There are so many spiritual teachers out there,
pointing in different directions, saying:
-Don’t look at my finger.
Look at what I‘m pointing at.
There is the truth.
Can you see it?
If you ask four different Gurus
about which way to choose
you will get four different answers
and they will all sound as if they knew exactly
what they were talking about.
How is this possible?
One answer is that if you look deep enough
you will find that all spiritual teachings are very similar.
Yes, it looks as if the gurus are pointing in different directions
but in reality, they don’t.
They are all saying the same thing.
I don’t think this is true.
There are, for example, big differences in the way they look at
the everyday surface level.
Is justice an important matter?
Is it wrong to exploit poor people in order to get rich?
Is competition more important than cooperation?
Is capitalism and spirituality compatible?
Is it important how we live our daily life?
Are such questions something a spiritual teacher
should be concerned about?
The world is a cosmic play, is it not?
The real truth is to be found somewhere inside of you,
or up there, or out there, or in 3000-year-old scriptures
don‘t you think?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Reality is what comes and goes
Some people believe that there is a real reality
behind this everyday reality of constant change.
They believe that all this, which is constantly changing,
is an illusion, a mirage.
This is originally a Hindu idea.
I believe that the reality is always changing
and I believe that this changing reality is real.
Brahman is just a word to me
a mental concept.
However,
I have discovered that there are other dimensions
than this one.
I am not just the one I think I am
and the world does not work the way I think it works.
There are deeper levels in all of us.
To see this
was an awakening experience to me
a breakthrough.
I had, of course, read about the subconscious mind,
but I had not been able to put two and two together.
I couldn’t see that my conscious self, my ego, and all my ideas
were just a small part of me.
Today I am not shure of who I am
and I have no idea how this world is functioning.
Ten years ago I knew it all.
This is an important first step in the awakening process
as I see it.
behind this everyday reality of constant change.
They believe that all this, which is constantly changing,
is an illusion, a mirage.
This is originally a Hindu idea.
I believe that the reality is always changing
and I believe that this changing reality is real.
Brahman is just a word to me
a mental concept.
However,
I have discovered that there are other dimensions
than this one.
I am not just the one I think I am
and the world does not work the way I think it works.
There are deeper levels in all of us.
To see this
was an awakening experience to me
a breakthrough.
I had, of course, read about the subconscious mind,
but I had not been able to put two and two together.
I couldn’t see that my conscious self, my ego, and all my ideas
were just a small part of me.
Today I am not shure of who I am
and I have no idea how this world is functioning.
Ten years ago I knew it all.
This is an important first step in the awakening process
as I see it.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Advaita Vedanta
The first person to explicitly consolidate the principles of Advaita Vedanta was Adi Shankara. (788 CE - 820 CE)
Shankara taught that access to Vedic texts, a prerequisite for liberation, should be restricted, in accordance with caste rules, to upper-caste Hindu males. He seems to have generally held that liberation can only be attained by a male renunciant of the Brahmin caste.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta
Shankara taught that access to Vedic texts, a prerequisite for liberation, should be restricted, in accordance with caste rules, to upper-caste Hindu males. He seems to have generally held that liberation can only be attained by a male renunciant of the Brahmin caste.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta
Friday, January 14, 2011
Things are not always what they seem to be.
Negative thoughts are not necessarily bad.
The idea that negative thoughts are bad
makes them only more terrible than they actually are.
And positive thoughts are not always something desirable.
Positive thinking can be a defense mechanism
a way to gloss over and escape the depths of human existence.
However, sometimes silly fart jokes and stupid stuff
are absolutely necessary,
and sometimes they are simply too much.
It is good to be critical, to some extent,
about oneself and the situation in the world.
It can motivate you to change
and realize that you have to do something.
The problem is when you drown in criticism.
The idea that negative thoughts are bad
makes them only more terrible than they actually are.
And positive thoughts are not always something desirable.
Positive thinking can be a defense mechanism
a way to gloss over and escape the depths of human existence.
However, sometimes silly fart jokes and stupid stuff
are absolutely necessary,
and sometimes they are simply too much.
It is good to be critical, to some extent,
about oneself and the situation in the world.
It can motivate you to change
and realize that you have to do something.
The problem is when you drown in criticism.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Not even the now is real.
The past is a memory and the future is a fantasy.
Don’t forget that also the present now is a mental concoction.
What you perceive is first cooked in your subconscious mind.
Perceptions, preconceived ideas and beliefs,
some prejudices and a pinch of complete misunderstanding
is cooked up to a soup in almost no time.
This soup is what you are served as reality.
Don’t forget that also the present now is a mental concoction.
What you perceive is first cooked in your subconscious mind.
Perceptions, preconceived ideas and beliefs,
some prejudices and a pinch of complete misunderstanding
is cooked up to a soup in almost no time.
This soup is what you are served as reality.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Thinking
Why bother about endangered species, carbon dioxide emissions, climate change and toxic waste? No species survive forever. Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
Why bother about child labor, exploitation of poor people and injustice? Man is disturbed not by things but the views he takes of them.
Look for clever explanations. Be a wisecrack. Be like a surfer, wonderful, suntanned and witty.
Why bother about child labor, exploitation of poor people and injustice? Man is disturbed not by things but the views he takes of them.
Look for clever explanations. Be a wisecrack. Be like a surfer, wonderful, suntanned and witty.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Objectivity
Journalists and historians with right-wing views cannot be objective. The same is true, of course, for left-wing journalists or left wing historians. It would be better if they declared their views openly and didn’t play the game of objectivity or scientific accuracy. Journalism is never objective and history is not an objective science. Neutral, independent and objective people does not exist. We are all leaning left or right, forward or backward.
Biology is not an objective science either. A right-wing biologist will see the world through his right-wing glasses; and a left-wing biologist will see the world through his left-wing glasses. A right-wing biologist will emphasize competition and a left-wing biologist will emphasize cooperation.
It is indeed very difficult to look at things objectively.
Not even religion or “spirituality” is free from political bias. The Catholic Church and the different Protestant Churches have always supported the far right. We don’t have to wonder where we are with them. The problem is all the gurus and the spiritual teachers of today. Do they vote in the elections? Do they care about child labor and exploitation of poor people?
Many of the “spiritual people” believe that they don’t have a political view. This is a delusion. If they are voting in elections, they should declare whom they are voting for. And if they don’t vote, they should say so and give the reasons for it.
It is impossible, as I see it, to have no point of view.
“Racism is ok. White people are superior to the colored races.”
“It is ok to exploit small children in the third world in order to get very rich. This is how economic growth is created and growth is good. Greed is good.”
It is impossible to have no opinion about statements like these.
If you believe that these statements are wrong, you should be able to say so.
“Oh, I’m not siding with anybody. I don’t have an opinion. I’m above politics.”
If you had lived in Nottingham in the days of Robin Hood, would you have supported Robin Hood or the Sheriff of Nottingham?
“I would have taken care of my own business.”
And if Robin Hood would have needed your help, would you have helped him, or would you have helped the Sheriff’s men?
Biology is not an objective science either. A right-wing biologist will see the world through his right-wing glasses; and a left-wing biologist will see the world through his left-wing glasses. A right-wing biologist will emphasize competition and a left-wing biologist will emphasize cooperation.
It is indeed very difficult to look at things objectively.
Not even religion or “spirituality” is free from political bias. The Catholic Church and the different Protestant Churches have always supported the far right. We don’t have to wonder where we are with them. The problem is all the gurus and the spiritual teachers of today. Do they vote in the elections? Do they care about child labor and exploitation of poor people?
Many of the “spiritual people” believe that they don’t have a political view. This is a delusion. If they are voting in elections, they should declare whom they are voting for. And if they don’t vote, they should say so and give the reasons for it.
It is impossible, as I see it, to have no point of view.
“Racism is ok. White people are superior to the colored races.”
“It is ok to exploit small children in the third world in order to get very rich. This is how economic growth is created and growth is good. Greed is good.”
It is impossible to have no opinion about statements like these.
If you believe that these statements are wrong, you should be able to say so.
“Oh, I’m not siding with anybody. I don’t have an opinion. I’m above politics.”
If you had lived in Nottingham in the days of Robin Hood, would you have supported Robin Hood or the Sheriff of Nottingham?
“I would have taken care of my own business.”
And if Robin Hood would have needed your help, would you have helped him, or would you have helped the Sheriff’s men?
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