For the last two years of school, I have only seen Sam write his name and not much else. I found this on his drawing pad last week. He did it without any prompting or supervision.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Friday, December 19, 2014
What Goes Around Comes Around
More than once I've been asked, "Why do some people always seem to get away with stuff?" And then these people would proceed to tell me how their friend, or aunt, or sister always manage to escape the karmic boomerang. The stories they tell usually involve how these "lucky people" had hurt them but never got retribution for it.
I often thought about this question. I personally believe in "what goes around comes around" because it never fails to find me if I did something bad. And it is obviously true in cases like drug lords, mafioso, or crooked cops. These individuals use violence in their daily lives and often perish by violence. They inflict fear on others, but they themselves live in constant fear.
Could it be possible that the karmic laws of what goes around comes around apply only to the most vicious people? Do ordinary people get exempted because their infractions are so small in comparison? I asked God for an answer. And He promptly granted me one. :)
I posted a laptop for sale yesterday. The responses were immediate because the price was so attractive. One buy texted me asking all kinds of specifics. After about half an hour of texting, he said he would like to buy it. However, he couldn't stop by to buy it until two days from now. I said OK.
This morning another buyer called and said she's in the neighborhood. She asked if she could drop by and look at the laptop. I said sure. She liked it right away and bought it almost immediately.
I texted the first buyer telling him the laptop is sold so he wouldn't waste his time coming over. To my surprise I got a series of angry texts saying how "we had deal" and how he really "needed this laptop". I apologized that he felt that way but that these kinds of sales have always been "first come first serve". But he was still angry and ended with a warning to me... "what goes around comes around".
I had my answer. I took a moment to thank God and then had myself a healthy chuckle...not at the expense of the buyer's misery, but at our own petty human nature.
The answer is that NO ONE escapes the "what goes around comes around". It applies to everyone... from the coldest murderer to the sweetest grandma. However, it applies to only REAL injuries, involving Love... or more specifically the removal of Love.
The Universe will match your words and deeds automatically...Love for Love and Fear for Fear. There are no exceptions. It's just IS.
If you remove Love from the Whole e.g. taking a life, destroying hope, breaking trust, inflicting fear, propagating hate, oppressing free wills, and so on...the Universe will remove the same "amount" of Love from your own life. The opposite is true if you instead add Love to the Whole.
The question that most people ask "Why does my friend always get a way with stuff and I can't?" is not a valid question because most of these perceived injuries are NOT real. What these people actually complaining about is that their egos were bruised. And like a balloon, the larger the ego the louder the complain. The "suffering" is due to the fact that someone didn't act the way they had scripted for that person in their heads. But according to how the Universe sees it...if there is no REAL subtraction to the Love Equation, no retribution is required.
Had I told the first buyer that I would hold it for him and I broke that trust...that would have been a REAL injury. Then I would have to resign to the fact that I was going to be screwed over in the near future.
I often thought about this question. I personally believe in "what goes around comes around" because it never fails to find me if I did something bad. And it is obviously true in cases like drug lords, mafioso, or crooked cops. These individuals use violence in their daily lives and often perish by violence. They inflict fear on others, but they themselves live in constant fear.
Could it be possible that the karmic laws of what goes around comes around apply only to the most vicious people? Do ordinary people get exempted because their infractions are so small in comparison? I asked God for an answer. And He promptly granted me one. :)
I posted a laptop for sale yesterday. The responses were immediate because the price was so attractive. One buy texted me asking all kinds of specifics. After about half an hour of texting, he said he would like to buy it. However, he couldn't stop by to buy it until two days from now. I said OK.
This morning another buyer called and said she's in the neighborhood. She asked if she could drop by and look at the laptop. I said sure. She liked it right away and bought it almost immediately.
I texted the first buyer telling him the laptop is sold so he wouldn't waste his time coming over. To my surprise I got a series of angry texts saying how "we had deal" and how he really "needed this laptop". I apologized that he felt that way but that these kinds of sales have always been "first come first serve". But he was still angry and ended with a warning to me... "what goes around comes around".
I had my answer. I took a moment to thank God and then had myself a healthy chuckle...not at the expense of the buyer's misery, but at our own petty human nature.
The answer is that NO ONE escapes the "what goes around comes around". It applies to everyone... from the coldest murderer to the sweetest grandma. However, it applies to only REAL injuries, involving Love... or more specifically the removal of Love.
The Universe will match your words and deeds automatically...Love for Love and Fear for Fear. There are no exceptions. It's just IS.
If you remove Love from the Whole e.g. taking a life, destroying hope, breaking trust, inflicting fear, propagating hate, oppressing free wills, and so on...the Universe will remove the same "amount" of Love from your own life. The opposite is true if you instead add Love to the Whole.
The question that most people ask "Why does my friend always get a way with stuff and I can't?" is not a valid question because most of these perceived injuries are NOT real. What these people actually complaining about is that their egos were bruised. And like a balloon, the larger the ego the louder the complain. The "suffering" is due to the fact that someone didn't act the way they had scripted for that person in their heads. But according to how the Universe sees it...if there is no REAL subtraction to the Love Equation, no retribution is required.
Had I told the first buyer that I would hold it for him and I broke that trust...that would have been a REAL injury. Then I would have to resign to the fact that I was going to be screwed over in the near future.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
All is One (part 2)
When I was a young Catholic boy, I thought God was this great powerful being who lived in heaven and looked down on us. The reason why He had to be in heaven was because He couldn't stand being around a bunch of sinners.
It sounded logical because the priests kept telling us that we were always living in sin...and it was almost impossible not to sin. Even if I had a "bad" thought, I was "sinning". And if you know teenage boys, I had a lot of bad thoughts.
Unless I found a way to be "unborn", I wasn't going to escape the fact that I was born a sinner and would continue to be a sinner until the day I die. And if I wanted to see God, I needed a plan. The trick was to get my confession in just a few moment before I die. That way, I would only have to act saintly for a minute or two and then, voila, I'm in!
About 40 years later I had a different concept of God. It was right after I lost my second wife. That experience plunged me into a deep depression. I needed a different kind of God to get me through it. I needed a more personal God, a more loving God, a God that I could be one with. That's when I revised my picture of God.
The concept of me being a part of God took me out of my depression and gave me much more. It transformed me into a much more loving person. How could I not be? If I am a part of God, then His nature must also be my nature. His Love essence must also be my essence. Except for the fact that He is omnipresent and omnipotent there isn't anything that IS God that is not me...or is it? This leads us to what happened yesterday...my breakthrough.
The difference between the second and the third revision is not just evolutionary or revolutionary. It is EPIC.
For example, if I were to pray to God under the second concept of God, it would go something like this...
"God I need guidance. I lost my job. I couldn't finish school because of my health. I have a special need child that needs me to be at home. Give me sign of what I can do to pull us out of this dilemma." And then I would wait.
Weeks or even months would go by and I would have to pray again, "God, I really need an answer here. My savings are running close to empty. Should I try writing or something to make some money from home? God, please tell me what to do so I can do it and get on with my life!" And then I would wait some more.
Weeks later and I would still get no answer. So then I would start blaming God. "God, why don't you answer me? I have You to thank for all my problems. Why can't You get your fat butt off your throne and do something? Can't You see I'm waiting for your answer here?" And then the prayers would get really ugly from here.
Now... if I were operating under my latest concept of God. The prayer would go something this...
"Thank you God for giving this opportunity to demonstrate my power of creation. I know what I have to do and it shall be done." That's it...short and simple. Because if I KNOW I have the power of God in me to create and change anything I wish...there's no need for supplication. There is only gratitude.
Incidentally, if you go back to the prayers that were done under the second concept and substitute my name or the word "I" or "me" for every time the word "God" was used, you would see exactly who was the cause of the problem.
It sounded logical because the priests kept telling us that we were always living in sin...and it was almost impossible not to sin. Even if I had a "bad" thought, I was "sinning". And if you know teenage boys, I had a lot of bad thoughts.
Unless I found a way to be "unborn", I wasn't going to escape the fact that I was born a sinner and would continue to be a sinner until the day I die. And if I wanted to see God, I needed a plan. The trick was to get my confession in just a few moment before I die. That way, I would only have to act saintly for a minute or two and then, voila, I'm in!
 |
| This is my first impression of God. He is everywhere, but He is separate from me. |
About 40 years later I had a different concept of God. It was right after I lost my second wife. That experience plunged me into a deep depression. I needed a different kind of God to get me through it. I needed a more personal God, a more loving God, a God that I could be one with. That's when I revised my picture of God.
 |
| In this second revision, I am a part of God. God is everywhere and in everything...including me. |
The concept of me being a part of God took me out of my depression and gave me much more. It transformed me into a much more loving person. How could I not be? If I am a part of God, then His nature must also be my nature. His Love essence must also be my essence. Except for the fact that He is omnipresent and omnipotent there isn't anything that IS God that is not me...or is it? This leads us to what happened yesterday...my breakthrough.
 |
| This is my most recent concept of God. He is as much in Me as I am in Him. He is my Creator; but at the same time I am also creating Him. We are One...yet we are not One. Such is the Divine Dichotomy. |
The difference between the second and the third revision is not just evolutionary or revolutionary. It is EPIC.
For example, if I were to pray to God under the second concept of God, it would go something like this...
"God I need guidance. I lost my job. I couldn't finish school because of my health. I have a special need child that needs me to be at home. Give me sign of what I can do to pull us out of this dilemma." And then I would wait.
Weeks or even months would go by and I would have to pray again, "God, I really need an answer here. My savings are running close to empty. Should I try writing or something to make some money from home? God, please tell me what to do so I can do it and get on with my life!" And then I would wait some more.
Weeks later and I would still get no answer. So then I would start blaming God. "God, why don't you answer me? I have You to thank for all my problems. Why can't You get your fat butt off your throne and do something? Can't You see I'm waiting for your answer here?" And then the prayers would get really ugly from here.
Now... if I were operating under my latest concept of God. The prayer would go something this...
"Thank you God for giving this opportunity to demonstrate my power of creation. I know what I have to do and it shall be done." That's it...short and simple. Because if I KNOW I have the power of God in me to create and change anything I wish...there's no need for supplication. There is only gratitude.
Incidentally, if you go back to the prayers that were done under the second concept and substitute my name or the word "I" or "me" for every time the word "God" was used, you would see exactly who was the cause of the problem.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
All is One
"What you do for your Self, you do for another.
What you do for another, you do for the Self.
This is because you and the other are one.
And this is because...There is naught but You."
from Conversation with God Book 1
from Conversation with God Book 1
God is the macrocosm in which ALL THAT IS and ALL THAT IS NOT exist. The human Soul is a part of this macrocosm...but at the same time it is also a microcosm of God. ALL THAT IS and ALL THAT IS NOT exist within the Soul. God creates you, but you are also creating God. This is the Divine Dichotomy.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Two Kinds of Gods
The God of Love set you free. The God of Fear keeps you near. Whichever God you choose defines the kind of person you are.
Monday, August 25, 2014
The Internal Struggle
Last week I saw a patient with a complaint of depression and the lack of joy in her life. She felt guilty for having "everything" but enjoyed none of it. She has done everything that is expected of her and it did bring her a certain amount of success, but she felt like she is trapped all the same. In the same week I watched the movie Rush (2014) for the second time. The coincidental timing of the two events caused a surprising insight.
Rush is more than a great racing story. It is an analogy of the internal human struggle between the mind and the spirit. The rivalry played out between Nikki Lauda and James Hunt not only mirrors this struggle beautifully, but it amplifies it for the whole world to see. Lauda is methodical, calculating, and cautious while Hunt is carefree, living in the moment, and impetuous. They are, in fact, each other's complement. They inspire one another...pushing each other's limit...to the point of putting their lives on the line.
Their rivalry was more than just an adversarial relationship. It was also a mutually inspiring one. Lauda's crash in 76 would not have happened if Hunt didn't infuriate him so much. On the flip side, Lauda couldn't have had his miraculously come back without Hunt chasing his tail for the championship. They are in fact each other's soul mate.
The internal struggle between the mind and spirit is no different than this classic rivalry. It brings to mind the classic image of the Devil standing on the left shoulder and an Angel standing on the right...except that there is no Devil. It is only us...or more specifically, the two halves of us.
Each of us is being challenged every moment of our lives to make choices that fall somewhere in between these two polar opposites. We shouldn't feel that we need to be a Lauda all of the time, doing what's only expected of us. Nor do we need to be a Hunt all the time in order to enjoy life. Life is an ebb and flow process, an up-and-down cycle, and an in-and-out act of breathing. Each moment of the life is a unique event, never seen before and never to be repeated again.
Choose what feels right at each precious moment regardless of what is been expected of you.
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. Baltasar Gracian
P.S. If you want to see a wonderful analogy of Love and Fear, see Warrior (2011).
Rush is more than a great racing story. It is an analogy of the internal human struggle between the mind and the spirit. The rivalry played out between Nikki Lauda and James Hunt not only mirrors this struggle beautifully, but it amplifies it for the whole world to see. Lauda is methodical, calculating, and cautious while Hunt is carefree, living in the moment, and impetuous. They are, in fact, each other's complement. They inspire one another...pushing each other's limit...to the point of putting their lives on the line.
Their rivalry was more than just an adversarial relationship. It was also a mutually inspiring one. Lauda's crash in 76 would not have happened if Hunt didn't infuriate him so much. On the flip side, Lauda couldn't have had his miraculously come back without Hunt chasing his tail for the championship. They are in fact each other's soul mate.
The internal struggle between the mind and spirit is no different than this classic rivalry. It brings to mind the classic image of the Devil standing on the left shoulder and an Angel standing on the right...except that there is no Devil. It is only us...or more specifically, the two halves of us.
Each of us is being challenged every moment of our lives to make choices that fall somewhere in between these two polar opposites. We shouldn't feel that we need to be a Lauda all of the time, doing what's only expected of us. Nor do we need to be a Hunt all the time in order to enjoy life. Life is an ebb and flow process, an up-and-down cycle, and an in-and-out act of breathing. Each moment of the life is a unique event, never seen before and never to be repeated again.
Choose what feels right at each precious moment regardless of what is been expected of you.
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. Baltasar Gracian
P.S. If you want to see a wonderful analogy of Love and Fear, see Warrior (2011).
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
A Gift Unrecognized
I'm so conditioned to think in a conventional way, that sometime I completely blinded to all the gifts God granted me. I have asked God for the experience of spirituality...for being able to be who I truly am...for being the source of love to others...and for having the strength to carry light into darkness. And God delivered. I just never saw it until now.
I wasn't sure if I had any expectations how those wishes were to come about. Maybe I thought I'd wake up one day and [Poof!] there it is! (That's how a movie would have done it, right?)
No! If you pray for patience, then God will grant you the last place in a line at the bank...on a Friday...during lunch time...when all the tellers are sick... except for the slowest and oldest bank employee...who also has to answer all the phone calls while tending to the customers in line.
I got what I prayed for. Sam is my gift of patience.
I wasn't sure if I had any expectations how those wishes were to come about. Maybe I thought I'd wake up one day and [Poof!] there it is! (That's how a movie would have done it, right?)
No! If you pray for patience, then God will grant you the last place in a line at the bank...on a Friday...during lunch time...when all the tellers are sick... except for the slowest and oldest bank employee...who also has to answer all the phone calls while tending to the customers in line.
I got what I prayed for. Sam is my gift of patience.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
The Authentic-Self and the Created-Self (Part 1)
The differences between the domain of the soul and that of the mind are very similar to the differences found between The Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. The Theory of Relativity concerns itself with most of the observable universe: things like a pebble on a beach, planets and moons, and galaxies. Conversely, Quantum Mechanics concerns with the subatomic universe, where things are so small that mass is indistinguishable from energy, and that mass and energy freely transforms from one to the other continuously.
In the world of Relativity all realities are relative...depending on the locations of their observers. There is no absolute. Everything exists, moves, and dies relative to something else. All physical properties (mass, speed, acceleration, etc) are only measurable once a point of observation has been selected. Before Relativity, a physical property of an object was thought to be absolute. The idea that a single object could have a limitless number of possible realities depending on where it was being observed was unimaginable.
Quantum Mechanics was born because Relativity could not explain what was happening in the subatomic world. The subatomic particles were behaving differently depending on who was doing the observing...despite the fact that all the observers were observing in the same location!
What was the core principle that gives us the very definition of reality in one plane of existence was completely nonsensical in another. Unlike the macroscopic world, the subatomic world has something that the macroscopic world lacks...an element of absoluteness...pure energy...or pure potential. This pure potential can manifest itself into different realities depending on who is doing the observing.
Similarly, the mind and the spirit appears to live side by side but they are actually on two separate planes of realities. The mind exists solely in the realm of relativity. The mind is the primary tool of the created-self (the Ego) in the construction of its reality. Like the "realities" set forth by the Theory of Relativity, the mind defines everything from its unique point-of-perspective. The mind concerns only about where it is in relation to everything else.
The soul, on the other hand, exists as an absolute. It is the who that causes pure creations in those subatomic experiments. It does not need something else to which it must compare itself. Its reality is not relative but absolute. It is the authentic-Self
All souls are ultimately bound to every other souls, stretching all the way back to the moment of the Big Bang. A person's soul is what links him to everything else in the Universe. This is the essence of a person's authentic-self, aka his soul. Because the soul is linked to everything else in the Universe, it is therefore linked to God. The authentic Self, the soul, is simply...God.
In the world of Relativity all realities are relative...depending on the locations of their observers. There is no absolute. Everything exists, moves, and dies relative to something else. All physical properties (mass, speed, acceleration, etc) are only measurable once a point of observation has been selected. Before Relativity, a physical property of an object was thought to be absolute. The idea that a single object could have a limitless number of possible realities depending on where it was being observed was unimaginable.
Quantum Mechanics was born because Relativity could not explain what was happening in the subatomic world. The subatomic particles were behaving differently depending on who was doing the observing...despite the fact that all the observers were observing in the same location!
What was the core principle that gives us the very definition of reality in one plane of existence was completely nonsensical in another. Unlike the macroscopic world, the subatomic world has something that the macroscopic world lacks...an element of absoluteness...pure energy...or pure potential. This pure potential can manifest itself into different realities depending on who is doing the observing.
Similarly, the mind and the spirit appears to live side by side but they are actually on two separate planes of realities. The mind exists solely in the realm of relativity. The mind is the primary tool of the created-self (the Ego) in the construction of its reality. Like the "realities" set forth by the Theory of Relativity, the mind defines everything from its unique point-of-perspective. The mind concerns only about where it is in relation to everything else.
The soul, on the other hand, exists as an absolute. It is the who that causes pure creations in those subatomic experiments. It does not need something else to which it must compare itself. Its reality is not relative but absolute. It is the authentic-Self
All souls are ultimately bound to every other souls, stretching all the way back to the moment of the Big Bang. A person's soul is what links him to everything else in the Universe. This is the essence of a person's authentic-self, aka his soul. Because the soul is linked to everything else in the Universe, it is therefore linked to God. The authentic Self, the soul, is simply...God.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
To Synchronize or Not
A series of related events unfolded sequentially and rapidly soon after my last entry. I would normally refer to such a phenomenon as synchronicity. A few years ago I might even be prompted to rush out and buy a lottery ticket whenever that happens. I think I did that 5 times over the last decade.
It would be too costly for me to continue that practice today. It seems like these synchronous events are occurring every week now. So the questions on my mind lately are these: Why are "synchronicities" occurring more often now than before? Is something about to happen to the world? Or has the world changed so much in the last few years?
If you have read any of this blog's previous entries, you probably have already guessed the answers to the above questions. The world has not changed that much in the last few years. It is me that has changed...and thereby causing the world around me to change. Specifically my perspective and perception had changed; therefore, my reality changed.
The latest series of synchronicities started with a critical remark made by my mother and ended with me seeing Akira Kurosawa's Roshomon (1950) for the first time. In between those two events there were many others (all of which had something to do with perspectives and perceptions). One of these noted events is my stumbling across a passage from Lonny Jarrett that states, "Every action has one of two consequences: it either perpetuates or dispels ignorance." It is another way of saying that you may be in this world but you don't have to be of this world. I can either choose to see things as they are (dispelling ignorance). Or I can choose to see things through the distorted lens created by my own ego (perpetuating ignorance).
My guess as to why I'm noticing more synchronicities lately is because I have relaxed greatly the defining boundaries of my reality. I wasn't a rigid person per se, but I think my "reality" was rigid. It was based rigidly on "scientific facts" and "deductive reasoning". If it couldn't be measured or quantified, then it doesn't exist. That is to say, my reality was consistent with that of most people living in a modern, Westernized society.
When the accepted normal expectations of my reality is no longer acceptable, the limits of that reality start to break down. And when boundaries, walls, and borders break down, it is much easier to see connections and relations between events, between people, between truths and mid-truths, etc. The end result is that life becomes an endless stream of synchronicities.
It would be too costly for me to continue that practice today. It seems like these synchronous events are occurring every week now. So the questions on my mind lately are these: Why are "synchronicities" occurring more often now than before? Is something about to happen to the world? Or has the world changed so much in the last few years?
If you have read any of this blog's previous entries, you probably have already guessed the answers to the above questions. The world has not changed that much in the last few years. It is me that has changed...and thereby causing the world around me to change. Specifically my perspective and perception had changed; therefore, my reality changed.
The latest series of synchronicities started with a critical remark made by my mother and ended with me seeing Akira Kurosawa's Roshomon (1950) for the first time. In between those two events there were many others (all of which had something to do with perspectives and perceptions). One of these noted events is my stumbling across a passage from Lonny Jarrett that states, "Every action has one of two consequences: it either perpetuates or dispels ignorance." It is another way of saying that you may be in this world but you don't have to be of this world. I can either choose to see things as they are (dispelling ignorance). Or I can choose to see things through the distorted lens created by my own ego (perpetuating ignorance).
My guess as to why I'm noticing more synchronicities lately is because I have relaxed greatly the defining boundaries of my reality. I wasn't a rigid person per se, but I think my "reality" was rigid. It was based rigidly on "scientific facts" and "deductive reasoning". If it couldn't be measured or quantified, then it doesn't exist. That is to say, my reality was consistent with that of most people living in a modern, Westernized society.
When the accepted normal expectations of my reality is no longer acceptable, the limits of that reality start to break down. And when boundaries, walls, and borders break down, it is much easier to see connections and relations between events, between people, between truths and mid-truths, etc. The end result is that life becomes an endless stream of synchronicities.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Mind and Body? Or is it Spirit and Body?
It occurred to me recently that the concept of mind and body commonly referenced in the mainstream literature was not consistent with the principle of yin and yang. Human beings, first and foremost, are spiritual beings. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has said: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Yin and yang are polar opposites but they are always bound to one another, transforming into one another, and generating one another. What is not obvious is that in any yin-yang relationship there is always third force that holds the two opposing forces in check. Taken together, they represent the sublime relationship of the Holy Trinity. Some of the more well-known examples are Father-Son-Holy Spirit, Conscious-Subconscious-Super conscious, and Mind-Body-Spirit.
The Mind-Body concept at first appears seemingly to be opposite. We have all heard of popular debates between brain-versus-brawn, jocks-versus-geeks, and looks versus personalities. Perhaps the reason why the spirit goes unnoticed is because the body and the mind are just too obvious to ignore. The body is concrete. We get confirmation of its existence on all sensory levels. The mind is also hard to ignore with its constant talking inside our heads. It's easy to see why the spirit got passed over when it is so naturally unassuming.
It dawned on me one morning why the mind could NEVER be the "yang" in the yin-yang relationship that exists within all of us. It happened one morning when I was enjoying an exhilarating walk looking at trees and clouds while breathing in the fresh air. As usual my mind was drifting from one subject to another...always thinking...like a constant humming of an AC in the background. However on that day, there wasn't much for me worry about. So for the first time in my life, I suddenly noticed how heavenly it was to have a "true quiet moment". My mind actually had nothing to say. It was eerily quiet. Someone had finally turned off the AC and its familiar constant humming was suddenly no longer there. It was only at this moment that I realize that the culprit that has been suppressing my spirit was actually my own mind all along.
I understand now that the mind could never be the spiritual part of ourselves. The mind's job is to create our individual realities. Each of us lives within a certain reality, and it is the job of the mind to maintain that reality. Certain realities are common knowledge, such as physical laws. Things fall to the ground because of gravity. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west because the earth rotates from east to west.
Other realities are more individually specific. For example an Asian male immigrant who had to abandon his native country when he was only nine would have a different perspective (and reality) than a black female who was raised in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. Whatever the circumstances maybe, the mind takes those circumstances and create a certain reality for each of us. Realities are nothing more than personal beliefs. The more we believe in something (whether it be true or not) the more real it seems to us.
I picture the mind as a self-contained maze that holds inside its walls both the yin and yang elements. How freely yin flows into yang and vice versa depends on how complicated the maze is. The less twists and turns we have built into our mazes, the easier the flow of our yin and yang energies. Of course, the yin and yang energies here refer to the energy of the body and the spirit. I have personally felt much more alive when my mind is quiet. There is no longer a barricade to impede the flow of yin and yang. The body respond quicker to the energy fed by the spirit. The spirit is also much more intuitive from all the sensory information it receives from the body. Pain and stiffness also seem to be things of the past. Qi and blood stagnation disappears when the mind stops ruminating.
We can "liberate" ourselves by simplifying our minds. The less cluttered the mind the easier is the energy flow. The easier the flow, the more we are in touch with our spiritual selves...or rather our actual TRUE selves. We can kick start this spiritual liberation by first taking our most rigid beliefs and make them flexible. Once they are flexible, they can be altered...and eventually even be eradicated.
In truth, true living is simply BE. There isn't much thought needed to live in a spiritual manner. I look to my cat for this inspiration. Every motion he makes is deliberate without much hesitation. He is tense when there is an unusual noise, but he is also able to relax completely when the threat is no longer there. He can go from deep sleep state into a state of full alert in a flash. And conversely he can go back to sleep within seconds after the threat is gone.Without the act of thinking, there is no hesitation going from one impulse to the next. There is only unimpeded flow.
Most of the stress we experience in our daily lives are caused by our own doing. The realities that we have constructed for ourselves are so convoluted, so twisted, so full of what-ifs, so full of "his faults" and "her faults", that the mind never has a chance to rest. It constantly has to process all the complications and facts we feed it because that is its job...to take our circumstances and our beliefs and put them all together into a cohesive reality. And when the mind is constantly talking, no one notices the spirit stuck waiting in the corner.
Yin and yang are polar opposites but they are always bound to one another, transforming into one another, and generating one another. What is not obvious is that in any yin-yang relationship there is always third force that holds the two opposing forces in check. Taken together, they represent the sublime relationship of the Holy Trinity. Some of the more well-known examples are Father-Son-Holy Spirit, Conscious-Subconscious-Super conscious, and Mind-Body-Spirit.
The Mind-Body concept at first appears seemingly to be opposite. We have all heard of popular debates between brain-versus-brawn, jocks-versus-geeks, and looks versus personalities. Perhaps the reason why the spirit goes unnoticed is because the body and the mind are just too obvious to ignore. The body is concrete. We get confirmation of its existence on all sensory levels. The mind is also hard to ignore with its constant talking inside our heads. It's easy to see why the spirit got passed over when it is so naturally unassuming.
It dawned on me one morning why the mind could NEVER be the "yang" in the yin-yang relationship that exists within all of us. It happened one morning when I was enjoying an exhilarating walk looking at trees and clouds while breathing in the fresh air. As usual my mind was drifting from one subject to another...always thinking...like a constant humming of an AC in the background. However on that day, there wasn't much for me worry about. So for the first time in my life, I suddenly noticed how heavenly it was to have a "true quiet moment". My mind actually had nothing to say. It was eerily quiet. Someone had finally turned off the AC and its familiar constant humming was suddenly no longer there. It was only at this moment that I realize that the culprit that has been suppressing my spirit was actually my own mind all along.
I understand now that the mind could never be the spiritual part of ourselves. The mind's job is to create our individual realities. Each of us lives within a certain reality, and it is the job of the mind to maintain that reality. Certain realities are common knowledge, such as physical laws. Things fall to the ground because of gravity. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west because the earth rotates from east to west.
Other realities are more individually specific. For example an Asian male immigrant who had to abandon his native country when he was only nine would have a different perspective (and reality) than a black female who was raised in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. Whatever the circumstances maybe, the mind takes those circumstances and create a certain reality for each of us. Realities are nothing more than personal beliefs. The more we believe in something (whether it be true or not) the more real it seems to us.
I picture the mind as a self-contained maze that holds inside its walls both the yin and yang elements. How freely yin flows into yang and vice versa depends on how complicated the maze is. The less twists and turns we have built into our mazes, the easier the flow of our yin and yang energies. Of course, the yin and yang energies here refer to the energy of the body and the spirit. I have personally felt much more alive when my mind is quiet. There is no longer a barricade to impede the flow of yin and yang. The body respond quicker to the energy fed by the spirit. The spirit is also much more intuitive from all the sensory information it receives from the body. Pain and stiffness also seem to be things of the past. Qi and blood stagnation disappears when the mind stops ruminating.
We can "liberate" ourselves by simplifying our minds. The less cluttered the mind the easier is the energy flow. The easier the flow, the more we are in touch with our spiritual selves...or rather our actual TRUE selves. We can kick start this spiritual liberation by first taking our most rigid beliefs and make them flexible. Once they are flexible, they can be altered...and eventually even be eradicated.
In truth, true living is simply BE. There isn't much thought needed to live in a spiritual manner. I look to my cat for this inspiration. Every motion he makes is deliberate without much hesitation. He is tense when there is an unusual noise, but he is also able to relax completely when the threat is no longer there. He can go from deep sleep state into a state of full alert in a flash. And conversely he can go back to sleep within seconds after the threat is gone.Without the act of thinking, there is no hesitation going from one impulse to the next. There is only unimpeded flow.
Most of the stress we experience in our daily lives are caused by our own doing. The realities that we have constructed for ourselves are so convoluted, so twisted, so full of what-ifs, so full of "his faults" and "her faults", that the mind never has a chance to rest. It constantly has to process all the complications and facts we feed it because that is its job...to take our circumstances and our beliefs and put them all together into a cohesive reality. And when the mind is constantly talking, no one notices the spirit stuck waiting in the corner.
Friday, September 6, 2013
A Friend's Mother
This is my first attempt at watercolor. The paper shrunk side-to-side more than top-to-bottom...making the subject appears thinner than the original drawing.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
A Single Breath...A Single Day
The monk Sakyamuni once asked his disciples, "What is the duration of a person's life?" Guesses of 60, 70, and 80 years were offered and all were rejected. The answer was that life is but a breath. If the atom is viewed as a unit building block of all matter, then perhaps a breath is a unit of life.
A single breath comprises of an inhalation and an exhalation...in and out...full and empty...yang and yin. It is complete in of itself. If you can truly live within the duration of a single breath, then past and future has no meaning whatsoever. Tea Masters can spend their whole lives performing thousands of tea ceremonies while striving to perfect that one flawless execution. Each of us can do the same by striving for that perfect breath...that perfect lifetime...over and over again.
Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about a simple guideline for good health. What I came up with initially were 4 criteria: adequate rest, adequate exercise, a healthy diet, and minimizing harmful stress. It was, for the lack of a better word, only "adequate". It lacks beauty and elegance...and worse of all, the number of criteria is 4.
So the problem was transferred to the back burner of the subconscious until the answer revealed itself to me yesterday. It was during my meditation on a Single Breath that made me realized that a Single Day is the unit of health.
A day opens with the rising of the sun which signifies the ending of yin and the beginning of yang. The day ends with the setting of the sun signifying the ending of yang and the beginning of yin. Yang and yin are not only complementary to each other, but they nourish one another. Without yang there is no yin and similarly the reverse is true.
During the day, the body needs to be in motion. Actually a healthy body WANTS to be in motion. This is how nature intends it. At night the healthy body wants to be at rest. If Qi and Blood flows effortlessly, then the body in motion during the day will nourish and generate "healthy yin" for later that night. Conversely, when the body is able to completely rest at night yin can nourish "healthy yang" for the next morning.
Our busy lifestyles and jam-packed schedules have corrupted the healthy cycle described above. The late night activities and inadequate sleep produce "scattered yang" instead of "healthy yang". Instead of having steady and vigorous energy that allows us to focus and complete daily tasks effortlessly, our days are filled with hopelessness, worries, and self-doubt while punctuated sporadically with episodes of panic and mania.
In turn, when we are unable have free flowing yang during the day, our yin turns turbid and pathological. Healthy yin is like water, clear and life giving. Turbid yin creates stagnation and heaviness. Without healthy yin, our minds are restless and our bodies feel sluggish and drained. We can't get rest the restful sleep that we need to nourish our yang...and the vicious cycle is perpetuated.
Returning to the discussion of a Single Day, we now have the yin and yang components of our day. The third component is the choices that we make. Like the yin-yang symbol with a white half and a black half bound within a circle, this "Single Day" unit of health is a relationship of 3...much more sublime than the first criteria set of 4.
The choices we make can keep us on a healthy track or take us down the vicious circle. These choices affect the creation of yin and yang throughout the day. These are choices relating to our diet, our emotions, and our reactions to events around us. These choices determine how much stress we put upon ourselves. The more stress we add to our day, the more off-track we are from getting our daily dose of "healthy yin" and "healthy yang". The choice...is entirely up to each of us.
A single breath comprises of an inhalation and an exhalation...in and out...full and empty...yang and yin. It is complete in of itself. If you can truly live within the duration of a single breath, then past and future has no meaning whatsoever. Tea Masters can spend their whole lives performing thousands of tea ceremonies while striving to perfect that one flawless execution. Each of us can do the same by striving for that perfect breath...that perfect lifetime...over and over again.
Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about a simple guideline for good health. What I came up with initially were 4 criteria: adequate rest, adequate exercise, a healthy diet, and minimizing harmful stress. It was, for the lack of a better word, only "adequate". It lacks beauty and elegance...and worse of all, the number of criteria is 4.
So the problem was transferred to the back burner of the subconscious until the answer revealed itself to me yesterday. It was during my meditation on a Single Breath that made me realized that a Single Day is the unit of health.
A day opens with the rising of the sun which signifies the ending of yin and the beginning of yang. The day ends with the setting of the sun signifying the ending of yang and the beginning of yin. Yang and yin are not only complementary to each other, but they nourish one another. Without yang there is no yin and similarly the reverse is true.
During the day, the body needs to be in motion. Actually a healthy body WANTS to be in motion. This is how nature intends it. At night the healthy body wants to be at rest. If Qi and Blood flows effortlessly, then the body in motion during the day will nourish and generate "healthy yin" for later that night. Conversely, when the body is able to completely rest at night yin can nourish "healthy yang" for the next morning.
Our busy lifestyles and jam-packed schedules have corrupted the healthy cycle described above. The late night activities and inadequate sleep produce "scattered yang" instead of "healthy yang". Instead of having steady and vigorous energy that allows us to focus and complete daily tasks effortlessly, our days are filled with hopelessness, worries, and self-doubt while punctuated sporadically with episodes of panic and mania.
In turn, when we are unable have free flowing yang during the day, our yin turns turbid and pathological. Healthy yin is like water, clear and life giving. Turbid yin creates stagnation and heaviness. Without healthy yin, our minds are restless and our bodies feel sluggish and drained. We can't get rest the restful sleep that we need to nourish our yang...and the vicious cycle is perpetuated.
Returning to the discussion of a Single Day, we now have the yin and yang components of our day. The third component is the choices that we make. Like the yin-yang symbol with a white half and a black half bound within a circle, this "Single Day" unit of health is a relationship of 3...much more sublime than the first criteria set of 4.
The choices we make can keep us on a healthy track or take us down the vicious circle. These choices affect the creation of yin and yang throughout the day. These are choices relating to our diet, our emotions, and our reactions to events around us. These choices determine how much stress we put upon ourselves. The more stress we add to our day, the more off-track we are from getting our daily dose of "healthy yin" and "healthy yang". The choice...is entirely up to each of us.
Friday, June 14, 2013
The 3 Onion Layers (part 1)
When treating patients it's helpful to group the origin of their pain from 3 sources: body, mind and spirit. Pain originating from the body tends to be the most acute and pain from the spirit most chronic. Injuries to the body may take days to months to heal. Injuries to the mind may take weeks to years to heal. And injuries to the spirit may take months to decades to heal.
Body injuries sustained from minor physical trauma (accidental cuts or falls) heal the fastest when there are no associated emotional trauma. Physical injuries sustained with an emotional trauma not only take longer to heal but may recur if the patient continues to have the same recurring mental distress. At the deepest level, illnesses originated from spiritual disharmony not only take the longest to heal but also are the hardest to diagnose.
In Chinese medicine, the concept of body, mind and spirit can be roughly translated in to wei, ying, and yuan Qi. For the sake of simple visualization, wei Qi may be thought as a large sphere enveloping the whole body; ying Qi a smaller sphere inside wei Qi, and yuan Qi, the smallest of all 3 spheres, reside at the center.
Repairing wei qi, or defensive qi, is relatively easy for any competent practitioner. The body natural tendency is to heal itself. This self-healing tendency is consistent with the nature of wei Qi, which regulates all automatic functions of the body. Wei Qi functions at the most basic level of life. Its restoration is almost assured if there is an adequate amount of air, water, food, and sleep. The 4 meridians that primarily regulate these basic life functions are Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, and Spleen. Heart meridian may be also included in this group because of its relationships with sleep.
Treating wei Qi doesn't require more than applying a few "broad strokes" on the "treatment canvas". If the problems are primarily yang in nature, use points on the yang side of the body (e.g. Taiyang points) and scalp acupuncture. If the problems are primarily yin in nature, use points on the yin side of the body and abdominal acupuncture. If the problems are predominantly Shaoyang (alternating between yin and yang), use Shaoyang points and auricular acupuncture...
Body injuries sustained from minor physical trauma (accidental cuts or falls) heal the fastest when there are no associated emotional trauma. Physical injuries sustained with an emotional trauma not only take longer to heal but may recur if the patient continues to have the same recurring mental distress. At the deepest level, illnesses originated from spiritual disharmony not only take the longest to heal but also are the hardest to diagnose.
In Chinese medicine, the concept of body, mind and spirit can be roughly translated in to wei, ying, and yuan Qi. For the sake of simple visualization, wei Qi may be thought as a large sphere enveloping the whole body; ying Qi a smaller sphere inside wei Qi, and yuan Qi, the smallest of all 3 spheres, reside at the center.
Repairing wei qi, or defensive qi, is relatively easy for any competent practitioner. The body natural tendency is to heal itself. This self-healing tendency is consistent with the nature of wei Qi, which regulates all automatic functions of the body. Wei Qi functions at the most basic level of life. Its restoration is almost assured if there is an adequate amount of air, water, food, and sleep. The 4 meridians that primarily regulate these basic life functions are Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, and Spleen. Heart meridian may be also included in this group because of its relationships with sleep.
Treating wei Qi doesn't require more than applying a few "broad strokes" on the "treatment canvas". If the problems are primarily yang in nature, use points on the yang side of the body (e.g. Taiyang points) and scalp acupuncture. If the problems are primarily yin in nature, use points on the yin side of the body and abdominal acupuncture. If the problems are predominantly Shaoyang (alternating between yin and yang), use Shaoyang points and auricular acupuncture...
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Yin Yang and the Tao
The subject of Yin, Yang, and the Tao can fill a whole library. It is a vast subject deserving much more discussion than a length of a blog entry. However, I do wish to share a personal perspective on the subject.
Lately I have been experimenting with creating my own Qi Gong exercises, that not only promote physical health but at the same time carry a symbolic gesture of the nature of the universe. In effect I was hoping to emulate the macrocosm of the Universe in my own body microcosm.
What I stumbled upon was an exercise of "contraction and expansion" or probably better described as an exercise of "Yin and Yang". Synchronizing this exercise with my own breathing was instinctively easy...the ease of which also led me to another synchronicity.
Let's begin to examine this model with the question of why we are here. What is the purpose for any one of us to be on this planet? Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." It is a reminder that we are more than just our body. Our "roots" are much more divine than we think.
As spirits we are limitless. As spirits, we can be anything, be anywhere, or create anything by merely think it. It is an omnipresent and an omnipotent state of being. It is a state of ultimate freedom. However, as spirits we would not be able to "feel" this ultimate freedom, because in the spiritual realm we would never experience confinement. We would never able to experience this feeling of "ultimate freedom" because the state of "non-freedom" doesn't exist in that realm.
It is through the human experience that we can achieve what we could not as spirits. By voluntarily putting ourselves within the limitation of a physical body, we are able to know what freedom really means. Only by existing in a state of "limit-full" that we are finally in awe of something "limitless". As humans we would look to the heaven yearning to be near God or to be with God. As humans we are deeply immersed within our yin nature and we yearn to be again with our yang nature.
As spirits, we have a similar yearning to be with our yin nature. As spirits, we are pure yang with no anchor. We have power but no substance. We have energy but no mass. As spirits, we yearn for the yin aspect of the human experiences...the joy and the love as well as the pain and sorrow. It is the yin nature of our human experiences that gives meaning to the energy and power of our yang nature. This yearning is the drive that propels the cycle. It is the the Way. It is the Tao.
Our yin, mortal, human existence is equally as important as our yang, spiritual, immortal state. As we move from one state to the other and back again, we are also growing spiritually. The experiences that we gather during our many lifetimes help us to expand spiritually along with the expansion of the Universe. Our physical bodies may grow, wither and die, but the experiences that we gain while inside those bodies are never lost. As the Universe breathes in, so do we. When it is time for the Universe to breath out, so will we.
It is an endless cycle of change, of growth, and eventually of rebirth...not unlike the expansion and contraction cycle of the Universe itself.
The One gave birth to Two
Two gave birth to Three
and Three gave birth to the Myriad of all things...
...so said the Tao Te Ching
Lately I have been experimenting with creating my own Qi Gong exercises, that not only promote physical health but at the same time carry a symbolic gesture of the nature of the universe. In effect I was hoping to emulate the macrocosm of the Universe in my own body microcosm.
What I stumbled upon was an exercise of "contraction and expansion" or probably better described as an exercise of "Yin and Yang". Synchronizing this exercise with my own breathing was instinctively easy...the ease of which also led me to another synchronicity.
Let's begin to examine this model with the question of why we are here. What is the purpose for any one of us to be on this planet? Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." It is a reminder that we are more than just our body. Our "roots" are much more divine than we think.
As spirits we are limitless. As spirits, we can be anything, be anywhere, or create anything by merely think it. It is an omnipresent and an omnipotent state of being. It is a state of ultimate freedom. However, as spirits we would not be able to "feel" this ultimate freedom, because in the spiritual realm we would never experience confinement. We would never able to experience this feeling of "ultimate freedom" because the state of "non-freedom" doesn't exist in that realm.
It is through the human experience that we can achieve what we could not as spirits. By voluntarily putting ourselves within the limitation of a physical body, we are able to know what freedom really means. Only by existing in a state of "limit-full" that we are finally in awe of something "limitless". As humans we would look to the heaven yearning to be near God or to be with God. As humans we are deeply immersed within our yin nature and we yearn to be again with our yang nature.
As spirits, we have a similar yearning to be with our yin nature. As spirits, we are pure yang with no anchor. We have power but no substance. We have energy but no mass. As spirits, we yearn for the yin aspect of the human experiences...the joy and the love as well as the pain and sorrow. It is the yin nature of our human experiences that gives meaning to the energy and power of our yang nature. This yearning is the drive that propels the cycle. It is the the Way. It is the Tao.
Our yin, mortal, human existence is equally as important as our yang, spiritual, immortal state. As we move from one state to the other and back again, we are also growing spiritually. The experiences that we gather during our many lifetimes help us to expand spiritually along with the expansion of the Universe. Our physical bodies may grow, wither and die, but the experiences that we gain while inside those bodies are never lost. As the Universe breathes in, so do we. When it is time for the Universe to breath out, so will we.
It is an endless cycle of change, of growth, and eventually of rebirth...not unlike the expansion and contraction cycle of the Universe itself.
The One gave birth to Two
Two gave birth to Three
and Three gave birth to the Myriad of all things...
...so said the Tao Te Ching
Saturday, January 5, 2013
A tribute to Thia McKann
I had hoped to capture the essence of Thia Mckann, who suddenly left this world on Christmas day 2012. Among many things, Thia was a Tea Master, a colorful personality, and a mystic. She and her husband Chris started The Path of Tea, a tea shop in Houston.
The kanji cha-do roughly translates to "the way of tea" or "the path of tea". The calligraphy is written on parchment paper designed as a serving mat for tea. The Japanese script on the second line reads "Ki no O- cha sensei", which translate to "spirit of great Tea Master".
Thia's face is a collage of origami paper. Thia's kimono and the crane-background paper are thick specialty paper from the Paper Source. Thia's hair is made from various kinds of paper, which includes origami, construction, dyed cotton paper, and the same paper used for her kimono and the background.
The kanji cha-do roughly translates to "the way of tea" or "the path of tea". The calligraphy is written on parchment paper designed as a serving mat for tea. The Japanese script on the second line reads "Ki no O- cha sensei", which translate to "spirit of great Tea Master".
Thia's face is a collage of origami paper. Thia's kimono and the crane-background paper are thick specialty paper from the Paper Source. Thia's hair is made from various kinds of paper, which includes origami, construction, dyed cotton paper, and the same paper used for her kimono and the background.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
12/12/12
For most people, today is just another Wednesday. For me I plan it like National Holiday. It's the last "triple-digit" date until 01/01/01 in 2101...another 89 years.
What I did was a little bit of singing in the morning, a little of playing on the keyboard, a little bit of drawing, a little bit of video editing, a little bit rock climbing, a little bit of trumpet blowing, a little bit of running, and a little of going out to eat and shop. I was looking for a perfect (and cheap) drawing board. Who would have thought that I'd found it at IKEA!
What I did was a little bit of singing in the morning, a little of playing on the keyboard, a little bit of drawing, a little bit of video editing, a little bit rock climbing, a little bit of trumpet blowing, a little bit of running, and a little of going out to eat and shop. I was looking for a perfect (and cheap) drawing board. Who would have thought that I'd found it at IKEA!
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