Wisdom Wheels: Cat Nirvana and Dog-Zen

At this point, readers are likely to be scratching their heads over the influx of texts with heavy wisdom polarity markup. Despite appearances, there's something fundamentally simple at the roots of wisdom. We can reflect on wisdom as abstract patterns, and we can observe it in practice across every spectrum of life and reality.

Until the Integral Human Life-cycle presentation is ready to boot, here's a primer to the basic polarities of life in the lives of our four-pawed furry friends. Cats and dogs have their eightfold paths in life as well!

≡ Nirvana in Balance: Solar Cat & Lunar Cat ≡

One is a Sun with a Moon in his heart and eyes, the other is a Moon with a Sun in her heart and eyes. Lunar Cat is here at day, Solar Cat comes here at night. Lunar Cat likes sweet better, Solar Cat likes salty better. Cats know the ways and means of approaching primal Balance and total Nirvana quite naturally. And what curious companions these two have become on the great purring journey in the wheel of life!

≡ Cat Nirvana Wisdom Wheel ≡

Here's how their basic cosmology and eight-fold operations map up. This is an application for a correlative and integral pair.

[∞0] Zero-One Singularity = Total Cat Nirvana
[±] Balance = Tao of Love: Sun Meets Moon
[+] Dynamis = Male Solar Cat
[-] Neutralis = Female Lunar Cat

[++] Big Picture = Solar Cat -> Roams Outdoors
[+-] Causality = Solar Cat -> Runs to Lunar Cat
[-+] Foresight = Lunar Cat -> Anticipates the Solar Cat
[--] Introspection = Lunar Cat -> Lounges at Home

[+++] Heaven = Power Cat -> Creating & Wondering
[++-] Lake = Wise Cat -> Contemplating & Scheming
[+-+] Fire = Eater-Hunter Cat -> Grasping & Consuming
[+--] Thunder = Romance Cat -> Excited & Playful
[-++] Wind = Wandering Cat -> Detached & Expansive
[-+-] Stream = Natural Cat -> Healthy & Flowing
[--+] Mountain = Commanding Cat -> Protects & Demands
[---] Earth = Home Cat -> Sleepy & Satisfied

Cats and dogs have few problems with balance, good time, and general relax in life. We humans on the other hand constantly struggle to find even a scent of balance lurking somewhere down the road. Confusion is our great evolutionary feat, imbalance the fruit of our mighty intellects. Cat-Nirvana and Dog-Zen guide us back to the essentials of life.

≡ Esoteric Dog-Zen Wisdom Wheel ≡

Our dog is really into food. Few know that he is actually an adherent of the esoteric Dog-Zen school of primal wisdom, knower of the great secret of balance and perennial peace of mind. Humans may study this art of peace and ecstasy to the tune of Bob Marley's "Hungry Mob is an Angry Mob" for attaining a more balanced vibrational level of life.

[∞0] Zero-One Singularity = Perennial Peace
[±] Balance = Eating-Belly-Full
[+] Dynamis = Drive of Hunger
[-] Neutralis = Fabric of Food

[++] Big Picture = Overall Aware
[+-] Causality = Searching
[+-] Foresight = Expecting
[--] Introspection = Sleeping

[+++] Heaven = Raving Ecstacy
[++-] Lake = Silently Wondering
[+-+] Fire = Eagerly Eating
[+--] Thunder = Barking at Strange People
[-++] Wind = Running Around the Fields
[-+-] Stream = Following Nicely
[--+] Mountain = Protecting the Revire
[---] Earth = Evacuating

The [+++] Heaven = Ecstacy is particularly evident in the seconds between seeing food en route and the manna falling from heaven to the bowl -- he generally jumps and spins around 3x times!!! I have never seen a Christian receive Eucharist or a Hindu receive Prasada (sacred food) with the level of enthusiasm he experiences twice a day over the same old dry pebbles. We stand to learn much from each and every sentient being!

The other polarity, [---] Earth = Evacuating, appears to be equally sacred to him. The spot for evacuation is carefully chosen -- after all, they are the after-effects of [±] Primal Balance and [+++] Raving Ecstasy. Any food is truly manna from heaven and the embodied essence of good life for him. Talk about enlightenment in the food-made sheath (annamaya-kosha) and the oral-anal field!

Whatever you have, use that wisely towards balance and peace. This is the simple but profound point in all of these models, whether traditional or experimental. The center of the wheel is peaceful; and only at the center can you make some sense of the colliding experiences that revolve around you. If you have your wheels oiled well and the polarities balance each other out, it's a smoother and more enjoyable ride for everyone involved.

Essentially, [++] All ![±] You ![-] Need is |[-] Peace and |[+] Love in [±] Balance!

Five Inner Merits for Better Communication

Yahoo Shine published a fresh and "real simple" psychology piece by Amanda Armstrong under the heading 5 Ways to Win People Over, or how to deal with situations where you don't seem to link with others, and need to create a sense of synergetic connection to improve communication and cooperation. It's simple if you can take a moment to reflect on it and put it into practice — and it gets awfully complicated if you don't or won't!

Alexander the Great is famous for cutting the endless Gordian Knot.
Before using a sword to get heard, please consider the following options.

Armstrong's interviews with professional "influencers" resulted in five simple considerations on how to deal and not deal with people. When things just don't seem to click, keep the following in mind:

1. Puncture your own ego — or cut a bit of slack and be less serious about yourself and your pride,
2. Don’t be needy — or don't recruit people to ride your hectic roller-coaster only to scare them away,
3. Tell someone (nicely) what he/she has to lose — or present the reasons behind a prospect instead of building up mirages,
4. Throw a curveball in conversation — or first find common ground and then build toward the actual issues at hand, and
5. Reiterate the other person’s argument — or think of yourself in his/her shoes, and show that you actually understand their position.

Be sure to read the source article for more on the why and how of these five simple adjustments to your approach. Let's have a look at the background and ponder the inner mechanics behind, if only to escape from the often unavoidable reality of people manipulating and abusing others under unsavory pretenses. If you communicate, you have an ethical responsibility even with the best of tricks in your arsenal.

These five simple approaches to help win people over hold a strong inner merit — which is why they work to begin with, because actual positive inner prospects become shared. Your success in communication is a reflection of your own inner state. Always remember and never forget — inner peace and a sense of connection and security are attractive prospects for one and all.

The positive prospects in the above list arise from (1) absence of obsessive ego, (2) absence of greed and thoughtlessness, (3) helpful attitude of goodwill, (4) perception of unifying perspectives, and (5) a "do-unto-others" mentality with the perspective shift — and they help both you and others around you.

On the other hand, when you (1) push your ego without giving in, (2) rock on "I want it all and I want it now", (3) prefer mirages over helpful realism, (4) doggedly push on and refuse to listen and pay attention, or (5) fail to see and relate to others' perspectives — it's all downhill from there onwards.

Even while it all sounds simple, the fact is that we're all too often so lost and conditioned in our small worlds that even the simplest of considerations seem like an ocean away. As patterns and systems of advancing narrow selfish and partisan agendas escalate and collide, they give rise to degeneration, corruption and violence, ensuring a healthy dose of mayhem and pandemonium for everyone, despite possible best intentions in absence of virtue and wisdom.

Prophets emerge and diverse systems of faith and ethics are created in forming a common playground, to prevent the emerging chaos and the evils of ill will, poor spirit, and general disarray. Over time, these establishments forget their essential wisdom and virtue, degenerating and ultimately only further advancing the same dynamics they once sought to prevent. The exact same patterns are at play with nations that initially form to serve the interests of the people, and then proceed to leech and feed on the citizens as the inequalities escalate.

Wouldn't it be sweet if everyone could read and understand a simple bullet-point list, like the ones seen in this blurb? They could just grasp the basic points on spirituality and wisdom, be happy and be done with it, and move onward to living positive lives — instead of battling their own shadows until the bitter end of their days.

Embodiment of wisdom and virtue is what I consider true and beneficial transhumanism — not the prospect of plugging a hard drive into one's head, only to contain even more information...

Resolving Thoughts

A friend is conducting an online research exploring aspects of attitudes and personality, such as eating habits, thoughts and emotions, as well as some of the effects of meditation.

The final field of the 60-question questionnaire on meditation is an open field, "What else do you do to in order to get rid of pleasant or unwanted thoughts?" The brief reflections...

1. Analyze the inner roots of the thought, examine the factors that give rise to it and attempt to resolve the cause.

2. Bring full focus to a certain meditation object, leading to a deep state of tranquility.

3. Dissipate the base (five senses and the mind) of the experience through penetrating contemplation on its ethereal and inherently empty nature.

4. Question the validity of the ego-agent, the aggregator of positive and negative reactions, the assessor of desirability and undesirability.