Cleanse Journal Day 5

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of KEEPING SIMPLE NEEDS.

What does this principle mean to me?
The term “need” is deceptive. What do you need anyway? If it is a true need, how could you keep it simple enough to “keep simple needs”? If you can keep it simpler, was the need not then actually a desire? I'm beginning to sound like George Carlin.

What is the difference between a need and a desire? The necessity of each is open to interpretation. From a spiritual point of view there is only spirit. We are all spirit. We have everything. Therefore we need nothing. One good reason to keep your needs simple. The other good reason is that mundane desires distract you from the Divine.

Some of the schools of India say that consciousness is a mirror, reflecting, as if by magic, according to our desire, all that is perceived by the senses. Consciousness is eternal but desires experience. That desire for the perception of life instigates manifestation or the entire experienced world. Experience is finite, measurable, and has boundaries, so experience can only be illusory as compared to infinite, boundless eternal spirit. Only the Divine is real.

The debased desire (anything not focused on God is debased) manifests this illusory world. The illusion is of a cacophony of perceptions with concomitant desires which continue on to breed entire extended universes.

If instead of the chaotic psychodrama of the manifested world, consciousness is fixed on its identity as spirit, this shift is said to awaken consciousness, and by extension manifest spirit. The abstention from covetousness, in particular, reveals spirit because the root of covetousness is said to be desire to focus the will on manifested life.

Should we then be counseled to keep our needs simple? Or be counseled to amplify them infinitely to express a desire for experience of the Divine, which is not a “simple need.”

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?

Ceasing from self-indulgence is conscious mastery over the desire for sensuous perceptions. Sensuous desire is based on the longing to feel alive. However, the experience of true life comes with spiritual emergence, which often comes in silence, after the voluntarily surrender of self-indulgence.

Keeping simple needs generally keeps you out of trouble. Which is why abstaining from stealing and covetousness are often spoken against in the sacred texts of Pantanjali, Buddha, Moses, and Jesus. Likewise is the young man having great possessions counseled who asked, What shall I do to be saved? the reply being: Keep the Commandments.

Mark 12:28-34 "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, 'Of all the commandments, which is the most important?' 'The most important one,' answered Jesus, 'is this: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second is this: "Love your neighbour as yourself." There is no commandment greater than these.' 'Well said, teacher,' the man replied. 'You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions."

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 5 was enjoyable. My body felt great, once again, when I awoke. Zero back-of-the-throat soreness. I performed a neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Sleep record:
I was not so tired Tuesday night and had yet another long, satisfying rest, up to 10 hours. Perhaps I should be sleeping less. I am still considering adjusting sleep patterns.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
I’m getting it. My unique schedule has emerged; I can still tinker with it. Again, negative thoughts and memories did not pester me. In fact, some great things happened.