Another tough week of news. While the details change and each event is sadly tragic in its own way, the “news” might properly be called the “olds”. Conflict, atrocities, and other horrible news has unfortunately been around as long as human life. Whatever we choose to call it, how can we relate to it as responsible citizens and as children of Spirit? I’m glad you asked… :-)
On its face, hoping something unpleasant will go away on its own seems perfectly natural. And it is. Unfortunately, it is also perfectly natural to experience aches and pains. However, if we work out and eat well, we can often do better than “perfectly natural.” Does that mean you “should” work out and eat well? No! Only if you want to maximize the chance you will be healthy. Similarly, none of the “moral” laws of spirituality have to do with “should.” They have to do with cause and effect, just like the cause and effect at play with our bodies.
Almost all of us get discouraged at some point in life. No matter how hard we try, sometimes multiple things are just not working. Everything I do lately has blown up in my face; I try to be as kind as possible but somehow everyone is mad at me; my relationships always fail. The list of possible hope-removers is long. But as with every aspect of life, the trouble is really in our heads and not in the unfortunate circumstances we are facing…
It is very common for people to be uncomfortable with change. There is a deep rooted natural reason for this. Our fundamental delusion on this planet is that we need our circumstances to be just right in order to be happy. And everyone wants to be happy. No one ever wakes up in the morning thinking, “I sure hope I am miserable today!” We all want to be happy, and we are sure that happiness can only be achieved if our circumstances are improved (a little more money, better relationship, good health, more satisfying work, well-adjusted children, etc.)
Contentment, it has been rightly said, is the supreme virtue. While I believe this is true, there are a number of ways to misinterpret this. Contentment does not mean passivity. It means an open, receptive heart, able to accept reality for what it is. Once the heart is calm, true intuition and knowledge is free to enter.
I remember a great joke I heard years ago. The pilot of a commercial jet comes on the intercom and says, “I have good news and bad news [I bet they are never supposed to say that!]. The bad news is our navigation and communication systems are down, and we are completely lost. The good news is that with our current tailwind, we are making great time!”
Our natural state is to feel the deep joy of Spirit. One might wonder… if that is so natural why is that state amazingly rare for each of us and for people in general? Glad you asked… :) Joy is not created. There is nothing we need to do directly to bring it into our lives. Joy being our natural state, the better question is, “What then blocks it from manifesting more fully in our lives?”
The world is enticing. The ups, the downs, the thrills, the spills. The ultimate soap opera to keep us engaged, whether joyous or sad. This is what has us come back over and over, tweaking the details in hopes of the perfect result. But that desire obscures what we are doing here. This planet is a school (and not a PhD program, mind you — it’s more of an elementary school!).
Feeling sorry for the past is completely natural and expected… but not helpful. There are many things that are a part of us that, were we able to master them, we’d be a bit better off without. Regret is high on the list. Why is that? Some of it is ancient programming. We like sweets because thousands of years ago it was hard to get. So when you saw it, you felt like you’d better eat it right away. Now, unfortunately, you can go to the grocery store and get all you want at a modest cost.
I have been away and did not have time to write this week, so I am reprinting one of my favorite posts from a couple of years ago. I will hopefully be back on track next week.
I had a most interesting experience recently…I went to Castro Street with my wife for a walk and to have a coffee at Red Rock Coffee. Outside the shop I saw a cute, tiny dog. A woman had the adult dog in a small baby carriage. I moved to pet it, but it didn’t act quite right, so she said, “Oh, he’s blind. He had a progressive eye disease….”
A woman was in her living room with her husband. She looked out her window and saw that her neighbor had recently hung out laundry to dry in the sun. The woman said to her husband, “Just look at those clothes! They are filthy. I need to talk to her and tell her how to wash clothes properly. I can't believe at her age she still doesn't know how to do such a basic task.” The next morning as she looked out the same window…
When the vast majority of people hear the word “yoga” they think of postures. The meaning of “yoga” from the original Sanskrit, however, is “to yoke or unite.” But unite what? Our small self with the greater Self. To be precise, postures is called hatha yoga. It was designed millennia ago to calm the body. An agitated nervous system cannot merge with Spirit. Doing hatha alone is, however, a bit like spending your whole life tuning your instrument.
Everyone wants to be a success. Regardless of what your goal is, there are certain attitudes that dramatically increase your chances of hitting whatever target you choose. I of course would argue that true success is an inner state. You can find people at the pinnacle of any human endeavor who, in the end, are not especially happy with what they have accomplished or the heights they have risen to. Except one.
Everyone wants to be happy. Even the lowest of animals seeks to avoid pain and pursue pleasure. (Fair enough: the pleasures get pretty simple for animals. Watching a great movie does not make the list!) But humans are more advanced. We have a neocortex in our brains, which gives us the ability to be self-aware. This further enables us to understand the source of our suffering and the source of our happiness. But it is still not that simple (I bet you knew that was coming…)
There are a beautiful few lines in the spiritual ceremony I participate in each Sunday:
With all my mind, With all my heart, With all my soul
I choose Thy love, I choose only Thee
Poetic and beautiful, but I’d like to go deeper into the meaning this week.
It is entirely natural to have our hearts pulled in many ways. Of course and obviously, we want our loved ones to be safe and secure. We want our own lives to be fulfilling and rewarding. We want our lovely Planet Earth to be cared for. We want…
There is much talk these days about self-esteem. While there are those who arguably have too much (!), the more usual problem is with those who constantly run themselves down in their own minds. The cure for that is self-honesty. If you are reading this letter you are very likely striving to be a better person. Great—and the planet thanks you! But that being the case, we often measure ourselves against too high a standard.
The mind is a bit complex. There are many thwarting cross-currents such that even our best intentions can be diverted by habits and impulses. It is often not important where these foes of our intended direction come from or are caused by, so long as they are defeated! It’s why psychology can help with a specific issue (a deep narrow fear or trauma, for example), but is not really a way to learn to lead a life.
I just got back from Italy Monday night. Several things occurred to me in relation to that trip. We have a natural tendency to go on automatic pilot when in familiar surroundings. Yogananda suggested doing things in a new way each day. It can even be as trivial as brushing your teeth with your other hand. We want to be conscious and in-the-present at every moment, so hopefully we can do better than going subconscious or unconscious as we move through our day.
I teach stress management classes for government agencies and corporations around the world. What I teach is basically the Sanskrit term nishkam karma, which means “to act without desire for the fruit of the action.” Just strive to do the right thing each moment and the result will be the result.
Suppose you are skiing downhill, and trying to make a good time to the finish of the run. You of course have a goal, but if your attention is down the hill at the goal, you will miss what needs to be happening here and now right under your skis.
I had an interesting conversation with a customer at East West. He said he was an atheist. After a brief chat I said: “Every scientist knows that the model of the atom that is used in physics is inaccurate. One could pick at the inaccuracies forever. However, if one relaxes a bit and embraces what it does explain, the scientist can grasp new ideas and concepts he would not be able to grasp otherwise. Using the model, with all its flaws, is of great benefit to physics. 'God' is simply a model for something equally beyond our grasp…
