Last update : 11 / 1 / 2020
5 / 3 / 2019
Substantial
_ Are we unhappy or are we just pretending to be unhappy ?
_ What do you mean ?
_ Are we just pretending to be unhappy to add drama to our lives so that we seem more substantial ? I mean think about it, our lives are embarrassingly easy. We’ve got plenty of money. We got friends. Well, you’ve got friends. There are people out there who have real problems, you know, real reasons to be unhappy. I mean, I could be a coal miner dying of black lung or something. You could be a Cincinnati crack whore on food stamps.
_ What ?
_ I don’t know. Doesn’t it feel like we are faking it, our unhappiness ?
_ No. No, it’s real. It’s very real. I’m going home now.
In the movie "Paper Man" by Kieran & Michele Mulroney
7 / 1 / 2019
The beast pulling the cart
In order to forgive, it seems pretty obvious that it's necessary beforehand to condemn, but without condemnation, there is nothing to forgive.
3 / 1 / 2020
More or less
Peace of mind may seem very boring, but it's the only state of mind never asking for more or less. So how could it be boring ?
9 / 1 / 2020
Thinking, acting and feeling
The body is under the power of the mind. It responds to the commands of the conscious and unconscious faculties of the mind, including, and it’s very important to mention it, the faculty of thinking, which is obviously not unrelated to our states of mind and emotion, and therefore how we feel, behave and act.
As far as the unconscious faculties of the mind are concerned, we have very little power on them, and better not. For instance, we must breathe very fast when we run, it’s an unconscious process. But if we want to, we can also consciously deepen our breath and slow down its rhythm, and if for some stupid or somewhat experimental reasons, we try to stop it, we will obviously faint very fast, what the unconscious process of breathing will never do. And that means that the unconscious functioning of the mind is not only vital, but also very smart, and that the mind or ego, the personal identity used by the mind to express itself, should especially not be destroyed or considered as kind of calamity only creating personal problems. On the contrary, the mind or ego should be treated with a lot of care and respect, as much as the body, of course, since our life on this planet is only possible with them.
Concerning the faculty of thinking, we have a very different potential because it’s the only way to effectively change anything in our life, but only if we truly want to. The mind can respond to conditioning and automatism, mostly unconscious defense mechanisms, survival instinct and cultural mental structures deeply rooted in the unconscious, education if you will, which can nevertheless be watched, analyzed and understood to some extent, or if we really have the intention to, we can also actively change how we think according to new or ancient information stored in the mind, our memory, and then exercise choices, which will have a direct and real effect in our actions, and so on our body, behavior, feelings and states of mind.
How do those choices operate effectively ? Obviously, only the faculty of thinking is able to think, that is to say only the mind can think. But consciousness, the inner core of being or soul, what we are as human entities with a body and diverse mental faculties, can access to real choices. That individual consciousness as we call it, quite aware of what the mind think since it is among other things its function, and so how the body is going to act and behave, can agree or disagree with its thoughts.
If that consciousness agrees with its way of thinking and reasoning or simply “doesn’t mind” as we say, the body will act accordingly. And if it disagrees with by really becoming conscious of it, the mind will have to find another way of thinking and line of reasoning before the body could act... unless, of course, circumstances force the person to act instinctively and spontaneously, that is to say unconsciously and without intervention of the conscious power of thinking, which could have changed its actions and behavior. That’s pretty much the main purpose of the practice of Mindfulness, a term supposed to translate the word "Sati" or "Vipassana", which means "insight".
The body itself made of flesh and bones never acts of its own, no need to explain the difference between a body alive and a corpse. Only the mind through the brain and nervous system can direct its actions and behavior, and consequently create specific states of mind and feelings. It means that the body can only react to the conscious or unconscious intention of the mind, and never out of the blue, at random, according to some implacable destiny or God’s will?
Briefly said, we are not organic robots programmed to act for no good reason or against our own will and intention. If that was the case, even the worst suffering would have no effect. Until proven otherwise, no machine is able to suffer. That’s what the concept “Karma” tends to suggest – when there is life, there is obviously actions, i.e. Karma, and so constant relations of cause and effect, that is to say the dynamic of Karma, but also actions we are conscious of, and we can choose if we want to in a context that no one can control and even understand. By the way, that’s also what the Chaos Theory and fractal structures explain more or less in mathematical terms.
All this simply means that, as far as conscious thinking, and not conditioned or automatic thinking and unconscious reactions are concerned, we can choose and be responsible for what we think, and therefore also choose and be responsible to some extent of what we do and how we behave, and then, of what we are and how we feel. That’s an option we always have. Theoretically, it means that we could be happy, feel good and peaceful at any time and in any situation including the worst... if we really want to.
Theoretically, and much less practically speaking, of course, because body and mind, our thoughts and spontaneous reactions, the unconscious and the perceptions of the outer world, i.e. the situations in which we find ourselves, and we obviously don't always choose, are so interdependent and constantly reacting on each other, and always creating an extremely complex network of impulse and stimulation that it’s quite impossible to really know the outcome of any real choice we make in our life.
But there is no doubt that we should be able to change our way of living, being and feeling, maybe not radically and instantly although it's not impossible in some circumstances, by simply changing some of our thoughts and so our way of reasoning. We all know that by simply remembering some maybe not very important decisions we took in the past, but which nevertheless became effective and, in fact, completely changed our life without really noticing it.
In such a context of understanding, no action and thought is more or less important than another because each one determines the next action and way of thinking. And in that very same context, life should become potentially the greatest art we can practice, kind of alchemy able to change anything happening inside or outside ourselves in gold and amazing experiences.
Anyhow, without making it up and expecting suddenly a fantastic life, if we really are in a quest for well-being, self-improvement, psychological healing, spiritual awakening, liberation or whatever, we have to start somewhere. We cannot take our existential misery and suffering for granted..., et voilà, we are instantly liberated by just recognizing and accepting them as they are with kind of positive thinking or believing that we are already enlightened because a stupid Neo guru told us so.
We obviously have to really change something if we wish to stop our suffering and dissatisfaction. And what could be that “thing” if not how and what we think by becoming before anything else conscious of it, and then agree or disagree with what we think in order to modify or completely change how we experience our life ? It’s obviously not by relaxing or ignoring ourselves and how live and think that such a process is going to happen by itself, we have to participate in personally and actively, which means that we have to make an effort and use will power instead of believing that free will is an illusion.
That kind of process is usually called “inner purification”, which simply means changing our way of thinking relying, of course, on different or new existential and spiritual values. If, for instance, we sincerely introduce in the mind that it’s not money that can make us happy, as long as we have enough to live decently, but a true spiritual awakening or peace of mind based on respect of the others and ourselves, no need to explain that such a concept can radically change our life, and slowly also our Western culture far too materialistic, competitive and narcissistic to make anybody happy or only psychologically balanced.
It may almost seem ridiculous, but by simply becoming more conscious and much more often of what we actually think instead of just thinking continuously and accumulating more information coming from so-called Neo gurus who only know how to speak very well, we can change our thoughts, states of mind, emotions and behavior. That’s what spiritual teachings should explain in very simple terms, and that’s, for instance, what the practice of meditation is all about. True spiritual teachings are always a practical set of instructions, and not big speeches always more or less demagogic, politically correct, pseudo-metaphysical, full of flattery and completely useless as those we hear today.
Sincerely, who cares, for instance, that we are already enlightened or God having a human experience, if that very experience is a complete disaster and full of suffering and perpetual dissatisfaction ? Anybody a little sensible would choose and prefer a lot more to only be a very normal and ordinary human being experiencing a good life and great emotional states instead of being God or already enlightened. Who cares if reality is illusory or kind of crazy hologram and Matrix since, by definition, reality cannot be unreal or illusory, and anyway, it’s only in that reality we can experience our own and real life ? Who truly cares that we all are dreaming and everything is a crazy joke if the joke is absolutely not funny ? Or seriously, who really mind that the glass of water is half full or half empty when we are thirsty ? We just drink it, and if there is not enough, we can always go get more. That kind of ultra positive spirituality always demagogic and nonsensical is just pointless, it doesn’t help anybody. It might be pleasant to listen to and entertaining for a while, but as far as its spiritual or therapeutic aspect is really concerned, better go for a walk in the countryside. That spirituality made of endless talks and speeches has never enlightened or liberated anybody, that's very easy to verify and many are those who start to realize it and be really fed up with, except, of course, the Neo gurus making money out of it.
On the contrary, if we take the Buddha’s first sermon in Sarnath, it’s only about very clear revelations and simple instructions that can seriously be pondered a very long time, and it takes about 5 minutes to read it. It may seem absolutely incredible nowadays, but Buddha's most basic teaching, and indeed the only one to really know and understand, did not take more than a few minutes to be passed on to the 5 monks who were to become his disciples. If we take Ramana Maharshi’s true teaching, it’s only 3 words, “Who Am I ?”, i.e. become conscious of who you think to be and realize what you really are, the Self, consciousness, bliss and so on. If we take the Tao Te Ching, it might take 2 hours to read it, and then all our life to really understand and realize what has been taught by practicing and following the instruction given by Lao Tzu.
We can take any true spiritual teachings, all of them offer a choice, obvious truths and a simple set of instruction very easy to understand, and basically it’s always about consciousness and awareness of how the mind works. Why…, because only at that level of what we are, we can choose and change something that is always going wrong, something painful or something we don’t want to experience anymore in ourselves. And contrary to our Neo Western spirituality and New Age, it’s never the expression of a new form of narcissism or sublime ego-trip since it’s always relying on obvious facts of life, simplicity, decency and respect of the others who are certainly not illusory or nonexistent unless, of course, to considers oneself completely illusory and non-existent, which would mean among other things that any spiritual quest would have no meaning at all, and that the concept of illusion or non-existence would not have either.
True spiritual teachings are never big blah blah blah more or less sophisticated and meaningless made for kind of decadent avant-garde and intelligentsia, but always clear revelations on which we can meditate all our life, and very precise instruction that everybody can easily understand and follow. And if we choose for some good reasons not to practice a certain teaching, we can always find another more adapted to ourselves and our understanding. But we cannot think to have spiritualized our life or of having a true spiritual quest without practicing and following very clear instruction, by simply reading a good book, going to lovely Satsang with completely insane teachings or watching cute smiling Neo gurus on YouTube who only understood the power of rhetoric, sophism and marketing, nothing more than videos, which are, in fact, only commercials for spiritual by-products for consumers.
Spirituality is a choice and practice, and obviously about our conscious relationship with the mind. Only at that level of consciousness, we can choose and change what we are conscious of since it’s impossible to act directly on the unconscious. And if we go seriously in that path of self-inquiry or introspection, we will discover and finally realize that by only watching how the mind works, the mind itself is going to change naturally for the better without any need to agree or disagree with what it thinks.
But that's another topic related to the cosmic order, Dharma and Tao, the relation between consciousness and conscience, universal morality and common sense, the kind of subject that nobody wants to hear about today in our spirituality…, not yet, but very fortunately, it will come sooner or later on the table when truth seekers will seriously wonder why we are in such a mess inside ourselves and all over the world, and our Western civilization is agonizing and in fact dying.
11 / 1 / 2020
Creative and objective thinking
Any difficulty is a precious teaching for those who tread a spiritual path.
For the others, it will be a real problem which might quickly become a living hell.
Better to welcome every challenge and conflict, and learn from them, since anyway, they won't leave us before to be solved.
And so, we easily understand the concept of "Spiritual Warrior" even if we are very peaceful people who never look for any problems.