Sunday 20 December 2009

The Prayer to Grandmaster Wong



With the greatest reverence and respect,
I humbly and sincerely request divine Grandmaster Wong,
To hear this prayer and to grant what is right in His wisdom,
For the good of myself,
For the good of my family and friends,
For the good of my ancestors and children,
For the good for all future generations,
For the good of all the souls related to me,
For the good of all sentient beings,
Now and forever.

OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM!
 
May all beings be free of physical suffering and enjoy good health,
May all beings be free of mental suffering and enjoy serenity,
May all beings be free of poverty and enjoy great prosperity,
May all beings be free of negative karmic connections and enjoy happy relationships,
May all beings be free of obstacles and enjoy smooth lives,
May all beings be free of delusion and see wisdom,
May all beings be free of struggle and achieve effortlessness,
May all beings be free of attachment and achieve enlightenment.
 
May all beings discover the right view,
May all beings have the right intention,
May all beings engage in the right speech,
May all beings choose the right actions,
May all beings exemplify the right livelihood,
May all beings engage in the right endeavours,
May all beings achieve the right awareness,
May all beings attain the right concentration.
 
Please bless all the world leaders and spiritual leaders with wisdom and insight.
Please bless the earth and help it to achieve balance.
Please heal the sick and the suffering.
Please alleviate poverty and teach people the true causes of wealth.
Please bless all people with happy and long lives.
Please provide abundant guidance to light the path.
Please save the beings lost in ignorance and delusion.
Please release the karmic burdens so enlightenment arrives.
Please save the souls of the dead so they may attain liberation.
Please bless all beings to ignite the compassion heart and to attain enlightenment.
 
Please guide me to do what is right in Divine wisdom,
When I pray, please come immediately,
And grant my prayers that are True and Correct,
Make ineffective any wrong doing or intention,
Purify the ignorant mind,
Please multiply the merit of my good deeds,
So that I can play my part according to Heaven’s Divine Will.

Divine Grandmaster Wong, please hear this humble prayer of a sincere aspirant and
grant what is right in your wisdom.
Please act as my representative to deliver this prayer to the appropriate Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas, deities and beings, so that all souls may be saved in the correct way and
Truth will prevail.
On this auspicious day and auspicious hour,
I maintain my faith and release this prayer to you.
I genuinely and sincerely mean what is in this prayer, and I continue to cultivate the wisdom sentiment in myself. I know that it is my sincere intention that allows this prayer to be fulfilled.
May the merit of this prayer go to _____________________.

OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM!

Karma and The Secret - Can a Butterfly Change its Spots?


Source/Copyright: Richard Bartz/Wikimedia

Yes, before you ask, that's a Leopard Lacewing butterfly in the picture. I could have used the real leopard but that particular saying was getting a little cliched.

So, I was at yet another PhotoReading event presented by my friend Marilyn Devonish yesterday and this issue did come up in passing. With all the hooha about The Secret, has anyone cared to observe the karmic consequences?

Kaye, what the heck does karma have to do with The Secret?

Rather a lot, actually. Basically, it impacts it in three ways:

1. If you're attempting to manifest something, your past manifestations will play a part in it. The old energetic blueprint will be active unless you know how to deactivate it. That's personal karma.

2. If your manifestation impacts the fabric of the sea of awareness (which it assuredly will, since by definition you are affecting the flow of energies when you manifest), you will be subject to the kickback from the ripple effects from that effect. And contrary to what you may intuitively think, doing good doesn't necessarily mean you get good back in the short run. It certainly pays to be good in the long run.

That's because you also have to deal with group or social karma. When you change something, you are stopping a karmic event. That's the same as hitting the brakes on a car headed off a cliff. In the long run you may save lives. In the short run you may have to deal with the attendant problems of the smoking brakes. Make sense?

3. If you are doing multiple manifestations that are not congruent with each other, you are self-sabotaging. The butterfly is a good example of this - nice wings, no? But to get the perfect design it has to get into a cocoon and build from scratch. Somehow people think this has nothing to do with The Secret. As Byron Katie would say, "Oh, honey..." If you like polka dots, wear polka dots, but drawing polka dots over a Van Gogh canvas is a bad idea. Trust me. Been there, done it, got the t-shirt.

So what do we do?

Learn to manage karma. It's rather dangerous to ignore it, even after one attains enlightenment. I believe that in Tibetan Buddhism it's considered a cardinal mistake. Anyway, karma management as I see it has to do with two things:

1. Pacification of obstacles - inner, outer and secret. Outer obstacles are the usual ones related to the material world. Inner ones are delusions that prevent us from effectively achieving our goals. Secret obstacles - unseen ones. I prefer the Alex Viefhaus (my great friend and mentor) version - a block isn't a block until it blocks you from something.

Obstacles can be pacified by energetically paying off and releasing past karmic "debts". They can be pacified by forgiveness, such as the Hawaiian ho-oponopono. It depends on the particular energetic knot you've tied, really. People are so creative about how they get themselves into trouble. The only one-hammer-fits-all-nails solution I have found to cutting these karmic knots is to master the essence of shunyata, or emptiness. See two posts previous to this one - my commentary of the Three Words Hitting The Essence.

For those so inclined, listening to the Vajrasattva Hundred Syllable Mantra helps too. So does understanding what it means, which is really a much more complex issue.

For those who wish for a shortcut, pray to Grandmaster Wong. I will put it up in the post after this one.

2. Attainment of merit. This one is interesting, because one first has to decide what merit is. Now, if one asks me, I must say I can't really say. However, I vaguely recall a line in a Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche book which says something like, "Merit is a sense of satisfaction." Unfortunately, I haven't been able to relocate that quotation. However, I think it is accurate. I don't think it is so much about accumulating brownie points, but to congruently hold an energetic state. This is done through offerings, through the energy of enjoyment, faith and trust. More on that another time.

Ask me questions if you want to know more.

Sunday 6 December 2009

Sometimes a Prayer is Enough


So I'm back in Malaysia on a short holiday. I was exhausted last week and was suffering from eyestrain, thanks to my work as a trader. The eyedrops weren't quite cutting it too. Anyway, one evening I decided it was time to get in some extra help. So, I knelt down and prayed for a solution, did the incense offering, and got on with life. Later that evening, the strain started in again. These things can be rather peculiar - it feels as if your eyes can't stay open any longer, and also objects start looking blurred. A very frustrating experience. Before I knew it, I found myself reaching over to my kit of massage sticks, which I keep next to my bed. Getting a few out, I started massaging certain key points around the eye area, something I had never thought to do before. Solved the thing in about 5 minutes. In fact, the nerves responded immediately. I've been giving myself repeat treatments but that one seems to have done the trick. Eyestrain gone for good.

Sometimes, a prayer is enough. Then, of course, when it happens, you say, "Thank you!"

Saturday 28 November 2009

A New Message for Spiritual Seekers - Enlightenment and Manifestation

As I was meditating last night, preparing for a flight back to Malaysia, I had another interesting insight that I believe is crucial to the next level of spiritual and inner development. I am sharing it here although I suspect that my convoluted language will do little to make it much clearer to anyone else but myself, and I doubt that even I know what I'm talking about, so if I sound even more vague than usual, many apologies.

The nature of enlightenment and the state of emptiness is certainly one that is attainable by the Buddhist path. You can see this stated in many sources, but lately I have come to favour the Three Words Hitting the Essence by, if, unless I'm much mistaken, Dza Patrul himself. If anyone is interested in the content of that particular text then I highly recommend reading the Dalai Lama's interpretation of it in the book Dzogchen. Although I usually prefer the words of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in this case I found the explanation remarkably exciting.

Keeping in mind the usual rules about not exposing the teachings of Dzogchen and Mahamudra to the uninitiated, I still feel that I would be out of order to offer my country boy explanation of the three "words", which are really three principles about the ultimate nature of emptiness and how to engage in it. The Dalai Lama talks about the View, Meditation and Action. The three words are about the view, which I believe is where all the action (no pun intended) is anyway. Meditation is about mixing the realisation of the pure nature of awareness with compassion. Action is about moving that whole process into physical expression. The realms of the bodhisattvas, in other words.

Back to the view. My version of it:
1. Get past all your thoughts and perceive the pure space of emptiness.
2. Make a commitment to sitting in that state of pure awareness no matter what.
3. As thoughts arise, meet them with your conscious awareness seated firmly in the awareness of 1. and 2. and they will dissolve naturally.

That's all I want to say about enlightenment today. I'm far more interested in making a slightly different point.

Once you actually have the connection with emptiness, the question arises as to how to maintain a relationship with the realisation. In this sense, I have come to suspect that the Dao De Jing, the bible of the Taoists, is more convenient. Whilst I am highly convinced that the Buddhist approach is a valid and useable path to enlightenment, once you have that realisation, engaging it in the unhindered manner which the Taoists encourage is much more interesting.

It has to do with grace in managing the energies. The enlightenment experience allows you the perspective of emptiness, a glance at the canvass upon which thought, perception and manifestation arise. Even if you have attained the view, thoughts still will arise. It remains for you to engage with them in grace, to dance with the energies as smoothly as you can and to remove any remaining fear or resistance to them. In this sense, I have often propounded in the past the use of the Feeling Exercise by Arnold Patent, particularly in the exploration of fear. However, once you have attained a certain facility, I am now beginning to be re-sold on Lester Levenson's approach of letting it go. Releasing is a powerful method of manifestation, and indeed it was the one that started me on my many adventures through the realms of advanced metaphysics. I find myself returning now with an awareness that sometimes, I thought I was releasing when in fact I was not. There was a deeper root. That root can be found by following the fear. However, once one knows how to follow the fear and is no longer threatened by it, one can directly perceive the cause of that fear and release on it directly. This is the essence of dancing with the feminine principle.

I believe that even though the higher level realisation has to do with that of emptiness, one ultimately has to return to engaging the energies. Even if one knows the mother, one has to engage the sons, is my response to the Dao De Jing's exhortation to stick with the mother. Why? Because we reside in the manifestative realm. It is no surprise that Lester and Byron Katie both sail through life and seemingly have miracles fall on their lap. It is a matter of releasing and then riding the energies with grace.

That is another point that was brought to my attention recently, and this may well be of interest to the "advanced" practitioners of "The Secret". If you put out energies at a very disembodied level, the energies struggle to manifest. In order to truly bring the energies into the physical realm, you have to actually ground them, and come more into your body, where you wish the manifestation to appear. Otherwise, it will tend to remain a floating thing in the spiritual realms. Interesting little point. I had not thought of it previously, but it agrees with my experiences of the past 15 years. Indeed, it agrees with all of my life experience.

The other point, which I did know about, but had tended to forget, was that in manifesting one had to access the feeling of the reality already complete. This would eventually mature into a knowing. But let us backtrack and observe that process. It first starts with an intention, as all things manifestative do, but then it engages the automatic aspect of the feminine principle. It is up to the manifester to notice the bumps and insecurities (fear is again a good signal to sniff after) and to resolve them. Also bring those energies into the physical realm. Release on them. Add the energies of faith and trust. Also add softness and warmth to it, or it will tend to become cold and impersonal. Be willing to be vulnerable. Finally, add humility, modesty and surrender. Compassion is always a useful one for taking bits of self out of the mix.

Then, enjoyment and relaxation. These last two are incredibly useful indicators of what is going on. If you are not enjoying yourself, there is a part of you that still takes this as a project, and you can be sure that there is fear associated with letting go and trusting the process in that. If you are not relaxed, then you are not relying enough on the feminine principle. In the lingo of an earlier era in my life, you are not programming into the subconscious, but instead relying on the conscious mind.

Happy exploration!

Sunday 1 November 2009

Vajrasattva Hundred Syllable Mantra

I just remembered that Jeddah once asked me to have this recorded for her, so here it is.


World in Union

This one is pretty close to my heart. I definitely want to rerecord it once I have had time to rehearse a little, but here's the rough initial version. I'll stop torturing your eardrums now.


Love Changes Everything

My excuse for the poor notes on this one is that it was completely unrehearsed. Yes, I did fudge it a little, but hey, if I do rerecord it I'll replace this one.


Ma Ma Hao

Well, if you do a piece for dad, you've got to do a piece for mom too...

This was the shortest piece, but I had to rerecord it so many times!


Colors of the Wind

I still say it should be spelt "colours", but there you go. A cappella. My father has a liking for this song. I wonder if he'll hear this version...


I Dreamed a Dream

Just fooling around with Camtasia. This is an experiment, so excuse the off notes! Was just thinking of Susan Boyle so I decided to record her song.

Saturday 17 October 2009

Advanced Portable Memory Bank as a Tool of Intelligence


The Portable Memory Bank (PMB) technique is not mine - it was developed by Win Wenger, Phd. The principle behind it is the simple Pavlovian principle that each time you respond to something in your awareness, the brain takes note and interprets that as a signal to give you more of the same. Imagine that you are taking the bus or the Tube. For most people, there is very little awareness of what is going on around them or who is even sitting at the far end of the carriage. That is because, by successive degrees of ignoring them, the brain has become entrained to delete the information from conscious awareness, although it still records it. If one wished to increase awareness, then taking note of what a single person was wearing or doing each time one sat down would signal that this material was now of interest, and over time a more refined awareness would develop.

PMB is taught in various forms, but its most popular version is as an idea generator. By responding to ideas and thoughts (i.e. writing them down in a little notebook), we encourage the mind to produce more of the same. It is a simple enough notion, but one that can work very powerfully to unlock the flow of genius that may have stayed hidden.

This post is about advanced applications of PMB that I have developed in my own application of the technique, which I believe takes its usage well beyond the original. Nonetheless, I would be very surprised if I was the first to discover them.

Here are the tricks:

1. To generate idea flow. Write 50 ideas down a day. Just write them down, even if they are nonsense. That will stimulate the brain to produce more of them. Simple as that. 1 out of the 50 will work. This is a standard variation on the basic PMB technique - rather than waiting for ideas out of blue, start to encourage them.

2. To generate very high quality ideas. This is my twist on the basic technique. Because we are using a Pavlovian response to stimulate simple idea flow, we can also use the same approach to stimulating high quality ideas. Each time you see a great idea pop up, immediately write it down and then decorate it in the PMB notebook in emotionally stimulating ways. I like to write AHA!!! beside these, or to put them in a large box of text on their own. Oversized exclamation marks work well, too. By doing that, we are giving an extra stimulus to the brain to produce more ideas of that quality.

3. To direct idea flow. It occurred to me that this is seldom discussed in PMB faciliation. To get general ideas is fine, but mostly one wants answers. Thus, ask questions! I do the same with questions that I do with high quality ideas - overdecorate them. Imagine that the notebook is a way to ask a direct question of your subconscious (and it is). Then ask the questions. Ask as many as you can. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is the real key to mastering the PMB genius process. I draw large question marks around them. In fact, I ask the most difficult questions I can imagine.

The subconscious block users have with this tends to be that they think a question will be too difficult to answer, and thus they avoid asking it. Use the notebook! It will give the answers, over time. Very often, I will awaken the following morning with the answer to the questions that I have asked. Be bold, and ask away. Always mine for detail. If an idea seems good on principle, but requires "filling in", then ask specific questions about the details. Otherwise, it will very often remain a good idea, but an unimplemented one.

4. Start answering your questions. For some questions, you will have an inkling of the answer, if not the full answer. Or so you think. If you even have a whiff of what the answer will be, immediately write that down. In the writing of it, the force of expression will very often change and transmute the idea into something entirely different. You will be amazed at how much some answers can change. For the ones that don't, it gets you past the "stock answers" you may have allowed yourself to become comfortable with. That clears the space for fresh, new ideas and thoughts. Get it out of your head and onto paper! Furthermore, the answer material will very often spawn new questions, which should also duly be noted down.

5. Write in the spirit of interaction. Although probably less powerful than the actual imagestreaming techniques for generating solutions, the PMB is extremely powerful for reasoning and analytical thought. By writing continuously in it, one's thought processes become clear and connected, rather than scattered. By pretending the notebook is an all-knowing partner, we can begin to enjoy the interaction with the book, thus generating tremendous insight.

Always write as though you were talking to a real person, and express yourself as though you were talking to someone who cannot see inside your head. Writing in "note form" is unacceptable! That allows the shortcuts in one's mind to prevail. Rather, spell everything out in as much detail as possible, and mental blindspots will be unveiled before your very eyes. And when you spot a blindspot, ask another question to find the best response to it. In this way, the PMB notebook becomes an extremely valuable companion.

6. Change your handwriting, change your mind. Use a physical notebook wherever possible, rather than typing in a document. There is something to be said for physically writing down the notes. There is also the added advantage of being able to change your handwriting. The nuances of mind are also reflected in the nuances of handwriting. By deliberately writing in a different form, new ideas will bubble forth.

Have fun writing!

Thursday 8 October 2009

Signposts in Manifestation

Source/Copyright: Wikimedia

Every manifestation technique will usually have some of the following components:
1. Opening up/relaxing
2. Some kind of visualisation or affirmation or directing of awareness in order to affect the sea of awareness.
3. Some automating factor that "sets" or "saves" the work in the ethers of consciousness.

Everyone will claim to have invented something new (including me), but essentially these are the steps. Here are some signposts that will help you along the way:

1. Were you open enough to try the manifestation process in the first place? This is the initial openness of awareness which allows the whole process to begin.

2. Did you feel really relaxed physically, mentally and emotionally? This is the physical and emotional openness which frees up conscious awareness to sense, affect and create.

3. Did you use your awareness in skillful ways to deepen your sense of openness and connectivity? This may take advantage of standard tactics like counting backwards, or following breath.

4. Were you able to visualise/affirm clearly? This is the "active" part of using your awareness. The more clearly you were able to articulate your intention, the better it is.

5. Did you feel the sense of reality as you did it? This is a measure of your sense of immersion in the technique. You can immerse yourself fully by being more emotionally and physically open and interacting with awareness in an uninhibited fashion.

6. Did you feel a sense of confidence as you engaged in your process? If you weren't totally comfortable with it, then you are still resisting it at some level, and you can use your feelings as a guide to any remaining resistance.

7. Did you simply go with what you sensed, or did you make the choice to change it to something you chose? There is a balance between acceptance and free will. Not everything should be changed, but you can change things that are ready to be changed.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Sarcasm - Trait of Genius in PhotoReading Activation

So I've just come back from speaking at yet another PhotoReading seminar, and the issue of genius came up, one way or another.

I forgot to mention one thing to the participants - sarcasm is a trait of genius when asking questions about a book.

Right, Kaye. Convince me.

Well, consider that the ability to learn is directly related to one's ability to ask questions. The ability to learn effectively is directly related to one's ability to effectively ask directly related questions that are of interest to oneself. If there is no genuine curiosity about the answers, then there is no real motivation to find it.

Hence, one should take advantage of one's personality in asking questions. Sarcasm is a genuine and legitimate trait of genius if in finding something to be sarcastic about, one actually has to LOOK. Hence, in asking questions about anything, make use of one's personality traits, whatever they are. They will add to the curiosity and effectiveness of the questions.

Saturday 26 September 2009

The Seed of Universal Power - Determined Compassion

Source/copyright: Wikimedia/John Hill

I was speaking with a high Lama some time back, and he commented, "There are people who come on the Mahayana path (the compassion path), but without going through the Hinayana/Theravadan path, their foundation is incomplete, and their base is shaky."

For all those for whom that was gobbledegook, don't worry. Ten years ago it would have been that way for me too. However, there is something very important about determined compassion as the entire path for ultimate happiness. Consider that we are all in a world of samsara, or suffering. There is dissatisfaction in some, if not most parts of our lives. As human beings, we are failing to address our most prevalent disease - that of dis-ease.

I had that too. I was severely dissatisfied with my life. Heck, I STILL get dissatisfied with my life. It comes with the package. What's the difference between me and everyone else, though? I know how to come out of it. And in spite of the fact that I've been teaching this ever since I figured it out by accident, new ways of seeing it are constantly evolving.

So Kaye, let's get to the point. Why do you call it the seed of universal power? Power to do what?

It has the power to relieve suffering and achieve peace, once and for all. Don't you think that is a universal power? There is nothing complicated about it. It has two components - determination and compassion. Why determination? Because we are stuck in our own paradigms, and it will likely be painful (at least at first) for us to escape it. If we do not have the determination to grasp the nettle, as it were, then escape is impossible.

Freedom is hidden in the one place where we will least expect to find it - in the midst of pain. Determination to find it is what founds the entire process.

Compassion is a different story. It is about empathy and kindness. And compassion is not just for others, but also for oneself. Having compassion for self means being appreciative and kind of what has been done. However, it has a quality of lightness about it. It is not allowed to devolve into selfishness. On the contrary, it is the act of selflessly placing others above oneself that allows us to transcend fears.

Compassion is about the greater story. From the Mahayana viewpoint, you could look at how much more other people are in need, and use that to inspire your actions. Because there is vision, there is inspired action, and determination. Because it is not for personal gain, the element of grasping selfishness is transcended.

Thus, determined compassion is really a very sneaky way of overcoming psychosis.

When watered with Wisdom, it becomes a very powerful vehicle for enlightenment, but that is a story for another time. Suffice it to say that misapplied determination can become mule-headedness. Compassion without insight becomes idiot compassion. So buyers beware!

The Final Goal is a Story, The Final Step is Peace


I've just had a brief look at the questions I have received for the free teleseminar tonight for the Plateau Point. Firstly, I was staggered by the huge response although it was announced only at the last minute. Secondly, it struck me that many of the questions come from a place of dissatisfaction, whether it be dissatisfaction in being able to do more, or to find the perfect man.

The key here is differentiating between reality and expectation. Look carefully at what you are aiming for. Then ask yourself why you are aiming for it. And if you dig deeply and honestly enough, you will find an answer that will sound something like, "I want to be happy." or "I don't want to be in pain." And if you dig even deeper than that, you will find that that arises because you imagine that things can be somehow better than they already are. As your awareness gets stuck on that, a longing arises. Or, as Chogyam Trungpa would say, you get horny about it. There is a blind, instinctive grasping that arises. And from there all the misery, desperation, denial, grasping, manipulation and heartache arise.

It is the acting on, or allowing yourself to be swayed by, these instincts that begins the wheel of suffering. Without it, you would be at peace. Why? There would be nowhere to go, nothing to do. There would be no goal, no dissonance between reality and desire. The story would be ended, and you would have taken the final step.

Does this mean we should all sit around in total acceptance doing nothing? How very inefficient! If doing nothing was what I advocated, then I would have a great following preaching to rocks. Rather, being at peace is the final step, because it really frees you to do what you are passionate about. It frees you from the fear of being disapproved of, of being inadequate, of being undeserving. In that, you can do what you really wish to do, not what society says you should. It frees you from the need of a relationship, and because of that you can actually have one. It frees you to find peace amidst the craziness that is the world, because you see the perfection of it all, dropping the goal, that story about how it could be different.

In that moment, you become free to move from vision to vision, from ecstasy to ecstasy, and not be bound with "dealing with" hurdles and obstacles.

So with all the stuff people have come up with, here is a question I have myself, "How much work have you done lately to find peace?"

Sunday 13 September 2009

Manifestation and the Problem of Interdependent Origin


Manifestation is a subject that many have tackled in various ways, using various tactics. However, there is a problem with most techniques that seems to have slipped by unnoticed by most. It is the problem of interdependent origin. The idea is that one problem will have multiple causes. Each "problem" is likely to be linked up with tons of other issues in one's life. Hence, to look at it in isolation is a mistake. Yes, in some cases, it will be possible to solve the problem, if it happens to be a relatively isolated issue. In others, it will be more difficult, but still possible. That is why the best manifestation processes always allow for deeper issues to arise and resolve them.

However, in the larger scheme of things, problems are Gordian knots. You either solve all of them at once, or not at all. Each one will slightly influence the other, and if they are not cleared, the manifest result of one project is likely to be skewed in unexpected ways. That's why manifestation is tricky.

The key then will be to cut at the heart of the knot, the part from which all this emanates. It has to do with the self, unsurprisingly enough, and the sense of self/identity. Before problems become physical, they arise in the mind. Look at the Paradox of Manifestation for a deeper discussion to this end.

Saturday 12 September 2009

Shunyata as a Transformative Principle

"If you are facing difficulty, meditate on the concept of shunyata."

This is a common enough saying in Tibetan Buddhism. However, it only really hit home today with me. Shunyata meditation is a coping mechanism. Shunyata itself is the realisation (or, at least the concept) that everything is inherently "empty", and so difficulties will eventually resolve themselves. It's a sophisticated way of saying, "It'll be all right in the end, dear." Or so I thought.

It can certainly be related to on that level, but there is more. As our conscious awareness becomes patternised and stuck in certain belief systems, enhanced by "experience", we can lock ourselves into a stuck pattern, or a plateau. Whilst one does not need necessarily to deal with the stuck pattern directly, this is what meditation on the shunyata principle does.

I usually recommend working with complete surrender and compassion to get around stuck states and situations. More recently, I also talk about trust, faith and intention. All this can be combined with the power of decision, which I talk about here. Meditating on shunyata, however, we befriend our situation, and quit mentally shrinking away from it because we think it is unsolveable. Through applying our attention and awareness to it, the "stuckness" dissolves and it becomes more fluid and malleable. In that way transformation is very possible, and even quick.

All those approaches work. It is as though you were swimming underwater and your foot got caught in a rope tied to an anchor. Instead of trying to pull yourself up, which is the instinctive thing to do, you go down to the rope to untie it. This is what meditating on shunyata does for you. It is effective by gently easing your foot out, and not straining so that the knots don't get tighter. It takes the panic and desperation out of the picture.

The power of decision is the use of force. It says, "I will solve this one way or another." It is a commitment that says you will do whatever it takes to get free of that rope, including cut your foot off. Clearly, decisive power works on a different level of manifestation than shunyata. See Levels of Manifestation for more details.

Faith, trust, intention, compassion and surrender are all extremely high level copouts. They do the miraculous, because you effectively transcend all problems without having to deal with them. You become one with the water, and the rope slips off because it has nothing to hold on. It does take a leap of faith though, and if you are uncertain or unclear, or even if you aren't, there are likely to be bits of your that remain "solid" in this metaphor.

Nonetheless, shunyata has its role, for it emphasizes the cyclicity of things, their mutability. So, by meditating and applying your conscious awareness to the mutability principle, it automatically becomes more a reality for you. So meditate on shunyata not only as an acceptance of what is, but as a healing principle of transformation, for it gives you the hope that things can turn completely around. Hope develops into actual experience.

Thursday 10 September 2009

The Levels of Manifestation


Kaye, why do you tell us to do conflicting things? On the one hand, you say be determined and willing to do whatever it takes. On the other, you talk about surrendering. Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

Yes, I do talk about apparently conflicting things, but they appear conflicting because they are not considered in the context of the level of manifestation you are discussing. We can think of manifestation as being on several levels:

1. Physical
2. Emotional/mental
3. Spiritual

On the physical level, action reigns supreme. Taking clear, methodical, massive action creates the results you want. In other words, if you want new batteries in the remote, go to the shop and buy some. This is how results can be created on the physical level.

On the emotional/mental level, we devise strategies to conserve energy. It is possible to employ strategies like the 80/20 principle, taking the 20% action that creates the 80% result. We develop determination, resilience and focus. Mental clarity and goal-setting are the forces that direct this level.

On the spiritual level, however, we surrender. Having engaged the first two levels, we trust in God and let go. That is the surrender effect. It is through this detachment and surrender that miracles are allowed to happen. Faith and trust facilitate this process.

This may sound like old hat, but the mix of manifestation skills is different for different people. Whereas a person may succeed by relying largely on the first two levels (included in this group would be many of my colleagues from Cambridge University), he may also employ the third level. There are things which, in spite of perfect execution at the first two levels, still do not materialise. This has to do with the spiritual level of manifestation. Does anyone understand this level fully? Not that I know of. We only know certain spiritual factors which seem to contribute to success. Even then, it is not foolproof.

Tuesday 8 September 2009

Knowing It Is Done

In traditional self-hypnotic programming, we are told to end the session "knowing that what we program for is done". This knowing it is done has been misunderstood and misapplied to disastrous results. The key is coming from a place of confidence and abundance, and of decision. If we artificially create a sense of knowing e.g. if we say to ourselves, "Oh, I don't really feel it, but it says to pretend it is done, and I really want this to happen, so I'm going to pretend it has..." then we are coming from a head intention of fear, rather than a heart intention of life-affirming abundance. We have failed to make the decision to succeed, and thus doom ourselves to failure. Done this way, it has done nothing more than affirm our insecurity and indecision.

Thus, it is important to clear our doubts, a subject I have addressed on many an occasion before, and then to progress from there into a place of genuine innate confidence (GIC), and not an artificial one. Thus, we say, with the faith of a king who expects his commands to be obeyed, "It is done."

Monday 7 September 2009

The Power of Decision

Source/copyright: Wikimedia/Ltshears

The power of decision focuses energy into a power burst. The difference between those who succeed and those who don't is the decision to be successful, no matter what. There is no "What if this happens to me?" There is only courage behind the decision to succeed. Once you have made a clear decision that you will accomplish something "no matter what", then it is as good as done.

It is this attitude, which I imagine to be like a lion's roar, this challenge, which draws up the energies of the subconscious and the conscious into one burst. In that moment, it cuts all fears, because it has already committed to its goal, and is ready to take all the hits necessary to make it. It is a stance of bravery and courage that subdues fear.

It is a stance of commitment, for it says, "I choose you as my goal, even if other areas are compromised." That is the essence of "no matter what" (NMW). This cuts through the psychoses related to conflicting goals. When you choose a powerful goal to focus on, focus on that one only, as the overarching goal of your life. Everything else must bend down to it, and give it the respect due the King of the Forest when he roars.

It is the stance of power and self-esteem, for in making that decision, it affirms the life-giving power of "Yes!" It has no tolerance for self-pity or lack of self-worth. Instead, it runs ahead and smashes through the puny wails of uncertainty and inadequacy.

It is the power of patience, for in eradicating all inner uncertainty about the result, the overwhelming confidence allows the decision-maker to confidently and patiently await the correct moment.

It is the stance of complete surrender. Surprising as it may seem, when you make decisions correctly, the outcome is irrelevant. The race is run, and the deed is done. It is now simply a question of getting it done or, as warriors of old might have thought of it, "getting killed in the process". There is no longer any if, and because of that, there is no question of whether or not it will be done. All forces are unleashed towards the goal, and because of the certainty of decision, whether or not it actually comes to pass is irrelavant. It is this irrelevance and releases the last safeguard on the subconscious strength we have hidden within ourselves, and allows us to succeed.

Truly, the strength to succeed is within, only waiting to be summoned by the roar of decision.

Monday 31 August 2009

Plateau Point - Part 1

Source/licence: Wikimedia/Daniel Mayers

What is the the Plateau Point?

It is a point in your life where no matter what you do, things just don't seem to be going your way. This can, although not always, happen at all three causal levels - physical, mental and spiritual. They are inter-related. It can even feel as though you are spinning your wheels backwards, or losing ground.

Why does the Plateau Point happen?

Basically, it is the end of an upcycle in your life. In everything, there is balance, and life does not move in a straight line - there are upcycles and downcycles. The upwards thrust before it may have been a period of phenomenal growth, or it may have been just a gentle upward movement. The end of the upcycle is marked by the consolidation phase of the Plateau Point (PP). The consolidation may be followed by a downcycle, further upwards movement, or stagnation.

What can I do about it?

Understand firstly what is the primary cause for your personal PP, and then the appropriate reaction will become clear.

What are the causes of the Plateau Point?

- Self-sabotage/conflicting purposes within yourself.
- A natural ending phase in the physical phenomenal world.
- Spreading yourself too thin mentally and spiritually, leading to a lack of focus and/or conflicting purposes.
- A lack of clarity in what you want.
- Limiting beliefs and experiences.
- A lack of energising focus and power.
- Inadequate physical strategies leading to suboptimal performance.
- Failure to adapt to change.
- Being too easily influenced by others.
- No staying power, flexibility and resilience.
- Issues around guilt, fear and deservingness.
- A lack of confidence.

Surrender Process

Source/licence: Wikimedia


1. Imagine the purest, highest and most powerful level of unconditional love that you can.
2. Double that in intensity so that nothing can withstand its presence except the highest level of love and acceptance.
3. Imagine yourself being drawn into that energy and merging into it.
4. All blockages, worries and conflicting energies are completely neutralised by this pure energy.
5. If you get distracted, dissociate yourself from the light again and repeat, doubling and doubling the energies again until it is so brilliant that you cannot bear to look upon it.
6. Merge into the energies again, surrendering all the concepts and thoughts of control into it.
7. Abide in that energy, allowing it to purify your energies completely in whatever way it sees fit in its wisdom.

Sunday 16 August 2009

The Flame Activating Breath for Achieving Goals

Source/licence: Wikimedia/Mila Zinkova

The breath must be one of the most overlooked tools in the human potential arsenal. When we see something unusual, we "catch our breath". We describe views such as the one above as "breathtaking". There is a definite mind-body correlation that can be demonstrated by the breath. Win Wenger, I believe, says that we stop breathing properly just as we encounter a problem - just at the very moment when breathing evenly and smoothly would create the oxygen flow and stimulus that we are seeking.

I offer the activating breath here, for the purposes of activating the mind's self-piloting system towards goal-achievement. The Activating Breath is easy:

  • Breath in to the count of 4 at the speed of 1 count per second. As you inhale, expand your abdomen/diaphragm to its full potential.
  • Exhale to the count of 4 at the speed of 1 count per second. As you exhale, relax the abdominal muscles.
This is the basic breath used in many processes, such as pranic healing and Quantum Touch. Practise doing it a few times until it flows smoothly and evenly for you.

Now for the Flame part. Imagine you have a candle in front of you. If it helps at first, actually light a candle and put it in front of you so you have an image of the flame. Blink your eyes twice and use the afterimage of the flame. Inside the flame, there is an image of your goal as it looks like when it is fully accomplished. This is the flame of blissful energy, energising and empowering your goal. Make sure you add all the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic components of the success image.

As you visualise it, start doing the Activating Breath. As you inhale, the flaming image becomes brighter and brighter, and more colourful. As you exhale, the image becomes more real and more solidified. Practice doing this - visualise the image becoming more colourful and bright as you inhale, until it becomes automatic. On each exhale, practice making the image so powerful and materialised that you believe beyond doubt that it will definitely happen.

As you inhale, imagine the sounds becoming clearer and louder. As you exhale, imagine the image materialised even more.

As you inhale, imagine the sensations and feelings becoming even more distinct. As you exhale, imagine the image so materialised that it is a given that it will occur. On each inhale, enhance the sense of gratitude and appreciation for the image.

Keep doing this for 10 minutes a day for each big image goal. Keep breathing at all times! You can switch periodically between the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic components, or do all three at the same time. Experiment and find out what works best for you. If you feel your attention starting to lag, always go back to the breath counting and try changing the modality i.e. if you were doing visual, then switch to auditory. The brain needs constant change to provide stimulus for attention, so provide it with that, and it will obligingly imprint the image of your success deep within you.

At the end of the session, with a deep sense of gratitude, place the whole image and energy into your heart and release it to your highest good.

Saturday 15 August 2009

Two Selves


Source: Wikimedia

There are two selves that we can switch between. One is the relative self, and the other the absolute self. We really need both to function in the world. The absolute self is free of limitations, but the relative self allows us to experience, well, relativity.

The balanced approach has to do with maintaining a balance between these two selves, I think. If we reside wholly in the self that experiences emptiness and absolute bliss, there is a tendency to withdraw from the world into ourselves. While it is blissful in a sense, there is a rejection of the world. The relative self goes out into the world, but relies almost exclusively on the push-pull fear motivations to function, which is again not an ideal situation.

The trick is to be able to switch between the two smoothly and fluidly.

Thursday 6 August 2009

Dare You Plunge in the Knife?


Don't worry - in spite of the picture, I don't mean to kill yourself. I am referring to those times of deep emotional upheaval - when a loved one lies ill or dying, when a child is lost, when a lover goes, when dreams die, when hopes are killed. If you're lucky, you will never have to face those situations in life, but unfortunately most of us do. And it is better to know how to deal with it BEFORE we actually get into that situation.

This post reflects the heart of this favourite saying in Buddhism:

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Those situations which I have described do happen. Even if they don't, everyone will have some experience of a personal fear. And when the time comes for reality and dreams to go at loggerheads, reality always wins.

So what's the solution?

Jump into the tidal wave of emotion completely. Give yourself up to it. Don't try to use justification or thought to turn it around. Experience the grief and the pain, but do not think about it. Just experience it. You will know you are turning it into a story if you suddenly feel like the victim. Or if you feel like blaming someone, or even life. Or if you feel you can't bear the pain, because while the pain may be real, the story that you can't bear it isn't.

Most stop right at the point of really plunging in the knife. It's conditioning, and I can understand it. But folks, seriously, quit being wimps. It's like holding a knife and testing the sharpness and cutting yourself slightly and saying I don't think I can do this. And we can get really upset doing it. It is the resistance that is really causing the suffering. If we plunge the knife straight in, we find that it is healing, for it cuts through the dreams and illusions, and free us from our cages of thought. Painful? Yes. But if you can hold to the pain of the experience and resist the temptation to think about it, to avoid it somehow, then you have played a trick on death. You will have cheated it of its power to cause suffering, for in embracing it it has no more power to threaten you.

It is conditioning that prevents us from doing this, but consider: In situations of extreme grief, most people use thought, conscious or unconscious, to avoid the pain. No one ever thinks of using the pain to avoid thought. And thought, by a long, long shot, is the one that will cause the most suffering. You go into the emotion, it disperses, and you move on. You go into the thought, it anchors, and congratulations, you get to carry it for the rest of your life. Apparently horrific, but that's the way it goes.

Dare you plunge in the knife?

Wednesday 5 August 2009

The Paradox of Manifestation

It may seem somewhat surprising for me to tackle a topic like this just after completing a 13-part series on the subject. The series was designed to look at the mechanics of it. However, it was noted in the 13th post that the height of manifestative skills comes when one is not interested in it. Let's take a closer look at that. I propose that to pursue manifestation is a reflex to an initial impulse which actually takes the focus off in a completely misleading direction. The impulse, used in a completely counterintuitive way, would produce vastly different results.

For that, I'm going to refer to my all-time hero in Buddhism - Chogyam Trungpa. See book below.


I found his exposition of the kleshas, conflicting emotions that lead to suffering, particularly interesting. The kleshas themselves are nothing new - there have been tons of exposition on the six main conflicting emotions - desire, anger, pride, ignorance, doubt and opinion.

According to Trungpa, kleshas are one of two kunjung, or origins of suffering - the other one being the kunjung of karma. The kunjung of kleshas could be considered the birth of the kunjung of karma. They are the initial point, the starting of karma, one could say. So understanding kleshas is a good place to stop creating the kunjung of karma. In English: If you stop the emotions fast and early, they don't develop into patterns engraved into the mind stream, or karma.

The most fascinating thing is that the kleshas themselves arise out of a basic stupidity, or bewilderment. This, in my interpretation, is that there is a basic non-awareness about self and states (i.e. reality), of not knowing what to do, which is independently existent. We go about in this state, not really knowing what to do. There is an uncertainty about it, but not quite outright confusion. Then, there is a "sudden flickering of thought", according to Trungpa. It makes you very passionate and lustful. (Note the interesting fact here - passion is actually a function of suffering in this model.)

Hence, desire is born. Unfulfilled desire leads to anger. Anger and desire fuel pride as a self-preservation mechanism. Ignorance then arises as a strategy to continue, to close one's eyes to things that are contrary to the world view. Ignorance then develops into doubt - the avoidance of alternatives and advice. Finally, it forms a full-fledged opinion. In terms of the manifestation, the conscious awareness is now well and truly rooted in a fixed energy pattern.

What does this have to do with manifestation? Consider that manifestation is basically a topic about fulfilling one's desires. By engaging it, one jumpstarts the whole process of the kunjung of the kleshas. See the paradox?

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Surfing Emptiness - The Psychological Part



Emptiness is about space - basic creation and phenomenal space. Emptiness is about the realisation of this space. Realisation arises through insight, awareness and experience of this as fundamental reality. That is basically what the whole process is, when described from the larger viewpoint.

Getting there is another matter.

The initial process is about loosening the bonds of egoic identity, the inadvertent jail of conscious awareness. This has to do with generating acceptance, with developing an understanding for the reality of the world, and with developing a love affair with it. There is a sense of hopelessness, of connecting with the fact that we really cannot do that much about the world - it will go on its own merry way. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that. This is not to deny the validity of action, but to create the detachment from the result, so that the gesture of action is empty of any force rooted in egoic resistance.

This hopelessness is very freeing - it frees us from worry. It says,"Do what must be done, but don't get upset if things don't go your way." It also allows us to react smoothly to whatever arises. There is a hopelessness, but without bleakness or bitterness. It is a very subtle difference. If we are bleak or bitter, then we are not really hopeless. We have not really accepted the hopelessness of the whole situation. There is a sense of internal resistance. So what we are really going for is fully accepted hopelessness. Then it is painless. It becomes a statement of reality.

The statement is this:

"Don't go about expecting the world to always go your way - it probably won't."

Where does that leave us? It leaves us free to explore, to tinker with the world. It opens a whole new plethora of behaviours we would not otherwise be able to engage in, in our fear and worry. So, it is actually a very freeing conception. We do our best and move on. That is the heart of the basic message. We take joy in what comes our way, and lovingly accept the stuff that doesn't as par for the course. We may even find a way to fall in love with that. It is a falling in love with reality. This is the heart of the Hinayana path. There is nothing particularly magical about it, in the sense of something out of the ordinary occurring. The practice is largely about examining the stuff arising in conscious awareness and freeing the resistance where it becomes apparent.

As we become more free, we can afford to be more generous and compassionate. We recognise our own hang-ups and transcend them, and then we have all this attention freed up, which in turn expands our awareness. And we become aware of the suffering of others, of their hang ups and how they mess up their lives. And then we can afford to be affectionate, because we have no particular agenda. We take refuge in the hopelessness, or more accurately, the reality of what is. We become very realistic, rooted in the moment. There is no worry about the future, because we know that the hopelessness will enable us to deal with anything that comes. We also become much less inclined to control, since we are able to face whatever situation may arise anyway.

It's all very boring, really, this hopelessness. Because there is nothing to do. There is nothing to face, no fear, no worry. Then you have nothing to discover. So we become cosmic meddlers. We observe others' hang ups and see if they wouldn't like a little help with that too. Not that we care at a personal level whether they overcome them or not - it's all hopeless anyway. But it becomes interesting to prod them on their journey. We feel their pain, and because we are rooted in reality, we know the pointlessness of pain, but they have chosen it. So we are there, saying,"Can I help you?" And when they are ready, they take that help. That is the the great compassion path - the Mahayana path. It is not just about developing compassion because we "should" somehow. It is just a naturally arising phenomenon from the Hinayana.

Compassion has a sneaky quality - it takes our attention away from our own hang-ups. It can be considered another way of relating to reality. When we discover how small our problems are compared to those of others, we almost shame ourselves into letting go of dwelling on them. When we consider issues of world hunger, for example, we suddenly become grateful for what we have. Thus, compassion is a double-edged sword. It cuts away hang-ups for others, but it also cuts away our own hang-ups. It also begins to take the focus away from self. Whereas Hinayana kills the ego and then leaves us hanging in undefined direction, Mahayana is very efficient. It takes a different route, and then cuts up the need for body and mind to be used for self-serving gains. It makes us look at the world with a magnifying glass, giving us a perspective of how small we are. That perspective helps us to get over ourselves.

It also develops gratitude. This develops a sense of appreciation for our situation, that may or may not have been present with Hinayana. With Hinayana, as we develop fully accepted hopelessness, we may fall in love with reality, and begin to just enjoy the ride. With Mahayana, as we develop compassion, the compassion perspective encourages gratitude, and humility. Both Mahayana and Hinayana encourage humility, in fact, by putting things in a perspective of us being infinitely small in relation to everything else. It is this perspective upon which everything else is built, in particular the realisation of emptiness.

The Hinayana version of emptiness is basically that phenomena comes and goes - the wheel turns and turns, and if you don't like it, it will go away - eventually. That is the shunyata principle. Reality is empty in that sense. The Mahayana perspective says it is all empty, and you get this realisation by meditating deeper on the illusion of suffering, on how we create pain unnecessarily in our lives. The sense of giving is very key to both paths. In Hinayana, it is giving up the struggle by considering cyclicity. In Mahayana, it is in giving to others, by focussing on others' hang-ups. In both situations, we are giving to something that is bigger than our perceived self, and in doing that eventually coming to realise self's inherent empty nature.



Both Mahayana and Hinayana have the sense of reduction, or seeing things in a certain setting that leads to the breaking down of ego. It is very structured, very guided. Hinayana takes it lessons from the pain of personal reality. The cure is acceptance/hopelessness. Mahayana roots its learning in the larger picture. The cure is compassion/service. Tantra, or Vajrayana, is another path to Rome. Tantra does not use a different perspective, such as pain or large-scale suffering, to take someone out of delusion. Instead, it uses the delusion itself, dives right to its core and neutralises it there.

So tantra is very tricky, very subtle. It is also the most dangerous because it chooses to play ego's game, and win. You either come out enlightened, or demonised. In fact, I would go so far as to say without some basic Hinayana experience at least, the chances of things going very wrong are pretty high. Unlike the other paths, tantra uses what it has. So, if you have a fascination for a certain energy, a certain persona, tantra uses that attraction as a meditation point. If you have a desire or lust, tantra uses that. If you are prone to anger, tantra uses that. So, tantra takes the resonating point with your egoic identity and then gets you to meditate on it.

Where does that all lead?

Without divulging secret practises, tantra largely has to do with identification with an yidam deity, a personal deity one feels a connection with. (Gross simplification) It is a game of pretend. Pretend you are this deity. The danger is apparent - if the ego is not reined in, you literally behave like a spoilt child in God's shoes. However, if it is, then you realise that you are not really playing pretend at all, but actually discovering your true form. Even the deity is a projection within emptiness. So where does this lead? It leads to the enjoyment body. Every deity will have certain benificient qualities. So, it uses the meditation on the attractive quality to each person to lure him into meditating on the beneficial use of this quality.

It is the ultimate teaching ploy. This is like getting a child to watch Barney the purple dinosaur, and then getting Barney sneaking in the educational parts. Here, it is worse - you pretend you are Barney, so you have to actually do the education!

The pretend is also the means by which personal inhibitions are temporarily bypassed. Say someone wants long life. They meditate on White Tara, one of the long life goddesses. In imagining themselves to be one with the goddess, they also create a mental and emotional space to experience the quality of long life. In normal waking awareness, they do not allow themselves the benefit of this enjoyment, and so do not allow themselves to attract or engage with this energy form. The pretend helps them visualise this.

It is like telling someone - imagine you're overwhelmingly rich. You can say, "Well, that's easy for you, you're Bill Gates!" The response of tantra is, "Okay, then imagine you are me!"

By the very act of imagination, the hang-ups are circumvented. As the identification become stronger and stronger, the new personality literally is used to push out the old one. That is, of course, dependent on the ability of the meditator to surrender the old viewpoint. Drawing from the training of Hinayana and Mahayana would undoubtedly help, as a fallback, because there is more structure, more fixed perspective. If one practised tantra alone, it is easy to get lost in the colourful nature of the method.

The ultimate realisation of all three paths is emptiness. If one practised just shamatha/shinay (calm abiding) and vipassana (insight) meditation, one would eventually realise the emptiness of reality. (Hinayana) If one practised giving and compassion, in giving until there was no more self to give, one would also spontaneously realise emptiness. (Mahayana) If one meditated on the identification of the deity, one is both the giver and receiver, and subject and object become one. Suddenly it becomes a cosmic joke, because you realise neither really exists, in the bigger picture. (Tantrayana/Vajrayana)

Nothing impossibly difficult, really, from an intellectual perspective. At least in the psychological sense. Real life practice is a completely different matter. And the energy aspects of these three paths are completely different. Another story for another time.

Monday 3 August 2009

Manifestation Series Part 13: A Summary Discussion of Sorts


Basic Creation Space and the Manifestation Equation

Kaye:

If you imagine a basic space called the emptiness, and in this floats all the energies that exist and all our realities - that's the basic creation space.

The model for manifestation is

Manifestation, M = M(C,A)

C is the law of creation
A is the law of attraction

They are not really laws per se. They simply identify the main phenomena involved in manifesting a reality.

The law of attraction is simple. It's a magnetic principle. You get more of what you resonate with. The idea is that energies go on the principle of birds of a feather flock together. So manifestation is largely about resonating to the right tone. Easier said than done, of course.

At the magnetising level, you have to be rid of all unconscious and conscious blocks which are magnetising to the contrary. It's a matter of optimising the attractive power.

So if you're trying to quit smoking for example, what stops you is the hidden benefit. This is pretty much the same.You need to discover and pull out the hidden benefits to the contrary.

The law of creation is more drastic because it says you need to re-create yourself. You are resonating to a basic energy level that is native to you. Water finds its own level, so to speak.
So if you want to permanently automate manifestation, you have to change the level, which will involve changing key aspects of what you identify yourself to be. This changes your identity, your karma, as it were. And when you do, different potentialities will emerge.

The level of change will determine how large a change in the potentialities there are. For example, to change a work situation will require much less work than if you chose to change dna. Probably nothing short of death and rebirth would do that.

Make sense so far? That's the bare mechanics of it.

YF:

I get the gist, although some of the examples of what you've mentioned I don't quite get.

"So if you're trying to quit smoking for example, what stops you is the hidden benefit. This is pretty much the same. You need to discover and pull out the hidden benefits to the contrary."

I didn't get this hidden benefit aspect.

Kaye:

You don't stop smoking because to continue to smoke benefits you in some way. Similarly, you fail to manifest because failing to manifest benefits you in some way. Somehow, you position it within your mind and consciousness that something needs to be protected. So although you may be intending one thing, there is a push-pull going on.

YF:

Ok
, got it. Go on.

The Effectiveness Quotient

Kaye:

The next equation is really building detail into this model.


I suppose you could call it an Effectiveness Quotient:

EQ = EQ(Push, Pull)

Pull is the drag you get from the countervailing inner thoughts and inadequacies (usually subconscious) that you have. So for example, if you wanted a relationship, but you are inside somehow unconsciously afraid that it will jeopardise your family relationships, then that becomes a blocking energy, or a pull factor.

Push is well, not a pull. It has to do with lack of faith and trust. Even though you may eliminate pull factors from your awareness, impatience develops. This has to do with needing to see the desire fully manifestaed in physical form. There is a certain uncertainty to this, a lack of trust in the process. The uncertainty is what attracts the drag factors. The expression "you're pushing it" is somewhat unconsciously reflecting this phenomenon.

YF:

In this regards, is push a positive or negative factor for manifestation?

Kaye:

Negative, not in that it is bad, but in that it pushes away that which you desire.
Consider what you are saying:
"I desire a car."
Push turns that into "I want a car now."
And then "I want a car and I don't see it right now. I want it now!"
You see how easily the desperation accelerates? There is a fear in it, no matter how subtle.
It is that fear that is drawing in countervailing energies. You are creating the pattern of attracting a car with one part of your conscious awareness, and at the same time holding it back with another by latching onto a counter-energy.

I will elaborate on the EQ, because there are several layers to that equation, but for now if you get that I'd like to move onto the engine of the whole process.

YF:

Ok - move on.

The Transformation Equation

Kaye:

Both equations so far have been descriptive. The first describes the current state you experience, as a result of the unconscious use of the laws of creation and attraction in tandem. The second describes the friction, if you like, the resistance to change. The third is really a dynamic version of the first.

We can say that transformation leading towards new manifestation is T.

T = T(new awareness, new focus, new resting state)
Or T = T(new awareness, masculine principle, feminine principle)

We are constantly swimming in that basic creation space of emptiness. So transformation is basically becoming aware of and activating different patterns in the template. That's where new awareness comes in. It is the process of being open to new things, new realities. It causes conscious awareness to become softer, more malleable, and therefore more able to sail within the sea of awareness that is the emptiness.

It is guided by a very light intention, almost an idle curiosity. Anything stronger than that will cause the frictional push and pull factors in equation 2 to kick in. So we wipe the template clean temporarily, and then engage the search for new resonance. The intention is the masculine principle.

As we become aware of it, we allow ourselves to resonate with it, allowing it to permeate every aspect of our awareness and transforming any countervailing frictional pull factors. So we basically become a new person.

T itself is dependent on quieting push-pull factors enough so that the conscious awareness can at least gain temporary freedom. That is what is meant by "new awareness".

Does that make sense? This equation is pretty crucial.

You see that the three factors affecting T need to be constantly balanced. We are opening up and softening conscious awareness, but need the masculine principle in the form of some kind of intention to drive the vehicle, yet using the feminine principle to create the awareness, the receptivity to new realities, and the ability to slide into them. It is the feminine principle that automates the process once it is all complete. The masculine principle is based on attention, and so is draining to use all the time, although that is how traditional manifestation is taught.
You could almost say that new awareness itself is a combination of the right balance of masculine and feminine factors. So the equation is more accurately written:

T = T(new awareness)

T = T(masculine principle, feminine principle); New awareness being a function of the balanced use of masculine and feminine

YF:

Ok.
Anyway, go on. From that, I could see what you were onto.

Aspects of the EQ Equation

Kaye:

This is the grandest version of manifestation I have cared to outline so far. So it is a pretty big step. I have not seriously talked about the topic since 2005 It's only because of the recent events in my life that I've had reason to re-examine the topic. And interestingly enough, much detail has filled in over the years.

The mechanical part is largely over. What remains is to paint in the EQ details. Once that is done then the structural part of the model is done.

I have described EQ so far as being push-pull factors, but different people have coded it differently. Lester Levenson of the Sedona Method, could have been said to have formulated the equation thus:

EQ = EQ(wanting control, wanting approval, wanting survival)

It gives you some insight into the nature of conscious awareness. Because if you look at each push-pull factor closely, it is really a facade expressing one of these three wants.

This is the master list of insecurities, if you like. All push-pull factors have to do with insecurities.
Or incoherent desires. So to continue an earlier example, if you want a relationship but somehow believe that it will cause problems with your family, the wanting approval from the family becomes a countervailing energy. And you will find with some experimentation that all countervailing energies are premised on one of those three wants.

YF:


Go on.

Kaye:

Right then. I have 2 more versions of EQ to go through, and then we're on the mechanics.
The first is by Gay Hendricks, and second is my own. Neither is really better, but each highlights the issue from a slightly different perspective.
Hendricks' version of the equation would be something like this:

EQ = EQ(feeling fundamentally flawed, disloyalty and abandonment, viewing success of manifestation as an additional burden, fear of outshining someone else)

Four factors
:

Fundamentally flawed basically relates to beliefs around deserving and capability.
Disloyalty and abandonment has to do with upholding a history or a past. It has to do with an innate reluctance to make a clean break with history. An object at rest tends to stay at rest, so to speak.

Additional burdens of success, whether on you or others, will also create pull factors. This has to do with perception, not what actually is, since that is what is being created and sustained in conscious awareness.

Fear of outshining has to do with guilt.

You can take the same example I gave, about relationships and family, and you will see that factor 2 on disloyalty and abandonment will feature in it. Possibly factor 3 on additional burdens features as well. The other factors may be in the background, but may not be immediately clear.

Do you see how viewing it through multiple lenses adds perspective to it?

YF:

Yep
. Not the typical economist route, which aims at simplifying the model as much as possible to the main factors, but more of a scientific approach to try to encorporate all the factors.

Kaye:

My approach has always been to attempt to globalise factors, but I don't think it is the case in this situation. I'm just giving several different snapshots of the same thing. My own version of the EQ equation is much more elegant, if I do say so myself.

YF:

Globalise? What does that mean in this context?

Kaye:

I usually attempt to cover everything there is to cover, as you said of the scientific approach.

YF:

EQ=EQ(fear)

Kaye:

Very close.

EQ = EQ (sense of inadequacy)

Even the fear is an effect. I am gunning for the cause. And the cause is this: you can only create all the push-pull factors, including fear, if you have a sense of inadequacy.

There is a higher order version of this:

EQ = EQ(ego identity)

If there is no identity, no sense of self to be threatened, inadequacy can never develop,
and that bypasses all of it.

The Paradox of Manifestation and The Pure X Sub-Equation

YF:

Here's another question along the same lines - would manifestation occur if there was no sense of inadequecy, if someone saw no need to better himself?
If you were perfect, why manifest?

Kaye:

Exactly. There you have a paradox. Your powers of manifestation are at their heights when you have no particular desperation or even preference around manifesting. And that is why people fail.

That is also why I have not touched the manifestation issue for so long. It becomes a non-issue.

However, I do have an answer to your question.

You manifest out of sheer volition.

We come on to the lesser equations:

Pure X = X in normal form - desperation/fear/inadequacy

X is an attractive factor, a drawing towards a particular reality.
So X could be, amongst other things: desire, attraction, passion, admiration, appreciation, enjoyment

It flies in the face of traditional motivational theory. The carrot and the stick both don't work in manifestative phenomena because both rely on inadequacy factors. The stick relies on pain avoidance, creating pull drag. The carrot relies on trying to get something that you don't have now, which creates push drag.

It really is quite a liberating thing, because it says the ultimate manifester manifests because he truly is attracted by something, but does not need it, and is unattached to whether it comes to pass or not.

Lester Levenson would call this the state of hootlessness - where you don't give a hoot. And he was notorious for having things just happen for him. Life literally landed on his lap. Never had to work a day of it.

YF:

I know that theory
. With regards to relationships, when you really want something, you try really hard, but end up barking up a tree. You're the most attractive when you're trying not to impress i.e. when you're not interested at all and are completely natural

When trying to attract, one immediately becomes less attractive himself/herself

Kaye:

That's an expression of what we are describing, yes. Although I am coming at this from a spiritual/metaphysical angle, it also works at the physical level.

YF:


Yep.

Hootlessness and The Optimisation Equation

Kaye:

I think this is a more sensible framework to see the whole process within.

Of course, the experience of it is completely different. What we have seen so far is really the cold-blooded version of it. I have come as close to creating structural equations for the process as possible, I think, without making it unnecessarily rigid.

So I have a couple more things to throw out regarding the push-pull factors, if you would?

YF:

Go on.

Kaye:

We are onto the "lesser" equations.
Lesser not in the sense that they are smaller, but lesser in that they have multiple interpretations.

What we looked at earlier was the immutable, the structure, except, of course for the Pure X equation. As we move closer to experience, we have different labels for the impulsive forces.
So we are forced to become a lot more flexible, and accept the fact that it is impossible to quantify all the lesser factors.

There are simply too many permutations. The lesser equations have to do with the transformation equation and also the EQ equation.

In reality, we do not always walk around in states of hootlessness. In fact, we often do give a hoot. That's what starts the whole process of manifestation.

So, it is then a process of refining our vibration so that it becomes hootless. The lesser equations are about this refinement. And we may ultimately find that in the refinement we didn't really want what we wished for. It is the push-pull thing that curses when we get what we wish for, because we find that it is so incongruent with our inadequacies that we often wish we hadn't gotten it.

Mostly, fortunately enough, this does not happen. The universe only reacts to true manifestations, on balance.

So we begin by examining the impulse.

Optimisation of the attractive impulse X, O = O(resonance increasing factors)

Where O = increasing the navigator function of conscious awareness in the sea of awareness
Resonance factors basically involve sympathetic resonance with the desired reality. They are basically the same list as X: desire, appreciation, attraction, admiration, etc.
All the equation says is, if you wish to optimise your attractive impulse of your desired reality, enjoy it more!

Or, you could also say that using all the factors of X increases the likelihood of locating it in the sea of awareness.

Some people actually start by running away from something, which is to say that X is completely zero. They just would rather be anywhere than where they are. You end up with being nowhere, because there is no directing attraction, really. The result is the mish-mash of messy factors in the masculine and feminine forces involved.


YF:

Makes sense.

Push/Pull Neutralisation Equations

Kaye:

Okay we'll continue then. I want to cover the neutralising strategies of push and pull.

From this point I am going to carry on more in the vein of my personal experience, because pure objectivity isn't going to help much.

In terms of optimising the X factor, even to use that equation, or perhaps even to be aware of it, is in itself a push factor. That's because we are at some level still attempting to manipulate the universe. So we are talking about neutralising the drag from the push and pull factors.
You can say there are local and global strategies for neutralising these factors. Local strategies only neutralise specific inadequacies in specific forms. Global strategies take a wipe-out approach and basically clean the slate.

If we talk about local strategies we could plumb the depths of my 15 years in the field, so we'll stick to global.

The global neutralisation equation for pull factors is as follows:

Npull = Npull(Acceptance/Release/Hopelessness)

I use / because those are really facets of the same thing.

Acceptance of reality as it is will neutralise all pull factors, and actually all push factors as well.

Letting go of wanting to create change will do the same.

Hopelessness is a weaker form, but one I advocate quite a bit. It says to lose any hope of fighting reality, and so to accept it.

You could reduce all that to

Npull = Npull(Peace)

So really, finding inner peace is the end of suffering. This could be said to be the root aim of Buddhism. It also happens to be easiest way to automatically cut through all the hidden automated blocks, thus enabling access to the wider sea of awareness.

Questions?

YF:

One question which springs to mind is when you're formulating your equations, to what purpose are you doing it?
Because that would affect the end result.

Kaye:

The equations cannot be used in the way you would use scientific equations. They are meant as pacemakers than anything else. Ultimately everyone has to come up with what works best for them, but they highlight the pitfalls. One particular problem plaguing the industry is the use of methods with no regard to push and pull factors, and so a lot of methods, even though useable if you knew about them, create wildly different results between people.

Shall I move on to pull?

YF:

Yep

Kaye:

Pull is interesting. In a sense, it would be neutralised by the exact same factors as push.
In fact, I think I will use the same equation and express it as

Npush = Npull = N(Peace)

The Resonance Equation and Enjoyment


Kaye:

However, there is one other aspect to this.
We can consider it the resonance factor.

Resonance, R = R(enjoyment)

You could say this is the same as X, but it is slightly different. X has to do with what you find attractive in the desired manifestation. Resonance is the same quality, only you find it in yourself.

In other words, you enjoy the very qualities you find attractive in the desired reality without waiting for it to manifest. The Buddhists would call this the enjoyment body, sambhogakaya. To not allow yourself to experience this enjoyment or bliss would in itself be a push factor, because you push or lock it away into the desired manifestation, imagining that you will receive it when it is attained.

However, it is the very lack of resonance that hinders the manifestation, as it lowers the energetic attraction.

YF:

Yep. My advice to ppl who are feeling down: "follow the fun".

Kaye:

"Follow your bliss" is another apt description, because
passion is also an X factor.

YF:

Which is basically acknowledging the enjoyment of certain things.

Kaye:

Ah the key here is enjoyment for the sake of enjoyment.

YF:

Yep

Kaye:

It is like saying you don't have to own a garden to smell the flowers.
Everything else in manifestation is a strategy operating on these basic grounds. It has parallels in mind-programming, manifestation, laws of attraction, quantum physics, you name it.

Even the deity invocation is a strategy.
You basically place your identity in something else, so it is easier to create detachment.

YF:

Sometimes the universe will just pass those things which you enjoy your way, and without being receptive to those gifts, the gifts will just float on by without ever having been appreciated or taken advantage of to lead onto better opportunities
(...which is basically the premise of The Alchemist)

Kaye:

Yes, you can see it as a perceptual theory as well. You see only what you are ready to see.