Guilt

[Revised January 28, 2012. Revisions are in blue.]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that violation. It is closely related to the concept of remorse.

Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which he deems to be shameful, hurtful, or violent.

Personal guilt occurs when someone compromises one’s own standards. One experiences conflict at having done something that one believes one should not have done (or conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done). It gives rise to a feeling which does not go away easily. Freud came to consider ‘the obstacle of an unconscious sense of guilt…as the most powerful of all obstacles to recovery’.

At the root of guilt is the conflict between what one expects of oneself and what one finds oneself to have become. This is essentially a confusion. The feeling of guilt starts to go away as one starts to recognize this confusion. Guilt cannot be “mastered” by repression, projection, rationalization, denial or blaming the victim.

To address the feeling of guilt, the following may help:

  1. Look at the things that you expect of yourself .
  2. Trace these expectations back to when and how you acquired them.
  3. Look at what you have “become” per the beliefs and ideas that you now practice.
  4. Trace them back to when and how you acquired them.
  5. Compare the expectations above to these beliefs and ideas.
  6. Spot the inconsistencies between these two sets of notions.
  7. Look at these inconsistencies thoroughly but non-judgmentally.

‘What one expects of oneself’ can be traced back to the standards that were laid down before one by one’s parents or loved ones when one was very young. ‘What one finds oneself to be’ can be reduced to ideas and beliefs that have become rather fixed, and which now define one’s self.

These two sets of notions can be put side by side. And, while doing so one may start looking at them non-judgmentally and without resistance. As this action is continued, and inconsistencies are spotted, the sense of guilt is very likely to start dissipating.

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January 12, 2012 – 10:56 PM Categories: Self-Improvement | Comments (58)

Siem Reap, Cambodia 2011

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January 12, 2012 – 12:06 AM Categories: Pictures | Comments (4)

Penetrating Mystery

Meditation is a journey from mystery to knowing. It happens through many iterations of continual unveiling.

Each unveiling itself is a little jaunt from mystery to knowing.

Suppose you practice looking using Process #1:

“Look around in your mind and spot something that is trying to grab your attention.”

And suppose you are faced with a barrage of items. You start noticing and recognizing them one by one. Most of them may fade into the background, but some may continue to linger on.

It is some mystery attached to an item that makes it linger.

True mystery is that which must for ever remain a mystery. One can never find what lies behind a true mystery. But for a mystery to be a mystery there does not have to be anything mysterious underlying it. All that is needed is a belief that nothing can be found out about it, and sticking to that belief.

Thus, there is no future postulated where a mystery is concerned. The moment you accept this non-judgmentally without resistance an interesting journey begins. Suddenly, there is hope that you can understand this item that has been lingering in your consciousness; there is possibly a future here.

A string of considerations, such as the following, might occur:

  1. What gains might be there by understanding this!
  2. This understanding is necessary for my well being.
  3. Let me figure out what it is!
  4. Let me just feel it and then I’ll know.
  5. Won’t it be just wonderful to know it!
  6. Alright,why not I simply look and see what it is.

Then, boom, any distance between you and that understanding would suddenly vanish, and you would know in your very being what that thing was that had been trying to grab your attention all these days, months or years.

The above is just a crude approximation of the journey from mystery to knowing. It may happen differently for different people.

But it surely will happen when one simply accepts non-judgmentally whatever comes up, and does not resist it.

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Glossary

Mystery
Origin: “secret rites, to initiate.” A mystery is anything unexplained or unknown. It is basically an inconsistency of a gap. It is an unknown consideration.

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January 7, 2012 – 6:28 PM Categories: Scientology | Comments (3)

Tagged |

The Basics of Meditation (old)

Please see Be There and Confront.

[This is first of the many essays that I wrote in the early nineties. At that time I tried to marry the western take (Scientology) with the eastern knowledge (Hinduism and Buddhism) on the subject of LOOKING. The western take is interesting, but, where fundamentals are concerned, I am still exploring the eastern knowledge that I grew up with.]

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To meditate is “to engage in deep and serious thought.” It suggests focusing the thoughts on a subject from every point of view, to understand all its sides and relations. Thus, the process of meditation involves viewing something thoroughly. The end product of meditation is to perceive something for what it truly is.

What happens when you view something thoroughly? It disappears. For example, when you perceive a problem in its entirety it ceases to be a problem because you can do something about it. Similarly, the moment you recognize the source of some confusion, the confusion disappears as its pieces fall in place. You will notice that difficulties persist as long as you keep thinking of ways to avoid them. But the moment you decide to face them, and view them thoroughly, they disappear.

Confusions, problems, and difficulties are mere appearances. They are an altered view of what the truth is. They persist as long as the underlying truth remains hidden. The practice of meditation helps you look beyond the appearances. When that happens the appearances disappear.

The concept of maya in Hinduism is just that. Maya may be looked upon as the layers of ignorance enveloping the mind. When meditation is practiced, maya peels off like the layers of onion. The basics of meditation are not that complex. When they are understood and followed the results are far reaching and beyond all expectations.

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LOOKING

Meditation is the process of looking, not thinking. Thinking is often used to avoid looking at things to such a degree that it degenerates into a never-ending “figure-figure.” In meditation one simply looks. If there is any thinking at all, it is to find out where to look.

The only thing that can be said about looking is that to look one must be willing to be there and face things without flinching or avoiding. If you cannot be there then you cannot look and experience. Thus, in meditation, after closing one’s eyes, one simply decides to be there.

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BEING THERE

The first step in meditation is to sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Do not move or do anything. Just be there. Make sure you have had enough to eat and rest. You do not want your body to distract you from being there as an observer.

You may assume a lotus position but that is not necessary. The necessary part is to keep your back straight and upright. You may sit in a straight-backed chair if that is more comfortable. When sitting in a chair, however, you must keep feet flat on the floor, and hands in the lap.

After closing your eyes, simply observe what is there. At first, you may perceive only blackness. But soon you may become aware of light and darkness, various sounds and smells, the temperature in the room, the pull of gravity, the taste in your mouth, and scores of other such perceptions from the body. The mind may present pictures of current or past situations, thoughts, emotions and conclusions.

It is important to understand who is observing. The body’s eyes are closed so you cannot be the body. You are observing the mind so you cannot be the mind. Who are you then? In meditation you simply are an observer. And as you meditate you would discover many things about yourself.

As you sit with your eyes closed all kind of things will come up, some flattering and some not so flattering. Do not get into any justification or “figure-figure.” Just be there and face them. Your sense of perception may heighten as a result.

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CONFRONTING

The essential part of being there is to face without flinching or avoiding. This is called confronting. Pictures may come up that remind you of something embarrassing or painful. The normal reaction would be to flinch and look away. But in meditation you must continue to be there and confront them, no matter how painful and embarrassing that may be. As you persevere such painful pictures will disappear.

There may be a tendency to squirm, twitch, move or change position. This occurs when you encounter something difficult to confront but you are not yet aware of it. Make sure before you start meditating that you are in a comfortable position. Then just be there without moving or doing anything else. However, if the discomfort becomes too much, it does no good to suppress it. When that happens, it is better to readjust your body in a comfortable position and then restart the session all over again.

During meditation, certain physical reactions may occur, such as, stabs of pain, drowsiness, dullness of senses, twitches in muscles, and so on. Do not do anything. Do not resist or try to suppress them. Just be there and confront. These physical reactions will disappear after some time.

There is a safety factor built into the mind. That is, the mind would never present something so embarrassing, discomforting, or painful that it is overwhelming. Just be there with whatever comes up. It is important that you let the mind present things to you, and not to present things to the mind. If you find yourself getting involved in thoughts or doing something else mentally then simply realize this fact and do nothing else. This will get you back to just being there.

As you confront the material presented by the mind, new realizations occur. Your ability to confront comes up, and as this happens, the mind finds it safe to present more material that you were not aware of before. And so it continues.

Try ending each session of meditation at a point when some persisting reaction has just gone away. Do not end a session while you are in the middle of such a reaction. The end result of meditation is not necessarily more information but it is a heightened awareness of who you are and an increased confidence in your being.

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SUMMARY

Meditation is an adventure. You embark on it to become more aware. It helps you discover the causes of conditions and gain control over them. And the results are beyond any expectations.

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[Comment added March 15, 2012]

“Being there” actually translates as “putting no resistance there.” When you are not putting any resistance then any and all distractions will simply flow through you and discharge.  The distractions, such as reactions, will persist only if you resist them.

Confronting doesn’t mean that you resist either. Actually, when you resist then you are not confronting. When you do not resist mentally, nothing can push you around.

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Glossary

Meditation

  1. To meditate is to engage in deep and serious looking. It suggests focusing the attention on a subject from every point of view, to understand all its sides and relations. Thus, the process of meditation involves viewing something thoroughly. The end product of meditation is to perceive something for what it truly is.
  2. Meditation is the process of looking, not thinking. Thinking is often used to avoid looking at things to such a degree that it degenerates into a never-ending “figure-figure.” In meditation one simply looks. If there is any thinking at all, it is to find out where to look.

Looking
The only thing that can be said about looking is that to look one must be willing to be there and face things without flinching or avoiding. If you cannot be there then you cannot look and experience.

Being there
To be there is to have your attention focused but not resisting or reacting to what is there.

Confronting
To face without flinching or avoiding.

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December 25, 2011 – 7:10 AM Categories: Self-Improvement | Comments (9)

Arithmetic Overview

The basic parts of ARITHMETIC are as follows.

The word ARITHMETIC comes from [Greek, ARITHMOS number + TECHNE skill]

Arithmetic helps find the answers to problems that involve numbers. Knowing the fundamentals of Arithmetic, problems with large numbers can easily be solved mentally.

For example: Find the sum of 297 and 562.

  1. Imagine two stacks of 297 and 562 pennies.
  2. Transfer 3 pennies from the 562-penny stack to 297-penny stack.
  3. You now have two stacks of 300 and 559 pennies.
  4. This can be added quickly as 859 pennies.

ARITHMETIC, literally, means “skill with numbers.”

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The first thing one learns in arithmetic is COUNTING. Counting helps one determine the number of things.

  1. A UNIT is what we count one at a time.
  2. A NUMBER is how many we have counted
  3. Counting starts with ONE.
  4. Then we count one more each time as TWO, THREE, FOUR, etc.
  5. ZERO is absence of count.
  6. The abacus introduces grouping by PLACE VALUES.
  7. The abacus teaches counting numbers to BILLIONS and more.
  8. Numbers are made up of DIGITS, just like words are made up of letters.
  9. The digits in a number have place values of ONES, TENS, HUNDREDS, etc.
  10. The place values may be expanded to provide DECIMAL NUMBERS.

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ADDITION is “counting together.”

  1. Raise 3 fingers on hand and 2 fingers on the other. You count them together as 5 fingers. This is ADDITION.
  2. To add mentally one needs the knowledge of numbers and place values.
  3. The opposite of addition is SUBTRACTION. If you get money, you add it to what you already have; when you give money away, then you subtract it from what you have. The two actions are opposite to each other.
  4. A Number Line helps display numbers relative to each other. It helps with mental addition and subtraction.
  5. Skill in mental addition makes it easy to acquire skill in mental subtraction.
  6. With subtraction we get NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
  7. With negative numbers we get a wider concept of numbers as INTEGERS.
  8. The integers appear on a number line on both sides of zero.

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Multiplication is “repeated addition.”

  1. If you sell 5 books for $6 each, you receive $30. This is MULTIPLICATION.
  2. Skill with mental multiplication depends on the earlier skill with mental addition.
  3. The opposite of multiplication is DIVISION. If you collect $6 each from 5 people, you get $30. If you distribute $30 equally among 5 people, then each person gets $6. The two actions are exactly opposite of each other.
  4. Skill in mental multiplication makes it easy to acquire skill in mental division.
  5. Multiplication and Division are greatly assisted by the concept of FACTORS.
  6. With division we get FRACTIONS.

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Multiplication has the priority when mixed with Addition.

Multiplication and division are higher order operations compared to addition and subtraction.

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December 24, 2011 – 12:56 AM Categories: Mathematics | Post a comment