Nachiketa Version 0.1: 1. Self-help Archives

November 16, 2006

Pragmatism

Being pragmatic means making compromises.

Anything less than idealistic does not provide me enough intellectual stimulation.

Posted by nachiketa at 06:08 AM | Comments (0)

November 11, 2005

A beautiful story from Rajneesh

I remember the following sweet story by Rajnessh but don't remember the exact title of the book.

Once upon a time, two people were traveling by a bullock cart. One was a highly learned professor in physics. The other was an ordinary drunken person. The cart was running towards downhill slope and is about to turn over. The professor sensed this and started planning on what to do. The drunken guy had no sense at all; he didn't even know that the cart is going to turn over. The professor calculated the path of the crash; he estimated the force of the crash. Then he did a recovery plan to minimize the damage to his body during the crash. The drunkard has no idea at all.

The cart crashed. Finally people recovered. The professor had more injuries than the drunkard. The professor started thinking what went wrong. He thought that it is unfair that he got more injuries even after planning for the crash while the drunkard came out unscathed even though he had had no sense at all.

What was the reason ? The story has subtle but profound lessons. Having planned so much, the professor started resisting the crash. But the body of the drunkard fully cooperated with the fall (probably because he had no sense). That was the reason for parity in injuries.

What is the moral of the story ? People while trying to achieve something end up resulting in the complete opposite results. When the people plan so much, they cling to their expectations and in the process it hurts more than helping. But the people who are flexible to cooperate with the environment get better results.

The story does not imply that we got to be unprepared like drunkard guy. But rather we should be flexible and "let go" of things instead of resisting the change. The Nishkama Karma of Gita tells the same; "don't expect the fruits of your actions". But most of the time, while expecting the results, we cling to the results and we hamper our own progress.

Posted by nachiketa at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2005

Atheists and the religion!

Atheists should remain intolerant of religion, not accommodating it. (A thought derived from recent Salman Rushdie's article).

Posted by nachiketa at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2005

There is no God in Buddhism ?

Buddhism is probably the only religion which does not talk about God. It does not say that "God does not exist" either. It just does not bother about God. It does not even offer an explanation why it avoids to talk about God.

The main concern of Buddhism is "you" i.e the human being. All it tries to do is to study the human condition; why is human being the way he is. And it proposes some techniques to alleviate human suffering.

Buddhism is all about living a life in harmony with one-self, in harmony with others & in harmony with environment.

What a wonderful religion! May be, the label "religion" is a misnomer for Buddhism. If you are really looking for God, go somewhere else. But if you are honestly looking to improve yourself, try some of Buddhism techniques.

The main technique of Buddhism is Meditation. There have been attempts to imbue Buddhism with lot of analytical theory but main theme is always the technique rather than theory. A lot of people would like to indulge in theorizing as a substitute to the actual work; but such people would be disappointed. Stop analyzing and start working on the actual issues.

Even if you are not convinced of the methods of Buddhism, don't worry; at least take the inspiration that it is you who can do anything at all for you. God is for those who like to shift the burden of responsibility from themselves. In my opinion, God is very damaging to the health. Just the thought that "somebody (i.e God) is going to take care of me when I am in trouble" is a comforting but is a destructive notion. It makes you dependent on somebody else. Sorry, you are responsible for yourself.

But there is a recursive danger now. Ok, now I take responsibility for my self and hope that it would ensure the results. Well, even that is a dangerous assumption. Sorry, you can't even rely on the assumption that hard work pays off.

A lot of people like to call themselves Karma Yogis. They say that they leave the fruits of the action to God. But by asserting that such a path is going to lead them to happiness is again a dependance. Now you are depending on the efficacy of the Karma Yoga technique. Sorry, you can't even rely on assumption that by leaving fruits of action to God will make you happy.

So, what do I depend on now ? Doesn't such freedom cause anxiety ? Yes, it does. All you can do is to learn being comfortable with the utter chaos. Learn to tolerate the ambiguities. Learn to tolerate fuzziness.

Posted by nachiketa at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2005

Bandler & the Buddha (version posted to alt.psychology.nlp on 8/10/2005)

Abstract: The author tries to connect the NLP and Vipassana style of meditation. The author argues that all the NLP modalities are not born equal. The contention is that the Kinesthetic is the primal modality through which rest of the modalities (Visual and Audio) express. By elevating the kinesthetic modality to primary position, there are new implications for NLP.

Introduction to NLP

I don't think, I need to give an introduction of NLP to the audience of this newsgroup. But I want to stress some of the NLP terms which are of interest to my discussion below.

We know that there are at least three primary modalities: A (audio), V (video), K (kinesthetic). Each of the modalities has further submodalities.

Different people are good at different modalities. Some people experience the world intensely through Visual modality while others in Auditory. For one person, it could be V > A > K which means Video is more primary than Audio which is more primary than Kinesthetic. But for somebody else, this order could be A > V > K.

The main insight of the NLP is that by manipulating the submodalities of the experience, you could reduce the hold of that experience on you. Say you are scared of spiders or roller coaster rides; you can sit down and analyse the modality & submodalities of the experience. As soon as you think of roller coaster ride, you may have been visualizing certain video in your head. Analyse the pictures and video to see where it is located in your head, what color is it in, whether it is moving fast or slow etc. Now by manipulating these submodalities, you can loosen the fear of rides or the fear of the spiders.

Where NLP got it right?

The basic insights on modalities and the techniques developed out of modality manipulation for self-help were the greatest things. Techniques like swish pattern were very successful in helping people.

Where NLP went wrong?

To get the best out of NLP, it needs the help of external therapist. The NLP does not have in-built rigorous discipline to be used by an individual by himself. It requires the intervention of an external therapist who interprets, articulates and leads you to a solution.

NLP as a self-help tool failed since it lacked the formal inbuilt discipline needed for a serious spiritual/self-help path. To use any of the techniques (e.g. Swish Pattern) for self-help, it requires an enormous amount of unbiased objective analysis of oneself. (For me, after 3 years of experimentation with NLP, the addiction only turned into more & more reading of NLP literature rather than working to fix my problems. I felt at some point that I needed help from a therapist to make better progress).

It is very tough to use NLP to cure some of the deeper psychological complexes like “existential anxiety”.

A new model of NLP

My feeling is that NLP got wrong in understanding the representational systems or the modalities (A, V, K). All three modalities are not different. There is only one primary modality, which is Kinesthetic. All other modalities express themselves through Kinesthetic. My insight is based on my experience with Vipassana style of meditation. You just need to work on your K (kinesthetic) modality to fix any problem. However, the kinesthetic is the subtlest of all modalities. I try to explain below why Kinesthetic is the primary one.

Introduction to Vipassana

Vipassana is the meditation technique used by Theravada style of Buddhism. The Vipassana meditation consists of working on your bodily sensations to liberate your mind.

Vipassana is taught generally in a 10-day course. The first three days consists of focusing your awareness on your breath. By the end of the three days, the mind gets so acute that one will be able to observe the subtlest bodily kinesthetic sensations. After these three days, the student is taught to focus on the sensations throughout the body instead of just nasal area. The main thing is to develop equanimity to the bodily kinesthetic sensations.

Equanimity is what gives you the results. You are asked not to focus on the individual thoughts; you are not supposed to analyse the connection between a particular individual thought and the kinesthetic sensations thereof. The 10-day program basically instills the discipline to experience the bodily sensations without reacting to them. It is a very tough and hard work but if you do your work diligently, you can see that the deeper mental complexes evaporating from your mind.

Do we need a 10-day course to learn Vipassana? Can't we learn it just by reading a book? Possibly not. The path is so hard that anybody would need at least one 10-day course to instill the discipline and to appreciate the proper intent of the technique.

Theory behind Vipassana

We need to understand the Chain of Conditioned Arising or Causal Genesis to learn why & how the Vipassana technique works.

There are four mental processes or aggregates (khandha) which give rise to whole process of how our thinking process works (as per Theravada Buddhism):

1) Consciousness (Vinnana): The first process of the mind is the receiving part, which registers the occurrence of any input, physical or mental. It notes the raw data of experience without assigning labels. This is where you receive all the experiences of the world through your senses. You hear something or see something. There is no judgment of whether this is good or bad. Your friend just uttered some words but you haven't judged those words.

2) Perception/Recognition (Sanna): This is where you make judgment of the registered raw data. In the previous process, you merely heard or saw something in raw terms. But now in the current step, you are making judgment, assign labels & categories, evaluate whether it is good or bad. The words uttered by your friend in the previous process are evaluated now and are labeled as either they are good words or bad words. It basically filters the raw input and presents a colored image of the reality. This judgment process itself is conditioned by one's past experience. We are evaluating the current raw input based on our past-accumulated reactions.

3) Kinesthetic sensations or feeling (Vedana): This is the subtlest of all four processes. A kinesthetic sensation or feeling arises in the body as soon as the first step happened i.e. as soon as the raw input is received. So long as the second process of evaluation of the input has not happened, the sensation remained neutral. But once a value is attached to the raw input, the kinesthetic sensation turns pleasant or unpleasant. The kinesthetic sensation is the bridge between mental and physical experience but itself is rooted in the physical body.

4) Reaction (Sankhara): If the kinesthetic sensation is pleasant, we wish to prolong or intensify the experience. If it is unpleasant, we wish to stop it. The mind reacts with liking or disliking. We are merely reacting to the bodily Kinesthetic Sensations (Vedana) but such a reaction is so powerful that it determines our future conditioning to the experience. The greatest insight to take is that we are not really reacting to the valuation we gave in the second step (i.e. whether your friend's uttering were praise or abuse), but rather we are reacting to the physical kinesthetic sensations manifested in third step. The new Sankharas form the basis by which you will judge and evaluate the future raw inputs. And thus the cycle of conditioning continues.

Now what? We keep going through this loop of forming new Sankharas; and the Chain of Conditioned Arising continues in a loop. But here comes the insight of the Vipassana. By learning to observe the Kinesthetic Sensations (Vedana) objectively and not reacting to them, one can break the chain of conditioned response. Basically we are breaking the conditioning of the registered experience forever. The Perception/Recognition (Sanna) instead turns into Wisdom (Vinnana).

You are not supposed to focus on the thoughts but instead on the sensations. It is very difficult to link what thoughts caused what physical sensations. But that is the origin of discipline in Vipassana. Normally it is very tough to focus on thoughts for novices to try tracing them to the resulting kinesthetic sensations. (But I believe, one can learn such prowess as one practices more & more).

Why is the technique so subtle and why is it not so
self-evident? Everybody needs an explanation of why and how a technique works. But the Vipassana is an experiential technique, not an intellectual experience. You don't need to understand how it works to get the benefits. Even my explanation of the technique is only an approximation. One only needs to go through the 10-day course to experience the benefits of it.

NLP & Vipassana

Have you ever done a yoga asana on a stressful day? A single yoga asana seems to relax the stress and get you into good moods. Even the tai chi focuses on bodily kinesthetic movements as a spiritual tool. The salvation lies in the human body. The kinesthetic sensations talked about in Vipassana are nothing but the knots in our psychosomatic field.

NLP indulges in an analytical approach to identify the root causes of the problem. In Vipassana however, the fact that you are uncomfortable with a certain thing is good enough. Rest is the hard work of equanimously observing the physical sensations without reacting. The underlying complex reasons come up the surface and evaporate by the exercise. You are expected to hold your equanimity during the meditation; neither crave for more of the similar sensations nor run away from them. Otherwise you are only strengthening the conditioning.

What is next?

There is need for more research into kinesthetic modality as the tool for NLP. I would urge the NLP community to give a try of Vipassana mediation. I believe, Vipassana can nicely complement the work of NLP or even replace NLP as the ultimate spiritual tool. If you want to experience the technique, one can sign up for a free course at http://www.dhamma.org/. The course itself is free. You can also check out my blog http://www.nachiketa.org/ for other related information.

Posted by nachiketa at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2005

Afraid not, to tread

The journey of thousand miles starts with a single step. But even before the step, it starts with a dream. The dream guides where you need to go. If you don't know where you are going, it does not matter where you go.

Afraid not, to dream.

After having figured out where you need to go, it would be a huge waste of effort if you don't take the first step now.

Afraid not, to tread.

Afraid not, to dream. Afraid not, to tread.

Posted by nachiketa at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2005

Bandler & the Buddha

Abstract: The author tries to connect the NLP and Vipassana style of meditation. The author argues that the all NLP modalities are not born equal. The contention is that the Kinesthetic is the primal modality through which rest of the modalities (Visual and Audio) express. By elevating the kinesthetic modality to primary position, there are new implications for NLP.

TOC:

* Introduction to NLP
* Where NLP got it right?
* Where NLP went wrong?
* A new model of NLP
* Introduction to Vipassana
* Theory behind Vipassana
* NLP & Vipassana
* What is next?

Introduction to NLP

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) is one of greatest self-help tools developed in the recent past. One of the basic axioms of the NLP is that "map is not the territory". We experience the world through our own filters of language, beliefs and biases. The mental map we build of the world is not anywhere near the actual world itself.

The way we experience the world is through our senses. Our experiences could be represented in video, audio, kinesthetic, olfactory or gustatory (taste) representational systems. But for most of the people, the Video, Audio and Kinesthetic are the main representation systems. The representational systems are not mutually exclusive; each experience could consist of multiple systems. The representation systems are also called modalities.

Each of the modalities has submodalities. The picture you visualize in your head could be in color or in black & white; it could be located on left side of your head or right; it could be very intensive or feeble. Further distinctions of each of the modalities (representational systems) are called submodalities. Some examples of the Visual submodalities are color or black & white, framed or unbounded, whether yourself is in the picture or not, contrast, brightness, clarity, movement, size, speed of video. Some examples of Audio submodalities are stereo or mono, volume, timbre, location of the sound, distance from the sound, clarity. Some examples of kinesthetic submodalities are location, pressure, shape and weight.

The main insight of the NLP is that by manipulating the submodalities of the experience, you could reduce the hold of the experience on you. Say you are scared of spiders or roller coaster rides; you can sit down and analyse the modality & submodalities of the experience. As soon as you think of roller coaster ride, you may have been visualizing certain video in your head. Analyse the pictures and video to see where it is located in your head, what color is it in, whether it is moving fast or slow etc. Now by manipulating these submodalities, you can loosen the fear of rides or the fear of the spiders.

If you want to gain further insight into NLP, there is tremendous amount of literature on the web and in print.

Where NLP got it right?

The basic insights on modalities and the techniques developed out of modality manipulation for self-help were great things. Techniques like swish pattern were very successful in helping people.

Where NLP went wrong?

To get the best out of NLP, it needs the help of external therapist. The NLP does not have in-built rigorous disciple to be used by an individual by himself. It requires the intervention of an external therapist who interprets, articulates and leads you to a solution.

A new model of NLP

My feeling is that NLP got wrong in understanding the representational systems or modalities (A, V, K). All three modalities are not different. There is only one primary modality, which is Kinesthetic. All other modalities express themselves through Kinesthetic. My insight is based on my experience with Vipassana style of meditation. So you just need to work on your K (kinesthetic) modality to fix any problem. However, the kinesthetic is the subtlest of all modalities. I try to explain below why Kinesthetic is the primary one.

Introduction to Vipassana

Vipassana is the meditation technique used by Theravada style of Buddhism. The Vipassana meditation consists of working on your bodily sensations to liberate your mind.

Theory behind Vipassana

We need to understand the Chain of Conditioned Arising or Causal Genesis to learn why & how the Vipassana technique works.

There are four mental processes or aggregates (khandha) which give rise to whole process of how our thinking process works:

1) Consciousness (Vinnana): The first process of the mind is the receiving part, which registers the occurrence of any input, physical or mental. It notes the raw data of experience without assigning labels. This is where you receive all the experiences of the world through your senses. You hear something or see something. There is no judgment of whether this is good or bad. Your friend just uttered some words but you haven't judged those words.

2)Perception/Recognition (Sanna): This is where you make judgment of the registered raw data. In the previous process, you merely heard or saw something in raw terms. But now in the current step, you are making judgment, assign labels & categories, evaluate whether it is good or bad. The words uttered by your friend in the previous process are evaluated now and labeled, as either they are good words or bad words. It basically filters the raw input and presents a colored image of reality. This judgment process itself is conditioned by one's past experience. We are evaluating the current raw input based on our past-accumulated reactions.

3)Kinesthetic sensations or feeling (Vedana): This is the subtlest of all four processes. A kinesthetic sensation or feeling arises in the body as soon as the first step happened i.e. as soon as the raw input is received. So long as the second process of evaluation of the input has not happened, the sensation remained neutral. But once a value is attached to the raw input, the kinesthetic sensation turns pleasant or unpleasant. The kinesthetic sensation is the bridge between mental and physical experience but itself is rooted in the physical body.

4)Reaction (Sankhara): If the kinesthetic sensation is pleasant, we wish to prolong or intensify the experience. If it is unpleasant, we wish to stop it. The mind reacts with liking or disliking. We are merely reacting to the bodily Kinesthetic Sensations (Vedana) but such a reaction is so powerful that it determines our future conditioning to the experience. The greatest insight to take is that we are not really reacting to the valuation we gave in the second step (i.e. whether your friend's uttering were praise or abuse), but rather we are reacting to the physical kinesthetic sensations manifested in third step. The new Sankharas form the basis by which you will judge and evaluate the future raw inputs. And thus the cycle of conditioning continues.

Now what? We keep going through this loop of forming new Sankharas and the Chain of Conditioned Arising continues in a loop. But here comes the insight of the Vipassana. By learning to observe the Sensation (Vedana) objectively, one can break the chain of conditioned response. Basically we are breaking the conditioning of the registered experience forever. The Perception/Recognition (Sanna) instead turns into Wisdom (Vinnana).

You are not supposed to focus on the thoughts but instead on the sensations. It is very difficult to link what thoughts caused what physical sensations. But that is the origin of discipline in Vipassana. Normally it is very tough to focus on thoughts for novices to trace them to the resulting kinesthetic sensations. (But I believe, one can learn such prowess as one practices more & more).

Why is the technique so subtle and why is it not so self-evident? Everybody needs an explanation of why and how a technique works. But the Vipassana is an experiential technique, not an intellectual experience. You don't need to understand how it works to get the benefits. Even my explanation of the technique is only an approximation. One only needs to go through the 10-day course to experience the benefits of it.

NLP & Vipassana

Have you ever done a yoga asana on a stressful day? A single yoga asana seems to relax the stress and get you into good moods. Even the tai chi focuses on bodily kinesthetic movements as spiritual tool. The salvation lies in the human body. The kinesthetic sensations talked about in Vipassana are nothing but the knots in our psychosomatic field.

There is one subtle difference in NLP and Vipassana. Vipassana never focuses on an individual thought and resultant kinesthetic sensations. It is not humanly possible for a novice to connect the individual thoughts and the resulting the kinesthetic sensations. Vipassana frowns upon such an experiment itself. But I believe, once the practitioner gains more experiences, it is possible to do such thing. The NLP addresses a certain particular psychological problem while the Vipassana addresses the deeper complexes. I don't think, it is possible to fix your phobia of spiders in a Vipassana sitting. But a deeper surgery of psychological complexes is only possible in Vipassana.

NLP indulges in analytical approach to identify the root causes of the problem. In Vipassana however, the fact that you are uncomfortable with a certain thing is good enough. Rest is hard work of equanimously observing the physical sensations without reacting. The underlying complex reasons come up the surface and evaporate by the exercise. You are expected to hold your equanimity during the meditation; neither crave for more of the similar sensations nor run away from them. Otherwise you are only strengthening the conditioning.

What is next?

There is need for more research into kinesthetic modality as the tool for NLP. I would urge the NLP community to give a try of Vipassana mediation. I believe, Vipassana can complement nicely the work NLP or even replace NLP as the ultimate spiritual tool. If you want to experience the technique, one can sign up for a free course at http://www.dhamma.org/. The course itself is free.

Posted by nachiketa at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)

June 04, 2005

Warning on meditation

Meditation is experiential

Meditation is not an intellectual exercise. Understanding why or how it works is not necessary to gain from meditation. Such an exercise is rather impediment to your progress on the path of meditation. Meditation is a experiential process. You have to experience it. The only way you gain anything from it is to practice it.

Just do it

There are so many meditation techniques. Most of them achieve the same thing. Each technique appeals to people of various temperaments and beliefs. Progress on some technique may be faster based on your current faith & belief set. Some may suit people with faith in god. Some suit people without any faith in god.

Survey couple of them and pick one which appeals to you. Then just dive in. Just do it.

Posted by nachiketa at 05:23 PM | Comments (1)

General notes on meditation

Some general notes on meditation

* Biggest warning on meditation: Meditation is not an intellectual (analytical) exercise. Meditation is Experiential exercise. You gain only by actually practicing. Understanding how and why it works is not necessary. Such an exercise works as impediment to your progress on the meditation path. The only way out is to actually practice it. That is it.. Go and practice it.. Don't even try to read what I am saying here. Pick a technique which suits your temperament; then get up and go practice it.

* Buddhism is the only religion which does not talk about God. (Later schools of Buddhism have converted Buddha himself into God but the original Buddhism as it is called "Theravada or Hinayana school" never talks about god. Buddhism does not claim that god does not exist either. It just does not talk about it. The central theme of Buddhism is you (i.e. human condition). The basic starting point is that "human existence/condition has suffering". Then it goes on about characterizing such suffering and showing the path out of the suffering. That is it.

Posted by nachiketa at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)

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Fear not, to tread