After thought #6

Most human beings do not worship “God” per say; they worship their ideas about “God”, or someone else’s ideas of what “God”, “the creator”, or the Universe” is.  For most of us contemporary spirituality (unlike most religions although it is still possible to pull the same trip) is like going to a smorgasbord at a restaurant; we look around, pick at this and that, try to find something that tastes good; something that “works” or “fits”; something that “feels right” for us, and when it does, we go on a binge, gorging ourselves until we can eat no more. 

We spend our lives caught up in finding a system, trying to learn that system, trying to understand and adapt to that system and the knowledge that goes along with that system; even though, it may have little to nothing to do with the actual process of finding out Who We Are. 

Part of this approach, is motivated on the misconception that we have been conditioned to believe that what we “seek”, is “out there”; that we will find “it”, “out there”.  The realization that “we” are already “it” never occurs to us; better said, that there actually is no “it”, beyond the idea of “it”, is too great of a leap for the average seeker to comprehend. 

The average seeker is not really interested in discovering Who they are.  The average seeker is interested in shopping around for a philosophy or belief system that creates the most comfort for their existing, conditioned mind.  Finding out who you are for most, causes to much discomfort; discomfort in the realization that you are NOT what you think, feel, assume, or imagine yourself to be.  You are NOT what you are told you are. 

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj once said:

“Everything you learned about yourself, you learned from outside yourself; therefore, discard it…”

When you shop around for a practice, philosophy, technique, or tool, it won’t necessarily enable you to be successful in the discovery of Who You Are.  It might provide an opportunity to learn knowledge, have experiences, and a potential for some level of mastery within that system, but in most cases, it will potentially serve as distraction from noticing what is most important; that inherently “within you” there is a natural, unconditional accesability to THAT state or THAT presence, which was always there in the background of your awareness waiting to be discovered.

To paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche, “how can you become what you already are?”

You are not an average seeker!

 

***

Please enjoy these two short videos, by author and teacher Stephen Wolinsky; one of only a few direct, living, western students of Sri Nirsargadatta Maharaj

 

 

 To learn more about Stephen Wolinsky and his work please visit:

http://www.netinetifilms.com

 

After thought #5

How do you define yourself?

I think this has to be one of the most powerful questions we could ask ourselves to find out where you are “standing” in the moment.  How you defined yourself when you were ten years old is very different than how you may define yourself in this present moment now; likewise, it will likely be very different ten years from now.  In each and every moment we can in fact, vacillate dramatically, in who we imagine we are, by the way in which we define ourselves in that moment.

The “problem” with humanity is that we are constantly trying to define ourselves.  We are conditioned from birth to define ourselves and we spend our lives in the constant pursuit of more and more refined definitions that are shaped by the choices, decisions, beliefs and experiences that occur. 

Consciously and unconsciously we are taught and told who we are by others: our society, our peers, our culture or another’s, religion and even politics can mold the paradigm in which you see, experience and express the concept of self, or “I”. 

As if that wasn’t enough, some of the most dangerous definitions of self, were, and are, self engendered.  We observe, we absorb, and we masturbate those ideas, thoughts, notions, perceptions, associations, feelings and memories, like some sick variation of a Pavlovian experiment.  In our innocent naïveté, we actually believe we truly know and understand who we are in the sense of how we see our self, the world, and how others see us.

The moment you define yourself is the moment you limit yourself.  Those ideas, thoughts, notions, perceptions, associations, feelings and memories that we have wedded ourselves to ultimately serve as a filter and lens that limit the limitless.  As long as we continue to identify ourselves as and by our body/mind only, we will continue to limit the unbounded nature that we are, we will prevent our ability to stabilize awareness in our essential core.  As long as our awareness continues to be scattered into this and that, we will continue to suffer under the erroneous, neurosis of our very own personalized, narrative, which defines and determines who we imagine ourselves to be.

Are you really Black or White, Canadian or American, gay or straight, man or woman, poor or rich? 

Do you really think that Who You Are is defined by what you do or don’t do, have, or feel?  That Who You Are is based on the level of your I.Q., how much money you make, where you work, or whether you have positive or negative thoughts?  Perhaps your trip is locked in the shrine of who you thought you were in the past, or who you think you are now; and what about the future “you” that you continually invest in? 

Have you lost the value of your essential nature in the projection of that imagined future definition?

Do you think the vastness of Who You Are can be corralled by the level of your education, religion, sexual preference, or ethnicity?  

Does your personal suffering presently overwhelm and determine, shape and thwart, what is, what was, and what will always be?

Can we let go of the need to define a sense of self that is based only on the dogma of conventional thinking and understanding, or are we able and willing to quietly begin the dismantling process, finally breaking the chains that have bound the unbound? 

Through the enquiry of unconventional thinking ~ through “expansion” of awareness, is it possible to unlock the vast, untapped potential of what is, what was, and what will always be?  

How do you define yourself?

How do “I” define myself?

After writing this, preferably not thank you.

“I” think it’s time to erase my bio/profile…

 

***

Please enjoy a short video commentary by an amazing teacher, author and guide; Stephen Wolinsky, on the role of identification.

 To learn more about Stephen Wolinsky and his work please visit:

http://www.netinetifilms.com

After thought #4

Conventional Spirituality would have you believe that the realization of Who You Are is somehow dependent upon what you are thinking, being, having and doing in life.  That somehow through gain, achievement, or merit, you reach a point of knowing Who You Are.  

Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Spirituality is not math.  It has nothing to do with addition of “good” things such as philosophy, vegetarianism, practice, or prayer.  Likewise, it has nothing to do with subtraction of  percieved “bad” things, such as your “shadow”, a disease, or you’re so-called negative thoughts.

There comes a time when you realize that Who You Are cannot be gamed; when its time to strip yourself naked of erroneous, conceptual beliefs and understanding; by blatantly examining, questioning and investigating all ideas, judgments and assumptions you ever had about yourself, your life and your so-called spirituality.

With that occurrence, you might be lucky enough to create the space for something even grander to appear; something you could never have imagined or hoped for. 

It’s really only in the light of awareness that “truth” can really be seen, not for the appearance it may or may not take on as form or phenomena, but in the clarifying value of absolute stillness; in the deepest silence where there is no this and that, “you” are the truth…

After thought #3

Finding out Who You Are has nothing to do with knowing your preferences, likes or dislikes in life.

Finding out Who You Are has nothing to do with whether you are a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim or Jew.

Who You Are has nothing to do with what you know or don’t know, read or don’t read, who or what you worship or don’t worship. 

It has nothing to do with what you eat or don’t eat, or how many years you have been meditating or not.

Knowing your so called purpose, vision or mission in life, has nothing to do with Who You Are, even though they may be very inspiring ideas that bring meaning to your mind and life.

All these ideas are concepts; they come from a mind that wants to think its way home.

Your true “home” is beyond the mind.

It is only when you can go beyond the mind and its limited ideas of Who You Are, that you will begin to recognize your true “home” and “Being”…

Prior to the idea “home”, You Are.

Prior to the idea of “mind” and “Being”, You Are…

Insight #63 ~ ZEN Shredding…

 

 

Improve your ride.

While knowledge can often serve as a pillar of strength to specific areas of your life, the regular, consistent experience of inner silence becomes a foundation to nurture all of your life.

Extended commentary:

In snowboarding as in most sports or learned activities in life, it’s often easy to hit a plateau of learning in that given area.  Usually when we hit a plateau we simply adjust or change how we learn by introducing new knowledge, skills or understanding to what we are learning with the hope that a new level of improvement will be realized. 

Breaking through that ceiling sometimes appears as a result of shifting strategies and we gain, achieve or realize a new level of understanding, experience, or skill. It is also possible that we accept conditionally or unconditionally where we are in that learning and for a “list” of reasons, forego any further pursuit.  We stop our learning and therefore stop our progression. 

In my own life I have become acutely aware of a subtle distinction, a cut that has needed to occur in this approach when it applies to the idea of finding out Who We Are.  When it comes to the body, mind, life, and in the case of something specific like snowboarding, there will always be some sort of potential to “improve your ride” by doing things differently.  When it comes to the Self however, no improvement is needed.

To be clear; if you think of yourself as your body or your mind, (which you are not) and you look at your life through the lens of the body/mind, you will always be able to “improve” most everything by nature of the lens (in this case the body/mind) through which you are looking.  There is always the potential for more knowledge, more understanding and more skill at the level of the body/mind and with regards to matters that relate to the body/mind.  The lens of the body/mind will by its nature always see reality as a duality; it will only be able to see “imperfect” or “perfect”, “I know” or “I don’t know”, “I’m good” or “I’m not good” AND, “I could be better” or “never be better”.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharajah once said:

“give up the tendency to improve yourself…”

The cut in this case, lies in the perceptual and cognitive process of the body/mind. The essence of Nisargadattas statement suggests that if we want to find out Who We Are, it will not necessarily occur or be achieved with any conventional approach that might work when speaking about living and doing life, based on an agenda of changing, fixing, transforming, healing, improving, purifying, gaining or achieving.  While this may work conveniently for the body/mind, it has little to no effect when it comes down to knowing Who You Are.  There can be no gaming when it comes to the “realization” of Self.

There are some amazing skills and technologies “out there” to improve the quality of your life and how you experience subjectively you’re every day life.  In the world of spirituality we mistakenly confuse and complicate things by projecting the misunderstanding of this one small fact: you can presumably improve your body and your mind by what you do and don’t do; you can improve to a certain degree, the quality of your life and the level of so-called “successes” you experience or achieve in that life, but the Self that you are, does not need improvement.  It is  always available in its “perfected” state, now.  Nothing needs to be added or subtracted when it comes to the Self which is your true nature.  It is already “pure”, “undivided”, and “complete”, now. 

You can go to school to learn something new or you can take remedial classes to refine a skill you may presently have, but the Self which you are, lies beyond the boundaries of change and the polarity of improvement or failure.  It is timeless and eternal, it is changeless now, and at the heart of your true Being, beyond the awareness of your body/mind, you are also timeless, eternal and changeless now.

All strategies for successful living, however meaningful, important or effective come from the mind and therefore appear to apply to the dimensions of the body/mind and the world that they exist in only.   Strategies for living a successful life often called personal growth, transformation or even so-called spirituality, have nothing to do with finding out Who You Are; which will happen or won’t happen by any effort or merit on your part.

 

Can you be still and quiet in your mind and body? 

 ***

I’m honored to share with you a short video clip by Stephen Wolinsky; a brilliant teacher, guide and direct student of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, with the hope that it may serve you on the “road” of awareness…

 

  

 To learn more about Stephen Wolinsky and his work please visit:

http://www.netinetifilms.com

 

To order a copy of ZEN Shredding please visit:

http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000161942

OR

Check out “Living The Dream”, the gift book version of the slideshow/movie that is available to view free on You tube or the ZEN Shredding website; an inspiring read with full color photo’s of Whistler/Blackcomb Alpine…

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/322380

AND

When you get a chance, please visit the home of my latest work:

 Soulananda;

The Essentials of a Good Life…

 http://www.soulananda.com

 

(c) Copyright – Michael Sean Symonds. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.