THE KARMIC REQUIREMENT OF JOY #1

Joy has a different flavor to it than happiness. Happiness has many synonyms: Happiness, Serenity, Well Being, Equanimity, Harmony, Balance, Inner Peace, Connection, Meaning...

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

“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

 

“A truly wise person is always joyful. The best way to live joyfully is to believe that life was given for joy. When joy disappears, 

look for your mistake.” 

Tolstoy

We need to find equanimity in amongst the play of light and dark. 

It if was not for this tension, life would be like spiritual diabetes. There can be no growth without conflict. Toomy below is teaching us that serenity means being active and aware. It is something that requires our attention and our effort. For the rare few this comes naturally but for most of us not so much.

“Serenity is not a passive condition but an undisturbed peace of mind, active and aware which can 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 negative all 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 light around us - if we look for it. Avoid too much social media, TV and toxic movies. A regular meaningful spiritual practice, done almost daily and also whenever needed is essential for maintaining harmony and balance.

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

We need to be able to savor the moments between the sacred and profane, the light and the dark, striving to coexist with the negative but not to assimilate it. It is not easy, spiritual practice can save us.

“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

But also

Be careful of what you touch, what touches you, and where you immerse.

The Ancestors teach;

Attend to your well being especially happiness which is 

sometimes found in hidden recesses always in 

GRATITUDE.

Your gifts are only gifts if you find them thus to be - your heart makes them so. Be grateful and you will be happy. Happiness leads to great empowerment.  

Spacious mind is about gratitude and joy. Narrow mind is about acquisitiveness.

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

Where there is gratitude there is light.

“Reflect on your present blessings of which every person has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all people have some.” Charles Dickens

  

Gratitude creates light, happiness, empowerment and spiritual transformation.

Research in gratitude has found that gratitude facilitates a positive feedback loop - gratitude leads to more gratitude. It also increases  endorphins, serotonin and oxytocin as well as neuronal density in the prefrontal lobe of the brain in the F.M.R.I.'s of the practitioners. The latter is also found in advanced practitioners of meditation. 

Gratitude is spiritual practice and prayer at the same time (rather than supplication in our "prayers," where we ask for something.) Prayer should usually reflect gratitude. When we supplicate, we should be sure it is for the greater good, and not ourselves.

Research on gratitude by Emmons and McCullough has shown that a gratitude practice can profoundly effect our well being, equanimity and happiness. It helped the participants to pay their gratitude forward in random acts of kindness.

Apart from gratitude what are other hidden recesses? 

These can be found in:

Forgiveness

Forgiveness of ourselves and others and asking forgiveness of others we may have harmed - cleaning the karmic slate. Taking off the albatross around our necks.

Nature

 The senses and the Three S's (both in and outside of Nature)

Sun

"If you do not want to see the shadow turn your face to the sun." Aboriginal saying

"No matter how long the night, the dawn is sure to come." African proverb

Sound - Music

The mantra of the bush; the wind in the trees, the sound of falling rain or ocean waves, a babbling brook ...

Smells 

 Scents, aroma, incense. Aromatherapy.

Connection and doing Service

“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 privilege 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 ?(a narcissist). And if not now, then when?"

Hillel

The search for the Self, the Higher Self, is at the core of human motivation whether we know it, or practice it or not. This search is not selfish. It will lead to more selflessness. Practicing gratitude will do the same thing.

Buddhism tells us to take our suffering and make something useful out of it. To turn the crap into manure. It's not what happens to us but what we do with it. Pain is inevitable, suffering, optional. Service makes us happier.

“… Do your work, then step back, the only way to serenity.”

Tao Te Ching

Laughter

Watch funny movies.

Body Work

Have a massage, acupuncture etc...

Meditation 

(Active meditation for some is more powerful; Yoga, Tai Chi, painting, playing an instrument, dancing, hiking...)

For others exercise is enough.

We will complete this section on Karma and Joy next week.

 

 

THE KARMIC REQUIREMENT OF LOVE

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

Regarding love and karma at its most inclusive;

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 and all of the other Beings of nature. Karma is built as a default into the soul so that we are accountable to our-Selves (as in Higher Self and the law of cause and effect. God continues to love us in spite of our failings. S/He wishes us to return whole just as the prodigal son or daughter did in the scriptures.

 

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. During these crazy times the only recourse we may have is to vote and hope for the best. 

Those on the other side of the veil in the Astral loose free will. The only way they can exercise their intent is through the free will of a living loved one or another one chosen for them. In this way they can do service and complete work they never did in their previous life time.

It is a loving gesture to help them by allowing them to help us. Love is the catalyst that allows them to cross the veil between worlds and send messages of support.

What is not sought by the heart, do not seek What is not given with the heart do not offer What is not received with the heart do not take in…

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

 

But I say to you; deeds of love are worth as much as all the commandments of the law… not learning but doing (service) is the chief thing.” Talmud

"We are here to help others, what on earth others are here for I do not know." Auden

 

"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

 

“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 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.

“Forgiveness is the most completing gift we can experience for we all have its sweet need.” J. O’donahue 

“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 yogis say that the most difficult chakra to open is the heart chakra. Kabbalah teaches that the student who has mastered Tiferet - the heart of the Tree of Life and the sephirah (energy center) of love - can then teach him/herself. 

“Love heals people… both the ones who give and the ones who receive it.” Karl Menninger

 “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 you think 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 moment.

In other words the yoga greeting - "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.

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.

I have been given more songs on love by the Ancestors than any others  for good reason. If we can love fully all the other requirements of karma come naturally.

You will come from doubt to belief, from belief to understanding, from understanding to knowing and from knowing to feeling.

This is the way.

Concerning romantic love we need to ask ourselves three questions:

Are we in love with this person?

Do we love this person and if so for what reason? Is it because of how they look to us, what they bring to us or what they do for us?

Is this love or lust - the heart chakra's energy or the second chakras "chemical" energy? 

We cannot mess with chemistry but chemistry can mess with us!

09 Love is Blind.mp3

04_Love.mp3

05_Learn_Love.mp3

01 Heart.mp3

 

 

 

 

EGO'S TRIAD 

Subordinate Ego to the Higher Self.

Desirous Attachment the Third Part of Ego's Triad

“By attributing worth to tangible objects humans becomes attracted to them; attraction brings desire for them; desire leads to competition and dispute. These create anger and the result is delusion. Delusion completely overcomes man’s sense of right and wrong.” Srimad Bhagavata

There is nothing wrong with desire but being attached to the object of our desire is a negative attribute creating only temporary satisfaction. The ego is never satisfied, the more it gets the more it wants.

“More possessions - more worry.

More generosity - more peace. 

There is nothing wrong with possessions, only to being possessed by them.” Hillel

Karmic merit comes from spiritual transformation. Attachment to that is much harder than to the material because we are given the challenge of being in a sentient body and more than ever, the boundless temptations of technology. Steve Jobs once said to his employees that their job at Apple was not to give people what they needed but to tell them what they wanted. Many entrepeneurs follow this mantra. Attachment to a spiritual life is much less alluring. 

Non-Attachment is not the same as detachment which implies denial, resignation, desperation, a giving up, rather than a giving in to a higher vibration and something much bigger than oneself.

Concerning detachment, one of its paths leads to a lifeless world without enthusiasm or hope, a place of indifference where one could become ensnared in hidden traps of dejection and despair, where one no longer cares to love nor dares to trust.

Emperor Wu asked, “I’ve built temples and ordained monastics; what merit is there in this?”
Bodhidharma replied, “No merit.”

As fame can enslave, so can the costs of money impoverish. Make sure the need is worth the price. To overpay can rob the Self.

The Ancestors teach that ulterior motives are greatly underrated . It is good to build hospitals or anything else that can help humanity but if it is attached to an outcome it is karmically neutral. The same can be said for giving charity to get ones face in the media or for a tax deduction.

“Give up owning things and being somebody. Quit existing.” Rumi

 Desirous attachment may not only be related to having more stuff but also being attached to or craving power, prestige, pride or the fame that more stuff can bring to one's persona.

“Behind my work was ambition, behind my love was personality, behind my purity was fear, behind my guidance the thirst for power. Now they are vanishing and I drift. I come Mother, I come, in your warm bosom – floating whereever you take me – in the voiceless, in the strange, in the wonderland. I come a spectator, No more an actor.”   Swami Vivekananda

“There is no room for God in him who is full of himself. The sages tell us concerning the proud man; God says; “I and s/he cannot dwell together in the world.” Talmud 

Until you empty yourselves of pride God cannot be realized.

If God were after numbers he would have made the way abundantly apparent and attractive - enticingly so, ego free and forever lasting. The Infinite one has also granted us our own lens for seeing and our own will for choosing what we see.

The Ancestors advise us to not be trapped by materialism in any guise. To attend to our needs not our wants - to keep it simple. Having to maintain stuff gets in the way of our spiritual work.

There is always enough as long as one is free from the compulsion for more. Narrow mind is about having - Spacious mind is about being.

“Wants, needs and necessities have different characteristics. It is the want that is our enemy, not the need and necessity.”       Sri Swami Rama

No matter how it was said or by whom, the message remains that ...

"Abundance is not an achievement of the acquisitive but rather a legacy of the perceptive - a realization of plenty - not an acquiring of more - a delight not a desire." Hillel

This concept is enhanced by practicing gratitude. Research by Emmons and McCullough has shown that a gratitude practice creates well being as well as a positive feedback loop - gratitude leads to more gratitude.

"Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." Charles Dickens

Of all the teachings of the sages some most agreed upon as being both fundamental and elemental were those about abundance and delight.

Desirous Attachment to Greed and Power

"Power corrupts and complete power corrupts absolutely." Baron Acton

Given full power, greed becomes an enslaver of the greedy - fear becomes first a bully, then a torturer and then a killer.           The Ancestors

“Greed is not stilled with money any more than thirst with salt water.” Ksemendra

“Nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character give him power.” A. Lincoln

Desirous Attachment is antithetical to the principle of impermanence. We cannot take "it" with us. At the end of the day the only thing we can take is our karma - how we dealt with our experiences.

The one who dies with the most toys or those that live irresponsibly because of the illusion - "to live for today for tomorrow we die" - will have a rude awakening when they cross over. 

Moreover, material attachments can hamper the soul's journey and cause the spirit to either become earth bound (lost between the worlds) or to inherit a low vibration in the Astral.

The only things that live on are love, truth and the soul. 

Highlight and play

01_Travelers.mp3

 

SUBORDINATING EGO # 5

 EGO'S TRIAD 

Although all three are derived from ego, it is helpful to distinguish between them.

1. sELF CHERISHING

2. JUDGMENT

3. DESIROUS ATTACHMENT

1. sELF CHERISHING -

CHERISHING THE PERSONA

Ego can never enhance the potential of all that could happen  on one's search for the Self.

"God cannot be realized if there is the slightest trace of pride."  The Upanishads

The search for the Real, or True or Higher Self or soul is at the core of all spiritual transformation. 

We are made in the image of the Divine and hence the Higher Self also cannot be fully realized in the presence of pride.

“To know the real Self to be one’s own is the greatest attainment… To know wrongly the non-self such as the ego to be the Self is no attainment at all. One therefore should denounce this perception of taking the non-self for the Self.”

 Sri Sankaracharya

Ego (together with Monkey Mind and the Shadow) get in the way of our connection to the Higher Self.

Do you listen with your heart or are you hearing with your ego. The possible peril is not a punishment, it is a consequence. Choice is not enough, action must follow. 

Intent, willingness, openness and trust - if you want it all you must offer all.

 Although Ego is necessary for empowerment there comes a time when it gets in the way of spiritual growth. Non-Attachment to the ego is commendable. Attachment only to the search for the Self or one's soul is commendable. Otherwise attachment to ego, judgment or desirous attachment are recipes for inheriting another lifetime.

The Buddhist concept of self Cherishing has many faces and can come as compulsions and desires for; pride, prestige, power, fame and attempts to groom the persona with the stuff of Desirous Attachment.

The challenge is relief from ego, how to be free from its tyranny. 

The way is relief from ego, surrendering and releasing one’s instinct for protection and cultural conditioning; subduing its tyranny but with respectful and grateful acknowledgement for       its appropriate worth. The "prize" - the place of arrival - is relief from ego and a true sense of the pleasure of its place.

Jung doubted that the Western Mind could ever truly get rid of Ego. Only that it was possible fleetingly in the Oneness Experience or Unity Consciousness when the Knower, the Known and the process of Knowing fuse into one thing. Maslow called this a Peak Experience which occurred among other things during childbirth, orgasm, unravelling a scientific mystery, extreme sporting escapades, partaking in drugs or entheogen, while dancing (when one becomes the dance) or in nature. When experienced in nature I call it Wilderness Rapture. Whatever the stimulus, this ecstasy or rapture is temporary and we soon return back into a sense of duality. The challenge is to be aware of this duality and still see the divinity in others.

"The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there."  Roshi

“In the samadhi that comes at the end of reasoning and discrimination no such thing as “I” exists but it is extremely difficult to attain as “I”consciousness lingers so persistently. This is why humans are born again and again.” Sri Rama Krishna

2. Judgment

When you no longer need to be right, the purity of you soul will shine through.

Usually when we judge we are pointing fingers at another while there are three fingers pointing back at us. We project our shadow onto others so that our Egos can feel better about their little selves.

Never judge in a condemnatory way, never with disavowing and lack of love. You must support emotionally without condoning.

The judgment of the 99 neither validates nor invalidates the worth of the one.

The many and the few do not speak to value – only to popularity.

Popularity is not to be equated with value.

With social media, popularity is now evaluated by how many "friends" one has and how many "likes"one gets when we have not even ever met these various characters - good or bad. Kids are getting depressed and even killing themselves about the opinions of others that to quote the Ancestors; "cannot even find the door to their own lives."

“When you talk to people do not weigh, a soul that weighs suffers harm.” Talmud

“Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore of nicely calculated less and more.” Wordsworth

The Talmud adds that when you judge, you "kill" (the souls) of three people; yourself, the one (or ones) that are listening and whoever is getting character assassinated.

There is a story about a rabbi in a small village in Eastern Europe who one day was seen taking groceries from a stall in the market. The attendant was not there and an observer noted that he left without paying. He spread the rumor to the community that their rabbi was a thief. The rabbi was removed from his position and from that time had to eek out a subsistence living cutting and delivering wood. On one occasion the person who spread the rumor saw the rabbi burdened under a load of wood and felt sympathy for him. He went to the hovel that was now his home to make amends. When the rabbi opened the door he told him that he was sorry for what had happened and related the story of the unpaid groceries. The rabbi was upset that he had not come first to tell him what he had seen and explained that the stall belonged to his son in law who gave him permission to take food whenever he wanted it.

The congregant felt terrible and asked what could he do to reverse the damage. The rabbi suggested he write a letter about the mistake and take it to a nearby hill on a windy day, tear it into as many pieces as he could and then throw it into the wind. The congregant was exuberant and thanked the rabbi profusely. The rabbi then added; "But, I am not finished. Now you need to go and pick up every piece of paper and then damage will be repaired."

When we leave the planet and face the spitual tribunal who will evaluate our karma we will be judged as Matthew taught.

"Judge not that you not be judged, for what measure you judge, you will be judged, and for 

what measure you mete, it will be measured to you again." 

This man would be responsible to the extent of the measure that he had meted out to his rabbi with all its implications.

"Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins." Native American proverb

“Actions arise from conditions. Do not judge then the former until the latter is well understood. If you have eaten what the judged one has eaten, and worn his clothes, and thought his thoughts, and felt both his joy and pain then you may say you have stood in his place but only briefly compared to the length of his stay. So still you may not know the past or present plights that plague him. 
Our judgments are frequently fraught with error and usually tainted with arrogance. Compassion and love are our salvation and joy.” Hillel

 We would not be able to see fault in another unless it was already part of our own psyche.

“When you see a worthy person endeavor to emulate him, when you see an unworthy person then examine your inner self.” Confucius

It is challenging not to judge - discernment may help us to take our judgments to a sweeter level

Click play and meditate on "Sweeting the Judgements" which is what the Ancestors advise. 

(Next week is Desirous Attachment, # 3.)

20_Judgement.mp3

 KARMA #3

To revise the principles of Karma so far.

Fulfill your destiny (last week.)

Correct injustice – heal the planet.

Do no harm to any of the Four Beings of Nature.

Subordinate Ego to the Higher Self.

Love.

Be in joy and savor the opportunity of being in a sentient body and fulfilling one’s task or mission.

 This week is about correcting injustice and doing no harm.

Correct Injustice - Heal the Planet

Our role on earth is to correct injustice.

 

This is also the essence of Karma yoga or service-oriented yoga. Karma Yoga is the path of action and service to others with mindfulness. This service can manifest in many ways and on behalf of any or all of the Four Beings; Talking, Wild, Growing and Still (including the planet Herself - Mother Nature - Gaia.) As for all these Karmic principles it should be done for it's own sake, without thinking of any benefit that may be gained.

 

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.  

Many of these tenets, including service, will enhance the last of being in joy which in turn creates the gratitude emanating from joy.

 

“We are here to help others - what on earth others are here for - I do not know.”  W.H. Auden

 

“The worship most pleasing to God is service to others.” L. Boff

 

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others …” A. Einstein

 “I do not know what your destiny will be but the one thing I do know is that the only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have learned and found how to serve.” A. Schweitzer

If we take our suffering and make something useful to others out of it,  our own happiness will increase.

Ideally we are here to correct injustice through our God given destiny or core strength. However, even if we are unsure what that is we can still help to heal the planet. Whatever the service, destiny driven or not.  Karma yoga is great for Karma - the "Mother Theresa" or Schweitzer archetype or similar.

There can be no excuses for not doing something to try and help or heal others. Many of us will have to live in two worlds, the one that pays our bills and the other that is our destiny or is purely service oriented. We may have to do the latter in our spare time. For example if one always wanted to be a musician but never followed the path because of parental pressure or practicalities it is vital to again explore that talent and see where it takes one even if it is just for the sake of giving oneself and others pleasure.

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy, I awoke and saw that life was service.  I acted and behold, service was joy." Tagore

Once our basic needs are satisfied anything extra should ideally be done without consideration for any renumeration for the task at hand. If we also get paid for it well and good. If done with good grace, all the better from a karmic view point. Its not about what we do or why we do it but how we do it and how we feel about it. If done grudgingly or for a reward it is karmically neutral or even negative.

If our God given destiny is in play here all the better. Service optimally follows the Incorporation or Integration phase of the Hero/ine's journey where we take the "grail" obtained during a rite of passage and then give it away.

"We make a living from what we get, we make a life by what we give." W. Churchill

There are four basic archetypes each of which can have many manifestations; Healer, Teacher, Warrior and Visionary. Service can be performed through any of them.

The easiest way to manage this challenge is to practice random acts of kindness. This creates Coherence within us, around us, even distant to us (the butterfly effect,) and above us in the supernal realms where  these acts are appreciated.

"The universe will reward you for taking risks on its behalf." Shakti Gawain

  

Do No Harm

We are all one, though not the same.

The breath that is in all beings emanates from this sacred wellspring making us one - not the same.

We are all animated by the breath of the Creator, each of the Four Beings at a different vibration. We are all made of the same elements - dust to dust ashes to ashes. The Infinite One loves all of creation.

“The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.” Roshi

 

“See yourself in others then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?”  Dammapada

 

Ubuntu is a Bantu, Southern African concept. According to Bishop Tutu, Ubunti speaks to the essence of being human. 

"The solitary individual is a contradiction in terms. Ubuntu speaks about the importance of communal harmony; warmth, compassion, generosity, hospitality and seeks to embrace others. You are a person only through other persons."

 

“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

Play and meditate to see where you can help.

01_The_Four_Beings.mp3