Hey Ma Mu! Who decided to write just now - I don’t care, but I feel like it is me, just me, telling you in this moment, that it sounds very interesting to me what you wrote and I wait for part 2. Don’t know however, if I then will read it. But if I understand you right, it will not be important. 😊 beate
As a (now retired) clinical psychologist and (still active) spiritual seeker, I too have pondered over the knotty and paradoxical issue of free will.
Which, I agree, is a very Western concept.
The study of psychology - as you would expect - shows just how much of our behaviour is determined, between the biological/genetic factors and the behavioural/social ones.
It's quite sobering, really.
Yet as a spiritual seeker, I have to believe in a tiny core of free will that we all can access. (In the end, I acknowledge that this might be because it is simply too depressing to think otherwise.)
One of my early influences was Viktor Frankl, who was a jew in the holocaust, losing his wife and children and all the rest of his family and enduring horrific conditions himself in one of the camps.
Which, I think, gave him the right to speak of such existential matters.
From his book "Man's Search for Meaning" (back in the pre-PC days):
"Our ultimate freedom, which cannot be taken away, is our freedom to choose our attitude in any given situation."
(I'm quoting something that was burned into my memory 50 years ago... I also replaced "man's" with "our", but please allow me some creative licence !)
Now, you might argue that even that is determined by who we are, and everything that has made us up to this point, and there is no good definitive rebuttal to that.
The Christian mystics (my understanding from study and contemplation, though I cannot claim to be either a Christian or a mystic) have a concept that I think is very similar to the Eastern ones you talk about: that we are free to follow the Will of God, or not.
But ultimately the Will of God will prevail, because - again, my understanding - is that it is not possible to win against God, the All-that-is.
Morehei Ueshiba, the founder of the martial art of Aikido (which I studied and practised for over 10 years) also taught this and applied it as one of his deeper principles:
"I am one with the Universe. If you attack me you cannot win, because you are attacking the Universe itself."
So they are all saying this: you have a choice - either flow with the Universe or try to fight it.
But ultimately, trying to fight the Universe is not going to get you anywhere!
BTW, I have not yet read the Nisargdatta Maharej book - though I have downloaded it. Thank you for the link.
And I am sure you will say all this - and more - much more eloquently in your next essay!
I remember Victor Frankl. When it comes to the dualistic human plane of suffering and understanding and acceptance , it can't get more profound. Beyond that, but encompassing it all, is the non-dual plane of the mystic world. So far, only a tiny fraction gets attracted to it. But intentional spiritual widespread use of psychedelics could change that. It is a new technology, more important than the microscope or telescope. It could create the paradigm shift needed for the human race to survive. However, scientists and the medical profession is attempting to control it. Unlike most pro-psychedelic people I am with Timothy Leary. There is a reason why Nixon called him the most dangerous man in America. If one of the most corrupt presidents of the corrupt oppressing elite is scared of LSD for a society we should think deeply about that. I hope no-one is still so naive to think they prohibit drugs to protect us. Shamans where always the tip of human consciousness and they always were guided by the power of these molecules. They are the tools to overcome dualistic thinking which is at the very core of human suffering.
I share your concerns about the legalisation of psychedelics - or the way that they are talking about doing it.
And I get your point about transcending the dualistic plane of human life...
Growing up in the sixties, LSD and magic mushies were part of my coming-of-age, and there was a strongly spiritual aspect to the movement - as well as the idealistic rebellion against the mainstream establishment, with Vietnam war protests and so on. As you probably remember.
It spearheaded the huge personal growth movement (also with many spiritual streams) of the 70s & 80s... which then sort of fizzled out.
LSD was used by transpersonal therapists like Dr Stan Grof (a psychiatrist) in a wider framework of spiritual wakening and "emergence" (rather than "emergency"), and there is quite an extensive body of knowledge about the use of psychedelics in this way.
Maybe not controlled double-blind studies, but still good clinical information.
Now they are trying to reinvent the wheel - long after Stan Grof & Ram Dass (and the Beatles too!) moved on to breathwork and meditation. I think there is a place for the use of psychedelics - and I hope you are right about creating a paradigm shift... but in the current climate of mistrust of the medical establishment, I have my doubts.
These days, ayahuasca seems to be the shamanic sacred plant of choice, for seekers - and so far, it has not been made illegal. But you still have to go to Peru or Ecuador to access it - and right now that is not at all easy (or cheap). Perhaps not a bad thing, because the spiritual journey does always require overcoming obstacles on the path...
Still, on a more optimistic note, I do see a new movement of awakening, and a new generation of spiritual seekers seems to be blossoming. From the perspective of someone who grew up in the sixties & was part of the growth movement of those decades, it all seems a bit watered down - but maybe at least partly that is due to the jadedness of age!
Great summary, thank you. People forget that the biggest social movements we ever had all manifested it in the sixties and early seventies and correlate with the widespread use of psychedelics. After prohibition they went underground apparently igniting Silicon Valley and the Internet. This makes total sense as funghis are the masters of connection and networking. My persollllnal experience of psychedelic molecules are that of a vastly superior intelligence. I trust whatever they are doing. All will be good.
That's a wonderful thought! ...several wonderful thoughts.
Back to my comment about free will: I choose to believe we do have a tiny core of free will, because it would be too depressing to believe otherwise. And similarly, we have to hold onto some hopeful thoughts about the world and its doings.
And of course, if we access non-duality, then everything is proceeding as it should, and all of this is just an illusion, a crazy video game that has no ultimate meaning!
Having no free will is the opposite of depressing in my experience. Hopefully I am able to bring that across at the end. Giving up on the idea of a personal free will, will align us with "the will of the universe", if you will (pun intended :-) I am working on it and really appreciate your feed-back. Thanks.
I was gonna comment to MaMu that Terrence McKenna would disagree about the newness and novelty of changing consciousness with plants....we've been doing this for millennia. Moses' burning bush (acacia?), The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross - and really, anything by Terence McKenna.
The only reason it is "new" is because governments cracked down on it in an intense way.
Ah, yes! I read "Mastery" on the recommendation of my cartooning teacher - a course for people who couldn't draw (and ended up with an illustrated childrens' book which is now self-published on Amazon!)
Haven't read "The Silent Pulse", but I will certainly follow up.
I'm all for hopeful messaging and frameworks, especially now that we humans seem to be heading for the bottom at great speed. :)
My first thought on this one is: The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz.
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally
3. Don't make assumptions
4. Always do your best.
#2 is a really challenging one. Carolyn Myss talks about trauma - that it is personal and impersonal. Impersonal because it happens, all the time, everywhere. Personal because it happened to YOU. But when you pull out the layers of fate (Wyrd, karma, dharma?) - there is no victim, there is no blame. Because of #2.
Hey Ma Mu! Who decided to write just now - I don’t care, but I feel like it is me, just me, telling you in this moment, that it sounds very interesting to me what you wrote and I wait for part 2. Don’t know however, if I then will read it. But if I understand you right, it will not be important. 😊 beate
Exactly. You got it. :-)
As a (now retired) clinical psychologist and (still active) spiritual seeker, I too have pondered over the knotty and paradoxical issue of free will.
Which, I agree, is a very Western concept.
The study of psychology - as you would expect - shows just how much of our behaviour is determined, between the biological/genetic factors and the behavioural/social ones.
It's quite sobering, really.
Yet as a spiritual seeker, I have to believe in a tiny core of free will that we all can access. (In the end, I acknowledge that this might be because it is simply too depressing to think otherwise.)
One of my early influences was Viktor Frankl, who was a jew in the holocaust, losing his wife and children and all the rest of his family and enduring horrific conditions himself in one of the camps.
Which, I think, gave him the right to speak of such existential matters.
From his book "Man's Search for Meaning" (back in the pre-PC days):
"Our ultimate freedom, which cannot be taken away, is our freedom to choose our attitude in any given situation."
(I'm quoting something that was burned into my memory 50 years ago... I also replaced "man's" with "our", but please allow me some creative licence !)
Now, you might argue that even that is determined by who we are, and everything that has made us up to this point, and there is no good definitive rebuttal to that.
The Christian mystics (my understanding from study and contemplation, though I cannot claim to be either a Christian or a mystic) have a concept that I think is very similar to the Eastern ones you talk about: that we are free to follow the Will of God, or not.
But ultimately the Will of God will prevail, because - again, my understanding - is that it is not possible to win against God, the All-that-is.
Morehei Ueshiba, the founder of the martial art of Aikido (which I studied and practised for over 10 years) also taught this and applied it as one of his deeper principles:
"I am one with the Universe. If you attack me you cannot win, because you are attacking the Universe itself."
So they are all saying this: you have a choice - either flow with the Universe or try to fight it.
But ultimately, trying to fight the Universe is not going to get you anywhere!
BTW, I have not yet read the Nisargdatta Maharej book - though I have downloaded it. Thank you for the link.
And I am sure you will say all this - and more - much more eloquently in your next essay!
I remember Victor Frankl. When it comes to the dualistic human plane of suffering and understanding and acceptance , it can't get more profound. Beyond that, but encompassing it all, is the non-dual plane of the mystic world. So far, only a tiny fraction gets attracted to it. But intentional spiritual widespread use of psychedelics could change that. It is a new technology, more important than the microscope or telescope. It could create the paradigm shift needed for the human race to survive. However, scientists and the medical profession is attempting to control it. Unlike most pro-psychedelic people I am with Timothy Leary. There is a reason why Nixon called him the most dangerous man in America. If one of the most corrupt presidents of the corrupt oppressing elite is scared of LSD for a society we should think deeply about that. I hope no-one is still so naive to think they prohibit drugs to protect us. Shamans where always the tip of human consciousness and they always were guided by the power of these molecules. They are the tools to overcome dualistic thinking which is at the very core of human suffering.
I share your concerns about the legalisation of psychedelics - or the way that they are talking about doing it.
And I get your point about transcending the dualistic plane of human life...
Growing up in the sixties, LSD and magic mushies were part of my coming-of-age, and there was a strongly spiritual aspect to the movement - as well as the idealistic rebellion against the mainstream establishment, with Vietnam war protests and so on. As you probably remember.
It spearheaded the huge personal growth movement (also with many spiritual streams) of the 70s & 80s... which then sort of fizzled out.
LSD was used by transpersonal therapists like Dr Stan Grof (a psychiatrist) in a wider framework of spiritual wakening and "emergence" (rather than "emergency"), and there is quite an extensive body of knowledge about the use of psychedelics in this way.
Maybe not controlled double-blind studies, but still good clinical information.
Now they are trying to reinvent the wheel - long after Stan Grof & Ram Dass (and the Beatles too!) moved on to breathwork and meditation. I think there is a place for the use of psychedelics - and I hope you are right about creating a paradigm shift... but in the current climate of mistrust of the medical establishment, I have my doubts.
These days, ayahuasca seems to be the shamanic sacred plant of choice, for seekers - and so far, it has not been made illegal. But you still have to go to Peru or Ecuador to access it - and right now that is not at all easy (or cheap). Perhaps not a bad thing, because the spiritual journey does always require overcoming obstacles on the path...
Still, on a more optimistic note, I do see a new movement of awakening, and a new generation of spiritual seekers seems to be blossoming. From the perspective of someone who grew up in the sixties & was part of the growth movement of those decades, it all seems a bit watered down - but maybe at least partly that is due to the jadedness of age!
Great summary, thank you. People forget that the biggest social movements we ever had all manifested it in the sixties and early seventies and correlate with the widespread use of psychedelics. After prohibition they went underground apparently igniting Silicon Valley and the Internet. This makes total sense as funghis are the masters of connection and networking. My persollllnal experience of psychedelic molecules are that of a vastly superior intelligence. I trust whatever they are doing. All will be good.
That's a wonderful thought! ...several wonderful thoughts.
Back to my comment about free will: I choose to believe we do have a tiny core of free will, because it would be too depressing to believe otherwise. And similarly, we have to hold onto some hopeful thoughts about the world and its doings.
And of course, if we access non-duality, then everything is proceeding as it should, and all of this is just an illusion, a crazy video game that has no ultimate meaning!
Having no free will is the opposite of depressing in my experience. Hopefully I am able to bring that across at the end. Giving up on the idea of a personal free will, will align us with "the will of the universe", if you will (pun intended :-) I am working on it and really appreciate your feed-back. Thanks.
Peaceful Mountain Way in Kentucky. (aya)
I was gonna comment to MaMu that Terrence McKenna would disagree about the newness and novelty of changing consciousness with plants....we've been doing this for millennia. Moses' burning bush (acacia?), The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross - and really, anything by Terence McKenna.
The only reason it is "new" is because governments cracked down on it in an intense way.
If you haven't read George Leonard's "Mastery," I get the feeling you will enjoy it.
Equally enjoyable is his "The Silent Pulse."
Ah, yes! I read "Mastery" on the recommendation of my cartooning teacher - a course for people who couldn't draw (and ended up with an illustrated childrens' book which is now self-published on Amazon!)
Haven't read "The Silent Pulse", but I will certainly follow up.
I'm all for hopeful messaging and frameworks, especially now that we humans seem to be heading for the bottom at great speed. :)
My first thought on this one is: The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz.
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally
3. Don't make assumptions
4. Always do your best.
#2 is a really challenging one. Carolyn Myss talks about trauma - that it is personal and impersonal. Impersonal because it happens, all the time, everywhere. Personal because it happened to YOU. But when you pull out the layers of fate (Wyrd, karma, dharma?) - there is no victim, there is no blame. Because of #2.