Materialising tendencies

 I ended last year and started this one, reading The Selected Letters of Henry James, edited by Leon Edel.

I decided to share one of his letters here. Initially I thought I would share another one, but then, I stumbled (well came across it in its place in the chronology of letters) on this one and thought it would be better. I will write my impressions of the book, the letters and Henry James elsewhere (Jennifer, Reading). Here, I just want to share his letter, which was to the Deerfield Summer School. 

Some background: During the summer of 1889, James was invited to attend the Summer School at Deerfield, Massachusetts for a discussion of the art of the novel. He sent, instead, the following letter, which was read during the proceedings and later published in the New York Tribune (4 August 1889)

*******

To THE DEERFIELD SUMMER SCHOOL 

                                                                                                                                          [Summer 1889]

I am afraid I can do little more than thank you for your courteous invitation to be present at the sittings of your delightfully sounding school of romance, which ought to inherit happiness and honour from such a name. I am so very far away from you that I am afraid I can't participate very intelligently in your discussions, but I can only give them the furtherance of a dimly discriminating sympathy. I am not sure that I apprehend very well your apparent premise, 'the materialism of our present tendencies,' and I suspect that this would require some clearing up before I should be able (if even then) to contribute any suggestive or helpful word. To tell the truth, I can't help thinking that we already talk too much about  the novel, about and around it, in proportion to the quantity of it having any importance that we produce. What I should say to the nymphs and swains who propose to converse about it under the great trees at Deerfield is: "Oh, do something from your point of view; an ounce of example is worth a ton of form; do something with life. Any point of view is interesting that is a direct impression of life. You each have an impression coloured by your individual conditions; make that into a picture, a picture framed by your own personal wisdom, your glimpse of the American world. The field is vast, for study, for observation, for satire, for truth." I don't think I really do know what you mean by 'materializing tendencies' any more than I should do by 'spiritualizing' or 'etherealizing' or the imaginative, which is just as visible, and to paint it. I have only two little words for the matter remotely approaching to rule or doctrine; one is life and the other freedom. Tell the ladies and gentlemen, the ingenious inquirers, to consider life directly and closely, and not be put off with mean and puerile falsities, and be conscientious about it. It is infinitely large, various and comprehensive. Every sort of mind will find what it looks for in it, whereby the novel becomes truly multifarious and illustrative. That is what I mean by liberty; give it its head and let it range. If it is in a bad way, and the English novel is, I think, nothing but absolute freedom can refresh it and restore its self-respect. Excuse these raw brevities and please convey to your companions, my dear sir, the cordial good wishes of yours and theirs,

                                                                                                                                          Henry James

Other people

Day 3 of the Dan Joseph newsletter. Does it seem like I'm cheating, breaking up one newsletter into three? But there were three questions. And three answers. And I believe that each of them should be taken and considered separately. 

Don't skim. Absorb.

Q. Everyone talks about how meditation and "finding your light" practices are so helpful. But I don't find that they help me much at all. I try these practices, and can't get out of my head. I don't get a sense of peace or anything. Is there something extra I can try?

A: To begin, I want to acknowledge that meditation-style practices are challenging and often require a great deal of persistence. At the outset, the mind is much like an excited puppy bouncing off everything in sight. It can take many repeated practices before the puppy begins to calm down.

Along those lines, there are two main "skills" involved in the practices I describe:

1. The ability to focus the mind
2. The willingness to open to a new experience

If one of these practices seems more challenging, you may want to spend some time developing your comfort with it.

Virtually every meditation-style practice involves focusing the mind. Without the capacity to hold focus, you will likely find your awareness of peace coming and going, rising and falling, shifting in and out of awareness.

I find that almost any type of focusing practice can help with this dynamic. Some people focus on their breaths in meditation, pulling their attention back to the breath whenever it wanders. Other people gaze at a candle or other stimulus, bringing the mind back to the object whenever extraneous thoughts or feelings pull you away.

A word or phrase can also be used as a focal point. The workbook of A Course in Miracles offers a short spiritual statement each day to focus on. Books of "affirmations" also contain these statements. You are free to come up with your own word or phrase as well. The word, phrase, or statement becomes the focal point: you repeat it calmly and slowly, over and over, pulling your attention to it and away from other distractions.

Speaking personally, it took me a great number of practice sessions before I felt my mind becoming comfortable with focus in meditation. And of course, I still encounter a good deal of distraction and resistance at times! Each step along the way is helpful. With practice, the mind becomes more able to hold focus.

In addition to focus, almost all of the practices I describe also involve opening to a new experience – the experience of inner peace, or the wise mind, or our inner light.

The key in this skill is willingness. We develop, through practice, a willingness to release our current swirl of thoughts and feelings, and open our hearts and minds to a new experience.

Imagery can be helpful with this phase. You may want to imagine your thoughts like leaves floating by on a stream, or clouds floating by in the sky. You note each one, and express your willingness to let it pass by. Then you express your willingness to open – even for just a moment – to a deeper sense of peace.

Developing this willingness comes easier with practice. It is not an ability that some people just "have" and others "don't have." It is a skill that the mind will become more comfortable with through practice.

If you find it helpful, you may want to stop periodically through the day – perhaps every hour, on the hour – to practice these skills. Even a minute, or less, can be helpful. As my friends can attest, I spent years setting an hourly chime on my phone in order to remind me to stop and practice.

2021 can be a year devoted to steps toward the experience of peace. Even if you encounter resistance along the way, each bit of practice will help.

As the year turns, you are in the company of millions of others around the world who practice with you. We walk together toward the light, and I am deeply grateful for all of our efforts.

Getting into meditation

Day 2 of the Q&A from Dan Joseph's newsletter, a great way to start the year!

Q. Everyone talks about how meditation and "finding your light" practices are so helpful. But I don't find that they help me much at all. I try these practices, and can't get out of my head. I don't get a sense of peace or anything. Is there something extra I can try?

A: To begin, I want to acknowledge that meditation-style practices are challenging and often require a great deal of persistence. At the outset, the mind is much like an excited puppy bouncing off everything in sight. It can take many repeated practices before the puppy begins to calm down.

Along those lines, there are two main "skills" involved in the practices I describe:

1. The ability to focus the mind
2. The willingness to open to a new experience

If one of these practices seems more challenging, you may want to spend some time developing your comfort with it.

Virtually every meditation-style practice involves focusing the mind. Without the capacity to hold focus, you will likely find your awareness of peace coming and going, rising and falling, shifting in and out of awareness.

I find that almost any type of focusing practice can help with this dynamic. Some people focus on their breaths in meditation, pulling their attention back to the breath whenever it wanders. Other people gaze at a candle or other stimulus, bringing the mind back to the object whenever extraneous thoughts or feelings pull you away.

A word or phrase can also be used as a focal point. The workbook of A Course in Miracles offers a short spiritual statement each day to focus on. Books of "affirmations" also contain these statements. You are free to come up with your own word or phrase as well. The word, phrase, or statement becomes the focal point: you repeat it calmly and slowly, over and over, pulling your attention to it and away from other distractions.

Speaking personally, it took me a great number of practice sessions before I felt my mind becoming comfortable with focus in meditation. And of course, I still encounter a good deal of distraction and resistance at times! Each step along the way is helpful. With practice, the mind becomes more able to hold focus.

In addition to focus, almost all of the practices I describe also involve opening to a new experience – the experience of inner peace, or the wise mind, or our inner light.

The key in this skill is willingness. We develop, through practice, a willingness to release our current swirl of thoughts and feelings, and open our hearts and minds to a new experience.

Imagery can be helpful with this phase. You may want to imagine your thoughts like leaves floating by on a stream, or clouds floating by in the sky. You note each one, and express your willingness to let it pass by. Then you express your willingness to open – even for just a moment – to a deeper sense of peace.

Developing this willingness comes easier with practice. It is not an ability that some people just "have" and others "don't have." It is a skill that the mind will become more comfortable with through practice.

If you find it helpful, you may want to stop periodically through the day – perhaps every hour, on the hour – to practice these skills. Even a minute, or less, can be helpful. As my friends can attest, I spent years setting an hourly chime on my phone in order to remind me to stop and practice.

2021 can be a year devoted to steps toward the experience of peace. Even if you encounter resistance along the way, each bit of practice will help.

As the year turns, you are in the company of millions of others around the world who practice with you. We walk together toward the light, and I am deeply grateful for all of our efforts.

Happy New Year

 I had intended to restart this blog and post every day last year...haha, didn't do too good a job of that.

But I found something I would like to share with you to kick off your year. It's from my favourite newsletter, Quiet Mind, by Dan Joseph. I've read his newsletter for so many years, from 2005, I think. And in none, not one, has there ever been a false note. True wisdom is rare. Which is why I will share something from his latest newsletter over the next three days.

If you found your way to my blog unexpectedly, enjoy. Then go check out his site: www.SpiritSite.com

Q: You write about accessing the "spiritual self." However, my "worldly self" seems to matter a great deal when it comes to practical things like getting a job, finding someone to date, and so forth. How do you reconcile these?

A: Imagine a temple made entirely of stained glass windows. Within the center of this temple is a light that illuminates the glass. When the light is dim, the glass is rather colorless. But as the light increases in strength, the colors of the windows come alive.

In much the same way, our spiritual light illuminates the actions we take in the world. You might say that the activities of our "worldly selves" simply reflect our inner light as we allow them to.

As we create room for our inner light to expand, the stained glass begins to glow with great clarity and beauty. The glass isn't the important thing; the light that illuminates the glass is what's important. In fact, the light can become so beautifully luminous at times that the glass becomes nearly transparent.

Even in the most practical forms, we can allow our spiritual light to guide our steps. If you are seeking employment, your light can give you wisdom and clarity about what actions to take. It can inspire a sense of enthusiasm to help whatever organization, customer, or client you are interacting with. It can bring harmony to your interactions with your coworkers. It can fill you with creative solutions to problems.

If you are seeking positive relationships, the light can shine forth as appreciation toward those around you. It can highlight their beauty and gifts – as well as your own. It can ease a sense of vulnerability. It can highlight paths out of conflict. It can reveal the spiritual connections that are already present between you and other people, even those who seem to be "strangers."

Our selves in the world are simply a framework through which the light of the spirit is expressed. People may think that they are interested in the intricacies of the stained glass, but in truth they are inspired by the light that illuminates it.

There is no conflict between our worldly lives and the spiritual self; one is the glass, and the other is the light that brightens the glass as it shines through.

An interview with Jim Daly

In the year 2000, I suddenly had to fill a page every day on the new economy in my local newspaper. I didn't know anything about them, so I talked to people, read books and magazines. During this time, someone gave me a list of magazines to read, including Business 2.0 which very quickly became my favourite because of the quirky editor, Jim Daly. Then just as I got to know and love the magazine, Business 2.0 changed hands and lost its magic.

I was googling Jim Daly and came across this interview in 2001, which I thought I'd put here, my happy blog, because that's what it's for.

Exclusive Interview with Jim Daly, founding editor of Business 2.0 (From BizReport.com)

Many of us rode the wave of Internet mania up -- and then right back down. But few have occupied the enviable catbird seat of Jim Daly, the founding editor of Business 2.0, which is credited with fundamentally changing the way the media covers businesses as they were thrust (some unwillingly) into the uncertain abyss of cyberspace. Earlier this year, mass media goliath AOL Time Warner purchased Business 2.0 and kept only three Business 2.0 staffers, choosing instead to fold the staff into its eCompany Now magazine to the new Business 2.0.

by Michael Grebb, Special Correspondent

Daly spent his newfound free time with his family on an extended vacation in the Wyoming wilderness. He's back now -- re-energised and actively weighing options that include book offers and overtures from new "startups". Daly took a few minutes out of his admittedly less hectic schedule to give BizReport his take on the magazine business, the Internet economy, and why the Internet still changes everything.

MG: You've just gotten back from your first real vacation in a while. How did it feel?

JD: It was a little strange, actually. After the sale went down, I had a lot of extra energy built up inside me.

MG: I imagine you haven't taken any time off since becoming founding editor of Business 2.0.

JD: A few days here and there, but when you have a startup, it's kind of like a restaurant in a way. You have to be there to check on the service, the sauce, everything...You have to be there to make sure that all the parts of the magazine are working, especially with one that was growing as fast as we were.

MG: Did the stunning growth of the magazine -- especially around late 1998 and into 1999 -- surprise you at all? The issues were starting to look like Sears catalogues for a while. 

JD: Well, it did surprise us. But we knew the story was a good story, and we knew the magazine was good. I don't think we expected the growth to be as rapid as that. It's a bit unusual for any magazine to grow that quickly -- to go from a startup to a magazine with the eighth highest revenue of any magazine in the United States within two years. That was certainly surprising, but we caught the story just as it was starting to develop and people were starting to get excited about it. The one thing that really worked for us was that the story really generated both a lot of excitement and a lot of confusion. When you have a lot of excitement and a lot of confusion, people look for information. That put Business 2.0 right at that nexus. We knew we didn't have all the answers, but we wanted to ask all of the questions and get down to the business models -- the ones that were working and the ones that weren't working. I think we did a really good job doing that. I think a lot of people realised it. Certainly, AOL Time Warner did. You have the largest magazine publisher in the world buying a magazine that hadn't hit its third birthday. So that was pretty flattering. 

MG: During the boom of the late nineties, how challenging was it to just keep up with so much growth so fast, considering it was probably the toughest labour market in decades?

JD: It was very difficult. You have to remember that when we started out -- the first two years or so -- we only had about a dozen people in editorial, and that included the art staff and the production staff. And that is not a lot of people. It's an adequate number of people to put out a 112- or 128-page issue, but when the issues start to get up to 300 and in our most extreme cases 480 pages...

MG: Well, you used a lot of freelancers.

JD: But you know, everyone was growing, and it was difficult to get good freelancers. In many ways, you had what I call a "citizen army" developing.  Everyone who could write and knew a little bit about business began to write for all these different publications. It was just difficult to get good people. It was even more difficult to get excellent people. You needed to hire 30 people right away, but you couldn't do that because maybe there weren't 30 great people out there that you wanted to contribute to the magazine.

MG: But then everything changed. In the Spring of 2000, the bottom started to drop out for technology business magazines across the board. Considering that you had beefed up the staff in 1999, how did you deal with the new reality?

JD: Well, we had beefed up the staff, but we never beefed it up as much as other people had. Even at the highest level, we only had about 45 people in editorial. Some of those magazines had over 100 or 200 people.

MG: That sounds like The Industry Standard, which just went out of business. As the former editor of a rival publication, what do you think happened there? Did they just get ahead of themselves?

JD: That was one reason. I mean, they had a tremendous burn rate. They were going through a lot of money very, very quickly. They were very ambitious, and you can't fault people for being ambitious. But when the softening began in the spring of last year and the whole market fell off a cliff in November, I don't think anyone expected it to crater as quickly or dramatically as that. Suddenly, if you're bringing in one third of the income that you used to but are spending the same amount you used to, you have some serious challenges.

MG: Someone from outside the publishing world might wonder why a magazine that had such a lucrative two or three years didn't have a stockpile of saved cash to weather an eventual downturn.

JD: It doesn't really work that way. Most magazines aren't even profitable until year five because you have to spend a lot in marketing, a lot in branding, a lot in getting your name out there. So a lot of that money you're bringing in is just going right back into the magazine. We were unusual in that way. We were profitable by the end of our first year because we had such a small outlay. We had a lot fewer people on the staff; we didn't spend as much on marketing; etc.

MG: Obviously, AOL Time Warner noticed that. What's the history of that acquisition? As I understand it, Time Warner was interested in Business 2.0 almost from its inception and before Time Warner merged with AOL.

JD: They had approached us after issue three in early 1998. That didn't happen. They wanted to get into this space, and they did eventually. So they launched their own publication, which was eCompany Now. It didn't do all that well. It was losing a lot of money. But what happened with Business 2.0 is that our parent company got into a serious hole. They had launched a lot of publications and they were getting pretty badly hit. They needed money and the crown jewel of the organisation was Business 2.0. So late last year, the idea was brought up to sell Business 2.0, and AOL Time Warner was still interested.

MG: Considering that AOL Time Warner didn't keep most of the Business 2.0 staff, is Business 2.0 still the same magazine?

JD: No, it's not. It's a relaunch of eCompany Now. You can take the name, sure -- but it's the people that make up the DNA of a magazine. You can put Business 2.0 on Popular Science, and it doesn't make it Business 2.0. The fact is that we had believed and hoped that there was going to be a more equitable split of people -- that it would be 50-50, the best of both teams. But it wasn't. They decided they didn't want to do that.

MG: So now that you're free and clear for the first time in four years, what are your career plans going forward?

JD: I just got back from this trip, which was a great way to refresh my batteries. I've been talking to a lot of people lately about all kinds of things -- working on some new startups or working on some books...

MG: Are there any startups left out there?

JD: (Laughs) Yeah, there still are. What I like the most about Business 2.0 was actually starting it. When you have a small team, it's much easier to get a sense of the unity and mission -- and the zealotry in a way. We were all zealots and put a lot of energy and time and devotion and creativity into the magazine, which you can certainly do with a bigger magazine as well. But when you have a smaller organisation, it's a lot easier to all read from the same sheet of music. I really love that energy. Just as there were three years ago, there's a lot of good ideas and a lot of kooky ideas. I don't want to get involved in any kooky ideas, but there are certainly opportunities for new companies.

MG: Would you stick with magazines or some kind of content business?

JD: I think so. I've been in journalism for 20 years. I love the magazine tradition. I love the art of the magazine craft. It's the most fun for me. It's the most energising area of journalism. I'd like to stick with that because I still get a huge charge out of it, even two decades later.

MG: Of course, it seems to be a thinning field these days. What's your prognosis for the future of technology business magazines?

JD: You really have a different ballgame going on right now. In the past, you've seen a lot of independent publications in this space bought up by the major media houses. You saw Wired bought by Conde Nast. You saw Fast Company bought by Gruner & Jahr. You saw Business 2.0 bought by AOL Time Warner. So it's a different battle. It's more the war of the titans. Who can spend more on marketing? Who can really wrap their ad packages in with five other magazines? This is the evolution of successful companies. We were able to sell Business 2.0 because we were an attractive, successful property. Successful properties evolve and mutate and change. I still think the story that Business 2.0 is built on has a lot of legs. AOL Time Warner just spent $60 million on it. They're going to put a lot of inertia into it, and from a marketing standpoint it seems like part of AOL already.

MG: With all of these magazines now in the hands of media giants, isn't it somewhat unrealistic for an independent startup to compete in that space?

JD: I think it would be tough. Someone just asked me the other day, "If you launched Business 2.0 today would it be successful?" And I said,"It would not. It would not be successful if it was launched in the same form." One of the first things we did in our very first issue was look at the 10 driving principles of the new economy. We went to a lot of people and asked what is different about the way business is being done right now in terms of how you market to customers, retain customers, etc. We distilled that down until we figured out our constitution -- our marching orders for the magazine. In the beginning, we had an ad campaign: "Do you get it?" Because some people did and some people didn't. But now I think everyone gets it, and if you went in and launched a magazine that said, "Hey, here's a story you may not have heard of, and it's going to change business in a fundamental way," you'd be laughed out of the room. Also, the economy is in a dumper right now. Ads were down this year in magazines, but I think pretty much everyone is in a lockdown right now at least until the end of year, especially with what happened on September 11 putting a cloud over things. Where is consumer confidence going? Where is spending going? I think everyone is in a bit of a wait-and-see mode. So to generate advertising for a broad-based consumer magazine would be very difficult right now.

MG: It seems like everybody got a little ahead of themselves in the late nineties, but now it seems like the retraction is just as exaggerated. Do you still believe the Internet will change everything?

JD: Yeah. It already has. Do you think companies are going to go back to the way they were acquiring customers, retaining customers, and marketing to customers? Do you think they are going to go back to the way they were doing that four or five years ago? Do you think the growth of the Internet will slow? Do you think the speed of getting online and moving around is going to go backwards? It's not. It's going to go forward. What we've seen is a slowdown or a falter-step here, but the story really does remain very strong. It's kind of like the growth of the PC industry in the eighties: They had a couple of up years, a couple of down years, but the growth still remained strong. Another thing is that you almost have to take out the growth figures form last year because 1999 was such an aberration. Everything had to come down from that. But if you look at the growth rates from 1998 to 2001, you still see it going on an up curve. We had one of the most incredible years of our lives, and then we had one of the worst years of our lives back to back. Hopefully, there will be a leavening of that. People tend to react in extreme ways.

MG: Funny that few seemed to publicly predict this huge crash in 1999.

JD: Well, it couldn't last, but you have to make hay when the sun is shining. That's what we did. We worked ourselves to death because it was an exciting time. In some ways, I miss those days because everything was about possibilities and being able to achieve and reach for the stars. Now, everything is about retrenchment and caution and, "Do we really want to do this?" The energy is really not there.

MG: Back then, it seemed like everyone wanted to be an entrepreneur.

JD: Yeah, and a lot of those guys are back to doing what they used to be doing. There were a lot of cockamamie ideas but people still said, we could do this if we try. I miss that kind of enthusiasm.

MG: Of course, there were a lot of Gordon Geckos out there too.

JD: That's true. A lot of people wanted to do it for the wrong reasons. A lot of companies that were being launched were just stock market plays. I was approached by people who would say, "Yeah, we're going to start this company, it's going to be worth a billion and a half in 18 months." But there are also companies like Amazon and Yahoo! and eBay. You're also seeing the evolution and the creation of companies that are the CBSs and General Electrics of our day -- big companies that are going to be around for a long time. It's a lot of fun to watch that as a journalist.

The Way of Integrity

My favourite author, Martha Beck, has come out with her new book,  The Way of Integrity. Actually, it will be coming out on April 13 next year.

Here's what it says in the teaser email:

Exciting news hot off the presses, possums!

You've heard me talking about my new book for years...well, on April 13, it will finally land on a shelf near you! Publishing is a slow business, but I'm thrilled to have this book's arrival on the horizon at last.

This book, The Way of Integrity, is so close to my heart. It represents the culmination of all that I've written and taught and everything that feels truest to me at this moment in my life. It's my first self-help book in eight years, and I had SUCH a blast writing it!

If you've ever taken a dip into one of my online or DIY "integrity cleanses," you already have some idea what this book is about. It's not a judgemental, Sunday School version of integrity. 

Ew, not at all!

No, it's the idea that we can put our lives into integrity the way an airplane can be put into structural integrity. If all the millions of pieces are functioning together, the plane will fly. If the parts are out of kilter, the plane will crash.

Our lives work the same way. When we're able to stay in integrity (the word simply means "whole" or "intact"), everything in our lives works better. We can do remarkable things, like a massive metal machine that can fly. But when we depart from our true nature, whatever that may be, we get internally divided. The result is immediate suffering, maybe just a little, maybe a lot. If we don't find the problem and bring ourselves back into wholeness, we may nosedive into catastrophe.

You were born in full integrity -- it's your nature. But for humans, nature quickly runs into culture. From babyhood, you were socialised to suppress aspects of your nature to serve social systems. When you forced yourself to do things that weren't true to your instincts (kissing weird Aunt Eugenia, smiling sweetly when you were miserable, and so on), you split away from your real self. You went from being in integrity (one thing) to being in duplicity (two things). If you ever tried to please many people, all with slightly different preferences, you were in "multiplicity" (many things).

Fellow people pleasers, we know how that feels, right?

Total loss of self, constant confusion, self-loathing, anxiety -- oh, it's just a TON of fun.

There's a kaboodle of social science research that shows how going along with culture against our true nature makes us miserable. But all of us live in connection with others, and that means we're subjected to cultural pressures. Cultures are created among every couple, every family, religion, ethnicity, class, nationality, etc., etc.

So how, amid all this cultural pressure, do we find and live in pure integrity?

Funny you should ask, because I just wrote a book about it! 

This book will give you all the instructions for realising where you've split from your true nature and bringing yourself back to wholeness. Seriously, I'm not just being coy. This issue is tricky enough that it took me many years and a couple of hundred pages to spell it out.

Here's a little preview, though -- an experiment you can try right away. One study found that when people told just three fewer "white lies" a week, they reduced negative emotions like sadness or anxiety and had significantly fewer health problems.

Try it: When you'd ordinarily tell a white lie, divert attention or simply stay silent. Watch yourself begin to feel better. It's like magic!

Of course, never betraying your true nature involves much more than just eliminating a few fibs. It can lead you into a completely different life, one where your mind, body, and relationships get dramatically better. So much better it will look like magic.

There's that word again: "magic." The word that sneaks into every one of my books even when I fight it. This book was meant to be -- and is -- completely practical. But it turns out that when we bring our lives into full integrity, magic (or at least phenomena science doesn't yet explain) starts popping up everywhere. What I thought would be the least "magical" book I'd ever written turned out to yield more magic than anything I've published before.

I'd be thrilled if you bought and read The Way of Integrity this April. But until then, experiment. Don't just tell fewer white lies. Try saying "No" to one hated obligation a week. Spend ten minutes a day doing something you love even though you think it's a silly waste of time. Give away objects you've kept only out of obligation. Eat what you really love, and savour the hell out of it.

In short, do something to please your true nature every day. Maybe every day until April 13th.

XO

Martha

–

Finding the Light

I received this in an email from Dan Joseph, a student of A Course in Miracles and writer of the Quiet Mind, the only newsletter I receive which I make a point of reading carefully because there is ALWAYS good value in it. I have decided that from now on, I am going to share his stuff on this blog.

This month marks thirty years since I began studying spiritual teachings. In September 1990, I was back in college after completing a corporate internship in New York.

I had spent the previous summer sitting by myself in a back office, uncomfortable in my suit and tie, researching ways to sell laundry detergent. The whole thing had felt utterly meaningless.

So here I was, back in college, searching for a new path in life. I began reading the western philosophers, then selections from the world's religions and mystics. Soon thereafter I bought a copy of A Course in Miracles, and started a more formal spiritual practice.

As I turned to those spiritual teachings, I envisioned myself setting out on a journey – a climb up the mountain to enlightenment. In contrast to my business work, this felt profoundly meaningful. Exciting, even. I plunged into the spiritual journey with intensity.

However, there was a basic lesson that I didn't understand then. In fact, I didn't grasp it for a very long time. It is this:

The spiritual experience – the experience of our inner light – is not something that we journey toward. It is something that we simply open to.

The light is with us at every moment, clear and bright in the present moment. There is no spiritual distance to travel; no spiritual mountain to climb. The light is here, always, and we can never truly separate ourselves from it.

We can obscure our spiritual light from our awareness, of course. This is the basic situation of the world. But our awareness can shift at any moment back to the light.

This one lesson could have saved me a great deal of time. However, I was so caught up in striving and achieving that my mind misperceived the situation. Enlightenment seemed like something that was earned at the end of a long battle or struggle. But that is not how things work.

Everything beautiful is with us at this moment, shining as a reflection of the light. The experience of safety, connection, innocence, peace – these, and more, arise in our awareness as we open to them. These experiences are with us in this present moment, simply awaiting our acceptance. There is no journey to the spiritual light; there is only acceptance of what is already there.

Now, I often share these thoughts with people and they say, "Dan, I have no idea what you're talking about! My present moment is nothing like that. My present moment is filled with a bunch of stress and agitation – not peace and light!"

They are right, of course, that their awareness is currently filled with those things. But in my work as counselor, I've seen over and over how dramatically and quickly awareness can shift.

In this newsletter article, I'd like to share a variety of "distractions" that keep our awareness focused away from the light. As we identify these distractions, we can express our willingness to let them go. This creates room for the light to emerge – not in some distant future, but now.

The Four Points

To begin, let me cover four of the most common distractions. I call these the compass points.

Imagine looking north, south, east, and west within your awareness. In these four directions lie some common distractions.

To the north we have any critical or otherwise unloving thoughts about the people in your life. Thoughts like:

     "My boss doesn't respect me! She is so full of herself!"
     "My partner really isn't being fair to me. He needs to change."
     "That politician is the bane of my existence!"

And so on. Any of these thoughts will inhibit your awareness of the inner light, and all its rewards – a sense of joy, security, peace, and so forth.

As you notice these types of thoughts, you can simply express your willingness to let them go. You can say:

     "I have no interest in this thought.
     It's interfering with my awareness of my inner light,
     and I am willing to let it go."

That's it! If the distracting thoughts persist, simply rest in your willingness to let them go. Your willingness can always outlast the thoughts.

To the south we have a parallel group of distractions: any self-critical or unloving thoughts toward yourself.

People who are more prone to anger may find the northern thoughts easier to find; folks who are more attuned to shame or guilt will probably find these southern thoughts more accessible. In truth, they're the same.

These southern thoughts might be clearly self-attacking, or they might be much more subtle. For example, you might find self-pressuring thought-sequences like:

     "I don't think I did a great job on that project."
     "I really need to do a better job next time."
     "People are counting on me; I can't mess up again."

Many people consider this type of thinking to be harmless – even helpful in a self-motivating way. However, any therapist will tell you that self-critical, self-pressuring thinking is at the root of many of their clients' misery. Taken to extremes, this type of thinking can lead to self-destructive tendencies.

For our purposes, we simply treat these southern thoughts as distractions. They are unloving, and therefore they will inhibit our awareness of the light. As with the northern thoughts, we express our willingness to let these thoughts go.

To the west are unpeaceful thoughts about the past. Although these may take the form of statements like the above, it's far more likely that they will simply arise as memories.

For example:

     You may recall something unkind you did to someone last year.
     You may remember a statement someone made to you that felt disrespectful.
     Or you may have fairly basic memories of work or personal activities.

Because our goal is to experience the fullness of the spiritual light, these memory-recalls can distract the mind. As with any other interfering thoughts, we simply express our willingness to let them go. You might want to envision them as clouds or leaves floating by – thought-forms that are not worth your engagement.

To the east are distracting thoughts about the future. For example:

     Worries about a situation that is going to take place next week.
     Concerns about your retirement strategies.
     Or even plans about what to eat for dinner.

There's nothing wrong or bad about any of these types of thoughts. However, they can obscure our awareness of the light – and during this practice, it is the light we seek. As with the others, we simply express our willingness to let each one of these go as they rise in our awareness.

Note that the thoughts can be mid-way between the compass points: A self-critical, guilt-filled memory contains both the western and southern directions. An angry expectation about what someone in your life might do is mid-way between the eastern and northern points.

There is no need to categorize these, of course – and you can choose different "directions" as you wish. But the goal is to notice the interfering thoughts in whatever form they appear, and hold a willingness to let them go.

Two Subtle Ones

Those four points (and the ranges between them) cover a lot of ground. By identifying those type of thoughts, you'll likely be able to clear away quite a bit of interference to the light.

However, there are more subtle forms of distraction as well. Let me briefly share two of these that I referenced in my previous story.

1. The thought that the light needs to be "earned."

As I mentioned, when I began my spiritual studies, I figured that I had to work my way toward enlightenment – by acting nobly, or understanding metaphysical ideas, or perhaps something else. I wasn't sure. But the experience of the light seemed like a reward to be won.

What I didn't realize is that this was just another distracting thought. It took the form of a background "belief," so it was less obvious than things like worries and resentments. But it effectively obscured the light for a while.

If you find that you have this thought in some form, you can treat it like the others. Simply note it, express your willingness to let it go, and invite your inner light to arise in your awareness.

As an aid, you may also want to introduce a new set of beliefs designed to replace the old. You can say:

     "The spiritual light is given to everyone, including me."
     "There is nothing that I need do to earn it."
     "It is given freely, and simply awaits my acceptance."

Or you can choose others. Once those new thoughts have replaced the old, you can express your willingness to move into the experience of the light itself.

The second of the subtle distractions is a parallel to the first.

2. The thought that the light is in the future.

This, again, is just a distracting thought, or belief. As before, you may want to correct it by saying:

     "The spiritual light is with me at every moment."
     "There is never a moment that I am without it."
     "I may not always be aware of it, but the light is here, right now, for the accepting."

In both of these situations, we're correcting the mind's belief that there is distance between us and what we seek. We are acknowledging that our awareness might be obscured, but this does not mean that the light is actually gone.

You deserve to experience all the facets of your inner light – a feeling of being loved, cared-for, safe, and at peace; a sense of your worth, innocence, and beauty; an experience of connection, joy, abundance, and boundless giving. You deserve all these, and more. Not in the distant future, and not after you've accomplished anything – but right now, in this present moment.

By identifying any distracting cloud-thoughts, and allowing them to pass by, we make room for these experiences to arise in our awareness.

The world needs miracle workers – channels for the light. All that is needed is for us to open our awareness to it. As we do that, one moment at a time, the light pours forth on its own.