spirituality – Committed To Creating

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

What will you do?

There is a lot of work to be done in this world, injustice is happening everywhere, and education needs spread. Social injustice, Environmental injustice, Unlivable Cities, Food Deserts, Inadequate Healthcare, Poverty, Nescience, Pollution, Lack of Biodiversity; the list goes on and each problem somehow ties hand in hand; there is a direct connection to almost all societal problems. There is a root problem to all these problems, and it is an elusive and unconscious creation of the human mind that manifests into the rapid paced, capitalistic, competitive, and dominating culture that we live in. It’s a product of a mixture of common factors such as ego, fear, the monkey mind, with a dash of “colonizer karma” passed down since way before these lands were unrightfully stolen from the natives. We live in a system dominantly based on the idea of currency and “free market,” but if I grow my own food and produce my own power, the need for money goes down. Unfortunately, we’re sold on the fact we need a lawn filled with herbicides and pesticides that makes nutrients in that soil scarce because it’s good for the economy, and if we do garden it needs to be in neat rows in a pretty box made of lumber. I’ve made a garden bed out of large branches that looked awesome, didn’t cost me a penny. But society has it’s norms of conformity. Like don’t talk to your neighbors or play outside; stay in and watch tv or scroll on your cell phone because that’s good for the economy. Buy prepackaged garbage to eat, don’t bother learning the cheaper alternative which is how to cook healthy homecooked meals because that helps the economy. Don’t buy local food even though that would give average people around you more power to grow their operations. Instead eat food grown 500 miles away injected with chemicals and preservatives that degrade soil because simply because it is one dollar cheaper than the local organic alternative and then this way when the next political election happens, farmers, chemical companies, trucking companies, and other big businesses can fund political campaigns to help fund their destructive practices. Also, the government will give you free healthcare if you promise to earn a very miniscule amount of money annually but ironically almost no doctors will accept your insurance and if you do go to a doctor, they won’t tell you to eat healthy or exercise because what good does that do for the economy? Your insurance will let you go to urgent care centers though, but unfortunately, they are like the fast food of medical care, cheap fast and barely keep you alive. Finally, it’s so normal that there’s so much intentional sprawl in this country you’re practically forced to buy a car which is just one more financial burden while you drive past the countless miles of grass lawns that are biological wastelands that hardly support earthworms, not to mention pollinators, birds, or practically anything else. These problems are for practically everyone, I didn’t even scrape the surface of racial inequality in this country which will take things much deeper. I take no political stance, they act like it’s just a reality TV show, but in a world ran by money, does that not have a sense of control over people like the communist ways we as Americans despise so much? Do the problems above sound like we have freedom anymore? The divide in the United States is evident but could the need for different political parties in a country be because there are a variety of different people, in different, situations, that have different needs? Could it be true that the best way is a mixture of ways working together as one? The nature of life is flow and change. The moment things become stagnant; they’re dying. Still water grows germs, moving water stays clean. Beating heart good, stopped heart means death. Noticing that all societal problems come from the same root is good, we do not have to try to fix everything. If we can just focus on for example, cities being more livable it will fix a variety of problems. Livable cities are lively cities; proven that mixed use buildings, effective public transportation, green public spaces, and walkability/bike ability solve health problems, equality issues, social justice issues, environmental justice issues, bring communities together, and life back to the people; It makes life more affordable, less stressful, and more enjoyable. This concept reminds me of an old yogic saying that if you focus one aspect of health the rest of the body will fall in line. But we need to educate people, we need to speak up, and we need to stand out. In “The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain 1916, one of his lead characters, an all-knowing angel, during a stoning of someone innocent that a young boy, another lead character, was forced to participate in, say to the human boy “Only 2 people (out of the 20 or 30) here actually wanted to throw their stones at them. Like you did, humans simply tend to follow whoever is the loudest and most threatening.” And Twain is onto something. A person will not be themselves, do what they want to do, or say what they want to say, while not hurting anyone, just because someone can make fun of them of possibly worse. Revolutionary ideas are left unsaid because of this, and this baboonish dominator behavior needs to stop, but it is up to us to speak up for what we believe is right despite the ape-like-humans. It is usually the gentle ones that have the most positive and progressive ideas about which direction humanity should take in life but yet are also the quietest and nonconfrontational. For anyone reading this who wants to speak out; Are you aware of what needs to be said? Are you aware that people of color have an 80% less chance of having easy access to a safe area of nature to walk like a park, or to own their own land, let alone a good piece of farmland or prime real-estate? Are you aware that an average of 70% of Nutrional value in fresh produce has gone down in the last 50 years due to inorganic agricultural practices that are destroying the soil it’s grown on just to maximize output? Positive change that happens when you shop locally, garden at home, and support community gardens. To quote Ron Finley, the Gangster Gardener, “Growing your own food, is like printing your own money,” Positive change happens when you walk, ride your bike, or take the bus/subway to where you’re going instead of driving. There’s a huge debate about what’s better gas or electric; if you live in the city neither, ride a bike. Positive change happens when we shop sustainably in bulk departments and cut out the plastic. It’s the way we live and the way we are that affect everything around us. Live simply, live intentionally, at the deliberate pace of nature, Not the heedless pace of man. Transform yourself into a person that is loving, compassionate, joyful, open minded, and that will speak their own mind if they feel it will make a true positive change in the world. There’s plenty to do; what will you do?

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.

Observe Yourself

The essence of the human being is pure awareness. That is what you are: Awareness. You are not the body; you are not the mind. You raise your hand.. are you aware your hand is raised? Yes. Does your hand know that it is raised? No. You are the awareness watching these things happen. The point of meditation is to get in touch with this awareness. To do this all you do is observe. Watch your thoughts. Watch your breath. Watch your energies. Do not try to control, just watch. Meditation can bring upon negative emotions that you should not reject; when you just observe them they will slowly drift away on their own accord. I will agree that facing these emotions is a scary thing and takes and extreme level of trust, but once they are gone, all you have to experience is sweet and loving emotions! Generating positive emotions are natural for you as a human being, negative emotions are blown up because of rejection. Observing negative emotions on the forefront can be extremely uncomfortable, but they do fade away once you accept them. This technique can not only be used for inside situations, but outside situations as well. Earl Nightingale states that this is a characteristic of the ‘self actualized’ human being. We have this characteristic as a small child, simply noting and observing instead of arguing or demanding a situation be otherwise. Rejecting situations or feelings will act as a block in the system preventing you from flowing through life easier and gracefully. If you practice meditation, and you get anxious or upset, just watch the feeling. Welcome the feeling and do not try to control the feeling, just sit there and look at it. It will climax and drift away. We all want life to be a certain way for us. That is the point of Committed to Creating.. but it is most important that you accept things how they are, and simply observe. The point of this website is to not have everything the way we want it is to strive for everything the way we want. Watch life. Watch you surrounding. You will find yourself more in tune with an infinite power you may never have a real understanding of. As soon as you believe you understand life, it tends to throw another factor into the mix so it is most important that you just observe. It is a lot more fun to watch than try to control. What is the most important in your experience, some other life or your life? Your life! Enhance your life and experiences. A sweetness in your experience will trickle into the lives of those around you. Please, just take time once a day to just observe yourself.

Knowing and Doing

It is on thing to know something, but if you do not practice what you have learned, what is the point of learning? We know we need time outside in the elements and to socialize and exercise, but if we do not do it, what is the point? When we learn something is beneficial to us, we must do it. It is foolish not to. Everything I talk about on this site, I do, because doing is a part of knowing for me. If you think you know something and do not do it, how do you know you know it? Couldn’t it be wrong? Whether or not you’re wrong or right, if you believe in something then live by that. Be open minded, but stick to your beliefs if you find they work for you in what you wish to accomplish. We only have so much time in this world, if you believe it you better get to work. You can only do so many things at once. Some people can do more than others but we are all limited by the aspect called time. We will all die. If you believe that life is about taking chances, then why wait? What are you waiting for? Death? Commit yourself to whatever you are doing if you believe you can attain it, but if you believe to take it safe and live a life like that then do that. It does not matter, as long as you believe that when you die you will have no regrets, that is the most important thing. There are things we cannot do and that is fine, but if you can do it and do not do it that is a tragedy because, believe it or not, you want to do it. Your inner being wants to do things that you may not understand why until it is over and those are the most important things. The things that take a little faith in ourselves.

One Path

In life we are faced with many decisions. We all wonder which path we are able to take. In reality, since we are given one life, there is only ever one path, just different directions. You will go where your attention goes. Take the old analogy about the girl on the bike. She had the training wheels pulled off her bicycle, now she’s riding around feeling a little jazzy. She heads down a grass hill, not too steep, but just enough to keep her accelerating. Suddenly, she realizes a tree in front of her. She fears, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to hit that tree!’ She does exactly what most people do when they are afraid of something: watch it. The girl keeps her attention on the tree, not being very experienced on a bike yet. Staring at the tree, she runs into it. If only she would have focused in the direction she wanted to go she would have avoided the tree completely. Try this next time you feel jazzy on a bike, you will know what I’m talking about. This is just like life. Most people are always focused on what they don’t want, or what they are afraid of. To take control of your mind is to control the direction of your life. I love the how Earl Nightingale compares the mind to a great machine. The man driving down the road in a gigantic ‘earth moving machine’ as he puts it. Do we want to control out minds hands firmly at the wheel, or cross our arms and let the machine drive itself right into a ditch. It’s our own decisions. You could drive this machine in circles but it’s still only one path. I can’t fully explain to you how well life is listening to us. It listens to our thoughts, our actions, our emotions… Personally I veer from path to path frequently. I have many passions and hobbies: art, yoga, fitness, cooking, writing, speaking, math, health, nature.. but every time I switch paths life always throws something along that same line my way. Devote yourself to one thing and you surly cannot fail. If you throw yourself into it with a good attitude and a will to succeed. Keep your thoughts on who you want to be, where you want to go, and how you want to get there. Even if jump around like I do, there is only ever one path. Your path may be curvy, that is fine, but the more direct we make our path the farther we will travel. Love your path. “The less we are, the more we will become.” -Sadhguru.

Living on…

As far as any of us know we only have one life. In the comfortable society most of us forget that we are going to die. We know we are going to die, but we don’t seem to quite understand we are going to die. If we acted as if we were going to die someday we would not waste a single moment. Our time here would purely be about what we want to do with this life, what we want to give to the world, and how we can develop a deep sense of serenity within ourselves. Our imprint here will always live past our death. I intend to leave a distinct and powerful imprint on the world. Humanity should be one step closer to liberation because of what I do. What about you? You don’t know if you will get to come back or not, so what do you want to do for reality? To make more peaceful people, more loving people, more joyful people… If you act from ego and want your face carved in a big stone and for everyone to think he is the greatest.. that is just ego, that is not what you want. Trust me. Everyone who is reading this may only have about 60 years left in their lives if they die from natural death, although most death now are from disease and health complications unfortunately. We live in a society where we have more tools for health than ever before but majority of people choose food that is barely food. Set the good example. Not just in dietary habits, but in every aspect of life. Be disciplined, be humble, be yourself, be joyful, be exuberant, be giving, be happy, be loving, be human… and your contributions will live on through the next generation. Decide what you are going to do with these 60 years. They are a blessing! Romans average life expectancy was 25, now a days it is 75 (remember that is just the average.) We have more time than ever before! Love it, enjoy it, and use it on something worth while. The best thing we can do is spread what we know about humanity. Spread knowledge about the possibilities of human beings. We have the number one tool on the planet: the human mind… now is time to cultivate and use it. The mind was created to create, but, if you look at what is going on in the world, we are not creating the world we want because of a lack of understanding of the way it works and a lack of understanding about who we are (or even what we are for that matter.) The goal of life is to choose our own direction that makes us fulfilled by helping others, and to break out of our natural tendencies that have been making our lives not our own since it all began. Give to humanity and let your contributions live on…

Visualization and Self Talk

All day long we are carrying mental conversations in our heads. Furthermore, we create these little movies that play. Thoughts come mainly in these two forms: speech and visualization. Unfortunately, most people, almost automatically, picture things they fear. Also, most people say things to themselves that, if someone else said to them, they would not believe someone would try to offend them in such a way. Most of us are not taught at an early enough age to program out brains in beneficial ways. The more we say uplifting things to ourselves the more habitual it becomes. As adults, once we reach a certain point we realize their is something wrong with our thought processes and try to fix it, so we are always trying to reprogram our brains. Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” There is a dance between imagination and emotion that cause a metaphysical energy to flow. Imagination is not just ideas, but it can come in the form of creative things to say to yourself. For example, “I have confidence in myself and others.” Anything you do not normally say in your head takes a little imagination to come up with something new. “I find work fun and pleasurable.” That is an affirmation most of humanity could use a little reciting. A lot of philosophers advocate affirmations, as do I, but, if you really want to create something in your life, the real power lies in visualization. Visualization can also be more difficult because the mind can reject things it doesn’t believe but the main key of either of these techniques is to focus on things that you want. Even little things, like waking up joyful, vibrant, and rested. Picture eating a delicious breakfast that you love. Picture traffic on the way to work being smooth and you get to work perfectly on time feeling eager to do the job. Create this habit of picturing things how you would like them to be. It is the most important thing you could ever do because it will make your mind strong, focused, and full of positive thoughts that will leave you submerged in joy and positive emotions. And because it becomes habit, it becomes easy. This will literally transform your life completely. The more you expand your imagination and belief systems the more magical your life will be, and the more confidence you will have in manifestation the more it will show up. Note that this should not about attempting to force life to manifest what you imagine. When you practice visualization you can begin to try to think things into existence. Sometimes things of this size will not manifest for a couple days. Forcing things does not work. Letting things flow is the way to make things work; You have to make things FUN. Playfulness is a high vibrational feeling. It is not our job to control the outside world or the people around us. I am the only one that I need to control; You are the only one that you need to control. Our body, minds, emotions, and energies should work for us. If we let outside situations determine what happens to us inside, then we are only slaves. The world is full of negative things that are simply just distractions. The news for example is full of things that we do not want in this world. Death, violence, political slander, and all sorts of negative things that happen. This is putting focus on the things we do not want in this world. We should direct our attention on the things we want and appreciate because they become greater. For example there are hundreds of organizations all over the world providing people with food, clothes, planting trees, advocating for animals, and providing necessities to life everywhere. People clean the air, clean the water, clean neighborhoods, save people and animals, and help each other in miraculous ways! If only they would put this stuff on the news front and center. I feel putting positive news is needed to create a world that is beneficial to everyone. A whole world focused on positive things we want! News like this will motivate fellow humans to pick up and do what these people are doing as well. Just think about what you want. Get creative. Have fun. Day dream. Visualize what you think the perfect world would be like, not just for yourself but for everyone. If you see something you do not want to be that way, think about how you do want it. Then ask, “Why do I want it this way?” Then explore from there.

Creative Process

It is a fundamental fact of life that our thoughts become things. Our environment is a consequence of our past thoughts and current beliefs. We must always make sure to keep our mind on what we want. The human mind is only capable of creation even when it is creating destruction. It is said the mind can only add and multiply, never subtract or divide. So if you think about how much you don’t want something you will never subtract that from your life, only add. People who are afraid of failure, tend to fail. Earl Nightingale says that we should spend one hour a day writing down exactly what we do want. It is easy to think about our fears and disappointments, that is why people do it. Most of humanity tends to dwell on these things. It takes a strong mind to notice all the positive things in life that are around us. As I have said before, positivity moves in silence and there for tends to go unnoticed. I have had conversations where the one I am talking to continues to tell me all the things they are mad about in their life. I tell them, “We should not give so much energy to all the things making you life uncomfortable. Focusing on problems creates more problems. I am here to brainstorm some solutions.” They say, “No, no, the problem is…” That’s when I say, “YOU’RE DOING IT AGAIN!!!” Focus on what you want. Focus on what you appreciate, and if your attention goes in a different direction move it back in the direction you do want, because the thoughts you are thinking now are creating your future. Thinking is a creative process.