The Problem With Money

The Bible says that money is the root of all evil. Still, without money you can’t buy food, you can’t pay your bills; you can’t get medical or dental care. Then there is gas for the car, or bus or cab fare, paying the baby sitter, buying clothes and washing them. It’s pretty obvious that there is very little one can do, in today’s society, without money. Sure, you could move into the wilds, hunt wild animals and gather greens and wild grains for food; you could even learn to build a cabin and start fires by rubbing two sticks together; but could you, really? And if you could, would such a life be fulfilling? Well, maybe.

I don’t know about you, but I was raised in a middle class American home, with hot and cold running water, central heating, indoor plumbing, not to mention a bed with a soft mattress, a stereo, and a TV. Nevertheless, if the economy crashes world wide, or we get hit by a rogue asteroid, or by a super electro-magnetic storm from the increasing sun spot activity, or Yellowstone’s mega volcano erupts, then having the ability to live like a survivalist might just come in handy, and money will be the least of our troubles. Still, if we deal with the problem now, it may just assist us in weathering any storm or calamity life can send our way.

The problem with money lies in our economic system. Being that our economy is based upon the availability of precious metals and gems, the struggle to control the Earths energy resources is backed by those who have an abundance of these commodities and the political power that comes from their possession. This type of setup invariably leads to the control of the few, over the needs of the many. This condition generates the consciousness that there will never be enough. The truth is, there are enough resources on this planet to insure that everyone has enough of what they need to survive and enjoy life, as long as those resources are distributed adequately.

So how can we do away with money? I mean everyone deserves an honest wage for honest work?

Credit for ones creativity and productivity need not be based upon a medium of exchange, such as rare metals and gems, or upon the availability of fossil fuel. Individuals could receive credit for creative and productive activities based upon their efforts alone. I suppose that it could be called the barter system, but it is more than that. When an individual does a job or creates something, they would decide what that job or creation is worth in the way of credit. If they place too high a value on their effort, they would probably not acquire many takers, unless their talent is rare or extraordinary. Those who do decide that this individual’s talent or capabilities are worth the price will then trade their own earned credits, as a medium of exchange to obtain whatever that individual produces or is able to deliver in the way of services. Credits would be be based solely on one’s capacity to produce desired goods or services.

I know, it sounds like money, but it isn’t. It is simply credit for ones efforts, one’s productivity. It is not based on substances that are cashed somewhere in a vault, or upon a product, such as oil, that many need, but is hoarded by a few to maintain power over the many. It is truly an honest wage for honest work. Credits would then be based solely upon an individuals personal assessment of the value of their productivity; or in the case of an individual with limited understanding, upon what society agrees is a personally sustainable amount.

An individual could save up his credits to purchase goods and services with them, just as society now saves money, but credits would be based solely upon what one can do or create and the only way an individual can transfer their credits is through a fair exchange for goods and services. No one would be able to inherit credits from others through entitlement or by succession or will. An individuals credits would belong solely to them.

All children would be given a substantial amount of credits by right, simply for being born. This amount would be decided upon by popular vote, and based upon what is needed to sustain a child until he or she becomes personally productive. Children would also earn credits for going to school and for demonstrating good citizenship.

Those who are unable to produce, either because of a physical or a mental disability would always be taken care of. Many would be taken care of until they have been trained to provide a service that they are capable of offering or have developed skills that deserve personal credit. Even those who are incapable of developing skills would taken care of because the availability of credit would not based upon materials that are difficult to acquire, but rather upon care, consideration and even love for one’s fellow human beings.

Without the possibility for personal gain through the accruing of funds without individual productivity, either by inheritance or theft, society would change radically. There would be no more power barons, or idle rich. There would be no lost youth roaming the streets, seeking opportunities though which to take advantage of others for the purposes of survival, personal gain or power.

This could be accomplished tomorrow. All that would be required is that the government pays off all of its debts to other countries with its stockpile of gold, gems and other precious metals and materials. Then we could shift to the credit system without harming other countries. The government could then replace all monies in all bank accounts with double the amount of credit. For those without a bank account, the government could give every individual who turns in cash, twice the value of that cash in credit. Each credit would equal one dollar, there would be no cents. All accounts would be rounded off to the nearest dollar.

At this point it would be very helpful if the government would put a freeze on price hikes in all businesses and services for one year to allow our economy to recover. All disability claims would still be honored in the amount of twice the previous monetary value of those claims. Food stamps would still be issued to those who are presently impoverished, at double the amount. Health care would still be provided to the impoverished, and to the country’s veterans, in the same way it was provided before, except all such services would be based in credit offered by the government until the credit shift is completed.

This would generate an economic boon for everyone in this country. Suddenly, everyone would be able to afford what they need, and companies and service providers would be able to produce more, employ more people and the entire country could finally get back to work, and that work would not only provide credit for goods and services, but also provide a rebirth of hope for the entire country.

Of course, foreign trade would probably be hampered for a time until other countries were willing to trade goods and services for goods and services. Who knows though, maybe the entire world would come to its senses, and our whole planet might one day be free of the wealthy and powerful controlling the masses by withholding necessary resources. It’s a thought.

In U.S., 46% Hold Creationist View of Human Origins

In U.S., 46% Hold Creationist View of Human Origins

In U.S., 3 in 10 Say They Take the Bible Literally: Gallop Poll

The Power Of Thought Forms

    Barbara Marks Hubbard has a different term for Thought-Forms. She calls them memes, but I believe the term thought-form, as expressed through my connection to spirit as I wrote this, is the same thing. It is the word I came up with, at the time I was allowing spirit to communicate this important truth through me, to define what spirit was trying to say about how shared thoughts, statements, and agreements mold our life experience, effect the planetary consciousness and how we live and move and have our being within it. So, if you like, while you read this, just superimpose the term Meme over the term Thought-Form, and you will probably see that they are the same thing.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

     What is a thought-form? Where do they come from? Why do they have power and what kind of power do they have? First of all, thought forms have existed since Mankind first developed sentience. It is not just the capacity to develop intelligence, the capacity to observe one’s environment and to formulate conscious strategies for coping with and manipulating that environment, but it is the emotional impact intrinsic within these processes. Sentience is emotional self-awareness. It is not just the capacity to observe and react in a productive and progressive manor, but to do so as the result of an emotional impact from a sensual observation or experience. For instance, a child generally doesn’t develop a healthy respect for fire, or very hot things, until they experience the pain and the shock that comes from being burned. From that point forward there is an emotional component to the term “hot”which is rooted in fear, and evokes a psycho-physical response to the offending sensation of intense heat. This psycho-physical response is what draws our hand back when we sense heat radiating from an object and It is this psycho-physical response that lies at the root of thought-form development.

     Another term often used in regards to this psycho-physical response is engram. An engram is created when an experience is intense enough to become etched upon not only the memory but also upon the neural network within the body. Engrams generate unconscious psycho-physical responses to experiences and observations that either match or closely resemble past experiences that were both emotionally and physically intense enough to become imprinted upon the neural net. It is speculated that engrams are the basis for what are called knee-jerk reactions to certain stimuli, such as the hand automatically drawing back from something that is perceived as hot, or automatically cringing at a specific tone of voice.

     So what do psycho-physical responses and engrams have to do with the generation of thought-forms? Thought-forms are, in essence, social engrams. Thought forms are generated when the majority of individuals within a social group agree that something is true based upon the collective experience of the group. In some ways this is a good thing, as it promotes social connectedness and civilized societies; but in some ways this is not such a good thing as it also promotes blind allegiance to social agreements that may not always be grounded in truth. The reason for this is that engrams and psycho-physical responses are often formed before reason and intellect are fully developed. Often social agreement is based upon infantile perceptions of reality, formed before an individual or a society has developed the tools to accurately assess observations and experiences. For instance, early society agreed that the Earth was flat. They also agreed that the Earth was at the center of a universe and that the universe revolved around it. As the result of Galileo’s discoveries through the use of his invention, the telescope, mankind eventually traded those early social thought-forms for more enlightened ones.

     Thought-forms have long been used by religious leaders and governments to control the masses. Generating a social thought-form is fairly easy when dealing with uneducated minds or fearful and superstitious social groups. It is fairly easy to utilize the fears and the superstitions of groups and societies to direct the masses into believing, acting or reacting in a prescribed manor. Sometimes this is viewed as necessary, for the protection of the group, or the society, such as telling them that a Supreme Being has the ability to monitor their every move and will inflict terrible consequences upon them if they break certain rules or laws, or overstep certain boundaries. Unfortunately, often such contrived thought-forms can forestall, or even impair the capacity for social and intellectual development such as when Galileo was arrested and his discoveries that were suppressed by the Church during the Inquisition.

     Today many thought-forms are subtler than those of previous ages and are often founded on scientifically based assumptions. Nevertheless, thought-forms based in religiosity and superstitions not only still exist but they also continue to control the thoughts and actions of the greater portion of global society. Often, whether individuals choose to believe in the religious or superstitious concepts behind these thought-forms or not, they still find their emotional and physical actions and reactions controlled, on deep sub-conscious levels, by thought-forms they either do not subscribe to or are unaware of. Even atheists often call upon God for help or forgiveness when confronted with their own mortality. To be sure, even the ancient thought-forms have become quite subtle in that we are so accustomed to them that we no longer consider them as important, and yet, it is when a thought-form drops below the level of our conscious awareness that it has the most power over us. The truth is, our lives, our decisions, our actions and reactions to life’s experiences are largely choreographed by thought-forms that were both born in antiquity and generated in present time, often by well meaning individuals, groups, religious organizations and even governments.

     Every time you watch a commercial on TV you are helping to generate or are participating in the proliferation of a thought-form. Every time you go to a show, or participate in a religious or social event, every time you give yourself over to a concept or a belief you are helping to generate or are participating in the proliferation of a thought-form. Nevertheless, not all thought-forms are destructive, controlling or limiting. Some thought-forms are not only constructive and liberating, they are also healing. These thought-forms, that are gaining more and more social agreement, empower the individual; engender acceptance, open-mindedness, unity, and the knowledge that all things are possible to those who believe in endless possibilities.

     In the realm of thought-forms, Global Thought-Forms are by and large the most powerful of all. For instance, Life is fragile and tenuous. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality life is tenacious and persistent. In spite of dozens of global calamities that forced thousands, possibly millions of life forms into extinction, life continues to express on this planet. The discrepancy here is the confusion between substance and form. Substance persists; form is constantly changing and evolving to address the constant state of change that exists within all environmental spheres.

     Nevertheless, the thought-forms promoting the fragility of life persist because mankind is rooted in substance, due to another thought-form that promotes the idea that substance is more real than form. The fact that thought-forms have so much power is evidence of this, as people tend to believe that if you can’t see it, touch it, taste it or smell it, it has no basis in reality. Regardless of this belief, our lives are continually molded and our perceptions are constantly modified by feelings and emotions that, in themselves, are insubstantial to the degree that they cannot be seen or measured with physical mechanisms outside of our bodies. Or can they?

     For decades now we have been able to measure the effects of emotions, by monitoring blood pressure, heart rate and galvanic skin responses. This is how the lie detector works. Of course it takes a skilled operator to decipher the meaning of the traces that these measurements generate on paper. Still, it doesn’t take a machine to recognize the sadness in a friends face when they have lost a loved one or when they are experiencing the pain of a failed relationship.

     So also can the effects of a thought-form be seen if one knows what to look for. An example of this is in the suddenly soaring rate of breast cancer. Only in the last decade has there been increasing awareness of this disease. In fact the awareness has increased so much that you can’t drive on the freeway without seeing at least one pink ribbon bumper sticker, or shop without seeing a pink canvas shopping bag, or turn on the news without hearing about some organization or individual discussing a 5k run or a fund drive of some sort to fight this deadly disease. Could it be, that all of this focus has generated a thought-form that says, if you are a woman, you will probably get this disease? Could it be, the more people that focus on it, the more women there are that fall victim to it? Could this be a modern day thought-form gone wild?

     This is why it is so important that our race becomes aware of what thought-forms are, and that thought-forms have power over our minds, our bodies and our spirits. It is imperative that we, as a race, come to recognize that we contribute to the construction of and the proliferation of thought-forms by investing our agreement and energy in them. Unless we do, we will not need an asteroid from space, or an atomic war to seal our fate. We will destroy ourselves with our own agreed upon thoughts.

     Nevertheless, humanity has the power to transform the planet and all of the lives upon it through the use of this magnificent tool. What if all humanity came to agree that the Earth itself is an electrical generator capable of providing enough energy, as the result of it’s rotation and it’s orbital transit around the sun, to provide enough free, renewable energy to power any and all of our needs forever? What if all of humanity agreed that the human body is so strong and so adaptable that it could overcome all disease? What if all of humanity agreed that war was no longer an acceptable way to deal with political, social and spiritual differences. What if we all agreed that we, as one race on earth, are so deeply connected that we have the capacity to sense the deepest needs of all mankind and the capacity access solutions that are equitable to everyone on Earth? Sound Crazy? Maybe not.

     In a world where information from everywhere is transmitted around the globe in an instant and accessible to nearly everyone on the planet, it is not such a stretch to imagine that we can all come to agree upon positive and productive ideas and concepts. Of course, first humanity must come to understand that this kind of universal focus has powerful consequences. This kind of universal focus generates universal agreement, and this in turn generates powerful thought-forms that lock humanity into actions and reactions that may or may not be in it’s best interests. Once it becomes universally recognized that thought-forms exist, that they have incredible power over the expressions and evolution humanity, they can then be used as tools to transform society, and indeed, all life on Earth.

The Grand Illusion

Deep within this Grand Illusion hides the spark of Truth and Light

That cuts the fog of indecision and melts the darkness of the night.

But, as they intertwine each other, homogenize, solidify

They lose themselves in one another, as light melts to shadow, and sea to sky.

The inside then expresses outward, the outside turns to hide within

Truth obscures in dark illusion, virtue masquerades as sin.

But, illumination now approaches, and the Darkest Forces fight

To keep the pendulum from swinging out of darkness, into the light

But there are Cycles in the cycles, smaller wheels the larger turn

and cogs may stick if oils wanting, and you cannot teach who will not learn.

But the masses, reach for reaching's inborn, out of darkness, toward the dawn

As the stars of night flow westward, from darkness' womb to be reborn

And the time of birth approaches, and the pains more frequent come

And the world in awful waiting trembles, in advent of the coming One

But as birth nears the unborn fear it, fear, born of darks familiar hue

So, death to darkness! But...what's beyond it? Is the doctrine of the New Dawn true?

Unknowingly we clutch at darkness, while longing, hoping for the Light

Never seeing that sunset and sunrise are both the answer to our plight

For in the end is new beginning, and new beginnings end what's past

Within the womb birth seems like dyeing, for last comes first and first comes last!

And truth is always veiled in darkness until the Principle is known

That melts confusion into wholeness

And then that wholeness stands alone!

The Difference Between Religion And Spirituality

  Most individuals consider religion and spirituality to be one and the same thing. They are under the impression that a highly religious person is also a highly spiritual person. Where this may be true in some cases, most often it is not. The reason for this is simple, and yet so often overlooked. Religion is a socially driven organization of laws or rules, rituals and teachings that have been generated by men for the purpose of maintaining a social structure and spirituality is a self driven, intrinsically personal process toward a greater realization of the meaning of life and ones position within the greater whole.

      I realize that religionists will argue that all of their rules, laws, rituals and structures were inspired by God within spiritual individuals. My point of contention here is that once they are written down and thus become a social mandate, they lose their spiritual quality by virtue of the fact that they no longer issue from a self driven, personal process. Clearly, there is a need for rules, laws and rituals, and for social organization and these may very well be the foundation upon which spirituality develops. Nevertheless, in order for spirituality to develop, it must be a totally personal, internal process based upon personal responsibility and choice. Surely, if social structure is the foundation of spirituality, then personal choice and personal responsibility are its cornerstones. In truth, if these are not allowed to develop and flourish then spirituality becomes a stillborn experience for most individuals. Of course, there will always be a few rugged individualists who will develop that inner reality in spite of any and all stultifying and constricting social mores.

    The Religious path requires education, indoctrination, confirmation and/or ordination. To become a member of a church, individuals are generally required to attend classes at the conclusion of which there is a ceremony or ritual, which confirms that he understands the rules and ideologies of the group and agrees with them. To become a leader, or to obtain ordination, one must attend a college where he acquires a degree in that churches curriculum. This requires that an individual be willing to accept, whole-heartedly, the concepts, tenets and rituals of that particular church. This does not mean that there are no free thinkers, who have become members or have been ordained into any specific church, but it does mean that any freethinking and actions based upon that free thought will be severely limited by the rules and tenets of that church.

      The spiritual path is one of inner self-discovery. It's total focus is based upon ones personal, inner process and the search for greater meaning. The only requirement for spirituality is a willingness to commit oneself to total self-honesty and personal responsibility. How one chooses to define the deity of their understanding, or God if you will, is up to them. There are no rules or rituals beyond those, which the individual defines for themselves.

       Spirituality is not about morals, it is about ethics. Morals are based upon the rules and rituals of the religious based society, whereas ethics are based in self-honesty and personal responsibility. Spirituality is not for those who are dependent upon others to define the rules for them but rather for those who are willing to honestly and diligently search and discover who they are and what they truly desire and then take the responsibility of building a code of ethics, which will assist them in attaining it. Spirituality is only for those who recognize that life delivers to them that which they create, through their thoughts and actions, and that they are totally responsible for their own life experience. The truly spiritual individual recognizes that the only real savior lives in the heart of he who is totally self-honest and takes personal responsibility for all of his thoughts and actions.

       It is important to add here that, to some people, religion is very important. I have no desire to discount the teachings of any religion, for in truth, such teachings are of great benefit to some individuals. In all religions, be it Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or Judaism there are Avatars, the promise of Avatars or Saviors, if you will. It is not my desire to debate whether these figures are real or simply symbolic of the desire for perfection personified within man. The issue here is one of personal responsibility. If you have the ability to live your life, as these Avatars or Teachers taught, then you know what I mean.

      The most important thing in life, beyond rigorous self-honesty and personal responsibility is harmlessness in thought word and deed. I personally weigh everything I think, do and say according to three criteria, "Is it Loving? Is it Harmless? Does it promote Unity?" When something does not fit these criteria, I choose not to align with it. Although religion plays an important part within our society and I recognize the need for this, I am also aware of much abuse, and highly separatist ideologies perpetrated in the name of certain religious sects. I, personally, cannot align myself with such activities.


       It is my belief that the New Millennium will herald in a "New World Concept". One in which mankind will begin to perceive itself as one contiguous whole, and no longer as factions, races, religions and nations. Due to the advances in communication for the common man and thus the shrinking of the world, in non-geographic ways, mankind will become more aware of his sameness, and less concerned by his differences. I also see, rising out of this new concept of humanity, the development of a new world order based upon service. To be sure, when the average individual gains the capacity to share with other individuals, world-wide, his deepest inner feelings and needs, he will also become aware of the need for international organizations and fellowships that will address these needs within all men, regardless of their race, color, creed or national origins. But this fellowship cannot develop until we come to the point where we can celebrate our commonalities and ignore our differences. Herein lies the secret to true spirituality.


Kerry Dennis

What Is It That We Are Seeking? by Diane Musho Hamilton

What Is It That We Are Seeking?

Diane Musho Hamilton

Diane Musho Hamilton Sensei is a gifted mediator, facilitator and teacher of Zen and Integral Spirituality. She is the dharma successor of Genpo Roshi, and is his first successor in the Big Mind lineage. She has worked with Ken Wilber and Integral Institute since 2004 and has been the lead trainer on Integral Life Practice. She is also a core founder and faculty of iEvolve: Global Practice Community.

I’d like you to contemplate one of the most important words in Zen practice.

Aspiration.

This word evokes a possibility for something beyond what is now. This is often expressed as desire or longing.

What is it that we are seeking?

Some people I have worked with seek the truth. Some seek peace; others, enlightenment, love, union, realization. Sometimes, we don’t know what we are seeking, but we are drawn to something greater than ourselves. It is hard to express this desire with a word because words are inadequate. But the feeling of yearning or longing is unmistakable.

When did you become a seeker? What were the circumstances? Have things changed since you began your search? What have you found? How is your seeking different now than some years ago?

A friend of mine, who was working in the film industry in Los Angeles, was driving down the freeway when she suddenly realized she had no idea who she was. That prompted a spiritual question: “Who am I?”

This is the fundamental question posed by the great Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi This question is basic to Zen; for instance, when Bodhidharma visits Emperor Wu. The emperor asks, “Who are you?” And Bodhidharma answers, “Don’t know.”

His “Don’t know” is different than the one my friend encountered. Hers occurred at the beginning of her quest, and Bodhidharma’s was a result of a lifetime of practice.

Some people start their spiritual search because they are suffering intensely; they want to find a way to end or to answer for suffering. This the Buddha’s initial motivation. He was the son of privilege, growing up in a palace surrounded by material wealth, and every form of pleasure. But when he ventured out beyond the walls of the palace, he encountered a very sick person, a very old, decrepit person, and a corpse., and lastly, a wandering bikku. As soon as he witnessed the more disturbing side of human existence, he felt compelled to leave the comfort of the palace for good and to follow the path of the seeker.. He ventured beyond his known reality into the wilderness of the spiritual search.

Some people, like Michael Murphy, the co-founder of the Esalen Institute, began their quest after experiencing what he describes as a "hinge moment” in meditation. He dropped out of the pre-med program at Stanford with a new vision for the purpose of his life. Another friend of mine began to seriously practice meditation after one too many nights of hard drinking. It was also a hinge moment, but of a different kind.

Our desire to awaken or to discover truth is very particular to our life, and it has unique qualities and detail. The personal is one dimension of our experience. Another dimension of our experience is that this profound desire, this longing, is an attribute of enlightenment itself. In other words, enlightenment seeks itself.

So human beings are participating in the awakening of the universe to itself.

Intrinsic to who we are as living beings is a deep yearning to know our original nature, who and what we are beyond form and condition. And at the same time, there is a deep yearning, an almost paradoxical yearning, to manifest in form and within our unique situation. This paired yearning, this desire to know the unformed and manifest it in form seems intrinsic to the unfolding of the universe. For we are not other than the universe, we are only a manifestation of it, both in our yearning and our form. Scientists say that the universe has been evolving for 13.7 billion years. Ken Wilber reminds us that it has evolved from quarks to atoms to molecules to cells and livng organisms. Emerging from nothing, each advance of the nervous system, comes greater and greater complexity, and that complexity in form carries more consciousness. So human beings are participating in the awakening of the universe to itself.

A beautiful way to think about aspiration is to remember, each time you sit on your cushion, that your desire to awaken, and your desire to express that awakening, to discover more of who you really are, is an expression of the universe at work, identifying itself through you. It’s not just you coming to the cushion; it is the universe coming to reflect on itself through you—the impulse of evolution. All of life, in fact, is moving because of desire; all creatures co-create through the experience of desire. It is a non-personal force with which you can join as an expression of the universe unfolding and getting to know itself.When we honor our intention, or desire, rather than personalizing it, we can experience it as an attribute of life itself. So in practice, we sit both as complete fulfillment and complete desire.

Yesterday, I sat next to the geraniums on the windowsill in my kitchen.They were an expression of what we are talking about because they are awake, they are present, they are naturally fulfilled. They are drawn toward the sun, not because of a personal impulse to be happy, but because the life in them is drawn naturally toward that which is light; they are reaching out, they are being pulled toward the sun. That is their nature because they are part of the life force itself. So when we surrender our personal ideas about desire, we can join with that universal life force.

The Buddha said have few desires, but have great ones. Have the same desire as the universe.

Integral Post | What Is It That We Are Seeking?

BOUNDARIES MAKE FREEDOM POSSIBLE by Robert Augustus Masters

BOUNDARIES MAKE FREEDOM POSSIBLE

Robert Augustus Masters

Robert Augustus Masters, Ph.D., is the author of 11 books (including Transformation Through Intimacy andSpiritual Bypassing), a highly experienced psychotherapist (and trainer of psychotherapists) with a doctorate in Psychology, and a teacher of spiritual deepening. His uniquely integral, intuitive work (developed over the past 32 years) dynamically blends the psychological and physical with the spiritual, emphasizing full-blooded embodiment, authenticity, emotional openness and literacy, deep shadow work, and the development of relational maturity.

Boundaries are an essential part of life. They delineate and maintain needed borders and separations, making differentiation possible at every level. Boundaries both contain and preserve the integrity of what they are safeguarding, be that physical, psychological, emotional, social, or spiritual. Without them there is no relationship and therefore no development, no evolution. But despite this clear truth, we often fall into the trap of believing that boundaries hold us back, preventing us from being free or realizing nondual consciousness — whatever untroubled, idealized state we may aspire to. If we thus equate having boundaries with being limited and if being limitless is a cherished goal for us, we will tend to view boundaries as a problem, an obstruction to freedom, something to overcome.

Real freedom, however, is not about having no limitations; rather it is about finding liberation within—and also through—limitation (as when the apparent constraints of committed monogamous relationship actually enrich and deepen the relationship). Real freedom does not mind limitations and in fact is not limited by them.

Boundaries make freedom possible by clarifying what must be worked with, not just personally and transpersonally, but also interpersonally. Since everything — everything! — exists through relationship, it is crucial that we learn to work well within relationship, both with others and with our own needs, states, and identity. This work is not possible if our boundaries are not clearly delineated and skillfully maintained.

Whether our boundaries are collapsed, blurred, abandoned, trampled, disregarded, nurtured, overpoliced, cemented, or honored, they determine our edges, limits, borders. Boundaries may be overdefined, underdefined, or ambiguously defined. What really matters is what we do with our boundaries: Do we use them to fortify our ego or to illuminate it? Do we lose ourselves in them or hold them in healthy perspective? Do we use them to keep ourselves from love or to deepen our capacity to love? Do we concretize them or do we keep them flexible? Do we allow them to be overly permeable or do we allow them to be as solid as circumstances require? Do we use our boundaries to isolate ourselves or to create and deepen connection?

Without healthy boundaries, we cannot have healthy relationships.

Without healthy boundaries, we stunt our growth.

So what are healthy boundaries? They are steadfast guardians, serving both to contain and preserve the integrity of what they are safeguarding. Boundaries don’t just hold space; they make and honor space by keeping it appropriately compartmentalized. They keep particular aspects of us enclosed until they are sufficiently developed. A premature rupturing of self-encapsulation (as when we are forced into adult responsibilities when we are young children) interferes with our development, leaving us with leaky or otherwise dysfunctional boundaries.

A healthy boundary is a psychophysical presence — a kind of energetic membrane — possessing the necessary firmness to protect us from invasion, intrusion, violation, and other dehumanizing or life-negating forces, as well as the resiliency to soften and open to what is beneficial for us.

Healthy boundaries serve our highest good. They are akin to the loving parental hand that holds our hand as we take our first child-steps along a seaside wall or a playground ramp, gripping us neither too tightly nor too loosely. That touch, so reassuringly solid and steady, gives us the courage to venture farther afoot. As we mature, we will find that some of our boundaries can be expanded or made more permeable; for example, if we have an intimate partner, we can expand our boundaries to include him or her rather than collapsing or ignoring our boundaries in order to be close. Such expansion does not weaken our boundaries any more than expanding our love weakens it.

Healthy boundaries serve our evolution. Each developmental stage is fittingly nested in a cooperative complex of boundaries, holding us so that we can, as optimally as possible, navigate the terrain and learn whatever is needed (this process, of course, is often obstructed by factors like poor parenting or traumatic events). If we are overboundaried, we’ll stay too solidly put, remaining stuck in significant ways, with only part of us moving on (as when we keep developing cognitively but not emotionally or morally). And if we are underboundaried, we won’t stay with a particular stage long enough or go deeply enough to learn what we need to from it, thereby becoming little more than developmental dilettantes, touring rather than really living out particular stages of growth. Without healthy boundaries, we don’t grow; we age but don’t really evolve. Healthy boundaries set us apart without isolating us and bring us together without homogenizing us.

If we are inclined to be overboundaried — overbudgeting for defense — we wall ourselves in, confusing security with freedom. On the other hand, if we tend to be underboundaried — leaving the gates too open — we float on the periphery of embodied life, confusing fusion with intimacy, limitlessness with freedom, and excessive tolerance with compassion. Boundaries make containment possible, but does such containment protect or overprotect us, entrap or serve us, ground or cement us, house or jail us?

Those who are underboundaried tend to mistake collapsed boundaries for expanded ones; a collapsing (or outright dissolution) of boundaries may be seen as letting go or even transcending them. A similar mistake is made in our idealized view of romance, where the overwhelming urge to merge is seen as the ultimate state of love rather than as a temporary fantastical state that inevitably unravels over time. We may rationalize or glamorize this abandonment of boundaries as a kind of liberation, a casting-off of shackles in the service of transcendence and spiritual realization. As much as we might conceive of such radical expansion as a wonderful thing, confusing our flight from boundedness with true openness, we don’t realize we are not really expanding our boundaries, but rather neglecting them. For example, someone we are close to speaks very disrespectfully to us, clearly crossing a line, and instead of asserting ourselves with them, taking a needed stand, we leave their behavior unaddressed and unchallenged, thinking we are being compassionate with them, thereby disrespecting the very boundary of ours that was inappropriately crossed.

Abandoning our boundaries is not indicative of a higher or more noble state—however much we might spiritually rationalize this—but is just escapism and aversion, an avoidance of facing, entering, and moving through our pain. Dissociation in spiritual robes is still dissociation! We may make a virtue out of moving beyond the personal, perhaps thinking that we are transcending it, when in fact we are slipping into the domain of depersonalization (a well-known psychiatric disorder featuring disconnection from one’s sense of self). But depersonalization is not the same as the self-transcending or “no-self” realizations of advanced spiritual practice! It is just another form of dissociation (or unhealthy separation).

What is arguably the opposite of dissociation? Intimacy. And intimacy requires healthy boundaries. Healthy boundaries protect but do not overprotect; they stand guard but do not jail. If we keep ourselves overprotected, we don’t thrive but stagnate. And if we keep ourselves underprotected, we also don’t thrive but open ourselves undiscerningly, left in a state in which overabsorption is inevitable. We might protest: shouldn’t we be receptive? Yes, but overabsorption and receptivity are not necessarily the same thing!

Having healthy boundaries doesn’t mean a lack of receptivity; instead, it is a discerning receptivity, an openness that can just as easily say a full-blooded “no” as a “yes”. The undiscriminating openness and too easy “yes” (and possible show of equanimity) of those who are underboundaried is especially difficult to cut through when it’s taken to be a sign of spiritual attainment. When we cannot voice and embody an unequivocal “no,” allowing ourselves to be closed at times, our only way of protecting ourselves is to dissociate, to get away from what’s difficult rather than face and pass through it.

Where being overboundaried appears to promise freedom through security, being underboundaried seems to promise freedom through limitlessness. But both cut us off from living fully. This fact is usually obvious when we overprotect ourselves but not necessarily when we underprotect ourselves, especially when we legitimize our actions spiritually, making an unquestioned virtue out of our undiscriminating openness. For example, we may open our sexual boundaries in the name of universal love, reframing our multi-partnered sexual encounters as tantric practice, thinking we are being more openhearted than those “stuck” in monogamous relationships, since they, unlike us, are limited to just one partner. While our true nature is indeed limitless, the way in which it manifests in this world, in individual form, is necessarily equipped with boundaries. Boundaries may seem to divide up what which is undivided and whole, but it is through such division that a deeper, more integrated whole is created, in much the same way that cells, through their very division and differentiation, make tissue and organs—and an embodied us—possible. We cannot hope to mature and find true integration without first being clearly differentiated, vividly and unmistakably outlined. Good boundaries provide and support this essential differentiation in our lives.

The primary emotional state that functions to uphold our boundaries is anger—which is quite problematic for those who view anger as a merely negative state. This view is especially common in Buddhism, which (with the exception of Rinzai Zen and Tantric Buddhism) generally conceives of anger as no more than an afflictive or unwholesome state, confusing it with aggression. Classic Buddhist texts generally take a very negative view of anger, seeing no value in it per se (other than as something to transform into compassion), and much of contemporary Westernized Buddhism follows suit, not bothering to distinguish anger from aggression, confusing anger with what is actually done with anger, and advocating that practitioners not express anger, all the while failing see that compassion and openly expressed anger can coexist.

Those enmeshed in spiritual bypassing rarely see any value in anger, being too busy avoiding it to recognize its value and function as an energetic guardian of our boundaries. We tend to try not to look or act angry, even when we are raging inside, turning away from the very forcefulness and fieriness that empowers us to properly enforce our boundaries. Without free access to our anger, our “no” lacks the intensity (however quiet it might be) and strength to have the impact it needs, and our “yes” remains anemic, cut off from real vitality. Not having the voice and energy to assert the boundaries we need leaves us at the mercy of forces that may be detrimental to us.

Boundaries allow differences play their essential role by preserving our autonomy and making healthy interrelatedness possible—a fact clearly illustrated in mature relationships, in which there is deep communion without any dilution of one’s sense of self. In such relationships, we don’t discard our boundaries to make meaningful connections; we expand our boundaries to include the other without short-changing ourselves. Such inclusion has room not only for shared love and joy but also for shared pain.

Imagine a place with no pain, no judgment, no nasty moral dilemmas, a place where whatever happens is just karma, just the perfection of Being unfolding as it must. Imagine not just visiting there or dreaming of being there, but actually dwelling there. Such is the narcotic promise of spiritual bypassing. This is a dream not to fulfill but to awaken from. Of course we yearn for freedom, for real transcendence, but we need to have something from which to take flight. Healthy boundaries provide the ground for stable footing. Spiritual bypassing, however, uproots us before we’ve established such ground, mostly through its devaluing of the personal and interpersonal in favor of “higher” realities, and its accompanying neglect of boundaries. Along the way, relational intimacy is left mostly by the wayside, as if it were little more than some vestigial practice for those misguided souls still trying to have a worldly relationship free from spiritual ambition.

We are not here to shed or abandon our boundaries, but to breathe integrity and strength into them, to fully illuminate them, and to make sure that they take a form that serves not only our highest good but also the highest good of all. We are not here to override or devalue our boundaries but to use them as wisely as possible, valuing the personal and interpersonal as much as the transpersonal, and discovering the freedom in fully engaging our experience. Our boundaries stand as guardians on this path, with an authority that supports our growth and awakening.

Excerpted from Spiritual Bypassing by Robert Augustus Masters.