{"id":13751,"date":"2022-06-11T11:22:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T10:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=13751"},"modified":"2022-06-11T11:22:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T10:22:10","slug":"mysticism-for-the-modern-skeptic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2022\/06\/11\/mysticism-for-the-modern-skeptic\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysticism for the Modern Skeptic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>Five takeaways from my experience at Sattva Yoga Academy in india:<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><em>Have an experience without using words to describe the experience at least once a day.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><em>I am much more than my mind.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><em>My ego is not the center of me, my heart is. <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><em>Miracles and mystical experiences happen all the time \u2013 be open to them and life will become richer,and more abundant. <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">There are no avocados in India. People ask: was there anything you missed while you were there? Yes, I did.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Questioning<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the most influential lessons I learned from my parents was the value of the question.\u00a0 Always ask why. I clearly remember learning this in school as well: who, what, when, where, why (and sometimes how). These are the basics of problem solving. When a problem presents itself, ask the questions,answer them and you have your solution.<\/p>\n<p>This thinking was so influential for me that over time these questions became automatic in every interaction I had with others and myself. I didn\u2019t have to consciously ask these questions, my mind just did it. They became a habit, a reaction to every event, stimulus, interaction and emotion.<\/p>\n<p>Asking questions has helped me greatly. This mindset helped me succeed in areas we might consider beneficial and desirable: I got a good education; I have a great job; I have a house of my own; I am healthy; I have many loved ones in my life. Much of that is due to how I frame the world and see people in it. If I lived my entire life without anything else, many, including my parents, would say I did a good job (and I would say they did a good job raising me-thank you mom and dad. I love you.)<\/p>\n<p>And yet, I have questions. Constantly. Because of my conditioning, I feel I don\u2019t have a choice.\u00a0 These questions encompass most of my thoughts during any given day. So much so that when someone starts talking I immediately start thinking: why? when? who? what? when? As if the only reason people talk to each other is when there is a problem. Even if there isn\u2019t one, I create one to solve in every situation I find myself in.<\/p>\n<p>So I am a seeker.<\/p>\n<p>But I am also a skeptic. I want answers but am only willing to accept them if I am satisfied they meet the criteria of logic, reason, and experience in the database of my mind. Every question, from the mundane to the existential must be answered before I can rest and let it go. Rest easy, knowing that the question is answered for all eternity. And I never have to ask the question again.<\/p>\n<p>And yet I don\u2019t. I keep asking questions. I keep being skeptical of my answers. I must ask questions or I get bored, distracted or worse, become self-destructive.<\/p>\n<p>And so while I have all the things one would want in life, my day to day experience is one of relative suffering. I can\u2019t answer all the questions no matter how much I think. But I must try continually because my conditioned existence demands answers with the end goal that one day I will know them all.<\/p>\n<p>And so I began the practice of yoga. Not to find all the answers, but to stop asking the questions.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been practicing yoga for ten years now,asana mostly (or the practice of postures or poses). I liked it so much I became a yoga teacher. I always knew that asana was only a small fraction of the tradition of yoga and wanted to learn more. So I went to India to Sattva Yoga Academy, a small yoga center outside of Rishikesh in the foothills of the Himalayas.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13758 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/India.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"1300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In one of our last lectures Anand Ji (the lead teacher at Sattva Yoga Academy) suggested we keep a Wisdom Journal instead of an Emotional Journal because Emotional Journals are just ways to help us believe the lies we tell ourselves. I agree. What is wisdom and what is emotion are not always easy to separate though. So I wrote it all in the moment and left the parceling of Wisdom and Emotion for later<\/p>\n<p>Below is my Wisdom journal from the trip as I see it now. With a little emotion.<\/p>\n<p>Note on the use of \u201cI\u201d and \u201cyou\u201d in the Journal entries \u2013 we occasionally use these terms as a way to separate ourselves from each other as distinct forms of being when we speak to each other. In written, journal form this changes. Sometimes when I use \u201cyou\u201d in a sentence, \u201cyou\u201d is really my mind I am addressing and \u201cI\u201d is my intuitive experience or my Self. Sometimes when I use \u201cI\u201d in a sentence I may mean my mind and \u201cyou\u201d as my Self. Keep that dynamic in mind when you read these words and let the thoughts you have about \u201cI\u201d and \u201cyou\u201d be fluid.<\/p>\n<p>The mind likes to see and then make the world around it static and finite but experience is dynamic and infinite. Consciousness exists within and beyond the boundaries of thought, sense, memory and reason. So, if it helps, let the distance between our distinct forms of being dissolve and let \u201cyou\u201d and \u201cI\u201d be One.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>April 9<sup>th<\/sup> 2022<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Plane flight to India. Departure 9:30pm and landed 9pm April 10th<\/p>\n<p>Ate paneer on the plane. Super tasty. I am now a vegetarian<\/p>\n<p>Business class is awesome.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 10th 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mysticism. The words we use to describe a thing say more about us than the thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible to describe a thing in it\u2019s entirety. The more we try the more we reveal our thoughts about a thing rather than the thing we wish to describe.<\/p>\n<p>No one wears shorts at the airport in India. Except me. I might have packed the wrong clothes.\u00a0 All I packed were shorts.<\/p>\n<p>The experience speaks for itself in the moment.\u00a0 Everything else is your reaction from that instant pulled through time.<\/p>\n<p>Lots of cows here.<\/p>\n<p>Lots of Indian tourists white water rafting on the Ganga. It\u2019s sort of like Northern Virginia but with huge shrines and statues of deities at major intersections instead of fast food restaurants. More like Maine. In fact, this is definitely Maine. Only its 99 degrees here.<\/p>\n<p>No one wears black. I may have packed the wrong clothes, all the clothes I own are black<\/p>\n<p>Anand Ji welcomed us during an opening ceremony where we all shared whatever we wanted to share. That was cool. The recovering lawyer phrase I usually use when people ask me to describe myself got laughs. Told them I was a fitness professional and had been leading teacher trainings. Some people are wandering and left their lives wherever they were to go on a journey. I guess I am too. From a variety of countries: Romania, Australia, Philippines, India, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Kuwait, India. The United States has a lot of folks here.<\/p>\n<p>The food is great. Very nourishing and light. I am definitely not going to get enough to eat to sustain my current physical shape. And I\u2019m okay with that.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13753 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/CouldbeMaine.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>April 11th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Got 3 hours of hardcore sleep the first night and woke at 2am. Tried reading the Economist and Wikipedia but stopped since it wasn\u2019t helping my mind.<\/p>\n<p>Pretty sure I heard monkeys screaming last night. Better than the fucking crows we have in the States, although I\u2019ll probably want to shoot them after a week or two as well.<\/p>\n<p>I must remember that I came here of my own volition to learn what is offered. It is a much different world here than the one I am used to. I feel like an outsider, a visitor. Hopefully in a week or two I will feel more in tune.<\/p>\n<p>Morning Puja: offering of flowers, food, water and fire. Mantra.<\/p>\n<p>Morning mediation. I hate meditating but I\u2019m pretty sure that\u2019s the main thing that will make my meditation practice awesome.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone talking at morning fruit and juice despite the rule that we must be silent until after breakfast. I wonder if they are making spiritual progress even though they are not following the rules. Then I wonder why I care what they are doing and I stop the judgement. I\u2019m not as hungry after puja and meditation. My mind does seem less cluttered and I am not pressed for time or thought.<\/p>\n<p>I smell like the donkey that hangs out down by the river. I am gonna stink bad after 26 days.<\/p>\n<p>First yoga practice- pranayama. Lots of pranayama. Kundalini yoga with lots of Kriya work.\u00a0 Pranayama, then kundalini with a few vinyasas. Repeat.<\/p>\n<p>Donkeys wear bells. Unclear what the donkeys do besides drink from the river. I wish I was a donkey sometimes. I probably am most of the time<\/p>\n<p>Breakfast was good. They serve hard boiled eggs. All is not lost. Lots of Chai too- will help me stay alert.<\/p>\n<p>Morning wisdom session, origins of Yoga lecture was amazing. Spent the month prior to this training reading the Tao of Physics. Its main theme is that you can\u2019t reduce mysticism to a single thing just like atoms\/quanta and then we spent two hours categorizing yoga in this lecture. Lol.<\/p>\n<p>So much breathing today. I\u2019m utterly exhausted. Can\u2019t remember the last time I had so little sleep.<\/p>\n<p>Evening Asana practice, slow vinyasa class. So many kriyas. So much pranayama. Thought my hips were gonna fall off. They still might. This was only day one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 12th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Went to bed at 9pm and woke up at 4am. Dead asleep. I feel much better. My third eye is throbbing. That could also be my prefrontal cortex just not knowing what to do with all this new information. Or jetlag. Probably all of those things.<\/p>\n<p>I have no idea how I am going to use what I am learning here in my classes back home. The practices here are so much different than the usual vinyasa class in DC.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 13th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yesterday I felt 100% better. The energy was there and I felt more at ease with the Kriyas and meditation. Especially the Kriyas, I am starting to get it. They induce a type of euphoria that is pleasant for me. The instructors say we are forming new neural pathways (samskaras) with this work and as we tread the path it gets deeper and deeper into our consciousness. This makes sense to m: by forming new habits, we drop old ones. A new habit must contain an element of pleasure for us to pursue it and if not pleasure then a faith in the principles set forth that will lead to a result we seek once the habit is formed as related by those who have tread the path before. This is no different than telling a person new to physical fitness that they need to workout for six weeks to see results: sometimes the workouts will produce endorphins that make us want to return. Other times this won\u2019t happen. The key is to stay on the path.<\/p>\n<p>Some may say It is better to have bees circle around your body than flies.\u00a0 Bees are attracted to honey and flies are attracted to shit. The flower is only one manifestation of the plant. 90% of the plant is needed to produce that beauty. Beauty which is very fleeting for most plants.\u00a0 Flies are attracted to the shit in the soil.\u00a0 Soil that feeds the roots.\u00a0 Roots that feed the plant that make the flower possible.\u00a0 So don\u2019t be worried if you attract flies.\u00a0 Without the shit there is no flower. Start to worry if you never feel like a flower. Or you only attract bees.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13760 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/NightIndia.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>April 14th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Skipped Puja today. It now starts at 6:15am. I\u2019m like, 6:30am I can be there. But 6:15am? No way. That\u2019s too early.<\/p>\n<p>Meditation sucked less worse than it usually does. I didn\u2019t look at my watch once. I\u2019m very proud of myself but, strangely, there wasn\u2019t a trophy waiting for me at breakfast.<\/p>\n<p>Then the hippie stuff started. Morning Journey was 45 mins of seated kriya and pranayama.\u00a0 Then 30 mins of dancing with our eyes closed. Then staring into people\u2019s eyes. Then hugging. Then face holding. Lots of crying. More hugging. More crying. Then singing. Giving up all ego, giving fully to others, creating an energy that is quite literally beyond words and left me speechless. A mystical experience. Which is what I came here for. It was truly lovely. I am a hippie.<\/p>\n<p>I think to myself, the same class probably wouldn\u2019t fly in Washington DC. There\u2019s just too many personal and legal boundaries. But, what the hell, I\u2019ll give it a try anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Morning talk entitled \u201cwhat is the Self\u201d was a good one. Most of it was stuff I was aware of and had read elsewhere.I it is good to have that validation. I feel a little less like a fraud or at least if felt good hearing it from someone other than a yoga teacher in DC or Bryan Kest or the 30 guests I had on my podcast or a book I read whose author I don\u2019t know. I guess I shouldn\u2019t feel like a fraud after all.<\/p>\n<p>Memory is linked to time in a linear way. And so life can seem linear but it isn\u2019t. That\u2019s just memory. And time is both a way for the ego to distract us and a thing for us to use because without time there is no growth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 15th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One week down. Three to go. Time flows differently here, especially in classes. Our morning journey seems to last longer than a 90 min class. Meditation has become a little more enjoyable. I don\u2019t look at my watch every 5 mins anymore.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 16<sup>th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Received a mantra yesterday based on my energy, date of birth, place of birth and time of birth.\u00a0 I may not have gotten the time right. I wonder if that will make a difference? \u00a0Probably not \u2013 it was a good faith effort on my part though<\/p>\n<p>Downward facing dog is also upward facing Donkey. Think about it for a second.<\/p>\n<p>Drum circle and fire pit tonight with the full moon out. Dancing and singing mantras. A little taste of home. There was a time when I would have felt pretty awkward dancing and singing but after doing Zumba auditions for the last 8 years nothing is embarrassing.<\/p>\n<p>The people here are super kind, supportive, and loving. I fucking love them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 17<sup>th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll never find the right answers if you keep asking questions. Sit with the experience and you will gain wisdom. \u201cLearn to be wise instead of right.\u201d \u2013 Anand Ji<\/p>\n<p>Chasing the right answer is an intellectual addiction. Like any zealous addiction, it feeds itself and not your Self.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes the temptation is to \u201cfigure it out\u201d and then make a conscious choice to believe or not believe \u201cit.\u201d \u201cfiguring it out\u201d may only be building an intellectual outcome you are comfortable with based on your own superimposed structure, your learned behavior. \u201cIt\u201d then becomes a product of your mind instead of the observance of reality. And your memory is then one of you instead of the experience.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13754 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Ganja.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"894\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>April 18<sup>th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Day off from training. Morning Meditation and Journey and then taxi into Rishikesh.<\/p>\n<p>Lots of shopping. Got scarves for people back home and for myself.\u00a0 Got white clothes for the closing ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch at a cafe overlooking the Ganga. Then more shopping.<\/p>\n<p>Aarti in the evening at the Ganga. There\u2019s a elephant that bathes on the other side of the river.<\/p>\n<p>Took off my shirt and went in the Ganga. It was really cold but not so cold that I went numb. Growing up at the New Jersey shore where the water is so cold it makes your testicles crawl up into you stomach comes in handy sometimes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 19<sup>th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Went back to Puja this morning. 6:15am isn\u2019t so bad after all.<\/p>\n<p>We get angry at ourselves for making mistakes as if we shouldn\u2019t. Without mistakes there is no growth. It is arrogance to think the last mistake will be your last. You\u2019ll come face to face with this arrogance the next time you get angry at yourself for making a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>There are limits to what you can know if you are only using your mind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 20<sup>th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meditation continues to be a challenge. There is much resistance from my mind which is not surprising- I have spent a lot of time making my mind fit a certain pattern that sustains me.\u00a0 Unfortunately that pattern hasn\u2019t brought me peace. So meditation it is!<\/p>\n<p>A group of cows came down the path this morning by the river. One of them ate the apple core out of my hand. When I went into the river to clear trash out of the small dam, another cow drank my Chai.<\/p>\n<p>During class today I rolled my eyes further than I ever have in Agni Mudra. Felt like I was looking into my brain. How can the brain look at the brain through the eyes? Like placing a mirror in front of another mirror?<\/p>\n<p>When you ask a question are you inviting an opinion or an experience? If an opinion, can you let that pass and accept or do you feel the need to argue? If you argue what is your goal? If you want an experience can you let that pass without judgement? If so, you\u2019ll finally be listening.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 21<sup>st<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Started the day off with a hike to a waterfall. We walked up a mountain and I never felt out of breath. Sat under the waterfall and after someone said it looked like I was being baptized. It was an apt observation.<\/p>\n<p>I asked Anand Ji a question during our session on the Koshas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do we know the difference between reaction from learned behavior and insight? How do we know we aren\u2019t manifesting deep learned behavior?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Answer: \u201cinsight comes from stillness and conditioned activity comes from a place of disturbance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Word.<\/p>\n<p>My follow up question was \u201chow does this relate to Dharma?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Answer: \u201cDharma is to live a life of spontaneous right action\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Which fits nicely: if you have stillness Dharma will flow because insight will always lead to right action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 22<sup>nd<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A Pundit is a learned person or keeper of knowledge and they are usually advisors to leaders in India. Ironic that we call experts on television who yell at each other Pundits. I haven\u2019t seen a Pundit do that here.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13756 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Tree.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"1300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>April 23<sup>rd<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meditation isn\u2019t getting any easier to do. My mantra brings up certain images that are repetitive. My mind goes elsewhere to avoid the images and when I bring my mind back to my mantra, I see the images again. I will try to see past the images until they no longer arise in my mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think, therefore I am\u201d is taking on new meaning for me. I have always understood the phrase to mean, to think is to exist as a human. It has been interpreted that rational thought derived from the mind makes us human and separates us from other life forms. And Descartes may have indeed meant the saying as meaning: we have rational thought, therefore we are human. It has been acted on frequently as a rejection of any action that isn\u2019t logical or rational. But I can\u00a0 recognize the mind and so as an observer of that intuition, I must be more.\u00a0 I think therefore I am becomes the whole of the human, not just the mind, I experience, therefore I am.<\/p>\n<p>What they teach here is- when you have an experience you can\u2019t explain, don\u2019t try just because your mind needs to put the experience into words Wait until you have more insight\/knowledge. Know that you don\u2019t know and let that be okay until you do KNOW instead of rejecting the experience or putting the experience in a box limited by your current knowledge. Grow from the experience \u2013 evolve.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s quite liberating actually. We always want to know the answer Now. And if we don\u2019t have the answer now, we just go with reacting with what we know. We put words to experience that frame the experience with our accumulated knowledge. We put the experience in a box before letting the experience settle. When we do that we stagnate. To grow and understand we sometimes need to let experience settle.<\/p>\n<p>Growth (and understanding) take time to happen. A tree doesn\u2019t grow in a day. I always knew that, now I know that.<\/p>\n<p>At least that\u2019s what I\u2019m experiencing. Try this: if you want to teach a baby language, you need to show them meaning. You can\u2019t explain English by using baby language. The baby has to accept that arm means arm. You have to accept the new learning on its own terms, not on the reference points you have in your current conditioning. If you never do that, then there is a limit to what you can know because language is a crude (and artificial) way to describe experience. For example: how do you describe subatomic particles like electrons?\u00a0 As a wave?\u00a0 As a particle? It\u2019s both actually. But if you only accept waves and particles, then you\u2019ll never know what an electron actually is.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you don\u2019t have to accept that subatomic Quanta are waves and particles. That\u2019s your choice.<\/p>\n<p>And a baby can go through life just babbling. But it doesn\u2019t. So why are you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 25th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are some who walk up the stairs and trip on the first step because they aren\u2019t looking directly ahead of them. There are some who put the first foot down successfully but trip as they place the second foot on the first step because they are only looking ahead and don\u2019t know what is behind. There are some who look ahead AND know what\u2019s behind and realize that you need to do both without tripping. That is being present.<\/p>\n<p>Sadhviji (Sahvi Bhagawati Saraswati)\u00a0 from Parmarth Niketan came to speak to us yesterday at Sattva.\u00a0 She gave the speech about Earth Day at Arti last week. She has a grace and vibration about her that I could feel very strongly. I asked her: why do toxic people seem to be rewarded for their behavior and do not suffer. A topic I wrote a little about in my Article- <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/current-affairs\/comment\/compassion-for-trump\/\">Compassion for Trump<\/a><\/span>. Her answer was that they may be rewarded financially but not spiritually. They are not happy: \u201cwhen you feel joy you make others happy. When you feel toxic you make others around you toxic.\u201d I feel the truth of that statement. I\u2019ve been there<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 26<sup>th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I realize now I can only help others if they ask. It isn\u2019t up to me to decide that someone needs help. I can no longer assume that everyone I see with a problem wants my help in solving it.\u00a0 And I can no longer accept responsibility for the solution. I can give advice and support but I can\u2019t make someone else\u2019s problem go away with the force of my will. \u00a0Will has limits<\/p>\n<p><strong>May 3<sup>rd<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>200 hour YTTs graduated today. Was delightful to see everyone so happy and full of wonder.\u00a0 The spiritual path is a river, always there in the Self. Every once in a while, no matter who you are, your mind becomes aware that it is swimming against the current of Self. When your mind awakens to the spiritual path your mind struggles even more to stop the struggle because it does not know how to stop and doesn\u2019t have the courage to learn how. As You become fully aware that the mind struggles and not the Self there is an even greater awakening. The struggle with the mind ceases and you feel the flow of the river. You let it take you downstream. Flowing downstream, you make adjustments to your Self so that the river doesn\u2019t overwhelm you. The mind is now your ally. You make ever more refined movements with the mind that lead to stillness without effort as you float. Every once in a while you will need to readjust and regain the flow. But you never feel the need to turn around and start struggling again. That is yoga.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May 5th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pointing out that someone is a hypocrite is like going to a baseball game and filling out the scorecard and then bringing that scorecard to the next game and getting pissed off when the teams don\u2019t play the same exact game as they did the day before. The teams have the same names, the players have the same names, the rules are the same but everything else has changed from the day before:the weather, the line up of the teams, the individuals who make up the teams, and most importantly, you have changed (whether you admit it or not). All those changes result in a totally different game that is played by others and perceived by you.\u00a0 It\u2019s the reason we go to games, to see the unexpected, to be an active participant in the unexpected. Not to be an observer from afar who judges every action. If we go expecting the same game as the day before we are deluding ourselves and playing the role of an all-knowing God, which we are not.<\/p>\n<p>If a person says they believe or act in one way on Saturday and then don\u2019t act the same way on Monday, from your point of view, they are a hypocrite but from their point of view they may be acting or believing based on a new set of circumstances that you are unaware of. Who are you to keep score of their lives? Are they just part of a game in your mind for your entertainment?\u00a0 If they did care that you are keeping score then don\u2019t you become the master of their future actions? To approve what they do based on your scorecard? Why would a person want that? Why would you want that? That\u2019s an awful lot to keep track of. And who keeps your scorecard? You?\u00a0 If so, maybe you should pay more attention to yourself and keep score. If someone else, then be prepared to give up your own agency to that person. If that is God then great. But who are you to be God for someone else? They didnt authorize you to be that for them so you have no right to take on that role from their point of view.<\/p>\n<p>You could spend your entire day keeping the scorecard for other people and then making sure they aren\u2019t hypocrites tomorrow. But you would only be an observer and never a true participant. Going to the game but never being a part of it. Where\u2019s the joy in that?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13755 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Dawn.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"1300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>May 6<sup>th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I can here not knowing what to expect but trusting in every way. I wouldn\u2019t have believed a future me who came back in time and tried to tell me what would happen. I guess that\u2019s what a Journey is: an experience beyond what you could have predicted then when you look back. Evolution is the Journey in the present moment. Flight home. A little over half way through the 15 hour flight dawn started. And for the next seven hours it stayed dawn until we landed. The most amazing thing. I\u2019ve never seen dawn last that long.<\/p>\n<p>After flying for 14 hours at 30,000 feet The most comforting thing in the world is seeing the ocean at 1000 feet. a grey, early morning where the Sea is tinted dark green, blue and white- the lights on the container ships, the fishing boats, the white caps framed by low lying clouds complete the tapestry entitled \u201cWelcome Home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>We depend on readers&#8217; support. You can contribute on an ongoing basis through <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cassandravoices\">Patreon<\/a><\/span> or on a one-off basis via <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buymeacoffee.com\/cassandravoices\">Buy Me a Coffee<\/a><\/span>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five takeaways from my experience at Sattva Yoga Academy in india:\u00a0 Have an experience without using words to describe the experience at least once a day. I am much more than my mind. My ego is not the center of me, my heart is. Miracles and mystical experiences happen all the time \u2013 be open [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":13752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[111,1658,1659,1661,1663,2104,3398,4382,4384,6231,6368,7865,7866,8441,8500,8922,10152],"class_list":["post-13751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-culture","tag-111","tag-christopher-parkison","tag-christopher-parkison-cassandra-voices","tag-christopher-parkison-india","tag-christopher-parkison-yoga","tag-culture","tag-for","tag-india-travel-writing","tag-india-yoga-retreats","tag-modern","tag-mysticism","tag-rishikesh","tag-rishikesh-yoga-retreat","tag-skeptic","tag-society","tag-the","tag-wisdom-dairy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}