myFACE

Statement (or question?) of Values

Intro

Two and a half years ago, flustered by a seemingly inescapable claustrophobia, I ran away from Westchester, New York….and ran…and swam… until I washed ashore in India.  I did not know what I was looking for, but it HAD to relate to me.  Right?  This self that I had embarked on a search for soon became incredibly apparent.  Everywhere I went, I was surrounded by geographical, personal, spiritual beauty so great, so transcendent, that this “me,” whom I had been searching for, fell on my lap.  It became clear that there is no separation between this character and this planet.  Between this planet and the Universe.  This Universe and the Brahman beyond and within it.  At once, the love, hate, delusion and truth—the physical and mental suffering—it was all me, and I was all it.  I am now in the midst of a search—under the guidance of a duty to be of benefit and a niche to be of focused attention, I attempt to navigate my way through this maze of truth.

I also want to be clear that the below values, commitments and philosophies are more my process of navigation than any sort of internalized understanding.  At the risk of sounding overly blunt or preachy, heed this warning!

 Values

 

Truth

As one of seven billion unique confabulations of this conscious experience, or more–I heard Dolphins and Orca’s have a similar IQ as we do…, I share:  There is no greater value than truth.  Its pursuit; its embodiment. Its inherent perfection yet inescapable imperfection.  I see us like flies, attracted blindly but boldly to this pervasive light.   This light shines regardless of the shadows the deluded mind casts over it—to me, it is the heart that is the channel binding the individual with the Atman.  Through an open heart-gate, there is no separation, no delusion—just pure love.  Thus, we were born of truth, will die into truth, and, even through our deluded minds, are living truth right now.

This light, this truth, is, as Gandhi calls it, God.  It pervades every bit of every dimension of our existence.  You, me, this screen, all of it–we are all God, and we are all truth.  Like waves in a vast ocean, what we do is precisely what the whole universe is doing at this very moment.  In this way, we truly are the universe in ecstatic motion.  From this holy platform, we can realize the divinity within all beings, sentient or not.  And from this realization, we can take refuge in the perfection of it all.  We can take refuge in our interconnectedness, our common pursuit of truth and happiness and avoidance of suffering.  This moment is the result of every previous moment; it is an extention of infinity, and itself infinite in depth.  Sinking into this reality of inconceivable connection, subtle differences such as those of religion or culture do not, can not, hold enough weight to tear us apart. Of course I do not mean to downplay the roles of these differences, rather just to see them from a renewed perspective.  It is only when we close ourselves to the divinity within all beings do we fall into fear and separation.

 

Love

At the base of all consciousness is love.  It is the motor for consciousness, without which, we would not and could not exist.  Love is the foundation of our human incarnation, it is the inherent and inevitable connection between all life forms.  There is never any reason to close one’s heart.  The way I see it, our hearts are the tunnels through which this indescribable current of consciousness flows.  We are born without delusion, and through the processes of Socialization, find ourselves immersed in a cloud forest of ego and separation.  I often find myself over-analyzing different parts of our existence–often to a point of such dissatisfaction.  I realize that my heart is almost always closed, my Qi stagnant, and my mind out of control.  At these moments I realize how futile the quest for conceptual meaning is.  Likewise, how omnipresent truth is when my heart is open to it.

 

Awe

For all of us existing within the domain of Samsara, hindered almost constantly by the restrictions of an illusory self, I find moments of ‘awe’ to be incredibly valuable.  They are little holes in the cave, allowing us just a glimpse of freedom.  A peak at the infinite nature of each of us.  We all find these moments of timelessness, selflessness, and emptiness when we stop searching.  When we are relieved of the subject-object duality of our conscious scope, for just a moment, our hearts can finally be free to expand without hindrance.  These moments are the substance-free method of subtle realisation.  Besides, it gets kind of chlostrophobic in that ego, right?

 

Gratitude

All the time, I find myself forcing a feeling of gratitude upon a situation.  The result is a completely disconnected experience and little to no true thankfulness.  In reality, when I reside calmly in my heart, the open space gets filled naturally by deep, deep gratefulness.  We talked a lot about our human rights in class.  I believe that underlying all of the specific rights lie a few common ones:  a common right to existence, a common residency on this unfathomably complex and beautiful planet, a common human incarnation, equipped with the ability to reflect and contemplate this very topic.  To me, these can only be rights if they are properly reciprocated.  Whatever miraculous series of occurrences has led to our unique births, our rights to existence, are simply unpayable. However, if we are not to dedicate every moment of our waking existence to gratitude, what are we doing here?  I believe we have the potential to reside in perpetual gratitude.  As in, to never allow ourselves to fall out of touch with the unique gift that every bit of our lives is constantly offering to us.

“You think this is just another day in your life? It’s not just another day, it’s the one day that is given to you – today.  It is given to you–it’s a gift.  It’s the one gift you have right now and the only appropriate response is gratefulness.”  -Brother David Steindlrast

 

Openness

If there is anything humans know for certain, it is that we do not and can not know it all.  Limited by the confines of the human body and the ignorance of the human mind, it seems simply delusional to claim understanding beyond the human ‘domain.’  To me, the more we think we know, the more ignorant we are.  What we are blessed with, however, is an unwavering curiosity to learn.  It seems that for many, the wisdom of experience seems to take over this child-like curiosity, however I argue that this curiosity is its own life force.  The boundaries of the human domain are so vast that may we never be satisfied.  As Gandhi famously said, “live as if you were to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you were to live forever.”  Truly, it strikes me as one of the great ironies of human existence:  we know so much, yet so little.  And in that little we know, lies so much beauty.  May we never close our minds or hearts, even—rather, especially—to what may be difficult or painful.  As Ram Dass says, “it’s all curriculum.”

 

Experience

Michael Meade, a storyteller and author, says “myths are a bunch of lies that tell the truth.”  Science, to me, is a bunch of truths that tell a lie—or at least not the ‘full’ truth. Science speaks to the ears of the physical world.  But there is a fundamental gap between the physical and Astral planes–one that exceeds the scientific domain. Myths are the truths of the soul; science is the truth of the mind.  Myths tell the stories of reality, of authenticity.  In an era of increasingly obstructed experiences of reality, I fear that we are losing contact with our stories.  Our conscious experience is being diluted by conceptions and narrow-sightedness, and we are losing touch with our uniquely human, uniquely beautiful, incarnations.  There is this pull to march in unison with the crowd, and thus easy to forget that the unison is the ecstatic movement of the universe.  Why should we clash with the flow of the Tao?

Commitments

 

Liberation of All Beings

I consider it a duty of all privileged people to experience first-hand the magnitude of suffering in the world.  The wake-up call that this presents is beyond any movie or book, and can only truly be done justice through experience.  Something penetrated my heart as I stepped out of the Delhi airport for the first time that has been permanently lodged.  We are granted a body, and a perpetuation of separateness (especially in the West), and it is our duty to make our way back to the whole.  When the true “self” exceeds what Alan Watts calls the “self-encapsulated ego,” working for the benefit of all beings becomes the natural course of action.

One of my favorite texts is Gyalse Tokme Zangpo’s “Thirty Seven Practices of All Bodhisattvas.”  The 11th passage goes:

“All suffering comes from wanting your own happiness.

Complete awakening arises from the intention to help others.

So, exchange completely your happiness

For the suffering of others — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.”

I feel strongly that our culture over-emphasizes ‘happiness,’ without an acknowledgment of the term’s connotations and means for achievement.   It is as though we are born into a game of sorts, in which self-preservation and self-centeredness are the pedestals for success.  It is my dream to work tirelessly for truth—to work tirelessly for the benefit of all beings with the intention of their, and thus, my, liberation.  To replace ‘happiness’ with ‘freedom’ is, perhaps, the most profound of all practices.  As Ram Dass says, “the game is not to be high;  the game is to be free.”

 

Service

Upon returning from my first trip to Asia, I couldn’t shake this magnet-like pull to return immediately and try to alleviate the gross, physical suffering that had hit me so potently.  I had bore witness to my own rite of passage into the world, which I had always disguised as separate.  This overwhelming sense of connection to the suffering hit me so personally at both a level of shared humanity and a level of guilt for my undeserved privilege.  The search for ‘self’ that had guided the beginning of the trip had unfolded in a way previously unimagined.  This calling to serve others was the only thing that felt right.  As Gandhi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Two years later, I can’t help but feel lost.  The yearning to be of benefit to all beings is battling a hopelessness about our current environmental and economic situation.  The pervasive love I so desperately seek to spread to all beings is being blocked by a seemingly impenetrable wall of self-doubt.  The ubiquity of suffering around the world is overwhelming and a sedentary, cyclical lifestyle has me feeling like a puppet unable to get free from my string.  I have always had a strong ego and the current realization that I’m most likely not going to be “special” in the way that it longs for is certainly bittersweet.  The light, however, is the vital acknowledgment of this precious human incarnation I’ve been given.  As a white, heterosexual male of high economic status, I take refuge in my duty to serve those less privileged.  As Muhammed Ali said, “service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

 

Action

From the same platform as the ‘service’ pillar, I would like to emphasize the importance of ‘action’.  We are at a crucial point in history–one where, in my opinion, the future of humans and the planet are at a cross-roads.  It is crucial, right now, that we bare down on the issues at hand, before it is truly too late.  I believe the human species is in the process of waking up–that our physical world is prompting us to do so, and it is the ultimate test of the species whether we step up or not.  To me, our ecological crisis is a warning that we have over-stepped our technological boundaries–that we are residing too much in our intellect and not enough in our hearts.  Our very own earth is shaking and sweating, overheating.  It is reminding us of our place in the Gaia balance. The terrorist groups and warring countries are prompting a realization of our common humanity, common goals and common destiny.  The increasing gap in economic wealth is showing us just how out of balance the species is–how can 1.2 billion people be living below the poverty line while a select few bask in unprenounceable wealth. For god sakes, Donald Trump is demonstrating the fragility of our nation, the work that needs to be done regarding systematic and institutionalized oppression.  Though these truths are depressing, I truly believe they are the impulses stimulating a global waking up.  If enough people jump aboard, we at least have a fighting chance.  We need to act promptly but strategically.  I am constantly infuriated by certain actions and occurrences, but acting out of disgust has not and will never yield any positive change.  This is where fierce compassion comes into play.  Without the intention of overstepping boundaries, I believe we need to customize our paths for personal realization to fit in with the global scenario at hand.  This entails waking up in the world.  Time is too precious, change is too urgent.  The science speaks for itself, and I just do not believe we have the time to spend any significant chunk of our lives away from our crumbling reality.  Karma yoga, the path of service, or Tantra Buddhism, realization through worldly action, are, in my opinion, the most suitable paths for this era.