The Effects of Identity

by | Wednesday, November 10, 2010 | Relationship, Spirituality

To exist means to exist transgradiently.

~

Our health is dependent upon our ability to shift spontaneously from one reality to another. When we identify with (hold on to) a reality on a particular level, that holding effects our physiology at every level.

~

For example, if we refute emotions as being illogical, we suppress a reality of our being. This sort of suppression causes dis-ease. We refute another level when we don’t cultivate the ability to think rationally, again causing disharmony. When we feel that unease, we conclude that we must improve our ability to function in our reality. Such a reaction only perpetuates the process. As the result of our identification with particular realities, our lives become ever-tightening spirals.

~

To counter the tightening process we need to learn to rest into our transgradient nature, our natural state of being. This kind of “resting into” is more easily said than done because we hold on to our ideas of reality not just with our minds but with our bodies and hearts as well. This holding permeates all levels of our physiology—physical, energetic, psychological and spiritual—so completely that we assume the holding is who we are.

~

To become wiser, we don’t need to get better at what we know as much as we need to stop holding on so tightly to what it is we think we know.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Effective Personal Process

by | Sunday, October 24, 2010 | Relationship, Spirituality

Effective personal process is experienced as an inner churning, an inner tug of war of thoughts and emotions.

~

No stone is left unturned. All stable ground becomes shaky.

~

It can at times be a frightening process.

~

A false sense of security dissolves as the comfort of the true Self emerges.

~

The process, though cyclical, gradually spirals upward to greater and greater levels of fulfillment.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Expectations

by | Thursday, October 14, 2010 | Relationship, Spirituality

~

If we base our life on expectations, it sets us up for disappointment and bad feelings.

~

Our growth as individuals does not happen by aligning with our current expectations of what we will/should be like as we evolve.  Those expectations themselves will also change, evolve.

~

Aspiring to our current expectation often limits our true growth.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

The Wheel of Karma

by | Monday, September 20, 2010 | Relationship, Spirituality

The “Wheel of Karma” is based upon a Buddhist concept.  It translates into replacing one identity with another one in the pursuit of finding the “ice-cream-cone-in-the-sky-reality” that will do it for you.

~

EXERCISE:  See how The Wheel of Karma has played out in your life:

~

• Think back to what your identities were like in kindergarten, in elementary school, then in high school, during your college years and/or when you first hit the job market, maybe in different relationships or in your marriage…

~

•
 Describe your different identities.

(Come up with at least 3 examples, more is even better)

~

•  Feel into the different milestones of your life and notice how the identities you aspired to have changed over time.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

I-get-it Syndrome

by | Sunday, September 19, 2010 | Relationship, Spirituality

We live in an age where we can pick up a book of the teaching of some enlightened Master and, after an afternoon’s reading, decide we get all that he is saying. This is called the I-get-it Syndrome.  It keeps you stuck.

~

We function from our conditioning.  Our life experiences condition our awareness and feelings to function a certain way.  What we think is mostly a function of how we have been conditioned to think.  What we feel is mostly a function of how we have been conditioned to feel.  So, when you read the teachings of a great enlightened Master, you perceive onto them and say, “Oh yeah, I get that.”  The teachings are viewed through your conditioning.

~

Thereby, the Master’s words are heard on a superficial level.

~

We decide that we understand something simply because we intellectually understand it.

~

In that manner, Knowledge is lost.  True knowledge is found as one awakens to one’s inner essence.  Knowledge does not come from out to in.

~

True Knowledge is attained from within and radiates out.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.