Tagged: wonder
Life is not meant to be understood
When a human being starts the journey of self-realization, many things may happen externally: Meetings with ‘God,’ ghosts, near death experiences, close encounters of the third kind, the Kundalini rising and the chakras aligning, etc, etc.
Those “experiences” are meant to motivate the seeker.
Internally, that individual is not aware of his emotions due to living Life experiences.
Emotions have a body response. They come as a consequence of a growing ego. Feelings are well beyond the “traumatized” individuality.
The external experiences are enticing but lack inner knowledge. Without inner knowledge there is no self-realization.
Thus after the external experiences have worn out in the seeker’s consciousness; then to deal with the mind becomes the first step into grasping “inner” rather than “outer.”
Most individuals at this time are lost in their own minds. Life is a concept to analyze. Purpose, meaning becomes the driving force. The ability to enjoy Life is almost gone.
“What is the purpose of stopping and taking the time to smell the roses?”
“What is the reason?”
That questioning destroys our wonder, our appreciation, our zest for Life.
Although some may want to tame and re-train the mind, there is no realization that it is the mind coming up with that “solution.”
The mind is trained to fight. Life is a struggle.
“We will fight for peace and the betterment of the human race.” Out of that political correct but meaningless phrase, a spark of intuition may appear: Harmony does not require a fight. It is not an inner struggle. It is to learn to use the inner audio “equalizer” according to the song that it is being played in Life. Some may call that “intuition.”
That “art” requires the ability to listen beyond what we have been taught, for Life will play songs that have never been played before. Therefore, there are not set “methods” or “rules of thumb” capable of dealing with such newness.
At this point, we may learn to feel. We may have been trained to believe that reasons are “better” than feelings. But, we may learn now that “better or worse” are inventions of the mind.
Life plays a song. It will change soon. Better or worse is of no consequence, when we understand that one song is related with the other, although they are different.
Isn’t that mind blowing?
Harmony. Hopefully that is more than another “spiritual” keyword.
Mind, body and soul. Heart, mind and gut/intuition. Aligned, together.
The concepts trying to separate which one is which, are useless mental constructs.
In a human being, those labels which separate are in “reality” intermingled, together, one.
Hard to understand? That is because it is not meant to be. Feel it. 🙂
Life out of the box
The intention behind the action is the determining factor in the consequence of it.
We cannot hide our intentions to life, although we could dress them up with pretty words to defend our “morality.”
That is how “Being” is before “Doing” and Karma is not understood unless the intention, the feeling behind that action is identified.
For a religion or a society it may be easier to judge individuals according to their actions. That will give them some objectivity.
It is easier to punish someone and call him “bad” or “evil” in that way, but it is very difficult to pinpoint the feeling the intention behind it.
Being virtuous in life is not a matter of “working on a virtue” or “making effort.”
In that realm of understanding, we are caught up with conceptual living.
Love is “good” but love is not a definition to practice, to be “better at.” To work on “being loving” or to “make effort” to love is just strengthening the “I.”
Unless there is a change in consciousness, that means opening our own limits to life itself, we may not be able to grasp a new consciousness.
There may be plenty of pretty words and rules to follow to give us the idea that we “are being good,” but a concept cannot do the trick.
When we open ourselves to the experiences that life is bringing, we will be out of our comfort zone. That means, the “I” will be challenged.
Any ideas, beliefs or preconceptions of the “I” could be challenged.
If there is no selection coming from an “educated” trained mind, but rather; there is the feeling to flow with life without “making decisions,” our journey will be aligned with “what is.”
“What is” is not the understanding of the “I.”
To live in a “box” of comfort is the tendency of most human beings.
That “box” has “life insurance” for us. There is a step-by-step path to follow that humans have made up to get someplace, even to get to Paradise after we die.
Ahnanda is saying that it is not like that.
Every individual has its own path based on his own experiences in life and his own consciousness.
Life presents different flavors to taste. Humans like to think that by tasting all, the “I” could select what he likes and what he does not, creating in that way a duality which rejects life by rejecting one side of the duality.
Ahananda is saying that every flavor is to be tasted and appreciated when it is happening. That is, enjoyed in that moment to the fullest.
For that a tremendous ability to be open and accepting to life is needed, something which there is no religion or commandment that could teach.
To honor life, to trust it, to live it, to enjoy it, to appreciate it… to be in awe and wonder, to be open without armors… to dissolve the “I.”
That is all.
Innocence: Not knowing the answers is the wonder of enjoyment
As I was walking with my father in our way to a store, we were waiting to cross the street and a beeping sound was heard. It was the sound that some trucks have built in to alarm people who could be behind them.
My father curiously asked: “What is that noise?” That was something “new” for him. He didn’t hear that before.
I told him with the “knowledge” of my mind: “That is the noise of a truck backing up letting you know that it is dangerous to be behind it.”
My father recognized just the word “truck” out of my “brainy” explanation and began to look at the truck with wonder.
I looked at his eyes, and what I saw was “innocence,” an honest sense of wonder as if that was the first time he had seen a truck.
I interrupted his “day dreaming” (from my perspective) to quickly cross the street, for it was clear.
I was thinking, “What is the big deal about a truck backing up with some built in noise?” However, what I still remember is the look on his eyes. I have not seen that look in any grown up for many, many years now. It is as if the sense of wonder and “newness” is gone.
Our minds are trained to think that “to know” is to have a verbal explanation. That training compels us to live in “theory” mode.
There is a truck like many others I have seen. There is a noise coming from it, which I could qualify as “disturbing,” so then, I can make my own interpretation on that experience., which I could pass onto another person. It is no longer a truck with a sound, but a “disturbing noise.” That last statement which comes out of my “own biased experience,” then becomes the “crux” of another debate as to what is a noise? And what is a sound? And if trucks like that one should be allowed to be on the street…Then, We could invite “experts” in the matter who could illustrate their points with their latest “research” and how what they call “normal” becomes the rule of the “masses,” that is what the majority expresses.
The point here is that we have stopped looking for the first time, that is without building a case of further ideas, further explanations, further interpretations which are drying up our sense of awe, our sense of wonder and innocence.
Similarly, that is the case in Spirituality and the experience of the Divine.
Our minds will not allow us to open up to the “unknown,” because we already have some “knowledge,” we already have read everything about it, and expect for things to happen according to those books written by experts. We will show the statistics, the latest research which proves how “nonsensical” a Spiritual experience is or worse yet, “your” spiritual experience. 🙂
Thus, the “law” of innocence, of looking at things with a “fresh” view, is to throw away everything that we think we know. The mind will not allow us to enjoy any experience in its fullest as long as we have explanations and theories. In short, the experience of living will be gone for our “mental” state resides in words and words… are not living.
Words such as: “I love so much”… 🙂 Good, now show that without words. Make your living, which is being, be that so there is no need to say it.
Anyone could say anything. It is easy. How many fall into that trap? If words were money, we could more careful about “spending” them.
The sense of appreciation of life is a marvelous feeling. That appreciation brings something in common with “others” to what otherwise would be about looking just for differences, for those things which we are not alike.
When appreciation is gone, there is no communion with life and everything that exists. In fact, listening to someone could be done only when there is appreciation for that presence as it is.
That is the innocence that a child has. When that mind becomes “clogged up” with theories, reasoning and explanations; that innocence is lost. The “same old thing” arrives and with that a sense of boredom appears along the search for something “new” and “exciting” in life.
Thinking has its place. In reality, it is a small place in the realm of things; however, our society is worshiping thinking to the extreme. That is creating a society where living is no longer “feeling,” we no longer feel life and acknowledge its newness, that is we are not open to wonder, but just to explain things based on previous experiences which have been made as explanations.
That is how when a dog bites us, we create a “drama,” a “ All dogs are bad,” closing our range of experiences with the perceived safety of a “bad” experience or when we say “I don’t believe in love,” automatically, we have closed the door for further “newness,” ignoring that as “we are” so our experiences. We never see the self but always others.
Innocence requires that openness for newness, by throwing all our preconceptions on the waste basket of delusions.
Exploring the Depth of Living 