The Secret has be told and re-told. Critics from the I-I camp and main stream Media have debunked the Idea that we can think our way into a wider reality. But I think the question still remains.
What is the partial truth of "The Secret" and an integral interpretation of this truth?

I hope we can build this discussion based on two quotes.

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become."
Siddhartha Guatama Buddha

"The condition of projection-manifestation is much talked about in the new age field. I'm sure you have heard "you are what you think" or "change your thinking and your life will change." The problem however, is that most of what we think remains on the subconscious level, and is not easily seen and changed, even with whatever reprograming techniques you may have heard about.
It is not the beliefs themselves but the suppressed subconscious energies that result from our beliefs, which go out into the world, form our experience, and come back at us. We ATTRACT the same energy we suppress. We do this to bring our subconscious energies into awareness and to clear them."

John Ruskan Emotional Clearing pg 119


Our reality is a result of our thoughts ONLY if you define the word 'thought' correctly. The Mind and thought is everything. That's how the buddha seems to be using this concept. Our individual Mind on the relative side of the street is the totally of our conscious and unconscious thoughts. On the absolute, The Mind is everything period. We can use Mantra's and other reprogramming techniques but if the mind is stuck in some sense of lack, introducing thoughts of abundance will do very little to change these core beliefs. So the Ideas of this movie, at best, are a very rudimentary practice that barely scratches the surface of consciousness. And at worst it takes us directly away from those things which could be troubling our life by re-supressioning the emotion energy.
The Antidote to the secret is a simple axiom. Do Your Shadow Work! This is precisely why I included a quote from Ruskan's book on integral clearing work. This book isn't quite up to the standards of AQAL, but it is the single best source of Integral shadow practice that I have seen. The book is ripe with insight like this.

"We attract the same energy we suppress" not the energy that results from our positive thinking!

Im stunned by Her stillness. I stand breathless, and she waits. The manner of her movement is so graceful, so purposeful, that I would never suspect Im spinning at 36,000 miles per hour while held against Her by the gravity of Her Love.

Unless of course I passed earth science in 9th grade or watch the science channel, which I do. The Earth is a beauty that has no equal, and yet she is only the tip of an Iceberg. She is like the physical Heart, and she gently points to the heart of God by the way she moves and breathes.

My practice has recently led me to "listen to my heart" which really means witnessing the emotional turmoil of incarnating as a human. But underneath the turbulence of my mixed up emotional body I can feel a stillness and solidarity that is unique. The only thing I can compare it to is the experience of feeling the earth beneath your feet and expanding your awareness into Hers. Its not the stillness of samadhi, not the emptiness of pure meditation... but something else altogether.

Have you ever flown a kite on a bad windy day? The wind tosses the kite to and fro. If not for a tiny string connecting it to the earth it would spin out of control and be lost on the currents of the wind. My mind is like that kite. My Heart is that string, Her Heart is like the Earth. And sadly most of my awareness is tied up with that Kite. But at moments I listen close enough to hear her sigh, to hear her breath. I have never heard anything so sweet.

I have spoken with the Bodhisattva of Wisdom in my Dreams.  He told me an ancient secret.. The secret of heaven was given to him and he guards it in the dream realm.  To the aspirant who wishes it, he will reveal himself saying:
Do this Practice. Dream. Dream. Dream. Culivate awareness, depth and insight. When you have done this the way will be revealed to you.  The Mind has groves and pathways.  The mind is a great expanse and one can unlock the secret of the mind by cultivating Awareness and Objectivity to all of one's tendancies and karmas. When this is done the dreamer is freed from the habitual patterns of the mind and may acend to the heavenly realms whenever he/she wishes.

a smile, a smile, a smile
    and Background of Bliss
a care, a touch, an embrace
    and Background of Bliss
a song, an estatic dance
    and Background of Bliss

a stiff back, a conflict, an inconvience
    and Background of Bliss
a wounded heart and broken dreams
    and Background of Bliss
a hurt so deep, one lashes out in anger
    and Background of Bliss
Ignorance, Confusion, and Suffering
    and Background of Bliss

melting snow, reflecting lights
    and Background of Bliss
a newborn's skin, rough sand in my shoe
    and Background of Bliss
the crackle of a campfire, the scent of Forest burning
    and Background of Bliss
the wind blowing, God's whisper in my ear
    and Background of Bliss

Grace and Fear are Twin sisters
    And the mother Recieves them both
       Opens her mouth and swallows them both
          Will You?

Recently I have been writing a bit more. And there may be some more blog enteries down the line, but i also had the idea of posting some of my poems.  SOme of these will be old. Some recent.  Enjoy.

 

For Wyatt:

Being integral, I’m allergic to the new age. Its an anemic spirituality that caters to the cantankerous ego.  Imagine going in for open heart surgery with a first year med student that hasn’t even sliced a human heart with a scalpel before!  Well that’s what its like relying on soothsayers and astrologers for enlightenment. The New age has its roots in the occult and goddess worship, but the bulk of its wisdom is a mere 50 yrs old. Compare that to Buddhism or esoteric Christianity. With 6000 yrs of sages blazing a trail in the kosmos.

There are genuine masters in the new age and I have blissed out to Eckhart Tolle tapes as much as anyone else. But give me a break.  The universe is not going to show you a rainbow because you asked for some sign.  And license plates on the highway are not confirming your latest crush because their initials show up 3 times in a row.

So what is this synchronicity thing anyway?  Is the divine speaking to us? Or is our own deep delusion bubbling to the surface?  Maybe we could ask a similar question and find an integral answer.  Where do Christmas Gifts come from?
   

A child of 3 - 5 is spell bound on Christmas morning.  They are told the toys and candy are brought by a fat man in a red suit. Then we teach them to sing the names of his flying reindeer. Is this true? Yes absolutely! To a young child this is most certainly true because it explains the phenomena of Christmas gifts appearing underneath the evergreen in the living room.
   

An older child, 7-10, knows that Santa Clause is not real.  Brightly packaged boxes on Dec 25th surely come from Mom and Dad.  After that stage a teenager knows they come from the Mall, the bounty of life for the middle and upper class.  Is that the truth?  Mom and Dad know differently.  Christmas gifts come from having a good job and responsible uses of money.
   

Events in the world happen. Frequently. And WE ascribe meaning to them.  Those meanings are based on the level of consciousness, worldview, or meaning making system of an individual.  And the Spiritual communities we belong to help us make meaning of our experiences. Just be sure your community is not encouraging pre-rational interpretations of the events swirling around you.
   

Synchronicity is the universe talking to itself in the universal language.  A language called space-time.  Blessed (or cursed) with a neo-cortex, we humans incessantly label and conceptualize space-time into bit-sized pieces.  As enlightened Eckhart teaches the human race is caught in the mental projections of the small self and the primary faculty used to explain phenomena is the logical mind.  Folks who exclusively use reason are not open to the use of intuitive capacities, and therefore ignore synchronicity as imagination or coincidence.
   

The new age movement is filled with people who are tapping into these higher capacities of mind.  It takes a certain letting go, or faith to do this which I admire deeply. But some have pre-rational interpretations and some have a more integral or post-rational understanding.  The integral community on the other hand seems to consist of people with highly developed skeptics.  I guess im an interpretation snob since its harder for me to recieve from folks who dont have a big enough framework to understand the difference between Santa Clause and Synchronicity.  What can we learn from one another?
   

I am learning that trust in a basic way allows one’s life to flow with the universe. Perception goes much deeper then we normally know.  Maizumi Roshi often said “Be your self the universe will give you feedback.”
   

This flow also needs to be interpreted with the mind of clarity or luminosity. Otherwise the cantankerous ego is driving the sleigh and we are prone to fantasies of Santa Clause like proportions…

 

 

When I was four I played with army men and dirt. The dirt was for protection. I would spend hours forming the dirt into trenches and fortifications. Little fox-holes dotted my lawn, little green men stood ready. At this tender age I knew not what I was defending against. But I knew it was important to be wary. I knew how to make walls and defenses against the possibility of attack. I was a good little boy.

At 30, a slightly less tender age, I spend hours trying to dismantle these walls. The walls keep others out and me safe, safe and alone. Over the past few years a sobering thought has steadily dawned on me. I am guarded. My soul has walls around it. I have plenty of psychic fox-holes, and if a situation is uncomfortable for me I go underground and close the hatch. Nothing may change outwardly, but my energy becomes closed and I’m no longer open to giving and receiving.  No longer open to sharing with others.  

Furthermore, I have an image of who I would like to be.  I expend a tremendous amount of energy trying to project that image. If this image is reinforced again and again nobody will know its made of dirt, not even me.  So it is that our contingency plans are formed. Some people more then others, but we all have these emergency evacuation plans. They are learned at a time when our emotional survival depended on these crude defensives. And they stay with us until a situation seems threatening.

Someone I care about questions my integrity? Deploy tank unit 84 and slip into the western trench complex. Troop movement is detected in the opponent’s front lines? “I need more space. You’re not understanding me.”

Such is the state of my internal nation. The socialists are trying to decrease military spending. But the conservatives are building more bombers. And in moments like these I yearn to be naked.  Stripped of armor skin. But that’s not the real world, is it?  Bullets fly in the real world. Preemptive strikes. Negotiations sometimes fail. Factions within the mind lobby for protection and isolation.

Yet, I can feel the peace of the un-defended and the strength of the truly free.
‘If your brother strikes you on one cheek turn to him the other also.’

'You have heard it said to love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I tell you love your enemy, bless those that curse you, do good to those that hate you.’

Safety is a strange drug, and I’m trying to kick the habit. Determined to, even if it takes lifetimes.