Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 1:01am
Escaping the prison of the self
Column: Spiritual Psychology
My book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free," has just been released a month earlier than expected (a rare miracle in publishing) by Rowman & Littlefield and is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, other major book outlets, as well as the publisher.
The book was inspired in part by my trip to the ashram of Sathya Sai Baba and his teachings about the universality of spiritual principles. Not surprisingly, "Escape Your Own Prison" opens with a preface that traces my spiritual journey back to that trip to India and elaborates the insights that were awakened there. The book goes on to explore a number of issues from the perspective of a universal higher consciousness that I call omni consciousness — the consciousness that underlies, and should unite, all religions and spiritual paths. Omni consciousness is in the spirit of Sai Baba's teachings. He insists that if you go to the core of all religions and spiritual paths, you will find that all is One.
As most of us on a spiritual quest discover, lodging your being in higher consciousness is easier said than done — it's a constant struggle. That's why I pay particular attention in the book to the obstacles along the spiritual path that sustain ego attachments and block the return to omni consciousness. Included are:
1. How personal psychological development is a "double-edged sword." We need psychological development for the cognitive, behavioral and emotional skills for functioning effectively in the relative world, but at the same time "normal" psychological development builds in fierce attachments that become a barrier to spiritual consciousness and true freedom.
2. How Western psychological thinking and theories that we are raised on, and that permeate our culture, are limited to the ego level of consciousness, providing another barrier to returning to higher consciousness.
3. How "The Spiritual Emergency of Aging," starting at "thirty-something" and accelerating at age 40 and beyond, mandates ego transcendence for optimal living. When the ego confronts the "death of time," aging becomes the ego's Armageddon. But that can also open a window of opportunity. My "thirty something and beyond survival kit" offers tools for leaping to a higher ground of being as opposed to getting stuck in a losing battle to "save the ego."
4. How "The Near Enemies," the ego disguised and masquerading as spirituality, impede genuine spiritual evolvement.
To give you a taste of the book, here is the Preface, which sets the stage for my personal journey from West to East and back, and the unfolding story of "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free."
Preface
Sitting cross-legged in the sweltering South Indian heat in the Ashram of Swami Sathya Sai Baba, one of the great sages of India, my mind raced through the spiritual quest that brought me to Puttaparthi in this remote part of rural southern India.
It all began over 20 years ago when my doubts about traditional psychology accelerated. I could no longer ignore the gnawing sense that the very principles and techniques that I taught, practiced and experienced missed the main mark of fundamental change. Yes, traditional approaches to psychological healing were often helpful, but rarely, if ever, transformational.
When I first stumbled into Eastern thinking while browsing in an East-West bookstore in Greenwich Village, a new world opened up and I knew I was on the path to the right mark. This began a lengthy journey that led me to the teachings of many sages of different Eastern traditions, as well as the writings of gifted Western writers and devotees of Eastern thought. I also directly experienced these traditions at meetings, lectures, workshops, intensives, visits to Ashrams and audiences with some of the greatest living sages. I learned to sit yogi style, received a mantra, and practiced meditation and chanting. But like many westerners, I was cautious about throwing myself with abandon into these groups; too many of the practices and concepts were alien to my Western sensibility, the kind I associated with cults or quick fixes for everyday stresses. I even questioned my own motives: "Am I too looking for escape into the exotic and supernatural?" Also discouraging was my observation that Eastern spiritual paths were filled with guru groupies and loose thinkers. But I recalled that the same was true for traditional, and many innovative, psychological schools. Psychotherapy and Eastern traditions speak to suffering and healing, which attract seekers who bring their own agendas — often unrealistic ones. Yet there was something so compelling and universal about the teachings of Eastern sages and ancient texts that I began to see the core, not the trappings or motivations of others. Also, I repeatedly met people who made genuine transformations in their lives by embracing Eastern thought — greater than anything I had witnessed through traditional psychology and psychotherapy.
I continued to focus with increasing clarity on the universal nature of the teachings that rose above any particular culture. More and more it seemed to me that the principles were not Indian, Japanese, Tibetan or Chinese, but rather universal expressions about the nature of reality — the one reality that applied to everyone. The cultural trappings, I concluded, were merely the universal principles absorbed into the various cultures as sages made their way around the world centuries earlier. The passage of time has a funny way of engraving in stone what begins as comfortable assimilation.
All these musings had now come to a dramatic head in the Puttaparthi Ashram as I awaited the daily appearance (Darshan) of Swami Sathya Sai Baba, "the man of miracles," as his 30 million followers call him. Scanning this extraordinary scene, some nagging questions began to surface. The setting and practices were thoroughly Indian. Hindu metaphors and images pervaded most of the discourses and recommended readings. Dress as well was strictly Indian consisting of Punjabis (loose white shirt and pants) for men and saris for women. Although the thousands of devotees present were from all over the world, everyone appeared to be Indian.
Once the initial excitement of this exotic world wore off, I began to wonder why I had to become Indian, in a sense, to pursue the impressive teachings of Sai Baba or other spiritual masters. All the sages say their teachings have no particular language except the language of the heart and that the true teacher or guru is within each of us. I recalled reading about another inspirational Indian spiritual sage, Nisargadatta Maharaj, who told his followers, "If you understood what I was saying, you would never come back to see me again." Even Sai Baba will tell you that you don't have to come to India or leave your religion to go to the essence of his universal teachings that he says are at the core of all religions and spiritual traditions. Still, many feel that the only way to embrace spirituality requires adopting the external forms of Hinduism, Buddhism, or other indigenous cultures.
There's an amusing story that I heard at the Ashram about Ram Dass, the American spiritual guru who rose to prominence during the counterculture turmoil of the 1960s. Ram Dass reportedly visited Sai Baba at that time. At the beginning of his interview Sai Baba asked him his name. "Ram Dass," he replied. Sai Baba responded with "huh" and repeated the question — he got the same answer, "Ram Dass," followed by another "huh" from Sai Baba. Again Sai Baba asked the question, and this sparring went on for quite a while until "Ram Dass" finally said, "Richard Alpert." The interview then proceeded.
Whether apocryphal or legend, the message still holds up. It's possible to be authentically on the spiritual path as Bernie Starr originally from Brooklyn. It fueled my determination to resist the temptation of "doing it" the Indian way. I began to think about translating the teachings of Eastern spirituality into basic principles of consciousness, reality and self that could be fully expressed and practiced in a Western mode. But would something be lost, I asked myself? Would the profound principles be "dumbed down"? The more I thought this question through, the more convinced I became that far from diminishing the teachings, speaking the language of the seeker is essential. Just as Buddhism became Zen in Japan, Theravada in Thailand and Mahayana in Tibet, Eastern teachings must become Western to be fully appreciated by Western audiences.
In the pages that follow I'll share with you the insights about consciousness, self and reality that unfolded along my journey and how they unveiled a powerful consciousness that we all own but abandon early in life. This book is a guide to reclaiming what I call OMNI CONSCIOUSNESS.
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches "Spirituality in Film" and leads "The Spiritual Forum" at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is published by Rowman & Littlefield. He can be reached at {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Bernard Starr.
The book was inspired in part by my trip to the ashram of Sathya Sai Baba and his teachings about the universality of spiritual principles. Not surprisingly, "Escape Your Own Prison" opens with a preface that traces my spiritual journey back to that trip to India and elaborates the insights that were awakened there. The book goes on to explore a number of issues from the perspective of a universal higher consciousness that I call omni consciousness — the consciousness that underlies, and should unite, all religions and spiritual paths. Omni consciousness is in the spirit of Sai Baba's teachings. He insists that if you go to the core of all religions and spiritual paths, you will find that all is One.
As most of us on a spiritual quest discover, lodging your being in higher consciousness is easier said than done — it's a constant struggle. That's why I pay particular attention in the book to the obstacles along the spiritual path that sustain ego attachments and block the return to omni consciousness. Included are:
1. How personal psychological development is a "double-edged sword." We need psychological development for the cognitive, behavioral and emotional skills for functioning effectively in the relative world, but at the same time "normal" psychological development builds in fierce attachments that become a barrier to spiritual consciousness and true freedom.
2. How Western psychological thinking and theories that we are raised on, and that permeate our culture, are limited to the ego level of consciousness, providing another barrier to returning to higher consciousness.
3. How "The Spiritual Emergency of Aging," starting at "thirty-something" and accelerating at age 40 and beyond, mandates ego transcendence for optimal living. When the ego confronts the "death of time," aging becomes the ego's Armageddon. But that can also open a window of opportunity. My "thirty something and beyond survival kit" offers tools for leaping to a higher ground of being as opposed to getting stuck in a losing battle to "save the ego."
4. How "The Near Enemies," the ego disguised and masquerading as spirituality, impede genuine spiritual evolvement.
To give you a taste of the book, here is the Preface, which sets the stage for my personal journey from West to East and back, and the unfolding story of "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free."
Preface
Sitting cross-legged in the sweltering South Indian heat in the Ashram of Swami Sathya Sai Baba, one of the great sages of India, my mind raced through the spiritual quest that brought me to Puttaparthi in this remote part of rural southern India.
It all began over 20 years ago when my doubts about traditional psychology accelerated. I could no longer ignore the gnawing sense that the very principles and techniques that I taught, practiced and experienced missed the main mark of fundamental change. Yes, traditional approaches to psychological healing were often helpful, but rarely, if ever, transformational.
When I first stumbled into Eastern thinking while browsing in an East-West bookstore in Greenwich Village, a new world opened up and I knew I was on the path to the right mark. This began a lengthy journey that led me to the teachings of many sages of different Eastern traditions, as well as the writings of gifted Western writers and devotees of Eastern thought. I also directly experienced these traditions at meetings, lectures, workshops, intensives, visits to Ashrams and audiences with some of the greatest living sages. I learned to sit yogi style, received a mantra, and practiced meditation and chanting. But like many westerners, I was cautious about throwing myself with abandon into these groups; too many of the practices and concepts were alien to my Western sensibility, the kind I associated with cults or quick fixes for everyday stresses. I even questioned my own motives: "Am I too looking for escape into the exotic and supernatural?" Also discouraging was my observation that Eastern spiritual paths were filled with guru groupies and loose thinkers. But I recalled that the same was true for traditional, and many innovative, psychological schools. Psychotherapy and Eastern traditions speak to suffering and healing, which attract seekers who bring their own agendas — often unrealistic ones. Yet there was something so compelling and universal about the teachings of Eastern sages and ancient texts that I began to see the core, not the trappings or motivations of others. Also, I repeatedly met people who made genuine transformations in their lives by embracing Eastern thought — greater than anything I had witnessed through traditional psychology and psychotherapy.
I continued to focus with increasing clarity on the universal nature of the teachings that rose above any particular culture. More and more it seemed to me that the principles were not Indian, Japanese, Tibetan or Chinese, but rather universal expressions about the nature of reality — the one reality that applied to everyone. The cultural trappings, I concluded, were merely the universal principles absorbed into the various cultures as sages made their way around the world centuries earlier. The passage of time has a funny way of engraving in stone what begins as comfortable assimilation.
All these musings had now come to a dramatic head in the Puttaparthi Ashram as I awaited the daily appearance (Darshan) of Swami Sathya Sai Baba, "the man of miracles," as his 30 million followers call him. Scanning this extraordinary scene, some nagging questions began to surface. The setting and practices were thoroughly Indian. Hindu metaphors and images pervaded most of the discourses and recommended readings. Dress as well was strictly Indian consisting of Punjabis (loose white shirt and pants) for men and saris for women. Although the thousands of devotees present were from all over the world, everyone appeared to be Indian.
Once the initial excitement of this exotic world wore off, I began to wonder why I had to become Indian, in a sense, to pursue the impressive teachings of Sai Baba or other spiritual masters. All the sages say their teachings have no particular language except the language of the heart and that the true teacher or guru is within each of us. I recalled reading about another inspirational Indian spiritual sage, Nisargadatta Maharaj, who told his followers, "If you understood what I was saying, you would never come back to see me again." Even Sai Baba will tell you that you don't have to come to India or leave your religion to go to the essence of his universal teachings that he says are at the core of all religions and spiritual traditions. Still, many feel that the only way to embrace spirituality requires adopting the external forms of Hinduism, Buddhism, or other indigenous cultures.
There's an amusing story that I heard at the Ashram about Ram Dass, the American spiritual guru who rose to prominence during the counterculture turmoil of the 1960s. Ram Dass reportedly visited Sai Baba at that time. At the beginning of his interview Sai Baba asked him his name. "Ram Dass," he replied. Sai Baba responded with "huh" and repeated the question — he got the same answer, "Ram Dass," followed by another "huh" from Sai Baba. Again Sai Baba asked the question, and this sparring went on for quite a while until "Ram Dass" finally said, "Richard Alpert." The interview then proceeded.
Whether apocryphal or legend, the message still holds up. It's possible to be authentically on the spiritual path as Bernie Starr originally from Brooklyn. It fueled my determination to resist the temptation of "doing it" the Indian way. I began to think about translating the teachings of Eastern spirituality into basic principles of consciousness, reality and self that could be fully expressed and practiced in a Western mode. But would something be lost, I asked myself? Would the profound principles be "dumbed down"? The more I thought this question through, the more convinced I became that far from diminishing the teachings, speaking the language of the seeker is essential. Just as Buddhism became Zen in Japan, Theravada in Thailand and Mahayana in Tibet, Eastern teachings must become Western to be fully appreciated by Western audiences.
In the pages that follow I'll share with you the insights about consciousness, self and reality that unfolded along my journey and how they unveiled a powerful consciousness that we all own but abandon early in life. This book is a guide to reclaiming what I call OMNI CONSCIOUSNESS.
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches "Spirituality in Film" and leads "The Spiritual Forum" at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is published by Rowman & Littlefield. He can be reached at {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Bernard Starr.