Consciousness; its ALL about consciousness.  Now, I do not act as I am presenting something that has not been mentioned hundreds of thousands of times before.  But like so many things repetition is the key to awareness.  It is like battering a wall until it final crumbles to pieces letting in the light of reality.  What is reality?
Reality is only what you make it.  "True" reality is the void.  When you can be nothing you can be everything.  We are in a ruthless, exhausting effort to define ourselves.  In other times we are just as fervent protecting ourselves from what we are not.
So where do we not understand the great Masters and Teachers of the past:  "True self is no self." "A man must die in the watery grave of baptism and be raised a new man."  It is ALL the death of the ego and surrendering to the higher power that will best serve us.  An argument generated between a friend of mine and I when she said, "What about my core values."  "Really, who defined what you core values are?"  Are not core values just "likes?"  I like chocolate cake.  I like honesty.  So?
These are only limiting factors and blind us to the larger vision of reality. That vision meaning we identify with non-identity which leads us to the void, the beginning of all creation.
As the Buddhists describe in the Heart Sutra-" No old age and death, no end of old age and death," or the Taoists in "High defines low and cold defines hot."  Definitions and identifications only limit who we are.  Open your mind, open your heart, open your soul and seek the expanse of nothingness to find who you really are...

Attack like St. Paul? Not really...

     One of the most interesting ideas is to assess what actually works in the spiritual world of man/womankind and what does not by putting it into the personal litmus test of time-experience.  So, with knowledge we move forth to an experiential phase followed by wisdom.  The wisdom answers the question of whether it worked or it didn't work.
     What we notice today is the exploding spiritual maneuvers by entrepreneurs everywhere  to take your money via seminars, CDs, books, tapes and what have you. We are whisked away to the next vibrational nexus of evolution-at a price. The caveat here is that if you don't "evolve" YOU were not doing something right. Yes, unlike traditional schools of wisdom YOU are at fault and blamed for not being a success but still padding their wallets.
      Is there one popular "teacher" who gives all their money to the poor, environmental groups, war torn countries, disease cure foundations and lives a very modest middle income life?  I have not heard of one.  So if you know one such teacher clue me in. This is a multi-billion dollar industry.  Yes, it is an industry making the "teachers" wealthy as they send others out with "feel good" sensations and hope of transformation and not much success. But lets put the responsibility on the "teachers" and not the student.  As Mr. Miagi states in The Karate Kid, "No such thing as bad student. Only bad teacher."
     I have had "teachers" and then I have had teachers-Buddhist, Taoist and Christian.  All whom pointed to the standard model of successful practice- simple diligent practice and belief in the self. Now that gets a little confusing because of the 3 a fore mentioned there is the belief in the "death of the self"(ego) to grow. Lao Tzu- "True self is no self."  Jesus taught we must die to the self "In the watery grave of baptism."  Putting jewels on a pile of feces only makes for pretty shit.  Transform the feces to "a new creature" and viola you have life giving fertilizer.  Similar to grass urinated on by the dog.  The grass quickly dies.  But once transformed by the Earth the urine facilitates the growth of verdant plumes of grass where once brown, dead leaves laid.
     Where do we begin?  I personally have tried pyramids, quartz crystal crowns and adornments, binaural generated wave forms to alter my brainwaves, The Gateway Experience and Phasing for extended periods of time.  It has lead me to the conclusion-for myself only- that these are simply "things" we rationalize to allow us to grow; like an excuse.  We do not believe we have the power to grow and evolve ourselves.  We need a crutch, an excuse, fallacy laden directive to allow ourselves the permission to grow.  This is personal responsibility folks.  We all have the power and sitting within the quiet of the current "self" is the only way I have found it.  "God" speaks not in words but in insights and actions within me and between me and others. How is it that "God", "The Creator", the "void" whatever greater "thing" there is beyond us would not give us the necessary tools to evolve?
     In the great motivational video by Mateusz on Youtube called Unbroken there is a statement I agree with, " Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."  This quote is attributed to Marianne Williamson
     It is our time to let go and go inside.  Meditation and contemplation have survived a myriad of years and brought forth many to claim their rightful place in the cosmos as true, quiet, unassuming teachers.
Need an example of what to look for?  Look to the quiet, peaceful, unassuming, truth speaking individuals that draw you in, preferring to listen instead of speak. There will be a draw to them as they treat you like a loving grand mother or grandfather, a partner in your growth as a wise and respected teacher.  These great teachers will not be flamboyant, flashy or charismatic on the outward but you WILL feel their presence. Why is this so?  Because it is not their duty to have you draw them into you but to have you be drawn out.

The Creator of this world has something to say to us; "You are all being lied to by yourselves and those around you.  Money is the ruler of your world.  Greed and comfort are the measures in your world of a successful life."  The current election cycle is a perfect representation of the fight for the soul of this country.  Mega rich for the few or generalized money distribution for the masses. Which do you believe to be a more life sustaining approach?
     We are all assailed by the presentation of what is true.  One truth that is causing the most despair and taking the most damage is , "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."  Yet what do we do?  We try to "cure" every disease on the planet but largely ignore prevention because it takes what a cure does not-personal responsibility; action vs. reaction. The sinister reason, "Where is the money in a cure for cancer?"  A cure for cancer is JUST LIKE alternative energy sources are to big energy. It threatens the world of money and comfort where the few ride on the backs of many. Cure cancer and where do the people go to work from hospitals, oncology centers, imaging centers, drug companies and every staff member associated with the treatment of cancer-if there were a cure.
So where do we attack first.  As Les Brown would say of anything, such as a cure/prevention for cancer: "It's possible." We must develop the drive to grow and excel in growing.  Turn off the nightly narcotic of distraction and numbing, the TV, and grow.
     Exercise, meditation, prayer, volunteering, loving our neighbor are a few small things we can do to distract ourselves from the drug dealers of false promises of Madison Avenue. It does not take much for us to change our lives at all.  Commitment to making the world a better place is simple.

Occam's (or Ockham's) razor is a principle attributed to the 14th century logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. Ockham was the village in the English county of Surrey where he was born. The principle states that "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily."

You may be more familiar with the colloquial term; "The simplest explanation is usually the most correct."(Paraphrased)  Yet somehow we believe the more complex the better.  Again, another lie we are fed. Simple solution:

Walk 30 mins a day
Meditate 20 mins a day
Eat only food grown by the Earth in its whole form.
1 Random act of kindness everyday.

An avalanche starts with one rock.  A journey starts with one step. We do these simple things and the world will change immediately and dynamically. There is only one catch, we have to do it.

What is reality?  Is reality the sensory experience our bodies create and define with feedback?  Is reality really just a choice between endless multiverses and attention?  Maybe the questions are bigger than the answers. Perhaps Occam was right; The simplest explanation is the most correct.  Meaning?
There is no reality, there is only consciousness.  What the physical world calls matter and energy is only consciousness. If nature is the codex to "life" in this dimension then truth be told there is way more "nothing" than something.  Or perhaps the Buddhists gave us the key- Mu- meaning  the Buddhists are looking for "no thing."
The Taoists would also point us out to the obvious. The "void" is the beginning of the beginning before the beginning.  Call it the unspoken potential.  Where whatever can be imagined is somewhere, in the universe, real and abiding; wonderful and terrible at the same time that we made for our perception.
So there in lies our friend and truth the paradox. The human cell is not the human and it is.  We are (sons of God -meaning as God)God  and not God.  The list can go on in adfinitum.
So there can be only one course of action foreseeable; grow consciousness and evolve.  For only in the growth of consciousness are the solutions approachable for the next evolutionary jump in the Self.  After all, how can I prove that anything exists outside of myself with fallible sensors and programming. David Hawkin's MD PhD in his book Letting Go says it best(paraphrased)
, "If you think reality is anywhere else other than between your ears, you are insane already." The world's problems are simple illusions that can be very painful to an ego that "won't let go."

Zombieland of the Soul

We are the Zombies of the New Apocalypse

     Yup, that is us.  It dawned on me this morning walking in to work that indeed our ego minds have made us zombies on this home we call Earth.  We could be just as easily been labeled as vampires.  We take perpetually and do not give.  We are attention whores and consuming concubines.  Its all about us making our worlds miniature, small defensive compounds that react to the slightest perceived threat.  We only leave our fetid compounds to consume more and more all the while our soul is rotting from fears, anger and anxiety.

     We rush to entertainment dropping a load of cash instead of spending our money on the sick, homeless and bereaved in our quest to fill a lifeless void.  What are thinking?  Well the answer is easy; me,me,me.  It's all about me.  But really it isn't all about me.  It is about us. We fail to educate our children as parents.  From our barren psyches we hover in our fears to protect them and ourselves when indeed God brought them and us here and will take them when their contract with him is up and no sooner.  David Hawkins MD PhD in is book says there are no accidents or "unplanned illnesses".  These are preplanned arrangements of the soul to learn lessons.  Others have contractually agreed to assist us in both helping perpetuate the act and aiding in the recovery for each souls benefit.

     Indeed we are in an apocalypse of our choice and actions or albeit non-actions. Instead of taking actions within ourselves to make things "better" we sit under the table of the master waiting for crumbs to fall.  Or worse we stride out, self centered demanding what is , we believe, our fair due. We have become victims of our own monkey minds.  Fearful of not having enough or enough of what the others have.  We search with vacant eyes only to consume the next great product that comes along whether it is a youtube video, new Taco Bell creation or movie.

     Now that we have seen ourselves in the mirror what is next?  Maybe the Taoists have the answer.  Lao Tzu says, "Do nothing and nothing gets left undone."  How is this possible?  Below the surface is the act of faith.  Trust is the operative world.  You did not bring yourself into this world and kicking and screaming you WILL be pulled back to the source. Our lives are not our own.  We are observers and then teachers of what we have observed and experienced.  It is our time to Be.  Be compassion, be love, be present.  Like Occam' s razor the simplest explanation is usually the most correct.  Our lot in life we choose.  No one chose it for us.  It is time to realize that.  The old adage to "Bloom where you are planted" in never truer.

Be a fragrant flower to others today and not the hungry ghost of Hades.

    

My oncology patients "Get it"

My oncology patients "get it."  Like so many that think we struggle with mortality our behaviors say we don't.  We are angry, reckless, have bad habits in diet, culture and health.  We live like there is no tomorrow.  Maybe there is a tomorrow and maybe there is not a tomorrow. Or maybe there are thousands of lifetimes of tomorrow. But today, my oncology patients know without a doubt they are going to die.  They have been given the gift of knowlingly facing their mortality they will not have to wait to the last minute or die in their sleep never addressing this fact; we all die.
The ancient Samurai culture taught warriors to not fear death.  This was their first lesson in training. If you are not afraid of death what is there that you cannot attempt to accomplish?  Mind training or mind deconstruction should be our primary objective otherwise we will enter the realm of the old German saying, "Too soon old, too late smart."
Being human has taught us that denial is a positive and powerful tool to avoid fear.  Fear does not go away.  Somatically it enters our bodies where wreaks havoc.  Psychologically fear, stress and denial make our thought processes stumble.  Our emotions become less pure and our fuses grow short, we worry about the insignificant while the significant fade away into dissolution.
We would serve ourselves well at not treating the symptom and instead root out the source of the malady.  We all like to take a pill or have surgery instead of taking a lifetime to prevent the causes of high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and mental illness. We choose not to have time to care for ourselves and those around us.  Instead we pay for others to do these tasks. Drug companies, healthcare industrial complexes and insurance corporations are happy to take our hard earned money and take away our responsibility. The fallacy is they will take our money but we are always responsible.Responsibility can never be given away.
We must lance the abscess of our illness and clean out the garbage that resides within us.  If we take this lifetime to purify our being we will have generations to come of greater, stronger, purer souls who will have a clearer sight at our evolutionary spiritual pathways.
Where do we start?  How do we face our mortality?  The fact of the matter is that the question itself is a paradox as well as the answer.  We face mortality by being the best we can be as a human today.  We don't improve ourselves tomorrow we face life today.  Like Eckhart Tolle we live in the now. Like Brene' Brown we face vulnerability and accept "I am enough."  Like Shawn Achor we say our 3 gratitudes everyday, meditate, exercise to prepare the way.  If we supplant happiness with fear, is there then a fear of death?  If we live to our best right this moment will it matter what happens if that next timeless moment is death?
How we all choose to answer that question will represent where we are and where we can go.



http://www.brenebrown.com/books/

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html

Complacency

What is it that pushes the person to excel?  Excel past what?  Internal apathy, depression, comfort and habit are a few blockades on the way.  What motivation does it take to trigger the real action from inaction to action? Is it discipline?  Is it the desire to grow?  What are we looking for to turn the key of mental stimulus to drive us off the couch of complacency to the track of spiritual growth?

This is a quest of mine.  Where do I seek this eternal flame?  Despite endless hours of meditation I still have not found the key.  But perhaps unlocking what is behind it is more challenging so we all self destruct or divert instead of facing the "Unbearable Lightness of Being."

Many motivational speakers state that we fear the light much more so than the dark.  We fear to take up the Bible's statement that we are "co-creator's with God."  Do we fear our own power or do we fear the consequences of failure or actions that take us out of our comfort zone?

The ego mind has a tendency to thrive off drama and negativity instead of growth and bliss.  Why?  Because if we grow evolutionarily, as is a given, we eventually obliterate the ego's control over life as it sees it.  The ego drags its feet at every occasion not understanding, like cancer, it must die in order for ourselves to truly live.  It isn't so much about willfully progressing as it is unwillfully letting go.  Dr. Hawkins in his book Letting Go makes this clear.

We all must learn to stop defining ourselves as this simply fences in our possibilities.  Living a life of faith takes not bravery or courage but the absence of fear.  The mind/ego revels in some challenges knowing it will get to stroke its heady plumage saying, "Look what I did."  So truly like Lao Tzu said, "True self is no self." , "truly bravery is no bravery".  Another way to think of this is the other Taoist saying, "True virtue is virtue not acting virtuously." Thus, true bravery is bravery not acting brave.

So with non-bravery we step into the light, not knowing where we are going and forgetting where we have been with no illusions as to the future.  Like a Samurai warrior we step over the threshold with, "Life in every breath." When there is doubt, confusion, despair...a simple conscious breath , like Buddha said, "I exist." That in and of itself is validity for a life.