nondualmind

The Sound of Silence

May 26, 2011 by nondualmind, posted in Thoughts

“Hello darkness my old friend ……..” is the opening line of Simon and Garfunkel’s famous song The Sound(s) of Silence.” I enjoyed listening to the duo’s music in the second half of the ‘60’s, as it appealed to my poetic sensitivities.

Of course, the song title’s meaning for me has changed over the decades. The more I delve the depths of reality, the more I crave those sounds of silence, because that’s where it’s happening. That’s where the action is. Action in inaction? Sounds in silence? Yes, reality is full of paradoxes, but one thing is for sure: the volumes of information conveyed or found in the silence when you contemplate/meditate is astonishing and the ways in which truth (information) is communicated is unique to each person.

There is a saying that meditation can’t be taught, but it can be learned. Though there are many different kinds of meditation, the method is only the tool, the map, to help the seeker reach those states of quiet. The silence and what is learned in the silence is the journey. It’s like walking a labyrinth. The path is set (in stone) but the journey is unique to each who walk it. The first time I walked a labyrinth, which, by the way, is done in complete silence, I was astounded by the ‘impressions’ that were brought into my awareness. And each time I’ve walked a labyrinth, the journey has been different.

Labyrinth at the National Headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America

When you chant the Omkara, which is simply chanting “OM” in repetition, you focus on two things. You can put your attention on the sound of the OM vibration, but things get much more interesting when you put your attention on the space between the OMs. In yoga, pranayama or breathing exercises also emphasize the interval between breaths as the more important place to be.

The importance of silence in sadhana cannot be stressed enough. This is the place where the seeker touches the face of the Absolute, because it is in the silence where you find yourself. It’s not even the noise of the external world that’s the problem; it’s the noise of your internal world that needs to be turned down in order for your ego to be pushed aside so you can be with yourself for a while. And that’s when real learning or experiencing begins. You will never find the answers to the eternal questions you search for in books. Never. It is only by turning within, by spending time in the silence, that you will discover who you really are. The first line in Eckhart Tolle’s Stillness Speaks says, “When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.”

There’s a lot of resistance to living in silence even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time. Silence can be scary for us. We don’t know what to do with it because silence has no form. Having lost the anchor of the material world, we feel adrift with nothing in the void to cling to. The realization sinks in that our beliefs and thoughts about who we are don’t matter in this place. Those false identities are negated in the formless essence of stillness. The illusion of separation dissolves and in the silence we realize that we are the “…I Am that is deeper than name and form…” as Eckhart Tolle writes. It’s the difference between ‘doing’ and ‘being.’

Spiritual literature about this abounds. If interested, a couple of titles you should check out include: The Voice of the Silence by H.P. Blavatsky and the aforementioned Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle. Both are excellent, though if you’re a beginner in these matters, I would start with Tolle’s book as Blavatsky’s is more esoteric.

No Strings Attached

April 22, 2011 by nondualmind, posted in Thoughts

It’s been about 2 years since I cancelled my landline. I remember that, while I was so completely fed up with the phone company (it doesn’t matter which one they’re all the same), I was actually fearful of cutting that cord. Even though I had my cell, I felt insecure, as if I were 2 years old and my blankie was being taken away. This may sound foolish to those of you out there who are younger and don’t have the memory of dialing a princess phone while yelling at your sibling to get off the extension. This attachment went really deep. But then, the younger generations have their own attachments to their iphones, ipods, etc. An attachment is an attachment.

Look around your environment and try to gauge your level of attachment to what you consider yours, what you ‘own.’ Ask yourself, “How would I feel if I lost this?” Would you be okay without that possession (or person, or job) or would you feel diminished without it? This implies that our attachments, whether they are to things, people or jobs, fill a deep, dark hole we perceive in ourselves. Krishnamurti said, “The object of attachment offers me the means of escape from my own emptiness.” This is not to say that you can’t enjoy what you have; true detachment means you can savor those pleasures as long as you don’t rely on them to make you happy or define who you are.

I had this experience nine years ago when my apartment was broken into. I lost my laptop, camera, and lots of jewelry, including a gold charm bracelet I had since I was kid and a pink diamond that belonged to my mother. I was heartbroken. When I told my teacher what had happened, he told me how sorry he was but then he said, “I guess you had a chance to see your attachments.” From time to time, my ego still feels the emotional pinch of what it lost, even though “I” know they don’t define who “I” am. My ego needs its props, I don’t. What I lost wasn’t the basis for my happiness.

As I get older, I find that I really don’t need very much to live my life comfortably. My identity relies less on externals these days. I wonder what it would be like to give up my possessions and rent a furnished apartment. I imagine taking a pair scissors and cutting the cords that tie me to my material life. There is a sense of complete freedom that descends upon my being, as the simplicity of that reality attracts me. Imagine not being encumbered by the trappings society deems essential? You would have so much less to worry about, since the struggle of keeping what you have disappears. Sounds like a good place to be. I’m not there yet, but someday I hope to be.

Raw Oatmeal with Superfoods

March 20, 2011March 23, 2011 by nondualmind, posted in Raw Foods

As I continue to add a variety of more raw foods to my diet, I continue to search for breakfast options that go beyond eating only fruit or green smoothies. During the winter months, I always loved making cooked steel cut oats. To shorten the cooking time in the morning, I would put the oats in a pot with water and let it sit overnight. The oats soften and voila! – they cook up in no time. That led me to search for ways to have raw oatmeal using soaked oats. As I searched the internet, the recipe I liked the best was one by Angela Stokes Monarch.

I use her basic recipe, which includes the soaked oat groats (not rolled oats- these are the oats used for the steel cut variety), raw honey, lucuma powder (a low glycemic sweetener made from a fruit that grows in Peru), maca, cinnamon, and water. I add other superfoods like hempseeds, bee pollen, and chia seed gel, which is simply chia seeds in water. The Chia seeds soak up the water like a sponge in a matter of minutes. This gel can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. I’ll blog more about Chia in upcoming posts.

Here’s what I do:

I place about a ½ cup of organic oat groats in water to soak overnight. The next morning, in a blender I add:

the oat groats, rinsed after soaking

about 2 TBL of Chia seed gel

1 tsp lucuma powder

1 tsp raw honey

1 tsp maca powder

1 TBL hempseeds

½ tsp bee pollen

a bit of cinnamon

enough water to blend to desired consistency. This will be about ¼ – ½ cup of water. Add water slowly so you don’t add too much or the oatmeal will become watery.

You can top the oatmeal with extra cinnamon, sliced banana or apple, berries – whatever you like. You can buy oat groats in bulk at a ridiculously low cost. They are high in both fiber and protein. This is a really filling breakfast that will power you up till lunch. I love it!

Finding Truth Beyond Belief

February 13, 2011February 22, 2011 by nondualmind, posted in Thoughts

As I’ve blogged before, I’m consumed with finding Truth. I was raised Catholic – went to Catholic schools for the first 12 years of my education. That’s a lot of religion. Thinking back, I never really questioned my faith – my beliefs. There were loopholes in the dogma I was being taught – plenty of them – and I did question those as I got older, but I was stuck in blind belief. Also, I figured that science would eventually answer all of my questions. I was looking for that bridge between science and religion that I knew was there but was in no position to find. I was trying to find the Truth through thought – through the manipulations of my mind.

I look around me and all I see is struggle. That struggle spurs some of us to seek what is real, what is true. But just like love, we end up searching for it in all the wrong places. When we think we find a piece of truth, usually in whatever religion we adopt, it is often shrouded so thickly in doctrine, dogma and ritual that we fail to recognize its essence. Don’t misunderstand me – at their core all religions contain truth. But you can make a choice between “blind belief of truth” or “truth beyond belief.”

Below is a quote that I found in my inbox. I subscribe to JKrishnamurti online and receive a quote from the Krishnamurti archives each day. This one particularly struck me so I wanted to share it with all of you. Click here for more info: www.jkrishnamurti.org/

“We realize that life is ugly, painful, sorrowful; we want some kind of theory, some kind of speculation or satisfaction, some kind of doctrine, which will explain all this, and so we are caught in explanation, in words, in theories, and gradually, beliefs become deeply rooted and unshakable because behind those beliefs, behind those dogmas, there is the constant fear of the unknown. But we never look at that fear; we turn away from it. The stronger the beliefs, the stronger the dogmas. And when we examine these beliefs the Christian, the Hindu, the Buddhist we find that they divide people. Each dogma, each belief has a series of rituals, a series of compulsions which bind man and separate man. So, we start with an inquiry to find out what is true, what the significance is of this misery, this struggle, this pain; and we are soon caught up in beliefs, in rituals, in theories. Belief is corruption because, behind belief and morality lurks the mind, the self the self growing big, powerful and strong. We consider belief in God, the belief in something, as religion. We consider that to believe is to be religious. You understand? If you do not believe, you will be considered an atheist, you will be condemned by society. One society will condemn those who believe in God, and another society will condemn those who do not. They are both the same. So, religion becomes a matter of belief and belief acts and has a corresponding influence on the mind; the mind then can never be free. But it is only in freedom that you can find out what is true, what is God, not through any belief, because your very belief projects what you think ought to be God, what you think ought to be true.” – J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Super Raw Hot Chocolate

February 5, 2011June 23, 2012 by nondualmind, posted in Raw Foods

This is a drink I make several times a week – usually for dinner. Yes, chocolate for dinner. And it’s fabulous!

The ‘Super’ in the title is not just an adjective. It refers to the superfoods that are included in this raw version of hot chocolate. Most of the ingredients are on David Wolfe’s list of superfoods – cacao, maca, goji, honey, all raw and organic of course. This version is one I’ve tweaked from his various smoothie recipes using raw cacao.

Raw cacao, how do I love thee – let me count the ways. I won’t go into the many benefits of this ‘wonder food,’ just know that when you combine cacao with maca something magical happens. In fact, I now see these two superfood giants packaged together.

This is how I make it – (and by the way, it does look like the picture):

In a blender:

8 oz water – you can add more if you like a thinner drink

2 TBL Raw Cacao

1 TBL Maca

1 TBL Goji powder

1 tsp raw honey

2 Medjool dates (pits removed)

about ¼ cup of cashews – makes it thick and creamy

dash or two cayenne pepper

Now, I have a Blendtec blender, which is super powerful. You could blend a 2×4 in this thing. You don’t need to have a blendtec, but I use the ‘soup’ setting, which runs for about 90 seconds on a high speed. This warms the drink slightly. Remember, to keep it raw, it needs to stay below 118 degrees (some say even lower than that). I try to keep the temperature around 110. If you don’t have a blender with this capability, you can warm the mug you’ll be using by filling it with water and popping it into the microwave for about a minute.

Other notes: I like the taste of the dates, but you can add more honey in place of the dates, or use raw agave if you prefer. I tried using stevia, but I didn’t like it as much.

In place of the cashews, you can use 2 TBL of coconut butter. However, I prefer the more neutral taste of the cashews. You could also use raw almond milk if you have that on hand. I’m basically making a nut milk by tossing in the cashews.

I suppose you could blend in soaked goji berries instead of using the powder. I’ve never tried it so I can’t tell you how it would taste.

The cayenne adds a bit of a kick, a little heat in the background (a little trick in the raw food genre), which I really like here and I don’t generally like hot foods.

You don’t need to feel guilty about this drink. This is real nourishment for your body. Here’s to your health!

Going Green

January 21, 2011January 22, 2011 by nondualmind, posted in Raw Foods

My first introduction to the concept of an all-raw diet came about 11 years ago when I was working for Barnes & Noble Distribution. The office was abuzz about a new book that had just arrived. That book was Juliano’s “RAW – The UNcook Book.” It was filled with beautiful images of foods that I couldn’t imagine weren’t cooked. I was intrigued and bought a copy.

I was always interested in healthy eating, but this took things to a whole new level. I had been a vegetarian for most of the previous decade. I tried going vegan, but that lasted about a week. To be honest, these recipes intimidated me. The lists of ingredients (some I had never even heard of) were lengthy, with recipes of some of the ingredients on other pages of the book. I had good results with a few of the simpler dishes, which required either juicing or simple assembly. I ordered a dehydrator, but it mostly sat unused. I had no clue how to approach this new way of eating.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and I was willing to give it another try. By then, there was so much more information available. I knew this wasn’t going to be something I would accomplish overnight – if ever. But I figured that adding more raw foods, which are truly 100% natural and unprocessed, had to be a good thing. I don’t remember how I learned about green smoothies, which are just blended leafy greens and fruit, but the thought of not having to clean that annoying mesh screen of a juicer every day really appealed to me. Also, you keep the insoluble fiber that gets lost when you juice. So I blended my very first green smoothie consisting of spinach, an apple, a banana and enough water to get the consistency I wanted. I couldn’t believe how good it tasted. You can easily get 3-5 servings of fruits and greens in one smoothie, which comes out to anywhere between 20–32 ounces depending on the amounts of ingredients you use.

The basics of a green smoothie are listed below. Try to use as much organic produce as you can afford. If greens make you cringe a bit, I would recommend that you begin with more fruit to start so you can get used to tasting greens this way. By the way, there is tons of info out there on the green smoothie. Explore and have fun!

Base – about a cup of water (you can use fruit juice if you like, but I prefer water)

Leafy Greens – I love using romaine, spinach, green/red leaf lettuce, and tender spring greens. They are a bit lighter in flavor. As you progress, you can add the stronger greens like kale and collards.

Something for creaminess – Banana, fresh or frozen, or ½ an avocado

Other sweet fruits –cored but unpeeled apples and pears, peaches, berries (you can use frozen), mango, pineapple, oranges – whatever you like.

Sometimes I add a little Stevia for extra sweetness. You can also blend in ice if you like. The simplest green smoothie consists of romaine, bananas and water. So simple and so good.

Green smoothies opened a door for me. My odyssey continues and I’m happy to report that I’m no longer intimidated by Juliano’s book.

Oh, Those Kodak Moments

January 12, 2011January 12, 2011 by nondualmind, posted in Thoughts

As I watched the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, I reflected on the nature of impermanence. It’s so obvious at a moment like that since that moment, the change from one year to the next, is separated out and celebrated. We all know it passes never to be experienced again. That acknowledgement is a useful tool for us. It can help us understand the transitory nature of this so-called reality in which we live. But that’s not always what we want. Like Paul Anka singing “The Times of Your Life” we cling to our Kodak moments yearning for what is no more. The question is why?

Maybe it’s because our perception of the past as “the good ‘ol days” clouds what we are experiencing in the present. But the present is always on it’s way to becoming the past. See the problem? Still, we find comfort in the past – its outcome is already known, we’ve gotten through it, it gives us pleasure, we can re-visit loved ones who are now gone etc. We can’t say that about the future. The future is unknown and the unknown is always scary for us. So, between reliving the past (whether good or bad) and worrying about the future, we lose sight of where we are – the present.

Those Kodak moments also give us a glimpse of something else at work in our lives – attachment. When we experience nostalgia, we experience attachment: a longing for something that is no more. Also, we experience attachment when we plan for our future Kodak moments because we are attached to how we think the future should turn out.

Buddhism speaks of the interrelatedness between impermanence and attachment. The fear of losing something or someone makes us hold onto it more strongly. All of our energy is channeled into protecting what we have because we feel our possessions and relationships define who we are. Just ask anyone who has been dealing with the effects of the current economic crisis. They have been given a unique opportunity (although I’m sure they don’t look at it that way right now) to see their attachments and how their identity is wrapped up in all things external. It’s only when we can detach from our attachments in any given moment do we glimpse our true identity.

To understand impermanence is to embrace the present moment. When we are truly present, we live in that space that is free from attachment. We don’t mourn the past or fear the future. In the present moment there is no past or future, only the eternal now.

Superfood Protein Drink

January 3, 2011January 12, 2011 by nondualmind, posted in Raw Foods

Not exactly a title you would expect to find on this site, but as you know I like to share my thoughts and experiences regarding a variety of topics such as yoga and astrology. Now I’d like to shift gears once again and talk a little about raw foods and superfoods.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been experimenting with a raw vegan diet. It started with drinking green smoothies and now I have a collection of raw food recipe books, which have been extremely helpful to me. And I might add, David Wolfe has become my hero, although there are several others whose websites, you-tube videos, and books have given me tremendous amounts of information. I’ve never gone totally 100% raw, but there have been periods that I have been I’d say roughly 90% raw. The difference in the way I feel during those times is, quite frankly, amazing. I’ll blog more about my experiences in the future, but today I wanted to share a recipe I concocted.

On reading David Wolfe’s book on Superfoods, I went out and bought several that he wrote about including Hemp protein powder, Maca Root powder, Gogi powder, raw honey and coconut butter. I was already familiar with and using Raw Cacao on a regular basis. I tweaked his recipe for “Oh Wow Cacao” by leaving out a few things like the green powders making it a bit more of a raw ‘hot’ chocolate. I really didn’t care so much for the taste of the greens in this one, so my bag of lovely green hemp protein powder just sat until this morning when I whipped up this drink (recipe is below). I liked it so much I found myself scraping the sides of the blender in order to get it all out. Feel free to make whatever substitutions you wish to suit your tastes and/or tweak the amounts of any ingredient…. All ingredients are raw and organic…

Superfood Protein Drink

In a blender I added:

8 ounces of water

2 TBL Hemp powder

1 TBL Maca

1 TBL Hempseed

2 Medjool dates (don’t forget to take out the pits)

1- 2 TBL Raw Tahini

Blend on high until creamy and the dates are fully blended. You can soften the dates by soaking them beforehand if you like – I didn’t bother. Drink up and enjoy!

Some variations to try:

Blend in a frozen banana for extra creaminess (you can subtract some of the tahini if you’re concerned about the fat)

Blend in some raw cacao for a chocolate treat

Heart vs. Mind – Reconciling Knowledge and Wisdom in Spiritual Practice – Part 2

December 26, 2010 by nondualmind, posted in Thoughts

Wisdom as truth

“Humans cannot come to Truth through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest, or ritual, not through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. They have to find it through the understanding of the contents of their own minds, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.” ~ J. Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti recognized that “Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized…” What he meant, of course, was that no amount of intellectual study or organized ritual can bring truth. And truth is the essence of wisdom. There has to be some internalization process that happens, some form of direct experience, which brings the seeker that which he seeks. Being regarded as one of the 20^th century’s greatest philosophers, it is interesting to note that Krishnamurti failed his courses at London University. And even though his brother, Nitya, passed with honors, Krishnamurti’s professors claimed that he had a much wider grasp of large concepts. His ‘mind’ was the bigger of the two.

Thinking and doing from the heart

As we have seen, the limitations of thought are many. Eckhart Tolle in his “Power of Now” addressed this issue by reminding us that one of the ways it limits is by trapping us in time and space. “This is what I think today, tomorrow I might think something else.” See what I mean? Tolle goes on to use the following example – If you asked your cat or dog what time it was would it look at a clock? Of course not, its answer would be “now”. If you asked your pet where it is, you think it would say “I’m in the living room?’ No, it would say “here”. Staying present seems to be a criteria for reaching that part of ourselves that transcends time and space. We can achieve this in deep states of meditation. All matters of form (time and space included) dissolve as we lose the boundaries of our physical bodies and nothing is left but our true selves. Our minds don’t get in the way anymore. Since thought implies the mind, it can be argued that thought arising from the true self or heart is not thought at all. What is it then? Maybe it’s truth, wisdom. That indefinable something that can change the way we see the world.

A friend of mine e-mailed me recently about not always knowing the right thing to do in certain situations. She commented that she “is not sure what the boundaries are. I’ve stepped on enough landmines to be wary. Hate those explosions!” She is approaching with her analytical mind, instead of seeing the situation from her heart. Maybe we need to forget about boundaries. Maybe we need to love those explosions. If we think with our hearts instead of our minds we will be acting from a place of love…..and wisdom. The boundaries fall away and transformation, the alchemy, begins.

So ask your self, “How do I see? With my eyes? My mind? My heart? Try using less mind and more heart. See only with your heart. Your mind doesn’t know what you want. Listen with your heart and it will tell you. I asked a wise soul what my current preoccupation with “heart” was all about. I was told, “Heart is love. Love comes from the heart. Do everything from the heart.” Which, of course, means do everything from a place of love. The Beatles’ said it all with their lyrics, “…love is all there is.”

The Pitfalls of direct experience

We applaud and reward academic achievement. Pride is felt as one can attach letters at the end one’s name. One’s salary and status usually improve. But just as our egos can be stroked by acquiring knowledge, it can also be deluded into feeling superior through experiences. We begin to judge our ‘progress’ by another arbitrary standard. As our searching has us abandon trying to find the answers in books and we begin to experience what we have read about, another kind of pride is felt. We might begin to feel competitive thinking “Look at my experience. It’s better than yours. Therefore I must be further along the spiritual path.” This is normal in the beginning. But we must remember that alchemy, the true transformation of knowledge into wisdom, does not begin until we get past our egos. My teacher has always told us that if we feel we must gauge our progress we should, “look to the changes in our character.” When that happens, your ego gets out of the way, and a kind of humility sets in. A simplicity in one’s character emerges. That simplicity is wisdom.

Taking the first step

Become the watcher. William Ury, the author of many books on conflict resolution, refers to this as, “going to the balcony.” He suggests that when you find yourself in conflict remove yourself mentally and become the observer of what is happening. Go to the balcony of the theater and watch the play. An interesting choice of metaphor. Of course, you don’t have to be in conflict to do this. It is a good idea to watch all you do, think, say, feel. Watch as if you are a character in a play. Watch as your role is being played out. This provides detachment from any situation, thought or emotion. The more detached we are the more present we become because we are disentangled from the mind and the judgments that keep the mind going. The ‘watcher’ is coming from a different place, the present moment. The watcher then has the direct connection to heart. It removes the middleman, the ego, from the play.

We can all use a little alchemy in our lives. Think how the world could change if our actions were led by our hearts, our inner wisdom, instead of the external machinations of the egotistical mind? Healing the universe is an inside job.