And furthermore...

"Of the making of books there is no end, and much knowledge is a weariness of the flesh." Ecclesiastes XII, King James translation

Although, I must confess, I have amassed a library of four or five hundred spiritual texts, which I will be shortly selling off one-by-one once they are catalogued.

I have, blessed be, finally reached a time in my life when I no longer find books helpful. I am still reading current neuroscience and consciousness research because I want to write an article on how the human body transforms light into de-light -- and another short booklet on 'The Well-Tempered Human: Harmless Exercises to Increase Your Bliss Tolerance" (Working title). Then I think I'm just going to sing Songs of the Moment and twang on my Armenian Baby-Soothing 48-string lyre for the rest of this amazing planetary tour.
An explanation of how to create your own instant song can be found at:
http://www.raysender.com/momentmusic.html
Happy happies,

Today's Rant on, ugh, 'faith'

Someone on a mostly Buddhist list recommended James W.Fowler's "Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development" and "Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian: Adult Development and Christian Faith" and it really pushed my buttons.

After checking the Amazon reviews, I wrote:
Regarding the Fowler books, I must confess that the titles "Stages of Faith" & "Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian" immediately put me off because of the word 'faith' and the subtle implicitness linking 'adult' and 'Christian,' as if one cannot mature without embracing Christianity. The reviews of both books on Amazon did not inspire me to read either one.

Both religion and psychiatry (and indirectly a lot of psychology) I now tend to view as the diseases they pretend to cure. I view organized religion in direct conflict with spirituality, and understand 'faith' as a poor substitute foisted upon the suffering masses as a sop for the lack of direct experience. Patrarchy in full, rotting bloom. If you have direct experience, faith is meaningless. If you do not have direct experience, then faith is merely something that requires you to seek an intermediary such as a priest, as 'guru,' someone holier than thee to keep your faith erect (metaphor alert). But there is no one holier than thee, and if you're searching outside of yourself for the answers, you're going in the wrong direction. All of this in my humble opinion, of course.

The one sentence in the Amazon book reviews for "Stages of Faith" that caught my eye was from a review titled 'He Who Lives By The Theory....:' by a Thomas J. Burns (Apopka, Florida USA) :

During a break in the ungodly four-hour night class, a student asked the professor if, given the chance to do it over, she would have focused her doctoral efforts in another direction. Without batting an eye, the professor shot back: "Oh yes. Pharmacology." To say that a few somnolent students snapped to attention would be a profound understatement. Her message was clear enough: when studying human development, psychological theory is only one leg of the stool

.
I must confess that 'psycho-pharmacology' added a very important leg under my spiritual seat. Sixteen double-0 capsules of ground peyote in 1963 shifted my understanding of reality 180 degrees, an experience for which I will remain forever grateful. Of course this sort of experience does not do more than open a door to the goal, unless you are one of those I consider the lucky few who could remain on 'the other shore.' But for me this direct experience dissolved forever any need to cultivate 'faith,' either as a noun or a verb. Of course it took many years of yoga and a number of other psychedelic experiences to integrate this view.

If you are sincerely searching for a vehicle to the other shore and have never experienced a mind-altering - preferably natural - substance, don't leave the the planet without trying one. Mother Nature has been very very generous over the millennia in providing vehicles for direct communion and unveilings of other realities. In our impoverished, fear-ridden consensus reality, so many hang desperately onto the filtered glint of the pure light that penetrates through the gloom and murk of our stained-glass edifices. Or perhaps the metaphor of Plato's cave is more to the point?

Of course these may be just the addled meanderings of a destroyed seventy-one-year-old brain... from someone who believes that one dionysian blast of unfiltered direct sunlight more than equals a library full of apollonian scribbles and platitudes. However your mileage may vary, depending on the make and year -- and current condition -- of your chariot-of-choice.

Thanks again for this chance to comment!

Is melting into bliss states selfish?

T wrote on a list:

I don't know how mankind benefits from these solitary inward journeys. The person doing them appears to, but who else, and surely the answer is not to train others to be selfish but to train others to share, and help ones fellow human beings

.
In my hopefully humble opinion (and let's call it spirituality and not 'religion'), there is 'doing good' and 'do-gooding.' The former is a spontaneous action arising from the Void, whose innate essence is compassion (caruna.) Do-gooding is ego- centered, and can be experienced full-blown in some missionary activities in third world countries or in society ladies' groups that like to do high-exposure social work in poor areas.

The Zen ox-herding series of drawings explain it best for me. One goes searching for the 'lost ox,' finds it, tames it, rides it home, and then carries water to the villagers on one's own shoulders. But until the 'ox' is brought home, carrying water to the villagers tends to make one grumpy and wanting to be 'noticed' and 'rewarded' in various ways. "Oh, look! He/she's helping those poor people! Isn't that just wonderful! What a saint!" The yoga of helping others triggers very high bliss states naturally, but can be just as addictive as other methods if done for the wrong reason. This is why some spiritual paths recommend making donations anonymously, and helping others in ways that don't bring attention to yourself. An example of the wrong way would be "The _________(insert family name) Foundation."

I don't see any problem increasing one's bliss tolerance and remaining a householder 'in the world.' In fact, the more tolerant of bliss I become, the more I find I can be useful to others in many small ways. As for how mankind benefits from one's meditation, I think emanating a circle of peace does help one's immediate neighborhood. This has been proven in some experiments carried out by TMers in various high-crime urban areas.

Anyway, I think you're right, T, that each has his or her own way of discovering the same truth. For this reason I avoid 'paths' as worn-out spots in the meadows of Mt. Meru. It's more ecological just to dance in the daisies, singing songs of the moment to Mother Nature! Dancing with others is even more fun!

As for institutions, religions, corporations, nations, organizations, book clubs, societies, I see them all as useless after the first few generations. In fact, I think some day when humanity becomes a little wiser, we will limit the lifespan of 'artificial entities' to the average lifespan of humans and then require that they dissolve and start over as something brand new. Otherwise we end up where we are today, with a government run by massive corporations whose accrued power and wealth is greater than that of the majority of nations.

Have you ever wondered what the need is for government by representation in an era of instant communication except to create a rationale for the Good Old Boys to belly up to the public trough and swill down more than their fair share?

Yee-haw! Send 'em out to pasture, I suggest, and we'll run the country by phone-a-vote and instant referendums!

May all of us spontaneously pure, self-reflective, temporary illusory pristine awareness embodiments achieve the highest absorption into the Void so that we can benefit all beings! That is my sincere prayer for us all.

Chin Pull-up Triggers Compassion

G. quoted Patrul Rinpoche on a dzogchen practice list:

Those with great compassion possess all the Buddha's teaching as if it were in the palm of their hand.

Comment:
I find that various body postures/gestures help trigger specific consciousness states. Smiling and raising the front chin muscle - (mentalis muscle) triggers an intense upward flow of energy from the solar plexus, arms and heart chakra that I understand as 'compassion.'
Perhaps we could also say, 'Those with great compassion possess all the Buddha's teaching as if it were in the smile and upward tug of their chin.'
The smile is important, because otherwise the mentalis 'tug' turns into a somewhat disdainful overly-serious look (a personal problem that I have with some portrayals of the Buddha).

Here's a photo of the smile/upward tug of the mentalis chin muscle.



Always grateful for others' input.

Movie Example of Purr-Snarl Exercise

Click here for a 22-second video of a purr-snarl demonstration.