Tim Funnell Mentoring

Here's a bunch of things which I feel are misconceptions about spirituality.

1. According to spirituality, God doesn't exist.. or does It? There seems to be an ambiguity in a sense.
2. Spirituality isn't about being a monk or a hermit though for some it is. There are householder paths, warrior paths, devotional paths, philosophical paths, action paths and probably many more besides.
3. The aim isn't peacefulness. Ultimately this is contestable but there are perspectives out there that say that the aim is intensity or service or bliss or beauty or knowledge. There are many different options.
4. You shouldn't only live a sattvic life but it's very important to learn about the three gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Tamas is inertia and the one which is least desirable. Rajas is action/passion and arguably is needed to move from Tamas to Sattva. Sattva is said to be the closest to God so is the most desirable in many ways but all three are needed. I often get bored after a while of living satvically and find I want to mix things up at some point.
5. Ayurveda is a very important aspect to learn about if you're meditating or doing yoga and is sometimes said to be a sister science of yoga. Ayurveda comes from Samkhya philosophy and Samkhya and Yoga make up two of the six schools of orthodox Indian philosophy.
6. Yoga in the form that we generally know it in the West is really a much smaller part of Indian spirituality which is probably better named Sanatan Dharma. (Though there is also a sense in which Sanatan Dharma extends to all people, not exclusively India/Indians). The postures that we're familiar with in the west are called asanas and form one of the 8 limbs of classical ashtanga yoga given in Patanjali's yoga sutras.
And while we're at it, Bharat is the indigenous name for India and preferred by some.
7. Sanatan Dharma is sometimes seen as a very broad church of different spiritual traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism however not everyone would agree. But Sanatan Dharma does consist of a very broad culture of overlapping philosophy, mythology, academia, practice, devotion, lineages, revered figures, historical figures, arguments, dialectics and many other aspects.
8. In some ways, it's tricky that Buddhism came to the West as opposed to the wider Sanatan culture. There are so many aspects to Sanatan culture and different aspects that need to be integrated into a spiritual seeker's life. Buddhism on its own does undoubtedly have a huge richness and depth and there are many different schools with both atheistic and theistic interpretations for example. But the Buddha himself came out of the context of Sanatan culture. And generally, it's easy to pick up a shallow picture of Buddhism as the monk/renunciate life instead of the broader Dharmic culture or arguably even broader, Sanatan Dharmic culture.
9. Spirituality is not about being positive. This is a particularly big pet peeve for me. On the one hand yes, the ultimate realisation is Sat, Chit, Ananda - truth, consciousness, bliss. But if you live in a warzone or under a despotic regime, you don't go around telling yourself positive affirmations, you figure out what you can do to improve things. In some ways, ideology is the antithesis of spirituality, being positive is an ideology. Ideologies are schemes that the mind cooks up to try to make sense of something it can't make sense of. Ideologies have boundaries which exclude and then the mind is upset when it's presented with things outside of the boundaries. If your only setting is positivity, how will you deal with anything negative. Again, spirituality/Sanatan culture is a rich tapestry of mythology, philosophy, practice, dialogue and much more besides. So yes, being satvic and positive is great when possible but sometimes life is deeply messy, complex and troubling which we get an indication of particularly from the mythological richness.
There are even mythological stories of Gurus killing their students who are then reincarnated soon after, indicating the degree to which Gurus are willing to cut down the ego for the greater good/realisation. Obviously this is a troubling notion from our perspective but it gives an indication (albeit extreme) of some of the complex or troubling dynamics at play in spirituality i.e. it's not simply about being a peaceful monk or pie in the sky positive.

Bonus round. It's very important to develop an awareness of Ojas, Tejas and Prana, the three subtle essences. When you eat clean healthy food you develop a healthy fullness or glow and it's sometimes said that it covers and protects your cells. It's the finest product of digestion. Tejas is connected to fire and luminosity. This can be grown through discipline, stimulating digestion, certain yoga sequences and fiery pranayamas. Finally there is Prana which is connected to energy/movements in the body and benefits from fresh air, the energy from food and pranayamas though Prana and air aren't the same. Ojas is the subtle essence of Kapha dosha, Tejas the subtle essence of Pitta dosha and Prana the subtle essence of Vata dosha.

I'm doing 2 sittings of my solo piano performance at L'Étoile Studio on 17th April. I wrote something on the event page about Dharmic Art or more specifically the context of where my expression is coming from.

1st sitting 17.00

https://hdfst.uk/e151195

2nd sitting 20.00

https://hdfst.uk/e151216

How can we ever be sure that we're not part of a despotic society? If we're in a position of comfort, what could be easier than to assume that we deserve it or have earned it. How can we be sure that our comfort isn't on the back of exploitation and cruelty. Dominant ideologies seem to have a tendency to defend hierarchies and privileges and rare are those who willingly give them up. How could we possibly hope to get outside the propaganda of the culture we happen to be born into?

And at the same time, how can we judge whether a person does or doesn't deserve the comforts they enjoy, how could we hope to have enough information.

Do we see kindness, love or intelligence in our society or our interactions with other countries?

And how do we improve our situation? How do we get outside of our default perspectives? Travel, listen, empathise, learn etc?

Perhaps all sincere efforts are valuable whether secular, religious or spiritual. But I think the Dharma has an advantage over most attempts. Ideologies and religious doctrine tend to have defined contours, parameters or prescriptions. Inevitably these boundaries suit some but exclude others.

Whereas the Dharma is a constant re-evaluating, a living, a literal revolution, it eats itself, it burns what needs to burn and births new mandates for each fresh moment. It requires a constant determination to tune into what's needed at a given time and offers myriad paths for myriad temperaments and constitutions.

It's not my place to say or teach what Sanatan Dharma is but I say this to set the context of my music and expression.

Plato classically critiqued democracies and described how they inevitably decay into tyranny. Democracies tend to put desires above anything else, it's almost inherent in the act of voting. Our society is part of a wider society that's so determined to maintain our privileges and indulgences that it will turn a blind eye to genocides, cruel worker exploitation, profiteering from basic necessities such as housing and it will assassinate leaders and bomb countries that get in the way of our insatiable appetites.

The danger here is that I might start to sound austere or Calvinistic. There are Dharmic paths which involve intoxicants and much more besides. There is a sense in which all joys and pleasures are a touch with the divine. But it's important to understand what purpose pleasures serve. Are they serving to make your body/mind weak and cloudy so that you can be easily manipulated or are they serving to raise your consciousness so that you can become a vehicle for sharing greater joy and truth with the world.

My music is therefore filled with this perspective and understanding. It is rich and complex and not easy to receive without a strong and well looked after digestion. In Ayurveda, it is understood that a satisfying meal requires 6 tastes; Sweetness, Sourness, Bitterness, Astringence, Saltiness and Pungence. When a meal lacks all the tastes, one is likely to be left feeling unsatisfied and look for excess nourishment most likely of poorer quality.

Similarly, my music is filled with the necessary doses of sourness, bitterness and pungency/heat for the times we are in. It is not designed to soothe you, distract you or make you feel good about your choices. It is filled with uncomfortable truths and challenges as well as a reflection of the sweetness of life.

Generally when people have a choice between something easy and something challenging, they will choose the path of least resistance. It would be tempting to think that we can read the right books and have the right opinions but when it comes to culture, we can digest junk food and it won't be a problem. I would suggest that if you have any concerns about where we are as humans or as a planet, it might be time to re-evaluate that assumption.

It's also easy to assume that as long as I have the sensible opinions and that sensible people agree with them, I must be doing ok. But it shouldn't take a very deep dig into history to see where societies have taken dangerous turns because of groupthink and an unwillingness or inability to challenge momentum.

In the Sanatan Tradition there's a mysterious myth about the Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons) churning 'the ocean of milk' to produce Amrita, the elixir of immortality. Recently it's increasingly occurred to me that we ignore the forces that myths point to at our peril. The success of hollowing-out reductionism in the material domain carries with it a relational failure in the human/spiritual domain. You might not want to have any relationship with aggression and violence but you can be damn sure that Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu or Elon Musk (with his trillion dollar empire and robot army) will be happy to have such a relationship.

In the vacuum of mythology and Dharma, we've made ourselves susceptible to the manipulation of Disney/Pixar/corporate morality; humans aren't cuddly teddy bears. How can broader forces be utilised and integrated? To cut down that which is damaging, the sword of discernment, the pe*******on of truth, standing up for justice, standing up for yourself, sacrifice for improvements, the cutting of the ego to make possible a relationship of service and for a limited few perhaps, sacrifice for the ultimate realisation, Amrita and service.

In this performance, you can expect a selection of jazz songs and free improvisations.

£8 in advance
£10 on the door

Doors 16.30, starts 17.00

hdfst.uk

It's amazing that so much hype and attention can be drawn to AI and not to Genuine Intelligence. All the cells and microbes creating/supporting the phenomenon of being a sensual experiencing being. All the plants experiencing and supporting other life. An epic system of relationship and interdependence. Every experience of sensuality unique, every experience of digesting and connecting new information. The preciousness of being, sensing, experiencing, learning. The marvel of existence, this epic process. There's a war for attention and we should become warriors of it to stop it leaking in all directions. Every experience of being, sensing, learning, expressing is where real value lies, this is where attention and resources should be directed.

Whether one is immersed in yoga or in revelling in outward enjoyment,
Whether he in enjoying himself in social company or has retired into solitude,
True happiness certainly cannot be his;
But who alone is revelling inwardly in brahman (wherever he be),
He alone will be truly happy and will verily enjoy.

Don't export your specialness to celebrities.
Don't export your expression to artists.
Don't export your aggression to wars.
Don't export your adventures to drama and theatrics.
Don't export your attention to those who crave it most.
Don't export your contentment to objects or consumption.
Don't export your power to begging.
Don't export your energy to the accumulation of capital. (Hint: none of it belongs to you when you die)
All qualities of consciousness must have relationship built with them.
You are here to fight like a warrior to live as a composed and contoured being. And at the same time to dance and be theatrical however it comes to you.

There are certain artistic values which I now tend to feel largely or mostly belong to the category of capitalist artistic values. (I should point out that although I'm likely to make critical statements about capitalism these days and going forwards, I'm not necessarily entirely critical and nor am I criticising it completely from a left wing perspective although there is that influence for me from the past generally). Examples are, working hard/the hardest, learning large quantities of repertoire, developing intense technical capacities, focusing on becoming a successful individual musician, focusing on playing and performing regularly or being hired regularly, or focusing on becoming well known.

It's not necessarily easy to find clear alternatives to such values and we're all generally faced with the tension of playing for the sake of a higher purpose vs needing to make a living on the way there or at the same time. But nonetheless I thought it might be helpful to outline some alternative perspectives to place capitalist values in sharper contrast. I'm also motivated by the realisation that there are some very successful and famous musicians, ever growing in popularity, who I don't particularly enjoy listening to even though they may have truly exceptional talent in terms of technique or some of the other categories mentioned above. For a time, I felt it was best not to make any criticism and appreciate that they had skills in categories which I valued less. But I've come to feel that there's an important battle to be fought for the sake of a more heart centred future and a less economic/capitalist centred present and past.

The first alternative suggestion might be to play music/create art to bring more beauty into the world. This might sound trite but it's also important to say perhaps. Art and beauty can be one of the ways to inspire people and bring more love and harmony into the world. Furthermore, hopefully the world is moving into a time where more and more, people will focus on bringing more truth love and beauty into the world through their choices and actions and art and music will be one of the ways that this manifestation will continue to strengthen.

The second consideration is by way of reference to some of what I've learnt from spirituality and Ayurveda. The first such consideration is that, by approaching music in a certain way, we can bring a degree of harmony and coherence into the world and into the lives of audience members. One factor here is to consider the importance of the breath and an attunement to rhythmic coherence. By becoming familiar with the natural rhythm of the breath, one can find more peace, harmony and stability and reduce stress to a minimum so that what is expressed musically or artistically comes out as harmonious and graceful and this sentiment or expression can be transferred to the listener which in turn allows more peace and joy to flow forth into the world.

Similarly, there are various other rhythms in nature such as the movement of the sun and moon, the movement of the seasons, the sounds of birds singing against the stillness of the natural environment, the rhythms of the human body, digestive, sleep/waking, menstrual, the heart beat, the rhythm of walking and many other rhythms in the human experience or the natural environment. To attune oneself to such rhythms helps to bring one into more rhythmic coherence and thereby allow more graceful, flowing and harmonious artistic expressions. In Ayurveda, such a harmonious type of coherence is known as Sattva (peace, harmony) in contrast to Tamas (inertia, dull) and Rajas (passion, movement).

At the same time, it's important to bring in a strong element of richness and expansion to artistic expression. One way of thinking about this is with analogy to the six tastes in Ayurveda. The six tastes in Ayurveda are sweet, sour, salty, astringent, bitter and pungent. It's generally considered that a satisfying meal should contain all six elements. In the same way, in art or music, it's important that it contains darker elements, danger, sorrow, pain, yearning, sadness, challenge etc. I once heard a guru say that sometimes a teaching needs to contain a bitter element, it can't all be sweetness and pleasantness and praise. Sometimes it's important to acknowledge and be familiar with the darker shades of life or else they will catch us unawares or sneak up on us when we least expect them. Music and art can also play this role, familiarising people with the different shades and possibilities of life and expanding people's awareness of what it is to be a fully aware human being.

Another element to consider is the importance of expansion and movement. It's neither possible nor advisable to only live in sattvic/harmonious modes of expression. In fact, it's sometimes said that to move from tamas/inertia to sattva/balance, one has to move into rajas/movement/passion first and then move into sattva/balance. Equally, in art and music it's important to bring in elements of stimulation and movement. Life would be kind of dull if everyone was only peaceful all the time. Music therefore, can be one of the ways that a person is moved from inertia into passion, if they listen to passionate/expressive or invigorating/dancing music and then potentially forward into sattva.

Another element to consider is that of growth. If a person only played music with the intention of bringing more love and harmony into the world, it could end up becoming a very static, repetitive and staid expression. It's important that a musician expands their awareness, for example into broader awareness of the darker elements of life, or brings in more fire, or incorporates more philosophical understandings or learns about broader artistic traditions. Spiritually, one might also delve into the deeper mysteries of the infinite, the underlying strata of consciousness that contains the manifest creation, all the contrasting elements of the manifest world, the chaos and order, the incomprehensibility of the infinite, the attempt to reconcile everything that is etc. Such an exploration can't be limited to one particular perspective or formula as outlined above such as heart centred expressions, harmonious expressions or richness of expression. It's a constantly expanding, beguiling and renewing exploration.

The last element I'd like to mention is that of transformation which is connected to the element of fire. Just as fuel in a fire becomes heat energy or food becomes energy in the body through digestion, artistic expression can involve an element of fire and transformation. In a successful performance/expression, audience members might receive inspiration or they might feel that they're moved or even moved to take new expansive actions or make changes in their lives. This could be the element of fire at work. Something that I've been pondering on recently is the ability of beauty to collapse the gap between the experiencer and the experienced. I feel that this is the power of fire and transformation in its strongest sense, to burn that which stands in the way of the small sense of self from the infinite self, namely thoughts. Beauty is perhaps as potent as the dissemination of Truth or the experience of Love in this respect but more easily accessed generally.

All this is to say, that the music and artistic expressions which I value usually have elements of bringing heart centred expressions, more peace and harmony, richness and learning, movement and growth and fire and transformation and an aspiration towards or trace of collapsing the gap between the small self and the infinite self. Expressions of this type are more valuable in my perception than the qualities I mentioned at the beginning and therefore important to consider for an artist or someone considering what motivates them to create artistic expressions.

It's hard to have any idea of what infinite consciousness could be. One possibility is that in every division of a second, existence splits into multiple versions of itself. Perhaps even, infinite divisions of a second split into infinite iterations. And yet, experience is organised into a narrative structure and a degree of harmony. If such a reality is possible, culture should reflect the depth of such chaos and structure at work. Perhaps its mere conceivability deserves to be reflected.

There are so many burgeoning ideas frothing at the margins. But instead people seem to feed at the teat of numbing regurgitation and flaccid placation. Tribal reassurance seems to be the dominant animating force. I think people would happily live in hell as long as nothing they said was deemed naive, challenging, outlandish or contrary to popular consensus. Cultural aspirations seem to express timid banalities, 'I just like what feels good' or in the Jazz world, 'it's gotta swing man' or 'it's gotta be in the tradition.'

Twentieth century history alone demands a mining of deeper cultural agony. The horrors of the current world demand it equally.

Everything's so weak and striving for anything better isn't easy for any of us. Even the soil's weak, as is food, not to mention the crap that's in almost anything which has gone through the slightest processing.

Culture should light you on fire and obliterate the gap between you and the infinite. If that's missing, then perhaps a widening or a deepening search is calling.