The Huffington Post just published one of my new articles that is very timely. It begins:
“Evidently, the Pope is considering allowing priests to be married. There is, of course, significant debate about this issue. Yet, there are several factors essential to the subject that I haven’t seen mentioned…”
Read more:
“Celibacy, Sex, and the Church’s Dilemma”
Entrepreneur.com just published one of my articles. It begins:
How could things have gotten so out of hand? Was someone — everyone — asleep at the wheel? What were we thinking? Of course, innumerable factors led to the state of our economy today. Let’s take a quick look at a few and explore where it all might lead us…
Read more:
“Bringing About a New Economic Reality Demands Vigilance and Hard Work”
I just published a new article on LinkedIn. It begins:
Donald Trump said that for a time he wanted to ban all Muslims. The uproar he elicited was overwhelming. The next day, he said he had many friends who were Muslim and he wasn’t going to ban them. That left us wondering “What is the truth and what will he really do?” His broad stroke, rough generalizations continue to create problems for him. This and other poor communication habits are good to be aware of to minimize alienating others. The art of smooth communication can be the difference between success and failure in business…
Read more:
“Say What You Mean and Avoid These Pitfalls”
Questions have come in regarding the Advanced Techniques. I hope to answer them here. With the Surya Ram Meditation, we dive into the Transcendent. As we become more and more familiar with the Transcendent, we move in the direction of what is called Cosmic Consciousness. Along the way to Cosmic Consciousness, the awareness naturally begins to gravitate in that direction and rest there. It is as if we discover the true home of our Selves.
However, there is a great deal more to human evolution and things get increasingly grand as we continue to evolve. In time, it becomes our direct experience that everything is the Transcendent. “I am that. Thou art that. All of this is nothing but that.” The Advanced Techniques naturally move our awareness in that direction.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras begin with the Sutras (“threads”) that weave together the tapestry of the deepest level of existence. The Advanced Techniques, in contrast, start with the physical world, and allow you to experience that level of existence as the Transcendent and, over time, expand out to ever deepening, expanding, and subtler levels of existence. It is as if the Sutras start at one end of the spectrum of existence and the Advance Techniques start at the other. Over time, you come to experience your physical body, energetic body, spheres of existence, etc. as all being the Transcendent… all contained within you… all one with you. Aspects of the psyche and physiology begin to resonate with a more refined level, a higher octave. In so doing, the structure of existence is discovered and explored. Daily life, your psyche, and your individual body become the field of evolution. Your own awareness becomes a research laboratory of the universe, as your physical body and all aspects of your being take on their rightful place in the scheme of existence. As other-worldish as that may sound, the experience in daily life is exactly the opposite. The Advanced Techniques enable us to integrate and function in our worldly lives with more comfort and proficiency.
To be completely candid, I wish I had learned the Advanced Techniques decades ago. They would have helped me assimilate with daily life in the physical world more seamlessly. Leaving the ashram decades ago, I was absorbed in the Transcendent. Assimilation with the ways of the world took time. These techniques would have helped greatly. But I was never taught them. I found them within myself and only then discovered the truth of them within the Vedic literature. It was admittedly an awkward path. The integration of the Transcendental level with daily life took a great deal of time.
However, I believe there was a greater purpose in that. I believe that these techniques can best and perhaps only be taught to another when one has found them within one’s Self. In that way, all the possible paths to discovery and experience have been explored and understood. This enables one to teach them not as an overlay, but as a cultivation within each and every individual. In so doing, the path of integration of the Transcendent with daily life is expedited. It has been said that Cosmic Consciousness is, in some ways, an awkward phase. I guess that is true. But these techniques offer everyone the tools to, as if, skip over that awkwardness and quickly attain the integration of life.
I was asked the following question: How is it not possible to identify with something…all those beliefs and notions? I am wondering what life is like when you move past that.
To which I respond:
This is an excellent and important question. In the first paragraph, we will briefly review identity in a rather cosmic sense. Then we will speak of it more pragmatically.
This entire universe is built upon identity. When Consciousness viewed itself as ‘other’ and interacted with itself over and over again, the universe was born. Identity with the resulting structure is the foundation upon which this universe rests. The term “Maya” refers to the illusion. It is identity with the illusion that keeps this universe going; it keeps the world spinning around. Without identity, this universe would cease to exist. However, ultimately, there is no ‘other.’ It is all One. Sometimes people may despair over the notion that this is all illusion. But there is no need to despair. It is simple the exquisite and fine fabric upon which the beautiful universe is founded. Lovely!
We are all identified with our notions, belief systems, paradigms, philosophies, families, and way of life. The point is that identity exists on many different levels, from the Cosmic to the superficial. Oftentimes, such identities serve us. They provide a reference frame for our lives. They create many beautiful things for us.
On the other hand, many of our identities limit us. They limit our understanding of life. They narrow our perspective. I think most of us like to think of ourselves as ‘open-minded.’ But in truth, we are open-minded only to the extent our identities allow it.
To be free from identity does not mean that we abandon all identity on every level of life. If we did that, we would cease to exist in this physical universe. However, we can awaken to the level of life that is beyond any identity. We can awaken to the Transcendental level of our being that lies beyond identity… the level of pure Consciousness before it is even lost to the notion of ‘other.’ At that point, we have essentially two things going at the same time. At the depth of our being, we are free from identity. Yet, on the surface of life, we are still functioning through our identities.
This does not reduce, for example, our love for others. In fact, it deepens it. By seeing more deeply, we love more deeply. At the same time, we become free to see and move beyond those areas where our thinking is limited. We become more open-minded. We do not lose our balance when things occur that throw our belief systems into doubt. We are spontaneously ready to look beyond the horizon, so to speak. So, being awake to the level of life that is free from identity, on the one hand, enhances our love for, and dedication to, many things. On the other hand, being free from identity enables us to see beyond those beliefs, emotions, and convictions that limit, and do not serve, our lives.
So, as with all concepts (all terms, all notions), identity takes on a different meaning as we refer to it on different levels of life. Yet, all of those meanings are transformed once we awaken to the Transcendental depth of our being. This is something not fully understood until it is experienced. But hopefully this explanation sheds some light on the topic.
In the past, I have been inclined to describe it by saying: “Everything is completely the same, but totally different.” We still love. We still have our likes and dislikes. We still experience the full range of human emotions. None of those values are diminished at all. Yet somehow, miraculously, we are awake to a level of life that frees us from limitation, narrow vision, and, as we say, “It frees us from identity”. We become infinitely free, but totally committed. We become infinitely flexible, but totally solid—just as a tree’s roots are fixed solidly in the ground, yet the branches move freely in the wind. Yet at the same time, the fixity of the roots transforms the freedom of motion of the branches.
