Flowing vs. forcing: why religion strips my screw

A few days ago, after much procrastinating, I finally put up a new towel rack in our upstairs bathroom. The screws were going into wood, not drywall. The pilot hole I drilled was a tad too small. Once I screwed the screw halfway, I felt a lot of resistance.

I’ve stripped enough screw heads in my day to have learned a lesson: don’t force the situation. Yes, it may seem like it’d save time to try to muscle the screw the rest of the way in. But once you’ve screwed up a screw, it usually is a lot more work to fix the problem than to start over and proceed flowingly.

So I took the screw out. Drilled a slightly larger pilot hole. And soon had the towel rack up. I just wish my philosophy of life could be assembled and made functional as easily. Well, perhaps it can. Especially if I flow rather than force.

This morning I read the December 2006 “Western U.S.A. Newsletter” of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the religious group that I joined back in 1971. I still get the newsletter even though I’ve become a RSSB heretic.

For much the same reason I listen to conservative talk radio, I enjoy being exposed to ideas I disagree with. Sensing a yuck! reaction in my mind tells me that if I flip the stimulus around, I’ll likely end up with a yum! Here’s a quote from Vincent Savarese that struck me as yucky:

To remember the Master and Lord at all times and to trust in that Will requires constant vigilance, dedication, love and devotion…in short, tremendous effort and exertion of personal will.

Another quote from a RSSB guru, Jagat Singh, also was a turnoff:

Listen, good people, fight with your mind! Bring an enemy under control and he becomes a friend. If you grab hold of him, knock him down and get on top, only then will he beg for mercy.

Way too much force is being called for here. It’s no wonder so many spiritual aspirants get themselves stripped by a dogmatic, demanding religious practice. Where’s the love, compassion, composure, and relaxation?

Everyday life teaches us that exertion and fighting only get us so far—a little ways—especially when the entity we’re striving to combat is our own self. There’s not much sense in me waging a war against me. Yet this is what dualistic religions ask us to do: battle against our sins and shortcomings as if they were external enemies.

Another of my husbandly handyman chores is cleaning the gutters. I use a backpack blower. It works great. Walking along the edge of the roof, I enjoy seeing the leaves, needles, and other debris cascading out of the gutter.

I also enjoy sensing the silence in my mind, especially when I get to the two-story sides of our house. My attention becomes effortlessly focused on the job at hand. I’m fully aware of every step I take, of how my shoes are adhering to the shingled roof, of where my center of gravity is, of how much I need to lean in order to properly position the blower’s nozzle.

There’s no thought of God. Nor of a guru, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Tao, or an angel. There’s no room for any of that in my gutter-cleaning consciousness. If I took Savarese’s advice “to remember the Master and Lord at all times” I’d be at much greater risk of falling off the roof.

As Howard said in a recent post, B.S. means Belief System. Beliefs require force. Force requires energy. We only have so much psychic energy, or attention, at our disposal. When that is diverted into B.S., less is left for our important work: living and learning in the real world.

If a master or god had been up there on the roof with me, of necessity I would have taken them into consideration (don’t want to trip over another being when it’s a long ways to the ground). But I didn’t see such. So I flowed with the task at hand and didn’t force reality to be anything more than what it was.

Over on the Radhasoami Studies discussion group, triestestudent shared an interesting excerpt from Krishnamurti's writings about “The Attentive Mind.” I’m looking forward to reading its continuation. Here’s a sample:

The attention which is generally advocated, practiced or indulged in is a narrowing-down of the mind to a point, which is a process of exclusion. When you make an effort to pay attention, you are really resisting something - the desire to look out of the window, to see who is coming in, and so on. Part of your energy has already gone in resistance.

You build a wall around your mind to make it concentrate completely on a particular thing, and you call this the disciplining of the mind to pay attention. You try to exclude from the mind every thought but the one on which you want it to be wholly concentrated. That is what most people mean by paying attention.

But I think there is a different kind of attention, a state of mind which is not exclusive, which does not shut out anything; and because there is no resistance, the mind is capable of much greater attention. But attention without resistance does not mean the attention of absorption.

The kind of attention which I would like to discuss is entirely different from what we usually mean by attention, and it has immense possibilities because it is not exclusive.

When you concentrate on a subject, on a talk, on a conversation, consciously or unconsciously you build a wall of resistance against the intrusion of other thoughts, and so your mind is not wholly there; it is only partially there, however much attention you pay because part of your mind is resisting any intrusion, any deviation or distraction.

Let us begin the other way around. Do you know what distraction is? You want to pay attention to what you are reading, but your mind is distracted by some noise outside and you look out of the window. When you want to concentrate on something and your mind wanders off, the wandering off is called distraction; then part of your mind resists the so-called distraction and there is a waste of energy in that resistance.

Whereas, if you are aware of every moment of the mind from moment to moment then there is no such thing as distraction at any time and the energy of the mind is not wasted in resisting something. So it is important to find out what attention really is.

Yes, absolutely. It’s ridiculous, B.S., to believe that you’re paying attention to God or some other supposed divinity when you have no idea of what “attention” truly consists of (leaving aside the secondary problem of how one attends to something that isn’t in attendance).

When awareness flows freely without being dammed up or diverted by forced egotistical demands, it’s like turning a screw almost effortlessly. When religion gets into the game, forcing square pegs into round holes, it’s like stripping the head and getting stuck (excuse the mixed metaphors).

Comments

[Arlo R. Hansen]

Brian, overall, you just make good sense!

[Spark]

Very big point of view. We are ever struggled by rage towards our ex. And this is wrong. Our ex have ever something to teach us.

[Edward]

I am trying to teach our son to focus his mental energy. At 16 years, he would rather do just about anything than school work after school. When I suggest that he read, he says, "I did, but I'm bored."

He's distracted: noises, memories, thirst, whatever. Not bored.

While I understand and appreciate the Krishnamurti quote above, when coaching my son, little steps first. He is not even aware that there is a difference between distraction and attention. You were walking, on many surfaces, long before you could achieve roof-walking jutsu.

Allowing the rest of the world to exist while we attend what is next at hand is a truly grand gesture.

[Brian]

Edward, good points. Focused concentration and unfocused awareness seem to be the yin and yang of consciousness.

One can't exist without the other. On the roof, my focus was on the task at hand. Yet within that sphere of concentration, I tried to be aware of everything that was going on.

A slip could have started from many sources: left leg, right leg, tipping from the high-centered weight of the backpack blower, strong gust of wind, slippery bit of moss, whatever.

In my daily meditation, I focus on a simple one-syllable mantra, Cloud of Unknowing-like. Yet in "Open Mind, Open Heart" style, I view this as a pointer toward...god knows what (I sure don't).

It's the emptiness between the utterings of the mantra that are the most intriguing. But if I didn't have the focus of that one word I'd be enmeshed in the usual ramblings of my mind--many words.

Anyway, per usual I've used many words to say something simple: focus and openness aren't opposed to each other.

[Roger]

I wonder, how much energy is being consumed while, "you are aware of every moment of the mind from moment to moment?"

How does that amount of energy compare to the energy needed when your mind is, "resisting something?"

[Edward]

do a double blind experiment!

Invite two people over, feed them kasha, or millet, and place them on two bath scales.

Then have one person release their focus into general awareness of things-as-they-are.

Have the other person resist something: non-union grapes; protons; electronics store advertisements.

Then see which one uses more energy, based on the calorie-to-weight ratio.

Whoever loses less weight than you do during the experiment wins a dolly.

[Roger]

in a spirit of fairness, I suggest, no I demand that the 2 bathroom scales be properly calibrated!!!

NIST recommends calibration procedure: ASTM E 319-85.

[R Blog]

How do you use a leaf blower on your gutters without making an unholy mess? They must be wet and mucky. Doesn't the side of house get gunk on it?

[Brian]

R Blog/Randy, no, not at all--no gunk, no mess. Except on a few paver stone walkways and our deck. There I use the blower to clean the leaves, etc. off after climbing down from the roof.

We have wide eaves. Maybe that's why the blower works so well for me. But even so, the blower shoots the gutter contents quite a bit sideways. It never comes close to the side of the house, so far as I can tell.

That Stihl blower has changed my gutter cleaning life. I was happy with my Ryobi handheld blower; I'm ecstatic with the Stihl.

The Stihl also starts like a charm. I was reduced to putting the Ryobi inside our house for fifteen minutes before trying to start it, as it was a mother to get going when it was cold outside.

[R Blog]

Very interesting. May have to try that technique. I do like my Stihl chainsaw though the next purchase is going to be a Shindaiwa 450 brush cutter. I got to try one of these babies out recently. It cuts like a samarai sword. And now, back to churchlessness...

[Howard]

This reminds me of the all too common belief that spirituality is suffering. This damaging understanding can be found in most religions. To me and to any religious leaders for whom I have any affinity God is love and gentleness, not guilt, white knuckling effort, and self flagellation. Sadly Mr. Sevarese is only encouraging rejection of the belief system that he espouses. Comments like this don't serve anyone, rather they drive people away. Neither Gurinder nor Charan Singh would say anything like that. I believe the Jagat Singh quote is from one of his satsangs in "Science of the Soul" which are based on very questionable sources anyway. I just know this does not sound like something a lover of God would say. I don't bother to read those newsletters because they fail so miserably in reflecting the teachings they are supposed to illuminate. This is often where you find the R.S. B.S. in its purest form. You can't blame Mr. Sevares, you can only teach what you know and the ones who know would not be on a Blog, writing newsletters, or otherwise intellectualizing spirituality.

[benandante]

"...you can only teach what you know and the ones who know would not be on a Blog, writing newsletters, or otherwise intellectualizing spirituality..."

Hmmm, you said it honey, not me!

Wow, first Colbert and now this? serendipity, thy name is Churchless!

;~) Jeanine

[Roger]

Jeanine,
Loved your above remark...........that was so good.........thanks for the friday morning giggles!!! Roger

[tao]

"...you can only teach what you know and the ones who know would not be on a Blog, writing newsletters, or otherwise intellectualizing spirituality..."

I do not agree. Knowing does not inhibit one from communicating or discussing anything, including spirituality. True knowledge is not an inhibition to any activity or endeavor.

[doctor heal does the jerk]

And tell the unfortunates (like the misses) that even the Master has to take a dump,kill time, go to movies,etc May as well be on a related topic (as misnomed as they may be). I gave up TV and this damn thing is next. "So yes this is XMas and what have you learned?" Doctor heal thyself.