Who's in control?

Ms. Rosenberg is walking down the street with her two grandchildren all dressed up for the morning Sabbath service.

Ms. Freedman is coming the other way and sees them.

- Oh, my goodness! Are those your grandchildren? I can’t believe how tall they have grown. How old are they now?

Very proud of her grandchildren Ms. Rosenberg replies:

- The doctor is 7 and the lawyer is 9!

Funny or not, 6 out of 10 Americans are unhappy with their career choice.

Yet every morning they wake up and they go to their dreaded jobs week after week, year after year.

We started our lives playing in the sand pan with a shiny red tin truck, dreaming that one day we will drive the real thing, carrying iceberg lettuce from California over the Rocky Mountains, sun gleaming in our eyes, wind blowing in our hair.

And somehow, we wake up one day practicing corporate law, locked up in a stuffy office with a mountain high pile of paper in front of us.

(Or something similarly disappointing)

Somewhere along the way, our shiny red truck of happiness got high jacked by the people wishing our best interests and now some other poor schmuck is driving it over the Rocky Mountains while dreaming of a cushy office job in a law firm in the big city.

(Such is the irony of life.)

So, what the hell just happened to our childhood dreams?

As the immortal John Lennon said:

"Life is what's happening to us while we're busy making other plans."

So stop and ask yourself: Who is in charge of my life?

Am I in charge or there is somebody or something else driving my life and if the latest is the case ask yourself: Am I happy the way he/she/it is running my life?

If not; why don’t you get read of he/she/it and put somebody else in charge?

After all, in charge or not you are still the one responsible for the happiness – or the unhappiness - in your life.

Almost everybody is unhappy with heir life or at least with some aspects of their life but almost nobody is unhappy with the decisions and the actions they make or not.

It is funny how almost everybody wants a better life but almost nobody wants or works to become a better person.

It is funny because even if we want to change our life nobody wants to take charge and responsibility for that change.

The truth is that if you are not in charge of your life somebody or something else is and they are using that power in their own interests, not yours, no matter what they believe or say to you.

SATORI

Q: What has four legs and one arm?

A; A happy pitbull.

It’s a joke.

Do you get it?

If you get it you’ll laugh, if you don’t you will be offended. 

If you are not even offended you’ll just stare confused and ask for an explanation.

I had a friend like that, he always asked me to translate my jokes for him. (You know the type )

So I would go: - Pitbulls are very aggressive dogs. They will rip your arm off..

But of course, when you explain a joke like that, the joke is not funny any longer.

So he would go: - Aaaha! Like he understood it. But he missed the whole point entirely.

I was telling him the joke because I wanted to make him laugh not to makehim understand.

When two hands clap there is a sound.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

It’s a koan.

Do you get it?

If you get it, you got satori.

If you don’t you’ll think it is a stupid or absurd question.

If you don’t even think that it is stupid or absurd, you’ll just stare confused and ask for an explanation.

So I’ll give you the answer: The sound of Silence

You need two hands to clap.

You need silence to have sound, and sound to have silence.

One cannot exist without the other, like the two sides of a coin or two ends of a rope.

Technically speaking a constant pressure on your year drums is silence not sound.

You need  a wave, a continuous switching between pressure and no pressure to make a sound.

Two hands pressed together make no sound either.

You have to clap to make the wave oscillation.

It's a yin, yang thingy!

But of course when a koan is explained like that you miss the whole point entirely.

The master has nothing to teach his students that they already don’t know. (Well at least the real ones)

A master does not give his student a koan so the students have something to study, understand and learn, because there is nothing to study, understand or learn.

A master gives his students a koan in the hope that the student will have Satori.

That sudden realization, that sudden awakening that AHA! I got it moment.

I know you purists out there will go:

-        So how come you are doing this?
How come you are teaching this if teaching is not possible?

I am doing it because I am a bad teacher. 

Actually I’m not even a teacher, I’m just a pissed off individual.

And I know what you are thinking:

-        So if you call yourself a buddha how come you are pissed off?
Aren’t enlightened people suppose to be serene, on a plane above mundane?

Oh well... of course, if they choose so.

Four Bodhisattva Vows

In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhisattva is the Sanskrit term for anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish and a compassionate mind to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings

At the beginning of their journey to enlightenment, anybody wishing to follow the Buddhist path takes these “Four Bodhisattva Vows”

“There are innumerable sentient beings in the universe. I vow to help them all to awaken

 My imperfections are inexhaustible. I vow to overcome them all.

The Dharma is unknowable. I vow to know it.

The way of the Awakening is unattainable. I vow to attain it.”

For the non-initiated, the vows seem paradoxical and unattainable.

The vows are a challenge to accomplish things that no human can accomplish.

The misunderstanding arises both from the limitations of language translation and the Eastern –  Western philosophical differences.

In the Western philosophy, the human is born in a state of imperfection that cannot be overcome.  Only by divine intervention can we be absolved of our sins.

In the Eastern philosophy, the human imperfection is relegated to the Ego and it can be overcome by attaining enlightenment, or the state of No-Ego.

A regular person, the “Ego” cannot and will not accomplish any of the vows.

Only by becoming a buddha can a bodhisattva overcome the paradoxical impossibilities of the vows tasks.

Attaining enlightenment is like falling in love. It cannot be done purposely but millions of people fall in love each year.

You have to look at the world and fall in love with it.

The path to impossible starts in infinite compassion.

Where The Truth Lies

A long time ago I had a very nasty car accident.  

I was stopped, waiting to make a left turn at the intersection when out of the blue a car smashed into my back.

There were several motorists that witnessed the accident and stopped to help. When the police arrived and started taking testimonies from them to my surprise their stories were all different and not as I recalled the accident happening.

Furthermore, one of the witnesses even went to say that the accident was my fault. I couldn’t believe it! Why a complete stranger with no vested interest in the case would lie like that? Or maybe he wasn’t lying, he was honest but wrong.

Was he then telling the truth? Then… what is truth?

There is no universal accepted definition of truth and the subject is still out for debate. The classical definition of truth deals with how well a statement represents the actual facts or things it describes.

So a painting, let’s say, it is true to the degree it reflects the reality, hence a photography will be better but still limited to a two-dimensional representation, while a hologram will be even closer to reality, but in an absolute sense still not real. Reality is the only absolute truth.

For more than 2000 years we have been trying to bring our language closer and closer to that reality with direct, explicit, clear words. At the same time, our vocabulary has developed to reflect the social, political and economic trends, specifically the male dominance in the society.

The rise of women rights movement in the US brought those discrepancies in the limelight. The argument was that the male culture and language promotes sexism and discrimination against women and had to be changed to reflect the equality of sexes.

So mankind became humankind, stewardess became flight attendant; policeman became the officer, chairman chairperson, manmade synthetic, fireman firefighter and so on.

The changing of the wrongdoings of the past was done not as a favor to women but as justice. The new words were not a departure from the truth but rather a better reflection of the man, woman equality. And this is the most important most misunderstood and abused thing about the truth.

This misunderstanding has started a new trend in the American language to change the vocabulary not to serve the truth but to accommodate certain human sensibilities thus in the 80’s the “politically correctness” movement was born.

The crippled has become handicapped, the retarded are now mentally challenged, fat people are overweight, midgets are little people, old people are senior citizens and dead people are expired.

Why? Are those words a better reflection of reality? Do they hold a higher truth? No. Fat people are still fat, old people are not getting any younger and stupid people are not getting any smarter.

So are we really doing them a favor by pretending that we don’t see their condition? Do really deaf people say “I don’t like the sound of that word, I prefer to be called hearing impaired.”? Isn’t African American as racist word as black, since it makes the same artificial discrimination?

There is only one race, the human race; shouldn’t we all be called just human beings?

We are witnessing an ever increasing abuse of the truth, in our everyday life.

The media, the pundits, the experts, they all are stretching and abusing the limits of language in order to persuade and control public opinion.

The obvious reality is no longer the truth. Facts are no longer facts. All that it matters is the spin, the interpretation, the opinion, the words.

 And of course, everybody is too busy to use their own brain.

After all, why do we have computers for?

IT THE TRUTH

What is IT?

What is the absolute, the indefinable IT that defines all things?

The IT that cannot be named but gives names to all?

IT, is like a black hole that collapses all in its gravity; inaccessible, unobservable and untouchable.

Like a black hole we only know of its existence by its effects.

We know IT by its many names; The Matrix, Intelligence, Consciousness, Love, Energy Flow, The Truth.

IT, is the truth, the whole truth and nothing by the truth.

Nothing exists outside the Truth. All that exists is the truth.

Reality is the ultimate Truth against all that exists is measured.

Lies do not exist. And even so it feels like the world is overcome by lies, that is just an illusion.

It is the illusion of the darkness taking over the earth. But darkness does not exist.

Darkness is just the absence of the light. Lies are overcoming us because the truth was silenced.

Darkness fills in every time we turn off the light. Darkness cannot be turned on or off.

Darkness doesn’t exist. Darkness exists only in our perception.

Lies exist only in our perception. Lies do not exist outside of our Ego illusion of the reality.

Stop lurking in the darkness. Turn on the light.

Seek the truth and the illusion of lies will dissipate like the morning mist under the sun’s glory.

Seek the truth and you shall be set free.

AWAKENING

Ask anybody what they think about themselves, what are their worst qualities.

You will get a wide range of answers but one, which in many cases would be the appropriate answer, will never be given. Nobody thinks they are stupid and even when they may say “I was so stupid!” what they really mean is; “I’m such a smart person, how could I’ve done such stupid thing?”

Believe me, people will accept being not so good looking, or in not such good shape even accept or take pride, in not being educated, but nobody will admit they are mentally inferior to the average.

We are not aware of our mental limitations, actually, the more limited the person is the smarter they think they are.It takes a really smart person to realize its mental flaws.

We are limited in our thinking by both lack of facts and limited rezoning power. Actually, on the universal scale of intelligence, humans would be at the very bottom of the list, just one step above the apes.

So looking from that perspective is really easy to understand the society, the people around us and ourselves. The world is the way it is not because we are intelligent being but because we are not as intelligent as we think.

We think we are pretty smart with our technology, our science our computers and internet but biologically speaking we are not any different from our ancestors. If you could somehow bring a baby from ancient Grece and raise it in our time he or she wouldn’t be any different from any of the other kids.

As a society, we have amassed an extraordinary amount of information and that knowledge is growing every day exponentially. As individuals, we cannot be smarter than we are. We can get more educated. We can raise the quality of information we ingest but biologically we are limited by the size of our brains.

What we can do, however, is to become enlightened, to awaken, to overcome our ignorance, our Ego.

Now, I have to be very specific by what “ignorance” is because many understand ignorance as “uneducated”

Ignorance is the state of unawareness, unconsciousness and is not the same as the act of consciously ignoring a fact. For example, there are people ignorant of the fact that our trash is destroying the planet’s ecology but also there are people that know that yet continue the practice of polluting the planet usually for a profit, ignoring the consequences.

The “Ego” is our natural state of ignorance.  The ignorance comes from the fact that the “Ego” defines itself as separate from the outside world, the universe.  This creates a constant state of fear, uncertainty, lack of control, scarcity, both material and spiritual.

All that is an illusion, a creation of our reasoning mind.

To be “Enlightened” is to wake up from that illusion and recognize our true nature.

I am not my “Ego” I am not my “social identity” I am not my “experience”

I am the materialization, the manifestation of the infinite intelligence of the universe.

And that of which I am is immortal, indestructible, infinite.

It is that it is.

Spirituality, Religion, Church and Politics

"I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's" 
                                                                                                                                 - Mark Twain

Is a spiritual, religious person allowed to be involved in politics?

Well, it depends on which religion and also on which spiritual person we are talking about.

If you are practicing a religion that specifically forbids the political involvement, then obviously the answer is no. If you are a person on the path of spiritual enlightenment, the answer is also, no.

But for the regular, lay person, with some spiritual, religious involvement the answer is up to each individual.

Let’s talk a bit about the people that are actively pursuing the path of enlightenment.

The Buddhist discipline specifically teaches the detachment from the material world.

That detachment goes beyond material things and involves also all aspects of mental, emotional involvement with the material world.

The Buddhist student has to rise not only above greed but also above the notions of fortune, fame, power and influence. Political involvement is absolutely out of question.

So you will say: “What about the Dalai Lama. Isn’t he a political figure and very much involved in politics?” Yes he is and he is paying for that involvement with the price of his enlightenment.

The Dalai Lama is not a Buddha. He’s not enlightened – at least not all the time J

Same goes for the people on the path of Christ-hood.

In the Christian tradition the same truth stands valid. To become a Christ (enlightened person) you have to be in this world but not of this world. In other words – no political involvement.

What about the regular Joe, the one that goes to work, pays his taxes and raises his kids?

Well, like I said, it’s up to you.  If you still have time and energy left at the end of the day and want to get involved in politics, why not, it is your right. My personal advice; don’t do it, or if you do run for some office, get involved by doing it not as a spectator / fan of politics which IMO is just a waste of time and emotional energy.

THE GHOST IN THE SHELL - THE TAO OF HOLLYWOOD

“We cling to memories as if they define us, but they don't. What we do is what defines us.”

                                                                                                                   - Dr. Ouelet

WHO ARE YOU? Is the primordial question.

AND WHO WORE YOU BEFORE THAT? Is the second one.

Time is just an illusion. Your past exists only in the frame of your ego consciousness.

Alone, disconnected from its source the Ego finds its identity in the stored memories.

A past is built in our minds to justify our Ego existence, thus our mind becomes a prison.

We use this past as our foundation for our action. We carry our defects and limitations as a treasure in the name of Ego identity. WE have the potential to be anything we want to be but are being restricted by the Ego to remain loyal to our past, to remain the same.

Without a past we have the freedom to be anything we want to be.

Without an Ego you return to the source. Without an Ego you become unlimited and unbound.

Time is just an illusion. The only thing that exists is the eternal now.

You are not the one you think you are. You are the one born in this moment.

“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”

                                                                                                                -James Dean

P.S. The movie is a cheap and uninspired redo of the 1995 cult classic.

IMO not worth the time and money to see - unless, like me, you are a Sci Fi sucker.

Plan not to Plan

"Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans"

- Allen Saunders

"Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.
Dreaming, after all is a form of planning"

- Gloria Steinem

A friend of mine just pointed out that my “6 Steps to accomplish anything” (see previous post) is missing an important step: “Planning”, therefore it should be appended and renamed “7 Steps to accomplish anything”
An argument ensuedJ

There are two distinctive points of view on the nature of the universe:

One: The Western point of view.

The universe was born in a gigantic “Big Bang” and it is nothing more than a complex mechanical interaction between its various material parts.

Two: The Eastern point of view.

The universe is an intelligent, living organism, growing and evolving.

So do you need a plan to accomplish a task, or are passion and vision enough to carry your actions through? Well, depending on the way you see life and the universe the answer can be both.

Here are two similar but different stories of starting a business.

Many years ago, right after my arrival to the US, I met Maria, a remarkable woman.

Somebody at church told me about this restaurant Maria had opened and highly recommended it.

One evening I decided to check it out. The place was literary a “hole in the wall”.

The place was a narrow corridor with small tables lining up against the wall, on one side and the open counter of the kitchen on the other. What was remarkable about this small place was the huge queue of customers lining up outside, waiting for a table or to pick up their orders.

I decided to wait in line and my patience was rewarded with a meal worthy of a five-star restaurant at the price of a fast food joint.  I started a conversation with Maria, the owner, cook, and waitress and we became good friends as usually happens with compatriots meeting in diaspora.

Her story was simple. An immigrant couple from Eastern Europe coming to find the American dream in the land of freedom. Her husband took a job as a genitor in a large business building. She couldn’t get a job because of the language barrier but decided she will have her own business, that she will open her own restaurant.

She started making sandwiches, which her husband will take at the office building every morning and offer them for sale to the office people. Nothing happened until one day when one of the office employees out of time or maybe feeling pity for the man, bought one of the sandwiches.

It took that first sale and the news about the amazing food Maria could prepare spread like fire.

Pretty soon she was doing catering for birthdays and social gatherings. Her husband had to quit his job to help her out with the ever increasing business and as soon they save enough money they rented that “hole in the wall”, Maria’s first restaurant.

The Los Angeles immigrant community has thousands of success stories of immigrants coming without speaking the language, without any money or business knowledge, and becoming successful entrepreneurs just with a dream and unstoppable passion.

But you don’t have to be an immigrant to have a dream and a passion. Remember how “Apple Computers” started? It was a couple of young kids starting a business in their parent's garage. Do you think they have a plan to become one of the greatest corporations in the world? I don’t think you can plan that even if you wanted to.

Here is another story of an immigrant trying to start a business in the US.

Many years ago I was talking to one of my American friends about Maria restaurant story and we decided to join forces and finances and open our own restaurant.

We found the perfect location in Burbank, talked to the building owner and started making our plans on how to accomplish this. With our plans drawn we approached the  Burbank chamber of commerce about our little enterprise.  Our enthusiasm was shortly lived and went down in flame. The problem; BEUROCRACY.

Anybody that has ever done business with the government knows that they do not share the same enthusiasm about doing business as you do. They also are very y unyielding about their rules and regulations. If they say you need handicapped access to the kitchen, then you have to build it even if this is a family business and you don’t intend to hire anybody else – just to give you an example,

So we had to abandon our dream because if we had to do it the way the city of Burbank wanted us to do it the cost would have been far exceeding the capital we had.

Planning no matter how well done doesn’t guaranty success. There are numerous stories of well-planned businesses that have failed gloriously. Only passion knows no defeat. People that have dreamed with passion have always found a way to success.

And then another side of planning: Over planning.

I’ve seen so many of my friends eternally planning to do this or that and never accomplishing anything.

There is no perfect plan. You can always make it better. Therefore there is no perfect time when a plan should be implemented. You can spend the rest of your life planning and never actually start anything.

On the other hand, I’ve never seen a person with a burning passion that can be stopped by the lack of a plan or money or time.

So what do you think? To plan or not to plan? This is the question J

6 Steps to accomplish anything

6 Steps to accomplish anything - The 6D recipe.

It goes like this: Dream, Decide, Divide, Delegate, Do or Dump.

1   1)      DREAM

“It is better to be pulled by your dreams than be pushed by your bills”

Everything starts with a dream. If it’s not a dream it is not worth pursuing.

And since you dream, dream big, so big that it will get you excited and motivate you to act.

2   2)      DECIDE

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” - Amelia Earhart

Whatever you are dreaming it will not turn into reality without action.

Choose wisely and commit without any reservations to accomplish your dream.

     3)      DIVIDE

“The universe is made of atoms. If you can move an atom, you can move the universe.” - Anagami

Before starting any task, divide it up in smaller parts – even if you think you can do it all at once. Making your tasks as small as possible will make your work look much more appealing and simple. It will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed by the tasks ahead.

4)      DELEGATE

“From a young age, I learned to focus on the things I was good at and delegate to others what I was not good at. That's how Virgin is run. Fantastic people throughout the Virgin Group run our businesses, allowing me to think creatively and strategically - Richard Branson

Have someone else do the work for you. A coworker, a professional or specialist, family members, relatives, friends etc. Remember time is money too!

5)      DO

“Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.” — Goethe

If you can’t delegate the work, it is time for you to do it.

If it seems too big, complicated or hard to do, go back to step 3 & 4

If you can’t divide your task in smaller parts and can’t find anybody to delegate, go to step 6

6)      DUMP

“The art of winning is the art of managing your loses.” – Anagami

Anybody can win now and then if handed the wining hand. But the long time success is only achieved by the people that can manage the hard times and their loses.

I’ve seen so many people stuck in failed, dysfunctional relationships or dead end jobs, not knowing when and how to quit. Time is the most valuable asset you have.

So, stop wasting time on dead ends and move on to a new dream.

THE TAO OF CHANGE

"Trying to change is like trying to lift yourself from the ground by pulling your hair.
Trying to stop changing, is like trying to stop a running elephant with your bare hands”

                                                               -  Anagami

Today we are not going to talk about change in a metaphysical way, but rather in the more mundane sense of personal change.

We all want to be a better person, a better family member, a better professional or better in whatever aspect of our life we feel we are lacking.

We all know that in order to accomplish that we have to change and if you are reading this blog, you probably have already tried many times to change yourself, to upgrade your persona to a better you. Whatever the results of your attempts were, one thing for sure is that the process of changing is never easy and sometimes even it seems impossible. If that wasn’t the case the world will be full with happy, accomplished people.

So why so many people have a hard time changing? Why is changing so hard to accomplish?

The answer is much simpler than you think. To substantiate that let’s do a little mental exercise.

Imagine you are in a boxing match and the opponent is yourself. Actually, you don’t even have to imagine it, just find a large mirror in the house and try to punch your reflection in the face.

It is impossible. No matter how fast you move the image in the mirror will always keep up with you and block your punches. The only way to win against an opponent is to be better, faster and more powerful than he is, and in our case, it is impossible to be better, faster and more powerful than yourself.

It is impossible to change yourself because the changer and the chagee are one and the same, the cause and effect are one and the same.

You have to understand that when you try to change yourself, you are putting yourself in the position of a dog chasing its tail.

We have tried many, many times to change and we have failed continuously.

The logical conclusion of our failures would be that we cannot change. It sounds very logical but yet we keep persisting in our attempts to change.

The result is putting ourselves in a state of anguish and mental constipation where we feel trapped, walled in, chained, sabotaged, blocked, and cursed to eternal failure, with no hope of ever becoming the person we dream of.

On the other hand; everything in the world is changing, including us.

I use to have a full head of hair. Now my hair has migrated to the South Pole where the sun rarely shines. Why? I never asked for that change. I actually fought for every follicle of my manly mane just to see it all gone… you know the story, getting old.

Everything changes. The economy changes, the climate, the technology changes, people around us and inevitably we change. Change cannot be stopped.

So what is a guy or girl to do? How do we change? How do we stop from changing?

The answer is not that complicated but first, you have to understand the concept of “agents of change” and how they work.

For example, you are reading this blog post. Like it or not, by the time you finish reading it something has changed inside you. You have been given new information, new points of view. Your understanding of change has changed, so you have changed.

Same thing happens every day, when you watch the news, when you talk to your friends or family or when you go online. Unknown to you, you are being changed and many times not for your own good, I may add.

TV, the press, radio, and the internet are notorious for controlling and manipulating the masses – that means you. Yes, I know you already know that but you still are paying the satellite or cable company to brainwash you, because they have convinced you, you cannot live without them.

The problem is that when you give them the power to change you, you lose the power to change yourself.

Who is in charge of the changes in your life, you or them? Turn them off! I’m not kidding.

The secret of change is knowing and understanding the agents of change at work in your life.

Like I said, cut off the cable and the dish, get read of negative people and things that keep on limiting you and instead look and cultivate the people and things that will propel you on your path of change.

Ask yourself; what and how do you want to change your life? Then find the agents that will facilitate that change and you will find the secret to an effortless change and the path to a better you!

Namaste

What is Karma

The problem with the Eastern philosophy is that it has been introduced first to the Western civilization mainly by religious missionaries that had first contact with the Far East.

That first impression was thus colored by the Christian thought and dogma.

Karma is still to this day translate and understood as some sort of “Divine retribution” to our acts thou most recently a more accurate translation was made. In this new version, Karma is explained as “your own doing.” This second translation is a little bit more accurate in the sense that it takes the Divine intervention out of the equation –Karma has nothing to do with God -but it is too vague and incomplete.

The difficulty of the translation lays in the fundamental difference in the way the East sees and understands the universe and the way that we in the West see and understand the universe.

In the western civilization we have a scientific approach. We have a Newtonian model of the universe where action and reaction, cause and effect are a mechanical chain of events. In the East the view is Metaphysical. The universe is not seen as mechanic but rather organic. See INDRA’S NET  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra%27s_net  Action and reaction, cause and effect, particular and general, micro cosm and macro cosm are just sides of the same coin. They define each other, coexist and act together simultaneously from the individual to the universal.

OK Let’s get down and dirty: John was a bully in high school and for 4 long years has terrorized Nate.

John never finishes college and gets a job at a company where Nate is now a manager and John of course is his subordinate. 

To an Easterner this will be Karma. The fruition of John’s core values carried through his actions.

To a Westerner is just bad luck or the most, the law of unintended consequences in action.

BTW Karma = The law of unintended consequences, is not a bad translation.

The difference is that the Easterner understands that even if John didn’t get that job under Nate he will never the less suffer the consequences of his doing, in another place and another time, but that will not be a matter of chance. Karma is not an accident; it is the only possible outcome.

To a Westerner Karma is still not the supreme law of the universe and we still believe that somehow can avoid it. It is only in the Western civilization that you can have the cake and eat it too.

Hell is paved with good intentions but what drive the Karma is the principles of our actions not our intentions. Let’s us take another example of Karma in action; WAR

War It is not defined by our declared intentions: Peace, Stability, Democracy, Prosperity etc. etc.

War can be defined by the principle of dominance and control = bad Karma or by the opposite; Freedom = good Karma.

Control and dominance through brute force is always a bad idea. Love at gun point is always “rape” no matter what. Just look at what war as brought humanity so far.

The principles of freedom and harmony on the other hand are always good. The only true love is unconditional love.

So the lesson is: Your actions guided by bad principles. Greed, deceit, control, envy, ignorance, selfishness etc. will always result in a bad outcome no matter what the intention, excuse, for your action may be. Remember KARMA is the law of the universe even if you live in the Western hemisphere.

And for those who didn’t get it yet KARMA = KARMA

Namaste!

Dissecting Life

MIT did a very interesting study some time ago.

They took a bunch of students from different countries gave them a list of words like, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, rabbit, cow, goat etc and asked them to form pairs but didn’t give them any other instructions.

What they found out was quite interesting and relevant but not surprising at all.

The students from the western civilized countries, US, UK, France, Germany etc. all without exception made pairs of words based on their classification e.g. Carrots and lettuce, cow and goat, wolf and tiger etc, while the students from the Easter civilized countries, India, China, etc. made pairs based on relationships like; rabbit and carrot, grass and cow, etc.

This might not be relevant to you but to any student of Buddhism this is the basis on which the barriers and obstacles in assimilating the Buddhist teachings are based.

We have learn to understand and rationalize the world by dissecting it into pieces and labeling everything in neat groups and categories. This is a very good way of inventorying the world but a very poor way of understanding its function.

Point and case the difference between Eastern and Western medicine.

The Western medicine sees the human body as a collection of parts, therefore we have educated our doctors to specialize in the respective parts. We have a doctor for the eyes, one for the hart, one for the feet and so on. Respective to this view a disease is nothing but a part going bad and therefore the treatment is fixing or replacing the bad part.

The eastern doctors regard the human body as a whole organic, integrated and cohesive organism.

A disease is seen as a dysfunction, breaking of balance and harmony of the whole human body, as the elements not working properly together causing the decay or breaking of a part or parts of the system. Respectively, then the cure is to fix the broken part but make the system work back in harmony which in terms will heal the broken elements.

This becomes vital – literally – when you are facing a terminal illness because the symptomatic treatment of a disease – actually the symptomatic treatment of anything – causes in most cases the aggravation of the problem rather than solving it.

This model of understanding the world, and I am addressing here the Western reader, becomes a major obstacle on one’s journey to enlightenment and it deserves a closer look and further understanding.

Happiness

The day was over and I was hurrying to grab a meal before putting my lonely and tired bones to rest.

On the deserted street I found a twenty dollar bill. “A lucky gift! A better meal.”
I thought to myself, my hart delighted with joy.

But then a shadow covered my soul. My gain was somebody else’s loss.

I asked myself should I rejoice or should I feel sorrow, for that could have been somebody else’s meal.

So in my shame I threw away the twenty dollar bill. My heart rejoiced again.

My loss could be somebody else’s meal and in a tiny way I made this world a better place.

But then the shadow covered me again. That wasn’t charity was just my ego vanity.

That money wasn’t mine to start with and in my deed I did not lose or gain.

So, in desperation I emptied my pockets and threw away my money…

Tonight I’m going hungry.

I’m going to a restless sleep with an empty belly an empty soul.

The Power Of Now

“The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That's all there ever is.” – Eckhart Tolle

You don’t know what darkness is until you hit the deepest abyss of mental depression.

It is the most debilitating illness there is.

It paralyses your mind and body and turns you into a living zombie.

Alive but already dead, hanging in this reality by only a thread.

I will not bother you with the story of my journey into the darkness but I will tell you how I crawled back to the light: I did it one step at the time.

The alarm clock would sound in the morning and I would say to myself “Get up!”  Just that, nothing more. No grandiose plans, no hopes, no real direction, just that “Get up!” “Go to the bathroom.” “Take a shower.”” “Brush your teeth.” “Eat your breakfast.” Nothing more just basic surviving, just taking another step, then another and another…

I couldn’t see my future, I couldn’t make any plans but one thing I knew I could do is take another step. That and a good daily dose of Zoloft J

But now my life is back to normal. Once again I have a vision for the future, I have plans, I have things to do, goals to accomplish, but no time to do it.

I’m living in a permanent time crisis.

I don’t have the time to write the book I started writing over a year ago.

I don’t have time to learn Python a much needed tool addition to my career.

I’m constantly postponing my tasks waiting for the “right” time which seems never to come.

Until it hit me: “THE RIGHT TIME WILL NEVER COME!”

You cannot build a house in a moment.

In a moment you can only lay down one brick.

You cannot write a book in a moment, but in a moment you can write one word.

Every successful journey is done one step at the time.

If you can take just one step you can reach any destination, any goal. Whatever your destination is,. Waiting for the right time to do it, it will take you to nowhere. But every step you take it will take you one more step closer to your destination.

Take that step now.

Don’t think, don’t rationalize, don’t look for excuses just do it!
That is the secret of the power of now:
You can always take a step.

You always have time for one more step. 

What can I get from you?

The “Ego” sits alone in the middle of the universe, feeling, weak, poor, helpless and lonely.
 It is the normal emotional state of anyone that thinks it is a separated entity from everything and everybody else. This perceived separation creates the illusion of scarcity. The “Ego” is always poor, always wanting more, no matter how much it has already. And the manifestation of that poverty is the prevalent thought that permeates the human society. “What can I get from you?”

I see this happening more and more. There is desperation, a wave of new methods and tricks of squeezing more and more out of anything and anybody. We have trashed the Earth beyond repair and create poverty and suffering at a global scale in the name of prosperity and progress. We want more and more but never have enough.  It is a false and deadly path and we are driving it 100 miles an hour towards a dead end.

No wealth, material or spiritual has ever been created by taking from others.
All wealth comes from human creativity, from people that have found something others need and fulfilled that need.  Only by giving one can become rich.

The question is not “What can I get from you?” but rather “What can I give you?” Find something that everybody needs and you will be rich beyond your dreams. Creativity is the key to riches.
Not all of us can be bankers and thieves after all J

…Can we?