"Moment of Recognition" © 2010 Paul HoodHi Everybody!
Happy May! What's on our minds these days? The news, making decisions, being ourselves, and learning to trust despite living in times beset with frauds and deception. Who can you trust? Can you trust anything? What would Krishnamurti say? Here is Paul's latest take:
GUARDING AGAINST YOUR OWN PERCEPTIONS AND TRUSTING YOURSELF ANYWAY
by Paul Hood
A friend of mine recently quoted Krishnamurti: “The fact is there is nothing that you can trust; and that is a terrible fact, whether you like it or not. Psychologically there is nothing in the world, that you can put your faith, your trust, or your belief in. Neither your gods, nor your science can save you, can bring you psychological certainty; and you have to accept that you can trust in absolutely nothing.”
Then my friend asked whether friends of hers agreed with the statement or not. Well, right off the bat I could bet that the sun is going to rise tomorrow and every day for the rest of my life and win that bet. Sure, one day it won’t rise, but likely that will happen long after I’m dead anyway. Ok, so 400 million years in the future some guy is going to get up at 7am, look out the window at the sky in complete horror, wave his six tentacles frantically and shout telepathically to all who can hear “I should have listened to Krishnamurti, noooooo!”
There are a lot of things which we can trust on a day to day basis. There’s risk involved in trusting, but it’s usually worth it. Like a lot of quotes taken out of context, I think that the one above loses something in the translation. The thing which strikes me most about this brief quote, however, is how wrong it is, and what really jumps out is how much one cannot trust Krishnamurti, a pretty well renowned philosophical/spiritual teacher and speaker. Had he worded it differently, I can see it making some degree of sense -- if he had limited this more to intangible things which we believe and place our trust in but can’t really prove -- but he didn’t. Speaking in absolutes usually draws a lot of arguments. Big boo-boo on the part of Krishnamurti then; but the guy gave thousands of talks across his 90 year lifetime so don’t you think he’d make an error now and then? A one-star quote doesn’t negate all of his five-star quotes. I went through something similar recently with a two minute video titled “Why People Get Sick”. Well, there’s a lot of reasons why people get sick and two minutes isn’t enough time to explain them all. Unfortunately it’s our third most popular video -- way ahead of much better ones.
Lately I’m seeing just how much past experiences, powers of discretion, intellect and other factors can skew not only our perceptions but the conclusions that we make based upon those perceptions. All of which lead to opinions which we then automatically trust. It’s a matter of habit. This takes me right back to the Krishnamurti quote: if we can’t trust ourselves, then who, or what can we trust? Can we actually trust, then, anything? After all everything comes through the lens of the self, and so we are in no way objective. All experience is subjective, but that’s what really gives life meaning anyway: the passionate, the subjective, the personal. Being involved with a capital “I” is what we really want to hear about. We all know how much importance we give to the first hand experience, the eye witness. . . how many times have we seen the phrase “I have 20 years experience in this area” used to give tangible credence to an opinion? Wouldn’t it be far more “objective” to see a thing with brand new and totally inexperienced eyes? What do we do when we seek an outside perspective? We invite a friend to render an opinion on something that they, in theory, aren’t involved in. But guess what, they’re involved with us. They’d rather agree than disagree with us. They’d rather take our side. And who describes the very thing that we want an “objective” opinion on? We do. Our objective friend only gets the information that we feed to them. So maybe it’s true that we can’t trust anything, but I wouldn’t trust that.
In my humble opinion Krishnamurti is dead wrong, but he’s right too. The sun does not rise and set on Krishnamurti, but then again, the sun doesn’t rise and set at all --- the earth turns around on its axis and gives us that illusion. A useful illusion though, and we can’t go around doubting ourselves at every turn. We’d be paralyzed. And when it comes to advice regarding “fire” I would rather trust the advice of a highly trained and opinionated blacksmith, than that of the completely objective toddler discovering it for the first time. Even though both might offer me a summation including the word “ouch”. . . what would a fire-walker tell me? Purify yourself. Bless the bed of coals. Trust and surrender completely to the power of God and you will not be harmed. Something like that.
Lately the message that I’ve been getting through my own experience seems to be one of temperance. Trust yourself, but not too much. There may be larger forces at work. Hold things a little more lightly. Be aware that your past experiences may amount to baggage, and baggage can weigh you down, slow you down -- and in extreme cases -- bury you entirely. Without baggage however, where am I going to keep my undies? And I do want undies. Nice, clean white undies. We all like that. Except when we don’t. I trust that God will in general keep me in undies if I do my part -- my weird, flawed, subjective, human part.
I have another friend who wrote a whole song called “Go Commando” about not wearing any underwear. I saw him perform it live for the first time in front of a pretty decent sized audience. The song went on and on and on. It was hilarious. The longer it ran the funnier it got, because who in their right mind would do twelve verses about not wearing underwear? Plus, he’s a terrible singer. Off key almost all the time. Seriously, when he hits the right note, it’s an accident. The guitar playing isn’t much better. Yet he sings and plays with great exuberance and enthusiasm. He’s highly prolific too. Audiences love him, but what would a music teacher say? Here is what makes him great: he’s so bad that he does not even know he’s bad (Or does he?). From his point of view, he might even be great for a lot of different reasons which I don’t agree with. I’ve never actually asked him what he thinks of his own singing and playing, but I’ve always wondered if he were to hear another person singing way off key, would he know. . . and would it matter?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OUR LATEST VIDEOS
http://www.healingcommunication.com/videos.html
Recent topics include The Spiritual Benefits of Loss, Transcending Polarity, and follow-ups to Paul's popular earlier video on Kundalini awakening.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERESTED IN A SESSION?
We do telephone sessions with people all over the world. Visit our "Make an Appointment" page to make your appointment now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAMA LOVE PERFUME
Sheryl has a line of Reiki-infused Flower Essence Aromatherapy products for a wide variety of healing purposes. You can find them at http://www.mamaloveproducts.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOKS HAND-AUTOGRAPHED BY THE AUTHOR (Sheryl Karas)
THE SOLSTICE EVERGREEN: THE HISTORY, FOLKLORE AND ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE --
The evergreen has been a potent pagan symbol in almost every culture, from prehistoric Japan to Northern Africa, from Native America to Medieval Germany. The Solstice Evergreen explores the rich spiritual heritage of this ancient symbol in depth and includes a great many myths, legends,and folk tales from across the globe as well as dozens of black and white illustrations. Gathered together in this book for the first time, this rich collection of mythology presents a unique perspective spanning many cultures and centuries.
THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF FAMILY CAREGIVING --
For five years, ending in 2005, I worked as a Family Caregiving Consultant at the Alzheimer's Association and Del Mar Caregiver Resource Center helping families taking care of loved ones with incurable progressive memory loss and dementia. Trying to find services needed to provide basic care is what brought people in to see me first, but as the caregivers became more ensconced in their caregiving roles inevitably emotional and spiritual issues would become their primary concerns. My role shifted to providing a combination of practical and spiritual care. During this period I wrote a caregiver newsletter every month and this book is the result.
Unsigned copies of "The Spiritual Journey" and a nice variety of journals featuring our photography are also available online at http://stores.lulu.com/healingcommunicationpress .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHERE TO FIND OUR ART
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood
Art and Photography by Sheryl Karas
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images
Brand New Shop (Pendants featuring our art and photography and more)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BE A FAN!
We've recently joined the world of Facebook. We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Check us out at http://tinyurl.com/HealingCommunication . Check Mama Love out at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!
Happy May! What's on our minds these days? The news, making decisions, being ourselves, and learning to trust despite living in times beset with frauds and deception. Who can you trust? Can you trust anything? What would Krishnamurti say? Here is Paul's latest take:
GUARDING AGAINST YOUR OWN PERCEPTIONS AND TRUSTING YOURSELF ANYWAY
by Paul Hood
A friend of mine recently quoted Krishnamurti: “The fact is there is nothing that you can trust; and that is a terrible fact, whether you like it or not. Psychologically there is nothing in the world, that you can put your faith, your trust, or your belief in. Neither your gods, nor your science can save you, can bring you psychological certainty; and you have to accept that you can trust in absolutely nothing.”
Then my friend asked whether friends of hers agreed with the statement or not. Well, right off the bat I could bet that the sun is going to rise tomorrow and every day for the rest of my life and win that bet. Sure, one day it won’t rise, but likely that will happen long after I’m dead anyway. Ok, so 400 million years in the future some guy is going to get up at 7am, look out the window at the sky in complete horror, wave his six tentacles frantically and shout telepathically to all who can hear “I should have listened to Krishnamurti, noooooo!”
There are a lot of things which we can trust on a day to day basis. There’s risk involved in trusting, but it’s usually worth it. Like a lot of quotes taken out of context, I think that the one above loses something in the translation. The thing which strikes me most about this brief quote, however, is how wrong it is, and what really jumps out is how much one cannot trust Krishnamurti, a pretty well renowned philosophical/spiritual teacher and speaker. Had he worded it differently, I can see it making some degree of sense -- if he had limited this more to intangible things which we believe and place our trust in but can’t really prove -- but he didn’t. Speaking in absolutes usually draws a lot of arguments. Big boo-boo on the part of Krishnamurti then; but the guy gave thousands of talks across his 90 year lifetime so don’t you think he’d make an error now and then? A one-star quote doesn’t negate all of his five-star quotes. I went through something similar recently with a two minute video titled “Why People Get Sick”. Well, there’s a lot of reasons why people get sick and two minutes isn’t enough time to explain them all. Unfortunately it’s our third most popular video -- way ahead of much better ones.
Lately I’m seeing just how much past experiences, powers of discretion, intellect and other factors can skew not only our perceptions but the conclusions that we make based upon those perceptions. All of which lead to opinions which we then automatically trust. It’s a matter of habit. This takes me right back to the Krishnamurti quote: if we can’t trust ourselves, then who, or what can we trust? Can we actually trust, then, anything? After all everything comes through the lens of the self, and so we are in no way objective. All experience is subjective, but that’s what really gives life meaning anyway: the passionate, the subjective, the personal. Being involved with a capital “I” is what we really want to hear about. We all know how much importance we give to the first hand experience, the eye witness. . . how many times have we seen the phrase “I have 20 years experience in this area” used to give tangible credence to an opinion? Wouldn’t it be far more “objective” to see a thing with brand new and totally inexperienced eyes? What do we do when we seek an outside perspective? We invite a friend to render an opinion on something that they, in theory, aren’t involved in. But guess what, they’re involved with us. They’d rather agree than disagree with us. They’d rather take our side. And who describes the very thing that we want an “objective” opinion on? We do. Our objective friend only gets the information that we feed to them. So maybe it’s true that we can’t trust anything, but I wouldn’t trust that.
In my humble opinion Krishnamurti is dead wrong, but he’s right too. The sun does not rise and set on Krishnamurti, but then again, the sun doesn’t rise and set at all --- the earth turns around on its axis and gives us that illusion. A useful illusion though, and we can’t go around doubting ourselves at every turn. We’d be paralyzed. And when it comes to advice regarding “fire” I would rather trust the advice of a highly trained and opinionated blacksmith, than that of the completely objective toddler discovering it for the first time. Even though both might offer me a summation including the word “ouch”. . . what would a fire-walker tell me? Purify yourself. Bless the bed of coals. Trust and surrender completely to the power of God and you will not be harmed. Something like that.
Lately the message that I’ve been getting through my own experience seems to be one of temperance. Trust yourself, but not too much. There may be larger forces at work. Hold things a little more lightly. Be aware that your past experiences may amount to baggage, and baggage can weigh you down, slow you down -- and in extreme cases -- bury you entirely. Without baggage however, where am I going to keep my undies? And I do want undies. Nice, clean white undies. We all like that. Except when we don’t. I trust that God will in general keep me in undies if I do my part -- my weird, flawed, subjective, human part.
I have another friend who wrote a whole song called “Go Commando” about not wearing any underwear. I saw him perform it live for the first time in front of a pretty decent sized audience. The song went on and on and on. It was hilarious. The longer it ran the funnier it got, because who in their right mind would do twelve verses about not wearing underwear? Plus, he’s a terrible singer. Off key almost all the time. Seriously, when he hits the right note, it’s an accident. The guitar playing isn’t much better. Yet he sings and plays with great exuberance and enthusiasm. He’s highly prolific too. Audiences love him, but what would a music teacher say? Here is what makes him great: he’s so bad that he does not even know he’s bad (Or does he?). From his point of view, he might even be great for a lot of different reasons which I don’t agree with. I’ve never actually asked him what he thinks of his own singing and playing, but I’ve always wondered if he were to hear another person singing way off key, would he know. . . and would it matter?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OUR LATEST VIDEOS
http://www.healingcommunication.com/videos.html
Recent topics include The Spiritual Benefits of Loss, Transcending Polarity, and follow-ups to Paul's popular earlier video on Kundalini awakening.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERESTED IN A SESSION?
We do telephone sessions with people all over the world. Visit our "Make an Appointment" page to make your appointment now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAMA LOVE PERFUME
Sheryl has a line of Reiki-infused Flower Essence Aromatherapy products for a wide variety of healing purposes. You can find them at http://www.mamaloveproducts.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOKS HAND-AUTOGRAPHED BY THE AUTHOR (Sheryl Karas)
THE SOLSTICE EVERGREEN: THE HISTORY, FOLKLORE AND ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE --
The evergreen has been a potent pagan symbol in almost every culture, from prehistoric Japan to Northern Africa, from Native America to Medieval Germany. The Solstice Evergreen explores the rich spiritual heritage of this ancient symbol in depth and includes a great many myths, legends,and folk tales from across the globe as well as dozens of black and white illustrations. Gathered together in this book for the first time, this rich collection of mythology presents a unique perspective spanning many cultures and centuries.
THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF FAMILY CAREGIVING --
For five years, ending in 2005, I worked as a Family Caregiving Consultant at the Alzheimer's Association and Del Mar Caregiver Resource Center helping families taking care of loved ones with incurable progressive memory loss and dementia. Trying to find services needed to provide basic care is what brought people in to see me first, but as the caregivers became more ensconced in their caregiving roles inevitably emotional and spiritual issues would become their primary concerns. My role shifted to providing a combination of practical and spiritual care. During this period I wrote a caregiver newsletter every month and this book is the result.
Unsigned copies of "The Spiritual Journey" and a nice variety of journals featuring our photography are also available online at http://stores.lulu.com/healingcommunicationpress .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHERE TO FIND OUR ART
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood
Art and Photography by Sheryl Karas
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images
Brand New Shop (Pendants featuring our art and photography and more)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BE A FAN!
We've recently joined the world of Facebook. We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Check us out at http://tinyurl.com/HealingCommunication . Check Mama Love out at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!
