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Five Ways to Become a Nexus of Creativity

Life

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May 1, 2016

Five Ways to Become a Nexus of Creativity

“This human capacity to become a nexus of the inner and outer, of non-being and being, of what is written and what is not yet written, is key to aligning the worlds and keeping life in balance. Life was meant to function not as just the outer plane of reality, but as a multidimensional, interrelating reality. And there need to be those who know this secret.” ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Those who learn how to tap into the power of the Nexus are obtaining the key to aligning worlds. They are catalysts that bind, sacred pivots that bring opposites back in line with one another.

They have the ability to hold the tension between opposites, and so they are able to turn the key of balance that aligns worlds, in coinsidencia oppositorum: a unity of opposites.

With one foot in the void and the other in infinity, they are sentinels of the inverse, guardians of the contrary, and periphery keepers par excellence. They’re able to balance madness with genius, silence with the “voices in the head,” and stillness with the movement of all things.

They are built to thrive on paradox, for when worlds collide to reveal the nakedness of mystery, they are then able to let go, to overflow, surrendering themselves as mighty conduits to the Great Mystery.

Becoming a nexus of creativity is becoming art itself, a cosmic mouthpiece, an agent of opposites, an instrument through which the universe is free to resonate its sacred song.

But there’s a price to pay. Deep creativity does not come without a cost. It takes a lot to truly engage with the following five ways of becoming a nexus of creativity.

As Jung said, “A person must pay dearly for the divine gift of the creative fire.”

1) Unite the inner with the outer

“The degree of a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.” ~ Lisa Alther

The primordial nexus is a sacred link between worlds. Opposites are not necessarily either/or, but both/and. While in the throes of being both/and the personified nexus intermittently focuses inward while seeing outward, and vice versa. Birds-eye-view meets animal-roots. Ubermensch (overman) meets untermensch (underman).

It’s the tug-of-war between our soaring spirit and our mortal flesh. Those tapping into the power of the nexus are the walking personification of such existential tearing. And they relish in it, because they know that it’s only within such tearing that the healing scar of creativity will flourish and reveal its bounty, its delicious secrets, its unknowns just waiting to be known.

2) Think between no-mind and mindfulness

“In the beginning you will fall into the gaps in between thoughts – after practicing for years, you become the gap.” ~ J. Kleykamp

Personifying the nexus is a sacred dance between no-mind and mindfulness. So as to avoid the dogmatic rigidity of fixed thinking, the creative nexus engages mindfully with being and becoming, while engaging with no-mind (in meditation and deep flow states) in order to experience the non-duality of non-being within the Nexus itself.

The creative nexus is then able to become a walking meditation, where life itself becomes source-material for the art of living creatively, and living well. Between intermittent mindfulness-living and no-mind-meditation, one’s lifetime becomes a mighty canvas and the art created on it is enchanted with magic and mythos. For both no-mind and mindfulness are a process of letting go.

As Leonard Cohen said, “You lose your grip, and then you slip into the masterpiece.”

There, between no-mind and mindfulness, between detachment and non-attachment, is the source of all human creativity: the mighty nexus where artists, poets, musicians, shamans and scientists since time immemorial have discovered the secrets of the universe and shared them with the rest of us.

3) Move between non-being and being

“It begins to appear that instead of knowers and knowns there are simply knowings, and instead of doers and deeds simply doings. Divided matter in form becomes unified pattern-in-process.” ~ Alan Watts

Between non-being and being there is a third thing: becoming. Those personifying the nexus are constantly in the throes of becoming. They are the Middle Way in action, constantly adapting and overcoming to the vicissitudes of the creative process within the human condition. In and out of existential crisis.

Back and forth between dark nights of the soul and bright days of providence. Not in a bipolar sense, mind you, but with a sense of metanoia: Greek for “changing one’s mind.” They are the epitome of creative metanoia, nihilistically lashing out while existentially overcoming, but having the wherewithal to make art out of it.

Non-being, like no-mind, is an in-between state experienced in meditation and in creative flow states. It’s a sacred navigation of nothingness, a dive into the void, where the duality of being becomes the non-duality of oneness.

Those able to personify the nexus are able to take this oneness back with them, through the veil between worlds, back into everyday being. The remaining residue floods their art, their music, and their poetry with an otherworldly magic that can be experienced by all.

4) Flow between what is created and what is not yet created

“Thuru: the process by which things become “what they are not” and, in so doing, paradoxically, become more themselves. This is something similar to the dynamic interplay of yin and yang in Chinese philosophy or the unification of opposites in the flow of the Tao. Western philosophy has a related concept in the dialectical exploration of the in-between–the flow of awareness from thesis to antithesis into the larger truth of synthesis, which in turn provokes a new antithesis. And so the beat of thuru goes on, embodied in the shape-shifting trickster of mythology.” ~ Louis G Herman, Future Primal

When we give in to the Flow state, we are creative microcosms giving into a greater creative macrocosm. We become Meta-ephemeral: a creative stopgap, an artistic crossroads, an imaginative sojourn. We are free to dance, to sing, to poetically crush out.

In short: sacred play is liberated from the hard sheath of the daily grind. Those personifying the creative nexus are wielding that sacred play like an infinite-edged sword. Nothing is out of its reach, including death anxiety, existential angst, and nihilistic ennui.

Like Brian Sutton-Smith said, “The opposite of play isn’t work; it’s depression.”

As such, the creative nexus is able to transform depression into passion, anxiety into art, neurosis into genius –all through the power that comes from surrendering to the flow state. We’re able to get out of our own way.

For it is within the flow state where thesis and antithesis merge to become creative synthesis. It’s where the subjective experience becomes objectively immortalized through creative expression.

Future art is the seed planted in the fecund soil of the Now. The creative nexus unveils the darkness, pierces the existential angst inherent within the human condition, and then creatively engineers an original psycho-symbolic overcoming of it, which he then calls Art. And what has not yet been created is free to be created.

As Ernest Becker said, “This has been the function of the creative deviant from shamans through Shakespeare.”

5) Dance between finitude and infinity

“He who is doing his true will is assisted by the momentum of the universe.” ~ Peter J. Carroll

Eternity says we’re everything, mortality says we’re temporary. Between the two, we dance. This sacred dance is a death-dance as well as a life-dance. But those truly personifying the creative nexus have acquired a new kind of disposition.

They realize that life is not a struggle, but a tango. Even the times that are a struggle are merely incorporated into the overall dance. Everything is seen as the same creative force, and instead of creating anxiety or depression, they create art.

As Alan Watts said, “Every form is really a pattern of movement, and every living thing is like the river, which, if it did not flow out, would never have been able to flow in. Life and death are not two opposed forces; they are simply two ways of looking at the same force, for the movement of change is as much the builder as the destroyer.”

As such, those personifying the nexus value flexibility and humility in the face of rigidness and hubris, but are not averse to using rigidness to create radical art and hubris to create audacious imagination, if need be.

They transcend finitude through imagination of the infinite. But they honor finitude by objectifying their own mortality through their own artistic expression (Becker’s Immortality Project).

Such an artist possesses a wisdom that is out of reach of the typical artist. They cut through the mundane conformity and bring light to dark and dark to light, mortality to immortality and immortality to mortality, while revealing the latent creative bliss bubbling beneath the surface of all fixed thinking.

If, as Edmund Husserl says, “All perception is a gamble,” then those personifying the nexus are the ultimate gamblers, riding the lightning between thundercloud and green earth, surfing the tidal wave between undertow and overflow, celebrating in the joyous union of opposites, while pulling the voice box of God out of the throat of the universe and blowing into it like a mighty bullhorn. The Nexus is the valid and the void, the abyss and the apex, and the death and the rebirth from which all things decay and flourish.

It’s the gambling artists, the radical poets, the ones personifying the nexus, who are carrying such sacred boons to the doorsteps of mortal men. And those mortals cannot help but point in awe and utter in astonishment, as Sufi Master Attar said, referring to Rumi, “There goes a river dragging an ocean behind it.”

Image source:

Cosmic skull
Artwork by David Ho
Psychedelic skull
Artwork by Alex Grey

Jovial Chaos: Humorous Heroism and the Power of Crazy Wisdom

Life
Wisdom

Gary Z McGee

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April 29, 2016

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Jovial Chaos: Humorous Heroism and the Power of Crazy Wisdom

“Real compassion kicks butt and takes names and is not pleasant on certain days. If you are not ready for this FIRE, then find a new-age, sweetness and light, perpetually smiling teacher and learn to relabel your ego with spiritual sounding terms. But, stay away from those who practice REAL COMPASSION, because they will fry your ass, my friend.” ~ Ken Wilber

Forget “I think, therefore I am.” That’s old hat. Embrace “I think, therefore I laugh.” Now that’s where the gold’s at. That’s where sacred alchemy is brewing, transforming lead into gold, demons into diamonds, imps into impetus, and fear into fearlessness.

How? By launching us out of the box of fixed thinking. Why? Because a good sense of humor is the ultimate liberator. What emerges? A kind of jovial chaos, a heightened state of humor, a crazy wisdom that upsets all dogmatic apple-carts.

In short: the Humorous Hero emerges, full-frontal, full-throttle, with the Golden Ratio in one hand and a red herring in the other, wearing a cape stitched out of material torn from the Golden Mean, donning and discarding the Mask of Enlightenment, dissolving all crowns, dismantling all high-horses, melting all pedestals, and burning down all thrones only to dance in the ashes of power, while intermittently skipping through the puddles of tears cried-out by the powerful who have been usurped.

But there are steps to be taken before such carefree and courageous dancing can take place, and they are not for the faint of heart. They’re not baby steps, but God steps. They are leaps and bounds. They are headfirst dives that may or may not crack open the head.

Not leaps of faith, mind you, but leaps of courage. The kind of courage that stands the spine bolt up inside you. Not bounds as in limits, but bounds as in transcendence, self-overcoming, and transforming boundaries into horizons. The kind of bountiful energy that one feels balls to bones, ovaries to marrow, humerus-bone to funny-bone. Let’s dive in…

Step 1) Spit in Satan’s mouth (extinguishing fear):

“If there is a devil in history, it is the power principle.” ~ Mikhail Bakunin

This is the sacred send off, the leap of courage. This is where the humorous hero digs down deep for that first existential laugh, that core chuckle, that ancient teasing that smears out all self-seriousness into humorous sincerity. Here, the cornerstone of the human condition gets fully tapped, revealing the cosmic joke for what it is: there is no permanence.

But rather than fear, rather than death-anxiety, rather than nihilistic angst, the humorous hero decides to laugh, and laugh hard, thereby transcending impermanence and achieving providence through a heightened state of humor. The cosmic joke still stands, but no longer is the humorous hero the butt-end of it (victim) – She is the one laughing (hero).

If, as Sun Tzu said, “Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting,” then the humorous hero is the one settling the ultimate score between love and fear.

For the enemy is first and foremost the Self, especially the part of the self that allows fear to dominate love. The humorous hero solves this equation, not by fighting, but through imaginative laughter and a heightened state of ruthless humor.

Reveal to the humorous hero the most devilish devil, the most demonic demon, the most supreme evil, and he/she will fearlessly piss down its throat of false power, smear shit on its throne of pseudo authority, burn down its temples of deceit from the sparks of a thousand and one Jack-in-the-boxes.

Because the humorous hero realizes that it’s all just a cartoon in the brain anyway, and to survive it, one needs to turn the tables on it, trump fear with love, and then laugh wholeheartedly, spinning into radical dance and sacred play.

Step 2) Dare the Cosmos into apocalyptic dance (reconditioning conditioning):

“But the worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caverns and forests. Lonely one, you are going the way to yourself! And your way goes past yourself, and past your seven devils! You will be a heretic to yourself and witch and soothsayer and fool and doubter and unholy one and villain. You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame: how could you become new, if you had not first become ashes?” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Now that fear has been extinguished the new enemy is the conditioned state. More specifically, cultural preconditioning. This can be an all too tricky bramble, a psychosocial knot that only we can untie for ourselves.

But with our newfound fearlessness we can handle it. It’s an unlearning of what we have learned, an unknotting of what an unhealthy society has knotted up inside us. It’s a self-overcoming at the developmental level, an unwashing of the brainwash.

It’s Nature versus Nurture with Nature winning out by sheer will. We have a crucial decision to make: dance or decay; truly live in freedom or remain a zombie in chains; cultivate a good sense of humor or remain a victim of self-seriousness; become overwhelmed by the conservatism of the tribe or liberate the tribe by creating new more adaptive tribal values?

If, as Hunter S. Thompson said, “Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used,” then humorous heroes are the ones being proactive with their freedom by leveraging it into an unfree world. They do so by becoming a living, breathing, dancing example of change. They are catalysts of the first order.

Their art is love. Their medium is humor. Their canvas is life. They are the ones daring the cosmos into apocalyptic dance and taunting the gods into naked vulnerability. Through epic play, radical art, and irreconcilable dance, they free the unfree, disturb the comfortable, and majestically decondition conditioning itself through radical and creative reconditioning.

Step 3) Slap God in the face (questioning authority):

“Climb the highest mountain and punch the face of God.” ~ Courage Wolf

The humorous hero is the personification of self-actualized audacity. With fearlessness in tow and preconditioning reconditioned, the full power of sacred humor becomes manifest.

This is where the insouciant muscle of crazy wisdom flexes itself. It blurs all boundaries. It flattens cognitive boxes, stretches cultural-prescribed comfort zones, and shatters the rigidness of fixed thinking into free thinking through the power of flexible intuition.

So called answers are dissected, turned inside out with their flawed guts revealed, and transformed into questions ad infinitum.

As Chögyam Trungpa said, “We don’t fixate on an answer, we go further. “Why is that the case?” We look further and further. We ask: “Why is this so? Why is there spirituality? Why is there awakening? Why is there this moment of relief? Why is there such a thing as discovering the pleasure of spirituality? Why, why, why?” We go on deeper and deeper, until we reach the point where there is no answer. At that point we tend to give up hope of an answer, or of anything whatsoever, for that matter. This hopelessness is the essence of crazy wisdom. It is hopeless, utterly hopeless.”

But there is a power in hopelessness that the hopeful cannot know: existential freedom. Freedom from seriousness. Freedom from the pettiness of life. Freedom from the gravity of death. Freedom from the need for an answer.

Freedom even from the need to be free. Such freedom gives us power over power: sacred humor and crazy wisdom. And a kind of contrarian nature arises like a self-actualized residue. Contrarianism (made famous by the Heyoka sacred clowns) is a powerful tool used to flip power dynamics, upset apple-carts, and free fixed thinking from its cognitive cage.

What is revealed is the pulsing, hungry, vulnerable undercarriage of the human condition. But passionate and creative art is also revealed as the only way to reconcile the angst of it all.

And so the humorous hero, armed with sacred humor and crazy wisdom, and a contrarian disposition, has the spiritual audacity and existential wherewithal to climb the highest mountain and punch the face of the “highest” God.

Because the hero understands balance and moderation and harmony. The hero realizes that the highest God is just the heroes own superego trying to trip him up.

So he turns the tables on himself, on his own flashy ego, and tricks himself into a heightened state of awareness that goes far beyond the culturally conditioned manifestation of God, and into a state of non-serious, no-minded, laughable oneness with all things.

Step 4) Kill Buddha on the path (recycling mastery):

“The less people know, the more stubbornly they know it.” ~ Osho

Daring to show the world our unique soul-signature takes tremendous courage. Especially in a world unaware of itself. Navigating such a world can be difficult, especially as a fearless contrarian who has reconciled her existential angst and reconditioned her own preconditioning.

So sometimes we need space, a sacred place, where we can dive into the deep interconnected waters of meditation and solitude. A place where we can weigh ourselves against the universe so as to relieve ourselves of unnecessary weight.

Like Edward Abbey said, “We need wilderness because we are wild animals. Every man needs a place where he can go crazy in peace once in a while.”

And that’s it, that’s Mecca for the humorous hero, discovering a sacred space where we are free to go crazy, to flex our contrarian muscles, to expand our crazy wisdom, and to un-convince our ego of its certainty.

It’s all too easy to trick ourselves into thinking that we’ve “made it,” that we’re finally “awake,” that we’ve finally “seen the light.” But we haven’t. Making it, wakefulness, and seeing the light are all relative to the journey. Enlightenment is not a destination.

It is a weaving in and out of heightened states of awareness and lowly states of indifference with (hopefully) humorous dispositions to get us through both. So really, when it comes down to it, enlightenment is having a good sense of humor, coupled with the ability to allow the journey to be the thing.

It’s a going with the flow – with both the overflow of passion and the undertow of pain, and the ability to transform both into information that can make us healthier, more flexible, more humorous, and more robust.

Jovial chaos is the arena where our crazy wisdom is free to dance, where a secret order binds the humorous human to an indifferent universe, and where, somehow, meaning is created out of the paradoxical clash of opposites.

It’s a heightened state of humor where no demon is allowed to be a demon and no god is allowed to be a god, for they are both absolved and subsumed by the overpowering and overcoming contrarian disposition of the humorous hero, and revealed to be nothing more than petty abstractions built up by a scared and ignorant species just beginning to figure out its true place in the cosmos.

But nothing, not even God, and definitely not the devil or cultural preconditioning, can prevent the free, passionate, loving, laugh-out-loud, hug-the-universe, self-overcoming energy of the humorous heroes who are fearless with, and aware of, the power of their own indomitable, unquenchable, humor.

Image source:

Smoking clown
Courage Wolf
Buddha quote

A Look at the Powerful Practice of Walking Meditation

Pia

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April 27, 2016

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A Look at the Powerful Practice of Walking Meditation

“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

There is a pervading misconception about meditation; that one is expected to sit perfectly still and completely empty one’s mind. In actuality, meditation is about surrender; watching our thoughts, letting them take you where they wish to and loosening the reigns of control.

Let stillness and emptiness be by-products of your meditative practice, and not the goal. Walking meditation has been around for centuries in Buddhist tradition where you pay close attention to the physical act of walking, the way you take one step after another.

In monasteries in Thailand, Buddhist monks are known to walk for as long as 10-15 hours a day. Known as Cankama in Pali and Kinhin in Chinese Buddhist tradition, walking meditation helps to develop mindfulness in daily life.

If you learn to be aware during walking meditation with your eyes open, then it becomes easy to arouse that same wakeful quality during other activities, such as yoga, eating, washing dishes etc. This way each activity becomes a spiritual experience, and not just another mundane thing.

Buddha himself addressed four main postures for developing mindfulness: standing, sitting, lying down and walking. These are the foremost postures the human body aligns itself in, and therefore spends the most time in.

How to practice walking meditation?

“The way to do is to be.” ~ Lao Tzu

Set aside at least 20-30 minutes for this practice. First, pick a path about 30 to 50 feet long, preferably somewhere in nature. Consider whether to do this bare foot or wearing light shoes. Reconnecting with the earth’s energy beneath your feet is always therapeutic.
Before beginning to walk, take a few minutes to center yourself, align your spine, even out your weight on both sides of your body. Take about 10 deep breaths, inhaling right down to your belly. Allow your breathing to return back to normal when you feel ready.
Begin walking. Start with short steps at a relaxed pace you’re comfortable in. Pay attention to every step you take, beginning with the right foot. Enjoy every step and consciously open your heart to experience peace, love and gratitude. If you wish, you can recite a mental mantra as you go.
If your mind goes wandering away from the step, note the distraction and gently, but firmly, bring your attention back to the step. Continue to sustain awareness and focus on the process of walking.
Remember that you have nowhere to go, no destination. In the hustle and bustle of practical life, we are always rushing, running late for something or the other. Its time to slow down. Every step helps you to arrive in the present moment, in the here and now.
With regular practice, you will find a pace suitable to you.
You may intuitively feel the need to stop or if you grow tired, then that is the time to stop. Do not push your body to do more than what feels right.

Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Each step is life; each step is peace and joy. That is why we don’t have to hurry. That is why we slow down. We seem to move forward, but we don’t go anywhere; we are not drawn by a goal. Thus we smile while we are walking.”

Walking Meditation Variations

Use of positive affirmations while walking

Thich Nhat Hanh talks about using positive affirmations during walking meditation. As you breathe in repeat “I have arrived” and upon breathing out “I am home”. Then breathe in with “In the here”; Out “In the now”. Similarly, “I am solid” and “I am free”. Lastly, “In the ultimate”, and out “I dwell”.

Mindfulness Walking

In this method instead of focusing only on the act of walking, you also focus on the different sensations in your body, pay attention to feelings and thoughts that arise, and your immediate surroundings.

– As you take each step, scan your whole body, slowly moving awareness upward from the soles, ankles, calves, knees, thighs to hips and so on, till you reach the top of your head. Be aware of the sensations in your body and let go of any stiffness or trapped energy in any part of your body, and consciously relax them.

– Shift your awareness externally; to the trees, the ground on which you walk, the whistling of the wind, the rustle of the leaves and any other smells and sounds that come into your range of perception.

– Become aware of your mental and emotional state.

Kinhin

In Kinhin, you practice walking meditation with your hands in shashu position – left hand is in a fist with thumb inside. Wrap your right hand around the left, letting your thumb rest in the crevice formed between your left hand thumb and index finger. Place your hands over the solar plexus. Then take small steps, beginning with the right foot.

Yogic way

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor”. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

In this variation of walking meditation, you can sync your breath or practice Pranayama at every step. It can be a little tricky, but comes with practice.

You can start with this exercise:
Inhale for 4 steps and retain breath for another 4, then exhale for 4 steps and retain with empty lungs for another 4 steps. You can increase or decrease this based on your comfort level. You can also change the rhythm for inhalation-retention-exhalation, make it into 1:4:2, 2-8-4 or 3-12-6.

Taoist method of visualisation

In Chinese tradition, there is another method of walking meditation that focuses on breathing and visualisation.

Take slow deep breaths for either 3, 6 or 12 steps, breathe out for the same number of steps. As you become accustomed to the rhythm, start visualizing a ball of energy. When you breathe in, imagine it surrounding you and being pulled into 2 inches below your navel (known as dantien or energy center). While breathing out, imagine the energy ball expanding all around you.

The Benefits of Walking Meditation

According to Buddhist texts, there are five major benefits of walking meditation:

Good for Endurance

“Mindfulness meditation should be more than just watching what you are doing. What you really need to watch is your motivation.” ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Walking meditation builds strength in the body. When the body learns what it can endure, so does the mind.

Good for Striving

In sitting meditation, peacefulness may quickly turn into a kind of dullness if there is no awareness, so it is quite easy to fall asleep. Walking meditation is constantly invigorating, hence energizing the body and keeping you alert.

Good for Health

On a purely physical level it is one of the best ways to keep the body fit. It works best when we bring our awareness to the process of walking and not just carry on walking while the mind drifts off.

Good for Digestion

After a meal, the blood goes to the stomach and away from the brain causing sleepiness. This is why monks walk for hours right after their meals, as it improves circulation to all parts of the body and keeps the mind active.

Good for Concentration

Sitting is an easy position to maintain as we not involved in any kind of movement, our eyes are closed, so there are no visual stimuli either. But walking requires a lot of concentration, especially when synchronizing it with the mind.

Furthermore, there is lot more sensory stimuli as well, adding to the level of difficulty in concentration. This is however, the challenge and the more we strive to maintain our focus, the greater our focus becomes, and we can easily carry that over to other meditative practices.

“There are many ways to calm a negative energy without suppressing or fighting it. You recognize it, you smile to it, and you invite something nicer to come up and replace it; you read some inspiring words, you listen to a piece of beautiful music, you go somewhere in nature, or you do some walking meditation.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

References
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Why the Journey to “Success” is just as Relevant as the Spiritual Journey

Life

Nikki Sapp

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April 23, 2016

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Why the Journey to “Success” is just as Relevant as the Spiritual Journey

“Success is meaningless without fulfillment-both begin within.” ~ Rasheed Ogunlaru

Before I start this article I want to preface it by saying that everyone’s definition of success is different. No one person can really decide for another what “success” means, but for purposes of the article, the success I am speaking about is the traditional one (societal view), financial abundance, high paying positions of power or fame, material wealth etc.

So of course we all know that there are more important things in life than money and success. For most spiritual seekers, the journey into their own minds, or to the secrets of the universe eventually takes precedence over chasing the things they previously thought to be important before their awakening process started.

While the rest of the world seemed to be chasing outward success in the form of all sorts of material items, powerful positions or quantity over quality relationships, the spiritual seeker begins to no longer resonate with such things. The inner calling begins and with it, the nudge to seek happiness from within instead of from outside also comes.

And while visions of a new world begin to fill our imaginations, one where things like the number in our bank account, gender, nationality or socio-economic status are no longer things to judge and stereotype people by, we must all come to the realization that as a whole we are not there yet.

Yes, a new consciousness is emerging and the old ways of doing things are beginning to fall apart to make way for new systems to be put into their place. However, since this is not a process that can happen overnight, we must still play by some of the “rules” of the old paradigm.

Even though our journey inward is fascinating, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have dreams of living our dream life, where we are living abundantly in a home we like or driving a car that we like. But, for many spiritual seekers the topic of money and success can be a touchy one.

It is no shocker as we look out into the world there are countless examples of people misusing their money and power in order to control or manipulate others. This can start to become extremely disheartening to the seeker.

We begin to feel like we are doing all of this inner work on ourselves, treating others and ourselves more kindly, and discovering what truly matters in life but what is it all for if we can’t afford to experience this earthly realm to it’s fullest?

It may seem as though all the people who don’t deserve to have money, success or power are the ones that do, and all the people who seem to deserve it the most are the ones that don’t, but why is that? Why do so many undeserving people live abundantly while many of the kindest, generous good-hearted people seem to have a harder time manifesting external wealth and success?

“I believe the ultimate aim of all human beings is to obtain happiness and a sense of fulfillment… I have always stressed the importance of combining both the mental and material approach to achieving happiness for humankind.” ~ Dalai Lama

While all seekers eventually begin to realize that it may be nice to experience a little bit of success and enjoy earthly pleasures, ego-driven, money hungry types also come to the realization that their life is lacking true depth.

Here is where the unconditionally yet extremely ironic universe we live in switches up the tables on us, only to force us to transcend previous judgments of what we deemed as “wrong.”

It does this by forcing each of us, at some point or another, to face the other side of the coin. The spiritual seeker finally realizes that love and light doesn’t pay the bills, while the “successful” money hungry type eventually gets the house, the car, the money only to realize none of it truly is fulfilling them because they have yet to connect with their inner self. And while neither journey is “right” or “wrong” both actually have to come to the exact same meeting point in the middle of the road.

The “successful” ones come to realize that they must look within for true happiness, and that means facing their demons. This involves, dissolving pain, unraveling ego, and dealing with emotions, and for a type that has built a life around their “image” in society and chasing only outward success this can be an extremely painful and difficult process.

And for those who have spent years healing their inner child, facing their feelings, transmuting blockages and connecting with their higher selves, they come to realize that while they may feel happy and fulfilled within, to just sit at home and feel “fulfilled” without actually experiencing life can become extremely dull and hum-drum.

To be fulfilled without taking the action to create something, or to give back to the world somehow by helping others and even manifesting financial abundance or some level of outward success would be a life wasted. And each has their own perks.

The type that comes into material success early in life gets to experience these things without much effort, and when they finally get to the point of looking inside of their own hearts for true lasting fulfilment they have already achieved societal success.

And the seekers find fulfilment from within first, which allows them to not be attached to their earthly possessions. They actually enjoy things more because they are not afraid to lose them. Coming out of duality consciousness actually forces us to face both sides of this coin to some extent or another.

We are all living our spiritual journey in a different and unique way, and while some people may not even know they are on a spiritual journey, none of us are immune to facing our own souls. The grass often seems greener on the other side, but this is only to give us the nudge to live our life to the fullest and to face anything we have judged (even if that thing is our own selves).

Success can be truly enjoyed when one is fulfilled from the inside out, and while it may seem that there are people who don’t deserve what they have, we truly never know what that person’s journey is about unless we have walked in their shoes. The best option is to always stay focused on our own journey and find the ways that we can manifest our dream life, internally and externally.

9 Things I Wish I had Known in School

Pia

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April 21, 2016

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“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” ~ Maya Angelou

Adolescence is probably the most difficult time in anyone’s self development. Personalities break and form, so do friendships and perspectives. I am grateful for all my mistakes. Having dyslexia and discalculia, school was particularly hard, no matter how much my ‘learning disabled’ friends and I tried, we just did not fit the mold.

Our classmates looked at us with caution and confusion while our teachers simply did not know what to do with us. Over time as I read about the types of intelligences and that these so called disabilities were just different ways of comprehending reality.

I realized that the education system was a flawed one. It took a great deal of unlearning to learn the most life-changing lessons of all.

Here are some things I wish somebody told me in school:

1) Being different isn’t a bad thing

“Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: ‘You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do.” ~ Dorris Lessing, The Golden Notebook

In a system and society that perpetuates a tried and tested, one-size-fits-all attitude, it can be hard for those that do not typically fit the bill. Some of us accept our indoctrination a little earlier and smoother than others, but not many can say it is compatible with their true nature.

Everyone is good at different things and everyone has their own unique quirks. Being authentically you can never be a bad thing. I wish someone had told me to nurture my inner child always and not let anyone tell me otherwise.

2) There are multiple answers to one question and the truth is subjective

I remember as an 8th grader upon waking up from yet another day dream, asking my teacher why we had question papers at all. The class laughed and she scoffed but I went on to voice my views on how we should concentrate more on writing our feelings and insights instead.

The backlash scared me enough to stop raising my hand for a good few months, and I’m sure that kind of experience would do to most kids. Unfortunately, the current education system focuses way too much on getting the right answer than finding your own truth.

The grading system is based on the most acceptable answer, which is based on the most accepted rendition of a story. To define anything, we set certain pre-conditions to fit it into and then begin to explain it in relation to those.

We study patterns and make co-relations but everything we conclude is an assumption. When we stick to our discoveries as known truths set in stone, we stop imagination in its tracks. This is the end of growth.

When we open our mind to the possibilities, the world becomes a wondrous place of endless potential. The truth is a malleable phoenix; always reinventing itself.

3) Qualifications aren’t everything

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” ~ Robert Frost

Times have changed. A piece of paper stating what you have studied isn’t given the same importance as your hands on experience, passion, willingness to explore, persevere and grow.

The education system and your parents and even your friends might tell you to do something practical, secure, something that assures you a constant flow of money and prestige. Don’t listen to any of them. Do what makes you happy. Money will follow.

If money is a problem, make sure your passion stays alive and work your way to your dream. Every step you take and decision you make should be getting you closer and closer to what you want to accomplish, and that is when you know you’re spending your time well, your life well.

A very dear friend once told me, “if you have a dream, it is your duty to nurture it.” I am glad I took that advice!

4) Bullies might be having a tougher time than you know

Almost every kid has been picked on in school. I can remember the rage shooting through me upon being called names or teased in class. We start to see the bully as everything that is wrong with the world.

Then the acting out begins, the meanness in an attempt to fight fire with fire. Nine times out of ten, these kids come from abusive, neglectful or broken homes. All they really want is to feel better. There really is no matter of the heart that a bit of love cannot cure!

Here is one of the most incredible, must watch videos I have ever seen on bullies and the bullied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY

5) Arguments with your friends and the end of friendship doesn’t mean the end of the world

“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” ~ Bob Marley

As we change, we grow in and out of relationships. Relationships are not designed for longevity, but for lesson-learning. If they last, it is a by-product of them being a perfect key to your locks. Often, fighting with friends is a normal benchmark of closeness.

Though, to a child or teenager they seem larger than life. I wish I had understood that the final outcome would always be in one’s best interest. Not all school or college friends fade away. Some stick, and the ones that do become family. My father at 69 years of age, can vouch for this, still having kept strong bonds with 6 of his childhood friends.

6) Rebel with compassion

Being a rebel without a cause isn’t the best way to assert your dedicated self discovery. Yes, it feels like you’re caged by parents and all the hormonal changes taking place, but it isn’t as bad as it seems. In a sense, defiance and rebellion is the journey of understanding who we really are without the sheltered home life we’ve had.

It is a breaking out from our comfort zones and into a sometimes, daunting new world. I wish I’d known that it isn’t the only way to figure yourself out, it could be done with more compassion and self-love.

7) Not succumbing to peer-pressure is also an option

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

That phase of doing everything your friends do is not the best thing for self development but a necessary lesson we all must learn. Sometimes the most rebellious act of all is asserting your own voice, values and principles.

It takes a lot of self confidence and understanding of yourself to be able to stand your ground. I wish someone had told me that believing in yourself is one of the greatest lessons you could ever learn.

8) Don’t “question” your teachers and as they know best

“The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

The current education system works on the false belief that teachers always speak the truth. It doesn’t encourage a student to question authority or voice their opinion. It’s more like dictatorship where the teacher says his/her bit and students are always expected to comply because that’s how the system works.

The ‘rebel’ child or anyone who doesn’t conform is shamed or punished. So teachers are only doing what they know how to but it’s definitely not always what’s best. What I’d prefer to see is the teacher being more like a guide or a guardian; who shows the way but doesn’t give all the answers, encourages you to think out of the box and opens your mind to newer possibilities and experiences.

9) Learn from your mistakes

“In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.” ~ Robert T. Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad

At the end of the day what matters most is how much you have learnt from your mistakes, and not given up the moment things get rough. Making mistakes is part of growing up, we all learn through trial and error.

Its important to understand that our mistakes do not define us, it helps you grow and learn. The biggest mistake you will make is being afraid to make one. Realise that you’re much more than your problems or your past failures.

Fractal Enlightenment