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I appreciate this essay on Four B's of Resilience and Strength authored by Dr. Soul Levine. The application of the four B's-Being(personal), Belonging(social), Believing(Ethical/Spiritual), and Benevolence(a sense of awareness of kindness and generosity) in our daily life. Practicing these four B's in my everyday life I feel myself like a whole person physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and socially. This way of living has been the foundation of my everyday life. Or like the author says they are the "foundation of our emotional footprint".
My sense of self-worth is shaped and sustained by implementing the four B's in my everyday life. I know I am not perfect. Being aware of my faults and limitations and working on my short comings kindly and compassionately helps me walk on the path of living spiritually. Self-examination, self-awareness, alertness and vigilance, owning wrong doing, patience, forgiving and correcting are the ingredients of my living a joyful and meaningful life. May I remain awake and implement the Four B's in my daily living! Namaste!
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Here are my thoughts after reading the excerpt from "I Am" by Jean Klein, a philosopher of Advaita Vedanta:
Silent awareness or witness consciousness is as J Krishnamurti says is "choiceless awareness", or emptiness or suchness or isness as the Buddha says. Silent awareness is stillness in the mind. In such stillness bodily sensations arise and go, thoughts arise and go, emotions arise and go. I experience such silent awareness when I am fully absorbed in doing what I am doing such as reading, listening to music, and meditating. In such experiences the observer and the observed become one. The wave becomes the ocean. It is a spiritual union. What is freedom? Freedom from whom or what? When the subject-object dividing line is dissolved it is an experience of oneness. In such unitive consciousness there is an experience of oneness, the Divine Union. To put it in Non-dual Vedantic term, it is Self-realization. Namaste! Here is my response to author, Ariel Burger's article on Awakin.org:
An "answer" is definitive with no openness. It has no room for an open ended discussion and a dialogue. A response is an invitation with an open mind and humility for self-examination. A response has an empathic and open-minded understanding of different perspectives instead of close-minded authoritarian stance: My way is the only right way and there is no other away of addressing and working on personal, interpersonal and collective questions and challenges. Morality is one of the core elements of personal, interpersonal and social well-being. The question is how am I relating to morality in my personal, interpersonal, and social life? Am I relating to morality in a ferocious and arrogant way or with empathy, humility and tenderness? I maintain a balance between being genuine and empathic, candid and kind. This is the way I practice morality in my personal and interpersonal life. There are times when I lose this dynamic balance and judge myself and others somewhat harshly. Such experiences have made me realize that I am fallible and others too .We are not perfect. It is a learning process. We learn from our mistakes, forgive us and maintain the balance. Light of awareness, practicing mindfulness, maintaining the balance between moral ferocity and humility and tenderness have been my helping companions. May we cultivate a balance between moral ferocity and humility and tenderness. Namaste! Below is my reflection to the article written by Constance Habash:
As I understand, desire or greed of stealing or non-stealing is born in our mind. When I am aware of what is happening in my mind, my desire or greed for getting something that does not belong to me, I consciously refrain from that selfish grip and move into the non-stealing zone. Non-stealing means being open, honest, free, and truthful with myself and following the inner voice of wisdom. My self-awareness and non-selfish actions keep me rooted in non-stealing state of my consciousness. This process of self-awareness, knowing Asteya, and following Truth is an ongoing spiritual journey to me. Non-judgemental self-awareness, thoughtfulness and humbleness help me walk on this spiritual path. I take time to learn from wisdom traditions, discuss spiritual teachings with like-minded people and embody the knowing in my life. I have cultivated the attitude of being patient and persistent in my journey of life. Regular practice of mindfulness meditation helps my mind to be quiet and clear. These practices have been interwoven in my daily life. We call it Sadhana, a spiritual way of living in the world.. May we stay on this path of inner freedom, enlightenment for realizing the Truth, Fulfillment, and Peace! Namaste! Below is my reflection to Zenju Earthlyn Manuel's excerpt published in awakin.org:
No sane person will deny that things and we as sentient human beings are going to die one day. Seeing somebody dying or knowing that someday I will also die makes me realize that we all have a common thread running through outward differences and we all are interrelated. Death does not treat people differently. The merciless light of death shines on us all. Realizing this merciless truth awakens us to the underlying reality of oneness. Such realization makes us less afraid of outward differences. Chance, our dog, has been with us for the last 15 years. He has been having severe seizures for a couple of months. He has brain tumor. Seeing him going through the suffering is sadly very painful to us in our family. Sadly but necessarily we have decided to let him go. Tomorrow the veteran is going to give him heavy sedation to let him die peacefully. The merciless light of death helps us remain awake and aware of the profundity of life. Death is a lighthouse that keeps me awake and aware of how to live fully and spiritually. When I will die is beyond my hands but how do I live is within my hands. Self-awareness is the inner light that keeps me awake and mindful of the transitory nature of life. The wise teachings of the Buddha about the nature of the worldly life has been very helpful to me. The worldly life is continuously changing-anityam, anityam, sarvam anityam. It is also momentary-ksanikam, ksanikam, sarvam ksanikam. Such awakening helps me value each moment of life and cherish it and be grateful for it. I keep the light of awareness shining to see things as they are. Namaste! I feel deeply grateful to Brother David Steindl-Rastfor giving the great gift of passage. I consider offering this thought provoking passage itself a great gift of passage. It has the three intertwined core concepts of grateful living: I recognize, I acknowledge, I am grateful. These three concepts create a steady and strong foundation for going through passages of life. Living this way I feel the unity within me and between people in my life regardless of apparent differences like Brother David says unity in multiplicity, oneness in manyness, where giving becomes receiving and receiving becomes giving, an experience of oneness. To me this is living spiritually, living in pure heart and relating to others from pure heart. And this an ongoing journey that creates loving joy and deep fulfillment.
I have been blessed to have many people in my family and many others out of my family who take care of me lovingly regardless of age, gender, nationality and religion. It feels like living in a spiritual community or an ashram. Such experiences happen not on Thanksgiving Day. Everyday becomes a Thanksgiving Day. As I have mentioned before life is a spiritual journey. In my journey of life there have been times when I have stepped out of the spiritual path and I have hurt me and some people close to me. Recognizing and acknowledging my wrong doing and learning from such experiences has always helped me. Practicing Mindfulness Meditation regularly and living mindfully and relating to others unselfishly and compassionately also reinforces my spiritual way of living. Namaste! I appreciate the passage "Heart Is Not About Emotions", authored by Cynthia Bourgeault. According to my understanding, there are three kinds of perceptibility; mental, emotional, and spiritual. Mental and emotional perceptibilities have limitations of their own. Thoughts and emotions change and our perception of reality changes. Our perception is bound by thoughts and emotions and by space and time limitations. Spirituality is not bound by the inner changes of thoughts and emotions and by space and time. It is beyond mental and emotional perceptions. In the culture I was born and raised the heart is considered the abode of devotion or Bhakti. In Bhakti Yoga there is pure love and devotion for the Divine beloved. It is unchanging, profound and beyond space and time limitations.
I experience such Divine Relationship with nature and with my family and friends and even with strangers when my mind is quiet and clear and my heart is filled with unconditional love. In such moments I feel deeply connected and sense the feeling of oneness. This is an example of a deeper spiritual perception. Regular practice of mindfulness meditation and loving Kindness-meta- meditation and remaining mindful of my thoughts, feelings, emotions and my actions help me walk on this path of spiritual living. Listening to devotional songs and serving others selflessly are very helpful to me abide in my heart. This the way I relate to the author's wise words " Heart Is Not About Emotions." Namaste! Finding a balance between two extremes is a virtue by itself. In Buddhism it is called the middle path. In Yoga it is called equanimity-Yogahasmattvam uchyate. I use these words of wisdom in almost all walks of life such as eating, working, sleeping, talking and resting and thinking. Following the middle path helps me avoid the voices of deficiency and access. As Adam Grant says," If you want to be resilient, find the right amount of generosity and authenticity and grit." Or to put it differently to find "virtue in balance."
Once one of our friends invited us to celebrate his birthday. It was a wonderful gathering with lots of delicious vegetarian food items and different kinds of fruit juices. Normally I am careful about what and how much I put into my belly. That day I forgot to eat in moderation. And I paid a heavy price for my indulgence. That was a good lesson for me for walking and staying on the middle path. I apply mindfulness in all walks of life. Awareness and alertness of what is going on in my body, mind, emotions and my actions and remaining alert about my actions helps me act wisely. Overdoing as well as under-doing have an adverse effect on the flow of my energy. I have learned how to live a balanced life and that's a blessing. Namaste! When I am fully engaged in what I am doing I feel oneness within me and without me. The line of separation fades away and I feel oneness between the inner and the outer world. The difference between doing and being, having and being slips away. This happens when my mind is calm, clear, and pure. I feel oneness within and without, between the outer and the inner world. It is a non-dualistic experience.
Six of the members of our family were on a pilgrimage to Amarnath, a five thousands high peak on the Himalayas. The sun was setting. The sky was clear. There was deep silence. All of us felt the oneness between the outer world and the inner world. It was an unforgettable experience. In deep meditative state I experience such oneness between the inner world and the outer world. I just become a swinging door as Shunryu Suzuki puts it. To be true to oneself, to be truly oneself, requires consistent training of my mind. When my mind gets divided between the inner world and the outer world, I become aware of the truth of oneness of the soul. We all are one. The dualistic mind becomes non-dualistic. The individual self becomes the universal self. When I do selfless service I feel the fullness of living. To me life is a spiritual journey and I need to remain awake if and when I deviate from my spiritual path. Namaste! Virginia Satir was an author and family therapist who wrote this poem on awakin.org when she was working with a teenage girl who had a lot of questions about herself and what life meant. Kindly read it and here is my reflection to the poem:
Who am I? What am I? Who is me? What is me? These are important questions about my true and authentic identity. It means taking ownership of me. Ownership of my mind-thoughts and ideas; ownership of my feelings and emotions; ownership of my actions; ownership of my triumphs and failures; ownership of my whole self. I do not hide myself from my own self and also from others. This is Me. When I accept myself as I am I am free to engineer me; to change me. Taking ownership of me frees me from my socially, culturally, and religiously conditioned self. I loved and married the love of my life born and raised in a different caste, class and religion. Both of us followed our inner voice and faced all kinds of challenges together and grew by going through them. Authentic self creates and sustains authentic and flourishing relationships. Life presents challenges and puzzles. How do I face them makes a big difference in my life. If I close my eyes to the challenges and puzzles or deny them, I stifle my own growth and development. I recognize my puzzles. I own my puzzles. I have learned to remain grounded and rooted like a tree and derive strength from my authentic self. Relating to challenges and puzzles cultivates strength and courage in me and I do not get uprooted by challenges and difficulties. I conclude my reflections by quoting Virginia Satire's last line of her poem: "I am Me and I am Okay." Namaste! |
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