Zen: The Art of Nothing

The amount of hypnosis and mind-manipulation in the media today is staggering. Children have been a favourite target for long, and now we have a generation of adults that has been exposed to a whole lifetime of media hypnosis.

In my observation, apart from making people more addicted consumers, a constant exposure to the media dramatically reduces happiness levels .

Advertising is increasingly using hypnosis to sell products – the whole idea of advertising is mostly to sell you things you don’t need, so they have to create a demand first, by showing you how sub-standard your life is, without the product. The implications are vast, and effective – people are becoming increasingly body, fashion and brand conscious, mostly to their detriment. But what affects people more than anything else, is the hatred that is being spread in the name of news.

However, there are also people today who are more aware than before, and not everyone is brainwashed by the media. Here are a few signs you have remained above it all.

1. You don’t take sides

When you read the news merely to stay up to date with what the world is talking about, you are usually unaffected by it. Anyone who has had a close tryst with the media knows first hand how so much news is completely fabricated out of thin air, or in the very least, distorted beyond recognition. When you view the news with this knowledge, you know that it is foolish to be on one side, because what you are so passionately feeling about might not even be true.

2. It doesn’t stick on

If you spend the rest of your day thinking about what you saw/ read, then you know you’ve fallen for their tricks. This applies to news, series, reality shows, everything. Today the media is using stronger emotions because whether positive or negative, intensity is usually addictive.

3. You are not a mouthpiece for the media

When I was young, I’d hear this phrase a lot – any publicity is good publicity. Everytime you talk, share or tweet something, whether against or in favour of, you are directly playing into the hands of those who are trying to gather free publicity – this is exactly what they want.

If you look at it from an energy perspective too, the more you make an issue out of it, the more energy you send it. The more energy an issue has, the more it can affect you. Of course, we do the right thing when we can, but most of the times when we discuss – either verbally or through media – we are just providing people free publicity.

4. You are not addicted

Would you feel at peace on a vacation where you don’t use any gadgets? This is a common fantasy, but it does nothing to indicate an addiction or the lack of it. You know you are free when you don’t go back to media when you have ‘nothing to do’ or ‘are bored’. Spend a holiday at home just spending loving time with the family, without an insane desire to check your email or whatsapp just one more time, and you know you’re dong fine.

5. You are not a consumer

Consumerism is a disease that stems from an inability to be with oneself. We try to fill this gap through retail therapy, or over-stimulating ourselves. An inability to ‘be’ with oneself leaves one vulnerable to manipulation and deception. If you are satisfied with what you have, however, this is not possible.

My heart is aching. I don’t watch the news, but some bits of them come blaring, into our lives anyway. I heard about the blasts in Paris first thing in the morning on the 14th, and then started to realise that it wasn’t just Paris that was bleeding. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq… the list is endless.

But what hurts more than anything else, is the violence I see in day to day life, and the encouragement of more violence. Nobody seems to be talking about the fact that this was a retaliation by those who were upset that Paris was bombing Syria. Not that that makes it any less painful, but how is it that we didn’t care about dead Syrians or express our solidarity by changing our profile photos – are some lives less valuable than others? Can the Westerners go around funding and selling arms to whoever they support, encourage mass murders and then be alarmed when they experience a fraction of the same horror? Is this what you support?

Are you Contributing?

Do you really want a peaceful world? It is sometihng we talk about, but I’ve observed that it is hardly something anyone really wants. We’d rather see severe, brutal punishment. We’d rather see Paris retaliate with bombs, because the media has convinced us that Muslim lives are worthless and they’re all violent terrorists.

So, whose side are you on?

Are you taking sides again? Are you filled with hatred and anger towards the killers? Do you realise that by doing this, you are helping the world remain a violent, horrible place to live in?

What can you do?

The violence in the world is nothing but a reflection of the violence inside our hearts (read more). We can blame the ‘selfish’ politicians, the terrorists – who are really just people tortured by the West and trying to fight back, no different from the Western soldiers who are sent to bomb their wives and children – or anyone else. But really, we are contributing by allowing the violence to seep inside our hearts, and by sending it back out into the world through our words, thoughts, and now social media posts.

Let go of your beliefs

Yes, a large part of the wars are motivated by greed, but they are supported by ideologies. Every citizen that supports the war, believes that his side is right, his view is perfect. Don’t you, too? If you’re taking sides, you can come up with dozens of reasons why it is ok to kill innocent people on the other side – but can something like that ever really be justified?

If we want a peaceful world – if at all we choose to make it a priority before we ourselves stand to lose everything we love – we need to stop taking sides. We need to stop making it about ‘them’ and ‘us’. There is no separation, not really. The worst monsters in the world are a reflection of our own inner darkness. We can choose to dive into that darkness and create more bloodshed. Or we can send them love, refuse to take sides, and hold the space while the earth starts to heal.

CAN you make a difference?

One of the most common excuses is that one person cannot change anything. Yes, you can. You have no idea how many thousands of others you will join, and maybe if we’re all lucky, you will help us cross the critical mass. There are dozens of scientific studies that have shown how group meditations have brought down crime rates. You CAN make a difference. Will you?

Many years ago, either a book or a person caused me to ask myself ‘would I rather be a good person, or a spiritual person?’ The answer to me, was obvious. Good person, of course, wasn’t that the point of spirituality, after all?

All these years later, I’m not so sure it is. I’m more inclined to believe that spirituality is about being in our natural state, becoming who we really are, and not good or bad.

There is no such thing as a nice person. We all have our bright and dark sides, and have a tendency towards one of these sides, that is all. The ‘bad’ people are more identified with their darkness, the ‘good’ people, with their light. In both cases, there is identification, and where there is identification, there is misery. Haven’t we all heard the ‘good’ people wailing from time to time, about how all the bad things seem to happen to the good people?

I remember harboring a doubt for a long time after meeting Jacqueline. If a person was a murderer, would becoming spiritual mean he becomes a murderer without remorse? I never mustered the courage to ask, somehow, but over time the answer presented itself.

Our bright and dark sides are nothing but aspects of our personality. Both sides are needed, and both sides can be strengths or weaknesses. So, a person who has a strong tendency to kill anyone who violates him in some way, may still have that tendency, but spiritual practice will lift him above the grip of that tendency on him. He might want to kill someone, but he will have a choice – a real one – to kill or not. And anyone who really has a choice makes the sensible one.

As I mentioned, it is not only our vices that trap us. We are more often trapped by the desire to be a ‘good’ person. This leads us into trouble when we have to look bad in front of others by saying, or doing something that makes us look bad. As a result, most people in the beginning stages of spiritual growth end up having their personal space violated quite frequently.

A dis-identification with the ‘nice’ person within, would leave us free to be a ‘bad’ person when the situation requires it, for example if a person is trying to cheat us, or trying to take advantage of us in some way. A person who is trapped by identification will respond either by being submissive or aggressive. When we let go of the fear of being a bad person, we will find that more and more, we are simply assertive, and actually a better person than we were before.

When the book and the movie ‘The Secret’ came out many years ago, it created quite a stir. It helped people realise that they were capable of walking out of those lives steeped in misery. It helped, and still helps people come out of a state where they’re blaming everyone else, or life, for their problems.

The basic premise of the law of attraction is true – “You create your own reality“. But as with most sacred scriptures, this one is also open to blatant misinterpretation. And the ego has twisted it quite wildly out of context.

You Create Your Own Reality

Of course you do! But what reality are we referring to, over here? Imagine that you are waking down a path. On one side, there’s a barren, dry land, maybe with a few dead animals. On the other side is a beautiful forest, you can hear the birds chirping, and smell the wild roses.

Reality = Perception

Now which side you choose to focus on, will determine your reality. If you choose to keep looking at the barren land and wonder why it is so dry, and why there are so many dead animals, you’re obviously going to be quite miserable. If you focus on the lovely, thriving forest, your life is happier.

The MISperception

The whole law of attraction propaganda has us believe that a completely flawless life is possible. That if you work in the right direction, you can attract the perfect life. And this is where the trap lies, because this is complete hogwash.

So today, followers of the law of attraction, religiously spend night after night making vision boards, setting targets, and willing their wildest fantasies to come true.

If they’re lucky, they’re disappointed sooner than others and wonder where they went wrong. If they’re luckier, they find out.

Why the Law of Attraction is unspiritual

The moment you start to wish for something in the future, there are two inherent flaws in your approach.

1) You’re postponing happiness

You’re not in the present anymore, but in the future, in the common but insane hope that something in the future is going to make you happy some day. If you aren’t happy right now, what you’re doing in the hope of being happy, isn’t going to make you happy either. The more you move away from the present, the more unhappiness you create.

2) You’re creating more karma

What is karma? Karma is doership. Attachment to the outcome. Real spirituality involves nonaction (not to be confused with inaction), where we do what is required of us without any attachment to the outcome. The law of attraction is anything but this. You’re always dreaming about the outcome.

The real ‘Secret’: You reap what you sow

It doesn’t matter so much what you do, but why you do it. If you’re spending days visualising your ideal life while believing strongly that your life at present is far from perfect, you can never create a perfect life, because you’re acting from inadequacy. Actions taken in inadequacy, will only bring you more inadequacy, not fulfillment.

If, on the other hand, you’re visualising from a feeling of fulfillment… now wait a minute. If you’re feeling fulfilled, why exactly would you waste your time visualising? If your life was perfect, right at this moment, would you really be fantasizing about a happier tomorrow? No. You’d be immersing yourself into this moment, trying to experience it as fully as you can.

Yes, you create your own reality. Right now. And your investment in right now, creates the next right now. If you live this moment in complete awareness, complete surrender, the next one will be perfect too, And the next one. And the next. And maybe, once in a while, life will gift you with a vision, and make that come true for you. That’ll be exciting and fun, but also just another addition to an already perfect life. Which you are living. Right now. And that’s the real law of attraction.