Of religions, sects and those sorts II

For this post, ignore whether you are religious, or whether you believe in anything specific. I would like to dig deep down to the fundamental issue within any type of religion, sect or for that matter organization that tries to profess an idea to help people. This issue touches on why any kind of belief or idea however wonderful it may be can not truly hope to achieve perfection in the human realm. For the purpose of this thought process, try and ignore any issues you personally have with any belief system used as examples. Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, the latter especially, are ideal to illustrate this flaw.

Each of these religions was founded, or more so originated from one person. Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha had visions and ideas that they brought forth and showed to people. They were convinced of the good that they could bring to the world and I believe they were right to think that. But if you look at the state of those religions now, or more so the believers of those religions one must come to the conclusion that something went wrong along the way. How could there be so many people who supposedly believe and yet seem to miss the point or maybe the true understanding?

Buddhism is a good example to illustrate this with. There are no direct writings from Buddha which could be used as primary source. For all we know he even recognized the danger in language and the possibility of written texts being misinterpreted or misused. But even through writings that merely describe his life or way of thinking one can see the deep wisdom this man had. If his vision and understanding were so clear it is hard to see how there could possibly be divisions within Buddhism. These divisions naturally come down to personal interpretations of what he taught. As language is so vague, there is little hope in making anybody understand a complex idea, let alone enlightenment. Each person when confronted with these teachings, no matter how close to Buddha, would have most definitely misunderstood concepts, or just believed blindly in things they did not truly understand. This in itself would lead to a huge divergence over time and space.

In addition to simple misunderstanding would come the multitude of human flaws. The Christian church and some Islamic leaders are sadly the best examples for this. Failing to understand the concept of enlightenment, all that remains for some people is to fall to desires of materialistic background. The effects of hunger for power and simple greed are visible anywhere and only the most naïve can think that any religion or organization professing to help people is spared of such members.

Following this criticism, one can not ignore the positive sides that most of these organisations have. Even though many people will use any opportunity to their advantage and not stop at manipulating help seeking and good hearted human beings, there is also good. Any person who finds their peace and understanding through such an organization and manages to maintain it throughout their life creates a valid argument for its existence. No matter how misled their belief is, or how untrue it seems from one’s point of view, there is nothing greater than absolute peace and happiness that can be achieved. Would you want to exchange that for some “better truth”?

This brings forth another human aspect that can easily turn into a flaw. The need to prove one’s self right, even if everybody suffers. This list could naturally be led on without end, leading from one human facet to the next, but understanding these is what enlightenment about.

The truth about the world if you truly understand it encompasses everything, from science, through art and human psyche down to religion. The only difference between understanding in bliss and being tormented by outside ideas is a matter of interpretation. When you can interpret everything in such a way that it fits together and does not cause you any mental anguish. When you can look around you without feeling a single negative emotion or thought, then you may believe that you are truly enlightened.

Of religions, sects and those sorts I

A while back I came across a letter that was crucial in its prime essence. The letter was directed to a newspaper in response to an article published on the subject of ayurveda and its use in transcendental meditation (TM). Being written by members and high ranking personalities within a Christian church the general thrust criticized the light hearted way transcendental meditation (TM) was portrayed within the article. In no way do I wish to attack the church or its views nor do I wish to support TM within this post.

The interesting aspect of this letter however was the way TM was described as a sect. The author of this press release incorporated symptoms of young members of TM. These symptoms can most likely be applied to any kind of sect or if you will strong religious belief. They incorporated

- damaged relationship to parents and friends.

- loss of interest in previous activities and hobbies.

- negligence of school, study or work.

- one sided TM directed, sterile conversations.

- overconfidence and fanatical support of the TM doctrine.

Naturally these symptoms do not sound positive but if you ignore the fact that they are being applied to a so called sect it becomes obvious that they would be quite usual. As an example, if a young person who grew up in a completely religion free environment came into contact with Christianity and found it to be an exhilarating idea the symptoms would be exactly the same.

Parents and friends wouldn’t understand the person’s different way of thinking. Previous activities and hobbies would naturally lose importance if they did not have any proper relation to God or Christ. School, study or work, might not incorporate any religious aspects either. And of course conversations would start revolving around this new found interest. Once the person was convinced of the idea and the greatness of it, they would most certainly want to show other people the positive effects of it. Having God on your side would make anybody much more confident in every kind of way.

It seems that these symptoms are only indicators of a person not fitting into the society they live in any longer. The only reason why the church can stamp these symptoms as bad is due to the fact that it is established in this society while TM is not. I am not attacking the Christian Church, but criticizing the general close minded and non open view of things.

Imagine yourself finding enlightenment, finding the understanding everybody else seems to be blind to.

Wouldn’t many of your friends and family frown upon your “new” and different morals?

Wouldn’t for example football or going out to parties lose some of your interest?

Wouldn’t you see through the problems of the normal schooling and a normal job?

If you had the opportunity you would most certainly try to convince other people of this exhilarating way of thinking, initially... Finally the certainty about what you are doing can easily be seen as overconfidence by other people.

The issue at hand is that the church officials do not really understand what is going on in the TM member’s head. And they most likely don’t even want to, considering they are just as fanatical about their own beliefs.

What this effectively burns down to is the fact that one can not forcefully make someone believe or understand an idea or a concept. And whoever does not understand this, will most likely cause more problems than solutions.

So if somebody tries to recruit you, just say thank you and walk away. True understanding can accept that other people are not ready. True understanding does not use manipulative, mind or will bending techniques to brainwash a person. True understanding merely shows a person the direction in which they could head if they want to try to understand.

No enlightened person will try to gain personal benefit from teaching you. No enlightened person needs any made up titles or organizations to teach you. No enlightened person will expect anything in return from you. After all what could you offer that is better than complete understanding and ease of being.

All an enlightened person will want to do is to show you the wonders and joy that lie around and within you. That is one thing this blog is meant to show you, the reader.

Bliss

I would like to try and explain the perception of enlightenment or of fulfilment. It can never be fully explained in words, images or art. It is similar to feelings. Nobody can understand an emotion until they have truly experienced it themselves. But even then, it is not quite like any other experience.

There is one state of mind however with which one could maybe start to comprehend what I am talking about. Everybody is bound to have this feeling a few times in their lives. It may happen at completely irrelevant times or come about with the most important event in your life. The feeling I am describing is that feeling of extraordinary bliss. A feeling of overflowing joy when everything seems alright and there is not a single worry or clouded thought in the world. In that moment you feel so free and weightless, so perfectly fulfilled that nothing could amplify the feeling of joy. Remember or picture this feeling. Feel it course through you again.

Now take the memory and mould it with your mind. Enlightenment, if it comes about suddenly, will initially feel similar as it is an awe inspiring experience. Suddenly everything seems to jump into the right frame and make complete sense. All things will lose the excess importance which every human being lays upon them. So there will be no worry shrouding your mind, no negative emotion pulling you down.

Can you still feel that memory of joy right now? Imagine it now, but more subdued, more as an undercurrent, more as a ever present drift below the surface directing you in the right direction.

Enlightenment is basically being worry free, you see the things as what they truly are, in their complete unimportance. For giving things importance just creates the possibility of taking them too seriously.

I can see some people shouting out now, asking where we would end up then, if we didn’t lay any importance on anything? But don’t mistake this feeling for nihilism with is negative approach to being. Being enlightened is about understanding everything’s place in the great whole of the universe and not merely in the context of our lives. It is primarily about the self. Being enlightened is much more than this as well. It is being free from the restraints of time; free from the cage the human mind sets on itself. There are so many aspects to feeling enlightenment; I will try to explain them gradually in later posts.

I do hope I could spark an idea of the incredible feeling that anybody can find! It is such a great experience that whoever truly knows it can not help but try and share this bliss.

Misleading trails

The internet is without a doubt a great invention. One can spend hours and hours browsing through the thousands of interesting and billions of uninteresting websites. But there are sites and ideas that float around which should make people weary. I am referring to websites that supposedly can make your life happier and more fulfilled with mystic techniques and highly complex knowledge. Websites that advertise with some guru who knows the secret to success and if you pay a minimal fee he can help you obtain that success or happiness you have always dreamed of. The formula is often the same. They use many complicated and exotic sounding words, combine these with the 7 spheres or the 11 gates of chakra or maybe even the 33 levels of balderdash. Some universal energy is mixed into the equation as well and voila, we have obtained the other worldly theory that could save us all. A lot of the time these people add in snippets of fake science or pseudoscience to make it sound better.

Of course there will be people who claim that this method or that knowledge has helped them in their quest. That may be a legitimate claim but it is more likely that their belief was strong enough for changes to manifest in their life. The point to realize is that these people could have obtained this positive influence without having had to pay the money. If these gurus were truly out to open people’s eyes, if they were truly enlightened they would not be asking for money in compensation. The point I am trying to make is that, these offers sell you a product that may work for whatever reason, but it will not open your eyes as to why, it will not give you yourself the power to change things. After you have purchased this product none of those big scientific of mystic sounding words will be anymore comprehensible to you than before.

The fact to remember with any kind of product you buy is that you should understand the background of it. If the seller is trying to make you buy it by throwing concepts and ideas at you that you can’t ever hope to understand then chances are they are not going to exchange anything worth your money.

So however good the offer may seem, keep the money for materialistic purposes. One of the most famous sayings goes: Money can’t buy happiness. And the truth about this is that happiness, fulfilment and enlightenment comes from within you. No physical goods, no actions, no words and no ideas can help you find happiness or fulfilment if you do not have the prerequisites within you.

All I am saying is that those king of websites are never to be trusted completely as they are so intransparent that one can never tell the motives behind.

Imagine a huge mansion. This mansion is so vast that you will most likely never be able to see every room within. This mansion represents your mind or soul or whichever word you chose to describe it. In your hands you hold the key to every single room in the building. Every room represents an emotion, a feeling or a sense of being. Each room basically represents an experience of your future, past and present life. With these keys in your hand you can enter any room you like, but you were told that you can only open one room at a time. And of course you never doubt that rule. You never doubt the very fact that it is impossible to open more rooms than one. This would be your average never questioning person.

Some people spend a lot of their time in the happy rooms while some spend their time in sad and depressing rooms. They accept this just like the fact that they can only be in one room at a time or that it may seem impossible to move from one room to the other without being led there by an outside inlfuence.

An enlightened person in contrast will have a totally different perspective. If you are enlightened, every single one of these endless rooms will stand open to you. You are able to peer into every emotion, every experience and feeling at the same time. And all these things come together to form the perception of the enlightened. You can feel sadness or happiness but at the same time you feel all the endless other things that are present in your mind. No one thing will consume you while you are open to everything. Now you are experiencing the full, the complete experience of being, while before only ever one single fraction of that whole was open to you.

Trying to explain enlightenment is like trying to explain a ridiculously hard maths concept. In order to truly understand it I can not just tell you how it works, but you will have to wrap your head around it yourself, you will have to truly understand the idea and feel the idea expand in your mind.

Now if you compare this explanation of fulfilment or enlightenment to those found on so many fake or not so fake websites, I hope you understand that one does not need incredibly complex concepts and mind bogglingly exotic and mystic words to explain what is happening. If one truly understands the essence of being and enlightenment than one has no need to charge people for this information, one only wants to give others the possibility to experience this incredible understanding of the one universe.

Valleys high and mountains deep.

Imagine yourself atop a mountain peak. Beneath your feet is the cold rough rock splintered by millennia of weathering. The ridges below quickly disappear in a thick white cover of clouds. It seems as if you are standing atop a tiny rocky island in an endless sea of white. All around however you notice other peaks jutting out of the same impenetrable ocean. And on each of these islands other people stand, close enough for you to see and talk to but still not really reachable.

This is you in your normal state. You look around and see the world in its fractured essence. Nothing belongs together and everything exhibits clear boundaries. More importantly you can’t even see what lies beneath the cloud cover. You can’t even imagine what could exist down there. In any case you have no clue how to get down from this peak. There seems to be no escape. No path leads down safely.

But maybe you really do want to know what lies beneath. Every time you mention that thought the others on their islands just smile at you and nod numbly without really grasping what you are saying. Why would they?! They can live comfortably up here on there mountain tops. Even though once in a while terrible icy winds may sweep the peaks, they don’t think that their lives could be any other way. After all, nobody can really pass beneath that cloud layer, could they? Only lunatics thought they could do it and nobody wanted to hang out with them anyway.

But you have convinced yourself that you want to know. The others may want to stay up here in their “peace and quiet” but it’s not enough for you, living your life without understanding why. So finally, when the others aren’t looking you just jump.

Cold air rushes through your hair. You feel yourself move awfully close to that sharp rocky cliff face which was so safe a moment ago. Then the cloud cover nears. Suddenly you catch a glimpse of a dead tree branch you could save yourself on. If you only stretched out your hand… But you don’t. You have got to find out now.

Then you hit the cloud cover. Like a shock the moisture touches your skin. Never before have you felt anything like it. Everything is white and bright. And that incredible tumbling sensation! Then suddenly, the clouds clear. Below a landscape appears out of nowhere. It is a landscape so, so different and unimaginable.

Valleys stretch all around. As far as the eye can reach green vegetation and trees spread towards the sky. Lakes and rivers flow through the lush jungles. And with a splash you land in one of them. The warm water is soft and engulfs you for a second before your head breaks the surface again. Your lungs breathe in the heavy laden air around. So many different flowers you can smell, and the rich and sweet aroma of fruits you have never tasted. Struck by the wonders around, you climb out of the water. You can’t believe the beautiful chirping of birds, the light summery fragrances wafting through the air and the feel of warming sunshine on your skin. You had never ever really experienced any of this. Then suddenly you notice the biggest change. Above you, there are no clouds! Only a few lazy stragglers float across the azure blue sky, lit by the warm golden sun.

And as you look around you recognise your own mountain, so bleak and yet co different from this angle.

You have got to tell the others about this! It is completely and utterly incredible! So you sprint up the mountain and scramble to the top with such ease you couldn’t have imagined it possible. As you reach the peak, nobody seems to have noticed you were gone however. You look at the people with a beaming smile and start telling them about those wondrous things. Can’t they see all those green trees and the grass growing below?! Heavy laden with fruits and flowers, were brilliantly coloured birds and flutterbyes dart around in a joyful dance?!

You try and explain desperately. And just a slight tad of understanding dawns in their eyes but then the clouds seem to thicken for them and they tell you: “Sorry, I haven’t got any time now. Can we talk later? What you are saying is really interesting, but I have got to get this done, it is really important you know.” And with a sad smile you have to let them go. They can only jump on their own. You can’t push them off their own little mountain, but maybe you can help them stumble.

The grass is always greener on the other side?

The story posted previously is meant to describe part of the struggles in human life. In this following post I will try to explain what exactly I mean by it.

Being human seems to be a troublesome affair. Throughout life people try to improve their position. Their life obviously is not trouble free. At least that is what we think! The question remains, why does it have to be this way? What makes life that troublesome? Let us start from the beginning.

We are born as naked beings. Not only does this apply in a physical sense but also mentally. We have our genetic material that predetermines many things, but the main factor that later makes us what we are, is what happens after our birth.

We are taught to be human. More importantly we are taught what a human SHOULD be like.

Our parents teach us, our relatives, teachers and friends all have an influence on what we in the end think a human should be. And that is what we turn out to be. But even though everybody seems to have an idea what a human should be like, nobody could really answer the question why? Or maybe the question should be put differently…

What is the meaning of life? What does it mean to be human? This is probably the greatest question we could pose ourselves and the interesting thing about it is that literally anybody can ask it themselves. You don’t need a degree in philosophy to try and grasp the answer; you don’t even need to have gone to school. It is a thought that you are free to discover for yourself. And even if you may think differently, the answer lies right before you! It is right there, ready to grasp.

Many great thinkers have tried to find this answer. Most failed, many came close and a few seem to have managed to answer the question.

But the answer is not just a simple word, or an idea or some fantastic knowledge that will automatically enable you to find riches and power. The answer is a point of view, a way of thinking. And the question you should be asking now is not, how did those few people find it, but what made all the other people fail!

The answer to this seems quite simple but it is incredibly complex. Books upon books could be and have been written about this topic but I will try to cut it short.

The main reason why so many people fail on this quest burns down to one thing: Society!

All your life, wherever you are, as long as you are surrounded by people you will be surrounded by society. And even if you think differently, all your life society will have an influence on you and shape you. Humans are social animals after all and they function best in communities.

Society constitutes people influencing each other and the clearest trends will crystallizing out. So whether in the west, the south or the east, there is society and it can only be as good as its members.

The members are obviously influenced by each other. Nobody wants to be left out, nobody wants to be an outsider and not be part of the fun so one has to run along with the flow to get anywhere in life. Everybody does it even without realizing. It does not have to be a bad thing or a good thing, it just happens. School is an invention of society and almost everybody in the developed world takes part in it. Through school society imprints the young children to think what they are supposed to think, to fit in with society and function within it. And society’s ideas change with its powerful members adopting different points of view. For example take the idea of global warming. A few years ago it was only seen as a possible threat and it played no significant role. Now society has adopted the idea and made it mainstream. Al Gore discovered it for himself and so did Leonardo DiCapro. It is found to be undeniable and everywhere. Society has imprinted most of its members with this concept and it leads further to the imprinting of children in school by teaching them about the threats of global warming.

This example illustrates to anybody with a recollection of the past 10 years, how central society is to the way a human is brought up and how he/she will think. One notices these differences when one visits other cultures or societies with different values and mindsets.

What this post is aimed towards is to explain how society influences people’s conception of what is called enlightenment.

One of society’s biggest tools is language. A word such as enlightenment will spark a certain type of idea in a person from a specific society. Some people will think of religion and finding the truth, becoming like Buddha or Jesus. Some people will think of some grand philosophical theory when confronted with this word. Other people will have other mental images of what it means. Whatever their idea though, most people will see enlightenment as some great aspiration that only exceptional people may reach, something that will remain hidden away from a normal person for eternity. And this is where society fails. It is hard for people to grasp different or new ideas. People can’t understand that enlightenment is attainable for anybody. Society makes people think that with all the troubles in the world and in their own lives, nirvana or heaven are otherworldly domains, places unreachable or even unreal. So people turn to the worldly riches, such as money as at least they have a concept of how to find it.

I realize that reading this will not make anybody see enlightenment in the proper light, as what it really is. But this post should give you, the reader, the possibility to understand that enlightenment will never be found in what society sees it as, but in something you just can’t comprehend unless you have seen it for yourself. The difficult but only road to enlightenment, is being open minded and encouraging to new and foreign ideas.

To have the possibility to really grasp a new concept or an unheard of idea, one must ignore all the previously socially imprinted preconceptions about that field. To discover the truth you must start right from the beginning, from 0 and let all the opinions, feelings and memories drop away for the duration of your search. The only way to do this, is to find a quiet place, one where deep concentration is possible and where you are free from interruption by any other member of society. This does not have to be years of isolation in the wilderness of Alaska nor does it have to be a week in retreat. Just a few hours here and there, in a quiet room or garden where only you and your mind reside can lead you to the goal of understanding. And when you emerge from that different world, a set apart universe from foreign influence, you may be able to glimpse the immense control which society exercises over its members and even rebellious outsiders. And then you may understand why enlightenment can be so hard to find.

The image of the fruit

Tom once owned a little house with a little garden and in this garden grew both a kiwi and a lichi tree.
Now, Tom really liked his garden and absolutely adored his Kiwi tree. He had been brought up with Kiwis after all and everybody knew they were healthy and basically THE fruit to eat. The Kiwis were part of him, ingrained in his life and personality.
Tom also remembered many stories he had heard about a myterious fruit. One he did not really believe in. Those legends attributed great power and wisdom to the fruit. It tasted like a piece of heaven and nothing could rival it. But even in those stories there had only been holy people who had found it and tasted of its white flesh.
Tom unabashedly went on living off his Kiwis everyday however. Even if the stories of that wonderous fruit were true surely it was only to be found by divinely inspired.
One day, Tom felt absolutley frustrated by his life and the meaninglesness of it. Not even the stories of the great fruit could make him believe in anything anymore. He went out into his garden and looking at the Kiwi tree decided he was sick of it and all it stood for.
As he averted his eyes, a whole new world seemed to open up before him. He actually "saw" his whole garden and all the other plants in it, where just blankness seemed to have resided before.
Far in the back Tom discovered a tree that seemed to carry strange nut like things. He became very curious and walked over to pick one off the tree. He held it in his hand and looked at it closely. Never before had he actually seen this, and for the first time he came to grasp that maybe there was something else aside from kiwis in world. He took the nut back inside and tried to research it on the internet. Many websites and ideas came up. Half sounded interesting, half scary, trying to brainwash him or steal his money. But none really explained anythin about this supposed fruit.
So Tom decided to find out about it himself. He fetched a knife from the kitchen and tried to cut the shell in half. To Tom's astonishment it split alot easier than he had expected and within the shell white juicy flesh was reveiled. Tom took hold of his courage that instant and tasted it.
A veil seemed to be lifted from his eyes.
All his life he had eaten Kiwi's just like everybody else, and sure they were tasty, but this was so different, this just showed him what else was out there. And suddenly all of Tom's worries and troubles evaporated. He knew now. He understood and with a laugh of joy he jumped up and went out to pick more lichis.
Although Tom wanted to tell everybody about his great discovery, nobody would believe him, nobody would even be willing to try one of the Lichis.
"How could they possibly be any better than Kiwis! What a proposterous thought to have! Only that great fruit from the legends could be any better than Kiwis and obviously nobody could ever find that. Especially not Tom!"
But Tom smiled to himself. He knew better. And even if nobody wanted to listen, He would carry his lichis around, eating them until one day maybe, somebody would be curious enough to have a taste.

I found a crumb but the taste was bitter.

Most people will have a certain thought, a certain doubt once or many times during their life.

You wake up one morning and go about your usual business, have breakfast, get dressed, maybe go to work or maybe just have a day off. Everything is going more or less according to plan and all along in the distance you know you are slowly inching towards your goal. Every step you take is moving you closer to where you think you want to be, where you believe you will find some fulfillment. You could reach it tomorrow or perhaps it is three years away or maybe you just achieved that goal that seemed so far away so long ago. But suddenly something hits you. It just pops up out of nowhere and within seconds everything seems to have changed.

What are you actually doing? And more importantly why? Is this achievement actually going to make you any happier? Is it in any way going to satisfy you or make you feel you have got everything you could possibly want?
When that thought materializes out of nothing, when you seem to have lost your drive, you stand in grave danger of falling into the abyss of meaninglesness. After all, what is that achievement really worth in the context of things? How is it going to change anything? In the end, it is all going to be a waste anyway isn't it?

When one reaches this turning point many people chose the same path. You evade this deep set question asking what life is really worth. You block it out and cover it up with some grander fantasy, something even harder to achieve, something that must make you happy and fulfilled and content when you reach it. You may even aim for something that will make the poor richer, the sick healthier and the world a better place. And that little speck of doubt lingering at the back of your mind is just washed away in the river of excitement, of departure to new boundaries.
But then, 10 years later maybe, once you have reached that goal or even before, when you give up as obstacles seem insurmountable, that gushing stream of grandeur has dried away and left nothing but dry bedrock and a little pebble. A pebble that seems to grow with every moment until a towering cliff standsbefore you. This black cliff of questioning despair could crumble and crush you in an instant. What is left now? How could you possibly go on?

When that time comes and one looks for truth, for some meaning, many a person will turn to religion, to that last straw that can bring meaning to your life. And fair enough, if it makes you happy then you deserve it, just like any being deserves to be fulfilled.
But religion with all its rules, its prophets and prophecies, its grand aspirations and dreams has one fatal flaw when bringing fulfillment to humans. That flaw is the nature of its "truth".
Religion without exception conjures up its "truth" from texts and scriptures, from ancient stories, from visions of heaven or nirvana and finally from its prophets. And just as this "truth" is conjured up from the outside it can be crushed and torn apart by outside forces. Thus even those holy domains of thought are no perfect sanctuary for a person's happiness and fulfillment. For all the greatness religion may promise, it can not protect from doubt.
There is only one path that can lead to happiness, fulfillment, truth, enlightenment or however you may call it. And that path can only be blazed by oneself, it can only be built and strengthened by own thoughts and ideas, by personal inspiration.
The path of enlightenment is long, it is hard and dangerous for some, but the greatness, the riches and the wonders that lay in wait for those who only open their eyes could be described by Jesus, by Muhammad and Buddha the same, just not by their followers.
So find the will to open your eyes and search without and within as the world is a single wonder.