karma

Cooperation

Biomimicry is copying the patterns of nature. Humans are part of nature, but our intellect has become something so profound it gets in the way of natural instinct. Something about our intellect is constantly trying to trick us into thinking that we are a separate from nature (and each other.) Charles Darwin told us, that nature works competitively, only the strongest survive but natural selection is only partially true. The more we learn about the world the more we realize there is a natural cooperation that happens between species. Ants working in colonies, wolves hunting in packs, fish removing parasites from each other’s scales, and bees will even give their own life for their hive. There are even less noticeable displays of cooperation between different species like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds pollinating for plants, fungi transferring nutrients from plant to plant, and whales protecting other species from sharks. Plants even provide food for us in the form of fruit and we in turn drop the seeds somewhere else for the plant. Taller plants provide smaller plants shade, plants protect bacteria and algae in soil, etc. As the highest form of life, we need to make sure all other life is thriving. To think there is a separation between each other or other living things is an illusion.

“One of the biggest crimes against life is thinking that you are anything but life” -Sadhguru.

Humans are in a fear-based and ego-based competition right now. We are living in what is called dominator culture right now where we take all we can from everything. We dominate nature and we dominate each other, and it is leading to our demise. We can have competition but right now we need a heavy dose of cooperation in society, just like in nature. (see Thomas Edison’s book) Alfie Kohn in his book, Punished by Rewards he writes, “The central message to all competition, in fact – is that everyone else is a potential obstacle to one’s own success. If the reward system sets people up as one another’s rivals, the predictable result is that each will view the other with suspicion and hostility and depending on their relative status, perhaps with contempt or envy as well.” Where there is competition, there will be winners but more so losers. In the classroom or work setting, there is only one winner. When we use cooperation, everyone can be a winner.

“If you don’t believe in cooperation, watch what happens to a wagon when one wheel comes off.” – English Proverb

A simple fact of life is that there is no one fixed method that will solve everything. There is no one way to that will work for anyone’s life. To live a fulfilling life, you must not only work diligently, but also know how to take leisure time. To become a successful teacher, you must point your students in the right direction but then let explore on their own, you cannot control them. This is also Bruce Lee’s basis for Jeet Kune Do, his original martial arts style. Jeet Kune Do is the style of no style because different opponents require different approaches. Lee says this in the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, “How can there be methods and systems to arrive at something that is living? To that which is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way, a definite path, but not to that which is living. Do not reduce reality to a static thing and then invent methods to reach it.” Life is change and adapting to change is what gives life. To solve our problems, we need to adapt to changing circumstances as a whole and right now we need to cooperate. Right now, our opponents are climate disasters, poverty, war, mental and physical health crises, food insecurity, racism and nescience, amongst other things. With so many people suffering do we really have time to compete. We talk about self-improvement as setting goals becoming stronger, but the goals somehow end up being the owner of a Lamborghini, instead of buying a bicycle, volunteering in your community, supporting a local business and donating to stabilize other broken parts of the world. Competition may have its uses, but we’re banging screws in with a hammer so to speak. We’re in a time where cooperation is vital in human existence and more so in the United States than other places. Next time you argue about which political party is the best or which social/economic system is better, remember that there is no right and wrong. The only right answer is which one is best right now.

“Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. It has no resting place, no form, no organized institution, no philosophy. When you see that, you will understand that this living this is also what you are. You cannot express and be alive through static, put-together form, through stylized movement.” -Bruce Lee

Alone With Yourself

Take time alone to yourself is extremely important for spiritual growth. Shamans become shamans by taking long breaks in the woods alone to connect with the world and to connect with themselves; to see life how it really is. The advantage of being alone is that you have greater control over your thoughts and become more conscious. When people come together, we develop a synergy with each other. This synergy used unconsciously is not in our favor. It can propel both of you towards a direction of your choosing but also you may be taken a direction not most optimal to you; without consciousness it becomes fairly random. The monkey mind (compulsive behavior) comes out of humans more when we are together than when we are alone. Time alone allows us to tap deeper into our consciousness which is a significant characteristic that only humans possess. When we are alone, that is our time to plan, that is the time to create ourselves, and that is the time to tap deep into consciousness. When we connect with ourselves in this way it can be looked at as preparing ourselves to reenter the community as a better person. We are products of our environment, but when we are alone, we control what product we are becoming and when we reintroduce ourselves to our daily environments, we begin to change the environment itself to fit us more. Life is sort of like a battle, of external things shaping you one way, and you trying to shape yourself another way. If we want our lives to be the way WE want, alone time is important. It reminds me of the quote, “If we want to improve the world, first we must improve ourselves.” It’s true, we cannot force others to do anything, all we can do is set the good example to change the environment. But I must add that our alone time is only useful if we do not distract ourselves with social media, television, and et cetera. Things that are good to do alone (if you feel you must do something) are journal/write, draw/paint, or exercise. What is most effective for spiritual growth is to do nothing. Quietly sitting still is the best. If you cannot be by yourself then you do not know how to be with other people. “If you cannot sit alone with yourself that just means you are in bad company.” -Sadhguru. If we cannot be good company for ourselves, how can we be good company for other people? When we see other people, do we use them to give us energy or do we contribute energy to them? Do they balance us out chemically, and if so, why can we not balance our own chemistry? Alone time is when we learn to contribute energy and still maintain our own balance even when the other person is not contributing. Alone time is when we learn to gain stability. Stability of thoughts, stability of emotions, and stability of self. It’s how we find WHO WE ARE. This blog is mainly about creating our lives and world how we want, so I want to add that, when alone, a lot of manifesting is happening; more-so than when with company. Conscious creation is the purpose to being human, it is why we were made, and it is the next phase of evolution. Neville Goddard interprets each character in the bible to be allegorical for a phase of life. When we go through these phases, the unconscious part of us dies and are reborn conscious creators, Jesus Christ. “If you can sit alone and believe your thoughts are creating forces, with no help from others, you have reached Jesus Christ.” -Neville Goddard. If you really want to learn what life is about become silent, still, and spend time alone; alone with yourself.

What is Spirituality?

“Spirituality is not doing anything, it is just seeing life for what it is, rather than imagining it some other way.” -Jaggi Sadhguru Vasudev.

There are many misconceptions about what spiritual really is. The word spiritual literally implied that it is beyond physicality. When we talk about being spiritual, it should mean that we are beyond the physical aspects of who we think we are created by the mind and body: our identity, our compulsions, our emotions and more. There is still a monkey inside of the human being that is always attempting to make its way to the surface. Spirituality is about mastery over the monkey inside us. Mastery over the mind, body, emotion, and life energy that makes us beings, instead of just animals. To always be conscious and present. To take action and not reaction. To create our own destiny is a definite possibility for a human being. Spirituality is a way to overcome the more primitive urges of the human being (resent, anger, desire, the ego, pleasure) and drawing out the higher faculties (love, compassion, discipline, stillness, bliss, joy.) As an example, chocolate is pleasurable, we have a desire for the chemical reaction that happens when eating sweets. It will stimulate your body and mind into a state of pleasure, but all the chocolate in the world will never bring you real joy or bliss. These come from within. The external world is primarily physical, your internal world is metaphysical. There is a whole universe inside you to explore in the depths of you mind and emotion, that you will learn more about existence from than anything outside of you. Whatever force that is creating the universe, mother nature, has given humans the ability to create. The creator has created us to CREATE. The power of creation is your imagination and is within you. To direct this power consciously is the point of being human. It doesn’t quite matter what you do with it, as long as it is of your choosing. When it does it’s own things is the most common source of suffering because we want life to happen our own way. Mastery of mind, is mastery of emotion, which is mastering our destiny. This is what true spirituality is about. Taking control of our own faculties.

Some might say that sounds unheard of. A lot of ‘spiritual‘ teachings come from the idea of accepting things the way they are, which has some truth. But do I have to be upset about the way things are to attempt to improve them? No, I can accept life for what it is and still hope things go another way. Spirituality is about perseverance. When things seem to not be improving you still try anyway, because that is acting beyond fear or doubt which are just illusions created by the mind to keep you safe. With safety comes boundaries, with boundaries you are trapped; in a prison of you own making. Spirituality is seeking freedom, boundlessness that is available to all of us. So I can accept things, understand things, and hope for those same things to improve.

“Day dreaming, after all, is just a form of planning.” ~ Gloria Steinem

Imaginal acts are constructing your reality. I cannot press this into your subconscious enough. Live in your imagination because if you believe that physical acts are the sole construction of you desires then most of the time you will act of out lack or loss. When acting out of lack you are just telling your subconscious, or inner being, that you do not have or are not what you desire. Luckily it does not take much. If you can concentrate maybe 5 minutes a day on what you want, that can be enough to over throw the rest of the negative thoughts of that day. Now, I’m not telling you to think positive. Positive thinking people can be the most unfortunate people because they may think positive but have no foundational belief or even the will to make things better. I’m telling you to dream and dream so deeply that your emotions will begin to pick up on your mental pictures as if they were a realized fact. Man is always thinking his life into existence but man’s memory is such that it does not remember every thought they have, and who can blame them? To emotionally understand that you can and do create your life is what I want you to realize because then you will spring into gear. You will engage yourself into the thought process and take charge of your inner faculties. Your mind, body, emotion, and energies should take instructions from you because that is the only way to take control of your life. This is what is necessary to be blissful and ecstatic, a pleasure to be around, and a contribution to man kind everywhere. Karma means action. Your life is your karma, meaning, your life is your making solely based on your actions. Mental actions, physical actions, emotional actions, and energy actions. When all four of these are concentrated in the same direction, your life is ultimately your making there is no doubt about it.