Hi Friends,
This post is from Delhi, my hometown. I am here for a holiday. The city looks so green and fresh during monsoon. Before I let loose a Mumbai vs Delhi debate, let me hasten to add that many parts of Mumbai are very green too!
I am receiving several questions via Facebook or through direct messages. That there are so many questions points to the fact that whenever we are faced with such debates about existence, something inside us gets stirred. That something is the spirit. We easily recognize two dimensions of our existence, namely body and mind. The third dimension, spirit, is almost completely missed out. Neglect of spirit leads to two possibilities:
Pardon my coming back to the same point at the beginning of each post again and again. This is the central theme of my blog and a bit of repetition helps everyone, including me. It helps me to stay on course in my journey.
Let me also clarify here that by connection with spirit I am not referring to any religious practices. Religion is a person's individual choice. Whatever I recommend through this blog neither requires any religious affiliation, nor does it clash with any religious beliefs. To make it clear to readers, I personally have not taken the support of any religious beliefs in my own journey. That has not hindered my progress in the journey. Nor do I anticipate any problems in your continuing with your own religious alignments.
Let me start with some questions on my posts that I have received, answers to which could be interesting read.
Q: You know something that is very disturbing? Recently, someone very close to me was complaining of being depressed - due to no "apparent cause". The said person eventually consulted a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said "listen to music, divert yourself, and so-and-so, so-and-so are the 'reasons' for your depression". I think this is fundamentally a misguided approach. All this will do is divert your mind temporarily and make you NOT face the malaise inside. What do you feel?
My answer: Unfortunately the psychiatrist community has not recognized uncaused depression or anxiety as a sign of spiritual growth. They are either stuck at the old school where every depression needs an external cause or some are wedded to the clinical route - ascribing all depression to change in brain chemistry. Either way, the attempt is to pull the 'patient' away from the suffering. Whereas, the solution lies in going through the suffering to the other side - by further growth. Honestly facing your inner malaise without analysis is the answer.
Another Q: When you say one "might even get to feel flashes of FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS. But it is more important to be stay on the journey."
How does one do that? Because at times certain events/circumstances/ people deviate you from the journey, and somehow you can't ignore them. How to overcome that? Its not helplessness, but a choice you make. So how to balance that?
My answer: Even as seeking FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS is the purpose, you will see that staying on the journey towards FH is itself a very deep, satisfying and enriching experience. As you embark on this journey, while FH itself may still be several steps away, you will be able to appreciate the richness of your new existence. If your question is how to stay on course while you are likely to be derailed at times by events, situations etc, my answer is: yes, this journey is not going to be unidirectional. There could be times when you fall back into the old ways. But the beauty is that you can always get up, collect yourself and start again. And, there is no limit to the number of times you can restart! Once you know your stance that helps you to stay on course, derailments will be less often. On how to maintain this stance, there is more to follow on my posts.:)
I can well sense the urgency among readers of this blog, on how to go about it. The steps are simple, straight forward. The only reason I am not rushing with them is that you all need to first ready yourself. Apart from the two requirements - truthfulness about yourself (authenticity) and some courage, you also need full commitment. This is a journey. It cannot be attempted from the perspective: "OK, let me try this". It is not one of those "been there, done that" things in life. It is a life changing proposition. You have to be convinced that this is the only way. Hence the need for commitment. If you think this is a one-step start to finish movement, akin to the click of the mouse, you are mistaken. Science and technology have indeed provided many short cuts. Many tedious things have become easy. Imagine the prospect of reaching out to all of you through this medium thirty years back!
But there are no short cuts to any fundamental aspects of life. There is no short cut to good health, good education, development of a value system, wealth creation or success. Similarly there is no short cut to imparting some spirit into your lives. It is a slow process. Not least because we live in a very noisy world full of distractions and clutter.
In the past, many sensitive persons have given up living in the material world; they have often gone away to the mountains or other isolated places to find peace. It is possible that such separation hastens the process of connection with spirit. However, my proposition requires none of that. As I have stated before, you will continue with your practical life. You continue to value your possessions and enjoy all good things in life. What you do need to change is your stance in life. That is where I will have to spend a lot of time and come out with several posts to bring home the concepts.
The starting point is recognizing your spirit. Feeling yourself internally including whatever pain, suffering you feel within, without route-cause-analysis or blame game is indeed the first step.
I end this post with a question I had asked my parents when I was a child. I had said that I can see and feel my hands, my feet, my face, my eyes, my head etc. But where am I? What within me is the 'me'? I can well understand the bewilderment of my parents at a question like this. Some years back, I realized that I had asked a very deep question seeking spirit - the third dimension. If you sense spirit but you do not understand, you can suffer pain which often manifests as depression or anxiety Awareness is what takes you through. All my posts are about awareness. As you build awareness, the steps to be followed for your journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS will be clearer and easier to understand. Otherwise you might end up doing tick marks that will lead you no where. Hence this delay in coming to the steps. Be in your present condition and wait for more posts.
One word of caution: please do not confuse spirit with ghosts or fairies. I do not believe in ghosts or miracles in life. However, ghost stories possibly touch our inner repressed condition of anxiety and void. Once the story is over, we continue with our usual lives. We are reassured of our familiar existence. We probably just got a little teased by our inner malaise, which is still 'safely' locked within.
I will be back soon.
Cheers!
Deepak Chatterjee
chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944
Views are personal
This post is from Delhi, my hometown. I am here for a holiday. The city looks so green and fresh during monsoon. Before I let loose a Mumbai vs Delhi debate, let me hasten to add that many parts of Mumbai are very green too!
I am receiving several questions via Facebook or through direct messages. That there are so many questions points to the fact that whenever we are faced with such debates about existence, something inside us gets stirred. That something is the spirit. We easily recognize two dimensions of our existence, namely body and mind. The third dimension, spirit, is almost completely missed out. Neglect of spirit leads to two possibilities:
- We may lead shallow, artificial lives, devoid of any richness or depth. Any intermittent connection with spirit may open up the possibilities of a confrontation with our deep inner malaise. A vast majority are able to divert from any hint of the inner condition and continue with their usual lives. Many attribute the suffering to others or circumstances or both and remain in denial.
- Or, persons with more inner sensitivity, are more likely, at some stage, to connect with spirit and feel their inner discomfort in varying degrees. Unfortunately they too try to divert, deny, but they cannot. They have reached a level of spiritual growth which cannot be reversed. This is actually great news, but we do not understand it. Such persons are just a few steps away from FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS which too is within all of us, but eludes us.
Pardon my coming back to the same point at the beginning of each post again and again. This is the central theme of my blog and a bit of repetition helps everyone, including me. It helps me to stay on course in my journey.
Let me also clarify here that by connection with spirit I am not referring to any religious practices. Religion is a person's individual choice. Whatever I recommend through this blog neither requires any religious affiliation, nor does it clash with any religious beliefs. To make it clear to readers, I personally have not taken the support of any religious beliefs in my own journey. That has not hindered my progress in the journey. Nor do I anticipate any problems in your continuing with your own religious alignments.
Let me start with some questions on my posts that I have received, answers to which could be interesting read.
Q: You know something that is very disturbing? Recently, someone very close to me was complaining of being depressed - due to no "apparent cause". The said person eventually consulted a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said "listen to music, divert yourself, and so-and-so, so-and-so are the 'reasons' for your depression". I think this is fundamentally a misguided approach. All this will do is divert your mind temporarily and make you NOT face the malaise inside. What do you feel?
My answer: Unfortunately the psychiatrist community has not recognized uncaused depression or anxiety as a sign of spiritual growth. They are either stuck at the old school where every depression needs an external cause or some are wedded to the clinical route - ascribing all depression to change in brain chemistry. Either way, the attempt is to pull the 'patient' away from the suffering. Whereas, the solution lies in going through the suffering to the other side - by further growth. Honestly facing your inner malaise without analysis is the answer.
Another Q: When you say one "might even get to feel flashes of FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS. But it is more important to be stay on the journey."
How does one do that? Because at times certain events/circumstances/ people deviate you from the journey, and somehow you can't ignore them. How to overcome that? Its not helplessness, but a choice you make. So how to balance that?
My answer: Even as seeking FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS is the purpose, you will see that staying on the journey towards FH is itself a very deep, satisfying and enriching experience. As you embark on this journey, while FH itself may still be several steps away, you will be able to appreciate the richness of your new existence. If your question is how to stay on course while you are likely to be derailed at times by events, situations etc, my answer is: yes, this journey is not going to be unidirectional. There could be times when you fall back into the old ways. But the beauty is that you can always get up, collect yourself and start again. And, there is no limit to the number of times you can restart! Once you know your stance that helps you to stay on course, derailments will be less often. On how to maintain this stance, there is more to follow on my posts.:)
I can well sense the urgency among readers of this blog, on how to go about it. The steps are simple, straight forward. The only reason I am not rushing with them is that you all need to first ready yourself. Apart from the two requirements - truthfulness about yourself (authenticity) and some courage, you also need full commitment. This is a journey. It cannot be attempted from the perspective: "OK, let me try this". It is not one of those "been there, done that" things in life. It is a life changing proposition. You have to be convinced that this is the only way. Hence the need for commitment. If you think this is a one-step start to finish movement, akin to the click of the mouse, you are mistaken. Science and technology have indeed provided many short cuts. Many tedious things have become easy. Imagine the prospect of reaching out to all of you through this medium thirty years back!
But there are no short cuts to any fundamental aspects of life. There is no short cut to good health, good education, development of a value system, wealth creation or success. Similarly there is no short cut to imparting some spirit into your lives. It is a slow process. Not least because we live in a very noisy world full of distractions and clutter.
In the past, many sensitive persons have given up living in the material world; they have often gone away to the mountains or other isolated places to find peace. It is possible that such separation hastens the process of connection with spirit. However, my proposition requires none of that. As I have stated before, you will continue with your practical life. You continue to value your possessions and enjoy all good things in life. What you do need to change is your stance in life. That is where I will have to spend a lot of time and come out with several posts to bring home the concepts.
The starting point is recognizing your spirit. Feeling yourself internally including whatever pain, suffering you feel within, without route-cause-analysis or blame game is indeed the first step.
I end this post with a question I had asked my parents when I was a child. I had said that I can see and feel my hands, my feet, my face, my eyes, my head etc. But where am I? What within me is the 'me'? I can well understand the bewilderment of my parents at a question like this. Some years back, I realized that I had asked a very deep question seeking spirit - the third dimension. If you sense spirit but you do not understand, you can suffer pain which often manifests as depression or anxiety Awareness is what takes you through. All my posts are about awareness. As you build awareness, the steps to be followed for your journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS will be clearer and easier to understand. Otherwise you might end up doing tick marks that will lead you no where. Hence this delay in coming to the steps. Be in your present condition and wait for more posts.
One word of caution: please do not confuse spirit with ghosts or fairies. I do not believe in ghosts or miracles in life. However, ghost stories possibly touch our inner repressed condition of anxiety and void. Once the story is over, we continue with our usual lives. We are reassured of our familiar existence. We probably just got a little teased by our inner malaise, which is still 'safely' locked within.
I will be back soon.
Cheers!
Deepak Chatterjee
chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944
Views are personal
Sir, I think the reaction of psychiatrist community could be because of their training based on the 'Western' point of view, which is heavily focused on externalities (external environment, interpersonal relationships etc), as compared to the Indian philosophy, which is essentially inward-looking. I am eagerly waiting for your guidance on how to proceed on this journey...
ReplyDeleteThe psychiatric approach has largely been Western, initially Freudian, followed briefly by Existential psychology and now dominated by the clinical approach, where all psychic suffering is attributed to altered brain chemistry. This chemical approach completely dehumanizes human consciousnesses. The same approach has been copied across the globe. However, the solution is found in philosophy. The philosophical approach is almost the same across all cultures, Eastern or Western. The same philosophy is also, more or less, the foundation of all world religions. Almost all religions have used mythology and symbols, probably to make it easier to mankind. Unfortunately humankind has got lost in the structures and symbols of religions, without understanding the underlying message. The philosophical approach recognizes spirit, and depression and anxiety, or meaninglessness as manifestations of spirit. The psychiatric community does not recognize that yet. And people continue to suffer.
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