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5 Ways to Know if the Mind is Your Master or Slave

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September 3, 2015

5 Ways to Know if the Mind is Your Master or Slave

“Nothing in the world can bother you as much as your own mind, I tell you. In fact, others seem to be bothering you, but it is not others, it is your own mind.” ~ Sri Ravi Shankar

Our mind is probably the most powerful tool that we could ever own. In fact, our entire life is dependent upon our thoughts about it. Whether we have a good life, a mediocre life, or a terrible life is not so much contingent on the actual circumstances of our lives, but in our thoughts pertaining to the circumstances.

For example, two people can be watching the exact same movie, one person can focus on the bad acting of one of the characters and let that ruin the entire movie for them, while the other one is focused on the amazing music soundtrack and appreciates the costumes and set design.

Both people experienced the exact same movie, but only one enjoyed themselves. Such is our lives. And yes, it is true that no two people will have the same experience about the movie, but the principal still works the same.

Our experience of life is based on our perception of it, which is formed from our beliefs, which are based on our thoughts and which ones we give the most energy and attention to. When we never question our belief systems or go inward for self reflection, we can say that we are letting the mind make use of us. Our minds are running amok and dictating our lives without being questioned.

Once we begin to recognize our thought patterns and the reasons behind our behavior we can start making use of our minds. We can determine what thoughts and beliefs to give our energy to and which ones to discard.

So how do we know what we are doing? How exactly can we tell if our minds are making use of us, or we are making use of our minds? Below are five ways to determine if the mind is your master or slave.

5 indicators that your mind is your master or slave:

1) You believe everything it says

“The day you decide that you are more interested in being aware of your thoughts than you are in the thoughts themselves – that is the day you will find your way out.” ~ Michael Singer

News flash: You don’t HAVE to believe everything that the little voice in your head says! In fact, the more you observe your thoughts as just thoughts instead of identifying with them, you give yourself the space to give your energy to thoughts that are actually benefiting you.

When we choose to pay our attention to thoughts based in love, acceptance, positivity, and optimism, our experience of life dramatically changes. Remember, hostile people see a hostile world, while loving people see a loving one.

The more often we choose to focus on loving thoughts, we will notice our outer reality begins to shift in order to reflect our new state of mind.

2) You trust your thoughts more than your feelings

Although it may take some practice, getting in tune with how you FEEL about things vs. solely how you THINK about them is the most beneficial thing a person can do in order to hone in on their intuition.

There is a part of you that already knows what choice to make, that already knows what it truly “wants” to do, and already knows what the next move should be, and this part is NOT your mind.

Your mind is constantly taking a “stance” on something. Yes, no, good, bad, right, wrong… it lives for a black and white scenario. The problem with this is as soon as we think we know what decision we are going to make about something, our mind then starts coming up with logical reasoning against it.

So it talks us into one choice, and as soon as we think we are at peace with that choice, it starts talking us out of it. And you can imagine how the insanity ensues. However, our feelings (the way we feel in our heart center) does not and can not lie.

Peace, calm and relaxation is our natural state of being, and the choices that are in our best interest are those that give us a sense of relaxation in our hearts. When a person gets in touch with their feelings and the way their body feels about a particular circumstance rather than what they think about it, their feelings begin to act as an inner compass that never leads them astray.

3) You haven’t taken the time to question your thought patterns or behaviors

Number one step in the art of self-reflection, personal development, and an overall trying to change for the better: you must question, “Why do I do the things I do?” No problem is ever truly “solved” until a person gets to the root of the issue.

The underlying cause behind all of our behaviors is always due to an unhealed emotion or a limited belief system that is causing us to believe something about life that is out of alignment with the truth of the universe. If we never question ourselves, or get really introspective and begin to investigate the “why” behind our behaviors, rest assured that emotional maturity and evolution will be stagnant.

4) You are constantly looking for a deeper meaning & understanding

So this one is tricky because by nature, the mind is always trying to make sense of everything. It’s an automatic thing that every person’s mind does simply just because the mind must have a “logical” explanation behind everything that happens.

However, we can drive ourselves crazy with this. Especially for those of us who are on a spiritual or psychological journey, our appetites for the underlying meaning behind everything often becomes quite insatiable.

The more “understanding” we have about things the more our mind needs to know who, what, when, where, why and how. But, sometimes we must surrender to the mystery of it all. A huge sigh of relief happens when we become ok with not knowing why something happened, or why it happened the way it did, etc…

In our most authentic honesty with ourselves, when we can admit that we don’t know why something happened, we not only free ourselves from the chains of acquiring more “understanding”, but we free up our energy to focus on more productive pursuits rather than just analyzing something to death.

5) Your deeper meaning is always against yourself

A huge indicator as to whether the mind is your master or slave is making use of us is what types of reasons our mind tells us behind things.

One type of person always blames themselves for everything (and not in an empowering way), such as, “I must have manifested this because I am doing things wrong,” or “I must be attracting negative circumstances and people because I’m still not being positive enough,” or even, ” I must not be wealthy, successful, in love or living my dream life yet because there are still lots of things ‘wrong’ with me that I must work on.”

The other type of person always chooses to see the positive perspective on everything.. meaning, they realize that nothing that happens to them is NOT there to serve their best interest.

They realize that all the “bad” circumstances that anyone goes through are not really “bad” at all, but rather the interesting part of their movie where the main character (themselves) gets faced with a challenge and watches how they overcome adversity once again.

This person sees every failure as an opportunity and every circumstance as a blessing in disguise. If your mind is going to be coming up with deeper meanings and reasons why everything is happening anyway, why not choose to see that everything is always working out in your favor? It is.

The universe doesn’t give us a circumstance that isn’t ultimately evolving us into a better version of our former selves and if we choose to see things this way, life becomes an exciting adventure vs. just one disappointment after another.

Research

How the human mind shapes reality

How Dehydration Affects your Body

Life

Sonali Bansal

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September 2, 2015

0

Water is a basic necessity in order to maintain a healthy body and a clear mind. Since the human body is two third water, hydration affects almost all functions of the body – temperature control, cognitive functions, kidney function, physical performance, energy levels, gastrointestinal function, heart function, headache, skin and other chronic diseases.

If we were to ask you, whether you are hydrated right now or not, most of you would not know the correct answer to that. The general tendency to connect physiological thirst with water, is what makes us miscalculate the hydration levels.

But to say how much water one should drink is a difficult thing, as it is a subjective measurement depending upon one’s lifestyle, physical activity level and energy expenditure.

Significance of water in our system

A life giver, water is the main source of transportation for nutrient, enzymes, blood, and all the other minerals in the body for everyday functions. Acting as a binding cement of the cellular membrane, water holds the cells together, and acts as a medium for all neurotransmission.

When we lack water in the body, our cells tend to produce cholesterol to bind them together, leading to multiple other issues. It also lubricates the joints, moistens the tissues, skin, mouth, eyes, etc.

Dr Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, author of the book, ‘Your body’s many cries for water’, in his lecture in Washington, D.C. stated, “My introduction into science and medicine is that water regulates all functions including the function of everything that it dissolves.” He also says, “Proper intake of water, salt and minerals can prevent these illnesses and even reverse the damage already done.”

Signs you are dehydrated

Our body and brain have developed multiple ways to conserve water in the body and also signal us of lack of water by creating a feeling of thirst. Whereas this constant feeling of thirst, is an obvious sign of dehydration, some of the non-obvious signs of dehydration are:

Sweet Cravings:

As complex as a human body can be, reading between the lines can be painful. Sugar cravings are generally due to stress, dehydration or emotional imbalance.

Masqueraded as sweet craving, dehydration might be the cause. Kidneys release glycogens in our body, but due to lack of water, they may not be able to act sufficiently, giving way to sugar craving. So, if you are craving too much sugar, maybe it is time to check your water intake levels.

Headaches:

Headache can be a direct signal to dehydration, because when we lack water supply in the body, our brain gets affected directly resulting in headache. Here’s how: When we drink water, our body uses it to supply oxygen to different parts including the brain. But we lose water in our daily activities and when we do not sufficiently replenish it, our blood vessels dilate and less oxygen is supplied to the brain.

Color of urine:

Color of urine denotes the cleansing level in the body. Lack of cleansing results in collection of toxins in our system, which are gradually discharged by way of urine and stool. Extra yellow or chardonnay color urine signifies toxins in our body, whereas light yellow or transparent urine denotes a clean and healthy body.

Bad Breath:

Bad Breath can be a symptom of chronic dehydration. Buying a good tooth paste or mouth wash or mint is not the solution to countering bad breath.

When we drink enough water, the bacteria in the mouth is washed away and enough saliva is produced. On the contrary lack of water, results in an increase in bacterial growth in the mouth, giving way to bad breath.

Stress and Fatigue:

Chronic fatigue and chronic dehydration are cyclical in nature, one leads to another and the loop goes on. Yet again, when the water level is low in the body, the blood volume drops, and the heart has to pump harder to supply nutrients & oxygen to the body parts.

Also, the muscles which works on fluid levels, are not replenished sufficiently with necessary nutrients and minerals, leading to fatigue.

Apart from these symptoms, some of the other most common symptoms of dehydration are dry skin, irritation in bowel movement, pain in joints, brain fog, immune dysfunction, gastric trouble, dull skin etc.

Your action plan

In the wake of all this information, it is highly likely that most of us are dehydrated. Your action plan needs to be strong for a quick recovery and comeback. Many experts suggest, we should drink before we feel thirsty because the feeling of thirst is the last stage of our body signaling us lack of water.

Weight to water ratio:

Since the water requirement and water intake depends on one’s physical expenditure of energy, it is best to at least drink half of your body weight in ounces. So for instance if you weigh 150 lbs, you should be drinking at least 75 ounces of water. Also, do incorporate your physical activity level to consider your water intake level.

Dan Trink, a fitness expert said, “A good general recommendation for both weight training and endurance athletes (assuming they are fully hydrated before training or the competitive event) is to drink 7 to 10 oz. of fluid every 10 to 20 minutes.”

Slow drinker:

As they say, hold your drink, same goes for water as well. Sitting down while drinking water, sipping slowly and in quick intervals rather chugging down a few together, will help a lot. When you drink slowly, you mix your saliva in the water, which increases digestion, reduces dehydration and speeds up weight loss as well.

Avoid dehydrating drinks:

The non regulatory drinks, alcohol, beverages, etc. are diuretics in nature and dehydrates you. Dr John Mandrola mentions, “Not only is it a diuretic, which promotes fluid loss, but also, caffeine’s stimulant properties increase body temperature — a real negative in the heat.”

Drinking too much caffeine or alcohol would lead to washing of fluids from the body without excretion of toxins. It is better to replace them with water, probiotic fluids, or by adding lemon or frozen fruits in the water.

Beat the stress:

Like we mentioned earlier, stress and dehydration propel each other, so taking proper rest, eating on time, exercising and doing what you like would help you manage the stress levels and in turn manage the water level in the body.

Alkaline it:

Our daily, modern day lifestyle, which requires high sugar, processed food, refined food, high in animal protein, medicines, alcohol etc. makes our body acidic. This affects us hydration level. Try to make it alkaline by consuming raw food like corn, olive, peaches, bell pepper, lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage etc.

Water is referred as an essential nutrient because it is required in amounts that exceed the body’s ability to produce it. Keep a watch on your water intake to lead a healthy and a balanced life.

Batman - YOU ARE NOT SICK, YOU ARE THIRSTY! - 1

Reference & Image source

Dehydration
Water benefits
Water and weight loss

Reengineering the Sacred: Five Ways to Hack God

Life

Gary Z McGee

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August 30, 2015

4

Reengineering the Sacred: Five Ways to Hack God

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” ~ George Orwell

The above quote is powerful because if you are not the one who is tearing your own mind to pieces and putting it back together again in the shape of your own choosing, then someone else probably is.

It’s fine if you’re okay with who is doing the tearing to pieces – like if it’s Buddha, Jesus, Nietzsche, Gandhi, Thoreau, or even Orwell – as long as you’re the one who is putting it back together again. Stand on the shoulders of giants, but don’t become attached to their shoulder.

Use their shoulders as tools to see further than they did, and then reshape your mind according to the newfound perceptions. Just remember to continue taking the leap into the unknown in order to discover more and more giant’s shoulders to stand on.

This is the trick to reengineering God, whether it’s from the shoulders of giants, or in the fountainheads of experience, or through the intellectual and spiritual boons gleaned by contemplating the cosmos, the trick to hacking God is flexible courage, or courageous flexibility.

Dive in. Tap the source of whatever knowledge there is to be had. Steal it if necessary. Mold it. Ninjaneer it according to your own unique soul-signature. Ripen it. Create fruit with it. Come back and share it with your fellow mortals.

Then let it go and dive back in. The water is warm and waiting for those who have “skill in swimming.” But if that’s not enough for you, here are five more specific ways to hack God.

1) Promethean Audacity

“I would rather be chained to this rock than be the obedient servant of the gods.” ~ Prometheus

You can also call it Dionysian insouciance, or Adam-like defiance. The key is a courageous delving into the unknown in order to discover hidden secrets otherwise unattainable. Obedience to God be damned! When Prometheus insolently stole fire from the gods, he laid the foundation for the evolution of mankind.

The evolution of our species depends upon disobedience. Adam and Eve’s “original sin,” for example, far from corrupting mankind, set him free in order to become fully human. Like Vladimir Nabokov said, “Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.” And it is through such insubordination that God is truly hacked. No matter what form God may take.

The Promethean innovator is an example of divergent thinking, deviating from the ordinary in order to discover the extraordinary. Promethean audacity is becoming “divergent” like Beatrice Prior in Divergent, or becoming “The One” like Neo in The Matrix.

It’s staring “God” in the face, and through your fearless “poker stare” alone, calling his bluff and hacking his mind. Suddenly the tables are turned and you’re holding all the cards, and the royal flush you reveal is the legerdemain of your courage.

God is stumped and trumped, and the money (boon of knowledge) that you win is the fire that you steal. And by god it’s worth it, “punishment” be damned.

2) Buddhist-like Detachment

“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” ~ Linji Yixuan

There is a tremendous freedom in creating our own experience. The creative choices we have are practically infinite. It can be overwhelming, daunting even; what Timothy Leary calls the “vertigo of freedom.” In order not to get engulfed by the sheer magnitude of our freedom we must be able to practice non-attachment.

We must be able to counterintuitively attain no-mind after using mindfulness to get there. And in order not to be overwhelmed by the infinite consequence of enlightenment, we must be able to “kill” the idea that we have achieved it.

This is tantamount to hacking god precisely because we are allowing enlightenment to continue unrestricted by our ego. We are “getting out of our own way” and letting the “process of godding” to continue unhindered by our insufficient definitions.

We are rejecting God as a noun and embracing God as a verb.

3) Christ-like Fearless Forgiveness

“Truth is a truth until you organize it, and then it becomes a lie. I don’t think that Jesus was teaching Christianity, Jesus was teaching kindness, love, forgiveness, and peace. What I tell people is don’t be Christian, be Christ-like. Don’t be Buddhist, be Buddha-like.” ~ Wayne Dyer

One of the most powerful God-hacks is the ability to fearlessly forgive. It begins with being vulnerable enough to forgive ourselves. By embracing the absolute fact that we are fallible and imperfect, and we will make mistakes.

We forgive our unexceptional nature so that we may liberate our exceptional nature. And this takes courage. As Laurence Sterne said, “Only the brave know how to forgive. A coward never forgives; it is not in his nature.”

This takes fearlessness. This takes hacking God, and realizing that the mind with which we hack God, is the same mind with which God hacks us. In so realizing, we go from forgiving ourselves to forgiving the world.

Like Jesus Christ said in the Gospel of Thomas, “If you bring forth the genius within you, it will free you. If you do not bring forth the genius within you, it will destroy you.” And the genius within understands that freedom comes from fearless self-forgiveness.

4) Morpheus-like Imagination

“Everything you can imagine is real.” ~ Pablo Picasso

Morpheus was the Greek God of Dreams. A powerful God-hack is realizing, as Einstein did, how “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” In our dreams, within the deepest recesses of our imagination, we see how more is possible than actual.

The way we actualize the human condition is to expand the boundaries of the mind. Imagination can indeed trump matter. Like Jason Silva said in Shots of Awe, “Having invented the gods, we can turn into them.”

This is the beginning of art and science coming together to create a spiritual reckoning. Imagining God is hijacking God. It is harnessing the powers of the cosmos in spectacular ways in order to improve upon our technologies of ecstasy.

It is drygulching the gods like a spiritual Robin Hood stealing their “immortal gold” and giving it to the “mortal poor.” It’s counting coup on them while they sleep.

It’s pillorying the current knowledge base and injecting imagination through strategic détournement and paradoxical actualization in order to jumpstart our outdated knowledge into updated knowledge into a heightened state of scientific evolution.

5) Nietzschean Self-overcoming

“God is a comedian playing to an audience who is too afraid to laugh.” ~ Voltaire

If there is a God, he-she-it-they is us. If everything is connected and energy can neither be created nor destroyed and if “the eye with which I see God, is the same eye with which God sees me” as Meister Eckhart profoundly said, then God is us and we are God and everything is everything and it is up to us to figure it all out.

The question is: how do we get better at it? How do we recognize and own up to our power, and then how do we become more proficient and more responsible with such power? A powerful answer may be found in the concept of self-overcoming.

There’s a hardened mountain inside us all. Self-overcoming is a chisel. You want to hack God? Hack yourself. Take that chisel and dig deep. Hack away the hardened cultural conditioning. Hack away the reinforced societal brainwashing. Hack away the cynical political encoding. Hack away the dogmatic religious indoctrination. Discover your roots, and then go deeper still.

And when it comes time that you have discovered an “answer” then that is precisely the time you self-overcome. Chisel in your right hand, sword in the other. Tear that answer apart with the question-mark sword of your courage.

Don’t be the person in the audience afraid to laugh at God. Laugh at him-her-it-them, and laugh hard. And then realize that you are laughing at yourself. Indeed, all is well in the throes of self-overcoming because it is also the throes of a human being becoming God through a humor of the most high. How else are you going to translate a paradox, but paradoxically?

Like Allan Watts said, “Life is a matter of oscillation. Life is vibration. The question is: how are you going to interpret that. Is it tremble, tremble, tremble; or is it laugh, laugh, laugh?”

"RADICAL OPENNESS" The Power of IDEAS

Image source:

Post-modern Vitruvian Man
Neo Matrix
Techno Buddha
Ernest Holmes quote
Digital Einstein
False God

6 Films That Help Us Question Our Morality

Life

Lauren

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August 29, 2015

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6 Films That Help Us Question Our Morality

“Fear is the mother of morality.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

If fear is the mother of morality in religion, and should therefore be left in the history books, then who is there to guide us when we feel lost? Peers can give us the building blocks to make our own informed decisions, but is this enough when life gets so tricky we don’t know which way to turn?

Cinema and story can be argued to be negative distractions from the now and lead us into a life of escapism; an anesthetic to life. But some may argue that ‘story’ serves to aid us in many moral dilemmas, as was their original purpose.

When exploring a particular facet of the archetype and how they deal with a sticky situation or attempt to balance their light and darkness at the same time, could we be triggering a degree of healing within ourselves?

In this way, story can serve as catharsis for the soul. Or at least provide jumping off points for how to deal with our shadows and delve deeply into the watery mire of the self. Here are 6 films with (what I think are) likeable protagonists who have to deal with moral dilemmas that would make the toughest of us sweat.

Dancer in the dark

Danish Filmmaker Lars Von Trier and his Dogme 95 manifesto has always been controversial, and attracted a small following in the late 90s. What I feel to be his best film in a process where he was called ‘an emotional pornographer’ by star Bjork was the final part of the Golden Heart Trilogy: Dancer in the Dark.

Using handheld cameras paying homage to documentary styles, Dancer in the Dark tracks Selma – a factory worker in America’s – life as she tries to deal with poverty, looking after her son and realizing her dream of starring in the local production of The Sound of Music as she slowly but surely goes blind.

Deeply loved by those around her because of her ‘golden heart’, she becomes embroiled in a gut-wrenching situation with a neighbour and is gradually sucked into and becomes a victim of the questionable American justice system in a shocking climax. Dancer in the Dark shocks – not in some shock-obsessed orgy of cinematic moments for the sake of being dark – but in a convincing look at how society destroys innocence and takes advantage of the weak.

They Call Her One-Eye

Also known as Thriller – A Cruel Picture – this Swedish rape and revenge film was part of the inspiration for Tarantino’s Kill Bill series. A girl, again a figure of innocence is raped when just a child and later exploited and made to work as a prostitute. After much abuse and the punishment of having her eye poked out when she misbehaves, she finally escapes, trains herself up and then gets revenge on her tormentors.

Gruesome I know, yet with white slavery, sexual exploitation and child abuse very much rife across the globe, this film draws attention to the subject with this likeable heroine who – despite using violence to solve everything – helps us to question – well what would you do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V54Hxj_yO3c

Fanny and Alexander

An epic film and Christmas favourite by the much revered Ingmar Bergman, Fanny and Alexander focuses on the lives of two siblings as their lives get turned upside-down when their father dies. Their emotionally and lovingly rich childhood go dry and sterile when their mother marries a priest and they must move in with him and his demonic family.

Their own theatrical family seek to rescue them, but what follows is a test of wills as the positively detestable but entirely believable antagonist of the priest does everything he can to keep them locked up. The interesting character arc is that of Alexander – the young boy’s whose ripe imagination and belief in ghosts means that he is of particular target to the God-fearing priest who seeks to break his spirit.

As Alexander’s father’s ghost tells him when he visits, (following a scene where Alexander openly wishes for the priest’s death and states that he hates him), to be careful with people, echoing the truism that we are all suffering and to let nature (and karma) run its course. Instead, he doesn’t and, through his own perception and superstition if nothing else feels cursed for the rest of his life.

It’s a true masterpiece and, running at 5 hours, is worth the watch. Definitely watch it at Christmas and you will enjoy lavish Christmas scenes, spooky vomiting ghosts hiding in the attic, and even a scene where he meets God, the great puppet-master.

Naked

A full-on homage to one character, this Mike Leigh film of realism and grim British cinema really calls us to question our morals. As we can’t help but like the complex but verbose and witty character of Johnny, we also have it in the back of our minds that he is a rapist and throughout the film sexually violent with women.

Displaying the complexities of morally right behaviour versus reality, Naked explores themes such as existentialism, intellectual bullying, how the interactions we have as strangers can have just as much impact on us as our relationships can, and how our egos can swallow us up.

In this film knowledge is not necessarily power and our protagonist is very much a scared lion running from his pride and the pain of a world so difficult to change. Our shadow in action, a good watch and if you weren’t a fan already, will lead you on to watch and enjoy many of Leigh’s films.

A Serious Man

OK so we needed a comedy on here, and what better than a Coen brothers comedy?! Very much the symbolic meaning of the film, Larry’s dilemmas pick up speed as he negotiates the confusing messages the universe sends him as everything collapses in his life.

More than anything, he leans on his Jewish faith steeped in tradition and questions whether this tradition really amounts to much. In the end though, when he finally does the ‘wrong’ thing, symbolically losing his faith if only for a moment, does God’s wrath suddenly appear.

A black comedy that was clearly quite personal to Jewish filmmakers, this film looks at those of us who have faith, are certain of the existence of divinity, yet recognize that this doesn’t make anything easier or particularly clearer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iggyFPls4w

Lords of divine timing, the Coen Brothers certainly convey the message that all we can hope to do is laugh at it.

Bad Education

And finally, Bad Education by Spanish filmmaker Almodovar. When Juan, brother of Ignacio visits his brother’s old school friend Enrique and asks him to produce his screenplay about their childhood being abused by Catholic priest, Father Manolo, Enrique is suspicious.

But, as the plot thickens (as it always does), and it turns out that Juan is in fact Ignacio’s brother, and that Ignacio – a far cry from the angelic picture of innocence his childhood self inhabited – is now a transsexual heroin addict who blackmailed his old teacher in order to get money out of him to have sex reassignment surgery.

Heart breaking and definitely an exploration of the darker side of human nature, Bad Education is another film that looks at what happens when innocence is corrupted. Working around themes of gender and unrequited love, Bad Education honours what it feels like to want to be anything but ourselves and the lengths to which we’ll go to do that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq829eSDO-U

So, despite the sometimes questionable place film has in our spiritual lives, it can certainly help us walk a few hours in someone else’s shoes, help us have compassion for those stuck in the more gruesome and thankless lessons this life has to offer us, and maybe even pave the way, inch by inch… towards us waking up.

Dismantling the Avatar to Find Your True Self

Life

Raghav Bubna

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August 28, 2015

2

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold you own myth.” ~ Rumi

Spiritual paths require acceptance, without prejudice of our own cognition. We often sense unseen aspects of people we come in contact with. In a way we are a manner of conductors, amplifiers and generators under influence of each other’s energetic configurations.

Our personalities are like personalized avatars; battle-hardened by the demographic trends or aberrations thereof. Trends that are created through a capitalist undertone that serves to distract us, in order to enable the economy to churn our demands through seeds of aspiration and identification planted within our subconscious.

It’s only logical that the ideas and thoughts most exposed onto a psyche will be placed in a position of reverence; be it reverence or criticism, it becomes a theme larger then any opinion within it.

Consider the collective perception of ‘sexy’ planted in majority of our fellow men and women. An ideal that abandons even the concepts of internal beauty, of character, or intellectual connection until checkpoints of physical aspects are met. This perception thrives on objectification of women by trending it as “cool”, “hip” or “hot”.

Certain body structures are portrayed as murals of ecstasy through media and fashion. Then women are paid, exploited and expected to flaunt these ‘perfect’ bodies. Such over-identification causes insecurity towards the body and alienated from emotions.

In order to keep up, many invest in the by-products of instant gratification, excessive consumerism, and blind enthusiasm with dietary or other supplements, steroids, even surgery in order to achieve these marketed illusions. This, to a great extent, has been the result of media impregnated ideas; through seeing characters we are first made to relate to.

Dulling of senses within the majority has led to a dullness of the collective. As our consciousness at the conscious level is linked to that of the people we know and at the subconscious level to everyone, thus forming a collective consciousness.

Therefore when majority of people are viewing everyone and everything through a lens of their own selflessness it extends to the collective, forming a web of interconnected energies that are getting off on or crushed by the same vibrations.

Over more time these aberrations are established as truths or a way of life as they carry us further away from the very shores of our own inherent sanity. We loose sight of what it truly means to be alive, to have this gift of thought, of introspection, of expression.

Spirituality nudges us to bridge this gap, to accept all that we know and don’t know about ourselves and asks us to learn and navigate our path with honesty and integrity. The ideal of spiritual awareness is to detangle us from our own entanglements, to free our intuition from our mental preferences, and allow our instincts to embody the lives our souls deserve.

As the meaning of our life has forever been hidden within our very own inherent instincts. In order to feel these instincts we need to remove the residual waste of the conditioning systems that allows us to be selfish, to seek ease and comfort over hardship, and to live in fear of the bad or harsh things.

When in reality it is all the same. Good would not exist if not for the bad. Bad here means aspects of ourselves we feel ashamed about, depression we hide from our lives out of fear of being exposed, of saying what we truly feel, of acceptance of who we really are.

This behavior has left us wounded in our very being – in our heart. The truest way forward with depression (or any imbalance) that most of us live with is to accept it and learn from it. To allow it to show us the darkest parts of ourselves, which are in fact truer for us than any lies fed to us.

Hence the displeasure associated with that aspect of one’s own emergence. Spirituality requires us to surface our strength and face up to the truth, rather than pop an anti-depressant.

Words of caution to all those set on pursuing their spiritual path; beware of the fall of your clichéd illusions, and brace-up for impact with your own truth.

“Chaos is what we’ve lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existence is defined in terms of control.” ~ Terence McKenna

Spirituality is not enslaved to any particular practice; it is the way of life. A way of unfolding, expanding and growing into ourselves and letting go of the parts that don’t serve us anymore. For when one sets forth on their path they commission all falsities within themselves to emerge, only to be burnt off.

So go on; dismantle the avatar and let the spirit shine through..

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Martin La Spina

Fractal Enlightenment