Maturing Beyond "Ordinary Happiness"

     Many people deeply believe that the universe is unfriendly, and that "ordinary unhappiness" is the most they can hope for. A pervasive subconscious sense of "lack" haunts many of us. 
       David R. Loy. “Lack & Transcendence. The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism, and Buddhism.” Wisdom Publications, 2018.
     Sadly, most of us don't actually know what a deep, meaningful life means, looks like, OR that it is available.

     Roger Walsh MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology & religion at the University of California, states: 
     "... behind conventional religions with their myths, rituals, beliefs and dogmas, are hidden disciplines for practices for training the mind to induce the same states of consciousness that the founders had realized, and thereby opening up similar possibilities for all of us.

     Religions tend to get started when an individual has some sort of breakthrough of some kind. Different founders have different kinds of breakthroughs, but they have spiritual breakthroughs of one kind or another. And the people who are effective in initiating traditions that have lasting power provide several things. First they provide an insight, a vision, a spiritually-informed understanding. Then they’re also able to transmit partly charismatically, partly technically – that is they offer a variety of practices by which other people can have the same realizations for themselves, so that they transmit two things. One is insight, understanding, a vision of the way the world and we look from that awakened place, but secondly, a set of practices which allow others to have the same insight, understanding & state of consciousness and test it out for themselves.
     Now over time, as we all know, there tends to be a process of ‘truth decay’ – over time, the deeper or higher realizations tend to get lost or sidelined somewhat and what remains tends to be the belief system and the rituals around it. And in most religions, the ‘esoteric side’ – the real practices that can actually induce transformative states and psychological-spiritual maturation – tend to have become marginalized to a certain extent, to different degrees in different traditions.

     One of the real tragedies in our culture is that we have no understanding, let alone popular map*, of developmental stages beyond the conventional. So we have no encouragement or call to mature beyond conventional levels, which means that most people stultify at the conventional level, having no understanding that there’s something more. 
     There is data from multiple fields – developmental studies, psychotherapy, psychedelic work – that the psyche really does have inherent in it, a pull to development. Maslow called it ‘self-actualization,’ other people have called it ‘self-transcendence,’ ‘moksha drive,’ Jung’s ‘individuation,’ etc, etc. And, when that drive is not recognized or fulfilled, it creates a deep profound dissatisfaction. 
     And the tragedy is, because our culture has no understanding of this call, that malaise is not recognized for what it is. And people look for substitute gratifications of one kind or another. And the trouble is that you can never get enough of what you don’t really want. 
     So there is this inherent growth dynamic in the psyche, this fact isn’t recognized, which leads to enormous suffering in our culture. Maslow called these ‘meta-pathologies’ – pathologies, not of psychosis or neurosis, but existential pathologies that emerge for people. 
     And we have to have a realistic view of what post-conventional development looks like, because it’s not all sweetness and light. Every new stage brings forth new opportunities, new capacities, new understandings, and new problems. There’s a dialectic of development. Every new stage has its new challenges and difficulties. 
     And one of the big problems for us in our culture for anyone who starts to move beyond the conventional is there’s no map to understand the problems that emerge and very little in the way of remedies.”
       Roger Walsh, in an excellent 2hr interview by Rick Archer: https://batgap.com/roger-walsh/

     Four excellent recent books specifically deal, in-depth, with psycho-social-spiritual maturation well beyond the conventional:
     • Amoda Maa. “Embodied Enlightenment. Living Your Awakening in Every Moment.” Reveal Press, 2017. 
     • Shinzen Young. “The Science of Enlightenment. How Meditation Works.” Sounds True, 2016.
     • Dorothy Hunt. “Ending the Search. From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness.” Sounds True, 2018.
     • Bonnie L. Greenwell. “When Spirit Leaps. Navigating the Process of Spiritual Awakening.” Non-Duality Press, 2018.

     * Those who specialize in this area do have "developmental maps": http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/11/fowlers-six-stages-of-faith.html
 

Coming Back Home

     Many of us are chronically stressed, anxious ± depressed, so we're prone to react to people & situations with the 3 Fs: flight, fight or freeze.
     “Freud identified what he called ‘the repetition compulsion,’ the drive within us to replicate the old, even if it is painful and leads us to predictable but familiar dead ends.
     Sooner or later, we are each called to face what we fear, respond to our summons to show up, and overcome the vast lethargic powers within us. This is what is asked of us, to show up as the person we really are, as best we can manage, under circumstances over which we may have no control. This showing up as best we can is growing up. That is all that life really asks of us: to show up as best we can.” 
       James Hollis. “Living an Examined Life. Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey.” Sounds True, 2018.

     A clearly more evolved, effective alternative to reacting with the 3 Fs is responding with the fourth F: form friendships ie co-operation, 'pulling together,' working for the common good. Unfortunately, many of us may also feel, to some extent, 'alone in a hostile world,' lacking a solid social support network of extended family, partner, meaningful friendships or meaningful spiritual organizations.

     “Feelings of connectedness, like feelings of kindness, activate the brain’s attachment system. The ‘befriend’ part of the ‘tend and befriend’ instinct has to do with the human tendency to affiliate, to come together in groups in order to feel secure. For this reason, people who feel connected to others are not as frightened by difficult life circumstances and are more readily able to roll with the punches.
     Of course, it’s wonderful when we can get our need to belong met by loved ones such as friends or family. But if you’re someone who has trouble sustaining good relationships, this type of social support may be missing in your life. And even in the best of circumstances, other people aren’t always able to make us feel that we belong and are accepted. In the cavernous halls of our own minds, we may feel isolated in any moment, even if this isn’t the way things actually are. Our fears and self-judgments are like blinders that often prevent us from seeing the hands that are being held out to help us. We may also be ashamed to admit our feelings of inadequacy to those we love, for fear that they wouldn’t love us anymore if they knew the way we really were. Hiding our true selves from others then makes us feel even more alone.
     That’s why it’s so important to transform our relationship with ourselves by recognizing our inherent interconnectedness. If we can compassionately remind ourselves in moments of falling down that failure is part of the shared human experience, then that moment becomes one of togetherness rather than isolation. When our troubled, painful experiences are framed by the recognition that countless others have undergone similar hardships, the blow is softened. The pain still hurts, but it doesn’t become compounded by feelings of separation. Sadly, however, our culture tells us to notice how we are unique from others, not how we are the same.” 
       Kristin Neff. “Self-Compassion. The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself.” HarperCollins, 2011.

      "As we learn to balance and harmonize our mindbody, and to become more still within ourselves, and more awake and clear minded within this stillness - we become more empathically attuned to the people we share our lives with and more capable of harmonizing with their state of being in ways that bring greater harmony and balance alive in the field of our relationships, families, teams, organizations, and communities. And, if we find ourselves overwhelmed by our empathic resonance with the inner pain and needs of others that we experience through being in their presence or through encountering media that conveys their state of being, then the greatest protection from that empathic distress will be found in responding to them with actions, words, thoughts, energy, and prayers that flow from compassion and genuine intention to help to ease their pain or to reduce the causes of their suffering." Joel Levey PhD

     “Occasionally we feel movements of pure, awakened consciousness – free of conditioned thought – and we are fully present without separation. This may happen during meditation when the mind chatter stops, when we feel a silent and deep state of intimacy with life and nature, or in a crisis demanding our full attention and immediate response. Awakened consciousness responds from an immediacy that is unaffected by personal history. It is intuitive, spontaneous and direct. Awakened, pure consciousness exists before and continues beyond personal identifications. In this state, we may:
     • have multi-dimensional experiences and also see the simplest creation, like a flower or a child, as wondrous and miraculous;
     • know ourselves as profound stillness; and
     • sense presence without any attachment to the one who is present; it is something that has always been with us, but we have been unaware of it because of the many distractions of the mind and emotions.

     Consciousness can wake up under many circumstances. Before and after an awakening, many of us experience a state that is free of ego, as if there is no ‘me.’ It is a sense of vastness and space, which is commonly described as emptiness. Emptiness can cause us to feel lost and ungrounded because the sense of ‘I’ is gone, but this emptiness is pregnant with potential. Releasing ego-identity is essential as consciousness becomes ready to realize the truth of itself.” 
       Bonnie L. Greenwell. “When Spirit Leaps. Navigating the Process of Spiritual Awakening.” Non-Duality Press, 2018.

Don Penz "Long Point, Green Bay" www.fogforestgallery.ca

To Know What is True ...

     “To understand our true nature, consciousness must take a journey that reveals all that we are not. For most of us who long to know God, or to know what is true, this is a long inner journey in which our shadowy sides, stuck points of view, traumas, and emotional contractions appear to be faced and released. Consciousness enters the vastness of emptiness in which there is no-self, that is, no personal self – just one cosmic self, one consciousness penetrating all existence. Some of us feel this to be God, some feel it to be our true nature, and we resolve to deepen our awakening. … 
     Our thinking mind is not big enough to grasp the whole of our journey to enlightenment. It has created models, like yoga science, Buddhist insights, and esoteric practices, but these do not convey the essence. We might understand the chemistry of water, but that is not the same knowing of water as drinking it when we are thirsty.
     This limitation of thought calls us to rest instead in this unconditional openness, allowing it to permeate the cells of our body. When a heart embraces this emptiness, it becomes possible to bring unconditional compassion and love into the world.” 
       Bonnie L. Greenwell. “When Spirit Leaps. Navigating the Process of Spiritual Awakening.” Non-Duality Press, 2018. 

“Deep in the soul, below pain,
below all the distraction of life,
is a silence vast and grand –
an infinite ocean of calm,
which nothing can disturb;
nature’s own exceeding peace,
which ‘surpasses understanding’.
That which we seek with passionate longing,
here and there,
upward and outward;
we find at last within ourselves.”         Richard Maurice Bucke MD (1837-1902)

Ghita Levin - Heron Platter stoneware - fogforestgallery.ca

Beyond Personal Identifications

     “Occasionally we feel movements of pure, awakened consciousness – free of conditioned thought – and we are fully present without separation. This may happen during meditation when the mind chatter stops, when we feel a silent and deep state of intimacy with life and nature, or in a crisis demanding our full attention and immediate response. Awakened consciousness responds from an immediacy that is unaffected by personal history. It is intuitive, spontaneous and direct. Awakened, pure consciousness exists before and continues beyond personal identifications. In this state, we may:

• have multi-dimensional experiences and also see the simplest creation, like a flower or a child, as wondrous and miraculous;

• know ourselves as profound stillness; and

• sense presence without any attachment to the one who is present; it is something that has always been with us, but we have been unaware of it because of the many distractions of the mind and emotions.

     Consciousness can wake up under many circumstances. Before and after an awakening, many of us experience a state that is free of ego, as if there is no ‘me.’ It is a sense of vastness and space, which is commonly described as emptiness. Emptiness can cause us to feel lost and ungrounded because the sense of ‘I’ is gone, but this emptiness is pregnant with potential. Releasing ego-identity is essential as consciousness becomes ready to realize the truth of itself.”

       Bonnie L. Greenwell. “When Spirit Leaps. Navigating the Process of Spiritual Awakening.” Non-Duality Press, 2018.

 

Halifax Central Library

Being Grounded

"Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself.
I mean, do not be disheartened by your imperfections,
but always rise up with fresh courage.
How are we to be patient in dealing with our neighbour's faults
if we are impatient in dealing with our own?
He who is fretted by his own failings
will not correct them.
All profitable correction
comes from a calm, peaceful mind.”                  St. Francis de Sales

     The above words profoundly affected me this morning. Perhaps from a Zen perspective they were "a turning phrase." Who knows? I immediately felt as if my trunk was being held in a wonderfully warm, secure, lovingly nurturing basin - in a chalice of timeless, unconditional love. This transformative felt sense, like all other phenomena, will change. Though it's effect may persist, because perhaps it's a remembering & reconnection with the ground of being - of being grounded. Again, words are inadequate.
     The quote is a reminder of the central importance of treating ourself with the same unconditional love & endless patience we would bestow a beloved toddler or puppy under our care.
     The experience is a reminder that endless, patient practice - for an entire lifetime - keeps releasing, peeling away, physical, mental & emotional armors, energy blocks, and even attachments to our many security blankets, slowly but surely liberating us from the prison of our conditioning AND feeling rooted & competent in this material yet mysterious world.
     The physical location of this warm, reassuring gut feeling is the hara or dan tien, described in Japanese & Chinese wisdom / martial arts traditions as being 2 inches below the navel, right in the middle of the body. It's considered a vitally important power / energy center. Zen meditation is focused on the physical feel of the breath in this area - "cultivating the hara." In East Indian wisdom traditions, this is one of the chakras along the vertical core of the body, along which kundalini energy moves. Here, as in traditional Chinese medicine, the central theme is releasing / clearing energy blockages to allow the free flow of vital energy throughout the entire system.

     The following are long but IMHO very worthwhile interviews. If they don't resonate, no problem, they may (or may not) later - even decades from now:  
Bonnie Greenwell discusses kundalini energy:
https://batgap.com/bonnie-greenwell/
Adyashanti & Francis Bennett (Parts 1&2) - discuss broader aspects of awakening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYgnk-pknBc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSwUrB0v1ms

A Deeper Reason to Meditate

     Most of us start meditating to get a better handle on stress - just part of our seeking agency over every aspect of life. Up till now, our focus has almost exclusively been on externals (things outside ourselves). Taming the external environment to our needs is the dominant theme of the first half of life - an important, necessary step. But we soon find that meditation involves a very different approach from what we're used to.

     “… of external facts we have had enough and to spare, more than the squirrel-like scholars will ever be able to piece together into a single whole, enough to keep the busy popularizers sprouting in bright-eyed knowledgeability the rest of their days; but of the inner facts – of what goes on at the center where the forces of our fate first announce themselves – we are still pretty much in ignorance…” William Barrett

      Around middle-age - when loved ones start to become sick & die - we may begin to realize that, despite all our striving, we have shockingly little control over the most important aspects of life. So for those able to age wisely, the theme for the second half of life shifts progressively towards discovering the internal aspects of life - a relatively mysterious dimension or level of consciousness that we've essentially overlooked - till now. 
     After a lifetime of manipulating the external mechanical world of solid objects ("hard science"), shifting focus to deeply investigate our inner life (metaphysics, spirituality) is the most radical challenge we've ever faced. See also: http://www.johnlovas.com/2019/04/wisdom-for-second-half-of-journey.html

     "Spirituality addresses qualities of the human spirit that include love, compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, a sense of responsibility, which brings happiness to self and others. It as well includes a basic concern for the well-being of others. And it has an emphasis on contemplative practices cultivating ethics, stability, and prosocial mental qualities." Dalai Lama

     Many cannot make this shift, because:
          • Our society's unspoken dogma is scientific materialism: the belief that physical reality, as made available to the natural sciences, is all that truly exists. As in religious exclusivism, all other worldviews are denounced.
         • The founders of major religions set out to train peoples' intelligences to deal with spiritual matters however religious organizations have severely damaged their own credibility, competence & relevance.
         •  Our identity - 'self-image' - is built around being specialized in & competent at controlling & surviving in the external world. Now, we suddenly realize that our control is declining & survival was never possible. AND we need a very different set of skills to start exploring an 'inner world' - a task for which we feel utterly incompetent!
     These & other factors leave many people - especially in the second half of life - feeling profoundly uprooted, adrift & helpless to address the now most urgent, meaningful & profound aspects of their life. 

     Of course turning science into a dogmatic quasi-religion, complete with 'religious exclusivism,' clearly violates scientific principles. Nevertheless, like partisanship, dogmatism is becoming increasingly common. 
     “... dogma ... a coherent, universally applied worldview consisting of a collection of beliefs and attitudes that demand intellectual and emotional allegiance. Dogma wields power over individuals and communities that is far greater than the power of mere facts and fact-related theories. Indeed, a dogma may prevail despite the most obvious contrary evidence, and commitment to it may become even more zealous when obstacles are met. Thus, dogmatists often appear to be incapable of learning from any kind of experience that is not authorized by the dictates of their creed. … The antidote is the restoration of an authentic sense of empiricism and a willingness to put cherished beliefs and assumptions to the test of experience.”  B. Alan Wallace PhD
 
     Perhaps more importantly, popular religion is qualitatively distinct from the practice & resultant direct experience of serious spiritual seekers, meditators, mystics & saints:
     “… the spiritual is inclusive. It is the deepest sense of belonging and participation. We all participate in the spiritual at all times, whether we know it or not. There’s no place to go to be separated from the spiritual, so perhaps one might say that the spiritual is that realm of human experience which religion attempts to connect us to through dogma and practice. Sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it fails. Religion is a bridge to the spiritual - but the spiritual lies beyond religion. Unfortunately in seeking the spiritual we may become attached to the bridge rather than crossing over it.” Rachel Naomi Remen MD

      "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." Marie Curie

      What does serious spiritual / meditation practice lead to?
      “My sense of it is that awakening (enlightenment) is the knowing in your cellular being that you are not the character you thought you were; that you are this pure consciousness that has created everything. Something like that. You can’t put it into words. So if that should happen, if that’s known, really known in your cells (not in your head, it doesn’t help much to just have it in your head), then that doesn’t go away. It’s kind of like knowing I’m a man or a woman. Once you figure that out, you don’t have to keep reminding yourself. It’s just sort of there. That’s the form you happen to have at this time of your life. It’s not an intellectual knowing. It’s not something you’re likely to forget. It’s a much more visceral or cellular knowing. The other aspect of it is that when you’re feeling it and it becomes more accessible to you, to fall back into that, there’s tremendous peace and tremendous acceptance of what is in the world. There’s no more resistance. One of the things you could say is no more division." Bonnie Greenwell PhD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2U5bAISZU4

     “There’s one proof of awakening & liberation: ‘Are you still in conflict? Do you experience emotional and psychological conflict?’ If you do, it doesn’t mean that you have to throw out everything you realize, but it means there might be more to see. That’s the liberation part – the disappearance of conflict – no more argument with yourself, no more argument with God, no more argument with the world, and no more argument with death. Then all the arguments are gone – now we’re talking about something significant.” Adyashanti  https://batgap.com/adyashanti/