Breathing

by Michael Mamas | Monday, February 11, 2013 | Spirituality | 4 comments

If you look to the right of this page you will find a place where you can submit your own questions for Dr. Mamas to address in his blogs. Below is one person’s question.

Blog Question

Lately, at the beginning of some of my meditations, I have felt tense or nervous and I don’t quite understand what I’m feeling. Thoughts race through my mind.  I think maybe I’m “thinking” too much.

You recommend meditating for twenty minutes but sometimes it takes me twenty minutes to just “settle down”.  Sometimes focusing on my breathing for a couple of minutes helps.

Someone told me it was my ego resisting letting go.

I have read about focusing on breathing during meditation.  What do you say?

Response

Do the meditation as taught.  Do not change it in any way.  Intentionally focusing on breathing will compromise it.  The purpose of meditation is to purify stress out of the body.  You are experiencing stress release.  That is a good thing.  Be sure you are taking 5 minutes to come out slowly.  Lying down is best if it is practical to do so.

To Be Great

by Michael Mamas | Sunday, February 3, 2013 | Spirituality | 8 comments

“No man e’er was glorious, who was not laborious.” – Benjamin Franklin

I would like to add that all want to be glorious, few are willing to be laborious. But what does it mean to truly be laborious?  It is not about how much effort one expends.  It is not about courage. It is about how deeply one senses the Divine within. Once sensed deeply and fully enough, one will do whatever it takes to follow that, wherever it leads  No mountain is too high. No river is too wide. No ocean is too deep.  One then with one pointed focus surmounts all obstacles no matter how laborious, no matter how long, no matter how far.

It has been said that the original love songs were written to God. In truth, all love songs have been, are, and will be written to God.  All is God.  When ones vision is clear ones beloved is seen to be what it is… God. God comes in many forms. Yet they are often veiled. The veil leads people astray. But the innermost longing is always the same one thing. The more clearly you hear the call, the more direct your path, the greater you become.

It is just that simple.

Echoes, Mirrors, Parallel Worlds

by Michael Mamas | Saturday, January 26, 2013 | Spirituality | 10 comments

“He does much who loves God much, and he does much who does his deed well, and he does his deed well who does it rather for the common good than for his own will.”  – Kempis, Thomas

Everything exists on all levels of the reality continuum.  It is fascinating to ponder what level a quote like the one above was conceived upon.

What did Kempis mean by “loves God?” Was it essentially an emotional level?  Was it a level of enlightenment? Was it Cosmic or dualistic? Could it even be the level of Unity with God? And what did he mean by deed “for the common good”? Was he simply a good deed doer? Or was he living a life aligned with “the cosmic flow”?

Certainly, all levels of reality are interconnected.  But the level an individual functions from most directly, most fully, says everything about who the person is and exactly what his words mean to him.

To understand a person is to sense, not the literal meaning of the words he speaks, but the level from which he speaks those words.