The Shakti Shaman: December 2013

Here's the question I swim in everyday -- Do my thoughts reflect my circumstances or do my circumstances reflect my thoughts? I wonder pretty continually which is more real my vision or my circumstances.

Contemplating this notion, on the trail under the bright blue southern California sky, I started to hear Buddha, Jesus, and Deepak Chopra giving me some clues. I really did! I know I'm weird. Nonetheless, when I got home, as I often do, I had to jot down and research what came to me in bits and pieces outside. Here's what those nature-induced nudges lead me to...

Buddha:

"The mind is everything. What you think you become."

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think."

Jesus:

"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you!"

Deepak Chopra:

"The tangible springs from the intangible, and that intangible is what we are and what we call God."

"...there is a growing community of theorists seriously thinking about a conscious universe."

"The creative function of consciousness in quantum mechanics was originally outlined in the Copenhagen Interpretation which says that an observer is required in order to collapse the wave function into a single occurrence and produce a measurable outcome."

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/buddha.html#HJKjTdmtRQREbtwQ.99

560 BC we become what we think, 30AD the mental quality of faith can move something as solid as a mountain, and 2010 an observer determines whether the wave slows down to a particle. It seems whether we're under a tree, on a hillside, behind a microscope, or in my case on a yoga mat, one thing that evolution cannot evade is the connection between internal mental forces and external material experiences.

At present as a yoga student and a yoga teacher, I spend a lot of time exploring what happens in the mind and to the body on a 24x71 inch piece of fabric. Experiencing and seeing the mind (internal)/body (external) connection in this small microcosm keeps me alive to the same possibility in the wider scope of human experience. When I say to a group of students "widen you collar bones" and they actually widen - something physiologically impossible - I get very excited. Or when balancing on one leg, I say "have confidence in your strength" and witness 98 - 100% of the bodies in the room immediately look stronger, lift higher, get their leg more straight - then I know firsthand that we embody what we think about.

And I'm going to take what may seem like a huge leap to some here and say that not only does the inner vision affect outward circumstances, but that the inner vision is more real. It's the primary stuff that our circumstances reflect. If thought were the tree then circumstances would be its shadow. That explains how the mind of the observer determines whether the wave collapses into a particle. That's the how the thought force of faith Jesus spoke of could move something as fixed, huge, and solid as a mountain. This is tough to accept sometimes even though I have witnessed numerous times this phenomenon in action and intellectually see how it is so. Still I consistently find myself going back to assuming and believing that everything is happening to me instead of reflecting my own beliefs back to me. From this premise I misdirect my energy toward the very arduous and rarely successful task of changing people, places, and things.

Now what I'm coming to understand is that the best use of my will is in disciplining, molding, and directing my thoughts. Some might call it cultivating mindfulness or being intentional. I'd say it includes those things for sure. I also think it goes beyond thinking up personal goals and then using my mind to make them happen. I love the take on desire I recently discovered in the writings of Wallace Wattles. To paraphrase, he talks about desire being the force of Life trying to express itself through and as you. From what I understand, intuition is how that "Life force" speaks to me. My role is to keep the channels open and clear through whatever practices facilitate that for me. Once I'm tuned in and hearing and feeling those deep inner nudges, I can use my will to keep my mind focused on what those are, what it looks like, what it feels like - even in the midst of circumstances that are completely the opposite. As I do this consistently, the outer begins to reflect the inner back to me.

A yoga student's chest widening and opening at the mention of collar bones widening is the same process by which someone can bring their life's purpose, a companion, or a healthy body into being. The trouble usually is that in the space-time continuum the latter things require more persistence and accustom as it is to relying on the outer for confirmation, we give up too soon and assume it's just not working or it's not possible. The term "spiritual warrior" is one I find myself resorting to quite a bit to awaken me from status quo, common sense, group mentality kind of thinking. In this case, I would say a spiritual warrior is one who holds the vision NO MATTER WHAT. It's that "no matter what" mentality that ultimately allows the vision to manifest. If we can't be volleyed back and forth and pushed around, then the things that would do that are going to stop knocking.

My wish for anyone who reads this is that they trust, trust, trust that their vision is more real than their present circumstances. If you're engaging in the practices that keep the channels open, you will be guided and nudged towards that which serves the greatest good for you and all. Then you must use your will to dwell there in your mind consistently until the inner becomes the outer - NO MATTER WHAT. It will happen. Trust it now.

Resources:
http://www.letusreason.org/Cult11.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/will-the-god-particle-rep_b_625751.html
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/chopra/article/Did-God-discover-the-God-particle-3705245.php#page-2
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/will-the-god-particle-rep_b_625751.html
http://biblehub.com/luke/17-6.htm

The mind is everything. What you think you become.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/buddha378282.html#tmuZb7B57zt25dxd.99

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Inner to Outer - Buddha, Jesus, and Deepak Chopra

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