Fake Compassion or True Compassion

As part of my 2020 focus on Agape, I want to continue the exploration by diving more deeply into compassion. I began in January saying that the word that comes to us in the New Testament often translated as Love or Charity is the Greek word Agape. (See the original blog article). However, as often is the case, some of the words from more ancient languages have no English equivalent. The word agape could also be translated as compassion (and is, when it talks about Jesus having compassion when he saw his people lost in illusion).

Our culture typically has an incorrect view of compassion. Often compassion is confused with sympathy, empathy, needing to share the feeling of the person that is suffering. Often, compassion is considered “doing the kind thing” or maybe even doing nothing and allowing others to abuse us.

I want to differentiate the common meaning of compassion with the meaning that comes down from the ancient traditions of Enlightenment. First, True Compassion at its most profound is the ability to recognize the suffering, to desire the end of suffering, to be motivated by transcendental wisdom as well as unconditional love which requires a direct connection to the Source, and then, to be willing to do anything necessary to end the suffering of the world.

Someone has said that if we were to name the masculine and feminine aspects of God, they could respectively be called Loving Intelligence and Intelligent Love. That sets the tone for True Compassion. See the list:

Here are some thoughts on fake compassion vs True Compassion.

Fake compassion	True Compassion
I’m doing something	Non-dual, Non-doing
Is emotion or feeling	Result of meditative practice; immovable
Needs/desires recognition	No Expectations, no reciprocity required
Help give them what they think they want	Raises their consciousness (their true desire)
Comes from a feeling of concern, caring	Unconditional Love plus wisdom from Source
Directed to the individual	Goes to all sentient beings
Idealistic	Authentic from complete innocence
Limits of how we (little “s” self) can help	Transcendental wisdom without limits
Contains our stresses and judgments	Ahimsa, non-violence (no judgments)
Arises from our concern for a person	Arises from all above as well as desire to end the suffering of the world

When you see the above list, you will realize compassion is not something the little ‘s’ self can do, not something that can be done from the intellect. True Compassion requires a direct connection to the Source of All That Is. It would require a person to get out of the way, let go of any ideas they have, it would require higher states of consciousness as well as a complete surrender to the Will of God.

More articles coming on Agape and compassion.

What Lies Do You Believe?

Our senses lie to us! You may not have ever thought about this concept. We don’t discuss it very often. Many may not even realize that our senses lie to us. And even more important, why do we care? 

· If we were to believe our senses, we would believe that the sun revolves around the earth, right?

· Our senses report that our desk, our possessions, even our body is solid, but physics tells us that is not true. Physical matter is more energy than substance. In fact, if you were to take all the solid matter out of the earth, physics tells us it would be about the size of a golf ball! The rest is just empty space or energy.

· We even see what we expect to see, an example from sports is the “change-up pitch” in baseball. The changeup is typically thrown after a fastball; the batter seeing the identical fastball arm and body-movement from the pitcher expects to see another fastball and swings wildly but misses the slower ball.

· And then there’s the reticular activating system, that part of our brain that helps us make sense of our world. In any moment, there are 4 billion pieces of data available to us through our subconscious mind, but the conscious mind is able to make sense of only about 2000 pieces of data at a time. So that ever helpful reticular activating system strips away everything that does NOT comply with our belief system! For example, I knew a young charming man who kept repeating “No one loves me”, but I saw many examples of people that loved him. He could not perceive any of that love.

· The human eye can only see a small bandwidth of the very large light spectrum. We are unable to see infrared, ultraviolet, etc.

· Albert Einstein said, “A human being is part of the whole, called by us “universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness”.

What we have come to believe, based on our experiences, may not necessarily be true. Our knowledge of the world is changing at an ever-accelerating rate. What was certain fact yesterday is today questioned and may be refuted tomorrow.

Why is it important?

First of all, based on what our senses report, we believe we are isolated in space and time from one another; we think we are separate from others and our world. Because this is our perception and belief, we conclude that it is difficult or impossible to influence life; we believe that it is only with great expenditures of energy, time (and often suffering) that we can make things happen in our world. This is why we are astonished when someone has “spontaneous remission” of a terminal disease by changing their mindset. (Did you know that 20% of breast cancer heals by spontaneous remission?)

The type of mindset we have determines the quality of life we experience. Many beliefs are so far below the surface that you may not even be aware of them. This is why many see themselves as victims rather than as Co-Creator with the Universe.

Our beliefs hold things in place – our diseases, our tired aging body, our “out of harmony” relationships, etc. It is called the law of sowing and reaping. We can only change the fruit by changing the seed we plant.

What kind of life are you experiencing? Thoughts, especially strong emotionally based thoughts, plant seeds into the universe that sprout around us. If we plant tomato seeds, we get tomatoes!

Practicing The Art of Ascension not only plants new seeds of praise, gratitude, love, and compassion, but it also cuts the roots of our old belief system as it brings us to the Source of All Being. It changes the direction of our mind from revolving around the racetrack wasting time and energy to cutting through everything to find the Source of Creation. All that is required to move into higher states of consciousness is to retrain the mind to move vertically inward. The techniques of Ishayas’ Ascension can accomplish this. All that is required is a functioning nervous system, valid tools,  a commitment to learn and use them to begin the process toward freedom.

TOXIC EMOTIONS AND THINKING

Every time you have a thought, it is changing your brain and your body – for better or for worse. 

Dr. Carolyn Leaf has studied the human brain since 1981 and wrote a book about the effects of toxic thoughts. Below is a list from her book of common toxic thoughts: 

• "could-have", "would-have", "should-have" statements

• "if only" statements

• replaying situations that pained you or that haven't even occurred yet

• creating the unpredictable future

• making comments like "nothing ever goes right for me"; "everything I touch fails"; "I always mess up"

• Are you at cross-purposes with yourself - going through the motions, but not really committed to the goal, saying one thing but meaning another? How honest are you with yourself?

• How distorted is your thinking? Are you forming a personal identity around for example, a disease? Do you speak about "my arthritis", "my multiple sclerosis", "my heart problem"? [1]

On a surprising note, Dr. Aaron Beck believed that toxic emotions arise from three negative and incorrect beliefs that people commonly think:

1. I must do well

2. You must treat me well

3. The world must be easy [2]

Dr. Marion Diamond, another groundbreaking brain researcher, describes memory networks. In effect, these networks create "copies" of your "thought life" along with the emotions that the chemicals coursing through your bloodstream literally carry around your whole body like an information highway. Information molecules are then able to cause changes at the cellular level, actually restructuring the cell's makeup on the outside and the DNA on the inside. This is how diseases are able to take hold in the body. [3] The toxic waste that builds up actually distorts your memories!

The list of diseases and chronic disorders caused by toxic thoughts and emotions is quite long and includes all the major maladies of the day.

Unmaking or unlearning old belief patterns is extraordinarily difficult by consciously attempting to unmake them or change them.

But it is possible to change deep-seated belief patterns easily and effortlessly. This is done by the introduction of a few new seed thoughts. These seed thoughts have the unique and invaluable characteristic of systematically and effortlessly expanding the conscious boundaries of the individual’s mind. Each of these seed thoughts has the result of unmaking past belief patterns that keep our lives from unfolding in a healthy and harmonious way. Each of these seed thoughts, correctly practiced, causes the entire range of the personality to become aligned with the most basic force in the Universe.

"The Ascension Attitudes are designed to clear out past beliefs and behavior patterns that inhibit full mental and physical functioning. By effortlessly introducing these seed thoughts at a deep and refined level of thinking, the entire structure of the mental framework gradually and gracefully transforms to reflect Reality." [4]

_________________________________________________

[1]  Leaf, C. PhD, 2007.  Who Switched Off My Brain; controlling toxic thoughts and emotions.

[2]  Beck, A. et al., 1979. "Cognitive Therapy and Depression." New York: Gilford Press.

[3]  Diamond, M. and Hopson, J. 1999.  "Magic Trees of the Mind: How to nurture your child’s intelligence, creativity and healthy emotions from birth through adolescence." England: Plume.

[4]  MSI, Ascension

Power of choice

Dr. Carolyn Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist, has been researching the brain since 1981. She explains that as we journey through life, we must actively make choices about what thoughts to accept. Toxic memories take up space and affect the way you think as well as the way the brain functions. If you accept toxic thoughts, “you push it into a ‘memory tree’ of up to 200,000 branches. She shows a picture of the brain that has accepted a toxic thought. It looks like a tree, having many branches and looks dark and troubled.

Toxic thoughts spread through the body like a virus or vine, growing and twisting through other thoughts, all impacting your mind and body. Your immune system must activate and respond to it. She says it contains toxic emotions and toxic chemicals, increasing toxic load, creating abnormal brain patterns, foggy thinking, all of which are precursors to disease.

How do you accept a thought or belief? You’ve accepted a thought or belief when “you choose to ask, answer, discuss, and analyze to give meaning to”. Toxic thoughts create a forest of tangled trees that take up space in your brain, preventing the easy flow and development of creative thoughts.

Dr. Leaf says an unforgiving attitude can cause such things as high blood pressure, angina, strokes, and aneurysms. Saying or thinking things like “I can’t do it”, “I always mess up”, “things will never change”, “that’s not fair”, and “you always hurt me” overtime can make you sick. [1]


Dr. Leaf says everyone has the ability to become their own neurosurgeon! By our thinking and choosing, moment by moment, we are redesigning the landscape of our brain. Matter does not control us; we control matter through our thinking. Constantly thinking or talking about some pain reinforces those neuro-pathways and increases the number of receptors for pain in the body!

In Quantum Physics, the Copenhagen definition says, “you the observer outside the system have the power to collapse a probability into an actuality.” What we think and choose happens. Everything that happens in our life begins with a thought.

Most often choices come from a reaction to life circumstances; they are not truly creative, but originate from habits, co-dependence, and addictions. A fully realized person does not react. They act. Freed from self-destructive behavior patterns, beliefs, and judgments; one acts, creating flawlessly from the direct perception of the need of the moment. This is freedom.

What control we have over our world may be limited. But we do have complete control over how we use our own minds. We may have completely forgotten this fact; we may feel we are victims to forces, external and internal, that are quite beyond our control. But it is not so.

Making choices for freedom is more than just positive thinking. We can look for the “good things of life”, but we miss the Source of Life. We miss Life itself. If we think that peace & joy is the goal of life, we miss the point. If we are devoted to material gains or material posses­sions, the focus is on the temporary. All attention goes to the changing and not to that which never changes.

Regular practice of the Art of Ascension not only roots out these troubled trees, but takes the mind to the Source. Using the eyes-open practice gives a simple way to actively choose for Praise, Gratitude, Love or Compassion that will magnify the root of all Life; as a result, the old trees of duality atrophy and wither away. 

[1] Leaf, C. P. (2008). Who Switched Off My Brain? Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions.

 

Video Introduction to the Art of Ascension

Tired of “trying” to meditate but still want the benefits?


Do you desire a life lived from LOVE rather than FEAR?


What IF you could do this easily, effortlessly?

The Art of Ascension provides simple, yet extremely effective tools that can be used anywhere, anytime and work for anybody to speed and refine the process of growth of consciousness. They can be used as a meditation with the eyes closed which provides more rest than sleep...also they can be used throughout the day with eyes open, allowing you to be more effective and efficient. 

Here's more information.....

Accepting Toxic Thoughts Creates Twisted Forests in Nervous System

We don’t need to accept toxic thoughts

Toxic thoughts create Toxic Forests in the mind

Dr. Carolyn Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist, has been researching the brain since 1981. She explains that toxic memories take up space and affect the way you think as well as the way the brain functions. If you accept toxic thoughts, “you push it into a ‘memory tree’ of toxic chemicals.” She shows a picture of the brain that has accepted a toxic thought. It looks like a tree, having many branches and looks dark and troubled. She says it contains toxic emotions and toxic chemicals that can be a precursor to disease.

Dr. Leaf says an unforgiving attitude can cause such things as high blood pressure, angina, strokes and aneurysms. Saying or thinking things like “I can’t do it”, “I always mess up”, “things will never change”, and “that’s not fair” overtime can make you sick. [1]

As we journey through life, we must actively make choices about what thoughts we accept. How do you accept a thought or belief? You’ve accepted one when “you choose to ask, answer, discuss, and analyze to give meaning to”. Toxic thoughts create a forest of tangled trees that take up space in your brain, preventing the easy flow and development of creative thoughts.

Our life actions are based upon our internal thought life and the forest of trees. We react to life circumstances because our thought life is based on being a victim to our environment and ruminating on problems. A fully realized person does not react.  They act. Freed from self-destructive behavior patterns, beliefs and judgments, one acts, creating effortlessly from the direct perception of the need of the moment. This is freedom.

Making “good” choices is more than just positive thinking.  We can look for the “good things of life”, but miss the Source of Life.  We miss Life itself.  If we think that peace and joy is the goal of life, we miss the point.  If we are devoted to material gains or material posses­sions, the focus is on the temporary. All attention goes to the changing and not to that which never changes.

The Source of Life is Omnipresent, it is universal. It never changes. It exists inside every human heart, inside every human mind. It fills all of space and all of time with its wonderful radiance; there is no place it cannot be seen and fully known. Our role as self-conscious beings is to choose to look first for the Source of Life.

What control we have over our world may be limited. But we do have complete control over how we use our own minds. We may have completely forgotten this fact; we may feel we are victims of forces, external and internal, that are quite beyond our control. But it is not so.

A regular practice of Art of Ascension not only roots out these troubled trees, but takes the mind to the Source. Using the eyes-open practice gives a simple way to retrain the mind to look toward the Source of all Life. As a result, the old trees of duality and toxicity atrophy and wither away.

[1] Leaf, C. P. (2008). Who Switched Off My Brain? Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions.

Did you know humans make their own cannabinoid?

Did you know humans make their own cannabinoid?

Did you know there is a bliss chemical in human beings? Anandamide, the bliss chemical, is produced naturally when we pray, meditate, breath correctly, and are at peace with the world.  The name anandamide is taken from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means bliss.

In lay terms, research has found that the body has natural cannabis receptors.  This bliss chemical, a cannabinoid, is produced and consumed by your own system and has wondrous effects for your health and well-being, with no bad side effects. 

 What does anandamide do in the human? For starters: anxiety relief, appetite enhancement (compounds similar to anandamide have been discovered in dark chocolate), suppression of nausea, relief from the symptoms of glaucoma.  Anandamide is the chemical that gives you the "chills", the little orgasmic thrill you get from noticing something beautiful. It is the supreme pain killer and much stronger and more effective than morphine.   A study published in 1998 shows that anandamide inhibits human breast cancer cell proliferation.

How does that connect with the Art of Ascension?  MSI said “Praise leads to Bliss in the shortest possible time”.  We begin to live Praise, and life unfolds for us in ways that we previously could not imagine.  More of this human manufactured cannabinoid is being produced.  The first Ascension Attitude one learns is the Praise Attitude; that cuts away at our judgements about our experience of life, replacing judgement with appreciation.  Every time we use it, we are beginning to structure the highest state of consciousness.   

AGAPE aka Unconditional Love, Compassion, Mercy and more

AGAPE is my word for 2020. My word to meditate upon and to bring into every area of my life.

The Greek word AGAPE has no real English equivalent. Sometimes, AGAPE is translated as Love, but Love in English could be said to apply to your love for hot dogs, or any passing fancy that you “love” for a while but later dislike. Greek has at least 4 words that translate into the English word “love”.

The famous Love Chapter in the Bible (1 Corinthians 13) is about AGAPE/Love, coming from the original Greek. Some translations of AGAPE in that chapter use the word charity, for it comes from the space of giving compassion, with kindness and patience. This chapter clearly reminds us that without AGAPE/Love, we are nothing. Also, that perfect love that casts out fear (1 John 4:18), that's AGAPE /love, too, in the original Greek.

Jesus taught that someone seeking the Kingdom of God would:

· AGAPE/love God,

· AGAPE/love our neighbor as we AGAPE /love ourselves (and treat our neighbor as we treat ourselves)

· AGAPE/love our enemies.


Throughout the New Testament use of the word AGAPE brings the essence of never ending unconditional love, loving-kindness and mercy that is unfailing and totally undeserved. AGAPE is unconditional love; it is unfailing love. God is the source of AGAPE. God is AGAPE. Through AGAPE, we recognize that there is a force that connects us all, and if we allow that AGAPE/love to flow within that circle, it requires no reciprocation. 

With any ineffable word or concept, it often seems easier or more important to say what it is NOT. AGAPE/Love does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, and doesn’t keep a record of wrong-doings, is not easily angered, and is not self-seeking.

It has been said that AGAPE comes more from your will than from a feeling. I wholeheartedly agree with that. Unlike popular culture which believes it is a romantic feeling, it must be based on a voluntary choice followed by action, doing what is best for all no matter how you feel.

No matter what we feel, we can still ask for God's AGAPE/Love to fill us and to overflow into every area of our life. All we have to do then is accept and allow it to be. While it may be difficult to forgive within our own humanity, when we rely on God’s AGAPE/Love, forgiveness becomes an act of will.