KARMA

JOY, HAPPINESS AND GRATITUDE #11

“Gratitude is the moral memory of humankind.” G. Simme

Gratitude, by creating happiness supports the law of Karma.

Ingratitude; “a horrible and unnatural crime...” David Hume

The Ancestors have a lot to say about the power of gratitude. Gratitude is prayer and is also a way of giving back, an attitude rather than sacrificing anything of substance. It sounds trite but can be profound and simple.

Be grateful and you will be happy. Happiness leads to great empowerment.

Remember that you are made not for brokenness and sorrow but for wholeness and for joy.

One of the paths to this is gratitude.

Joy creates gratitude and gratitude fosters happiness.

It costs nothing.

There is no joy as transforming as the joy of gratitude.

…Do all with gratitude.

It is the way of love. It is the way of joy.

Robert Emmons is a psychologist and pioneer in gratitude research.

His research included giving his students a gratitude program

to practice daily. He documented the results which were stunning

and are in line with the Ancestors claims. Gratitude

amongst other positive factors made them

perform better academically and improved their

social interactions as well as their happiness factor.

Attend to your well-being especially happiness which is

sometimes found in hidden recesses,

always in gratitude.

Gratitude has effects on the prefrontal lobe of the brain - the center of

our higher consciousness. These are similar to those found in

advanced meditators. It increases neuronal density on FMRI. studies

as well as dopamine and serotonin - acting like

an antidepressant.

Your gifts are only gifts if you find them thus to be – your heart makes them so.

Gratitude creates a positive feedback loop creating more gratitude.

It also helps to 'pay things forward.'

Due to the rugged individualism in the USA., showing gratitude

may be considered by some as a sign of weakness.

It is so easy to just say thank you

which also acknowledges that the other person/s exist.

We are all one though not the same.

Namaste

"We inter-are." Thich Nhat Hanh

Gratitude is prayer.

Supplication is also prayer but here we are asking for something rather than just thanking the Creator, Jesus, our guides.

 

Spacious (Big)mind is about gratitude and joy. Narrow (Monkey) mind is about acquisitiveness.

Big Mind, in the prefrontal lobe, is enhanced by meditation or any spiritual practice. Monkey Mind, our survival mind, fight or flight, resides in the primitive brain.

 

There is no joy as transforming as the joy of gratitude.

Buddhists practice gratitude. I recall a Buddhist teacher; urging us to have gratitude when driving on the freeway for all the efforts of the people who made it happen. Saying thank you to the barrister who gives you your coffee in the morning as well as having gratitude for all those along the way that led to this being possible. And so on...

Where there is gratitude there is light.

 

  

KARMA #10

JOY-HAPPINESS

Sometimes I go about pitying myself and all the time I am being carried on great winds across the sky.” Ojibway wisdom

 

When we walk with our guides and/or ancestors as well as the Creator we are protected in life and do not feel alone.

Joy has a different flavor to it than happiness. Joy is an exuberant, sometimes almost ecstatic feeling found in the present moment. Some folks are naturally joyful, most of us, not so much, except in special circumstances. Happiness has many synonyms: Serenity, Well Being, Equanimity, Harmony, Balance, Inner Peace, Connection, Belonging, Meaning…

“In the song of the rushing torrent hold onto the joyful assurance: I will become the sea. And this is not a vain supposition, it is absolute humility because it is the truth.” Tagore

We are given the gift of being in a sensory body which we lose when the soul travels to the light after death. We need to appreciate, have gratitude and be responsible for that special gift which is temporary.

We are here to fully enjoy the senses, but responsibly.

“Joy is not incidental to your spiritual quest … it is vital.”  Rev. Nachman

"I do not know what your destiny will be

but one thing I do know

is that the only ones among you who will be happy

will have sought and found how to serve." A. Schweitzer

Happiness and meaning are interrelated. If we are serving others with

or without our core strength or destiny we will achieve equanimity.

Buddhism, for this reason, teaches us to take our suffering, and make something

useful out of it by helping others.

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment chop wood, carry water." Zen saying

Once what you are living and what you are doing has for you meaning ... you are content, you are not alone in your spirit, you belong." L. Van Der Post

Life is all about innocence, sorrow and joy. We are meant to continually strive to recapture happiness.

"Do your work, then step back, the only way to serenity.”  Tao Te Ching

"When you find your place, where you are, practice begins." Dogen

Finding equanimity in amongst the play of light and dark is challenging. 

Cleanse the lens, adjust the focus, rid what clutters and impedes.
Shed and shie what keeps the soul from joy.

Father Toomy teaches that serenity means being active and aware. It requires our attention and our effort. Rare are those who live in joy, for most of us its about serenity or similar ... It takes work.

 

“Serenity is not a passive condition but an undisturbed state of mind, active and aware. This can also be quiet joy, sometimes ecstatic joy, always deep within spirit and light of heart.” 

Father Toomy

 

We need to be able to coexist with the profane - the negative around us without being discouraged. The temptation is to give up hope and be influenced by the challenges in the ebb and flow of life which may seem to be getting worse day by day. We must resist going to the dark side when there is just as much and even more light around us – if we look for it.

“Savor! Give yourselves to savoring, even the doubting, even the struggling. Savor it all. You are only to savor it to be worthy of it. It is the way of actualizing.” Father Toomey

Savoring is good karma.

“Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin“ 

Joshua Heschel

The dark side is more vocal, so it has the appearance of being in the majority which is not always true. Sometimes 'it doth protest too much' because the dark resists being overcome by the sacred. 

Avoid too much social media, T.V. and toxic movies. A regular meaningful spiritual practice, done almost daily and also whenever needed is essential for maintaining harmony and balance in today's world.

 We need to be able to savor the moments between the evil and good, light and the dark, coexisting with the negative or profane but not assimilating it.

If we consider ourselves navigating our canoe down the river of life, we are 'paddling' between two banks. The one of joy, happiness, equanimity and the other of sorrow grief and pain.

When we bump up on the bank of happiness we should enjoy the moment and then move back into midstream (the middle way of the Buddha.) We cannot successfully perseverate or attach to any special inner peace without negative effects - for instance using alcohol or mind altering drugs.

When we end up on the bank of grief and sorrow we must not get out, have a pity party and set up camp. By all means possible and especially with one's spiritual practice (preferably an embodied one) we get back into midstream.

Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist described two Selves concerning equanimity. The Experiencing one and the Remembering Self. 

The Experiencing Self relates to pure joy or happiness in the present moment. For instance roaring with laughter during a funny movie. He calls the Remembering self 'synthetic' happiness which is part of our psychological immune system. We review our life and convince ourselves we are happy. 'I have great friends, I love where I live, have a roof over my head and a good job, think of those poor people in Ukraine etc...' We are not necessarily feeling happy in that moment.

He adds that the last thing that happens to us will affect the Remembering Self and that we need to reverse it as soon as possible so it does not spoil our synthetic happiness. Hence, there is wisdom in getting back on one's bike or horse immediately after falling off it and not going to bed angry. In this way one is not left with that bad memory, rather the exhilaration of being back on the ride. Therefore when we bump up on the bank of sorrow we need to redeem it as soon as possible so as not to be lastingly impregnated with the negative experience.

 Meditate, do yoga, take a walk on the beach, call a good friend or watch a funny movie. This is good advice for handling all the negatives we are bombarded with concerning the planet today.

 KARMA #9

“Love implies generosity, care, not to hurt another, not to make them feel guilty, to be generous, courteous, and behave in such a manner that your words and thoughts are born out of compassion.” Krishnamurti

LOVE

Of necessity this blog is a bit longer than most.

“Love is the most universal, formidable and mysterious of all the cosmic forces.” De Chardin

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”  Rumi

God's Love for Us

God’s love does not seek worth, God’s love creates worth.

God is not a test of love, God’s love is not a test.

 

The Creators loves us all as well as all of the other Beings of Nature. The Creator continues to love us in spite of our failings. This love is unconditional - karma, however, is conditional. The Infinite One will forgive us for anything we have done to our Higher Selves made in the Creator’s image but not those we have done to our fellow humans. For that we must seek their forgiveness. Giving forgiveness and asking for forgiveness is a loving energy which heals both ourselves and others.

 

If the law does not serve love do not serve the law.

 

The Ancestors do not tell us to disobey the law because the penalties could be spiritually counterproductive. We do not serve an unjust law if we have right thoughts, intent and opinions even if we cannot do anything about it.

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Matthew

During these crazy times the only recourse we may have is to vote or protest in some non-harmful way and hope for the best. Do not depend on the hope of results - love anyway.

There are only two feelings (many emotions); love and fear. Love has numerous ways of expressing itself; empathy, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, gratitude, joy ...

Love and joy are soul work.

Our soul is made for joy and the more we truly love the more we will experience it and become its very essence.

The yogis say that the most difficult chakra to open is the heart chakra.  It is also an easy chakra to close.

Kabbalah teaches that students who have mastered Tiferet – the heart of the Tree of Life and the sephirah (energy center) of love – can then teach themselves.

The heart has profound effects not only on the brain but also on the journey of the soul.

When the heart is muffled the soul shrinks.

There are two autonomic nervous systems, sympathetic, which is fear based and parasympathetic, which induces a relaxation response and is love based. 'Coherence' can arise out of the relaxation response in a group of meditators. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Coherence can spread not only to the individuals in the group but also to the community at large and can have a positive energetic effect on the supernal worlds above. Coherence has the potential to create pockets of universal love. Communal prayers for peace, healing and even rain do the same. The Creator, our guides and the 'Field' can participate. Medical studies have shown that Distant Healing which is a love vibration can heal or cure.

The rational mind often gets in the way of what the heart must embrace in order to coax the soul to open.

“To awaken the heart is to awaken the dormant soul.”  M. Gandhi

The HeartMath institute have done research on heart Coherence which occurs when the heart rate variability comes into harmony with a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. They have shown that the heart sends out more signals to the brain than vice versa and if there is heart Coherence there are also emotional and cognitive effects on the brain.

The same is true the other way around. If one meditates in any form the brain's prefrontal lobe generates positive, love based emotions.

The Mind controls the Heart.

We need to be sure which Mind is working; Monkey Mind which is a sympathetic, flight or fight, survival response, creating primitive, fear based emotions,

or

Big (Spacious) Mind which is our higher consciousness residing in the prefrontal lobe.

The Mind must Mind what the Mind minds best.

We need Monkey Mind to get us out of sticky situations but otherwise it should be subordinated to Big Mind.

The Law of Attraction is a philosophy suggesting that positive (love vibration) thoughts and actions usually bring positive results into one's life, while negative thoughts bring negative results. Others will often then respond to us more positively. Nevertheless, sometimes 'No good deed goes unpunished.' and a positive action can create a negative response which gets thrown back at us. Love anyway.

Gratitude also helps us to pay things forward which facilitates the Law of Attraction.

Gratitude is a love based response which also has distant effects on our spirit guides. When we show gratitude for what they do we enhance their love and help for us. Love is the catalyst that allows them to cross the veil between worlds and send their messages of support.

“Only love can generate the healing fire.” Agnes Sanford

The San Bushmen healers say that to be a powerful healer one must love everyone no matter what one thinks of them. This is love as a commitment, not necessarily a feeling or a sentiment. One also need not like them or have anything more to do with them other than giving them a helping hand in that present moment.

Also –  'Namaste' – I see the divinity in you. We all are made in the image of the Divine and even the worst of us, have a spark of divinity within us – hidden or not.

 

You will come from doubt to belief,

from belief to understanding, 

from understanding to knowing, 

from knowing to feeling (being heart-felt - loving)

This is the way.

Determine well your heart’s desire for in releasing your intention its energy will affect its holiness or unholiness.

 

If one studies the fallen gurus, priests, shamans etc. we can see that they usually had profound knowledge, understanding and wisdom of spiritual principles. However, when they achieved complete control over their devotees they became heartless. and corrupted by their power, position of authority and greed. Many manipulated and abused their students financially, physically, mentally, spiritually and sexually. They deviated downward from the heart and upper chakras to the power-ego chakra and even lower to that of sexual energy. They totally lost the love-heartfelt vibration. They and others with profound spiritual knowledge who abuse their power will be held to a much higher standard karmically than the rest of us.

Even enlightened beings can loose the way because of bodily and material enticements.

 To those to whom much is given, much is expected.

Among all who possess great wisdom only those who act wisely, act from love.

If study and prayer do not serve justice and compassion they are but a conceit and a hollow sound.

 

Love embraces compassion, empathy and forgiveness.

We need to be compassionate with those younger souls who maybe further back along the spiritual spiral than we are. We may have been even worse in prior lifetimes.

 

“We are all climbing toward the summit of our heart’s desires. Should the other climber steal your sack and your purse and wax fat on the one and heavy on the other, you should pity him. The climbing will be harder for his flesh and the burden will make his way longer. And should you in your leanness see his flesh puffing upward, help him in a step; it will add to your swiftness.” Anonymous

The Ancestors expand on the teaching – love your neighbor as yourself – and say that this may not always fit the person you are attending. That individual may not want to be loved in the way that you love yourself. Rather we should rather love them as they would like to be loved without enabling them. 

This applies especially to those close to us, those whom you do not intend to walk away from afterwards. To them the Ancestors urge; of love, be a little more careful.  

For the rest, as Jesus taught ; turn the other cheek – rather than losing our power to them, walk away, take the high road or even better still make of your opponent a dance partner. Best to try and find common ground.

It does not pay to take a stand against someone who has a different opinion to one's own and has no intention of changing.