Students who excel in academics are the ones that really listen to what the professor says. It is so easy to tweak or distort what the real message is. To stay true to it and work with it until you really know it from within yourself is not so simple. Commonly, you read it, ‘get it’, and then move on with your distorted version of it (a.k.a. “the I get it syndrome”).
Now enter the real world. Suddenly there are a multitude of diverse opinions pushing and pulling you in all different directions. The natural inclination is to pick and choose what you like from each and distort or reject what you do not like in each. This leaves the bulk of your distortions, biases, and limitations of thoughts and emotions perfectly intact.
Needless to say, weight loss guidance is a great example. Who do you listen to? Well, at least in that arena, you can try diverse approaches until you find what actually works. However, that too requires giving each approach a chance… which leads us back to the challenge of listening. Of course, then you only need to listen for a few weeks or so before you have definitive results.
Now enter the spiritual arena. Real spiritual progress is not as easy as weight loss. Real spiritual progress is more abstract and also takes more time. Of course, people cling to superficial things to try to convince themselves they are growing spiritually. But real spiritual growth is something much deeper and far more elusive than a sugar coating! Yet there are plenty of alleged spiritual leaders out there walking the sugar coated walk and encouraging you to do the same. There are plenty of alleged spiritual leaders out there offering limited, simplistic, or distorted spins on the knowledge. Even the writings of truly great Masters have been lost in translation or in your interpretation. For sure, the spiritual arena in this age is a real mess. Even more disconcerting, it seems most everybody from the atheist to the self-proclaimed spiritual scholar is certain that their understanding is the correct one!
So now, how hard is it to listen? Who do you even attempt to listen to? The process of determining that is called discernment. You may want to try it out on something easier than spirituality and see how you do. Explore for example, your convictions on diet. Every time I bring that topic up in a group, the passions and convictions run wild… so many strong opinions. Do not feel alone in this. I experience it also when I read something from a new diet or exercise guru. But I do my very best to discern.
Can you let go of your current indoctrinations? It is not so easy. Even when you think you are listening and decide that you ‘get it’, well, do you… do you really? Even when you think you are listening, even when you think you are being discerning, well, are you… are you really? Is what you are hearing resonating or conflicting with your bias or the truth that lies deep within you? The normal inclination is to believe that your bias is actually truth. But is it… really?
Discernment is not done with just the mind. It is certainly not done with just the emotions. It is not a matter of the mind rallying around the emotions to create a rationalization to justify your reactions. You need to start on steady ground… unbiased, unconditioned, open, refined in feelings, and free, while solid, balanced, reflective, rational, and willing to take a look, not just at the information, but even more importantly, how you receive and process that information… what it resonates with or clashes with inside you and why!! Are you reinforcing your biases or are you moving beyond them? Only as you explore this, will you begin to cultivate your ability to discern, will you begin to cultivate your ability to listen, to know how to listen, and what/who to listen to. As Adi Shankara said, the spiritual path is the path of discernment.
In the Does Your Life Have Context blog, I promised a handful of essential points. Discernment is point Number One.
If you are interested in losing weight or just having a healthy diet, you may want to click the link below. Though the author is not vegetarian, the diet can be followed using only vegetarian foods. The book offers multiple options. Intermittent fasting overnight along with a large evening meal is his most powerful approach. He offers plans for maintenance, weight gain, weight loss, sedentary, and active lifestyles.
Do you pay your own way or do you receive some financial compensation from your sangat?
To which I respond:
This is a question that I do understand some people are really concerned about. I am in the fortunate position that I donate to the temple, classes, CRS buildings, etc. more than I financially receive from them. But does your question imply that if a spiritual teacher relied on the temple or classes he teaches for income it would be a bad thing? If so, you may want to reflect more upon that. You may want to read my blog called “Money, Money, Money” written 10/17/13. I do know that in other cultures people generously donate to support the teacher. Therefore, they have no need to charge in order to have a place to sleep and food to eat. That tradition does not seem to be as popular in the west. There are so many such superficial standards that people go by to evaluate others. It can be particularly misleading when people from one culture are judged by standards of another culture. This is unfortunately common in not just the spiritual, but many arenas of life.
Allow me to end with an old tale. There were two monks, one old and one young. While traveling on foot, they came upon a stream to cross. At the same time a young woman needed to cross the stream as well, but she felt unable to do so on her own. The old monk picked her up, carried her across and set her down at the other bank of the stream as the young monk followed along. Walking several miles more, the old monk turned to the young one and said, “I can tell something is troubling you. What is it?” The young monk said, “We are monks and are not to touch women, yet you carried that young woman over the stream.” The old monk said, “Yes, that is true and I set her down on the other bank. You have been carrying her all this time.”
My point is that we all do well to look deeper than the superficial. It is important to under-stand, not over-stand. As one of my books is titled, “Look Deeper, Live Better.”
Like most everyone, I do try to take care of my physical body. Unfortunately, when I get too busy, the first two things to go are diet and exercise. During those windows of opportunity in my life, when I do exercise and watch my diet, I enjoy reading and learning about nutrition and training. I take what I learn and create an ever-evolving program for myself. It is all very fascinating to me. And the principles are universal. They map on to personal evolution beautifully.
Recently after a great deal of exploration, reflection, and discernment, I found a trainer that I feel really knows his stuff. After reading most everything he has written, I decided to go with his diet and fitness instructions 110% and had a phone consultation with him. He has become my ‘fitness guru’. Such commitment is not so easy. It involves change. The good news is that it has given me a greater appreciation of how difficult it is for many of you to really listen to, hear, and receive what I offer.
I remember saying that if I ever find out that I should not be using stevia, that is where I would draw the line. Well guess what… no stevia for me. I felt all the resistances to that… all the rationalizations like: 1) well, how much difference can a little stevia in my morning coffee really make? 2) does he really know what he is talking about? Maybe he is wrong on just this one little thing 3) Maybe if I just take some cinnamon and other herbs with it then my blood sugar would remain stable, etc. etc. But I just had to stick to my commitment and go with what he said. That’s the deal I made, as I sit here sipping my morning tea since unsweetened coffee is just too bitter for me. One of life’s little pleasures gone with the wind!
Now stevia is just one example. As a result of my consult with him, I have had to revamp not only some of my habits, but also (and with even more difficulty) my thinking on many things that on one level “I already knew all about.” After all, I read all of his books and many other fitness and nutrition books as well.
Again the good news is, this has enlivened my appreciation of how difficult it is for many of you to make the changes necessary to move forward. As Winston Churchill said, “I like to learn, I am just not particularly fond of being taught.” But I prefer to align with what the grandfather of chess said, “Five minutes with a master is better than a life time of study”. As I like to say, you can know all about it, but until you embody it, you do not really know it. Real change is not so easy. Funny thing is, though I already knew everything he said, it went in deeper and in a different way after the consult… when I decided to be 110% accountable to him. You have to be accountable! And that is a real and ongoing challenge. Now is the time to make change happen. As Nike says, “Just do it” or as my fitness guru says, “Attack”, “You’ve gotta earn it”. “110% is the key.” Or as he likes to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Let’s get SERIOUS!”
It is good to have a reference frame or conceptual context for your life. It may be a philosophy or religion or intellectual understanding of just what life is and what your place in this universe is. These contexts, of which there are many, usually come with a moral code, rules of conduct, and model of the mechanics of creation. For example, the modern scientific context, which is quite popular, has codes and rules based upon what can be derived from the current intellectual understanding of the world, which is rooted in physics and logic. It is the context that seems to be most universally adhered to in the world today. Needless to say, religions generally provide an alternate perspective on how the universe came into being and where we should look for moral codes and rules of conduct. Isn’t it fascinating that we live in a world where there are so many wildly diverse and contradictory perspectives on just what the context, the bottom line, of life actually is.
Now at age 63, if I were to look back and summarize my life, I would say it was lived in the pursuit of a valid and all encompassing context. Science certainly provides a steady rudder in its demand for validity… the demand for factual, verifiable proof. Certainly that is a good thing and a demand that I have always adhered to. In other words, I always insisted that the underlying context of life’s understanding make sense! For that reason, I always had a bit of an issue with the notion of ‘faith’. I did not just want to have faith, to just believe. I wanted to know.
This led me to an exploration of the notion of Truth. How do you know that something is actually true? If you think about it, truth is something that applies and is valid when all aspects of life are taken into account. When there are no blinders on, no limitation to thought and experience, no denial of what certainly is… when science is not denied but incorporated fully and integrated fully with all aspects of life. But we must, at the same time, embrace the simple truth that our current scientific knowledge is quite limited. Along the lines of what Sir Isaac Newton said, our knowledge of science is like one grain of sand on the beach of knowledge. That is certainly still true today. When it comes to moral codes and rules of conduct, pure ‘scientific thought’ can, and does, justify almost anything. This led me early on to realize that though science is a great aspect of the puzzle of life, and a great tool to employ in the unraveling of the nature of life, it does not provide the complete context for life. However, the valid context for life must not contradict science, but include it. There is no room for denial.
In my rigorous pursuit of truth, I came to some conclusions. I found some principles that I knew had to be true. The first and foremost was that there had to be a unified field… one thing out of which all things emerged. That is the only way, I reasoned, that everything could be so seamless integrated… that principles in business and biology could parallel so perfectly. That math could apply to music as well as economics.
After deriving a set of principles I felt certain were valid, an amazing thing happened. To this day I still marvel over it as I think about it. I discovered that in ancient times, there was a group of people who revealed a context for life and existence that was completely consistent with what I had come to know must be true. This was remarkable to me. How could it be? How did they do it? What was even more incredible was the fact that they had developed the understanding of this context to a magnificent degree. No stone was left unturned. All aspects of life were included… psychology, physics, architecture, music… everything. I did, however, find that in today’s world, irrationality, unclear thinking, superstition, and limited understanding had in many instances undermined people’s current relationship with that knowledge. However, the core, the essence, was there… meticulously preserved in great detail.
That knowledge is referred to as Vedic knowledge. However, Veda is not a belief system… it is the underlying substrate of nature… just as a seed is the underlying substrate of a tree. Veda is nature. Vedic knowledge is knowledge of that seed. All aspects of the tree of life are contained in the seed… the one thing out of which all things emerged. To hear about this is of value. To learn all about it is of more value. To find the validity of it within yourself is of great value. In so doing, the wheat of knowledge is separated from the chaff of limitation, irrationality, distortion, superstition, and blind faith.
I do not want you to take anything on faith. I want you to know, and know clearly, from within yourself, not just feel or believe. There are about a dozen principles that I will be providing soon. If each is understood and woven together with the others, an understanding of a context of life is revealed. No stone is left unturned. No blinders must, or even can, remain on. No scientific thinking is denied or contradicted. No question is taboo or blasphemous. BUT more importantly, if you reflect on those principles, you will, in time, find within your own self (not as an indoctrination from the outside, but as a discovery from within yourself) that there is a valid context to life. And that, for you, will change everything.
"Take the time to reflect on what is said here. If you find yourself associating this material with things you have heard elsewhere, please take the time to diligently explore how they are different. This knowledge is elusive. I share it here because I have seen how much this knowledge helps people – the potential is enormous." – Michael Mamas
"True knowledge slips through the fingers of those not willing to ponder…" – Michael Mamas
"Take what I say and work with it to develop a deeper understanding of life, rather than taking what I say and forcing it into the mold of your current relationship with life." – Michael Mamas
"Evolution means change." – Michael Mamas
"Your disposition is the tone with which you hold yourself, your cells, your psyche, your beliefs. More than anything else, it determines your life." – Michael Mamas
It is good to have a reference frame or conceptual context for your life. It may be a philosophy or religion or intellectual understanding of just what life is and what your place in this universe is. These contexts, of which there are many, usually come with a moral code, rules of conduct, and model of the mechanics of creation. For example, the modern scientific context, which is quite popular, has codes and rules based upon what can be derived from the current intellectual understanding of the world, which is rooted in physics and logic. It is the context that seems to be most universally adhered to in the world today. Needless to say, religions generally provide an alternate perspective on how the universe came into being and where we should look for moral codes and rules of conduct. Isn’t it fascinating that we live in a world where there are so many wildly diverse and contradictory perspectives on just what the context, the bottom line, of life actually is.
