Second, do no harm

The next step on the path is Right Intention.  Maybe it is the generation in which I grew up, but nearly every time I hear the word intention I think of the old saw--the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  My second thought is:  the road to everywhere is paved with intentions:  good, bad, misguided and sometimes lack of.  The point is to govern what you intend and be more conscious about what truly motivates you.

According to Buddhist theory, right intention refers to an ethical mindset that informs action.    Right intention is divided into three strands:  intention of renunciation; intention of good will and intention of harmlessness.

Intention of renunciation refers to refusing to succumb to desire's pull.  Intention of good will refers to resisting feelings of anger, jealousy or other negative emotions.  Intention of goodwill refers to abstaining from hurtful or cruel behavior.

Sounds really good doesn't it?  These principles could be summed up as "resolve not to be a jerk."  Most people would say they operate under some similar rubric, like the Golden Rule or even the Reiki Gokkai.  But I think many folks are just winging it, not really having any philosophy of how they operate in the world.

I know I owe a few folks out there apologies for a bit of bad behavior of my own when I was first starting out in this business.  I was coming from a viewpoint of lack:  there weren't enough readers out there for everyone to be read; only folks published by traditional publishers had any value; there are so many writers out there that if you make any demands, publishers will just skip over you to the next author; if I helped other people, they would get ahead and I wouldn't; blah, blah, blah.  It was the kind of thinking drummed into me by the publishing industry and particularly fellow authors.  I can't blame anyone for that since it was the prevailing wisdom at the time.

However, I realize now that this was the pull of desire, the Buddhists were talking about. It really isn't necessary to denigrate others to find value in yourself.  Most of the people who I know (or know of) who are happy in this business share with others in bigger ways than I do.  When you live in a mindset of lack or fear you become greedy, hording whatever crumbs of success or happiness or goodness that come your way.  Hoarding, as anyone who has watched one of those shows, is a disease of anxiety and a means of controlling one's environment--regardless of what is hoarded.  If you are unwilling or incapable of sharing your time, money, expertise with other writers without either feeling guilty or put upon, ask yourself why.  What would it take for you to feel comfortable enough in your writer's skin to be able to share more freely with others.

 Let's face it, we all have negative feelings--we compare ourselves to more successful writers and wonder why our work isn't flourishing as much.  We read someone else's masterpiece and think our work sucks.  Someone who started writing after we did surpasses us in no time and all our hard work seems for nothing.  It's hard not to want to pull out the Voodoo dolls and stab away.  However, that never really gets us anywhere.  Indulging negative feelings is really a double edged sword--it puts negativity out in the world toward the person you are hating on and it also makes you feel miserable.  But it really accomplishes nothing.  Holding the intention to resist these feelings, to put them aside when they crop up goes a long way toward keeping peace in your life.  Then your satisfaction with what you do or what you have accomplished isn't governed by what other folks are doing.

As I was telling a group I was speaking to yesterday--we are all works in progress.  Our work on ourselves is never done.  Even when we die we go on to do more work on the other plane.  So if you slip up, in whatever way, resolve to do better next time.  What's important is the intent--the mindset to act out out of love, kindness, and compassion--even if we don't always succeed.  Like Scarlet O'Hara, we, too, have another day.



 

  

 

Awakening to the (Eightfold) Path

Let me start by saying I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday, whichever one you celebrate (or are currently still celebrating).  I had a wonderful holiday with my family.  Santa was very good to us this year, even though everyone was pretty broke this year.  Every time we gather we tend to find something more to be thankful for and to appreciate in one another.  But I digress from the purpose here.  Let's get to the topic at hand . . .

So here we are again, discussing the means of ending writer's suffering.  Yeah, like that will ever really happen.  Well, we can make our lives as ick-free as possible.  But to understand the means to the end, we have to discuss a few generalities about Buddhist philosophy.

The Buddhist eightfold path is a way of perceiving, thinking, acting and being in the world.  It is not a successive path, as in one step follows another, but all or most steps on the path can be developed simultaneously.  Movement in one area leads to advancement in another.

The path is divided into three sections:  Wisdom, Ethical Conduct and Mental Development.  Wisdom is comprised of Right View and Right Intention.  Ethical Conduct is comprised of Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood.  Mental Development is comprised of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

In many ways, Right View is the alpha and omega of comprehending the Path.  The Path begins with the understanding of the true nature of suffering and ends with true understanding of how to transcend such suffering.  Right view is not a matter of intelligence or intellect. It is a perspective on viewing the world. It is developed through experience, study, meditation and prayer.

I don't think any writer would argue that viewpoint are one of the most important considerations when composing a story.  Who your character is will frame how a character interprets whatever situation he or she is in and the people around them.  This is how you can have a protagonist and antagonist at cross purposes, even though neither is really a "bad guy"--each has their own view of what's going on, what's needed and what is the right way to proceed.

In the same way, we create the tenor of our lives by the framework we put around it.  When you think of yourself as the hero(ine) of your own story, who are you?  Are you the plucky heroine intent on living her dream?  Are you the ne'er-do-well finally trying to make good?  Are you the plodder who steadily aims toward success? Or are you the flash in the pan who burns out halfway there?  Or maybe someone else entirely?

What is your story about?  Failure?  Faith? Honor? Nihilism? Hope?  The futility of life? Redemption?  

Your answer to these questions doesn't really matter, except in one regard:  are you content to continue this view of yourself and the story you are currently living?  If you are, more power to you.  If not, nothing but our epitaph is carved in stone.  You can always change the story of your life and how you view yourself in the world. 

As we head into the new year, it is important to ask yourself what you would like to change, adapt modify or eliminate from the life you are living right now.  What are you focusing your attention, your energy, your intention on in 2012? That's what the new year will bring for you. 

Are you ready for it?  Or are you ready to try something new?  What are you hoping the new year brings for you?






 

There and back again

Good gravy!  I'm not entirely surprised that it's been more than a month since I last posted.  Some seriously wonky energy came into my sphere on 11/11/11, and I would bet the same thing happened for many of you, as well. Something shifted in the energy of the planet on that numerically significant day.

I was sick for a good three weeks with some kind of bronchial bug that would not go away.  I don't think of this as being a bad thing, though.  I've seen it happen many times in dealing with Reiki that people's first reaction to a healing can often be to appear to become even more sick.  This is referred to as a healing crisis, as the minute energy starts to move more freely within the body, all the gook that has been lying beneath the surface, comes up to be healed.  It's like the hacking cough a smoker gets when they give up the nicotine.  The addiction was suppressing natural reactions to the harmful chemicals being ingested.  Once the suppressing agents are gone, well, you know the rest.

The energy of the lungs is sorrow, so to release physically and energetically from this area can feel like the lifting of a heavy weight off the chest.  That's how I'm feeling now--as if I've allowed something noxious to rise to the surface and be released.  I use the term allow purposefully, since most often the wisest course is to let life unfold without too much attachment to the form it takes.  As the saying goes, what you resist persists.  However submitting to the will of the Universe is a lot easier said than done.  It's a lesson you have to learn and relearn and relearn some more, which is what I was doing.

So now I'm back, but looking forward to discussing the right way to look at your writing or creative world.  Hope you'll be back for the journey.

By the way, if anybody had any funky energy come their way around the 11th, let me know.  I'll be sending out some free energy to help folks cope, if need be.

Just a little reminder . . .

Just wanted to remind you that our Goddess workshop--Reconnecting with the Feminine Divine--is happening tomorrow night at the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in Manhattan.  If you've got a free Friday night let us help you fill it with guidance from the Goddess.

For more information you can check out the sidebar here.  Also it's not too late to save $5. on the registration fee by paying by paypal.  Hope to see you there!

Body of truth (hey, that's a catchy title)

After a relaxing weekend playing dress-up at a Regency Assembly, I am back to writing about Reiki.  Frankly, Truth #3 --the cure to suffering is awakening-- is the easiest to write about.  It's what I help people do all the time--wake up from the illusion that their life is simply about all the prosaic stuff we worry about every day.

You may have heard the saying, "you are not a human having a spiritual experience; you are a spirit having a human experience" or one of its variations.  I really believe this to be true.  This physical plane is the least of what we are, but the aspect of ourselves on which we often expend the most time, attention and concern.        

So let's talk about some writer's illusions:  the most pervasive is "you are lucky to be published" which is often followed by "so quit yer bellyaching."  If you are "lucky" enough to get a traditional publisher you should keep your mouth shut and take whatever publishers give you.  The boom (and boon) of self-publishing has given the lie to this type of sentiment.  And it's about time.

To my mind, writers, more than any other creative profession, have been willing to put up with an outrageous assortment of indignities in order to get our work to the public.  There are reasons a publishing contract is a distinct type of legal entity, and not many of them are good. And unlike many other creative endeavors, we lack a strong, well, unified, union to speak for us (though I do belong to the Author's Guild which, of late, seems to be heading more in this direction).

But I also remember my first contract negotiation.  The contract contained a clause that was a deal breaker for me.  I told my agent to turn down the offer unless this could be resolved in my favor.  This was especially risky, considering there was only one publisher of note handling the type of book I was writing.  Of course, calmer heads prevailed, all was set right and I signed.  However, it's not a negotiation if you are not willing to walk away.

But there are also other illusions we writers are prey to. The illusion that there are not enough sales for everyone; that in order to make a name for ourselves we must tear someone else down; that we are at the mercy of fans, editors, agents, our not-too-understanding families or downtrends in the marketplace.

Publishing is a pretty fear-driven business.  No one knows what really, actually works, so there's a lot of hand-wringing when things go wrong and copy-catting when things go right.  But there are ways to cast off these illusions and lead a more contented writing life.  The answer?
 
Truth #4

The end of suffering is Awakening to some truths about yourself and your work. We as people, and also as writers are not, subject to the whims of a capricious  Universe.  We are co-creators of our existence in accordance with certain Cosmic Laws.  Most people have heard of The Secret or the Law of Attraction.  Both of these are simplified and incomplete visions of how the Universe works when it comes to manifesting that which we desire.

Now I know that last word, desire, must have set off an early warning system for folks that read the last couple of posts.  Isn't desire part of the  problem?  Well, yes and no.  The Universe knows we have to feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves and those under our care.  But how do you do that?  That's where the Eightfold Path comes in:  examining your life and your writing path to see that all is in alignment for you to succeed.  This will often change your definition of "success" and how you go about achieving it.

I'll give you an example from my own life.  I needed a steady part time income to help me pay for college tuitions.  I put it out there for the Universe to handle.  Within two days I had a job interview and was hired--for a much better position than I would have thought to apply for had I put myself in charge of finding employment.

And on that note, I'm going to stop for today.  Tune in next week when I will start discussing the Eightfold Path and what following it can do for your writing and your life.


As always, I love to hear from you.  Have you had any experience where Spirit or the Universe just seemed to be there for you?

The truth(s) of the matter

Before we get into it, I'd like to thank all the readers who expressed support for this series so far.  I hope to live up to your expectations.  What I would like to do first is discuss the Four Noble Writer's Truths then discuss the path we writers can take to reach a greater enlightenment about our writing and our lives.

Truth #1:  suffering (dukkha) exists

I don't think anyone would argue that the writing life can be full of pain.  Not only is it a solitary profession, but we writers tend to invest very much of ourselves in our work.  For most of us, writing isn't what pays the bills, it is our (almost) guilty pleasure, our sideline that feeds and fulfills our creative impulse and gives us one of our most important self-descriptors.  

Telling someone you are a writer is likely to inspire awe, reverence, revulsion, contempt, snide comments, adoration and pleas for financial support, sometimes all in the same conversation.  

 Add to that the fact that everything about writing and publishing seems to be in flux right now. It's hard to determine which houses to write for, when or if to self-publish, which agents have the best interests of their clients rather than their own survival uppermost in their business plans.  

It's okay to admit it is tough out there.  Many of the familiar guideposts are gone or in unsuspected places.  It is easy to succumb to fear-based thinking and action, where we hold a death grip on what we think should be rather than accepting that the landscape is changing in some ways that serve and in others that don't.  Which brings us to . . .

Truth #2:  the cause of suffering is desire

As writers, we are programmed to set goals. Some folks will go so far as to say that if you don't set the goal of writing every day, you aren't a real writer.  I myself have urged writers to make plans for what they would like to accomplish each day, month, year, five years.  We all have dreams of landing on the bestseller list of some kind, even if we haven't the temerity to hope for a New York Times placement.  We want to touch readers lives with our prose.  We want a hell of a lot.

Now think about the characters we write about.  Without knowing what our characters want, we couldn't have a story.  Goals are the primary axis of the ubiquitous triumvirate of goal, motivation and conflict that provide the engine of the story.

Without wanting or desire at least one of the genres in which I write would disappear entirely.  How can you have a romance without desire?  Or for that matter, how can you have a good detective who doesn't really, really want to find the mass murderer and bring him (her) to justice?

If we didn't want so much, our lives as writers could possibly be so much easier.  If your family's finances didn't hinge on book sales, you wouldn't be under such pressure to produce.  If you weren't worried about expanding your readership, you might be more willing to take more risks with your writing.  I could go on and on.

So is all this wanting bad?  Like most things, I don't see this situation as good or bad; I am only describing what is.  Good or bad, right or wrong are subjective distinctions to my way of thinking and on a soul level unnecessary.  But that's a subject for another post.

In a recent meditation, this statement came to me:  peace is the absence of wanting anything.  I really believe this to be true.  In an entirely peaceful world we could thrive without the need to be or do  or have anything in particular, with the possible exception of the most basic survival needs.  However, most people didn't sign on to be the next Buddha; they just want a happier, more productive life that provides a modicum of peace and a change to help their fellow man a bit, if that's possible.


Truth #3:  the end of suffering is awakening

My next post will deal with this subject extensively, but let's suffice it so say that illumination of some kind is almost always at least part of the solution to the dilemma.  As with many situations, our perception of them is more problematic than the situation itself.  Our judgements of the situation, our expectations of what is good or bad about the situation, our attachment to particular outcomes as desirable and/or undesirable may hold us back more than "bad" reviews,"bad" sales, or "bad" whatever else you can imagine.

That's all for now.  See you next time when we'll continue with the third truth and get into the fourth.  I  hope you'll leave me a comment to let me know what you think so far.

Working your Writer's Dharma

I can see the brows knitted now.  You've heard of karma, but what the heck is dharma (other than a darling sitcom character from a few years back)?  The simple answer is, depends on who you're asking.  Dharma is a sanskit word that literally means that which holds or supports.  However the word can be taken to mean anything from one's religion to divine order.  In this context I refer to dharma as one's spiritual path.

Whether we realize it or not, we are all on a spiritual journey since each of us is a spirit experiencing a human incarnation on this planet at this time.  We are all on a path to find love, purpose, healing, self-actualization and completion.  The point is to be more conscious about how we go about seeking and finding them.  How do we become more conscious?  By monitoring our path and choosing our steps wisely.

According to Buddhist philosophy, the road to enlightenment starts with following the eightfold path and acknowledging the Four Noble truths.  These are:

1. suffering (dukkha) exists
2. the cause of suffering is desire (thirst--samudaya) which originates through ignorance of the true nature of self
3. The end of suffering (nirhodha) is awakening (bodhi)
4. Awakening, end of suffering come from the eightfold path

I am by no means a practicing Buddhist, but I believe you can find illumination just about anywhere.  In the next few posts I will be discussing how these tenets can help us improve our writing life.  Hope you'll stick around for the ride.