Adi's Philosophy

Introduction

This will be a bit of a read. Frankly, I could write a book. Plainly though, I'm not in the business of making money or adding enough fluff to hit a certain number of pages. So here it is, my philosophy. It's often been my belief that philosophies, life lessons, or proverbs rarely have practical effect on one's life, which I still hold to. However, I do believe, a certain clear vision of reality, can inspire one to become. A philosophy can be a reminder for why we desire to seek, strive, and to begin to glimpse at the infinite. It can also provide to some degree, a container in which we can begin to make spiritual progress. A map to, as much as is possible, tell us where we are and where we might be headed.

Before I explain to you all my "beliefs" or observations and philosophy, I want to offer an introductory short to my philosophy from Osho. It may appear paradoxical at first, and you will see what I mean, offering this short at the beginning of a text concerning my philosophy. However as mystics we do seem to love to bathe in the waters of paradox, confusion, and contradiction. Resting there, we paradoxically again, seem to naturally begin finding the solution to all opposites.

I've offered three sections which follow a natural progression. One is to open the mind of the nonbeliever or uninitiated, another is to offer fundamentals for the one who has begun to seek, and another is to further develop and offer wisdom to those more mature. Be free to read any section and in any order you like.

For those who are skeptical or brand new to spirituality, start here

The concept of some non physical heaven or some obscure realm in a remote dimension is ridiculous. Everything in existence is physical, everything exists within this physical existence. You could argue that, in one sense, light is non-corporeal. Light however, still exists within the physical existence, within the observable universe. It is also ridiculous to think anything is, nor ever could be, beyond explanation or beyond the sphere of logic, like so many people do today.

However although all is sensible, all is reasonable, I know that I have had experiences far beyond anything that can be reasonably imparted by the placebo effect. Does that mean they are beyond logic? Of course not, but that does not mean some things might not be beyond our current understanding.

I am an idealist, a hedonist (in the true philosophical meaning of the word, not our current cultural definition), and a utilitarian. We understand the workings of many things in our world, concerning that which we do not yet understand, we must be capable of understanding some time in the future. However our capability to rationalize and measure does not mean that everything is devoid of value and that we live in a dead universe. It does not mean the impossibility of some penultimate experience of reality for which we are all searching. In our everyday lives there are things that have less and more value, and from value comes meaning. Nihilism is a baseless philosophy. Everything we do in life is for the purpose of running away from pain and pursuing pleasure. Whether it lives in the physical, mental, or emotional sphere of life, we will tend to run away from pain and chase pleasure or avoid the bad and seek the good.

The emotions which we feel greatly dictate our perspective and the consequent logical explanations that we have about the universe and the nature of reality. One who feels nihilistic and uncaring about the greater universe and many things might then support the neural pathways and the habitual thoughts that concretize his worldview that nothing matters, that everything is 1s and 0s and everything is cause and effect so that again, nothing matters. They might become very depressed or simply enjoy life as it comes and just live normally. One who feels the universe as quite absurd and wondrous might question more about the nature of reality and ask himself interesting questions. One might have an absurdist perspective and contemplate that we are spinning on a ball in randomly scattered galaxies. Of which are hanging in an empty void for which we have no explanation, and realizing that he is sitting here at a table talking with his friends with his vocal cords of which appeared at random through the process of evolution. They might find it quite perplexing and preposterous indeed. Reality however often escapes us, the unfiltered clearly seen reality of things is something that is so often colored by the emotional. Not to say that the emotional is invaluable for it can be great vehicles of pleasure and pain, from which we derive all value, but nevertheless positive or negative emotions can absolutely distort our perspective.

I have experienced spirituality has some real effect for me, something beyond any possible placebo. Even if I decided to sum all my experiences up to placebo, it doesn't take away the blissfulness and depth that I consistently experience from my meditative practice. It doesn't take away that feeling of magic, mystery, and grandeur which I experience dripping in a sea of living ecstasy.

Is god not just the highest thing? What could possibly be higher? Is this not god? Surely if this is arising from placebo we must raise this capability in our minds and let it hold the highest station as god itself. We do not call god, god, desiring to make any affirmative statements or theological conclusions, but rather because, having known these experiences, to call it anything lesser would be insulting. The exploitation of our minds' ability to directly affect the body and energies, when used in the concentration and contemplation of divine bliss, surely is the highest pursuit. Just as we earlier confirmed, that value is existent in our world, that we hold value pertaining to all things. We should understand that every cell in our body lives always suspended in a scale of most pleasant to most painful. It should then be our goal, as all philosophers of all religions and ages have propounded, to seek this good, this pleasure. To live in accordance with nature by seeking and searching and deepening our realization of the good. The highest realization thereof the philosophers beautifully and aptly called, the highest good. We call this 'god.'

Energy is real. For me perhaps spirituality is some manifestation of the electromagnetic force within our universe, some mechanisms which are beyond our current understanding. I am a very logical person, and these are some explanations to try and rationalize the possibility of the phenomenon which I have experienced and do experience.

Why is it so absurd that our mind affects our reality? I don't think it's absurd to directly experience and afterwards proclaim that through our own mental effort we can enter and remain in a place unscathed by the pains of life. You might also find it quite magical, quite preposterous, that our mind affects our reality. However it is completely evident that everything that you do, moving your arms, moving your legs, speaking, is evidence of your mind's effect on the physical world through the medium of your nervous system. If we now wave our hand, in a strange way, and to a small degree, we are affecting reality with our mind. Being logically consistent and expanding this idea, it might seem quite magical that we are able to affect our physical state through our "will." Nevertheless, in this same way we are able to affect our physical state, we can affect our mental state. We as well can affect the seat of our emotions and the quality of our experience of life, and the seat from which all experience arises.

Tapping directly into source which inspires everything we experience, and dramatically altering the mind, we dramatically alter our experience and the quality of our experience, i.e. how pleasant or unpleasant this experience is. And by gaining further and further control of the mind, we can dive deeper and deeper into pleasant states of experience. All that we know, all that exists for us, from which all pleasant or unpleasant experiences can arise is within ourselves. Seneca the famous Roman (stoic) philosopher says,

The happy man is he who recognizes no good and evil other than a good and an evil mind.

When one contemplates on their worldview enough, when one becomes a deep thinker on the metaphysical (branch of philosophy) topics, first one accepts that god is indeed possible, then they consider the probability. If they find themselves witness to countless anecdotal evidences of the experiences of others, knowing of 'god' or bliss in meditation, they then might decide to take up the practice. And finally if they experience a drop of this beautiful nectar, then surely they will have no doubt in their mind of this reality. Every brain cell, enraptured and inflamed, will turn itself towards the direction of what the philosophers of old called "The Good", and when every brain cell turns itself toward "The Great Force" one will be submerged in bliss.

Plato, from Phaedrus —

Of the heaven which is above the heavens, what earthly poet ever did or ever will sing worthily? It is such as I will describe; for I must dare to speak the truth, when truth is my theme. There abides the very being itself with which true knowledge is concerned; the colorless, formless, intangible essence, visible only to mind, the pilot of the soul. The divine intelligence, being nurtured upon mind and pure knowledge, and the intelligence of every soul which is capable of receiving the food proper to it, rejoices at beholding reality, and once more gazing upon truth, is replenished and made glad, until the revolution of the worlds brings her round again to the same place. In the revolution she beholds justice, and temperance, and knowledge absolute, not in the form of generation or of relation, which men call existence, but of knowledge absolute in existence absolute; and beholding the other true existences in like manner, and feasting upon them, she passes down into the interior of the heavens and returns home. . . .

This is "heaven" and it is within you.

At the end of the matrix there is the quote from the Upanishads:

Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

From Untruth to Truth. From Darkness to Light.
(From Ignorance to Enlightenment)
From Mortality to Immortality
May I be lead
Aum…Peace…Peace…Peace.

Surely what has enraptured the minds for generations, the engagement of the mind with the highest reality, in its crude form manifested as religion, has been popular for so long within the human race, not because of man's historical unintelligence. The intelligence we might have gained within the last two thousand years is negligible, but rather this is because of the all-attractive mystical experiences from which it imparts. This is logically the only explanation and the true explanation for this phenomenon. The decline of spirituality is caused by nothing other than an insidious amalgamation of the spreading of incorrect knowledge, and the decline of virtue of which I may expound on later in others writings.

Finally, I will conclude with a quote from Bertrand Russell, certainly one of the most renowned philosophers of the modern age.

The mystic emotion, if it is freed from unwarranted beliefs, and not so overwhelming as to remove a man wholly from the ordinary business of life, may give something of very great value - the same kind of thing though in heightened form, that is given by contemplation. Breadth and calm and profundity may all have their source in this emotion, in which, for the moment, all self-centered desire is dead, and the mind becomes a mirror for the vastness of the universe. Those who have had this experience, and believe it to be bound up unavoidably with assertions about the nature of the universe, naturally cling to these assertions. I believe myself that the assertions are inessential, and that there is no reason to believe them true. I cannot admit any method of arriving at truth except that of science, but in the realm of the emotions I do not deny the value of the experiences which have given rise to religion. Though association with false beliefs, they have led to much evil as well as good; freed from this association, it may be hoped that the good alone will remain.

For those who have just begun to seek, start here

Practical Spirituality — Philosophy and ideas are nice and can sometimes be helpful, but most important in exploring spirituality we should look towards what is most practical and grounded. That which will create a deep change within us and benefit those around us. If we only concern ourselves with spiritual ideas and nothing becomes practical, we aren't living spirituality, simply hearing about it.

Mysticism is universal — Mysticism is the direct experience of god, bliss, peace, silence… it is the direct experience that changes you, from within, so that you become enabled to become a "light unto the world." This is where the bliss and joy comes from. Many people wonder why anyone would decide to become a monk or dedicate their life to spirituality and meditation or prayer… this is why. There is no greater high than to be high on life, high on god, high on the most high. All religions in their inner portions teach the same mystical practices with some slight variations or different explanations, but they all share a few common core practices. Love and bliss are universal experiences.

You are not already enlightened (kinda) — I've heard it often said just be you, just live your life. The real spiritual life is to simply let go and live your life. You are already enlightened. There are many stories that explain that spirituality is a realization. But those spontaneous realizations happened after years of diligent practice. We must be grounded. On some higher level yes you are already enlightened, but in time and space if wake up one day and decide we are enlightened we are fooling ourselves because we are not yet dripping in ecstasy unceasingly moment to moment or completely free of all of the fetters and bondages (greed, anger, lust, pride etc). Again, spirituality is very much real and practical, and if we get lost in ideas, concepts, and fantasy then we haven't grounded our spirituality.. spirituality becoming immediate experience.

There is no "you" — I've heard concerns that people are afraid of losing their personalities, or the things that make them.. them. However you should first ask who are you? When someone tells me I'm an anxious person, it is hard for me to believe. A person experiences anxiety, but anxiety can never be you. Once when you were a child you might have felt completely different, more joyous and happy. Yet you were always you. The personalities we take on from different experiences and belief systems are not us, who we truly are. We are the watcher, the I-feeling, we are identity itself. If we realize we change all the time, every single day, and we are not afraid of stepping into the light and becoming more joyful and our personality raising, then we will do so and reap great rewards. The you will always be you, and that is fixed, but don't be afraid of your personality shell changing and evolving, as it always does anyway.

Pleasure seeking — People often don't want to give up their pleasures, people want to stay comfortable. What people don't realize is that the spiritual life is the most easeful, pleasant life one could live. This is what the philosophers called the good life. We don't forego small pleasures or do difficult meditation or fast, or serve others, or do ascetic practices because we hate ourselves or hate pleasure. It is to the contrary, it's because we realize that actually our life becomes many fold times more pleasant living in this way. Yogis are not against pleasure, they are just against small pleasures.

Nihilism — Nihilism is actually fundamentally opposite to the life process. Every cell in our body is seeking pleasure and dislikes pain. We ourselves desire pleasure and dislike pain. All life is seeking pleasure, energy (food), and runs from pain and death. The only exceptions within humans are twisted distortions of nature, like those who are masochists, but even then.. they are still deriving mental pleasure from that. Whether it's physical pleasure, mental pleasure, or more meaningful emotional pleasure, this is where we derive our meaning. With the spiritual pursuit we are not capped out at a certain amount of pleasure and are given further clarity as to the purpose of life, the pursuit and realization of what the philosophers called "the highest good" or the highest most pleasurable life.

You might feel alone — Most people won't understand you and try to talk to them about these things and they will think you believe in fairy tales. That's fine, everyone is not awake, and if you get out there you will find your soul tribe.

There are a lot of distractions out there — Lots of sub-niches within spirituality are not related to the stream of spiritual thought that has flown throughout the past centuries. There are lots of new strange ideas out there, which are beautiful and some can be fruitful, but hold discernment as to what is real, practical, as to what is beneficial.

This is it — If you are embarking on a spiritual journey, I am excited for you. Finding genuine spirituality, it is as if you have found buried treasure.

Different ancient cultures performed their best attempt, and did relatively well, at attempting to map the self, universe, and nature. They came up with different theories and ideas which they utilized in their medical and spiritual systems to chart progress and better understand the world. They often understood things quite well, and were far more intelligent than we give them credit for. We lack understanding more so due to our distance in time rather than in intelligence. For example, you may find the element system quite naive, however, even today we still teach it in another form. In class you learned about solid, liquid, plasma, gas, electricity, and different states or aspects of nature. Classically they already understood these states intuitively, describing them in ways we are too quick to write off, each of those states of matter maps, respectively, to the ancient elements of earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

I've been exploring spirituality for over 10+ years, from my seeking, this is the most definitive chart for the natural energies and a map of the human energy, I have taken ideas inspired by nature, philosophies, and both Taoist and Hindu systems. Each of the 7 practices listed balances one of the layers of your being and harmonizes you with the associated natural energy.

For those who are more adept spiritually, start here

The body is important — Aligning your body and spine allows energy to flow freely, increasing concentrative power in meditation and proper balance of the hormonal secretions related to the vrittis associated with each chakra. A solid practice combining yoga, followed by qigong is unreasonably effective for this purpose. Combined with some weight training or strenuous exercise can create an extremely healthy stable body, the foundation for spiritual practice and high energy spiritual states.

Follow your soul — Try to avoid getting sucked into any dogmatic ideas or limiting beliefs. Scriptures, texts, it's all beneficial but take what helps you, what helps you love, and leave those ideas which bring you down. If you follow what you find rational, experimenting, while using your soul as a guide as to what practically works, you won't be led astray. Be a spiritual scientist.

There is always more out there — Honestly we are infinitely stupid… and that can be infinitely exciting. How many people have you talked to in your life? How many places have you been? Have you lived in one place your whole life? Have you talked to 10000 unique people in your life? There are 8 billion people… You have been to 1 country? There are almost 200… who knows how many states, principalities or whatever else exists. You haven't experienced the effects of practicing hidden knowledge? You haven't learnt Greek and read an ancient text in Greek? Gone to a far away library and found a book that changed your whole perspective? Sat in silence under the stars all night and know how that feels or what you would realize? Do you understand, truly understand? We are one lonely mind. There is a stream of thousands of years of human thought and exploration within the spiritual realms. Countless saints and sages who have connected their mind to the infinite and drawn down divine knowledge from the ethers. Relish in and drink from this stream of divine knowledge. Alongside your own soul, let it guide you.

Meditation is always the cornerstone

Desire isn't bad — Without desire we can never begin meditation. We can never embark on the spiritual path, we can never actually.. do anything at all. Desire is the essence of life itself and desire fulfilled in the infinite is enlightenment or liberation. The Buddha taught that attachment was the cause of all evil, but not desire. The more your desire for god union, for the infinite indescribable heavenly spheres, the more will be your awakening to and discovering of them.

Community is helpful — We will go through many ups and downs. Spiritual community helps us immensely in maintaining our spiritual practice.

Routine — Develop your own routine, your own rule of life, now.. not tomorrow. The deeper you go into spirituality the deeper will be your realization of this. So I am trying to share with you now the importance of the rule of life, of aligning ourselves with higher consciousness by aligning our mind, our body, and how we spend our time in that way. Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits. Align each layer with the infinite, and each of these aspects of ourselves will become fruitful for the flowering of bliss within us.

Love — Above all, love. But we must become love, so that it can overflow. It is not a giving out of a desire for recognition or approval. Love is a natural outpouring as a result of being inwardly full. Like a child sharing a toy with a friend, it's a natural desire to give out of inner fullness and joy. This is what exalts us most of all.

Contemplate the infinite — When one's individual mind contemplates infinite love or infinite consciousness one's individual mind becomes parallel to the cosmic mind.. and union.

If you are setting out on this road, know that you have found buried treasure — the pinnacle of all human seeking. There is no more blissful way to live than in seeking the infinite.

For it is only the finite that has wrought and suffered; the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Closing

Mysticism is simply the direct experience of god or higher/expanded states of consciousness. Really, almost any state of love, peace, or joy we could call mystical. However often mystics will gain access to those aforementioned emotions to levels beyond what any average muggle would likely experience. Alongside those deep feelings of love/bliss, is often an experience of peace, spirit, or something inexplicable.

Underlying all religions and present in all ages are teachings, practical exercises that allow the seeker to connect.

I see the universe as infinite, and when one begins to align one's individual geometry with the cosmic geometry, a sort of synchronization.. resonance, occurs. The fractal of the infinite, that one is, becomes resonant with the uncreated light and rises up the spheres into the heavens.

To explain everything here would be like trying to fit all of the library of congress onto a single page.. it's impossible. However, the goal is to align oneself, in mind, body, and spirit. It is very much real and when you experience the effects of different ancient esoteric practices.. like shambhavi mahamudra kriya, latihan, rajadhiraja sadhana, yoga asanas, rajadhiraja yoga, pranayama, brahmacharya, theurgy, the jhanas, vipassana, and on and on and on you will realize much, that there is something very tangible here. Each practice giving you a doorway a glimpse at the infinite from different angles, imbuing you with a different vibration or spirit as it were, another drug to add to the toolkit of the one who is mad enough to become intoxicated by the infinite. You've found something great, keep going.

And remember..

You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you too.
— Shrii Shrii Anandamurti