Lifestyle of a renunciant hermit

8/13/2019 Lifestyle of a renunciant hermit

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This compilation of 25 essays is in three parts. The first considers my

changing life styleand this leads to reflections on being a hermitand on therenunciationthat this embraces.

Part one notes some issues in adapting to the freelance work life and endswith an upbeat consideration of what might be considered basic and whatextra.

Part two reflects on the life of a hermit in this case a freelancer writer wholives alone and works from home. Quiet sitting has to feature if there is to bepeace of mind and compassion.

Part three notes that renunciation comes naturally and easily to those whoturn their minds around. There are now more of these people. There istherefore hope for the future.

George Clark ([email protected])

January 2014
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Contents

PART ONE LIFESTYLE ............................................................................................................... 3

Better ways to be human ................................................................................................................. 4

The burned out issue ....................................................................................................................... 6My fifth decade ................................................................................................................................ 7

Self-less freelancing ........................................................................................................................ 8

Basics and Extras ............................................................................................................................. 9

PART TWO HERMIT ................................................................................................................. 10

Thoughts are made by talking ....................................................................................................... 11

What to do? .................................................................................................................................... 12

How to start your day .................................................................................................................... 13

Rhinoceros turning ........................................................................................................................ 14A continuum of withdrawal ........................................................................................................... 15

The urge to write ............................................................................................................................ 16

Living alone.................................................................................................................................... 17

A source of stories .......................................................................................................................... 18

Ranting quick and slow ................................................................................................................ 20

PART THREE RENUNCIATION ............................................................................................... 21

Transcendental Intentionality ......................................................................................................22

Mind Watching .............................................................................................................................. 25On being normal ........................................................................................................................... 26

Let slip from mind ......................................................................................................................... 27

Life stages and motivations .......................................................................................................... 28

What people want ......................................................................................................................... 29

To change my mind ...................................................................................................................... 30

Self-made millionaires and mystics .............................................................................................. 31

Once born again let the mud settle ............................................................................................ 33

Levels of Consciousness ................................................................................................................ 35

Renunciation is in our plastic genes ............................................................................................. 37


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PART ONE LIFESTYLE


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Better ways to be human

What state am I in?Another morning with a background of vague existential dis-

ease. If I had a regular 9-5 job it would call me intomeaningful action for a large part of most days. But I do nothave such a job so I am left to my own devices.

This might be OK except that I am no longer sure about whatmy own devices might include. I have become self aware tothe extent of being increasingly convinced (intellectually andemotionally) of the illusory nature of the individuated self.

This might also be OK except that the new way of thinking hasnot yet stabilised. This means that cognitive dissonance (and aconstant switching of world views) remains a common andexistentially unsettling feature of the mind state.

This might also be OK except that I am not yet able to face theuncertainty with other than guilt, fear, shame and stress. I amstill rooted in the idea that I should be in control of what goeson in my mind.

I have intellectually appreciated this situation for a long timebut it is only recently that the implications have begun to erodethe emotional/intuitional foundations of the pre-existingworld view1. I have not yet learned how to go with this flowwith humour and good grace.

So how did I get myself into this state?To answer this question requires being clear about what thestate is. There are many words that might be used to describe

it (see box). The essence as I presently see it (there arevariations depending on the mood2 that I am in) is dis-ease.I am not comfortable in my skin. I find it difficult to be open, spontaneous and free-flowing.To quote an early song:

He rationalised his thought about everything he soughtAnd so he annihilated pleasure

Every impulse to action is called into question. The pros and cons have to be weighed. Quiteoften the situation does not become clear and there is thus no action. Note that, at present,the resulting default action is either (a) to write about what is going on in my head3or (b) toimmerse myself in the dharma4such that a more enlightened point of view might prevail andbring a return to existential ease.

[Note in passing that the above description involves a certain amount of exaggeration andreification. Interspersed with the periods of dis-ease there are periods where the muse takesover and there is a going with the flow numinous moments which are non egoic and outwithspace and time. But, for the moment, we will hang around with the angst.]

So, having outlined the nature of the state, what might be said about how I got into it? Thestory that I tell myself is that there was disaffection from my sub culture during my childhoodand early adolescence and thus a desire to find better ways to be human. From ages 13 to 18

1Although note that it was constantly evolving and, even at its most stable, there were severalvariants of it2a mood is a transitory mind set - and note that when one disappears for a while and thencomes back it is not exactly the same mood there are multiple causes and conditions and all

things are in a state of flux. 3See these daily diary notes.4Either reading books or listening to dharma talks from the internet

AlienationAngstAnguishAnxietyBurn outCopping a wobblyDark night of the soulDepressionDespairDisaffectionDis-easeDissonanceDour

DreechEnnuieEstrangementExistential crisisFailure to copeFretfulnessMelancholyMoroseNervous breakdownNihilismSadnessStressThe blues

World weariness


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I escaped village life in the summers to work on archaeological digs amongst students and awide range of people with alternative life styles. Then the university years in the big city(Aberdeen). Then living, working and reflecting in Edinburgh, Jamaica, Zambia, University ofReading/Portsoy, Sudan, University of Sussex/Portsoy, Belize, Portsoy, Lesotho, Portsoy(with visits to Tanzania).

I remain unclear about the source of the early disaffection from the subculture. It will

doubtless have been rooted in early childhood experiences in the family and in growing up ina traditional village while the world around was changing rapidly (the swinging 60s). I wasaware that the eternal verities of village life were parochial variants of a sub cultural theme.There were many inconsistencies and loose ends. Having received my qualifications in higherthought I began my worldly wanders in search of better ways to be human.

And I found no blacks and whites. There were many different ways to be human but judgingsome as better than others proved tricky. Cultural relativism (the grey mist) set in. TwoMaster degrees and several Portsoy retreats later and I still have not found the answer.

Not that this should have been a surprise. My early intellectual training had led me to thefollowing credos:

The only certainty is doubt

The only constant thing is changeSo follow the flow

But those were cognitive credos. The belief was only intellectual. Deep down I was stillsearching for consonance, for the answer: although there was always some doubt about it asis shown in the following lines from a song I wrote while in Zambia

Youll find plenty question mastersMaking quagmires of their brain

The man said, There is no answerThey said, You are insane

So how might I get out of this state?My mental state is rooted in cultural relativism (nothing is better than anything else) and

post-modernism (the death of the meta-narrative). Getting out of this state would appear toinvolve

(a) embracing the relative absolutes5coming from neuroscience and evolutionarypsychology as these link to ancient eastern mind training traditions6

(b) embracing post-post-modernism with its truly holistic systems theory which has aneye on the insights of quantum theory and especially on the parallels between this andthe ancient eastern psychologies of perception7

(c) emotionally and intuitively embracing the doubt, uncertainty and flow credosmentioned above through making time for stillness and for mindfulness meditation inmy daily schedule

So maybe it is good that I do not have the distractions of a job. There is a lot on my plate when

left to my own devices! And writing about it helps to clarify the situation. The thought is madeby talking. But then again too much mental chatter can promote existential dis-ease and get inthe way of numinous appreciation. We might therefore heed the exhortation to stillness fromThich Nhat Hahn:

Dont just do somethingSit there

5relative because they are true for only humans, absolute because they are true for all humans

(and possibly other life forms with which we have a common ancestry (ie them all?))6eg see the works of Jon Kabat-Zinn on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)7eg see the works of Ken Wilber and his integral system for all quadrants at all levels (AQAL)


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The burned out issue

Until recently I was telling myself the story of how Iburned outa few years ago while involvedwith too many development projects. I lost the ability to consciously direct my will and toremain focussed and on topic. Things got so bad that I had to break contract and this severelydamaged my self image as a freelance consultant in the knowledge industry.

But there is now another more positive story. This time all that has happened is that I have re-valued, and changed my mind. I no longer feel inclined to operate in the way and on the topicsthat I used to; old habits are broken. But there is still energy for ways of doing things thathave different philosophical, psychological and social roots.

There has been a shift away from (a) exclusive reliance on the hard, objective, scientific pointof view, (b) the ideologicalbig-storyof developmentand (c) the vision of progresstowardsan environmentally friendly world imbued with social justice. The shift could be labelled as amove towards a form ofpost-modernpragmatismthat recognises new (to me) ways ofknowing and finding meaning: at levels ranging from international through to very local, butmainly, at present, at theindividual levelin the privacy of my own home.

Through practicingmindfulnessI now appreciate the ancient, eastern psychology ofperception. This has induced a deep humility about my own points of view and a simultaneous

compassion regarding the points of view of others who remain caught up in big-stories ofwhatever kind.

I feel that I no longer have a handle on what might be for the best: and neither do otherexperts, or indeed ordinary people. Truth and meaning are embedded social constructs thatare in a state of perpetual, dynamic flux. So one-size-fits-all, global models are not a goodidea. To stay on track there needs to be cycles ofaction and reflectionto ensure ongoing fitbetween theory and practice in a given context.

So there is still fire in the belly but it has different fuel. I am going through an extended periodof largely individual reflection.Burn outis no longer a burning issue.
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/burn_out.asphttp://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/burn_out.asphttp://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/burn_out.asphttp://www.sociology.org.uk/ws1k5.htmhttp://www.sociology.org.uk/ws1k5.htmhttp://www.sociology.org.uk/ws1k5.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_progresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_progresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_progresshttp://www.reference.com/search?q=post-modernhttp://www.reference.com/search?q=post-modernhttp://www.pragmatism.org/http://www.pragmatism.org/http://www.pragmatism.org/http://www.srds.co.uk/beginhttp://www.srds.co.uk/beginhttp://www.srds.co.uk/beginhttp://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.phphttp://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.phphttp://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.phphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_action_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_action_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_action_researchhttp://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htmhttp://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htmhttp://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htmhttp://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_action_researchhttp://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.phphttp://www.srds.co.uk/beginhttp://www.pragmatism.org/http://www.reference.com/search?q=post-modernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_progresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_developmenthttp://www.sociology.org.uk/ws1k5.htmhttp://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/burn_out.asp


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My fifth decade

This week saw the replacement, after ten years, of my 13 yr old Renault Megane for a new (tome) 3 year old version complete with electric windows, a CD player, and an onboardcomputer. The street value of the old car was 200 while the new one is worth 6000. Thirtytimes better?

This week also marks my 10thyear since swapping full time work in Lesotho for a freelance lifein Portsoy. So has there been a comparable upgrading in my life style and quality of life?

The official work in Lesotho involved full-time institution building for advisory workers inEducation: and the unofficial work involved running a home recording studio for local bands.Since then the official work has involved short-term information processing projects based onthe idea that digested knowledge is power to the people: and the unofficial work has involvedinvestigating the problems of how we can possibly and plausibly know anything, and whatthat might be. The recent official work has been channelled through Community EconomicDevelopment structures in Scotland (mainly PDL,BPLandCCSD)and through Civil Societyin Tanzania (mainlyHakikazi Catalyst). The unofficial work has been channelled throughvarious forms of journaling includingone-pagers.Tangible outputs have been hard copybooklets and arange of websites.

During the decade I have been in touch with friends from times past and have also made newfriends and acquaintances. The latter includes people from Portsoy and surrounding districtwith a sprinkling of others from Findhorn, Inverness and Tanzania.

New friends from Lesotho include Toshiko, and Ralph & Maria all of whom have visitedPortsoy. Toshiko has been my travelling companion many times in Scotland but also inIreland, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. There was also a walking trip to the White Desertin Egypt with the Boyds. Other trips during the decade include to Eigg, Edinburgh, Londonand Geneva. But, on the whole, I have not strayed much from the well known streets ofPortsoy and indeed not all that often from the house and garden.

My abilities as a wordsmith and web designer have developed. Although the latter has tendedto fossilize, the former continues to develop in the evolving tradition of plain languagewriting.

But the main existential thrust of the decade has been the drive to change mental gear. Muchof this is captured in my let it begin with mewebsite. To engage with more of the same was toremain part of the problem rather than being a contributor to a solution. So there is anongoing drive to find a more holistic pattern for being in the world. This is rooted inmindfulness meditation. The process has not been without its problems (eg malaise and burnout) but there may now be light at the end of the tunnel.

So, if my mind was a motor car, has the decade seen a shift from a 200 model to a 6000one? Am I thirty times better than I used to be? It is hard to tell. How might such things bejudged? Self judgements are dependant on mood. And, despite increasing depth and extent ofmindfulness, the moods still swing. Some days I feel like a rusty old wreck while other days Ifeel spanking new and straight out of the box. Existential truth emerges from context andcontexts are constantly changing. But we can be more or less mindful of what is going on. Be

still and know.
http://www.banffshirepartners.co.uk/http://www.banffshirepartners.co.uk/http://www.banffshirepartners.co.uk/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.spanglefish.com/SRDS/http://www.spanglefish.com/SRDS/http://www.spanglefish.com/SRDS/http://www.srds.co.uk/links.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/links.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/links.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/begin/http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/http://www.srds.co.uk/links.htmhttp://www.spanglefish.com/SRDS/http://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.banffshirepartners.co.uk/


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Self-less freelancing

These days I earn a modest living as a freelance technical writer. Paid work turns up now andthen. From an egoic point of view, there are good things and bad things about this.

There are three good things: (a) an income stream and a touch of reputation to add to the c/v,(b) an added sense of purpose to life when I am using my vocation; and, more significantly

for this little story, (c) a reason for many hours of non-egoic, one-pointed concentration (I amlost in work).

There are two bad things about paid work: (a) I tend to obsess about it; it takes over my lifeand drives everything else to the margins of consciousness (I am too busy) (b) when I re-emerge from one-pointed concentration there is often a burst of low self esteem and thefeeling that I am an incompetent chancer (I get the blues)

But neither of the bad things is inevitable. They are mind made and thus treatable. Theobsession can be dealt with using time management techniques8: and these will be most likelyto succeed when linked to activities that distract the mind from egoic thought.

At the mundane level I engage mindfully in domestic work in the house or garden or I seekmindless distraction by the media (radio, TV, novels etc (I gave up newspapers a long time

ago)). Our consumer society offers a vast range of banal options; mine are limited because Ilive alone and work from home!

But there are more exotic options. Sometimes I immerse myself in the wisdom literature or inlistening to dharma talks on the internet: this takes me out of myself and prevents stewing inself made juices. It offers a half way house between intellect and intuition.

And then there is the trump card, the option for stillness, for mindfulness meditation, for justsitting. More often than not this leads to a peaceful and non-egoic state of mind of which it issaid, No self, no problem. Note that the same can be said of the mind states where I am lostin paid work or in washing the dishes.

So there we have the glorious life style option of self-less freelancing.

8http://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/bast/bast03.htm
http://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/bast/bast03.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/bast/bast03.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/bast/bast03.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/bast/bast03.htm


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Basics and Extras

I got frazzled while shopping in Tescos. I felt the need for a session of just sitting. This raisedthe question of Why not sit still most of the time? The answer that emerged is set out in thefollowing box where three life styles are set on a continuum of worldly involvement.

Life Style Basic things Extra things Just sitting1 Consumer lots none

2 the middle way some some

3 Meditator none lots

1. Consumer:Life = basic things + lots of extra things

The basic things would include arranging for food, clothing and shelter and stepping out ofthe way of rampaging elephants and ten ton trucks. This would have been straightforward inthe hunting and gathering days but would have got more complicated once agriculture wasinvented and then modern civilisation with its advertising.

It is easy to make fun of the knick knacks that make up the extra things in our status anxiousmodern life styles. Think of the grades of rich and poor and how they tend to read differentnewspapers and shop in different supermarkets. In a given supermarket, think of the range ofprices for similar items packaged differently (Who would not be seen dead with value brandproducts in their baskets in Tesco?). Think more generally of peoples pattern of consumptionand of how when they earn more they spend more and thus never have enough.

3. Meditator:Life = basic things +lots of just sitting

Most mature cultures have their hermits and recluses. These are the saints who chose to befrugal and prudent and thus to get by with the basic things. They thus have time for justsitting, for being still, for noticing what they notice, for thinking about thinking. They havetime to stand and stare. And what good does this do? They get in touch with what Huxleycalled the perennial philosophy. They become inspired by the interpenetrating oneness of

reality and thus come to know the peace that passes all understanding. The spiritual insightsof the best of them form the bases of the worlds main religions.

Note in passing that those of the saintly persuasion are often gathered together in monasterieswhere their lives are systematically pared back to the basic things + just sitting. This can be asevere approach and is often caught up in the inadequacies that characterise most mature andinstitutionalised state religions. But not always!

2. The middle way:Life = basic things + some extra things + some just sitting

And then there is the middle way. The everyday Zen of the householder. The idea is that totalabsorption in consumer capitalism is an existential cop out and leads to suffering. The goal isto go beyond robotic patterns of craving and aversion, to be unattached to the impermanentthings of this world, and thus to find peace.

The good news is that our essential nature is peaceful like a mirror. The problem is thatcivilisation with its never ending stream of extra things is like dust on the mirror. So howmight we remove the dust? By making time for just sitting, for being mindful, for meditating.

Ultimately it is a matter of balance. Set aside some time each day (5, 15, 45 minutes?) for quietreflection. Notice what is going on in your head. Many of the extras will thus become lessattractive and easy to renounce. You will thus be on the road to peace of mind and thus todeep happiness and contentment. Why not memorise the following saying and call it to mindwhen you are getting frazzled:

Dont just do something,Sit there!


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PART TWO HERMIT


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Thoughts are made by talking

You can think either on your own or in company. These havetheir relative merits.

When on your own you have peace to sort out your thoughtsbut, even when using creativity enhancing techniques9, you are

bound to have limited viewpoints. But thinking on your owncan be useful as a preparation for thinking in company.

Groups engaged in thinking can be either like-minded oroppositional. Like-minded groups are likely to get stuck ingroup think10and limited viewpoints but these will not be aslimited as solitary viewpoints - so there is room for individual growth and development.

Oppositional group thinking styles can be either debate (win/lose) or discussion (win/win).Both can lead to sophisticated viewpoints but by different routes. Debates tend to exaggeratedifferences and make them extremely black and white and therefore schismatic. Genteeldiscussions may generate compromises and fudged solutions which may be subtle but sub-optimal.

The merits of the options depend on the purpose and urgency of the thinking task. In anemergency it may be best to go along with the individual thinking of a respected leader. Thiscuts out the time needed for the more social options 11.

Meetings of like-minded souls can bring an easy affirmation to individuals who previouslyhave gone it alone12. In these cases there will be a strong feeling component13.

Debates tend to generate more heat (feelings) than light (thoughts). This may be an inherentfeature of our being thinking/ feeling apes. It is certainly a well established format in thepolitical and academic spheres14.

Discussions also embrace feelings but in a compassionate and detached manner15; they lackthe melodrama of debates but are more likely to lead to popular and implementablesolutions16.

Note that there is a role for the solitary thinker/scribe in recording what the groups debate ordiscuss. This is ideally a value free and technical exercise but in this age of spin doctors thereis room for individual initiative and creativity17. This reflects the self evident fact that humancommunication is a social activity and that thoughts are made by talking.

9Seehttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/tot/toolbox.htm10Seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_think11Note that the hermit option has been around as long as society but has never become hugelypopular.12The norm crackers and paradigm shifters13Eg when the hermit joins the monastery14the legendary ya boo culture of the elite private schools which gives the UK its politicians

15see thoughts from Minu Hemmati (xxx) about Multi-stakeholder processes16As when native American groups sat under a tree and passed around the talking stick17see thoughts from Guba and Lincoln (xxx) about the dialectical hermeneutic

All thoughts have associatedfeelings which may be ofattraction, aversion or

neutrality. In what follows itshould be understood thatwhen we say thoughts wemean thoughts/feelings.
http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/tot/toolbox.htmhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/tot/toolbox.htmhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/tot/toolbox.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_thinkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_thinkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_thinkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_thinkhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/tot/toolbox.htm


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What to do?

The title of this piece could also have been How to be? or even What to have?. Ultimately itis about purpose and therefore about intention. The ennuie of the teenagers Whatever!echoes through the minds of many maturagers. Egos have needs and wants but how come?

What are the causes and conditions that created you? Do you have to be stuck with them?How might such things be decided? To what extent are we puppets on sub-cultural strings ofsteel and to what extent do we have genuine free will?

These questions are contextualised by this mornings hungover me. I noted my blue moodand made a list of mental, physical and social options for exchanging it for something upbeat.(This was an example of a brainstorm becoming a one-pager! (see below))

Mental immersionPositively engaging the brain is to me (I am an introvert) the first option. The following listnotes various topics and modes that can be targeted. Note that mindfulness meditation isradically different from the other options in that it epitomises the ancient recommendation tobe (mentally and physically) still and know.

1. Dharma (Buddhist wisdom) from text, audio or video (catch the mood)2. Philosophy/ Science - from text, audio or video (make one-pagers)3. Workvoluntary or paid4. A Brande18flow (with editing)5. A brainstorm (with or without conversion to a one-pager)6. Recreational novels, radio, TV, cruising, doodling, daydreaming7. Mindfulness meditation

Physical (embodied immersion)Another powerful mind changing option is to focus on what the body is doing in theimmediate here and now. Some functional and recreational options are listed below. Theunderling concept is to be mindful during everyday tasks and to engage one-pointedconcentration.

1. Functional housework (Numbers 9 (home) and 11 (rented out)), gardening, makingjam, DIY, KSA19development (eg computer skills)

2. Recreational yoga, the gym (or just exercises), go for a walk (withcamera/binoculars), make music, cooking

Social (beyond the hermit)I am presently in a hermit phase. This has its advantages but means that I tend to stew in myself centred juices. Interaction with other people is useful for gaining alternative perspectivesand viewpoints. It is also a way of realising that many people are in a worse existentialcondition that me and this helps to develop compassion. This is especially true whenlistening is informed by lessons learned from being mindful of my own thoughts, feelings andembodiment

1. Phone people or write emails (lite or heavy)2. Visit people (eg old people) mini breaks3. Work on common projects (paid or voluntary)

People with different temperaments and life histories will have different lists and some willnot like the idea of making them! Arguably, however, it is useful to keep such a list in aprominent place as a reminder that you are always free to change what isgoing on in yourmind. What you do follows directly on what you have thought and felt. Remember this it isthe key to liberation from past causes and conditions.

18Ref Dorothea Brande (1934) Becoming a writer19Knowledge Skills and Attitudes


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How to start your day

Most individual self improvement programmes recommend a schedule of early to bed andearly to rise. The details of this will, however, depend on how your life is organised. Livingwith a spouse and kids is different from living alone; and both of these are different frominstitutional settings such as boarding school, military barracks or spiritual cloisters20. Ideally

you should get up just before dawn as this is a time of new beginnings and thereforeconducive to self improvement. Be flexible.There are many self improvement options but here we look briefly at three which deal in turnwith improving the body, mind and spirit.

The bodyA programmed session of physical exercises (aerobics/ callisthenics) are a good way to wakeup the body and to move it towards increased fitness, strength and stamina. This need notinvolve a lot of equipment and fashion accessories. The main thing is to be regular and not totake short cuts21. Those who would be healthy in mind need a healthy body.

For those who prefer something more gentle there is the Yoga option with an interplaybetween body and mind aimed at stretching, suppleness and balance22.

The mindFor those who feel the need to develop their creative writing muscle there is the option ofproducing 'morning pages'. This involves allowing a flow of consciousness to become writtennotes for 20 minutes first thing in the morning. Get going before the censor wakens. Just keepwriting quality does not matter. This process deepens with practice and amazing insightsappear23.

The spiritThe spirit is best refreshed through stillness. Sit up straight in a dignified way and let go of allthoughts that stray into the past and the future. Do this for 5 to 20 minutes at a time. It isuseful to rest attention lightly on the breathing as a focal point which is neutral and everpresent. When attention moves away, as it will, then gently pull it back24. A delightful

calmness results and this is a solid foundation for your new day.

You may find it impractical to engage in all three activities every day. But you could establish aschedule with alternate activities on alternate days. You might then find it useful in theevening to keep a journal to record the effects of starting your day with the different activities.

Why should you bother with any of the activities? Because otherwise you will most likelybecome physically, intellectually and spiritually wasted!

20in institutional settings you might have to use flat-backed options ie do your own thing inyour own way between waking and rising.21There are many useful websites giving free instruction. Over the years I have found thisbook to be really useful and inspiring Laurence E Morehouse & Leonard Cross ( 1975) TotalFitness in 30 minutes a week; Guild Publishing, London. Copies are available second handfrom Amazon.22Jon Kabat-Zinn is a good source of a basic schedule get his Mindfulness MeditationPractice CDs (Series 1) fromwww.mindfulnesstapes.com23The basic scheme comes from Dorothea Brande (1934) Becoming a Writer; ISBN0333653777 and it is revitalised in Julia Cameron (1998) The Right to Write; ISBN

033378203824There are many useful websites. Those who prefer to avoid 'eastern exotica' might like toinvestigate the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
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Rhinoceros turning

Plato reckoned that When two upon ajourney go one seesbefore the other. Butmuch depends on the nature of the other.

There are Buddhist sutras that reckon that it

is sometimes best to Fare lonely as therhinoceros. (see box).

So what are the relative merits of companyfor those who seek to transcend from the lifeof worldly busy-ness to that of spiritualpeace?

Types of companyMost normal people are ill-abiding as licentious and hedonistic consumers. Many are close topathological in their obsessiveness and addiction to fashionable distractions and stuff. Theyhave no time to stand and stare. They are on the go in all their waking hours. No respite.Workaholics with long to-do-lists. Busy-bodies. Not apt companions.

However, those who are rapt in well-abiding are not a problem other than that they are hardto find. They put aside quiet time on a regular basis. Their need for distraction and stuff isslight. These spiritually minded souls can be one-on-one colleagues or teachers. They can alsobe approached in more or less formal communities. In many parts of the world there are laygroups of aspirants which function without accredited teachers. There are also increasingnumbers of established contemplative centres which cater to those who commit to a more orless monastic life in retreat for various periods of time.

Types of alonenessWe live in increasingly individuated times. Extended families have given way to nuclearfamilies and those to single parent families. More people now live alone than has ever beenthe case before. But we are by nature social animals. So there may be a pathological side toaloneness which is best dealt with in therapy. Arguably it is modern society itself which needstherapy. Is it desirable to be well adjusted to an insane world?

However, most cultures have reserved special spaces for their spiritual loners; for theirhermits and recluses, their anchorites and ascetics. There are many long traditions in mostparts of the world which allow for and encourage shamans and mystics to explore the arenasof uncommon sense. There is a long standing perennial philosophy which celebratesaloneness as a necessary foundation for achieving extraordinary insight. Going it alone is OK.

The relative meritsThe task is to transcend from the life of worldly busy-ness to that of spiritual peace. Thisinvolves turning the mind around. This is generally thought to involve two main things (a)living a moral life (eg obeying the ten commandments for Christians, following the nobleeightfold-path for Buddhists): this makes it possible to find the peace for (b) reprogramming

how the mind works: in essence seeing the illusory nature of the self and the world it presentsto us.

A more or less formal community of like minded souls, if well led and managed, would be ofgreat help to most individuals. Failing that a like minded friend would be a great boon. Failingthat you had best fare lonely as the rhinoceros and draw sustenance from (a) the inspiringexamples of great souls of the past, (b) the literature of the great mystical traditions and, mostimportantly, (c) the still small inner voice which can be heard once the busy, worldly mind hascome to rest and there is abiding in passionless peace.

Free everywhere, at odds with none, And well content with this and that:Enduring dangers undismayed, Fare lonely as the rhinoceros.

If one find friend with whom to fareRapt in the well-abiding, apt,Surmounting dangers one and all,

With joy fare with him mindfully.

Finding none apt with whom to fare,None in the well-abiding rapt,As rajah quits the conquered realm,Fare lonely as rhinoceros.Khaggavisana sutta
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A continuum of withdrawal

I am one of those who feels that the modern world is insanely off course but yet I am in manyways conditioned to accept its truths. But the conditioning is not 100%. By withdrawing fromthe world I can find the space to undo the conditioning and have the mind rebuilt in a morewholesome way. (Or remove the dust from the mirror?)

I feel the need to retreat such that (a) I can reframe my way of being in the world and (b) Imight eventually return with a mind that can be part of a solution rather than being anongoing part of the problem. Note that the reframing would have both objective seculardimensions and subjective spiritual (existential) ones.

The following three tables give a brief outline of what I might be withdrawing from and for interms of civilisation in general and in terms of the institution and social action inparticular.

Withdrawal - civilisationFROM FORRetreat from mindless consumerism andcommodification; from the endless stream of

ever changing, must-have fads and fashions.

Back to basics I have enough

Categories of commodification:Social, technological, environmental,economic, political, legal, spiritual[STEEPLeS]

(a) Secular Freedom

Find the mental space to avoid being got at byadvertising and the media machine.

Communes/ collectives/ mutual societies;self help.

Social entrepreneurs out of the boxthinking local/global interactions

(b) Spiritual Peace

Renunciation with monastic and solitaryoptions (hermit, recluse). Above and beyondritual religion. Uncovering innate goodness.

Aiming for Engaged Buddhism? (Thich Nhat

Hahn). Zarathustra up the mountain for awhile. (Neitzche)

Withdrawal - the institutionFROM FORThe institution of alienated work; beingslave to a boss; being a number in aneconomists equation; having no positiveinput (Theory x leadership and management)

Authenticity and good faith (Theory Yleadership and management)Freelancing small is beautiful teamworkEmbrace the post-modern portfolio lifestyle

Withdrawal - social action

FROM FORthe knee jerk robotic responses to good v bad;them v us; going on peace marches whichmake no difference; pseudo (token)democracy; the loyal opposition; simplecategories eg left/right; either/or

a more radical form of holistic social actionwhich digs beneath the elegant power of thestatus quo (truth and reconciliation) (conflictresolution) (integral vision- all quadrants, alllevels - AQAL). Let it begin with me. Speaktruth to power.


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The urge to write

Most days I write at least 400 words. On the shelf above me is almost 2 metres of A4 folders ofnotes from 1965 through to 2000 when I went environmentally friendly and stopped printingthem out.

No fiction or poetry or travelogues or journalistic essays. It is nearly all about facts and ideas

with an early predisposition towards intellectual cleverness and a later one to intuitivewisdom: with some recent merging as post-modern modes of thought link to traditional andmystical ones.

Subject matter ranges across 12 major disciplines in my personal quest for understanding andfor better ways to be human. There are as yet no solid conclusions but the journey hasspawned the occasional output that others might find helpful in their own questing. Myvocation seems to be to facilitate learning both of myself and others.

The urge to write might be an offshoot of the human urge to speak which involvescommunicating and being social. As it is I now live alone and work from home so I amsomething of a hermit. While this can lead to stewing unnecessarily in my own juices it hasthe advantage of not having to stew too much in the juices of other people. The jury is still outon whether I am pulled by the vision of mystical peace or pushed by the demons of burn out

and world weariness. But either way there is ample solitude in which to practice mindfulnessand renunciation.

I write both professionally and for pleasure. Professional work is both paid and voluntary.These days the paid writing is mainly to do withplain languagemostly rewrites ofgovernment policy documents but also some original stuff aimed at popularising keydevelopment concepts. Voluntary writing is wider in scope and includes basic copy writing forthe localBoat FestivalandSalmon Bothyand more original pieces related generally to socialdevelopment and channelled through theCCSD,Hakikazi Catalystand earlier for theBPL.

But the bulk of the writing is done for pleasure. This includes handwritten prose, lists,mindmaps and doodles: although there are not so many of those these days because myhandwriting is getting very poor. So most input is through the keyboard where there is a mixof structured and spontaneous writing.

Most of the structured writing takes the form of one-pagers although there is the occasionalessay and dialogue. These are often based on handwritten drafts. Some are reports of whatother authors have said that is clever or wise, but increasingly they are home grown. Most ofthese end up on my variousweb sitesand blogs.

But spontaneous writing makes up the bulk of what I produce these days. There are the 20minute flows of consciousness which follow the instructions ofDorothea Brandeand there arethe less rushed daily diaries. I open one of these first thing every morning and add to itthroughout the day with time stamps along the way. These are mainly prose although thereare some lists, continua, matrixes and the occasional illustration. They are a mix of the banaland the brilliant. Some of the brilliant bits are extracted and built intoone-pagersor essays.

It is said that if you want to be a writer then you must write. I took a couple of correspondence

courses on writing a few years back they were on creative writing and on journalism so theydid not truly suit my needs but they offered a lot of good ideas. I have also (a) acquired a faircollection of how to write books which have been useful and (b) set up ablogwhere I putlinks to useful places on the internet.

In November of 2007 I systematicallyestimatedhow many spontaneous words I hadproduced. It comes to slightly over 7 million25. That indicates a fairly strong (possiblyabnormal) urge to write.

25400 words per day for 48 years
http://www.hakikazi.org/plain_language.htmhttp://www.hakikazi.org/plain_language.htmhttp://www.hakikazi.org/plain_language.htmhttp://www.stbf.bizland.com/2008/http://www.stbf.bizland.com/2008/http://www.stbf.bizland.com/2008/http://www.salmonbothy.co.uk/http://www.salmonbothy.co.uk/http://www.salmonbothy.co.uk/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraininghttp://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraininghttp://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraininghttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/srds/http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/srds/http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/srds/http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/becoming_a_writer.htmhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/becoming_a_writer.htmhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/becoming_a_writer.htmhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshellhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshellhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshellhttp://www.easyspeak.blogspot.com/http://www.easyspeak.blogspot.com/http://www.easyspeak.blogspot.com/http://f/_COMPLETE-lists/ONE_PAGERS/brande-flow-log.dochttp://f/_COMPLETE-lists/ONE_PAGERS/brande-flow-log.dochttp://f/_COMPLETE-lists/ONE_PAGERS/brande-flow-log.dochttp://f/_COMPLETE-lists/ONE_PAGERS/brande-flow-log.dochttp://www.easyspeak.blogspot.com/http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshellhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/becoming_a_writer.htmhttp://www.toonloon.bizland.com/srds/http://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraininghttp://www.hakikazi.org/http://www.caledonia.org.uk/http://www.salmonbothy.co.uk/http://www.stbf.bizland.com/2008/http://www.hakikazi.org/plain_language.htm


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Living alone

Living alone has been the theme of several recent conversations. I now live alone, workfromhome, and make time each day for mindfulness. Other people have different patterns. So, towhat extent is living alone a good thing? This one-pager maps out four main viewpoints.

Living alone

normal abnormal

Bad1. anti-social 3. weird loners

Good2. individual freedom 4. mindful creativity

Living alone is increasingly common in our modern individualistic cultures. Once there wereextended families living in tight knit communities. Then there were socially-mobile, nuclearfamilies living in boxes on estates. Now there are many single parent families and increasingnumbers of people living alone.

(1) There is the notion that we are social animals. We become human only through interactionwith other humans. Living alone cuts us off from being truly human. We can arrange contactvia the media and computer based social networking: but this does not give the full bloodedstimulation that we need.

(2) On the other hand, living with others calls for compromise and diplomacy to negotiatepathways through the different desires of individuals. There is less personal freedom ofchoice. By living alone we find the mental space to go beyond the parochial confines of ourimmediate social circumstances. We are thus able to consider what to be free from and whatto be free for.

But throughout human history there have always been individuals who embraced living alone.

These were the hermits and renunciants living in solitary retreat and figuring out the scienceand art of being truly human. At their best these pioneers had insights that contributed tomajor political, economic and religious systems.

(3) There is the notion that these Spartan recluses produce only a hotch potch of mysticalmumbo jumbo and magic. The meditators would be better for the planet if they got a real joband contributed meaningfully to society and the economy.

(4) On the other hand, there are those who reckon that our present way of dealing with theplanet (resource depletion, pollution, sweat shops etc) is seriously undesirable but structurallyinbuilt. We therefore need a change of values, a paradigm shift in humanitys self-consciousness and its place in the web of things. Those who embrace living alone and a regimeof mindfulness are well suited to finding better ways to be human.

So, to what extent is living alone a good thing?

Different people will have different viewpoints. We need different strokes for differentpersonality types and at different times!

I personally have come to value and enjoy living alone most of the time. There is some guiltfor not being more engaged with finding solutions to the human roots of community andplanetary problems. But business as usual is not getting us anywhere. If I am to stop beingpart of the problem there is need of a radical mental turn around. This requires lashings ofstillness such that the media fed chatter fades away and the workaholic mud settles. Theoccasional company of like-minded souls helps. Some days are better than others!

Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings.Learn to practice breathing in order to regain composure ofbody and mind, to practice mindfulness, and to develop

concentration and understanding. (Thich Nhat Hahn)


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A source of stories

I often notice the ongoing mental churn in my mind. It involves nature, nurture andserendipity giving rise to thoughts, feelings, words and actions. In the Pali sutras of Buddhismthe process is clearly identified. It is labelled as Papancha and is normally translated asmental proliferation.

These days there is an urge to write stories about what goes on in my mind. But there is alsoan urge to be choosy. I aim to speak of those things that affect many people and not just me.When I deal with personal topics it is because they have general relevance. I avoid topics thatare atypical and idiosyncratic.

But the choosiness is not an exact science. My I is culturally conditioned and initially linkedto a particular time and space. It is also well travelled, over 60 years in the making, andtending to the reclusive and introvert. There is therefore the choice of viewing myself asunique or as being representative of a particular category of being. For example, in the KierseyTemperament Sorter, I am an INFP; and I feel well at ease with comments from members ofthe Yahoo Group dedicated exclusively to INFPs.

I am also a long time member of a Buddhist meditation group. Our weekly practice includes asession of mindful listening and speaking from the heart. We use a talking stick. Whoeverholds the stick speaks and the others listen. We are a mixed group in terms of lifestyle andtemperament but even so, through sharing, we learn that we are not alone having uniqueexperiences. We also learn that in many cases, behind the brave faces, there is a pent up loadof existential angst and anomie. It is better for this to be out than in!

I live alone and am retired. I have no wife or children. I spend a lot of time reading, writingand meditating. It is easy to be still and quiet. As a reality check I am also involved withvarious community groups in the fishing village in the NE of Scotland where I grew up and towhich I have now returned. I mention these biographical details because they influence whatgoes on in my mind and thus the content of this story.

My studies are mainly about the Dharma the truth and teachings of the Buddha. But thesedays I seek to integrate the old teaching with the new sciences of evolutionary biology,evolutionary psychology, and of neuroscience. And there is another twist. I now seek not onlyobjective and academic understanding but also subjective and heart-felt experience. The latteroffers writing challenges given that, as Lao Tzu noted, the reality which can be described isnot the real reality and that those who know do not speak.

For most of my working life I could concentrate and remain focussed for several hours at atime. I operated in flow and kept very busy. This was useful and productive at the worldlylevel but it meant that I rarely had time to stand and stare. During the slack times mentalproliferation ran riot and I escaped the linked dis-ease through the distractions of wine,women and song. The notion of the illusory self ran wild and self indulgent.

In the more senior years the last 20 or so there has been more regular sitting. This is attimes infested with mental proliferation and at other times by sloth and torpor. Butincreasingly the sitting slips into the mode of no-self and outwith space and time. This isvery peaceful and seems correct and as it should be. There is an awareness of the Onenesswhich is everything. But, as noted above, words cannot do it justice.

There has also been an increase in everyday Zen and in 24/7 mindfulness. There is awarenessof what is going on in the mind and thus a release from habits and from unthinking reactions.Shopping and cooking, washing the dishes, answering the phone, and squeezing out healthydefecations are suffused with a spiritual glow. There has been a paradigm shift in perception.The world is more numinous.

Several years ago I took a course in creative writing. I did not make as much use of it as Imight have. Why invent stories when I can report on the never ending outpouring ofpapancha? Why indeed?


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I now see that there was a problem figuring what to do with the inchoate churn that wasgenerated as the mind ticked over and invented hazy and ephemeral patterns energised byhypothetical intentional agents. There was a never ending torrent of linguistic and emotionaldiarrhoea passing through the attention centre in insubstantial and short lived thought trains.The mind had a mind of its own. And its purpose seemed to be to scan the environment forpotential rewards or punishments and to prepare the mind and body for appropriate action.

I have stumbled upon two ways of writing about this. They include elements of journaling andof blogging. Both are founded on the notion that Papancha flows from the unconscious andsome of it reaches consciousness. There is a pre-planned method and an emergent method.

Pre-plannedThe conscious bits of Papancha are noticed, labelled and mind mapped. This results in astructured skeleton upon which to hang the details of a story. The pre-planned principle isthink first and then write. Rationality and consciousness are in charge or at least theythink they are.

EmergentThe emergent principle is to just write. Intuition and the unconscious are fundamental

sources of ideas but it is not quite right to say they are in charge. The idea is to be in themood and to leave it to the muse. Ideally perfectly edited, original text would be generatedby the unconscious. But, in my experience, there are usually several rough edges that needsorting by rational consciousness.

This story emerged. It began yesterday and is now finishing. On rereading I see that it is inessence about the unspeakable dharma and about the psychology of perception. Words,sentences, paragraphs and pages are created and made available on the internet where theymight prove useful to other dharma seekers.

Mental proliferation (Papancha) will not go away in a hurry. It is a source of much sufferingbut it need not be. It can be harnessed for generating many dharma stories. By taking thoughtwe can know it for what it is and thus neutralise its unwholesome effects.


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Ranting quick and slow

Everyone has bursts of mental proliferation (Papancha). Various metaphors are used todescribe it. Monkey mind and cascade (waterfall) are two common ones. There is even theimage of a demented monkey on amphetamines and with fleas.

The proliferations consist of thoughts with associated feelings, moods and emotions. Most ofthem emerge from the unconscious and they are beyond conscious control. It is as if the mindhas a mind of its own and is prone to constructing stories based on more or less randomcauses and effects.

Many creative writers speak of a flow or stream of consciousness although it might be betterto think of it as a flow or stream of unconsciousness. The mental stuff arises out of nowhereand it can be spoken about and written down.

We can extend the image of a flowing stream. Sometimes it is a watercourse or river in spate.It is a rushing, gushing, surging, flooding torrent. At other times it is a stagnant rivulet barelymanaging to ooze a trickle of dribbles.

The extremes are readily noticed by meditators. In terms of the five hindrances tomindfulness the gushing torrent links to restlessness and anxiety and the stagnant rivulet tosloth and torpor.The extremes are also noticed by most creative writers. At times they experience flow wheretheir muses are an indefatigable source of ideas and at other times experience writers blockdue to their inspiration having dried up.

I have no urge to write novels but I have kept a journal for many years and more recentlyhave published one-pagers on an assortment of self managed web sites and blogs.Productivity has varied enormously through time.

Hard copies of my journal entries between 1965 and 1998 (33 years) take up 1.7m of shelfspace. The rate of production nose dived when I was a workaholic contractor and soared while

engaged in several long retreats between jobs. I stopped printing hard copies in 1998 andretired permanently from paid, worldly work in about 2010.

Since late 2002 my Existential Soft Rock bloghttp://dodclark.blogspot.co.uk/, has received504 posts and 27377 page views. This works out at about 50 posts per year (one per week) onaverage, with a range from 32 to 75 per year.

These last few years have been fairly quiet in terms of one-pagers but this is changing. Themore recent products are longer, and I think of them as midway rants - somewhere betweengushing torrents and docile rivulets. And I am now more comfortable with letting the vitalchurn that is the unconscious do its thing. No gods, demons or magic muses just a steadyreworking of stardust spinning consciousness of unconsciousness at the edge of the milkyway.
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PART THREE RENUNCIATION


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Transcendental Intentionality

What it is and why you might want some.Intentionality is about motivation and purpose. It can be at a mundane and constraining levelor at a transcendent and liberating level. When at the latter level the individual soul can flyand the world can be a better place.

IntentionalityIntentionality is about why an organism or a personbehaves this way rather than that and there are twoways of investigating it (a) from the outside lookingin and (b) from the inside looking out. We will look atthese in turn.

Being on the outside looking inis the role of science with men in white coats wieldingthermometers. They observe stimuli impinging on people and the responses that are madeThere is an assumption of an internal, intentional mechanism - but it is unknowable fromother than a subjective point of view. The classic behaviourist school within psychology

studied those bits of the system that could be studied with certainty and steered away fromthe contents of the black box.

Being on the inside looking outwe are dealing with very personal points of view. It can beargued that it in only with human beings that there is the possibility of being conscious ofconsciousness. Only we can know our intentions, but only if we think seriously.

Plant intentionsWhen you think about it from a behaviourist point of view you could assume intentions in aplant. If you put a seed in the ground the seed knows to send its roots down and its stem andleaves up there is geotropism. So plants are not totally unreactive, not totally immune towhat is happening in their environment -but we wouldnt say that they really know whatthey are doing.

Animal intentionsThe various simple and more complex animals have more sophisticated ways of dealing withthe outside world. Take the case of nest building birds. Eggs are taken from the parents andthe chicks reared in a laboratory. That generation breeds without building nests and the eggsare taken away and the chicks reared in the lab. They are then given nest building materialand they know exactly what to do. The knowledge is built into their genes. It is a hard wiredskill. It is what we call instinct.

It is now common to suppose that behaviour in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and most ofthe lower mammals is driven by blind instinct. They are hard wired to behave in particularways. But there is plasticity in the system so they can take inputs from the externalenvironment and do something about them. But they are not conscious of what is happening.They are robots.

Human intentionsThe wonderful thing about being human is that we have the potential to be conscious of ourconsciousness. We can be aware of the stimulus arriving and, before the response is made, wehave the option of choosing how to respond. But not always and not perhaps as often as wemight. We are often driven crazy by particular types of stimuli the smell of fish and chips,the sight of the busty female in the wrapping paper etc

In being conscious of our consciousness we are noticing what we are noticing and thinkingabout what we are thinking and feeling. This may happen to a limited extent in most people atthe present stage of human evolution. But the potential for doing more of it is ever presentand that is where the desirability of transcendence comes in.

Transcendence

Intentionality is evolving. As we saw above, there are two major ways of looking at it objectively as science does and subjectively as ordinary people, artists and meditators do. The

What shifts thee aimless spiritWhat panic drives thee soIn reaching ten perspectivesWhy not accept the flow?


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present evolution is driven by the east going west with meditation and renunciation and bythe west going east with its civilised brand of rationality and consumerism.

All Quadrants, All LevelsKen Wilbers All quadrants, all levels (AQAL) model helps to systematically map theoptions in considerable breadth and depth. He divides human ways of knowing into four

groups by forming a matrix where objective/ subjective is crossed with individual/ collective.The objective individual way of knowing is classic hard science where the view is from theoutside. The objective collective way of knowing features the social sciences (psychology,sociology, anthropology, economics and political science) which again involves neutralobservers looking from the outside.

The subjective collectiveway of knowing is the social, cultural way and includes thosefeelings and emotions that dictate the communal oughts and shoulds. The subjectiveindividual way of knowing is what drives artists, meditators and most aspects of the mind setof ordinary people. This is the ordinary you feeling what you feel (for whatever reason) fromthe inside.

But each of these quadrants can be at all levels. Wilber labels these as soul, spirit, mind andbody but I find it useful to think of them in terms of the cosmic zoom (see box) with

expanding and contracting horizons.

The cosmos began with the big bang and is to all intents and purposesinfinite and eternal. But it is a totality of the great churn and flux thatmakes evolution possible. Universes, solar systems and planets come andgo with wondrous regularity. Our solar system with our planet has beenaround for so many billions of years and will be gone again before toolong in the cosmic time scale.

The planet began as an inanimate mass but self replicating moleculescame into being and evolved as cells and then multicellular organismsand then as humanity. We spend most of our evolutionary time as huntergatherers with no language. Then we learned to speak and deceive, andcivilisation with division of labour was soon to follow.

So cosmic evolution gave us the planet, biological evolution gave us life,and cultural evolution gave us inequality and the internet.

Fundamental to cultures and civilisations are the tribes, communities andfamilies which between them programme individuals to survive longenough to contribute to the next generation.

We can look at the INDIVIDUAL as a turning point in the cosmic zoom.Individuals are small parts of bigger structures and at the same timecomposites made of smaller structures. Note that despite this being self evident there is stillthe amazing egotistic feeling of being the centre of the universe!

Imagine a camera pointing to you as an individual then zooming out to show your family, thenyour community and tribe; as it zooms out further we see the whole culture of humanity

which is obviously an integral part of the life which hugs the surface of the planet. And as thecamera zooms out to the far reaches of the cosmos the fact that we are not the centre of theuniverse becomes abundantly clear. We inhabit the surface of the third rock from a veryminor sun on the edge of a very small galaxy. It is an immensely humbling experience so let uszoom back in again Zoooooooom.

Having zoomed to the bigness let us now zoom to the smallness. Inside the INDIVIDUAL areorgans and tissues made of cells. These can be seen as having their own intentionalities theintestines want food, the gonads want sex and so on. The eyes want to see but are limited tovisible light, the ears want to hear but are limited to audible sounds. The soul wantscompany and status because we are social animals. These organs and tissues pick up variousexternal stimuli, codify them and send them down nerve cells to particular parts of the brainwhere they are interpreted and made manifest as thoughts and feelings which create our

world view and govern our actions.

Cosmic Zoom

CosmosUniverseSolar systemPlanetLifeHumanityCultureTribeCommunity

FamilyINDIVIDUALOrganCellMoleculeAtomSubatomic thingQuantum entity


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When we zoom beneath the level of cells we come to molecules and notably genes made ofdeoxyribosenucliec acid (DNA). Arguably human beings are just cute ways for DNA moleculesto make copies of themselves.

The DNA is made of atoms which are made of sub atomic particles which, as quantumentities, are simultaneously waves and particles. Quantum physicists reckon that the stuff ofthe universe is more like consciousness than like anything as tangible as particles. But this is

the post-Newtonian world where new rules apply and where language has difficulty coping sowe will leave it for the moment. Let us zoom back to the INDIVIDUAL level and to you and meas commonly understood by ourselves.

Becoming unstuckAre you happy to be stuck with a simple plant-like or bird-like instinctual way of havingintentions and behaving or are you going to transcend and, if so, are you going to do so in anintegrated way ie in all four quadrants and at all levels?

You have the options of transcending intellectually like a scientist with a white coat and athermometer (the academic route) and/or in a more spiritual way like a meditator with looseclothing and a cushion (the route of mindfulness).

At the individual subjective level there is much excitement about where thought is going at the

beginning of the 21stcentury. A marriage is taking place. West goes east with materialistscience but without deep interiority and east goes west with its ancient psychology ofperception and holistic grasp of the nature of reality.

Taoist, Hindu and Buddhist meditation has been practised for 2,500 years. It involves beingstill. Sitting quietly doing nothing. You pay attention to what goes on inside your head. Youcan then be objective about your subjective experience. This enables a transcendence beyondthe petty world of egoic consciousness in the here and now. The mind become non egoic -there is a reunion with the Oneness which is everything and a knowing beyond space andtime.

The human mind returns to the cosmic mind. You are no longer exclusively tied up in yourfamily and your culture at a particular place in this particular time in history. You are nolonger exclusively locked in small, parochial, constrained space/time. Using techniques that

come partly from western psychotherapeutic traditions and partly from eastern meditativetraditions, you can transcend your low level intentionalities. You change everything andbecome an infinite being simultaneously at the centre and all peripheries of the cosmos.

And a curiously wonderful thing happens. When people get their heads into this space, intothis cosmic consciousness, then life is not nasty, brutish and short. Human nature isexperienced, and known to be, peaceful and compassionate.

So there is enormous potential for transcendental intentionality to broaden and deepen yourworld view. Light can be thrown on whatever issues or topics face you, your society or theplanet.

We all have a brain which has been programmedin a particular way. It can be reprogrammed to be

less parochial and selfish and more holistic andcompassionate. The potentials are limitless.

Transcendent intentionality - why might you notwant some?

Youll find plenty question mastersMaking quagmires of their brain.

The man said, There is no answer. They said, you are insane.


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Mind Watching

It can be therapeutic to agree to leave your troubles on the doorstop for a while. You can thenjust sit and let your mental mud settle26.

The mental chatter will slow down and the mind will become still. There will be no awarenessof time and space nor of an ego that is separate from the world. There will be a peaceful easy

feeling without grasping or craving. There will be a state of pure being and of renunciation.There will no longer be any personal clinging or aversion where I want this or I dont wantthat.

When you first begin to sit you become aware of how busy your mind is and of how you arenot in control of the topics and feelings27. You are driven mainly by unconscious forces whosecauses and conditions are many and complex28. Some are instinctual, some develop fromearly cultural experiences and some are due to personal experiences in your family andcommunity including influences from school, work and the media. The question, Who am I?takes on new and often scary dimensions.

You come to see clearly that your unthinking, gut reactions to events are due to habits thathave been formed over a lifetime. So long as you remain unaware of what is going on you willremain a prisoner of your conditioned habits. Freedom involves waking up to what is going on

and therefore being able to consciously respond to events rather than unconsciously reactingto them. This insight has been around for at least 2500 years but mainly amongst the mysticalwings of the major world religions. Arguably the time for its widespread distribution hasarrived29.

The mind shift is, of course, much easier said than done but it is virtually inevitable if yougive the practice of stillness30enough time and attentive effort31. The secret lies in settingaside time for mind watching32. It is said that the unexamined life is not worth living33 andthat you should, be still and know.34

26If you find that your mind keeps churning you can focus your attention on the breath watch it coming in and going out. When you notice that the mind is caught up in anotherthought train then just bring it back to the breathing.27You will notice the effects the thoughts and feelings have on your body eg burning in your

chest, butterflies in your tummy, tightness in your neck and shoulder muscles, cold sweats,hot flushes and so on. Notice and let them go.28Some psychologically sensitive people might be best to indulge themselves in this practiceonly under the supervision of a sympathetic therapist. You will know if it is good for you bythe effect that it has. If it brings restlessness rather than joy you had best get professionalhelp.29The inherent potential of the practice has been stripped of its religious and cultural baggageand is now well recognised in various branches of psychology, neurology and philosophy30For an accessible intro see Eckhart Tolles Stillness Speaks31It helps to have a good teacher (therapist/guru) and the company of like minded souls but itis possible to get there on your own.32There is ongoing erudite debate about the extent to which psychotherapy and meditationcan complement each other. (eg see Mark Epsteins Thoughts without a Thinker.)

33Socrates, in Plato, Dialogues, Apology - Greek philosopher (469 BC - 399 BC)34Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10)


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On being normal

Normality is a political idea. It makes it possible to label people as sub-normal (bad), normal(good) or supra-normal (excellent). So how do we recognise a normal person? There are manypossible ways but they boil down to the idea that, me and us are normal, they are not. Inwhat follows we will look briefly at two broad views of enlightened normality and at a

possible merging at the level of supra-normals.

Reasonably enlightened normalityIn Europe there has been the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. These created aview of normality that favours rationality and materialism in a clockwork, Newtonianuniverse. The scientific method rules the modern world.

Sub-normal people are hangovers from pre-modern times. They are traditionalists who aresuperstitious and believe in magic. Normal people are thoroughly modern and look forevidence to guide their rational, systematic and selfish thought processes. Supra-normalpeople are the lions of philosophy, science and economics who embrace post-modernism withits deep-rooted, radical doubt and its existential uncertainty - anything goes.

In this view the social paradigm involves dualism and debate. There are winners and losers.

Competition. Humanity is seen as having dominion over creation.

Integrally enlightened normalityIn the east there have been thoughts of enlightenment and thus of liberation and release formore than 2000 years.

Sub-normal people believe in the abiding reality of self and things. This is the root of theirsuffering. They are in the majority. Normal people appreciate (a) the impermanence of allcreated things and (b) the wisdom of renunciation and stillness. This leads to the end ofsuffering. Supra-normal people are the transcendent sages and gurus who fully embody thehighest ideals and act as a role model for others.

In this view the social paradigm involves monism, discussion and silent meditation. We areenmeshed in a web of multiple, complex and intertwining causes and conditions. Viewpointsare held lightly. Partnership. Everybody can win release from suffering by changing how theythink.

The merging of the supra-normalsThe above sketch is brutally over simple. It serves to polarise world views and to point to thepossibility of a merging - at least at the level of the supra-normals. This might lead to a moresystematic and compassionate stewardship of ourselves and the planet. Anderson (1996)noted the potential for humanity to wake up -

... we have not one Enlightenment project but three: aWestern one based on rational thought, an Eastern one basedon seeing through the illusion of the Self, and a Postmodernone based on the concept of socially constructed reality. Anddespite their many differences, they share the common goal

of liberation.Jean-Jacques Rousseau made the famous revolutionarypronouncement that "Men are born free, and everywhere arein chains." A couple of centuries later that still holds truth forus, but now we see that the strongest chains are symbolicones, mind forged manacles." (p219)

Source: Walter Truett Anderson (ed) (1996) The FontanaPost-Modernism Reader; Fontana; ISBN 0006863701 seehttp://www.srds.co.uk/begin/third_light.htm
http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/third_light.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/begin/third_light.htmhttp://www.srds.co.uk/begin/third_light.htm


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Let slip from mind

If there is a real ten-ton truck careering down the hill then step out of its way. If you areimagining a ten-ton truck careering down the hill then you can safely ignore it and let it slipfrom mind.

To change the metaphor, think of a flight simulator and a real plane. The real plane has to be

carefully returned to earth before you can safely switch it off: but you can switch off thesimulator at any time and walk away - you can let it slip from mind.

So - there are real ten-ton trucks; but less than we commonly suppose! Most often we have theoption to withdraw attention from the imagined past and future and to be at peace in thereality of the present moment. So why do we routinely ignore the option?

Is it because between birth and death we are (a) obliged to meet our essential basic needs and(b) urged to indulge in many extra fads and fashions? To most of us the extremes areundesirable ie joyless, ascetic renunciation at one end, and rampant, frivolous consumerismat the other. So how do we decide where to strike the balance?

It has a lot to do with social programming - but this is not carved in stone! It is an ongoingprocess that drives and is driven by internal and external forces. And there is some freedom to

thoughtfully choose this rather than that.So do you feel called to let slip from mind the imaginary ten-ton trucks that appear in your fadand fashion simulator? What matters in your life - to what should you give mind space - whatis really real?

We don't have to let go, we simply have to not hold on.Joseph Goldstein


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Life stages and motivations

As I move from cradle to grave my motivations change. I assume it is the same with mostother people. The following matrix offers a map that helps me (and thus perhaps you) to makesense of what is going on.

The matrix draws loosely on Hindu typologies with the four life stages crossed with the four

main types of motivations. The typologies are more or less self-evident but they are describedelsewhere.

Note that the axes have a very loose time dimension with a shift from (1) students motivatedby pleasure through (2) householders motivated by success (wealth, fame and power), and (3)retirees motivated by duty (to your community and to your higher Self) and then to (4) saintsmotivated by liberation (and the fearless peace that passes all rational understanding).

Motivations

Pleasure Success Duty Liberation

Lifestages

student 1

householder 2

retiree 3

saint 4

In the modern, materialist world few people advance beyond seeking pleasure and successas householders.

The path of desirefor pleasure and success is mainly for the student and thehouseholder.

The path of renunciationinvolves duty and liberation and is mainly for the retiree andthe saint.

In the Hindu tradition the retireeis also called a forest dweller. For such people pleasureand success are seen as too trivial to satisfy their total nature. They thus rest in silenceand solitude so as to dutifully make the inward journey and thus turn their minds around.

The saintshave turned their minds around. They neither hate nor love anything. Timeand place have lost their hold. The mere presence of these (people) in a society to whichthey no longer belong, by its affirmation of ultimate values, affects all values the super-social and anonymous life of the truly poor person who voluntarily relinquishes allobligations and all rights, represents (Hindu societys) quintessence. Coomaraswami(1957)

The sixteen boxes make divisions and edges that are sharper and clearer than my experienceof life to date. I have been a lifelong student and never married or had children. I have lived inseven different countries where hedonism and workaholism were close companions and asource of much pleasure and success. I am now 60 years old and have been semi-retired for

ten years. These days I reckon myself to be world weary but reasonably motivated to dutifullyseek liberation by treading the path of renunciation.

So there are rough edges but the map helps me to make some sense of what goes on in myhead as I move from cradle to grave. How about you?


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What people want

Different people want different things, and patterns change with age and experience. Bymapping the most usual patterns we can figure our own present and possible futurepatterns35.

So what do people want? Hinduism recognises four great

aims - pleasure, worldly success (wealth, fame and power),dutifulness to society, and liberation. The first two involvesatisfying selfish desires and the second two involve movingbeyond selfish desire.

There is nothing wrong with any of these and it is possible (if unusual) to be a selfishpleasure seeker who dies happy and content. Many people, however, eventually weary ofchasing fleeting pleasures and worldly success. They feel, often in mid life, as if there must bemore to being human than this. There can then be despair (the legendary existential crisis!)and a change of direction from the path of desire to the path of renunciation.

Note that the path of renunciation has two variations - (a) a push away from lesser things(the legendary world weariness) and (b) a pull towards higher things. And there are twopaths on the road to higher things - (a) selfless service to the community (duty beyond the call

of the selfish ego) and (b) retreat from attachment to worldy stuff and thus, through stillness,to spiritual liberation.

Pleasure is not wicked but it is too trivial to satisfy onestotal nature. Smith (p14)

The glamour of yesterday I have come to see as tinsel. Anon

Wealth, fame and power -you cant take it with you. Anon

The guiding principle is not to turn from desire until desireturns from you. Smith (p17)

When they find themselves crying Vanity, vanity, all is

vanity! it may occur to them that the problem stems from thesmallness of the self they have been scrambling to serve.Smith (p18)

There comes a time when one asks even of Shakespeare,even of Beethoven, is this all? Aldous Huxley

What if the interests of the self were expanded to the pointof approximating a Gods eye view of humanity? Smith(p23)

Detachment from the finite self or attachment to the wholeof things - we can state the phenomenon either positively ornegatively. When it occurs, life is lifted above the possibility

of frustration and above ennui. Smith (p240Such power as I possess for working in the political field hasderived from my experiments in the spiritual field. Gandhi

So - where would you pinpoint yourself on the map?

What do you want?

35This note draws heavily on Huston Smith (1991) The World Religions - Our Great WisdomTraditions. ISBN 0062508113

pleasure, worldly success,

dutifulness to society,

liberation


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To change my mind

Aim To know the peace that passes all understanding

Objectives Monitoring

To change my mind % of time in the pink rather than with the blues (worldweary burn out)

% of time in that non-egoic state that is outside ofspace and time

The ease with which negative states of mind can bestilled

The extent to which I infectiously exude the peace(charisme)

Activities Monitoring

Cut back on busy-ness Reduced number of meetings/week

Reduced number of make-work activities

Reduced number of TV programmes watchedMake time for stillness No. of periods of stillness/day (20 minute slots)

Daily, weekly, annuallyAddress the wisdom literature(Eastern and Western)(including online sources)

No. of margin marks in books

No. of one-pagers created and shared via web

No. of links inhttp://delicious.com/dodclark

Hang out with like-mindedsouls (including online sources)

No. of sittings with the Findhorn group

No. of visits to Anamcara

No. of online dharma talks listened to

Notes:

Beware extreme asceticism (remember the middle way)

Let renunciation follow its inner course (gradual falling away of desires)

Midway - in between stages (defreezing) throw up more blues and dis-ease than before butthis is a natural part of the transformative proce

Documents

Lifestyle of a renunciant hermit