“… mysticism [is] the critical means of gaining insight into life’s essential mysteries. … science’s particular tools cannot access the full spectrum of what we are, or of what the world is. … we have a noetic, experiential capacity for accessing knowledge, a mystical function of our being that directly accesses a truth unattainable by scientific or analytical means. There are methods whereby we can expand our minds, expand our consciousness, to the point where we can apprehend metaphysical dimensions of what we are (and of what the world is) that escape an exclusively rational or quantitative approach. … awakening to these noetic dimensions, as had been achieved in earlier generations by mystics in all cultures, is not only our innate human capacity but also a necessary step in our evolution as a species. … Maybe people were assuming that their consciousness was fixed by its very nature when in reality it was only fixed by nurture, based on social conditioning and the momentum of everyday habits; maybe there is a wide band of possible experiences that we shut out daily because of that conditioning and the weight of our personal assumptions.”
Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living
the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century
Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014.
"... when you take away all the religious stuff, the world's spiritual
traditions have some profound things to say about the art of being
human.
... self-transcendence - the experience of losing the sense that there's a subject in the center of experience. And when you lose that feeling of self, then in some basic sense, only the world remains. ... Given that Christians, and Hindus, and Buddhists, and Muslims, and even atheists like myself, have this (type of peak) experience in a variety of contexts, we know that this experience can't be data in favor of any religious interpretation. We know that there's a deeper principle at work, and this deeper principle has to be understood in 21st century terms that are non-sectarian, that don't endorse any kind of sectarian tribalism. And that's the challenge I see for us - to get out of the religion business and to talk about the full range of human experience in terms that are intellectually responsible and honest and therefore non-divisive.
At age 18, I had a profound drug-induced experience that I couldn't
forget which was that life could be far better than I was tending to live it. It became very clear, as I did some reading and got my first taste of meditation practice, that the problem was my own mind, the problem was how I was unable to pay attention in the present moment. Meditation can be an immensely powerful tool for the mitigation of psychological suffering." Sam Harris
Sam Harris, author of "Tame Your Mind (No Religion Required)" interviewed by Mary Hines on CBC Radio's "Tapestry":http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/
"Sometimes people with early childhood scarring complain that they are unable to feel their emotions. We all have emotions, but some of us have learned to ignore them and turn away. I often suggest that those who ignore their emotions awaken to their emotional life through tenderness: looking around until something stirs their humanity, then resting their gaze quietly upon that. When they begin to experience a felt sense of beauty, they will also feel tender, open, and peaceful. Their emotions will begin to percolate through this process, and appreciation will arise within that tenderness. Appreciation is the quiet thank-you of the heart that opens across the landscape."
Rodney Smith. Awakening. A Paradigm Shift of the Heart. Shambhala, Boston, 2014.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust Many of us, even if we like & admire this quote, basically don't trust or believe in its value - "it's not practical!" We're not motivated to put it into practice. We assume that looking at "bad" situations "from a different perspective" is a useless game of pretending - that it doesn't actually change anything, we'd be simply fooling ourselves to try to feel a bit better. That certain practices fundamentally change who we are & our relationship to life is a foreign concept to most of us. But the real problem is that our automatic default response to any adversity - & many arise daily - is adversarial - "me, myself & I" against the hostile world. This IS "natural" & appropriate for animals & cave-dwellers - BUT NOT for civilized humans today! Now we must PRACTICE to establish a new default way of being: open-hearted, nurturing presence. This iscritically practical - because our old default reptilian waysare literally killing everything.
"Practice refers to the discipline of cultivating a crucial
capacity of mind, such as wisdom or concentration. Practices are rehearsals of
desired qualities, which eventually become spontaneous, natural ways of being." Walsh R. “Essential
spirituality. The 7 central practices to awaken heart and mind.” John Wiley
& Sons Inc, NY, 1999.
Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, May 4, 2014
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
Isn't THAT what we're all after? Not that we're all, individually, at the same level of psychosocialspiritual development. But in our own humble personal way, as we all crawl, stumble, walk, fly & levitate majestically from the primordial swamp - are we not all evolving - in a massive timeless single will of the human heart-mind - one for all & all for one, towards full & complete enlightenment?
"Perhaps the most unique and important principle of the Buddha’s approach to the mind is the insight that the mysteries of the human condition are best explored in the dynamics of subjective experience as it unfolds in the present moment. Buddhist theoretical psychology is a science of experience, in which the stream of consciousness itself, as it is presented to the attentive and carefully trained observer, is the field of investigation. ... adepts would go off into the forest alone, cross their legs, shut their eyes, and look very closely at what was going on. They would observe the various effects of fasting, breathing exercises, and other yogic disciplines on their experience, and they organized their observations and insights in formal teachings and systems of great subtlety and complexity. It was a remarkably scientific endeavor in many ways, in which the human body and mind served as the laboratory for investigation. As such, the entire tradition is more of a descriptive phenomenology than a theory of mind. The Buddha was not saying, 'This is what I theorize human experience to be.' Rather, his message (paraphrased) was, 'This is what I’ve seen in my personal experience.' And further, 'Don’t take my word for it; examine it for yourself, and you too can see exactly what I’m talking about.' Much of what he points to does not require years in the wilderness to access, but is available to all of us in this very moment."
Andrew Olendzki: "Buddhist Psychology", Chapter 1, in: Seth Robert Segall ed. "Encountering Buddhism: Western Psychology and Buddhist Teachings", SUNY Press, 2003.
"Spiritual
practice is stepping out of the assumed reality of ‘me’ by understanding what
the ‘me’ is and withdrawing energy from its perceptual fixations. ... the realization & integration of anatta (is) central.”
Smith
R. "Stepping out of self-deception. The Buddha's liberating teaching of
no-self." Shambhala, Boston, 2010.
There are "three identity styles that differ in the social-cognitive processes
employed to deal with identity-relevant questions and concerns.
... diffuse-avoidantidentity style - ‘‘reluctant to face up to and
confront personal problems & decisions’’. ... predict(s) problematic qualities (eg neuroticism), coping & decisional
strategies (eg disengagement), and mental health outcomes (eg depression).
... normativeidentity style - ‘‘deal with identity questions
and decisional situations by conforming to the prescriptions and expectations
of significant others’’. ... associated
with high self-esteem & educational purpose, ... associated with the
tendency to be conservative, authoritarian, & racist.
... informationalidentity style - ‘‘actively seek out, evaluate,
and use self-relevant information’’. ... associated with openness to
experience, introspectiveness, self-reflection, & cognitive complexity. ... the only form ... that positively
predicts mature adjustment in the form of psychological hardiness, personal
growth, & life purpose.” Beaumont SL. Identity styles and wisdom during emerging adulthood:
Relationships with mindfulness and savoring. Identity: An International Journal
of Theory and Research 2011; 11(2): 155-180.
"The emergence and blossoming of understanding, love and intelligence has nothing to do with any tradition, no matter how ancient or impressive - it has nothing to do with time. It happens completely on its own when a human being questions, wonders, listens and looks without getting stuck in fear, pleasure and pain. When self concern is quiet, in abeyance, heaven and earth are open. The mystery, the essence of life is not separate from the silent openness of simple listening."Toni Packer
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