by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, July 25, 2012 | Favorites, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” – Albert Einstein
When you consider a situation, when you look at a picture, when a notion comes to mind, use it as a portal, a catalyst, to all the possible scenarios it implies. The literal nature of it is confinement. The true nature of it is infinite and freeing.
Anything before you is a signpost pointing in all directions toward unbounded freedom and unlimited possibilities. It is only for you to connect the dots. The pathways are there if only you open yourself to seeing them. Confining yourself to the literal is a travesty. Every thing is a gateway to all that is.
Intelligence and knowing the literal meaning are often equated, but in truth they have almost nothing to do with each other. They are only tangentially related… barely touching at only a point. They might best be viewed as enemies. They become friends only when each is a springboard launching your heart and mind in the direction of the other.
Every point and particle in space and time is a possibility cloud that reaches to infinity. Clinging to the literal collapses unboundedness down to a tiny little point value. You have no limits other than those you impose upon yourself.
You are free.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, July 24, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Karma means action. A couple hundred years ago, Sir Isaac Newton came up with many laws of karma on the physical level of existence. Like everything else, those laws permeate creation on all levels. For example, let’s take his ‘for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.‘ On a more cosmic level we say it as ‘what goes around comes around.‘ Momentum (Newton’s Mass x Velocity) is expressed as ‘having a full head of steam’ or as being ‘on a roll.’ Newton’s laws of classic physics permeate all levels of life. Even Einstein’s laws of relativity are simply that with a bit of a twist as you move through existence from one level (one reality) to the next and to the next (i.e. move transgradiently).
Inertia is ‘the tendency for an object in motion to remain in motion and an object at rest to remain at rest.’ Interestingly enough, before Newton, everyone thought that an object in motion would naturally slow down. That is, of course, not true. The reason we may think it is true is because outside forces, like friction, are acting upon the object.
Inertia can be your best friend… good habits, healthy routines, ‘moving in the right direction’, etc. However, inertia often presents your greatest challenges… bad habits, routines, etc. You do very, very well to take a look at the inertia in your life. Having trouble getting up off the couch to go to the gym? That’s called inertia.
People tend to love inertia so much that ‘moving in another direction,’ even from a wrong to a right direction, is resisted. People aspire to inertia… getting their life ‘on cruise control’ so they can coast. That can be a good thing if the routine is a healthy (evolutionary) one. One wonderful aspect of ashram living is that everyone goes to meditation twice daily… that flow just carries you along.
Inertia (like all of life) gets really tricky. What you think and how you think are also subject to inertia. People avoid change in this regard. For example, what someone may think is ‘healthy’ usually has a great deal of inertia to it. How well I know that people’s relationship with spirituality has inertia to it. Your relationships with people have inertia to them also, don’t they?
At any rate, please take time to explore your relationship with inertia in any and all aspects of your life. Otherwise it can remain one of your greatest foes. To become a master of life, master your relationship with inertia. Then it becomes one of your greatest allies.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, July 21, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
I’m struck by the amount and degree of anger people carry within them. It seems they are waiting for the opportunity to unleash it. Some do so directly toward others, some toward themselves, and some others are passive-aggressive.
You may ask, “Why so much anger?” The answer is simple. At the depth of their being, everyone is divine, infinitely wise, and intelligent. Everyone senses that within them. It is why we are so protective of our lives. However, to bring it forth and manifest it to the world is quite another matter. It requires a great level of integration and a very high level of evolution. Being unable to bring it forth results in hurt and frustration, which leads to anger… anger at yourself, anger at others, anger at the world.
This is first experienced in childhood. It is there that the basic dynamic and mechanisms in which you manifest your anger are formed. This is why an exploration of your relationship with your parents is such fertile ground.
You may then ask, “How is it that an enlightened individual can be angry?” Regardless of one’s level of evolution, to be in this world is to be in the world of karma. If one is free of karma, by entering into the world of karma, they interact with karma. This is sometimes referred to as taking on another’s karma or taking on world karma, etc. It has been said that an enlightened person in this world of karma is kicked around like a football. Needless to say, in such instances, there can be an appropriate time for anger.
As per my blog “The Way the Wind Blows”, the dynamic that takes place within your soul that we are referring to here is hidden from view in the form of denial, then emerging and being directed outward as oblivion.
What is the way out? The most powerful tool is meditation, which integrates the surface of your life with the depth of your being. Discernment (inner exploration) tills the soil that facilitates the process.
I have sometimes used an analogy from my childhood: We lived at the bottom of a hill. When it rained, my brother, friends, and I would take sticks and run up to the roadside gutters at the top of the hill. The more it rained, the stronger the flow of water down the gutters. That is like meditation washing away the obstructions to your integration (to your evolution). With the sticks, we would push away the mud and leaves where the water was obstructed, thereby facilitating the flow. That is likened to discernment.
Meditation and discernment together provide a powerful path for human evolution. The Guru provides the meditation, as well as the guidance, to facilitate the inner exploration and prevent that exploration from becoming a reinforcement of denial. The path of human evolution is indeed subtle and highly elusive.
The Guru lights the way.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Friday, July 20, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
You may want to read the comments to What Is Common Sense to which I added the following.
It is worth noting that western science sees and attempts to explain everything via the one pattern to which it adheres. Being so overtaken by that pattern, all others are ignored or rebuked.
This is of course not to say that western science is anything short of fantastic. However, it does not and cannot explain everything.
What is needed is not a new thought, but an entirely new way of thinking.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
I’ve been struck to witness attempts to define “common sense”. They all seem to fall so short. The reason being, the nature of life that would provide a context for the answer is not readily available.
We know there is an underlying basis to all existence that is the source of infinite harmony and intelligence. We also know it is common to all people. “Common sense” is simply sensing into that level and acting from that place.
So what is “wisdom”? “Wisdom” is simply taking that to a deeper level.
This nicely illustrates how the essential context for life and existence (the big picture) provides answers to many questions that are otherwise elusive and fleeting. Attempting to answer such questions without this context is putting the cart before the horse. That lack of understanding is the unfortunate foundation of most philosophies.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, July 16, 2012 | Favorites, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Everything about a person is completely transparent… right there on the surface for everyone to see. Some think they hide, but they do not. Denial is the only shroud. Denial begins with how one views ones self. From there it projects outwardly upon the world as oblivion.
Life is all about people. Facts and figures are secondary. Your relationship with fact, figures, and everything else is what makes all the difference. Life is paradox. For every perspective, there is an equally valid yet contradictory perspective. Which perspective you adhere to is determined by conditioning… the sum total of your life experiences… your karma.
Life is that way. Everything blows in the winds of karma… not only the perspective of individuals, but also of groups… subcultures and cultures. Want to know the way the wind is blowing? Watch the news. Experts in every field disagree. Why? The winds of karma.
When everyone is leaning one way, under-stand the other. Not just to be contrary, but because the universe needs balance. A full head of steam in any direction will eventually run you off the road. For every perspective, there is an equally valid yet contradictory perspective. Life is politics… all prescribed by karma. Everything is political. It’s all perspective. Think science is not? Think again.
Want to understand the world? Want to understand life? Watch a field of wheat blowing in the wind. Want to understand yourself? Ask which direction you lean and then attempt to fathom why. Only the transcendental, eternally silent witness knows…. and it speaks not. Like the stable earth it is unmoved by the wind. Root yourself in that.
From there, everything is virtual… lightly etched on the face of being – completely transparent.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, July 12, 2012 | Favorites, Spirituality, World View |
When people criticize Romney for out sourcing money and jobs, I wonder why he seems unable to say the following:
“You guys, you politicians, (democrats and republicans alike) create such ridiculous laws. You make it so anyone with any common sense can see that it just makes financial sense to hire workers in other countries and buy goods from those countries. Then you expect Americans to make the poor financial move of putting our money in the US so you can take it and spend it on your political cronyism in hopelessly inefficient government programs because we are supposed to be blindly allegiant to you! All the while, even you yourselves are buying foreign and out-sourcing. Even the CEO of General Electric, and head of President Obama’s Jobs Council is moving jobs and economic infrastructure to China at an alarming rate!! All the while, GE is paying essentially no taxes!! If you want the US to prosper, pass laws that make sense! If I am elected president, that is exactly what I will do.
If this was the only outrageous issue, it may be somewhat tolerable, but government is permeated with such foolishness. For example, first they (with Barney Frank playing lead) pressured banks to make bad loans to people who could not afford them. Then they went after banks for having done so! If we keep up like this, I can imagine them, sometime in the future, prosecuting corporate CEOs who did not out source to other countries… claiming they sabotaged the company with incompetent financial decisions.”
So what place does this blog have on this website? There is an important point here for everyone. People need the backbone (Karthikeya mantra?) to get up and say what they believe… directly and clearly. You have to be able to say what you need to say. Some never do for fear of being too forceful. Some just lack conviction, being riddled with self-doubt. Some become confrontational when anticipating that another may respond poorly. Some do so with such anger that they only make an enemy.
You would do well to ask yourself what keeps you from speaking up. What keeps you from doing so in an effective manner? Know that you can effectively say whatever you must. First your heart must be in the right place. Then, through exploration and reflection, you can, you must, find a way to say what must be said. Develop the art of speaking up in the most life-supporting manner possible.
It is an art that you must cultivate, lest life’s opportunities will pass you by. Over time your skill will develop as you find your own unique style that works best in your relationships. But do not wait. Start now. Do it!
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Friday, July 6, 2012 | Mount Soma, Spirituality |
This past week at Mount Soma has been really fantastic, starting with the two-day Surya class. Then Guru Purnima, which for me, was the most profound and beautiful yet. The meditation retreat is still going on with people beginning to come down in rounds soon.
If the purification process ever has any roughness to it, that is the most likely time. So as usual, we are reminding everyone attending to take their thoughts and emotions a little less seriously over the next several days and just be easy with the process. This is not to say that thoughts during this time have no validity, but rather that the emotions around them at this time can be more substantial. Reducing the meditation time while keeping this in mind insures a smooth and enjoyable reintegration of the physiology. This is, after all, the primary purpose of meditation… an integrated physiology being the foundation of a life lived in harmony.
When you finally get enlightened, you discover how ridiculously physiological the whole thing is. Enlightenment can, of course, be viewed from different angles, but it is invaluable to understand and honor this physiological perspective.
Later this morning we will have a Ganesh puja at the temple. With the transcendent enlivened by all that has been going on, it should be really something. As you get more and more comfortable and settled in the temple, the sublime quality of the akasha (atmosphere) there becomes increasingly palpable. This is referred to as the presence of the Gods. I encourage you all to aspire to that level where you directly experience the Gods as your personal friends. After all, that is your birthright.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, July 4, 2012 | Spirituality |
I was recently asked via email if I could help a couple that has two different views on spirituality… one is Christian, the other is not. I responded as follows:
This is a big question that can not be well responded to in a few sentences. It would be good if i could talk with you both in person. However, since that will likely not happen, I suggest Bible quotes, like “the kingdom of heaven dwells within.” As a religion is understood more deeply, one comes to understand the union of all religions.
There are not different religions… not within the depth of life. The differences only exist on the surface. The surface is more about cultures than spirituality. In that sense, religions are half spiritual and half cultural. So your differences really are more cultural than spiritual. If you could both really take that to heart and really understand that from the depth of your being, there would be no problem.
To some, a Christmas tree means a great deal. To others, a temple is what touches their heart. These things run deeply within the heart. Such fine feelings are the fabric of life. It is best if a couple shares the same cultural orientation. However, when they do not, it can be celebrated as a union of opposite values… an enrichment of both person’s lives.
There is one God. All the rest is perspective.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, July 2, 2012 | Mount Soma, Spirituality |
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I hold all of you in my heart as we give thanks to the Tradition of Masters who have passed down this Knowledge throughout the generations.
Jai Shiva Sankara
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
