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Self-realized Enlightenment Blues

The Upside of Hopeless Hopelessness

“Hope is for people who can’t see the Truth.” ? Jeff Lindsay, Dexter Is Dead

Hopeless hopelessness is one of the great challenges we face. When we come face to face with the realization that the ego-self is powerless and helpless to resolve our suffering or to “get” us wholeness, completeness or peace.

Hope keeps ego-activity spinning – always seeking that which eludes us. A taster here, a moment there – fuel for more seeking.

“The truth is that you already are what you are seeking.” ? Adyashanti

We hear, we think we get it – and yet, the seeking continues. It really is hopeless – we can’t stop the mind from doing what it does. It’s like a lawnmower – that engine is going to keep on running until it runs out of gas. It can’t turn itself off.

“Truth is more in the process than in the result.” – Jiddu Krishnamurit

Interesting how these three quotes revolve around truth. I didn’t consciously select them with truth in mind, but they do point to something fundamental, but back to the hopelessness blues.

Feeling hopeless can give rise to the ‘blues’ – depression, sadness, unhappiness, melancholy, misery, sorrow, gloom, dejection, despondency, despair; the doldrums, the dumps, a blue funk. Hopelessness is a state without hope. Hopeless is an affect. Hopeless hopelessness is more like an active noun, but the energy is more a sense of collapse, a vacuum of energy, a of loss of aliveness and vitality.

In hopeless hopelessness lies an opportunity for clarity, for seeing the truth of the fulcrum of suffering and peace.

If you look at it closely, you’ll see that the fact is that nothing can be done. The situation is completely and totally hopeless, and the sooner you realize that hopelessness, the better for you. When you see it is 100% hopeless, only then will you stop. Now you have some hope: “If I work harder and understand all this stuff about hopelessness, then things will change.” But what are you saying? It’s the same attitude. So nothing can be done about it. You can’t get rid of it because the movement of wanting to get rid of it is, itself, the problem. You can’t try to get something else because that is the same thing as rejecting what is there.

What we are talking about is not an academic issue. It is an issue at the very heart of each one of us all the time. It is always operating. Your mind is always engaged in it. If you look at your feelings, at your thoughts, your ideas, there is always this division. There is always a part that negates another part. There is always a movement of rejecting something and hoping for something new. Every thought you have, every feeling you have, every action you take is directed toward rejection or motivated by hope. – A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart Book II: The Freedom to Be

The normal view of hopelessness is pretty much summed up by this quote:

Hopelessness is a really toxic and dangerous state. – Cory Booker

It is so true, from the perspective of ego-identity and ego-activity – it is totally toxic and dangerous to ego. It is not something to be taken lightly. Without support, guidance and understanding we may not be able to allow transformation. Which brings to mind one of my favorite insights – we cannot change, but we can be changed.

The transformative power of hardship, therefore, lies in your ability to understand your role and see beyond the hopelessness. “It’s very liberating,” Adyashanti says. “The keys to your happiness are no longer in somebody else’s pocket from the past. They’re in yours. And that’s empowering.” Full article and video»

St. John of the Cross’ Dark Night of the Soul – “Now that I no longer desire all, I have it all without desire.”

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March 26
Sexuality, Gender and the Spiritual Path

Soul has no gender, but we humans have many challenges in regards to inclusivity when it comes to gender and sexuality

There’s been quite a bit of discussion within the Ridhwan School recently on sexuality and gender (A Vision of Diversity and Inclusivity). One Diamond Approach teacher has facilitated several workshops around the globe for teachers and students of the Diamond approach.

The purpose of the Sexuality and Gender Committee is to facilitate a richer and more complete understanding of sexuality and gender within the student/teacher body of the School, and within humanity as a whole; to open an exploration into how sexuality and gender arise or are blocked in our individual experience; and to nurture a deeper inquiry into the diverse expressions of our sexuality and gender.

I haven’t attended the workshop, but I came across several articles on gender and sexuality that opened my mind and heart. I want to share a few highlights you might find of interest.

Like many, I grew up with two simple gender designation – male and female. Somewhere along the line a couple more were added – homosexual and lesbian. Then came gay, bisexual, transgender and more. The United Nations lists over 40 gender designations. In 2012, the United Nations printed Born Free and Equal: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in International Human Rights Law.

The January 2017 issue of National Geographic focused on the “Gender Revolution” and Katie Couric takes her journalism skills on the road in Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric, a two-hour National Geographic Channel special (Monday, February 6, 9 ET/PT), meeting sex and gender experts, trans men and women and college students whose identities go beyond binary gender roles.

People are almost always designated male or female at birth based on genitalia. Gender includes components such as gender identity and expression, but not sexual orientation. Some cultures recognize genders that are neither man nor woman. – National Geographic

Perhaps one of the clearest examples of how biology underlies many elements of masculinity and thus is a factor in the cultural construction of manhood is a rare genetic condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome. Babies are born with a Y chromosome and therefore biologically male, but their bodies can’t process testosterone and so default to the female phenotype. They have features and traits of a woman, smooth hairless skin, minimal body odor, a rudimentary vagina. They feel themselves to be women. But with internal testes instead of ovaries and a uterus, they can’t give birth. – National Geographic

One of the most eye-opening articles was this one by Why Sex Is Mostly Binary but Gender Is a Spectrum BY Siddhartha Mukherjee in Nautilus Magazine – that genes have anything to do with the determination of sex, gender, and gender identity is a relatively new idea in our history.

Anyone who doubts that genes can specify identity might well have arrived from another planet and failed to notice that the humans come in two fundamental variants: male and female. Cultural critics, queer theorists, fashion photographers, and Lady Gaga have reminded us— accurately—that these categories are not as fundamental as they might seem, and that unsettling ambiguities frequently lurk in their borderlands. But it is hard to dispute three essential facts: that males and females are anatomically and physiologically different; that these anatomical and physiological differences are specified by genes; and that these differences, interposed against cultural and social constructions of the self, have a potent influence on specifying our identities as individuals.

These case reports finally put to rest the assumption, still unshakably prevalent in some circles, that gender identity can be created or programmed entirely, or even substantially, by training, suggestion, behavioral enforcement, social performance, or cultural interventions. It is now clear that genes are vastly more influential than virtually any other force in shaping sex identity and gender identity—although in limited circumstances a few attributes of gender can be learned through cultural, social, and hormonal reprogramming. Since even hormones are ultimately “genetic”—i.e., the direct or indirect products of genes—then the capacity to reprogram gender using purely behavioral therapy and cultural reinforcement begins to tip into the realm of impossibility. Indeed, the growing consensus in medicine is that, aside from exceedingly rare exceptions, children should be assigned to their chromosomal (i.e., genetic) sex regardless of anatomical variations and differences—with the option of switching, if desired, later in life. As of this writing, none of these children have opted to switch from their gene-assigned sexes.

It is now clear that genes are vastly more influential than virtually
any other force in shaping sex identity and gender identity.

In Beyond Sexual Orientation by Ankur Paliwal discusses sexual fluidity with Lisa Diamond – sexual fluidity is a challenge to both traditional and alternative sexual narratives.

Sexual fluidity is different from homosexuality or heterosexuality, which are single orientations. “Fluidity allows people to go outside their orientation,” Lisa Diamond says. Some individuals have steady patterns of attraction their entire lives that are consistent with their orientation. But for the sexually fluid, their orientation is not the last word on their attraction.

As humans, we use categories and naming and concepts to live and survive, but naming has a downside. When we name and categorize we create division and the opportunity for divisiveness, bias, prejudice and all sorts of beliefs and positions. Here is a quick lesson in how powerful nouns and names are in formulating beliefs: How Our Words Affect Our Thoughts on Race and Gender.

February 6
Alchemy & the Philosophers’ Stone
Harry Potter, Russia, The Flash, Getty Research Institute and A. H. Almaas share an interest in alchemy and the philosophers’ stone.

Shambhala will be releasing A. H. Almaaas’ eighteenth book, The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence, in late February 2017.

A quick search on Google reveals:
- Harry Potter: The Philosophers’ Stone is in the news as an extremely rare first edition of the book, which includes 43 annotations and 22 original drawings by the author, is set to go on display at Edinburgh’s Writers’ Museum.
- Dr. Alchemy, a villain on CW’s The Flash, has come into possession of mystical artifact, the Philosopher’s Stone – I assume a villain in possession of the Philosophers’ Stone is not good news for planet earth.
- Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, is hosting an exhibition titled ‘The Art of Alchemy’, on view through February 12, 2017.
From The Alchemy of Freedom book description:

For millennia alchemists sought the philosophers’ stone, the miracle substance believed to be the key to all the secrets of existence. The quest was fueled by some of the prime questions of human existence: What am I? Why am I here? How has this world come to be?

This quest is mentioned in Anika Burgess’ article How Alchemy Has Been Depicted in Art through the Ages on Atlas Obscura:

In the 1738 edition of Physica subterranea, written by German alchemist Johann Becher, there is a particularly intriguing illustration. Titled The Body as an Alchemical Laboratory, it depicts a figure framed by drapes and surrounded by floating symbols. To an untrained eye, these symbols are indecipherable. But for those that studied alchemy—primarily known for attempting to turn base metals into gold—they codify formulas, elements, planetary metals and ingredients.

Some of the symbols shown relate to Venus (linked to copper), Mercury (linked to quicksilver), along with “primary catalysts” like sulfur. Their design is almost mystical, akin to the hidden codes of a secret order. It’s a fascinating example of how alchemy has been depicted over the centuries.

In his new book, Almaas, founder of the Diamond Approach, shows that the tremendous liberating power of the mysterious philosophers’ stone is closer to us than we realize. In fact, it is the true nature of all reality—in all times and all places, without being limited to being anything in particular. Through the philosophers’ stone, real transformation can happen, our consciousness can become free, and we can open to all the possibilities of reality.

Of course, many are still curious about turning lead into gold – perhaps the Russians are coming closer to that reality: Turn Coal into Gold? Russia Scientists Say They’ve Discovered Alchemy Process.

Leaving that quest to others, Almaas discusses factors that are involved in igniting the catalytic property of the philosophers’ stone and then begins to unpack the properties of true nature when it is free of constraints. Finally, we are left with the revelation that true nature is endlessly knowable, and yet nothing we can know or say about it exhausts its mystery and power. The result is a new understanding of what liberation and practice are—and a view of what it’s like when seeking ceases and life becomes a process of continual discovery. We begin to appreciate that the freedom of reality expressed in the complete and fulfilled life all human beings seek—and few find—is actually the simplicity of the ordinary.

“I am just loving The Alchemy of Freedom. A. H. Almaas tells it like it is, without neglecting how it seems to be. He eloquently describes the indescribable ‘true nature’ of reality as the ‘philosophers’ stone,’ the key to the secret of existence, as enlightened, extraordinary ordinariness. He seems intriguingly to speak as if enlightened, yet, most importantly and blessedly, he does not claim ‘enlightenment’ as his possession. He does not trap himself in what the Chan masters of old called ‘the demon ghost cave’ of considering one’s self to be enlightened, and so, set apart from life and above others. In fact, he manifests himself as open-minded, open-hearted, and ever curious. He clearly enjoys life through the exquisitely equalizing wisdom experience. The inconceivable voidness’s compassionate, clearlight way seems to unfold him as its oracular mirror. I so much appreciate his teaching. I could go on, but better that he goes on with his lapidary guidance, and best that you all continue your own journey of discoveries with this great gift of a book!” —Tenzin Robert A. F. Thurman, founder and president of Tibet House US and author of Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet

For those in the San Francisco Bay Area, Almaas has scheduled two public book talks and signings in 2017 to share more of his insights on alchemy and the philosophers’ stone as keys to the secrets of liberation.
December 16
How Inquiry Helps Us Go Beyond ‘What’s Missing?’

Seeking What’s Missing – The road most traveled

One common dynamic that brings many to the spiritual path is seeking a greater sense of fulfillment, wholeness or completeness. Or, perhaps more accurately, a more enduring sense of fulfillment, wholeness or completeness. Most human beings have had some experience of these states, but suffer with the transitory, impermanent nature of experience.

When we experience wholeness, we seem to recognize the experience. We say, “I feel ‘whole’ or ‘more complete’. The words to describe our experience arise naturally because we ‘know the experience’.

Even when we feel incomplete, not fulfilled or an emptiness that we might use the words – something’s missing – to describe our sense of ourselves or our life, we often have a sense of what will fill the ‘missing space’ within – wholeness, completeness, fulfillment.

Something in us knows or has a sense of ‘what’s missing’ or what we’re seeking.

What’s your sense of ‘what’s missing’? Are you still seeking?

When life brings us to the spiritual path (seeking something deeper, more real, more true within us), we often arrive frustrated. Frustrated from too many tastes of what we seek, but unable to embody or integrate the experience in a way which makes it a permanent part of our life. We approach what’s missing like lunch or dinner – something to be consumed to make it part of us.

Buddha recognized the cycle of seeking and frustration as the very nature of suffering. Can the cycle be broken? Obviously so, as a multitude sages have told us.

In the Diamond Approach, a beginning step is to take a rest from seeking and shift to understanding – and the place to start is right where we are, right now. When we feel the ‘missing’, that empty space within, we don’t go seeking, we inquire – into the ‘missing place’. What is the phenomenology of that place/space? We need to get out of our heads and into our bodies – the place where the missing resides.

Inquiring into the immediacy of our experience brings us into more intimacy with ourselves. The more intimate we are with ourselves, the closer we are to what is real within us. The closer we find ourselves to what we really are, the more the ‘what’s missing’ evaporates through the process of understanding.

If you go about investigating what is missing with sincerity and truthfulness and curiosity, you will start to find out about it. Your love affair with knowing what you are will deepen. What you find out will not necessarily be a solution to your problem, but a realization of who you are. And the problem fades away in some way. A. H. Almaas – Diamond Heart Book Five

A Diamond Approach teacher helps students to develop the art of open and open-ended inquiry and to engage in a process of understanding that focuses not on what’s missing or what is desired, but on ‘what am I right now?’ Right now is where we are. Right now is what is happening. Right now is where reality and life are.

What’s it like, right now, for you?

December 2
Incandescent Reciprocity

Lighting up the NOW with Dialectic Inquiry

Every once in a while, I hear someone put a couple of words together in describing their experience that really grabs my attention. So it was a few weeks ago when someone used the phrase – incandescent reciprocity – to describe part of the dynamic relationship between their perception and what was being perceived. What a beautiful, poetic and accurate description.

For me, this phrase speaks directly to the magic and power of dialectic inquiry.

Dialectic inquiry is a process of exploration where two or more people are exploring their present experience or something of interest, like awareness, will, joy… The process engages whole mind/body/heart/soul. Preeminent in the dialectic inquiry process is the inclusion of one’s present experience into the field of the inquiry. Including one’s emotional responses, sensations, arising thoughts and images to the field of inquiry helps to broaden the scope and richness of the inquiry and makes it much more potent than intellectual bantering.

When the dialectic inquiry really starts to take on a life of it’s own, the participants can easily find themselves in ‘incandescent reciprocity’, sharing the light of truth and discovery.

April 16
Three Journeys of Presence

Alive with Presence

April 22