My spiritual blog & articles - My Spiritual Coach

How does someone's personal belief system effect how they see the world around them?

11/13/2022

We are all products of our cultural conditioning. When we were children, we believed everything our parents told us. We needed to be loved and cared for. Going along with our caretakers’ beliefs and what they told us, helped us to survive. Often, if we went against these beliefs, we would be punished or ostracized. So we learned to conform. But those are not our personal belief systems. They are handed down to us, fully formed. Yet we think they are ours.

We may think we have a personal belief system, but if we scratch the surface, unless it is based on our own experience and direct apprehension, it is just one more set of ideas that someone came up with a long time ago and everyone around fell into. Then, if it is based on “belief” instead of direct knowledge, it is based on a supposition. We suppose something to be true when it is a belief. We don’t really know it. We observe, and based on our imperfect knowledge, come up with a plausible explanation.

For example, human sacrifice, was part of many of the ancient belief systems. People thought that was their personal belief. If a human was not sacrificed, the sun would not rise in the morning. It was believed to be important and necessary to kill adults, children, and babies to make sure the sun rose. Of course, now we know that the sun doesn’t “rise.” It is all a matter of the rotation of the earth and where we are on it, in relation to the sun. The sun is always there, just where it always was.

Then, as time went by, the belief about human sacrifice and the sun rising changed and was replaced by other beliefs. All beliefs are stories we have made up to make sense out of life or to get what we desire. But all beliefs are not based on any real experience—only on lack of it and lack of knowledge and actually the fear of the new and real.

As Thich Nhat Hanh says,

“Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.”

Beliefs are about, “This is right because people told me so and I haven’t figured it out for myself.” They are what have caused so much human turmoil. Animals have no such belief systems and are much more peaceful because of it. Especially when people start killing each other over their belief systems, which are based on conformity, illusions, and delusions that make them feel better for the moment. They can see all Christians as devils or all non-Christians as bound for Hell. And it is all based on unexamined ego patterns, shaped by fear and ignorance.

Can you explain the concept of "mindfulness" as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh?

11/13/2022

The moment we awake from sleep, our minds begin their whirlwind of thoughts about the future: I need to do this and that, I need to meet or avoid certain people, I’m hungry, my leg hurts, maybe I should see a doctor. But the last doctor I saw didn’t help. Now what should I do? It took so long to get my last appointment with that doctor. No we are going back into the past, remembering the unpleasant. Then we switch to the future, fearing what will happen if we don’t get it taken care of. We fear it will only get worse.

This is just one example of how our minds run away with us, as we toggle from future to past and past to future. Meanwhile, we are not experiencing the fullness of our present moment, which is all we really have. The past is gone. The present hasn’t happened yet. All we truly have is the now. And if we don’t allow ourselves to experience and pay attention to the now, in all its peace and completeness, we will be dragged around by our minds into a state of anxiety, fear, regret, despair, and unease.

And this is just the start of the day. Instead of waking up and looking at the new dawn, feeling the joy of being alive, feeling appreciation for life and love, being fascinated with how perfect it all is, we need to fix things. We need to get on with the next project, we are bored, restless, or reluctant even to wake up as we face the drudgery and difficulties ahead.

Thich Nhat Hanh steers us away from this unhappy way of living. He says:

“If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.”

We are not really living when we are rushing off to the next thing and seeing the present moment as an encumbrance that we need to get through somehow. The present moment becomes something we must survive so we can get to the next thing that we must survive. It is a pointless and completely miserable way to live: Let’s get on with it so we can rush to the next thing we need to get on with. Instead, Thich Nhat Hanh says:

“When you walk, arrive with every step. That is walking meditation. There’s nothing else to it.”

Now we are at one with our body and its movement, each step, the earth, and the freedom of present moment awareness. We are not dragged down by the sorrows of the past or the fears about the future. We are mindfully walking, one step at a time, and being happy with that one step. Focussing our attention on that one step. In that mindful step is the key to our freedom from the churning of the mind. There is no place to go. We have already arrived.

Who is better, Deepak Chopra or Dr. David Hawkins (quantum healing)?

10/23/2022

Both Chopra and Hawkins are accomplished, visionary thinkers and physicians who incorporate spiritual modalities into bodily healing and mental health. As to which is better, it is up to you if you like one style over the other. Both emphasize the same points and bring out the fact that hard scientists have not explored spiritual avenues enough to be effective in healing or in giving us answers to the deepest questions in life.

In 1995, Dr. Hawkins came out with a "Map of Consciousness,"in his book Power vs. Force. The "Map of Consciousness" brings discoveries from quantum physics and nonlinear dynamics. Deepak Chopra’s book Quantum Healing appeared in 1989. It is about the invisible mind-body connection and how we can alleviate our suffering by understanding this interrelationship and its spiritual component.

Hawkins’ "Map of Consciousness," shows that with each rise in the level of consciousness, the "frequency" or "vibration" of energy increases. In this way, higher consciousness radiates a healing effect on the world. He also tested human muscle response to these vibrations, which stays strong in the presence of love and truth. But negative energy fields induce a weak muscle response.

Chopra’s approach is similar: Human beings can become “metahuman” by reaching a new place of awareness and thus be endlessly healthy and free. He sees the human body as supported by a "quantum mechanical body" composed not of matter but of energy and information. Contact with these higher fields of energy and information brings health, happiness, and benefits to the world as well.

Both Hawkins and Chopra adhere to the fundamental ideas of the world’s great spiritual traditions: Kindness and compassion to everything and everyone, including ourselves; humility; forgiveness; reverence for all of life; and surrender to Cosmic Consciousness (or God). It is a direct path to Enlightenment in which each internal progression of love and integrity uplifts the whole of existence: "We change the world not by what we say or do but as a consequence of what we have become," states Dr. Hawkins.

Chopra also says, “Each of us is a unique strand in the intricate web of life and here to make a contribution.” So it’s not a matter of who is better. They are both great contributors to our understanding of how to alleviate the enormous amount of suffering in the world and in ourselves.

Why did Abraham Maslow say that self actualization was the highest need in his hierarchy of needs?

9/27/2022

Abraham Maslow said, "What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization."

But we can't get there before we meet all the other needs, including those of basic survival. Animals don’t look at their lives in terms of their potential to grow intellectually or spiritually. They are not concerned with completing their story and creating meaningful lives for themselves. Their main concern is to eat and avoid being eaten so they can procreate and replenish the stock.

Humans, however, have a need, once all their other survival and emotional needs are met, to find meaning in their lives and to demonstrate and fulfill their particular talents, gifts, and abilities. Furthermore, it is not enough just to survive if you are a fully developed human with an intellect and spiritual yearnings. We must find the meaning behind the struggles, difficulties, and sorrows that beset us all. Life is too painful to endure just for the sake of survival.

And so, we seek answers to our deepest questions that other life forms do not concern themselves about: Who are we? Why are we here? Are we just the puppets of our genes or is there spiritual significance to what we are going through? If we are starving, freezing, under threat, and just barely hanging on, we need to take care of that first. But once that has been solved, what is the point of it all?

Thus, Maslow observed that what uniquely defines being human is the drive to self-actualize, or as the Army slogan says, “Be all that you can be.” That means, accomplishing what you love to do, what you must do, and what defines you as the one-of-a-kind being that you are. It also means finding meaning outside of the physical aspects of life. It is about finding your inner life and Soul. Without this, life is a meaningless and fear-driven round of feeding and reproducing, interspersed with short-lived pleasures until we die. And therefore, as humans, endowed with the potential for cosmic consciousness, self-actualization is our highest need.

As part of the divine consciousness, do we already know everything?

7/13/2021

As part of the divine consciousness, we really don’t know anything from the standpoint of our limited brains. We think we know things because we have accumulated many facts and educated ourselves so we can gain some measure of control over our lives. We believe that “knowledge is power” and on one level it is. It is better to have skills and understanding than to be completely clueless, especially when performing tasks.

But when we talk about divine consciousness, we are talking about something that is so large, we are simply not equipped to know about it fully. We may be able to see pieces of it, like an ant looking at an elephant. The ant may see just the toenail and think it is a huge mountain. It could never even see the whole elephant.

That is how we are in the realm of divine consciousness. We can get glimpses of it and live in it. We can experience it. But it is difficult to put words to what the experiences are. We can only hint at it. We can only talk about sensations but we can never pin it down. We aren’t meant to. It is arrogance to think that one day we will know everything.

The human race knows a lot already and it still hasn’t increased in happiness or peace. It has not taken itself into higher levels of consciousness and continues to chase after things that do not last. Knowing a lot does not provide much consolation on a cold and stormy night.

Is the noble eightfold path of Buddhism intelligible?

6/23/2021

Like the Ten Commandments, Buddha’s Nobel Eightfold Path, is simple to understand but not really easy to accomplish. These eight attitudes are not moral precepts about specifically what not to do, though. They are a simple list of how to behave if you want to live a life with a minimum of suffering for yourself and others.

Buddha does use the word “right” but it is not in the sense that you are damned by God if you don’t take his recommendations. It is more in the sense of what is most appropriate for the moment. Here is the Noble Eighfold Path:

Right understanding
Right thought
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration

Because they are so simple, people can interpret these concepts in different ways. Huge volumes have been written on the subject. My interpretation, in short, is approach everything with a free, pure, unattached heart. This ensures that we say the appropriate words as well as perform appropriate actions. We consciously put our efforts towards meaningful goals while remaining grounded in what is eternal about ourselves.

Four of the ideas in The Noble Eightfold Path concern themselves with our inner selves: Understanding, thought, mindfulness, and concentration. This is different from the Ten Commandments, which do not concern themselves with a person’s inner life and more with their relationship to Jehovah and with each other.

Four of the items on the Path are action-oriented: Speech, action, livelihood, and effort. The Buddha did not leave anything out. And by not defining precisely what each “right” thought or action is, he left a lot of room for interpretation. But the final test is, by living this way do you alleviate suffering? Thousands of years after he delivered his insights, they are still alive and bringing people and understanding of life, so they have stood the test of time.

Is it possible to dissolve the ego completely? If it is possible, how can this benefit somebody’s life?

6/9/2021

The Universe is perfectly designed, so if we are born into bodies that come equipped with egos, who are we to say it needs to be completely dissolved? We can manage it because it has some troublesome aspects. It is fearful, tries to prove itself right and everyone else wrong, and it is never satisfied with what is, wanting more, more, and more.

But it is also part of what makes us human. And as with our bodies, we can do things with it to optimize its performance and not turn it into our enemy. We can put it in its place. We can be grateful to it that it is only trying to protect us to ensure our survival. We don’t have to fight it. We can thank it and then put it in its place as our servant and not our master.

The ego wants to excel, improve on things, fix things, and gain praise. It sees what’s wrong with the picture and is discontent with the Now. All of these qualities spurred the great works of art, engineering, technology, and inventions of our species. So we don’t want to throw the ego out completely. We want to put it where it belongs—being a help to us in our creative energy and not destroying our happiness in the process.

Why are a lot of enlightenment answers unintelligible and why do people upvote them anyway?

5/23/2021

Answers about consciousness and enlightenment seem meaningless to people who think that they are only their ego-minds, with their never-ending demands for everything to make sense. They also think they are their bodies, with their endless round of physical needs and cravings.

They want to tie all the mysteries of life up in a neat package that can be proved under laboratory conditions, and therefore that would be the Truth for them. This would give them a sense of security, though any thinking person can see that life merely in the physical is an endless cycle of eating, sleeping, procreating, and working so we can get up then next day and do the same thing again until we die.

Then we will be replaced by other organisms, all with their same wants and desires—mainly to survive with a few little meaningless perks thrown in, such as entertainment and fleeting pleasures.

Yet some people are beyond this. They know within their hearts that this survival-at- all-costs approach to life shows meaninglessness on the level of the insects. Reproducing in swarms and filling their bellies so they can excrete later. Only if we are on a path of enlightenment, to bypass the endless whirl of the physical and its dis-satisfactions, will any underlying happiness, gratitude, or sense of purpose be possible.

The other problem with the language of enlightenment is that we don’t really have a precise vocabulary to define the different states of consciousness attained by an enlightened being. These states are beyond mere feelings and emotions. Eventually their descriptions end up sounds like cliches. “I was lost in the bliss of One-ness with all life and all death. We are all one.”

People don’t feel this in everyday life and it becomes tiresome to hear this kind of imprecise language over and over again. It becomes lost in a blur. The states of consciousness that go beyond the mere everyday survival thoughts, rehashing of old events and jumping with anxiety into the future, don’t sound possible the way they are described.

Yet, when we are on the Spiritual Path we can detect the soul behind what is written and therefore respond to the being who put themselves out there enough to at least try to describe enlightenment.

Do all enlightened beings renounce their worldly possessions?

4/29/2021

It’s not that enlightened beings renounce their worldly possession, it’s just that they don’t cling to them. They understand the everlastingness of their spiritual identity and therefore do not place a significant value on things that can be stolen, lost, or destroyed.

Enlightened beings may enjoy beautiful objects but they do not place high emotional value on them either. They don’t even have to own them to enjoy them. They can appreciate objects and experiences for what they are: Transitory and ephemeral, not lasting and eternal. Like a gorgeous butterfly that settles nearby and then flies away. The enlightened being does not need to place a pin in the butterfly and frame it to keep it for all time.

Enlightened beings do not put great importance on anything that comes and goes, or can disappear or be taken away. They focus their attention and energy on what is lasting and deep. Therefore, enlightened beings may even be extraordinarily wealthy, but they would be just as happy if they had nothing. With enlightened beings, it is never about the external manifestations of reality and more about the internal discoveries.

We don’t need to make a big fanfare of giving up everything that makes life comfortable to show that we are enlightened. We can just hold what is really valuable and enduring in our hearts and souls. Then we can be thankful for whatever good comes our way but not depend on physical items for our happiness and peace of mind.

Why are we motivated by materialism?

3/25/2021

Buying and amassing a whole bunch of material goods for ourselves gives us a temporary high. It feels good for a short while and then we need to feed the beast once again. The high has disappeared and we must up the dose of our next toy, piece of jewelry, car, house, or anything that we value outside of our inner selves.

We keep looking outside ourselves for one more item that might be the that panacea for all our discontents and anxieties. Then we get it and find it didn’t do the trick, so we are motivated to try the next path in the maze. Each time we think we will find the reward with the next acquisition.

Jackie Gleason, the famous comedian and billiards player told the story about how poor he was growing up. All he ever wanted was a billiards table of his own. He knew that would be the key to happiness for him. That would solve his restless angst. He was putting off his happiness until that moment and knew one day it would happen.

Through the years he became wealthy and famous. He finally bought himself a top-of-the-line pool table. But after only a few days, it was just one more thing in his house gathering dust. Yes, he used it, but now he was used to it. His mind had moved on to the next thing it felt it needed to hold onto for its joy and peace of mind.

That was one of the most important realizations of his life. We are motivated to keep getting more and more materials things because the satisfaction is not lasting. So we keep going down that false path because we think that one day if we get enough of the right thing, all will be solved.