Spiritual teacher's blog. The teacher/student relationship. Are spirituality and therapy compatible?

Pandora's Box: Faith vs. Hope in the Journey of Spirit

2/22/2015

Pandora brought the box of ills and opened it. It was the gift of the gods to men, outwardly a beautiful and seductive gift, and called the Casket of Happiness. Out of it flew all the evils, living winged creatures, thence they now circulate and do men injury day and night. One single evil had not yet escaped from the box, and by the will of Zeus Pandora closed the lid and it remained within. Now for ever man has the casket of happiness in his house and thinks he holds a great treasure; it is at his disposal, he stretches out his hand for it whenever he desires; for he does not know the box which Pandora brought was the casket of evil, and he believes the ill which remains within to be the greatest blessing, it is hope. Zeus did not wish man, however much he might be tormented by the other evils, to fling away his life, but to go on letting himself be tormented again and again. Therefore he gives Man hope,- in reality it is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of Man. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche (Human All Too Human, 71. Hope)

In the story of Pandora that I read as a child, hope was the most terrible thing in her box. I have read several versions, and most side with the usual interpretation that hope is good. Some versions leave hope in the box which Pandora slams shut in fear. Some let hope escape as if it were a merciful and curative addition to the other terrors that emerge including toil, sickness, pain and death. But if hope was considered good, why did the Greeks include hope as one of the evils in Pandora’s box? I think Nietzsche got it right. Hope is the worst evil.

In the sessions I hold in my psychotherapy office my clients often resort to hope. It is my sad obligation to release them from this delusive comfort. If you maintain hope when what you hope for is hopeless you will use up your brief and precious time.

Nietzsche said that hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man. I witness this daily as I speak with people in the throes of unrequited love or failing marriages. I witness it in the self-inflation of those who imagine themselves as more than they are despite daily evidence to the contrary. I witness it in those who want the easy way out and eschew the trials and discipline of transformation. Hope is the enemy of these individuals.

As a psychotherapist I am engaged in encouraging human transformation. Here in the trenches of early self-discovery are the stabs that hurt the most. This is where you realize that your mother’s love can’t protect you in life, and that if she babied you then you are in for an even rougher ride. It can also be where you find out that you secretly cherish injury and weave it into a form of justification for your failures or refusals. Perhaps you doubt your God or face your own petty jealousy with embarrassment and shame. We are simple beings after all, and what torments us are sometimes vile to our higher sensibilities.

As a spiritual teacher I encourage my students to remember that the pettiness of their troubles aren’t what differentiate them from their fellows. If they are to be differentiated it will be by the courage and honesty with which they face their petty troubles. While the troubles are ordinary and repetitive, the spirit that defeats them is not.

To juxtapose an attribute that may be a great help to those on a spiritual quest with hope which we have already discredited, I bring in faith. To develop, you must have faith. How does faith differ from hope? Why would one be indicted while the other maintained? One difference between hope and faith is that in the case of faith it is possible to witness demonstrations of the higher orders of resolution that are possible. A person who has transcended suffering demonstrates that it can be done. You may also witness transformations in yourself. If you let go of a solution you don’t die. On the contrary, you are born again. You can have faith in this process of transformation because you know it from within and see it in others around you. Although you may not have witnessed it at an order that relieves you of suffering altogether, you do witness transformation in principal. In other words, you can have faith that you witness both in the person of the one who has succeeded and in your own personal experience when you arrive at a new level of solution.

Hope can easily attach itself to fantasy. Our visions of what will fulfill us multiply and divide, and move chameleon like through our lives. Upon examination these visions can be shown to be contradictory. Unfounded hope thrives on being unexamined. The grounds of faith, on the other hand, can be discovered in seeking clarity.

An example may be seen in the case of romance. It is possible to hope for a particular romance, or to hope for a particular outcome for your romance. Hope doesn’t necessarily translate into reality. You may marry the wrong person, or stay too long in a marriage that doesn’t work. Staying too long may be justified by hope.

Faith, on the other hand, is renewed when you actually witness the truth of human development. If you remove the makeshifts, refuse false solutions and adhere to clear perception, the process of psychic expansion is apparent. And this process is repetitive. Each time you turn to face the truth unflinchingly, you are inspired to turn and face the truth some more. Eventually truth is like fresh air to you. You can stand nothing else.

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What is Attention?

2/13/2015

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Mystics and teachers challenge us to maintain attentiveness or, put another way, to sustain our highest level of awareness. This practice is advocated by sages from both the ancient and modern day. So what does it mean? I think it has two parts. One is to maintain a connection with your aspiration. The second is to avoid incarnating attitudes and patterns from which you have already been freed. Let’s examine each of these in detail.

My teacher taught me to maintain my awareness at my highest level of attainment. Seemingly straightforward, this instruction is actually rather mysterious. It is an instruction to ‘this one,’ the one who needs to awaken, and hence already paradoxical. Won’t I interpret what it means to maintain my awareness in accord with what I take to be wakeful? And if I do, doesn’t that imply that I know what wakeful is even though I am not yet awake? Yes, and that is the first paradox. Nevertheless, the instruction stands.

Our energy, and therefore our will, is tied up with our desire to be fulfilled. This is natural and as it should be. However, we spawn false images of freedom constantly, and advertisers, who are experts on images of freedom, lure us with ready-made suggestions as to what could satisfy. There is no need for me to offer a litany of these images. Merely by mentioning advertising, I am sure they come to mind.

Non-dualists often diminish the significance of our discriminating mind. Clarity is essential to the one who aspires to freedom. As each tantalizing image comes to our mind we must ask ourselves if attaining the image would really satisfy. If not, it should be cast aside. Sometimes we are tempted to argue with ourselves and present rationalizations. “I need a car, anyway,” we say. “Why not this one?” It is an advanced practice to design a life compatible with the effort to wake up. It is our task to make the effort despite our ignorance. It is helpful to ask about each activity or purchase is simply, “Will this help me wake up?” Often an answer immediately appears.

So, what is attention? Answering the question, “What will help me wake up?” to the best of our ability is one way to clarify focus. The parallel activity of casting aside what has already been discredited by insight helps tighten our practice.

What is a discredited pattern or interest? Simply, it is pursuing what you already know won’t lead to freedom. It is common nowadays when the writings of the ancients are easily accessible (and nearly everyone seems interested in some form of new age spirituality) to hear phrases that can be misleading out of context. For example, “You already are the Buddha.” Perhaps this is true, but for this one who doesn’t know how it is true the statement adds little by way of elucidation.

Recently on a yoga website I pursued, I saw the phrase, “Stinking Thinking.” This is a variation of the idea communicated by a campus poster I once saw that said, “Shut up and Dance!” Or even of the complaint some of my clients share with me, “I think too much.” It is tempting, to some, to want to cast aside the intellect. This is especially true because it is the current flavor of our culture to distrust thinking. There is some truth in this concern. When a person is emotionally distant from his or her thinking it is unlikely that thinking will be much help. But don’t throw away one of the most wonderful tools we were granted. It is better to distinguish productive thinking from ruminating than to eliminate thinking.

Clear thinking is like a scalpel that can be used to cut away diseased delusion. We need the discriminating mind to help us fathom the difference between healthy and unhealthy pursuits. Neurotic patterns have to be identified and then rejected. An act of discipline and perception is required.

All actions and patterns that lead to repetitive swirls of thought, relationship, addiction or any other illusion have to be forcefully cast aside. Turning away from false answers will lead you to the desert of the soul referenced in many mystical traditions. This is where you will need courage and faith.

Cultivate courage by practicing intent. Your faith can be supported in two ways. First, you can witness a person who is free. This is possible if you are fortunate enough to have found a true teacher. Witnessing that person points to another order of awareness, of reality even. In the best case, the teacher will be an example of freedom attained in this lifetime. The second source of faith can be found in your own discoveries. You can see from your own experience that when you let go of an inadequate solution you don’t die. If you sustained your effort, you were born again. Nothing will help you more than witnessing and experiencing this process. The story of the phoenix rising from its ashes is a reference to this psychic truth.

So now let’s answer the question. What does it mean to sustain your awareness? It means to live at the highest level of development that you are capable of while refusing to enter again into levels of life you no longer believe in. It means to live.

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Impressions of St. John's

2/1/2015

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Recently my husband and I returned from a vacation on St. John’s Island in the Caribbean. Neither of us had ever been there, and we are still sorting out our impressions. In an earlier century the island was dominated by sugar cane plantations. Later the human beings who harvested sugar were freed and given land. Many of their descendants still occupy the island, often in the service trade. There is a palpable feeling of racial tension on the island at times.

The donkeys used for labor were also set free. Around three hundred now roam the land as wild animals grazing on the side of the road the way deer do here. Some are shy while some pester tourists for snacks like pet dogs. I saw one bold donkey reach his head and long neck under a man’s arm as he sat sunbathing to pilfer a cookie.

Adding to the cacophony of volcanic rock, pipe organ cactus, palm trees and tourists in jeeps on surprisingly steep and twisty roads are beautiful orange and black roosters and chickens. These birds are also descendants from populations used during an earlier era. Finding the island a nourishing habitat, they can be found everywhere, and like the donkeys, can pester the tourists. One especially handsome fellow with feathers of orangey peach and a blue black tail found our potato chips to his liking. Ambivalently I succumbed to his flashing eyes and bold demeanor and tossed him a few. Then guiltily, I remembered the salt in the chips and worried that I had done him harm.

St. John’s is dominated by a national park. It’s white sands and gorgeous aqua and blue waters and volcanic hills are mesmerizing. But just underneath the surface we snorkelers find evidence of unhealthy coral and reef. Unlike the teeming reefs that I have seen in the Bahamas, these reefs are dusted with powdery white sediment. While we witnessed beautiful sea turtles grazing on sea grass underwater with a grace no tortoise could display, we also saw sickened coral and predated sea fans. While the vessel shapes that nature displayed filled my artist’s mind with inspiration, I simultaneously tried to push aside a sense of heaviness that was dawning within me.

Coral Bay, one of the two “towns” on St. John’s, is beginning a battle not unlike our own battle with fracking. There are plans underway to build hundreds of boat slips and a huge marina. Cruise ships coming by dump tons of waste. More large boats want to stop at the island. Building on the steep terrain contributes paths for soil to flush down into the clear blue-green waters during the tropical rains. In time this gorgeous bay will be ruined unless the small group of locals can stop it. While the presence of the national park prevents destruction on much of the island, each side of St. John’s has its own special character.

So as I think on our tropic voyage, I am brought back to the truth that paradise is a vision of freedom and not a location. Both the painful history of St. John’s with its modern residues and inheritances as well as the assault its beauty now endures speak to the necessity of mindful action in the world in daily life. Indulging in the notion that by going somewhere one can have the good without the bad for a brief time is self-deceptive. There is hardship below the surface. The only true paradise is free awareness, and free awareness spawns its own obligations to others and the world we share.

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Pandora's Box: Faith vs. Hope in the Journey of Spirit

What is Attention?

Impressions of St. John's

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