Seeking Someone to Cover the Holes

"We find the courage to go on, even if it's only for one more breath."  --At Home in the Muddy Water --by Ezra Bayada

When practicing with relationship issues such as loneliness, Zen author, Ezra Bayada writes in his book, At Home In the Muddy Water, that we find the courage to go on, even if it's only for one more breath. As we stay with the loneliness, that hole of loneliness gradually heals. We learn [by experience] that inviting it in is far less painful than pushing it away.
He notes that for most of us, most of the time, we spend a lot of time thinking about what is happening to us. We just think; intellectual activity may obscure physical experiences such so that then, of course, we believe our thoughts are reality.

To the extent that there is suffering in our relationships, or to the extent that even the good in our relationships could become better, we need to work honestly with our blind spots and stuck places. Many experiences in day-to-day living challenge us, pushing us to our edges; it may be difficult to even remember the practice.
A voice in us activates thoughts such as: 'Hey, what about me, not fair, so much drama, tired of this', and so on.
With a spinning mind, separating our experiences from these notions is a tough sell. Learning to practice in the most difficult, the most trapped moment is also the moment we may realize the most, becoming the most joyful, make the most immediate decisions to reap the most benefit. There is joy and tranquility in every moment. Make it yours.

Soren Kierkegaard notes that 'perfect love' loves one intently, despite being very possibly the one, with whom we are mostly unhappy. In other words, working with our own reactions is the most perfect response to a loved one. 
Interactions with others vex us; what we fully want from others, is what they may not be able to give at a particular moment, and what we want most to give may just not be available to others.

It is often so difficult to give. If we [can] see that we're stuck in not wanting to give someone what they want, and if we're willing to work with the layers of emotion like anger and fear around our stuck condition, then in growing awareness it becomes a path to freedom.
Pushing beyond known edges may require intentional giving to increase our known self, and to face our fears. Less and less fear or anxiety comes to dictate our behavior, says Bayada, when we practice like this.

What Part of Me Believes That?

"Sometimes we are startled. Where did that come from? I didn't know I felt so strongly." -- Robert Johnson, writer, Jungian psychologist

As a student and one associated with the late Carl Jung, Robert Johnson carries on Jung's work. Jung, unlike many of his generation, was one who believed that the base root of most all personal problems is not functional, some described such as "toxic", "games," "setting fences and boundaries," but rather spiritual challenges or crises that are not limited solutions or positions; instead they are potentially limitless and as unique as the persons who pose them. These other terms have no place in the spiritual world; they are 'pop psychology' and not terribly helpful. Sometimes they are denigrating; often they indicate power seeking by the one who utters them. The Simple mind avoids thoughts like these because people are greater than the sum of their mistakenness and sometimes confusion.

We can learn by examining our issues closely. What is it about me that feels this way? Why do I think that? What part of it sets off this (intense) reaction in me? Robert Johnson takes up a small part of this issue writing, "We remember getting worked up in a conversation and blurting out some strong opinion that we didn't know consciously we held." And we are startled by this sudden revelation not only to those listening but in our self equally! There is this sudden surge of emotional energy and maybe we suddenly find we are being our self, because what constitutes our self is the totality which necessarily includes our unconscious pronouncements. These "hidden parts of our self have strong feelings and want to express themselves."

Sometimes the hidden or unconscious part of our self is zany, sometimes its out of sync with social norms; sometimes it's embarrassing, violent, or humiliating when these facets of the self, parts of our personality, abruptly emerge. Other times, points of talent or strength arise, suddenly surprising us with their skill and clarity. As we grow, we may conclude that we are a different kind of person than we previously thought. Complicating matters, our qualities both positive and negative, emotional and intellectual may or may not arrive at precisely the most appropriate moments. This can leave us feeling strongly for or against someone or something and having the intellectual thought, Why? We may not yet understand.

Into the mix, our self definition is called into play; we are challenged by it. The unconscious is a huge energy system. Like others have famously observed the heart has its reasons, and the reception of its images and messages can be deeply informative to our spiritual and growing selves.

Reclaiming Our Innate Happiness

"We are made to seek happiness." The Art of Happiness by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
"The basic, underlying nature of the human being is gentleness," so writes His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. In his book on the subject of happiness, The Art of Happiness, His Holiness writes poetically that "if we look at the very pattern of our existence from an early age until our death, we can see the way in which we are fundamentally nurtured by others' affection. It begins at birth." He asserts that a calm, composed mind is benefical to health and well being.

Yet if this be true, how then may aggression and hostility endemic to the human species be accounted for? His Holiness replies that "unbalanced human intelligence, misuse of our intelligence, our imaginative faculty" are the principle causes of such behavior. His Holiness adds that if the intelligence innate to humans is not formed in a balanced, constructive manner, then the end result is often conflict and violence.

Thus, His Holiness concludes we must use our minds in a way that leads to respect, compassion and understanding if we are to prosper in the modern, complex world.

Rama Is Strength for the Weak

"Rama is but a synonym for God." --The Way to God by MK Gandhi

The power of the name. Rama writes Gandhi is his book of short meditations, The Way to God, "is the strength of the weak. This strength is not to be obtained by taking up arms... It is to be had by throwing oneself on his name." So it is, Gandhi writes, that the soul needs the "matchless and pure strength of pure faith."

"There is something infinitely higher than intellect that rules us, even the skeptics." In Gandhi's world, even skeptics come to a place in life where they feel they need something better, more than the mind and its intellect. They need something outside of themselves, he writes. "If one puts a conundrum before me [Gandhi], I say to him, "You are not going to know the meaning of God or prayer unless you reduce yourself to a cipher." One must be humble enough in his view to recognize that despite the human talents and intensive intellect, one remains but a mere particle of the universe. The world is composed more fully of itself than to be merely just that one. Likewise, a mere intellectual regard for life and its element is insufficient. "It is the spiritual conception which eludes the intellect, and which alone can give one satisfaction," insists Gandhi.

Faith transcends reason. Most often when our intellect is in defeat, in despair, it is the sudden rising of faith which comes to our rescue. "I ask that you restore the belief that has been undermined... Start with the faith that is also a token of humility, and an admission that we know nothing, that we are less than atoms... [I say so] because the atom obeys the law of its being, whereas we, in the insolence of our ignorance, deny the law of nature... I then used to hug the name of Rama in my childhood." It was the continuation and the development of faith, for in Gandhi's world his eye may be plucked, his worldly goods taken and still the thief will have nothing. For he has not taken Rama, the power of living faith.

The Way to God: M.K. Gandhi

First published as The Pathway to God, the book was later republished under the new title, The Way to God in 1999. Both books are essentially the same text, and their author remains Mahatma K. Gandhi. It is a small book outlining M.K. Gandhi's undying faith. As a Hindu, the author organizes the text into four sections: Intellectual Foundations, Moral Discipline, Spiritual Practice and Spiritual Experience.

In the Gandhi mind, Hinduism is a philosophy since it is neither a highly organized religion nor a way of life. It is based on faith and allows an individual the freedom to define his way to God. While admiring elements of Christianity, Gandhi preferred Hinduism, because it allows a form of universal worship, incorporating prayer and forms of worship from other major faith groups. Mahatma Gandhi sincerely believed in the Oneness of God. The names and images for the Oneness may be different, but as Judaism expresses it, Adonai Echad! God is One. The man, the karma yogi, Gandhi, was action incarnate. He was a man of God which few would fail to recognize.

Intellectual Freedom

On God:
* God is One; there is no second.
* God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient
* God is a mysterious power.
* Goodness is God. God made man in his own image.
* God is Truth, Love, Life, Light.
* God's Law is eternal.
* God's mercy is infinite.
He allows us freedom.God is the hardest of taskmasters.
* God has many names.
* God is incarnate. He has no absolute form. He dwells within all living things.

The Soul:
* Divine spark
we may not be God, but we are of God as a drop of water is of the ocean.
* Man is the image of God.
* Life is a mere bubble.
If we shatter the chains of egotism,we share in the life of humanity,
in its dignity.
* Life and death
treasure suffering and death, appreciate their cleansing and purifying character.
* Freedom of Choice.
Man has reason, discrimination, free will. Man is the maker of his destiny.
Man is no beast or brute in that he may choose the manner in which he
uses his freedom.
* Man's Primary Duty.
The prime duty of every person is to look carefully within himself as he is, and spare no pains to improve himself. Realize the wickedness of injustice, vanity and the like; do his best to combat them.

The World
* The world is one body.
God has so ordered the world that no one can keep his
goodness or his badness exclusively to himself.
* Universe:
A family of nations. We are taught to regard the
whole of humanity as one indivisible, undivided family.
* The problem of Evil.
If there is good [in the world], there must be evil.God is long suffering and patient.
* Pair of opposite forces.
The distinction between good and evil is not unimportant.
* God's hand behind good and evil.
God is at the bottom of bothgood and evil. God is symbolically speaking, light.
* Blessings of calamity.
Every calamity brings a sensible man downon his knees. He sins.
He cries out to God for his help.

Moral Discipline

* What is truth?
There is so much untruth delivered into the world.Truth is within ourselves.
Every wrongdoer knows that he is wrong, deep down. Truth and
righteousness must forever remain the law in God's world.
* Act fearlessly.
We are surrounded by so much falsehood. Act fearlessly
upon what one believes is right.
* The pursuit of truth.
The pursuit if truth is true bhakti, the way of love.

Love

* Truth and love.
Truth and love are faces of the same coin.Without truththere is no love. True love is boundless like an ocean.
* Love unites.
* Love is life.
There is only life where there is love. Hatred ever kills.Love never dies. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden; it increasesitself. What is obtained by love is retained for all time.
* The law of love.
Love governs the world.
* The religion of hisma, violence.
Man as an animal is violent.Progress towards Ahisma, nonviolence.

Self-Restraint

* Restraint should be voluntary.
Choose self-restraint. A man who chooses self-indulgence will be a
bond slave to his passions.
* Control of the palate.
One should eat to keep the body going.
* Conquest of lust.
The conquest of lust is the highest endeavorof a man or woman's existence. Soul-force comes only through God's grace.Grace does not come upon a man
who is a slave to lust.
* Sublimation of Vitality.
Vitality is dissipated by evil thoughts.
* Restraint versus Suppression.
Body and mind must unite. It is harmfulto let one or the other go astray. Always aim at complete harmonyof thought, word and deed.

Selfless Service

* Self-less service is a source of joy.
Learn to use the body not for slavery, not for evil. Use the body for the purpose of service so long as it exists. Such an attitude brings real happiness and joy.
* Self realization.
The way to God is to see him in creation, in others,in service, in love.
* Salvation.
Strive for the Kingdom of Heaven. Service leads to salvation.

Spiritual Practice

* Dis-belief is a disease.
It is fashionable to dismiss God. A man without faith [in God] is like a drop of water out of the ocean.
* Testimony of Saints.
True faith is the approbation of the reasoned experience.Belief in prophets
is not idle superstition.
* Faith and reason.
Faith begins where reason stops.
* Child-like faith.
Have the faith of a child, innocent and simple.
* How to acquire faith.
Faith comes slowly. It is not acquired by force or reason.Prayer, experience, meditation, reading, singing all aid inthe development of faith.

Prayer

* The nature of prayer.
Prayer for the divine mind is unchangeable.
* Source of peace and light.
Men struggle with dark and light. Prayer is the means of bringing orderliness, repose and peace into our daily lives.
* He who hungers for the awakening of the divine, must fall back on prayer.
* Patience is necessary for success.
* Begin and close the day with prayer.

Meditation

* The virtue of silence.
The "divine radio" is always playing if we take a moment to listen to it...
* Silence facilitates co-union with God.
* True meditation.
Close all eyes and ears except to the object of one's devotion.
* The power of the name. Rama, God , is strength to the weak.
Repetition of his name brings strength.

Self-Surrender

* Self surrender brings joy.
God is an exacting master. He is a jealous Lord. I have been a willing slave to this master for more than a half century.
* God moves and protects all.
To see the face of God, we must learn, each oneof us,to stand alone. God is our infallible guide, our help.
* Dedicate all to God.

Spiritual Experience

* The Blessed feeling of God's power.
I believe it is possible for every human being to reach that inexplicable state of bliss. See God face to face. If I did not feel the presence of God within me, I would be a raving maniac.
* Vision of God.
We cannot see God with our eyes alone. God is spirit, visible to the eye of faith.
* All that glitters is not gold. I know this.
* The ideal sage.
The yogi who can be called such, who is truly religious, moral, whose mind is not tainted with hatred or selfishness, who leads a pure life, who lives disinterested service, that man is truly wealthy, great or happy. The Yogi, therefore is, one who reflects on all the attributes of life, who keeps the vision of the sun, undisturbed, whose mind is serene, so that thunder rocks him to sleep--that man is realized a yogi.
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