The Art of Breaking Character

1 :: Craving certainty regarding matters of the spirit is a refusal to surrender to the implacable mysteriousness of existence. It is an attitude of control that enhances the crystallisation of the character, the  small self, the very structure we must release our grip of if we are to find something of lasting value. ::

2 :: The Illusion of Misdirection: that so many people think they are looking for something other than God (=love, bliss, the divine, Allah, Source, etc.). There is nothing else to look for. ::

3 :: Once we see a little into our predicament, it dawns on us that life is a lucid dream. We are ensnared in a drama of our own making and which we can only transcend by seeking the resolution to the story of “me”, or seeing with utmost clarity that it is a story. Ultimately we shall have to do both to be truly and free and unconditioned by this dream. ::

4 :: The human condition is a whirlwind of self-concern. What makes us happy is the temporary dissolution of the human condition. Love, beauty, friendship, charity, creativity – only when we disappear do we find what we long for. ::

5 :: In adulthood we are often drawn towards that which life took from us in our childhood, or rather, that which we deemed it necessary to abandon. The traits and energies in others that we find especially compelling are often calling us to reclaim what was once lost, to reintegrate our lost playfulness, creativity, wonder, unabashed emotionality, capacity for healthy anger, spontaneity, silliness, enthusiasm – but now taken back up into the adult we have become. When we find these things in others, we are tantalised: for we are excited by what we unconsciously perceive as our own latent potential. ::

6 :: The spiritual path – the art of breaking character – is hard. But so is regular life. At least on the spiritual path we are actively increasing our capacity to be with difficulty. It is also precisely what we are designed to do – the exact kind of difficulty we are built for. ::

7 :: The mountain has been climbed enough times – Jesus, the Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisgardatta, Neem Karoli Baba. It does not matter if they described it differently. It does not matter that they got their via different paths. It does not matter that they say it is a long and hard climb. We know the mountain exists. We must stop making excuses. ::

8 :: Every night, the subconscious weaves together stories of symbols that, if we can discern the shape of the relations between them, will enlighten us as to the resolutions needed for our mind to evolve and undistort. That people do not take greater advantage of this is astounding. ::

9 :: Emotional entanglement: when neither the physical sensations of an emotion nor the mental story associated with those sensations are witnessed clearly, but instead are conflated, as if trying to watch the television and listen to the radio simultaneously, rendering two otherwise very manageable phenomena as one indecipherable and overwhelming mess. If complete attention can be brought to the physical sensations alone, this can be enough to prevent mental spiralling. If an appropriate degree of surrender can be accessed and maintained, the emotional energy will release itself and be gone forever. This is how we shed triggers. ::

10 :: The religious impulse is simply to reconnect to our source. We cannot help but long for this. It drives the scientist’s curiosity as much as the priest’s religiosity. We are all asking the same question in different language: and the answer to all of them is One. ::