Applied Understanding is the activity of functioning from the perspective of a or more accurate understanding of who we are, how things exist, and how things work.It seems that this would be something that would be very easy to do. Aren't we doing this already? Don't I already have a pretty good understanding of how things truly exist and function?
Ironically, it is the belief that we already understand something that may be standing directly in they way of progress because the biggest obstacle to understanding is understanding itself. At first this appears somewhat counter-intuitive but looking more deeply at the situation, it makes very good sense.
For example, if one believes that they already have a pretty good understanding of who they are, how life works, and how things work then the chances of them taking the time to inquire more deeply are very slim. If things are going pretty well, where's the incentive to dive any deeper? There's no motivation. A great deal of the time, however, life has its own way of rectifying this situation by eventually not cooperating with us when we are not cooperating with it. And yet sometimes life won't cooperate with us even though we do everything we can think of to cooperate with it.
And this is a very important point:
More understanding may not be a miraculous cure for whatever ails you, but it can at the very least help you to relate and respond to whatever you encounter with greater skill, and consequently less suffering.
The difference between an unenlightened person and an enlightened person is not that one suffers and the other does not. After enlightenment, an enlightened person still continues to suffer. The difference between them is how each approaches their suffering, and how they respond.We can, for example, use knowledge and information to fool ourselves into believing that we are happy, when in fact we are not. If one has to think about things to "convince" themselves that they are truly happy, then they most likely are not truly happy. They may have convinced themselves that they are happy, but it is very likely this type of happiness is only the appearance of happiness thinly existing on the surface.
Here is the first insight that I have to offer:
Things are often not what they appear to be.
For example, while you may think that you are happy - on a deeper level you may not be truly happy at all. In fact, you may have very little understanding of what it is like to be truly happy - even though you may think otherwise.Even though you may think that you have everything in your world set up and organized like a well oiled "happiness producing machine," your situation may still not produce the happiness that you have longed for and worked so hard for. Why is this? The answer almost certainly has something to do with the level of your understanding of who you are, and how things exist.
While your current life situation may be the reflection of everything that you have ever believed could or should bring you happiness, there is the possibility that you may have bought into a belief that things are one way, when in fact they are actually another way.
Here is my simple definition of delusion, from first hand experience:
Delusion is when you think things are one way, and then they turn out to be another way.There are a number of sayings that describe the experience of having one of your delusions busted like "bursting your bubble", "having the rug pulled out from under your feet", etc... All of these allude the shock of having your less than accurate way of perceiving something go "up in smoke." We all have them. It's a natural part of growing up and nothing to be ashamed of - just something to be aware of.
At first this may not seem like very good news at all, and maybe it's not. But waking up to this realization is, on the other hand, very good news as it means that you have already begun to move towards a much deeper level of truth and happiness than you have ever known.
This is the first conundrum we face on the path of moving towards functionality from correct understanding. Up until now, ignorance of this point has been keeping us well insulated from making this important realization. It has also been keeping us from beginning a serious quest of self-inquiry that could lead to a greater sense of happiness and freedom; the type of happiness and freedom that our hearts have always been longing for.
There are three basic ways that we relate to and experience our world; thinking, body sensation (including emotions), and intuition. How we engage our world through these three doors has a lot to do with the quality of our life, and the quality of the contribution that we are able to make to those around us, and to the world.The thinking mind is very good with logic and formulas, and for the most part it can work pretty well. However, when it comes to the more complex aspects of our experience such as physical sensation, emotions and intuition, it is often completely lost without the development of understanding, the cultivation of skills for working with these other aspects, and without the advantage of daily practice and reinforcement from a supportive community.
The version of happiness offered by the thinking mind may indeed bring a certain level of satisfaction on the surface, but it is not the deeper and more satisfying type of happiness that pervades all levels of one's being.
Happiness fabricated by the mind is just that - it is a fabrication. It is the mind's version of what happiness should be - but it is not true happiness. It is not a deep happiness. When looking deeply into this type of happiness, there is always something missing that one can't quite put there finger on.
With deep happiness, there is a clear sense from every fiber and cell of one's being that nothing is missing, in fact, there is a sense of total connection with all of life combined with a deep sense of solidity, completeness, and inner peace.It seems to me, that if you are not functioning from a correct view or understanding of how things truly exist, eventually your discontent will either find you through difficult situations appearing in your life, or you will take measures to further insulate yourself from the feelings of discontentment through some type of distraction such as excessive busyness, or anesthesia in the form of alcohol, drugs, over-consumption, media or some other activity.
For some people, like myself, a crisis may be the only way to move you forward into a greater understanding of what is going on. Without such a crisis, or wake-up call, it is possible to live and die without ever developing the ability to understand what it means to deeply live and dwell within a human body on this planet that we call earth.
I consider myself one of the truly fortunate and lucky ones to have encountered just such a crisis within my life. Without it, I would not be the person I am today nor would I be writing this book.
Before going any further, I'd like to make it very clear that one of the ways to correctly understand what's going on is not to take my word for it. To understand life, we must live it. We must discover it for ourselves. We must inquire, remain open and curious and look at things for ourselves and from our own perspective. There are certain notions, ideas or suggestions that I can pass on to you from my own investigative inquiry and experience, however there is nothing from the print on these pages that can in and of itself be considered the "truth". This is a very important point to consider and to contemplate.
Deep truth is not something that can be held on to, collected or owned. The fundamental nature of what I call "deep truth" is that it is alive. It is experiential, and it lives within you.
Deep truth cannot be sufficiently described. It cannot be adequately communicated. One can point towards it, however, to fully experience the truth one must make the journey on their own.
Deep truth is not a thing, an idea, or a notion. It is an encounter. We can experience this kind of truth through a direct encounter with life when we are present and available to it within the very present moment.
Deep truth is discovered by developing the ability to look deeply at ourselves and the world around us.
The encounter of living truth through our direct experience, rather than from any other source outside of ourselves, is also the foundation for Deep Faith which is a kind of power, or energy source, that we can cultivate and enjoy on a daily basis.
I have found that it is helpful to think of experience in several different ways. One way is to understand that we generally function through several different avenues which include; thinking, body sensation (including emotions), and intuition. In Western society, the avenue of thinking is currently the most prevalent. There are perhaps many explanations for this which are far beyond the topic of this book. For our purposes, it is important to understand that we have multiple avenues of experience available to us.
In general, thinking is further removed from the direct experience of "things as they are" than body sensation or intuition. Body sensation brings us into direct contact with what we consider to be the "physical aspects" of reality, and intuition when developed can take us into a direct experience of whatever it is that we consider to be the true, or ultimate reality. In many cases, in order to function with correct understanding we must let go of the ideas and concepts generated and held on to by the thinking mind. And yet in our modern Western culture it seems that it is precisely these concepts and ideas that we cling to for dear life.
There is a misconception that thinking can bring us to happiness. In my experience, over-focusing on thinking at the expense of body sensation and intuition does not create happiness. In fact, the approach of happiness through thinking is an obstacle that can create an appearance of happiness which effectively serves as a cover up for the unhappiness lurking below the surface. For twenty-five years, my center of functionality was the thinking mind. This mind is very good at presenting the appearance that all is well, or that I am happy even though in the back of my mind there was always a subtle trace of a feeling, or a deep longing perhaps, that things weren't as deeply and completely happy as my mind would have liked me to believe.
The happiness of the thinking mind is typically characterized by acquisition, accomplishment, success, and consumption. When I was growing up it was called the American Dream. Like so many others, I pursued this dream and was highly successful at it. I graduated from honors at a major university, landed a high profile professional job right out of college, got married, settled down into an 8-5 routine, diligently worked in my father's business eventually obtaining part ownership, had two beautiful children and raised them under the best situation that I could possible imagine at the time.
When I finally reached the pinnacle of success which was for me to be 38 years of age; living in a large modern house with a beautiful swimming pool on three lots in a suburban neighborhood complete with golf course, swimming, tennis facilities; a game room with a 108" drop-down movie screen and dance floor complete with floor to ceiling mirrors; a good wife; two beautiful and wonderful pre-teenage girls; an unlimited expense account from work; money in the bank; and absolutely no debt whatsoever. This was the American dream, and I was living it.
What happened is that I had been so focused on getting there, that when I finally arrived I realized that I had never stopped to deeply ponder the question of true happiness. I had always assumed that the attainment of this goal would bring me happiness. On the contrary, what I discovered when I arrived was a deep sense of emptiness. Arriving at this achievement was the first time that I had ever just stopped. Sure, I had enjoyed the process of getting there but now that I had arrived, the burning question in my heart was, "Now what?" And furthermore, "Why do I feel so empty, alone, and what are all of these feelings?"
Caught up in the pursuit and the "busyness" of all of these projects, I had been missing something very important but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.
I have since learned that much of the thrill or happiness that I had experienced was the rush of accomplishment, achievement, and success. I had become addicted to human pride, and had been completely unaware of it the entire time. The conditions in my life were certainly good. They defined me, and nearly everyone in my life reflected this back to me. The world praised me, and encouraged me. I gave them everything that they wanted. I followed every direction, chasing after everything that was presented as the picture of happiness. But in the end, I discovered that I had lost my self. Or rather I had lost the connection with my self.
I had become a prisoner of my own mind, and what was worse is that I didn't even know it. I was completely unaware of it.
Inside this prison, instead of pain and punishment I was the center attraction in a virtual, never-ending parade of pride, vanity and shameless over-consumption. I was attracted towards a false sense of happiness. I took that bait; "hook, line and sinker" as they say.On my quest towards happiness for myself and for my beloved ones, I had become the victim of my own creation in a perpetual arcade game of me attempting to live up to everyone else's expectations which were ultimately unachievable, self-sacrificing, and (unknown to me at the time) were mostly my very own invention.
In the end, I was not happy. And as I was not happy myself, no matter how hard I tried (and I did try very hard) I could not bring true happiness to those around me, including the ones that I loved the most. In fact, at one point I came to the startling realization that I might even be doing more harm than good. Over the years, I had become highly skilled at manufacturing false happiness. Unfortunately, this had become an obstacle to not only my true happiness, but the true happiness of those who were closest to me as well. For someone who believed that they had spent the best years of their life in service to their family and loved ones, this was a bitter pill to swallow.
It was all that I knew, and there was no clear path in front of me leading me towards the true happiness which I felt in my heart did exist and was possible. With my eyes covered by this thick blindfold, I took the only steps that I could take. I took the steps that opened before me. They weren't pretty. They weren't easy. And for quite a while, it seemed as if the only thing that I had done was to create more suffering. I didn't want to create more suffering. I wanted to help others and create happiness. But it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I continued to only create more suffering. Something had to give.
What I eventually began to learn is that affliction and adversity is not only the opposite of enlightenment and happiness as it first appears. What I began to learn was so profound and amazing that it promised to change the very foundation of the way that I had perceived everything in the world up to that point. What I learned was about to pull the rug out from under me. In fact, this is happening within the very moment that I am writing this because this book is not merely an account of my historical story. It is an account of the living unfoldment of it as it is occurring within this very moment.
This is a living story. It is the story of my life, and it is the story of your life. This is the story of everyone's life that has ever lived. It is our story. It is my offering to you in the hope that what I have learned may help you to find peace and happiness during those moments when you find yourself alone and frustrated; when you feel there's no one to turn to, nowhere else left to run - and yet where you find yourself is too difficult to bear on your own. You are not alone.
