Do Not Avert Your Eyes from the Suffering of Others:

The Practice of Compassion 

What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.

That is the entire Law, all the rest is commentary.

                                       The Talmud

            All major religions speak about service to others as an important component of a meaningful life.  Even monks in solitary hermitage have a significant relationship with all other people on the planet.  Interpersonal relationships influence our mind-body health strongly.  The health of one determines, in part, the health of the other.

            The way of service expands our sense of self to others.  In a way it is like surrendering the personal ego, not to a higher authority, but to a valuable cause or those in need, whether it be the family or the underprivileged.  There are many examples: Albert Schweitzer, Florence Nightingale, the millions of devoted mothers who get rich fulfillment from nurturing their children and family ties, and all those participating in the many service organizations for the disadvantaged.

            Sometimes livelihood is our primary mode of giving to humanity.  Others dedicate a certain amount of time, money, and effort per year in volunteer service.  In whatever form seems best to the individual, sharing our life energy with others can be some of the most uplifting acts we can do.  And it is not without its personal rewards.  It is a well known, documented phenomenon that helping others improves the helper’s health physically.  It also let’s us see more clearly the interdependent nature of all things.

            There are pitfalls to the practice of generosity.  It sometimes comes from blind, mindless devotion to the service without adequately looking at its potential adverse results.  There are examples of religious aid organizations bringing so much relief food to an area that it ruined the local farming economy.  How many millions have died in holy wars fought to save the souls of nonbelievers?  On a personal level there are those who have wrapped themselves up so much in service to others they neglected their own well-being (the typical co-dependent personality) and became ill or died an early death because of it.

            So it will take some work and refinement to wisely practice compassionate action as a part of a richer life.  Use the books in the resource section as guides.

Resources:

A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life by Jack Kornfield

Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg

How Can I Help? Ram Dass and Dan Goleman

Compassion In Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service by Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush

  Websites: 

Ram Dass  Ram Dass Tapes.org

Homework

I shall pass through this world but once.

Any good that I can do, or any kindness that

I can show any human being, let me do it now and not defer it.

For I shall not pass this way again.

                                                         Stephen Grellet

            Read the books in this lesson’s resource section.  Make a special effort to practice lovingkindness meditation for a month or more.  Even something simple such as 5-20 minutes per day of repeating phrases such as:

            “May all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

            May all beings be at peace.

            May all beings feel joy in their hearts.

            May all beings be happy.”

            Or as a daily mindfulness practice focusing on the interdependence of all life, remember to silently say to yourself frequently throughout the day’s activities:

            “May the benefits of this action be shared by all beings, so they may be free from suffering.”

            Assess where you may be closing down your heart.  (Most often it is compassion for ourselves which is our most hurtful failing.)  Pay particular attention to criticisms and judgments of others and self in the coming months.  Is there a softer, kinder way to be?

Consciousness Hygiene Course Summary

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love

will have the final word in reality.

                                                        Martin Luther King, Jr.

            Throughout this course there have been many opportunities to wake up bit by bit to a richer sense of oneself and the universe around us.  You may have noticed more questions arising from the course’s exercises rather than more answers.  This is a good sign.  One aspect of the universe is its mysteriousness.  There is always more to know and this drives our curiosity towards greater truth.  Our questions will become more relevant and lead to more interesting discoveries.  Available to us are experiences of profound peace, love, strength, and clarity if we persist in deeply investigating our inner essence of each present moment.  It is difficult to be curious about uncomfortable feelings.  But if we can be compassionate with ourselves to stay present with whatever arises in our experience that is the surest road to the vast realms of awareness at the furthest reaches of human consciousness.  Hopefully, this course and the resources in it can be a strong support for the continuing journey of awakening.

Which Separate You from

 Happiness:

The Practice of Psychological Inquiry

God is discussing with His angels where He should place the secret of life

 so that it would be most difficult to find.

One suggested the bowels of the earth, another the bottom of the sea,

a third the highest mountain.

A fourth angel objected: “Men will eventually search out all these places.

The only place is within man himself.  He will never dream of looking there.”

                                                             Unknown

            When we are identified with our usual sense of a conditioned self it is impossible to function to our fullest potential.  In fact, it can be said that our degree of clarity is inversely proportional to our identification with our personality.  So it is vitally important to deeply investigate all the ways in which we are attached to that small, limited sense of personal self, bounded by our past history.  Modern humanistic psychotherapies have tried to draw on a multitude of methods to systematically achieve mind-body integration.  By carefully evaluating our personal development, specific approaches can be engaged to take advantage of our strengths or to correct psychodynamic weaknesses which prevent contentment and fulfillment.

            Often people are drawn to certain modes of spiritual engagement or practice because of strong underlying strengths.  Some very outer-directed, energetic individuals are very well suited for service work.  Some scientists with great powers of concentration and a powerful drive to investigate mysteries of the physical universe, are graced with epiphanies because of their work in this realm.  But conversely, people can be drawn toward various spiritual practices out of self centeredness or a drive to protect maladaptive, ego defense mechanisms.

            For instance, many individuals have been so emotionally or physically traumatized in youth that they have deep, ingrained emotional patterns which cut them off from their own bodies and feelings.  Many have learned to escape to the comfort of the mind and thoughts at times when emotional conflict starts to be felt in the body.  These individuals are frequently attracted to spiritual disciplines that center around mental exercise, which they are often quite good at.  But maturity, integration, and wholeness are sabotaged, because what these individuals need most is precisely what they are avoiding—intimate contact with their bodies and emotional soul.  They probably need less reinforcement of patterns that stimulate mental activity.

            Sometimes individuals who have a vivid imagination and a fantasizing mind are ill served by certain meditative practices that encourage spaciousness and expansiveness of consciousness; these practices can further blur the person’s discrimination of what is real and what is merely a creation of thoughts.  More appropriate exercises might be ones that are more grounding, that center on physical sensations and active engagement in the here and now.

            Some individuals who never achieved a strong, healthy sense of self might get caught up in devotional practices and have great difficulty perceiving what healthy boundaries are needed in the real world.  The sense of one’s personal self often becomes confused with that of a deity or teacher.  This leads in many cases to blind obedience by followers of unskilled or corrupt religious leaders in a cult where physical, sexual, and emotional abuse occurs.

            One particular powerful psychological poison that damages personal development is judgments.  They can be in the form of internalized parental superego attacks (“You’ll never amount to anything!”  “How can you be so stupid?”  “You’re not as good looking as _______.”), shoulds, shouldn’ts, self criticisms, perfectionism, or self-hatred.  They might also show up as judgments projected onto others or our environment, or as continual, non-productive comparisons of self and other.  The damage arises from the engagement of different psychological mechanisms which obscure our clarity and wisdom.  When an ego is attacked by judgments it is triggered into defending a perspective in which it is a separate self, apart from others and the rest of the Universe.  Judgments obscure acceptance of reality as it is.  When we can’t accept the here and now, we are forced to act like a separate individual who needs to struggle with life.

            Therefore an important aid to personal unfoldment is careful awareness of our daily judgments and comparisons, along with a contemplative investigation into the damaging self images and identities that spawn them.  Who do we take ourselves to be at those times?  Is that our clearest identity?  Whenever we catch ourselves falling prey to judgments it is helpful to disengage from them as soon as possible.  This can be done by different means.  One, is just an adamant, “No, I am not going to listen to that negativity!”  Just turn it off.  Sometimes humor can be used when we see the absurd nature of our self criticisms.  Reality testing can be one of the most effective means for disengaging from habitual forms of self attacks.  Simply see the truth of the present situation and the false layering of old childhood programming on the present moment. (“I am not stupid.  I made a simple, correctable error which most people frequently make.”)  Compassion for oneself and others is always a valuable tool to combat the negativity of judgments.  Use it liberally.

            Buddhism classifies five major categories of psychological hindrances which block clarity of consciousness: Sense desires, aversions, laziness, restlessness, and doubt.  We will discuss briefly how they pose problems and how it is best to work with them.

            Everyone has desires to touch, taste, hear, and see pleasant things.  There is nothing basically problematic with that.  The difficulty enters in when we define ourselves and are automatically controlled by our attachments to those desires.  These objects of desire are often unconscious fillers that are used to defensively plug holes of emptiness in ourselves because we have lost a truer source of our value, beauty, love, and peacefulness.  Our attachment to objects of desire more firmly structures a sense of a solid, separate, familiar, personal self.  We then go chasing one sense desire after another so as not to feel the deficient emptiness of our wounded self.  With each act of grasping for a desire we entrench our limited sense of self and distance ourselves from a joy free of those pulls.

            Aversions, anger, hatred, ill will are just the flip side of sense desires.  Our personalities use them in the same way…to help define and make more solid a separate sense of an individual, familiar self.  Boredom falls in this category also because we are not accepting of the present moment and want to be somewhere else “more interesting.”  At the core of many of our aversions is fear.  It is important to recognize this for it tells us that we do not trust that the universe is unfolding as it should.  Aversions keep us away from an open, spacious relationship with the present moment and thus blocks the mind’s awakening.

            Laziness and sleepiness are large obstacles to being alert and present for the moment at hand.  Often it is an unconscious psychological defense mechanism that our personality uses to prevent us from investigating into our limiting identities…who we take ourselves to be.  Our personalities will frequently “go to sleep” or “space out” or indulge in activities we know are harmful to our development at just the times when we are about to break free from the confinement of our limited sense of a maladaptive self.

            Restlessness or agitation is another element in our experience which keeps us from being present and as with laziness it is often present when old identifications from childhood and infancy start to surface to awareness.  This is so uncomfortable to the personality (whose job it is to keep much of these mechanisms hidden) that it activates a very vague agitated, prickly impetus to escape the present moment.

            Doubt is the final traditional psychological hindrance to spiritual unfoldment found in Buddhist teachings.  Doubt in ourselves and the path of awakening derail many sincere explorers of consciousness. It can be very difficult to overcome.  Again it is a mechanism by which the personality says, “You are getting too close to unveiling the charade of your maladaptive conditionings.  Better leave this path of awakening alone. (It is too hard.  I have to give up too much.  There are better paths.  This isn’t meant for me.  I’m too weak, scared, tired….”)

            There are numerous ways of working with these five hindrances (or 500 if you count all their flavors).  The most important is to shine the light of awareness on them with allowing, compassion, lightheartedness, and as much detachment as possible.  “Oh, how interesting, here is grasping after pleasantness arising in my experience.  I wonder what that is about?”  “Oh, look, here is that anger again.  And just a few minutes ago I was happy.  Where did that come from?”

            It is important to feel these feelings fully but not act out on them, judge them, or indulge them.  Feel the grasping quality of sense desires, the longing.  Was there a period of deficiency just prior to its arising?  What thoughts were there in the mind?  Feel the anger.  Where is it in the body?  Do you feel hot? Contracted?  Hard?  How does it change my breathing?  What is beneath the anger?  What might I be afraid of?  “Oh, now I feel a bit shaky and frightened and there is a rubbery hardness around my heart.  My legs feel weak….”  Beware of the desire to push difficult feelings away and NOT to look at them.  We must allow ourselves to be open to EVERYTHING in our experience.  This will bring with it some tremendously difficult feelings.  But the path of awakening was never meant to be easy, just  very rich.

            With sleepiness, laziness, sloth or torpor it may be difficult to have the energy to even bring awareness to the experience.  Sometimes it is necessary to muster some energy just to inquire into the feeling.  Do what is necessary to wake up enough to investigate the feeling.  Do a walking meditation.  Splash some water on your face.  Some of the laziness will still remain so go into that feeling and see what it is about, how it arose and the feelings and self images that support it.

            Restlessness can be such an irritable quality that we are gone away from the present moment so quickly it is difficult to catch ourselves just as we become restless and agitated.  The more we practice looking at this hindrance though the sooner we will catch it in the beginning.  Staying with an awareness of agitation is exceedingly difficult at times.  We can have the intention to investigate it and before we know it we are hunting in the refrigerator for food or cleaning an obscure corner of the room…anything to escape that feeling.  Much can be learned about the origins of the self by being diligent at investigating this agitation.  It often leads to a core frustration in infancy.  Frequently, it can only be felt and intellectual clarity about it is not easy since it represents preverbal experiences of great discomfort which were in existence just as the foundations of the personality were being constructed.  So just staying with the feeling is what is needed until it transforms itself as it always will.

            Doubt can be worked with in the same way…with awareness, not acting out on the doubt but feeling its sabotaging action, undermining right effort and making the path of illumination dark. “This awareness technique isn’t right for me.  I need something different.”  “How will I function without my usual identities?”  “I’ve been practicing for years and where has it gotten me?” It is important to beware of doubt as it arises and name it, not become attached to the apparent rightness of the thoughts.  Sometimes we have to persevere through doubt before we can see enough of its false accusations.

            This brings up another way of working with hindrances which needs great caution.  Expert guidance is very wise to have in this regard.  Sometimes we need to practice the opposite quality just to gain some perspective on the hindrance.  When anger is particularly troublesome to spiritual unfolding it is sometimes helpful to practice lovingkindness for a bit.  When sleepy, muster up some energy.  When doubtful persevere.  The tricky part of working with hindrances in this way is that there is a tendency to repress the emotions and then we are stuck with another whole layer of defensiveness with which to deal.

            With practice we can learn to embrace these psychological hindrances as great teaching tools for deep self discovery, unveiling the tangled web of our personality and seeing a clearer reality.

            At the depths of contemplative practice are profound experiences of boundlessness and unusual states of consciousness.  Navigating these powerful experiences can get extremely difficult.  Transpersonal psychologists and spiritual teachers have worked with a phenomenon termed “spiritual emergency.”  These experiential phenomenon are often depicted with symptoms similar to severe psychological disturbance, emotional conflict, and mental dysfunction.  People experiencing such difficulties are frequently in altered states of consciousness, are disoriented by their surroundings, have problems relating to others, and are frightened by very unusual bodily sensations.  They think that they are possessed by the devil, going crazy, spoken to by God, undergoing a “dark night of the soul,” or being assaulted by psychic forces.  By looking at the experience as a difficult phase in personal development, professionals working at the Spiritual Emergence Network help these individuals understand and integrate their experience into the whole of their lives.

            Working with all the complex elements of the personality is a rich treasure trove of grist for the mill.  Efforts at understanding the inner dynamics of our personality will bring incredible rewards in our unfoldment.  The veils of the personality are what hide our deeper potential.  We must see through these veils to dive deeply into a mature spiritual life. 

Resources:

The Enneagram by Helen Palmer

Focusing by Eugene Gendlin

What We May Be: Techniques for Psychological and Spiritual Growth by Piero Ferrucci

The Call for Spiritual Emergency: From Personal Crisis to Personal Transformation by Emma Bragdon

Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Become a Crisis by Stan and Christina Grof

The Stormy Search for Self: A Guide to Personal Growth Through Transformative Crisis by Christina and Stan Grof

Soul Without Shame by Byron Brown

Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman 

Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman

Spiritual Emergence Network, 603 Mission St., #7, Santa Cruz, CA  95060; 408-426-0902; website: Spiritual Emergence Network

Focusing Institute: Focusing.org 

Enneagram:  Enneagram.net 

Psychosynthesis: Psychosynthesis

Homework

“Come, come to the Edge.” He encouraged.

“No, no we will fall.”  They replied.

“Come, come to the Edge.” He repeated.

So they went to the Edge.  And he pushed them.

And they flew.

                                                   Unknown

            The following homework is on-going self inquiry and can be done daily for several decades…always giving new and more subtle insights into the ways in which we unconsciously obscure the most meaningful parts of ourself:

            1. Observe superego judgments of self and others throughout the day

            a. If you feel bad, suspect a superego attack

            b. What self image has been activated?

            c. Disengage from superego attack with reality testing, compassion, humor or with whatever else that works.

            2. Observe lies, fibs, exaggerations, diplomacy, withheld information, shortened versions of stories, self deceptions…anything which is not 100% truth.

            3. Watch reactivity of the personality.  The personality gets its juice from reactivity.  Are you: Asleep? Defensive? Or protecting a self image?  Particularly notice desires.  What psychological hole are you trying to fill with that object of desire?

            4. Ask yourself — how is this act, behavior, emotion, or self image conditioned from the past?

            5. Take one week for mindful awareness of each of the five hindrances.  Then watch them all daily as they arise in your experience.

            6. For one week, at the end of each day,  ponder on something or someone for which you are grateful.

            7. For one week, at the end of each day, write down three good things that happened that day and their causes.

            8. For one week, each day, use your “Top Strength” in a new and unique way, whether it be creativity, perseverance, forgiveness, humor, truthfulness, communication, helpfulness, empathy, critical thinking….

Every Possible Waking Moment 

Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different….  

No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded…they forbid a premature closing of our accounts with reality.

                                                                        William James

            In how much of your life do you really feel ALIVE?  Vitality surging through every part of your being?  Most of us only have rare occasions of being in touch with this throbbing Life Energy, in large part, because it can only be felt in the present moment.  And we do not live our lives there.  We are so frequently caught up in past hurts, unconscious wounds, semi-sweet memories or future fears, rehearsals of unknown encounters, and improbable hopes designed to keep us from feeling the pain in our lives or the overwhelming vastness of the Universe we inhabit.

            Daily mindfulness practices may be the most important of all consciousness practices to help us touch the deepest and truest perception of reality.  It is a lifelong practice that only becomes easy after years of very diligent mind training.  And the work begins by WAKING UP each moment to the here and now.  Not indulging in illusory past memories or future fantasies but present moment reality, WHATEVER THAT MAY BE…pain, pleasure, boredom, ecstasy, in-breath, out-breath….

            Keeping attentive in every possible waking moment is not easy.  The mind does not cooperate easily with this task, but the more it is practiced the easier it becomes until it unfolds automatically.  Initially, it is usually wise to practice being aware of body sensations since this felt-sense of  ourselves is always accessible.  Some traditions use the continual monitoring of breath as we do our daily chores.  Sometimes body touch points can be used also as reminders such as where our hands touch a pencil or book, our feet touching the floor, or our buttocks touching the chair.  Some try to keep an undistracted awareness of the arms and legs in general.  You can try several methods and see how they feel.  It is best to choose one for long-term practice and use the others for a periodic change for a short time.  Use the mindfulness guides in this lesson for deeper investigation.

            In Buddhist practice there are four traditional objects of mindfulness.  The first is awareness of body senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell.  Awareness of the body is a good practice to learn how to be in the here and now since our bodies are right here and now all the time.  Whenever you hear something notice that there is hearing.  Whenever you taste something notice that there is tasting, and so on.

            The second field of what we can be aware of are feelings of pleasantness, unpleasantness or neutrality.  We usually move automatically toward or away from many experiences in each day.  Bringing these elements of unconscious activity into the light of awareness gives us a better understanding of the grasping and avoidance nature of our personality.  It is the perfect aid to help us be attentive to our personality’s reactivity.  Since the personality gets its power and juice from reactivity, being more attentive to this element can help dissolve much of the personality’s conditioned stranglehold on our mind’s development.

            The third factor of mindfulness that we can be attentive to during the day’s activities is mental and emotional states.  Various thoughts, anger, joy, greed, love, boredom arise moment to moment out of the circumstances of our lives.  If we watch closely we will see that it is just a passing display of mental activity with no real separate entity directing the show.  This can be an important gateway toward greater clarity of perception.

            The fourth field of mindfulness is that of one’s mental contents and the function of mental states as it relates to our identity.  Traditionally in Buddhist practice, it is an observation of hindrances to being awake, how our personalities become attached, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment and the Four Noble Truths.

            As you can see there is plenty of food for mindfulness practice in every moment of the day.  The more we are awake in our lives the more we can allow the unfoldment of our fullest potential.

Resources:

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

A Guide to Walking Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh

Websites:

Thich Nhat Hanh:  Thich Nhat Hanh 

Books by Thich Nhat Hanh from Parallax Press:  parallax.org 

Community for Mindful Living: Plum Village  plumvillage.org 

Homework

Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature,

a unique action of the total universe.

                                                      Alan Watts

            Begin the practice of daily mindfulness.  Infuse each day with as much awareness and attention as possible.  Remember, this is a lifelong practice with many fluctuations in degrees of awareness and unconscious automaticity.  Notice how thinking, reading and talking are some of the most difficult times to be mindful and present.  When we find ourselves off in the past or future gently return to the present moment.  (That is not to say that we can’t set aside time to plan for future events.  We just want to do that consciously and deliberately.)

            For the novice it may be helpful to set aside one day or one week and just focus on being mindful of a single element in our experience.  For example, during week one whenever you discover in the course of the day that you have lost track of yourself in the present moment gently come back and bring the next three breaths into your relaxed awareness.  Then see how long you can continue with your activities while still remaining aware of your breath.  During the next week focus on being aware of whenever you experience a pleasant feeling.  Note when it arises, how long it stays, and when it disappears.  The third week can be noticing when an unpleasant feeling arises, lingers and then passes away.  (Much can be learned about the flavors of pleasantness and unpleasantness, the causes for their appearance and what makes them disappear.)  During another week one can focus on whenever the futuring or planning mind takes grasp.

            Sometimes we will notice when these events occur near the time of occurrence but in the beginning it is often the case that if we set aside some time at the end of the day for a review of what we experienced we will discover that many instances of what we were suppose to be attentive to that week slipped by our perception and we only discovered them upon later reflection.  That is okay.  With practice mindfulness shortens the time between when we actually experience something and when we witness it.

            The more advanced meditator will want to use Thich Nhat Hanh’s guides for mindfulness as continued experiments in being present.  Some use periodic mindfulness alarms such as a sports watch with a countdown timer that beeps every so-many minutes as a cue to be alert.

            For the most serious of practitioners being CONTINUOUSLY present is one of the most powerful and highly regarded practices available.  Eventually, when one is not present it will feel like a loss and so the motivation to be awake is strengthened.  Even having your witness-self present during much of one’s sleep often occurs with deep practice.  A good question to ask is: “when is it most difficult to be present?” Then, “why is that?”

  We are caught in a traffic jam of discursive thought.

                                                               Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

            The whispers of truth are much more easily heard with a silent mind.  Concentration meditations which are used to quiet the babbling brain are important in both the initial stages of mind development practice and in the long time meditator.  In the beginning, concentration on the here and now is usually poorly developed.  These practices are also known as tranquility meditations because of the calming influence they have on our soul.  In most peoples’ lives the personality has a stranglehold on our thoughts.  Automatic, impulsive and self-perpetuating these discursive thoughts act like noise which blocks the more subtle perceptions of our most clear mind.  Concentration meditations are also needed later on when the difficulties of a mature practice disrupt our presence or when we need to refine our perceptions to the most subtle aspects of consciousness investigation.

            One can begin by choosing a quiet time and place where there will be no interruptions or distractions.  Sit in a comfortable but erect posture.  Start by counting either the inhalation or exhalation of each breath.  Count to 10 then begin over again.  If distractions disturb the accurate counting of breaths, gently return to counting from number one.  Do not be discouraged for lapses in attention.  The deconditioning of the automatic workings of thought takes time.  When this counting can be done regularly with little distraction the counting can be abandoned and we can just notice each in-breath, each out-breath, and the pauses in between them.  If we find it difficult or impossible to do this without distracting thoughts silently saying to oneself, “in…out…in…out…” may help.

            A rich life is all about being in the present moment and these are excellent practices for developing that type of immediate attention.  The past is gone, just a memory.  The future is not here yet, just a dream or fear.  Notice how the mind automatically wants to leave the present moment for the unreality of either long lost memories or future fantasies that may never be.  Life can be lived only in the present moment.  Practice staying here … awake and alive.  For more detailed instruction on this and other similar forms of meditation read the books in the resource section of this lesson.

            Another form of meditation which can be helpful at any stage of mind development practice is lovingkindness or metta meditation.  It is a way to bring a soft heart into our meditative life.  Compassion for oneself and others is an important aspect of full life and lovingkindness meditations can help to tune us into that aspect of our reality.  It is a way to open our hearts and mind to a world larger than our own personal agenda, wounds, anger, and defensiveness.  More will be said in a later lesson about the specifics of these types of practices.  There are also lovingkindness meditations in the resources of this lesson if you want to add some of these meditations to your daily practices.

            A form of advanced practice that is very powerful can be engaged once one-pointed concentration is strong enough to fend off usual distractions.  It is known as shikantaza meditation in Zen and mahamudra or Dzogchen meditation in Vajrayana practice.  It is has been described as  “just sitting” or undistracted nonmeditation without an object, without concepts, no recollection, no anticipation of the future, no mental examination.  It is an abiding in the relaxed state of deepest quietude, settled in nondiscriminatory absorption that feels like vast space. One must be attentive, not dull.  At the same time there should not be an effort to direct the mind.  Just allow it to relax without clinging to any perception.  It is not an easy practice.

            Ideally, one should have expert guidance on these forms of meditation from someone skilled in these deep practices.  An excellent instructional text is The Mahamudra: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation by Takpo Tashi Namgyal.         

Resources:

The Experience of Insight: A Simple and Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation by Joseph Goldstein

Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom by Joseph Goldstein

Seeking the Heart of Wisdom by Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield

The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau

Guided Meditations, Explorations, and Healings by Stephen Levine

The Mahamudra by Takpo Tashi Namgyal

Websites:

Buddhist meditation resources like free online meditation classes and free e-books  Buddhanet.net 

Naropa University  Naropa.edu

Homework

Men occasionally stumble across the truth,

but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

                                         Winston Churchill

            For the beginner set aside 20 minutes per day of silent meditation.  If 20 minutes at one time is initially very difficult try two 10 minute sessions.  Most should be able to sit still and count breathes for 20 minutes, though.  Take the phone off the hook.  Close the door to your room.  Ask family members not to disturb you.  What is your experience?  Do you notice a jabbering mind?  Does it feel like you do not have much control of the thoughts that pop into the mind?  How much are you drawn by past thoughts?  How much by future planning?  Is there an anxiety that arises when you just relax and stay with the present breath?  What could be so important that you can’t take a few minutes just to relax with yourself?  Do you have trouble even letting your breath move naturally and freely?  Some people feel the urge to control their breathing rate and rhythm.  If you meditate with your eyes closed and tend to fall asleep try meditating with your eyes open.  See what you can learn about how little real control you have over what arises in your experience.  Meditation is designed to arrest the automatic habitual patterning of our lives in order to make space for a fresh, conscious, energized unfoldment of life.

            For those who want a more involved practice read some of the resource books and do the exercises suggested in them.  Some may be able to make a commitment to twenty minutes per day, some for one hour of meditation daily.  Often two half-hour sessions are helpful.

            For the serious practitioner begin your search for a reputable, experienced teacher in the contemplative tradition that suits you best.  Use the Resource section in Comprehensive Health Care for Everyone to help you with that search. Diversity in meditative techniques is helpful but also beware of not sticking to one meditation practice long enough to overcome the obstacles that it presents.  Many diligent practitioners bop from one meditation practice to another every session or even within a session out of unconscious boredom or difficulty.  Beware of this common pitfall of practice.

Awareness and Compassion

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

                                                        Oliver Wendell Holmes 

            This course is designed to be a support for deepening awareness of ourselves and the world around us.  We will focus on building concentrated attention, undistracted awareness, clarity of perception, discriminating wisdom, and creative insight.  We will also address ways to effectively deal with destructive emotions.  We will present practices that help develop compassion and joy so they can be increasingly experienced in our daily lives.  For the beginner it will present a substantial body of knowledge and instruction to start on the initial leg of an unimaginable journey to the furthest reaches of human potential.  For the experienced meditator it will provide a diversification of practices and support to enrich one’s life.  We begin with the premise that awakening to our deepest potential is a lifelong developmental process marked by an enhanced way of life.  Thus, a six week course will only be a spark to the total Light that is available to us.  But the practices in this course can be a spark that fires again and again to help brighten up the path before us.

            The contemplative practices presented here are not concerned with the dogma of exoteric branches of any religion or following someone’s interpretation of scriptures, but rather it is focused on the scientifically proven methods of mind development.  It is about ascending to the heights of our consciousness and then learning to embody the wisdom which comes from that new knowledge in living a rich, precious, human life which is real.

            Much can be learned with an open mind.  Different cultures and religions have many varied practices from which to draw a wealth of wisdom.  We will encourage investigation into these different approaches.  We do not advocate one contemplative spiritual path as being better than another.  Each has to find his or her own way.  We do draw heavily on Buddhist meditative practices for they are the some of the most well documented and tested over the last two thousand five hundred years.  Buddhism is also unique in that it is one of the rare religions which one is invited to draw from all it has to offer with no obligation or pressure to “become a Buddhist.”

            The foundations of this course are: Daily Meditations, Daily Mindfulness Practices, Psychological Inquiry, and Compassionate Action.

            There will be different levels of participation and commitment to this course by those who sign up for it.  The first level will be those who are moderately curious about beginning a contemplative life.  They will use the homework sessions as experiments in a meditative practice.  They may not be interested sufficiently to read the recommended readings or their lives may be too busy to engage in any of the practices presented in these extra readings.  The second level of participation would involve more extensive use of the resources and more diligence about daily meditation, self inquiry, and mindfulness practice.  These individuals may have been previously touched by the transformative power of meditative practices and thus the flame of curiosity for the Truth is stronger to fuel more energetic involvement in experiments of self-discovery.   The third level of participation would include full immersion into the many resources suggested and much time every day devoted to experimenting with the different practices so it is a major focus of one’s life.  Contact with contemplative groups and teachers would be enthusiastically engaged.  So whatever your degree of involvement this course should be able to assist you in your goals.

Recommended Reading on Consciousness

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins (original argument for consciousness evolving via “random” natural selection without necessity of a Supernatural Being) He is also the author of The Selfish Gene.

**In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion by Scott Atran (The most comprehensive, detailed explanation of how religion evolved and is expected to persist because it fulfills unique natural selection qualities, personally and culturally.)

**Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer (One of the most reasonable, scientific explanations of how religious thought has become so pervasive in all human cultures because of how the function of our brains evolved.)

Why God Won’t Go Away by Newberg and D’Aquili (fascinating neurological studies of Tibetan monks and Christian nuns during spiritual ecstasy although their unjustified conclusions do not follow their evidence)

Exploring Consciousness by Rita Carter (an excellent overview of recent consciousness studies, perceptual tests and different hypotheses)

Varieties of Anomalous Experience edited by Cardena, Lynn, and Krippner (excellent documentation but often each chapter’s concluding remarks are hedged)

*Intuition: Its Power and Peril by David G. Myers (Really demonstrates how questionable our own perceptions can be.)

*The Illusion of Conscious Will by Wegner (Everyone should read this!)

*A General Theory of Love by Lewis, Amini, and Lannon (Excellent!)

Kinds of Mind by Daniel Dennett (Short concise description of how minds work and how the brain evolved complexity of consciousness)

Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer

The Science of Good and Evil by Michael Shermer

No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young (Step-by-step analysis of differences between religion and science)

The End of Faith by Sam Harris (Eloquent argument for rejecting faith without evidence.)

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee (Excellent exploration of neurobiology of consciousness in plain language with interesting examples of sensory illusions and disturbed behavior caused by damaged brain function.)

A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness by V.S. Ramachandran

Looking For Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain by Antonio Damasio (Excellent overall picture of the neurobiology of emotions.  One can skip the sections referring to Spinoza without losing the meaning of the book.)

Toward a Science of Consciousness III edited by Hameroff, Kaszniak, Chalmers (Particularly chapters 8, 19, 21, 22, 38.)

Rational Mysticism by John Horgan (Asks important questions which are often ignored by those on the contemplative path.  Explores interesting alternative explanations of mystical experience.)

Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening by Stephen Batchelor  (Proposes the consciousness hygiene aspects of Buddhism and addresses human and cultural transformation without the adverse, consoling or mystical trappings of religion.)

Consciousness: An Introduction by Susan Blakemore (An academic textbook that covers numerous aspects, questions, and theories regarding consciousness.  Many self-exercises and explorations to demonstrate principles of consciousness.)

The Seven Sins of Memory by Daniel L. Schacter (Important scientific documentation of how mechanisms of memory that evolved for enhanced evolutionary adaptation can distort our perception of reality.)

The Ethical Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga (Good discussion about how modern science can inform better ethical decision making, the neurology of belief, how the interpreter module of the brain will create stories just to keep reality within our cohesive belief system, and the evolutionary social development of religion out of survival needs.)

The Third Basic Instinct by Alex S. Key (How curiosity shaped human development)

Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman (Identifies important research on positive emotions, the heritability of some percentage of them and practical ways to achieve more happiness.)

Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman

Journal of Happiness Studies

Secondary Readings  (Certain components of these books address important issues.)

The Emergence of Everything by Howard Morowitz (Good description of how life emerged according to Darwinian evolution but the chapter on Spiritual emergence is really bizarre.)

A Universe of Consciousness by Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi (Good neuroscience but very difficult to read.)

Synaptic Self by Joseph LeDoux (Very difficult reading but very detailed explanation of neurological function)

Wider Than The Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness by Gerald Edelman (Very difficult reading but the best “unified theory of consciousness”—The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection)

Websites:

American Humanist  (A scientific perspective of life.)

Secular Humanism  (Another Humanist site)

Journal of Consciousness Studies  (Scientific explorations into Consciousness)

Posit Science Reading List (great list of books on neuroscience, brain and behavior)

The Mind & Life Institute  (Scientific explorations into consciousness and life hosted by the Dalai Lama)

The purpose in life is a warm heart.

Think of other people.  Serve other people sincerely.

                                                  The Dalai Lama

I walk down the street.
There is a hole.
I don’t see it.
I fall in.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes a very long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is still a deep hole.
I pretend not to see it.
I fall in.
I pretend it’s still not my fault.
It takes a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is still the same deep hole.
I see it.
I fall in anyway.
It’s a habit.
I get out quicker this time.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole.
I see it.
I walk around it.
I don’t fall in.

I walk down a different street.

                          Portia Nelson

    Ninety percent of our entire psychological self is basically formed in the first three years of life.  The love, attention, and experiential contact with the world from conception through the first few years of life can be the foundation of a psychologically well-balanced, adult life.  But the converse is all too often the case. 

            Many of the psychological problems that plague us in adult life and cause us stress on a daily basis are the result of early childhood scripts written by our experiences at those earlier times.  These negative programs were then reinforced innumerable times over the years resulting in a conditioned pattern of maladaptive behavior very resistant to change.  The more severe the psychological insult was in youth the more of a negative impact it may have in adult life.  That is not to say that seemingly minor psychological stress in earlier life can’t have devastating effects when combined with certain other circumstances and conditions. 

            Very early childhood trauma, particularly those events that are difficult to remember, seem to be very resistant to resolution.  But psychotherapeutic techniques can make dramatic improvements.  There is nothing we can do about changing the past.  But there are many techniques that can provide insight into the past conditioning of our present maladaptive behavior and unhappiness.  There are also many techniques available to decondition this programming and build new, more adaptive, healthier behaviors.  For those self-motivated individuals who do not have severe psychological problems there are plenty of resources for self care.  The resources in this lesson will point you in the right direction If you are willing to do a significant amount of therapeutic work for yourself, you will be able to find excellent psychotherapists who are good facilitators, using the formal in-office therapy session as a springboard for the more important and extensive “homework” done by the client independently.  The resources will help you find such a therapist.

Resources

 Great is the man who does not lose his child’s heart.

                             Mencuis

The Center for Creative Growth is a good place to start exploring healing of the wounds of childhood.

At Health is another place with good information and a database of skilled therapists available in your community to help.

To everything there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven…

                                 Hebrew Bible

    We need stress in our life but just the right amount.  We never seem to have enough time, but it’s usually not that we don’t have enough…we just don’t manage the time we do have effectively.  An excellent step-by-step process for learning how to manage your time better for a less stressful life can be found at Time Management They also have useful resources for further exploration.  Use this as your Time Management Homework.

Workplace Health

The trouble with the rat race is that, even if you win, you’re still a rat.

                                     Lily Tomlin

The proportion of workers who reported “feeling highly stressed” more than doubled from 1985 to 1990.

Job stress is estimated to cost U.S. Industry $300 billion annually, as assessed by absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover, direct medical, legal and insurance fees, etc. 60-80% of industrial accidents are due to stress. 

Workers’ compensation awards for job stress, rare two decades ago, have skyrocketed and threaten to bankrupt the system in some states. California employers shelled out almost $1 billion for medical and legal fees alone. Nine out of ten job stress suits are successful, with an average payout more than four times that for regular injury claims.

Workplace violence is rampant. There are almost 2 million reported instances of homicide, aggravated assault, rape or sexual assaults. Homicide is the second leading cause of fatal occupational injury and the leading cause of death for working women.  (Statistics courtesy of  American Institute of Stress )

    There are some excellent books by Dr. Beverly Potter:  Overcoming Job  Burnout: How to Transform Work Pressure into Productivity and  Finding a Path with a Heart: How to Go From Burnout to Bliss .  Her website has some excellent tools to help with this element of stress: Workplace Health

    Use these two websites as your Workplace Health Homework.

An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress related complaints. Stress is said to be responsible for more than half of the 550,000,000 workdays lost annually because of absenteeism.

A three-year study conducted by a large corporation showed that 60% of employee absences were due to psychological problems such as stress.

Nearly half of all American workers suffer from symptoms of burnout, a disabling reaction to stress on the job.  (Statistics courtesy of  American Institute of Stress )

Communication, when it succeeds, is one of man’s greatest assets,

and when it fails it is his worst enemy.

                                    John C. Lilly

    One of the most stressful events in our daily lives is when we are having a conflictual interaction with someone, a friend, co-worker, stranger, or loved one.  One of the most effective ways of avoiding this type of stress is by learning a more skilled way of communication.  Actually, the stress comes from miscommunication.  When we can accurately communicate precisely what we feel and want in a polite courteous way we are much more likely to get a response that will be harmonious rather than stressful.  Active listening and encouraging the other party to sift through what they feel and truly want also helps.  

    A very effective way of doing this is with a technique called Compassionate Communication.  For more detailed instruction on this technique click to the website, Compassionate Communication.  There are Compassionate Communication Trainers in numerous communities for further training.  For more information, contact:

The Center for Nonviolent Communication, 
2428 Foothill Blvd. Suite E, La Crescenta, CA 91214; 800-255-7696

My favorite piece of music

is the one we hear all the time if we are quiet.

                                     John Cage

    One of the most powerful ways to help manage stress is to allow some time each day for inner silence.  This can come in the form of progressive relaxation exercises, contemplative prayer, the simple repetition of a neutral or comforting word or phrase, biofeedback training, or even listening to soothing music.  Moving meditations such as Tai Chi or Hatha Yoga can also be applied with similar results.

    There is a powerful effect on our health  when we make a commitment to reserve a period of time every day to center ourselves in the present moment.  We need to regularly and frequently “step back” from the hectic pace and vigilance which typifies our day and feel what it is like to reside in a calm center of presence.  The inner wholeness we can experience only in the Now is a refreshing break from our usual focus on planning, futuring, rehearsing, reminiscing, regretting, fantasizing, catastrophizing, daydreaming or the like in the past or future.

Homework

    Click over to the Meditation Lesson and/or Mindfulness Lesson in the Consciousness Hygiene Course on this website for a more thorough instruction in these two forms of centering oneself.

    Experiment with other forms of abiding in the Here and Now such as progressive relaxation exercises, relaxation audio or videotapes, listening to soothing music, or doing Tai Chi.  No matter what combination of practices you use try to spend 20 minutes twice a day just for inner centering and silence.

Resources

The Mind & Life Institute sponsors seminars and provides learning materials for better living.  They have a CD on “The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation.”

There are scores of websites on Relaxation Response.  Here’s one you might try for more detailed instruction and information: Relax 

There are also numerous sites related to Progressive Muscular Relaxation. Try this excellent site for detailed instruction with audio if desired: Programmed Relaxation

For Tai Chi instruction on video check out: Tai Chi for Health.

Computerized biofeedback training is a dynamic, scientific way to methodically reprogram our mind-body to function in a more balanced, relaxed way.  It may be one of the most effective high-tech stress management tools.  As more research is done on brainwave biofeedback more individuals are using it for meditation training.  To find out more about how to integrate biofeedback into your stress management program try the following websites: Biofeedback.net or  Biof.com  or LifeMatters.com