The principles of P-A are few in number, simple of course, but also formulaic, that is, they can be expressed in algebraic terms. For example, the formula:
S+S+S = S
Simplicity + Silence + Solitude = Serenity
This formula relates to the need to have a foundation or context that supports transcendence, insight or “the shift.”
Without Simplicity, Silence, or Solitude, we will find it hard to experience Serenity. In other words, response will be difficult, and we will be more likely to react because we will be agitated and distracted from the reality of our deeper more serene nature. Being too wrapped up in the noise, complexity and competition of P-B we will continue the process of creating personal suffering by continually reacting.
S + R = S
Stimulus (trigger) + Reaction = Suffering
This is the second formula and means Stimulus (trigger) plus Reaction = Suffering. All human suffering is caused by wanting things to be different and reacting when it isn’t what we want it to be. We have a moment between the trigger (when something happens in our environment that we don’t like) and when we choose to react rather than choosing to respond.
S + R = F
Stimulus (trigger) + Response = Freedom
Change R in the formula to Response instead of Reaction and thereby change the outcome from Suffering to Freedom. Freedom from suffering, that is. That moment of choice is the “point” in The Point of Power Practice. That is when we take time to relax, breathe and refuse to identify with the body, mind or emotions and remain in the present moment.
From Nisargadatta Maharaj and his book I Am That, comes the formula:
KN + HN + DN = H
Know Nothing + Have Nothing +Do Nothing = Happiness
This is one of the most radical, profound and challenging of the formulas in our P-A algebra. Know Nothing plus Have Nothing plus Do Nothing are behavioral guides to Happiness. This is the classic negative (i.e., what not to do) or the Eastern approach to attaining P-A.
The intellect or “knowing” will not get us to Nirvana. Accumulation of material wealth or “having” is pointless, and assiduous effort or “doing” as Buddha discovered after six years of ascetic practice was also futile. We cannot attain happiness, we are happiness.
We have Brugh Joy to thank for this formula:
A + B + C = H
A Don’t judge
B Don’t compare
C Release the need to know why
H Happiness
In his autobiography Han Shan, the Chinese Zen master, remembers one of his dreams: “He met Maitreya, the future Buddha, who told him that wisdom is to be found in not making divisions and comparisons.”[i]
Piero Ferrucci, in his book Inevitable Grace, writes, “I am conscious [present] while brushing my teeth. But then I am distracted, and my consciousness is a thousand miles away; I judge, and thereby separate myself from reality; I compare the present situation with a past one, and immediately feel divided within; I start daydreaming, and already I am asleep, absent, carried off to another world.”[ii] That other world is P-B and our habits are deeply conditioned in order to survive in that paradigm.
Work with these formulae every day and you will find that the Algebra of Simple Reality will aid you in the process of reconditioning your reactive behavior. These new behaviors are the foundation for making our moment-to-moment life a meditation, which will lead to an experience of Simple Reality, a shift to P-A.
[i] Ferrucci, Piero. Inevitable Grace. Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1990, pp. 97-98.
[ii] Ibid., p. 108.
