Physician to Meta-Physician

CAN'T MEDITATE ?-- It's OK-- Even A "Zoner" Can Do It

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has found meditation difficult.  In fact it is one reason that I find Patrick Ophul's BUDDHA TAKES NO PRISONERS so compelling.

We all have "monkey minds", the analogy of caged chimps jumping from bar to bar, in frustrated, chaotic rebellion.  It is how our minds work and especially in a world of Crackberries, emails, texting, twitter etc. 

In fact it must have been much easier to meditate in the days of Siddhartha Gautama [the Buddha].  So few distractions people spent hours in repetitive activities.  Meditation must have been almost the natural state of mental existence.

Recent articles in the NYTimes science section describe the "zoner" who mentally drifts off and is not even aware that they have done so.  It is nearly universal.

I'm wondering if this activity may even be a reaction to the incessant barrage of outside stimuli ?

But even a "zoner" like myself can keep at meditation.  I firmly believe we need this mental training more than ever. 

It can be our 15minutes [more or less] of Thoreau's Walden pond experience.  We need to set it aside and honor it.

There's the rest of the day for "zoning", not to mention leaping  to check our latest email, text or tweet.

SELF-HEALING CANCERS --fact or fiction

The October 27th New York Times had an article regarding cancers which can "vanish" without treatment.  Written by Gina Kolata who referred to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it analyzed the rare but documented phenomena which has occurred from time to time.  Apparently certain breast and testicular cancers can and do shrink and disappear.

The exact mechanisms by which such cancers can spontaneously disappear are not fully understood.  But clearly the immune system must contribute to this phenomenon.

Yet under what circumstances could the immune system, previously incapable of preventing the malignancy, now stage a powerful comeback?

Perhaps we can invoke some degree of mind/body interaction.  Perhaps the individual's immune system has become energized due to a reduction in those factors which may have impaired it to begin with.

Perhaps one's emotional status has improved--less chronic stress, physical or emotional--may have empowered the defenses against cancer.  Perhaps a new, powerful spiritual awakening has done the same.

It is, at present, impossible to know.  We also need to be aware of the danger of "blaming" the patient when their cancer does not go into remission but continues  relentlessly towards the patient's death.

The relationship between mind, body and spirit is far to complex to be understood fully at present.

This study does offer hope that there may be factors which may be accessible to personal intervention.

MEDITATE LIKE A CAT

Patrick Ophuls in his book BUDDHA TAKES NO PRISONERS offers an interesting analogy between the meditative state of mind and household pets.

He points to cat as exhibiting the primal state of awareness that human beings seek to emulate when they meditate--a state of being completely "in the moment".  Dogs, on the other hand, have become "more or less deranged, thanks to their neurotic masters".

This state of pure awareness is particularly difficult for thinking, cognitive beings.  The complexity of our thoughts and feelings seem to ensure the difficulty of achieving the state of quiet observation nearly impossible.

The challenge of quieting our ever engaged minds will be the 21st century's greatest obstacle to healing.

I can almost imagine the agrarian society of Siddhartha Gautama's time.  Solitude would be built into the framework of daily existence.  Communication between individuals essentially involved face-to-face contact.  Meditation would be achievable far more easily than in our world of cell phones, Blackberries, I phones with 24hr instantaneous contact with other human beings. Twitters, tweets, texts and calls seem to literally overwhelm us.

Along with 24hr news announcements, we have become frenzied, jittery, anxiety ridden, unsettled and completely messed up.  I am sure that there has been and will continue to be a rise in emotional and physical "dis-eases" as a direct consequence of these devices and our addiction to them.

Ironically what we need most, meditation, seems further from us, more impossible  than ever.

We will need to make time to meditate, to turn off all communication with the outside world.  It will be the only time that we can be alone with our own thoughts and feelings.

What we need more than another social network website, than a more powerful hand held communication devise, is to emulate the cat.  Sit in uninterrupted mindful awareness.  It will be difficult, but it may very well save our lives.

KABBALAH RECOVERY -- A NEW PATH based on ANCIENT TEACHINGS

We live in an age of addiction--be it alcohol, hard drugs, sex, our blackberries or whatever.  There seems to be a 12 step approach to overcoming any addiction imaginable.  In general, it has been a powerful tool for healing for millions, and continues to be so.

The problem that some "addicts" have with it deals with its basic metaphysical (philosophical) underpinnings: 1} -one is powerless over one's addiction, 2} one is incapable of personally overcoming the conditions which lead to the addiction, 3} one must turn oneself over to a "higher power" outside of oneself in order to succeed, 4} one must continuously  deal with the "disease" of addiction which is inherently incurable, 5} one is dependent upon a community including sponsors who are available whenever one is tempted, has a craving to return to the despised path.

There are a group of alternative approaches known as "non 12 step" which view the condition/problem from a completely different metaphysical perspective.  In general, they deny any spiritual element to addiction or recovery.  They endeavor to empower the individual to acquire skills in order to avoid re-addiction.  They do not consider anyone to be "diseased" for life.  They do not advocate the use of sponsors or lifetime meetings.  They utilize cognitive /behavioral techniques to empower the individual.

There may be an alternative approach which in some ways synthesizes the previous two which appear so divergent.  The Kabbalistic path to recovery is deeply spiritual yet empowers the individual as well.  It rejects the notion that we are inherently weak or sinful.  It emphasizes the power of individual choice and individual responsibility.  The addict is not viewed as "diseased" when not using drugs.

Kabbalah recognizes the inherent fragmentation and adversity of life but offers hope for healing and renewal.  The notion of tikkun  acknowledges that healing is not only possible but necessary for the healing of the individual soul and the world.  It acknowledges that the "higher power" is not an external, transcendent force alone, but resides within each of us as a spark of divinity.

In Kabbalistic healing, we are capable of finding inner, personal strength from a spiritual source.  It does not denigrate or deny the power of fellowship and groups.  They are necessary for many in recovery.  It does, however, ask the individual to accept responsibility for their own acts and to strive for personal healing.

It is an alternative approach which may appeal to individuals who have problems choosing between the previous opposing options.  One should be open to whatever approach works.

INHALING LIGHT--A KABBALISTIC BASED BREATHING MEDITATION

In my search to find a meditation which offers meaning to me I have been experimenting with a concept derived from Kabbalistic sources which can be combined with mindfulness meditation.

It is based on the conceptual framework in which we are spiritual beings possessing a spark of divinity within. Our physical bodies  are the 'space suits' we acquire at birth and which enable us to function in this physical plane known as assiyah. 

As physical beings we have forgotten our spiritual core.  This ignorance leads to confusion, sadness, fear. We feel weighed down by our earthly concerns.  We often speak of being in a 'dark place'.  As a consequence we add layers of suffering to that which life already provides us.

We don't need more! 

Light and darkness offer metaphors for joy and suffering.

Light and breath become one and this meditation involves visualizing the incoming breath as being the light of God, or Or Ein Sof in Kabbalistic terms.  The light fills us with each in-breath.  Darkness is then breathed out.

We can visualizing Ein Sof willfully doing this to maintain our existence and accepting our out-breath as potentially our last.  We realize that our lives are gifts that should be cherished.

The light 'refills' our inner light, the spark of divinity.  It recharges our spiritual batteries.  It lightens our emotional state. 

 It offers us the opportunity to soar like a hot air  baloon.  It lifts us to higher spiritual realms--  to the world of yetzirah, the world of our emotional being. It provides us with tastes of pure joy.

This spiritual re-charging connects us further with the world of mind and thought,the creative domain of  beriyah,  and ultimately to atzilut, the most spiritually refined  domain of emanation.

We can visualize ourselves as being filled with divine light as well as being surrounded by it. We feel protected, energized, joyful and healed.

It is a meditaiton of remembering, of re-charging our spiritual batteries, of lightening our emotions and thoughts, of re-establishing our connection to higher spiritual worlds.

It then allows us to flow into other concepts such as mindfully observing our thoughts and feelings as we focus on the light/breath entering and exiting our noses.  We witness them from a perspective of strength and connection, of lightness of being.  We lose our fear that they can harm us and therefore we can experience them in the moment without rushing to suppress them or escape them.

Light can clear away darkness and the fog of despair which slows and impairs our healing. It can remind us of our true nature.

Try it.

 

 

THE HEALING POWER OF NAMING

The ability to name was God's gift to Adam.  It was his "job" to name and identify all the creatures in creation.  We have continued that tradition not only in the sciences but in our daily lives.

Names tell us something about the "other".  Moses needed to know God's name at the Burning Bush.  And Jews do not pronounce the revealed name of God in Hebrew,  the tetragrammaton YHVH because of its spiritual power. 

In fact the Name [know has Ha'Shem to some Orthodox Jews, which means 'the Name'] was only pronounced by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. Supposedly he entered with a rope around his body, in case he would die in the encounter with God.

When you know someone or something's name, you possess some of its essence. You have obtained an element of control, an element of knowledge.  You have become empowered to face and deal with the "other".

 When it comes to our emotional states, we very often react to them without knowing their name.  We fear their power over us to such an extent that we fail to name them as they arise in our consciousness.

One of the characteristics of mindfulness meditation is to develop an inner silent voice.  While observing the in and outflow of the breath, thoughts and feelings that arrive on their own to our awareness are observed.  We recognize that we are the witness of those thoughts and feelings.  We are not them.

In fact we are capable of naming them.  "I am having anxious  feelings about....., I'm having feelings of being worried about....., I am having feelings of fear  about....."   Then return gently to the breath.  The naming of that feeling, the witnessing of the named emotional experience, defuses it.

It is also important to name the feeling as something you are experiencing rather than something you are.  To have  the feeling separates it from your essence.  You are not afraid, you are having feelings of fear.  The use of naming, of language is important.  It can lead to a more serene and productive approach to your emotional life.

We will clearly return to the emotion later, hopefully after the meditation is complete.  But having named it allows us to deal with it in a nonreactive manner.  We acknowledge it by name.  We do not attempt to reject it, ignore it, avoid it or numb ourselves from it.

We gain strength by being able to face the terror by name and move forward.  Hopefully by naming what frightens or upsets us we can apply some rational approach to dealing with it as well.

This process is known as mindfully witnessing our mind's state of being.  It is a powerful personal tool for healing.

THE BUDDHA & PROZAC

There is much wisdom in Miriam Greenspan"s  HEALING THROUGH THE DARK EMOTIONS.  I was particularly taken by her depiction of a society, our society,  which fears the expression of negative emotions. 

In particular men are dissuaded from an early age to show sadness, upset or despair.  Crying is definitely for babies, or so each male is reminded when he begins to sniffle or shed a tear when hurt.

She points out that if we read he life story of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, we realize that he suffered a tremendous emotional crisis when he first left his sheltered existence in the palace.  Facing disease, death, poverty and despair he left his wife, family, child and worldly possessions.

There is no question that if this had occurred today in our culture, we would have declared Siddhartha as having "flipped out" suffering a catastrophic mental breakdown.  If he would have gone to a therapist, he might have been given prozac to "treat" his emotional turmoil.

Siddhartha was forced to work through his personal crisis.   In the process he became Enlightened, uncovered the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.  An entire metaphysical, spiritual and psychological perspective would possibly have never  been developed.

Thankfully the prescription pad was not an option in his day.

Working through our dark emotions, hopefully with the tool of meditation and time might just be more rewarding for many of us in the long run.

ROSH HASHANAH & the NDE -- Where's the Champagne and Confetti???

 

It began with my questioning--why don't Jews celebrate the Jewish New Year like the secular New Year?  Where's the champagne and confetti?  Why no Times' Square bash?

The reason is simply because Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the ten day period which culminates in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  There is a bit of celebration at that point.  But it is clearly muted compared with the secular New Year.

The Ten Days of Awe are supposed to be a period of powerful introspection and contemplation.  We are about to be "judged" by God and our fate inscribed for the following year.

An analogy popped into my mind regarding the NDE [near-death experience].  Many who claim such an experience describe the "life review".  It is an indescribably powerful and intense rapid review of every feeling, emotion, encounter with other beings during our lifetime.  Apparently we actually feel and experience all our actions from the perspective of the other human being.  The result is an incredible awareness of the interconnectedness of all beings and the power of our actions on others.  It is described as truly humbling and often leads to greater compassion for others and a change in our behavior.

We "judge" ourselves.  This is consistent with the reports from hypnotherapist Michael Newton's patients during deeply intense hypnosis when they apparently described an after-life review.  The karmic implications are astounding and future reincarnation choices are often based on these reviews.  Apparently our souls cannot make excuses for their deeds and judge themselves severely.

In a much watered-down version, the Ten Days of Awe should be seen as an annual life review.  We do need to be honest with ourselves regarding our choices.  We do not do this to inflict punishment on ourselves or others.  It is purely to recognize, seek forgiveness  and to make amends. 

It can be seen as a gift to our souls if taken seriously.  Are we judged by God on Yom Kippur?  Who can say for sure.  But the God within us, our soul, if given the opportunity, can do the job quite well.

 

THE NATURE OF MIND III-- Mindfulness Meditation as Healing

After the previous two postings discussion of the nature of the mind, it is time to offer some sort of solution.

The notion of mindfulness meditation casts a new light on the functioning of the mind and perhaps healing of difficult mind-states.

Attention to the mind's changing pattern of thoughts/feelings allows us to understand that it is an ever changing entity.  How we perceive the mind's nature will allow us to deal better with its content.

Meditation--slowly focusing our attention to the breath entering and exiting the nostrils allows to gain more control over the process of thinking and feeling.  We need to know that the mind IS trainable in order to continue the slow arduous process of meditation.

We can relax into the breathing and observe thoughts and feelings as they arise.  We do not attempt to deal with them at first--merely observe them float into and out of awareness.  We return to the breath.

The result is that we begin to gain confidence in our ability to handle difficult thoughts/emotions.  We observe them without reacting.  We take not of our reactions to them as we witness them, observe them from a distance. 

We soon come to realize that we can tolerate difficult emotions without attempting to dismiss them, hide from them or numb ourselves.

We see them more clearly as inconstant mind-states.  We can face them and survive. 

The process of healing begins when we stay with the suffering and survive.  We are able to make more rational decisions about how to deal with the problems when we have less emotional turmoil.

THE NATURE OF MIND II-- The Soul versus The Mind

Some may question the existence of a SOUL  but for those whose experiences and/or readings lend support to such an entity, the following distinction may be of interest.

When a highly talented medium was asked to differentiate between the MIND and the SOUL, he hesitated, went into a meditative state and returned to the issue.

The soul incarnates and observes, the mind creates and reacts.

Knowing the intellectual capacity of this medium, I "knew" that this was not his personal statement.  It clearly came from a higher intelligence.

The notion that the soul incarnates is an ageless religious doctrine.  The observational component is reminiscent of the writings of Michael Newton who has written about past-life regression and what happens to the soul.  According to Newton's clients, their soul intelligence coalesces with the physical brain of the individual to create the individual's mind.

At times the human being's brain may be perfectly fine and the synthetic mind has minimal difficulties adjusting to life as we know it.  If the physical brain is impaired in some way then the resultant mind will encounter difficulties.  Autism, psychological issues, retardation, ADD etc are examples of a challenged mind.

But in any case, the mind does seem to create its reality and then react to it.  We often drive ourselves into a vicious cycle of fear--worry--despair--fear and so on.