Tagged: wisdom
Hope, achievement and wisdom
In Life, to hope for the best is important to maintain good spirits despite “setbacks.”
That type of hope brings tranquility and will allow us to digest an experience. Those experiences that we label as “negative,” or “bad,” are without a doubt; needed in our Life path. There is no way around them, no way to avoid them, no way to change what is already in our destiny.
We cannot make our own destiny, otherwise; how could we learn from Life? When the extent of our DOING is only conditioned by our previous experiences and idiosyncrasies, we are not living Life. We are merely surviving it.
To live means to allow for newness. “Newness” in Life means to accept the unexpected.
We could have high hopes that our path in Life will unveil, and teach us what we came here to learn. If we do not find those lessons which Life is tirelessly teaching us at every step of our journey; we will live a meaningless Life, despite “achieving what I want.” In society, “success” means to achieve. In Life, success is to become fully aware of the lesson.
We don’t learn through “achievements.” We learn through setbacks. That is how wisdom is made. A wise person has had countless setbacks. Thus, are those truly setbacks? The label is deceiving.
In society, setbacks means failure. In Life, setbacks bring the opportunity for wisdom.
Wisdom is earned in Life. It is not learned.
Achieving wisdom for $9.99
Wisdom is not attained. There is no achievement there.
Insight is not given in a “spiritual class.”
There is no religion or philosophical system that could offer wisdom, but conditioning through information.
There is no course or “certification,” that could prepare anyone to be a “spiritual guide.”
Living Life will unleash wisdom… little by little.
Living Life in awareness, will speed things up.
Therefore; in Life, we could go slow or we could go fast.
Either way we will get there.
Where?
Nowhere. A rat in a maze will run everywhere, “searching” for something. Awareness, will allow us to know that we are in a maze. What is there to search? The “exit”? Everyone will get there without “effort.” Thus, Enjoy the maze!
The “spiritual class,” the religion, the philosophical system, the spiritual certification, the course with the guru, will give you a destination, a “where to go,” Something to achieve!
The majority of “spiritual” people need that. Achieve by paying a fee.
Go through a door, here comes another. There are so many doors! Which one is the “top door” to achieve? What is the shortcut, the “right” method? Label every door: Level 1, level 2, level 3… just like a Nintendo game. Now we are going someplace! Although, nowhere.
Life does not follow human writings
“According to Krishnamurti, meditation is Life. According to Osho, meditation is a technique, according to Tolle, meditation is….”
That type of comparison and quoting of “words of wisdom,” maybe what we have learned in school when writing a paper on whatever topic. It may sound scholarly, very Wikipedia like and scientific; but for those seekers who are in Life to be one with it, the above is completely meaningless. It has no value other than trivia, intellectual information.
Being one with Life is not about complying with our ideas of what we/Life should be. For example, if someone meditates, that is alright but do not be naïve in believing that what you are DOING is “true” meditation. It is just your own spin of it, your perspective even though you maybe following some Guru’s recipe to the dot. Meditation is what you believe in , what you have experienced, but not what you have read or heard.
Many times, followers will be copying the “words of wisdom” of their gurus, and using them as if those were their own realizations. In the scholar world, we give credit to the source of our “wisdom” if is not ours; but in “Spirituality” because there is no copyright on experiences, something is “yours” if you have experienced yourself. Then, talk about it, explain it with your own words. Say “in my own experience.” However, most like to say at this point, “the truth is….”
One of the most celebrated cliché phrases in “spirituality” is: “Every religion talks about the same truth, just in different ways.”
We are sold on that cliché, for it is nice to acknowledge every religion, or spiritual path as having the “truth.” We will make many friends, and sell many books through that phrase.
Nevertheless, whoever is saying that does not know.
“The truth” is not some story about redemption.
Find the truth in yourself.
Cryptic, huh? Similar to the cliché “know thyself.”
Here is the catch. Those who know cannot give more details about it. Why? Because it is a personal experience. Life will give those experiences to those who are ready. Every attempt to explain a personal experience to others by “enlightened” people, has evolved into a religion/spiritual movement thanks to unaware followers.
There is no “method.” No “solution.” No “practice.” Although, to get there, we may have gone through many methods, many solutions and many practices before.
Why?
Because we need the experiences to get us to the point of being ready.
Many spiritual books have been already written, many concepts have been followed to attain God, Salvation, self-realization, etc.
My “money back guarantee” is that none of them, can take us to our own truth. None of them.
It takes awareness, being awake, de-conditioned, “tabula rasa,” transparency, unadulterated honesty, etc. (many words to refer to the unexplainable) to get there. This is a process through Life experiences, not chapters of a book to be read and studied.
On this path of knowing your own truth, misinterpretation from others, misunderstanding from others, opposition from others are sure to come our way. That is the story of many “avatars” throughout human history: Imprisonment, persecution, even crucifixion.. but once they are death; they are remembered through the memory of confusing human writings. 🙂
Beyond the ideals of the mind
When we start becoming aware, we will notice that in whatever direction we place our beliefs, our ideals, Life will present the opposite.
For instance, Janet is supervising employees at work. She spoke to them about the value of having a consistent work ethic of showing up to work no matter what: If you feel ill, just take some medicine and show up! Those lines of “wisdom” are defining Janet now, whether she realizes it or not.
Next day one of her employees misses work because he is sick. He sends an email explaining how sick he feels. Janet felt that she needed to prove a point to defend her statement of “work ethics.”
She replied: “Did you take some medicine? What is the cause of that sickness? “ and then used that opportunity to throw some “words of wisdom” to the employee.
If Janet observes her feelings, she will find anger, a nagging sensation of being bothered by the incident; that is a clear sign that a “button” has been pushed in her.
When we are not aware, we will defend our ideal.
To defend a mental ideal, a belief is to blind ourselves to “what is.”
The mind works in that way. An ideal, a belief is made by our mind. That ideal will repeat in our heads as something to achieve. When we don’t, we may feel “bad” because of our “weakness.” That is how the mind takes control of our Life.
Many times I hear : “I had this little voice telling me what to do.” That little voice may be the mind and not a gut feeling, intuition which actually lacks “I.”
We could be dishonest by calling intuition what is coming from the mind.
The mind will only work through accepted pre-established patterns; what we have learned, it will repeat that. However, any set ideal, any holy moral statement is of no consequence to the way Life works.
For instance, according to Chuang Tzu (Taoist sage) “By ethical argument and moral principle the greatest crimes are eventually shown to have been necessary, and, in fact, a signal benefit to mankind.”
(*As translated by Thomas Merton)
Observe how the typical mind reacts towards Chuang Tzu’s statement.
“..SO… All the killing by Hitler was good and necessary… That is nonsense!!
” ..SO… I should be thankful to Ted Bundy… Stupid!!”
“..So… I can commit any crime and people should be thankful of me!”
In fact, that is not what Chuang Tzu is saying, but it could be easily misunderstood by those without the experience of how Life works, those who only know how human laws work.
And how Life works?
That my friend is something that you need to find out by your own experience, by being aware and not by following second hand teachings. That will happen, when you are ready.
Wisdom and age
An individual thought to be “wise” because she was older.
Wisdom does not come through age, but through insight.
That insight refines itself once the accumulation of experiences is filtered from the emotional traumas, beliefs and conditionings of the “I.”
An older fellow has many experiences. The ego chooses what is “right,” and what is “wrong.” That becomes her wisdom.
That is not wisdom but conditioning.
Thus, “peeling the layers of the onion” is one way to display insight and therefore, wisdom.
Wisdom is not related with accumulation of information or data. That is why, reading and memorizing holy books will not change the fact of our ignorance.
Many seekers value their “degrees,” “holy labels” and “certifications” for joining a particular “method,” or religious system.
Sometimes, the number of years that someone has lived with a particular viewpoint or philosophy is valued as the yardstick for wisdom.
It is very naïve to believe that.
Once we stop trying to understand Life with the values dictated by our society, we could find the necessary openness to see things from a different perspective.
Gautama Buddha did not create Buddhism. His followers did. Gautama was “enlightened” when he was about 35 years old.
Jesus did not create Christianity. His follower did. Jesus was 33 years old when crucified. He experienced a different state of consciousness before that.
Mahavira did not create Jainism. His followers did. He attained a different state of consciousness when he was 43 years old.
After these individuals experienced a particular state of consciousness, they taught based on their experiences. Followers made those into philosophies and “truths.”
Many greedy followers thought that by following the “enlightened” footsteps, they could “attain” the same for themselves. That is an ego trip. There is nothing to “attain.” It happens.
Because it “happens,” it is away from ego, away from any type of pursuit. It is “natural.”
“Methods” are meant to expand our experience, but those by themselves cannot change our state of consciousness.
When we know this, we could relax, unwind, smell the roses and enjoy Life. There is no time to waste unless you are greedy. Then your greed becomes the issue.
Be aware, conscious and find ways to enjoy the experiences that Life presents to you. Allow for Life to change you, become open like an open door, or an open window, so people can see through you… but not because of you. 🙂
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.
Return to your origins – By Mathias
Raysha was reunited with her friend Mathias, the wise tree.
In their conversation, Raysha was experiencing a problem with a woman. The issue was related with loyalty and distrust.
Raysha : Why is it said that a woman’s worst enemy is another woman?
Mathias : When a woman has mistrust, pain or internal voids , then it is difficult for her to be loyal to another woman.
However, that pain can become the key to a ¨rebirth¨ because it stimulates the participant to deepen inside and evacuate all fears, inoculated through mental or physical words.
Raysha thought about the answer and then asked:
Is that internal void equal to what is known as being empty or emptiness?
Mathias: No
Raysha: What is Emptiness?
Mathias replied:
Emptiness is the most delightful experience because it develops the female part, that is creativity in the art of ¨decorating ¨ the new. For something to be ¨new, ¨ it has to be empty. When the self is empty is has space for new decorations with that which comes in our life as newness.
The skill to match ¨colors¨ depends on your self-assurance and desire to risk when conscious that everything from the past is already lost.
Raysha : What do you call distrust ?
Mathias : Distrust allows you to ¨learn to bail .¨ (rhyme in Spanish ¨desconfianza¨= distrust and ¨fianza¨= to bail.) This means that despite the error, you might be free again.
The time which has been experienced as a ¨prison¨ was just a moment to stop in the race of ¨obsession.¨
Distrust also brings new reasons for caution.
Thanks to this, there is development of harmonic movement, which carries a natural connection with the atmosphere; that is the connection with the environment, with Nature.
Exploring the Depth of Living 