Edward’s Diary Entry 142: Travels with Dellie

I hope any readers out there will excuse me. I haven’t written since May 4th. Steinbeck-like, I have travelled, not with a poodle like Charley, but to and from a border collie called Dellie, from Spain to New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and back.

There are times when normal life and its habits have to change. When things external must be taken care of. When people need things and they must be done. I have been in Manhattan, in Brooklyn Heights, at a chic hotel where everything is recycled, reused and reclaimed; on streets named after fruits; on highways and Interstates, in rain and shine; on a sheep farm at lambing time; in supermarkets, pharmacies, bars, restaurants and banks; and at nursing homes and hospitals and ICU’s…

So how can a dog become inspiration? Border collies are born and bred for intense activity. They watch sheep and want to herd them. A defective lamb rejected by its mother would normally die in the field (and even some perfectly OK lambs are sometimes found dead after a few days). But there was one runt in a set of twins who learned the trick of coming in from behind every time his brother was suckling so as to avoid rejection by its mother. He showed intelligence and a will to live, and so far, he has survived. Another skinny lamb could hardly stand after being born, and was thought to be unable to last the first night. But when he was given a milk replacement bottle, he latched onto it for dear life and showed an incredible will to live. A few days later, he was adopted by a family who wanted a pet.

The day when the family was to come, Dellie “watched” his little lamb all morning and part of the afternoon. He lay on the ground and wouldn’t take his eyes off his lambie. He sat at the cardboard box and occasionally peeked over the top to make sure his lamb was there. The dog’s intensity was amazing. It’s called one-pointed concentration, total focus, intensity squared. A cat may watch a mousehole for a time, but then wanders off. Not Dellie. He lived and panted for that lamb, and that lamb only, for five hours non-stop.

If we humans could show that level of intensity in our applying our Awareness to our lives, we would surely overcome the vagaries of the mind, become contented, find joy and perhaps even enlightenment. We hear of remaining in Awareness, dis-identifying with the thinking mind, cultivating the Observer, or being in Presence, and yet the “how” to do this is lacking, the “energy” to do this cannot be found, the “dogged intensity of a dog” is not there for us. And so we chop and change and spread our attention out over so many different things that there is very little left for our Self-Awareness. 

Long live Dellie and his intensity. We can learn from him.

Edward’s Diary Entry 141: Awareness and Pain Control?

I had a bad shoulder. My self-diagnosis was: Nerve pain from cervical 6-7 over right back shoulder down arm almost to elbow… (this was confirmed on a visit to the doctor). I had this for over a week, after sleeping in a strange bed and pinching my right arm, and continuing morning yoga anyway to see if it would go away. It would come and go – mostly coming! – and for several days, I only found occasional relief in certain positions, which were hard to find. A hot water bottle first time helped, thereafter it didn’t. An electric heat pad didn’t work. An ice pack helped at first, and likewise failed at the next attempt. Nothing seemed to work. Lying with bare torso on a cool stoneware floor helped one night, in several postures and even applying pressure to the arm. At least it provided enough relief to go back to sleep again.

However, this was over a long weekend. Upon resuming normal morning and evening crosslegged practises and exercises, I unexpectedly found some relief.

At first, sitting crosslegged with palms held upward on thigh was as painful for the right arm as it could get, on a pain level of 0-10, about 4 (up that day from 2-3 at other times). I started the exercise, using earphones and a recording: one thought on inhalation, a second thought on exhalation. The first minute and a half was even more painful, as the head is supposed to be tilted slightly upward with eyes closed so that the focus is between the eyebrows. That was difficult at first, so the tilt for today was at a lower angle. After the first few minutes, with Awareness firmly and solely on the sound, the thought, the focus and the in-breath, slight hold and out-breath, the “pain” had disappeared…The “sensation” of the place in the mind (let’s say the head) is higher than the pain location, above the normal thought process, seemingly superior to the sensation of Identity and Memory, and so it stands alone in quietness and gave me a total absence of any “pain”. This Awareness may be minutely aware of some discomfort in the rest of the body (legs or ankles), or some ease in the rest of the body (left arm OK). It may be aware of sounds outside in the pauses between sounds. But with proper focus and the single thoughts, one at a time, there was no more sensation of pain, not even discomfort. You can call it good relaxation if you want. The last few minutes of the exercise switches from single thought to “dwell phase” with the sound of a flute first, and then a chant in Hindi, whose translation I am vaguely familiar with. Here, the discomfort and pain began to return, and at the end, after finishing, I had to raise my right arm above the head to relieve the returning pain, having found that position rather comfortable beforehand.

And so I repeated the session straight away. This time, exactly the same thing happened. There was pain to begin with, and after the first minute, “pain” had gone. It came back only vaguely after the whole 17 minutes.

And so I said, “third time pays for all” and repeated the session for the third time. The pain went away till almost the end. I raised my right arm anyway and then placed it sling-like in front of me. I had proven it to myself. The “pain” sensation can be conquered by stepping outside the normal “thinking mind” and using simple intensified Awareness to remain in a calm, concentrated place that is not down in the basement of Memory of pain, or Identification with pain and discomfort, but higher and brighter than this, where Consciousness begins to rise above the mundane and the tumult of the world.

That’s where we ought to be. Everything is nicer and calmer there, as I have proven to myself in this experiment. Of course, those two single thoughts were important as well: on the in-breath, “I am not the body”, and on the outbreath, “I am not even the mind”. No wonder it worked. We are more than body and mind. This exercise, already mentioned twice on this blog, in Clingers and Tweaking, has been on my agenda since January 9th, 2017. And I do not fail to find it ever more challenging and beneficial as I continue its practise. You can go deeper and deeper every day.

Choices 2 - Little Things

Choices. Little things we can do to become more conscious of our choices.

Early morning, upon awakening:

• We have the choice to be happy to be alive or bothered by some kind of stupid thought. Choose happiness. We’re lucky we’re alive. Breathe fresh air and be thankful for it. Be mindful of the water you use to shower, flush the toilet, wash your face, brush your teeth. Not everyone in the world has access to fresh water like we do in “civilised” modern society.

• See what toiletries you are using. You have bought them for some reason, but whenever you buy, you are making a choice  – Where do they come from? How are they made? Who makes them? What ingredients do they contain? Are you supporting a clean industry? Is it sustainable? Are the workers happy? Every single product you see has hundreds of stories to tell you. Are you aware of the power this gives you?

• See what you drink in the morning? Water? Coffee, tea? Juice? How good are they, really? How are they packaged? What happens to the packaging? Where do they come from? Who made them? More stories, more power to you – more responsibility on your shoulders…
• What transport do you use? How much fuel are you using? Where was your bicycle made? Your car? The train or bus you take? What sights do you see on your way to work? Do you litter, or do you pick up after yourself?

During the morning:

• What work do you do? How do you do it? How do you greet people? How do you relate to your co-workers, if any? What do you talk about? Silly things and gossip? Or deeper things? Is this possible? How to prod people into awakening and enhancing their Consciousness for a better world? Or is someone else going to do it? Who?
• Obviously your smart phone is with you all the time. What do you feed on? Gossip, fake news? “Amens” and prayers? Quotes of the day? Friends and acquaintances? Are you really communicating, or just touching the surface? Everything has its pros and cons… Are you mindful of your choices in communication?
• Do you eat anything? What? Same as above: where does it come from? Is it health-giving? Do you really need it? Have you done any charity for others yet, before you feed yourself? Were the eggs laid by happy hens, or unhappy featherless prisoners in cages? Everything is a choice, but if you are unconscious of the consequences of your choices and actions, does that exempt you from mistreating animals, plants, other humans? Do you care about your choices and actions?
• How many banknotes and coins go to others during the morning? What are you supporting with your purchasing power? You may only vote in elections once every four years, but every cent or Eurocent you spend is a vote for something – what is it?

Lunchtime:

• Same as above: What do you feed on? Where does your food come from? Who grew it? Who processed it? What did they put in it? How did they package it? Are their workers happy? Are they paid properly? Do they have health insurance, social security, or are they in some kind of sweatshop halfway across the globe?
• Same goes for window shopping or buying something in an off-moment. What are you supporting with your purchase? If it’s plastic, it’s made from petroleum? How much oil is left? How much gas is left? Can we continue to use natural resources without concern? Do you care?
• Have you looked up at the sky yet, all morning? The sun should be overhead now. Why not look up and inspect the cloud formations? What if you have a heart attack right now? Are you stuck in your petty thoughts and worries? Or are you alive and enjoying it? It is a marvel of Nature, that you should be alive today, don’t you know that? Can you feel it?

Afternoon:

• What, still worrying about work? Counteract this by contemplating all those who are jobless, unemployed or working as slaves. You can work joyfully. If you don’t like your job, either like it or get out. You only live once.
• There are no “people problems”. Only “issues” to be handled with other people. Don’t use emotions where they are useless. What? Can’t help it? Who told you bad feelings and noxious thoughts are part of life? They’re not. Whoever it was, you tell yourself something positive. It’s your choice always. If you don’t know how, find out!

Evening:

• Haven’t you realised that your “man-made society” is just a sham? A fiction? You may talk about the environment, but have you touched the earth, put your hands in the soil today? Do you know where meat comes from? Fish, vegetables, dairy products? Do you know how the plants and animals live? Who cares for them and how?
• Have you touched real water during the day? Or do you just buy soft drinks? Who makes them? With what? What effect do they have on the body and mind? Do you think soft drinks and other modern-day inventions were around when man became modern man, some 45,000 years ago? Was anything really wrong with drinking fresh water from a stream? We’ve been doing it for thousands of years before the ex-morphine-addict John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola, came along…
• Have you noticed how you breathe all day? Do you realise you do breathe? And that if anyone takes your breath away, somehow, you wouldn’t survive for even 3 minutes? Isn’t it worth paying attention to something that is so vital to life? Or do you only really notice breathing when you smoke? Mmmm….
• Contemplate the invisible things that make you what you are: without gravity, you would float off into space; without space, you wouldn’t have any shape or form; without form, no name; and without name and form, total nothingness… and without any nothing, there couldn’t be a something. If that’s too difficult to grasp, just get entertained – but by whom? And with what? Even a good book is nice in the evening, but does it really make you a better person? More choices, at every step…

Nighttime:

• Have you reviewed your day? Have you been alive, happy, joyful? If not, what’s the point of living? Just to pay sales tax when shopping? Are you alone? Good. Have you made yourself happy? Are you accompanied? Good. Have you made others happy? Still more choices…
• Are you ready to rest, after using up all that solar power all day on making yourself and others happy and peaceful, not sad and angered? The Sun gives us everything – your thoughts are only possible because the world is the way it is and we have a Sun and a picturesque Earth full of marvels to live on. Don’t let any thought concern you that much that you forget your innate joy. 

Have a good night. Be at peace with yourself and the world. And tomorrow maybe there will be no more war.

Garden of Eden Revisited – Choices 1

The apple and the serpent – man’s and woman’s choice, resulting in knowledge of good and evil… Is this something that happened eons ago according to an old book called Genesis? Is it just history or myth? No. It is a living reality. It happens at every single moment, even right now. There is always “the choice”.

If you want to blame it on Eve, and Eve on the serpent, so be it! But as reinvented Adams, we shall place no blame on others. He did and was punished. As students of Self-Awareness, we realise we are talking about the human mind. There is a tendency, based on the underlying assumption that the physical world is all there is to reality, that “I am not to blame” for whatever is out there – it is always others who are to blame. But this is not true. When we see how minds work, because we see our own, we cease to blame others. We only see our choices. And we have a choice at every turn. Of course, if we see it. If we don’t, then we’re just normal and ignorant, like before that smart snake came along to teach us...

Today, in a globalised world, we all have choices and they are clearer than ever, with just a little intelligence and a quick overview of world history. For centuries past, man could gather together in his little tribes and make war upon others for food, riches, land, flags, creeds or ideologies. Mother Nature could hardly care. What of a few screams and some sanguinary splashes here and there? It’s a pity, maybe, but the species is still… viable. Because the Biblical God told them to increase and multiply, and they do that very well!

This was the mindset, even for countries perpetrating revolutions, like America in 1776, France in 1789, Mexico and other Spanish colonies in the 1800s, Russia in 1917 even. But with the Industrial Revolution, and the mass manufacturing of more powerful arms, we had the World Wars of the 20th century with their mass destructions, and small clans became whole countries, blocs and continents. After the splitting of the atom, nuclear weapons and chemical and biological arms began proliferating, and today, Mother Nature really can get worried about her little boys playing with matches… one day someone’s going to get even stupider and strike the wrong match at the wrong time.

In this 21st century, we should now realise that small-scale warfare is wrong, anyway, and dangerous. But if small-scale “undeclared” conflicts (of which there are hundreds at any given time) escalate into threats affecting nations, whole regions, and then continents, and then the entire world, then we’re all in the same boat heading for self-destruction. The governments and politicians we are paying to protect us will actually turn around and kill us – and then they will cry again and set up another United Nations, and see if that one works – if there's anyone left!

That is where the perpetual choice of Eve, and Adam, comes into the equation.

So, the choice is ours, but how do we make it? The only solution is an individual enhancement of human consciousness: I am responsible; it’s me, not others. I work for peace by creating peace in my own mind, first. Then that will affect others. The rest is just illusion and wishful thinking.

For the record, let us state what needs to happen, wishfully, in the “outside” world. We have to:

1) Stop outmoded nation-state hegemony by implementing proper education.

2) Halt the manufacture of arms and destroy current arms stockpiles by obliging democratically-elected officials to do this, and exerting pressure on non-democratically elected officials to follow suit.

3) Grant more powers to the United Nations Assembly to arbitrate and solve conflicts; we should be able to find some intelligence amongst the 193 member nations of the world, and if lacking, we must remove unsuccessful officials, find others who can do the job, and implement proper education.

4) Reject US, British, French, German, Russian, Chinese, etc. armed interventions outside their territories. The representatives of the big warring countries must be re-educated. Single nations can no longer patrol the world, it breeds mistrust and rejection.

5) Call a halt to violent entertainment throughout the printing industry and the media, as this affects immature minds and continues the threat of violence and war amongst the populace, part of the re-education program for a New World.

6) Do away with bad discriminatory education that justifies war crimes and violence as used in the past. It’s over. It’s the past. Today is today, and we must now become non-violent merely to survive.

7) Start proper education of the psyche of all men and women and children, everywhere, to promote enhanced Awareness, inclusive Consciousness. We now live in a globalised world where boundaries and differences must be overcome if we want to survive as a species, and this means working on the mind, and correcting the kind of “normalcy” that breeds warring, violent lunatics, always justified by “circumstances…”, and always blaming others…

This is a multi-generational plan. We have to find a way to implement an intelligent, viable program that spans generations. Short-term elected officials cannot achieve this. Which is why it is illusory, and the start has to be made by each individual mind, wherein the problem actually lies. If I can do it, you can do it, and this – hopefully – will have a domino effect on others…

The choice is mine. Now.

Tomorrow “Choices 2 – Little things you can do”