Tagged: goals
Believing in Awakening
Living in society will bring us some sort of perceived security. A sense of purpose through having a laid out path to complete. We believe that our laws, moral values and “virtuous” living are compatible with higher order.
We believe in working hard to achieve whatever our minds tell us. That is whatever we believe. We live in the world of beliefs. Just achieve. Compete with others if they are in your way. Show them who the best is!
Look out for you and then for the extension of you, your family. “Help” others when yours are OK and have plenty, enough to “give” what is not needed.
Most of all, remain busy. Do things for an objective, a goal. Go to school, then college, get married, have kids, get a house, a car, a couple of pets. Get busy! Save for retirement, then you can ‘relax.’ Most of all… “Be happy!!”
We only understand “get happiness.” Something out there will give me that. I have to keep trying.
In a nutshell, that is the brainwash. The castle built out of “pretty” words. The belief that happiness is to comply with the conditioning.
Likewise, our “spirituality” will be based on that brainwash. There is the goal to achieve: Heaven, god, eternal salvation… Plenty of objectives.
There is the “family” of the “chosen ones.” You are part of it, if you just believe. There is plenty of help to give to others to “save them.” That “good action” will get you brownie points with the “Father,” the creator: God. Then you can ‘relax’ for eternity. Here in society, you work hard to get something for yourself. Over there, for the “spiritual” world, you do the same. We cannot ‘relax’ until we work hard first, right?
Isn’t it that “as it is above, it is below”? That phrase is used out of context. As we wake up, we will realize.
Awakening cannot be for everyone. There are many who rather live in the land of “make believe.”
Awakening is not an easy process. It is not a walk in the park.
It hurts, it disappoints, it hits you against the wall until “you” die. Once you are dead, then you are alive. Logical isn’t it? But it is no longer “you.”
When we are used to eating only chocolate in Life and we feel safe, how are we going to try another flavor? Only when Life offers us vanilla and not chocolate. That is a change of consciousness. Chocolate goes away and our fear to starve gets in the way. Our attachment to the known will not allow us to try something different. When we taste vanilla, we “know.” We become satisfied to taste another flavor and can appreciate chocolate from another perspective, another consciousness.
Awakening is like that. However for most, awakening is only about “understanding” the flavor of vanilla and reading plenty about it, getting certified in vanilla, but never had the opportunity to taste.
When we are ready to leave chocolate, vanilla will come and then chocolate will be gone, and we will “know” that there are many flavors in Life, many ways of looking at Life, many ways of living Life. Otherwise, we believe that Life is only chocolate!
Consciousness is not depending on us and our efforts to “achieve,” as society has conditioned us. So ‘relax.’ Consciousness is our link with Life itself. It happens. Just like Life itself. It happens. All we have to “do” is become AWARE of it.
“Seeing is believing” but no living.
Our society is fixated with the sense of sight. We have an ideal of what is “right.” We just need to change whatever we see, to look like the ideal, the model. This arrangement may work in the “office world” but certainly, not in Life.
To BE one with Life, that is for self-realization, those concepts of “fixing things” including the self, to make them like a role model, are out of place.
Self- realization is more in tune with inner feeling. The “role model” is out.
Let me give an example: In our society, we cherish competitive sports. For instance, in swimming, we are primarily concerned with moving faster not in feeling swimming for the sake of it. To go faster is the unspoken “goal.” We believe that there are certain techniques that will get us there. All we need to do is to watch and learn those techniques from the “champs.” The interesting aspect is that every coach has his take on a particular technique or drill. We just follow what the authoritative person says. That is the safe step as we don’t want to be “wrong.”
This is the way “spirituality” works, as well as religions. We need to go “faster” to heaven before we die. We need to ask the priest and the guru for advise, because they should be “right.” We just want to follow the “method” or “technique.”
In “self-realization,” there are no techniques to follow, for going faster is no longer a goal. Thus, we will not be concerned in watching videos and learning techniques to go faster so we can “win.” The thing is to feel, to be present, to BE swimming, Life itself. None of that “feeling stuff” will give us “benefits” so in society, we dismiss it.
We need to re-learn to feel. When you are in the water, feel your movements. Experiment with what brings you greater enjoyment. If there is pain, then you have found a limit.
Life is like swimming. However, rather than a swimming pool, we have a river moving continuously. Our mind is stuck with “goals.” We want to get to the other side faster. We want to time ourselves and beat the competition so we can earn a medal and everyone should know about this “feat;” applaud us, and remember us when we are gone, we want to be labeled as a “legend.” That is the belief of “success.”
It is that mentality, that conditioning of believing that Life is only a bigger version of the “office world;” which is hindering our possibility to relax, unwind and float, as the river has already a direction. We cannot see that destination, so we come up with mental ideas, illusions and day dreaming to “achieve.” The destination is not to be seen. It is to be felt and trusted.
Our minds want to make sure that we attain something along the way as a “proof,” that we are going in the “right” path… We don’t want to be “wrong.”
It doesn’t work like that. Life brings experiences, humans bring labels (right/wrong, good/bad.)
We wish we could live in Spring all the time, but we cannot be without Winter time.
If you live Spring, Winter is a reality waiting to happen. This is Life.
We see Spring, we believe in it. Once it starts changing, we become stressed out, angry even bitter. Nevertheless, despite our inner tantrums; Winter will arrive. Then, we will make a trauma out of that experience. The consequence of that trauma is a blockage in our perception, in our openness to trust Life.
Fear arrives. Every form of protective shield that we have created around ourselves, is a hue of fear.
We cannot see that. We cannot believe that.
We could feel it, but we are too afraid.
Once we gain the courage to swim past a “trauma,” we could be lost in “achievements” and “goals” again, to bury deep inside our fear to enjoy.
Fear to enjoy?
Yes. Don’t you feel it? 😉
Just another recipe for “success.”
Some individuals want to be “better” spiritually speaking.
Why?
Here some “reasons:” Because they may be causing problems to others without knowing. Because they want to be admired if they obtain some sort of sainthood. Because they are not satisfied with who they ARE.
In their minds, these individuals already have a “role model” to imitate. They have a goal to achieve through “hard work.” They are constantly comparing with others and feeling unfulfilled. There is something lacking in them, something to “improve.”
These individuals cannot realize that those pursues are simple mental abstractions and their “methodology” to reach their “goal” is plain conditioning from society’s ways.
Here is how the “system” works: If we want a “good” job with a law firm, we need to work at it. We think, once we become senior partners, we have “arrived.” We are someone in Society. “Role models.” We have a story to tell: How we went from our modest beginnings and rose to the top in no time… through hard work, dedication and discipline… Very familiar story, indeed.
That selling story is what we have been conditioned to believe as the “method” to achieve anything we want in Life.
However, BEING a fulfilled individual in Life has no relationship whatsoever with the above “method.”
“Achievements” are of no value when it comes to BEING fulfilled.
It doesn’t mean that “we shouldn’t achieve anything in Life.”
That is a gross misunderstanding, typical of individuals trapped in the mind: These individuals will go from one extreme to the other. Go ahead and “achieve” whatever you feel like, just don’t expect to feel fulfilled…
Enjoyment and fulfillment in Life are not “goals” or “achievements.”
Those are consequences of BEING harmonious in Life. There is no recipe to “achieve“ balance in Life.
You just play it by ear. What you ARE will give you a state of harmony or lack of. No way to fake it ‘til you make it….
Many would like to have an infallible recipe such as: One cup of rice, ¾ teaspoon of salt, etc. and “achieve” results without further involvement. That will not happen: In Life, we need to reinvent the wheel, for the outcome will shape who we ARE. Moreover, to reinvent the wheel is how we truly KNOW in Life. The “Office world” sells “shortcuts” so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. To save time, for “time is money.” 🙂
Basically, don’t cook. Microwave what someone else made and believe that you are a great cook…. After all it tastes good. You bought it!
Act like a saint. Copy your role model. Believe that you ARE that.
That is the conditioning that may need to go away before, Living Life in joy is entertained without the idea of “achieving” something.
It is a matter of plain OBSERVATION, AWARENESS.
When we ARE NOT AWARE of who we ARE, we need for others to tell us about ourselves. Because we cannot OBSERVE what IS inside, we need a magical dictionary word to pursue from the outside: Such a “compassion” or “peace.” Once the thing is labeled, we can “work to achieve that.” Moreover, we need to buy a “method” to be “right,” after we have carefully followed the “instructions.”
That is the state of many human beings; slaves of their own conditioning manifested through their minds.
The easiest way to decondition, is to get out from society for some time. Then with a clear mind, we could be able to recognize and OBSERVE the conditioning of our own minds. Society is not the “bad guy.” There is conditioning any time there is a group. All we have to DO is to be AWARE of that.
From that point, achievements will be achieved, without trying to achieve.
Betterment will arrive, without trying to be better.
When we cease to strive, we achieve, without the thought of achievement.
The above may not work in the “Office world,” but that “recipe” will work in Living Life in Joy.
What do I DO to “improve”?
Observe the Life of a public “famous” person, a “star.” Without a doubt, he has experienced ups and downs in his lifetime.
Beauty, fame, power, health, joy and wealth had different intensities throughout his life. There is no point in time where everything was all there, unchanged as if he had “arrived.”
There is no point in time where a person is the “same” all the way until death arrives. This is a fact.
A what point in Life, that person was “improving”? It just depends on what someone looks at. Some examples of “improving”:
Did he settle with one partner rather than many? Did she take up yoga and meditation as part of her life style? Did he sell 1 million copies of his best seller book? Was she inducted in the rich and famous hall of fame? Are those singular things “improvement”? It is relative. Life is bigger than any single improvement.
Life cannot be compartmentalized, cut in pieces, but we do it in our minds, so “improvement” happens as an ideal to strive for.
That ideal will create in turn the duality of “success and failure.” We are sold on that one. The fiction of success is as real as failure.
Observe the artificiality of all. That is how we live Life, believing that our mental creations, ideals are Life.
In Life, the word “improvement” does not exist. It is not needed as Life has its own movements, as shared before; the full range of experiences entails to go through the 2 sides of a duality.
How does it “work”?
Observe any “positive” virtues or qualities in your favorite actress. The potential for the “negative” opposites is there as well. As a matter of fact, it will be experienced by that person at different times of her current existence or it was in another Life experience , or it will be in the future.
The full range of experiences needs to be experienced. BEING all of those.
That is how we have a variety of people in the world, experiencing a piece of the diversity of the ranges of experiences.
Our conditioning is ready to label and judge their experiences as “good or bad.” It does not matter. Our morality is worth diddly-squat in the way Life moves.
That is why it was shared that enjoyment of the experience is important. That quality of enjoyment is how we “become better.” (Those are not the most accurate words to use, but for the sake of being understood or misunderstood.)
That quality of enjoyment does not depend on what we have, what we earn, where we are in society or how we behave in society.
It all depends on how AWARE we are.
Greater conditioning, means less capacity for enjoyment.
Why?
Because we have learned all those sacred “go getter” keywords that we would like to “achieve” in Life to “make it worthwhile,” to find a “purpose.”
That is garbage.
Enjoy Life. Be open to the diversity of it. Expect the unexpected without judgment, without trying to “make sense.”
It is that sense the one that has been conditioned.
Live today, die tomorrow. No big deal. Have you enjoyed the ride?
Yes? Then there will be fulfillment. Nothing is missing.
If we try to “practice” any of the above, we will be fakes for we will try to “accomplish” that thing which looks good for ME… I’ve got to have it! (back into the conditioning of society.)
That “practice” could be made into a religion or some “system” to “help people” and to help MY pocket…but it is completely artificial.
BEING changes through AWARENESS. Give yourself an ample space of solitude to observe the movie of Life. It is in that observation how we learn from the actors of Life and enjoy their unique parts. The plot will keep on changing, but as long as we OBSERVE it without judgment, we will enjoy it… and improve by DOING nothing. 🙂
What is the point of Living?
There is no point. That question comes from a mind conditioned to see utilitarianism in everything. Objectives, purposes, goals, are only conditioning. There is no way to define Life and to enclose it in simple words.
Any scene of Life could be viewed under different perspectives. Any scene of Life has a journey beyond our reasoning.
Believe anything you want. It does not matter. A belief is merely a point of view. To pretend to trap Life and explain it from that viewpoint is superficial.
There was a point in my Life when I thought that I knew all the answers. I thought that I figured Life out pretty good.
“Were you wrong?”
That is not the question. Use a less conditioned question. Wrong /Right… All conditioning.
Let me elaborate without questions.
I had a different consciousness. I was a totally different person back then.
“What makes you feel that you’ve got it “right” this time?”
There is no right nor wrong in Life. In the office world, in our society, there could be a defined line, that is artificial; however, useful.
It is part of a journey. Now, I see things different, because I am not the same.
When “spiritual” people believe that they have changed even though their beliefs, emotional traumas, ideals and viewpoints remain the same… That is a huge mirage.
To be different, to change means to see things in a different way, a different perspective which is inclusive of the previous ones to grow; otherwise, we become angry and bitter with ourselves for we reject our own past. We were not “right” back then… How silly!
“So you are saying that truth is relative, correct?
Which religion or philosophy/ism has the truth?
Now you can see that it is only a matter of perspective; however, followers are like little sheep, all they want is a uniform belief to feel secure. If they would allow themselves to be themselves, their perspectives would necessarily be different.
“So, to be a follower is “wrong”?”
There is no right nor wrong. A follower has a process, a journey. A sheep needs to be protected from predators and the group brings that pseudo-security. The journey of being part of a group, will continue to become a solo journey. That is the full experience. To call any part of the journey as “wrong, inferior, etc.” is to deny that everything is a process in Life.
There is no end product in Life. There is always a continuation, in a different form, a different package.
Nevertheless, our goal oriented conditioning, is always looking for the “arrival” place, “Paradise,” which is some sort of imaginary reward.
There is no arrival. No destination. That is why, there is no particular point in Living, unless we make something up, which is another perspective just like many others.
The experience of Living is unique. A treasure in itself which is not meant to be kept, but it is meant to be used, spent, ready to drink it, taste it as newness arrives.
To use the mind to anticipate and try to control the “future” or to re-live the past means, to waste the opportunity of the “now.”
Living is always “now,” any other tense is non-living, that means; to be lost in the useless questions and answers of the mind. 🙂
Can you live without goals and purpose?
Ask yourself if you could live life without goals, objectives, purpose and meaning.
If you are able, that will set you free from the mind.
Sounds crazy!
Consider this: Before you could perceive what is the mind, practically and not by a concept, a definition; you may need to increase the ego-mind to be AWARE of it.
“Have an objective. Give your life purpose, meaning!” Isn’t that the mainstream spiritual teaching?
Achievement gives you purpose and so failure to achieve. You could be a “winner or a loser.” Either way, you will need more things to achieve, to keep you “entertained.”
Once you are tired of setting goals to achieve, you will start freeing yourself from your mind, but that is not easy. A low point in your life may appear. Your trust in “best sellers” may be reconsidered.
“But goals are not bad! We need goals, objectives, something to look forward to in Life!”
Correct. But look at the beliefs in your statement: “We need goals” is the first belief. The second one is to label “living with goals,” as Life.
Goals are needed in the “Office world,” but outside that there is another Life, which I invite you to explore. This writing is only an invitation… 🙂
So you want to achieve the objective of losing 25 pounds by next year. That is the goal. You have a year to entertain yourself in achievements. You also want Heaven after this Life. You cannot fail that, for there is always plenty of room in Hell…
Observe this: You are aware that you are overweight. Are you aware of what increases that weight? That is it. No need to go into the “I promise that from now on…” What is so magical about 25 pounds? As stated before, the mind likes numbers, dates, definitions.
Heaven is your goal? What are you going to DO? “Good” actions? Is what society defines as “good” truly “good”?
Is an action performed with the intention to achieve something for you, truly “good”? Isn’t that action actually covering your greed?
“What greed?” You are “helping” only yourself and making someone believe that you are doing it out of your good heart. All about mind and not feelings.
How can you go to Heaven if you are greedy?
“Yes, but I helped someone. My action helped another.”
That is the theory in the “Office world.” DOING defines a person. In Life, BEING defines the action. That is why Karma deals with who you ARE behind the action. Now, you know why “bad things happen to good people.”
“Let me write a check with some money to help the poor” Is that a good action?
Are you giving because you can spare some change, because you want to go to heaven, or because you believe that money will help someone? Let us say that 80% of your money went to some crooks who set up a fictitious fund to “help the poor.”
Yes… you had a “good” intention as long as Heaven and giving your left overs weren’t lingering in your mind…
See how tricky “good” becomes?
The problem is the mind. The mind creates goals, objectives, purpose, meaning, good and bad… Duality. We “reason” our actions based on the learned conditioning…and we believe that to be “real,” “truth,” and use politically correct labels to defend “our” thinking…
Awakening the Dreamer
Living “reality” as it is entails that all labeling, all type of reaction towards what is “there” are unnecessary.
If we label something, that becomes a preconception. The extent of that “habit” could be very damaging.
Many innocent people have gone to jail because of that.
“I” am sure that I “saw” something, which never happened. “I” am sure that “I” heard something, which never was said. “I” understood something coming from another in a distorted way, which is all in my head. “I” experience things, which “I” label as “true” which are the working of my own mind.
Those are dreams of a dreamer in the present, based on “habits” from the past.
Re-living the past in our minds is like playing an “old” movie, over and over. We even spend the time to change that movie in different scenarios, the “what if” scenarios, without realizing that this past movie is over. Why re-arrange it?
All of that will not allow us to clear our minds.
Please see that none of this is a belief or a religious story. It is something that we need to be aware of if a higher consciousness is to be experienced. It is inner work based on our own observation.
A religion will say: “Be good. Think good things. Think about God.” Please note that we are not escaping into more ideas, (the idea of being good, thinking good or an idea of my thinking on God) but merely confronting what it is “now” through observation.
This is not an “inner fight,” but just to be clear on what is going on with our own minds.
We have the futuristic dreams as well. These types of dreams are supported by our society. Everyone has a dream about his or her future. “I want to be this and do that 5 years from now.”
Avyakt7 is not saying that to do that is “good or bad,” avyakt7 is merely pointing out what is going on.
Once we “set up” our lives in our minds in that way, we will “approve” of certain things, which are OK to happen to us. Other things will be rejected.
Marriage is a good example. Many have in their head an “ideal” partner in an “ideal” circumstance, in an “ideal” time, etc.
Many times an opportunity is missed because it does not fit what we have in our heads. We forget the heart and more important, we forget to be honest with ourselves, that is to find our “truth” at every moment.
Life moves. To take a side in something means the possibility to acknowledge the validity of the opposite side of things as well.
“First, I will do this and then that and it has to be in that order because I want this thing out of life.”
We call that a goal. Life has its own movement, which may not be the fixation that we have in our minds. “My dream.”
The interesting thing is that there is no mundane “goal” in life that will bring any lasting fulfillment and thus, no goal which is “higher” than anything else.
On the other hand, when we are talking about spirituality and “higher consciousness” as a goal, it is not related with any circumstances around us. Marriage, jobs, duties, social status, economical status are of no consequence when the “goal “is to be aware, conscious or ourselves and what is going on in our minds, to make sense of our lives.
Certainly; tranquility, serenity, calmness will give the appropriate environment for this awareness to take place, but we need to grow into giving “value” to those “commodities” which are important in life so we can see life under a different perspective, with greater consciousness.
Take the time to smell the roses. Take the time to watch the sunset. Take the time to appreciate the moon in a deep night.
Take the time to salute the Sun. Take the time to perceive life, its harmony in the nurturing environment of serenity, before life, the “moment,” moves away.
Exploring the Depth of Living 