The Monkey Mind

Suffering is the primary motivating factor behind spiritual practice.

Few, if any, people show up just looking to broaden their horizons. Most feel like they are flying through life with their hair on fire. This has always been true, but it is particularly true of this day and age. The modern life is an impoverished life that is hell bent on convincing you that you are broken or incomplete. It preys on the belief in our own brokenness. It triggers this insecurity in us and then tries to sell us this product and that product. This transforms life into a desperate search for the magical missing ingredient. By time we arrive on the meditation cushion, we are insecure and paranoid. We feel as though our minds are driving 90-to-nothing in 10 different directions simultaneously.

Traditionally, this has been described as the "monkey mind."

The monkey mind is mischievous. It bounces around from place to place, messing with everything. It reminds me a bit of Dennis the Menace. But if you sit on the cushion and watch this "monkey mind" I bet you won't think it is so cute. We describe it as if it were a spider monkey or one of them cute little boogers we see in the movies. But in reality it is nothing like a pet. It is like a wild, territorial chimpanzee. It is vicious and unpredictable. You don't want to pinch it's cheeks or pet it all, you want to run like hell. But that is part of the aggression.

The only way to work with this "monkey mind" is to stop separating yourself from this monkey mind. It may be true that in the final analysis, you are not your thoughts. But, practically speaking, we are in the first analysis, not the final analysis. We are just learning how to sit here—how to stop running. Everything in us wants to get up and run away—we want to run and hide in our expectations, memories, regrets, and ideas. The speed of all this is truly terrifying. We need a strong rope, something that we can hold onto so we do not get blown away by the powerful winds of paranoia.

The breath anchors us in the present moment. It is our totem. The breath symbolizes the precision and simplicity of the present moment. It is the ever-present gateway to sanity. But we have been breathing our whole lives. Just the breath ain't going to get it. We have to develop resolve. That resolve comes from our pain and suffering. We have to know, firsthand, that the monkey mind ain't cute. That it will pound on us and destroy our life—it will literally beat us to death—if we do not intervene. We intervene by returning to present moment as symbolized by the breath.

One of the biggest misconceptions in modern society is that the storm will blow over. The burden—the karmic or conditioned residue of every self-centered, fear driven decision we have ever made—will not just go away; the momentum must be burnt up. We cannot hide from our burden or evacuate our life. We have to sit right in the middle of the storm and feel the winds. "I shall remain, at those times, Shantideva says in The Bodhissattva's Guide to the Way of Life, "like a block of wood, able to restrain myself." This is why meditation is so hard at first.

We have to give up the approach to life that feeds the "monkey mind." It is the running and hiding that generates the speed and panic that characterizes the "monkey mind." It is, as I said before, part of the aggression. This is where we are, so this where we have to begin. We cannot wait for the clouds to go away and the sun to come out. The "monkey mind" is the very mind that has to learn how to sit. This is the first analysis, so for practical purposes, we are the monkey mind. When the winds begin to blow it is time to practice.

A flood of thoughts is not evidence that you cannot practice meditation, though the monkey mind will try to use it as such a justification. On the contrary, each thought is an opportunity to practice. With out a discursive mind what would you practice? This is the relationship Buddhism has with suffering. Suffering always leads to the path, because suffering is our path. This is the basic message.

It is easy to convince ourselves that we have all these options. In a consumer based society you are taught to believe that there are always options. But this is not necessarily true. Investing in your sanity, in what it means to be a person is not an option, at least not in the true sense of the word. Perhaps we can choose to take care of ourselves and invest in our well-being, but this choice is more like the choice you are presented with while sky-diving: yes, it is true that you can choose whether you want to pull the chord or not, but it is pretty straight forward. You either pull the chord or go splat!

We choose life or death every morning before we leave the house. If I choose to invest in my sanity, then I will grow into the life my body and soul were designed to live. If I chose to pretend that I am an organism designed to live in an economy, I will look past who I am to who I am suppose to become. This process of becoming is a rat race; it never ends. The sense of authenticity is replaced by an impoverished self-image that is always working towards an impossible state of equilibrium. We try to figure out what "they" want us to be, and with every word and deed we mangle our spirit until it reflects the image prescribed by society. Over time this process of becoming only gains in speed and intensity. The pressure continues to mount until we intervene or there is a nervous breakdown.

This storm is not going to blow over. If you ignore it now, it will continue to grow, like a virus until it consumes your being. It will mangle the reflection of your spirit. Over time it will get worse, never better. Like Gollum, you will become unrecognizable even to yourself. The only antidote is to stop. Pure and simple. Stop. Put a leash on your mind. Tether it to the present moment. Tie it to the breath.

Allow the breath to guide your awareness back into the immediacy and the freshness of the body. Notice the coolness of the in-breath. Feel the chest and stomach expand with the inhalation. Feel the stomach and chest contract with the exhalation. Notice the warmth of the out-breath. Train in this way every morning, but bring it with you into your day. It is not enough to practice in the privacy of your home. You do not leave the breath at home with your cushion, so do not leave your practice there either. It is about interrupting the speed and the intensity of these paranoid cycles of thought throughout the day. Ultimately, we are all called to a life of unceasing practice. Allow your life to be renewed with each breath.

Modern Spirituality Part 1: Buddhist Meditation & Stress.

Buddhist Spirituality and the Practice of Meditation.

Meditation is a pragmatic approach toward being human.

Rather than discarding anything, the path of meditation invites us to look at whatever arises free of our personal spin. It is a process of befriending yourself by allowing yourself to be as you are in that moment. We do not act out or suppress anything. On the meditation cushion there is nowhere to run.

In meditation, we hold the space as both sides of our internal conflict pour into one another. In this moment, who we are ceases to be a problem. We discover a thread of continuity. It is this uninterrupted and indestructible thread of experience that unites wisdom and ignorance, heaven and hell, or nirvana and samsara. It is the ground from which we emerge.

This radical non-duality has profound implications. First of all, rather than insanity being some solid condition, it is revealed to be the product of an evolutionary chain of events.

In other words, every situation—even the dark and desperate—is workable. Stuck is an illusion.

Second, sanity or wisdom is not some commodity that we have to create or produce—it is self-existing. Awakening is effortless; it is a process of consenting to who or what we are, rather than the indefinite task of becoming me. Finally, we do not have to work our way back through our narrative into the past in order to reconnect with sanity. It is available in every moment of every day. It is the ground from which every moment of every day arises.  Confusion is not an obstacle to insight; it is the path to awakening. Wisdom is just the observation of confusion.

What is Stress?

We tend to associate stress with personality. It was the research of Stanford biologist, Robert Sapolsky that revolutionized the way we think about stress. He discovered that stress was an innate feature key to the survival of our species.  He uncovered the thread of continuity that connects stress with basic intelligence.

Stress is not a personality trait. It is a natural mechanism found in most sentient organisms, which is triggered during life and death situations.

Sapolsky defines stress as follows, “a stressor is a challenge to homeostatic balance—a real physical challenge in the world—and the stress-response is the adaptation your body mobilizes to re-establish homeostasis.” A stressor is a challenge to the biological balance that supports life, while stress is the body’s response to that challenge. In short, stress is the fight or flight mechanism triggered in life or death situations. But, at least in theory, once stability is restored the stress response should dissipate.

For example, there is an antelope peacefully grazing in an African meadow. Then, suddenly a lion appears from behind the brush. It is the stress response that shuts down all of the antelope’s auxiliary functions, such as healing and ovulation, and redistributes that energy to more visceral features relevant to the antelope’s immediate survival. It is stress that dilates the pupils, increases the heart rate and the energy reserve by secreting stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), in order to power the muscles instrumental in running and fighting. Once the lion is out of sight, the antelope replenishes its calorie reserve, and reinstates its auxiliary functions. It returns to a state of rest. For obvious reasons, stress is not only helpful, it is key to our survival.

Ummmm, why do I react to a talkative cash register attendant like an antelope reacts to a lion?

Well, just like the antelope, we get startled or panicked. There is a sudden shock or trauma—a burst of energy we are incapable of consciously relating to. This much is obvious. Only, in our case, seldom is there a lion or any tangible threat to our life. With humans, stress is triggered by a psychological event. Your expectation of a speedy check out is not met, and suddenly you are knocked off balance by your re-entry into reality. Then comes the stress inducing realization that you are going to be late for your meeting. To make matters worse, the cyclical nature of human psychology and the inability of our conscious brain to control more primal regions of our anatomy transforms stress into a chronic or habitual tendency with catastrophic effects.

Robert Sapolsky.

If stress is natural, why is it unhealthy?

The stress response shuts down all secondary features, including healing, while your body is busy trying to defend itself against the psychological attack you’ve launched against yourself. As a result, it is not clearing plaque from your arteries, fighting off infection, or repairing the effects of metabolism. Therefore, not only the quality of your life deteriorates, but your actual life span shrinks. Neurotic stress dramatically increases the risk of heart disease, heart attack, gastro-intestinal complications, depression, anxiety, obesity, and a host of other health problems. Plus, it increases the likelihood that we will develop secondary health problems—complications resulting from unhealthy coping mechanisms—such as, alcohol and drug addiction, diabetes, and sleep disorders.

Why do we experience neurotic stress but antelopes don’t? 

First of all, the conditions have to be operable. Essentially, we are talking about the development of confusion within the confines of stress: If basic sanity is the foundation, where did insanity or confusion come from? Or, if stress is fundamentally intelligent why do we experience it as a form of neurosis?

Insanity is a point of view disconnected from the revelation of direct experience. The development of insanity begins with a subtle but profound shift of awareness: We mistake the direct experience of Self with the tendency to think about our selves. This is triggered by the installation of the word ‘I.’ The word ‘I’ has no symbolic value; it is incapable of pointing past itself. It is only capable of referring to that which made the reference. Therefore, we get stuck in a self-oriented or self-centered cycle of thought. But ‘I’ did not just fall out of the sky. It was installed when we uploaded language. So, the conditions are made operable with the acquisition of language. Antelopes do not have words. Therefore, they do not have neurotic stress.

Now the stage is set for development of neurotic stress…

“There is a sudden shock or trauma—a burst of energy we are incapable of consciously relating to.”

We become obsessed with ‘that’ eruption of energy. It is our tunnel vision that transforms the spacious or fluid quality of energy or life situations into ‘that.’ This fixation appears to solidify space, but, in truth, it just creates a blind-spot. Like watching a shiny new car drive down the street, we ignore the space surrounding the object—the undefined, unformed quality of Being that constitutes our basic nature. This ignor-ance—the refusal to look at the blind-spot—is the basis of confusion.

The fixation with ‘that’ implies ‘this.’ The implied ‘this’ is nothing more than a self-conscious recognition of the blind-spot; while ‘that’ represents the quality of life. So, ‘this’ is cut-off or disconnected from life. It is empty. Furthermore, this blind-spot is associated with ‘I.’ So, I am empty or discontented—without content or meaning. I feel lifeless. This transforms my life into the search for meaning, content, and vitality.

How is this a life and death situation?

It is important to remember that this entire situation, apart from the basic eruption of energy, is played out on a psychological level. So, we’re talking about a psychological death. The material used to construct this psycho-scenario is thought. Following the acquisition of language, thought is largely in part governed by the rules of grammar. These rules require that a subject and object be verbing with one another in order to form a complete sentence. So, self-completion or the attainment of meaning, purpose, or content is contingent upon the co-dependent relationship between “that and this”, or self and other.

Just as left and right depend upon one another for definition, “self” requires the reference point of “other” in order to establish personality. ‘I’ acquires form, identity, or a role to play through relationship with objects in its environment. By labeling someone an enemy, ‘I’ obtains direction or a role to play. When ‘I’ names other “wife,” it spontaneously attains the title of “husband.” In a mind governed by language, ‘this’ is defined by its relationship with ‘that’, and vice versa.

When the relationship with ‘other’ is threatened, the identity of ‘self’ is also called into question. “I am the husband.” This one simple statement has far reaching implications. It is impregnated with a series of expectations: “I am the bread winner. I am the head of the house hold.” So, when the husband gets laid off, and it is his wife’s pay check that puts food on the table, his identity is called into question. ‘I’ no longer adds up, because it cannot fulfill the self-imposed expectations of a husband. From an established ego’s point of view, its life is being threatened.

How does neurotic stress become chronic stress?

The sophistication of confusion or the birth and development of ego is how the life and death situation is dealt with.  Interestingly enough, it is also how it was created.

The ego is a pattern of consciousness. It is the conscious brain’s attempt to manage the stress response or eliminate threats to its stability. Unfortunately, the thinking brain is incapable of accessing the unconscious mind for the same reason a baby cannot give birth to its mother. The stress response originates in the amygdala, which is located in the oldest part of the mind, the limbic system. The un-conscious is pre-conscious—the primal mind happens before the ego. So, the ego is incapable of turning off the stress response.

To make matters worse, ‘this’ is defined by ‘that.’ The ego was installed to manage traumas. So, the fact that the alarm is still sounding is, from the ego’s point of view, a traumatic event. It calls into question the legitimacy and therefore the identity of the ego. We are stuck in a vicious cycle. “There is a sudden shock or trauma—a burst of energy we are incapable of consciously relating to…”

Revolving around the notion of ‘I’ as it does, ego-centric consciousness cannot consent to its own death. It is incapable of acknowledging its own impotence, because it cannot entertain any other possibility apart from itself. This is why ignore-ance is the basis of ego. ‘I’ is a sign that can only reference itself. Therefore, it will always nominate itself for the job when the alarm sounds…even if it was the one that pulled the chord!

Neurotic stress is chronic because the criminal is in charge of the crime scene.

Is there any way to obtain freedom from self?

While the ego might be intrinsically ignore-ant, it is not stupid. In fact, the ego is brilliant. When the cycle is re-triggered, rather than giving up or trying the exact same thing again, it comes at the threat from a different angle. All egos are essentially the same. On the basis of ignore-ance, they establish separation, and define their position in relationship to other. Once they have their footing they begin to develop their own unique properties. In an effort to more successfully manage their environment, egos develop personality programs or defense mechanisms.

These personalities are like costume changes. They still seek to control or manage the situation, but with their own style. Fundamentally, they emerge from basic intelligence, but they are tainted by self-consciousness. It is insecurity—the self-conscious wake of the trauma—that characterizes these personalities. It is a lingering thought in the back of our mind that remembers when we got hurt. It knows that we are defenseless, completely vulnerable. It is this simple fear that drives the ego, and each of these personalities is a sort of echo of that fear.

“There is a thread of continuity. It is this uninterrupted and indestructible thread of experience that unites wisdom and ignorance, heaven and hell, or nirvana and samsara. It is the ground from which we emerge.” These various styles of neurosis have their origins in our physiological inheritance or instincts. In other words, each of these personalities is grounded in the voice of basic sanity. In order to move beyond the debilitating cycle these personalities mask, we will have to reconnect with this voice of basic intelligence. This is the voice of the body.

The Key to Spirituality: Learn to Trust Your Self.

No one comes to spirituality for shits-&-giggles. Our arrival on the spiritual path is precipitated by our own suffering. Often times this suffering is exaggerated, but sometimes it is not. Regardless of the extremity, the contrast we experience between our anxious-stressed out “9-to-5″ world, and the simplicity of the meditation cushion is an impressionable event.

Initially, the freshness and simplicity of the spiritual path sticks out like a sore, but welcomed, thumb in the hectic world of deadlines, bills, and soccer practice. But after a while, our practice looses it’s edge. Relaxation is no longer something to be found in the practice of meditation. Rather, the practice of meditation becomes just another “to-do” on our list. Instead of being the refuge it once was, meditation is transformed into just another burden. That is, something we think we should make time for, while simultaneously resenting and rebelling against the idea that it is an indispensable part of our lives.

How to Practice Being a Sane Person Without a Spiritual Bone in Your Body.

3 Non-Spiritual Remedies for the Common Funk.

Everybody slips into a funk from time to time. I’m talking about an “ignore every call-I don’t wanna meditate, I’m watchin’ Law & Order and eatin’ ice cream” kinda funk. These bad moods are to be expected. They’re the mental equivalent of the common cold.

Often times these funks are immune to the formalities of our spiritual practice. Not because our formal practice is impotent in the face of a rotten attitude, but because we lack the inspiration and/or motivation to stop eating Cheetos and get off the couch! Some pretentious ass “spiritual” friend of yours might suggest, “Why don’t you try meditating on the couch…you know, like mindful of every chip you eat.” So, let me rephrase my previous statement: We lack the required inspiration and/or motivation to do something we don’t want to do.

Flippin' Comic Flapjacks With the Buddha.

“Something living, something real, is taking place in everything.” ~Chogyam Trungpa

“Our ordinary approach to reality and truth is so poverty stricken that we don’t realize that the truth is not one truth, but all truth. It could be everywhere, like raindrops, as opposed to water coming out of a faucet that only one person can drink from at a time. Our limited approach is a problem…

Taking Refuge in Your Own Humanity {Video}.

We start to realize that there is a great intelligence, which up until this very moment we have ignored. Taking refuge is essentially learning to trust this intelligence. Beating within each and every one of us is the heart of enlightenment. Taking refuge in this heart is the essence of spirituality.

Buddhism: Refuge--The Heart of Spirituality.

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An Example Of Mindfulness.

photo courtesy of tussenpozen

“Conversations between the moon and forest and dramatic thunderstorms are not the only times I hear the call of the cosmos. I also hear it during the stillness of midday…

Do As You Do And Not As You Think.

Painting by artist Hélio Cunha

There seems to be a gulf between our commentary on reality and reality itself...

Religion And Its Damn Rules...

Photo Courtesy of Nicor

Are really just efficient guidelines.

We are taking off down a path that few of us have ever walked consciously. For the most part we have no clue where in the world we are, or how in God’s Name we got there. So, it might be nice to acquire a set of guiding principles, some new directives that may make it a bit easier for us to stay on course. Such guidelines can be found in Buddhism's ten-natural acts.

The Mindfulness Manifesto.

Grounding our voice in silence…

As a people, we tend to organize our thoughts, ideas, and feelings into a type of self image by projecting it upon varying tribes that share similar fears and expectations. We consider ourselves democrats, republicans, Christians, Buddhist, or atheist. We learn our place in this world from media, culture, our parents, friends, and family. In this way, our identity becomes some inheritance, or hand-me down persona. Something we never really get comfortable with…

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Freedom From Choice.

Everyone of us entertain a sense of self that sits back, apart from life, as if life was some-thing that the self cautiously plays with...

Listening To Tragedy.

Based on the shooting in Arizona, and a conversation I had earlier I felt compelled to write this article. It is a different way of looking at tragedy. It is, in my opinion, the most important message I have to convey... Click here to read it on Elephant Journal.
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If you like it please share it with your friends- it is a message I would like to spread!

The Power Of Vulnerability.

Truly Elegant!

"The only true elegance is vulnerability."~ Chogyam Trungpa

Vulnerability is the necessary condition for the spontaneous expression of intelligence... 

The Restoration Of Sanity.

Painting courtesy of Sylvie Eudes

In observation what once appeared to be chaos is revealed to be order.


Harmony is a funny thing. We tend to place a great deal of importance on arranging our environment in a harmonious way. We seem to have a Feng Shui approach to life. We try to arrange our environment and the people in it, in such a way, that is harmonious. Of course, this sense of harmony varies from one person to the next, dependent upon each persons idea of what is harmonious...

We develop these ideas about the way things should be. We buy into the idea that if the world was more like this or that, then everything would go off perfectly. Once we have developed an idea of perfection an interesting thing begins to happen...

Having developed an idea as to how things ought to be, we impulsively begin to assign roles to those in our environment. We assume that it is their task to bring our plans of perfection to fruition. We place unverbalized expectations upon the people in our lives. At this point we have created a world where we rest at the center as the foreman, and everyone dances around us charged with the task of accomplishing our agenda. We misunderstand our place in the world, and as a result come to false conclusions about the role others are to play in life.

It becomes our life. We own it. Therefore, things are not just happening, they are happening to us. This is an important distinction. Instead of everyone having a role to play in life, they appear to be assigned a role in our life. As opposed to being an expression of space-time, it is as if we stand apart from space and time, as a solid-permanent entity, that owns a particular stretch of real estate.

It is important to note that most everyone is involved in this fundamental confusion. So, it should come as no surprise that conflict is the inevitable result. The world is spinning around 6 billion centers!

This whole movement rests upon the assumption that the world is suppose to be other than it is... Of course, we come to this conclusion, because reality does not conform to our ideas about reality. So, sitting at the core of this assumption is the original misunderstanding, namely that thought is the Alpha and Omega. We believe that what we think is the first and last word. As a result, we believe that reality should conform to our thinking. This is the inception of insanity. We are insane when we buy into the idea that reality is suppose to be inspired by our thinking!

When this isn't the case (which is often!) life appears to be chaotic. This chaos, or our inability to conceptualize truth, invites us to develop ideas about how the world should be. From this point of view, what we call chaos, is in reality nothing more than a lack of understanding. This lack of understanding gives rise to a certain sort of fear or paranoia- a feeling that there is no ground to stand on. This fear is then expressed in our expectations or ideas about how the world is suppose to be... Our hopes, aspirations, or expectations are nothing more than the affirmative version or the expression of our fears and apprehensions.

How do we solve this problem? Simple enough, it is!

Painting courtesy of Zygmunt Kubasiak

This whole thing is built upon the idea that reality is suppose to conform to our thoughts. What if our thinking should be inspired by reality? What if we paused for a moment to listen to truth, and allowed what we heard to be expressed in our thinking? What if, instead of perceiving our lack of understanding, or the discrepancy between our thinking and reality as a threat, we saw it as a reminder to check in with the present moment? What if that paranoia, or the feeling that there is no ground to stand on is really an intelligent message from the body, which suggests that our thinking is divorced from truth or content, and is therefore unhealthy?

Confusion is nothing more than a lack of observation. When we listen all things are made clear. In observation what once appeared to be chaos is revealed to be order. It is not that reality changes per se. Instead, we have discovered the natural order of things, and allowed our thinking to be a reflection of this order. This is the restoration of sanity.