When speaking about human anatomy, we are largely spoken about as having just 2 parts - mind and body. Our health is said to be good enough when mind and body are functioning within the range of normal and our definition of 'normal' implies a sync between the 2. Also, our idea of 'normal' is almost synonymous with our idea of 'at least at the lower to mid level of healthy.'

I have referred here to 2 sets of vague terms having a prejudiced 'in common understanding' as having a collective agreement on the definition of these terms, when in fact if specifically asked for the definition of 'mind' 'body' 'normal' or 'healthy,' we are likely to encounter a range of values from vague to expertise, with experts variously defining 'mind' as pointing to the head but expressing characteristics that is a mix of sensory, psychological, energetic, and everything else other than tissues, and 'body' as nothing but tissues. ('Normal' and 'healthy' requires perhaps a full post each on the differences in opinion about them and the impact of lack of clarity about these on the sense of well-being of individuals and collectives. Without a well-defined goal {'normal' and 'healthy' are names of goals too} where is the journey towards? Perhaps in the general direction of it, where if the law of average applies, considering the degree of variation in the understanding of these terms, there is the risk of 'looking London going Tokyo.')

It would not be radical reductionism to distil the dichotomy to just 2 basics - visible and invisible - where our collective idea of 'body' may refer to the visible and that of 'mind' to the invisible. All around us are various objects that are made up of matter and energy (visible, invisible). For that matter, 'object' and 'subject' are again visible and invisible, respectively, in conceptual understanding with matter and object versus energy and subject ranging on a see-saw scale hinged on a threshold of tolerance, so to speak, before one gets converted into the other. (Our nature of 'Reality' is not dissimilar, for we see ideas getting converted into products everyday and products giving rise to ideas in their own time.)

In reference to the object that is a human being having mechanical and functional aspects, visible and invisible aspects are referred to as 'body' and 'mind.' Within the see-saw range hinged on the threshold of tolerance, the 'software' that is the SukshmaShareera (unmanifest body) interacts and becomes in due time the 'hardware' or SthoolaShareera (manifested body) which again interacts and informs the SukshmaShareera in the process of maturation or what is popularly called as 'ascension' where the substance of a person matures through wisening and, in my estimate, becomes 'adult.' (Collectively, we tend to call a 'body' that has grown to its fullest size as adult, but that is only the tissue body at one level of maturation determined by genes when the potential in a person at 18 or 21 years old may barely have seen the tip of recognition, if that, depending on opportunities.)
(​#DevelopmentalStages in a human being is understudied, to put it mildly, for why else will we be facing global crises like violences and ecogeographical issues if human development was seen as an ecoculture on a live medium that is the 'petridish' that is Earth. We would, certainly, be tolerant, even indulgant, of the abberrant ones like we would children who are naughty and yet to learn the ways of the world to grow up, knowing that they need loving overseeing and prompt nurturing for healthy growth, like a gardener would his garden. Like I said, some thoughts have just not been thought about, which is what I am doing - following a wise person's advise 'Be the change you want to see in the world.')

Mind, then, in my opinion, in light of the above, is energy like the steam from an engine which when directed can pull an entire train forward but if left undirected and diffuse could rot the train in stagnation. The 'train' here is the 'seed,' as in the engine of a train, which when its potential realized, with its internal combustion engine, can add boggies/compartments and become a full-fledged train pulling civilization, mankind and destiny into a new dawn.
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​Enough said for now. Rest later.
(BTW, Nirbeeja Yoga™ is a method I offer to teach to anyone interested in learning how to direct their mind in manifesting their potential. This method is designed to integrate mind and body to function in unison, which with regular practice helps arrive at states of nirvana, so you always maintain a fresh perspective of life and live life such. It is refreshing, like having just come out of a bath every new moment as you walk through the everyday moments of life.

"...in a maze, lost and found. Every so often, we come to a blind lead. it is in these moments that that which is beyond can call through to the known from the other side of darkness, affirming a faith that is beyond the realms of the known but is a reflection of the known - the unknown known.'

In search of the authentic, that which lasts the test of time, the vagaries, the vague loyalties, the assured array of clueless well-wishers, who dash the dots in a vague game of dash and dots, forming the nature of reality we so rely upon to hold our world upon and build from. It is when one or more of these dots or dashes move at their whimsical will and the picture seems askew that one begins to question the reliability of the construct and then further the construct itself of reality. From these vague cracks, with fear of losing ground, that the construct itself may have been false being unfathomable for so much has been built based on this that existential fears begin to raise its head or heads.

Once the crust has been broken one too many times, you know of course that it is the snake shedding its skin but the first 'earthquake' seems like disillusion and end of the world with nothing to hold onto and no body to turn to but must be held fast for dear life (whatever that really means but surely the continuation of something that is true and is). There are several snake skins that must be shed but a human being is not for those who arent ready for some tumultous rides?

Like Harry Potter's Basilisk, the unaddressed that courses under the surface of skin through crevices unknown due to hitherto far unexplored must be listened for for any devices invented to address the needful. Violence has not be seen for what it is; it is often forged in our own homes as devices for defense. That defense is just one part of offense often masquerading as its opponent or in response when it is another facet of the same is not discerned as it should be for then our investments of time, effort and energy would be in another direction - hopefully in a direction that is actually having peace as the outcome, not a misnomer.

Self of a person is as nucleus to a cell. It is not everything but is an important something that is a beginning to fractals of several other centers of which an individual is part of and form the collective. Self is a basic unit.  There is the range from lower selves to higher self. This is a system or hierarchy much like an orchard has raw to ripe fruits - an ecosystem. The higher self is the basic building block of a system that are stages of individuality - of maturity.

Just as our emotions can be entangled in relationships, spiritually we could just as well be entangled in past life experiences through relationships had in past lives. How else do you explain an inexplicable joy in meeting a stranger for the first time whose name you just cannot recall for some reason but you just feel you know very well though dont know how? I call them 'soulmates' (just like how we have 'classmates' who studied with us in the same class) where 'soulmates' are basically people you have lived with in a previous lifetime(s). It could be a pleasant re-meeting or an unpleasant one, where you are always at each others' 'throat' for some reason and need to find a way to live congenially. It is not surprising that we have soulmates. We are certain to have 'soul schoolmates' considering that we have just one same Earth. Our ancestors lived on the same place and so would our future generations if we care enough to leave it healthy enough to be lived in. Earth is our ancestral home. Genetically we are all well enmeshed. There is a video with a study done to prove what I say. We still harbinge hate against the Nazis and from the witch killings of yore in our individual/collective psyche - some being victims while others are perpetrators or combinations of both, and unbeknownst to us we may be continuing with such behavior though we may not know where such behavior really comes from. Jungian philosophy calls them Archetypes.

​Beyond all this and however may have been the past, we are amongst the living now. We are alive today. Through all kinds of the history of mankind, life has come to us in this way. We have what we have (people, circumstances, warts and all) AND we are amongst the fortunate living, fortunate for we can make a difference to how things are and make them better, heal the wounds that somehow, anyhow came to be. We dont have to pass those wounds and hurts to future generations. It is possible to heal the wounds, even those incurred in past lives, for life is happening in the present and in the present is also traces of what has been, no matter how old, bad and the good. Meristem Intelligence Maintenance Therapy offers a kind, organic gentle way by which to heal from wounds you don't even need to know wherefrom. An inexplicable ease and grace in living often is sufficient proof that something has changed for the better, as is the case as reported in feedback by several who have come for sessions. Old wounds just take a little longer to heal but heal they will given sufficient resources, appropriate containment, time and space in which this could happen. Every person who takes the time to heal themselves heals all those who came before them and those who come after them. We each have for sure this one life in which we are amongst the living, having now the resources and means we have now, which may not have been available to those in the past and to us in the past, but they are now. Come, make your attempt to make better and to set things right now what could not be earlier for whatsoever reason. You do have this moment in the present to make a better choice and to do the right thing with the courage in your heart, sweat of your brow, and strength of your back. I can help you through the difficult patch. It need not last forever. You are not alone. Reach out and you will find a helping hand in me.

NOTE: The content of this post may be a bit heavy and/or have several layers. It is advised to read one paragraph at a time, digest it and then come back to this post for more perspective/layer so that comprehension dawns and gets richer. Do not over-'eat' and get intellectual indigestion/constipation.

Fate is an idea that is usually spoken about as something that is endured/suffered/handed down/written by an unknown or invisible God in a person's lifeline that a person can do nothing about.  It is even regarded as a constant in each person's life. Rarely is it seen as a necessity and as a baseline in and from which to build life.

What is Fate really? It is all of that which we are born into, born from and born with, and within which we live life from. It is not fixed and can change depending on choices and actions taken. The more we are in agreement with our individual Fate and the Fate of others as it is and as it is not, we would be in agreement with life as is and as it is not. We would, then, begin to take our place in the scheme of things and it is only then that we begin to see clearer the reason and purpose of our existence as an individual in the crowd.

We are where we need to be. Each of us. Our current circumstances, the people in our lives, the trials and tribulations that are there is exactly what we need to face up to what we have always been resisting. It is only when we face up to that that we can work with the components of what we could not face up to earlier, untangle the knots that kept us from moving with ease and stopped the flow of life in whatsoever manner, and emerge better, stronger and wiser for the experience. It is much like a seed that needs the kind of soil and whatnots there is to push against, push through and become the plant/tree that it has within it to become. Wishing it was somewhere else does not change the fact that it is where it is and it is from where it is that it can, if there is any chance at all for it to become anything, become it. ​Somehow, anyhow, for whatsoever reason we were born where we were born, to the parents, to and in the circumstances we were born in, having to deal with whatsoever there is in the present reality to exist/survive/learn to live in and then write our own stories and become who we could be. "We are not a seed in a forest but the entire forest in a seed."

Soul-satisfaction comes from doing the right thing; the degree of satisfaction and happyness (as in the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness) increases when doing the right thing by all counts and in all spheres of existence. I cannot really write on a topic of Fate without mentioning Karma and Dharma, which are words from the Vedic school of philosophy on how to maneuver through our individual Fate in moving through life and living it. Each one of us have our own Dharma (or a set of right-things-to-do afforded by the set of choices available within the realm of what a person is born into and born with) as a son/daughter, employee, neighbor, etc., roles that each one of us play in our lifetime. There is also a Dharma by our own selves as an individual - the right-thing-to-do by our own selves in resonance with our soul/higher self - failing which we would have lived a sacrificial life from having stepped beyond what is right by our own soul/higher self. Then, it is a case much like attempting to do anything when there is simply no central integrity/supporting structure/order by which to do the right thing and so the actions taken would have questionable benefit/outcome in due course of time and could even be destructive to the individual/group. Dharma thus is a sense of rightness in sync with an Implicate Order (which in an individual would be resonant with ones conscience) that spans through the entire Universe, and Karma is the action a person does corresponding with this Implicate Order/Conscience (or not) and consequences therefrom. So a person who does dyssyncronised with this Order gets to reap the consequences of what they sow as actions and so does a person who does in sync with this Order of right-action.

Each person has his/her own life and Fate BECAUSE each person has a heartbeat that is that person's alone. One person cannot heartbeat for another and similarly, even if living under the same roof, each person has his/her own life of which the other people are part of; no one can live a life FOR another or change it for another, like it or not. What each person has is a set of choices afforded by each person's Fate (that which they are born into, born with within which is available the set of choices) and when someone attempts to help, a person can accept it or not depending on their Fate. Does that mean Fate cannot change? Certainly not. Fate is not a thing that is fixed. As a person's Karma/actions taken in accordance with their Dharma in resonance with the Implicate Order clears preexisting blocks/stops/discomforts/disharmonies, Fate consequently changes and correspondingly Destiny. People come and go out of each others' lives because their part in each others' stories are over. They came because it was part of their Fate to meet and left because in the large scheme of things they were not meant to be forever, say. We each gotta live our own lives BECAUSE we each have our own Fate and Destiny. You/I are the center of our own individual lives (heroes and heroines of our own lives really) and what kind of life a person lives depends on which character a person thinks they play in life. Some are really living it like the heroes and heroines of their lives, some have adopted the role of a villain or the victim/damsel in distress and depending on the character they think they have in life, the quality of life is consistent with that. How soon we get to see this picture and then take control of our individual responsibility over our own lives, instead of blaming someone/something/circumstances for what is working or not working in our lives, and what happens from seeing this sooner or later is Destiny - what we turn out to be and have.

We get to become our highest self-potential (or not) by how we move through what we are born to and born with. If we resist or hold back or over do or compromise, much like a recipe in which the ingredients are imbalanced, the life we get to live consequently has the corresponding quality - compromised and suboptimal. Our bodies are a topography of the lives we live. When we compromise on any of the 'Dharmas' that is our individual lot, our bodies show consequent compromise in health as diseases because there is a knowing-self within us who really knows the truth.  Because the person you/I are within our bodies (where the person within is like the software and our bodies are the hardware) knows the truth and that knowing is encompassed within the tissues and composition of our body and in our conscience (which is where the 'knowing' resides), in our knowing is health, which when compromised/lied to/hid from, diseases ensue manifested in our conscious/subconscious/unconscious mind-body-emotion-intellect-spirit. When we restore/bring back and maintain our own set of Dharmas as it needs to be, health gets restored and we are able to function again and maintain our lives the way it needs to be and make it better. Health is the degree to which we can maintain a healthy life and the quality of life gets better correspondingly. 
 
"We are not a seed in a forest but the entire forest in a seed." An unborn paradigm of the Universe is within each one of us. What is the proof of what I say? Each person is born to a separate mother; we dont have assembly lines of same people born in batches. Even twins are born at different times and biologically have occupied different time and space coordinates, which is why they have two bodies. Each is a seed from which arises 'a' kind of human being and just like the date keeps changing every day and no two dates are the same on a calender, no two people are the same. And then, living the individual's own life is the individual's Fate. How well and how fast a person gets to 'self-actualize' (meaning, bring forth the paradigm that only the life that is in a person can bring forth) after a person has this realization (popularly called as self-realization) depends on how fast a person gets this idea really well and live life with this realization.

It is a meditation - a walk to remember - that also involves chartering the hitherto far untrodden/unchartered course in milestones and arriving at the product of ones meditation, and then further on living the product of ones meditations as a worthy mark on the sands of time to say 'I have walked through here at this point in time and this is my contribution and value-addition to the Ocean of Consciousness; and this is what I owe to my Self - my gift to my Self - my produce/legacy.' It is not a laid path but one that must be discovered as one travels meditating on the object of ones attentions. It usually starts with a fascination for something, one that fires a person's curiosity and has one track the trail irresistibly such that ones deepest satisfaction (soul-satisfaction) lies in following the path to what may lie on that path to be discovered.

You may want to read this post named, The Initiation (<--click here) that you may perhaps understand better on what I talk about here. (Somethings are just difficult to put in words, especially these experiential things!, so doing the best I can in these posts.)

Ok, so the above, I know, seems cryptic so let me elaborate a bit.

Have you heard of the adage that 'we are all travelers in the train of life?' where our co-travelers are on their own journeys and will board onto our compartment when it is time for them to come aboard and with alight from the compartment when it is time for them to move to the next leg of their journey? Well, it is a philosophical thought but then not something too difficult to imagine in our everyday living. We meet people through the day (much like a passenger boards that day's compartment that we happen to be traveling in and would depart for the day when it is time for them to go to whereever they need to go to). Some of them are family members and we travel together for a long distance; some of them are acquaintances we may never meet again. Both sets of people (and every other sets in between) are travel-mates and have their own life-journeys and would alight when their station comes to catch another train (and we meet another day or not) or go to where they need to go to because we each are unique individuals (duh) and have our own breaths and dont breathe for another though may support each other (or not) to breathe easy. The point is, you and I have our own unique journey because we each have our own life that we need to live and take care of ourselves and be responsible to live it the way it needs to be lived, at least to our own soul's satisfaction and at least be able to face our own conscience when we ask ourselves 'how am I?' and be able to answer at least to our conscience and when looking in the mirror into our own eyes that 'I am happy' in the true sense of the word and really mean it. {Short exercise: Make a list of things that make you happy. Make another list of things you do through a typical day. Compare the two lists. Make adjustments).

{Lots to be written on this topic. Will addend this post over time; I simply need to write this appropriately coz some things are simply super important. If you, dear Earthmate, are wondering what is so important about one's personal Journey, then consider that I refer to a Quest or Purpose of living or Aim or LifeVision that I speak about in the attainment of which one needs to deliberate on one's Journey. Super super important for health and fitness and quality of living and ..oh just about everything. Will update soon.}

It follows the evolutionary line of thought that human beings are yet in the making; that the term human being has prematurely come about and that we, as a species, are still evolving into becoming human beings.

A human being is what only a human being can do - pause, identify which is what, deflect the attack into something harmless without risking life and that which is honorable in any way and at the same time restoring harmony (any animal can attack/defend. A human being sustains and subsists what need to be sustained and subsisted over and beyond a mere attack/defend existence). A human being is in the mindful harmonious deliberations with peace at heart and altruism in conduct, creating sustainable worlds. When you create something new and original and wholesome, you are awakening the human in you, else you are just a replica (any machine can replicate sooner or later). When you are aware, that is a human feature (machines are largely automatons being trained on what to be aware of). A human being responds to a need and compares only to make things better (comparing to survive is an animal need - it helps to survive as the fittest, which is animal nature; over and beyond this animal nature is 'human' who can live - constantly evolving from living in the moment creating worlds that has not been yet that works for everybody while recycling that which does not sustain and subsist).

Movement with an answer to 'why the movement' as a purpose is a human feature (an interesting animal nature of a peculiar kind of animal, perhaps a Bat, is to simply want to know the unknown just because it is there in the not-known; a human would employ the findings into creating things that works for everybody, not just as 'I can do this too' but by also being mindful of the consequences/outcomes from the 'doing.' A human being is responsible for his/her/their actions by being accountable for the consequences).

The mind waves between our different shores of knowledge, imbibing and depositing from each other, enriching life and the experience of living in the Ocean of Consciousness that we are all part of. As a human being, as a product of millions of years of evolution, it is our onus to behave as the privilege that is in being human beings and be on the Planet as part of the Whole.

Violence is animal nature; peace is human nature. Violence is part of the attack/defense survival loop to exist. A violence is an attack or intrusion without permission, and permission is denied because the enterer does not meet criteria/not qualified to enter, and hence the defense against violence.  It is animal nature to win merely to survive and human to live (create win-win outcomes that work for all that is life and living, not merely for the individual/group/community/country). We can identify our animal nature by comparing and contrasting with the animal we behave like and then to identify when we behave as humans and then to learn to continue to be humans with Nature to guide us on how to live amongst the living and then further how to live as a human being amongst fellow human beings. I think a human being is the walker in between the visible and invisible, between the known and unknown, respecting both, working with both, creating in conjunction with both - in conjunction with All That There Is (in conjunction with the Universe). A human being is always in tension - InTension; he/she/they are beings in tension, standing on a firm conviction in life and what is wholesome and drawn to an invisible destination even if just in faith of its existence and walks to cover the distance between what is and what could be in a way that works for everybody-everything.

Poornamadah poornamidam poornaath poornamudachyathe,
​poornasya poornamaadhaayah poornamevaa vashishyathe
(There is whole, here is whole, from whole arises whole,
From/being whole, with whole as the basis (relied upon), whole ever subsists/remains)
(Sanskrit is an ancient language with layers of meanings in each of its words, so translating it becomes a challenge but the translation above is a good enough approximation, I suppose)
The Vedas delineated thusly a law cosmologically for anything created to subsist and then further for the created to create subsisting/lasting (read, that which stands the test of time) creations in the scheme of All That There Is that we call the Universe (a singular Whole with several whole parts working together towards a greater whole).

Addendum: (29-Nov-17)
Ancient Egypt has left a message for all future generations to see this evolutionary need: The Sphinx (<-- Click here). I would paraphrase the words 'God' and 'Divine' in more palpable, reachable, doable terms since we seem to have made 'God' to be either a feared or unreachable ideal too vague hence to be connected with directly by us as individuals other than through somebody who intervenes or interprets for us, but more on that later. I do say here (in this update on this date) that what the Sphinx points to is a developmental delay in our psychoemotointellectuospiritual evolution while the physical body is apparently that of a human. I say apparently here because we are yet to see our ideal body constitution as a Human Being, as in perfection as a human being. A lot of 'alien' movies and books keeps talking about the human race being a primitive race which, in light of the above paragraph, makes sense!

More later.

Kindly indulge me as I attempt to presence a perspective that may be unusual or even out-of-the-box from everyday thinking.

There is a University that each one of us get admission into the moment we are born. It is a teaching school and each student learns a subject according to what they have a studentship about. Studentship is whatever it is about that there is a genuine 'I really dont know but I am inquiring into it'ship about the topic of inquiry. This University has all kinds of courses imaginable, and the learning is practical on-the-court/job in-reality; basically, if you are born, you are in the University. I dont know if anyone really gets out of it (a la Hotel California, with several other chambers in it than the song depicts). It has standards/grades (like the first standard/grade, second standard/grade, etc. of primary schooling and degree courses too and placements according to the level of training in Almighty.Inc that is in sync with the University). As the standard/grade in school levels up, there is a shift is how reality is perceived and in the understanding of what reality is, much like viewing through a kaleidoscope. So, when there is a perceived shift in reality, you should know you have probably leveled up/moved to the next standard with a whole lot of new teachings to layer upon what has already been learned. We all actually know about both. I attempt here to present the already known but maybe in the subconscious/unconscious minds so that the conscious mind can make choices with this knowledge; afterall, knowledge gives confidence. Attendance is based on choice. How soon you learn a subject depends on how much time you spend learning it. As you learn one standard/grade, you level up until degree and advanced courses depending on how much you want to learn. Placement appropriately, again depending on choice of job available, but sometimes also based on requirement, again depending on level of skill and jobability (i.e., ability to deliver the requirement). The jobability depends on what a person can do, and the 'doing' needs to be consistent with what Almight.Inc is producing as a Company. it is a construction company and like any company it requires softskilled and hardskilled employees. Again, placement is according to skill. Everyone who is in the University is also an employee one way or the other in Almighty.Inc. Promotions are based on performance and there is always scope for promotions. Pretty organic a Company this. All the people around a person are basically colleagues, hence, which is over and above what the person's relationship with the colleague is. Some are aware of their employeeship, some are not. This writeup is also an attempt to remember/remind/bring to awareness what may be in the subconscious/unconscious. We are not on Earth for nothing; each one matters, so be gainfully employed. It is quite a perfect system, this Company. Bad seeds get weeded out. No one is indispensable; jobability depends on who can do the job and jobability is constantly evaluated. It is quite a hotseat that way literally. It is the line of fire. So, a person can check their job status by checking in with their conscience. If they can face their conscience and stand undaunted, they have their performance evaluation in realtime - quite an effective management that way. Karma is basically what you do; performance appraisal according to Karma (past wrongs can be righted by present doings). Payment is in terms of goodwill, money, companionship, teaching, performance appraisal-based promotion. It helps to do anything keeping one's conscience as a constant companion; that is real-time performance self-appraisal. Helps to be a good student, calibrate/maintain karmic balance, skill-upgradability, etc. Every effort counts. Be aware of your choices as acutely as possible. There are ways to develop awareness, of course, by which choices can be caught as they are being made consciously/subconsciously/unconsciously. Checking in with one's conscience is akin to checking in with the Management of University AND Almighty.Inc, much like checking in with the high command. You are judged based on Karma (what you do; even thinking is a doing for it has energy by which something happens whether a person knows it or not about what happens), so be conscious about how you spend your time.

Now, about the University - only a student continually enrolled in the University can do the job properly, else there is a chance of being burned in the line of fire if the concern is only about jobability. A fulltime student is likely to be a good employee since such a person is in continuous training. The teaching in the University is in real time. How do you know what course you are enrolled in? Just become aware of what is coming to you - the energy, the thought content, the tone of voice and conduct, the people who interact with you and what transpires, the billboards that catch your attention, the books that interest you or material that you read - they are all part of how the course is delivered. As you become aware of what you learn, you can choose what you want to learn and the University modulates the teaching accordingly so that the learning material is more streamlined to your subject of interest. The challenges faced are a bit like resistence-training or popup exams to test your learning and to assess where tweaking is needed. You can self-assess of course by your faculty of conscience and make adjustments to how you learn and what you learn by the inherent tool of choice. Awareness is key and what there is to be aware of comes by observation and exposure to unfamiliar {you need to be slightly at the edge of what you know and look out from the boundaries at what you may not know for starters; really good for stretching the muscles :) }

Happy learning, dear World citizen!

(Will update content of this post as and when further clarity is deemed necessary/beneficial and/or as I learn my lessons better in the University).

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I modify Rumi's words to "You are a glass of water from the Ocean AND you are the entire ocean in a glass of water." (You are just as much a tiny drop in the whole scheme of things as much as You are not JUST a drop. I say 'glass of water' because we have physical/material bodies whose nature is basically crystalline.)

​Wholesomeness us SUCH a beautiful word. The Vedas say,
Poornamadah poornamidam poornaath poornamudachyathe,
​poornasya poornamaadhaayah poornamevaa vashishyathe
(There is whole, here is whole, from whole arises whole,
From/being whole, with whole as the basis (relied upon), whole ever subsists/remains) (Sanskrit is an ancient language with layers of meanings in each of its words, so translating it becomes a challenge but the translation above is a good enough approximation, I suppose)
The Vedas delineated thusly a law cosmologically for anything created to subsist and then further for the created to create subsisting/lasting (read, that which stands the test of time) creations in the scheme of things.

​We are creations too of the Universe (born to a mother and father and part of some community/geography whether we like it or not) and so part and parcel of the Whole (on a Planet that is part of a solar system that is part of the Milky Way that is part of a bigger galaxy and so on). Any dissociation/breakage from wholesomeness (i.e., sum of many many Wholes) is 'trauma.' Who you are and what you create from being in existence depends on the degree of wholesomeness in you. (the subsistence of what you create in time again depends on the degree of wholesomeness by the above cosmological law of creation as delineated by the Vedas). {I say 'you' in the above sentence because the individual - I - when unwholesome, tends to hide conveniently behind the 'we' and not take responsibility in becoming the person that he/she/they can become in bringing into existence what You can bring into existence simply because of not waking up to the fact that there are no two You's!)

The following is a list of the big headings under which we could check our relationship with wholesomeness. (Yes, as the image suggests, 'trauma' is like an oppressive force that squeezes our brains and bodies into inability to think clearly or behave appropriately). The more wholesome we get, better is the nature and quality of what we create (bring into existence and maintain) in the world. The nature of the relationship with the items in the following list would indicate health or trauma in that aspect of wholesomeness, or would at least help to gauge the degree of trauma (or degree of deviation from wholesomeness) in us (as an individual or the individual in a community):
- Relationship with God (or energy or force bigger and greater than you/I - the individual)
- Relationship with Nature
- Relationship with the land/geography/Country
- Relationship with parents
- Relationship with people/collective (Relationship with extended family other than parents is a separate subheading under this. This can be further subheaded with relationship with a specific person)
​- Relationship with things (eg. phone, chair, the rock in the garden, a paper, etc. - nonliving things)
- Relationship with life
- Relationship with Death (and, consequently, with living)
- Relationship with ones body
- Relationship with oneself
- Relationship with purpose

How do we know that there may be a dissociation? Personal Journey through life. If you dont have one, there are several levels of trauma already (because Nature is simply ecological; nothing without a purpose exists, especially if it has life, which you and I have because of which we are countable amongst the living). If you already know your Journey and are buffed every now and then, you may be buffed by the above checkable list. Identify the detractor and you know what takes you out of your Journey. (If you don't have a personal journey, just go through the above list and as you work out the 'trauma' in your relationship with the above items, you are more likely than not to come up with at least one good purpose for existence in the fulfilling of which you are amongst the living and then you would have identified your Personal Journey. I will post further in the category called Finding your Path on this Blog site to further delineate/support you in identifying your path.) There would be bumpers every now and then on the Journey, and they are there because sometimes if the necessary tools are not already learnt in maneuvering through the Journey, the Journey simply would need to teach you those tools because these tools would be essential further on too. If you already had it, you would not be delayed because you would simply be using them. What the above list helps in is identifying the already existing unwholesomeness due to which learning the required tools in your Journey becomes/has been difficult. You could keep bumping up against the same challenges until the 'trauma' in this check-list areas are healed and then you can sail smoother. Your Journey would still have what it takes to complete it but the chances of the Journey just being a dream versus a reality increases tremendously. Self-actualization is not really the end of the story; it is the beginning of having 'real'ized a possible and the Journey now is in maintaining the healthy existence of this new New. If it is not already there in the world, your Journey is still in possibility/work-in-progress stage. When we think/perceive a threat or unfriendliness by that whose relationship (with the item in the list) we are examining, something that bound us in a relationship got sour with reactive behaviors that override reason and create avoidant behaviors, and that is 'trauma.' Experts would perhaps argue that Trauma (with a big T) is severe form of breakage from wholesomeness, but some foundation for it could be seen in the less severe versions. 'Trauma' is nevertheless painful, no matter what the degree. It affects ones well-being emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, physically, and affects ones outlook at life and what one thinks is possible and/or does in the lifespan that one does have.

How to identify a trauma: I will attempt to help identify trauma with an example from the list above (Relationship with people/collective). The same method can be used to check with other items from the list. Sift through the knowledge content of what you know about the topic. If there is something against which you react/get triggered by (read, lose your equilibrium), you have identified a trauma. If the breakage from wholesomeness is with a person with whom unfriendliness or homogeneity is missing (read, lose your equilibrium or sense of happiness), there is trauma. The reason for the trauma could be a 'trauma' in the other but a reactivity from us (read, lose your equilibrium) is what would tell if at least part of the reason is a 'trauma' in us. Can we BE in the presence of what we assess the nature of relationship with (or of items from the list). If a reactivity in the individual me is identified, there are many ways to heal the trauma, including but not limited to counseling, working with a therapist, healthcare practices, or maybe even sitting with the uncomfortable for a tete-a-tete. Every trauma can be healed. Everything that is broken can be fixed. Every problem has a solution and can be solved if you have the will to find it and solve it. If you don't think so, there is a trauma that is waiting to be healed! If we can not only be in the presence of but also affect an effect that makes things better for the 'other' ('God'/nature/geography/people/self/purpose that we check nature of relationship with), then there is a great amount of health in us (as against trauma). Everything that is broken can be repaired because wholesomeness is always there to be checked and connected with, because we ARE a part of a community/geography/Planet/solar system and so on. We simply are part of a Whole, so any breakage ('trauma') from the connectedness is just a matter of effort and time invested in repairing the breakage from wholesomeness. It simply IS.

I am available for support if you or people you care about are facing a difficulty in getting back to Whole or some disconnection persists. My work is getting things back to whole. Part of my work is 'trauma' healing, which basically means putting things back together in the best possible way, in the most organic way possible, and the other part of my work is enabling the Journeyer (whether or not they know their Journey) in getting to be their best possible self, so unless it is Great Health, the work is not done yet, and I am available to support through the entire process in whatsoever manner I can.
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We are living organisms because we breathe. Breath is the basic difference between a living and non-living organism, where the word 'living' is a present-continuous verb (which originates from the nonmoving/stable form, be). Breath is the animator. It is because of the inhalation and exhalation movements that we call breath that there is movement in a structure. For that matter, the rhythmic movement of a piston in an internal combustion engine is what makes a vehicle move. Our bodies are the vehicles by which we journey through the life we have. We are amongst the living because we breathe. We are because we breathe.

​Did you know that the Upanishads list 5 types of breaths that the body has with each breath being interrelated with the others and each having a space and function of its own? Sounds like a co-operative society of people, doesn't it?

Texted here are a few thoughts from initial contemplation of content written in the Upanishads. Practice and observations deepen understanding, and also presences details unable to be captured maybe in the limited edition of the version of the Upanishads I had the fortune to read.

​There is the breath that is yoked with the eyes, there is the diffuse breath that is yoked with the ears, there is the lower breath that is yoked with speech, there is the central breath that is yoked with the mind, and there is the upper breath that is yoked with the skin. Thus, the eyes, ears, speech, mind, and skin are our 5 channels of awareness that connects us with what-there-is-to-be-aware-of and it is through these 5 channels that we send and receive information and subsist/survive/create the life we have. (For some reason, there is no mention of the nose and tongue as organs of smell and taste in connection with the breaths). It is actually 6 (5 channels + breath = 6) and 6 is said to be the most stablest form for anything created to exist stably in terms of Sacred Geometry!

The 5 breaths are like the spokes of a wheel that connects the self as the hub of the wheel with what-all-there-is as the rim of the wheel.

The 5 breaths are nourished by food. Food is anything that nourishes us; it could be what we generally term as food, as something that is edible, or it could be a sound that is nourishing for the ear, a thought that nourishes the mind, a feeling that nourishes the skin, a sight/vision that nourishes the eyes, an utterance that nourishes speech. When we consume 'food,' the breaths are taken care of. Edible food and water are substratum upon which the breaths bounce. What we eat becomes the essence of the 5 breaths in the process of the true sense of digestion - from gross to subtle in the order that has been mentioned here of the 5 breaths - from the breath yoked with the eyes to that yoked with the skin.

When we pay attention to what we see, the breath is addressed with. When we pay attention to what we hear, the diffuse breath is addressed with. When we pay attention to what we speak, the lower breath is addressed with. When we pay attention to what we think, the central breath is addressed with. When we pay attention to what we feel, the upper breath is addressed with. What the breath is, awareness is.

When the 5 breaths are taken care of, that which the breaths support are taken care of since the breaths are like the spokes of a wheel that connects its hub with its rim, and basically who we are as a unit of organization get  better connected from the core of our being to All That There Is through the 5 channels/breaths. When the breaths are well taken care of, we as a living vehicle get to function as 'well oiled' vehicles and are more likely than not to be in sync with the Universe like the hub is to the rim of the wheel.

​Question to ponder on(hereon referred to as Food For Thought or FFT!): How do you know that you are breathing versus not-breathing? To paraphrase, how ALL do you know that you are breathing. Maybe you could explore the answer to this question via your eyes, ears, words (for words are the tools of the mind), sounds you utter, sensation. You would likely be better for even attempting to answer this question than not. Happy discoveries!