Spirituality and Success: Bridging the Gap

Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

There is a new breed of spiritual seekers these days;
people looking for a better way to live. We, as a whole,
are not content with the routines of daily life, and the
quest for material gain is no longer completely satisfying
our needs. Humanity is looking for fulfillment, and we
have finally realized that peace, contentment and happiness
come from inside of our selves, not from external sources.
We have, after all these decades of probing, realized that
what we have been seeking has been with us, inside us, all
this time. We need only to turn our eyes inward to see the
potential that resides within. Getting to know ourselves
along with our connection and relationship with spirit,
will unlock that potential, and catapult us on an amazing
journey through life—a journey where worldly success and
spiritual bliss are achieved simultaneously.

Worldly success can be achieve and coexist in harmony with
spirituality—it’s the way things are supposed to be.
Primarily our perception and thoughts of what “should be”
are what hold us back. Success is more a state of mind and
how one perceives themselves as successful. Your
happiness is a choice that is made continually, throughout
each moment of each day. Again, thought and perception
mainly dictates whether you see yourself as happy or not.
To truly achieve ‘life success,’ you have to make your life
‘a success.’ This is only feasible if you are happy. People
from all walks of life are choosing to live a more
spiritual life, to follow a path of peace and contentment
while striving for success… And why not? Can we have both?
YES!

But what does it mean to live a spiritual life? Do we have
to forsake our possessions and the desire for achievement
and accomplishment? Being spiritual does not mean we have
to give up our thirst for life, and being successful does
not mean you have to be unhappy and ‘sell your soul.’ In
fact, a centered, contemplative and motivated person is
better poised for the greatest of life successes. By
knowing who you are and what you are capable of, and
realizing your connection to the earth, spirit and
humanity, you can move past fears and begin to live the
amazing adventure your life is meant to be!

Spirituality is not about perfection, nobody will ever
achieve that, but it is however, striving to live the best
life you can and to be the best person you can be everyday
in every way. It’s about following your heart and not
being afraid to peruse your dreams. It’s about having
compassion and forgiveness; being loving and kind and
inspiring and motivating others to reach inside themselves
and thrive. It’s about living morally and justly—being
virtuous and holding true to your heart’s desires. Being
spiritual is to adapt a ‘Christ like’ consciousness and
without judgment, ego or fear, pursuing your journey on
earth and cherishing the gift of life.

And what about success… It is such an arbitrary term,
meaning so many things to so many people. I like to ask,
“What is your definition of success?” How do you define
being successful? Are you on a certain path just to
appease or please someone else? Do you act a certain way
because you believe it is the ‘socially acceptable’ thing
to do? You have to ask yourself what do you really want,
what speaks truth to your soul? What, in your heart and
mind, will make you a success. Many people have a certain
goal or dream, and will not believe they are successful
until they reach that point. But living successfully is a
daily path, not a destination or something to be achieved
or attained. We need to look at success on a smaller
scale; the successes we achieve moment to moment are just
as important as life-long success.

Spirituality and success are both paths to travel and not
definitive destinations. To achieve total life success,
one must make living spiritual and being successful a
lifestyle. Like water and clay, they should be molded
together to create the masterpiece of your life. You
cannot have one without the other. How can you be happy if
you do not feel you are a success? Contrarily you’re not a
total success if you cannot find peace and contentment.

For centuries we have followed these two paths separately,
thinking we cannot have it both simultaneously. And for
centuries, we have been frustrated and unfulfilled,
bouncing back and forth from the paths of spirituality and
success. What we have failed to realize, and are beginning
to awaken to, is the idea that both paths are synonymous.
We can have both; we can live fulfilling spiritual lives
and be successful at the same time. After all, it is what
we were born for. “But son, do not forget my teaching, but
keep my commandments in your heart, for they will prolong
your life many years and bring you prosperity”. Proverbs
3:1-2 NIV

Spiritual Progressives Unite to confront the Religious Right, the Anti-Religious Left, and the Empir

Posted on 25. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

An individual has not started living until he or she can rise above the narrow confines of his or her individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”-Martin Luther King, Jr.

During the third week of May, in Washington D.C. over 1,200 patriotic Americans of all faiths and the spiritual but not religious came together for the second conference of The Network of Spiritual Progressives/NSP and to lobby Congress. The activists are challenging the misuse of religion, God and spirit by the Religious Right and the anti-religious and anti-spiritual biases within the Liberal Left.

Authentic spirituality will inevitably lead one to become political. The Network of Spiritual Progressives is a diverse community that is unified by one heart that is broken over the state of the world and our nation. These activists are willing to sacrifice their life, resources and time to the work of confronting the Old Bottom Line in America which is based on greed, materialism, selfishness, power and over consumption.

The New Bottom Line proposes that institutions and social practices should be based on the higher values of love, caring, generosity, and equal human rights. The NSP proposes that the well being of every American depends on the well being of everyone in the world and recognizes our interdependence with all people and Mother Earth.

On May 18th the activists visited their Congressional Representatives to present “A Spiritual Covenant with America.”

The eight point platform addresses individual, social and governmental responsibility for ethical behavior that honors the sacredness of all life. As the debate over immigration was going on in Congress many activists were promoting a rational approach to immigration through a strategy of non-violence and generosity that works to eliminate poverty not with a hand out but with furnishing the means and the support to enable the impoverished to attain a decent life.

The NSP supports a “Global Marshall Plan to use 5% of the GDP of the advanced industrial societies-each year for the next twenty years-to end global poverty, hunger, homelessness, inadequate education, and inadequate health care. This will do more for homeland security and military safety than does sinking trillions of dollars into wars and strategies of world domination that can never work and are immoral…not by dumping money into the hands of corrupt governments, but through cooperation with NGO’s committed to human rights, democracy, environmental sustainability and enhancement and respect for native cultures and traditions.” [Number 7 in The Spiritual Covenant with America]

Many will say the NSP members are all dreamers, but it was dreamers who imagined life without slavery, civil rights, and women’s rights and it was Rilke who first understood: “You must give birth to your dreams: they are the future waiting to be born.”

These ‘out-of-the-box’ thinkers and visionaries will not be satisfied with any short-term political gain. The task of transforming society requires commitment, persistence and a deep inner life. What progressive spiritual activists have in common is a broken heart united over the plight of the poor and oppressed, a commitment to total non-violent resistance no matter what the provocation, and sacrificial lives that offer time and resources to actualize the message Christ spoke of when he proclaimed on the Mount of The Beatitudes, that the reign and the kingdom of God is a kingdom where all beings are equal and valued just as they are.

In a country that possesses 11,000 nuclear weapons with many in excess of 20,000,000 tons of TNT [the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 12,000 tons] yet claims to be based on the Judeo-Christian ethic of thou shalt not kill, is staggering in it’s hypocrisy. The law of Karma is what goes around comes around and the fallout from one of these WMD will find its way back home through water and wind currents and the words of Pogo come to mind: “We have seen the enemy and he is us.”

Mankind is the only species that has the choice of annihilating itself. “Since the end of the Cold War, the world has spent more than $10 trillion on armaments. The Untied States alone spends approximately $100 million every day to keep its nuclear arsenal at the ready.” [Jonathon Granoff, TIKKUN Magazine 9/11/03]

American money proclaims “In God We Trust” but the facts on the ground are that we have become an empire of blasphemers.

Fundamentalist Christians rail against abortion yet are for capital punishment and war. They have narrowed morality down to abortion and same sex marriage and neglect that God is love and where ever there is love: God is there.

If we are serious about a peaceful world we must have a moral agenda that stands firmly against empire building and violence. John Dear, the Jesuit priest who has been arrested 75 times for his peace activism asked Cesar Chavez what he thought was the key to peace, and Chavez exclaimed: “Public Action! Public action! Public action!”

In the ’60’s we understood if one is not a part of the solution, one is part of the problem. Throughout America patriotic spiritual activists of all faith paths and the spiritual but not religious have found common ground and are doing something more than criticizing and whining. Chapters of The Network of Spiritual Progressives are forming from the New York Islands to the Gulf Stream waters for this world belongs to all human beings.

Individual Growth Is Spiritual As Well, Not Just Bones And Muscles

Posted on 24. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

We all grow naturally. Without much effort, we see bones develop from infant stages into adult hood, from soft pliable material to hard matter. We see muscles grow and we feel ourselves getting stronger with time. All of this occurs naturally, as we eat, work, and play. But what does it take for us to grow spiritually? Spiritual growth requires a conscious effort of introspection and analysis.

If we want to grow spiritually, we need to be by turning our thoughts in instead of out. Instead of focusing on what is around us, we need to examine our hearts. Why do we do what we do? Why do we hang out with the people that we hang out with? What are our good traits and how did we attain them? What are our bad traits, and how can we get rid of them?

Introspection teaches us to consider how we act and it motivates us to change how we behave on a daily and moment by moment basis. But introspection requires great courage. Many people never look inward because they fear that they won’t like what they see, and ultimately they don’t want to change what they see.

When you grow spiritually, you take hold of the potentials you’ve been given. You consider what you can do, and you grow even more by reaching beyond what you think you can do and thus developing more potential.

Science and religion have been at odds for decades now when examining the human spirit. For example, religion sees human beings as just spiritual beings that move on this planet momentarily, and science sees the spirit as just a part of the whole individual. People grow spiritually when the recognize what they must do enhance growth: their beliefs, morality, experience, and good works form the foundation for spiritual growth. Ironically, the psychologist James Maslow theorized that if a person can meet his physical needs, he can meet his spiritual needs as well.

Ultimately, when we seek to grow spiritually, we seek meaning in our lives. And that’s where faith comes in. Religions such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam teach that their followers will find meaning through serving a higher being, a Creator. And psychologists theorize that we find meaning through ourselves, that we determine if we have meaning in our lives. But ultimately, finding meaning means realizing that we live on this earth for a purpose, and once we realize that, we put all of our desires and actions into focus with that purpose: we live for that purpose.

Finally, growing spiritually means understanding our connection with the world around us. Doing so will lead to a greater respect of the things and people around us. And whether we find that connection through faith or psychology, ultimately we grow spiritually because of that connection.

Recharge your Spiritual Batteries: How to Take a Personal Retreat

Posted on 22. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

Everyone occasionally feels a need for inner rejuvenation. Whether you want simply to reclaim your inner peace in the midst of a hectic life, or do some soul searching over your life directions, or go deeper into your spiritual life, going on retreat can be a perfect solution.

A true retreat is much more than a vacation – it can be a time of conscious, spiritual opening, of making an enjoyable effort to rise to an entirely new state of awareness. Here are a few tips for a retreat experience that’s both relaxing and spiritually rewarding.

Find the Right Environment

Seek out a place that is harmonious with your goals. The right environment can give you a tremendous boost – while the wrong one can leave you feeling flat, or even work against you. So do your homework and ask some questions, because even similar-seeming places can have quite different emphases.

Do you want a highly structured retreat, or do you want freedom to do what inspires you? Do you think you might need some guidance in customizing your retreat, or do you know exactly what you want to do? Choose a retreat center that offers what you seek.

If it’s spiritual depth you’re after, choose a place with an established spiritual tradition. Then you’ll be like a surfer who chooses a beach with the best waves, rather than trying somehow to create waves yourself.

Look also for a place that uplifts you with its beautiful natural surroundings, and with space to be alone whenever you wish it.

If you’re new to retreating, go to a retreat center that offers personal guidance. Optional, guided group activities are also a plus. Even experienced retreatants find that occasionally tapping into the magnetism of group activities can be invaluable for keeping their energy high and focused. For example, The Expanding Light Spiritual Retreat Center in California offers twice-daily sessions of yoga postures and meditation.

Prepare Yourself

Eat right and get rested before you go on retreat; otherwise, you may need the first day or two of your retreat just to pull yourself together. If you already engage in spiritual practices, get a head start by putting extra energy into them before departing. You’ll be glad you did.

As soon as you leave home, put all problems forcefully out of your mind. Preoccupation with problems can suffocate your retreat, while a worry-free retreat can actually help you solve problems more effectively by getting you into “solution consciousness” rather than “problem consciousness.”

Plan Variety in Your Retreat

Who wants to go on a retreat that seems like boot camp? Let it be fun, and plan a variety of activities. For example, you might use the mornings for your most interiorized efforts: prayer, meditation, journal writing, or spiritual reading. Then be more expansive in the afternoons: walk in nature, do something creative, or listen to uplifting music or lecture tapes. Reserve your evenings for lighter fare: a spiritual video, a humorous book, or simply relaxed, quality time with like-minded people. And always allow for the inspiration of the moment; don’t be locked into anyone’s agenda – even your own.

Keep Perspective

Your free time is precious, and it’s only natural to be concerned over whether you’re doing it “right.” But there’s no magic formula for a retreat. Just find a flow that works for you, and go with it. Remember, what you do is not nearly as important as whether your inspiration and “joy level” are high. You don’t have to pray and meditate all day long; few people can do that constructively, anyway. You don’t have to stay in silence or solitude, though many people find these beneficial. And don’t “over-retreat”: if you’re a first-timer, 2–4 days is plenty. Focus on enjoyment, rather than “should’s.”

Above All, Relax and Enjoy Yourself

Don’t put pressure on yourself to see immediate, dramatic results. When you go on retreat, you are planting a spiritual seed. If you water it by your own continuing spiritual efforts, in time it will surely sprout into the flower of peace and joy that you seek.

Children and Spirituality

Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

When we raise children, life becomes hectic. Between work, after school activities, homework, team sports and social events, there is very little time left to think about spirituality, unless you are a parent already involved in church, temple, religious and/or spiritual practices. Even having a strong religious and spiritual belief system, it is difficult to teach this to our children. The questions I hear most often are “How do I share my spirituality with my children? How do I teach my child to meditate? My child does not like going to church or temple, should I force them? My child has no interest in guided meditations and prayer. Is he not spiritual?”

In the past it was assumed that children’s religious education must match their capacity to think and reason. So religious education focused on learning prayers and bible stories, and left the exploration of the capacity to have deep spiritual concerns to adulthood. Today we know that even very young children ask the kind of questions that can only be called spiritual. “Who created the earth? Why am I here? How do I know what’s right and wrong?” Some children find answers to these questions in church or temple, others develop a moral sense completely separate from organized religion.

Children start thinking about spirituality at about the time they learn language. By the age of 4 or 5 most children are intensely interested in right and wrong, good and evil. The researcher, Maria Bindl noticed that up to the age of about six or seven, children have a “naive relatedness” to God after which there is a noticeable decline in “spontaneous experience of the numinous”.

In thinking about spirituality, many parents give their children a religious education because it’s part of the family’s spiritual values and cultural identity. It’s a way to connect with a heritage going back thousands of years. Spirituality encompasses religious beliefs, ethical behavior, social responsibility and faith to name a few. Some ancient religious philosophers believe that if a child is utterly convinced that his or her existence has meaning and his/her deeds have consequences and we can teach them that our every thought and deed is of real, even global, significance, then I belief we have succeeded in blending all aspects of spirituality.

Engaging in More Spiritual Conversations

Posted on 18. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

Evangelism has moved in the last 20 years from being a monologue (one-sided conversation) to a dialog (two-way conversation.) There are people all around us who are receptive to spiritual discussions and open genuine spiritual guidance. George Barna sites, “That 62% of American adults consider themselves to be not merely religious, but deeply spiritual.” This means that there is more than a 50-50 chance of getting into some type of spiritual conversation with people who travel in and out of your life. Learning to engage people in a meaningful, spiritual dialog is critical for a spiritual leader.

Here are four ideas for increasing the spiritual conversations in your life:

1) Make It a Priority

It is important for a leader to think strategically about their conversations throughout the week. If you don’t plan it or make room for it, the likelihood is that it is not going to get done. I agree with Brian McLaren’s statement, “We should count conversations rather than conversions, not because I don’t believe in conversions, but because I don’t think we’ll get many conversions if we keep emphasizing them.” The number of conversations you have is directly related to the number of conversions you will see happen over a year. In coaching church leaders we use the 3 by 5 rule. If leaders are going to be serious about connecting with people they need to uncover at least 5 new contacts a day, equaling about 35 a week, which will lead to 3 “sit-downs” for a meaningful conversation.

How many contacts does it take for you to get a meaningful sit-down with a person?

2) Pray for Opportunities

I remember praying one morning, “Lord, it has been a while time since I led someone to you. Open the doors and show me who I need to speak to today.” As soon as I finished praying that prayer a man walked over to me and said, “Doesn’t that book (my pocket Bible) get old after a while?” which I replied, “It gets better every time I read it. Would you like to read it?” He took the Bible and began reading it. This resulted in a number of great conversations that eventually led to him and his family to attend our church and embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior.

When is the last time you asked God to open new doors of opportunity for you?

3) Get out and into your community

All too often we are so isolated from the world in which you live. Look at your calendar and see what fills your week. I encourage church planters to think about tithing their time to community service and interaction. As a planter I put in 60 plus hours a week. This meant about six hours a week out in the community like playing in a noon basketball league on Tuesdays and Thursdays or coaching my children’s baseball and football teams. My week could be filled with serving on various community committees within the school district or through the Chamber of Commerce. It could also involve attending community events or joining professional groups like Toastmasters International. I could easily fill up my six hours a week.

Opportunities abound when we get out into our communities. Jon Cawston, a church planter in Plainfield, IL., joined a local entrepreneurial networking group. After a couple of months of being in this group, he was wondering why he was there and was feeling out of place. Then a crisis took place within the group and he discovered that he instantly become “the chaplain” of the group which led to spiritual conversations.

Can you imagine all the spiritual conversations that could take place if your staff and leaders were encouraged to tithe their time to community service and interaction?

4) Establish routines and cultivate relationships

Beyond the tithe of your time in your community I encourage leaders to establish routines and patterns so that you build relational presence with business owners and servers. Think strategically about all your interactions and pray that you can be a redemptive influence within that social network. A couple of tell tale signs of this is, “Do people know your name?” or “Do you know peoples names?” Reggie McNeal loves to ask his servers, “I am going to pray for my meal and I always pray for my server. Is there anything I can pray for you specifically?” I can see this really working as you cultivate relationships and move them from the mundane to the spiritual.

What places do you frequent in your community?

Jesus, Paul and James used the analogy of the farmer when it comes to spiritual leaders patiently sowing, working and cultivating the work of the gospel. When it comes to engaging in spiritual conversations you need to have an attitude of a farmer, faithfully working and cultivating your community. The first two suggestions deal with the leader’s attitude, the next two suggestions deal with putting leaders in a position for engagement.

I learned a simple lesson over twenty-five years ago from an old missionary who said these words to me, “Gary you can’t serve God where you are not!” That statement helped me move away from dreaming about future ministry to engaging myself in the daily personal ministry right in front of me every day.

Semiotics as a Pathway to Spiritual Science: From the Culture of Addiction to Absolute Freedom

Posted on 17. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

The appearance of semiotics in the early twentieth century signifies an increase in awareness of the communicative powers of our entire environment.  Once we are able to attain the level of abstraction in which a word is a sign, we can then readily perceive clothing, gesture and traffic light as signs whose semiotic structure, whose semioses, must always already bear strong resemblances to the semioses of words.  The expansion of the communicative universe through the research and articulations of semiotics opens to semiotic analysis the entire field of our experience, in which any and all stimuli become potential meaning bearers.  It is thus no wonder that semiotics has become an approach in all areas, such as biology, comparative religion, and sociology, in which senders and receivers communicate by using one thing that stands for something else.

The unbounded generosity of semiotics, in its energetic donation of its own body to the uses of other disciplines, however, brings semiotics to the question of its own limit.  Is there anything, sensory or imagined, that is not a sign?  Is there anything, sensory or imagined, that cannot be something standing for something else?

We begin our exploration of this territory by trying to find a pure sign.  We consider an ordinary traffic stop sign.  Constructed of metal and/or wood, freestanding on their own posts or attached to other poles, these signs are erected at corners facing oncoming flows of vehicular traffic.  They usually have only two colors, such as red and white, black and white, or yellow and black.  In the red and white case, common in the US, the flat dimension is approximately one meter by one meter square, with all four corners cut off to form a regular hexagon.  The physical sign is uncontroversial.  There is no reason for anyone to contest factual assertions about the materials of which the sign is made, its structure, its process of assembly or its means of installation.  The physical sign is a pure sign at the physical pole of signification.  This purely physical sign is the sign as physical substrate of semiosis.

The signifieds of the red and white traffic stop sign, other than the physical, however, are mixed.  A stop sign signifies a text; the text is a written law or statute that prescribes the behavior of vehicle drivers, including bicyclists, who approach the corner on which the sign stands.  A particular stop sign may also signify a local memory stream.  A small child rode a tricycle rapidly off the curb one day into the street and was killed by an oncoming truck.  After six months of pressure from local parents for a sign, and pressure from local commuters against a sign, the city erected the stop sign.  Additional signifieds could be the memory stream of some commuters that includes rolling through the intersection on the way to work because, at that early hour, almost no cars drive through the intersection on the cross street.  Finally, a stop sign signifies a physical gesture for which it stands-stock still at a corner.  That gesture is bringing a vehicle to a complete stop before the vehicle crosses the pedestrian crosswalk or enters the intersection.   At this point, the physical position of the sign, on the corner at which vehicles are required to stop, and the immobility of the sign, both deploy simile or mimesis to signify the specific gesture.  Specific signifieds of a particular stop sign are mixed, but the sign function of the sign is not.  In every semiosis, the sign stands for something other than itself.  By abstracting from a multitude of semioses, we obtain a pure sign at the mental pole of signification.

Of what could the purity of the sign at either the physical or the mental pole consist?  Let us entertain the options.  First, the pure sign at the physical pole consists of one and only one substance and that substance is the simplest in nature.  The pure sign at the physical pole would thus be one hydrogen atom.  Second, the pure sign at the mental pole refers to nothing, not even itself.  Such a sign, purified of all signification, is not even imaginable.  It is an empty logical possibility.  Third, the pure sign at the mental pole refers only to itself.  Such a sign would be a sign of itself; however, it would have to be unique such that no class attributes would have any members other than itself.  Again, such a pure sign is imaginable only as an empty logical possibility.  Fourth, a pure sign at the mental pole would refer to one and only one thing other than itself.  Let us suppose that there were a uniquely occurring compound with only two instances in the entire universe.  One instance of that compound could then be taken as standing for both of them.  However, no such compound has yet been discovered, so we must count this possibility also as merely logical.  Fifth, we suppose again about the physical universe that every existing thing is absolutely unique, such that no thing shares any class attributes with any other thing.  In this situation, which again receives no confirmation from natural science, no thing would refer to any other thing except at the most abstract possible level at which every existing thing, in its utter uniqueness, would signify the utter uniqueness of every other existing thing. 

Sixth, the pure sign at the mental pole refers to a class of things that are absolutely unique in the sense that it is impossible for a normal observer to mistake them for anything other than what they are.  The condition of normal observation, however, removes this type of sign from ordinary sensory perception, because perception shifts according to lighting, health, age, attitude, perceptual acuity, strength of memory, etc.  Normal perception defines a range of possible observations that must be checked and rechecked in order to ensure validity.  This condition also requires a differentiation between ordinary conditions and laboratory conditions.  Observing a chemical compound with a spectroscope in a laboratory and there identifying it is quite different than observing a bird in flight in the wild and trying to identify it there.  In this sense of the pure sign, its scope is so limited that, while it is physically possible, it has little use in the ordinary world.  We all repeatedly mistake one thing for another for a great number of reasons.  Correcting this kind of mistake, whether it is in literary criticism, art criticism, remembering telephone numbers or sorting laundry is an ongoing human task that we cannot reduce or avoid.  The notion of the pure sign at the mental pole indeed seems elusive.

Seventh, we recall here the signification of the red and white stop sign that was the physical gesture of making a full stop at an intersection corner.  In the clearest possible sense, the stop sign stands for something else.  Even though the sign stands immobile at the corner, it is not in its own existential constitution the physical gesture of stopping a vehicle.  There is a clear difference in qualities between the sign and the signified.  Part of the meaning of the pure sign at the mental pole must then be that the sign can be clearly distinguished from the signified both epistemologically and ontologically, that is, as something known mentally and as something experienced existentially. Minimally, therefore, we may suggest that signification requires epistemological and ontological difference.

How, then, are we to understand the nature of this difference? This difference must be recordable in some mental act as part of knowledge, belief, opinion, etc., and experiencable in some empirical event as a real part of the universe, whether the subdomain is visual, aural, olfactory, tactile or otherwise.  We may reinforce this recognition with the observations that we carry not only a dual hemisphere brain but also dual major sense receptors for both vision, hearing and smell and multiple sense areas for taste, pressure, heat, pain and pleasure.  In no functional sense are our sensory organs, enteric nervous system or central nervous system cyclopean.  Our biologically evolved organism embodies complexity that is unimaginable without multiple layers, levels, scales, quantities, qualities and degrees of difference.  This focus however takes in only the region of sensory energy.  Along with this region are the regions of biophotonic/bioluminescent energy, psychic energy (involving such phenomena as hand healing, precognition and telepathy), and spiritual energy (involving visions, mystical experiences, numinous experiences, etc.).  The quality of knowledge of energy changes with each change in the type of energy as does the mode of experience of the existing energy.  Throughout all types of energy, however, there is a difference between the experiencer as human being and the energy as non-human but humanly accessible.  All regions are therefore subject to and subjects of semiosis.  Indeed, from the smallest discernible wave/particles to the largest possible structures of matter and space, from the richest sensory experience to the subtlest spiritual experience, our universe shows division and difference on every scale.  The divisions, however, are not static but dynamic.  Wave/particles come into existence and go out of existence; stars are born and die into diaphanous clouds of dust that dissipate into even emptier configurations of electromagnetic energy and space.  Since we find dynamism everywhere in the region of sensory energy, why would we not expect and predict it in other regions as well?

Indeed, everywhere that human beings have exercised their imaginations to bring into words and images the characteristics of non-sensory energy, they have reproduced the divisions of the sensory world.  Gods and demons, saints and sinners, saviors and destroyers, beneficent beings and maleficent beings, friends of humans and enemies of humans abound in all mythical and religious systems.  Natural and supernatural realms both present themselves to and through human experience and articulation as dually structured.  This fact points in a direction that is of special interest here: the representational capacity of human beings mirrors, reflects and participates in the dual structures of reality.  Duality is not simply or merely an invention of the human mind; nor is it either simply or merely an artifact of the human brain.  Rather, the brain itself is part of the dual structures of energy.  And more than part of it, our brains are the means by which we access those structures and bring them into tangible representations.  A sign as one thing standing for another is an intrinsic part of the universe of which we are a part.  The complete meaning of something thus encompasses its birth and its death, its bright side and its dark side, its constructivity and its destructivity, its most minute components and its most robust totality.  The South Pole is incomprehensible without the North Pole; the desert as a region of great aridity is incomprehensible without the ocean as a region of complete fluidity; positively charged energy is meaningless without negatively charged energy; and, gods without devils are senseless.  In every direction of our exploration, therefore, we must encounter dynamic differentiations whose variations in quality and quantity are endless. 

If we accept this much, then we may advance a general answer to the question of the limit of semiosis:  semiosis is impossible without difference.  If no difference exists, then neither signification nor semiosis is possible.  If nothing stands for anything else, if everything is so transparent that no edges, boundaries or limits appear from which to delineate existing things, then no representation is possible.  Without representation of some kind, signification and thus semiosis are impossible.

The idea of infinite signification allows us to approach this limit from another direction.  Infinite semiosis involves the elaboration of any particular instance of semiosis into a web whose signifieds expand and multiply as they become signifiers for new semioses that gradually implicate the entire language universe.  Inevitably beginning with a moment of a particular, finite language, this process extends by association and translation into all other languages until the entire sphere of human communication connects multidimensionally with itself.  This connection is not closure, however; rather, it is an ongoing process of working and reworking significations through infinite grades, shades and degrees of meaning that deploy the lexicons of all languages in their explication.  Carried out long enough, every word would gain multiple connections with every other word so that from anywhere in the net as signifier any other place in the net as signified could be reached.  Since this process of one place standing for another could be repeated indefinitely, it leads to infinite signification-the limitless standing of one thing for another.  But if one thing can stand for any other thing, then all specificity has dissolved and therewith all differences as well.  But if all differences dissolve then there is no way to distinguish one thing from another thing.  If there is no way to make such distinctions, then it is impossible to recognize one thing as standing for another or representing another.  Infinite signification brings us to the limit of semiosis:  semiosis is impossible without difference.

Why, though, is signification necessary at all?  It is necessary because there is difference.  If everything and everyone were utterly and seamlessly one, then no one thing would not only not have to but also not be able to stand for anything else.  The distinctions that arise with existence of any kind would not be, so nothing would stand apart from anything else and thus nothing could stand for anything else.  The experience of the utter absence of difference, the complete and seamless oneness of all things, carries us from semiotics to spiritual science.  From the energetic workings of mind in making finer and finer distinctions, we move to intuition in which mind becomes quiet, ego puts away its microscopes and knives, and the larger self appears as a living whole.  This step relieves us of the desire to think, say, write and do more.  This step ends the desire for knowledge because it is knowing.  Spiritual knowing is not an object, nor is it a subject.  It is a whole event in which subject and object dissolve into transparency. 

Spiritual science thus ends a certain type of craving that civilization cultivates and promotes.  It is the craving to be something other than what we already are.  On behalf of this craving, civilization socializes all of us into the culture of addiction.  In the culture of addiction, we become signs of our own incompleteness.  We stand for our own lacks and deficiencies.  Whatever our present is, it is not good enough.  We must find ways to add to it.  We never know enough, feel enough, have enough or are enough.  We never write enough, speak enough or read enough.  Our very existence signifies incompleteness and the desires we feel to overcome that uncomfortable condition.  Our socioeconomic system readily sympathizes with our plight by providing numerous opportunities for addiction. 

How can we understand addiction?  First, addiction requires that human beings be able to control the supply of some substance.  For this reason, no one becomes addicted to air or water.  But human beings control the supply of grapes and broccoli, also, and no one becomes addicted to them.  These examples bring another requirement: the controlled substance must make some noticeable and repeatable change in the human body and mind.  With these two requirements, we have addiction as an uncontrolled use of a substance whose supply is under human control and whose use makes a significant change in a person’s experience.  Clearly the possible sphere of addiction is very large, from new clothes to chocolate, from TV programs to sugar, and from competition to tobacco.   When we add competition, not only as a consumable activity, but also as a characteristic of supply, then speed appears as another major characteristic of the contemporary culture of addiction.  Not everything, however, has been turned into a radius of this sphere.

Outside this sphere reside interpersonal events such as love, respect and trust.  We all need these to live well, but no one has yet figured out how to quantify them as substances whose supply can be controlled.  Could you take a pill to respect others more?  Could you drink a bottle of something that would increase your ability to trust?  Could you have an operation on your heart that would allow you to love more?  If any of these were possible, then commercial interests would crystallize around these potencies to create supply controls that would result in addictions to love, respect and trust products.

In fact, it should come as no surprise that the first cash crop from the British colonies in America in the seventeenth century was tobacco.  After an enterprising colonist crossed a local strain of tobacco with an imported strain from South American, a hybrid strain with acceptable consumption properties resulted and became the first large-scale export item from the new colonies to England.  As much as some of us may dislike the habit, we cannot deny that tobacco is an emblem, a smoky signifier, of the power of commercialism to create a culture of addiction. 

The culture of addiction, besides requiring control of supply and personal impact, also requires products that are finite and expendable.  Commercialism cannot survive on handmade goods that last for decades and are handed down for generations in a family.  Commercialism cannot survive on substances like air, water and soil that are freely available, necessary for life, and, with the proper care, infinitely reusable.  No.  Commercialism survives only on products that can be used up and thrown away.  It survives only on products that alter the minds and bodies of the users so that the users want to use the products again and again.  Tobacco, toilet paper and television clearly signify the power of commercialism to create a culture of addiction.  All three products have metamorphosed constantly during the past centuries and decades.  At the beginning of each metamorphosis, potential consumers are met with claims that not only will all of the old functions of the products be fulfilled, but also the new products will refine, improve and advance those functions or even add more.  The culture of addiction thus also depends on the artificial production of novelty.

Novelty is itself a stimulus of fundamental importance to living beings such as primates.  Study of primate young, among apes and chimpanzees, has shown how the young seek novelty as part of their natural learning.  By seeking novelty, they continually encounter and expose themselves to differences that stimulate central nervous system development.  Without novelty in the environment, the primate becomes less aware, its attention dulls, it experiences boredom and then-wham!  The tiger jumps out from behind the tree, kills it and eats it.  Novelty seeking is necessary to maintain a certain level of alertness that both protects the primate from dangers and attunes the primate to opportunities. 

As primates, we also seek novelty.  Commercialism uses the search for novelty as an innate platform for the promotion of addiction.  It refines the search by recognizing, accurately enough, that some consumers become bored after so many repetitions of the same stimulus and, even though the stimulus may be pleasant, they look for something different.  Difference, though, can only be understood in commercialism as novelty.  Difference by itself is not enough, because novelty also clusters around it additional attractive signifiers of youth, adventure, mystery and perhaps even a taste of danger.  Novelty is thus a primary and necessary ingredient in the construction and maintenance of the culture of addiction.

If semiotics can be a path to spiritual science, can it also be a path to a condition other than addiction?  I first encountered the word “semiotics” in a writing by Carl Jung in 1973.  I did not see or use the word after that until 1989, when I started my PhD program in the College of Education at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, Oregon, USA.  My advisor, Chet Bowers, strongly recommended that I study semiotics.  Eventually, I used semiotics, chaos theory and the sociology of knowledge as joint theoretical perspectives in my dissertation on moral education in contemporary, urban Taiwan.  By that time, I had discovered that everything of interest to me had a dual capacity: on the one hand, it was stable; on the other hand, it was always already involved in a process of becoming in which it would transform until it ceased to exist.  Everything both was itself and was becoming other than itself.  The idea of signification, of something standing for something else, struck me as peculiarly powerful.  It captured not only meaningful relations among different things but also the relation a thing had to itself in its own history.  An acorn stands for a particular ecosystem inhabited by squirrels and it stands for the oak tree that the acorn itself will someday become.  Signification fit the ecological insistence on seeing all things as organically related and the spiritual insistence on seeing all things as transparent to their own finitude.

The practice of semiotics as an intellectual discipline and approach may thus prepare us for that spiritual knowing in which mental desires attenuate to the point of quietude.  The idea of infinite signification has already led us to the realization that, carried out long enough, every word gains multiple connections with every other word so that from anywhere in the net as signifier any other place in the net as signified can be reached. This process leads to infinite signification-the limitless standing of one thing for another.  Once in the position of this realization, we can see that the temporal process of analysis required by our minds distorts, like a mirror in a fun house, the simultaneity within which everything is already both connected to everything else and transparent to the existence of everything else. The forms are all together in everything.  We analyze and distinguish things according to their properties but in reality everything is one-every one is everything at once.  We cannot say this and make sense because saying, whether in our minds, through our voices or in our writing, obeys linear temporality, but we can experience it.  In Western philosophical history, we are invited to this experience through the aphorisms of Heracleitos, the journey through the gates of night and day of Parmenides, and in Plato’s dialogues, the visions of the beautiful and the good in the Symposium and the Republic and the vision of the one that guides, motivates and leads the Parmenides.

We discover, with Heracleitos, that the up down way is one and the same.  A ladder is a ladder whether we climb up it or climb down it.  A stairway is a stairway whether we walk up it or walk down it.  A lift is a lift whether we ride it up or down.  Every wave has both a peak and a trough.  No wave has only a peak or a trough.  Everything in the universe is composed of waves and particles.  Everything moves up and down, with its own peaks and troughs, in its own rhythm.

What of particles?  Particles are a momentary configuration of energy under certain conditions.  Particles are one pole of the most basic rhythm of energy that we know in the physical universe.  The wave/particle duality is that basic rhythm.  It is a vibration.  In these later days of modern physics, we often hear the phrase “wave/particle duality” as though it were an abstract, conceptual notion.  But the pioneers of modern physics, who met the early experimental findings with insight, were perfectly clear that nature vibrated.  We need only borrow a little in passing from Max Jammer’s study, The Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics, such as Heisenberg’s idea of an atom as a set of oscillators (191), Lande’s atom as a virtual orchestra (Ibid.), Dellingshausen’s identification of atoms with standing waves and the motion of particles as a vibrational process (246), and De Broglie’s idea of the particle as the seat of a periodic internal phenomenon (247).  The vibration of wave and particle as alternate forms of energy is the most fundamental physical pole of our vibrational universe.

The other pole is spiritual.  The human mind moves from mental diversity to spiritual unity and back again.  The desire of scientists in all fields to find unifying theories of their disciplines, whether in psychology, sociology, or physics, reflects this motion.  But the mind is intrinsically incapable of anything more than hypothetical unity.  Actual, experiential unity can be approached by mind but mind is only a step toward unity. This insight, which was fluid and vital in Heracleitos, Parmenides, Anaximander and Plato, became frozen and polemic in the dogmatic philosophies, such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism and Cynicism, and monotheistic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, of Western Eurasian civilization.  In the last century, semiotics has helped to thaw the Western mind and to show, with contributions from thinkers such as Bhaktin, that we are continually involved in simultaneous processes of homogenization and heterogenization, of identification and differentiation.  We continually identify ourselves with larger entities and diverge from those entities through the specificities of our own thoughts, gestures and actions.  Just as the leaf of a tree is both one with all the other leaves and different from them in minute aspects of position, color, size and shape, so are we both one with everything and different from every other person and thing. 

Our entire being, from both its most fundamental physical to its most fundamental spiritual states and back again, vibrates.  The simultaneous vibration of our being between identification and differentiation, between oneness and manyness, and between unity and plurality defines the entire sphere of our freedom.  The one who can move from and through unity to diversity and back again is free. The movement, the rhythm, the freedom is in the person as it was in Heracleitos and Hegel. This freedom is absolute because it is the only possible way to be, to move, to realize on this plane, the plane of earth.

Plato’s auto kath’auto and Hegel’s absolute Idea are one and the same.  Just as you can think and live up and down the ladder of the divided line in Plato’s Politeia, so you can read Hegel’s Phenomenologie des Geistes backwards and forwards and come to and go from the same place-absolute freedom.

We may consider the Greek word “moira”-fate.  Why does the word for fate mean lot?  Because it is the fate of every existing thing to be a part, to be apart, to have a lot or portion (Anaximander) of everything-reality, being, truth, beauty, goodness, evil, oneness, diversity. Participation was Plato’s way of bringing the fluidity of unity/diversity in moira into non-mythical language-everything participates-has a part-has a lot-in everything-thus everything is connected both in Plato and in Hegel.

The whole civilization is one rhythm-it is vertical and horizontal at the same time-unifying and diversifying at the same time.  People seek maximum freedom and maximum security at the same time. Can they be found by being utterly alone or can they be found by being utterly welded into a group?  The latter is the direction of unification, the former is the direction of diversification; at one and the same time, being utterly alone is the direction of unification and being welded into a group is the direction of diversification.  Both are happening in all dimensions of this plane simultaneously.

What can we hold constant?  It is not light.  It is the rhythm of magnetic field and electrical field that both sequentially and simultaneously constitutes the structure and motion of light.  It is the rhythm of unity and diversity; it is the dance of creation and destruction.  It is Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva all at once.  It is the rhythm of concentration of electromagnetic particles/waves, themselves a rhythm of concentration and dispersion, and their dispersion.  In Chinese philosophy, it is the rhythm of light and dark, night and day, hot and cold, dark and light, dry and wet, not the opposites by themselves that is important.  That is the point-that is freedom and it is absolute because there is no other way to exist in, on or through this plane.

Spiritual Health

Posted on 15. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

Spiritual Health

On different levels there are different requirements. For example in the realm where you can find beings such as ourselves there are also those who must improve the way in which they exist. There are those whose habits are derived from lesser beings so that they are more prone to fail at what they are doing. Their communication with their peers is not greater than their communication with their inner selves.

So here too we learn about living and we learn what it is like to not have that which was given to us. As you might imagine we are privileged compared to life on many other plains of reality. Yet some of us are just as depraved as others whose plain of existence is not so privileged.

So that is how it is with us.

On your world you have many different levels of what might be called spiritual health. Some of you are very healthy, no matter what you profess to believe in. While others who profess a great deal are not well and are in serious need of some assistance.

So that is how is is with you.

What we do to improve ourselves is not so different from what you might do for your self. We find that it is necessary to find a higher meaning. We seek answers to the mystery of all the plains of existence. We devise ways of improving ourselves through a variety of disciplines. One discipline involves rotating a sphere and choosing a point on the sphere. Every time the sphere revolves we seek to identify the point.

So you see that we need our exercises.

What you do differs greatly in that your disciplines almost always involve a return to the inner person. Your yoga or what you call meditating or the need for prayer. These are good practices which will lead you beyond and into the larger reality of which you are a part.

Your health involves constant attention to identifying any way in which you may have strayed from the reality in which you have your existence. For instance it is important that you recognize that you have something called soul and that you concern yourself with the direction that you are taking as it will affect your souls’ direction.

Then we will give you a little direction. We want you to practice this.

First make a decision that you will always be good and act in kindness.

Second you must make a decision that all that you do will be of benefit to your self and also to anyone in your immediate surroundings.

Third you must always pay attention to those who are near you; by this we mean wife or husband or even child or friends.

Fourth you must get rid of any concerns that you are having for what may come, as what may come is not living. Living is always done when you are there in the moment.

Lastly we suggest to you that you never give away how you are feeling when you are uncertain. When you act, act with assertion knowing that you have obtained certain beliefs made so by living and conducting yourself as mature adults, not as children. Therefore certainty is a healthy trait.

For us it would mean that we go forth with a sense of knowledge. For you it means that your knowledge has been tested through your experiences. And your experiences are determined by actions taken with certainty.

What is it that you would take with you when you are dead and gone? There is only one thing you can take with you and that is your eternal soul, or in other words your mind or consciousness.

What is spiritual health? When you are no longer in any state in which you may have any doubts about the nature of the universe or life. You know about other kinds or levels of existence and you accept that they intervene in different ways; for you are not alone but you are involved in a much greater reality than is obvious.

So when you go to your day remember to turn your attention to the outside world knowing completely that your soul lives in the greater sphere.

When we are looking at our spheres, the point that we are looking for is really those whom we watch. Our reward is to be involved with you as friends.

So now look at yourself in a way which enables you to step forward with no concern for where your foot will land. Face life with a heartfelt faith, with all of your feelings directed to achieving your goals with no remorse or any kind of regret. Your goals are based on true knowledge of who you are and where you are going. For all things which are done in your world are done because they were as seeds planted and they must grow into the form that they must take. You can only watch with love and faith as your life unfolds. For you are part of a greater realty in which you play a part.

How do you have knowledge of your goals while staying in the moment? Some will know and then they will follow destiny. Others will never know. If you ask for something it must be something that was given from before you were born. Thus what you have is already given. Wanting is good but it does not create anything. You must learn to know what was given. Then you will be happy for you are no longer living in a state of wanting.

What you can attract is what was given. It is possible to miss having by your actions or words or even by never realizing that it is yours to have. When you manifest something of value then the thing that you bring came about as a result of your uncovering what was there already. You will know this when you look inward, for then you will know your true self and all that your true self already has coming. So focus on the present moment when you practice meditation or prayers.

Now go taking this with you.

I am Hethball

Spirituality in Music

Posted on 13. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

Spirituality in music can also be reiterated when the application happens at a professional level including the international platforms, wherein the basis of such an effort is largely for a  public cause. This initiative is oriented towards drenching the listeners into may be  a state of spiritual ecstasy with some infinite love for them from  the bottom of the heart of everyone involved in the creation of such a musical package, not necessarily restricted to New Age, but also every other modern day musical work.  As a professional musician I was taught and could also notice that one gets inspired all of a sudden and the creative best is discovered when the whole effort is planned and executed by a mere divine will as against the human thinking. When we are tuned into that divine frequency, music flows through your heart and fills every cell within and outside the body putting us into an exalted state of un explainable divine bliss. If  I would have to share from the personal life experience, it would be incomplete if I don’t admit that the very invocation of the supreme being or the creator into the musical work has literally elevated me from zero to whatever little that is now, technically and creatively. It’s truly magnificient! Though the process is gradual, the consistent shift in the individual music creator’s energy, forms the foundation for miraculous musical outbursts. The shift in energy is made possible by quite a few techniques like holistic healing methods such as reiki, regular chanting of appropriate mantras etc., and also by visiting of certain vortexes(or temples) and many more,  all under the guidance of a spiritual master or a Guru.

When the whole musical work right from the very conception to its completion is dedicated to the supreme being with absolute surrender Unto His feet, the musical work becomes one of what we generally describe as “Gandharva ganam”(Tamil) or “A legendary musical composition” that’s out of the world. Not to forget the fundamentals which have descended down from the divine through ages, like the “matha(mother, pitha(father) guru(master) & Deivam(God” formulae. At a particular juncture we can realize that each and every energy shiting technique complements the other through a vicious cycle. To be more precise, When your Time, space and karma gets aptly guided through by Vedic sciences like astrology and or allied subjects, and when you can call it’s “Time” now for the break-through to happen musically, spiritually and also commercially, by then the few techniques said above would have already taken care of the shift in energy by associating you with the right people and place. This will also be in perfect  alignment with some synchronicities that you might have gone through like someone telling you about the progress, or some incidents or happenings in the day-to-day life indicating the progressive note.

For instance, in my case, much before a couple of my songs and musical work got famous, and much before I started becoming a little popular, I knew I had to perfect my voice culture as far as my singing was concerned. Secondly I also understood through my spiritual lessons that, my musical compositions needed a proper classical backing (atleast the basics). At this point of time in my life, a parallel preparatory process was happening inside and outside of me without my knowledge but with the help of my spiritual and musical gurus. My spiritual gurus taught me some tailor made meditation and healing techniques and put me into some powerful spiritual practices. My musical gurus worked on my voice culture. This collectively shaped me up both on the technical and creative front. Fortunately, because I was taught about absolute surrender, the supreme being ensured that He gave me the very best in everything that I pursued through this rigorous preparatory process.

I could understand and realize a little about what spiritual inspiration is capable of doing, with its unique Divine touch and, hence, when the creation reaches the masses, it straightly pierces into their hearts leaving them in a state of ecstasy and wanting more and more of the same dosage.

What is Spiritual Growth?

Posted on 11. Jul, 2010 by admin in Spirituality

As you progress on your spiritual journey, people close to you may begin to notice, and be confused by, some changes in your life perspectives. How do you explain to them what it means to grow spiritually?

Especially when so much of spiritual growth is experiential—the feeling of peace and harmony during meditation—the development of “natural knowingness” that is beyond logic and emotion—the sensitivity to the call of your heart and soul—the ability to joyfully surrender to the flow of your life.

Here is how I was finally able to define spiritual growth:

Spiritual growth is a process of developing your awareness of the reality that exists outside the range of your 5 senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Other words for “developing your awareness” would be “expanding your consciousness.”

We know there is a reality beyond our 5 senses because science can measure it. There are colors and sounds we cannot perceive, there are electrical impulses in our brain we are not aware of, there are billions of simultaneous activities going on inside the cells of our bodies that we can’t feel, yet they are all measurable with scientific instruments.

As you build awareness/expand consciousness, you grow in your ability to sense subtle energies within your physical, emotional and mental bodies, the subtle energies of your environment, and the subtle energies of the people you interact with.

Why is this important? How is it useful? The more information you have in any situation, the more likely you are to find yourself responding in ways that bring you more joy with less struggle.

Developing the ability to “feel” your way through life is more joyful and successful than only relying on figuring things out. Logic is very useful for organizing, analyzing, calculating, etc., but it provides only a fraction of the information available.

Imagine a carpenter having only basic tools in the toolbox: hammer, screwdriver, saw, and a stub pencil. Sure, he could make a lot of things. But imagine having a table saw, an electric drill, a sander, etc. Imagine how much more he could produce and what better quality it could be.

So it is with spiritual growth. A person relying entirely on logic and their 5 senses can make it in the world, but how much richer and fulfilling a life can one create with the ability to also “feel” one’s way in the world?

Developing spiritually is developing an inner compass that reliably let’s you know when you are off course for joyful, struggle-free living long before unpleasant consequences show up to inform you.

Although this explanation of spiritual growth may, or may not, satisfy the intellectual curiosity of friends and family, you can be sure that as your life becomes more joyful and struggle-free, your family and friends will be sure to notice.