Dial into SELF

 Be without yesterday’s bitter memories

and tomorrow’s anxious cares.

Ramana Maharshi

 

I went for my dental cleaning, and man, did that lady poke at my teeth. For these 15 minutes or so I was my body, but then today all of this is a distant memory. The stock market goes up or down, and for a minute or two I feel greed or despair, and then once again, all a distant memory. It is as if there is an inner dial and happy are those who can catch themselves when they get triggered into an illusionary identification and then simply move on without suppressing or projecting.

 

We understand the self as that what is always the same. Yet, what truly is the same is the S (ilence), the E (nergy), the L (ove) and life’s F (low)—SELF in short. Everything else is just a story in motion that appears to be stable, but it is not. Awake to SELF and Bob is your uncle. Everything else are just passing phenomena. The root meaning of the word identification is “always the same.” It is not. The identifications are shifting constantly, while SELF remains the same.

The River of Consciousness moves towards the Ocean of Bliss

 Whether you like it or not,

whether you know it or not,

secretly, all nature seeks God

and works towards Truth.

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

 

What we perceive as “self” is itself a thought, part of an intricate body-mind-world matrix. This thought “self” is not even stable over time, but bio-feedback systems established it as an imaginary constancy. What is stable is the perceiver/operator/creator of this matrix, which is sometimes referred to as Awareness or Self, but this statement itself is just a thought unless we experience the truth behind it. J. Krishnamurti and physicist David Bohm went over this complicated subject in a series of conversations spanning more than a decade, and David Bohm summed up the problem statement of thought disguised as a self identity well in the book, “Thought as a System”:

 

“Thought runs you. Thought, however, gives the false impression that you are running it; that you are the one who controls thought, whereas thought is the one which controls each of us and until thought is understood, better yet, more than understood—perceived—it will actually control us, but will create the impression that it is our servant, that it is just doing what we want it to do. That’s the difficulty. Thought is participating and then saying it is not participating, but it is taking part in everything.”

 

Spirituality 1.0 is the evolution of modern man with the noble mission of doing the best and most ethical thing we can with this body, mind and world that we are born into. This view of gaining control was eloquently articulated by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius:

 

Control what you can, accept what you can’t, and navigate the chaos with wisdom, virtue and resilience. (Every Philosopher’s Philosophy in one sentence. YouTube)

 

It’s a noble mission but also a bit naïve if thought controls us while we think that we are in control instead. Modern spiritual woman comes a bit closer to the truth if she tunes into her intuition to tell her what the thought-feeling-energy is all about. Lastly, we have spiritual man who often feels that he is observing the thought-feeling-energy at work and thus has connected with Awareness which is beyond thought and self. Whether spiritual man actually has or not, only the environment he is in can mirror back to him. Here too, it’s easy to fall into the enlightened thinking trap where thought claims it has escaped the mind-body-world matrix for good while tricking the thinker of the thought.

 

Spirituality 2.0 is the cessation of psychological thought. It’s the end of all self identification. How to get into this state for good only God knows, but then, as the saying goes, if the mountain doesn’t come to the prophet, the prophet can always go to the mountain. Likewise, if Awareness is hard to come by, we can always practice self awareness. Meanwhile, the beauty of life as is, it doesn’t even matter that much how we proceed. The River of Consciousness moves towards the Ocean of Bliss whether we are consciously aware of this fact or not. Again, in Meister Eckhart’s words:

 

“Don’t worry if God works through your nature

or above your nature because

both are God’s, nature and Grace.”

 

We are all addicted! (Video)

 Nisargadatta Maharaj once famously stated that the fruit falls when it is ripe. Every compulsive habit and addiction calls for a psychological letting go process we haven’t quite yet gotten our arms around. How to break free? Well, you tell us. Keep digging. Keep observing. Keep breaking free!

Open God’s Present (Video)

 The “Power of Now” is serene, potent and effortless living. This video claims that every moment is God-given, especially designed for us to get the “me” out of the way and open us up to the higher energies that surround us all. 2025 seems to be especially potent in bringing this transformation about. Several mindfulness techniques of how to accomplish this reorientation of our lives are being discussed.

 

Practice self-awareness if Awareness is hard to come by

 Never mind the mind.

If its source is sought,

it will vanish leaving

the Self unaffected.

Ramana Maharshi

 

What we perceive as “self” is itself a thought, part of an intricate body-mind-world matrix. This thought self is not even stable over time, but bio-feedback systems established it as an imaginary constancy. What is stable is the perceiver/operator/creator of this matrix, which is sometimes referred to as Awareness or Self, but this statement itself is just a thought unless we experience the truth behind it. J. Krishnamurti and physicist David Bohm went over this complicated subject in a series of conversations spanning more than a decade, and David Bohm summed up the problem statement of thought disguised as a self identity well in the book, “Thought as a System”:

 

“Thought runs you. Thought, however, gives the false impression that you are running it; that you are the one who controls thought, whereas thought is the one which controls each of us and until thought is understood, better yet, more than understood—perceived—it will actually control us, but will create the impression that it is our servant, that it is just doing what we want it to do. That’s the difficulty. Thought is participating and then saying it is not participating, but it is taking part in everything.”

 

Spirituality 1.0 is the evolution of modern man with the noble mission of doing the best and most ethical thing we can with this body, mind and world that we are born into. This view of gaining control was eloquently articulated by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius:

 

Control what you can, accept what you can’t, and navigate the chaos with wisdom, virtue and resilience. (Every Philosopher’s Philosophy in one sentence. YouTube)

 

It’s a noble mission but also a bit naïve if thought controls us while we think that we are in control instead. Modern spiritual woman comes a bit closer to the truth if she tunes into her intuition to tell her what the thought-feeling-energy is all about. Lastly, we have spiritual man who often feels that he is observing the thought-feeling-energy at work and thus has connected with Awareness that is beyond thought and self as such. Whether he actually has or not, only the environment he is in can mirror back to him. Here too, it’s easy to fall into the enlightened thinking trap where thought claims it has escaped the mind-body-world matrix for good.

 

Spirituality 2.0 is the cessation of psychological thought. It’s the end of all self identification. How to get there only God knows—maybe literally this time around! As the saying goes, if the mountain doesn’t come to the prophet, the prophet has to go to the mountain. Likewise, if Awareness is hard to come by, we can always practice self awareness.

 

The end of compulsive thinking

 By silence, eloquence is meant...it is the best language. There is a state when words cease, and silence prevails.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

 

They say we have 40 000 (plus) thoughts a day. I got up this morning and thoughts sprang into action. This means there is something off inside. On a good day I simply enjoy the quiet, perhaps appreciating the songs of the birds who start singing at 4 am already.

 

A thought is something endogenous. It’s a “thought-feeling-energy” that rises from the depth of the subconscious and presents itself to be appreciated or evaluated if we have the mindfulness to do so. It strikes me that we can broadly assess the “material” that is brought to our attention as general and me-centered and as useful or idle/destructive.

 

 

                                 Useful           Idle/Destructive

 

 

General                         1                2

 

Me-centered                3                4

 

 

Example:

 

Useful and general: solving concrete problems at work or home

 

Idle and general: watching a movie to “kill” time

 

Useful and Me-centered: solving internal conflicts

 

Destructive and Me-centered: greed, hate, etc.

 

My wife thinks about what would come after retirement these days. She is an economist like I used to be. She enjoys being in the news flow. It gives her something to do and is a bit scared of what comes to the surface if she sits idle on the couch. Work occupies us—when we are lucky having the right job and when we are good at it—and channels our drive in a productive direction. Similarly, having the right partner or a fulfilled family and community life can channel our life energy also in a purposeful direction. We are simply happy inside and find there is little to think about.

 

Spirituality 1.0 is to channel the “thought-feeling-energy” in a purposeful direction. Spirituality 2.0 is to watch all me-centered “thought-feeling-energy” dissolve. Thoughts pop up as instructions or in solving an issue in front of us, but otherwise there is simply not much to think about. The system has come to rest. When we are serene, loving and have a feeling of abundance inside, the quest has come to an end.

 

I am what I am

 Fog obscures the way.

There is nothing I can do.

I walk on and on.

Matsu Basho (1644-1694)

 

Do you remember the song, “I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses”? The problem with spirituality is that we live in our head. We strive to be our higher self and feel guilty for our human emotions. Naturally, you will point out that that spirituality also dictates that we have to be compassionate to ourselves. There you go, another “should”!

 

The breakthrough happens when we are in tune with creation itself and that includes the programmed conditioning that we carry around. We are one in eight billion human expressions of “I am what I am,” and that’s all that matters. The opportunity is to look through the conditioning of body, mind and world and discover the creative spark behind it. The homework is to watch the conditioned body, mind and world through the fog of our emotions.

 

Witnessing is the tool to break free from the conditioning; living our life with the “I am what I am” mindset is where the rubber meets the road. Sometimes it’s realizing that “I am” is only what I was made believe I am, whereas sometimes “I am” is the gateway to being part of Oneness. There is never any telling which of the two states it will be, but it’s always exciting to show up here and now and minding the foggy path we travel.