by Michael Mamas | Saturday, September 5, 2015 | Meditation, Spirituality |
The notion of mindfulness has different meanings on different levels. Let’s start with the highest and go from there. The underlying basis of everything in existence, including you, is pure unbounded Consciousness. As your awareness evolves, you become increasingly awake to that level. When fully awakened to it, it is experienced as a backdrop to everything in existence. I guess you could say it is similar to how a TV screen is the backdrop to all images, stories, and melodramas projected onto it. Mindfulness exists in a place beyond space and time – eternally present. The true state of mindfulness then is a physiological state, the culmination of evolution.
A state of true mindfulness is sometimes referred to as the witness. In the state of witnessing, you are awake to the level where nothing is really happening. This is what is referred to as maya in the Vedic tradition, the idea that reality is all about change, things, relativity, and action. In the state of pure mindfulness, the backdrop, the underlying reality, transcends relativity, duality, action, etc. When first experienced, it is rather a strange experience. It is as if when you are walking, you are not really walking. The body is walking, and the you, your being, your deepest awareness, is just witnessing the body walking. There is, in fact, an entire approach to spiritual growth sometimes called karma yoga where people try to witness. It is remarkable that thousands, if not millions, of people practice that as a spiritual technique, when in fact it doesn’t work. It is like pretending you are a millionaire. It doesn’t make you a millionaire.
This state of true mindfulness, sometimes called enlightenment, is cultivated over time, primarily through proper meditation. Proper meditation, for example the Surya Ram Meditation, has nothing to do with pretending or trying to be in the eternal present. Sadly though, many meditation techniques do exactly that.
It’s important to note that experiencing pure Consciousness as a witness is temporary. The reason it is experienced as a witness is because there is initially a huge gap between wakefulness to pure Consciousness (the Transcendent) and one’s relative experience of life. They coexist, but are experienced as quite distant from one another. As one lives in that state, over time the physiology refines and the gap is reduced and ultimately disappears. This is all a very profound and beautiful experience, the description of which goes beyond the bounds of this article. I have lectured and written extensively about it in other places *.
The term “mindfulness” is often used as a practice of attempting to keep your awareness on the present, trying to be completely mindful of what is going on in the moment – in the room, in the conversation you may be having, in the activity you may be doing, or what have you. In actuality, that is neither constructive nor healthy.
This all takes place on a more superficial level of life. But by superficial, I do not mean unimportant, I just mean different. On the superficial level of life, past, present, and future exist. Even when the awareness and physiology are functioning properly, there are times when the mind’s attention is absorbed in thinking about the future or the past, having little to do with what is going on in the present moment. In the state of true mindfulness, attention on the past, future, and present are all quite healthy and natural. Trying to force the mind to stay in the present moment does little more than cultivate a state of neurosis, compromising the evolutionary process.
Having said that, at times it is of course important to be able to pay attention to what is going on in the moment. That is just common sense. However, attempting to do that as a spiritual technique is misguided.
The bottom line here is that spiritual growth is a normal and natural process. It seems that many think of it as just the opposite, expecting spiritual leaders to be somehow other-worldish and quite different from what most would deem normal behavior. Personal evolution is a subtle process, a normalizing process, a sublime process. Looking for radical differences on the surface of life in an attempt to believe that you are attaining spiritual progress is largely misguided. There are, of course, certain parameters to stay within on the surface of life, like not becoming an alcoholic, getting a reasonable amount of sleep, eating healthy foods, etc. However, attempting to manipulate your life on subtle levels is unnatural and undermining of your spiritual growth. That is like taking the petals of a rosebud and peeling them back one at a time in an attempt to make a blossom. It is the natural unfolding of the bud that births the beautiful flower.
If you take only one thing from this article, remember that whatever techniques you employ to facilitate your spiritual growth, they must be natural.
*
What Is Enlightenment?
How to Get Enlightened
Integrating Unboundedness and Boundedness
Spiritual Evolution Q&A
The Self is Revealed to the Self by the Self
Two Motivations
What is Enlightenment?
The Golden Frog
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, August 29, 2015 | Spirituality |
Ted Cruz shared one of his father’s favorite lessons to him.
“No one bears greater responsibility for the condition of this country than do the pastors,” said Cruz, quoting Rafael Cruz, who is a pastor. “If the flock stumbles into a ditch, you don’t blame the sheep. You blame the shepherd.”
We can generalize this quote to include all religious, all spiritual leaders. However we must ask, “What’s the problem? What are they missing?” Firstly, I find it remarkable and humbling that, throughout history, so many people could know within themselves the true nature of life and existence without really having a clear understanding of it. That inner knowing transcends even their inability to truly explain it all in a manner that makes rational sense.
Now consider the skeptical group mentality, the group consciousness of our country and world today. For the condition of a country to improve, the deep thinkers must be able to convey their knowledge in a manner that can be understood, and thereby received and accepted, by the people. I am sorry to say that the pastors and other religious/spiritual leaders have failed to do this. To the majority of people, and certainly to a great percentage of the youth throughout the world, the spiritual message makes no rational sense and is therefore rejected. It simply does not hold up to the scientific mentality that has overtaken modern thinking. Be it traditional, alternative, new age, or eccentric in approach, an ever-increasing number of people look at those spiritual perspectives and shake their heads. Answers to deep questions fall short. Demands that you just must have faith do not satisfy. In fact, it offends, compelling so many to roll their eyes and turn away.
I get upset when I see most religious, alternative, and new age spiritual leaders speak on television. It would be better if they just would admit that they do not have answers to all-important questions. Even the intellectual types, those who relate spirituality to modern physics, are unsatisfying in their dry and woefully limited ability to put it all pieces of life’s puzzle together. The New Agers with their warmed over, reshaped, same old proclamations, leave real seekers of truth dismayed, giving even more reason to turn their backs on the foolishness. All too many well-intended and discerning people are thereby compelled to throw out the spiritual baby with the bathwater and decide they are atheist, agnostic, or just ‘socially religious’ on Christmas and Easter. I can’t tell you how many young people have come to me saying, in one way or another, that they would like to believe and have faith, but they just can’t.
I must underscore that what the truly inwardly spiritual know is valid. However, it is not known with a communicable clarity that can be heard by humanity. Thereby, the root of life has been severed from the tree. No wonder our country today ‘stumbles into a ditch.’
Fortunately, a deep rational understanding is there. It clears the cobwebs, casts out any superstition, and deepens the knowledge for all humanity – including the skeptics and spiritual believers. We offer that understanding, if only the jaded masses will take the time to reflect. Unfortunately, most have already made their decision based upon the irrational and unclear teachings that pervade so many traditional and modern spiritual perspectives.
Rafael Cruz was so right… It is not the fault of the people. The responsibility is that of the spiritual leaders themselves. It is our task to turn that around… to provide the understanding that makes perfect sense to our modern, discerning, and rational world consciousness.
In my life I was determined to understand the nature of existence, the nature of this world. I really didn’t care if it would be called spirituality or science. I just wanted answers. I wanted to know the truth. I was fortunate to come across some truly great teachers. My studies included undergraduate work in physics and math. My pursuit then led me to India where I sat with some truly remarkable spiritual teachers. It was through them that the pieces of the puzzle came together. I offer that understanding in terms that modern humanity can hear and receive. It deepens the knowledge and appreciation of all aspects of life. It puts all the pieces of life puzzle together in a manner that fulfills the skeptic and the deeply religious as well. No longer can people say that to be spiritual there needs to be blind faith. In that vein we can thank the atheists and agnostics for demanding that a deeper and clearer understanding of the true nature of life and existence be made available. It is our great joy and privilege that we find ourselves in the most fortunate position as to be able to bring that forth.
Once spirituality is truly understood, religion is understood in a new and fulfilling light that satisfies all aspects of life – all aspects of human psychology, mentality, morality, thought and emotion.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, August 17, 2015 | Spirituality |
The dropped pebble radiates wave rings on the pond.
Similarly, the cosmos, birthed from a point, radiates wave rings.
Every point, every thing, in creation radiates wave rings.
Every individual radiates wave rings.
A Vedic temple radiates powerful wave rings in harmony with the cosmos.
The temple walls, fence, etc. are constructed on the cosmic wave rings.
Thusly, the temple brings all wave rings in harmony with nature… the cosmos.
This is the technology of world peace, prosperity, and fulfillment.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, July 13, 2015 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
We speak of the ‘family of humanity’. We speak of love. We speak of world peace. We speak of open-mindedness. Yet these things are not so easy to accomplish.
Some have a strong bias against spirituality as irrational. Others find solace in embracing the heartfelt aspect of spirituality, even as a reprieve from having to think. Cultures have their differences. One religion judges another. One political group despises the other. Many ‘open-minded’ people condemn those who do not think the way they do. One cultural or sub-cultural group is uncomfortable with another. Cultural Integrity so easily crosses the line into the biases of bigotry and racism.
My work honors the unique integrity of each culture while inviting you to see past the bias. In so doing, we can create a true family of humanity that honors the uniqueness of each culture – that respects diversity, not just tolerates it.
In my attempts to create a family of humanity, I often trigger a knee-jerk controversy. When I speak of God, ‘rationalists’ immediately reject my words. When I ask people to take a step back and see the rationality hidden beneath any spiritual superstition, I am accused of being too ‘heady’. When I wear Indian attire as a sign of respect to that tradition, I am judged as ‘another white guy trying to do the guru thing’. When I wear western clothes, I am not respecting the ancient traditions of spiritual knowledge. Casual observers so quickly cast my hat into the ring of their impulsive choosing.
Prejudice reigns. We are so quickly pigeon-holed, judged, and rejected or accepted based on the prejudices of every individual in this 30-second sound bite world. It happens in the blink of an eye, even by the most “open minded” individuals.
So where is the learning? How can people see beyond their biases?
I strive to move humanity forward. I encourage everyone to look deeper to live better. In so doing, the world will come together in harmony. In so doing, world peace can become a reality. I invite you to take a step back and reflect with me. Look more deeply into my words and actions than just a first glance may provide. We can heal this planet. We can have a loving family of humanity. It is within our grasp.
Be willing to reach beyond the limitations of your current mentality.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, July 7, 2015 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Memorizing facts has its value.
Memorizing mantras has its value.
However, to really know them is to understand them.
What does it mean to understand them?
Where does understanding come from?
Deep within you, deep within your soul, lies the source of all that is.
It is
… not physical.
… not material.
… not grasped.
It is felt.
… sensed
… deep within your soul.
… deep within your self.
It is the place within where you make sense of things.
For something to be understood is for it to make sense.
Feelings lie deeper than thoughts.
Feelings birth thoughts.
The seed of knowledge is feeling.
Understanding stands under, births, feeds, and supports all of life.
Facts emerge from that place, just as the tree emerges from the seed.
The seed of life births life.
To gain true knowledge, awaken to the source of thought.
The thoughts themselves are secondary.
One can know many facts and not be a person of knowledge.
One can know few facts and be a person of true knowledge.
Awaken to the place within where you understand everything.
Facts are useful tools.
But they are most useful in the hands of those who know the Self.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Sunday, July 5, 2015 | Spirituality |
There is one thing that is the source of everything.
Everything is, in essence, that.
Modern Physicists call it the unified field.
Others call it ‘God’.
I am that, thou art that, all of this is nothing but that.
All creatures, to varying degrees, sense it deep within themselves.
It is an innate inner knowing.
It is felt.
It is life.
It is instinctively known to be precious.
It is protected.
It is the soul.
It is the life force.
It is the Self.
Faith is rooted in that inner knowing.
The power of that inner knowing is remarkable
… humanity has constructed great cities, religions, and temples in its name.
… even though it
___… is not fully understood
___… can not be grasped
___… transcends relativity.
Yet faith’s vision is veiled
… by dogma
… by lack of understanding
… by emotional bias
… by intellectual bias
… by indoctrination
Aspire to that which lies beyond the veil of faith.
That process is called the path of discernment.
It is not blindly faithful.
It questions everything.
It is the path of inquiry.
Discernment is not
… just of the mind
… nor just of the heart.
Discernment unifies
… heart with mind
… soul with thought
… subjective with objective
As Adi Shankar said, the spiritual path is the path of discernment.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, June 29, 2015 | Spirituality |
The surface of life is predominantly run by cause and effect… it is the world of karma… predetermination.
The depth of your being is the source of your free will to influence and guide your life on the surface.
The degree to which you live from the depth is the degree to which you are free.
It is like the electron… a probability cloud with the freedom of all possibilities at the depth… a finite, locally confined point after it surfaces.
The depth lies deeper than thoughts… deeper than emotions. It is the transcendental level of your being.
Prayer is communion with the depth.
‘Communion with the One thing that is the source of all things.
‘Communion with your Universal Self… with the One Universal Self… the One thing that is the source of all things… of all of us.
‘The place where you are One with God.
God’s will has two aspects, two levels… free will at the depth and the will that creates the laws of the world of cause and effect on the surface.
As you awaken to the depth, freedom permeates the surface to greater and greater degrees.
It is not enough to think you are free…
It is not even enough to feel you are free…
You must awaken to the level of your being that is truly free.
To live from that depth is to be eternally awake to it.
You are then in the world of karma, but not lost to the world of karma.
You have entered into the world of cause and effect, honoring its laws, while being guided by that which is beyond the grasp of those laws.
You are free.
Your life then is a constant prayer.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, June 27, 2015 | Personal Growth, Spirituality, World View |
It seems that racism has subsided (or at least has become increasingly politically incorrect) in America, or perhaps people’s prejudices have not so much subsided as been transformed. Am I mistaken, or have the divides between right versus left, conservative versus liberal, the wealthy versus the poor, etc. taken on new highs in intensity? It almost seems that there is a certain degree of pride and prejudice within people that simply must be directed at something. Could that really be?
Let’s take a step back and look at the nature of our species. Certainly we are social/cultural creatures. We tend to flock together to create a society. As you traverse the globe, it becomes apparent that there is a great degree of difference between cultures. Individuals in a culture (or subculture) become adapted to, comfortable with, and cultured around the specific aspects of their culture. This, to a great degree, includes mentality, morality, ethics, and worldview, even including the inclination to rebel against the convention of that culture! There is a natural tendency to gravitate toward individuals that share your cultural and subcultural views. That seems to be quite commonsensical and natural. Laws are created and enforced in concert with those views, those convictions. Often other viewpoints are considered unhealthy, or even illegal. Of course, as times change people change, and viewpoints then, gradually change over time. In the USA at least, those transitions seem to occur through 10 to 15 year cycles. Just look at the 1920s compared to the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, etc. Yet through it all, we tend to adhere to our societal group of like-minded friends with whom we are most comfortable and identified. You may wonder if this is a good or bad thing. Should you strive to break free of your heritage? Or should you strive to conform to it? When does your affinity for your heritage cross that line from cultural integrity and mutual support and comfort to becoming prejudicial or worse? Is there a healthy pride and natural preference or should we strive to overcome it and create a homogenous world?
It seems clear that the right and wrong of it is all a matter of degree. Birds of a feather do naturally flock together. That is sometimes called cultural integrity. But as I have said in the past, racism is cultural integrity gone insane. It appears that such insanity has a physiological or organic component to it. It is not proactively overcome as easily as you may think. It is like subterranean ether in the blood that permeates heart and mind. It is like an overheating of the otherwise healthy blood chemistry of natural affinity. Once overheated, it must show its head in one prejudicial form or another. Attempting to suppress it one way only causes it to emerge in another. As racism is suppressed, political polarization and hatred go on the rise.
I remember the man I sat next to on a flight to San Francisco. He is a lifelong resident of Marin County. From his proud perspective, he was clearly open-minded, liberal, and beyond any trace of racism. Yet he was viscously intolerant of any opposing viewpoint. From his perspective, he had things all figured out and he was righteously indignant of any other viewpoint. Of course, in his opinion, he loved all humanity, all cultures, all races. But did he? Did he really? How little things have changed. As the saying goes, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” — “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” We ride upon these tides, currents, and waves of world karma within the ocean of life… far more so than most are able to see or willing to admit. Up creates down. Right creates left.
Is there a real solution to this? Yes, of course there is: human evolution… the balancing of fire (Agni) and water (Soma). The world is on fire. The people are righteously indignant. The shade trees have been cleared by the millions. Heat is on the rise. Global warming in this expanded sense is a certainty. Warming of the oceans would merely be one symptom of the greater dynamic. Attempts to rearrange the surface to hide what is going on in the depths will fail. Sweeping the dirt under the rug does not clean the house.
Where do you draw the line between cultural integrity and cultural arrogance? The answer to that is found in the depth of your being, not on the surface. But to do so, first the fire must be cooled. Proper meditation with the cultivation of discernment is the path.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, June 15, 2015 | Personal Growth, Relationship, Spirituality |
Feelings are everything. Thoughts matter little. How you feel about those thoughts make all the difference. If you feel a thought is not true, it is rejected. Feel it is true, and it is embraced. Even seemingly irrefutable thoughts are, in fact, considered facts because we feel that way about them. For example, ‘two plus two equals four’ is embraced because it just feels so right. Without getting overly technical or philosophical about this, one considers thoughts to be true based upon how one feels about them.
The uniting of our thoughts with our feelings is called ‘reasoning.’ The art of reasoning, wisely and accurately, is called ‘discernment.’ Logic is rooted in discernment is rooted in feelings. Feelings are everything.
There are two types of feelings:
1) Feelings in harmony with Nature, with Natural Law.
2) Feelings rooted, not in the laws of Nature, but in conditioning, limitation, indoctrination, dogma, programming, distortions, or what Maharishi Patanjali called ‘samskaras.’ This is to say your issues, sometimes called ‘your stuff.’
Of course, most feelings are a mix of the two. Your world view is a result of such feelings. It is important to understand that these two types of feelings essentially feel the same. Even how you feel about the feeling you have is the result of these two types of feelings. In other words, you judge yourself, others, and all thoughts and emotions based upon some combination of these two types of feelings. For example, you may feel that your anger is a bad feeling not in harmony with Nature. You may feel that happiness is in harmony with Nature. But it is not that simple. The full range of human emotions can be either in harmony with Nature or not.
It is very difficult then, to know the true nature of what you are feeling. You usually consider how you feel about something to be ‘your truth.’ But is it? Is it really? As you evolve, ‘your truth’ becomes more and more in harmony with Nature. Yet it is viewed by others based upon their issues, their world view. You can justify anything with the intellect… and people do. Your thoughts (your intellect) rally around your feelings to justify them.
But it gets even more complicated than that. World views are floating around everywhere you look. You become indoctrinated by them. The thoughts, based upon whichever type of feeling, begin to indoctrinate and program you. As that happens, you believe them. You feel they are correct. You consider them to be ‘truth.’ You become convinced that the world view is ‘truth.’ You even feel and become passionate about a particular viewpoint. Lives are dedicated to such a viewpoint. ‘Education’ then, is considered greater indoctrination into that viewpoint.
So, discovering what is true is not so easy to do. But one thing is for sure, Truth dwells within you. By filtering out your indoctrinations, you find harmony with Nature (Truth) within yourself. After all, you are one with Nature. You are the Unified Field. You are one with God, though today, more and more people are taking issue with the word ‘God.’
Everything I teach is for one purpose… for you to find harmony with Nature within yourself. More than likely, that does not look like what your indoctrination has convinced you it looks like. But I am not here to tell you what that looks like. I am not here to tell you what to think. I am here to help you learn to think for yourself… not your indoctrinated self, but your True Self. Your Self that is one with the source of all life and existence… infinitely wise, intelligent, creative, harmonious and divine. Proper meditation and cultivation of the art of discernment compose that gateway.
Consider the understanding of what is written here to be an invitation to walk through that gateway. Yet it is up to you to do so. The Self is revealed to the Self, by the Self, and through the Self.
Below is a related post, with video, on Facebook.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, June 4, 2015 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
I very much like Kahneman’s phrase, “Theory of Induced Blindness”. Identity with a paradigm, simultaneously valid yet contradictory realities, transgradient flexibility, conditioning, preconceived notions… How many ways have we said it?
Really, with just a little thought, it is self-evident… isn’t it? Education at some point is more about indoctrination than true education. Right? I think everyone actually knows it. However, it is like gravity. Everyone knew about gravity before Newton named it. Yet there is power in the naming of it. Once named, it is more easily focused upon, worked with, and more fully understood.
It is the same with spirituality. Every person, every religion, understands it, feels it, with some degree of clarity… or vagueness, depending on how you look at it… the glass half full or half empty. A belief system is identified with, thereby limiting people from seeing the bigger picture.
True learning is about expanding awareness, so all paradigms, all perspectives, all belief systems are understood… used or abandoned based upon the need of the moment…. i.e. transgradient flexibility. It is important to understand this, yet ultimately living it is a state of physiology, a level of consciousness, as opposed to just another belief system.
How did Emanuel Lasker, the ‘grandfather of chess’, put it? “I spent the last half of my life trying to forget what I learning in the first half.” Of course, you do not really try to forget. You just evolve your relationship with it. You become less identified with it. You see beyond it. You understand it on a deeper level.
https://creativeconflictwisdom.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/theory-induced-blindness/
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
