Pencil: The Lead Centre/Present: Nirvana! (Janthopoyism Edition)

Book 6: The Internal Worship | Chapter 6.6 | 30 June 2021

When most of us think of the term "nirvana", the associated imagery is of a person deep in meditation, perhaps with a bright glow shimmering from their frame, no longer confined to their bodies but combining with nature, and indeed, the Universal Energy itself. What an inspiring illustration! And one that you should seek if your True Path runs in that direction! However, this is not going to be the journey for everybody.

Numerous "holy" documents call for a complete deprivation of life's material gifts to reach the aforementioned transcendent state, removing pleasant elements like romantic relationships, financial ambitions, and experiencing the world's diversity at large. Does this mean that those who have found joy in little pleasures are doomed to a biography of spiritual discomfort? Janthopoyism does not believe so.

Our rough version of nirvana is not as dramatic as releasing your soul from the karmic cycle to unify with Absolute Reality. We are far too simple (and, admittedly, too cursedly scientific) to promise such grandiose unprovable goals. But it is in our simplicity that we excel. We invite you to sniff out whatever beckons you. Is Buddhist salvation your calling? Or maybe you instead desire to live a long, fulfilling life, or to share a flavourful love with another individual, or to realise your dreams where your talents are acknowledged, or to invest in a comfortable space you can name your own. It can be anything, but for more than 99.99% of people, it will be a balance of everything above.

That's where the Skew System comes in. It ensures that the five core aspects of any human's existence maintain an equilibrium, relaxing the mind from common worries so you can slide down the river of joy without nagging distractions, gobbling up lightbulb-ideas along the way like a video game.

We have offered many short summaries to encompass the teachings of Janthopoyism, and here is a newbie:

Janthopoyism, in a nirvanic sense, is defined as permanent Earthly happiness.

When you love your life, irrelevant of the details, you are worshipping correctly.
Accordingly, you must appreciate every second of every minute of every day, for then you have hit a peak that very few will reach irrespective of their spiritual enlightenment.
And this achievement exclusively occurs in the present.
Right now.

You can utilise various methods to obtain this goal, and while you will almost certainly never accomplish it to maximum capacity, you should practice them from this day forward until the rest of time. Only with dedication can you edge closer to this type of reality.

As we've ceaselessly encouraged, our Skew System will eventually take care of the vast majority of your concerns. If you can master catching your energy spikes while habitually keeping your mind clean (as per the previous two chapters), that will dust out most of the remaining cobwebs of your troubles. But that does not cover everything. The truth about the world we live in is that we have responsibilities. External authorities expect us to perform tasks we would prefer not to do. But please ask yourself, who is making you do these things? And why are you allowing them?

More often than not, your honesty will reveal that it is you who wants to do these things. Or at least, you want to reap the fruits that the labour bears. Or, at very least, it's the morally correct choice closest to your self-determined principles. Chores and admin and general adulting is hardly ever the joyous experience that Janthopoyism promises. Yet if we ignore these commitments, further pillars will be affected, larger monsters will grow in their place, and the entire arrangement of your happiness will collapse. So what do you do?

The new trick is identical to the old trick.
You've got to find ways to make everything enjoyable.
It's that simple.
And it is always possible.

Outwit the parts of your day that you don't like. You cannot defeat your dislikes or bad habits by attacking them or avoiding them. Instead, you need to nurture their opposites or the surrounding components you do like. Cultivate the enjoyment to drown out the displeasure.

There are infinite schemes available to achieve this, and we could never pretend to know which one will work best for your current position. But we can offer a selection of processes that may roll towards something you love:

Listen to music or move into the sunshine or munch on your favourite food whilst performing a mundane job; the treat becoming your primary focus while the business is automated.
Try to convince friendly people to join you, even if attending to their own assignments in the same vicinity.
Think about how you would tempt a child to do a tiresome task and apply it to yourself, featuring stickers, charts, and coloured pens.
Break every project into bite-size sections and appreciate that addictive feeling of ticking them off your to-do list, one by one.
Develop a reward system, where for each item or designated time period completed, you can pause to enjoy something pleasurable, basking in the goal-orientated chase of earning your prize.

When it comes to modern life's unavoidably tedious necessities, it's best to start as early as possible. Tackle the assignment for ten minutes, the same time every day, then stop, not a second longer. Ten minutes on anything sounds less daunting, and yet over a single month, you've spent five straight hours picking at the hurdle. What's more, it will quickly become a part of your routine, so your mind will cease flaring up with opposition, plus your daily fresh eyes will be ready to test a new angle. I've taken months to fill out tax returns before, several minutes per day, but I got them done far ahead of schedule because I took the initiative to begin earlier than everyone else. The procedure was painless, yet the result still breathed with glorious relief.

"Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer." ― Simone Weil

Any effort or resistance is your Internal Universe screaming for synchrony, but this does not mean you should avoid committed work. Hindu scripture teaches that every action we take in life is a form of worship, and Janthopoyism subscribes to this notion with 100% devotion. Each task, no matter what, must be performed to the best of your ability with your total dedication. What better way to serve Life than to give it your everything? And if you cannot fathom doing this, then, again, you are in the wrong place doing the wrong thing in the wrong way. If it's not fun, do not do it. If you have to do it, then your #1 mission is to make it fun. If you make it fun, you'll execute a superior job anyway.

Transforming banal responsibilities into enjoyment is crucial because it enhances the present moment whilst setting up a brighter future for you, which is the exact objective of evolution. But with this attitude arrives a converse issue that is commonplace in current society: leaping down the most fun path without regarding the future. Alcohol, drugs, promiscuity, gambling, junk food, staying up late, ignoring obligations, etc., are typical examples of prioritising instant gratification over potential future consequences. Janthopoyisom does not necessarily condemn nor condone such behaviours, for their roles in any given person's life would differ from one to the next. However, the majority of us would agree that these acts throw a timebomb further down the road, which is not conducive to conscious evolving by whichever stretch.

Janthopoyism's nirvana is about sustained happiness. Whenever a decision is called upon, favouring the joy takes precedence, but we must evaluate said joy in contexts set a few steps ahead. Immediate joy that brings guilt or misery later is not the Janthopoyism way because you will subconsciously taint your pleasure with a lousy future hanging over its head. Instead, if you can select the option that will generate the maximum amount of joy in the future, then the evolved version of yourself will look back in gratitude that you'd kept the bigger picture in mind. You will never grieve such a choice. Even if the outcome wasn't what you expected, you can be proud that you did the best you could at the present juncture, and in doing so, sharpened a skill that will continuously serve your Internal Universe for the rest of your days.

Ask yourself: will you regret doing it? Then don't do it.
Ask yourself: will you regret not doing it? Then do it.

Recognise Janthopoyism's nirvana as a focus on the subtle details. One can easily receive a massive wave of delight from an external event, but maintaining happiness is about the quality of the cogs and bolts used during the blander of everyday activities. A keen eye on your emotional response is imperative. A shift towards a generally optimistic perception is another, both of which are trainable. You can't stop it from raining, but you can open yourself up until this very same rain is the best thing that has ever happened to you. ​​Sing in the rain, sing about the rain, write a hit song about the rain. It is all divinity, every last bit of it, and you are lucky to be involved.

Above everything, Janthopoyism urges the serving of your share of the Universal Energy, i.e. serving your Internal Universe, i.e. serving yourself, i.e. serving your happiness. If this seems selfish to you, then you are already coming from a heightened empathetic space where the comfort of others is just as important as your own, meaning on a certain level, you view Life itself as something inexplicably combined. This perspective is honourable in the Janthopoyism scope. However, rest assured that you can contribute to your community and Universal Energy much better if you first care for your well-being. Make the world a better place by living as a better you! Become the most energetic entity you can be and then move forward with that drive, radiating your excellence wherever you go.

Whether taking control of your emotions or slogging through uninspiring tasks trying to find some sliver of fun, this quest for nirvana functions like any skill. If you dedicate yourself to learning it, you will get better at it. And, by the loving design of the cosmic program, the better you get at it, the more you'll enjoy it anyway.

The physics of reality operates using a genius arrangement of mechanics.
But it means nothing unless you start pedalling.

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