Forms of Samadhi

First, let’s define what Samadhi means. It is an experience of yoga or union with the Absolute. Oneness. Some definitions use it in terms of practice, but as that is a mental exercise, it cannot describe connection with what is beyond mind. We could say practice leads to samadhi which in turn leads to union. Patanjali defined different forms of samadhi or stages of union. He was an Indian Sage some 2,000 years ago who compiled the concise Yoga Sutras. This short book forms much of the basis of what we know today as meditation, including some misunderstandings of terms like dharana, confusing focus with effort. Many translations are in terms of a specific teaching, layering on their own philosophy. This makes finding unburdened interpretations challenging.

Patanjali names samadhi as one of the 8 limbs of yoga* (2.29). Not steps as is often confused, but done together, limbs. As he notes in verse 2.45, samadhi is achieved through surrender or allowing.

In other posts here, I have reviewed the stages of awakening. There are a series of stages of union – with the transcendent, with the soul, with the cosmic, with the divine, and with everything. Typically, samadhi is considered an experience that will lead to awakening or enlightenment. For awhile, I tried to match samadhis with states of consciousness but samadhi is the experience, the state is the result of such experiences. Dip the cloth in the dye until it is fast.

Some describe samadhis as stages of meditation. But while they are often first experienced in meditation, they will carry forward into activity. That is what creates the ground for emerging states of consciousness.  The goal is not samadhi, it is beyond the idea of a goal. It is statelessness, beyond practice or experience.

Notice how they are in progressive pairs. Some view the first pair as 2 classes into which the following fit, but if you see the progression, you’ll know that’s incorrect.

Verse	Name	Description
1.41	Samadhi	the end of meditation is samadhi
1.17	Samprajnata samadhi	Vitarka or pure thought, positive and peaceful, subject and object remain.
1.18	Asamprajnata samadhi	A = not, so this is without thought. Latent impressions or seeds remain.
1.42	Savitarka samadhi	Knowledge, name and meaning are mixed. Still illusion.
1.43	Nirvitarka samadhi	Memory cleared, true nature seen. Without meanings added. No Past
1.44	Savichara samadhi	As above but name and meaning with subtle objects. (like mantra)
1.44	Nirvichara samadhi	Sound or sight alone. But objects and thus duality still present. 1.47: restful alertness, luminosity of self 1.48: filled with truth 1.49: direct knowledge, without senses 1.50: overshadows normal perception
1.51	Nirbijah samadhi	Without seed or control. Latent impressions burnt. Freedom from rebirth and death. 3.8: Sanyama** is external to this 3.38: Siddhis** are obstacles to this
4.29	Dharmamegha samadhi	Release even highest knowledge, “rain of virtue”, no burden or drama. Everything is consciousness and that alone exists, free of contraction.

This leads to Kaivalya or enlightenment.

Others
Other traditions refer to other forms of samadhi. Some use the term more broadly.

Savikalpa samadhi is like Savitarka, some refer to it as when subject and object remain.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is changeless, without time or thought or breath. Pure absolute transcendence. But as Ramana suggests, a temporary state after which ego returns. The mind witnesses the experience. When that begins to be experienced in activity, it is the silent witness.

And so on.

Sanyama
In the third book he speaks of **Sanyama: intention (Dharana), meditation/openness (Dyana) and transcendent or samadhi together. A focused thought within expanded awareness, combining 3 of the 8 limbs*. He then defines specific intentions (siddhis or powers) and their result. In that context samadhi comes up again.

3.9	Nirodha Parinama	Stillness of the mind
3.11	Samadhi Parinama	Sustained focused attention, without distraction
3.12	Ekagrata Parinama	Refinement of above, object flows continuously in attention. 3.13 Direct knowing, all time.

These would thus be stages of Sanyama.

*The 8 limbs of yoga are Yama (truthfulness, etc.), Niyama (study, devotion, etc.), Asana (Postures), Pranayama (breath regulation), Pratyahara (inner attention), Dharana (effortless focus), Dyana (continuous attention or meditation), and Samadhi.

I’m certainly no expert but this is what is apparent to me now.
Davidya

[Update: see followup in comments]

Getting Clear

Recently, in a correspondence with a friend of mine, they expressed their struggle with emotion. I shared some ideas they found useful. I drafted them into this post and expanded on it.

It’s not that sadness is the incomplete feeling, its that sadness that sticks around is incomplete. The signal has not gotten through. But the sadness is likely not the source. The sadness may be a signal from something deeper – anger, regret, fear. When that is unresolved, it causes discomfort leading to sadness.

To illustrate the layers, this quote: “In Depression is Anger, In Anger is Fear, In Fear is a Hurt.”

A healthy emotion will simply wash over you and pass. Or stronger, will be processed and pass. Anything that sticks around is not complete. If it comes up over and over again, it is waiting to be healed. And it is likely reinforcing your story.*  And it is taking your energy to sustain it. For some people, a large percent of their energy.

Gangaji and other teachers have a process they do called inquiry. When you feel an issue or question, they will ask who is having the experience? Who feels the feeling? As you go into it, you often feel it peeling back in layers. Under the sadness is another pain, under that is fear, and under that is peace. If you see a guided inquiry, you’ll see it work with every drama, every concern.

This process may take a little practice at first. For many people, looking under their feelings is not a familiar thing. The key is allowing. It’s not about going into or wallowing in the emotion, but rather taking a step back. As in the above, noticing who is having the experience. Then from that place, allowing it to be what it is. When you don’t step into the drama but rather simply allow it, the experience is much less difficult and can be released.

For myself, I found that culturing gratitude shifted the habit away from making wrong, making allowing much easier. Much easier to be OK with what is if you are.

Don’t believe any of this. Look for yourself. When you find what is true for you, it will work for you. If you just add this as a belief, it’s just another story. Just another illusion. This is not a concept, this is an experiential process.

For some people, it can be like an awakening in itself when they take a step back from the drama and see it for what it is. Suddenly, what has been a great burden is reduced to a Grimm’s fairy tale. Even if we fall back into it, something of the grip has been reduced as it has been seen.

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts…”
– William Shakespeare, “As You Like It“, Act 2 scene 7

This is where effortless meditation has value. Not only does it help you clear but it gives you that experience of self within, the separate witness that can step back and observe the drama. From that platform, we can begin to change our habits of perception and how we relate to the world.

This is not about emotional control. That is resistance, the very reason you have a backlog of incomplete emotions. This resistance will arise as anger and frustration. An inner scream. If that comes up, look into it. What is there? And what is under that? Just allow it to be what it is.

Perhaps you are afraid of your emotions, of feeling. There’s so much bottled up pain in there, a big darkness. This is why I call it the shadow story. It is the bogeyman under the bed. Sure, some of it is not nice. But once you learn to step back with the little stuff, the bigger stuff will step forward, looking for a chance to heal. And if we’re not caught in it, it’s just another experience. Not a bogey man at all. No darkness with the light of attention.

If you have big feelings like grief, you may want to find healthy and comfortable ways to process them when they do come up. Again, not to go into them, but to allow them to complete. Some people punch a pillow or hike or journal or cry. Be patient with yourself but also be watchful. Get to know what is stepping into the drama and what is simply experiencing. One has a story and the other doesn’t. One will give you thoughts and ideas to feed it, the other will stay a feeling. One is reinforcing it, the other releasing it. Soon, you’ll begin to be able to look under the feeling. Then this kind of processing won’t be necessary. It will just be about experiencing.

Many of us have a drive to be perfect, to not admit weakness or fault. Or inversely, to look for weakness and fault. This is the ego mind, making things right and wrong. It has a story and it’s sticking to it. But the story is just an idea. It’s not real.

Judgments of weakness or fault are purely perceptual. If we change how we are looking, what story we are telling ourselves, we change what we see. We change our world. Weakness is simply a strength seen from lack. Seen from duality or either/or, every coin has 2 sides. Which side are you looking at? Why the dark side? Look into it. Why even take sides? Only mind thinks it needs to take a side, to have an opinion.

A simple way to check how this works is to watch the evening news. Watch the thoughts and feeling that come up. Do the items remind you of your pain? Reinforce to you how bad it is? Have you confirming your judgments about “all politicians” or “those Arabs”? TV news is designed to appeal directly to the ego and your personal drama. This is why investigative facts are minimized and the drama is maximized. It’s not news at all – it’s olds. Old stories regurgitated over and over. The ego exemplified.

Advertising is another example. Many products have no value whatsoever but advertising plays to your stories to create desire. How do you react to ads? If you react even negatively, its working. They have captured your attention. Again, this is not about judgment, just seeing what is there. When you can see it, you can choose. You are not caught. Diet products are huge because people don’t feel good enough about themselves or are too overshadowed by their feelings to simply take care of themselves.  Overeating and spending are unhealthy ways to process emotions. Thus, the string of failed diets or credit card debt, and continual demand for a ‘magic pill’ to make it go away.

This is the nature of the story we repeat to ourselves over and over, like a skipping record. When you begin to step back, you begin to hear the repeaters. And they are seen. And that’s the key – when they are seen, they can be looked at. When their falsehood is seen, they crumble. No judgment is needed here, just seeing it for what it is.

The comparative intellect is a very useful tool. It helps us decide many things. But when we let the mind take charge, it makes up a *story about everything, rating it good and bad. I agree with this, that’s crap. And it compares everything about us with everyone else, rating them the same way. Many of these stories were written when we were very young. When they are seen in the light of now, they can seen ridiculous.

More startling when we realize we’ve been making important life decisions based on this old trash. Any idea in your head that is making you or anything else less than is the ego speaking. You can believe the story or see that it is a story and put your attention on something else. See through it or don’t look. Give it nuthin.

Remember – your attention is your power. Your feelings are your energy. What you put your attention on grows stronger. What you resist persists.

When we look a these emotions, you may be surprised by the connections that lead to your behavior. The mind is associative, so when something similar comes up to the story, it latches on and associates them. Even if they have nothing apparent to do with each other – only perhaps a seed concept or feeling. Thus your feelings about an old situation become associated with your feelings about what is happening now. These produce what some call our buttons. (laughs)

‘My grade 3 teacher said I was ugly so it must be true.’ ‘He was a bad man so I better not trust a man again.’ ‘If I looked like Barbie I’d have the relationship of my dreams.’ ‘Real men don’t cry/ eat/ dress smartly’. ‘If I was rich and famous I’d be happy.’ It’s amazing the messages we take to heart. You don’t believe people carry these stories? Look at the magazines by your supermarket checkout. They exist because there is significant demand. I’m above that? For past relationships, did they fail you or did they fail your story? If you’re a man, when was the last time you cried? If a woman, are you comparing them to a prince?

Blame is an important one to look into, especially when we blame others for hurting us. When someone we respect says or does something unexpected or hurtful, it can be a shock. But do we take it personally? Take it to heart? Or simply see they’re having a bad day. This is how one person becomes traumatized and another not. If you take it personally, you are making it part of your story. Or using it to confirm a story that’s already there. If you believe it, that’s what makes it true. Not what happened, what you believe about it.

This is the deeper aspect, that no one can hurt you. We can only choose to be hurt, to take it personally. Of course, when we’re in the middle of it, that’s not so easy to see. Especially when we were young. The key again is being able to take a step back. And then forgive. Hardest to forgive is yourself. But when you do that, you will find there was nothing to forgive. We can toss the burden.

It’s also worthwhile mentioning that there’s a LOT of change taking place in group consciousness. Much of the old is falling away, as exemplified in the news. You may be experiencing a push or a drive to see. If you don’t want to see, then there is resistance. It may even be that you’re experiencing how things have been, but now from a more awakened place. And it’s not pretty. ‘Where the heck did this come from??’

As they say, its always darkest before the dawn. And it’s one hell of a sunrise underway.
Davidya

PS – don’t use this to make yourself wrong or not good enough. Be nice to yourself. Have patience. This can take a bit of work – you’ve been reinforcing the story for a long time. But once you get to the core a bit, it’s amazing how quickly it starts to fall away.

No Control

In the post Desire and Control, I spoke of the idea that we have to let go of our drive to hold and resist, let go of control.

Does no control mean out of control? No, this is being controlled by base emotions. No control means no me, no ego trying to take charge. Out of control is ego thinking it’s in control.

The best example I can think of is a dog. A dog is a pack animal. It needs a leader. If it doesn’t feel a sense of leadership or family, it feels it must take charge. But how is a dog supposed to know the rules of a human world? The result is a dog that “behaves badly”.

The ego is much the same. When the person looses touch with it’s source, it feels alone and that it must take charge. It tries to ‘figure it out’ and creates a story and tries to control circumstances to meet the story. Just as a dog can be like a “fish out of water”, so too is a person with an ego in charge. Living a strange little story.

Curiously, when a person begins to reconnect with their source, they often have become so used to being ‘in charge’ that they resist letting go. They fear being lost in this bigger reality, forgetting they are that.

What then does no control look like?

It is standing in the source of all life, all intelligence, all creativity. It is being home. It is safety. It is inspiration. It is intuition. It is allowing life to unfold as it is and discovering brilliant perfection. It is letting the fullness of being move through you.

Everything is just fine. It is only the ego who sees it otherwise. Of course, this may seem preposterous. “Look at the news!” you may say. Well, much of the news is a list of ego behavior and it’s dramas. Who thinks they’re in control? Who wants to be in control? Who is killing to be in control? It’s like a bunch of brats in a schoolyard. Ego doesn’t grow up.

For me, a good example of no control is this writing. I don’t sit down and try to come up with ideas. I don’t plan next posts. I have no idea where this is going. The ideas simply arise. Or don’t. There is an impression, like a seed idea, unformed in the mind. Rather than trying to figure it out, I simply write it down. It flows out.

No voice in the head. No channeling. Just noticing. A gentle nudge. A light bulb. Sometimes, a really bright one.

Often, after I write a post, I read it over and think “That’s interesting – I didn’t know that.” The person didn’t think it up. I just need to stay out of the way and write.

This doesn’t mean it comes out fully formed. I’m no Mozart. But the core ideas are there, I just write them down then fill it out to explain. Any weaknesses in the writing are a weakness in the vehicle, my own ability to be in the flow and skill with words.

I find the same in my work with technology. Begin to move in the direction you need, take a step and see what comes up. Listen. Follow the hunch. Thrash and you go in loops, allow it to be what it is and you see it and the solution arises. It may even seem to solve itself. In a 24/7 service, this always got the servers back up. But I found I was unable to teach this to my staff.  I didn’t know how to document this “procedure.” (laughs)

Can you even imagine a relationship without control? Just being there or flowing to? Giving and receiving?

This is the flow. This is no control. No person doing anything. It just comes. Nothing else is real.
This does not mean nothing is done. Everything is done, it is simply done without an idea of controlling the outcome. It is done through, not by.

In control, you grasp and hold, trying to “keep it together”. In letting go, you gain everything.

What else is there?
Davidya

Desire and Control

Desire is a natural quality of being human. It is our drive to act and give attention, our most precious resource. However, desire can come to us in a number of ways.

There are basic physical drives like hunger and sex. There are desires born of emotion such as the want of friendship. There are desires born of mind, like to understand an experience. These desires can arise in a number of ways – through our senses, memory, feelings, intuition, and so forth. But broadly, we can say they arise from one of 2 general places:

1) From the Person, our idea that feels separate
2) From the whole, an intention arising within silence, the flow

Knowing the source of an impulse can help us decide which to run with. But don’t let mind make these 2 sources the good and bad. It’s not so simple as that. Many perfectly valid drives come from the person. As the person is never apart from the whole, it is the vehicle of the whole to express. So many of #2 will arise through #1. The noise of the person may mask the deeper source.

As usual, the lesson is not in what arises but our relationship with it.

Follow the feelings. They are the energy, the drivers of the person. Is there a quality of control or holding? Seeing or feeling the holding can take you to its driver so it can be seen through and released. That grip will then be gone.

This degree of noticing may not come without a little practice. It must also be handled gently. This is about seeing, not judging. Observing, not blaming. One cannot try to separate the details. We simply see it or we don’t. The point here is to look. If we do see it, then there is some insight to be gained. If we don’t then perhaps this is one area that needs more looking, more allowing.

You may find a few key questions useful:

> What are the qualities that come with the desire?

In what way is it coloured? The key qualities to watch for revolve around resistance and control. How these express in you is something only you know. They may show up as anger or fear, as conceptual conditions like belief, or even a physical sense of gripping. Is there a sense of craving or must have? Does it have a sense of movement or a sense of pushing against? Is it about stepping forward or holding back? Is there a need to control?

> Are the qualities arising with the desire or as a result of the desire?

In other words, is it the desire or your reaction to the desire that needs to be looked at? Is there a difference between the impulse and your reaction to it? Is there a sense of don’t deserve or push against change? Is there just some need to allow?

> Is there anything that insists it be a certain way?

You desire a mate but are you insisting on how they come? Are you holding a form? How are you holding it – loosely or firmly? It is this element of control that taints our life. It is the attachment to the results, the hardest grip to release. It even damages fulfillment after the goal has shown up and we continue to try to make it/them a certain way. You have no control. That is completely an illusion of the person. But it doesn’t matter. There is nothing that needs to be controlled as you are not alone. When you are what is, what is there to control?

The value of this looking is finding your way into the flow. Stepping past the resistance and holding that keep you from enjoying the gift of your life. The movement of life through you. A movement that is love, that is bliss. The flow will bring us many experiences. It is only how we respond to them that determines if we suffer or enjoy their blessings.

May you find your way to enjoy the journey.
Davidya

Ego, Emotions, and Identity: the Person

In a number of posts here, I talk about the process of awakening. The gradual clearing and increasing refinement of perception that eventually allows us to see through the layers of illusion of mind and become what we already are. In posts like Transformation, I talk about the cyclic nature of growth as described by various teachers.

This cycle takes place within the broader direction of growth into reality. There are many ways to describe the process, like waking from Vasishta’s 7 layers of delusion or Genpo’s 5 stages or Maharishi’s 7 states.

I tend to favour the last as it best matches what I’ve seen, but Genpo adds what some call the soul awakening. This is certainly a valid milestone. And the intermediate steps are certainly of surrender. It’s also worth observing that each persons experience of the process will be unique and may not at first seem to ‘fit’ the framework, as Suzanne Segal certainly exemplified. It is never what we expect as it’s not about mind.

For this post though, I want to focus on the similarity of the layers of experience. The 3 milestones I will cover:
1) First or cosmic awakening, shifting from person to Self
2) Opening heart or divine surrender, awakening to being
3) Second or unity awakening into Oneness

In the first awakening, the mental idea of being a separate self, often called the ego, falls away. In the second cycle, the ‘crust’ on the heart falls away and it blossoms. In the second waking, the core identity falls away.

The core identity is the driver of the emotions/energy that in turn drives and sustains the ego-mind’s concepts and shadow story, it’s beliefs about the world. Because one arises from the other, they have a similar modus operandi and similar way of falling away. For example, the ego falls away when we become Self, but much of it’s supporting structure of related constructs often remains, trying to resurrect itself. I’ve referred to this as “ego shrapnel”. Adyashanti talks about minds attempts to return.

As the dramas arise and are seen, they fall away in the light of awareness. So a further process of clearing. Along the way there, often before awakening, the emotional underpinnings that give the energy to support the construct begin to be seen more clearly. We are able to witness the dramas in action, how we react to what arises. And we begin to be able to choose, to respond differently or not at all. Then to simply allow the experience. This process continues at increasingly refined values until the divine begins to cut through. Then we can blow the literal crust or shell on the heart, allowing it to open.

This increasing openness to what is, coupled with clearing of the old stories and dramas means the clouds start to really clear. What has been deeply sub-conscious, the core identity begins to be sensed, then seen. This is a purely fear based grip, holding the sense of separateness. Holding us from Oneness. As the core identity is seen and allowed, it falls away. Then the peripheral grips are seen and cleared, much as the ego shrapnel before, but more subtle and loud. (laughs) These are things like a deep need to know or to control or be seen or complete. While quiet, they often have had a profound impact on our life. They are often our core motivators to act, think, and feel. The clearing feels like one is being emptied out but what remains is fullness.

The process of clearing is similar throughout. Growing awareness, clearer perception, seeing and allowing what comes up, letting the feeling be experienced as it is, releasing.  Seeing and allowing.

The similar layers are basically the same intent, expressed through gut, heart, and mind. A comparison chart is of course a simplification as they are so closely intertwined, but it is illustrative.

Ego	Drama	Identity
concepts	emotions	core grips
Story	Drama	Need (unconscious)
belief	energy, driver	fear
mental resistance	emotional holding	gripping
knot	crust	fear / holding
expression	energy	intention

The unexpected thing for many is discovering that the “person” they have believed themselves to be for a very, very long time is a construct, built completely on fear. It is a surprise because for most people, it has hidden this from us as it knows that if it’s seen, it’s over. Who they really are is in many ways the opposite. More curious still is that the process is designed this way. In order to step into the new, we have to step out of the old. Dissolution is necessary for growth. But we resist what is, push against the flow. Then suffering arises like physical pain, a signal that something is wrong. When we resist the experience, we suffer. When we find a way to be OK with what is, the experience can complete and we can move on.

This is the message of suffering. That it’s time to stop and look. Time to see what is. Seeing it as it is is the end of it.
Davidya

Perception without Perception

After first awakening there is typically a gradual process of unfolding while the Self moves forward, absorbing mind, heart, and gut. One has switched from being a person experiencing silence to being the silent observer, experiencing the person. As the perception refines and the heart opens, the “bridge” to Unity or Oneness is formed. One finds the observer in the observed, like you are looking out at the world and finding only yourself. When this is fully seen, the sense of division between inside and outside falls away and it all becomes one, contained within oneSelf.

Before this, the attention has been as if trapped in the mind. Mind creates the sense of duality, of subject and object, observer and observed, self and other. Everything we experience is seen as opposites – good and bad, right and wrong, bright or dull, and so forth. This originates in the intellect. Thus it is the nature of the mind, even if it has been expanded to infinity. As long as there is a sense of me there, of self and other, there is duality. Everything is as we are.

But as we step past that into Oneness, the separation of observer and observed falls away. What remains is simply the process of experience, of perception.  The flow of awareness within Itself.

But it is a very curious thing the mind cannot grasp. How can there be an experience without an object of experience? Without a person to perceive? Surprisingly, there is nothing else. Subject and object are a construct of the mind. Outside of that is the home of all experience, of pure experience itself. Experience without form, in and of itself, is the deepest, richest nothing. And the nothing is everything.  It is pure love, pure bliss. Everything arises from That and is That.

It cannot be explained. Just beyond the mind, before absolute silence, is a field of lively silence. Of awareness moving within Itself. This is the deeper secret of what is. It is the truth of what it is, what everything is. Everything we experience is That, in itself. Any other idea of it is a mistake of the mind, making itself other.
Davidya

Fly Lightly, Dive Deep

Over on Takuin’s blog, Eric mentioned a nice quote: “angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly“.

This raises an interesting point about when we try and conceive of other realities. Land based creatures develop a kind of flat-land thinking with concepts like sit and fall. As Graham Hawkes reviews in this short TED talk, 94% of life on “Earth” lives in the ocean, a kind of inner atmosphere. They float and fly in a much more 3D space than we’re used to.

To an angel, they don’t “fly” as there is no “ground”.  They don’t have wings unless we ‘dress them’ or expect them that way. Humans tend to embellish their subtle perceptions so they can better relate to them. Until we can just let them be as they are – as with everything else – we will see such things more as we are than they are.

Angels or devas live in a more subtle space. Not another dimension, just a higher resolution of the same space we’re in. Putting stuff in other dimensions comes from ideas of “other”. When it’s seen as a whole, other collapses. It’s only here and now. As in the ocean, subtle life can move through space at will. They don’t have boundaries like gravity or solid or can’t. Those comes from having a physical experience which they’re not.

Free will becomes less meaningful when you’re closer to source. Contrary to the cream cheese ads, personal self is less expressed, so they work in service to the whole. This is always their context, should you think of asking for help. They help you as an aspect of the whole, never as a person. However, as there is an entity, self or some separation remains. This is the lesson of Satan – put self before the one and you ‘fall’ into suffering.

But light beings lack something we have – the ability to experience contrast and choice clearly enough to see the illusion and step out of it.

As the former Shankaracharya of Jotir Math, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati once said “Because you’re human, God has given you power to think and decide what is good and bad. Therefore, you can do the best possible kind of action. You should never consider yourself weak or a fallen creature. Whatever may have happened up to now may be because you didn’t know. But now be careful. After gaining a human body, if you don’t reach God, then you have sold a diamond at the price of spinach.“

Davidya

Nothing Personal

One of the more curious illusions that most people suffer from, literally, is the idea that it’s personal. That anything, or rather everything that happens is about me. Or deserves to be treated on the basis of how it affects me.

Nothing is personal. Even the idea that there is a personal is illusion. Thus the source of all suffering is a ‘mistake’ in perception. It’s one of the cosmic jokes, although it’s only funny when you see it. We can only step out of this idea when we see who is seeing, when we discover who we really are. Then we will act from the whole, for the many.

I was reminded of this today by Buckminster Fuller. In the ’70′s I was working on a paper on the geometry of consciousness and discovered his tome Synergetics, subtitled “Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking“. He was using the same kind of models to describe the underling geometry of “Universe”. More recently I discovered that Nassim Haramein had also come to the same models at around the same time and place. A ski resort where he was living in a van, me in a storeroom.

Synergetics also describes an alternative math that does away with things like imaginary and irrational numbers but it has not yet ‘caught on’. Nassim’s describes a proposed Unified Field Theory. Mine, the underlying structure of all expression. It’s all the same thing.

In his book Critical Path, Bucky described the western movement of the dominant culture, beginning in the waters of the South Pacific and continuing west into America. Jared Diamond talks about a similar movement in Guns, Germs and Steel – but not as far back. (the documentary) Bucky also describes his ‘awakening’ during a personal crisis in 1927. (complete with angel) He changed from dressing like a ’60′s hippy (in the ’20′s) to like a bank clerk and dedicated himself to integrity and to the advantage of the many over advantage of the self.  His “technique” was to evolve the environment, thus evolving the people in it. He called it a Design Science revolution. You may know him best for the geodesic dome – the least material required to enclose the most space. It was only one of a vast range of remarkable patents.

The reminder of all this came in the form of Youtube. Bucky spoke at a symposium in 1971 on the early science behind meditation and consciousness. At a press conference that followed, Bucky touched on the above points, emphasizing the importance of the many over self.

What was particularly interesting is that he had originally written off meditation due to its focus on self. This was how it was being presented and practiced. At the press conference, he said the real news was the restoration of understanding about meditation, that it was for the many. (the societal effect of large groups of meditators had not yet been studied)  How important this revived understanding was for the world. Peace of the self leads to peace of the many.

Bucky also spoke to and about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the talk. Maharishi referred to Fuller as having “integrated vision”, one way he used to describe someone in Cosmic Consciousness or first awakening. He went on to joke about “the vision of Fuller life”. “An individual integrated, dedicated to construction…of the human soul for it’s integrity.”

Bucky responded, “There is no American nation. We have world man here.” (see Critical Path comments above), “America has been handed a forward pass by all of humanity”. Maharishi agrees, “It’s the cognition of reality”.

The press conference, Part 1 of 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z8u313eY_c

When you begin to be the whole, you begin to see from the whole. This is the end of anything being personal.
Davidya

Time

Apologies for the lack of my own writing, if you’re missing it. Have been absorbed recently in a tech project. Also, nothing has arisen to be said. Hope you’re enjoying the quotes.
D

The Modern Dilemma — Disguised Sadness

Burt Harding has written another great article, titled as above.

“Why do so many people suffer sadness often disguised behind smiles? What is the common dilemma of such inner pain? The reason is a simple one – it is the inability to complete a feeling!“

“Briefly, an incomplete feeling is an emotion that lingers on and on without reaching its completion. We mull over it, try to figure it out, think about thinking about it, resist it by wishing it wasn’t so and so on. This happens when we are hurt, offended, feel betrayed, feel rejected or feel abused (taken advantage of). However, these feelings of incompletion have a deeper source for their origin.”

“Spiritual seeking is often incomplete. There is a pattern most seekers state, “I understand intellectually but I haven’t fully realized it yet.” This is a safe cop-out from going all the way. They keep themselves, unconsciously of course, at a safe distance so that their ego remains intact. The truth is this – there is no such thing as intellectual understanding. There is no way that the intellect can comprehend awareness. Therefore there is either understanding with the heart or there is no understanding at all, period.”

“This feeling of incompleteness happens because there is an unconscious fear of going all the way to what is real. When a seeker says, “I know” because they have read and studied so much, they are placating their incompletion so that they do not plunge into the unknown abyss of egolessness. And, since ego doesn’t exist in reality, it keeps reinforcing itself as an excuse against the fear of completion.”

“Incompletion brings the fear of insecurity and uncertainty and so it tries to gather information to feel secure and certain only to increase its own doubt further.”

“What are complete feelings? Happiness is a complete feeling and so is love and joy. These are not acquired emotions but non-qualities that naturally arise from a quiet mind and full heart. In other words, they arise when we allow a feeling to complete itself. They are the moment in its pure essence.”

“Anything that you allow to be exactly as it is will complete itself and disappear.”

“If you ALLOW yourself to be simply with anything, it loses its power over you. What has power over you is what you feed with your fear of it, with your resistance and wishing it wasn’t there. The moment you wish something wasn’t there, you have attracted it into your life automatically through the Law of Attraction. Remember once more – what you resist, persists.”

I’ll stop quoting now before I’ve excerpted half the article. (laughs) He also shares something of his own awakening. And I love his closing.

Burt is having some technical trouble posting new articles but it should be up soon. He invites you to email him to request it in the meantime. It’s title matches this blog post’s.
http://www.burtharding.com/

You’ve probably heard the saying “I am Love”. We could say all emotions derive from either love or fear. As fear is the absence of love, like darkness is the absence of light, when love arises, there is only love. “I am Love” becomes an understatement.
Davidya