I remember the early morning rains of my childhood. Invariably a time to pick up a stick and poke around at the ground and roadside as we walked to the school bus stop. I remember all the worms on the road… millions of them, it seemed. A gentle tap with the stick and they work scrunch right up… contracting to a fraction of their size where they remained until the road and their bodies dried up.
Admittedly it’s an odd analogy, but how to you respond to external events and notions in life? Your life is your choice. Henry Ford put it beautifully:
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
I also remember my childhood encounters with butterflies.
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Between facts and concepts, concepts (ideas) are closer to Truth. Truth is unbounded, without edge. Facts melt into the deeper and broader arena of concepts, which melt into the deepest and broadest field of the Absolute… Oneness…Pure Consciousness… Pure Isness…Truth.
As facts rest and dissolve into concepts, and concepts rest and dissolve into Isness, all levels of life become seamlessly interconnected, like the branches of a tree grounded to the trunk and then to the earth. Integration of life emerges. When the connection is weak, the mind becomes small and ungrounded, like tumble weed. A slight breeze then carries the mind adrift. Anything can then be justified by the intellect. That is called a life of karma… of bondage to the surface.
Awaken to the depth, more and more live life from that level, and become great. That is called freedom, emancipation, enlightenment.
Your relationship with anything and everything is determined by your level of consciousness. Tumble weed can and does argue as it will with the mighty oak. Within the world of the weed, it is the tree that is seen to be tumbling while the weed remains steadfast. From the perspective within the speeding train, one looks out and sees the trees flying by, while the train is experienced as the solid, stable reference frame.
Your level of consciousness consumes and defines your entire world.
You are my teacher, but I was wondering if it was all right to visit other Masters.
To which I respond:
Everything is more about your relationship with it, than about it. Better to have a healthy relationship with a bad thing (which would mean stay away from it) than an unhealthy relationship with a good thing. If your relationship with visiting other “Masters” was healthy, then it would probably be fine. But there are many things to consider here.
First and foremost, the vast majority of those considered spiritual Masters today would be more appropriately students rather than teachers. Too too many have some intellectual knowledge or lifestyle/behavioral patterns that they consider spiritual and so decide they are rightly spiritual teachers. Though they may be quite well intended, they lead so so many sincere seekers astray. A true Master is a much rarer thing than most seekers realize.
Secondly, the subtle difference makes all the difference. I can not tell you how many times people have come to me and told me of a book or teacher that ‘says all the same things that I do.’ Yet when I look at what they teach, I am appalled. It is easy to drift off course without even realizing it.
If there were a genuine Master out there to visit, it would probably be ok. But do you really believe you have the ability to tell? People easily fall for a lofty belief system, a dramatic appearance, magic tricks, or emotional performances. Most alleged “teachers” are simply more fully indoctrinated into a paradigm than their students are. Enlightenment means liberation, not indoctrination. Yet indoctrination into the notion of liberation is not enlightenment. It is all highly elusive, evading many well-known “spiritual masters”.
Also keep in mind, as Ramana Maharshi put it, when you are traveling down a river it is best to have both feet in one boat.
This is Kali Yuga, the Age of Ignorance. You need to be careful.
There is the story about a great saint who had many supernatural powers. It is said that he could fly through the air and walk through walls. Do you know what his motto was? Safety first.
Today we celebrate love in all its many forms. I understand the ancient Greeks had forty different words for love in each of its forms.
There is only universal love, yet it uniquely emerges in each relationship. Love holds the universe together. Love unifies. Love brings all separation back to oneness.
Today then, is far more than the celebration of romantic love. It is the celebration of the love every individual knows from within, offered and shared with all others.
My wish for you on this day is that you celebrate your love for all that is… for every individual… for all humanity. You will see that in so doing, your love in any personal relationship in your life is enhanced many fold. We are all family. We are all one. The world is one.
If you look to the right of this page you will find a place where you can submit your own questions for Dr. Mamas to address in his blogs. Below is one person’s question.
Blog Question
Lately, at the beginning of some of my meditations, I have felt tense or nervous and I don’t quite understand what I’m feeling. Thoughts race through my mind. I think maybe I’m “thinking” too much.
You recommend meditating for twenty minutes but sometimes it takes me twenty minutes to just “settle down”. Sometimes focusing on my breathing for a couple of minutes helps.
Someone told me it was my ego resisting letting go.
I have read about focusing on breathing during meditation. What do you say?
Response
Do the meditation as taught. Do not change it in any way. Intentionally focusing on breathing will compromise it. The purpose of meditation is to purify stress out of the body. You are experiencing stress release. That is a good thing. Be sure you are taking 5 minutes to come out slowly. Lying down is best if it is practical to do so.
"Take the time to reflect on what is said here. If you find yourself associating this material with things you have heard elsewhere, please take the time to diligently explore how they are different. This knowledge is elusive. I share it here because I have seen how much this knowledge helps people – the potential is enormous." – Michael Mamas
"True knowledge slips through the fingers of those not willing to ponder…" – Michael Mamas
"Take what I say and work with it to develop a deeper understanding of life, rather than taking what I say and forcing it into the mold of your current relationship with life." – Michael Mamas
"Evolution means change." – Michael Mamas
"Your disposition is the tone with which you hold yourself, your cells, your psyche, your beliefs. More than anything else, it determines your life." – Michael Mamas
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. – Eleanor Roosevelt
I was asked the following question:
Today we celebrate love in all its many forms. I understand the ancient Greeks had forty different words for love in each of its forms.
Blog Question
