Creative Energy

When we take a deep breath, we are creating space in our mind for a fresh start.  That fresh start can contain a new idea, a new emotional state, or nothing.  This nothing is the goal of deep breathing in meditation.  Initially, in meditation, we breathe deep to keep the mind from holding onto ideas, keeping the mind neutral and open for insight.  The longer we meditate, the slower our breathing becomes, albeit balanced.  This is mind moving to the more subtle energy levels.  Say you're at the gym, working hard.  The breath is deep and fast, because we are fueling the physical body, which requires lots of energy.  In meditation, as we move away from the physical, our breathing slows, as we don't need as much energy to sustain ourselves.  Indeed, it is the body which still requires energy, while what fuels the mind isn’t in this dimension.  

Breathe in deep.  Take with it everything around you, be it negative or positive.  

Breathe out, and transform the negative into positive and release it into the world.  

Pain and Permeant Release

I feel powered by the absence of negative emotions.

The "base Ben" is content, like when I'm home alone doing the things that I naturally gravitate towards.  Then, something negative happens and I dwell on it.  I begin to think of all the other instances of when the same emotion occurred - where I was wronged or slighted.  My heart hardens and I say "Never again!"  So, at the first sign of a perceived slight, I rashly say something to a loved one.  I hurt them, but I also hurt untold numbers of people in the future, because i just perpetuated the cycle.

We receive pain from others.  Others receive pain from others.  What we all want is understanding.  Understanding can begin the healing process.  We were all beautiful babies, something sacred to our mothers.  How do we get back there, before we were scarred by the world?  When I'm having a bad day, there is a particular baby picture I like to look at that reminds me that I wasn't always like this.  I try to remember this about other people who have hurt me - that they were once beautiful babies, who were super sensitive children who had negative experiences.

In that picture, maybe I was super happy, but I like to think that I had more an absent of pain.  Now, when my mind holds unpleasantness, instead of remembering it, I try to let go and forgive, by forgiving myself or others.

Such a Good Video

The Power of Breath

When one takes a deep breath, we are creating space in our mind for a fresh start.  That fresh start can contain either a new idea, a new emotional state, or nothing.  This nothing is the goal of deep breathing in meditation.  Initially, in meditation, we breathe deep to keep the mind from holding onto ideas, keeping the mind neutral and open for insight.  The longer we meditate, the slower our breathing becomes, although it should always remain balanced.  I think of it as the mind moving to the more subtle energy levels.  Say you're at the gym, working hard.  The breath is deep and fast, because we are fueling the physical body, which requires lots of energy.  As we move away from the physical in meditation our breathing slows, as we don't need as much energy to sustain ourselves.  Indeed, it is the body which still requires energy (it is on standby), while what fuels the mind isn’t in this dimension.  

Breathe in deep.  Take with it everything around you, be it negative or positive.  
Breathe out balanced.  With your heart, transform the negative into positive and release it into the world.  

How Many Universes Are There? Chris Anderson

The Space of Zero

Recently I read a wonderful book titled Zero: Biography of A Dangerous Idea.  The major idea from the book is that zero is both infinity and the void; two opposing extremes that exist in one symbol. Zero leads to life because it's the fundamental essence of opposing forces. If zero were a sentence it would be: "This sentence isn't real." It is the absence that exists, and is defined by its endless nothing quality.


Zero and consciousness have similar properties. Perhaps scientists and philosophers would prefer that zero and consciousness didn't exist at all. And yet they do, elusive and hard to describe. Riddled with contradictions, zero plays perhaps the greatest role in the universe; it holds everything together. Consciousness is the zero that exists in our heart that holds our body and spirit together.

Break the shackles of false victimhood.  Realize that there are no good or bad events, everything that happens is simply something that happens, it is neutral.  You decide how to view an event, which gives you the ultimate power; choice.  If you find yourself in negative situation after negative situation, decide the break the pattern and liberate yourself with your mind.

Help

The only way to receive help is by asking for it.  However, asking isn't enough because it's up to us to be open to the help when it arrives, and it's up to us to act on it.  

The (Cyber) Space of Love

"People don't change their minds. They die, and are replaced by people with different opinions"
- Arturo Albergati

     A few days ago, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) died, or rather it is no longer being supported. Why does something technology related matter to this blog?  Earlier this year I read an article explaining the advantages and disadvantages between being mortal and immortal. This was a computer experiment with one species being immortal and the other being mortal. When we think about it, species that are immortal should have the advantage. Imagine a world where people don’t die; where all the intelligence and knowledge that we have lasts forever. Where we don’t die and have to be reborn to relearn everything. It sounds amazing on paper, but the fact is immortal species, in the long run, can’t adapt like mortal ones can. 

     I remember in the mid 1990’s when IE6 was very popular. That was the best browser around, people adopted it, and it was the basis for all future browsers. I know some people who still use it. However, its popularity is now holding back web invention because websites still have to be designed with IE6 in mind. Today it died and this allows future inventions to evolve.  

     See, IE6 was such a standard that technology had trouble really moving past it. The benchmark that is IE6 didn't die (immortality), therefore future progress slowed because, instead of looking to the future, we were supporting the past. Sometimes it is good to kill an outdated, but very successful, predecessor to further evolve.  

     This explains why it is necessary for there to be death. We are sad when our grandparents, parents, and, finally, ourselves perish. However, death must occur for thought to evolve and refine itself. I feel the reason that we forget everything about our previous selves between karmic incarnations is so we can evolve and let go of outdated ideas. Even "the most important thing that has happened to you ever" is a product of this life, but our true quest is constant growth.  Sometimes holding onto the past will limit our future because we will try to define our future experiences based on past events and cycles.  Forgiving and forgetting these events, whether they are negative or positive experiences, is key.  They only serve to remind us who we were, not what we will become.  

     Ego is a product of this Human existence. Our true nature is one of forgetfulness. Without a brain, it’s always the present. The question is "What form is the best to overcome karma the quickest: Forgetfulness or Remembrance?" Why was it necessary for us to have a brain? I believe that the point of our lives is to overcome karma, so perhaps it’s to help us in that way.  If we can remember our past mistakes then we may not repeat them, allowing us to move on instead of dwelling on one lesson forever. 

     Every meditation session I’ve been to, I’ve been encouraged to go in a direction of oneness and completeness. That's good, we came from a place like that and will return to that place, but what if we had to grow a physical body to further rid ourselves of karma? We needed a brain, aka remembrance, to shed the next phase of our karma. Of course meditation is a great thing, it allows us to become realigned with our higher self and to act wisely, but for now we must come back to this reality that is moving, full of joy and pain, but is temporary, in order to be tested in an effort to refine our character. 

     Where did we get all our human karma? Is there a future step past our having brains, such as losing ego but still maintaining our physical bodies? I find that hard to achieve because our egos are what, essentially, protect our bodies. However, I am using my current brain to predict the future, so instead of doing that I will enjoy the ride. Maybe when this current IE has outgrown its usefulness I can refresh with updated ideas and have a better shot at it.

Story of the Outlier

From time to time I get overwhelmed. This is easy to do in a world filled with so much beautiful information, but occasionally I have to step back. I love really diving in and experiencing something that resonates within me, however, I feel that I build up and build up and surround myself with all these beautiful ideas until I find that I have been building walls around me. Occasionally I must tear them down.  

Want to know true stability? Find the most important thing in life - the place where all other ideas and inspiration come from - and either remove it or imagine it removed. Does everything else collapse?  Identify the central things in life that you identify with: being in a certain role like a parent or in a particular relationship, having a certain car, being the best at something, being talented something, etc. What is the crux on which your universe spins? I have a friend who said that if it was proved that Jesus wasn’t resurrected then he would renounce Christianity.  That is a weak conviction if the entire spiritual structure of his reality could be renounced based off of one thing not being true.  Before there was even a problem in my past relationship, I imagined life without her because I wanted to be independent of my need for her. We eventually split up, but I didn't base my entire identity on her so I wasn’t completely lost and I didn’t have to restart my life.  Life always has a way of finding the most important, central sacred thing or belief, and completely destroying it.  It is a catalyst for change.  Whatever ‘concrete’ thing that we define ourselves by will always be lost and you will be forced to become a new you.  Try not to place too much emphasis on one thing to define who you are. 


Another good exercise is to lay in bed and 'forget' what stage in life, or health, you are currently in. I have found myself in fear doing this because I forgot what my physical condition was and, at that moment, all possible versions of self were real. What if I really was old, and that my youth was only a dream. One day this will be my reality, and the sooner I accept and embrace the fear the less it will control me.


Each of our paths are unique. We should each behave in our own nature and not follow the unoriginality of the crowd. In doing so we lose our individuality, which in turn robs from the complex and miraculous tapestry of humanity. I have seen this occur in a spiritual context. It is possible to follow the crowd with ideas like the universal makeup of reality. Spirituality is a deeply personal journey that we are each individually on.  To follow others is a distraction and will slow the journey. Knowledge unravels itself in a very particular way so that we may best understand it. There will always be a need for advice and guidance, but following others without trusting your own divine instinct will not produce enlightenment.

The journey is about facing fear and giving up incomplete ideas in exchange for something that is more true. It’s about becoming a better person because you looked at yourself in the most honest light possible and embraced all of yourself. Occasionally you lose friends because your journey takes you away from their values. That is an acceptable, and sometimes necessary, occurrence on your journey. They are on their journey too. The journey is about burning down walls so something more beautiful can grow. The journey is about achieving True freedom within yourself.  

WE ARE ALL GENIUS.  

Imagine yourself without your friends, without your colorful cloths and the artifacts in your room.  Imagine that you are all alone with no physical scrap of identity left.  Who are you?  Would you hold on to what you have now and try to get it all back, or would you let it fall away?  Imagine that one pure idea, whatever your ‘Resurrection’ idea is, as being proved false.  What out of your current belief structure survives?  What is your core?  What would drive you to continue to live?