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thoughts-of-ghanashyam · 8 months

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𝕬𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖋𝖎𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖑 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖛𝖘. 𝕮𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖈𝖎𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘

At least since the broad masses have discovered artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, ChatGPT and the like, the market around the topic of AI is booming.

Humans are thus taking another hurdle on their way to becoming faster, better, more artificial and supposedly more perfect. It feels like there are new possibilities, improvements and enhancements to be discovered in this segment almost every day. "The machine" can search for information on any topic in a matter of seconds and compose an answer that can rival competent college-level term papers - likewise, it can create digital works of art that most users could never create themselves in this lifetime - provided the prompts entered are coherent and understood by the machine.

With this leap in development, opinions are also splitting on whether AI is a "savior" or the "ultimate evil." Suddenly, dystopian stories à la Terminator, in which a supercomputer overrides the orders of human developers, takes over weapons systems, and nearly wipes out the human species through global destruction, don't seem so far off. Although I use this technology myself from time to time, I also see it as a double-edged sword in a way. So I can't classify it as either salvation or diabolical - the truth, as so often, probably lies somewhere in the middle.

All gloomy predictions are ultimately based on the simple idea that artificial intelligence can become more intelligent than humans themselves. In this context, the question arises as to what intelligence is and what distinguishes the "human biomachine" from the "AI machine" in this respect. In my humble opinion, no machine is intelligent in the human sense - not even the human brain, because neither can experience anything in depth. The essence of human consciousness is experience itself. Therefore, human potential in conjunction with our deep spiritual levels exceeds any machine. One only has to be aware of this fact or learn to recognize this for oneself in essence.

Because in the end the machine always only imitates - however much faster than the human being. We have already experienced this leap several times in our evolution - for example at the beginning of industrialization, when the steam engine took the previous activities of man ad absurdum. The same scenario played out on a different level with the introduction of the first computers. And although these computers have repeatedly made quantum leaps in recent decades and demonstrated computing powers infinitely superior to those of humans, the supposed "knowledge" is based only on the processing of huge, ever-growing volumes of data.

But the machine doesn´t "know" the creative process of computing as such - just as little does it possess real creativity or intuition. It merely imitates knowledge, which is not the same thing. And even if artificial intelligences are meanwhile developing independently, all basic information is based on already existing information.

With a little optimism, artificial intelligence could lead to a future in which its vast data-processing capabilities could help predict natural disasters, make all kinds of transportation more efficient, and so on. I don't even want to go into the many other pros and cons here, nor into the factors around pessimistic aspects such as the possible spread of disinformation, conspiracy theories, election and / or consumer manipulation, and so on. Because this would go beyond the scope - besides, it is not really what I am concerned with in these lines.

Ultimately, all positive and negative aspects spring from the dualistic human mind - as do all kinds of bigotry, racism, sexism and other value systems. What began with gossip has culminated today on the Internet and on social media platforms. Ultimately, however, it´s not the Internet that gives rise to bodyshaming or bullying, for example - it's merely an output channel that reflects the current level of consciousness of its users.

Accordingly, the Internet does not have a state of consciousness, just like AI, because they are not conscious. AI can record, mix, combine, and recombine audiovisual data and information of any kind in fantastic ways, but human consciousness is infinitely more than data and information. In fact, "information" is a concept that had no reality until the human mind created it. It is the same with our individuality or our "individual self" - for this too is in principle a purely illusory construct of the mind, which sees itself as something separate.

For example, from a Buddhist perspective, it is not possible to separate the self from its environment. The Buddha says in the Lankavatara Sutra:

"Things are not what they seem… Deeds exist, but no doer can be found" (Majjhima Nikaya).

This does not mean that nothing is real. It means that our mind's projections of reality are illusions and that the elements in the universe that make up everything physical that we see - solid, liquid, gas, etc. - do not exist when broken down to a subatomic level. And this is not a philosophical or purely spiritual view, but cutting-edge science. Broken down to its essence, this means that ultimately all things on a subatomic level are made of the same energy, the same origin - just in different manifestations.

This idea should not be lost sight of in all current developments - because a loss of this awareness would mean a far greater danger in the current context around artificial intelligence than AI itself.

Due to the exponential development of technologies, we are constantly exposed to new, external stimuli and challenges. And our, comparatively very slow, evolutionary development, especially the mental one, can hardly adapt to this - or keep up.

We shift our personal reference points more and more outward, towards these technologically generated stimuli, and thus run more and more the risk of forgetting the core of our true being, indeed of our whole being. Through this constant shifting of reference points, we are also increasingly going into separation - both from ourselves and from everything around us. In the long run, this also means an increased potential for loss of our universal dharma, which in turn negatively impacts our individual as well as our collective karma.

Driven by the additional desire to simplify certain processes, tasks or activities, if at all possible, the current human dilemma is intensified - we thereby massively increase the daily audiovisual stimuli that enter us from the outside. This, in turn, causes our mind to become more and more erratic and to run on a kind of "continuous fire mode". A massive strain that has contributed a significant amount to skyrocketing mental illnesses such as burnouts or depression in recent years.

In this way, we shift our self and our search for happiness further and further into the outside world, relying more and more on machine or digital solutions, which in turn are devoid of any soul, intuition and genuine creativity. We focus on supposed perfection, even if this may not correspond 100% to our own imagination or even to "reality".

Now one can argue of course in such a way that also man could secure his survival in the context of his evolution only by copying certain behaviors and develop accordingly. However, this happened - and always happens with the corresponding consciousness of the experience - on the one hand within the framework of the action itself as well as the mental and energetic aspects connected with it. All this has also a not insignificant share in the individual as well as collective cause-effect principle of karma.

If, on the other hand, we rely too much on machine-generated approaches to solutions, this can certainly lead to a considerable stagnation, if not reduction, of our own potential together with the corresponding conscious experiences. In this context, therefore, we usually find ourselves in an unconscious downward spiral, unless we succeed in creating an appropriate balance that brings us into a healthy equilibrium between mind and technology.

In my eyes, it would therefore be advisable, with all the possibilities that these technologies offer us, to place a parallel increased focus again on looking inward more frequently and more intensively and thereby also withdraw the senses through "Pratyahara". Pratyahara", the fifth limb of the classical Ashtanga Yoga (Raja Yoga) system, is primarily about disciplining the senses (such as taste, sight, hearing, smell, touch) and the mind through a proactive withdrawal from one's sensory center - the perception center in the brain.

It has already been described in the Upanishads that

"Only the seeker can experience absolute reality who, though he has ears, does not hear, though he has eyes, does not see, and even though he lives in this world, does not perceive it by preventing his inner perceptual centers from cooperating with the outer sense organs."

The mind still perceives the stimuli, but it no longer reacts immediately. It can remain in silence. Through this withdrawal, sensory impressions generally become more conscious and controllable in the long run. It is therefore not a matter of limiting the senses - on the contrary: the mind is thereby trained to perceive subtleties which would otherwise remain hidden from the senses, or which we have increasingly lost in the modern world.

We are so much more than we think we are - at the same time we are less individual than we would like to be. When we manage to become aware of the inseparability of being in this universe and recognize our true essence, we glimpse our true nature. And to realize one's nature is to realize the nature of everything. And by that I don't mean the ego, but the part of our being that lies beyond it and usually acts subconsciously.

By looking inward, we can learn to rediscover and explore this very unconscious part of the mind, of being. In this way we can gain new experiences of what it means to experience ourselves, to deal positively with our energies and to proactively open its subtle levels or its gates for us. By opening these gates we can also activate deep-seated potential in the form of knowledge, intellect, concentration, creativity and intuition - potential that we have never "learned" in the classical sense, but that has always been there - so basically it is only "uncovered" or "activated".

Haven't you sometimes wondered where sudden creative ideas or inspirations come from? Inspirations which for example spontaneously and very subtly warn you of a certain action and thus protect you from possible disaster? They happen suddenly, without you being able to control it knowingly!? Exactly this unconscious potential, combined with the act of experiencing, is what sets us apart from artificial intelligence. This potential rests in each of us and possibly goes back to the very source from which our energies originated and of which they are still a part. The energy that is the foundation of all our existence and at the same time connects us with everything.

How one wants to call this source is up to everyone - because whatever we call it, in the end this is also only a spiritual concept. A concept of something that is so wonderfully abstract that it exceeds our rational mind and basically cannot be put into words or described. It should only be important that we recognize with awareness - that we carry this unlimited potential within us and that it cannot be replaced by machines - so we should not even try to strive for it.

So let's just try to become more aware of ourselves again - and thus also of the deep connection with everything that surrounds us. In the end, this awareness contains one thing above all: immeasurable love.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be constantly in love with everything, rather than in a permanent, individual separation? Wouldn't it be incredibly liberating if it were no longer relevant whether we were female, male or trans? Whether we are atheistic, spiritual or religiously inclined, black, white, brown or whatever? Or even whether we would be human or animal?

Wouldn't this elementary insight be a real spiritual revolution? And what exactly would this deep insight move for possibilities in areas of science as well as artificial intelligence? I believe that there would then possibly be considerably less reasons for dystopian fears, further technlogy-induced threats or a constant, self-separating humanity. In any case, it would be a healthy balance between collective spirituality and science - and this would also have a positive effect on all of our karma.

So each of us could go on this personal, inner journey to discover our own essence including the love inherent there. And yes, this essence and love is always there - in every living being - even if it is all too often overlaid by negative layers of individual and collective karma. But be that as it may - basically there is nothing to lose, but a lot to gain.

I myself am still on this path of introspection and balance. In the process, with a lot of patience and in the form of constant mind training, integral yoga and meditation, I was able to let some traumas go in peace, break cyclical behavior patterns and thus come a little closer to my essence, my true "I"…or should I say "we". It is also important to say that good and loving gurus / teachers are indispensable on this path - as guides, contact persons or companions. Good friends and / or a community / Sangha also facilitate the path by a lot, give support and motivation.

In the end, however, you have to find and follow the right path yourself - because no two people are the same, and accordingly every path is different.

However, the goal is and always remains the same - it is basically a journey home!

At this point I can only emphasize how liberating such steps feel, especially in this time. However, it takes patience and stamina - and especially when it comes to meditation and yoga, these factors should not be seen in the current "lifestyle" context. It is not so much about rest, relaxation and body-conscious, Pilates-like activities. These are just incidental phenomena, but they should never be the sole goal. The goal should be real empowerment, learning to control the mind (because usually it is rather the other way around) and creating a clear awareness.

Because only this awareness is the key to unleash your own potential. Potential that no machine can imitate - neither today - nor in the future!

Thank you for reading!

Hari Om Tat Sat.

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thoughts-of-ghanashyam · 2 years

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𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔦𝔫𝔫𝔢𝔯 𝔤𝔬𝔬𝔡𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰

When I look into my quite turbulent past, there was hardly a more difficult aspect in my current life than to discover my own "goodness" and to develop an open-hearted self-love.

Especially on the streets, it is extremely difficult to develop love for others when you are always at the mercy of confrontations. In any case, in the past I was firmly convinced that hatred and violence really pursued me - no matter where I went, I was always provoked, looked at askance or physically attacked.

Accordingly, over time I also developed a corresponding attitude - and that although I was per se always a person who preferred to solve conflicts verbally and peacefully, rather than with violence. But when the going got tough - and that was the rule rather than the exception - I was not afraid to use it without compromise - after all, I had been trained in martial arts and knew how to "tackle" certain things. Paradoxically, I have subconsciously always waited for something to happen in this direction, even if my innermost actually resisted.

Similarly, with this development, a dark shadow developed in me, which took over me more and more over the years and caused a growing feeling of worthlessness and a not insignificant amount of self-hatred. Incidentally, this also affected my relationships, which always ended in minor or major disappointments or even disasters. Because the more the shadow grew, the more I tried to hold on to light moments of supposed love. But in the end, almost all of my relationships at that time were of a rather fleeting nature or had a thoroughly toxic character. In the process, I'm sure I hurt a few good souls myself, which in retrospect I'm very sorry about.

But the idea that I was both the receiver and sender of these emotions didn't even occur to me at the time. I was like a magnet that projected my inner attitude outward and attracted correspondingly pronounced equivalents. The classic cause-and-effect principle, also called karma, came into full play here. But instead of changing my attitude and the corresponding actions, I let myself be carried away further and further by this self-produced vortex of negativity.

Developing true love for all living beings

But how can one develop true love for others if one cannot truly love oneself and is always consumed by self-doubt? Even a conscious spiritual path will only be of limited help here if one is not prepared to recognize the good in oneself. I also had to experience this painfully on my own body and soul. Because although the encounter with my first spiritual master and the associated path of Sanatana Dharma and Bhakti Yoga certainly saved my life at that time, I began to understand many elementary aspects of self-love and "inner beauty" of beings only much later.

In general, many people today seem to find it very difficult to believe in their inner goodness and a "noble" character. I don't know where this tendency comes from, which is so extremely strong especially in the western society. Perhaps this is a hidden legacy of Christian original sin and the societies that grew out of it, that we tend to see ourselves as limited and pathetic personalities who are little more than vermin walking the earth!!!?

I really have no idea, but what is certain is that the seed of this attitude has been sown deep in the hearts of many people and is just waiting to germinate and sprout.

But wherever this tendency comes from, it has become so much a part of our flesh and blood that deep down we don't even know how to get along without it. And even if we are superficially convinced that we are self-confident and at peace with ourselves, nowadays a few negative comments on the Internet are enough to shake this supposed self-confidence, at the latest in lonely hours.

But what would happen if we could accept our basic innate goodness and dignity? What would happen if we realized that deep down we are not this fearful and limited being and that we are capable of much more than we might currently believe ourselves capable of? What would happen if we could escape the rampant cynicism in our world to see that we all possess an inner beauty, without exception? It would definitely change our lives radically. Wouldn't it?

Personally, I now firmly believe that this is possible, even if each of us must find our own personal path to freedom and holism.

Accept that there is suffering in this world

First of all, we must accept that there is suffering in the world and that it is inevitable - this includes our own suffering, whether it is shame, depression, fear, desire or hatred. However, nothing in the world has a permanent character, no matter how endless a suffering may seem to us.

The point, then, is to become aware of suffering where its roots lie: in the mind.

The difficulty lies in locating and discovering the roots of suffering without becoming attached to it and lost in it. Things are the way they are and that is how we should learn to accept them for ourselves. This does not mean that we should simply accept injustices of any kind or let malicious, unstable or even violent people hurt us. Quite the contrary. But that is not the point here. Because before we can understand others and their basic actions, we must first get to know ourselves. Because only if we recognize ourselves, we can also recognize the essence of all other beings. If we do not learn to recognize ourselves, our whole life will be like flying blind without instruments.

Discover who you really are - the inner heaven

But who are we actually? What defines us? As I have already written elsewhere, we are not our body and nothing with which we otherwise identify ourselves in our society. Everything we are, or what we think we are, originates in our mind. But what does our mind look like? How can we imagine it? Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a master of Vajrayana Buddhism, scholar, poet and teacher once said:

"Our whole existence is fleeting like clouds in autumn; Birth and death of beings appear like movements in dance."

This image can also be applied very nicely to the nature, or rather the nature, of our minds. At least, I believe that this is so.

Heaven here stands for our pure awareness, our inner essence, our self, which exists detached from any influences and projections from the material outer world. Heaven is endless, pure and free from any boundaries.

The autumn clouds passing underneath the sky, the rain showers and storms, affect the environment, but the sky itself, remains completely unaffected. This active and constantly changing part is the discursive and analytical part of the mind - our ego. It determines, conditioned by mutual projections from the outside world, what we "want to have or not to have" and is the source of our cognition, self-view as well as of all emotions, which in turn condition our actions. This part of the mind is erratic, grasping, distracting, confusing and constantly in motion - even when we are asleep.

The great spiritual master and guru Ramana Maharshi described this context as follows:

"There is no duality. Its present cognition is based on the ego and is only relative. Such cognition requires a subject and an object, whereas awareness of the Self is absolute and requires no object."

So if we focus exclusively on the storms and clouds and let them carry us away, this can steer us into abysses from which we may never be able to get out. Such a path can, in the worst case, cause us to develop consistently negative to evil traits and deny us a view of heaven for a lifetime or beyond.

If, on the other hand, we learn, at least from time to time, to be able to take a look at the endless sky, this will also help us to uncover our actual "inner goodness" piece by piece. The more we succeed in this, the more we recognize the boundless beauty in ourselves - and with a little practice also that in every other living being. Because in the end we are all inseparably connected with all living beings of this world.

The sun behind the clouds

Speaking of sky and clouds - where has the sun gone in this effigy? I am truly no philosopher and even less I am a spiritual master. Accordingly, my thoughts and lines are certainly anything but perfect - apart from the fact that there is no perfection in the material world. But within the framework of my humble and simple thoughts, I believe that the sun shines in every "inner sky"...no matter how many autumn clouds darken the sky - whether by day or by night.

Just as the sky remains untouched by the clouds and storms, so does the sun. Sun and sky are always existent and interwoven with each other, but without a clear touch. Despite everything, the sun is THE central point in our small universe. Its rays and particles touch everything earthly and supernatural. It stands for the Absolute Truth and is the source of all life.

Buddhists would call it most likely the Buddha nature. Hindus as Vishnu, Brahman or Krishna, Christians as God and Muslims as Allah. But even as an atheist, one will come to a point where one cannot deny an absolute truth that pervades and determines our existence in one way or another.

The way to recognize the inner beauty and goodness would be to cultivate the ability to look through the autumn clouds to the endless sky.

Of course, this is not an easy path, and unfortunately there is no shortcut - at least I haven't found one...I am still in the middle of the path myself and therefore still relatively at the beginning. But as the saying goes, "the path is the goal" and this requires quite a bit of courage...because nothing can have as many abysmal depths as the supposed self.

A fundamental key is to develop equanimity and mindfulness...for oneself and for one's environment.

Meditation is the key

Meditation can be a great support in this, observing said clouds and storms. First from a distance, then bit by bit up close and then from changing perspectives. First we greet them, then we get to know them, then we accept them and at some point we let them move on. In these moments we will always have a brief glimpse of the endless sky.

What sounds so abstract becomes easier each time, even if it seems almost impossible at first. But with the awareness that the sky is always present behind the clouds and that the warming sun is also there, makes this process more bearable.

Which kind of meditation is the right one, every person has to find out for himself.

I myself explore my heaven (mind) with the help of Metta and Vipassana meditation, among view other things. On this way I learn bit by bit to develop more love and compassion for others as well as for myself. At the same time the Vipassana practice helps me to overcome the suffering (Dukkha) caused by "not seeing" (Avija) and delusion (Kilesa).

On the other hand, I cultivate the contact to the all-pervading sun with Bhakti Yoga and my love for Krishna. But this is only my modest and very personal way. As I said, every person has to find his own way.

More spiritual science than religion

It does not need any religious affiliation to discover the inner beauty and goodness, because especially the Buddhist spiritual training works detached from such aspects. But also the classical Vedic wisdoms and the path of Sanatana Dharma see themselves more as spiritual science than a classical religious culture, because the search for oneself is nothing else than the search for God and vice versa.

Help for these paths is available in various meditation centers as well as in Hindu or Buddhist temples. Many offers are free of charge or on donation basis, so that one has nothing to lose, but much to gain.

Be brave and discover your inner goodness

So be brave and take the first step to discover your self and your inner beauty.

There is a beautiful quote about this from Thomas Merton, a former Trappist, writer and mystic:

"Then I felt as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their heart, the whole depth of their heart into which never a ray of sin, of desire, of self-assurance reaches, the core of their reality, the man each is in the face of the Divine. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could always see each other in this way. Then there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed.... I suppose then our biggest problem would be that we would all fall on our knees before each other and worship each other."

Thank you for your attention - may all beings experience happiness - including yourself.

Om Tat Sat.

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