Singapore, Dakinis, & High Priests. .
. . . .just returned from Singapore, and as usual it was a fantastic trip. Traveling where I travel and seeing what I see is no mistake. It is a giant jigsaw puzzle of a world, and it moves together piece by piece into a form, which slowly becomes clear.
While I was away I had the chance to read a few books. Two in particular had a sizeable impact on me. The first was ‘High Priest’ by the late, great, Timothy Leary. The second was a quick read called ‘enlightenment blues’ and chronicled a student who had spent well over twelve Years with a man called Andrew Cohen. Some of you may be familiar with Andrew as he is the editor of WIE magazine (what is enlightenment), and has had numerous public dialogues with Ken Wilbur. I never liked Andrew’s teaching, or methodology. But after reading these two books together, the distinction between a true genius and visionary prophet like Leary, and the confused egocentric teachings of someone like Cohen, became crystal clear.
So like my entry on my recent Germany & Scotland trip I will intersperse a day by day account of my visit to Singapore with some of the ideas that sprouted up from these two contrasting pieces of literature.
O Muses, O great genius, aid me now!
O memory that wrote down what I saw, here shall your noble character be shown.
- Dante
Singapore Day #1 - Lakshmi’s blessing. . . .
It’s been a 24 hour trip. . .it is about 2am I just arrived an hour or so ago in Singapore. It is hot, humid, and good to be back. I am walking from my hotel to a small shop to get some late night food. I am stopped along the way and my attempts to get back to the pool are halted. A young women asks my name and asks me quite matter of factly if I have any idea why humans are on this planet? I figure it must be some sort of trick question, and I am also a little taken back by the sudden turn the conversation has taken, (though at this point in my life not completely surprised) and decline an answer. Honestly I say, “I have no idea”. She then precedes to show me her necklace, it is the Goddess Lakshmi, a popular Indian vision of the divine as she is supposed to bring wealth and good fortune to the home and family.
She precedes to tell me all about Lakshmi, and I nod as if I have no real idea what she is talking about. . .I think about half way through she gathered that perhaps I did, and smiling asks if there is anything I would ask her for if she was here now?. . . “No” I say, but I appreciate the consideration. . . .She asks me if I have read Tolstoy? “No, I have not, why?”. . . She say’s “Tolstoy knew that we need to remember that knowing that we don’t know is really knowing". . . and I take that as a clear sign to be quiet. . . . . . .back to the pool.
It will be one of ‘those’ trips.
“We are two billion year old carriers of the light, born not of blood, or the will of man, or the will of the flesh, but of light that flashed in the pre-Cambrian mud, the Light made flesh.”
-Timothy Leary
Leary was the golden boy of modern psychology. Noted Harvard professor, and keeper of the established patterns. That is until the Year 1960 in Cuerenavaca Mexico. It was there that he first took part in the sacrament of the Native Indian religion in the area. Here is his description of that experience:
“I discovered that beauty, revelation, sensuality, the cellular history of the past, God, the Devil, all exist inside my body, outside my mind.”
Liquor is known to contract consciousness and spawn a lot of violence and abuse. What Leary was talking about had quite the opposite effect. According to Leary, he learned more in the eight hours that followed the experience, then he had in the previous 20 Years of studying and teaching psychology. From that day forward he knew he would not be able to play the same society games. He was too honest, and too authentic of a human being to do anything other then move forward, and tell the truth along the way.
In that Leary joined a long and distinguished American tradition which carried on the path forged previously by men like George Fox (founder of the Quakers), William James, and Harry A Murray.
The essence of ecstasy, the essence of orgasm, and the essence of true religion is identical. It is about letting go of the concepts of power and control. It is about Surrender. Tim Leary was finding that out first hand.
The old games will always be with us;
Spontaneity vs. Control
Freedom vs. Structure
Love vs. Isolation
Day #2 - See Nothing But Link Points. . . .
I spent the entire day on the beach at a little island of the coast of Singapore called “Sentosa”. It was once a British Military stronghold. Now it is a popular beach resort. After a solid 5-6 hours on the beach I headed over to little India, a large Indian area of Singapore that has several spectacular Hindu temples. For the next few hours I sat in the corner of the large temple devoted to Kali and I observed the locals in their devotional practices, and the confused tourists wondering what the hell this place was all about. The temple was always teaming with life, kids playing, men praying, women offering garlands, and the priest reading his paper against the wall.
Andrew Cohen is an author that claims to have had a complete awakening experience after meeting the famous Indian teacher Papaji. When he came back home to the USA he talked about a spiritual revolution. He claims to have challenged the religious status quo, and asked his former Buddhist meditation teacher to engage him in a Dharma debate. Things quickly turn bad, and his famous quote explains the backwards ideology he becomes known for:
“Everybody wants to be enlightened, but nobody wants to change.”
-Andrew Cohen
And with that confused perception he sets himself and those that listen to him on a path of suffering.
He begins creating a Sangha where he says he will make “a testing ground, where everyone finds out exactly how serious they are.” His message begins changing from the radically pure perception of Papaji’s original teaching of liberation, to one of evolution, change, and ‘purification’.
During one of his talks a women stands up and asks, “What about how harsh you are with people you claim are falling short? Shouldn’t we be more loving and supportive with each other?”
Andrew responds, “You sound like one of those new age freaks that speaks about love and nurturing. You know how I feel about that.” He laughs a strange cackling laugh, runs his finger across his throat in a gross gesture and says, “I don’t like unconditional Love, Love always has to be earned.”
And from that point forward Andrew Cohen is lost down the dark path of egocentric nonsense.
It is particularly interesting that Ken Wilbur has given him as much of his attention as he has over the Years. I would highly recommend the long dialogues the two share, which can be downloaded on the net. I think all of it will be self evident if you listen awake.
Day #3 The Bird picks Shiva. . . .
That evening after I returned from little India we had a great dinner at one of Singapore’s many fantastic restaurants. We shared dinner that night with a local architect and his description of the thing that can’t be described, and the attempt to place that within a building, was really interesting. It was about using structure as a metaphor for the absolute. And then having to explain that value, that quality, to those that hold the purse strings on the buildings. All in all I can see how challenging a job that must actually be. The objective, as always, seems to be about bringing that Dynamic Quality to a fixed project, building, or piece of Art. It gives the thing itself a value it would otherwise never have, and even if someone doesn’t understand the whys of it, they can still feel it, and know they like it.
We also talked about religion and the cultures it comes from. It seems obvious to me that there is a certain value in adapting and understanding the religious symbols that come from a culture outside ones own.
In other words it is easy to be a Buddhist in Nepal, a Muslim in Pakistan, a Hindu in Madras, and a Christian in Alabama. But I think that stepping outside your own cultures religion can have the same effect that traveling outside your own Countries boarders can have. It broadens your conceptual borders, and increases your understanding of the world as a whole. You have a chance to break free of the cultural conditioning, and an opportunity to question all of the assumed beliefs. It is a good thing.
People will always claim their religion, their cultures religion, offers all the same tools, and truths. So why look elsewhere? But that is only truly known by those who have looked outside their own belief system. It is simply an assumption otherwise. The assumption is based on a particular understanding, or perspective, on that religion that we falsely assume is the accurate one. If unquestioned and unexamined the individual is fated to live and die in the same ignorance.
That is why it seems so obvious that the most crucial thing we can ever suggest to others or ourselves is to Question Absolutely Everything. . . .every belief, every idea, every piece of dogma. . . .every-thing.
The next day we went back to little India and spent the afternoon there. We walked by an old fortuneteller, and she asked my to lift up the small birdcage on her table. . . .she gave it a tap, and a small green bird waddles out and picks up a small Chinese envelope out of a group of about 20 or so laid out across the table. She hands it to me and asks me to open it. . . .it is a large picture of Shiva. She then asks me to lean over, taps my head, does some blessing, and sends me on my way.
Oddly enough I had another older man come up to me a few hours later while I was shopping. . .he was staring up at me with a very stern look, as if he was looking over a pair of reading glasses. I figured he would ask me how tall I was, or if I play basketball. Instead he said pointed at me and said, Shiva will help you. . .and walked off.
Ah-so, just another day in little India.
I think the question to ask is this, Who is Andrew judging? From my own personal experience the further I go within, the less judgmental I am. The more I realize, the less I measure. After all, who is their to judge. . .literally? Conditioned, or biological patterns? Causality? It doesn’t make sense. When I really look for the source to judge, I find to no source present.
Do you?
So in that it seems fitting Andrew named the magazine ‘What Is Enlightenment’, because it is very clear he has absolutely no idea. Andrews’s main focus was behavior, and his idea was that one must ‘evolve’ into a more perfect state. That is of course completely backwards.
First of all, It is perspective/ understanding/ realization which changes actions. . . not the other way around.
Many people, Andrew included, see that inside out.
And in that they create a image, which by it’s very nature serves as an obstruction to actual realization. Andrew’s ‘Only matters what you do’ slogan is a fascist mantra for a confused mind.
Secondly, Judgment of others is always a form of projection if offered without invitation and outside the spirit of love. . . .but only always.
In saying that it does not mean that ‘discrimination’ is not a useful skill. But that is very different from the mental creation of an-other who is ‘evil’, corrupt, bad, weak, (insert favorite judgment here).
Discrimination says for health and well being at this time it is better not to, or to, engage with this energy. . . . .judgment says, this person is a (blank). And by it’s very nature creates an ‘ego’ a ‘you’ who is better then that person at that time. . . . . .judgment is arrogance, pride, and elitism. . . .always.
One. . .discrimination, allows you to stay open, truthful, and loving.
The other. . .judgment, closes you off, is built on a lie (an-other), and cuts you off from Love.
Contrast that teaching with Tim Leary’s single social code. . . . .
‘You have the right to do anything you want, so long as you don’t lay your trip on anyone else. No one has the right to force himself, or his trip, on someone else.’
This was arrived at not through reading written symbols on paper. . .but rather through first person experiential realization of his own inter-connected nature. Forcing yourself, your ideas, your body, your energy, on any other being against their will is ignorance. That was the whole of his social suggestions. Timothy Leary points to Truth and turns the lamp inward.
It’s good if we define the term “trip”.
Invading someone’s space, or affecting his or her person is obviously not proper. But also, if I say to someone that they are not meeting their “potential”, I am laying my trip on them. If I tell them they need to set “goals”, I am laying my trip on them. If I try and manipulate them for some personal gain, then I am laying my trip on them. If I keep yapping about my ideas, my religion, my dogma, my version of ‘values’, ‘rules’, or any other assorted nonsense, without any previous invitation. . .(remember you logged on to this page, and read this far). . . then I am laying my trip on them. Maybe ‘I’ am not meeting my potential, maybe ‘I’ need to set “goals”, maybe ‘I’ need to sort out my ideas. . .but I don’t have the right to tell anyone else what they should be doing. And in attempting to do so I am automatically confused. . .my awareness now split. . . outwards, it becomes schizophrenic. . . It is ignorance.
What a huge difference between that pure message, and the convoluted understanding of someone like Cohen. One comes from a clear, lucid, wise, dynamic place. . . .and the other comes from a contracted and ignorant state.
Timothy Leary points to Truth and turns the lamp inward. Andrew Cohen points to the same backward theology that all fundamentalists have.
I realize the irony in that it may seem like I am judging Andrew harshly here, but let me be clear. . .I don’t think there is actually an “Andrew” to judge. Rather, I think there is a set of conditioned patterns, a set of ideas and concepts that is upside down and confused. And in that I realize that there is indeed a part of me that can become the “power tripper” telling others what they should, or should not do. Or measuring myself against others at all times. . .judging, tabulating, and confirming my own assumptions about their ‘character’. I realize fully that is all within me. But I also know that is never the ‘healthy’ route to take. And as such, I have rejected it, flat out. Because of some grace, which has been given, I know only enough to know for a fact that what I describe above is not Love. And that is enough motive for me to leave it behind.
“Existential means you study natural events as they unfold without prejudging them with your own concepts. It is about Surrender.” -Tim Leary
Day #4 Texas versus the competition. . . .
This morning I had breakfast by the pool. I watched an older man from Texas, probably in his late 50’s, racing a young Chinese girl who was probably about 10 Years old across the pool. He would keep pace, just ahead of her, until they got right up to the finish. Then he would back off at the last second letting her touch the wall first. . .and in a proper Texas accent say, “I can’t believe you beat me again!”. . . . .the girl would jump out of the pool, do a small victory dance in a state of pure joy. . .and they would go again. He must have raced her at least 10 times. It was a nice breakfast.
The book on Cohen was written by a Dutch man named Andre van der Braak. He obviously had a lot of affection for Andrew and his teaching, spending 12 Years of his life working for him. But his stories, and those of other former members of Andrew’s Sangha (and there are many) are all too familiar. Involving himself in their personal lives, matchmaking, or forbidding, sexual contact with his members. Humiliating, berating, insulting, and exploiting his members. And having many of them shave their heads, while he maintains his perfect 1975 village people hair and mustache look. . . . it’s sad, but not surprising.
I can’t help but imagine two rooms. . . .
Room number one is filled with the likes of Tim Leary, Ram Dass, Robert Thurman, Byron Katie, Alan Watts (probably being propped up by some young women after one two many Vodkas), and many others.
Room number two is filled with the likes of Andrew Cohen, Dr Phil, Jerry Falwell, and other confused and twisted bureaucrats.
I think of room number one and I think, what a party! I could spend Years in conversation in there!
I think of room number two and I imagine that scene from the movie I Heart Huckabees, where Mark Walberg looks over at Albert after they quickly leave the crazy family having dinner and he says,
“Wow. . . what’s going on in there?!”. . . . . .”pheew”. . . . . .exactly.
Day #5 Time to Work. . . .
Seminar all day, great crew. . .good day.
When you believe your thoughts you suffer. When you question your thoughts you can realize freedom.
It’s here NOW, it is not about action, sacrifice, effort, or evolution. . . .it IS about TRUTH.
And the Truth shall set you Free.
“True renunciation is to realize that the senses are innately pure, and that one is the image of the universe.”
Day #6 Caught in a Raid. . . .
There is nothing quite like a Singapore PD raid of a nightclub we are relaxing in. Stuck inside for an hour or so as the club is searched, we observed two large packs of males engaging in some ritual behavior.
One pack was clearly French, and began singing very loud renditions of the banana boat song. The heavier set males where American, and followed with loud screaming and yelping noises. Emissaries where sent between the two tribes, and a gift of alcohol was exchanged. . . . .National Geographic has nothing on club scenes.
I turned the news on when I got home. BBC Asia, there was a riot in Pakistan, the women had been protesting a ban on females participating in sports or marathons. . . they where running along in full religious gear. . .long skirts, hot sun. . .until the Government vans pulled up. . .beat them, and then arrested them.
This was followed by a story in the paper regarding the religious police in Saudi Arabia (yes there is such a thing), they showed up at a girls school which was on fire. The girls came running out, but had forgotten to put on their head covers. The Morality Patrol shut the remaining little girls in before they could commit the same sin, a dozen burned to death. Strange but true. . .just don’t hear much of those stories here at home. Oh, also they are boiling people alive in Uzbekistan, which turns out to be in very good standing with the current Administration of the USA. A few minutes later they showed Bush holding hands with the Saudi Prince. . . . . .yep, an upside down world.
Andrew's mantra which he still teaches is:
Doesn’t matter what you think
Doesn’t matter what you feel
Only matters what you do.
But that is completely backwards. . . literally.
People do things because they feel a certain way. They feel it will accomplish some task, create some prosperity, create some pleasure, and have some desired effect. They feel it, so the belief is justified, rationalized, by the feeling. The feeling is caused by the thought. . . .they work together but clearly feeling precedes acting.
People ‘feel’ a certain way because they think something. They hold to, attach to, a specific thought, or story. Some imagined future, or remembered past. And it is that story, that thought, which causes the “feeling”. So clearly thought precedes feeling.
So logically if we try and realize transformation through action we are attacking the problem upside down.
We are pulling on the wrong end of the rope, and we cant climb out of the hole that way. It is a hamster wheel. We may run and run, and get very tired, but we never actually go anywhere.
So to effect behavior, in any ‘genuine’, ‘authentic’ sense of that word, then we need to question the thoughts which create the feeling which causes the action. That is right side up.
Examination, Realization, Transformation. In that order.
Day #7 Liberation in Indochine. . . .
Went to the beach, swam to an island. Went to another temple. Was a Shiva temple. . .was there for the service. Brahmin doing the offerings, music being played, musicians dropping out. . . .found a very cool club called Indochine. . .tuned into a good place. . . . . . . . . Day 8 – 9 equals the same. . . end of the Trip.
Anything hidden, anything left in, or pushed to, a shadow. . .will find a way to make its presence known. So EVERYTHING has to be brought into the light, and only the individual themselves can do this. Once light is thrown on it (examination), then we can use complete honesty to understand it, and where it arises from (realization). That changes everything from the inside out. Which is not upside down, but right side up.
When I am looking for Truth I am always looking for any teaching which focuses around Inquiry. Not actions, repression, or rules. If I don’t search for inquiry first that I am attacking the problem back to front, which is not rational.
I also know that the teaching must always be focused inward. Not in any form of judgment of an-other, or even perception of another, but always of ones self. So the Inquiry is always Self Inquiry.
I also know that conversation of it should be on an invitation only basis. As in someone reading this blog. But at no time can any personal trip, or adopted belief system, be thrown on to another individual. I have no right to do that. Nobody does.
Finally I know that any true teaching will emphasize Love as the one Eternal Absolute. I don’t know this because I read it. That is not knowing, that is remembering a symbol. To know is to know, and always first person alone.
The gift of any such experience is that when intellectual doubts are raised by the mind on questions related to the absolute, the experience gives the individual the ability and desire to inquire and search into why the paradox seems to exist. It looks into what the mind doubts, as compared to what the individual themselves experienced first hand. Without the benefit of previous first hand experiences the paradoxes brought up by the teachings will not be seen clearly as they have only read or heard of such experiences, never realized one first hand. So when the doubts arise, they may stop short the process. People who have seen another side may recognize the paradox, but also know that there IS a solution to it. They know this because they have experienced it. And that pushes them further.
Is it conceivable that the problem isn’t reality, but rather the way we may see that reality? And if we see that reality in a different way, that this in and of itself is what changes reality? It is pretty far out there I know. Especially when compared with the dominant societies culture. It has always been pretty far out there. It is not the wide road, it is the narrow one. It always has been.
Suffering is a story about that past, and the best part about that is that it is always over.
So many times we have defined ourselves through pride in some very vein desire. But what is lasting is not external of the self, it could not be. So it cannot be lost or gained. Bargained with, improved, or built up. It cannot be willed into existence, overcome with power, or controlled through fear or greed. It cannot come and go. If it is lasting, then by that very definition it is infinite. And if it is infinite then by its very definition it is here now, before, after, and always. . . . .NOW.
Everything is IT
IT is everything
You are IT
Here is a Zen riddle for you:
An old woman built a hermitage for a monk and supported him for twenty years. One day, to test the extent of the enlightenment the old women sent a beautiful young girl to the hut with orders to seduce him. When the girl embraced the monk and asked, “How is this?” The monk replied sternly, “A withered tree among frozen rocks; not a trace of warmth for three winters.” Hearing the monk’s response, the old woman chased him out and put the hermitage to the torch.
WHY?
While I was away I had the chance to read a few books. Two in particular had a sizeable impact on me. The first was ‘High Priest’ by the late, great, Timothy Leary. The second was a quick read called ‘enlightenment blues’ and chronicled a student who had spent well over twelve Years with a man called Andrew Cohen. Some of you may be familiar with Andrew as he is the editor of WIE magazine (what is enlightenment), and has had numerous public dialogues with Ken Wilbur. I never liked Andrew’s teaching, or methodology. But after reading these two books together, the distinction between a true genius and visionary prophet like Leary, and the confused egocentric teachings of someone like Cohen, became crystal clear.
So like my entry on my recent Germany & Scotland trip I will intersperse a day by day account of my visit to Singapore with some of the ideas that sprouted up from these two contrasting pieces of literature.
O Muses, O great genius, aid me now!
O memory that wrote down what I saw, here shall your noble character be shown.
- Dante
Singapore Day #1 - Lakshmi’s blessing. . . .
It’s been a 24 hour trip. . .it is about 2am I just arrived an hour or so ago in Singapore. It is hot, humid, and good to be back. I am walking from my hotel to a small shop to get some late night food. I am stopped along the way and my attempts to get back to the pool are halted. A young women asks my name and asks me quite matter of factly if I have any idea why humans are on this planet? I figure it must be some sort of trick question, and I am also a little taken back by the sudden turn the conversation has taken, (though at this point in my life not completely surprised) and decline an answer. Honestly I say, “I have no idea”. She then precedes to show me her necklace, it is the Goddess Lakshmi, a popular Indian vision of the divine as she is supposed to bring wealth and good fortune to the home and family.
She precedes to tell me all about Lakshmi, and I nod as if I have no real idea what she is talking about. . .I think about half way through she gathered that perhaps I did, and smiling asks if there is anything I would ask her for if she was here now?. . . “No” I say, but I appreciate the consideration. . . .She asks me if I have read Tolstoy? “No, I have not, why?”. . . She say’s “Tolstoy knew that we need to remember that knowing that we don’t know is really knowing". . . and I take that as a clear sign to be quiet. . . . . . .back to the pool.
It will be one of ‘those’ trips.
“We are two billion year old carriers of the light, born not of blood, or the will of man, or the will of the flesh, but of light that flashed in the pre-Cambrian mud, the Light made flesh.”
-Timothy Leary
Leary was the golden boy of modern psychology. Noted Harvard professor, and keeper of the established patterns. That is until the Year 1960 in Cuerenavaca Mexico. It was there that he first took part in the sacrament of the Native Indian religion in the area. Here is his description of that experience:
“I discovered that beauty, revelation, sensuality, the cellular history of the past, God, the Devil, all exist inside my body, outside my mind.”
Liquor is known to contract consciousness and spawn a lot of violence and abuse. What Leary was talking about had quite the opposite effect. According to Leary, he learned more in the eight hours that followed the experience, then he had in the previous 20 Years of studying and teaching psychology. From that day forward he knew he would not be able to play the same society games. He was too honest, and too authentic of a human being to do anything other then move forward, and tell the truth along the way.
In that Leary joined a long and distinguished American tradition which carried on the path forged previously by men like George Fox (founder of the Quakers), William James, and Harry A Murray.
The essence of ecstasy, the essence of orgasm, and the essence of true religion is identical. It is about letting go of the concepts of power and control. It is about Surrender. Tim Leary was finding that out first hand.
The old games will always be with us;
Spontaneity vs. Control
Freedom vs. Structure
Love vs. Isolation
Day #2 - See Nothing But Link Points. . . .
I spent the entire day on the beach at a little island of the coast of Singapore called “Sentosa”. It was once a British Military stronghold. Now it is a popular beach resort. After a solid 5-6 hours on the beach I headed over to little India, a large Indian area of Singapore that has several spectacular Hindu temples. For the next few hours I sat in the corner of the large temple devoted to Kali and I observed the locals in their devotional practices, and the confused tourists wondering what the hell this place was all about. The temple was always teaming with life, kids playing, men praying, women offering garlands, and the priest reading his paper against the wall.
Andrew Cohen is an author that claims to have had a complete awakening experience after meeting the famous Indian teacher Papaji. When he came back home to the USA he talked about a spiritual revolution. He claims to have challenged the religious status quo, and asked his former Buddhist meditation teacher to engage him in a Dharma debate. Things quickly turn bad, and his famous quote explains the backwards ideology he becomes known for:
“Everybody wants to be enlightened, but nobody wants to change.”
-Andrew Cohen
And with that confused perception he sets himself and those that listen to him on a path of suffering.
He begins creating a Sangha where he says he will make “a testing ground, where everyone finds out exactly how serious they are.” His message begins changing from the radically pure perception of Papaji’s original teaching of liberation, to one of evolution, change, and ‘purification’.
During one of his talks a women stands up and asks, “What about how harsh you are with people you claim are falling short? Shouldn’t we be more loving and supportive with each other?”
Andrew responds, “You sound like one of those new age freaks that speaks about love and nurturing. You know how I feel about that.” He laughs a strange cackling laugh, runs his finger across his throat in a gross gesture and says, “I don’t like unconditional Love, Love always has to be earned.”
And from that point forward Andrew Cohen is lost down the dark path of egocentric nonsense.
It is particularly interesting that Ken Wilbur has given him as much of his attention as he has over the Years. I would highly recommend the long dialogues the two share, which can be downloaded on the net. I think all of it will be self evident if you listen awake.
Day #3 The Bird picks Shiva. . . .
That evening after I returned from little India we had a great dinner at one of Singapore’s many fantastic restaurants. We shared dinner that night with a local architect and his description of the thing that can’t be described, and the attempt to place that within a building, was really interesting. It was about using structure as a metaphor for the absolute. And then having to explain that value, that quality, to those that hold the purse strings on the buildings. All in all I can see how challenging a job that must actually be. The objective, as always, seems to be about bringing that Dynamic Quality to a fixed project, building, or piece of Art. It gives the thing itself a value it would otherwise never have, and even if someone doesn’t understand the whys of it, they can still feel it, and know they like it.
We also talked about religion and the cultures it comes from. It seems obvious to me that there is a certain value in adapting and understanding the religious symbols that come from a culture outside ones own.
In other words it is easy to be a Buddhist in Nepal, a Muslim in Pakistan, a Hindu in Madras, and a Christian in Alabama. But I think that stepping outside your own cultures religion can have the same effect that traveling outside your own Countries boarders can have. It broadens your conceptual borders, and increases your understanding of the world as a whole. You have a chance to break free of the cultural conditioning, and an opportunity to question all of the assumed beliefs. It is a good thing.
People will always claim their religion, their cultures religion, offers all the same tools, and truths. So why look elsewhere? But that is only truly known by those who have looked outside their own belief system. It is simply an assumption otherwise. The assumption is based on a particular understanding, or perspective, on that religion that we falsely assume is the accurate one. If unquestioned and unexamined the individual is fated to live and die in the same ignorance.
That is why it seems so obvious that the most crucial thing we can ever suggest to others or ourselves is to Question Absolutely Everything. . . .every belief, every idea, every piece of dogma. . . .every-thing.
The next day we went back to little India and spent the afternoon there. We walked by an old fortuneteller, and she asked my to lift up the small birdcage on her table. . . .she gave it a tap, and a small green bird waddles out and picks up a small Chinese envelope out of a group of about 20 or so laid out across the table. She hands it to me and asks me to open it. . . .it is a large picture of Shiva. She then asks me to lean over, taps my head, does some blessing, and sends me on my way.
Oddly enough I had another older man come up to me a few hours later while I was shopping. . .he was staring up at me with a very stern look, as if he was looking over a pair of reading glasses. I figured he would ask me how tall I was, or if I play basketball. Instead he said pointed at me and said, Shiva will help you. . .and walked off.
Ah-so, just another day in little India.
I think the question to ask is this, Who is Andrew judging? From my own personal experience the further I go within, the less judgmental I am. The more I realize, the less I measure. After all, who is their to judge. . .literally? Conditioned, or biological patterns? Causality? It doesn’t make sense. When I really look for the source to judge, I find to no source present.
Do you?
So in that it seems fitting Andrew named the magazine ‘What Is Enlightenment’, because it is very clear he has absolutely no idea. Andrews’s main focus was behavior, and his idea was that one must ‘evolve’ into a more perfect state. That is of course completely backwards.
First of all, It is perspective/ understanding/ realization which changes actions. . . not the other way around.
Many people, Andrew included, see that inside out.
And in that they create a image, which by it’s very nature serves as an obstruction to actual realization. Andrew’s ‘Only matters what you do’ slogan is a fascist mantra for a confused mind.
Secondly, Judgment of others is always a form of projection if offered without invitation and outside the spirit of love. . . .but only always.
In saying that it does not mean that ‘discrimination’ is not a useful skill. But that is very different from the mental creation of an-other who is ‘evil’, corrupt, bad, weak, (insert favorite judgment here).
Discrimination says for health and well being at this time it is better not to, or to, engage with this energy. . . . .judgment says, this person is a (blank). And by it’s very nature creates an ‘ego’ a ‘you’ who is better then that person at that time. . . . . .judgment is arrogance, pride, and elitism. . . .always.
One. . .discrimination, allows you to stay open, truthful, and loving.
The other. . .judgment, closes you off, is built on a lie (an-other), and cuts you off from Love.
Contrast that teaching with Tim Leary’s single social code. . . . .
‘You have the right to do anything you want, so long as you don’t lay your trip on anyone else. No one has the right to force himself, or his trip, on someone else.’
This was arrived at not through reading written symbols on paper. . .but rather through first person experiential realization of his own inter-connected nature. Forcing yourself, your ideas, your body, your energy, on any other being against their will is ignorance. That was the whole of his social suggestions. Timothy Leary points to Truth and turns the lamp inward.
It’s good if we define the term “trip”.
Invading someone’s space, or affecting his or her person is obviously not proper. But also, if I say to someone that they are not meeting their “potential”, I am laying my trip on them. If I tell them they need to set “goals”, I am laying my trip on them. If I try and manipulate them for some personal gain, then I am laying my trip on them. If I keep yapping about my ideas, my religion, my dogma, my version of ‘values’, ‘rules’, or any other assorted nonsense, without any previous invitation. . .(remember you logged on to this page, and read this far). . . then I am laying my trip on them. Maybe ‘I’ am not meeting my potential, maybe ‘I’ need to set “goals”, maybe ‘I’ need to sort out my ideas. . .but I don’t have the right to tell anyone else what they should be doing. And in attempting to do so I am automatically confused. . .my awareness now split. . . outwards, it becomes schizophrenic. . . It is ignorance.
What a huge difference between that pure message, and the convoluted understanding of someone like Cohen. One comes from a clear, lucid, wise, dynamic place. . . .and the other comes from a contracted and ignorant state.
Timothy Leary points to Truth and turns the lamp inward. Andrew Cohen points to the same backward theology that all fundamentalists have.
I realize the irony in that it may seem like I am judging Andrew harshly here, but let me be clear. . .I don’t think there is actually an “Andrew” to judge. Rather, I think there is a set of conditioned patterns, a set of ideas and concepts that is upside down and confused. And in that I realize that there is indeed a part of me that can become the “power tripper” telling others what they should, or should not do. Or measuring myself against others at all times. . .judging, tabulating, and confirming my own assumptions about their ‘character’. I realize fully that is all within me. But I also know that is never the ‘healthy’ route to take. And as such, I have rejected it, flat out. Because of some grace, which has been given, I know only enough to know for a fact that what I describe above is not Love. And that is enough motive for me to leave it behind.
“Existential means you study natural events as they unfold without prejudging them with your own concepts. It is about Surrender.” -Tim Leary
Day #4 Texas versus the competition. . . .
This morning I had breakfast by the pool. I watched an older man from Texas, probably in his late 50’s, racing a young Chinese girl who was probably about 10 Years old across the pool. He would keep pace, just ahead of her, until they got right up to the finish. Then he would back off at the last second letting her touch the wall first. . .and in a proper Texas accent say, “I can’t believe you beat me again!”. . . . .the girl would jump out of the pool, do a small victory dance in a state of pure joy. . .and they would go again. He must have raced her at least 10 times. It was a nice breakfast.
The book on Cohen was written by a Dutch man named Andre van der Braak. He obviously had a lot of affection for Andrew and his teaching, spending 12 Years of his life working for him. But his stories, and those of other former members of Andrew’s Sangha (and there are many) are all too familiar. Involving himself in their personal lives, matchmaking, or forbidding, sexual contact with his members. Humiliating, berating, insulting, and exploiting his members. And having many of them shave their heads, while he maintains his perfect 1975 village people hair and mustache look. . . . it’s sad, but not surprising.
I can’t help but imagine two rooms. . . .
Room number one is filled with the likes of Tim Leary, Ram Dass, Robert Thurman, Byron Katie, Alan Watts (probably being propped up by some young women after one two many Vodkas), and many others.
Room number two is filled with the likes of Andrew Cohen, Dr Phil, Jerry Falwell, and other confused and twisted bureaucrats.
I think of room number one and I think, what a party! I could spend Years in conversation in there!
I think of room number two and I imagine that scene from the movie I Heart Huckabees, where Mark Walberg looks over at Albert after they quickly leave the crazy family having dinner and he says,
“Wow. . . what’s going on in there?!”. . . . . .”pheew”. . . . . .exactly.
Day #5 Time to Work. . . .
Seminar all day, great crew. . .good day.
When you believe your thoughts you suffer. When you question your thoughts you can realize freedom.
It’s here NOW, it is not about action, sacrifice, effort, or evolution. . . .it IS about TRUTH.
And the Truth shall set you Free.
“True renunciation is to realize that the senses are innately pure, and that one is the image of the universe.”
Day #6 Caught in a Raid. . . .
There is nothing quite like a Singapore PD raid of a nightclub we are relaxing in. Stuck inside for an hour or so as the club is searched, we observed two large packs of males engaging in some ritual behavior.
One pack was clearly French, and began singing very loud renditions of the banana boat song. The heavier set males where American, and followed with loud screaming and yelping noises. Emissaries where sent between the two tribes, and a gift of alcohol was exchanged. . . . .National Geographic has nothing on club scenes.
I turned the news on when I got home. BBC Asia, there was a riot in Pakistan, the women had been protesting a ban on females participating in sports or marathons. . . they where running along in full religious gear. . .long skirts, hot sun. . .until the Government vans pulled up. . .beat them, and then arrested them.
This was followed by a story in the paper regarding the religious police in Saudi Arabia (yes there is such a thing), they showed up at a girls school which was on fire. The girls came running out, but had forgotten to put on their head covers. The Morality Patrol shut the remaining little girls in before they could commit the same sin, a dozen burned to death. Strange but true. . .just don’t hear much of those stories here at home. Oh, also they are boiling people alive in Uzbekistan, which turns out to be in very good standing with the current Administration of the USA. A few minutes later they showed Bush holding hands with the Saudi Prince. . . . . .yep, an upside down world.
Andrew's mantra which he still teaches is:
Doesn’t matter what you think
Doesn’t matter what you feel
Only matters what you do.
But that is completely backwards. . . literally.
People do things because they feel a certain way. They feel it will accomplish some task, create some prosperity, create some pleasure, and have some desired effect. They feel it, so the belief is justified, rationalized, by the feeling. The feeling is caused by the thought. . . .they work together but clearly feeling precedes acting.
People ‘feel’ a certain way because they think something. They hold to, attach to, a specific thought, or story. Some imagined future, or remembered past. And it is that story, that thought, which causes the “feeling”. So clearly thought precedes feeling.
So logically if we try and realize transformation through action we are attacking the problem upside down.
We are pulling on the wrong end of the rope, and we cant climb out of the hole that way. It is a hamster wheel. We may run and run, and get very tired, but we never actually go anywhere.
So to effect behavior, in any ‘genuine’, ‘authentic’ sense of that word, then we need to question the thoughts which create the feeling which causes the action. That is right side up.
Examination, Realization, Transformation. In that order.
Day #7 Liberation in Indochine. . . .
Went to the beach, swam to an island. Went to another temple. Was a Shiva temple. . .was there for the service. Brahmin doing the offerings, music being played, musicians dropping out. . . .found a very cool club called Indochine. . .tuned into a good place. . . . . . . . . Day 8 – 9 equals the same. . . end of the Trip.
Anything hidden, anything left in, or pushed to, a shadow. . .will find a way to make its presence known. So EVERYTHING has to be brought into the light, and only the individual themselves can do this. Once light is thrown on it (examination), then we can use complete honesty to understand it, and where it arises from (realization). That changes everything from the inside out. Which is not upside down, but right side up.
When I am looking for Truth I am always looking for any teaching which focuses around Inquiry. Not actions, repression, or rules. If I don’t search for inquiry first that I am attacking the problem back to front, which is not rational.
I also know that the teaching must always be focused inward. Not in any form of judgment of an-other, or even perception of another, but always of ones self. So the Inquiry is always Self Inquiry.
I also know that conversation of it should be on an invitation only basis. As in someone reading this blog. But at no time can any personal trip, or adopted belief system, be thrown on to another individual. I have no right to do that. Nobody does.
Finally I know that any true teaching will emphasize Love as the one Eternal Absolute. I don’t know this because I read it. That is not knowing, that is remembering a symbol. To know is to know, and always first person alone.
The gift of any such experience is that when intellectual doubts are raised by the mind on questions related to the absolute, the experience gives the individual the ability and desire to inquire and search into why the paradox seems to exist. It looks into what the mind doubts, as compared to what the individual themselves experienced first hand. Without the benefit of previous first hand experiences the paradoxes brought up by the teachings will not be seen clearly as they have only read or heard of such experiences, never realized one first hand. So when the doubts arise, they may stop short the process. People who have seen another side may recognize the paradox, but also know that there IS a solution to it. They know this because they have experienced it. And that pushes them further.
Is it conceivable that the problem isn’t reality, but rather the way we may see that reality? And if we see that reality in a different way, that this in and of itself is what changes reality? It is pretty far out there I know. Especially when compared with the dominant societies culture. It has always been pretty far out there. It is not the wide road, it is the narrow one. It always has been.
Suffering is a story about that past, and the best part about that is that it is always over.
So many times we have defined ourselves through pride in some very vein desire. But what is lasting is not external of the self, it could not be. So it cannot be lost or gained. Bargained with, improved, or built up. It cannot be willed into existence, overcome with power, or controlled through fear or greed. It cannot come and go. If it is lasting, then by that very definition it is infinite. And if it is infinite then by its very definition it is here now, before, after, and always. . . . .NOW.
Everything is IT
IT is everything
You are IT
Here is a Zen riddle for you:
An old woman built a hermitage for a monk and supported him for twenty years. One day, to test the extent of the enlightenment the old women sent a beautiful young girl to the hut with orders to seduce him. When the girl embraced the monk and asked, “How is this?” The monk replied sternly, “A withered tree among frozen rocks; not a trace of warmth for three winters.” Hearing the monk’s response, the old woman chased him out and put the hermitage to the torch.
WHY?
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