Thursday, March 6, 2008

Do Unto Yourself

We find great fulfillment in helping others. We do it in a multitude of ways, with our time, with our money, anonymously, unselfishly, sending energies of love, health and joy. We try to live our lives as an example of how to live happier more fulfilling life, and those examples are just the tip of the iceberg. The rewards are priceless. Ironically, as we head down the path or our Spiritual Journey, helping others can become an obsession. If we do not stop and look around once in a while, we might not realize that we have created a different version of the rat race we previously chose to no longer participate in.

Sometimes we need to turn the Golden Rule around and remind ourselves to Do Unto Ourselves As We Do Unto Others. We can not help others and give them the best of ourselves, if we do not have our own house in order. It is often said that we need to love ourselves before we can love others. Likewise, we need to help and take care of ourselves before we can do the same for others. Essentially, we need to be healthy, physically, emotionally, and spirituality.

The first thing to do is to take a little time to step back and think about what you may have been neglecting. Have you been so busy that your positive habits that got you to where you were have been put on hold? Have you been sleeping enough? Have you been eating right? Have you been missing your regular periods previously set aside for meditation, yoga, reading, playing music, spending time with your family, or whatever is important to you on a personal level?

Once you have determined what you have been neglecting, come up with a plan to incorporate into your new life. Do not just say you are going to do it and do not approach it haphazardly, or it will never happen. Remember that as your Journey continues, you are constantly recreating your self. Change is a natural part of the process. And, along with that you may need to update your plan, your routine, and your perspective.

So, remember to take time for yourself. Don’t just say it, do it! Make an appointment on your own calendar like a doctor appointment, but in this case, be your own doctor. Right yourself a prescription for wellness. Remember that you do not have to sacrifice your life to help others. That notion runs completely counter to the underpinnings of spiritual growth. Do not play the noble starving artist. That role is a child of the ego. Now, go take a walk, get a massage, or make a great dinner. Your personal happiness will create an infectious energy that will rub of on everyone you think about or come in contact with.

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My Zimbio

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Oneness - Part II

This is the Part II in my series of posts on Oneness. The symbol to the left is my symbol for Oneness and in Part I, I discussed the "o". To briefly recap, the symbol is "one" - specifically (little "o", the infinity sign, and little "e").

I also explained that in our physical universe, an illusion of God's creation and ours, we can start by thinking of the "o" as "We are all One." However, in our ultimate reality where we are our purest energy, our souls, we can broaden the idea of Oneness to mean that "All is One."

Now let us look at the second character the "n" or the "infinity" character. And yes, I am saying that "We are all infinite." Some religions, tell us that God is omnipresent, but the concept of Oneness implies that we are all omnipresent.

Let us look at the idea that "We are all infinite" from two perspectives. The first way to think of this is from the perspective of our physical illusion, the universe. In this perspective, the physical illusion implies form (grass, rocks, animals, people, molecules, etc...), and this implies distance (yards, miles, kilometers, light years, etc...). Form and distance can be summed up as our physical universe.

Since we are looking at this from the perspective of the physical illusion, I will start with our Oneness definition of "We are all one." If we are part of everyone, then part of us is where everyone else is at any moment. That means that we are everywhere, hence infinite.

This idea is the basis of many Buddhist teachings. You may have seen quotes that refer to somebody saying that they are "nowhere" or "everywhere and nowhere". That is because if you are everywhere then you can be "nowhere" - in particular.

The second way to think of "We are all infinite" is from the perspective of the ultimate reality where God is everything. In the ultimate reality we are our purest energy - our souls. God is us (our souls) and we are all part of God. We are all part of everything, or put another way, our energy extends to everything and vice versa. Hence, we are one and we are infinite.

You may think that I am over simplifying my explanation of this. Yes, it is true that a deeper discussion of this could and has filled many books, but at some point that is just fun thinking and pondering. I've found that as we move our perspective to the utlimate reatlity, everything does become amazingly simple. It is our physical illusion, our universe, and our individuality (driven by our egos), that causes things to become over complicated. It is the ultimate reality where we find God and ourselves/our-selves/our souls all distilled down to the essence of everything - energy. As Albert Einstein said, "When the solution is simple, God is answering."

So now we have combined "All is one" with "infinite". Hopefully, this is helping to deepen your understanding of Oneness. I will conclude this series of posts in Part III with an explanation of the third character "e". Perhaps you already know where I'm going to go with that. In the meantime, it might be helpful to go back to Part I and re-read how the Mayans, Hindus and The Beatles preceived Oneness.

Consider the possibility that what you do to others, society, or the planet are really things that you are also doing to yourself.

Oh, and I AM still the walrus. koo koo ka choo.

Digg!
My Zimbio

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Deep Blue Sea

Schools of bright yellow thoughts
Orange and black stripes down the sides
Joy, compassion, happiness, and love
Move in unison as they dart back and forth, and up and down.

Thoughts that are pale, ruddy, and snub nosed
Appear as to have swam through soot
Loneliness, boredom, and sadness
Plod along through the water.

Bottom feeding thoughts, sunless and ashen
Ferret through the silt of the past
Regret, hurt and loss
Feed on old memories, no longer needed.

Playful dolphin thoughts chasing boats
Jumping, flipping and flopping
Laughter, smiles, carefree and inquisitive
Create their own fun as they go.

Treacherous ego barracuda thoughts
Sleek and ferocious, baring menacing teeth
Doubt, worry, anger and fear
Eat up happy thoughts, disrupting the harmonious sea.

The sudden sunrise thought of the whale’s fluke
Spanning the horizon with graceful ease
Surprise, awe, beauty and epiphany
Silently slip back below, ripples of smiles in its wake.

Thoughts constantly moving
Interacting, evolving and creating
Never going backwards or stopping
In the deep blue sea of my mind.


Digg!
My Zimbio

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Oneness - Part I

You may have been wondering about this image. The image in my Profile. It is my own creation that symbolizes an important aspect of my personal "spiritual journey of remembering". It symbolizes Oneness. This Post is the first in a series of Posts that will discuss my interpretation of this image and the concept of Oneness.

The symbol is "one" - specifically (little "o", the infinity sign, and little "e").

So I'm going to start at the beginning with "o". Our physical universe, God's creation and ours, is an illusion. In this realm of physical illustion the individual and the ego tend to dominate our perspective. Given that, our first step in understanding Oneness is to define it as "We are all One." If, however, we step back from this realm of physcal illusion to our ultimate reality where we are our purest energy, our souls, our understanding of oneness can deepen. We can the broaden the idea of Oneness to include the fact that "God is everything." God is everything means that god is "all" of the energy, us, the grass, the water, etc. You may think of it as God is in each of us and we are in God and that point Oneness means that "All is One."

For this discussion I will focus on Oneness as it has been, is, and can be understood within our physical illusion i.e. the universe.

Oneness is not a new concept. In Mayan Cosmology (the most recent period starting around 3100 b.c.) there is a saying - "In lak’ech …A lak’en" which means "I am you, and you are me. What I do to myself, and everything that lives, I do to you. What you do to yourself and all that is in this universe, you do to me." Around 2500 b.c. the Vedic form of Sanskrit became stadardized. The Sanskrit word Namaste, which means "The Light of God in Me recognizes and honors The Light of God in You and in that recognition is our Oneness."The dates given just indicate a ballpark estimate by scholars as to when a period began, but does not help us determine - with any accuracy - whan each civilization developed this common concept.

Now, jump forward four or five thousand years. The Beatles sang "Iam you and you are me and we are all together." The time they spent in Indian in the 1960s clearly had a profound influence on them. They brought the ancient concpet of Oneness to the majority of the Western world for the first time. And, they it inserted smack dab into the middle of the mainstream at time of enormous cultural, societale, politcal and spiritual reflection, upheaval and transformation.

Oneness is a universal truth that has been know in many times, places and societies. Many thousands of years and many thousands of miles seperate many cultures that -on the surface - are very different, but clearly they came to the same conclusions and all are One at their core.

Hopefully, this will give you plenty to ponder until my next installment/Post on this topic. I'm curious to know your thoughts.

Oh, and I AM the walrus. koo koo ka choo

Namaste

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My Zimbio

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Just One Word

There is no right or wrong answer to this. Distill the following down to just one word:

"Today I will not think about that which no longer exists."


Please share your "word" with us by Commenting to this Post.

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My Zimbio

Sunday, January 13, 2008

My New Book is Being Released Soon

Time and Space Stand Still
by Dave Dorgan
Published by Chalani Resources

A near fatal illness was the catalyst that jump started the author's spiritual journey of remembering. Time and Space Stand Still is a thought provoking collection of short stories, anecdotes, essays and poems from the first year of that renewed journey.

Read excerpts from the book and sign up for an e-mail alert when the book is available.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Stop Thinking

When taking a test, why do people always tell us to trust our first answer? Why do we remember some person's name that was elusively on the tip of your tongue earlier, in the shower or before we drift off to sleep? Why do we have some our greatest creative ideas in the shower? When we are doing a crossword puzzle and get stuck on a word for an eternity, why do people suggest that we put it down for a while? And, why is it that when we pick up the puzzle a little later the letters practically jump into the boxes? The answer to all of these questions is "because that is when we are not thinking" or "we stopped thinking so much".

The complete title of this piece should be "Stop Thinking and Just Know" or, even better - "Don't Think with Your Brain, Know with Your Soul". When you know that God is part of you - in your soul (what Hindus call Atma), you also know that God's infinite knowledge - or if you prefer, the infinite knowledge of the Universe - is also in your soul. Those moments when you are in the shower or drifting of to sleep or even driving you car, are moments when you are knowing with your soul. You are not consciously trying to think and in doing so, you brain is left out of the process. The great Yoga master Swami Sivananda put it in a very simple yet profound way when he referred to this as "knowing without thinking".

So, why is thinking and knowing so different?

First, thinking with your brain is not a bad thing. In our daily lives, we use our brains all of the time to do analytical thinking, to store and recall names and dates, remember the size of our paycheck, to do basic problem solving, and to do our taxes - ugggh. The soul, on the other hand, provides answers to things that we may not have stored in our brains - no matter how many analytical processes we draw on to attempt to connect the dots. The soul provides us with solutions that we never even would have considered with our brains. The soul gives us creative ideas and what we call "thinking outside of the box". It is an always open door to God's infinite knowledge, which is really in our soul. The soul points out that we already had the answer, but our brains stomped right on it by over-analyzing. When just one strand of lights goes out on the Christmas tree, the brain tells us to run to the hardware store and buy some more, but the soul tells us how to fix the problem. If we just ask for the solution (true story).

Second, you need to realize that knowing with your soul is instantaneous and thinking with your brain takes time. Think of your brain as a computer that you ask a question and it does some processing - some analysis - and gives you an answer. No matter how powerful the computer is, there is still some amount of time elapsing between asking the question and having the answer. That wee bit of time, now matter how brief, is the problem. Even one millisecond allows the destructive ego to slip in and muddy the waters with its various forms of doubt, second guessing, and pride. Some people like to distill this phenomenon down to cutesy clichés like "paralysis by analysis", but these phrases do nothing to explain why this occurs.

Our souls always have – or have access to - the infinite knowledge of God, the universe. When we come back into the physical world as babes, our souls have all of that knowledge and our brains are virtually empty except for our basic survival instincts. This explains the sometimes extraordinary spiritual abilities of children – even the very young. There is lots of knowing and very little thinking. Our brains start out as empty sponges and as we grow, our brain fills with all kinds of knowledge, experiences, societal values and dogmas. As our brain fills with these things, the ego also grows. Gradually, our ego draws us to the thinking side – often destructive thinking – and we are drawn away from knowing/listening to our souls.

I have been a computer programmer and system designer for over 20 years and know all too well that the best designs or a fix to a nagging bug come to me in the shower or when throwing a ball around for 15 minutes at work.

Throughout time, many great artists have known the powerful role that knowing plays in the creative process. It has been described in many ways, the inner voice, listening to God, and divine inspiration, to name but a few. And, in the end, it all distills down to the idea of knowing/listening to the soul.


When I am traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that ideas flow best and most abundantly. - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The great jazz guitarist, Pat Martino, on the topic of improvisation, once said, "Try to learn everything you can, and then forget it." i.e. stop thinking with your brain. Great improvisation is instantaneous - from the soul. Sometimes you might just be noodling around on an instrument. You look up unknown minutes later not even remembering what you just played and your friend is just staring at you. One of you eventually says what the other one is thinking, "Where the hell did that come from?" That, my friends, is a beautiful moment!

When things in your day are clicking or flowing, when there are truly no problems and just solutions, you are knowing with your soul. This is sometimes referred to as “just being” or the “I AM”. God has already provided the answers for you. You don't "access" them. They are already there - you just have to know it. When you are consciously aware of this, you can readily apply it to any aspect of your life. More and more it will just happen, and you will be aware of it. You will observe it happening. You will become fearless, because you will know that all of the answers are inside of you.

In your spiritual endeavors, be willing to try things you've never done before. You grow by taking chances and not worrying about making mistakes, the outcome, or what others will think. Whether it be astral projection, healing, talking to Gautama or God or and Archangel (true stories), just know that there are no right or wrong ways. Any real truth or skill can be distilled down to the exquisitely simple.

The trick is then to take the concept of knowing from the conceptual to the experiential. To listen to what is inside of you or to believe that you have it all inside of you is daunting for most people. Our egos, thinking, put the doubt, second guessing, etc… inside of us. We find it easier to look outside for answers.

Here is one little exercise to use to nudge you in the right direction. It will help you get comfortable with knowing that you have access to the infinite knowledge of God/the universe. Over time you will start to realize that it is all inside of you. When you have a question or problem, visualize the question being written down on a fine piece of square parchment. Say the question in your mind. See the four corners of the parchment folded in to meet in the middle and then sealed with red wax and a stamp. Now visualize the sealed question being sent floating off into the universe. Then forget about it – let it go from you mind so that you are not thinking about it. At some point – often very quickly – an answer will come to you in some form. It may just pop into your head, or be triggered by a song, a TV add, or something someone says. Don’t be looking for it to come, but when it does, you’ll say “Ohhh.” Don’t second guess it or doubt it. Go with it and thank God/the universe for the blessing i.e. express gratitude. Practice this often and over time you will transition to just asking the question in your head without the need of the visualization. You will know that the answer is inside of you.

The reality is that you don't need me or anyone else to help or tell you how to do this. Be your own guru. Just know that you are already doing it. So start thinking less often and start knowing more often.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Creating Your Reality - The Disclaimers

CREATING – USER’S MANUAL

You are now the proud owner of the realization that you were born with this extremely powerful Tool within you. It is crucial for you (the proud owner) to read and understand the following Disclaimers before taking another step in life (besides, it keeps the lawyers in business). Enjoy your Tool and have a nice life!

DISCLAIMERS

- This Tool is intended to be used only for the use for which it was designed.
- Do not use this Tool while driving a motorized vehicle.
Do not attempt to change other people (or light bulbs, for that matter) with this Tool.
- Do not attempt to use this Tool with any form of malicious intent toward others (unless you hope to one day say “Luke, I am your father.”).
- Failure to read this entire Instruction Manual completely could result in the improper use of the Tool resulting in unforeseen results.
- Failure to not realize that you are ALWAYS using this Tool could result in unforeseen results.


So what is this Tool, you ask? It is the ability to create. We are all creators and our thoughts create our reality. This is not a new concept. Buddha said, "The mind is everything. What we think we become." The book and movie The Secret brought The Law of Attraction to the cultural mainstream of the early 20th century zeitgeist. In between the time of Buddha and today, the application of this concept has been taught and applied in different forms under different names innumerable times the world over. Affirmations, prayers, mantras, manifesting, the power of positive thinking, and creative visualization have helped many people achieve all varieties of personal goals and desires. For the sake of clarity here, I will distill all of the above terms down to one - creating. The ability to create has helped people achieve financial success, behavioral changes, finding the perfect partner, healing, spiritual growth, and many more things.

Clearly, creating is a very powerful Tool. Like most powerful Tools, it is important to not only learn how to use it properly, but to also understand the potential negative ramifications of not completely understanding the tool or not using the tool properly. There are many thousands of teachers, books, CDs, DVDs on how to create effectively. They teach many methods, but there are generally some common “do’s” to keep in mind when creating, for example – phrasing your thoughts in the present instead of future tense, the use of “I am” instead of “I want” or “I wish”, and being specific. As far as Disclaimers go, usually only number two in the list above is ever mentioned. The focus here will be on Disclaimer number six.

Energy – in many different forms - is the “stuff” that is the basic building material of everything in the universe. Matter is made up of energy, which gives us atoms, and molecules, and cells, and the periodic table of elements, and the planets, and grass clippings, and dog poop in the backyard. In school, we learn about some of the non-physical forms of energy, like light and sound. And, “energy flows where our thoughts go”. We are literally using energy to convert energy from one form to another. It is this process that, today, has many quantum physicists very excited. Put very simply, what we do with our minds is akin to what happens when one observes the behavior of very small particles. The observer has an influence on the behavior of the particles and becomes an active participant instead of just an observer.

Our thoughts are ALWAYS creating our reality, not just when we want them to. Our thoughts, our emotions, and our actions are all energy. That means that not just our intentional positive thoughts, emotions, and actions create our reality, but also our unintentional negative ones like complaining, lying, fear, worry, and guilt. The universe does not know that you were “just joking”. When life is working out the way we want it to, we whole heartedly embrace the idea of “what we think we become”. Just as importantly, when things go badly we can’t, won’t, or don’t want to admit the possibility that we may have created that situation, too. What tends to happen when we don’t like the new reality that we have created? We look “externally” for scapegoats. We blame fate, bad luck, God’s will, somebody else, divine intervention, or whatever is quick and relieves us of any accountability. In actuality we should be looking “internally” and trying to understand the reasons for our less than desirable creations.

Imagine that you awaken one morning and you really don't want to go to work that day. You're not sick. Maybe you just need of an "emotional health" day. The problem is that you feel guilty about lying to your boss or calling in sick again. After a short wrestling match in your mind, you call your employer (hoping to get voice mail) and provide some “story” as to why you can’t make it into work that day. Perhaps you say that you’re sick, or your child is sick and/or needs to go to the doctor, or maybe you have to take your car into the shop. The excuse really doesn’t matter, but every time that you think it, say it, or do it you are reinforcing the creative process. You may very much dislike your job. How many times have you said or thought, “I hate my job.”? Once again, you are creating. Are you surprised when one day you find that your job has been phased out? Or, perhaps the next day you really are sick, or your child is sick, or your car really does have to go to the shop. Even worse, the next day you are driving to work and you get blind sided by another car. You end up in the Emergency Room, your car goes to the shop and you lose your job. This scenario may sound “far fetched”, but read about the author Neale Donald Walsch and you may reconsider.

Some variation on this theme is taking place more often than most people believe. Do you every say to yourself, out loud or in your head, “How could I be so stupid?” or “I’m such an idiot!”? It is somewhat ironic that one of the most common forms of camaraderie is two or more people sitting around having a “bitch session”. Have you ever said “Come on, we’re going to be late!” when trying to load your family into the car? You look at your watch every 30 seconds all of the way to your destination. Upon finally arriving, you can’t believe that you hit every red light. Sadly, there are many more examples of this type of creating.

Here’s the problem. We are born with the ability to create and we are ALWAYS creating whether we want to or not and whether we know it or not. Many people live there entire life – many times over - without ever knowing that they have this tool inside of them. It’s almost like someone throws the User’s Manual in the circular file in the Delivery room the day we are born. That would be the same manual that covers relationships, parenting and a number of other important topics. Every day we see the results of that reality – in person, in the media, everywhere. With all of this in mind, let me provide some ideas for how to avoid the misuse and pitfalls of this wonderful, powerful tool. You will notice that the common thread throughout is “think” and this often needs to be accompanied by a change in perspective or habit. I’m sure that you can come up with other – better – ideas. The key is to make it personal to you.

- Know that you are ALWAYS creating.
- Know that every moment your thoughts, emotions and actions are defining who you are and creating your new reality.
- This may be an oldie but consider the very appropriate saying “Be sure to put brain in gear before engaging mouth”.
- Slow down – think about what you are doing and saying. Think about what the ramifications could be. Are you creating? If you have to ask, the answer is probably “yes”. At first, you may find yourself mostly “reviewing” what you already thought or did. Over time you will start to catch yourself before you think, say, or do something. I know that it may be fun to say “SSDD”, but is it really worth it. It’s your choice, not unlike that last slice of blueberry pie sitting there calling your name.
- Come up with one or (at most) two affirmations that you can use all of the time. One example would be “there are no problems, only opportunities”. Personally, I often think “Green lights all the way!” In reality, this is a creating statement. It started as a way to get from point A to point B with out getting stressed out, but has turned into a umbrella statement for just about everything.
- Stop worrying. It won’t do any good anyway.
- Combine with #6 with stopping certain detrimental habits. For example, if I’m going somewhere – the airport or a meeting – or under any other sort of time constraint, I no longer look at my watch. It won’t make things happen faster. It will only create stress.

There is one last Disclaimer that needs to be mentioned before you utilize this Tool, because it is huge. When you create just about anything in your life, you should make, it mandatory that, at the same time, you also create the wisdom to know how to use, manage, or take care of that which you have created. Don't let your beautiful creation emulate the life of a 4th of July firework - a fast meteoric rise, followed by a brilliant and beautiful explosion of colors and sounds, and then everything burns out and slowly drifts away into the night. If you can't even balance your check book, how are you going to handle winning the lottery or a six figure income? Do you already possess the business acumen to manage your little one woman company when it grows 100 fold in less than a year? If you've been divorced three times, what do you need to learn or change in yourself before you create (attract) the "perfect mate"? The wisdom you need to create may come to you in many different forms - books, a mentor, night classes, online courses or counseling. Before you create something, think about what you need to know to get the most out of your creation. Otherwise, don't bother using the Tool - you are just wasting your time and energy. Don't cook a brilliant seven course dinner and forget to invite anyone to share it with.

So now that you’ve read and understand the Disclaimer, you are all set to enjoy a life time of creating with your new Tool. No box to recycle and no batteries required. Please submit all complaints about your Tool directly to God.



Digg!
My Zimbio