Personal transformation

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

― Albert Einstein

How many times have you heard or read this quote?

What does it mean?

To transcend your current reality or something much, much bigger?

Think about it.

How do you raise your consciousness?

Perhaps you need to consider your beliefs. Can you drop them to allow in something more beautiful?

The thing is, if we truly want to change our lives and those we serve, we have to find a way to outsmart our ego. If we don't, then we'll remain fastened to the wheel of small self.

Is there a practice that might help?

Yes.

To be fully present to this moment.

Personally, I do that in zazen but even in witnessing mode -- i.e. you witness your thoughts -- there's a step change.

I suppose in the end it comes down to one key thing: how much do you value (your) life?

I mean, if you're just about OK with how things are then you'll never look beyond your current world order.

Blessings and much love

Julian

Comments

Kindness et al.

Now, more than ever, we need to find a way through this collapsing world . Yes, there are lots of strategies, templates and exhortation we could employ but, truthfully, we know in our hearts that if only there was a little less hate and a lot more kindness the world would be a much better place - in so many ways. Then again, the trope has been done to death and look where it's got us. Not very far. Perhaps it is that we've an aversion to opening ourselves up in case we're taken advantage of or worse still. Perhaps it is that we don't feel it. It's more act than truth. Perhaps there's no quid pro quo. (Does there or should there be?) Truth is, I've no more an idea than you why the world is too often riven with a lust for hate when it should be in swoon to kindness. That doesn't (of course) stop me wondering. And wonder I will alongside all those other issues that continue to haunt me. Blessings, Julian

Back to nature

I'm just back from my daily walk with Alfie and Fidget. I managed to stay dry right until the end when the heavens opened; Alfie didn't mind; Fidget looked like she'd had enough. For me, the daily walk isn't just a way of raising my heart rate and enjoying the fresh air -- both very important -- it's a way to connect, deeply. In fact, I'd say it was in the same vein as meditation. There's always a temptation to get it over with, but these days I nearly always take a moment to stop, breathe in and out with a strong sense of purpose and listen to my environs. It grounds me. I don't take this for granted. I realise how fortunate I am to have Dartmoor on my doorstep and to have the time to walk this way. Actually, I'm pretty sure that even if I didn't live here, I'd find a way to connect with nature, even if I had to do it in some other way, e.g. gardening. Think about your own experience with nature. I'd be very surprised if...

Where next?

At the moment, I'm deep into capitalism, having finished David Whyte's thought-provoking book, Ecocide: Kill The Company Before It Kills Us . If I'm honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to discover that I don't already know. That said, I'm not suggesting I know very much about (inter alia) Natural Capital, Green Swans or neoliberalism, but you don't need to be Einstein to work out that capitalism has been one of, if not the main enabler for the Anthropocene . Oh, that, and our insatiable, wanton desire for more stuff. Yes, that's right. Absent us, there wouldn't exist the corporate vehicle, less still greedy capitalists (I say that, of course, only mildly tongue-in-cheek.) As I've said so many times: we need the world; the world doesn't need us . And where does all this fit with the latest UK-wide CV19 restrictions and the catastrophic situation we find ourselves living in and through? Again, I'm not sure. Perhaps it is that we were n...

Julian Summerhayes

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