Feelings are highly addictive in and of themselves. As practitioners we must be wary of this and be out to steady our minds in the face of feelings rather than reflexly indulge in pleasure or to try to get away from pain. Body awareness helps – awareness of movement and posture. The physicality of the body has a steadying, grounding effect on feeling.

When feelings are not noted consciously they will turn into moods. Pain or discomfort will make us grumpy. When a pleasant feeling ends we will unhappy. With mindfulness however we can take feeling as information or feedback, and try to act skilfully. 

People who meditate to open up to their feelings over-sensitise and turn neurotic. They can also become confused as to which feelings are self-generated and which are a response to something or someone else. People can even imagine they are beginning to feel other people's feelings directly, as if feeling has become some kind of energy like electricity. This is all deluded. It is not possible to directly feel other people's feelings. This is not empathy. All feelings arise out of perception. Empathy comes from sharing the perception of another person, seeing something for a moment through their eyes. The most powerful feelings come from the most powerful perceptions. 

And a truly open mind is like a question, not an answer. 






I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

It seems that the use of the drug DMT is on the rise amongst people seeking spiritual experiences just like LSD was in the 1960s and 70s. However, because of the way it acts on the nervous system new claims are being made with regards DMT as to the nature of the drug experience. It is claimed that DMT removes filters that normally exist to real phenomena, rather than fabricating an experience. There are several facts that seem to go against this view. Firstly you can have a good or bad trip on DMT just the same as on acid, in fact all kinds of things can be experienced by different individuals. Secondly there is no evidence to show that people tripping on DMT together in the same place ever see the same visions. (Perhaps it is the case that a lack of such objective reality in any such ‘spiritual’ experience is being assumed.) Thirdly a person’s perception of reality is altered by DMT, it is not just that new realms of experience are added.

So overall DMT seems to be a very similar drug to LSD only more powerful by all accounts. 

Short term it may induce ‘high serotonin syndrome’, the symptoms of which are:

    • Confusion.
    • Agitation or restlessness.
    • Dilated pupils.
    • Headache.
    • Changes in blood pressure and/or temperature.
    • Nausea and/or vomiting.
    • Diarrhoea.
    • Rapid heart rate.

There is little evidence available on long-term effects of DMT but these may be assumed to be similar to LSD and involve the exacerbation of any underlying mental illness, and deluding effects such as ‘depersonalisation’ or ‘denormalisation’.





I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk/

​

An inspiring spiritual aesthetic suitably provides a stepping stone out of sensuality. 

Through art, like through the fairy tale, we either distort reality or free the mind from material reality, showing a parallel mental reality. Art can be a representation of the world or a mirror that points us back inside.

Then the intention is not to make the human abstract but to make the abstract human, not to fall under the spell of an ideal but make the ideal ordinary, adding beauty to the natural world, rooting the vertical dimension. 

We are looking for the point of intersection between the timeless and time, between space and form. The abstract is like giving form to space. The abstract can be trained to run parallel to the natural, material world – this is the taming, the softening of ideas. The perfect image can be too mental, imperfection is better, more human.









I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

One way of talking about mindfulness is as developing a mind that is continually referencing both inner and outer reality. In order to do this we place our minds in a particular place at the junction between the inner and outer worlds. One of the functions of meditation is to find this place and learn to hold the mind there. Traditionally we use a point of focus at the tip of the nose. We gently focus our eyes there, gathering our attention. From here we can learn to be aware of both inner and outer, keeping in touch with our feelings as we move our point of focus around. We can tend to over react to things, so clarity also comes from calming the mind, passing the cooling breath through this point.

When the mind is calm we can imagine and place our thoughts at this point and clearly feel them out as we meditate. Then, when the meditation is over, we can reach forward into the outer world with this focus, keeping in touch with the heart and seeing very clearly the heart's response to the world. We can be consciously comparing our inner image or memory of something with the outer reality. This is the function of perception which usually happens outside of our awareness and yet is the most influential function of the mind. If we can gain control over our perceptions we have control over our minds. 






I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk/

​

​It is a sad fact that I feel the need to caution people on the spiritual path against abuse. I will need to be honest, I think, even if it is uninspiring.

Caring for others in any walk of life can be a thankless task. If people read you as a caring person they will quickly come to you with all their problems. Then when they start feeling better they don't want to know you any more because they associate you with the problems. They will often accuse you of being negative even if you have always tried to encourage them. So if we are going to be carers we have to love it for its own sake or sell our services.

This is perhaps even more so these days. There is no doubt in my mind that mankind is becoming more selfish. As a monk I was largely withdrawn from society for many years. Returning to a more engaged life as an Abbot I really notice the difference. It is only in recent years that I have found myself badly used by others. It is a sad fact that the modern 'spiritual shopper' is capable of taking without even thinking of offering anything in return. Even members of a spiritual community can be like this, wanting more and more and wanting to give less and less.

I find this very sad but I have to survive. I find myself more and more cautious in what I offer before I see some sign of return and advise others to do the same. It seems to me that selfishness progresses naturally when someone cannot afford to be generous, knowing that they will receive nothing back for all their efforts, so I keep myself ready and eager to respond to anyone who appears to be an exception to this unfortunate trend. 






I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk/

Generosity is the beginning of the spiritual life. While we still have worldly, sensuous desires and priorities, we begin by sharing what we have with others. This is the first way we open the mind beyond ourselves. There can be a lot of joy in this. We can go further and start giving things away. We can begin to enjoy clearing things out and wonder why we held on to so much stuff. This can be our first real taste of renunciation.

A life of sharing brings us naturally closer to our fellow human beings. We consequently become more sensitive to how other people feel. We do not want to cause suffering in others and we feel naturally inclined to live a virtuous life. We thus develop a sense of contentment and a mind clear of regret. Rather we develop a mind that cares. This way is now more pleasant than the sensuous life, and our desires begin to naturally fade.

The fading of desire gives us a new set of eyes on the world, especially on the body. The mind free of desire sees the body very differently and we are led toward a life of renunciation, of complete freedom from desire.






I offer this for your reflection,
​
Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk/

Many people these days look for shortcuts on the spiritual path. They engage in extreme practices of one kind or another to try to get to some kind of special experience. Everyone I have met who goes this way (with my nearly 40 years in spiritual circles, this is a lot of people) ends up simply lost. Let us be charitable and assume for a moment that these shortcuts can take us to the right place (even if in most cases this is highly debatable). Then we can suggest an analogy: Imagine if I told you to run into the forest as fast and as far as you could go, not looking where you are going and without any kind of guide. For sure you would get somewhere quickly but you would not enjoy the journey and you would not know where you were or how you got there. You may not even be able to find your way back.

In contrast if we follow the path step by step, the journey is as pleasant as the destination, and we remain clear. We know where we are and how to find our way forward or back. Moreover the deepest spiritual experiences arise not just out of a particular event but out of a deep, direct understanding of the world and of our mind. And actually, the understanding as such is the most important but also the most pleasant aspect, the source of the highest, most stable bliss.
 
So even the best shortcuts look pretty limited in value to me; and the worst examples can, of course, be highly dangerous.








I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno 
http://www.openthesky.co.uk


​

At one extreme we have materialism, we are our body. On the other extreme we have eternalism, we are like space or light. In the latter case we have gone too far thinking, perhaps, that the body is a mistake. The body is not a mistake. It is the mind clinging to it that is the mistake. Right view, in the middle, is that we are the mind and may become part of the greater Mind, extending beyond the body – first of all as the body in a bright space. The Mind abides in space and is aware of the body rather than abiding in the body and being aware of space. This is the Mind that knows both space and objects within that space, the non-grasping mind. It is a mind that enters and abides in space, not by withdrawing from things, but through maintaining a proper relationship with everything within the space, through the light touch of detachment. 

Ultimate reality thus runs parallel to conventional reality. The Buddha is not in heaven looking down on the suffering of the world. The Buddha brings heaven down to Earth.
                                                     





I offer this for your reflection,
Ajahn Kalyāno
​
http://www.openthesky.co.uk/

A good meditation group is one in which there is a sense of group support, like a family. A bit of friendly competition is alright as well, we can see who can sit the longest! It is also a place to ask questions of a teacher and compare notes with our peers. In order to avoid boasting and unhealthy competition, questions within the group should be asked in a general way, not in a personal way. Personal questions are best kept for an individual interview with a teacher. The other aspect to avoid is gossip. We should keep the personal things shared by our spiritual companions to ourselves and only talk to the teacher if we are concerned and worried about something.

Ideally there should be a strict adherence to the five precepts within the group. This is a chance for people to try these out if they are not yet committed to these in their lives. Keeping the precepts is something that creates a stable foundation upon which a committed meditation practice can be built. And moreover, the precepts can keep a group free of unfortunate dramas!

The benefits of a group are underestimated. It can be great to find someone you can call and talk to about your practice, for example, someone with a similar inclination in practise or who is in a similar life situation, especially if you become a contemplative as well as a meditator.




​I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno 
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

Buddhism offers us the hope of finding a safe refuge beyond the body in the emptiness of the mind through letting go. Thus to a Buddhist who has faith the response to the possible end of the world or to the end of our lives is the same. Meditate, meditate before its too late!  For those with less faith in such an outcome but faith enough to meditate, the same practice can still win the refuge of a source of peace and stability of mind through difficult times. 

This path of faith is one way through it all that is like finding a way within our minds to blast off into space. Yet where will we end up? We don't know. 

And what about the world?

If we add wisdom to such faith we can realise that we can find a safe space, a refuge within the world. If the world survives or ends we can then we stay right where we are. Then we know where we will end up. We will end up right here. This emptiness here and now we can get to know and how it relates to any phenomenon that comes within it in a way that it remains empty. We can learn how to relate to all the movement of the world and remain still, at peace, secure. Then, here in this down to earth spirituality, compassion also flowers.

Wisdom takes us to the highest refuge. This is the wisdom that sees the impermanence of all things and lets go. The mind that lets go like this is then not withdrawn but detached. And yet to see and let go the mind must be able to look on from a safe refuge. Building such a refuge is therefore our task. 

 








I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno 
http://www.openthesky.co.uk