This is my channeled message from the Buddha for Trump lovers and Trump haters alike. He suggests the Middle Path, which means rising above extremes. The Buddha says anytime we feel an intense desire for one outcome, or dislike for the opposite, we have painted ourselves into a corner of fundamentalism. When we love or hate things intensely, both extremes are a dead-end path that blocks our spiritual freedom. If you want something so passionately, or you dislike something vehemently, you have made yourself into an indulgent fundamentalist. With this mindset, you may miss the bigger picture completely. You might make the wrong friend. You might buy into thoughts that lead to unhappiness.
Anytime you feel intense desire, or intense aversion, this is a pattern to recognize and avoid. Whether you feel TDS Trump Derangement Syndrome, or KAS Kamala Admiration Syndrome, just take a breath. Wait and see. Perhaps the truth will reveal itself in time. So, instead of believing the media hype, just smile and say: “Well, ha ha! I’ll have to think about that.” Then take a walk in nature, do your own research and you may see another viewpoint.
Taking the middle path means you don’t fall for the chatter around you. The middle path will produce a higher frequency of vision, knowledge, calmness, and true awakening in your life. When you are not taking any emotional position, you are FREE. This is your goal, anyway, right?
The Buddha is inviting you to look deeper into every situation to observe your own senses and the interpretations you give them. Remember that everything we see with the five senses is a kind of mirage, a mere reflection of what is really going on beneath the surface.
Never be a stubborn fanatic about anything. Instead, the Buddha says work on refining your senses. You can rise above the drama. Then you can see through your own emotional reaction. It’s a much more interesting path to be flexible, take a breath, and think: “OK, what would the Buddha say?”
The Middle Path of Avoiding Extremes
“There are two extreme paths to avoid, my friends.
One is indulging in the senses,
Which will distract you from your goal.
The other path to avoid is self-denial.
Austerity, self-affliction, and fundamentalism
Are painful and ineffective.
The Middle Way leads to tranquility,
Vision, knowledge, and freedom.
Pali Canon, Samyutta Nikaya 56.11, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
Channeled message:
“At the time I lived, 2,500 years ago, there were many extreme paths. Some people were caught up in indulging the senses. There were also ascetics who were practicing fundamentalist beliefs, self-mortification, and denial of the senses. So, today I would like to address those two extremes.
The Two Paths to Avoid
The Path of Indulging the Senses
We tend to believe our senses. Even though we are we are constantly re-interpreting what comes in through our eyes, ears, nose, taste buds and everything we touch, we tend to believe these perceptions are real. But, in fact, these physical sensations are reflections of something deeper. The higher path would invite you to observe your senses but not indulge or get caught up in them and become attached or addicted to these mere reflections of reality. However, most people are completely oriented toward their senses without being aware of their ephemeral, subjective nature.
I am suggesting that your senses are merely a reaction to and a reflection of deeper energies that are going on. We all know people that attempt to escape through the senses by doing drugs, drinking, or indulging their sugar-fix every afternoon. Whatever it is, we all need our daily fix. If you believe that all of these sensations, feelings, and the reactions that go with them are real, then this illusion will consume 100% of your energy, and you will have nothing left for cultivating a deeper sense of freedom or awakening.
Another more extreme approach to indulging in the senses is obsession. If you are obsessed with your belief in the reality of your sense perceptions of pleasure or pain, then you will feel miserable, you will suffer, and you will feel great stress. Thus, path number one, believing and indulging in the senses, is to be avoided. This is just common sense.
The Path of Self-Deprivation
The other extreme path to be avoided is self-denial. For example, people might say: “I’m going to deny myself this comfortable room and go live in the forest because it will make me a better yogi.” “I’m going to deny myself this nourishing meal, and instead I will fast for a week. I’ll allow my body to be dirty and my hair to be matted because it is more important to discipline my senses.” There was a lot of this kind of self-deprivation of the senses going on at the time I lived. However, I encourage you to have compassion for yourself as a balanced human being. Work on refining the senses to avoid the drama and emotional reaction that comes from an intense desire for something, or from feeling the opposite, which is aversion or avoidance. This is common sense.
Thus, I am saying that taking the middle path will produce a higher level of vision, knowledge, calmness, and true awakening in your life. This is your goal. I am inviting you to look deeper into every situation to observe your senses and the interpretations you give them. Remember that the perceptions of the five senses are a kind of mirage, a reflection of what is really going on.
Finding Equanimity and Balance
In all of these practices, we are looking for a sense of equanimity. Equanimity means an even-tempered calmness, an unshakable state of mind. It is not a rigid state, but rather one of balance and acceptance. Equanimity does not mean having an attitude of indifference; it does not mean that you do not care. It is a positive virtue, a state of non-reaction, that can help you to remain calm and unruffled as you face the ups and downs of life. Equanimity can allow you to calmly experience gain and loss, blame and honor, insult and praise, delight and shame, while remaining in a state of acceptance and happiness. Equanimity enables you to transcend divisive thoughts and feelings. It is easy to accept differences of opinion, and different types of people—every race, nationality, sex, and ethnic group, without any predisposition.
A practice of level-headed calmness is necessary in order to build stability and peace in the mind, body, and spirit. If you are caught up in your senses or your emotional reactions to what you interpret through your senses, then you will never develop a sense of equanimity, and you will never find balance. If you are emotionally attached to something or someone, or obsessed with an experience of the senses, whether it is to your food, or the color of your clothes, or how you appear to others; or if you are attached in any way to how you see things, then ultimately, that will become a huge distraction on your path. This will not lead to happiness or freedom.
Instead of allowing yourself to be a victim of your senses, take a breath and make it your intention to find equanimity. Breathe in through your third eye and into the center of your head. Let that breath of fresh air clear your brain. Swallow and feel a sense of peace coming into your body. If you need to exit a busy workplace or noisy environment to find a moment of clarity, go ahead. Go to a lounge or restroom and observe your senses and your reactions to your senses.
Practicing Self-Observation/Self-Reflection
Self-observation is your best tool for finding equanimity. Consider these examples:
- You cut your finger. Are you in shock and going crazy? Do you gasp and cry and allow your emotions and your reactions to this sensory experience become extreme? Or can you simply observe that you feel pain and calmly do something about it?
- You are rejected by a lover, or you are denied a job that you wanted. Observe your reaction. You heard the words, and how are you reacting to them? You feel your heart closing down. Is your reaction rational? Or is it sensory based and emotional? Take a breath and notice this. Self-reflection is your best friend.
- You’re caught in a potentially delicate conversation with your boss or with a difficult person. Before you react or respond, take a breath and say: “Can I get back to you on that?” You don’t have to respond in the moment to every situation. Sometimes you DO need to respond immediately, and this self-reflection practice will train you and prepare you to deal with those moments without emotional stress.
Of course, you realize that reacting emotionally is a choice. Even so, it is still difficult to avoid, because we have grown up with many habits and influences. Some of the influences came from our parents and family, some we pick up from friends or from television and thoughts in the world mind. Some tendencies come from our distant past, and it is a challenge to become free of those habits. However, you can free yourself by observing. Take a breath and observe your reactions, notice your interpretation of your sensory inputs.
If it helps, you can play a game. Pretend that you’re a bug and all you have is a couple of little antennae. To know what’s going on in the world, you have to interpret the input through those. Essentially the human’s five senses are much like having five antennae. From these five tiny appendages, you create your entire reality. Yet, your senses are not completely reliable, hence your world view is highly questionable. So, if it helps, just think of yourself as a bug that’s basically blind except for these five antennae. Now it is time for you to move beyond the five senses to become a superhuman. This path is available to you and everyone.
The Middle Path is the Way Out of Stress
Don’t you have enough stress in your life? Now you’re going to work 100% to find balance and equanimity in every moment. It’s not necessary to feel an emotion about every input: “I want that, I hate that, I desire it, I want it to be different, I am going to avoid it.” We react. We have a yes/no response to every single experience. We judge it: “This is wrong, this upsets me.” Thus, you’re judging every single experience, comparing every moment to something different you had in mind. That is the road to insanity and stress. No wonder you’re tired at the end of the day. You do not have to judge everything—you can be neutral. What if you decided at the beginning of each day that whatever happens, you will accept it, love it, and admire its wonderful qualities?
If you know what’s right and what’s wrong with your deepest wisdom, and if you’re really, really sure about that, then when you have emotional reactions, you can observe and probably self-correct most of your opinions. But if you are stubbornly insisting upon your opinions in spite of the stress you feel, then you’re probably not truly interested in a higher path, and that is fine. You will simply be doomed to stress forever. This training is for people that are interested in awakening to a higher path and becoming free of the emotions and the senses. That requires a clear intention to find balance and equanimity.
We all know someone who loves drama and has definite opinions about everything. Some people are so fixed in their ways, they will never change. Should we ask them to change? No, we can accept and love them exactly as they are. We can point out our differences without bringing in any destabilizing emotions. We can contribute to the discussion without ruffling anybody’s feathers and let them follow their chosen path.
You will meet people who have no interest or aptitude for a higher path, and this is a logical choice that we must accept. Anyone who is stubbornly insisting on a particular opinion is probably not interested in freedom, because the path to awakening involves flexibility. It involves looking deeper, looking at each unique situation a little bit differently, and allowing other people to express their free will.
On a spiritual path, staying on the middle path means you must be willing to let go of your emotional reactions, you must be able to release your belief in the five senses. You must be willing to sacrifice your opinions and your rigid view of the world. This will infinitely reduce your stress level, and, hopefully, give you enough energy to invest in your inner life. Your wish for change must be so intense that you’re willing to make sacrifices to find clarity, balance, and equanimity. You must be one-pointed about it, and you must be that committed. It’s really not so hard. And it’s a lot more fun, I assure you, than being dragged around by extreme reactions. It’s a much more interesting path to be flexible, take a breath, and think: “OK, what would the Buddha say?” And in your path, I wish you well.”
Srijana, aka Jane Barthelemy, is an intuitive, healer, and author with decades of experience in meditation, Kundalini, Buddhism, Qigong, Taichi, and Daoist sexuality. She has an MBA and was CFO of the original Rudi’s Bakery. Her life path followed many careers including opera primadonna in Italy and owner of a Venetian glass jewelry company. Serious health challenges led her to write two cookbooks: “Paleo Desserts” and “Good Morning Paleo”. Her website JanesHealthyKitchen.com recently won the 2022 Corp Today Magazine award for the “Most Innovative Healthy Food & Lifestyle Blog – North America”. Her upcoming books include: “Heal Your Past Lives”, and “Buddha Speaks – Channeled Passages from the Master”. She and her Bhutanese husband, Lama D, are on the faculty at the NewEarth University. They live in Bhutan where they teach, teach meditation and healing.