The truth of who you are is utterly simple. It is closer than your thoughts, closer than your heartbeat, closer than your breath.
If you believe your thoughts to be real, if you follow your thoughts as the basis of reality, you will continually overlook what is closer, what has been calling you throughout time, saying,
"You are here! You are home!"
...
This is a time of the ordinary awakening. This means you.
--From The Diamond in Your Pocket, Gangaji
Thought is not reality, yet it is through Thought that our realities are created.
--From The Missing Link, Sydney Banks
Can there be simple awareness of what's going on, without making something of it? ... All seeing matters. Not just seeing feelings, but seeing their total interconnectedness with thought.
... It happens, when there is pure seeing, there is wisdom.
--From The Light of Discovery, Toni Packer
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Mirror in the Sky, What is Love?
We drove to Yosemite, strained, bickering--husband and I--and over the dry, surreal 152, a thousand thoughts, like all these dry, twisted, lonely Oaks, dotting the hillside, running, running, running alongside the car.
In Yosemite, we found silent majesty, amazing grace, happy children, cool waters ... it was Almost Independence Day (thank you, Van Morrison.)
Silence.
The mystery of endless stars.
During the ride home, once again, strain and tension. Now husband is in a hurry, I am not--who is deciding directions? Who trusts who to get us home? Who is overly worried? Who is being most obnoxious?
Then, Explosion! ... (from husband)
Explosion! ... (from wife, that's me)
Mind whirls into how to fix this, what we should talk about, what is the underlying issue here, guilt & remorse, whose fault and why?
Then, there was the invitation to Stop! ... Husband not talking to me anyway. Guilt, remorse, second thoughts, disastrous future-thinking ...
Who cares???
Just stop!
And we are back over the 152, and the gnarled, money-green oaks look so much more beautiful than before. It is hot. It is Independence Day. We have been to Heaven and back. We have been to Hell and back.
And it is all O.K.
And the radio played: I took my love and I took it down. I climbed a mountain and turned around ...
In Yosemite, we found silent majesty, amazing grace, happy children, cool waters ... it was Almost Independence Day (thank you, Van Morrison.)
Silence.
The mystery of endless stars.
During the ride home, once again, strain and tension. Now husband is in a hurry, I am not--who is deciding directions? Who trusts who to get us home? Who is overly worried? Who is being most obnoxious?
Then, Explosion! ... (from husband)
Explosion! ... (from wife, that's me)
Mind whirls into how to fix this, what we should talk about, what is the underlying issue here, guilt & remorse, whose fault and why?
Then, there was the invitation to Stop! ... Husband not talking to me anyway. Guilt, remorse, second thoughts, disastrous future-thinking ...
Who cares???
Just stop!
And we are back over the 152, and the gnarled, money-green oaks look so much more beautiful than before. It is hot. It is Independence Day. We have been to Heaven and back. We have been to Hell and back.
And it is all O.K.
And the radio played: I took my love and I took it down. I climbed a mountain and turned around ...
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Understanding Thought
and Finding Emotional Health and Immunity from Stress
Dear Friends: I wrote this for an on-line newsletter at the request of an organization that asked me to give a talk on "immunity from stress." I thought it might be helpful to re-post it here. I find this kind of strict, self-help-y writing a bit dry, actually. But I think, and hope, the content might be useful for you and yours.
“Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” --William Shakespeare.
For decades, researchers have shown that “stress” impacts physical health. To date, doctors, therapists, and the media have generally defined stress as a traumatic experience: a divorce, or breakup, the death of someone close, a health or financial crisis or other “major” life event most would interpret as negative.
In my work of two decades, however, learning and then teaching people in a range of settings (from young people in juvenile hall and adult inmates to teachers and organizational executives) the role that Thought—as a creative, causal principle—has in creating emotional reality, my conclusion is much different. Life circumstances have impact, of course, but it is the way we think about such circumstances that creates “stress,” or even well-being, in the face of life’s events.
One young woman I know, who was a student of the “3 Principles” I teach, and then became a teacher herself, has lived with advanced multiple sclerosis for several years. She has difficulty walking and climbing stairs, and must be helped eating, because of her tremors. At a retreat she attended with us at Mount Madonna Center, she described her condition as “a gift” that had opened her to new worlds of learning. “I am one of the luckiest people in the world,” she said.
Dr. Peter Ubel, a University of Michigan researcher and author of “You’re Stronger Than You Think,” found that people who had gone through “stressful events” in their lives, had lost both their legs, or undergone complete colonostopies, for example, were actually just as happy as their healthy counterparts with more “normal” lives.
Studies by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel-prize winning psychologist, showed that what society thinks of as “positive” circumstances, such as wealth and its perceived freedom, or power, has almost no effect on happiness and well-being, after people escape from poverty.
How people think, and what they think: how much gratitude they feel (no matter what their lives look like) and how much they engage in thoughts and feelings of love and generosity are the causal factors for emotional resiliency and well-being.
I experienced a miscarriage during my first pregnancy, after I got married. I was sad for some time, of course. But by understanding the role Thought played in my life, I had no inclination to “carry thinking” about the miscarriage into my future, or to interpret the event as especially negative.
Seeing Thought is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to gain emotional health and immunity from stress, because the truth is that we are not our thoughts. The truth is also that life will continuously throw apparent “problems” our way—death, illness, wayward children, conflict, difficult family members.
We do not even need to resolve our problems to become happy and emotionally strong. Rather, our very perceptions of such “problems” constitutes the mental “soup,” or consciousness, we live in. When we perceive problems as difficult and un-resolvable, for instance, our thoughts create feelings of hopelessness and despair—mental “stress” that ignites a chemical cascade throughout our bodies, and ultimately (and of course!) impacts physical health.
When we create a more objective relationship to Thought, as the great spiritual teachings of the world have taught, we see that peace of mind and well-being exist within us already, at our core, regardless of what we are going through. Indeed, peace of mind helps us navigate life’s obstacles with wisdom, grace and clarity. Or rather, finding peace of mind allows us to appreciate Life, the flow and dance of Life, no matter what we are going through.
With Love,
Your Mystical Mama
P.S. An important note: although our thinking impacts our physicality (of course!), do not let this fact be an added judgment on yourself. We are all human and suffer through many unhappy thoughts and physical states. It is so lovely to get off our own cases! Do you know what I mean? ... Of course you do!
Dear Friends: I wrote this for an on-line newsletter at the request of an organization that asked me to give a talk on "immunity from stress." I thought it might be helpful to re-post it here. I find this kind of strict, self-help-y writing a bit dry, actually. But I think, and hope, the content might be useful for you and yours.
“Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” --William Shakespeare.
For decades, researchers have shown that “stress” impacts physical health. To date, doctors, therapists, and the media have generally defined stress as a traumatic experience: a divorce, or breakup, the death of someone close, a health or financial crisis or other “major” life event most would interpret as negative.
In my work of two decades, however, learning and then teaching people in a range of settings (from young people in juvenile hall and adult inmates to teachers and organizational executives) the role that Thought—as a creative, causal principle—has in creating emotional reality, my conclusion is much different. Life circumstances have impact, of course, but it is the way we think about such circumstances that creates “stress,” or even well-being, in the face of life’s events.
One young woman I know, who was a student of the “3 Principles” I teach, and then became a teacher herself, has lived with advanced multiple sclerosis for several years. She has difficulty walking and climbing stairs, and must be helped eating, because of her tremors. At a retreat she attended with us at Mount Madonna Center, she described her condition as “a gift” that had opened her to new worlds of learning. “I am one of the luckiest people in the world,” she said.
Dr. Peter Ubel, a University of Michigan researcher and author of “You’re Stronger Than You Think,” found that people who had gone through “stressful events” in their lives, had lost both their legs, or undergone complete colonostopies, for example, were actually just as happy as their healthy counterparts with more “normal” lives.
Studies by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel-prize winning psychologist, showed that what society thinks of as “positive” circumstances, such as wealth and its perceived freedom, or power, has almost no effect on happiness and well-being, after people escape from poverty.
How people think, and what they think: how much gratitude they feel (no matter what their lives look like) and how much they engage in thoughts and feelings of love and generosity are the causal factors for emotional resiliency and well-being.
I experienced a miscarriage during my first pregnancy, after I got married. I was sad for some time, of course. But by understanding the role Thought played in my life, I had no inclination to “carry thinking” about the miscarriage into my future, or to interpret the event as especially negative.
Seeing Thought is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to gain emotional health and immunity from stress, because the truth is that we are not our thoughts. The truth is also that life will continuously throw apparent “problems” our way—death, illness, wayward children, conflict, difficult family members.
We do not even need to resolve our problems to become happy and emotionally strong. Rather, our very perceptions of such “problems” constitutes the mental “soup,” or consciousness, we live in. When we perceive problems as difficult and un-resolvable, for instance, our thoughts create feelings of hopelessness and despair—mental “stress” that ignites a chemical cascade throughout our bodies, and ultimately (and of course!) impacts physical health.
When we create a more objective relationship to Thought, as the great spiritual teachings of the world have taught, we see that peace of mind and well-being exist within us already, at our core, regardless of what we are going through. Indeed, peace of mind helps us navigate life’s obstacles with wisdom, grace and clarity. Or rather, finding peace of mind allows us to appreciate Life, the flow and dance of Life, no matter what we are going through.
With Love,
Your Mystical Mama
P.S. An important note: although our thinking impacts our physicality (of course!), do not let this fact be an added judgment on yourself. We are all human and suffer through many unhappy thoughts and physical states. It is so lovely to get off our own cases! Do you know what I mean? ... Of course you do!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
The Final Word
Let us cease
this endless talk
of enlightenment!
It is giving me
a small headache.
Let us pour a lovely cup of tea
instead
and talk about your garden
my Friend
and how it grows!
We will set a place
for God
and maybe,
if we discover enough love and laughter
He will
show up
(unless He
is busy
with more critical
cases
of true woe.)
this endless talk
of enlightenment!
It is giving me
a small headache.
Let us pour a lovely cup of tea
instead
and talk about your garden
my Friend
and how it grows!
We will set a place
for God
and maybe,
if we discover enough love and laughter
He will
show up
(unless He
is busy
with more critical
cases
of true woe.)
Pome from Silence
I watched the cloud
Dissolve
as a
Thing ...
Into
No Thing
the Free Sky!
Just like Truth
here
and then gone ...
The Absolute
a moving target
always, always, always
dissolving into
Sky.
What a gorgeous entertainment!
Dissolve
as a
Thing ...
Into
No Thing
the Free Sky!
Just like Truth
here
and then gone ...
The Absolute
a moving target
always, always, always
dissolving into
Sky.
What a gorgeous entertainment!
Holy is a Moving Target
Silence is not holy
but it can be
Meditation is not holy
but it can be
Yoga is not holy
but it can be
Taking drugs is not holy
but it can be
Football is not holy
but it can be
Golf is not holy
but it can be
Fishing is not holy
but it can be
Laundry is not holy
but it can be
Astrology is not holy
but it can be
Dancing is not holy
but it can be
Chanting is not holy
but it can be
Sex is not holy
but it can be
Religion is not holy
but it can be
And Everything is Holy!
except when it is not.
Holy is the color of your lucid eyes, my Friend.
And so, I have come
To worship at Your feet.
Anoint me with your Divine and Radiant Vision!
but it can be
Meditation is not holy
but it can be
Yoga is not holy
but it can be
Taking drugs is not holy
but it can be
Football is not holy
but it can be
Golf is not holy
but it can be
Fishing is not holy
but it can be
Laundry is not holy
but it can be
Astrology is not holy
but it can be
Dancing is not holy
but it can be
Chanting is not holy
but it can be
Sex is not holy
but it can be
Religion is not holy
but it can be
And Everything is Holy!
except when it is not.
Holy is the color of your lucid eyes, my Friend.
And so, I have come
To worship at Your feet.
Anoint me with your Divine and Radiant Vision!
The Sages
The sages
have exhausted
all their metaphors!
Sky, cloud, ocean, wave
Window, wind, desert, plank
Onion, rain, mountain, mustard seed
Music, tree, rose, lily
Lotus, sprout, field (fertile and not)
infant, elder, adolescent
Father, son, ghost
Me, You, Us
Copulation, orgasm, Lover!
We will need to find
a new planet
to keep on talking
of Love!
I fear the sages
must be weary by now
Perhaps it is time to take them seriously,
Take matters into our own hands, my Friend
And find Reality for ourselves
Trust me when I tell you:
You have everything you need
for this noble journey
Yes!
So we can end
all this talking!
have exhausted
all their metaphors!
Sky, cloud, ocean, wave
Window, wind, desert, plank
Onion, rain, mountain, mustard seed
Music, tree, rose, lily
Lotus, sprout, field (fertile and not)
infant, elder, adolescent
Father, son, ghost
Me, You, Us
Copulation, orgasm, Lover!
We will need to find
a new planet
to keep on talking
of Love!
I fear the sages
must be weary by now
Perhaps it is time to take them seriously,
Take matters into our own hands, my Friend
And find Reality for ourselves
Trust me when I tell you:
You have everything you need
for this noble journey
Yes!
So we can end
all this talking!
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