Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

By Steve Mills

Too often in spiritual and  personal development circles, the unique part of you as an individual is overlooked in the pursuit of grander visions. The special part that makes you “you” is not seen as important, and sometimes it is seen as something to be suppressed.

It is however my belief that you don’t have to become anything more than YOU to become enlightened. The Rebel part of you is as important in your pursuit of enlightenment and happiness as the disciplined, restrained and conformed aspects.

The Rebel part is that spark inside everyone that makes them unique. The part that doesn’t play by the rules , that laughs in the face of danger. It is the essential part that continues to fight when things look grim, the eternal part that knows life is there to be lived.

Some might even call it their spirit,  if they are that way inclined.

People who lose this free part of themselves quickly fall into despair, hopelessness, and that too common modern affliction, depression. It is the free rebel inside of us that allows us to break thought the constraints in our lives, and take action instead of passive wishing and thinking.

It allows us to make real and lasting changes in the world, to cut through the traditional ways of doing and seeing, and create a life based on freedom and expression.

So today focus on the Rebel in you, and hear it’s voice. I can guarantee you that it’s message is one well worth listening to.

You Are Already Enlightened!

That’s right, and no – I’m not joking.

Zen Masters have publicly said that we are all enlightened, the trick is knowing it (or getting in touch with it). And if you haven’t any idea what it feels like to connect to this state of being then all I can say is it is very difficult for anybody to express in words. To briefly try (not the main point of this post) let me paraphrase Rachel Pollack’s words about the Hanged Man tarot card (from her book Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom): It’s feeling free to be who you are, even if everybody else thinks you have everything backwards; it’s the feeling of being deeply connected to life.

But here’s the rub: “perfect enlightenment” is probably a myth. A beat up. It’s a bit like saying ‘perfect musicianship’ or ‘perfect scientific methodology’.

These things most likely can’t exist and in fact, certainly in the case of artistic endeavour, absolute perfection ruins things. It stifles the life out of things and therefore makes them inherently imperfect again in some kind of weird feedback loop to nowhere.

The flaws are an integral part of the appeal, of what’s good about things.

And yet “imperfect enlightenment” is so discounted, or just not thought of, as to be almost completely overlooked. This is akin to refusing to acknowledge somebody’s skill (in any given area) just because they are not 100% perfect at what they do: “Sorry mate, you’re great at guitar, but I will only come to hear the most perfectly brilliant player who can prove they are better than Hendrix. Nothing else is good enough.”

And yes, enlightenment is a skill set, one that stems from a knowledge base deep enough to allow for the practising of the skill set. That is why meditation is always referred to as a practise, for when you meditate you are practising enlightened states of being (although meditation is not the only way to do so).

New Age Wankers Ahoy!

Enlightenment has become a bit of a wanker-flag over the last few decades. It brings to mind shonky gold-digging gurus and shiny-toothed charlatans. But bear in mind, these types always claim ‘perfect enlightenment’ and Steve and I here at Rebel Zen are NOT by any means claiming this. We are simply claiming that after a lot of personal work we have improved our already inherent, imperfect enlightenment experience. And so can you. And you can make use of the myriad of information that is available to you – in historically unprecedented amounts – to do it yourself. No gurus needed.

Not that you should discount bona-fide gurus out of hand. If it works for you, go for it. But buyer-beware (and all gurus are selling something, even those who say they aren’t).

And to Prove I’m not a Guru-Basher…

At the risk of sounding like I’m telling you what to do, may I suggest that you don’t meditate or read or pray or chant or practice martial arts or flower arranging to get closer to achieving enlightenment. Rather, do so to improve or deepen the enlightenment experience you are already having.

And for those moments when you truly don’t feel very enlightened at all, when you’ve lost your temper or said something cruel or disappointed yourself, I will leave you with the words of the very inspiring Swami Shankarananda:

“Very often our awareness is limited by our limited understanding of who we are and what the Universe is about.”

Amen.

After all, we are just a bunch of imperfectly enlightened beings, let’s take it easy on ourselves…

By Steve Mills

When I was a younger man I was fascinated with ancient history. I would spend entire days reading about past discoveries, ancient civilizations, the rise and fall of empires. I was thinking about this today and the image of a medieval nautical map came to mind. People of centuries ago had some pretty detailed maps of the areas that they frequently travelled, especially when you take into consideration the tools and mathematics that they used to draw them.

The one feature that really stood out for me on those maps however were the areas that weren’t quite as well mapped, or were completely unexplored. In these areas, they had pictures of huge grotesque creatures, and dire warnings of what would happen to people if they crossed those waters. Large, foreboding font labelled these areas with such titles as “Here there be monsters” or “Death for those who enter”.

The bravery and skill of people of bygone ages to push on and explore the unknown is often underestimated by people in modern times.

The unknown always has an element of fear, and doing something new, or that means a lot to you is an intense experience. We are so used to the everyday monotony of work routine, of being on a schedule and being told what to do that we don’t quite know how to deal with the idea of new experiences. When we start something new, the voices of doubt and dismay are never far away. There is something inside us that says “This is new, scary and different. I am going to come up with 50 reasons why you should stop”. It sometimes can be the voice of reason, but more often the not it is self doubt and needless worry.

SETTING IN A NEW DIRECTION

A past manager of mine had a good statement on the wall of his workstation. It read something like ” As soon as a new way of doing things starts, the pull of the old ways of doing things begin. In the beginning, enthusiasm is enough to override this force, but in the longer term, a more sustainable source of motivation must be found”

We think that all great adventures are fun, are glamorous and exciting and should “feel good” the whole time. But while I agree that adventures should be REWARDING, I also see that the greatest adventures have their scary times, the boring times, the patience trying frustrating times. They have times where you don’t know what you are going to step in next as you progress towards your goal.

The monsters will always be there in uncharted waters, you just need to stop looking for them, and keep the ship sailing on course towards new land.

Once you get there, the realisation often comes that a) There really weren’t any monsters and b) The journey was well worth it.