“Surrender” and Dogmatism

I was reading a post on Awakening Sense where the author talked about the idea of “surrender” and how it is often misunderstood. I just want to further build on the point.

“Surrender” is not meant to be blind following of a belief system. Rather, it is meant to point out that one must detach from identifying with the mind long enough so as to experience higher levels of consciousness. The point is that you cannot think about Self… you just have to Be it. So surrender actually comes to mean “suspension of disbelief” for long enough so that one has time to be properly experience the Self.

In other words, it is the release of dogma; not the blind acceptance of it. Unfortunately, both religion and science can produce dogmatic beliefs. It’s easy enough to see how religion can be dogmatic; but what about science? Well many scientists (not all!) try to discredit any internal state of consciousness as being mutually exclusive of the material domain. For example, certain states of consciousness are dismissed as being a mere (mis)firing of certain neurons. Granted this is indeed the physical manifestation of that state of consciousness, it’s important to remember that correlation does not imply causation!

Dogma in science comes from the trusting the senses when phenomena fit with a materialist construction of reality, while dismissing the findings of these senses when they produce experiences that suggest a reevaluation of this model of reality. But really, who determines which state of consciousness is objective, and which is not? It just so happens that “normal” states of consciousness compel us to construct a certain mental model of the world. But why should this state be any closer to the truth than, say, a transpersonal state of consciousness?

As in science, responsible spiritual practices requires its students to follow specific injunctions (a contemplative practice like meditation, for example) in search for specific data (liberation from material, emotional, and intellectual attachment). If the injunction is not followed exactly, the desired data will likely not be collected. Just as in science, one cannot dismiss a phenomenon for which one has not properly followed the injunction.

“Surrender” is really trying to convey the idea of releasing of all kinds of dogma for long enough such that one may realize the Observer within, and experience that state of awareness that comes from behind the mind. Thus, what is called for is not “surrender,” in the contemporary sense, but rather “non-judgment”; release of attachment to – and identification with – ideas, feelings and things.

Perception of Time

For a while now, I have been working on becoming and staying more present and centered. This is something that many people have a tough time doing, including myself. It seems to me that the challenges really stem from the way we perceive time.

When you consider it, there are only two ways to think about the nature of time, and they are as follows: 1) consciousness move across the landscape of time 2) time flows by consciousness, thus merely rising and falling like the tides of the ocean.

The first is, I imagine, the more common perception. This involves seeing the scale of time as fixed, and consciousness as moving along this frame, much like a marker across a game board.

The second way, I think, makes life a lot easier. Take the picture from the previous example, but this time, make yourself look a lot larger. Now put “time” in front of you on a wheel that is spinning downwards; towards you from the top and away from you to the bottom. Imagine that the markings that delineate different points in time are on the edge the wheel facing you.

At first, this reorientation might seem like it doesn’t really change much. But think about it for a second, because it actually involves a subtle change in perspective. Instead of looking at time as fixed (or absolute) and consciousness as requiring to do all the work, we start to see consciousness as fixed and “different times” as relative to this absolute, as they rise into and fall from our awareness.

When we switch to this new mode of perceiving time, we are subtly implying that life does not require effort “to get ahead.” In fact, one doesn’t even need to actively “pursue” some goal or end. Just being and witnessing the journey becomes the end. If we want to “go somewhere,” all that is required is to start thinking in terms of how to align ourselves such that the desired result manifests itself at the right point in time. This framework also implies that we are accepting the moment fully for what it is, and releasing it as soon as it passes and falls away from our awareness; in other words, we are no longer attached to time.

Reincarnation and Consciousness

The gist of reincarnation is that the soul shifts its point of focus from one physical body to another until it reaches the point of transcendence. Basically, it exposes the Self to different experiences so that it may realize its true nature. Now, this is a very abstract concept and – as with all abstraction – we need some kind of analogy to understand it.

I came up with the following analogy this morning when I was bicycling that I am sure is not new one, but I will share it with you anyway. I was at the end of my route, and had just turned at an intersection, when I was overcome by this sudden impression where I felt like I was a blood cell flowing through a vein in the body.

Well, sure enough, this got me thinking about the nature of consciousness of a blood cell. What is the nature of its consciousness? Is it capable of realizing that it is a part of a larger body? How can its consciousness transcend this level and realize its higher unity with the rest of the body? Now you might think it silly to consider that a blood cell can be conscious; which is definitely true if we define consciousness only from our own perspective of pre-rational, rational, and trans-rational thought. But that doesn’t rule out the fact that cells can have a very different type of consciousness. Here, I am making the assumption that if we can take the perspective of something, that that thing is at least capable of being conscious.

So how does the blood cell transcend this level of consciousness? Its point of focus reincarnates first as a blood cell, then a skin cell, then a brain cell, until it realizes that it’s true nature is much larger than the sum of its parts, and learns to integrate them all.

Okay, don’t get carried away with the details of the analogy. I am not saying that this is happening in your body right now. This is simply a tool to reframe how we think about reincarnation. If we don’t know what it means to be “different people” in “different lifetimes” (i.e. experience different perspectives), it would be unreasonable to expect that we transcend this level of consciousness.

Reincarnation is not punishment. Rather, it is an evolutionary force that drives us towards realizing the unity of all existence. Not so sure about this idea of unity? Here’s a post addressing this issue using quantum physics. Feeling like this makes your whole existence analogous to a cog in a grand machine? I’ll have another post up shortly addressing this as well.

Survival of the fittest

I don’t wish to get political here, as it would completely overpower the point I wish to make. I want to focus not on the political and economic philosophies, but rather our personal philosophies that are affected by this idea.

The underlying argument for this idea of “survival of the fittest” is indeed very a simple one: for growth to occur, challenge and suffering is required. This is definitely something we witness in nature; unless we are challenged, we are not motivated to grow, whether it is physically, emotionally, materially, or spiritually. But there comes a point where too much pain and suffering is more a cause for paralysis than it is for action.

There are some people in this world who glorify this idea, and believe strongly in libertarian principles. They believe that winners and losers make the human race (as well as all of nature) a stronger and more vital race. At the same time, there are others who completely reject this idea, and believe in collectivist principles. They believe that we either swim together or sink together. Most people, however, seem to fall somewhere in between these two extremes, with neither foot on solid ground

But there is also a fourth set of people. These people are the one who we today consider to be the ultimate humanitarians; they are the ones who have sensed the incompleteness of the two philosophies and integrated these seemingly contradictory ideas. They realized the balance that needed to be struck between helping someone, yet at the same time demanding that they stand on their own two feet.

Take of the Buddha, for example. On one hand, he strongly believed that anything that happens to individuals in this lifetime is a result of their actions; it doesn’t matter if they were run over by a bus and are sent into a coma… that’s just their karma following them from a previous lifetime; they caused themselves that pain. On the other hand, he also very strongly believed that society has an obligation to provide the opportunity for growth; he strongly opposed the caste system, as he rightly saw it as a system of oppression that lacked any compassion.

I think that when we are able to identify with a group, yet at the same time retain our individuality in it, we offer the greatest for both our individual and collective well being. It’s like how the various cells in our body have to retain their individuality (heart cell cannot be a brain cell and vice versa), while at the same time coexist and work with each other. By “learning” to do this on a physical and material level, various cells were able to come together to form small organisms that slowly grew in size.

Where cells had to transcend physical barriers to attain unity of form, we as humans are called to transcend emotional and intellectual barriers to attain greater levels of unity (the quality of which I admit I do not know how to classify). At the esoteric level, all spiritual traditions point to this idea of the oneness of the universe. That’s because we are all unique fragments of the whole. The purpose of our lives on the physical and mental planes is to learn how to retain our individuality while functioning properly in the collective. Part of functioning well in this collective is in knowing how to hold others responsible in a compassionate way that supports them in their own path of spiritual growth.

Your true Self

When talking about reincarnation, often times one hears the idea that everyone on earth is here for a very specific reason. That is, the soul reincarnates for a very specific purpose, whether it is to experience something or create something. This then really begs the question: how can you know your purpose? How can you know your true Self, when false constructs of the mind are continuously propped up?

The answer is you don’t. Because the question is not who you are, but rather how you are. The mind is limited in its cognitive abilities, and it can never know the true self. Why? Because the true self exists above the stream of thoughts. You cannot think about and understand who you are. Rather, you just have to “be”, and in that being you will witness the creative potential of your true Self.

Sound too esoteric? The point is that when all of your awareness is brought into the present moment; when you are fully aware of all your thoughts, emotions, and your surroundings – without identifying with them – you will act from the highest realm of consciousness available to you.

So don’t worry about trying to figure out who you are, because that will only lead you down a dead end road that can include thinking too much or too little of your true Self. Instead, work on breaking old patterns of behavior by bringing your entire being into the present, and engage the world as it arises.

“Planned Worrying”

At the very basic level, the idea behind attaining higher levels of consciousness is a simple enough; staying grounded in the present moment, and experiencing both yourself and your outer world to the fullest extent possible. This means staying aware of physical, emotional, and intellectual energies both inside yourself, and outside in your environment. As simple as this sounds, it is a very hard thing to accomplish and sustain. When first starting down this path, we find our minds wandering a lot and falling back to lower levels of awareness.

The path to spiritual enlightenment is tough enough without having to remember to pay the credit card bills, or to pick up the milk. So how can we get around these obstacles that keep pulling our attention away from being fully present? By using “planned worrying.” Essentially, what you do is set aside a certain amount of time, say 15 minutes, at the beginning of your day or the night before (or really whenever works for you), and spend that time “worrying” and planning the things that need your attention for the day. Next, enter it into an online calendar (like Google calendar) that can send you text message alerts as and when action needs to be taken. It doesn’t matter what kind of reminder system you use, as long as it is something simple enough that you will stick to it.

Okay, so I realize this sounds like I am merely promoting being organized – which is true – but there are a few subtle benefits that are not quite apparent upon initial regard, that I would like to point out:

1. It frees you from having to remember and carry all your chores around in your head constantly
2. It frees you from worrying about forgetting to do these chores, and the resulting consequences
3. It allows you to bring more energy and awareness to the present moment
4. It allows you to spend less time in just your head, and more time in your entire body and environment
5. Eventually, it will hardwire your brain to completely stop worrying outside of your “worry time”

Modern life is hectic enough as it is, with a slew of concerns and things to deal with. We really don’t need to carry around extra weight in the form of things to do. Once you have gotten into this habit, you can even use this time to reflect on larger issues that you are facing – in areas such as your career, your relationships, etc – so you then won’t have to spend your energy during the rest of your day worrying about these things. Ultimately, though, the key to this tool is sticking to this practice long enough that you experience the benefits of being hardwired to worry only during “worry time.”

The more awareness you bring to what you are doing in the present, the greater the quality of the experience and the value of the outcome will be.

Meditation and breathing

Why do a lot of meditation practices start out with having you bring consciousness to breathing? Answering that question requires delving into metaphysics. But I just wanted to point out that if you think it’s only Eastern traditions that emphasize proper breathing on the path of spiritual growth, think again.

Spirare is a Latin word that literally means “to breathe.” But a closer look reveals that it is also connected to “oxygen” and “the process of breathing spiritual life into the personality.”

Just a little interesting tidbit that I found in this book.

Resistance to Change: Fear or Laziness?

There is a scene in the movie Waking Life where the main character is asked the question: “…Which is the most universal human characteristic; fear? Or laziness?”

This is a question that I have struggled with myself because often times we mistake one emotion for another. If “Sam” is the type of guy who has trouble asserting himself, he might confuse anger with depression. This false sense of depression allows him to avoid the fact that he is capable of feeling anger. This essentially allows him to stay in harmony with his self image as the nice guy. So it’s easy to see how it would be difficult to distinguish between fear and laziness.

Having had this question about fear and laziness in the back of my mind for a while now, I wasn’t too surprised when it came to the surface again this morning. I was reading a blog post by Steve Pavlina about what he calls “social drag.” Social drag basically explains the fact that people usually resist change in those with whom they are close to. This idea resonated with me, as I have experienced this first-hand with my close friends, where one day I woke up and realized that I was not vibrating at the same frequency as them anymore. So naturally, I was intrigued and was contemplating this notion of how sometimes people hold others back from changing.

Part of what makes up a person’s reality is how the people who surround that person think and act. So when this changes, naturally that person’s model of the reality is challenged. But why do we resist having our sense of reality being called into question? After all, wouldn’t we want a more accurate map of reality?

It seems to me that when someone claims they are trying to help you be realistic about life, they are in fact acting out an insecurity that’s rooted in their own identity; an identity into which they have invested much emotional and intellectual energy. This “realism” that they claim they are helping you with is simply a construction of what they think the world looks like. If they admit that their perception of reality is not as accurate, they also concede that a lot of the pain and suffering they have endured is actually their own responsibility, and not someone else’s; they have to accept that it was their decisions that caused them the suffering they have experienced in life. This is obviously a very hard thing to do. But does this sound like laziness or fear?

I created this blog over two months ago, and I have finally gotten around to publishing my first post. In those two months, I had been telling myself that I would post just as soon as I felt that I had enough things to post about. Soon afterward, I completely abandoned the idea and convinced myself that blogging just wasn’t right for me… before I had even made one post. Prior to this, I had created a blog about six months ago, that I promptly deleted the next day. I have had the idea of doing a blog for over two years ago. In retrospect, it is clear to me that I had been procrastinating because I was afraid of putting my ideas out into the world to be critiqued, and not because I was lazy. This sounds like something really silly to be afraid of, but the reality is that I could not take action on it so long as I misdiagnosed my inaction as laziness.

I think fear – and not laziness – is the more universal human characteristic. Because we are so heavily attached to our sense of self, we mask this fear with this idea of laziness. To even acknowledge that fear is preventing us from accepting change – internal or external – calls our identity into question. It takes courage to face this fear, because it points out exactly the areas of our lives that need improvement.

Now in my case, it was pretty easy for me to get over this fear of blogging once I saw it for what it was. But what about you? Are you procrastinating something? Like preparing for an exam? Or quitting your job and starting a business? Or getting out of a bad relationship? Ask yourself if you’re procrastination is the result of fear, and take time to answer it while watching your emotional reaction. Regardless of the magnitude of your situation, the only way out is if you take some action. It doesn’t matter if all you do is reach out and ask for help; or even accept the help that someone offers you. Often times, just doing that takes a lot of courage. And when the fear feels overwhelming, remember this:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon

We never know for certain whether we will ultimately succeed or fail in any endeavor. What matters is the courage to take that first step. Don’t worry about stumbling; all that matters is that you have moved one step forward. Fear is the engine of growth, and all life comes down to just that. Why would you want to resist such a fundamental driving force of nature?