Readings In Alternative Everything

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
By William Walker Anderson
KEY TAKEAWAYS: Chpt.1, The Thought World
Readings Facilitator: R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS: “Whenever we think a thought, we are sending out vibrations which are as real as the [invisible] vibrations manifesting light, heat, electricity, and magnetism” (p. 2). Even though the average individual cannot see, taste, smell, hear, nor feel them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Some people are known to have psychic abilities which allow such reception. A clear scientific proof are experiments in mental telepathy which have been successfully conducted for more than a hundred years. Given this fact, it follows that such thought vibrations have some actual force just as any other manifestation of energy. The power of them will depend, of course, on the inherent strength and focus of the thinker’s thoughts.

Going a step further, Atkinson states that our thoughts also have a drawing power attracting to us thoughts of others, things, circumstances, and people in accord with the character, intensity, and focus of the thought(s) most uppermost in our minds. The general rule is like attracts like in the Thought World (p. 3). As you sow, so shall you reap!

When you step back and think about the meaning of the foregoing statements, you will see that we really construct our own life circumstances which make up our mental and physical worlds. Positive thoughts will effect and draw positive thoughts and opportunities and negative ones the same (p. 8).

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Key Takeaway: Chpt. 5, Non-Craving & Being Happy
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAY: “The art of happiness is the art of living deeply in the present moment” (p. 137). Right now, a person has more than enough conditions they may note in order to be happy and to not always be running after happiness. This is called the contemplation on non-craving, that is, having complete control over one’s deepest cravings one has identified through mindfulness when they arise. Most people spend their entire lives looking for something outside themselves to feel satisfied and complete. As long as the energy of craving for something else in the moment, with what one already has and who one is right now, a person can never be truly happy (p. 138). At first, one may think if he or she lets go of a craving, that they will lose something. But after being recognized and released, will finally have a real sense of freedom (p. 139). You have to challenge yourself to be happy by recognizing with gratitude all the conditions of happiness already in your possession (p. 151). No one else can create happiness for us. The art of living is knowing how to create happiness in any moment . . . even in moments of great challenge or difficulty (p. 159).

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nath Hanh
Summary & Insights: “Signlessness” / our 8 Bodies
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

What is signlessness? First, we must understand that a sign is what characterizes the appearance of something, its form. Signlessness would be the ability to see beyond an apparent form into the other manifestations of the form as it transforms, recognizing all forms as transient and illusory. For example, we may see a cloud in the sky for a few moments and then later see it apparently gone. But it has really gone nowhere. It may now have simply transformed into rain, mist, or snow. The nature of the cloud, H2O, is still there. It cannot pass from something into just nothing. Although we cannot see the cloud, it has not died (pp. 44-45).

Like the cloud, we too are constantly transforming. We move from being in the womb to old age and seemingly passing away. We see we are not fixed or permanent as our form, attitudes, perceptions, consciousness has changed throughout the years. We are never the same person we were before, yet not a totally different person either. This is the practice of contemplating our own signlessness (ibid.) And actually before we were in the womb we were s***m and egg. And prior to that our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so on.

One could go on indefinitely like this! So, from this Buddhist point of view, one is never born because there was never a time you were not (p. 47). It is the same with death. The subtle energy that is you, like the H2O, never perishes but arises in a new form, either human or otherwise, depending on one’s karma. But, the Buddhists insist, it is not a permanent soul that moves from one form to another, just a form of energy. Something never becomes nothing. We are eternal beings.

Buddhist traditions have developed various ways to visualize our life without boundaries. Thich Nhat Hanh identifies eight different energy bodies that allow us to see how we are selfless interbeings (p. 53). Let us take a look at each one.

1) First there is the physical body with which we feel, heal, transform and experience life in all its wonders. But are we even the body? Nearly 40 trillion cells composed of viruses, fungi, and bacteria work to keep alive the 30 trillion human cells in our body. We truly are interbeings in this regard. Think how many millions of years of environmental change and other life forms it has taken to emerge as human beings! Countless life forms are supporting our existence. The body is actually a masterpiece of the cosmos! Realizing this we should be more mindful of our bodies, listening to it more mindfully at regular times, walking, eating, speaking, and especially breathing as a centering strategy (pp. 56-57).

2) The Buddha Body is shorthand for one’s capacity to be fully aware and fully present in any activity, especially exhibiting understanding, compassion, and love. Every time someone chooses the higher spiritual path, one builds and strengthens the Buddha Body. Each time one more mindfully does anything . . . drinking tea, eating, walking, conversing, doing dishes, breathing, and particularly reducing the suffering of others . . . we participate in the Buddha Body (pp. 58-59).

3) The Spiritual Practice Body grows energetically from actively exercising the Buddha Body. We build a body of spiritual practices which swing into gear when we meet challenging or difficult circumstances or when we want to generate happiness and love. The more solid our Spiritual Body becomes, the happier we will be, being more able to embrace a strong emotion or restore clarity and calm (p. 60).

4) The Community Body is a group dynamic founded upon a number of people working together to share spiritual aspirations and support and nourish each other. It is imperative to have a body of like-minded friends and colleagues to help us reach our loftiest dreams. Four is enough, five is better, and more than five is excellent! With them, we can listen deeply and share insights and difficulties, simply being fully present for each other (p. 64).

5) The Body Outside the Body allows us to see or extend our influence beyond our physical selves. How? By writing, public teaching, through art, giving charity for a few. Thich Nhat Hanh also intimates that when consciousness of a spiritual practice grows to a certain level, it has a quantum non-local effect, then almost mystically spreading that influence to a larger group with which there was no initial contact. One a physical level too, a parent or grandparent can also see oneself in a child, or vice versa. This is also how we are a Body Outside one’s Body (p. 65-66).

6) The Continuation Body is the energy we extend into the world by our thoughts, words, and deeds. They continue to percolate in the world though continued communications we may never be aware of, but they carry us into the future. “We are like stars whose light energy continues to radiate across the cosmos millions of years after they become extinct.” So, we should take care to train ourselves to think positively inspiring hope, love, forgiveness, and compassion. Be ever aware, however, that doing the opposite has resounding negative effects and we should eschew such thoughts at all times (pp 67-68). We are also Continued in our physical bodily actions. We should ask ourselves, ‘Where am I investing my physical energy for the welfare of others? (p.69)’

7) The Cosmic Body is one’s recognition that our very being is the result of the whole cosmos coming together to support the creation of our existence. “We are made of stardust [carbon]. We are children of the earth, made of all the same elements and minerals” (73). We breathe a perfectly balanced atmosphere, eat the earth’s food, and drink of its waters. We are taking and emitting energy at all times. We indeed are interdependent on the whole phenomenal and cosmic order.

8) The Ultimate Body is the deepest level of the Cosmic Body. It is realizing the true nature of reality beyond all perceptions, forms, and ideas (p. 74). It is quite difficult to put into words because they do not do it justice and only put limitations on it. It is what is termed samadhi or a transcendental experience that takes us to the quantum realm of interbeing or the implicate order as physicist David Bohm calls it. Everything is dependent on something else before it, ad infinitum. Understanding this, you cannot remove the Ultimate Reality or Absolute or God from yourself (p. 77). In this sense, you are the same as the ultimate reality!

Readings In Alternative Everything A book study group exploring ideas about mind, body, & spirit, the nature of the Self & consciousness