Enlightenment is not just one state

Many people has the notion that enlightenment is one state. Many also believe that when it is attained, a person is forever in that state.

The following is not a definitive article on this subject. It is just an expression of my own thoughts.

My opinion is that enlightenment is not just one state but is a progressive and gradual establishing of states of consciousness.

I, myself have not reach the end of the road. But from years on a spiritual quest, I can safely say that enlightenment happens in a series or stages of self-realisations and self-discoveries.

Usually there is a difference between an initial awakening and a later stabilisation of that stage that happens through practice or experiences. The initial awakenings are new discoveries about the dynamics of consciousness, while the stabilisation is the assimilation of what is being discovered into one's life experience. Sometimes, a new discovery can completely over-rule or modify upon an older one.

Almost all stages of enlightenment can be said to be associated with Presence. However, the enlightening Presence comes in various degrees of intensity and clarity. The degree of intensity is directly dependent on the level and depth of one's clarity as well as one's realisations/discoveries.

Also, as one progresses along, the relationship or connections of oneself to the universe and existence at large also becomes clearer.

Below very briefly illustrates the progressive and stage-based nature of enlightenment:

When one first begin meditating, one may first experience the all-pervading Presence. This Presence, is most often experienced when thoughts are momentarily suspended. This Presence which exists in the Eternal Present Moment is our true self





However such an experience can only be classified as an awakening to the true self.. which is no-self. This is because, after the meditation, the Presence seems to have disappeared. One cannot understand and find the connection of presence to our everyday life. Therefore one will have difficulty re-acquiring the Presence. And it takes many stages and series of realisation to understand the relationship of Presence to our phenomenal world. It can be said that the prolonged sustaining of Presence is dependent on the stages and depth of realisation.

Also, during the earlier stages we may mistaken another state to be the pure presence. For example, we may mistaken 'I AM' for pure presence. This is because the thinking mind has created a reflective image of Pure Presence. This reflection of the absolute is 'I AM'.

Usually, in order to pass through the 'I AM' stage, the person must move unto even deeper understandings. These understandings may include realising that one's personality is not the doer of action. This stage may persist for a while before the person realises the illusion of subject-object division. This stage involves recognising the hypnotic impression of there being an observer and the being observed. Here is where one begins to see through the illusionary nature of our phenomenal world.

I cannot comment on the stages before me as they are beyond me. Nevertheless, one can still see from the above description that enlightenment is not so straight-forward after all.

For your necessary discernment. Thank you for reading.

Healing Psyche: False Hope Is non existent

This is a chapter of
"Healing Psyche - Patterns and Structure of Complementary Psychological Cancer Treatment (CPCT)"

In their search for health, clients are willing to try anything, hoping for a miracle cure. They often reason that they might as well try it because "they have nothing to lose." Unfortunately, there is something to lose. Clients might gain a false sense of hope. They might lose interest in mainstream medicine or other complementary approaches. Finally, they might also be robbed of valuable time by pursuing an unsatisfactory therapy.

Complementary psychological therapy is often questioned on issues such as false hope. Some people are afraid that if cancer clients experience hope, they are fooling themselves, and will end up being disappointed. They think that as long as they are expecting the worst, they will not be disappointed. This is a form of false hopelessness. Such people like to call themselves realists, but are in fact pessimists.

Many people misinterpret the true value of an optimistic, pessimistic or realistic view of life. Pessimistic people view the world as a dark place, where there is only misery and everything is hopeless. They deny the positive side of things. Optimistic people view the world as one happy playground, where there is joy everywhere. They deny the negative side of life. Realistic people know that there are positive and negative aspects of everything in life. They fully accept both sides.


"No one really knows enough to be a pessimist."
- Norman Cousins -


- Pessimist: My glass is almost empty.
- Optimist: My glass is still full.
- Realist: I have half a glass.


When therapists work with the psychological issues that are described in this work, they are not providing false hope, but are assisting clients in being more realistic. Realistic hope is what is being communicated in this therapeutic approach.

Society and the medical team often issue some sort of death guarantee (although lesser every day) along with the diagnosis of cancer. Fortunately, this is not the case. There is no guarantee that one will die from cancer. On the other hand, there is also no guarantee that one will heal from cancer after the intervention. The issue of false hope only exists when the practitioner (medical or psychological) issues a guarantee that the client is healed after the intervention. False hope is thus only present as a false guarantee.

The presence of hope within clients is often associated with better health, and hopelessness is often a precursor for poor outcomes. Presenting hope, however, is no guarantee, but it assists the healing process.

Example:
When people marry, there is no guarantee that they will be joyful. They hope they will be. This could be interpreted by a pessimist as false hope.
However, expecting the marriage to end in a few years is almost a guarantee that it will. <




Hoping that one will be happy is no guarantee, but it surely helps.

Feelings of hope stimulate the placebo effect. The possible effects of a placebo cannot be denied, even in the context of cancer.


"Everybody knows that one dies of cancer, but I was not sure whether to apply this to myself. I considered this (belief) as nonsense."
Quote from a spontaneous remission patient
- Daan van Baalen - (1987[1])


False hope is real, and can be seen as focusing solely on unachievable results, while denying the current truth. Such unrealistic expectations lead to disappointment and feelings of guilt. Hope of healing is a realistic hope. Realistic or mature hope is accepting the current feelings, thoughts, relationships, and possibilities of improvement. Focusing solely on hopelessness and self-pity is just as unrealistic as only seeing a positive and bright future.

False hope
- I only focus on the positive.
- I can do whatever I want.
- I can control everything.


False hopelessness
- I am wallowing in despair.
- I cannot control anything.
- Everything scares me and the disease and emotions are controlling me.


Realistic hope
- Sometimes I feel awful, and other times I feel more connected to life and others than ever before.
- There are some things beyond my control. Yet, there are many things I can control.
- I choose to live as fully as possible now. The quality of my life may be related to my physical health, but however long I may live, I plan to do it to the fullest of my ability.


Hope initiates actions, and stimulates well-being. Without hope, people do not take action towards their health. Hope is a supporting emotion as well as a drive to trigger positive actions towards increased self-control.

Solano et al. (1993[2]) studied the connection between psychosocial situations and the probability of symptom development. They concluded that "The
best attitude with regard to prognosis appears to be full recognition of
one's situation and a decisive will to do something about it." This conclusion is supported by many other authors. Hopelessness triggers inaction and letting things happen. Hope triggers the decisive will to take action.


"Trust in god and tie your camel to a tree."
- Muhammad -


[1] Baalen, van, Daan C. & Vries, de, Marco J. (1987) Spontaneous regression of cancer - A clinical, pathological and psycho-social study, Rotterdam: Erasmus University

[2] Solano, L. & Costa, M. & Salvati, S. & Coda, R. & Aiuti, F. & Mezzaroma, I. & Bertini, M. (1993) 'Psychosocial factors and clinical evolution in HIV-1 infection - a longitudinal study, J. of Psychosomatic Research,A 37(1):39-51

"Don't Touch It," and other simple, nature-friendly advice

Each summer, I visit the Chequamagon National Forest in Wisconsin. An amazingly beautiful and lush forest, this place is my sanctuary. I stay at a low-key resort, in a cabin overlooking Lake Namekagon. It's a breath of fresh air - quite literally - to spend two weeks each year at this place, away from bustling streets and busy people. It's like a different world.

Or, at least, it was. I had a very different experience this past July. Upon entering our cabin, my fiance and I were greeted by a large television, equipped with Direct TV. Don't get me wrong: I'm a TV-lover, through and through. There was, however, something strange about having to look around the television to see the lake.

We overlooked this; after all, we don't own the cabin. Some resort-goers might crave 500 channels before they crave hiking and fishing. Convinced that the TV (both the sight of it and the temptation to watch it) would put a damper on things, we went out on the water.

As I started the old, rented pontoon boat, something occured to me. We were no better than the TLC, MTV, and MSNBC addicts. Yes, our boat was used for the enjoyment of the outdoors; however, it left a muddy, green wake behind it. Yes, we came to the resort to get away from everyday conveniences and to surround ourselves with nature, but we were staying in a cabin - not a tent or a sleeping bag. We cooked our breakfast every morning on a fairly modern stove, we drank coffee made in a Bunn coffeemaker, and we turned on the electric heat if the cabin got too cold. It turns out we weren't roughing it; we were faking it.

Since this realization, I've been troubled. I don't understand where our appreciation for nature went. I don't understand how misguided travelers - myself included - consider themselves to be experiencing nature, when really all we're doing is glancing at it between commercials. Granted, everyone experiences nature in a different way. For some, glancing at it through a window - or on a TV screen - might be enough.





I'm concerned, though, that by accepting this as a legitimate way to experience nature, we are missing something. Or, perhaps, we are missing everything. On a basic level, there is something satisfying about feeling a different kind of air on your skin, and about feeling the crunch of leaves and dirt beneath your feet. Where city lights don't corrupt the night sky, we can see stars in a new way, and the level of darkness is foreign and exciting.

There more to this simple human/nature combination than deep satisfaction, though. There is a danger present in the ways we currently explore nature. It is common for travelers to hop on boats, jetskis, waverunners, or ATVs to travel through lakes and forests. In these cases, vacationgoers are experiencing nature - while leaving a trail of pollution behind.

And what about our cabin? Built in the middle of the forest, trees had to be removed in order for the resort to exist. There is an inherent disconnect, here: the resort was designed to house nature-loving travelers who want to see the forest's natural beauty, and yet in order for the resort to exist, some of the forest had to be cut down. Instead of experiencing untouched and unscathed nature, vacationers are experiencing a forest marred by human interference.

This is the way with us. We, whether intentionally or accidentally, can't help but tinker with nature in its natural forms. Even when we attempt to truly experience it, we are also hindering it. So, we must consider some simple pieces of advice if we wish....(read the full article at the link below)

How to Learn Basic Spanish Verbs - Part 1

There are three basic groups of Spanish verbs, in these articles we will look at the regular AR, ER and IR verbs.

A verb is a word that means everything from an action to an opinion, so laugh, go, like, hate, love, drink, fall, smile, hear, write turn, are all examples of verbs. In English the verb is not changed by who is doing the action. As an example;
In these phrases, "I like cheese", "we like cheese" and "you like cheese", the verb "like" stays the same. In Spanish the form of the verb is changed by who is doing the doing. It might sound odd now but it will make sense later!

So lets look at the three main verb types in Spanish. They are the verbs that end in the letters ar, er and ir. they can then be subdivided into regular and irregular. As we are just starting we will stick to the regular verbs.


Verbs That End In AR

In the Spanish language the group of verbs that end in ar are the most common, so they are a good place to start.
If we use the Spanish verb TOMAR, it means a few different things, but in our case it means to drink. To say "I drink wine" in Spanish we would remove the a and r , then to add an o. to give us "tomo vino". You could add yo ( the Spanish word for I) at the start of the sentence but it would be unnecessary. <




To say "you drink wine" to a single person, again remove the a and r, and add as, to give "tomar vino".
If we wanted to say that he or she drinks wine, then we remove the ar and add just an a, to give us "toma vino". This version of tomar would also be used in a formal situation, or if talking to someone for the first time.
When learning our basic Spanish verbs and wanting to say "we drink wine" we add amos to give us "tomamos vino".
If we wanted to refer to a group when using "you drink wine", we would add áis, giving "tomáis vino"
"They drink wine" would require the addition of an, so "toman vino" would be the correct phrase.

These are obviously all in what is called the present tense, which means that it describes what is occurring now,we will cover the other tenses (future, past etc) and the ER and IR verbs at a later date. I hope that this article has been of help and I hope that you stick with Spanish as it is a very rewarding language.

Good Luck.