Goal Trajectory

Falls Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee.

Intention and Evolution

When we operate from ego, often times we set up expectations within ourselves for events to follow a narrowly defined outcome. If this outcome is not met, we label it a disaster and call ourselves a failure. Our valiant ego resolves to exert even more control in the future. One or two more "failures" and the ego may come up with seemingly excellent reasons why things went so wrong. The self-talk and procedural assessments usually go something like this: "You failed because you are no good. Your creator made you in error, and you cannot, in fact, do anything right."

Now, we know that this self-talk cannot actually be factual. There are times in the past when things have gone very well for us. If the ego analyzes these events historically and accurately, it will observe that a sequence occurred. The mind was charmed by an inspiration, a heartfelt desire. The ego stepped in to help, but for the most part stayed out of the results. Goals were set, but not allowed to dictate all activity towards the end result. We allowed ourselves some "wiggle-room," and our goal may have modified and been refined as our journey continued.

This is the natural process of our creativity, and it is, in fact, what we were designed to do. We are charmed, we move forward, we make mistakes, we adjust, we learn, we continue. At no point do we need to engage in harsh judgement or indulge in self-flagellation. We set an intention and get to work (or play) and enjoy the process.

Meditation helps us in this endeavor by reminding us that we are more than our thoughts, feelings, and judgements. We are also the silent witness, free from programming and stress, not encumbered by fear or remorse, just relaxed and paying attention.

If you seek a meditation practice, you may wish to relax your ego's requirements and stay out of the results game until nature has been given a chance to do its work for you.

There are countless great practices that adherents swear by, but in my personal experience, none were more easy to learn or had more lasting results than Vedic Meditation. I have been able to stick to this path for more than ten years.

To quote from Herbert Spencer; “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”

Center of the Universe

Start from Where you Are

This newsletter was created in an AirBnB room in Memphis, Tennessee. We are on a road trip, delivering a car to a dear friend in Pikeville, TN. I have a desire to fulfill my usual obligation to my teaching and the Veda to post my newsletter on time. this is a technical challenge because I only have my iPad, not my desktop Mac to work with.

The usual array of tools at my disposal to accomplish this task are not available, so I am going with what I have. The Veda posits that intention and attention are powerful tools to reshape consciousness and evolution. So, while I might be more comfortable with the system I have previously used to edit the page, I have to work with this one, and since I will be on the road till autumn, this will be the method to refine and get used to.

My intention is that the newsletter continue to be available to my readers by 9 am pacific time, that it relate to Vedic teachings and that it is useful in some fashion. All intention and attention need is a desire, a charm, a creative impulse. If I have these things, my practical problem-solving skills can then kick in and help me complete the task, even in unfamiliar terrain.

When we meditate, we become open to new skills and inspirations, because we are no longer a lonely ego struggling against the universe. Nature itself steps in to aid us. We trust where we were once wary, and we are rewarded with more raw material than we originally expected.

Where we are is where we need to begin from. The sense that knowledge or wisdom is necessarily location dependent is erroneous, an illusion of the ego.

Across the universe

Fryman Canyon trail, Los Angeles.

Expanding our sample size

Once I have opened my eyes to the fact that my pinpoint perception of this world is tainted, colored by a very narrow set of criteria, I can begin to extend myself, and even my limited sensory reception renders a clearer picture of nature's vastness and breathtaking beauty.

If I sit in a large hall filled with people, I am going to have a perception of my surroundings that is "flavored" by my previous experience of the world. If I developed a deep distrust of people from a young age, I see myself as surrounded by threats of potential violence. If I was raised in a criminal atmosphere, I might see everyone around me as a potential victim.

But if I am a meditator, and have had the twice-daily experience of myself in harmony with nature, I might tend to relax and see others as an extension of the same beautiful system that gives me such a restful and rejuvenating connection to the world. A person in close proximity, who may be behaving in a somewhat loud or exuberant manner, is no longer perceived as a personal threat, but just someone enjoying himself. If it impinges upon my comfort, I can leave or adjust my attitude, or engage the person in a friendly way. This approach yields a much more satisfactory result than confrontation or an insistence upon personal dominance.

Utilizing the adaptation energy gained by a diligent meditation practice, I can have a much more "frictionless" experience of life if I myself are in alignment with nature's trajectory of evolution. I am no longer the lonely spectator, but an active participant in nature.

A Rishi is a seer. 

The Rishi desires to have a direct experience of nature, not a distant understanding for the purpose of manipulating nature toward the ego's ends.

We, as potential Rishis, wish to align ourselves with the higher movements of nature, to become its allies and to awaken to the fact that we are not separate from nature in any way.

Boulder Creek, California.