Naturalism

Oops its been 6 months since I posted here. I have moved jobs and countries, (I guess I am a recession refugee) and have not really been reading as much stuff as I normally would. But yesterday I was browsing one of my favourite discussion groups - 'Applied Naturalism' http://groups.yahoo.com/group/appliednaturalism and got involved with free will references. So I got back some great quotes and decided to post here.

The brilliant Thich Nhat Hanh:

"When we hate someone, and are angry at her, it is because we do not understand her or the circumstances she comes from. By practicing deep looking, we realize that if we grew up like her, in her set of circumstances and in her environment, we would be just like her. That kind of understanding removes your anger, and suddenly that person is no longer your enemy. Then you can love her. As long as she remains an enemy, love is impossible."

Also some great points raised there about the common eastern approach to free will that asserts a possibility to transcend it...

Chândogya Upanishad:

"They who depart hence without having known the Self and those true desires, for them there is no freedom in all worlds. But they who depart hence after knowing the Self and those true desires, for them there is freedom in all worlds."

I am never sure how to interpret the common enlightenment descriptions of freedom. I sometimes think that it makes sense that from the perspective of Awareness/the great 'I AM', 'you' are free, as the sky is ultimately free of clouds - thoughts and decisions come and go just like clouds, without ever damaging the sky. But this 'free' identity is non-volitional, it cannot do anything, so there is no point in it being free or not.

Image by Nicolas Malinowski

Winter solstice

So I was thinking about how to get the most of the holiday season, and I thought that it would be fun to look at it from an Integral point of view.

I googled it for a while, but didn't find much labelled 'integral'. Just a website for a life coach who is running a New Years intentions setting workshop. So what could we genuinely celebrate and take part in? For the pagans it was the winter solstice - at last they could see that the days were lengthening again, so they could happily feast on their supplies, knowing that summer was on its way. For the Christians, (who chose that date for their celebration to undermine the pagans), it is a great source of gratitude that God sent us our one and only saviour. Oh it just occurred to me that they represent a purple magic society and a blue mythic society. And then the orange commercial Christmas developed, featuring a central character designed by the Coca-Cola company. Perhaps a green Christmas is one that no longer honours the previous value systems and so rebels to create its own idea of meaning. The problem with that is that it throws the baby out with the bathwater. So what would an integral version look like?!

A year end event is actually a perfect structure to provide meaning in an Integral worldview. In a value system that finds meaning in development and progress, a much needed component is to take a step back occasionally to evaluate how far we've come and what lies ahead. To do this daily or weekly would be too often. I think an annual event is ideal. Development could be reviewed in several increasing structures - from personal, to family, peer group, community, nation, world and higher...

Here is a list of several existing practices and rituals that could be used to express these values, with a few more ideas added in:

Personal - New year resolutions, reading your journal, writing, shadow work (let go of events in the previous year, perhaps using techniques like the Sedona Method), health/fitness/body evaluation,
Family - Christmas cards, family newsletters, get togethers, presents, group shadow work, celebration of togetherness and love, gratitude, forgiveness, intentions for year ahead
Peer group - Christmas and new year parties, cards, presents,
Community - Local news yearly roundup, shared holiday period, decorations,
Nation - News and entertainment roundups (e.g. Best ___ of 2008), awards,
World - Yearly summary...

Also due to the fact that this development process we are all part of has no perceivable beginning or end in sight, it is important to take a step back as a source of inspiration and motivation. In Chinese Taoism, there is a period of 2 weeks between when the year ends and when the next one begins. In a largely dead tradition in Scotland, the twelve days of Christmas were called the 'Daft Days' - in which the population would en masse take leave of their responsibilities and sensibilities. It seems to me that a ritualised, symbolic holiday from the relentless development process could also be useful.

I can imagine a winter festival period where the value systems of the pagan solstice, the christian nativity, modern commercialism, and postmodern pluralism are transcended to celebrate 'development' on a large scale. It could be a truly precious and deeply meaningful period where people can come together to inspire each other, give gratitude, forgiveness, and promises. To take a break from their own relentless progress to get perspective and to rev up for the challenges ahead.

The illusion of being the driver

Adyashanti transcribed from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWOYbXS8Dgk

Great metaphor. You are not the driver of the car. 'You' are in the passenger seat.

"As long as you want to turn left when you want to turn left, apply the brakes when you want to apply the brakes, welcome to unenlightenment. Its funny that a lot of people are trying to get enlightenment by doing that very thing.

To such a person to be in the passenger seat doesnt seem interesting at all because in the passenger seat theres no illusion of control, and who wants that? But you only start to desire it when you've spent enough time at the steering wheel to realise that cars tend to go in actually pretty predictable patterns.

Its based on the fundamental misunderstanding that you are a seperate individual person, a human being, separate from the whole, separate from others, separate from life, and you need to make sure that your life and your car gets where you want it to get. If theres a prescription for suffering, i'd say thats about as accurate as you can get. The funny thing is that the very prescription for suffering is the very thing we think is a prescription for happiness....do that and you'll be happy, turn left now and you'll be happy, make your trip exactly what you want it to be and you'll be happy.

The problem is that because it is based on separation, it cant ultimately make one happy. Its not possible, ultimately. Moments, sure.....

When you explain things like this to people, egos think "well that would be kind of boring, being in the passenger seat, driven wherever it wants to drive you and you just sit there and watch the world go by". But of course that is the perspective of ego. From the perspective of wholeness, you are the car, the seat, the mysterious non-locatable driver of the car, you are the landscape in which you are driving, you are every experience which you will bump into.

So let yourself slip over into the passenger seat, not as an ego. All it requires is for us to drop our notion of ourselves."

Also by Adya:

"All of our thoughts are conditioned. We all are thinking exactly along the lines we are conditioned to think. Programmed like a computer. Anybody who thinks they are actually choosing of their own free will the line of thinking that they have is completely deluded by their thinking." (via blogger Tom Stine at http://tomstine.com/)

Image by the brilliant Michael Wandelmaier at http://www.wandelmaier.com/

I'd like to answer a few problems I've heard about 'being in the passenger seat':

1 - That without 'self-control' people would go wild and drink themselves to death, or just sit on the couch and watch TV all day.

2 - That it entails nihilism. That it would mean no-one was to blame for anything, and 'good' and 'bad' would become meaningless (and thats a bad thing).

3 - That it is only correct from the 'absolute' perspective. 'Relatively' they are still in control of the car.

In answer,

1 - 'Self-control' is a perfectly natural and evolutionary process not separate from 'self-indulgence'. The idea that the 'virtuous' qualities of a person are THEIR 'willpower' and the 'evil' ones are external 'temptations' is a false duality. There are positive and negative motivations, and they do not require a separate 'controller' to keep the system from collapsing into hedonism. However, to take on the idea that you are not in control whilst still really believing you are a separate ego, will lead to self-indulgence. "Ramana Maharshi, the great sage from Arunachala, was once asked whether one has free will. He answered that as long as one considers oneself to be an individual person, one has free will and has to use it well." However when one realises the 'individual' is an illusion, it is healthy to realise you are in the passenger seat.

2 - A virus does not have free-will. But that does not mean that its actions could not cause real suffering, or that it should not be held 'responsible' and taken action against. To see that nobody can do different than they are doing is a source of great compassion. How could you get angry at a virus? It is easy to sympathise with people with addiction problems, but when we think they did have the opportunity to change and didn't we harden to their fate. This cannot happen when we see that no-one ever has control. The only conclusion is inexhaustible compassion. Note this does not mean toleration of all behaviour, it would be discompassionate to allow people to cause themselves or others preventable harm.

3 - 'Relatively' it is correct that an illusuary 'I' does make choices. In the same way that 'relatively' a cloud makes rain. In reality the cloud does nothing at all, it is just a function of pressure, humidity and temperature changes in the global weather system. So if the cloud was conscious and said that 'relatively' I do make rain, you could say yes, but you have no control over it.

Ajahn Brahm

I'd recommend this guy's podcasts. He is fun and doesnt take things seriously - although some of his stories have made tears run down my face. He also has some good vids on youtube.

I came across this essay of his the other day, so I thought to save my favourite parts here.

"If one takes any success in meditation to be because of one's own abilities, then one misunderstands the law of causality, the law of cause and effect. For example, any skill in meditation that I have is nothing to do with me, it's just because of causes. It's not one's abilities or inabilities that stop success in meditation. Never think, "I can" or "I can't", that is just coming from a sense of self. Create the causes.

People sometimes have such nice thoughts, they come and tell me later, and they call them 'insights'. They are just thought, that's all. Just leave the thoughts alone. Don't take them to be 'mine'. If one takes thoughts to be 'mine', then one will go and beat someone else over the head with them, and argue about who's right and who's wrong. Letting them go is far more peaceful, far more joyful. Thinking is one of the biggest hindrances to deep meditation. Thinking so often stops one from seeing the truth, from seeing the true nature of things.
Therefore, give thinking no value. Give it no interest. Instead, give that value and interest much more to the silence.

If one thinks "I am in charge", if that delusion is still there, that will be a major hindrance to one's meditation. This will create restlessness, and there will be craving for this, that and the other. However, one must understand that the 'doer' cannot let go of doing. This is like trying to eat your own head. That's what people often try and do. They try to do the non-doing. That's just more doing! It has to be like a change, a flip in the mind. It takes some wisdom to see that this 'doing' is just a conditioned process. Then one can let go. When one lets go, then this whole process just goes so beautifully, so smoothly, so effortlessly.

Sometimes people ask the question, "If the will is not yourself, if it's nothing to do with you, why bother? Why even bother to get up at four o'clock in the morning and meditate?" The answer is, "Because you've got no choice".

It's just causes and conditions. That's all it is, just a process. Then one will understand why the Buddha said that he doesn't teach annihilation. Annihilation means that there is some thing there that existed, which is now destroyed. Nor did he teach eternalism (that there is some thing there that is never destroyed). He taught the Middle Way, namely Dependent Origination.

The process that one has taken to be a self for all these lifetimes is just an empty process. Cause effect, cause effect, cause effect - just a process."

Engaged Buddhism

Calligraphy by Jakusho Kwong-roshi

Found this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh on the 14 precepts of engaged buddhism...

"1 Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.
2 Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice nonattachment from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints. Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.
3 Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrow-mindedness.
4 Do not avoid suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, including personal contact, visits, images and sounds. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.
5 Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need.
6 Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to penetrate and transform them when they are still seeds in your consciousness. As soon as they arise, turn your attention to your breath in order to see and understand the nature of your hatred.
7 Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing both inside and around you. Plant seeds of joy, peace, and understanding in yourself in order to facilitate the work of transformation in the depths of your consciousness.
8 Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.
9 Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things of which you are not sure. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety.
10 Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party. A religious community, however, should take a clear stand against oppression and injustice and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan conflicts.
11 Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realise your ideal of compassion.
12 Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.
13 Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.
14 Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body as only an instrument. Preserve vital energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the realisation of the Way. (For brothers and sisters who are not monks and nuns:) Sexual expression should not take place without love and commitment. In sexual relations, be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world. Meditate on the world into which you are bringing new beings."

Found another resource on free will debate

Scultpture by Nathan Sawaya
Quote below from http://nonduality.com/freew.htm

Greg Goode - Summed up nicely in his last line....

"The question of free will is from the perspective of the person. Does the person have free will? Many of the person's actions are forced or determined by factors over which it has no control. Some of these actions are accompanied by the feeling of being lived, of being in the flow, in the "zone." People often count these as the best times. But are at least some of the person's decisions and actions freely chosen? To establish free will, as is discussed in Philosophy 101 classes everywhere, it is not necessary to show that every action is free. Even one free action would be sufficient. Case 1: "Will that be coffee or tea?" "Hmmm, let me think.... I'll have tea, thanks." Case 2: (Thought bubble rising:) "I'd love to take a walk in the beautiful woods. I'd like to surround myself with peace and serenity and inquire into my true nature." (Putting on hiking boots, opening the camper door and stepping out), "Here I go." From the perspective of the person, if the decision process is not analyzed, the actions and decisions in both cases above seem to be perfect examples of free will. Upon analysis however, a free action and a free chooser cannot be found. A thought comes, followed by a desire, followed by a decision, followed by an action. Tracing backwards, the action is controlled by the decision, the decision is controlled by the desire, the desire is prompted by the thought. The thought arises spontaneously, itself unbidden, un-asked-for, unchosen. First the thought is not there, then it is. Nowhere in this process can a free will be found. Nowhere can a freely-acting chooser be found. It is even too much to say that the actions, decisions, desires and thoughts can control or prompt each other. These cause-and-effect dynamics are not even observed. Rather, they arise as inferences and conclusions about what happened, that is, they arise as thoughts that rise and fall. In something like Case 1, the decision might even be accompanied by a small feeling of freedom, lightness, and spaciousness. And maybe also accompanied by a thought, "I'm choosing tea but I could freely choose coffee instead." But the feeling of freedom and the thought "I could" also arise unbidden. That is, the feeling of freedom is not freely chosen. The person is not the locus of freedom. The person and the rest of the world cannot be found apart from the awareness in which all things appear. The person, the mind, body and world arise as thoughts, feelings, and sensations. These are nothing other than objects in awareness, and are nothing other than awareness itself. The person does not experience; the person is experienced. As awareness, we are That to which these objects appear. Thoughts, feelings, sensations - these objects arise from the background of silent awareness, they subsist in awareness, and they slip back into awareness. The awareness in which they appear is not itself an object but the background of all objects. It is our true nature. But the objects come and go unbidden, without autonomy. They are powerless and cannot do anything on their own. Objects cannot possess or contain freedom. Is there freedom? The silent awareness in which all objects appear is the true nature of all things. Awareness says YES to everything. Even if a NO arises, awareness says YES to the NO. Awareness is without resistance, without limits or edges, without refusal and without obstruction. Awareness is not free, it is freedom itself. What we truly are is not the person but this awareness, this freedom. The person wants to co-opt this freedom, to own it, to behold it, to be present to use and enjoy it. But in spite of this desire from the perspective of the person, the person can never own That in which the person appears. What about teachings that emphasize free will? Entire religions and ethical systems are based on this idea. Ramana Maharshi told a questioner that all actions are determined except the ability to inquire into one's true nature. Isn't Case 2 above different from Case 1? Sometimes teachings and exhortations about personal freedom are a beautiful, effective and necessary step for freedom from the idea of being a person. A person who prematurely adopts a "no-free-will" teaching can lapse into depression and antinomian behavior. "You have to be someone before you can be no one." The teachings on free will borrow from the freedom that we are. Among the many objects that arise in the mirror of awareness, some objects arise as images of mirrors. These images are taken as representations of their source. Like a mirror appearing in a mirror, Ramana's teaching serves as a pointer to freedom. Case 2 is not different in this respect from Case 1. As objects, all cases and their characters, and all teachings and all discourse (even this one!) are not themselves free or self-powered, but they arise from freedom and consist in freedom.

The person is never free. As awareness, we are never bound."

Gospel of Mary

From the Gospel of Mary some further evidence that Jesus was enlightened....

The Savior replied, "Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with each other. They will dissolve again into their own proper root. For the nature of matter is dissolved into what belongs to its nature..... [Realisation of co-dependent arising]

...The soul answered 'I saw you. You did not see me nor did you know me. You mistook the garment I wore for my true self. And you did not recognize me.'

...We should clothe ourselves with the perfect Human, acquire it for ourselves, and announce the good news...

...When the Blessed One had said these things, he greeted them all. "Peace be with you!" he said. "Acquire my peace within yourselves! Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!' For the child of true Humanity exists within you. Follow it! Those who search for it will find it. Go then, preach the good news about the Realm. Do not lay down any rule beyond what I determined for you, nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, or else you might be dominated by it." [Dominated by rules? Sounds like fundamentalist Christianity]

“What binds me has been slain, what surrounds me has been destroyed, my desire has been brought to an end, and ignorance has died. In the world, I was set loose from the world.....and set loose from the impotent bonds of knowledge - the existence of which is temporal. From this hour on, for eternity, I will receive rest in silence.” [Classic enlightenment experience description]