The Serene Way

“In every one of us there is the yearning for life, for knowledge, for happiness.”

Swami Yatiswarananda, Meditation & Spiritual Life

Recently I heard, “When one lives with an open heart there is no need for protection.” This is a simple truth; it is on a Path to Light that we develop this ability of detachment from the energy, reactions and actions of others, as well as our self as defined by the ego. There are lessons along the way that assist in reaching this goal, one of which is discernment: ‘the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure’ or ‘the power to distinguish and select what is true’. Now, there’s the rub: what is true and real and how do we distinguish it?

We often look to our external environment to provide knowledge and happiness. Osho, in The Book of Secrets, says, “Whatever society has given can be taken away again…” This simple statement illustrates the transitory nature of possessions and culture as a means to happiness. A culture lasts only as long as it controls its members or holds that influence, in which case we give away our control to an entity other than our selves. When we think of knowledge, we usually think of it as coming from outside our self. In the age of the Internet, there is a particularly muddy situation as information comes at us so rapidly, yet with many caveats. We must consider who is promoting the information, who financed the research, and what is the purpose of disseminating the information. Whether it be possessions, culture or information, discernment is key in order to sift through this endless barrage.

When it comes to culture, the ‘con’ keeps us all believing in regulations and social manners that keep us in control. We can look at the history of organized religions and how they have risen and fallen throughout history. They have used knowledge as their power base, keeping the masses uneducated in order to maintain a façade of stability. To bring this closer to home, we can see the same thing with the current economic turmoil. In this case, the economic culture has brainwashed society into believing that ‘bigger is better’, promoting the worship of the almighty dollar—values monitored on the screens of the global markets. These are ‘cons’ of outrageous proportion that affect society in its entirety.

There are everyday smaller ‘cons’ in each of our lives, which are employed by the egocentric to manipulate and control, though these are not nearly as evident as those of organized religion and global finance.

I was social networking and received a couple of notes from a ‘self-help’ practitioner. The first two were misaddressed and indicated “how may I ‘serve’ you”. The one correctly addressed said, “What do you need me for; you have your own gig”. I cannot comment on the practice of this person or their ability to help others, but I use this incident to illustrate a point: what a person says to your face may not be what they say behind your back. This is not walking the walk or talking the talk; it is this sort of double-face that necessitates discernment.

There are those that see us as ‘marks’, offering the snake oil remedy, the quick fix; again, the ideology that purchase will buy happiness surfaces. At a health and wellness expo I attended, there was a doctor promoting a machine that costs thousands of dollars. We were discussing the science and research behind this product. He made a most interesting statement: “Say anything to get them in and make the sale.” Here, a person of knowledge and apparent cultural status was ‘buying’ into society’s acceptance of information manipulation in order to sustain the economy of greed and excess.

There are unnerving trends in the ‘self-help’ industry (which is what it has become); it is big business. Recently, I have seen seminars and products promoted as ‘recession insurance’ or ‘recession proof’. But in reality there is no insurance against recession. It is only our ability to deal with the repercussions that can be developed. There are those who play against our fears and insecurities for their own self benefit. Again, discernment is necessary in order to have ‘the ability to understand and discriminate between relations’.

Conscious awareness is necessary for discernment. This allows an ease in identifying those factors that require our attention. This is an individual process; that which works for one may not work for another. It is within that we find the answers, the knowledge and truth. It is here that we can tap into those concepts that resonate with our life’s purpose.

Conscious awareness can assist us in penetrating these façades by developing the ability to judge wisely and objectively, thereby revealing authenticity. This action requires an internal search for our own authenticity. When we discover the authentic self, when it is revealed, then whatever bombards our senses can be dealt with in a positive and constructive manner. I have been known to jump in where angels fear to tread. This has led to many wonderful experiences, each one of which I appreciate as a lesson. Some situations are repeated until the lesson has been fully realized. A simple truth evolves from the experience and can be utilized in a practical manner in other situations.

Life is a rollercoaster; without the ups, the downs have no meaning or reality. The reverse is also true: all is defined by its opposite. Upon accepting that life is full of opposites, these opposites lose their power, as they are non-reality, transitory and illusory.

Once there is a conscious awareness of the mind and its machinations, then we can begin the journey to our centre, our heart. There we can manifest a condition of understanding with complete honesty and detachment. This creates trust within our self. Once established, we can see the truth in others—a gift of discernment on a Path to Light.

©T.S. (Tim) White, 2008

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www.TheSereneWay.com

‘The Secret’ and ‘The Law of Attraction’ as Fabrications of Greed

“The enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look.”

Julius Caesar, 75 B.C.

The pursuit of happiness and peace is caught in, and now churn and grease the wheels of, consumerism, commercialism and materialism. This ultimately makes a mockery of spirituality and the quest for meaning in our lives, and never so dynamically and ubiquitously as both The Secret and the ‘Law of Attraction’. For years we have been hearing and literally ‘buying into’ the promise that we can have all that we want—the good life—through visualization, belief and a modicum of effort. This only serves to intensify desire, leading to greed and a further spiral into the illusion that materialistic gain will give us the security for which we search.

Perhaps we can say that the rape and pillage of the earth began with Imperialism. Certainly the Industrial Revolution introduced many benefits. However, when we look closely, we see its empty results: the destruction of our air, our water, our earth. We continue to pass down to future generations the responsibility of repairing what we have been systematically destroying. We have not been able to set an example for these future generations, teaching them how to shoulder responsibility, nor have we demonstrated much more than a single care about them. They see only a continuation of the same actions, of single-minded greed that keeps the current system intact and causes endless cycles of crisis.

This repetitive program results in a pattern of fear which is based on illusion, currently manifest as the profit turned in ‘paper’ transactions upon which our ‘free market’ society is based. This programming has become a source of control for the mechanisms of consumerism—its manipulation, calculation and deception. It has been instrumental in separating us from our selves, in giving power to someone or something—an entity—other than our selves.

How can the goal of the bigger house, the faster car, the gold, diamonds and pearls fill this emptiness within? The idea of more, more, more and guzzle, guzzle, guzzle can lead only to a repetition of history, where stock markets plummet and fear grips the world. It certainly hasn’t changed in this lifetime; we need look no further than the real estate crash of the ’80s, the dot-com crash of the ’90s, and now a combination of both monetary lending for real estate and commodities crashing today. Trillions of dollars have been said to have been lost on the global markets, and a single country is spending $700 billion to bail out those that continue this repetition of historic pirating.

The promise of ‘abundance’ has proliferated like nuclear missiles and weapons of mass destruction. In the end, it creates the same emotional reaction—fear—out of power, control, and an ‘I am better than you’ mentality. These ideas, no matter who discusses or promote them, whether it is Rhonda, Oprah, Jack, Bob or Phil, lead us down the path not only to earthly ruin, but to the ruin of humanity itself. It appears that the last bastion of the self—our soul—is becoming fodder for the markets.

Perhaps we are getting what The Secret and ‘The Law of Attraction’ promise, as there is never an action without a reaction.

It has been said there is enough for everyone on this earth. These works, which promote the manifestation of our materialistic desires by focusing on our intentions, lead only to a further exhaustion of all non-renewable resources and move us closer to the brink of extinction.

“We can have what we want” is the chant and chorus bombarding our senses. Do we need a 5,000 square foot home? Do we need a television for every room in the house? Do we need all those gas guzzling cars? They only serve to suck up limited resources and abuse the fertile soil we need to sustain our selves. We encroach upon the habitat of other animals without concern for their demise, only appreciating their monetary value. We continue to destroy the symbiotic relationship we have with this planet and all that exist upon it for the sake of power, control and materialistic gain.

Perhaps the better question is, “What do we need to exist?” No longer do we gather for the long winter. Instead we horde for the sake of hording and feed the illusion that this will give us a sense of identity, our desires creating a self image in a society lost on its path to light. The cycle of abuse perpetrated not only on this planet but upon ourselves has manifested itself in the form of the current economic turmoil—we reap what we have sown.

Originally, abundance and attraction were intended to enlighten, to instil a true sense of security and self. They are now being used against us. The plunder has reached into our most basic nature, raping our very souls. The sanctity of self is being prostituted, sold and re-sold as pretence of materializing the divine—an impossiblity, since it is an infinite expression of energy.

We continue to take an internal quest and externalize it in the form of materialistic goals, missing the point completely. The secret is not to manifest materialistic desires but to release them.

The secret is to know that abundance and wealth in physical terms are illusions. They are transitory; they are ‘no’ thing, not everything.

Take the opportunity to release these attachments and create a new world order that will manifest understanding and compassion on our path to light.

© T.S. (Tim) White, 2007

All rights reserved

www.TheSereneWay.com

Tolerance, Acceptance & Understanding