And the Greatest of These is Love.

This post is an excerpt from my book, Finding God in the Body: A Spiritual Path for the Modern West.
 To purchase, click here.

The Power of Love.

On the spiritual path, we will fall short many times. It is easy to become impatient, frustrated, and overwhelmed. That is why love is so important.

Love sees life in everything. It recognizes the life that abides within every creature. This recognition begets respect. Love is patient, kind, and endures all things, as anyone who has attended a wedding knows. Our knowledge, plans, and strategies will reach their wit’s end, but love never tires.

One day, while watching my favorite television show, “The Office,” I heard those famous words of St. Paul’s yet again but this time with new ears because I was holding my newborn son. As I looked at him and heard, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love,” I understood. For the first time, I understood.

In that moment, I knew: I knew that I could read every book in the world and make plans from now until the end of time, but my knowledge would be exhausted and my plans would fall short. No strategy and no amount of preparation could ever get me to the finish line. The only thing that remained was love.

Only my love for him can bear the hardships and difficulties that our relationship will bring to the surface. Only my love for him can overcome my impatience and arrogance. Only my love for him can guide him without trying to bend him to my will. Only love is humble enough to teach him how to think without teaching him what to think. For only the eye of love sees him as his own person and only love is selfless enough to grant him the space he needs to grow into that person. Love is the only voice within me honest enough to admit that he does not belong to me.  

Truthfully, it is not “my” love and it is not “for him.” Love is the defining characteristic of the Kingdom. I do not create love. I receive it. Love is a gift.

“Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

And as children of God, we resemble God. Love is our birthmark. When freedom from self is realized, the likeness of God is reflected in our actions. The cataracts of fear and expectation are removed and we can see the world as-it-is. When we recover the freedom to see people as they are, we see the life that dwells and sings within them, and love is our natural response.

Love is wild. It has no manners.

It comforts the afflicted, and afflicts the comfortable. Love often defies logic. It would have us embrace our enemies and be uncomfortably honest with our friends. This cannot be taught. Love does not come with a manual. It is the spontaneous expression of our True Nature.

Unconditional Love

As I said before, love is complete freedom—the freedom of God to love friend and foe as our Self. Love is complete and total freedom because it is selfless. Selfless awareness is wide open, agapic awareness. This is the all-embracing quality of Undifferentiated Awareness that recognizes and embraces everything that is real and true, regardless of whether it is comfortable or not.

Self-centeredness is the worst kind of prison. It keeps us chained and shackled to our fears and illusions, reserved to making decisions that serve our own narrow-minded agenda. Love doesn’t see the world or the people in it through the knowledge of good and bad. Love does not see what we stand to lose or gain. It sees things-as-they-are. And when you see things-as-they-are, you see the spark of divinity that lives within all things.

Gratitude

In the embrace of unconditional love, it feels like we are loved into Being. This awareness brings about a phase change. It transmutes the energy of unconditional love into gratitude. Dominion is not control, but responsibility. Gratitude accepts this responsibility. When you are grateful for something, you “tend to it.” When God told Adam to tend to the Garden, he meant love it—love the body, your fellow man, and the earth.

Gratitude is an action, not an idea. It is the act of caring for that which we are grateful. Gratitude doesn’t hang out in the oceanic presence of unconditional love. It reaches out to the world from the deep space of love. It invests, not only in the maintenance of our Self, but through likeness recognizes and welcomes the True Self in others. Likeness is a quality of Basic Sanity. It looks beyond race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and social status to find its kind in others. In this way, likeness gives rise to kindness, which is the foundation of relationship. Having established relationship, love goes through yet another conversion.

Creative Love

At this stage, gratitude and kindness give way to the creative power of love. The principle of Eros or erotic love isn’t limited to “sexual desire.” It refers to the creativity of love. Therefore, sexual union is both an example of Eros and a most useful symbol for its creative nature. We are born out of love and therefore born to love. Love is the Alpha and Omega.

Eros is the desire to make love. It is the creative force that seeks to express love through relationship, art, poetry, music, prayers of devotion, and songs of worshipful silence. Eros articulates love. In fact, creative love is art—it is the aspect of love that lends shape to the unformed inspiration of our inner life. Eros is love Incarnate.

While creative love is the principle that underlies the great works of art, it is not limited to painting, music, or theater any more than it is to the bedroom. In fact, creative love is most active in our daily life. It is the aspect of love that expands the field of practice. It brings our spiritual practice out of our home and into our day.

Love in Daily Life

The Upanishads say, “And then He realized that he was this creation, as it had poured forth from Himself. In this way, He became this creation. Therefore, he who realizes this becomes, in this creation, a creator.” To become a creator is to bring the divine image to fruition. Having discovered an untapped inner wealth, we are no longer dominated by our poverty mentality. We are full. We seek to give back, to create.

Eros transforms our life into an art form. It is the art of living. When we consent to the power of love, it shapes our life in the same way Michelangelo chiseled his sculpture of David from raw stone. This happens in relationship. We cannot wall ourselves off from the world and call it spirituality. Without relationship our practice is incomplete. Commitment connects the responsibilities and obligations of our daily life to the indwelling reality of our True Self.

Committed relationships are difficult because they demand that we give of our Self. This is hard because the false-self is selfish. It wants to avoid discomfort and clings to immediate gratification. Creative love matures us by reminding us that we cannot hope to grow into our True Self without something demanding our false-self in return.

The resurrection of our True Life is proportionate to the death of our inauthentic life.

The false-self is incapable of accepting this truth. It is bound to itself. Love is free to accept this maxim. This is the power of love to endure all things: marriage, divorce, success, failure, friendship, rivalries, heartache, and death. The freedom of love enables us to adapt to life’s changing circumstances. From the point of view of creative love, there are no problems, only opportunities. If the problem can be solved, it is not a problem, just something for you to work with; if it can’t be solved, it is not a problem, just something to accept and move on. Creative love sees everything as workable.

Without struggle there is no growth which is why Shantideva writes, “All enemies are helpers in my spiritual work and therefore they should be a joy to me.” Where there is an enemy, a shortcoming, or an obstacle, creative love sees a gateway. When we are angry, afraid, jealous, depressed, or obsessed, love knows there is an underdeveloped aspect of our Self struggling to be born into the world. Love seeks to cultivate it. It loves our devils into the present moment; it does not reject them. We may be intellectually sympathetic to this idea, but only the power of love recognizes this on a practical level.

What we call spiritual principles live within us as potentialities embedded within the structure of Being, but just as the capacity to walk is a potentiality that has to be exercised by toddlers, these potentialities have to be actualized through the struggle of daily life. In this way, God is born into the world.

Spirituality is about accepting our obstacles as the path, not avoiding them. Only love is capable of seeing the relationships and tasks that present us with difficulty as the plots of land that we must cultivate. In short, what we call obstacles, love calls the path, and all paths intersect.

If we look closely, we will see an intricate web of interdependence emerging. It may appear that we are attracted to this person or that job for one reason or the other, but if we look closer—beyond the veil of the false-self—we will see that the power of love has brought us into this relationship. “Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the world seek each other so that the world may come to being,” writes Teilhard de Chardin, the brilliant Catholic theologian.

It is as if the universe is working as a midwife, assisting in the birth of our Self. But love is never a one-sided situation. The forces of love are at work in the other person as well. The universe is using us to assist in their birth. There is something deep in the other that yearns to be realized, and it has identified a relationship with us as part of its path. We are there to aid in their birth, just as they are there to aid in ours.

While love may bring us together, it does not chain us to one another. It binds us to the truth in our hearts. So in love, there is solitude. “For the pillars of the temple stand apart,” writes Kahlil Gibran, “and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.” Selfish love—which is no love at all—sees the other as an object to be exploited or a hostage to be taken; authentic love recognizes the symbiotic structure of the relationship. A healthy relationship moves back and forth between solitude and communion. It sees both interdependence and independence.

* This is article is excerpted from Finding God in the Body: A Spiritual Path for the Modern West by    Benjamin Riggs. To purchase, click here.

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Eros recognizes disappointment as part of our path. It doesn’t see tribulation as something to be avoided. The Dalai Lama once said that we cannot view a beggar as an obstacle, if we hope to grow in generosity. This axiom can be applied to all other virtues as well. Patience is an indispensable spiritual principle, but when given the opportunity to grow in patience, many of us reject it. We rail against the person trying our nerves. We label those who try our patience as “assholes,” but without an obstruction or an “adversary” there is no growth. Creative love knows that we cannot grow in patience without an asshole in our lives and binds our actions to this principle.

Practicing Spirituality & Citizenship in the Era of Trump

Erected between the Church and the State is a "Wall of Separation."
But within the envelope of my skin, there is no line of demarcation segregating politics and spirituality. 

We do not live in a totalitarian state. As members of a democratic society, we have a civic duty. Our government is held in check by "we the people." In a democratic system of government, politics is just another aspect of daily living.

Spirituality is not an other-worldly affair. It is a principled worldview coupled with a system of practice that orients our whole being to the world in which we live.

Politics is not a distraction from spirituality, but one aspect of daily life with which spirituality is deeply concerned.

Saying that politics is a distraction from spirituality is like saying relationships or work are obstacles to spiritual practice. They aren't obstacles, they are opportunities for our spirituality to be born into the world. Segregating politics and spirituality is an attempt to closet your spirituality—to shield it from things that push your buttons, rather than turning into your struggles and learning to move beyond stress, fear, and anger.

We are not called to hide behind a vapid smile or to look the other way. Any spirituality that hides behind a distraction is not a spirituality but a defense mechanism. It is spiritual bypassing not spiritual practice. This is true regardless of whether our practice is rooted in Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, or lacks religious affiliation.

Gandhi once wrote, "Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is...Indeed, religion should pervade every one of our actions. Here religion does not mean sectarianism. It means a belief in ordered moral government of the universe. It is not less real because it is unseen. This religion transcends Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc. It does not supersede them. It harmonizes them and gives them reality."

A living spirituality is politically conscious and engaged but not obsessed. And this is the catch.

It is hard to be mindful and politically engaged at the same time. It is difficult to watch the news or read the papers without getting wrapped up in it, especially this day-and-age with a 24 hr news cycle and a controversial President that dominates every minute of that cycle.

Mindfulness and activism often feel mutually exclusive. But uniting the two is our path. We have to root our politics in mindfulness and silence. If we fail to do this, we will either neglect our civic responsibility or our politics will be tainted with fear and aggression.

You can be present and centered while protesting or voicing concern—Dorthy Day, Gandhi, King, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Dalai Lama are perfect examples.

While the basic outline of spirituality remains unchanged, the terrain that path must traverse changes with each generation. And it is no accident that these great icons of mindful activism have come before us, showing us the way. They have outlined the path before us. Their activism is rooted in prayer and meditation.

Venturing into the realm of politics without tethering the mind to reality is the way of madness.

Meditation anchors the mind in the present moment. But it is not enough to sit every morning. Mindful activism is meditation in action. We have to bring the principles of meditation—letting go and returning to the simplicity of the present moment—into our daily life. In the presence of injustice, we often feel fear, anger, and aggression. But we must disown the fear, anger, and aggression, not the awareness of injustice, which is grounded in reality.

Our conscience must rise above our fear of confrontation. We have to speak truth to power. Our words must not be weighted down by anger and resentment. 

Politics devoid of compassion is just another way to vent resentment. And our body politic is already saturated with resentment. Prayer connects the mind and the heart, melting away resentment. William James wrote in Varieties of Religious Experience, "Religion is nothing if it be not the vital act by which the entire mind seeks to save itself by clinging to the principle from which it draws its life. This act is prayer." And the heart is the principle from which the mind draws life. But once again it is not enough to pray only in the morning. We have to see aggression as a reminder to pray throughout the day. When are afraid or angry, we have to pray for those that arouse our bitterness. We have to pray for those in need. Prayer gets us out of our head, out of our self-centered mind. It awakens the spirit of selflessness and sanity.

Spirituality reminds us that it is our responsibility to be a voice of sanity, a light unto the world. I say that not with a condescending tone, but with an awareness that I too must work harder to bring mindfulness, compassion, and sanity into my politics. Politics is a sticky subject. It is easy to get caught up in politics. But the spiritual path always cuts through our obstacles. It never goes around them. This is the path we in the era of Trump must trudge and we have to do it together.

Part of doing it together is holding each other accountable. When we see someone with good intentions lash-out or become disrespectful, it is important to point that out to them. We have to remind them that how they say it is every bit as important as what they say. Yes, we are obligated to speak the truth, but we are also obligated to do that in a skillful manner. If we oppose hate, then we have to oppose it even when it is attached to a message that we agree with because hate--in any form--only adds to the problems that we face as a nation. Hate is not the counter-measure for injustice. As Martin Luther King said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

_________________________

Also available on iTunes: http://apple.co/2lK4hb4

Suffering and Spiritual Practice

Excerpt from Finding God in the Body: A Spiritual Path for the Modern West

"Wanting to stop does not lead to transformation. What is an addiction apart from the perpetuation of an unwanted behavior? The idea that swearing off overcomes suffering is an adult version of the adolescent attitude that, following our first break-up declares, “Love stinks! I will never date again.” We are trying to protect ourselves from pain instead of listening to it. “I am done,” means, “I am out of here!” This is the point of departure. It is where we turn away from life."

Spiritual practice enables us to turn into our suffering, to accept it. Meditation, prayer, and self-examination enable us to work with our suffering. This work is redemptive. It is transformative.

~ Quote from Chapter One: The Truth of Suffering, Finding God in the Body

Click here to order Finding God in the Body on Amazon. Paperback and Kindle available.

Want to Pray but it Feels Dead & Inauthentic? Try Embodied Prayer.

Want to Reinvigorate Your Prayer Life? 4 Steps to Embodied Prayer

In the hallowed space of the body the ego cannot breathe. It dies.

A self-centered mind is an insecure mind. It is acutely aware of its impotence or powerlessness. No matter how hard it tries, the ego knows all too well, that everything it creates will come tumbling down before it’s very eyes. It is haunted by the truth of powerlessness.

So, we live in constant terror of the looming apocalypse—the big breakup, the day we get fired or laid off, fail out of school, or retire after a long and successful career, only to find out that we are uncomfortable in our own skin. We spend every waking moment trying to avoid such a catastrophe. Therefore, an insecure mind is a busy mind.

When people arrive at the practice of meditation most of them complain of this busy-ness. They have no idea that it is a symptom of insecurity. All they know is that their mind is a war zone. Their thoughts are going 90-to-nothing. They lack clarity or focus. Fatigue has gripped them, and they feel completely lifeless. In order to address this busy-ness, one must address the insecurity that finances it.

So, how does one address insecurity?

Click here to keep reading. 

The Need to Believe.

Just as water, ice, and vapor are different arrangements of H
2O, seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling, and thinking are all different arrangements of awareness. Logically we can not go beyond this sphere of knowing, as anything and everything that is known is revealed within this spectrum of knowing.

In steps the word belief. 

There is something deep down inside of us that intuits a larger world than rational consciousness is capable of apprehending—a world beyond the limitations imposed by dualistic thinking. I want to be clear, intuition or belief first emerges as a feeling within the spectrum of knowing. It is an invitation from the heart, so to speak, calling us back to the source, back to our point of origin.

At first it seems impossible to transcend the spectrum of knowing. This is due to the fact that we only know how to relate to the world from a rational point of view. Contemplative practice offers another path, a path of "knowing" by "un-knowing," as Thomas Merton said.

Here is a gas fireplace: 

In this fireplace is a fake log with several spigots that release gas when the valve is open. The spectrum of knowing or the witness—not what you know, but that you know—is like the flame the emerges from that spigot. Each flame is an image, so to speak, of the source, but not identical to the source. Each flame is individual and unique, but also shares a common essence, gassiness, for lack of a better word. We want to reconnect with this essence, but as a flame "I" cannot go back into the spigot. The flame cannot reconnect with its gassiness, because it gets burned up in the cloud of knowing. This is where many people stop. They are afraid of forfeiting their individuality—self-consciousness or knowing that they know. From this point of view, the word belief is not an invitation, but a defense mechanism that absolves them of their responsibility to recover their gaseous nature. 

The contemplative path is a willingness to move forward in a state of unknowing. This can only be realized in the absence of a knower. This is the "Cloud of Unknowing," as the anonymous 14th century Catholic theologian put it. The flame passes through the portal of its own nothingness by renouncing its flameness or individuality. "It" does not reemerge in the deep space of Unknowing, but in a transcendent sense, finds a deeper ground of being that is not localized, omnipresent. It is seemingly another world, not where we simultaneously exist, but where existence itself is fueling the fire of life that dances around on the surface.

Our limited conscious self is constantly rubbing up against the vastness of our unconscious life. Belief is the heat generated from this friction. It is not an excuse to cling to our rigid, preconceived ideas about ourselves or the world we live in, but an invitation to abandon everything: not only our ideas or what we know, but the security and certainty of knowing itself, so that we may plummet into the divine source from which all life springs. Belief is tugging at us, inviting us into the "Cloud of Unknowing." In this darkness the sound of absolute silence can be heard saying, "Let there be light." But there is no one there to hear it. There is only the Word.

The Practical Implications of Compassion in 150 Words

What is Compassion? 

If you are capable of relaxing into your body and touching your own humanity, then you're capable of identifying with the whole human race—not just your own petty concerns, ambitions, and fears, but the needs and the passion of all humanity.

When you breathe the whole human race breathes. When one person is suffocated you are suffocated. Injustice is no longer limited to your own personal sphere. When the rights, dignity, and freedom of another is suppressed or ignored, you can feel it being suppressed and ignored within you. It feels like a fire burning in your bones. 

Likewise, when you see someone celebrating the fullness and the glory of human life, you can feel that celebration erupting in your heart.There is a flame in your heart that is dancing you into being. This flame is compassion and compassion alone brings realization into fruition. Without compassion spirituality is merely idealism.

The Introvert & Extrovert: Ascending & Descending the Ladder of Spiritual Practice.

"The human body is an inseverable umbilical cord that connects heaven and earth. If you are too grounded, you are depressed. If you spin off of the earth and get lost in space, you are delusional."

For obvious reasons, the introverted, creative type makes a majority in contemplative circles. They are more comfortable occupying the space of their inner life. They build entire worlds in their mind's eye. They have knack for interpreting movies and literature in a mythological way that relates back to the themes and motifs that shape their inner world. Sitting in a room and zoning out for hours on end, interrupted only by intermittent periods of work, is the norm for these people. But this is one sided. 

Spirituality is about human growth and development. It is a fidelity to the expansion of our true Self, as it unfolds into the present moment. The creative personality is all spirit. Without earthiness creativity just evaporates. It is never born into this world. It is never given a body. Therefore, the spiritual path requires that the introvert cultivate discipline. How do we just sit and be where we are, right smack in the middle of the boredom without spinning off the earth. Furthermore, how do we take the creative magma that is arising from the deep, dark subterranean levels of the body and press it out into "this world"—the world of time and space, acceptance and rejection, success and failure—as an honest expression of our inner life?

We have to learn how to stay put, how to stay grounded, so to speak. The discipline of meditation teaches us this. It teaches us to come back—back to the breath, back to the body, back to the Self, over and over again, until you realize that this monotony, this "coming back" is an intrinsic part of the human life cycle. The creative has to see that life isn’t just expanding, it is also contracting.

Weeding Your Life: Tending the Garden of Wakefulness.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.”

We are not talking about a botanical garden. Eden means, “abundance.” It is a symbol for the image of God—the seed of basic goodness.

This seed has been planted in the heart of man. The body is the soil. Our life is a garden.

Cultivating this garden is often called spirituality.

The term garden designates a degree of intention and investment. Gardens do not grow themselves; they require attention and work. We have to cultivate the soil and water the seeds. Our ideas and plans can be big and truly insightful. But if they are not supplemented by action, they fail to grow.

Walking the spiritual path requires motivation and dedication. When something resonates with us, it is said to have meaning. Motivation is the movement or eruption of meaning. It is inspiration. So, we look at a space and it strikes a chord within us. Suddenly, the motivation to engage our situation arises—to cultivate that sense of meaning. This is an act of investment.

When we arrive at the gateway of the spiritual path we find that our awareness is spread in the worry of many things.

The modern way of life is a busy life; we are perhaps the first generation of humans who have successfully eliminated silence. We wake up to the offensive sound of an alarm clock. We watch the news or listen to music, while frantically drinking our coffee and fixing our hair. Then, we run out of the door. We get in the car and fight through traffic until we arrive at our cubical. We play solitaire, answer e-mails, and make a few phone calls.

During our lunch break, we scroll through the news feed on Facebook, while mindlessly consuming our tuna fish sandwich. Then we return to our cubical for more e-mails and phone calls, supplemented this time by minesweeper. Finally, 5 o’clock rolls around. We fight back through traffic until we are back home. We help the kids with their home work, prepare something for dinner, and wash the dishes. We plop down on the couch and stare at our favorite TV show.

Eventually, we start dozing off. So we go to bed, where we remain until the offensive sound of our alarm clock wakes us up and we start over again.

We have removed any and all periods of silence from our day.

Running and Spiritual Practice.

We love to find more entertaining replacements for spiritual practice. This, unfortunately will not work, because spiritual practice is fundamentally a practice of being with the intensity of right here-right now.
If running, any other form of exercise, or art is used as a solution it is just another form of busyness.  If, on the other hand, one's run is a celebration or an expression of sanity and self-respect, then it is a prayer. Of course, sanity and self-respect are cultivated by spiritual practice.

A Haunting & Challenging Quote from a Brilliant Man.

"Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." ~ Carl Jung 

Jesus: Fully Human and God Incarnate–One Epic Bodhisattva.

What is a Bodhisattva?

Fearlessness is the underlying principle of the Bodhisattva vow and the Mahayana path. In this sense, fearlessness refers to the organic, in born courage that is characteristic of human nature. This sort of courage may not be visible on the surface, but, as Alexander Hamilton suggested, it does exist as a sort of potential energy just waiting to be liberated: “There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.”

Organic fearlessness involves no pep-talk, nor is it something that we create or obtain through effort. It is discovered when we let go of effort and begin to relate with the rawness of our human condition. When we look beyond the veil of our thoughts—our limited self-image—we discover a limitless presence. This presence, in all its vastness and immediacy, is the totality of our being, and it knows no fear.

The fearlessness of the Bodhisattva is an expression of shunyata or emptiness. Initially, we sit in the practice of meditation and observe the mind. We watch as thoughts arise and pass away. Eventually, we begin to notice that there is something going on beyond the thinking mind. However, we are confronted with a problem: The thinking mind, which at present we strongly identify with, is incapable of accessing that which is beyond it. So, we begin to investigate this tendency to identify with thought. Then, like a “flash of lightening in a dark sky,” a discovery is made: The ego or our limited self-image is revealed to be nothing more than the personification of thought. We realize that the ego is incapable of observing anything without thought, because the ego is nothing more than a collection of thoughts. This is the realization of egolessness—insight into the empty nature of the ego concept.

Spiritual but Not Religious.

Here is a discussion between Ken Wilber and Fr. Thomas Keating. These two men are two of the greatest thinkers of our time. I believe Fr. Keating has done more to transform the spiritual landscape in America that anyone since Thomas Merton. He is responsible in large part for the re-introduction of silent contemplation within many Christian communities. Fr. Thomas Keating is a deeply realized individual, and I say this not because he says brilliant things or sounds incredibly intelligent, but because he is relaxed and himself. That is what I find admirable, and so does Ken Wilber (watch his face throughout the interview; he has this goofy smirk!)
It is a bit longer than most of the videos I select, but I find it incredibly interesting, and a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

To Dance or Drink the Punch: That is the Question~ New on Elephant Journal

New article up on Elephant Journal by Ben Riggs from the Refuge Meditation Group: To Dance or Drink the Punch: That is the Question.
A look at spontaneous prayer from a "Buddhist-ish" perspective. Click here to read.

Meditation & Spirituality~ You Are God?

The Holy Trinity in it’s simplest form suggest that God is creator, creature, and the act of creating… God is all in all. This is not to be confused with the idea that the sum total of things equals God. Rather, in truth things are no-thing at all. Life is so whole, so complete, that there are no parts! The creature and the Creator are of one substance. Furthermore, creation is not an event, but Life without beginning or end. Creation is nothing more than that one substance or energy in eternal motion...

“Then he realized; I am this creation, for I have poured it forth from myself.
In that way he became this creation. In verily, he who knows this, becomes in this creation a creator.” - The Upanishads

We participate in this sovereignty to the exact extent that we sacrifice the belief that we are some thing that exist apart from life. We come to total freedom only when we cease to be the impotent idea that engages with life from a safe distance. This idea, also known as the ego, is the only thing that prevents us from realizing that we are in no way discontented, but are in fact a dimension or manifestation of Life. Simply put, the belief that you are not God is the only obstacle to the realization that you were God in the flesh all along!

This misguided belief is sacrificed through an act of complete participation. In other words, the sacrifice and act of complete participation are opposite sides of the same coin. The sacrifice represents the death of the ego, and the act of participation symbolizes the resurrection of the great Reality that has been violently suppressed by confusion and fear. This sacrifice is carried out on the altar of prayer and/or meditation. This sacrifice happens right now!

Meditation & Spirituality~ Is the Quest for God Sterile?

Is there ever a time when our prayer is just "still-born?" When our meditation practice becomes sterile? When spirituality is nothing more than another game we play with ourselves?

It is so easy to get caught up in the monotony of a daily practice... Saying the same prayers everyday. Taking a seat on our cushion, not because it is an opportunity to remember the majesty & dignity of being human, but because it is what "spiritual people" do. When spirituality looses it's vitality we find ourselves simply giving up, or playing the role our ego-centric self image has defined. We either use our lack of inspiration as an excuse to put aside our practice for a while, or we find ourselves pretending that we are super-inspired spiritual juggernauts walking around in the Garden of Eden! Either way, we are missing the point of both prayer and meditation.

Prayer and meditation are vehicles used to transcend the stale-mechanized state of mind, which identifies with a false image. This false image often times becomes heavily invested in a sort of perfectionism that is defined by spiritual virtues. There will no doubt be times when we feel lost and confused. That is simply a consequence of progression; as we move along the path we are bound to discover even subtler forms of confusion. This false image is terrified by these times of confusion because, they do not concur with the image being projected. So we try to run away from the confusion, by refusing to face it or pretending it isn't there. This sort of fear is the primary obstacle we face on the spiritual path because, it keeps suggesting that we get the hell off of this path! However, in truth this fear is far from an excuse not to pray or meditate; it is an invitation to rediscover the wonder of spirituality.

Cultivating the courage to face the mechanized world-view that rejects and suppress spontaneity is the path to freedom. We cannot view suffering as an obstacle to the path because, it is the path. It is only by honestly facing our fear that we can continue to go deeper. When we lack the inspiration to pray with devotion, instead of not praying at all or "praying as if," we can see this as an opportunity to get honest with ourselves. We can pray with our lack of inspiration in mind...

We can't run from the fact that we lack inspiration by giving up our spiritual practice. The motivation to give up one's practice due to a lack of inspiration is just a consequence of the misguided belief that inspiration is a prerequisite for spirituality. Not meditating because one's mind is running all over the place, is like not eating because you are hungry! You will find yourself in an impossible bind if you subscribe to the idea that the reasons for having a spiritual practice are really, the price of admission into the alternate universe of spirituality. The purpose of prayer is to discover inspiration in the midst of confusion; not to gloat or boast! If you are at perfect peace and ease with yourself and the world around you why would you sit down to meditate?

The whole movement of spirituality is one of reconciliation or integration. We have to rediscover honesty; that is to say, a sort of gut level honesty with ourselves. We have to become willing to accept ourselves completely. This begins with cultivating a state of mind, which is spacious enough to accommodate our whole being; the good and the bad. Discovering this spacious state of mind is the point of prayer and meditation. I pray that everyone will come to see confusion and negativity as an invitation to to look within, and not as a barrier preventing them from entering the path of spirituality.

Meditation & Spirituality~ Silence

I cannot speak,
Because I cannot be silent.
I cannot become,
Because I am not.
I live in a coffin and die in a cradle,
Only to emerge as a single thought.



poem composed by Ben Riggs

Meditation & Spirituality~ Here is a talk by Alan Watts which is closely related to the post below... Enjoy

Click here to see the video

Meditation & Spirituality~ Freedom or Fear?

The path of meditation is a movement or change in direction. The movement of meditation is in accord with our natural orientation toward happiness or contentment. In fact, the path of meditation is a relative path, a path which retraces the steps taken toward a static and expired conceptual mind, in order to discover the precision and clarity of the present moment. In Buddhist literature there is an awful lot of talk about emptiness. Here I have translated the term shunyata, traditionally rendered as emptiness, into freedom. In other words, our true nature is free or empty of defining characteristics that serve to limit or govern the creative expression of being. That is the true nature or fundamental state of man- Free! The substance of this energy could be said to be intelligence, or the potential to meet or directly participate in the flow of life. Intelligence is precise. When this potential is actualized the flow of life becomes unified, which is to say that we realize we are not some thing that exists apart from life, but are in fact a manifestation of life. This is the birth of pure creativity. At this point, intelligence begins to wholly participate in the process of life, free of the limitations imposed by self-conscious thought, which enables creative or spontaneous expression.
This freedom or spacious state of mind, which allows for the creative expression of intelligence, is obviously something we have forgotten. In most cases we are too caught up in the self-conscious gossip that has its origins between our ears. We fall into the past or drift off into the future, and then use these dead landscapes as excuses for avoiding the only point where life can be directly met, the present moment. We construct a self-image using expired material from our past. Then we stumble over ourselves as we try to figure out how everyone will react to the contrived image we are projecting, which is in truth nothing more than our own suspicions about the games we are playing. We do not buy the crap we are selling so we are paranoid, and project this paranoia upon our environment. This of course leads to pain and suffering.
Dissatisfaction is the unavoidable outcome of repressing the creative expression of your very being. Projecting this dissatisfaction upon others leads to a tense and claustrophobic environment; one plagued with anxiety, resentment, and confusion. After a while this dissatisfaction becomes overwhelming, and we are forced to reevaluate our world-view. We begin to reconsider a great many of the assumptions we have held onto for many years. Eventually we question the institution of blame or projection. In other words we begin to question whether others are responsible for the dissatisfaction present within our own lives. Once we have realized that the causes and conditions that give birth to our suffering have an internal origin, and therefore require an internal solution we find ourselves walking down the path of spirituality.
Spirituality is essentially the search for meaning or content on an internal level. Spirituality is a dimension of the search for truth, which is characterized by its fundamental rejection of the idea that external phenomena can be blamed or sought out as a solution to the pain and suffering that prompted this search. It calls into question a number of life-long beliefs; both about the world we live in and ourselves. The inquisition of spirituality is so whole, so complete that eventually it brings in for questioning the figure that is in charge of the questioning.
Spirituality can be a scary road to hoe. There is a sense of danger involved. Once our search brings us face to face with the searcher, things get a bit sticky. Spirituality is like a story that kills its central character. The practice of meditation, with its remarkable capacity for discovering space or silence challenges the solidity and autonomy, which for so long have mindlessly been attributed to the ego. Now we find ourselves at a cross road, and this cross road or predicament is the situation I wish emphasize in this essay.
From an intellectual point of view, this predicament seems nearly impossible to work out in practice. We seem to find ourselves in a situation that can only be resolved by falling on our own sword. Obviously such a situation invites hesitation, anxiety, and doubt. What will happen to me if I continue along this path? Will I become a blank slate? Bland? Loose all sense of individuality? These are the sorts of doubt that will inevitably be hurled at anyone who finds themselves in such a bind, an identity crisis. Accompanying these doubts is an intense sort of fear. Everything is on the line!
This incredibly intense existential predicament is brought about, as insight into our true nature is made imminent. The ego comes face to face with freedom or emptiness. Freedom is like kryptonite for the ego! The ego is created and sustained through a dependency upon dualistic relationships with other things in its environment. The ego establishes a sense of identity by creating a conceptual distinction between thought and the environment, which may include other thoughts or people within the vicinity. Once the sense of separation is established ego begins to make contact with these objects. This contact provides the ego with information, which it then interprets via the repository of past experiences in the memory bank. Having interpreted the information received the ego then issues an habitual response in order to manage the affair it has established with its counterpart. Now the relationship has a pattern, which the ego defines or conceptualizes, and it this definition that supplies the ego with a sense of identity or a role to play. For example, inn labeling other as girlfriend, the ego defines itself as boyfriend. The ego is absolutely dependent upon this dynamic in order to sustain it very existence.
As we progress along the path of meditation we are introduced to freedom. Meditation is a movement toward freedom. This introduction suggests that the sense of ego-centric identity characterized by a dependency upon other is a hindrance to the free expression of our true nature. So, the reason why we do not all attain enlightenment today is simple; we do not want it! We are afraid of it. Since we are currently caught up in an ego-centric state of mind we reject the experience of freedom because, from the our current point of view freedom and death are synonymous. This is where the path starts. This is where the path ends. Freedom or fear; what is our choice to be? Like angels and demons fighting on the tip of pin, we dance around this subtle point for the duration of our lives or we manifest the courage to go beyond the narrow-minded dictates of dualistic thought to discover an open or free state of mind which spontaneously expresses itself in the present moment.

Meditation & Spirituality~ And then they ate the fruit...

On occasion, conversations regarding spirituality go beyond the superficial diatribes of stoned hippies and overt intellectuals overheard by annoyed college students trying to study at their local coffee shop. This evolution produces an intelligent discussion, which inquires into the processes that the ego undergoes in order to establish and preserve some sense of identity, and of course the conversation usually begins with an acknowledgement of the pain and suffering brought about by these inbred processes. Perhaps the most genuine question of all relates back to the first cause, and the seemingly impossible predicament we all find ourselves in.
If everything is in truth spaciously-energetic how did it come to pass that we feel claustrophobically-static? We all agree that at times everything seems to fit together, and we all want to believe that life isn’t really that difficult, but at the same time we can never quite shake the feeling that we are somehow missing the boat. This is what is meant by the impossible predicament, and how this ball got rolling is the subject I wish to address in this article. I do not want to go into detail at this point about the later stages of ego’s development. I will simply focus on the initial conception of a sense of self. All I wish to do is show that the question, “How did this ball start rolling?” presupposes that there is a ball, which may not be the case! If you would like me to go into greater depth about the development of ego in its later stages, let me know in the comment box below.

Before the beginning and after the end there is pure energy. This energy is not one, nor two, but all. Known to us as awareness, this energy manifests in a variety of forms. Images, sounds, tastes, smells, tactile sensations, memories, and feelings –the whole landscape emerges from this ocean of awareness like waves- not distinct or separate from the water in any way, but as playful manifestations of water. This is the mind of a child. Once we come of age our initiation into society begins with our parental units consistently barking out strange noises as they point fervently at random objects in the vicinity. Before long we learn that the objects being pointed at are closely associated with the noises being made, so the entire spectrum of experience is shattered into a million things- mommy, daddy, doggy, etc. (Squirrel! Squirrel!) Memory begins to collect not only the words and their intended meanings, but also the governing dynamics of language. At this point everything becomes about forming, or establishing distinct lines of demarcation. In order to form a complete sentence there must be a subject, object, and verbing between the two. So to meet the demands of those pesky adults who continually insist upon us using our words this operating system is booted up more and more, until eventually memory assimilates through repetition to the same dynamics.

Memory’s primary means of expression ceases to be the archetypical symbols characteristic of what we commonly refer to as the sub-conscious. Memory’s modus operandi becomes more conversational and semantic, taking the shape of an internal dialouge. This conditioned assimilation transforms the memory into thinking. Here it is important to note that according to the governing dynamics installed by language in order to think there would need to be a thinker and some-thing to think about. At this point a conceptual crack is imputed upon our worldview, and this crack is the genesis of our discontentment.
Now we begin to experience ourselves as a spectator, which is to say that we feel apart from or other than life. This instills within us a pervasive sort of discontentment. There psychological gulf or belief that we are apart from life is discontentment in embryonic form, as it is the state of being separated from content or meaning. So the belief in a separate “I” is established in relationship to a solid “other”, in the hope that these interactions will provide us with a sense of identity and security. Overtime these dualistic concepts of self & other are reinforced through repetition, becoming in turn more and more defined. Before too long an egocentric consciousness is firmly established, and thought being the voice of the thinker is charged with the task of censoring and interpreting all incoming information. This is an intrinsically self-centered system, as the only concern entertained by thought is the possible consequences the incoming information might impose upon the supposed thinker. Once thought has reached a conclusion about the proposed effects of the information at hand this conclusion is then expressed in our behavior. Since these conclusions revolve around our sense of self, and most everyone is caught up in this game, it should be quite obvious that conflict and suffering are the inevitable outcomes, which when fed back into the perceptive system only serves to reinforce the egocentric position.

On the other hand, when we look closer it becomes obvious that nothing is actually wrong or need of repair, simply misunderstood. When through insight the true nature of thought is discovered to be self-arisen & self-liberating the foundation that supports suffering & conflict comes crumbling down. “I” is little more than an empty concept committed to memory in order to meet the rules and regulations imposed by language, which themselves are concepts committed to memory. Furthermore, the memory itself is no self as it is little more than a wave of awareness. The whole thing is a giant misunderstanding, a cognitive illusion resulting from thought interpreting itself- a closed loop. It is like waking up from a nightmare about losing your job- you do not have to get out of bed and go look for a new one! In the final analysis nothing has changed. We are still walking around in the garden. Life is spacious and vibrant, and we are in no way separate or cut-off from life, rather we are a wave emerging from an ocean of energy. The only thing that prevents us from directly experiencing this is the belief that it is not true.

This is why meditation is so important. Meditation is not a solution to a problem; rather it is the recognition that there is no problem. Meditation practice as opposed to being a solution is a questioning of the idea that there is a need for a solution. Sit and breathe. We sit and observe as all of our fears and expectations come to the surface, and if with dignity we continue to sit it is realized that none of the consequences that sustained these fears and expectations ever materialize. Not because certain “negative” events will never come to pass, but because the reference point from which positive and negative are measured is realized to be little more than a first person singular pronoun. As we simply observe, it is revealed that there is in fact no problem, only a misunderstanding. Insight destroys confusion. In observation all misunderstandings fade away. “In the process of looking seeing will come to an end!”

Meditation & Spirituality~ Our Impossible Predicament

On occasion, conversations regarding spirituality go beyond the superficial diatribes of stoned hippies and overt intellectuals overheard by annoyed college students trying to study at their local coffee shop. This evolution produces an intelligent discussion, which inquires into the process of development and methods of sustainability that the ego undergoes in order to establish and preserve some sense of identity, and of course the conversation usually begins with an acknowledgment of the pain and suffering brought about by these inbred processes. Perhaps the most genuine question of all relates back to the first cause, and the seemingly impossible predicament we all find ourselves in. To a certain degree we relate to our relentlessly rational café neighbors, who suggest that life is a game of give and take. If we wish to win we must be willing to lose, which of course implies that a certain degree of suffering is built right into the network of life. On some level it is an easy proposition to accept, because we acknowledge the pain and dissatisfaction present in our own lives. However, when we step outside for a breath of fresh air we find ourselves intuitively agreeing or least wanting to agree with the hippies that litter the lawn in front of the coffee shop. They seem to think that life is not that difficult, and in fact everything is perfect. We are left to ourselves to reconcile these two extremes. If everything is in truth spaciously-energetic how did it come to pass that feel claustrophobically-static? I agree that at times everything seems to fit together, and I want to believe that life isn’t really all that difficult, but at the same time I can never quite shake the feeling that I am missing something. This is what is meant by the impossible predicament, and how this ball got rolling is the subject I wish to address in this article. I do not want to go into detail at this point about the later stages of ego’s development. I will simply focus on the initial conception of a sense of self. All I wish to do is show that the question, “How did this ball start rolling?” presupposes that there is a ball, which may not be the case! If you would like me to go into greater depth about the development of ego in its later stages, let me know in the comment box below.

Before the beginning and after the end there is pure energy. This energy is not one, nor two, but all. Known to us as awareness, this energy manifests in a variety of forms. Images, sounds, tastes, smells, tactile sensations, memories, and feelings –the whole landscape emerges from this ocean of awareness like waves- not distinct or separate from the water in any way, but as a playful manifestation of water. This is the mind of a child. Once we come of age our initiation into society begins with our parental units consistently barking out strange noises as they point fervently at random objects within the vicinity. We soon learn that the object being pointed at is closely associated with the noise being made, so the entire spectrum of experience is shattered into a million things- mommy, daddy, dog, etc. Memory begins to collect not only the words and their intended meanings, but also the governing dynamics of language. At this point everything becomes about forming, or establishing distinct lines of demarcation. In order to form a complete sentence there must be a subject, object, and verbing between the two. So to meet the demands of those pesky adults who continually insist upon us using our words this operating system is booted up more and more, until eventually memory assimilates through repetition to the governing dynamics of language.

Memory’s primary means of communication ceases to be the archetypical symbols characteristic of what we commonly refer to as the sub-conscious. Memory’s modus operandi becomes more conversational and semantic, taking the shape of an internal dialouge. This conditioned assimilation transforms the memory into thinking. Here it is important to note that according to the governing dynamics installed by language in order to think there would need to be a thinker and some-thing to think about. At this point a conceptual crack is imputed upon our worldview, and this crack is the genesis of our discontentment. We begin to experience ourselves as distinct or other than life, and as a result we are left feeling lifeless- without meaning or content. So the belief in a separate “I” is established in relationship to a solid “other”, and overtime these dualistic concepts of self & other are reinforced through repetition, becoming in turn more and more defined. Before too long an egocentric consciousness is firmly established, as thought is charged with the task of censoring and interpreting all incoming information. Thoughts only concern in interpreting information is how it affects the supposed thinker. Once thought has reached a conclusion about the proposed effects of the information at hand this conclusion is then expressed in our behavior. Since these conclusions revolve around our sense of self, and most everyone is caught up in this game, it should be quite obvious that conflict and suffering are the inevitable outcomes, which when fed back into the perceptive system only serve to reinforce the egocentric position, until this position has been reinforced to the point that it is too dense and implodes in on itself.

So when we look closer we realize that nothing is actually wrong or need of repair, simply misunderstood, and when through insight the true nature of thought is discovered the scaffolding upon which suffering is supported comes crumbling down. “I” is little more than a concept committed to memory in order to meet the rules and regulations imposed by language, which themselves are concepts committed to memory. Furthermore, the memory itself is no self; it is little more than a wave of awareness. The whole thing is a giant misunderstanding, a cognitive illusion resulting from thought interpreting itself- a closed loop. In the final analysis nothing has changed. We are still walking around in the garden. Life is spacious and vibrant, and we are in no way separate or cut-off from life, rather we are a wave emerging from an ocean of energy. The only thing that prevents us from directly experiencing this is the belief that it is not true.

This is why meditation is so important. Meditation is not a solution to a problem- it is the recognition that there is no problem. Meditation practice as opposed to being a solution is a questioning of the idea that there is a problem. Sit and breathe. As we simply observe, it is revealed that there is in fact no problem, only a misunderstanding. Insight destroys confusion. In observation all misunderstandings fade away. “In the process of looking seeing will come to an end!”