Illusion ( part 4) - Thoughts, Intentions and Feelings

 

All that is perceived is continually changing and an illusion. Thoughts and feelings too are one of the illusory forms, which we will explore today.

On a typical day a person thinks anywhere between 6,000 to 70,000 thoughts.  There is a viewpoint that 70 - 80% of these thoughts are negative. Our experience does tell us that anything negative appears to trigger the flight or fight response of the body mind structure and hence the human mind is more conditioned to take notice of negative thoughts. Hence the fear that something might be more relevant to our survival and may require a emergency response automatically prioritises negative over positive.

 

Another commonly held viewpoint is that thoughts expend energy, the more you think, the more tired you get, which is no surprise that when you are in deep sleep your day to day thoughts are absent and you expend the least amount of energy. It can also be observed from direct experience that absence of thoughts in deep sleep also refreshes the mind and the body.

 

Thoughts can be about anything, but intention creates focussed thoughts, which in turn leads to actions and feelings, repetitive actions become a habit and a habit becomes a set of values which in turn becomes your destiny.

 

Thoughts do one other thing within us. They impact our physiology by impacting the hormonal balance in our body. This in turn creates emotions and feelings and these impact the way we behave. For example a sudden release of endorphins makes you happy compared to a release of adrenaline and noradrenaline when you are angry. These hormones then affect the way your various body organs react. For instance when you are angry your heart starts beating faster, your blood pressure changes, your breath becomes shorter, etc. One single thought can have a massive impact on the physiology of your body. Sustained thinking can permanently impact your physiology to a point you may develop chronic pain in parts of your body.

Excessive thinking of the past (which can not be changed) is a major contributor of depression and excessive thinking of the future is a major contributor of anxiety. 

 

If your thoughts can have such a big impact on you and your life, isn't it important to learn how we can manage them.

 

Based on the above we can see all these impacts are a direct result of your thoughts or habits encountering an external or internal trigger point. It is clear external trigger points are not in your control. So the only thing you can manage are your thoughts and your habits.

 

So how to do this?

 

Thoughts are very subtle and hard to monitor. For instance one random thought about food can lead to a chain reaction of thoughts and next thing you know you are salivating thinking about something you ate years back.

Thoughts come in clusters, thoughts are normal and natural, excessive thoughts can make you addicted to thinking. In particular the major impact of thoughts is that they result in unwanted actions and feelings.

How can I manage thoughts and feelings ?

One of the ways to manage thoughts is to watch them come and go and not get carried away with them. The moment you shine the light of awareness on thoughts they disappear. For this one of the most essential ingredients is acceptance of thoughts as they are. If you try to change or control them or suppress them you then get attached to them and can no longer watch them in an aware state.  Initially it may be hard to watch thoughts, so it may be better to start cultivating the practice of witnessing or watching with something more grosser like feelings and desires.

 

A similar process applies to feelings. If you are feeling pain or anger, just observing it makes it disappear. The trick is you need to be aware of what you are feeling. As feelings are more gross then thoughts, it is much easier to observe them.

As you observe feelings you begin to realise that feelings collect other feelings, as well as they result from unresolved thoughts. For example if you are feeling pain because of a broken relationship, now if you have a physical pain, it too adds to your relationship pain and together they create a collective mass of pain. So any new pain you feel starts collecting with already existing pain. Over time you become a collection point for pain unless you accept and clear the pain backlog. This holds true for other emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, etc.

But feelings of pain appear to be so real, how can I avoid them ?

To avoid collecting emotions you need to be conscious and aware. To remove collected emotions you need to simply watch them and accept them for what they are.

 

One practice that works well is on a daily basis just pick a time perhaps before you go to bed to reflect on how aware you were during the day of your emotions and your thoughts and what if any learnings you had that can be applied to the next day. During the practice assess if there have been any new emotional backlogs that have been generated as a result of actions or thoughts carried out without awareness during the day. This will ensure emotional backlogs are kept to a minimum and emotional collections during the day are promptly cleared.

 

You can always use the five step process of Intention, Attention, Observation, Awareness and Contemplation for understanding desires, to understand feelings as well.

 

Can you reduce the number of thoughts ?

 

There are many different techniques that have been employed by seekers for thousands of years, below are listed some of the common ones -

• Anything you shine the light of awareness on, will disappear, so being aware of one's thoughts not only detaches one from the thoughts but also gradually sees the thoughts fizzle away as one becomes present in the here and now.

• Another technique that has been used for centuries by zen masters is the practice of zazen which is meditative technique used for deep contemplation and eventually emptying the mind of thoughts. There are many resources that can provide instructions on the practice, one of which can be found here.

• Another set of techniques which are based on Yogic principles focus on intense physical activity or breathing activity, which are built to a certain crescendo and then stopped, then suddenly silences the mind. These practices are followed by those on the path of energies, hence can cause significant side effects if practiced in the absence of a qualified Guru.

• One practice that is more suited to people on the devotional path is the practice of chanting a mantra. This practice whilst followed by many people, does not silence the mind if it is carried out in autopilot mode. Any mantra that is picked for chanting, has a certain intonation and a certain meaning. Chanting the mantra and with a focus on the meaning is enough to get a persons mind silenced. Quality is more important than quantity. There are certain base or beej (seed) mantras which when chanted result in instant emptying of mind (internal purification is required to achieve this).

• One of the simplest practices is the practice of attention on a single activity or single tasking (as opposed to multi-tasking), which ensures that one enters a meditative state of being one with the activity being carried out. This ensures one becomes immediately present. Initially this practice can be started with in-posture attention on an object, gradually applied to day to day activities and eventually can result in complete emptying of the mind and oneness with the activity or object of attention. 

• Another strategy that works is time boxing the required thinking. For example allocating a certain time for daily planning or time boxing work related thoughts to weekdays only between certain times. This ensures that unnecessary thoughts especially those that lead to anxiety or depression are reduced and the thinking becomes focussed and targeted.  

What are the impacts of reduced thoughts ?

 

As we know the more the number of thoughts, more energy we expend and more likely we are to create unwanted feelings, impact on the physiology of our body and generate negativity. Reduction in thoughts leads to sharpening of the intellect, clarity of purpose in life, manifestation of one's desires and intentions (that which you want begins to happen) and above all return to the state of being and oneness, which is the natural state of every person.

Once thoughts are managed, just having a strong intention has been known to cure physical ailments, manifest wealth, expedite spiritual progress and bring all that appears as illusory into the seeker's control if the seeker so desires.

 

In summary intentions, thoughts and feelings are the fundamental illusory forms that are the key building blocks that can transform a seeker. Managing them effectively not only makes an individual optimise their survival activities as well as speeds up the individual's spiritual progress and knowledge of the illusion, leading to a life free from suffering.

Illusion ( part 3) - Desires

 

We all have desires, desire for that exotic holiday, desire for that house by the beach, desire for that coveted job, desire to be famous, desire to be loved, desire to be respected, desire to be rich. The list of desires is endless.

So what is a desire and how are they created ?

The dictionary describes desire as a strong wish or a strong feeling for something to happen.

The above is how we understand a desire to be once our mind perceives the wishing, the wanting or the craving. Every being is created with a set of desires that helps the being survive (desires of hunger, thirst, etc which we will call as the survival desires) and a set of desires for evolution of the being (desires that propagate the evolution and procreation of the being). Across the plant and animal kingdom, the human species has the most complex and refined set of survival and evolution desires, which are continually being adapted to meet the environmental context.

In addition to the survival and evolution desires, desires can also be created whenever an action (action can be a physical or a mental action) is performed. This is the nature of existence in the physical world as we see it. Every action creates a potential for a desire(s) to fulfil the reaction(s) of the action. As a result every human being is born with a set of desires collected from past actions that may appear in the present lifetime or a future lifetime based on how conducive the present environment is for their fulfilment. The desires that are conducive to being fulfilled in the present life of a being are sometimes known as the destiny of a being or the purpose of one's present life.

If every action I take has a potential for the creation of a desire, can others actions also create desires for me ? What are the different types of desires ?

 The short answer is yes. Desires can be broken up into three main categories -

 

1. My inherent desires. We have already seen two types of these in the form of desires for survival (hunger, thirst, rest, etc) and desires for evolution (reproduction, continuous improvement, optimisation). The third sub category of my inherent desires are desires borne out of my past actions or thoughts. These could be as a result of choices or decisions that one has made about various aspects of life, for example living in a certain suburb, building a house, getting into relationships, having children. All of these actions provide options and choices and consequently a desire to choose one of them or not to choose.

 

2. My adopted desires. These are desires a person has adopted from others as a result of their influence or as a result of the influence of their environment. Once adopted, these are treated as ones own desires. A person who has lived their childhood in poverty may have a strong desire for wealth when they grow up. Even though the desire for wealth never existed when they were born, but the scarcity in the childhood created a desire to overcome the scarcity. Similarly when one of your friends who you admire buys that beautiful branded handbag or a watch, a desire to have a similar handbag or a watch is created in you. Like this we are continuously adopting desires from others without even knowing it.

 

3. Desires that others have of me or imposed on me. These are desires that others or society has that relate to how they expect you to behave, act or even think. These can also be called as expectations that others have of us. Examples include expectations that parents have of their children. At times parents have been unable to achieve certain desires of their own related to their career or sports and they impose these desires on their children, wishing their children will fulfil these for them. There are desires that a spouse may have of their partner about gifts, money, behaviour, etc.

It must be noted that most people live their lives completely oblivious of their desires.

How does it matter if one is oblivious of their desires, don't desires give you something to live for and those that are fulfilled make you happy ?

If a person is unaware of the nature of their desires and their origin, then one can easily lead their life chasing other people's desires, which may lead to lack of contentment or frustration due to unfulfilled desires. The other consequence of following or adopting others desires is that you become a doormat, with no independent thinking of your own, completely controlled by others. The end result is you feel unhappy and unfulfilled as your desires are never addressed and are supressed or de-prioritised. At some point suppressed desires will surface creating an emotional storm, potentially damaging yourself and your relationships.

So how can I become aware of my desires versus someone else's desires that I have adopted ?   

In order to discern between the different types of desires, it is first important to first have the ability to witness and observe a desire and then determine their source or whether the desire is yours or adopted by you.

Let us say Jack has a fear of small closed confined places and this creates an intense desire to avoid closed confined spaces (claustrophobia). To find out more about this desire the following steps can be followed -

 

1. Intention. Have a strong intent of what you want to achieve, such as which desire you want to focus on, what you want to know about the desire such as the source, how it manifests in your life, the impact on your life and so on. You may want to be aware of the desire every time it manifests. Jack first creates a strong and clear intention of finding out how claustrophobia has come into his life and be aware of it whenever he feels this fear of avoiding closed spaces.

 

2. Attention. Once the intent is clear take your attention to the specific desire that you are interested in. Exclude all other thoughts about other desires. Jack focuses his attention on his desire to avoid closed spaces, but also discovers there are many times when he is in closed spaces and he is distracted and this fear does not exist.

 

3. Observation. Once you have the ability to pin point a desire through your intention and attention, you can observe it in action. The more sharper the ability to observe desires in action, the more easier it becomes to distinguish between desires. Jack observes his desire in action in multiple scenarios and situations.

 

4. Awareness. There comes a point wherein the act of observing, creates an awareness of all that is observed and in this context all the desires. Jack is now immediately aware of his desire to be free from claustrophobia and when it is triggered. His awareness makes him aware of the triggers and the fear even before it has manifested.

 

5. Contemplation. With refined awareness comes the ability to perceive desires in their true form and reflecting on the desires provides insights as to their origin. Contemplating on the scenarios in which the fear is triggered, how it is triggered provides Jack insight into an adverse childhood experience he had when he was locked in a cupboard and he panicked. All of a sudden the source of that fear is known and reflecting on it allows him to reconcile and accept the fear and the desire to avoid it in future.

Once the above steps are practiced a few times, they become muscle memory and just like Jack one becomes aware of the desire and its source and finds a means to fulfil them or accept them. For people who have realised their true self and are continually in awareness, the above steps are automatically happening in autopilot and the source of their desires is revealed to them.

Whilst Jack discovered the root cause or the source of his fear through contemplation, however there is another crude technique that can be used for finding the root cause of ones desires. This is called the five whys technique. Lets take an example.

Jill has this innate desire to say yes to everyone, her partner Jack, her boss at work and her friends. This creates enormous challenges and conflicts for Jill as she is not able to deliver on what she has agreed with everyone around her making her feel inadequate.

Jill uses this five whys technique, wherein she asks herself why questions till she arrives at a possible root cause.

 

1. Why do I say yes to every request people have of me ?

Perhaps I want to be on the good side of everyone.

 

2. Why do I want to be on the good side of everyone ?

I feel I am letting people down and I am concerned what they will think of me.

 

3. Why am I concerned what they will think of me ?

Perhaps I feel I am not good enough for everyone around me if I don't please them.

 

4. Why don't I feel good enough to be my natural self ?

There was a time when I spoke what I felt and hurt my sister by being honest. So I should try to say yes and please people.

 

As can be seen the five whys technique allows one to objectively find out the root cause for simple desires. Used in conjunction with the five steps of intention, attention, observation, awareness and contemplation, this technique can be quite insightful in understanding ones desires.

Ok I know now how to watch my desires and find their source, but how do I control them or how do I get rid of them ?

Controlling desires or suppressing them is not a good idea. In this regard a popular saying is quite apt "that which you resist will persist". Once a desire, its many forms, how it is triggered is known, accepting it for what it is, is required. Desires that are not accepted or subdued or suppressed, will come back stronger than they ever have been. Similarly trying to get rid of desires results in the desires getting stronger. So the natural question is what can be done or rather what should be done with them ?.

Till now we have gone through various techniques to understand a desire, when it manifests and whether it is ours or adopted or imposed on us. The best outcome with respect to a desire is to manage it.

 How do I manage a desire or desires ?

The first step in managing desires is acknowledging and accepting them for what they are. They are natural, necessary and neither good or bad.

Desires of survival need to exist in a healthy balance. Too much craving for food, drink, sleep, exercise, rest etc, creates an imbalance. Often times shining the light of awareness on desires or being aware of them and their causes is the first step in managing them. For people with strong minds, just having an intention for balance is enough to manifest a sense of balance in all survival related desires.

A similar process applies for desires related to evolution (reproduction, procreation optimisation, etc). That which is necessary needs to be performed, impurities that created excessive craving for any of the desires of survival or evolution need to be observed, contemplated upon and removed. The associated desires will automatically disappear as well as the person will get rid of the impurities.

Another big category of desires are the desires that one has adopted. These desires start disappearing once it is known that these were never really mine but were adopted. Understanding the root cause of these desires will often get rid of them or manage them out. If that does not happen, shining the light of awareness and contemplation on them will certainly manage them out.

Desires imposed on a person by friends, family or society are more complex and can have a detrimental impact on a person's relationships if not managed appropriately. Once a root cause of an imposed desire or driver of a desire is understood through the above techniques, in another person, it is much easier to address it through communication, negotiation and agreement. This may not be possible under all circumstances, especially where the one imposing their desires is in a position of power and will not agree to relinquishing their desire or their expectation. In such cases it is best to be aware of the desires and discard them when not required. Of course in most cases if imposed desires have become adopted by a person sometime in the distant past then being aware of them, acknowledging and accepting the desires can often times make them disappear.

The above desires are relatively easy to manage once their source is known, the scenario in which they are triggered is understood and the relevance or irrelevance of them is established. However desires that have originated from ones own actions are more persistent and need to be fulfilled. These desires can be postponed, but eventually they will keep on appearing time and again until they are fulfilled or rationalised away without suppression.

What happens to desires that are suppressed and how do I recognise them ?

Desires that are suppressed are like a "jack in the box" which will always reappear. The stronger the suppression the more strongly they reappear. Suppressed desires are noticeable by the stubborn consistency they keep on reappearing until they are fulfilled. A person who has consistent craving for food, for attention, for luxury items has had these desires of their suppressed in the past, which results in persistence of these desires even after they have been fulfilled. Persistent desires are particularly hard to get rid of as even fulfilling them will not get rid of the desire. The desire has become embedded as a habit or in some cases an addiction in the person, hence a more dramatic action may be required. This is true of desires related to consumption of intoxicating substances and drugs. 

What can I do to free myself from desires that have resulted in addictions ?

Removing addictions is a complex topic, however at a high level some strategies that can be used are - 

• consult a medical practitioner to have the addiction appropriately assessed and diagnosed.
• consult a specialist that specialises in dealing with the specific addiction (i.e. nutritionist for food related addictions).
• consult a psychologist who may assist in reversing or replacing the addictive habits with more health habits.

How can I avoid collecting desires based on my actions, is it even possible ?

It is absolutely possible to avoid generating new desires based on ones actions. Once it is understood that a mind body structure which contains even the smallest semblance of a discrete egoic identity, will have desires that will manifest and flourish, it is easy to deal with desires. For instance for desires to be accumulated an anchor such as the egoic identity is required. To reduce the impact of desires that have been accumulated over time or avoid generating new desires, letting go of the egoic identity is the easiest option. However as long as a human exists, there will always be some level of egoic identity for survival and evolutionary purposes. So the best option is to remain in awareness of the self or in a state of presence.

Being in a state of awareness detaches the self / experiencer from that which is experienced and as such frees the self from the bondage of doer ship or the consequences of ones actions / desires.

Similarly being in a state of presence also absolves one of the results of their actions, as these actions and thus manifested desires are carried out in a state of surrender, with no ownership attached to the egoic identity.       

Kabir Das a 15th century Indian mystic and saint summed up the benefit of managing desires in one of his poems.

Chaha gayi chinta miti manua beparwah

Jinko kachu na chahiye, woh shahon ke shah

When the desire goes, anxiety disappears and the mind becomes blasé / heedless

The one who wants nothing or desires nothing, he becomes the king of all kings

Once the self is realised, there is nothing to know, nothing to desire and true freedom from bondage caused by desires is achieved.

In summary desires are natural for survival and evolution and if unmanaged can result in suffering, however with proper understanding desires can have their impacts managed.

As rightly pointed by Rumi below once you know your self all other desires will end. 

  

 

Illusion ( part 2) - Happiness (3)

 

Some time back Jill met with a girl at work who could not get over her skiing holiday and wanted to take it up full time. Jill asked her what it was she loved about skiing.

She said "when I am skiing I am extremely happy".

Jill asked "can you describe what this extreme happiness feels like".

She said "in that state of extreme happiness I was totally alert, ecstatic, all my attention was on the skiing, every cell of my body was in that moment. I was just 'present'”.

Jill asked her how wonderful would it be if she could be present without going on skiing. She thought hard and said possibly and said "then I wouldn’t have to go on an expensive skiing holiday to be happy, I could be happy all the time".

Jill said "perhaps you should try to be present without the skiing experience. Give it a go".

A month had passed, when Jill met her again and she said "you will be surprised to know what has happened".

Jill said "what happened".

She said "I had been practising being present since we last spoke and I have observed I am a lot calmer, my stress level has gone down and I am enjoying my work. I no longer think about skiing or my next holiday or how to be happy. The most amazing thing is that when I am in the present I have no concept of time. I am still not as present as I am when skiing but I have started my journey on being present and I am no longer fully dependent on an experience to make me happy".

In the above story the description that was provided to Jill of this extreme happiness is what some people in a spiritual context refer to as bliss.

So what is the difference between happiness and bliss ?

If you ask any person on the street what is the difference between happiness and bliss, they will say happiness is temporary, while bliss is more deeper and permanent. It is evident from the above story that what was described to Jill by the girl she met at work was very intense and could be called bliss. The dictionary calls bliss perfect happiness. Whether we use the word happiness or bliss, it is clear everyone is seeking bliss, everyone wants to be always happy. Colloquially speaking though people tend to associate the word happiness with an object, or a situation or an experience that release hormones in their body to make them happy. Similarly bliss is used to describe an intense state of happiness. However the illusion continues to persist with everyone believing that the cause of happiness and bliss is an experience. So it is the endless cycle of running after all types of exotic experiences starts and one gets trapped in this illusion.

How can I get out of this illusion ?

Jill and her work colleague have clearly figured out that state of bliss arises not from the experience, but from a natural state of 'being' wherein the person experiencing the experience is dissolved to such an extent that the one that is experiencing and that which is experienced is merged and only the experiencing remains.

You cannot get out of the illusion, because you are part of it, however you can be aware of it and not get entangled in it. The below will help overcome it -

1. Knowledge that all that appears is ever changing and an illusion.
2. Knowledge that, that to which all the experiences appear is the self or the experiencer and is unchanging.
3. The knowledge that, that which one experiences is not the cause of true happiness or bliss.
4. Full and complete attention on the experience in front of you (the nature or type of experience is not relevant), in a state of awareness that you are the experiencer, until all that remains is this alert aware presence and all boundaries of experience and experiencer disappear. 

In summary that which we mistakenly assume (experiences) as the source of happiness and bliss is an ever changing illusion and is in fact a cause of much suffering. To abide in a state of bliss we must initially cultivate discrimination and awareness, until we finally become who we truly are "bliss".

 

Illusion ( part 2) - Happiness (2)

 

As Jack sat in the park after his morning walk. His wife Jill came and slumped next to him. Jill had completed her 30-minute jog. Jill said she was not happy in life. Jack looked up at her in sheer disbelief since she seemed to have the best of everything in life.

"Why do you think so?" asked Jack.

"I don't know. Everyone tells I have everything needed, but I am not happy" said Jill.

Jack questioned himself, whether he was happy. "No," was his inner voice reply. Now, that was an eye-opener for Jack. Jack began his quest to understand the real cause of his unhappiness, he couldn't find one.

Jack dug deeper, read articles, spoke to life coaches but nothing made sense. At last his doctor friend gave him a hormonal answer which put all his immediate questions and doubts to rest.

The doctor said that there are four hormones which determine a human's happiness - Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin, and Oxytocin. It is important we understand these hormones, as we need all four of them to stay happy.

Let's look at the first hormone the Endorphins. When we exercise, the body releases Endorphins. This hormone helps the body cope with the pain of exercising. We then enjoy exercising because these Endorphins will make us happy. Laughter is another good way of generating Endorphins. We need to spend 30 minutes exercising every day, read or watch funny stuff to get our day's dose of Endorphins.

The second hormone is Dopamine. In our journey of life, we accomplish many little and big tasks, it releases various levels of Dopamine. When we get appreciated for our work at the office or at home, we feel accomplished and good, that is because it releases Dopamine. This also explains why most housewives are unhappy since they rarely get acknowledged or appreciated for their work. Once, we join work, we buy a car, a house, the latest gadgets, a new house so forth. In each instance, it releases Dopamine and we become happy. Now, do we realize why we become happy when we shop?

The third hormone Serotonin is released when we act in a way that benefits others. When we transcend ourselves and give back to others or to nature or to the society, it releases Serotonin. Even, providing useful information on the internet like writing information blogs, answering people's questions on Quora or Facebook groups will generate Serotonin. That is because we will use our precious time to help other people via our answers or articles.

The final hormone is Oxytocin, is released when we become close to other human beings. When we hug our friends or family Oxytocin is released. Similarly, when we shake hands or put our arms around someone's shoulders, various amounts of Oxytocin is released.

Now, we can understand why we need to hug a child who has a bad mood. So, it is simple, we have to exercise every day to get Endorphins, we have to accomplish little goals and get Dopamine, we need to be nice to others to get Serotonin and finally hug our kids, friends, and families to get Oxytocin and we will be happy. When we are happy, we can deal with our challenges and problems better.

The above story from Jack and Jill provides an insight into what happens at a hormonal level in a human body.

Based on this if I generate the above hormones through exercise, accomplishing goals, being nice and hugging friends and family then I should be happy right ?

No not exactly. Exercising, accomplishing goals, being nice and hugging friends and family are activities that generate certain feel good thoughts due to the conditioning that has been developed over time in a human brain. Certain thoughts through conditioning are more likeable than others and these thoughts are associated with a release of hormones such as Oxytocin, Dopamine and Serotonin, which in turn are linked to emotions and feelings of happiness. If the conditioning that a desirable activity makes you happy is changed to an undesirable activity, then an undesirable activity (as long as you replace the previous conditioning) can have the same effect on the hormones.

This is the amazing story of the illusion that, that which appears to make one happy is in actual fact only a conditioning or an association that can be completely rewired. 

Does that mean I can change what experiences trigger the above hormones if I retrain my mind ?

Absolutely you can. It is a well known fact that thoughts need hormones to change the physiology of a being. Changing the source can change the end result, but let us explore how to do that in the next post.

Illusion ( part 2) - Happiness (1)

 

Ever wondered what gives you happiness ?

Going on a holiday to a much talked about holiday destination.

Buying that brand of a bag.

Buying that exquisite piece of jewellery.

Buying a sports car or the latest bike.

Building a new house.

Getting the latest phone or laptop.

Or the latest fashion accessories.

Or it could be having your favourite dish.

The list goes on and on. It is a long list right, and one thing is certain the list is ever changing

Ever wondered if other than effectively managing this list could there may be another way to happiness.

If so worth examining a few things -

• Novelty or newness is directly proportional to happiness. New experiences make you more happy than repeat of the same or old experiences. As the novelty of an experience or object wears off so does your happiness related to it reduce.

• However not all novel experiences  or objects make you happy, it is only those that you desire or unexpectedly delight you in a pleasant way that make you happy.

 

• Happiness is not dependent on an object or an experience. If that was the case than buying the same phone or dress should make you equally happy every time.

 

• Happiness is felt within you and Leading from the above it at least appears to be triggered by your internal state of desires and hence is dependent on your internal state.

 

• Next time you are happy just observe and be aware what is making you happy. You will discover you become happy when your attention is focussed. It occurs when you are in a state of near thoughtlessness. No thoughts about past nor future, you are totally in the moment. When you get something you desire or experience nature or are on a holiday for the briefest of moments you become totally present that is what gives you happiness as opposed to what you did.

We are inherently happy, but the happiness is covered up by our ego, our desires our thoughts of past and future. In the instant your desire is fulfilled, for the briefest moment you experience happiness because the mind stops and becomes totally present. The fact is you don’t need to do anything to be happy.

Happiness cannot be found either in the future ( if I do this I will be happy) or the past (when I did this or that in the past I was happy). Happiness is always there when you are totally present.

So if you want to be happy let go of all the experiences, objects and the thoughts that are distracting you from the true happiness that you already are. All that is required is to wipe off the dust (past and future thoughts) from your mirror of self and your happy self will reflect back and shine through. Initially all that is required is one or two experiences of the blissful self and once you have a taste then you will vigorously wipe off the rest of the dust. Happy dusting off😀

Illusion ( part 1) - Perception

 

Once it so happened that four people were blind folded and taken to different parts of an elephant and asked to touch the elephant and guess what it was. The first person touched the trunk of the elephant and guessed it was a snake. The second person touched the tail of the elephant and guessed it was a rope. The third person touched the leg of the elephant and guessed it to be a pillar and the last person touched the stomach of the elephant and touching it he guessed it to be a round rock.

When the blindfolds of all the four person were removed, they were surprised to see the error in what they had each perceived.

The above story illustrates how removal of just one of the senses (sense of sight) can create such wide ranging mis-perceptions of one object.

So what are the types of errors or limitations that one can have when perceiving anything ?

There are four key types of areas where errors can result -

1. Limiting the number of senses. The first one was apparent from the story above, limiting the number of senses, or taking away a sense can result in an error in what one perceives. Alternatively just relying on only one of the senses can also result in distortion of what one perceives. While the human body has five basic senses (sense of touch, hearing, smell, sight and taste), most people are unaware that the entire human body is a sensory structure with myriad of internal and psycho sensory sensors that are continually sensing and providing feedback to keep the body balanced. Any of these when ignored can cause pain or harm or long term damage to the body.

 

2. Sensory limits of senses. Each sense has a sensory limit, for instance human ears can hear sounds only between certain frequencies. Anything higher or lower can not be heard. We only come to know of this limitation when we compare ourselves with animals who have a broader sensory spectrum (hearing and sense of smell of a dog, eye sight of an eagle and so on).

 

3. Interpreting what the senses perceive. When one senses something, the sense organ communicates what it has sensed to the mind. To make sense of what has been perceived, the mind compares what is sensed with what is stored in its memory. If it finds an exact match then the degree of confidence in interpreting what has been perceived is high, otherwise an approximation is used to find the closest possible match. There are three types of errors that can occur here, firstly in the recording of a nomenclature or storage of a memory and secondly in the matching process as described above and thirdly in the prioritisation of what is perceived -

 

1. When a child is born, everything is new for the child. The child's memory is empty (may have past birth memories, but we will not talk about them here). After the child is born the process of creating a memory commences. A dictionary of words of a language is given to the child, associated with patterns, images, sounds, tastes etc. Slowly the child starts building a database of structures and relationships in their memory. Some are based on what they have been told and others based on experiences. Every time they perceive anything, if it is not in their memory, they record it and give it a label and so the memory of known objects grows. The initial patterns that are given to a child can be limiting at times such as certain beliefs (white is good, black is bad or red is aggressive) or value systems. These create their own errors in perception.

 

2. The memory continues to accumulate new concepts, ideas, patterns, sounds etc, but at the same time as the child grows, its act of perceiving known structures strengthens or refines the existing memory structures and patterns. The act of matching as mentioned before can result in errors, if there is no exact match.

 

3. Once what has been sensed has been matched, something interesting happens, the mind not being able to deal with all of these perceptions at once, prioritises its attention towards them. The prioritisation is based on already stored belief systems, value systems (this is good, this is bad, etc), which are geared towards survival and optimisation. As a result even though some things have been perceived and matched, they are ignored and no attention given to them.  Once it so happened that Jill convinced Jack to buy a red car. Jack did not like the red colour complaining how few people bought a red car. Once Jack started driving the red car, his prioritisation focussed on red and what was interesting was that after a month of owning the red car he was surprised at how prevalent the colour red was in the car industry compared to what he initially thought. Initially he had de-prioritised the seeing of the red coloured cars based on his belief system, so he never observed red cars, even though red cars were always there. This type of error is more prevalent than the other errors and occurs when a certain belief system completely ignores that which is perceived.

 

4. Context within which the sensing occurs. Initially the common belief was that since the sunrise was in the east and the sunset was in the west, the sun rotated around he earth. It was not until other data points were established around the various other planets and the moon that it was finally established that in fact it is the earth that rotates around the sun. Similarly observing the earth from space debunks a number of other theories around earth being flat and the rotation and revolution of the earth. Without the appropriate set of contexts or viewpoints sensing can lead to enormous errors.

So does that mean that all that we perceive is unreliable and has a potential for errors and cannot be trusted at face value  

Yes everything that you perceive must not be directly trusted as being true until you have at least applied your sense of discrimination / logic and aware of potential areas of error listed above. There is one other fundamental error that encompasses all these errors is the error of the illusion.

What is this error of the illusion ?

We know now that all that is perceived can have at least four types of errors, but notwithstanding these errors, that which we perceive appears to be real, at least that is what we believe. Herein lies the biggest error of all, all that appears to be real is in fact an illusion, it is a projection, much like the movie you see on the screen in a cinema hall.

How can you be certain or prove that everything that appears is an illusion ?

We all have experienced dreams and we know dreams are not real. It is our experience that, that which we dream of in our sleep state rarely occurs in the waking state, is not consistent, is not repeatable (we may see different objects that are rarely repeated) and is temporary (it disappears after we wake up).

Now let us try and apply some of the criteria we have applied to dreams to what we observe in the waking state. In the waking state we observe certain objects and if they consistently appear, as well as appear they are unchanging, we consider them to be real. However if you pick any object, lets say a concrete structure which is considered to be very stable and consistent and fast forward time to a few decades later or rewind time to a few decades earlier, the structure does not exist or changes over time. Similarly every object, concept that you can observe is changing, only the relative span of time over which it changes is much larger in the waking state than in the dream state. If we apply a sufficiently long time span, even earth, the sun, the planets and the galaxy itself will change and disappear. So in terms of consistency, repeatability and permanence, all things that appear in the waking state also follow the criteria of the dream state, only the time scale is much bigger. In addition, all that appears in the waking state also disappears when one sleeps and goes in the dream state just like all that appears in the dream state disappears when you wake up.

Hence everything that appears in the waking state is also changing and anything that changes is not permanent and an illusion just like the appearances in the dream state.

But I can touch things and feel them and they appear to be so real in the waking state ?

If you have ever had a dream in which everything appears to be so real, but only when you wake up do you realise that it all was a dream, you will know that, that which appears to be real can still be an illusion.

Does that mean that everything that appears is not real, it is an illusion or a projection ?

Yes it is. The dream state provides a very good perspective into the illusory nature of all appearances. Those that have had out of body experiences, or near death experiences or experiences in the projected states will be convinced beyond any doubt that all that appears is an illusion. To establish the illusory nature of all that appears, multiple perspectives from different states are required (just as you need multiple perspectives to establish the earth rotates around the sun), which conclusively establish waking state as yet another projected state or a dream.

Lets say if everything that appears is an illusion and I understand the errors in perceiving it, how does it help me or cause suffering ?

Once you realise that everything that appears is an illusion, just like dreams, you do not waste time chasing after experiences in the illusion. Experiences that you chase after lead to suffering. With the knowing that all experiences are illusory, comes a realisation that one should treat all experiences as just that - experiences with an entertainment value. Neither you get attached to them, nor you chase them, nor should they take over your life. You just observe them and be part of them if required but don't get entangled in them by treating them as real. Life becomes joyful and a play.

I can't just observe all appearances, at times I have to be part of some experiences in order to survive.

Yes that is right, we have already established that, all that appears is an illusion, but we still have to eat our food to survive, we still need sleep to rest, we need shelter from nature. In other words survival requires us to take some action and engage in this illusion, without which we can not survive.

So what criteria can I use to assess what I have perceived is not distorted in my day to day life ? 

On a day to day basis in order to survive, humans need to act on information from their senses and make decisions on the information they have gathered. A decision making process that is based on errors (as seen from the sensing errors) results in a sub-optimal decision and hence action.

Each of the errors can be turned around into questions / criteria that can be used to establish the relative truth of that which is perceived. The fundamental truth that, all that appears is continually changing and hence is an illusion needs to be remembered to put all conclusions that are drawn in perspective. This will negate the need to take anything that is perceived as real, however where for purposes of survival, the relative truth of that which appears is necessary, the below criteria can be used to discern the relative relevance and priority of that which is perceived.

 

1. Can my perception of that which I perceive be sharper if I add more senses to my perceiving ? In other words am I using only a few of my senses in my perception which may be resulting in errors in perceiving.

 

2. Are the sensory limits of my senses in any way distorting my perception ? If I am deaf to certain frequencies or colour blind, does that distort my perception. If so then how much reliance should I place on what I perceive.

 

3. Is my interpretation of what my senses have perceived based on incorrect classification or recognition of experiences and how much of a role do my beliefs and values play in interpreting what is perceived ? In other words am I distorting what is observed because of my inherent beliefs or my values.

 

4. Is there more context that will provide more data points that can make my perception of what appears more complete ? In other words are there more perspectives that can make my perception more accurate.

Is it ever possible to perceive anything as is, without any errors or impurities and what are the benefits ?

Let’s start with the benefits first. Observing anything “as is” offers a person an ability to perceive everything for what it is and enjoy everything. Imagine if you went to see an Alaskan glacier in the wilderness and you spent a number of days and a sizeable amount of money to see it, how would you feel if you saw only part of it, because half the time you were pre-occupied with thoughts of work. On a day to day basis we are continually missing out on a lot of things that we are sensing due to our pre-occupation with other concepts and ideas or work. Once you perceive things for what they are you begin to truly enjoy life.

The second key benefit of having this ability to sense everything untainted is that it gives one an ability to recognise other people’s perspectives as all perspectives are just a subset of the complete picture you have seen. This ability to relate to or see from other people’s perspectives is essential according to Dalai Lama the famous Tibetan spiritual leader and Noble peace prize winner to have compassion.

In summary, yes it is possible to perceive everything as is.

So how is it possible to perceive without any distortions ?

We have already seen the four types of errors that creep up when we perceive all that appears. Out of the four types of errors, the second one is a result of the physical limitation of the senses, which can not be avoided as long as the sense organs of the mind body structure are in use for sensing. The other distortions relate to the thinking process of the mind. Not enough attention leads to not applying all your senses or getting the context wrong. Distortions related to conditionings and beliefs result from the memory and the thoughts in the mind. Once the memories are created you can’t wipe them off, they are always there. However without thoughts the memory is not accessed (unless your attention is scattered) and without thoughts there is nothing to carry the memories.  So if you become thoughtless or near thoughtless for a minute or two you are totally in the moment watching everything in its “as is “ state, without interpretation, without any mental noise.

That is what one must do - bring your attention to the present and you will be so absorbed in the present that your conscious and unconscious distortions will disappear. The other benefit of this approach is that by bringing attention to the present it helps dissolve conditionings that one may have gathered in the past making one's experiencing more refined.

Another approach quite effective also is “becoming a watcher” - a watcher of thoughts. You watch thoughts as they come and go without attaching to them bringing your attention to sensing rather than analysing, interpreting, classifying and categorising. This approach creates a gap between the watcher and the watched making one an alert but detached observer.

We have all from time to time been in this state of “as is” observation when we have seen something spectacular in nature or had our first time sky diving experience. At this time we are highly alert and thought free and free from any preconditioning.  All that is required is to replicate this same process.

Initially it may appear to be hard to master the art of observation but practice makes perfect and the benefits are immense - you become totally alive !

Once the art of sensing through sense organs is mastered, the natural progression towards sensing without the physical sense organs naturally follows. That’s right you don’t need eyes to see, ears to hear and so on.

This topic will be covered in a future post, but for now it suffices to say that one can perceive without distortions.

In summary all that changes is an illusion, entanglement in this illusion or chasing illusory experiences leads to suffering, however for purposes of survival relative relevance and prioritisation of that which is perceived is necessary. With awareness practices and being present, it is possible to remove the distortions in perceiving all that appears as illusion.

next post Illusion (part 2) - Happiness