Here and now

This simple equation that was alluded to in an earlier post points to the importance of discipline in achieving happiness. Very simply, the amount of happiness and fulfilment we experience is directly proportional to the amount of discipline we expend and the period over which we expend that discipline. As Buddha said, “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind.”

Unfortunately, we usually have negative associations with discipline. Obedience and punishment are usually associated with discipline in early life. However self-discipline which is really what we are talking about here is self-enforced and allows one to move towards ones goals and be happier. Mystics and spiritual adepts have demonstrated incredible levels of discipline which automatically emerges from a strong commitment to be aligned with the highest goals.

Discipline could manifest in several ways - practicing a musical instrument, refining a technique for drawing, exercising, relaxing, writing, reading, taking a course, doing homework, etc. In the context of spirituality, discipline may manifest as meditation, attending uplifting talks, cultivating awareness, yoga, or service.

During a typical day, one is constantly drawn in many directions. Oftentimes, we are distracted, and stressed. A quick outlet in the form of indulgence in a magazine, coffee, chocolate or excessive talk or even listening to music or watching television results. The day becomes a few bursts of activity interspersed with the indulgent actions. No time or inclination to do anything that even sounds like it would require discipline. However, we also find that we are oddly unfulfilled and feeling somewhat empty and even unhappy with such a day.

Instead if we inject discipline a few times a day (even a few minutes at a time), this can change the quality of the day considerably. A 20 minute meditation in the morning, perhaps listening to some motivational or inspirational audio while driving to work, watching the breath during gaps in work, some exercise in the evening and ending the day with listening to a talk or fine music can dramatically change the level of happiness, contentment and fulfilment that one feels. This feeling is apparent right away, but even more importantly, it builds up over time. If you meditate on a given day, the next day is clearer and more relaxed and crisp. The same can be said of other spiritual disciplines.

Over time, we experience happiness in various ways. It starts with a feeling of relaxed alertness and calmness, then leads to satisfaction and fulfilment which leads to a feeling of joy and lightness and love.

I first heard these from Shinzen Young, a Buddhist meditation teacher. Shinzen tends to be very precise in his language and these equations are worth pondering about since they condense a lot of information.

For a lot of people, the noble truths make more sense in the light of these two statements.

Suffering = Pain x Resistance
Frustration = Pleasure x Grasping

In other words, pain does not necessarily imply suffering. It is the resistance that gives rise to suffering. Similarly, pleasure causes frustration when one tries to grasp it.

On the other side of things, we have the keys to satisfaction and empowerment.

Empowerment = Pain x Equanimity
Satisfaction = Pleasure x Equanimity

If we stay equanimous through painful experiences, we are empowered. Staying equanimous through pleasurable experiences results in a feeling of satisfaction.

Conclusion: Resistance or grasping is to be avoided, equanimity to be cultivated.

While we are at it, I would like to add two more:

Happiness = Time x Discipline
Space = Happiness

I will elaborate on both these in a future post. These may not be immediately obvious, especially the second one. Stay tuned…

You can access Shinzen’s full article in PDF format here. He calls these statements the Fundamental Theorem of Human Happiness.

The recent movie titled The Secret has become enormously popular and does a great job of driving home two points:

1. You are fully responsible for your current situation (don’t pretend to be a victim)
2. You have the ability to impact your future and attract anything you like

Just by itself, this is hugely empowering. It asks us to take responsibility. And holds out hope for everyone that they can draw whatever they fancy regardless of current circumstances. No wonder it has found tremendous success in a short amount of time.

The ability to impact the future is very attractive. This message is a little watered down in The Secret because of excessive emphasis on attracting comforts (car, house, vacation), health, and relationships.

There are several important elements that are not emphasized adequately:

• Understanding that a LOT of energy and force is emanating at an unconscious level. Without understanding what lurks underneath, you can easily be superficially wishing for stuff but this will have no material impact on the future.

• Taking action is important, just thinking and visualizing won’t get you there. Thinking certain thoughts by itself is not enough to shape the future (but is a start).
• Tuning in is as important as broadcasting your vibrations.
• Full acceptance of everything as it is is required before you can truly vibrate at a higher frequency. Merely tolerance of the current (undesirable) situation is not good enough. Complete non-resistance and acceptance of current situation is required and this suggests detachment and purity. Purity amplifies your request. Oddly if you can do this, you probably don’t have strong desires for grosser/material things that you wish to draw to yourself. Or at least every iteration of desiring+fulfilment will result in a more refined desires and more complete acceptance of undesirable elements that have been drawn from past vibrations.

Television as a technology has become truly ubiquitous. I recently stayed at a hotel in San Francisco and noticed there was a small screen television mounted next to the mirror over the washbasin so I could watch television even while I was brushing teeth or shaving! Kicking back and watching television at the end of the day sounds relaxing, and most of us don’t even question it.But watching television has tremendous negative effects that become apparent on inspection.
The effect of television on the quality of life is unbelievable. It is an insidious monster lurking and sapping inner vitality. It is not so much simply the time spent watching television but the effect of that on ones consciousness.

Here is what I have observed as negative side-effects and after-effects of watching television:

• Eye strain
• Buildup of body tension (neck and eye muscles in particular)
• Depression and feeling of lack of energy
• Disinterest in doing anything creative
• Lack of enthusiasm for life
• Feeling of being defeated
• Feeling of emptiness and wanting to eat/drink/smoke
• Lack of interest in doing any exercise
• Irritability
• Impatience
• Quick temper on small things
• Feeling of contraction and tendency to judge and condemn quickly
• Apathy towards world events and feeling of isolation
• Worldview that there is a lot of evil out there
• Reduced empathy towards other people

Here is what Eckhart Tolle says about television in his book New Earth:

“The average American, by the time he is sixty years old, will have spent fifteen years staring at the TV screen. … While it provides some relief from your mind, you again pay a high price: loss of consciousness.”

Steve Pavlina talks about giving up TV. Instead of giving up television altogether, he has a clever suggestion. Give up TV for 30 days, and see how it feels.

Personally, I have found the effects of not watching television to be positive in every area of life. Are you ready to let go of this addiction?

For most people, life is a mixed bag. The longer one lives, the clearer it gets that there are inevitably events and conditions that conspire in a unique way for each one of us to result in an overall condition that seems unsatisfactory. The Buddha noted this in the first noble truth.

However the amount of suffering that is generated is dependent on how identified one is with oneself as a separate body/mind entity. This suffering manifests as resistance to a condition. A shift in perspective can loosen this identification and the suffering correspondingly drops. The shift in perspective happens when one reaches the realization that “life is a dream”. External conditions are an illusion that appear to be real, when in fact they are only relatively real.

To quote the Diamond Sutra,

So I tell you - Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

One wakes up to the fact that life is a dream at the end of life as one transitions to post-death states. However waking up when one is alive is really the purpose of life. In a sense, if you can experience life as a “lucid dream” wherein you wake up during the dream process, then you no longer are trapped by the dream. In fact, a natural playfuless emerges and you find you can do anything and are not a victim to arbitrary circumstances that are unchangeable.