Mind

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the human mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh?

Big implications.  Think about it.

An Inconvenient Truth.

Here is a verse from the Gita that pretty much lays it out, but probably wont be too popular.  grin.

“Since enjoyments that are contact-born are parents of misery alone, and with beginning and end, O Arjuna, a wise man does not seek pleasure in them.”  — 5:22

Contact-born means the enjoyments that require the senses and their contact with a sense object (the thing you want to enjoy).  Being parents of misery alone means misery is all they can produce in the long run.  To have a beginning and end means that they are temporary and cannot be fulfilling over a longer period of time.  That a wise man does not seek pleasure in them means stay away from them.  grin.  What to do with your time then?  How about this verse:

“Whose happiness is within, whose relaxation is within, whose light is within, that yogi alone, becoming Brahman, gains absolute freedom.”  –5:24

All your fulfillment lies inside of you already.  Spend the extra time exploring the truth of that statement.

“He who can withstand in this world…the impulse arising from lust and anger, he is steadfast, he is a happy man.”  –5:23

Be a happy person.

sorry!

Sorry for not having written in a while.  We had a great Labor Day retreat in Olema over the weekend.  We looked over the 13th chapter of the Gita.  I had some super inspiring discussions with several of the guys there.  One discussion in particular was on the nature of discrimination and dispassion in spurring some good spiritual growth.  I had read a verse in the 4th chapter of the Gita that said nothing beat knowlege for purifying the mind.  We discussed the nature of desire and determined that to be free from desire does not mean that desire disappears from the mind, but that it flows into the mind like a river into the ocean and like the river does not disturb the ocean, so does desire not disturb the mature mind.

We further discussed the idea of the importance of separating one’s identity apart from “mind” and “body.”  This separation allows the desires to flow without affecting the inidividual.  Since the desires become abstract and are not related to the identity of the individual, they demand no action.  An example was presented saying that much like the desires of the guys mind next to you do not demand your attention, so the desires of the mind you have access to do not demand your attention.

Discrimination is the art of determining what is real and what is unreal.  The real is determined to be that which is permanent and the unreal is that which is ever changing.  I keep coming back to this idea in my writings, but I truly have found it to be one of the most productive processes in putting together the foundation of my spiritual life.  Not to mention, SrI Ramakrishna also emphasized the practice.  I have to say it has reduced the power of many of my overwhelming urges over time.

Discrimination can also be the determining of the real nature of what you desire.  You will always find that you only desire things that reflect, to your mind, an attribute of the Divine.  The mind often crosses wires by associating these qualities with their reflection in the apparent world of the senses.  For instance, lust often boils down to a desire for connection and intimacy.  Connection and intimacy are of the mind, not of the body.  If one believes the writings of the sages, true intimacy and connection comes only through the Divine.  “You are That” is thrown around enough as a concept, but what it boils down to is that you are the only fulfillment to your own desires.  You need no external sense object.  They only reflect back your own ideals.  The mind crosses the wire and creates attachement for these things and the illusion of needing them.

That was only a single conversation at the retreat; but, I suppose I should stop here.  It goes much farther than this and its implications are unexpectedly profound.  Onward and upward.