What's Happening -- Newsletter from the Center

—2001 Newsletters
 
 

—Winter 2001 Newsletter
                            Spirituality & Health
 

Our present day way of viewing the human experience is to identify ourselves as a mind and body that has somehow learned how to think and feel an emotion.  Although this materialistic model has given us a great deal in scientific discoveries, it is incomplete and cannot propel us beyond the narrow confines it creates.  If we are to continue our health evolution as a human species, we have to find a model that helps us with difficult questions such as, “What is the origin of thought?”  “How are our desires manifested?”  “What is my relationship to my fellow human beings and the environment?”

The consciousness-based model identifies spirit or consciousness as the overseer of the mindbody system and with it we have the capability to answer all the above difficult questions and more.  With it we can increase love, compassion, intuition and creativity.  The basis of this model is grounded in quantum physics and ancient healing wisdom.

If we are to use this scientifically established consciousness-based model we have to understand what consciousness is in biological terms so we can harness this aspect of ourselves for our benefit and evolution.  The “I” in all experience is the soul which is a manifestation of a greater field of intelligence we call Spirit.  So we have a localized form of consciousness we call the soul, which is an expression of the larger field of consciousness we call Spirit, but it has many different names.

From a scientific perspective spirit is a silent field of infinite possibilities.  How this translates is simple; one can only be that silent field if one is aware.  Few believe that spirituality has much practicality on a day to day basis, but spirituality is practical because a spiritual person is in tune with the messages that the mindbody sends to him:  Did the mindbody receive too much to eat?  Is the mindbody tired and need rest?  What emotion is the mindbody sending him in times of stress?  Is mindbody exercising too much or not enough?  Is the mindbody still, so that he can fully see what is happening in the present moment?

One who lives fully in the present moment  lives fully in the body and uses the mindbody as a platform from which he makes intuitive choices, knows people by feeling them and understands that even though his awareness (yet another name for spirit soul or consciousness) is part of the universe, he is the universe.

But what does this have to do with health?  Today from a materialistic and reductionistic viewpoint health implies the absence of disease.  From a consciousness based perspective health is a higher state of consciousness in which we remember our true nature or spiritual being.

There are many levels of awareness but the quieter the mindbody is, the more profound will be awareness in participating in the moment.  But awareness can be endlessly manipulated because our mindbody has so much power over it.   By far the most direct way to achieve increasing levels of awareness is by meditation and then our mindbody and soul becomes integrated and balanced.

If the mind is elsewhere the taste of food that is being eaten is not totally experienced.  If the mind is elsewhere one does not see what is right in front of oneself.  The suns are born of the mind, but not the other way around.
 
 

—Spring 2001 Newsletter
                            Sciences of the Seen & Unseen World
 

The world of thought is poorly understood.  Present day biological scientists have no difficulty immersing themselves in the world of forms measurements and visible phenomena.  The study of the human genome is thrilling because it takes us that much closer to our origin.  It nourishes us with the hopeful idea that all diseases may be banished some day because of our understanding of DNA.  But presently scientists are very cautious about predicting what this new information holds in store for us.  One researcher was quoted as saying, “What we are now understanding is that the genome is not linear, one gene leads to one protein, but rather genes are constantly interacting with one another altering each other’s expression.” This unexpected expression of complexity has led us to a new event horizon.  We reach a new level of understanding only to find that it opens up a whole new world of investigation.

So what does this have to do with thought?  Just as the field of genome research has opened up a new world so is the study of consciousness leading us to explore an unseen world.  We have to leave the world of the seen (manifest) explored, measured and defined so well by present day science and begin delving into a world unfamiliar to us.  This realm of the unseen is every bit as real as the science of the manifest world as validated by contemporary quantum physics.  But because the science of the manifest is so assuredly known, dominates our present day thinking and is comforting to what has been done in the past, we tend to shy from other less familiar disciplines.

So what does this have to do with thought?  The world of thought is in the realm of the unseen.  It exists at the level of energy and information.  It is blatantly obvious that thought has its origins in an unseen realm.  This world is not one that yields easily to measurements nor gives up its secrets to the present day probing done by the science of the seen.  But it is nonetheless real because we all experience thought.  I think!

If we are to understand the world of thought we will have to engage in a dialogue that uses a different vocabulary.  Not that we will junk the contemporary science of the seen but we will add to the rich scientific heritage that we have thus created by adopting a new biological science of the unseen.  This study will open up new vistas that are haltingly interrupted because we are trying to apply the investigational tools of the manifest world to study the unmanifest world.  Unfortunately the world of the unseen does not give up its secrets to probing in a linear fashion that we are so accustomed to in the science of the seen.  That is because the world of the unseen is nonlocal, beyond space and time.

This may seem vary abstract right now but it is the key to health.  Because if you begin to understand nonlocality you will begin to identify your soul.  And it is not so hard to do.  All you have to do is meditate or turn your attention to the one who is listening right now and you will discover your soul.  The soul is the silent witness, the ever present presence that was with you when you were young and is with you now and will be with you when you pass from this world.

So what does this have to do with healing and biological disease?  All disease begins in the mind and in order to be healthy implies understanding how the mind gets us sick.  To watch the mindbody means to practice being healthy.  If we understand how to get in touch with the watcher of the mindbody, we will be able to access new levels of health and live longer.

The vocabulary of poetry has long expressed the unseen world but now quantum physics is giving us a scientific vocabulary for this domain as well.  So the paradigm shift is happening in which we will have to access the science of the unseen world to gain greater and greater levels of health.  It will not happen by taking vitamins and attending to the next health fad!!
 
 

—Summer 2001 Newsletter
                            The Dark Side of the Light Chasers

Perhaps you have seen this bestselling book title by Deb Ford who has also done a more current work, Spiritual Divorce. Borrowing from the work of C.J. Jung Ford’s basic premise is that we cannot come to complete self acceptance and at peace with ourselves until we can accept all of the traits that we deem unacceptable in others. These offensive traits that we see in others are part of us and represent the dark side, the side of ourselves that we do not want to accept. But we have to get to embracing this aspect of ourselves if we are going to get to complete self acceptance.

The best way to find out which traits bother us is to become aware of our own emotional turbullence. Emotional turbullence always disrupts our physiology although we may not be aware of it. An emotion is a thought associated with a feeling usually in the midline between the solar plexus and the throat. If we are aware of our mindbody as a sensory platform we unarguably feel discomfort when we experience emotional turbullence. For instance a judgement creates emotional turbullence (which is the mind’s way of making something right or wrong, good or bad). Judgement is different than evaluation or analysis and when it occurs discomfort also occurs but one must develop a level of awareness where this is possible.

Until we reach that level of awareness how can we get in touch with our emotions? One of the easiest ways is to observe our dark side as Ford describes. Again, the dark side are those traits that we deny we have in ourselves and they carry an emotional charge. What this entails is to fully participate in what bothers us at any given moment.

Probably the worst thing that turbullence does is that it draws our attention away from ourselves believing that people situation circumstance and things are “out there,” are separate from us. When we get real and nearer to the truth we get in touch with our dark side (the side that we ignore or deny). The more we can do this the more self acceptance we will have. It is only through relationships that we can learn what aspect of ourselves that we are denying.

For example, if we are making a person situation (traffic jam) circumstance (being terminated) or thing (car in your way) right or wrong, good or bad (that is forming a judgement as opposed to honest evaluation or analysis) an opportunity presents itself. We can get in touch with that aspect that we deny in ourselves by looking at the trait that bothers us. When we make things right or wrong we are conferring a part of ourselves on the “out there” experience. We realize that the opportunity to know more about ourselves exists everytime we encounter emotional turbullence. When we get to the point that we can accept everything, “out there” then we will have arrived at the point that we can accept everything “in here.” Total self acceptance creates silence in the mind and when there is silence in the mind there is bliss in the body.

What does this have to do with health?  From an integrated perspective it has huge physiologic benefits because it reduces fear and advances love.  Furthermore it frees us from the conditioned past where we could only accept certain things while cutting us out of a large number of experiences that we retracted away from.
 

—Fall 2001 Newsletter
                            Projection

In the Ayurvedic understanding of human and cosmic physiology the mind plays an indispensable role in disease development.  As a matter of fact all diseases stem from the mind.  Think about it.  A habit such as smoking is a mind choice.  Dietary choices and psychological stresses lead to hyperacidity syndrome which eventually creates gastroesophageal reflux, gastritis, ulcer disease.  The turbulent mind is not only responsible for the poor choices and the stresses that we have but worst of all it leads to unarguably physically manifested disease; some of which lead to our physical demise.

So in order to be healthy physically we must deal with the turbulent mind so that we can be more fully present to appreciate the moment not only “out there” but also “in here” because in the end they are both the same.  An excellent way to quiet the turbulent mind is through the practice of meditation.  We can then start witnessing our thoughts and the responses that we are having to the outside world.  Then we can begin appreciating ourselves in all of its complexity and diversity.

In our last newsletter we talked about the dark side that each of us has.  It is that part of us that we do not want to accept.  We said that the signal of emotional turbulence is the sign that a particular aspect of ourselves is not incorporated into our psyche or we are denying in ourselves.  This can be manifested in anger or any other emotion that signals to us that the outside world we see is not being accepted.  Every time we have an emotional reaction we are judging, making something right or wrong, good or bad.  This is the true value of emotions because they serve to help us learn more about ourselves.  Whatever we cannot accept “out there” is a clue to us that there is something “in here” that we cannot accept.  Since we represent the totality there is nothing “out there” that is not “in here.”

Projection is a way we put our good and bad qualities “out there.” It is an act of transferring part of us to something else.  If we cannot deal with something “in here” we extend it beyond ourselves.  There would be no hate without projection.  We would take responsibility for co-creating the universe.  So when we can be mindfully aware (that is, without a turbulent mind) of ourselves we can note when we are projecting.  There is a lot of projecting going on right now in our social consciousness with the current terrorist activity.  Our inner terrorist inflicts internal punishment just as much as an external terrorist.

In reality there is no distinction between anger, projection and resentment.  There is a phrase often used that says, “You’re only as sick as your resentments.” The moment of resentment (lack of self acceptance) is actually the moment of projection.  Resentments form one of our most common ways to enable us to keep from looking at ourselves.  When we resent something “out there” we are actually resenting ourselves.  We are judging against ourselves.

The way out of resenting ourselves is forgiveness, not only “out there” but realizing that “out there” is really “in there.” When we externally forgive others we begin the self healing “in here.”  But the real value of forgiveness comes when we can observe our own thoughts of the past and can silently say to ourselves, “It’s alright, you just made a mistake,” without the hint of self reprisal.  Then we will be free to experience the moment without the interfering past.

So our resentments and emotional turbulence serve as signposts to help us find out where we do not accept ourselves.  They point the way “in here” to find out where there is a lack of self love.  Then we will be able to have compassion for the terrorist who lives not only “in here” but also “out there.”
 
 

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