Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings

By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

Virtue of Truthfulness – Psychological

truths
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings

Content:

1. Music from Virtues album: Purity

2. Psychological truths
3. Invisible realities
4. Virtuous life as meditation
5. Music from Virtues album: Truthfulness

This writing is a translation from Finnish lecture kept on Jyväskylä in

November 2009. It tells about the path of the truth seeker and the virtue of
truthfulness. When looking back, the spiritual road to the west, where I have
always lived, has clearly been through eastern religions. Theosophy has
opened my understanding of differences and similarities between religions
and worldviews. Rosicrucianism in turn, has deepened understanding of
Western mysticism. Ultimately I believe it has shown a very important place of
the cornerstone of the intellectual endeavor, namely the importance of
virtuous life.
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

In the first part of the writing I will reveal some of my experiences with
meditation and so called psychological truths. Second part is about invisible
realities told in religions. Third part is dedicated to the virtues with
complementary theoretical definitions and quotes. In conclusion, I try to bind
together what I have opened so far.

Virtue of truthfulness – Psychological truths

The truth is hard to define, but life itself has brought some meanings to the
word little by little. My seeking started when I was about 13 years old through
the practice of martial arts, which I had been engaged in for several year prior.
Through it I became captivated with the spiritual, even religious exploration. In
the beginning I did not know the term of truth seeking, of course, but rather I
swallowed oriental mysticism for its own sake. The natural childlike interest
and curiosity was great and brought me with the reality behind.

At some point, however, it became clear that I was searching for something
both in physical and mental or spiritual state. Physically, I wanted to achieve
the body’s management and sustainability. Spiritually, I wanted to find the
right kind of mental concentration and state where the physical being and
doing should be light, harmonic and complete. It was somewhat obvious that if
physical exercises could lead to a flexible and strong body, mental exercises
and mental training were the ones that crowned the skills, making martial arts
not only art, but also something that helped to exceed human limits. Interest in
supernatural forces woke up at that stage, after all, some martial arts masters
appeared in their performance to be almost superhuman (as an example I
might mention Iron Shirt Chi Kung techniques). Some of the schools clearly
taught that championship is achieved through internal power management.
Physical exercises alone would never be able to reach the same level as Chi
-force management.

The path transformed from a hobby to mind control and spiritual exercises,
and of course to the literature, which discussed the underlying issues, oriental
religions and beliefs. Soon, the information on these fundamental issues
began to puzzle me and took more room in my life. The importance of the
search for truth began emerging and meditation practices began to feel more
important. Meditation is, at least at the beginning, a pursuit for something that
has not yet been experienced, or at least has not been recalled. We talk about
the pursuit of enlightenment or realization. We say that we are already gods,
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

we are already Buddhas, and complete. We just need to remember and return
it to ourselves, sweep away the curtains of forgetfulness. On early exploration
we strive for the unknown. At best, we have only heard or read the
descriptions of enlightenment. Therefore we can say truth contains an
unknown element. The difficulty of the search for truth comes from the
paradox: How to look for something that you do not know already? Not in any
way, except that tampering and experiencing all kind of things, by sensing
what feels right and cultivating.

One of the highlights of desiring the unknown and undefined was a mind
emptying exercise that I continued to struggle with during martial arts
practices. Idea of the empty mind, or mushin is that only a vigilant and empty
mind is able to sense the counterpart and the necessary signs. An empty
mind makes it possible to turn a situation to its advantage. It must not have
any fear or hope. The mind does not latch into the hands of the other party,
not the legs, not shoulders, not in the eyes or any other external factors, or
designing the attack and defense movements. The mind must glide smoothly
and in a continuous motion. In a way, one might think that you let cosmic
reality and purpose to manifest, not just through your own wills and plans.

The three fold meditation, namely, calculation of breathing, observation of

breathing and being silent is the simplest and most common method of
emptying the mind. But think of a new approach. You sit down, cross your
legs, calm down, you will begin to calculate the in and out of your breath. How
fast you will find yourself mixing the calculation, because thoughts just went
their own separate ways? We are talking about a very real spiritual exercise,
one in which the effects may be one of the main virtues of what a person can
achieve in life. This means the ability to focus the mind and thoughts to a
single destination for ten minutes, even hours.

Now, if you get to the point where you are able to calculate slowly your
thoughts to ten and even to a second time in a row, you have achieved
something. This is actually something quite a few people can do, or even think
about in their life time. However, practice is only about to begin. How does it
sound that the flight of the thoughts is wholly stopped, all thoughts emptied on
the mind? Impossible? Scary? What if thoughts would no longer pop up?
What if there is the dweller on the threshold waiting for you? Is it even of any
use? The mind invents one hundred reasons drift away from this exercise, but
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

on the other hand, there is interest to know

whether it is possible. If it is indeed possible,
the interest may be greater than the reasons
to avoid it. I must say that I had at least
curiosity to go further and it was profitable.
The first time I realized that thoughts had
stopped, the realization was like winning a
lottery or jackpot. I would even dare to
compare it with some kind of enlightenment
experience. The moment was brief, daunt
and strong. Empty mind experience has
certainly expanded to new varieties and
dimensions between twenty years.
Psychologically, perhaps the most important aspect of the idea of an empty
mind is that when the blank moment is reached, it opens up new tracks for the
chain of association, which otherwise would go the same path day after day,
year after year.

This is just one example of how aspiring to the unknown can reach to the goal
if it is attempted enough. The paradox: How to miss something that you do
not know is really a paradox only; it is nothing impossible or just reverie. In
practice, I had books that transmitted information to me, that I did not know
true in forehand but only learned its value through my own experience.
The truth may be the pursuit of such achievement. However you cannot
realistically say anything with certainty, except when you have experienced it.
Even then, as time goes by, your certainty decreases. Now we can see
couple of definitions to the truth: unknown, emptiness, insight, experience,
and joy. It is said that the truth frees us. Freedom raises pleasure, which I
could describe by a cow, which has wallowed the whole winter in the barn and
feels the delight and joy when it is released into free pasture from gate in the
spring. Pleasure fills each of the cells and half years of being in one place no
longer seem cumbersome. The whole body and mind are full of joy, elation
and limber.

The empty space is not actually a void but contains everything as

opportunities of expressions. Those opportunities will always try to emerge
one way or another, usually through thoughts. The activity is a natural
presence, emptiness is a natural root. After this experience comprehended by
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

my own reasoning, I do not see any danger and fear, on the contrary, it has
very much to offer. In fact, I do not believe that man can live a very happy and
harmonic life without encountering this unpredictable, perhaps the scary side
of the truth. Buddhists have named this element of emptiness by the word
sunyata.

The other side of the truth is perhaps more theoretical, but you have to
remember that what is theory and feels theoretical for one person; another
may take it as very practical and concrete. Eastern philosophies includes
practical basic psychological truths from happiness to basic nature of life, that
can be found in life by observing, studying and living, but it also includes more
difficult to verify religious premises and axioms.

(to be continued – Invisible realities)