Levels of Consiousness

We look today, at the levels of consciousness.

Upon waking up from a nightmare experience we are glad to discover that the world is a wonderful place - it always has been and always will be! We are glad that the nightmare was not real

Similarly, many mystics from different traditions have proclaimed that what we consider as the wakeful state and "real" too is merely another dream from which we can wake up and experience that we are anchored in unity. A unity where the underlying oneness of everything is no longer an intellectually satisfying model but an integral part of who we are.

However, the bad news is that waking up is both incredibly simple and unbelievably difficult. Cerebral understanding is easy, but to be steeped in it involves the extinction of the ego, which is not something that's like likely to happen tomorrow. The good news is that even a rudimentary sense that this is actually the way things are and the determination, however imperfect, to traverse this path will completely turn our life around. It will propel you us into an infinitely more pleasant realm, Sometimes, as in the following story, the searing injustice of life is a spur that leads us into awakening.

The story of the squirrel: The golden squirrel was hurrying along the forest path when she came across a brigand. The police who had apprehended him had left him there while they went to the nearby river to rest and eat. They weren't about to share their meagre supply of food with him. He was all trussed up and not going to go anywhere. Save me! The brigand begged the golden squirrel. These are renegade police officers and my life is forfeit if they get me to their station. “What have you done that they have arrested you?” inquired the golden squirrel. “I have done nothing evil” answered the brigand. “I was a bonded labourer. My master was so unjust he used to beat me every day so one day, I broke loose from my chains and trashed him before running away, for this I was branded an outlaw”. I have been in the deepest forest ever since and am the leader of a group of people who have been similarly mistreated. We were safe until these rogues in uniform, who are really bounty hunters, came to know our whereabouts. Please free me and I will look after you forever. So piteously did he recount his tale that the golden squirrel was moved and she gnawed through the ropes that bound him. Quickly he scooped her up and vanished into the jungle back to his house. The brigand was true to his word and looked after the squirrel well. Freed of the necessity to forage she became fat and slow. One day the brigand's wife grabbed her and put her in a cage. The brigand remonstrated with his wife but she shut him up brusquely. “The flesh of the golden squirrel is tasty beyond belief and she will be my lunch tomorrow” declared his wife. You can have some too. But don't you dare interfere. So to keep the peace the brigand acquiesced. 

“I saved your life,” the golden squirrel reminded him. “How can you do this to me?”. It's not fair. That's true! agreed the brigand, but there is no justice in the world. That's the way life is, ask anyone if you don't believe me. The golden squirrel looked at the goat grazing nearby and it nodded its head sadly, “I give them milk and yet they beat me. When I run dry, they will cut my throat and eat me. It is true that there is no justice in the world” The squirrel looked at the serving maid and she also shook her head. “I had a family and a house once,” she said “but the brigand killed my husband and stole my child. Now I’m his servant. I dare not run away because I don't know where my child is and the brigand will kill him if I leave. There is definitely no justice in the world”. The golden squirrel’s heart sank as she realized the perfidy of the man she had saved. “See”, said the thief as he hung up the cage. That's the way life is, I would have kept you well but since you're going to die anyway, I might as well grab a morsel of your flesh for myself. I too have heard that your flesh is tasty and there is more of you now than when you came” and he laughed shamelessly. That night the servant came silently to the cage and opened the door, she picked up the golden squirrel and placed her gently on the ground, “Run away little one, there is no justice in this world, but sometimes there is a little balance”. “Come with me” entreated the little creature. They will know that you did this and they will kill you. “No little one” replied the maid. I can't flee for fear of what will befall my son. They will beat me but they will not kill me because I’m useful to them. This is my fate and I will suffer it. Run away now!

Some months later, the golden squirrel chanced upon a party of policemen and from their conversation, she divined that they were the ones who had captured the brigand and they were still looking for him. “Would you like me to lead you to him?” she volunteered. “I can take you by a back path that nobody knows about and it is unguarded”. So the policemen followed the squirrel and burst in on the unsuspecting gang. There was a brief but fierce fight and all the brigands were captured.

During the melee, one of the policemen emerged from the hut with an infant and the serving woman recognized her son. She rushed towards him and the policeman mistaking her intent, swing his stave and broke her neck. She died without holding her son who became an orphan.


Its so unfair, muttered the golden squirrel as she left the scene, there really is no justice in this world.

In the words of Anthony De Mello, Jesuit priest and enlightened seer, there is no explanation you can give that will explain away all of the suffering and evil and torture and destruction and hunger in the world. You'll never explain it. You can try gamely with your formulas, religious and otherwise but you'll never explain it because life is a mystery which means your thinking mind cannot make sense of it. For that, you will have to wake up and then you'll suddenly realize that reality is not the problem, you are the problem.


For some of us, this will make immediate and profound sense. If so let us allow it sink in, meditate on it. For others, this will appear stupid and may even arouse anger and hostility, if this happens, move on, just be open to the possibility that sometimes in the future it will become clear to you.


The journey is all there is. Albert Einstein famously said that the significant problems in the world cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness in which we were when we created them. All of life is a journey to reach a higher level of consciousness. Think about where you are on this continuum of consciousness. Plot what you will do to progress but recognise even as you plan, that none of it is within your control. Remember you need to invest in the process, not the outcome.

Existential Questions

We witness in daily life such interesting events that we take for granted as having no significance: A child sleeps and the toys they obsessed over merely moments ago are seen strewn on the floor, abandoned. Likewise, when we are blessed with deep sleep, all our debilitating challenges of the day simply dissolve, seemingly becoming irrelevant.

Peace arrives not in finding answers to all our questions but rather in the ending of our curiosity.

Once a seeker asked the Buddha if he would answer a question that was tormenting him for long. To this, the Buddha replied, “Sure, same time same day next year and if you still have the question, I shall answer”.

Our questions themselves loose significance or change as time passes, and so our job is to endure these questions that have emerged in our hearts like we may "endure" an unwelcome guest - albeit uninvited but we may treat them too with gentleness and grace, we could learn to coexist with them and use this as an opportunity to practice patience rather than to rush to find answers. This is the wisdom

And yet sometimes it occurs that we are unable to resist the heartfelt need to invest ourselves in the pursuit of an answer or solution such as for example in wanting to bring respite to the millions suffering from poverty. But eventually, we arrive at the same understanding (in this case that poverty cannot be eliminated). This is not to say that the good work that was done in the interim was without value, but the grand purpose it served for us was in giving us the understanding and acceptance that life is as it is, and ultimate answers cannot be found in the realm of realm reason and logic - a key lesson has been earnt.

One of the Vedic stories starts with a seeker who having tried everything else possible to "know" the ultimate truth finally arrives at the doorstep of a teacher and asks, “reveal to me that upon knowing which everything is known”. And the instruction to teach the unteachable starts.


Our life is a search for that.

Mindfulness facing outward - “Listening” to the other with our heart.

Yesterday's focus was on mindfulness directed inward, such as on the task we do so that we do not carry the seeds of distraction in our heads as we go about our day.

Today's focus is on mindfulness in social interactions

Haven't we been introduced to someone and forgotten their name within 10 seconds? Haven't we been in a conversation when someone asked us a question and we realized only several seconds later that he was expecting an answer but we didn't have a clue what the question was?

And we often recognize that our action was driven by an agenda which we were not aware of at the time of acting or speaking.

The primary message today is a re-definition of the purpose of conversation:

"The purpose of conversation is NOT  to be understood, it is TO UNDERSTAND!"

Here is this powerful exercise that builds on the other powerful exercise of yesterday. I've tried this and it works wonders.

When you have a conversation with someone, devote your whole attention to the conversation. Note the other person carefully. What does her facial expression tell you? Does the tone of his voice vary? Is there tension in her body, in her voice? Is there something he's’ trying to convey which is not in the words that he is articulating? 

Much of the time when we are in a conversation we are not really paying attention to the other person, we’re very busy formulating what we are going to say, what brilliant reply we are going to make. 

So the practice is to consciously simply focus on the other person when they are speaking. Try to understand what is going on. What is the purpose of the conversation. Are there verbal and nonverbal cues that signifies something is going on behind the scenes. 

Carrying on a conversation in this manner is not easy however the rewards far outweigh the effort

Next Step:
Have a conversation with your full attention.

I've heard in a conversation between Krista Tippett and Brene Brown:- “Listen with the same passion that you’d like to be heard”. One of the additional values of redefining the purpose of conversation as such:  “the purpose of conversation is not to be understood, it is to understand”, is that it helps us practice moving away from “me” centeredness. And as we devote our full nonjudgemental/attention on the other, there is so much to learn about what's going on within ourselves too. For instance, we see judgments forming, resistance to a point of view, or a range of distractions emerging. This is such a worthy adventure to devote to. 

Day 32: Cultivating Mindfulness: How do we Quiet the tumultuous horde? How to Live in the Present Moment

I've heard the story of a CEO whose life-changing recognition occurred when he realized he simply couldn't be with his himself. Apparently, he had taken a break to recuperate from the physical and mental exhaustion he felt on account of the rigour at his work. However, when he was finally able to arrive at his desired destination, it just took him a few minutes at the pool by himself to start to think about his work and get anxious. He simply couldn't bring himself to be with himself.

How difficult is it to quietly sit-down with ourselves? Many who have visited Ramana Maharishi in up until the 1950s seeking solutions to the problems that tore them apart were transformed with just a single advice he offered in which he set a tremendous example too - "Summa Iru" or "Sit Quietly" he would say. This advice when earnestly applied was sufficient for several people to find peace in their lives.

Blaise Pascal the French scientist and philosopher observed "we bring all of our miseries on ourselves by our simple inability to quietly sit in a room by ourselves"


This is partly the consequence of the times we live in - the phenomenal pace of change, the crowd of social media distractions and the endless choices we are presented.


Peter Drucker, well known as a management theorist also had a keen understanding of the human predicament in the present times. He made the following uncannily accurate observation: "In a few hundred years when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians we'll see are not technology, not the Internet, not E-Commerce - it is an unprecedented change in the human condition - for the first time literally substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices, and for the first time they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it"

Upon finally becoming the CEO of a large conglomerate, Ahmed thought he had arrived at the pinnacle of his success. But the lasting happiness he hoped for never did arrive. There was only a brief thrill of gratification which was too short lived. Soon a thousand challenges sought his intervention - strikes by employees, transportation problems in his Asian locations, break down of machinery in US operations. In addition, although Ahmed had known there was going to be social obligations but he was totally unprepared for the sheer volume of people who wanted FaceTime with him. Employees, Shareholders, analysts, Journalists, politicians, fundraisers for various causes, customers, social activists, community organizers, the list was endless.

Ahmed became more efficient by dividing his time into smaller slices, scheduled appointments for 5 minutes, and even planned 30-second bathroom breaks,. He got used to functioning like this. And then one day - HE Retired and his world came crumbling apart.

There was nothing that could replace that speed of living and give him joy. He tried to find joy in golf, but what had been an interesting activity when he was a busy CEO, no more gave him joy.

In despair sought a sage who agreed to meet him. He knocked the door at and was asked to enter. But as he was about to enter, the Sage said, "Go away! I allowed permission only to you, I didn't permit the crowd. I see that you have your wife, your board members, your children your unemployed nephew and so many other people. Come back when you are alone

Ahmed got the point. He knew that his mind was full of thoughts concerning the people in his life. So he tried to be free himself of them returned to the sage the next day and the next at the next and the next. Each time he was turned away. When he had stopped bringing people he had started bringing things. Ahmed was so frustrated he sought to advise from the Sage. And the sage gave him a powerful idea to quiet his mind. With this, he was finally able to quiet his mind and he was allowed in

The same is true about us. We're seldom aware of the army of people and things we are lugging around each day. Each of these clamours for our attention and we surrender our attention to these at the cost of the precious capacity to live in the moment.

The evidence of this is rampant in our life. We are introduced to someone and 10 seconds later we can't remember their name. Were listening to a favourite song and suddenly realise that it had ended while our thoughts carried us elsewhere? We forget a mail a letter or buy an item our spouse requested. We carry a load of desires, hopes, fears and aversions. That sage would surely turn us away as well.

So whats the way out? What idea did he tell sage offer the executive? Can you avail of this as well?

Here is the idea to develop the ability to be purely present in the moment.

Preparation:
Pick any task that you have to get accomplished.
Gather everything you need to work on it
Turn off all potential distractions - email, phone, internet, anything
If you have to use a browser for the task, keep only that browser open

Visualizaion: 

Visualise what you have to do

Visualize your attention as a golden stream of oil flowing on your tasks

Breath

Slow your breathing - get it down to 10 breathes a minute or fewer

Take deep abdnominal breaths rather than shallow chest breathe

Action:

And simply simply focus on the task for 20 minutes

Don't allow any distraction to take away your focus

Thoughts, many of them, will come into your head unbidden. 

Some of them will seem urgent, and the demands will be incessant. 

Observe all of them calmly and let them go. Don't get carried away by any of them.
If a particularly useful idea strikes you, note it down on a pad so you don't forget it and then let it go
Do this for 20 minutes and give yourself a five minute break

Then repeat this. 

Gradually increase this to a  2 hours span

Remember: 

Multitasking is a myth that simply means that you do too many things badly and take much more time to do it.

Remember hurry is in the mind it is not in the task. This means you are in full control to avoid the sense of urgency YOU put into the task

You will will discover that this seemingly simple exercise is a lot tougher than it appears. 

There will be many occasions when you fail by drifting off into a hazy cloud as the minutes have ticked by unnoticed.

Simply note this as an indication of how far you have to go and get down to it again. 

Do not beat yourself up. That is simply more drama of the kind the mind loves to create and it distracts you from the task at hand. 

You will discover that as you practice, you accomplish a great deal more than you normally do and with much less effort. 

Celebrate this discovery.
This relaxed focus is mindfulness.

Cultivate it, but don't try to be mindful all the time. The perceived failure in such an endeavour could actually take you on a downward spiral.
You want to get to the stage where you can, at will, become mindful for a 20 min span.
Once you get there, increase it to 30 minutes. Go up in increments of 10 minutes, until you can be continuously be mindful for two hours.

As you do this exercise, you’ll notice that the crowd you're carrying around (in your head), thins.
Celebrate this. ‘They will all come back later. But now you know how you can banish them and this knowledge will give you many future victories. Extend this practice deliberately to all areas of your life.

Notice how superficial many interactions are, have you ever had a colleague wish you good morning and be halfway down the hall before you could reply? Do you do this yourself? When you say good morning, really mean it. Establish eye contact, say it with energy and from your heart. Wish the person every good fortune and blessing.

Do it silently and sincerely. Do it with people with whom you have casual interactions such as the cashier at the cafeteria, your cab driver and do it with people who are important in your life such as your spouse or boss.

Again do this a many times and consciously but don't expect to be able to do it all the time.
You will notice that the nature of your interactions with others changes. Relationships become deeper, conversations happen that didn't before, celebrate this as well. If you are diligent with your practice and as you become more proficient, you will observe that many members of your gaggle have left for good. Exercises in later days, ill drive even more away.

Remember you do not have to remain in a mindful state all the time. Practice mindfulness throughout your day.

I found this exercise very powerful. The trick is to be simply umcomfromising in the quality of attinaiton we pour in the 20 minutes - no coffee, no water, simply nothing other than an absolute pouring of our attention into the task.