by Michael Mamas | Friday, March 21, 2014 | Favorites, Personal Growth |
Like all children learning to play a musical instrument, my daughter gets frustrated when she has to play the scales. At such times, with frustration, she decides she doesn’t want to play piano anymore.
Playing piano is an art. It is learned through practice. Even if you are enlightened, it doesn’t mean you are a good pianist. It requires practice.
Perhaps the most challenging art in all of life is dealing with people. It takes practice. Frustration is part of that process. Like children with music, adults often feel inclined to give up on learning the art of dealing with people. They would prefer to live in a bubble, isolated from the world. This is just like the ostrich burying his head in the sand. The ostrich may think that makes him safe, but in truth, it makes the ostrich more susceptible to danger.
The simple truth is that life is all about people. Your ability to deal with people directly affects the degree to which you are successful in life. Success in this regard is measured on all levels: personal fulfillment, financial success, happiness, the list goes on. The sooner you accept that and dedicate yourself to cultivating the art of dealing with people, the better off you will be. As with playing the scales, you will become frustrated. You will hit the wrong note many times, but practice makes perfect.
I offer many tools to assist you in the process. It takes time to learn those tools, but learning them is just the beginning. You must practice their application over and over again. You are not just learning to play a musical instrument here. You are embarking upon the greatest challenge of life, second only to the attainment of enlightenment.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, March 17, 2014 | Spirituality |
All of the confusion, superstition and distortions around the notion of God have lead people to deny the existence of God. I do not believe in the distortions, superstitions and confused notions either.
Do you believe in science? Science tells us there is a unified field… one thing out of which all things are born and all things are in their essence. Just assign the name “God” to that one thing. Then, if you do not believe in God, you do not believe in science. Of course, the scientific understanding of the unified field is still in its infancy. As you deepen your understanding of that Unified Field, you will deepen your understanding of God. As a physics and math major in undergraduate school, the son of an electrical engineer, and the brother of a PhD in physics, what I discovered in my rational approach to that understanding opened me to remarkable realizations.
To the rationalists out there, I do not ask you to abandon your rationality. I ask you to use it to investigate that rational sequence for yourself. It may well test your own affinity to dogma, though you may currently not think of it as dogma.
Perhaps you prefer to not even consider this. The choice is yours but the potential is enormous.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, March 15, 2014 | Personal Growth |
Every chain has its weakest link. When the psychology is stressed, aspects of the physiology are stressed, and vice versa. During those times, the psyche crumbles into the weakest link of its chain, which we call the Psychophysiological Addiction.
“Addiction” is the right word. It is a habit. For some people, it’s fear. For others, it may be anger, depression, sadness, feeling hurt, not wanted, not appreciated, not liked, rejected, and so on. You would do well to know your Psychophysiological Addiction. If you’re not sure, in all likelihood, your friends and loved ones can tell you.
The power of its grip is not to be underestimated. During those times, it is your world view. Everything that happens is perceived in a manner that justifies it, that proves it, that confirms its perspective is truth. It is very difficult for a person to see past it. It is an addiction as powerful as an addiction to a drug or any bad habit. Everyone knows how difficult it can be to break a bad habit. It is even more difficult to do so when it is self-justifying.
You have an idea what it takes to break a bad habit. Use those resources to move past your Psychophysiological Addiction. At the same time, don’t judge yourself along the way. Breaking a bad habit is a process. Awareness of your Psychophysiological Addiction is a huge first step well begun, half done. The other half requires tenacity and courage, self-honesty, and humility. In a sense, this is not so much about getting rid of it, as much as it is cultivating a healthy relationship with it which entails first seeing it and then working with it constructively.
Be gentle with yourself, but be tenacious.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, February 22, 2014 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Some speak of enlightenment as a state of non-attachment. However, the state of non-attachment is generally misunderstood as an outward state of no material possessions or affinities. That is not correct. Such non-attachment on the surface of life is more a personality trait than an attribute of enlightenment.
There certainly is the state of being where you are eternally awake to that which is the source of all that is… one with all that is. On that level, you need not cling to (be attached to) anything because you are already one with it. You do not desire something when you already have it. However, the surface of your life is still active on the level of duality… separation. On that level, desires still exist.
“Cross realm projection” means taking the laws of nature on one level and trying to project them upon another level where they are simply not valid. That type of error is the source of the notion of no desire or attachment on the surface of life. It is nonsense. Enlightened people still love their families. They still have desires. They are still compelled to act, for example, out of their desire to help others. However, they are also simultaneously awake to the level of their being that is eternally one with everything… non-attached… desire-less.
The Law of Subtraction, in the deepest sense, refers to your depth being overshadowed by less and less. The Sun shines forth more and more as the clouds are subtracted away. On the more relativistic (i.e. more dualistic or superficial) levels of life, the Law of Subtraction means the discarding of unhealthy habits, addictions, lifestyles, etc. Slowly your life is lived more in harmony with your true nature. In so doing joy, happiness, fulfillment etc. are experienced more and more fully. This sort of distinction (between how laws of nature apply differently to the depth and the surface) is critical in many areas of life.
Do not forget the concept of “Cross realm projection.” You will see it come up many times in your life in one form or another. Non-attachment (freedom from desire) is just one example. I invite you to post other examples in your comments to this blog.
Do not forget the Law of Subtraction and how it applies differently to different levels of life.
Do not forget the distinction between non-attachment on the surface as opposed the depth of life.
Do not forget this explanation of desirelessness… what it is and what it is not.
The Sun within is always shining. It need only be revealed to each and every level of your being in a manner unique to each level.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, February 18, 2014 | Favorites, Spirituality |
As opposed to adding, take away. Continue doing so until all that is left is essence, truth. Neti, neti, neti… not that, not that, not that… until the only thing left is no-thing-ness… pure ‘is-ness’… pure consciousness…pure Being… the source of pure Knowledge… the home of all Knowledge. Thereby, you come to know the One… who and what it is you truly are… Divine. Thereby, you come to know what is useful and what is not.
When asked what I teach, tell them, “The Law of Subtraction.”
The world of spirituality has been shrouded in a garb of mysticism, dogma, laws, rules, and pomp. No wonder so many today are rejecting it. The wheat has been lost to the chaff. The Truth of who and what you are has been buried beneath the indoctrination of lifetimes… conditioning, programming, samskara. Information must be used to free you, not to overtake you. How unfortunate: However well intended, so much beautiful spiritual knowledge has been distorted and misused to overtake people instead of emancipating them. After all, it is called spiritual emancipation for a reason!
Truth is not attained. It is revealed… uncovered. It is already there within you. Nothing need be added. It need only be found within. You merely subtract away this and that and that until your own inner wisdom is uncovered. This is the real purpose of spiritual doctrines and teachings… to awaken you to what is already there within you. I use spiritual texts to reveal what lies beyond all texts. When asked what I teach, tell them the Law of Subtraction. I take away, I unencumber, I free, until you are left with essence, the grandeur of your own being… the Divine, the Truth. This is called true spiritual teaching… the Law of Subtraction. It is an art. It is a science. The diamond is perfected by chipping away and polishing. Nothing is added. There is only to be taken away.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
