Monday, March 23, 2009
Five Sheaths
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 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.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The Will of God
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.
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.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Beginning, Being, Death
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Silence is Golden
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.
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.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Place at the Table
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.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Thinking
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.
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.
Friday, January 04, 2008
God Power
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.
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.
