Life is an Improv Play

I have looked to systems, theories, formulas and ideologies... everything from astrology to eastern philosophies to quantum theory and universal laws. I think now ideals have meaning only where they are irrelevant to the present. This present moment requires clarity, simplicity, sharpness in getting from a to b. The most immediate answers sought are not in any preconceived formula for living nor in any philosophy...

Believing becomes true only in the light of being, not in daydreaming or conceiving of anything at all. Ideas are too confounding and only cloud the central issues of life when we refuse to let them go. As the Zen folk say "chop wood, carry water"... to LIVE IN FOCUS and not on a philosophical cloud.

Passive reflective moments can breed insight of a positive inspirational nature, in connection with some bit of wisdom previously learned... stored as wisdom and proper guidance in the vast ocean of subconscious memory, imagination or dream world. This however is only fruitful in times when downtime is break time not quitting time... when in the moments of rest one is thinking clearly, giving attention to matters of direct personal importance rather than seeking an outside escape (even as the television is running in the background, I am not deterred by it from my point of focus); nor should I seek a rationalization or some "higher meaning" to experience but"just LIVE it", SEE and FEEL life as it IS... without always blindly and habitually seeking the answer or truth in our cognition or thinking process.

The Edie Brickell song where she says "don't let me get too deep" comes immediately to mind...

It's all in the improvisation, the act of immediate living (the Play or Dance of Life) which we elaborate upon with our brilliant inventive intellects and "make up as we go along"... it is liberating to know that I don't have to think about it all too hard, don't have to search for anything that is not already here, and then I gradually figure everything out as I go along...

Life (right now, for me personally) is a "hands on" job, not a university where I might go away to study nor a cave in the Himalayas where I hope to find God.

Nothing is preplanned... this is the wondrous beauty and excitement of letting myself BE.

JDZ

Abhyasa & Vairagya - Affirmation vs Negation

As per the title of this blog site and the meaning behind it... Life and Death must ultimately work hand in hand, the inhalation of life affirmation and expanding life potential and the exhalation or negation which is simply a letting go of life.

Ultimately this form world is a reality of pleasure and pain while Spirit or the Quantum reality is of the nature of joy and infinite creative potential. The experiences of this world, the objects and forms of life (including those of other people and one's own body) must ultimately be let go of with the increasing awareness of impermanence. Likewise, the addiction to pleasurable happy experiences and aversion to painful ones, without the awareness that the two are inseparably one, leads to a state of of vairagya or dispassion. Where there is clearly dispassion and disenchantment in holding on to what no longer works or weighs one down psychically, it becomes effortless to let go.

This is where choosing to accept reality, no matter what the conditions, allows for an attention so focused that letting go of negative thinking and evil vibrations becomes instinctive and immediate. With positive terms like acceptance and alignment we are talking about abhyasa, the affirmation positive thinking/feeling and action steps. Where Spirit naturally and effortlessly aligns itself is Abhyasa or positive affirmation and where it confronts the karmic burdens and baggage of ordinary human reality we need vairagya.

In this light the painful confrontation with unwanted shadow truths, which most keep to themselves for fear of public ridicule or being labelled a whiner, brings an awareness so sharp that letting it go becomes instantaneous (after a period of seemingly endless pain or angst). The flip side to this is that the more we stay aligned (in abhyasa), through pleasant and painful experiences alike, the less will become our experience of having to "face reality" and more about "creating reality", the dream and ultimate possibility remaining eternally alive and at peace...

JDZ

Quantum Alignment - Unconditional Acceptance

Aligning with good feeling experiences, inner and outer, is an act of trust, of total acceptance inwardly regardless of outer circumstance and inner feeling states. In short, the alignment begins on the inside and naturally spontaneously attracts or manifests that reality which matches the inner adjustment, in the joy of letting go and letting God......

The Quantum Connection is inner alignment, the smallest common denominator, the reducing of all externally perceived phenomena, my inner thoughts/emotions and external experiences, back to the fundamental root of consciousness. Letting everything go, except the present moment... that here/now reality which is the focus of this moment, where I am totally in focus. From this inner alignment I receive effortlessly and spontaneously the Divine Light of Source or Spirit.

In the acceptance (or non-resistance) of this eternal now we discover death is an illusion, when we give up the struggle and consequent friction of existence, of racing against time, and cease to resist all inevitable changes to body, mind and surroundings... Conflicts are confronted willingly and openly but no longer initiated. As Bruce Lee would call this "the art of fighting without fighting". This is the path of the peaceful warrior.

JDZ

Status for 12/11:

"Giving up the struggle, discovering ease in the face of any conflicts that arise... aligning with the good vibrations, what is and feels right for me, in harmony with others and all that is... easing comfortably into a life that flows endlessly forward downstream and going with it in faith that positive action will follow through in good time, yet the point is not to act but to receive and allow IT to act through me."

I See therefore I Am

I SEE, both inwardly and outwardly, with the mind and the eye both, therefore I think, feel, act and perceive. Seeing is pure attention, kinetic conscious energy takes dynamic form as thoughts (or images) and feelings, actions and perceptions. Thinking and feeling belongs to the Astral realm while acting and perceiving (or experiencing) characterize the Physical realm.

All that I think, feel, do and experience is a projection or product of what I SEE. To be skillful in mind and body means to see without the observer/thinker, to be silent and aware, ego-less in the sense of being without self-consciousness. To see clearly, undisturbed by transient thoughts and feelings, compulsive actions and fixated perceptions, is to think, feel and act gracefully, in harmony with WHAT IS.

Seeing is the nature and function of the Causal (Wisdom/Bliss) Body, at the seed of the Soul, the creative essence and divine spark in man.

JDZ

Is a religious life possible?

Is a religious life possible in this modern world? Which does not mean becoming a monk or joining an organized group of monks. We will be able to find out for ourselves what is really, truly, a religious life only when we understand what religions actually are and put aside all that, and not belong to any religion, to any organized religion, to any guru, and not have any psychological or so-called spiritual authority. There is no spiritual authority whatsoever. That is one of the crimes that we have committed—we have invented the mediator between truth and ourselves. So you begin to inquire into what is religion, and in the very process of that inquiry you are living a religious life, not at the end of it. In the very process of looking, watching, discussing, doubting, questioning, and having no belief or faith, you are already living a religious life. That Benediction is Where You Are, pp 71-72

A Religious Life implies a Life in which there is complete harmony in daily action

So, what is the basic cause of this corruption, this degeneration, this hypocrisy, the non-religious life? All your stuff, all the garlands and all that you put round yourself is not a religious life. Right? You are following somebody. Forgive me because you are all sitting in front of me, I can't help it. Don't laugh sir, it's much too serious. This is not a religious life. A religious life implies a life in which there is complete harmony in your daily action, in your daily life. We'll go into that if we have time later on. But all the temples, all the gurus, all the circus that's going on in the name of religion really has no meaning whatsoever. If you want to discuss that we will. But after discussion are you willing to throw all this aside? Or you say 'That's your opinion, my opinion is different' - we are not discussing opinions. We want to find the truth of the matter and to find the truth of the matter one has to have a mirror that doesn't distort your reactions, a mirror that tells you the truth of what you are so that it doesn't allow you to escape, that is, face exactly what you are, and from there move, change, radically bring about a transformation. But if one is all the time avoiding, avoiding, avoiding, then we never come face to face with ourselves.Krishnamurti at Rajghat

Silence comes when you know how to observe

Silence of the mind comes naturally—please do listen to this—it comes naturally, easily, without any effort if you know how to observe, how to look. When you observe a cloud, look at it without the word and therefore without thought, look at it without the division as the observer. Then there is an awareness and attention in the very act of looking; not the determination to be attentive, but looking with attention, even though that look may last only a second, a minute—that is enough. Do not be greedy, do not say, “I must have it for the whole day.” To look without the observer means looking without the space between the observer and the thing observed, which does not mean identifying oneself with the thing that is looked at. So when one can look at a tree, at a cloud, at the light on the water, without the observer, and also—which is much more difficult, which needs a greater attention—if you can look at yourself without the image, without any conclusion, because the image, the conclusion, the opinion, the judgement, the goodness and the badness, is centred round the observer, then you will find that the mind, the brain, becomes extraordinarily quiet. And this quietness is not a thing to be cultivated; it can happen, it does happen, if you are attentive, if you are capable of watching all the time, watching your gestures, your words, your feelings, the movements of your face and all the rest of it.Beyond Violence, p 131

Understanding the Activity of the Self

When there is the activity of the self, meditation is not possible. This is very important to understand, not verbally but actually. Meditation is a process of emptying the mind of all the activity of the self, of all the activity of the “me”. If you do not understand the activity of the self, then your meditation only leads to illusion, your meditation then only leads to self-deception, your meditation then will only lead to further distortion. So to understand what meditation is, you must understand the activity of the self.The self has had a thousand worldly, sensuous, or intellectual experiences, but it is bored with them because they have no meaning. The desire to have wider, more expansive, transcendental experiences is part of the “me”. This Light in Oneself, p 72

Pursuing Every Thought to the Root

To end thought I have first to go into the mechanism of thinking. I have to understand thought completely, deep down in me. I have to examine every thought, without letting one thought escape without being fully understood, so that the brain, the mind, the whole being becomes very attentive. The moment I pursue every thought to the root, to the end completely, I will see that thought ends by itself. I do not have to do anything about it because thought is memory. Memory is the mark of experience; and as long as experience is not fully, completely, totally understood, it leaves a mark. The moment I have experienced completely, the experience leaves no mark. So if we go into every thought and see where the mark is and remain with that mark as a fact—then that fact will open and that fact will end that particular process of thinking, so that every thought, every feeling is understood.Krishnamurti on Education, pp 119-120

Just Listening to the Noise of Thought

Meditation is something quite extraordinary, if it goes on, not at odd moments, but timelessly, if you are aware when you get into the bus, or the car, or when you are talking to someone; aware of what you are doing, feeling, thinking; aware of how thought operates according to pleasure and pain, not condemning any activity of thought but just listening to the noise of thought. Out of that you really have an extraordinary mind that is tremendously alive. Being quiet, being silent, a new thing can take place. The newness is not recognizable. This sublime thing, whatever name you give it doesn’t matter, is not something that is put together by thought, and therefore it is the whole of creation. The Collected Works vol XVI, p 148

Feel your way through it...

Be easy about this. Be playful about it. Don't work so hard at it. Let your dominant intent be to FEEL GOOD. And if you don't FEEL GOOD, then let your dominant intent be to FEEL RELIEF.

FEEL your way through it. If you think your way through it, you can get off on all kinds of tangents.

If you FEEL your way through it, you can come quickly to your Core Energy. And when yo do that, only good can then flow to you.

Abraham-Hicks - Rye, NY G-10/12/97