Blog – You Are A Buddha

On being human

June 29, 2021 / Jayme

What does it mean to be human? This is a most interesting question indeed. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I think it fair to say that most people have never considered the question. I would also wager the general consensus of humans is that they are the best, the single most important species on planet Earth. This wayward feeling of importance is of course a product of the ego, the idea of separateness.

The following is a thought experiment designed to illustrate how to think outside our limited perspective. Imagine a human life as if it were a fly. As humans, we observe a fly only lives thirty days. It buzzes around seemingly unaware how to get out of a room illustrated by bouncing into the window repeatedly. Then one morning we find it’s carcass upside down on the window sill. That thirty days in fly time is equivalent to eighty-eight years in human time. Flying around the room frantically trying to get out is our way of stumbling through life rushing to get somewhere and accumulate things all in the name of pleasure. In our death throws we bounce repeatedly into the window trying to make sense of our lives before we take that final breath, only to be swept from the window sill without a care. So you see, we think we’re important only because we identify with our perspective; we have an ego.

As long as one is identified with ego, they believe in their own importance; they strive to maintain their survival. Is a human more important than a grasshopper? If we could ask the grasshopper and if the grasshopper answered, surely it would demand its own survival. All of life is doing what it must to exist. We eat to stay alive. We clothe ourselves to stay warm. We make homes to provide safety. These basic needs exist in similar and varying ways for all plants and animals. The question then becomes: how conscious is each living being in regards to its own survival? Is the grasshopper aware that it and its fellow grasshoppers can destroy a farmer’s crop by swarming? Do rats understand that if left unchecked they would dominate all livable land? Do spiders realize they are trapping and killing innocent insects? While it may be true that humans are among the few species with enough ego development to be self-aware, that does not mean we are conscious, or aware, as a species. We have been slowly destroying earth’s resources just as a swarm of grasshoppers might a farmer’s crop. We have the collective ability to be better than we are, but we are only as conscious as our least conscious members.

When a natural disaster occurs peoples’ lives are upended, torn apart, and destroyed. Collectively, as humans, we think how terrible the loss of life is. The destruction of property, everything that we had built wiped away in moments, can be challenging to process. We come up with all sorts of rationalizations or answers to explain away the suffering. When someone steps on an ant hill, if they notice at all, it is usually a cursory glance and nothing more. What about the lives of the ants or their labor in constructing their home? Natural disasters are akin to humans stepping on an ant hill. Nature does not concern itself with the effects of its wake. It is just doing nature stuff. Likewise, humans do human stuff.

So many of us walk through life making decisions about what is important and what is not. We do it with no more consciousness than the grasshopper, rat, or spider. Our actions have consequences. The interconnected nature of all life means nothing takes place in a vacuum. Science is only just discovering this truth through its efforts to unravel quantum entanglement. When we make decisions we usually do so from a limited framework suited to provide maximum gratification to us. Even if it benefits our family or friends, we make decisions in which we derive some kind of gain. Many humans can barely conceive of the idea of thinking about how their actions affect their fellow human beings let alone other species on this planet. The ego places its own needs above all else and it does so with limited consciousness.

I am not suggesting that humans do not matter. Every species matters, and each is important. How each relates to the others is the focus here. What we fail to recognize as a collective species is that everything is consciousness experiencing itself through an infinite number of perspectives. In this case, every species of plant and animal that ever existed or will exist. We call ourselves human for conceptual reasons, but really its all the same; it is all consciousness. Every species has their unique way of communicating. Humans just happen to do it through speech and gestures. A cat’s meow or the flick of a squirrel’s tail accomplish the same thing. All life is intelligent and capable of manifesting that intelligence.

Intelligence can be displayed a multitude of ways. It is not limited to quantifiable information or knowledge. Plants have intelligence in that they direct themselves towards light in an effort to produce food. They also employ varying methods for spreading their seeds thus ensuring future offspring. Spend some time watching dandelion seeds glide on the wind. It is said they can travel up to a kilometer or more. That seems like a good case for intelligence. Animals possess intelligence by way of instinct. Many species of sea turtles return to the same beach where they hatched, to lay their own eggs. Dung beetles maintain their bearing using polarized moonlight and the Milky Way. They are the only known nocturnal animals to do so. That seems like a good case for intelligence. Honey bees communicate the distance, direction and quality of nectar sources to their hive members by doing the “waggle dance.” They are also one of the few known species that can count and also grasp the concept of zero. That seems like a good case for intelligence.

Humans could arguably be divided into more than one species based solely on their level of awareness, i.e., level of consciousness. For a brief overview, let us use the extremes. Highly conscious humans love and cherish each other while celebrating their differences and their contribution to life. They do not judge each other nor treat each other any differently than how they themselves would want to be treated. This is because highly conscious humans understand that everything is one and interconnected. At the other end of the extreme are found humans with very low consciousness. People in this category lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate others to get what they want, regardless of cost. They have no problem inflicting bodily harm on someone else and or kill and subject other species to suffering. Their life is the most important thing and they protect it at any cost. This would include psychopaths and sociopaths. Humans on this end of the spectrum are akin to animals but with self-awareness, i.e., knowledge that they exist. They go through the motions of life just trying to survive the best way they know how. The varying degree between these extremes is remarkable. Yet, we lump all humans into the same group.

If humans are incapable of seeing the worth of another species then that is human ignorance, and not the fault of the species in question. All life is sacred and holds value. Human beings are not better or more important than any other being. Everything fulfills its role and therefore has purpose. The ability to recognize this requires higher consciousness. Through this increased awareness, it is possible to see life from a much larger perspective. One can become conscious that a single lifetime is only a blip in the ocean of consciousness. The earth is a living system with its own ego and we are simply microbes feeding on it. Our trivial human affairs do not hold as much meaning as we like to believe, especially in relation to the vast amount of human suffering that takes place on account of it all. It is possible to perceive that all life is dancing and flowing in perfect equilibrium. Humans are just a small but essential part of this masterpiece.

The illusion of time

December 4, 2020 / Jayme

There is no past. There is no future. Everything we think has happened or will happen is now in this moment existing only as a thought. The present is all there is and it is infinite; it is eternal. I have become conscious of this and so can you.

I’ve contemplated many hours on the subject of time. It is incredibly difficult to talk about because like many other topics in spirituality, words are inadequate. They simply cannot substitute for the vehicle of experience. That said, I keep coming back to it. I suppose each new insight I have on the nature of time reshapes my understanding and perception of it. A couple of years ago I watched a video of Bentinho Massaro describing the nature of time. I am not advocating for or against his teachings, but something clicked for me while watching this. Following that, I experienced a waking dream in which the creation of time was illustrated perfectly. Since then, a more robust understanding has come together more and more through the practice of meditation and other forms of yoga. In this moment, I feel confident that I understand the nature of time enough to describe it with language.

The ego constructs the concept of time as a means to perpetuate its own existence. The past is an account of who the ego believes itself to be, while the future is a promise of what the ego can become. As we identify with the thoughts called memories we reinforce the belief of who we think we are. Conversely, by placing stipulations on our happiness it becomes attainable at a future date. In our culture, retirement is a great example of this. “If I work this job for another fifteen years, I can retire. Then I’m going to travel, move to my dream city, and dive into my art.”

Modern quantum mechanics is at the cusp of the way in which we construct time. However, due to the religion that is science, a scientist cannot comprehend this until they step outside the paradigm of science. For example: a fish does not understand that it lives in water. Only when it crawls onto land as an amphibian can it begin to comprehend water. Scientists are rational material reductionists, so they are always looking for the building blocks and constants in reality so as to be able to predict and explain reality. Of course, this is akin to a fish trying to describe water to another fish.

The basics of quantum mechanics begin with the double slit experiment in 1801. Without going into too much detail, this experiment illustrated that light is both a particle and a wave function. Light is a particle, or photon, only when its measured. Prior to being measured, it is a wave function, or potential. What this means is that particles, the presumed building blocks of reality, aren’t actually particles like science had previously posited. This experiment laid the groundwork towards proving that reality has no solid form until a measurement is taken. A measurement implies an observer. If something is observed, essentially it is being measured. Going full circle, reality does not take shape or form unless there is a conscious being observing it. That being also has an effect on how reality takes shape. For example: an electron doesn’t have a fixed position around an atom. Instead there is an electron cloud. The electron(s) can be anywhere in the cloud, or area of possibility. Only when the electron(s) is measured through an instrument does it take a position. The double slit experiment turned Newtonian physics on its head because it drastically recontextualized what scientists thought they knew. The experiment is widely accepted across all science, such that is has become a law, but rather than producing clarity among scientists, it has instead muddied the water so-to-speak. Scientists agree in the results of the experiment, but as previously stated, cannot comprehend the implications. As such, modern day physics has yet to bridge the gap between Newtonian physics and quantum mechanics.

How does this relate to time? There is a mega jump coming so hold tight. Following, I will use the word Consciousness with a capital “C” to represent the infinite and eternal awareness that is inherently the source of all that is manifested as well as the unmanifest. Consciousness is essentially, God, Allah, Shiva, Truth, or any other term one wants to use. I refrain from these labels because of the connotation each carries, inevitably coloring the word to a shade other than intended. Of course, the term Consciousness is not immune to this problem, but I assume it less likely. An interesting side note: Shiva, the central deity in Hindu culture, means, “that which is not.” Hindus understand that the source of everything is nothing. The universe is born of nothing and as such returns to whence it came.

Every conscious being is manifested by Consciousness. Think of beings as Consciousness splitting itself into an infinite number of perspectives so that it can experience itself through every possibility. To put it more succinctly, imagine a black sphere with a light placed inside. Now picture the black sphere covered with tiny pin pricks such that the light from inside shines outward. The light inside is Consciousness and the holes through which it shines are beings. In this way, beings manifest their own reality through the act of perception because as we already discussed reality isn’t concrete; it is pure, infinite potential. A being perceives what it chooses to create based on its perspective. This creation is done continuously and each created and perceived moment is strung together to create a seemingly fluid experience and the illusion of the passage of time. For example: some cameras can shoot thousands of frames per second. Each frame is separate and unique from all other frames, but when you string them together in a sequence, motion appears to happen. It’s like those stick figure drawings on the bottom corner of pages in a book. As you flip the pages quickly, the figure appears to move and a story unfolds. Consciousness is manifesting a unique experience every single moment. It is done so quickly that normal conscious attention doesn’t perceive it. Think of a strobe light. Under its effects, each movement is highlighted and registers with the brain such that the experience isn’t smooth. That effect is exactly what Consciousness is doing. The brain smooths the effect by linking the experiences for the purpose of creating the illusion of a fluid experience. Everything that appears to happen is happening in the eternal present. Each moment perceived is created anew.

Thoughts about the past and future work the same way. The supposed past is really just a collection of thoughts. If you think that you were born it’s because you believe it and thus manifest that thought. This ties into my previous post, Belief. Ideas about the future are just thoughts or musings projected to a moment we deem more suitable. For example: science is a belief system that thinks its uncovering truths about the universe, but actually its creating it and the idea of a future. Similarly, historians believe they are uncovering truths about our past, but in actuality, they are creating beliefs about our past. This is done collectively throughout humanity. We all lend energy in the form of belief to these things, thus they are manifested. All experiences and or perceptions happen in the present moment. Direct experience is all there is. A thought is simply a thought in the present moment. It does not mean anything or imply anything other than being merely a thought. What you did five minutes ago is a thought. It isn’t real. It doesn’t exist. For the sake of driving the point home, yes, five minutes ago, you manifested an experience. Understand though that minutes are a concept created by humans to measure the perceived change of experiences. There is no such thing as minutes. Consciousness doesn’t operate in time because time is a human construct used for the purpose of communicating with other humans.

As previously stated, everything we think we know is really based on belief. Time is no exception. Any topic I write about on this blog is inextricably linked to everything else in some way. To digest what I have written requires an open mind and the willingness to question one’s beliefs. I encourage everyone to explore this explanation of time, and of course don’t blindly believe me. Become conscious of it yourself.

Belief

October 20, 2020 / Jayme

What do you believe? That the earth is round, there is a God, this is the twenty-first century? Have you ever examined your beliefs and how you have become married to them? Most people never question their beliefs. They simply accept them as truth, as matter of fact. We also assume our beliefs are universal and innate. This lack of perspective fuels ignorance which breeds conflict. We cannot change other people so let us examine belief in an attempt to be a better version of ourselves.

Believing in something lends energy to it. Belief is the substance of our experience. What we perceive is the product of what we believe. To expound upon this I will examine some ideas commonly associated in our western culture. Notice how this first statement sets off a chain of ideas. While a person may not be mindfully aware of this domino effect, they certainly believe it subconsciously: I must remain faithful to my chosen partner because the priest and society tells me it is so. I want to follow this rule because it is important to be seen as a good person and also, I desire to go to Heaven when I die. If my reputation is tarnished I will be an outcast in my community. People will not spend time with me and I may struggle at work. If I cannot work, I will not be successful. Then I will have limited funds with which to buy material things to make me happy. Lack of happiness leads to misery and maybe despair. I will get depressed and perhaps suicidal, wishing for my life to be over. When illustrated like this it seems blatantly absurd. Yet, millions upon millions of people behave as if it is so. This is the power of belief.

Belief is at the core of the human experience originating with the most prolific belief, that we can die. Fear of death has shaped humanity profoundly. We have used the threat of death to control people in countless ways. People endure and suffer because they believe it better than the final alternative. The other principal belief we hang on to is our birth. No one experiences their birth firsthand and yet we all believe that it happened to us. We watch a birthing and this leads us to assume that it happened to us. The two experiences are not the same.

Humans rely heavily on their basic beliefs because they are the roots needed for every other belief to blossom. Politics, religion, and family are some hot topics that come to mind. How much violence and suffering has humanity initiated and endured from these three pillars alone? Think about the countless debates humans have had and will continue to have in the spirit of God, morals, values, laws, progressives, conservatives, and responsibilities. What is right for one person most certainly will be wrong for another. Bad and good are values assigned by cultures. Nature does not believe in anything. It just is. When winter arrives and kills off much of the living, do the plants whine and shake a fist at the heavens? Yet, when humans encounter other humans with radically different views they lash out with judgement and in some cases violence. The next time someone says or does something that you vehemently disagree with think of yourself as a stout sunflower staring down a flurry of snowflakes. Everything will be alright.

Belief starts in early childhood when we learn to communicate with other humans. The messages our caretakers shower upon us are loving and nurturing, but they also plant the seed of belief. It starts with language. Parents usually begin identifying objects and people. By labeling things, the mind starts to believe. This is the formation of the ego. It believes it exists because people communicate with it as well as nurture it. If someone perpetually spoke in your direction, gestured at you, and gave you food, you would come to a stark conclusion; you exist. Among the first identities we believe in is whether we are a boy or a girl. Indeed, we only believe we are male or female because our parents tell us it is so. Then it is solidified and perpetuated by peers and society because they too were told at a young age what it means to be a man or a woman. For those few people who might have been raised by wolves rather than other humans, they too are not immune to the power of belief. It is only that their belief systems will be wildly different than that of common society and communities of people. Beliefs become a self-reinforcing web beautifully woven, that no ego can escape. This is why it works so well.

Collective belief describes how groups of people agree upon and manifest their reality. Evangelism is a prime example of this. When people become filled with the Holy Spirit and pass out , that experience was created by not only the person touched, but by the entire congregation. If the room were filled with skeptics, it would be less likely to happen. Another great example is media. People watch their favorite news program such as Fox News or CNBC because it reinforces their belief system. They hear the side of the story that most aligns with their perspective and often it is delivered with such passion and gusto that it becomes difficult not to identify emotionally.

The key to dispersing the web is to stop blindly believing something if it is not in your experience. In fact, one should not indiscriminately believe unless it is directly experienced by them. This is the trap of spirituality. Seekers will hang on every word of a guru, mystic, or spiritual teacher in the hopes of gleaning some nugget of truth. This forms the basis of dogma and spreads like wildfire. The egoic mind clings to belief, literally, for dear life. So many traps lay bare for seekers to stumble into. For example: there are gurus who will take your money with promises of special powers. Some teachers will impress upon their students rules and steps with which to attain enlightenment. The irony here is that these pitfalls only snare us if we have something we need to learn by them. So, in a twisted way, these teachers are helping us along our path.

When one starts down the rabbit hole of spirituality, little do they know, their reality has begun to unravel. This is usually done slowly so as to not unsettle the mind. If the illusion were to disappear abruptly, the mind would struggle to process the new perspective. In other words, the truth is so radical, it is a medicine best taken in small doses. This is the purpose of awakenings. Each one reveals a perspective that subsequent awakenings can expand upon. What we consider real is a beautiful illusion. It is a network of beliefs layered and tightly woven such that each belief is predicated upon another. This intricate weave forms our experience, our reality. To examine each belief on its own is the only way to unwind the tapestry. Thread by thread it comes undone until there is nothing left. It is inevitable that the illusion will fail and the truth will be known. Reality is born of belief.

The blossoming of meditation

May 4, 2020 / Jayme

When one first starts meditating it is done with the intent of improving oneself. This of course stems from the belief that we aren’t good enough. It is a fallacy only to be realized when the time is right. For many, seeking instruction is important because they believe there is a correct way to meditate. This implies there is an incorrect way. There is no such thing as a wrong way to do anything. This is a myth that society creates and the people buy into. Yet there are still plenty of books, classes and teachers who love to tell people how to meditate. That said, I have no intention of telling you how to meditate. I intend to share my own experiences and insights from four years of meditation. There are other practices that I have employed in that time contributing to my progress in meditation, but that will not be the focus of this post. It is important to remember that everyone progresses at the pace they are going to progress. Do not compare your results with anyone else’s. The race is long and in the end it is only with yourself.

When first beginning meditation it is quite common to believe we are doing something incorrectly. The sessions can be frought with anxiety and frustration. The mind will wander incessantly. I like to call this a thought train. A thought comes along and it triggers another thought and one after the other until we realize that we are supposed to be meditating. Whatever the hell that means anyway. Let’s focus on the breath. In. Out. Then another thought train arrives and before we know it we are whisked from noticing the exhale to that thing we forgot to do at work earlier. Then frustration takes hold and we think how impossible meditation is. In addition, its causing my back to ache, not to mention the knees and ankles. How long have I been sitting here? Let’s look at our phone. Holy shit! It’s been four minutes! Fuck this. I’m done for today. For most people this is how their meditation session will go for months and months. However, sticking with a routine will pay dividends. The sessions will become longer and it will get easier. I promise. Make no mistake, the thought trains will continue to pull into the station, but they will start to get shorter as we notice that we are on the train in the first place. This observation is the basic concept of meditation. The intention is to take notice of the mind and our relationship with it.

A beautiful thing begins to happen when the time is right. As the thoughts slow down and become less they allow for space to appear between them. In that space is a peace, a calm from the incessant chatter of the mind. This stillness lends itself to insights and clarity that seem to appear out of nowhere. These insights are not the same as thinking with purpose. When we think about something there is a linear thought process. There is a start with a succession of thoughts leading to an end thought which allows us to arrive at our deliberate goal. Insights just pop into existence like an ‘a ha’ moment or an ‘of course!’ They have nothing to do with great business ideas or solving a pesky math problem. Instead, they are concerned with understanding the nature of this existence. Insights are a biproduct of meditation however, not the purpose. Meditation is about observation. When we pay attention to what is we begin to see things as they are rather than as we expect them to be.

What I consider to be the intermediate phase of meditation is when one can sit and focus on something like the breath, or the place between the eyes for an extended period of time without identifying with any thoughts. In fact, the thoughts are sparse and may only come a handful of times during a thirty minute or hour long session. Another facet of the intermediate phase is the experience of the body dropping away. Awareness seems to expand to fill the immediate space around you and perhaps even the room. It is quite a peculiar experience because it’s so unnerving at first. It is as if there is a flipping sensation and suddenly, you are aware of more than what you always thought of as you. When the body awareness drops away, the feeling of me goes with it. Instead, there is just awareness. It will probably only last seconds at first, but will linger longer as you learn to hold your focus. A good way to describe this phenomenon might be the concept of sensory adaptation. As the senses are exposed to the same stimuli , the nervous system blocks them out so-to-speak to make way for others. For example: when an aroma is introduced we noticed it, but after repeated exposure, it fades until we are no longer aware of it. The same thing happens when we sit in meditation long enough, the sensation of the body becomes filmy and obscure until it disappears. Of course, fidgeting and moving about only brings it back into awareness, which is why stillness is paramount. This same concept applies to the thought trains. Ceasing identification with them and no longer interacting with them causes them to disappear. The intermediate phase of meditation is no longer a battle with your thoughts and instead it becomes about learning to focus your awareness for longer periods of time.

The next phase of meditation, is complete absorption in the thing awareness is focused on. This is where you can have a conversation with God as well as have complete understanding of any subject you choose. Of course, at this point in your journey, you may also recognize that you are God to whom you are conversing with because everything is one and it’s all you. I promise this isn’t some schizophrenic delusion. There is no actual conversation taking place. Instead, you are merely open to allow the divine energy that is your true Self to flow through your egoic self. Understanding of the nature of reality and existence shines brightly and it all becomes clear. Naturally, words are inadequate when talking about this experience and border on what society is quick to consider insanity, but this is how it must be. The experiences at this stage become ineffable which is why great teachers of spirituality are few and far between. In fact, they are merely portals through which the Divine shines brightly. My own experiences concerning this phase of meditation have only just begun so I can’t speak extensively on it. When I sit for mediation, I don’t usually reach total absorption. It has only happened a handful of times. Sometimes I struggle with thought trains too. However, my default state is one of peace and focus. This freedom from mind has led me to be a creator of my experience rather than a victim. The important thing to note is that this process is ongoing and it will take dedication and time.

The winter of Christianity

February 22, 2020 / Jayme

Was the burning of Notre Dame a portent of what is to come for Christianity? Perhaps it was a collective expression of greater humanity signaling a change. The flux of life ensures the rise and fall of all things; from birth to death, everything gets its chance to bask in the light of existence. Christianity has had nearly two thousand years. Of course, this length of time is irrelevant with respect to nature. However, with regard to the cultural evolution of humanity, which only goes back about 30,000 years, this is a significant period of time. So by those standards, Christianity has had a remarkable influence on our conscious evolution. Put another way, human collective consciousness has expressed itself through Christianity for about two millennia now.

There is a shift away from organized religion apparent in western culture today, and it has become more vigorous in the last several decades. Arguably, the dawn of the internet was a significant catalyst. Before the global web, information was shared at a drastically reduced rate, relatively speaking. The distribution of news was throttled by governing bodies and private groups with an agenda. Books and periodicals were widespread but largely limited by region. Communities grew upon their own culture and proximity. However, the internet has made a wealth of knowledge and cultural diversity available in the palm of the hand. This rapid expansion of shared ideas and experiences has ushered in a new perspective that makes way for a holistic view of humanity.

To better understand this evolution we can look to Spiral Dynamics. If you aren’t familiar with the model you should read my post here. Spiral Dynamics explains this shift as a movement from stage blue to stage orange. Christianity is founded on the virtues of stage blue where people appeal to a divine authority for guidance and good is determined by what is best for the collective. This couldn’t have been expressed better than Jesus sacrificing himself for the people. Morality arises at this stage because feelings of guilt surface in human consciousness. In beseeching direction from a higher source people are able to condemn and reward in a single sentence which in turn establishes order. By decreeing what one should do, it is also decided what is unacceptable and thus the concepts of good and bad are created. A good child obeys his or her parents while a bad child does the opposite. In reality, there is no such thing as good and bad. This distinction is a product of the mind projected onto reality.

Religious power rose under this guise of morality. The church was able to control huge populations of people by declaring its divine connection with God. Issuing orders and law allowed it to move vast communities in the direction it saw fit. The crusades were a plain example of this. Overcome the forces of evil and show others the true path to good in God. The church believed and of course still does, that the end justifies the means. After all, our salvation is in Heaven. This is a very convenient rationalization for those in power. It is the means by which the church was able to push the common people towards such beliefs that they would die for them. When dissected as such it seems so feeble, and yet to underestimate the power of belief is a grave mistake. Even to this day, people cling to this idea that they will be rewarded or punished based on how they live this one and only life. This is the remaining thread by which the church still exists today.

Make no mistake, the church doesn’t act maliciously or seek world dominance. It is ignorant of its motives and their true origin. The church truly believes that its intent is pure and that it is upholding divine will. In fact, this lack of awareness is the source of all human conflict. One perspective declares that it knows what is best and proceeds to impose this view on others. How much blood has been shed in human history under this guise? Don’t forget that it takes two. The people must be willing to follow. A quote from Edmund Burke illustrates this point perfectly, as well as the stage blue perspective. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Each being is experiencing life from its own perspective. Humans have a unique opportunity in that we have more awareness or consciousness than the other animals. This means we can achieve greater things and reach higher planes of being. That said, each human is experiencing life through different levels of awareness. Some think it is right to murder while others have no interest in harming a living thing. When Moses experienced the sacredness of life, from his limited perspective, he interpreted it as a divine law. Thou shalt not kill. And so it went with the other nine commandments.

The rules imposed by the church can be stifling. Its akin to a parent always watching over your shoulder judging every move. The moment you step out of line there is retribution. In the church’s defense, it must impose strict guidelines for living because it views the world in black and white. There can be no gray on the spectrum of good and evil. The problem lies in that no one is free to live life under these circumstances because their actions become governed by fear. Life is about expression and exploration, neither of which are fully embraced by the church. Fear smothers love and love is life. The church’s claim on divine authority is also crumbling under the weight of its policies. People are realizing that they can communicate with God on their own terms and access to the divine is available to everyone, anywhere, without aid of priest or pastor.

Another shortcoming of Christianity is that it produces the feeling of shame. In fact, all religions with a God lording over the people are designed to make the people feel ashamed for being who and what they are. Religion creates ideals and rules with which to live by that are fallible and unreasonable thus leading to the inevitable failure of the people to live up to them. This shame cuts deep and the wound is projected outward by the people. This creates the foundation of their collective reality. People are ashamed for their desires and impulses and so they keep them private and in the shadows. This kind of behavior can become deviant and abusive. Its no wonder why the Catholic church struggles with sexual abuse within its ranks. The church is creating the very foundation from which this abuse springs forth.

In Spiral Dynamics stage orange, personal achievement takes priority. Along with this comes mastery over the external environment. This creates fertile ground for the emergence of science, the new religion. Science is humanity’s attempt to understand and inevitably manipulate life. At this stage, divine authority has little sway because the power has shifted from the community to the individual. Happiness is sought in material wealth rather than the invisible embrace of God. This is what has happened in all developed nations. The church isn’t the only entity suffering however. Islam is undergoing similar struggles in The United Arab Emirates. Dubai is a city founded on opulence and human achievement in the material world. Its aim has been to turn into reality anything the people can conceive of with the goal of extreme indulgence.

The limitations of a moral code have reached their maximum. People are discovering that they decide what is good for themselves and that to defer to an authoritative figure in a far off place called Heaven is unreasonable. More and more people are experiencing that life is not about suffering, and that there is beauty and love all around. Heaven is here, now. Of course, there are those that still suffer and will continue to do so as long they look elsewhere for joy. This is why religion has gripped the population as long as it has. This tenuous grasp is now a gaunt shadow of what the church once was. Inevitably the light of realization will cast aside all shadows of ignorance as well as Christianity.

From nothing to infinity (the unfolding of consciousness)

February 2, 2020 / Jayme

In the beginning there was nothing. No thing existed. Not even space. In fact, to call it nothing gives rise to something, but this is the limitation that we face with language. This nothing is also inconceivable because to think of nothing also gives rise to something. Nonetheless, from out of the nothingness came the simplest of forms. Ethereal gas spread across vast distances in what can now be called space. This gas, began to coalesce in clusters, swirling and dancing until more and more dense fields formed. The gas became so dense that it started to fuse with itself creating tremendous amounts of energy and also forming new gases. These stars went on consuming themselves until they could not. In it’s last breath, a star would blow out all that fusion had created during the star’s lifetime. These remnants were rich with new elements that sowed fresh stars. This process went on creating more complex patterns of which included solid matter. This matter consolidated to form planets.

On one particular planet, tumultuous geological activity raged onward shifting solid matter and creating vast oceans of temperate water as well as an atmosphere that cradled this now fertile nursery. With the conditions perfect for life, a single-celled biological organism appeared. It soon created more single-celled organisms. Eventually, these organisms gave way to multi-cellular organisms until microscopic organisms were prolific throughout the ocean. This life became increasingly more complex and diverse as mutations in genetic codes occurred. The planet was soon teeming with an abundance of plant and animal life. Species would die off and new ones would take their place. All the while, they would become more and more complex and specialized. Eventually, the most intricate being emerged and it enjoyed a keen sense of self-awareness.

These humans possessed intelligence unlike any other being on this planet and they had bodies that illustrated perfection in form. These traits allowed humans to adapt and evolve exponentially. They learned to communicate with each other at first through primitive means but gradually with more and more complexity. They formed groups and created villages, towns, and city states to maximize their efficiency and survival. These communities gave way to complex networks that eventually formed countries and nations. These humans or people, soon colonized the entire planet they called Earth.

As the distances between groups of people increased, these beings developed new means of communicating with each other. One of the systems widely used was an arrangement of markings called alphabets that they used to transcribe their oral language. These languages were complex and varied respective to the region where it was developed. This method, they called writing, soon became a means to communicate across the entire planet. Since this took an exceptional amount of time by human standards, they developed more and more complex methods of connecting. They created telegraphs, radio waves, telephones, and televisions. All of these were much faster ways of transmitting information and thereby connecting people from different countries.

The age of the computer gave way to even more improvement for these humans. Computers allowed people to collect and process information at an incredible rate; in conjunction with this technology they called satellites that orbited Earth, they created a network that spanned the entire planet. They called this network the internet or the web. Computers all over Earth communicated with each other through code developed by people. They also had small hand-held devices that could link with this wireless network at the touch of their finger. This technology allowed people from all parts of the world to share their unique perspective with everyone else. This complex web of information brought people closer together by bridging cultural and ideological gaps.

The arbitrary boundaries that humans had once drawn between countries and nations collapsed in the wake of this global communication. Eventually humans identified simply as Earthlings rather than a specific country. By this time, people had traveled to another planet they called Mars and populated it the way they did Earth. Since the journey from Earth to Mars took roughly six to ten months of human time, they needed to develop a better means of communicating with each other. Once again, humans developed a new technology to solve their problem. They created an intricate system of relaying information using light. It only took about three minutes of human time to transmit light from Earth to Mars so it seemed the most plausible means.

Humans began augmenting their organic bodies with electronic components for the purpose of enhancing connectivity with the web. They also learned to harness more of their brain potential through the use of computing and modifying their genetic code. This increased their human processing ability and also led to new means of communicating with each other through thought. This gave rise to a new species referred to by their purely organic counterparts as humanoids. Humanoids were far more connected to one another than humans and this afforded them richer and more impactful experiences.

Before long, humanoids had explored the furthest reaches of their solar system using fusion-based starships and propulsion technology that allowed them to travel magnitudes faster than before. It wasn’t safe for humans to travel long distances in space due to certain physical limitations that the humanoids didn’t possess; this along with their lack of connectivity led to an eventual extinction of the human population. Humanoids learned to harness the power of the sun at the center of their solar system allowing them to populate the system and be completely connected to one another.

The inherent nature of consciousness is to expand further and further, never settling for any limitations. Humanoids began to understand this more and more as their time went on. They faced the novel challenge of accessing new solar systems where the distance from one another was greater than they could feasibly travel. This predicament ushered a change in the culture. Humanoids learned to access deeper states of consciousness which opened the fourth dimension. This dimension allowed for near instantaneous travel as it bent the field humanoids called space time.

The story goes on. Humanoids were replaced by a new species far more adept at accessing deeper and more complex states of consciousness and multitudes of dimensions. They populated and colonized the star system once called The Milky Way Galaxy by humans and humanoids. They learned to harness the potential of the black hole at the center of the galaxy. This process went on and on creating more complex social structures and new species. All the while, the known universe never seemed to stop. As long as a species had means, there appeared to be an unexplored piece of the puzzle.

A black hole is what humans and humanoids referred to when describing the all consuming nothingness that occurred when very large stars exhausted themselves. The very thing that gives life also takes it away. These voids where nothing escapes, including light, serve one purpose. They complete the cycle of life. Everything was born from nothing and thus must return to nothing. These black holes consume all form, including each other, until there is nothing left but the nothingness from the beginning of this story.

Consciousness will always seek to expand because it is trying to complete the circle of its origin. Life, all form is essentially a strange loop. Its origin is also its conclusion and vice versa. Consciousness is exploring itself and coming to know itself. It is the fabric of all form in varying states of awareness. It is the ant frantically scouting for food for the colony. It is the volcano that blows its lid showering the land with ash. It is the domestic cat sleeping twenty hours a day. It is the sun using fusion to create energy. Consciousness is lion that chases down the gazelle because it must eat. It is the black hole that will eventually consume and be consumed. It is the newborn human being cradled in its mother’s arms. Everything creates a network through which consciousness experiences itself in form. Humans are just another piece of this network. We only think we are separate because consciousness has folded in on itself and created the idea of a separate self. Its all part of the exploration game. When beings populate the galaxies and eventually the universe, that is consciousness knowing and experiencing itself across immeasurable distances. Consciousness is actually infinite. This means there are no limitations on it. It has no boundaries; it does not stop. The universe will go on infinitely as long as form conceives of more and more reality or until the laws of the universe, that it created, pull all form back into nothingness so the whole game can begin again. Consciousness cannot be conceived of because of its infinite nature. Any form it takes will be less than the whole and thus not the totality. Your true Self is consciousness expressing itself through the person you believe yourself to be. You are perfect just the way you are. You are a Buddha.

Dispelling the myth of separateness

January 12, 2020 / Jayme

Everything is one. This concept has become more popular in our culture since the 1960’s and even more so recently with the rise of New Age and spirituality. It is easy to dismiss it or even take it for granted because often times it’s spoken as a platitude. I’d wager that most people write it off as hippie, New Age, bullshit; basically, anyone in Spiral Dynamics stage orange and below. See my post Spiral Dynamics overview. Whether you believe it or not, I invite you to entertain the notion for the duration of this post. Life is about perspective. Our perceptions become our experience, which in turn becomes our reality.

Everything in our experience is part of the infinite whole. No thing or person is separate from anything or anyone else. Imagine that each person is like a wave in an infinite ocean, or a star in the infinite universe. It is our self-awareness that leads us to believe we are separate. In western culture, we praise our ability to think because it elevates us above all other beings on Earth. The irony is that the act of thinking does in fact separate us, but only in our minds. The illusion of separateness is so convincing because for the game to play out as intended it must be. It is the grand design of infinitely intelligent consciousness that it be this way.

The religion that is science has greatly helped to perpetuate this myth of separateness. The human mind wants to dissect, categorize, and label. This leads to breaking down everything in our experience and then trying to make sense of the rubble. All human learning can be distilled to this exact process. Every subject in school is essentially a narrowed perspective on a particular field of human experience. The physical sciences however, lead the charge. Operating from a materialist paradigm, that the universe is made up of physical stuff, creates the foundation for our woes of separation.

About two thousand four hundred years ago, the Greeks believed atoms were the smallest pieces of matter. Our word atom comes from the Greek word atomos, meaning uncuttable or indivisible. In 1897, the electron was discovered, and thus smaller than an atom. In the first half of the twentieth century, the proton, neutron, positron, and photon all came into view. Then in 1968 the quark was discovered to be smaller still. The point of this history is that our attempts to find the building blocks of the universe will always turn up something. The sophistication or advancement of our technology is what determines how and where we can search. Once we develop the means of looking inside quarks we will discover something new. Currently, scientists are proposing points or strings as the smallest bits of matter. Conversely, the current map of the known universe exists as it does only because we do not yet have the means to look beyond.

A typical cell, for the sake of this post, is the building block of life. Cells are foundational to all plant and animal life. In a human being, a similar network of cells arrange to form tissue, and tissue arranges to make organs. Organs work together to form systems like the circulatory system, the skeletal system, the nervous system and the endocrine system. Every system functions in harmony to create the human body. Our conscious attention is identified with the body, therefore we think of the body as us and separate from other bodies. With the aid of a microscope one can observe a single human cell. With the conscious attention on that cell it appears separate, but as explained above, without human cells there would be no human. Under the microscope, the cell appears to be a universe in and of itself. It has a wall and membrane or edge. It is comprised of a cytoskeleton that gives it structure, organelles which aid in cellular function, and a nucleus containing the genetic code (the source of cell life). If the cell was self-aware, it’s plausible to say that it would think it exists as a separate entity. From the human perspective, we can see that is clearly false. Taking this a step further, visualize expanding your awareness beyond the body, beyond your country, and encompass the entire earth. This is much easier to do today because of technology. If you are having trouble with this, use Google Maps with satellite view and zoom out. Relatively speaking, humans are microscopic organisms on planet Earth. From this perspective humans are not separate, rather part of the living Earth. In fact, all plants and animals are contributing uniquely towards the totality that is Earth. Said another way, Earth would not be what it is without each living thing being what it is. Take time with this example if need be. If you can grasp this perspective it will change your life. To drive the point further, expand your awareness beyond Earth, beyond the solar system, and to the edge of the universe. Here is a wonderful YouTube video doing just that. You will notice that every cluster or grouping, be it planets, solar system, galaxy, or galaxy cluster is just a subset of a larger thing. What does this mean? Everything is relative to perspective, and every seemingly separate thing is really only part of the much larger whole. There is no smallest thing nor any largest thing. All reality goes on infinitely in infinite dimensions.

Going back to human consciousness, since our perspective is from this body, we lose sight of the bigger picture. Since the nature of conscious attention is intelligent focused awareness, a curious thing happens. The concept of ego arises. Ego is the identification with a perspective, i.e. this view, thought, or body is mine. This has been illustrated beautifully with Rene Descartes’s famous quote: “I think, therefore I am.” In fact, in the spirit of this post, it would be more appropriate to say, “I am, therefore I think.” This identification with our body leads us to believe that all things other than our body are not us. We also identify with our thoughts because science tells us that the brain is the source of consciousness. Using this logic, we perceive thoughts coming from the brain as unique to each of us. In the midst of this fragmentation and disassociation we find ourselves cutoff from everything and everyone. This has led to suffering on a catastrophic level. Not only for humans, but also for those we share this planet with. When we view something or someone as separate from ourselves, we erect a barrier. This wall allows us to perform unspeakable acts. By this means we are able to cut down forests, pollute rivers and oceans, raise animals for slaughter, and of course inflict untold violence on other humans. The root of all human suffering stems from this belief in separation.

This dichotomy of self vs. other is the foundation for the grand game being played by Consciousness, the Self, God, Buddha nature, Brahman, Allah, whatever one chooses to call It. In order for God to know Itself It had to fragment Itself into Self and other. As I’ve remarked in the past, we can only know something in relation to something else. The grand game is to explore every aspect of Self with the ultimate and inevitable realization that the Self is all that there is. In spirituality as well as Buddhism, and Hinduism, there is much talk and reference to consciousness, and for good reason. As our consciousness expands, so too does our sense of self. The Spiral Dynamics model depicts this perfectly. As our sense of self expands to incorporate other people, the planet, all life, and eventually the infinite universe, we realize that everything is one and its totality is what we are.

Dealing with unsavory and discourteous people

December 16, 2019 / Jayme

We’ve all experienced rude and disagreeable people and even been that person at some point in our lives. Whether it be on the road while driving, in a work environment, at a public gathering, or even in our own household, unpleasant people are part of the human experience. I want to exercise caution here though. I will be making a distinction between what we label as a not so nice and a state of mind. Let me be clear. I do not think there is such a thing as a terrible person. Mean people are a concept, a label we have created in our own experience.

Lets shift the focus to ourselves for a moment. I know that in my life experience, there have been innumerable times that I have lashed out at someone in anger. I have manipulated people or situations to benefit myself. I have stolen what didn’t rightfully belong to me and I have lied about my behavior. For most of my adult life, until 2015, I was an extremely sarcastic person. I used my intelligence and understanding as a weapon to point out the lack of it in others. I did this with a sarcastic comment here and jab there. Just recently, I had an insight that sarcasm is actually a disguised form of anger. More to the point, my past behavior is in the past. Anyone who knows me now probably wouldn’t be able to conceive of me as a terrible person. We have all been perpetrators of unsavory behavior, and yet are we nasty people for it? Absolutely not! This is the human experience; there are no mistakes.

There are two perspectives that come to mind that you can have when it comes to observing other’s rude behavior. The first would be an experience you have with someone you do not know or have never met. Perhaps they respond in an aggressive manner towards you by making an inappropriate comment leading to your own hurtful remark. Just as the emotion welled up in you to respond the way you did, so too could the emotion have burst forth from them. Who is responsible for the poor exchange of human behavior in this scenario? The answer, of course, is you. You didn’t have to respond the way you did. If a bad experience is thrust upon you why is it right for you to throw it back? That person you responded to may have just received terrible news about someone she or he loves and they lashed out at you because they were overwhelmed with emotion. This goes for any situation thrust upon you by another. You can never know what another person is going through. How they deal with it or choose to respond to it is their responsibility, not yours. Does it right the wrong done to you or teach them a lesson to be nasty back? All this behavior leads to is perpetual suffering for all parties involved.

The second observation of rude behavior I want to talk about is the chronic behavior that can be observed in someone you know. Nearly all your interactions with them have led you to believe that they are a terrible person. As I stated in the beginning, there are no terrible people. This person you have observed may be having extensive trouble coming to terms with their life situation. How someone chooses to respond in any given situation will always be a product of a thought, emotion, or interaction they previously had in their life. We are an amalgam of our experiences. Everyone’s situation is unique and complex and we all process our experiences differently. This shapes the persona we display and our interactions with others. Someone who may have had a difficult childhood or perhaps experienced a traumatic life event may be suffering extensively. That suffering maybe be manifesting as unsavory behavior when around others. In that situation, the best course of action for you might actually be to act with kindness. It could be that moment that shapes their life henceforth.

This doesn’t mean that you have to endure the distasteful behavior of others. If you are not capable of acting with kindness and you are not able to ignore them, then remove yourself from the situation. If that isn’t possible, then you have an obligation to yourself not to tolerate someone infringing on your right to happiness. It never hurts to stand up for yourself in the presence of an unsavory person. How you do that is up to you. There is nothing wrong with telling someone that you do not appreciate the way they are speaking to you or acting towards you. There is no need to be rude yourself. It can be said simply without being emotionally charged. Again, this may be the catalyst that person needs that helps them come to their own realization about their behavior towards others. Self-love is about making sure your personal needs and boundaries are met. Never allow someone else to treat you in a manner that you are not comfortable with, and of course, never treat someone else in a manner in which you yourself wouldn’t want to be treated.

It is the Devil inside us all that convinces us that it is the rude and terrible people that infringe on our well being. However, the truth is that you, me, we are the only ones responsible for our own happiness. Deflection, projection, and denial are the tools of the devilish ego. Yes, there are people that live their lives lost in a selfish haze of anger and hate, and yes, some of them make it their mission to spread their suffering and misery to whomever they come in contact. You have a choice of whether or not you are pulled into their maelstrom. Their drama doesn’t have to become yours. If you participate, its because your ego really wants to. You are responsible for your own experiences in this life. No one can make you feel anything you don’t want to and no one can make you do anything you don’t want to do. The sooner you take ownership of this, the sooner you will experience joy.

Spiral Dynamics overview

December 5, 2019 / Jayme

Spiral Dynamics is a model of human biological, psychological, and social development pioneered by Clare Graves during the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. He called it The Emergent Cyclical Levels of Existence Theory. He wanted a more robust model for understanding and predicting human behavior and development than Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Grave’s work was taken up by two of his students, Don Beck and Christopher Cowan and developed into a book. Spiral Dynamics: mastering values, leadership, and change was first published in 1996. This work has been and continues to be hugely important in psycho and social realms today. Recently, Spiral Dynamics has been increasingly referenced by the spiritual community as a terrific model for understanding human levels of consciousness.

Spiral Dynamics is incredibly complex and nuanced. The goal of this post is to provide an overview so that I can reference the model in later posts and even go into more depth in the future. I have found the model to be very effective for my own understanding of human behavior, development and existential awareness. It is important to note that Spiral Dynamics is a conceptual model to better understand the human bio/psycho/social predicament, and not a hard fast tool that quantifies any one human being. Like all of reality, humans are not finite. We are ever changing, and to place restrictions would be misrepresenting our potential. That said, to be human is to quantify, label, and conceptualize and Spiral Dynamics does that very well.

To better understand the approach that Graves used to assess his subjects, I have provided a quote from his work.

“Those who have tried to develop instruments have based them on what people think, do or believe, which is not the proper base for assessment devices. They should be based not on what the person thinks but how s/he thinks, not on what people do or what they believe but how they do what they do, and how they believe that which they do believe.”
www.clarewgraves.com

This is important to consider because humans place importance on content and action. These two things are relative to each person as I’ve mentioned in previous posts so evaluating them is futile. No, the best way to understand each other is by connecting with the ideology each of us employs. Much of the time people are not aware how they approach any given situation. Spiral Dynamics is the model that helps us to understand this.

The model, as its name suggests, is a spiral with different colors denoting the stages. The reason for the spiral is two-fold. It reveals the fluid nature of all positions and that they are continuous with others. Also, the two sides of the spiral represent the primary perspective most influential in that stage. The left side, the warm colors, operate from the perspective of ‘self’. The right half, the cool colors, operate from the perspective of ‘other’. The colored stages represent how individuals, groups, and societies view the world and their methods of approaching the challenges that arise from those views.

The first stage is beige. It is the most primitive with basic needs being the utmost concern. The human most associated with this stage would be an infant or someone with a debilitating mental condition such as Alzheimer’s. They do not have the mental capacity or awareness to concern themselves with anything beyond their own survival.

Next is purple. This stage can be explained best by examining tribal culture. The family or the tribe is the key to individual survival. Tradition and ancestors are the foundation for much of the belief system found in purple. As such, magic and ritual are key components of this stage. There is a connection with the land and therefore, it is revered usually through the creation of deities. Most often there will be a shaman or medicine man who is responsible for maintaining the people’s connection to spirits, ancestors, and tradition. Examples of stage purple are Native American culture, Amazonian tribal culture, and African tribal culture.

Stage red is the third stage, but second ‘self’ stage. It is egocentric and often exploitative. The motto is as follows: kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, survival of the fittest, I gotta get mine. Survival of the individual is paramount at any cost. Rules of society are an obstacle to be overcome because they put limitations on the expression and acquisition of happiness for this individual. The worldview of stage red is that life is a jungle. Its uncertainty and danger warrants being ruthless and distrustful. Some examples might include dictators, gang members, and revolutionaries in unstable regions of Africa.

Blue is the second stage of ‘other’ and the fourth stage on the spiral. Authoritative conditions are key to maintaining order. Everyone has a role to play for the greater good of society. People in this stage feel connected to their role because it gives their life meaning and a sense continuity. Rules must be followed to maintain order otherwise that which is considered right and good will be defeated by the darkness and chaos that is inherent in the world. A divine figurehead emerges as the central authority to guide the human hand. In stage blue, one often considers the purpose of life and the grand plan. Heaven and Hell emerge as rewards and punishments respectively because these are the motivational forces for a stage blue person. Unlike the first three stages, stage blue examples are prolific all over the world because much of humanity resides in stage blue and or stage orange. Good examples include Christianity, Islam, the United States government, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, and Victorian England.

Stage orange is marked by autonomy and ambition. It operates from the perspective of ‘self.’ The world is full of opportunities, one just has to seize them. Play to win and enjoy the ride. Stage orange is all about excelling and achieving. This is not to be confused with stage red however. A stage red person would take what they want even if it meant hurting someone else. A stage orange person would strive for that same goal only they might bend the rules to find a grey area from which to operate. The main difference is that the orange person doesn’t want to directly infringe on someone else’s rights, but if it happens inadvertently then so be it. In stage orange, one must work to get ahead because the rewards are there for those that want them badly enough. From the framework of stage orange, there are many solutions to a problem, but one is the best. Orange recognizes that the forces of nature are far more powerful but seeks to control them or manipulate them anyway. Modern day science is the religion of stage orange while the motto is: seek out the good life and acquire material things.

The green perspective has shifted back towards ‘other.’ It promotes harmony and generosity. The green motto, peace and love for all, is easily labeled as hippie and liberal by other stages on the spiral. Green understands that only through communication and acceptance of others can a community thrive. Each person deserves an equal voice and representation if they want to be part of the group. Green is also responsible for the birth of minimalism. It is of course a reaction to excessive and over-indulgent orange. Green’s foundational strength of equality also happens to be why the structure eventually falls. Not everyone is equal in their bio/psycho/social development and pushing this agenda like green does causes a misuse of resources as well as communal guilt for the suffering of the less fortunate. Green lacks real direction from a yellow leader to be fully realized, and is susceptible to group think. True spirituality emerges in green, though it won’t fully blossom until turquoise.

The first six stages represent the first tier of the Spiral Dynamics model. Exiting green and moving to yellow signifies a jump in consciousness. Up to this point, each respective stage is unaware of the other. To them, other worldviews are considered a threat, an obstacle, evil, inefficient, or uncaring. When people of the first tier and different stages come together, they tend argue, bicker, ignore one another, and generally fail to understand each other. It is normal upon discovering this model to believe we are at a different stage in our development than we are, but the truth of the matter is that just about 99% of the world’s population is in this first tier. The first tier is about humanity’s challenges in evolving from its primal nature alongside other species of the planet. The second tier however, is concerned with the global, holistic challenges of humanity as a unique being emerging in the sea of creation. People in the second tier have a mutual understanding and respect for others at any other stage of development along the spiral.

As yellow rises, its like taking a step back and going macro; a bigger picture emerges. Its time to focus from the ‘self’ perspective again, but this time its from a more mature and integrative position. Yellow relies on their own knowledge and understanding rather than the opinions of others, but that is not to say it discounts those opinions. Stage yellow is a problem solver and systemic thinker. It recognizes the value of knowledge and personal development not because there is something tangible to be gained, but merely for the sake of understanding and knowing. Yellow’s hallmarks are flexibility and spontaneity. It recognizes patterns in the ever-changing movement of human dynamics. By looking to astrophysics, advanced mathematics, and quantum mechanics, it can satiate its thirst for understanding the ebb and flow of the cosmos.

Turquoise is the next stage to emerge, and is a return to the viewpoint of ‘other.’ From this place, the focus shifts to the good of all living entities rather than just those of humans. Harmonizing with all life is the goal and the point of this existence. Turquoise interacts with the first tier of the spiral fluidly and holistically. Conscious awareness expands to incorporate broader aspects of mind and psychic phenomena. Where green is enthralled with the esoteric talents of gurus and mystics, turquoise recognizes their abilities as inherent to this human experience. The primary concern of turquoise is the interdependence and mutual connection of all things. Any action will reverberate throughout and so careful consideration is given. The turquoise way of thinking has no qualms about shedding a perspective in favor of another because there is little to no ego remaining at this point. A different point-of-view is just another expression of the life experience.

You will notice that each stage builds off the worldview and life conditions of previous stages. In fact, the emergence of the next stage is in response to the problems and inadequacies that arise in the current stage. Also, each stage is an evolved version of the previous respective ‘other’ and ‘self’ stage. The ‘other’ emerges as a result of the limitations found in the previous ‘self’ stage. The next ‘self’ stage emerges in response to the limitations found in the previous ‘other’ stage. It is also important to remember that human life conditions fluctuate and people can move up and down the spiral in response to these changes, but will typically come to rest again within one stage. Some people will spend the majority of their lives in one stage while others may catapult through multiple stages. It comes down to individual life conditions and the person’s ability to respond and learn from them.

As previously stated, this material can be challenging to digest. This shouldn’t intimidate or discourage one from exploring it deeper. If approached with an open mind, value can be extracted by those of all stages. The information here is my brief assessment of Spiral Dynamics after studying and researching the material and contemplating on it for the last couple of years. This model sheds light on how moving up the spiral initiates greater awareness of not only ourselves, but of others. It shows how an increase in consciousness benefits all life and that it is inevitable. Where one is on the spiral has no greater or lesser value than another place. We are all on our own journey and not in competition with anyone else. Everyone’s perspective provides value as a piece of the ever-expanding puzzle. Without your worldview, this reality would not be complete.

What is spirituality?

November 20, 2019 / Jayme

It might be easier to begin with what spirituality is not. Spirituality is not a cult and it is not a product of brainwashing. It is not a religion. It is not even religious in nature. In fact, humanity’s religion is an attempt to be what spirituality is. Spirituality is not mired in dogma the way traditional religion is. Belief is the cornerstone of all of humanity’s religions whereas spirituality is actually the dissolution of all beliefs.

Spirituality is the pursuit and exploration of the true Self. It is a personal journey inward to discover who we really are. Of course I am not talking about discovering our hopes and dreams, or finding happiness through our life’s purpose. Those things will be a natural biproduct of the spiritual journey, but they are not what is ultimately sought. Spirituality probes the origin of all existence. It is the path to uncover that which makes up all life, the universe, the very nature of reality. Spirituality is the yearning for something greater than our egoic selves. It may start with such questions as: How can I be happy? What is the purpose of life? What happens when I die? These are common precursors to starting down the spiritual path. They open up a rabbit hole like none other, as Alice discovered.

There is a natural progression or evolution in personal and social development that takes places in intelligent life. I intend to go in depth in a future post, but its relevance here is noted. As our basic needs are met, more advanced ones take their place. As it turns out, when we no longer need to fight for our survival physically or socially we have more free time to ponder and muse on the existential nature of life. However, this isn’t to say that one equals the other. Someone with no worries financially, socially, or psychologically may not be ready for the spiritual journey. Conversely, someone struggling with hunger and homelessness has no time for meditation and contemplation. The evolution of our needs is only one factor to consider for the spiritual candidate, albeit a rather important one.

There are other factors that trigger the spiritual path which we may not be aware of, such as our karma. The western world misunderstands the concept of karma. Its simplified version of whatever you do comes back to you is a gross misrepresentation. Karma refers to our past lives. Who we have been and what we have experienced shape our present situation. The point of life is to discover our true nature by experiencing what we are and what we are not. This cannot be done in one lifetime. It cannot be done in ten lifetimes. In fact, it takes hundreds if not thousands to realize and embody the ultimate Truth. Our lives are a tool to experience and come to know this Truth. Everyone is in a different phase of their journey, thus some are ready for the spiritual path while others are not. One is not better than the other. Its just different perspectives of the whole.

Another factor to consider is grace. I am still exploring this concept, but I know that it is through grace that we come to this doorstep. We cannot make ourselves ready for spirituality because there is no us. There is no me to pull the levers, so-to-speak. Everything is just a happening. I didn’t decide to pursue spirituality. There was a sequence of innumerable events that led to it; of which I didn’t do. At the time, I certainly believed that it was me calling the shots, but now I see my folly. Grace is the movement of all things. There is an incomprehensible intelligence woven into the fabric of existence, and it initiates the spiritual path at the right time.

Humanity’s religion is an introductory attempt at spirituality. All religions are solely humanity’s religion because it is the same process unfolding. The outward difference is only a product of culture. Religion attempts to explain the manifestation of the Divine through human concepts and ideologies and using limited consciousness. The core filters it uses are good vs. evil and right vs. wrong. Religion also creates authority figures to oversee its laws, both in human and Divine form. From this place religion experiences reality. Spirituality works from a place of increased consciousness because one on the spiritual path knows that good, evil, right, and wrong are all just perspectives. How can anyone be wrong when they are only operating from what they know? In spirituality there is no authority because when one lives from a place of love and compassion there is no need to be kept in check. If you see everyone as yourself and you feel love for all of creation then you could never do anything hurtful.

While on the spiritual path, one inevitably deconstructs life and reality. This includes beliefs. It becomes apparent that our reality is made up of our beliefs. We believe we were born, we will die, we live on the planet Earth, there is a past and a future. We believe our brain is the source of consciousness, that science through measurements and explanations is discovering the universe, and most importantly, we believe that we exist. All of these are beliefs that we hold as truth. They shape the way we experience life. If we believe we can die, then we will be fearful of harming our physical body or of pain. Then we label it as bad and we avoid it. If we believe money is the key to our happiness then we will strive for and hoard it. This leads to behavior that doesn’t bring joy; sometimes quite the opposite. Then we regret our actions and life choices. We find ourselves unhappy and depressed and look for ways to mend or distract us from the misery.

Spirituality is solitary work; it is necessary to be isolated from others and in some cases, society. The reason for this is that in society we develop an identity relative to other people. In other words, our experiences are always compared to those of others and in differentiating we label those differences as me or mine. When we are alone we cannot be told how we should be or who we are. Through this process we make discoveries about our true nature. This is why we hear tales of sages and mystics going into the wild to live in a cabin or cave for years. In tribal cultures, it is common for young men to be sent away for a period of time so that they may discover who they are and return transformed into a man. It is also why the shaman or priest spends much time in solitary and or with nature.

Spirituality is a personal journey that all beings undergo. There isn’t a direct path and there certainly isn’t a right way. It’s a meandering of sorts until one is finished. Some get lost longer than others and some encounter more difficult terrain. All beings will discover their true nature eventually. Sort of like the way inland water will always find its way to the ocean.

You Are A Buddha