How to Find Spirituality in the Age of Distraction

by | Wednesday, March 9, 2016 | Announcements, Social Media, Spirituality | 7 comments

Finding Spirituality in Age of Distraction by Michael Mamas

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HuffingtonPost.com just published one of my latest articles, “How to Find Spirituality in the Age of Distraction“. Comments on the article are welcome.

If you would like to share the article, please share one of the below posts (instead of sharing from the article itself):

Enjoy!

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Interconnectedness

by | Thursday, March 3, 2016 | Personal Growth, Spirituality | 9 comments

When I give a lecture on anything, my mind goes an unlimited number of directions at the same time. My thoughts are not like a line or thought stream going from point A to B to C, etc. Instead, it is like a growing snowflake simultaneously expanding out in every direction from a point. Speech goes in a line: speech is linear. In contrast, nature radiates out like snowflakes from every point in existence simultaneously.

To more fully understand one “line” or reasoning (pun intended), all the other lines interconnected with it must also be understood and related to. There are an infinite number of such lines simultaneously going on eternally creating exquisite, multidimensional, interconnected snowflakes at every point throughout creation. All those snowflakes are interconnected. It is as if all existence is a giant Maha-snowflake… a giant crystal. To really understand anything, everything is understood, must be understood.

The human mind is a mapping (a mini version) in perfect correlation with the entire universe. What is inside is outside. All the interconnections are there within your awareness. It is simply a matter of more and more fully awakening to it.

The programs I offer, the talks I give, are all vehicles to expand the participant’s awareness in that interconnected crystalline manner. Some listen and in their minds strive to force my words along one line, one linear progression of thought. If they can succeed in doing that, they feel they understood what I said. In a way, that is a terrible waste. But then again, the influence is there and received to the extent it can be. Over time, the listener be willing, awareness expands. The words are heard in new, more expanded ways. The dots are connected, i.e. the interconnections are made by the listener, consciously and unconsciously. As awareness expands, the dust clears and the cobwebs are brushed away.

All knowledge is contained within you, within your awareness. It is just a matter of awareness, of awakening the interconnections that are already there within you.

Snow at Mount Soma

Snow at Mount Soma

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

What it Really Means to Live in Harmony with Nature

by | Tuesday, January 19, 2016 | Announcements, Spirituality | 6 comments

What it Really Means to Live in Harmony with NatureI’m excited to report that Elephant Journal just published my article, "What it Really Means to Live in Harmony with Nature".

Elephant Journal is an online magazine with articles about yoga, organics, sustainability, conscious consumerism, enlightened education, the contemplative arts, and more.

My article is currently featured on the home page of the Elephant Journal website as a Staff Pick, so we hope to get a lot of views. Your comments on the article will greatly help engagement.

Note: You can also help by liking, sharing and commenting on my Facebook post and Twitter Tweet about the article.

Thank you!

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

What Does ‘God’ Mean?

by | Sunday, January 17, 2016 | Spirituality | 13 comments

Everyone has their own fixed idea: Christians, Jews, Hindus, New Agers, agnostics, and atheists including denominations within each group. So has the term “God” lost its meaning? Does it make sense for each little caucus to uniquely use the term “God” in their own way? Or could it be that by deepening our understanding, we can free humanity from years of bias, indoctrination, and superstition? Or has humanity not yet embraced the nature of life and existence adequately to take on such a task? Can unity in the midst of diversity exists among religions? Through deeper understanding, can apparently contradictory perspectives on religion be understood as different angles of approach to the same one thing? The same one “God”?

Hopefully there are at least some people who are willing to refine and evolve their understanding of the word “God”. You would think people would need a better reason to believe what they believe than that they happen to be born into one religious perspective or another. However, that is rarely the case. Generally most everyone on the planet considers themselves to be one of the very fortunate few born into the right perspective on religion and God.

So what can we do about this? How do we go about attaining a deeper understanding of life and existence? Firstly, I would suggest taking a deeper look. Take time to think. Time to ponder. Time to reflect. Time to sort things out in a manner that makes sense.

The rational, the spiritual, the diverse religions, the diverse cultures need not be at odds. Nor does the world need one religion with one universal perspective. What is needed is an understanding that does not bury our heads in the sand, but rather integrates all aspects of life, all religions, all fields of study, all cultures, all people, all perspectives, all that is. Such an understanding that puts all the pieces of the puzzle of life together does indeed exist, but we need to look deeper than our indoctrinations.

What Does 'God' Mean?

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

The Mountain Stream

by | Tuesday, January 12, 2016 | Spirituality | 14 comments

The Mountain Stream by Michael MamasEvery drop of rain eventually finds its way back to the ocean. Some drops rush down the mountain stream and quickly return. Some drops get stuck in a spinning whirlpool for a long time. Some go fast for a while and then get stuck in a whirlpool… back and forth from one situation to the other. If you watch water tumble down a mountain stream, you will see it all.

Everyone eventually gets enlightened. Everything gravitates back to Oneness. Progress is measured not in years but in lifetimes. The longer the delay, the more the suffering.

The closer you get the sweeter your life.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

The Resolution of Paradox

by | Tuesday, January 5, 2016 | Spirituality | 17 comments

Pardox ResolutionI was asked the following question regarding the previous blog, “Free Will and Predetermination are One: The Experience“:

I wonder, when first experiencing the gap, does one swing back and forth between the doer and the witness quickly and involuntarily?

To which I respond:

Yes indeed. At first before enlightenment, the witness is experienced briefly from time to time. Particularly at first, the gap between the witness and the doer is huge. In time, they coexist with no gap between the two. Desirelessness and desire, sequentiality of time and no time, free will and predetermination, efforting and effortlessness, control and no control… all these dichotomies merge (resolve, become the same thing). In the resolution of paradox they become one (unification). As is said, you and God are One. It is as if you live at the edge (mergence, junction, unification) between polar opposites… fully in the Absolute and fully in the relative at the same time.

There is so much confusion regarding “desirelessness”, for example. Desire in life does not cease in enlightenment. Just consider the story of so many saints, even Lord Rama. They have many desires. Yet they were simultaneously fully awake to the level within which is already one with everything and so can desire nothing.

Initially in early enlightenment, a gap between the two is experienced. In time, they coexist with no gap between the two. They are experienced as the same thing… two sides of the same one coin.

Early, unintegrated glimpses of enlightenment can enrapture one so much with the Absolute that for a time people may feel overwhelmed by that aspect of their being that is free from desire. It is also easy to make a long standing mood or attitude of freedom from desire. In time one moves past the overwhelm and confusion. Integration of paradoxes takes place and life becomes more natural.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Marvelous

by | Friday, December 25, 2015 | Spirituality | 20 comments

Marvelous!It is all so simple, yet so illusive.
Everything revolves around the Center.
Yet the Center is at every point.
All gravitate toward it.
Everyone longs for it.
Everyone searches for it.
Each in their own way.
Some call it God.
Some call it love.
Some call it truth.

It dwells deep within everyone, yet is obscured from view.
Scholars dedicate themselves to it, but do not understand it.
Philosophers ponder it, but cannot fathom it.
The religious pine for it, but can not grasp it.
Scientists pursue it, but cannot prove it.
We see it in our children’s eyes, but cannot fathom it.

And once it is known:
It can not be explained.
It can not be conveyed.
It can not be described.

Yet once it is known:
The path to it can be offered to others.
The meaning of the descriptions are understood.
The fulfillment of the longing is attained.
The proof of it is that it is known.
It is He, not an ‘it’.
It is She, not an ‘it’.
Yet it is beyond gender.

It’s unfathomable nature stands as:
the eternal witness
the eternal backdrop
the all knowing, yet beyond notions or facts
free from any judgement, opinion or bias
the omnipresent.
the One with many names.
the One with no name.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Christmas is a Feeling

by | Wednesday, December 23, 2015 | Spirituality | 15 comments

Christmas is a Feeling by Michael Mamas


Click to view slideshow.

When it comes right down to it, thoughts and even emotions matter little. How you feel deep inside about things is what really matters. Unfortunately, we can easily tie ourselves up in knots with our thoughts and agitated emotions. Deeper inside things are more clear, fine, and simple. Thoughts and emotions are like choppy waves on the surface of the ocean. The finer feelings are in the depth, unaffected by the waves.

Getting caught up in whether or not there was a virgin birth or contradictory beliefs of different denominations can be like choppy waves on the ocean surface. Feeling the deeper meaning of Christmas is what matters. I believe we can all agree that what Christ represents is wonderful, beautiful, exquisite, and the essence of Christmas. And that is something we can all celebrate. At least during this time of year, let’s all keep our attention on that. The nature of our feelings feed our soul. We just posted a SlideShare slideshow called “Christmas is a Feeling” that I think everyone will enjoy. My wife, Tanja, did the pictures and they are really wonderful.

Enjoy and have a very merry Christmas!

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Free Will and Predetermination

by | Sunday, December 20, 2015 | Spirituality | 16 comments

helping handThe laws of karma create a predetermined universe.

The laws of karma are God’s will.

The depth of your Being is free from, transcends, the laws of karma.

As you evolve you attain more and more free will.

As you evolve, your free will becomes one with God’s will, i.e. natural law, dharma.

Free will and predetermination are the same thing.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.