Zen Rants IV

I see myself as a two-part entity.

One the material self, the product of social programming. The "I think therefore I am" a.k.a the Ego.
The second part the immaterial, spiritual, immortal soul, The "I am therefore I think" a.k.a the "I"

Without that distinction all my arguments are nonsense. 

Without that duality the search for one true self or true nature is futile.

If you are that you are, then there is nothing else to it.

There is nothing else to figure out.

But the question still remains "What was “you” before you were born?"
Because nothing comes out of nothing and nothing turns into nothing.
Birth and death are transformations not sudden appearances from nothing.
What were you before you became “I”?

There is something more than meets the “I”

And your purpose in life is to find out who you really are.

I know the path is tough and convoluted.
I know sometimes it feels like you are being punished by an unfair God.

I know you sometimes just want to give up.

But pain and suffering are necessary.

How can you climb to the top if there is no mountain?

How could you overcome pain and suffering if you didn’t know what pain and suffering are?

You have to step out of your experience and look at it with a nonjudgmental mind.

What would your pain and suffering mean a hundred years from now?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Then you can look at pain and realize that pain is just an experience like anything else.

You may not like it but the way you react to it is up to you.

Pain is inevitable but suffering is a choice.

What good is suffering? It doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t solve anything.

It is just the Ego bitching and moaning, “why me, poor me!”

But you mustn’t let the Ego control your life.

It is the Ego that mostly gets you into trouble.

Enlightenment is a state of non-duality when a consciousness rises above good and evil above the duality.

An enlightened person sees pain and pleasure, suffering and joy as the two sides of a coin. As defining each other.
A buddha or a christ are consciousness returned to the source.
They are above gods and demons they are the ultimate realization of the universe

It is my life purpose to attain that state before another death.

These are my 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.”

Zen Rants III

The idea of creation is based on the premises that the material world exists.

It is a common illusion like the illusion of solidity.

There are no solid objects.

They appear solid but under a microscope, you can see the empty space.

The material world is both existence and nonexistence blended together.

We have a bias in perceiving the "existence” part of it.
Our mind automatically discards the non-existence out of our perception.

We hear the sound but not the silence; we see the light but not the darkness.

But silence and darkness are nonexistence yet we don't count them as such.

We only see the YANG and not the YIN, We see the mountains but not the valleys.

For every + there is a - They could not exist without the other;

Pleasure cannot exist without pain, hot without cold, high without low, good without evil God without Satan.

The ONE that defines everything but cannot be defined is nonduality,

It is above and beyond existence and nonexistence.

Let’s have a little experiment

Please take a blank piece of paper and look at it.

What do you see?

Do you see a blank piece a paper?

I hope so, otherwise, we are in deep trouble with our little experiment.

But do you also see the “nonexistence” the hole?

No?

Then, take a pair of scissors and cut a hole in the middle of the paper.

Look at the paper again.

Do you now see the nonexistence the hole?

Yes?

What about the other non-existence, can you see that too?

(hint; the one outside the paper)

Nope you don’t, because your mind, our mind is programmed to see only what exist and not what it doesn’t exist.

Our brain cannot comprehend the nonexistence and that is reflected in our language.

We say: “There “is” a hole in the paper”

How can something that doesn’t exist “be”?

And if you still think the hole exists, try to pick it up from the paper and move it.

We see light but not darkness we hear sound but not the silence.

We see around us solid objects which in fact are mostly empty space.

We see the reality as existing when in fact the reality is both existence and non-existence blended together.

Try to imagine non-existence, an absolute nothingness, an infinite hole.

You can’t

Your brain tells you that a hole exists only if defined by something.

Nonexistence and existence are two sides of the coin. They define each other.

The funny part is that an infinite existence, an infinite universe is an accepted concept.

Although you have to realize that an infinite universe is as absurd as an infinite hole.

Just think about it: Millions of galaxies, made by zillions of stars and planets made bazillions of atoms made of god knows how many particles.

Do you have any idea what kind of energy it takes to make that machine tick, to move all that around at cosmic speeds?

How about this: Zero, nothing, nada.

The universe is effortless.

Have you ever seen “running” Chrisman’s lights?

You know, the bulbs do not actually move, right?

They just turn on and off. The movement is just an illusion.

Just think the universe as an ocean of quanta popping in and out of existence.

I don’t know about you but to me, that feels like a more plausible reality than the huge moving clockwork model we’ve been indoctrinated to.

You may not understand it but you know that to be the truth, because you are experience it, here and now.

Zen Rants II

Truth is a word, like apple. 

Apple is not an apple is a word. 

How do you define an apple?
"the round fruit of a tree of the rose family, which typically has thin red or green skin and crisp flesh"
But that isn't an apple either, that is just the definition of an apple"
Only an apple is an apple.

If I say "I've eaten an apple this morning" you know what an apple is because you have eaten apples too.
Try to define "apple" to a being from another planet with no fruits and trees.

How do you define truth?

The definition of truth” is the definition of truth.

Any other definition of “truth” would be not true.

The One is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Lies do not exist. A lie is just the absence of the truth.

When the truth is present lies disappear like the darkness when the light is present.

Confusion and ignorance are the qualities of the Ego.

The “I” doesn’t lack anything. You already know everything you need to know, you already have everything you need to have.

Poverty is a quality of the Ego

Scientifically speaking you don't exist, and neither anybody else for that matter.
When you look in the mirror you see a highly structured bag of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and a whole bunch of other different atoms.

Technically you are nothing but talking solar dust and so am I.

Technically speaking we are the universe talking to itself.

So who is "I"? What is this “I” everybody is taking for granted?
Has anybody seen it?
Has anybody seen a picture of their mind?
What proof do you have that what you call "I" exists?
Is God a dream of your mind or is your mind a dream of God?

The body is the domain of the Ego.

Like the body, the Ego is limited, imperfect, fragile and temporary.

The “I” is not limited by the body. The “I” is perfect, indestructible and immortal.

Science is the creation of the Ego.

The wisdom of the “I” is Spirituality.

The “I” believes in God because it knows God.

The Ego doesn’t believe in God because it cannot understand it.

You cannot teach and learn faith.

When the teachings of our Ego fail to deliver the promised success we return to faith.

Spirituality is the path to happiness.

The material path is the path to living hell

You may not understand it but you know that to be the truth, because you are experience it, here and now.

Zen Rants I

If you are not the Creator you are the Creation.

How many religions there are? Hundreds!

How many gods there are? One: The Creator.

You cannot choose your God.

If you go to an ice-cream parlor that serves only one flavor ice-cream “vanilla” you can only have vanilla.

Since there is only one God “The Creator” you don’t have a choice.

How you worship God is irrelevant.

When you will meet your God what you think about him is irrelevant.

The only thing that matter is what HE thinks about you.

Separation is an illusion of the Ego. There is no separation. 

All consciousness rise from the One like waves from the ocean.
Distinct but not disconnected. With specific qualities but with the same nature.
We are God but we can’t remember it until we return to the One.

The One is non-duality. The One is unbound, therefore amoral. (not to be confused with immoral)

When we are born (which is a transformation, not a separation) we have the quality of the source.
Newborn are unbound.
We experience lies, deceit, and betrayal in order to learn what truth, sincerity, and loyalty are.

We are exposed to sickness, violence, war, prejudice, racism, injustice, pain and suffering, not as some form of punishment for some imaginary sin but in order to see and learn the difference between good and evil. Our purpose is to elevate above good and evil, to evolve into a superior consciousness.

Siddhartha the buddha and latter Jesus the christ have become self-realized beings and taught us the path of enlightenment. Unfortunately, the Gnostic teachings of Jesus have been suppressed by the church and replaced with the dogma “you pay us will give you a heavenly pass” The Buddhist teachings have fared a little bit better. We still have the Buddhist Sutras and the 8 fold path but even those have been contaminated by endless interpretations and turned into religious dogma.

Ephemeral and illusory is the material world.

All humans die. Animals die, plants die, the planets and the stars in the sky; we all die.

Rich men die, poor men die. How rich is a dead man?

Sick men die, healthy men die too. How healthy is a dead man?

Powerful men die, weak men, die. How powerful is a dead man?

We seek money, power, and fame. Fascinated by the glitter of the material world we rush to our demise like moths into the fire.

Escape the grip of desire, shed your Ego, free yourself from the prison of reason and you will see the truth.

All teachings are false. Words cannot encompass the truth.

A dog cannot understand the mind of man. A man cannot understand the mind of God.

You cannot cram the universe into the hollow of your skull.

You cannot know the truth, you cannot know God.

You can only experience it.

Love is the bond of the universe.

Love is the thread between dog, man and God. Love is the universal language.

Only what can be expressed in love is true.  Everything else is false.

You may not understand it but you know that to be the truth, because you experience it, here and now.

How to get high and higher

The easiest and cheapest way to get high is using a flat of stairs or a ladder. The only shortcoming of that method is that you can get high only a few feet from the ground.

If you want to get higher than that you have to use an elevator but still to only a couple hundred feet.

Higher than that it gets more expensive; you have to take a plane.

Anything above that gets ridiculously expensive and also dangerous.

N]I know, not very funny I'll admit but if you look past that you can see something very important:

The basic principles of getting high.

1)      The “More” principle.

No matter the level you are at in order to get high you need more.

If you are doing a line of coke to get high pretty soon you will need two. If you are doing two you will need four and so on and so forth.

Same thing with everything else; money, power fame etc.

If making 100000 a year gives you a buzz you will need to make 1 mill if you want to keep the high.

If you are making 1 mill you will need 10 and so on and so forth.

2)      The “Cost” principle.

The higher you get the costlier it gets.

That may seem obvious for getting high in space or getting high on chemicals but how can that be true when you are making more money? After all the more money you make the richer you get. Right?

Well, the cost is not necessarily money. If that would be the only cost drug addicts would never go to rehab. But when the price tag is starting to cut into your career, family and your health not everyone is willing to pay.

Same thing in making more and more money you have to give up something.

Usually, the price starts with fatigue and stress but it goes up into anxiety depression, health, family and relationship and so on and so forth.

3)      The “Ceiling” principle

If you go high enough you will hit the ceiling

It is easy to see the ceiling when you are a drug addict it is called “OD death” and if you don’t want to stop getting higher that ceiling will certainly stop you.

It is much more difficult to see the ceiling when you are hooked up with the other drug “success”

Yes “success” is drug and an addiction and we all have been pushed into it and sadly enough many are pushing their children into it.

Success or any other drug will not bring you happiness just a high and a high price.

There are millions of people that are not super rich, powerful or famous but are genuinely happy.

The promise that success will bring you happiness is totally false.

Wanting more, or as Buddha put it, “desire” is the source of human suffering.

Trust me, I’ve seen too many “successful” people having miserable lives, some even pushed to suicide despite all the money power and fame, despite all the success they had.

4)      “What goes up must come down” principle

Maybe not so obvious in my example but better known than the other principles.

Once you have hit the ceiling you will inevitably crash.

You may stop the fall and avoid a total disaster, you may recover and start climbing again, but you will hit the ceiling again and again until the day your time is up and you are out of the game without ever winning anything.

5)      “Get down off your high horse” principle

Getting high is not bad if you can get off while you are still ahead.

If you have paid attention all “get high” scenarios end up badly.

So if you are getting high and want to avoid the crash, hear my advice:

Take a year off and join the peace core. Go to Africa and build water wells for the poor or something like that.

It is really hard to explain why you should do that.

All I can tell you is that I’ve been known to go out on camping trips quite often and when I come back home after four days in a tent without a toilet or running water.  A hot shower feels almost orgasmic.

Going Insane

We all have heard the famous Albert Einstein quote “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

According to that definition, we are all pretty much insane.

Our lives are the result of our actions. That pretty much goes without saying.

Nobody will argue that given the opportunity to go back in time we would do things differently, the second time around.

But here is the conundrum: We all know that in order to change our lives we have to change the way we act, but very few of us are doing it.

That new job you dream about will not come knocki9ng at your door. You have to do your due diligence and go to that interview that will open the door for your dream job.

Unless of course, you have a rich relative that will hand it to you.

Same thing goes for anything else in your life If you want to start a business, if you want a new relationship or whatever you want in your life, will not happen until you start acting.

Yet we go day in day out doing the same routine and expecting somehow by some miracle a change will happen.

Well. Things eventually change but usually into a worse situation and it is usually at that time that we are forced to act and save the day.

So why it is so hard to change?

It is because you are not Einstein.

Einstein thinks and speaks from a superior level of consciousness.

For him, change is a necessity. Breaking the rules, a way of life. He is a genius that has raised above the human animal.

The rest of us are still trapped in the conditioning of our primitive ancestors.

If you have a decent life, maybe not the dream life you want but a safe existence you don’t want to change it. As bad as you think your life is you have become used to it just like a pair of old shoes or jeans you know you have to throw away but they are just very comfy.

You see we are conditioned by our instinct of preservation.

Survival has been imprinted in our genes for thousands maybe millions of years.

The unknown is the human greatest fear. To give up something you know for something you don’t know is pure insanity. Unless you are an Einstein and have risen past your animal instincts.

But we don’t live in a jungle anymore and the perils that our instincts were supposed to protect us do not exist anymore.

What would be the worst that could happen if you changed your job?

You are not going to be eaten by a sabretooth tiger, you are not going to die.

In the worst scenario, you will have to take a less paid job until you put yourself back on the tracks.

Make it a task to overcome your instincts and go for the changes you desire.

Give yourself permission to go insane from time to time.

Just make sure it doesn’t become a habit.

Destiny

Do you believe in destiny?

Do you believe that every word you say, every thought you have, every decision you take and every action you make, has already been decided for you and you are just acting like a puppet on a string?

Or, do you believe in free will?

You believe that you are the master of your mind, that everything you think and every decision you make is up to you and you are responsible for your own actions?

Well, if you don’t believe in free will, I have some very bad news for you.

You have to believe in free will – You have no choice!

Right?

I often talk about the Western thought and the scientific method of looking at the world.

As westerners, we tend to see the world as black and white, one way or the other, free will or determinism.

We don’t see the universe as an infinite rainbow of realities; we only see reality as true or false.

So there is another point of view I would like to tell you about, where free will and determinism are not absolutes but rather gradients, nuances, variables in a universe of infinite possibilities scenarios.

Let’s look at life as a game of cards:

At birth, you are dealt a hand. Some of us are lucky some are less fortunate.

Some are born rich some are born poor. Some are born in big powerful countries some are born in small insignificant ones. Some of us are white, black, male, female etc.

I have to make a small parenthesis here.  In the Buddhist thought of reincarnation, you chose the state of your birth and the problems of your life according to the lessons you have to learn.

So the hand you are dealt is not random at all. But that makes little or no difference.

Once you are born you start playing your hand.

In the beginning, you are actually not the one making the decisions but your parents.

Eventually, as you grow older you gain more and more independence and finally, you become the master of your own decisions, of your destiny.

Now regardless of how you believe the game is played, regardless that you believe in destiny or free will, the rules of the game does not change:

You play your hand badly, you lose.

You play your hand correctly, you win.

Looking back at your life, in retrospective, you can see the instances when you played your hand badly and you can see when you took the right decisions.  You are aware that if you have played your hand correctly if you have taken all the correct decisions, your life would have been totally different than what you have now.

I define destiny as a perfect scenario of your life, as what your life should be if playing all your hands perfectly.

The purpose of your destiny is to teach you all your lessons you need to escape the wheel of reincarnation.

The purpose of your destiny is to attain enlightenment in your lifetime.

Failing to do so will result in your death and subsequently a new reincarnation.

So how do you play your hand perfectly?

How do you know that your life is on the right path?

How do you know you are manifesting your own destiny?

When you are on the right path you know it by the way you feel.

When you are on the right path you are in what I call “the zone”.

You feel different, you are energized, you have clarity, you have energy and joy.

When you are on the path of your destiny you are confident, optimist and fearless.

When you are in “the zone” you start developing “premonition”, you start sensing the future.

You start feeling, knowing instinctively what to say and what to do.

Another sign of being on the path is “deja-vu”

You start having more and more deja-vu episodes to the point that you will experience your life like a cinematic experience.

Like watching your life unfold rather than the usual “I have no idea what’s going on” feeling of your regular life.

So, are you in the zone?

Are you playing all your hands correctly?

Are you manifesting your destiny?

If not it’s time to rock the boat, break the rules, change the course.

Like Stephen Colbert said:

“Attack your life! It’s going to kill you anyway”

Love your Enemy

Hate is a poisonous emotion eating at your soul like a cancer.

We all know that harboring negative emotions is bad for you, both spiritually and physically.

So we all try to combat negativity one way or another.

We may use prescription drugs or some not so prescribed ones or we can use a non-chemical, spiritual approach to reach that state of positive feeling.

We all have some measure of success in dealing with our shortcomings but when it comes to dealing with other people, things get a little bit more complicated. Like in this well-known instance:

“Love your Enemy!”

It sounds so right, so Christian so enlightened and because of that so overused to the point that it even sounds plausible.

That is until you try to apply it in real life and you find out that you can’t do it.

But you cannot admit it because you don’t want other people to think you are an unenlightened asshole.

Relax! You are not an asshole.

“Love your Enemy!” is just fancy bullshit and nobody actually does it, not because we haven’t tried it but because it is impossible to do.

Oh, the blasphemy!

Here is the truth; “Love your Enemy!” is a double bind just like “don’t think of a pink elephant”, “act naturally” or “love me unconditionally”

They all sound right until you look past the semantics and understand the real meaning of what is saying.

Let me translate for you:

“don’t think of a pink elephant” = don’t think what you are thinking

“act naturally” = force yourself not to force yourself

“love me unconditionally” =be unconditioned by my condition

And of course:

“Love your Enemy!” = love what you hate

You cannot satisfy a double bind because a double bind is a contradiction in terms.

Bottom line, you cannot have the cake and eat it too.

So how do we deal with the people we hate?

First, you have to understand that the opposite of love is not hate.

The opposite of love is indifference and if you don’t believe me, go ahead and try it.

There is nothing more efficient in killing a love affair than indifference.

So what is the opposite of hate, what would make hate dissipate?

The opposite of hate is compassion.

By looking at whom you hate with compassion you will rain in your hatred.

The problem is that very few people understand what compassion is and very few people practice compassion in their daily life.

Compassion is in the Western culture is defined as a “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others”

So the tenant of Western civilization is “Feel compassion for the unfortunate ones and love for your enemies” while the Eastern point of view is quite opposite “Feel love for the unfortunate ones and compassion for your enemies”

I find it very hard to define what compassion is or what it feels like but I will give you an example.

Hitler, one of the most hated people ever. ]I cannot love him because I cannot love what he has done but I can look at him like this:

“Hitler is not a historical hero; he’s humanity’s greatest failure”

 “What was the hell, the pain, the hatred that has poisoned his soul so bad to turn him from a human being into a monster like that?”  

We dehumanize our enemies in order to let our hate rage.

The moment we think of our enemies as a distorted, misguided, misfortunate, tortured human beings the hatred changes into compassion.

I don’t know if I have convinced you to start practicing compassion in your life but if not, I just want to say one more thing.

Hate hurts more the person that hates than the person is hated.

Think about it.

Zen Thoughts

Buddha gathered his disciples at a lake on Gridhakuta for instruction.

His adherents sat in a circle about him eagerly awaiting his teachings.

Wordlessly Buddha reached into the muck and pulled up a single lotus flower.

He then held it high for all to see.

Practically everyone was bewildered. But then the disciple Mahakashyapa began to laugh.

Finally, Buddha handed the lotus flower to Mahakashyapa and said,

“What can be said I have said to you, and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahakashyapa.”

...

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

You cannot learn the truth, you can only experience and remember it.

You can learn a lot of things; you can learn how to cook, how to fix a car or you can learn a new language but you cannot learn the truth.

The truth you have learned is false because there is only one truth, reality.

Reality is the ultimate and only truth, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

And that cannot be learned.

I can tell you that you are a part of this universe, the manifestation, and materialization of the infinite intelligence of the universe.

I can tell you that your feeling of separation from the rest of the reality the belief that you are independent of the rest of the world is just a hallucination, a construct of your frightened ego.

I can tell you that you already know everything you want to know and that your ignorance is just an illusion of your Ego/

You may understand my words you will understand my meaning but you will not grasp the truth of my statement unless you recognize the truth, the reality behind my words until you remember who you are. until you break free from the prison of reason,

You cannot learn the truth.

Reality is too complex to understand. God is too complex to understand.

You can only experience and remember them.

You cannot learn and know who you are, you can only remember it.

The Mechanics of Love

When I met Emily she was working as a salesperson, although she had a degree in journalism and dreamed of being a writer. 

She had taken this sales job, after graduating from college, as a temporary job, until she would get a “real” job, doing what she loved. 

Somehow she got stuck paying her bills and never made it out of sales into the publishing world.

She was in her mid 30’s now. She lived by the ocean in a small, rented apartment that cost her a fortune and sucked up more than half of her salary. She drove an old, beat-up Volvo station wagon and it looked like her life was going nowhere really slow.

What amazed me about her was how bright she was and how hard she worked for her meager salary.

Being the rude, crude, pushy individual that you all are suspecting under this Buddhist robe, I started pushing her to get a life or get control of her life or do something.

I don’t know if it was the prospect of financial independence and the freedom of pursuing her dreams, or if she did it just to stop me from my incessant nagging, but one day she quit her job and started her own business of selling medical supplies.

She was intelligent, articulate, honest, genuine, dedicated and she worked her but off 24/7.

To no one's surprise, after a couple of months, she landed some major clients and the money started pouring in.

Gone were the days of coupon clipping and discount stores. She was making more money that she had ever dreamed.

So, the first thing she wanted to do with her newfound wealth, was to get rid of her old Volvo and get a new car.

- I am getting a Porsche! - She announced me with a big green on her face.

- Are you out of your mind? – I said – You don’t need a Porsche for? A Porsche is for middle age males with penis size and erectile problems.

Get yourself a new Volvo if a new car is what you want.

- You are just an old fashion square, an Easter European male chauvinist. 

This is America where a woman can be and have anything she wants! 

When I was in college I wanted a Porsche but I couldn’t afford it. I promised myself that if I ever become successful I would get one, and that is what I’m going to do!

So she did. She bought herself a top of the line Porsche convertible, but there were some minor problems with this car.

First: This was 25 years ago, well before laptop computers and PowerPoint, when salespeople carried around overhead projectors, presentation boards, product samples and other bulky visual aids. 

Also, a Porsche wouldn’t take out to lunch more than one client at the time and it had to be a slim and limber one, to get in and out of the car.

And last, but not least, this marvel of German engineering was a stick shift and Emily as talented and creative as she was, did not have any mechanical acumen. – I can still hear the grinding of gears and the squeal of the clutch burning up.

So, to no surprise, the Porsche ended up in a garage for repairs and continued to spend more time with the mechanic than with Emily. – Not to mention the 3-5 thousand dollars bills she had to pay each time.

Pretty soon Emily started missing her appointments and losing her accounts and a financial disaster loomed around the corner.

She needed a reliable car. 

Forced by the circumstances she got rid of the Porsche and bought a brand new Volvo station wagon.

She was not very happy with her new car, in the beginning, but as her business started to pick up again, her affection for her new Volvo grew and eventually, she fell in love with it.

I know that because she gave it a nickname and when girls nicknames their cars, that means love.

So what the hell buying a car has to do with relationships? You may ask.

Well, this is the deal: 

What do you choose in a relationship; the person that you want or the person that you need?

It looks to me that in the USA everybody is looking for Mr. and Ms. Right. For a Porsche, not a Volvo.

Like a guy I know – can’t mention his name – that got a trophy wife and found himself in a divorce court after a year or so.

What do you expect when you marry a $6000 pair of tits? A woman that cooks, does laundry and cleans after you? I think not.

Mr. and Ms. Right are nice to take out and show off to your jealous friends and relatives but that is about it. Just as it is with a Porsche.

If you dream of living on a ranch and having horses around, you don’t need a Porsche you need – dare I say it – a Pickup Truck!

Yes, boys and girls we all want to marry Angelina Jolly and Brad Pitt but would your relationship last more than 24 hours? Yeah, sure, keep on dreaming!

If you really want a relationship that lasts. A relationship that is more than a façade, somebody to be your friend, support and mate for the rest of your life you have to learn a new word “COMPATIBLE” 

So forget about Mr. and Ms. Right and start looking around for something else:

Who is your Volvo?

The Metaphysics of Money

So, are we spirit with a physical body or are we animated material bodies with a spirit?

The little voice inside my head is screaming “I am a spirit, you dummy!” but my lower back pain is killing me – old story – and it is damn hard to ignore the pain no matter how enlightened I think I am.

So I’ll have to leave the answer to you – other people he seems to know better who and what I am.

Either you are a spirit or not, you can’t ignore the things around you.

We depend on things, we need and buy things, we crave and desire things, things are a necessity, they are part of our life and like it or not, they define us as individuals and as species.

We are humans because we are the only animal that can make and use things. Right?

It is only when we started to build and use tools that the human civilization took off and brought us where we are now today.

Some will argue that is the brink of extinction but nobody will argue that the human success as a species on this planet is due to our ability to make things.

But what are things and why do we need them?

Things are “Enhancers” they amplify, magnify, expedite, intensify, speed up and multiply.

Cars, trains and airplanes are nothing but things that make us go faster.

A gun is nothing but a human killing amplifier.

Although cars in USA are killing more people than guns and that might put a hole in my theory – hey let's ban the use of cars! - just a brain fart :)

But you get the idea. Things are making our life easier in a way or another.

At least in theory.

What about money?

Money is a piece of paper to hard and too small to even wipe your ass.

Why and how is money so important and so good and evil at the same time?

Money is a thing that can be anything, therefore its “enhancing” power it is not limited to one thing; it could be speed if you buy a plane ticket or shelter if you buy a house, it can even be unconditional love. No not a hooker... I was thinking more like a puppy :)

Because of this potential money has, it makes it into an amplifier of your whole life, of who you are as a person.

Hence, a nice person will be 10 - 100 times nicer if he has money while an asshole will be 10 - 100 times a bigger asshole if he has money.

This little metaphysical trick was used by some charlatan guru – I don’t remember his name but I know he had one Rolls Royce car for every day of the year.

So this crook promised to make you happy if you renounce your money – and obviously give it to him.

The truth is that he did not make anybody happier but rather by removing the magnifying power of the money, his victims just felt less miserable.

You can see the reverse of this power on people that win millions of dollars on the lottery.

Within a year from the big win 99% of them are worse than before!

Money does not lift them up out of their misery it is the other way around, it makes their misery even bigger!

So now here is the answer many have asked since the invention of money:

Why doesn’t God help me with money when I am down, bitter, unhappy and miserable?

Because God loves you! That’s why.

And also:

Why does God suddenly blesses me with all this money when I am happy and content with what I have and my life?

Because God loves you! That’s why.

So before you ask God for money ask yourself.

Am I happy? Am I content and at peace within and without?

Because if your house is on fire you are just asking God to pour some gasoline on you!!!

Yep, be careful what you wish for:

– You might get it.

Are you experienced?

“Eye cannot see IT, the tongue cannot utter IT, the mind cannot grasp IT.

There is no way to learn or teach IT.

IT is different from the known, beyond the unknown.

In this, all the ancient masters agree.

That which makes the tongue speak but which cannot be spoken by the tongue – that alone is God, not what people worship.

That which makes the mind think but which cannot be thought by the mind - that alone is God, not what people worship.

That which makes the eye see but which cannot be seen by the eye - that alone is God, not what people worship.

That which makes the ear hear but cannot be heard by the ear - that alone is God, not what people worship.

If you think that you know God, you know very little; all you can now are ideas and images of God.

I do not know God, nor can I say that I don’t know IT.

If you understand the meaning of “I neither know nor don’t know” you understand God.

Those who realize that God cannot be known, truly know; those who claim that they know, know nothing.

The ignorant think that God can be grasped by the mind; the wise know IT beyond knowledge.

When you see that God acts through you at every moment, in every movement of mind or body, you attain true freedom.

When you realize the truth and cling to nothing in the world, you enter eternal life.”

The Upanishads

Why your own advice is hard to follow

My good friend and colleague John B from the time I had my own therapy business, was a quite excellent marriage and family counselor.

The funny thing about him was that in his private life he had a really bad record with relationships.

Several times divorced and a couple dozen horror story relationships later, he couldn’t hold a relationship for more than three months without getting into a fight.

He often came to me for personal advice and I would listen to him and offer the best advice I had to offer – It is a courtesy professional thing we do.

Anyway, to make the story short, one day he caught me tired, burned out and not in the mood to listen to his soap opera love life.

I told him:

- You are an expert in relationships, what advice would you give a guy that came to you with the very same problem.

He started talking laying down a very compelling set of arguments. 

He told me what he would say to this imaginary patient, what advice he would give him and how he would follow up on the progress. 

It was far better than all the advice I gave him previously. No matter the guy was considered one of the best counselors in the business.

Then I said to him:

- Now you have it, you know what to do.

- That wouldn’t work for me – He said.

- Why not. It works for your clients, doesn’t it?

- Yeah, but they don’t know that the whole thing is only BS.

It is funny and sad that we may have and give the best advice but we cannot follow our own advice.

It comes down to the problem of authority.

News personalities, televangelists, celebrities or politicians can say the most stupid illogical things and people will follow them without hesitation like a pack of lemurs to their own destruction.

It is not what is said but who says it that makes us act, and I know you believe you are not one of those superficial people but sadly we all are.

Somebody did an experiment a while ago.

They took a famous violinist and ask him to play on a metro station. Although he was a virtuoso and played the most fantastic music that people will pay good money to see, nobody stopped to listen.

That is until somebody recognized him and then everybody stopped and polled out their cellphones.

And that's why you are not taking your own advice. 

You are just a bum playing the violin in a metro station. You have not yet recognized your own genius.