Reflections

A DAILY MEDITATION Let us be still for a few minutes Without moving even our little finger So that a hush descends upon us. There would not place to go, Nor to come from, For we would have arrived in this extraordinary moment.

There would a stillness and silence, That would fill all of our senses, Where all things would find their rest. Everything would then be together in a deep connection. Putting an end to “us and them” this against that. We would not move in these brief moments For that would disturb this palpable silence; There would be nothing to be said nor done For life would embrace us in this wondrous meeting And take us into its arms as a loving friend.

 

SOURCES FOR INSIGHT

We live in a culture obsessed with the acquisition and distribution of knowledge. Our mind has a remarkable capacity to absorb knowledge. We may become clever but we may not be wise.

The difference between accumulated knowledge and an insight is rather like the difference between visiting the Himalayas and looking at postcards of these mountains

A genuine insight frees the mind up, opens the heart and transforms perceptions. Insights can run very deep affecting the very cells of our being. Reading about the experience of others is no substitute, yet one sentence in a book can change our lives.

Insights contribute to living with wisdom in the face of daily life.

MAJOR SOURCES FOR INSIGHT INCLUDE: 

1. discussion
2. inquiry
3. focussed attention 
4. meditation
5. mindful living
6. nature
7. listening
8. reading
9. reflection
10. receptivity 
11. speaking 
12. spontaneous arising

Invaluable insights can come from experience, both beautiful and ugly, pleasurable and painful and through the most mundane of events. Benefits from insights may come immediately or much, much later. 

Insights open our consciousness to wake us up from the sleep of mundane existence and habitual and restricted patterns.

Changes of consciousness or perception can shake our worldview making available fresh insights into our participation in life. 

To know others and ourselves includes knowing the nature of suffering, its causes and conditions, liberation and the way to liberation. 

BASIC STEPS TO ORGANISE WEEKLY MEETINGS FOR DHARMA DISCUSSION AND INSIGHT MEDITATION 

Put up posters in your local shops giving details, first name, address, telephone number/e-mail and time and place of meeting. 

Ask your Dharma centre for addresses of Dharma students in your area. 

Make space in the room. Encourage students to bring a cushion. 

Offer instructions or read instructions for basic breath meditation for new people and instructions for sitting with a straight posture. 

Meditation from 25-45 minutes. 

Dharma discussion with or without a theme, share concerns, share experiences, ask questions, readings and sharing. 

Start punctually and finish very punctually with a minute's shared silence to conclude.

Tea and biscuits. 

AWARENESS for the THIRD MILLENNIUM

Ø Deep meditation to open consciousness beyond mind's conditioning and restricted perceptions. Love much and want little.

Ø Enlighten and liberate our life. Realise the Web of Inter-Connection and relationship of all forms of life with each other. Give protection to bio-diversity and a holistic view rather than a reductionist view as science often advocates. See science as a mixture of theories and facts. 

Ø Use education to develop the heart as well as the mind. Explore the resources of ancient and contemporary spiritual traditions. Develop awareness and insights to end suffering and bring happiness and security for everyone. 

Ø Commitment to Right Livelihood (through love for others and environment as much as oneself) rather than selfish pursuit of a career.

Ø End the mind-set of 'us and them' and the dualism of separation. Admit as a species, we cannot control our fate, nor are masters of our destiny.

Ø Cultivate the sense of community and collective friendship instead of living in self-obsession and self-hate. 

Ø Develop mindfulness and reflection about lifestyle, diet and worthwhile commitments. Develop constructive engagement to resolve conflict whether personal, social or international. 

Ø Prioritise wisdom over knowledge, compassion over cleverness, humility over arrogance. Take power away from centralised authority, such as politics, science and religion, and develop networks of wisdom. Seek the counsel of the wise.

Ø Replace competition with co-operation. Develop sharing of knowledge and goods and skilful use of resources instead of exploitation. 

Ø Develop a vision of a sustainable world through respect for all species and protection of land, water and air. Acknowledge issues, events and things arise owing to causes and conditions.

Ø End the manufacture and dealing in arms and convert all such factories and laboratories for constructive use.

Ø Remember to reflect on what we are going to do with our one wild, free and precious life!

THE RELIGION OF POPULAR SCIENCE

Ø Science currently holds to the theory that the Big Bang created the world.

Ø Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and Albert Einstein (1879-1955) are two of the leading prophets of the religion of Popular Science.

Ø Darwin's Origin of Species is the sacred book for believers in Science.

Ø Core theories of the faithful include the theory of relativity, theory of evolution, survival of the fittest, the random selection of species, DNA, progress of the human species and control over our destiny.

Ø Scientists are the missionaries for the religion of Popular Science. Most believe in a reductionist approach to see things as they are. Men are predominant in Popular Science. 

Ø Science teachers are the priests for Science while the university is the Temple of Science. The laboratory is the sacred tabernacle. Scientists believe in experimentation, observation and deduction to know to the reality of material and physical world but struggle to understand consciousness.

Ø The religion of Popular Science engages in the battle of good and evil – from medical science to producing weapons of mass destruction.

Ø The religion of Popular Science divides into various sects and sub-sects – Biologists, Chemists, Geneticists, Geologists, Physicists, etc. Scientists believe knowledge is the True Way. 

Ø Scientists dispute various theories about Reality. 

*A theory – a supposition explaining something, 
abstract knowledge. Oxford Dictionary. 

FACTORS COMMON TO RELIGIONS

It is easy to fall into the habit of thinking that our own religion is the 'best' one and that other believers have got it wrong. The following two lists show that religions, even from different cultural and historical backgrounds, have more more in common–for good or for ill–than we may think.

Positive factors
1. Acts of compassion, service, and generosity.
2. Affirms moral basis for life.
3. Change through devotion, faith, meditation, realisation, or revelation.
4. Enduring values–love, peace, justice.
5. Means for social change.
6. Recognition of community life.
7. Rituals pointing to “mysterium tremendum”.
8. Support in the face of suffering. 
9. Transcendence of cultural conditioning.
10. Points to the highest truth.

Negative factors
1. Belief in the absolute authority of book, master, or tradition.
2. Belief in the superiority of one's own faith.
3. Discrimination against women.
4. Male hierarchical structures and privileges.
5. Lack of real appreciation of the sacredness of life.
6. Priority of nationalism before enduring religious values.
7. Promise of a Utopia–herein or hereafter.
8. Submissive, unquestioning obedience.
9. Support for wars and the political establishment.
10. Acts done in the name of God that produce suffering.

THE RELIGION OF SECULARISM

1. Science is the God of secular religion. Science has the power to solve all problems and has the potential to answer to all prayers.

2. Secularists worship career, money, pleasure and sex. Nirvana is getting what I want whenever I want. 'I' 'me' and 'my' matters above everything else. Secularists believe they are living in the real world.

3. Recreational drugs and alcohol are the bread and wine of secular beliefs. 

4. Self-help books are the Bibles and Koran of secular culture. Psychotherapists, counsellors and astrologers are the priests of the religion of secularism.

5. Entertainers, fashion models, film stars, and sports stars are the Gods and Goddesses of secular religion. The television set is the sacred shrine at home to watch in attentive silence.

6. The faithful gather to worship their Gods and Goddesses at concerts, cinemas and sports stadiums. The faithful revere the Chosen Ones of secular religion.

7. The followers of secular religion make their annual pilgrimage to exotic resorts to worship sun, sea and sand.

8. The shopping mall is the Kingdom of Heaven. Money is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven - homo shopiens instead of homo sapiens.

9. The university is the Temple of Knowledge - the way to the Promised Land of personal success and prosperity. Knowledge, sustained effort and a competitive attitude are the means to success.

10. Secularists believe production, consumption and collection of goods is a primary reason for existence. Secularists believe in ownership and wealth as the great goal of existence – human having instead of human being. 

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