory input.

Finally, it is real. Scientists with their inventive diagnostics have made the intangible tangible. Galton and his synesthetes would be amazed to see this very private experience actually quantified and verified to the mainstream.

What do leading figures in the study of consciousness have to say about this uncommon way of being? If there is a contemporary philosophy emerging to help explain this phenomenon, it’s the realm of quantum consciousness.

Synesthetes and Quantum Consciousness

Dr. Stuart Hameroff is an anesthesiologist and director at the University of Arizona at Tucson’s Center for Consciousness Studies. “Synesthesia is a deeper form of regular consciousness,” he says. “Synesthetes have a lower threshold to quantum consciousness.” He believes the phenomena associated with synesthesia (colored music, for example) happens at the quantum level, perhaps in the microtubules of the neurons and deeper. “Synesthesia might be the tool to get at the ‘hard problem of consciousness’ (how physical material – the brain – can have a qualitative experience). These crossovers may be happening at a deeper level.’’

Hameroff says that people with synesthesia have altered thresholds that open them up to experiencing “quantum consciousness.” He sees consciousness as a sort of edge between the quantum and classical realms. “I think dreams are more quantum-like,” he says. “Dreams have deep interconnections, multiple code systems and possibilities, and timelessness.”

He thinks this is more typical of quantum information, and he believes that the qualia (the way things seem to us, like the taste of chocolate or the way a sunset looks) that make up our senses are also in the quantum world. “So it could be that synesthetes are more in what you might call an altered state or a dream state or a quantum state.” Hameroff points out that altered states of other kinds, from meditation to hypnosis to drug use, also feature synesthesia. “And when you shift that boundary so that what we’re aware of includes more of the quantum, which is only unconscious, preconscious – that’s when you have things like synesthesia, altered states, maybe even psychic phenomenon. I think that those are definitely quantum entanglements.”

Dean Radin, senior scientist with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and author of Entangled Minds and The Conscious Universe, has experienced synesthesia himself. The sound-to-color variety of the gift was most pronounced when he used to play the violin. He says that synesthesia and other noetic experiences may shatter what is known about neuroscience. “I suppose this is a type of noetic experience in the sense that, as with most intuitions, it involved a deep, inner knowing, a conviction that this is so but without knowing how you know.” He believes the neurosciences may one day explain this particular form of knowing but that a full understanding of noetic experiences will require a major expansion of our understanding of consciousness, “one that may well transcend prevailing assumptions in the neurosciences.”

Synesthesia can thus benefit consciousness studies. Though it is ineffable and noetic, it can be measured in brain scans and other tests, providing keys to a unique experience which may be latent in all of us. Traditional, classical science says that synesthesia is either a cross-wiring of neurons or a lack of chemical inhibition between them. But quantum physicist Dr. Amit Goswami of the University of Oregon believes that future answers may be drawn from the past. He thinks synesthetes may actually be more sensitive to vital energy, also known as prana or chi in ancient teachings.

Moreover, he explains, people who see feelings and chakras experience colors. “Auras have to do with vital energy connected with the electromagnetic body, which is physical. If we are sensitive to it, we feel as well as see. That probably is what happens in synesthesia.” According to researcher Dr. Jamie Ward of the University of Sussex in England, aura-seeing should be considered a form of synesthesia. In a recent study, he found synesthetes see color around people, typically people they know well.

To Goswami, there is no other explanation for synesthesia but a quantum one. “These correlated experiences could not occur without a quantum basis for it because only quantum physics has this capacity of nonlocality – a nonlocal relationship between two different types of experiences. Only quantum physics can give an explanation of that.”

Dr. Robert Thurman, founder of Tibet House and professor of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, says he believes that synethesia is a function of a “supra-sense,” a sense above all others that can lock in to one or more of them at a time. This is known in Buddhism as the “mind sense.” It figures in life as well as in death. “Its job is to align itself with one of the senses or perhaps several at once,” he explains. “It can override and simulate the sense organs.” It is active in dreaming when we sleep (we can therefore “see,” though our eyes are closed), and it is what remains when we die.

The Future of Synesthesia Research

Scientists are discovering more and more forms of synesthesia every day, and more individuals than ever before are recognizing this in themselves. We live in an unprecendented era of research around this noetic trait. For the first time – through the Rhine Center at Duke University – scientists will examine the connections between synesthesia and psi phenomena later this year. And the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona has been featuring content by and about synesthetes prominently in its conferences, signaling a shift from materialism and anatomy alone. Studying synesthetes may be a key to understanding the underpinnings of consciousness, for they not only sense a wider range of energy but in most cases are able to verbalize what it actually looks like. Perhaps they are quantum avatars.

Seaberg is a New York City-based journalist and synesthete whose new book, Tasting the Universe (New Page Books, 2010), is a quest to understand the noetic nature of synesthesia. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and the Irish American, as well as on MSNBC and PBS.

In her new book, Tasting the Universe, Maureen Seaberg takes readers on an “Eat, Pray, Love” style exploration of the fascinating, newly discovered phenomenon of synesthesia. Occurring in about 5% of the American population, synesthesia is scientifically described as a cross-wiring or lack of chemical inhibition between brain neurons. Musicians, artists, actors, writers and other creatives often possess this condition. In Tasting the Universe, Maureen has collected the experiences of famous synesthetes such as Itzhak Perlman, Billy Joel, Pharrell Williams, and Marilyn Monroe (her biographer, Norman Mailer, asserted that she possessed this gift).

http://www.tastingtheuniverse.com/

The Question of Theodicy: If God is All Powerful, Why Must Evil and Suffering Exist in the World?

Two recent events that have dominated the news — the death of Osama bin Laden and the tornadoes that ravaged the southeast — have brought to light one of the fundamental questions humanity has struggled with since the beginning of civilization: Why do we have evil, suffering, pain, illness and death in the world?

A classic question in theology asks how can a loving, yet omnipotent God permit evil and suffering in the world? The argument goes as follows: A God that allows suffering to continue is either a) not all-powerful (not omnipotent) and is thus unable to prevent the suffering; b) not loving because this God has the power to prevent suffering but is unwilling to do so; and/or c) not all-knowing (not omniscient) because God only is aware of the suffering after it has already occurred and it’s too late to prevent it. This problem of evil and God’s inability or unwillingness to do anything about it is known in theology as “theodicy.”

Two of the most common (and I think unsatisfactory) answers to this question are that God’s ways are “mysterious” or that God has an overarching plan that we cannot know.

I find it fascinating that you never hear the question of why suffering exists from a physicist or a biologist. Why? To the evolutionary biologist or the cosmologist (that is, the study of the origins of the universe, not the science of makeup aka cosmetology!), pain, suffering and even evil are absolute requirements for life as we know it to exist. Evolution only works because of a freedom implied in the natural world: a freedom of genetic mutation, a freedom of natural selection and a freedom of randomness. This freedom led to the existence of conscious humans, but by necessity the same freedom also causes cancer, disease and natural catastrophes.

Too often in history the human predicament (which includes our anxiety over our mortality, the suffering we experience in life and the problem of evil) has been seen as a result of our disobeying certain divine rules or as punishment for not believing in a particular religious doctrine. After Hurricane Katrina, for example, certain evangelical ministers claimed that the destruction of New Orleans was God’s punishment for the wickedness that took place in the city. Where are those ministers now that the heart of the Bible Belt has been struck by tornados? The reality is that God was not punishing New Orleans then, just as God did not just punish Tuscaloosa: predictable meteorological patterns did.

The problem of evil and suffering is only a problem when we view God as a supernatural Zeus-like being. If we instead understand God as the power of being itself (as I wrote in an earlier post here), then this problem disappears.

The question then is not how can God permit evil? God does not permit anything other than the creative state of being, which by its very nature includes freedom. Freedom is what leads to sin and consequently evil. Freedom also leads to growth and life itself. We can thus read the story of the forbidden fruit in Genesis as a metaphorical explanation of the inherent freedom within the world and our knowledge and experience of this freedom as the ultimate cause of suffering.

God, when understood as Paul Tillich’s “ground of being,” rather than a supernatural being who intervenes occasionally in the universe, allows for a power that supports all existence as its creative ground but does not make a choice as to which unfortunate events to intervene to change. The nature of existence (as grounded in God) is such that humankind is free. To be free, we must have the ability to do evil, to turn away from God, the true ground of who we are. Thus, the possibility (and reality) of sin is built into the very fabric of life.

To argue whether God could not have found a better mechanism for life and existence fails because it falls into the fallacy of seeing God as a supernatural being designing the universe as a watchmaker might (opening God up to the criticism of being an incompetent watchmaker) or playing with the universe in an ongoing chess game according to some divine plan (opening God up to the criticism of being a cruel chess master) rather than understanding God as the creative structure of existence itself. Thus, the problem of evil is ultimately one of perspective: from a micro view we may see the sufferings that happen in the world, but from a macro view we can understand that this suffering is part of the very fabric of the nature of existence itself — an existence that on balance is good.

This view of God is also one in which we can experience the divine directly as the center of our very selves. We can take comfort in that when we do suffer, God is present with us.

The Breath of God
by Jeffrey Small

A murder at the Taj Mahal. A kidnapping in a sacred city. A desperate chase through a cliffside monastery. All in the pursuit of a legend that could link the world’s great religious faiths.

In 1887, a Russian journalist made an explosive discovery in a remote Himalayan monastery only to be condemned and silenced for the heresy he proposed. His discovery vanished shortly thereafter.

Now, graduate student Grant Matthews journeys to the Himalayas in search of this ancient mystery. But Matthews couldn’t have anticipated the conspiracy of zealots who would go to any lengths to prevent him from bringing this secret public. Soon he is in a race to expose a truth that will change the world’s understanding of religion. A truth that his university colleagues believe is mere myth. A truth that will change his life forever—if he survives.

ProcessMind: A User’s Guide to Connecting with the Mind of God by Arnold Mindell, PhD

Join Your Mind with the Untapped Energies of the Universe for Increased Powers of Perception

In Processmind Arnold Mindell, therapist and conflict resolution consultant, extends and deepens known patterns behind the universe as evidenced in physics and connects them to basic experiences found in psychology and mystical traditions. Processmind shows not only connections between modern physics, psychology, and the “gods” of spiritual traditions, but also describes practical methods to resolve problems in everyday life. In 20 inspiring and interactive chapters, this book provides tested methods that actualize our deepest, unitive consciousness for ourselves, relationships, organizations, and world.

What is “Processmind?” It is an earth-based experience of the “mind” behind our personal and large group processes. “Processmind” is perhaps our most basic, least known, and greatest power. The concept combines the physics of nonlocality with specific altered states of consciousness found in peak experiences. By calling on ideas about Aboriginal totem spirits, quantum entanglement and nonlocality, Mindell describes “Processmind” as the “structure of God experiences.”

Drawing upon his extensive in individual and large-group conflict resolution, Mindell has created a kind of user’s guide to the universe’s hidden dimensions. However, Mindell himself advises against believing any processmind theory or related belief system about the universe’s possible code. Don’t believe anything until you test and prove that a theory works in everyday life! Such questioning, he hopes, will bring the belief systems of spiritual traditions and sciences closer together. It is for this reason that Processmind includes more than 30 exercises designed to help readers experience “Processmind” for themselves.

Mindell’s Processmind can help readers with dreams, body symptoms, relationships, and organizational and large-group conflict issues by guiding them to rely upon earth-based inner experience and rational thinking. A special workbook section at the end of the book allows readers to record the details of their engagement with the exercises.

Arnold (Arny) Mindell is the author of 20 books in 23 languages, including Dreambody, The Shaman’s Body, Quantum Mind, and Quantum Mind and Healing, and ProcessMind. Arny has an M.S. from M.I.T., was a Jungian training analyst, and has a Ph.D

In the first half-hour of this two-part DVD, Dr. Mindell provides an overview of process psychology and its relationship to the ancient Chinese concept of the Tao. He describes his approach as a “meta-psychology” which incorporates dreamwork, bodywork, relationship work, movement, family systems, spirituality, and global work.

In part two, Dr. Mindell discusses the concept of the “dreambody.” He discusses process oriented psychology as a form of meditation, providing examples of its application in areas as diverse as conflict resolution and medicine. He emphasizes the importance of not relying on therapist interpretations in the practice of process psychology.

Dr. Arnold Mindell is an innovative psychological theorist and therapist. Founder of the Center for Process Oriented Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland, and Portland, Oregon, he is author of Dreambody, Working With the Dreaming Body, City Shadow, The River’s Way, The Year One, Working on Yourself Alone and Coma: Key to Awakening.

Butterfly: The Mysteries of Transformation/An Inspirational Story about Life – “The Man and the Butterfly”

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”

* Richard Bach*” ILLUSIONS”
Music: Paul Avgerinos, www.Round SkyMusic.com

An Inspirational Story about Life – “The Man and the Butterfly”

Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee – Inspirational Video Movie

Together we can inspire 10,000,000 people with this video – please share it with people you care about!

http://www.Spiritual-Short-Stories.com

This video combines beautiful pictures, inspiring music, and a touching story to help empower people to live more fully.

Do Buddhists Believe in God? ~ Lewis Richmond

In my upcoming book, Aging as a Spiritual Practice (Gotham Books, January 2012), I tell the following story:

Once, when I was on a live radio show being interviewed by a Christian talk show host, her first question to me was, “Do you Buddhists believe in God?”

I had only a few seconds to think of an answer.

“Yes,” I said.

“Good!” the host said. “And how do you pray?”

I said that we prayed in silence to reach our divine nature.

“I like that!” the host said.

When I have told this story in talks, some of my Buddhist listeners say, “Oh, that’s nice. It’s good to be polite.” But I wasn’t just being polite. I was raised in a Christian church and went to Christian Sunday school. My favorite song as a child was “God is Love.” After graduating from college, for a year I attended Christian seminary, with the idea of becoming a minister. I didn’t become a dedicated Buddhist until some time after that. I am comfortable with the word God.

It’s true that by saying “Yes” I was also making an effort to establish some common ground. It was live radio, our time slot was 20 minutes and I was there to discuss a just-released book. I didn’t want to spend the whole time trying to explain what Buddhists believe. Also, I felt that a more nuanced answer, however I couched it, would have come across as some version of “No.” I sensed the need to give a definitive answer. The answer I gave came closest to what was so for me — understanding that I was not trying to speak for the world’s 320 million Buddhists, but only for myself.

The host knew I was a Buddhist; I was on her show to discuss my book, Healing Lazarus: A Buddhist’s Journey from Near Death to New Life. I sensed from the way she posed her question that all she really wanted to know was whether I was a person of religious conviction and belief — a person of faith. And I am. I’m an ordained Buddhist priest — a religious professional. My daily religious practice is the center of my life. I lead meditation groups, I am training and ordaining other priests. In that context, “Yes” is the best answer.

However, even though most of the world’s Buddhists recite the name of Buddha or pray to Buddha, Buddha is not a deity or supreme being in the same way that the Christian God is. A lay minister of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Japanese Buddhism once told me that he tries to explain to his Christian friends that Amida Buddha is a principle, like universal love, rather than a god. Another point worth noting is that there is no word for “Buddhism” in Buddhism — that “-ism” was an invention of 19th century European translators. Gautama the Buddha called his teaching marga, or the Path.

In that sense, the host’s second question — about how I prayed — was the more interesting to me. For Buddhists, what and how you practice is more fundamental than what you believe. My teacher, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, used to say that people could practice Zen meditation and also believe in God; that was OK with him. My good friend, Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, practiced meditation with us in the early days of Tassajara Zen monastery.

Like many other Catholic priests and monks who have taken up, and even taught, Zen, Brother David did not feel a contradiction between his Catholic contemplative practice and Zen meditation. In fact, he felt that there was an affinity between the two. A Tibetan Buddhist teacher once said, when asked about God, “God and Buddha may appear to be different, but when we speak of the nature of God and the nature of Buddha there may be more closeness.” I learned in Christian seminary that St. Anselm’s definition of God was “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.” Shunryu Suzuki often spoke of the inconceivability of Buddha in similar language. In Zen meditation we seek to express and embody this inconceivability.

So when I said to the radio host, “We pray in silence to reach our divine nature,” I was not just making that up. I knew that there is a long history in Christianity of the “prayer of silence.” In the Eastern Orthodox tradition this is known as hesychasm, which is based on Christ’s injunction in the Book of Matthew to “go into your closet to pray.” A more modern version of this practice is the so-called “centering prayer,” whose ancient origins can be traced to the writings of St. John of the Cross and other early contemplatives.

My colleagues in Zen may object that it is a stretch to call Zen meditation “prayer,” or to describe its purpose as a method “to reach our divine nature.” I understand; I’m sure this post will receive many critical comments both from the Buddhist and Christian sides.

My purpose here is not to defend what I said, as much as describe it, along with the thinking behind it. I think what is most important is that the host and I had a real dialogue. After the show was over, she told me that someone close to her had experienced a traumatic brain injury, as I had done, and she wanted to know more. That was a touching moment, a human connection that was more important, I think, than anything I said or she said on the show.

Interfaith dialogue can sometimes be superficial, but it can also go deep. Dialogue is the universal antidote to misunderstanding and prejudice, especially the religious kind, and I am all for it — even when it falls short, or seems unfruitful. This week’s headlines about Osama bin Laden reminds us all of the terrible cost of misunderstanding, prejudice and hatred. The hatred and the killing will not end — in fact, given our human propensity for demonizing those who do not believe as we do, such things may always be with us. But we must never stop trying to counter prejudice with efforts to find common ground. That was what I was trying to do on the radio show, and what I am trying to do here by writing about it.

Aging As Spiritual Practice with Lewis Richmond

The Dharma Dilemma: The Challenge of Competing Duties ~ Ramnath Subramanian

Ramnath Subramanian
CEO and President, The Bhakti Cente

I grew up in a traditional Indian household where lessons on integrity and duty were the norm. The word that encompassed those qualities was dharma. When I first encountered the word through the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and understood its meaning, it seemed to be the quality that I most sought out in a hero. In my childhood war games I usually played the role of a captured prisoner who would be “tortured” but would not give away “the secret” to the “bad guys” even in the face of “death”.

At other times, I made up stories in my mind where I would play the role of a friend who would sacrifice his life for his dear companion. It was child’s play, but in my mind it was what I wanted to become. As I grew up though, I began to realize that living with dharma meant more than just a romantic notion. Its meaning is in embracing a life of struggle.

Dharma is a topic that has been celebrated through books and talks by philosophers and academics, both from Indian origin and outside. It’s meaning surfaces as one delves into the depth of the concept. In its simplest sense, dharma in Sanskrit means that which upholds. It is a concept of central importance in Hindu philosophy referring to a person’s duties or obligations based on occupational and situational context tightly intertwined with relationships.

The idea of dharma as duty is found in India’s ancient religious texts. It states that there is a divinely instituted natural order governing justice, harmony and happiness. This requires human beings to discern and live in an appropriate manner that fosters order and cordial living. As simple and as socially attractive as the concept may sound, living a life of dharma poses some complex questions for us as individuals living in a world that is in many ways disconnected from these fundamental concepts.

What exactly is my dharma? Is it my daily occupation or my sense of obligation to my family, society and humanity? To answer this question, one has to investigate into the deeper implication of dharma itself. A deeper understanding of dharma is “that which is inherent or essential to.” For example, we can state that the dharma of sugar is sweetness. The “sweetening” is the duty of sugar. The sense of duty that is derived from dharma is the acting out of that essential property.

In ancient Hindu or Vedic culture, one’s dharma was determined by one’s psychophysical make up — proclivities that stood out in and were inherent to an individual. That aptitude was determined at a young age and nurtured to serve the individual and society at large. This primarily became one’s occupation. Other obligations were embedded based on different stages in one’s life — duty towards self, towards family (parents, spouse, kids, etc.) and towards different segments of society at large that also included animals. All of these duties were considered equally important on an absolute level.

The complexity of dharma becomes evident even in current times when our different obligations take mutually contradictory directions. I work as the president of a non-profit organization and recently I found myself in a situation where I was confronted with the decision to let go of a few employees. They are my personal friends, have great integrity and have made significant contributions in the past but for personal and situational reasons were not able to sustain their performance.

The decision was a despairing one to make. As the president of the organization it is my primary responsibility to the stakeholders to ensure organizational efficiency. Bad decisions would not only be detrimental for the purpose of the organization, but would also cost me my job. At the same time, my decision would be humiliating and ungrateful to friends whom I truly value and are facing an hour of great need. What about “The friend in need is a friend indeed”?

It is in this type of emotionally ambiguous situation in which the Bhagavad Gita begins. Arjuna, the Pandava prince, facing a life-or-death battle against his unrighteous cousins. In the opposing army he also finds senior and revered members of his own family who raised him and his brothers when they had become fatherless at a very young age. His heart was only filled with gratitude for the stability, care and teachings that they had bestowed upon him. But according to his dharma, Arjuna has to fight in order to establish justice and that means he has to kill the very individuals whom he worships with all of his heart. The result is despair — a situation where Arjuna feels like “damned if I do and damned if I don’t.” This sets the scene for a classic conversation on the concept of dharma.

As in any complex or paradoxical situation, there are at least two distinct alternatives — the path of least resistance with enough justification that our “rational” intelligence and ego can provide, or the hard struggle to find deeper answers, clarity and grounding. It is easy for the head to justify one decision over another when the gut has already made the decision, but that may simply be our refusal to go through the pain of honest introspection.

As the renowned Trappist monk Thomas Merton states in his book Thoughts in Solitude, “Laziness and cowardice are the most dangerous of all when marked as discretion.” Many Nazis did, in fact, justify their acts against the Jews at the Nuremberg trials on the grounds that they were not acting on selfish grounds: they were doing their duty to their country.

Arjuna, at first, also justifies his gut decision to escape the battle with convincing arguments, but eventually musters up the courage to become vulnerable to the struggle and go deeper in his inquiry. And the deeper meaning of dharma manifests. Krishna, Arjuna’s friend and confidante, unravels the profound meaning of dharma as going beyond the psychophysical nature of our existence and its corresponding duties and obligations. Instead Krishna encourages Arjuna to discover his true spiritual identity, for that alone can harmonize the conflicting and temporary responsibilities of this world.

Referring back to the meaning of dharma as “that which is inherent or essential to”, Krishna tells Arjuna that our essential identity is pure consciousness that is born from the spiritual soul, totally distinct from our psychophysical material nature that we so strongly identify with. Arjuna’s ethical crisis transforms into a spiritual renaissance, where he realizes that his true dharma is that which aligns deeply with his spiritual and not his material identity.

Living with dharma can present paradoxical and despairing circumstances where our sense of goodness is severely tested. It has been humbling for me to realize that even with best possible intentions I cannot produce solutions that can satisfy everyone involved in a situation.

The struggles have helped me to be less judgmental about other people’s actions and understand that pure ethical living and idealism, although very admirable, also has its limitations. I realize that the primary aim for living the life of dharma is not only to ensure a society with high ethical conscience but also to go beyond the ethical into the realm of the spiritual. That is why the ancient Vedic texts encourage us to live by dharmic principles and furthermore struggle through despairing contradictions to seek deeper answers on responsibility, integrity and duty.

This is where despair becomes a surpassing excellence and the movement from the ethical to the spiritual begins — as the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard put it. This is where striving to live by dharma becomes our spiritual emancipation. It has awakened a deeper spiritual understanding into the real purpose of my existence, which I will highlight in my next article.

Jesus through Buddhist eyes By Sister Ajahn Candasiri

Ajahn Candasiri is a senior nun at the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire.

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, speaking to a capacity audience in the Albert Hall in 1984 united his listeners instantly with one simple statement: “All beings want to be happy; they want to avoid pain and suffering.” I was impressed at how he was able to touch what we share as human beings. He affirmed our common humanity, without in any way dismissing the obvious differences.

When invited to look at Jesus through Buddhist eyes, I had imagined that I would use a ‘compare and contrast’ approach, rather like a school essay. I was brought up as a Christian and turned to Buddhism in my early thirties, so of course I have ideas about both traditions: the one I grew up in and turned aside from, and the one I adopted and continue to practise within. But after re-reading some of the gospel stories, I would like to meet Jesus again with fresh eyes, and to examine the extent to which he and the Buddha were in fact offering the same guidance, even though the traditions of Christianity and Buddhism can appear in the surface to be rather different.
A little about how I came to be a Buddhist nun

Having tried with sincerity to approach my Christian journey in a way that was meaningful within the context of everyday life, I had reached a point of deep weariness and despair. I was weary with the apparent complexity of it all; despair had arisen because I was not able to find any way of working with the less helpful states that would creep, unbidden, into the mind: the worry, jealousy, grumpiness, and so on. And even positive states could turn around and transform themselves into pride or conceit, which were of course equally unwanted.

Eventually, I met Ajahn Sumedho, an American-born Buddhist monk, who had just arrived in England after training for ten years in Thailand. His teacher was Ajahn Chah, a Thai monk of the Forest Tradition who, in spite of little formal education, won the hearts of many thousands of people, including a significant number of Westerners. I attended a ten-day retreat at Oakenholt Buddhist Centre, near Oxford, and sat in agony on a mat on the floor of the draughty meditation hall, along with about 40 other retreatants of different shapes and sizes. In front of us was Ajahn Sumedho, who presented the teachings and guided us in meditation, with three other monks.

This was a turning point for me. Although the whole experience was extremely tough – both physically and emotionally – I felt hugely encouraged. The teachings were presented in a wonderfully accessible style, and just seemed like ordinary common sense. It didn’t occur to me that it was ‘Buddhism’. Also, they were immensely practical and as if to prove it, we had, directly in front of us, the professionals – people who had made a commitment to living them out, twenty-four hours a day. I was totally fascinated by those monks: by their robes and shaven heads, and by what I heard of their renunciant lifestyle, with its 227 rules of training. I also saw that they were relaxed and happy – perhaps that was the most remarkable, and indeed slightly puzzling, thing about them.

I felt deeply drawn by the teachings, and by the Truth they were pointing to: the acknowledgement that, yes, this life is inherently unsatisfactory, we experience suffering or dis-ease – but there is a Way that can lead us to the ending of this suffering. Also, although the idea was quite shocking to me, I saw within the awakening of interest in being part of a monastic community.
Jesus sitting alone in the desert in an attitude of prayer Christ in the desert, Ivan Kramskoj ©

So now, after more than twenty years as a Buddhist nun, what do I find as I encounter Jesus in the gospel stories?

Well, I have to say that he comes across as being much more human than I remember. Although there is much said about him being the son of God, somehow that doesn’t seem nearly as significant to me as the fact that he is a person – a man of great presence, enormous energy and compassion, and significant psychic abilities.

He also has a great gift for conveying spiritual truth in the form of images, using the most everyday things to illustrate points he wishes to make: bread, fields, corn, salt, children, trees. People don’t always understand at once, but are left with an image to ponder. Also he has a mission – to re-open the Way to eternal life; and he’s quite uncompromising in his commitment to, as he puts it, “carrying out his Father’s will”.

His ministry is short but eventful. Reading through Mark’s account, I feel tired as I imagine the relentless demands on his time and energy. It’s a relief to find the occasional reference to him having time alone or with his immediate disciples, and to read how, like us, he at times needs to rest.

A story I like very much is of how, after a strenuous day of giving teachings to a vast crowd, he is sound asleep in the boat that is taking them across the sea. His calm in response to the violent storm that arises as he is sleeping I find most helpful when things are turbulent in my own life.

I feel very caught up in the drama of it all; there is one thing after another. People listen to him, love what he has to say (or in some cases are disturbed or angered by it) and are healed. They can’t have enough of what he has to share with them. I’m touched by his response to the 4000 people who, having spent three days with him in the desert listening to his teaching, are tired and hungry. Realising this, he uses his gifts to manifest bread and fish for them all to eat.

Jesus dies as a young man. His ministry begins when he is thirty (I would be interested to know more of the spiritual training he undoubtedly received before then), and ends abruptly when he is only thirty-three. Fortunately, before the crucifixion he is able to instruct his immediate disciples in a simple ritual whereby they can re-affirm their link with him and each other (I refer, of course, to the last supper) – thereby providing a central focus of devotion and renewal for his followers, right up to the present time.

I have the impression that he is not particularly interested in converting people to his way of thinking. Rather it’s a case of teaching those who are ready; interestingly, often the people who seek him out come from quite depraved or lowly backgrounds. It is quite clear to Jesus that purity is a quality of the heart, not something that comes from unquestioning adherence to a set of rules.

His response to the Pharisees when they criticise his disciples for failing to observe the rules of purity around eating expresses this perfectly: “There is nothing from outside that can defile a man” – and to his disciples he is quite explicit in what happens to food once it has been consumed. “Rather, it is from within the heart that defilements arise.” Unfortunately, he doesn’t at this point go on to explain what to do about these.

What we hear of his last hours: the trial, the taunting, the agony and humiliation of being stripped naked and nailed to a cross to die – is an extraordinary account of patient endurance, of willingness to bear the unbearable without any sense of blame or ill will. It reminds me of a simile used by the Buddha to demonstrate the quality of metta, or kindliness, he expected of his disciples: “Even if robbers were to attack you and saw off your limbs one by one, should you give way to anger, you would not be following my advice.” A tall order, but one that clearly Jesus fulfills to perfection: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Consciousness Drives The Universe

Outstanding video which depicts that consciousness is what drives and shapes everything. This means ultimately everything in the universe and that even matter is consciousness in the most subtlest and dense form.

This video has Grant Morrisson, David Lynch, David Icke, Gregg Braden, Michael Talbot, David Wilcock, Wayne Dyer and Neil Kramer in it.

“The Cause of Suffering” Adyashanti

Have you noticed that all the ways we try to make ourselves feel better don’t seem to work in the long run? Treating the symptoms is not the answer-only at the root level does change occur. Freedom from suffering is only possible if we clearly see its underlying cause. In this definitive, direct, and accessible satsang, Adyashanti explains the mechanics of suffering and offers a simple yet powerful way to see beyond the misperceptions that cause it.

HUMAN DEVOLUTION: A VEDIC ALTERNATIVE TO DARWIN’S THEORY By Michael A. Cremo

New Evidence Challenges Darwin’s Theory
Best-selling Author Further Defies Evolutionists

Human Devolution: A Vedic Alternative to Darwin’s Theory (Torchlight Publishing, September 2003), the highly anticipated sequel to the controversial bestseller Forbidden Archeology, continues the literary drama with the same astute attention to detail and ground breaking revelations as its predecessor.

Forbidden Archeology documented a massive amount of evidence showing that humans have existed on earth for hundreds of millions of years. Such anomalous evidence, contradicting Darwinian evolution, catalyzed a global inquiry, “If we did not evolve from apes, then where did we come from?” Human Devolution is author Michael A. Cremo’s definitive answer to this question.

“We did not evolve up from matter; instead we devolved, or came down, from the realm of pure consciousness, spirit,” says Cremo. He bases his response on modern science and the world’s great wisdom traditions, including the Vedic philosophy of ancient India. Cremo proposes that before we ask the question, “Where did human beings come from? we should first contemplate,”What is a human being?” Cremo asserts that humans are a combination of matter, mind, and consciousness (or spirit).

Human Devolution contains solid scientific evidence showing how a subtle mind element and a conscious self that can exist apart from the body have been systematically eliminated from mainstream science by a process of knowledge filtration. “Any time knowledge filtration takes place you can expect a great deal of resistance, criticism, and ridicule when it is exposed and challenged,” says Cremo.

Michael Cremo is no stranger to resistance. In 1993 when Forbidden Archeology was released there was a vast array of response. From anthropologist Richard Leakey calling it “…pure humbug” to Fingerprints of the Gods author Graham Hancock referring to it as “One of the landmark intellectual achievements of the late 20th century,” it has received both positive and negative international attention. In addition, in 1996 when NBC aired its special The Mysterious Origins of Man, hosted by Charlton Heston, and featured the book, establishment scientists felt so threatened by this program that they lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to censure and fine NBC for airing it (read the complete story in Forbidden Archeology’s Impact).

Despite the criticism surrounding it, Forbidden Archeology is a huge success. Both it and Human Devolution present human origins in a new perspective. The two books are the culmination of eighteen years of research. The result, unlike the early creationist perspective, offers a new scientifically based take on human origins. Forbidden Archeology gave us the cover-up and now Human Devolution brings us the true story.

Michael Cremo at the Darwin Museum in Moscow standing in front of paintings of Charles Darwin and Alfred R. Wallace, cofounders of the theory of evolution by natural selection

Human Devolution
Table of Contents

1. Ascended Apes or Fallen Angels? ………………………………………………

2. Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race ……………

3. The Extreme Antiquity of Nonhuman Species …………………………………

4. Genes, Design, and Designer ……………………………………………………

5. Beyond Stones and Bones: Alfred R. Wallace and the Spirit World…………

6. What Is a Human Being? Matter, Mind, and Consciousness…………………

7. The Cosmic Hierarchy: A Cross Cultural Study………………………………

8. Apparitions, Angels, and Aliens…………………………………………………

9. Paranormal Modification and Production of Biological Form………………..

10. A Universe Designed for Life……………………………………………………

11. Human Devolution: A Vedic Account…………………………………………..

Michael A. Cremo, the author of “Human Devolution” speaks about his book.

Stephen Hawking: ‘There is no heaven; it’s a fairy story’

Famed physicist Stephen Hawking says there is no room for an afterlife in his view of the workings of the cosmos.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence.

A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.

In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts, Britain’s most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the moment when the brain flickers for the final time.

Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21, shares his thoughts on death, human purpose and our chance existence in an exclusive interview with the Guardian today.

The incurable illness was expected to kill Hawking within a few years of its symptoms arising, an outlook that turned the young scientist to Wagner, but ultimately led him to enjoy life more, he has said, despite the cloud hanging over his future.

“I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first,” he said.

“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark,” he added.

Hawking’s latest comments go beyond those laid out in his 2010 book, The Grand Design, in which he asserted that there is no need for a creator to explain the existence of the universe. The book provoked a backlash from some religious leaders, including the chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, who accused Hawking of committing an “elementary fallacy” of logic.

The 69-year-old physicist fell seriously ill after a lecture tour in the US in 2009 and was taken to Addenbrookes hospital in an episode that sparked grave concerns for his health. He has since returned to his Cambridge department as director of research.

The physicist’s remarks draw a stark line between the use of God as a metaphor and the belief in an omniscient creator whose hands guide the workings of the cosmos.

In his bestselling 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking drew on the device so beloved of Einstein, when he described what it would mean for scientists to develop a “theory of everything” – a set of equations that described every particle and force in the entire universe. “It would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God,” he wrote.

The book sold a reported 9 million copies and propelled the physicist to instant stardom. His fame has led to guest roles in The Simpsons, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Red Dwarf. One of his greatest achievements in physics is a theory that describes how black holes emit radiation.

In the interview, Hawking rejected the notion of life beyond death and emphasised the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use of our lives. In answer to a question on how we should live, he said, simply: “We should seek the greatest value of our action.”

In answering another, he wrote of the beauty of science, such as the exquisite double helix of DNA in biology, or the fundamental equations of physics.

Hawking responded to questions posed by the Guardian and a reader in advance of a lecture tomorrow at the Google Zeitgeist meeting in London, in which he will address the question: “Why are we here?”

In the talk, he will argue that tiny quantum fluctuations in the very early universe became the seeds from which galaxies, stars, and ultimately human life emerged. “Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in,” he said.

Hawking suggests that with modern space-based instruments, such as the European Space Agency’s Planck mission, it may be possible to spot ancient fingerprints in the light left over from the earliest moments of the universe and work out how our own place in space came to be.

His talk will focus on M-theory, a broad mathematical framework that encompasses string theory, which is regarded by many physicists as the best hope yet of developing a theory of everything.

M-theory demands a universe with 11 dimensions, including a dimension of time and the three familiar spatial dimensions. The rest are curled up too small for us to see. Evidence in support of M-theory might also come from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva.

One possibility predicted by M-theory is supersymmetry, an idea that says fundamental particles have heavy – and as yet undiscovered – twins, with curious names such as selectrons and squarks. Confirmation of supersymmetry would be a shot in the arm for M-theory and help physicists explain how each force at work in the universe arose from one super-force at the dawn of time.

Another potential discovery at the LHC, that of the elusive Higgs boson, which is thought to give mass to elementary particles, might be less welcome to Hawking, who has a long-standing bet that the long-sought entity will never be found at the laboratory.

Hawking will join other speakers at the London event, including the chancellor, George Osborne, and the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Science, truth and beauty: Hawking’s answers

What is the value in knowing “Why are we here?”

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can’t solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value.

You’ve said there is no reason to invoke God to light the blue touchpaper. Is our existence all down to luck?

Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.

So here we are. What should we do?

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

You had a health scare and spent time in hospital in 2009. What, if anything, do you fear about death?

I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

What are the things you find most beautiful in science?

Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology, and the fundamental equations of physics.”

10 Spiritually Transmitted Diseases

It is a jungle out there, and it is no less true about spiritual life than any other aspect of life. Do we really think that just because someone has been meditating for five years, or doing 10 years of yoga practice, that they will be any less neurotic than the next person? At best, perhaps they will be a little bit more aware of it. A little bit.

It is for this reason that I spent the last 15 years of my life researching and writing books on cultivating discernment on the spiritual path in all the gritty areas–power, sex, enlightenment, gurus, scandals, psychology, neurosis — as well as earnest, but just plain confused and unconscious, motivations on the path. My partner (author and teacher Marc Gafni) and I are developing a new series of books, courses and practices to bring further clarification to these issues.

Several years ago, I spent a summer living and working in South Africa. Upon my arrival I was instantly confronted by the visceral reality that I was in the country with the highest murder rate in the world, where rape was common and more than half the population was HIV-positive — men and women, gays and straights alike.

As I have come to know hundreds of spiritual teachers and thousands of spiritual practitioners through my work and travels, I have been struck by the way in which our spiritual views, perspectives and experiences become similarly “infected” by “conceptual contaminants” — comprising a confused and immature relationship to complex spiritual principles can seem as invisible and insidious as a sexually transmitted disease.

The following 10 categorizations are not intended to be definitive but are offered as a tool for becoming aware of some of the most common spiritually transmitted diseases.

1. Fast-Food Spirituality: Mix spirituality with a culture that celebrates speed, multitasking and instant gratification and the result is likely to be fast-food spirituality. Fast-food spirituality is a product of the common and understandable fantasy that relief from the suffering of our human condition can be quick and easy. One thing is clear, however: spiritual transformation cannot be had in a quick fix.

2. Faux Spirituality: Faux spirituality is the tendency to talk, dress and act as we imagine a spiritual person would. It is a kind of imitation spirituality that mimics spiritual realization in the way that leopard-skin fabric imitates the genuine skin of a leopard.

3. Confused Motivations: Although our desire to grow is genuine and pure, it often gets mixed with lesser motivations, including the wish to be loved, the desire to belong, the need to fill our internal emptiness, the belief that the spiritual path will remove our suffering and spiritual ambition, the wish to be special, to be better than, to be “the one.”

4. Identifying with Spiritual Experiences: In this disease, the ego identifies with our spiritual experience and takes it as its own, and we begin to believe that we are embodying insights that have arisen within us at certain times. In most cases, it does not last indefinitely, although it tends to endure for longer periods of time in those who believe themselves to be enlightened and/or who function as spiritual teachers.

5. The Spiritualized Ego: This disease occurs when the very structure of the egoic personality becomes deeply embedded with spiritual concepts and ideas. The result is an egoic structure that is “bullet-proof.” When the ego becomes spiritualized, we are invulnerable to help, new input, or constructive feedback. We become impenetrable human beings and are stunted in our spiritual growth, all in the name of spirituality.

6. Mass Production of Spiritual Teachers: There are a number of current trendy spiritual traditions that produce people who believe themselves to be at a level of spiritual enlightenment, or mastery, that is far beyond their actual level. This disease functions like a spiritual conveyor belt: put on this glow, get that insight, and — bam! — you’re enlightened and ready to enlighten others in similar fashion. The problem is not that such teachers instruct but that they represent themselves as having achieved spiritual mastery.

7. Spiritual Pride: Spiritual pride arises when the practitioner, through years of labored effort, has actually attained a certain level of wisdom and uses that attainment to justify shutting down to further experience. A feeling of “spiritual superiority” is another symptom of this spiritually transmitted disease. It manifests as a subtle feeling that “I am better, more wise and above others because I am spiritual.”

8. Group Mind: Also described as groupthink, cultic mentality or ashram disease, group mind is an insidious virus that contains many elements of traditional co-dependence. A spiritual group makes subtle and unconscious agreements regarding the correct ways to think, talk, dress, and act. Individuals and groups infected with “group mind” reject individuals, attitudes, and circumstances that do not conform to the often unwritten rules of the group.

9. The Chosen-People Complex: The chosen people complex is not limited to Jews. It is the belief that “Our group is more spiritually evolved, powerful, enlightened and, simply put, better than any other group.” There is an important distinction between the recognition that one has found the right path, teacher or community for themselves, and having found The One.

10. The Deadly Virus: “I Have Arrived”: This disease is so potent that it has the capacity to be terminal and deadly to our spiritual evolution. This is the belief that “I have arrived” at the final goal of the spiritual path. Our spiritual progress ends at the point where this belief becomes crystallized in our psyche, for the moment we begin to believe that we have reached the end of the path, further growth ceases.

“The essence of love is perception,” according to the teachings of Marc Gafni, “Therefore the essence of self love is self perception. You can only fall in love with someone you can see clearly–including yourself. To love is to have eyes to see. It is only when you see yourself clearly that you can begin to love yourself.”

It is in the spirit of Marc’s teaching that I believe that a critical part of learning discernment on the spiritual path is discovering the pervasive illnesses of ego and self-deception that are in all of us. That is when we need a sense of humor and the support of real spiritual friends. As we face our obstacles to spiritual growth, there are times when it is easy to fall into a sense of despair and self-diminishment and lose our confidence on the path. We must keep the faith, in ourselves and in others, in order to really make a difference in this world.

Adapted from Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path (Sounds True)

Mariana Caplan, PhD, is the author of seven books and numerous articles on cutting edge topics in Western spirituality, including the seminal book, Halfway Up the Mountain: the Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment and her newest release, The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher (Sounds True, June 2011). Her previous release, Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path, won three national awards for best spiritual book of 2009. She is a psychotherapist specializing in spiritual issues and somatic and body-centered approaches to transformation, and a professor of yogic and transpersonal psychologies.

She has spent the past two decades researching and practicing in the world’s great mystical traditions, and has lived in villages in India, Central and South America, and Europe. She has interviewed and spent time with many of the great mystics and thinkers of our time, both East and West. Mariana resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has a private practice in counseling in Marin County. She is a lifelong student and practitioner of yoga.
Show full bio

Reflections on the Death of Sathya Sai Baba: Discernment Is A Lifelong Process ~ Mariana Caplan, PhD

Another saint has passed. Spiritual leader and Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba died on April 24, 2011. Was he more saint or more sinner, who can ultimately say? He was, above all, a human being, just like every other significant spiritual teacher on the planet.

Although I never met Sathya Sai Baba, when I learn of his death, my heart saddens. For the hundreds of thousands of people who considered him to be their guru, the countless lives benefitted from his service, the glory and suffering of this man’s life, as well as the grace and challenges that faced all who surrounded him.

I remember learning about Sathya Sai Baba as a 25-year-old woman living in India. I had traveled there on a one-way ticket and was finding my way around, not even willing to use a guidebook less the “Inner Voice” I was seeking to follow be thwarted by the influence of those who had traveled before me.

The first wanna-be guru I spent several weeks with there considered himself to be a guru in the direct lineage of Sathya Sai Baba, though they had never met in person. Sathya Sai Baba was known for his miracles, and those devoted to him often found a sacred ash called vibhuti on their altars. So when a gray ash appeared on my bed in my tiny room alongside the Ganges River, I reported this to my new teacher. It was quickly assumed that I had been the recipient of this miraculous ash and word quickly spread that I was to be an important disciple of my new guru.

Something felt … well, wrong about this. After a few days in my newfound local fame, I returned to my little room, borrowed a broom, moved my bed to the middle of the room and promptly stood up on it and vigorously swept the ceiling. Lo and behold, cheap gray Indian paint rained upon me.

I was relieved somehow — I didn’t need to be the recipient of miraculously manifested sacred ash. I was just looking to find happiness, love, and whatever this longed-for enlightenment might be, but not ash. My popularity diminished almost instantly.

Most believe that Sathya Sai Baba did indeed possess the magical power, or siddhi, to manifest fancy objects and jewels for his followers. Others suggest this was entirely fraudulent. But let us assume it might have been true — this would not mean anything about his enlightenment or lack of enlightenment, but rather that he possessed a great power. If this power was somehow fraudulent, but faith was healed among disbelievers and people found themselves closer to love of the Divine, could it be said to be altogether bad? The benefit is that this power awakened tens or hundreds of thousands of people from the disbelief in the divine. It healed their cynicism and opened their hearts. Praise to any gift that can open hearts, let us just not mistake this for enlightenment.

Many years ago I felt the need for a great book to be written about what happens to spiritual communities when a teacher dies. I asked a writer friend if he could do it as I could not find the time. Sadly there are few resources written for support on this trans-cultural challenge that is timeless in its nature, and contains cultural and historical variables given the complexity of the times we are living in, the immensity of projections onto the guru, and the distinctions regarding the Eastern and Western psyche. It is such an important transition for each student or disciple, so many predictable challenges regarding power, leadership, loss, reorganization of the community. I wish his families and followers ease in their grieving, all of us spaciousness and forgiveness around any of Sathya Sai Baba’s weaknesses, and most of all, integrity to those who are charged with the responsibility of spiritual leadership.

I have tried to write about these issues extensively in my forthcoming book The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher. However, the fact remains: discernment is a lifelong process, and there are more questions than answers. Each life, each relationship is distinct. We can simply cultivate greater discernment as we journey through a labyrinth of increasing subtlety.

Another historical figure, renowned guru, and servitor of our time has passed. Praise to his goodness and may his great influence continue touch lives and promote healing on the planet.

Is Believing in Past Lives Spiritually Evolved or Spiritually Stunted?

Yep, I believe in reincarnation. Does that make me better, or more content, than those who don’t?

It is often as I’m telling a story, something about life and the bigger picture, that I approach the subject with a bit of trepidation. Almost apologizing, mumbling just a bit, I admit the reason that I agree with some general observation is because I believe there is more than just this life.

Of course, it matters who I’m talking to. Tribe members can often be noted from afar, and they nod their heads quickly in agreement. Others are just as obvious, and of course, those are the ones with whom I tend to end up in these types of conversations. Their pupils constrict as they attempt to hide their judgment, or they go ahead and more openly question my assuredness of lives before and after this one.

It doesn’t necessarily matter that I only truly started believing in past lives about six years ago, though I often throw this fact in the conversation for good measure. That before then, I’m sure my eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly at those who off-handedly mentioned a wound left over from a sword to the gut during the fall of the Roman empire, or a burning at the stake during Salem witch-hunting times. That I can still stand outside of myself sometimes, understanding that if the day a person was born and the moment they die is all they believe they’ve got, the world looks a hell of a lot different.

A lot more depressing, really.

Sure, I get the scientific, it’s-just-as-crazy-as-saying-a-big-man-in-the-sky-made-this-all-in-seven-days perspective. I can see how people see a body is buried in the ground and eaten up by the insects that live there (though the whole quantum idea of energy never dying, only changing form chucks a wrench in the system). Guess if you don’t believe in the soul, or energy, simply being fodder for the bacteria makes the most sense.

But I guess my question is, why believe in just one life/one death?

The Science of Life and Death

I searched around the web a bit for “scientific evidence” of past lives, and surprisingly came across more than a few booksand articles pointing toward “proof” of reincarnation.

Even a website dedicated to “small-caps stocks, options, and high-growth opportunities” offered up an article on the work of Dr. Weiss, a Yale-trained psychotherapist, who kinda fell into research about past lives. The author of the article, Jonathan Kolber, wrote:

I personally had an experience in college that seemed to fit the bill…most interesting to me, the images explained some anomalies in my life and the information gained changed my perspective on some things. Since childhood, I had harbored hostile attitudes towards France, a country with which I had no apparent connection whatsoever. I regarded the French as irrational and prone to mob rule. I also had a phobia of being in crowds.

After seemingly “remembering” a life as an insignificant member of the nobility in France, apparently born in 1756, all of my irrational attitudes disappeared. And for the first time in my life, I was able to enjoy vacationing in Quebec and listening to the French language spoken.

He goes on to discuss possibilities around spontaneous healing, which Dr. Weiss has seen occur time and time again (though by no means every single time). I was reminded of my own experience of seeing an intuitive, psychic, whathaveyou, and her telling me a story that felt like a massive punch in the gut. My friends who have to stretch far in the direction of suspending disbelief did their best to be supportive when I told them my lifelong (well, at least since I was a teenager) fear of being raped came not from an experience in this lifetime, but from being assaulted and left to die last time around. I apparently was around 23 when it happened.

In this life, at 23, I began an intense battle with candida overgrowth, which is often thought to be emotionally linked with sexual abuse or repression. Although it was by no means spontaneous healing, hearing what had happened to the body my soul last inhabited felt like skidding to a stop in the fight.

Why Not?

I can’t help but wonder whether or not it’s true, doesn’t it just feel better to think this one life isn’t all there is?

That each of us have our ups and downs in order to get to a more evolved place? That those who seem to have so much in this life, and those who seem to have so little, will have their karma switched next time around?

That it’s not all for nought?

Interestingly, just as I was writing this piece, I came across a Huffington Post article by spiritual writer and psychologist Mariana Caplan. Titled 10 Spiritual Transmitted Diseases, she points out our often unconscious ways of spiritually bypassing the hard work we have to do throughout life to continue to grow. One STP struck me in particular:

Spiritual Pride: Spiritual pride arises when the practitioner, through years of labored effort, has actually attained a certain level of wisdom and uses that attainment to justify shutting down to further experience. A feeling of “spiritual superiority” is another symptom of this spiritually transmitted disease. It manifests as a subtle feeling that “I am better, more wise and above others because I am spiritual.”

So I can’t help but wonder, is my belief in more than just this life not only a way of surviving the hardships I face (and watch others handle in even larger quantities), but am I employing spiritual pride at the same time? I certainly can feel superior to those who think this is it, and feel sorry for the depression I can’t help but believe they harbor somewhere deep inside. Partly, this stems from my own past experiences of having a lack of something-to-believe-in. But is it also steeped in feeling better about myself, and my purpose, because I now do have something to believe in?

Maybe more importantly, how does this effect my interactions with the “others” who don’t believe the way I do?

About the Author

Christine Garvin holds a Masters degree in Holistic Health Education and is a certified Nutrition Educator. She is co-editor of Confronting Love and has written for a variety of health, travel, and relationship sites and magazines. When she is not writing, she gives wellness consultations and choreographs and performs hip-hop and bhangra routines. She currently calls Black Mountain, NC home. Follow her on Twitter @livingholistic or on her FB page.

Spiritual Evolution: The Path to a Meaningful Life? ~ Drs. Ron and Mary Hulnick

Drs. Ron and Mary Hulnick
Co-directors, University of Santa Monica; authors, ‘Loyalty to Your Soul: The Heart of Spiritual Psychology’

Henry David Thoreau, in the mid 1800s, wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

A century and a half has passed, and Thoreau’s words still strongly echo in our lives. Consider the current levels of war, poverty, sickness, starvation, etc. present in the world today. We understand that a recent United Nations study1 reported on the status, or well-being, of the people of member nations regarding challenges those people face daily. They took all the responses received and boiled them down to one word to describe the overall condition of the people of these nations. That word is “meaningless.”

And lest we egotistically think that such studies are only descriptive of so-called underdeveloped countries, do we not have ample evidence much closer to home that reflects this same condition? Consider distressingly high teen suicide rates, bulging prison populations, rampant family disharmony and pervasive political dissension. Imagine, for huge numbers of people alive at this time, perhaps including you, that life is experienced as meaningless.

But Thoreau said “most men,” and “most” is not “all.” Who, then, are those who did not, or will not, die without fully singing the song they were born to sing?

They are the ones who realize that true and lasting happiness and fulfillment can never be won on the battlefield of material success, no matter how powerful or wealthy one becomes, or how adept one is at surrounding oneself with the “right” people or circumstances.

The songsters among us are those who have come to know that, as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin reminded us, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” That one sentence has profound implications, for how does one live in the conscious awareness of his or her spiritual nature?

The single message of those who have realized such potential has always been the same, and basically, it comes down to this: True and lasting happiness and fulfillment are an individual affair and can only be found by going deep within, where one’s true essence is vividly and stunningly revealed as love — and then living into the reality of that awareness.

For those of us alive today, this realization is actually good news and explains the rapidly increasing interest in spiritual activity worldwide. More people today than ever before in human history are waking up into the awareness of spiritual reality. In terms of the UN study, more and more people are coming to the realization that what they are truly seeking is meaning in their lives. Let’s be even more precise: it’s neither gold nor land nor even being right for which we truly yearn; rather, it is that our lives count for something a good deal deeper than the latest electronic gadget. it is not surprising that the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide continues to grow and provide enormous amounts of compassion-based service in various parts of the world.

From our 32 years at the University of Santa Monica educating several thousand people in the newly emerging field of spiritual psychology, we’ve become aware of an extremely important dynamic that ties together psychological well-being and spiritual evolution.

Who would have ever thought that resolving the seemingly endless experience of emotional suffering would be a measure of spiritual evolution?

The Persian poet Rumi had a clue when he stated, “Your task is not to seek for love, your task is to seek and find all the barriers you have built against it.” And to that we would add: “And to dissolve them.” At USM, we refer to Rumi’s “barriers” as “unresolved issues,” which are at the core of almost all emotional suffering.

It’s our unresolved issues (barriers) that keep us asleep and unaware of who we are: divine beings whose essential nature is loving. And what’s an unresolved issue? “Anything that disturbs your peace.” And we do mean anything. In fact, we’ve devised a simple, foolproof test for identifying unresolved issues. Ready?

Do you ever find yourself in an attitude of “I am upset because [fill in the blank]“? Consider the possibility that anytime you are upset about anything, regardless of all your well thought-through reasons, your school has gone into session and an unresolved issue has been surfaced in your awareness. Further, when viewed from within the context of spiritual psychology, such instances of moving into “upset” are sacred opportunities for healing the underlying, unresolved issue for the last time.

And how do you do it? One of the principles of spiritual psychology is that “healing is the application of loving to the parts inside that hurt.”

If ever there was a way to transform a life of quiet desperation into a life of effective peaceful living, healing inner hurts surely ranks right up there. As you resolve issues, you stand up in who you truly are and find purpose and meaning in sharing your unique contribution.

The more issues you resolve, the more you evolve spiritually, the more peaceful and caring you become, and the more you contribute to the evolution of consciousness of the human species. As we say at USM, “Every time one person resolves one issue, all of humanity evolves.”

Meaning is a natural and automatic by-product of a life filled with acts of love. If you want to live a life filled with meaning, start expressing from your essential loving nature. Start singing your song.

Ready to begin? Here’s a simple process that you can try out and experience the result for yourself. For the next week, everywhere you go and under all circumstances, consciously choose to see the loving nature in everyone you encounter. That means resisting the urge to succumb to the negative habit of judging them.

And oh, there is one small guideline you’ll need to follow: This way of seeing extends to everyone, including yourself, regardless of any considerations.

Spiritual Psychology: Can my own spiritual curriculum bring harm to others?

Video from University of Santa Monica Special Event: President and Chief Academic Officer, Drs. Ron and Mary Hulnick answer a question about Spiritual Curriculum.

The Qualities of a Spiritual Life ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Life is more than matter. If it were just matter, there would be no need for comfort. Matter does not feel comfort or discomfort, beauty or ugliness, love or compassion, joy or sorrow. Will a chair ever feel sorry or happy? No, matter does not have these finer values. They belong to the realm of the spirit. But life is also more than spirit. If it were just spirit, there would be no need for water, food, or rest. Human life is a combination of both matter and spirit.

The nature of the spirit

Spirit experiences and expresses values. Values are feelings and emotions — that which cannot be captured totally by words or understood by the intellect. The goal of the spiritual path is to understand the spiritual dimension of life and live fully all the values that the spirit represents. What are those values? Peace, love, joy, beauty, unlimited knowledge, and the capacity to understand both mind and matter.

Comfort: A quality of consciousness

Whatever one does is directed towards one goal, happiness or comfort. Often people think that comfort comes in a material way, through matter alone. Comfort is a quality of consciousness. To some degree it does depend on matter, but to a greater degree it depends on attitude and understanding.

The true nature of the spirit is comprehension

You listen, you understand and you absorb. Who is understanding? Who is absorbing? It is the spirit in your body that is taking in the knowledge. And this knowledge is not coming through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch alone. It is also coming from inside as intuition.

The very nature of consciousness is knowledge

You can say that at every level of consciousness, knowledge is present. And consciousness is present! If it were nothing, it could not be present. It is something, yet it is not finite. You cannot measure consciousness, so it is present and infinite.

The nature of your consciousness is peace: You are love

Consciousness is peace. You are peace, you are truth, and you are energy, walking, moving, talking, sitting. The “self” is energy and the “self” is knowledge, the knowing and the knower. This consciousness is love, you are love. Understanding and living this is the spiritual life. Life attains its richest form through the spiritual dimension. Without it life becomes very shallow and you are unhappy, dependent, depressed and miserable.

The effects of the spiritual dimension on society

This is a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole of humanity. The spiritual dimension, in its true form, breaks the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality. Wars will be eliminated only through spiritual understanding.

The spiritual path is not an escape from life

Actually, the spiritual path makes life more difficult! In India people think the spiritual life is easy — go to an ashram where you don’t have to work hard. No! The spiritual path is not an escape from hard work or sincere action, just as social service is not an escape to a comfortable life. In both situations you have to put your heart and soul into your actions and be ready to give a hundred percent of yourself. The spiritual life will bring you enormous joy, more contentment, more peace and more energy than you can find, but it’s not an escape.

The spiritual path is not an escape from responsibility

The spiritual path means taking responsibility. If you think it is difficult to manage your children and your spouse, you will be given more people to care for. If you are ready to take responsibility for 20 people, 2,000 people, 20 million people, then you are on the path. The spiritual path is not an escape from responsibility, but taking responsibility.

The spiritual path is not an escape from hard work

Intelligent, effective work is part of the spiritual life. When you are working hard you may think you deserve compassion. I say that if you are working hard and doing it with intelligence, then you need appreciation, not compassion. If someone is taking five hours to complete something that can be done in half an hour, it doesn’t need compassion.

Knowing peace

Another aspect of spiritual life is peace — knowing that peace is your nature. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing that inside you there is a pure clear space that’s vast and deep. That inner space is what you are. Feeling this is knowing your spiritual dimension. ”I have come from peace, I am in peace, I will go back to peace. Peace is my origin and my goal.” This inner affirmation or experience makes you a seeker.

A sense of sacredness

Still another aspect of spiritual life is a sense of sacredness. When you have a deep sense of thankfulness combined with regard and respect for everything that comes to you in life, it brings a sense of sacredness. In sacredness there is awareness. Your mind is fully present in fear, anger or sacredness.

Service and silence

Silence heals and rejuvenates. Silence gives you depth and stability and brings creativity. Service brings the dynamic experience of heart. It creates a sense of belongingness. Lack of service can land a person in depression. Service alone can bring contentment in life, but service without silence tires you. Service without spirituality will be shallow and cannot be sustained for a long period of time. The deeper the silence, the more dynamic the outer activity becomes. Both are essential in life.

Have confidence

Have confidence in yourself. One who does not have confidence cannot achieve anything. Confidence clears doubt. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. Once you eliminate the negative, you will see that the positive has already happened. When doubt clears, confidence appears. So to gain confidence in yourself, you must understand what doubt is.

The nature of doubt

If you observe the nature of doubt, it is always about something that is positive. You doubt the goodness of other people, never their bad qualities. You doubt your own capabilities, never your incapabilities. On the spiritual path, you learn to handle things with intuition and inner freedom. I don’t say don’t doubt. I say doubt as much as you can. That will help you get through it before progressing further.

Three Qualities(Gunas) and Four Vedas – by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Why it’s So Hard to Find Your Life’s Purpose ~ Douglas LaBier

“Every being is intended to be on earth for a certain purpose.”
– Sa’di, 12th Century Persian poet

I’m often asked, “Why can’t I find the purpose of my life?” Over the decades I’ve heard many men and women — whether they’re psychotherapy patients working to build healthier lives or business executive trying to create healthier leadership — say at some point that they don’t know what they’re really here, for, on this planet. They’re not necessarily religious or spiritually inclined, but they feel a longing for that “certain something” that defines and integrates their lives.

Many turn to the various books and programs purport to identify their life’s purpose, but most come away dissatisfied. No closer than they were before, they identify with Bono’s plaintive cry in the U2′s song, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

And yet, many do find and live in harmony with their life’s purpose. Here are some of my observations about why many don’t, and how they differ from those who do.

First, I think everyone feels a pull towards some defining purpose to his or her life, no matter how much it may have become shrouded over along the way. In fact, you can say that all forms of life, all natural phenomena, have some purpose. There’s always movement or evolution towards some kind of outcome or fulfillment — whether it’s a tree that produces fruit or clouds that form to produce rain. But we humans become so enraptured by our daily activity, engagements, goals and so forth, that our awareness of our own unique life purpose is easily dimmed.

And there are consequences to not knowing or finding your purpose. I often see men
and women who’ve become successful in their work or relationships — their outer lives — and yet they feel hollow, empty, unfulfilled. They describe feeling “off-track” in some way, or incomplete, despite a conventionally successful life. Sometimes they wonder if they’ve been on the “wrong” path all along — chosen the wrong career, or the wrong life partner. Or that perhaps they haven’t realized that their chosen path could be more meaningful or purposeful to them, if they let it. Moreover, they wonder how you can tell the difference?

One thing is clear: The consequences of not finding your purpose include chronic, lingering dissatisfaction; an absence of inner peace and a sense of not being fully in sync with your inner self. That’s because your true inner self knows that your life purpose is out of sync with your outer life. The latter is often a false self, but you’ve identified with it because it’s been so rewarding to your ego.

I think most people retain at least a glimmer of awareness of their life’s purpose within their inner being. It often feels like a leaning, an inclination, that continues to pull at you. Sometimes is right in front of your eyes but you don’t allow yourself to see it, like when you’re hunting for your missing keys and then discover that they’ve been right in front of you the whole time. For example, an investment advisor found himself doing more and more work with charity organizations. He finally realized that what he felt most in sync with was hands-on work helping people. That was the part he enjoyed about his work, not the money managing per se. Helping people was his true calling, and it was staring him in the face the whole time.

Those who experience a clear inclination but don’t pursue or fulfill it remain incomplete and dissatisfied. But it’s important not to confuse seeking happiness with finding your purpose. Happiness is what you experience in the daily flow of life — the highs and lows that are situational. They will fluctuate. But purpose is deeper. It’s more of an underlying sense of peace and fulfillment overall, a sense of integration and continuous unfoldment of your being. It transcends everyday ups and downs, the disappointments or successes, even. When you’re living in accordance with your life’s purpose, you view all of the above as part of what you encounter along the road. They don’t distract you from that larger vision, your ideal, which is like a magnet steadily pulling you towards it.

Themes Of People Who Find Their Purpose

There are commonalities among those who find their true purpose for being. One major theme is that they aren’t very preoccupied with self-interest, in their ego-investments in what they do. That can sound contradictory. How can you find your life purpose if you’re not focused on yourself? The fact is, when you’re highly focused on yourself, with getting your goals or needs met — whether in your work or relationships — your purpose becomes obscured. Your ego covers it, like clouds blocking the sun. Self-interest, or ego in this sense, is part of being human, of course. It’s something that requires effort and consciousness to move through and let go of, so you don’t become transfixed by it, as the Sirens sought to do to Ulysses.

Letting go of self-interest opens the door to recognizing your true self, more clearly, so you can see whether it’s joined with your outer life and creates a sense of purpose — or clashes with it. Knowing who you are inside — your true values, secret desires, imagination; your capacity for love, empathy, generosity — all relate to and inform your life purpose.

A second theme of those who discover their life purpose is that they use their mental and creative energies to serve something larger than themselves. That is, they’re like the lover who simply gives love for its own sake, without regard for getting something in return, without asking to be loved back or viewing his actions as a transaction or investment. That can be hard to imagine in our mercantile society, but giving your mental, emotional and creative energy from the heart comes naturally when you serve something larger than your self-interest. It beckons you; it calls forth your spirit.

This theme of service to something larger than your ego, larger than “winning” the fruits of what you’re aiming for, takes many forms in people. For some, their service and sense of purpose is embodied in the work that they do every day. That is, what they do reflects the paradox of not directly aiming to achieve something, because doing so only fuels the ego. This theme is described by John Kay, former Director of Oxford’s Business School, in “Obliquity.” There, he shows examples of achieving business or career goals by pursuing them indirectly; by deliberately not pursuing them. That is, too much self-interest tends to undermine success. It’s the difference between passion in the service of creating a new product, rather than trying to capture a big market share from the product.

Service towards something beyond ego is always visible in those who’ve found their purpose, whether younger and older. Sometimes it’s by conscious intent. For example, letting go of a previous path when they awaken to it’s not being in sync with their inner self. Sometimes it’s triggered by unanticipated events that answers an inner yearning

One example is a 20-something woman who, disenchanted with college, returned home and happen to join up with some other musician and artist friends. That led, in turn, to creating a nonprofit organization, the GoodMakers Street Team, a group of passionate young adults who are bringing positive change to communities. Older people are also discovering a newly-found life purpose. For example, the rise of “encore careers” and projects or engagements that they discover are more in sync with their inner selves; and perhaps have lingered in the background of their lives for years.

Sometimes one’s purpose is awakened by a tragedy one learns about, such as person who become moved by victims of torture and discovered his life’s purpose in helping them. Or, a tragedy one experiences, like John Walsh, whose nationally-known work in criminal justice was spurred by the murder of his young son.

Some Guidelines

If you work towards weakening the stranglehold of self-interest, you can take an important step towards discovering your life’s purpose: Learning from your choices and way of life. That is, they can give you important feedback about the path you’ve been on, in relation to your deeper life purpose.

1. Begin by examining what you’re currently doing in your choices, way of life, and commitments, looking from “outside” yourself. Try to discern what the outcomes — whether successes or failures — reveal to you about your inner self. Look for where there seems to be resonance or not. That is, don’t try to “find” your purpose by tweaking or fine-tuning what you’ve been doing in your work, relationships or anything else. Instead, let all of that teach you what it can. That is, look at what it tells you about your longings, your inner vision and predilections that you might be trying to express through your outer life, even if the latter may be an incorrect vehicle.

2. When you do feel a pull towards some purpose, activity or goal that you feel reflects your inner self, then pursue it fully and vigorously, and with great intent. Keep looking for the feedback your actions give you along the way. It doesn’t matter if your purpose is something more concrete or more spiritual. If you pursue it with minimal self-interest, with “obliquity,” you will learn from what happens if it’s the true path for you or not.

3. Infuse all of your actions with a spirit of giving, of service; in effect, with love for what you’re engaging with. That includes all the people you interact with, as well. The more you consciously infuse your thoughts, emotions and behavior with positive, life-affirming energy – kindness, compassion, generosity, justice – you’re keeping your ego at bay and you’re able to see your true purpose with greater clarity.

Of course, this is hard, and you might encounter opposition from cultural pressures or others who have their own interests at stake. Keep in mind, here, something Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

The Sufi spiritual leader Hazrat Inayat Khan, who brought his teachings to the U.S. and Western Europe in the early 1900s, described the pull of your purpose in an interesting way. He wrote that one

…may suddenly think during the night, “I must go to the north,” and in the morning, he sets out on his journey. He does not know why, he does not know what he is to accomplish there, he only knows that he must go. By going there, he finds something that he has to do and sees that it was the hand of destiny pushing him towards the accomplishment of that purpose which inspired him to go to the north.

I find that men and women who set out to “go north” and awaken to their life purpose radiate a calm inner strength, inspiration, power and success in whatever they do with their lives. It radiates to all around them.
* * * * *

Douglas LaBier, Ph.D., a business psychologist and psychotherapist, is Director of the Center for Progressive Development in Washington, D.C. You may email him at dlabier@CenterProgressive.org

How Our Consciousness Affects the Environment / Witnessing the End of an Era ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

In March this year the science journal Nature announced what many people already knew: that there are clear indications that the world’s sixth “mass extinction” is already underway.

The last mass extinction came some 65 million years ago when a comet or asteroid slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula, in modern-day Mexico, causing firestorms whose dust cooled the planet, and an estimated 76 percent of species were killed, including the dinosaurs. The four previous mass extinction of species were due to gradual global warming and cooling, and happened on a scale of hundreds of thousands to millions of years. What is particular about our present mass extinction is that it has happened so quickly over a few centuries, and most significantly, it is man made.

We are slowly, and in some cases reluctantly, waking up to the global ecological disaster of climate change, extinction of species and pollution.

However, there is another dimension to this global predicament which we should not ignore. It is not just the outer environment that is at stake but our inner environment and the connection between the two.

While an indigenous culture and its shamans would look first to the inner in order to understand the outer, this is not a part of our Western heritage. And while Eastern spiritual traditions have helped us to understand that personal transformation depends upon inner change, the larger, macrocosmic dimension of these teachings have been mostly overlooked. Yet any holistic, spiritual understanding of our present global predicament vitally needs this perspective.

How can we then “face the facts” and take real responsibility for our outer situation if we do not know or acknowledge what is happening in our inner environment, in the inner world of our own soul and the soul of the world?

Firstly it should be understood that just as it is our physical acts that affect the outer world and have produced our ecological crisis, it is our consciousness that directly affects the inner world. The inner worlds are shaped by the consciousness of humanity more than we understand, which is why so many spiritual teachings stress the importance of our attitude, the values by which we live. As Mother Teresa said, “It is not what you do, but the love you put in the doing.” Our attitude of consciousness is a determining factor in the inner world.

It has been suggested that our present ecological disaster comes from an attitude of separation. Our Western culture focused on individual, material welfare at the cost of our inter-relationship to the whole. We also separated the physical world from its roots in the sacred. This allowed humanity to abuse and pollute the world in a way that would be unthinkable for any indigenous culture that reveres the sacredness of creation.

For many years I have witnessed how our disregard and forgetfulness of the sacred has been very destructive to the inner world, to the individual soul and the soul of the world. In recent years the misuse of the imagination has been especially damaging. The imagination in spiritual traditions was long understood as a bridge between the worlds, connecting us to our soul, enabling access to the symbolic world that underlies the physical. It is this symbolic, archetypal world that often gives meaning and depth to our outer life.

However, recently we have discovered “the secret” of the “laws of attraction”: how to use the imagination as way to attract the outer life or material objects that we want. By projecting our desires and illusions into the inner world we have prostituted its sacred use for personal gain. Spiritual teachings and stories have long warned us against this, but our disregard for anything except the desires of the ego mean that we have desecrated the inner world so that it can no longer so easily give meaning to our life. Through our greed we have polluted not just our rivers but also the sacred waters of the inner world.

But during the last year I have become aware of an even more disastrous change taking place. A change that is as radical and extreme as the mass extinction of species.

A light in the inner world that gave meaning and spiritual sustenance to our individual soul and to the whole world, has been going out. Something that for millennia was central to the inner life has gone, lost through our greed and arrogance, our ego-centered power dynamics and forgetfulness of the sacred. We are not just entering an external era of extinction, but the danger of an inner dark age. And what is more dangerous is that we do not appear to know it is happening.

According to spiritual understanding, each era has an inner, spiritual light that makes possible transformation and evolution, and enables humanity to fulfill the purpose of that era. In recent centuries this light has awakened us to the discoveries of science — an understanding of the material world that has improved our physical well-being even as it has entranced us. Sadly these discoveries have had a shadow-side of greed and exploitation on a massive scale, and our focus on the physical world has resulted in a profound forgetfulness of the inner world and what is sacred.

At the end of each era the light that belongs to that era can transform into the light of the next era, or it can go out. We can see the seeds of the next era in a dawning global consciousness, in our remembrance of the inter-relationship and oneness of all of life, manifesting in certain technologies that support our inter-relationship, like the Internet. But the darkness of our collective greed, selfishness and forgetfulness of the sacred, has had a stronger pull. Like a dense cloud this darkness has covered us. And now, without us noticing it, this light has gone out. Without this light there can be no real change, no shift in consciousness, no evolution, whatever our apparent intentions or aspirations.

We have come to the end of an era and are destroying our own ecosystem. Because the light has gone out in the inner world we do not have the potential for any real change or transformation. This is our present condition, and our lack of awareness or understanding of the inner world makes it especially precarious. And we do not appear to notice what is happening, or what this change might mean.

Yet we sense in our souls what we can see in the ecosystem: that something is over, that the world will not return to what it was. And the collective, still caught in its dream of materialism, feels an anxiety, even anger, as it knows that this dream has passed its sell-by date, that its promises of prosperity are empty.

How long can this last? How long can the ignorance of our true predicament remain? How long can we collectively sustain the distractions that protect us from seeing what is really happening? And how long will humanity and the whole world remain in this darkness? Some people say that 2012 is the year when the new era will begin. Others think that our destruction of the planet will continue for decades, until the oil runs out or the sea levels rise.

What can we do? Collectively we are conditioned to want to find a solution, to “fix the problem.” But spiritual teachings talk about the importance of witnessing, of watching without judgment or expectations. This is a time for real awareness of our present predicament, and action that can only come from such an awareness. But first there is a need to wake up to the reality of what we have done.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (b.1953) is a Sufi teacher, and founder of the Golden Sufi Center. Author of many books, his recent writing and teaching has focused on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition, cf.http://www.workingwithoneness.org/spiritual-ecology.

Shining Light on Your Unconscious Values ~ Andrew Cohen

The ego, which is the perennial spiritual enemy, is not just an individual entity. Generally, we tend to think of the ego as a personal psychological problem, either our narcissistic self-concern or our painful, neurotic separate self-sense. But ego is also a collective structure, and it has its own value sphere.

Ego, in this sense, is a conglomeration of conscious and unconscious values that represent the way we assume life is supposed to be. It is a set of subtle and not-so-subtle beliefs, ideas, and ways of seeing the world that we deeply subscribe to but may not even be aware of. If we aspire to evolve spiritually, these unconscious values may ultimately be a much greater obstacle to our higher development than our personal narcissism or neurosis.

Our values are what define the choices we make, the actions we take, and the life that we create. If you want to know what your values are, just look at your own life. Your life looks like your values. A lot of us think we have higher or spiritual values, but those values are not necessarily reflected in our so-called personal lives.

If you want to evolve — morally, ethically, spiritually — you need to get clear about what these value structures actually are. Unless you can begin to recognize them and articulate them and objectify them in your own experience, you’re going to be tripping over them constantly, and you won’t even know why you’re tripping. Many of us experience a kind of emotional turmoil because we often feel victimized, not free to choose, not in control of our own destiny.

We feel trapped by our personal circumstances and intimidated by our own inner conflict and division. The reason we experience this lack of freedom is that the function of choice or free agency is all bound up in our unexamined values. Part of us may aspire to evolve spiritually, but emotionally we are invested in all kinds of unconscious values, beliefs, and convictions that may stand in conflict with that higher aspiration. This is why we often find ourselves experiencing irrational fear, confusion, and ambivalence in relationship to higher potentials that we ourselves have claimed to find very attractive.

If we’re not conscious of the values of our conditioned self-structure, they are going to inhibit our capacity to be a truly awake individual. So it’s imperative, if you want to be an agent of conscious evolution, to bring the light of awareness to the collective ego within yourself. And this is not a psychological perspective, but an evolutionary and cultural one. For example, you can find out a lot about your values by thinking about your family — not your personal relationships with your parents or siblings, but the cultural beliefs and convictions that you were sharing.

Of course, we each have a particular personal history, shaped by specific circumstances and experiences. But all of this didn’t take place outside of a cultural context. Consciousness does not evolve in a vacuum. It evolves through structures, through self structures that are part and parcel of intersubjective cultural structures. So that’s why it’s important to look at the ego not just as an individual identity but also as a set of values.

Think about your own childhood: Your parents had certain values, they spent time with friends who shared those values, you were sent to certain schools that expressed their values, and all of this influenced the way your evolving self learned to relate to the world. Were they your values? Did you freely choose them? Probably not. Very few people freely choose their own values. Many of us who have grown up in a postmodern world where the freedom of the individual is valued above all else assume that we have freely chosen our values, but it’s very rarely true.

So the culturally conditioned self, the culturally created ego, is a subject in all of us that needs to be made an object in the light of our own awareness, so that we will be in a position to begin to freely choose who we are and who we will be. And it is not an easy task. It takes an inspired degree of mental focus and a willingness to be rigorous with one’s own thought process.

It’s much, much easier to engage in this kind of focused contemplation together with others, because then you can see how much the same we all are. The things we each struggle with as individuals are variations on the same theme. Of course, we are not perfectly identical but if you are willing to be transparent about your own value structures together with others, you will find that there will be enough similarity that you can begin to see the impersonal and deeply conditioned nature of so much of who you are. And this is very liberating because you see that the ego is an impersonal phenomenon rather than a personal problem. It is a cultural predicament, an evolutionary challenge, more than it is a personal obstacle. This kind of perspective on the conditioned self can give you a lot more courage and inspiration to want to liberate yourself and consciously evolve.

It’s important to understand that “conditioning” is not, by definition, a bad thing. To be conditioned simply means to have been programmed by nature and culture, which is how we all evolve and develop and grow. Conditioning only becomes problematic when you don’t know that you’re conditioned. So if you aspire to become more conscious, you have to begin to shed light on how deeply programmed you have been by biology, culture, history, place, and circumstance, and then initiate the process of freely choosing to be who you want to be.

Of course, we could never become completely unconditioned, and we wouldn’t even want to be. But to become what I would consider a truly autonomous individual, we have to be willing to go through a metamorphosis, which can be an excruciating process. We have to, in a sense, die and be reborn again. This is what really rigorous and serious spiritual practice is all about: learning how to freely choose to be yourself. And it’s a much bigger ordeal than most of us are prepared for.

Once your ego’s values have become objectified in your awareness, then you are in a position to begin to freely choose: Is that who I want to be or not? Some of those values may be positive, and you may not want to change them, but what makes the difference now is that they become freely chosen and conscious. Others may be unwholesome, outdated, or simply irrelevant, and these you may intentionally choose to leave behind. This kind of engaged spiritual contemplation is not something you do once and then finish with. It’s a process that needs to be engaged with all the time. The evolution of consciousness is a constant endeavor, a demanding endeavor, and an ultimately thrilling endeavor, because the rewards are ever new.

At this particular time in history, it’s essential that those of us at the leading edge are willing to put everything on the table and dare to reevaluate who we are — not just for our own sake but for the sake of the new culture we need to create. The evolution of culture means the evolution of these internal value structures. We need to understand that the new structures of the future are yet to be formed.

They have not yet been created. So deconstructing the collective ego in the way I’ve been describing is the first step towards consciously creating the future, by reorienting the way you think about life. That is what can lead to actual transformation and to a dynamic and meaningful engagement with life that begins to express deeper and higher values. That’s when you become a conscious creator, who is actually forging new structures, not just for yourself but for everyone else. That’s when you become a freely chosen self who has found a place and a profound sense of purpose in an evolving universe.

Finding Balance ~ Eckhart Tolle

Q: How do we find balance between our individual will and the natural flow of life?

ET: By living aligned with the present moment, you also align your will with the universal will, which you could call “the will of God”. You don’t have a separate will. The separate will wants to enhance or strengthen one’s sense of self. The separate will is concerned with the “me”, the “I”, the ego. But there is a divine Consciousness, the one Consciousness, there is an evolutionary impulse. What we are doing here at every moment, is to align ourselves with that.

Non-resistance is vital because as long as you are in resistance to the present moment, you will be trapped in the little egoic will. The egoic will needs to subside – that’s surrender to the present moment, and surrender to what is. When you align yourself with what is internally, it looks at first almost like a position of weakness, and it can be misinterpreted as something that prevents you from taking effective action. But the acceptance of what is, is totally compatible with responding to whatever the present moment requires. Whatever wants to be created, manifested, done, at this moment – to be aligned with that, you need to first accept whatever form this moment takes.

Single out this moment only. For example, when you are ill, you don’t say “I need to accept this illness, the fact that I am ill, that I am suffering from this” because that is a whole conceptual story. All you need to accept is this moment as it is. There is never actually an illness in this moment, there is only a physical condition. There may be pain, there may be weakness, disability, discomfort. Those things may be there, and that’s the only thing you accept. This moment is as it is now.

If you are stuck in the mud somewhere, you don’t say, “Okay, I am in the mud, I have to accept it, and here I am – I’m not taking any action because I have to accept what is”. This moment is already always as it is, and there’s nothing you can do about that. That’s what you accept. Then, action that arises has a different energy to it. The will that flows into what you do is no longer egoic. When you have not accepted this moment, the will goes against the Universe – that is what the ego does. It is negative, it fights something that it says shouldn’t be there. If you use negativity, you are trapped in ego. The “little will” has to subside for the more powerful will to flow through and deal with the situation. It creates, it is not isolated from the totality. It is one with the totality. When that operates, another word for that universal will is intelligence. It’s only when you look at a situation, completely accept the is-ness of this moment, and then of course action may be required.

Once the opening is there, through acceptance, the next step that you take will be much more powerful. There’s a Buddhist term “right action”, that can only arise out of the right state of Consciousness. You have to get out of the ego first before you can have right action. The Buddha was talking about that which flows from the awakened state of consciousness. To surrender the little will is to say ‘yes’ to the present moment. It’s not a big thing, just say yes to what is – because it already is anyway. Why complain about something that is? It’s insane, but normal.

To give up the egoic will, all you have to do is not complain about what is. Be aligned with the isness – people, situations, whatever – this is already as it is. It’s the inevitability of is. Become friendly with what is, and you become intelligent for the first time.

With the simple act of surrender to the inevitability of the present moment, another energy comes. You could call that universal will, you could call that intelligence, you could call that the creative solution to whatever the so-called “problem” is. You could call that power coming in, that is greater than the limited power of your mind. Or it may use your mind, and suddenly you say the right thing, if that’s what the situation requires. Suddenly the words come – where do the words come from? You don’t know what you’re going to say next. They come from a deeper level because that intelligence uses the mind.

You and the Universe become one, and as such it creates through you as this form. That’s the beauty of it. When the unmanifested flows into this world, it assumes form. Most thoughts that people have in the unawakened state are repetitive old thoughts, conditioned thinking, conditioned by the past. All you can rely on then is what you have accumulated in the past, you deal with things through conditioned thinking. When the simple act of surrender opens your mind, it can then be used as an instrument. Then, a thought may come in that is original and fresh and new. That is the birth of form. The birth of thought creates the birth of form. The Universe uses you as a vehicle or a channel through which to create. You are one. It can use your mind, and become thought, words, physical things. That’s the way in which the mind can actually be a helpful tool – alignment with the greater Intelligence, the One Consciousness.

It all starts with the present moment, and your relationship with the present moment. Friend or enemy? Are you allowing it, or are you fighting it, resisting it? That’s the end of ego – because the ego needs resistance. The ego survives through complaining, it survives through denying, or wanting something else.

The present moment is the teacher. Work with that – that’s all you need, really. That’s the end of the “little will”, which isn’t all that powerful anyway. Whatever it creates, creates more problems.

It seems so simple, and it is simple. And yet, because of the many thousands of years of habit-patterns, often people tell me “It’s so difficult to be in the present moment and allow it to be”. Of course, the opposite is true. Life becomes difficult if you don’t. What you accept is the form of this moment. No more. Then, see what’s needed. You are not truly intelligent until that happens.

Sometimes holding that space of simple Presence activates other factors that then come in, seemingly, from the outside to change the situation. You have activated the intelligence of the totality. It’s not necessarily coming through this form. That is why people speak of synchronistic things happening, suddenly a helpful factor comes in, suddenly the right person appears, the right thing happens. Almost miraculous when you don’t know that it’s natural, it seems like a miracle at first because most humans are not used to that.

When you hold Presence, sometimes the change may not happen through your action. There are many situations where action at this moment is not possible. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do, however you can continue to be present. Then, a greater intelligence is activated. Very often you will find change happening in the situation.

This greater intelligence is not the conceptual intelligence that you can measure with IQ tests. It is non-conceptual intelligence. Conceptual intelligence is the ability to retain information, analyze, compare, and so forth. It’s a tiny fragment of what intelligence is. There is a vastness of non-conceptual intelligence. Our destiny is to be in that way, so that our whole life is to become a work of art. Not just be confined to that state of consciousness when you do your creative work. Any creative thing has a spark, an aliveness, a quality, a newness, a freshness. You connect with non-conceptual intelligence in the alert Stillness within. Everybody has that, as their essence. That is true intelligence. To what extent you are connected with that could not possibly be measured through any IQ test. Ultimately, you cannot measure creativity.

Very often, the form of the present moment seems like a limitation on your life, something that is impinging on your freedom. The body could become ill, you may find it hard to move. When something drastic happens, if you can learn to accept it, a little bit of spaciousness comes into your life. You say, “this is what is”. A little bit of space just opened up, and you’re no longer just a resisting entity. Then, you realize that you are essentially formless space. In other words, you find inner peace. At first it is very gentle in the background, in the midst of any situation. That peace is powerful. It can become so powerful, that is obliterates almost anything. Peace is the formless in you. By accepting the form, the formless within you opens up. This is how something seemingly bad – a limitation – becomes an opening for realization of who you truly are.

Three Big Bangs: Matter-Energy, Life, Mind by Holmes Rolston III

By dividing the creation of matter, energy, life, and mind into three big bangs, Holmes Rolston III brings into focus a history of the universe that respects both scientific discovery and the potential presence of an underlying intelligence. Matter-energy appears, initially in simpler forms but with a remarkable capacity for generating heavier elements. The size and expansion rate of the universe, the nature of electromagnetism, gravity, and nuclear forces enable the the explosion of life on Earth. DNA discovers, stores, and transfers information generating billions of species. Cognitive capacities escalate, and with neural sentience this results in human genius.

A massive singularity, the human mind gives birth to language and culture, increasing the brain’s complexity and promoting the spread of ideas. Ideas generate ideals, which lead life to take on spirit. The nature of matter-energy, genes, and their genesis therefore encourages humans to wonder where they are, who they are, and what they should do.

Contents

Preface

1. The Primordial Big Bang: Matter-Energy

2. Life: Earth’s Big Bang

3. Mind: The Human Big Bang

About the Author

Holmes Rolston III is University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Colorado State University, a Gifford Lecturer, and recipient of the Templeton Prize in Religion. He has lectured on seven continents, and his books include Genes, Genesis, and God; Science and Religion: A Critical Survey; Philosophy Gone Wild; and Environmental Ethics.

Who Was Confucius and Why Does it Matter ? ~ Rodney L. Taylor, Ph.D

Confucius was born in the 6th Century B.C.E. in the small state of Lu, located in the present Shantung peninsula. He lived during the Chou Dynasty at a point when the central authority of the dynasty was being challenged by the growth of increasingly powerful states attempting to challenge the power of the central government. Confucius himself was a member of what was referred to as the ju, a class of people primarily occupied with the study of writing from the earliest generations of the Chou period, the writings that become known as the ching or Classics, numbering five or six, but accruing additional numbers with the passage of time. So Confucius was essentially a scholar of his time.

Confucius can be understood in his historic context. That context is the slow disintegration of the stability and order of the political order of his day. His focus is upon a series of writings that described the harmonious ways of the generations before him and even further in the past, a time when sages, sheng, brought their wisdom to the governing of the world. For Confucius the Classics were the documentation that when sages governed, the world was ordered. This concept of order was defined largely in terms of a moral code of humaneness, the concept of jen, goodness, exercised by the sage rulers toward their subjects and in turn became the governing principle for all people in society.

The contrast between what Confucius read of the records of the ancients and his own age was stark. As a result Confucius sought to bring the ways of the ancients to his own generation. For many years he traveled from state to state, often at great personal risk, to attempt to inculcate the teachings of moral goodness to the rulers of the various states

In this endeavor he was a remarkable failure! No ruler was interested in a teaching of moral goodness. Is it any different today? What a surprise, such rulers were only interested in strategies to guarantee their own sustaining power and authority! Finally with no measurable success, Confucius retired to his home state and gathered increasing numbers of students around him, teaching the moral principles of the ancient sages. The formal biography ends with his role as a teacher, but his influence began with his role as a teacher.

And what was the nature of these teachings? He stressed the need to learn, hsüeh, to engage in study of the Classics and the ways of the ancient sages. His hope was that through these teachings the world would be brought back to a state of harmony and order and all society would live at peace. What were the underlying features of these teaching? The focus was upon the cultivation of a moral self, self defined in terms goodness, caring, compassion, altruism and benevolence. There are many specific teachings corresponding to these various ideas but when Confucius was asked by his disciples whether there was not one principle idea running through his teaching, he answered by saying that the “single thread” of his teachings could best be described by the term shu, most frequently translated as reciprocity.

The term reciprocity is central to Confucian teachings. The Chinese character is composed of two parts: one part means “to be like,” the second part means “heart” or “mind.” Taken together the character means literally “like-hearted” or “like-minded,” suggesting one shows care to another. It could be expressed by our word sympathy, but sympathy suggests condescension of attitude and that is not implied. Our word empathy, however, strikes at the quintessential meaning. So reciprocity is empathy. But Confucius himself goes on to define the term in a sentence sounding remarkably familiar to our Western ears: “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.” Confucian teaching is articulated in no more basic moral axiom then this statement and it remains foundational throughout the history of the Confucian tradition.

Why does it matter who Confucius was? To answer this question we need to understand that in the centuries following Confucus’ death, his teaching rose to a position of greater and greater prominence in two spheres. Confucian teachings became the official ideology of the Chinese state, a position it held with virtually no break until into the 20th century. On the individual level, Confucian teachings became the central focus of individual learning and moral cultivation, the goal to become a moral person modeled upon the sages of antiquity.

And this aspect of Confucian teachings lasted not only into the 20th century but to our own day and presumably into the future. Historically we also witness the spread of Confucian teaching at both levels from China to both Korea and Japan and into South East Asia as well. The entire East Asian and South East Asia spheres have been dominated by Confucian values through out their history. To understand the thought and values of East and South East Asia, particularly in our own day, we simply must understand the teachings of this man Confucius.

But it goes further: to understand why Confucian teachings addressed not only the ideology of the state, but found their true focus upon the learning of the self to create a moral self, we must understand this man Confucius. Why? Is it important to create a moral self in a world not unlike the chaos of the world Confucius himself faced? Are we so very different? Have we travelled so very far from that fundamental necessity of finding the single thread of reciprocity and living by its virtue? Perhaps we all need to return to the simple teachings of Confucius to reacquaint ourselves with the simplest principles of living as a moral person and thereby creating a moral world. The message of Confucius is nothing more than the call to each person to fulfill his or her capacity of goodness, jen, and thereby, one by one, transform the world from what it is, to what can be and ought to be.

Dr. Rodney L. Taylor, Professor of Religious Studies at University of Colorado at Boulder for more than 30 years, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in East Asian religion. His principle area of specialization is the understanding of Confucianism as a religious tradition both historically and in the modern world where Confucianism can be a voice in the contemporary discussion of religion and spirituality.

His books include: The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism; The Way of Heaven; The Confucian Way of Contemplation; The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Confucianism; Confucianism (high school text); The Cultivation of Sagehood as a Religious Goal in Neo-Confucianism; They Shall Not Hurt: Human Suffering and Human Caring (with Dr. Jean Watson); The Holy Book in Comparative Perspective (with Dr. Frederick Denny) and his most recent volume, Confucius, the Analects: The Path of the Sage from Skylight Paths.

Twenty-six centuries after their origination, the principles laid down in the Analects of Confucius still act as the foundation of Chinese philosophy, ethics, society and government, and play a formative role in the development of many Eastern philosophies. In this intriguing look at the ethical and spiritual meaning of the Analects, Rodney L. Taylor, the foremost American researcher of Confucius as a religious and spiritual figure, explains their profound and universal wisdom for our own time. He shows how Confucius advocates learning and self-cultivation to follow the “path of the sage” or “Way of Heaven,” a journey that promises to promote reason, peace and understanding.

Alongside an updated version of the classic translation by Sinologist James Legge, Taylor provides informative and accessible commentary that illuminates the meaning behind selected passages from the Analects and their insights on character development, respect and reverence, and the nature of learning, goodness, truthfulness and righteousness.

How to Restore Your Spirit of Wealth ~ Anne Naylor

For many, times are hard. Wealth is something you might have known in the past. But there is less evidence of it now.

What about the innate wealth of an ordinary person? Not their possessions, lifestyle or money in the bank. The wealth of who they are, deep down. The wealth of their spirit. Your spirit, My spirit. The spirit that unites and makes up our common humanity. Our human community.

For those of us who feel unsure of our financial futures, how can we put money in its place and yet ensure a higher quality of life with greater health, well-being and happiness?

How? Wait, there is a little more yet before the how. Maybe for you, just getting through the week is challenging enough.

Have you grown accustomed to the idea that wealth is associated with money — alone? I have. I am in the process of changing my mind. The change is one that is happening from the inside out. Get wealthy first, and then go for for money second.

What on Earth do I mean by that? In so many ways, we are told that to be happy we need this that or the other “thing”. You know, a holiday in Bali, a sleek Porsche, Jimmy Choo handbag, the iPhone series 5 — maybe not yet available, but soon will be. All of these are wonderful in their way. Are they necessary for happiness? You can answer that.

I am all for a rich life, to enjoy the best that is on offer, materially and otherwise. The issue is that money and possessions can get “sticky.” That is to say we can become over-dependent upon them. Attached and fearing their loss, we become driven to protect and increase the supply, in case we lose the comfort and pleasure they give us. Very few of us in the so-called developed world suffer the deprivations of many in countries such as Kenya, where millions lack the most fundamental needs as we see them.

Fear of loss does not enrich well-being, peace of mind or prosperity. Prolonged fear depletes and, eventually, makes you sick.

The change of mind I refer to above is taking place from the inside out — from what I call the soul level, or inspiration. What if we were each born with all we ever needed to sustain and fulfill our lives? That within us we have extraordinary reserves of as yet untapped wealth in the forms of personal assets, talents, gifts, creativity — do you get the idea? These assets have of course to be played out in some way in the world to become useful, of value to others and fulfilled.

And when they are, life becomes very rich and rewarding, so much so that in their expression, you are fulfilled and have the experience of wealth. In this way, your wealthiness is very much in your own hands. What is more, the beauty of this is that in the fullness, you are not seeking “out there” for things to make you happy. You are happy. Period. And as your purchasing power grows, even by small amounts, so you may wish to participate in some of the wonderful things that money can buy.

A friend in her 70s, with a very limited budget discovered that she could go to her local flower market at the end of the sales day and pick up beautiful flowers at bargain prices to decorate her small apartment. Cut flowers speak to her of luxury. It is amazing how much you can get for a little when you put your mind to it. It pays us all to be savvy shoppers.

Of course you need money to cover life’s basic essentials. Maybe less than you think. It is amazing how you can develop a prosperous frame of mind, such that your euro, dollar, pound, yen goes further. It takes focus and discipline to buy simply what you need, no excess. It becomes a game. The game is fun.

5 Keys to Restoring Your Spirit of Wealth

1. Be a giver. Find something to give, if not money, your time, your love, your kindness, a smile. Giving affirms your natural wealth.

2. Be grateful. First thing in the morning and last thing at night, stop to count your blessings, some of those things you might take for granted — your friends, family, ability to talk and to listen, your education, nature around you. Write them down in a journal. Gratitude makes you feel full and raises your energy.

3. Be creative. Find new ways of managing the money you have, develop your sense of resourcefulness, use your imagination. Cultivate wealthy attitudes. Join with others to share innovations and ideas.

4. Look for joy. Find the fun in life around you, the smile on the face of a baby, the antics of animals, greet yourself with a smile in the mirror.

5. Simplify your life. Wealth could be less a matter of what you have, but what you are able to live without. Let go of the excess, give away, sell or throw out what no longer really serves or nourishes you.

If you are in a boring job that pays the rent, keep at it. But take some time to explore your dream of what your life can become. How would you really like to be living? What does wealth “mean” for you? What might a wealthy life mean for you?

Please join in the conversation. If there were a “wealth school” at which you could discover how to make the most of your life, and your money, what would you like to learn?

Anne Naylor has been a Consultant in personal motivation since 1982. Author
of three personal development books, Superlife, Superlove and SuperYou,
Anne gives Clear Results Consultations for individuals meeting life turning
points, or wishing to improve the quality of their lives. Gifted with a talent for
discerning the unique value in each of her clients, she communicates her trust
in the power of each person to lead a fulfilling and rewarding life, however
they define it.

Anne’s mission is: Building a better world on the solid foundation of
individual health, wealth and happiness and the appreciation of human value.
Through designing and presenting training programmes and seminars in self-
motivation, career development, personal success, leadership and team-
building, Anne has enabled a wide range of people to transform their personal
and professional lives.

1. Mystery of Human Consciousness By Michael Cosser 2.Exploring the Mysteries of Consciousness By Sarah Belle Dougherty

Recent studies on the nature of human consciousness appear to move around the central question, What is a human being?, without actually entering the kernel of the subject. The ambiguous situation in which those of us who study the concept of consciousness find ourselves might be due to the poverty of our vocabulary to convey the subtle thinking necessary to probe into it. Our language is mostly of the pragmatic kind, honed for the needs of technology rather than refined for penetration into the mysteries of being.

It is quite evident that a typical human being is different from any other species on this planet, and the main difference is suggested by the capacity of any man or woman to be self-reflectively aware. Equally important is our capacity to project our thinking into time and space, in other words, abstract thought. Humans are also concerned with the how and why of the cosmos and themselves. Memory and a kind of forecasting or foresight are tied in with this faculty to take account of past, present, and future at the same moment as we sit at home or in the office, reflecting or visualizing dimensionally. We also enjoy humor on many levels.

These capacities come with the inherent ability we have to think — a process that involves not only assessment of impressions taken in through the five senses, but also abstraction or generalizing from individual cases. That is, we can perceive principles or natural laws under which beings and earth-happenings operate. Our speculations, which are really formless, are not the automatic follow-on of what our senses tell us, but originate in an aspect of ourselves demonstrably beyond the capacity of the brain cells themselves to organize. It is more logical to conceive of the brain as the instrument of this nonsubstantial side of our being, functioning more like the telephone switchboard of some large enterprise, than as the originator of the things that we think, do, or say that are characteristic of a human being.

What then is consciousness if it is other than mere awareness, whether of surroundings or even the experience of the oneness of nature that is called satori by the Zen roshis? It seems that we can best suggest a meaning if we refer to it as the essence of a living being, a pulsating creature of light and spirit. We can visualize that there are stages of unfoldment of potential qualities as they emanate from this essence, providing outer expression for inherent capacities, the whole process being the evolution of consciousness rather than of its forms produced one from another. Expanding this idea, we can picture that growth is really the flow of the tidal stream of beings throughout the universe and is not limited to this planet of ours.

There is no doubt that on earth there is but one vast life-energy, and not several rivals for the limited space provided. If the latter were indeed the case there would be indications of divergent sources or discordant drives between species, whereas we have evidence there is an interlocking relationship of all earth’s beings. Scientists have designated this harmonizing a biosphere or ecological system. What affects one concerns the whole, and the responsibility upon us is great because of our decision-making ability, our freedom of choice and will power.

Freedom of choice, will power, imagination, and decision making are not discernible faculties of substance as such, but belong in the formless region of the human being, his essence or consciousness. It is in the sense that we are all centers of consciousness that some systems of philosophy have pointed to our infinite possibilities. For if godhood can be symbolized as a circle whose circumference is nowhere — because it is infinite — but whose center is everywhere, then we are all repositories of that center.

(From Sunrise magazine, April/May 2002; copyright © 2001 Theosophical University Press)

Exploring the Mysteries of Consciousness
By Sarah Belle Dougherty

Awareness is the basis of all our experience, yet it remains mysterious. Intuition, imagination, emotion, reason, mind, instinct, creativity — few of us can give a fully satisfying explanation of any of these, although we experience them daily. Within us, however, is an awareness that goes radically deeper than the thoughts and feelings we usually identify as “ourself.” As mystics throughout the ages have affirmed, the consciousness which forms the very core of our being is identical with that at the core of every other being and thing. It connects us with each and all because it is the root of their existence also.

Why do we generally fail to realize this? Ordinarily, we are overwhelmed by the intensity of our sense perceptions and by our mental interpretations of them. Modern culture especially makes mind and intellect the arbiters of reality, but they have not always enjoyed such high prestige. Hindu philosophy, for example, classifies mind as the “king of the senses,” holding that, when unilluminated by spirit, its habits and limitations condemn us to inhabit a largely deceptive self-made world, a realm of illusion (maya). Many of these misconceptions and self-imposed limitations are collective and widespread, because most human beings are limited in roughly the same ways. Our challenge is to awaken from this self-restricting dream world and, transcending it, to behold successively more comprehensive vistas of reality.

What, we may wonder, does current research contribute to our efforts and explorations along these lines? The vast majority in academic fields still describe consciousness as a byproduct of the biochemical and neurological complexity of the brain, continuing the materialistic approach of the 20th century. However, other scholars and professionals studying the subject experientially are amassing evidence that points to very different conclusions. Reviewing and synthesizing over forty years of such investigations, psychiatrist and transpersonal psychologist Stanislov Grof asserts in The Cosmic Game (1998) that

Modern consciousness research has generated important data that support the basic tenets of the perennial philosophy. It has revealed a grand purposeful design underlying all of creation and has shown that all of existence is permeated by superior intelligence. In light of these new discoveries, spirituality is affirmed as an important and legitimate endeavor in human life, since it reflects a critical dimension of the human psyche and of the universal scheme of things. — p. 3

The evidence from modern consciousness studies is thus “in radical conflict with the most fundamental assumptions of materialistic science concerning consciousness, human nature, and the nature of reality. They clearly indicate that consciousness is not a product of the brain, but a primary principle of existence, and that it plays a critical role in the creation of the phenomenal world” (ibid.). Consciousness here is fundamental — to us and to everything else, including the cosmos as a whole — in the same way that substance is. Together they form two primary aspects of an underlying reality beyond the ken of manifested being.

Perhaps Grof’s most crucial statement is that “in its farthest reaches, the psyche of each of us is essentially commensurate with all of existence and ultimately identical with the cosmic creative principle itself” (p. 3). Hologram-like, each being is a microcosm, a portion of the many which contains in potential the originating One. In a certain sense we may think of the universe bringing itself into being through an act of cosmic creative imagination. We, too, are the ideation of our deepest self, and at the same time we continuously evolve through the creative visualizations of our everyday self, for imaginative projection has the power to shape reality.

Grof’s statement also implies that everything in this “ensouled universe” can be experienced both subjectively and objectively, including “all the elements of the material world through the entire range of space-time” as well as “various aspects of other dimensions of reality, such as archetypal beings and mythological domains of the collective unconscious” (p. 16). Because our consciousness encompasses all, limitless in scope and quality, we can learn by direct conscious participation — by becoming. We need not always be confined to being a “subject” examining an “object.”

But does this type of experiential, subjective exploration — whether ancient or modern — qualify as “science”? Grof argues that it does:

Many of the great spiritual systems are products of centuries of in-depth exploration of the human psyche and consciousness that in many ways resemble scientific research.

These systems offer detailed instructions concerning the methods of inducing spiritual experiences on which they base their philosophical speculations. They have systematically collected data drawn from these experiences and subjected them to collective consensus validation, usually over a period of many centuries. These are exactly the stages necessary for achieving valid and reliable knowledge in every area of scientific endeavor . . . — p. 4

Such observations foreshadow a future synthesis of modern science with more traditional spiritual and psychological knowledge. Such a union would produce a fresh new philosophical understanding of human life and the universe, not a return to unvalidated religious dogmatism and scientific ignorance.

In our search to learn more about the mysteries of consciousness, each of us, as a conscious entity, has the power and the means, if we will, to fathom nature in all its aspects. In G. de Purucker’s words, we can discover for ourselves “that original Truth, from which all great religions and all great philosophies sprang in their origin,” and “then know that Truth is ageless and deathless, but yet takes up its abode in every earnest human heart, where it awaits recognition in order to pour its flood of light into the waiting mind.” The key to both knowledge and wisdom remains the same as ever: “know thyself” — our real self — because to do so in fullness is to know ALL.

(From Sunrise magazine, April/May 2002; copyright © 2002 Theosophical University Press)

Miracle of Being and Becoming By Grace F. Knoche

Mountains Reflected in a dragonfly’s eye. — Issa (1762-1826)

This exquisite Haiku brought to mind the striking words of a Japanese sage that “the very mountains can become Buddha.” If mountains have a buddha-nature, then the host of lives that compose a mountain — boulders, waterfalls, trees, shrubbery, grasses, lichen, and the thousand and one creatures that aerate its soil — must each have a buddha-nature which, in the course of ages, could become Buddha. And the dragonfly? Surely its metamorphosis from larva to the lovely winged thing that swoops low across meadows and ponds is an epitome of being and becoming.

What is the impelling force behind the process of becoming? This is a large theme, and elicited from contributors to our 1995 Special Issue on “Evolution: Miracle of Being and Becoming” a number of articles bearing directly and indirectly on this absorbing topic, each open-ended so as to leave our readers free to weave the varying strands of thought into a harmonious whole by the light of their own intuitive wisdom. Abandoning an either-or approach, they have sought viewpoints which embrace neither the stance of creationists nor that of materialistic evolutionists. The questions are as challenging today as they were 150 or more years ago: Did man ascend gradually from the monkeys to the apes, with mind, spirit, and consciousness as by-products of a series of chance mutations? Or is each of us the handiwork of a Supreme Being, a Personal God who continues today as since the Garden of Eden to create a new soul for every human being born on earth, so that there is no evolutionary history behind each individual soul? Are there other alternatives?

Addressing the scientific view, the article reviewing The Hidden History of the Human Race should be read by the evolutionist only if he seek truth uncluttered by prejudice, while microbiologist Catherine Roberts challenges the California State Board of Education to “recognize the inseparable link that exists between biological considerations and spiritual questions of ultimate cause and purpose.” The theory of “an inherent evolutionary impulse” rings truer today than when Alfred Russel Wallace first proposed it in 1858; a few avant-garde scientists are searching out “the hidden face of consciousness as the motivator” behind all evolution and beginning to perceive our earth as a living, sentient being, whose rhythmic processes move in harmony with solar and galactic cycles.

Along religious lines, the story of Adam and Eve and the Serpent receives fresh and appealing interpretation; instead of blaming Eve, Adam, or the Serpent, the Garden of Eden episode becomes a triumph of self-awakening. Other traditions view this event in terms of higher beings than ourselves lighting the fires of mind in early humans, and depict human sexuality in an evolutionary context where the methods of reproducing our kind have varied from “ethereal nonsexual beings, to more material androgynous ones, to today’s sexual mankind,” with a probable return over millions of years to androgynous and nonsexual forms of human reproduction.

What keys are offered to elevate the human race, a part of our nature still animal-like, another part portraying traits and qualities of soul and spirit that might outshine the angels? “Know Thyself!” said the Oracle at Delphi. Did we have knowledge of ourselves, we would glimpse in broad strokes not only our beginnings when divine beings imparted to us the elements of harmonious and creative living, but also something of our wondrous future as co-workers with the gods. The times are demanding that we view ourselves and every portion of the cosmos from within out. Regardless of outer form, we and every entity, micro and macro, are essentially beings of light, “sparks of eternity,” imbodying on earth as part of an aeons-long journey of self-discovery.

All the articles in this issue, while delineating different approaches to the Evolution theme, have as their basic motif the ultimate attainment of full self-awareness and godhood. Consciousness — whether we call it life, divinity, mind-stuff, or whatever — is viewed as “the ground of all being,” composing a chain of “interrelated consciousness-centered beings,” which undergo the full range of possible evolutionary experiences before ultimately returning home “to unconditioned be-ness consciousness.” Underlying all is the “irresistible urge” within its heart that propels every entity to find its “spiritual identity with the divine Self of the universe.” As the dynamic cause of evolution, consciousness undergoes a “constant ebb and flow of various activities of life, cosmic to human,” with destruction and regeneration of form being vital to progress and the means of releasing our spirit-soul to higher realms. Of great import is our need for “role models with a unified vision, a worldview that allows us to . . . sense the fundamental inner unity of all life.”

In truth, could we perceive the full death-and-birth cycle of every atom in nature we would see enacted before our inner eye the awesome miracle of divinity infusing and suffusing every portion of the universe. All is in motion, urged ever forward and onward by an impelling force that keeps every being, from protozoon to human, seeking to better itself and its environment, as it strives toward humanhood on its way eventually to imbody in full awareness the light, power, and energy of godhood.

(From Sunrise magazine, April/May 1995; copyright © 1995 Theosophical University Press)

Grace F. Knoche

Grace F. Knoche was born in 1909 at the theosophical headquarters, then at Point Loma, California, and attended the Raja-Yoga School and Academy founded by Katherine Tingley. She joined the TS in 1929 shortly before Mrs. Tingley left on her last tour to Europe. Under G. de Purucker as Leader, she worked at the headquarters as a compositor in the Press, in the Secretary General’s office, and on the Leader’s secretarial staff. She assisted Dr. de Purucker in revising the Encyclopedic Glossary, and was on the committees responsible for reorganizing his Esoteric School materials, later published as The Dialogues of G. de Purucker (1948) and Fountain-Source of Occultism (1974). She continued her studies at Theosophical University, receiving a Ph.D. in 1944. At various times from 1933 to 1946 she taught violin, Greek, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Bible translation, and Qabbalah at Theosophical University, and painting and sculpture at the Lomaland school.

During the Cabinet administration after Purucker’s death in 1942, Grace served as private secretary to the Chairman of the Cabinet, continuing as private secretary to the next two Leaders, Colonel Arthur Conger and James A. Long. She worked closely with James A. Long on his new magazine, Sunrise, begun in 1951.

On Mr. Long’s death in 1971, Grace assumed leadership of the TS and became editor of Sunrise. For almost 35 years she encouraged the membership to assume responsibility for directing the course of their lives along universal principles, stressing that the same compassionate life currents that build and shape the evolution of the cosmos also inform the patterns of everyday experience. Always a collaborator at heart, Grace worked to establish a spirit of cooperation among the various theosophical organizations. She died in Altadena, California, on February 18, 2006, at the age of 97.
Books by Grace F. Knoche published by Theosophical University Press:

The Mystery Schools (Full-text online)
To Light a Thousand Lamps (Full-text online)
Theosophy in the Qabbalah (Full-text online in PDF format)

Spirituality and Social Change: An Interview with Corinne McLaughlin

Pythia Peay- Author and writer on spirituality, psychology and the American psyche

Those who despair over the gap between their vision of a more environmentally sustainable, just and peaceful planet and the world as it is can find inspiration in Corinne McLaughlin’s call to become practical visionaries: Those activists, she says, who remain steady in their work over time by keeping their “eyes on the horizon, their feet on the ground, and their hearts on fire.”

McLaughlin, a spiritual and political activist who has taught politics at American University, is coauthor of “Spiritual Politics” with her husband Gordon Davidson (author of the forthcoming “Joyful Evolution”). They are as well founders of The Center for Visionary Leadership and The Sirius Community, and are fellows of The World Business Academy and The Findhorn Foundation.

The following is an edited version of my interview with McLaughlin on her recent book, “The Practical Visionary: A New World Guide to Spiritual Growth and Social Change”.

Pythia: I’d like to start with a simple question. What is your definition of a “visionary”?

Corinne: A visionary is someone who sees the future with both insight and foresight: Insight into the deeper causes and meaning of events in the world, and foresight, or an intuitive grasp of the big picture, such as the trajectory of politics and popular culture.

Pythia: You write in your book that you’ve seen many visionaries fail to manifest their inspiring visions. What do you find is the biggest obstacle most visionaries face?

Corinne: The problem I find with a lot of visionaries is that they’re too far ahead — perhaps their vision won’t happen for another hundred years. That’s why I like to help people focus on “next step” visions that are more doable.

Pythia: Why is being too far ahead of one’s own time a problem?

Corinne: Thinking that something that is far in the future can come sooner leads to unrealistic expectations, as well as rigid and dogmatic perspectives. It can also prevent visionaries from seeing what’s possible right in front of them. Our work is to translate what we might receive from a flash of insight into things that are useful today.

Take for example the recent uprising in Egypt. I could hold a positive vision of how this could all turn out, but I know it’s not going to be as simple as that. It’s one thing to get rid of a dictator. The harder part is to create a viable democracy that empowers people. But what I found inspiring in Egypt is how, during the revolution, the people organized their neighborhoods, created street clinics to help the wounded, and cleaned up after their demonstrations. These may seem like small things, but to me they are examples of practical, effective visionaries at work.

Pythia: You write that as a young woman in the sixties you were inspired by people in government and their dedication to public service — such as President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy — to enter government service yourself. You then went on to work at various Federal agencies, such as the Social Security Administration and President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development; you’ve even taught meditation to some government agencies. How did these first-hand experiences shape your development as a practical visionary?

Corinne: I believe strongly that social change isn’t just about demonstrations in the street against the wrongs in society. There is also the path of the social innovator who creates new institutions and the path of the reformer who goes within an institution and makes incremental changes. Based on my own experience, I learned that implementing a vision in an institutional setting involves working with conflict resolution and a whole systems perspective. It’s important, for instance, to have a multi-stakeholder perspective — in other words, you can’t just go charging in with your own ideas, you have to appreciate people’s different perspectives, then work to find common ground and bring the various parties to the table in a respectful dialogue.

Because I frequently encountered obstacles such as old, entrenched ideas, ongoing power struggles, or the lack of staff and money, I also learned to develop patience and detachment. In federal, state and local governments, administrations, philosophies, and policy initiatives change. If your vision aligns with the values of the current administration you’re working with, you can make some progress — but that could all change in four or six years.

Pythia: Together with your husband, Gordon Davidson, you’ve also taught the path of “Ageless Wisdom” for many decades. What has this spiritual perspective brought to your calling as a practical visionary?

Corinne: What I’ve taken from my spiritual study is the wisdom of living a balanced life. My spiritual path has also helped me to be more emotionally centered, to be more understanding of those that disagree with me, and to learn how to let go of some of my power issues so that I can be more effective and bring a sense of humility to my work — while still having the self-confidence to be effective.

Pythia: You write about how easy it is for activists to burn out, and list different ways that they can stay “spiritually sane.” What contemplative practices do you teach activists that can help prevent disillusionment?

Corinne: Many activists just see what’s wrong: they want to stand up to injustice and educate people about it. But I think it’s equally important for activists to hold a more positive vision of what’s right with their country: what’s going well, and what they’d like to grow or see more of. I also like to encourage activists to take some time each day to sit silently or take a walk in nature as a way to be in touch with their inner wisdom and peace — and to remember why they are on this path in the first place.

Pythia: Many people have the desire to bring about a better world, but don’t have an outlet for their visions or ideas. You say one place they can start is with their job.

Corinne: It’s important to keep in mind that we never know how something as simple as passing along an idea or asking an important question might impact someone. A first step on the path of being a practical visionary, for example, might begin by having conversations with co-workers, or by simply creating a better atmosphere at work. It could be setting up a brown bag lunch and bringing in speakers. For some people bringing spirit into the workplace means doing good quality, honest work, or finding a way to give back to their local community; if you’re the boss, it could mean finding ways to support your employees; for others it’s about protecting the environment.

If you’re not within an institutional framework, there are other things that you can do: You can begin by giving more support to those around you, such as your own family. You can bring more of your ideas and visions into your neighborhood and community, such as inviting people into your living room for a monthly dialogue. I did something like this around an area called “transformational politics.” I’ve also organized neighborhood gatherings where we’ve examined how we can better support each other, such as watering each other’s gardens during vacations, exchanging childcare or by borrowing each other’s tools.

I also encourage people to go on the internet and expand their vision by pursuing new ideas and learning what other people around the world are doing. These days it’s so much easier to find a support group around any idea you could dream of — just Google it! Inner work also helps by identifying those old attitudes that keep us stuck in the belief that there’s nothing we can do.

Pythia: Underlying everything you describe is the fundamental idea of inter-connectivity — that we’re all linked.

Corinne: Yes, at heart this is the spiritual perspective that we’re one human family, and at our core we all want the same thing: a good family, a healthy neighborhood and society where we can have meaningful work and pursue our dreams, and where we can have a sense of security. The media is making this sense of interconnection very tangible — it’s not some abstract idea anymore.

Pythia: Indeed in your book you refer to “the world’s that’s to come,” or the “new world that is being born.” Can you say more about what you mean by that?

Corinne: To me the “new world” is the world of practical visionaries creating solutions to the problems we’re facing today, whether it’s poverty, violence, environmental pollution, regulating corporations or the way we treat criminals in our social justice system. But it also refers to a set of common values, or “new world values”: This includes compassion; a sense that we are all in this together; the search for common ground and mutually beneficial solutions; a sense of a whole system and how each issue is interconnected with all the others; and honoring the good of the whole and the greatest good for the greatest number. There’s a sense of the value of long-term sustainability and prevention, versus fixing a problem after it’s occurred, like the BP oil spill. Over the years, I’ve found that when we examined what worked in all three sectors — non-profit, federal government or business — it was these kinds of values that contributed to an effective outcome.

I also describe these values as part of a “new world” because there is a sense of mutual recognition and support among people from different fields who share this common set of underlying principles, and who are helping to create these new solutions.

Pythia: You also write that one of the places we can catch a glimpse of this new world is in reruns of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek.

Corinne: The spiritual principles (in Star Trek) aren’t dated at all! For example, because of plots involving interspecies communication, the show dealt very cleverly with problems of racism, and different cultural customs around marriage and mating. The crew had to draw on principles like cooperation in order to accomplish things; they solved problems between themselves by using a mix of courage, patience and tolerance. There were episodes based on spiritual themes like loyalty, the willingness to sacrifice and to give support to the next generation. The writers also raised issues around psychic phenomena, and how some of these powers could be misused. In fact, it would be great if someone could categorize the lessons so someone could go directly to one of the episodes!

Pythia: Going back in time, do you believe the Founding Fathers were practical visionaries?

Corinne: Yes: They had a vision for a better world, and their visions have withstood the test of time. Indeed, when you say “the new world,” people usually think of America — it was even regarded as the new world at that time. The Founders also faced incredible obstacles, and had to be very practical politicians as well as diplomats.

Pythia: Do you have a favorite Founding Father?

Corinne: I would say Thomas Jefferson, for his connection to the earth and the way he understood the importance of the agrarian aspects of society, his sense of democracy and the way he challenged the established order, and his visionary writings that still inspire us. James Madison was also brilliant in the way he sought common ground among the Founders.

Corinne McLaughlin & Gordon Davidson speak with the Dalai Lama about Politics

Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson (Visionary Leadership Experts) speak with the Dalai Lama about Politics and Governance. This scene is taken from the DVD: “Dalai Lama Renaissance Vol. 2: A Revolution of Ideas,” which is the follow up to the Award-winning documentary film “Dalai Lama Renaissance” (narrated by Harrison Ford).

Dalai Lama: Inner Peace, Happiness, God and Money

The Dalai Lama (in an excerpt from the film “Dalai Lama Renaissance”) speaking about Inner Peace, Happiness, God and Money. http://www.DalaiLamaFilm.com. “Dalai Lama Renaissance” is produced and directed by Khashyar Darvich

Eckhart Tolle with Cesar Millan 1 – 3

Eckhart Tolle with Cesar Millan Part 2 of 3

Eckhart Tolle with Cesar Millan Part 3 of 3

CESAR MILLAN, the Dog Whisperer, on his New BOOK: “A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY”

On Nov. 7, 2008, Cesar Millan (THE DOG WHISPERER) appeared on Fox News to discuss his new BOOK,
“A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY,” with Alan Colmes and
Alan’s dog Bonnie, a 14-year-old camera-shy Beagle.

Dog Whisperer Profile: Cesar Milan

Profile of Cesar Milan

How Karma Works By Eloise Hart

The ‘mystery’ of life for most of us is how, amid the infinite multitudes of being, each individual is born with its own unique characteristics and destiny. Is it true, we wonder, that some are blessed, or cursed, from the start; or do we indeed shape and design our own life-style in compliance with the balancing law of cause and effect?

Thinking back to the beginnings of time when the heavens and earths were ‘created’ and there was simultaneously life and motion, we realize how motion, as action-reaction, from then onwards stirred through all beings and propelled them forwards in evolutionary courses. Instinctively, the kingdoms of nature respond to this pattern, just as we do. From our moment of birth we initiate cause — a cry or a smile; and result — attention or love; and thereafter continuing, we fashion ourselves emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually by the causes — our thoughts and our acts — we set into motion. And during this process we are guided by conscience, our voice of experience that ever seeks justice and harmonious balance in our relations with others.

So infallible and intricate are the workings of this one supreme law of cause-effect, that it has puzzled and fascinated scientists and philosophers for ages; yet some ascribe its action to chance, or to an all-knowing, all-powerful God to whom unquestioningly they give obeisance.

“. . . thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe,” Moses commanded the Israelites (Exodus 21:23-5). And upon this they established their system of justice, not always recognizing here a suggestive explanation of nature’s inescapable consequences. Fortunately Paul spoke more directly:

For every man shall bear his own burden . . . Be not deceived; God is not mocked! for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting, And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, . . . Galatians 6:5, 7-10

This metaphor of the sower is appealing and scientific. Certainly the law of action and reaction can be shown to operate in the physical world, as the Austrian botanist, Gregor Mendel, verified in his experiments with peas. In one, where he crossed dwarf with tall peas, he confirmed, in effect, Paul’s statement by demonstrating that while invariably all first generation plants produce tall peas, “in due season,” that is, in the second and succeeding generations, the dwarfs, or recessive and latent strains, reproduce themselves in mathematical precision. Applying this to the human level, he was able to lay down his remarkable thesis regarding the genetic inheritance of dominant characteristic units.

Charles Darwin in his way also verified this law of action-reaction: his theory of natural selection, even in its modified form, explains how causes — the hardy and adaptive ability of certain species of plants and animals — result in individual survival, and in the perpetuation of particular species. And earlier, Sir Isaac Newton expressed this same principle as the Third Law of Motion: that to every action there is equal and opposite reaction.

To these ideas our new biology adds further dimension, demonstrating, in color-coded units similar to a child’s plastic construction set, how the chemical DNA genetic code that is preserved within the nuclear heart of the cells of the body not only stores and faithfully reproduces the acquired variations of its, and therefore of our, three-billion-year evolutionary history, but how it also uses the dominant and recessive characteristics that we acquired by our past sowing to build us into the unique individuals that we are now.

These scientists, however, deal with physical conditions. To discover the psychological, mental, and spiritual causes that shape us, and how such subtle characteristics are transmitted from life to future life, we must turn to the scientific and religious literature of the East, where in cave and temple vaults ancient scrolls have been preserved which elucidate the mysterious workings of the law they call karma (literally action).

Most schools of Indian thought regard karma as the inexorable moral and scientific basis of life. The Buddhists, for example, believe that it is by karma that the whole world moves. By karma each individual is what he is: everything that he thinks, feels and does; everything that distinguishes him from others, is the result of forces, or causes, that he and he alone has set in motion. Thus, they recognize each living being as an architect who determines his or her own “merits and demerits,” suffering and success; who determines the family, race and religion he or she shall return to, and also the ‘heaven’ and ‘hell.’

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. — Dhammapada, 1:1-2

Therefore, if we would improve the fabric and the course of our life, we must, they explain, change our thoughts, that is, our will-intelligence-consciousness. For has not our karma — our bodily action, vocal action and mental action — originated in and been established into patterns of behavior by volition (cetana)? Once our will is directed toward spiritual goals the four principal kinds of karma, which generally take eons to dissipate, will quickly dissolve: (1) the action which brings results in this life; (2) the action which produces results in the next or future lives; (3) that which brings results from time to time; and (4) actions of the past that produce present conditions.

Understanding this and the teachings concerning the intricate interwebbings of the karma of the individual, family, races, and kingdoms, the Buddhist layman endeavors to follow the Noble Eightfold Path which leads step by step out of this action-reaction cycle of suffering and illusion: right understanding, right mindedness, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right attentiveness, and right concentration. And the Buddhist mendicant confidently pursues the Path, knowing that poverty, illness, handicap and ignorance are nature’s method of restoring equilibrium; and that they are to him opportunity both to help those who suffer, and indirectly, to test and develop his own self-control and compassion.

Another ancient Indian order, the Jains, embrace much the same teachings, adding with emphasis that no god, no sacrifice or act of repentance can stay the force of reaction set into motion by our thoughts, our will and our acts. It matters not whether these acts are mental or physical, past or present, intentional or unintentional. Believing that we alone determine our shape, complexion, behavior and every event in our daily life, the clear-minded Jains explain how this works: whenever a jiva — a conscious being, be it a god, human being, animal or plant, or dweller in the regions below — longs for and attaches itself to things of this world, such as food, clothes, people and places; whenever it gives vent to passion, such as anger, fear, greed, hatred or love; or whenever it clings to ignorance and false ideas, that jiva in so doing opens the doors of its heart to an influx of “karmic atomic matter” — karma-prayoga pudgala. This more subtle matter thereupon mixes and interacts with the ethereal substance of and surrounding the jiva and produces aggregates of molecular particles that either immediately color, cloud and weigh down the jiva, or accumulate as seeds and lie dormant, to ripen when conditions are appropriate for their expression.

Now, as each influx has its own particular origin, coloration (of six kinds), density, taste, fragrance, tangibility, intensity and duration, it follows that acts of self-control and compassion bring in a flood of beneficent karmic material that, depending on its nature, colors the jiva a luminous white, red or gold, and brings by attraction to the circumstances of its life, conditions that are harmonious and pleasant. On the other hand, reckless, selfish, cruel or sensual acts attract an invasion of heavy, dark and disruptive material that draws the soul downward to worlds of illusion, and brings confusion and painful conditions into the life.

Jain literature discusses in detail 148 varieties of karma which can affect and pervade a jiva as does “heat a red-hot iron ball.” These various kinds of karma fall into eight general headings: (a) Namakarma, “name-karma,” affects the ‘mask’ or personality — the heredity, sex, health, and details of the outward appearance — and the individuality or character, qualities of the inner being. (b) Ayushka-karma, “life-karma,” like a tether, limits the length of a person’s life and the amount of vitality he will expend. (c) Antaraya-karma, “hindrance-karma,” produces obstacles that frustrate one’s efforts to improve his life. (d) Gotra-karma, “family-karma,” determines social position — the family, occupation, marriage, religion, place of residence, and even the kind of food one will eat. (e) Vedaniya-karma, “karma to be known,” attracts to the doer experiences of pleasure and pain which, they say, are bitter-sweet to the soul, like tasting honey from the blade of a sword. (f) Mohaniya-karma, “delusion-karma,” causes emotional and psychological confusion; while (g) Jnana-avaraniya, “knowledge-concealing,” and (h) Darsana-avaraniya, “insight-concealing,” veil the mental and spiritual perceptions with ignorance and prejudices so that one is unable to recognize truth when he sees it, but turns away like a traveler who, seeking the king, is repulsed by the doorkeeper.

Considering this, it is obvious that the more active a person is, the more he enjoys and identifies with the objects, environment and knowledge of this world we perceive through the senses, the more he attracts to himself karmic tendencies. These aggregates, the Jains explain, actually form themselves into a ‘body’ — the karmana sarira (the linga- or sukshma-sarira of Samkhya philosophy). And as this body, unlike the physical, does not disintegrate at death but adheres to the jiva, it is the part of the individual that carries his dominant and recessive karmic attributes from one birth to another. This is the Jain way of suggesting the ancient teaching that we inherit our real character from ourselves, not from our parents, although we do ‘inherit’ or select from the family we are karmically drawn to, the qualities necessary at this time for our soul’s experience.

We create and predestine ourselves, physically, mentally and spiritually, by the ‘food’ we take into our body, our mind, and into our soul. These philosophical thoughts help explain how we act, interact and react upon one another. This is especially true when the “eye for an eye” revenge-action syndrome is perpetuated. However, as we are continually making new, and exhausting or ‘consuming’ old karmic substance, we can at any moment refuse to retaliate in kind and thereby stop the back-and-forth flow of degrading karmic interaction. In turning in the direction of justice and love, we not only fracture old courses of action, but draw to ourselves a finer, brighter and more buoyant karmic matter.

Sooner or later this moment of decision comes to us all, comes perhaps during a time of affliction or of high aspiration. Our spirit will stir and awaken in revolt against the monotonous, low-level, repetitive action-reaction-action. Henceforth, if mind and will have been strengthened sufficiently, we can consciously take full charge of our lives. However, a permanent change requires inflexible will, courage and persistence — after all, have we not taken on the monster of all our past actions? Have we not, in effect, determined not only to search out, face and destroy karmic deposits imbedded eons ago, but from now on, to accept influx of only the highest quality material?

To assist in this venture the Jain “householder” is given as a course of physical and mental discipline “three jewels” of wisdom: right faith (insight), right knowledge, right conduct. In ‘purifying’ by faith or devotion, his attitudes, feelings and thoughts, he allows not even the smallest particle of weakness to enter his being, knowing that if it does, it will take root and grow. In studying their doctrines and observing the laws of life firsthand, he gains knowledge, including, no doubt, knowledge of what result follows which cause; what forces are engendered and how their momentum can be directed, transmuted or neutralized beneficially. And in controlling his conduct, avoiding excess, speaking truthfully with kindness, he practices ahimsa — noninjury — and, at the same time, establishes symmetrical patterns of thought and of action.

Then later, as an ascetic who so carefully “sweeps” the path before him lest he inadvertently cause discomfort or pain to another, the Jain adopts a rigid code of conduct designed to close completely the gates of his soul to the inflow of worldly matter. For by now he knows that even the most radiant karmic substance will cling to and enmesh him; by now he is determined to purify the entirety of his being from the slightest hue of the six karmic colors, so that his spirit, restored to its lofty state, will like a “crystal mirror” receive and reflect the splendors of infinite knowledge, power and bliss. Thus nirvana is attained, and he, released from the wheel of birth and death (samsara), may leave this realm of illusion.

This same mystical insight is expressed poetically in the Hindu Upanishads:

Verily, this Soul (Atman) — poets declare — wanders here on earth from body to body, unovercome, as it seems, by the bright or the dark fruits of action. . . . As an enjoyer of righteousness, he covers himself (atmanam) with a veil made of qualities; [but] he remains fixed — yea, he remains fixed! — Maitri Upanishad, 2:7

As a man acts, so does he become. A man of good deeds becomes good, a man of evil deeds becomes evil. A man becomes pure through pure deeds, impure through impure deeds.

As a man’s desire is, so is his destiny. For as his desire is, so is his will; as his will is, so is his deed; and as his deed is, so is his reward, whether good or bad.

A man acts according to the desires to which he clings. After death he goes to the next world, bearing in his mind the subtle impressions of his deeds; and after reaping there the harvest of his deeds, he returns again to this world of action. Thus he who has desire continues subject to rebirth. — Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad, IV, iv, 5-6

But for those seeking freedom from karmic encumbrances the Bhagavad-Gita gives inspiration and guidance. Especially where Krishna recommends to the aspiring Arjuna not inaction, but action — the path of Karma-yoga. However, the quality of action he prescribes is as that of inaction since it brings no stain, no entanglement in worldly matters. When one can perform the duties of life with passions subdued and heart fixed in devotion upon the supreme Spirit; when one can act, aware of the fruits of his actions, yet unconcerned, unattached, unswayed by pleasure or pain, gain or loss, victory or defeat, then to him spiritual knowledge comes naturally in the progress of time. “His mind is undisturbed in adversity; he is happy and contented in prosperity, and he is a stranger to anxiety, fear, and anger. Such a man is called a Muni — a wise man” (II, 55-6).

Thus we find that practically all of the philosophical schools of India have the capacity to turn one’s thoughts to the needs of the soul. Those dealing with karma are especially uplifting, showing that for each individual, this is the best of all possible worlds; this the best time to live. Here is the duty, the challenge, the unique opportunity that we by our karma have made for ourselves.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Prabhavananda, Swami, The Spiritual Heritage of India, Vedanta Press, Hollywood, i969.
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, ed., The Cultural Heritage of India, vol. 1, The Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture, Calcutta, 1958.
Zimmer, Heinrich, Philosophies of India, ed. Joseph Campbell (Bollingen Series XXVI), Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1969.

Inner and Outer Karma By James A. Long

When we say that everything is karma, is the result of causes previously set in motion, we have to extend our perspective of human karma far into the past; in fact, millions of years, to the very early period when man first tasted of the fruit of knowledge, and began henceforth to learn right from wrong. Obviously, from that long ago time we have had to be fully responsible not only for what we thought and did, but also to share in the responsibility for the effect that our thinking and acting has had on others throughout the ages.

We can see then that every one of the billions of human souls that have been in and out of existence on this earth during those thousands and thousands of centuries must have developed countless attractions and repulsions, and set in motion innumerable causes — causes which at some time, in some place, and under the right conditions, will inevitably express themselves as effects. But karma is by no means a merciless round of reaping and sowing, with never a chance to get out of the squirrel’s cage. Not at all. Life, everything, moves in spiral fashion, not in a closed ring or circle. That is where we make our greatest mistake when we first come across the idea of rebirth and karma.

If we assume that everything is governed by universal law, that the cosmos is founded on justice, then nothing could happen by chance; everything must be an expression of the operation of the law of balance, of the law of attraction and repulsion, action and reaction. Pursuing this to its logical consequence, every one of us on earth today must have experienced many hundreds of life episodes since that very early point in man’s history when we first recognized the difference between right and wrong in a self-conscious way. Certainly there must be a continuity of reactions, otherwise you would have a crazy universe, without rhyme or reason; and what better way could there be for the permanent soul in us to grow and evolve, and benefit by and through the effects of its past actions?

If we can grasp the long view, it is not difficult to feel the grand sweep of destiny that is moving civilization forward on its evolutionary path. There are bound to be times of terrible suffering because somewhere, some place, we have upset the balance by wrong thinking and wrong action. We can scarcely realize what an immense amount of karma each soul, to say nothing of nations and races, has engendered from long ago — a backlog of karma that must in time expend itself.

There are many more kinds of karma than just the physical aspect which insures that fire will burn and that if we go out in the rain we get wet. If karma is a universal law it must work universally — that is, on the divine, spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical planes. That means that we have a divine karma, a spiritual karma, a mental and an emotional karma, as well as a physical karma. Just as we often speak of man’s higher self as well as his ordinary personality, so we can say that there is an inner karma that pertains to his higher self, his guardian angel, that has its source in the divinity within, and an outer karma that belongs to the everyday personality.

At times something inside seems to push us into difficulties. In a way that is exactly what happens: the inner karma, the karma that springs from our higher self, does at moments make itself felt, and we almost feel led in a certain direction, perhaps even a difficult and roundabout way; but the karma that belongs to our personality seems to pull us in the opposite direction. So there is a conflict between the feeling deep inside that a certain path should be followed, and the contrary impulses of the outer nature. How can we reconcile this conflict so that the inner and the outer karma can work harmoniously?

We have to set our sights higher, take them off the lower and place them where they rightfully belong. Once we do this, we shall realize that our Father or guardian angel is continuously sending its impulses into our human self and, if our desire is to live so that the higher has predominance in all our thinking and actions, there will be no undue strain. But when under these inspiring influences we intuit that a particular path is right, if our concentration has been largely focused in our ordinary consciousness, we may feel terribly disturbed. There will be real conflict between the inner and outer karma, a conflict which will not cease until we make up our minds definitely to follow the lead of our guardian angel whose goal is the bringing of light out of darkness and the evolution of the less into the greater.

At first, many think that karma is either good or bad. It is neither it is only our reaction to the circumstances of life that brings either pleasant or unpleasant experiences. Actually, all karma is opportunity. Obviously, if we have lived many, many lifetimes, it would be impossible for an individual to carry in any one incarnation the full burden of his entire past. “God fits the burden to the shoulders” is a law that works universally, for nature is just all along the line and therefore truly compassionate.

The inner karma that originates from the divinity within and operates through our higher self quietly impresses the entire constitution with its influence. When the human self feels the touch of those divine promptings, it would do well to heed them and allow the outer karma as far as possible to conform with the inner. It is when we try to isolate our personality from the radiance from above that there is tension and conflict.

Life is not always a simple straight line of duty — sometimes we are presented with some real problems of decision, but if we can stand aside and view them from the broader perspective, we can be assured that our higher self will never forsake us in time of genuine need. We should be grateful for the kindly impulses that lead us into a new set of circumstances. When the inner karma appears to conflict with the outer, we can take it as a sign of progress, a sign that the personal self needs to look at things from a higher vantage point. That is the reason we have stressed the practical importance of trying to read the daily script of our lives, because our higher self in conjunction with the natural affairs of daily life, is trying to lead us into avenues of experience where the soul can grow in strength and understanding.

We have the responsibility to recognize that all karma is opportunity. I repeat this again because it is the fundamental key to meeting life without despair, no matter what the conditions or situations may be. The so-called pleasant situations may present an even greater challenge than the difficult ones: to handle them wisely, to recognize them not just as recompense for good in the past but rather as a means of sharing our blessings with all. I am speaking here of spiritual values, of course.

The unpleasant conditions in themselves represent a great opportunity because often the most difficult experiences, which at first seem like the bitterest of poison, in the end turn out as the “waters of life.” That is because our guardian angel, seeing our growing sensitivity to its behests, begins to impress us more strongly and “push” us into periods of trial. We have all had the experience that when we meet hardship and adversity squarely, they cease to overwhelm us, for the reason that our attitude of courage allows the inner and outer karma to work harmoniously together. Simply put, we have to learn to meet and handle wisely, without thought of ourselves, all the circumstances that flow from our karma — from ourselves.

Everything is karma, inner and outer, higher and lower, spiritual and physical; and the master of the inner karma is the divinity within that resides at the core of our being. The master of the outer karma is your and my human personality. Everything is consciousness, and our whole task of raising the lower by the higher consists in self-consciously transmuting the base metal of our ordinary consciousness into the gold of the divinity within.

The threads of karma are finely drawn, and not one is lost in the larger pattern of our evolution. Therefore, in the final analysis, there cannot be anything but justice, which is nothing other than the adjustment of equilibrium in action and reaction, cause and effect, sowing and reaping. Why do you suppose all great religions and philosophies have stressed this one teaching: the balancing of the scales of destiny? Did not the ancient Greeks use the scales as the symbol of universal justice and Order and Balance — a symbol which we in the West have faithfully preserved? Did not the Egyptians also emphasize this truth in their dramatic scene of the judgment as portrayed in their papyri and temples: the “weighing of the heart against the feather of truth”?

Everything in nature works toward harmony, toward bringing about growth from the less to the greater. Why then should man be an exception? If justice inheres in the physical realms, why not in the moral and spiritual areas of experience?

James A. Long

James A. Long was born on August 27, 1898, at York, Pennsylvania. Following a career in private business, he served as a management consultant during W.W.II in the office of the Quartermaster General in Washington, D.C., and was later transferred to the Department of State where he assisted in the changeover to peacetime responsibilities. While there he was sent as an Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations at the opening of the Second Session in 1946.

Mr. Long joined The Theosophical Society in 1935 and in 1939 became business manager of its American Section. He worked closely with Arthur L. Conger whom he succeeded as leader of The Theosophical Society in 1951. His administration was marked by an emphasis on the practical expression of theosophy in daily living. To this purpose, he founded and edited SUNRISE magazine as a bridge between theosophy and the public, each issue offering theosophic perspectives on relevant trends in science, philosophy, and religion, as well as studies in ancient and modern theosophy. Mr. Long died on July 19, 1971.

The Experience of No Self ~ Adyashanti

What is this thing called “self”? Does it actually exist? In this deeply penetrating satsang on the central teaching of the Buddha, Adyashanti invites a direct investigation and experience of who we are. By recognizing our impersonal nature, we can discover the one reality that is beyond the imaginary self.

Falling into Grace ~ Adyashanti

Adyashanti asks us to let go of our struggles with life and open to the full promise of spiritual awakening: the end of delusion and the discovery of our essential being. In his fifteen years as a spiritual teacher, he has found that the simpler the teaching, the greater its power to change our lives. In Falling into Grace, Adyashanti shares what he considers fundamental insights that will “spark a revolution in the way we perceive life,” through a progressive inquiry exploring:

*The human dilemma — the concept of a separate self and the choice to stop believing the thoughts that perpetuate suffering
*”Taking the backward step” into the pure potential of the present moment
* Why spiritual awakening can be a disturbing process
* Intimacy and availability — feeling absolute union with every part of our experience
*True autonomy — the unique expression of our own sense of freedom

In the same way that we fall into the arms of a loved one or drop our heads on the pillow at night, we can surrender into the beauty and truth of who and what we really are. Falling into Grace is a book that gets to the core of why we suffer. It is Adyashanti’s invitation “to be taken by a moment of grace and fall into a sense of life when it is not separate from you, when life is actually an expression of something indefinable, mysterious, and immense.”

About the Author

Adyashanti began teaching in 1996 after a series of transformative spiritual awakenings at the request of his Zen teacher of 14 years. Today, his retreats are so popular that would-be attendees must win a lottery held only twice a year. Adya’s teachings have been compared to some of the early Ch’an (Zen) masters of China as well as teachers of Advaita Vedanta in India. A resident of California, his books include The End of Your World (Sounds True, 2009) and True Meditation (Sounds True, 2006).

The Existential Drive to Truth.wmv

In this essential satsang, Adyashanti explores two fundamentally different motivations that human beings bring to spirituality. He first shows how the psychological desire to feel better and be constantly happy only leads to persistent suffering. He then reveals how the existential drive to see what’s really true regardless of our emotional state can free us to discover the simplicity and happiness of what we already are.

Buddha and the World (Part 1) ~ Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra

Since 9/11 there has been a pervasive sense of anxiety in the world, and at the same time a search for spiritual answers. Is violence an aspect of human nature that can be cured, or are we caught in an endless cycle of violence that will never end? One of the most optimistic answers to that dilemma came from Buddha more than two thousand years ago. In the light of what he taught, I wanted to post my thoughts about the Buddhist solution and what it means for you and me as we seek to live in a troubling world.

Anyone coming to spirituality from the outside asks the same question: “What can it do for me?” There’s no universal key that unlocks the truth. However great the teaching, unless it can be made personal, it is sleeping. There’s no cut-and-dried case, especially today. You and I seek spirituality one by one, on our own terms. We have our own specific suffering that we want to heal. As old traditions no longer bind us together, isolation, ironically enough, has become the new tradition for millions of modern people. Feeling alone, unwanted, unloved, weak, lost, and empty is how the human disease feels today.

At no time in history have there been more stateless persons, refugees, overpopulation, and restless migration. Globalism makes the individual feel lost in the world, overwhelmed by its chaos, which always seems to be teetering between madness and catastrophe. Yet when people came to Buddha, they brought the same complaints. They felt helpless in the face of natural disasters, war, and poverty. They couldn’t comprehend a world on the edge of madness.

This dilemma has brought me closer to Buddha in recent years. I carry with me a few seminal ideas that have guided my life so far. One of them was expressed by Mahatma Gandhi when he said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” Because the world is so huge, it came as a revelation to me–and also a mystery–that by changing myself I can affect the world. This idea was not original to Gandhi. It’s an offshoot of a much older idea, traceable to ancient India, which says, “As you are, so is the world.”
That, too, is a revelation and a mystery.

Most of us survive by pretending that the world is “out there,” at arm’s length, which gives us breathing space. We can pursue our comfortable lives without merging into the poverty, injustice, and violence that surrounds us. However, our comfort zone disappears if the world is as we are. The individual is suddenly thrust center stage, holding responsibility for troubles that begin “in here” before they appear “out there.”
This is the same as saying that the world begins in consciousness. Buddha was famously practical. He told people to stop analyzing the world and its troubles. He also told them to stop relying on religious rituals and sacrifices, which are external. Buddha was the avatar of the situation we find ourselves in today, because he refused to rely on the traditional gods or God. He didn’t use the social safety net of the priestly caste with its automatic connection to spiritual privilege. Above all, he accepted the inescapable fact that each person is ultimately alone in the world. This aloneness is the very disease Buddha set out to cure.

His cure was a waking-up process, in which suffering came to be seen as rooted in false consciousness, and specifically in the dulled awareness that causes us to accept illusion for reality. The reason that people resort to violence, for example, is not that violence is inherent in human nature. Rather, violence is the result of a wrong diagnosis. That diagnosis puts the limited ego-self first in the world, and regards the demands of “I, me, mine” as the most important things to attain. The reason that people react with fear in the face of violence is that the ego goes into a panic trying to defend itself and its attachment to the physical body. The answer to violence for both the aggressor and the victim is to see through the false claims of the ego and thus to come to a true understanding of who we are and why we are here. Buddha’s answer remains radical, but its truth offers a way out that may be our best hope for the future. Let’s examine his solution in detail.

(To be continued)

Do We Have a Soul? A Scientific Answer ~Robert Lanza, M.D.

Does your cat or dog have a soul? What about a flea?

In the last century, science has undergone several revolutions, with profound implications for answering this ancient spiritual question.

Traditionally, scientists speak of the soul in a materialistic context, treating it as a poetic synonym for the mind. Everything knowable about the “soul” can be learned by studying the functioning of the human brain. In their view, neuroscience is the only branch of scientific study relevant to one’s understanding of the soul. The soul is dismissed as an object of human belief, or reduced to a psychological concept that shapes our cognition and understanding of the observable natural world. The terms “life” and “death” are thus nothing more than the common concepts of “biological life” and “biological death.”

Of course, in most spiritual and religious traditions, a soul is viewed as emphatically more definitive than the scientific concept. It is considered the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing, and is said to be immortal and transcendent of material existence.

The current scientific paradigm doesn’t recognize this spiritual dimension of life. The animating principle in humans and other animals are the laws of physics. As I sit here in my office, surrounded by piles of scientific books and journal articles, I cannot find any reference to the soul or spirit, or any notion of an immaterial, eternal essence that occupies our being. Indeed, a soul has never been seen under an electron microscope, nor spun in the laboratory in a test tube or ultra-centrifuge. According to these books, nothing appears to survive the human body after death.

While neuroscience has made tremendous progress illuminating the functioning of the brain, why we have a subjective experience remains mysterious. The problem of the soul lies exactly here, in understanding the nature of the self, the “I” in existence that feels and lives life. But this isn’t just a problem for biology and cognitive science, but for the whole of Western natural philosophy itself.

What we have to understand is that our current worldview −- the world of objectivity and naïve realism — is beginning to show fatal cracks. Of course, this will not surprise many of the philosophers and other readers who, contemplating the works of men such as Plato, Socrates and Kant, and of Buddha and other great spiritual teachers, kept wondering about the relationship between the universe and the mind of man.

Recently, biocentrism and other scientific theories have also started to challenge the traditional, materialistic model of reality. In all directions, the old scientific paradigm leads to insoluble enigmas, to ideas that are ultimately irrational. But our worldview is catching up with the facts, and the old physico-chemical paradigm is rapidly being replaced with one that can address some of the core questions asked in every religion: Is there a soul? Does anything endure the ravages of time?

Life and consciousness are central to this new view of being, reality and the cosmos. Although the current scientific paradigm is based on the belief that the world has an objective observer-independent existence, real experiments have suggested just the opposite. We think life is just the activity of atoms and particles, which spin around for a while and then dissipate into nothingness like a dust funnel. But if we add life to the equation, we can explain some of the major puzzles of modern science, including Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, the double-slit experiment, entanglement, and the fine-tuning of the laws that shape the universe as we perceive it.

Importantly, this has a direct bearing on the question of whether humans and other living creatures have souls. As Kant pointed out over 200 years ago, everything we experience — including all the colors, sensations and objects we perceive — are nothing but representations in our mind. Space and time are simply the mind’s tools for putting it all together. Now, to the amusement of idealists, scientists are beginning dimly to recognize that those rules make existence itself possible. Indeed, experiments suggest that particles only exist with real properties if they are observed. One point seems certain: the nature of the universe can’t be divorced from the nature of life itself. If you separate them from each other, reality ceases to exist.

We are more than the sum of our biochemical functions. Even the tiniest flea is an incredibly complex living creature, with mouth-parts adapted to feeding on the blood of your cat or dog. They have long legs that allow them to jump up to 13 inches (200 times their own body length, making them one of the best jumpers of all known animals). They have little eyes and antenna, and possess sensory cells that transmit messages to the brain. In fact, they possess all the structures that coordinate sense perception and experience (they can even be trained to perform amazing tricks).

Whether person or flea, the experimental findings of quantum theory suggest that the content of the mind is the ultimate reality, paramount and limitless. Without consciousness, space and time are nothing. From this viewpoint, by virtue of being a living creature, you can never die (see “What Happens When You Die?” and “Is Death the End?”). And the same thing goes for your little dog, too.

Voltaire, the great enlightenment writer and philosopher, once said, “Nobody thinks of giving an immortal soul to a flea.” Now, nearly 300 years later, the mass of accumulated scientific evidence suggests we may have to.
* * * * *

Robert Lanza, M.D. has published extensively in leading scientific journals and has over two dozen medical and scientific books, including “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe.” You can learn more about his work at www.robertlanza.com.

Chuang-tzu: The Tao of Perfect Happiness ~ Livia Kohn, Ph.D.

The Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi) is the second major text of the Taoist tradition. It was compiled in the third century B.C.E. and follows in the footsteps of the best known and oldest of all Taoist texts, the Tao-te-ching (Daode jing, Book of the Tao and Its Potency), known by the name of its author, Laozi (Lao-tzu), which literally means “Old Master” or “Old Child.”

There are many reasons to return to these ancient texts time and again, and especially to come back to the Chuang-tzu. The pure enjoyment of the stories, the vibrant humor of the tales, the fantastic aspects of reality — they all give pleasure, release, exuberance. The intricacies of ancient Chinese culture as revealed in the text, with its complex social hierarchies, demanding ways of interaction, extensive death rituals and multiple layers of existence, from the creative power of “heaven” (a word indicating both the sky and the natural world at large) through gods and humans to animals and ghosts — they all spark interest, transcend present limitations, open new ways of seeing and of being in the world. Last but not least, the complex philosophical and cosmological understanding of the universe, the vision of the individual as completely embedded in the greater flow of life, held and carried by the Way or Tao, the appreciation of the complete interconnectedness of all life, and the pervasive urging of the text to be who we are just as we are no matter where we are — all these give power and inspiration, provide strength and determination, encourage the will to live to the fullest.

Unlike most renditions this version arranges the text by themes, beginning with the core question of the text: “In this world, is there such a thing as perfect happiness?” The answer is “certainly.” But it takes work and a certain way of understanding self and reality combined with making clear and persistent efforts to actualize this understanding in body and life (although, according to Chuang-tzu, these efforts are nowhere near as organized as later Taoists would propose). Over a total of 14 chapters, the book then unravels key issues in Chuang-tzu’s thought, from visions of the universe through understanding of fate, self, death and dreams, to ways of personal transformation with the help of various forms of conscious reprogramming and meditative practice which then lead to the best possible way of living in the world, exemplified in several different kinds of people and social situations.

Here are some examples:

“Life is the follower of death, and death is the beginning of life: who knows their inherent structure? Human life is nothing but an assemblance of vital energy. When it comes together, we come to life; when it scatters, we die. Since life and death thus closely follow each other, why whine about either? In this most essential aspect, the myriad things are one. They consider life as beautiful because it is spiritual and marvelous; they think of death as nasty because it is smelly and putrid. However, the smelly and putrid change again and become the spiritual and marvelous; the spiritual and marvelous change once more and turn smelly and putrid. Thus the saying, ‘The entire world is but one vital energy.’ Based on this, all sages value oneness” (Chapter 22).

Hui-tzu asked Chuang-tzu:

“Can a person really be without feelings?” — “Of course.” — “A person without feelings, how can you call him human?” — “Tao gave him visible appearance, heaven gave him bodily form. Why not call him human?” — “But, if you call him human, how can he be without feelings?” — “This is not what I mean when I speak of feelings. What I mean when I say he is without feelings is that the person does not allow likes and dislikes to enter and burden his social self, but always goes along with his inherent naturalness, never trying to improve on life” (Chapter 5).

Confucius said to Yen Hui:

“Oh, come on, Hui. Your family is poor and your house is dilapidated. Why don’t you get a job?” — “I don’t want a job. I have eight acres of fields outside the city wall, enough for vegetables and grain. I also have an acre and a half of farm land nearby, which gives me enough silk and hemp. Strumming my zithers is enough to give me pleasure, studying Tao with you is enough to make me happy. I don’t want a job” (Chapter 28).

Passages and stories like these demonstrate Chuang-tzu’s approach to the best and most peaceful way of living in the world: see the bigger picture, stay within your comfort zone and do fully what gives you the most pleasure, ignore the demands of society and outside values in favor of inner wholeness and deep-seated contentment.

‘Chuang-tzu: The Tao of Perfect Happiness’ is published by SkyLight Paths.

Does Our Brain Really Create Consciousness? ~ Peter Russell

Western science has had remarkable success in explaining the functioning of the material world, but when it comes to the inner world of the mind, it has very little to say. And when it comes to consciousness itself, science falls curiously silent. There is nothing in physics, chemistry, biology, or any other science that can account for our having an interior world. In a strange way, scientists would be much happier if minds did not exist. Yet without minds there would be no science.
This ever-present paradox may be pushing Western science into what Thomas Kuhn called a paradigm shift–a fundamental change in worldview.

This process begins when the prevalent paradigm encounters an anomaly — an observation that the current worldview can’t explain. As far as the today’s scientific paradigm is concerned, consciousness is certainly one big anomaly. It is the most obvious fact of life: the fact that we are aware and experience an internal world of images, sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Yet there is nothing more difficult to explain. It is easier to explain how the universe evolved from the Big Bang to human beings than it is to explain why any of us should ever have a single inner experience. How does all that electro-chemical activity in the physical matter of the brain ever give rise to conscious experience? Why doesn’t it all just go on in the dark?

The initial response to an anomaly is often simply to ignore it. This is indeed how the scientific world has responded to the anomaly of consciousness. And for seemingly sound reasons.
First, consciousness cannot be observed in the way that material objects can. It cannot be weighed, measured, or otherwise pinned down. Second, science has sought to arrive at universal objective truths that are independent of any particular observer’s viewpoint or state of mind. To this end they have deliberately avoided subjective considerations. And third, there seemed no need to consider it; the functioning of the universe could be explained without having to explore the troublesome subject of consciousness.

However, developments in several fields are now showing that consciousness cannot be so easily sidelined. Quantum physics suggests that, at the atomic level, the act of observation affects the reality that is observed. In medicine, a person’s state of mind can have significant effects on the body’s ability to heal itself. And as neurophysiologists deepen their understanding of brain function questions about the nature of consciousness naturally raise their head.

When the anomaly can no longer be ignored, the common reaction is to attempt to explain it within the current paradigm. Some believe that a deeper understanding of brain chemistry will provide the answers; perhaps consciousness resides in the action of neuropeptides. Others look to quantum physics; the minute microtubules found inside nerve cells could create quantum effects that might somehow contribute to consciousness. Some explore computing theory and believe that consciousness emerges from the complexity of the brain’s processing. Others find sources of hope in chaos theory.

Yet whatever ideas are put forward, one thorny question remains: How can something as immaterial as consciousness ever arise from something as unconscious as matter?
If the anomaly persists, despite all attempts to explain it, then maybe the fundamental assumptions of the prevailing worldview need to be questioned. This is what Copernicus did when confronted with the perplexing motion of the planets. He challenged the geocentric worldview, showing that if the sun, not the earth, was at the center, then the movements of the planets began to make sense. But people don’t easily let go of cherished assumptions. Even when, 70 years later, the discoveries of Galileo and Kepler confirmed Copernicus’s proposal, the establishment was loath to accept the new model. Only when Newton formulated his laws of motion, providing a mathematical explanation of the planets’ paths, did the new paradigm start gaining wider acceptance.

The continued failure of our attempts to account for consciousness suggests that we too should question our basic assumptions. The current scientific worldview holds that the material world–the world of space, time and matter — is the primary reality. It is therefore assumed that the internal world of mind must somehow emerge from the world of matter. But if this assumption is getting us nowhere, perhaps we should consider alternatives.

One alternative that is gaining increasing attention is the view that the capacity for experience is not itself a product of the brain. This is not to say that the brain is not responsible for what we experience — there is ample evidence for a strong correlation between what goes on in the brain and what goes on in the mind — only that the brain is not responsible for experience itself. Instead, the capacity for consciousness is an inherent quality of life itself.

In this model, consciousness is like the light in a film projector. The film needs the light in order for an image to appear, but it does not create the light. In a similar way, the brain creates the images, thoughts, feelings and other experiences of which we are aware, but awareness itself is already present.

All that we have discovered about the correlations between the brain and experience still holds true. This is usually the case with a paradigm shift; the new includes the old. But it also resolves the anomaly that the old could not explain. In this case, we no longer need scratch our heads wondering how the brain generates the capacity for experience.

This proposal is so contrary to the current paradigm, that die-hard materialists easily ridicule and dismiss it. But we should not forget the bishops of Galileo’s time who refused to look through his telescope because they knew his discovery was impossible.

How Spiritually Intelligent Are You?

Introducing… the Deep Change Spiritual Intelligence Assessment

It’s like GPS for your spiritual journey.

What if you had a tool that could pinpoint where you are in your unique personal development journey? What if it could not only track the progress you’ve already made, but could also suggest your next best steps to becoming more aware, awake, and happy? Would that be helpful?

Too good to be true? Actually, it builds on established developmental assessment models. And it’s here.

First, there was cognitive intelligence (IQ). Remember those long, strange tests, and those hushed conversations in the hallway if a schoolmate scored in the “genius” range? While cognitive intelligence is crucial, researchers now agree that it’s just part of the picture of human intelligence—and often not even the best one for predicting career success or personal happiness.

Some 20 years ago, Daniel Goleman’s concept of “Emotional Intelligence” (EQ) revolutionized our ideas about smarts and how we show up in the world. The idea that how we manage our emotions and get along with others is a distinct, measurable, capacity that can be improved is powerful—and it quickly rippled through business and personal development circles.

Tangible, Deep Benefits

Spiritual Intelligence is an innate human capacity. But, like any intelligence (emotional, musical, kinesthetic) it must be developed. The Deep Change SQi Assessment will help you:

* Determine your current level of Spiritual Intelligence or “SQ”
* Discover the 21 specific skills that comprise Spiritual Intelligence
* Identify next steps in your personal, spiritual growth
* Get clear on the best practices for you, right now.
* Boost your confidence, knowing you’re moving in the right direction.

Meet Cindy Wigglesworth

After a decorated academic career, Cindy found herself struggling in the corporate world, over-developed in IQ and under-developed in EQ. So she put her intellect to work in service of emotional growth. She identified EQ skills she lacked, and dedicated herself to practicing and cultivating them. Her career blossomed and her personal life as a parent was enriched, all thanks to her deepened emotional awareness and skills.

But still, Cindy wondered: where did “spirit” fit in her path? She deeply felt her commitment to loving self, family, and the world at large—yet she wasn’t entirely clear on how fully she actually embodied these cherished values. Building on her work in emotional intelligence, Cindy theorized that if there was a thing as spiritual intelligence (SQ), it would contain skills she could learn and practice, just like anything else. She dedicated herself to testing this audacious theory.

The result of Cindy’s work and personal exploration is the Deep Change Spiritual Intelligence Assessment. It’s already found great success in high-level organizations, and now we’re excited to share this valuable tool with the Integral Life community.

Is It Possible To Heal Without Spiritual Guidance? ~ Margaret Paul, Ph.D.

Do you believe that God is a judgmental man in the sky? Is this belief serving you well?

I have learned over my many years of counseling that no one heals without a personal connection to a spiritual source of guidance.

William was struggling with issues of shame and depression. He had struggled with feelings of insecurity and jealousy most of his life, despite years of inner work. While he intellectually knew that he was okay, emotionally he never felt it. This was his first phone session with me.

“William,” I asked, “what is your concept of God or a higher power?”

“Oh, you know, the traditional Judeo-Christian concept — an old dude up in the sky dishing out judgments.”

“Is this old dude anything like your father?”

“Yes, exactly like my father.”

“So you have projected your father onto your concept of God?”

“Yes, I guess I have.”

“William, I wonder if you would be willing to consider a different concept of God.”

“Sure.”

“My experience of God is that it is the spirit of unconditional love, truth, peace and joy. Just as I know that when I take a breath, the air will come into my lungs, I know that God is always here, and I can experience that love and wisdom whenever my heart is open. Just as there is the law of gravity, there is the law of love. Gravity applies to everyone and so does the love that is God.”

“I like that. I never thought of it that way.”

“You use your computer to get online and access all the information on the Internet. You would never try to do research on a subject by just using what is programmed into your computer. I think of my mind like my computer — it is programmed and therefore very limited. But I can use my mind to get online and access the wisdom of the universe. When my intent is to learn about loving myself and others, my heart opens and then I can access the love and wisdom that is always available to all of us. My mind cannot know who I truly am, because it’s been programmed by my parents, teachers, peers and the media. But my spiritual guidance knows who I am.

“One of the reasons you continue to feel shame, insecurity and jealousy is because you are allowing your programmed mind to define you instead of your spiritual guidance. But as long as you believe that God is a judgmental man like your father, you cannot open to the truth that is here for you.

“William, right now, breathe into your heart and open to learning about what the truth is about who you are. Ask your higher self, ‘What is the truth?’”

William does this. “I see a sweet, sensitive and very smart little boy.”

“Is there anything at all wrong with this little boy?”

“No!”

“So it is your limited mind, your programmed ego wounded self who keeps shaming you, telling you that you are not good enough or lovable enough. Do you want to keep defining yourself by your ego, or are you ready to let your higher self define you?”

William was more than ready to open to learning and allow his higher self to define him.

At our next session, William was a different person. He had started to treat himself with love and found that the more he valued himself, the more outgoing and caring he was with others. This was the first week in years that he had not felt depressed.

William was allowing the law of love to define him and express itself through him.

Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is a bestselling author of eight books, a relationship expert, and co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding® process — featured on “The Oprah Show,” and recommended by actress Lindsay Wagner and singer Alanis Morissette. Are you are ready to heal your pain and discover your joy?

The Problem With Socrates ~ Deepak Chopra

I was one of many readers intrigued by a recent op-ed piece in The New York Times about finding out who we really are. Under the title, “In Search of the True Self,” the piece was by an associate professor at Yale, Joshua Knobe, who attempts something very ambitious. He wants to solve the dilemma that humans are divided between our civilized and our animal nature. The question is far from abstract. Sexual drives have brought down governors and congressmen; violence in the form of terrorism obsesses us; and thousands of deaths by gunshot every year are part of the background of American life. So much for the animal side. On the civilized side we have philosophers pushing the value of reason over passion, the doctrine of “know thyself,” and Freud’s argument that civilization cannot exist without paying the price of suppressed unconscious drives, most particularly sex and violence.

Knobe makes the issue more personal by giving the example of a fundamentalist preacher who has devoted himself to a crusade against homosexuality, taking the common position among fundamentalist Christians that gay sex is a sin and the “gay lifestyle” is against God’s commandments. The wrinkle is that this particular preacher is himself gay and has fought against his sexual inclinations his entire life. Thus, for one man the ancient doctrine of “know thyself,” says Knobe, reaches a fork in the road. If the true self is rational, this man is obeying his true self by living according to higher values — his Christianity — instead of giving in to animal drives. (The preacher, who admits that he sometimes loathes his attraction to other men, takes this self-hatred as a good sign, since it is in accord with God’s own attitudes).

On the other hand, many modern people find such a position abhorrent. They would argue that the preacher’s true self can be found by stripping away the veneer of moral judgments and giving in to the impulses that it takes such effort and self-denial to suppress. If the preacher were out and proud, for example, he would be expressing who he really is. Clearly there is no agreement on the true self, which brings up what philosophers call the Socratic problem. We owe to Socrates, who lived in the age of Pericles in fifth century BCE Athens, our Western admiration for reason.

Faced with a society where each person had his own opinions about everything, Socrates went from citizen to citizen (he would talk to anybody, rich or poor) and asked them basic questions about their beliefs. At first the questions seemed innocent, but by the end of the discussion, Socrates had unearthed the illogical or prejudicial basis of things held to be true. The person could see, by the light of reason that the truth was far different from what he supposed. Socrates’ method was to outwit ignorance by calling on the higher faculty of rationality.

Ever since, up to the triumphant rise of science, enlightenment has been equated with reason and ignorance with unreason. So what is the problem with Socrates? It is that Socrates himself was also a champion of un-reason. He said that he had a mysterious inner voice that told him when he was doing wrong (his daemon), and that this voice had a divine source. Socrates was famous for his traditional worship of the Greek gods. In addition, he revered the inspired state known as divine madness.

Divine madness was something to be valued highly, because it was the source of art, music, love, the imagination and our connection to the soul. How did Socrates balance reason and unreason? He didn’t. Sometimes he speaks from one aspect of himself, sometimes from another. The Socratic problem is that when you look closely, the father of Western philosophy cannot be defined one way or the other.

Prof. Knobe has a novel idea for solving the riddle of the true self. He proposes a new field known as “experimental philosophy” that would do research into tough problems that have plagued philosophy for centuries, such as the riddle of the true self. For example, he and two colleagues at Yale asked 200 subjects a series of questions about their true selves. But a trick was involved.

The questions were weighted toward a liberal and a conservative bias. The point was to see if a person’s value judgments influence his ideas about the true self. Would a conservative approve of fighting against one’s homosexual impulses and a liberal approve of the opposite value? Naturally. Would this give each of them a different idea of which side of human nature was the true side? Yes. People see reality through the lens of their prejudices and social beliefs. The finding isn’t very startling, and I think the whole endeavor may be futile.

If you ask people who they really are, why should their answers mean much? They haven’t undertaken the inner journey that Socrates was pointing toward. “Know thyself” doesn’t mean taking a 30-minute quiz. It means going through a lifelong process of self-reflection, contemplation, and questioning. The point is that when this journey is taken seriously, the opposites within ourselves are resolved.

The war between reason and unreason exists at many levels of the self, but it doesn’t exist at the level of the true self. A river has turbulent currents until you reach the very bottom, where the water is calm and barely flows. This has been the position of the world’s wisdom traditions, and the true self has gone under different names: Atman, spiritus, the soul and many others. A true experimental philosophy, which sounds like a very good idea, would test the proposition that unity lies beyond duality. That is what philosophy has tried to do since the beginning. For a conflicted gay Christian, such a journey seems far more promising that batting him around between various opinions, right and left.

I think that the Socratic problem is the result of confusion. Whether we are speaking of Jesus, Buddha or Socrates, the result of “know thyself” doesn’t end in a muddle. Each of them spoke of a higher reality that could be reached, and as the journey unfolds, reason and unreason each play a part. Reason sorts out contradictions and analyzes what is happening as inner experience shifts. Its chief value is to pierce through self-delusion, just as Socrates did with his Socratic method. Unreason brings intuition and insight.

Its chief purpose is to deepen one’s experience until the presence of the divine is actually real. Rather than warring against each other, these two aspects of the self are allies in the battle against a common enemy: illusion. So the muddle is ours, not Socrates’. By definition an experiment that seeks to find the true self by asking 20 questions is secretly on the side of rationality, as all data collection is. The results are skewed in advance. After all, a subject who said “This is a stupid experiment. I’m outta here” would be just as true to the self as someone who sat still and obediently took the test — maybe he would be even more true. But all such statements are secondary. The true self means little until it jumps off the page of a philosophy textbook and becomes a vocation, a vision and the ultimate goal of life.

Replacing Our ‘War Rooms’ with ‘Peace Rooms’ by Barbara Marx Hubbard

Evolution is evolving from unconscious chance to conscious choice. We are entering the first age of conscious evolution.

Why? Because we obviously affect our own evolution by all the choices we make — from the food we eat, the number of babies we have, the cars we drive and the weapons we build.

Humans have no experience at being responsible for global change at this level. We are facing, as Bruce Lipton and Deepak Chopra recently wrote, the possibility of the collapse of our life support system. Or, I believe, the emergence of something new, something better than we have ever known before.

This shift in evolution began overtly in 1945 when the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan. The signal went out to the world: We now have the power to destroy life on Earth. I was 15 years old. I could see at that time that self-conscious humans, in top-down competitive structures such as nation states, organized religion and global corporations, could not handle this degree of power. We had suddenly gained capacities we used to attribute to our gods. We can blow up worlds, and we can build new worlds in space. We can travel with the speed of light by image; we can create new life forms or destroy our life; we can tap into immense energy or run out of energy.

I began to ask a great question: What is the meaning of our new powers in science and technology that are good, and what are positive images of the future that are equal to our new powers?

I read religion and philosophy as a young girl and found that no one knew the answer. The powers were so new.

I went to Bryn Mawr College and found I could not even ask the question there. There were no subjects on it. My father used to say to me, “Barbara, you are the best in the field… but there is no field!” I went to Paris in 1947 to study at the Ecole des Sciences Politiques. Despair and a sense of the absurdity of life were rampant in Paris after two world wars and the bomb. One day I was having lunch on the Left Bank, and a handsome American walked in and sat down next to me. I asked him my question: “What do you think is the meaning of this new power that is good?” and he responded, “I am an artist, and I am seeking a new image of man commensurate with our powers to shape the future.”

The idea crossed my mind, “I’m going to marry you!” And I did. He told me that when a culture loses its story and its image of the future, it declines. We had clearly lost our story of progress, and the image of humans now portrayed in the arts and theater was of a disintegrating destructive force. Yet I had innate hope and had to find out what I was hopeful about.

I went to see President Eisenhower in 1952, just after he became president. My father was an old colleague of the president. I was taken into the Oval Office. He greeted me kindly: “What can I do for you young lady?”

“Mr. President,” I said, “I have a question: What do you think is the meaning of all our new power that is good?” He looked startled, shook his head and said, “I have no idea.” So it flashed in my mind, “Well, we better find out!”

This has been my life quest, and I believe just now we are discovering the proper response. We do have a new story. It is the universe story. When we place ourselves in this 13.7 billion-universe story we discover the pattern and an evolutionary process of action we can do. We see that our crises are comparable to past evolutionary shift points. The only difference is now we are conscious that we are causing our own extinction. This is what I call “conscious evolution” — the greatest wake up call we have ever had for the human species to grow up!

Here are some lessons we can learn and apply to our own situation:

Problems are evolutionary drivers.

Crises precede transformation.

Evolution takes jumps through greater synergy: Separate parts coming together to form a new whole greater than and different from the sum of its parts.

Evolution creates radical newness. Once there was no earth, then earth appeared. Once there was no life, and life appeared.

Evolution raises consciousness and freedom through more complex order. According to Teilhard de Chardin, the great philosopher, the “noosphere,” the mind sphere or the thinking layer of earth, with all our Internet and global intelligence, is about “to get its collective eyes.” We are about to connect center with center and heart with heart.

Empathy is rising. Spirituality is growing. Healings are happening. The Internet is connecting us everywhere. A “wheel of co-creation” is forming in every field and function — innovations in health, education, energy, conscious business and environmental awareness are accelerating and beginning to connect — a whole system breakthrough out of the whole system breakdown.

We need one more conscious effort to connect the positive to make the shift in time — to midwife our own birth toward the next stage of our evolution. We may be one fraction of an evolutionary second from either connecting what is creative and loving and innovative, or devolution and extinction. This situation is dangerous, yet natural.

What do we need to do right now? I believe it is time to rapidly connect what is working in every field and function and communicate through all media as fast as we can our creativity, innovations and capacities to make it through together. We should be calling upon each other, everyone on earth, to know that they have a part in this “birth.” Each of us is given an impulse of evolution within, a heart’s desire to realize our greater potential. Wherever we are, whatever our situation, we are capable of “giving a gift to the shift,” from one phase of evolution to the next.

In 1984, I ran an idea campaign for a “Positive Future” for the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket. I proposed a “peace room” as sophisticated as a war room in the office of the VP to scan for, map, connect and communicate what is working. I was actually the other woman along with Geraldine Ferraro whose name was placed in nomination. In my speech I shared, “It is now in our capacity to destroy civilization as we know it, or to build a world of unprecedented opportunity for all people.”

What we need now is a “peace room” or a “synergy center,” a new social function to connect the positive in time.

Dec. 22, 2012, has been selected as day one to consciously contribute to this process. It is our first Planetary Birth Day to celebrate the coming of the next era of evolution based on what works.

Birth 2012 has been initiated and will be produced by The Shift Network as a convergence of what is working; we will celebrate human creativity and call for the greatest experience of mass coherence and compassion the world has ever known. We will connect with positive innovations, projects, people, artists and musicians — every way we can to converge and emerge together as a newly-born planetary species.

Barbara Marx Hubbard has been called “the voice for Conscious Evolution of our time” by Deepak Chopra and is the subject of Neale Donald Walsch’s new book “The Mother of Invention.” A prolific author, visionary, social innovator, evolutionary thinker and educator, she is co-founder and chairperson of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution. She has recently partnered with The Shift Network as a global ambassador for the conscious evolution movement; a shift from evolution by chance towards evolution by choice and is co-producing a global multi-media event entitled, “Birth 2012: Co-Creating a Planetary Shift in Time” on Dec. 22, 2012 — a historic, turning-point event awakening the social, spiritual, scientific, and technological potential of humanity.

Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion By Pema Chödrön

This book offers short, stand-alone readings designed to help us cultivate compassion and awareness amid the challenges of daily living. More than a collection of thoughts for the day, Comfortable with Uncertainty offers a progressive program of spiritual study, leading the reader through essential concepts, themes, and practices on the Buddhist path. Comfortable with Uncertainty does not assume prior knowledge of Buddhist thought or practice, making it a perfect introduction to Pema’s teachings on loving-kindness, meditation, mindfulness, “nowness,” letting go, and working with fear and other painful emotions. Through the course of this book, readers will learn practical methods for heightening awareness and overcoming habitual patterns that block compassion.

A collection of short, inspirational readings perfect for daily contemplation or sustained study, designed to help us cultivate compassion and awareness amid the challenges of daily living.

Inspired by the Buddhist tradition of the 108 day retreat and the Seven Points of Training the Mind Lojong text, the book leads the reader through essential concepts, themes, and practices on the Buddhist path. Featuring some of the most important and stirring passages from Pema Chodron`s previous books, this work does not assume prior knowledge of Buddhist thought or practice. It features topics such as loving-kindness, meditation, mindfulness, “nowness”, letting go, and working with fear and painful emotions. Learn practical methods for heightening awareness and overcoming habitual patterns that block compassion.

Comfortable with Uncertainty, like a set of traditional Buddhist prayer beads, strings together 108 gems that will guide and inspire us.

Three Steps to God: Awakening Your Evolutionary Creativity by Marc Gafni

It is time to change the game. To uplevel the great Integral evolutionary project of reconstruction—the reconstruction and evolution of God. And, make no mistake about it: Integral is a reconstructive project. We seek to unfold a vision of World Spirituality based on Integral principles, a trans-lineage path. This is the path that we have forgotten. It is the memory of the future. No ancient tradition, no pre-modern tradition by itself can address us, yet without the core insights of the traditions, life becomes a flatland of dreary emptiness without eros or telos. We make a reverential bow to the great traditions, and open ourselves to receive their wisdom in humility, even as we uplevel and evolve them in integral consciousness.

I’d like to identify for us three steps—three insights and realizations—that lead us to God. In the next blog, I will outline for you a process to awaken these realizations, which come from the practice of the greatest heart, mind and body mystics from all ages–pre-modern, modern and post-modern. All three steps manifest themselves through the three faces of God.

Move Beyond the Mythic God
Before you begin this three step process into the heart of the divine you must first move beyond the mythic God. You must shatter the Idols, or kill the Buddha. The God you do not believe in does not exist. The reconstruction of God is nothing less the reconstruction of self as Self. But it is not only that. It is no less the reclaimed depth of delight as we devotionally bow, in Rumi-like rapture, before the personal face of the Beloved.

It is the realization that wherever and whenever we fall, we fall into the arms of the Beloved. The ethnocentric mythic God that lives solely outside the Kosmos has passed away in the evolution of consciousness. We reclaim the depths of the divine post-mythic consciousness. The depths of the divine reveals itself in three faces, in the three major perspectives that are the building blocks of reality. In Integral terms we call these the First, Second and Third Person of God or the Three Faces of God. The divine is both beyond{second person}and within{first person}, everything and no-thing, the ground and suchness of all that is{third person} as well as the beloved that lives in us, as us and through us{first person}, even as she holds us{second person}. The Divine is both the awakened divinity that lives as us{first person}, the evolutionary process and power of the Kosmos{third person}, as well as the God who knows our name {second person}.

The Three Steps

Step One: Awaken to your True Nature

Engage in continual daily practice to evolve beyond exclusive identity with ego. It is crucial to recognize that, from an Integral perspective, this practice must be done both in first person and second person. In other words, we need to engage both the first and second person faces of God. These are the two paths that invite, demand and delight in your Unique Creativity, which gifts the world with your Unique manifestation of love-intelligence and sacred activism.

So let’s touch in to each path so you can feel it and taste it.

First-person Evolution Beyond Ego: To incarnate the God that lives in you, as you, and through you, you must first evolve. Not beyond your ego. You never evolve beyond your ego. You evolve beyond exclusive identification with your ego. You realize that you are an indivisible part of the seamless coat of the universe. You move beyond your limited identity as a separate self, and access your True Self, which is not apart, but an inextricable part of the one, of all that is, of the seamless coat of divinity. When you evolve beyond ego and awaken to your true self you realize with joy and delight that your true nature beyond any physical expression is consciousness. And you feel the alive and awakened nature of consciousness is creative.

Second-Person Evolution Beyond Ego: Feel yourself held in the arms of the Mother who desperately cares about you and knows your name. Experience all of the infinity of divine power and intelligence (God in the third-person, or the third face of God) sitting in a chair in front of you pouring divine personal love into you and caring about every detail of your life even as she calls you to your fullest and highest life. Your highest life is to engage in the creative act of the evolution of your consciousness.

The mystics and realizers from every great pre-modern, modern and post-modern tradition yearn to know the heart of reality. They yearn to know God. But what do we know of the unknowable God? The second-person mystics all say something stunningly simple and wondrous. There is one thing we do know about God: God is creative. Consciousness is creative. The Tao is creative. How do we know? Because here we are, right now. Just open your eyes and look around. Or, if you prefer, just close your eyes and look around. We live in a world of manifestation, infinitely complex and beautiful manifestation. Creativity is an essential quality of the divine.

Step Two: Awaken to Your Unique Creative Self

Then, you take the next step. Your awakening deepens. In First Person, you awaken to your Unique Self. This is the realization that the coat of the Universe is seamless but not featureless, and that you are a unique feature of that seamless coat. You realize that while the total number of true selves is only One, every manifestation of True Self sees through a unique set of eyes. This is Your Unique Self. Through Your Unique Self, God’s creativity lives in you, as you, and through you. In Second Person, you realize that God loved you so much that he signed his name all over you. Your Unique Self is the personal face of essence, unlike any other, utterly unique, emanated by God. You are God’s special beloved even as you are God’s creative partner in the evolutionary healing and transformation of all that is.

Step Three: Awaken to Your Unique Gift, Obligation and Vow of Creativity

Your Unique Self creates your Unique Obligation and Unique Vow. First Person: In the Buddhist tradition, the bodhisattva is one who seeks buddhahood through practicing noble action. The bodhisattva vows to postpone his or her complete awakening and fulfillment until all other beings are awakened and fulfilled. The determining factor in his or her actions is compassion, moved by the highest insight and wisdom. The realization of Unique Self may be regarded as bodhisattva activity – your unique creative manifestation of wisdom and guidance. The Unique Self bodhisattva vow is an expression of evolutionary joy and responsibility, even as it is a commitment to the fulfillment of your evolutionary obligation.

A note on Obligation at the 2nd-tier of consciousness

Now we need to pause for a second and in these brackets talk about the strange and unpopular word “obligation.” Many of us recoil when we hear the word “obligation.” We identify obligation with arbitrarily imposed limitations by church or state that suffocate the naturally free human being. Let’s enquire for a moment what obligation might mean at a higher level of consciousness than the obligation imposed by an authority external to you.

This inquiry yields the deeper truth that obligation is the ultimate liberation. Obligation frees you from ambivalence and allows you to commit one thousand percent to the inherent invitation that is the Unique Obligation present in every unique situation. Obligation at this level of consciousness is created by the recognition that there is an authentic need that can be uniquely addressed by you and you alone. For example, let’s say you are stuck on a lush tropical island with and old, boorish ugly man who has no obvious redeeming features. You are absolutely certain that you will never be rescued. The two of you are stuck on this island forever. There is abundant food on the island. The problem is, due to a physical ailment, this man with no obvious redeeming features that are easily discernible is unable to feed himself. Are you obligated to feed him?

The question is not whether it is noble or even good to feed him, but whether you are obligated to feed him. I have posed this question to thousands of people in audiences over the years. Virtually everyone agrees that in this situation you have an absolute obligation to feed him. This obligation is substantively different then the external obligation imposed by a fundamentalist or what Jean Gebser calls a mythic consciousness. This is not the obligation imposed by a mythic god, king, state or government. This is an obligation to help preserve life that is inherent to consciousness itself. In articulating the demand of consciousness inherent in this freely assumed obligation I have developed the fourfold doctrine of “higher obligation.” Higher obligation is the obligation that wells up from the higher structure-stages of consciousness.

The fourfold doctrine of obligation is directly based on the fourfold structure of need. Need creates obligation. First there is a need. But not only is there a need, it is an authentic and not a contrived need.

Second, you clearly recognize the need.

Third, you have the skills and creative capacity to meet the need.

Fourth, the need can be effectively addressed only by you. The matrix of these four factors creates the matrices of your Unique Self Obligation.

Essentially, you are obligated to give the Unique Creative Gifts that can be uniquely given only by you in this moment. While most of our gifts address more subtle hungers than food, there is no person who does not possess Unique Gifts that respond to unique needs.

This is precisely the awakened realization of Unique Self in first person. It is the powerful recognition that there is a Unique Gift, a direct function of your Unique Self that can and must be given only by you. It is your gift to the good and to the evolution of consciousness. It is both the reason for your life and the joy of your existence. From a non-dual perspective, it is your Unique Gift that creates your Unique Obligation. To live your Unique Self and offer your Unique Gifts is to align yourself with the evolutionary impulse and fulfill your evolutionary obligation. The realization of your Unique Self awakens you to the truth that there is a Unique Gift that your singular being and becoming offers the world, which is desperately needed by all that is, and can be given by you and you alone. There is no more powerful and joyous realization available to a human being. It is the meshwork of meaning that fills your life and is the core of your Unique Self enlightenment.

As we said, this awakening to Unique Self happens in first person and second person.

In First-Person, when you awaken to your unique self as the I AM, you realize that you are both a part of the seamless coat of the universe, and unlike any other as a unique emanation of the divine. You realize that you have Unique Gifts to give, as part of your most essential nature as a Unique Self. You experience your unique obligation to give those unique gifts. Because you are the only person in the word capable of giving those unique gifts of being and becoming, if you do not give them, there will be a corner of the world that is left unloved.

Your creativity is ultimately and infinitely necessary for the continuing great project of evolutionary creativity—the evolution of consciousness towards the place where all of the good is experienced and known as the fullest depth of all that is displayed in the wondrous magnificence of the divine symphony. Knowing that, you feel it, you taste it, and you rock it out for God with the creative depth of genius that lives in you. Giving your gift might be private or public, quiet or loud, but the universe desperately needs and yearns to experience it.

Second person: Up till now in step three we described awakening to your Unique Self as your Evolutionary Creativity – in first person. You awakened to incarnate your Unique Creativity – which is your Unique Self – the Unique Expression of love that lives as you. Now we move to the call to Unique Divine creativity through the face of God, God in the second person.

You can awaken to your Unique Self not only through a first person recognition of yourself as a unique expression of the love-intelligence of the Universe, but also through a second person encounter with the Divine. Here, through practice or as a gift of divine love, you can experience yourself being held in the arms of the Mother who both loves you and obligates you. This was the great realization of the Mother, central to the spiritual way of Hindu mystics, Kabbalists, Sufis, Christian mystics, and so many more.

In Hebrew the same root word means both Love and Obligation. What that simply means is that to be loved is to be obligated. To be loved by the divine does not mean, as religions used to teach, that man is freed of obligation. Rather, it means that God loves and holds the human being as his/her partner in the creative process. To be loved is to be obligated. In the language of the second person mystics – the human being is obligated as the core essence of being alive to engage in imatatio dei – the imitation of god. The second person mystics now go the next step (and this is Rumi Hafiz, Ibn Arabi, Akiva, Luria, Augustine, Aquinas and the whole gang.)

We are commanded by consciousness itself to be “like god”. To partner with God in the healing and transformation of all that is. But, how can you be like God if we do not know God? Ahhh. Remember there is one thing we DO KNOW about God. God is Creative. Consciousness is Creative. Creativity is the essential manifest quality of Consciousness. So therefore: Just as God is creative so you be creative. To use biblical language, just as God stood as the abyss of darkness and said “Let there be light”- so too shall you stand creatively at the abyss of darkness and say let there be light. Just as God creates worlds, so too shall you as God’s partners be a creator of worlds.

God in the second person, who holds you and loves you, has but one wild, ecstatic, rigorous and uncompromising demand: “Be my creative partner in the healing and transformation of the world. Evolve consciousness, and fix the broken places with Me – because I cannot do it without you. I need your service. My gift to you in love,” whispers God in our ear even as She caresses our heart, “My gift to you is to make you my partner and allow Myself to be – at least in part – dependent on you!”

Marc Gafni

Dr. Marc Gafni holds his doctorate from Oxford University and has direct lineage in Kabbalah. He is a Rabbi, spiritual artist, teacher, and a leading visionary in the emerging World Spirituality movement. He is a co-founder of iEvolve: The Center for World Spirituality, a scholar at the Integral Institute, the director of the Integral Spiritual Experience, the guest editor of the JITP academic series of journals on Integral Spirituality, and a lecturer at the Integral program at John F. Kennedy University. The author of seven books, including the national bestseller Soul Prints and Mystery of Love, Gafni’s teaching is marked by a deep transmission of open heart, love and leading edge provocative wisdom. Gafni is considered by many to be a visionary voice in the founding of a new World Spirituality.

Cosmic Consciousness and The Holographic Universe …Ervin Laszlo

Deepak Chopra talks with Ervin Laszlo about Cosmic Consciousness and The Holographic Universe. What is the deeper underlying reality at the heart of the universe?
Cosmic Consciousness and The Holographic Universe …Ervin Laszlo

Simply Genius… Ervin Laszlo talks with Deepak Chopra about his new book…NYC Mon 6/20/11

Losing the Ego: A Conversation with Ram Dass ~ Eliezer Sobe

It was 1997. I was visiting the Neem Karoli Baba ashram in Vrindaban, India, when I learned that my old friend and spiritual teacher, Ram Dass, had had a major, possibly life-threatening stroke. How strange to hear such news in that particular place, which took me over 20 years to visit since first hearing Ram Dass’s wondrous stories about Maharaj-ji in the mid ’70s. (“Maharaj-ji” is the less formal, affectionate honorific used by Neem Karoli Baba’s devotees.)

In a shamefully narcissistic manner, one of my first thoughts had to do with me. Because of all his work in the field of death and dying, not to mention being my teacher, I always assumed that if push ever came to shove and I was lying in my death bed somewhere, I’d call on Ram Dass to come sit with me through the process and all would be well. It simply never dawned on me that he was 22 years my senior, and, barring unforeseen tragic events, he was quite likely going to pre-decease me. I was a bit in shock at what should have been an obvious revelation, and felt orphaned.

Ram Dass demonstrated through his stroke experience what it means to truly walk one’s talk, for he managed to re-frame a frightening, painful and shocking event that would completely change his life and abilities forever, into what he would eventually refer to as “fierce grace” (which also became the title of a wonderful film about his ordeal.) The teaching he offered is that all circumstances — seemingly good or bad from our own perspective — can be seen, felt and even known as God’s grace, if one is but willing to hold them that way and learn from them rather than merely complain and be the unfortunate victim of a terrible turn of events in one’s life.

Of course, being a spiritual hero to thousands, Ram Dass really had no choice; he couldn’t very well indulge in kvetching about his reality for very long, or behaving as if God and his guru were somehow suddenly absent from the universe! Clearly, if God is real and present — no matter what happens — then one must learn to accept all experiences ultimately as the grace of God, some more fierce than others.

For most of us, though, how could having a stroke, being paralyzed on one side, and initially losing nearly all of your speech capacity, possibly be the grace of God? If such a thing happened to me, I know I’d be extremely pissed off at God, and asking questions like, “What about playing guitar and piano? Or bicycling? I mean, I teach movement and dance for crying out loud!”

Rabbi Harold Kushner’s famous query comes to mind: “Where is God when bad things happen to good people?” According to the mystics among us, the answer is always the same: God is present, and cannot possibly be elsewhere, for the “One Vast Eternal Omnipresent Source of All Being and Existence ” certainly cannot be off at a brothel in Thailand while you’re being mugged in New York City. No, as Thich Nat Hanh might say, God is the mugger and the mugged (and the Thai prostitute). Given the daily state of affairs in our own lives as well as the headlines from around the world that bombard us each morning, if any of us presume to intuit the presence of God, then that presence is clearly not impacted one way or the other by actual events that occur. The good stuff that happens doesn’t mean God is here, and the bad stuff doesn’t mean the divine has left the building. God is the animating force, or the all-pervading intelligence within which all experience takes place. The Tibetan Buddhists call it “cognizant emptiness.” Not very spiritually romantic for devotional, religious types, but accurate.

I had a video Skype session with Ram Dass a few years ago, a service called a “Heart-to-Heart” that he makes available to his website subscribers. My agenda in setting up the conversation was to ask him for his blessing before I set out on a book tour to promote a memoir that featured my history with him in the first and last chapters, symmetrically framing the whole work. And though I had badgered him repeatedly the previous year, in the end he had opted not to endorse the back of my book. So now, if I couldn’t get his blurb, I felt I at least needed his blessing. He paused a moment when I asked, closed his eyes to search for his answer, then looking straight into the camera and pointing his finger, said very calmly, “You have my blessing, as long as you tell the truth.”

That gave my little brain plenty to think about! Was he saying I didn’t tell the truth in the book? That I somehow misrepresented him in my story? What did he mean? I didn’t ask him, and rather than try and figure out the answer, I lived, as Rilke said, “inside the question.” As I traveled the country on my book tour, it became my personal Zen koan each time I took the stage.

And I think I told the truth. Mostly.

He also gave me an extremely valuable piece of advice: “If you go on a book tour as an ego, in order to sell books,” he said, “it is a complete pain in the butt. But if you approach each event as a gathering of souls, then you can have a meaningful evening together.” I took that very much to heart, and brought my guitar along and wound up singing and chanting with people in bookstores all across the country, and I do believe that souls were touched. Mine was.

Apart from that Skype call, I hadn’t seen Ram Dass for some time. But since I was to be in Maui, not 10 minutes from his home, I requested some moments of his time, and he was gracious enough to receive me. His place is gorgeous, overlooking the sea. His living room features a very large holy shrine adorned with flowers, photos and sacred relics, that pays homage to his guru and many other saints from a diversity of religious traditions. Although he can swim in his pool and walk a bit with a walker, he is for the most part confined to a wheelchair, presumably for the rest of his life. Yet not only is he not complaining, it seems he has managed to arrive at an even happier and more content state of being than ever before! This is clear both from being in the room with him as well as from his own public talks about his personal process in the years since his stroke.

I first met Ram Dass in 1975 at the age of 23, when I was first emerging as a spiritual seeker, full of longing and penetrating questions, deeply hungry for answers and direction. Ram Dass was bigger than life, rapidly gaining worldwide notoriety as a counter-cultural hero and teacher to millions, and author of what was becoming the pivotal spiritual guidebook of those tumultuous times, “Be Here Now.” He had returned from India wearing the trappings of that culture — white robe and beads and long, wild hair and beard. But even in his more ordinary American attire, he exuded a powerful, loving presence that was quite palpable, penetrating and real.

I vividly remember the intensity and significance of our first meeting. He would often do an exercise with new students that involved sitting across from one another, eyeball to eyeball, with the instruction, “Anything that comes into your mind that you don’t want to share with me, share with me.” It was astounding for me to witness and subsequently reveal the vast array of normally private, psychological material — shameful secrets, things I was embarrassed about and so forth — and to feel the unconditional love pouring through his eyes as he listened silently to all that came spilling out of me in what amounted to being a liberating confessional of sorts. The exercise continued until I reached my limit, my line in the sand, where there were just certain things too horrible to say aloud, and I didn’t, and he didn’t ask me to.

And I never have, to him. In a way, I never completed that exercise.

Although I had seen him many times in the interim, perhaps I should have used this visit in Maui to pick up where we had left off some 35 years ago when we first played that game, but this time I was determined to show up as an “adult.” I wanted to approach my old spiritual teacher not as what George Bernard Shaw called a “bundle of grievances and ailments.” I did not want to greet him as a needy spiritual seeker full of problems and questions looking for someone to provide me with answers. Rather, I wanted to have no particular agenda apart from paying my respects, human to human, to an old friend and mentor, with the awareness that I didn’t know if we would ever meet again in this lifetime. (Ram Dass never leaves Maui, and this was my first visit there in nearly 25 years.)

I didn’t want to arrive empty-handed; yet there didn’t seem to be any physical object I could bring that would make any sense. It’s all just “stuff.” I had picked up various chatchkes around our house to bring to him, but my wife Shari nixed each one. Then, in Maui, a few days before we were to get together, someone was giving away a very long and exotic Hawaiian flower, and I thought that one of them, like a single rose, would make a nice offering. I put it in water for two days, but on the morning I was to drive over to meet Ram Dass, I discovered that the flower had started to turn brown and die. That would have had its own significance, I suppose, but I wanted to bring a fresh flower, and it was too late to look for a florist. As I drove to his house, I passed a field of wild flowers, pulled over and picked one beautiful fuchsia-colored flower on a thorny stem. I spent some time on the side of the road, scraping all the thorns off with my thumbnail until I felt confident that I could hand it to him without the risk of him getting pierced by a thorn.

Meanwhile, I was recalling a story Ram Dass used to tell of his early days in India, when he was agonizing over finding just the perfect gift for Maharaj-ji. He had finally settled on purchasing a beautiful blanket, because Maharaji basically only wore blankets, and Ram Dass carried the blanket with him throughout his travels, building up in his mind how wonderful it was going to be to present his beloved guru with this token of his great love, and how special he would feel as the bestower of such a perfect gift. But in fact, when he was finally sitting before his guru and with great ceremony presented him with the blanket, Majaraj-ji picked it up by the edges of one corner with two fingers, holding it up like a dead rat, and then turned and presented it to another devotee as a gift. He then turned to Ram Dass and asked, “Did I do the right thing?” “Perfect,” Ram Dass responded. In that moment, he saw how much his ego had riding on the blanket; it was not a “clean” gift in that way, and Maharaj-ji held it up in that manner to indicate as much.

I examined myself carefully, but as far as I could discern, my flower offering was clean. I liked that I picked it in the wild and not at a store, and that I had smoothed off the thorns to protect his hands. And so, when he wheeled himself into his living room to see me, I rose to greet and hug him and presented him with the flower. He held it in his hand awhile, feeling it, contemplating it in silence. And continued to do so throughout our hour-plus conversation.

Because of my decision to come to him not wanting anything, the result was that in large part our meeting together remained mostly on a “chatty” level, in great contrast to the original soul-bearing, life-changing contact we had had over three decades earlier. But several times we lapsed into silence and simply gazed at one another, and I later concluded that it didn’t matter what we talked about. Whatever connection or transmission that needed to occur was going to happen anyway. I suppose this is true of every interaction we have with everyone, but right or wrong, I give my relationship with Ram Dass more weight and significance than I do some others, despite his repeated reminders in the early days that the bus driver or your Aunt Gertrude just might be the Buddha.

At one point, after one of those silences, he said, “You’re in good shape; you used to talk off the wall.” I puzzled over that one for awhile, then recalled that when I had been badgering him to endorse my book and he wasn’t returning any of my emails, each time I wrote him I opened with a bigger apology: “I don’t mean to be a nuisance, please forgive me, maybe you didn’t get my email” etc., and then even sent him a snail-mail letter on top of all that, until I finally browbeat him into at least agreeing to read my manuscript, but then as press time approached and I saw no blurb from him forthcoming, I bugged him one last time, and my apology had escalated to, “I know you must hate me and think I should rot in hell for all of eternity, but please know that our deadline is next week.”

And to that he finally responded: “If you go to hell, I will miss you. Namaste, Ram Dass.” I laughed — a lot — and I was simultaneously crestfallen. Because now I knew he was choosing not to endorse my book, it wasn’t simply that my requests had gotten overlooked in a pile of mail. So perhaps my “rot in hell” routine was what he was referring to when he said I used to talk “off the wall.” Though undoubtedly I had teetered on the wall many times before that.

Now, sitting across from him in Maui, talking about this and that, he suddenly said, quite out of the blue, “You should let something else, or someone else, write through you, instead of just writing from your ego.” I felt a bit defensive, because I had not posted any blogs in months for that very reason; as an ego, I knew I simply had nothing much to say or offer, and yet nothing else seemed to be wanting to come through me either. In response to Ram Dass’s suggestion, I said, “Well, I’m usually pretty dense when it comes to subtle energies or other dimensions.” He replied, “Well, your ego is dense through and through, but your soul isn’t.”

That was a conversation stopper, and we fell into silence a bit. Who knows, though? Maybe this is what I sound like when I’m letting something else write through me! I always figured it would sound more like, “Blessings to all my children who come seeking union with their beloved.” Maybe I am a channel for Shecky Greene rather than St. Germaine. (Given a choice, I would have opted for Kerouac.)

When the renowned Brazilian healer, Joao de Deus (John of God) came to the United States for the first time, I hopped a plane to Atlanta to meet him. Some two thousand of us, all dressed in nearly identical white yoga clothing, had the opportunity to walk past him for a brief moment, while he was presumably inhabited by a variety of “entities,” the spirits of deceased physicians. Through a translator, he would quickly direct each person to either a healing room to receive psychic surgery from the non-physical guides that were hovering about, or to a meditation room to simply sit quietly in the energy that permeated the place and was tangible even to a closed-off, skeptical cynic like myself. After whisking people away one after the other in rapid succession, when I approached him the translator abruptly stopped me dead in my tracks, pointed at me and said firmly, “You, he wants to see in Brazil.”

I moved on past, thinking to myself, I schlepped all the way to Atlanta to see him, why do I have to go to Brazil? I’m here now! Plus, how do I know if I go to Brazil he’s not going to say, “You I want to see in Atlanta?” But I decided to go back a second day, and again I was one of two thousand new (and some repeat) visitors. Once again I watched person after person march by him in half a second, getting waved on to the healing room or the meditation room. And once again when I came before him the translator stopped me and said, “You he waits for in Brazil!” Needless to say, it gave me food for thought, but I never went.

I had heard that Ram Dass had gone down to Brazil to visit Joao’s well-known healing center, known as the Casa, and had had very good things to say about it. He compared the loving, heart-opening atmosphere he discovered there to the feelings he had only experienced previously at his Guru’s ashram in India, although he did not receive any physical healing of the stroke symptoms that had prompted the visit. I told him my story of meeting John of God, and receiving the repeated admonition to head to Brazil. Since Ram Dass had had a positive experience down there, I asked him if he thought it would be worth the trip for me to go. After a brief closed-eye contemplation, he responded, “Given your attitude, I don’t think it would do you any good,” and we both cracked up; it was so clearly the truth about me! I am famous for going to places like that in order to demonstrate that they don’t work for me. I have a reputation to uphold as the 99th Monkey, the proverbial one who never gets it. (It’s a really crummy job, trust me. You wouldn’t want to be me.)

Earlier in our conversation, we were talking about his stroke, his physical condition, and with his left hand pointing to the paralyzed right side of his body, he made a a gesture of dismissal, and said, “Just my body,” then pointing to his heart, added, “Not me.” Of course some could argue this is just cognitive dissonance, that once you’ve lost half your body, your identity had better reside in the heart and soul, not the failing flesh. And I also realized that if I was to share with him any of my personal issues, I couldn’t very well bring up my hurting knees or lower back or the osteoarthritis in my big toes.

Witnessing the contentment, joy and absence of struggle he was clearly enjoying, moment-to-moment, it was fairly obvious that he had arrived at a pretty happy place in his consciousness, stroke or no stroke. The wheelchair and the condition of his body were truly irrelevant to his primary self-identity as “loving awareness,” a term from his current book, “Be Love Now.” The new title ups the ante, nearly 40 years later, from merely being here now to being love now. I’m guessing they are interdependent, however, and arise together; if you are truly and fully present in the here and now, love is the inevitable outcome. Conversely, if you are truly “being love,” you will find yourself in the here and now. But the one-word change in the title points the reader in an ever-so-subtly different direction, imbuing one’s journey with a somewhat softer focus, somehow, perhaps a bit like moving from the austerity of a zendo to the bhakti-infused devotion of a Hindu temple.

When I got up to leave, he wheeled himself behind me, steering me in the direction of the altar (unless I went there on my own and he followed? I can’t remember.) As I stood before the altar, he gently handed me back the flower, and I understood that I was to offer it, which I did, and gently set it down. My wild, thorn-free fuchsia-colored flower had been received, my offering had been accepted.

The flower reminded me of the time I saw Ram Dass several years after his stroke. He was making his first trip to Taos, New Mexico, to the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram there, in order to celebrate bhandara (commemorating Maharaji’s mahasamadhi, the time of his passing from this Earth, which occurred in 1973.) It would be his first public appearance in several years. There were hundreds of people anxious to greet him personally, if only for a few moments. I didn’t want to add to what I imagined might have been too much for him, or overwhelming, so I opted instead to go into a small meditation chamber in the rear of the ashram, away from the hubbub.

There were only one or two other people in the room. Not five minutes after I closed my eyes to meditate, I heard the door open, looked up, and someone was wheeling Ram Dass into the room. Feeling thrilled and privileged, I closed my eyes to enjoy this intimate meditation time with my teacher sitting right beside me. Some time passed, and we looked over and gazed into each other’s eyes for a prolonged moment. Then, as the aide began to wheel him out, Ram Dass looked up at him and commented aloud, with his then still-limited speech, “Every individual, like a flower.” It was his commentary, it seemed, about our silent interaction.

He left the room and I burst into tears, for through that one poetic remark I recognized that he was seeing the “flower part” of me, a precious and pure, unsullied natural place within that I myself had long since forgotten was still in there somewhere. And I also knew I wasn’t special. He said every individual. What would that be like, to go through life seeing each person as if gazing at a flawless, beautiful blossom?

Our good-bye in Maui was less dramatic. I asked him if he still did spiritual practices, and he looked at me as if I was speaking Greek and asked, “Spiritual practices?” And I said, “You know, spiritual practices; you remember those.” He replied, “I just hang out with Maharaj-ji.” When you’re living in the presence, certainty and awareness of “being love now,” one is no longer doing anything in order to find or cultivate that love. I leaned over and kissed his bald head and said I love you, walking away and not looking back; just before I went out the door, he called out, “I love you too,” and of course I didn’t believe him, and got in the car and immediately thought I had acted like an idiot, wasted a precious opportunity to ask the deeper questions, and figured that he probably thought I was an a**hole. And still off the wall.

But that’s just my way, and I got over it. Meanwhile, I have some gardening to do if I want this flower to bloom.

Eliezer Sobel (www.eliezersobel.com) is a writer, musician and teacher. His books include The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist’s Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics and Other Consciousness Raising Experiments (2009), as well as Minyan: Ten Jewish Men in a World That is Heartbroken (2004), which won the Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel, and Wild Heart Dancing (1994). He was also the Publisher and Editor of the Wild Heart Journal, the New Sun magazine, and writes online for Psychology Today and Reality Sandwich. Eliezer has led creativity and meditation retreats around the U.S. and is a certified teacher of The 5 Rhythms™ movement practice developed by Gabrielle Roth.

David Lynch ∞ Consciousness, Creativity & Meditation

Sounds of Transformation: Vedic Breath, Orisha Heart by Jason K. Norris, MA

Common to the practices of almost all contemplative traditions is silence. Silence is so intimately interconnected with sound that the question naturally arises, Is there not still sound in silence? After all, the perceiver of silence still has an audible heartbeat and breath – blood rushing, air moving. Even in the deepest contemplative practice, the quietest of spaces, we are still connected to our bodies, which are continuously vibrating with sound. Where there is life, there is sound. As a musician who has often felt the web of life through sound, I believe sound is at least as much a catalyst for contemplation and inner knowing as silence is.

Sufi mystic and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan suggests, “The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe.”1 In modern physics, string theory suggests that the universe is made up of vibrating strings of energy – like a piano or cello playing out existence. There is even a Hindu notion, Nada Brahma, which suggests that the world is sound and, ultimately, that God is sound – or sound is God.2 Sound is vibration. Vibration moves us – physically, emotionally, and intellectually. There is an entire science around the measurable effects of sound waves on matter, called cymatics. Just listen to thunder, shattering glass, ocean waves, trees rustling in the wind, the sound of ice cracking under your feet, a baby’s cry, a lover’s moan, sirens approaching from behind your car while you’re driving. Sound can change moods, trigger emotions, alter awareness, catalyze healing, impart knowledge, and transform our entire state of being.

Sound and music therapies demonstrate how the qualities of sound can be intentionally applied toward direct transformation in healing. Research on sound healing commonly includes the physiological effects of sound and music on human consciousness. The Institute of HeartMath, for example, looks at heart rate variability and associated emotions. Different emotions are associated with different heart rates, which can be measured in beats per minute (bpm). This helps to explain why certain qualities in music, such as tempo, have a transformative effect on our emotions. For instance, mournful rhythms (such as funeral songs) tend to have a slow, downbeat tempo, while ecstatic rhythms (such as celebratory songs) have a fast, upbeat tempo.

Of course, universals in music cannot be drawn that easily. In fact, one of the only universals commonly accepted in musicology – if we can say there is a universal at all – is the notion of an octave.3 An octave is a note that is twice the pitch of the root note, matching the original vibration and increasing it twofold. It speaks to the notion of harmony, or an agreeable positioning of parts. The desire to be “in tune” or “attuned with” reality is something of value, shared cross-culturally and mirrored as an octave in music. And while this may represent the only agreed-upon universal, what else might we find when we compare how different cultures use sound? Are there similarities within certain contexts, such as how sound is used in spiritual practice?

For me, music is spiritual practice, a bridge between inner and outer worlds. A commonly cherished experience is that of being moved, being touched by something so deeply that you can feel it in your core and it inspires you to move from that place. Music has always offered me that experience. And because music moves me from my core, I am able to know my core and align with it. Through that alignment, a channel forms. Through that channel, energy flows. Through that energy, I am transformed.

At the core of my understanding and outlook on life is interconnection. In musical terms, I would define spiritual practice as harmony – living consciously in relationship with everything else. Through sound, I can deeply connect with myself, humanity, the world, and the divine. I can hear music in the wind, the rain, the friction of movement in work and play, conversations, even the gravitational cycles of astrological bodies. In a group of people making music together, I am able to find my own pulse, express that pulse in connection with everyone – and everything – else, and be mutually supported in the process. In other words, we can commune through music in ways that allow us to transcend social, cultural, and intellectual boundaries. We find common ground, create a sense of community, share knowledge, and, ultimately, transform ourselves through sound.

Vedic Chant, Orisha Drum

This connection between sound and consciousness is no mystery. In contemporary life, the transformative effects of sound are being recognized in research and applied in therapeutic healing practices around the globe. But for thousands of years, sound has also been at the root of various spiritual traditions. Both Vedic and Orisha traditions are examples of two cultures that have integrated sound and spirituality, specifically through practices such as chanting and drumming. Each tradition originated approximately 4,000 years ago – the Vedic tradition in India and the Orisha tradition with the Yoruba people of West Africa. Though these two traditions have very different “containing” myths and ways of living in association with their practices, comparing them through sound may help us further understand something about the human experience as it relates to sound – or, rather, how sound relates to the human experience.

H. I. Khan explains sound as being made up of two aspects: tone (audible vibration) and rhythm (inaudible, felt vibration).4 Chanting reflects more the qualities of tone, while drumming more the qualities of rhythm. Of course, both tone and rhythm are found in each other, for they are both aspects of sound. For instance, Vedic chanting is often accompanied by drumming, and Orisha drumming is often accompanied by chanting. Both sonic practices are embedded in ancient spiritual traditions and usually involve an element of devotion to various deities. Both also take place within community, often in ritual, and are repetitive in rhythm, usually with shifts in tempo that are correlated with altered states of awareness, and both are associated with transformative, mystical qualities (for example, direct knowledge, psychic abilities, healing, communication with deities, and connection with the divine). If you have ever been in a room full of chanting or drumming, you can understand how powerfully transformative the sound can be, even as an outsider to the practice.

An understanding of the transformational quality of sound is at the foundation of the Vedic system; it is through the Vedic sounds themselves that knowledge is directly imparted.5 This knowledge is presented in the Vedas as mantras. Chanting, or the vocalization of mantras, is the sonic practice of Vedic tradition. Chanting is interconnected with breath. Picturing a sound wave, there is a peak and its opposite but equal valley. When we breathe, on the inhalation, the diaphragm expands to a peak; on the exhalation, the diaphragm empties out and resolves. Breathing is the act of moving between inhalation and exhalation. Yet there is also a third, more subtle point: the pause between the inhalation and exhalation – the point at which the peak and valley meet. This is the balancing point that helps sustain the cyclical nature of breath.

The Visnu Purana speaks of the three-part relationship among the different manifestations of Visnu. I see this relationship mirrored in the cycle of breath. Within the breath cycle, we can find Brahma (creative force) manifested in the inhalation, the peak of the sound wave; Visnu (sustaining force) manifested in the pause between the inhalation and the exhalation; and Siva (resolving force) manifested in the exhalation, the resolution of sound. Thus, looking at the Vedic myth through sound, Brahma-Visnu-Siva awareness is within every breath.

Chanting connects us with breath, which connects us with ourselves, which connects us with the world, which connects us with the divine. Sound allows us to directly and immediately embody this connection. The chanting of mantras is so effective because it is sound – very specific sounds that vibrate in very specific ways to produce very specific results. It is not just the words themselves that are so transformative but also their actual sound vibrations. Vilayat Inayat Khan describes this as follows:

In the mantram practices, one actually kneads the very flesh of our body with sound. The delicate cells of these elaborate bundles of nerve fibers . . . are subjected to a consistent hammering . . . There is a kind of seizure of the flesh by the vibrations of sound.6

Sound’s direct and immediate effect on consciousness is the cause of its power, anchoring the Vedas as a valid source of knowledge. This is the core belief for the power of Vedic mantras and why, with repetition, one of the most powerful mantras, Om, is thought to bring enlightenment by its sound alone.7

Similarly, in the Orisha tradition, the vibrations of specific rhythms through drumming produce specific vibrations with very specific results – cleansing, healing, acquiring knowledge, connecting with ancestors, communicating with deities.8 Within the Orisha tradition is the mythology of the ancient peoples, or deities, who first walked the earth, the Orishas. The term Orisha comes from two words: ori, meaning “the reflective spark of human consciousness embedded in human essence,” and sha, meaning “the ultimate potentiality of that consciousness to enter into or assimilate itself into the divine.”9 Orisha drumming is a means of bridging human consciousness and the divine.

In the Orisha tradition, the drums not only talk to the Orishas but establish a dialogue with them, creating an emotional atmosphere that prompts these deities to possess, or “mount,” people and pass on mystical qualities.10 A common Orisha rhythm, Bembe, gathers community together (publicly or privately) to communicate with the ancients. Traditional Orisha rhythms are polyrhythmic, often using a 6/8 pattern (that is, a rhythm counted in 3 pulses over a rhythm counted in 4 pulses) as well as various overlapping parts at differing meters. This gives the music an inherent tension that intentionally disorients our awareness and connects us with other realms we are less likely to access while in normal, waking consciousness. The rhythms repeat at varying tempos to aid this shift in awareness.

Polyrhythm speaks to diversity and interconnection – various energies held together in the same container, the way individuals are held in a collective. It is a harmonic positioning of parts and a means of personal and collective transformation. Gandhi famously said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This is reflected in rhythm. Through changing our rhythms, we can change our associated heart rates, emotions, states of awareness, and general approach toward the world. Drumming allows us to reflect on the rhythms within and around us, offering a means to adjust our overall outlook in a direct and immediate way. As drummer Mickey Hart describes it, “The proper rhythm and the proper life go hand in hand: a good person is one who is filled with right rhythm.”11

While chanting is connected with the breath, drumming is connected with the heart. As explained in the book, Medicine Cards, “The drum is the universal heartbeat and aligns all beings heart to heart.”12 With that, I suggest that Vedic chanting explores breath consciousness and Orisha drumming explores heart consciousness – both in an embodied, transformative, and easily accessible way. Breath and heart are central to various discussions of mystical and spiritual symbolism. They are objects of deep contemplation and meditation for cultures around the world, and each implies an intrinsic relationship to humanity and life itself. Sound is the breath of life, the heart of this ever-evolving symphony – musical vibrations pulsing through us like blood. Together, Vedic and Orisha traditions lay a firm foundation for understanding the soteriology of sound. At the root of each of these practices are the ideas that direct and immediate transformation can occur through sound and that it is all held within community.

Sound as the Connector

One of the most profound things we can share with ourselves and the world around us is our presence – simply showing up. In showing up together, we honor ourselves, one another, and the sacredness of life. Community is at the heart of spiritual practice. Accordingly, through community we can explore sound as a spiritual means. In sound, we are embraced, and through sound, we can share said embrace with others. Perhaps then, through music, a sort of interreligious dialogue could take place by having different cultures sonically share their spiritual practices in a cocreative way. The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music is one of the few examples of how this is being attempted. Perhaps with the rising interest in sound-based healing modalities, we will begin to hear of more events like Fes.

In the meantime, drum circles are popping up everywhere throughout the modern world – in wellness programs, professional workshops, company retreats, somatic and psycho-spiritual practices, and various recreational activities. Many of them feature West African rhythms. Similarly, yoga practices are prevalent in just about every major city, and they often involve Vedic chant. The integration of these sonic practices into our modern world speaks to the notion of a global spirituality, of bringing various aspects of world traditions into harmony. Sound reflects who we are and how we live, the tensions we face and the transcendence we experience. Music is our legacy, our ancestry, our future, our voice, our breath, our heartbeat, our truth. Through music, we can connect and allow our stories to interconnect in an intentional and embodied way.

Exploring sound with spiritual intention can invoke spiritual insight. It can be as simple as listening to our breath or tuning into our pulse, chanting a mantra or beating a drum. Chanting and drumming are two sonic practices that have offered me this understanding. They are not the only practices or the only sounds that can be associated with spiritual transformation and integrated into a global spirituality. And so, I pose this question: What sounds of today might be informing not only the rituals of tomorrow but also our spiritual understanding of who we are in relation to ourselves, one another, the world, and the divine? In exploring how sound is being used in spiritual traditions across the globe, we may begin to hear an answer, and in hearing an answer, we may begin to open ourselves to the possibility of being transformed.

Endnotes

1. Joachim-Ernst Berendt, The World Is Sound: Nada Brahma: Music and the Landscape of Consciousness (Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1983), p. 38.

2. Guy L. Beck, Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1993); Joachim-Ernst Berendt, The World Is Sound.

3. Elena Mannes, Music Instinct: Science and Song, aired on Public Broadcasting System, 2009 (Elena Mannes Productions: June 2009), DVD.

4. Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Mysticism of Sound and Music (Boston: Shambhala Publications; revised edition, 1996).

5. Guy L. Beck, Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound; Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, The Vedas (Bombay/Mumbai: Bhavan’s Book University, 1991; new edition, 2009).

6. Quoted in Berendt, p. 41.

7. Saraswati.

8. Baba Ifa Karade, The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts (Boston: Weiser Books, 1994); Maria Velez, Drumming for the Gods: The Life and Times of Felipe Garcia Villamil (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000).

9. Karade, p. 23.

10. Karade; Velez.

11. Mickey Hart, Drumming at the Edge of Magic: A Journey into the Spirit of Percussion (New York: Harper Collins, 1990), p. 195.

12. Jamie Sams and David Carson, Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power through the Ways of Animals (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999 revised edition), p. 202.

Norris is on the IONS staff, helping with database and website quality assurance. He is also a professional musician, Nada Yoga practitioner, and the founder of LucidDrum.com.

The Five Things We Cannot Change And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them By David Richo

Why is it that despite our best efforts, many of us remain fundamentally unhappy and unfulfilled in our lives? In this provocative and inspiring book, David Richo distills thirty years of experience as a therapist to explain the underlying roots of unhappiness—and the surprising secret to finding freedom and fulfillment.

There are certain facts of life that we cannot change—the unavoidable “givens” of human existence:

(1) everything changes and ends,
(2) things do not always go according to plan,
(3) life is not always fair,
(4) pain is a part of life, and
(5) people are not loving and loyal all the time.

Review by Beth T. Cholette, Ph.D.
Richo shows us that by dropping our deep-seated resistance to these givens, we can find liberation and discover the true richness that life has to offer. Blending Western psychology and Eastern spirituality, including practical exercises, Richo shows us how to open up to our lives—including to what is frightening, painful, or disappointing—and discover our greatest gifts.

In this book, author David Richo offers the premise that there are five “givens” of human existence: 1) everything changes and ends, 2) things do not always go according to plan, 3) life is not always fair, 4) pain is a part of life, and 5) people are not loving or loyal all the time. Because we are all powerless over these givens, Richo suggests that we must embrace them with an “unconditional yes.” He argues that by facing life’s unchangeable facts head on, these givens become graces rather than curses, with health and happiness flowing from this. In the first half of the book, Richo addresses each of the five givens one-by-one, breaking down more traditional ways of looking at these life challenges and urging the reader over and over to confront these challenges with an affirmative. Part Two goes into a bit more detail about how to actually go about the process of saying yes unconditionally. Here Richo relies largely on Buddhist traditions such as mindfulness (awareness of the here-and-now), loving-kindness, and Tonglen meditation. He talks specifically about embracing the four major feelings (sadness, anger, fear, and exuberance) as well as the psychological, spiritual, and mystical self. In the Epilogue, Richo expands further on human graces and how these lead to the sense of a “protecting presence” in our lives.

Although this book is written by a psychotherapist and is classified as “Psychology/Self-Help,” readers seeking a true self-help manual are likely to be disappointed. Rather, Richo’s work is more philosophical in nature, with a strong emphasis on Buddhist teachings. He practically beats the reader over the head with his repetition of the “unconditional yes” message, yet beyond recommending the practice of mindfulness/meditation, he offers little advice on how to practically apply this principle to one’s life. So, although the book is interesting from in terms of philosophy, it is less useful from a self-help perspective. Furthermore, the more theoretical aspect of the book is marred by the author’s over-reliance on quotes. Every chapter begins with a quoted passage, but citations from theologians, ancient texts, poets, philosophers, and others also appear relentlessly throughout the text, to the extent that one begins to wonder whether the author has any unique points to make. I found Richo to be at his best when he did offer his own opinion in the form of more helpful counsel. For example, in the chapter “People are Not Loving and Loyal All the Time,” Richo provides a useful checklist which describes qualities of adult relationships followed by a second valuable checklist on boundaries in relationships. Unfortunately, these particular concepts appear to be based on his previous book, How to Be an Adult in Relationships, which I suspect is much more true to the self-help genre.

I am sure this book will have its fans amongst those who view the pursuit of happiness as more spiritual in nature. However, for the average American browsing through the self-help offerings in search of a more concrete path to finding happiness, this largely conceptual work is likely to have little value.

© 2007 Beth Cholette

Beth Cholette, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who provides psychotherapy to college students at SUNY Geneseo. She is also a Top 100 Reviewer at Amazon.com and the official yoga media reviewer for iHanuman.com.

When the Past Is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds That Sabotage Our Relationships by David Richo

In this book, psychotherapist David Richo explores how we replay the past in our present-day relationships—and how we can free ourselves from this destructive pattern. We all have a tendency to transfer potent feelings, needs, expectations, and beliefs from childhood or from former relationships onto the people in our daily lives, whether they are our intimate partners, friends, or acquaintances. When the Past Is Present helps us to become more aware of the ways we slip into the past so that we can identify our emotional baggage and take steps to unpack it and put it where it belongs.

Drawing on decades of experience as a psychotherapist, Richo helps readers to:

• Understand how the wounds of childhood become exposed in adult relationships—and why this is a gift
• Identify and heal the emotional wounds we carry over from the past so that they won’t sabotage present-day relationships
• Recognize how strong attractions and aversions to people in the present can be signals of own own unfinished business
• Use mindfulness to stay in the present moment and cultivate authentic intimacy

Excerpt:

The past is never ended; it isn’t even past. —William Faulkner

A poignant thing about us humans is that we seem hardwired to replay the past, especially when our past includes emotional pain or disappointment. As a psychotherapist, so much of my work involves joining people in noticing the ways in which the past is still very much alive in present-day relationships. Though most of us want to move on from the past, we tend to go through our lives simply casting new people in the roles of key people, such as our parents or any significant person with whom there is still unfinished business. Freud called this phenomenon transference.

In transference, feelings and beliefs from the past reemerge in our present relationships. Transference is unconscious; we do not realize we are essentially involved in a case of mistaken identity, mistaking someone in the present for someone from the past. The term transference is usually used in the context of psychotherapy to refer to the client’s tendency to see a parent, a sibling, or any significant person in the therapist and to feel and act in accord with that confusion. (There is also a phenomenon called countertransference, which refers to the therapist’s reactions to a client, especially when she appears to be a simulacrum of someone from his own past.)

Yet transference and countertransference are not restricted to therapy. Transferences from us and onto us happen in our lives every day. Unbeknownst to us, we are glimpsing important figures from our past in our partners, friends, associates, enemies, and even strangers.What we transfer are feelings, needs, expectations, biases, fantasies, beliefs, and attitudes. Transference is a crude way of seeing what is invisible, the untold drama inside us, or to use Ernst Becker’s compelling phrase, “a miscarriage of clumsy lies about reality.”

One example of transference is a patient falling in love with her physician. He is kind, understanding, reliable, and genuinely concerned about her. These are all the qualities she wished her father would have had. The patient might later marry this doctor and find out, as time goes by, that he is not what she imagined. Her conscious mind and heart believed she had found a replacement for her father. Her deep psyche, her unconscious, was quite adept at finding instead a substitute for her father. The doctor-husband turned out later in the relationship to be like dad after all, unavailable, unable to listen. The bond began with a transferred hope but became a transferred replay.

The enduring impression made upon us by significant relationships sets up a template that we apply to others throughout life. Our life is a theme and then variations that are never far off from the original tune. What chance do people have to be just who they are to us when we are comparing them to others while neither we nor they realize it is happening? What chance do we have to be seen as we are by others when they are transferring onto us?

Because of our natural tendency to twist our vision of others in accord with outmoded blueprints, it is only in rare moments that we see one another “as we in-ly are,” as Emerson said. Most of the time,we are looking at one another through the lenses of our own history. There are two ways in which this can happen: (1) we might project onto each other our own beliefs, judgments, fears, desires, or expectations; (2) we might transfer onto each other the traits or expectations that actually belong to someone else.

This book is about our natural inclination, and at times our compulsion, to transfer and about how we can learn to see one another without obstructions or elaborations from our own story, even if only for a moment. Such clarity is a triumph of mindfulness, pure attention to the purely here. Unconscious transference gives power to then. Awareness of our transference gives the power to now.

Mindfulness is attention to the moment.Yet the moment is transitory by definition. So mindfulness is actually attentiveness to a flow. To live mindfully is not about a way of seeing reality as if it had stopped for us but flowing with reality that never ceases to shift and move. In transference we stop ourselves from flowing with present possibilities and instead stop to stare at a poster with a face from the past.We can catch ourselves in the act of placing our mother’s face on a spouse or our former spouse’s face on a new partner. We can also notice how others transfer onto us and we can find ways to handle their mistaking us for someone else.

When we engage in transference, we are attracted, repelled, excited, or upset by others. Our strong reactions of approach or avoidance may give us a clue to something still unsettled, still unfinished in us. Perhaps this person to whom we react so vehemently has reminded us of someone else, by physical resemblance or by personality. Perhaps he has released a feeling not fully expressed, a desire not yet satisfied, an expectation not yet met, a longing still shyly in hiding. It is called “transference” because we carry over onto someone now what belongs to the world back then. Indeed, as we look carefully into any present reactions, we inevitably notice a hookup to the past. “Introspection is always retrospection,” wrote Jean-Paul Sartre. As we interpret our transferences in the light of our past, we understand our behavior in relationships.

Anyone who becomes deeply important to us is, by that very fact, replaying a crucial role from our own past. In fact, this is how people become important to us. They come from central casting and they pass the audition for us, their casting directors. We then make them the stars of our dramas. We don’t call them “stars.” We might instead call them “soulmates” or “archenemies.” We are often sure “we were together in a former life.” That is not so far off; we were together indeed, except it may not have been centuries ago, only decades or years ago. Synchronicity, meaningful coincidence makes just the right actors come along for the audition. Our partners are then put under contract as performers, who gradually memorize the scripts of our lifelong needs or fears, and we may be busily doing the same for them. Do I live in my own home or on a movie set?

We might say, “We are working out our karma together.” Yes, our bond in intimate relationships is often fashioned from the ancient and twisted consequences of our childhood or of former relationships. How ironic that those who matter to us have become stand-ins for those who, we might falsely believe, no longer matter to us. In reality, once someone is no longer important to us, his face becomes flatlined on our emotional screen and we no longer include him in our transferences.

Transference does not have to be seen as pathology but rather as our psyche’s signal system, alerting us to what awaits an updating. Our work is to take notice of this and to face our tasks without the use of unwitting apprentices or surrogates. Unconscious transference is a hitching post to our past. As we make it conscious, it becomes a guidepost.

We engage in transference for some positive reasons. We are seeking healing for what is still an open wound. We are yearning for the sewing up of something that has long remained ripped and ragged. We try to complete our enigmatic history through our relationships with new partners, workmates, or colleagues. In this sense, transference can provide a useful shortcut to working on our past. This is healthy when transference is recognized, brought out of hiding, and used to identify what we then take responsibility to deal with. Finding out where our work is can be as important a purpose of relationship as personal happiness.

Transference is unhealthy for us when we remain unconscious of it and use others as fixit-persons for our troubled past relationships. We evolve when that past can find more direct and conscious ways to complete itself. Then others become prompters that help us move on in our story rather than actors who keep us caught in it.

Sometimes in our relationships we do step out of our old story with no need of a prompter. We approach someone not because she grants entry into our own unopened past or helps us forget it but because she is truly brand-new and only herself. This is the experience of an authentic you-and-I relationship. We approach a real person, not someone costumed in garments gathered from the trunks in our own attic. We then become more sincerely present with someone just as she is. This leads to the liberating possibility offered in authentic intimacy: mutual need-fulfillment and openness to each other’s feelings. Our definition in healthy adulthood widens and deepens from the adolescent version: an attachment that feels good.

Transference issues can be baggage — the Latin word for which is impedimenta — or they can be fertile possibilities for growth. How sad it is that what shaped us became a burden and a secret too. Bringing consciousness to our transferences makes everything lighter to bear. There is no way around the past, but there are ways of working with it so that it does not impinge upon us or others quite so much. Our psyche’s unrecognized operations can be exposed. The misreadings that are transference can become meaningful. Then the long longed-for restoration of our full selves can be consummated.

Posted By Daily Om

Enlightenment is Never Far Away By Sadhguru

Sadhguru
Founder, Isha Foundation

Enlightenment is not something that happens. It is always there. The sadhana, or yogic practices that one does on the spiritual path enable you to see that it is there. You are not doing sadhana to construct divinity within you. Many people talk about self-development, but self is one thing you cannot develop. You can develop the mind, you can develop the ego, but how can you develop the self, which is absolute and boundless?

Only that which is incomplete can be developed. If something is already all-pervading and eternal, how can you develop it? So, sadhana is not about building something. It is not about creating divinity within you or becoming enlightened. The source of creation is already there within you. Sadhana is just a way of opening your eyes. Sadhana is like an alarm bell. The whole thing is just a process of waking you up, waking you up to another level of reality.

There is no such thing as self-knowledge. There is just self. That is all. Jesus made this clear. He talked about himself and his father in heaven, but at one point he said, “I and my father are one.” The you that is beyond all limitations and that which you are referring to as the almighty are the same.

To experience this, you must become willing to transcend your limitations. This willingness is surrender. The only barrier to it is your identity with the limited nature of your body and mind. If you are willing, who can stop you? The sadhana is just to make you willing. Enlightenment is never far away, but to make a person completely willing takes time because there are layers and layers of resistance. It takes time to work through the resistance, to become absolutely willing. It need not necessarily take time, but generally people do take time.

India is a very ancient culture that has produced many enlightened beings. This is a culture that has always said that the only way to transform oneself is to turn into a god. Yoga is a scientific tool to realize and experience this. In yoga we have no incarnations of God. We see the possibility that even you can become godlike, blissful and all-seeing.

Let this be clear. Yoga is a technology, so there is no question of it working for one person and not working for another. Your telephone, television and computer work for everyone — even though most people do not have a clue as to how they work. You just have to learn how to use them. Similarly, most people will never understand how yoga works. Factors such as age, attitude, or karmic situations can decide how quickly it works, but it definitely works whether you can immediately notice it or not. Some people will catch fire like gasoline, some will burn like paper, others will burn like wet wood, but yoga can definitely hasten everyone’s evolution.

If enlightenment is the one and only purpose of your life and all your energies are focused in this direction, it is not far away. The problem is that people have so many other priorities, so spirituality is kept on the side. What you are seeking is within you. If it is the only priority of your life, nothing can stop you. If you are willing, what is within you cannot be denied to you even for a moment.

Right now, you are the divine but unaware of it. Whatever you are unaware of, does not exist for you; you must understand that. If you are sitting down and an elephant is standing right behind you and you are unaware of it, it does not exist for you. Only when you become aware of it does it exist for you. Similarly, although God is within you, as long as you are unaware of your God-like nature, it doesn’t exist for you. When someone becomes aware, he also becomes aware that everybody carries the same potential.

Life as you know it is not a barrier. If realizing your ultimate nature is the only priority in your life, everything you do will naturally orient itself toward that. Your work, relationships, love, money — even your very life’s breath — will orient themselves toward your ultimate nature. The experience of every little thing you do becomes extremely fulfilling and joyful when it is done in the light of great purpose. Once your ultimate nature is your only priority, the life process will become a joyful and fulfilling process.

This article has been excerpted from the book “Midnights with the Mystic” .

God Whisperer … Not! ~ BJ Gallagher

BJ Gallagher
Sociologist, best-selling author and popular speaker.

I watched an episode of Cesar Milan’s “The Dog Whisperer” a few weeks ago and was fascinated by the dynamic between man and dog. It looked like Milan had taken on “Mission Impossible” with this particular mutt — a wild, willful bundle of energy. The dog was acting out as his emotions ran amok: anxiety, fear, self-protection, frustration, anger, desire to dominate, urge to flee and more. He was a real handful, even for the masterful dog whisperer.

The dog lunged and snarled; the man stood his ground, asserting who was in charge. The dog menaced; the man didn’t flinch, instead putting his hand on the canine. The dog went ballistic, trying to break free from the man’s grasp, despite that fact that the man was superior in size, power and intelligence. The dog resisted; the man persisted. The more the dog rebelled, the more the man effectively reinforced who was calling the shots.

The tension was riveting. My stomach knotted as I watched the struggle between man and beast. Who would prevail? Had the dog whisperer finally met his match? Would this crazy canine get the best of the famous dog tamer? Or would Milan, the savior of incorrigibles, be able to work his magic on this hopeless case?

The suspense was palpable; my body tensed as I watched the drama unfold. Then, out of nowhere, as if the network had broken into the program for a special announcement, I had an epiphany. As I watched the struggle onscreen, it dawned on me: I am that dog! The struggle between the dog and his whisperer mirrored the struggle between me and my God.

As the show concluded, Milan explained how the dog will be less anxious, happier and more secure when he submits to the powerful, protective energy of the pack leader. And I realized how much happier I am when I feel the strength and security of God’s power and grace. Just as dogs thrive when they know their place in the pack, I thrive when I know my place in the universe. Dogs are happiest when they experience positive discipline, structure and love; I am happiest when I experience the same.

The TV show drew to an end with the dog whisperer victorious and his former canine combatant, falling into line behind him. I chuckled — not at the dog, but at myself.

Like many dogs, I am a slow learner, as well as a fast forgetter. On those occasions when I forget who is the alpha God in my life and become disconnected from the holy, I suffer separation anxiety. When that happens, I get caught up in anxiety, fear, self-will and defiance. Lapsing into bad behavior, I flail around, howl at the moon and make a mess of myself and my surroundings — out of control and out of harmony with everyone and everything.

I need to be reminded frequently that I am not “The God Whisperer.” I do not bend God to my will. I am not the alpha. I do not train God to follow my lead. And if I ever think I’m the alpha, I’ve got it backward.

Instead, I am the one in need of leadership and it is God who is “The Soul Whisperer,” working with my willful, unruly and undisciplined soul, patiently, lovingly taming my restless, rebellious spirit. The moment I finally surrender to my Higher Power, the instant I quit trying to call the shots, everything falls into place. It is only then, when my will is aligned with His will, that the soul whisperer is able to work His magic with me … and I am transformed.

BJ Gallagher’s new YouTube movie is “If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.”

How to Be Harmonious in a Changing World ~ Sandra Ingerman, M.A.

As we continue to experience change to the Earth due to climate changes, it is important for us to shift our perspective about what is happening. We are also witnessing deterioration on political and economic levels.

Today many people talk about the change in consciousness and evolution that humans are going through. And at the same time all of life — all species and the Earth herself are going through a change.

The landscape of the earth is evolving and changing as it has done throughout time. Land masses have changed over time and will continue to do so.

The destruction that we experience is hard on the people and animals who suffer loss of home and lives.

And at the same time we must recognize that the Earth is evolving and changing into new landscapes just like human consciousness is evolving into a new landscape.

One way we can work is to look at how we can work on a physical, mental and spiritual level — body, mind and spirit.

Body:

We have a body and the Earth is a body. And the Earth with all the elements air, water and the sun support our life here on this planet. All of life is part of nature. And to live a healthy life we must live in harmony with nature.

Everything that exists goes through constant change and dies. And death is not an end — it is a transition. We must learn how to honor life, as it is so precious, and at the same time learn how to let go. There is always new birth that comes with all change and transition.

We are also being asked to learn to work in partnership in our local communities. There are now many different projects to create community gardens. This is a wonderful example of how we can come together to work in partnership to create the food needed for all where we live. Local communities are also joining together to help rebuild after destructive events occur. And there is also some wonderful work being done in communities to help the youth create a vision of a positive future for themselves and the world. These are just some of the examples.

Mind:

We need to be aware of what energies we are feeding with our thoughts. Indigenous cultures teach that thoughts are things.

Are we directing our thoughts towards what we desire to create in the world? Or are we directing our thoughts towards sabotaging our dreams? I think the phrase that we use “train of thought” is such a powerful key to our work. For a train ends up at a station. We must be more conscious about where our train of thought is leading us. We must start to replace sabotaging and defeatist thoughts with thoughts that will help to lead us towards the dream of the world we wish to live in.

As with any garden we must begin to look at what plants have strong roots that are overtaking our garden. If we have seeded our garden with thoughts of defeat then we must go to the core of the garden and do some weeding. For what you plant and nurture will grow.

If you think of your thoughts as seeds what thoughts do you nurture throughout the day? Those are the thoughts that will grow into healthy plants.

Our thoughts are made up of words. And words have power.

Reflect on what you create throughout the day with your words. Reflect on your thought process throughout the day and you will get real insights into the life and world you are creating.

Our thoughts and words make up our daydreams. Shamans around the world have been saying we are dreaming the wrong dream.

We dream new dreams with our imaginations. Where is your imagination focusing? Are you using your imagination to focus on what is not working? Or are you imagining with all your senses the dream you would like to see manifest for all of life?

Our future is created by what we are doing in the present. It is time for us to examine and be aware of what is growing in our inner landscape and bursting forth into the world.

Spirit:

When you go beyond the body and mind, you find that you are spirit. This aspect of spirit is divine and is a reflection of the creator.

Our spiritual nature is light which radiates from us and naturally transforms and heals. This spiritual light also creates unlimited possibilities of what can happen versus the limitations our minds put on things.

The sun shines light that is absorbed by all of life. The sun does not decide that since things are going “badly” in the world it won’t shine today. The sun shines each day.

We must make a choice to shine our light and allow that light to radiate no matter what is going on in the outer world. We can’t go back and forth deciding one day to feed the light and then one day to feed fear and anger. This going back and forth detracts from the focus and concentration of spiritual energies needed right now to create true change.

Let go of judging your work by what is happening in the outer world. Let go of the outcome. Your role right now is to do the work you are called to do and the universe will provide a pathway for the outcome to be achieved.

Think of a camera. If you keep moving the camera back and forth between your feeding a dream of hope and creating a healthy and abundant world and feeding a dream of anger, fear, and hopelessness you will never be able to produce a picture. To get a clear picture you have to keep your focus and keep the camera still.

Sandra Ingerman, M.A., is the author of eight books, including Soul Retrieval; Medicine for the Earth; Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner’s Guide; How to Heal Toxic Thoughts; How to Thrive in Changing Times; and Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation.

Sandra teaches workshops internationally on shamanic journeying, healing, and reversing environmental pollution using spiritual methods. Sandra is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a professional mental health counselor, and a board-certified expert on traumatic stress. To order Sandra’s books and to read her blog, visit her on Red Room or at sandraingerman.com.

The author talks about her book, “Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins,” in this 2-minute copyright-free video.

2012 – A Message of Hope

WORLD MEDITATION DAY : GET INVOLVED :-)

DATE: First sunday of every month.

TIME: Anytime during the sunday will be fine, but the core time is 7 — 8 in the evening, your time.

http://www.worldmeditationday.com/

There is no time left to be complacent. The world is changing now. Not tomorrow. Be part of the change for good. The love. Not the fear. Let go your attachment to the old world and embrace the new.

Eckhart on Prayer

Q: From the time I was a little girl, I was raised as a Catholic. I went completely full circle to denying God, not believing in God. And now, thanks to a large extent what you teach and share, I know that connectedness is there, awareness, Stillness is there. But I got the thought, why do I pray? Because if God is all-knowing, omnipotent, all-loving, and so on, I don’t think he/she/it needs me to say, “Psst – my friend is dying of cancer, can you help her?” I don’t think it’s necessary, but I enjoy praying. I’d love to hear your thoughts; what would be appropriate to pray for? Do you believe in prayer?

ET: Perhaps you can upgrade your prayers from petitionary prayers (“please make this happen”) to little mental pointers, towards peace for example. Little mental pointers still use concepts, because every prayer consists of words and concepts – to point, to help you go beyond concepts. You could say, for example, an affirmation – like what Jesus said, “I am the light of the word”. It’s an affirmation – it’s a concept, it points to a reality far deeper than the words. You can say, if you still want some petition, “please let me know that I am the light of the world”. Duality is implied usually, in the usual prayer.

It implies that there is God, and here is me, asking God. That duality is ultimately an illusion, because you are an expression of God. You and God merge. The deepest prayers, then, are no longer prayers as such. They are when you adopt a listening attitude rather than a saying of words. As long as you enjoy it, that’s fine. But gradually get away from asking somebody to do something for you, because that keeps you stuck in duality.

Affirmations, if they are done rightly, can be very beautiful substitutes for prayers. “I am healed and whole and at peace”. And after that, let there be a space. And really, the power is in that space. In the space, you experience that you are already whole. The outward form might tell you something different – “I am holy”, A Course in Miracles says. You are, and so it’s simply an affirmation of how it is. Healing, for somebody else – you are either with that person, or that person comes into your mind, that person may be ill.

The most powerful healing, I find, is to hold an image of that person and then go deeper into yourself, where the wholeness of life lies. Where nothing is needed, nothing needs to be added. There you find the wholeness also of that person – they are already healed at the deepest level, beyond form. So you go from form, into formlessness.

That is the healing that was practiced by Joel Goldsmith, he has a lovely book called “The Art of Spiritual Healing”. That is really not to dwell at all on the condition that needs to be healed, but to focus on the essential reality of that human being which is one with your essential reality, and go into deep Stillness where nothing is needed.

He would often get phone calls, sometimes in the middle of the night. Someone would desperately need healing, and they would tell him the name of the person and what they were suffering from. What he would then do is immediately put the phone down and go into absolutely no thought. For a moment he heard the name of the person, he heard what was wrong with them, and immediately let go of that, then for two or three minutes went into no thought – just absolute presence. There is absolute perfection in the realm of the formless. And that is the essence of the person who needed healing. So you take the form into the formless, where the form is no longer. No condition to be treated, nothing is needed, just go into that.

That was his way of healing. He was quite a powerful healer. That is the ultimate form of healing, and that really is the non-dual kind of prayer. It’s going beyond prayer where you say “Please God, heal” – you go to the very Source itself, that is inseparable from who you are, and is inseparable from who that person is.

Prayer can gradually become listening to God rather than talking to God. What does listening mean? Listening means there is a field of bare, pure attention. Listening does not mean that you are waiting for some answer, because then you are not really listening. In listening you are not waiting for anything – there is just a field of pure attention.

That is a much deeper prayer than any words. True prayer is where prayer also becomes meditation. Not even wanting an answer, it’s enough to be in the silence. Sometimes an answer comes, or the thing becomes resolved, sometimes, suddenly. Listen. Any trouble in this world, any disturbance, and they happen all the time – people around you, or a disturbance in the mind, goes into pure aware, listening presence. Listening is a way of speaking about presence. When you are present, it is as if you are in a state of listening.

Now, listening is usually associated with the auditory sense perception. But this listening goes beyond the auditory sense perception; it’s the state of consciousness that underlies the auditory sense perception. Everybody knows what that is like – because when you are really listening for some faint sound, what is the state of consciousness that underlies this listening for the faint sound? It’s a state of absolute, relaxed alertness. So when we say listening, it’s a helpful thing because everybody knows what listening means. I am just pointing out that it’s not the external sense perception that is the essence in listening; the essence in listening is the underlying state of consciousness, of absolute receptivity and alert presence.

This is why I believe that Jesus had parables about the servant and staying awake, because he doesn’t know when the master is going to come home. Many of the things have come down in a somewhat distorted way, because it was transmitted verbally, and then written down, and in the process some things got turned around or went missing.

I think he was talking about the attitude of that – a state of consciousness, the servant waiting just to hear the master come home. It’s waiting in a different sense from the normal thing that we call ‘waiting’, which is the mind saying “When is it going to happen? Why isn’t it happening yet?” – he uses waiting in a completely different sense. Many times Jesus talked about staying awake, that’s a very important part of his teaching – stay awake, don’t go to sleep, stay present. Any words you use in prayer, use them as pointers toward that. You could say “I am listening”.

If God Is Your Co-Pilot, Switch Seats

Discovering the Joy Within You ~ Swami Amar Jyoti

Why did we separate from God, our true Self, in the first place?

You wanted to play. And in the process, you forgot. That caused separation. You couldn’t have played the way you are playing, did play and will be playing if you were united. You created separation because you wanted to play.

Why would we choose to play? To enjoy! The intrinsic qualification of playing is to enjoy, to feel good. There is nothing wrong with enjoyment as long as you don’t forget your true Self. But with limited ego created out of separation, you cannot enjoy much. That is exactly the point: you lost your joy and bliss and got to enjoyment. Joy is an abstract noun; enjoy is a verb. You had joy; now you want to en-joy. That creates separation.

God was Himself in joy and bliss and He said, “Let Me be many.” He multiplied within Himself. You cannot enjoy without creating duality. You were being; now you become. Be is an abstract noun; becoming is a predicate. That is what makes creation of objectivity and that is exactly the definition of separation, unless by that coming out from your Oneness, Truth and Light, you maintain your Consciousness throughout.

Let’s say there is an Enlightened being and an unconscious being and each is eating an apple. The unconscious one is enjoying the apple very much! The enlightened person may also feel good about it but is he enjoying the apple in the same way as the unconscious one? No. Why? This is the beauty of maintaining Oneness, where there is no separation. The conscious being is not getting excitement and enjoyment from the apple. He is already joyful within; he is just eating the apple. When you identify with the sensual world-the objective five senses-you lose the consciousness of the original Light or Spirit.

The Divine is everywhere, within and without, but you cannot realize this intellectually. Once you get back to your Self and see that everything is within you, including enjoyments, then the distinction of within and without will be lost. Krishna said very clearly to Arjuna, “All this is within me.” It is all One. All that you are trying to gratify yourself with is coming from you. You have lost your original blissfulness. Once you realize this, you will not be starving like a pauper for sense gratification. Your life and whole consciousness will change.

DISCOVERING THE JOY WITHIN US

�You attributed to one million things in the world the joy that is within you. The Enlightened one knows this. When He enjoys something, He knows enjoyment is within Himself, as God does. The difference is: you got separated because you created enjoyment as a separate identity. If you were conscious all the time, you would never have misery, pain or affliction. Krishna said to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: �There is nothing in the three worlds that I cannot do or enjoy or achieve or possess. But still, while doing, I am not doing. While enjoying, I am not enjoying. It is my true Self only.� He doesn�t go outside Himself to identify with that. Everything is within Him. That is how He showed the Universal Form to Arjuna.

Once you get back to your Self and see that everything is within you, including enjoyments, then the distinction of within and without will be lost. You will not see the inside as Divine and outside as un-Divine. Krishna said very clearly to Arjuna, �All this is within me.� It is all One. All that you are trying to gratify yourself with is coming from you.� ~Swami Amar Jyoti

What Do Buddhists Mean When They Talk About Emptiness? Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Emptiness is a mode of perception, a way of looking at experience. It adds nothing to, and takes nothing away from, the raw data of physical and mental events. You look at events in the mind and the senses with no thought of whether there’s anything lying behind them.

This mode is called emptiness because it is empty of the presuppositions we usually add to experience in order to make sense of it: the stories and worldviews we fashion to explain who we are and the world we live in. Although these stories and views have their uses, the Buddha found that the questions they raise—of our true identity and the reality of the world outside—pull attention away from a direct experience of how events influence one another in the immediate present. Thus they get in the way when we try to understand and solve the problem of suffering.

Say, for instance, that you’re meditating, and a feeling of anger toward your mother appears. Immediately, the mind’s reaction is to identify the anger as “my” anger, or to say that “I’m” angry. It then elaborates on the feeling, either working it into the story of your relationship to your mother or to your general views about when and where anger toward one’s mother can be justified. The problem with all this, from the Buddha’s perspective, is that these stories and views entail a lot of suffering. The more you get involved in them, the more you get distracted from seeing the actual cause of the suffering: the labels of “I” and “mine” that set the whole process in motion. As a result, you can’t find the way to unravel that cause and bring the suffering to an end.

If, however, you adopt the emptiness mode—by not acting on or reacting to the anger but simply watching it as a series of events, in and of themselves—you can see that the anger is empty of anything to identify with or possess. As you master the emptiness mode more consistently, you see that this truth holds not only for such gross emotions as anger, but also for even the most subtle events in the realm of experience. This is the sense in which all things are empty. When you see this, you realize that labels of “I” and “mine” are inappropriate, unnecessary, and cause nothing but stress and pain. You can drop them. When you drop them totally, you discover a mode of experience that lies deeper still, one that’s totally free.

To master the emptiness mode of perception requires firm training in virtue, concentration, and discernment. Without this training, the mind stays in the mode that keeps creating stories and worldviews. And from the perspective of that mode, the teaching of emptiness sounds simply like another story or worldview with new ground rules. In terms of the story of your relationship to your mother it seems to be saying that there’s really no mother, no you. In terms of your worldview, it seems to be saying either that the world doesn’t really exist, or else that emptiness is the great undifferentiated ground of being from which we all came and to which someday we’ll all return.

These interpretations not only miss the meaning of emptiness but also keep the mind from getting into the proper mode. If the world and the people in the story of your life don’t really exist, then all the actions and reactions in that story seem like a mathematics of zeros, and you wonder why there’s any point in practicing virtue at all. If, on the other hand, you see emptiness as the ground of being to which we’re all going to return, then what need is there to train the mind in concentration and discernment, since we’re all going to get there anyway? And even if we need training to get back to our ground of being, what’s to keep us from coming out of it and suffering all over again? So in all these scenarios, the whole idea of training the mind seems futile and pointless. By focusing on the question of whether or not there really is something behind experience, they entangle the mind in issues that keep it from getting into the present mode.

Now, stories and worldviews do serve a purpose. The Buddha employed them when teaching people, but he never used the word emptiness when speaking in these modes. He recounted the stories of people’s lives to show how suffering comes from the unskillful perceptions behind their actions, and how freedom from suffering can come from being more perceptive. And he described the basic principles that underlie the round of rebirth to show how bad intentional actions lead to pain within that round, good ones lead to pleasure, while really skillful actions can rake you beyond the round altogether. In all these cases, these teachings were aimed at getting people to focus on the quality of the perceptions and intentions in their minds in the present—in other words, to get them into the emptiness mode. Once there, they could use the teachings on emptiness for their intended purpose: to loosen all attachments to views, stories, and assumptions, leaving the mind empty of all the greed, anger; and delusion, and thus empty of suffering and stress. And when you come right down to it, that’s the emptiness that really counts.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu is the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in Valley Center, California. His most recent book is The Wings to Awakening (Dhamma Dana Publications).

The Deep Positivity of Life ~ Andrew Cohen

The Self-Aware Universe – An Interview with Amit Goswami

By Craig Hamilton – What is Enlightment?

WIE: In your book The Self-Aware Universe you speak about the need for a paradigm shift. Could you talk a bit about how you conceive of that shift? From what to what?

Amit Goswami: The current worldview has it that everything is made of matter, and everything can be reduced to the elementary particles of matter, the basic constituents—building blocks—of matter. And cause arises from the interactions of these basic building blocks or elementary particles; elementary particles make atoms, atoms make molecules, molecules make cells, and cells make brain. But all the way, the ultimate cause is always the interactions between the elementary particles. This is the belief—all cause moves from the elementary particles. This is what we call “upward causation.” So in this view, what human beings—you and I—think of as our free will does not really exist. It is only an epiphenomenon or secondary phenomenon, secondary to the causal power of matter. And any causal power that we seem to be able to exert on matter is just an illusion. This is the current paradigm.

Now, the opposite view is that everything starts with consciousness.That is, consciousness is the ground of all being. In this view, consciousness imposes “downward causation.” In other words, our free will is real. When we act in the world we really are acting with causal power. This view does not deny that matter also has causal potency—it does not deny that there is causal power from elementary particles upward, so there is upward causation—but in addition it insists that there is also downward causation. It shows up in our creativity and acts of free will, or when we make moral decisions. In those occasions we are actually witnessing downward causation by consciousness.

WIE: In your book you refer to this new paradigm as “monistic idealism.” And you also suggest that science seems to be verifying what a lot of mystics have said throughout history—that science’s current findings seem to be parallel to the essence of the perennial spiritual teaching.

AG: It is the spiritual teaching. It is not just parallel. The idea that consciousness is the ground of being is the basis of all spiritual traditions, as it is for the philosophy of monistic idealism—although I have given it a somewhat new name. The reason for my choice of the name is that, in the West, there is a philosophy called “idealism” which is opposed to the philosophy of “material realism,” which holds that only matter is real. Idealism says no, consciousness is the only real thing. But in the West that kind of idealism has usually meant something that is really dualism—that is, consciousness and matter are separate.

So, by monistic idealism, I made it clear that, no, I don’t mean that dualistic kind of Western idealism, but really a monistic idealism, which has existed in the West, but only in the esoteric spiritual traditions. Whereas in the East this is the mainstream philosophy. In Buddhism, or in Hinduism where it is called Vedanta, or in Taoism, this is the philosophy of everyone. But in the West this is a very esoteric tradition, only known and adhered to by very astute philosophers, the people who have really delved deeply into the nature of reality.

WIE: What you are saying is that modern science, from a completely different angle—not assuming anything about the existence of a spiritual dimension of life—has somehow come back around, and is finding itself in agreement with that view as a result of its own discoveries.

AG: That’s right. And this is not entirely unexpected. Starting from the beginning of quantum physics, which began in the year 1900 and then became full-fledged in 1925 when the equations of quantum mechanics were discovered, quantum physics has given us indications that the worldview might change. Staunch materialist physicists have loved to compare the classical worldview and the quantum worldview.

Of course, they wouldn’t go so far as to abandon the idea that there is only upward causation and that matter is supreme, but the fact remains that they saw in quantum physics some great paradigm changing potential. And then what happened was that, starting in 1982, results started coming in from laboratory experiments in physics. That is the year when, in France, Alain Aspect and his collaborators performed the great experiment that conclusively established the veracity of the spiritual notions, and particularly the notion of transcendence. Should I go into a little bit of detail about Aspect’s experiment?

WIE: Yes, please do.

AG: To give a little background, what had been happening was that for many years quantum physics had been giving indications that there are levels of reality other than the material level. How it started happening first was that quantum objects—objects in quantum physics—began to be looked upon as waves of possibility. Now, initially people thought, “Oh, they are just like regular waves.” But very soon it was found out that, no, they are not waves in space and time. They cannot be called waves in space and time at all—they have properties which do not jibe with those of ordinary waves. So they began to be recognized as waves in potential, waves of possibility, and the potential was recognized as transcendent, beyond matter somehow.

But the fact that there is transcendent potential was not very clear for a long time. Then Aspect’s experiment verified that this is not just theory, there really is transcendent potential, objects really do have connections outside of space and time—outside of space and time! What happens in this experiment is that an atom emits two quanta of light, called photons, going opposite ways, and somehow these photons affect one another’s behavior at a distance, without exchanging any signals through space. Notice that: without exchanging any signals through space but instantly affecting each other. Instantaneously.
Now Einstein showed long ago that two objects can never affect each other instantly in space and time because everything must travel with a maximum speed limit, and that speed limit is the speed of light. So any influence must travel, if it travels through space, taking a finite time.

This is called the idea of “locality.” Every signal is supposed to be local in the sense that it must take a finite time to travel through space. And yet, Aspect’s photons—the photons emitted by the atom in Aspect’s experiment—influence one another, at a distance, without exchanging signals because they are doing it instantaneously—they are doing it faster than the speed of light. And therefore it follows that the influence could not have traveled through space. Instead the influence must belong to a domain of reality that we must recognize as the transcendent domain of reality.

WIE: That’s fascinating. Would most physicists agree with that interpretation of his experiment?

AG: Well, physicists must agree with this interpretation of this experiment. Many times of course, physicists will take the following point of view: they will say, “Well, yeah sure, experiments. But this relationship between particles really isn’t important. We mustn’t look into any of the consequences of this transcendent domain—if it can even be interpreted that way.” In other words, they try to minimize the impact of this and still try to hold on to the idea that matter is supreme.

But in their heart they know, as is very evidenced. In 1984 or ’85, at the American Physical Society meeting at which I was present, it is said that one physicist was heard saying to another physicist that, after Aspect’s experiment, anyone who does not believe that something is really strange about the world must have rocks in his head.

WIE: So what you are saying is that from your point of view, which a number of others share, it is somehow obvious that one would have to bring in the idea of a transcendent dimension to really understand this.

AG: Yes, it is. Henry Stapp, who is a physicist at the University of California at Berkeley, says this quite explicitly in one of his papers written in 1977, that things outside of space and time affect things inside space and time. There’s just no question that that happens in the realm of quantum physics when you are dealing with quantum objects. Now of course, the crux of the matter is, the surprising thing is, that we are always dealing with quantum objects because it turns out that quantum physics is the physics of every object. Whether it’s submicroscopic or it’s macroscopic, quantum physics is the only physics we’ve got.

So although it’s more apparent for photons, for electrons, for the submicroscopic objects, our belief is that all reality,all manifest reality, all matter, is governed by the same laws. And if that is so, then this experiment is telling us that we should change our worldview because we, too, are quantum objects.

WIE: These are fascinating discoveries which have inspired a lot of people. A number of books have already attempted to make the link between physics and mysticism. Fritjof Capra’s The Tao of Physics and Gary Zukav’s The Dancing Wu Li Masters have both reached many, many people. In your book, though, you mention that there was something that you felt had not yet been covered which you feel is your unique contribution to all this. Could you say something about what you are doing that is different from what has been done before in this area?

AG: I’m glad that you asked that question. This should be clarified and I will try to explicate it as clearly as I can. The early work, like The Tao of Physics, has been very important for the history of science. However, these early works, in spite of supporting the spiritual aspect of human beings, all basically held on to the material view of the world nevertheless. In other words, they did not challenge the material realists’ view that everything is made up of matter. That view was never put to any challenge by any of these early books.

In fact, my book was the first one which challenged it squarely and which was still based on a rigorous explication in scientific terms. In other words, the idea that consciousness is the ground of being, of course, has existed in psychology, as transpersonal psychology, but outside of transpersonal psychology no tradition of science and no scientist has seen it so clearly.

It was my good fortune to recognize it within quantum physics, to recognize that all the paradoxes of quantum physics can be solved if we accept consciousness as the ground of being. So that was my unique contribution and, of course, this has paradigm-shifting potential because now we can truly integrate science and spirituality. In other words, with Capra and Zukav—although their books are very good—because they held on to a fundamentally materialist paradigm, the paradigm is not shifting, nor is there any real reconciliation between spirituality and science.

Because if everything is ultimately material, all causal efficacy must come from matter. So consciousness is recognized, spirituality is recognized, but only as causal epiphenomena, or secondary phenomena. And an epiphenomenal consciousness is not very good. I mean, it’s not doing anything. So, although these books acknowledge our spirituality, the spirituality is ultimately coming from some sort of material interaction.

But that’s not the spirituality that Jesus talked about. That’s not the spirituality that Eastern mystics were so ecstatic about. That’s not the spirituality where a mystic recognizes and says, “I now know what reality is like, and this takes away all the unhappiness that one ever had. This is infinite, this is joy, this is consciousness.” This kind of exuberant statement that mystics make could not be made on the basis of epiphenomenal consciousness. It can be made only when one recognizes the ground of being itself, when one cognizes directly that One is All.

Now, an epiphenomenal human being would not have any such cognition. It would not make any sense to cognize that you are All. So that is what I am saying. So long as science remains on the basis of the materialist worldview, however much you try to accommodate spiritual experiences in terms of parallels or in terms of chemicals in the brain or what have you, you are not really giving up the old paradigm.

You are giving up the old paradigm and fully reconciling with spirituality only when you establish science on the basis of the fundamental spiritual notion that consciousness is the ground of all being. That is what I have done in my book, and that is the beginning. But already there are some other books that are recognizing this too.

WIE: So there are people corroborating your ideas?

AG: There are people who are now coming out and recognizing the same thing, that this view is the correct way to go to explain quantum physics and also to develop science in the future. In other words, the present science has shown not only quantum paradoxes but also has shown real incompetence in explaining paradoxical and anomalous phenomena, such as parapsychology, the paranormal—even creativity. And even traditional subjects, like perception or biological evolution, have much to explain that these materialist theories don’t explain. To give you one example, in biology there is what is called the theory of punctuated equilibrium. What that means is that evolution is not only slow, as Darwin perceived, but there are also rapid epochs of evolution, which are called “punctuation marks.” But traditional biology has no explanation for this.

However, if we do science on the basis of consciousness, on the primacy of consciousness, then we can see in this phenomenon creativity, real creativity of consciousness. In other words, we can truly see that consciousness is operating creatively even in biology, even in the evolution of species. And so we can now fill up these gaps that conventional biology cannot explain with ideas which are essentially spiritual ideas, such as consciousness as the creator of the world.

WIE: This brings to mind the subtitle of your book, How Consciousness Creates the Material World. This is obviously quite a radical idea. Could you explain a bit more concretely how this actually happens in your opinion?

AG: Actually, it’s the easiest thing to explain, because in quantum physics, as I said earlier, objects are not seen as definite things, as we are used to seeing them. Newton taught us that objects are definite things, they can be seen all the time, moving in definite trajectories. Quantum physics doesn’t depict objects that way at all.In quantum physics, objects are seen as possibilities, possibility waves. Right? So then the question arises, what converts possibility into actuality?Because, when we see, we only see actual events. That’s starting with us. When you see a chair, you see an actual chair, you don’t see a possible chair.

WIE: Right—I hope so.

AG: We all hope so. Now this is called the “quantum measurement paradox.” It is a paradox because who are we to do this conversion? Because after all, in the materialist paradigm we don’t have any causal efficacy. We are nothing but the brain, which is made up of atoms and elementary particles. So how can a brain which is made up of atoms and elementary particles convert a possibility wave that it itself is? It itself is made up of the possibility waves of atoms and elementary particles, so it cannot convert its own possibility wave into actuality.

This is called a paradox. Now in the new view, consciousness is the ground of being. So who converts possibility into actuality? Consciousness does, because consciousness does not obey quantum physics. Consciousness is not made of material. Consciousness is transcendent. Do you see the paradigm-changing view right here—how consciousness can be said to create the material world?The material world of quantum physics is just possibility. It is consciousness, through the conversion of possibility into actuality, that creates what we see manifest. In other words, consciousness creates the manifest world.

WIE: To be honest, when I first saw the subtitle of your book I assumed you were speaking metaphorically. But after reading the book, and speaking with you about it now, I am definitely getting the sense that you mean it much more literally than I had thought. One thing in your book that really stopped me in my tracks was your statement that, according to your interpretation, the entire physical universe only existed in a realm of countless evolving possibilities until at one point, the possibility of a conscious, sentient being arose and that, at that point, instantaneously, the entire known universe came into being, including the fifteen billion years of history leading up to that point. Do you really mean that?

AG: I mean that literally. This is what quantum physics demands. In fact, in quantum physics this is called “delayed choice.” And I have added to this concept the concept of “self-reference.” Actually the concept of delayed choice is very old. It is due to a very famous physicist named John Wheeler, but Wheeler did not see the entire thing correctly, in my opinion. He left out self-reference. The question always arises, “The universe is supposed to have existed for fifteen billion years, so if it takes consciousness to convert possibility into actuality, then how could the universe be around for so long?”

Because there was no consciousness, no sentient being, biological being, carbonbased being, in that primordial fireball which is supposed to have created the universe, the big bang.But this other way of looking at things says that the universe remained in possibility until there was self-referential quantum measurement—so that is the new concept. An observer’s looking is essential in order to manifest possibility into actuality, and so only when the observer looks, only then does the entire thing become manifest—including time. So all of past time, in that respect, becomes manifest right at that moment when the first sentient being looks.

It turns out that this idea, in a very clever, very subtle way, has been around in cosmology and astronomy under the guise of a principle called the “anthropic principle.” That is, the idea has been growing among astronomers—cosmologists anyway—that the universe has a purpose. It is so fine-tuned, there are so many coincidences, that it seems very likely that the universe is doing something purposive, as if the universe is growing in such a way that a sentient being will arise at some point.

WIE: So you feel there’s a kind of purposiveness to the way the universe is evolving; that, in a sense, it reaches its fruition in us, in human beings?

AG: Well, human beings may not be the end of it, but certainly they are the first fruition, because here is then the possibility of manifest creativity, creativity in the sentient being itself. The animals are certainly sentient, but they are not creative in the sense that we are. So human beings certainly right now seem to be an epitome, but this may not be the final epitome. I think we have a long way to go and there is a long evolution to occur yet.

WIE: In your book you even go so far as to suggest that the cosmos was created for our sake.

AG: Absolutely. But it means sentient beings, for the sake of all sentient beings. And the universe is us. That’s very clear.The universe is self-aware, but it is self-aware through us. We are the meaning of the universe. We are not the geographical center of the universe—Copernicus was right about that—but we are the meaning center of the universe.

WIE: Through us the universe finds its meaning?

AG: Through sentient beings. And that doesn’t have to be anthropocentric in the sense of only earthlings. There could be beings, sentient beings on other planets, in other stars—in fact I am convinced that there are—and that’s completely consonant with this theory.

WIE: This human-centered—or even sentient-being-centered—stance seems quite radical at a time when so much of modern progressive thought, across disciplines from ecology to feminism to systems theory, is going in the opposite direction. These perspectives point more toward interconnectedness or interrelatedness, in which the significance of any one part of the whole—including one species, such as the human species—is being de-emphasized. Your view seems to hark back to a more traditional, almost biblical kind of idea. How would you respond to proponents of the prevailing “nonhierarchical” paradigm?

AG: It’s the difference between the perennial philosophy that we are talking about, monistic idealism, and what is called a kind of pantheism. That is, these views—which I call “ecological worldviews” and which Ken Wilber calls the same thing—are actually denigrating God by seeing God as limited to the immanent reality. On the face of it, this sounds good because everything becomes divine—the rocks, the trees, all the way to human beings, and they are all equal and they are all divinity—it sounds fine, but it certainly does not adhere to what the spiritual teachers knew. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna, “All these things are in me, but I am not in them.” What does he mean by that? What he means is that “I am not exclusively in them.”

So there is evolution, in other words, in the manifest reality. Evolution happens. That means that the amoeba is, of course, a manifestation of consciousness, and so is the human being. But they are not in the same stage. Evolutionarily, yes, we are ahead of the amoeba. And these theories, these ecological-worldview people, they don’t see that. They don’t rightly understand what evolution is because they are ignoring the transcendent dimension, they are ignoring the purposiveness of the universe, the creative play. Ken Wilber makes this point very, very well in his book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality.

WIE: So you would say they have part of the picture but that without this other aspect that you are bringing in, their view is very—

AG: It’s very limited. And that’s why pantheism is very limited. When Westerners started going to India, they thought it was pantheistic because it has many, many gods. Indian philosophy tends to see God in nature, in many things—they worship rocks sometimes, that kind of thing—so they thought it was pantheistic and only somewhat later did they realize that there is a transcendent dimension. In fact, the transcendent dimension is developed extremely well in Indian philosophy, whereas the transcendent dimension in the West is hidden in the cave of a very few esoteric systems such as the Gnostics and a few great masters like Meister Eckhart.

In Jesus’ teachings you can see it in the Gospel according to Thomas. But you have to really dig deep to find that thread in the West. In India, in the Upanishads and the Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita, it is very much explicit. Now, pantheism sounds very good. But it’s only part of the story. It’s a good way to worship, it’s a good way to bring spirituality into your daily life, because it is good to acknowledge that there is spirit in everything. But if we just see the diversity, see the God in everything, but don’t see the God which is beyond every particular thing, then we are not realizing our potential. We are not realizing our Self. And so, truly, Self-realization involves seeing this pantheistic aspect of reality, but also seeing the transcendent aspect of reality.

WIE: In addition to being a scientist, you are also a spiritual practitioner. Could you talk a little bit about what brought you to spirituality?

AG: Well, I’m afraid that is a pretty usual, almost classic, case. The ideal classic case, of course, is the famous case of the Buddha, who recognized at the age of twenty-nine that all of his pleasure as a prince was really a waste of time because there is suffering in the world. For me it was not that drastic, but when I was about thirty-seven the world started to fall apart on me. I lost my research grant, I had a divorce and I was very lonely. And the professional pleasure that I used to get by writing physics papers stopped being pleasure.

But in that era, around thirty-seven, that particular world—where God didn’t exist and where the meaning of life came just from brain-pursuits of glory in a profession—just did not satisfy me and did not bring happiness. In fact it was full of suffering. So I came to meditation. I wanted to see if there was any way of at least finding some solace, if not happiness. And eventually great joy came out of it, but that took time. And also, I must mention that I got married too, and the challenge of love was a very important one. In other words, I very soon discovered after I got married for the second time that love is very different than what I thought it was. So I discovered with my wife the meaning of love, and that was a big contribution also to my own spirituality.

WIE: It’s interesting that, while you turned to spirituality because you felt that science wasn’t really satisfying your own search for truth, you have nevertheless remained a scientist throughout.

AG: That’s true. It’s just that my way of doing science changed. What happened to me, the reason that I lost the joy of science, was because I had made it into a professional trip. I lost the ideal way of doing science, which is the spirit of discovery, the curiosity, the spirit of knowing truth. So I was not searching for truth anymore through science, and therefore I had to discover meditation, where I was searching for truth again, truth of reality.

What is the nature of reality after all? You see the first tendency was nihilism, nothing exists; I was completely desperate. But meditation very soon told me that no, it’s not that desperate. I had an experience. I had a glimpse that reality really does exist. Whatever it was I didn’t know, but something exists. So that gave me the prerogative to go back to science and see if I could now do science with new energy and new direction and really investigate truth instead of investigating because of professional glory.

WIE: How then did your newly revived interest in truth, this spiritual core to your life, inform your practice of science?

AG: What happened was that I was not doing science anymore for the purpose of just publishing papers and doing problems which enabled you to publish papers and get grants. Instead, I was doing the really important problems. And the really important problems of today are very paradoxical and very anomalous. Well, I’m not saying that traditional scientists don’t have a few important problems. There are a few important problems there too. But one of the problems I discovered very quickly that would lead me, I just intuited, to questions of reality was the quantum measurement problem.

You see, the quantum measurement problem is supposed to be a problem which forever derails people from any professional achievement because it’s a very difficult problem. People have tried it for decades and have not been able to solve it. But I thought, “I have nothing to lose and I am going to investigate only truth, so why not see?” Quantum physics was something I knew very well. I had researched quantum physics all my life, so why not do the quantum measurement problem? So that’s how I came to ask this question, “What agency converts possibility into actuality?” And it still took me from 1975 to 1985 until, through a mystical breakthrough, I came to recognize this.

WIE: Could you describe that breakthrough?

AG: Yes, I’d love to. It’s so vivid in my mind. You see, the wisdom was in those days—and this was in every sort of book, The Tao of Physics, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Fred Alan Wolf’s Taking the Quantum Leap, and some other books too—everywhere the wisdom was that consciousness must be an emergent phenomenon of the brain. And despite the fact that some of these people, to their credit, were giving consciousness causal efficacy, no one could explain how it happened. That was the mystery because, after all, if it’s an emergent phenomenon of the brain, then all causal efficacy must ultimately come from the material elementary particles.

So this was a puzzle to me. This was a puzzle to everybody. And I just couldn’t find any way to solve it. David Bohm talked about hidden variables, so I toyed with his ideas of an explicate order and an implicate order, that kind of thing—but this wasn’t satisfactory because in Bohm’s theory, again, there is no causal efficacy that is given to consciousness. It is all a realist theory. In other words, it is a theory on which everything can be explained through mathematical equations. There is no freedom of choice, in other words, in reality. So I was just struggling and struggling because I was convinced that there is real freedom of choice.

So then one time—and this is where the breakthrough happened—my wife and I were in Ventura, California and a mystic friend, Joel Morwood, came down from Los Angeles, and we all went to hear Krishnamurti. And Krishnamurti, of course, is extremely impressive, a very great mystic. So we heard him and then we came back home. We had dinner and we were talking, and I was giving Joel a spiel about my latest ideas of the quantum theory of consciousness and Joel just challenged me.

He said, “Can consciousness be explained?” And I tried to wriggle my way through that but he wouldn’t listen. He said, “You are putting on scientific blinders. You don’t realize that consciousness is the ground of all being.” He didn’t use that particular word, but he said something like, “There is nothing but God.” And something flipped inside of me which I cannot quite explain. This is the ultimate cognition, that I had at that very moment. There was a complete about-turn in my psyche and I just realized that consciousness is the ground of all being. I remember staying up that night, looking at the sky and having a real mystical feeling about what the world is, and the complete conviction that this is the way the world is, this is the way that reality is, and one can do science.

You see, the prevalent notion—even among people like David Bohm—was, “How can you ever do science without assuming that there is reality and material and all this? How can you do science if you let consciousness do things which are ‘arbitrary’?” But I became completely convinced—there has not been a shred of doubt ever since—that one can do science on this basis. Not only that, one can solve the problems of today’s science. And that is what is turning out. Of course all the problems did not get solved right on that night. That night was the beginning of a new way of doing science.

WIE: That’s interesting. So that night something really did shift for you in your whole approach. And everything was different after that?

AG: Everything was different.

WIE: Did you then find, in working out the details of what it would mean to do science in this context, that you were able to penetrate much more deeply or that your own scientific thinking was transformed in some way by this experience?

AG: Right. Exactly. What happened was very interesting. I was stuck, as I said, I was stuck with this idea before: “How can consciousness have causal efficacy?” And now that I recognized that consciousness was the ground of being, within months all the problems of quantum measurement theory, the measurement paradoxes, just melted away. I wrote my first paper which was published in 1989, but that was just refinement of the ideas and working out details.

The net upshot was that the creativity, which got a second wind on that night in 1985, took about another three years before it started fully expressing itself. But ever since I have been just blessed with ideas after ideas, and lots of problems have been solved—the problem of cognition, perception, biological evolution, mind-body healing. My latest book is called Physics of the Soul. This is a theory of reincarnation, all fully worked out. It has been just a wonderful adventure in creativity.

WIE: So it sounds pretty clear that taking an interest in the spiritual, in your case, had a significant effect on your ability to do science. Looking through the opposite end of the lens, how would you say that being a scientist has affected your spiritual evolution?

AG: Well, I stopped seeing them as separate, so this identification, this wholeness, the integration of the spiritual and the scientific, was very important for me. Mystics often warn people, “Look, don’t divide your life into this and that.” For me it came naturally becauseI discovered the new way of doing science when I discovered spirit. Spirit was the natural basis of my being, so after that, whatever I do, I don’t separate them very much.

WIE: You mentioned a shift in your motivation for doing science—how what was driving you started to turn at a certain point. That’s one thing that we’ve been thinking about a lot as we’ve been looking into this issue: What is it that really motivates science? And how is that different from what motivates spiritual pursuit? Particularly, there have been some people we have discussed—thinkers like E. F. Schumacher or Huston Smith, for example—who feel that ever since the scientific revolution, when Descartes’s and Newton’s ideas took hold, the whole approach of science has been to try to dominate or control nature or the world.

Such critics question whether science could ever be a genuine vehicle for discovering the deepest truths, because they feel that science is rooted in a desire to know for the wrong reasons. Obviously, in your work you have been very immersed in the scientific world—you know a lot of scientists, you go to conferences, you’re surrounded by all of that and also, perhaps, you struggle with that motivation in yourself. Could you speak a little more about your experience of that?

AG: Yes, this is a very, very good question; we have to understand it very deeply. The problem is that in this pursuit, this particular pursuit of science, including the books that we mentioned earlier, The Tao of Physics and TheDancing Wu Li Masters, even when spirituality is recognized within the materialist worldview, God is seen only in the immanent aspect of divinity. What that means is: you have said that there is only one reality.

By saying that there is only one reality—material reality—even when you imbue matter with spirituality, because you are still dealing with only one level, you are ignoring the transcendent level. And therefore you are only looking at half of the pie; you are ignoring the other half. Ken Wilber makes this point very, very well. So what has to be done of course—and that’s when the stigma of science disappears—is to include the other half into science. Now, before my work, I think it was very obscure how this inclusion has to be done. Although people like Teilhard de Chardin, Aurobindo or Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophy movement, recognized that such a science could have come, very few could actually see it.
So what I have done is to give actual flesh to all these visions that took place early in the century. And when you do that, when you recognize that science can be based on the primacy of consciousness, then this deficiency isn’t there anymore.

In other words then, the stigma that science is only separateness goes away. The materialist science is a separatist science. The new science, though, says that the material part of the world does exist, the separative movement is part of reality also, but it is not the only part of reality. There is separation, and then there is integration. So in my book The Self-Aware Universe I talk about the hero’s journey for the entire scientific endeavor. I said that, well, four hundred years ago, with Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and others, we started the separatist sail and we went on a separate journey of separateness, but that’s only the first part of the hero’s journey. Then the hero discovers and the hero returns. It is the hero’s return that we are now witnessing through this new paradigm.

Equanimous: The Book – A Channeled Revelation for Spiritual Growth and Wellbeing

Equanimous: From the Big Bang to Peace and Quiet in Every Community — A Channeled Dialog of Why You are Here and What You can do About it Right Now!

If an ancient energy being revealed to you that the conventional interpretation of 15 billion years of earth’s history was flawed and the cause of all human suffering, what would you do?

Write a book?

Channeled by Orranut Stephens through conversations with the energy being known as Master Jacob, Equanimous invites you on an incredible journey through the chronicles of human history to unravel the profound spiritual purpose of your very own existence.

From the awe-inspiring account of the universe’s birth and the incredible testimony of humanity’s previously unknown evolution, to dramatic revelations regarding to the lives of Buddha and Jesus Christ, Equanimous unfurls your forgotten energetic heritage, illuminating both the past causes of humanity’s modern tribulations and the enormous contribution you can personally make to earth’s golden future.

As our species approaches an epoch of major transformation, Equanimous asks you to leave behind the old interpretations of God, evolution and human purpose that have caused humanity to choose conformity over evolution and choose instead the spiritual practices of the Equanimous, handed down to us from species who have long since learned the true energetic purpose of life on earth.

The challenge for each human being is simple: Do you dare to evolve?

Becoming a Presence Activist ~ Viral Mehta

A friend of mine is visiting from out of town and staying in East Oakland, in an area that’s infamous for its gang violence and unrest. This friend happens to be a monk. He shaves his head and dresses in the traditional brown robes of his monastic order — not the kind of person who blends easily into the background. Having spent many years making compassion a conscious practice, his response to situations is to try to do his bit to spread goodness. So he went out for a walk, just to engage with the community. As he was walking up 35th Avenue, a couple of tough-looking street youth yelled out to him:

“Hey man!”

He turned around, looked at them and said, “Yes?”

“Are you a Buddhist monk?”

“Yes, I am.”

“You look hella peaceful, man!”

Just by being — the way he was walking, the pace, his garb and shorn head, the expression on his face, his thoughts and intentions — he had conveyed something so powerful, in a context where one might least expect it. It is a poignant story, but in fact, any of us can develop that kind of presence.

What would happen if we approached every interaction with an intention to give fully and unconditionally? Beyond the material level, and in a way that is very sensitive to the context. In a given moment, it may be just fully listening, or sharing an encouraging word, or taking a kind action. What gift we give is almost secondary. But just to get to the point where we want to give something, we have to overcome our sense of scarcity.

In a recent column, The New York Times’ David Brooks cites research on the effects of scarcity on the mind. In one game, Princeton students were asked to answer questions in a short period of time but were given the option to borrow time from future rounds. Despite their high IQs, they ended up borrowing time at ridiculous rates, ultimately ruining their long-term performance in the game. So it turns out that the actual challenge of scarcity isn’t in just the external circumstances or even our cognitive abilities — the crux of it is how we respond internally to scarcity.

This psychology of scarcity can subtly come into play in our relationships. Sometimes we get so fixated on what it is that we want from a situation or a person that we no longer have the flexibility of mind to see anything else. If we become so focused on what we don’t have, then we start to look at relationships with just an eye for what they can provide for us. We are governed by questions like, “What can this person do for me? What can I get out of this situation?” At the root of being me-oriented is a mental orientation of the cup being half-empty.

The key to moving away from this perception of scarcity is gratitude. The reality is that the cup is half-empty and half-full, but as author Julio Olalla insightfully puts it, “without gratitude, nothing is enough.” As we start to actually feel grateful for all that we have, we recognize the abundance within our own lives. Of course, there’s our health, resources and opportunities, but also a gratefulness for just being alive, being connected to so much and being able to choose our state of being.

By taking stock of our lives in this way, we actually receive these things as the gifts that they are and that shifts us to a mindset of abundance. We realize that we have more than enough, and our cups overflow. We start to look for opportunities everywhere, just searching for ways to express the gratitude we feel. All of our relationships — with family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances — become fair game. As do interactions with total strangers.

A few years ago, in downtown Chicago, 10 of us had decided to try an experiment. To create an excuse to connect with those we walk by all the time, we’d whipped up 150 bagged lunches, split up into groups of three and hit the streets. Beyond just the lunches, the idea was to really explore our own generosity within each interaction. So with everyone who looked like they could use a lunch, we’d start with making our offering and then letting things happen organically. Some would heartily accept, but then quickly move on; others would outright refuse the meal; some didn’t even have the mental faculties to process it; and others would engage with us and even be moved to tears.

But we were the ones learning the lessons. My most vivid memory is of seeing an African-American man waiting to cross the street. He must’ve been in his late 40s, had on a leather jacket and something told me he might appreciate a meal. As we approached each other, before I could even say a word, he’d held his hand out, wanting to shake my hand.

I shook his hand and he gave me a big, heartfelt hug, saying, “Thank you.”

“For what?” I asked him. I hadn’t even offered him the lunch yet.

His response rocked me. “For caring. I’ve been out of a job for four months, just scraping by on the streets. And everyone walks by and no one even looks me in the eye. Just the way you looked at me, I could tell you cared.”

I offered him the lunch, but that had already become secondary; he didn’t even take it, and within a minute, we were both on our way. In that short time, he had given me a taste of what is possible when we approach any situation with the simple intention of giving unconditionally of ourselves. I’d learned that the greatest gift we can share is our presence, and that this shining potential exists in all of our relationships. I realized, then, that we could all become presence activists.

Viral Mehta is the co-founder of CharityFocus.org. CharityFocus is a fully volunteer-run organization that has delivered millions of dollars of web-related services to the nonprofit world for free, and now creatively leverages web technologies for collaborative and transformational giving. CharityFocus’s 300K members incubate compassionate action in a multitude of ways and its inspiration portals get 100M hits a year.

Viral also conducts courses in Vipassana meditation as an assistant teacher of S.N. Goenka. For more information, visit dhamma.org.

Professionally, Viral’s experience is in the nonprofit and local government sector, where he has worked at the intersection of strategy, technology, and management.

Evolve Your Brain Seminar Trailer – Dr Joe Dispenza

Watch the trailer of the September 2007 seminar presented by neuroscientist and chiropractor Dr Joe Dispenza.
In this inspiring two-hour seminar Evolve Your Brain- The Science of Changing Your Mind Dr. Joe Dispenza explains how the brain evolves, learns new skills, how we can take control of our mind and how thoughts can create chemical reactions that keep us addicted to patterns and feelings-including the ones that make us unhappy. When we know how these habits are created we can set about not only breaking these patterns, but also re-program (rewire) our brain so that new and positive habits can take over and benefit us in our daily life.

Dr. Dispenza was featured in the smash hit docu-drama What the Bleep Do We Know?! and What the Bleep Down the Rabbit Hole . He is the author of the book, Evolve Your Brain The Science of Changing Your Mind which has sold 34,00 copies to date in the U.S. and is being published in countries worldwide. Dr. Dispenza has spent decades studying the human mind-how it works, how it stores information and why it perpetuates the same behavioral patterns over and over.

Over the last 10 years, Dr. Dispenza has lectured in over 17 different countries on six continents educating people about the role and function of the human brain. He has taught thousands of people how to re-program their thinking through scientifically proven neuro-physiologic principles.

Preview of Interview with Dr. Joe Dispenza

Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about how the brain functions with chemical, physical and emotional stimuli.

Are You Self Actualized? ~ Roya R. Rad, MA, PsyD

Self actualization is one of the highest levels of humans’ growth. It is not superior since everyone can get there, it is just a stage of being. Here are some of the characteristics of self actualized people:

1. Real not ideal: Self actualized people have a healthy relationship with reality and are more comfortable with it and do not deny it. They accept the good and bad as parts of the same spectrum where one is in balance and the other out of balance.

2. Accountability: Self actualized people do not get into the blame game but look for their role in a situation to make improvements.

2a. Open to making mistakes: Self actualized people give themselves and others the right to make a mistake and do not limit their life’s experience because of fear of mistakes. At the same time, they take reasonable cautionary steps not to repeat the same mistake over and over again.

3. Acceptance: Self actualized people have acceptance of self, others and the world around them. They are objective in general but also aware of their subjectivity and how it may deceive them.

4. Spontaneous: Self actualized people are grounded but at the same time learn to be open to new experiences, bring the inner child out and have fun with life. They don’t force themselves to be as others think they “should” be and go with what feels right to their core. At the same time, they do not try to intentionally hurt others and are sensitive to what is good.

5. Problem focused: Self actualized people focus on the solution from a more multi-modal perspective and are open to new ideas and options. They also look at a problem from above their emotions as if they are standing outside the chaos to see what is happening to make an unbiased judgment about it.

6. Desire for detachment and privacy: While interactive and well connected with their surroundings, self actualized people have also a need to have time to themselves for quiet time and reflection and do not always have to be with others to enjoy their time. While with other people whom they feel connected to, the presence is enough and there does not have to be any open communication all the time.

7. Autonomy: Self actualized people are independent of their culture and their surrounding while are aware of them fully. They make decisions on their own without being conditioned toward any particular culture, religion and else. They are aware that conditioning can be limiting and illusive and need to be used with full awareness.

8. Appreciations of simple things: Self actualized people learn to enjoy simple things in life and to connect with nature. They take time to find joy and content in daily things that come to all of us for free without any effort. A walk in the park, looking at the moon at night, listening to a bird singing are activities that are close to her heart.

9. Honest: Self actualized people are honest but know the fine line between honesty and being blunt. Others always know where they are standing with self actualized people and relationships with them are usually drama free since they won’t say yes where they feel otherwise. In other words, they are assertive.

10. Mystical and peak experiences: Self actualized people have regular mystical and peak experiences and have the ability to find and connect with their authentic self. During these experiences, they feel at one with the world around them.

11. Oneness: Self actualized people become more of a global soul where their concern is more toward all mankind not just what they have been conditioned to feel more similar to.

12. Healthy interpersonal relationships: Self actualized people have clear boundaries therefore, their relationship is free of drama and anxious attachments. They have more profound relationships with other adults on a deep level. They are capable of greater love and focus on the good few rather than a large number. Their relationships are very meaningful and positive.

13. Equality: Self actualized people tend to believe in the equal nature of humans and believe that each person has certain strengths and weaknesses.

14. Playfulness: Self actualizing people are playful in nature, love to laugh, and make jokes but not at the expense of others. They are open to new things in life.

15. Creative: Self actualizing people are creative and express themselves in many positive forms like writing, speaking, playing, painting or else.

16. Resistance to inculturation: Self actualized people resist transcendence to any particular culture and go above their culture and maintain a strong individuality while learning and at times, practicing what seems positive in their as well as other cultures. This is done by choice not any force of attachment. They can evaluate the culture objectively to see what works for them and their loved ones. They can also assimilate naturally into a new culture if they live in it.

17. Imperfections: Self actualizing people are aware of the fact that they, like others, are imperfect because they are humans. But this awareness brings them opportunities to constantly learn new ways to grow. While being content with themselves but they never stop striving.

Deepak Chopra’s Introduction to Meditation – Part 1 – 6

First segment of Part 1 of Dr. Chopra’s series on meditation.

Second segment of Part 1 of Dr. Chopra’s series on meditation.

A Balanced Life – Deepak Chopra – Part 1 to 3

Interview with Dr. Deepak Chopra on the TV show A Balanced Life. Host is Eileen Richardson. Topics covered are the Law of Dharma, Giving back and finding your life purpose.

A Balanced Life – Deepak Chopra – Part 2

A Balanced Life – Deepak Chopra – Part 3

Mindful Presence: The Heart of Mind Fitness Training ~ Joel and Michelle Levey

Much of our work with organizations and individuals centers around the development of what we call “mind fitness.” Mind fitness means having a mind that’s fit for action and insight. At the heart and core of this kind of mind-body-spirit training is the practice of “mindful presence” — the essential key to mind fitness.

In future blog posts, we’ll introduce and invite you to explore the various disciplines of mind fitness. While all of these are vital to success, foremost and foundational among them is the discipline of mindful presence, so we’ll begin here. This discipline is developed through the cultivation of mindfulness and the mastery of attention. Research shows that daily practice of mindfulness creates measurable changes in brain function associated with decreases in our vulnerability to stress and distress, increases our enjoyment of the moment, improves health and performance, increases our happiness, improves emotional intelligence and deepens the wisdom, confidence and courage we bring to life — and work!

The cultivation of mindfulness is essentially the practice of presence, deep listening and awareness. Mindfulness enables you to wake up and be more fully present to what is really going on in your inner and outer worlds, and to the stream of moment-to-moment change. Mindfulness offers you greater choice and the capacity to live-on-purpose as an alternative to living a reactionary life dominated by mindless habit and out of control reactivity.

The practice of mindfulness also provides a powerful tool to discover the true depth and dimension of our experience. As we see more clearly and understand more deeply, our insight grows and opens new dimensions of freedom, health and change resilience in our lives. Mindfulness is the basis of wisdom, appreciation and gratitude. Its essence is deep listening, an open, non-judgmental yet discerning quality of attentiveness that embraces every fleeting experience with acceptance, investigation and non-attachment.

To experience mindfulness in this moment:

Simply look out through your eyes right now and know that you are seeing.

Bring your attention to the easy natural flow of your breathing, being mindful of the stream of sensations as you breathe in … and being mindful as you breathe out … By being mindful of the natural flow of your breathing, you develop a way to anchor and stabilize your mindful, clear presence within the streaming flow of moment-to-moment change that is your life.

Allow this clear, natural mindfulness to welcome the coming and flowing of every element of your experience. Notice how every sound, sight, sensation, thought, feeling and experience comes and flows. Be mindful of the river of change that flows as your life with awareness.

Complement your mindful awareness with a gentle, self-referential smile — like a smile in your heart. This smile will help you maintain a sense of perspective, curiosity, acceptance and open-mindedness. Smiling gently in this way will also help protect you from trying too hard or being too self-critical in your cultivation of mindfulness.

Throughout the day, bring your mindful, clear presence to whatever you are doing and to being more fully present with whomever you are with.

Experiment with setting the intention to be more mindful and present with simple activities that have a clear beginning and end. For example, mindfully walk from the parking lot to your office, take a mindful shower, eat a mindful meal or go for a mindful walk or jog.

When your mind wanders or your attention fades, note the distraction as soon as you become aware of it, and then without blame or judgment simply refresh your mindful presence and return your attention to whatever you choose to attend to.

If you are like most people you have dozens, if not hundreds, of interactions with people in an average day. One powerful strategy for practicing mindfulness is to set the intention to engage in a significant number of daily interactions as opportunities to practice “mindful dialogue.” This involves being vividly mindful of what you see, hear or sense from the people you are talking with, while simultaneously being mindful of the flow of your own inner personal experiences as you are engaged in that dialogue.

Your practice of mindfulness can take two basic forms:

One is the practice of mindful presence in the midst of the ordinary activities of your daily life.

The second way to practice mindfulness is more as a quiet meditation practice. In this mode, you simply sit quietly, focus your mindfulness on the flow of your breath and mindfully notice the flow of experiences as they come and go. Be mindful of how the waves of the breath come and flow. Let this be your resting place and anchor of awareness. Mindfully notice how external perceptions come and flow from the world around you. Mindfully attend to how the sensations in your body come and flow. As thoughts or mental images arise, be mindful of how they too arise and pass. As emotions come to your awareness, be mindful of them as arising and passing in the clear space of your mindful presence. As desires, intentions or other mind-states arise, be mindful of how these similarly come and flow. With mindful clear presence, embrace the flow of your experience, with great curiosity, openness and compassion. Remain in this stream of experience for five, 10, 20 or 30 minutes at a time, and allow yourself to awaken ever more fully to the wisdom of your true nature, complexity and dimensionality.

Once you understand how to practice the discipline of mindful presence you can never say, “I don’t have time to meditate,” because mindfulness can be activated in virtually every situation and activity of your complex and busy life. This means that every activity and encounter offers you the opportunity to develop and strengthen your mind fitness.

As you cultivate this quality of mindful presence, you’ll begin to realize that you are part of a vast community of people in all walks of life and arenas of work who are engaged in this practice. Hundreds of studies have demonstrated the clinical and performance enhancing benefits of the mind fitness practice of mindfulness.

Over the past 20 years, the discipline of mindfulness meditation has become an integral element in the success path of leaders from many disciplines. In our own work, we’ve taught mindfulness as a core success strategy to thousands of leaders in hundreds of organizations around the globe. In our work with the largest, most successful division of Hewlett-Packard, mindfulness was one of the core values held by senior leaders as a key to their success.

During the once secret “Ultimate Warrior Training Program” (aka Jedi Warrior) that we co-designed and led for the U.S. Army Green Berets, we guided two A-Teams of Special Forces troops on an intensive 30-day silent mindfulness retreat called “The Encampment,” which equipped them with skills to succeed on a series of missions that no other teams had ever succeeded in before. One of our teams was later selected as the most outstanding team in the NATO games. This program was described by leaders at West Point Military Academy as “the most exquisite orchestration of human technology we have ever seen.”

At Google, we teach a course called “The Meditation and Mindfulness Laboratory” for leaders and software engineers seeking to de-bug and reengineer their own personal operating systems. At M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center and dozens of other leading medical centers and medical schools, we’ve also taught mindfulness disciplines to hundreds of physicians, nurses, faculty and administrators, and many of them have fully integrated these methods into their daily lives and work. Surgeons who train in mindfulness make fewer mistakes and have better surgical outcomes. In medicine, mindfulness also offers relief from a myriad of stress-related maladies and speeds recovery time.

The practice of mindful presence has also been a vital success strategy in our mentoring of numerous world class and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes who have stretched the envelope of success to new proportions. Just imagine what will be possible for you as you develop greater mindful presence and mind fitness in your own life.

Joel & Michelle Levey are internationally recognized speakers, authors, educators, and consultants. Founders of WisdomAtWork.com, the enduring benefits of their pioneering work in mind fitness, change resilience, collective intelligence and innovation has inspired leaders in hundreds of organizations around the globe including: NASA, World Bank, Google, Intel, Hewlett Packard, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Microsoft, Washington Athletic Club, NOAA, MIT, SportsMind, SRI International, Forest Ethics, EarthSave, U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, U.S. Special Forces, and The Clinton Global Initiative.

They are faculty at University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Health and Bastyr University Center for Spirituality, Science, and Medicine, and advisors for the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities. The Leveys’ published works include: Living in Balance: A Dynamic Approach for Creating Harmony & Wholeness in a Chaotic World; Wisdom at Work; A Treasury of Tools for Cultivating Clarity, Kindness, & Resilience; Luminous Mind: Meditation and Mind Fitness; The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration, and Meditation: Ancient Skills for Modern Mind.

Mindfulness is the foundation for any successful meditation practice in daily life. It is the gateway to living in greater harmony and balance and opens the door for deeper wisdom and compassion to guide our lives-work.

In this excerpt taken from their class presented live online by eMindful.com, Dr. Joel & Michelle Levey explore the profoundly practical ways to weave the contemplative inner-science traditions into the fabric of your everyday life.

eMindful (www.emindful.com) is the leading Internet source for comprehensive health and wellness services. Courses include mindful eating, stress management, forgiveness, yoga, and Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management. eMindful’s online courses offer cost-effective and convenient access to our internationally acclaimed team of experts with whom you may see, hear, and interact, live in eMindful’s virtual classroom, while still in the comfort of your home, at the office, or anywhere you can have a broadband Internet connection.

Right Here with You: Bringing Mindful Awareness into Our Relationships

In recent years scientists have discovered that mindfulness can reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance our sense of well-being. In this book, readers learn how mindfulness can be brought to bear in our relationships to increase intimacy, strengthen communication, and help us to find greater fulfilment.
Topics in this collection include how to open your heart and develop lovingkindness for yourself and others, how to improve communication through mindful speech and deep listening, noticing and counteracting destructive patterns, and discovering how intimate relationships can become a rich form of spiritual practice.
Chapters and contributors include:

• Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on what mindfulness is and why it lies at the heart real love
• Psychotherapist David Richo on finding a partner
• Author Elizabeth Gilbert on conflict and communication
• Psychotherapist and meditation teacher Tara Brach on the power of forgiveness
• Rabbi Harold Kushner on striving to give love rather than get it
• Novelist Jane Hamilton on a marital meltdown—and recovery
• Meditation teacher Susan Piver on the value of heartbreak
• Psychologist John Welwood on relationships as a path of personal and spiritual growth

Ghosts Among Us: Uncovering the Truth About the Other Side by James Van Praagh

James Van Praagh, world-renowned medium and best selling author of Talking To Heaven, releases his much-anticipated new book Ghosts Among Us – Uncovering The Truth About The Other Side.

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Perhaps the human fascination with the supernatural stems from the fact that most of us, at some point in our lives, have experienced something we couldn’t quite explain. From a very young age James Van Praagh was aware of a dimension that most of us cannot see, and he has dedicated his life to explaining it to the rest of us. Ghosts Among Us takes us on an incredible journey into the spirit world that brings to light one of our greatest mysteries — what happens to us after we die?

Van Praagh, the New York Times bestselling author and co-executive producer of the CBS series Ghost Whisperer, shares his knowledge and life experience about ghosts, a subject that can seem to many of us both bizarre and terrifying. But when the world beyond is explained fully by an experienced guide, dismissal and apprehension can be turned into knowledge and inspiration.

With incredible true ghost stories and surprising details about how ghosts actively participate in our lives, Van Praagh challenges us to question our perceptions and shows us how we can live more fully through understanding the world of spirits. Including eerily accurate readings, the author’s development as a medium, and detailed how-to information, Ghosts Among Us is an all-encompassing guide to the supernatural.

James Van Praagh, world-renowned medium and best-selling author of Talking To Heaven, releases his much-anticipated new book “Ghosts Among Us — Uncovering The Truth About The Other Side.”

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Perhaps the human fascination with the supernatural stems from the fact that most of us, at some point in our lives, have experienced something we couldn’t quite explain. From a very young age James Van Praagh was aware of a dimension that most of us cannot see, and he has dedicated his life to explaining it to the rest of us. Ghosts Among Us takes us on an incredible journey into the spirit world that brings to light one of our greatest mysteries — what happens to us after we die?

Van Praagh, the New York Times bestselling author and co-executive producer of the CBS series Ghost Whisperer, shares his knowledge and life experience about ghosts, a subject that can seem to many of us both bizarre and terrifying. But when the world beyond is explained fully by an experienced guide, dismissal and apprehension can be turned into knowledge and inspiration.

With incredible true ghost stories and surprising details about how ghosts actively participate in our lives, Van Praagh challenges us to question our perceptions and shows us how we can live more fully through understanding the world of spirits. Including eerily accurate readings, the author’s development as a medium, and detailed how-to information, Ghosts Among Us is an all-encompassing guide to the supernatural.

Richard Moss – Inside Out Healing

Join world-renowned consciousness teacher and healer Richard Moss in an exploration of the power of presence in your life. It is presence that frequently is the “difference that makes the difference” in your ability to enjoy life, heal emotional wounds, experience intimacy, and support the growth and transformation of others.

This inspiring book presents powerful principles, tools, and practices for transforming self-limiting patterns of thought and behaviors and for staying in the present even in the midst of very difficult feelings. Drawing from individual counseling sessions and utilizing practical exercises, Dr. Moss demonstrates how awareness and presence can be applied to support change in yourself and others, thereby creating a solid bridge between knowing and doing.

Richard Moss introduces his new book ‘Inside Out Healing’.

Richard Moss, M.D., is an internationally respected leader in the
field of conscious living and inner transformation. He is the author
of six seminal books on using the power of awareness to realize our
intrinsic wholeness and reclaim the wisdom of our true selves. He
lives in Ojai, California. Richards retreats include The Radical Aliveness retreat and Mandala of Being Training. His books include The Mandala Of Being, The Black Butterfly and The Eye That Is We.

How Easily the Ego Can Seduce You ~ Ed and Deb Shapiro

We’ve been seeing a lot of ego-centered attitudes flying around Washington with the deficit mess, the frustrating GOP presidential wannabes and in London with the unbelievable Murdoch fiasco. Seems like the more power one has, the more the ego dominates: Me and my opinions are more important than the needs of others. There is no limit to the damage a powerful ego can cause, from the arrogant conviction that our own opinions are only right ones and everyone should be made to agree, to wielding and abusing responsibility and authority at the expense of other people’s lives and freedoms.

The ego could be the least understood of all our human qualities. It’s the “me” bit that gives us our sense of ourselves. This is not necessarily good or bad, except when selfishness dominates our thoughts, feelings and perceptions. A positive sense of self gives us confidence and purpose, but a more negative and self-centered ego makes us unconcerned with other people’s feelings; it thrives on the idea of “me first” and impels us to cry out, “What about me? What about my feelings?”

The purpose of the ego is to be in control, and so it keeps us focused in the realm of “me-ness.” It makes us believe we are the cleverest, best informed and most important, as easily as it makes us feel unworthy, unlovable and certainly not good enough to be happy. It is this misguided sense of self that is the root cause of so much distress, both in our own lives and in the world: wars are fought, families split and friends are forgotten due to this misunderstanding.

Fostering the delusion that only “I” is important, that me and mine must come before us and ours, the ego makes us believe we are something, that this something is different, special and unique, and that we are separate from everything and everyone else. When we become aware of our essential unity and oneness with all beings, then the ego becomes redundant and loses its job. It will, therefore, do whatever it has to in order to perpetuate its employment.

Creating the illusion that we are the dust on the mirror, the ego ensures that we believe we could never be so beautiful as the radiant reflection beneath the surface. Yet how extraordinary to believe that we cannot be free when freedom is our true nature!

Hypothetically, all we need to do is let go of the focus on “me,” of our sense of separateness, our need for distinction, the grasping and clinging to our story. But this is far easier said than done. In India the ego is represented by a coconut, as this is the hardest nut to crack. Traditionally, the coconut is offered to the guru or teacher as a sign of the student’s willingness to surrender his or her ego and let go of self-obsession. Such a symbolic gesture shows that the ego is considered to be a great obstacle on the spiritual path and an even greater impediment to developing true kindness and compassion.

As we evolve in consciousness, we move from the animal-like state of preservation and survival to developing our own identity as a separate individual. In the process we become more self-centered. The next step is the development of the true individual — one who experiences no separation between self and other and awakens loving kindness. We always remind ourselves what the Dalai Lama said to us when we met with him: We are all equal here. The depth of this statement always connects us to our humility.

The need to reach the top of the mountain, to accomplish our desires and be successful, is the natural impulse to move toward experiencing greater happiness. The difficulty lies in believing that success means being all-powerful; we forget that there is a difference between being powerful in the sense of being egotistic and controlling, and being powerful meaning full of loving kindness and compassion. True power is not corruptive or abusive, as we are seeing in Washington and London; it transcends greed and serves for the benefit of all.

Meditation cultivates awareness so we are able to see the ego at play, how manipulative and self-serving it can be and how it easily dominates our behavior. Such a reflective practice gives us the experience of no separation and reveals genuine compassion.

How does your ego rule you?

What Is It Like After You Die? ~ Robert Lanza, M.D.

The question, “What is it like after you die?” can make you wonder about taking the time to ponder such philosophical babble. You might reply, “The only way to know is when you die.” Not so. You won’t know any more than you do now. Increasingly, scientists are beginning to realize that an infinite number of realities may exist outside our old classical way of thinking.

Our instinctual understanding of reality is the same as most other animals. This came into focus the other day as I strolled though a nearby field, stirring up butterflies and creatures of all shapes and colors. There were wildflowers that were brilliant yellow, some that were red and others that were iridescent purple. This colorful world of up-and-down was the extent of my reality. Of course, to a mouse or a dog, that world of reds, greens and blues didn’t exist anymore than the ultraviolet and infrared world (experienced by bees and snakes) did for me. In fact, some animals, including birds, possess magnetoreceptors that allow them to perceive information on the quantum level (indeed, some have even speculated that bees perceive a 6-dimensional reality to encode location information).

But regardless of these differences, we genome-based creatures all share a common biological (spatio-temporal) information-processing ability. I’ve previously written how reality isn’t a hard, cold thing, but rather an active process that involves our consciousness. According to biocentrism, space and time are simply the tools our mind uses to weave information together into a coherent experience — they are the language of consciousness (in fact, in dreams your mind uses the same algorithms to create a spatio-temporal reality that is as real, 3-D and flesh-and-blood as the one you’re experiencing now). “It will remain remarkable,” said Nobel physicist Eugene Wigner, referring to a long list of scientific experiments, “that the very study of the external world led to the conclusion that the content of the consciousness is an ultimate reality.”

At death there’s a break in our linear stream of consciousness, and thus a break in the linear connection of times and places. Indeed, biocentrism suggests it’s a manifold that leads to all physical possibilities. More and more physicists are beginning to accept the “many-worlds” interpretation of quantum physics, which states that there are an infinite number of universes. Everything that can possibly happen occurs in some universe. Death doesn’t exist in these scenarios, since all of them exist simultaneously regardless of what happens in any of them. The “me” feeling is just energy operating in the brain. But energy never dies; it cannot be destroyed.

So what’s it like when you die? Of course, during our lives we all grow attached to the people we know and love and can never image a time without them. I subscribe to Netflix and recently went through all nine seasons of the TV series “Smallville.” I watched two or three episodes every night, day after day, for months. I watched Clark Kent (Tom Welling) grow up and go through all the normal growing pains of adolescence, young love and family dramas. He, Martha Kent (his adoptive mother) and all the other characters became part of my life. Night after night I watched him use his emerging superpowers to fight crime as he matured, first attending high school and then college. I watched him fall in love with Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), and then become enemies with his former friend Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum). When I finished the last disk, it was like they had all died — it was all over.

Despite my sense of loss, I reluctantly tried a few other TV series, eventually stumbling upon “Grey’s Anatomy.” The cycle started over again with completely different people. By the time I had finished all seven seasons, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her fellow doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital had replaced Clark Kent, et. al as the center of my world. I became completely caught up in the swirl of their personal and professional passions. In a very real sense, death is much like finishing a good TV series, whether “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Smallville” or “Dallas,” except the multiverse has a much bigger collection of DVDs than Netflix. Just like at death, you change reference points. It’s still you, but you experience different lives, different friends and even different worlds.

Think of a football field full of stacks of DVDs piled up to the sky. At death, you’ll even get to watch some re-makes — perhaps in one, you’ll get that dream wedding dress you always wanted, or a doctor cures the disease that caused your loved one to die. The story goes on even after J.R. gets shot. Our linear concept of time means nothing to nature.

As for me, I still have Season Eight of “Grey’s Anatomy” to look forward to.

Robert Lanza has over two dozen scientific books, including “”Biocentrism” which lays out his theory of everything. You can learn more about his work at www.robertlanza.com.

Robert Lanza – What are space and time?

This is an excerpt from the interview with Robert Lanza featured in the 3DVD set “Science and Nonduality Anthology Vol.2″. In this clip Robert Lanza talks about the fundamental assumptions in science about space and time.

How Aware Are You of the Words That Come Out of Your Mouth? ~ Dennis Merritt Jones

“Be impeccable with your word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”
~ Don Miguel Ruiz

While sitting in a restaurant today I had a major league “ah-ha” that really whacked me upside the head, and I would like to share this realization with you. Perhaps you might be able to relate with it (or at least know someone who will ), because at first glance it appears to be a very innocuous form of behavior based on the fact that we all tend to “do it” on a regular basis. It seems to be inculcated in our culture. Perhaps for that very reason it is something to which we all need to pay attention because it affects the emotional (and thus physical) well being of all of us.

The “it” to which I am referring is gossip, and the mindless spreading of hearsay, comments and rumors. As I sat trying to mind my own business while eating my lunch, the people in the booth directly behind me were “having” someone by the name of Jane for lunch … and she wasn’t even there! I honestly did my best to dial it out, but the energy of their conversation was all pervasive. They were talking about her in such a disparaging manner that it was painful to hear. It was in that moment that I became aware that I have also on occasion been a target of the same sort of mindless, groundless gossip and rumors. And yes, I too have also feasted on savory gossip and noshed on tasty unfounded rumors with others. In a microsecond, I understood that the pain I was feeling for Jane and those who were talking about her had became my pain because they were a reflection of me.

At some point or another in our lives we have all been the target of gossip and rumors, as well as participants in the spreading of them. It is insidious, toxic and yet, oh so juicy. Unless we are mindful and vigilant, it’s quite easy to fool ourselves into believing that what is coming from our minds, mouths and hearts is harmless idle chatter. That’s how gossip works. It’s hard to detect when we are in the process of gossiping because it is provocative and seductive, but most of all, it is destructive. Why is it that gossip is so prevalent among us? Many people find some sort of power in gossip because it represents “inside” knowledge that not everyone else is privy to. Some people find great comfort in knowing they can commiserate (in this context meaning “share their misery”) with like-minded people.

Others may find gossip and the spreading of rumors a passive-aggressive way of dealing with their feelings of jealousy or envy, or perhaps their own insecurities and fears. For others it may mean that by putting someone else down (who is seldom present) it somehow makes themselves feel more important. The reasons we gossip are legion, however, not one of them justifies the activity.

This message is a reminder of how easy it is to jump into the stagnate pool of mindless gossip in our workplace, our church, the doctor’s office, the grocery store and even our own homes and neighborhoods. From a spiritual perspective, understanding we are all one, it means that when we gossip to others about others we are ultimately doing damage to ourselves as well. Beyond the aforementioned spiritual reality is the fact that any person who will gossip with you about others will also gossip about you with others. I guess it’s an instant karma sort of thing.

Any way you cut it, gossip and the spreading of rumors is counter productive to creating a healthy relationship with life. Speaking with integrity in our daily interactions is a conscious choice we get to make every day.

I invite you to join me in using this test before we unleash words that may be less than impeccable. Before speaking to or about another person, mindfully ask yourself these questions:

1. Is it true? Do I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I am repeating is accurate and true, or is it based on hearsay and assumptions that I or others have made without gathering all the facts from an impartial and reliable source?

2. What will I gain from repeating these words to others? Will what I am going to say be life affirming, productive and helpful to all involved? Will the world be a better place because I uttered these words? If not, why would I want to repeat them?

3. Is what I am going to say about another person something I would have the clarity, courage and commitment to say to their face, and if so, why don’t I do so?

4. Will what I am going to say be using the power of my word in the direction of truth and love?

Before we speak, or hit the forward and send button, it would do us well to pause and become witness to our thoughts before they become our word. It was a great reminder for me this week regarding the importance of being impeccable in our word. I invite you to join me in using the power of your word in an intentional and conscious manner. Not just because speaking with integrity is the right thing to do, but because the world needs and deserves the absolute highest and best that we can bring to it. When we gossip and spread rumors we are declaring our own lack of wholeness. When we speak less than impeccably about others, we are affirming to the universe that hears our every word that we feel separate and apart from the whole of life. When we are not impeccable in our word we participate in creating pain and suffering for others, and that is not why we have come to earth. When we use our word in the direction of truth and love we honor God’s presence by creating harmony and peace, and that is why we are here. What we think and say matters, so being impeccable with our word seems like a great place to start. Now that is worth repeating, so pass it on!

www.DennisMerrittJones.com

RSA Animate – 21st century enlightenment

Matthew Taylor explores the meaning of 21st century enlightenment, how the idea might help us meet the challenges we face today, and the role that can be played by organisations such as the RSA.

Stop Being So Defensive! by Heidi Grant Halvorson

I rarely admit this (and frankly, I wonder why I’m doing it now), but I am a very defensive person. I can be quick to feel challenged or threatened by perceived criticism. When that happens, my typical responses range from somewhat testy to downright hostile. It’s not an attractive quality. I’m not proud.

I have wanted to do something about it for a long time, but I figured that in order to stop being so defensive, I’d have to do something drastic, like stop caring about what other people think. That sounds great, but it’s an awfully tall order for most of us and not a realistic option for me.

Thanks to a recent set of studies of defensiveness, I now have a far more practical strategy for dealing with my defensive tendencies. When I suspect criticism may be coming my way (for instance, when I send my editor a new chapter for feedback, or when my husband comes home from work to find that I’ve redecorated the bedroom), I take a moment to reflect on something I really like about myself.

I remind myself that I am exceptionally well-organized, that I am a sympathetic listener, that I make a killer baguette, or that I’m fun to have around at parties. This is called self-affirmation and it can take many forms. Usually, we self-affirm through thinking, talking, or writing about our most important values, skills or characteristics. We do it when we reflect on our past successes and the lessons we have learned. And when we do, we provide a boost to our sense of self-esteem and a buffer against any incoming threats.

It turns out that these simple reminders of our own self-worth and integrity significantly reduce our tendency to respond to negative feedback with defensiveness. Instead, we are able to see what may be valuable in the criticism we receive, without feeling the need to prove ourselves right at all costs.

One important drawback to using this strategy, though, is that it is effective only when you self-affirm before you start responding to the criticism — in other words, before you start feeling and acting defensive. If someone criticizes you and you start feeling hot under your collar, stopping to think about your own good qualities is unlikely to help calm you down. The trick is to self-affirm before the feedback and that isn’t always possible, especially when criticism comes as a surprise.

On the other hand, if you know someone who tends to get defensive, this is a great technique to use to make sure your criticism is well received. Before you criticize, start out with an affirmation, as in “You really have an eye for color and I like what you did with the furniture. Though I’m not really crazy about the new bedspread.” By starting with an acknowledgment of what you do like, you are far more likely to avoid getting anyone’s defenses up and increase your chances of having a reasonable, hostility-free discussion. Either way, though, you are probably stuck with the bedspread.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, PhD, is a motivational psychologist and researcher. She writes about the scientifically-tested strategies we can use to be more effective reaching our goals at work and in our personal lives. Her new book is “Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals” (Hudson Street Press). She is also the co-editor of the academic handbook, “The Psychology of Goals,” a regular contributor to the BBC World Service’s “Business Daily,” an expert blogger for Fast Company and Psychology Today, and a guest blogger for Harvard Business Review. Her website is www.heidigranthalvorson.com.

The Shift of The Ages by Bob Frissell

For thirteen thousand years, we have been in separation. We see everything as polarized–good or bad, up or down, hot or cold. We judge everything that happens, which keeps us in this mode of perceiving. As an example of this separate way of looking at life, if your body gets cold you think of a fire or a heater; you think of something outside yourself. This has led to our increasing dependence on technology. We become weaker when we keep giving away our power to technology–that is, to external objects. We then become dependent upon these objects, and soon get to the point where we can’t do anything for ourselves.

Oneness does not understand this. It doesn’t know what “needing” anything means. Aboriginals, who remain in unity-consciousness, and other indigenous people, do not know what “need” means; whatever they need just appears because they are in harmony with nature. If we really knew, we could just think the thought “warm” and it would be so. We have the capability to change anything in the reality from within. But many of us feel that we are just people, with no power and no say regarding how things are in creation.

The larger truth is that we can change anything in our environment
under certain circumstances—when we are in unity and not in separation.
The spirit of God can move right through you.

Sixteen thousand years ago, while on Atlantis, we violated galactic law. After a disagreement about how to handle an approaching comet–the remnants of which are scattered throughout four states–the descendants of Martians decided to separate from the Atlantians. They created a powerful energy field that went totally out of control and nearly destroyed the earth. We were on a very high level of awareness at the time, far beyond where we are now, but by committing this illegal act we fell many dimensional levels until we landed in this current, dense aspect of the reality. There are no accidents, however. In the cosmic scheme of things, this “fall” was necessary in order to allow for a greater possibility. We are now about to leave this place of separation and return to unity-consciousness. The whole world is. We have only a short time left before we will no longer be in separation. This is not going to be happening someday; it is happening now.

DIMENSIONS

All dimensional levels of this world are here and present, right now, and interlinked. The only difference between dimensional worlds is their wavelengths. Wavelength is the key to the entire universe. Dimensions are separated from one another by wavelength in exactly the same way as notes are on a musical scale. Any octave on the piano has eight white keys and five black keys, which together give its player the chromatic scale. The thirteenth note is actually the first note of the next octave, and these octaves keep repeating themselves in either direction. Between each note and the next are twelve harmonic, holographic points; in dimensional terms these are called “overtones.” That makes one hundred and forty-four dimensions in the octave.

There is a void between dimensions. Each dimension is also separated from the others by a ninety-degree rotation. If you could change wavelengths and rotate ninety degrees, you would disappear from this world and reappear in whatever dimension you were tuned to. This planet has many different worlds; they are all right here, but our consciousness is tuned to one particular wavelength. For example, if we were to go up one level, which we are in the process of doing, we would find that whatever we think, as soon as we think it, instantly manifests. We would also be in light bodies.
THE PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES

Earth’s spin axis, in addition to being tilted twenty-three and a half degrees, wobbles. This change in position causes the equinoctial points to regress by one degree every seventy-two years; it changes the viewpoint of one zodiacal constellation every two-thousand-one-hundred-sixty years, making one complete revolution every twenty-five-thousand-nine-hundred-twenty years.

Seen from the North Pole, the axis traces an ellipse. At perigee on this ellipse, we are closest to the center of the galaxy; at apogee, we are farthest away and moving in a counter-clockwise direction. Our consciousness is directly related to this aeonic movement. As we move toward the center of the galaxy, we wake up; as we move away from the center we fall asleep. From a tiny wobble, we literally shift dimensional levels, stepping not only into brand new worlds but also into a completely different way of interpreting the one reality. Simultaneously, great physical changes occur, no less than the poles shifting (i.e., the planet turning over in space).

It is not at the two points closest and farthest from the center of the galaxy where this shift happens, but rather at two points nine hundred years removed from each of them.

We sit, now, right at the turning point of beginning to move back
toward the center of the galaxy and start waking up. At one-hundred-eighty degrees opposite the last shift, the next one is imminent.

Though there has been great fear over the coming changes, with certain groups of people building shelters and storing food, fearful that land-masses will sink, that may not happen this time; it may be a more gentle ride. The speed at which we are evolving is changing everything. We are moving so quickly that a whole new possibility never before dreamed of is emerging. For a complete understanding, please see Nothing in This Book Is True, But It’s Exactly How Things Are.

HOPI PROPHECY FULFILLED

Comet 17P/Holmes shocked astronomers on October 24, 2007, with a spectacular eruption. By mid-November the expanding comet had become the most visible object in the solar system—bigger even than the sun. Since then, the comet has faded back into invisibility.

This exploding “Blue Star” was the fulfillment of a two-hundred-year-old Hopi prophecy, opening a seven-year window and putting us in the “end times.” The Maya are in agreement with the Hopi, as both cultures are conscious survivors of Atlantis and hold the memory of Earth’s past twenty-six thousand years.

This means that sometime between now and 2015 or so, we are very likely to experience changes almost greater than our ability to imagine: a physical pole shift, along with a consciousness shift into the fourth dimension. The exact date, according to the Maya, will almost certainly not be December 21, 2012; rather, it will happen sometime in this seven-year window.

The Maya remember the last shift, along with the one twenty-six thousand years ago. They say there are certain internal changes we must make in order not only to survive, but also rise to the next level. The keys, they say, are to stay out of fear, to be calm and balanced and to be in the heart. They say that Mother Earth knows the vibration of the heart, and that she will protect you through these times.

KUNDALINI AND THE BIRTH OF THE UNITY GRID

Since the dawning of the new millennium, two events have occurred that are changing everything. The first is the movement of the Earth’s Kundalini, which happens every thirteen thousand years and is tied to the precession of the equinoxes. The Kundalini is related to the Earth’s spiritual growth process. Every time it moves, it has a new vibration, which in turn takes us to a new level of consciousness.

The second major event was the birthing of the new grid in January, 2008. A grid is a geometrical, electromagnetically shaped “fishnet” about sixty miles above the globe, encircling the entire planet. Each of the earth’s approximately fourteen million species has its own grid; humankind has three grids, one for each level of consciousness. The conception of the new grid began thirteen-thousand-two-hundred years ago. The recent birth of the completed grid lasted about one month, with the assistance of Polynesian elders. The unity-consciousness grid has been fully formed and birthed. It is now alive and conscious; it is a living energy field around the Earth, and this changes everything.

Mother Earth has made a conscious decision to move into the higher
overtones of the fourth dimension.

These two events have put us into a different potential world. We are now in a heart-based energy field; when you connect to it, a new possibility opens up. This means that our spiritual acceleration will quicken dramatically—there is nothing left to stop it.

It also means that within the next seven years or so (from October 24, 2007), the entire cycle that we are in now will disappear in a single day. In its place, a whole new world will be birthed, one based not on the mind, but rather on the heart. We are right on the edge of the emergence of this world. Everything is in place; the Kundalini has moved, the grid is alive. Yet most of the world continues in its old pattern, thinking this is the way it will be forever and hardly imagining that something incredible is about to occur.

This is a time of great celebration, as we move out of the darkness and into the light. The veils will be lifted; we will remember and live our intimate connection to all life; we will be allowed to reunite with our cosmic brothers and to move about the universe. We will completely redefine what it means to be human!

Bob Frissell is a master rebirther and teacher of thirty years whose books are regarded as underground spiritual classics. In addition to Nothing in This Book Is True But It’s Exactly How Things Are, he is the author of Something in This Book Is True and You Are a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience. His books have been published in seventeen languages and are available in more than thirty countries. Bob has been a featured speaker at The Global Congress of Spiritual Scientists in Bangalore, India, the 4th Annual Symbiosis Gathering at Yosemite, The Prophets Conference in Tulum and many New Living Expos. He has also appeared on numerous talk shows, including The Jeff Rense Program, and has been a three-time guest on Coast to Coast AM. He has presented his workshops throughout North America and Europe.

Bob was trained by Leonard Orr, the rebirthing pioneer, and by Drunvalo Melchizedek, the originator of the Mer-Ka-Ba and Unity Breath meditations. He gives private rebirthing sessions along with his two workshops: “The Breath of Life (Rebirthing and Emotional Healing)” and “The Flower of Life (Sacred Geometry and the Mer-Ka-Ba).” Visit www.BobFrissell.com.

Becoming a Universal Species by Barbara Marx Hubbard

Every personal crisis is an opportunity to change, to grow, to evolve. We all face crises. We have deaths in our families; friends become ill; we may lose our jobs. Each of these crises is necessary to jolt us from our daily routine, our planned path, and give us the chance to move to a new level.

Every crisis a species faces is, similarly, an opportunity to evolve. Our species was faced with a crisis millions of years ago when our ancestors’ environment changed from forest to grassland. Our ancestors took the evolutionary leap and learned to walk on two legs. This freed hands for tool use, and that resulted in larger, better brains.

As we approach 2012, humanity faces crises related to
global warming and climate change, world economic systems,
nuclear arms–and the list grows.

The great difference here is that we are the first species that knows it is facing crises of its own making that could render us extinct or empower us to evolve. This awareness marks the beginning of the first age of conscious evolution.

We belong to the first generations to face crises that could destroy our own biosphere. As a species, we have faced that possibility since the development of the atomic bomb. But at the same time, many millions of people are waking up, asking, “What can I do?” The answer does not lie with old governmental systems or educational institutions, nor with religions, but with innovation and creativity in every field.

As the danger accelerates, innovation grows.

The crises now converging can bring an end to the dominator culture–with its over-population, separate-mindedness, environmental abuse and weapons of mass destruction–as our species makes its first conscious leap to our next phase. We have been told that we are at a bifurcation point, where the human species can either go down to further collapse, or make a positive shift through collaboration and connectivity. It depends on what we do.

We are at a “chaos window.” The system is out of balance. It can not continue by doing more of the same. We must innovate and transform, or we will devolve and self destruct. And there isn’t much time to make this choice.

The key to our possible rapid evolution is to connect what is working in every field and function toward a sustainable and evolvable world. It is to learn “social synergy” through collaboration and co-creativity. The very effort to connect the positive will evolve us toward the next phase of our species. We could become a “universal humanity,” capable of co-evolving with nature and co-creating with Spirit.

Our conscious evolution is being accelerated by the non-linear, exponential connectivity of what is emerging, through social networks of all kinds, driven by sacred activism, that is action from the heart for the common good.

I believe that, by 2012, we can share together a “planetary birth experience,”
the awareness that we are one planetary body with the technology,
resources and know-how to make it through these crises together.

Already we see enough innovations in technology, in health–in every sector–to give pioneering souls the vision of our birth as a universal species. Such innovations are breaking through in every area, but they are not visible in the media, or in our mainstream politics. You can see them with “evolutionary eyes,” that notice what is breaking through out of what is breaking down.

Our new capacities, especially in science and technology, make our next evolutionary leap very different from past changes. The next stage will be born not from random selection and survival of the fittest, but from the conscious choice of creative people working in synergy, integrating and applying our spiritual, social and scientific capacities.

Technologically, we’re gaining the powers once attributed to gods. Advances such as biotechnology, nano-technology, robotics, artificial intelligence and worldwide communication through the Internet put us on the threshold of no longer being creature humans.

We are going to be co-creative humans, universal humans, and I think eventually
we will be a universal species on this earth, in the solar system, and in the galaxy.

Our spiritual capacities are ancient, but in the past people projected their own innate abilities onto gods, masters or institutions. Now, millions of us are now feeling the spirit within ourselves, becoming spiritually activated: co-creative humans. We are bringing the gods home as our own evolutionary potential.

We can appreciate our challenges without judgment. In the social realm, no one has ever before been asked to evolve a planet. There are no experts. Nobody on this earth has seen a co-evolutionary, co-creative society. We are being asked to divine the design of social evolution–to design a world.

What is forming right now is a worldwide community of pioneering souls, a communion of people attracted to expressing and giving their gifts to the world. When we meet each other there is an instant rapport. The connectivity of such evolving humans is rapidly creating a resonant field, and a new critical mass of coherence and creativity that can shift the direction of human history.
listen

As we probe into matter we find, through quantum physics, that there is no matter, that underneath energy there is a field, and underneath the field there seems to be an ordering process. It looks as though the most advanced scientific research is tapping into the mind of the cosmos–seeking to understand the way consciousness itself creates.

I am a proponent and practitioner of sacred activism, the sacred part of conscious evolution. When I ran for the Vice Presidential nomination in 1984, I proposed a Peace Room that would identify the work of sacred activists. It would scan for and map connections and communicate what is working in the world to mobilize for constructive action. This is beginning to happen now. The Foundation for Conscious Evolution is working in collaboration with others to bring the Peace Room, now called the Synergy Engine, into reality. The worldwide web, which was in its infancy in 1984, gives us the tools to scan for what’s emerging and bring people with ideas together. Scaled-up synergy and fast connections will let us show people how to apply conscious evolution in their own lives, for their own benefit, and for the greatest good of their neighbors and all of humanity.
listen
The greater the emergency, the faster the emergence.
The situation itself is empowering.

The new society will involve people who see common goals and then match their talents with the needs of others. While we are increasing global intelligence by making creative ideas available for synergistic cooperation, we will also re-localize, as each person gives their gifts where they are needed.

We have the most wonderful opportunity humanity has ever faced. Without crisis, humanity would not make the leap to evolve into a new culture. As a species, we would remain in our fairly comfortable rut, fearing the unknown effects of change. The crises surrounding 2012 force us to change our society and ourselves. The new social structures we consciously create will not encourage survival of the fittest, in the old evolutionary paradigm. Rather they will free each of us to make our own unique contributions. It will be what Jonas Salk called “the survival of what fits best.”

As a global society, we will experience more synergy, as people with varied skills make vital connections. But that society will also be localized, as people share the results of that synergy where they are most needed. I envision local synergy centers, so people can connect with one another where they live and act based on local needs. These centers would help people develop alternative currencies to empower them to go beyond over-monetization to support collaboration and co-creativity.

It is important for us to share our visions of a universal humanity. This much we can already see: If humanity succeeds in moving to the next evolutionary stage, we will have expanded, and extended, intelligence. As members of one living planetary body, we will have matured into a consciousness of the whole system. We will have longer life spans. We will have powers we once projected onto gods, but those powers will be our own.

We will restore the Earth, free ourselves from deficiencies, develop synergistic social systems, release untapped human potential, inhabit the solar system and eventually become galactic humans. We will be born as universal persons.

A noted futurist, author, social architect and speaker, Barbara Marx Hubbard is a founding board member of the World Future Society and co-founded the Foundation for Conscious Evolution. Barbara is the producer and narrator of the award-winning DVD series Humanity Ascending: A New Way Through Together. She’s written five books: The Hunger of Eve, The Evolutionary Journey, Revelation: Our Crisis Is a Birth, Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential, and Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence, Ten Steps to the Universal Human.

Barbara earned a BA in political science at Bryn Mawr College and studied at L’Ecole des Sciences Politique and the Sorbonne. She earned the first Doctor of Conscious Evolution degree awarded by the Emerson Theological Institute. She currently lives in Santa Barbara, California. To learn more about Barbara, visit www.BarbaraMarxHubbard.com.

2012 The Dark Rift – Part 1 & 2

Things to come…
This video series is dedicated to:
‘The Veiled Prophet’
Mr. David C. Owens (who’s words inspired)

2012 The Dark Rift (part 2)

Things to come…

A look into the devastating effects we may encounter leading up to 2012.

Terrorism, Fear and Spirituality ~ Sri Sri Shankar

The Norway shootings, where Anders Behring Breivik, calling himself a “crusader” for Christendom, killed 76 people, has shocked the world. This incident has brought forth a serious issue facing humanity — that of prejudice, intolerance and fear psychosis. The mindset responsible for such an act is most dangerous. Whatever religious color a terrorist may wear, or reason one might hold to justify such behavior, the basic issue is a failure to realize the importance of diversity and the underlying spiritual unity of humankind. Lack of interaction between cultures, and prejudice against other cultures, can take individuals and entire societies into such disastrous situations.

Multi-cultural and multi-religious activities are necessary to remove prejudices and phobias from young minds. It is absolutely essential that all nations embrace multi-cultural and multi-religious educations and celebrate diversity. When a child grows up thinking that other religions or cultures are not good, then he or she becomes ready to take other lives or give up one’s own due to the prejudiced mindset. Understanding a little about other cultures, religions and customs will help a child develop a sense of connectedness and a sense of belonging with everybody. When a sense of connectedness is present, one cannot harbor hatred for others.

All religions emphasize the principles of nonviolence, peaceful co-existence and values of friendliness, compassion and service to society. These common principles need to be highlighted and introduced early on in a child’s education. Even a small section of people with prejudices and misconceptions can prove dangerous to society. Unfortunately, in every religion today, there are people who are narrow-minded and thrive on creating phobia, prejudice and erroneous perceptions about other cultures and religions. Closed mindsets, limited interactions, and a sense of disconnectedness with other cultures and communities can lead to situations that can spark such violent acts.

Spiritual education is crucial to help individuals deal with anger and hatred. Without a means to control them, anger and hatred can lead to a situation where one loses sight of reason. When the ability to reason is lost, human values of tolerance and compassion are lost. Respect for life, which is the basis for all human values, is also lost as a result.

Terrorists have no respect for life. In reality, terrorists have no religion, no nationality and no philosophy, for they are blind to reason. Lack of spiritual education gives rise to domestic and societal violence on one hand, and suicidal tendencies on the other. When a person is frustrated, angry or hateful, you cannot expect brotherhood and non-violence to prevail. The sense of connectedness in society depends on how people are oriented to the principle of Ahimsa or nonviolence. If the values of nonviolence, love, friendliness and compassion are strongly ingrained in an individual, frustration or disappointments can be handled better.

We accept food, art and music from around the world. In the same way, we need to learn to accept knowledge and wisdom from every part of the world as well. We live in an age of globalization — we need to globalize wisdom also. Even if one part of the world lacks these human values of friendliness, tolerance and compassion, the world will not be a safe place, because that part can breed terrorism.

We need to address the root cause of these incidents of violence before it is too late. Often, peace-loving people are not proactive in promoting peace in society, and those who are proactive lack peace within. A combination of peace and dynamism is needed in society today. Though this may seem idealistic, it is not impossible. It is possible through right education and orientation. Each one of us can play a role in educating people on the human values of friendliness, compassion and non-aggression.

Human values are social and ethical norms common to all cultures and societies, as well as religions. They represent a melding of social progress and spiritual growth. Religious and community leaders should rethink how they can reduce extremist tendencies in their communities. When attention is given to the spiritual aspect of one’s life, it brings up responsibility, a sense of connectedness, compassion and caring for the whole of humanity. Spirituality upholds and sustains life. It breaks down the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality. Spirituality gives an individual awareness of the life present everywhere. It is only through this awareness and the uplifting of human consciousness that violence in the name of religion can be eliminated.

Bruce Lipton ‘The Power Of Consciousness’

Bruce Lipton ‘ The Power Of Consciousness’ Interview by Iain
McNay

What’s True, and Not, About Stress ~ Deepak Chopra

This is one of those posts where it’s tempting to add “keep reading” to the title. Stress is the gray little monster in the corner that keeps out of sight. Everyone promises themselves to reduce the stress in their lives, yet “I’m stressed out” is said every day, and the pressures of modern life mount. Banks undergo stress tests, as do our hearts when the doctor wants to test for cardiac disease. What more is there to say about a subject that has become so well worn?

Actually, it’s worthwhile to go back and revisit the basic facts about stress, and then look at the deeper, more mysterious issues that are involved, some of which lead us into unexpected territory. The term stress was coined by the Hungarian researcher Hans Selye, who injected irritating substances into mice and discovered, to his surprise, that all of them produced the same symptoms (swelling of the adrenal cortex, atrophy of the thymus gland, gastric and duodenal ulcers). Selye observed that sick patients with various illnesses exhibited much the same symptoms.

It was due to Selye’s medical approach that stress is seen as a physical response rooted in the endocrine system. In fact, the term “stress hormones” is still applied, and blood levels of cortisol are a key indicator of someone being under stress. In the grand scheme, stress hormones were incredibly useful ways to explain such diverse things as battle fatigue, the fight-or-flight response, and the death of salmon after they swim upstream to spawn. People were taught to think of stress as being the equivalent of pressure being put on the body, which then gets stressed out.

In this scheme, more pressure equals more stress, less pressure equals less stress. Therefore, it must be good to live with less pressure. However, the picture isn’t nearly so simple. Selye recognized two types of stress. The first, which he called distress, occurs from bad events like being in battle or losing your job. The second, which he called eustress, occurs from happy events, such as a surprise birthday party or going on vacation — the latter is considered one of everyday life’s biggest stressors, even though the purpose of a vacation is supposedly to relax. The body reacts the same to eustress and distress so far as raising its levels of stress hormones, and this poses a dilemma.

Human beings are not jellyfish, passively floating through a uniform medium like the ocean. We live in a constantly changing environment, to which the body responds by going out of balance and then back into balance. Its natural set point is balanced, and the complex way that this balance is maintained — known as homeostasis — crosses all boundaries. A physical event can throw the body out of balance, but so can a mental event. Thus, being afraid that you might lose your job is just as stressful as actually losing it.

If everything is potentially a stress, and if the body is so well adapted to restoring balance, then the concept of stress becomes vague and perhaps useless. There are people who claim to thrive on pressure. Is this possible, or are they ignoring signs of stress that will catch up with them one day? Is running a marathon, which puts enormous stress on the body physically, a hidden health risk despite the satisfaction gained by the runner? A hundred similar questions can be asked, and the medical answer, though very complex and detailed, amounts to a shrug of the shoulders. To understand stress completely, one would have to understand the whole of life, it seems.

What if we step outside the medical model, or better yet, incorporate it into a larger perspective? That is what the world’s wisdom traditions have done, without using our modern terminology. Contrary to popular belief, which would label spirituality as other-worldly, the purpose of wisdom is to adapt better to this world. The same issues that lead to stress in the modern world — how to be happy, how to calm the restless mind, how to escape nervous anxiety and so on — confronted human beings at the time of Buddha and Christ. So let’s step back and rethink stress in spiritual terms first, rather than setting the soul aside as something to pay attention to much further down the road.

Here, I must speak very generally. In spirituality of every kind, the non-physical domain contains our source. We are the products of consciousness, whether you call it the mind of God or universal Brahman. This consciousness was responsible for creating the body and mind we experience every day. The good life therefore depends upon the following:

1. Being at peace with yourself.

2. Connecting to your source in consciousness.

3. Growing in self-awareness.

4. Feeling loved and worthy.

5. Experiencing the presence of God or the soul.

People struggle simply to attain the first thing on this list and yet much more is implied by the other items. An entire worldview is based on which allegiance you hold, to the physical first and foremost or to the spiritual first and foremost. This isn’t an intellectual or emotional decision made according to various beliefs, it is a conception of reality itself. In our time, which is dominated by materialism, stress is the enemy that impairs health. In the spiritual worldview, stress is the distraction that keeps you from knowing God or the soul.

The two sound radically different, and they are. But again speaking in vast generalities, the body is crucial in both cases. Homeostasis, the body’s ability to balance itself, has both a gross level and a subtle level. The gross level is needed for physical survival. When you run a mile and raise your blood pressure and heart rate, it’s vital for these to come back down again or you will die. The subtle level of homeostasis is far more mystifying. But we might say that true balance is a state of clear, calm self-awareness in which you return to the higher self. Thus, a moment of excitement that throws your awareness out of balance, whether for pleasure or pain, shouldn’t be sustained, because if you lose the connection with your soul your true self, life will be harmed.

Stress, it turns out, does spiritual damage before it does physical damage. Selye didn’t talk in those terms, naturally, but quickly upon the spread of his research findings in the 60s and 70s, it was widely reported that meditation reduces stress. That’s not a casual observation. Meditation’s ability to reduce blood pressure, for example, is secondary to the fact that the whole person is being rebalanced, not just the body. Yet the body is crucial in the process. No more profound finding has emerged in modern spirituality. One famous guru was asked what was necessary in order to reach enlightenment, and he replied, “Relax.”

Behind this simple and seemingly frivolous answer lies a wealth of knowledge about health, wisdom, well-being and the purpose of life. In the next post I’d like to explore those avenues. Stress will be our constant companion, the little gray monster trying to be overlooked, until we root out its effects as deeply as possible.

The Most Important App You Will Ever Have ~ Soren Gordhamer

In our age of amazing technological advancement, where new apps are created daily and we are busier than ever, it is easy to forget the most essential app we have: our own body and mind. In fact, in a recent National Sleep Foundation study, 63 percent of Americans say their sleep needs are not being met during the week. Essentially, the mind/body app often takes a toll in our constantly-connected life.

While we want the newest and coolest app available in the app store, more people are realizing that taking care of themselves amidst an increasingly-connected life is paramount. Venture investor and Twitter advisor Chris Sacca said it best at the recent Wisdom 2.0 Conference, which I organize: “People are realizing, ‘I have optimized my machines, my software … ‘ yet we are beginning to realize that no matter how great a technological device we buy or how great our network is, the real source of potential is in ourselves.”

How do we do harness this most essential app? Below are three key elements:

1) Pay Attention: Mindfulness Matters

“You must be present to win.” — a sign in Las Vegas

Mindfulness is the ability to bring our full attention to the present moment. It’s what allows us to focus on our work, discuss a subject with an open mind and feel connected to people and nature. The opposite of mindfulness is “mindlessness,” where we are constantly scattered and unable to focus on one thing.

Digg and Milk founder Kevin Rose, when asked why mindfulness is important, replied, “Because bad things happen to you if you don’t.” He went on to explain that there were times when stress has taken over his life, and he realized the need to slow down and take a breath in order to stay healthy and focused.

Zynga cofounder Eric Schiermeyer speaks on benefits of mindfulness in business, and went so far as to say, “If you want to super hyper wealthy, you really need to spend some time being mindful.”

More people in tech are realizing the power of their attention, and the need to develop and harness this, as much as they build their other skills.

2) Do Something: The Power of Movement

“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” — Plato

A second element that helps us nurture the mind/body app is movement or exercise. Our bodies are not built to sit still for hours and hours a day in chairs. We need to move. Exercise is shown to have countless benefits, from supporting positive brain activity, to decreasing stress and lowering cholesterol.
A recent medical journal study revealed that people who sit for most of their day are 54 percent more likely to die of a heart attack.

Standing desks and moving the body throughout the day, whether it takes the form of a walk, run or yoga, has significant benefit to our health and well-being.

Technology can support this, for example, through tools like RunKeeper, which provides a community for joggers, or simply setting an alarm on your phone to ring everyday that reminds you to move.

When we sit for too long, the mind easily stagnates and the blood does not flow. The human being is one app that needs movement.

3) Nourish the App: Foods that Aid

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” — Irish Proverb

It’s curious that when we buy the latest iPhone, we often purchase a nice cover for it, make sure it is protected from the elements and keep it in good working condition … We want it to last as long as we can. However, at the same time, we often treat the greater app, our mind and body, with much less care, habitually eating food, from pastries to sugared drinks, that drain our energy and make it more difficult for us to focus on our work.

We have more interest in our iPhone lasting than we do our body and mind. Not all of us need to go so far as to kill all the meat we eat like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg does, but it helps to bring greater awareness to the food we take in and find foods that give us energy and support a healthy lifestyle.

Sites like Summer Tomato are dedicated to helping people do so, including buying and eating fresh, seasonal foods. As founder Darya Pino explains, “Your daily food choices are by far the most important factors in your long-term personal health, and upgrading your health style can add more than a decade of quality years to your life.”

It can also help to find friends and co-workers who share this interest, and with whom you can share meals and offer and receive support in eating better.

Conclusion

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” — Jim Rohn

While it is always exciting to get the latest external app, if we are not caring for the body/mind app in the process, we are missing something. So as we download that latest app in the store, it is good to remember to care for the mind/body app as we do, which involves paying attention, getting the sleep we need and noticing what foods best serve us.

If you think you have a more important app that needs your attention, go for it. However, without a functional mind/body app, none of the others work as well. It’s one app that is not so easy to replace.

Wisdom 2.0 is a conference founded by Soren Gordhamer to explore the deeper connections between technology and humanity, discovering paths that lead to mindful, happier lives.

The Many Ways to Know Your True Self ~ Bob Lingvall

First, let’s see why we want to know our true self, and then let’s explore how we can do it.

Why do we want to know our true self? It brings us back into the beauty of each moment of our lives. You know yourself as the gift you have always been looking for — the love your heart desires. Knowing your true self does not answer all your questions, but instead makes them so much less important to ask. True enlightenment gives you back to yourself and to your loved ones in a fuller, deeper way. Your daily life, your ego, becomes more and more an expression of who you truly are, who we all are, each and every one of us — compassionate love, blissful awareness. That’s the “why” of it. Now, the “how.”

How do you come to know your true self? There are many varied methods and practices offered by various cultures and religious traditions. This can be confusing. Let’s look for the common thread beneath these practices. What makes each of them effective tools for enlightenment? What makes following your breath, the Jesus prayer or a Zen koan, all ways to realize your true self? Knowing this can help you use any religious tradition’s practice more effectively. It can help you avoid the distractions of the orthodoxies and cultural accidentals, allowing you to keep your focus fixed on the task of enlightenment — of knowing your true self.

The common element in all these practices is the temporary suspension of discursive thinking. This makes them tools for enlightenment. Why is suspending discursive thinking so important? Discursive thinking is the life-blood of the ego’s activity. Suspend your discursive thinking and you can begin to have a consciously lived experience without the ego. Without the ego’s activity engaging our attention we have a chance of knowing our true nature beneath our ego.

When looking for your true self there is nothing for us to create or fix, but rather to uncover and to discover. Any meditation practice, such as following your breath, engaging in a zen koan or simply being aware, gives you the lived experience of being conscious without the activity of the ego. We begin to know ourselves without the ego’s activity, allowing us to have a consciously lived moment of our true nature. Over time this process weakens your attachment to your ego as your true self.

So if we want to discover our true nature we need to give our self the experience of being awake and conscious without being engaged in our ego’s activity. Our attachment to our ego as ourself, as who we are, hides our true nature from us. This is the attachment that blinds us. Give yourself the experience of being awake and conscious without being engaged in the ego’s activity.

If you can be conscious and alive without the ego, then it cannot be your essence. It cannot be ultimately who you are, but only something you do or possess. Having the lived experience of being conscious without the ego’s activity, even for a moment, gives you a taste of your true nature beneath your ego.

So begin a practice of giving yourself the lived experience of being conscious without the ego’s activity. Pick any one you want. See what fits. What is comfortable for you? Simply do some type of practice that does not involve discursive thinking, such as following your breath in and out or exhausting your discursive thinking with a Zen koan, until it surrenders and you find rest. You can also disengage from discursive thinking by focusing on sensory awareness: colors, shapes, sounds, smells or perhaps some body awareness exercises — the touch of your shirt on your neck, your feet touching the floor or consciously tensing and relaxing the muscles of your body. There are many, many others. Just look for something that helps you stay awake and alert, but without engaging in discursive thinking.

Once you begin your practice you can start to have a new relationship with your ego, seeing it as a tool for the expression of your true nature. We are not trying to get rid of the ego. It is a very necessary, wonderful psychological structure, providing us with tools to function in society: building relationships, engaging in work and play, and on and on. Wonderful, yes, but for all its wonder it is not who we are. It is a tool for the expression of who we are. At its best, it is a tool for the expression of our true nature in our everyday life.

Seeing our ego as a tool for the expression of our true nature gives us a better chance to lay it aside for a few moments when it is not needed. We can simply be in our realized self. The ego is a necessary and effective tool for engaging in society. It has a very important purpose and function. Its joys and sorrows are not to be overlooked either. When you know the ego as a tool for the expression of your true self it can be a wonderful way to live a human life. The ego has a job to do. It has a purpose and function in our life, but it does not need all of our conscious, waking moments, 24/7.

There are times in everyone’s life when we can lay your ego aside for a few moments and live without it. We can all rest in our true self beneath the ego. It can be when you have a few minutes without any demands on you — no questions to answer, problems to solve, things to plan or do. There are moments when the ego is just not needed. Having the lived experience of letting go of the ego in your meditation practice, and knowing that the ego is not you, will allow you to more easily lay it aside for a few moments and just be. You can take a break and consciously be aware of being — nothing more, nothing less. You are loving, conscious awareness. Being awareness is satisfying in and of itself.

This direct experience of being awareness is the experience of your true nature. Your true self beneath your ego cannot be known as a fact or object, but only lived. Being is. Discursive thought will never get us here.

Again, why do we want to know our true self? It brings us back into the beauty of each moment of our life. You will know yourself as the gift you have always been looking for, the love your heart desires. Knowing your true self does not answer all your questions, but instead makes them so much less important to ask or answer. True enlightenment gives you back to yourself and to your loved ones, in a fuller, deeper way. Your daily life, your ego, becomes more and more an expression of who you are and who we all are, each and every one of us — compassionate love, blissful awareness

Bob’s studies of Buddhism and Hinduism began in 1969 and resulted in Bachelor’s Degree in American Religious Studies at Harpur College.

Taking a decidedly mystical turn, Bob has taught courses in meditation, Hindu mysticism, and Persian poetry, in particular finding inspiration in the writings of Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, family (especially his wife, Romina, and his five children), students, friends, self-inquiry and silence.

His ebooklet, There Is a Beauty Within You – “I am” Meditation Series can be found on www.smashwords.com.

Chief Golden Light Eagle at the Topanga Canyon Film Festival

Chief Golden Light Eagle speaks at the Topanga Canyon Film Festival in California.

Is Intuition Actually Your Ego Speaking? ~ Andrew Cohen

Authentic Intuition

In many spiritual circles, everybody likes to talk about intuition. “Follow your heart,” “Listen to your inner guide,” teachers tell us. But I always get a little nervous when I hear that kind of advice because it all depends on who you’re talking to. To take a very extreme example, if you told a fundamentalist terrorist to follow his or her heart, we all know where that would lead.

When you tell anybody to follow his heart or to trust her intuition, you first have to know who you’re talking to, how developed he is, and to what degree she has actually evolved beyond ego. When we embark on the path of “Evolutionary Enlightenment,” we recognize that most of us are deeply identified with the individual and collective ego, and therefore our choices and actions are, more often than not, driven by unconscious fears and desires and culturally conditioned beliefs and values.

As we begin to awaken to what I call the “Authentic Self,” or evolutionary impulse, and begin to identify more with that than with the individual and collective ego, the motivating forces for our choices and actions begin to shift. The goal in “Evolutionary Enlightenment” is for the individual’s center of gravity or locus of identification to significantly shift so that the influence of the “Authentic Self” becomes greater than that of the ego. But until this critical threshold is crossed, talking about intuition is a dangerous business.

An intuition is usually a deeply felt sense of something we should do, or a particular direction to go in, that is not merely cognitive but more of a conviction or feeling of rightness. The problem this creates is that too many of us don’t know the difference between those experiences of insight and conviction that come from the ego and those experiences of insight and conviction that are a reflection of the “Authentic Self.”

So unless you are very clear about the distinction between ego and Authentic Self, you can assume that you are intuiting all kinds of things and ascribe to them tremendous significance, when actually they are just the voice of the individual and collective ego. Unless we get over our ego-driven narcissism, the whole notion of intuition can become very tangled up with our already over-exaggerated sense of self-importance and with all the excessive significance we tend to give to our feelings and our personal story. If we’re not awake to this, we can easily end up deluding ourselves and misleading others with our so-called spiritual intuitions.

So intuition is a real thing, but I don’t think we can blindly trust it. We want to always relate intuition to the evolution and development of the “Authentic Self” in order for it to be trustworthy and reliable. And most importantly, we need to educate ourselves about what the different dimensions of the self are, how the self works and what the mechanics of our own experience are in order to become so awake to the subjective dimension that we know what’s happening, as it’s happening.

We want to get to the point where, when we have a strong feeling about something, we really know whether it’s the ego at work or whether it is a deeper, more authentic part of our self. We want to get to the point where we are quite familiar with these different dimensions of the self so that we can make the right choices, consistently.

So for all the reasons I’ve just explained, in the teaching of “Evolutionary Enlightenment,” I don’t put too much emphasis on the significance of intuition, even though it is an inherent part of awakening beyond ego. When you begin to trust the “Authentic Self,” which is the part of yourself that is always already awake and that miraculously knows before thought, you will discover a profoundly intuitive capacity that I call the mind of enlightenment.

But in order to have access to that part of the self, it is imperative that you get very clear about how to make distinctions between the ego and the “Authentic Self.” Once you can make these distinctions clearly, the intuitive dimension that is an inherent quality of the Authentic Self will spontaneously begin to emerge.

Deepak Chopra – What’s True, and Not, About Stress (Part Two)

In my first post I began to talk about the spiritual side of stress. It’s such an unusual approach that it might be good to review stress more conventionally first. Stress is made complicated because both mind and body are involved. The so-called stress response is a temporary event with physical markers, such as a rise in certain hormones.

Once the event that caused the response is over, the stress itself isn’t gone. Soldiers come home from battle with post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, a lingering memory bringing back their stress even more powerfully and repeatedly than when it was first felt. Closer to home, sitting in a traffic snarl while commuting to and from work can create a low-level kind of stress that is constant and nagging.

In other words, physical signs aren’t enough to explain what stress is doing to us every day. You can’t simply “lower your stress” by avoiding pressured situations. A completely easy life, without pressure of any kind (if such a hypothetical life existed), needs only one deeply disturbing event, such as the death of a baby, to be scarred for years and change the course of a person’s existence. At the opposite extreme, stress can act like high blood pressure, which damages the body through a slight increase in stress on the cell walls, seemingly innocuous at first glance. The cell performs all of its functions without seeming distressed, and yet years later, a huge array of problems can arise.

So where does that leave us? Is life meant to be stressful by its very nature, full of events that send us into the stress response no matter what we do? Modern medical research has arrived at many partial answers that go part way to a complete answer. For example, three factors make stress more severe: repetition, unpredictability and lack of control.

These markers are observed in a classic experiment with laboratory mice in which a mouse is placed on a pad that delivers a mild electrical shock, not enough to hurt it but simply to startle. If these small shocks are measured individually, the stress they cause is not significant. However, if the shocks come randomly and the mouse cannot escape them, something remarkable happens. The overloaded stress response in the mouse causes severe damage in a short period of time, leading to illness and a quick death.

Humans are more complex than mice, and even though repetition will break down anyone’s resistance to stress (given enough time at the front lines under artillery bombardment, all soldiers suffer shell shock, for example), we are affected more severely if stresses arrive unpredictably and in a way that is out of our control. This helps explain why a child coming from a situation of abuse, with an unpredictable alcoholic parent, for example, can be feel the harm of this experience for life. When you can find no escape, and bad things happen out of the blue, stress takes a heavy toll.

So where does spirituality help us in this tangle of confusing facts?

In the Indian tradition there’s a term for events that make an impression: karma. Literally the word means “action” in Sanskrit, but karmas are actions that change us, for good or ill, by leaving a memory that causes action to change in the future. For the moment we won’t talk about the Law of Karma, which says that actions are balanced in the cosmos between good and evil, or as the New Testament states it, “as you sow so shall you reap.” Here, I’m only concerned with the stressful side of karma, by which certain life events make a deep impression while others don’t.

At first glance karma is far more complicated that stress. There’s the whole mystery of how a good action is rewarded by the universe and a bad action punished. There’s the personal side of karma, where two people go through the same event — a car crash, winning the lottery, getting married — but wind up with completely different results. This tangle of riddles and complexity cannot simply be wished away. Nor is it adequate to lump everything under the same simple rubric like the stress response. The ancient seers of India, the Vedic rishis, embraced the entire issue, but so did Jesus, Buddha, and other great spiritual guides.

Their diagnosis was surprisingly similar to the one accepted by stress researchers: Life delivers stress in very complicated ways and is inescapable. Memory stores deep impressions, and the body responds to these memories as strongly as it does to the original stressor. We can easily insert “karma” in the slots where the word “stress” appears. But here the world’s wisdom traditions sharply diverge from modern medicine by saying flatly that suffering is inescapable as long as karma exists.

In Buddhism and Vedanta there are no half measures. A person isn’t asked to increase the good experiences in his life and reduce the bad ones. The entire pursuit of pleasure is considered unworkable. This is bad news for anyone who tries to use stress reduction, yet I am not suggesting that embracing stress or increasing the pressure in your life is advisable. It was assumed in the Bible, the Vedas, and other scriptures that we all try to lead good moral lives by following the rules of decent behavior. Yet, this basic moral existence isn’t the same as solving karma, or stress, once and for all.

After offering such a dire diagnosis, the astonishing thing about the ancient spiritual teachings is that they offer a complete solution. They suggest that the world of karma, even though it surrounds us and ensnares us at every moment, is not fully real. Beyond it lies actual reality, which is reached by cultivating the subtler side of the human nervous system.

I’ve found it helpful to divide awareness into two kinds of attention: first attention and second attention. First attention keeps us attuned to the affairs of everyday life; second attention keeps us attuned to higher reality. If you remain fixated on first attention, karma and stress are unavoidable. Your focus will be tied to changes in the external world and your inner response to the ups and downs of existence.

Second attention, however, is rooted in the changeless, and thus it protects you from the impressions made by stress and karma. This isn’t the same as zoning out. In modern terminology, second attention is like being centered instead of scattered, calm instead of restless, at peace instead of agitated. Yet, these are secondary to the deeper realization that you are not what you seem to be. You seem to be a body and mind tossed about by the winds of change. In reality, you are a soul undergoing physical experiences for the purpose of evolving until you fully know who you are.

I realize that this conclusion seems like folly, hokum or nonsense to committed materialists; it fits into the skeptical scheme of those who ridicule all things spiritual. But this isn’t an issue that can be settled by arguing over it. Each person must go through the process of experiencing second attention and finding out personally if higher reality exists. The proof lies in many areas, but the most crucial is the area we’ve been discussing. If stress ceases to create illness, damage, anxiety and pressure, if impressions no longer haunt us, if memory loosens its grip, then we can say that the world’s wisdom traditions had something valid to say.

In the next post I’ll cover the practical side of shifting into second attention as the true solution to stress and therefore the solution to the baffling riddle of karma.

Praying for the Earth ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Prayer is a way to be with the divine — from the prayer born from need, where we use words to express our needs, to the deeper prayer that takes us beyond any words into the oneness and silence within the heart. This video is about the simplicity of the “Prayer of the Heart”:
PRAYER – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Prayer is a way to be with the Divine—from the prayer born from need, where we tell God our needs, to the deeper prayer which takes us beyond any words into the oneness and silence within the heart. This video is about the simplicity of the Prayer of the Heart.

Audio excerpt taken from “Prayer”: talks given by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, June 2011 at the Omega Institute. To listen to complete talks please visit: goldensufi.org/​audio.html#Omega_2011

Prayer is the simplest and most natural way to communicate with the divine. Prayer is the heart speaking. There are the prescribed prayers, the rituals of inner communion. But there are also our personal prayers, our way of being with the sacred that is our deepest nature and that of the world around us. In whatever way we are drawn to pray, there is a pressing need at this time to include the earth in our prayers.

We are living in a time of ecological devastation, in which our materialistic culture has had a catastrophic effect on the ecosystem. Our rivers are toxic, the rainforests slashed and burned, vast tracts of land made a wasteland due to our insatiable desires for oil, gas and minerals. We have raped and pillaged and polluted the earth until it is in a dangerous state of imbalance we call climate change. If we dare to listen, creation itself is now calling to us, sending us signs of its imbalance. We can see these signs in the increasing floods and droughts, feel it in a land that has been poisoned with pesticides, and those whose hearts are open may hear the cry of the world soul, of the spiritual being of our mother the earth. It is a cry of need and despair, that humanity who was supposed to be the guardian of the planet has forgotten its responsibility and instead desecrates and destroys the earth on a global scale.

The earth needs our prayers more than we know. It needs us to acknowledge its sacred nature, that it is not just something to use and dispose. Many of us know the effectiveness of prayers for others, how healing and help is given, even in the most unexpected ways. There are many ways to pray for the earth. It can be helpful first to acknowledge that it is not “unfeeling matter” but a living being that has given us life. And then we can sense its suffering: the physical suffering we see in the dying species and polluted waters, the deeper suffering of our collective disregard for its sacred nature. Would we like to be treated just as a physical object to be used and abused? Would we like our sacred nature, our soul, to be denied?

For centuries it was understood that the world was a living being with a soul, and that we are a part of this being. Once we remember this in our minds and in our hearts, once we hear the cry of our suffering, dying world, our prayers will flow more easily and naturally. We will be drawn to pray in our own way. There is the simple prayer of placing the world as a living being within our hearts when we inwardly offer our self to the divine. We remember the sorrow and suffering of the world in our hearts and ask that the world be remembered, that divine love and mercy flow where it is needed. That even though we continue to treat the world so badly, divine grace will help us and help the world — help to bring the earth back into balance. We need to remember that the power of the divine is more than that of all the global corporations that continue to make the world a wasteland, even more than the global forces of consumerism that demand the life-blood of the planet. We pray that the divine of which we are all a part can redeem and heal this beautiful and suffering world.

Sometimes it is easier to pray when we feel the earth in our hands, when we work in the garden tending our flowers or vegetables. Or when we cook, preparing the vegetables that the earth has given us, mixing in the herbs and spices that give us pleasure. Or making love, as we share our body and bliss with our lover, we may feel the tenderness and power of creation, how a single spark can give birth. Then our lovemaking can be an offering to life itself, a fully-felt remembrance of the ecstasy of creation.

The divine oneness of life is within and all around us. Sometimes walking alone in nature we can feel its heartbeat and its wonder, and our steps become steps of remembrance. The simple practice of “walking in a sacred manner,” in which with every step we take we feel the connection with the sacred earth, is one way to reconnect with the living spirit of the earth.

There are so many ways to pray for and with creation, to listen within and include the earth in our spiritual practice. Watching the simple wonder of a dawn can be a prayer in itself. Or when we hear the chorus of birds in the morning we may sense that deeper joy of life and awake to its divine nature. At night the stars can remind us of what is infinite and eternal within us and within the world. Whatever way we are drawn to wonder or pray, what matters is always the attitude we bring to this intimate exchange, whether our prayers are heartfelt rather than just a mental repetition.

It is always through the heart that our prayers are heard, even if we first make the connection in our feet or hands. Do we really feel the suffering of the earth, sense its need? Do we feel this connection with creation, how we are a part of this beautiful and suffering being? Then our prayers are alive, a living stream that flows from our heart. Then every step, every touch, will be a prayer for the earth, a remembrance of what is sacred. We are a part of the earth calling to its creator, crying in its time of need.

The video is an extract from a set of talks on prayer, given by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee June 2011, Omega Institute.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D., is a Sufi teacher and author of a number of books, including “The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul.” In recent years the focus of his writing and teaching has been on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition and the emerging global consciousness of oneness, and the subject of spiritual ecology. He is the founder of the Golden Sufi Center. His most recent book is “Fragments of a Love Story, Reflections on the Life of a Mystic.”

A Time of Transition by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

A 10 min clip from the event series “The Sufi Path of Love & the Secrets of Mystical Oneness” by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

The Teacher Finds You ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

A 7 min clip from the event series “The Sufi Path of Love & the Secrets of Mystical Oneness” with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

A State of Divine Receptivity ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

A 3 min clip fro the event series “The Sufi Path of Love & the Secrets of Mystical Oneness” with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

Where the Two Seas Meet ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

A 2 min clip from the event series “The Sufi Path of Love & the Secrets of Mystical Oneness” with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Be the Dog ~Dennis Merritt Jones

“Be alert as you watch a dog at play or at rest. Let the animal teach you to feel at home in the now, to celebrate life by being completely present. You just watch the tail … with some dogs you just look at them — just a little look is enough — and their tail goes …’Life is good! Life is good!’ And they are not telling themselves a story of why life is good. It’s a direct realization.” ~Eckhart Tolle

The philosophy of Zen comes to mind when I witness dogs “being” themselves. My understanding of Zen (in part) is that it is the practice of “be-ing” 100 percent present and one with what is in the field of my awareness, or whatever I am doing. Given that meaning, it’s safe to say I have a new Zen master in my life. His name is Mac Doodle, aka, “Master Mac.” He is an 18 month old, half Goldendoodle and half Labradoodle. I receive new teachings from him daily. Today he taught me the importance of spontaneously taking a time-out from my usual busyness to play a little, which I did because he wouldn’t leave me alone until I did. This was a win/win for both of us. I was a bit tired and losing my focus anyway. Now I feel twice as alive, energized and connected to what needs to be done … and he is taking a snooze so I can get my work done.


It’s interesting how the universe knows how to balance the energy for all living things when they are willing to “be” in the moment. Mac naturally knows when to play and when to take a time-out to rest his mind and his body. We, on the other hand, are not always that in touch with our true nature. Being present in the moment seems to take much work for us because we exist on a linear pathway of doing. Regardless of whether it’s work related or walking through the supermarket, while our bodies are always present in the moment, quite often our minds are either out in front of us or behind us doing something else. It would seem the practice to master would be to successfully integrate our doing with our “present moment being” 24/7. Would you like to know how to achieve that? Just “be” the dog!

As an example, see if you can relate with this: Master Mac is so much in the present moment that he will walk from one room into another, then stand there with a curious look on his face. My human interpretation of his look is, “Humm, now … why did I walk in here?” Have you ever done that? I have. When that happens it’s because I am usually on a mission for something my mind has instructed my body to fetch, and my mind has decided to do something else while waiting for my body to return. The only difference between Mac and you and me is, when we do that, it’s because we failed to consciously keep our mind and body in sync and, as a result, we think we are experiencing a senior moment.

When Mac does it he has no agenda; his thinking mind hasn’t gotten in the way — he is simply experiencing the moment and where it takes him, period. It doesn’t matter what mission he may appear to be on, whether it’s fetching the ball or just running wildly through the yard, his mind and body are so much in sync in the present moment that he will often stop on a dime, turn, and begin intensely sniffing the scent of some “mysterious” creature, chase an errant wind blown leaf or follow the sound of something into the bushes. Mac’s ability to be open to the present comes naturally, and as a result the “direct realization” that life is good is always at hand. Is it possible that we too could have that direct realization more often? Perhaps so.

Granted, dogs may find it easier to be in the moment because they don’t have to go to work, pay taxes or change the baby’s diaper, but then again, that is not why they were sent here. Tolle refers to dogs as the “Guardians of Being” — I like that a lot. If we are open to it, having a dog in one’s life can be a sacred experience, always reflecting back to us our own spiritual nature. (We all know what we get when we spell DOG backwards.) Master Mac’s “soul” puppy-purpose is to help me remember that every moment of my life is good, if for no other reason than I am alive; it’s up to me to “be” in the present moment long enough to realize that it’s good. Mac faithfully reminds me of this every day.

So, the next time you are around a pooch, invite him or her to teach you about the art of being a dog. If you pay attention you’ll discover that life isn’t nearly as “rufff” as you might think.

Be the dog, indeed.

Book Reviews
“From the day we are born—when we enter into the mystery of not knowing—until the day we leave the planet, the only way to grow is to step into the unknown time after time.”

Uncertainty wears many faces. It can be thrust upon us by external forces beyond our control, such as losing a job, or it can be something we worry about that might happen in the future, or it can be something we shy away from, such as letting go of familiar but unhealthy habits. Jones points out that most of our uncertainty anxieties are based upon a fear of loss. But what we perceive or project as loss also cracks us open to newness, to unforeseen gifts, to the richness of life. Driving this point home, the author asks readers to imagine themselves ten years ago and notice the ways in which life has changed in that time, how many uncertainties were faced, overcome, and embraced. How we respond to uncertainty, to life, is a matter of choice—or “the altitude of our attitude,” as Jones says, as well as ample doses of faith, consciousness, intention, patience, and mindfulness—and more.

Life is a glorious mystery and The Art of Uncertainty is like having a spiritual primer for gracefully leaving behind our coveted, safe—but stifled—comfort zones and being liberated to love the ride of our life.

Julie Clayton
New Consciousness Review

Do you approach changes in your life with fear and trepidation or with joy and enthusiasm? As we face life’s challenges, one thing is certain—we must navigate a sea of uncertainty. In The Art of Uncertainty: How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It, Dennis Merritt Jones offers tools to become wise mariners of that sea and know, “Every action you take moves you one step closer to either evolution and expansion or redundancy and a reduction of your life force.” Each beautifully written chapter draws on the wisdom of the sages, both past and present, and contains straight-forward, practical strategies illustrated with real-life examples that are relevant to readers. Jones addresses our fears, potential, habits, intentions, patience, and perseverance, reminding us, “The only thing we can control is our next thought.”

A “Points to Ponder” section at the end of each chapter clearly summarizes the concepts presented and offers questions to help one personalize the information. Also at the end of each chapter, Jones’s “Mindfulness Practices” guide one in anchoring the learning and stepping into an awareness of our oneness with source. When we are centered in that knowing, living in the mystery of what is yet to be becomes a joyous adventure.

With The Art of Uncertainty, readers can chart a course for learning how to live in the “I don’t know” while maintaining a sense of inner-peace and optimism. This simple but beautifully wise and practical book is a gem. Don’t step into the unknown without it.

Claudia Abbott
Editor, Science of Mind Magazine

The Buddha’s Meditation. ~ Dr. Evan Finkelstein

A puzzled man asked the Buddha: I have heard that some monks meditate with expectations, others meditate with no expectations, and yet others are indifferent to the result. What is the best?

The Buddha answered: Whether they meditate with or without expectations, if they have the wrong ideas and the wrong methods, they will not get any fruit from their meditation.

Think about it. Suppose a man wants to have some oil and he puts sand into a bowl and then sprinkles it with salt. However much he presses it, he will not get oil, for that is not the method.

Another man is in need of milk. He starts pulling the horns of a young cow. Whether he has any expectations or not, he will not get any milk out of the horn, for that’s not the method. Or if a man fills a jar with water and churns it in order to get butter, he will be left only with water.

It’s like filling a bowl with oil seeds and pressing them or milking a cow by pulling the udder or filling a jar with cream and churning it. It’s the right method. ~ Majjhima Nikaya

What kind of meditation did the Buddha teach?

Truthfully speaking, no one clearly knows; however, we have a few good hints about the nature of the practice he might have taught from some of the Buddhist scriptures. From the above scripture, it is clear Buddha felt that unless one was using a correct method, one could not expect to gain Nirvana—the fully awakened state of absolute freedom and enlightenment.

Buddha also spoke of two qualities that he thought were fundamental to the fully-awakened state:

Tranquility and Insight.

Two things will lead you to supreme understanding. What are those two?

Tranquility and Insight.

If you develop tranquility, what benefit can you expect?

Your mind will develop.

The benefit of a developed mind is that you are no longer a slave to your impulses.

If you develop insight, what benefit will it bring? You will find wisdom.

And the point of developing wisdom is that it brings you freedom from the blindness of ignorance.

A mind held bound by unconsidered impulse and ignorance can never develop true understanding. But by way of tranquility and insight the mind will find freedom.~ Anguttara Nikaya

It is interesting that the two most popular forms of Buddhist meditation that are taught today are called Samatha and Vipassana.

Samatha meditation is based on the intention and persistent effort on the part of the meditator to concentrate the mind on some specific object of meditation: the goal being to develop the ability of the mind to concentrate because when the mind is in a highly concentrated state, it is known to be tranquil and such a mind, it is thought, would make deep insight possible.

Since Buddha explained that only the right method would bring the fruit, it would be valuable to explore whether Samatha meditation, as it’s understood and practiced today, is the right method to bring tranquility to the mind. The term Samatha actually means calmness or tranquility: an integrated state where the mind is not in any way excited or active. It is directly related to the term Samadhi, the state in which the mind is completely settled and unwavering and is effortlessly held in a fully concentrated state.

What creates this tranquil state of mind? In its fully developed state, tranquility is produced by the unbounded peace, freedom and wakefulness that are experienced in the unconditioned, infinite state of Nirvana. It is the total freedom and absolute happiness of Nirvana that automatically and spontaneously absorbs and concentrates the mind.

Meditate, and in your wisdom realize Nirvana, the highest happiness. ~ Dhammapada

The misunderstanding regarding Samatha meditation, as it is understood and practiced today, is simply that the mind does not need to be trained to gain the ability to concentrate through the application of strenuous concentration practices.

The mind will automatically and spontaneously achieve this highly tranquil and concentrated state simply by the meditator knowing the technique of how to allow the mind to be effortlessly drawn in to the Bliss of Nirvana.

It is a common experience that the mind will naturally stay concentrated on anything that provides it with peace and contentment; this is an inherent capacity of the mind, so no training or practices of concentration are required.

It is the fulfillment naturally produced by of the state of Nirvana that concentrates the mind and this happens without any effort on the part of the meditator if he or she is using a right method of meditation.

Through the regular and effortless practice of a right method, the vital quality of tranquility will become stabilized in the life of the meditator and, as Buddha said, one will then no longer be a slave to one’s impulses.

In addition, because it is the natural tendency of the mind to move on to a field of stable peace and contentment in a spontaneous manner, the individual’s effort to try to control the mind to remain only on one limited object of attention, as is done with Samatha meditation today, actually obstructs the mind from rushing on to the ever-constant infinity and happiness it so much needs and desires.

However, it is not Samatha meditation that is the most popular type of Buddhist meditation; the most widely used form today is Vipassana or Mindfulness meditation. Vipassana is also referred to as Insight meditation, because through its practice one is supposed to develop penetrating insight into the true nature of reality. Buddha explained that through Vipassana, which literally means through insight, one should gain the wisdom that brings you freedom from the blindness of ignorance.

These days, Vipassana/Mindfulness meditation is practiced by the practitioner having the intention to be an impartial observer of some natural process occurring within his or her body, mind or emotions. For example, one is asked to just observe or be mindful of the rising and falling of the abdomen during the process of breathing, or to just impartially observe the incoming and outgoing of the breath itself.

Another popular form of this meditation is to mindfully observe the body in the natural act of walking or during the process of standing up or sitting down. The key element is to try to be continuously aware of whatever process is taking place without in any way interfering with or reacting to, either positively or negatively, the process that is occurring in the moment.

The idea is to try to be fully aware of the raw experience that is always happening and transforming by noting and letting go of each arising and subsiding sensation. This practice is supposed to bring one deep insight, perfect wisdom, into the ultimate reality of the true nature of existence in both its conditioned and unconditioned states.

Unfortunately, this attempt to develop and obtain Insight through the practice of trying to be an impartial observer is not a right method. The reason for this is that the impartial observer, which alone is capable of right mindfulness and genuine Insight, is the fully-awakened state of Nirvana Itself.

The true impartial observer is never the attention or mind that is attempting to watch a process. The reason for this is that this very attempt is a part of the process itself; it is not outside the process.

In stark contrast to this, the genuine impartial observer is completely outside any and every process of the rising and falling of any conditioned state of existence; it is completely beyond the mind and any human intention or effort to observe anything.

Buddha asked the question: ‘What is right mindfulness?’ And, he answered in the following way:

When going, the monk knows ‘I am going’, or, when standing, he knows ‘I am standing’, or, when lying down, he knows ‘I am lying down’. Or in whatever position his body is placed, he is aware of it….Whether he goes, stands or sits, sleeps or is awake, speaks or is silent, he is acting with full attention. ~ Digha Nikaya

In this above quote, it is vital to note that Mindfulness should be present even when one is sleeping. In other words, the process of sleep should be able to be witnessed or observed as it is naturally occurring.

At first glance, the impartial observation of sleep would seem to be impossible because if one is asleep how could one observe anything? The key to understanding this is that it is not the mind that is observing; in the state of sleep, the mind is sleeping and is not aware of the sleeping process or anything else.

However, it is possible for the Absolute state of consciousness, the state of Nirvana, to impartially witness the sleeping process. It is the unconditioned, transcendental, Absolute state of consciousness that is the true impartial observer of all the ever-changing values of the conditioned aspects of life, including the mind and its intentions.

It is this supreme value of life alone that is capable of being impartial because only It is without any lack and nothing can be subtracted or added to Its eternal status. Consequently, it is only the Absolute existence of the fully-awakened state that is capable of totally penetrating into the true nature of life and gaining the supreme Insight lived, embodied and expressed by a Buddha.

How then can one develop true Insight, Perfect Wisdom, into the ultimate reality of life? If the human attempt to be an impartial observer of natural processes is not the appropriate method, what would be the right method? It is clear that the right method would need to result in the cultivation and integration of the transcendental state of Absolute Wakefulness, the state of Nirvana. The Buddhist Shurangama Sutra offers the following deep insight:

Through which sense organ should I cultivate? You ask. Don’t be nervous. It is the very organ of the ear which Gwan Yin Bodhisattva used that is best for you.

Gwan Yin Bodhisattva perfected his cultivation through the organ of the ear, and Ananda will follow him in cultivating the same method. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of former times have left us such a wonderful Dharma-door that we should also follow the method of cultivating the organ of the ear to perfect penetration. This is the easiest method.

The method suggested in the Shurangama Sutra is referred to as the easiest method because it involves the simple and effortless act of allowing one’s attention to be with a sound in order to achieve perfect penetration. Perfect penetration means that one has been able to penetrate beyond all the temporal, ever-changing values of all the conditioned states of existence and become at one with the Absolute, unconditioned, eternal, never born and never dying peace and fulfillment, which is the infinite all-knowing state of Nirvana, the end of all suffering.

But, how should one be with a sound? What is the right method? The Shurangama Sutra offers further explanation in the following verses:

Ananda, and everyone in the great assembly,
Turn around your mechanism for hearing.
Return the hearing to hear your own nature
The nature will become the supreme Way.
That is what perfect penetration really means.
That is the gateway entered by Buddhas as many as dust motes.
That is the one path leading to Nirvana.
Tathagatas of the past perfected this method.
Bodhisattvas now merge with this total brightness.
People of the future who study and practice
Will also rely on this Dharma. ~ Shurangama Sutra

One is instructed to turn around your mechanism for hearing. What does this mean? Usually, one hears a sound when one is speaking or hearing someone else speak, or hears a sound produced by something in the environment—a bird, thunder, the rushing of a river, anything.

Our mind is usually outwardly directed into the environment. However, with a right method of meditation, one can learn how to effortlessly use a sound to follow it in the inward direction to its ultimate source.

The right method here is in knowing how to spontaneously appreciate a sound in the inward direction within the mind.

It seems that this was a technique of meditation taught by the Buddha when he would give specific mantras or sounds (a mantra is a specific sound used during meditation) to his disciples.

The following sutra illustrates this point:

‘There’s no need for you to give up’, said the Buddha. ‘You should not abandon your search for liberation just because you seem to yourself to be thick witted. You can drop all philosophy you’ve been given and repeat a mantra instead—one that I will now give you’. ~ Majjhima Nikaya

The sound of the mantra is innocently and effortlessly experienced in its increasingly subtle values until the sound fades away completely and the meditator is left in the completely calm yet full awakened state of Samadhi. This natural process is what is referred to in the above verses quoted from the Shurangama Sutra: Return the hearing to hear your own nature; the nature will become the supreme Way. That is what perfect penetration really means.

It is clear from these verses that the process that resulted in supreme insight or perfect penetration was a process that was conducted by nature itself: nature will become the supreme Way. It was not a process conducted by individual control or efforts to concentrate, or to try to be an impartial observer.

In our time, one natural process of turning around the “mechanism for hearing” is known as the technique of Transcendental Meditation (TM). It is an effortless practice that does not require belief in any doctrine or the following of any particular way of life. People of all religions practice it, as do people of no religion. Its practical benefits have been scientifically researched and documented for 40 years and it has been taught world- wide to over 6 million people of every race and culture.

In addition, this technique does not involve any form of concentration, contemplation, or any controlled effort on the part of the mind, intellect or emotions to distance oneself from one’s experiences by trying to remain unmoved, detached and impartial. This is a vital point because the Tranquility and Insight that Buddha spoke of were never meant to be practices.

One cannot practice Tranquility or Insight, but one can easily gain and develop them by regularly transcending to the state of Nirvana and becoming at one with It. It is the state of Nirvana that is perfectly tranquil and the state of perfect Insight, Perfect Wisdom.

The right method of meditation would be one that is capable of bringing us beyond all the impermanent, ever-changing, conditioned states of existence to the state of Nirvana. It would be a method that is capable of completely transcending its own process and leaving us at one with the Absolute, freed from the illusion of a limited and separate self-existence.

Then, through its regular effortless practice, this method would allow us to fully integrate and stabilize this unwavering, Absolute state of Nirvana into all activities and experiences of daily life allowing us to achieve the goal of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas—a world without suffering.

To conclude, the main point of this essay on Buddha and Meditation is that to gain the Tranquility and Insight that are the qualities of full enlightenment, to realize the Perfect Wisdom that blossoms into infinite compassion, one has to learn and use the right method of turning within.

It’s like filling a bowl with oil seeds and pressing them or milking a cow by pulling the udder or filling a jar with cream and churning it. It’s the right method. ~ Majjhima Nikaya

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Finkelstein is professor of Comparative Religion and Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi University of Management. He has written articles that identify the common ground inherent in many of the ancient wisdom traditions. He has taught numerous courses on the universal principles that can be located in Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

All Else is bondage ~ Wei Wu Wei

These thirty-four powerful essays, based on Taoist and Buddhist thought, constitute a guide to what the author calls “non-volitional living”—the ancient understanding that our efforts to grasp our true nature are futile. Wei Wu Wei explains these venerable spiritual traditions in the context of modern experience, using wit and considerable precision to convey their profound insight into the very nature of existence. This essential Zen Buddhist classic, reissued after decades of unavailability, completes the collection of eight volumes by the masterful, elusive Wei Wu Wei.

WEI WU WEI

The identity of Wei Wu Wei was not revealed at the time of the publication of his first book. This well-considered anonymity will be respected here, though a few background details may help to put the writings into context. “Wei Wu Wei” was born in 1895 into a well-established Irish family, was raised on an estate outside Cambridge, England, and received a thorough education, including studies at Oxford University. Early in life he pursued an interest in Egyptology, which culminated in the publication of two books on ancient Egyptian history and culture in 1923.

This was followed by a period of involvement in the arts in Britain in the 20′s and 30′s as a theorist, theatrical producer, creator of radical “dance-dramas,” publisher of several related magazines, and author of two related books. He was a major influence on many noted dramatists, poets, and dancers of the day, including his cousin Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet (which in fact had its origins in his own dance troupe at the Cambridge Festival Theatre which he leased from 1926-33).

After he had apparently exhausted his interest in this field to a large extent, his thoughts turned towards philosophy and metaphysics. This led to a period of travel throughout Asia, including time spent at Sri Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in Tiruvannamalai, India. In 1958, at the age of 63, he saw the first of the Wei Wu Wei titles published. The next 16 years saw the appearance of seven subsequent books, including his final work under the further pseudonym O.O.O. in 1974. During most of this later period he maintained a residence with his wife in Monaco. He is believed to have known, among others, Lama Anagarika Govinda, Dr. Hubert Benoit, John Blofeld, Douglas Harding, Robert Linssen, Arthur Osborne, Robert Powell, and Dr. D. T. Suzuki. He died in 1986 at the age of 90.

—Matt Errey

Jed McKenna – Spiritual Enlightenment The Damnedest Thing

Book Review By Brad Branson

About 80% of the people that I suggest Jed McKenna’s book, Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing, become fucked up and depressed for about 4-8 weeks after reading it.

That is why I sometimes am apprehensive about suggesting it to people, yet it quite frankly might be the most influential book I have read, and my entire life philosophy is based around some of the core concepts of the book.

McKenna is the anti-spiritual guru. Tyler suggested this book to me after I was really immersing myself in the spirituality stuff.

Reading hours upon hours of Eckhart Tolle, studying Ken Wilbur and other American philosophers, meditating and trying to become part of the evolving global consciousness…

McKenna cuts through all that bullshit.

The reason this book is so powerful is McKenna’s writing style. On the one hand it’s very easy to read, and the book reads quick. But the true value is in how forceful and crude his writing style comes across.

It puts the truth right in your face. You really can’t deny it.

What is the truth?

What is the meaning of life?

There is no meaning.

Everything we do, every identity we create in life, is in fear of the fact that our life has no meaning. Fear that nothing really matters and living is futile.

McKenna lays this out in such an elegant way, where the entire book builds concepts on top of concepts until everything falls into place exactly as it should.

It’s a teaching style I’ve incorporated into my own bootcamp actually. You build the framework, paradigm on top of paradigm, and then slam it home for the mind shift/epiphany.

My favorite two parts are the build ups during the campfire scene, and when Julie takes the “first step” in the last few chapters.

The book is written in a way where it’s you live through the writing process, and as events take place, you too go through the process of understanding EXACTLY what enlightenment is.

The whole nihilistic attitude associated with McKenna’s definition of enlightenment can be a little depressing, but that really is inherent if everything is futile.

But as you come to terms with this necessary truth, you truly can take an existential view and live your life as you please, choose whatever costume you like.

This is where the whole extreme self-love philosophy I talk about comes from.

McKenna explains that there is no reason to become enlightenment, how would your ego every decide to destroy itself?

It takes a cataclysmic event to even take that first step towards “destroying the ego.”

What he explains is more attainable, and a better way to live is spiritual adulthood, which is what he talks about in the second book of this series.

Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing is the first in a trilogy of books. I’ve read all three before, but wanted to reread them again so I could review each, and they just released the third book, Spiritual Warfare, in audiobook format.

I just finished listening to “Damnedest” again for the fifth time, and figured it would be good to throw a review up on here, so others will check it out.

I prefer audiobook format, the narrator is SICK and it really jams the concepts down your throat in a way that is hard to ignore.

So buyer beware, but check it out.

Take the swan dive into the abyss.

“Row, row, row your boat. Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream.”

8 Expressions of Simplicity for Healthy Living – Duane Elgin

To portray the richness of simplicity as a theme for healthy living, here are eight different flowerings that I see growing consciously in the “garden of simplicity.” Although there is overlap among them, each expression of simplicity seems sufficiently distinct to warrant a separate category. These are presented in no particular order, as all are important.

1. Uncluttered Simplicity. Simplicity means taking charge of lives that are too busy, too stressed and too fragmented. Simplicity means cutting back on clutter, complications and trivial distractions, both material and non-material, and focusing on the essentials — whatever those may be for each of our unique lives. As Thoreau said, “Our life is frittered away by detail … Simplify, simplify.” Or, as Plato wrote, “In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.”

2. Ecological Simplicity. Simplicity means choosing ways of living that touch the Earth more lightly and reduce our ecological impact on the web of life. This life-path remembers our deep roots with the soil, air and water. It encourages us to connect with nature, the seasons and the cosmos. An ecological simplicity feels a deep reverence for the community of life on Earth and accepts that the non-human realms of plants and animals have their dignity and rights as well as the human.

3. Family Simplicity. Simplicity means to place the well-being of one’s family ahead of materialism and the acquisition of things. This expression of green living puts an emphasis on giving children healthy role models of a balanced life that are not distorted by consumerism. Family simplicity affirms that what matters most in life is often invisible — the quality and integrity of our relationships with one another and the rest of life. Family simplicity is also intergenerational — it looks ahead and seeks to live with restraint so as to leave a healthy earth for future generations.

4. Compassionate Simplicity. Simplicity means to feel such a strong sense of kinship with others that, as Gandhi said, we “choose to live simply so that others may simply live.” A compassionate simplicity means feeling a bond with the community of life and being drawn toward a path of cooperation and fairness that seeks a future of mutually assured development in all areas of life for everyone.

5. Soulful Simplicity. Simplicity means to approach life as a meditation and to cultivate our experience of direct connection with all that exists. By living simply, we can more easily awaken to the living universe that surrounds and sustains us, moment by moment. Soulful simplicity consciously tastes life in its unadorned richness rather than being concerned with a particular standard or manner of material living. In cultivating a soulful connection with life, we tend to look beyond surface appearances and bring our interior aliveness into relationships of all kinds.

6. Business Simplicity. Simplicity means a new kind of economy is growing in the world, with healthy and sustainable products and services of all kinds (such as home-building materials, energy systems, food production and transportation systems). As the need for a sustainable infrastructure in developing nations is combined with the need to retrofit and redesign the homes, cities, workplaces and transportation systems of developed nations, it is generating an enormous wave of green business innovation and employment.

7. Civic Simplicity. Simplicity means living more lightly and sustainably on the earth, and this requires, in turn, changes in many areas of public life — from public transportation and education to the design of our cities and workplaces. To develop policies of civic simplicity involves giving close and sustained attention to media politics, as the mass media are the primary vehicle for reinforcing — or transforming — the social norms of consumerism. To realize the magnitude of changes required in such a brief time requires new approaches to communicating with ourselves as different communities of citizens.

8. Frugal Simplicity. Simplicity means that, by cutting back on spending that is not truly serving our lives, and by practicing skillful management of our personal finances we can achieve greater financial independence. Frugality and careful financial management bring increased financial freedom and the opportunity to more consciously choose our path through life. Living with less also decreases the impact of our consumption upon the earth and frees resources for others.

As these eight approaches illustrate, the growing culture of simplicity contains a flourishing garden of expressions whose great diversity — and intertwined unity — are creating a resilient and hardy ecology of learning about how to live more sustainable and meaningful lives. As with other ecosystems, it is the diversity of expressions that fosters flexibility, adaptability and resilience. Because there are so many pathways into the garden of simplicity, this self-organizing movement has enormous potential to grow.

Duane Elgin is a speaker, author and non-partisan activist for media accountability. He is the author of “Voluntary Simplicity,” “The Living Universe,” “Promise Ahead,” and other books. Please visit his website, www.DuaneElgin.com for free articles and videos on thriving in these challenging times. Your comments and suggestions are much appreciated.

The Quickening

“The Quickening” was produced by Awakening As One

http://AwakeningAsOne.com

All around the planet hundreds of millions of people are waiting for events to unfold in the year 2012, that they… believe will bring either the birth of a harmonious new reality… or ‘the end of the world.

But what if those events were actually to take place THIS YEAR, in 2011?

In Awakening As One’s new film “The Quickening” we will explain why so many people have been experiencing the sensation that “Time is Speeding Up”; particularly since the Earthquake in Japan.

And we will also show how research indicates that this accelerated experience of reality could peak sometime around October 28th, 2011; culminating in a global experience of Unity Consciousness, which would then lead to the experience of a harmonious new way of being.

“The Quickening” will also take a look at the unfolding of current events and how they directly relate to Hopi and Mayan Prophecies, indicating that we are on the Cusp of Great Changes, which signify the shifting of the Age… and the Birth of a New World.

Credits:

We wish to acknowledge that without the work of these incredible filmmakers, and music producers it would not have been possible for Awakening As One to share its message of Peace and Unity with such beauty, heart and soul.

We invite you to support the filmmakers by visiting their webpages, and viewing their films. We extend our deepest gratitude and respect to the following films, and to all those who assisted in their creation.

Japanese Spring ~ Karunesh

Music from the heart and soul, new age electronic sounds, Japanese spring by Karunesh.

Another awesome New Age musician of ‘Kitaro”s contemporary. For more of Karunesh’s music go to Resource Center/Tag at the bottom right hand column and click Karunesh.

Enjoy.

KARMA AND REINCARNATION Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment By Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis

Many of us use the word “karma”. We may accept our misfortunes as karmic retribution for past mistakes, or welcome small blessings as a reward for our previous kindness. Yet, do we really understand what karma means? Do we know where it comes from and how it can manifest itself in our lives?

Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis explain everything we need to know in their accessible new book, Karma and Reincarnation: Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment. An internationally respected clairvoyant and metaphysical teacher, Martin was one of the first mainstream lecturers on the aura and human energy field. Along with co-author Moraitis, she founded the Spiritual Arts Institute in Los Angeles and instructs thousands on spiritual energy.

In this practical guide, the authors….

*Outline the mechanics of the reincarnation cycle

*Clarify the implications our past lives can have on our current life

*Empower us to pinpoint and resolve karmic conflicts

*Help us identify our karmic purpose and act on our spiritual goals

*Share transformative meditations and strengthening prayers

*Explain what happens on the other side, based on clairvoyant observations

Comprehensive in scope, Karma and Reincarnation covers all facets of our lives and our world, from how karma affects our relationships, careers, and physical health to karma’s power over entire nations.

To illuminate their teachings, Martin and Moraitis incorporate reincarnation stories from their many students as well as examples of prominent historical figures. Highly readable and informative, this definitive volume answers countless karmic questions for readers from all spiritual traditions.

Q&A with authors of Karma and Reincarnation

Many of us use the word “karma”. We may accept our misfortunes as karmic retribution for past mistakes, or welcome small blessings as a reward for our previous kindness. Yet, do we really understand what karma means? Do we know where it comes from and how it can manifest itself in our lives? Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis explain everything we need to know in their accessible book, Karma and Reincarnation: Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment. They discuss the book in this Q&A…

Many people throw the word karma around without truly understanding what it means. What do you think our biggest misconceptions are about karma?

Not understanding how it works. Many people don’t realize the full scope of our past lives. They think that karma is a form of reward or punishment. Karma is a harmonizing law. The goal is to bring life back into balance and harmony. When you initiate a destructive action you disturb that natural harmony. Karma is the retuning process which can be painful at times. A constructive action accentuates the natural law of harmony creating more beauty in your life.

The other misconception is thinking everything that happens in life is karma. Karma is certainly a big part of our life but not everything that happens is karmic. There are other dynamics such as free will that come into the picture.

Karma and Reincarnation is a complete guide. What can readers learn here that has been absent from other books on the subject?

There has not really been an accurate depiction of the reincarnation process based on actual clairvoyant experience. All the material in this book is based on personal observations and interactions over a lifetime of study.

It is our hope the reader comes to understand the central part karma and reincarnation plays in the process of spiritual evolution. The soul takes approximately 800 lifetimes to reach maturity. In that time, we experience the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and tragedies of earth life. This builds character, making us rich and well-rounded. In addition, the book attempts to cover the board range of karma from personal to national and
even world karma.

You discuss how karma can impact entire nations. Does America have good karma?

It presently has both good and bad karma. The inception of America was built as a result of very good world karma. America is meant to be an example as to the potential that all countries have in the evolution of civilization. The global age is inevitable as humanity is growing and slowly, yet still painfully at times, heading into a more cooperative age. America has been at the forefront of this through its principles of liberty, equality and fairness.

Unfortunately, there have been times when America has taken advantage of its privileged position, and this creates negative karma. The recent economic crisis, although global in nature, definitely bears the mark of national karma. The actions we are taking now will determine whether we, as a nation, have learned the karmic lessons that these economic challenges have presented to us.

In Chapter 9, you analyze the karma of nature. What are the karmic implications of our current relationship with nature?

Nature is not there to use as we please. As with any relationship, there is give and take. Nature gives of its bounty to serve humanity and in return humanity is meant to help nature in its spiritual evolution. For example, how we treat animals is essential. When we show love and care to animals we help them in their own evolution. When we help animals, we are also helping ourselves to evolve. It’s our responsibility to treat them well. When we mistreat animals, we lose spiritual power and may find ourselves being mistreated in some way, not by animals, but by situations as a way to open our hearts.

Barbara, you’ve been to the other side and can recall your previous lives. What have you learned from those experiences? How have they informed the book?

The privilege of being taken consciously to the other side can only be described as sacred and holy. We are all familiar with the other side, but most of us do not bring back conscious memory. I have developed this skill over many years and it is always done as part of my own spiritual growth or in service to others, never just for the sake of curiosity. You realize there is so much more to life that you thought. You are never alone and there is a tremendous spiritual support system working with you at all times.

It is incredible to realize you have lived before and will live again. There is always wonder that such a thing is possible. Knowledge of past lives has given me much greater respect for life and for my own actions. You do not need to remember your past lives to progress, but you do need to make the most of your time here on earth.

What do you hope readers take away from Karma and Reincarnation?

To realize that karma and reincarnation is real. Too many people are not resolving their karmic challenges because they don’t realize what is going on. When you have the opportunity to resolve your karma but you turn away or react negatively, it gets tougher. So why wait? By working on your karma now, you progress faster and the karma is easier to handle. It is the hope that the reader will learn how to better use the gift of free will to make better choices that are in harmony with their divine purpose.

Eckhart on Karma

Q: You talk about Presence and Being as the keys to enjoying form, and creating positive circumstances, or softening circumstances. How does karma fit into all of that?

ET: Everybody is born into a certain external environment. Also, everyone is born with certain predispositions – they may be partly genetic, they may be other things. A person is born with certain patterns, in other words. We don’t need to examine where they come from, but the fact is that a human being is born into a certain environment. It may be violent, or it may be relatively peaceful. A person is born with inner patterns that you inherit. Even painbody is partly inherited.

There’s a whole set of conditioning that happens when you come into an environment. The environment conditions you further, and there’s no choice involved – it’s just influences. You find yourself in this world with certain unconscious patterns that have become the conditioning of who the person is. Karma, as I see it, is the unconscious conditioning that runs your life. Karma is partly collective, and partly personal. You can only understand karma not as an abstract subject external to yourself, you can only understand it by observing yourself, and then you know many other things. If you want to understand karma, you need to look at yourself.

I began to understand what karma is when something arose that was not part of karma at all. Here is the key – the arising of consciousness, or Presence, or spiritual awakening, is not part of karma. It is another dimension that breaks into the karmic realm. You do not become awakened by accumulating, as they sometimes say in the East, “good karma”. That’s fine on this level, you can make the walls or furniture in your prison a little more comfortable, but there’s something totally from beyond karma, that can come into your life at any point.

Re-birth is of course part of karma. The deeper meaning of re-birth is identification with form. We don’t need to even believe in transmigration, or whatever, you can look at re-birth in your own life. Every time you identify with a thought that arises, which is form, you are born into that thought. Your identity, your sense of self is in it. That’s karma. Your karma is the unconscious identification with these patterns that you have inherited – the conditioned. It is complete identification of consciousness with the conditioned patterns. Consciousness is dreaming, one could say. That is why we use the word “awakening” in many spiritual traditions. Consciousness is awakening, consciousness is in a dream-like state, when you are identified with the unconscious patterns. Many times a day, you are re-born into an emotional or mental reaction, into thoughts that arise.

Karma creates, in the external, confirmation that it is correct. So if you think the world is full of evil people, you will meet many evil people – in other words, unconscious people. Even people who are halfway between being conscious and unconscious, your belief will pull them into unconsciousness. Karma is the complete absence of conscious Presence. It is automatic. It plays itself out.

Time does not free you of karma. That is a misperception, that if you only spend enough time, eventually you can become free of karma. Karma renews itself and repeats itself. The only thing that can free you of karma is the arising of Presence. At any point in the wheel of karma, Presence can come in. It can happen to a criminal in prison, condemned to death. It can happen to somebody who’s never heard of anything spiritual. It can happen to somebody who’s been meditating for thirty years.

Presence frees you from karma. Not all at once. Karma has an enormous momentum. The thought patterns, the emotional patterns, the reactive patterns. As Presence arises, gradually karma diminishes and you will experience a fading out of those patterns. Not that it matters that much anymore, because once you are present, those thought patterns may still arise, but it is no longer problematic. They no longer cause the suffering that they would have caused before, because they are seen in the light of awareness. In the light of awareness, the patterns no longer dominate your life.

Painbody is part of karma, which may be strong in some and not so in others. As Presence arises, you are freed from karma. Then you have another completely different factor coming into your life. For example, for a person to become free of collective karma, you need a considerable amount of Presence for that to come in. It then will remove you, either internally or you may find yourself somewhere else.

For a person who is born into vast collective karma, it requires considerable Presence for one not to be drawn into that. When Hitler came into power, not many people were able to remove themselves. Some were, and they left. They could see what was happening and they were strong enough not to be identified with the collective. To take yourself out of that collective karma requires considerable Presence – and some people had it. It is our destiny, then, to go beyond karma by being the receptacles for Presence.

Everyone who is awakening will find that sooner or later that they become a kind of teacher to others. What a spiritual teacher does is point out the possibility of awakening out of identification with unconscious patterns. The spiritual teacher teaches you to go beyond karma. That is your function, and will become increasingly so, whether you become a formal teacher, or an informal teacher.

Spiritual awakening and stepping out of karma are the same thing. Many people will be drawn to you. Anybody who is going through the awakening process is already a teacher. Teaching means you find yourself listening from spaciousness, when somebody speaks or asks a question, or tells you about their problems. You may find that the answer comes out from that Stillness in which you listen. You don’t have a sense that “I’m going to teach this person now”. You will find that teaching is spontaneous. You will help people to step out of identification with unconsciousness, which means going beyond karma. This applies to everybody who is awakening.

As you teach, Consciousness is becoming aligned with your mind. Your mind is able to tune in to the deeper Consciousness and can be used as an instrument. Then the words come out of your mouth. There is ultimately really only one teacher, the awakened Consciousness is the teacher. It can only teach those in whom there is a degree of readiness. The teaching needs to be received. If there is only a density of mind, the teaching won’t happen.

You will be amazed when people are drawn to you – people who are ready – and you find yourself saying something that you didn’t even know yourself. It’s only when the question was asked, that the Consciousness responded. As you teach, you learn. Realizations come. Teaching and learning is the same process. A deepening happens, as you teach. You are here to help people go beyond karma.

The important thing to know is that time does not free you of karma. The egoic mind says “I need more time to become free”. The only thing that people may need more time for is that they need time to realize that they do not need time”. It may be another twenty years of suffering for them to realize that they do not need time. They may need to suffer a bit more before they realize the power of the timeless. The timeless is of course the end of karma.

Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening by Andrew Cohen ( Foreword By Deepak Chopra)

Overview

In Evolutionary Enlightenment we are presented with an authentic spiritual innovation: a new philosophy, path, and practice of spiritual enlightenment for the twenty-first century, forged through more than two decades of transformative spiritual work with men and women around the world and in serious conversation with leading luminaries from almost every religious and spiritual tradition, both ancient and modern.

Andrew Cohen, founder and editor-in-chief of the award-winning quarterly magazine EnlightenNext, has re-envisioned spiritual enlightenment in a completely new context. This context is, as he writes, nothing less than “the fourteen-billion-year epic of our cosmic evolution-a vast perspective that enhances and enlarges to almost infinite proportions our sense of the significance of what it means to be human.”Evolutionary Enlightenment takes readers on an experiential journey into this new perspective, path, and practice.

Taken from direct transcriptions of Cohen’s talks and retreats, and meticulously edited by Cohen himself, the chapters in this book combine the powerful transmission of a mystic with the clarity and precision of an original and creative thinker.
Imagine what it would be like to witness the very moment of creation, when the first spark of light exploded out of the vast, empty void at the origin of the universe. Cohen starts by taking you on an experiential voyage “back to before the beginning of time.” But unlike more traditional Enlightenment teachings, which rest in the profound stillness of that empty ground of Being, Cohen doesn’t stop there. Instead, he guides you on a creative journey “inside the evolutionary process,” and begins to reveal the principles of a new kind of enlightenment.

FROM THE FORWORD BY DEEPAK CHOPRA

When books speak to you personally, you hear the author’s voice whispering, not just in your ear but to your deepest yearning. Andrew Cohen did that for me, making me believe something I long to be true: There has never been a better time to be enlightened. When I was a child, it was easy to feel left behind. I was born too late to shoot arrows beside Arjuna, meditate under the Bodhitree with the Buddha, or sit on an olive-covered hillside in Galilee hearing the Sermon on the Mount. There is a pervasive sense, even in advanced spiritual circles, that we are looking overour shoulders at the epochs when humans were closer to God or to their souls or to the promise of Moksha.

So it’s heartening to hear a teacher who insists, with passion and a clear voice, that we haven’t been left behind. This is only one of the messages to be found in these pages. Andrew has the pulse of modern life at his fingertips. His diagnosis of the demands and distractions of our noisy, busy world shows the accuracy of a skilled diagnostician. But long ago, when I spent many hours a day diagnosing patients, I learned that none of them would take any advice until they understood, quite basically, what the first step to healing needed to be. That first step was always the same: “You’re going to get better.” Reassurance is medicine, even if it can’t be bottled, and in this book Andrew touched me with a deep sense of reassurance: Don’t worry. There’s a place for the seeker. The universe has collaborated to bring you here, to this moment, so that you can wake up.

The famous adage is wrong: The journey of a thousand miles doesn’t begin with the first step. It begins with the assurance that you can take the first step. Many people lack that assurance, for all kinds of reasons. Some feel unworthy to seek beyond the limited territory of the known; some feel trapped behind walls or inwardly blocked; some feel paralyzed by timidity, fear, doubt, and skepticism in all their dubious coloring. When Andrew asks, Why do some people develop a passion for spirituality while others don’t?, the answer he gives agrees perfectly with my own perspective: they haven’t awakened to the evolutionary impulse within.

EVOLUTIONARY ENLIGHTENMENT HAS FOUR SECTIONS:

Part 1 – The Cosmic Journey
Imagine what it would be like to witness the very moment of creation, when the first spark of light exploded out of the vast, empty void at the origin of the universe. Cohen starts by taking you on an experiential voyage “back to before the beginning of time.” But unlike more traditional Enlightenment teachings, which rest in the profound stillness of that empty ground of Being, Cohen doesn’t stop there. Instead, he guides you on a creative journey “inside the evolutionary process,” and begins to reveal the principles of a new kind of enlightenment.

Part 2 Understanding The Territory

In part 2, Cohen turns your attention to the inner landscape of the evolving self. He describes the many different dimensions that make up who we are: our biological impulses, our cultural values, our egoic tendencies, and Cohen’s original concept of the “authentic self,” which is the individual embodiment of the evolutionary impulse. In doing so, he empowers you to identify these different dimensions of yourself and awakens your own power to choose who you want to be.

Part 3 – The Path & The Goal

Part 3 shows you how to put Evolutionary Enlightenment into practice. Cohen presents a new context for the age-old practice of meditation, which he describes as “the art and science of stillness.” He then dedicates a chapter to each of his five fundamental tenets, exploring the core challenges and potentials that individuals confront on the path of spiritual evolution. Profound yet practical, Cohen’s five tenets begin with a deep reckoning with your fundamental clarity of intention, and lead you to the recognition that your own spiritual transformation is not for yourself but for the sake of the whole.

Part 4 – Enlightenment & the Evolution of Culture

Unlike many spiritual paths, the goal of Evolutionary Enlightenment is not just personal liberation, but the creation of a new culture. In this section, Cohen illuminates what he calls the “intersubjective” or collective dynamics through which our values are shaped, and shows how we can begin to forge new ones by coming together in the mutual recognition of our essential role as conscious agents in the evolutionary process.

Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher, cultural visionary, and founder of the global nonprofit EnlightenNext and its award-winning publication EnlightenNext magazine. His original teaching of Evolutionary Enlightenment redefines spiritual awakening within the context of cosmic evolution and highlights a new understanding of God or Spirit as the creative impulse toward change in both self and culture. After a transformative meeting with the renowned Advaita Vedanta master H.W.L. Poonja in 1986, Cohen began teaching internationally and almost immediately started reshaping the larger cultural conversation about the purpose and significance of enlightenment in our time. He founded EnlightenNext magazine almost twenty years ago as a forum for serious spiritual and philosophical inquiry, and has since become known for his unique capacity to foster culture-changing dialogues among leading thinkers from a wide array of traditions and disciplines.

Emptiness is the Potential of Everything – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Emptiness is the Potential of Everything, explains Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Transcendental Meditation is the direct means to realize this truth. http://www.tm.org

What’s True, and Not, About Stress (Part 3) ~ Deepak Chopra

In two earlier posts (which I hope you will go back and read) we found that stress is a complicated matter that intertwines body and mind. Mechanical stress is simple. If you put pressure on a car engine or airplane wing long enough, it will weaken and eventually break down. But human beings are set up differently. The more we use our muscles, for example, the stronger they become, and if we fail to use the heart or brain enough, they atrophy. The damage caused by stress requires a deeper look than any mechanistic model can provide.

I proposed that the world’s wisdom traditions fill the gap. This doesn’t mean that ancient views of karma, although they have a lot to say about how stress works, should be adopted wholesale. Spirituality evolves along with everything else, and it’s up to us to find our own path. In the ancient world most people were ground down by excessive physical demands, and their lives brought primal suffering in the form of starvation, exposure to the elements, lack of basic sanitation and so on. By comparison, the stress we face today is different but not milder, since every life still contains pain, suffering, anxiety, doubt, insecurity and the other woes that were confronted by the great spiritual guides of the past. At the very least, spirituality contends that human existence is meant to be free of such suffering.

Karmic impressions (vasanas in Sanskrit) are basically the same as stress. Something sticks to us — a memory, a fear, a trauma — and keeps coming back in repetitive ways. Long-term depression and anxiety are repetitive; so are stress disorders, addictions and obsessive-compulsive behavior. The reason that modern therapies have not solved these maladies is that they don’t easily fit a medical model. No one is infected with an addiction; there is no vaccine or surgery for depression. Attempts are made to squeeze stress-related symptoms into a manageable scheme so that a patient can be handed the right pill after a fifteen-minute consultation. I won’t discount that some relief is offered, but for the most part drug therapy only masks the symptom without touching the cause of distress.

How do we get stress to stop sticking to us? How do we erase karmic impressions? How can we let go of past pain? These are profound questions, and they give ordinary people a strong reason to look into spirituality (and into therapies where the medical model has merged with the findings of wisdom). Personally, I don’t find that the kind of spiritual answers involved in prayer, faith, patience, hope and reliance on God work very well, much less those beliefs that deem suffering to be spiritually valuable for its own sake. Far more workable, I think, is the kind of spirituality that focuses directly on consciousness. Meditation, mindfulness, self-reflection, focused intention, energy work, hands-on healing and yoga all have their part to play. Karma or stress — call it what you will — is rooted in consciousness. We know this because karma and stress are unique with each person, forming patterns that no two people exactly duplicate.

If there is a state of consciousness that frees us from stress and the repetitive behavior that keeps us bound to the past, it should be a first priority to seek such a state. In the Indian tradition suffering is born of duality; healing is the end result of attaining unity. Duality comes down to the divided self, caught up in desires, thoughts, drives and impulses that form a confused and conflicting inner landscape. Unity is a self that is intact, clear, without contradictory impulses and present in the moment. Unity consciousness may be much more than this — it could be a state of grace that brings a person into intimacy with God — but without the basics, higher consciousness does us no good, in terms of freeing us from distress.

I’ve laid out a worldview rather than going into details, even though people always want how-to advice. The reason for being so general is that accepting a new worldview is the most important thing you can do. What is more basic than the decision to leave the battlefield rather than continuing to fight? Internal conflict is the problem, and doing more of the same, warring against yourself, judging against your bad impulses, suffering over your mistakes, projecting blame on others, finding that your highest expectations keep falling short — these are all forms of inner conflict. If you keep repeating them, you will persist in duality and the suffering it brings.

I almost never refer readers to my own writings, but two books, “How to Know God” and “The Book of Secrets,” lay out the big picture of how higher consciousness works, while a practical manual, “Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul,” gives the details.

Here, in three posts, I’ve tried to show that stress is, in fact, a spiritual issue. Materialism with its mechanistic explanations and conventional medicine are not complete enough to solve this huge problem, and in many ways they point in the wrong direction. It takes a shift in consciousness to end suffering. Such a shift is possible. The way to accomplish it is known and has been laid out in the world’s wisdom traditions. With that knowledge in hand, we can direct our lives in an evolutionary direction that was all but unknown a few decades ago. The solution to stress is inside each of us, waiting to be discovered.

Thich Nhat Hanh and David Suzuki in Conversation About the Health of the Planet

Despair and anger are contributing to a feeling that people have no power to stop the destructive forces behind climate change, but the feeling can be reversed through personal hope and inner peace, an audience in Vancouver was told earlier this week by Buddhist monk, poet, peace and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh.

In Vancouver for a week of teaching and lectures, Thich Nhat Hanh, sat down with Canada’s David Suzuki, a world-renowned authority on sustainable ecology, to discuss the path forward to a more sustainable way of living.

Their conversation, based on the premise that it is well-known that humans are harming the earth, destroying its ecosystems and disrupting the climate, focused on how to bring about the change in human behavior that is needed to put the world on a path that will ensure a healthy planet for future generations.

With contributions to the discussion from Vancouver’s mayor, Gregor Robertson, the audience listened for an hour to a thoughtful dialogue on tackling attitudes to climate change. The following clips provide a snapshot of the discussion. They will also be featured on the David Suzuki Foundation website and Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh’s website. A full version of the event is available for viewing here.

Thich Nhat Hanh said we have to accept that our civilization can be destroyed, not by an outside force, but by ourselves, just as many civilizations before ours have been destroyed. If we allow despair to take over, we will lose the strength to do anything to protect and preserve our civilization. Personal hope and inner peace will help build the strength we need to become instruments to protect the environment.

The conversation was structured around the following questions:

1. I would like your reaction to this economic advice a Lehman Brothers banker, named Paul Mazer, gave American business in 1930 when the age of consumerism was beginning: “People need to be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old have been entirely consumed… Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.”

2. What gives you hope that we can bring about the collective awakening needed to restore health to the planet? Most of us know we are harming the earth, destroying its ecosystems and disrupting the climate. But we act as if it is not happening. How do we bring about the change in human behavior that is needed to put us on a path that will ensure a healthy planet for our children and grandchildren?

3. Oil industry groups over the past few decades have financed misinformation campaigns to cast doubt on climate science. Today 45 per cent of Americans mistakenly believe there is disagreement among climate scientists that global warming is even happening, this number is up 12 percent since 2008. The number climate scientists saying Climate Change isn’t happening is actually closer to zero. It seems to be very easy to pull the wool over the eyes of the public, why are we so gullible? What do you think we can we do to change from deniers of the environmental problems we face to responsible stewards of the environment?

4. What responsibility does government have for solving these problems? How do we motivate government to do the right thing?

5. Social science research in Canada and the U.S. shows that public mistrust is at an all-time high. People believe Government and business say one thing and do another. They don’t trust Government; they don’t trust business and wonder about each other. This is particularly true when it comes to the environment. This mistrust has led to a kind of social paralysis where people believe their own actions won’t make a difference. How do we overcome this mistrust?

Here are two short clips from the conversation:

David Suzuki & Thich Nhat Hanh

David Suzuki, Zen Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, and David Suzuki Foundation Chair Jim Hoggan sat down to discuss mindfulness, climate change and how to bring about the collective public awakening needed to restore health to the planet.

David Suzuki & Thich Nhat Hanh: Despair

David Suzuki, Zen Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, and David Suzuki Foundation Chair Jim Hoggan in conversation about mindfulness, climate change and how to bring about the collective public awakening needed to restore health to the planet.

In this video, Thich Nhat Hanh and David Suzuki discuss the challenges faced in protecting the environment and the importance of not letting despair cloud our ability to affect change.

The Dream and the Dreamer by Swami Amar Jyoti

According to the Vedas, Brahma first created ego, which is the root, the sense of “I”-ness with nothing beyond it. This level of I-ness can be compared to deep, dreamless sleep. There you and I exist, with nothing beyond it. In deep sleep we are not even aware of being “I,” unless we come to another level of consciousness such as dreaming or waking. And this “I” has a will–not Supreme Will but limited will–percolating from the total Will of God. As God willed first, ego then wills. But when ego wills, we call it desire. This desire is the first vibration we create from the unit called “I.” It expands and creates a wave, a vibration, what we call astral or subtle personalization of consciousness. The basis is Consciousness.

In that waveless ocean of Consciousness, the ego wills or desires. This produces motion in Consciousness and is the beginning of the dream. The total picture of any dream, whether complex or simple, vivid or indistinct, is due to many vibrations–meaning: wills and desires–being released by the ego simultaneously. Then the dream, which actualizes on the astral plane, becomes a physical materialization. It becomes grosser, more thickened and sensual, meaning: perceivable by the senses. But the dreamer who dreams is you and me, that unit called I-ness, the first creation.

The sense of I-ness, the ego or root, holds all these worlds together. I is controlling all your worlds, the dreamlands as well as the physical lands. Where you finish, your dreams finish. You may ask why dreams continue if we do not want them. Simply out of habit or karma already recorded. The recording has become so embedded in the fabric of our minds that the dreams just go on playing. If we could direct and control our dreams, they could be channeled or stopped, as with any other kind of recording when we know how to use the equipment.

There is a beautiful point in this: not only are these dreams, created by waves in the ocean of Consciousness, seemingly outside you, but the scriptures have gone so far as to say, “You are dreaming within you.” Within you does not refer only to your body, it means that ego unit. Within this one microscopic unit of I or ego–one dot or atom only–you have the universe inside you. It is very difficult to visualize this point, but if you concentrate, it can be very clearly understood. That is why the famous Vedantic aphorism: You perceive only what you are, which means: everything is within you. Not only within you, inside your heart or soul, but within that you or I unit, that nucleus, the whole phenomenon is taking shape. The formulation is within you, the waves on the ocean.

When you come back to your Self, when you Know Thyself, all this becomes synonymous. There you will find that this manifestation, this radiation out of you, is not outside you. When you enter that tiny door of your Self, when you truly go within, you will find that God is within you. In other words, the dream and the dreamer are not two. Subject, object and relationship–the trinity–join into one. Everything is within you. When you reach this realization, you will see that we are visualizing and seeing a creation of our own desires, nothing else. And “me” is the dreamer of those dreams, the creator of that creation. Not only so. Me is that creation.

When we say to be detached to this world, this dream, we are just telling you to be detached from the unreal. You are dreaming and your pain and miseries are within the dream. Why not go to the root cause of the problem? The root cause of miseries is satiety, running after fleeting mirages of changeful phenomena. Looking to transitoriness for satisfaction makes us miserable because it is not permanent. When we awaken, we come back to our Absolute Truth: I am. And that unlimited Consciousness is blissful.

Satsang cover Excerpted from The Dream and the Dreamer
given by Swami Amar Jyoti in May 1976

The Two Great Stories of the World ~ Michael Meade, D.H.L.

Recently, I have been on panels where people lament how the troubles of the world seem increasingly intractable. I’ve heard environmentalists suggest that evolution may have reached a dead end with regard to the human species. I’ve heard pained audiences decry political parties as well as social movements. I have found myself responding with ancient proverbs such as: “The great person allows universal imagination to work through them.”

It’s as if something quite old and truly resilient is required to face the dire array of modern problems, for most of modern life is arranged to take us away from ourselves. Not just from advertising suggesting that what we lack can be purchased, nor from the ever-growing number of clever distractions, but we also learn to abandon ourselves amidst expectations that the answers to crucial problems and solutions to great dilemmas must come from the world outside us.

Amidst radical environmental problems and massive changes throughout culture, it becomes easy to forget that there are two great and enduring stories found on Earth. One is the tale of the world writ large, the ongoing drama of creation and of destruction. The other involves the continuous and surprising story that arises from the dreams and longings, the inborn gifts and necessary frailties hidden within each individual soul.

We are not accidental citizens of a world gone wrong, not merely faceless members of an age group or statistical, biological blips without inherent meaning. Humans are living stories, each imbued with an inherent message and a meaning trying to find its way into the world. Each soul a living thread in the tale being woven as we speak, being shaped as we dream, being made anew each time we step more fully into the story trying to live through us.

No new idea and no old belief system can simply solve the dilemmas currently facing both nature and culture. Things have gone too far for that. Yet we abandon ourselves unnecessarily when we turn away from the stories already woven within us. We rescind the ancient and immediate heritage of living imagination that is laced into the body, cell by cell, and set within the bones of our collective memories. Neither wisdom nor genius, neither heroism nor love can be found except where the individual soul awakens.

Humans inherit a “narrative intelligence” capable of grasping the great dramas of this world. It can be only found by awakening to an inner story trying to live through us. As the world around us becomes more uncertain and less predictable, the inner story may be the only place to turn for any hint of security. The word security shares roots with “secret” as well as “cure.” The way to affect the great drama of this world is to discover and live the story secretly seeded within one’s soul.

The answers that sustain life and reveal meaning amidst the confusion come from within. The essential cure for what ails us hides within us. Until we know what story we came to life to live, we can’t know how to aid the ongoing story of the world. This world is made of stories, each individual tale a part of an eternal drama being told from beginning to end, over and over again. As long as all the stories don’t end at once, the world will continue.

In this highly anticipated book, renowned mythologist and storyteller Michael Meade explores the complex and mysterious territories of the human soul with daring and hard-won wisdom. Drawing on folktales and myths from many cultures and spiritual ideas from the East and West, he leads us to an undeniable truth: that the only story we came here to live is our own.

Meade shows how the limitations of family and fate form the inner threads from which our individual destiny must emerge. He explains how our wounds can become doorways to our deepest gifts, and how our greatest efforts in the world are intended to lead us to a treasure divinely seeded within us before birth.

Fate and Destiny speaks directly to young people looking to find a genuine path in life and trying to awaken to the dream they carry inside. It offers penetrating insights for those caught in life’s inevitable struggles and shows how the wisdom of elders depends upon re-membering the spirit of eternal youth. As one story puts it, god has only one question to ask you at the end of life: did you become yourself?

Weaving stories within stories, lacing pertinent psychology within cultural analysis, and mixing autobiography with myth, Meade opens the territory of fate and destiny to new interpretations and deeper meanings.

This World is Made of Stories

Storyteller and mythologist, Michael Meade explains how this world is made of stories. Michael is the founder and director of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to cultural healing through story, mythology, and poetry via work with at-risk youth, veterans, gang youth, prisoners, the homeless, and the culture at large.

3 Simple Lessons from the Spiritual Masters ~ Steve McSwain

In the first of three posts, I discussed two of the most significant life lessons I’ve learned from the likes of Jesus, the Buddha, Lao-Tzu and many current spiritual masters or practitioners of higher states of consciousness, such as Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, Deepak Chopra and the Dalai Lama.

Here are three additional lessons I’ve learned.

1. I question everything.

The Buddha said, “Do not believe anything simply because it is spoken or rumored by many …found written in your religious books. … Do not believe in traditions just because they’ve been handed down to you … but, after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

Good advice, although just the opposite of what I was taught, which was to question nothing. To question things was too often regarded as a breach of faith. I know now, however, until you question your faith, you have no faith. You might have beliefs. But, as Deepak Chopra has rightly noted, “Beliefs are just a cover-up for insecurity; you only believe in the things you’re not certain about” (“Why Is God Laughing?”).

There are two things I question religiously: 1) The things my religion says are true and 2) The things that come to my mind. I think it was Wayne Dyer I first heard discuss the thousands of thoughts that invade your consciousness each day — something like 64,000. I found such a thought staggering, to say the least. When you pay attention to these mostly random thoughts, you discover two things distinguish them: They are repetitive in nature, and, most often, they are just plain wrong — or, at a minimum, suspect. What I’ve discovered over the years is that my own thinking has often acted as a deterrent to my happiness and inner peace. So, today, I make it my practice to observe my thoughts, as well as to question them when they arise. In other words, I catch myself thinking.

Yes, you guessed it, there are at least two people inside my head, perhaps more. There’s what Eckhart Tolle calls “the egoic self or mind,” the endlessly chattering one. And there’s a deeper self that many spiritual traditions refer to as the soul. This deeper “me” or soul, for want of a better description, is what easterners sometimes call “the witnessing presence.” This presence has the capacity of observing the stream of thinking. As it does, there is created within you a space of stillness and peace. I’ve learned, as I practice catching myself thinking, as well as questioning the thoughts that arise, I become instantly more peaceful. Try this and see what happens in you.

2. I do unto myself as I would have myself do unto me.

A little different twist on Jesus’ Golden Rule, which appears, by the way, in some form in virtually every spiritual tradition. I turned the words around, however, because I’ve learned that you only ever do to others what you do to yourself. And, conversely, you do to yourself what you do to others. I think it was the Buddhist, Pema Chodron, who first taught me this. So I can’t help but wonder, when a nation like the U.S. goes to war and kills others, there’s perhaps a sense in which we kill something within ourselves in the process. Which is probably why the Chinese say, “Before seeking vengeance, better dig two graves.”

3. I look for the life lesson hidden like a pearl in a oyster shell in every life experience.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross was one of the first to help us understand the stages of grief. She once said, “There are no mistakes in life; all events are blessings given for our edification — our learning.”

I think she’s right. What’s unquestionably certain for me, however, is that when I began looking for the lesson in life’s experiences, my reactions toward life, particularly the tougher parts, took a dramatic turn for the better. I’m not suggesting you and I should lay down and just let life roll over us. And neither am I suggesting you gloss over evil and injustice as if it’s necessary for the service of some grander purpose. I’m only suggesting that you join me in the practice of acceptance. We are taught to resist what is. Discontent is the ego’s twin sister. Learning the art of acceptance, however, is a learned skill. And inner peace is its reward.

On the day my father unexpectedly died, for example, I was devastated. During the dark days that followed, had someone suggested to me that his death was “God’s will,” I probably would have punched them out. But, as I relate in my book, in the mystery that is Life, his unexpected death turned out to be the occasion of my unplanned but welcomed rediscovery of the sacred self.

In retrospect, how could I be anything but happy? Whatever else the nightmare taught me, one thing is clear: At the moment of a crisis, you and I usually “see through a glass darkly,” as Saint Paul put it (1 Corinthians 13:12). But know this: the day will come when you look back and see that what appeared as a puzzling jigsaw of unwanted pain and confusion has given way to the beautiful tapestry that is your life.

Steve McSwain is the author of the book “ The Enoch Factor“. Please refer to Tag “Book Review” of this blog.

The Dos and Don’ts of Picking a Spiritual Master ~Joel and Michelle Levey

As the new school year begins, we are reminded that the most effective way to learn anything is to study with teachers and mentors who have already mastered it. Meditation and spiritual practice is certainly no exception. Over the years we have been fortunate to study closely with hundreds of the world’s most respected and realized teachers from a variety of wisdom traditions and mind-science research backgrounds. Their diversity of styles, depth of wisdom, kindness and examples of wisdom and compassion in action have profoundly inspired our lives, work, how we live, teach and conduct ourselves as teachers.

In training the mind through meditation and contemplative disciplines, a helpful analogy is to regard the mind-brain-body as a remarkable musical instrument that is capable of generating the sweetest of music, yet all too often is poorly maintained, left untuned and plagued with chaotic and noisy sounds. If we sincerely wish to learn to play beautiful music, we must study with a master who knows the instrument inside and out. Both teachers and students alike need to know how to quiet their stress, maintain emotional awareness and receptiveness for learning. In order to develop a calm, clear, joyful, and loving mind, we need the guidance of someone who thoroughly understands what the mind is, how the mind works and how it can be transformed … someone whose own heart-mind is truly open to the full depths of being and embraces the full dimension of all creation.

As we travel and teach around the globe, many people ask us, “How can I find a qualified meditation teacher?” The answer is not always an easy one. When we first began our own practice, there were three meditation centers in Seattle and two yoga teachers. Now, there are thousands of yoga and meditation teachers and hundreds of meditation centers! In looking for a spiritual or “mind fitness” teacher, the qualities to look for include compassion, knowledge and insight, morality, sincerity and skill — both in teaching and in their way of living — and a greater realization of their true nature and highest potentials than you have. From your own side, you should have confidence in your teacher and be able to communicate well with him or her. However, don’t set out on a frantic guru hunt! We encourage you to proceed slowly, mindfully, and to be both open-minded and very discerning. It may be a matter of years before you meet the person who can answer your questions and be this special spiritual friend and teacher for you.

Meanwhile, you can begin to practice meditation from what you read and from podcasts or recordings on the web, and seek the advice of any meditators whose qualities you admire. The role of any good teacher is ultimately to help you learn to trust your own intuitive wisdom, your own inner guru or inner guidance system, which will ultimately be your most reliable source of true direction.

Because it’s so important, and fraught with so many potential pitfalls, the subject of finding a teacher deserves a special subset of guidelines of its own. A classic Buddhist teaching on “The Four Reliances” advises the spiritual seeker to:

“First rely on the principle, not on the person. Second, rely on the spirit, not the letter. Third, rely on wisdom, not conditioning. And fourth, rely on complete teaching, not incomplete teaching.”

There are many perils on the path of meditation and spiritual growth. Keep your eyes open and your discerning wisdom keen. There are teachers and traditions that are rare and precious beyond belief. If you are fortunate enough to be able to spend time with them, your life will be truly enriched. And, there are teachers and traditions that quite honestly, we don’t send people to. How do you know if you are pursuing an authentic spiritual path, or have met a good teacher?

Signs to watch for are: ethical and moral integrity; service to others; compassion; respect for discipline; personal accountability of both leaders and community members; faith; embodiment; groundedness; respect; joyfulness; fellowship with, or at least tolerance for, people of different faiths; an inspiring lineage of practitioners whose lives have been enriched; a community of kindred souls that inspires your respect and admiration; love; celebration; humanity; respect for silence as well as questions; an honoring of the mythical and the mystical as well as clear reasoning that welcomes debate; a balance of prayer, contemplation, study, and service in practice.

If you find that you are the type who is easily confused or bewildered by exploring many paths or studying with many teachers, it may be wise to simplify your spiritual pursuits. Research and visit different meditation centers and teachers until you find a path that is spiritually satisfying for you, and then through study, practice, and contemplation, go deeply into the heart of that path.

If you are by nature a weaver and synthesizer, your temperament may better suit you to seek inspiration from study and practice with a diversity of traditions. Seek to find the common heart and core around which they come together, and appreciate how each contributes to deepening your wisdom and love, and to strengthening your faith.

If you are a mature practitioner with a clear sense of your path and tradition, there is little to fear and much to gain through encounters with other traditions. These will likely serve to only clarify and deepen your faith and insight. Keep an open heart, an open mind, and seek for a path that works for you.

Spiritual communities, though potential havens, can also become escapes for the socially challenged. And teachers from other cultures, though masters in their spiritual disciplines, may lack the experience they need within their new culture to give realistic counsel to their students — and sometimes get distracted as they encounter the enticements of the West.

We wholeheartedly encourage you to keep your eyes wide open. Open-minded skepticism will help you to find a healthy balance between over-critical cynicism that may miss the real thing, and gullible naiveté that is easily duped into signing up for misleading or dangerous pursuits.

Over the years, in search of a deeper understanding, our work, travels, and research have lead us to encounter many different spiritual paths. Having also encountered many of the perils of the path — and having worked clinically with some of the casualties — we offer the following list of cautionary guidelines to check out before you “sign up” with a spiritual teacher or group. Though it is possible you may find some of the following warning signs on an authentic path, they are often associated with less trustworthy situations. It is always wise to observe the integrity of people’s behavior carefully, and ask yourself these three essential questions:

• Does what I hear make sense to me?
• Does it conform to the golden rule, empathy, and compassion toward yourself and others?
• What is the intention? Is it to harm or to help? Is it for limited self-interest — or service for the good of the whole and benefit to many for generations to come?

Beware if you encounter any of the following “red flags”:

• Teachers or circles of practitioners who are out of integrity, or who don’t practice what they preach.
• Settings where questions are not welcomed or answered in straightforward ways, or where raising concerns about conduct or ethical violations is frowned upon — especially if you are told you are being “too judgmental” when you do raise honest concerns.
• Anyone who claims that they can give “it” to you, especially for a price.
• If the price of admission excludes people who are truly sincere.
• If you are expected to purchase lots of expensive merchandise or paraphernalia to get on board.
• Slick, extravagant trappings or heavily marketed, empire-building enterprises.
• Discrimination or attempts to turn your heart against others.
• Hidden agendas.
• Fanatical, narrow-minded sects claiming to be “the only true way.”
• A heavily authoritarian, paternalistic, sexist, or militaristic scene.
• Practices that work with intense energy manipulation or heavy breathing practices without having first established a strong foundation in ethics and personal grounding.
• Teachers, paths, or seminars that seem ungrounded, make outrageous claims, use coercion tactics, or hustle you to get others to sign up.

Be especially discerning if you encounter people who seem to display unusual or extraordinary powers. Spiritually naïve people may easily confuse psychic sensitivity with spiritual maturity, deluding themselves and others. Purported channeling and clairvoyance may have little to do with authentic spiritual teachings. Because some teachers misrepresent themselves, claiming spiritual authorizations, realizations, or backgrounds that are downright lies, it’s always good to check references or question their authenticity. If the biography of a spiritual teacher heavily emphasizes their attainments in past lives, (maybe, but who knows?) we suggest that you stay focused on the integrity of the one you can see sitting in front of you.

The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration, and Meditation: Ancient Skills for Modern Minds
Joel Levey (Author), Michelle Levey

Joel & Michelle Levey have taught thousands of people around the globe to live in greater harmony and balance. Field-tested and refined over many years, the Leveys’ unique approach to stress-mastery and personal development offers step-by-step guidance for developing your personal strengths, enhancing the quality of your life, and making a real contribution to your world.

The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration and Meditation offers a treasury of their most useful teachings:

-Waking up throughout the day-finding your meditation practice and sticking to it.

-Balancing breath, brain, and mind-mastering stress and enhancing performance in every arena of your life.

-Creative intelligence–the dynamic synergy of active and quiet mind skills.

-Mastery, mystery, and meditation-awakening to your true nature.

-Inspired Work–relaxation, concentration, and meditation on the job.

A vital blend of profoundly practical skills, advice, instruction, and encouragement makes the Fine Arts a complete course for awakening more fully to your highest potentials in each moment of your life.

The significance of 11.11.11

Leigh Mccloskey Artist, Actor, Renaissance Man talks about the significance of 11.11.11
more at www.peacelinklive.org

The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher by Mariana Caplan, PhD

Ed. Note: There are three generally recognized means by which a person can achieve a transformation in consciousness:

- gradually, through a spiritual practice or some routine of intended change;

- suddenly, through what is often a traumatic experience or the occasional grace of an aha! moment;

- and one more unique to Eastern traditions, direct transmission from a recognized guru.

Caplan, a professor and psychotherapist who has written extensively and passionately on the topic, strongly advocates for the latter—but not for everyone. Her latest book, excerpted below, carefully maps this particular rabbit hole. For those who remain skeptical, Diana Alstad’s and Joel Kramer’s The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power (Frog Books, 1993) is a provocative exposé of institutional and personal abuse that is still considered a benchmark text about control and exploitation. More recently there is Charles Eisenstein’s “Why the Age of the Guru is Over.”

Many people who argue against hierarchy in the world of spiritu­ality contend that the concept of the spiritual master as imported from Eastern traditions is old-fashioned or cannot be adapted to Western culture. They say that we in the West have evolved beyond such a dated system of authoritarian rule. Within spiri­tual circles in the United States, the argument can be summed up as follows: the gurus came West in the sixties; we believed in them; we gave them our money, lives, and souls, and they betrayed us with scandals involving money, sex, and power. We have passed through that immature phase and are now ready for the new: the great return to rugged spiritual individualism.

But isn’t this a classic example of American thought? We burned through thousands of years of tradition as quickly as we are burning through all the rest of the world’s natural resources. While we may be surpassing prior technological advances in human history, we hardly outshine our predecessors in terms of spiritual wisdom.

We in the West have been attempting the mass importation of foreign ideals into a culture that is not prepared to support them, and many think such ideals won’t work here. Transplanting spiritual traditions and practices from one culture to another is likely a job of several generations—a labor of love and patience in which we each fulfill the small part we are called upon to play. While we naturally evaluate the process as we go along, it is unwise to jump to quick conclusions about any aspect of it. The traditions we are trying to import require appreciation of their perennial wisdom and careful study of how the knowledge and wisdom they embody can best be integrated into a radically different land. In order to effectively transport Eastern traditions onto Western soil, we are each called upon to fulfill the function of “gnostic inter­mediaries”: individuals who, according to Carl Jung, “personally incorporate the wisdom of a tradition and can then speak directly from their own experience and understanding into the language and concepts of the culture to which they wish to communicate.”1

The Guru versus the Guru Function

Westerners, who are educated to be individualists, have difficulty in grasping the concept that the guru is not so much a person as a function. Of course, the guru function depends for its performance on a human being, and therefore it always occurs in the context of a particular personality. This is what is the most confusing to Western students, who tend to get caught up in externals. —Georg Feuerstein

For the Western mind, making a distinction between the guru or teacher and what he or she represents is one of the most fer­tile grounds for misunderstanding. In The Nine Stages of Spiritual Apprenticeship, Greg Bogart writes: “In the Indian yogic tradi­tions . . . the guru-principle is identified with the power to bestow grace. Thus, the guru is one through whom the con­cealed power and splendor of Shiva, the Supreme Light, is revealed and unfolded within a human being.”2

Yet the external teacher is a person, replete with all of the physi­cal, mental, and psychic functioning that is inherent in human nature. He or she has a personality—largely conditioned—which we may or may not like. It is wonderful if we happen to appreciate, or even adore, the person who is the teacher, for it is liable to make our experience of spiritual practice—our sadhana—much more enjoy­able. But it is not a requirement that our personality resonate with the teacher’s. What we need to look at is whether or not the teach­er’s personality impedes the work of dismantling the stronghold of our ego and empowering our Self—the teacher’s true function.

The individual who assumes a guru function will not neces­sarily be a flawless role model and is unlikely to fulfill the role of good parent, psychologist, personal confidant, or friend. If these functions should arise, they are simply icing on the cake—icing that can become a significant impediment to the student when its appealing flavor causes her to forget she came for the cake!

The situation contains a paradox: although the guru func­tion is entirely distinct from the person and personality of the guru, it is at the same time intricately related to it. The func­tion always exists, but it manifests in connection with the guru’s physical person. Because it takes the form of a human being, it will not only include that person’s personality but will, under optimal circumstances, utilize that very personality—with all its quirks, eccentricities, and even psychological conditioning—as the vehicle for transmitting its teaching. Because of this, there will be times when it requires sharp discernment to distinguish between when the guru function is making use of the teacher’s quirks, eccentricities, and psychological conditioning, and when the teacher is just having a very human moment that has nothing to do with his or her teaching function.

Ken Wilber refers to the “three eyes”—the eye of the flesh, the eye of the mind, and the eye of the spirit—to describe the various levels or channels of perception through which it is possible to perceive any given experience. Both the guru and the guru function can be intellectually addressed through observable experience (the eye of the flesh) and the intellect (the eye of the mind) but can only be understood through the eye of the spirit.

The guru function is, in essence, impersonal. It is not about the personality of the student or the teacher. This is a particularly dif­ficult reality for the student to wrap his or her mind around when the felt experience of the relationship between student and teacher is the most deeply personal bond of love and reverence he or she has ever known. Yet the impersonal nature of this bond is precisely why it produces a quality of feeling and a possibility of exchange rarely found elsewhere in the human experience. It is nothing other than God loving God, Truth loving Truth. In the words of Daniel Moran, “Absolute intimacy is absolutely impersonal.”

When one appreciates the true nature of the guru function, commonly heard statements such as “The guru model is outdated” or “I don’t believe in gurus” become patently absurd. The guru as the guru function cannot be falsified or outdated. It simply is. It is a function existing within the universe that is at times embodied by a particular human being, known as the teacher or the guru. The Guru Gita says,

The guru-principle moves and moves not. It is far as well as near. It is inside everything as well as outside everything.3

The timeless function of transmission—which is what we should really be considering when we talk about the teacher—cannot be outdated. Instead of denouncing the concept and dismissing the possibility of its functioning in our lives, we can focus our atten­tion on embodying our discipleship in such a way that it elicits the true guru function from even a would-be guru.

The ability to facilitate in another human being the soul’s becoming is the greatest of skills, and the one who carries it out is worthy of humble reverence.

Ego and Annihilation

Lying deep at the bottom of even the most justified and intelli­gent arguments against the spiritual teacher is an all-encompassing terror of ego annihilation. So terrified is the ego of dying to its exclusive identification with who we are, and so clever are its ways, that more often than not, this fear camouflages itself in the guise of a bulletproof dharmic intellect whose classically favored target is the spiritual teacher. For the authentic teacher is ego’s archenemy.

Ego is a function that arises as a condition of incarnation. Its primary purpose is to ensure the survival of the human organism. Its programming begins sometime after conception; within the first years of the child’s life, it forms a set of core belief systems about who it is, what life is like, and what to expect from its incarnation as a body. Ego constructs series upon series of con­ceptual boxes in order to organize and manage the life of its host in an otherwise chaotic world.

Difficulties arise when the ego identifies itself with the body, which is what ego is designed to do, prior to intensive spiritual work. Since its function is survival, it then proceeds to base all activity, thoughts, and actions upon what will ensure the survival of the particular home (body) it inhabits. In so doing, it sepa­rates itself from everyone else and, in a subtle and unconscious way, begins to perceive the world as an adversary best conquered through control, ownership, and manipulation. Ironically, how­ever, its only real adversary is itself.

When what existed prior to ego awakens within an individual, he or she often experiences a tremendous shift in inner percep­tion. Something long dormant begins to yearn to know and be known. Thus begins the spiritual search. Sometimes one is fully conscious of the process; at other times it takes place entirely beneath the surface. In the latter case, people often say, “In retro­spect, I realize I was always searching for God/Truth but didn’t have the language to describe it.”

When all elements are in their rightful place, in accordance with mysterious timing in the Universe, the meeting with the teacher occurs. It is as if the longing of the soul finally prevails over the heaviness of the ego—even if only for a short while. The teacher comes on the scene to respond to the call that has been held in the soul’s throat until now.

However, because the teacher is simultaneously the benefac­tor and nemesis of the ego, the relationship with the teacher will always include elements of push-pull, love-hate. For the teacher does not love the student’s exterior or personality, but the soul itself, which has been crying to be set free since its birth or even earlier. It knows that only a true teacher, and what he or she represents, can free it. Though the would-be student has been starving for the appearance of the teacher, that very presence rep­resents the greatest egoic threat he or she has ever faced. This is the student’s great bind.

The teacher’s job description is to conquer egoic identifica­tion while knowing very well that at the crucial junctures of its defeat, the student will view him or her with scrutiny, doubt, criticism, and mistrust. From the student’s ego’s perspective, the teacher is trying to kill the student. Yet when a crack appears in the protective walls of ego and, through the vehicle of the teacher, something of God or Truth seeps in, the student experiences an unparalleled quality of love. Thus the drama of life with the teacher is one of alternating longing and resistance, love and war, emptiness and fulfillment. It is the only way it can be, a perspec­tive important to maintain during more difficult periods.

The spiritual teacher is not necessary if one does not aspire to fulfill one’s highest human potential in God or Truth. But if this is your goal, I must recommend conscious discipleship in rela­tionship with a deep and sincere openness to spiritual guidance. In the words of the late Robert Ennis, from a personal interview:

The chances of someone awakening without a teacher are like the chances of getting pregnant without a partner. The spiritual teacher is the partner that is necessary for spiritual birth. Not too many immaculate conceptions happen.

Having attempted many years of spiritual life without a teacher and spent many more as a spiritual vagabond, and having received the benefits of working with an authentic teacher, I cannot imag­ine why one would dare to cross the shark-infested waters of the ego without a boatman. Still, if you have not experienced an authentic teacher—or have had encounters with teachers who could not keep the boat afloat or tossed you overboard to fend for yourself—it is wholly understandable that you would be skeptical about finding a trustworthy teacher. But I remain convinced that true disciples in search of an authentic teacher will eventually find their way to the one they seek.

Excerpted from The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher by Mariana Caplan. Reprinted with permission from Sounds True. ©2011, Mariana Caplan.

Peace After a Loss ~ Eckhart Tolle

Questioner: My sons drowned in the sea ten months ago. I did surrender, but when I felt the peace and calm coming over me, it felt wrong. It was not right to feel peace and calm with such a loss.

ET: The natural way of being after death of a loved one is suffering at first, then there is a deepening. In that deepening, you go to a place where there is no death. And the fact that you felt that means you went deep enough, to the place where there is no death. Conditioned as your mind is by society, the contemporary world that you live in, which knows nothing about that dimension – your mind then tells you that there is something wrong with this. Your mind says “I should not be feeling peace, that is not what one feels in a situation like this”. But that’s a conditioned thought by the culture that you live in. So instead we can recognize when this happens, when that thought comes – recognize it as a conditioned thought that is not true.

It doesn’t mean that the waves of sadness don’t come back from time to time. But in between the waves of sadness, you sense there is peace. As you sense that peace, you sense the essence of your children as well – the timeless essence. So death is a very sacred thing – not just a dreadful thing. When you react to the loss of form, that’s dreadful.

When you go deep enough to the formless, the dreadful is no longer dreadful, it’s sacred. Then you will experience the two levels, when somebody dies who is close to you. Yes it’s dreadful on the level of form. It’s sacred on the deeper level. Death can enable you to find that dimension in yourself. You’re helping countless other humans if you find that dimension in yourself – the sacred dimension of life. Death can help you find the sacred dimension of life – where life is indestructible.

Surrender can open that door for you. Complete acceptance of it. So honor that sacred dimension and realize that what your mind is saying, that it isn’t right, is just a form of conditioning – it isn’t the truth. It is supremely right.

This is always the window into the formless. As you accept it, surrender. Because the form is gone, your mind becomes still when you surrender to death. It’s not through explanations that you accept death. You can have explanations, mental explanations that say, well, he or she will move on or reincarnate, or go to some place of rest. That can be comforting, but you can go to a deeper place than that, where you don’t need explanations – a state of immediate realization of the sacredness of death, because what opens up when the form dissolves is life beyond form. That is the only thing that is sacred. That is the sacred dimension.

You can get tiny glimpses of that when you lose something, and you completely accept that it’s gone. This is a tiny glimpse of death and it can give you a tiny realization – maybe even more than tiny, if you’re ready.

Science and Spirituality Can Transform Our World .. Together ~ Steven and Michael Meloan

For hundreds of years, science has illuminated the mysteries of our universe, allowing us to conquer diseases, manipulate genomes, visit other planets and explore the wonders of space and time. But as a result of these profound and inarguable successes, science has also become the de facto cultural filter through which our broader societal norms, behaviors and institutions have developed and evolved. Newtonian physics established a physical reality composed of discrete and separate objects, operating according to predictable laws of time and space — the universe as a giant billiard table. And Darwinian evolution established the biological world as a tooth-and-claw realm of scarcity, competition and “survival of the fittest.”

The end conclusions of this centuries-old scientific story is that we are accidents of the cosmos, living on a lonely planet in the cold depths of space, vying for limited resources in a frequently violent and tumultuous competition for supremacy. The implicit notion that we are walking husks for “selfish genes” pervades everything, from our economic and business institutions to our day-to-day interactions.

But an increasing number of scientific, philosophical and spiritual thinkers are arriving at the conclusion that this mechanistic take on the human story is fundamentally incomplete. Darwinian narratives of “survival of the fittest,” and mechanistic Newtonian physics are increasingly being seen as elements of a far greater and richer tapestry.

Quantum entanglement, or Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance,” demonstrates that our universe is interconnected in ways we might never have imagined, down to the most basic particle level. And the discovery of “mirror neurons” in humans and other primates demonstrates that simply seeing something happen to another creature lights up the same neurons as if it were happening to us. In a very real sense, we don’t entirely distinguish between “the self” and others. And this is particularly true when witnessing suffering. Compassion and empathy seem to be hard-wired into us.

While inter-species and intra-species competition is an inarguable biological fact, we are discovering compelling new examples of connection, cooperation and community. In reality, we may have even misinterpreted Darwin. In his “The Descent of Man,” published in 1871, Darwin only mentions the phrase “survival of the fittest” twice, while he mentions the word “love” 95 times. Dig beneath the surface of the natural world, and a tooth-and-claw narrative is clearly not the only one to be found.

Bonobo apes, with which humans share more than 98 percent of their DNA, live in highly cooperative societies based on matriarchal structures. These and other recent scientific discoveries may prove pivotal in creating newer and more accurate cultural narratives. The Human Genome Project has revealed amazing commonalities among all living organisms, and the project has also found that there is greater genetic variability within a given race than between them. In short, in spite of superficial appearances, we are far more alike, at a fundamental genetic level, than we are different.

Even so, we retain hard-wiring from a primitive past that was directed toward survival-based judgments and assessments of others. Studies find that this programming leaves us constantly primed to gauge others as “in-group” or “out-group,” based upon such criteria as race, gender, age and perceived cultural and socio-economic status — and that such analyses occur within milliseconds. This tribalism can be surprisingly fluid and dynamic. In one study, teen boys were exposed to the art of either Kandinsky or Klee. Even though the boys were previously unfamiliar with either and had been randomly assigned to view the works of only one artist, the Kandinsky “gang” quickly showed a greater willingness to loan money to other Kandinsky in-group members. And the same proved true of the experimental Klee “gang.”

Because such tribal-bonding is so dynamic and shifting, however, it is also highly malleable. Once recognized and understood, this hard-wiring can be consciously subverted. A measurable aversion to the image of a homeless person or drug addict can be rapidly transformed by an assignment to participate in a soup kitchen and choose appropriate menu items for people in need. In this way, out-group members almost instantaneously become fellow in-group members as part of a joint undertaking. The key to such subversion of tribalistic tendencies is that cross-group members must share a larger common goal, and have the support of recognized authority figures.

While competition and tribalistic bonding are inarguable aspects of our world, science increasingly makes clear that this is only one part of an expanding conceptual landscape. Our entire universe is profoundly interconnected, in ways that we are only beginning to decipher. This is true at the elementary particle level, at the genetic level, at the organism level and at a global level via the Internet. Ultimately, the same scientific milieu that helped form our current conflict-ridden cultural narratives may now be instrumental in defining not only a more productive world view, but a more accurate one.

Steven and Michael Meloan are authors of “The Shroud,” a science-adventure novel exploring the spiritual impulse, tribalism and its manifestations in human behavior, and the intersection between science and spirituality:

http://www.TheShroud.net

3 Keys to Living the Life You Want ~ Dr. Jean Houston

As I travel around the globe speaking and training, I have consistently found that most people ask me the same question, “How do I discover my purpose in life?” In the past, who you became was determined by your family and circumstances. You didn’t have much choice. But now there is an open moment in history where you have the chance to tap into the soul of your purpose.

Millions of people right now are experiencing a yearning and desire to awaken to their unique gifts and offer them in service to the world — while living a life of joy and fulfillment. It’s a surging of the human spirit, a virtual global awakening, at a scale that no one has ever seen before. Simply put, people are longing to finally feel fully alive and to fulfill their unique purpose in life.

So then why is living a life of meaning and purpose so difficult? It is because our current social systems have not been set up to prepare us to live a life of true purpose. That’s because today’s culture exists not to nurture our highest aspirations, but to ensure our basic survival. Our educational system is designed to create good workers who will slot into jobs and careers later in life — not to empower fiery, creative people who are forging the path ahead together. Our social contracts exist to perpetuate the status quo — not to encourage our highest potentials to blossom. Is it any wonder why so many people’s best attempts to evolve themselves and our culture fall short of the goal? We simply haven’t been trained in how to bring the possible future into the present.

It’s not that they don’t have the talent or interest to live a purposeful, meaningful life. The issue is far simpler. People struggle to activate their “purpose code” because they haven’t woken up to — or are only partially awake to — our situation as a human race. Most people hold on to old, limiting beliefs of themselves and our human story. Overwhelmed by all the changes in the world around them, most people live their lives within a “small story” and therefore confine themselves to a “small self.” That’s why so many people feel that they don’t have a purpose, or that they aren’t able to actually live the life they were born to live.

There is a saying that “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” I believe that it is butterfly time. Just as the guidance cells in the mush that is the caterpillar in its cocoon suddenly begin to activate the transformation of mush into butterfly, so too this is the time when we realize that the guidance or imaginal cells of our bodies, our communities, and, yes, even of the cells of our planet are calling us to come together in all our parts to form something gorgeous, interdependent, living lightly on the earth, cross pollinating cultures, ideas, spiritual forms, glowing with the light that suffuses us, becoming transparent to transcendence. And to rise out of the mush we have been caught in these many hundreds of years and to take flight in the air of the new story which is emerging in our time.

For the fields we traverse, the many flowers of mind states and soul knowings we now enter are those that belong to the whole earth, to many cultures, to what I am calling “PanGaia.” And as the butterfly pollinates and cross pollinates from place to place, flower to flower, so do we also if we have the will and the willingness to discover our purpose and be part of this extraordinary moment in time.

Three Keys to Empowering New Beliefs

The first key to activating your life’s purpose is to hold new beliefs about yourself and about your role in the great story of where humanity is headed.

Living a great life requires that you understand the challenges and opportunities of our moment in history. To understand this for myself, I’ve gathered information from my work in over 100 countries and 40 different cultures, and what I’ve discovered has served as a sure guide on my path. Specifically, I have found five great shifts in our understanding of the story of our time that are affecting everything we do today. I believe that awakening to the power of these shifts will help you cultivate your sense of compassion and of the infinite possibilities of this moment.

The Five Shifts Are:

1. Our understanding of who and what we are and what we need to become in order to be able to deal with the complexity of our time is evolving.

2. Human societies are in the process of re-patterning. Social constructs are dissolving and whole new stories are trying to emerge, such as the rise of women to a full partnership with men across the globe, and many others.

3. How we conduct business and governance is shifting in the midst of vast ecological and financial changes. This is perhaps the most important social event of the last 5,000 years, because these issues impact almost everything in our lives.

4. The rise and fusion of different cultures — we are swiftly moving toward a planetary civilization that accentuates the uniqueness of each culture while blending them together. Think of the great fusions of food, of music and of beliefs.

5. Whole new orders of spirituality are emerging that are not about religion. The new cosmologies are giving us a view of ourselves that we never had before. For the first time ever, we find that we don’t just live in the universe, but that the universe lives in us.

6. This journey begins by letting go of old beliefs and patterns to make room for the new beliefs and capacities that will empower you to awaken to and live your higher purpose.

The second key allows you to discover and realize the vast field of inner intelligences — using multiple means of knowing and being in order to gain insight into life at a level to which most people rarely have access. These skills are to be found on four levels of your human capacity, sensory-physical, psychological-emotional, mythic-symbolic and unitive-spiritual. As you learn how to utilize the extraordinary capacities to be found at each of these levels, you literally move into new ways of being. For example, you will learn how to play with time in such a way as to take five minutes and experience it internally as hours — these are “hours” you can use to develop a skill or move a project forward.

You will learn to access “inner experts” — willing helpers or personas that will help you navigate the complexity of life with elegance and confidence.

The third key gives you the means to break free from unconscious, habitual ways of reacting to life that were born thousands of years ago, and embrace higher ways of being for a new era. You will discover ways to move through life with ebullience in your bones and an appetite for celebration — seeing everything as an expression of the creator. You will move through life, motivated not by guilt or obligation, but by gratitude and an abiding zest for doing the things that are called forth by living out of your higher purpose.

Dr. Jean Houston is presenting a free 75-minute downloadable audio seminar titled “3 Keys to Discovering and Living Your True Purpose Available Now” at www.DestinyandYou.com.

Dr. Jean Houston is a scholar, philosopher and one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. She is considered one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement. A powerful and dynamic speaker, she has served as consultant to several agencies of United Nations, including UNICEF and the UNDP. She has worked in more than 100 countries training leadership at every level to enhance skills and purpose so as to bring a new mind to bear upon challenging issues. A prolific writer and author of 26 books, including “A Passion for the Possible and The Mythic Life,” Dr. Houston has recently joined the faculty of Evolving Wisdom, today’s fastest growing global e-learning company specializing in transformative education, to provide her wisdom online in a cutting edge format. www.DestinyandYou.com.

The Emerging Global Mind by Tiffany Shlain

Fifteen years ago I founded the Webby Awards. I was fascinated by how the Internet was connecting people all over the world in new and unexpected ways. I have also been struck by the many conversations about the problems of our day that view them as separate challenges—whether the environment, women’s rights, poverty, or social justice. It has become increasingly apparent to me that when you perceive everything as connected, it radically shapes your perspective.

The concept of interdependence isn’t new; it’s been around since the dawn of humanity. For two-hundred-thousand years, we’ve been connecting through networks both natural and technological. Interdependence has long been a tenet of Eastern philosophy and indigenous cosmologies. But the recent addition of the Internet has added a new layer, which connects us in a fresh way, giving the world a new type of central nervous system. Something happens in one place, and we can see it, feel it, and do something about it almost instantaneously.

Technology is clearly changing us, especially the way we connect with our friends, families, and the world around us. It has this huge potential. But technology has also led to some of the biggest problems of our day. It’s accelerating our connectedness in ways we can’t even predict or be completely aware of. Take the honeybees and their well-documented disappearance. Albert Einstein predicted that if honeybees were to disappear, humanity would be gone in four years. Several theories explain why the honeybees are disappearing—toxic chemicals being the most likely cause—but the impacts of an entirely new grid of human-induced electromagnetic energy has also been proposed as the culprit. New books such as Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows and Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together highlight studies that show how our behaviors and brains are negatively affected by a 24/7 digitally connected world. The sociopolitical warnings in Eli Pariser’s The Filter Bubble and Evgeny Mozrozov’s The Net Delusion are another concern.

My father, Leonard Shlain, loved to quote Sophocles: “Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.” From the beginning of time, every new technological advancement has brought with it a complex mix of positive and negative repercussions as well as unintended consequences. I set out to make a film that addresses the potential of our twenty-first-century technologies and the importance of harnessing their powers. I also wanted to examine what can happen when these new technologies take over and sometimes overwhelm our personal lives. What does it mean to be connected in the twenty-first century? How can we use the power of all these connections to turn things around for the better? I titled the film Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death, and Technology, and I asked my father to cowrite the project with me.

Overlooking the Personal

My dad was a surgeon but also a pioneer in writing about the connections between science, consciousness, the human brain, art, and civilization. His best-selling books include The Alphabet Versus the Goddess; Sex, Time, and Power; and Art and Physics. He was an incredible visionary who had a wonderful knowledge of history, and I felt he would make an enormous contribution to the film. He was one of the people who taught me to look for connections in the first place. He searched for patterns that gave insight into why we do what we do.

His first book, Art and Physics, drew parallels between breakthroughs in art and breakthroughs in science. He found examples of this throughout history—such as the way Cubism challenged viewers’ notions about space and time right before Einstein published his theory about space and time and the way the artist Seurat started to paint with tiny dots around the same time that scientists were theorizing the existence of molecules. In The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, he presented evidence that showed whenever the alphabet and literacy were introduced into a society, they overstimulated the analytic left hemisphere of the brain and shifted the balance of power between men and women to favor patriarchal models. He traced this pattern throughout the centuries, finding links between the onset of literacy and the oppression of women throughout the world.

For years he and I talked about making a film together, so when I started researching all these connections and how we could use them to help solve our problems, it was natural to ask him to be on the team. We were researching and writing and sharing drafts, and then one day, when I called to talk to him about the movie, he didn’t pick up. It turns out he had been rushed to the hospital after suffering a stroke. He was diagnosed with stage IV brain cancer and given nine months to live.

All of a sudden, I was asking lots of new questions. I quickly realized that here I was, writing about all these interrelationships, and the one great connection I had overlooked was the emotional one. That’s when I began the difficult process of rewriting the film to include my personal story of connection, which I wove into the bigger story of connection throughout history and where I think we are heading.

Technology’s Seduction—and Potential

When I was twenty-one, I attempted my first feature film, Zoli’s Brain. I used magic surrealism to tell a story about the brain. It was my first big failure and, as I look back, one of the most important experiences of my life. It clearly reflected my interest in the brain. Now, almost twenty years later, there’s so much we still don’t know about the human brain. It’s one of the most complex biological systems on earth, consisting of 100 billion neurons and processing 70,000 thoughts a day. We do know that the brain is designed to seek connection with others.

I am especially interested in the relationship between our brains and the addictive force of the new technologies. I found clues about this relationship in my reading about the hormone oxytocin, which the brain releases when humans connect with each other. Oxytocin decreases fear and anxiety; creates empathy, trust, and cooperation; and reinforces our urge to connect. The human brain is also designed to seek pleasure because of a hormone called dopamine. Researchers now know that the brain releases dopamine when new information is received. So every click, search, text, or Tweet has the potential to stimulate the same hormonal rush as sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll. But an interesting thing happens with dopamine—we never feel fully satiated. It’s called an infinite dopamine loop, which leaves us constantly wanting more. The combined release of oxytocin and dopamine when we are plugged into cyberspace helps explain humans’ insatiable hunger for knowledge, approval, and being constantly connected. [See David Rock’s Your Brain at Work.] It also explains my sneaking off to the bathroom to e-mail and Tweet when I’m having lunch with a friend!

Technology is vast and has so much potential, but it’s also a curse. Our attention is pulled in so many directions that connecting widely can sometimes cost us the opportunity to connect deeply. So how do we prioritize our attention—know when to plug in mindfully and when to unplug—because we can’t escape these technologies? [See Matthew Gilbert’s article “A Twittering of Consciousness.”]

I’ve started practicing what I call “technology Shabbats” with my family. Every Friday at sundown, our whole family disconnects until Saturday night. No cell phones, no Internet, no television, no iPads, no multitasking. We disconnect completely—or should I say we connect completely with ourselves and one another. I am learning that turning off technology is just as powerful as turning it on, and that our society needs both. Technology can be so enticing and overwhelming, but we also need to remember how important it is both to be fully present with the people we love and to be alone and present to ourselves. The potential of technology, globally and personally, is exponential, but we also need to know where the off switch is.

During the poignant time of making my film, I was reading my father’s new manuscript on Leonardo da Vinci. He proposes that in every species an occasional genetic mutation occurs that offers a unique glimpse into where the species might be headed. He believed da Vinci himself offered that glimpse, showing us what human beings can achieve when they synthesize the left and the right hemispheres of the brain. I loved this idea. All of a sudden, the answer to how we might use our increasing connectedness to tackle our problems became clearer. Five hundred years after da Vinci, the Internet might be giving us a glimpse into the future of our species.

Even in its infancy, the Internet is helping each of us to synthesize the two hemispheres of our brain. Clicking through the explosion of textual information activates the left hemisphere, while linking from page to page and video to video stimulates the right hemisphere. I believe that the Internet is literally changing the way we think, moving us through a constantly evolving landscape of words and images at the touch of a keystroke, which synthesizes the two hemispheres of our brain. If this rewiring is happening on an individual level to each person who uses the web, imagine the cumulative global effect of this synthesis. Today there are close to 2 billion people online. What would the world look like if everyone on the planet could be online? It’s not that far away. There are already 5 billion cell phones on the planet!

The Era of Interdependence

It’s time to shift our perspective. In many ways, we as a species are mirroring the way we each develop as individual humans. We come into the world completely dependent on our parents. As we grow up, we evolve into independent adults; we live on our own, get our own jobs, and provide for our families. But this independence brings us to a new realization of how connected we are to family, friends, and community. I think that as a species we are evolving to understand our interdependence. Perhaps all these new tools we’re creating for collaborating through the Internet are leading us to this understanding, or perhaps the understanding is driving us to create these tools. Regardless of what’s propelling it, thinking and living interdependently will actually change our consciousness and help us create real transformation worldwide.

To demonstrate this interdependence, I’ve created a new project—Let it Ripple—that picks up where Connected leaves off. This will be a series of six short films linked together by the overall theme of connectedness. The first film, A Declaration of Interdependence, is based on the United States’ Declaration of Independence. My colleagues and I posted and Tweeted our new declaration on July 4, inviting people across the world to submit videos of themselves—whether from their cell phones, laptops, or whatever was handy—in which they read the declaration in their native language. We also asked graphic designers and artists to interpret the words creatively and to submit their artwork. The submissions blew us away! It was interdependence in action. A short film has been made up entirely of these submissions, edited down to a three-minute clip and tied together by our animator, Stefan Nadelman, with music by one of my favorite sound artists, Moby. A Declaration of Interdependence premiered on September 12—Interdependence Day—at a special event near Ground Zero in New York. We are also distributing this film for free, allowing organizations and nonprofits to put their own call-to-action at the end of it.

In sharing these messages of connectedness and interdependence, I believe there will be a positive ripple effect—sparks that will help turn what we’re talking about into action. It’s all about connection—connecting ideas, data, and cultures from millions of brains into a global thinking structure with infinite possibilities. Every text, hyperlink, and Tweet is like a neural synapse firing out to everyone we’re connected to. And with each connection, we get a surge of oxytocin, as if the Internet were creating a global network for oxytocin to flow. It will make us more empathetic, inclined to share, collaborate, and connect even more. The Internet is rewiring our brains to think interdependently, changing the way we connect to the world, online and offline.

I remember what my mother taught me when she was studying psychology—emotional connection drives everything we do. So if we can just channel that emotional connection, we will be compelled to work together to solve the problems we face and take humanity to the next level. We’re at the beginning of a participatory revolution, in which people’s ideas are free to interact, reproduce, and cross-pollinate instantaneously, creating new hybrid ideas that combine perspectives from all over the world.

As we become more connected, we’ll be able to see the cause and effect of our actions in real time—what we buy, donate, eat, and throw away. We’re just starting to unlock and share information about the trillions of things that we’ve made in this world. Once we understand the supply chains and see the links in our actions, we’ll be more thoughtful and conscious of our behavior. I believe in our innate ability to change for the better. Look at the end of slavery and apartheid, the women’s rights and civil rights movements, and other political and social transformative movements in the last few hundred years, and you can see that we are indeed evolving. Two things make me optimistic: human beings are curious, and we have a deep desire to connect.

Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Shlain is a filmmaker, artist, founder of The Webby Awards, and co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. Tiffany’s work as a filmmaker, technologist, and activist has received 44 awards and distinctions, and her last four films premiered at Sundance.

Have you ever faked a restroom trip to check your email? Slept with your laptop? Or become so overwhelmed that you just unplugged from it all? In this funny, eye-opening, and inspiring film, director Tiffany Shlain takes audiences on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride to discover what it means to be connected in the 21st century. From founding The Webby Awards to being a passionate advocate for The National Day of Unplugging, Shlain’s love/hate relationship with technology serves as the springboard for a thrilling exploration of modern life…and our interconnected future.

Equal parts documentary and memoir, the film unfolds during a year in which technology and science literally become a matter of life and death for the director. As Shlain’s father battles brain cancer and she confronts a high-risk pregnancy, her very understanding of connection is challenged. Using a brilliant mix of animation, archival footage, and home movies, Shlain reveals the surprising ties that link us not only to the people we love but also to the world at large. A personal film with universal relevance, Connected explores how, after centuries of declaring our independence, it may be time for us to declare our interdependence instead.

Consciousness Matters: Exploring the Mysteries of Inner Space

What is Consciousness? This video features: Edgar Mitchell, Deepak Chopra, Marilyn Schlitz, Dean Radin and Cassandra Vieten in an exploration of the Mysteries of Inner Space. For almost 40 years, the Institute of Noetic Sciences has explored the fundamental powers and potentials of consciousness using the tools of basic science. We invite you to join us to become a Noetic Scientist and to she how Consciousness Matters! Produced for IONS 2011 Conference NOETIC 2.0 in San Francisco.

People come into your life for a reason

Life Lessons
Music Produced By : Tomiko
Native Spirit

The Art of Listening ~ Jeff Gitterman

Have you ever noticed that the words listen and silent are spelled with the same letters? Perhaps this is no accident, because in many ways they mean the same thing. Have you ever talked to someone and walked away feeling enriched because they were such a good listener, even if they were a complete stranger?

This talent is what accounts for some of the best psychologists in the world — and some of the best salespeople. Interestingly, the ability to listen is also the trait most people refer to in a great relationship partner or leader.

My own understanding of the power of listening came about many years ago, when I arrived for an appointment with a client of mine. He was a doctor, was having a bad day, had gotten home late and was running around trying to get ready for me. He and his wife were frazzled, and their 8-year-old daughter was bouncing off the walls, happy to have her parents home and craving their attention.

I remember being acutely aware of how much these people just needed some calm stillness more than anything else. It was one of the first moments where I really started to put my attention consciously on my clients, and I gave my attention 100 percent to this family.

I don’t even remember what we spoke about. I mostly just listened to them. And within about 10 minutes, the doctor’s daughter fell asleep on her mother’s lap and the mother leaned back in her chair. The doctor loosened his tie, his breathing calmed and the frenzied atmosphere in the room relaxed. He turned to me at the end of the appointment and said I must have hypnotized his family. Half joking, he asked me if I could come and do the same thing at 5 p.m. every day.

Have some faith that the universe has brought you and the other person together for a more important reason than what you can get out of it in the moment. And if that’s true, the only way we are going to see that purpose and reason is to become silent, to truly listen to the other person and see what happens next. And silence doesn’t only mean refraining from speaking. It also means quieting the ongoing dialogue in our head — the mental noise — so that we can really focus on another person and what they are communicating to us.

The first thing that people often say to this is, “If I’m not looking out for myself, I’m going to get walked all over!” Many people assume that if they come from a position that isn’t fixed, they’re going to get taken advantage of.

I’ve actually found the opposite to be true: When another person isn’t met with resistance, they then begin to back down from their fixed positions, which creates a space for something new to occur. And in that space, it often becomes easier to find the right course of action, because there isn’t a sense of desperation driving you to try and get something specific from the situation.

It’s also easier to protect yourself and make the right decisions when you’re not coming from that needy place. So, for example, you might be going to a meeting, listening to the other person’s proposal with your full attention and then saying, “No, I can’t do that. It wouldn’t be beneficial for both of us.” It’s not about you walking in and giving away the farm.

Give your attention completely to another person — and see what happens. When you’re in that space, you’ll know exactly what decision to make when it comes to your relationships and your business. Unfortunately, too many of us spend our whole lives waiting to get something from the world so that we can show up as the person we always knew we could be. Deep in our hearts we think there’s something missing. But when we flip that mindset, we can discover that by becoming a giver rather than a taker, we can become agents for change in the world.

Adapted from “Beyond Success: Redefining the Meaning of Prosperity” – © 2009 Jeffrey L. Gitterman – All rights reserved – Published by AMACOM Books – A Division of the American Management Association – www.amacombooks.org.

When you have one foot in the past and one foot in the future, you are peeing in the present” – Zen quote that Jeffrey Gitterman, author of Beyond Success Consulting, quoted in my interview with him last year. Gotta love it!!!!! Those zen quotes are profound!! LOL

What Is Enlightenment? ~ Ken McLeod

“I wish I had an answer to that because I’m tired of answering that question.” –Yogi Berra

Enlightenment. It’s why you practice, right? To become enlightened? You probably have your own ideas about it.

The end of suffering. The end of karma. The end of confusion. Free from the struggles of life. The end of anger or greed or stupidity. Free from neuroses and neurotic thinking. Ultimate sanity. Know what life is and what life is about. Emptiness. Free from subjective interpretation. See things just as they are. Free from bias and prejudice. Total objectivity. Infallible. Transform all experience into wisdom. Special powers. Complete and total moral integrity. Beyond reproach, beyond question in everything you do. Know exactly what to do in every situation and do it effortlessly. Able to help others out of their misery. Union of emptiness and compassion. Able to change the world, transform society, heal and cure all that is wrong with the world. The leading edge of the best hope for humanity.

It all sounds pretty wonderful.

Enlightenment is a promise of freedom from life as you know it. It’s your ticket out of this mess called “life.” It is something other than what you are experiencing right now. When you are enlightened, all your frustration and difficulties with practice and with life will vanish in the light of your understanding and wisdom.

Aren’t you already enlightened, but just don’t realize it? That’s what some teachers say. It seems that if you don’t know you are enlightened, then you aren’t and if you do know you are then you are. You know you are, because you’ve heard that you are, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. Does that mean that you don’t know that you are enlightened or you do? It’s all a bit confusing, but you know it will all make sense once you are enlightened. Or is it when you know you are enlightened?

Right now, you can’t wait. You work at practice, putting in time on your cushion, going to retreats. You become an “experienced practitioner.” But nothing seems to change. You still get distracted when you meditate. You still react to situations unpredictably. You hear about these extraordinary experiences, non-self, emptiness, sheer clarity, bliss, etc. Maybe you taste them from time to time. But you are still stuck in life, and that can’t be enlightenment. When you hear that so and so has experienced satori or kensho or become a stream-winner or has insight or seen the nature of mind — whatever — they seem to be the same person to you. You can’t really say what is different. And you still have problems in your life. Most of the time you are struggling with the same old same old in your meditation.

You spend a lot of time with your teacher and you see that he or she isn’t free from the problems of life. She is able to guide you in your practice, perhaps very well. His meditation instruction is precise and illuminating. But now and then, you get a glimpse, or more than a glimpse of what seems to be their own struggles with life. Maybe you see them acting inappropriately or even unethically in certain areas. How can that be? Aren’t they beyond that? Aren’t they realized? Aren’t they enlightened?

You begin to wonder about the point of all this work. Have you been deceived? Have you fooled yourself? Where is this freedom that everyone talks about? Yet you continue to practice.

While you may not notice anything changing, something happens. You sometimes notice that situations and interactions that were problems for you are no longer problems, but you don’t really remember when they stopped being problems. You aren’t as hard on yourself, even though you pay much more attention to what you do, what you say, and how you direct your attention. There are long periods of barely discernible changes, and then something shifts profoundly, for no apparent reason.

You see that some problematic behaviors and ways of thinking have dropped away. Others, you realize, are probably not going to drop away, but you aren’t taken in by them anymore. You are much more accepting of yourself and others. You see very clearly how reactions based on survival, getting emotional needs met or being somebody consistently result in suffering and struggle for yourself and those around you. You see this in yourself, and you see it in others. Because you see it so clearly in yourself, you know how it is for others, and your heart goes out to them, even when their behavior is infuriating.

The upshot is that you are a part of the unfolding of life, rather than apart from it. You know contentment, peace, freedom, understanding and compassion, but they are not anything like what you thought they would be. They don’t seem special in anyway, and yet they are. You place less and less value on having certain experiences. It’s more important for you just to be there and to do the best you can, in ordinary situations, and in difficult ones. You stop looking for something different. Life itself points a way and you take it.

Book Description

The key to becoming fully alive and joyful is to develop our natural capacity for attention and to be fully present here and now. In this informative guidebook to practical Buddhism you discover:

How to live life with equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and joy

How to cut through obsessions with the external world, relationships, harmful emotions, pleasure and power, and self

Tried-and-true methods for cultivating active attention with your body and mind.

The Top 10 Causes of Enlightenment And how to transcend any experience of suffering… By Jafree Ozwald

1. Be free from the illusion that you are separate from an Infinite Source of love, energy and consciousness.

Feeling separate and disconnected from our Universe is how we create failure after failure in life. This habitual illusion that we are NOT connected to the divine stems from the mind’s attachment (and avoidance) of our EGO. Once we untangle ourselves form these deep internal beliefs, we remember that we were always ONE, connected to our Source. All experiences of suffering are created by the mind’s lack of awareness in seeing your own divinity. Once we stop forgetting our eternal abundant nature, we are stepping forward into life as divine unlimited nature.

2. Quieting the incessant chattering repetitive mind.

The Ego is the thought program. Like a computer, it is un-aware. It just spits out information and computes ideas that are about the past and future. The mind/ego is a limited construct of ideas and beliefs about who we think we are. The more we can silence the chattering mind, the less we are trapped in this Ego. You could say that E. G. O. really is an acronym for Excluding God’s Omnipresence. Only through the constant release of the Ego can we live in the true spiritually enlightened reality. We become aligned with the bigger Truth that are infinite Spiritual beings AND do also exist this physical third dimensional world.

3. Embracing and Releasing all your Fears.

As you may have heard, F.E.A.R. really stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. To discover what you are afraid of open yourself up to another intimately in conversation. Let them see into you. Sooner or later YOU will be able to see into YOURSELF again and understand truly what you are running from. Once you know what you are running away from, run towards it and embrace it. It will dissolve and be released from your life at the perfect time.

4. Embracing and Releasing all mental, emotional and physical attachments or aversions to everyone and everything in your life.

As humans we tend to get attached to people, and what they say, do or think about us. This occurs because we have this automatic habit of trying to avoid what is painful and stay with what is full of pleasure. The problem arises when we become attached to having to HAVE what is pleasurable all the time, or desperately need to get rid of something painful. Pain and suffering is just the Universe telling you to, “LET GO!” The purpose of pain is not to create more suffering upon you, it is to create CHANGE! This change is necessary for us to drop our ego-trip and return to our spiritual source again. Allowing yourself to genuinely enjoy your life is communicating to the Universe that YOU are connecting to this Infinite Source inside!

We experience pain because of one thing…Ignorance. Think of the word “ignore”, add a little dance to it and you get ignorance. When we ignore the Truth of our infinite being, our Ignorance transmits into suffering. To transcend this ignorance and find spiritual enlightenment again, a deep awareness is needed. With this profound state of consciousness we can LET GO of anything that would create a belief saying we are not connected to this Source. Nothing more is needed to transcend this illusion and re-discover the truth of who you are.

5. Total freedom from other peoples’ unconscious myths and everyday stories of separation from their Infinite Source.

When you were 7 years old, what were you told you were not enough of? What was your “standard” story of failure or separation? Usually whatever we heard our parents and siblings having problems with, we attached ourselves to it and The Separation began. Since our parents never weren’t fully Enlightened Beings who constantly lived in wonder and amazement of the bills they had to pay, we got the idea we were limited. If they contacted this Infinite Source, then they teach you. Yet they had to send you off to an “education system” which worked about 15% of your brain’s potentiality and capacity, thus churning you through the grinder. Society never taught us how to be still inside, quiet our mind and emotions, meditate, focus on who we are or how to achieve inner bliss. They believed it was “illegal” to teach a connection with your Infinite Source in school. Society is hypnotized with a “thinking program” that success and truth is all about status, money and career. The reality is “Success” is defined by how fulfilled you are as a human being. That’s something you cannot get from the right job, income, marriage, proper diplomas and P.H.D’s.etc…

6. We stop thinking that “Thinking” is a means to getting what we want and creating success.

“Think-aholics” have become the societal norm. It has become abnormal in society to sit and be silent alone. Most people run from meditation because they cannot quiet their mind and feel they lose control of it. The ironic thing is that ALL of the suffering, chaos and illness in life is caused by a lack of control and awareness of the mind. Practicing “being” and sitting still, we naturally realize the Infinite Self inside. Instead of tuning into our silence more we are taught to think more and know more to achieve what we want. We are not taught the secrets of the Universe are discovered by simply being in the here now. This is by far the greatest success we can ever achieve. It is being at ONE with the infinite, all-powerful and omniscient Universal-God force. Is this enough for you to re-define your definition of success?

7. Hiding from your true power in a “safe” little fishbowl.

Thoughts are safe, while experiences are real and unsafe. We find it easier not to take the risk of getting hurt by diving into the ocean of experiences in life. We stay safe, comfy (and basically dead) inside our little comfortable fishbowls of “habitually doing” things and thinking things that once gave a sense of confidence and security. Life is a natural chaos that has a cosmic structure. It is like an uncontrollable rollercoaster ride because we don’t know the exact future ALL the time and know how to respond to each experience that occurs outside our little fishbowl. Instead, we think about an experience without even having one. Through T.V. movies, books we hide from our powerful omniscient Infinite spirit and pretend to be completely trapped in a mental spin-cycle of thoughts about “Reality”.

8. Let Go of having to be right all the time.

Being right can be the hardest EGO trip to get off of. To get off of it, basically means that you need to be WRONG about your entire life. If everyone tells you from birth to death that Life is a struggle, that it’s hard, painful and unfair, and you believe them, then how can you ever relax, let go, trust and surrender to Existence. We think we must fight to get what we want. If life is serious, we’re probably going to gain love, success and freedom by stepping on or over others. The world is a community of beings. It is a playground, a play and comical stage where we can choose any role we desire.

9. Replace the “positive” results created from continuously playing The Victim in your life.

Through lack of awareness (ignorance) of our ever-present connection with the Infinite Source, we all have been participating in an inner victimization programming. This stems from a lack of inner peace, power and playfulness, which can later create a dis-ease (a severe lack of ease) in the body. The Victim role we get caught in gets good strokes from others who feel sorry for our pain and send us love. Thus we stay hooked and asleep to our ever-present Infinite Source inside. When we don’t respond with awareness, we just react unconsciously from past habits of being victimized and thus create more experiences of being a victim. Many human beings on the planet are really ” human programings”. The same thoughts day after day after day. This creates a seriously deep rut in life, which the only way out is through being responsible for your thoughts and choosing more empowering and freeing ones.

10. Choosing to suffer and stay unconscious.

Our society abhors people who step out of line. The people around us often criticize us the moment we try to break out of the societal “norm” of unconscious living. The unconscious way is more accepted, it’s even advertised by the T.V., movies, news media, radio, newspapers, etc… which all agree on one thing. That everything you need to end your suffering is outside of you, not inside you! That’s how they sell you stuff! Many of us are caught in this ridiculous Rat Race to reach a certain monetary status and level of luxury we think will rid of our suffering. This never works. The cheese we rats are after just gets bigger, and bigger and bigger. Many refuse to understand the basis, that suffering comes from this constant desire! When we are desire-less, we remember again how infinitely connected we are to the Infinite Source which is inside us all.

Choosing to be conscious, means waking up from the Rat Race. It takes much effort to go against all our friends and families beliefs to awaken. The great part however is that the Universe won’t let us sleep forever. She loves us much too much to let us forget our true nature. If you don’t choose to wake up while you’re alive (in your body), she’ll let you know when your physical journey on Earth is over. Then you will definitely know how she could love you more than ways than you could imagine. To receive enlightening messages EVERYDAY that will awaken your mind, open your heart and soothe your soul, sign up for our Mini-Manifesting Package below…

Science Needs to Ask: ‘What Is Consciousness?’ by Deepak Chopra

Anyone who equates myth with superstition would claim that we live in a world that has gone beyond mythology. Science is proud of vanquishing superstition, and a certain vocal contingent of atheists use science to bolster their belief that God is pure superstition. However, mythology is harder to vanquish that that. It crops up in new guises, because myths aren’t superstitions. They are mental templates, operating assumptions, the beliefs that bolster a world view and, above all, a way to explain nature. In any infinite universe, the human mind finds ways to tell a story that will bring the infinite within reach, and myths serve that function.

Sometimes myths are so strong that they pen reality in, building a fence around it and forcing every natural event to stay inside the fence. When God or the gods were the cause of earthly events, the fence was tight and inescapable. But the rise of quantum theory a century ago revealed that even stronger fences were hemming in our sense of reality. We explained the universe through matter and energy governed by physical laws.

In the pre-quantum world this scheme wasn’t theory; it was reality, pure and simple. Everything inside this fence acted the same way. It operated by cause and effect. It never went faster than the speed of light. It conformed to mathematical formulations. It excluded the mushy emotions and shifting moods of subjectivity. Science claimed to have found a model for nature that was based on reason alone. How strange, then, that reason was actually the seed of a new mythology, and even stranger, that this rock-solid system is crumbling all around us.

In previous posts I’ve given the simplest indications of the cracks in the pre-quantum scientific mythology. It turns out that matter has no real existence but is a pattern of waves entangled in the quantum field. It turns out that events are not localized in time and space but have ramifications that go beyond spacetime and travel faster than the speed of light. And in the end, the entire universe, including space and time, emerged from a state of potentiality that transcends visible creation. None of this is disputable, yet we all lead our lives as if the old boundaries hem us in. In fact, these boundaries were self-created. They are part of our accepted mythology.

Seeing what the next stage might be, after the old mythology totally crumbles, falls to a handful of speculative thinkers, many of them physicists, since they are the direct heirs of the quantum evolution. The key ideas that are catching hold, at various stages of acceptance, include the following:

The universe is evolving.

The universe is conscious.

The universe is a living organism.

The way that the cosmos presents itself depends on how you look at it.

Reality conforms to the explanation we impose upon it.

The human mind may be creating what we call reality, which mirrors us but contains infinite possibilities unreachable by the human mind.

Creation may be eternal and infinite, with countless Big Bangs and multiple universes.

Not all of these ideas are compatible with one another, and all are evolving. But the promising thing is that they are coming out into the open, acquiring respectability and therefore leading to dialogue without anyone being ostracized. Which isn’t to say that materialism, the basis of science itself, has been toppled or even lost its firm grip. Speculative thinking is the basis of all original discoveries, not to mention awe and wonder. But on an everyday basis, scientists perform experiments and seek mathematical rigor. Thus the common expression, “Shut up and calculate.” Or, an equally arrogant dismissal that one young physicist received form an elder colleague, “I remember when you did good science.”

Mythology, as was pointed out in the beginning, isn’t superstition — it’s the way we convince ourselves that we have the right explanation. It’s a conceptual fence in which we hope to corral nature. Science will continue to be science, of course, yet the next phase of its evolution needs somebody to look outside the fence. That will surely happen; it’s beginning to now. Even more intriguing is how science and religion are approaching the same obstacle. Science has come to the point where even quantum theory cannot venture. We want to know what gave rise to the universe, what preceded time and space, how randomness is related to design, why the laws of nature mesh so precisely and other ultimate questions. They imply a pre-created state that gave rise to creation, and yet we may never be able to venture there, not even with mathematics. Time and space are tough boundaries to cross when the human brain is a product of processes in time and space.

To go where science wants to go, it needs to become more complete, and for me, it can benefit hugely by expanding into the realm long governed by spirituality. The avenue unexplored by science, even dismissed and denied, is our inner world. “Subjectivity” is a dirty word in science, and yet it can’t be denied that all experience is ultimately subjective. Even science takes place in consciousness. Where else could it take place? Having conceded this obvious point, science needs to ask, “What is consciousness?” The answer to that enormous question is suddenly more urgent. It can no longer be reconciled to the fringes or shrugged off as metaphysics. Unless we know the actual range of human awareness, its source and its capabilities, we will never understand reality. That understanding is the common goal of science and spirituality both, and both are needed to get there.

Does The Eternal Soul Exist? ~ Michael Graziano

Neuroscientists understand, at least in general, how the biological machinery of the brain can compute information. But how does a brain become aware of information? What is sentience itself? When a specific part of the brain is damaged, does the patient lose only a specific category of knowledge, such as vision or language, or can the patient ever lose some of the essence of awareness?

A clinical syndrome called hemispatial neglect may help to answer the question. It is one of the most fascinating, and horrible, syndromes in the medical literature. Neglect was first described early in the 20th century, and over the years much has been learned about it.

Imagine waking up in the hospital after a stroke to find that half your world is gone. The left side of space and everything in it has been erased from your consciousness. You can talk to the people who stand to the right side of your hospital bed, but when they walk to the left side they disappear from your mind. You dress the right side of your body but forget to dress the left. You think you’ve eaten everything on your plate, but have eaten only the food on the right side. You can’t even conceive of a left side of the plate. When someone rotates the plate, food that you didn’t acknowledge before suddenly appears. When you draw a clock, you crush all 12 numbers into the right side of the drawing and don’t notice that anything is wrong. You have no insight into your own condition because, lacking any awareness of a left side of space, you can’t realize what is missing.

This bizarre and crippling syndrome is not simple blindness. After all, blind people and sighted people who close their eyes know about the objects around them. Instead it is a mental blindness. It covers vision, touch, hearing, memory and concept.

Over the years, different varieties of neglect have been described and associated with damage to different brain regions. But the most dense, profound loss of awareness is associated with a region of the cerebral cortex roughly just above the ear on the right side of the brain. Much more rarely, neglect of the right side of space is caused by damage to the same general area on the left side of the brain.

Neglect is a peculiar syndrome. It suggests that awareness is not a unified item, but like many constructs of the brain it can be knocked apart into a right and a left half. It suggests that awareness is constructed at least partially by a specific region of the brain. It suggests a close relationship between awareness and attention.

The findings are controversial. That same general region of the brain has been found to play a role in social thinking — in understanding the minds of other people. Why would a brain area involved in social intelligence also participate in one’s own basic awareness? Which of the rival accounts is correct? I have argued in my scientific writing that the two functions are not rivals, and instead are closely related. Awareness, sentience itself, may be part of the toolkit we use to understand ourselves and each other. It may be a function of our social brain.

In my view, there really is such a thing as a spirit, a soul, but it is not as people have imagined it in the past. The soul is information of a special kind, wrapped up into a complex structure, instantiated in the circuitry of the brain. It is quirky and individual to each of us, and is precious because it is not eternal.

Michael Graziano is the author of God Soul Mind Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Reflections on the Spirit World ( Refer to Book Review of this blog)

AVATAR: THE EPIC HERO: Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar

Video Produced by www.PeteMcCormack.com
In Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar Jeffrey Armstrong speaks to anyone concerned with the sustainability of Mother Earth, the role of elders in our society, the seemingly unconsciousness of science and corporations, and the subtleties of unseen realities, resulting in spiritual growth, a deeper relationship with nature, and a better world for all.

AVATAR: The Earth is Intelligent:

Imagine a world filled with souls who live in the service of all beings, inspired by the loving example of the great Avatars.
From the New book ….”Spiritual Teachings of the AVATAR – Ancient Wisdom for a New World”. Beyond Words Publishers. Available on Amazon.com worldwide! Interview with Jeffrey Armstrong. Produced by Pete McCormack.

AVATAR: Seeing the Soul in Everyone 3.mov

The word Avatar has been thrust into the global consciousness, raising the question what exactly does Avatar mean? To many, an avatar is what you call the digital representation of your physical self for video or computer games, but that meaning has only existed for the last two decades. Avatar as Armstrong describes it, has been in use for over 5,000 years by one of the most ancient cultures—India.

In Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar author Jeffrey Armstrong shares the hidden messages of the historical Avatars, which offer insights we can use today to sustain our planet and elevate our spiritual growth. Armstrong explains the ancient Indian wisdoms embodied in the word Avatar. These divine beings view the sacredness of all life and the soul of all beings as eternal—meant for freedom and made of divine essence.
Armstrong has studied Vedic knowledge for over forty years and has explored the depths of many of the greatest teachings of India. He is a westerner who has been selected by Hindu leaders throughout the world to act as a spokesperson for Hindu Dharma and culture.

What Does it Mean to be Eternal ~ Jeffrey Armstrong

Filmed by Robert Leon: Jeffrey adds his voice to the anti-nuclear campaign. If you share his views please share this video. Write your political leaders and speak up to stop this destructive path of nuclear poisons that threaten to destroy our beautiful planet and all life upon it. Fukashima is the final warning that we have gone down the wrong path. It is time to implement sustainable ways to live cooperatively. Every voice counts, end nuclear power NOW.

React NOW : End Nuclear Power ~ Jeffrey Armstrong

What Is Consciousness? ~ Deepak Chopra

Deepak answers questions about the nature of consciousness. How is consciousness defined and is the universe conscious? These questions are from readers of book War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality by Deepak Chopra and Leonard Mlodinow.

By Deepak Chopra and Leonard Mlodinow

Two bestselling authors first met in a televised Caltech debate on “the future of God,” one an articulate advocate for spirituality, the other a prominent physicist. This remarkable book is the product of that serendipitous encounter and the contentious—but respectful—clash of worldviews that grew along with their friendship.

In War of the Worldviews these two great thinkers battle over the cosmos, evolution and life, the human brain, and God, probing the fundamental questions that define the human experience.

How did the universe emerge?
What is the nature of time?
What is life?
Did Darwin go wrong?
What makes us human?
What is the connection between mind and brain?
Is God an illusion?

This extraordinary book will fascinate millions of readers of science and spirituality alike, as well as anyone who has ever asked themselves, What does it mean that I am alive?

Dalai Lama Reincarnation: Tibetan Spiritual Leader Says He Will Spell Out Own Details

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama gestures as he delivers a speech during a Tibetan religious conference in Dharamshala on September 23, 2011. Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said September 23 he was in ‘no hurry’ to decide how his reincarnation might be chosen, but stressed the final word lay with him, not China. (STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

DHARMSALA, India — The Dalai Lama said Saturday if he is to be reincarnated he will leave clear written instructions about the process, but that the matter is unlikely to come up for a number of years.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said in a statement that when he is “about 90″ he will consult Buddhist scholars to evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue at all. He is 76.

The statement came after a meeting between the Dalai Lama and the leaders of the four Tibetan Buddhist sects, the first since he transferred his political role earlier this year to an elected prime minister.

China reviles the Dalai Lama as a separatist, although the Nobel Peace Prize laureate insists he is only seeking increased autonomy for Tibet. Beijing has left little doubt that it intends to be deeply involved in choosing the next Dalai Lama. That concern has led the current Dalai Lama to contemplate ideas that break with the ancient system in which each dead Dalai Lama is reincarnated in the body of a male child.

In May, the Dalai Lama formally stepped down as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, giving up the political power that he and his predecessors have wielded over Tibetans for hundreds of years. Though he remains the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, his decision to abdicate is one of the biggest upheavals in the community since a Chinese crackdown led him to flee Tibet in 1959 into exile in India.

China insists that religious law requires that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation be born in a Tibetan area under Chinese control. However, the Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born in exile and has even floated the idea of choosing his own successor while still alive – perhaps even a woman.

In his statement Saturday, he said if the institution of the Dalai Lama were to continue, then he would leave behind “clear written instructions about it.”

“Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China,” he said.

The Dalai Lama has lived in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since fleeing Tibet. China says Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the region was virtually independent for centuries.

WAKE UP: Are You Thinking or Just Reacting to Your Life? ~ Russell Bishop

Are you thinking or merely reacting as you go through life’s challenges these days? I mean, really thinking, not just mindlessly or emotionally reacting to the stuff happening to you? If you find yourself judging, condemning, complaining or blaming then you can pretty much be assured that you’re in reaction mode. While normal enough, these emotional reactions inhibit conscious choice and block your ability to create any kind of useful response to what bedevils you.

I was reading a little book called “The Power Within You” by my friend and teacher, John-Roger, when I came across this passage:

Thinking is not a natural process of the human consciousness. You may say, “Sure it is. Everybody thinks.” I have news for you: very few people think. Most people react and then pass that off as thinking. Thinking is the cause of things. Reaction is the effect.

How often are you actually thinking, and how often are you reacting? You are probably reacting about 90 percent of the time. For the most part, you are reacting either to your previous reactions or to someone else’s reactions. It’s a long chain of effect and effect and effect. It’s like dominos: you hit one and they all go.

Knowing how often I get caught up in my own reactive states, reading this got me to, well, thinking. What does it mean to think rather than simply react? For me, this rather simple yet challenging question translates into my own personal “wake up call.”

It’s Time to WAKE UP

While this may not be your sequence of thought, much less a perfect sequence, it may become your own version of the alarm clock. Rather than hit the snooze button, use these “alarms” to help you examine any issue with which you may find yourself struggling during the day:

1. What just happened
2. Assess the situation and accept the obvious
3. Consider options available
4. Take the best course of action you have available
5. Observe how its working
6. Repeat until you are satisfied with the outcome

These may seem like simple questions of observation, assessment and making choices. However, most people don’t observe as much as they react to what they see.

Think about your local hero, the firefighter or other first responder. If you happen to be unfortunate to wind up in a fire or some other kind of tragedy, how do you want your first responder to, well, respond? Notice the name isn’t first reactor! If it’s me, I want that first responder to show up, assess the situation, and pick from the best available choices given the circumstances. I certainly don’t want my responder to go into some kind of emotional reactionary state instead and waste time blaming whatever or whomever started the situation in the first place. There’s plenty of time for blame and complain later, as if blame were ever going to correct the situation — after all, as I have written many times in the past, blaming and complaining won’t get you to where you’re going, but it will give you a great set of excuses for being stuck where you are.

Wondering what this might look like in real life? Well, if you actually think about this for a couple of seconds, I’m sure you can come up with dozens of examples. Here’s something that happened just recently in Utah which you probably saw on the news or YouTube:

Observation: If you watch the sequence of events closely, you will see some people coming to the scene of the accident — some initially just gaping which is understandable — after all this certainly looks tragic.

Assess: However, notice the young woman in the flip flops who winds up the ground observing and assessing the situation — several times, actually, as the first couple of action choices don’t appear to be working.

Options: The sequence is certainly quick, but you will see people acting (perhaps reacting), but then they stop for a few seconds, reassess the situation, and then take action again — and again.

Action: And as you probably know, they manage to get the young man out from under the car, saving his life. It’s also pretty obvious that these responders needed to observe, assess, take action, and then cycle back through Observe (this isn’t working), Assess (he’s still trapped and alive), Options (try different angles, get more people involved),

By the way, what isn’t so obvious, is that the driver of the car is one of the rescuers! Imagine all the times we have seen video of crowds reacting against the person apparently “at fault.” What would have been the outcome in this instance if these people had reacted rather than responding?

Ask anyone who has come through tragedy and made the best of it, and you will find some version of this same wise counsel: you need to observe and tell the truth about what happened to you; then you need to assess your options and make the best choices you can with what’s left; and then you need to observe, assess and choose again. And again and again. My friend and truly inspirational example of day-to-day choosing, W. Mitchell (who himself survived a fiery and disfiguring motorcycle crash only to wind up paralyzed years later in a plane crash),

“It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it … Before I was paralyzed there were 10,000 things I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I’ve lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left.”

So, what’s happening in your life or more to the point, what has happened to you over the past months or years? What aspects of your life would you like to improve? If you lost your job, house, car, family or something even worse, you are likely to have experienced any number of emotions from hurt, anger and grief, to blame, complain and a sense of helplessness. However, as understandable as these reactions are, they won’t help you dig out and rebuild.

What choices can you make starting today to move from reactor to responder? Remember, you don’t have to be “perfectionally correct, just directionally correct.”`

Rupert Sheldrake – The Extended Mind – Telepathy. Pt 1 to 3

Rupert Sheldrake is a British former biochemist and plant physiologist who now researches and writes on parapsychology and other controversial subjects. His books and papers stem from his theory of morphic resonance, and cover topics such as animal and plant development and behaviour, memory, telepathy and perception.

In 2003, Sheldrake published The Sense of Being Stared At on the psychic staring effect, including an experiment where blindfolded subjects guessed whether persons were staring at them or at another target. He reported that, in tens of thousands of trials, the scores were consistently above chance (60%) when the subject was being stared at, but only 50% (random chance) when the subject was not being stared at. This suggested a weak sense of being stared at but no sense of not being stared at. He also claimed that these experiments were widely repeated, in schools in Connecticut and Toronto and a science museum in Amsterdam, with consistent results.

Rupert Sheldrake – The Extended Mind – The Sense Of Being Stared At. Pt 2/3

Rupert Sheldrake – The Extended Mind – The Sense Of Being Stared At. Pt 3/3

CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH AND PLANETARY CHANGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH EDGAR D. MITCHELL by Tom Hurley

Founder Edgar Mitchell was recently interviewed by Tom Hurley, Director of Membership Education.

Members of the Institute are always interested in your experience in space. Can you tell us something about that?

None who have looked at Earth and the cosmos from deep space have failed to be dramatically moved by the sight. For me, as I contemplated the tiny jewel that is Earth, against the background of stars and galaxies, I experienced a sense of oneness and wholeness beyond my previous experience. I recognized that my prior vision of “reality” was far too limited. The universe is more grand, more magnificent, more purposeful than I had ever imagined. I realized at that time that our science was incomplete, that our religious cosmologies were Earth centered and flawed. I recognized that in some sense the universe is conscious and intelligent in ways I did not then comprehend.

It was this feeling—an experience of certainty that there was an intelligence and a purposefulness in the universe that we humans had not yet understood—that led to the founding of the Institute to do research into the nature of consciousness.

How do those insights relate to the theme of our conference, “Global Mind Change—From Vision to Reality”?

It has been clear to me since that experience that we humans needed to expand our understanding of who and what we are in relationship to planet Earth. The destiny of our civilization is being determined every day by our collective human activities which are in turn founded upon our collective beliefs about ultimate values and fundamental causality. Few would disagree these days that planet Earth is in deep trouble from human dynamics. Until recent decades, however, the concept of mind as distinct from brain, particularly the concept of collective or global mind, was considered a non sequitur in Western culture. Human intention was not relevant other than in a local sense.

That we now know to be utterly false. We are in the midst of a paradigm shift, one aspect of which is change from the notion that “We can mess it up and God will clean it up” to the notion of “Change your mind, change your world”. There is now recognition that power and responsibility are internal, not external.

What are the principles which guide movement “from vision to reality” in our lives? Is there a dynamic that can be articulated?

The one fundamental principle is that human behavior and conscious action are determined primarily by the deepest level of committed knowledge and beliefs. All new things begin as ideas shaped subsequently into visions. But only when visions are deeply infused into the mind/body, supported by knowledge and charged with the power of emotion, do they begin to take the shape of reality. No other principle is really necessary. When people begin to experience, to understand, to believe—and believe deeply—about their true meaning and purpose, action will take place automatically . . .

What are the most critical issues we face today?

The critical issues are all interrelated. They stem from a common cause and will be resolved by a common solution—corrected perception as to ultimate values and causes. A partial list of issues must start with population growth, human rights violations, natural resources mismanagement, species extinction, global warming, and unfettered growth of industrialization, among others. Thus one might say that the most critical issue is awareness and consciousness since nothing will change without changed perceptions of “reality”. And everything will begin to change in the right direction as soon as there is a changed perception of reality.

How is consciousness research relevant to these issues?

Consciousness research is relevant because we have learned through our studies that the universe is a billion times more beautiful, abundant and malleable than humans ever dreamed it to be. We shape our “reality” from the miniscule amount of information our sensory mechanisms gather and organize from experience into our “map” of reality. Gather and organize different information by expanded awareness and extended sensors,a different reality emerges. Reality is not an immutable absolute as has been long believed in Western culture but is the reflection of our conditioning and beliefs based upon an infinitesimal sampling of the information available to us. Whatever the nature of the ultimate reality, humans can only consciously discern it through the lens of our sensors and as shaped by belief. Thus far in human history we have been perceiving the universe and ourselves in a very limiting fashion.

What is transformation?

“Transformation”, in the context of consciousness research and devoid of all mystical and supernatural overtones, is what happens when humans perceive a larger, more all-encompassing reality than they previously held. By immersing oneself in experiences which quiet the restless mind, which release the rigidity of dogmatic and confining beliefs, which expand awareness and increase knowledge—a transformation will take place. It may be subtle and slow or rapid and explosive but it will happen. “Transformation” has mistakenly had the popular connotation of something mystical and magical only because mind and consciousness have been considered as “givens”—fixed, immutable, indeed abstract notions. This view is simply not correct. We have an almost unlimited capability to reshape our information, our beliefs, our reality—that is, to be transformed

Edgar D. Mitchell Was An Apollo 14 Astronaut and the Founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences

8 Ways to Activate Your Intuition ~ Roya R. Rad, MA, PsyD

Intuition can be defined as understanding or knowing without a conscious and immediate route to thought or reason. Some may categorize it as mystical, while others may describe it as a response to unconscious cues or previous learning.

However, intuition can be a tricky subject. I have dealt with many clients who confuse delusions or illusive tendencies with intuition. This could be misguiding to them, creating anxiety and confusion. The reason for this is that while intuition is something we all have and can access, it needs activation.

Becoming too much of a logical mind without using your intuition can be unproductive, but the same is also true with being too intuitive and not logical. Some of the greatest discoveries, inventions and creations of our times have been done by experts who were open to their intuitive side and responded to their hunches in a productive way.

In order for you to activate your intuitive tendencies, you may find the following useful:

1.Learn To Become Objective
The more objective you become, the clearer your path to accessing your intuition. Being objective means being less biased in the way you approach life and its challenges.

To do that you need to move above the situation and look at it without being emotionally blinded by it.

You need to look for an uncensored truth of the situation before making a judgment. In other words, you need to be willing to move beyond the tip of the iceberg.

2. Increase Your Knowledge And Experience

The more experience and knowledge you have in a specific subject, the more reliable your intuition will become.

For example, someone who has had more experiences with children seems to be better at intuitively knowing how to deal with them in certain situations.

This is not to say that there are any guarantees, and that one with experience and knowledge is always right, because we all have our self serving biases, but the chances of it being more reliable increases with knowledge and expertise.

3. Activate Your Logical Side

When your mind is functional, you can take in your intuitive information and hunches, and do an evaluation to test its accuracy.

Finding that bridge between the two, and helping them work together brings you closer to your fully functioning self.

Intuition is an access to the innate wisdom and knowledge, but logic is needed to filter this knowledge in a practical and useful way.

If we have all the knowledge in the world without knowing how to make it applicable, we are missing half of the equation. Even worse, the other half may become useless, confusing and even chaotic.

4. Learn To Be Centered

Being centered is nothing more than feeling in peace. I have written extensively about this subject and what it means to feel peace within, which is an ultimate form of happiness.

It is a form of happiness that has all the benefits, but not as much of a cost.

To be centered, you have to learn to go through the necessary behavioral, cognitive and emotional modification to let go of any heavy baggage that you are carrying — and releasing and modifying what does not work.

Connecting to your internal knowing and intuition is easier when you don’t have heavy baggage blocking your way.

When you have more drama than you can handle, your intuition becomes hazy.

5. Self Monitor And Self Reflect

Whether you do this through meditation, prayer or quiet times, it is important to self monitor and check for your intuitive accuracies. Look for patterns and evaluate the feelings and situations attached to them.

See what part of your intuition has been reliable in the past and what has been misleading, and then try to make shifts and adjustments.

For example, if you think you’re intuitive, but your intuitive hunches have mostly been wrong in the past, do a self check in to see what that is.

Do you get overly emotional in situations? Do you overreact? Are you impulsive when something does not go your way? Do you constantly feel drained by drama?

These are some of the questions that may be useful.

6. Learn To Become More Empathetic

Some researchers report that empathy is in our genes, we just need to let it unleash. By becoming more empathetic, unconditionally, we give ourselves the ability to connect.

The more we connect to others, the easier it gets for us to get in touch with our intuitive side.

An empathetic person is able to walk out of her zone and get into something that may be foreign to her, to understand it and to acknowledge the other’s experience as accurate for that person.

Someone who is empathetic learns to give attention and a feeling of significance to the other.

An empathetic person is not only aware of what is in the present, but also the past experiences and how it affects the present.

7. Don’t Let Arrogance Make You Ignorant

There is an old saying, the more you know, the more you know how much you don’t know. The smartest of people who know relatively a lot, have these “wow” moments of realizing how much more there is to learn.

Therefore, don’t let your ego manipulate you into believing that the small little part of this life you see is all there is to it.

Be open to the fact that what humans know, while it is admirable, is but a few drops in the ocean. Therefore, don’t close mindedly deny something just because you can’t see it.

Being reasonably skeptical, but at the same time knowingly convinced, that there is more to life can help you channel through your intuition.

8. Keep in mind that like any other skill, becoming more intuitive takes time and practice.

While some may have a more innate natural tendency toward it, we all are capable of becoming more intuitive and we all need practice to become good at it.

When you learn to find a bridge between your intuition and your logic, you feel more like your complete self and you become more productive, and you get this feeling that things just become easier for you.

At the end, as always, aim for it, enjoy the process and don’t forget to have a little faith.

THE FUTURE OF WELL BEING – Deepak Chopra

Playing our Part– Innovations in thought and technology hint at our future. How can we find the best path forward?

Deepak Chopra, Founder, The Chopra Foundation and Senior Scientist, Gallup Organization

10 signs of a spiritual awakening

A Mindfulness Practice To Experience Divine Love ~ Dennis Merritt

The Anatomy of Love

What is love? Take a look at a rose. Is it possible for the rose to say, ‘I shall offer my fragrance to good people and withhold it from bad people?’ Or can you imagine a lamp that withholds its rays from a wicked person who seeks to walk in its light? It could only do that by ceasing to be a lamp. And observe how helplessly and indiscriminately a tree gives its shade to everyone, good and bad, young and old, high and low; to animals and humans and every living creature — even the one who seeks to cut it down. So this is the first quality of love: its indiscriminate character. — Anthony DeMello

Since antiquity, masters, poets, writers, songsmiths and just about every other human being on the planet has sought to fathom the eternal depths and the meaning of love — from whence it comes, and why it seems that some people experience it more than others.

The ancient Greeks fully understood the complexities of this issue. They believed that one word could not adequately describe such a powerful and all encompassing energy so they divided love into four categories:

The first being eros, which is the base vibration of love found in romance or eroticism. The second description of love was referred to as storge, which is the vibration of familial love such as a parent feels for a child, or siblings for one another. The third description for love is phillia, which is the vibration known as brotherly love, such as what we feel for other human beings beyond our immediate family when there is a sense of connection.

The fourth and highest vibration of love is agape, which has been defined as the unconditional love of the divine, because it is always giving itself to its creation, moving through us (and all creation) as life itself and never asking anything in return. In other words, agape love is absolutely indiscriminate and unconditional. We do not have to do anything to earn it because the gift has already been given.

I have been pondering the question: If the source of this love is indiscriminate, holding back from none, why do we human beings, who are recipients of this love, discriminate and hold back our love from certain others? We hold back because we tend to identify with the egoic self, which is busy keeping score, trying to separate those who are unworthy of our love from those who are worthy — almost as if there were only so much love to go around. If we are willing to investigate the anatomy of love and its source we’ll discover otherwise.

In his book, “The Way To Love,” Anthony DeMello summarizes God’s indiscriminately giving nature in this manner: “Perhaps this is why we are encouraged to be like God, ‘who makes his sun to shine on good and bad alike and makes his rain to fall on saints and sinners alike: So you must be all goodness as your heavenly father is all goodness.’”

I interpret this to mean: As we open to its presence, the goodness of agape love flows through us and finds its way into the world by means of us, becoming goodness in the form by means of which we express romantic, familial and brotherly love in our daily lives. Love begins as divine essence, trickles into the human condition, and we don’t even have to ask for it; we need only be the open and willing vessel through which it flows.

As a mindfulness practice consider trying this process:

As a way to make this awareness more palpable, consider taking some time today to spend outside.

Stand in the sunlight and feel its penetrating presence and warmth sharing itself with you and all others, holding itself back from none.

Then find a flower and observe it receiving warmth from the same source of light.

Finally, find a weed and discover that it too is basking in the glory of the same light from which you and the flower benefit.

Then, repeat the exercise and visualize the sunlight as infinite love offering itself to you unconditionally, no strings attached.

The question to ponder is: Can you receive that love as freely as you do the sunlight? Perhaps the real question is, can you extend that love to others as freely, with no strings attached? Take your cue from the sun. This would be a good day to enter into a more indiscriminate loving of all that is … and perhaps the best place to begin is in the mirror with that beautiful being you see looking back at you.

CONSCIOUSNESS IN ACTION: The Power of Beauty, Love and Courage in A Violent Time by Andrew Beath

We stand at the confluence of two rivers of energy.

One features the scientific-production-consumption worldview of the past several hundred years. The other is an emergent stage of consciousness in which the living planet, Gaia, is the center of attention. Will we poison our children with nuclear waste and destabilize life with irresponsible genetic manipulation? Or will we deepen our understanding of the web of life and act on what we learn?

Consciousness in Action presents insights about the evolution of consciousness that Andrew Beath has distilled from decades of social and environmental activism, weaving a tapestry of wisdom that features inspiring stories from numerous progressive leaders. Julia Butterfly Hill, Joanna Macy, Deena Metzger, John Mack, Ralph Metzner and many others offer commentary that elaborates Beath’s themes and provides pathways to personal and global transformation. Their focus is on seven attributes of consciousness that they have employed in their activism and that have demonstrated their viability across time and cultures to bring about change.

Non-violence–kindness in the midst of passion
Not Knowing and spontaneity in the moment
Introspection for self-discovery
Eros, the art of loving-kindness
Co-creating a healthier world–there is No Enemy
Vision, free of reaction
Being Joyful without attachment to goals

Sharing insights and techniques that enable us to turn the wheel of human destiny from destruction to reverence, Consciousness in Action makes a vital contribution to ongoing efforts toward a peaceful, habitable earth.

Andrew Beath is the founder of the EarthWays Foundation in Malibu, California, as well as several other nonprofit social justice and environmental organizations. His foundation has initiated projects to protect wilderness and assist threatened communities in South, Central and North America.

When Spirituality Becomes a Mask ~ Mariana Caplan Ph.D

We become skillful actors, and while playing deaf and dumb to the real meaning of the teachings, we find some comfort in pretending to follow the path. ~Chogyam Trunpga Rinpoche

Given that global culture has been turned toward materialistic values in a way unprecedented in human history, it is inevitable that this same ethic would infiltrate our approach to spirituality. We live in a culture that values accumulation and consumption, and it is naïve of us to assume that simply because we are interested in spiritual growth that we have relinquished our materialism — or even that we necessarily should.

There is nothing wrong with having an “om” symbol on your t-shirt or being an avid practitioner of meditation while also enjoying moneymaking and big business, but it is useful to explore, understand and check your integrity in relationship to your choices. Spiritual materialism is not a matter of the things that we have, but of our relationship to them.

We all resist seeing the ways in which we deceive ourselves on the spiritual path. It is an embarrassment to ego, though not to who we really are, to look in the mirror and see ourselves dressed in spiritual drag. Yet we allow ourselves to be exposed for the sake of greater freedom and to become more expansive through recognizing how we are limiting ourselves in the name of spirituality.

We also use spirituality to gain power, prestige, recognition and respect, and even to avoid our own troubles. And we misuse the very teachings, practices, and all the spiritual things we do and think to increase our awareness to avoid a deeper intimacy with the truth we seek. We use our practices, paraphernalia, and concepts to support ego rather than truth. Even a monk on a mountaintop can be attached to his robes or begging bowl as a way of creating a false sense of spiritual security.

The ego wants to think of spirituality as something it can “have” once and for all, and then we do not have to do the continual work of showing up and practicing moment after moment for the rest of our lives. The ego creates a whole identity around one’s spiritual self. This is part of what we all do on the spiritual path, but it is helpful to learn to see it in ourselves.

There are many forms in which spiritual materialism may manifest:

The spiritual resume refers to the list of important spiritual people we have met, studied with, done a workshop with. At times we might find ourselves reciting our spiritual resume to impress ourselves or somebody else.

Spiritual storytelling takes the form of reciting narratives about our spiritual experiences. While they may be interesting, we often hide behind our stories to shield ourselves from the vulnerability of deeper human connection.

The spiritual high often manifests by going from workshop to teacher to beautiful place in order to stay on a perpetual high and avoid our own shadow, which is a different form of spiritual bypassing.

“Dharmacizing” refers to using spiritual jargon to account for our confusion and blind spots and to avoid relationship. If we’re a dharmacizer and someone tells us they feel tension around us, we might counter with a truism such as, “It’s just a passing phenomenon. Who is there to experience tension anyway?”

Spiritual shopping sprees are characterized by accumulating initiations, empowerments, and blessings from saints the way others collect cars, yachts, and second homes. We need to feel that we are always getting somewhere — that we’re becoming richer and better. Some people unconsciously believe that if they collect enough spiritual gold stars to become enlightened, they don’t have to die.

The spiritualized ego imitates, often very well, what it imagines a spiritual person looks and sounds like. It can create a glow around itself, learn eloquent spiritual speech, and act mindful and detached — yet there is something very unreal about it. I remember going to hear a particularly well-known spiritual teacher talk. He was trying too hard to act and talk spiritually–saying profound things and wearing a certain “knowing” smile — yet his message was empty of feeling and dimension. His ego had integrated the spiritual teachings, but he had not.

The bulletproof ego has assimilated constructive feedback and integrated it into its defense structure. If someone shares an opinion about us we may say, “I know it appears that I’m being lazy and selfish, but I’m actually practicing just ‘being’ and taking care of myself.” A spiritual teacher with a bulletproof ego may justify verbal abuse or economic extortions from his or her disciples by saying he or she is trying to cut through the egoic mechanism or trying to teach them they must learn to surrender all they have to the divine. The problem with people who have spiritualized and bulletproof egos is that they are extremely slippery and difficult to catch — and it is particularly difficult to see how this spiritual defense mechanism operates within ourselves.

It is important to understand that spiritual materialism is less about the “what” and more about the “how” of relating to something — whether it’s a teacher, a new yoga outfit, or a concept. It is not a question of wealth or money but rather of attitude. I have encountered numerous sadhus, or holy men, in India who live as renunciative beggars, yet waved their fists at me when they felt the donation I gave them was insufficient or others’ attachment to the pilgrim’s staff they carried was as prideful as many bikers are about their prized Harley-Davidsons.

As we penetrate deeper into the layers of our own perception, we discover that the origin of all forms of spiritual materialism rests in the mind. We find that we can relate to information, facts, and even profound understanding in such a way that it precludes the emergence of deeper wisdom. At this most subtle level, in which even knowledge itself becomes a barrier to wisdom, our sword of discernment — the deep desire to see ourselves clearly and the willingness to take feedback from others — can cut through our confusion.

When we were studying the subject of spiritual materialism in a graduate school psychology class I was teaching, a young student raised her hand and said, “I know I am really drawn to spiritual life, and somehow what stops me is this really cool black-leather jacket I bought in Italy. I think that if I really give myself to spiritual life, I will have to give up my jacket, and I know it sounds ridiculous, but it really holds me back.”

My student’s leather jacket was a material possession, but we all have something — a reason, possession, or something we tell ourselves that prevents us from looking at ourselves more deeply — that can keep us away from the path for our whole lives. For many of us, in spite of our best intentions, our spirituality itself becomes one more layer of subtle armor behind which we shield ourselves from deeper truth.

[Adapted from Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path]

1. Are Consciousness and God The Same? 2. Science and God 3. How Can I Tame my Ego? 4. Can There Be A Choice Without Judgment? 5. How do you find peace with yourself?

Are Consciousness and God The Same?

Science and God

Does science diminish or enrich our understanding of God? His new book discusses many of these topics in War of the Worldviews http://tinyurl.com/42urctv co-written with Leonard Mlodinow, professor of physics at CalTech

How Can I tame my Ego?

Can There Be A Choice Without Judgment?

How do you find peace with yourself?

THE WAY OF THE BODHISATTVA: A Translation of the Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva

Extract :
Foreword by The Dalai Lama

The Bodhicharyavatara was composed by the Indian scholar Shantideva, renowned in Tibet as one of the most reliable of teachers. Since it mainly focuses on the cultivation and enhancement of Bodhichitta, the work belongs to the Mahayana. At the same time, Shantideva’s philosophical stance as expounded particularly in the ninth chapter on wisdom, follows the Prasangika Madhyamika viewpoint of Chandrakirti.

The principal focus of Mahayana teachings is on cultivating a mind wishing to benefit other sentient beings. With an increase in our own sense of peace and happiness we will naturally be better able to contribute to the peace and happiness of others. Transforming the mind and cultivating a positive, altruistic and responsible attitude is beneficial right now. Whatever problems and difficulties we may have, we can thereby face them with courage, calmness and high spirits. Therefore, it is also the very root of happiness for many lives to come.

Based on my own little experience I can confidently say that the teachings and instructions of the Buddhadharma and particularly the Mahayana teachings continue to be relevant and useful today. If we sincerely put the gist of these teachings into practice, we need have no hesitation about their effectiveness. The benefits of developing qualities like love, compassion, generosity, and patience are not confined to the personal level alone; they extend to all sentient beings and even to the maintenance of harmony with the environment. It is not as if these teachings were useful at some time in the past but are no longer relevant in modern times. They remain pertinent today. This is why I encourage people to pay attention to such practices; it is not just so that the tradition may be preserved.

The Bodhicharyavatara has been widely acclaimed and respected for more than one thousand years. It is studied and praised by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. I myself received transmission and explanation of this important, holy text from the late Kunu Lama, Tenzin Gyaltsen, who received it from a disciple of the great Dzogchen master, Dza Patrul Rinpoche. It has proved very useful and beneficial to my mind.

I am delighted that the Padmakara Translation Group has prepared a fresh English translation of the Bodhicharyavatara. They have tried to combine an accuracy of meaning with an ease of expression, which can only serve the text’s purpose well. I congratulate them and offer my prayers that their efforts may contribute to greater peace and happiness among all sentient beings.

*******************************************************************************************************************

Treasured by Buddhists of all traditions, The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara) is a guide to cultivating the mind of enlightenment, and to generating the qualities of love, compassion, generosity, and patience. This text has been studied, practiced, and expounded upon in an unbroken tradition for centuries, first in India, and later in Tibet. Presented in the form of a personal meditation in verse, it outlines the path of the Bodhisattvas–those who renounce the peace of individual enlightenment and vow to work for the liberation of all beings, and to attain buddhahood for their sake.

This version, tranlated from the Tibetan, is a revision by the tranlators of the 1997 edition. Included are a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a new translators’ preface, a thorough introduction, a note on the translation, and three appendices of commentary by the Nyingma master Kunzang Pelden.

Bodhisattvas renounce nirvana and vow to work for the welfare of all beings. This pivotal work outlines the path that bodhisattvas should follow as they seek to teach others the path to nirvana. It contains moral instruction and meditation exercises for bodhisattvas to practice as they engage in their work. One of the great classics of Mahayana Buddhism, this text is beloved by Buddhists of all traditions.

“Shantideva’s work is required reading for an understanding of Tibetan Buddhism, and the clarity and crispness of this new translation makes it an accessible way into this world.”–Publishers Weekly

The Spirit Ends When The Brain Dies ~ Michael Graziano

In my last post I commented about the link between the brain and the mind [ http://evolutionarymystic.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/does-the-eternal-soul-exist-michael-graziano/]
.
That post received so much interest and so many comments from all perspectives that I thought it would be useful to explore the topic more systematically. Nobody should be mistaken about the cultural importance of the topic. The link between the mind and the brain is not merely a medical story. Its implications reach into almost all aspects of religion and spirituality including the belief in God, ghosts, angels, devils, and life after death.

When most of us think about the key conflicts between science and religion, we tend to think about Darwin’s theory of evolution published in 1859, or Galileo’s persecution by the Catholic Church in the 17th century. These famous clashes between science and religion are resolvable. Every sensible modern religion accepts the fact that the Earth orbits the Sun. Liberal religions are gradually accepting the scientific fact of biological evolution.

One disconnect between religion and science, however, is much older, much more profound, and may be much harder to bridge. It dates back at least to Hippocrates in the fifth century BC. At that time there was no formal science as it is recognized today. Hippocrates was nonetheless an acute medical observer and noticed that people with brain damage tended to lose some of their mental abilities. A passage attributed to him summarizes his view elegantly:

“Men ought to know that from the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joys, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs and tears. Through it, in particular, we think, see, hear, and distinguish the ugly from the beautiful, the bad from the good, the pleasant from the unpleasant…”

Hippocrates evidently understood the central conflict between observation and most spiritual beliefs. The belief in a spirit world, a world of consciousness that exists independently of physical substance, that survives the death of the body, that comprises ghosts and angels and deities, is incompatible with the observation that damage to the physical brain systematically takes away chunks of the mind. The medical facts suggest that mind, though it definitely exists, is something created by the brain and that it dies piece-by-piece as the brain dies.

About a century later Aristotle famously disagreed with Hippocrates, placing the mind in the human heart. Aristotle listed his reasons, many of which sound vaguely plausible given the analogical and somewhat mystical thinking of the time. How did Aristotle go so wrong in his medical analysis? He was a theoretician. Hippocrates, who worked in a hospital, saw the effects of brain damage every day and grounded his theory in observation. Nobody who spends appreciable time with brain-damaged patients can avoid the obvious conclusion. The brain is the source of the mind.

Another famous view of the brain/mind problem was outlined by Descartes two thousand years later, in the 17th century. In Descartes’ view the mind was an ethereal substance, a fluid, that was stored in a receptacle in the brain. When he dissected the human brain he noticed that almost every structure came in pairs, one on each side. The human soul was obviously a single entity and therefore it could not be stored in a double structure. In the end he found a small single object at the center of the brain, the pineal body, and deduced that it was the house of the soul. The pineal body is now known to be a gland that produces melatonin and has nothing whatever to do with a soul.

Descartes’ idea, aside from being wrong in the particulars, has a deeper problem. There is no part of the brain that, when damaged, takes away the Cartesian soul. Instead damage to different structures takes away different chunks of the mind. The ability to formulate a sentence? Lost in damage to Broca’s area. The ability to understand language? Lost in damage to Wernicke’s area. The ability to see, imagine, or comprehend color? Lost in damage to specific regions of the visual system. The ability to think about the space around the body? Lost in damage to another set of brain areas. The ability to intuit the feelings and intentions of others? Impaired after a stroke to a specific network of brain regions. And so on. The mind is a collective and bits of it die when parts of the machinery are mucked up. Even awareness itself, as I wrote about last time, can be splintered apart and compromised by brain damage.

The effect of brain damage is certainly not the only pertinent evidence. Some of the more interesting evidence comes from the direct electrical stimulation of the brain. A little more than a century ago scientists tried applying minute sparks of electricity to surface of the brain, stimulating the circuitry. The technique was improved and elaborated and is now one of the main methods for probing the brain’s circuitry. For example, before removing a tumor from a person’s brain, a surgeon will expose the brain while the person is awake and under local anesthetic. The surgeon will then study the effect of electrical stimulation, mapping out the function of this and that brain area, to avoid surgically removing any area necessary for language. Some of the most colorful and memorable experiments of this type were done by Penfield in the early 20th century. He found, as have many others since, that electrically tickling a specific spot in the circuitry has a specific and predictable effect on the mind. Whether seeing, hearing, feeling hunger, feeling rage, remembering a scene from childhood, making a coordinated gesture, even feeling as though you’ve intentionally chosen to make the gesture, these many bits and components of mind can be turned on and off by altering the activity of neurons.

The evidence is now overwhelming that every aspect of the mind is produced by the brain.

The realization that the brain produces the mind is similar in some ways to the theory of evolution before Charles Darwin got to it. Prior to Darwin, the theory of evolution was much discussed and the fossil record certainly supported it, but nobody could point to a plausible mechanism. How exactly did one species evolve over time into many new species? Darwin proposed a mechanism that fit the evidence: natural selection. Survival of the fittest. With the discovery of this simple mechanism, the science of biology was revolutionized.

The idea that the mind depends on the action of the brain is amply supported by the scientific evidence. But nobody knows how a brain produces the inner experience — the feeling of consciousness. What is the mechanism? That is the question of our time. Many theories have been proposed, including one of my own, and only time and data will tell who is right.

I draw two personal lessons from the neuroscience of mind.

First, far from dismissing mind, or spirit, or soul as nonsense, I see these quantities as far more precious precisely because they are vulnerable and finite. In a sense I’ve become more spiritual as my scientific understanding deepens and I realize that spirit is a passing conjunction of information.

Second, the neuroscience of the mind gives me a wonderful opportunity to work on a scientific problem that is truly meaningful. About 25 years ago Francis Crick, famous for his role in understanding DNA, posed a question. Is it possible for brain science to address consciousness, a topic traditionally studied by philosophers and theologians? The answer is a definite yes. Many neuroscientists including myself have joined that effort.

A Mindfulness Practice to Help You Live in the Now ~ Dennis Merritt Jones

“When driving your car, is your mind ever way out in front of your body? Do you tend to want to move faster than the rest of the traffic is moving and, if so, how does that make you feel? When you are stopped unexpectedly by a traffic jam, red light, or a train crossing, how does that make you feel? While waiting in line at the post office, grocery store, post office, and so on, and the line isn’t moving at a pace that satisfies you, how does that that make you feel? Where is your mind in relationship to your body?”

– “The Art of Uncertainty — How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It”

How in touch with the “now” are you, right now? For many people, these emotional times of change are fear-driven, with an attachment to the future, focusing on how uncertain life tomorrow may be, or on the past when things were seemingly more “predictable.” The reality is tomorrow has always been uncertain; perhaps we just weren’t as obsessed with it as we are now. For many, there is quite an attachment to “the way it used to be.” I refer to these attachments to the future and the past as “time bandits,” because they rob us of our ability to be present and accounted for in the now, which is where true inner peace and power await us. It makes good sense to “glance” at the future and the past once in a while, if for no other purpose because it can serve as a good point of reference; however, we should not stare at it because it will suck us right out of the now.

As with all circumstances we meet with along the pathway on our journey through life, there are lessons we can learn from our current experience. It requires the ability to “freeze frame” our life, stand back and become a conscious observer of our own thoughts, feelings and actions, noticing where they are taking us. One might ask: What are some of the telltale signs that suggest I may have been overwhelmed by these time bandits? In “The Power of Now,” Eckart Tolle writes: “To alert you that you have allowed yourself to be taken over by psychological time, you can use a simple criterion. Ask yourself: Is there any joy, ease, and lightness in what I am doing? If there isn’t, then time is covering up the present moment, and life is perceived as a burden or a struggle.”

It is by no coincidence that joy, ease and lightness are also three of the primary intrinsic qualities felt within by anyone who is consciously aware of spirit’s presence. This, coupled with Tolle’s statement makes a good case for the premise (and promise) that infinite intelligence is eternally a “now” presence. Think about it: God (or whatever name you choose to attach to that which is the “All” that is) is not known as the great “I was” or “I’m going to be”… it is the great “I Am.” It becomes much easier to make the surrender to the now when we know that infinite presence (divine intelligence) is there to guide and support us. Sort of gives new meaning to the saying, “Let go and let God,” doesn’t it?

As a mindfulness practice consider the following:

+ Become the conscious observer of your thoughts, feelings and actions today.

+ Notice how much of your energy is being stolen from you by the time bandits of the past and the future. In other words, be mindful of how “in the now” you are now.

+If your mind is consumed with concerns of the future, work at being mindful of what you actually have control over and what you don’t, and make peace with the fact that there are and always shall be things over which you have little or no control.

+If your mind is perpetually dwelling in the past or the future, where you have absolutely no power at this moment, call it into the present (which is your only point of power) by focusing on your in-breath and your out-breath as they effortlessly flow. Allow that free flow of energy presence you in your body.

+If it helps, make the divine surrender for the next 24 hours by using the mantra, “I let go and I let God,” or something such as, “I release and I let go, I let spirit run my life.”

+Begin to experience the joy found in the gift of simply being alive in this sacred second and feel the energy of ease and lightness wash over you. Notice that any sense of struggle or burden is lifted and carried away.

Enjoy the now, for the reality is that is all you have. All else comes and goes — the present moment is the only window of opportunity you’ll ever have to witness, appreciate and experience that which is doing the coming and going. Life in the moment is quite a show! Don’t allow the time bandits to cheat you out of it.

Act in the Context of Action ~ Sadhguru

Right now, why you think in terms of right and wrong is simply because of the social moral code.

The nature of karma is not in the action that you perform. Karma means action, but this gathering of past karmas is not because of the actions you have performed. It is the volition, the intention, the kind of mind that you carry. That is your karma.

There is a story that Ramakrishna used to tell. There were two friends who used to go visit a prostitute every Saturday evening. On one such evening, while they were walking towards the prostitute’s house, there was someone giving a spiritual discourse. One friend decided not to visit the prostitute, saying he would prefer to hear the lecture on spiritual possibilities. The other man left him there. Now the man sitting in the lecture hall, his thoughts were full of the other man. He began thinking that the other man was having the time of his life while he himself was caught in this place. He thought the other man was more intelligent in choosing the prostitute’s place rather than a spiritual discourse.

Now the man who had gone to the prostitute’s house, his mind was full of the other man. He began to think that his friend had chosen the path to liberation by preferring the spiritual discourse to the prostitute’s place, while he got caught in this. The man who had gone for the spiritual discourse and was thinking about what was happening in the prostitute’s house pays by piling up bad karma. He suffers, not the other man. You don’t pay because you have gone to the prostitute; you pay because you are cunning about it. You still want to go there, but you think by going to the discourse you’ll be one step closer to heaven. This cunningness will take you to hell. That man with the prostitute knows it is worthless, and seeks something else; his is good karma. So it is not about action.

Right now, why you think in terms of right and wrong is simply because of the social moral code. It is not your innate nature which is telling you that this is right and wrong. It is just that society has fixed some rules and they have always told you, right from your childhood, that if you break them, you are a bad boy. So whenever you break these, you feel like a bad boy. If you feel like one, you become one. If you are used to gambling, maybe gambling in front of your mother or your wife, in your home, or even to utter the word is sacrilege, but once you join your gang, there gambling is just fine, isn’t it?

Among the gamblers, the one who does not gamble is not fit to live. It’s like this everywhere. If all of you are thieves, you are all fine, isn’t it? Among thieves, do they feel it is bad to rob somebody? When you fail, they think you are a no-good thief. That is a bad karma, isn’t it? The question, this karmic thing, is just the way you feel about it. It is not about what you are doing. It is just the way you are holding it in your mind. Why we are talking about acceptance, acceptance, acceptance, is, if you are absolute acceptance, whatever life demands, you do. If you have to fight a battle, you go and fight, there is no karma. The karma is not made in physical action; it is made only by volition. It’s just that some fool has formed some rules and you expect every human being to live by them. It’s impossible, but society needs such rules to maintain the social ego.

The society has its own ego, isn’t it? For every small thing, the whole society gets upset. It need not be wrong. Suppose it is summer in the United States. Everybody is hardly wearing anything or maybe they are in miniskirts. Let’s say you are fully clothed. People will get upset: “What is she doing? Why is she all covered up?” Here in India, if you don’t dress like that, they will all get upset! So this is one kind of ego; that is another kind of ego. It is the social ego which is getting upset, and your karma is becoming part of the collective karma. I want you to really understand this with a certain depth. Your idea of good and bad has been taught to you. You have imbibed it from the social atmosphere in which you have lived. Karma is in the context of your life, and not in the action itself.

Sadhguru J. Vasudev is a contemporary mystic rooted as strongly in worldly and pragmatic matters as he is in inner experience and wisdom. Named one of India’s 50 most influential people, he has addressed prominent global forums on issues as diverse as socio-economic development, leadership and spirituality. He has served as delegate to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit and the World Peace Congress and has been a special invitee to the World Economic Forum (2006-2009), the Australian Leadership Retreat (2006) and TED (2009).

His interviews are featured in The New York Times, BBC, Bloomberg, CNNI and CNBC. He is the author of several books, the subject of four books and co-author of the Amazon Bestseller “Midnights with the Mystic”. His public talks frequently draw crowds of over 300,000 people.

Founded by Sadhguru, Isha Foundation is a non-religious, non-profit organization with over 200 centers worldwide and over one million volunteers. Isha Foundation offers Inner Engineering Online – a practical approach for inner transformation in a fast paced world. The course designed by Sadhguru presents simple, yet powerful tools for an individual to experience life on a deeper level with more awareness, energy, and productivity. This program is an ideal opportunity for those with time and travel constraints to experience the same profound effects of the traditional Inner Engineering program, which has impacted millions of people over the past 25 years. To learn more, view the free Introductory Talk, or to register visit www.InnerEngineering.com

How Consciousness Can Go Beyond Life and Death by Sadhguru

Have you heard of the woman who made a tombstone for her husband with the inscription, “Rest in peace until we meet again”? Resting in peace, unfortunately, comes for most people only in death.

Most people only experience peace and transcendence when they are dead. But in the yogic tradition, the word “samadhi” is used to describe a state in which one has transcended the limitations of the body and mind, and this happens in life. For those who are in a state of samadhi, there is no such thing as death. Death belongs to the realm of the body.

Your body is just something you accumulated. It is a piece of earth you imbibed through food, and it is on loan from the planet. All the countless number of people who have lived on this planet before us have all become topsoil, and so will you. This planet will collect back atom by atom what it has loaned you.

When one is constantly, experientially aware that both the body and the mind are accumulations that one has gathered, that is samadhi. You are in the body, but you are not it. You are of the mind, but you are not it. That means you are absolutely free of suffering because whatever suffering you have known enters you either through the body or through the mind. Once your awareness is keen enough to create a space between these two accumulations and who you really are — this is the end of all suffering.

The root of ignorance is in being identified with the accumulations you call the body and mind. Your clarity of vision is cluttered with all your identifications and your personality. It is because of this limited identification that the distinct lines between what is “me” and what is “you” have been drawn. All disharmony, conflict and suffering are rooted in this. Samadhi is a state where you have obliterated these distinctions, and you are looking beyond the wall.

Samadhi can be a step toward enlightenment, but it is not essentially so. Staying in these states certainly hastens one’s realization of boundlessness by setting up a clear space between what is you and what is not you. However, one can know and enjoy these states but still not know the essential nature of existence or become liberated from all the compulsive aspects of life.

You may meditate for 12 years and then come out of it, and even then you may not be a realized being, although you may be a little closer. When you go into another reality and stay there for long hours or years, the grip of this present reality is broken for you, and you have an experiential understanding that present reality is not all there is. That’s the whole purpose of long meditations.

Yogis, mystics and saints from all traditions have experienced and spoken about these things. One of the Christian saints, Saint John of the Cross, spoke of the necessity to go beyond all boundaries one has known. Form, he said, must yield to the formless in order for the soul to be fully emptied. Samadhi is a certain state of equanimity, where the intellect goes beyond its normal function of discrimination. Once the intellect is on hold, the boundary of what is you and what is not you collapses.

At our centers in India and the U.S., we have created powerfully consecrated spaces where experiencing a samadhi state comes about very naturally. These samadhis are very pleasant, blissful and ecstatic. There are also samadhis that are beyond this.

Once you are liberated from all that you think is you, you will know the blissfulness of creation and creator. This blissfulness is the basis for you to experience dimensions beyond the physical, and it is the basis of true love and compassion.

Isha Yoga’s “Inner Engineering” program is now available online. For more information, visit: www.InnerEngineering.com

War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality by Deepak Chopra, MD and Leonard Mlodinow, PhD

Ed. Note: As (the short version of) the story goes, Deepak Chopra was speaking at a California Institute of Technology event and afterward was approached by a fellow who “offered to teach him about quantum physics.” The fellow was Leonard Mlodinow, a well-traveled physicist, former professor at Cal Tech, former Hollywood writer and computer game designer, and now a full-time author. This initial confrontation began an exchange that led to War of the Worldviews, a dialogue of respectful disagreement on a wide range of topics, from whether the universe is conscious to the roots of our humanity and the connection between mind and brain. What follows is an abridged excerpt of their opening comments. (Chopra and Mlodinow will be on tour the month of October; go to DeepakChopra.com for a schedule, as well as to see a new series of video Q/As—also on Chopra’s Global YouTube Channel.)

“Which worldview is right? Does science describe the universe, or do ancient teachings like meditation unravel mysteries that are beyond the worldview of science?” —War of the Worldviews

Deepak Chopra

If it is going to win the struggle for the future, spirituality must first overcome a major disadvantage. In the popular imagination, science long ago discredited religion. Facts replaced faith. Superstition was gradually vanquished. That’s why Darwin’s explanation of man’s descent from lower primates prevails over Genesis and why we look to the big bang as the source of the cosmos rather than to a creation myth populated by one or more gods.

So it’s important to begin by saying that religion isn’t the same as spirituality—far from it. Even God isn’t the same as spirituality. Organized religion may have discredited itself, but spirituality has suffered no such defeat. Thousands of years ago, in cultures across the globe, inspired spiritual teachers such as the Buddha, Jesus, and Lao- Tzu proposed profound views of life. They taught that a transcendent domain resides beyond the everyday world of pain and struggle. Although the eye beholds rocks, mountains, trees, and sky, this is only a veil drawn over a vast, mysterious, unseen reality. Beyond the reach of the five senses lies an invisible realm of infinite possibility, and the key to unfolding its potential is consciousness. Go within, the sages and seers declared, and you will find the true source of everything: your own awareness.

It was this tremendous promise that religion failed to deliver on. [I]f the kingdom of God is within, as Christ declared, if nirvana means freedom from all suffering, as the Buddha taught, and if knowledge of the cosmos is locked inside the human mind, as the ancient rishis, or sages, of India proposed, we cannot look around today and say that those teachings bore fruit. Increasingly few people worship in the old ways around the world, and even as their elders lament this decline, those who have walked away from religion no longer even need an excuse. Science long ago showed us a brave new world that requires no faith in an invisible realm.

Science celebrates its triumphs, which are many, and excuses its catastrophes, which are also numerous—and growing. The atomic bomb delivered us into an age of mass destruction that brings night terrors just to contemplate. The environment has been disastrously disrupted by emissions spewing from the machines that technology gives us to make life better. Yet supporters of science shrug off these threats as either side effects or failures of social policy. Morality, we are told, isn’t the responsibility of science. But if you look deeper, science has run into the same problem as religion. Religion lost sight of humility before God, and science lost its sense of awe, increasingly seeing Nature as a force to be opposed and conquered, its secrets stripped bare for the benefit of humankind. Now we are paying the price. When asked if Homo sapiens is in danger of extinction, some scientists offer hope that within a few hundred years space travel will be advanced enough to let us abandon the planetary nest we are fouling. Off we go to spoil other worlds!

We all know what’s at stake: the foreseeable future looms grimly over us. The standard solution for our present woes is all too familiar. Science will rescue us with new technology—for restoring the environment, replacing fossil fuels, curing AIDS and cancer, and ending the threat of famine. Name your malady, and there’s someone to tell you that a scientific solution is just around the corner. But isn’t science promising to rescue us from itself? And why is that a promise we should trust? The worldview that triumphed over religion and that looks upon life as essentially materialistic has set us on a path that leads to a dead end. Literally.

Religion cannot resolve this dilemma; it had its chances already. But spirituality can. We need to go back to the source of religion. That source isn’t God. It’s consciousness. The great teachers who lived millennia ago offered something more radical than belief in a higher power. They offered a way of viewing reality that begins not with outside facts and a limited physical existence but with inner wisdom and access to unbounded awareness. The irony is that Jesus, the Buddha, and the other enlightened sages were scientists too. They had a way of uncovering knowledge that runs exactly parallel to modern science. First came a hypothesis, an idea that needed testing. Next came experimentation to see if the hypothesis was true. Finally came peer review, offering the new findings to other researchers and asking them to reproduce the same breakthrough.

The spiritual hypothesis that was put forward thousands of years ago has three parts:

1. There is an unseen reality that is the source of all visible things.
2. This unseen reality is knowable through our own awareness.
3. Intelligence, creativity, and organizing power are embedded in the cosmos.

This trio of ideas is like the Platonic values in Greek philosophy, which tell us that love, truth, order, and reason shape human existence from a higher reality. The difference is that even more ancient philosophies, with roots going back five thousand years, tell us that higher reality is with us right here and now. Its researchers were brilliant—the very Einsteins of consciousness. Anyone can reproduce and verify their results, as with the principles of science. More important, the future that spirituality promises—one of wisdom, freedom, and fulfillment—hasn’t vanished as the age of faith declined. Reality is reality. There is only one, and it’s permanent. This means that at some point the inner and outer worlds must meet; we won’t have to choose between them. That in itself will be a revolutionary discovery, since the dispute between science and religion has persuaded almost everyone that either you face reality and deal with the tough questions of everyday life (science), or you passively retreat and contemplate a realm beyond everyday life (religion).

This either/or choice was forced on us when religion failed to deliver on its promises. But spirituality, the deeper source of religion, hasn’t failed and is ready to meet science face-to-face, offering answers consistent with the most advanced scientific theories. Human consciousness created science, which ironically is now moving to exclude consciousness, its very creator! Surely this would leave us with worse than an orphaned and shrunken science—we’d inhabit an impoverished world.

It has already arrived. We live in a time of rude atheism, whose proponents deride religion as superstition, illusion, and a hoax. But their real target isn’t religion; it’s the inner journey. I am less concerned with attacks on God than I am with a far more insidious danger: the superstition of materialism. To scientific atheists, reality must be external; otherwise their whole approach falls apart. If the physical world is all that exists, science is right to mine it for data.

But here the superstition of materialism breaks down. Our five senses encourage us to accept that there are objects “out there,” forests and rivers, atoms and quarks. However, at the frontiers of physics, where Nature becomes very small, matter breaks down and then vanishes. Here, the act of measuring changes what we see; every observer turns out to be woven into what he observes. This is the universe already known to spirituality, where passive observation gives way to active participation, and we discover that we are part of the fabric of creation. The result is enormous power and freedom.

Just because religion didn’t succeed doesn’t mean that a new spirituality, based on consciousness, won’t. We need to see the truth, and in the process we will awaken the profound powers that were promised to us thousands of years ago. Time awaits. The future depends on the choice we make today.

Leonard Mlodinow

Children come into the world believing it all revolves around them, and so did humanity. People have always been anxious to understand their universe, but for most of human history, we hadn’t yet developed the means. Since we are proactive and imaginative animals, we didn’t let the lack of tools stop us. We simply applied our imagination to form compelling pictures. These pictures were not based on reality but were created to serve our needs. We would all like to be immortal. We’d like to believe that good triumphs over evil, that a greater power watches over us, that we are part of something bigger, that we have been put here for a reason. We’d like to believe that our lives have an intrinsic meaning. Ancient concepts of the universe comforted us by affirming these desires. Where did the universe come from? Where did life come from? Where did people come from? The legends and theologies of the past assured us that we were created by God, and that our earth was the center of everything.

Today science can answer many of the most fundamental questions of existence. Science’s answers spring from observation and experiment rather than from human bias or desire. Science offers answers in harmony with nature as it is, rather than nature as we’d like it to be.

The universe is an awe-inspiring place, especially for those who know something about it. The more we learn, the more astonishing it seems. Newton said that if he saw further it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Today we can all stand on the shoulders of scientists and see deep and amazing truths about the universe and our place in it. We can understand how we and our earth are natural phenomena that arise from the laws of physics. Our ancestors viewed the night sky with a sense of wonder, but to see stars that explode in seconds and shine with more light than entire galaxies brings a new dimension to the awe. In our day, a scientist can turn her telescope to observe an earthlike planet trillions of miles away or study a spectacular internal universe in which a million million atoms conspire to create a tiny freckle. We know now that our earth is one world among many and that our species arose from other species. Science has revealed a universe that is vast, ancient, violent, strange, and beautiful, a universe of almost infinite variety and possibility, one in which time can end in a black hole and conscious beings can evolve from a soup of minerals. In such a universe it can seem that people are insignificant, but what is significant and profound is that we, ensembles of almost uncountable numbers of unthinking atoms, can become aware and understand our origins and the nature of the cosmos in which we live.

Deepak feels that scientific explanations are sterile and reductive, diminishing humankind to a mere collection of atoms, no different in kind from any other object in the universe. But scientific knowledge does not diminish our humanity any more than the knowledge that our country is one among many diminishes our appreciation of our native culture. In fact, the opposite is closer to the truth. Emotion, intuition, adherence to authority—traits that drive the belief in religious and mystical explanation—are traits that can be found in other primates and even in lower animals. But orangutans cannot reason about the angles in triangles, and macaque monkeys do not look to the heavens and wonder why the planets follow elliptical paths. It is only humans who can engage in the wondrous processes of reason and thought called science, only humans who can understand themselves and how their planet got here, and only humans who could discover the atoms that form us.

The triumph of humanity is our capacity to understand. It is our comprehension of the cosmos, our insight into where we came from, our vision of the place we occupy in the universe, that sets us apart. A by-product of this scientific understanding is the power to harness nature for our benefit or, it is true, to employ it to our detriment. The particular ethical and moral choices people make depend on human nature and human culture. People dropped boulders on their enemies long before they understood the law of gravity. And they spewed filth into the skies long before they understood the thermodynamics of burning coal.

Promoting good and avoiding evil is the charge of organized religion and spirituality. It is those enterprises—not science—that have often failed to deliver on their promise. Eastern religions did not prevent a history of brutal warfare in Asia, nor did Western religions pacify Europe. In fact, more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than by all the atomic weapons made possible by modern physics. From the Crusades to the Holocaust, in addition to being a tool of goodness and love, religion has been employed as a tool of hatred. Deepak’s universalist and peaceful approach to spirituality is therefore a welcome alternative. But Deepak’s metaphysics goes beyond spiritual guidance to offer views on the nature of the universe. Deepak’s belief that the universe is purposeful and imbued with love may be attractive, but is it correct?

He contrasts the visible, or detectable, universe studied by science with an implicitly superior but invisible “realm of infinite possibility” that lies beyond our senses, a “transcendent domain” that is the source of all visible things. Deepak argues passionately that only by accepting this realm can science grow beyond its limits and help save the world. But arguing that such a realm can expand the limits of science, that it can help humanity, or that ancient sages taught about it doesn’t make it true.

I do not suggest that science is perfect. Deepak says that science has never achieved pure objectivity, and he is right. For one, the concepts employed in science are concepts conceived by the human brain. Aliens with different brain structures, thought processes, and sense organs might view matter in completely different but equally valid ways. And if there is a certain kind of subjectivity to our concepts and our theories, there is also subjectivity in our experiments. In fact, experiments that have been done on experimenters show that there is a tendency for scientists to see what they want to see and to be convinced by data they wish to find convincing. Yes, scientists and science are fallible. Yet all these are reasons not to doubt the scientific method, but to follow it as scrupulously as possible.

One can’t expect science to answer all the questions of the universe. There may well be secrets of nature that will remain forever beyond the outer limits of human intelligence. Other questions, such as those regarding human aspirations and the meaning of our lives, are best viewed from multiple perspectives, both scientific and spiritual. These approaches can coexist and respect each other. The trouble arises when religious and spiritual doctrine makes pronouncements about the physical universe that contradict what we actually observe to be true.

To Deepak, the key to everything is the understanding of consciousness. It is true that science has only begun to address that question. How do those unthinking atoms we are made of conspire to create love, pain, and joy? How does the brain create thought and conscious experience? The brain contains more than a hundred billion neurons, roughly the number of stars in a galaxy, but the stars hardly interact, while the average neuron is plugged into thousands of others. That makes the human brain far more complex and difficult to fathom than the universe of galaxies and stars and is one reason we have made great leaps in our understanding of the cosmos, while knowledge of ourselves proceeds at a relative crawl. Is that a sign that our minds cannot be explained?

It is shortsighted to believe that because science today cannot explain consciousness, consciousness must lie beyond science’s reach. But even if the origin of consciousness is too complex to be fully grasped by the human mind, that is not evidence that consciousness resides in a supernatural realm. In fact, though the question of how consciousness arises remains a puzzle, we have plenty of evidence that consciousness functions according to physical law. For example, in neuroscience experiments, thoughts, feelings, and sensations in subjects’ minds—the desire to move an arm, the thought of a specific person like Jennifer Aniston or Mother Teresa, and the craving for a Snickers bar—have all been traced to specific areas and activities in the physical brain. Scientists have even uncovered what they call “concept cells,” which fire whenever a subject recognizes a concept, such as a specific person, place, or object. These neurons are the cellular substrate of an idea. They will fire, say, each time a person recognizes Mother Teresa in a photo, no matter what her dress or pose. They will even fire if the subject merely sees her name spelled out in text.

Science can answer the seemingly intractable question of how the universe came into being, and there is reason to believe that science will eventually be able to explain the origins of consciousness too. Science is an ever-advancing process, and the end is not in sight. If at some future date we are able to explain the mind in terms of the activity of a universe of neurons, if all our mental processes do prove to have their source in the flow of charged ions within nerve cells, that would not mean that science denies the worth of “love, trust, faith, beauty, awe, wonder, compassion, truth, the arts, morality, and the mind itself.” To explain something is not to diminish or deny its worth. It is also important to recognize that even if we consider a scientific explanation of our thought processes (or anything else) aesthetically or spiritually unsatisfying or unpalatable, that does not make it false. Our explanations must be guided by truth; truth cannot be adjusted to conform to what we want to hear.

Excerpted from War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality, © 2011 by Deepak Chopra & Leonard Mlodinow. Reprinted by Permission of Harmony, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

1. Swami Satchidananda (Integral Yoga) Speaks about Death 2. Truth Never Changes 3.Perfection in Action

H.H. Sri Swami Satchidananda answers question: “What is death?”
(From a talk at The Institute for Higher Healing, Richmond, Virginia, 1989)

Swami Satchidananda (Integral Yoga): Truth Never Changes

The material world is comprised of names and forms. These names and forms may change, but behind all the changes the essence or truth is the same. Utilizing the example of the ocean, Sri Gurudev explains the nature of names and forms.
(From a satsang at Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville Virginia, during which Sri Gurudev answered questions from the audience.)

Swami Satchidananda (Integral Yoga): Perfection in Action

The Yoga scriptures say that, “Yoga is perfection in action.” In this satsang, Sri Gurudev explains what perfection in action is: no harm to anybody and at least some benefit to somebody. If we let those two principles guide our thoughts, actions and lives we are true yogis.

(From a satsang at Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville Virginia, during which Sri Gurudev answered questions from the audience.)

Joy is in the Infinite – Mother Divine

The Vedic Literature proclaims,

“There is no joy in smallness. joy is in the infinite, joy is in Brahm — Totality.”
Chandogya Upanishad, verse 7.23

True happiness lies in freedom, fullness, and all possibilities, the state of enlightenment, or Brahm—Totality. In this state of unbounded awareness one experiences and perceives infinity in everything. This song and slide show illustrate this reality of Totality, where infinity is found in every point, joy is in everything!

Poets have also perceived and proclaimed this truth:

“All finite things reveal infinitude…” Theodore Roethke

“To see a world in a grain of sand/ and a heaven in a wild flower/ Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/and eternity in an hour…” William Blake

How can everyone realize this truth for themselves? It is as simple as diving within to the infinity of your own inner consciousness, which is easily, effortlessly accessible through the practice of Transcendental Meditation

Aging as a Spiritual Practice ~ Lewis Richmond

Growing old is something we all experience (if we are lucky) — except that the parameters of “old” continue to expand. As recently as 1900 the life expectancy of the average American was 45 or 50. Now it is 80, and many people can look forward to living an active, productive life even into their 90s. What are we going to do with all that extra time? I am coming out with a book on aging in January, and based on my research and workshops over the last 2 years, I hear many answers.

“I can’t retire,” one man in his early 60s said to me. “I can’t afford it. I’ll be working forever!”

“One word,” said a woman about the same age. “Grandchildren. I have five with a sixth on the way. That’s my life now, and I love it.”

“I don’t know,” said a busy executive in his fifties. “It scares me. I watched both my parents go under from Alzheimer’s and it was ghastly. If that happens to me I think I’ll just shoot myself — if I can still remember where my guns are.”

Meanwhile, the financial, political, and familial implications of millions of baby boomers reaching 65 continues to reverberate throughout our society. Not only are we all going to live longer, but there are so many more of us! What indeed are we all going to do with that gift of years?

As someone who has been a Buddhist meditation teacher for over thirty years, I have come up with my own answer, summed up by the title of my new book: Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser. I think that aging is an ideal time for spiritual practice — for growing not only older, but wiser. In other words, “growing older and wiser” is not just a saying, it is an activity. OK, my workshop participants say, but then they ask, What do you mean by a spiritual practice? I have a simple definition, one that transcends any particular religion or faith. I define spiritual practice as “paying close attention to the things that really matter.”

I think it takes having lived a full life to finally figure what really does matter. When we are children, what really matters is growing up, being an adult — we want to be older! When we are in high school, we want to get into a good college, then get a good job (good luck!). Then there is career, family, children of our own and our aspirations for them. The answer to the question “what really matters” keeps changing.

When we finally are older — middle aged or beyond — but not yet OLD (no one wants to say they are OLD), we are finally in a position to reflect on all the provisional answers that have come to us throughout our life, and consider again, What really matters? What is really important?

I’ve asked this of older people, individually and in groups, and their answers tend to be similar. They say, “Family”, “Being kind”, “Leaving the world a better place than I found it”, “Feeling that what I did in my life counted for something”, “Love”, “Children”, “Grandchildren”, “the planet,” “figuring out what it all means.”

Few people say money, beauty, power, or fame — though since it is a Buddhist meditation teacher doing the asking, there is probably some self-selection going on. Putting those answers together — or reading them one after another like a kind of talking poem — evokes a feeling that I would call spiritual. Those words point to spiritual matters, and they are indeed important — to everyone in every society and culture. We are united by these universal aspirations; together they serve as a description of a life well lived, a life oriented toward wisdom and a higher purpose.

This is what I call “Aging as a Spiritual Practice,” and each chapter of my book explores a different aspect of aging from this wisdom perspective. I don’t shy away from the negative or difficult aspects of aging — illness, financial insecurity, worry, loss — but I make sure to also stress the positive side. I must, because so many people to whom I have talked to tell me that on balance they are, as they age, happier than they have ever been. Yes there are fears, and the older we become to closer we come to the end of this life’s adventure. But to the question I posed at the outset — what will we do with this extra gift of years that modern life expectancy has offered us — I answer, Enjoy it! Enjoy it as much as possible, and share that joy, because the younger generations coming up behind us need our example and our encouragement. So it has been in every generation, and will continue to be.

This is our job, those of us who are older but NOT YET OLD! It’s a good job, arguably the most satisfying we have ever had, even though the pay is not great and the opportunities for advancement are — well, we have to create them as we go.

Lewis Richmond
Author and Buddhist teacher

Lewis leads a Zen meditation group, Vimala Sangha, and teaches at workshops and retreats throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He has published three books, including the national bestseller Work as a Spiritual Practice.
This website is dedicated to his teachings on aging as a spiritual path.
Lewis also leads a discussion on aging as a spiritual practice at Tricycle magazine’s online community site.

The Noetic Change Model — Living a Life of Meaning by Lee Lipsenthal

We all have experience of a noetic nature: things we know to be true even without external “proof.” We often refer to these “knowings” as intuitions or synchronicities, yet they are common. Sometimes, for many of us, in workshops, retreats, or deep meditations, these events can be large and even shake us up.

Science is just beginning to understand the nature of such spiritual moments. There are two areas of the brain, the right angular gyrus and posterior right temporal region, that when triggered electrically gives us spiritual experiences: out of body adventures, the sense of something bigger than ourselves. It can also be triggered or stimulated by drugs, meditation, prayer, shamanic journeying, guided imagery, or sleep.

But what is the “meaning” of these events? We may never know, but the Noetic Sciences Change Model developed at IONS suggests a way of finding purpose from these events. Instead of asking “What doe this mean?” or “Am I being given a message?” ask yourself, “How does this inform my life and how can I bring this out to the world in a way that has meaning?” After all, our actions are what matters in the world.

There are traps in bringing our experience, our meaning, our action, to the world; such effort can swallow us up, distract us, or even diminish our power. We can believe we are special and act as if special was real, likening ourselves to a guru or wise one; this is the trap of ego. We can get so engrossed in our experience that we want to study, read, and learn anything that can be known about it; this is the trap of intellect. We can seduce ourselves into believing that it’s all about “me” and forget to bring our actions into a spirit of service. We can forget that there are many paths, and that we have only been shown one, and that our path may not be for others.

Or…we can sit and practice, go deeper and ask ourselves, How does this noetic moment inform my life and my ability to serve others in a way that they wish to be served? How can I live it fully? It’s a choice.

Living Fully

Living fully is having an ongoing transcendent experience.

It is not studying and analyzing the experience.
It is not wanting more of the experience.
It is not buying the right clothing to remind you of the experience.
It is not telling the world that you are the experience.

It is being within the experience.
It is asking “How does this experience inform my life?”
It is asking “How does this experience help me to serve others?”
It is doing the work of love without being seen.

Dr. Lipsenthal was a member of the IONS Board of Directors and Founder & CEO of Finding Balance in a Medical Life. He was also the Medical Advisor for HeartMath, LLC and received numerous awards in the Academic and Medical field.

Mindfulness Can Give Your Brain an Edge ~Daivd Nichtern

When we practice mindfulness meditation, one of the first things we notice is how un-mindful we are. It is like going back to the gym and realizing how out of shape we have become. It can actually be a little irritating. We might think, “I don’t know about this meditation thing” because at first we mostly notice how out of sync we are.

Some people get frustrated right away, but this is actually a great place to start — just like going to the gym with our little pot belly and oxygen-deprived body is also a great place to start. We just have to be patient, kind to ourselves and willing to try.

To practice mindfulness properly, we have to cut through a kind of daydream quality in our mind. Often we are engaging in some activity — riding the subway, driving a car, having a business meeting — but our mind is somewhere else, lost in a daydream. If you look at people sitting on a bus or a train you can see this quality in their eyes. Whether we’re having a pleasant or unpleasant daydream, we are cutting through all of that with mindfulness practice.

The awakened mind is sharp and clear. Sometimes the gateway to it can be an experience of irritation, or even shock — not entirely unlike waking up suddenly from a dream. “My goodness, I’m on the subway here. That’s a human being walking by with one leg and a cup … and a strong smell”. Suddenly we become completely present with whatever is actually around us — whether it is pleasant or not. At these times, it’s as if our world is shaking us and waking us up with a kind of sharp edge.

Our world can also wake us up in a peaceful and beguiling way. We might notice the details of a beautiful flower, or the delicious smell of a bakery as we walk by daydreaming about our troubled economy.

In either case, there is a regular and recurring invitation to bring our attention back to the present moment and relate to what is right in front of us. Practicing mindfulness is simply recognizing this invitation to be present, and being willing to accept the invitation when it comes.

In the Buddhist tradition, one recommendation for practicing mindfulness is to lean into its sharp edge — so that we’re not seduced into going back to sleep, back into our daydream. It’s like the movie “The Matrix” — the red pill or the blue pill — one will wake us up and the other will let us continue in the dream world. Do we want to go back into that daydream, or do we want to wake up? When we become aware it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re waking up into a paradise.

Is this world a paradise? Well, yes and no, right? It depends on our attitude. But the point is, it’s not a dull paradise where everything is perfect and comes easily. It’s a sharp paradise, with edges and clarity. It’s vivid and poignant.

When looking to see if somebody is trained in mindfulness, sharpness and wakefulness are the mark to look for — more so than a blissful, spaced-out quality in which they love everybody, but don’t remember exactly why. Mindfulness is the core practice of the Buddhist teachings, but it can be practiced by anybody — and it has an edge.

What Is Conscious Evolution? ~ Andrew Cohen

For most of us, spiritual evolution does not occur simply as a result of one flash of insight or revelation. On the contrary, it usually requires inspired intention and consistent, diligent effort. And the way this is achieved is through the greatest gift that evolution has given us: the power of choice.

The power of conscious choice, or free agency, is unique to human beings as far as we know. You and I are highly evolved individuated selves who have been blessed with the extraordinary capacity for self-reflective awareness and the freedom to choose. In fact, these are the very faculties that make it possible for us to consciously evolve. Think about it: You, whoever you are, at least to some degree have the power to choose.

How much do you really appreciate the significance of this extraordinary birthright? It is surprising how few people consider the deeper implications of possessing the freedom to choose. Just imagine — without free agency, who would you be? Little more than a robot, unconsciously responding and reacting to conditioned egoic fears and desires, cultural triggers, biological impulses, and external stimuli, with no control over your own destiny. But while it is true that we are all profoundly influenced by many of these forces, both inner and outer, at the same time, it is equally true that we always have at least some measure of freedom to choose how we respond.

If you aspire to become an evolutionarily enlightened human being, your ability to do so depends upon accepting the simple fact that independent of external circumstances, you always have a measure of freedom to choose. That sounds like a simple statement, but it’s amazing how many intelligent people will deny it. When you look honestly for yourself, however, you will see that it is true: you are always choosing. Sometimes your choices are conscious; sometimes they are unconscious. Sometimes they are inspired by the best parts of yourself; other times they are motivated by lower impulses and instincts. But the bottom line is that every time you act or react, at some level a choice is being made. And you, whoever you are, are the one who is making that choice. After all, who else could it be?

Conscious evolution is a simple concept to grasp, but not quite as simple to put into in practice. Our freedom to choose is not unlimited. We each have some measure of freedom. Not complete freedom, but a measure, and that measure is greater for some people than it is for others. But as long as there is some it’s enough to begin. If there is a measure of freedom then there is freedom to choose.

What that means is that in relationship to the important choices you make, you are never completely unconscious. There is always some degree of awareness, however small, which gives you the freedom to choose. And the path of conscious evolution is about increasing that degree of awareness, increasing that measure of freedom, until you are living as the enlightened self that you consciously choose to be, rather than the unenlightened self you have unconsciously and habitually identified with your entire life.

I believe that it is possible to take responsibility for the entirety of who you are in such a profound way that you can consciously choose who you want to be. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. The human self is by nature a complex multidimensional process, and within that process are many factors that limit our freedom and obscure our awareness. There are powerful biological instincts that still drive us on a deep level to act in ways that challenge our higher rational inclinations.

There are all the karmic consequences of our personal history, the emotional and psychological tendencies that have formed in response to our particular life experience. There are layers of cultural conditioning, values and assumptions about how things should be that color our perspectives without us even knowing it. And many people believe that within our psyches we also carry the unresolved stories of previous lifetimes. All these factors play a part in the complex web of motives and impulses that makes up your sense of self. All of this is you. And yet it is possible to take responsibility for all of these dimensions of who you are, through the transformative recognition that you are always the one who is choosing.

If you aspire to evolve, if you intend to become a conscious vehicle for the evolutionary impulse, you have to use the God-given powers of awareness and conscious choice to navigate between your new and higher spiritual aspirations, and all of the conditioned impulses and habits that are embedded in your self-system.

You need to become so conscious that you can make choices that move you, consistently, in an evolutionary direction. And it is only through the wholehearted embrace of your power of choice that it becomes possible for you to do this.
This is what I often call “enlightening the choosing faculty” — bringing the light of consciousness, conscience and higher purpose to bear on the unique and extraordinary capacity within that can define your destiny.

Eventually, if you go far enough in your spiritual development, the self-generated momentum of your own evolutionary choices will become the driving force of your life, rather than the unconscious habits of the past. And that’s when something very profound occurs. Your capacity to choose will become more and more aligned with the creative freedom of the evolutionary impulse, the energy and intelligence behind the initial choice to become. When free agency, the greatest gift of the evolved human, is liberated from unconscious and habitual patterns and becomes identified with a higher or cosmic will, the individual becomes a conscious agent of evolution.

When your power of choice aligns itself with the evolutionary impulse in this way, your own deepest, heart-felt, spiritual aspiration becomes one with the original cosmic intention to create the universe. That’s what Evolutionary Enlightenment is pointing to. To the degree to which you make conscious and transcend those outdated biological, psychological, and cultural habits within yourself that are inhibiting your higher development, you become an ever-more-powerful agent for conscious evolution.

This article was excerpted from Andrew Cohen’s new book Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening.

Spiritual Lessons From Steve Jobs ~Dennis Merrit Jones

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

~ Steve Jobs

“The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I sit here staring at my Mac computer to which my Mac iPhone and Mac iPad are docked, I find myself feeling extraordinarily connected to the man who created the company. The company which created these devices, which are now available to me and the rest of the world. Steve Jobs passing has affected me in a deep way. This man has reminded me of how important it is to stay anchored in my own authentic power, and to stay connected to what is real and important by staying true to myself.

Many in the media are referring to Jobs as a creative genius. There can be no question that he had the ability to tap into a creative flow of ideas that were indeed genius. Many also credit Jobs’ monumental success with Apple to his being a rebel of sorts. I suppose that is because he was willing to color way outside the lines of the “norm” and go where the “herd mentality” has traditionally feared to tread — on the road less traveled. Perhaps there is a link between one thinking for themselves in such a fiercely independent manner and their ability to access the creative genius that lies within their being waiting to be called forward.

I wonder how many people spend their lives living someone else’s idea of what their life should be because it is easier, and perhaps safer. It is easier to follow the well trodden path of least resistance rather than forge ahead into new and uncharted territory, creating ones own unique path based on their own genius and original, innovative thinking. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” This is an admonition worth heeding, and yet being an original thinker in a copycat world is a risky thing to do.

Anytime we raise our heads above the trenches of common opinion, we put all of who we are directly in the line of fire of every critic and naysayer of individuality; but then again, that is where true leaders excel — on the firing line of life. They know that new and innovative thinking can come only after they have stepped outside of the box of the known, where uncertainty reigns supreme.

It’s safe to say that regardless of the direction our intuition and passion takes us, there will always be others who will tell us we are wrong. (That is what Apple did to Jobs when they fired him from his own company in May of 1985, only to rehire him as CEO in 1997 because the company was tanking.) It can be tempting to buy into the opinion of our critics because it feels good to be loved and approved of, especially when there is also financial security at stake. To set our course against the prevailing winds and follow our own inner compass requires tremendous faith and courage.

From a spiritual perspective — irrespective of what other’s opinion may be — when we have the courage to follow the conviction of our heart and stay the course, there seems to arise from within an intuitive knowing of what to do and how to do it. Steve Jobs clearly had accessed his intuitive guidance. This aligned him with his own creative genius, which gave him the courage to rise above the din of his competitor’s and critic’s wagging tongues. He was a classy guy who left the planet a far better place than it was when he arrived here because he refused to be anyone other than who he came here to be.

May we all learn from Steve Jobs’ willingness to be the authentic being he was, to seek our own uniqueness and live confidently, courageously and creatively from that sacred place of true authenticity. The take away for me is this: Your time really is limited because no one has tomorrow, so don’t squander it by living up to (or in some cases down to) someone else’s idea of who you should or shouldn’t be.

If you have the courage to do so, following the North star of your own heart will lead you to your own creative genius — to your own unique greatness. Steve Jobs was a true visionary and an independent thinker; he was not afraid to go where his heart led him. It’s true, the man of genius can indeed inspire you with a boundless confidence in your own powers if you are willing to color outside the lines, take the road less traveled, listen to your intuitive guide and be who you have come here to be.

Consciousness, Existence, Intelligence

Pure consciousness has infinite organizing power and gives rise to the diversity of Nature within itself. The mechanics of this can be experienced during the Transcendental Meditation technique.
In his book Maharishi Vedic University: Introduction, Maharishi gave detailed information about the nature and structure of consciousness.

‘We see things around us exist,’ he said. ‘We also see that things around us change and evolve. We also see that there is order in evolution—an apple seed will only grow into an apple, etc. Thus it is obvious that existence is endowed with the quality of intelligence. Existence breathes life by virtue of intelligence.

‘Consciousness is wakefulness, unbounded alertness, pure intelligence, pure existence, self-referral [it knows itself] fullness, all knowingness—the self-sufficient and unmanifest source, course, and goal of all creation.’

Those who practise Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation experience these qualities of consciousness in their own Transcendental Consciousness.

In its ‘self-referral’ state, or transcendental state, consciousness knows itself alone; as such, it is the knower of itself. By being the knower of itself, it is also the object of knowledge, and the process of knowing. Thus, in its self-referral state, consciousness is the unified state of knower, knowing, and known.

In the Vedic language this ‘three-in-one’ structure of consciousness is called Samhita of Rishi, Devata, and Chandas—Samhita (unity) of Rishi (knower), Devata (dynamism of the process of knowing), and Chhandas (the known).

‘Consciousness is the unity or coexistence of two qualities of intelligence that are contradictory to each other,’ Maharishi continued. ‘Singularity or self-referral Samhita, and diversity of Rishi, Devata, and Chhandas.

‘It is interesting to note that the quality of alertness in the nature of consciousness is due to the co-existence of these two opposite values within its structure. Togetherness of these contradictory qualities within the structure of consciousness renders consciousness wakeful, alert, and lively. Consciousness is the lively field of all possibilities.

‘As unity (togetherness) of knower, knowing, and known equates with knowledge and also with consciousness, the implications are that consciousness equates with knowledge; consciousness equates with Veda [pure knowledge]; consciousness equates with Samhita; Samhita (of Rishi, Devata, Chhandas) equates with Veda.

‘Veda equates with the unmanifest, self-referral intelligence of Samhita, which conceives of the three qualities of Rishi, Devata, and Chhandas within its own self-referral singularity—singularity finds diversity within its structure.

‘Consciousness is unity and diversity, both at the same time: unity because of Samhita, and diversity because of Rishi, Devata, and Chhandas.

‘This explains that the eternal, self-referral mechanics of transformation exists in the co-existence of the two contradictory qualities of consciousness—singularity and diversity.

‘This is the picture of the structure of the ultimate reality,’ Maharishi concluded. ‘The self-referral intelligence in motion, within its own singularity, giving rise to the mechanics of creation and evolution—the Unified Field of pure intelligence spontaneously giving rise to the diversity of all the Laws of Nature within itself.

‘The picture is that self-referral consciousness is infinite organizing power; it is the lively potential of Natural Law.’

By a Global Good News staff writer

Three-in-one Structure of Consciousness – Drs. Frans Langenkamp, Ph.D

All that Vedic Science wants to bring home to man, is that the one indivisible wholeness of consciousness is the source of all multiplicity of Creation, and that this one unbounded ocean of consciousness is our own consciousness.

Consciousness is that element in nature that is aware of itself. It has three aspects to it – it is the perceiving subject, it is its own object of perception, and it is itself the relationship between subject and object, or in other words, it is itself the process of observation.

Rishi, Devata, and Chandas

When we say “I know myself,” then the three-in-one structure of our consciousness becomes already obvious. In the language of the Veda, these three aspects of awareness are called: Rishi, Devata and Chandas. Rishi is the knower, Devata is the knowing and Chandas is the known.

Since everything in creation is the expression of consciousness, everything must have these three aspects of consciousness inherent in it. As we know from our case, our identity consists of pure subjectivity, the witnessing aspect of our consciousness. As an expression of that, we have the mind, containing all thoughts, feelings, desires, emotions and perceptions, etc., and thirdly, we have a body, the outer expression of our personality. We can relate these three aspects of the wholeness of our nature – soul, mind and body – to the three aspects of the wholeness of our consciousness, Rishi, Devata and Chandas.

Like that, the essence, the ultimate identity of every creature is pure consciousness. Furthermore, every creature has a mind, which forms a lively link between its inner pure subjectivity and its outer objectivity, the body. Since the whole universe is the expression of consciousness, we can attribute these three values to the whole of creation. And although we are aware that every item in creation has these three aspects in it, we can still distinguish different aspects of creation, which are mainly representing the Rishi value of existence, or mainly representing the Devata value of existence, or mainly representing the Chandas value of existence.

Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chandas

In Rik Veda, the Rishi, Devata and Chandas values are present in a unified state. This is called the Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chandas. Every expression of Rik Veda is the integrated expression of these three values. Rik Veda is composed of suktas, and the text of Rik Veda mentions at the start of each sukta, what the Rishi (seer) value of that sukta is, what its Devata (impulse of Creative Intelligence) value is, and what its Chandas (metre) value is. The sukta or hymn as a whole is a particular blend of these three basic ingredients. As we saw already, the Vedas are the source of creation, which implies these three aspects of the structuring dynamics of consciousness lie at the basis of all manifestations in the universe. and as such they can be located everywhere, throughout creation.

Stars, planets and areas of life

In Vedic astrology there are three ingredients that make up a Janma Kundali or birth chart. These, just as in Western astrology, are the stars, represented by the signs of the Kalapurusha or zodiac, the planets, including the Sun, Moon and the two lunar nodes, and thirdly the houses, which represent the twelve areas of life. In Maharishi Jyotish, these three ingredients of the birth chart are called respectively rashis, grahas and bhavas.
Rashis represent the Rishi Value

The twelve rashis constitute what is known in Vedic Science the Kalapurusha, the origin of what Western astrology calls the zodiac. The term Purusha stems from the Samkhya philosophy, one of the six Upangas, mentioned earlier. Purusha is introduced as a concept for the universal soul, the witness of all that is, was, and will be. Kala means time, a concept designed to measure eternity. So the Kalapurusha stands for the “Timesoul,” the eternal witness of all relative cycles of time. Thus it is clear that the Kalapurusha, consisting of the twelve groups of stars, represent the Rishi value of creation.

The stars, grouped in the form of the twelve rashis, indicate the innermost nature of a person, one’s temperament, one’s specific mode of consciousness that one will display throughout life. The Rashi that is rising on the eastern horizon, as seen from the time and place of birth, forms the main indicator of the inborn nature, the character, the basic personality traits that the individual will exhibit in life. Also seen from this angle, it is clear that the rashis relate to the Rishi value of life.

It is interesting to see that, in Vedic Astrology rashis are possessed of a “Drishti” (look) in a certain direction. Maharshi Parashara, one of the founding fathers of Vedic Astrology, mentions this Drishti, or looking nature of the rashis in his Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra long before he mentions the more commonly known Drishti values that the planets possess.

The stars form the “silent witnesses” of all the dynamism that takes place within the cosmic arena that they constitute. As such, they can be compared to the all-witnessing nature of our unbounded and eternal soul. Our soul is the silent witness of everything that goes on inside our mind, body and environment.

Cosmologically speaking, the stars are known to be the origin of all life forms. All the atoms that form our human body, and also those of the air that we breathe, and the food that we eat, have been produced inside the centre of giant stars that constituted a previous generation of stars, the parents of the present stars. Without the large scale production of all the 103 elements of nature, no “gross” material life form could ever have developed in the universe.

Similarly, in Maharishi’s Veda Lila – a kind of Vedic opera which illustrates, through theatre, the self-interacting dynamics of consciousness in a dramatised form – the Rishi value is shown to be the origin of the dynamic values of Devata and of all the objective values of Chandas. The above parallels between the rashis and the Rishi value of consciousness, make clear that the stars represent the Rishi value of creation.

Grahas Represent the Devata Value

The planets, in Vedic Astrology called grahas, represent the dynamical values in life. Maharishi points out that the term Graha refers to its ability to uphold the life of the individual. As such, they are the material expressions – the point values – of abstract universal Laws of Nature, responsible for the evolution of every single item in creation. In Vedic Science, they are regarded as Devatas, impulses of Creative Intelligence or embodiments of certain Laws of Nature, which are responsible for creating, maintaining, and dissolving all life forms in the universe.

The nine grahas taken together represent all the Laws of Nature contained in the Constitution of the Universe, the Rik Veda. Each Graha represents a particular set of Laws of Nature, responsible for the evolution of certain aspects of life. These nine categories of Laws of Nature conduct the evolution of all life forms in this universe. The grahas themselves are localised in time and space, but their essential value, their Rishi value, constitutes eternal, omnipresent, and universal Laws of Nature which all together form the nine basic structuring dynamics of the Unified Field of all the Laws of Nature – the Unified Field of consciousness.

In Jyotish, Chandra or the Moon is considered the most important of the Navagrahas (nine grahas). In an individual’s kundali or birth chart, Chandra represents the mind of the native. The position of the Moon at birth determines the starting point of the sequential evolutionary process that makes up the dynamism in the life of the individual. From these, and similar considerations, it is clear that the grahas predominantly represent the Devata aspect of
consciousness.

Bhavas represent the Chandas Value

The infinite complexity of life, with which we as individuals are confronted, has been classified by the ancient Vedic Rishis, or seers, into twelve categories, forming the twelve basic areas of life. These twelve areas of life are called bhavas or houses and have the same function and meaning as houses in Western astrology. They encompass all possible experiences that we as human beings go through in our daily experiences from morning till night, and in our development from birth till death, as well as in our spiritual evolution, the growth from ignorance to enlightenment .

Thanks to this classification that the Vedic Rishis have bestowed on mankind, we are in a position to discover the relationship between one experience and another, and in general, we can begin to see the cosmic order existing amidst the infinite diversity of life experiences.

It is in the bhavas, that the evolutionary dynamism of the grahas is displayed. Technically speaking, the bhavas are fixed to the earth as directions in space seen from our place of birth. They form the fixed framework for the kaleidoscopic, ever-changing arrangement of the Sun, Moon, and the planets, and the silently revolving background of the stars.

The bhavas relate to the relative, or, in other words, the objective values of life, such as our body, our finances, our homes, our spouse, our children, our parents, our profession, etc. The specific nature of these areas of life are determined by the nature of both the planets and the stars that occupy them. And, as the nature of the mind and the nature of the soul determine the experiences that the body undergoes, so the planets and the stars determine the nature of the activity that takes place in each of the twelve bhavas, the concrete areas of life.

The subjective values of mind and soul can only express themselves in the concrete areas of life – the field of all relative life experiences – e.g., the body, the field of our profession, the field of our relationships, our financial situation, etc. Likewise, the qualities of the rashis and grahas in a person’s birth chart can only express themselves in the context provided by the twelve bhavas.

Just as the Chandas value relates to the objective aspect of consciousness, the bhavas relate to the objective side of our existence. The word “Chandas” is derived from the Sanskrit root “chhand” which means “to hide, to cover.” This term refers to the special effect that the objective values of existence have in hiding the mental and spiritual values of existence, the Devata and Rishi qualities of consciousness.

In a similar way, the twelve concrete areas of life have the effect of overshadowing and hiding the nature of our subjectivity, namely the mental values and especially the unbounded and eternal nature of our soul. This makes it clear that the bhavas represent predominantly the Chandas aspect of consciousness.

Looking at these three aspects of consciousness together, we see how the Devata value forms the connecting link between pure subjectivity (Rishi) and the objective values of existence (Chandas). In the field of Jyotish, the grahas provide a connection between the rashis with the bhavas. Each of the nine grahas is the owner of one or two rashis. As such, each Graha represents one or two rashis. The evolutionary dynamism of the grahas can only manifest itself in the context of the fixed bhavas. Thus, the grahas create a lively connection between the rashis and the bhavas.

So it is in the grahas, that the rashis and the bhavas find a common meeting ground. In a similar way, the soul and the body find a common meeting ground in the mind. It is the mind that creates a lively connection between the soul and the body. The mind is able to do so because of its ability to reflect both subjective and objective values of existence.

This division of the reality in these three aspects of creation, provided by Rik Veda, has its parallel in another Vedic triad, commonly referred to in the Upanishads as Adhyatma, Adhidaiva, Adhibhuta.

Adhyatma represents the absolute field of life, the field of pure subjectivity, the Self of all beings, obviously related to the Rishi value of existence.
Adhidaiva represents the field of activity, evolution, and transformation, guided by the Laws of Nature or Devatas, obviously related to the Devata value.
Adhibhuta represents the material, concrete, the relative field of creation, obviously related to the Chandas value of existence.

Multiples of three
The integrated state of functioning of the Rishi, Devata, and Chandas value of the Veda, the Samhita level of consciousness represents the level of wholeness of consciousness, from which the whole creation emerges.
It is for this reason that Jyotish deals with three basic ingredients – rashis, grahas, and bhavas. The interaction of these three basic values of existence gives further rise to an infinite number of combinations and permutations, which, from the Vedic standpoint, all consist of multiples of three. Thus, we find that Jyotish makes use of 3 x 3 = 9 grahas, 4 x 3 = 12 rashis, 4 x 3 = 12 bhavas. Apart from these which we have dealt with above, Jyotish makes use of many other subdivisions of the Kalapurusha, of which the Nakshatras, Drekkanas and Navamshas are very important. The Nakshatras are 9 x 3 = 27 in number. The Drekkanas are 12 x 3 = 36 in number, while the Navamshas count 12 x 9 = 108 in number.

[Note for Advanced Students of Vedic Astrology: All the 16 subdivisions of the Kalapurusha defined by Maharshi Parashara as the "Shodashavargas," because they are subdivisions of the twelve rashis, consist naturally of multiples of three.]

And finally, while these three basic ingredients keep on interacting with themselves all over the ever expanding universe, they are integratedly available in our individual lives.

Man – A Miniature Universe

Maharishi has always said that the human being is the embodiment of all the Laws of Nature. We are the embodiment of the Veda, the Constitution of the Universe.

This fact is beautifully demonstrated by Jyotish. Jyotish is not geocentric in its orientation nor is it heliocentric in its orientation but “Jiva-centric” (Jiva=individual soul). Therefore here the universe is viewed from the time and place of birth of any Jiva or individualised consciousness. In Jyotish every single individual is regarded as the centre of the universe! This “Jiva-centric” nature of Jyotish is clearly illustrated in an individual’s birth chart. The Janma Kundali, or horoscope, represents an actual picture of the structure of the universe at the time of birth of a person, seen through the eyes of that new-born person. It shows – in a schematic way – the arrangement of Sun, Moon and planets, including the two lunar nodes, set against the background of the constellations forming the Kalapurusha.

The Jyotishi, or expert in Vedic Astrology, knows that this structure of the universe, this arrangement of Sun, Moon, stars and planets indicates the structure of the cosmic, all-comprehensive nature of the Jiva. Jyotish demonstrates that every single individual born on this planet is actually of a cosmic nature. In reading an individual’s birth chart, the Jyotishi actually demonstrates that the individual is made up out of these cosmic forces. Thus, Jyotish provides a practical demonstration of the abstract principle propounded by the Upanishads and the Vedanta philosophy that says: “Jivo Brahmaiva naparah” – “The individual soul is Brahman, the Totality, and nothing else.”

The individual’s birth chart is constructed out of three basic ingredients. These three ingredients are formed by the stars, the planets, and the houses, and are blended harmoniously into the all-comprehensive structure of the birth chart. In Vedic Astrology, the horoscope is designed in a square form. The square and triangular boxes of the chart represent the twelve bhavas, which are an expression of the Chandas value of existence and as stated above, they refer to the concrete areas of life and living. The letters in the boxes of the chart represent the nine grahas, the nine basic impulses of Creative Intelligence that give rise to the sequential developments in our life, which thus are an expression of the Devata value of existence. The numbers inside the boxes represent the twelve groups of stars, the rashis, representing the twelve basic modes of consciousness and thus are an expression of the Rishi value of existence.

All these twelve, nine and twelve ingredients are blended together in an integrated fashion, and the collectedness of them all forms what we can call “the constitution of the individual.” Just as the Constitution of the Universe contains all the ingredients and Laws of Nature that structure the dynamics of the universe, so the individual’s birth chart contains all the ingredients and Laws of Nature that structure the dynamics of the individual’s life.

Chart Rishi Devata Chhandas, rashis, grahas, bhavas

The beauty of this overview is, that all the ingredients that are shown to structure the life of the individual, are derived from the visible universe (Vishva), while all the ingredients that form the visible universe, are shown to be derived from the Veda, the Samhita of Rishi, Devata and Chandas.

This consciousness-centred perspective demonstrates that the individual is indeed an expression of all the Laws of Nature, or as Maharishi puts it: “The the human being is the embodiment of all the Laws of Nature.” In other words, the human being is the embodiment of the Veda, the home of all the Laws of Nature, the Constitution of the Universe. Thus the chart illustrates the ultimate Vedic principle which the Upanishads recommend every individual to directly experience: “Aham Brahmasmi” – “I am Brahman, I am the totality, really I am everything.”

This cosmic perspective on the individual, this cosmic perspective on our own life can be said to be the essence of all Vedic Knowledge. It is the central theme of all 40 branches of Vedic Science. All 40 aspects of Vedic Science have only one common purpose: to bring home to each and every individual born on earth, that we are in essence one with the universe. The Vedas and Vedic Literature indicate that it is the birthright of every human being to live this experience through all the thick and thin of life.

The entire structure of the human nervous system is designed to give rise to this cosmic experience. The absence of this experience is defined as dis-ease. In other words, the absence of this experience is responsible for the all-round suffering that human life has gone through so far. This simply demonstrates that mankind has not lived up to its individual and collective potential.

What means Health?

Health means wholeness. Mankind is not experiencing a normal state of health. See: The discovery of the Veda and Vedic Literature in the Human Physiology. (Nader, 1993)

This intimate relationship between the human body and the universe forms a major topic of the most holistic system of health care, Ayurveda. Summarized in one of its textbooks: “All material and spiritual phenomena of the universe are present in the individual. Similarly, all those present in the individual are also contained in the universe. This is how the wise desire to perceive.” (Charaka Samhita IV). A few paragraphs earlier, in this same passage Charaka in the words of Lord Atreya states:

“Purushyo’yam loka sannidah”
“Man is a miniature universe”
(Charaka Samhita IV).

This quote from Charaka Samhita illustrates how beautifully Ayurveda and Jyotish supplement and support each other. Indeed, all the branches of Vedic Science support and supplement each other. They constitute the different aspects of one holistic science, the science of consciousness, Brahma vidya, the science of the Totality. Every individual branch of Vedic Science is simply an elaboration as well as a further explanation and a commentary on the basic truths of life as contained in Rik Veda, the encyclopaedia of all knowledge, the Constitution of the Universe.

I Am: Therefore God Is ~ Deepak Chopra

Order War of the Worldviews http://tinyurl.com/42urctv
We participate in the actualization of Reality from Potentiality

Living in Awe by Chris Attwood

Language reinforces duality and as such, makes the experience of unity elusive when the mind believes the words it speaks. In order to speak sound must become dual.

There must be sound and no sound, words and the gaps between the words, in order for language to exist. However, language also provides me with words to describe what I conceive of as “I” and that which I conceive of as “you.” In other words, it provides reenforcement of the illusion of duality.

Even as I read this page, I interpret the “I” referred to on the page in the context of my belief about what “I” is. If my mind is still in the grip of duality, then it will tend to interpret this “I” as meaning someone other than myself. There is a writer, who has written on the page and that writer is “someone else.”

In unity, the writer, the process of writing and that which is written are one. The reader, the process of reading and that which is read are one. And the writer, the reader and the writing are one.

In the ancient Vedic texts this is called “samhita of rishi, devata and chhandas.” Samhita means “togetherness.” Rishi is the knower of reality. Devata is the process of knowing. Chhandas is that which is known. The togetherness of knower, process of knowing and known.

Togetherness of Knower, Process of Knowing and Known

The rishis of ancient India were also those who cognized the nature of life. From their own experience they saw into the truth of life and then wrote about it, or spoke about it in a form that could be passed on from generation to generation.

Devata is sometimes translated as “god” (god with a small “g”, there being many of them). But when one understands the real meaning of devata, one discovers that these “gods” are in fact the very structure of the laws of nature responsible for the transformations that appear to occur in life.

Chhandas has several meanings. It refers to the meter, or rhythm of the Vedic verses. It is also translated as “that which covers.” Chhandas is the expressed version of the rishi aspect of life, that part of life which I describe as “wholeness.” This aspect of life is what was cognized by the ancient rishis and through the rhythm, the ebb and flow, the inward and outward breath, the movement of contraction and expansion, chhandas hides the truth of life. When I experience the chhandas, I forget the whole. But when my awareness is immersed in wholeness, then chhandas provides waves of bliss.

This realization, that I, as knower, the process by which I know anything, and that which I know are not separate, is the realization of unity. The truth of life exists in the wisdom of the togetherness of these which appear as three and yet are completely, intimately and inseparably connected.

I can imagine a jigsaw puzzle which is made up of many pieces, yet when they are all put together, they form one coherent whole. In a similar way, I, through my own consciousness, have selectively hidden (through chhandas) parts of myself from myself. The pieces of the puzzle are always put together and always form a whole in life, but it’s as if I have covered over many of the pieces. Rather than putting the pieces together, I unveil pieces that were hidden from my view.

As more and more pieces come into my view, the picture of the whole of life begins to unfold. The more of that picture I perceive, the more beautiful it is. I realize that every single piece in the puzzle is essential to the wholeness of the picture.

And I am left in awe.

The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose
by Janet Attwood, Chris Attwood

Can a simple test change a person’s life? Through their New York Times bestseller The Passion Test, Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood have inspired thousands to shape their lives by discovering their passions and living according to what matters most to them. Readers can identify their top five passions by taking the Test, and then learn exactly how to align their lives with their priorities by following the Attwood’s easy-to-follow step-by-step program of action.

Combining powerful storytelling and profound wisdom from models of passionate living such as Jack Canfield, Richard Paul Evans, and Stephen M.R. Covey, as well as drawing on their own personal experiences, the Atwood show how living a full and impassioned life is not only possible, it’s inevitable for anyone willing to take the Test.

Why Do We Fear an Empty Mind? By Natasha Dem

“Man finds nothing so intolerable as to be in a state of complete rest, without passions, without occupation, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nullity, loneliness, inadequacy, dependence, helplessness, emptiness.”
–Blaise Pascal

Why is it so hard for us to tolerate emptiness in our minds? The prevalent belief that action always equals progress may be a contributing factor. We perceive emptiness as an undesired state, something to be feared. We feel uncomfortable with those moments when our minds seem devoid of any creative or productive activity. We rarely, if ever, simply sit with and allow the feeling of emptiness.

When a thought enters the mind, it is replaced by another. It is automatic. We are not aware that a thought has segued into another thought. But upon developing the muscles of concentration, we become conscious of the entry and exit process of our thoughts. The mind gradually begins to entertain fewer thoughts per minute. We become aware that there is an interval, a delay, a space between one thought and another. This space is emptiness but also a fullness. At this level of awareness, we are in the sanctum of pure awareness. There are many who are living in this state of pure awareness, and their experiences are lucid and real.

Many are in search of this state, whether they know it or not. We are wired to seek and find what we seek. This quest is as old as humanity itself. There is no need to spend time and energy seeking some illusory “self.” What you are seeking is inside of you, and it is you. It is the mind that asserts otherwise.

When you believe this mind, you seek this “I” outside yourself. All one has to do is to remain quiet, calm the mind and experience this space between the thoughts. In this state, only the “I” exists. When you let this “I” in your mind be, without resisting, you enter the realm of emptiness — pure consciousness or the creative void. Whatever comes up, do not take it personally. Just observe. Allowing your mind to “go blank” for a little while won’t kill you, and will actually help you discover your potential, unlimited.

Now developing some comfort with this state is both simple and complex in concept. Since we are slaves to stimuli, we can’t imagine harnessing such a practice of emptiness or of being. We are incessantly tempted to turn our attention to something just to avoid this sensation. Blankness is not nothingness. To be empty does not mean non-existence. Emptiness is the ground of being, and because of it, everything is possible.

When the ego cooperates in suspension of all sense impressions and thoughts, it enters the realm of empty, unnameable nothingness. This nothingness is the gateway into the deeper layers of consciousness. It is here where inspiration, knowledge and creativity will ultimately strike. While we are here, we do not decide what will be experienced but to allow whatever awareness it wants us to have.

When self is absent and thoughts negated, we are open to the unknown. Not only does the mind become utterly blank, but it loses the all encompassing idea of a personal ego. We are oblivious to all lower sensations and are instead awake to the rich, conscious and sublime nothingness. Since the capacity to remain in this state for more than a few minutes can impose a strain, the intellect or imagination rush in with ideas or images, thus ending the tension. With time and practice we can endure the weight of this indescribable and incomprehensible experience.

If we succeed in holding steadfastly to this nothingness in deep concentration or meditation, we realize that it is not a mere mental abstraction but something real, not a dream but the most concrete thing in our experience. The contrast between the personal and the impersonal melts away, and only the sense of Being remains — a Being that stretches far and wide, like the silent trance of infinite space.

Occupy Planet Earth: The Great Rising Up ~ Dr. Judith Rich

First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you
Then they fight you.
Then you win.
– Mahatma Gandhi

It’s time. One might even say it’s past time. One might even say it’s long overdue past time. But actually, the time is perfect. The time is ripe. The time is now.

Something’s happening and it’s happening everywhere at the same time. The people of Planet Earth are rising up. They’re rising up in over 1,500 cities in 82 countries so far. And the rising up has just begun. Something is definitely afoot.

People who are attuned to such things have known this was coming. The ancient Mayan calendar predicted a Great Shift, beginning on Dec. 21, 2012. We are barely a year away. People are hearing the call and the shifting has begun.

Humanity is rising up and throwing off the shackles of oppression, worn for millennia, across the ages, across the continents, across all cultures, races and religions. As in the words of Howard Beale, the enigmatic television anchorman portrayed by Peter Finch in the 1976 movie, Network, “we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

Peter Finch won a posthumous Academy Award for his role in the movie, which garnered a total of four Oscars in 1977. Here is an excerpt from one of the most famous scenes in the movie. It could have been written about what’s happening in the world today. Speaking is Finch’s character, Howard Beale:

“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV’s while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We know things are bad — worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’

Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot — I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad.

You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, Goddamn it! My life has VALUE!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’”

Humanity is mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!

We are witnessing the birth of a new paradigm for mankind, one that is a game-changer for the entire planet. What is unfolding before our very eyes, ears, hearts and minds, is the awakening of our collective consciousness. We are becoming aware, at a level as never before, of the one truth that connects us all.

Will this movement succeed when so many others that have come before it have failed? Only time will tell. But there has never been the kind of global participation in a single movement like what we’re seeing today. With 99 percent of humanity united in a single cause, can change be far behind?

The key word here is unity, for unity is the name of the game. This change is not about further dividing us between rich and poor, have and have nots. The change that is afoot is one that acknowledges a larger truth than the one under which we’ve lived throughout history. We are awakening to the truth of who we are as humans. The time is ripe for this awakening.

We are not separate. We recognize our true nature as that of oneness. We will no longer allow a system that divides and conquers. We will no longer support those systems which keep us in bondage, either physically or spiritually. Greed, corporate or otherwise, is not acceptable. Pillaging the planet is not acceptable. Bigotry, racism, sex trafficking, genital mutilation and other forms of inhumane treatment are not acceptable. Hunger and lack of clean drinking water are not acceptable.

We are all in this together and we know it. Through technology that connects us in real time all the time, the world has grown small enough for us to see one another in real time. When we saw the Egyptians throw off the oppressive Mubarak regime in Tarir Square last spring it was a win for humanity. That win ignited the hearts and minds of oppressed people throughout the Middle East, sending people to the streets throughout the Arab world, and the Arab Spring was born.

There are those who criticize the Occupy movement for not having a clearly stated agenda with specific outcomes, or any kind of visible leadership. But those who took to the streets of Berlin on the evening of Nov. 9, 1989, and began tearing down the Berlin Wall had no clear leadership either. There came a moment in time when a critical mass of people were all aligned in the same consciousness and the actions that unfolded in Berlin gave courage to thousands across Eastern Europe, who began tearing down the walls of tyranny within their own countries.

This movement is not about “them.” It’s about “us.” For “we” are all “them.” None of us wins unless all of us wins. It’s that simple. It’s that complex. There are those who already know this and they’re the ones in the streets.

But we can’t stop here. The 99 percent is incomplete. We must win the hearts and minds of the 1 percent who don’t yet get the message so 100 percent of humanity crosses the line together.

It will happen. Of this you can be sure. It’s only a matter of time.

What is arising in you in response to the Occupy Wall Street movement? Have you taken to the streets? What is your experience?

Deep Truth by Gregg Braden

Deep Truth reveals new discoveries that change the way we think about everything from our personal relationships to civilization itself. When the facts become clear, our choices become obvious.

The Crisis:
Best-selling author and visionary scientist Gregg Braden suggests that the hottest topics that divide us as families, cultures, and nations-seemingly disparate issues such as war, terrorism, abortion, genocide, poverty, economic collapse, climate change, and nuclear threats-are actually related. They all stem from a worldview based upon the false assumptions of an incomplete science.

The History:
The obsolete beliefs of our modern worldview have brought us to the brink of disaster and the loss of all that we cherish as a civilization. Our reluctance to accept new discoveries about our relationship to the earth, one another, and our ancient past keeps us locked into the thinking that has led to the crises threatening our lives today.

The Facts:
The scientific method allows for, and expects, new information to be revealed and assimilated into our existing beliefs. It’s the updating of scientific knowledge with the new facts from new discoveries that is the key to keeping science honest, current, and meaningful.
To continue teaching science that is not supported by the new discoveries-ones based upon accepted scientific methods-is not, in fact, scientific. But this is precisely what we see happening in traditional textbooks, classrooms, and mainstream media today.

The Opportunity:
Explore for yourself the discoveries that change 150 years of scientific beliefs, yet are still not reflected in mainstream thinking, including:
· Evidence of advanced, near-ice age civilizations
· The origin of, and reasons for, war in our ancient past, and why it may become obsolete in our time
· The false assumptions of human evolution and of the Darwinian theory “Let the strongest live and the weakest die” and how this plays out in corporations, societies, warfare, and civilization today

Deep Truth reveals new discoveries that change the way we think about everything from our personal relationships to civilization itself. When the facts become clear, our choices become obvious.

Deep Truth reveals new discoveries that change the way we think about everything from our personal relationships to civilization itself. When the facts become clear, our choices become obvious.

A Twittering of Consciousness, Part I & II by Matthew Gilbert

According to a recent Retrevo Gadgetology Report, almost half of social media users say they check Facebook or Twitter sometime during the night or when they first wake up. Nearly 50 percent of those under 25 don’t mind being interrupted by a text message during dinner. Celebrities Kim Kardashian and Soulja Boy make up to $10,000 for a sponsored tweet. At an estimated 50 million tweets a day and rising, there is significant upside! Are these the signs of a technology drawing us closer and closer together toward an experience of immediate and shared consciousness, or simply the extension of a fragmented collective psyche onto a wider and more visible stage?

Several colleagues of mine have written eloquently on how social technologies such as Twitter and Facebook are reflecting the inner realities of our essential spiritual natures. In a piece last year titled “The Spiritual Importance of Twitter,” Stephan Dinan wrote “I’m now convinced that Twitter is part of the spiritual evolution of our species. Its growth corresponds to the accelerating spread of a global consciousness, one in which …we are increasingly in touch with our sense of ‘oneness’ with others.” Steven Vedro, ruminating on his blog Digital Dharma about both the challenges and evolutionary engine of the Twitter-verse, believes that “the ‘ambient awareness’ that is emerging within Twitter circles can be extended beyond the subconscious knowledge of what one’s friends are up to into an actual mindfulness practice …and to something even more powerful: the ‘seeing-everything-all-at-once’ consciousness where one is a node on the network, and simultaneously the entire web itself.” (See also Vedro’s 2007 piece “Our Evolving Global Brain” from Shift magazine.)

Then there’s the viewpoint of the person who responded to Dinan’s article with, “When I start to read stories of how the advertising industry continues to work its way into all new realms of technology and social media…what I see is the dominant paradigm on a path of inexorable infiltration and take over…‘Be here now’ has been supplan