Charge of the Light Brigade!

Frequently, intense and somewhat heated exchanges occur in discussion forums focusing on spirituality. Usually, this is handled with civility, however, often it tends to create bad feelings amongst individuals and, although, this may rise up occasionally, most tend to seek out greater civility and make apologies as necessary.

But this is life, boys and girls! These discussions are microcosmic representations of life itself, merely abridged and abbreviated.

Yet, lo and behold, we have the charge of the Light Brigade! Because they refuse to enter into the often dark depths of engagement, and often are disengaged from most conflicts of life, the lightworkers come to our "emotional rescue." They seek to spread peace and light in the hopes of redirecting hostilities, but merely make the participants feel even more guilty for their conflictual engagement.

Who could not feel guilty when the interaction they recently engaged in was anything but "peace and light"?

Thank god for the lightworkers and their clichés of love and godliness; with their comfortable pithy quotes from the master teachers of light.

Sometimes I want to ask, are you real? But that would be too controversial and so, It would go unanswered.

I sense their presence always, out there in the margins, rarely engaging except to post a quote from the venerable in the hopes of saving the discussion from death by negativity. Disagree with their means and you instantly indict yourself as in league with the positivity sucking devils of darkness.

Conflict is anathema to the lightworkers who define life as merely the spreading of positive "vibrations." We must remain positive at all times. Philosophical negativity is shunned because, as their creed demands, negativity in all its forms can never have any value and can only lead to more negativity. Negative interactions can have no cathartic effect in aiding individuals in seeing more clearly the views they hold. Life is chock full of conflict and most is of our own doing, individually and collectively. Yet, we tend to grow through spasms of pain and suffering. We watch others struggle to make sense of anger and depression and we identify with them, because their struggle is ours.

Most of us, that is, but not the lightworkers. They seem unusually immune to the conflicts the rest of us poor folk plod through. But if only we would just seek the light, all our troubles would be gone, "come into the light, Caroleanne, come into the light!"

But we are!

For the lightworkers, dirty laundry stinks and so we must quickly wash away our issues and problems with lots of soap and water. Remember when you mother washed out your fowl mouth with soap? You continued to use the ‘F' word even more ferociously! ( well, maybe that was just me)

No, dear friends, we must always shed our light upon the world, because darkness has no value. Ahh... but without darkness to define your seeking the light, how would you define your "self" and the very project you are engaged in?

Forget the deep-seated ancient issues and the wounds crying out to be healed. Just pour pink paint over them and everything will be all better. I avoid lightworkers like the plague, since they deny us our struggle, and merely provide 'lip-service' the aphorisms of the ancient lightworkers.

They deny LIFE.

These frightened folks tend to rile me more than the complex exchanges between ideological opponents seeking common ground. It's almost as if there are no problems that their positive thinking can't solve.

I meet these individuals in my work on a daily basis and have come to see this as a feint, a delusion, a foil, because under all their peace and light is a boiling cauldron of emotion just waiting to come to the surface and murder everyone in their path.

They scare me...

"Don't you dare," they seem to say, in their desperate need to hide from their own emotional self.

Here ye, oh, lightworkers of the world:

You are not saving the world by spreading your light. The light comes from intimately understanding one another within our depths, not from deflecting that understanding through platitudes that seek to offset negativity. Face your fears through another. Intimacy demands discomfort in vacating all our pretty ideological boxes and packages. Your "light" merely prolongs the inevitable intimacy that our conflict has the potential to bring.

Throw away your pithy quotes and your scripts from the "masters."

I ask... WHAT SAY YOU! Will you give me honesty or just more of your "light."

Mature conflict is encouraged in the often painful search for the truth that is discovered by all differently. Even immature conflict is warranted as long as adults can apologize for their mistakes of the mouth. If you are afraid of conflict, you are asked to risk you plastic sense of peace and seek the intimacy that true depth of engagement brings. Real peace is not born of new age platitudes and clichés, but of engagement. Swim in my depths and I will join with yours in our own Intimate Awakening.

Spreading of light allowed, but only through depth of engagement.

Thanks,
mikeS

Spiritual Enlightenment of the "Everyman"

Could it be that once you choose to take a “spiritual path” you then cannot possibly be on one?

Does your spiritual path help you differentiate your ‘self’ from others? Are you somehow different from those ‘ordinary’ souls who have not yet consciously chosen a spiritual path? Maybe they will choose “spirituality” in the next life or the one after.

Thank god, you are evolved!

But if this is what you SEE, how could you be?

Always differences made of “judgment.” This is how the guilty seek reprieve from the world in order to embrace a fraudulent sense of innocence. But true forgiveness collapses all levels and observes that in our differences we are joined as One.

Did you catch the breaking news? Change is no longer certain! This is because time is vertical and not horizontal. We merely experience centuries of believing we're different, while we've always been the same.

I recently came across this monumentally profound quote from another “spiritual enlightenment” website (and there seem to be millions of awakened ones teaching awakening):

“The sole purpose of the universe is the evolution of the individual spirit-consciousness”

Of course, that makes perfect sense!

Yet, I wonder if my rather un-spiritual, non-religious, Nascar-loving neighbor Bob, knows that "the sole purpose of the universe is the evolution of the individual spirit-consciousness."

Hmmm...I'll bet he doesn't. Well... he's a nice guy, anyway... so... I wonder if it matters if he doesn't know that "the sole purpose of the universe is the evolution of the individual spirit-consciousness"?

Sadly, most spiritual theorists fail to grasp the paradox and merely mouth antiquities. Words like “sole” and “individual” seem poor teaching tools, since ego yelps with glee at what those words actually signify.

Now it can comfortably settle back on its cushion and say 'so-long' to the world of “illusion.” It can gloat over how splendidly it has transcended egoic material wants and desires and revel in its austerity. Now it can forget the troubles of the world in its quest to awaken to “truth.”

But what of the rest of us?

Are we NOT seeking? Are we nothing but mundane and ordinary working-stiffs, blinded by our ignorance?

What of the “everyman” who toils in slavery to the world’s conditioning, is he NOT “spiritual”? He must be, for if he is not, how can you be?

Do not forget the 'everyman' of the world, for he is YOU.

Where is the division? What imaginary thin line separates you from him? Do you really think, all smug and spiritually complacent on your cushion, that you are different in some way? Is your "awakening" merely nothing more than a contrast, rather than an end to all contrasting? Has your “spiritual path” caused you to inadvertently look down upon the everyman. Do you pretend or deny consciousness of this disengagement? Do you believe your enlightenment will save them?

Who do you think you are, God?

When you experienced that whiz-bang of the 4th Jhana, were they with you? If not, than what good was it?

What happened to "no child left behind"?

Crawl down in the ditch and engage with your world, because without them you are merely a caricature of a self, mouthing the pithy quotes of the venerable. Awakening is intimate engagement of the many to discover One in the world. You can’t do it alone.

Get off your cushion. Enlightenment is engaged and anything less is more of the same blah, blah, blah.

But then...so is this...Ha!

Peace Angels,
mikeS

CONVERSATIONS WITH EGO: "Serious Business"

ego: Uh…Mike, what are you laughing at?

Mike: Haha! What I just wrote! Teehee. LOL!

ego: Mike, don’t you think you should be taking our spirituality a little more seriously?

Mike: Huh? Why? And what do you mean "our" spirituality?

ego: Mike, you know we're in this together and nobody’s gonna take what you write seriously if you act as if this is all a big joke. Besides, “enlightenment” is serious business!

Mike: Well, maybe it is a “big joke.” In fact, maybe God’s laughing his ass off with all our serious spiritual and religious bullshit!

ego: Mike! We cannot have this! Spirituality is serious business and you gotta stop fooling around. There’s important work to be done!

Mike: Says who? You! You take everything so damn serious, no wonder most days I’m a mental case!

ego: I am truly shocked by your attitude! The world’s ancient spiritual paths and religions are based on centuries of serious teachings, taught by serious “masters.” You can't just disrespect the teachings with your lame comedy bits.

Mike: I thought we were trying to break from the past.

ego: Uh…well…yes… we are, but keep in mind that I am a product of your past. Therefore, for you to exist you must accept the past in me.

Mike: Well, maybe by no longer taking spirituality so serious, I no longer have to take you serious and life might become a bit more enjoyable around here.

ego: Enjoyable! Mike, life is suffering and sacrifice and you know that, since I’ve spent years teaching you. How could you forget? Now mike…you need to keep in mind that I assisted you in acquiring all the important stuff you now know. You need to take this seriously, dammit!

Mike: Hmmm…maybe what you fear is that, if spirituality becomes a big joke to me, you’ll also become a big joke, since you seem to thrive on my taking everything seriously, especially the so-called “important stuff."

ego: Mike! Stop this now! You need to get with the program like everybody else and stop this foolishness.

Mike: See ya…

ego: Mike... wait… Mike! Don’t do this………..Mike?

Your "Enlightenment" is a Group Activity

The ego-self constructs experiences for which to define a 'spiritual nature.' As a separate self this defining is finite. Yet, it can define an infinite self. However, "you" have no real capacity to perform such a task alone, since it must be discovered, but was not meant to be discovered alone.



In fact, "awakening" is not a solitary endeavor and requires the investment of others to be awakened to their own Truth which is not separate from yours.

I cannot experience an awakened perspective of my own accord, simply because the experience was meant to be shared and I will know I am awakened only when you see 'it' in me. But that will be how I see you. Your experience of me has the potential to essentially “reawaken” me to the Truth that has never left me. Yet, the seeming paradox is that I can only find that Truth through you.

Theoretically, this sets off a chain reaction in which my awakening IN you invites your awakening IN me. There is no originating 'self,' as that would conform to time constraints binding us to conventional perspectives of solitary seeking through practices reinforcing a 'self' practicing.

Therefore, no teacher is necessary since we teach each other. You must see Truth in me, for me to see you as you were meant to be seen, so that we both may engage together in our natural state. A state not available to separate minds. Our natural or awakened state is a perspective completely free of conflict and abiding in a mutual peace that we desire for the other and not our ‘self.’ When you desire my enlightenment, we will both be free, otherwise we are merely chained to our solitary 'practices.'

To be “inspired” is to achieve together an ‘in-spirit’ perspective of each other. This perspective equalizes all levels and degrees because awakening is equally unified within us as One Truth that requires no discrimination or judgment between us.

The "Final Judgment" is a group activity, requiring full participation from ALL, for ALL judgment to cease.

Intimate Awakening is authentic healing and it cannot occur alone or apart from another. It requires no bodily contact whatsoever, but can be considered as the deepest intimacy one could experience through another, because it is infinite in nature and the depth never ends. The world teaches individual enlightenment as episodes or events in time and since these teachings have been made sacred, the world conforms religiously.

True healing naturally adheres to laws that are not available in the world because your experience of the world is constructed to avoid Truth in perpetuation of the myth that individuals can awaken alone. The world teaches that you must find it your ‘self,’ Yet, this is how you lost ‘awareness’ in the first place.

Our mutual healing can only be transferred to the world, which awakens with us. Either we all awaken to worldwide healing or we remain together in a world of separate suffering. Therefore, the project is clear. To awaken yourself, you must desire to see awakening in another. What you give, you get. There really is no other way, because truth is not available to parts of the whole, but only the whole.

Your “enlightenment” is entirely contingent on mine. Seek to lift me up and we rise together. Yet, this is contraindicated and counter to the individual ego seeking to lift itself up alone and this is why we all remain so pathetically grounded... and alone.

Good Luck With That!
mikeS

The Cult of Expertise

Let's face it, you and I know nothing of any real value and it’s crucial that we recognize our knowledge deficiencies. Otherwise, why seek out the 'experts' to rectify our self-proclaimed ignorance. It is incumbent upon us to seek out the ‘knowers,’ or experts, to educate us. But what have been the results of that education?


Problem is, when it comes to religious-spiritual ideologies, the experts tend to be wrong, but only if we base that on results achieved. Yet, that does not stop us from seeking out the priest, sensei, master, guru, yogi, roshi, etc, etc, to learn how to transcend our miserable lot.

Yet, it just may be the "cult of expertise" that keeps us stuck and miserable.

It’s funny how spiritual systems of “learning,” which teach ego transcendence, seems equivalent in structure to the educational system perpetuated by the ego-based public school system. Both allow individual egos to compete against one another for the rewards of "learning." You learn from the ‘teacher’ (master) and gradually, if you demonstrate the requisite 'knowledge,' make the grade and move up the ranks to the illustrious, and deeply desired, outcome of graduation.

Unfortunately, similar to our deplorable public school system, the spiritual schools tend to let lose upon the world many who lack the tools to even engage in adequate surface relationships, let alone teach any depth of relating. Yet, as long as they mouth the 'ancient wisdom,' we will revere their expert titles and sit at their feet, because without our reverence they are nothing.

It seems that our numerous schools of spiritual-religious higher learning have not succeeded very fortuitously in effecting any tangible degree of world change. This becomes clear as a world based on greed and self absorbed acquisition, begins to crumble around us taking many casualties. Neither the schools of religion-spirituality, nor the even more pathetic schools of empirical knowledge, have been able to redirect, or even slightly offset, this seemingly inevitable course. In fact, greed, corruption, war, famine, genocide, etc, etc, etc, have been on the rise throughout the 2oth century.

So what gives, guru,?

It seems highly probable that any system of learning, based on increasing the value of an individual separate 'learner,' in competition through hierarchical ranking systems (with winners and losers) can only fail to enhance the collective peace and tranquility. Nevertheless, even though what I point out is certainly evident to everyone, the collective and individual ego-self refuses to give up on this paradigm.

Look at any Zen school and note the levels and degrees of the' learned,' with all the prestigious ranks and credentials of a winner (often displayed through robe colors, sashes, and other insignia). No doubt, any new contestant's desire for "awakening" can only be obstructed by the desire for graduating from novitiate level 2 or 3 to novitiate level 1. They have learned that rank and title are prestigious outcomes (rewards) and thus, whether or not your rank comes with any authentic claim to "enlightenment" is non-negotiable, you are revered nonetheless.

Yet, how many “doctors” have you met who, although properly credentialed and titled, seemed absolute morons?

"What one wins in a finite game is title. A title is the acknowledgment of others that one has been the winner of a particular game. Titles are public; they are for others to notice.
Titles are theatrical, with a specified form of address and behavior. The title determines not only who may speak to you, but how they may speak to you, and about what they may speak to you. The title is a recognition of areas in which the titled person is no longer in competition ["awakening"].
The titled are powerful. Those around them are expected to yield, to withdraw their opposition, to conform to their will in the arena in which the title was won. Power is a concept that belongs only in finite play, and is never certain until the game is over, so to speak of a person's power is to speak of what they have already done ["awakened"]. One does not win by being powerful, but one wins to be powerful. That is, power is conferred by the title, after the game is over, and I am no longer playing. ("Finite and Infinite Games," James Carse)

Sadly, last night I watched my 13 year old daughter lose a regional spelling bee. Of course, the rules of this empirical ego-game demand that many must lose for a few to win. I suppose that’s a paradigmatic expectation of an empirical world that the world is highly resistant to change.

Nevertheless, you would think that our schools of spiritual 'ego-transcendence' would find some way to at least transcend that same competitive model. But no, alas, these universities of ‘peace and light’ are victim to the same 'cult of expertise' that our educational system suffers from, with all its levels and degrees of knowledge. These illustrious spiritual schools of "transcendence" support the same paradigm of separate individual achievement, thereby allowing the collective to erode ever farther from any worldwide peace and tranquility.

So where's the "oneness", roshi?

Surf the sites of these 'master teachers' and you will find millions of "muggles" who’ve learned from the master and purport to now teach you their non-duality spells and Zen tricks, learned from the House of Hogwart in direct lineage with the master teacher himself. This smacks of ancient "monarchy” in which the god-given rights of kings was genetically descended, in linear fashion, from the almighty himself.

As one bright mind realized, you can’t solve the problems of the world through the same thinking that created the problems. But we continue to do exactly that! Over and over again. This is our "repetition compulsion."

The world needs change. Unfortunately, it will not be through any enlightenment-awakening hierarchy in which parts of the collective ego are inevitably, and inadvertently, pressed down upon, so that other parts can be lifted up and revered as transcendent masters.

Truth is not available through relative hierarchies, but through absolute equality. Recognize that any "teacher" who claims to teach you "truth" is an outright fraud. Nevertheless, you will no doubt learn a great deal and will eventually achieve the title and credentials your hard work deserves.

Yet, I tend to doubt this will make any difference to the rest of the world. It never has, so why would we want to change that expectation?

But, what do I know. I'm only saying...
mikeS

Egoic "Awakening" From Hypnotic Trance

Wow! Stock market flew through the roof yesterday as “investor confidence” (READ: ego satisfaction entirely contingent on the monetary-value paradigm for continued sustenance) increased with the new treasury plan to resume credit and borrowing or reliance on additional debt (which got us here in the first place).

I tend to follow this "economic collapse" very closely as I sense it portends a significant collective paradigm alteration, if not a complete overhaul. One thing I notice is that stock investors will engage in a buying frenzy whenever the government endorses a plan to save the economy from collapse. This is because the ego-self is loathe to surrender that which it deems beneficial to defining itself, no matter how unsustainable. This is called "conservatism" and it's just as evident in religious-spiritual ideology as in social-cultural ideology, since both endorse actions based on the accepted collective values and paradigms.

Here is an interesting portion of an essay on the current fight to save the economy from ruin:

“Everything that we're doing right now is engineered to avoid reality, to sustain the unsustainable, to recover the unrecoverable, when the mandate of reality compels us to face our losses in order to move on to the next chapter of a collective American life. The next chapter would be a society that runs on a much more local and modest scale, centered on essential activities like growing food, requiring harder physical work, and focused attention -- in other words, the opposite of a society lost in abstractions, long-range daisy chains of off-loaded responsibility, and incessant pleasure-seeking." (you can read the whole essay at Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler)

I like how Jim gets to the bottom of things and looks at the forest for the trees. He clearly explains the infeasibility of our current existence. I am no market analyst by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do sense trouble ahead and read the commentaries of those who intelligently and rationally identify what may be coming down the pike. Rather, my focus is the elusive individual and collective ego-self through which we conceptualize our individual and collective existence. It's the dynamics of the ego that is cause of our suffering. Yet, transforming the current dynamics may save us.

Notice the reference to "avoiding reality" in the above quote. Actually that’s a bit broad because it’s really only an aspect of reality that the ego-self avoids losing or being forced to surrender. This is because that aspect is wholly defining for most egos. This is why they refuse to give up on the stock market, which has made millions for many and continues to define entire lifestyles through the profit of trading in illusory money. When you have defined your ‘self’ entirely, or primarily, based on wealth accumulation, how can you give up on the chief tool (stock market) that has afforded you the ability to live out that delusional existence.

Jim Kunstler aptly writes about about our new president: “I think, he is going along, for the moment, with a consensus of wishes to prop up life as we know it at all costs. This consensus emanates from the top down and the bottom up. The millions of "Joe-the-Plumber(s)" out there don't want to rethink the terms of existence anymore than the lords of Goldman Sachs.” (italics mine)

Some folks are going to go down hard, in all socio-economic levels, and several have already ended their lives upon learning that this ego-game was unsustainable and they could no longer play. Unfortunately, the game may continue for some time before it completely consumes and extinguishes itself, taking many casualties with it. Sadly, collateral damage will be extensive.

This 'compulsive repetition' to conserve the unsustainable is evident in yesterday’s huge leap in the market. For months the market has dropped in percentage points and many were expressing utter dismay, some downright despondency, that the gig was up. Yet all it took was the government's plan, never mind whether it will work or not, to bring the ego back in the game of defining itself through wealth accumulation.The ego-self will attach to any excuse or alibi in order to maintain participation in the delusion and just about anything will do.

The ego (individual and collective) will fight to conserve (conservatism) what has accentuated its existence in the past. This conservative collective ego will soon be rudely awakened from its dogmatic slumber. Unfortunately, this is what egos often require. You can only make it see clearly by taking away its drug of choice and literally shaking it roughly out of its hypnotic trance. Yet, even so, it will struggle to return to its addictive baseline functioning.

Make no mistake, wealth accumulation through market manipulation is a religion with all the sacred awe and specialized nomenclature of the Catholic Church. Problem is, both are slowly dissolving of their own oppressive weight.

This can be observed with various non-dual spiritual ideologies and the “conservative faithful” who fight to assert that their ideology as the only "truth." Tell them that “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (READ: “ideology) and they will excoriate you for your impudence and only dive deeper and much more forcefully into their comfort zones of belief. This applies to any religious-ideology that seeks to teach you "truth."

The myth of the individual solitary seeker is as dead as the myth of individual wealth accumulation. However, don’t believe me. Give it time. Soon we will all need to get up from our cushions and engage with the world. Our collective survival will depend on it and so will your precious "enlightenment."

Good Luck With That!

mikeS

CONVERSATIONS WITH EGO: Leaves on a Stream

ego: Hey Mike! What about lunch, aren’t you hungry?

Mike: Shhhh…can't you see I'm trying to meditate?

ego: oooh, sorry….Hey! wait a minute... if that’s true then why were you just thinking about your girlfriend from high school?

Mike: Good grief! I thought we went over this already? Don’t you remember what we were taught? Thoughts come and go and I have to just allow them to pass "like fallen leaves on a stream."

ego: Uh...okay, but I don’t think this hunger is gonna pass like leaves on a stream.

Mike: Damn! Why’ does it always have to be about you?

ego: But, Mike, I only have your best interests at heart.

Mike: Then let me meditate in peace. Don’t you realize I’m trying to awaken to my true nature?

ego: Oh, okay….but, how can you awaken to your “true nature” if you have to let it pass "like fallen leaves on a stream."

Mike: No! It’s the thoughts that pass like "fallen leaves on a stream," not my true nature. My true nature is the end of all thought.

ego: Ooooh! Okay, I get it…..but then….how will you know when it’s time to eat?

Mike: Well…Oh, I don’t know! That's not important! Why are you asking so many questions? I just need you to shut up and cooperate with these spiritual practices so I can start making some progress here.

ego: To get enlightened?

Mike: Yes! To get enlightened, dammit!

ego: Ok, I get it now….but….don’t you think we should we eat first and then get enlightened? I mean…if you stop thinking… we might starve!

Mike: (sigh) Ok, fine! Let’s eat first….

Modern Gurus and Psychiatric Disorders

Here’s a great post (Shame, Guilt and Guru's Blood from What Enlightenment??! Blog) on the teaching practices and approaches of the populist modern guru, or “enlightened bad-boy,” Andrew Cohen. The report of his enlightened antics is rather long but deeply interesting and the comments of others are "enlightening" as well.

It seems that many of our modern enlightenment gurus may in fact be afflicted with various psychiatric disorders. Narcissistic personality disorder, varying degrees of schizotypal and low-grade schizophrenia, and of course, the roller coaster symptomology of bipolar affective disorder. Bipolar disorder is composed of a manic stage and a depressive stage and Cohen seems clearly afflicted with this neurochemical imbalanced condition..

Manic phase of bipolar disorder

Signs and symptoms of the manic phase of bipolar disorder may include:

• Euphoria
  
• Extreme optimism
• Inflated self-esteem
• Poor judgment
• Rapid speech
• Racing thoughts
• Aggressive behavior
• Agitation
• Increased physical activity
• Risky behavior
• Spending sprees
• Increased drive to perform or achieve goals
• Increased sexual drive
• Decreased need for sleep
• Tendency to be easily distracted
• Inability to concentrate
• Drug abuse

The depressive phase consists of sadness, hopelessness, extreme anxiety, guilt, irritability, problems concentrating and various other depressed symptoms. Yet, we are not drawn to the depressed guru, (boring!) but the manic eccentricities of the enlightened ones. Not to be eccentric is a sure sign of normalcy and a failure to be “awakened.”

Psychiatric symptoms are clearly evident in some of our most revered modern gurus such as Jed Mckenna, Ken Wilber (actually Jed's a bit more narcissistic than Ken), Adi Da (clearly, also shizotypal as well), Osho (now there’s a real neurochemical imbalance, yet the popular spiritualists all over the internet still seem to constantly quote the guy), and numerous others.

Andrew Cohen is certainly a prime candidate for medication therapy. Unfortunately, the claim of being “enlightened” easily masks the symptomatic behaviors and we all, schmucks that we are, suffer as well from the cult of personality and our own endemic and indigenous "dependence personality disorder" (this seems even more rampant within the ranks of the followers).

Cohen’s practice was to embarrass and insult his “students,” have them perform shameful acts, head shaving, standing still for long hours performing “penitence,” remaining immersed in cold water, etc, etc, the list goes on and on.

Ha! But guru-loving schmucks that we are, we continue to buy this guy’s magazine and engage in his prescribed “practices.” Numerous other so-called 'modern' gurus line up to join Cohen’s brilliant 'enlightened' marketing machine. Popular Gurus such as Ken Wilber, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, et al, suck at the Cohen marketing teat with no reservation, because let’s face it, enlightenment is one thing, the marketing of your enlightened status is a whole other ball game.

This spiritual celebrity game has garnered Billions of dollars from the unsuspecting collective seeking to “awaken” to some other reality only to be immersed in the same ego-games they sought to leave behind. It seems to me that similar to the exposing of the wall street cons and criminals, the spirituality ego-games will need to go through such a deep cleansing. Yet, these shysters are much more difficult to expose due to the elusive nature of the "enlightenment" project. Maybe the project should be discontinued since, with all the so-called 'enlightened ones' that have 'appeared' throughout history, we still seem hell bent on mutually destroying ourselves.

That leaves us to ask, "so then, what good is 'enlightenment' anyway"?

If you want to experience “awakening” from a madman, get committed to the asylum.

If you want to “awaken” to truth then look to the ones you love to show it to you.

Either way, it's your choice!
mikeS

Perfect Peace is "Enlightenment"

Peace has always been the purpose of this blog. Contrary to the fact that I tend to stir the pot of the conventional ego-games, that we refer to as "spirituality," and get some folks a bit irritated in my questioning of the accepted sacred concepts.


However, the problem is that your ego-self is rarely at peace and defines itself specifically through conflict. It grits and grinds against its experience of reality as if that experience were actually opposing it. Why would an ego-self construct experiences that seem to be against itself? Why else would it engage in the conflict of adopting a spiritual path (often grueling) if not to acquire (get) a complete cessation of conflict?

Ahh… but are conflict experiences really counter to the ego or do they in fact give it a sense of 'real' existence?

Who would “you” be without conflict? The ego-self constructs dualistic experiences for which to know itself as separately engaged in its 'world.' What would life be like without problems to solve, justified battles to wage or obstacles to overcome? Doesn’t life often seem like nothing more than a series of problem-solving events? What are you competing for in all the ego-games you play? Through what rewards and outcomes do you define "happiness"?

If your ‘self’ experienced no conflict how would it know itself? Could you know your ‘self’ in Perfect Peace , totally and completely absent of all conflict? Could you experience a conflict-free world and still know your ‘self’?

To understand your ego-dynamics is to be at peace because you realize the "true nature" of the 'games' you play. The mind that is completely conflict-free is in perfect peace. Variable “happiness” is actually to experience, at varying degrees, reduced conflict and requires nothing external be acted upon to in order to achieve it. You need do nothing and it just may be all your relentless 'doing' that promotes experiences of continued conflict.

However, your ego-self knows itself through acting upon its experience of world. For an ego-self, not to be 'doing' is not to BE. Is it any wonder that "productivity" is worshiped as the means to "happiness."

Think of all the times you have felt truly "happy." Were they not times when conflict seemed no longer present in your experience? Win the Lotto million dollar jackpot and you will believe that "happiness" has finally been secured, because in that instant you will simply conceptualize your ‘self’ free of conflict (no doubt it will return along with the conflict that money inevitably brings). When you got that raise at work recall that, briefly, conflict dissolved. That new relationship or that new car or house seems to momentarily ease your conflicted mind. Are you happy you lost weight? Make no mistake, you believe you 'got' something valuable and all value in acquisition is nothing more than a belief that conflict has been resolved.

All your acquisitions serve to construct a conscious experience of momentary conflict alleviation. But, sadly, it never seems to last, because for an ego-self it MUST not last.

The ego-self must reject anything that demonstrates consistency since this would smack of an absolute. Note that the ego’s chief goal of ‘getting’ or acquisition allowed you to think that whatever you got solved your problems and in that moment conflict was gone. Yet, it only returns upon the realization that whatever you ‘got’ (ego-game rewards and outcomes) essentially solved nothing and frequently only brought more conflict.

Infinite players realize nothing needed be acquired for Perfect Peace to be realized. You need DO nothing. There is no such state of mind as “happiness” and seeking happiness is a hoax and a fraud that keeps you playing the ego-games of life in the hope of acquiring greater happiness. This allows no rest for your conflict weary mind.

Time to rest awhile….

What you seek is an absence of conflict and you can have that without even leaving your chair. A mind in perfect peace is an “enlightened” mind. To experience a complete and total absence of conflict is to be “awakened.” Isn’t this your “true nature”?

Nirvana is conflict free. Heaven is perfect peace. Perfect peace is perfect thought and this is attainable without the need for esoteric ideologies or austere practices.

Just recognize that conflict is a choice and choose differently in every moment.

Such an experience has nothing to do with an external world, but will radically alter everything you see. In fact, it’s available now, simply waiting to invigorate your experience of "self," if you could only be free of your conflict.

Peace Angels,
mikeS

EGO DYNAMICS: Master Your Contextualized Experience

The ego-self is nothing more than a comprehensive and all-encompassing experience of the 'world' and the 'others' who seem to inhabit it.

It’s not “real’ in any absolute sense, except in the context of an ego-self demanding and contextualizing it as ‘real’ (I am assuming that you consider your ‘self’ real).

This experience of ‘reality’ is what the ancient wisdom traditions refer to as “illusion.” However, for centuries this reference has been rather inconsequential to the grand scheme of reality as the same experiences are compulsively repeated, on and on, ad nauseam. This is because the so-called “illusion” is contextualized by the ego-self (“you”) as a ‘reality’ that is deeply engaging and, therefore, is experienced as anything but illusory. This creates expectation as to the parameters of your experience. Consider how rarely your experiences deviate from your repertoire of expectation.

Teaching that your experience of reality is an “illusion” encourages disengaging from the richness of that experience because, as they teach, it is not ‘real’ but an “illusion.” Yet, the teachings essentially seek to aid you, because within this "illusion," that the ego-self contextualizes as “real,” comes a great deal of attendant suffering. Suffering that you experience as personal and as related to others and the world. Therefore, it would seem logical that the less engaged you are with the “illusion” of reality the less suffering you will experience. Anyone who claims that seeking "enlightenment" has nothing to do with an escape from suffering is fooling you and merely demonstrates that they are compromising with truth in their addiction to the ancient "enlightenment" agendas.

Nevertheless, the contradiction is that any reduction of suffering through disengaging merely further reinforces the experience of suffering as 'real.' Why else would you desperately seek a way out, if the suffering were not so vividly 'real'? From these ancient teachings, we have large pockets of the collective participating in 'insight practices' to aid in understanding this ancient teaching of illusory reality (maya).

But what drives them to seek an exit are the experiences of suffering that they have made real.

Note that to contextualize your experience of reality as "illusion" you must detach from it through practices that essentially seek to aid in attaining insight into the nature of reality as “illusion.” Once again, this engages you in a reinforcing circularity. Seek to understand it as illusion and you make it real simply through the desire to know it as not real or illusion.

However, what you may come to realize is that 'reality' is nothing more than experience (internal and external) that you have contextualized as 'real.' This does not deny your experience but puts it in the proper perspective.

Although the insight practitioners feel the outcome is worthwhile, the world is seemingly unaffected by these ancient esoteric wisdom teachings which attempt to countermand and essentially annihilate all your attempts at controlling your ‘reality.’

Control is anathema to the eastern religious ideologies. Yet, non-control is anathema to the ego-self.

This hypocrisy is unavoidable as you engage in practices that seek to inform you of the "illusion," yet still find yourself destitute due to the current "economic crisis." If you have a family to maintain, embracing the ideology that reality is an illusion does little to alleviate your fears for the future. Such fear can only obstruct your plans to attain some awakening insight into the actual nature of reality.

I would suggest that if you decide to invest belief in an illusional reality, get some good life insurance for your family. Thus, when you finally exit the 'world,' at least they will be protected. In addition, if you wish to follow the ancient teachings I would advise you to physically disengage from your family and the world at large and seek residence at a local monastery where you can, based on the teachings by others who supposedly disengaged, physically and mentally disengage with the world you so desperately seek to exit.

CONTROL VS NO-CONTROL

Or you may wish to consider that reality is nothing more than experience that you contextualize as ‘real" and that it has no other 'substance' or' form' other than what you project upon that experience. In so doing you can seek variable degrees of control to that experience and your meditative insight practices can be tailored to this effect simply because:

You are cause.

All religious-spiritual paths assert either ‘control’ or ‘non-control’ in the search for greater insight into your “true-nature.” Yet, both seek to change your current experience from one of suffering to one of bliss. The problem with 'non-control' is that it contradicts your current efforts at seeking control and thereby reducing suffering through various actions upon 'reality.' These actions serve to magnify and reinforce your further attempts to reduce suffering through acting upon your world.

Did you consolidate all your credit cards to reduce your debt? Problem solved. Did marriage therapy help save your eroding marriage? Problem solved. Did medical treatment alleviate your symptoms? problem solved. Did you apologize for your error? problem solved. Notice how your acting upon reality and seeking to control conditions contradicts the eastern teachings that “thoughts arise,” and experiences simply occur, so just forget about it, you have NO CONTROL.

"But wait, I just got a new better paying job, so how can I have no control?"

You cannot avoid feeling hypocritical in your attempts to control parts of reality, while engaged in practices that assert non-control of the whole. In altering physical reality, what you are acting upon is nothing more than your ‘experience’ of a world, since ‘reality’ is nothing more than experience and has no physical properties other than the contexts and concepts of the ego-self.

Surrender 'sensation' as conduit for experience and seek change at the source.

Your experiences are impermanent and therefore, extremely malleable, but only by attaining the deep insight of yourself as causative agent can you 'act' upon your experience in knowing that the ego-self is causative agent of all your experiences.

However, the rub is that the ego-self employs the parameters of past experience to engage with future experiences of ‘self’ and ‘world’ and this speaks to the adage that “there is nothing new under the sun.” Therefore, the only way to engage with any changed experience of ‘reality’ is to disengage from past experience as that which informs the ego as to what can be expected in the future.

You may contend that you often engage with experiences that seems wholly unexpected. Yet, I would respond that every experience you have ever encountered is completely predictable and not unknown to an ego-self that only realizes itself through ever-changing experiences within the realm of expectation (death is the only experience the ego-self cannot predict, yet it does vigilantly prepare through various means for that end).

However, if past experience is composed primarily of denying ‘self’ as cause, why would that not continue to be the primary factor in all future experiences? In fact, discarding expectation built on past experience will eventually culminate in the most unexpected and surprising experience that could ever be constructed.

That of God.

You may ignore this theoretical proposition as patently absurd. However, keep in mind that what you consciously ignore now is solely based on expectation from past experience. The past informs what can be currently accepted as conventionally “real’ in this present moment. The ego-self allows nothing more than what it expects and prepares for and this severely limits what can be experienced now. Unfortunately, you will not resolve your experience of suffering by employing the same experiences that caused the suffering in the first place. You will need to leap beyond what you know and experience beyond the boundaries of everything you have ever been taught to experience as 'real.'

Nevertheless, what all the ancient masters teach is that eventually you will understand reality as nothing more than your self-constructed experience of a reality that essentially does not exist, except as an experience in your mind.

Master the dynamics of the ego-self and master your experience of reality.

Good Luck With That!
mikeS

EGO DYNAMICS: Absolving Guilt to Continue Playing

The ego-self is a ‘getting’ machine. Whether that getting is based on acquiring resources, money, pleasure, bodily allegiances, “enlightenment” or innocence, the ego-self strives to get or acquire.

Joining, for an ego-self, is useful only in relation to what can be obtained or secured for itself and ego’s will seek out alliances through limited joining to further individual progress toward additional acquisition or getting.

This is why so many spiritual and religious ideologies fail to capture mass, collective attention and, thereby, also fail to initiate positive world change. This is because most spiritual-religious ideologies teach an anti-egoic morality. These ideologies seek to undermine the ego’s raison d’etre, or reason for being, as that of ‘getting’ or "the pursuit of acquisition" (which we ignorantly refer to as "the pursuit of happiness." LOL!). This is replaced with a religious-spiritual morality of unification and joining. Unfortunately, anti-ego morality, although able to capture and contain some egos, has never presented a strong enough case against the ego-self's chief modus operandi of getting and acquisition.

Therefore, the easiest way for religious-spiritual institutions to engender greater ego participation in spiritual ideologies and their practices, is to tailor the ideology to conform to the act of 'getting' that egos have performed for centuries (note Christianity's "thou shalt not steal" commandment. As if God cares about your property rights!).

This dumbing-down of spiritual-religious ideology has been occurring over many centuries. You may deeply consider what the "Buddha said," but always recognize that the Buddha's teachings were tailored to the cultural era in which they were codified and taught. Examine any of the current neo-zen, modern non-dualistic or "Integral Christian" websites and blogs and this will be clear. The ego-self demands that the "ancient traditions" be tailored to meet the modern ego-self existence.

Eventually, all original ideologies must conform to the ego-self, rather than the ego-self conforming to the ideology. For instance, the Christian prescription “judge not lest ye be judged” is applicable only to a point, after which it is completely discarded by an ego-self that requires guilt be projected outward in order to further its own innocence. Insult me and, as my religious ideology teaches, I will seek to forgive you.

But steal from me, or commit some other high order transgression or "sin," and I will judge you guilty and righteously endorse your just punishment.

The ego rebels against dissonance and, if you believe yourself deeply spiritual or religious, your actions must conform to this belief, so as not to experience discord. This can be an incredibly arduous task due to the absurd ego-games we all participate in. Therefore, it's easier to tailor your spiritual beliefs than your actions, since the world demands conformity, and thus, the ego will compromise its ideological belief system before it compromises its 'getting' behaviors, actions and lifestyle.

This is how so many can amass personal fortunes beyond all reason, while being acutely aware that others exist in abject poverty.

While many egos may find amassing exorbitant personal wealth absurd and indictable as guilty (although most participate in it to some degree, but consider their participation "reasonable"), the ego-self that has spent a lifetime pursuing extreme wealth will easily rationalize this as innocent and morally acceptable and ally with other egos in confirming and proclaiming that justification (allegiances are a crucial component of the ego's shedding guilt).

This makes it easier to recognize that, while others live in poverty and die of starvation, the ego’s acquired wealth is deserved and justified so, "keep your hands off of my stack."

Capitalism was originally founded for just this purpose and the central tenet, that all egos can achieve great wealth amidst abject poverty, has been accepted and fully adopted by millions of egos who live out their entire lives conforming to that rationalization.

However, too many players in the games of capital-wealth acquisition (monetary-value) and the games become increasingly harder to play as the rules become more complicated and absurd. This can be seen with regard to the current rules of subprime mortgages, credit default swaps, structured finance trades, etc, etc, etc. Who but an alliance of elite specialized egos, could justify such absurdities that less astute egos could never even begin to understand. This makes the game accessible to only a few and the rules actually exclude players from the desired outcome (and rewards are limited simply because ego's conform to the "scarcity principle").

This is similar to organized religion in that, to be a member of the Christian Church you must know the basic rules of Christianity. However, to assert power within the Christian Church you must know the rules in much more depth.

Unfortunately, many of the egos who subscribed to the monetary-value ideology (and make no mistake, ‘playing the market’ is a game that has taken on religious proportions) are beginning to see how untenable it really is. This ego-game is losing its justification and now we are seeing repressed guilt rear its ugly head as we seek just punishment for the guilty.

This will require that participating egos seek to justify their actions through absolution of guilt and continued justification of the game rules.

The ego-self rarely reacts to its own egoic tendencies and tends to justify its actions and thoughts as normal. However, egos are quite adept at reacting to guilt in other egos. The ego-self strives to shed guilt primarily by projecting it outward, seeking to rationalize every decision it makes as innocent and necessary to itself. In fact, the ego is superb at rationalizing away guilt through justifying actions and behaviors, for how else could it continue to live in an absurd world and practice the absurdities that allow that experience of "world' to be perpetuated. In time, it all begins to seem so ordinary and normal - business as usual.

Look closely at your participation in the games of the world. Do you feel that many of the ego-games you participate in are absurd? How do you justify continued play?

OJ Simpson was able to enjoy playing 18 holes of golf, even though his ego-self could NOT deny that he had committed an act of murder. All that is needed is the right formula for shedding egoic guilt and rationalizing the act. Even though Simpson acquired few supportive allies, I tend to imagine he merely absolved himself of guilt through contriving a rationalization proving that what he did needed to be done (God?) and that none can understand this, but him. (similar to Hitler's "final solution" except that Hitler acquired many allies to his cause)

Many have justified similar actions through such a distorted egoic morality that can only be claimed by the actor (with or without allies), but allows the actor to live completely free of guilt and sometimes to continue playing ego-games that cause incredible suffering to others.

In fact, this was how the current Iraq war was waged (although a 'divine allegiance' was expressed because God is certainly the most valuable ally one could acquire). In fact, the egos that waged it were able to attain allegiance from other egos right from the onset. However, those same egos that once allied with the game, now attempt in numerous ways to deny complicity, shed guilt and acquire greater innocence so that they can again be seen as credible players in the ego-game of 'politics.'

The ego-self constructs experiences to assert it’s existence into a ‘world’ and to make that experience 'real.' These experiences must reinforce a sense of innocence to its actions, thereby, maintaining the experience of ‘world.’ Guilt tends to negate actions and must be avoided at all costs, so that innocence can keep the insane machine rolling along.

This is why so little has changed over the past two thousand years to terminate most ego-games.

Therefore, rather than change your actions, the ego constructs 'alibis' that seek to protect actions from guilt thereby perpetuating the experience of ‘world’ and the ego-games that reinforce that experience. Although severe economic changes are most likely on the horizon, it is doubtful that ego-games that seek to acquire extreme wealth will ever significantly change. This is because wealth acquisition has become the egos primary mode of 'self' awareness (simply examine how many people recently chose suicidal death over ending play in this crucial self-defining ego-game)

The ego-self could construct a different experience of ‘world’ in which it seeks to absolve itself of all guilt and performs only actions that perpetuate only innocence (some guy named Jesus is believed to have done just that). Problem is, that would indict it for past actions that no longer conform to the new construct and achieving innocence might be excruciatingly difficult due to that past guilt. However, you could forgive all past actions by completely dissociating from the past. But then, that would mean both guilty and innocent actions would cease to be acknowledged.

This means that “you” would cease to be as "you" now know your 'self.' Therefore, the question is, 'who' and 'what' would you BE?

Thanks,
mikeS

Expect To Be "Surprised," But Don't Prepare For It

"Surprise in infinite play is the triumph of the future over the past. Since infinite players do not regard the past as determining the present/future, they have no way of knowing what has begun in the past. With each surprise, the past reveals a new beginning. Inasmuch as the present/future is always surprising, the past is always changing." ("Finite and Infinite Games," James Carse)

I’m not one for repetitive, compulsive quoting of the "masters" to bolster or reinforce my points (the Buddha said this, the Buddha said that, blah, blah, blah). Yea, sure, I've read what they say the the Buddha said, but what do you say that is free of Buddha?

This is why I’m always on the lookout for original minds (blogs) who don’t merely mouth the ancient “wisdom” quotes in some sort of "repeat after me" hypnotic spiritual trance. I’m very suspect of those who simply quote from the "ancient masters' to sell their brand, which is really nothing more than repackaged cereal. The new glitzy box looks modern enough, but the contents are the same sickeningly sweet Captain Crunch that I ate when I was a kid.

However, I believe the ancient masters advocated their ideas, not for the sake of blind adherence, but to be continually deconstructed, redeveloped and wrung dry of every ounce of meaning possible, only to be reconstructed and deconstructed again and again, on and on ad infinitum.

James Carse is a retired professor of religion who has distilled years of religious study into a unique philosophical presentation. He sees the forest for the trees, while we continue to perseverate on which tree the Buddha would climb in order to reach the heavens. Of course, you can climb any tree you want, problem is the climb never ends and that’s a good thing. Unless, of course, you demand your ascent result in finally reaching the ‘top.’

But note that my interpretation of Carse may not be particularly agreeable to Carse. This is because the ideas, once in my mind, are mine to do with as I please (however, when I quote I give credit where credit is due).

This is what I’ve done with the concept of “surprise.” Surprise is conceptually equivalent to “awakening” and “enlightenment” (or any of those lofty specialized and sacred terms) except that you cannot ideologically prepare for it.

You cannot be a serious devotee of Buddhism or Christianity and be surprised. However I suppose you can be "enlightened" or "awakened" if that's what you're prepared for.

Nor can you follow any path of non-duality and be surprised simply because you follow a “path” and all paths seek to take you somewhere (else, why follow a “path”) and some paths are very good at camouflaging the destination. Surprise has no path, yet there is an expectation of its certainty. But once you 'prepare,' the certainty is lost

Nevertheless, any ideology that says, eat this, don’t eat that, practice this way, dress this way, talk this way and say only this, think only that, etc, etc, etc, is taking you somewhere and you will expect to get to that place by playing the game as the rules prescribe.To be “awakened” or “enlightened” is to prepare to meet the past in the future, because it's the past that guides the way. No doubt it will be a grand experience, but it will be exactly as you have prepared for it to be, since it comes from the past. You already know what you'll find because somebody else already found it.

To be surprised is to recreate the past through an, as of yet, undisclosed future that cannot be prepared for in any way. Expect to be surprised, but not in any way you could prepare.

It too, will be surprisingly grand, but completely unknown until the moment of encounter. Spiritual 'surprise' can be expected, but not prepared for and this limits what need be done to prepare (and isn't that a relief!). It seems it is merely a momentary, unscripted encounter with a moment that has been stripped of any and all ideological prescriptions owned by the past.

How can you experience a moment free of the past when the 'teachings' are soaked and dripping with it.

Surprise is an existential ‘nothingness” that tends to take the breathe away if the expectation is free of all preparation. This is the non-ideological “be here now” that doesn’t require you follow some esoteric, austere spiritual path. This is the workingman’s (and woman’s) "enlightenment." Many do experience surprise and only later do they attempt to apply an ideological interpretation to the experience. Of course, it then becomes part of the past.

But isn't the past what you sought to be free of?

You can't prepare for surprise, because any preparation is limited by the failure to predict when and how it will be experienced. There are no road signs to measure progress, as in spiritual-religious paths. There is only an openness to ‘whatever.’

Can you live for ‘whatever’?

The individual expecting surprise says, “I don't care what happens," but knows something must and expects that to happen 'whenever.' Now the ideological wall built up from the anxiety of preparing for outcomes crumbles and is obliterated by your, “whatever.” 'Whatever' means you can't be trapped in defining surprise especially after you've been surprised. This allows it to linger on, since it is not constricted by the need to define it by applying some 'spiritual' interpretation from the past.

Does this mean you become an insensitive clod?

Hardly. When you have no care for outcomes you find it easier to experience that incredible "Lightness of Being" that has eluded you in your heavy practices of serious spiritual austerities, always measuring and doubting progress. Now you can let down your deluded sense of spiritual superiority and join the human race as we all seek for surprise with one another. This is because surprise excludes no one, since membership only demands you be conscious (and that just about covers everybody). You need not follow the rules of any spiritual path. However, you can if you so choose, I just wouldn't take it too serious.

Ha! But who can do that? This is anathema to an ego-self that must forever construct experiences in order to know itself, but by doing so alienates itself from its own experiences.

So how 'ancient' is the spiritual path you follow? Does its ancient proclamations make it more authentic and austere for you? Will you be surprised by the outcome, or merely happy that you got what you prepared for? What good is that?

However, keep in mind that if the rules we make up become rigid and codified, or if you begin to perceive an outcome, then the rules must be changed.

Good Luck With That!

mikeS