SPICEblog

Five Sheaths

2009-03-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

I love the idea of the Jnana Yoga Five Sheaths. (The following is my interpretation, inspired by but not really representing Jnana Yoga)

The idea is that there are five sheaths outside of the perfect self. These sheaths cover/hide the perfect self. So you must work on them (often in order) in order to make them "transparent/less distracting" so that your pure self becomes visible/accessible to you.

The first level is (and I love this) the “food” level (Annamaya). It is your body and your connection to physical world. Of course your body is made up of the food you eat and in fact your body will eventually be food for something else. It is important to realize that you are just temporally not dirt (I remember you telling me that this was critical to Carlos Castaneda). But this gets into why I do so much yoga. On one level regular yoga practice eliminates pain in my body (by ha! creating a little pain over long periods of time), gives me flexibility, balance, a quickness in physical reactions and a constant buzz in my ears. But it is also a practice in integrating my body to my self. It is, when good, a meditation on my body, one part at a time as I identify a part and mediate on relaxing that part. It is the start of the process of going inward.

The next sheath is the Energy Sheath (Pranamaya).

In physics everything is a manifestation of energy. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed and transported. In the journey from of hatha yoga you transport energy that is stuck in the body to flow freely through your body. This kind of energy is clearly “white”. (In Tibetan Buddhism there is also a red energy.) Because it moves and transforms one thinks it is changing, but it is not, it is constant. It is very useful, or essential that this level of our being be trained, regulated, and directed, so that it flows smoothly. My practice become aware of energy everywhere, explore it, know it, love it, watch it as it transforms (inside you/outside you), see the whole world as energy. And ultimately see that it does not change.

Mental Sheath (Manamaya)

This one is pretty clear to anyone who is at all interested in meditation. It is the uncontrolled appearance and path of thoughts and emotions. Again the solution is to watch thoughts and emotions pop into existence and following them with amusement and without being attached to them.

Wisdom Sheath (Vijnanamaya)

In the process of watching thoughts and emotions it becomes apparent that there is a “watcher”. This is the “Wisdom” Sheath. It is the level that has the higher wisdom to seek Truth, to go within, in search of the eternal center of consciousness. This is the level that Quakers access to “Discern the Truth”. A Theist might think that it is God, the “still small voice” in the bible.

A major part of sadhana (spiritual practice) is gaining ever increasing access to this level of our being. It is the level that has the higher wisdom to seek Truth, to go within, in search of the eternal center of consciousness. It is the level in which to act in the world.

The Bliss Sheath (Anandamaya)

Often confused for Satori/Nirvana it is the joy of simply being. It is a very nice place to hang out. It might be my personal final destination the reward for integrating all those other parts. However, it is that last trap on the way of the ultimate spiritual path.

First Non-Sheath

Is the Mystery.

The Will of God

2008-11-11T09:33:00.002-05:00

When I listen with my “spiritual ear” I hear how deep and meaningful that passage about seeking “the will of God” is for you and I am risen up.

However, please understand I take a different spiritual journey. A journey that is equally Quaker in Truth and tradition. When I look inward in Quaker worship, I witness the spiritual essence of creation. When I look for boundaries between this essence and my self I find none. I see this spiritual essence in the rocks, the single leaf falling to the ground in autumn, in the bird's song, the car’s engine roar and all the creatures around me. Nowhere do I see a boundary or separation and it is all awesome. For this reason and others I struggle with the word “God” for its inherent “otherness”, the concept of separation it implies.

Worse yet I struggle with the concepts of following the “will of God” or “obedience to the Lord”, again for the inherent “otherness” and also for a more serious reason. I have observed in life and in the bible that this hierarchy in religious thought, this medieval concept of lord and servant leaks quickly into human relationships.

However, I do not overlook the spiritual richness in these kinds of spiritual attitudes. For me I replace them with a more Taoist alignment with “The Way”. Seeking the “path of most resistance” or the “path of least resistance” and using listening and wisdom to choose between the two.

Beginning, Being, Death

2008-06-27T10:18:00.000-05:00

Since rationality is the antidote to spirituality, this is merely a metaphor for my current spiritual state.

Imagine a cork bobbing in the Pacific Ocean.

The central focus of the cork is the question “What is safe?”

And the answers are all pathetic and lead to rigidity.

The ocean in all its forms and in all timescales sings a song, (“the harmony of the spheres”).

Beginning, Being, Death.

You can see it everywhere, in the plants, in the animals it is easy to see. But it is there in the mountains and the rocks as well. Even the Earth begins, is and will die, even the Universe.

The very atoms that make up our body, the atoms that we breathe are the children of several generations of stars. Stars that over millions and billions of years began, were, died and in dying laid the seeds for the next generation, of stars, of humans, of the Earth.

At the smallest possible level of time and space, in the “empty space within atoms”, in the vast empty space between galaxy clusters, virtual particles of all different types appear, exist and then annihilate themselves. Counterintuitive to the cork, the energy of their annihilation is what fuels their becoming. Just as the Tibetan Buddhists have learned, Death begets Beginning. “The harmony of the spheres” is actually subtly different. It is:

Death, Beginning, Being

And that makes all the difference.

And the cork must come to realize that there is no oasis in the desert.

The desert is a mirage.

Silence is Golden

2008-04-16T11:20:00.003-05:00

The most simple human condition, known by some as the connection to God, others as simply spirituality, is the one condition which humanity has striven hardest to complicate. It has become the battleground of terrible conflicts, an endless cause of war.

Spirituality/God through the fault of people has frequently not been the bond that unites, but rather a flag to be raised on fields of battle, literally and figuratively.

At fault is the attempt to put that beautiful inward sense of unity into defining words, words that crush that beauty under the weight of indigestible abstractions and interminable discussions. Words that attempt to rationalize the irrational. Words that attempt to define how you could understand that small inward voice, by how I define it.

Speech tends to divide, people cling to words rather than their meaning. Words give rise to dogmas claiming to be comforting certainties. Words give rise to religions, to churches, which break up the great family of simple souls in order to create a language that can be shared so that we no longer have to do the hard work of understanding. And in creating a shared language we separate ourselves from the others.

Words split apart, listening in silence gathers together. Words stir up, listening in silence brings peace to both the listener and the one being listened to. Words engender denial, listening in silence invites the denier to find fresh hope in the confident expectation of a mystery which can be accomplished within.

Deep silence, while not always easy, is the very condition for religious experience. It is in this deep silence there comes a silence deeper still which is religious experience in its purest form.

We all have an innate need to express this experience and so we try to fine the right words. Yet often our attempts are tainted by that other simple human condition, the need for power over one's environment.

A Place at the Table

2008-02-14T10:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you for opening a place at the Quaker table for me and others who are like me. After more than fifty years of deep spiritual exploration I am quite sure that I will never find a “being” of any type named God. For me God is everything, not separate in anyway and therefore nothing. There is no separate entity to pray to, seek the will of, comfort me in lonely times of great distress or celebrate with me in times of joy. There is no one to lead me to the oasis from the desert. But don’t pity me for in my life each fallen leaf is a joy, I walk in a life that is always an unexpected gift and when I listen the right way is always clear to me. I need no signposts to the oasis, because it is clear that there is no desert.

Thinking

2008-01-07T13:45:00.001-05:00

There should be great concern from all Quakers about a "you-can-think-this" and "I-can-think-this" spirituality, a concern which I share. There is something about Quakerism that is unique, shared and deeply spiritual. Each of us has a connection to that inner seed and what is beautiful about Quakerism is that we see that connection and that spirituality in everyone.

The problem with "you-can-think-this" and "I-can-think-this" is that it involves “thinking”. Spirituality is not "thinking", which is where I believe the Universalists go astray. Quaker spirituality is something much, much, deeper and more connected. Yes thinking can be a raft that leads us to the spiritual shore and thinking can be the vessel that creates Quaker action from our spiritual core, but Quaker Spirituality is not about "thinking" it is about the mouth of that deep perpetually flowing river. It is the "thinking" that dilutes that "secret power". I believe that Christocentric Friends, if they listened long enough, would find their Christocentric spirituality and could drop their Christocentric "thinking" which requires Quakerism to be a Christian religion. If we listen with our "spiritual ear" we can hear that deep spiritual seed equally in the Christocentric Friend and the Friend that is not Christocentric. We can be equally transformed by both of them.

It has been said that secularism is a recent invention. In England 350 years ago being secular or non-theist was not a real option. Now we have to "think" about that choice and worse feel we have to proclaim Quakerism to be one or the other. One only has to read about Fox and Woolman’s interactions with native-Americans (a unique place where they had that "choice" opportunity) to see that Quakerism is broader organization of spirituality than one rational framework.

God Power

2008-01-04T16:18:00.000-05:00

When one attends our meeting one feels the spirituality there. That is enough. I don't have the quote in front of me but Barclay once said, "when I am in their presence I feel the good rise up and the evil melt away."

The spiritual path tested by our community and its legacy is our trust that the Truth resides in each of us. There are so many different understandings among present and historical Quakers about the nature of God and spirituality. Often these differences are masked because we can pretend what you mean by "God" or "The Divine" is the same as what I mean, or we do not wish to go there because at other times these differences have caused us to be at odds and to split. However, the fundamental Truth goes beyond words and we need not be trapped by those words.

I recently asked a non-theist Friend why he uses God language. He answered that it is the language of power. That is my observation also. God language is about power, you see it everywhere in the bible. Power is not spirituality. It is in the absence of power that spirituality truly rises up to transform.

Quaker spirituality is about a spirituality rising from within. It is a blooming flower, creativity itself, a fountain whose source need not be captured by name and is better not captured.

If you wish to name it for yourself I will celebrate your celebration of the fountain within, but the need to name it for us is an exercise in power, perhaps even a violent act.

What is Quakerism?

2007-12-13T14:34:00.001-05:00

In our meeting we are struggling mightily with what to put in our "Welcoming Pamplet". Here is my two cents:

Quakerism is about trusting people that they can know or find their own spiritual path or places. We believe that within each of us is a seed of inspiration that given time to grow in a quiet supportive place will transform us and heal us of all worldly troubles.

Much more than that we have difficulty saying because there is a world of difference between the words we use concerning that transformative thing and the thing itself within. The words themselves do so often lead us astray.

But if we wait and labour to know, understand, and allow ourselves to be guided by, the motives, leadings, teachings of the thing within we will be transformed and healed.

Some Quaker Thoughts

2007-12-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

Distinguish between the words without concerning the thing, and the thing itself within; and wait and labour then to know, understand, and be guided by, the motives, leadings, drawings, teachings, quickenings, etc. of the thing itself within.
-- Isaac Penington 1673

We all experience something within, maybe it is the same thing, maybe not. Certainly any attempt at presenting it with words and concepts will be flawed.

How silly to fight over the flawed thing when the real thing is right there inside of us.

Welcome

2007-12-04T13:56:00.000-05:00

Quakers believe that every person is fully capable of knowing and understanding life's deepest and most profound truths through quietly looking inward. Many of us believe there is a presence/spirit beyond ourselves that we can only hear when we are quiet enough to listen for it. In this tradition we sit in silence together without clergy or liturgy seeking these truths.

Our goal in Meeting for Worship is to create a safe haven for all of our spiritual paths and places. Because profound truths can never be completely captured by words or concepts, we know our experiences here are both shared and unique. If Quakers were asked what was happening in this silence the answers would be varied. Some worshipers would say they are praying, still others are listening to God. Some are using this time to meditate, some would say they are seeking a connection to the everlasting present. Still others are discerning their right path to making this a better world. All of us find this experience transforming, healing and often joyful.

Anyone so moved may rise and speak. We have found that after someone speaks, it is best to allow time for reflection and a return to a deep silence before another rises to speak. These messages are not a dialogue, but sometimes when those present are uniquely connected, all the messages in a meeting form a single tapestry.

Religious Freedom

2006-10-31T11:48:00.000-05:00

At a debate about the marriage amendment the other night in Manassas, Bruce Roemmelt -- a retired firefighter, a Unitarian and the Democratic challenger who lost to Marshall in last year's legislative election -- said this vote is about protecting "religious rights."

"My minister is protected in her right to consecrate relationships as our faith interprets them," Roemmelt said. "Under the constitution of Virginia right now, my church gets to do as it believes, and Bob's church gets to do as it believes. We should be dealing with marriages in our churches."

Equality:

2005-07-13T14:25:00.000-05:00

We attended a beautiful event in Blacksburg, Virginia where we joined 300 Friends gathering to witness for marriage equality.

Link

Integrity:

2005-06-07T09:26:00.000-05:00

To my very great surprise, I was discovering that some of the most eminent Jewish, Christian, and Muslim theologians and mystics insisted that God was not an objective fact, was not another being, and was not an unseen reality like the atom, whose existence could not be empirically demonstrated. Some went so far as to say that it was better to say that God did not exist, because our notion of existence was too limited to apply to God. Many of them preferred to say that God was Nothing, because this was not the kind of reality that we normally encountered. It was even misleading to call God the Supreme Being, because that simply suggested a being like us, but bigger and better, with likes and dislikes similar to our own.

-- The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness by Karen Armstrong

Equality:

2005-05-17T11:20:00.000-05:00

"Life at the Top Isn't Just Better, It's Longer"

The New York Times is doing a series on class in America. It's most recent article follows the progression of three people who had a heart attack--an architect, a Con Edison worker, and a maid. Looking at a variety of factors, the article concludes that how much you make, how educated you are, where you live, and what you do for a living will not only affect the quality of your life but how long you live.

"Life at the Top Isn't Just Better, It's Longer"

Story

Health care stories, anyone?

Integrity (promoted from a comment):

2005-05-12T10:49:00.000-05:00

The topic is politicians and integrity. I'm not sure I'm ready to hold politicians to my personal Quaker standards. I'm not even sure I know exactly what my personal Quaker standards are. I was challenged by a trip to the NC Legislature to advocate against a gay marriage amendment a month ago. The Democratic majority, for political reasons, wanted nothing more than to keep this issue from leaving committee, and they had the political wherewithal to achieve that goal. One Democratic legislator said the best thing we could do to keep this amendment from happening would be to "go get a cup of cappuchino." His reasoning was that publicity around this issue in a conservative state like North Carolina could only hurt. It might force the amendment out of committee, force a vote on the floor, which would almost surely pass, leading to an issue on the state ballot that would bring the religious right to the polls and possibly create a Republican majority in state government.

So, was he right? Or is it my job, if I have integrity, to "Speak Truth to Power" even if the short-term consequences seem counter-productive?

Integrity:

2005-04-20T11:22:00.000-05:00

In a surprise turn of events yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee decided to postpone the scheduled vote on the nomination of John Bolton to allow for further review of new allegations which "cast doubt on Mr. Bolton's temperament and credibility."

LISTEN TO YOUR CONSCIENCE: After the session, Voinovich explained his change of heart, admitting, "My conscience got me." It turns out other senators may be having similar crises of conscience. Sen. Chuck Hagel also said the allegations against Bolton are "serious enough that they demand, cry out for further investigation," acknowledging that, while he had been ready to vote to send the nomination to the full Senate, "he would not guarantee that he would vote in favor of the nomination on the floor." And while Sen. Chaffee had said before the committee meeting that he planned to vote for Bolton, last night his spokesman confessed that the continuing revelations and ongoing questions about Bolton's fitness for office had once again left Chaffee undecided.

But both were willing to vote "Yes" until someone else showed some integrity.

This Month's Query:

2005-04-08T10:06:00.001-05:00

Are our children made to feel a valued part of the Meeting, with opportunity to participate and share in its worship and work? What is the Meeting’s commitment to excellent education in the
larger community, including public schools and the Carolina Friends School?

Please respond.

Peace:

2005-04-08T10:06:00.000-05:00

Pro-war forces are now trying to justify violence in Iraq because "history shows" that the War has helped to bring "democracy" and "freedom" to the Middle East.

I believe that this is a specious argument. "History" will "show," as it always does, that some good and some bad always come out of any action.

History is the process of change over time. People choose to act, and their actions have consequences--intended and unintended, good and bad. World War II got rid of Hitler and, one can argue, hastened the Civil Rights movement in the United States. But one can also argue that it created the basis for the Cold War and ushered in the Nuclear Age.

People cannot control the future, only the present. They can only act upon what they think and believe is the right thing to do at the time.

The real historical question about Iraq thus becomes, were we justified in going to war? Did the evidence support such a drastic intervention? Was it a rational or reasonable response to the situation at hand?

In other words, did we act responsibly based upon what we knew at the time?

Community and Peace:

2005-04-06T12:11:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey Sachs speaks out against world poverty and proposes concrete solutions:

"The ways out of the poverty trap can be found. The financial costs of the needed development aid are utterly manageable, just 70p per £100 (0.7%) of the national incomes of the donor nations.
Yet will the rich countries follow through? While the UK has raised the banner of fighting poverty in Africa, the US has armed only for its war against terror. Bush never even mentions the Millennium Development Goals. The US spends just 0.15% of its national income on aid, while devoting nearly 5% to the military. Is a superpower that devotes 30 times more in spending to the military than to development aid a reliable partner in the fight against extreme poverty?"

See the entire article at:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0405-26.htm

Non Violence:

2005-04-06T10:50:00.000-05:00

By Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh (From the book Interbeing)

"Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrow-mindedness."

THE FOURTEEN PRECEPTS OF ENGAGED BUDDHISM

Do you agree?

Community:

2005-04-04T12:49:00.002-05:00

Celebrate Life

Michael Blanding gives us "The Culture of Life Top Ten"--ten ways to value life and improve its quality.

http://www.alternet.org/story/21660/

I would add to this list an 11th way to celebrate life--by making a concerted effort to end world hunger. As a recent article in Time Magazine states, 20,000 people die every day of the completely curable disease of poverty. Jeffrey Sachs, a distinguished economist, has a forthcoming book entitled The End of Poverty. Sachs is "a man who has guided countries from Bolivia to Poland through bad financial times, advised the Pope on Third World debt relief and helped launch the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. As head of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, he has tried to promote the idea that developing countries can protect the environment while improving the lives of their citizens." Sachs argues that "'More than 8 million people around the world die each year because they are too poor to stay alive.'" He argues passionately that these deaths would be entirely avoidable if the developed countries of the world banded together to stop them." You can see an excerpt from his book in Time, March 14, 2005 v165 i11 p6.

Do you have other ideas about celebrating life?

Integrity:

2005-03-21T15:43:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/arts/20Rich.html?8hpib

Frank Rich writes: "The enduring legacy of Enron can be summed up in one word: propaganda. Here was a corporate house of cards whose business few could explain and whose source of profits was an utter mystery - and yet it thrived, unquestioned, for years. How? ...." Enron "was fixated on its public relations campaigns." It churned out slick PR videos as if it were a Hollywood studio...."

Rich continues: "If this Potemkin village sounds familiar, take a look at the ongoing 60-stop "presidential roadshow" in which Mr. Bush has "conversations on Social Security" with "ordinary citizens"....As in the president's "town meeting" campaign appearances last year, the audiences are stacked with prescreened fans; any dissenters who somehow get in are quickly hustled away by security goons....the preparations are even more elaborate than the finished product suggests; the seeming reality of the event is tweaked as elaborately as that of a television reality show."

Frank Rich notes above that both Enron and this White House build a case for their cause not by honest discussion, but by slick PR dressed up as reality.

Friends pride ourselves on Speaking Truth To Power. Shouldn't we also demand that Power Speak Truth to us?

Peace:

2005-03-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

Coverage of the Fayetteville Peace March:

From the Chicago Tribune:
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Two years ago this weekend, Michael Hoffman, then a U.S. Marine, was marching across the border of Kuwait as the war in Iraq began. On Saturday, he marched through the streets of this military town with other veterans, military family members and anti-war activists protesting the invasion he now believes was wrong.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0503200526mar20,1,1659035.story?coll=chi-news-hed

And from WRAL:

FAYETTEVILLE -- An anti-war rally organized in part by veterans and military families drew about 3,000 people to a park near Fort Bragg -- home to more than 40,000 soldiers and thousands of other dependents...."I can't remain silent on these issues, slap a yellow ribbon on my car and call it supporting our troops,'' said Kara Hollingsworth, the wife of a soldier serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. "I support our troops by making sure they are not put in harm's way unless absolutely necessary.''

http://www.wral.com/news/4298320/detail.html

Simplicity:

2005-03-17T18:01:00.000-05:00

Everything I own, owns me, says a DailyKos reader.

http://dailykos.com/story/2005/3/17/11340/5067

Simplicity:

2005-03-17T11:20:00.000-05:00

Robert Scheer writes about the corrupting power of money and greed in "The Bankruptcy Bill: a Tutorial in Greed: Lesson No. 1 -- Campaign cash is worth more than family values."

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0315-27.htm

It is common knowledge that the recent bill was the creation of credit card companies. Will giving up our credit cards, except for emergencies, promote simplicity? Will it make us more mindful of what we are spending?

Integrity:

2005-03-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

What is Government Information and What is Government Propaganda?
Molly Ivins weighs in. What do you think?

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0316-34.htm

Community:

2005-03-17T10:51:00.000-05:00

Wolfowitz Appointed to the World Bank. How Will This Affect Relationships of the Wealthy Countries With the Rest of the World? The U.S. Relationship With Europe? How Will the World's Poor Be Affected?
Reuters reports.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0316-10.htm

Environment:

2005-03-17T10:28:00.001-05:00

"Senate Votes to Open Alaskan Oil Drilling"
by H Josef Hebert

Senate Votes to Open Alaskan Oil Drilling

As the above piece notes, the Senate has voted to drill in the Arctic Refuge. However, according to a new Gallup poll, a large majority of Americans believe that Conservation is a better approach to solving our nation's energy problems:

http://pollingreport.com/ (see graphic, posted on 3/17/05)

Lester R. Brown, a prominent environmentalist, spoke at Friends General Conference this past year on challenges facing our environment and approaches to solving the energy problem. He has a book out entitled Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (Link).

How do our current policies reflect Brown's thesis? How can we work to ensure a respectful relationship to our earth?

Peace:

2005-03-17T10:26:00.000-05:00

Is war obsolete? Robert C. Koehler asks the question in "The perfect weapon: Our love affair with depleted uranium masks a war crime in progress," his chilling piece on depleted uranium:

The perfect weapon

Peace:

2005-03-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

An Idea for Local Peace Groups and Local Peace Activists
by Ralph Nader. What About His Ideas?

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0316-33.htm

This Month's Query

2005-03-04T11:32:00.000-05:00

Is the Meeting a joyful place where members and attenders feel they belong and willingly share in the work of the meeting community?

Welcome to QuakerSPICE

2005-03-04T11:11:00.000-05:00

We have created this blog as a place where we can discuss the Quaker Testimonies.

Simplicity

Peace

Integrity

Community

Equality and Environment

(Let me know what you think).