Beliefs

“Beliefs of any kind are false. There [are] no true beliefs and false beliefs.  Any belief, by definition, is false. It’s only a story”. Dogo Barry Graham http://madzubialmutterings.blogspot.com/2009/09/every-belief-is-wrong-by-dogo-barry.html

I, believe that, he, she, it, we, you, they believe this or don’t believe that. No end exist to the stories that we have created for ourselves. Believers, non-believers, un-believers…we have defined ourselves by what we believe or not. I believe in God, Jesus, the Devil, Buddha, reincarnation, heaven, hell, love, world peace, the Bible, the Koran, the Constitution, America, democracy, freedom, big or small government, fundamentalism, liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, atheism, organic food-ism, traditional and non-traditional-isms; this ism and that ism; bunnies, ice cream, chocolate (I really like chocolate —the Church of Chocolate — is god a chocolate bunny????), veganism, vegetarianism... beliefs ad infinitum — up and out the wazoo. Or, I don’t believe. Not believing is just another belief, labeled as a non-belief.

All beliefs are stories to conflate, castrate, debate, debilitate, define, eliminate, empower, forbid, intimidate, incinerate, instigate, imitate, and separate; make you better, stronger, faster, sexier, richer, thinner, more attractive; more spiritual, smarter, transcendent, enlightened, Buddha-like, Christ-like, saintly, sage, calm, peaceful… yadda, yadda, yadda.

We kill, preach, destroy, protest, molest, immolate, obfuscate, contaminate, congregate, constipate, inflate and deflate to protect our beliefs and ideas about how things should be created in our image and after our likeness. Who or what the fuck do we think we are anyway? What are we really thinking here — or not?

 I don’t believe in this or that— just more beliefs.  Not believing in God is a belief system (BS) — and fits any definition of a religion. When the object or “god” of the belief is no belief in a god or religion —the ‘god’ has become no god — and no god, God. This is a ‘no god’ religion. Hmmmmm… A religion that does not believe in religion… cognitive dissonance! Actually all beliefs are cognitively dissonant.

None of what we hold to believe is true. We believe in justice, world peace, and what do we observe — not just in the world but in ourselves — Jesus or just-us? Does our belief make us just, loving, caring, merciful, or free? Or just reveal that we are a dissonant, muddle of inconsistencies, contradictions, half-truths and paradoxes? We want to save the planet, but our very existence is destroying the planet and our very existence is inextricably connected to the planet. There is nowhere to run and hide and no one to run to or from — which includes our-selves. We are here now — believe it or not, like it or not — in fact don’t believe it, live it.

Our beliefs obscure and keep us from the very hopes, ideals, and “Truth” to which we aspire. Our beliefs are just ideas — empty idols, sacraments, sacerdotal self-impositions, that clutter the sanctuaries of our own delusion and distract us from what we truly are and cloister us in what we believe we are.

What have beliefs got us so far — world peace, salvation, enlightenment, democracy, liberty and justice for all? We do get global warming/climate change, pollution, religious wars, despotism, places of worship — churches, temples, mosques on every corner; chocolate, ice cream, chocolate ice cream, burgers and fries, shakes and smoothies and bars on every corner; convenience, contrivance, and river dance, sports and movies and endless pursuits of knowledge and speculations.

Heart and mind diseases, cancers, disorders of every imaginable biological and psychological system plague us and our world. Our beliefs harden our minds and arteries and inflict pain and suffering on ourselves and our world. Pharmaceuticals, herbs, exercise, mediation, yoga, prayer, worship and devotion (don’t forget chocolate, bunnies and ice cream) do not protect us from our delusions, because all these beliefs are a part of our delusion, and our delusion a result of our beliefs. We have become the sum of our beliefs and ideas which have disconnected from our true selves — whatever or whoever we truly are.

We suffer, not for a lack of beliefs, but as a result of our beliefs, and our belief in beliefs. Our ideas and ideals keep us from our ideas and ideals. Our belief in God keeps us from God. If you really want to be "one with God", don't believe in God, but live God.

At best, a belief is a momentary snapshot of something that never existed except in our self-written story — self-centered dream (Joko Beck) — a transient sensory ghost in our mind machine to which we cling to for meaning and purpose.

Plato quoted Heraclitus in Cratylus (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus ):

You cannot step twice into the same river; for other waters are continually flowing in.
You cannot step twice into the same stream. For as you are stepping in, other waters are ever flowing on to you.
You cannot step twice into the same river.
You cannot step into the same river twice.
It is impossible to step into the same river twice.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

Our insecurity and fear has driven us to define the universe, which has closed our hearts and minds to the infinite possibilities and wonders available to behold. “We see through a glass darkly”, as the Christian scriptures say. We as humans only experience a minute spectrum — less that 1% — of what we call the physical universe.  Our hubris and arrogance blinds us from 99.9% of the 1% which we do perceive. We really have created an unreal reality and call it the “real world”.

The Zen teacher Wei Wu Wei was once asked “Why do we suffer?” "Because 99.9% of everything you think and everything you do is about yourself and there isn’t one.”

We are living our own stories, fictions and convictions alike — no matter how lofty, powerful, insecure, terrible, abused, misused, rich or poor, good or evil. A belief based on a belief is just a belief and a delusion. Don’t believe me, anyone or anything else.

Listen to sounds and see the sights of from which you have no comprehension, ideologies or definitions that exist around you, in you, as you — “put your lights on, you gotta put your lights on” (“Put Your Lights On" Erik Schrody, Everlast and Santana).

Allow the specters of beliefs, dogmas, ideals and ideas to pass over and through you as they slowly fade into the mist of delusion from whence they came — like water flowing under the bridge.

The Shakyamuni Buddha is quoted as saying:

 Don't blindly believe what I say. Don't believe me because others convince you of my words. Don't believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don't rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don't infer or be deceived by appearances.

Do not give up your authority and follow blindly the will of others. This way will lead to only delusion.

Find out for yourself what is truth, what is real. Discover that there are virtuous things and there are non-virtuous things. Once you have discovered for yourself give up the bad and embrace the good. Shakyamuni Buddha Quotes http://www.noble-buddhism-beliefs.com/buddha-quotes.html

You are not what you think, you are thought. It might be scary, but observe the scary and the reassuring alike. Perhaps you will find yourself in the middle where you always are. Observe. Allow the wonders of the Universe to unfold and speak to you, open your perception — “this too is wonder” (Joko Beck). And sometimes…"sometimes a pipe is just a pipe" (Freud), smoke one yourself.

Life as it is now…

Lost in the self centered dream...
I have been looking at all the human contrived disasters, corporate and governmental crimes that plague humanity, foul our environment, not to mention the religious hypocrisy of militant dominionist right-winged fanatics – just to name a few.

Only suffering.
I come to a realization that this suffering is not about Me and it is all just another egoic intrusion to waylay and subvert Me from the Center, the Void – whatever I want to call it.

Holding to self centered thoughts...
my suffering psyche or self – that does not exist, should be in enough pain to reMind Me to pay attention and just watch this illusive delusion without getting drawn into the malaise and malignant, narcissistic mind fuck .

Exactly the dream.
Wow, i am amazed at how much effluent i am willing to endure to keep the egoic life support tubes, wires and machines cranking out the artificial respiration and intravenous poisons inserted into every orifice of my self-centered dream.

Life as it is...
The ego self wants to feel guilty about all this shit, yet that is what the ego always wants. The ultimate deception is self deception, and how the hell does one do that when the self by its very nature is deception? Deceive the deceiver?

The only teacher.
Well, i can’t mind fuck my way out of this one so I guess I will allow the smoke to clear and the mirrors to turn into windows.

Being just this moment...
I only know that anger, self-righteousness, pointing the finger and blaming everyone and myself for the suffering of humanity is just more suffering and perpetuates samsara.

Compassion’s way.
The cycle of endless suffering, birth and death only disappears when compassionate being becomes My dynamic guiding force in momentary lapses of surrender.

--------

The following verse is written by Charlotte Joko Beck, a Zen Roshi.
Lost in the self-centered dream, only suffering.
Holding to self centered thoughts, exactly the dream.
Life as it is, the only teacher.
Being just this moment, compassion’s way.

Asking the Wrong Questions by Dogo Barry Graham

Many of us want someone else to help us, to save us, to take away our suffering, our fear and uncertainty. No one can do that. Many of us realize that, and so we think we need to help ourselves. No one can do that, either.

So, if no one else can help us, and we can't help ourselves, what can we do? Are we doomed to suffer?

Our suffering cannot end until we stop fixating on the wrong questions. Who can help me? How can I help myself? These are questions that don't even begin to address the problem (or what we think is a problem).

Questions that might be more useful:

Who is this that wants to be helped?

Who is this that wants to help himself?

Who is this that thinks she has a problem?

Who am I without the belief that I have a problem?

Ego, self and other non-existent considerations

The words that I am posting are a response to a discussion of wisdom from a dear friends's blog: The Alberero Teacings, http://albereo.com/melanie/. To get the full context of my response, you may want to read the article and the responses on the blog. Good stuff.

The first major mistake that seekers make is that they are seeking, usually for some thing or idea — God, enlightenment, transcendence, joy, salvation, redemption… the Holy Grail. The second mistake that seekers make is that they think that they will know what “it” is when they find it. The third mistake that seekers make is that in their arrogance, hubris and folly they tell others what to search for even though they themselves are still searching for that thing that cannot be attained.

The self or ego perceives everything as a dichotomy, because the self is the baseline or point of reference — me and you, us and them, good and evil, temporal and eternal. From the standpoint of the ego no matter what “spiritual” concepts or dogma of a comprehension of oneness, transcendence, or unified consciousness that we hold to will always leaves us longing and wanting. The ego or self has no existence except in its own mind. Humans live from this egocentric existence much like “the church” held to a geocentric rather than a heliocentric POV (point of view) — I hope the irony is apparent.

The church, along with all other human religious endeavors, is essentially egocentric in the misguided attempt to objectify, identify and own that which defies any Egoic reference point.

The Buddha spoke in the Diamond Sutra: “’…These arbitrary concepts and ideas about spiritual things need to be explained to us as we seek to attain Enlightenment. However, ultimately these arbitrary conceptions can be discarded. Think Subhuti, isn't it even more obvious that we should also give up our conceptions of non-existent things’”( Diamond Sutra chapter 6, http://www.diamond-sutra.com/diamond_sutra_text/page6.html).

Our conceptualizations and beliefs around our existence and non-existence do not enlighten us nor do they indicate enlightenment. The Buddha’s concepts and ideas are little more than breadcrumbs along a path that leads us away from our selves, to Being, where we never left in the first place. Once we have truly partaken from the Buddha’s bread, we must allow the inner transformation or digestion of the bread to nourish and enliven us. After digestion, the crumbs are no longer important, nor do they bear any resemblance of what they were. Let us ruminate rather than regurgitate and eliminate the waste of mental attachment.

The psychological dilemma that we face as humans is all wrapped up in the incongruous perception of the ever present numinous itch that we can’t quite scratch. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo in Tricycle stated that “we’re gods acting like monkeys. We are standing in our own light; we don’t see who we really are” (http://www.tricycle.com/feature/no-excuses).

Our psychology is a reflection of our own preoccupation that we exist as egos and that our ego is separate from other egos. We suffer as a direct result of our identification with nonexistence and the void or longing that is created in this vacuous state.

A spiritual teacher, Wei Wu Wei, was once asked “Why do we suffer?” "Because 99.9% of everything you think and everything you do is about yourself and there isn’t one.” Wei Wu Wei in the book Open Secret wrote:

“’Are you still thinking, looking, living, as from an imaginary phenomenal centre?
As long as you do that you can never recognize [sic] your freedom." Wherever there are others there is a self,Wherever there are no others there can be no self,Wherever there is no self there are no others,Because in the absence of self I am all others’”

The ego is always longing, the seeker is always seeking, the mind is always thinking and the result is that there is no resolution from an egocentric POV. Wei Wu Wei writes: “There seem to [be] two kinds of searchers: those who seek to make their ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish (as though you could make a fish unfish [sic]), and those who understand that all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting, that there is only one thing that can be done, which is to disidentify [sic] themselves with the ego, by realizing [sic] its unreality, and by becoming aware of their eternal identity with pure being” (http://www.weiwuwei.8k.com/bits.html). Therein lies the rub, as the Bard once wrote. “There is no spoon” (http://www.voidspace.org.uk/cyberpunk/matrix_quotes.shtml).

Our ideas or conceptualization of transcendence don’t actually make us transcendent. We are only limited by our attachment to our egocentric world and our psychological morass. The longing from which Rumi and other enlightened bards have expressed in their ardor and yearning from Divine connection, does not come from a place of comprehension of the nature of the one existence or the lack thereof, because the very nature of the one existence draws us away from our mental assertions and conceptualizations and brings us to Being.

Rumi says it best, therefore I will I end with one of my favorite Rumi poems.

Love Dogs
Rumi

One night a man was crying Allah! Allah!

His lips grew sweet with praising,until a cynic said, “So!I’ve heard you calling out, but have you evergotten any response?”

The man had no answer to that.He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.
He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,in a thick, green foliage.
“Why did you stop praising?”

“Because I’ve never heard anything back.”
“This longing you expressis the return message.”

The grief you cry out fromdraws you toward union.
Your pure sadness
that wants helpis the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.That whining is the connection.
There are love dogs
no one knows the names of.
Give your life
to be one of them.

Dialog with Pain and Suffering

Interview with Muttering Madzub(MM) , Pain(P) and Suffering(S)


Interviewer:

Hello P I see that since MM's knee has been injured you have become a very dominant influence for MM.

P:

That is correct MM. The torn ACL has released me like a vengeance on MM's psyche. Even with suppressing medication, I have brought MM a punctuated awareness of his injury and how the injury brings another dimension to life. I have reminded MM that I have relevant lessons to share. I am teaching MM awareness of his actions, his demeanor, his gratitude and how he physically lives in his body.

S interrupts:

I just wanted to interject that I have imposed myself as a narcissistic bastard to remind MM of how careless, how un-mindful, and how difficult the whole injury is for MM. I have increased MM's pain exponentially by focusing on how his pain is affecting his life, his loved ones, his coworkers and I have made it all about me and his self.

MM:

I have noticed the increased desire to go unconscious in all of this drama and trauma. The desire to get lost in suffering's scenarios is quite enticing. I have had so many excuses to space out in front of the TV and not play music, write, draw or meditate. Not just because of my pain and trying to guard my injury, but because of my attention to my suffering. I have noticed that all my issues, personality/prison-ality -- ego have magnified and I just want to go numb. All the guilt and regret of not doing my practices, not being as spiritual as I think I am or should be, has exhausted me more than the pain. The pain is only punctuated in acuity by my attention to suffering and my self-centered dream.

S interrupts again:

Oh yes, I have made a great impression of myself on MM. I have certainly distracted him from life. The compounding of pain and mental anxiety has been supremely effective a great deal of the time. He does become lucid and notices my antics, but I keep niggling and I have been relatively successful. The self-centered dream (SCD) is very much in place. Misery loves company and I enjoy sharing my misery with MM.

P:

Yes, suffering is many times associated with me, but actually it is a misperception. All pain does is let a person know that attention is required for certain situation. Attention to pain is not suffering. Attention to pain is attending to pain and the source of the pain. Suffering is identifying with the pain, personalizing the pain and focusing away from pain, making the pain all about "me? thus inflicting and compounding suffering exponentially.

MM:

I definitely see the effects of suffering to unconsciously eat empty foods --candy, carbs, larger portions, comfort foods--to "derive comfort" from pain or calm suffering? WTF is that about!

All I see is that this behavior does nothing more to increase suffering and focus my SCD on myself. The dream feeds the suffering and the suffering feeds the SCD. Yet the rational explanation and critique of all suffering doesn't lessen, change or bring relief from the pain or the suffering. Perhaps the clinical observation is just another part of the SCD. I think when I personalize and attach my self to the situation and make it all about me, it becomes self-centered. When I just observe the behavior apart from self and it's preoccupation with suffering, I don't suffer.

I am also aware at how civil suffering seems to be. The increased agitation is not as apparent in its outward demeanor or its inner delivery. The slow increase of suffering to stun and distract from life is insidious. The feelings and judgments that seem so logical and understandable, are the most difficult to stay un-mingled and objective. The more the suffering increases, the easier it becomes to justify and identify with its machinations.

S:

Oh yes! I live to bombard you with bullshit that is so convincing that you are mired in the mental and physical morass of my machinations. I can paralyze you to forget about everything else. I love the attention that you give to me. I love to wear the trappings of your thoughts and actions to show everyone how prominent and central I am to your-self. I am your own personal paparazzi!

P:

Suffering has certainly compounded things for MM. I have brought an opportunity to bring acuity and focus in to relieve his suffering. It is suffering that has distracted MM from life and suffering that has inflicted painful suffering into MM's psyche and body. I have the solution for suffering, that to pay attention to life as it is in all its pain or pleasure is the only relief from suffering. Pain is unavoidable, suffering is optional.

MM:

I see the value of pain every time I open my eyes and my heart. I see the needless suffering to which I am attached. The pain is manageable, the suffering becomes unmanageable when I am holding on to the SCD and self-centered thoughts. I am humbled by the grace that life has shown me "being just this moment compassion's way".

I feel compassion for suffering beings when I am not lost in my SCD. Lucidity comes moment by moment from compassion. Pain is a part of my life right now. Suffering is optional.

Interviewer: Thank you Muttering Madzub, Pain and Suffering for sharing with me. We will speak again soon.


Maa-asaba mim museebatin illa bi-izni'Llah;
Wa man yu'min bi'Llahi yahdi qalbah;
Wa Allahu bikulli shay-in AAaleem.

- The Quran, 64:11

No affliction befalls except by the Permission of God;
And guided are the hearts (qalb) that have true conviction (iman) to Divine, And God is Cognizant of all things.

Birth and Death by Muttering Madzub aka John Hinton

Birth and death – simultaneous realization
Pain and bliss, with or without attachment, one and the same
Living, suffering, dieing – samsara
Being – compassion’s way
Gate, gate, paragate…

'Peace, Peace,' But there is no peace…

Looking for peace in the ocean of suffering?
Searching for The Way? Samsara!
Peace, another illusion to support the self centered dream
Peace is sitting in the midst of chaos covered in shit without self-identification
You are perfect as you are!

"They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, 'Peace, peace,' But there is no peace. Jeremiah 6:1