Image from Lucy's album
In Part 1, I talked about
·
Limited goals and their limited benefits
·
The limitless goal of Self-Knowledge and its
unlimited benefits
·
Our fundamental ignorance
· Our ignorance about the fact that we are
suffering using the analogy of drowning without knowing that we are drowning
but nevertheless suffering the effects of oxygen deprivation (in an email to my
mailing list). You can join my mailing
list here)
·
Intangibility, Ignorance and Delusion as our
lived experiences and as obstacles to doing what we know is good for us
In Part 2, I would like to explore how we might
realistically i.e. in do-able ways make the goal of Self-Knowledge a personal
and highly desirable goal for ourselves and how we might go about accomplishing
this goal.
I have often said, with equal humor and seriousness, that
the people who seek my services as a mentor are those who realize they have
suffered enough J
You see, so often it is only when we hit a crisis in life,
be it the dreaded C or the loss of a loved one or the breakup of a relationship
or the loss of a job or income or the loss of a purpose in life, that we are
motivated to take serious action.
Until then, when we hit the less extreme snags in life – the
daily irritations in our relationships, the bouts of illness, physical
discomfort or disabilities that we experience, the setbacks and disappointments
that we encounter as we determinedly pursue our limited goals, we are impelled
to seek limited, short-term ‘solutions’.
More often than not, these are not real solutions but
short-term fixes, band aids that deal with the EFFECTS/SYMPTOMS of our problems
rather than the CAUSES or should I say the singular CAUSE of our problems.
Yes, I say CAUSE because all our suffering, all our problems
are ultimately the result of the one cause, the mother of all apparent causes –
our fundamental ignorance of who we truly are, our lack of SELF-KNOWLEDGE!
It’s only when it finally dawns on us that these short-term
fixes do not prevent us from encountering the same sorts of problems again and
again, throwing us into yet another turmoil or frustration or disappointment or
crisis, that we consider the possibility of seeking a long term solution, a
REAL solution.
And in the seeking of that real solution, we come to
realize that there has only ever been
one problem – the lack of self-knowledge, the ignorance of who we truly
are, our ORIGINAL SIN if you like J
All other problems arise from this single, most fundamental
cause – our fundamental ignorance of who and what we truly are.
Now, I realize that such a statement demands elaboration and
explanation and if I were writing a book rather than a blog post, I would be
providing them. As it is, I am aware
that my posts are already too lengthy for our increasingly short attention spans
J.
However, I dare say that what I’ve written so far, in Part 1
as well as several of my other posts, should give you plenty to chew on. Certainly there are enough threads there to
tie into my assertion that all our problems arise from our fundamental
ignorance of who and what we truly are.
That said, perhaps it might help if I provided these key
threads in dot points:
·
The belief that we are limited beings isolated as individuals in our bags of skin is a
flawed belief
·
When, as science also shows us, we recognize the
fact that at the most basic, fundamental level of the material world, matter is in fact non-physical, existing
instead as waves of energy, then it becomes clear that the perceived boundaries between all objects, including people, are
only apparent, not real
·
In other words, the energy fields that permeate
and underlie all forms of physical and non-physical forms of existence are in
fact of the one continuous energy field
that some might describe as the Unified Field of consciousness
·
This makes the notions of duality and separation untenable
·
This reflects the notion of non-duality, of oneness, of the unified whole, of the
all-encompassing as a reality and a certainty rather than a mere
possibility
·
When we allow ourselves to enter into the
experience of non-duality, of oneness, which we can do during meditation (or in
some cases through ‘spontaneous’ realization), we will encounter this truth in a personal and irrefutable way
·
As we cultivate a deep, personal experience/knowledge
of oneness, of non-duality, of non-separation, we realize that the limited goal of self-protection which is
what preoccupies us all of our lives, is a disempowering goal because it
does not recognize the simple fact that what I do has an impact on all else,
whether (as I say in meditation practice) we see it or not, we know it or not,
we feel it directly or not
·
In other words, I am not an individual, separate being but an INTERDEPENDENT being
as the Buddhist teachings tell us or as the Buddhist monk and scholar, Thich Nhat
Hanh describes it, we are INTERBEINGS
·
I, like all other forms of material existence,
am and arise as a result of what is known in Buddhism as DEPENDENT ORIGINATION –
I arise and exist as the result of many
and various participatory elements such as the air, the cells of my body,
the union of my parents, the plants that provide oxygen and food, the people
that build the roads, houses and towns that I walk on and live in etc etc
·
When I have a deep and personal awareness of
myself as an interdependent being, then my tendency
to grasp at this thing called ‘I’, ‘Me’, and protect it over and above all else
as a result of its fears and aversions and indulge it in its ceaseless cravings
and attachments as a result of its limited view/belief of itself as ‘not enough’
or not ‘not good enough’ slowly begins
to dissolve
·
I begin to see others as very much a part of me, not separated from me and therefore a
possible threat to me (can you see the implications of this in your daily
relationships with your significant others as well as those people and things –
including your various ‘medical conditions’- that you have been conditioned to see as ‘other’,
as ‘not me’, as ‘threats’, as ‘dangerous’, as ‘evil’?)
Now, .as a result of reading Part 1, someone asked me:
If we do not protect ourselves, if we do not make it our
business to protect ourselves and those people and things and causes that we
care for, how are we expected to survive in this world?
An excellent question!
Here’s how I responded:
Firstly, how do you
feel when you are preoccupied with protecting yourself, your interests, your
causes, your possessions?
(By ‘protecting yourself’, I mean the things that you
typically do and acquire in order to safeguard your personal interests, eg your
job, your children, your career, your status in your family and community, your
possessions, your investments etc. In
other words, all the limited goals and their limited outcomes/benefits that you
pursue and achieve)
Do you feel
empowered? Free? Open?
Joyous? At peace? Inclusive?
Non-discriminating? If so, how long does this last? Is there a lingering fear that this is not going to be enough? That sooner or later, more will be expected of you, whether by yourself or others?
If you're not entirely satisfied or comforted or encouraged by your answers, then perhaps it would be useful to ask:
Well, what is the best alternative?
The best and most desirable alternative, I think you will
agree, is to be able to feel empowered, free, open, non-discriminatory,
peaceful, joyous, and inclusive.
So, what must we do?
Is it possible to achieve these states without having to
protect ourselves?
Well, I think you will see from all that’s been said so far
and from your own life experiences, that the limited goal of self-protection and
all its fleetingly glamorous and enticing by-products don’t provide lasting and
limitless benefits.
If we want lasting benefits, then we really need to keep
our eye, our mind and heart on the true, meaningful and limitless goal, the
goal of self-knowledge.
How?
How do you set about accomplishing any goal?
You give it a lot of thought, right? You spend as much time immersing yourself in
thoughts, ideas, things, people related to it, true? You imagine all the benefits you will gain by
accomplishing this goal and then you take whatever action you can in its
direction.
The goal of self-knowledge requires a similar approach with
far less effort! Yes, I know, sounds too
good to be true, doesn’t it?
The fact is, the harder you try, the less likely you are to
succeed. And the more preconceived ideas
you have about it, the more obstacles you place in the path of your goal. The key, therefore, is to immerse yourself in
the experience.
So, here’s what you
do:
·
You consider whether this is a
worthwhile goal
·
You read or learn and reflect as much as you can
about the benefits of such a goal and how these benefits come about
·
You read or learn and reflect as much as you can
about why the limited goal of self-protection can never give you the lasting
peace and joy and fulfillment that you so desire
·
You practice a little at a time allowing your
mind to settle, to return to its natural state of peace, joy, freedom,
limitlessness
·
You allow yourself to experience this natural,
clear water mind state more and more
·
You engage in daily life more and more from this
natural, clear water mind state
·
You experience for yourself the benefits of
doing this
·
You make this your default state of engagement
in lifeJ
The BEST ALTERNATIVE is to
·
Be fully present – which is your natural state
·
Act out of love, freedom, power, peace, joy and
limitless possibility – all qualities of your true nature
If this is not how you are living your life, then the
question to ask yourself is:
Do I want to?
And if you do, then you can and I have already pointed you
in the direction of how J
If you want it, everything is possible. Everything is within reach. Everything is doable.
If you want it J
