Ian MacKenzie
documentary filmmaker + photographerPhilosophy
The Enlightenment Business
Maybe you’ve felt it – or read it. Or perhaps even seen it.
There’s a growing global sense that a worldwide shift is coming. While some link this shift with such apocalyptic events like 2012 or The Rapture, the more subtle listeners know the real shift is in consciousness.
While the New-Agers have been singing about the Age of Aquarius for awhile, they haven’t been as clear on how or why it’s happening.
It could be the speed at which information flows through the web, and the hyper inter-connectivity provided through social media networks. Traditional gatekeepers have lost their grip on topics like work and morality.
More and more people are becoming restless. They’re not content with their current jobs, lives, religion, and relationships. They’re waking up to the fact that things aren’t working. They’re discovering the deeper questions that whisper from their inner voice.
Ironically, the pain of the current recession rippling through our economic system has likely provided unintended motivation to speed this process along. After all, if enough people are handed lemons, they learn to make lemonade.
Does this mean the golden age is coming? That war will cease, neighbours will embrace, and celebrity magazines will disappear off the racks?
On the contrary… the transition will be far from smooth. And the uncertainty will be capitalized on by the growing behemoth that some call “The Enlightenment Business.”
As more people start asking bigger questions about the universe, more gurus will appear to fill the demand. Some will be reputable, many will not.
Osho, speaking over 30 years ago, described how this process works:
Very cunning people have been exploiting humanity. They teach what to ask, and then they give you the answer. If you ask the right question, they will supply the right answer. And both are bogus because the question has been taught by them and then you ask it. And they teach you only questions which they can answer.
So the game goes on very well, perfectly well.
How can you discern what is a right question to ask? Osho is clear:
Never ask a theological question, because that is borrowed. Find out existential questions, find out where your difficulty is, find out your own problems. Problems are individual, they are not a universal phenomenon.
Remember that if a problem is individual, it can be solved – because it is true. If you have borrowed it from tradition, society, or somebody else, it can never be answered because it was not your problem in the first place.
What do you think about the enlightenment business? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The Art Of Doing Nothing
I have a problem…and admitting it is the first step.
I have a problem doing nothing.
It’s not as bad as some people I’ve met. These are the people who literally do six things at once. If you try to have a coffee with them, they can’t keep their fingers from wandering onto their Blackberry keys, glancing off in other directions, or maintaining a single thread of conversation.
Myself, on the other hand, is the type who has a constant need to feel productive.
If my days were structured into clear 9-5 work hours, it would be easier. Yet since I work for myself, I’m free to set my own hours…which is another way of saying: it’s always time for work.
Try this: sit quietly on your couch, with no music, no tv, no distractions. Just sit there and notice what it feels like.
I’m not talking about meditation…which technically, is still doing something. Or put another way, meditation is deliberately doing nothing.
Back to the couch.
For me, a few minutes into the experiment, my mind will wander to all the tasks that are not being completed: I could write another blog post. Vacuum the apartment. Clean the dishes. Make the bed. Get rid of old books. Pretend to play the piano. Check Facebook again. The list goes on.
My mind has difficulty accepting that it’s okay to do nothing.
In fact, it can be far more effective in some situations to do nothing. This wisdom is illustrated in Taoism by the concept of wu wei.
Pamela Ball writes in “The Essence of Tao”:
In order to experience true emptiness it is more correct to think of wu wei as the space in which things happen. No action need be taken and we can rest quietly awaiting events. On a personal level this means that we are open to any experience, any happening, any adjustment that occurs from within ourselves.
By doing nothing we allow a situation to flow of its own accord. We allow ourselves to unfold naturally, without forcing an imposed belief that all moments need to be diced, tagged, and justified.
In short, we experience the beauty of doing nothing.
Flow
Photo: hypergurrl
I have a confession to make. Buddhism has been my philosophy of choice for the past 5 years. The smiling face and rounded belly of the Buddha never fails to put me at ease, along with thoughts of non-attachment, meditation, and peace.
But there’s a new kid in town. Well, technically, this kid is older, wiser, and confuses people when they try to pronounce its name.
This kid is Taosim.
I’d read the classic text Tao te Ching in my early Buddhist explorations, but it must have been too poetic, and too simple, for me to truly grasp the wisdom before me.
It wasn’t until this summer, after discovering a passage from Adyashanti’s The End of Your World, that I rediscovered the concept of flow:
“Enlightenment is when everything within us in cooperation with the flow of life itself, with the inevitable.
When we’re not so conflicted and divided inside, we get a feel for the inevitable-where life is moving, what direction it is going in. We no longer ask “Is this the right way? How do I know it’s the right way?” This kind of question actually distorts our perception. There’s something much more subtle occurring; it’s the flow of life itself.
When we say a simple and sincere yes to life, yes to death, yes to the ego’s own dissolving, we don’t have to struggle anymore. It becomes a new way of navigating through life.
Flow is what navigates us through life – not concepts, not ideas, not what we should or shouldn’t do, not what’s right or wrong. Over time, what we come to see is that flow is always amazing.
It is the expression of unity, it directs our existence in ways that are healing and loving, and it brings things together in ways we couldn’t imagine.”
Naturally, I was intrigued. My biggest criticism of Buddhism (and other Western spiritual books) is the concept of surrender: surrender all your attachment to ideas, goals, and expectations, and you will find enlightenment.
Great, I thought. Does that mean I stop trying to do “something” with my life? Do I give up my desire to make thought-provoking films? Do I stop caring about anything? Do I wander the streets like a monk?
Of course, I knew it was more complex than that, but it was frustrating to continuously hear and read without any teacher going deeper.
Adyashanti was the first to eloquently offer the answer: that surrendering control over how your life “should be” actually opens you up to the life you want.
You start going with the flow.
This concept is a core philosophy of Taoism – which is why I decided to follow this particular flow and see where it would take me.
As for Buddha, he’s taking the news fairly well. In fact, he seems downright happy about it.
Osho: Life Is A Mystery
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experience at an Adyashanti satsang. Aside from the talk itself, the most interesting part of the evening was the questions asked by a few attendees.
I wrote, “And so it went. Question after question from attendees who desired an answer to their search. They practically dripped with craving; they were intoxicated with the possibilty of insight. They were like addicts to the truth.”
I wondered where this urge to “know” comes from. It wasn’t until I read a passage from Osho, in his book Courage: The Joy Of Living Dangerously, that I found a brilliant articulation of the issue:
The mind has some difficulty in accepting the idea that there is something that is not explainable. Mind has a very mad urge for everything to be explained. Anything that remains a puzzle, a paradox, goes on troubling your mind.
The whole of history of philosophy, religion, science, mathematics, has the same root, the same mind – the same itch.
You may scratch yourself one way, somebody else may do it differently, but the itch has to be understood. The itch is the belief that existence is not a mystery.
Mind can feel at home only if somehow existence is demystified.
Ideas are substitutes for where life is mysterious and you find gaps that cannot be filled with reality. You fill those gaps with ideas; and at least you start feeling satisfied that life is understood.
But is is not possible. Whatever you do, life is a mystery and is going to remain a mystery.
The Necessity Of Facing Pain
Photo: azarius
Norman Fischer, a Zen teacher recently returned from a meditation retreat, offers his views on why it’s important to tackle life’s problems head on.
If you live long enough you will discover the great secret we all hate to admit: life is inherently tough. Difficult things happen. You lose your job or your money or your spouse. You get old, you get sick, you die.
You slog through your days beleaguered and reactive even when there are no noticeable disasters — a normal day has its many large and small annoyances, and the world, if you care to notice, and it is difficult not to, is burning.
The people at the retreat were not in crisis — at least no more than anyone else. They are people who have made the practice of Zen meditation a regular part of their daily routine, and come here not to forget about their troubles and pressures, but for the opposite reason: to meet them head on, to digest and clarify them. Why would they want to do this?
Because it turns out that facing pain — not denial, not running in the opposite direction — is a practical necessity.
Read the full piece here.
20 Questions, Age 28
Photo: oliphant
These questions are in response to a post on Brave New Traveler, asking readers to chronicle their current spiritual beliefs.
1. Why is there poverty and suffering in the world?
There is poverty and suffering because it serves as a catalyst for people to learn and grow. Buddhists would say it exists because of karmic debts that need to be repaid.
2. What is the relationship between science and religion?
Science is a secular religion that confirms much of what tradition already knows. The “knowing” gives meaning to human existence and our place in the world. The terms may be new, but the wisdom is old.
3. Why are so many people depressed?
People are depressed because they search for fulfillment in the wrong places. They are continually told, through media/society/peers to look somewhere other than themselves. They are distracted by external stimuli, rather than finding peace within.
The Need For Existential Understanding
Photo: questfortheheartstone
“You are all here tonight, because you are here,” began Adyashanti, a spiritual teacher speaking in St. Andrew’s church in downtown Vancouver last Tuesday.
“Why did you come? It doesn’t matter. What matters is you are here.”
Adyashanti sat behind a microphone, with close to two hundred faces watching him from the pews. I occupied a seat on the side, accompanied by a friend. Some of the attendees closed their eyes, attempting to focus more on the words than the man himself.
He appeared in his late 40′s, quiet and unassuming with a shaved head and piercing eyes. He proceeded to speak on the nature of the universe, the spiritual quest, and the problem with wanting to “know the unknowable.”
I appreciated his words and his occasional jokes. (At one point he compared the human body to a 1970′s Cadillac: we love to consume). If you’ve read any Eckhart Tolle then you understand much of Adyashanti’s philosophy on ego and awareness.
It wasn’t until the end of the talk and the beginning of the question period that the evening really felt alive.
In Defense Of Flexitarian-ism
A few years ago, I decided to band together with my wife and become vegetarian. Prior to this, I hadn’t attributed much thought to my diet. (For instance, I would routinely return home after a late night DJ’ing and warm a few Pizza Pockets in the microwave).
My decision was motivated by a few reasons:
- My wife is a much better cook than me; by adopting her already mostly vegetarian meals I instantly expanded my culinary pallette tenfold.
- I was set to complete a 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat, which served only vegetarian food; I figured I may as well prepare my stomach.
- I knew vaguely about the meat industrial complex, and no longer wished to support such a cruel system.
And so we tried it. We became “vegetarian.”
About Ian
Ian MacKenzie is a filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. He shoots video journalism, documentary films, and original webseries. He also blogs about pop culture, new media, philosophy, and religion. Read more →
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Popular Posts
Flickr Photos
Search Archives
Categories
- Activism (4)
- Alternative (6)
- Blog (26)
- Clips (9)
- Featuring Me (15)
- Films (15)
- Green (3)
- Interviews (3)
- Just For Fun (7)
- Music (3)
- New Media (10)
- News (4)
- Personal Musings (17)
- Philosophy (36)
- Photography (6)
- Politics (17)
- Quotes (6)
- Science (2)
- Traveling (8)
- Twitter (5)
