I’m making another reference here to the great book ‘Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenence’ (https://www.bookdepository.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Robert-M-Pirsig/9780060589462?a_aid=philwalker) . Much of the content has become repeated since the time of publication of this book (1974). At the time it seemed to provide a great response to the failed while perhaps noble attempt of hippie culture to ‘escape’ the system while moving to more of a way to own and harness ‘the system’.

I briefly mentioned Pirsigs’ notion of ‘quality’ in my blog on energy (https://newbeginningstherapy.co.nz/2018/05/03/good-energy-bad-energy/). Pirsig speaks of ‘the ghost of rationality’ we are all caught up with and how people are in a kind of ‘funeral procession’. The author speaks of his own journey into madness where is able to ultimately kill the ghost of rationality.

In killing the ghost of rationality he becomes connected to the world and the notion of ‘quality’. What is quality outside of an object defined as having more or less quality? he asks. Pirsig concludes that it is our connection to this which is the ultimate connection to life and all that is.

I guess Carl Jung would see this as us being on our heroes journey towards ‘individuation’. The journey from our current personality A to personality B. Pirsig himself says how it is the connection between who we are to who we are becoming.

When we are connected with quality we are filled with gumption. Getting into that space is extremely powerful and comes to us when we are able to become calm and collected. Pirsig speaks of it happening after ventures such as fishing trips. Pirsig quotes that lots of gumption has been lost and we need a throwback to good old fashioned gumption to really break from our technology and rational driven world to the source of who we really are and what is really important.

Pirsig goes into ideas of Zen Buddhism and a start point being as having a peaceful body as the first thing with this then evolving into a peaceful mind. Then this becoming the ultimate goal of a peace of values. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is on this journey of becoming their own inner hero.

I find it interesting how Einstein seemed to say a lot about energy. ‘Everything is energy and that is all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality.’ On one level this is linking with all the work I am doing on coming from a place of abundance and all the link to quantum physics. I feel this is all so new and just coming more into mainstream. I feel there is still some confusion but there will come greater and greater clarity between quantum physics of Einstein and Spirituality over time.

On another level though I like to just sense and feel our energy of knowing if it is good or bad. We always know this and whether or not it is connected to our good creative force. Robert Pirsig who wrote the classic book ‘Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ (https://www.bookdepository.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Robert-M-Pirsig/9780060589462?a_aid=philwalker) spoke about the notion of Quality. He said in the foreward ‘What is good and what is not good? Do we need to ask anyone to tell us these things?’ I feel here we can always distinguish a feeling of our own energy and whether it is coming from a place of good/God/love/quality and always strive to cultivate and protect this to move towards the highest good.

In a world of much pathological mental health and narcissism, it is vital to take ownership of this energy, to protect it and to make sure we are growing to be more actualised, to be our best selves and being of the best possible service to the world. Journal writing (https://newbeginningstherapy.co.nz/2018/04/16/journal-writing-as-a-practice-and-me/) and yoga can be great practices to help us to keep cultivating and to stay centred. I personally attend a personal and spiritual development group regularly. I find it great to stand shoulder to shoulder with people on a similar quest of growth.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Robert-M-Pirsig/9780060589462?a_aid=philwalker

I really found this book amazing when I read it. I was already really into Ken Wilbers’ work and his idea of consciousness development and integral practice.This book fits in with and expands on some of his ideas I became really interested in about a level of consciousness called postmodern flatland or pathological green.

Ken Wilber speaks of the common university discourse as being this type of dialogue which he discusses at length in his amazingly enlightening book ‘Boomeritis’ (put affiliate link in for this) . Ken Wilber speaks about how we came to a stage of being whereby forms of dogmatic religion were rejected fairly but then we came to a point whereas all we have is big egos in a postmodern flatland. There is a total rejection of any kind of consciousness development. There is a world of no spirit, no God, nothing is more enlightened than anything else.

There is a nobility behind this. The world of total equality. Any kind of hierarchy is evil and oppressive. However what happens here with this mentality is that its noble cause becomes self defeating as it means therefore that the ku klux klan is therefore equal to the moral development of Gandhi, everything is equal. It’s therefore a case of everything just tearing one another apart for domination in a world whereas there are no real rules of right and wrong, no elevating consciousness, just a flatland thinking of dog eat dog one upmanship. There is no type of integral development towards authenticity, self actualisation, no meaning. It’s just a rationalising, lets all love each other while we’re here type of approach and way of being, again maybe noble but hugely destructive in the big scheme of things.

When I first read this book it was almost like it was written about people I used to associate with which inspired a lot of my therapeutic process and research into narcissism and narcissistic personality. Possibly narcissistic personality disorder as purely the diagnosis is maybe an oversimplification but it is certainly very narcissistic and hugely self righteous. Whereas it as a noble intent originally it is a way of being without any real integrity and one which does ultimately make the world more racist, more homophobic and more war mongering.

A problem is that within this there is a rejection of ones own ‘red’. Everyone has a primal red which is part of the evolution of ourselves. A healthy red is a good constructive thing. The problem in this way of being is that anything which isn’t all loving is seen as bad. In doing this healthy red is not allowed to flourish into other more evolved colours and the red of the person in this moral development is disowned into the shadow. It is a very narcissistic holier than thou type of mentality which is then projected onto the world. This unhealthy red form breeds more unhealthy red. It is hugely destructive.

When I recently worked with someone who worked from an integral model of therapy which I have been integrating parts of in my own practice she told me about a colleague who in fact refuses to engage with anyone who is at the level of consciousness of postmodern flatland. As if energy is better spent elsewhere. I can empathise with this kind of mentality.

Following reading Boomeritis I was lead to another book called ‘The shadow university’ which I haven’t got to yet but follows this same kind of thinking.

For anyone interested in consciousness development generally I would hugely recommend Ken Wilber and this book is amazing as a discussion of this common university dialogue.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Boomeritis-Ken-Wilber/9781590300084?a_aid=philwalker

As you will have likely seen I’ve had a great morning routine which has involved using the book ‘The magic’. It involves reading a chapter each day on repeat. The big thing in this book is about developing a feeling of gratitude and therefore coming from a place of abundance. I’ve actually had to take 8 days off this as I was sick so was listening to my body and having mornings of rest instead and journal writing my way to recovery.

I then happened to come across a great youtube video which was recommended by a coach I know (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYS6nbtdMY&feature=youtu.be). I listened to it while I was cleaning my room which felt really nice and therapeutic. It talked about self kindness and kindness generally as a virtue. One thing I really liked about it was it spoke about the idea of being in debt originally meaning the new affirmations are cast out.

This all reminded me of certain bad vibes I had about ‘the magic’ initially and all this coming from a space of abundance. It made me think too of a lot of different self help psychology literature about new thought patterns etc which I feel have a lot of validity but interestingly now saying about what happens when you are actually in debt as a lot of people are.

I guess here it is where the persistence and pushing through comes in. Starting to work to come from a space of abundance is one thing but if you are in debt to start with then you immediately have a rejection and this positive talk feels inauthentic. Your subconscious has the negative programming which is immediately rejecting it. On the youtube video it says it is like going from -100 to -75. A difference is actually made but you are still in debt so it’s not really registering.

It is here when the obvious answer is persistence to keep going and going until it becomes natural and you’re ultimately operating from this universal and natural space of abundance. Sometimes in therapy we say about when you start out it is like water being poured into a bucket of sand so at the start things get more murky as it is stirred up. It is over time that more water is poured in and sand filtered out that we are ultimately able to get clear.

I loved doing my morning routine and interestingly enough got quite sick after 2 weeks in for 8 days. I actually wonder if there was some psychosomatic component here. I have wrote recently about new foundations and it has been that type of a month for me (April). I wonder if there was this stirring up of the bucket and also this sense of being in debt originally that was all stirred up and came to the surface to come out.

My more recent work as a purely personal development platform has been bringing up a lot and this seems likely. So I guess my point is anyway is to stick with these good routines. I am loving my new morning routine and it will be back and I feel the more we can work towards coming from this abundant space in our lives the better.
Have a great day everyone. 🙂

The Magic: https://www.bookdepository.com/Magic-Rhonda-Byrne/9781849838399?a_aid=philwalker