Meditation; The Art of War & Love
Sun Tzu's Art of War has been a major influence in my personal quest. Two principles have demonstrated their worth for me time and again. The first is to know the enemy. The second is to utilize all resources in going to the heart of the matter, rather than squandering resources on lesser objectives.
The entire universe seems to operate on a spectrum of polarities; day and night, male and female, hot and cold, up and down, centrifugal and centripedal, pain and pleasure, attraction and repulsion, birth and death. In between these polarities resides layers where both polarities are present, dusk and dawn between night and day, life and non-life between birth and death, tepid and luke warm temperatures between hot and cold, and even hermaphrodites incorporate both genders, or none in the case of cellular organisms, into one being.
These polarities then operate in a circular fashion, what comes before will come again, following one after the other in an endless cycle, to their various degree's of intensity.
The mind, as a part of the natural world, operates in similar polarities and cycles.
It's primary purpose is to provide for the safety and well-being of the physical body. The experiences of the past and potential of the future exist solely within the mind, time remains a construct of the mental realm. Consider the mind to be a computer program operating with IF-THEN guidelines, reacting to stimuli in the same way, again and again. It creates the same effects over and over because it will respond to stimuli in identical ways.
A mind that has become identified with the senses and body has a self-image. This is an illusion of the self, and remains distant from the reality of the Self. This self-image is like a virus, using up valuable resources, squandering the real potential of the mind and obfuscating the potentials of the True Self. Eventually the entire system breaks down, and when a stress point is reached, one literally has a 'break down.'
The mind, acting to preserve the health and wellness of the body and itself, will then attempt to correct the situation. Unfortunately, the mind cannot purge itself of this self-image 'virus', and often times will approach self-healing with the same attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and actions that initially caused the breakdown in the first place.
Sun Tzu says to address the cause, to go right to the heart of the matter.
In fighting the mind and attempting to still the mind, mental activity and agitation increases.
So what is the singular cause that, when addressed, will bring the mind to reflective calm?
I feel that cause is difficult to quantify, yet simply: love. A person who lacks love is not whole, they are disconnected from an inner power house, and are in a self-destructive cycle. With an internal misalignment, stress builds like teutonic plates within the earth, eventually causing earthquakes.
Addressing a singular cause, discovering the essential alignment and acting upon it, feeling it, expressing that source and bringing it into every single layer and aspect of life, instantly resolves the numerous effects caused by a lack of love.
Consider:
A person who is naturally loving will be at peace with their own self. They enjoy life, their actions, their friends and family, and are generally happy, joyous people. These types of people tend to be peacemakers, and are naturally blessed, or lucky, simply because a person who is at ease will be most effective at living, and will receive the greatest benefits. No energies are squandered in a loving state, all power is directed to giving and receiving love.
A person who has forgotten love will be at odds with their own self. They may find pleasure in certain areas of life, and in getting pleasure will become addicted to it as a means of soothing the pain created by a lack of love. The greater the internal misalignment, the stronger the addictions and means of distracting oneself. The mind, attempting to find love will enter a realm of pain and pleasure, and travel the spectrum in a continuous cycle, finding pleasure (calling it love), fearing it's loss, and when it goes away, experiencing pain. This person will use their energy to get what they want, fight what they do not want, and build stresses within and eventually creating earthquakes.
Yet, how does a person come to know love when they've forgotten it?
Love is a feeling sense that transcends the mind. For all the poetic words and songs written about love, none of them are able to be love. Love remains ephemeral, outside the realm of words, yet accessible with direct experience. We have all experienced love, in the right circumstances, and in trying to create those circumstances again, miss the mark. That is the action of the mind, the computer program in it's cycles.
Feeling love remains a non-verbal experience that requires intimacy, truth, kindness, communication, compassion, and action ... all on the inside.
Love is not pleasure. Pleasure, as part of the natural realm, is healthy until it becomes addiction. Then, in achieving pleasure, pain is instantly present and must eventually come to the surface.
Love, as a feeling sense, remains in the moment. There is no thinking of love. There is being love. There is no achieving love, one is loving. There are no demands of love, one can simply give it or be receptive to it.
And we all know what love is. When one see's it and experiences it, there is no doubt, only love.
There is nothing to learn in meditation except to recognize how the mind operates, to embrace and be aware of the subtle currents inherent within the being. As one becomes attuned to the energetic embrace of love, one becomes naturally loving and giving. Love allows the mind to become still.
When the mind is at war, peace cannot exist.
By fighting the war, the war persists.
In embracing and accepting love, and bringing it into all levels of life, into every aspect of ones being, love blossoms and becomes a natural gift to one's soul that instantly nourishes others.
All one has to do is find a seed of that love within and nurture it every moment to the best of one's ability. That becomes the only choice, to serve love, or to reject it.
.
The entire universe seems to operate on a spectrum of polarities; day and night, male and female, hot and cold, up and down, centrifugal and centripedal, pain and pleasure, attraction and repulsion, birth and death. In between these polarities resides layers where both polarities are present, dusk and dawn between night and day, life and non-life between birth and death, tepid and luke warm temperatures between hot and cold, and even hermaphrodites incorporate both genders, or none in the case of cellular organisms, into one being.
These polarities then operate in a circular fashion, what comes before will come again, following one after the other in an endless cycle, to their various degree's of intensity.
The mind, as a part of the natural world, operates in similar polarities and cycles.
It's primary purpose is to provide for the safety and well-being of the physical body. The experiences of the past and potential of the future exist solely within the mind, time remains a construct of the mental realm. Consider the mind to be a computer program operating with IF-THEN guidelines, reacting to stimuli in the same way, again and again. It creates the same effects over and over because it will respond to stimuli in identical ways.
A mind that has become identified with the senses and body has a self-image. This is an illusion of the self, and remains distant from the reality of the Self. This self-image is like a virus, using up valuable resources, squandering the real potential of the mind and obfuscating the potentials of the True Self. Eventually the entire system breaks down, and when a stress point is reached, one literally has a 'break down.'
The mind, acting to preserve the health and wellness of the body and itself, will then attempt to correct the situation. Unfortunately, the mind cannot purge itself of this self-image 'virus', and often times will approach self-healing with the same attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and actions that initially caused the breakdown in the first place.
Sun Tzu says to address the cause, to go right to the heart of the matter.
In fighting the mind and attempting to still the mind, mental activity and agitation increases.
So what is the singular cause that, when addressed, will bring the mind to reflective calm?
I feel that cause is difficult to quantify, yet simply: love. A person who lacks love is not whole, they are disconnected from an inner power house, and are in a self-destructive cycle. With an internal misalignment, stress builds like teutonic plates within the earth, eventually causing earthquakes.
Addressing a singular cause, discovering the essential alignment and acting upon it, feeling it, expressing that source and bringing it into every single layer and aspect of life, instantly resolves the numerous effects caused by a lack of love.
Consider:
A person who is naturally loving will be at peace with their own self. They enjoy life, their actions, their friends and family, and are generally happy, joyous people. These types of people tend to be peacemakers, and are naturally blessed, or lucky, simply because a person who is at ease will be most effective at living, and will receive the greatest benefits. No energies are squandered in a loving state, all power is directed to giving and receiving love.
A person who has forgotten love will be at odds with their own self. They may find pleasure in certain areas of life, and in getting pleasure will become addicted to it as a means of soothing the pain created by a lack of love. The greater the internal misalignment, the stronger the addictions and means of distracting oneself. The mind, attempting to find love will enter a realm of pain and pleasure, and travel the spectrum in a continuous cycle, finding pleasure (calling it love), fearing it's loss, and when it goes away, experiencing pain. This person will use their energy to get what they want, fight what they do not want, and build stresses within and eventually creating earthquakes.
Yet, how does a person come to know love when they've forgotten it?
Love is a feeling sense that transcends the mind. For all the poetic words and songs written about love, none of them are able to be love. Love remains ephemeral, outside the realm of words, yet accessible with direct experience. We have all experienced love, in the right circumstances, and in trying to create those circumstances again, miss the mark. That is the action of the mind, the computer program in it's cycles.
Feeling love remains a non-verbal experience that requires intimacy, truth, kindness, communication, compassion, and action ... all on the inside.
Love is not pleasure. Pleasure, as part of the natural realm, is healthy until it becomes addiction. Then, in achieving pleasure, pain is instantly present and must eventually come to the surface.
Love, as a feeling sense, remains in the moment. There is no thinking of love. There is being love. There is no achieving love, one is loving. There are no demands of love, one can simply give it or be receptive to it.
And we all know what love is. When one see's it and experiences it, there is no doubt, only love.
There is nothing to learn in meditation except to recognize how the mind operates, to embrace and be aware of the subtle currents inherent within the being. As one becomes attuned to the energetic embrace of love, one becomes naturally loving and giving. Love allows the mind to become still.
When the mind is at war, peace cannot exist.
By fighting the war, the war persists.
In embracing and accepting love, and bringing it into all levels of life, into every aspect of ones being, love blossoms and becomes a natural gift to one's soul that instantly nourishes others.
All one has to do is find a seed of that love within and nurture it every moment to the best of one's ability. That becomes the only choice, to serve love, or to reject it.
.