You are in the prison of your mind,but you have the keys to get out.
Initially you use your intellect to help you find the golden key.However,your mind and your thoughts can only take you so far.Thought is incapable of recognizing reality,because,by its very nature,thought is not real.
You can ask yourself for a thousand years what life is all about,but what you are asking,the mind is incapable of answering.
It is like sticking a credit card into a washing machine and expecting to get money out.It won't happen.
Your thoughts will give you elusive glimpses,snatches of a refrain you seem to vaguely remember,but that is all.
The true mind,the Godhead,Goddess,Buddha,Christ,Krishna,call it what you will,knows the answer.
The true mind is the real you.
When your thinking is totally exhausted and you surrender,give up and stop playing intellectual games,the truth appears.You have to go beyond the intellect to escape.
Zen realizes this and that is why one branch of it employs an exercise that asks your mind a question that it is impossible for the intellect to answer.It is called a Koan.Here are some examples:
You must beat the drum, but there is no drum to beat, so how do you beat it?
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Everything is reduced to the one-what is the one reduced to?
What is your original face-before you were born?
The intellect eventually exhausts itself in trying to find the answer,until it comes to a brick wall.This brick wall has to be broken through to enter a thoughtless realm where the truth abides.
Some say that to try this exercise by itself is dangerous if you don't have a teacher.
I don't think it can harm you,if you do ask yourself impossible questions for short periods of time The proper way is to concentrate on the Koan all the time and never think of anything else,but as stated above, it is sensible to have a teacher if you want to do this.If though, you try the koan exercise for short periods,I think it stimulates the mind and prepares it for a breakthrough.
That is why the reading of Sacred texts is good. Such books make bells ring in your head,and point you the way to the end of thought.
The fact to remember is that you are living in illusion,and living in this illusion,although you might well experience pleasure,it is impossible for you to be at peace all the time in this state.Your natural state is to be at peace and have joy in your life,
Why should you continue living out a lie?
While living in this illusion though, you can do many things to make the illusion a lot better,and at the same time get you closer to reality.
Be careful what you let enter your mind,but be more careful of how you react to any event or experience you have.
The perfect way is to have no reaction at all.If someone swears at you,you are unmoved; the same if someone praises you, you are unmoved.
Every time you react to what is happening.by feeling in a certain way, or thinking certain thoughts you are creating a whole new situation which is like having another rope tied round you.
As stated earlier thoughts plant seeds.
Look at these quotes on thought;
"What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday,and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow.Our life is the creation of mind" The Buddha.
"A man is but a product of his thoughts, what he thinks he becomes". Gandhi
"There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so". Shakespeare.
"Every person creates his own World according to that which he fears and that which he loves".Jesus.Gospel of St. Thomas chapter one, verse eleven.
"A man is what he thinks all day long".Emerson.
"Make not your thoughts your prison".Shakespeare.
I think you will agree that the above people who said those quotes all had an incredible transforming effect on Mankind.They knew what they were talking about.What they said were truthful sayings.
Think about it for a moment.If our thoughts make our life, doesn't it seem the right course of action is to make sure we think right thoughts all the time?
Banish negative thinking and change negativity into positive thinking.I know it's not easy in the World as it is today, as we are surrounded by pessimism,almost drowning in it.Watching the news is enough to send you flying down a flight of steps to misery,even if you felt good before you turned the news on.
The whole World is going through a massive change- a change for the better.We just have to get through the painful changeover period we are now in.
Maybe the ego was needed up to now, but now it is hindering our progress,and we have to leave the self behind to grow up to become what our destiny is.
"Folks,it's time to evolve.That's why we're troubled.You know why our institutions are failing us, the Church, the State,everything failing.It's because they are no longer relevant". The late, great Bill Hicks.
That is the end of this chapter; the next chapter will follow shortly.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Money For Bullets,Not For Bandages.
Do you think that 1,738 Billion Dollars is a lot of money?
What could one do with such a large amount?
Help feed the starving millions in the 3rd World;invest in proper, honest research to find the cures for fatal diseases; generate jobs for the mass unemployed in almost every country;give more money for education,health care, pensions-the list could go on and on.
So why do I mention the 1,738 Billion Dollars?
Because, according to Wikepedia, this was the amount spent on the World's military machine in 2011.
Yes,1,738 Billion Dollars was spent for the sole purpose of killing people.
Amazing, isn't it? This amount was spent to enable us to kill off our own kind.
Are we utterly insane?
No,we are not,but the people(are they really the same flesh and blood as we are?) who are involved in this, must be.They are going against a primal instinct of Nature, and that is for our species to survive.
And we let them get away with it.
We have tried to stop them- how many millions demonstrated against the Iraq War- but ,in our 'democracies' the voice of the people was totally ignored,and,of course, it is ignored today.Democracy; what a joke it would be if it wasn't so tragic.
What's more,here we are, in all countries,suffering severe austerity measures,and yet spending on weapons just gets higher and higher.No cutbacks here.But look at the cutbacks on everything else.
Odd how the I.M.F. never seem to want any country to touch this sacred cow,but are quite happy to let ordinary men,women and children suffer in every way possible.
Even odder is the fact that while the people of the World had the money stolen from them, more money was spent on the military in 2011 than at any other time in the history of the World.
The U.S.A. alone spent a massive 711 Billion on its military complex.No bells of austerity ringing here..
Look at Greece- the canary in the mine-surely with its obsession with belt tightening,it has cut back on its military budget.
Er..no.it spent 9,369,000,000Dollars in 2011. Tell that to the pensioners,the unemployed, the disabled, the sick.
Greece buys more German weapons than any other country in the World.
As Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economics at Athens University says;"When Greek Hospitals are running out of bandages,the only bit of the budget not being attacked by the E.U. and the I.M.F. is military expenditure".(Independent Newspaper 6.11.2011)
Greece is the highest military spender in terms of percentage of G.D.P in the E.U.
Professor Varoufakis adds;"Greece is a disproportionately crucial customer for the armaments industry.In comparison to its size it is preposterous".
While Greece is going through its hell,its military spending has risen;it spent 7.1 Billion in 2010 compared to 6.24 Billion Dollars in 2007.
How come the I.M.F. didn't target this,instead of hitting out at the ordinary people?
58%.of Greeks military expenditure in 2010 went to Germany,according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The U.S.A supplies Greece with 42% of its arms.
Funny that this has not been reported in the mainstream media.
So you have the banks and the military complex that must be protected at all times.
And we, the people,are simply stamped on.
Someone once asked George Orwell( famous for his book 1984,which is almost a blueprint for what is happening in the World today) what the future would be like for mankind.
His reply:"A boot in our face".
I think he knew something,don't you?
What could one do with such a large amount?
Help feed the starving millions in the 3rd World;invest in proper, honest research to find the cures for fatal diseases; generate jobs for the mass unemployed in almost every country;give more money for education,health care, pensions-the list could go on and on.
So why do I mention the 1,738 Billion Dollars?
Because, according to Wikepedia, this was the amount spent on the World's military machine in 2011.
Yes,1,738 Billion Dollars was spent for the sole purpose of killing people.
Amazing, isn't it? This amount was spent to enable us to kill off our own kind.
Are we utterly insane?
No,we are not,but the people(are they really the same flesh and blood as we are?) who are involved in this, must be.They are going against a primal instinct of Nature, and that is for our species to survive.
And we let them get away with it.
We have tried to stop them- how many millions demonstrated against the Iraq War- but ,in our 'democracies' the voice of the people was totally ignored,and,of course, it is ignored today.Democracy; what a joke it would be if it wasn't so tragic.
What's more,here we are, in all countries,suffering severe austerity measures,and yet spending on weapons just gets higher and higher.No cutbacks here.But look at the cutbacks on everything else.
Odd how the I.M.F. never seem to want any country to touch this sacred cow,but are quite happy to let ordinary men,women and children suffer in every way possible.
Even odder is the fact that while the people of the World had the money stolen from them, more money was spent on the military in 2011 than at any other time in the history of the World.
The U.S.A. alone spent a massive 711 Billion on its military complex.No bells of austerity ringing here..
Look at Greece- the canary in the mine-surely with its obsession with belt tightening,it has cut back on its military budget.
Er..no.it spent 9,369,000,000Dollars in 2011. Tell that to the pensioners,the unemployed, the disabled, the sick.
Greece buys more German weapons than any other country in the World.
As Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economics at Athens University says;"When Greek Hospitals are running out of bandages,the only bit of the budget not being attacked by the E.U. and the I.M.F. is military expenditure".(Independent Newspaper 6.11.2011)
Greece is the highest military spender in terms of percentage of G.D.P in the E.U.
Professor Varoufakis adds;"Greece is a disproportionately crucial customer for the armaments industry.In comparison to its size it is preposterous".
While Greece is going through its hell,its military spending has risen;it spent 7.1 Billion in 2010 compared to 6.24 Billion Dollars in 2007.
How come the I.M.F. didn't target this,instead of hitting out at the ordinary people?
58%.of Greeks military expenditure in 2010 went to Germany,according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The U.S.A supplies Greece with 42% of its arms.
Funny that this has not been reported in the mainstream media.
So you have the banks and the military complex that must be protected at all times.
And we, the people,are simply stamped on.
Someone once asked George Orwell( famous for his book 1984,which is almost a blueprint for what is happening in the World today) what the future would be like for mankind.
His reply:"A boot in our face".
I think he knew something,don't you?
Create Your Reality Without Wanting it.
The point about wanting something,whether it is one thousand pounds, a new house, a girl or boy friend or a job, is that while you are wanting ,you know that you have not got your particular desire.
It strikes me that there are two types of wants.One type is when you want something and are pretty sure that you will get it.An example of this could be you wanting to have lunch;if you have had lunch most days of your life,it is highly likely that you will get what you want- your lunch.Or you may want to go for a walk,and while you have this wish you know that you probably will go for your walk.
The other type of want is when you want something that you have not had in your life before,and there is a doubt inside you that you may well not get your desire.If you want to move abroad ,but can see no way how you could do this,this particular want can become like a pipe dream and nothing more.
It is this second type that I am writing about.
Wanting a sunny day means you haven't got it.While you continue wanting something day in and day out,you are never getting it,because you are hoping that you will get it in the future.That future will never be while you continue wanting.You could say that your continual wanting is forever pushing away the very thing that you want.
I'm on about creating your own reality,manifesting the life that you want to live.
How do you overcome this problem of wanting.It's simple- you stop wanting!While you are wanting all the time,it is likely that you won't get what you want,because you keep wanting it in some never to come future.
What is the best way to create your reality without this feeling of wanting it?
1.Stop wanting, wishing for whatever it is you desire.
2.Pretend that you have whatever it is you desire in your life right now.
That's all there is to it.Sounds dead simple,but it's not.The reason it is not easy is that you have to convince yourself that you are living the life you feel you should live.
This is not easy if you want a decent income,and at the moment your senses tell you that you are surrounded by bills that you cannot pay.
Perhaps you want a larger place to live in,but at present you are living in a small apartment.
Your senses are telling you that you lack,so you have to convince yourself that you don't lack for anything, when your eyes are telling you otherwise.
I suggest you do the following;
1.Accept whatever is going on in your life as being perfectly fine.
2.Be grateful for whatever you have in your life.
3.Don't fight the events that are taking place in front of you- accept them with thanks
4.Everyday in a relaxed,calm state be alone for a while and paint those pictures in your mind of how you imagine you are living the life of your dreams.Now this is the important bit: while you are doing this, imagine that you have all those things in your life now,not in some distant future.
Although when you come out of your visualization exercise, you will see that everything is as before,the fact that you have planted seeds in your mind, means that these seeds are growing from being thought forms in your inner consciousness to being outward manifestations.
It is a natural law of life.
Imagine your mind as the soil in a flowerbed.
You plant seeds in this flowerbed and they will sprout and come out of the earth.
When they emerge from their formless state, which is how you perceive them in your mind,they sprout through into the world of form.
Everything is formless first of all, and then becomes form,though,in fact, the formless and the form are the same substance,but are on different frequencies.
So to create reality you want, the main point is to believe that you are now living in that reality.
If you want to find out more about this- Click Here!
It strikes me that there are two types of wants.One type is when you want something and are pretty sure that you will get it.An example of this could be you wanting to have lunch;if you have had lunch most days of your life,it is highly likely that you will get what you want- your lunch.Or you may want to go for a walk,and while you have this wish you know that you probably will go for your walk.
The other type of want is when you want something that you have not had in your life before,and there is a doubt inside you that you may well not get your desire.If you want to move abroad ,but can see no way how you could do this,this particular want can become like a pipe dream and nothing more.
It is this second type that I am writing about.
Wanting a sunny day means you haven't got it.While you continue wanting something day in and day out,you are never getting it,because you are hoping that you will get it in the future.That future will never be while you continue wanting.You could say that your continual wanting is forever pushing away the very thing that you want.
I'm on about creating your own reality,manifesting the life that you want to live.
How do you overcome this problem of wanting.It's simple- you stop wanting!While you are wanting all the time,it is likely that you won't get what you want,because you keep wanting it in some never to come future.
What is the best way to create your reality without this feeling of wanting it?
1.Stop wanting, wishing for whatever it is you desire.
2.Pretend that you have whatever it is you desire in your life right now.
That's all there is to it.Sounds dead simple,but it's not.The reason it is not easy is that you have to convince yourself that you are living the life you feel you should live.
This is not easy if you want a decent income,and at the moment your senses tell you that you are surrounded by bills that you cannot pay.
Perhaps you want a larger place to live in,but at present you are living in a small apartment.
Your senses are telling you that you lack,so you have to convince yourself that you don't lack for anything, when your eyes are telling you otherwise.
I suggest you do the following;
1.Accept whatever is going on in your life as being perfectly fine.
2.Be grateful for whatever you have in your life.
3.Don't fight the events that are taking place in front of you- accept them with thanks
4.Everyday in a relaxed,calm state be alone for a while and paint those pictures in your mind of how you imagine you are living the life of your dreams.Now this is the important bit: while you are doing this, imagine that you have all those things in your life now,not in some distant future.
Although when you come out of your visualization exercise, you will see that everything is as before,the fact that you have planted seeds in your mind, means that these seeds are growing from being thought forms in your inner consciousness to being outward manifestations.
It is a natural law of life.
Imagine your mind as the soil in a flowerbed.
You plant seeds in this flowerbed and they will sprout and come out of the earth.
When they emerge from their formless state, which is how you perceive them in your mind,they sprout through into the world of form.
Everything is formless first of all, and then becomes form,though,in fact, the formless and the form are the same substance,but are on different frequencies.
So to create reality you want, the main point is to believe that you are now living in that reality.
If you want to find out more about this- Click Here!
Monday, April 23, 2012
How To Wake Up From Your Fevered Dream Chapter twelve.
"Travel in time,expand your mind in anyway you choose, unlock the door of Quantum's store, take off your space -time noose".Lyrics from Faster Than The Speed Of Light,by Mike Selley.
In Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's book (what a great name,it's even got zen in the middle of it) Flow(published by Rider 1992) he says, he discovered,after twenty five years of research,a vital fact about happiness.
On page two of the aforementioned book,it is claimed that happiness does not depend on outside events,but on how we interpret them.
People who learn to control inner experiences will be able to control the quality of their lives.
He goes on to say that, to paraphrase, people who are happy in their jobs and actually look forward to going to work,gave the tasks at work total awareness.And it was this total awareness,whereas the action of the work involved without ulterior motives,was the key to the feeling of happiness.
A Zen Master could have said the same thing.
If you lose yourself while involved in an activity,there is no sense of' 'I'.There is no sense of of perceiver and perceived;there is only the task itself.This is another way of discarding the ego.
I suggest that some activity that really appeals to you should be done by you on a regular basis.
The activity should make you so involved that you experience the feeling of complete oneness with the task you are doing.
What the activity is could be anything.It could be drawing, painting, singing,composing, knitting,gardening,stamp collecting or whatever you want.
When you engage yourself in whatever you are doing,just be totally aware of what you are doing.In other words, lose yourself in that activity,and entertain no thoughts of anything else.
Your whole life should be lived this way,but until it is, you can have a taste of it by doing something you love doing.
The strange part is that by giving your all into something,you lose your all,but gain something far greater.
Perhaps you say that you can't think of anything that you could do.If so, think back to your childhood and ask yourself what you loved doing then.
Maybe it was drawing or painting, singing or riding a bike.Well, why not return to that pleasure and take one activity up again.It doesn't matter if your first efforts are not good.If you keep practicing with full awareness,you will find that your results will improve.
It's a lot better than watching that hypnotist in your room- the T.V!
***************************
Nature is our brother and sister.If possible, try and be outside in natural surroundings as much as possible.Go for walks in woods,in meadows and by lakes and seashores.
As Aristotle said: "In all things in Nature there is something of the marvellous"
Whilst admiring Nature,try not to think,but be totally aware of what is going on around you.Listen,really listen to the buzzing of the bees,the birdsong,the sound of the waves on the seashore,the rustle of the leaves,and any other sounds you hear.
While listening to the waves,for example,shut your eyes,and let that sound be all you know.Think of the sound reaching your ear,and then imagine that you are not the listener listening ,but that the listener and that which is listened to, merge and become one.
Don't evaluate or judge anything.Except each moment as it is.All the time keeping your centre in your belly and doing regular breathing.
If walking by the sea,look at that great expanse of sea and realize that it is really you you are looking at,and you are joined up and part of everything.
Sit by the sea and look at the horizon;what an awesome creation, especially when you know that it is you who is conjuring it all up!
Breathe in the sea air and feel how invigorating it is.
No worries here-just the sense of being.
Watch the waves as they ripple through the pebbles on the beach.
In,out, in, out,this is the rhythm of life.Tune into it,just like your breathing in and out.
Be totally aware,surrender to your surroundings.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden,you can spend hours sitting in it ,or working in it.Weeding is a great activity to practice living in the now,as it is so repetitious.When you pull the weeds up think of the plant and you as being one.Not you and the plant.Plant + you= One.
If possible grow your own fruit and vegetables- you will really taste the difference.
And when you eat anything be thankful for it.Think of the history of the food you are eating.
The tomato that was once growing from seed.Think of the seed being planted.
Imagine it as a seed in the soil,and then the plant slowly emerging from the soil and growing.Think of the Sun shining on it and the rain falling down on it.Imagine the tomato being picked,put in a box, and taken in a lorry to a market or a shop.
Now it is giving itself to you.You should be very grateful for this and appreciate it.As you should be grateful for everything else in your life.Don't take anything for granted,or you stand a chance of losing it. In the blink of an eye,everything you have, could be gone.
Don't moan,don't complain.
You are in the situation you are in,because you created it.
Accept it with gratitude,and you will find that miracles appear in your life.
In Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's book (what a great name,it's even got zen in the middle of it) Flow(published by Rider 1992) he says, he discovered,after twenty five years of research,a vital fact about happiness.
On page two of the aforementioned book,it is claimed that happiness does not depend on outside events,but on how we interpret them.
People who learn to control inner experiences will be able to control the quality of their lives.
He goes on to say that, to paraphrase, people who are happy in their jobs and actually look forward to going to work,gave the tasks at work total awareness.And it was this total awareness,whereas the action of the work involved without ulterior motives,was the key to the feeling of happiness.
A Zen Master could have said the same thing.
If you lose yourself while involved in an activity,there is no sense of' 'I'.There is no sense of of perceiver and perceived;there is only the task itself.This is another way of discarding the ego.
I suggest that some activity that really appeals to you should be done by you on a regular basis.
The activity should make you so involved that you experience the feeling of complete oneness with the task you are doing.
What the activity is could be anything.It could be drawing, painting, singing,composing, knitting,gardening,stamp collecting or whatever you want.
When you engage yourself in whatever you are doing,just be totally aware of what you are doing.In other words, lose yourself in that activity,and entertain no thoughts of anything else.
Your whole life should be lived this way,but until it is, you can have a taste of it by doing something you love doing.
The strange part is that by giving your all into something,you lose your all,but gain something far greater.
Perhaps you say that you can't think of anything that you could do.If so, think back to your childhood and ask yourself what you loved doing then.
Maybe it was drawing or painting, singing or riding a bike.Well, why not return to that pleasure and take one activity up again.It doesn't matter if your first efforts are not good.If you keep practicing with full awareness,you will find that your results will improve.
It's a lot better than watching that hypnotist in your room- the T.V!
***************************
Nature is our brother and sister.If possible, try and be outside in natural surroundings as much as possible.Go for walks in woods,in meadows and by lakes and seashores.
As Aristotle said: "In all things in Nature there is something of the marvellous"
Whilst admiring Nature,try not to think,but be totally aware of what is going on around you.Listen,really listen to the buzzing of the bees,the birdsong,the sound of the waves on the seashore,the rustle of the leaves,and any other sounds you hear.
While listening to the waves,for example,shut your eyes,and let that sound be all you know.Think of the sound reaching your ear,and then imagine that you are not the listener listening ,but that the listener and that which is listened to, merge and become one.
Don't evaluate or judge anything.Except each moment as it is.All the time keeping your centre in your belly and doing regular breathing.
If walking by the sea,look at that great expanse of sea and realize that it is really you you are looking at,and you are joined up and part of everything.
Sit by the sea and look at the horizon;what an awesome creation, especially when you know that it is you who is conjuring it all up!
Breathe in the sea air and feel how invigorating it is.
No worries here-just the sense of being.
Watch the waves as they ripple through the pebbles on the beach.
In,out, in, out,this is the rhythm of life.Tune into it,just like your breathing in and out.
Be totally aware,surrender to your surroundings.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden,you can spend hours sitting in it ,or working in it.Weeding is a great activity to practice living in the now,as it is so repetitious.When you pull the weeds up think of the plant and you as being one.Not you and the plant.Plant + you= One.
If possible grow your own fruit and vegetables- you will really taste the difference.
And when you eat anything be thankful for it.Think of the history of the food you are eating.
The tomato that was once growing from seed.Think of the seed being planted.
Imagine it as a seed in the soil,and then the plant slowly emerging from the soil and growing.Think of the Sun shining on it and the rain falling down on it.Imagine the tomato being picked,put in a box, and taken in a lorry to a market or a shop.
Now it is giving itself to you.You should be very grateful for this and appreciate it.As you should be grateful for everything else in your life.Don't take anything for granted,or you stand a chance of losing it. In the blink of an eye,everything you have, could be gone.
Don't moan,don't complain.
You are in the situation you are in,because you created it.
Accept it with gratitude,and you will find that miracles appear in your life.
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