The Value of Spontaneity in Holistic and Vibrant Living

The conventional neurology with which human beings live is characterized by a shield of thought between them and their lives. Such a shield is made up of the residues from the past which in turn sustains the ‘I’, the ego. This means that we are not directly in contact with life but through a corrupting interface – corrupting because everything is judged based on the self-importance of the ‘I’. Understanding the value of spontaneity can bring about a change in this unfortunate state of affairs.

Spontaneity arises out of being alive to the ‘Now’. Self-awareness forms the basis for its genesis. Understanding how the habitual shield comes in and corrupts is part of that awareness. Spontaneity cannot come through the practice of any system since all systems rely on the past and so the ‘Now’ slips by. That gives the chance for the shield to come in and let the ‘I’ rule the roost. Being a conformist sustains the slavery to a system and so blocks spontaneity from streaming in. So, if not by adopting a method, how does spontaneity come about? Applying ourselves to this puzzle brings in the required awareness and the associated clarity; the shield starts dissolving. Very soon we see freshness flowing into our lives.

Once we understand the beauty of spontaneity, there is a feeling of moving closer to the soul. We see its intrinsic ability to preclude the problem-creating tendency of the mind from indulging in its habitual ways. The mind falls quiet and a strange confidence flows in. It creates space in our minds and augments stable mental peace. Abundant feeling flows towards everyone and everything. There would be the unqualified love towards all, as reported by those who go through a near death experience.

Living with spontaneity clears away many unnecessary fears that trouble us. There is the readiness to face life without the conventional armored approach. In this connection, we are reminded of a statement by J. Krishnamurti: To be vulnerable is to live, to withdraw is to die. It helps to reflect and understand the content of that statement.

We may consider three types of couples: Type 1. They never argue, never quarrel. Type 2. These people argue, quarrel, feel hurt, don’t talk to each other for some days and then gradually come around. Type 3. This set of couples argue, quarrel but laugh it off at the end; no residues. Peace returns almost immediately.

If asked which of the three represents the healthiest kind of relationship, most people - if not all - will point to the third set of couples. This is because people know intuitively that it is the residue from an event that destroys, not the event itself. Once we understand the value of spontaneity, residues cannot form and trouble us anymore. No doubt, all these are easier said than done. Nevertheless, it is a challenge that can be interesting. Meeting it squarely helps us move into happy and vibrant living.

The New Age Spirituality is related to these matters of universal goodness and so it would not be supportive of conformism and sectarian practices. You may ponder over these matters and also let your friends and relatives reflect on them.

Related matters are covered in the website http://spirituality.yolasite.com

Understanding Karma the Hidden Redeemer

The hidden truths of life can help us in many ways.  Most people, however, get carried away by the apparent issues of life and rarely delve into the hidden truths. Understanding the deeper meaning of Karma can move us towards leading a peaceful and meaningful life.  All it needs is a deep interest in that direction.

Strangely, attachment to religious systems quite often discourages the adherents from impartial investigations into hidden truths, for fear of being veered away from the religion.  However, such fears keep them on the surface layers of consciousness, leading to religious fanaticism and shallowness of their psychology.   

Karma is not to be treated merely as a religious belief.  Either it is Intrinsically true or it is not.  Only those who impartially examine their own lives and the lives of the others understand the truth about it.  Beyond the mere reasoning ability, intuition plays a significant part in revealing hidden truths.  Sustained interest in examining (along with consistent association with the matter for a while) is needed before intuition starts making its impact.  This world’s truly happy people are those who have sensed the value of intuition and who allow it to guide them in their lives. These are the people who understand Karma and harness it to help them rather than be at loggerheads with it.     

The truth of Karma has a great deal to offer in terms of leading a fanaticism-free vibrant life.  Edgar Cayce, known as the Sleeping Prophet, lived in the US during the first half of the twentieth century, and has written some revealing essays on Karma and how it has been misunderstood.  He was able to help many who sought his advice (about 3000 in number) free themselves from problems by reading their karmic connections from their past life incidents.  He did this reading by himself getting into an hypnotic state while the subject sat near him.  Edgar said that to think of Karma as a punishing agent can only be a most unfortunate conclusion.  His essays on Karma go a long way to bring clarity in that direction.  One sees how one is accountable for one’s actions while not misinterpreting Karma by attributing ‘a tooth for a tooth and a nail for a nail’ kind of false content to it.              

Karma is energy – the energy generated by nature flowing through our physical and psychological system, through the other living beings, through the inanimate things etc.  That flow is governed by the laws of nature.  In that flow there is no room for chance happenings; nothing can be a random variable.  Things appear to be random only because of unawareness of the hidden truths.  Therefore Karma is like a river flowing through many geological and geographical terrains letting a score of things take place on the way. 

From the above analogy, we can perceive some hidden truths.   When a river is in floods, it overflows the banks, hits the cattle, destroys the crops, drowns the people and so on.  But, if we can construct a dam at the right place, the dam will function as a flood control measure and release the flood in a phased manner.  Then, all the destructive consequences of the flood are effectively eliminated.  Other advantages such as power generation and water for irrigation also ensue.  Construction of a dam needs the understanding of the static and dynamic nature of water.  The same way, to harness the energy of Karma needs our understanding of its characteristics - its live movement.  Then, we find that Karma is a great friend of ours and that it is actually a hidden redeemer. All these things can help one lead a peaceful life in which one knows how to be happy and how to make others happy.

These matters are dealt with in a detailed way in my book "in Quest of the Deeper self". Please visit http://spirituality.yolasite.com

Mental Peace – Through understanding the wider consciousness.

It is interesting to note the way in which we cognize things and come up with feelings and emotion with respect to various items in the world. Understanding these with regard to a wider field of awareness leads to confidence and peace.

The sequence in the wider field seems to be as follows:  There is the expansive consciousness that may be called the Universal Consciousness.  When it functions through the brain (which is the physical organism), it issues out the mind as a stifled outlet of the Consciousness.  So, we can write:

   Universal Consciousness  ->  Brain  ->  Mind

This indicates that the perception by the Mind is always influenced by the Brain as a repository of memories and as an interpreting medium through the accumulated knowledge.  The Brain also carries the genetic conditioning apart from the conditioning by circumstances in which the human being finds himself or herself.  This causes the mind’s cognition and interpretation to be a matter of conditioned output and so it leads to improper understanding of what there really is.  One of  the inevitable outcomes of this warped awareness is the rising of the ego which is essentially a product of thought. 

 Thus, if we can reverse the above process, we begin to get a glimpse of the unspoiled Consciousness as evidenced by the following two ravishing experiences that human beings have gone through over the years:

1.            OBE  (Out of Body Experience)

2.            NDE  (Near Death Experience)

The above two have also demonstrated the significant fact that Consciousness can function without the brain being involved.

Once we explore the deeper aspects of Consciousness, Brain and Mind, we move into the esoteric aspects of life.  That lays the right foundation for wholesome and peaceful living.  This field of awareness forms the theme of the websitehttp://spirituality.yolasite.com