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Meditation
- Spirituality
Spiritual
Journey - getting connected
Being connected is
pretty much what Buddha meant when he said he was awake. It
is difficult to reach this point in awareness and know that
you have what is said to be awareness and not some lesser
level. Stand by, every expert out there will be glad to tell
you that you are not on THEIR level and need to jump to their
tune. Well, they're right and not right. Right for their vision
and probably not right for your vision. How can one person
tell if another is "connected" or even if they (the
judges) are connected? If we work at this together, we can
get a better idea of being connected. I don't have all the
answers and it's likely that no one really does have all the
answers but then, if I don't have all the answers how would
I know when I find some one who does (unless they tell me)?
Given that limitation, I will now (in
all my alpha-male glory) begin to write about connections.
In getting connected we will need some
definitions. Most likely mine are not yours (I'll show you
mine if you show me yours) and it will be important to know
what the words here refer to.
Point one: being connected seems to
me to have many levels. Basically, I see everyone as connected.
Each person is attached to and aware of the things which help
them survive at the first level. At another level, everyone
is aware of what they need to satisfy their ego. That takes
care of the basics of brain circuits one and two (biosurvival
and ego). There is for most of our lives a connection to the
sexual response and an awareness or connection to the sexual
situations that turn us on. This is the fourth (sexual) brain
circuit. With training (college, on the job, or trade school)
we become aware of our specialized area of expertise around
us. Thus, the psychiatrist sees people interactions, the carpenter
notices the warped door or window, the engineer will stop
to admire bridge construction, and so on. This is a third
brain circuit (rational mind) function of awareness.
Point two: most people who talk about
"being connected" have some special area they are
pushing. Some tell me to get in connection with my inner child.
Others say something similar and say to get connected with
myself. Getting connected to higher levels, connected to God,
Jesus, my female side (my alpha male connection just said
"whatever the hell that is" so I guess I found a
connection there ok); others tell me to get connected to just
about anything and everything.
Point three: I don't think I can do
all the connections people seem to want me to get plugged
in to. I don't actually believe anyone can do all the things
our population can think of to connect to. That means I don't
think Buddha did that nor any other great (or small) religious
or spiritual leader (or follower). This leads to:
Point four: being connected must come
from within and not from outside. That means to me that I
can't touch you and get you connected. I can't teach you and
get you connected. I can't do anything to get you connected.
This writing and my teaching can open doors for you. And these
doors will likely work for you if you go though them, work
hard at what is available and do this in the spirit of growth
and dedication. Clearly, we must do our own hard work. If
I pay someone to go to college for me, take my classes, take
the tests, etc., I am foolish to think that will get me an
education. If I want something, I must do it.
With these definitions in mind, I can
tell you something of how I get and stay connected at the
level possible for me at present. Can you believe all those
I's? Makes me feel like someone is watching me and I hope
you will accept my apologies for so much of the first person
in this. There is only me afterall to give to you.
Much of my connectedness (if such it
can be called) comes from remembering that I'm human and therefore
similar to each and every other human. My tastes are similar,
my touches are like others, my mouth feels the same, inside
my skin feels like inside anothers' skin, a hurt or pain feels
like yours and theirs, and so on. We are all hooked up the
same. Same engineering, same materials, same project plan,
same command center, same defense league, same entertainment
group, and so on. You ask how I know this! Ask youself in
that case how come McDonalds hamburger joints have made so
much money selling such a limited choice of food (if you will
let me call it that). If we were hooked up differently, we'd
all need a completely different set of food, housing, clothing,
temperature comfort level, touch, and so on to say nothing
about the difficulty of continuing the human race when each
person's sexual response was different from the others. Nope,
I won't accept that. We are all so similar as to qualify as
"the same." Within that parameter, we do have a
lot of variety but I can live as you do with some training
and you can live as they do with some training. Pretty much
makes us all the same. I like that connection.
The above paragraph outlines the basis
of my first level of connection. I remind myself all the time
that I'm not different from any other human at all of the
basic levels of design, material, and construction. Thus,
the use is the same at all those levels. I really do like
that.
The way I build on this is by noticing
my sensations, taste, vision, touch, movement, feel of things,
smells, and so on. I look for universal (at least on this
earth) things like clouds, wind, water, earth smells, flower
smells, and such to keep in connection with everyone that
is alive or ever lived. In this manner, I see the same clouds
Buddah saw, the same earth smells Christ sensed, the same
touch of water or cold or wind, etc., that all other peoples
have felt and sensed. If I keep this in mind as I observe
these things (clouds, cold wind, warm water or whatever) then
I can feel and see just as did anyone else on this earth that
meant to observe rather than ignore the world around them.
Even those who were too busy or pre- occupied to pay much
attention spent some time noticing a nice day or a rainy day,
or a cold day. And, when I need to focus and work hard on
some mental project, that too is an association and a connection.
Keeping in touch this way helps me to gain understanding about
how others feel. Even more, I can take the words (at least
the so-called words) of the worlds great leaders and try to
gain more of an association with how they saw and thought
as they came to their conclusions and knowledge. Kind of nice
and it seems to work for me. Try it.
The story goes thus:
The Buddah was walking one day with his favorite student,
Ananda. A fly landed on his (Buddah's) brow and he shooed
it away with a hand. A minute or two later, Ananda noticed
the Buddah shooing away an imaginary fly. Ananda asked "Why
are you doing that? The fly is no longer there." The
Buddah replied, "When it was there I chased it away without
thinking. Now, I would like to be aware of the experience."
That's sort of what I'm trying to do. If Buddah had flies
on him, then I too can experience that sort of thing. Also,
if Buddah did things without thinking and then had to go back
and do them again to experience them fully, so can I.
So can we all.
I want to learn
Meditation in Depth then follow the Links:
Meditation
Meditation Handbook
Mind
and Meditation
Meditation Process
Zen
Tao
Dynamic Meditation
Transcendental
Meditaion
Enlightened Masters
Many
Buddhas
Dreams/Remember Dreams
Spiritual
Journey
Think
High Grow High
Who
am I?
Active
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Science
Important
Note:
Opinions
expressed on this page must be viewed as the ideas of an ordinary
student of meditation. While I truly believe
everything I say, you should not believe anything unless you
see it, feel it, and know it for yourself. I make no claims
of infallibility. In fact I absolutely claim fallibility.
*
Remember that meditation is an escape to
reality, not an escape from reality. Avoid
any guru or group that asks you to deny truth. Take the best
and leave the rest.
* Don't limit yourself to just one teacher. It will always
be better to know different ideas before reaching any conclusion
or that what we call bilateral thinking,
always see things from different angle, different perspective.
The single guru approach can lead to cult thinking with its
small mindedness and us vs. them syndrome.
It
is a mind that is unprejudiced by religion, philosophy, and
cultural conditioning. It is going naked in the stars.
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Cosmos
of Happiness
