What IS Going on Here?

    In our hectic lives, when we recognize anything familiar, we quickly name it, subconsciously assume that we know enough about it, and focus on what's next. If we're being honest, we actually know very little about most of the "roses we fail to stop to smell."
    Assumptions about "knowledge" are humbling. It's the brightest, most knowledgeable students who tend to suffer from "imposter syndrome" - where they doubt their knowledge and feel like frauds, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, some students who are in obvious danger of failing, are happily confident (Dunning-Kruger effect).

     When we come across something radically unusual, instead of investigating it with curiosity & interest, many tend to write it off as an unimportant aberration. This is how scientific materialism deals with anything that can't be measured & quantified. That attitude may be reasonable in the midst of an experiment. But real scientists should be curious about & ideally investigate anything that is clearly outside the scientific materialist paradigm.

    Curiosity (http://www.johnlovas.com/search?q=curiosity) and Love (http://www.johnlovas.com/search?q=love) powerfully balance out our anxious, fearful avoidance of intimately savoring & exploring the miracle of ALL that the present moment holds. http://www.johnlovas.com/2023/03/a-big-old-cuppa.html 

      “When the vague, implicit meanings are unpacked by an articulate mind attuned to them, and when the abstractions needed to conceptualize reality (left hemisphere) are informed by a wider, overall sense of context (balanced by the right hemisphere), then something that we might call genius, or at least insight, can occur.”  
    Gary Lachman “Lost Knowledge of the Imagination.” Floris Books, 2017

    Peter Brown's concise 108-page 2020 book, “The Yoga of Radiant Presence” ($13) gives an exceptionally clear, useful overview for anyone seriously interested in stepping through the "barrier" or, more accurately, "gateless gate" between our common, default ideas: small separate self & materialist worldview or "consensus reality" and the mystics', saints', and ever-increasing numbers of ordinary folks' direct experience of Ultimate Reality:

    “Spirituality is paradox. 
    Reality, the actual condition, cannot be conceived of, described, written about, or imagined. Nothing is actually as it appears to be, or is held to be. Even to say that this is pure miracle or magic does not begin to capture it. 
    Nevertheless, this book has been written for anyone who finds themselves driven to confront paradox, to challenge impossibility, and to try to penetrate this deepest Mystery for themselves.

    Yoga is an ancient word, that means investigation for discovery of truth, of the actual nature of reality. The Sanskrit root means union or joining, and what is joined or unified is held to be one's separate self with the totality of being. In fact these are already one, and Yoga clearly reveals this to be so.

    The Yoga presented here is distinguished by its technique, where the normal experience of the yogi, without any modification of behavior or circumstance, is the method of experiential engagement that leads to realization of the absolute.

    This is effective because in fact it happens that your normal experience IS already the complete naked Presence of the absolute. This is ultimately discovered to be the case by directly noticing the inherent properties of your experience. Through Yoga these are discovered to be fundamentally beyond what you are normally used to imagining them to be, and are revealed to be essentially entirely miraculous.

    The practice of Yoga is: Investigating the nature of reality by engaging with present experience intimately, sensitively, and intelligently." 

 

    The above is a pretty radical departure for most of us, because our "normal" is mostly regretting the past, worrying about the future, and sleep-walking right past "the roses" and all the other "ordinary miracles" of the present moment. 

    “You have to go beyond all concepts. And you will find it in the stillness of your mind, in the quiet chambers of your mind when you go from the known to the unknown, from the physical to the spiritual … 
    When you hear beyond the word, an inner light goes on and it brings out inner knowledge and wisdom, spiritual intelligence, before the contamination of human thought.” 
    Sydney Banks, “Long Beach Lecture Series: The Great Illusion”

    For a gentle entry into this, perhaps newish territory I recommend setting aside 30 minutes for uninterrupted attention to Helen Hamilton's video. She leads a gentle, guided "self-inquiry" meditation for 23 minutes. Then for 7 minutes she'll answer the first of several very worthwhile questions. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4bXew7umcc

    Next, for additional details on self-inquiry, here are 3 brief, very concise recent videos in which Angelo Dilullo clearly explains what you need to know practicing self-inquiry:
    Part 1: • Self Inquiry (Part 1: Ramana Maharshi, Adv...  
    Part 2: • Self Inquiry (Part 2: The Process Itself)  
    Part 3: • Self Inquiry (Part 3: Where the Real Work ... 

 

Unreal-Appearing REAL Clouds

Our Best is Needed

    "The question we need to ask ourselves is whether there is any place we can stand in ourselves where we can look at all that's happening around us without freaking out, where we can be quiet enough to really hear our predicament, and where we can begin to find ways of acting that are at least not contributing to further destabilization.” Ram Dass

    We can easily remember Ram Dass' words with the help of these two short phrases:

    In the wonderful TV series, "New Amsterdam," Dr. Max Goodwin's response to even the most challenging situations was to ask, "How can I help?"
    And if we can't help, then: "At least do harm."

 

    What do we value most in a human being? What are the best attributes of people we most admire? 

    Decency, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, kindness, acceptance, humility, courage & nurturing stand out for me.

 

    Aren't these the very same characteristics that lie deep within us all? These attributes - sparks of the Divine - we all potentially or actually manifest under optimal conditions, when we feel sufficiently safe & brave enough to lower our hardened defenses, and be authentic - our true Self? 

    We can easily differentiate between feeling rigid with fear, guarded, aggressive, enraged, versus when we feel safe, relaxed, glowing with an open-heart & open mind. 

    BUT what's really valuable is learning to recognize how we habitually remain armored, at least somewhat tight & hyper-vigilant even when there's NO "clear and present danger" AND how this constantly corrodes all our perceptions, thinking, speech & behaviors. 

    ONLY by repeatedly recognizing & releasing this default survivalist, separate-self, adversarial illusion are we able to gradually stop sabotaging our own quality of life, and the quality of life of all those around us.

    What clues do we have, that we're lost in the default survivalist, separate-self, adversarial illusion? We feel physically tight, strained, anxious, impatient, 'time poverty,' 'empty' or 'lacking' something, desperate to 'keep busy,' competitive, aggressive. OR we may feel 'lack luster,' no energy, no interests, no plans, hopeless, down. OR we may feel constantly anxious, afraid & upset by a wide variety of things, and assume that it's these that are making us sick. But fear of living AND fear of dying are common. Meditation teacher Ezra Bayda calls it the "anxious quiver of being."

    Becoming clearly aware of what's really going on, here & now occurs only in stillness, not by "keeping busy" chasing after stuff, nor running away from other stuff. Perhaps that's why we fear to, and rarely stop & look carefully. Our compulsive activity - like furiously riding a rocking horse - gives the illusion of "getting somewhere." HOWEVER, intentionally being aware of what's really here & now gradually tames our fears, and intimately engages us with the awesome mystery of Reality.

    “When I change the level of my awareness, I start attracting a different reality.” Santon Saint Pierre, French philosopher

    Living in the default survivalist, separate self, adversarial illusion feels bad & harms myself & everyone around me. 

    I CAN learn to detect this default way of being, repeatedly let it go, relax, open my heart-mind, and ALLOW my true nature - decency, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, kindness, acceptance, humility, courage & nurturing - to shine, which radically changes EVERYTHING - our perceptions, thinking, speech & behaviors. It's a lifelong adventure.

     

Passenger - "When We Were Young"

Choosing Oneness

     We're easily impressed with quick comebacks from politicians and stand-up comedians. Sometimes we wish we too could instantly put bullies & other critics in their place. Contestants who do well on quiz shows like 'Jeopardy' impress us how quickly they can match a short description to a name on a broad range of topics. Most tests & exams nowadays are 'multiple choice,' where again, one performs such quick matches.
    Of the majority of adults who could match 'the most famous tower in Paris' with 'Eiffel tower,' what percentage could write an intelligent one-page essay on the Eiffel tower, or even Paris? Maybe 2%? The other 98% may respond that writing an essay would be 'too deep' or that they 'don't care.'
    Increasingly, depth of knowledge (never mind wisdom), is considered too time-consuming & too boring to acquire! Now even university graduates - including most of their profs - don't deserve to be called 'intellectual elites,' which is actually being 'weaponized' as a pejorative! We're drowning in quick & dirty clichés & sound bites, which are mostly inaccurate, false, and at times malicious.
    Many, like jet-ski enthusiasts, are drawn to skim the surface as fast as possible. “... our culture [is] so conditioned on unforgiving cynicism and distracted flight from presence.” Very few - like deep-sea divers - carefully investigate the still, silent depths of the ocean. AND when we do, "What emerges is that supreme gift of being: a deeper sense of belonging ..." (Maria Popova, in David Whyte's "Consolations.") This choice always awaits each of us.

    Before I quote a small portion of Whyte's wonderful mystical word paintings on 'joy,' I'll give them a bit of context. 

    A year or so ago, I was with my then 22-month old granddaughter as she sat making chalk drawings on the sidewalk with her little friend, almost the same age. This little girl's Mom, sitting beside her, & I recognized the treasure of being in & enjoying their wonderful magical new world. At this mostly pre-verbal stage, there's an obvious, an almost tangible, yet nonverbal communication between us - WHEN adults give ourselves permission to relax into it.

    Once I dreamt that my wife was talking to me as we sat at a table. While she was speaking, I saw her lips move, yet she made no sounds at all. Nevertheless, I 'heard' & understood everything, just as if she had actually produced audible sounds.

    “Joy is a meeting place, of deep intentionality and of self-forgetting, the bodily alchemy of what lies inside us in communion with what formerly seemed outside, but is now neither, but become a living frontier, a voice speaking between us and the world: dance, laughter, affection, skin touching skin, singing in the car, music in the kitchen, the quiet irreplaceable and companionable presence of laughter. The sheer intoxicating beauty of the world inhabited as an edge between what we previously thought was us and what we thought was radically other than us. 

    To feel a full and untrammelled joy is to have become fully generous; to allow ourselves to be joyful is to have walked through the doorway of fear, the dropping away of the anxious, worried self, felt like a thankful death itself, a disappearance, a giving away, overheard in the laughter of friendship, the vulnerability of happiness and the vulnerability of its imminent loss, felt suddenly as a strength, a solace and a source: the claiming of our place in the living conversation, the sheer privilege of being in the presence of a mountain, a sky or a well-loved familiar face. I was here, and you were here, and together we made a world.”
    David Whyte. “Consolations. The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words.” Canongate, 2019.

        "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
         Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Hamlet, William Shakespeare

     “Stay in your body and come home to your heart again & again & again.” Mirabai Starr

Mental Disciplines Joel & Michelle Levey WisdomAtWork.com

Oneness, Peace, Contentment, Happiness

    Everyone at some level is aware that right now, no matter how well we're doing, by whatever measure - loved & respected by family & friends, smart, well-educated, successful, healthy, attractive, financially-secure - our life as we know it & that of our loved ones, can radically change in an instant. Our fragility is partially because for many, happiness depends entirely on how well we can control our environment. But, again at some level we know that we have put our environment & ourselves into crisis. So our anxiety & stress appears to be because we cannot reliably control the basic, universal facts of life: constant change, aging, sickness & death.
    Much of this is based on the simplistic materialist model of reality - a left-hemisphere-dominant perspective - which imagines life AS IF life was nothing more than accidentally-assembled machinery, meaninglessly churning away, then inevitably breaking down, end of story. As a result, a frightening proportion of humanity are electing brutal primitive leaders who are obviously deaf, dumb & blind to essential human values of love, compassion, honesty, truth, empathy, compassion, nurturing each other. http://www.johnlovas.com/2024/09/balance.html

    BUT WHAT IF our anxiety and pervasive sense of 'lack' or 'something missing' were caused not as much by our inability to adequately control life / fear of death, but MOSTLY by the gnawing disconnect between how most of us perceive the world ("relative reality" "consensual reality") and our innate intuitive memory of "Ultimate Reality" which cannot be seen, nor adequately described. And because Ultimate Reality is far more complex than the reductionist model, many are not able to or not ready to deal with it.
    Nevertheless, throughout history, from all traditions, from every corner of the globe, shamans, mystics, saints, philosophers, poets & other deeply spiritual seekers of Truth have continued to point us toward Ultimate Reality in the only possible way - by directly experiencing it.

     In this tradition, Rupert Spira offers very clear, concise pointers to help us directly experience Ultimate Reality in his excellent 40-minute video (at the bottom of this page). His excellent talk (from the video) about how our Essential Nature is Happiness, is partially transcribed here : 

    “Could it be that the entire, what we call the universe, is an appearance within Awareness or Consciousness? After all, that is what our experience tells us.
    Could it be that each of our minds are like localizations of an infinite field of Consciousness, through the agency of which Consciousness knows itself as the world? Just as when we fall asleep at night we dream, we imagine an entire world within our own minds, and yet, we view that world from the perspective of a separate subject of experience within that world.
    Could it be that each of our minds are like dreams, in the mind of Infinite Consciousness? Or to use religious language, each of our minds are like dreams in the mind of God, through which infinite consciousness or God’s infinite being seems to divide itself into two parts: a subject that knows and an object that is known, just as we do at night when we dream.
    Our own mind divides itself into two parts: a dreamed world and a separate dreamed character, from whose point of view that world is known. In other words, the dreamed character – the character in the dream – is the agency through which our mind knows itself as the dreamed world.
    Could it be that each of our minds are like localizations through which Infinite Consciousness knows itself as the world? After all, that is in line with our experience. Is there anyone here who is currently experiencing anything other than the knowing or consciousness of your experience?

    … if we investigate like honest scientists, relying only on the evidence of experience, this knowing or consciousness is all that is ever experienced. And it is possible to explain the whole of reality on the basis of consciousness alone, without recourse to an abstract world made of matter, which nobody has ever, or could ever come in contact with.
    What are the implications of this possibility? It implies that whatever or whoever seems to be outside of ourselves, in other words all others, all objects and the world, although they may be outside of our limited, finite minds, they are not outside of the infinite field of consciousness, out of which our finite minds are made. In other words, the implications of this possibility is that everyone & everything is a modulation of a single infinite indivisible whole, seemingly separate from ourselves, seemingly made out of something other than ourselves, but in reality, an integral part of the same infinite, indivisible whole.
    In other words, although experience seems to comprise a multiplicity & diversity of objects & selves, if we look through that appearance, trusting only the evidence of experience, we find no separate objects, people, entities, selves or things. We find only our Self, not our personal (small) self – a collection of thoughts and feelings, but our Self, that true and only Self of infinite, indivisible, self-aware Being – referred to as God in the religious traditions; referred to as Consciousness in gatherings such as this; and referred to as “I” in common parlance. 

    I’m not speaking of some extraordinary experience to which only a few enlightened sages have access. Everybody knows the experience to which I am referring. The common name for it is love. When you feel you love someone, or are in love, do you not feel, to a greater or lesser extent, that you are one with that apparent other? (Oneness, Unitive Experience, Unitive Consciousness) Is that not precisely what the experience of love is – the dissolution of the sense of separation between yourself & the other. In other words, love is not a relationship. It is the collapse of relationship. It is the absence of self & other. In other words, it is the recognition of our shared being. It is the recognition of Reality.
    Why is it that everybody loves the experience of love above all else? It is because each of us, all apparently finite minds long, above all else, to be divested of their seeming separation. All the separate self truly longs for is to be divested of its sense of separation, it’s limitations.
    The experience of beauty is exactly the same experience but in relation to an object rather than to a person or an animal. When you feel the experience of beauty whilst walking in a landscape or listening to a piece of music, do you not feel to a greater or lesser extent that you merge with the music or the landscape? Is there anyone here who has not had that experience? Is there anyone here who on listening to a piece of music or walking in the landscape has not felt themselves dissolve into the music or the landscape, who has not felt the sense of separation between themselves and the object dissolve? Isn’t that why we love to walk in Nature or to listen to music?
    All the separate self truly longs for is to be divested of its sense of separation, to be relieved of the apparent limitations that seem to confine us to a cluster of thoughts, images, feelings, sensations & perceptions, and returns us, as it were, to our Origin, our Source, or our Essence. 

    In the non-dual traditions there are these two essential pathways.
First of all the inward-facing pathway through which we investigate what we call “I,” which culminates in the recognition that the “I” that we essentially are, the Awareness that we essentially are, is without limits & is inherently peaceful.
    And then there is the outward-facing pathway in which our entire experience is realigned with this new understanding in which we not only understand but feel that everyone & everything is a modulation of our own essential infinite self-aware Being.”
    Rupert Spira, “Your Nature is Happiness” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfQSbc42Uc4 - below

How We Look and What We See

     We have ALL EXPERIENCED the day-and-night, or heaven-and-hell difference between looking at anyone or anything - with loving, trusting eyes INSTEAD OF fearfully, competitively or aggressively.

“So long as one is
merely on the surface of things,
they are always
imperfect, unsatisfactory, incomplete.
Penetrate into the substance and
everything is perfect, complete, whole.”
Philip Kapleau

“There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though
everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein

 
    "Life only makes sense when you perceive it as mystery and it makes no sense to the conceptualizing mind.” Anthony de Mello SJ

    What takes us far too long to realize is that BEING in a loving, trusting state, is what allows us to perceive the Divine Nature of everyone, everything, life itself. Namaste! This - our True Self - is what all the shamans, mystics, saints, poets & other deeply spiritual people throughout history keep telling us to remember & live from, in 'languages' most understandable for their times, philosophies & cultures - hence the term "perennial philosophy" http://www.johnlovas.com/search?q=perennial

    “Many people have intimations of their true nature in childhood – the sense of a benevolent presence guiding their life, a radiance that shines forth from all things, or a current of love that unites us all. …
    But we lose touch with this luminosity as we age … we forget who we really are and succumb to the way others see us...
    By adulthood we've more or less forgotten who we truly are, and have passively absorbed the current cultural fad of being frozen in the armor of materialism, meaninglessness & cynicism. Not surprisingly, something in all of us 'continues to weep over the barrenness of modern life.'"
    Stephan Bodian. “Wake Up Now. A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening.” McGraw-Hill, 2008.

    Indeed, under conditions when we feel safe, relaxed, "at home" in our immediate surroundings, perhaps even feel generous, our eyes become relaxed, softly-focused, taking in a wide field of vision. We can feel peaceful, trusting, loving, open and connected not just to whom or what's directly in front of us, but our wider surroundings, perhaps everyone, everything, to life itself.

    However, too many, even in objectively safe situations, are always anxiously ready to deal with impending trauma assumed to be lurking just around the next corner. PTSD & its variants are a terrible drain on individuals & society, crying out for healing with expert professional help. 

    “IF you feel safe & loved, your brain is specialized in exploration, play, & cooperation;
     IF you feel frightened & unwanted, it is specialized in managing feelings of fear & abandonment."
     Bessel Van Der Kolk. “The Body Keeps the Score. Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.” Penguin Books, 2015. 

    But well beyond even what's generally considered normal & well-adjusted ie "ordinary unhappiness," we CAN learn to recognize, & remember to embody our True Self and thereby ALWAYS feel safe, relaxed, peaceful, open, loving, connected, generous, "at home" INDEPENDENT of our objective circumstances.

    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" Krishnamurti 

        "The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness."
    David Foster Wallace 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI

    It's becoming increasingly clear that a key spiritual practice is what has long been called "self-inquiry" (also spelled "self enquiry"). Whenever we find ourselves unhappy, sad, down, ie suffering, we are called to ask ourselves, "WHO is suffering?"
    Initially we give our society's typical description of our identity: name, age, gender, address, education, job, hobbies, relationships etc. Gradually we realize that this is just summarizing our tiresome "story of me" and is nowhere near adequate!
    Our most basic, unchanging True Nature, is timeless, formless, loving, awareness - a mystery beyond description & labeling. Nevertheless, it's been referred to as Spirit, Source, Force, Soul etc.

    So, 1) repeatedly notice the unhappy / anxious / angry / fearful story & assumed identity we continuously tell ourselves in our heads, 2) examine these with curiosity, without judgment, and realize how these have NO stable reality, then 3) let them go, and repeatedly RETURN HOME to True Self which is LIBERATING!

“In this choiceless, never ending flow of life
There is an infinite array of choices.
One alone brings happiness -
To love what is.”
Dorothy Hunt

SUPERB, CONCISE 14-minute video:

Rupert Spira "How Do I Practice Self Enquiry?"

 

I Am

         Within 18 months, even after major life changing events such as a major accident causing permanent disability or winning millions in a lottery, people tend to return to their individual baseline level of happiness. This is referred to as hedonic treadmill or adaptation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill The topic is further complicated when we consider locus of control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control and openness to experience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openness_to_experience

    These Western psychological concepts likely overlap somewhat with one's level of spiritual maturity. I have no idea if & how spiritual maturity could be assessed, except perhaps by someone with an exceptionally high level themself and has integrated this as completely as possible into their day-to-day life ie consistently 'walks the talk.'

    NOW as individuals, as a human race, and perhaps as the entire cosmos, we are ALL in the process of evolving spiritually and integrating this higher state of being into our day-to-day, moment-by-moment behavior. We are ALL starting to experience peace, unconditional love & joy that is independent of external conditions. 

    “By shifting our attention from the fluctuating nature of experiences ("I am this" or "I am that") to the simple, ever-present sense of "I am", we recognize the foundational being-ness that underlies them. As this recognition deepens, being-ness imbues all experiences, revealing a ground of peace that transcends understanding.” Amoda Maa

    Let us continuously remember who we truly are, our true nature, our authentic Self.

Amoda Maa "Recognizing the 'I Am' That is Always Present"