#643 Choosing our Energy

     This morning I was trying to deal with the glare ice that completely covers our driveway. While chipping away at the rock-hard ice, and doing my best to stay on my feet, I became aware of how incredibly close two vastly different, competing energies resided within me.
     Adversarial reactivity, the default energy, quickly, spontaneously arose - me against the ice; anger-based - get rid of this bloody nuisance, immediately! Our reptilian ancestry remains alive and fully functional in all of us - egocentric, impatient.
     But a few seconds later, a "choice gap" opened, and I realized that I'm here to do something kind for my wife, visitors and myself - making the driveway safer, hopefully to avoid injuries. The adversarial reaction immediately morphed into kind intention; time-poverty into timelessness; tightness into openness; coldness into warmth; smallness into spaciousness; fear, anxiety & anger into stillness, peace & love.
     We can waste an incredible amount of time & energy by angrily hacking away at all the challenges (& challengers!) that arise over a lifetime. Many of us are conditioned to routinely take an adversarial approach to life's difficulties. This is fear-based, ineffective, antagonizing, and very hard on everyone, including ourself. 
     
     With mindfulness training, we learn to quickly recognize & drop this default, bull-in-a-China-shop approach, and immediately a better choice presents. With training, we can choose to embody & enjoy awareness, kindness, timelessness, stillness, peace and joy, under any circumstance, no matter how challenging.

     More Nuanced Energy Choices: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2015/02/real-time-monitoring-of-our-own-energy.html

Ami Vitale, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com

#625 Deep Inside - What? Why? How?

     Einstein famously said: "I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ This is the first and most basic question all people must answer for themselves. For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.”

     Those of us who feel that the universe IS a friendly place likely do so, because we’ve intentionally looked within, via meditation / contemplation, and have repeatedly found at the very least, a measure of sanity, self-compassion, kindness, peace and joy.
     Too many, however, are of the opposite opinion - that the universe is hostile. These folks avoid introspection due to fear. They then project the evil that (they mistakenly presume) lies within, outward, onto the universe. Their unexamined 'shadow' is incorrectly conflated with the universe, resulting in adversarial (instead of nurturing) relationships.
     Can we help decrease such wide-scale, needless suffering by facilitating introspection?

     Please savour: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/07/367-discovering-manifesting-our-innate.html

cjf2   www.dpreview.com

#551 Primary Goal Selects our Operating System

     If your primary (overriding) objective is to escape from a burning building, most likely you'll be in full fight-or-flight mode.
     If your primary (overriding) objective is to excell
          • in competitive sports
          • in academics
          • in your profession
          • financially
you will most likely be in the fight-or-flight mode to varying degrees much of the time. These are challenging, competitive (adversarial) pursuits. In order to achieve a coveted material goal, as quickly as possible, people devote pretty well all the time, energy, & other resources they have. There's urgent egocentric striving, whether the fire is "in the belly" to become CEO by age 25, or is in your house & you're desperate to escape. Many live such "a life unexamined", which at some point they realize, was not worth it.
          However, if your primary (overriding) objective is to live as an evolved human being, most of your attention will be on the people and environment right now, relating to them appropriately. There is no struggle against competitors to achieve this. It's a lifelong project & company is very welcome. If you also want to achieve one of the material objectives above eg academics, you will approach it as an evolved human being - in a friendly, collegial, collaborative manner - rather than as an obsessed, self-centered, aggressive cave-man. Your operating system does not need to devolve to succeed in the world. See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/05/establishing-new-way-of-being.html

     We still have cave-women & cave-men among us. Such folks believe that being an evolved human being is incompatible with "success" in the "real" world. They believe that cheating, lying, bribery, stealing, bullying etc are necessary, and only the simple-minded reject these. "Greed is good" & "Win at any cost."

     Which is my path: the low road of "wise guys" or the high road of the wisdom traditions?  
     What is my primary goal & overriding operating system?

Human-powered boat day, Venice, June 2014

#548 Is being Cynical the same as Realistic?

     How often do we hear an uplifting story or an interesting plan of action quickly drowned out by someone's pessimistic or sarcastic putdown? Cynics believe that their worldview is accurate, and assume that the rest of us can't see how harsh life really is.
     Fear, anger & aggression dominates such peoples' lives - the egocentric, adversarial approach. And yes, life is indeed brutish in this primitive, yet all too common mode. The 2013 movie "August: Osage County" nicely illustrates this mindset within a family. This quality of relating is also common in the world's troubled hotspots, where groups have been slaughtering each other for generations. They clamor for revenge, "make the enemy pay", "make them suffer"! They don't understand that "doing more of what doesn't work, and expecting different results" is not just unreasonable, but the definition of insanity. But suggesting to either side that the "eye for an eye" approach hasn't, doesn't & won't work evokes indignant rage! Leaders of such warring groups may inspire rabid followers, but their obvious lack of emotional / spiritual intelligence ensures severe continuous widespread suffering.
     All the wisdom traditions guide us to let go of egocentric, adversarial orientation and open ourselves to a loving, nurturing relationship with all of humanity, all creatures, all of the world. This requires a qualitative shift in our operating system - from reptilian, to homo sapiens sapiens.
     From the evolved homo sapiens sapiens perspective, our more common, reptilian (fear-based egocentric adversarial) way of being appears ridiculous - and vice versa! Therefore, many aspects of mindfulness may initially seem somewhat puzzling or even counterintuitive.

Beast & Prey, Rome, Italy

#461 Paradox of Two Perspectives

     The usual (default) way in which we perceive things - ourselves & everything else - is based on a (dualistic) self-concept which is separate from, & in an adversarial relationship with everyone & everything else. We therefore automatically expend considerable energy avoiding (aversion, anger)  stimuli we reject; while chasing after to get & keep (craving, clinging) stimuli we want. This reactive reflex is hard-wired into our fully-functional brain stem. The typical mode of existence within dualism is suffering.

     A very different way of perceiving reality (rare without training) is experiencing one's self as an inherent part of the physical universe (nondualistic). A sense of wholeness & interconnectedness ("interbeing") is usually the result of a very gradual, radical shift in perception / way of being, brought about by consistent mindfulness meditation practice. This mode of existence is characterized by wonder, gratitude, love & joy. 
     One remains fully aware of the former perspective & way of being, but it is no longer the only way, so one is no longer trapped within dualism. 

     From within dualism, the concept of nondualism may seem attractive, but the experience of it cannot be imagined. A practical approach is patient, consistent, persistent, mindfulness meditation practice. Intelligent sustained practice inevitably cultivates & matures this natural, universal human capacity.

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/

#454 Divided Life - or - One Continuous Mindfulness Practice?

     For some of us, dressing up, going to school or work, behaving professionally and doing our tasks, all feel phoney. It all feels like "acting" to earn money so we can put food on the table, and be able to do the things we really enjoy doing & be ourselves. The sense of having to work, having to expend (minimal) effort, producing products & services that (barely) meet standards under tight supervision, are the natural result of living a divided life. This breeds an us-against-them, adversarial attitude between students & teachers, between staff & management. There's no engagement, no personal investment or initiative - the "real me" wants to be elsewhere. This is presenteeism - the land of the walking dead. A huge desire, & unrealistic expectations arise for any opportunity to escape drudgery: weekends, holidays, and the holy grail - retirement. Such students & workers complain because they're truly unhappy, & externalize their unhappiness, believing that the cause lies outside of themselves. Their teachers & bosses usually don't understand the underlying psychology, but do look forward to replacing them with far more collaborative, vital, engaged people.
      Of course it's perfectly normal to sometimes have "a part" of us want to stay home from work - go skiing or read a good book. However, it's also perfectly normal & healthy for another "part" of us to want to go to work and fully, authentically engage in our profession. All play & no work also makes Jack a dull boy! Judging either work or play all good or all bad is extreme, unbalanced & unhealthy.  
     Even retired wealthy individuals feel the need to contribute meaningfully to society. So how can healthy young people possibly feel phoney by working? Is it not that their ideas of "meaning", "self" & "worldview" require maturation?
     These are not simple matters of morality. None of us have had ideal childhoods, full of unconditional love, stable healthy wealthy wise families, friends, etc. But we do have to start where we are - right here, right now. The opposite of externalizing all our problems is seeing all that we encounter as a learning opportunity. We can choose to be fully engaged with, directly experiencing every moment of life with our heart-mind open.
     It is possible to live authentically through continuous mindfulness practice.

Don Pentz - Flood Tide, Broad Cove   www.fogforestgallery.ca