Archive for the ‘Rebel Zen’ Category

By Seamus Anthony

What follows is the massively-inspired, half-drunk process of me trying to finally define what “Rebel Zen” means in a slogan …

Rebel Zen: It’s not about being perfect – it’s about being alive.

or

Exploring what it means to be alive…

or maybe

Exploring what it means to be human…

or

… and the Glorious Art of Being Imperfect

Yes! That’s it!

Rebel Zen and the Glorious Art of Being Imperfect!

‘Cos to me that is the point – it is about what it means to be a human – warts and all.

What it feels like to be alive; the search for meaning, for authenticity, what it feels like.

The very thing artists strive to express – musicians, poets, madmen.

Forsaking fantasies of perfection – Zen as in “being here now”, whether that feels good or not.

What it feels like to be a human being, with all the inherent imperfection and beauty and baggage that comes part-and-parcel with it it.

What IT means.

THIS.

What THIS all means.

Meaning – and the absence of meaning.

The glorious, never-ending, futile, wonderful search for meaning and our compulsion to look forward when it, this, the answers are here now.

But they aren’t here now at all. They are elusive, or we would find already and stop searching.

The continual paradox of apparent meaninglessness coupled with our insatiable desire for meaning.

The Yin and Yang play-off of ‘Meaningless Life’ and ‘Awareness’.

What THIS feels like – and the validity of this experience.

This is what Rebel Zen means to me – if it must be defined – that we live, impermanently, meaninglessly, and that – surely – THIS is okay…

…but somehow it’s not,

….but somehow it is,

…and on and on without resolution …

Without resolution but with an aching wonder, a beauty, a Love…

… a dream.

…. a dream framed by razors and barbed wire

… and then framed again with clouds of forgiveness and Love …

… and on and on and on without resolution.

Until … ?

Yes … I bloody LOVE it … Rebel Zen … is

The Glorious Art of Being Imperfect

By Seamus Anthony

If you are anything like me then you are sometimes a messy blob of anxiety, stress and over-imaginative worry.

Between you and me, I think we should get over ourselves already and get on with enjoying our lives while we still have the chance. Easier said than done? Here are some unconventional ways to help you live a little:

Take Some Time Out To Really Imagine The Worst

There’s a lot of advice out there about setting aside some time to visualize all the good things that you’d like to come into your life – you know – the whole Law of Attraction thing.

Have you ever actually watched The Secret?

I mean – pluh-eeez … as IF!

I think far better advice is to throw out your superstitious hokey-pokey and get real. Spend some time conjuring up all the worst things that could happen. I do this sometimes and I find that by naming my fears I somehow strip them of their power.

I think ‘what if “that” happened?’ And ‘what if ‘THAT” happened’. After a little while of doing this I just get fear-fatigue and I realize there is nothing to do except A) take all reasonable precautions, B) hope for the best and C) relax and get on with enjoying the moment as best I can.

Oh yeah – and in case you are worried that by focussing on the worst you will magically attract the very scenarios you want to avoid – put that out of your mind – it’s woo-woo nonsense.

Seriously – that’s like worrying that airline safety teams are in fact inviting distaster by going over all the possible malfunctions that might beset an aircraft. If those guys didn’t do exactly that there is NO WAY I would get in a plane!

Just Do Things When and If You Feel Like It

One day you’ll be dead – and will it matter that you did or did not have the self-discipline to power through all those boring to-do list items that really sucked? Probably not.

Go Out and Get Pissed

Or go bungy jumping or whatever. My point is, you gotta just let it all hang out and be a hairy beast for a while every now and then.

I was at this (very nice) guy’s house the other day and he was proudly telling me how he never drinks very much and how he has a nice new white carpet and a nice new beige car . And I kid you not – his trousers were beige too.

Lovely guy mind you, I really like him – but for God’s sake – do you want to be like that? Are you already? ‘Cos being boring is fine some of the time – even most of the time – but for the love of Pete you gotta have some fun sometimes!

So get amongst it, I say. Hang out with the hairy people for a night. Live a little.

And beware of becoming one of the beige people, take it from Billy Connolly.

Dwell In The Angst

This is similar to focussing on the worst that can happen but this is more about focussing on the bad feelings that are messing with you.

I accidently came across this liberating technique way back when I was first experimenting with meditation. I was trying to establish a routine of meditating every day whether I felt like it or not. Well, on one particular day I certainly did not feel like it: I was so depressed and anxious that I could barely think (I was partying very hard at the time, even for me, and this was leaving me strapped out).

Nevertheless, I sat down to try and meditate anyway but I couldn’t get into it because I was squirming with an angst that was so acute it was manifesting itself physically: I literally felt like I was crawling out of my skin.

I felt like giving up and lighting a joint. Even though I knew that this wouldn’t really help much, I was just about to get up and do that when a “voice” said to me “Stay and dwell in the angst”.

Listen To The Voices In Your Head

Now I don’t know about you, but when I hear “voices” I listen up good. Maybe they lose their impact if they never stop, but thankfully my voices keep to themselves most of the time, so I just went with it and tried to “dwell in the angst”.

At first it was horrible. I focussed all my attention on how horribly stressed and anxious I felt, and for a few minutes it was almost more than I could bear. I  was in tears (and I usually find it very hard to cry properly).

But then all of a sudden the angst just lifted. It was gone and I felt quite calm and relaxed – quite fine.

Somehow by listening to the voices in my head and dwelling in the angst like I was told, I worked through the stress and anxiety that was knocking me around. Instead of pushing it down with more drugs or distraction, I acknowledged and paid attention to how I felt. To my surprise, that was pretty much all that was actually required to quell the bad feelings.

So there you have it – no doubt the sanest advice you’ve ever read: Imagine the worst, get pissed, be irresponsible, listen to voices in your head and meditate on feeling really crap. Regulation stuff really.

Photo by StuartPilbrow

By Seamus Anthony

One of the most liberating things you can realize in life is that there are no rules.

People will try to tell you there are – but it’s not true.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there are no consequences for your actions. There most certainly are, but my point stands – you can choose to find happiness and success your way and without buying into somebody else’s self-serving nonsense.

And even better, there are so many people (ordinary, non-guru people) online and off, just waiting to help you make up your own mind by chipping in their own angle on “Life, the Universe and Everything”.

We Don’t Need No Guru – We ARE the Guru!

In fact, in this Age of Connectivity, and on the heels of the Information Age, we can not only find enough information to make up our minds, to find our own ways to worldly and/or spiritual success, but we can very easily find many people online willing to help, whether directly by conversing with you, or indirectly by publishing their own helpful content.

This is what I mean by “we are all the Guru”.

We, the collective voice, the millions of tiny voices, are the Collective Guru.

We don’t need no Guru – we ARE the Guru!

One of the reasons I ever came up with the idea of a blog called “Rebel Zen” was because I was sick of reading self-serving clap-trap by self-help and spiritual gurus that set themselves up as being “holier than thou” and practically perfect in all respects. These Gurus of Shame pretend that it is their job to make you feel better but in fact what they do is subtly make you feel ashamed about yourself and your all-too-human failings.

The Business of Reinforcing ‘Perceived Lack’

These bleach-toothed, shoulder-padded monsters parade a (probably semi-fictitious) image of themselves through different types of media, and rabbit on in their books and conferences about how they are so incredibly disciplined that they never put on any weight, or feel distant from God, or struggle to find a satisfying, life-affirming way to make money.

And why? To create a “perceived lack”, that’s why.

By setting themselves up as almost perfect, they create a tension between where your (real) life is right now and where your (fantasy) life is.

You might not want to hear this about your favorite self-help guru, but they are trying to pull the same trick on you as those entities we commonly perceive as “soulless” and “evil” do.

Take for example the giant cosmetic companies; their ads pretend to help you, but first they set-up a perceived problem. A problem that usually only exists if you believe it does – like wrinkles.

Wrinkles are only a problem if you think they are – otherwise they are just lines on your face, nothing more or less than that.

But the big cosmetic brands make ads that tell you that wrinkles are a problem, and then they sell you a solution. The greatest irony is that (as far as I know) most wrinkle creams don’t even do what they claim!

Well that’s what self-help gurus do. They create (or more likely, reinforce) a perceived lack or problem in your mind (you are too unsuccessful, you aren’t living your dreams, you aren’t fit and fabulous, you aren’t happy, you aren’t enlightened) then they tell you that they have the answers you need. So you buy the book or go to the workshop or buy the 7 CD set.

And then guess what? Their answers don’t work for you as quickly and easily as you’d hoped. And they don’t want them too? Why? Because if their answers work just like that every time, they’d soon run out of customers!

The Guru is Dead! Long Live The Guru!

Now don’t get me wrong, a quick squizz around this blog and you will find plenty of examples of top-down guru-like rants and preaching. Or you might anyway, I’m not sure. I guess I am just covering my own arse, as the charming saying goes.

But whether you do or don’t feel like this is the case, the truth of the matter is you are not a voiceless, passive audience member here. If you ever disagree (or agree for that matter) with anything written here you can leave a comment and within reason we will publish it. Debate is a good thing!

And of course you are free to publish your own blog – and in fact this is probably a good time to remind our readers that we are more than happy to consider guest posts here at Rebel Zen. We can’t pay anything just now, but if we dig your vibe we will publish you and link back to your blog or whatever, so by all means, add your voice to the Collective Guru and send us any articles you think are Rebel Zen in flavor to info@rebelzen.com

Photo by BotheredByBees

By Steve Mills

For most of our daily life, we are completely saturated with ideas and messages that do not originate from ourselves. Walk down the street and you are bombarded with advertisements, sit down on the internet and you are quickly mind boggled by the sheer amount of content available. The modern world has provided us with access to information that would be beyond the wildest dreams of someone even 20 years ago.

The paradox is with access to so much information about other things; we have become detached from a large amount of knowledge and wisdom about ourselves. There are so many distractions available, and so many different types of media to consume. The very fact that we may have to sit alone, with our own thoughts for even 30 minutes fills most people with a small sense of dread.

I am sure that this is not the natural state of human consciousness. In the past, you would assume that there were vast stretches of time, once food and shelter had been looked after, that men and women would be able to sit around and think. In this time they would have the power to consciously address the contents of their minds, rather than let themselves run on autopilot, never really exploring the depths of their inner life.

People in modern society however just aren’t used to the idea of having nothing to do, and we have been pre-conditioned to think that time not being productive or time spent with our internal thoughts and feelings is wrong. We get the idea that time with ourselves is time wasted, and so we push on without really taking stock of our own mental landscape. It seems as if the only types of introspection that people undertake on a regular basis are based on worry and anxiousness. People worry about the future endlessly, and they go over past events with an eye to what they could have done better.

Most people will do just about anything to escape their own company and feelings of “boredom.” They will read 5 year old gossip mags while waiting for the dentist, or watch endless repeats of shows on TV. They will surf the internet aimlessly, going to the same sites over again. But in reality, a little time addressing “boredom” is extremely well spent. When the mind finds that it has nothing active to address, it brings up unprocessed information, allowing it to come up to the surface, and be “seen” by your conscious mind. Your worries, your frustrations, your fixation on things like work, being productive or becoming free. All of these things which are always “kind of there” in the background become more real and tactile.

The three different points below are things that you can try to address next time you find yourself with a spare hour and nothing to do. Just sit and let the mind go where it wants, without your conscious interaction :

1. Use the time to break cyclic thinking
Realise that your mind is the most powerful tool and resource we know of in the UNIVERSE. There has been nothing more complex ever discovered. Although it may not fit in with a number of current scientific paradigms, I am here to tell you that for most practical purposes, YOU (the observer you) are in control of your brain and your thoughts.

If you find yourself in these times of introspection going over the same thoughts without ever resolving a solution, then make it your goal to break out of that cycle and get some closure. Look for patterns in your thinking, and devise some clear action points to get from where you are, to where you want to be. This is not worry time, this is looking at the deeper thoughts and addressing them head on.

As the Buddha said “Strive for your own liberation with diligence.”

2. Is there someone you need to call?
Quite often in times of introspection, my thoughts will (for no apparent reason that I can fathom at the time) find their way to a past or current friend or acquaintance. I think about something they once said, or what they are doing, or things that I may have said to them.

I can’t tell you the number of times that this has happened, and a week or so later I get a phone call or email from the person saying they really want to catch up with me, or I hear through the modern grapevine (facebook) that they are in need of something, or having a rough time. If you have thoughts about people that may have once been part of your life, perhaps it is time to give them a call “just because” and see what is going on.

3. Get to know your true self.

I am sure that there a lot of people out there in blogoland that don’t even know who they really are. I mean at a deep level, life is a process of discovering exactly who we are as people.

In quiet times, is there a voice inside you saying that the life you are presently living is not for you, that you yearn to do something different? Modern life is very good at pigeonholing people into neat little boxes, and railroading them into careers that sound promising, but in reality are a minefield of stress and boredom. Use the time to look at the possibilities, not just a few but the massive set of options that are available to everyone. I heard it said in the last week that people under a great deal of stress can only see 3 options at most to any situations, where in reality there may be 100’s

Also I am sure that there are people very well acquainted with their ego selves, as they see that aspect expressed every day, but not the true, deeper self that is connected to the universe and everyone else around you. That aspect needs time to come out on its own, in quiet and creative time. By listening to the quieter voices within, we get a sense of the whole of ourselves, and a more intimate understanding of the parts of our personality that make us unique.

As the Greek philosophers were fond of saying “Know Thyself!”

To find your true purpose, click here to get the first Rebel Zen Ebook – Its FREE!

Or How to Achieve Liberation Without Joining a Cult

By Seamus Anthony

The Age of Do-It-Yourself Enlightenment has arrived. Here’s social proof (check out the comments).

But what does this actually mean? Well, in our welcome post Steve and I explained this concept quite well. No real need to go visit that post, here is what we wrote:

“DIY Enlightenment is about finding your own version of truth, peace and happiness. It’s about learning to go with the flow and really experience life free from other people’s rules and dogma. It’s about recognising that ‘enlightenment’ is a concept that you are free to research, define, and achieve on your own – you DON’T need a guru to tell you what to do or to decide when you have achieved enlightenment…

“The Guru (or in the west, the Hermit) used to have the monopoly on the enlightenment niche because information about ‘enlightenment’ was not readily accessible and so it had to be transfered by direct verbal instruction.

Then as the written word came about, well these handwritten texts could only be in one place at a time so they naturally stayed in the guru’s library. And, frankly, it was good for business for the guru to have all info, so this model was maintained for a long time, even after crazy ideas like the printing press and *whoa* the interweb came about.

But dudes! This system is just a clunky, rusted artifact of the past! Never before has so much information been available so easily to so many people!

So, while it may mean bad news for those in guru business, there is no reason why an intelligent person such as yourself can’t access and study all kinds of different viewpoints and realise your own version of enlightenment right there in your own home in your own time and by whichever method suits you.

Because it’s not the method that matters, it’s the result.

Anyone who tells you that their method is the only way, is either a cynical bullshit artist, or is seriously self-deluded, and if you believe them… well, that’s your decision. We hope it works out for you.”

A Simple Three Step DIY Enlightenment Process

Like most truths, it is actually simple to get in touch with the enlightened state of mind and experience a remarkable increase in the amount of time that you enjoy inner peace and happiness. Probably the most difficult thing is getting out of your own way and allowing new ideas to take hold in your mind. Here’s some of my suggestions.

Step One: Read

Realising your inherent enlightenment is a matter of taste-testing a lot of different ideas. It’s about trying different concepts on for size; mixing and matching until you come up with a personal ‘look’ that suits you. And the most tried and true method is by reading.

There is so much stuff out there on the internet that you could probably read enough to get the ideas you need just by surfing the web. Personally I also recommend an old fashioned concept called the ‘book’ also, but maybe that’s just me being old school!

However, apparently a great percentage of people dislike reading (although I suppose they probably wouldn’t have made it this far into the article) so, personal preferences aside, listening and watching audio/video is probably just as good if that’s what suits your learning style.

Another great option these days is to join in conversations via social media – or start them. Ask “what is enlightenment?” and analyze what people say!

The point is to take in as many different viewpoints about life and philosophy so that you have a wide knowledge base from which to make your own decisions about “what is”.

Step Two: Live Life

Get out there an experience the wonder that is life on Earth.

Travel around the world. Have adventures. Take risks. Open a business. Work hard for the thrill of it. Find your passions and embrace them. Climb Mt. Everest. Explore your dreams without caring what others might say (let them stay home and be safe while you really live). Get tattooed from head to foot. Spend six months in a remote place by yourself painting and writing poetry. Train to become an Olympian. Have several wild, passionate love affairs and then experience what real love means (it’s different). Or the other way around!

Learn what it means to be alive. Get into trouble and then get yourself out of it. Take risks. try as many different experiences as you can and really be aware of these experiences as they are happening (see step three).

I am nearly 35 and have packed more flavour into my life so far than a lot of people ever do. I have been a (seriously minor) rock star, run a vibrant cafe in a strange city, studied acting, French, Kung Fu, Chi Gong, and yoga. I’ve flown around the world and spent weeks – even months – living with locals in foreign lands. I’ve worked my balls off in the corporate sector (Blech! But the experience is priceless) and I’ve spent months doing nothing much but contemplate the breeze.

I’ve thrown myself into excessive hedonism and spiritual asceticism – and wriggled my way back out of both. I’ve had the beautiful lovers and had my heart broken on several occasions. I’ve enjoyed a close and truly satisfying relationship for 8 years now. I’ve sat in deep, silent meditation with true masters, and danced and babbled in tongues with Born Again Christians. I’ve started and run a nightclub of the all night variety. I’ve fathered a child. I’ve taken six months off to write a novel. I’ve battled addictions. I’ve tried any experience that in any way appealed to me, more than I can write about here, and there are many more I intend to try.

I’ve even tried stuff that I am ashamed off (and really don’t want to share with the world) but I am GLAD of those things I did (even if I regret the consequences) because it has all given me one thing: a decent measure of wisdom.

And without wisdom you will never have self-confidence, peace of mind or joy of heart.

Step Three: Meditate

It doesn’t matter what kind of meditation you try. Just try it. In fact try several different types and read lots about it because if it doesn’t blow your mind straight away (and it probably won’t) then be assured it will eventually.

Why is meditation so important? It is essential to enlightenment practice because it develops Awareness, with a capital A.

Awareness, the ability to truly be present in this exact moment, is the most important skill you can ever learn because without awareness you are never really living authentically, but rather you are all in your head living in the past and future and living out twisted versions of reality as filtered through your unchecked ego.

Meditation is probably the best way, but it is true that people achieve Awareness in other ways. Why do you think skydivers get addicted to the thrill of jumping out of planes? They sure as hell aint thinking about much else other than the present moment when they are hurtling through the sky!

As this blog grows, we are going to go further into meditation and how it works to help you realise liberation in this lifetime, but this is too big a topic for this one post.

So for now: get reading, get living and start experimenting with meditation – before you know it you will be a card carrying Rebel Zen Master!

By Seamus Anthony Ennis

If you have tried different methods to achieve happiness (meditation, reading self-help books, therapy, etc.) but have not succeeded then I’d like to share with you a very simple trick to being happy that has been blowing my mind lately…

In fact I actually believe it is the key to enlightenment and world peace.

Here it is …

Give up.

Or rather…

Let go.

Let go.

Let go of all that you are clinging to.

Let go of all the ideas in your mind.

All the should’s. All the want-to’s. All the trying-to’s. All the seeking-to’s. All the how-to’s. All the going-to’s.

Just drop ‘em like hot potatoes.

When you manage to do this, even if it’s just for a few moments, you will suddenly see who you are. Who you have been all along. You will understand all that goofy zen-talk that you’ve read, and you will see how it is that words can never truly explain this state of mind.

And you will feel high. Not always in a hallucinatory kind of way, sometimes, but not always. Sometimes you will feel high in a crystal clear, jiggy-with-the-here-and-now kind of way. You will reach a place that many meditators have given many different names to: Nirvana, enlightenement, Buddha-mind, enrapture, Christ-consciousness, Satori, Bliss, or my favourite, the Clear Space of Good Feeling.

And it’s all about letting go.

It’s not about learning how to do something properly. It’s about letting go.

It’s not about attaining skills. It’s about letting go.

It’s not about getting somewhere. It’s about letting go and realising that you are already here now.

This morning I was at a yoga class. I am just a beginner at it and was finding the postures quite difficult. But every time that I figured out why my body wouldn’t get into position, I realised it was because my mind was holding on, and this meant my muscles were holding on. The secret is to let go.

Same goes for when you are meditating. Let go of wanting to meditate effectively and it will happen.

But the thing is, the mind is very subtle and the ego is very tricky (the ego is the scared little wimp inside of you who does not want to let go for fear of what could happen). Just when you have let go of one thing (one idea, train of thought, fear, etc) the ego will latch on to another. You may even find yourself latching on to the idea of “letting go”.

Let it all go.

And when you think “I can’t let it all go”. Let that fear-based idea go.

And when you think “That’s it! I’ve let it all go!”, let that go too.

Let go. It’s the secret to happiness in this life – or at least one of them.

Imagine if you let it all go, all of those things that you worry about: the rent, the future, your health, your career, the kids, your parents, your love-life, your social life, your to-do-list, the past, the bad things, the good things, what people say to you, what you think of other people, your opinions, the environment, the wars, the human rights atrocities, the poor, the rich, the indifferent, the misguided….

It’s a big call, just to let go of all of this, but then again it’s not – because it’s not about doing anything difficult, it’s just about letting all those difficult things that we take on go.

I am not saying I have totally done this, but the more I do, the happier I get and the more I get out of life and the less I worry about anything at all.

Meditate. Let go of trying and just sit.

And wait.

And let go of what you are waiting for. And of waiting.

You see for some reason, getting what you want is a topsy-turvy affair. You have to try not to want things too bad or else they somehow get repulsed. What it is that repulses is the fear you have of not getting what you want. It’s like a teenage boy who is keen on a girl, if he is too keen chances are she will smell his fear (of not getting her) and be turned off. But if he was initially interested but was detached enough to take it or leave it, the chances are she will find herself intrigued and will be more inclined to return his attraction. (It’s cruel, but that’s the way it works kids!)

Same goes for trying to find happiness. If you are too attached to the end result, you will never get there. You have to detach from what you want and just do your meditation.

Let go.

Every time you find yourself thinking about something irrelevant – let go of that thought.

Then return to your technique – and then let go of returning to your technique.

Then when you are successfully practising your technique – let go of the technique. Still do it – but let go of doing it.

It’s a subtle art, and it takes some practice – but if you try you’ll get it.

Then let go of trying!

By Seamus Anthony Ennis

It’s just my opinion, and I have no idea what I am talking about, but you – yes, you – have absolutely no clue what the hell is going on.

Yes, you heard me, and that goes for your guru, coach, expert or teacher also.

You see, sometimes when I am at barbecues, beer comfortably resting on my belly, paper plate piled high on my knee, the subject comes up that I write personal development articles and, for better or worse, I cringe. Why? Because the first thing that happens, at least in my mind, is that people look at me and think “Well, what the hell does he know that I don’t? He’s no guru; look at that blob of mayonnaise on his beard! And isn’t that the guy who drank a couple too many at Jo’s party last fortnight and made a fool of himself? Personal development writer indeed – hmmph!”

And the truth is they are right. I don’t know diddly. But neither do ‘they’ and neither, my friend, do you.

You might have chosen to believe certain things, and these beliefs are most likely an integral part of your sense of personal identity. In fact they are probably very useful in keeping you from just collapsing under the weight of a total existential breakdown, but nevertheless…

You. Don’t. Know. Anything. About. Anything.

Believing something is not the same as knowing something. One is a choice, the other is a certainty, and in this life there are no certainties.

Everything you think you know is all just your own unique perspective and is completely unprovable as ultimate truth.

I once saw that great, mad, rambling comic Billy Connolly expound his view on this. Minus a few expletives, he said:

“We are part of something enormous that’s too big for us too understand. … We’ve been looking through the wrong end of the telescope for God … See those wee things that live in ponds … they don’t have a clue that we exist, because we’re too big for them … Well, there’s something too huge for us. We’re the leg of a chair. We’re a cup of tea. We’re something dead simple.”

In other words we just see this little circle of possibility that just doesn’t give us a particularly insightful view of the big picture whatsoever. We are too big for the little water bugs to comprehend, and that, my little insect friends, is our lot too. If you’ve ever seen that email that goes around comparing the relative size of the planets to each other and then to the sun, and then our sun to the other even bigger suns out there until planet Earth is so little it can’t even be seen on the computer screen anymore, then you’ll know what Billy means. We are so, so tiny in the grand scheme of things that we are conceited to think that we will ever understand our Universe …

… and herein lies our freedom.

(”Everybody! Follow me!” screams Connolly, doing a Nazi salute and marching off, “We’ll come back for your valuables later!”)

But seriously, given that you will soon be dead, and given that you can’t be expected to understand God or the big picture, there is simply no good reason why you shouldn’t dream ‘big’ (which will always be comparatively small) and, to reclaim a corporately-hijacked cliché, just do it.

I Don’t Know What I’m Talking About

I don’t know what I’m talking about of course, but in my opinion our mission is to help to raise the vibration of the universe just a little bit. To make a positive contribution. Now, this contribution, even if you became the single most important human being in the history of the world, will by default always be tiny in the grand scheme of things, but in the earthly context of this and subsequent generations, you can help to make our world a better place, and this can bring you (and others) happiness.

Far be it for me to bark orders, but there’s no point trying to understand the Universe, because that is a waste of time, and there’s no point wasting our lives chasing security, because there simply is no security. Soon, very soon, you will be dead and whatever happens after that is anybody’s guess. So be free. Do what you want. Dream a dream and have a go. Sure you’ll need to consider practicalities, and you’ll need to decide whether or not you really do actually want the pressure and risk that comes with being a working astronaut or high-wire trapeze artist, but don’t let others put you off by telling you what-is-what, because those people, be they priest, parent, spouse, whoever, have absolutely no clue – and neither do you.

If you ponder it long enough, I hope you will see the ultimate freedom that lies in this fact: No matter how hard you peer up above you, you will never really know what the heck is actually going in outside of your little muddy puddle, so you are free do what you feel.

My only sub-clause is this: The one apparently apparent fact in this life is that doing good is infinitely more satisfying for any sane person than doing evil. So please don’t use this article as an excuse to do something horrible. After all, it’s not like I have the foggiest idea what I am on about.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go and find a napkin to wipe the mayonnaise – and forty seven thousand, three hundred and eighty nine tiny doomed critters – off my beard. Good day to you.

This article was first published in print in Living Now Publishing’s DaretoDream magazine (March 2008, Australia)

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…

This is a blog about Do-It-Yourself Enlightenment.

It’s about finding your own version of truth, peace and happiness. It’s about learning to go with the flow and really experience life free from other people’s rules and dogma. It’s about recognising that ‘enlightenment’ is a concept that you are free to research, define, and achieve on your own – you DON’T need a guru to tell you what to do or to decide when you have achieved enlightenment.

The Guru (or in the west, the Hermit) used to have the monopoly on the enlightenment niche because information about ‘enlightenment’ was not readily accessible and so it had to be transfered by direct verbal instruction.

Then as the written word came about, well these handwritten texts could only be in one place at a time so they naturally stayed in the guru’s library. And, frankly, it was good for business for the guru to have all info, so this model was maintained for a long time, even after crazy ideas like the printing press and *whoa* the interweb came about.

But dudes! This system is just a clunky, rusted artifact of the past! Never before has so much information been available so easily to so many people!

So, while it may mean bad news for those in guru business, there is no reason why an intelligent person such as yourself can’t access and study all kinds of different viewpoints and realise your own version of enlightenment right there in your own home in your own time and by whichever method suits you.

Because it’s not the method that matters, it’s the result.

Anyone who tells you that their method is the only way, is either a cynical bullshit artist, or is seriously self-deluded, and if you believe them… well, that’s your decision. We hope it works out for you

Checking RSS Feeds, Reach Enlightenment, Still Checking RSS Feeds.

Rebel Zen is run By Seamus Ennis and Steve Mills, two fellas from Melbourne, Australia. We are passionate about helping people find their unique path and place in the world, and the importance of self-acceptance as a path to health, happiness and success. Through this blog and the associated tools, techniques and tips that we will be presenting, we hope to help you realise that you are already here – there is no “I’ll be happy when”; success and fulfillment lie only in this present moment.

We believe that in this modern age there is no need to trek overseas, find a guru or pay thousands of dollars for someone to tell you the truth. This is DIY Enlightenment: the answers that you need are all around you, when you learn to quiet your mind and listen. The real truth is lived everyday, you just need to take the time and develop the awareness to notice it.

Believe it or not, you are already enlightened!

It’s true: Zen masters have been telling people this for centuries!

It’s just a matter of tuning into this frequency so that you can really see, hear and feel the difference in your life.

It is about not relying on the words of others, but using them as a guide towards understanding through your own experience.

It’s time to embrace the rebel in you, the unique “youness” that can lead to a more free and awake life. To find the tools and teachings that will empower the whole, real you to shine through in everything you do. It is not about cultivating the ego and it’s path to fool’s gold, but recognising the important part that you play in the world as an integral component of the whole.

Welcome to Rebel Zen, baby! DIY Enlightenment for the Post New Age Era…