Breathe Into Being: Awakening to Who You Really Are
Order my latest book today on Amazon.com."Dennis Lewis has written a very wise and highly readable book about one of the most fundamental insights of the great spiritual traditions: the breath is a mediator between mind and body, and is a bridge to the transcendent. This is a marvelous guidebook in cultivating awareness and living in the now."--Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words and The Power Of Premonitions
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Mechanism of Mind, by Edward de Bono
The Mechanism of Mind, by Edward de Bono
“Freddie was designed as a space age pet for modern living. He is a small black sphere which is completely smooth on the outside. When Freddie is kicked he starts to roll about. To stop him you kick him again. Whenever he comes up against an obstacle he just backs away, moves along it or just changes direction as he feels inclined. The purpose of Freddie is to provide intelligent animation without the owner having to feed him, look after him or take him round the lampposts every evening.”
Freddie’s image is so intriguing that we find ourselves smiling, but not at the implication that our lives might well be similar to his own. When it comes to our mind, to our way of thinking, we resent being told that our mental processes are mechanical, and that there is no separate self or agent initiating or directing our thoughts.
Though Dr. de Bono is a physician and is currently working in the Department of Investigative Medicine at Cambridge University, England, he uses no monkeys, rabbits, rats or electronic brain probes to make his case. He seeks to convince us with models made from pins, lights, switches, blocks, jelly, water and other equally familiar materials.
Put some table jelly in a shallow dish; now spoon some hot water onto the jelly and then pour the water off: as the water melts the jelly, it creates channels. As more water is spooned onto the jelly, the patterns become more diverse and intricate. But soon, no matter where you pour it, most of the water will flow through the channels already created, thereby making these channels deeper and ensuring that any additional water will flow through them. Think of the jelly as the memory surface of the brain, and the channels as memories or associations. The flow of water through these channels is the “interpretation and recording of incoming information. . . the main point is that there is flow, and that the flow is dictated by the contours of the surface.”
In other words, the past shapes the present. But what about new ideas and perceptions? Can we receive them without their being processed by the various patterns which have accumulated through suggestion and repetition, or are we doomed to a constant repetition of past thoughts and perceptions (as the jelly model indicates)? The answer seems to demand a more precise study of the mechanics of the human mind, of the way it is “kicked” in and out of action by influences from outside as well as from within.
Dr. de Bono distinguishes between several different kinds of thought, all of which are equally mechanical, but which nevertheless differ in the results they bring. The most “primitive” form of thought is “natural thinking.” This is the passive associative flow along the contours of the memory surface. It is totally dependent on whatever happens to be accumulated at the moment. There is a momentum from cliché to cliché. “Natural thinking makes use of absolutes and extremes since these patterns become more easily established than intermediate ones.” In de Bono’s words:
“The lack of proportion in natural thinking in some ways resembles the contents of newspapers. The odd, the unusual, the emotional, all get as much emphasis as ordinary events, or more, even though the latter are much more important in real-life terms. Labels and categories are much used in natural thinking since they provide quick interpretation and firm direction of flow. There is little vagueness or indecision in natural thinking since even a slight degree of dominance in one area is sufficient to attract the flow.”
“Logical thinking” differs from natural thinking only as a result of the experience of “non-identity,” or “no.” No conveys an awareness of more than one alternative; it implies a “mismatch,” a conflict between patterns. As a result of no, one pattern or pathway is selected and another is blocked from our attention. “The effect of logical thinking is like that obtained by a farmer who directs the water to his fields by careful blocking of some irrigation channels in order to get the water to flow through the others.” The difficulty is that what may have been useful in the past may be the exact opposite of what is necessary now. Once no has blocked a particular pathway it is likely to continue doing so even when the conditions have changed. “The more emotion that was infused into the no label by upbringing, the more powerful would be its use and its effect.”
With “mathematical thinking” we come to what is supposedly the least subjective form of sequential thought. This kind of thinking, for de Bono, is based on the use of “ready-made recipes,” or “algorithms.” “An algorithm is any fixed pattern which is not derived from presented information but serves to control and sort out that information. Algorithms may be mathematical techniques but they may also be word patterns or any other type of preset pattern.” Instead of the incoming information finding its own path along the contours of the surface, specific channels are pre-cut and the information flows through them. If the “preset pattern” actually represents the given situation then mathematical thinking can avoid many of the errors of natural and logical thinking. Unfortunately, in most cases, neither the algorithm nor the choice of what it processes is itself the result of mathematical thinking.
Dr. de Bono makes it clear that none of these forms of thought can get beyond the limitations imposed by the nature of the memory surface. He therefore offers a fourth classification which he calls “lateral thinking.” This type of thinking is based on the disruption of the sequential flow of our ordinary thought:
“Lateral thinking has nothing to do with chaos for the sake of chaos. Disruption of a pattern in lateral thinking is only in order to let a better pattern form. Later the process can be repeated again. For this reason those chemical methods of disruption which work by upsetting the smooth co-ordination of the mind are useless since the smooth co-ordination of the mind is required to snap the new patterns into coherence. The art of lateral thinking is to bring about the disruption while still retaining the ability to benefit from it in terms of coherent ideas.”
How does one achieve this kind of thinking? Dr. de Bono offers a number of different methods, all of which are dependent on the ability to allow one’s thought to organize itself in a “new” way. But whether this new organization be the result of shocks coming from without, the intentional effort of turning an idea upside down, or the effort of a slight shift in attention, it is always necessary to confront what de Bono calls the “main information sin”–arrogance. “Arrogance appears in many forms. Just as one particular fixed way of looking at things leads to the arrogance of pride so another fixed way of looking at things leads to the arrogance of despair.”
How can we escape this “sin”? Dr. de Bono tells us that one way is through a “realization of the arbitrary nature and historical development. . .” of our attitudes:
“It is not suggested that the realization of the arbitrariness of patterns should lead to a loss of drive and direction. On the contrary, one realizes that patterns are useful no matter how arbitrary, and so one uses them. But uses them without arrogance, with an inquiry about better patterns, and with the willingness to change to better patterns if they should seem more useful.”
But is the interest in “better patterns” sufficient motivation to see and accept the mechanicality of one’s mind? If arrogance is not simply an information sin, if its effects are scattered through our entire being, then perhaps we do need to experience a “loss of drive and direction.” Perhaps freed for a moment from our cerebral manipulations, we will feel the need for a totally new quality of thought–one which could bring us to a wider, more fundamental sense of our existence.
This review first appeared in the journal Material for Thought, Spring 1971 (issue #3), published by Far West Editions. Far West Editions “was begun in 1968 by John Pentland, a direct pupil of G. I. Gurdjieff and president of the Gurdjieff Foundations of New York and California until his death in 1984. Its original purpose was to discover if a more impartial quality of spiritual thought can emerge when a small group of people work at writing while at the same time trying to see themselves as they are.” Though I am “the author” of this review, it was working in these special conditions that made it possible. You can click on the above link to see what issues of Material for Thought are currently available.
Breathe Into Being: Awakening to Who You Really Are
The latest issue (# 2) of The Gnostic: A Journal of Gnosticism, Western Esotericism and Spirituality includes a lovely review by Tony Cartledge of my recent book Breathe into Being: Awakening to Who You Really Are.
Here are several short passages from the review (I’ll post the entire review later on):
“I’ve had a long interest in the use of following the breath for developing mindfulness, and Dennis Lewis’ work is one of the clearest and most practical expositions of this powerful tool for awakening.”
“There are no lengthy and learned treatises here, but a rich tapestry of around 70 micro-chapters. … Each chapter contains a specific practice, and there were many unique exercises that I had not seen before which I immediately incorporated into my daily practice. … the main focus of these practices is developing non-attachment, or non-identification, gently disengaging our identity away from the ego or personality, and releasing it into that wider ground of being that we are.”
“Lewis’ practices of simply following the breath are effective tools for generating mindfulness and presence, the space in which we can discover the truth about ourselves and the world. They are wonderful exercises for developing that most valuable of spiritual commodities: attention.”
“Leonardo Da Vinci once said that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Breathe into Being is one of the most sophisticated guides to awakening I have read.”
Learn more about reviewer Tony Cartledge, author of Planetary Types: the Science of Celestial Influence
Purchase Breathe into Being: Awakening to Who You Really Are on Amazon.com.
The Endless Knot, from Wikipedia
Over the years, I have been asked how I became a so-called master. I resisted responding in any way to this question for a long time…well, until now. Close to the end of my life, it seems fitting now to tell the real story. Don’t worry, it won’t take long. You’ll be able to return quickly to whatever it is that really interests you.
One day, many, many years ago, I was sitting quietly by the roadside trying to figure out what to do with my life. I had just lost my job, my wife, and my home, and everything was in question, including the meaning of my life. I think I had been sitting pondering for several hours when a man happened along and squatted quietly on the opposite side of the road facing me. Though he said nothing, he stared at me intensely without moving a muscle. There was something about the way the man looked at me, the great concern that emanated from him, that made me think he was someone very special, perhaps even a great master.
Believing that I might learn something from this man, and with nothing better to do, I simply sat there observing, only taking breaks to care of the natural functions when the man sitting opposite me did so. Of course, sitting in that way created much tension in my body, so I began to stretch and move in all sorts of ways to relieve the tension. The man also stretched and moved but in ways that looked more interesting than mine. He seemed to know what he was doing. Some of the postures and movements even looked like yoga and qigong, which I had dabbled with. So I simply imitated him, but added from memory some of the postures and movements that I had previously learned. Soon we were spontaneously doing all kind of exercises together, even chanting and singing. I was seeing many new things about myself and really felt as though new meanings were opening up for me.
After several days, and finally coming to the realization that perhaps this man could help me answer the question that was burning inside, I asked with great intensity, “Please tell me Master, what should I do with my life?”
Startled, the man looked back at me and said in sincere confusion: “But I thought you were the master.”
The instant these words were spoken an all-embracing light turned on inside of me, a light that had never revealed itself before, and I suddenly realized who and what I was.
In response to the question, cynical or otherwise, that may have arisen in you, I will ask you one in return: aren’t we all here to help and care for one another? Aren’t we all, consciously or unconsciously, simultaneously students, teachers and even masters in relation to one another and at whatever level is possible for us? Aren’t we all part of “the endless knot” of relationship?
In any case, and for what it’s worth, that’s the story of how I first happened to be called a master. But you may call me whatever you like, as you are no doubt already doing.
Copyright 2009 by Dennis Lewis. This story was inspired by an insight I had while reading a short parable recounted by Idries Shah in his book The Commanding Self.
Cassie Swimming with Tennis Ball
I decided I would try to teach her the meaning of “drop it” with two balls. I throw her one, she brings it back and then I show her the other one hoping she will drop the one already in her mouth. Sometimes it works. But more often than not she wants me to throw the second ball so that she can carry both back in her mouth. Something very human about that tendency: why let go of one when I can have both? Hmmmm. Why indeed? For human beings, what is “letting go” really all about?
A big question that I explore in depth here.
The Breath of Life & Meaning
Next time you find yourself in a discussion or giving a speech, take your time as you speak. If you sense that you are about to run out of breath, simply stop what you are saying and let yourself breathe for a breath or two, paying attention to the silent pause at the end of your out-breath. Rest there, recollect yourself, before continuing on. These pauses are not only good for your breathing, they are also good for your soul. They give you an opportunity to come home to yourself and see if what you are saying is worth saying and what you really wish to say.
It is important to realize that the very same same principles generally apply when you are writing articles, books, e-mail messages, discussion posts, and so on. As you think to yourself and write, you can also run out of breath and lose your connection with silence. Long concentration at your computer, typewriter, or note pad can constrict your diaphragm and result in fast upper chest breathing and insufficient oxygen to your brain and body.
Finally, does what you say and write spring from deep within, from silence? Does it help you and others reflect on what is important? Or is it simply a mechanical, associative expression of “like and dislike” or of self-love or vanity? As you learn to listen to yourself impartially as you speak and write, your words will reconnect with silence and thus carry new energy and meaning. You will discover a new breadth of both discernment and openness.
This is what I have discovered in my own life. It isn’t always easy for me to listen to what I say and how I say it (sometimes it’s nearly impossible), but such listening brings me a greater appreciation and wonder for the “unstruck sounds”* that lie at the heart of being. It is the unstruck sounds that bring real meaning and substance not just to our words but also to our lives.
Copyright 2009 by Dennis Lewis
*From Rumi, Unseen Rain (Threshold Books, 1986, p. 12): ”Listen to the unstruck sounds, and what sifts through that music.”
Exchanges Within: Questions from Everyday Life Selected from Gurdjieff Group Meetings with John Pentland in California 1955-1984
Those of us searching for the truth have no doubt come to see that we live our lives at a very low level of consciousness and that we lie to ourselves and others about who we are and what we understand. We have also no doubt come to see that in order to experience the truth, we must first see how deeply we resist it. We can see this resistance, for example, in the way we prefer answers to questions, or the way we constantly recoil from uncertainty and the unknown. We can also see it in the way we manipulate in accordance with our self-image the great ideas that could help motivate and guide our search—ideas related to self-knowledge, self-development, unity, freedom, pure love, levels of being and consciousness, and so on. It does not matter what teaching we follow; we are all slaves to this manipulation.
According to the great spiritual pathfinder G. I. Gurdjieff, the first step toward experiencing the truth is to see that most of the time I’m not really interested in it. It is to see that I live my life in sleep, and that to fulfill my destiny as a “three-brained being” on this earth I must wake up. The inner and outer work needed to awaken requires the help of a real teacher, as well as of a community of other serious seekers trying to work together on behalf of the truth.
Lord John Pentland
One such outstanding teacher was Lord John Pentland. Until his death in 1984, Lord Pentland, who served as the president of the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York and founded the Gurdjieff Foundation of California, directed the work activities of hundreds of people throughout the United States who came to the Gurdjieff Work “in search of truth.” Exchanges Within is the record of some of the many questions that arose in relation to this search, as well as of Lord Pentland’s “answers.” The book shows his remarkable ability to translate Gurdjieff’s teachings into the exact language needed to help each seeker experience herself or himself as a living question in the face of the unknown. It is through this experience that awakening can begin.
What is the work that supports awakening? Exchanges Within probes this question on every page. Through responses such as the following one, Lord Pentland shows us that awakening requires the help not only of real ideas, but also of a deep work with attention, sensation, and energy: “The movement of consciousness is magic. Life is magic, would you agree? … You can’t understand life, it is the miraculous. … The point is, this magic is going on now and in order to experience it I have to have a very open muscle structure, an attention that contains all my energy … “
Readers who are willing to turn toward their own deepest questions, especially the question “Who am I?”, will find valuable guidance for their search in these unparalleled, deep-reaching exchanges.
Copyright 1997 by Dennis Lewis. This brief review was originally published on my website and in the Gurdjieff International Review.
Healing Emotions: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mindfulness, Emotions, and Health
Healing Emotions: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mindfulness, Emotions, and Health, Edited by Daniel Goleman (Shambhala, Boston & London, 1997).
“Can the mind heal the body? How are the brain, immune system, and emotions interconnected? What emotions are associated with enhanced well-being? How does mindfulness function in a medical context? Is there a biological foundation for ethics? How can death help us understand the nature of the mind?”
In the summer of 1991, ten well-known scientists, psychologists, meditation teachers and other scholars came together with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala India “to grapple with these questions.” This book is a record of conversations that took place during this event—the Third Mind and Life Conference.
There are some, of course, who may say that the effort to understand reality through a dialogue between religion and science is misguided at best. But even if this were the case, Buddhism is not a religion in the ordinary sense of the term. One need not “believe in” the Buddha to practice Buddhism. For our beliefs, like our other attachments, are often what keep us from opening to reality, the miraculous emptiness that underlies the fundamental interdependence of all life.
What is unusual about Healing Emotions is the way in which it explores this “interdependence” through a continual questioning that expands our view of the world and explores relationships between things that we thought were unrelated. This should come as no surprise, however, since in the introduction we are told that “Buddhism has as principal aims the goal of transforming perception and experience and synchronizing mind and body.”
Healing Emotions explores the relationships between such subjects as cellular biology, stress, emotions, moods, headaches, immunology, visceral learning, self-esteem, virtue and morality, greed, mindfulness, death, self-acceptance, responsibility, consciousness, compassion, and much else. This thought-provoking book is a testament not only to the Dalai Lama’s far-reaching search for ways to better understand the many challenges facing us today, but also to his underlying “affection” for other human beings and their ideas and experiences.
“I believe that human affection is the basis … of human nature,” says the Dalai Lama. “Without that, you can’t get satisfaction or happiness as an individual; and without that foundation, the whole human community can’t get satisfaction either. In my day-to-day thinking, I always take into account the total environment, the whole community.”
Whether or not one believes that “affection” is the basis of human nature, it is becoming increasingly clear that the growing lack of genuine affection in modern life, of loving kindness toward oneself and others, is closely related to our lack of awareness of the “total environment.” And without this sense of the total environment—and the urgent sense of conscience that comes with it—any real transformation is next to impossible.
Healing Emotions: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mindfulness, Emotions, and Health
Dennis Lewis
“Smiling is science both ancient and modern. The power of a genuine smile to uplift our spirits and help heal us is profound and healing and empowering. Whether it is directed toward others or ourselves or is simply an expression of our innermost being, a genuine smile says ‘yes’ to the miracle and mystery of love and life.”–Dennis Lewis, quoted in Smile! The Secret Science of Smiling (see citation at bottom)
The next time you are feeling negative for any reason, or are experiencing pain, stress, or anxiety, think of or visualize someone who brings a smile to your face. If you are unable to do so, put a smile on your face anyway. However ludicrous it may seem to you, just “put on a smiling face.” Though it may feel unnatural at first, keep smiling for at least a two minutes and it will soon become natural—and genuine. (I’ve done it thousands of times; it works.) Once you are smiling, direct your smile inwardly into your whole body, allowing it to penetrate into all the cells, organs, tissues, and so on that your life depends on.
Now, keeping the smile on your face, rub your hands together until they are warm and put them, one on top of the other, on your navel. Sense the warmth and energy coming from your hands into your lower abdomen. Sense your breathing. Don’t attempt to control it. Notice how your belly expands or wants to expand on the in-breath and retracts or want to retract on the out-breath. As the inhalation takes place by itself, sense the air going not just through your nose but also through the smile on your face (with your mouth closed). Let the sensation, the energy, of the smile combine with the energy of your breath, and use both your intention and your attention to direct this energy down into the area that hurts or that is tense and contracted. If you are anxious, fearful, or impatient, direct the smiling breath down into your heart and the area around your navel. Be sure not to hold your breath at the end of the inhalation.
As you exhale, do so silently through pursed but relaxed lips (as though you are gently blowing on a single candle, making it flicker without actually blowing it out), and feel that any pain, discomfort, tension, anxiety, fear, or impatience is released with the exhalation. Let your next in-breath arise on its own.
As you continue this practice, sense your face frequently to be sure you are still smiling. Also, keep sensing the warmth and energy coming your hands into your navel area, letting the warmth and energy move all through your abdomen and into your spine. Each time the in-breath occurs, allow your abdomen to expand outward. On the out-breath, allow your abdomen to gently retract inward. This will help your diaphragm move through its full range of motion, which in turn will help open up all your breathing spaces.
Exhaling through pursed lips ensures that the exhalation will take longer than the inhalation. This will help you relax. Don’t force your breathing in any way. The key is to keep smiling and be gentle. Practice like this for a minimum of five minutes at a time.
This is a very safe, powerful exercise that you can try any time of the day or night.
Copyright 2009 by Dennis Lewis. You can find more complete versions of this practice, and the science behind it, in my books The Tao of Natural Breathing and Free Your Breath, Free Your Life.
You might also wish to take a look at Smile! The Secret Science of Smiling, by Elan Sun Star, a wonderful book that, in addition to numerous beautiful smiling faces, includes a section by me on The Smiling Breath (pp. 177-81), and endorsements from people like Dr. Masaru Emoto, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Neale Donald Walsch (“Conversations with God”), and Captain James Lovell (US Apollo 13 moon landing).
Mulla Nasruddin On His Donkey
Not wanting to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla, to reduce the load, asked his son to get off the donkey and continue on foot.
As they passed another group of people, the Mulla heard them whisper: “Look how selfish that man is. His young son has to walk while he gets to ride the donkey. Has he no compassion? What is the world coming to?”
Again, not wanting to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla got off the donkey and told his son to ride.
A third group of people, seeing the son riding the donkey and his father lagging behind, whispered: “Look at that selfish young man riding the donkey while his old father has to walk! Has the boy no respect? Has he no compassion? What is the world coming to?”
Not wanting his son to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla suggested to him that they both walk and let the donkey trail behind at its own pace.
As they passed a fourth group of people, some of them burst out laughing: “Look at those idiots. They have a donkey, yet they are both walking! What is the world coming to?”
Not wanting either himself or his son to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla replied, “You can laugh all you want, but our donkey hasn’t been feeling well, so we decided to take him out for a nice walk and some fresh air.”
This is my rather free rendering, with a new ending, of a classic Mulla Nasruddin story.
The Body as the Anchor for the Senses & the Mind, from Openness Mind, by Tarthang Tulku
Here is a wonderful practice from one of my favorite books. I hope you will try it often as you can.
Openness Mind, by Tarthang Tulku
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