Dr. Eric's Blog

This moment...

To see the world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour....

William Blake

Many blessing to you and yours and all your endeavors!

Dr. Eric

God's perspective...

"One instant is eternity;
eternity is the now.
When you see through this one instant,
You see through the one who sees."

Wu-men Hui-k'ai (1183–1260). Chinese Buddhist. Successor of Wu-tsu Fa-yen in the Yang-ch'i line of Rinzai, although in an offshoot represented in the teacher Yüeh-an Shan-kuo, whose dharma-successor (hassu) he became. He was also taught by Yueh-lin, who set him the mu kōan; after six years he had not progressed through it, and he resolved not to sleep until he did so. In a desperate state, he heard the midday drum, and reached enlightenment.

Are you in the now? And if not, where are you?

You may know what spiritual principles are, but that does not mean you know how to apply them...

We all know the principles.  We all know many of the quotes:

"Pay no attention to the faults of others."  Buddha
"Fear, greed and the desire for power feeds the ego."  Ekart Tolle
"The interval between the mind's passing from one idea to another-the period of calm between the two storms of thought-may be described as the native condition of self"  Yogavasishttha
"He who is without sin, cast the first stone." Jesus of Nazareth
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." Tanck (Jewish Bible) Proverbs 23:7

So no matter what form the information comes in, we all seem to understand these concepts.  The challenge is in applying them to our everyday lives.

Let me offer you a tip in the integration of spiritual principles into your every day life.
Since the ego will use any means to insure it's survival, including spirituality it is essential to have spiritual help.

Spiritual help can come in many forms, a teacher, guru, spiritual counselor, life coach etc...but a teacher is a must.  Now a teacher does not mean an authority figure or someone above you.  Just someone who will help you discerne your ego from your true self. 

This is no easy task because remember the ego will do what ever it can to insure it's survival.  If you are looking for someone who will just agree with you, just encourage you and just edify who you think you are...you may not be ready for a spiritual teacher.

Many blessings to you on your quest for self-realization!

Dr. Eric

Before this crisis, there was another...

Picture it? the year was 1987.  AIDS and ARC become an epidemic. ACT UP had just formed.  They were committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis.  They demonstrated in the streets regularly and were in the news constantly.  They mobilized their anger and made a difference.

At that time another group formed.  It was the Manhattan Center For Living, founded by Marrian Williamson with the help of Cynthia O'Neal, now the executive director of Friends In Deed .  It was a
spiritual organization offering emotional and spiritual support to those affected by the crisis. 
Yes it was a crisis.

I was drawn to both organizations but chose to volunteer at the Manhattan Center For Living.  Without any specific training, I was made the assistant clinical director and rest as they say is just my personal history but that it is not the point of this article.

It is the potential within a crisis.

We are now faced with a new or perhaps not so new, epidemic.  It is the epidemic of the pursuit of happiness.  While a guaranteed right in the constitution, it is not a well understood pursuit.
This pursuit is not really one of happiness but one of relief.

Relief from what you might ask?  Relief from the moment, the here and now, relief from being present.  Our pursuit has been the ongoing pursuit that happiness is something.
1. Needs to be pursued.
2. That one can buy it or get it.

Take for a moment the idea of unconscious consumerism.  This type of consumerism is fueled by the positive prediction that some thing, some one, or some place will at some time in the future,
make us happy.

This reality is often taken advantage of by marketers selling you on the idea that you can have all of your heart's desires.  That is simply not true and on some level we all know this:
1. Because we don't really know what are heart's desires are because we don't listen to our hearts.
2. Because marketing is very powerful and imprints the unconscious mind and we must act on what is accepted by our unconscious programming.

So why do we buy it?  Why do we try to buy it in a bottle, a book, a workshop?  Why?
Because we WANT to believe that it is true.  We want to believe, like a child, in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and that we are deserving, as if to say deserving has something to do with it.

The distribution of wealth in this country is not held by those who deserve it but is held on by many who are just greedy. And so are we when we buy into the old model of happiness. Happiness increases only when you share it with others!

So what is the new model of happiness? You can find out by ordering? no... just kidding.

Happiness, joy, connection is who you are at your core.  You do not need to search for it, you need only to sit still. Happiness is in your connections, not just with yourself but with others, those that you love.  It is the awareness and connection to the reality that we are all one and while we have individual aspects;
these aspects are still part of a collective that is greater and bigger than any single individual.  That we are part of a human family that includes each and everyone of us and that we are all ultimately  responsible not only for ourselves but for the world that we live in.

It is time for all of us to take up membership in our family and contribute to our human family in a way that is no longer just good for ourselves but also good for others.

It is time and the time is now!

Name calling

Why and when do we go for character, name calling and other hostel methods of fighting a fight?
Because we feel we are loosing ground and must do something.    It is a way of expressing our anger and frustration. 

It's function can be as simple as a summation of frustration or avoidance and diversion.
In either case, it is a last ditch effort.

As Americans, it is our duty to quiet our minds and calm our hearts so that we can see and hear clearly.  So that we are able to discern fact from fiction. Half truths and whole truths and move behind hype into facts, move beyond being pumped up into plans that are sound.

Let us not get confused by the man behind the curtain and pay attention to not only how things are being said but also what is being said.

Conscious clarity is the order of the day!

The check is in the mail....and other lies...

A promise without a plan is just a promise.  It's a dream, and the American dream is dead.  At least I hope so and what I mean by that is the wake up call that all Americans need to wake up; reality. 

Now without getting all metaphysical here, reality is where we have our greatest power and greatest strength.  It is what Ekart Tolle calls the power of now!

The here and now will NOT become the there and then if we are in reality, because we will take actions that are in line with our values and the needs of the context.

It is time for America to stop trying to be the beacon of light to other nations and take up its role as a member of other nations.  It is time to stop and learn the lessons that our time is trying to teach us.

Fear and greed are powerful and are being used by "some" of the candidates  to sway voters but I think it is time for us to no longer be swayed by empty promises (which got us here in the first place)and fokesy mannerisms and charm.   To speak down to Americans like they are stupid is just contemptible and to take things out of context is basically lying.

The brain is an amazing organ.  It is faster than any computer that we have created however it can be tricked!

The Tao Te Ching says beautiful words are not true and true words are not beautiful.

Many blessings,
Dr. E