by Ada Porat | Jan 27, 2016 | Conscious living, Gratitude, Mindfulness
One of the most common yearnings expressed by individuals in the West, is the desire for happiness. The founding fathers of the United States declared that the American people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And pursue it we have!
Hollywood advocates that that we will find happiness when we are rich enough, find true love, or encounter some magical event. We are conditioned to look for happiness somewhere else: in the future, in someone else, or in some outside situation.
Question is: how well has it served us?
When we look at the sky-rocketing levels of addiction, breakup, depression and unhappiness that run rampant in this society despite it being one of the most affluent in the world, it is clear that chasing after happiness outside ourselves, does not work.
You see, happiness is not out there; it is an inside job. And that means that you and I have the power to be happy right now, right where we are. If we are unhappy, perhaps it is time to take a look at the nature of happiness so we can stop dreaming about it and take practical steps to become happier. Yes, happiness is not something we stumble upon; it is something we create, something we become.
Researchers have found that we do not need to always get what we want in order to be happy. We can be just as happy if we don’t get what we want, as we’d be if we do actually get what we want.
In fact, we can manufacture our own happiness – and if we desire happiness, it is essential that we learn how to do this.
Researchers distinguish between two kinds of happiness: natural and synthetic happiness. Researcher Dan Gilbert defines them this way: “Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we wanted, and synthetic happiness is what we make when we don’t get what we wanted.”
Natural or spontaneous happiness is what we experience when things are going our way and fortune smiles on us. This is the kind we are most familiar with, but it is also fleeting, unreliable and intermittent.
Synthesized or manufactured happiness is the kind of happiness we create when we change the way we look at things; the happiness we synthesize when we learn to make lemonade from the lemons in our lives, and it is every bit as real as spontaneous happiness.
In fact, when we fixate on finding spontaneous happiness, we miss the opportunity to manufacture happiness with what is already in our lives, and we become miserable!
A good example would be looking at how the two types of happiness interact in relationship. In dating, we look to find what we want; in marriage, we need to find a way to like what we’ve gotten!
New relationships are marked by spontaneous happiness; whereas the challenge of marriage is to learn how to synthesize happiness with the person and situation we have chosen. Chasing after the next fleeting experience of spontaneous happiness won’t last; it is the process of manufacturing happiness within the constraints of our situation that brings lasting fulfillment and joy. Ironically, this process of synthesizing happiness works best when we are totally stuck or trapped!
Synthetic happiness acts like our psychological immune system. It works to keep us happy. In his book, Stumbling upon Happiness, author Dan Gilbert describes it as a system of cognitive processes, largely non-conscious, that help us change our views of situations so we can feel better about the situations we find ourselves in.
Author Wayne Dyer put it another way when he said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at, change.”
Our brains are notoriously bad at predicting our happiness. Experiments have repeatedly shown that we overestimate both anticipated pleasure and pain. Our prefrontal cortex simulates that getting something we want, is more important than it really is – it exaggerates the impact of events on our happiness, whether positive or negative.
For example, we overestimate that winning the lottery will increase our happiness or that losing the use of financial security or becoming a paraplegic will completely ruin us. In reality, individuals test at similar levels of happiness one year after winning lottery or becoming a paraplegic. In other words, both our desires and worries are overblown.
We can manufacture our own happiness from within – right now, with where we are and what we have. When we learn to synthesize happiness from within, the very events and outcomes we dread, can turn into new opportunities for happiness.
Studies further indicate that freedom and choice can negatively impact our happiness. When we have choices, we worry about opportunities lost. Think about that the next time you are in the grocery aisle trying to select a product!
Freedom is the enemy of synthetic happiness. While freedom can bring about spontaneous happiness when it offers what we want, it robs us of the opportunity to synthesize happiness. You see, we only learn to like what we have when we have no choice! It is when we are feeling stuck that we have the opportunity to create happiness from within by learning to appreciate what we do have.
Most of us tend to have a basic level of happiness that we revert to. Not everybody ascribes to the “bullying cheerfulness” of false happiness, as physician Andrew Weil describes the prevalent cult of happiness in America.
In his book, Spontaneous Happiness, Weil says that there is an inverse relationship between affluence and contentment: The more we have, the less contented we seem to be. In America, the cultural expectation that we’re to be happy all the time and our children should be happy all the time is toxic, and it gets in the way of true emotional well-being.
Mahatma Ghandi perhaps put it best when he said: “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
Genuine happiness comes from within, and is synthesized by a lifestyle that integrates personal values, gratitude, laughter and forgiveness. In the long run, these qualities allow us to synthesize happiness as an enduring form of contentment and serenity, independent of external circumstance.
About the author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
by Ada Porat | Dec 21, 2015 | Conscious living, Cope with change, Life transitions, Self-awareness
Of all the things you can do to impact your future and create a meaningful life, I believe personal growth is the greatest. With personal growth, I refer to that process of improving one’s awareness and identity, developing one’s potential, and maturing emotionally, mentally and spiritually to fulfill one’s destiny. It is the primary catalyst that determines who you’ll become over the course of your life.
Have you ever had an experience where someone says something perfectly appropriate, yet their tone or body language express the very opposite of their words? The experience felt weird because you sensed a discrepancy between the person’s words and actions.
Personal growth brings to light such discrepancies in ourselves so that we can take appropriate action to become fully integrated beings.
Personal growth also paves the way to lasting joy and fulfillment. It cultivates an environment where decision-making becomes easier, because you eliminate discrepancies in your value system as soon as you become aware of them. It’s your key to living a truly meaningful life.
Here’s some more good news: This key to a meaningful life rests in your hands, because you are the catalyst. It does not depend on finding someone to love or support you; or on getting a tax break, or electing a different president, or winning the lottery, or even moving to another country. It rests with you – and that is truly empowering!
Creating a meaningful life can start right here, right now. All meaningful change starts with a baseline: the willingness to accept responsibility for where we are at, and for the actions and choices that brought us to the present. Instead of beating yourself up over past decisions or failures, you can initiate meaningful change right now by accepting that you are the key factor to creating a meaningful life.
If that statement feels a little awkward to you, it means you need to own it more fully. Post it where you can see it every day: in the bathroom, the kitchen, your car, or your computer – anywhere you can see it.
You are the key to a meaningful life!
Think about the powerful impact this has. Your potential and your future are in your hands, because you are the key to creating the very change you desire.
How does one create meaningful change?
First, you need to nurture change until it bears fruit. Surround yourself with a strong, dynamic support system; an active pursuit of personal growth; clear goals and boundaries; and the knowledge of what your value system requires from you to maintain inner peace.
Second, you need to minimize the impact of obstacles instead of milking it for sympathy or using it as an excuse to not take charge of your life. Everybody faces challenges such as health setbacks, financial challenges and negative influences. However, none of these things can replace the most important aspect: your conscious presence as the core catalyst to creating the change you desire.
You are the key to creating a meaningful life! Imprint that concept on your mind, because it is super important. You don’t have to be perfect – you simply have to commit to your personal progress.
One of my former colleagues was a very successful entrepreneur who really understood this concept. Whenever people asked him how he became so successful, he would answer, “Simple. Just go beyond the average. Focus on becoming your best.”
How wise he was! In a world of mediocrity where the lowest common denominator usually is enough, you can surpass the norm simply by becoming more than average. You don’t have to strive for perfection; you just have to rise above the average.
Work on yourself and develop more than average enthusiasm. Develop more than average clarity. Develop more than average vision. Develop an above-average commitment to live your best life. In short, to have more, focus on becoming more. When you invest in and work on yourself, the results will follow!
One day shortly before final high school exams, my English teacher read us The Victor, a poem by C. W. Longenecker that I’ve never forgotten. It was written well before the age of gender-sensitive language, yet its message is still as powerful today as when it was penned:
“If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win but think you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.
“If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.
“If you think you are out-classed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win the prize.
“Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.”
If you were to look at the people who attended school or college with you, you may notice that each person has reached a different place in life. Given the fact that they attended the same educational system, speak the same language, and share the same culture, what accounts for the difference?
The difference is on the inside, not the outside. It lies in how well each person understands the key to creating a meaningful life.
Every day, you make choices that determine whether something is meaningful for you or not. You are the only person qualified to measure an external experience by your internal value system and give it the thumbs up or down. The better acquainted you are with your inner value system, personal goals, boundaries and dreams, the more optimal will be the choices you make.
You see, the real difference is not in the astrological signs or the family you come from; the real difference is inside you. In fact, the difference IS you. The power to makes things better is inside you, and personal growth is the catalyst that activates that power in your life.
Within you is the power to believe, to dare, to do, to persevere. Within you is the strength to love, to forgive, to grow, to heal. You are the key to creating a meaningful life and a better future.
About the author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
by Ada Porat | Nov 30, 2015 | Body Mind Spirit, Conscious living, Cope with change, Spirituality
(Note: This article was authored by Claude Swanson, Ph.D. and is reprinted here with his permission.)
The tragic terrorist attacks in Paris have escalated the conflict in the Middle East, and some Western leaders are calling for a further increase in military activity. This follows an announcement by Obama two weeks earlier that the U.S. is beginning to send troops to Syria, and this follows similar moves by Russia. Although both the U.S. and Russia are calling their soldiers “advisers,” this is not very reassuring, since Americans remember that the first troops sent to Vietnam in the sixties were also called “advisers.”
Several weeks ago the Russian leader Putin met with the leader of Syria, Bashar Assad, to reaffirm support for his government. Russia and Syria are long term allies. Meanwhile the United States continues to support groups who are trying to overthrow Assad. Matters are further complicated because both sides say they oppose ISIS (ISIL), the radical Muslim group which is thought to be responsible for the Paris attacks..
To add to the complexity, Israel, a long term ally of the United States in the region, according to articles by Pulitzer prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh, has been providing military support to Kurdish rebels who control territory in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey and who want a state of their own. Neighboring states fear a strengthening of the Kurdish rebels will lead to further instability in the region. Hersh has indicated that the additional U. S. troops may be intended to help this group. Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford pointed out that this Kurdish group itself has ties to terrorist groups and has been accused of human rights abuses.
The track record for U.S. intervention is not encouraging. The countries where the U.S. has intervened over the past fifteen years remain in states of volatile chaos: Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The refugee crisis in Europe at the present time is largely a result of these conflicts. The alliances forming are disturbingly similar to the Armageddon scenario, and matters could conceivably escalate beyond recall. It is vital that all the hostile factions step back and look earnestly for peaceful solutions. They may need to give up or compromise some of their deeply held beliefs or ambitions to find a common ground. Regardless of the details of the history of past wrongs or injuries on both sides, it is clear that matters in the Middle East are becoming increasingly dangerous and hold the potential for even greater conflict in the future.
Let us ask forgiveness for the mistakes we have made, and forgive all other parties involved, as well. The Hawaiian prayer of Ho’oponopono seems appropriate here: “I am sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. I thank you.” (One beautiful YouTube video based on this prayer is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac5SGwRPv0o )
Let us learn the lessons we came here to learn. All of us have had a role in creating these events, and we are here to learn and remember that we are all connected, we are all powerful spiritual beings, and our prayers and love and understanding can truly heal the world. We ask, and urgently pray, that everyone sends prayers for peace and wisdom to the world, that all people be guided by the highest good for all the peoples of the Earth.
We need to send prayers to lower the rhetoric, to tone down the bellicose threats and actions in many of these areas. We have become overconfident in our ability to project military power, as we noted in the quote from General Wesley Clark regarding how we got into the Iraq war. This interview ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSL3JqorkdU ) may shed light on the viewpoint of some in government who advocate escalation. Power has limits, and eventually it is met with opposing power, sometimes in forms we did not anticipate. As the most powerful country in the world, the United States has an obligation to set a standard of behaving responsibly and with consideration, not as a bully but taking into account the aspirations and fears of others.
Therefore we ask, and urgently pray, that everyone sends prayers for peace and wisdom to the Middle East, and that our leaders be guided by the highest good for all the peoples of the world.
THE NEED FOR PEACE PRAYER
These conflicts serve to highlight the need for peace prayers. To make prayer the most powerful, we ask that everyone around the world pray simultaneously, at the same time. This will increase the power of the prayer, possibly by a factor of several hundred because more people are praying simultaneously. Prayer in each time zone is adjusted so that prayers are simultaneous all around the world. Prayers should be done EVERY DAY.
There is also a best time of day to receive prayer, a time when our receptivity is greatest (see below). This depends on where we are in the world. Prayer times are set to correspond to the hour when receptivity is greatest in the Middle East . Our prayers of peace, love and forgiveness, while directed to everyone around the world, may in this way have greatest effectiveness in calming and bringing peace to this region, which is near a flash point. Let us pray that peace, love and forgiveness penetrate the hearts of all people.
The chart below, Table 1, shows the best time to pray to accomplish this. It is slightly different (about four minutes earlier) every day. It depends on what time zone you are in and the time of year. The time zones and locations are listed in the left-hand column. Find the row which describes your time zone. Then move across to the right to find the column for the correct date. The dates are shown for every five days, but you should pray every day. On days not shown in the chart, choose a time for the closest day shown. For example, if you live in Colorado, you look down the left hand column until you find Colorado or MST for Mountain Standard Time. This describes your time zone. If it is Nov 9, you then look across the top row of the chart to find the date, Nov 9. Going down that column to the row corresponding to Colorado or MST you find the prayer time given is 9:00 AM. This is the center of the prayer period.
For a 20 minute prayer, this means beginning the prayer 10 minutes earlier than this. Since the center is 9:00 AM, you would start the prayer ten minutes earlier, at 8:50 AM. PRAYERS SHOULD BE DONE EVERY DAY. Each day the best prayer time is about four minutes earlier. The chart shows the best prayer times every five days, to help keep track of the schedule. However you should pray every day. If the day is not shown on the chart, choose a prayer time in between the times shown. If the times are inconvenient, then pray when you can but include the intention that the prayer is to be joined with others praying in the same time window.
We propose that the prayer be for world peace, forgiveness of others, healing of Mother Earth, and the awakening of love for our fellow man. This follows the lessons of the great Teachers of all religions.
TABLE 1.
BEST TIME TO PRAY
(PRAY EVERY DAY. IF THE DATE IS NOT SHOWN, LOOK AT THE PRAYER TIME FOR THE NEAREST DATE AND USE IT. )
TABLE 1. How to use it: Look down the far left-hand column to find your time zone. California, for example, is Pacific Standard Time right now, or PST. When you find the right row for your time zone, then go across to the correct column for the present date. If it is Nov 26, for example, then find the columns for Nov 24 and Nov 29, the two closest dates before and after. Your prayer time is in between these two numbers, around 10:50 PM. Choose that time for the middle of your prayer period.
THE SCIENCE
The power of prayer has been known for thousands of years. Recent scientific experiments have proven it (Ref. 1). Experiments show that when people pray together at THE SAME TIME, it has EVEN MORE IMPACT (Ref. 2). Science has also discovered there is a SPECIAL TIME OF DAY when we are MOST RECEPTIVE to spiritual and intuitive messages (Ref. 3). Prayers received at this time are likely to have the greatest effect. If everyone around the world will pray at this time the prayers can have heightened impact, both because of the time of day and because many people are praying together. Fifteen or twenty minutes of concentrated prayer everyday at this time can work miracles.
The Princeton PEAR Lab, the Global Consciousness Project, and other research institutions have discovered that consciousness affects physics and can be measured (Ref. 4). The human mind and human intention alter the behavior of devices called “random event generators,” or REGs. They measure the power of human intention to affect distant events. In scientific studies on prayer, it has been found that when many people pray together the effect is larger (Ref. 2).
The graph below shows this effect. The lower curve in blue shows the level of randomness of these REGs when no one is praying. When many people around the world pray together, the devices begin to act as though they are coupled together (the red line on the graph). This shows that synchronized prayer affects the physics of space-time around the world. Prayer has power that can be measured, and synchronized prayer can have great effectiveness.
GRAPH 1. The power of synchronized prayer. The red line shows how prayer, by millions of people around the world, affect devices called REGs. These devices have been shown to measure the power of consciousness. They are based on patterns of quantum noise which occur when many people around the world think the same thought or focus on the same idea.
The second key piece is the importance of the TIME when one prays. It has been discovered in scientific experiments that there is a BEST TIME of day when intuitive messages are most accurately received. Prayer is an example of messages of this type. The graph below shows how accurately such messages are received versus TIME OF DAY. The peak in the graph shows the best time. It is found to depend on the position of the stars overhead, and is therefore called “sidereal time.” Because the peak has width of about a half hour on either side, this defines a one hour window which should be the “best time” for sending or receiving prayer. Table 1 above, labeled “Best Time to Pray,” shows how this “best time” relates to your local clock time.
GRAPH 2. The most powerful time of day to receive a psychic message. This seems to be the time of day when psychic or spiritual communication is least noisy, which means it is clearer then. If we are sending an intuitive or prayer message to others, this is the best time for it to be received. Just like channels on a radio dial, it is best to send and receive on a channel which is clear and quiet, not one that is noisy. The peak in the graph shows when this occurs. It depends on the star positions overhead, which is why it is called “sidereal time” (Ref. 3) Table 1 above translates this into your local clock time.
To have maximum effectiveness when we pray, it may be most powerful to combine these two ideas: To have many people pray TOGETHER, and also to pray at the BEST TIME for it to be received. In each time zone, when the clock reaches the BEST TIME, as shown by Table 1, everyone in that time zone should join their minds and hearts to pray together.
The times in each time zone are adjusted so everyone will pray at the same exact moment around the world. This means the largest number of people will be praying together, which will have the GREATEST EFFECT. The prayer is timed to correspond to the time during the day of best receptivity in the Middle East. This is when the peak in receptivity, shown in Graph 2, is over that region. This part of the world appears most critical at the present time. It is hoped that by directing prayers there when they are most receptive, we may help encourage peace in the region.
THE CRISIS OF OUR TIMES
We are living in a time of great change on the planet. We have built technologies which are transforming the world’s ecology and weather. Our investment in weapons of war is skyrocketing. New weapons including engineered diseases are being stockpiled. Soldiers are fighting in many countries, and it is not bringing peace but only more war. Tensions in the Middle East have erupted into “hot wars” in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya and Syria. Growing opposition by China and Russia to U.S. military incursions and the effort by Iran to develop nuclear power raise the potential for escalation. It only seems to bring more anger and create more terrorists, which then feeds the cycle.
In many religions and cultures, the times we are living in have been the subject of prophecy. The Hopi Indians of North America are but one of many peoples who have predicted these times. They describe Western man as having a head and body which are separated. The body represents understanding of the physical world, i.e. technology, and the head represents spiritual wisdom. In the Hopi view, the separation of head and body symbolizes that Western man is out of touch with spiritual guidance, and therefore misuses his understanding of technology. Unless we can learn to access spiritual wisdom, we will make wrong decisions leading to an extremely destructive Third World War.
We humans are at a turning point. Are we able to handle our technology to make our lives better and to spread wealth and opportunity to all? Or do we have a streak of violence, hatred and greed which will doom us to bring about the destruction of this beautiful world in which we live?
The answer does not lie in violence. This only creates more hatred in the victims who respond with greater violence toward us. The answer does not lie in more technology, for without wise and thoughtful use it just causes more environmental damage. The true answer has been given in many cultures and in many religions. We must stop the violence and hatred and greed within ourselves, and then we can help heal the world.
RAPID ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
The BBC News recently announced that the permafrost melting in the arctic is occurring much faster than predicted. In a story by Matt McGrath for the Science and Environment section of BBC News, it was reported that temperatures have risen in the permafrost from -8 degrees C to -2.5 degrees C even in the northern coastal areas of Alaska. As a result, vast areas are expected to melt in the next few years, much earlier than had been expected. This will turn the upper levels of soil into slush, making roads impassible and toppling many surface structures. Even the Alaska pipeline might be endangered. Trees have already been falling in parts of Alaska. And of course, this frozen region extends across thousands of miles of Siberia as well as Alaska, and even includes parts of the sea bottom in the north Pacific. Therefore a huge area is affected.
Another result of this melting, besides an increase in ocean levels, will be the accelerated release of the frozen methane which is trapped in the permafrost. As the methane is released it enters the atmosphere where its greenhouse effect is 25 times stronger than Carbon Dioxide. Therefore the permafrost melting will further increase the greenhouse effect. All of these effects are confirmation of the rapid global warming that is ongoing.
The Gulf Stream which is responsible for the temperate climate in Europe has been slowing in recent years because Global Warming has rapidly melted Arctic ice bringing fresh water into the North Atlantic. Ten of the twelve ocean convection cells which maintain the Gulf Stream flow have reportedly slowed or stopped on occasion, raising the possibility in the near future of drastic weather changes. Experts now project that the world’s oceans will rise more than one foot in the next century because of this same melting. The rising ocean, in turn, will likely trigger additional earthquakes, which have been increasing rapidly over the past two decades. At the same time, the extinction rate of the earth’s animal and plant species has been increasing to a level not seen since the last “Great Extinction” 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs perished. They were the dominant species then. Are we next?
Let us send love and healing to Mother Earth and to one another, that our mistakes and mistreatment of the environment and of our fellow man may be healed, that we learn how to tread more gently on the earth, and that we be forgiven for the disturbances we have so far created.
LESSONS OF THE GREAT SPIRITUAL TEACHERS
In the West every day we see images of violence and war. War has never solved problems for very long. The defeat of Germany in World War I led to resentment and poverty and eventually to the rise of Hitler and World War II. The wisest teachers have taught a very different lesson. Jesus said:
“…if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:38-41)
Jesus taught that violence solves nothing. It only creates more violence. It hurts and angers the victim who vows and plots his revenge. Jesus realized and taught the great lesson that the best way to destroy an enemy is to make him your friend. Jesus taught that the only way to end violence is to:
“…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you…” (Matthew 5:44)
The alternative is to create more and more people around the world who hate us and plan and live for our demise. With the increasing power of modern weapons, nuclear, biological, and chemical, even a weak enemy can cause death and suffering on a massive scale. And we know from experience that this only leads to retaliation and escalation. It will only stop when one of two things happens.
(1) Either we destroy ourselves in a global conflict, which has been predicted by many, or
(2) We escape this fate by trying something new: forgive and send love to our enemies, and pray for peace and healing everywhere.
It is up to us to begin the forgiveness process, to love, to send prayers daily around the world to ease the anger and fear, to forgive the violence, to pray for a growing peace. Let the fires of hatred and fear and revenge burn down, let the embers cool. Remember that each of us possesses an immortal soul and is here to learn. Let us follow the teachings of the great Masters of all ages, sowing love and kindness and generosity, and extending it in prayer to all living souls around the world.
When we look beneath the external trappings of any religion, it is remarkable how similar are the underlying beliefs. We offer two examples here. The first is the “Golden Rule,” which in Christianity is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This same belief is taught in most of the world’s religions:
Buddhism (Udana-Varga): Hurt not others with that which pains yourself.
Judaism (Leviticus 19:18): You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Confucianism (Mencius VII.A.4): Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence.
Hinduism (The Mahabharata): This is the sum of duty: do naught to others which if done to thee would cause thee pain.
Christianity (Matthew 7:12): Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.
Islam (Hadith): No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.
As a second example, consider the teaching of Jesus to “turn the other cheek.” This is often considered a more unusual teaching, because it emphasizes that we should not return violence with violence. In a world torn by terrorism and war, this lesson is too seldom heeded. Yet it is not unique to Christianity. Consider the following quotes:
Buddhism (Dhammapada 201): Victory breeds hatred, for the defeated live in pain. Happily live the peaceful, giving up victory and defeat.
Judaism (Talmud, Baba Kamma 93a): One should choose to be among the persecuted, rather than the persecutors.
Confucianism (Mencius IV.A.14): In wars to gain land, the dead fill the plains; in wars to gain cities, the dead fill the cities. This is known as showing the land the way to devour human flesh. Death is too light a punishment for such men who wage war. Hence those skilled in war should suffer the most severe punishments.
Sikhism (Adi Granth, Shalok, Farid): Those who beat you with fists, do not pay them with the same coin, but go to their house and kiss their feet.
Christianity (Jesus in Matthew 5:38-41): You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well…”
Islam (Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 32): Let there be no injury and no requital.
Such correspondences can be found for almost all religions. Therefore, as the world becomes smaller it would serve us well to look at the underlying similarities in religions, rather than the differences. These similarities are not due to coincidence. They are due to a deep intuitive knowledge on the part of religious founders. These rules seem to describe important truths about how the universe works and how we should live. The alternative, in this time of nuclear and biological warfare and a seriously damaged environment, may be our destruction. A non-violent solution is to pray for global healing and peace.
OUR MISSION
TO BRING INTO REALITY THE CENTRAL MESSAGE OF ALL THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS: TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER, TO TREAT OTHERS AS WE WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED, TO FORGIVE OTHERS AND RETURN LOVE FOR HATE, KINDNESS FOR ANGER, TO SPREAD THIS FEELING TO EVERYONE, TO OUR FELLOW MAN AS WELL AS THE EARTH AND ITS ENVIRONMENT.
WE ARE AT A CRUCIAL TIME WHEN MANY PROPHECIES, AND INDEED THE TIDE OF WORLD EVENTS, THREATENS A WIDER WAR AND DRASTIC CHANGES TO OUR CLIMATE AND ECOLOGY. THESE MAY THREATEN OUR WELL-BEING AND EVEN OUR EXISTENCE. THIS IS OUR OPPORTUNITY, MAYBE EVEN OUR “FINAL EXAM” TO SEE IF WE ARE WISE ENOUGH TO HANDLE OUR TECHNOLOGY AND TURN IT FROM DESTRUCTIVE TO CONSTRUCTIVE ENDS.
GLOBAL SYNCHRONIZED PRAYER, DONE EVERY DAY BY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD, CAN TURN THIS TIDE. IT CAN HEAL HATRED AND FEAR AND TURN IT INTO PEACE AND LOVE. IT CAN EASE THE DISTRESS OF MOTHER EARTH AND BEGIN TO HEAL THE DAMAGES TO CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS. IN THIS WAY WE MAY AVERT WAR AND CHOOSE A BETTER FUTURE FOR OURSELVES AND OUR CHILDREN.
WE CAN CHANGE THE FUTURE. IT IS UP TO US!
REFERENCES:
Ref. 1:
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Dossey, Larry, M.D., Space, Time and Medicine, New Science Library, Boston and London (1985)
Dossey, Larry, M.D., “Healing, Energy and Consciousness: Into the Future or a Retreat to the Past?,” Subtle Energies, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 1, (1994)
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by Ada Porat | Oct 22, 2015 | Conscious living, Spirituality
Whenever good or bad fortune strikes, most of us spend some time pondering why it happened. We do this because the conditioned mind reasons there must be some meaning to it, just as it seeks to find meaning behind all of life’s events.
The mind always looks for meaning in everything. In fact, it is not the event itself, but the meaning that the mind attaches to an event, that brings either pleasure or suffering. The event may also be thought to reflect either God’s favor or disfavor, which further divides our thinking into a sense of pride or guilt.
However, the meaning we attach to a situation is by no means an absolute indication of its true content. We see this principle perhaps most clearly demonstrated at a sports event where the winning team’s fans respond to the score with loud cheers, while the supporters of the losing team respond to the same score with alarm, anger, or frustration. Same score, different responses based on the meaning attached to it by the spectators.
The meaning we attach to events also brings a value judgment into the picture. No longer do we see the game score simply as a score; we now look for why it happened. Sports commentators spend hours discussing the game to determine who did what to whom, and why. “Whose fault was it that the Lakers lost,” we ask. “Is that good or bad?” By labeling what happened, we think that we can deal with it better: it will justify our becoming defensive, or angry, or hurt, or victimized.
So it is the meaning that we attach to the passing parade of life’s events that pulls us into emotional turbulence. It drives us toward separation, from where we no longer respond to the event, but instead react to the meaning we have attached to the event. No longer is it just another event; it now becomes personalized as a me and a you; a winner and a loser; a victimizer and a victim; my suffering because of your actions. And because we attached a value judgment to the event, we now feel justified to react in some way. This is the classic cycle of duality that leads to ever more suffering, anger and despair.
Meaning is a product of dualistic existence. The human ego does not like a lack of control and looks for anything that implies a sense of power. When something happens, then, our minds attempt to attach meaning to it in order to feel some sense of control. In fact, the entire self-help industry is fueled by that desire for personal power, driven by our aversion to suffering.
To summarize, we suffer because not everything goes our way. We suffer because we dread doing the things we don’t want to do but have to do. And we suffer because we can’t have or do the things we want to have or do. We see ourselves as individual personalities with desires that conflict with our circumstances and responsibilities, causing untold pain and suffering.
How do we turn this around?
For this suffering to end, we need to move our perspective out of identification with our human personality and its ego-based thinking and turn toward identification with our true nature as souls. We need to turn inward toward the Source of our being, where happiness is independent of external things. When we do that, emotional suffering can end.
Indian teacher Ramesh Balsekar stated this process eloquently in A Net of Jewels, where he says,
“Essentially, what the average person wants out of life is just one thing: happiness. It is in this quest that he goes through life day after day, believing that he will somehow, someday find final satisfaction through the things and circumstances of his world. There comes a time, however, when man gets utterly tired, physically and mentally, of this constant search because he finds that it never ends. He comes to the startling discovery that every kind of satisfaction has within itself the roots of pain and torment. At this stage his search cannot but take the turn inwards toward that happiness which is independent of external things.”
The essence of manifest existence is continuous change from birth to death. With physical existence comes the will to live, to survive, to resist threat – and this will resides in the ego. The human ego drives the thinking mind and all our misery in the ensuing attempts to avoid the inevitable.
Life presents problems because our ego nature resists the process of life; we don’t accept what is there in the present moment. We want to become something other than what we now are, have something other than what we now have and so on.
Put another way, pain is a natural part of human life; suffering is optional.
Suffering is a consequence of identification with the ego self and its physical domain. If we feel that we are limited bodies of protoplasma, we will feel a need to resist or control whatever happens to us.
When we shift our perspective back to our true nature as eternal souls, we realize that we are more than what happens to our bodies. We do not need to control or resist what is happening because what happens out there, cannot threaten our true nature within. We also don’t need to label, react or judge anything that happens out there.
Birth, life, good fortune, misfortune, and death simply happen, and have no meaning of their own. Any thought about their meaning is just a thought that has no more meaning than any other thought. The Course in Miracles teaches this principle early on because if we want to find inner peace, it is important to learn to distinguish between what happens out there, and the meaning we attach to it. When we can detach from the meaning we have allocated to any given event, we are able to find a place of neutrality.
In the world of spirituality or non-duality, life no longer requires labels to give it meaning. In non-duality, the essence shows forth its truth and requires no meaning or labels. What it is, is self-evident. It makes no sense to ask what the meaning is of Love, Being, Presence, or Awareness. The very essence of non-duality is Love, Being, Presence and Awareness, so the notion of meaning is superfluous.
Spiritual practice is the discipline of undoing the conditioning of ego and the thinking mind, while learning to align with higher Truth – the principle that guides our souls. A healthy spiritual practice will consist of learning, devotion (prayer, meditation or contemplation), practice (ways in which you implement what you’re learning to integrate it) and interaction with like-minded individuals. You may find a fulfilling spiritual practice within a specific religion, order or teaching; or your practice may be more eclectic and ecumenical. Your practice may look different than the practice of another; and it is not important. What is vitally important, however, is that you commit to some form of spiritual practice consistently over time.
Effective spiritual practice relieves suffering by quieting the chatter of the thinking mind. This is necessary for efficient functioning of the mind. A quiet mind is also an end in itself since it is always accompanied by the peace of pure Awareness. In fact, this can be a guide to distinguish between effective and ineffective practices. If suffering is relieved by a practice, it is worth continuing. If it does not, and especially if suffering increases, it is better to discontinue it.
Effective practices further help us detach from all forms of conditioning. A quiet thinking mind allows unconscious conditioning to rise to the awareness of the conscious mind from where it can be cleared. The thinking mind ordinarily represses unwanted thoughts, urges, and desires, which represent the dark side of the ego (the shadow). When repression ceases, the shadow emerges into awareness.
The Indian sage Papaji described this process by saying that when you begin to awaken, all the gods and demons of your past come to reclaim you. The potential of these forms of unconscious conditioning to destroy one’s peace is minimized by the deepening realization that their release represents the dissolution of the ego-based thinking mind. It is also helpful to keep in mind that these emerging forms are finite in number, even when it feels as if the stack of arising emotions is endless.
As we do the work of consistently becoming aware of and clearing limiting patterns of conditioning, we grow in understanding of our true nature. The journey of spiritual awareness requires us to be vigilant and earnest in our commitment to Truth, and to trust the flow of life wherever it takes us; neither for exclusive joy nor for endless suffering, but to gain deeper understanding so we can learn.
This process of learning provides favorable conditions in which the soul can realize its highest potential. That realization is the highest purpose your soul could strive for – it is the true meaning of life and the sole purpose for being in the body.
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
