Category: Excerpts

Alan Watts, Out of Your Mind: The Nature of Consciousness

“In order to understand what the self is, you have to remember that it doesn’t need to remember anything.

Just like you don’t need to know how to work your thyroid gland.”

“Doesn’t it really astonish you that you are this fantastically complex thing and that you’re doing all this and you never had any education in how to do it? You never learned, but you are this miracle?

Well the point is, that from a strictly physical, scientific standpoint, this organism is a continuous energy with everything else that’s going on. And if I am my foot, I am the sun.

Only we’ve got this little partial view, we’ve got the idea that “No, I am just something in this body: the ego.”

That’s a joke.

The ego is nothing other than the focus of conscious attention. It’s like a radar on a ship. The radar on a ship is a troubleshooter; “Is there anything in the way?”

And conscious attention is a designed function of the brain to scan the environment, like a radar does, and note for any trouble making changes. But if you identify yourself with your troubleshooter, then naturally you define yourself as being in a perpetual state of anxiety.

And the moment we cease to identify with the ego and become aware that we are the whole organism, you realize as the first thing, how harmonious it all is.

Because your organism is a miracle of harmony, all this thing functioning together. Even those creatures that are fighting each other in the blood stream and eating each other up. If they weren’t doing that you wouldn’t be healthy.

So what is discord at one level of your being is harmony at a higher level.

And you begin to realize that, and you begin to be aware too that the discords of your life, and the discords of people’s lives, which are a fight at one level, at a higher level of the universe are healthy and harmonious.

And you suddenly realize that everything that you are and do is at that level, as magnificent and as free of any blemish

as the patterns in waves,

the markings in marble,

the way a cat moves.

And that this world is really okay. It can’t be anything else because otherwise it couldn’t exist. “

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters to a Young Poet. Modern Library Edition 2001

“You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work. Now (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside and that is what you should most avoid right now.

No one can advise or help you- no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.

This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer.

And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. Then come close to Nature.

Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose.

Don’t write love poems; avoid those forms that are too facile and ordinary: they are the hardest to work with, and it take a great, fully ripened power to create something individual where good, even glorious, traditions exist in abundance.

So rescue yourself from these general themes and write about what your everyday life offers you; describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty- describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember.

If your everyday life seems poor, don’t blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place. And even if you found yourself in some prison, whose walls let in none of the world’s sounds- wouldn’t you still have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attention to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of the enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance.

And if out of this turning-within, out of this immersion in your own world, poems come, then you will not think of asking anyone whether they are good or not. Nor will you try to interest magazines in these works: for you will see them as your dear natural possession, a piece of your life, a voice from it.

A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.

So, dear Sir, I can’t give you any advice but this: to go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows; at its source you will find the answer to the question of whether you must create. Accept that answer, just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it. Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside. For the creator must be a world for himself and must find everything in himself and in Nature, to whom his whole life is devoted.

But after this descent into yourself and into your solitude, perhaps you will have to renounce becoming a poet (if, as I have said, one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn’t write at all). Nevertheless, even then, this self-searching that I ask of you will not have been for nothing. Your life will still find its own paths from there, and that they may be good, rich, and wide is what I wish for you, more than I can say” (p. 10).

from Denise Levertov’s The Sorrow Dance, New Directions, 1967

To speak of sorrow

works upon it,

moves it from its

crouched place barring

the way to and from the soul’s hall —

out in the light it

shows clear, whether

shrunken or known as

a giant wrath —

discrete

at least, where before

its great shadow joined

the walls and roof and seemed

to uphold the hall like a beam.

Dalai Lama

Lecture. HH Main Temple, Mcleod Ganj, Northern India. April 16th, 2018. 

 

“Remind yourself daily of all our brothers and sisters.

All seven billion of your family.

Basic human nature, like children show, is compassion.

Constant anger, or hatred, is eating our human system.

Constantly purify yourself and come back to your compassion.”

 

“It is extremely important that we introduce compassion and interdependence into our education.”

 

“In the education of our current system, children learn to find the differences in each other.

Today we are in a period of a crisis of our emotions.

India’s understanding of respecting all religions, including non-believers, is one that can help internationally: secular beliefs. “

“Focus on interdependence and one-ness. Us vs. Them mentality is causing our problems. Remove the barriers.

Focusing on the self too much causes loneliness. Just remember we are all human beings otherwise the differences will cause us anxiety.”

 

“Inner peace needs self confidence.

Self confidence needs honesty. Self confidence brings will power.”

 

“Peace does not come from prayer.

Humans create violence, it is up to us to create peace.

We must not think of making change from force. 

Dialogue is what is needed.

Force is from the feudal system. War and force are from this old system.

What use is anger? It will only increase our problems.”

 

“Take care of oneself. Be wise-selfish. “

 

 

 

 

 

The Secret Life of Plants  Peter Tomkins and Christopher Bird, 1973.

Luther Burbank (1848-1946); lecture: “How to Produce New Fruits and Flowers“, American Pomological Society Gathering

“In pursuing the study of any of the universal and everlasting laws of nature,

whether relating to the life, growth, structure and movements of a giant planet, the tiniest plant, or the psychological movements of the human brain,

some conditions are necessary before we can become one of nature’s interpreters or of the creator of any valuable work for the world.

Preconceived notions, dogmas, and all personal prejudice and bias must be laid aside.

Listen patiently, quietly, and reverently to the lessons, and one by one, which Mother Nature has to teach, shedding light on that which was before a mystery,

so that all who will, may see and know.

She conveys her truths only to those who are passive and receptive.

Accepting these truths as suggested, wherever they may lead, then we have the whole universe in harmony with us.

At last man has found a solid foundation for science, having discovered that he is part of a universe which is eternally unstable in form, eternally immutable in substance.”

 

 

 

Shambala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior Chögyam Trungpa, 1984. 

“The mind of fearlessness should be put in the cradle of loving-kindness

and suckled with the profound and brilliant milk of eternal doubtlessness.

In the cool shade of fearlessness,

fan it with the fan of joy and happiness.

When it grows older,

with various displays of phenomena,

lead it to the self-existing playground.

When it grows older still,

in order to promote the primordial confidence,

lead it to the archery range of the warriors.

When it grows older still,

to awaken the primordial self-nature,

let it see the society of men which posses beauty and dignity.

Then the fearful mind can change into the warrior’s mind,

and that eternally youthful confidence can expand into space without beginning or end.

At that point it sees the Great Eastern Sun.”

The Power of Awareness Neville Goddard, 1952.

“Since your life is determined by your assumptions, you are forced to recognize the fact that you are either a slave to your assumptions or their master.

Becoming the master of your assumptions is the key to undreamed of freedom and happiness.

You can attain this mastery by deliberate conscious control of your imagination. Form a mental image, a picture of the state desired, of the person you want to be. Concentrate your attention upon the feeling that you already are that person.

First visualize the person in your consciousness. Then feel yourself to be in that state as though it actually formed your surrounding world.

The great secret is a controlled imagination and a well sustained attention, firmly and repeatedly focused on the object to be accomplished.

Every state is already there as mere possibilities as long as we think of them, but as overpoweringly real when we think from them.

.. You become according to your resigned will and your resigned will is your concept of yourself and all that you consent to and accept as true.

.. Every phase of your life is made by the exercise of your imagination.

Determined imagination alone is the means of your progress, of the fulfilling of your dreams.

It is the beginning and end of all creating.

The great secret is a controlled imagination and a well-sustained attention firmly and repeatedly focused on the feeling of the wish fulfilled until it fills the mind and crowds all other ideas out of consciousness.

.. The Truth that sets you free is that you can experience in imagination what you desire to experience in reality, and by maintaining this experience in imagination, your desire will become an actuality.

.. You must stop spending your thoughts, time, and money. Everything in life must be an investment.

To spend is to waste without a return. To invest is to lay out for a purpose from which a profit is expected.

It is about the transformation of the moment. It is only what is done now that counts. Whenever we assume the feeling of being what we want to be, we are investing.” (p.19)

 

“Your imagination is you, yourself, and the world as your imaginations sees it is the real world.” (p. 25)

 

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

..Be still and know that you are that which you desire to be, and you will never have to search for it.” (p.38)

 

“The whole of creation exists in you, and it is your destiny to become increasingly aware of its infinite wonders and to experience ever greater and grander portions of it.” (p.42)

“What law prevails in this nearly infinite journey that governs all entities

and their precise interrelationships,

and prevents any disorder in their development and evolutionary motion

as presented in the manifestation of nature?”

-Molana Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha

Gene Keys Richard Rudd, UK, 2009.

“We are all really children.

Children of the cosmos, and our only real job is to let go of our seriousness and find the delight in every exquisite jewel that life places before us.” (p. 21)

“Our deep seated fear that life is based on chance leads to fear, and shallow breath. It manifests through our need to maintain control over our lives. It is only when we begin to touch the core of the primal fear within us that our system begins to let go of this deep seated tensing of our being.

“The more we allow and feel the fear, the more we let go into the embrace of the cosmos, and the more we realize how deeply we are held and protected by it.” (p. 17)

“The path of innovation broadly means to improve something by introducing a new element or elements.

The gift of innovation requires adults to allow themselves to be shaped by their environment and be as open-hearted and open-minded as a child. All preconceived notions, dogmas, or beliefs, must be discarded when they no longer serve the developing synthesis.

Innovation also requires a deep sense of inner trust.” (p.19)

“Just as the cell’s true brain is in its membrane rather than its nucleus, so our true brain in in our emotional system. Like the cellular membrane, the solar plexus system determines what frequencies are allowed in and out of the body.

“This is the sacred secret: Life is designed to keep on innovating and the old human with its single-celled island mentality has had its day.”

“The certainty of order within the universe is a feeling that can only be captured by a more advanced system of awareness.

Above all, it is equated with the human heart and the feeling of love and unity that links between all creatures.

“Your true home is not located within your body, not is there somewhere in the universe a single center through which everything is orchestrated. The center you are looking for is the feeling of love itself, which is the omnicentric manifestation of your eternal state of innocence.”

Gestures of Balance  Tarthang Tulku, Dharma Publishing, 1977.

“Impermanence is the essence of our human condition.

It controls more than just our lives; it holds sway over the entire cosmos- all the stars and planets, as well as our earthly environment..

But the most devastating change in human life – death- always catches us by surprise.”

“In this society, almost everyone is afraid of death- but to appreciate life fully, we have to face reality. Impermanence and death are integral parts of being alive; this realization can vibrate within us and wake us up.. we see that although our lives are very dear to us, they do not last forever.

To be born a human being is a very rare privilege, and it is important that we appreciate our lives and take advantage of this opportunity.

With an understanding of impermanence, many aspects of life that one ordinarily finds fascinating, no longer seem so appealing. We become able to see through them and find that they are not actually that satisfying.

We can then more easily let go of our attachments and fears, as well as our own little shell of protection. Thinking about the impermanence of our life wakes us up; we realize that at this very moment we are actually alive”

 

“Still there is struggle, for we find ourselves wanting things that we know will cause us pain or frustration. Our habit patterns are very hard to break, and even when we try, obstacles always seem to appear- our desires and attachments push us to repeat the same destructive patterns.

Our emotional needs habituate us not only to material things, but very subtly to our self-identity. We do not want to lose our sense of control over ourselves, our environment, or even over other people. But until we let go of our attachments to personality and self-image, it is difficult even to see these life patterns, let alone to change them.”

“Instead of wasting our energy and human potential in useless thoughts and actions, we begin to act constructively, for the basis of the spiritual path is the development in ourselves of what is truly balanced, natural, and meaningful.

We can begin by accepting each moment and enjoying it, but most of us don’t know how. Enjoying life may be extremely important to us, yet too often when we experience pleasure, our minds project the satisfaction into the future, so our lives become filled with empty dreams that never materialize.

It is difficult to truly accomplish anything in the present when our minds are always oriented toward some future goal.

This does not mean that we should avoid making intelligent plans for the future; it only means that we must live more fully in the present.

When we endeavor to develop ourselves in the present, we will grow toward our future goals until they are accomplished. The present naturally leads us to the future, and the future changes according to how we live in the present.

When we are confident in whatever we do, and all our actions are meaningful, then not only our daily lives, but our future lives as well, will be balanced and harmonious.

When we open ourselves to our present experiences, we can realize that right now we can enjoy our lives… right now we have the opportunity. We do not need to be too concerned with the future- the present will lead us there no matter what we do.” p.8

Good Medicine Thoughts by Adolph Hungry Wolf. 1972, Canada

“Minds at Peace are left outdoors while the meals of greed and opportunism are devoured on a man-made table.

But, while the diners loosen their belts and clean the unused surplus away from their sight, the Peaceful Minds continue with the Feast of Everlasting Life.” p.3

As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. 1968, Missouri.

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.

The man who shrinks from self-crucifixion can never accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things.

Even the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object.”

“…Man is the cause (though usually unconsciously) of circumstances, and that, while aiming at a good end, he is continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thought and desires which cannot possibly harmonize with that end.”

 

“Circumstances are so complicated, thought it so deeply rooted, and the conditions of happiness vary so vastly with individuals, that a man’s entire soul condition (although it may be known to himself) cannot be judged by another.

A man may be in honest in certain directions, yet suffer privations; as a man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth.

 

But the conclusion usually formed that one man fails because of his particular dishonesty, and another prospers because of his particular honesty, is the result of superficial judgment, which assumes that the dishonest man is almost totally corrupt, and the honest man almost entirely virtuous.

In light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience, such judgment is completely erroneous. The dishonest man may have some admirable traits the honest man does not possess, and the honest man obnoxious vices absent in the dishonest.

The honest man reaps the good results of his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon himself the sufferings which his vices produce. The dishonest man likewise harvests his own suffering and happiness.

 

It is pleasing to human vanity to believe that we suffer because of our virtue.

But not until a man has uprooted every sickly, bitter, and impure thought from his mind, and washed every single stain from his soul, can he be in a position to know and declare that his sufferings are the result of his good [or] his bad qualities.

Yet long before he has reached that supreme perfection he will have found, working in his mind and life, the great law of justice in which good cannot produce evil, nor evil good.

Possessed of this knowledge, he then will know, looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness, that his life is, and always was, justly ordered, and that all his past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable working of his evolving, yet unevolved self.” p.28-29

 

The Psychology of Enlightenment  by Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanu. 1979, Berkeley

“The whole world is divided into three kinds of people.

First and most common are those whose life-energy is spent killing time. For them, life has no meaning other than eating and drinking and grasping for enjoyment, which always eludes them. They are like human machines, seeing and suspecting nothing beyond the limited scope of their own machine. Killing time, they kill their own energy and drain the energy of those around them. Time merely passes for them.

The second kind are those who want to do something with their time and energy, but don’t know what to do. They are confused in their pursuit of various techniques and books and in their choice of paths. Lacking direction, they do not grow. Though they may read a great deal, their reading does not bring inner nourishment. These people lack the sense of discrimination, so their search leads them nowhere.

The third kind are those individuals who turn to their own inner experience for counsel.. They have embarked on a real journey to the inner Self wherein lie all of life’s answers. They know that if the answer is not found within, it surely cannot be found anywhere outside.

When we consider the example of those dynamic individuals like Einstein, for instance, who have brought some gift of themselves to mankind and changed the face of the world, we must realize that we, too, possess a hidden treasure within: the gift of infinite potential. We have the same capacity for unfolding our latent talents and energy as they do. What is possible for one human being is possible for each of us.

Then what can we do to manifest our infinite potential? We begin by believing that this capacity exists within us. Stop relying on something outside of yourself. We must believe, instead, in our infinite reservoirs of strength and vitality.

What kind of person do we want to be? The decision is up to us. Shall we simply pass the time allotted to us in a meaningless round of temporary pleasures? Shall we scatter our precious life-energy in a dozen directions that lead nowhere? Or shall we choose, instead, to go in the direction of growth, to gain wisdom, and insight from our experience of life, and to discover and unfold your unique qualities?

To reach our goal, whatever it may be, it is necessary that we remain single-minded in our effort, although the mind will no doubt tempt us to go in a hundred different directions.

My teacher once asked us, “If you were looking for water, would you drill fifty holes of one-foot depth, or one hole that was fifty feet deep?” In either case, the effort is the same, but the results are different.

We can choose to dissipate our energy in a variety of fruitless, incomplete attempts to find water, or we can concentrate our attention, time, and muscle-power on digging in the direction of water until we tap it. The choice is ours.

To move in the direction of growth requires the persistent study of one’s own Self.

How do you study the Self?

Begin simply by asking, “What is man? Who am I?”

“When we seriously ask ourselves, “Who am I?” we become aware of the conflict between what we have been taught to think we ought to be and what we really are.

It begins to dawn on us that we have not been living correctly. That is when we turn inward to discover the exact nature of our body, our mind, and finally, the inside dweller which is our true Self.”

“The first step is to consider the body. It is composed of four essential elements which ancient traditions called earth, water, fire, and air. You will not find any organism in which thse four elements are missing. Now, each of these elements has its corresponding element in the universe. The earth element within the body, for instance, corresponds or vibrates with the earth element throughout the universe.”

Let’s first concentrate on our own Earth element, our muladhara.

Muladhara, mula: root, adhara: support

“The whole structure of our bodies is balancing itself on that support which is the lowest vertebrae of our spinal column. Earth element.

This is the first point of awareness; transform the feelings of insecurity into a solid foundation of self-reliance.”

“We are investing our energy in the fear of future want. Our habit of comparing what we have now with what others possess produces this sense of insecurity, which denies us the capacity to enjoy what we have already. It is a kind of addiction which brings anxiety and drives us to amass more than we need. With this mental addiction to achieving a sense of security through possession of more and more things, man no longer remembers what he originally meant by “more”.

Focus on planting seeds of what you want to manifest and create. Enjoy what you have and focus on what is working. Eliminate the unnecessary. Let it shed off like snake skin.

Let the negativity shed away, any guilt, shame, fear, or anxiety. As long as you don’t think negatively about yourself, negativity cannot affect you.

Instead, accept the divinity within you and your divine nature will gradually become apparent.When you acknowledge and respect your true self, the world, in turn, will acknowledge and respect you.

“So our first step is to give up this insecurity which spoils our ability to enjoy what we have right now.

Meditation: I shall now become in touch with my Earth element. I know this whole universe belongs to me and I am a part of the universe. Acquiring things will not bring me real security. I know that I am always secure when I feel my one-ness with the universe.”

Straight spine, “Shivam Shanti”: Benediction and peace. No fear, no anxiety, just be. Let go.

Be nothing but flowing energy.

Your body is a frame of beauty with pure consciousness dwelling within.”

 

 

“May every move we make and every breath we take enrich all divine perception, creation, and love.

May every body, mind, and soul, be enriched immensely.

May every being experience feelings of safety, faith, grace, ease, bliss, joy, and wonder.

May there be sovereign communities with infinite diversity that co-create harmoniously.

May all beings feel the enrichment of focus, clarity, concentration, and meditation.

May there be compassionate communication of positive, present, personal, and precise language.

May all beings experience the enrichment of praise, gratitude, the arms of love, self-reliance, poise, learning from failure, graciousness of time, generosity, and reverence.

May all beings feel the wonder of infinite magic including their wildest dreams filled with humor, joy, and enthusiasm.

May we move deeper and deeper into the Golden Age of Miracles.

For the benefit of all.”

-Cole Kastner

“In a true state of grace, there is no longer a sense of time or space.

Suspended and weightless, you are held by the same invisible forces that cradle the stars and planets.

You realize your breath is indeed the heartbeat of the divine as it echoes through the galaxies and beyond.

And in that one extraordinary moment of stillness, every moment of your life is retold in an instant and all you know for sure is that life is but a dream, and living grace is all that is real.”

Philosophy soap, Living Grace Shower gel.