Tagged: balance
The static mind took over the driving seat
To be in balance, to harmonize is a more mature way of living than just doing what we think is “right.”
Nature is in balance. That is the way Life moves. Every energy has a reason to be, it has a mission to fulfill.
Our conditioning does not allow us to see that. The mentality of conquering and rejecting what is perceived to be “wrong,” “bad,” “impure,” etc. is prevalent. We are trapped in dualities.
Isn’t Summer the opposite of Winter? Between those 2 apparent opposites, lies a range of experiences, which we label as Spring and Fall. Labels are there so we can understand through language, what we are referring to. A concept is “static” thus, it is not “real,” for Life is movement. Our minds like static things for they bring identity. “I” am static. “I” can be defined. “I” am separate from Life.
In Nature, nothing remains the same. Thus, to constantly harmonize with changes is very important to be in balance with the Totality.
“Harmony” cannot be put into a commandment. Cannot be put into a “You shall not DO this or that.” That is the ethical loophole.
“Static” things, ideals and ideas create illusionary comfort. We were taught to make sense of Life based on human conditioning.That is our yardstick for “truth.”
We do not breath. Breathing happens to us. We do not digest our meals. That happens to us. Our heart beats without our will to do it. Thoughts come and go through our minds like a swarm of mosquitoes… without OUR control. We ask, where is the source powering ME, making all of that happen?
That “ME” is messing up the question. Observe that “ME” is not separated from everything else. The distinction of ME is only intellectual, practical, to fit into our human made world and language. At what point in our Life cycle, is there a static ME? The mind has a “static” picture, it has memories to hide the “reality” of change. There is no “Me,” but when there is, then there is death.
Death is “bad.” Humans continually lose the “battle” with it. Then someone says: “Death is natural. If you live, you will die.” Very clever. Logical, sound premise. However, most humans will not accept it. Their consciousness is not there.
Why?
There is a huge experience of a “ME.” It is undeniable even though, we try to cover it with intellectual stuff or religious “afterlife insurance.” (a.k.a “salvation.”)
That consciousness will bring certain experiences: Fear, anxiety, stress, guilt…
Trapped in our conditioning, we dream into “getting” a different consciousness.
We want to make sense of Life by following ideas of our systems and methodologies which support the understanding of a conditioned mind.
Life is not meant so we can “make sense” out of it. That is intellectual, that is our conditioning. Life is meant to be lived, experienced. That experience cannot be shared as a “truth” to follow, as a “standard” for all, so we dismiss it. We want our conditioning, what we think is “right.”
To try to find the “purpose of Life” will show us that our mind has taken over the “driver seat.”
But…there is no need for a driver. 🙂
Fear is the disease and the medicine.
Swimming naked in the Ocean was the cure, from the fear of being naked.
Fear is the demon. The saviors are not “out there” but inside that fear.
Is fear “bad”?
It is ironic how that which will help us to be free, is considered “bad” and because of that rejected.
There is no need to conquer fear. There is no “I” able to do that, for fear is not something that could be conquered.
We feel fear, we acknowledge it, we observe it, we become aware of it, fully, without hesitations and without beliefs of what it should be.
“It should be love.”
That rejection will not allow us to become aware of what is.
The same principle, which I’d like to call inner honesty, is very important to be at ease, for without acknowledging “what is” there is no way to be open to what “could be.”
In another consciousness, “spirituality” has nothing to do with spirits, nothing to do with the after life, nor with God and the Devil.
“Spirituality” is about living Life in joy, “now.”
Heaven is “now.” You are “now.”
No worship needed, no religious hierarchies, nor dogmas to believe in. It is the search for Oneness without striving for it, without doing things or practicing things to “accomplish“ that. It is a process, which already has its own destination, ready to be unfolded as the path narrows down into oblivion.
It is truly the encounter of that which we call “self” into its seldom-walked path, called “no-self.”
As we become closer to the reality of “lack of I-ness” there will be acceptance, openness, love and joy without someone, the “I,” trying to “make effort,” to “work on virtues” such as being loving, detached, tolerant, and all of those meaningless words; those ideals which are only existent in the mind of those who are filled with concepts, analysis and beliefs. A word is meaningful for them, but a definition is not the thing. It cannot be.
“Spirituality” is openness of feelings, the heart, consciousness…awareness.
It is at that point, when we could truly appreciate Nature, which is Life in its “natural” way.
As that appreciation increases, oneness with all there is, will no longer be a “concept,” but it will be truly felt, truly experienced and with that knowing, any sort of intellectual knowledge will be completely discarded as superfluous and even limiting.
The concert of Nature, the ever playing sounds of that orchestra, is an exquisite healing experience, irreplaceable, unique and beneficial for all beings.
The common good.
There is no church, temple or worship place capable of coming close to Nature’s beauty.
There is no meditation room able to bring completeness, fulfillment and peace without having a purpose in mind: The “I am meditating because I want this other thing to happen to me.”
There is no symphony of human instruments capable of bringing the spirit of “non-being” completely alive, as a gift to humanity. Nature is the perfect teacher without words.
Every bird, every element of Nature merely acts as it should, without looking into becoming the “star” of the show, or the creator of the melody. No one asks for credit.
There are no directors nor composers, no gurus or clergy to follow, no hierarchy. It is only Oneness without a name, without a title for that playing song of the “now.”
Those who are capable of observing the silent teachings of Nature, are able to follow its rhythms, pace, movements and understand that the intelligence behind it has no name; for every single species, every single being makes up everything there is.
Most humans are concerned with names, labels and limiting definitions; which do not allow an experience of what is, but just a description of what “should be” according to someone. In that world, to follow is a necessity.
When a human being learns to be in communion with “what is,” then there is no need to find anything outside himself…. Not because there is self-absorption, a “me” to feed; but because there is no-self.
Paradoxically, no-self means the capacity to be everything.
It is at that point when we could realize that there was no time when the “outside” was different than the “inside.”
We cannot be separated from Nature. That is our “nature,” the human nature. What comes after that experience cannot be manipulated. A human being needs to have the experience of a human being while being a human being.
As societies and religious groups are interested in changing man into something else, whether an angel, a saint or even a murderer and a corrupt being; the process of taking man away from mother Nature, is unavoidable.
When man loses his roots, man loses his sense of belonging. Then it is an “I” against another and the belief to be “right” will appear supported by the righteousness of Gods and Devils, which are residing in a fearful out of balance mind.
Fear will take us away from Nature. Going back to Nature is the medicine for the mind and the heart.
Life, Religion and Spirituality
As humans continue to mentally divide things and conceptualize things, then complications arise in our perception of Life.
Religion and Spirituality are concepts created by human minds. Those concepts do not exist, just as when we say: “He is German.”
Humans have made up those concepts. Yes, they have utility. Yes, they are necessary to live in our current society; however, those labels are merely a conduit for separation: German vs. Non-German.
We could continue that separation which will bring antagonism at one point in time. Humans are unable to live life without conceptualizing things, separating things when there is no separation.
“So… What is the problem with that?”
Evidently we BELIEVE that there is a separation, which is supported by those labels. The extreme of that belief is to kill someone just to defend a label.
Want to take your life away just to defend “your” flag from getting in the hands of your “enemies”?
If you do that, as a reward you will be called a “hero,” your picture will be posted in different places and perhaps remembered by your peeps for one day in a year.
But you will be dead. What a deal!
Some call that to be “immortal.”
That is the power of labels.
Do we see that?
Is the solution to stop labeling? 🙂 Are labels “bad”?
If you say yes; you are still in the “black or white” mentality.
By all means label, use words; BUT watch out for the feelings behind them. What do you feel when you use a particular label?
That is it. We are on the same page now.
The same holds true for the concepts “Religion,” and “Spirituality.”
We could write anything we want about those concepts. Even perhaps go for “Spirituality” as being “better than” Religion.
There is no point in that. Both are just labels.
Do you want to be labeled as Democrat? Or Republican? Do we want to write a dissertation about which concept is “better”? or more convenient? Or holier than thou?
That is a nonsensical game. Once we BELIEVE that game to be true, then our consciousness will act based on that belief.
To be awakened, aware means to realize that those labels are only material for separation when there is none.
There is just Life.
To be able to look at Life with wholesomeness, we need to integrate all the different pieces together, the different “isms” which believe to be “better than”, or the “truth.”
To go beyond the label is the first step to perceive something different.
Religions, spirituality, dogmas, beliefs, worship, top down hierarchy, rewards, afterlife, punishment, guilt, fear, shame, self righteousness, commandments, morality, codes, rigidity, power, etc.
All of those words go together in the same bag of goodies. Some call that bag as “religion,” others “spirituality,” yet others “government” and even society.
Life. That is all. That is the “Now.” Your experience in this moment without labeling it. Your continuous balancing act to glide in Life, as a Pelican glides in the sky. Aware of your feelings at every moment.
If a Pelican had beliefs, perhaps a pelican wouldn’t be able to dive into the Ocean to eat; for Pelicans are only “supposed to fly.”
That is how some experience Life.
A Pelican: The Guru of balance
Ananda enjoys going for a bike ride early in the morning by the Bay, as the birds awaken the daydreamers with their melodious self-made music.
Going out on a ride will be followed by coming back. That is self-evident. However, what happens in between is part of the newness that Life brings at every moment.
Ananda was riding his bike with the wind. Coming back, he was riding against the wind.
Both are experiences in Life, the completion of both experiences is what brings “insight” as “knowing” but never as the ultimate “truth for everyone” to follow. Everyone needs to ride their own bike and their experience may be different.
On the way out, it was an effortless ride. Although, it felt hot as the temperature went up. On the way back, it was an effort to pedal, but it was cooler and breezy.
Just like Life.
Today your grass may be greener but tomorrow it will not.
Both experiences are just that, experiences which in “reality” are just “One” experience. Going out and coming back is the trip of Life.
Ananda hasn’t said anything extraordinaire up to this point, but he had…. 🙂
“Going out was so easy. I was sweating like a pig, but it was nothing…. but, coming back… that was cruel man! I wanted to quit!”
Sounds familiar?
It is called comparison.
Judgment is included in that as well as a teaching for humanity, that is …everyone else:
“Do not ride against the wind.”
Ananda stopped by the beach to go for a swim. He observed a pelican teaching him what balance is all about: There is a time for gliding and another for flapping. That harmonious combination gives that gracefulness in flying. Funny, the pelican didn’t say a word of wisdom in its teaching.
I could hear some human teachings:
“Don’t be lazy. Make effort all the time. Flap your wings until there is nothing left. Go against the wind or with it. It does not matter. If you look tired is not “good.” Always have a smiling face.”
Or
“Don’t do a thing, man. Let everyone else do it for you. You need to learn how to use people to your advantage. There is always a sucker out there…”
The “black or white” mentality.
The pelican kept flying. You couldn’t see a smile in its face, but a sense of elegance, distinction and confidence.
The pelican does not know what those words; elegance, distinction and confidence mean. The pelican “is” all of that without knowing. Isn’t that paradoxical?
Shall we teach a monkey to “become that”?
If the monkey could observe. If the monkey could know by experience what harmony is, then perhaps the monkey will be ready to learn.
What about if we take the monkey to a school to learn all those things?
Information is not the “thing.”
“Scientific research has proven that 20% of white adult males between the ages of 30 and 45 years will not complain when riding against the wind. That is when riding on a wind of 8 mph coming from the East in a fairly cloudy day with 90% humidity.”
Now you “know.” Your experience may be different but a researcher knows best. 🙂
In Life, we will go out just to come back. If our mind rejects one side of the trip, we have created a duality.
“Going out is better. Always select it. It is heaven. God will be with you.”
For those experiencing coming back in their trip of Life there is “hope:”
“That suffering in pedaling will have a reward in heaven. Don’t stop. Keep moving until you cannot pedal an inch.”
Observe. Be in tune with those who are less intelligent than you. Those who have fewer degrees than you, those who do not have God in their side… those who do not think but who feel Life at every moment, that is those who “live in the now,” without knowing what in the heck that is.
A teacher appears everyday in Nature. When the student is ready to observe, the teacher appears.
How do you recognize the teacher?
There will not be any teachings for you.
Seeing the words in the self
As our culture has become cluttered with intellectual information, most individuals believe that a “spiritual concept” is to be understood intellectually.
Nothing further from the truth.
Let me give an example.
Sadness. How could we explain what sadness is to a person? Most people have experienced sadness so it does not matter how I define it, there will be an understanding.
Let us pretend that we don’t know what sadness is.
We want to “explain” sadness to little Jimmy. Then, we throw the dictionary blurb at him:
“Sadness is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, helplessness and sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw themselves from others.”
Obviously the words above do not make any sense to little Jimmy, as he has to look up in the dictionary for every word used in the definition. Only that which he has experienced, he will recognize.
Now, try explaining detachment, love, soul consciousness, totality, peace, emptiness to little Jimmy… 🙂
That is why a Ph.D type of dissertation about sadness will not do a thing as far as “inner understanding.” It may be a source of great information with the latest research on sadness but that is about it. Intellectual information.
On the other hand, if “Know-it” the poet; explains sadness to little Jimmy, he will give an analogy.
“Sadness is like being in a bright day, full of sunshine…and deciding to turn your head back, towards your own shadow.
To experience sadness there has to be “someone” (ego) because like a tree facing the sun, that “someone” has its own shadow. Then, there has to be the disposition to look back, to turn the head around away from the light.”
If little Jimmy had the experience of his own shadow and a bright day, he will have an idea of what sadness is. That idea becomes the experience once he experiences sadness for himself. At that point little Jimmy will be sadness. To know is to be.
This is why spirituality is more in tune with poetry than research. It is more in tune with feelings than thinking.
How could you explain the notion of being in control but at the same time, being harmonious?
There are many words used: To be focused. To concentrate on something, etc. Those words bring more definitions but never the idea…
Have you seen the 800 meter champ, David Rudisha from Kenia; run a race?
It seems effortless movement. Balanced. Harmonious and yet fast and powerful. Rudisha maintains his poise, his form even while breaking the world record.
The 800 meters is one of the most “painful” events in track and field, but he is able to keep his poise from beginning to end.
Here the video:
Now, if we are able to “understand” that harmonious control by seeing the example, we could use that in our everyday movements. We could even exercise while keeping that harmonious balance.
Form, style, balance. That is an art in itself.
In Spirituality, we mirror beauty. Every aspect that we could be aware of is an opportunity to “be it” again. It is a matter of recognition.
That is how we “learn.” We just recognize it, if our awareness is “on.” Otherwise, we could be lost in the world of definitions, concepts and logic, the world of meaningless words.
Lessons from the animal kingdom
In my walk around the Bay, a medium-sized bird jumped in the grassy area in front of me. The bird had a long beak and a small body. Don’t know the name of that bird (I didn’t ask the bird 🙂 ) After looking carefully at the bird, I saw that a small crab was in its beak.
The bird was trying to digest the crab and the crab was trying to run away.
The bird would drop the crab and peck the crab to break it apart so it could be eaten.
Despite the scene, it was an interesting time to observe myself. Thoughts were coming about “saving the crab” from the “evil” bird…but then, another thought came up about the bird needing to eat something to survive.
Animals do not kill for the “fun of it,” or because they need to make “more money,” that is human beings. Animals kill when they need to eat.
The word “kill” for some animals is the equivalent of “eating dinner” by a human being.
Then, my mind was divided. The more knowledge or information I have about things, then to “understand” the ways of Nature could be very challenging.
I dropped my thoughts altogether and merely observed without emitting judgment, without emitting human morality to understand things, just looking at the scene.
It was part of the experience of liberating myself from my own mind and from all what I had learned in the past.
Then, I wondered where those moral ideals came from? I remembered curious Billy in the Disney channel, saving his “cute” lab rat from being eaten by the “evil” snake dwelling in a crystal box inside the cold science classroom. I bet the snake doesn’t want to be there….
That snake eats lab rats to survive… but not curious Billy’s rodent! That Billy is a hero! 🙂
Forget about other rats…but Billy’s is out of the question. We don’t want to see Billy with a sad face. That wouldn’t be a “happy end” for a Disney program!
Interesting maneuver to manipulate moral standards…. But for the masses, we should save “cute” animals from evil predators, especially if they are “ours.”
I guess I did not feel that the little crab was “mine,” for otherwise the “morality” of “mine” could have attempted to save that crab…
It comes down to our sense of belonging, of possessing. That creates our morality. Take a look at any commandment; any rule. There is this sense of possession, which becomes important to “protect.”
It is my religion, my country, my family, my…that is what is important. Those things are “mine.” I have some interest over them, I posses them.
Morality is an attempt to protect what is “mine” from what is “yours.”
The interesting thing is that all of those teachings, which we have learned, only exist at the mental level. Those are human inventions, which do not fit the way “real life” works, that is Nature. Similarly, religious beliefs or any belief are only living at the mental level.
In Nature, there is balance. Predators are in balance with other species. It is only when a thinking human being enters into this balancing act; when things get out of balance. A paradox! 🙂
Then one species could disappear. Then another species could become human “pets” for they need “protection.” Then, chaos arises out of the need to “have,” to “possess,” to “accomplish.”
Then human moralists, thinkers, philosophers, scientists, etc. will create a definition, a concept for “everyone” to accept. That lost balance cannot be returned by more thinking.
Isn’t it funny how animals who don’t think live in balance with Nature whereas thinking human beings struggle to do that?
“I think, therefore I exist.”
“I think” that that phrase needs to be revised…
Question: Brother thank you immensely for this platform. I am very knew to BK Knowledge but it seems like the explanation I have been waiting for. The puzzle seems to be getting solved with a few experiences, slowly but surely. I am pretty sure this would not be an unique experience but if you could please throw some light on what I find a bit of a paradox – at one point I am drawn to total solitude, its something which I cannot do without and yet at the other point I find a part of me in every person, can very clearly see there point of view and the bigger picture which makes it very difficult for me to take sides and ascertain right/wrong. I notice getting acceptance and invitation to be with them, however, what they do is of no interest and and enjoyment for me and my lifestyle is very different and I make no effort to take it forward. I do appreciate my extended family and get togethers with them but after a point I need to be alone. I do not want to hurt them as I care but at the same time I need to respect my need of being alone as it saps my energy. So I am connected but at the same time disconnected? Is that a form of cheating/ego/manipulation? Spirituality states not to reject people and at the same time chose your company? Solitude is important and yet you are one with everyone?
Thank you for your great question and your kind words!
Dear soul,
As BapDada mentioned today (3-31-13) in the avyakt Murli, it is about “balance.” Enjoy life as a whole, with everything that it brings. Solitude by being “by yourself” is a first and perhaps necessary step for many in the spiritual path. That will change. You will learn to be by “yourself” while with others. When there is that inner power and “will” for self transformation, you will find opportunities, rather than challenges to “test” your stage.
You may express your need to be alone in some occasions. Perhaps “being alone” is not something that some people will understand. They will think that you are depressed and that they need to “cheer you up.” Express your need to “re-charge” yourself to be with them afterwards, with greater energy and enthusiasm.
Spirituality is the expression of love and power. When there is that “power” you will not need to “choose your company.” Spirituality has many stages, and certainly we should be able to recognize, first grade from high school. That is, spirituality is honesty with the self, and because of that; with others.
“Solitude” is important because it allows you to be with everyone being “you.” Otherwise, you will not be YOU but learn to be “them.”
This is not meant as separation but as a reminder than being aware and conscious is not what everyone is interested in.
Best wishes!
Exploring the Depth of Living 