Friday, November 27, 2009

Are You Living By Remote Control?


I keep remembering your voice. Subdued? Down? Depressed?

I know that voice, as it has been part of my life at different times. I can still hear it in my head at times, though I have made it my Practice to not give it any power, or believe it is Real.

In India, I learned the difference between happiness and joy.

For many years in the early 2000s, I had a low grade depression going all the time. I couldn't identify why I felt this way, though I had lots of theories about who to blame and what needed to be different.

Some friends insisted I go with them to a Paula White revival, a giant event held in Tampa at a sports stadium. Do you know Paula White? She is perhaps 40, and had a life of HELL (on all levels) before she was born again. She specializes in pumping people up, injecting them with Jesus, getting them out of their Blue Funks.

But as I stood there, listening to some great black gospel music and swaying with the crowd, I knew my depression was still with me. Even Paula White couldn't shake me out of it.

Studying with some of the living masters in India (I concept we don't have in the West, that is, people who are considered Divine contemporaries. We think of Jesus as the only one in our culture, and he is long gone) I learned a giant principle. This principal echoed a teaching I learned while studying Sivananda Yoga: I AM BLISS, BLISS I AM. What I learned is that the true nature of human being is JOY. The best evidence I have of this truth is babies. See how naturally joyous they are? Remember what you would do to get your babies to smile or giggle? How did you know you would be able to get them to respond with JOY? Because, that was their being, that was what was inside them. The nature of human being is Pure Abundant Joy.

What happens is that all of the stuff that is happening around us, from day to day, begins to dull us, fatigue us, wear us down. We begin to identify with what is going on Out There, rather than In Here. We let the nasty opinions, rude behavior and unfairnesses of others begin to define how we feel. We surrender our power, we give away our peace, and become remote controlled by external factors. You know all of these factors in your life.

"So now what?" you ask.

Just wake up to this awareness, and life shifts in an Extraordinary Way.

You remember you are Bliss Absolute, and just like the babies, you have JOY at your center.

This Joy is not the same as the happiness that can come from a good cup of coffee, crispy potato chips or a new outfit. That stuff is just the manmade highs that we seek to distract ourselves from the pain of remote control living.

Can you see the difference between Joy and Happiness?

JOY is who you are. There is no more need to seek it or yearn for it. All you have to do is acknowledge it and allow it to bubble up...it sits, waiting, deep within you. Remember, the Buddha taught us that, "Neither praise nor blame shall move me," as that is allowing the remote control living.

I pray this little lesson brings you immediate HOPE.


I love you!

1 comment:

  1. How true, It is so important to know and like ourselves and bring this state to others. We cannot be determined by others, we must determine our own essence. Sometimes external forces can be negative but we must rise above it. MOMMIO

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