Category: Churnings or Realizations
Different consciousness
Every human being has a way of looking at things. That is what could be called their consciousness. When human beings decide to live together, then a collective consciousness arises.
That collective consciousness is a particular way to look at things. It is “their truth.” That is how “being right” or “being wrong” arises.
We only have perceptions and when we strongly believe in a perception, that becomes our reality.
For instance the Inca Empire had a particular belief system. They worshiped Nature and their God Wiracocha was a representation of Nature, especially related with the sea. Once the Spanish conquistadores assumed control of most of South America, then their collective belief system was imposed to the indigenous people due to a ‘religious purification policy’ ( Religious beliefs which in turn came from the Roman Empire) that was going on in Europe at that time, against Christian non-believers.
The queen Isabella from Spain, claimed the indigenous people as their subjects and that is how Christianity appeared in South America.
The above example is not meant to exemplify “good people” and “bad people,” because that does not exist. What exists however is fear to accept someone who is different. The Inca Empire was built by conquering and killing “others” as well. Many smaller cultures were wiped out by the Inca Empire.
Similarly, we have seen the same behavior portrayed by the “ great protagonists” of World History: Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, etc.
It is the belief of historians that those who have destroyed the most, should be remembered the most. 🙂
This is a clash of consciousness. Nevertheless, in such events what prevails is human brutality. The “change” of someone by the use of force.
That is the way people act even now. It is what is mildly called as “survival of the fittest.”
This is the culture of competition, the ‘winner’ mentality, the ‘cool’ but heartless fighter, the business deal with a kickback included, the “take care of number one” culture, etc.
As our awareness increases, then a sense of openness to other types of consciousness arises. That is not meant to “change you” but being open means to give yourself the opportunity to know and experience things which will be invaluable to understand “others,” by having a first hand experience.
Spirituality at this point in time, is about opening our consciousness from that individuality and rather than “tolerate others,” there is a sense of togetherness.
Reasons and logic do not change consciousness. Neither force or a belief in a particular God.
A logical and reasonable dishonest person could do harm when he only perceives “him” as being the world.
A brutal army can only kill to stop opposition when they perceive “them” as being the world.
A religion can become a tyranny once there is the perception of “them” being the only ones having the truth. The chosen ones.
However, those who have a violent life will experience a violent death.
That is the “law” in life. Not a human law.
As the consciousness of the human being remains unchanged, deeply settled into individuality and his own cultural beliefs, even though technology evolves, “progresses;” then that human being with an egocentrically babyish consciousness, will have the “toys” to continue his tantrum of destroying “obstacles” at a greater scale…until he realizes that the world is him.
Let us hope it is not too late.
Flying through Low self esteem
“Spiffy,” the hummingbird; was flying from flower to flower around the park where Mathias, the wise tree lives.
The hummingbird was very content, minding his own business in his flight around the park, when a crow stopped him.
“Hey hummingbird. You are always so busy moving from one flower to another. You don’t even know what is going on in the park. Look, there is more than flowers. Look at that white dove. Isn’t she beautiful?
Most birds would kill to be like her… Look at that Red Cardinal over there, that bird is 3 times your size and when he sings… oh boy! Everyone looks at him…
There you have “Champ” the dog. Never get close to him if you care for your life. He almost got me the other day when I was trying to get a piece of food from her owner, little Susie. As you can see there is more to life than jumping from flower to flower…”
Spiffy looked at the crow and flew away. A few minutes later, Spiffy started to think about the words of the crow.
Spiffy thought:” Why I am not as beautiful as the dove?, Why I am not as big as the Red Cardinal? I am not even able to sing … I must be a nobody in this park… I am so small that no one notices me except that dark crow. I think the crow is right. I am missing life. I need to be like those birds which everyone admires… Perhaps I should become fearless around “Champ.” I bet if I do that, everyone will respect me in the park.”
Spiffy was enjoying an empty mind, but took a belief from someone and made that belief his own twisted reality. Spiffy started comparing himself with others. Spiffy became unhappy for he wasn’t as good as he thought.
Spiffy developed an “inferiority complex.” When Spiffy was near the white dove; Spiffy became very shy and submissive. When Spiffy was near the Cardinal, Spiffy acted as if he didn’t hear his singing. Spiffy didn’t want to appreciate the melodious chirping of the Cardinal.
Spiffy became bothersome towards “Champ.” Spiffy would try to hit “Champ” in his head while other birds were around. In Spiffy’s mind, that activity was going to get him a “name” among his peers.
In the other birds’ minds; that was a very stupid action from Spiffy. Something that may cost him his own life. 🙂
“Champ” on the other hand, was amused by the little rascal bird. “Champ’s” owner little Susie, was laughing at that bird’s mood… and her laugh meant a lot for “Champ.”
Mathias, the wise tree, observed all of that and when Spiffy sat down on one of his branches, Mathias said to him:
“Spiffy, can’t you look at who you are?”
Spiffy responded: “ I am a small and ugly bird who is not afraid of dogs.”
Mathias said: “Is that who you are or what you believe to be?
Look at yourself in the mirror of relationships, then you will know.”
Spiffy didn’t know that all birds were amazed to see Spiffy flying. There was no bird around who could accomplish the acrobatic movements of Spiffy in the air.
If just one bird have had the initiative of telling Spiffy how marvelous his flight is… perhaps Spiffy could give himself the chance to take another look at himself…
Contradicting your own beliefs
Mathias was sharing with his friend Ananda, some deep aspects about the duality of life and “good and bad.”
Mathias: There is nothing, which is bad.
Ananda: Come on Mathias! what about a serial murderer, what about Hitler! Everyone knows that he has killed so many innocent people! He must be “evil.”
Mathias: Friend, in your religion; do you believe that you are an eternal being, a soul right?
Ananda: Right! We are eternal! I believe in that!
Mathias: Then how is it possible for Hitler to “kill” someone? In your religion you believe in the law of karma, right? Then, you know that everything is cause and effect. Wasn’t Hitler the effect of the cause? Would you ever experience something, which you do not deserve?
Friend, by calling some as “innocent” isn’t that contradicting your beliefs? And if you believe that everything is predestined, then how can you call something as “being bad” if that is the way it ought to be?
Ananda was speechless. But he wanted to test Mathias again, by playing “devil’s advocate.”
Ananda: OK. Mathias. I see your point. My belief is really contradicting itself when I label things as “good and bad.” But now… let us say that I am an atheist.
Mathias: That is another belief…
Ananda: But.. let us say that I do not believe in the afterlife or God or any of that. From my viewpoint, Hitler acted wrong. He murdered many. He caused suffering to many. He must be evil!
Mathias: In that belief when you die, everything is over. Isn’t that? Then, what difference does it make if you experience life 10 or 100 years? The end is the same. The more you live, the older you get with all the ailments of old age…to then finish in nothing…
Ananda: But the suffering that Hitler has caused to others…
Mathias: In that belief, for those people it was suffering. Yes. They experienced that in a random fashion. It was “their luck.” For Hitler it was necessary to do that, according to his beliefs. As you can see, there is always a clash between beliefs.
Ananda: But that is not fair!
Mathias: Then, change your beliefs again!
Ananda: Why is there suffering? Only because pleasure exists?
Mathias: It is growth. The consequence of previous deeds. That suffering purifies you if your consciousness is ready for a change, otherwise it is something not desired. It is what some call to “settle” your karma.
Is that settling of karma, “bad” then?
Ananda: But you can settle in other ways…
Mathias: Is that your new belief, my friend? Actions bring a consequence, which need to be experienced by the one who originated it. It is a full circle in life. That experience is not “bad,” it is necessary to grow.
When a baby is learning about life, his father will tell him: “Don’t put that in your mouth. It is bad.” The baby may think that the actual object is “bad,” and then “bad” will exist in the baby’s mind… Sometimes that belief will exist throughout his whole lifetime.
Rejection
We will be attracted to that which we reject. This is an interesting spiritual law that we could see it working all the time.
Attraction does not mean necessarily to become that which we reject, but to spend time, to become focus, centered in what we manifest rejection to. That issue, that item has the potential to get us out from our comfort zone. In extreme cases, when there is hate, that rejected item will enter someone’s being even to the point when that person could become that which he wholeheartedly rejects.
St. Paul persecuted Christians until he had “an experience,” which is when yin transforms into yang; that is when day changes into night; that is duality… when his hate changed into “love” for Christianity. Paul’s writings and understanding have become the basis of Christianity as a religion. We could say that it was “God who selected him,” but then you wonder if that same God will allow someone to persecute those who follow Him. Besides the point of belief and myth related with a particular religion, the point is that those who get to the extreme of the night, will experience day light. It is part of the experience of the world of duality.
The priest rejecting sex by talking “bad” about it, by labeling it as “dirty,” by frowning upon hearing the word “sex,” by getting into heated discussions about how “sinful,” it is… that priest has a pretty good chance to end up into what he rejects… It has happened.
When something bother us, when something takes us away from our “easy going” attitude, that something is being rejected, and because of that; that thing has power over us. It has the power to make us upset. The mind chooses, divides and selects that which is “good,” and that which is “bad” according to another idea: Call it “morality,” “tradition,” “idiosyncrasy,” “belief.” It is all the same thing.
A rejection creates an opinionated individual. Someone who is not open to listen, but rather someone who is already judgmental, closed minded. That which he rejects has an enormous power over him. It controls his life.
When the preacher says:” You have to defend the word of God. There are things that we have to be all for and other things that we have to be against….”
Being against means to reject. The idea that something is “good” and something else “bad” goes against the experiential understanding that everything is necessary as it is and as it happens. Thus, to believe in something to be “good” or “bad” is to deny the living truth of life itself.
All experiences of life. If there is the experience of our own eternity, as religions like to preach, what could be “bad” for an eternal being? 🙂
We could agree. We could disagree; but in those instances there is no rejection. Rejection is when the whole being is involved “against” something.
Our level of rejection will dictate our degree of involvement in some cause.
Note how the mind directs our feelings into something which is believed to be “good.” Note how our mind does not allow for our whole being to select its own path according to circumstances and timing. More importance is given to that which has been written long time ago by someone, something revered from time immemorial, that which conforms to traditional beliefs.
Any revolution is a form of rejection and when the mind believes that force must be used to make a change, then that force is brutal, merciless, without sentiment because the mind is directing the action and our feelings are left aside. That perceived change will not last.
So… how change is going to happen if there is no force behind it?
Day becomes night without help. Change will happen at the right time. The issue is that we are not looking into the common good and perceiving the wisdom of its own timing, but rather all we see is our own agenda.
Rising above muddy waters
A Lotus flower needs mud to live.
To say that a Lotus flower is “pure” because it rises over mud; is to forget that there is an interdependency between that flower and mud.
That beauty is there because of the existence of murkiness.
Similarly with human beings, we could concentrate on finding their darker side, their vices, and their impurities… completely overlooking the beauty of the lotus flower, which is beyond the existence of mud.
If we only look for mud around us, we will find it by overlooking the flower.
If we only look for a flower, we can easily overlook the mud.
That is our “choice” of vision in life.
Looking for the flower inside us opens the world of beauty, the world of appreciation. Why concentrate in our vices, our impurities when our vision could have the colors of beauty?
Spirituality is the search for inner grace and refinement. That charm in character. That alluring touch of class… A wholesome personality… blossoming beauty!
The above is not a religious pose, a “saintly” behavior or a well-trained monkey taught to smile to collect a few coins. When that inner beauty hasn’t been found, then fake responses will be in abundance.
We cannot fake the beauty of a flower, but we can hide it. We could unwillingly cover it up with the illusions of our own minds, ill spoken words or dishonest behavior. That is we could only see mud… and lose the flower.
The colors of a rainbow are fully appreciated after a heavy rain.
Greater amount of mud means, greater appreciation of the beauty of a Lotus flower.
Life will place people in different circumstances and in different roles. Those roles may be of a “hero,” or a “villain;” nevertheless, a flower remains a flower despite circumstances and roles.
A flower residing in mud, in pebbles and stones or in a forgotten pot in a far away corner… is still a flower.
The only difference is in self-recognition. Do I see myself as who I am; a flower, or I just “act,” as a flower? In that acting is how we easily become a weed and lose the flower.
Spiritual puppy treats
Mr. Religion:“God will punish you, if you do wrong”
Believer: What is to do wrong?
Mr. Religion: To hurt “others.”
Mr. Religion: You have free will, but not to do evil. Then, God will punish you for that.
Believer: How evil came into existence? 🙂
Mr. Religion: Simply because, “good” exists. Duality, right?
Believer: Right.
Believer: How “good” came into existence?
Mr. Religion: Well, we believe that God created it.
Believer: Ok. Then the problem is that God created evil as well…
Mr. Religion: No! That is not possible… It was the “devil.” 🙂
Believer: Who created the devil? 🙂 …
And then, we will go into the intricacies of an ideology, made to explain their own shortcomings… Mr. Religion will tighten up the threads of his creative ideology, by saying something like: “ You must believe if you want your soul to be saved. Otherwise, you will be in hell for eternity. You are warned.”
No questions about it.
Let us see another “puppy training session:”
Mr. Religion: “If you do that action, then the law of karma will appear and you will suffer the consequences.”
Believer: I don’t want for the law of karma to punish me. What should I do?
Mr. Religion: You should do “good actions.”
Believer: If I help my neighbor because I am afraid of the law of karma, but I really don’t want to do it; is that a good action or a bad action?
Mr. Religion: It is a good action, because you acted “good.”
Believer: Can I do “good” if I think “bad”?
Mr. Religion: Ehem…Just do what I tell you and you will always do good….
Many times a donkey needs a carrot to do some heavy task just as a puppy dog may need a biscuit to perform the trick of rolling around its belly.
In the religious world of beliefs, there is nothing more precious than “heaven” or “salvation.”
You should do things to please God…then, you will be rewarded with Heaven when you die.
You should follow these teachings then, you will be saved forever. You will be resurrected and then will enjoy the Godly “government” for eternity….
Now, the serious stuff… 🙂
How on Earth our inner sensibility to have empathy for humanity will be born? Isn’t the carrot or the doggy biscuit a “basic way” to “train” someone to act “good”?
Why do we need to be scared of “karma,” “hell” or “destruction” or “everlasting damnation” when there is goodness in our hearts? Isn’t that goodness what is necessary to emerge?
If you live, it is assured that you will die. Whether you have beliefs or not. If you ARE goodness “now,” what wrong could ever happen to you in your next life?
Don’t you wonder if your “transaction with God,” of getting heaven in exchange of “doing” things, is truly making you “good”? Or is it just a “new” trick that we have learned?
The puppy dog will not roll on its belly unless there is a biscuit. Isn’t that the level of our spirituality? Anyone looking for a biscuit? 🙂
Believe it or not; there are many human beings looking for that “biscuit.” Their sensibility to beauty has been shutdown. Fear is the language to understand along with “life insurance in the afterlife,” to be “someone” in the afterlife, it is all some can understand.
To take a puppy dog to watch a beautiful sunset to awaken its sensibility to beauty will not work. A puppy dog needs biscuits, treats… just like many human beings who cannot understand that we live in connection with everything existing, not only “now,” but there are threads with our past and the future as well.
If we are able to see “that reality,” goodness should flow as an automatic response of being in continuous relationship. What you “do” to “another” you do it to yourself. In that consciousness, we could live fear free… No biscuits needed. 🙂
If the child does not listen, then punish him!
In order to shape up a child, society has adopted a way to get the little rascals to behave; that is the world of punishment.
Punishment occurs in many creative ways: From a very savage slap in the face or some physical aggression to some sort of “judgment,” where the judge selects the rules of the game and the “consequences” for following the rules in a “numberwise” manner.
“If you do this, then this thing will happen to you.”
Similarly in a monotheistic view or religion, “ Big Daddy” will name the rules of the game, then automatically; punishment will be created for not everyone will follow the rules in the same manner. That is the trick.
However, to make sure that the ideal “big child” follows the rules completely; punishment and reward has to be long lasting to be worthwhile. To be remembered.
Welcome to the word “eternity.”
If punished, it has to be eternal. But to get eternal reward, you better follow everything to the dot.
Stories may be told as well: “Eat your broccoli completely, if you want ice cream afterwards.” Never mind if there is no place in your stomach to eat ice cream afterwards.
That is the Godly trick. 🙂
“If you don’t eat your broccoli then, the cookie monster will come at night and will change you into an ugly frog.”
In the “big child” world that is translated into an “ugly sinner,” “the lowest of the lowest.” The ones who were born only by “mistake,” for should have been better not to be born rather than pay with their lives with the steep price tag of “eternal damnation.”
As it has been and still is, fear is a very powerful incentive.
Nevertheless, in the world of religious beliefs, there is a tendency for those beliefs to collapse due to the inborn contradiction among those beliefs.
Contradiction does not mean that a belief is wrong. It just means; that it is not totally accurate in the way it was explained.
How is this?
Life is non dualistic. It is one thing, a continuous perceived as several things. Our perception is dualistic. That perception is represented by the use of our language. Language is dualistic by nature, because it reflects our dualistic perception.
It is impossible to explain accurately something which is non-dualistic through dualistic words.
Please remember the above when there is a fight about “who has the truth.” All there is….an interpretation.
Nevertheless, when someone joins a religious group; a dogma is needed for all, to accept something literally, which by nature cannot be put into words. See the issue?
Ladies and gentlemen, if we could understand the above, we will be able to see the limitations of language and therefore of logic and reasoning which is based on….language. 🙂
Paraphrasing Galileo: “Give me any belief system and I will find a contradiction within that belief system.”
The above is not for “big children.” The above is not for apologists of logic and reason.
When a child is unable to grasp the common good, that child will need boundaries of “good and evil” to behave.
When a child is unable to perceive oneness, that child will need a hierarchical figure to depend on for instructions.
When a child is self absorbed, that child needs rewards and punishment to shape up, for otherwise; that self absorption will eventually destroy him.
That is why spiritual teachings are not the same for everyone. They are given according to consciousness.
That consciousness is not related with intellectual understanding; as a matter of fact; that type of understanding is the furthest away from spiritual realization. Nevertheless, that is the type of language used by the “authorities,” “learned individuals,” the “intelligent people.” 🙂
That is the irony.
Exploring the Depth of Living 