Comment & Response

by | Sunday, October 10, 2010 | Spirituality, World View

I received the following inquiry regarding my recent blog The Mortgage Shell Game:

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Many people I know are at the cross-roads of making a decision.  Even within my family we debate this.    When the government and the financial system is corrupt beyond belief, and apparently is out to destroy the middle class and steal our savings and homes by a variety of means, do we continue to pay them our taxes, our mortgage payments, and the fruits of our HONEST labor to reward their DISHONESTY?

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I am a revolutionary by nature, but I also value integrity.  Although your recent blog spoke to this somewhat in the larger spiritual sense, I am curious if you have a perspective on the morality debate.  Do we “render unto Ceasar”  as Christ suggested in similar circumstances,  emulate passive resistance as suggested by Ghandi (the salt tax episode), or what?  Sure we look forward to Sat Yuga, but sometimes we are called to action and not passivity in the face of a threat to our way of life at a minimum, and perhaps for many it may literally be life threatening as the crisis unfolds.

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Tricky territory for a spiritual leader to speak into, but curious if you dare….

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To which I respond:

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First, it is important to not be passive or silent.  In America, if not the entire world, we do seem to have a habit of ‘falling asleep’ as with Pearl Harbor and 9/11.  This occurred with the financial system in many ways (Wall Street, banking, and politics, as well).  I have spoken out on these matters for years now, but in the past, few would listen.  My views seemed to be considered somewhat eccentric and extreme.  In light of current news and events, that has changed.  People are listening with interest.

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In America, as with Pearl Harbor, we have a history of waking up from a deep sleep with passion, conviction, and action.  I believe it has now once again begun and we will see what the upcoming elections bring.  Our nation is sobering up.  The pendulum of life swings and it is now swinging from a state of irrational oblivion to a perspective of concrete realism.  It will not occur overnight, and certainly not with one round of elections.  However, the pendulum has begun to swing.

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It is not a time to panic.  It is a time to stay on course with a steady hand on the rudder to guide us out of the storm we currently find ourselves in.  Certainly, if it continued the way it was going, we could have reached a point of no return.  But, we are now in a time where waking up from the oblivion is no longer a rare thing, but is becoming the predominant understanding of all the people.  Now that the people have awakened, it will take time and effort to regroup and rebuild.  Some will resist, still hoping for a free lunch.

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However, a new more enlightened approach will rise, if everyone remains awake and speaks up.  It is within our grasp for the swinging pendulum to catapult us to a time of greater maturity, morality, human decency and rationality.  The potential for success is still in our hands.  The potential for a Golden Age is there.

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As for my advice to individuals spiritually, financially, and otherwise, it all remains the same as it has been throughout the years.  Do the Surya Ram Meditation twice daily, take time to reflect and ponder, and act with financial common sense.  I have gone into great detail regarding the ‘how to’ for all of those things.  As you know, it is not a simpleton cookbook as the time of oblivion might have lead one to believe.

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Decide what it is you want for the long term and create it!  If at all possible, as I have said many times, you would do well to live at Mount Soma.  If that is not possible, you would do well to ‘make the pilgrimage’ to Mount Soma as often as possible.  The most powerful tool you have is alignment with natural law.  This is of course true in good times as well as difficult times.  Mount Soma is a community developed fully for the purpose of aligning the individual, the community, the nation, and the world with natural law.

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Good advice is all around you.  The question is: Do you know it when you hear it?

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Who is Enlightened?

by | Friday, October 8, 2010 | Spirituality | 1 comment

Considering things I’ve been hearing, it is high time we take a step back and connect some dots here.

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It is well known that enlightenment is something quite rare and most elusive.  It is also sadly apparent that many people these days after reading a few books, going to a few classes, and meditating for a while decide they had the epiphany and are now enlightened.  It seems most everyone, from Bill Mahar to your local minister to the girl behind the checkout counter, believes they have spirituality all figured out.

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Whatever happened to spiritual humility?

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Human Evolution

by | Tuesday, October 5, 2010 | Spirituality

When we say we’re beyond science and we’re just going to be one with God so we don’t want to talk about consciousness in terms of science—two things happen.

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First we go into denial of a big part of the way our physiology functions and has been conditioned to function.

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Secondly, the notion of God is merely an echo until the greater physiology is capable of maintaining a lively connection with the transcendental level in its awareness.

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One way to define God is to say that God is a personified value of that transcendental realm. Or it may be better to say that the transcendental realm is the objective perspective of God. Take your pick. The point is that if you can’t hold that transcendental value in your being and you start talking about God then you’re talking about some astral echo or whatever it is your physiology can maintain. Everything just becomes emotional and all you end up doing is reinforcing that level of your being over all the others, throwing off the integration of all the levels.

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It’s the sticky universe at work. In the name of becoming one with God you become more stuck, more blocked from becoming one with God.

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Human evolution isn’t about being in denial of the self-interacting dynamic of existence and what it manifests. Human evolution is about being able to function in all of that dynamic without losing your identity to it.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

What is Morality?

by | Tuesday, September 28, 2010 | Spirituality | 1 comment

Morality is based in subtle principles of nature. We access those principles by refining the finest fabric of our own being and sensing what resides within us. This enables us to live in harmony with our own nature.

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Human nature finds its unification with all of nature, all of existence, within the transcendent. By living in harmony with our nature we live in harmony with all of nature. We further our evolution, happiness, and fulfillment. We become beacons of morality for all of society.

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Throughout the ages, moral rules of conduct have been formulated based upon the behavior of evolved people. These rules have been passed down from generation to generation to support and uphold humanity, and have become revered as time-tested codes of conduct.

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But nature cycles. As nature cycles, the laws of nature cycle as well. We live in a time when many look at the ancient codes of moral conduct and shake their heads. They point out rules that make no sense in modern times and feel they have no alternative but to reject the dated rules altogether. Our rapid-paced, fast-changing society has lost moral maturity.

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When we look for guidance, responsible custodians of moral wisdom are difficult to find. Many of the ancient teachings are clearly from another age, for another people. In today’s society the benefits of pursuing a moral life are obscured by our spiritual immaturity and short term, material interests.

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The seemingly amoral phase we are in is a normal stage in the process of change. The lack of spiritual clarity and moral base will inspire deep thinkers to come forward and breathe new life into our world. New understandings will be established that will assist this generation and future generations to live a life consistent with our evolving nature and with the nature of existence.

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The process is, after all, eternally dynamic. We discover, uphold, and move past social conventions. The wisdom that dwells in our hearts is our guiding light.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

The Churning Process

by | Monday, September 27, 2010 | Spirituality

Sometimes life feels like we’ve been sloshed around in a washing machine. Sooner or later life contrives to pry our fingers off the reality we’ve been clinging to and leaves us in free-fall, feeling lost and devastated. We call it divorce or getting fired or mid-life crisis. We wind up in the abyss, the void, the unknown or whatever your present perspective would like to call it.

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When this happens Mother Nature is teaching us a lesson about herself. It’s frightening but at the same time we are learning to let go of identity with a single reality. It’s not simply an intellectual process any more than playing the violin comes from an intellectual understanding of music.

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We are compelled to let go of each new-found reality one by one until we don’t feel it necessary to hang on so tightly any longer. We learn to move freely from one reality to the next as the moment calls for.

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Eventually we realize that life is not made of a single pie-in-the-sky ultimate reality.

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The process can feel threatening and be uncomfortable at times. It’s the churning process of life.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Be a Marine

by | Saturday, September 25, 2010 | Spirituality

I saw a Marine recruiting commercial that basically said, “Commit to something greater than yourself.”

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In actuality, they are appealing to the longing within all people that calls out, “Commit to something greater than the personality level.  Commit to the divinity that you are.”

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Why is that so difficult?   Because it is Kali Yuga – The Age of Ignorance.

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Know that the rewards you can reap are beyond comprehension.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

The Wheel of Karma

by | Monday, September 20, 2010 | Relationship, Spirituality

The “Wheel of Karma” is based upon a Buddhist concept.  It translates into replacing one identity with another one in the pursuit of finding the “ice-cream-cone-in-the-sky-reality” that will do it for you.

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EXERCISE:  See how The Wheel of Karma has played out in your life:

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• Think back to what your identities were like in kindergarten, in elementary school, then in high school, during your college years and/or when you first hit the job market, maybe in different relationships or in your marriage…

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 Describe your different identities.

(Come up with at least 3 examples, more is even better)

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•  Feel into the different milestones of your life and notice how the identities you aspired to have changed over time.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.