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SHE STOOD HER GROUND AS HER DAUGHTER DROVE STRAIGHT AT HER

That was one of a myriad of real-life horror stories shared at the second in a series of presentations on living with addiction, held last night at the Marblehead library. The series is free to the public, sponsored by a local charity, the 3 Voices. The next presentation will be held on June 4.

Her daughter was frantic – consumed and fueled physically, mentally and emotionally by her disease. Her mother was willing to sacrifice her own life to prevent her from using again. At the last second she swerved and the car ended up on the sidewalk.

What causes someone to purposefully almost kill a parent? Drug addiction.

 

[The statistics are staggering. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 19.7 million American adults (aged 12 and older) – that’s 6% of us! – battled a substance use disorder in 2017.]

What causes someone to literally defy death? Love and faith.

 

Which is more powerful? Right. Addiction can’t be overcome with serenity, courage and wisdom alone; it takes love and faith.

Love is natural; we don’t need to “do” anything to be affected by it – though as my teacher said yesterday, it’s often easier to do the right thing for someone we love than ourselves. [Keep reading; thankfully, faith engenders love for oneself.]

Faith, or complete trust in something that can’t be proven, isn’t natural; it’s typically inspired in moments of utter despair and hopelessness when we are forced to admit that without it we can’t go on.

But there is an alternative, easier, more mundane path to finding faith; ironically, it’s a science.

It’s an ancient practice of self-awareness; specifically, understanding how our minds function, and more importantly, recognizing the distinction between our functioning mind (evidenced by our thoughts), and our consciousness (evidenced by the awareness OF our thoughts).

Consciousness – your awareness – is eternal. It literally never changes. Nothing affects it. While what you’re aware of changes constantly, your awareness itself never does. Science can’t explain it, yet you KNOW it’s real since without it, you wouldn’t realize you’re alive!

The realization that an aspect of you is unaffected by anything – and that it isn’t “born” and doesn’t “die” in the same sense that our body and mind eventually will – sparks faith in the existence of something beyond human comprehension, something that can’t be proven, something essentially divine: the source of our consciousness.

Practice self-awareness. Learn to distinguish between your perpetually changing thoughts, and your immutable awareness OF them.

 

The spark of faith will come as an “Aha moment”. Once ignited, faith can’t be extinguished – and you will forever be blessed with the most powerful force on earth!

God bless all of us; especially the families of those suffering from the scourge of addiction.

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TEN COMMANDMENTS

About the time Moses received the Ten Commandments (~1,300 BC), yogis were practicing their own version, which Patanjali eventually outlined in the Yoga Sutras.

The overlap is remarkable: half of the commands are exactly the same.

Where they differ, it’s not surprising that as a religious text, the first four of the Bible’s commands pertain to religious observances; nor is it surprising that as a secular or spiritual text, the Yoga Sutras’ other commands are more mundane or practical in nature.

Sanskrit (the language of the Yoga Sutras), is scientific or mathematical; specifically, in any Sanskrit list, the last item is always the second most important – highlighting the yogis emphasis on the importance of faith in relieving human suffering and finding lasting peace.

Wishing you deep peace of mind, heart and soul this holiday regardless of your non-secular beliefs.

🙏❤️🕉

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The Science Behind Mind Control

Bifurcated Mind

Interestingly, the ancient yogis didn’t ascribe mental function solely to our brain. They noted the bifurcated nature of our mental functions: those we’re generally aware of (i.e., our conscious mind, evidenced by our thoughts and the voice in our head), and those we’re generally not aware of (i.e., our sub-conscious mind which silently “runs the ship”, typically evidenced by our actions).

Conscious Mind

We use our conscious mind to analyze and make decisions throughout each day (e.g., to decide what to wear, what to eat, how to do our job).

Our conscious mind functions the same way our heart and lungs do: single, consecutive, hopefully constant beats, breaths, and thoughts. Skeptical? Try simultaneously solving two simple math problems in your head – or simultaneously reciting the alphabet and counting. Right; it’s either one or the other. [This is the key to concentrating and meditating; it’s why mantra works: as long as we purposefully focus our conscious mind on something, we won’t hear the voice in our head or become distracted by other thoughts].

Five Types of Thought

Our conscious mind has five “gears”, capable of as many distinct types of thought, each of which may be affected by up to five “emotions” to varying degrees:

  • Three of our conscious mental “gears” are evidenced by the three types of original thought: we either perceive something correctly, incorrectly, or we imagine it. Classic examples are we see a stick and recognize it as such; we see the same stick but mistake it for a snake – the classic example of an imaginary thought is a rabbit with horns, since it doesn’t exist outside one’s mind.

 

  • Our fourth conscious mental gear is associated with memories – recalling a thought we’ve had previously.

 

  • Our fifth gear is “neutral” (a relatively still conscious mental state in which we don’t hear words in our head). The easiest way to find neutral is to focus your attention on something you’re doing (a physical action or sensation – e.g., breathing, smelling, tasting, etc.). Admittedly, this is a state of observation rather than a thought per se – mechanically, it’s like a car idling in neutral.

Five Types of “Emotion”

Every thought can be affected by varying degrees by up to five “emotions”. The first emotion or influence gives rise to the other four. The first is not distinguishing between our perpetually functioning mind and our still, immutable consciousness (see below). When we identify with our thoughts rather than our awareness OF them, our thoughts are subject to four other influences: attraction, aversion, ego and fear.

Based on the bifurcated energetic nature of the world we live in (think yin/yang or positive/negative) we’re either drawn toward or away from something. When ego manifests consciously, we perceive ourselves in contrast to others, while fear, specifically of loss and dying, is natural.

Karma

The purpose of mind control is to mitigate the influence of these five “emotions” on our thoughts, so that the actions they trigger perpetuate balanced consequences. [Keep in mind the eternal nature of karma: every act gives rise to an endless sequence of consequences that beget others; the fact that you’re reading this is one consequence of literally everything that has happened since the beginning of time!]

Granted, we only have the ability to affect one of three types of karma (those generated by our own actions – as opposed to those generated by the actions of others, or the vagaries of nature), but it’s typically our own behavior including our reactions to the other two types that give rise to most of our personal mental distress.

Sub-Conscious Mind

The aspect of our mind that we’re generally unaware of has three progressively subtle functions: bodily tasks, memory storage, and individuality. Bodily function includes sensory perception, internal organ and system processing, and external mobility. Individuality refers to the root of our ego – the generally sub-conscious awareness that we are a unique being with needs (the “I am” part of “I am am tall, handsome, hungry, cold, etc.”)

Unlike our single-processing conscious, thinking mind, our sub-conscious “doing” mind multi-“tasks” wonderfully!

Consciousness

Distinguishing between our functioning mind and our immutable consciousness or awareness is the Holy Grail of Patanjali’s Yoga.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about what’s arguably the most significant aspect of each of us – ironically, the aspect we naturally pay the least amount of attention to.

In theory, without consciousness, our tangible physical body and invisible functioning mind would still work – we just wouldn’t know it!

The ancient yogis pointed out that this aspect of each of us is:

  • Universal – yours is exactly like mine, though obviously what we’re each aware of is completely different;
  • Omnipotent – this aspect of each of us is indestructible; it’s completely unaffected by the vagaries of time, space, hunger, temperature, you-name-it; the ancients used to say neither fire nor water (polar opposites) could destroy it;
  • Omniscient – collectively, consciousness encompasses all knowledge;
  • Eternal – your awareness hasn’t changed since the day you first opened your eyes, though obviously what you’re aware of changes every minute.

In short, realizing the distinction between our functioning mind, and our immutable consciousness – and recognizing the nature of the latter – gives rise to faith in the source of the latter; that which can’t be explained by science. The recognition that it’s inside you can literally change how you perceive and live your life.

Blessings, Skip

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CLARIFICATION ABOUT YOGA’S TEN COMMANDMENTS

In response to a Yoga Journal post about the yamas and niyamas (classical yoga’s code of personal conduct, or “ten commandments”), I indicated that they are found in second half of Chapter 2 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras – the chapter that stresses the importance of preparation when it comes to meditation.

In trying to make the point that they are critical to the preparation process, I indicated that the yamas and niyamas account for the bulk of the second half of Chapter 2 [specifically, they account for ~60% of Patanjali’s eight-limbed discipline; posture, breathing, concentration, and meditation each account for ~10%].

But in making the point, I gave short shrift to the first half of Chapter 2 by saying it focuses on the importance of the attitude we bring to our practice – indicating it’s hard to affect change in our behavior without motivation or intent.

The first half of Chapter 2 is arguably more important than the eight limbs themselves. [Clearly, Patanjali thought so!] It addresses the significance, causes and cure of our own self-inflicted distress; it’s 1.5x longer than the section on the yamas and niyamas; thus, 9x longer than the section on posture!

Chapter 2 begins with The Serenity Prayer. Patanjali prioritizes the importance of mental discipline, advising us to exercise a combination of acceptance, courage and wisdom to keep the five causes of our own self-inflicted distress at bay.

The primary source of self-inflicted distress, which gives rise to the other four, is failure to distinguish between our thoughts (evidence of our mind) and our awareness OF our thoughts (evidence of our consciousness). The latter NEVER changes.

Consciousness is the only “thing” known to man that isn’t affected by the vagaries of time and space. It’s literally immutable and eternal – yet without it, we wouldn’t realize we’re alive!

Our thoughts on the other hand, like our impermanent bodies, are literally CONSTANTLY changing.

Identifying with our impermanent body/mind (i.e., failing to realize that there’s a LOT more to us than we see in the mirror and hear in our head) gives rise to the other four natural causes of self-inflicted angst: ego, attachment, hatred, and fear.

Learn to distinguish between your permanent and temporary bits and I promise you’ll smile a lot more often!

God bless, Skip

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MEMORY (and Louis) LANE

A haunting memory

When I was 5, I saw episode #89 of Twilight Zone, “To Serve Man”, in which aliens came to earth promising a much better life on their planet. People queued up to make the intergalactic trip. As the ship full of human passengers took off, one woman discovered the truth: the aliens meant to serve us alright – as dinner!

That TV show from over 50 years ago has remained in my sub-conscious memory until recently. Such memories – and all their attendant emotions – can be triggered a lifetime later. Sometimes it’s hard to argue which is more powerful, our conscious “thinking” mind, or our sub-conscious “doing” mind [one thing it “does” is store our memories].

What I see

With the same clarity that I see the words I’m typing, I see life as Patanjali suggested we see it: from the inside out: as consciousness embodied, rather than as a body with consciousness. But for the life of me, I can’t help another living soul see it as I do.

As my guru says, therein lies my problem: I should be trying to see life as others do – and acting compassionately – rather than trying to “help” everyone else see their lives differently regardless of the profound benefits.

The frustration

Abandoning the desire to help others see what I see is difficult. I feel like the woman in the Twilight Zone episode who figured out the aliens’ plan – too late to save herself or her fellow passengers. Not a terrific analogy – but the hopelessness and irony are real.

Imagine a world in which what we looked, sounded or smelled like was of little concern: the exact opposite of our current state in which our essence, our consciousness, is of virtually no concern to anyone. If everyone saw life from the inside out, we’d all be more concerned about our collective wellbeing than appearances.

The benefits

Millennia ago Patanjali outlined the simple science of a) how our perpetually-functioning, dual-aspect mind works (i.e., our conscious mind is generally evidenced by our thoughts, and our sub-conscious mind is generally evidenced by our actions), and b) the life-altering benefits of realizing the distinction between our ever-changing body/mind and our unalterable, eternal consciousness.

Identifying with one’s immutable consciousness rather than one’s relatively weak, withering body/mind has very practical benefits: you no longer sweat the little stuff! Things that happen to our shell or ‘casing’ have zero affect on who and what we truly are. When we identify with the outside, every little ding and dent feels as though we’ve been injured. If we identify instead with the aspect of each of us without which we don’t even know we’re alive, life’s inevitable bumps and bruises, slings and arrows are a LOT easier to contend with.

Our consciousness is immutable: unchanging; unaffected by time, space, drought, hunger, disease, bullets, fears and desires – you name it.

“So what?” someone asked me recently.

 

Aside from the benefit of realizing that part of you is more powerful than Superman [he had to worry about kryptonite] you have within yourself evidence that part of you is immortal, essentially divine. That realization gives rise to faith, the most powerful, motivational force on earth.

Two other haunting alien memories

As long as I’m confessing to being afraid of aliens for most of my life, at about the same age (5), I was also scarred by watching the “Mole Men” episode of the “Adventures of Superman” in which the world’s deepest oil well penetrated the underground home of aliens who climbed to the surface!

About the same age, I had to change the channel five minutes into the initial episode of “My Favorite Martian” when his spaceship crash-landed on earth!

Change your perspective and change your life

Every moment of life is awesome and fascinating – but ever more so when seen from the inside out. Want to change how you view life? Pick up an interpretation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and reach out with any questions. I’d be honored to help shed light on your path to discovering the secret to lasting peace of mind.

Blessings, Allan Dowds

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GOT SERENITY?

Relieve your own stress, sorrow, anxiety, desire and fear without a yoga mat!

The key is self-awareness. Learn to distinguish between YOUR three invisible parts:

Conscious mind:

  • This part of your mind functions; it’s the aspect that thinks, analyzes, calculates, determines, and judges.
  • It’s the part you use to make decisions throughout the day: what to wear, eat, how to do your job, etc.
  • It’s the aspect of your mind you’re most familiar with: it’s evidenced by your thoughts and the voice in our head.
  • Unlike your sub-conscious ‘doing’ mind which enables you to multi “task”, your conscious thinking mind can literally only think one thought at a time. Skeptical? Try doing two simple math problems in your head simultaneously – or reciting the alphabet and counting simultaneously. Right. It’s not going to happen. Unlike our sub-conscious multitasking ‘doing’ mind, this aspect of each of us functions like our heart and lungs: single, consecutive beats, breaths and thoughts.

Exercise: the next time you’re feeling anxious, impatient or stressed, recite the alphabet (preferably backwards) and experience what happens: the feeling of anxiousness dissipates!

Sub-conscious mind:

  • This part of your mind also functions; it has two primary jobs: it’s responsible for all bodily tasks (internal and external senses and movement), and it’s where all your memories are stored (imagine being conscious of all your memories all the time – yikes!)
  • Unlike our conscious mind, this aspect is generally silent; we’re typically unaware of it.
  • It’s evidenced by insight and intuition rather than less subtle conscious thoughts.

Exercise: the next time you’re doing a routine task like bathing, brushing your teeth, walking, folding laundry or washing the dishes, recite the alphabet (again, preferably backwards) in your head. EVERYTHING you’re doing other than reciting the alphabet is evidence of your sub-conscious mind at work. When it clicks, it’ll freak you out: it’s as if your body is acting ALL ON ITS OWN!

Guess which of these two invisible, functioning aspects of your mind is the troublemaker? Right, the noisy one! As long as your conscious, thinking mind is calm and undisturbed, your sub-conscious mind functions flawlessly (other than for influences beyond your control like disease or disability).

Consciousness:

  • This invisible part of each of us doesn’t function; it merely witnesses.
  • This is the awareness OF our conscious thoughts (if something is aware of something else, by definition the two are distinct from one another!)
  • Without our intangible awareness, our bodies and functioning mind would still work – WE JUST WOULDN’T KNOW IT!
  • This aspect of each of us NEVER changes; while our thoughts come and go throughout every day like breaths and heartbeats, the awareness OF our thoughts remains constant.
  • Imagine the still, quiet, calm, undisturbed nature of something that literally never changes – and it’s inside you! [Meditation draws us closer to this aspect of ourselves!]
  • Consciousness is the only “thing” known to mankind that isn’t affected by the passage of time; it’s literally eternal.
  • It’s also universal: the awareness of your thoughts is EXACTLY like mine (though obviously, our thoughts are unique to each of us).

Exercise: practice distinguishing between your tangible, ever-changing thoughts and the immutable awareness OF your thoughts. Practice until the nature of your own consciousness clicks; it’ll freak you out. Religion is right: there IS a part of each of us that never dies!

What are the practical, real-life benefits of learning to distinguish between our three invisible parts?

Perhaps the most practical benefit is learning to mute the voice in our head at will. Realizing the distinction between our conscious and sub-conscious mind (and recognizing the constant interaction between the two) enables and emboldens us to learn to control the bothersome one when we want or need to – making getting through each day easier and less stressful.

[Caveat: the voice in our head is a natural self defense mechanism: it acts like the release valve on a teapot: when too much emotional stress builds in our sub-conscious mind based on our unique fears and desires, those stressors percolate up and manifest in the voice in our head. While we can mute that voice at will, at some point we need to let it vent – preferably at a time and place of our own choosing – hence, we meditate!]

But the biggest, most life-altering and permanent changes come when we truly realize the distinction between our thoughts and our awareness of them.

Recognizing the immutable, permanent nature of our own consciousness is awakening in a whole new way. Science can’t explain it – but consciousness is “tangible” evidence – WITHIN OURSELVES – of the existence of something else, something MUCH greater: the existence of Something unearthly and divine. Realizing THAT gives birth to true faith, the most powerful force on earth.

This is Patanjali’s message. All the rest of the practice is about getting to this realization and maintaining it!

God bless, Allan Dowds

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Train Your Mind

The link below has several more contained within it. A couple talk about the mechanics of meditating: sitting upright & still, breathing rhythmically, and focusing on something preferably inside yourself (like the mechanics & sensations of breathing) – but the common theme throughout is self-awareness which yogis practice all day, every day.

Self-awareness in this context refers to the recognition of having – and discerning between – three invisible parts: your conscious “thinking” mind, sub-conscious “doing” mind, and consciousness itself.

Bottom line: your “thinking” mind can literally only think one thought at a time (yes, we multi-task, but not with this aspect of ourselves). Doubtful? Try simultaneously counting and reciting the alphabet. Not going to happen.

Want to “see” your sub-conscious “doing” mind in action? Recite the alphabet and dance around, or fold laundry, or do the dishes, take a shower – any action. Since your thinking mind can literally only do one thing at a time, everything you’re doing other than reciting the alphabet is evidence of your naturally sub-conscious mind in action. When it clicks it’ll freak you out; it’s as if our bodies move on their own!

Consciousness is the holy grail of this practice. Your awareness is exactly the same today as the day you were born. While our thoughts change constantly, our awareness OF them never does. Once you realize there’s a part of you that literally NEVER changes, it’ll freak you out! Never changes = eternal. This is where the spiritual aspect of the discipline kicks in.

Without awareness (aka consciousness), our body and mind would still function – we just wouldn’t know it!

What’s the practical point of all this? 1) being able to mute the voice in your head at will can be tremendously advantageous – especially under pressure, and 2) when the nature of your own awareness dawns – and you realize that part of you is immutable – well, tangible things like desire and anger begin to fade away.

Here’s the link, feel free to ask me anything you want – I LOVE THIS!

https://www.rajamarblehead.com/2018/06/14/meditation-tips-for-beginners/

Best, Allan ❤️😊🕉