by Michael Mamas | Monday, September 7, 2015 | Personal Growth |
One of the things that stands out in my mind from when I got an MBA, is that communication is the biggest challenge in corporations. I have found that is certainly true in all of life. Communication, of course, is a huge topic written about in many books. I would like to bring out one very important point about communication in this blog: Don’t let personal issues get in the way.
I notice how people react to a communication breakdown. They often feel that the other person is not listening to them or doesn’t value them. As a result, they become irate. I’ve also noticed that people are habitually too quick to express themselves without carefully choosing their words. In fact, they often don’t make sense. They may leave out critical information or don’t express themselves clearly in one form or another. People’s thoughts often make perfect sense to them but they will leave out key points in their expression.
You may take someone’s words as a personal assault or you may become hostile towards what you perceive as a personal shortcoming of that person. Either way, it is taken on a personal level. What is actually trying to be communicated becomes secondary with personal conflict becoming center stage.
The all-important question is how do you get past that? I say again: Don’t let personal issues get in the way. Try to remain calm. Take a step back. Collect your thoughts and get into balance. Be patient with yourself and the other person. You just can’t allow an emotional tangent to overtake you. If you do, chances are that will spur an emotional tangent in the person you are trying to communicate with. Then you are both off and running, doing the hostility cha-cha with one another.
Please realize that in such communication breakdowns, you don’t realize it to be a communication breakdown in the moment. You generally perceive it as a personal flaw in one form or another. You’ve got to get over that hump to truly communicate with someone. Communication takes work even when personal issues aren’t in the way. Getting frustrated only makes communication more challenging. The other person usually takes your frustration personally. You have to be patient with the process of becoming a good communicator.
So, in closing, I say again: Don’t let personal issues get in the way. You’ve got to work with and around personal issues until there is a meeting of minds.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
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 | Saturday, August 8, 2015 | Relationship |
I was asked to talk about respectful arguing. To start with, I must say that the phrase is a bit of an oxymoron. Isn’t there something inherently disrespectful about arguing? To have differences and to talk them out is one thing. To argue is quite another. To do so is to not only disrespect the other person, but also to disrespect yourself. How to deal with that is your decision. Personally, if someone will not speak respectfully, I choose to not speak with them at all. That carries a stronger message than reducing myself to the level of arguing. Now in some situations you may well have to make some important points. You cannot just let it go. However, if you think about it, arguing does not happen until AFTER your points are made. Feeling the need then, to argue the point goes back to disrespect. Disrespect for yourself, thinking you have not been valued, or disrespect for the other person, thinking they would not in their quiet moments give some thought to your perspective. More often than not, you are heard and honored far more than you know.
Also, once you have made your point, if the other person is not willing to sit and discuss the matter with you thoughtfully, it is a waste of time and may even be detrimental. Through arguing, people dig in their heels, paint themselves into a corner, and as a result find it even more difficult to be open to your perspective. Down deep, everyone knows that you do not win an argument by silencing the other person. You need to know that the other person really does know that. It is your job to, as best you can, stay centered in your own being, your own dignity and integrity. And rest assured they will see and respect that, even if in the moment, they were hoping to defeat you.
How do you respect another? And how do you respect yourself? By coming to rest in your own being. There you find wisdom. There you find understanding. There you come to see the dignity that lies deep within all people, regardless of how they may currently be behaving. To see that is to respect them. It certainly does not mandate giving up your own dignity by meeting them on their current behavior level, if it is not a respectful level.
Remember to give people the time and space they require. Understand that they as well as you will go out of balance at times. That is alright. But when you catch that happening, STOP. Find another proper time and space to revisit the discussion. This gives both of you the opportunity to reflect. If you agree with a person or not, you need to understand them… to understand their perspective. In so doing, you open the door to evolving not only their perspective, but also yours. Do not sell yourself or the other person short. Also remember that no one ever wins an argument. You both win by turning the matter into a reflective and respectful discussion.
Now all this must be held in the context of your own personality. How you employ these principles is something you have to find within your own self, your own mastery.
How did Bruce Lee put it? The art of fighting without fighting. Or we could say the art of arguing without arguing.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
