What a Jumping Fish Can Teach You

        What is the best way to live? With a BMW, a big house, and a job with an important title? Of course those things may be great to have at times, but they only contribute to the real quality of your life in a certain way. Your true happiness—the way you really feel—has more to do with your understanding of Life and how you fit in it. When we completely identify ourselves with the material aspects of our being-in-the-world, we may come to feel insecure or ungrounded, because those things come and go. They're undependable, momentary, 
transient. 

        The other day while sitting on a rock by the river giving my mind a break, a fish suddenly surprised me by jumping clear out of the water right in front of me. Naturally, fish do that while pursuing bugs to eat, but there didn't seem to be any bugs around. This fish appeared to be jumping free of its watery medium for fun – or to make a kind of statement, like:

        "Here I am! I'm free of the water for this moment! I'm exposed to the air-world!" (of course, he may have been saying, "Hey buddy, you seen any bugs?" but for my purposes we'll stick with the first version).

        For a very brief moment (the image of which stays with me indefinitely) the fish was "a fish out of water," separated from the actual medium of his being – the water; but if you had blinked, you would have missed it.

        People say that about life too, don't they? You blink, and it's over.

        Water has always served as a great metaphor for the nature of Life as a medium – the depth of its mysteries; the ceaseless directional flow of it; the images and inevitabilities that it carries our way, that arise from it; the surprises that suddenly drop into it from out of nowhere. Those are the things that change, that come and go – but it's the medium it takes place in that I want you to think about. This is about the way you think about it. Let's think about it like we were fish (in a Buddhist way):

"As a fish taken from his watery home and thrown on dry ground, our thought trembles all over in order to escape the dominion of Mâra (the tempter)."

                          The Dhammapada, 3: 34

        Like that fish out of water, we're not entirely safe or secure exposed to this world of shifting material conditions, filled with destructive temptations. As an "Out-of-Body Near-Death Experiencer" myself, I can testify to you that we are clear, sweet spiritual (energy) beings, inhabiting the (sometimes unreliable) vehicles of this body we're in—and this tenuous world all around them. 

        No wonder we might feel insecure.

        Like that fish, humans are 90% water ourselves; and if we can remain aware of that medium that is our natural element (and our real ultimate home)—the true ocean of energy we swim in every moment—we can leap free of the demands and pressures of this difficult world, and "who we're supposed to be" in it. We can detach with compassion from all this messy stuff, and return to the true, secure medium of our being—which I like to simplify as Love.

        Have you ever heard of "The Gnostics?" They lived what we think of as Christian spiritual principles before Christianity was institutionalized, and they had a very interesting "fish-out-of-water" way of looking at life that I think fits the picture I'm drawing pretty perfectly. They saw themselves as brief visitors here, in a way:

        "The Gnostic ideal, simply put, is that you really are a displaced part of Heaven, but during this experience of human life, that knowledge eludes you. Momentarily, you’ve forgotten your true connection and the way to return, so you’ve actually come back into this life to rescue your authentic self, trapped in your limited perceptions of this world. Within a transformative moment of gnosis, you’ll remember who and what you really are, where you really come from, and how to take yourself back home.

        In Gnostic mythology, all of humanity is an expression of a divine light imprisoned on an imperfect plane of existence, enfolded in the beauty of earthly existence, yet victimized by the suffering that is such a big part of it all. Each of us contains a connecting spark of the Divine Light within called the pneuma (what the Hindus might call atman). Our fragment, imprisoned in this body, has fallen away from the radiant, infinite matrix of limitless potential, which is our Source called the pleroma. 

        Life's sadnesses inspire the longing to reunite our spark with the transcendent unifying power that we inherently know to be our loving origin—the effort to restore ourselves to our authentic nature. When gnosis takes place, we are restored as beings of light."

                    from How to Get to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying) 

        So whenever you're feeling uncomfortable, when you're experiencing that "fish-out-of-water" feeling, take a blink and give yourself a moment of "gnosis." Return to that medium of our solid, profound grounding – this ocean of Divine Energy we all come from, and all return to – and experience being enfolded in that Love that is the true nature and source of life on this beautiful Earth.

        ...and remember what every fish knows by heart:

"Everything that changes, isn't real."

                    Nisargadatta Maharaj

        "Reduce your needs to the simplest level of intelligence and

practicality. Live lightly and respectfully on the surface of Mother Earth!"

                    from 20 Tips for Getting to Heaven; How to Get to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Llewellyn Books, 2018.

Read about this and much more in: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor  from Llewellyn Worldwide available direct on this page, or online. The first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!

What's "Hot" in Our Media Will Make a Hell of a Life

"Stay calm. Share your bananas."

Koko, the sign-language gorilla (RIP)

Sometimes it can be pretty tough to stay positive these days, and though it seems we're going through a rough patch, maybe it's because of the kinds of messages that are directed at us. More to the point, maybe it's the messenger. This time, contrary to the old saying, perhaps we should "kill the messenger," since the messenger seems to be the true source of a lot of our troubles.

A painful example of this is the way our media covers natural catastrophes, like hurricanes, brushfires, airline crashes, and homicides; or they way they now build up normal weather events as if they were the end of the world; or the way certain events are portrayed as acts of "terrorism," when similar events aren't. What if, instead of constantly imposing scenarios of doom, our media public servants calmly and rationally supplied us with an informed strategy for getting through it together, and for rallying our resources to help the hardest hit? What a different world it could be. Why is our media so relentlessly irresponsible?

It's great to have all these cool inputs, this instant digital access to everything, but remember, to commercial media content providers, it's cool instant access right into your head (and the heads of our children). Our convenient, indispensable smartphones, tablets, and flat screens are very powerful psychic inseminators, loaded to put deliberately designed anxiety-laden attitudes and beliefs into your mind, often at barely noticeable, even subconscious levels. Amongst these are constant messages designed to make you feel agitated, ineffective, worried, and separated. (And I know I've got plenty to worry about without their help…)

I've worked in media for many years, and can tell you from experience that there really are little groups of people in media center offices making decisions directed towards making people feel personally 'less-than,' and sort of powerless on a mass-cultural level. These folks knowingly suppress anything that celebrates real extra-ordinary human potential, unless it can be turned to promote commercial goals. The true power of the spirituality they sometimes appeal to is ultimately passed over, and the power of materialism and consciousness of need put in its place. It's unconsciousness, stylishly clothed in the materialistic solution they provide, the answer to the problem they actually are creating. The goal is to make you feel insecure, envious, a bit desperate, and politically apathetic. When you succumb to those emotions, you're more ready to accept their solutions, and surrender your real spiritual potential.

It is the most disheartening part, too, that there really are people doing this to us on purpose – but fear not! Love always does triumph over evil, and it will for us, too.

First, there's an easy way to recognize the dark strategy that's pouring out of our screens and speakers. Just ask yourself three simple questions: Is this message inspiring Fear? Is Is this message propagating anxiety? Does this message have a commercial goal based on the first two questions? If the answer is yes, media pundits refer to the topic as being "hot."  A "hot" fashion, a "hot" item, a "hot" personality. (Thanks, Mr. McLuhan) Notice how it suggests, in a way, something that you have to catch up to; something that you need to have or need to know or need to see. Or that there's something to fear – something coming to get you, or coming to take away what you have. Even if it's something that's "really cool," often the bottom line is that it's something you need to be complete, and so to ameliorate the anxiety they've been creating in you; but what's media "hot" is spiritually not.

These are age-old methods of controlling people through fear. We say, "a darkness fell over the land," in the Fairy Tales, and we just can't afford this kind of selfish, unconscionable silliness anymore. Rise up, you armies of light!

Let's turn the old-school tables on our systemic perpetrators, and use a cool acronym to point out the anti-spiritual agenda:  PAGGLES! That's right – the good ol' Seven Deadly Sins! Pride, Anger, Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, Sloth. Notice how these topics serve as the themes for a good deal of what is called "entertainment" or "news" in our popular media. When you pick some media to pay attention to, ask yourself, "Is this PAGGLES?" If it is, rise up, and rise above it! As soon as you become aware of it, laugh…and TURN IT OFF. Start talking to your neighbors about what's real. Join associations of like-minded people. Support spiritually supportive cooperatives and political movements; and don't trust that media provider again! Go ahead and kill that messenger!

So what's the solution? The people (maybe you know some) who are responsible for this media, and may even believe in it, need extra Love and compassion to help them return to the human race – which isn't really a race at all, as they might believe, but a cooperative. The corporate media has even twisted the real message of Charles Darwin's "Evolution of the Species" to supply a basic miseducation. Darwin didn't discover "survival of the fittest," he discovered survival of the most adaptively cooperative. Current research conclusively demonstrates that two of the careers that attract the most 'psychopaths' are CEOs and media creators.  It will take a lot of real warmth, a lot of Love to overcome a twisted pathology that's so materially rewarded; but we have to try, or the world will continue to head in an unnecessarily destructive direction.

That low, slow, painful vibration of what's media "hot" isn't even warm by the principles of our rapidly evolving spiritual collective, based in compassion, sanity, and unity. Real warmth comes with a high hum – the vibration of Love, free from false fears and dark, selfish motives. The sun on everyone's face, and Love in everyone's heart.

You can re-define "success" as seeking Love and Light, unity, responsibility, peace, and happiness; protecting Life; being of service; experiencing the vibration of expanding consciousness without worry or regret that you don't measure up in some way. You don't have to pay attention to those media messages at all – just be truly present in each moment of your life. Follow your intuitive intelligence, and pay attention to what's really important! Live well. Recognize the Eternal in everyone. That's being successful.

"It is always the false that makes you suffer...Abandon the false and you are free of pain; truth makes happy; truth liberates."

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Read about this and much more in the new book: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor, from Llewellyn Worldwide, and the first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond. Both are available everywhere – but ask for them at your local bookstore!

How to Escape Fear, When False Evidence Appears Real

"It is always the false that makes you suffer...Abandon the false and you are free of pain; truth makes happy; truth liberates."

Nisargadatta Maharaj

I've been wanting to write about fear, but I was afraid to. What if I wrote something foolish – what would people think? Would I ever get acknowledgment and acceptance from the people I want to impress? What if someone with power over my life would read what I've written, judge me, and prevent me from reaching my rightful rewards? I could be ruined...lose my home...let my family down, etc., etc.

That paragraph describes a little of the neurotic nature of modern fear, the folly of the mind that leads to the construction of of imaginary threats. The worries that can consume an intellect, usually brought on by the volatility of our desires – What will they think? What if I don't get what I want? What if I lose something important to me?

Fear is basically an instinct for self-preservation, and as such is perfectly necessary and useful, sometimes even critical. Not all that long ago we had to worry about being attacked by wild animals. Bears or tigers or, God forbid, crocodiles. Fear in those cases is entirely appropriate, though you don't see a lot of that sort of thing these days. In the agrarian societies of some countries, or increasingly in our society, if there's a chance that crops would fail, or if our water supply were threatened, arising fearful insecurities assure that we take action to prevent shortages, to shore up critical supplies and reserves. In these cases too, fear is an appropriate motivator born from the instinct to survive.

Luckily (for now) in our society, we don't have many of those worries. The only shortages of food we have in the world are artificially created by inequitable distribution. In some countries (including our own), this leads to unnecessary hunger. For most of us though, a simple phone call brings food right to our door, even if it's just pizza. God bless pizza. So since we needn't worry much about eating, and we really needn't worry about being eaten, what exactly is fear in this society, and what is it really good for?

Fear is the imaginary projection of the ego into the future, as remorse and resentments are the ego's unwillingness to release our perceived losses of the past. There are a couple great acronyms for FEAR that I find useful: False Evidence Appears Real; and Forget Everything's All Right. Ninety-eight times out of a hundred (those are strictly my numbers), what you fear never comes to pass, unless you create it yourself. But does all that evidence prevent the ego from creating the "worst case scenario?" Not on your life, buddy. The human ego is built to fret – unless you take some action to defuse it. Here's a proactive approach to do just that:

As usual, the solution always seems to begin with meditation. As the ego seeks to separate us from Source, meditation connects us, and disconnects fear. Karma is really the action of life – not the causality of life, as the victimized ego would define it. If you form your actions based on fearful expectations, you energize the ego's negative influence in your life. Your actions follow that negative intention, and you create a causal cycle of negativity. If on the other hand you're connected by meditation, and you recognize the imaginary nature of your fear, you'll notice that the real evidence of your life usually demonstrates that everything is actually all right. Then you won't energize that negative thinking, stop your fearful self-paralysis before it starts, and be empowered to take the necessary actions to assure your fears will never come to pass.

A simple example would be that when there's something that appears to threaten your health, say that you have an ache or pain that you worry about. As you enlarge those ego-fears without taking action, you really do compromise your health, when just calling for help could resolve the entire situation. There's appropriate fear there. You need to act. The same is true with relationships, if you feel there's a problem brewing, gather up the love in your heart, and start communicating in order to defuse any potential problems.

This works on a broader playing-field too. Let's say there's a politician who seems to be unconscious of our growing environmental realities, who wants to keep burning fossil fuel for energy, or further institutionalize the use of pesticides. The appropriate fear is for the health of the planet – the need for clean, renewable energy, and responsible stewardship of our food sources. You may want to take action and join the opposing political effort. And when you're talking about fear, don't put anything off too long. It always works best if you apply the proaction now – today. Any procrastination invites your fearful ego-imagination to run riot in your mind, and your life.

Show up and just do what you need to do today. If you're doing"the right thing," you never need to worry what other people think. This is karma in action – creating a positive cycle. It will even effect the way you carry yourself, when you relate to the world in a way that assures positive experiences, because your healthy spirit extends beyond your physical body. You'll have intuitive intelligence in your corner, and confidence to face any situation. bringing me to the last of my favorite acronyms for FEAR: Face Everything, Attain Relief. 

 Except, God forbid.....a crocodile.

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future...but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."

The Buddha

The latest book: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor from Llewellyn Worldwide can be ordered direct on this page or online; and the first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!