The Paradox of Truth

Many people are concerned that if they engage themselves in spiritual practice, they will lose their edge or stamina to perform in the mundane world.  In truth, spiritual practice should not deter us from goal setting or the strive for achievements.  In fact, whether it is to facilitate our advancement and evolution as an individual or a community, we need to have ambitions and worldly attainments.  But how can we integrate this into our practice so that it can also elevate us to the next spiritual level?  It is derived from our realisation and trust that we only need to deliver what we can one step at a time, and yet not be consumed by the results.  That is, you can still visualise your goals as vividly as you wish and have the grandest plan in the world but you are not fearful or worried about not achieving them.

Sounds like a paradox.  Yet such realisation and faith can only come with our understanding of the true definition of what is "good" for us.  Whatever that will happen, when it will happen and how it will happen is always and can only be for our highest good.  As the highest good is unknown to us and goes beyond the physical level, it is not subject to the interpretation of this world.  It is thus not out of the conventional implication of "good" or "bad", though we are always progressing on the spiritual path if we are open to the experiences.  Only when we we accept this can the cosmic plan be in true harmony with that of the individual.  

Feeling your Emotions

In the mundane world, we often use the word emotions and feelings interchangeably.  While I have always reminded myself not to be too hung up on diction, vocabulary and thus concepts, I do think it could be helpful at times when we can clarify certain misconceptions.  After all, the right view does help us to transform knowledge into knowing through our experiences, and consequently, create the right mindset.

Emotions are complex, messy and multi-facted, and exactly why most people shun away from them.  They may put heir emotions in exile, dismiss them or be in denial.  For some, they simply shut down and opt for numbness.  Whatever way you have chosen to mishandle your emotions in the past, it is through understanding them that you can reconnect with yourself.  

So often we have realised that there is an stimuli (external or internal) that triggers us and sends us right off to a reaction, almost happening as a knee-jerk reflex within seconds if not less.  If we were to play the entire episode in slow motion, what has really happened if that we have conducted an internal dialogue associated with criticism, blame or judgement in accordance to your belief system.  What has arisen next are physiological reactions like heart palpitations, rise in body temperature, churning stomach, muscle tension, etc etc.  At this juncture emotions are experienced automatically and unconsciously, and what are called emotions are no more than a cognitive label to those physiological arousal.  They are literally energy in motion (e-motion) and its French derivative émouvoir has a similar connotation which means to stir up.  So in a nutshell, emotions are snapshots of our physical state.  

When the brain interprets the emotions and connect with them, feelings occur.  Feelings are a totally right-brain matter and always counterintuitive to logic and reason, precisely the reason we compartmentalise them in the closet.  But of course, if unrecognised, they remain stored at the cellular level and could manifest in a physiological way as the initial response was at a somatic level.  You can now see how feelings are formed by emotions or rather, are their by-product.  The act of assessing and naming an emotion will transform it into an object of introspection and consequently make it less intense.  The moment you allow them to rear their head and embrace them, their substance change, almost alchemically.  It is just how we are naturally wired to pull ourselves out of the emotional quagmire so that we can sit back and let our mind, body and soul collaborate.  

Hence emotions without conscious feelings would not suffice, and would be analogous to having all the ingredients for a great recipe but without the chef.  The emotional impetus is a precursor for evolution, both individually or collectively.  We need them as barometers for decision-making and human advancement.  The emotional regulatory process is in place, and it is a matter of what we can learn from them and whether we can accept them wholeheartedly.

  

Adept at Adapting

Human beings are simply born to adapt, and in miraculous ways beyond our imagination. Mankind faces the same adaptive challenges as all organisms and can genetically adapt to different environment for survival purposes.  Look across people of different geographical and ethnic background and you can see how our body form adapts to our habitat and climate as in animals.  Like, for instance, how tropical habitats are typically tall and lean to lose heat, and artic and mountain are shorter and wider for heat conservation.  To add on to our physical resiliency, there are disease resistance genes and diet-related genes to suit environmental challenges and stress.

So how about our response to emotional stress and challenges?  How can we respond to them in a way that does not get us out of whack?  If we can modify our physical attributes to changes associated with the environment, we also have the ability to maintain a condition of balance and equilibrium within us internally for emotional survival.  With faith and willingness, we have the blueprint, or rather the birthright, to bring ourselves back to a homeostatic state