conditionings | Being a Lotus in the Mud: The Art of Living with Awareness

April 17, 2015

Ideas of ((God)) and Conceptual Imprisonment

Throughout the centuries, people have recognized that there is a fundamental Unifying Principle that is the Source of reality. Accommodating infinite names, from God and Allah, to Dao and Brahman, this Source is understood to be infinite and self-sustaining. However, are we conceptually imprisoned by our idea of this Source? Are our rational abilities of thought powerful enough to conceive of what is First? In this East-West comparative study, I examine thought’s limitations in conceiving the Absolute, and how we can transcend objectified notions of It.

I begin with an examination of thought, semiotic activity, and the problem of ego-mentalism. Descartes’ ontological proofs of Infinite Being are then illustrated to understand why the Absolute is significant. I then transition to authors in Zen to argue that Infinite Being must empty itself to be truly infinite. This recognition can promote interconnectedness and the advancement of global dialogue.

Watch my lecture on YouTube:

January 29, 2014

When Life Falls Apart

Why do we put up psychological resistance? Is it not because of fear? There is a change of some sort, and we resist this new situation. We judge and evaluate this new circumstance. But judgments are only out of comparison; you can only judge and evaluate a thing in relation to something else, and the measure against which we compare this new situation is the known, which is of the past.

When our primary mode of being is grounded in ego-mentalism, we cling to the past, to the known. As we observed in the article On Conformity, Fear of the Known, and Discussing Matters of Life, there is never fear of the unknown, for how can we fear that which we do not know? There is fear, however, of losing the known, more specifically, the psychological security that comes with attachment to the known.

When we resist, it is a clear sign that our ego, the projected image of an identity constructed from memories and conditionings, is afraid of something. The ego identity naturally clings to the past and to the known because it lives and functions in that. Facing that which it does not know means it will have to die to what it is now in order to change and adapt. So it will resist against the unknown, against death, against anything which endangers the illusion of psychological comfort.

If we pay attention, and are sensitive to these mental habits, we will discover that we are not our ego. We are so much more than this projected, constructed image, but its narrow lens objectifies and constricts even the reality of ourself. By clinging to the past, we don’t fully meet the present, and the future is merely a projection based on the known in accordance with our disposition. Of course, planning for the future has practical applications, but it must be remembered that it is only an image, an idea, and that everything is subject to change. Therefore, it is an expenditure of energy to cling or attach to an idea, a projection.

It is as though the cocoon of the caterpillar is breaking apart because the butterfly fully evolved, but clinging to the past is like the butterfly desperately trying to save the cocoon, despite the cocoon’s imminent destruction. It has the opportunity to break free and fly, but instead, chooses to focus on the danger, the fear, and what it knows. When things fall apart, perhaps consider that they’re actually falling into place.

When you resist, be completely aware of it. Don’t try to convince yourself intellectually, or dismiss the feeling. There is something crucial happening, and forcing or suppressing is self-destructive. Hold that moment of resistance with awareness, as you would hold a delicate flower in your palm. Discover the underlying reasons of why this resistance is there. Is your fear of not accomplishing something, getting a job, being successful, etc., because there is the fear of failure? Do you fear failure because deep down, you fear being nothing, that you did not become something? Society has drilled you to be single-minded on pursuing success, wealthy, famous, and all the rest of it, and if you fail, you feel you are worthless, because you did not become this or that person you were conditioned to idolize. No one can become another! To be your ((true Self)) is the greatest gift you can give to humanity.

If these posts are helpful and interesting, please subscribe, like, and comment on the Dia-blog, and share the articles with others. There are links to share this on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, and others below. Many thanks!

Here is a great book by my good friends Martha Randolph and Elizabeth Campbell that discusses spiritual evolution in a clear and simple manner. I highly recommend it, especially to young persons interested in spiritual topics. It is called, That Which Is.

I also recommend reading the book Navigating the Mazeway: Fulfilling our Best Possibilities As Individuals and As a Society, by my good friend and colleague Tony Parrotto. Here is a link to his website, The Mazeway Project.

2 Comments

January 22, 2014

Making the Ordinary Extraordinary – The Desire to Become – Life as it is

“A mind that is becoming can never know the full bliss of contentment; not the contentment of smug satisfaction; not the contentment of an achieved result, but the contentment that comes when the mind sees the truth in what is and the false in what is. The perception of that truth is from moment to moment; and that perception is delayed through verbalization of the moment.” -Jiddu Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom

What begins to happen as we grow out of childhood? Many of us become more and more controlling do we not? We are conditioned and led to believe that happiness exists outside of us, and that if we can control as many external factors as possible, then we shall be happy. There develops an incessant drive to shape life according to our own projections and desires. Society floods us with people who should be idolized and become our role models. Whether those people are celebrities, spiritual figures, politicians, businessmen, gurus, the rich, intellectuals, saints, and so on, it is conditioning us to seek something outside of ourselves and become someone else. This leads us to feel inadequate with ourselves, and that we should strive to become like another. We then go through life constantly seeking, trying to change ourselves, not seeing or understanding our own life. Life becomes a series of elaborate escapes from what is and who we are. And of course, when desire is obstructed, when we realize that we can never be another, we react with anger, or sadness, or jealously, and feel hurt in someway. This leads to deep suffering, because not only do we have difficulty looking or understanding ourself, but we realize that we have been wasting our time trying to be like another.

We are taught to believe that once we can control things, or fulfill our ambitions, or get this or that job or position, or have unparalleled wealth, or reach enlightenment, or find inner peace, or have this or that experience, or become virtuous, or transform our life, and so on, then we shall be happy. And how many times have we reached our goal and happiness has not yet come? Or conversely, we realize that we cannot achieve our goal, and we feel depressed because we could not live up to or become this image we had of ourselves or of another.

Whether inwardly or outwardly, the process of becoming, of searching for something greater, leads us further and further away from ourselves. We become interested in self-projected abstractions than in reality and how we are living. For one reason or another, we are afraid, or unsure of how to look and understand ourselves, and so constantly indulge in escapes instead of really facing life as it is. Thus, the challenges of everyday life are seen as boring and insignificant. Instead, we try to find comfort by projecting or imagining some greater reality that will entertain and gratify our desires.

One might argue, “why not strive to emulate figures like the Dalai Lama, the Pope, Mother Theresa, or some other religious figure? They embody very admirable virtues. Should we not follow their example?” However, if you try to live up to a virtue, is it not because you are the exact opposite of it, and are trying to escape from it? That is, if I am trying to be non-violent, isn’t it because I myself am violent? Or if I am trying to be generous, is it not because I am greedy? We create ideals, virtues, based on our own image of what we think it is, and use it as a way to escape from our own mental habits. This creates a conflict within ourselves, as we are now torn between what is, and this projected ideal we strive towards. In this division, fear (of failure), guilt, shame, regret, and various emotions take root.

This kind of becoming, the pursuit of virtues, is an elaborate form of escapism, and very self-deceptive. We deceive ourselves through such ideals because we convince ourselves and others that although we may be violent, greedy, jealous, angry, and the like, we strive to live up to this or that ideal or virtue. And a theme in our current education system, particularly the way history is taught (at least in America), is that of progress. We are continuously fed this idea that we are ever improving, developing, cultivating, progressing, etc., which thereby encourages us to become. And though we have advanced technologically, we are still psychologically immature. So, instead of really looking at ourselves with an interest in Self-knowledge, we try to seek and strive towards something else.

It is not a matter of being content or passively (or perhaps, apathetically) accepting these states. We must first be willing to understand ourselves, to look at the violence, anger, jealous, greed, and the rest of it in ourselves, and how it arises. Through observing our mental habits, through non-judgmental awareness, we can understand these reactions and this desire to become. As I said in Changing the World Starts with Understanding Yourself, this understanding naturally brings about action in accordance with that understanding. Therefore, a ((transformation)) does not come about through any effort of the /self/, or the /ego/, which desires some result or achievement, but naturally through Self-knowledge.

Certainly, we can learn from others, and let their actions be a wake up call to reflect on ourselves and our own mental life. However, to follow them is to give up one’s own responsibility for understanding oneself. In this way, we disempower ourselves to another. No one can give you Self-knowledge. Understanding comes from oneself, when the mind is quiet without force, and you are non-judgmentally aware from moment-to-moment without interfering. Dropping the desire to become does not mean laziness or apathy or submission. This too is a conditioned thought our society ingrains in us. If people understood themselves, and were comfortable with who they are, think about how many professions (from the celebrity magazines and cosmetic stores to the psychiatrist and plastic surgeon) would be out of business! Think about how many corporations make a profit by exploiting this desire to become.

Through awareness, we can see this desire to become within ourselves. And the desire to drop it is also a desire to become. Being, abiding, learning to be…this comes by itself when we understand this desire to become in our own inner life as a fact, not as a theory or a belief. But again, this is not does imply apathy or laziness. Out of ((Being)) comes integrated action and right thinking, because now, our actions are no longer according to some ideal, idea, or belief motivated out of becoming. Action based on becoming is conflict, because it creates a separation between the actor, the action, the reason for acting, and the ideal for which we are trying to achieve through our action. But action out of ((Being)) is ((integrated action)); it is whole, complete, and co-arises with understanding.

In ((Being)), we see life in a whole new way. The everyday activities that we once saw boring and insignificant, and the day-to-day challenges that may seem frustrating and monotonous are encountered in a new light. It is not that the ordinary becomes extraordinary, but rather, we see that our idea of the extraordinary was a self-projected illusion, and that the ordinary is extraordinary. Life is then a beautiful movement; a dance of a warrior who is free, joyous, creative, and not controlled by fear. That is the meaning of the Zen expression, “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.”

It is because we lack Self-knowledge that we suffer. And it is because we are taught to follow and become like others that we are distracted from understanding ourselves. And it is because we don’t know how to live that we are taught to emulate others. And it is because we were not educated to observe and understand our fears and insecurities that we don’t know how to live.

There is much to say on the role of fear and the desire to become, but we shall discuss this topic at another time. The following posts cover some of the topics in this article: fear, boredom, happiness.

On Boredom

On the Nature of Happiness

On Free Will – Awareness and the Power of Choice

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

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

On Conformity, Fear of the Known, and Discussing Matters of Life

On Uncertainty

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

Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Book, The First and Last Freedom – On Amazon or Online

2 Comments

December 18, 2013

Changing the World Starts with Understanding Yourself

Courtesy of http://www.flower-images.net/purple-water-lily

As we saw in the post, A Call to ((Action)), there are a number of issues that humanity faces today that threatens our survival, and some which will have cataclysmic effects on our planet. In several ((Dia-blog)) posts, we investigated that the cause of our problems is /ego-mentalism/, that is, we are conducting our mind from a self-oriented, self-centered, objectifying, and fragmented framework. When we use this mental operating system, we take ourself to be the center of existence and the basis for experience, and contrast it with everything outside of us. We objectify and cut ourself off from everything else. This creates the distinction between “I” and “not I,” which leads to constantly comparing, judging, evaluating, and creating more and more divisions. Thus, all dialogue, experience, interaction, relationship, ideas, and emotions are filtered through our conditionings, memories, thoughts, prejudices, opinions, beliefs, judgments, reactions, and experiences (all these things which comprise the /self/, the /ego/, the /“me”/, our /story/). Because of that, we rarely encounter moments when we are free of our /self/. But through this ((Dia-blog)) we are discovering together if there is a way we can encounter and experience things ((as they are)) in a fresh, present, and creative way.

We have also been investigating the fact that we are as we mind. That is, the world is a reflection of how we are conducting our minds. Our way of minding is projected into the outer world. Therefore, if we wish to change the world, we must start with ourself, with our own inner life. Why? Because without understanding ourselves, our psychological process, our actions will perpetuate the cycle of /ego-mentalism/, of /objectification/ and /violence/. If you are full of conflict, jealously, anger, hatred, self-centeredness, whatever it is, could your actions in the world reflect differently? We will be stuck in /reactions/, not creatively responding to the experience, interaction, or problem. (For more on this, please refer to the posts On Psychological Freedom and On Relationships).

But how does one go about doing this? To change ourselves, don’t we need to understand what it is we’re changing from? It is vital to understand the /ego-mental patterns and habits/ within ourselves. Through non-judgmental awareness, we can watch our reactions, thoughts, emotions, clinging, anger, hatred, and the rest of it. We can simply watch unobtrusively; once we start judging, condemning, justifying, and interfering, it means we are trying to escape the fact of what we are because we are afraid to look at ourselves. If you learn to observe yourself in this non-judgmental manner, with an interest and an openness to see what you are, then you begin to understand yourself, and a change happens naturally. I recommend a book by Osho called Awareness: The Key to Living in Balance.

Changing oneself is not a matter of creating ideals or following a belief system. When you have ideals (non-violence, compassion, courage, kindness, temperance, etc.) and try to live up to them, doesn’t that mean you are in conflict because you are the opposite of that ideal? If I am trying to be non-violent, doesn’t that mean I am trying to change myself because I am violent? Creating this ideal in your mind puts you in conflict with your idea (which is really just an image rooted in your thoughts and memories of what you believe it is), and your actual, everyday experience. That is why I am not an idealist. Ideals create conflict, and are an elaborate way to escape from what you are by trying to live up to some belief in your mind. Instead, through awareness we begin to understand our psychological process and our /ego-mental habits/, and with understanding, one naturally changes. Then, there is no striving to live up to or become some ideal, but rather, one is kind, non-violent, creative, compassionate, courageous, etc. These qualities become the very presence of the person; it is their very being.

If you truly understand, not as an ideal or a thought or a belief, but clearly see what /ego-mentalism/ is as a fact, and how it creates divisions, objectifies, fragments, creates conflict, and leads to suffering, loneliness, and a chaotic inner and therefore outer life, no one in their right mind would continue to live with way of minding! Naturally, you would inquire whether there is a profoundly different way of living and experiencing life and optimizing your relationships with people and the world around you. This means that understanding is not merely intellectual, but is empathetic, intelligent, creative, and active. ((Understanding is action)). You can believe that everyone is interconnected, that we can be non-violent, that we can break free of /ego-mentalism/, whatever it is…but belief does not lead to integrated action. Integrated action comes from understanding, from seeing what is. And such ((action)) is, by its very nature coherent, moral, creative, and intelligent. I suggest reading Jiddu Krishnamurti’s book, The First and Last Freedom for more on this subject.

Through this awareness and understanding yourself, you begin to interact different in your relationships. Your nature of ((Being)) creates ripples and affects others. Society, the world, is not independent of you relationship between you and me, between you and other people, the world, ideas, etc.; it is the relationships we have. Understanding ourselves, our psychological process, leads to a ((transformation)) of our being, not through discipline, force, effort, control, authority, or fear, but through Self-knowledge. This ((inner revolution)) creates a change in our relationships. And if the vast network of relationships and interconnections is the world, we thereby affect the entire ((Field of Reality)). If you want to end conflict and violence in the world, end the conflict and violence in yourself. If you want to end misery in the world, end the misery in yourself. If you want to eliminate self-centeredness in the world, self-centeredness must be eliminated within yourself. No one can be forced to change, but you are responsible for creating and holding the ((space)) for a ((radically transformed Humanity)) through your own ((inner revolution)).

So, if you want to change the world, start with understanding yourself. If you want to understand yourself, become aware of how you are conducting your mind. For awareness and transformation to flourish, you must inquire whether a ((total revolution of our being)) is possible, not through force, discipline, or desiring to change, but through openness and willingness to see what is.

If these posts are helpful and interesting, please share them with others. There are links to share this on Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, and others below. Many thanks!

Related Links:

I also recommend reading the book Navigating the Mazeway: Fulfilling our Best Possibilities As Individuals and As a Society, by my good friend and colleague Tony Parrotto. A link to the book and the his website, The Mazeway Project are below:

The Mazeway Project website: http://mazeway.org

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

Link to Last Week’s Post: On Conformity, Fear of the Known, and Discussing Matters of Life

Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Book, The First and Last Freedom – On Amazon or Online

Osho’s Book, Awareness: The Key to Living in Balance

4 Comments

December 11, 2013

On Conformity, Fear of the Known, and Discussing Matters of Life

Courtesy of http://rawforbeauty.com/blog/?s=diane+grant

A young friend of mine requested that I write on why most people in our culture, young and old, are hesitant to discuss and inquire into themselves, into life. Why this fear and uncertainty regarding matters of life? Why is it that so few people are interested to look beyond the superficial aspects of themselves and the world around them? There are many factors which can be attributed to this, and I will not attempt to try and name them all.

I highly advise reading my previous two posts to help you understand what we shall investigate together here today:

On Uncertainty:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/on-uncertainty/

On Interconnectedness and the Problems of our World:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/a-call-to-action-on-the-problems-of-our-age-we-are-as-we-mind-interconnectedness/

Education certainly plays a great role in our willingness to inquire whether there is a different way of life and understanding ourselves. If education provides an intellectually safe space where students can be open to Self-knowledge and are free to be creative and inquire into themselves, their fears, and their insecurities, then perhaps we shall have a society that is coherent, peaceful, and dialogical. Many educators are frightened of introducing controversy and dialogue on such matters, and education is reduced to memorization, the acquisition of knowledge, and learning things most students find irrelevant to their lives. But I shall not delve into that here; for that, I recommend Jiddu Krishnamurti’s book, Education and the Significance of Life. In conjunction with that, the media, from news stations and magazines to even textbooks influence our openness and wonderment. For that, I recommend Lies My Teacher Told Me. Furthermore, our culture provides all kinds of escapes through which we find temporary comfort from our fears, insecurities, loneliness and the rest of it.

Let us look at this from a broader approach. As I’ve said in my previous posts, whether you agree or disagree, like or dislike, judge as right or wrong, anything I say is not important to me nor does it help you. These words are here to act as a mirror in which you can look at yourself. I write this, not so that you have a set of beliefs to adopt or to compare your own to, but to ignite the flame of inquiry so that you can find answers on your own. Let us proceed attentively and investigate this matter together.

If we look within ourselves, it seems that most of us have accepted self-centeredness, violence, jealously, hatred, anger, escapism in one form or another, apathy, and loneliness as a way of life. Very, very few of us have attempted to understand our own psychological process and truly understand why the world is as it is. We turn to systems, methods, practices, religions, philosophies, belief systems, rituals and prayers, political and economic ideologies, science, or some other set of beliefs to give us the answers. For many, a system is imparted, conditioned, and given to us from birth, but we live with it without questioning it, or we reject as a reaction, not through understanding.

When we live according to the doctrines and ideas of another, we become second-hand, mechanical human beings. We repeat what others have said and try to justify, through our knowledge and books, that we are right. We tend to privilege our own framework and believe it to be absolute. Understandably so, for we are extremely frightened of the giving up all that we know. Even the thought of giving up one’s grand narrative, the story we tell ourselves about who we are, etc., is frightening. We enjoy living with the illusion of psychological comfort by clinging to our thoughts, memories, systems, and experiences. It is not that we are frightened of the unknown, how can we fear that which we do not know?, but rather, we are afraid to give up the known.

More and more people are beginning to realize that children are natural philosophers. They are full of wonderment and inquiry when they are young. But over time, many are conditioned with answers, patterns, and systems leaving no room for questions; few can endure the tumultuous environment of school and its pressures while simultaneously keeping their interest in understanding themselves and life alive. We are pressured to conform, not only to a peer group, but to the patterns laid out by our /ego-mental culture/. And this is very tempting, because particularly as we grow into adolescents we have an increasing desire to be accepted, to be loved, to feel our existence is acknowledged; this feeling of being accepted by others gives the impression that the void of emptiness, of loneliness that we feel is fulfilled. This leads to a psychological dependency on those people to keep us satisfied.

Conformity restricts and confines us; we become conceptually imprisoned to various patterns and habits of mind. But to understand ourselves requires tremendous openness, creativity, wonderment, aloneness (not loneliness or aloneness in the typical sense of the word) and not being bound to any pattern. By ((aloneness)), I mean the willingness to question and not accept any pattern until we have found out Truth for ourselves. When I use the word “aloneness,” I’m not implying isolation in any typical sense of the word. I mean by that not being confined to any established pattern of thought that keeps one conceptually imprisoned. ((Aloneness)) is emptying oneself of /ego-mental habits and reactions/, and having the ((courage)) to stand against /ego-mentalism/. Thus, many young people I feel are in deep conflict: conformity and feeling accepted by others so that we have temporary comfort from our loneliness vs. interest in understanding ourselves, which inevitably puts us at odds with others because we do not conform to their ideas, judgments, expectations, standards, and the rest of it.

Let us pause for a moment and reflect on what we said.

Our /ego-mind/ does not see or understand the interconnectedness, the relationality of all things. So, our /ego way of minding/ cuts us off from others because the /ego/ tries to assert its own independent space and define itself; it believes itself as a self-sustaining identity, and gives the illusion of independence from all others. In doing this, it creates a void of emptiness and loneliness within ourselves, which is what drives this incessant desire to become something else, or to become like someone else. As a way to deal with this void, many of us conform to the patterns of society, to a peer group, to this or that ideology, in order to feel like we are a part of something greater. When you conform to any pattern, you are given answers, beliefs, expectations, and standards so that you no longer need to question and inquire or understand. As we become more fixed in this pattern, we become more and more attached and psychologically dependent on it, because that becomes our /limited framework/ for understanding the world. We cling to our /identity/ and our /framework/ and are afraid of giving it up, not because we fear the unknown, but because we fear giving up and undermining all that we know.

Thus, rather than inquire to see if there is a different way of life that is free of anger, hatred, suffering, etc., we accept these patterns out of fear. Psychological comfort and attachment to our fragmented, objectifying mental operating system (our way of minding), is a primary cause of our unwillingness and fear to understand ourselves and life. Furthermore, most of us are afraid to look at ourselves and see what we actually are. It is tremendously difficult to face our anger, loneliness, fears, insecurities, desires, and all the rest of it directly. That is another reason we turn to others to give us answers or to some other activity that gives us temporary comfort. This, however, we shall take this up another time.

If these posts are helpful and interesting, please share them with others. There are links to share this on Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, and others below. Many thanks!

Related links:

On Psychological Freedom:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/on-freedom-reaction-vs-response/

The Mazeway Project website: http://mazeway.org

Listen to yourself and find answers, by Jiddu Krishnamurti:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VWnf9OBpQA

On Destiny, Meaning, Purpose and Fear Part 1:

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

4 Comments

December 4, 2013

On Uncertainty

Uncertainty is a natural part of life and the human experience. Yet it seems that so many of us cannot stand uncertainty. Most things in our culture either try to guarantee certainty, or distract us from the fact of uncertainty with some form of entertainment. Even religions, belief systems, philosophy, scientists all want to give you certainty about what the world is like, what happens after death, what to do with your life, so that you do not have to face uncertainty. Why this dislike and discomfort of uncertainty?

If we look in ourselves, it would seem most of us are seeking certainty. Certainty in the job market, financially, in relationships, what to do, in our judgments, how to think…we desire to find an established set answer that is permanent, static, and definitive. Desire for certainty, however, is a side effect of our insecurity within and our desire to seek psychological security. When we approach the world with an /ego-mental/ framework, that is, a way of conducting our mind that is polarized, fragmented, and objectifies, we are operating from our conditionings and the past. An /ego-mental/ mind speaks, thinks, judges, reacts, and lives from the past; it projects the past into the present and the future. It is attached and psychologically dependent on our thoughts and memories, and wants to replicate what it knows from the past into the present; it desires certainty in the future based on what it knows from the past.

Our /ego/ sees itself as a self-sustaining, independent entity that is separate from everything else. We have a desire to control everything else according to our own nature and dispositions (based on thought and memory) because at some level, we feel we are inferior, insecure, afraid, and lonely. We feel more comfortable replicating something we already know because of fear of the unknown. So, we seek psychological comfort in trying to control others, experiences, and life itself to conform to our desires. Thus, we become obsessed with control and certainty. Certainty, therefore, is nothing other than our own inclinations that have come to fruition.

Are you following this? Perhaps an example would help. Say I am a recent graduate and want a job, and my peers have found one before me. Now for whatever reason, either pressures from family, my own conditionings, society’s expectations, or something else, I feel inferior to them because I have not yet found something. This makes me insecure about my situation because I too want to find something; I want psychological comfort, a feeling of security through finding employment so that I no longer feel lesser. This leads to frustration, anger, depression, perhaps even to jealously and hatred, because we have no control over our situation. Thus, psychological insecurity leads to my want for certainty and thereby a habit of controlling and shaping our relationships, other people, experiences, and life according to our own disposition; this inevitably breeds frustration, because such a thing is impossible. This example does not reflect my own situation, but I’m sure there are many out there, especially young people, who feel this way. I am trying to demonstrate that if you are open, interested in inquiring into yourself, and giving attention to understanding your own psychological process, that perhaps there is another way to conduct your mind that does not lead down a path of suffering and frustration, despite the situation.

Will learning to watch our fears and reactions, and breaking the mental habits that reinforce the fear of uncertainty give us psychological comfort? So long as we try to find psychological security in something outside of us, whether it’s some form of pleasure or entertainment, meditation, religion, reading, some activity, drugs, alcohol, whatever it is, we remain attached and dependent on something else. This psychological dependency leads to suffering. Once you are certain, you are stuck, static, and have reached a standstill. Meditation, prayer, ritual…all these practices are not about eliminating uncertainty and finding psychological comfort in them, but about learning to be comfortable and live with uncertainty, with what is. We can move into the unknown with openness, acceptance, and a willingness to learn from life’s experiences. We learn to watch and flow with what is, and not escape from it or try to control it. Learning to abide in uncertainty allows us to enjoy each moment, each breath. This doesn’t mean we become lazy, apathetic, or don’t try to change our situation. Rather, we are not attached to any expectation or result, and we focus on the process. We become flexible and fluid, and become aware of how to work with our situation, inwardly and outwardly.

I am not condemning our desire for certainty. We must experience it so that we can observe this mental habit and understand it. The caterpillar must experience being the caterpillar; it must go through the process of making a cocoon and wanting to feel safe and secure. But when it evolves, the very cocoon which has kept it safe for so long must be broken to be free. Our evolution as human beings is similar. We must experience being the /ego-pillar/ so that we can transform into a ((Buddhafly)). That is the journey of our existence.

Related links:

On Psychological Freedom:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/on-freedom-reaction-vs-response/

On the Problems of our Age, Interconnectedness and Activism:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/a-call-to-action-on-the-problems-of-our-age-we-are-as-we-mind-interconnectedness/

Pema Chödron’s Book, Comfortable with Uncertainty:

http://www.amazon.com/Comfortable-Uncertainty-Cultivating-Fearlessness-Compassion/dp/1590300785

Global Philosophy, talk by Ashok Gangadean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODCfj0rV6DY

The Mazeway Project website: http://mazeway.org

Link to the book, Navigating the Mazeway:

http://www.amazon.com/Navigating-Mazeway-Fulfilling-Possibilities-Individuals/dp/0874260701

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

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

6 Comments

November 27, 2013

A Call to ((Action)): On The Problems of our Age – We are as we mind – Interconnectedness

Everywhere we turn nowadays it seems there is another crisis on the horizon, a crumbling of an outdated system, or some other major predicament that we are unsure of how to address. We have incompetent leaders fueled by lust for power, greed, and promoting their own agendas, the gap between the rich and poor continues to increase, the environment continues to be subject to our negligence, more and more families are struggling financially, the majority of companies and entrepreneurs have no coherent or moral vision of ways to use their money to help others, we have a failing economy, an antiquated educational system, a breakdown in meaningful dialogue and communication, an unstable job market, and more conflicts and wars on both a local and a global scale. These are just a few examples of the issues we face today.

These are the great issues of our time, the crises of our era, the problems of our world. But what do we mean when we say phrases like that? Don’t they imply that the problems are somehow “out there”? It suggests, doesn’t it, that we the people are subject to these unfortunate circumstances, and have to learn to survive and cope with such a world, as if we are victims of others’ actions? But are these issues really separate from us? It would be an odd thing, wouldn’t it, to say that these are society’s problems or the world’s problems, yet somehow the world or society does not include myself? Now if everyone were to have this mentality, then what is left? Isn’t society is constituted by the vast network of relationships between you and me, the environment, and our neighbors across the street and across the globe? Therefore, if we wish to solve these issues, the first thing we must address is our own psychological process, for each and every one of us played a role in creating these dilemmas.

I am not blaming or trying to make anyone feel guilty, but we must understand that we are not separate from the world, from these issues. Think, if we are living a life of competition, greed, anger, violence, objectification, apathy, ignorance, envy, hatred, and self-centeredness, could the world be any different? The world is a projection of ourselves; we are as we mind. The way in which we conduct our mind, that is, our way of minding in the world, is the world. So, if we want any hope of creating a coherent and moral vision of how we can creatively respond to these issues, we will have to pay very close attention to the way we are conducting our minds.

Now, if you believe this is our human nature and we cannot change but through another, or you believe we cannot change how we conduct our mind, or you have any answer to this question without truly seeing any of this for yourself, then there is no communication between us. If you wish to live a life of competition, misery, violence, suffering and the rest of it…it is your life, not mine. But for those of us truly interested to see if there is a different way we can conduct our mind, who are open to the possibility that perhaps we can understand our psychological process and thereby change ourselves, then let us inquire together regarding this connection between ourselves and the world.

Firstly, we should recognize the fact that when we attribute the problems of our world to some external factor, we are deferring our responsibility to another. When we do that, we separate ourselves from the problem. This leads to apathy and inaction, because now you believe that someone else is tasked with the mission of solving such problems. We turn to our leaders to solve wars, end poverty, change education, and the like, yet we ourselves in our own lives continue to be violent, greedy, and surrender the responsibility of educating our children to another. First and foremost, we must recognize that we ourselves are responsible for these problems, but instead of feeling guilty and powerless, we must also see that we also have the power to become aware of this way of minding and change it. While this realization may be distressing at first, it is also very empowering.

By ((transforming)) our /ego-centric and self-centered/ mindset and ((evolving)) to a way of ((minding)) that is guided by compassion, love, wisdom, intelligence, understanding, dialogue, and free of fear, we affect the network of relationships around us. This doesn’t mean one goes out to convert others or impose one’s ideas on another, that is still violence. Do you see why it is violent? You cannot accept the way I am living, my views or religion or whatever else, and you believe you are right, that you have the “truth”; so you impose your ideas in an attempt to make me a copier of your beliefs, a second-hand, mechanical human being living on your words. No, the change that happens to others when you are free of fear and transform your way of minding is different. Others feel your presence is safe and loving. If they are at all open and aware, they will begin to feel as though you are different, and it may spark something in them.

If we care at all about these issues, and are serious about being open and changing ourselves to make the world a more peaceful, compassionate place for ourselves and future generations, then we must start with becoming aware of ourselves, our psychological process. For more on this, I recommend reading my previous posts:

On Relationships:

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

and On Psychological Freedom:

https://jasonkunen.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/on-freedom-reaction-vs-response/

This awareness of ourselves and our reactions must extend to our relationships with others, not be confined to a cave in the mountains. Society is the vast network of relationships, and how we conduct our mind affects our relationships thereby affecting the society. Therefore, solving the problems in our world means addressing them within ourselves. If we know how to look at the violence, anger, loneliness, suffering, pain, and the rest of it within ourselves, without judging or condemning it, but observing to understand it, then we can begin to understand others and work to solve these great issues. Once we realize that we have a responsibility to humankind, to the planet, and to ourselves, we take the first step towards ((transformation)) through ((Self-knowledge)).

I also recommend reading the book Navigating the Mazeway: Fulfilling our Best Possibilities As Individuals and As a Society, by my good friend and colleague Tony Parrotto. His valuable work and accessible terminology has influenced my own ideas and language. A link to the book and the his website, The Mazeway Project are below:

Link to the Mazeway Project website: http://mazeway.org

Link to the book, Navigating the Mazeway:

http://www.amazon.com/Navigating-Mazeway-Fulfilling-Possibilities-Individuals/dp/0874260701

My teacher, Ashok Gangadean, has also been instrumental in shaping my ideas, and I have included a video of him speaking below. His website is: http://awakeningmind.org

Related links:

Global Philosophy, talk by Ashok Gangadean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODCfj0rV6DY

Changing Education Paradigms, by Sir Ken Robinson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

On Philosophy for Children, by Thomas Jackson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNX_SvkrzjA

Listen to yourself and find answers, by Jiddu Krishnamurti:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VWnf9OBpQA

On Destiny, Meaning, Purpose and Fear Part 1:

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

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

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

On Dialogue and Education:

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

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

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

4 Comments

November 20, 2013

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

6 Comments

November 6, 2013

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: