This satsang is the fifth in a series by John Baxter on the relationship between psychotherapy and Vedanta. If you are involved in the psychotherapeutic world in some capacity and would like to know how Vedanta can enhance your practice as a therapist, a patient or a spiritual seeker write me at swartz.jb@ gmail.com and I will put you in touch with John.
OK, time to talk about another key concept in Vedanta, which is connected to Karma yoga. And what would that be? “ Life is zero-sum”. What the heck?… Simply put, for every up there’s a down. For every ‘in’ there’s an ‘out’ and for every gain there’s a loss. According to the great sages, The Rolling Stones….”You can’t always get what you want”… isn’t that something… Who would have guessed that the Stones were Karma yogis?
Zero-Sum
Alert! This “zero-sum” concept is inherently baked into the system. Blame God if you like. It won’t be offended. It’s not personal. People frequently take things personally and blame themselves for their failures. You do bear some responsibility, but not as much as you might think. If you make a mistake, do your best to correct it…you are not completely off the hook. But if you’re paying attention, I think you’ll discover that the results aren’t up to you…that the world is a big place and you are a small part of it. This is another key concept from Karma yoga.
So where do we go from here? You may have reached a fork in the road. One path of “life is a zero-sum” could lead to an attitude of, “what’s the point, why try?…I can’t win.” This could unfortunately result in cynicism and even nihilism. This path is not recommended.
Mistaken Identity
The other path is much more hopeful. What’s that look like? First let me explain: Another key concept in Vedanta is that you have a case of “mistaken identity.” You think you’re a limited individual. In the beginning, this idea of being a “mistaken identity” is essential. God sets it up this way. But then you start to get messages that maybe you’ve got it wrong. Your identity misfires. You start to fail and get frustrated. You don’t get what you want. What’s good about this setup? God sets up this world perfectly…equal parts support and frustration…a perfect balance. I understand the support part, but why the frustration? Well, let me tell you. Frustration is your friend. Without it, would you be drawn to Vedanta, or any psycho spiritual practice in the first place? I doubt it. When frustration starts to challenge this provisional identity, and that identity crumbles, you might start to ask yourself the question, if I’m not that, then who am I? Now you’re off and running…
Fuel for Your Growth
Comfort is not the friend of curiosity. God provides the itch and you have to scratch it. If you don’t, you’re likely to be stuck with a limited concept of yourself, without a clue of what to do next. So God sets it up so you can never completely succeed in this world. Your dissatisfaction keeps you reaching higher and provides the fuel for your growth…and with Karma, God gives you instantaneous feedback concerning whether you’re on the right path or not. What a setup! God’s on you side…Glorious…
Key Concepts
So let me summarize some key concepts common to both Vedanta and psychology. First, don’t personalize. This is absolutely critical, whether you’re doing Vedanta or psychotherapy…do not personalize. We’re all guilty of some form of this, so do your best. If you personalize and lose objectivity, remind yourself of the karma yoga attitude. God is in the driver’s seat.
The second key concept is: “you’re not who you think are.” Again, this is both critical to Vedanta as well as to psychology. In psychology, you start by creating an observing ego, a witness, if you will. How do you go about that? As you tell your story, you are encouraged to observe it objectively.
Basically, you HAVE a story; YOU are not the story. You HAVE feelings, but YOU are not your feelings. You are encouraged to express your emotions, but not to turn them into an identity. Similarly, Vedanta encourages you to identify with the subject and not with the object. While psychotherapy importantly works on identity in the personal realm, Vedanta takes identity to the nondual realm. More on that later…
There’s No Success Like Failure
OK, time to talk about another key concept in Vedanta, which is connected to Karma yoga. And what would that be? “ Life is zero-sum”. What the heck?… Simply put, for every up there’s a down. For every ‘in’ there’s an ‘out’ and for every gain there’s a loss. According to the great sages, The Rolling Stones….”You can’t always get what you want”… isn’t that something… Who would have guessed that the Stones were Karma yogis?
Zero-Sum
Alert! This “zero-sum” concept is inherently baked into the system. Blame God if you like. It won’t be offended. It’s not personal. People frequently take things personally and blame themselves for their failures. You do bear some responsibility, but not as much as you might think. If you make a mistake, do your best to correct it…you are not completely off the hook. But if you’re paying attention, I think you’ll discover that the results aren’t up to you…that the world is a big place and you are a small part of it. This is another key concept from Karma yoga.
So where do we go from here? You may have reached a fork in the road. One path of “life is a zero-sum” could lead to an attitude of, “what’s the point, why try?…I can’t win.” This could unfortunately result in cynicism and even nihilism. This path is not recommended.
Mistaken Identity
The other path is much more hopeful. What’s that look like? First let me explain: Another key concept in Vedanta is that you have a case of “mistaken identity.” You think you’re a limited individual. In the beginning, this idea of being a “mistaken identity” is essential. God sets it up this way. But then you start to get messages that maybe you’ve got it wrong. Your identity misfires. You start to fail and get frustrated. You don’t get what you want. What’s good about this setup? God sets up this world perfectly…equal parts support and frustration…a perfect balance. I understand the support part, but why the frustration? Well, let me tell you. Frustration is your friend. Without it, would you be drawn to Vedanta, or any psycho spiritual practice in the first place? I doubt it. When frustration starts to challenge this provisional identity, and that identity crumbles, you might start to ask yourself the question, if I’m not that, then who am I? Now you’re off and running…
Fuel for Your Growth
Comfort is not the friend of curiosity. God provides the itch and you have to scratch it. If you don’t, you’re likely to be stuck with a limited concept of yourself, without a clue of what to do next. So God sets it up so you can never completely succeed in this world. Your dissatisfaction keeps you reaching higher and provides the fuel for your growth…and with Karma, God gives you instantaneous feedback concerning whether you’re on the right path or not. What a setup! God’s on you side…Glorious…
Key Concepts
So let me summarize some key concepts common to both Vedanta and psychology. First, don’t personalize. This is absolutely critical, whether you’re doing Vedanta or psychotherapy…do not personalize. We’re all guilty of some form of this, so do your best. If you personalize and lose objectivity, remind yourself of the karma yoga attitude. God is in the driver’s seat.
The second key concept is: “you’re not who you think are.” Again, this is both critical to Vedanta as well as to psychology. In psychology, you start by creating an observing ego, a witness, if you will. How do you go about that? As you tell your story, you are encouraged to observe it objectively.
Basically, you HAVE a story; YOU are not the story. You HAVE feelings, but YOU are not your feelings. You are encouraged to express your emotions, but not to turn them into an identity. Similarly, Vedanta encourages you to identify with the subject and not with the object. While psychotherapy importantly works on identity in the personal realm, Vedanta takes identity to the nondual realm. More on that later…
