JOY AND HAPPINESS – SUFFERING 

 SORROW AND GRIEF #6

Accept surprises that upset your plans, shatter your dreams, give a completely different turn to your day and who knows, your life. Leave the Father free to weave the pattern of your days.” Dom Helder Camara

The Spectrum of Suffering

“… In the sweat of your face will you eat bread, until you return to the ground; out of it you were taken: for dust you are, and to dust you will return.” Genesis 

Suffering, Grief and Sorrow have a wide spectrum of manifestation from the almost trivial to the most severe. However, suffering is suffering no matter how intense or relatively benign.

“Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out - it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” Robert Service

When the sand in our shoes instead become “pebbles of regret” in our pockets they bother us and can they can lead to a subtle, chronic form of grief. The Ancestors warn that if they accumulate over the years and are not dealt with they can weigh us down. Unfulfilles goals, aspirations and dreams as well as lack of forgiveness can be a source of sorrow especially when we are about to leave the planet. Sometimes, to release them we have to sail away from our “safe harbor,” navigate another hero’s journey and jettison them overboard.

 

One cannot talk about joy without talking about grief and sorrow. They are the flip side of one another like love and hate and we need their polarity to challenge us. In the balance between the two we find equanimity. It takes spiritual understanding and constant work to find the middle way when challenged by the unpredictable, the unplanned, the unfamiliar, the unpleasant, the uncomfortable and the unexpected, which may undermine our sense of harmony. If we are attentive to our inner being and use inner self-help techniques we can prevail.

The best made plans can unwind depending on the complexity of the variables involved. 

There can be no transformation or growth without conflict. How we handle suffering, sorrow and grief will have a huge impact on our karma when we come to reconcile with a spiritual tribunal on the other side of the veil. Everything is a test of our spiritual fortitude.

Grief can arise from loss of a loved one, work, house, finances or health as well as many other factors, including unfulfilled goals, isolation, loneliness, burn out, the moral injustice around us as well as spiritual malaise. When overwhelming they can lead to soul sickness or even loss.

There is no doubt that grief is very much part of our lives and it’s not what happens to us but how we deal with it that counts. It is good to remember...

This too will pass.

“No matter how long the night the dawn will surely come.” African Proverb

 

There is always the possibility of turning a crisis into something positive. Sometimes the bigger the crisis the more the potential for a huge shift and growth. The bigger the shadow the more the light potential that is behind it. No matter how catastrophic things may be, we are always able to “change the channel” in that moment or move into midstream avoiding the bank of sorrow. Spiritual practice or just seeing someone much less fortunate than we are can turn the switch. 

 

“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems (rather call them challenges) because you need their gifts.” Richard Bach

 “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the butterfly calls the beginning.” Zen saying

 

“The soul has no rainbow if the eyes have no tears.”                      Native American saying

 

There is no rose without a thorn. We should take our suffering and make something useful out of it. By helping others, we forget our own pain and with gratitude we can find harmony and happiness again.

Any who bring joy to another, give God joy.  Any who act with love for the other's good and pleasure do themselves partake in God’s rivers of pleasure and good. 

Your teaching is in the shadow of your experiences. 

If not for the tension that comes out of a challenge, even of a crisis, life would be insipid. We would lose the dynamic for progress. These are tests of our spiritual metal and challenge us to become spiritual warriors – spiritual “special forces.” We require tension for spiritual excellence.

“People are like tea bags, you only know how strong they are when you put them in hot water.” Unknown

Peace is to be found in Spacious Mind where one aligns with purity and holiness.

A catastrophic event may push us into the Separation phase of a hero's journey when life as we know out become untenable. The Threshold phase of the hero’s journey is often a dark night of the soul but there is a grail there to be earned. To follow someone else's path is not the right road. We have to find our own way and no one else's.

 

The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha’s teachings. They are the truth that all is suffering; the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. The First noble truth is the Four Rivers of Suffering - of uncontrolled birth, aging, sickness and death. Buddhists have solutions for these truths and maintain they are the true hedonists because their path will lead to true happiness. We cannot control aging and sickness but we can control our attitude to them. We have some measure of control of death by living consciously so that our vibration will earn a higher realm on the other side of the veil. We cannot control rebirth but if we reconcile our karma skillfully in life we can  be reborn in better circumstances where we can continue our spiritual practice at a higher level. We are all capable of attaining the enlightened Causal realms where we do not have to come back again unless we choose to. 

Our task is to try and maintain innocence amidst the chaos and turmoil and at the moment there is plenty of that – we are swimming in it. Some may say; “it could be worse, it has been worse – look at what has happened with two world wars, the Spanish flu, depressions recessions etc. Be grateful that we are not suffering as much as in some of those times.” This intellectual rationalization helps somewhat but is not a long-lasting solution in making us feel better although it may engender some gratitude. Pain is pain and it is highly personal and we all have differing thresholds for it. The only solution is to look for happiness, serenity, balance, harmony, in the present moment by savoring it and knowing that everything is a test of our spiritual maturity.

“No matter how you stir a pot of filth it is always a pot of filth. Better to let the pot be and string pearls for the sake of heaven." Chassidic saying

“If you don’t want to see the shadow, turn your face to the sun.”  Aboriginal Wisdom

There will be a blog break next week until we begin the next new blog the following one. 

 

 

JOY AND HAPPINESS – SUFFERING 

 SORROW AND GRIEF #6

Descending from above to below 

AIR (Fifth and Fourth Chakra - Creative Expression and Love)

Incense

The incense offering is the most potent antidote against evil forces and it is important to chant before making the incense offering to release the power of the plant.

Incense can be considered a spiritual shower that creates harmony and dispels dark forces without and also within. We can hum, whistle or chant something simple to release the spirit of the plant for healing.

Sound

Special songs and chants have the power to awaken the dormant and reveal the hidden and stir the energies that heal and glorify. Sound shatters resistances and barriers including those to the mind and heart. It also clears dark forces.

 Sounds (Tibetan gongs, crystal bowls, rattles, drums, a didgeridoo,) chants, songs and music with the right vibration and intention can work miracles.

If you amplify the frequency of sound the structure of matter can change. Sound can levitate, move kidney stones into a better position for treatment, shatter a glass, drill a hole in metal, heat water and kill cancer cells. Sound can heal and Credo Mutwa, a Zulu prophet, believed the right sound could heal almost anything. 

"Ah, music! Sacred tongue of God. I hear Thee calling, and I come!” Confucius

"Music is the easiest method of meditation. 

Whoever can let him/herself dissolve into music 

has no need to seek anything else to dissolve into." Osho

Osho, the fallen guru, who turned to the dark side, was a brilliant teacher who also designed music meditations to dance to which were profound. There is an ashram devoted to his work in India and the music to these meditations can be found online.

God protected the psalmist by surrounding him 

with sounds of deliverance.

The bible is replete with descriptions of the power of music. Sound brought down the walls of Jericho. Trumpets sounded on mount Sinai when Moses received the ten commandments. The Levites were appointed to create music in the temple. Sometimes in battle they were sent out ahead of the warriors singing songs of deliverance. The Lemba the black Jews of Southern Africa migrated down the east coast of Africa with a Sacred Drum to protect them on their travels as did the Arc of the Covenant and sound the Israelites. The harp was used as an instrument of healing. David psalms were originally sang - their music has been lost.

Our brain wiring is highly influenced and wired by the songs we heard as teenagers and until late into our twenties. Music takes different pathways in the brain. Dementia patients come "alive" when these previously wired songs are played to them. Music is used for Parkinson's disease and depression.

Pranayama is the yoga science of using the breath - the element of Air - for meditation. The diaphragm is the main muscle in the body that controls our breath and helps to raise our energy from our survival chakras above the diaphragm into the growth centers above.

FIRE (Third Chakra)

Fire of warmth, of transformation, light of inspiration, be in this flame and burn within.

The Third Chakra is our power center - the way we make our way in the world. Fire can inspire and transform but also destroy, which is often a default for us, the Talking Beings. We need

Fire and Water (also created as steam) to cleanse and purify. The Native American Sweat Lodge is an example where all the Chakras can be aligned. One sits on the earth, water poured on hot rocks creates steam and a cleansing perspiration, aromatic, sacred plants create incense smoldering on hot rocks, chanting, meditation and coherence complete this powerful ritual.

WATER

Waters of wisdom, waters of love, grace of life, be present here, and flow within.

The Growing Beings are of the water element. Sacred plants enhance the vibration of water which has its own resonance, memory and consciousness. When we immerse in a bath primed with their energy we can heal. 80% of our cells are comprised of water and can align with right intention with this resonance. A sacred bath can also be empowered by incense, sound, music, prayer and meditation much like the Sweat Lodge.

COMBINING ALL THE ELEMENTS

We do not always have the advantage of bathing in pristine pools of water but we can make use of water (or even steam if we have access to a sauna) and we can certainly empower bathwater using the elements and the Beings of nature. Emoto and German scientists have confirmed that when you expose water to a high, positive, love vibration the resonance of the water changes. We can create our own healing bath at home. Shower first to cleanse for the ritual. Light a candle, burn incense, play sacred music or sound, place sacred aromatic plants in the water - sage, cedar, lavender, rosemarie. We can align with this high vibration in the bath and heal. Meditate, imagine what you want and breath it in as white light and breath out whatever is getting in the way as thick black smoke. 

Have a sensory, meditative experience with intention. Get out of the bath, dry off, let the water out with the thick black smoke and walk away not looking back. Nature and the elements can be helpful in many creative ways - invent your own rituals with the Beings and the elements in and outside of home.

Click to play and visualize to meditate 

                    Fire and Water Meditation

JOY AND HAPPINESS – SUFFERING 

 SORROW AND GRIEF #5

More Tools for Maintaining Joy and Happiness

 

The Down Side of Perfection.

“… don’t think this transformation is about having the perfect life or the perfect job or the perfect mate or the perfect marriage or the perfect friendship. This is not about perfection.; it is about wholeness. It is not about having things exactly as we want them, but about having things exactly as they are. When we allow things to be, a sense of harmony develops…” Adyashanti 

The fallacy of perfection is in thinking there is a point of such completeness beyond which there is no place to go, improve, strive for. This differs from excellence which is achievable, always desirable and often necessary but in varying degrees for varying tasks and purposes.

 

Striving for perfection creates stress, not equanimity. There is always a sufficiency of excellence unto itself. We should strive for excellence rather than perfection. In terms of spiritual transformation the Ancestors support the word "Becoming," rather than Self-Realization  which implies there is a fixed point where we have "arrived" spiritually. We are never arrived, we are always in the process of Becoming. It's a journey not a destination. 

There is no sense in perseverating and spending 90% of our effort for a small improvement for a task already well done.

Moreover, there is no arbitrary time in which we find spiritual perfection - only excellence and a certain level of vibration achieved by our karma where we no longer have to engage in the continual cycle of death and rebirth. We do not have to come back again unless we choose to, usually for some great purpose. 

Nature

 

Nature is a room with many doors and windows to spirit and can help us shift a negative into a positive experience very easily. We can escape into the “Magic of the Ordinary all around us without necessarily venturing into the more extraordinary which is found in pristine, wild places.

 

To sanctify the ordinary is to acknowledge the sacred in every being whether still, growing, wild, talking or angelic … Learn the mystery of it all. There is nothing that is empty of the divine.

 

We can find this mystery and magic wherever we look; in a spider’s web, walking in the rain, the pattern in a butterfly’s wings, an exquisite flower. When we connect with the different Beings in nature and with one another we can achieve more balance in our lives.

 

To experience the Still Beings of nature you must touch them.

To experience the Growing Beings of nature you must listen to them.

To experience the Wild Beings of nature you must dance with them.

To experience the Talking Beings, you must feel with them. 

We are all connected some of all in each. All are spirit manifestations which exist in one another. 

We are all one though not the same.

 

The “soft” fascinations in nature can turn us inwards and give us inner peace. The scenes, sunsets and rises, moonsets and rises, the sounds and the mantra of nature, the wind in the trees, the sound of falling rain or ocean waves, a babbling brook, the scents and aromas. 

The Elements and the Four Beings of Nature

There is a hierarchy in the increasing vibration of the Four Elements from Earth to Water to Fire to Air (to Ether.) The Still Beings have the most dense vibration and are of the Earth Element. The Growing Beings are of the Water Element. The Talking Beings are of the Fire Element and we destroy the planet when this energy is misdirected. The Wild Beings who have the highest vibration are of the Air Element, especially the birds. The other Beings of nature are doing exactly what the Creator  designed them for. Not so much for us Talking Beings. We do have the potential with our higher consciousness and free will to aspire to be of the element of the Air and even Ether but few of us get there. Animal whisperers because of their unconditional love for animals, may be in the relationship with the Air Element when connecting with animals through this vibration. 

All the Beings have consciousness with differing vibratory levels - all animated by the breath of the Creator. We need to slow down our fire vibration to connect with them.

This energy hierarchy can also be seen in the Yoga Chakra system. Earth - the first Chakra of survival - flight or fight. The Still Beings of the Earth element can help us with Grounding and feeling safe. The second Chakra of water, of regeneration of the species - our sexual Chakra, but also that of elimination and digestion - the Growing Beings - can help us heal. The third Chakra of Fire - the power Chakra - the Talking Beings and how we make our way in the world - skillfully or not with our Fiery element. The fourth - Air - the Wild Beings - the heart Chakra of love. The fifth and sixth also of Air. The fifth - the throat Chakra and the center of our creative expression. The Wild (and domestic beings who were once wild) can inspire us as power animals. The sixth or Third Eye, our intuitive center. The seventh, the Crown of Ether and Enlightenment - our connection with the Creator, our Guides and the cosmos. Each Chakra in Yoga has it own distinct sound and can be aligned with the right sound. Hence we can also connect to the Chakras and those properties that balance them and help overcome grief, sorrow and suffering through prayer and spiritual practice and also with properties that can help to align their particular vibrations. This topic is for the next blog.

Click play and meditate

05_Fire_of_Transform..>

01_The_Four_Beings.mp3

 

JOY AND HAPPINESS – SUFFERING 

 SORROW AND GRIEF #4

“One of life’s most sacred duties is a duty to delight.” John Ruskin           

More Tools for Maintaining Joy and Happiness

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

Paying forward

Paying forward often is a byproduct of a gratitude practice and can enhance our happiness factor. 

Give without remembering. Take without forgetting. Give freely. Receive openly. Do all with gratitude. It is the way of love. 

It is the way of joy.

This is also good karma - doing it for its own sake.

 

We think that in the natural way of things what we give lessens our supply. The soul does not work that way – with the soul, giving increases.

 

Giving opens, withholding closes. In giving, is to receive and to welcome the other.

It is also important that we receive graciously when we are given something no matter how trivial it may seem to us and to assume it is given with good intention. To receive well is also a giving response.

A reluctant receiver

prompts caution in the giver!

 

Any who bring joy to another, give God joy. 

 

 “Wherever you turn you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilidge of doing it. Remember you do not live in a world all of your own.” A. Schweitzer

 

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I am only for myself, then what am I?

And if not now, then when?” Hillel

 

Moreover, in those instances when we cannot pay things forward we can always express love, compassion and empathy in the way we behave.

 

“The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.” Goethe

We create coherence within us and around us by spreading positive intentions to others. Paying forward supports the Law of Attraction - do well to other and good will return to you. However, it is also true that sometimes "no good deed goes unpunished." This could be because all the variables concerned with the action have their own free will which we cannot control. Thomas Merton urges us not to rely on the hope of results. Also sometimes our tricksters may be at the root of this paradox. 

Forgiveness

 

“When a deep injury is done to us we never recover until we forgive.” Alan Paton

 

It is all about cosmic union. Go forward with forgiveness which is essential for substance and joy.

 

For well-being we need to forgive ourselves, others and ask forgiveness of others where necessary. We need to look deeply inward and examine how well we have handled forgiveness. Forgiveness is key to helping relieve grief and sorrow. It is often more important for the one that is doing the forgiving than the other, who is being forgiven. Forgiveness lightens our load, by getting rid of a subtle or real "heaviness," that then allows us to move on in a better way. Moreover, asking forgiveness from someone we have wronged helps to clean our karmic slate. We should also forgive ourselves for what we have done to our higher Self which is pure and made in the image of the Creator and ask for forgiveness from the Infinite One for the sins we have done to that part of us made in His image. Forgiveness requires the energy of love, empathy, compassion.

"To err is human to forgive Divine."

 

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

Forgiveness allows us the "Return" to our Selves - our Higher Selves.

 

Laughter

Performing random acts of kindness and the three L's - Love, Light and Laughter - can help dispel sorrow.

 Love, laughter and song chase away the dark forces and all that is dreaded from our nights and days.

A sense of humor goes a long way when things do not work out quite like they should.

 

 “Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer.” Reinhold Niebuhr 

 

“Then I commended mirth because a human hath no better thing under the sun than to eat, and to drink and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.” Ecclesiastes

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust

 

Laughter, especially a good belly laugh, releases endorphins. The belly moving so vigorously is thought to stimulate the parasympathetic vagus nerve leading to a relaxation response. Norman Cousins cured himself of debilitating ankylosing spondylitis by watching funny movies. He wrote the book, Anatomy of an Illness, describing his journey. The exact mechanism of how laughter boosts immunity remains unclear. A hearty laugh especially appears to release locked in holding patterns, stimulate endorphins and is in a sense good somatic or bioenergetic psychotherapy. We need to avoid too much negative press, toxic T.V. and violent movies and look for the things that make us laugh.

 

 “Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, you may as well burst out laughing.” Lonchenpa

 

Other Factors that increase happiness and balance:

“A merry heart is life to a human. Joy gives him length of days.” Ecclesiastes

Exercise (especially when inwardly directed,) sunlight, gifting (paying forward,) comfort food (especially chocolate and spicy food,)  touch (including hugs,) breast feeding, orgasm, aroma therapy, lighting incense (sometimes called a spiritual shower,) nature, sacred sounds, chanting, music, body work, acupressure or acupuncture can all help  in stimulating one or more of these molecules; serotonin (mood), dopamine (pleasure) and endorphins (pain relief.)

Special techniques like E.M.D.R., "Tapping" and anti-depressants may be required in more serious situations.