Align the heart and brain with the stoked fire of a slow and deep breath to produce the "golden elixir" (the harmony of compassion and wisdom). Take this daily with a healthy lifestyle, then go into nature and observe externally and internally. Cling to nothing, and it will all be you(rs).
Lost in a city of selves
Mountains beckon the day’s fading moments
Waiting for someone to find themselves as lost as their dreams
Yet catch glimpses beneath the rocks
Among the trees
Within the field
And between the air we breathe
Divinity reflecting self reflecting divinity…
Hold not to these waking moments
For how quickly they fade into the shadow’s shade
Back into dream on a pulse or breath
Under dark cover of night’s midday
It seems so many philosophers are using philosophy for an end, and not a mean. Instead of using philosophy to tie our minds down to this seemingly material substance called “reality”, perhaps we should use our minds to ensure that philosophy keeps us hardly tied to the idea of it –if at all. If this idea has any truth -or even if it does not- it should not only be the end of this misuse of philosophical contemplation, but perhaps it could also be only the realization of an endless reality of pure potentiality.
Keep a single strand attached,
The world comes crashing down.
Let your mind be free as the wind
So that it may blow you away.
Aside from the positive effects of meditation found by psychological studies (improved memory, relaxation, lowered anxiety, better sleep, etc.) here is a reasoning that provides a more immediate (and infinite) reason for this ancient practice:
When we are in mental and physical motion our consciousness is bound by the limitations of the mental and physical reality it functions in. Though these processes are experienced internally and externally, they both still reflect the limitations of the perceived external reality. Only when the mind and body are stilled and quieted may our attention turn to focus inward more deeply than in our immediate understanding or feelings of things. Here our consciousness may flourish without the boundaries of physical or mental constructs. By gazing into the self with a fearless observation and an honest, non-judgmental acceptance we may see right through the self to transcend the ego. Here the consciousness may rest at peace with all that is or drift as freely as the ever-changing wind in a timeless, limitless existence.
Religion is like a shallow pond of water. When observed externally, we see straight through to the bottom. We also see our own image reflected back at us. However, when we get in ripples and sediments distort and cloud our perception, the warm, comforting waters make the outside air seem cold and harsh, and we are nipped at by hungry fish and fishers alike.
It could be said that I practice Zen, but then it would not be zen.
It could be said that I live in the consciousness of Christ, but then it would not be His.
It could be said that my heart beats with the compassion of Buddha, but then it would not bleed.
It could be said that I see through the eyes of the wise, but then we would both be blind.
It could be said that I dwell in the kingdom of God, but God would not be king, and I would be but a literate serf.
In projecting the image of the self into that which is indefinite and unknowable (as some religious ideas often do in their attempt to understand), the indefinite and unknowable are nearly directly imposed onto the self in reciprocity. This results in people feeling uncertain about their self-concept and might keep them coming to those religious ideas for guidance. However, within the indefinite and unknowable is the possibility of infinity, wonder, and awe - all of which are readily available to one who fearlessly journeys inward for their source of wisdom instead of outward for sources of knowledge.
To see the world, the self must first be seen. To change the world, the self must first be changed.
We adapt to our surroundings, and our surroundings adapt to us - this is the divine work of which we are made.
Golden light of moments past wake and warm this room.
Stir the stale and stagnant air with windy waves of cool.
Shine upon each flower bloom until our petals fall,
then hide and kill, decay and rot, sweet seasons cyclical.
Least be windows open seal to let in bright lit way.
The womb of birth tomorrow is the dirt of death today.
Just as aspects of physical wellbeing can affect psychological wellbeing and vice versa, so too can aspects of spiritual wellbeing have this type of relationship with both immunological systems so long as one is aware of their higher self, or non-self as such. Awareness of such a pattern opens the possibility for someone, who before may have not been in a conscious mindset that was ready for spiritual/religiosity, to have reason for “soul searching.” There many paths, but they are really all one. Ultimately it leads to nothing - and everything.
Science has proven that how we physically and mentally condition our reality is ingrained into our brains in neurological networks of very small connections – always adapting and changing according to our understanding of reality. Not only that, theories suggest this might be why it is hard to physically and mentally break habits. However, infinity awaits one who opens their mind and body to a limitless spiritual path including change in how people understand physical and psychological wellbeing.
Denounce the very things that define you. Start small and personal, then grow bigger. Do not visualize, but feel your understanding of “self” grow smaller and smaller and everything else around it growing larger and larger until there is only everything. As one with everything, denounce this too as it is yet another definition, or limitation of the self. As no-thing, denounce this too. Make this practice a mantra.
"How am I not myself?
I am not my clothes.
I am not the rooms I live in.
I am not my grades or job.
I am not my wallet or car.
I am not my religion or knowledge.
I am not the country I live in.
I am not the life I live.
I am not the air I breathe or the water that consumes me.
I am not anyone’s reality.
I am not a world at war.
I am not here anymore.
As one now with everything, I am not that either.
That which is not, I am not that either."
Surely that which you denounce is waiting as soon as you look back for it. However, if one personally feels comfortable and free not to be, it could help to feel that way about being.
A beating heart, a breath of air, and consciousness itself are all spiritual experiences should one chose to be aware of them as such. Existence is the expression of divinity. Love is the medium. Ageless is the art. One are the artist, the act of creation, and the masterpiece. Meaningless are the words.
I considered myself an atheist for a good part of my adolescence. In turning away from the seemingly ignorant, contrived, and often condescending religious practices I grew up around, I found many of the same aspects in my atheist peers and interactions. Often it seems that people are atheist in opposition to one particular religion or another. Personally, I would rather feel for something than against something else. Also, many atheists are such because of facts in stead of personal feeling. This tends to give their arguments and attitudes towards divinity a negative tone, and can be just as condescending as some religious zealots. Many atheists’ similar rebelliously formed systematic debunking and negative opposing method of reasoning even seems like a new brand of disorganized anti-religion. Needless to say, I was open to new ideas as I usually do not agree 100% with those ideas of atheists or how they present what proof of reality they can conjure up. While most atheists are simply against deities, it does not seem like many atheists speak positively about any hint of spirituality at all.
The threads of reality are all loosely woven together in this fabric of existence. If only man could grab at it, one might see right through its intricate design by pulling hard enough at its mind-made boundaries. Howerver, with the proper point of view one could transcend the paper-thin veil as easily as wind by observing both the interconnections between each thread and the empty spaces encompassing them all.
When facing a current one must move with it. We are but waves in an ocean of possibilities being swept around by currents of consciousness. As a humble part of a bigger ocean, the smallest ripple has the potential to produce a tsunami. As a unified body of water, the treasures of the sea lie under the surface of each and every wave. Away with your anchors!
Enlightenment, then, is neither the shore to be sought, nor a treasure to be found. Instead, is the drifting struggle of the ever-undulating wave. It is the constant journey with the conscious currents and lighthouses of truth marking the shorelines of reality with splashing walls and piles of existential foam. It is the gentle wax and wane of each tide dancing with the moon. It is the beginningless, endless hydrological cycle of constant renewal that takes place on every level of our immediate environment. It is the mystical structural properties of every molecule of water necessary for all life.
Through blindness comes the insight to know what needs to be done, how to do it, and that one has the capacity to.
Through hatred comes the compassion to help others do the same.
Through ignorance comes the understanding to know when others don’t want help.
Through action comes the inaction when it is so.
Through weakness comes the strength to let all go to ruin.
Through doubt comes the faith that everything falls perfectly into place.
Man can locate neither the infinite, nor his own consciousness so long as he understands them as two. In defining them both we construct impermanent masks of perceptions and words behind which we only hide ourselves.
My incense would not burn.
Expecting it to teach me a lesson of impermanence,
The purposeless fragrant stick
Teaches the same lesson as the drifted smoke.
History that is ignored (making it useless) ironically has a tendency to repeat itself. Computer programmers would call this unwanted repetition of an action a ‘loop’ causing a system to malfunction. Eventually, if the loop cannot be broken, the whole system is likely to crash. Humans often get themselves stuck in similar individualistic loops with harmful addictions by ignoring or not accepting evidence about the nature of humans, a given substance, circumstance, or behavior.
Knowledge of the past and present are useless if they are ignored, misconstrued, or misunderstood. Herein lies a major problem with subjective reality. Consciousness is simply a state of physical existence until perceptions and judgments are formed and clung to – then it becomes “reality”. All perceptions and judgments are products of the mind. Only when an experience can be accepted and classified is the experience considered “real”. When humans can agree on what is “real” it becomes “truth”. Intrinsically, by accepting the classification of what is “real” and “unreal”, “true” and “untrue”, humans’ system of consciousness becomes based off of what has already been established and set in stone. If reality is actually objective (a paradigm through which humans usually cannot perceive – only god) then there is no “ultimate truth” through which all that is real is based; at least not without there being some “ultimate lie” through which it is experienced.
Is the Earth flat? It sure was for a long time until humans detached from their firm belief that it was and opened their minds to other possibilities. How many planets are in our solar system again? Is the physical reality which humans have perceived, classified, and accepted all that really exists? Every text that contains a shred of religious or spiritual ideology suggests that there is indeed much more to reality than this physical domain of atoms and laws. Unfortunately, by attaching entirely to one philosophy it can become impossible for humans to open their minds to even fathom other possibilities of reality.
The progress of civilization is currently causing a great amount of global, economical, spiritual, and sustentative pressure. The problems of the individual are quickly becoming the problems of all as diseases grow with population, economies and communities struggle with war and power expression and protection, and, however speculatively, the popular means of production and transportation considerably affect the atmosphere.
Now it is time for a new paradigm through which to experience. Hopefully, the current major shift in consciousness is one of peace, understanding, and compassion. If humans collectively awaken to their own warped interpretations of reality and find the courage to exist without entirely clinging to any single idea, we may find a new understanding open to limitless possibilities. Science is fortunately even starting to catch up to the exponentially urgent need for new possibilities of an infinitely limitless reality beyond the boundaries of this physical existence.
It is not a question of whether or not the human species can avoid their own self-destruction until this shift in consciousness can effectively secure the path. Instead, it is a matter of self-actualization in this very moment. Let inevitable change manifest from the self. Let the self manifest from the inevitable change.
Picture Earth with no humans. What is "evil"? Where is "bad"? Everything just is. This fact does not change when people are added to the picture. Many seem to project and attach to such notions with their minds, though. In fact, many people project and attach to myriad things with their minds including conceptions of themselves (ego) and the mind itself.
Luckily, the cause of
and solution to
all
that the mind projections
lies within us all.
If we can calm, quiet, and still the wild mind,
to look within ourselves,
observe, and focus simply on being
(as everything else does)
no thoughts, conflict, or mind
can distract the essence of life
(consciousness)
from existing as pure manifestation
of that which comes naturally...
Observer, observed, and the act of observation
become a singular, selfless existence.
The Buddha stands at a local bus stop.
An old woman beside him waits to use the cross walk
while eating butterscotch candies.
She extends her hand to offer a morsel.
Buddha reaches for the yellow plastic-wrapped treat,
but she kicks him into the road just as the bus arrives.
Now, with no ticket, no candy, and no handrails,
the bus starts moving her,
and the Buddha drives the bus away.
Little pebble on the sand,
From whence did thy come?
Earthy womb with heart in hand,
& spat out river’s tongue.
Little pebble I now hold,
How did thy come to be?
Once hot sediments now cold
Take form to make me.
Little pebble in the wall
What feat has thou to see?
The greatest training of them all:
How to sit & be.
Little pebble crush and crumble,
Why does thy constant change?
To feel mother’s crash and rumble,
Know of mortal’s remain.
Little pebble cast away,
Where does thou then go?
Back to night no more t’day.
Thy essence immortal
