If we hadn’t seen it before, this pandemic and current politics have made it glaringly clear that we need a new paradigm of thinking in the world; one that is focussed on humanity and the care of our planet.
The current paradigm that most have bought into is based on competition, speed, and self interest.
How do we change that?
By changing ourselves first.
According to Quantum Physics, as a result of changing how we view and interact in the world toward supporting humanity and the care of our planet, a very real energetic value of that work “infects” the entire Universe. The more who join the effort, the stronger the effect.
So it’s imperative – for the perpetuation of our species, let’s say – that we begin to align ourselves with this new paradigm.
Native traditions (and many religions) around the world say the problem with the world is that we are no longer aligned with the consciousness, intelligence, and life-force energy of the Universe. According to Native Hawaiians who know, this is called ALOHA.
ALOHA is called many different names by many different cultures: Great Spirit, Christ Consciousness, Shiva Consciousness, Buddha Consciousness, the Tao, Mind, Source Energy, the Quantum Field, and for many it is God. For the purpose of this article, I’ll refer to it as ALOHA.
ALOHA is a feeling. When you extend your generosity in all directions without discrimination or expectation of return, you are aligned with ALOHA.
It is said:
“Those who wish to attain oneness with ALOHA must practice undiscriminating virtue. They must dissolve all ideas of duality: good and bad, beautiful and ugly, high and low. They will be obliged to abandon any mental bias born of cultural or religious belief. Indeed, they should hold their minds free of any thought which interferes with their understanding of the universe as a harmonious oneness. The beginning of these practices is the beginning of liberation.
Aloha gives rise to all forms, yet it has no form of its own. If you attempt to fix a picture of it in your mind, you will lose it.
Division is contrary to the nature of ALOHA.
Every departure from Aloha contaminates one’s spirit and negatively affects all other living beings and the ʻāina (land).
The superior person settles her mind as the universe settles the stars in the sky. By connecting her mind with the subtle origin through meditation, she calms it.
Once calm, her mind naturally opens and expands – becoming as vast and immeasurable as the night sky.”
So, perhaps, you’re beginning to see that you may have disconnected from ALOHA at some point. As children, we were perfectly aligned with ALOHA until we began believing authority figures in our lives; the beginning of the great separation.
HOW DO WE GET BACK TO ALOHA?
We need to learn how to open our hearts and minds – how to be gentle with ourselves, others, and the environment. This result comes naturally when we align with ALOHA as when we did as children.
There are many paths to living ALOHA. The most powerful and effective path is Tibetan Buddhist meditation – true meditation.
There are many forms of meditation that have their roots in true meditation but are no more than feel-good, quick-fix methods that only touch the surface of where one needs to go for the paradigm shift of living ALOHA.
One direct method to living ALOHA is The Path of Meditation that Leads to Living ALOHA. Anchored in ALOHA, the Hawaiian culture, the practice of mindfulness-awareness meditation, quantum physics, the Shambhala teachings, and Tibetan Buddhist psychology, this course is specifically designed to bring one to an understanding of who one actually is then through one’s own experiential journey, align with ALOHA.
BEING GENTLE IS THE KEY
The path of meditation is simple yet not easy. True meditation can be a jarring eye-opener for some. Becoming aware of just how many thoughts we have and the content of those thoughts going through our heads can be quite a shock – at first.
That in itself can deter one from practicing. But once we get over the hill of judging our thoughts and begin to see thoughts as flimsy, transparent illusions (yes, indeed they are), we begin to strengthen our minds to not let them control how we feel, what we say, and what we do.
The left brain hemisphere is home to our analytical/conceptual mind – also referred to as the ego as it is the seat of the personality we call our self. The original purpose of the ego is to keep us from dying – which it does constantly by sending us memories (via thoughts and storylines) of past similar situations that came to our memory database via any number of different means (direct or indirect conditioning).
But truly, the ego is more interested in protecting its own existence. When it becomes aware we are meditating and quieting the analytical/conceptual mind, it freaks out and will do whatever it can to convince us that meditation is not good for us; almost to say, “Remember how good I’ve been to you?”
If we can remember this as we’re meditating, we may be able to get “over that hump” to seeing thoughts and storylines as flimsy, transparent illusions. When that happens, we begun to feel the freedom of self liberation.
The journey to get to get to that point is based on being our own best friend – being gentle with ourselves and trusting what we’ve learned about true meditation to that point.
Sometimes, because we’ve been so attached to our egoic beliefs for so long, we may have a more challenging time of it.
If the formal meditation technique is too much at the beginning, start with an easier, gentler method: walking meditation; forest bathing; yoga; maitri meditation; doing a body scan; and mindfulness meditation of your sense perceptions. There are many other methods, as well.
A beautiful technique that some deem as advanced is Tonglen. Doing Tonglen for ourselves is very powerful for any situation that arises.
The key to all of this is being gentle, gentle, gentle.
We are caring for ourselves in all the work we do on the path of true meditation. And as we do that, we radiate care to all others and the phenomenal world.
