Buddhism, Daoism  –  Criticism!

This week I was called out by one of my students for mocking Buddhism!

I really don’t think that was my intention, but clearly, that’s how it came out in my student’s opinion.

This has been an interesting year for me.
I have spent much time contemplating the nature of the Universe!

I’m not sure that there’s any other game in town.
Having considered many religions, paths and forms and having read book and articles from every leading mind on every aspect of Religion and Spirituality, I find myself in my current position.

I’ll state as clearly as I can the following:-
I believe that I am consciousness. (That would probably translate as god to many people)
I believe that you are god too, and in so saying I see no separation between you and I.
I look into your eyes, and I see me. Your soul is my soul.
We are all nature, there is NO separation.
I hurt you, I hurt myself – I hurt Nature, I hurt myself.
Tat Tvam Asi – from Sanskrit, meaning “I am That” – Heaven and Earth all as one,  

Consciousness

Consciousness is One.
To experience itself, it needed a vehicle through which to explore and grow.
We are that.
We consider the image of a mirror, folded back to reflect itself, not a true 3D, but an approximation of it, and so this life we lead isn’t actually “real” – but it certainly seems that way.

Can you prove that “Reality” as we know it, is real?
(It’s a famous thought experiment – can you prove that you are not just a brain in a jar, being streamed data? It seems, smells and feels right, but what if it’s all a scam, and you are just a brain in a jar!?)

We believe in Science and Religion – the truth is that our castles are all built on sand.
If you can’t prove the most basic ground, then something like science is just hard-packed facts, that have compacted into a set of ideas, all built on sand.
Religion is believed, because generation after generation have believed in the ones before them, but hard fact is impossible to come by.

Why bother?

Why bother doing anything then, if it’s all some sort of game!?
Well…
We humans LIKE to keep ourselves busy!
There are fascinating clues hidden to this new possibility…and
The bulk of us humans are really lovely and helpful people.

As a side note, I was thinking about “Peace” – when I visited China, and America, I was astonished to realise that a country’s politics have little or nothing to do with its peoples.
Such amazing people everywhere… just horrible politicians!
I remember hearing that in Northern Island, only about 7% of the people actually supported the violence there.
Using that sort of idea might suggest that spread throughout our world of 7 billion people, there might only be 100 million who even vaguely support some sort of violent regime.
That’s an astonishing Idea! There are significantly more peaceful people on earth by more than a factor of ten or eleven to one, who would rather have peace!
We are actually living in a time of supreme peace.
(It’s just that our Media never lets us forget the violence. Fear sells news..)

The Game

How does the “Game” of life work then?
I suggest that time flows when we are alive, and that time stops when we die.
The essence of us continues forever.

It’s a Universe of Free Will. If I decided that I’m going to reincarnate, why not!?
If I decide that there are Aliens – Yes, it shall be so! (I feel that the more “consciousnesses” that focus on an idea, the more likely it is to become true..)
Near Death Experiences – YES! Levitation, why not!?
Life after Death, rebirth, the circle of life – yes to it all.

If the game of Life includes the game of Death too, this all starts to make more sense. Yin becomes Yang, becomes Yin. Day turns to Night to be followed by the next Day..
We instinctively understand the circular nature of our existence.

Many people can’t be bothered to examine the game, they live, they die, they.. move onto whatever they believed in, or whatever the default setting is..

Some people wake up but remain inside the dream – this is understanding how the Game-state is, but never really escaping it.
Again, why bother!? If you live your life as an “adult” in the game, rather than the bulk of people who experience the game like (angry) children, then you’ll probably navigate the Game much more happily.

Spirituality

Spirituality is the current tool that offers some chance to mature to Adulthood.
It has to be said that an awful lot of spirituality is concocted to keep you asleep, to keep you in your “childhood” – especially if there’s a way for somebody to make money out of it!

I remember a friend who followed an inspirational “life coach” all over the world, Firewalking in Hawaii, Swimming through long tunnels in The Cayman Islands.
She spent nearly $100,000 on her “journey”
I asked her if she’s learned anything. She replied “Yes, a little, but not $100,000 worth by any means…  I have however discovered how to make oneself a multi-millionaire!”

So many paths tell you that you have to climb the “tree structure” to the top, where you’ll eventually find enlightenment. Other tell you that you have to cut away every aspect of you, to get to enlightenment.

I have read lots about the subject and have come to the sincere opinion that it finds you, and you can’t “make it happen” – as one of my students said “It’s in the Gift of God”
Interesting idea, seeing as how I feel I am god!

Layer upon Layer

As I write, I see the layers of this story.
I never meant to be nasty to Buddhists, but I find it fascinating to see various south east Asian counties go up in flames, and watch Buddhists killing each other..
I look at Buddhism and wonder why five hundred million people follow this path, yet there are only a handful of enlightened teachers..
The same is true of any religious path.

My instinct is that through thousands of years the “Truth” has become lost in the ceremony and writings..
Am I then being critical of Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity and the likes?
I think the answer is YES.

Alternative path..

If this is the case, I have to offer an alternative.
I think simplicity is the alternative.
I think standing in silent meditation is great, I think doing Qigong for an hour is great, I think taking simple exercises every day is great, I think that we need to withdraw ourselves from the stress of our lives (because it really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans..)

If you could Practice Qigong for an hour every morning, if you could find yourself an hour’s quiet calm exercises every day (walking, swimming or cycling) and spend an hour before bed in standing meditation, I’d suggest that your life would become beautiful, you’d become seriously healthy and balanced.
I would suggest that if anybody had put themselves in the path of enlightenment, then that would be you. Never seeking it, but keeping the ground fertile and your arms wide open.

Again, why bother?
I think this prescription will lead you to total happiness and “Adulthood” where your understanding of the Dreamstate we are, in will clarify.

Visualisation

In my meditations, I often speak of an idea given to me by my dear, departed friend, the Barefoot Doctor. He suggested that I sit or stand quietly, and imagine myself like a reclining buddha, sitting at the back of a cave. The cave is my head, my little buddha sits at the back and gazes out of the “windows and door” of the eyes and mouth.
You view the world outside, and feel detached, sitting at the back of your lovely cave.
I suggest in this guided meditation, you then gently move backwards out of your body, until you can view your physical self in front of you. This is a great place to send healing into “the body” in front of you. You are now consciousness viewing the physical world.
Try to draw yourself back from your conscious-self, and see what true Universality feels like!
Now we are getting there!

It sounds like “Out with the old, in with the New!”
It’s my true belief that if we are to save humanity, we need a new perspective from which to achieve this. Politics will never get rid of the Atomic threat. War has never and will never solve our problems.

We require that 90% of peaceful people begin accessing their conscious selves regularly.

In so doing, the course of humanity will change, and we will evolve to become “Homo Spiritualis”

When we sit in total consciousness, we do however find that nothing is EVER wrong!

Everything that we go through as humans is just another lesson for Consciousness.

It doesn’t matter!

In short, it doesn’t really matter whether we evolve or the whole planet explodes..
Consciousness will just find a new way to experience itself as it has done before (if folklore is to be believed then humanity has had several cracks at this and has repeatedly exploded in a puff of smoke. Try researching the legends of Lemuria or Atlantis.. seemingly iterations of humans who climbed to the technological peaks, before wiping themselves off the face of the Earth, just as we are poised to do..ho hum!)

Do I mock Buddhists then?
No, I just don’t think that a life dedicated to meditation is a way of awakening to “adulthood”
Exactly the same as a life dedicated to Qigong.
A life dedicated to Triathlons is JUST as daft.
We require balance in our lives.
The point I was making to my class is that to abdicate responsibility, and take up a life of daily meditation, is to give up living.
I think we MUST live a conscious life and participate in the health and happiness of ourselves and our beautiful planet.

Contemplation and Ancient clues..

For me, Contemplation is far more powerful than Meditation.
Everything has its place. Qigong trains the body, Meditation trains the mind, and contemplation is the tool to see your way to Adulthood and beyond.

But only do this if you fancy! There’s nobody pushing you!

The clues left for us by ancient civilisations?
The “OM” symbol is a great one.
It has three curves, that represent Sleeping, Dreaming and Awakening (into Adulthood)
It then has the line drawn between “Man” and “God”
The symbol is a challenge, thrown down to you by the ancients..
Break out of your sleep, discover that you are “Truth” and so find the path to your own understanding of “Everything”
It’s a very simple task, made difficult by thousands of years of people trying, writing, making up weird paths and challenges.
The truth is that you are ALREADY there! You are already god!
(as one writer put it – “There’s only one sin in the whole Universe, and that’s NOT knowing that you are already GOD!”)

You don’t need Gurus, teachers and religions.. just contemplate and do it yourself!
When the ground is eventually prepared, who knows what’ll grow.

Blessing to you all!

Jeremy