It has been a while since I last posted on this BLOG. The main reason I have been extremely busy, and often by the end of the day just don’t feel much like writing, but I am going to try to get back into the habit again, as it has always proven to be very good for me.

In the past few months I have done a lot of reflection. Recent events in my personal life have caused this to happen. Since May, I have know 5 people who have passed on from this life, one extremely young and very close to me.

What is it about death that causes us so much pain? The Buddha taught the answer to this, the answer is that our suffering comes because death makes us realize that nothing is forever. We never really mourn the death of a person, we more the loss of them in our lives. And this attitude causes us to suffer and be unhappy. In some cultures this goes on for YEARS!

Should we really mourn the dead? Do we honour them by doing so? I don’t think so, in fact I know in my heart that we are doing them an injustice.  Death is merely leaving this plain of existence for another. There really is no death!

So why do we feel so bad, and for so long? Because we have been taught to fear the phenomenon of death since we were small children.  We were told that if we did not lead a good life, God who loves us, would damn us to hell. The thing that amazes me is we still believe this crap. Crap that was taught by man, in a effort to control man.

There is no tragedy in death for the departed, only for those left behind who will miss them.  The tragedy is never in death itself, only because of the beliefs we have about life, that cause us to never really live!

Remember the only meaning in life is what YOU give it, and the only purpose is to be happy. Don’t believe it if someone tells you something different. They are trying to sell you something.

It has been about a month since I last posted here. The reason is that I have been extremely busy. It is not because I have run out of things to say.

Recently I heard someone say “I don’t think my problems can be solved.” Now, this is never true, but at times the problems we face in our reality can seem to be insurmountable. What is the truth? Any problem you have cannot be solved with the same mind that created it.

What does this mean? All problems are created in our world by thinking in a certain way.  When we discover that we have a problem will try to solve the problem with the same ideas and thinking processes that caused the problem to begin with. This simply will not work.

Albert Einstein once said that “insanity was doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.” What I am referring to above really is insanity. So what is it you need to do? Step back and take a honest look at the problem or issues at hand. How did it come about. Take responsibility that your thinking influences what happens in your reality. Once this is done, calm the mind and solutions will begin to present themselves. The worst thing you can do is run around trying to put out fires. Panic never solves anything. But a calm mind can solve any problem.

Sit down close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths. Ask yourself what this issue will mean in 5 days, 5 weeks and/or 5 years. Get a new prospective.

No problem can ever be solved with the mind that created it.

People will often focus on the outside world looking for something that will make them happy. The truth is that all the outside world is merely an illusion created by us.  It has also already happened, therefore they is no chance of seeking happiness within it.

That is right, the entire world we see before us is the past. It is a creation of our past thoughts, never our present ones. Our mind loves to exist here, so it tosses this world up at us, like it somehow actually matters on the grand scheme of things.

So am I saying we should ignore this creation? Certainly not, just understand the value of it. See it for what is really is. The manifestation of previous thinking. With that in mind you have  a different view of things.

Happiness will always be found from within. You cannot find it in any person, place or thing. However you can share that happiness with someone else if they are a match to your vibrations. If they are not, you will find discomfort in the realtionship. If you really want to find happiness it is found inside, no where else.

“We are what we think, all that we are arises with our thoughts, with our thoughts we create our world.”…………….Buddha

This is one of the most famous of all Buddha’s quotes. But what did he really mean by it? The western mind will especially have great trouble with this concept. The statement “we are what we think” is complete. It is total. We, you, me, everyone is a product of what we think on a day to day basis. Our habitual good and bad thoughts.

Thoughts are things. They are the originating energy of any and all creation.  We at a our true nature are pure positive forward moving energy. When our thoughts do not align with this, it causes us pain and suffering.  The problem is that we create with our day to day thinking, not our higher self.

Once we become able to control and thus change our daily thought patterns we can begin to take control of our lives and our creations.  Until we do we remain trapped in a world that is the making of our undisciplined, uncontrolled thought processes.

Buddha became enlightened by quieting his mind and taking control of his day to day thinking.  We can all do the same if we choose to do so.  Remember everything in our world is there because we made a choice, but everything can be changed by thinking differently.

We truly are what we think.

When most people hear the name Buddha, there minds go to various statues they have seen over their lifetimes. Many consider him to be the a single person, the founder of the religion Buddhism.  The person in question here is only one in the perhaps  thousands of people who have reached Buddhahood.

What is a Buddha? A Buddha is an ordinary person, who has simply been awakened. Understanding this can also be a challenge. First I want to say that we all all Buddha’s. However we are still asleep and therefore don’t realize or understand this. What do I mean by asleep? Like in the sleep we experience at night, we sleep during our waking hours because we are not in control. Our minds fill our heads with illusions of what reality really is, and it is NOT what we think it is. A Buddha sees the world in it totality.

Because of our vision of the world around us, a VERY limited vision, we spend a great deal of time being unhappy. We believe that the world influences our actions (look at the state of the world) when if fact it is us that does the influencing. We think our destiny is out of our control. The truth is we are in the driver seat.

Society has taught us that we are “less” and “not worthy” when in fact the opposite is the truth. It is time to put away the controlling dogma’s and think for ourselves. Our nature is pure positive energy, pure love and joy and we must experience this.  The time is now, to sit in quiet and experience the truth within ourselves.

What is a Buddha? We are ALL Buddhas………

“All beings are from the very beginning Buddhas. It is like water and ice: Apart from water, no ice, outside living beings, no Buddhas. Not knowing it is near they seek it afar, what a pity!”…………….Osho

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. ……..Buddha

When I was about 17 I was in search of truth. I was raised in a Christian home, however we rarely attended any church which was fine with me.  When I was 17 I attended a church service with a friend. I was told at this service not to question the word of God or you will anger him.  This to me defied common sense.

I have said before that Wisdom comes from Extraordinary Common Sense, and common sense comes from questioning.  I attended the church mentioned above for many years. I kept my questions to myself. I hoped that the answers I was seeking would be given to me without upsetting the church elders. I was wrong and left the congregation for good.

This however did cause to me to start asking questions and then questioning the answer I was receiving. The biblical term for me would have been a “Doubting Thomas.” I studied and read about many of the different religions in our world and there was certain things in them that did seem to make some common sense, then other things were obviously only methods created by man to control man. I knew that organized religion was not for me.

I this time I had an enlightening experience. I met a woman from Korea who for lack of a better term could be called a Chi Master. She taught me over the next 5-7 years to understand the energy in my body and it’s connection to the universe. A lot of what she taught me was like Buddhism, yet different. After about 7 years my questions caused me to move on.

I had my ups and downs on my search for the next few years but finally settled down with a serious study of Buddhism and what the Buddha taught.  I studied both Zen and Tibetan Buddhism and found great inspiration in both. However so many things I could just not agree with. The most important thing I learned in these studies was that I began to look within for my answers, not to a guru or master. The final stage of my journey has brought me to a man who many including myself believe to have been a 20th Century Buddha. His name was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, called OSHO by his followers.

His extraordinary common sense has helped me see many things. He is some of what I have seen.

• Doubt and question, as Buddha said are good and necessary things. Believe nothing just because someone tells you that you should. This includes everything I write here.
• If you want to happy hold no opinions either for or against anything. This is challenging, but people hold to many opinions, especially about unnecessary things.
• Meditate to train and quiet the mind. The mind is like an out of control child. It needs to be disciplined.
• Happiness to Joy and then Bliss are internal phenomenon. No event, person or place can make you happy.  You cannot become happy, you must be happy.
• We create everything in our world so we can change it. We do not need to be so serious about our ‘reality’
• Live in the moment, because the moment is all there is.

Someone once told me that there should only be one religion in the world. I have to respectfully disagree. There are approximately 8 billion people in the world, so we need 8 billion religions. My truth is not your truth nor can it be!

I am not a Christian, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Hindu or a Jew. I am not a follower of Osho, even though I very much like what he says.  This site is a reflection of many of Buddha’s teaching because they do resonate with me.

What am I? Simply I am.

Are you living on auto pilot? If you are like 97% of the people on this planet you are. What do I mean by this? You are living your life with the Mind in control, just moving through each day, asleep at the wheel, experiencing very little, not in control.

Here are some example of auto pilot.

• Do you remember what you had for dinner last night?
• Do you remember the entire drive to work today?
• Do you remember brushing your teeth last night?
• What you did before bed?
• The list will go on and on

Auto pilot is a way of life and it is OK that some things work this way, but not everything! The average human has 70,000 plus thought each and every day, but they are the same ones as yesterday. How do you change this?

The robot that exists within your mind, like the EGO will automatically take control of a task(s) once learned. You need to undo this, and this is done by becoming alert to the situation. As an example as you are driving to work today simply take control back from the robot and drive in awareness of what is going on around. Watch as you drive the car! Driving is a great experience as we should be present when it happens. For most of us the robot is driving until such a time as something goes wrong.

We can take control back of our lives by learning to watch, be the observer. This is the ultimate awareness. Life is far to amazing to allow it to past unnoticed. There is an old saying that there is no sadness in death. The only sadness is that the person never really lives.

Living moment to moment is the way to love the life you have. Anything else will not bring you happiness.  Work on it, you will be happy you did!

Awareness, awakening or whatever term you wish to use is what enlightenment is about. Buddha was asked if he was a god or a prophet, he said ‘no, I am awake.’  Coming to this, our natural state is not a easy task, however it is not difficult either. But you must put in your practice time.

The practice I am referring to is mediation. Meditation which is now a phenomenon in the west has been practiced in the east for thousands of years. It is however very misunderstood here. The only purpose of meditation is to quiet the mind. As the mind becomes quiet we discover our true selves within.  How does mediation accomplish this? Actually with great ease.

The greatest barrier to self discover is your ego.  You ego has an opinion on everything! Some people will read things like this blog and it will cause them to become upset. They disagree with my statement. This is pure ego. What is need is to simply observe things. Observe with no comment, or opinion. This is accomplished through mediation.

While sitting comfortably in mediation simply let go. Your mind will bring up random thoughts and images. Pay no attention to them. Simply observe the thoughts. Do not try to stop them, just watch as they come and go. Be aware of them.  When the mind and ego do not get the attention they are looking for they become quiet. At first this is challenging, but it gets easier each and every time you practice.  Have you ever been awake at night worrying about something? Imagine being able to turn that off. Mediation will provide this.

As you become more and more aware, the mind becomes quieter and quieter. You see the futility of focus on the past, and worry of future. In awareness you live only in the moment. You discover wisdom within yourself you did not know was there.  As you progress in mediation your healthy and vitality will grow. It can be like becoming younger. The reason is that stress will leave the body and it will go back into balance again. Health is restored.

What is the difference between prayer in the west and mediation of the east. Prayer is asking, meditation is giving.  These work best hand in hand. For all my Christian friends “God helps those who help themselves.” Mediation is a giving (helping) yourself the life you intended to have.

What is EGO, by definition Ego is self: your consciousness of your own identity, while this is true information is still missing. Ego is a reflection of the mind. It is the way the mind identifies itself. The mind is only part of our conscious self, it is not the whole. Ego must exist, but it needs to be understood, controlled and then transcended.

Every person favorite topic is themselves.  Movies will often make fun of this very true statement. “I could just talk about myself for hours” is a quote from one movie.  Ego also helps to keep us out of danger. The problem comes when the ego gets out of control. It can go out of control in several different ways. It can become egotistical (too proud) or withdrawn and depressed.

You are not your mind, nor are you your ego. Our mind needs to label things like my name is “Fred” and I was born in Argentina. None of this is of any relevance except to society. It is not a real identity. Who are you? You simple ‘are.’

Ego is also, like the mind based on history. This identity is always changing and developing. It is an illusion of the mind.  The real truth of who you are lies within. However the mind has no real interest in this as it is found only in the present, not in the past. The way to discover the truth of who you really are is to quiet the mind and transcend the ego. This will lead to many self discoveries and certainly your truth. Mediation is the only vehicle I am aware of to do this.

Spend time looking within, observing the mind and it thoughts. Give them no attention, just like you are watching water fall from a cliff. Just be the silent observer. You will understand the truth and purpose of EGO and be well on the way to self discovery.

I’ve been away for a few weeks on a vacation so I have not written anything in a while. Today I am writing on the problem of the MINDS attachment to the past.  Here is an example. My father pasted away 30 years ago. I still to this day miss him very much. I remember the long talks we used to have, as well as the great advice he always gave me. But like all things in life that time is now PAST and will never return. My memories are fond, but only memories, not reality.

People have such a habit of allowing themselves to focus on and try to relive past events. This is insanity. The only reality is this moment right now, not any time in the past or anything in the future, only now.  How often in your life do you recall a great day or event. Perhaps it was a vacation. It seems like a magic moment in history. Then some time later you return to the same place, hoping to recapture the feeling. Only to find frustration and disappointment.  You can’t go home.

In this example above if the person in question was only living in the moment, and not trying to recapture the past, this vacation would have been just a good as the first, different, but just as good. The mind can only exist in the past and the future. It fights for control in the present and thus makes you unhappy.

Relationships and friendships are another good example. Time changes these. Sometimes the people grow and change together, other times they grow apart. In remembering the way things used to be, we suffer because the past is gone forever.  Everyone reading this has had these experiences, yet we still allow the mind to control our state by forcing us to look back at the ‘good old days.’ The good old days are often not a pleasant as we remember them being.

In the present, each and every moment is special, good and stress free. Focus on NOW.

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