by Michael Mamas | Thursday, June 21, 2012 | Personal Growth |
Emotion, Moon, and Music…
Intellect, Mercury, and Mathematics…
These are two sides of the same one coin. There is math in music and there is music in math.
What we think of as intelligence is more superficial than emotion. Yet the ‘intelligence’ underlying all existence, underlying emotions, wells up through the emotional level to give intelligence as we generally think of it. Reason is the junction between emotion and the more superficial intellect.
Healthy emotions are founded upon the human instrument staying in tune. This is a physiological quality that must be cultured. You can not expect a person to always stay in emotional balance, any more easily than you can expect a musical instrument to always stay in tune. However, a good indicator of emotional health is how quickly a person is able to come back in to balance.
You must culture your emotional physiology, just as you would condition your muscles to be healthy and strong. Otherwise, you will emotionally spin out when pressure is imposed. It is easy to be in balance when there is no pressure.
When you do go out of balance, do not view it as a flaw. View it as inspiration to culture your emotional physiology.
The greatest tool for this is proper meditation. Then comes discernment.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, June 18, 2012 | Personal Growth |
“The better part of valor is discretion.” – Shakespeare
~
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Friday, June 15, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Just keep in mind that juggling does not mean, “figuring it all out”. Nor does it mean having no cynicism, anger, fear, etc. It means awakening to the place deep within that holds all of these things… holds everything… and is beyond the touch of any of it.
Oneness does not mean one with all the things you like and elimination of all the things you do not. Oneness means oneness.
The course of action is eternally unfathomable. You never figure everything out. You juggle… everything remains up in the air. That is why they call it ‘relativity.’ No bottom line. No figuring it all out.
To juggle means to have a healthy relationship with… which means to under-stand, not over-stand. Humility, innocence, not knowingness, are all built right into it, while concurrently, at the depth, you are awake to all knowingness, infinite stability, infinite flexibility, infinite peace, etc.
The nature of the depth and the nature of the surface are two very different things. The error of ‘cross realm projection’ is to try to transfer qualities of one upon the other.
In enlightenment, they exist concurrently… the surface along with its nature, and the depth along with its nature. Yet the surface, from the perspective of your depth, is then experienced as virtual… just lightly etched on the face of the absolute.
The root is stable, the leaves juggle in the wind.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, June 14, 2012 | Favorites, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Most aspire to a state where everything in their life is tucked away nicely in place. No dangling ends. No unresolved situations. No problems. No worries. No fears. Everything settled and solid and safe.
Of course life is not like that. There are always many ‘balls in the air” and plates at the end of poles that you need to keep spinning lest they fall to the ground and shatter. So many spend their lives trying to catch all the balls and stash them away and grab all the plates and pack them up snuggly.
In other words there is a longing for stable ground. The longing is actually good, but it is misdirected. The stability you long for is not on the surface of life. It is in the depth of your being. Trying to attain it on the surface is a fool’s play, like a cat pawing at its own reflection in pursuit of contact. Or like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
The juggler finds stability within. This is what allows him to enjoy and excel at his craft. The art of juggling maps on to, i.e. parallels, the art of accomplishment in life. The fulfillment it brings is the stability one feels when established in the transcendent even in the midst of great activity. At first that solid stability is felt only for a moment here and there during meditation. Imagine it being there all the time… during the greatest hardships and greatest joys. Imagine tossing more and more balls in the air and spinning more and more plates, without fear of losing the stability of the inner Self. That is the art of juggling.
You cannot just meditate your way to enlightenment. Enlightenment is the integration of silence with dynamism… of activity and rest… of the absolute with the relative… of inner oneness and outer multiplicity. The Guru can help you with that. It is what a Guru does. Yet along the way, many decide they have it figured out and know better and aspire to catch one moonbeam or dangling carrot or another as per their own choosing.
But listening to the Guru does not mean attending an isolated lecture here and there, or being inspired by a lovely quote and then going about your business. It means listening and living life accordingly. Very few are willing to do that. After all, you did not come here to learn to juggle… or did you?
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, June 13, 2012 | Favorites, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Deep inside, you already know everything. Yet, it is shrouded by your conditioning.
You are conditioned, programmed, to believe a certain way and in certain things. Those conditioned impressions are called Samskaras. Though samskaras overshadow the Divine depth of your being, they do not entirely block your connection with it. You still sense it. When you hear truth, it resonates with that depth. Yet however erroneous, the surface (the samskaras) are what you habitually return to, and cling to, for a belief system, safety, familiarity, and comfort. Samkaras are like that old tattered coat, though aged and worn there is just something about it that keeps you coming back.
Life goes on. Truth, time and again, presents itself, resonates with your depth, is aspired to, and then abandoned once again, in the name of that old tattered coat called samskara. With dedication, through reflection, self-honesty, meditation, and the hard knocks of life… slowly, slowly you move in the direction of truth. Yet the path is seldom a straight line. It winds, turns, curves back on it self, freezes, slips, slides, entices, seduces, distracts, is rejected, doubted, feared, loved… on and on. The Guru is there always. Yet the Guru, as the embodiment of that path, is also loved, resented, aspired to, drawn to, feared, hated, rejected, longed for… on and on.
But you keep going. Just as all water necessarily returns to the ocean, in time you overcome your overshadowing samskaras to rest in the depth of your being to become unshakably established in that. Until that tipping point is reached, your allegiance remains to the surface. Truth is just a faint cry from the distance at first, hidden away in a deep, dark, pathless jungle. Evade as you may, it is undeniable in its steadfast presence and haunting allure. The Guru is there always, holding up the beacon that lights the way. While your samskaras are in control, the Guru can be experienced as an annoyance… a thorn in your side. And the rationalizations then abound. After all… he is just a man, right?
He knows full well that, in time, you will awaken to your Truth… the Universal Truth… the Divine that underlies, birthed, and eternally upholds all of life, no matter where you journey, what you choose to believe, or how you are feeling. Like gravity, the Grace of the Guru is eternally present. And in time, you will find Him at the heart of your own being… within you, as you. For in reality, he does not exist on the surface. He is the embodiment of the depth. The One, Universal, Eternal You, Me, all that is.
You will find that One Truth within yourself, just as surely as every drop of rain, in time, returns to the ocean.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, June 11, 2012 | Personal Growth |
One of the greatest joys of my life is that I do so deeply love my students. When the lives of any of them go astray, it causes me great heartache.
Witnessing this, someone sent an email that they left cupcakes on my front porch in the evening to which I emailed back:
“It’s 3 a.m. I just got the cupcake email. They were still on the porch and fine… much needed and appreciated.
Every plant is medicinal (just as it says in the vedic texts).
Sugar, well timed, is no exception.
Thanks, Dr. Mamas”
… very sweet… Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, June 9, 2012 | Mount Soma |
My brother-in-law, Simeon, and his wife Shannon, had their wedding ceremony yesterday at Mount Soma. It was beautiful. Of course, many family members and friends attended.
The manner in which the attendees received the Vedic tradition was quite impressive. Their openness, to something that was so clearly foreign to what they have known, was most respectable. That, in and of itself, said a great deal about the good fortune of Simeon and Shannon… to have such noble support and love from family and friends.
Needless to say, my desire was intense to get up and explain the significance of the proceedings in terms of Vedic knowledge, which is not only a great art but also a highly technical science. However, I managed to control myself and allow the festivities to proceed in a joyous and light-hearted manner.
Admittedly, I did corner my nephew, whom I am proud to say will be attending Clemson next year to pursue a degree in engineering. I gave him a short course in the Veda and am thankful to him for listening.
The day was a great deal of fun for everyone!
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, June 6, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
The following quote, when misunderstood, can lead to a common misbelief:
“The deeper sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” – Kahlil Gibran
An inexpensive stereo system does not reproduce the high and low frequencies well. If you look at a graphic reproduction of the sound pattern, you would see the highs and lows ‘flat line’ or cut off at some point. This can have quite an undesirable effect on the listener.
As you evolve, your ability to feel the full range, the highs and lows, of human emotions expands. You feel more deeply. You do not ‘flat line.’ Flat lining is an intense experience: the lows feel like fingernails scratching a chalkboard… very painful. The highs too are as if unmanageable or intolerable. Though those feelings are intense, they are limited. You have no doubt seen people flat line. Words like intolerable hysteria come to mind. It is as if the psyche crumbles or buckles over.
In contrast, the ability to feel the full range of emotions is a more highly evolved state. The ability to feel deep sorrow does not enable one to feel deep joy. The capacity to feel both develops simultaneously as one evolves. Expansion occurs in all directions simultaneously.
Now at first glance, this may sound undesirable. Who wants to be able to feel more sorrow? However, it is not like that. As you evolve, the cosmic cushion of the depth of your being is more and more fully experienced. That is to say that you awaken to a place deep within your being that remains untouched by sorrow or joy. It is like the tail of a kite that enables you to soar higher without tumbling.
On the other hand, flat lining is an overwhelming experience. The Self is overshadowed. Integration breaks down. Irrationality consumes ones being. Be it due to great sorrow or joy, flat lining is an undesirable and limiting state.
It is valuable to note that even Lord Rama, fully established in the Self, fell to his knees and sobbed when he learned his beloved wife, Sita, was kidnapped. The equanimity of the enlightened is not a zombie-like state. Great emotions are felt. Yet the Self, the tail of the kite, is not lost. The emotions soar higher. They do not flat line.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Sunday, June 3, 2012 | Spirituality |
As you evolve, your sense of Self grows to include all that is. As that occurs, you become overtaken by the Cosmic Flow… the Unified Motion of the Divine, which permeates and includes all that is… an “unbounded ocean of consciousness in motion”.
It is not a Selfless state as some claim. It is in fact the opposite.
The following quote alludes to this state, though is only a mere echo of it. This is beautiful in that it speaks of the inner sense within all humanity that points in the direction of the Divine – the destiny of all to awaken to who and what they truly are… one with God.
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, May 31, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
So many do not move forward with their lives because they are afraid of what may lie around the corner. This is why so many attain much less than is their potential. The following quote elegantly says it another way.
“Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.” ~ Paul Saffo
Attaining great things in your life begins with a deep inner feeling… an abstract sense, not a well defined road map.
Set your course beyond the horizon of what is clearly visible, and then go there. Fear of the unknown is the next great hurdle of human evolution. No great artist ever knew exactly what a painting would look like before they finished it.
Why spend your life scrounging for crumbs? Your domain is the universe. Enlightenment is not a notion to be put in a shoebox in your closet to be taken out and marveled over only upon occasion. It is what lies just beyond the horizon. Aspire to that. It is your birthright.
Can you see how the following two quotes relate?
“Generosity with strings is not generosity. It is a deal.” – Marya Mannes
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
