Riff

Built Ins

The ‘hard problem of consciousness’ in Western science (I.e. Where does awareness come from?) is only a ‘problem’ because we’ve had the whole thing upside down. We’ve thought that there is matter/brain first, and awareness/consciousness arises out of the brain. But it’s the other way around—awareness comes first, and the material world arises out of it.

Awareness is this primary thing—this essential nature—behind everything (including rocks and lizards and plants and computers…everything), and it has all of this inherent support—these built-in tools—for the body, the human being.

We just haven’t noticed. We’ve overlooked awareness like we overlook the space in the room or the ground under our feet—those utterly supportive, essential elements of life.

Let’s tap into Awareness right now, looking together at what is ‘built in’ to this Ground of Being…that which sees the mind but is not the mind.. Look right now and notice what its’ qualities are. Take some minutes..

Work = Play

There is a deep cultural belief that the path to getting what we want requires sacrifice—some kind of cost or payment. There is a pound of flesh, a penance, blood spilled, a compromise, or hard work involved. Embedded in this belief is that the sacrifice is worth it because of how you feel, or what you gain, when you get there—the thing is worth the cost of admission.

This bedrock belief is everywhere, in everyone. How many times have I heard some version of:

  • It sucks getting to the gym, but I feel great after.

  • I don’t want to sit down and do my homework or emails or pay my bills, but it’s worth it to have it done.

  • Eating salads (or whatever “health” food trend) is a drag, but I feel better when I do.

  • Marriage is work. Relationships are work. But we work on it and it’s worth it.

  • These long hours are worth it. My retirement will be the reward.

  • Work first. Then play.

  • We need to sacrifice for the greater good.

  • I have to do _____. Then I can do _____.

  • A little effort goes a long way.

  • Compromise is necessary.

I can feel the pull of these statements, the convincing quality. I’m writing this blog and I STILL almost believe them.

But the sacrifice idea isn’t, ultimately, true. Or at least, it’s not the truest thing. The truest thing is that Life does not require your bloodshed, or any real cost to your Being. It will most certainly cost you your story—your limited and distorted ideas about yourself and life—but it does not require an actual, physical, tangible cost in the way we imagine.

Spiritual Treats

Divination tools, astrology and tarot tend to be my favorites in the ‘spiritual’ category. I’m a big fan. I follow several spiritual people on Instagram. Tarot card readers on YouTube. I’ve got four oracle decks and Dolores Cannon books and Reiki runes and votive candles and archangel cards and spirit animals and tarot symbols tattooed on my arm(!) I burn sage and palo santo and I clear my energy regularly.

I am a FAN.

But I want people to know there is much more at the ‘spiritual’ table.

I looked up a few definitions of spirituality. Most of them include a ‘belief of something larger than one’s self.' The spiritual books I found were wide ranging—from Buddhist and Taoist classics to ‘The Secret’ and Gabrielle Bernstein. They included books on topics from my list above, as well as energy healing and ancient/indigenous nature religions, past lives, crystals, yoga, tantra, modern Christianity, astrology, re-wilding and magic.

Spiritual stuff is, in my experience, a bit like candy. Or at least, not the whole meal. Spiritual experiences are the amuse bouches, snacks, dessert plates and palate cleansers of a meal. They greatly add to the experience, but they are not the main dish.

For the Sake of Itself

We go for what is meaningful, versus what is true in our bodies, what is deep in our bones.

Meaning is in the land of the separate self. It exists in a mental landscape, in the story of me. But we are not this mental self. We are not a concept.

Meaning is conceptual, not actual. It isn’t here, on planet earth.

I do a lot of inquiry with clients—we question thoughts or drop words out of our vocabulary. I often ask this question, with regard to meaning (a variation of Byron Katie’s ‘The Work’):

‘If nothing that ever happened—nothing you did or didn’t do, nothing you’ve ever thought, felt or experienced—had any meaning whatsoever, what remains?’

I usually get a smile or a surprised look. Maybe a moment of panic. But then the client tastes a bit of freedom and says something like, “God, I don’t know!” And we just hang out in ‘I don’t know.’ We sit and feel. We see what arises. Invariably, something true (and utterly practical) comes up…

The Strangest Pleasure

Pain’s got a bad reputation, no?

The worst, maybe.

No one wants this dude at the party; he’s the thief of pleasure, joy, & peace—not welcome to hang out, even for a little while.

But let’s—just for the length of this blog post—let’s consider that this bad reputation may be unfair. And let’s notice that we haven’t really found out for ourselves. We’ve just assumed pain was no good.

A Healing Estuary

This process, along with caterpillars turning into butterflies and frogs regrowing legs (and a billion other mysteries in our biological reality) doesn’t make sense from a materialist worldview—the worldview that says things are separate, operate themselves, and are disconnected from the rest of Life, with one DNA packet code per separate, solid life form. 

But major internal change—this kind of smoltification process—including completely new shapes & operating systems, is more the norm than the exception in Nature. And it is actually the norm for us humans (though we are taught the materialist worldview—that we are nouns instead of verbs). 

It is the natural process of evolution—a radical transformation in which our whole Being alters, finding a much bigger space to occupy, as we drop old constrictions (limiting beliefs) in our system. And this evolutionary process is built into us, just like the salmon. 

But it takes some healing, some time in the brackish waters—letting go of old patterns, old internal systems…eating some salt, as it were. 

Non-Zero Sum Game

My favorite movie in 2016 was 'Arrival'--the one with the squid-like aliens and Amy Adams. One of the aliens' message is my message for this post. This is your spoiler alert.

The aliens don't quite 'land' on earth. Their oblong (weird?) spaceships float (menacingly hover?) just above the ground, in several spots all over the globe (ready for a global attack?). Things don't go smoothly. We assume that the gift/tool they are offering is a weapon---we project the idea that there is a zero-sum game happening, that the aliens are here to destroy us, to go to war (the aliens' written language even looks like a circular Rorshach--a perfect metaphor for a whole planets' projections).

Your Life is Your Life

Excerpt:

The real truth is that you are your own authority, your own light. Align with that, with the authentic and alive spirit that is moving you, right now, effortlessly. It goes by many names, this inner light:  the quiet voice, intuition, inner knowing, flow, your 'yes', inner awareness, spirit, the force (Star Wars fans--it's real!).  This light beats the darkness, the heavy conditioning we are burdened by—it is bright and light and easy. It feels effortless. And it is right here, inside of you--not out there, in their eyes, in their approval.

Knowledge of Good and Evil

Excerpt:

I am stupidly confident that the biblical story of our fall from grace/heaven being 'knowledge of good and evil' is literally true---that the story is an actual description of the creation of human suffering. And I think tossing out concepts of good & evil, right & wrong, good & bad is an actual path to salvation/peace/heaven. I know, major hubris. Probably a terrible idea---but here goes.