Would You Take the Red Pill?

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You claim freedom and free will, but how far are you willing to go to back that up? Given the choice, would you take the red pill and risk everything to gain it all, or would you be afraid to leave your “quasi” life behind and cower behind the blue pill?

Many people say that they want freedom, but I’m willing to be that they simply tell themselves that to mask the fact that they don’t have the strength or courage to do what they know must be done.

You have a choice…you can forsake everything you have for the sake of a spiritual journey, or you can remain in place, stuck to a body that will die and a life that will fade away.

How Much Control are

You Willing to Give Up?

The question isn’t so much, how much control do you have – the question is how much are you willing to give up? The true measure of control is the amount that we are willing to let go of and I’m willing to be that given the choice, many of use would retreat to our comfort zone.

You see, I know you feel it somewhere deep inside of you, that urge to break free of your cocoon and live the life of a butterfly. I bet that every day that passes where you haven’t shed a layer has resulted in another layer being added. Every day you feel the emotional energy build up inside of you, but you are afraid. You can’t take the pain of separation, of change.

So where does that leave us? You aren’t alone. We are all tied to our social and physical bonds. However, if we just realize that eventually, everything is going to fade away regardless, then we can accept our life as a butterfly much easier.

The truth is, once you face death and conquer it, you fear nothing. Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful way to live?

Tags: control, freedom, Impermanence, Reality

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Do you live with a panic deep inside of you? You might not even know it is there, but you can probably feel it. It drives you to continually find new ways to improve yourself and to better your life. It drives you to eat more, drink more, or spend more money. You keep trying to find a new rush to fill up the gaps in your life, but you keep ending up in the same position.

The panic I’m talking about is a hole that doesn’t seem to fill up no matter what you try to fill it with. Some people think money will fill it, some think that family will fill it, while others think that helping others will fill it. However, every time that you do something that you see as the peak experience, every time that you reach a goal, this feeling doesn’t go away. In fact, you start to get more desperate…you try and try until it begins to eat you alive. Then it hit you, maybe like it hit me: no matter what I do, I am never going to fill the hole…ever.

You see, the hole I am talking about is a hole in your spirit that keeps telling you there is something wrong in your life. The problem is that in most people, it manifests in material ways, rather than spiritual ways. You think that becoming a millionaire, helping the poor, or finding love will all help to fill the hole. The problem is that it doesn’t work…none of it does.

I thought that money would help me, but it didn’t. Then I started running, but I kept wanting more. I started competing, but just competing wasn’t good enough. I wanted to win…then I wanted to always win…can you see the pattern? Every time we reach what we think is the “peak experience,” we realize that the experience wasn’t what we expected at all. I was thinking about my personal goals and I kept noticing that every time I thought I’d found the true path to happiness, it never came.

That’s when it hit me – like a ton of bricks actually, that no matter what pursuits I go after or achieve, I will never find a physical way to fill that hole. All my striving, all of my hope, was based in a physical world that relies on that hope and striving to pull you deeper into it. You see, that is the trap that binds us to suffering. This ego creature is so masterful that it will find any way that it can to trick you into thinking you are on the right path. Only when you realize that you’ve lost your way will it give up and try something else.

This is what happened to me. I thought I was on my path, but I was being tricked into thinking that. I was never going to fill that hole, instead I would just be travelling further and further down the rabbit hole until I reached a point of no return.

The only true way to fill that hole is by spiritual experiences. Even those are fleeting, but they are much more real then the physical experience. I don’t care what religion you follow, but the truth is that if you want to stop striving then you have to find a way to satisfy your spirit. For me, I know exactly what I must do, and it is something I find a way to avoid every day – meditation. I know that I must withdraw myself from the world of Mara and go inward, but I keep getting tricked into giving up. Realize that when you are tricked into physical pursuits, that even should you accomplish them your cravings will still go unsatisfied. This monster is never full and it will devour every part of you that it can. Stop feeding the monster and go inward, toward the spirit. Only then can you find your true path and only then can you fill the hole.

Don’t live a life of quiet desperation where you feel a panic inside of you every day. You know the way to happiness and you know it is the right thing to do. Escape the trap of suffering and follow the way…live your Dharma.

Tags: dharma, ego, goals, suffering

What I Learned from Fasting

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We live in a world that makes every possible attempt to control us. There are pysical, social, psychological, and even spiritual mechanisms in place to force our actions down a certain path. Those that are able to break free from these mechanisms of control are those you don’t see on the heavily travelled path. These people forge a path of their own through the jungle and because of this freedom they do not fear failure.

In my opinion, finding and maintaining a relationship with God is a personal journey that must be undertaken alone. You may meet others along your journey to help you find your way, but in the end the choice is up to you to Live Your Dharma.

They say that every guru you meet is nothing more than a physical manifestion of your own inner guru, and I can “feel” the truth in that statement. So, if the journey is a solo path that requires us to voyage inward, then how do we do it? Well, I view this journey as a parallel to an ascent back into the womb. I know it sounds strange, but try and remember the Matrix when Neo “woke up.” When he went through the process of awakening, he journeyed inward and beyond…out of the vortex and into the real world. I believe our spiritual journey to living our Dharma is very similar to that experience.

So you might be asking, what does this have to do with fasting? Well the answer is this:

Recently, as a result of a personal feeling of being too attached to certain emotions and experiences, I decided to go on a 3 day fast to break the chain binding me to some of these attachments. I also felt that there was something that God was trying to tell me, and I thought that if I tuned out and focuses solely on God, then I might hear what needed to be heard.

Although fasting can be difficult at times, during most of this experience I felt physically and emotionally detached from this existence. In otherwords, I felt good. The hunger tried to reach through and cause pain, but it felt outside of my body and I realized that there does exist a “watcher” within that is not attached to my body at all. Trying to tune in with that detachment allowed me to see myself as a spirit trapped inside of a dying body. I felt as if I was confronting death face to face…and I was not afraid. It was liberating to free myself from the bondage of physical attachment as things I normally used to gratify my ego became unimportant alltogether.

I also tried to remain silent and conserve my energy as much as possible. During this time I realized that words are nothing more than an escape from the “now” that Ram Dass talked so often about in his book Remember, Be Here Now. We use words too often and more often than not, they only convolude the actual experience. I often get agitated at long winded conversations and those that feel an attachment to talking, and I believe that was a progression towards the lesson I learned during my fast.

I’m not going to claim that I had a profound religious experience, but I do believe that I learned some very important lessons about myself and my nature that provided me with clues to eventually break free from Samsara. If we can start breaking these chains of attachment and mechanisms of control, then eventually we will see the world for what it really is – a mystical experience designed to lead us towards our Enlightenment and our final journey home.

Listen to the teacher inside of you. Listen to the voice that tells you where to go no matter how many physical, social, psychological, or spiritual boundaries you feel are in the way. Those that find a way to free themselves and start exploring their own path through the woods, usually end up right where they belong.

We All Go Through It

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Let’s face it, we all struggle through pain and suffering at some point in our lives. Often we struggle with minor issues daily, but there comes a time when larger events, such as death, illness, or depression sideswipe us from nowhere, sending our lives into an out of control mess.

Like you, I’ve been there and although it would be easy for me to say that I have mastered this, I would be lying. In fact, dealing with pain is one of the greatest issues I face on my own personal journey towards enlightenment.

I’ve been wracked with depression, illness, family issues, and more…but the times I’ve made it through least scathed were the times where I tried to take a step back and see the greater picture.

It Comes Without Warning

Let me give you an example – years ago I was facing some personal issues and was driving home from court (paying a speeding ticket) and saw one of my favorite cats dead in the center of the road. Here I was happy that I’d gotten a little break from the judge only to find that something I love lay dead in front of me.

Often times we’ll find that things like this happen immediately after good things happen. Although, I’ve come to adapt the mentality of “if things are good now, they will soon get worse…and if things are bad now, they will surely get better,” it isn’t easy to adjust to the blow of pain in any circumstance.

In this example, I grieved for days and couldn’t get over the guilt of letting my cat outside before I left. Then one day I was walking through a local bookstore and saw Pema Chodron’s book: When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times.

The book really helped me get through my grieving, but also to step back and realize that there are certain things in this life I simply cannot change. Things happen for reasons beyond my understanding and as painful as it may be, sometimes it has to be.

The key is to try and learn from the pain. I know you’ve probably heard it all before, but I firmly believe it to be true. Were it not for some of my most difficult times, I would not have found my way on this long and important journey. Our pain and suffering shapes us into following our true paths.

The True Root of Pain

I’ve also come to realize that a large majority of my pain comes from issues that boil down to one thing – Fear of Death.

When illness, income issues, or even marital issues come up, I realize that more times and not the stem of the pain is me being afraid of death. Now, it may seem odd, but think about it like this:

When I lose my job and I am worried about money, what I am really afraid of is that I won’t have enough time to get back what I’ve lost. Now, what I really forget in this case is that when I die, it will all be lost regardless of how much I collect or gain back. When I ignore this fact, I am ignorant of my own death and as I continue to run away from it, I continue the cycle of fear.

In the end, when I come to grips with my own mortality and realize that like it or not, someday I will perish, I can let go of my pain much easier. Holding on to pain only makes you hurt more, but realizing that in the end…no matter how much pain and suffering exists, death will come…can make the journey easier.

Buddhists focus on death because by conquering your fear of death you master much more than your own body. You master pain, suffering, and perspective. A good book to learn more about conquering your own fear of death is The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. I’ve learned a lot from that book and it was one of the first I read when my journey began.

Tags: death, pain, suffering

They Don’t Own You

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I’ve written often on the topic of dreams and returning to childhood innocence, but I have been feeling like I haven’t really said everything I needed to say. Then recently, when I found a new blog called The Illumined Mind, I read a post that really touched on some things I have been thinking lately.

In his post, the author talks about some things in our lives that hold us back from really achieving the ability to walk the path of our own Dharma, such as everyday tastks, addiction, security, ego, and desire. I couldn’t agree more with this thesis. It is so easy to get caught up in the trap of being satisfied, rather than fulfilled that we allow ourselves to be tricked into thinking we are ok. We create this hole inside of our souls that grows deeper every day that we ignore it, until it is so large that we are consumed by the realization that we are not only unhappy, but we are miserable.

We have to remember that being happy isn’t always a comfortable process and it rarely happens easily. There are lures and traps all over the world that try to bind us to unhappiness. We get caught in the trap of law, of morality, of social normalcy, and of what is commonly accepted. I’m going to say this once:

No One Owns You

You are not tied to any action by more than the strings of your mind that tell you it is wrong or uncomfortable to do anything otherwise. It is very difficult to swim upstream, but it is easy to gaze downstream and see where that path leads.

The law doesn’t own you, your country doesn’t own you, your job doesn’t own you, and your family do not own you. There is no you to be owned, there is simply what must be done and what is being done. When you merge the action of what is done and what must be done, then you will find that you are on the path…you are living your Dharma. Do not be fooled into thinking that you are different or irrational, you are more than that because you do not fear what others will think or say about you.

Become what you know you must become, there is no other way to happiness and there is no other way to enlightenment.

Tags: dharma, enlightenment, happiness

What is the human condition? Is it to love, to hurt, to feel? Are we born into sin or are we born as Gods? Were we made in error, or were we not made at all? We are born into something, there is no doubt about that, but what is it exactly?

Is the world a dream that we simply cannot wake from? Are we here to learn something from each other…from God? Are we here to learn to love?

Maybe we are the dreams of our fathers and we simply play out the story. Maybe we are the only way that God can feel. Maybe we are lost…

Just when I think I know it all, I find that am overwhelmed to the point where I know nothing at all. It is easy to get caught up in science or faith, but really how great is our perspective with such a limited faculty of understanding?

I don’t claim to have any answers, but I certainly have a lot of questions. I feel something when I travel down this road, I’m certain of that. I often don’t know where I am going or where I belong, but there is something that calls me there. Do you hear it?

We often get caught up in the excitement of our surroundings, forgetting we are on a journey home. Who among us feels at home here?

The pain and suffering in this place is tremendous, but I also enjoy the feel of it. I enjoy feeling inspired or hopeful. I enjoy being in love, so much that I am hopelessly out of control of my own experience. We’re all drunk on the sensual experience, but we’ve got to sober up.

Maybe this is a dream, but we’ve still got to wake up. The journey doesn’t end on its own.

If you liked this quasi poem/ramble, then please consider sharing below. You can also read similar posts on my poetry page: Padma’s Words.

Reclaim Your Mind

We live in a world where we are required to perform hundreds of tasks by hundreds of people on a routine basis. We have work responsibilities, family responsibilities, social responsibilities, and personal responsibilities. We have overburdened ourselves so much that it is no surprise we have turned to multitasking as a way out of this mess. The only problem with multitasking, is that the task lists never ends and we find ourselves shouldering more and more of a burden.

Mindfulness

Through the process of never ending multitasking, we find our minds become fragmented and child-like, unable to focus on anything for long periods of time. We can feel the changes in our psychology, and yet we find ourselves fascinated by it and addicted to it, we simply can not stop.

We need to reclaim our lives again in order to make ourselves whole. We cannot live fulfilled lives, let alone follow our dharma, if we are constantly distracted by the chaos of ordinary life. What I propose is that we concentrate on returning to a life of mindfulness and learn to harness our potential by living each moment as a whole, rather than a segregated part.

One of my favorite spiritual books of all time is a book called Be Here Now by Ram Dass. In the narrative portion of this book, Ram talks of a young man he meant in India that constantly reminded him to stay in the present and remember that “now is all there is.”

I think this is an incredibly valuable lesson that we could all benefit from. Here are some ways to implement this in your life:

• Do one thing at a time. Only multitask if you must. Distractions are Samsara’s way to keep you from the truth.
• Pay attention to your actions and contemplate why you do what you do.
• Pretend that everything you see, hear, and do is brand new to you. Don’t get caught in a routine.
• Don’t worry about the past, and try not to think about the future. Be present in the moment of “now.” Remember that the future will come with its own intentions, whether you like it or not.
• Spend time in meditation to train your mind to behave. This will make your practice of mindfulness much easier.

Being mindful of our actions can help us repair our minds to a state where we are capable of being in tune with what God intends for us. If we are distracted and out of tune with our dharma, then their is no way for us to follow our path. A life of distraction can only lead to our own destruction, either physically, mentally, or both. Find a way to take your mind back and make it whole, your destiny depends on it.

Tags: dharma, meditation, mindfulness

The Dharma Foundation

I’ve been a Buddhist/Christian/Sufi/Tao/Zen Disciple for probably 10 years now. I can’t really say what drew me to spirituality other than a deep unshakable calling inside of my very being. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel the compulsion towards a higher force and I can’t recall a time that I could explain it properly to anyone else. Live the Dharma is something I gave a lot of thought into before going live, but in the end I realized that it was time to try and explain my calling to others.

Now that I have been writing here for several months, I’ve come to realize two things.

1. Although I have been writing about topics I find important, I have not been writing about the true nature of my purpose here. Maybe I was afraid there wouldn’t be any interest, but for some reason I have been skirting the heavy issues and slowly inching towards defining that purpose rather than simply coming out with it.
2. There is a second calling that has worked its way into the mix, and I feel so strong of an urge to make it manifest, that no amount of procrastination can keep it from happening.

It may sound as if I am talking in riddles here, so I’ll simply come out with it. I am going to begin the process of moving towards topics that are both more refined and more intense rather than the feel good topics I have been covering lately. The truth is that life is much too important to take lightly and I don’t believe we humans have the luxury of being superficial in our quests for truth.

Secondly, I am simply tired of suffering. I am not referring to my own personal sufferings, because for those I am grateful because they lead me on my journey to freedom from them. However, the suffering of the world is tremendously painful for me to watch. Animals suffer in labs and food factories. Children suffer through abuse and neglect. Men and women suffer through rape and violence. Every day thousands of people are needlessly taken from their families through cruel acts of murder or even accidental acts of killing. War devastates much of the world and families have to bury their children due to ill-placed bombs. In the place I reside currently, I see children as young as 3 years old digging through trash trying to find something to eat; orphaned by the war. Everywhere I look I see suffering…and I cannot bear it. For far too long we humans have been the cause, not the answer.

I have decided to devote my life to pursuing the path of the Bodhisattva as much as I can while still maintaining my familial obligations. I realize that those two goals don’t necessarily mesh well, but I can’t exactly help others if I cannot help my family and self first. After all, that is part of the process right?

Secondly, and really the entire purpose of this post…I am starting a foundation to help do my part to end suffering and I am going to need your help. The foundation will be called: The Dharma Foundation and its message will be “We Want to Stop the Suffering.” I am dedicating this foundation to preventing suffering through campaigns and charity work to spread good will and faith to the world, while also helping to minimize suffering for those that may find themselves in need.

The world needs messages of hope and faith. People need to know that there are people that care about them and that they don’t have to suffer alone. We can help to prevent the suffering of animals, children, and adults. We can help the weak, the poor, the hungry, and the lost. There are many organizations doing this already, but I believe that we can do it better and with more mercy and compassion than ever before. I will soon be sending out a press release to announce this project in more detail and I ask your support in helping get the message out. I also ask for the help of any of you willing to offer services in the way of web or graphic design for this project. I cannot pay you, but you will receive full credit in as many ways as possible. This simply cannot be a solo effort, I cannot go in alone. Together we can all make a difference, and I hope you will be with me. I want to stop the suffering.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts…

Padma

Tags: charity, dharma, dharma foundation, suffering

In the last two parts of the series, I talked about eyeing the world with innocence, and keeping hope alive. In the final installment of this series, I’d like to talk about keeping your dreams alive. Now, nowhere in the manual of life does it have to say that you have to reach for the stars. However, I’m betting that when you were a child you had a great many dreams about what you expected out of life. Now if you compare the dreams of your childhood or teenage years and with your life now, I am betting that the two are a little out of sync. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that you’ve given up, but it does mean that one of two things happened:

1. Your dreams have changed     …or
2. You lost them somewhere along the way.

If your dreams have changed, then there is nothing wrong with re-evaluating what you want out of life. The key is to make sure you don’t forget that part of the process. If you dreamed about being a therapist and later thought you’d rather travel the world and be a missionary, then it is important to note that change in philosophy. I highly suggest keeping a journal for things like this. I keep a notebook within arms reach at all times, and in this notebook I chronicle everything I want to be. I write down reminders for action as well as reminders of who I was and what I am.

I’m not suggesting we strive to achieve meaningless physical goods, but that you simply keep track of who you are. It is so easy to get caught up in the grind and struggle of everyday life that sometimes we forget where we were headed. This is especially important when it comes to spirituality. If I want to meditate or keep a certain mindset it can be very difficult without a reminder at times. What I’m trying to say is that it is easy to get off track and eventually we get caught in the current and lose ourselves in the process. Rather than letting this happen to you, spend some time figuring out what makes you happy and what kind of life you’d like to live. If you aren’t actively living, then you are going to get pushed in a direction you may not want to go.

Now, if you don’t fall into category one and simply lost your dreams in the process then it is important that you recover them immediately. Whether they were forced out of you by working a 9-5, you gave up on them, or you simply pushed them into your subconscious you need to get back to the dreaming self you were as a child. The most recognizable symptom I notice when it comes to someone leaving their dreams behind is that they have also lost their imagination. Maybe you feel guilty going against the grain, or maybe you just haven’t spent time relaxing and letting your imagination go wild…but I am betting that you could use the relief gained from going on an imagination trip.

I really enjoy mind mapping for something like this, although a blank sheet of paper will do just as well. Start by writing down what sort of things you would like to have in your life on a daily basis. Maybe its more yoga, maybe learning a musical instrument, or maybe learning another language. Anything is possible. I know this sounds like a typical self-help exercise, but bear with me just a moment.

I’m confident that if you just engage your imagination as often as you can, you will find yourself seeing things in a different way. You will start to release yourself from the bonds that keep you down and you will start dreaming again. This dreaming is what will allow you to focus on the path that leads you to your dharma and to start walking it with confidence. Everyone’s journey is unique…we have to drive our own train to freedom!

Dreaming allows you to feel ok going against the grain. Dreaming keeps you young at heart and your imagination on fire! Dreaming teaches you that this world is not what it seems, its up to you to get there!

So in the end, I’m asking you to look beyond the ignorance and try to see the world for what it really is…a beautiful and unlimited masterpiece! Find hope in your world and pass it around to those that need it most. And don’t forget to bring that little child inside when you venture throughout the world. He/She wants to stroll right along side you and help you keep the innocence alive.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. I’m looking forward to your comments and hope you share your journey with me as much as I have mine with you. Until next time…

Padma

Tags: child, dharma, dream, dreams, Hope, innocence, life, live the dharma, spirituality

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about seeing the world for what it truly is, which is full of magic and wonder. In this part, I’d like to move on to the topic of hope. I believe that there is far too little hope remaining in the world and for the world. Our culture, particularly in the West, has become one of constant crisis and criticism. The media reminds me of Chicken Little, always claiming that “they sky is falling.” Less informed people follow this lead and the cycle perpetuates itself into a frenzy of chaos and fearmongering.

What I believe is necessary, now more than ever, is for those of us that refuse to fall prey to this trap to bring an era of hope to the world. When we were children, we had hopes and dreams to achieve amazing things. We were so full of hope that our imagination was the only barrier to what we would be able to accomplish. Look into a child’s eyes and you can see this hope as a glimmer of innocence. Lucky for them, they don’t know what they don’t know and as long as the innocence remains they continue to have stars in their eyes.

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Tags: dharma, dreams, energy, Hope, leader