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Monday, December 31, 2012

Quietness Is Freedom

by Sri H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji)


Be quiet, don’t think, don’t make effort.
To be bound takes effort, to be Free takes no effort.
Peace is beyond thought and effort.
Do not think and do not make effort because
This only obscures That, and will never reveal That.
This is why keeping Quiet is the key
To the storehouse of love and peace.

This Quietness is no-mind, this no-thought is Freedom.
Identify yourself as this Nothingness, as this Quietness,
And be careful not to make it an experience
Because this is mind tricking you out of it
With the trap of duality; the trap of witness and witnessed.
Being is Being, there is no witness and no witnessed.
Experiencing it is to say “I am Free,”
Which is exactly the same trap as saying “I am bound.”
After letting go of object
Do not hold onto the subject either.
Let go, Be Quiet.

Excerpt from The Truth Is book by Sri H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji)

Image Source: molley-meditating-on-a-rock-sealers-cove-beach by avlxyz on Foter.com

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Wisdom & Virtue



“Just as treasures are 
uncovered from the earth, 
so virtue appears from good deeds, 
and wisdom appears from 
a pure and peaceful mind. 
To walk safely through 
the maze of human life, 
one needs the light of wisdom 
and the guidance of virtue.”

~Buddha

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Offering Kindness & Support


All it takes is 1 person to reach out and offer kindness and support to someone being bullied.

~ Pamela J. Wells ~


Olivia’s Healing Letters To A Girl Who Was Being Bullied

By Pamela J. Wells
Originally Published on 7-6-11 on Inspiring Stories That Touch The Heart

Olivia Gardner and her mother, Kathleen Gardner.
While in the 6th grade at Sinaloa Middle School in Novato, Olivia Gardner suffered an epileptic seizure in school one day. Upon seeing this, her classmates called her retard. From that day forward Olivia would suffer endless bullying from her classmates over a two year period and three different schools.

She was called names and was tormented while she walked in the hallways at school. When Olivia transferred to Hill Middle School, the bullying escalated with students going out of their way to torment her. They even created a web site on MySpace entitled “Olivia Haters.”

Olivia then transferred to a private school in Novato, Marin Christian Academy, and had been going well for close to a year; and then, Olivia and her mother, Kathleen Gardner, reached out to help one of Olivia’s classmates who told them that her parents were abusing her. An investigation was started by child protective services and then word got out about Olivia’s family being involved in reporting it.

Allegedly, the girl had changed her story, telling her classmates that Olivia was trying to break-up her family. That is when the rumors began to spread. Olivia began receiving numerous emails and phone calls with some students even showing their hatred for her by wearing plastic bracelets that said, “I Hate Olivia,” on them.

Olivia felt rejected by her peers wherever she went, no matter where she lived or what school she was in. She withdrew more and more with each incident. The cafeteria lady started letting her eat her lunch behind the counter and she would hide between classes in bathroom stalls, because she would get beat-up. She started having anxiety attacks. Her mother went to school officials, the children’s parents, and even the authorities, but got no help. Many of the parents of the bullies told her mother that, “they didn’t have time for it”; that “it was just typical middle school behavior.” No one seemed to care.

Her mother pulled her out of private school and started homeschooling her. Olivia contemplated committing suicide to end the pain and suffering that became the norm in her life. Fortunately, those thoughts and feeling all changed when in March 2007, complete strangers and sisters, Sarah (14 years old) and Emily Buder (17 years old), read her story in a local newspaper. The sisters felt the pain that she was going through and, feeling compassion for Olivia, they decided to take action.

Olivia Gardner (right), Sarah (center) and Emily Buder (left)
at the San Rafael Community Center. Chronicle photo by
Brant Ward. Credit: Brant Ward
They came up with “Olivia’s Letters,” a letter writing campaign in which they encouraged their peers to take a moment of their time to write letters to Olivia offering their support. They expressed their messages for hope, healing, and understanding; inspiring her and letting her “know that she was not alone and that she had reason to believe in herself again.” All letters were screened by the sisters before giving them to Olivia.

Olivia’s P.O. box began to overflow with letters from thousands of others from around the world offering their heartfelt support and encouragement; including others, from children to adults, who had experienced bullying firsthand. She found solace in those letters of hope and healing.

An expert and an author on issues that adolescents are affected by, Rosalind Wiseman, said that parents are not always aware that their child is being bullied and that children will not always confide in them when this is happening. Her advice is that the warning signs that parents need to watch for are: isolation, losing friends, the avoidance of social situations, changes in appetite, and making excuses in order “to avoid going to school.”

She also said that parents should have open conversations with their children about the way that other people treat them; that they should always feel safe and never feel threatened by or uncomfortable around anyone.

Olivia now says that, “there are a hundred good people out there for every bad person.”

If you would like to show your support for Olivia, you can write to her at:

Olivia’s Letters
c/o Janet Buder
293 Corte Madera Ave.
Mill Valley, California 94941

Copyright © 2011 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Oren Lyons - "We Are Part of the Earth"


How did Oren first learn about his relationship to the Earth? Listen to his story...

Please go to YouTube to watch video. Unable to embed it into webpage.
"We Are Part of the Earth"


We Are All One: Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee Interview - Sufi Teacher (Video)



Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee Ph.D. is a Sufi teacher and author of a number of books, including The Return of the Feminine and World Soul. In recent years the focus of his writing and teaching has been on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition, and the emerging global consciousness of oneness, and the subject of Spiritual Ecology.

He is the founder of the Golden Sufi Center.
Working with Oneness
His most recent book is Prayer of the Heart in Christian and Sufi Mysticism.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Hugging Meditation



When we hug, our hearts connect and we know that we are not separate beings. 

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Hugging with mindfulness and concentration can bring reconciliation, healing, understanding, and much happiness. The practice of mindful hugging has helped so many to reconcile with each other- fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends and friends, and so many others.

We may practice hugging meditation with a friend, our daughter, our father, our partner or even with a tree. To practice, we first bow and recognize the presence of each other. Then we can enjoy three deep conscious breaths to bring ourselves fully there. We then may open your arms and begin hugging. Holding each other for three in-and-out breaths. With the first breath, we are aware that we are present in this very moment and we are happy. With the second breath, we are aware that the other is present in this moment and we are happy as well. With the third breath, we are aware that we are here together, right now on this earth, and we feel deep gratitude and happiness for our togetherness. We then may release the other person and bow to each other to show our thanks.

When we hug in such a way, the other person becomes real and alive. We do not need to wait until one of us is ready to depart for a trip, we may hug right now and receive the warmth and stability of our friend in the present moment. Hugging can be a deep practice of reconciliation. During the silent hugging, the message can come out very clear: "Darling, you are precious to me. I am sorry I have not been mindful and considerate. I have made mistakes. Allow me to begin anew. I Promise."

Source: Art of Mindful Living - Plum Village
Image Source: embraced by dcosand at Foter.com

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Awakening Love & Compassion


By Sogyal Rinpoche Excerpt from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying


1. Loving Kindness: Unsealing the Spring

When we believe that we don't have enough love in us, there is a method for discovering and invoking it. Go back in your mind and recreate, almost visualize, a love that someone gave you that really moved you, perhaps in your childhood. Traditionally you are taught to think of your mother and her lifelong devotion to you, but if you find that problematic, you could think of your grandmother or grandfather, or anyone who had been deeply kind to you in your life. Remember a particular instance when they really showed you love, and you felt their love vividly.

Now let that feeling arise again in your heart, and infuse you with gratitude. As you do so, your love will go out naturally to that person who evoked it. You will remember then that even though you may not always feel that you have been loved enough, you were loved genuinely once. Knowing that now will make you feel again that you are, as that person made you feel then, worthy of love and really lovable.

Let your heart open now, and let love flow from it; then extend this love to all beings. Begin with those who are closest to you, then extend your love to friends and to acquaintances, then to neighbors, to strangers, then even to those whom you don't like or have difficulties with, even those whom you might consider as your "enemies," and finally to the whole universe. Let this love become more and more boundless. Equanimity is one of the four essential facets, with loving kindness, compassion, and joy, of what the teachings say form the entire aspiration of compassion. The all-inclusive, unbiased view of equanimity is really the starting point and the basis of the path of compassion.

You will find that this practice unseals a spring of love, and by that unsealing in you of your own loving kindness, you will find that it will inspire the birth of compassion. For as Maitreya said in one of the teachings he gave Asanga: "The water of compassion courses through the canal of loving kindness."

2. Compassion: Considering Yourself the Same as Others

One powerful way to evoke compassion is to think of others as exactly the same as you. "After all," the Dalai Lama explains, "all human beings are the same—made of human flesh, bones, and blood. We all want happiness and want to avoid suffering. Further, we have an equal right to be happy. In other words, it is important to realize our sameness as human beings."

Say, for example, you are having difficulties with a loved one, such as your mother or father, husband or wife, lover or friend. How helpful and revealing it can be to consider the other person not in his or her "role" of mother or father or husband, but simply as another "you," another human being, with the same feelings as you, the same desire for happiness, the same fear of suffering. Thinking of the person as a real person, exactly the same as you, will open your heart to him or her and give you more insight into how to help.

If you consider others just the same as yourself, it will help you to open up your relationships and give them a new and richer meaning. Imagine if societies and nations began to view each other in the same way; at last we would have the beginnings of a solid basis for peace on earth and the happy coexistence of all peoples.

3. Compassion: Exchanging Yourself for Others

When someone is suffering and you find yourself at a loss to know how to help, put yourself unflinchingly in his or her place. Imagine as vividly as possible what you would be going through if you were suffering the same pain. Ask yourself: "How would I feel? How would I want my friends to treat me? What would I most want from them?"

When you exchange yourself for others in this way, you are directly transferring your cherishing from its usual object, yourself, to other beings. So exchanging yourself for others is a very powerful way of loosening the hold on you of the self-cherishing and the self-grasping of ego, and so of releasing the heart of your compassion.

Image: True Happiness Inner Peace 1 by tung072 at Stock.xchng

Monday, November 26, 2012

Ego = Pain + Suffering

By Pamela J. Wells



Our identity with our self and our judgment of others keeps us asleep, unconscious. It keeps us from being at peace with ourselves and others. Ego is the primary cause of pain and suffering in families, communities, countries, and the world.

The Ego Is An Illusion, but the Problem Herein Lies, When We Believe That We Are The Ego.

The Ego is your false self. You have to wake-up from that self. To be at total peace with the world and everyone around you, including yourself, you have to wake up from your identity. In order to do that, you have to lose yourself—lose your false self. Forget about yourself. Forget about your illusory separateness from everyone around you, even the people with whom you do not like or even feel hate for. Your ego, your thoughts about who you think you are, creates separation between you and everyone else. Your ego only causes pain and suffering.

Ego Is Not Attractive

Many times, people like it when they are told that they have a big ego. They think that it validates their worthiness, their superiority over others, that it makes them important, makes them stand out from others. It does make them stand out from others. They stand out from others, but not in a good way. They are alone and empty inside, craving attention, but they cannot find it. Yet it continues to be a vicious cycle of repeated delusional thoughts and behavior that can never be filled up with anything. It is like a gaping hole inside of you that makes you feel like you are invisible, insignificant, and worthless, so in order to attempt to fill that hole, one has to build himself or herself up, so that he or she will not feel invisible; however, others are turned off by that ego and end up shutting down when around that person or they choose to not have anything to do with that person anymore. 

Ego is likened to a pair of eyes that can only see our physical differences from others, our differences in our appearance, the way we look, and our differences in what we have, material objects. Ego identifies individuals and groups of individuals through labels that it creates based upon those differences, as well through labels used to describe the “status” of an individual or group in a society. The ego begins to separate, dissect, and categorize individuals and groups of individuals based upon faulty and false ideas and perceptions. Ego is not attractive. It is a negative energy that pushes people away and causes the person with the ego to feel feelings of loneliness and separation.


Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved
Image licensed under Bigstockphoto.com

Creative Commons License 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tibetan Yogas Of Body Speech And Mind - Book Excerpt

~ Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche


In the absolute sense, what we hope to find through the three doors of body, speech, and mind is self-realization: realization of who we truly are.… Who we really are is the unconditional experience of being, in the absence of the grasping mind. Who we are not is what we usually identify with, for example, “I am a mother,” “I am a lawyer.” We identify with our roles, our thoughts, our emotions, or other conditions we are trapped in. When we go beyond that mistaken view of self, we can discover who we truly are: the inseparable state of openness and awareness.

But before we can begin to understand this larger self, we need to explore who we are in the smaller sense. Who is the one here, now, the one who is manifesting in this identity through body, speech, and mind? … Most of the time our view of ourselves causes us pain. We feel the pain of needing and desiring what we don’t have, the pain of fear or anxiety over losing what we do have, the pain of being separated from our loved ones, the pain of encountering our enemies.

The main causes of this pain and suffering are the conceptual mind, karmic conditions, and negative emotions. The teachings speak of an enlightened sense of body, speech, and mind, but for now, in the negative sense we can be said to have a conceptual-karmic-emotional pain body, conceptual-karmic-emotional pain speech, and a conceptual-karmic-emotional pain mind. I refer to these three more simply as “pain body,” “pain speech,” and “pain mind.”

Whether physically, energetically, or psychologically, we experience ourselves mainly through our pain. It is hard to recognize rigpa, the enlightened nature that is our self, the nature that we share with the deities. The small self is more familiar to us. The small self is the one through which we express our pain, and because it is so familiar, it becomes an important door through which we may discover our bigger self—and through this discovery, release our pain.

Pain Body

Some years ago on a commuter plane from Charlotte to Charlottesville I found myself sitting near a young couple with their toddler, and this young couple presented some vivid examples of pain body and pain speech. The young woman was very angry and disappointed with her partner because he did not acknowledge or respond to her, and she expressed this to him verbally through her pain speech in a high, emotional tone almost nonstop during the entire flight. The young man was probably as stressed out as she was, but instead of reacting with pain speech, he reacted with pain body: he held all of his stress inwardly and refused to respond, either in word or gesture. At one point he closed both his ears with his fingers—and when he did so, she finally stopped talking. But as soon as he released his ears, she started up again. Her speech was explosive and scattered; his body was closed and rigid. They were both experiencing similar pain, but as far as their awareness was concerned, both seemed totally disconnected from their true thoughts and feelings.

Some people are characterized more by pain body, others by pain speech, and still others by pain mind. The pain body is not just about the physical body. It can also be seen as the foundation, or ground, of our smaller unenlightened self, like a sense of identity. Think of someone who has been through many severe hardships in life but who has never managed to process the accompanying psychological, karmic, and emotional pain—the character played by Mickey Rourke in the film The Wrestler is a good example. Randy “The Ram” Robinson was once a star in the professional wrestling circuit, but when we meet him twenty years later, he is well past his prime, ailing with advanced heart disease and struggling to revive his identity as a wrestler. Randy spends a lot of his time in silence, seldom expressing any emotion. His ego is so dense that it almost manifests on a physical level: we can see the pain in his facial features, in his posture, in his measured way of moving, in his failing health. To loosen his dense identity, he medicates himself with alcohol and cocaine.

As the story progresses, Randy tries to rekindle a relationship with his estranged daughter. When the two meet, she touches his pain, and he begins to wake up a bit and to interact. As we observe this small awakening, we sense that this is a precious opportunity for Randy to connect not only with his daughter but also with a more genuine sense of self that can release his pain. But he is ultimately unable and unwilling to transform. He chooses instead to remain on his dead-end path; at the close of the film we are left with a feeling of deep sadness for him.

It is so important for the person characterized by the pain body to recognize the body through which the pain is flowing. Until one can discover the bounded, stuck self, there is no way to realize the deep, vast stillness that is free from pain: the aspect of oneself that is unconditioned and unbounded.

Pain Speech

To understand pain speech, think of someone you know who seems always to be talking and talking but never has a point to make. This person does not realize that the pain itself is the one who is talking, and the pain becomes externalized in a scattered or confused way.

A classic example of pain speech is Frances McDormand’s character Linda Litzke in the movie Burn After Reading. A fitness trainer in a health club, Linda is constantly explaining to everyone around her that she needs money for plastic surgery so she can attract the right man. She is so obsessed with verbalizing that she does not notice when her doting boss, who seems like the right man, says he cares deeply for her just as she is. She misses the opportunity to gain insight into the pain underlying her speech and through this recognition to find the feeling of connection she so clearly desires.

When you have an internal dialogue constantly running through your mind, this is another form of pain speech: the words go on and on, yet they never get you anywhere. Anyone characterized by pain speech can benefit from understanding that all these pain-based words are fruitless; for if you are not hearing your own words, why would you expect another to hear them? The first seed of doubt can help recognition to unfold: maybe what you are really trying to communicate is quite different from what you are expressing. With all her verbalizing, Linda might ultimately be saying that she felt hurt, unloved, and uncomfortable in herself.

When you start to connect more with the deeper truth at the source of pain speech, you can find the peaceful, pain-free place that is wordless, soundless, and where there is no expectation that someone must hear you. But first you must realize that your speech is an expression of pain—and the voice itself is what obscures the silence.

Pain Mind
The person dominated by pain mind has too many scattered thoughts, too many emotions, too many mental images. Each time the mind moves to yet another emotion, thought, or image, that’s what the mind becomes. When it doesn’t move—when it gets stuck in one place—it becomes dense and dark, sometimes depressed.

Heath Ledger’s character in Brokeback Mountain is an example of someone with pain mind. Ennis Del Mar is a troubled and troubling character, a man whose denial of his love for another man is causing him devastating psychic pain. His posture is rigid. He speaks very little, and when he does he speaks through a clamped jaw and barely gets his words out. He is trapped in his uncontrollable thoughts and emotions and spends a lifetime trying to deny them.

The pain mind is convinced it is achieving some purpose by all its activity and imagery. But if you look closer you can realize that all of these thoughts and emotions are mainly an expression of pain. This identification with thoughts is the small self, and in order to discover the big self you have to discover the small self. The pain itself becomes an entryway to self-discovery. The moment you catch yourself in a repetitive thought—for example, thinking over and over, “I hate the world”—in that moment you can realize “This is not me.” In this moment of awareness, the pain begins to release, and something else is allowed to unfold. It is all a question of recognizing that moment.

The racing thoughts and emotions of pain mind—the infinite imaginings of the ego—have at their source the deep identification with pain known as pain body. Pain speech, too, arises from the pain body’s mistaken sense of core identity. Thus, it is natural for a person to exhibit overlapping characteristics of pain body, pain speech, and pain mind— such as a tight jaw accompanied by churning thoughts. Ultimately, once we release ourselves from the pain body, then pain speech and pain mind will no longer be an issue. But sometimes the pain body is not clearly challenging us, whereas pain speech may be quite actively and obviously destroying our relationships, or pain mind may be immediately miring us in destructive thoughts or emotions and leading us to destructive actions. Our challenge is to identify the most advantageous place to begin the process of self-transformation.

Whether it is pain body, pain speech, or pain mind, moving past the small self is a matter of having some clue as to why you are doing, talking, or thinking as you are: deep inside you need a connection to your big self. Deep inside is your source of joy, but you go about searching for that joy in the wrong places and in the wrong activities of body, speech, and mind.
___________________________________________________________________________

About the Author

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a lama in the Bön tradition of Tibet, presently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the founder and director of Ligmincha Institute, an organization dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bön tradition. He was born in Amritsar, India, after his parents fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet and received training from both Buddhist and Bön teachers, attaining the degree of Geshe, the highest academic degree of traditional Tibetan culture. He has been in the United States since 1991 and has taught widely in Europe and America.

Available on Amazon: Tibetan Yogas Of Body Speech And Mind


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Make a Difference In The World ~ Wayne Dyer




"If You're Going To Follow Your Bliss & Make A Difference In The World, You'll Soon Learn That You Can't Follow the Herd."

~Wayne Dyer~


Image: lonely-traveller-by Craig Sefton at Foter.com

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Being Selfless

By Pamela J. Wells


Image: Foter.com

Oneness

By Pamela J. Wells



Oneness sounds nice when it is spoken or written, but if you let your “Personal” beliefs get in the way of connecting to others, then you are still playing on the monkey bars of the mind, better known as the ego, which becomes firmly attached to and stuck on spiritual concepts and terminology. If you spend your time being a right fighter then your living in ego land. Oneness (or non-duality) does not come from the mind and all of its concepts and beliefs.

Oneness Just Is. Anything beyond that and you have to take a step back and ask your Self, “Is what I am thinking or saying based on reality or delusion?” The mind spins out delusion as easy as breathing air, which results in the illusion of separation, which creates and perpetuates unnecessary suffering.

It is impossible to embrace oneness—to embrace all, when our mind and our thoughts are already fragmented, dissected—where we have been actively compartmentalizing people into who we like/dislike, agree with/disagree with, who we have the same beliefs as or different beliefs from. “We Are One” suddenly disintegrates when your belief doesn’t coincide with mine.

The first step in coming close to embracing and living oneness is to embrace the fact that there are many beliefs and cultures in the relative world and that is ok. Fighting over beliefs is ludicrous and futile. The more you fight, the stronger the belief becomes. The more you embrace, unconditionally, the more peace is allowed to be at its natural state.


Being Selfless

IS About

Being Kind, Compassionate, Giving, Sharing, Loving, Caring, Accepting, Peaceful, Embracing All

__________________________

NOT About

My Concept Versus Yours, My Belief vs. Yours, Who’s Right/Who’s Wrong, Creating Separation

That’s Ego Land


If you want recognition, want to impress others and prove your rightness or righteousness and others wrongness or perceived misperceptions, what have you really accomplished? You have successfully created a wedge between you and the rest of humanity. Your oneness is personal. It is merely a concept within your bubble of oneness or beliefs, within your egoic mind that cannot even see reality. If we get too high on our spiritual pedestals, we actively create separation. We are like a kite that has gotten away from us. Our notions cause us to lose sight of reality, the oneness of life. And, instead of embracing each other in the relative world—we reject, deny, oppose—according to our own conditioned thoughts and beliefs.

If you want to make a difference in the world, if you want to see more peace in the world and see more caring, love, and kindness—be kind, be caring, be loving, be compassionate, be peaceful, give, help, be unconditionally supportive, be selfless in your interactions.

Leave your concepts and beliefs at the door. If they don’t jive with someone else’s—that is ok. Accept it! Otherwise you will suffer and you will create conflict with other people, who will also suffer, which defeats selflessness and oneness to begin with.

Remain in awareness, where there is nothing to defend or project. If you want peace, remain in awareness and choose silence over the need to project and defend opinions, beliefs and judgments, unless you enjoy suffering, then continue to fight the right fight. You either live a selfless life in peace and joy or you create conflict and discord—suffering.

Image: A Galactic Spectacle - hubblesite.org



Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The I Who Says "I suffer''

~Jiddu Krishnamurti



What is the meaning of suffering? What is it that suffers? When one says "I suffer," who is it that suffers? What is the center that says "I am in an agony of jealousy, of fear, of loss?" What is that center, that "essence,'' of a human being who says "I suffer?'' Is it the movement of thought, as time, which creates the center? How does that I come into being, which, having come into being says, "I suffer, I am anxious, I am frightened, I am jealous, I am lonely.'' That I is never stationary, it is always moving: "I desire this, I desire that and then I desire something else,'' it is in constant movement. That movement is time, that movement is thought.

There is a concept in the Asian world that the I is something which is beyond time; and further, the concept that there is a higher I still. In the Western world the I has never been thoroughly examined. Qualities have been attributed to it, Freud and Jung and other psychologists have given attributes to it but have never gone into this question of the nature and the structure of the I which says "I suffer.''

The I, as one observes, says "I must have that,'' a few days later it wants something else. There is the constant movement of desire; the constant movement of pleasure; the constant movement of what one wants to be and so on. This movement is thought as psychological time. The I who says "I suffer'' is put together by thought. Thought says, "I am John, I am this, I am that.'' Thought identifies itself with the name and with the form and is the I in all the content of consciousness; it is the essence of fear, hurt, despair, anxiety, guilt, the pursuit of pleasure, the sense of loneliness, all the content of consciousness. When one says "I suffer,'' it is the image that thought has built about itself, the form, the name, that is in sorrow.

Excerpt from The Wholeness of Life Part II: 5th Public Talk Ojai California 16th April 1977 `Out of negation comes the positive called love'

Image Source: Foter.com

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Book Review: The Open Path: Recognizing Nondual Awareness by Elias Amidon




No matter what your core beliefs are, whether you believe in a higher power, God, Brahman (the absolute, ultimate reality), atman (soul, spirit, essence, eternal consciousness), that there is no separate self, or you are not aligned with any particular spiritual tradition or religion, in The Open Path: Recognizing Nondual Awareness, author Elias Amidon, offers readers insight into and pointers for recognizing pure awareness and living a selfless life. The Open Path includes:

  • Insight and pointers to the recognition and realization of pure awareness. 
  • Recognizing and releasing attachments, identification with and fixations to: thoughts, beliefs, opinions, likes/dislikes, stories, the illusion of a separate self (ego, imaginary self) which creates unnecessary separation and suffering. 
  • The recognition that by openly embracing the oneness of existence, of being, of life, the veil of separation vanishes and the suffering and conflict that was once there as a result of seeing separateness in everything—disappears.
  • Guided instruction, inquiry, exercises, meditation and prayer.

The more selfless you become, the less unnecessary suffering you will create, project and perpetuate in your life. The Open Path provides the insight and tools—pointers to pure awareness, that can be used to help identify and release the thoughts, notions, and beliefs that mask it and that create unnecessary suffering.


This book is an eye opener, especially if you are not familiar with nonduality (Advaita) or Sufism. I highly recommend it; because, not only can we all become more selfless in our lives and stop creating and projecting unnecessary suffering, but there is also so much unnecessary suffering in the world as a result of selfishness, separation, greed and the desire for power that negatively impacts our lives, our families, communities and that ultimately spreads throughout the world, that can only change when we become selfless through recognizing and releasing the mental barriers and notions that come from a conditioned mind and by living life from pure awareness, which can be realized with the insight and tools Elias has provided us with by way of this wonderful guidebook: The Open Path: Recognizing Nondual Awareness.

—Pamela J. Wells (selflessbeing.com)




Self-Deception


Excerpt from Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Book "The First and Last Freedom"


I Would Like to discuss or consider the question of self-deception, the delusions that the mind indulges in and imposes upon itself and upon others. That is a very serious matter, especially in a crisis of the kind which the world is facing. But in order to understand this whole problem of self-deception we must follow it not merely at the verbal level but intrinsically, fundamentally, deeply.

We are too easily satisfied with words and counter-words; we are worldly-wise; and, being worldly-wise, all that we can do is to hope that something will happen. We see that the explanation of war does not stop war; there are innumerable historians, theologians and religious people explaining war and how it comes into being but wars still go on, perhaps more destructive than ever. Those of us who are really earnest must go beyond the word, must seek this fundamental revolution within ourselves. That is the only remedy which can bring about a lasting, fundamental redemption of mankind.

Similarly, when we are discussing this kind of self-deception, I think we should guard against any superficial explanations and rejoinders; we should, if I may suggest it, not merely listen to a speaker but follow the problem as we know it in our daily life; that is we should watch ourselves in thinking and in action, watch how we affect others and how we proceed to act from ourselves.
___________________________________________________________________________

Truth is not something to be gained. Love cannot come to those who have a desire to hold on to it, or who like to become identified with it. Surely such things come when the mind does not seek, when the mind is completely quiet, no longer creating movements and beliefs upon which it can depend, or from which it derives a certain strength, which is an indication of self-deception. It is only when the mind understands this whole process of desire that it can be still. Only then is the mind not in movement to be or not to be; then only is there the possibility of a state in which there is no deception of any kind.

Source: Excerpt from Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Book "The First and Last Freedom"

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Turning Pain Into The Path (Превращение боли в путь) (Video)

Live public talk with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in Charlottesville, Va., USA, April 13, 2010


"Turning Pain into the Path" When life gets harder, you can easily get lost in the intricacies of the spoil, and to feel helpless and devoid of hope. However, this experience can be used as a door to the Inner World, be the key to a sense of clarity and completeness.

This talk was a presentation of Ligmincha Institute in partnership with Unity Church, Charlottesville, Va. More information: www.ligmincha.org

Monday, September 24, 2012

Deep Listening and Loving Speech

~by Thich Nhat Hanh


Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.


Image Licensed by Bigstock.com

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Your True Nature

by Pamela J. Wells


When your mind is silent, such as when you are meditating or when you are just being in nature, your pure awareness, your essence, is not obstructed by the constant dialogue of the chattering mind. That is when you can fully experience your true nature—your true Self—your essence—your spirit—pure awareness. Your essence cannot be seen with the eyes. It is pure Being. You are pure being.

Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved

Feel free to add a comment, if there is anything that you would like to add or any experiences that you would care to share.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

My Eyes Wide Open




My eyes wide open,
I see the tangle of my mind 
reflected in nature.
With humility
I clear the way.

When we turn toward the things in our garden that repel us, we turn toward those tangles in ourselves that we often neglect and ignore. We look mindfully to see if the roots spread out, or if they go deep. Our garden’s weeds show us where we are stuck and where we hold on too tightly in our lives. As we begin to truly see the tangle of our mind reflected in our garden, our grasp becomes wise and compassionate. With humility we begin to clear the way.

~ by Zachiah Murray: Excerpt from Mindfulness In The Garden: Zen Tools For Digging In The Dirt

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Tao of Walt Whitman: Daily Insights and Actions To Achieve a Balanced Life: Book Review

Authors Connie Shaw and Ike Allen

Just like the Tao Te Ching, The Tao of Walt Whitman offers down-to-earth pointers to living life peacefully and joyfully, connected and aligned with nature and the universe.

As you contemplate the verses of Walt Whitman, immediately after, you will find that authors Connie Shaw and Ike Allen have also provided reflections and insights that you can further contemplate, as well as actions that you can take. Altogether, these tools can be used to help you cultivate your daily life into a more peaceful and joyful one.

Through simplicity and being fully present in each day, through inquiry into the nature of things, taking time to reflect upon and cultivate your life, helps you to maintain balance, where you are fully connected to life—to nature and to the universe.

In this day and age, we are overloaded with and bombarded by technology and living a fast-paced life, which has cut us off from nature and the simplicity of life, creating more stress in our daily lives, so we have to make a conscious effort to reconnect to source, at least until it becomes effortless and a natural way—Tao of life. The Tao of Walt Whitman helps us to reconnect and remember our true nature, providing us with tools that we can use to rediscover the Tao of life that is the most fulfilling, connected, all-embracing, body and soul, where we are living a balanced, peaceful and joyful existence.

—Pamela J. Wells (Selfless Being)


Available on Amazon at: The Tao of Walt Whitman: Daily Insights and Actions To Achieve a Balanced Life

Publisher: Sentient Publications

PBS American Experience series: Walt Whitman video: (condensed version with Spanish subtitles): Abridged Walt Whitman

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Opening Dao: A Documentary Film on Taoism and Martial Arts (Video)




Watch the full movie for free here http://www.lifeartsmedia.com/opening-dao-taoism-martial-arts-documentary

Opening Dao is a short documentary film on Taoism and martial arts filmed in China in 2009. Scholars, top martial artists and monks explain the principles of the way, a treasure of wisdom that survived thousands of years. The film highlights the interconnectedness between the philosophy and the natural world and how its principles manifest in certain martial arts and meditative arts.

The film contains exclusive interviews with Prof. Chad Hansen and Prof. Chris Fraser from the University of Hong Kong, Dr Wang Daoke from Wudang Taoist Association, Master Yuan Xiu Gang (Wudang Gong Fu Academy) and martial arts performances from Master Heng Wei (Tang Long Kung Fu), Master Yongxing Guan and the students of the Wudang Taoist Kung Fu Academy in Wudang Shan, China.

The documentary also features a master narrative of the Dao De Ching by Edward Petherbridge, former leading actor of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Seeing Reality


To know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and transient is freedom, peace and joy. It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to see them as they are. When you can see everything as it is, you will also see yourself as you are. It is like cleansing a mirror. The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will also show you your own face. The thought ‘I am’ is the polishing cloth. Use it.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Taoism Fengshui Explain - Real Fengshui with Taoism (Video)



A lot of people think Fengshui is a belief, but it is not. I will show you how real Fengshui can be in this 19 mins long video! Enjoy the introduction to fengshui!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Plum Village Hamlets Celebrating 30 Years of Meditation, Happiness, Harmony & Healing (Video)



Sights & sounds from hamlets during the 21 day retreat, June 2012, the 30th year of Plum Village. Most Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offered wise guidance on applying mindfulness into daily life during this "The science of the Buddha" retreat. Available in HD quality setting below.

Periods of meditation, study and contemplation were sometimes challenging, but as this short video demonstrates,the community of mindful living supported each other in harmony to create joy, lightness and transformation.

Special thanks for the music of the monastic and lay community, Joe Reilly and Paul Tingen. Photographs of Paul Davis are also featured.

Summer joy continues with the "Plum Village "Only Sanitizing" Flash Med Song"


We Live Love Mindfully (Video)



Fresh impression of the art of mindful living taught by Thich Nhat Hanh and practiced by friends in Plum Village, France.

This clip is a preview of the 40 minute movie, "Mindful Living Every Day". Available, along with an additional 40 minutes of guided meditations and "Each of My Steps is a Prayer", on DVD (NTSC & PAL) . 

Look for it at Parallax Press
http://www.parallax.org/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=VIDEMLED

Deer Park & Plum Village with English and Spanish soundtracks.


This is the Greatest Happiness (Video)



Adopted from the Plum Village Chanting Book, Sutra on Happiness or Mahamangala Sutta, Sutta Nipata from the Pali teachings.

Sincerely recited by Sister Manon.


Thursday, August 16, 2012

The Ego’s Workshop

By Pamela J. Wells


Ego is the imaginary ideas, notions and beliefs we have about ourselves. The mind churns out separation, pain and suffering through notions and beliefs. Attachments to them—judging, labeling oneself and others, fault-finding and comparing oneself to another is the ego at work in its imaginary workshop.

The egoic mind will find anything to argue with another person about. Peace does not come from the mind. It comes from pure awareness, which does not have the chattering mind running and analyzing things. Looking for fault in others, criticizing, and attempts at making another person wrong—fault finding—comes from the ego. You even see this in spiritual circles, fault finding or right fighters, who are coming from a place of an egoic state of consciousness. 

When you argue with another person, it doesn’t matter who started the argument. You are playing the egoic game when you engage in the argument. The person who is living from an egoic state of consciousness cannot even see what they are doing. They cannot see themselves, because they are focused outward—externally—trying to fill themselves up, trying to fill that emptiness, that feeling of not being good enough up, by stroking their ego. 

Never argue with delusional people, otherwise you will get sucked into the vortex of delusion.

People who live from an egoic state of consciousness have an egoic desire to criticize others and prove that they are right, which is all just imagination—notions. That feeling of being right gives them a superficial high. It is like egoic crack. It never fills them up. It is a temporary high, so they have to keep repeating their destructive and self-sabotaging behavior. Criticism separates people. It pushes people away. It does not come from the spirit. It is not the spiritual way.

When we live our lives from spirit—from pure awareness—we do not label, judge, or criticize others. Peace, awareness, love and joy does not fight, does not look to start a fight and does not become defensive. This is the job of the ego.

When someone is projecting a negative energy, a negative remark, even if it is in verbal self-defense, they are allowing their ego to take the driver’s seat. It is not about being right or wrong. That is ego land. A person will never experience their natural peace and joy if they are constantly projecting negativity and non-acceptance outward. We have to accept ourselves 100%. No one is superior nor inferior to another—to other life forms. 

Your True Self is Spirit—Pure Awareness—Uncontaminated By the Dualistic Mind.


Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved
Image licensed under Bigstockphoto.com

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Taoism: Returning To Your True Nature



Taoist Master, Yun Xiang Tseng, a child prodigy from the ancient mountains of Wudang, PRC., speaks on Returning to your true nature and the mysteries of Tao. 

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

If You Focus On The Finger, You Will Miss The Moon

By Pamela J. Wells


However you realize your true Self, your true nature is irrelevant. There is no wrong way, right way to realize Self. The ego likes to attach itself to words, ideas, right, wrong, etc. Teachers and teachings are just fingers pointing at the moon. If someone (enlightened being, anyone) points you to your true Self, your true nature, pure awareness, pure consciousness, which is egoless, it doesn’t matter who the person is. It could be a “guru”, a child, a homeless person. Thich Nhat Hanh quoting the Buddha, "My teachings are a finger pointing to the moon. Do not get caught in thinking that the finger is the moon. It is because of the finger that you can see the moon." The ego likes to say what is the wrong way what is the right way. It is all the imagination. Words and concepts are not truth. At best, they can point to truth, but they are not truth. Language is limited. If you get too caught up in spiritual terminology, right/wrong, then you are still playing on the monkey bars of the mind.


Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved
Image licensed under Bigstockphoto.com

Feel free to add a comment, if there is anything that you would like to add or any experiences that you would care to share.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

New URL Address for "Selfless Being Blog"


Please Update Your Bookmarks!

This page, that you are on now, is the New URL Address for the Selfless Being Blog. Unfortunately, I had to change the blog address due to some web hosting issues.



Monday, August 6, 2012

Judgment Vs. Love & Acceptance

By Pamela J. Wells


When one judges another, they are judging what they see, a body, the way in which the person appears on the outside, to them—based upon their biases, faulty and false perceptions, their assumptions. They associate and attach certain labels with and to that person. They do not see the essence, the spirit, of the person, which cannot be seen with the eyes. 

Judgment comes from notions about people, about the world, about beliefs over this or that—from one’s perspective; and, in many instances, their perspective is tainted by other people’s perspectives, the perspective of a group of people, or what is considered the norm perspective of a society—the delusional perspective—that starts out, from it base, its foundation, unstable, faulty and, many times, completely false.  

When they hear someone say or see someone do something that goes against what they believe and think, or is what they perceive to be wrong, they get a superficial high from judging them, calling them names, attaching labels to them, gossiping about them—when they fail to remember or to know that their judgments are based upon their own faulty and false perceptions, notions and beliefs, not the other person. 

The essence of a person cannot be labeled. The superficial, delusional high from judgment temporarily takes that person’s mind off of their own problems, guilt, pain and suffering. Judgment does not fill them up; although they think it does. They are attempting to fill their ego up, which is not real. It is just notions. It is a futile attempt to fill the emptiness and feelings of lack and insecurity that they have inside due to their identification with the ego and wanting to feel valuable and worthy based upon some notion of what valuable and worthy is—looks like. 

Delusion is believing that some are superior and others are inferior, some are more valuable and others are not so valuable. When one views themselves as being inferior or faulty in some way, they are quick to judge others. Instead of going within and identifying their faulty and false perceptions and notions about themselves and others—and releasing them—they are turned outward, externally, judging and lashing out at others.

When someone makes a not-so-good choice in life—to judge them, call them names, attach labels to them, attempting to belittle them with one’s judgment—that kind of behavior says more about that person than the one that they are judging. Nobody is perfect, we all make good and not-so-good choices throughout our lifetime. It is delusional to think that one person never makes not-so-good choices and are therefore some imaginary superior being to everyone else. This delusional way of perceiving oneself and the world comes from seeing everyone as separate, instead of seeing everyone as being a part of the same life force that enables us to exist. It comes from the egoic state of consciousness, which is not even real. It is only as real as one believes in their notions about themselves and the world around them. Spirit, essence, awareness, love—does not judge anyone. Judgment comes from the dualistic mind and all of its notions. The more you judge, the more you push others away from you. The more you become isolated. 

The more you love, the more you openly embrace and accept others, unconditionally, the more you accept yourself—the more at peace you are inside, the more joyful you are, the more peaceful your relationships are, the more magnetic you are, the more you attract people to you, who enjoy being around, who enjoy your presence.

Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved
Image licensed under Bigstockphoto.com

Feel free to add a comment, if there is anything that you would like to add or any experiences that you would care to share.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Ego Is An Illusion

The ego is an illusion, but the problem herein lies, when we believe that we are the ego. 

~ Pamela J. Wells ~



Tuesday, July 31, 2012

New Spiritual & Inspirational Community Page on Facebook

Visit the New Spiritual & Inspirational Community on Facebook for spiritual and inspirational articles, quotes, books, images and videos that are uplifting, spiritual, inspiring, motivational and enlightening.



Monday, July 30, 2012

Life Teachers & Conscious Awareness

By Pamela J. Wells


Your life teachers are everywhere and come in different manifestations. When you are open to learning from everyone—everyone that you see and hear is potentially your teacher—a child, someone who is homeless or is limited physically in what they can do, someone who looks and dresses differently than you, someone from a different culture or who has different beliefs than you, someone who is living in poverty. You can learn from All of Life—All Sentient Beings—All People and Animals—All of Nature—Bugs, Plants, Trees, and Flowers. Life becomes your teacher, instead of limiting your life learning experience to conditioned notions and beliefs, you live your life from its fullest potential. Your eyes are wide open. They are not squinting, allowing only what you think should be allowed into your consciousness. 
 
You are also your teacher—you can learn more about yourself by becoming consciously aware of your thoughts, what you think and say to others and the actions that you take and do not take—and if you are unsure about what thoughts and beliefs are destructive to you and those who are around you—how you feel will not lie. When your negative emotions manifest themselves, they are waving a red flag at you, but you cannot see the flag, because you are swept away by your emotions. Instead of being on the shore and seeing the ocean of emotions, you are drowning in it.

You can start paying attention to how you feel on a regular basis. If you can lay your head down peacefully at night, all is well, but if you cannot, or if you find yourself getting upset, agitated, angry, anxious, or depressed—your thoughts drove you there and need to be examined. Figure out what it is, exactly, that is causing these negative feelings and emotions. What were you thinking prior to that emotion coming on? Sometimes you know immediately what it is and others times you will have to dig deeper.

Our tendency is to believe what we think and believe those thoughts to be real, when in reality, most of what we think is not based on reality. If you place a high value on what others think of you, if you have a picture in your mind of who you think you are, you place a high value on your identity, and are constantly comparing yourself to others—physically, materially, and socially—if you feel your value as a person is dependent upon some social “status,” if you place expectations on others, such as expecting them to change, to live up to your “standards,” if you have a need to control or manipulate others to do or behave the way that you want them to—you are actively contributing to your own unnecessary misery, pain and suffering—and you are projecting that pain and suffering onto others. The great thing is that—once you realize what you are doing, you can stop doing it. 

Some negative and destructive thought patterns and beliefs take time to break, especially when they are deeply ingrained and in our subconscious, like the roots of a tree, so it takes time and practice to release the hold those thought patterns have on you. It helps to put little notes in different places as reminders to be consciously aware, or mindful, of your thoughts and feelings. 

Meditation is wonderful. I highly recommend it. When you meditate and quiet your mind, you are able to feel your natural peace and joy that is within you. Meditation, such as sitting meditation, is great, but it is not enough—by itself, because when you are not meditating, when you are going about your daily affairs, you also have to be consciously aware of your thoughts and feelings as often as you can and are able to remember to. While most of our thoughts are unconscious, we can bring the light of awareness to them. The more frequently you are able to do this, the more natural it becomes, and the quicker you are able to catch yourself thinking negative thoughts before they turn into negative emotions. 

One thing that you can do is—when you catch yourself thinking something negative, say, “That’s not reality.” Or “I am not my thoughts.” When you do that, you begin to see how silly your habitual negative and self-sabotaging thoughts are and how they run on auto-pilot most of the time. Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk, has many wonderful books on mindfulness and meditation; for example, when you are walking, you can practice walking meditation—each step that you take, you are present in that step. Your mind is not off somewhere else. You are in the present moment, in the here and now. The unconscious chattering mind is a stress creator, so that is why you need to become mindful of each moment, each action, and the quiet and still peaceful presence.

Everyone can become mindful. You do not have to be a Buddhist monk or Buddhist to practice mindfulness. By being mindful, you are developing a life skill that does not interfere with whatever religious beliefs you might hold or non-beliefs. It is a way of life—a way of living. When you are mindful, you are not driven by your unconscious mind that is set on auto-pilot.

When you become mindful of everything that you do, in each moment, from moment-to-moment, and you are not off somewhere else in your mind, in the past—reliving it—filled with guilt or regret—or in the future—worrying about things you need to take care of or worrying about how your future is going to turn out—that mindfulness brings you to the present moment. When you are in the present moment, your mind is not unconsciously running its pre-recorded messages of the past and projecting them into the future. You are no longer living two lives—one, where your body is present and breathing in the here and now—while your other, imaginary life and egoic self, is being lived in your mind—where a movie is being played, filled with painful memories from the past and worries over the future, along with faulty and false ideas, notions, and beliefs—taking you away from the present moment. This is not to say you shouldn’t have any goals and that you should never plan for your future. You set your goals and take action now, but you don’t sit around dwelling on your goals or future. 

An Openness To Life and
Learning From All of Life’s Teachers,
Being Consciously Aware of Your Thoughts
and Mindful of the Present Moment,
Living in the Present Moment,
Allows Space For You To Feel
Your Peaceful Presence and Joy,
Radiating Outward From Within,
Touching Everyone You Meet.

Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved

Feel free to add a comment, if there is anything that you would like to add or any experiences that you would care to share.