Upaya the Maya – Your Bending Reality Tools

What have we learned this month in Bending Reality?

Perception (use stress to motivate, not aggravate)

Spiritual Practice and Healing go hand-in-hand

Your brain, thus your body, thus your life works better with Spirit purposely at hand

Focus on what you want, always keeping your headlights on (inner / outer eyes open)

Today I want to discuss two Hindu concepts. The first tells us that reality is an illusion, it is called Maya. 'Ma' means the source, the cause, and 'ya' means that which proceeds, goes, walks or spreads out. Literally it translates to 'that which issues forth, expands or arises from the source - universal mother.' Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:

Illusion works impenetrable,
Weaving webs innumerable,
Her gay pictures never fail,
Crowds each on other, veil on veil,
Charmer who will be believed
By Man who thirsts to be deceived.

It's not that life is not there or does not exist; it's that it is constantly changing, but our connection with creation does not change. You see, we are the thinker, not the thought. We create the thought that is thunk into reality and our attitudes and perspectives are from our intention and the degree of connection we have with the Divine. "Reality" relies on our perspective of it. We are the artist making the art piece, which is our lives, using beliefs and spiritual practice to, you might say, bend reality by molding our reactions to it; beating the odds or attaching a name to the experience that fits our belief about it. That's why reality is an illusion, it is bendable, because it shows up and is experienced by each of us based on our point of view of the experience ("reality"). It is a vibration / frequency to which we attach ourselves. It may not change the fact, but it changes our thought about it and thus our experience of it. This is why to understand others, we must see things from their perspective, we all bend reality based on our perception of it. Maya teaches us that one person's illusion, is another's reality.

The other concept is Upaya - the art of knowing how to flow through the world's illusions by skillful means or expedient means. It is any activity that helps one or another realize enlightenment. It is illustrated in the following parable from the Lotus Sutra.


The Parable of the Burning House

A man comes home to find his house in flames, while his children play happily inside. The father tells the children to leave the house, but they ignore him, because they are having too much fun with their toys. The father finally promises them something even better waiting outside. “I have brought you pretty carts drawn by deer, goats, and oxen, full of toys,” he said. “Just come outside and see.” The children, eager to play with these new toys rushed out of the burning house just in time. But, instead of the carts that he had promised, the father gave them a cart, though draped with precious stones and pulled by white bullocks, with no toys.

Is the father guilty of lying? According to the Upaya, no, because the father used expedient means to save his children. He told them what they needed to know in the moment to achieve enlightenment!
So too when you are using the  Entertaining God Only ego or have your brain on God - you hear what you need to know now. So too, when you listen for and to Spirit and, so too, when we focus on what we want - we get informed to expedite the enlightenment required now.

The other aspect of Upaya is by skillful means. That is when we use our own specific methods or techniques that fit the situation in order to gain enlightenment. There's a story about rivers in India that have quite fierce rapids. The fisherman learned to navigate around them instead of forcing thru them. They understood that life has infinite possibilities in navigating it.

Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in his Confessions, reminds us that God cannot be found “out there” until God is first found “in here,” within ourselves. So too, the experiences we require!

Only when we are eager to love can we see love and goodness in the world around us. We must ourselves remain in peace, and then we will find peace over there. Remain in beauty, and we will honor beauty everywhere.  ~Richard Rohr

Why does one see a problem and another an opportunity, when witnessing or experiencing the same situation? Because, they are bending reality to their belief, their perspective, their attitude about the situation or condition.

When we believe in unlimited possibilities, no matter what the experience

We Upaya the Maya - Bend Reality

When we meditate to open up to know what we know what we know

We Upaya the Maya - Bend Reality

When we use affirmative prayer, simultaneously revealing and declaring the best information, ideas and requirements in our life

We Upaya the Maya...Bend Reality

When we see opportunity in the face of adversity or tragedy

We Upaya the Maya...Bend Reality

When we generally live a wow is me life instead of a woe is me life

We Upaya the Maya...Bend Reality

All God's children got stuff and stuff happens to us all, but so too does shift happen! Shift into who you really are – the Spirit in you - and...

Allow your hands do Its work

Allow your lips speak Its Truth

Allow your life be the image of Spirit's love

Hear your voice sing It's song

Feel your heart at peace

And allow your soul be the laughter of a child

And as you shift into doing all that, watch yourself bend reality to your greatest good!

Affirmation
I Bend Reality!
The I AM within me is ignited at all times, all days...all year. I am friends with all experiences in my life, loving the lessons and transcending through them all.  I live life fully conscious, focused, aware, and steeped in love, peace, humor and wisdom for every situation and decision.
My Brain, My Mind, My Gut and My Heart is Lit with Divine Fire!