On Freedom (Reaction vs. Response)

Freedom can be discussed at many different levels, but in this inquiry, we shall be discussing the nature of psychological freedom.  Now, most people say they want freedom, but what they really want is license, that is, the “freedom” to do whatever they want.  Is that really freedom?  Let us inquire and see if there is such a thing as psychological freedom.

In my previous posts, we have taken up the fact of conditionings.  That is, since our birth we have been conditioned by our parents, schools, religions, politicians, and other influences of society.  These conditionings set up parameters for how to think, act, behave, what to like and not like, and how to process experience in our life in order to conform to the same mental patterns of the culture.  Now, can such a mind that is operating based on conditioned patterns that one is unaware of be free?  For example, if someone hurts your ego, insults you, slashes your pride, what do you do?  Many of us would react with some negative remark about the other person perhaps, and some of us would restrain ourselves maybe because we’ve been told to have self-control.  We’re not discussing here what is the right or wrong answer, we are simply using this scenario to look at psychological freedom; I’m sure you can think of many other examples.  In either of these cases, if one is reacting to the person, based on our patterns of mind we have been conditioned into, is one engaging in this scenario with psychological freedom?  Perhaps this is not a very good example, but the point is: if we react, aren’t we being controlled by some initial action?  That is the definition of reaction isn’t it?  An action that comes about as a result of some initial stimulus.

Therefore, as Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “there is no freedom in reaction.”  And that is how the vast majority of us go through life, just reacting to stimuli, reacting to experiences that come across our path.  If one is all the time just reacting to things, we are merely passive victims of our experience.  Can such a life really be the extent of living?  Is that living?  Our conditionings, which define and shape how we function in the world, give us established patterns as to how one ought to judge and react to experiences.  But if we’re unconsciously operating from these mental patterns, there is no freedom in our action.  In fact, there is no creative action or appropriate response at all, for creative response requires a mind that is not limited or blinded by any conceptual imprisonment.  Such a mind encounters experience in the present moment, it sees what is, and does not process experience through the filter of conditionings.

Is this making sense?  Let me summarize: Our mental habits, which have been instilled in us since birth, lay out the so-called “appropriate” or “right” way to think about and experience events in our life, whether major or minor.  We are inquiring whether there is any psychological freedom in this or if there is such a thing.  If we look at examples in our own life, it becomes clear that we are reacting to stimuli happening to us based on these mental habits.  And reaction, as we have said, is not free; firstly because it depends on an initial action, and secondly, because it stems from thought, memory, and conditionings, which are based in the past.

In previous posts, I have discussed that we can rehabilitate our mind through non-judgmental awareness and observation of our reactions and fears in order to understand and dissipate our conditionings.  Now, many of us will be tempted to ask how; how does one do this?  How does it work?  The moment you ask the how question, you are no longer interested in understanding or inquiry, you want a method, a system, a practice, something you can depend on to help you so you don’t have to go through the work of finding out or understanding the process yourself; you just want an answer, you’re no longer interested in the question.  Either that, or you doubt such a thing is possible without giving it any thought for yourself, so you want someone else to provide you with an answer that you can argue with; in that case, you are no longer interested in inquiry, and communication between us has broken down.  This is not a mono-centric debate (or an egologue) between your position and my position and one trying to convince the other of being right.  This is an inquiry, a dialogue, which requires openness, attentiveness, curiosity, and interest in understanding.

Jiddu Krishnamurti also said, “there is no such thing as freedom of thought.”  Wherefore?  Because not only is thought of the past and based on memory, but it is limited to whatever conditioning/framework one is using to process experience.  Therefore, our conditionings are a conceptual imprisonment aren’t they?  Those patterns of thought came from others, not from ourselves, and if we’re just repeating those words, those actions, those patterns, without any critical inquiry, awareness, or experience of our own, aren’t we just secondhand, mechanical human beings?  So what we are discovering here is that if we wish to have psychological freedom, it requires stepping out of our conceptual imprisonment.

Now, if we can in fact become aware of our reactions and conditionings and rehabilitate our mind, would this not lead to psychological freedom?  If we can encounter our experiences in the moment, and see what is, without processing it through the filter of our conditioned patterns of mind, we can respond.  Response is not reaction.  Response is in the moment; it is pure action coherent with what is, and not dependent on an initial stimulus.  The event and the action are interconnected, are coterminous.  We can encounter the event as it is, rather than the image constructed in our mind based on the past.  For more on this, please refer to the post:

On Relationships:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/on-relationships-encountering-others-in-the-moment/

and you may also be interested in watching my youtube video on Meeting Each Other in the Moment (which was made quite some time ago and by no means professionally done, but it gets the point across – I was still discovering how to use Youtube and speaking to a camera instead of an audience, so be easy on me):

http://youtu.be/ICPS6S9ieQo

Thus, response is creative, as it is not confined by conceptual boundaries.  It is like a Zen kōan.  Think of the martial artist.  If she reacts to an attack, she must think about what to do, and then take action, but it is too late.  But if she responds to the opponent, it is like a dance; she flows and takes the appropriate and necessary action to stop the attacker.  Therefore, if we are at all interested in psychological freedom, we must become aware of our conditioned habits of mind and our reactions.  This awareness will allow us to rehabilitate our mind so that we can live and respond in a creative, attentive, open, presencing manner to everything we experience.  We no longer are victims of life’s experiences or sufferings, but become ((R-evolutionary co-creators)) of a new humanity guided by compassion, wisdom, awareness, and understanding.

If you find this or other posts/links here to be helpful, I ask you to please share with others whom you think would be interested.  I would very much appreciate your support.  Thank you!

Other Links:

About: https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/about/

Other Posts/Home Page: https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com

Link to my book, Meditations on Zen and Martial Arts Philosophy: http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Zen-Martial-Arts-Philosophy/dp/1105797317

Link to my (old) youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1WvSC3gztbbKOEkyztw3jw

Link to other essays: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1837756

On Destiny, Meaning, Purpose, and Fear (Part 2)

Click here to read part 1: https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/on-destiny-meaning-purpose-and-fear-part-1/

Let us continue our discussion of destiny, meaning, purpose, and fear.  We left off saying that when we ask what the purpose of our lives are, we are actually asking for its use.  Living beings, however, are changing, flowing, learning, and are not static; they are not objects.  The problem is, isn’t it, that we are using a technology of mind (ego-mentalism) that objectifies all experience, including ourselves?  In coming to think of ourselves as objects, we therefore try to find out what our function is.  But, as we said, something that is alive cannot have a static function or use, but its purpose must also be flowing, a movement that is changing.  We then said that if we wish to find out the meaning of our lives we must let go of all the answers we have been given so that we have the clarity and psychological freedom to see for ourselves the reality of what is.  So long as we cling to conditionings and the baggage handed down by others, all past memory and knowledge, we remain secondhand mechanical human beings.  It therefore takes great awareness and energy to pay attention to our reactions so that we can clearly see our conditionings, fears, desires, and the rest of it.  Does this make sense?  I hope I haven’t lost you.

We then said that if we observe the experiences of our life, we find that there are certain encounters that seem to repeat themselves in various forms until we have been able to understand our fears and resistance to them, and that when we have true understanding, they no longer repeat.  We finished by saying that it seems as though life is a journey of encountering, facing, understanding, and letting go of our fears and becoming aware of our psychological process.

Why is it so important that we encounter and let go of our fear?  We’re not talking about running away or escaping from it, pushing it away, pretending its not there, or fighting it.  Fear will dissipate with understanding, not through any force your ego uses to face it.  Really look, and see.  Isn’t our fear interfering in our relationships, not just those we are close to, but with everyone, and with the planet?  Do you see all of the distrust and suspicion around you, and even within you?  And it’s reflected in our language isn’t it, with sayings like: trust no one, no good deed goes unpunished, better safe than sorry, etc?  Fear leads to mistrust, which inevitably leads to closing ourselves off from people.  Don’t rely on my words, see it for yourself.  How can we be open, caring, and attentive to someone we don’t trust?  In fact, we’re not even open or trusting of ourselves!  We’re constantly running away from having to face who we really are.  That is why so many of us cannot stand being alone; we have to face ourselves as we are, but since we’re so full of judgment and guilt and cannot accept who we are, we run away from it.  The experience of being alone has many negative connotations nowadays, unfortunately.  So, if we cannot be open, trusting, understanding, and attentive to ourselves, how could we possibly be any of that with another?  In this case, it is clear that our relationships, and communication among us, breaks down.

In understanding ourselves, we naturally become more compassionate towards others.  If we are full of fear, we spend our time and energy seeking our own psychological comfort and making up for our insecurities; this leads to a self-centered attitude.  Don’t judge yourself for it, or say that I shouldn’t be this or that.  All these religions, philosophies, self-help books, gurus keep saying don’t be self-centered, help others.  But how can we help others in any significant way if we are full of fear?

Become aware of your conditionings, understand your fears.  Observe your relationships.  Letting go of our fears allows us to be open and trusting.  In coming to understand our psychological process through encountering fear, our self-centered orientation begins to dissolve.  We begin to see that we are profoundly interconnected with all things, not as a theory, but as a fact.  We become more and more open and trusting to others, and to what is.  We become less and less steeped in objectifying others, and become more compassionate and attentive.  Why?  It is the recognition that others are full of fear, envy, sadness, loneliness, mistrust, longing, violence, anger, and the rest of it.  This, in turn, is projected into the world.  Having understood our own psychological process, we see that we are the world.  We are as we mind.  What goes on in the world is a projection of what we are and what we do.  We are what is.  Seeing this for yourself, not intellectually or as a theory, but experiencing it for oneself…that is the journey.

Now, some of you who are reading this might say, “He didn’t mention anything about purpose, or meaning, or destiny.”  And others might say, “why didn’t you just say the answer from the beginning?  Why this roundabout method?”  So what if I or somebody else told you your meaning or your destiny?  How would those words, that knowledge, help you?  You would take it and go on your way, once again believing and repeating somebody else’s ideas.  You can read all kinds of books.  And how many of them tell you purpose is to return to wholeness, to God, to Allah, to Emptiness, to be in union with the Dao, or whichever name you like to use?  But how long have those answers been around, and have they really changed people?  Has humanity psychologically matured with those answers?  It is important to see this, to experience and understand it for yourself.  If you are psychologically mature, then you can see the immense power behind the words and wisdom of these books.  Otherwise, we just go on repeating answers, memorizing words, which doesn’t help us understand ourselves.  So first and foremost, see for yourself what is.

Links to previous posts, essays, and my book:

On Relationships:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/on-relationships-encountering-others-in-the-moment/

On Happiness:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/on-the-nature-of-happiness/

On Boredom:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/on-boredom-102213/

On Dialogue and Education:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/reflections-on-dialogue-and-education-10162013/

On Education:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/reflection-on-education-10142013/

Link to my book, Meditations on Zen and Martial Arts Philosophy:

http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Zen-Martial-Arts-Philosophy/dp/1105797317

Link to my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1WvSC3gztbbKOEkyztw3jw

Link to other essays:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1837756

About:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/about/

On Destiny, Meaning, Purpose, and Fear (Part 1)

What are we really asking when we talk about meaning and purpose and destiny?  If we really look deeply at these terms it would appear that we’re really asking about functionality, that is, the purpose of a thing.  For those of you who are familiar with Ludwig Wittgenstein, the German philosopher, this idea resonates with his idea that when we ask for the meaning of the term we’re really asking for it’s use.  Therefore, what we are really asking when we ask about our meaning or our purpose, is actually what is our use; what purpose do we serve?  Living beings, however, that are changing and learning, are not objects created for such specific instances, as objects to be used in this or that situation.  Beings are not the same as tools in a toolbox, where each item is an object that has a particular function.  Objects are static, beings are flowing.

Before we can seriously consider this question regarding the meaning of our lives, we must first understand why this question arises at all.  Having an answer with no real understanding is not intelligence.  But that is what has been happening worldwide for centuries.  We are given all sorts of answers, from the priests, teachers, politicians, parents, and society, that we begin to rely on their words.  Their so-called answers become the foundation of our life, and we live according to others’ words.  Our life becomes mechanical, because we go on repeating answers and beliefs we have been given but never thought about.  We are living according to a reality someone else has promised us.  If we see this, then we can really begin to understand why we feel so empty inside.  We realize the illusion of it all, and start asking questions like what is my purpose, why am I here, who am I?  This is vital, because it is when we feel groundless that we can see the situation without all this baggage we have been carrying.  If we ask these questions from a ego-mental standpoint (defined here as a standpoint of objectification wherein all experience and testimony is filtered through our own lens created by accumulated biases, prejudices, opinions, beliefs, memories, and conditionings thereby creating the illusion of a permanent self), our inquiry will be distorted.  So long as you carry all that baggage with you, you will only find a projection of what you hope to find, not actually what is.

Therefore, to deeply inquire into these questions without distorting your search requires one to move against the patterns of society, which takes tremendous courage and awareness.  The society since you were born has been saying who you should be, what you should do, what to believe in, and so on, and if you want to find the truth, you will have to reject any ready-made answers they give you.  Some of their answers might sound appealing or ideal, but if you don’t find an answer for yourself and always depend on another’s answer, you will never have psychological freedom.  So here is the problem: the answers and conditioning that society has imposed no longer satisfies us, and we seek to find some other way; but, there is fear because one must go against the whole movement of society.  Thus, we are stuck in a kind of purgatory.  We don’t wish to move back, because that would mean accepting beliefs and answers that are not coherent with our experience, and we don’t want to move forward because the fear of standing alone against this movement.  Therefore, we find ourselves in a groundless, nihilistic state and full of fear.  Nihilism is nothing but the rejection of society’s patterns and conditionings, and the fear to stand alone and inquire for oneself what is beyond that.  This is an important step to finding out what is beyond all the conditionings, because we must first realize that we are stuck within these ego-mental patterns before we can understand how to be free.  However, the fear which holds one back from exploring the depths of our being, our psychological process, stems from our conditionings, and so even when we reach this point, we are still falling back into these same mental patterns.

But let us return to this question regarding the purpose of life.  As we go through our lives, we encounter all kinds of experiences and emotions: boredom, anger, sadness, loneliness, happiness, fear, lust, and all the rest of it.  It would seem to me that people desire happiness and wish to avoid pain.

You can read my post “On the Nature of Happiness” here: https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/on-the-nature-of-happiness/

However, in wanting to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, fear arises doesn’t it?  It is our sense of self, the “I”, the ego, the sense of “me” which is really just a collection of memories and conditionings that just appears to persist through time, that has this fear.  It wants its own separate space because it believes itself to be self-sustaining, thereby cutting itself off from what is.  There is not only fear of that pain, but also fear of losing pleasure, fear of not reaching pleasure at all, and this fear, in turn, leads to anger and suffering when our hopes, desires, and dreams don’t come to fruition.  And isn’t it the case that certain experiences that cause fear and resistance in ourselves repeat, but when we open up to them and we eliminate that fear, that we no longer encounter those experiences?  It would seem then that whenever we encounter fear and resistance in our psyche, there is clearly a lesson that must be learned so that we can assimilate that experience into our psychological process and be free of that fear.  Wouldn’t that imply then that life is a journey of accepting, facing, and letting go of the fears and resistance, and understanding our psychological process?  This is, in essence, learning to lose fear of what is.

Link to Part 2:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/on-destiny-meaning-purpose-and-fear-part-2/

Links to previous posts, essays, and my book:

On Relationships:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/on-relationships-encountering-others-in-the-moment/

On Happiness:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/on-the-nature-of-happiness/

On Boredom:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/on-boredom-102213/

On Dialogue and Education:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/reflections-on-dialogue-and-education-10162013/

On Education:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/reflection-on-education-10142013/

Link to my book, Meditations on Zen and Martial Arts Philosophy:

http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Zen-Martial-Arts-Philosophy/dp/1105797317

Link to my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1WvSC3gztbbKOEkyztw3jw

Link to other essays:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1837756

On Relationships (Encountering Others in the Moment)

© Jason Kunen 2014

When you meet someone, it is important to ask: who are you really meeting?  That is, when you an encounter another, your parents, your children, your friend, your partner, your neighbor, who is it that you are really meeting?  Are you meeting that person as they are, or are you meeting something else?  Please, do not answer according to your tradition which is someone else’s ideas, or some new age philosophy given to you about being the present which you have never experienced, but really observe this question and let us examine it together.

What is our first reaction when we meet another, whether someone close to us or a stranger?  It is typical that we bring forward thoughts that categorize and label this person.  We call to mind all of the knowledge we have of this person, or if they are strangers, we think of various prejudices and stereotypes to fit him into our mental framework.  In other words, we judge this person.  These judgments may even be unconscious; our conditioned habits may create these judgments.  These judgments are based on thoughts of the past, on memory.  Therefore, what has happened is that through memory, we have judgments of others, thereby creating an image of the person.  If we have such an image of the person, are we actually meeting the person as they are?  Are we even really meeting that person?  Please examine and observe this for yourself; the author cannot do it for you.

Clearly, the knowledge we have of the person, this image created from past experience, has a purpose.  Without it, the person would always be a stranger; it would be like having amnesia.  We can use this knowledge to interact with another in a deeper way.  However, rather than using the knowledge when it is needed, we become stuck in a pattern in which we encounter others solely through this image that acts as a filter.  Because we are psychologically insecure, we seek permanency in all things; this applies to these images of others as well.  In other words, we believe that image to be the actual person.  That image, since it is based on the past, is static and unchanging.  Nothing is permanent, and everything is always changing.  Think back to when someone you know did something unexpected.  Why did their actions surprise you?  Isn’t it because it went against the image you had of them?  Their action was perhaps contradictory to what you thought they could or would do based on past memories, and it becomes clear that the image you had of them is no longer accurate, so you now have to create a new image.

So, if we meet people with this image, which we said acts as a filter from seeing the person as they actually are, aren’t we encountering them with half-truth and half-lie?  Physically we might be present, our image of the person may correspond to the person in front of us (unless we easily confuse our acquaintances), but psychologically we are not totally there.  Instead of using the image to help us interact with the person, we are interacting with the image.

I find Miranda Fricker’s book, Epistemic Injustice: The Power of Ethics and Knowing to be a good book on some specific details of this subject.  I also talk about encountering other in the present in my book, Meditations on Zen and Martial Arts Philosophy, available at lulu.com and amazon.com as listed below:

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Zen-Martial-Arts-Philosophy/dp/1105797317

Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/jason-kunen/meditations-on-zen-and-martial-arts-philosophy/paperback/product-20178964.html

Understanding that this is how we typically meet people, we can then ask, is there any way to interact with the person fully?  Can we encounter another without this image that distorts our experience and dialogue with them?  It is not enough to get rid of the image, because what is to stop a new image from being produced in our mind and falling into the same pattern?  These judgments are created from past memories, but judging itself in this way arises from our mental framework.  Our judgments that hold on to stereotypes, prejudices, labels, traditions, religious values, and all the rest are rooted in our conditioning.  We are brought up and conditioned in a certain way, to think, interact, categorize, label, judge, and believe, in a certain way.  This is where these judgments come about.

Therefore, if we can become aware of our conditioning, we can understand how we judge others and what framework we are using to do so.  In this way, we release our attachment to this framework, these judgments, and these images.  It is not that we are incapable of creating images of the person (again, it’s not some kind of amnesia we’re talking about), but the image no longer obstructs our ability to meet another in the present moment.  We see the person as they are, without a filter.  This allows us to understand them in a deeper way, and we realize they are not a static object, but a living, changing being.

Though I made it some time ago, I have a short youtube video speaking on this subject below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICPS6S9ieQo

Links to other posts, essays, youtube channel, and my book:

On Destiny, Meaning, Purpose, and Fear (Part 1):

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/on-destiny-meaning-purpose-and-fear-part-1/

On Destiny, Meaning, Purpose and Fear (Part 2): 

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/on-destiny-meaning-purpose-and-fear-part-2/

On Happiness:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/on-the-nature-of-happiness/

On Boredom:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/on-boredom-102213/

On Dialogue and Education:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/reflections-on-dialogue-and-education-10162013/

On Education:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/reflection-on-education-10142013/

Link to my book, Meditations on Zen and Martial Arts Philosophy:

http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Zen-Martial-Arts-Philosophy/dp/1105797317

Link to my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1WvSC3gztbbKOEkyztw3jw

Link to other essays:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1837756

On the Nature of Happiness

© Jason Kunen 2013

One aspect common to all human beings is that we are all searching for happiness.  Each person looks for it in their own way.  Many people take up mindless activities that think make them happy, but do they really?  Religions try to help their followers find happiness.  Parents want their children to be happy.  The U.S. Declaration of Independence states that we have the right to pursue happiness.  The question is, do we ever reach anything?  Does the search for happiness ever become anything more than a search?  That is, do we ever finally attain happiness; does the searching ever come to an end?

Before we look directly at the nature of happiness, we must first look at why we need to search at all.  Everybody wants happiness, but have you taken the time to look at the nature of the search and what prevents happiness?  Have you ever thought why we are searching for it in the first place?  Don’t base your answer off the conclusion of anyone else: your textbooks, your religions, your philosophies.  Observe this question for yourself.  Let’s explore this together.

A search implies that what we’re looking for isn’t here, it is elsewhere.  Since we believe that goal is elsewhere, we go looking for it.  But is happiness elsewhere?  Can it be said to be found anywhere?  What makes us think happiness is not here already?  It is self-consciousness isn’t it?  We are self-conscious, always looking at the image of ourselves instead of really being ourselves.  We use a mental framework, a way of conducting our mind that objectifies and fragments.  This is how self-consciousness arises.  Instead of being immersed in experiencing the flow of everyday life, we construct an image of ourselves and watch that image move through life.  This causes a split between the image (created out of past experiences and conditioning), which is static, and our actual experience of life, which is flowing, changing, and moving.  We use this image to evaluate our mental states, and therefore we separate from them.  In other words, to be self-conscious is to evaluate the image one has of oneself (out of fear).  To do this, we must step back from what we are currently experiencing and judge it.  By doing this, we are no longer experiencing that mental state, we have separated from it.   We might be immersed in some activity and feel happy, but when we become self-conscious, we separate from that experience; from this standpoint, we are no longer immersed in happiness, but looking at a picture of it.

If we follow the logic, this would mean that happiness comes when our self-consciousness fades.  Self-consciousness is a result of using a mental framework that cuts itself off from everything else, and takes itself as the center.  We are self-conscious because of fear, but I shall take this up in another post.  This self-centered (literally and metaphysically) way of conducting our mind has been given all kinds of names from various religions and philosophies: sin, samsara, hell, ego-mentalism, evil, demons (in Descartes’ Meditations, Buddhism, et al.) and so on.  It is a technology of mind that believes itself to be the center, and is convinced that it can stand totally on its own; that it is independent of all things.  It believes itself to be a self-sustaining identity.  The more we are immersed in this kind of ego-mental thinking, the more we feel lonely and isolated.  We are interconnected with and through the entire ((Infinite Field of Existence)), or ((Reality)), and we try to cut ourselves off from that and everything else.

So, if using this kind of mental software so to speak gives rise to self-consciousness, which in turn leads to psychological suffering (in this case being separate from happiness), what then can be done?  Most people try to escape their thoughts of self-consciousness through mindless activities where one loses one’s sense of self.  Drugs, sex, television, and essentially anything else can become an escape from this.  Why?  Because one has the potential to lose this ego-self in any activity.  Performed at a level of high awareness, any activity can become beautiful, an art form.  But if an activity is used as an escape, it becomes ugly, corrupted.  One’s happiness now depends on something else; it is a crutch for your suffering.  The martial artist, for example, practices totally, and for the love, joy, and passion of the art.  But if he or she uses it as a form of psychological escape, it loses its beauty, and you cannot enjoy it with your whole being.

So, most people find an escape in which to lose their self-consciousness for a while, only to return back to their suffering later.  What is required is an inner transformation, at the level of the mental software or technology of mind we are using.  That is why Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths.  Many people misinterpret Buddhism to be about suffering and negativity.  But how can we understand happiness if we are ignorant about the nature of suffering and what prevents happiness?  Without going into detail about them here, the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism help others understand suffering, its causes and conditions, so that they can then also understand happiness and how to eliminate suffering (on a psychological level).  If we are to actually be happy then, we must look within and transform the way we are conducting our mind.

As we become less and less self-centered, more in touch with the other people and the world around us, and able to become aware of our conditionings, we find that happiness has been here all along.  That is why so many wisdom teachers have said that by helping others we also help ourselves.  We are not separate, independent entities, but are all connected.  The more you take care of others, the more you take care of yourself and become happy.  The more self-centered and ego-oriented you are, the more you create suffering for yourself, cut yourself off, and become lonely.

Letting go of fear and self-consciousness, we can relax in the moment; we can be happiness.  Or more accurately, happiness is us.  Therefore, real happiness arises when we make peace with others, with nature and the world, and also make peace with ourselves.  Self-consciousness can be used as a tool and can have some uses, but it has become stronger and has taken over our minds.  We certainly have a right to pursue happiness, but it is our nature to be happy, and that is our birthright.

Don’t believe any of this just after reading it, but really observe, inquire, become aware.  Find the answer for yourself.  I’m not looking for agreement or disagreement.  The author could be all wrong, but most important is not to accept any given answer and to find an answer for oneself through observation, awareness, and critical insight.

On Boredom

© Jason Kunen 2013

Boredom is a profound feeling.  If we have awareness, if we really pay attention, boredom can be a transformative experience that can lead to tremendous insight.  But most of us cannot handle boredom.  We try to avoid it as much as possible, and it has such a negative connotation.

We can all relate with the feeling of boredom.  Perhaps you’re a teenager that lives in an area with few peers and few attractions and have nowhere to go (I’m thinking of the song Subdivisions by Rush).  Or maybe you’re an adult who has time off and you’re stuck at home with nothing to do.  Or perhaps we see the workaholic who finds himself on vacation or without work and becomes stir-crazy, and deliberately attempts to find any possible work to do.

I’m sure we can all think of examples when we have felt this way, but what to do?  Usually, we take up some mindless activity that keeps this feeling at bay.  We might go obsessively cleaning, surf the internet for hours, watch TV, and all kinds of escapes; anything we can do to get away from boredom.

Why do we do this?  It is fear is it not?  We are afraid and unwilling to face our mind and our thoughts.  We cannot stand to have this built-up energy and no external outlet to direct it to.  In the midst of an activity, only part of our attention can be directed towards our thoughts, we don’t have to face them in full force.  But when we are bored, we have to face our thoughts, our fears, our insecurities, and we have no external activity that can take our attention away from it.  Don’t take my word for it, but see if you can observe it for yourself.  I am not here to give you some other escape in the guise of some meditative or philosophical practice.  Let us try to see what boredom actually is.

First, we must understand boredom.  Solving any problem requires understanding and patience.  No issue can be resolved by running away from it or trying to eliminate it.  We have tried that numerous times and yet we still find ourselves bored; so clearly, trying to escape from boredom has not worked.  Observe boredom; try to really see what is happening in your body and your mind when you feel bored.

It seems to me that boredom occurs when we are fed up with the activities we direct our attention to.  Our mind is always looking in this and that direction, and finally, it gets tired of such activities.  The mind no longer feels satisfied, and we become restless.  We seek something that can catch and hold our attention.  It is at this point when fantasizing and thoughts of lust grow strong, for example, because they have the power to keep our mind occupied and hold its attention.  But let us stick with the issue of boredom for now.

So, boredom is when our mind no longer finds satisfaction in our activities, and our energy and attention have no place to go.  If we can observe this in a non-judgmental way, and we avoid escaping from it, we can begin to understand boredom.  In doing so, we begin to direct our attention inwards; we start to observe our mind.

Certainly, one can take up the practice of meditation, but even this too can become an escape if one is not aware.  What I am suggesting can be called a meditation, but this is not a formal practice or method.  Any method, any system can be turned into another form of escape and conditioning.  I am offering no method here, but saying that we must be aware.  Be mindful of your body and mind; what are their reactions to events?  How do you react to boredom?

What comes of this non-judgmental observation you might ask?  In becoming aware of boredom and seeing what it is and how we react to it, we no longer feel uncomfortable about being bored.  We no longer try to escape through mindless activities, and we begin to relax with what is, the present moment.  Instead of pacing throughout the house, we can sit and enjoy the breeze, or the light entering the window, or eating our food.  We start to discover simplicity, and a great happiness arises, because we can enjoy every breath, every moment.  We are no longer seeking something other than what is.  We are content with that very moment.

Once we understand this, then we can take up any activity we choose, because we go into with awareness, with mindfulness.  We are not afraid to stop this activity because we not afraid of the feeling of boredom.  The fear of boredom no longer has a hold on us, and therefore, the fear of being present, of presencing, of letting ourself go with what is, also fades.

Reflections on Dialogue and Education

© Jason Kunen 2013

In this global and technological world, our children are being exposed to cultures, worldviews, and perspectives from around the globe, and have the opportunity to transform the way they experience reality.  However, despite the advantages of globalization, we must also face its obstacles.  Multiplicity, while potentially enriching our view of reality, can also breed conflict and disunity when not soundly integrated into one’s own conceptual framework or viewed from the common ground of human experience.

From the standpoint of the ego, one feels knowledgeable having learned about different conceptions of life, but it is crucial to consider how these forms of living are integrated in a coherent manner into one’s own way of being in the world.  Philosophers and religious traditions from around the globe have been advocating that to truly change our world and progress on the path towards peace and unity, we will have to change the way in which we are conducting our minds and shift towards a different kind of consciousness, one driven by compassion and wisdom.

Through awakening our meditative intelligence and becoming critically reflective, we can move to a new stage of human development that is characterized by wisdom and compassion.  After studying various traditions and with many teachers, in addition to my own insight and experience, this means realizing that the plurality of mental frameworks and worldviews, in fact, share a fundamental common ground.  Developing our awareness to understand that vastly different forms of life are deeply interwoven will allow us to unite as a powerful force to tackle the problems of our age.  This unity is not to be misconstrued in an anthropocentric sense, but rather in the sense that we have a responsibility to ourselves, others, and the world, regardless of ego-based discriminations like race, religion, gender, nationality, age, and other such distinctions.

With the vast plurality of worldviews and cultures in nearly all areas of life, it is necessary for cross-cultural and inter-faith dialogue, coupled with a sensitivity that appreciates diversity, to be prevalent in society.  Education, therefore, must now address the philosophical issues relevant to our time, and return to the ground of concrete reality and real-life experience, rather than merely fixating on theory and textbook knowledge.  It is quite common that many school curriculums emphasize intellectual cultivation and abstract ideas far removed from students’ lives and psychological development.  Education has become nothing but tools for examinations and preparing students for the next stage of schooling, rather than cultivating their abilities and providing them with skills they can apply in their lives.  Intellectual cultivation is merely one side of education, but most others tend to be overlooked or neglected.

Growing as a student is not only about acquiring knowledge, but learning how to interact with people and how to consider how others make sense of the world.  Such a skill requires learning the art and ethics of dialogue, but not in the sense of typical conversation, but a way of inquiring into the framework of the other without violating it in order to engender real appreciation and empathy.

Reflections on Education (10/14/2013)

There is a need for a radical shift in the way in which we structure our learning institutions.  Philosophers addressing this matter, whether in the Western approach as in Plato’s Academy from the Greek tradition, or the Eastern mindset for example in Confucianism, have discerned that we must train the students in all areas of life and help them to connect on a deep level with themselves and others.  They should be well-versed not only intellectually, but should have cultivated their physical, artistic, intuitive, spiritual, philosophical, and emotional sides as well.  The foundation of intelligence and wisdom is having a holistic, meditative, and critically reflective mind, whereby one can not only apply knowledge, but can simultaneously understand the how, why, and when behind this process.  Furthermore, the mark of a global citizen and student of wisdom is realizing that all people can connect on a deep, genuine level when encountered from the ground of ontology, for all forms of life are deeply interconnected as our wisdom teachers have shown.

The real key is giving people the tools and creating an environment where people can learn to cross worlds.  In other words, how can we dilate our minds in order to appreciate and understand a way of life different from our own?  People can begin to realize a deep interconnectedness by seeing that we are all sentient beings and face common problems both in society and existentially, and that these problems can be overcome if we learn how to unite in an authentic manner that does not eliminate difference, but celebrates it.  Uniting to face the dilemmas of the human condition, and seeing that cultures across the globe have been trying to address such issues, inter-religious, cross-cultural, and philosophical dialogue would no longer be fragmented and filled with polar splits as we see in our current situation.

If one were to create an environment that allows students to engage in deep ontological self-reflection and dialogue with other worlds, he or she can reevaluate one’s own framework of mind to become a global citizen.  Learning to conduct our minds in this manner allows us to promote harmony and compassion for all beings, for we come to understand the vast relationships, on both a personal and cosmic level, that constitute our being.

Introduction

Hello Friends!  Welcome to this ((Dia-blog))!

This website is designed to give readers insight into Global Philosophy and Ethics, the work of great thinkers, and encouragement to understand oneself and the world around us.

This is not a typical blog where I write my opinions and you read them.  We are having a Dialogue together on the great issues of our time.  We are inquiring whether there is a profoundly different approach to encountering and living life that is not violent, judgmental, or filled with all kinds of suffering.  I hope that as you read these posts, you inquire into yourself and have a Dialogue with the text.

Philosophy, martial arts, ethics, spiritual guidance in the modern age, and meditation, are just a few of the topics we shall look at together.  The most important thing I ask is not to agree or disagree, nor like or dislike anything said here, but to read it mindfully and consider for oneself if it has any merit.  Do not take anything on my authority or anyone else’s, but examine it for yourself to determine if these ideas cohere with your own experience.  This is a journey we are taking together.

Posts may include excerpts from essays, day-to-day thoughts, and quotations from authors.