“Fortune and blessing gather where there is stillness. But if you do not keep still—this is what is called sitting but racing around.”
— Zhuangzi
Where there is stillness, fortune and blessings gather.
Do you have stillness in your mind heart body?
Meditation
Dive Into The Depths of Yourself (To Find Gold)
“I have no fear of depths, and a great fear of shallow living.”
— Anaïs Nin
Ralph Waldo Emerson also said “It is not length of life, but depth.”
Depth has multiple definitions, one of them is: “a point far below the surface.”
People dig into the Earth to find gold, minerals, things that will help themselves. But who digs into themselves to find gold within? Almost no one.
There is gold within you – there is gold within all of us, but most will never find or seek the gold within.
“Pearls don’t lie on the seashore; if you want one, you must dive for it.”
It’s easy to do what everyone else is doing – to follow the crowd, to conform, to let someone else tell you the meaning of life. But that is living on the surface; shallow living.
You will get by on the surface, but you won’t find or experience gold within your life.
You must dive within yourself to reach the gold, and it really does take years.
But you have to start somewhere.
Meditation is the place to begin.
You can be like the majority of people & live life on the surface, or you can begin your journey to the gold within yourself.
Think Your Own Thoughts
“An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t pull you down unless you allow it to get inside you.”
— Thich Nhat Hahn
From the time we are born, to the time we lose our own mind (death of individual mind), to the time we physically die, we are being told what to think.
Parents tell us what to think. Newspapers tell us what to think. Governments tells us what to think. Television tells us what to think.
Almost every child born with parents of one political party beliefs will inherit those beliefs.
People think they have their own beliefs – but they almost never do.
People’s beliefs are almost always inherited from their parents, and sometimes by their teachers.
Ce la vie.
Anyway, how can you break free from inherited beliefs and start thinking for yourself?
You have to learn to think with yourself – within your own mind – to ask yourself questions and not just answer reactively, but to dwell in it, sometimes for days, weeks, months, and then brainstorm answers.
This doesn’t happen overnight – especially in these shallow reactive emotional societies we live in.
First, before you start thinking like a philosopher, you have to meditate.
You have to let go of your thoughts and beliefs and just appreciate life beyond inherited beliefs, temporarily, as you continue on your journey.
Here is a great beginners mediation guide. Also the word psychedelic comes from two Greek words that mean “Mind Manifesting.”
The Importance of Nature
“When one loses the deep intimate relationship with nature, then temples, mosques, and churches become important.”
— Jiddu Krishnamurti
Nature surrounds us everywhere we go.
Nature is always the background, somewhere, but it’s also more than that.
The sky, sun, moon, are a part of nature. And we have the water – oceans, rivers, seas, we have trees, bumblebees, snowy hills we ski.
Nature is a living poem. It is living art. Nature is alive – and sometimes more alive than humans.
I believe that the more connected with nature we are – the more connected we become with our individual selves and the community on a global scale.
Here is a “psychedelic” journal you can bring into nature with you – and answer the writing prompts within, and follow the meditation session within this journal.
The word psychedelic comes from Greek roots: “psyche” meaning soul or mind, and “delein” meaning to manifest or reveal.
Aging versus Maturing
“Most people don’t grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.”
— Maya Angelou
Let’s face it – humans are mostly shallow.
We mostly live by appearances – the way people & things “appear” to be.
And the older people get – the more they seem to lose their inner self in order to fit in with the way things appear to be.
But the way things appear, are rarely how they actually are.
Emerson said “It is not length of life, but depth.”
If we are living in shallow, reactive, consumerist societies, where is the time for any depth?
Cultivating depth in your life is where maturing happens, and if you don’t do that, you only age – like most people.
Steve Jobs said “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”
First, understand that the majority of people on earth never find their inner voice, the inner self, and they live life reacting to life circumstances.
That is perfectly okay, but if you want to break free from the reactive ways of society, you must find your inner voice.
You have an inner voice – everybody does – but like I said, they usually lose it as they age.
If it was easy, everyone would do it. What is easy is losing your voice to conform to what’s going on outside of you. What is easy is following.
What is difficult, is leading. Especially leading from within.
People will call you crazy for having a life & mind of your own, since they’ve conformed to the shallow ways of society. But those are the people you do not want to listen to, or fit in with, if you want to have depth in your life.
Be in the world but not of it!!!
Spend time alone with yourself, away from the tv and technology – to connect with yourself. To detach from the outside world and seek the power within yourself.
Meditate. Go into nature.
Nikola Tesla said “The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude.”
If you’re never alone, it’s almost impossible to know who you really are – and I think the majority of people don’t care or are afraid of being with themselves.
Blaise Pascal said “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
If you can enjoy spending time with yourself, alone with yourself – you will begin finding depth in your life – although you may be called strange. That’s ok. I’m very strange, and I love myself.
Jiddu Krishnamurti said “It is of no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
So you can spend your life trying to fit in with shallow people, or you can take the journey of self discovery.
Will you age? Or mature?
The choice is yours.
Inner Peace Is A Miracle
“People say walking on water is a miracle, but to me walking peacefully on earth is the real miracle.”
— Thich Nhat Hahn
I think most people would rather observe a miracle than have peace of mind, and I can’t blame them.
To see Jesus walk on water would be quite the sight.
But what if there was a deep cosmic miraculous peace within each of us?
Supposedly the Kingdom of Heaven is within each of us, and I believe that.
That seems like a miracle – to seek the kingdom of heaven and find it within yourself…
How can we begin to obtain inner peace?
Meditation is a good place to start.
Here is a meditation guide I wrote that can help — just ignore the psychedelic part of it (although psychedelics are helping many humans now and into the future.)
Begin with this.
You Need A Stronger Mind
“If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation.”
— Epictetus
Some miserable people live their life looking for the next opportunity to provoke or bother someone.
Don’t let it be you.
Even if they go out of their way to insult you – you can’t get angry if you have a strong mind.
The easy route is to be annoyed, to be miserable, to be distracted, to be hopeless, to be disempowered.
And the hard route is to live as an empowered individual. To remain calm, centered, and uneffected by the hate & misery of others.
Provocation is just another distraction sent by the ignorant to destroy your inner peace.
The ignorant have no life of their own so they become lifeless parasites, literally like diseased bugs, trying to spread their disease – their hate, misery, violence, ignorance, pain, etc. and they’ll get you if you don’t put your bug spray on.
And what is your bug spray in this situation? It’s focus.
You must remain focused on your mind and your life.
What are you doing with your life?
Where are you going?
What do you want your life to be like 2 years from now? 5 years. 10 years.
Maintain a long term vision, add goals, and act toward your best life, and when other people call you “difficult” it’s because you can’t be provoked or manipulated.
Stay true to your life path.
Ignore the haters.
Focus. Win.
True Peace Is Within
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
— Buddha
Have you ever felt anxious or scared and immediately sought a person or an item to calm your nerves?
I have.
I’ve sought out spiritual teachers from multiple religions. I’ve read books. I’ve used items.
These teachers and books and items have helped calm my mind and heart, but I never became dependent on them.
They pointed the way towards true peace – and that way was within myself.
You’ll likely never find peace in politics – as it’s always changing and politicians lie and attack each other… there’s no peace in that, but a large number of people look to politicians for some reason.
So how do you discover peace within yourself?
Begin by meditating.
It won’t happen overnight, but if you seek peace for long enough – you will have it.
Opinions and Reality
“In Zen they say: ‘Don’t seek the truth. Just cease to cherish opinions.’ What does that mean? Let go of identification with your mind. Who you are beyond the mind then emerges by itself.”
— Eckhart Tolle
This idea is one that I am still practicing, and it is of a zen-type origin.
The reality that we all are much more & less than the opinions we create & speak about ourselves & others.
The idea that our real self is an experience beyond words.
This is an idea & a reality that is difficult to comprehend & even more difficult to experience, yet it is liberating to practice.
It’a at least a meditation, and at most a way of life.
What opinions are you holding within yourself that weigh you down? Opinions that anger you? Opinions that limit your experience?
Here’s a meditation guide to get you started.
Fight For Your Mental Freedom
“If the words ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ don’t include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn’t worth the hemp it was written on.”
— Terence McKenna
Experimenting with your consciousness is not for everyone, and it’s sometime seen as taboo, but it should always remain open to experiment with. Clearly. Even if it brings clouds & smoke your way at times, it can also bring clarity and love.
I don’t encourage anyone to experiment with their consciousness. I encourage people to do what works for them.
I, though, once or twice a year, use a high dosage of a psychedelic, and it takes me to often heavenly and sometimes hellish places … it’s worth it to me every time, since I rarely do it, and since the experience is so alien & cosmic & beautiful, for me at least.
The integrations before during & after are important, but sometimes the purpose is about the experience itself; nothing more & nothing less. There & then. Here & now.
It’s not for everyone, but if you’re interested in the psychedelic experience, here is a guide containing preparations & activities before during & after your experience.
Trip well 🙂
With Ken Thompson 