LIFE 101
The Principle Of The Second Element:
A Transcendental Solution To Problems
By Coach Cary Bayer
There are no shortages of problems in life. There are problems at your job, with your boss, your career, your marriage, with your parents, with your kids. Virtually everywhere you look are problems. Yet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who taught me how to teach meditation, stated that, “The answer to every problem is that there is no problem. Let a man perceive this truth and he is without problems.” What are you to make of such a radical statement that seems to fly in the face of everything that you know about problems?
Let’s take a fresh look at problems and their solutions. In governmental circles, committees are forever being formed to study problems. The problem with studying problems, as you may know from the Law of Attraction, is that you get more problems. That’s because the Law of Attraction states that what you focus on expands. Maharishi said it slightly differently: “That which you focus on grows stronger in your life.” So, instead of analyzing problems we should be focusing on solutions with a more expanded vision.
Governmental solutions typically involve throwing money at problems instead of finding the solutions at a deeper level. What they invariably overlook, for example, when trying to lift people out of poverty are holistic solutions because their consciousness isn’t expanded enough to think holistically. They don’t respond to comprehensive programs that raise the consciousness of such people so that they would want to do more with their lives than hanging out on the street a lot or temporarily escaping their woes with drugs. These politicians usually ignore the brilliant insight by one of the 20th century’s greatest geniuses—Albert Einstein—who said, “Existing problems cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them.”
Trees suffering from withered bark, leaves, and fruit don’t become healthy by watering each of those damaged items. They get healthy by having water put to the root. In other words, the solution lay in an entirely different area—a hidden one, invisible to the eye—namely the root of the tree beneath the earth.
Government isn’t alone in treating the surface of problems, rather than addressing their hidden causes. Medical doctors, all too often, do the very same thing. They treat colds, the flu, viruses, etc. with strong doses of antibiotics, and so forth, but rarely do they treat underlying causes, such as compromised immune systems, and lives that are out of balance.
Maharishi came along to introduce a radical new idea: that solutions to a vast array of problems rest in an area of life that’s also not visible to the eye. The hidden Transcendent is the very root of our lives. Contact with this second element, not typically considered when analyzing problems, brings freshness to the mind, relief from stress to the nervous system, and joy to the heart.
Maharishi recommended a one-word solution to the problems that you face: “Nivartadhvam,” It’s a Sanskrit word, which means transcend or retire (from the gross physical level of the life you’re familiar with) to the Transcendent Source, and then retire from that retiring by bringing your awareness back to the world you normally live in. The expansion of consciousness that comes from such a short-term (20-minute) break from daily living often gives the meditator a fresh perspective, that’s much richer than that of any fresh coat of paint.
People who smoke cigarettes, for example, attempt to wean themselves from this deadly addiction with products like Nicoderm, and people who use heroin are weaned with drugs like Methodone. Meditation, on the other hand, introduces a whole new fresh way of seeing that inspires meditators to live a healthier life. Instead of having to try to quit smoking or drinking or drugging, for example, they often find that such unhealthy habits simply fall away by themselves. In some cases, without even the meditator even realizing that the habit is gone. In the early days of Maharishi’s teaching in the U.S., in 1959, his TM technique was often called The Great Automatic because meditators were finding that they were automatically living healthier and happier lives without even thinking about it. Now that’s a solution worth looking at.
Cary Bayer is a life coach, workshop leader, meditation teacher, keynote speaker and writer. He is also a long time supporter of the Deerfield Beach Theosophical Society, presenting regularly on a variety of topics. To learn more about Cary visit CaryBayer.com.