FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 32 - ACCEPT NOTHINGNESS !

ACCEPT   NOTHINGNESS !

Hi Friends,

I uploaded this post on 24 Oct, 2013. I have re-posted it with an appropriate title: "ACCEPT NOTHINGNESS". If you go to the Blog Archives, you will notice that I have given titles to all my posts, to make them identifiable. Accepting nothingness is one of the most powerful spiritual exercises.

I am back. I am incorrigible! I keep coming back. It is my life's mission to take this message on the possibility of tasting FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS to as many people as possible. From the responses I get and the viewership across the globe, I get a sense that many of you are connecting with my proposition. 

It is also my keen desire to help all those who may be suffering from un-caused depression, anxiety, emptiness, meaninglessness or despair, that is often diagnosed as 'clinical depression'. I wish to hold out my own example as someone who has been through all that and today does not need medication or mood altering drugs to stay happy. So, read on.

Some of you would have tried the initial exercise that I described about feeling different parts of your body, and then feeling your entire body internally. You will discover an energy flow within yourself. Witness that energy quietly. Apart from doing this exercise when you are free from distraction and noise, I also suggested that you gradually cultivate the habit of doing this also during brief intervals that you get amid a busy life. You can do this while waiting in a queue, waiting at the boarding gate at the airport, or while stuck in a traffic jam.

Have you noticed how we feel satisfied when we keep our schedules fully packed? We might complain that we are too busy, that there is no free time. But, secretly, we are comfortable that way. Imagine yourself suddenly confronted with a situation that you have nothing to do for a full day! Let's say all your planned programs for a Saturday get canceled. Also, imagine that the friends you could possibly connect with are also busy elsewhere. So you have nothing to do! Now, that could be a terrible situation to be in, at least for most of us.

Now here is what you can do. ACCEPT the situation that you have nothing to do. Your mind will be fidgety, looking for a way out of this loneliness. Do not fight your mind. Just observe it. Take a decision that today you will do NOTHING. Be with the nothingness. 

There are a few things you can do when you are doing nothing. Wherever you are, look around. You will notice many things. Can you notice the empty spaces around everything? Or, more specifically, do you notice the space, the emptiness, that has allowed all things to be? Do not try to objectively reason out this "nothingness". Your mind will love doing it, and once again you will get trapped. Whereas if you have the courage to just peacefully face the nothingness, and also witness your uncomfortable mind, without fighting it, in a while you might discover a peace you have not felt before. This is where sensitivity is important. Sensitive persons, who are able to hold this position for some length of time, may be able to feel that peace and joy spring from within. 

Those who have been too engrossed in the external, material world, with their possessions, positions, position-power, or essentially all ego driven attachments, may miss these subtle messages from within.

Which is why I have suggested right at the beginning that you question your attachment to all these 'things'. Fathom yourself bereft of all these things. You need not give them up completely. Just question and notice how you are clinging to them. Having moved up the spiritual journey, now enjoy them from a new vantage point, from a higher vision.

Once you develop this ability to notice the emptiness around you, and see things in the backdrop of this nothingness, the beauty of the same things will increase manifold. The same mountains or trees that you were seeing earlier, will now appear alive and rich!

Here is a picture that I took in 2012 of Lake Michigan, USA from my room in the Kellogg School of management at the Northwestern University, where I had been for a course.  

I was spellbound by the sheer beauty of the scene outside. Notice the beauty of the trees with all leaves shed, against the vast openness and the expanse of the sea! You actually develop a new vision. Not only that, you can listen to music too from a different level. You start seeing things and listening to music and other sounds, like birds chirping or water flowing, from the level of being. 

Keep reading. Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee


chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944
Twitter: @deepak33c
http://fundamentalhappiness.blogspot.com

Views are personal

FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 31 - Indian Elections: Human Angst and Beyond

Indian Elections: Human Angst and Beyond

Hello Friends,

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[You can now also buy the e-book version of ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY? in India from Flipkart. You don't need a Kindle device to read in this format. Click here: Flipkart e-book]

I wrote on The Spiritual Politician in Series 25 uploaded on 8th February, 2014. It captured the flavour of National Elections. Voting is under way and ends on 12th May; results are due on 16th May. I gave a gist about parliamentary democracy in India, for the benefit of readers outside India.

As we move closer to the climax, the display of human angst is at its peak. Elections can be keenly and bitterly fought in most democracies. When the eligible voters number 815 million amongst a population of 1.2 billion, it is bound to get very noisy. I have seen many elections in my life, but this time, the Indian elections are bringing forth a wide spectrum of human emotions/spirit/negativities - anger, despair, fear, hope, greed, debauchery, hatred, lies...

In many ways, this election is very different from the previous ones. So far, the bitterness in elections has remained restricted to the political class. This time acute bitterness has spilled over to the electorate - common people like us who vote. I have not seen this kind of sharp divide within the electorate. Differences did exist in the past, but there were overlaps and some common grounds. Sane conversations did show objectivity. Things are different this time. 

The advent of social media and a very confident and vocal Indian population, in urban as well as rural areas, have added to the punch. Here is a sample of the issues being debated:

By Adam Taylor - Simplify360 taken from Google Images

Friends are falling off, there is tension within families, and tolerance for the opposite view is at its lowest ever seen in India before. All this is happening with people who are not even remotely associated with the political class. 

I faced my own share of fierce opposition to my views shared on Facebook. One friend asked me to buzz off for he did not agree with me. I might have lost his friendship. Another friend was more polite: she asked me to refrain from such views as I, an author on happiness, am not expected to air strong views. I agreed and stopped posting political comments. (Why I did so is an interesting point of another post . :)

Why is it so this time in India? Is it because of a predicted (by pollsters) regime change? No. Regime changes have happened quite often in India: 2004, 1998, 1996, 1991, 1989, 1977... The ones in 1977 and 1989 too evoked a lot of popular debate, but it was nothing like this.

Indians dread polarization during elections. The appeal to voters' religious sentiments has been the bane of Indian elections for a long time. It is difficult to name any major political party that has not indulged in this. This time we are witnessing a polarization of a different kind. For whatever reason, this election has been reduced to a referendum on the acceptability of a certain politician as the future Prime Minister. Indian voters don't directly elect a PM, but the dynamics have been such that effectively this time it is a referendum. You are either for him or against him. Is that strong enough reason for the display of collective angst?

My guess is that this sort of "referendum" has pulled people out of their traditional comfort zones - on either side of the political divide. 

In spiritual terms, this is perfect reason for all of us to feel the angst, unease, despair and all that I collectively call FUNDAMENTAL UNHAPPINESS, that is normally buried deep within - well, almost! It has got exposed in election time. Interestingly, ordinary voters like you and I are likely to feel this human unease more strongly than politicians. For, politics is not our profession. Having been yanked off our comfort zones where we were possibly hiding, we are face to face with the ugliness within. 

If you have been reading this blog or have read my book ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?, you will quickly understand that feeling your very own ugliness is great news! Just give up, and observe what is going on within to move towards JOY. Our strong views, which we think are causing this distress when in clash with opposite views, are merely triggers. Just drop the argument. And, yes, notice the ego. It has surely crept in. For, when you do so, you have taken a major step in your journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS. Continue with your election debates, but occasionally pause to take an honest look at yourself.

So, while elections will happen and we will certainly fulfil our democratic duty, let us also take this opportunity to rise in spirit!


Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee

chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944

@Deepak33C

If you are following this blog through email, you will notice that the post that you receive in your in-box does not have the blog archives and other features. At times the formatting is not good. For a better view you can see the entire blog at: 

http://fundamentalhappiness.blogspot.com/

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FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 30 - Don't shun things in the material world - just go beyond them...

Don't shun things in the material world - just go beyond them...

Hello Friends,

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[You can now also buy the e-book version of ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY? in India from Flipkart. You don't need a Kindle device to read in this format. Click here: Flipkart e-book]

You would have noticed one suggestion in many spiritual discourses: sell your Ferrari to become a monk. In other words, abstinence is a precondition for any spiritual progression.

On the other hand, I have been exhorting through these pages, and have similarly dwelt on this in my book ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?, that any kind of drastic abstinence is not necessary.

I quote from Series 26:

"The other myth surrounding any mention of spirituality is the presumption that it entails living life as an ascetic, renouncing the material world. I have assured readers in some of my earlier posts that nothing like that is necessary. I did not do any of that myself while embarking on my journey towards BASIC HAPPINESS. I keep enjoying 'things' in life."

I went on to say that: "The only difference is that you need to question your overwhelming attachment to the material world. Just 'question' it; 'notice' it; 'observe' it. Even doing this small bit uplifts you in your spiritual quest."

I wish to counter the suspicion that we may have deep in our minds about this fundamental requirement of renunciation in any yearning for spirit in our lives. Please appreciate that noticing and questioning our overwhelming attachment to 'things' in life itself is helpful in our journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS.

Through this post, I wish to bring in another element that will further simplify the paradigm and encourage you to take the plunge into BASIC HAPPINESS.

Take the example of anything that you are strongly attached to, say, wealth or your house. Let me assert that both, wealth and residential property are important things in life. The suggestion is not that you neglect them. But are you completely defined by them? Do they occupy an overwhelming space in your consciousness? Are you horribly stuck with your wealth and property? That is the key question. One way is to question and notice our attachment to these things. Another way to approach this dilemma is to go beyond these attachments. As you gain more spirit in your life, you will be able to appreciate what it means to 'go beyond'. 

In simple terms all it means is that you transcend your attachments and see life beyond them. So, there is no need to give up these things. Yet, you are not stuck with them. That is a beautiful state to be in. You are now well on your journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS. Some writers have used a phrase: "transcend and include". That explains the wisdom of going beyond, instead of trying to practice complete detachment and renunciation. This stance also helps us to decide where to draw the line: how much of wealth or sex is enough. 

Yes, sex is an excellent example for understanding what I am recommending here. Many spiritual discourses have recommended celibacy. Yet, ancient Indian tradition has celebrated eroticism. 

My take is that instead of trying to put sex in good or bad buckets, be guided by your value system and enjoy it, but do not remain stuck with it. This is an excellent way to break free of obsessions and addictions, all of which are major impediments to our movement towards basic happiness. The key questions to ask yourself when you are attached to any thing is: Must I have it right now? Am I desperate about it? Will hell break loose if I do not get it now? If the honest answer is 'Yes' then pause and observe yourself. Notice your craving. You need not necessarily give up your attachment; try to move beyond it, so it is still there in your scheme of things, but you don't cling to it any more.

Now let's come back to wealth or possessions. I can anticipate readers wondering what a person who is still struggling to acquire a house should do. Should he shelve his plans? No. I repeat, owning a house is an important goal in life. But, having a goal is one thing, and being obsessed with that goal, or trying to derive a mistaken sense of completeness from the acquisition of the house is quite different. A planned progression towards a goal is a wise thing to do. We fall in a trap when there is a sense of desperation.

Ironically, those who have successfully acquired some basic things in life like a house or some wealth often keep craving for more. They do not know where to stop. As I keep writing, this craving is backed by the mistaken belief that more things will fill the fundamental void within us.

Makes sense? Read on.

Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee

chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944

@Deepak33C

If you are following this blog through email, you will notice that the post that you receive in your in-box does not have the blog archives and other features. At times the formatting is not good. For a better view you can see the entire blog at: 

http://fundamentalhappiness.blogspot.com/

views are personal