new site

I have started a new website called OneWord.

I am very happy with how Eternal Awareness evolved from its modest beginnings on Blogspot/Blogger to its modest place here on WordPress. And I also like that my very first post is still here, because it helps give me perspective. I can go back and see how I’ve changed or improved, whether in terms of self development, writing style or focus.

It’s funny, because in starting another site, I found myself wondering if I had abandoned Eternal Awareness. Eternal awareness is not, however, something that stops or goes away.

Eternal awareness is something that grows. In the beginning it is like starting a fire by hand - you get a few sparks going and then carefully nurture those first, timid embers into a warm flame.

My awareness fire began with very small sparks, so small I swore they weren’t there. But they were, and as they grew I realized a flame called deeper awareness was actually coming into view.

I have never presented myself or this site as an authority on eternal awareness. The name came about from a class I took. My original blog was inspired by my teacher, but the name was changed after I took a class on the Bhagavad Gita.

In the Gita, Krishna tells the forlorn Arjuna that he simply doesn’t understand the nature of what’s going on. Arjuna is faced with a terrible dilemma: his small army is facing a larger army whose ranks are filled with old friends and relatives. In awful despair, Arjuna is caught in a spot where he is powerless to fight. Krishna reprimands him, telling Arjuna it is not only his duty to fight, but his eternal duty to fight - that there is something of a higher perspective that he is supposed to kill.

To paraphrase Krishna, “Arjuna, you need a change in perspective. And the first thing you have to do is to become aware that you are an eternal being.”

I started thinking about that, and decided to try to do my small piece out of respect for Krishna and Arjuna’s great story. So, one of the things I did was to change the name of my site to Eternal Awareness. It’s funny how something small like that can help focus you. Eternal Awareness became a daily, weekly and monthly meditation - a working, everyday life mantra.

This site will stay up, and it is likely that I will become active here again. In the meantime, and through all of time and beyond, I hope your sparks grow into deeper and deeper awareness.

The value of a life

If you want to measure the value of a person’s life, look at the affect of their life on their world, on the people in their life. Look into their close relationships. Look at how they make other’s feel about themselves.

There is no need to wait until we die to stand before the so-called Seat of Judgment. It is all happening right now, in plain view.

Sharks, piranhas and couch potato wisdom

Attitude? Me? Are you kidding?

Spiritual blogs typically represent people who are sincerely seeking a deeper understanding of life and of their own self. While it is great to maintain a good sense of humor, the spiritual path is also serious including deep physical, emotional, mental and spiritual issues that are associated with such pursuits.

Many owners of spiritual blogs are guardedly hopeful in finding a community of like-minded seekers on the web. Why so guarded? Because they have been burned before – and not just by the annoying trolls, vampires and piranhas that circle the web, but also by religion, spouses, deception, disappointment, abuses and life traumas.

Too often, whether in blogging or in real life, there are people who feel compelled to mock such seekers, disguising their scorn through couch potato counseling, thinly veiling their shark-tooth bite with humor, sarcasm, wit and constant hints of their superior intelligence. This happens in various forms, both in blogging and in everyday life.

‘Spiritual junkies’ are an example of this. In a blogging context, they will sometimes float in and out under the disguise of being an anonymous commenter or hide behind a screen name, rarely using their real name. They seldom fool the seasoned bloggers in the crowd, but they can cause havoc on a site - usually much to their delight.

They post comments with an air of authority, but the comments are vaporous and shallow, and betray their ignorance. It is okay to admit you are ignorant, and okay to be overcoming things we are ignorant about, but it is not okay to fly in the airship called ignorance and be bombing the countryside below with ignorance wrapped in pretty little bows named ‘authority’.

Of course, this isn’t happening on every blog, but when it starts sometimes a frenzy develops. One blogger noted recently:

On my blog I cannot remember anyone picking an argument, or even being a nuisance. [Blog name withheld]… seems to suffer a bunch of commenters who hover like gnats, making strangely irrelevant comments and playing games with one another in ways which make sense only to themselves.

Sometimes this gets so annoying that the blogger quits, or turns off comments or is forced to start screening every single comment. The smug junkie has won, at least for the moment. But what have they won? Nothing, because they are losing yet another battle in a war being fought within.

Spewing half-baked recipes, lathered in a batter of contempt, is not doing anyone any good, and is only perpetuating a static state of ignorance. However, some junkies decide it is their mission to come in and ‘shake up the crowd’ with their quips and assertions, and their use of tasteless names or mocking comments. There is a difference between healthy dialog and challenges that help us open our minds and hearts more deeply, and between walking into someone’s home and spreading mud all over the carpet, ripping up the furniture and breaking the dishes. These kinds of junkies are abusers, practicing abusive behavior and practicing instilling abuse into others.

When the junkies are called out they feign hurt, or flee, or increase the viciousness of their attacks or they change tactics. Hopefully the change in tactics includes becoming sincere and more in touch with the essential kindness of their hearts. Hurt and abuse is something that can perpetuate from generation to generation. It takes courage to stop the abuse and stand up for yourself.