New Blog: Between a breath . com

After having a very sporadic experience with this blog, I have decided to abandon this project. As much as I enjoyed writing posts for Cosmic Jungle, all the same it has been a tough experience at times. I think the biggest lesson learned has been that of understanding the power of working within a consistent structure and format, as well as setting proper bounds for an upcoming post, before attempting to write it.

Further, I am finding that it is much harder to write about spiritual subjects in a blog format while also studying and learning about them at the same time; spiritual insights just don’t come as fast as insights in other areas of life. I wish to avoid falling into the trap of writing simply for the sake of producing content (especially when the subject involved is spirituality), and thus delivering something to readers that is not wholly helpful.

Maybe some day in the future when I find myself in a position to better serve readers by running a blog on spirituality I’ll return to Cosmic Jungle. But until that day, this blog shall remain static.

My new blog, however, will be updated more consistently – a lot more consistently – than Cosmic Jungle has been. My aim is to start of at one to two posts per week, so you can expect fresh content on a regular basis. Between a Breath will focus on ideas, tools and strategies relating to self development. You can find the new blog at:

http://www.betweenabreath.com

Looking forward to interacting with you on the new blog!
Karthik Kumar

The Hermetic Principle and World Peace

The Hermetic Principle states: As above, so below. In a sense, this can also be translated to mean “as within, so without.” As much as there exists chaos and conflict in the world today, many of the movements for peace are based in anger and upset. And even if the movements themselves are peaceful, the individuals that make up the movements often feel a very understandable frustration about the violence and coercion that seems to somehow persist in global politics.

Following the hermetic principle, peace in the external world will follow once those seeking peace have established peace within themselves. When enough peace-seekers attain a level of inner serenity and detachment from time-bound outcomes, a critical mass of peace shall have been established, and the universe cannot but respond by allowing peace to flourish.

Seeking peace within oneself first is the surest way to establish peace in the external world.

Too much of something

Just recently I read a saying in two different books on completely different subjects that said the very same thing. It was essentially about how things taken to excess turn into their opposite.

There definitely seems to be a lot of truth to this. For example, a healthy level of detachment taken to an extreme becomes dependance in the form of emotionally blocking others out, as one’s emotional state is still attached to those that they perceived as hurting them.

Thankfully, there are positive qualities of the opposite nature of whatever quality we can think of as well. This can be a huge saving grace in helping us temper and keep our approach to life in balance. As for the example above, a healthy level of connectedness would ensure that one could not hide from one’s hurts or feelings by detaching and displacing them onto others.

Incidentally, being too connected with others runs us the risk of losing our individuality, and thus robs us of our ability to give our unique gifts to the world. There is only one person who has the unique combination of skills and life experiences that you have had. Thus, a healthy level of detachment ensures that we maintain a baseline individuality, so that we may better serve the purpose that aligns with our natural abilities.

Although opposites seem contradictory at first, when integrated properly, they can make for much healthier and balanced approach to life.

Understanding the Ego

The word ‘ego’ is one that is used quite widely in spiritual discourses. Yet sometimes it seems ambiguous as to what exactly it means. Well that isn’t an accurate statement; it’s not that the definition is ambiguous, its that the word itself seems misconstructed, and doesn’t really serve its purpose.

The most popular way of understanding the word, it would seem, is to say that the ego represents the energies within an individual that has been knotted up in some way, and is not flowing freely. And we say this to be out of sync with the Universe because it is not in alignment with the free-flowing nature of the Universe.

But somehow in the framing of a spiritual discourse, it is often said that one must subdue the ego, or transcend the ego; and this is most often said because the greatest challenge that the ego poses is that of the individual trying to dis-identify with it. But to say that one must transcend the ego or subdue the ego, also implies that one must believe that the energy that it is composed of doesn’t really exist; when in fact that also is a distortion.

To make the word a noun, and make it into an object that is undesirable, only adds to the challenges that an individual must face. Because it is not so much that one must transcend it, as it is that one must become aware that one is “not it” despite the fact that it might exist as a potential driving force in ones life.

For if we fail to recognize this, we run the risk of thinking we have transcended the ego, when it is in fact running our lives subconsciously.

It seems that this concept requires a new way to be framed… one that doesn’t make “transcending the ego” a final state, but a “every-moment-presence” that requires our constant attention. After all, our role as a consciousness is to be conscious to everything that arises in our awareness. An alternative way to convey this concept might be “ego-potential,” but I’m sure someone can come up with a much more elegant way to put that across.

Further – using this line of reasoning – one could say that enlightenment is not a state to be achieved, but a state to be sustained. One alternative might be to say “enlightening-ment.”

Self-Nurturance

Often, those of us who have felt deficient in the eyes of others will want to manifest something grand to prove our worth so as to feel like we have redeemed ourselves.  But the beauty of being able to self-nurture is the ability to forgive oneself for perceived deficiencies, and reconnect with one’s purpose.  One is able to refocus on strengths, and not mind so much about perceived weaknesses; being bad at science doesn’t matter any more, because one is in touch and alignment with one’s immense creativity, and purpose of creating art.

Thus developing the ability to self-nurture, frees one of being driven to manifest one’s purpose out of an ego-based need.

Keeping an open mind

It doesn’t make sense to meet what we perceive as closed-mindedness with a closed mind. Often times, nested deep within such ideas is wisdom that we are unable to see at the moment, and it just might be exactly what we need to balance the way we see the world. Each vantage point has within its line-of-sight its share of dysfunctions. Don’t confuse the message with the perceived hypocrisies of the messenger; all of us are human and have our share of flaws after all.

Philosophy and the Unmanifest

It’s one thing to recognize the bars of a jail cell… it’s quite another to start believing that the bars are the only thing that exists.  To be held back by what the words are trying to convey misses the point…

Self Acceptance

I have noticed that when I find it hard to accept some aspect of myself, invariably that same thing bothers me when I see it in others. It is in fact the same judgmental voice that surfaces in both cases that hinders peace and harmony. This voice of non-acceptance, as much as it might appear at first as a voice of reason and higher values, invariably ends up hurting more than it helps. Not only does it create more pain for others when people act out on it, but it also creates more pain for the thinkers themselves.

To accept the flaws of another is to accept the flaws within ourselves. Often we don’t know clearly why a person behaves in a certain way, but it is important for us to recognize that there might be relative experiences in that persons past that has conditioned them to behave as such. Emotional hurts from a young age can be one such explanation. If you feel yourself judging someone for their behavior, turn it around and feel compassion for them. They might have had a much tougher life than you and I; they might have been dealt a much tougher hand.

We often say that there are an infinite number of paths that leads to the Divine. One of the reasons for this is that we seem to intuit that there must be an infinite number of souls in the Universe, each one with it’s own unique purpose, and trajectory; it’s own Dharma. Hence, it would make sense that there would be as many paths to the Divine as there are souls. To quietly accept what we perceive as flaws in others is to acknowledge that each being is exploring the Universe in its own unique way. And it’s important for us to give them the freedom to make mistakes along the way without qualifying those mistakes. When we do this, we invariably free ourselves from that same abrasive voice that shackles us
and keeps us from attaining our highest potential.

If you find it hard to feel compassion for yourself, feel it for the world and all beings, regardless of their appearances, actions or intentions… self acceptance, and along with it harmony, will soon follow.

Spiritual Indentity

No amount of spirituality will help if it becomes ones form identity.

The cat continues to stare at the hand that points, not understanding that the hand points to a mouse. Ultimately it matters not what the qualities are of the hand; what matters is that the mouse be found.

Release the need for spiritual ideas to be true… No matter how nuanced a spiritual concept is, it can never accurately represent the nature of reality. The hand, no matter how beautiful, can never be the mouse. Including this one.

Perceptual mirrors

As humans, we clearly see the insanity in others, but fail to see the insanity in ourselves. If only it were the other way around – that we were sensitive to the insanity within ourselves and blind to the insanity within others – then, well the world would be a lot less insane…