Life is full of challenges and Crises can happen at any age in Life
If you’re in your middle of your life you can call it a midlife crisis.
If you’ve been married for what seems way too long…
you can call it a ‘mid wife crises’ or a groom of doom crises.
For a teenager you can have it teenage life crisis…
Of course at that age, just getting pimple is a cause for a crises…
but these crises will continue all throughout your life
until you achieve the right perspective.
~
Even though previous challenges that has been transcended
seemed more than you could handle at the time…
But by taking it one step at a time…
and not letting totally affect your well-being…
You did it.
And a deeper sense of accomplishment and confidence arose because of it.
Earnestly embarking on a non theological common sense spiritual Path
will help you overcome current life challenges…
And keep future challenges from even becoming a challenge at all.
Those that hear the calling to
earnestly take the first few steps along a Spiritual Path…
Do so for a variety of reasons…
But often the main catalyst of motivation tends to be inspired from
some sort of life challenge.
Also a big part of an interest into fully engaging in a personal spiritual Path
will include psychological and philosophic aspects.
From the first step on this Path,
to the final step and the full fruition of Enlightenment…
The deep and thorough contemplation of one’s True Self
is the underlining theme of focus.
Right from the start, it becomes obvious through negative deduction,
“Neti-Neti” in Sanskrit… “Not this – Not that”…
That “We” are not our ego-mind-body.
Most of our challenges in life stem from our egos.
All one has to do when a challenge arises is to take notice
if the challenge is caused by our ego.
Like:
Jealousy, anger, hatred, greed, lust, trying to make yourself look good,
trying to make others look bad, bragging, being self-centered, needing to always win,
needing to be loved and respected, never wanting to be wrong…
This list goes on for lifetimes.
But,
If any anxiety, stress, fear, loathing,
brings out an uncomfortable attachment or aversion…
Then simply take note:
That’s not ME… that’s just my ego…
And
I’m NOT my ego.
And just simply… let it just be.
Smile and move on.
Don’t pine about the past, or
Fret about the future.
Just Be Here Now!
You can allow this simple perspective to liberate you right now
from the pain and suffering our egos inflect upon us each day…
almost at every moment.
This remedy works…
But as a beginner of ‘the Path’…
It has limits.
But,
The more you make that conscious choice to dismiss all ego-based challenges,
the deeper the liberation will naturally become down the road of life.
The other simple practice a beginner on ‘the Path’ can integrate right away is:
Mindfulness.
Be mindful of your thoughts.
Are you thinking self-aggrandizing thoughts?
Are you thinking how great you are and how you want to
prove it to the world and anyone else?
Be mindful of your thoughts,
If you catch yourself having such thoughts,
Or thoughts of
Jealousy, anger, hatred, greed, lust, trying to make yourself look good,
trying to make others look bad, bragging, being self-centered,
needing to always win, never wanting to be wrong…
then change those thoughts before they turn into “Wrong Speech”
and then become “Wrong Actions”.
As these will arise spontaneously.
And once they do…
You’ll have much more trouble than you started with
just with the ‘wrong thoughts’.
This is the classic conundrum of :
“once out of the tube…
it’s nearly impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube”
Unlike an organized religion,
in which they invent imaginary places to go after this life like
“heaven” and ‘Hell’…
You’re told to be good or else face eternal damnation and torture
from an imaginary ‘all loving pro-life god that seems hell bent on loving
the torturing of so called “sinners”…
On a non-theological common sense spiritual Path…
The reasons to be good are presented in a much more…
Common sense manner.
The first main reason to be good is…
It feels good to be good.
Later down ‘the Path’ as one’s meditation practice deepens…
The need to avoid unnecessary distractions to achieve
a ‘one-pointed’ focus of awareness is very important.
If you have the gult of screwing someone over or worse…
There will be distracting consequences of guilt in your conscious.
However,
If you’ve take the insidious precautions of ignoring your conscious…
Don’t gloat!
Know that:
You can fool an imaginary made up ‘god’
and even ignore your conscious…
but
No one can ignore their subconscious!
That’s the part of our mind system that creates bad dreams,
Wakes you up in the middle of the night and causes body damaging stress
that just compounds each day until you finally
resolve the unwholesome issues in your life.
One does not need to good because of a self-centered reason
to avoid an imaginary “hell”…
Life becomes a ‘hell on earth’ just by one’s wrong actions…
And
It all starts with your ‘thoughts’.
Most ‘mid-life’ crises have a basis on being attached to grasping onto
the idea of
having a young strong healthy body… forever.
And or,
Having the unfulfilled attachment to having an exciting fun filled life.
Often,
It’s our attachment to the mistaken identity of being our ego-mind-body
that causes most of the crises we tend to bring upon ourselves.
For those that are earnestly embarking on their own personal journey…
Just realizing when this ‘attachment’ is causing us grief…
Is enough to reflect, take notice… and then let it be.
It sounds so very simple.
Yet,
Most people, significantly more than 90% o humanity,
prefers to seek their ‘Bliss’ by ignorance…
relying on an imaginary personal sky god
to take away all their pain and suffering
after they die and they go to another fantasy place called ‘heaven’
and get a ‘heavenly body’… and THEN they’ll be happy…
or,
oddly most folks that proclaim to be followers of an organized religion
are scared to death to actually ‘meet their maker’…
fearing that any one of their misdeeds will cause them to be
roasted and tortured in hell they literally believe to exist.
But still… they continue to ….’mis-believe’.
Instead of just changing their perspectives right here on earth.
This ‘here & now’ life we live is the only sure thing we know.
To trust an organized religion that has the blood of
over 100 million people tortured to death
for an imaginary so called ‘all loving’ ‘pro-life’ “god”…
One should ask:
“What else are they wrong about!!??”
But most believers never ask…
It’s a tradition.
A tradition that’s stuck on a wrong misinterpretation of True Spirit.
Which is fine…
To believe in anything anyone wants…
But the problem is,
They want to control our government
and are passing laws that drastically affect the well-being
of the rest of our sensible population.
So,
it turns out that
Most people don’t even want to be liberated right ‘here & now’…
They’ll say their pain and suffering is:
“It’s god’s will”.
Again,
As if to limit what is supposed to be an “all powerful” entity
to be reduced to requiring a ‘will’
that if not fulfilled will smite down the unworthy in a hellish fury from…
“heaven”.
:-O
A large percentage of humanity is so attached to their mistaken identity
of being the ego-mind-body…
They also form an inseparable identity to their pain, suffering, and challenges…
“Woa is me”….”Oh poor ME”… “Pity ME”….”mememememememe….”
Psychiatrists call this:
‘Pain Identity’.
And no one can help a person that does not want help
based on a fear that a major part of what they assume to be
would be annihilated.
Again…
The ego and church won’t easily let go of it grip on our senses or
our ability to use critical thinking.
~
I’d like to at least throw out this offer…
Take as long as you wish to contemplate it.
I’ve been on a lifelong ‘spiritual Path’…
Very intensely in the last 10 years.
It’s more like a study of philosophy and psychology
that one can embody and integrate into one’s daily routine.
There is no hokus pokus that will directly fix your health
or change any of the many other challenges you face each day…
But,
If you were to embrace such a ‘Path’ for yourself, sooner than later,
the new perspectives will renders all of your challenges as…
much more manageable.
Just a slight change in perception renders old challenges into things
that just can’t affect your wellbeing.
In other words…
One can still grow old, get sick and die…
It just won’t affect one’s True Happiness and equanimity.
Although this ‘Path’ I speak of includes the teachings, psychology, and philosophies of
the Buddha, it’s not limited by the label of just ‘Buddhism’.
As you may already know,
The teachings of the Buddha were created to help liberate anyone from
the pain and suffering inherent in life…
even those that seems to have more than their share.
The Buddha stated that “don’t just take my word for it,
Experience it for yourself, then you will know in your own way”.
Also,
He said,
“this can be accomplished by any skillful means”.
When an aspirant reaches the deep end of a meditation practice,
they will abide in the higher states of human consciousness.
In these ‘Jhana’ states,
Our True Nature, our True Self is revealed experientially.
Once experienced…
There is never any doubt that ‘we’ are NOT our ego-mind-body.
Modern psychology does a great job of helping with our specific “issues” …
But,
The Buddha’s teachings brings all that into an easy to follow way
to look at things that naturally renders all pain and suffering into a perspective
that one can benefit from.
We all suffer to some degree with life’s challenges…
We will all grow old, get sick … and die.
There are perspectives on who ‘we’ take ourselves to be
that have been ingrained into us through our body’s evolution.
Our egos, fears, anxieties, emotions…
All of these current ‘hindrances’ were at some point in our evolution,
necessary for our survival…
But in the modern times…
They don’t serve us well.
Simply by contemplating who is it that ‘we’ think we are…
Can go a long way from liberating us from the dread of identifying ourselves as
the pain and suffering we go through.
Meditation is only one part of the ‘Path’.
But,
it’s a good time for us to find refuge from all the concerns ‘we’ feel
we must fret about.
However it works out down the line,
it immediately becomes a fulfilling ‘diversion’ from the chaos all around.
Also,
Consider that it really could easily fit into anyone’s groove…
Because …it’s just sitting.
In Zen, just sitting, is called Zazen.
In fact, you don’t even need to be sitting…
You can be walking, laying down, or my afternoon favorite…
Propped up with a lot of pillows.
I know a lot of people seek refuge in sleeping a lot.
In psychology, this ‘sleeping refuge’
is a sure sign of mental challenges and depression.
But,
There are many benefits that quickly become
a wholesome ‘refuge’ through meditation.
In Tibetan Dzogchen…
It is commonly taught to seek the refuge of one’s ‘Inner stillness’,
physically being still…
Then,
One can enter the ‘refuge’ of ‘Inner Silence’…
This is a calm abiding in the absences of our constant monkey mind
chattering away like it does…
It’s a big relief to just ‘sleep’ our bio-computer brain in meditation.
We don’t sleep…
we just give the bio-computer brain something simple to focus on…
Typically the breath.
Once one spends a bit of time in those two ‘refuges’…
The boundless space of our True Nature naturally fills us with
a peaceful easy feeling.
They call that ‘Rigpa’’ in Dzogchen, our True Nature.
In Hindu Advaita Vedanta, it’s called abiding in our True Self…
“I am”.
Since our true nature never was born, nor will it die …
Or be affected by any of the challenges our ‘ego/body/mind’ face…
To tap into this…
It feels like a big relief.
A smile tends to arise… this is Bliss.
It’s un-conditioned happiness.
Normally,
our so called ‘happiness’
is conditioned on material things or concepts.
But in reality,
This kind of happiness,
is just a short phase between two phases of UN happiness.
Each step along this ‘Common sense spiritual Path’
brings more depth into the perspective that:
One’s True happiness is not dependent upon materialist ‘things’
or concepts or any of life’s challenges.
~
I know that even on a good day,
A lot of people are way to completely overwhelmed by life’s challenges
to even consider undertaking a ‘Path’ as I speak of.
And now,
As life meanders towards what might seem
a Mindless unfulfilling Direction
Most people are probably doing their best just to keep on…
keeping on.
But if any of this ever rings a bell of inspiration…
You can always reach out for guidance along this…
‘Path’.
In the meantime,
If you are curious about some of the details…
I have published 5 books on this subject.
Knowing it’s hard for most people to sit and read entire books these days…
I have created over 200 articles on my website
that integrates entire books of information…
Distilling them down to relatively short,
‘bit sized nuggets of Wisdom’…
If time, energy, and inspiration motivates one’s curiosity:
The page is called:
Inspiring Spiritual Insights
https://mauimarryingman.com/?page_id=3455
on the right side on a desktop computer or at the very bottom of your cell phone display you’ll see ‘Categories’…
if you were to go through these categories from the top starting with
‘Spiritual Bliss Blogs’…
and work your way down…
Like the Tao… which outlines a ‘Way’ to flow with…
You will be well along your ‘Way’…
Namaste
