For me, in the past this time of year was conflicting. Watching my children on Christmas Day always held a special joy. Anxiety and stress over taxes and money at yearend caused by spending habits over the preceding year often outweighed the joy of my children. I hope they didn’t notice the underlying fear in my heart. With so many people now heavily in debt with retirement funds dwindling and so many people struggling to make ends meet in this economy I have great compassion for their situation.

I heard a great teacher speak recently about the differences between the western culture and eastern culture. His talk had nothing to do with our religions and philosophies. It had to do with the sense of community. In India there are millions of people who have absolutely nothing; no housing, no jobs, no money, no medical care, no material abundance of any kind. The remarkable thing is that most of these people are happy.

In the United States, we have so much compared to the rest of the world that it is overwhelming Even with this disparity of material wealth, the United States consumes many times more anti-depressants and mood-enhancing drugs than any other country in the world. The incidence of anxiety and depression in the US is tens (if not hundreds) of times greater than any other country in the world, especially India. There are many Indian doctors who have never heard of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ADD, ADHD or other behavioral disorders, much less treated a patient with it. This raises the question of why are we so depressed and so stressed out when we have so much more than any other country in the world.

The answer is community. Even though the vast majority of India is poor, their families and communities are actively involved in each other’s lives. When one person is suffering, everyone does whatever he or she can to help that person. Not in a sense of charity, but as a sense of duty. There is a saying: in the west, if someone saw a man beating a donkey, the people would stop the man for the donkey’s sake. In the east, they would stop him for the man’s sake. What that means is that in India, people actively get involved in the lives of others with whatever they can share with that person. Even though people are destitute, they are happy.

In the west, we glorify the notion of independence and that everyone should mind his or her own business. We also glorify the notion that we should solve our problems ourselves and to ask for help is a sign of weakness. In this same regard we are trained to refuse help because we do not want to feel indebted to anyone else. We constantly lie to each other and ourselves when we are in financial or emotional distress that everything is “okay” because we do not want others to know we are suffering or appear to be failures. Wow.  Victimhood evolved to an art form.

My father grew up in “The Great Depression” (capital letters meaning the 1928 economic crash). He remembers that his parents would regularly cook extra food at mealtime and share it with their neighbors who had no food to eat. The neighbors would not ask for it, it was freely given. He remembers he had a happy childhood when everyone came together and shared. Children’s imaginations took the place of toys and material presents and they made do with what they had.

The point is that we have deluded ourselves with the belief that abundance has anything to do with happiness. All of the evidence is that material success has nothing to do with happiness and may even be counter productive. What is more important for happiness is sharing and community. Communicating with each other and opening up our lives and circumstances apparently is more effective in bringing true happiness than working extra hours to get more money to buy more gifts.

I live in Phoenix Az where there are hundreds of thousands of houses sitting vacant. I would bet the same is true all across the country. How many homeless people are there in this country, or people who can’t afford housing? I think there is something fundamentally wrong with this picture. Are there any bankers reading this article I wonder.

The people I know that run soup kitchens and homeless shelters tell me that holidays are no problem because everyone wants to volunteer during those times. The rest of the year they struggle to provide necessary sustenance and support to the needy because no one wants to volunteer then. Internet dating is becoming more and more popular because people feel lonely and want to connect with their “soul mate”. What I believe they really want is to feel connected, to share, to feel loved. The same goes for many people who are in a relationship.

We need to learn something from our Indian cousins and start to take an interest in each other. Not for some idealistic spiritual notion but because the evidence is that we would be happier. We need to communicate with each other more and know who needs help; again, not out of a sense of charity but a sense of duty. How many elderly people are there out there eating pet food because they can’t afford the “high priced spread”? Why don’t we know the answer to that question?  I have observed that we think it is more efficient to set up charities and delegate our responsibilities by letting someone else handle the charity work. We think it is more efficient to appoint someone to do what we need to do ourselves. That may be true, but we are paying a terrible price for that efficiency.

My wish for everyone this holiday season is their fear of the future, anxiety and stress be removed, that they get a good night’s sleep and feel refreshed every morning. I hope they will get to know everyone that lives in their building, block or complex. I hope they cook a little extra and share it with someone that could use it. Maybe even slip a couple of dollars in there as well. Most of all, I hope that everyone will understand how precious and special they are, how precious and special life is, and marvel at the miracle of their existence. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

James Robinson copyright Dec. 2011

The first thing that most Christians don’t realize is that Jesus’s message is a common message. The same themes were shared by Buddha, the Hindu God Krisna in the Bhagavad Gita, Mohammed in the Koran, Sai Baba in his many discourses and many other teachers and sages throughout the history of mankind. Kind of makes you wonder why we have so much trouble with the concept of being happy doesn’t it?

In order to apply the principles of Consciousness/Christmas one has to be focused. We have to focus on the effects of our actions on others, we have to focus on the fact that most of what we perceive to be real is actually an illusion, we have to focus on the fact that suffering is our own creation, and we have to focus on the fact that life is a gift in any form, and it should not be taken from anyone.

I certainly applaud all of the efforts to support our troops who are fighting everywhere for peace. The True Meaning of Consciousness is that we are perpetuating our own suffering by hurting others, no matter what the reason. Perhaps it would be a better idea to bring those soldiers home.

Consciousness requires the focus on serving others without regard of reward or recognition. Not just on holidays, but everyday of the year. In relationships, consciousness requires the focus on the wellbeing of your partner, not of your own wellbeing. Consciousness recognizes the illusion of right and wrong; there is only what you want or what I want. Consciousness recognizes the illusion of separation consciousness that causes the myths of soul mates and marriage in the first place. I think what most people are looking for in a “soul mate” is actually someone who will be obedient. Consciousness recognizes that if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you are with (okay so I stole that one).

Consciousness has to do with being aware of everything that is happening around you. Let someone else have that prime parking space at the mall, go park a long way away and get some exercise. When we go shopping with our kids, make sure they understand that they are buying it for some needy family, not themselves. Instead of taking a family ski vacation, use the money to make someone else’s life easier. Pay their heating bill or rent for a month. Have our children make handmade gifts for their classmates.

The most important thing is to realize that each of us is the child that is born on Christmas Day, and every day we are lucky enough to wake up. We may have to go through challenges and adversity just like the metaphorical Christ child, but we can have just as big an impact on the world. The question is are we focused on that potential or are we focused on what everyone else is doing? Do people still feel insecure and unworthy because they don’t have as much material stuff as other people? Consciousness would have us realize that what we have has nothing to do with how we feel. Consciousness teaches us that how we feel determines what we have. We have total control over this circumstance. Only we determine how we feel. No one can make us feel this way or that way; consciousness knows that it our individual responsibility of how we feel.

So this Christmas Day, give yourself the best gift of all and start focusing on what you can do to help others and to think less about yourself. We can rise above being defined by Wall Street and Madison Avenue.  We can stop caring about how our bodies and faces compare to others and start caring about picking up trash and being kind to people. We can stop criticizing others and ourselves. We can stop gossiping and start imagining what life can be if we focus on the welfare of others.

It is a lot more beneficial to be in church on Monday than it is on Sunday. I promise that you won’t have as many people competing for God’s attention.  Depending on your focus, you can be in church every minute of every day. Consciousness knows that God is in us and we don’t have to go anywhere to find God. So have a merry little Christmas and ask for some consciousness this year. That never goes out of style.

James Robinson Copyright Dec. 2011

The reason I believe the addiction to suffering is the most tragic is because many people do not even know they are addicted to it. They live their lives of silent misery oftentimes believing that is how life should be. Many religions promote suffering as necessary and a part of life. The most ironic of all ironies is that the one thing we all have in common is that we all want to be happy. Yet we all suffer from this addiction to be miserable. The lucky ones are the ones that realize that suffering is optional and they do something about it.

Suffering sometimes is difficult to identify. Oftentimes we experience periods of time when we are not in crisis mode and we are getting what we want. We think that we are happy. In fact, what we are experiencing is low-grade anxiety, not happiness. Happiness has nothing to do with getting what we want. The feeling that we experience when we get what we want is pleasure, not happiness. When we are experiencing pleasure, there is always the underlying fear that it will not last and we experience constant stress. In fact, suffering always follows pleasure. It is part of life.

It would appear that the addiction to suffering begins at an early age, when we learn that we can get our parents’ attention and the attention of loved ones when we engage in forbidden or negative behavior. This is known as “negative attention”. When we are “good”, and follow the rules laid down by the authority figures in our lives, we only get occasional attention. We quickly learn that we can get attention by breaking the rules, defying our parents, and engaging in anti-social behavior. It seems that most people believe that they can only get attention by being the best at something or being a pest. It doesn’t matter that engaging in behavior that results in punishment actually is painful, it does have the desired effect, and people pay attention to us.

Ironically, many times we are not aware we are engaging in this type of behavior. We mistakenly label life as unfair and ourselves victims, when we have created the behavior that has the adverse consequences. Then we suffer, stop making any effort to take responsibility for our actions and become drama kings and queens. Think of the people in our lives that live with the most melodrama, the most adverse consequences, and often view themselves as the ultimate victims in an unfair world. Both the behavior and the complaining about the adverse consequences is subconsciously calculated to get attention.

Many times this addiction is underlying a more visible addiction, substance abuse, sexual abuse, or criminal behavior. When society has had enough of this behavior, it simply locks these people away with others with similar addictions. We can attempt to recover from these superficial addictions, but end up miserable and self-defeating because we are not aware of the underlying addiction to suffering. AA has a saying, sober up a horse thief and you have a horse thief. You do not become happy by becoming sober. This is why so many people relapse.

So how does one recover from this addiction?  As with other addictions, the first step is awareness and taking responsibility for what we do. When we admit to ourselves that we are unhappy and want to change, that is half the battle. We have to stop lying to ourselves and saying that we are happy when we are not. The suffering only increases when we lie to others and ourselves. We have to identify the cause of our suffering, which is our thinking. When we are completely honest and admit that it is our thinking that is causing our suffering, not outside circumstances, and then we have a chance of becoming happy.

You cannot stop thinking. That is humanly impossible. The only solution is to realize that our thinking is not who we are. In other words, we are not our thoughts. Our thoughts are the byproduct of millions of electrical biochemical events every second in our brain. Awareness is not thinking. We can be aware of our thoughts if we detach from them and realize that they are not real. So the addiction to suffering can also be described as the addiction to thinking.

In order to recover from this addiction — the addiction to thinking – we have to let go of our attachment to thinking. Thinking actually is good; it is what gets us dressed in the morning, accomplishes goals, life in society and helps us survive in this physical dimension.  However, we have to recognize the difference between “I” as a self-aware life force and “I” as a collection of thoughts. The former is naturally happy; the latter suffers. The more we focus on the former, the happier we are. The more we fall into the trap of believing that we are our thoughts, the more we suffer.

Instead of believing our thoughts, we can look at the sunset, we can observe what is going on around us without thought or opinion, we can enjoy just “being.”  Since we are human beings, we are going to lower ourselves into the hell of thinking from time to time, but it doesn’t have to be all of the time. If we remember that thinking is an addiction which causes suffering, perhaps we won’t do it so much and enjoy life more.

copyright September 2011

James Robinson

The Lord was known as the Wicked Earl because he imposed house arrest on his wife, not allowing her any visitors for a total of 31 years. He believed that she had an affair with his third brother Arthur that had produced the Lord’s third son. The fact that Robert and the Lady Belvedere had black hair while Arthur had blond hair was a concern for Robert and when George wrote Robert that the Lady Belvedere had been seen on numerous occasions with brother Arthur (which was untrue), Robert believed the worst and imprisoned his wife. So we have a jealous brother, a jealous husband and a victimized wife and child. And we wonder where romantic Victorian novels come from.

After 31 years of isolating his wife, the Wicked Earl went on to meet his maker and the son went to free his mother, who he hadn’t seen in 17 years. The mother did not recognize her son and had to be convinced by family and friends that she was free to leave her house. The mother asked “Is the tyrant dead?” It is ironic that she would ask this question because the real tyrant that imprisons us all is the mind.

Ancient wisdom known as “the teachings” states that we create our reality for our own enlightenment.  Most people would look at this story and instantly feel animosity for the Earl and sympathy for the wife.  Some would buy into the melodrama of the story and not look for the truth of the story, which has nothing to do with the surface themes of abuse, false imprisonment and victimhood.

There are spiritual metaphors running all through this story. Betrayal, abandonment, rejection, guilt, shame, blame and jealousy as well as the imprisoning nature of wealth are obvious. The Lady had three children who did nothing to help her. The reason for this is that they were afraid that the Wicked Earl would disinherit them.  However, this story is not about the corrupting power of money although it is certainly present.  This is about the illusions of life and how our attachment to melodrama causes suffering. In other words, the “Tyrant” is metaphorically our minds which imprison us with our false beliefs and suffering. Thus, the question “Is the Tyrant dead?” takes on a greater importance to our well-being and blissful existence.

After touring the house and grounds, I went to take a nap overlooking the lake at Belvedere House. As I dozed, I had a vision about a conversation between two stars shining brightly above the planet Earth. Let’s us call them X and Y, their real names are unpronounceable.  These stars were divine beings who come to Earth over and over to bring us enlightenment. They take the form of humans to play roles for their own enlightenment as well as roles for others.

X said to Y, “Wow, that was a stellar performance as Lady Belvedere. I bet you get a divine award for that role.” Y replied, “X, you were absolutely brilliant as Lord Belvedere. I haven’t seen you do so well since you played Cleopatra and I played Julius Caesar.”

At that moment, a comet went speeding by and X called out: “Hailey! I haven’t seen you in ages! How are you?” Hailey replied: “Well, you know us comets, what goes around comes around!” Y said, “really funny Hailey, your karmic humor is getting really good!” Hailey said: “Thanks Y! You know God really liked your Lord and Lady Belvedere…I hear he is going to send you back as Adolf Hitler and a young Jewish girl who survives the concentration camps. God wants the humans to wake up and heal this victim consciousness that has infected planet Earth. Did you know that humans are still buying into the illusion that you acted out for them?”

X said: “Surely not, I thought Y’s performance would have brought them to their senses.” Hailey said:”Nope, in fact, X, everybody thinks you were wicked and Y was so victimized.” “Oh for Chrissake ,” said X.  A far off start started winking. “I wasn’t calling you, JC,” said X.  The far off star steadied.  “You would think somebody would have seen through the illusion”, said Y.  “Well, SGB, JC and DO’N know what it was all about, but unfortunately it went over a lot of people’s heads.  They think it was all the Lord’s fault”, said Hailey. “When will people understand that jealousy, greed, money, blame and shame are all illusions for their enlightenment?” said Y. “Someday,” said Hailey and it sped off again.

X turned to Y and said, “When will those humans quit feeling sorry for each other and realize that they are actually stars like us?” Y twinkled and said, “I hope not soon, we would then have to stop coming to Earth and having so much fun being victims. I can’t wait to be Adolf Hitler, everyone will really hate him!” X twinkled back, “I know, I know, you get all the good victim roles, although this Jewish woman who survives the Holocost ought to wake people up about the illusion of victimhood! Although sometimes I think these humans are attached to their suffering, they cling to it so hard! If only they would look up to us sometimes and remember who they really are…”

I woke up and smiled, then got back on the bus….

In spiritual terms, the mind is a tool that was formed to help us to survive on this planet and hopefully get from survival mode to relaxation and happiness. Unfortunately, many of us are stuck in survival mode and spend most of the day scheming and thinking about what we lack and how to get it. This is the biggest prison in the world, and to some extent we all live there.

One of the biggest emerging industries on the planet involves how to set ourselves free from this prison. Religious leaders, spiritual leaders, monks and housewives are all writing books and teaching seminars on how to free ourselves from anxiety and stress and achieve whatever it is we want. Most of this is nonsense and a waste of time. Teaching people how to think differently keeps them trapped into the same prison they have placed themselves. All we do is leave one cell to go into another.

The only way to escape this prison is to realize that it is our thinking that is keeping us prisoner. Our minds have been trained since birth to keep us imprisoned in a jail so that we can be controlled and herded like sheep to buy, consume, desire and compare ourselves. It is an intentionally induced insanity that is destroying us. We are destroying the rainforests to clear pastures for substandard beef to make into hamburgers that we eat to become obese.  And the majority of us don’t care.

The only way out of this prison is first to realize that we are in the prison, and then wake up and become aware. There is a story about Sathya Sai Baba who told a man who was having trouble sleeping to go to a yoga master for help. The man returned to thank Baba because the yoga master helped the man start getting restful sleep. Baba replied: “Good. When you want to wake up, come to me.”

What keeps us imprisoned in our suffering is our unwillingness to take responsibility for our lives. We blame others, or believe that we are victims and take on the consciousness of lack. Whenever we want to change anything about our life, whether it is our situation or the way we think, we are falling back into the same old prison. What we have to realize is that we are creating everything, including our thoughts, for our own enlightenment.

The path to enlightenment must include the realization that we are divine. Whether we believe that we are hopeless and helpless or wealthy beyond imagination, we all are divine. The only way to be free of all of this illusion and insanity is to accept the fact that we created all of this and we can change it simply by applying this one teaching. We are not helpless and hopeless, we are not wealthy beyond belief. We are simply one.

When we start to wake up to the fact that we are creating what we need to be enlightened, we will start to behave in different ways. We will stop gossiping, which is probably one of the most destructive habits we have as human beings. We will have compassion for each other and start to share what we have with others. We will start to practice the way of non-violence to ourselves and others, which will eliminate the need for wars and politics. We will understand there is no longer “them”, there is only “us”.

We do not have to change the masses, we only have to take responsibility for ourselves. We do not need one hundred monkeys, only one. I hope that everyday will become Independence Day for each of us.

James Robinson

copyright July 1, 2011

We constantly struggle with how we perceive the world and how we fit in it. This is the role of philosophy, the study of life. Many scientists, theologians, spiritual leaders and holy men have endeavored to explain why we see the world the way we do and why we suffer. Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, and scores of prophets and gurus have taken turns sharing wisdom and their perspective of how to become happy and enjoy our lives.

The current notion is to “raise our vibratory rate.” There are no machines existing that measure vibratory rate, so this must mean something other than a physical phenomenon. There are many metaphors running rampant through this belief system, such as “being the light”, “we are not the Doer”, and others. What, we ask, does this really mean? I believe that the basic message of all religions and philosophies is that in order to truly relate to this world and understand our roles in it we have to attain a certain manner of thinking and awareness of our surroundings.

Another way of describing this concept is that we actually do not raise our vibratory rates, we simply change those beliefs that distract us from our true nature. Our true nature is energy, awareness and being that is not our bodies, thoughts and beliefs. It is the energy that gives us life, breath, and awareness, and survives the cessation of our physical bodies. When we become trapped in the beliefs that we are our thoughts, our bodies, our circumstances, we cannot understand life from the bigger perspective. The bigger picture is that we are here to have experiences and to learn how to love others and ourselves without condition, and this leads to happiness and bliss.

We talk in terms of “raising vibratory rates” to describe how we feel. When we feel light and happy, we have “raised our vibratory rate”. When we feel sad and depressed, we have “lowered our vibratory rate”. So we are actually talking about how we feel about others and ourselves. Feelings are tied to thoughts, thoughts are tied to beliefs, and beliefs are tied to our experiences, and our experiences may not be what we perceive them to be.

Let me give an example of how we perceive the world can make a huge difference on how we experience it, what we believe about it, what we think about and how we feel. I was on a flight the other day and the attendant announced that there was a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor on board. The Congressional Medal of Honor is given for military bravery far above what is expected in battle. This particular man had won his CMH in Vietnam, a war that produced few heroes and divided the United States. The thought that went through my mind as the man received thanks and applause, was that we should be giving the same accolades to men who had refused to fight and declared Conscientious Objector status or fled to Canada. These were pacifists who were ready to give up everything they had for their belief that killing others was not an appropriate way to handle the situation. People who are willing to sacrifice for non-violence are just as honorable and courageous as those who are willing to kill others to keep what they have. Until we are willing to honor those who refuse to fight, we will continue to have war and killing.

Even in this age of “raising our vibratory rate”, we continue to celebrate those who kill. Whether it is “the enemy”, or an animal, or ourselves through addiction and pain, we glorify the taking of life. One of the biggest debates we have now is over abortion. People take hard stands on these issues and refuse to compromise. The irony of all of this is karma will even it all out in the end. When we commit violence to force compliance with our beliefs, we are only hurting ourselves. It is interesting that the Dalai Lama resigned because he could see that the Buddhists were not following their own beliefs when they rioted to free Tibet. When people refuse to participate in violence, peace will come. This is “raising vibratory rate”.

James Robinson

copyright May 25, 2011

Please take a moment to share your thoughts on this inspiration by posting a comment below. if you enjoyed the inspiration, please share it by using one of the sharing links on the page.

©2011 James Robinson

Please take a moment to share your thoughts on this inspiration by posting a comment below. if you enjoyed the inspiration, please share it by using one of the sharing links on the page.

©2011 James Robinson

My experience in this world and the experience of many people I have met on the spiritual path includes emotional and physical trauma. Something happens to us that frightened us, hurt us and made the world a scary, unsafe place. My experience is that these traumas hardened my heart like a callus or scar tissue  that my body forms for protection. Even more subtle wounds are created when we experience something that we don’t like. These wounds are often dismissed or ignored because they don’t necessarily hurt. These more subtle wounds might cause frustration, irritation, anxiety or stress, but are accepted as part of everyday life.

As I trudge the path of happy destiny towards spiritual freedom and light, it is my duty to remove these calluses, bruises, or wounds on my heart. This is necessary to allow my heart to open and to expand my consciousness. I am convinced that happiness cannot be logically reached; it must be experienced through our hearts. It is reassuring that one of the oldest belief systems in the world incorporates this belief in the form of the statement that happiness can only be reached through a kind heart.

I often contemplate what is a kind heart. So far, the best conclusion I can draw at the moment is that a kind heart is a heart filled with compassion, awareness and acceptance. There is no room in a kind heart for resentment, resistance, anger or any other “negative” emotions. I further believe that these painful energies are the result of what the Buddhists call lazy or habitual thinking. I call it “worst case scenario thinking.” As a former attorney I often imagined what the worst-case scenario would be in a trial and plan accordingly. This defense mechanism was very useful; however, when it spilled over into my personal life it causes great suffering.

One of the most important steps in developing a kind heart is to understand that we are not our thoughts. When we have thoughts of a hurtful or painful nature, we must not condemn or criticize ourselves for these thoughts. We have to simply accept them as random thoughts that are not real.  When we dwell on these thoughts or resent them (“resent” means “to think over and over”) we are building thicker and thicker calluses and scar tissue on our hearts.

Another important step is to understand that we create our realities for the specific purpose of becoming enlightened. So when life does not suit us, we have to look for the message we are telling ourselves by creating something we don’t like. Some common themes I am witnessing these days include: (1) money has nothing to do with happiness; (2) companionship is not necessary for happiness; and (3) “common sense is more important than spiritual sense” (Derek O’Neill).

In order to develop a kind heart, we have to understand that we do not need money, mates, material stuff and thirteen spiritual diplomas to be happy. We simply need to accept the fact that we are exactly where we are supposed to be — going exactly where we are supposed to go. In my experience, one of the most damaging illusions and lies that we tell ourselves is that we are not living the life we are supposed to live, that we are somehow doing something wrong and that we are victims. Whenever we experience stress and anxiety it is because we believe something is wrong somewhere in our life. This leads us away from a kind heart, because a kind heart is flexible and pliable enough to understand that everything is perfect.

A great exercise for those anxious moments is to sit still and breath into the heart. Imagine that when you inhale you are sending light and oxygen into your heart (not the lungs). When you exhale imagine that you are exhaling all illusions and misunderstandings that hurt out of your heart. It is amazing how fast relaxation comes when one does this.

It is not so important that we be kind to others as it is to be kind to ourselves. There is no need to feel guilty, ashamed, stressed or anxious when we have a kind heart. A kind heart is like a loving parent observing a child who is angry or frightened and knows that everything will be all right. The child (us) does not know everything will be all right, but the parent does. When we can feel the feeling that everything will be all right, we can relax and enjoy life.

The payoff for having a kind heart is the inevitable effect that people will gravitate to us. We have to understand that some people will be kind, while others will project their anger and fears all over us. When we have a kind heart, we do not take offense at these people, we understand their pain and have compassion for them. This is how we can develop compassion for others, by being kind to ourselves.

Ultimately we come to the realization that everyone is simply a reflection of the thoughts and feelings we experience. When we can respond with kindness to everything, to the thoughts, emotions, events and people that we like and dislike, bliss will be ours.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts on this article by posting a comment below. if you enjoyed the article, please share it by using one of the sharing links on the page.

©2011 James Robinson