11.21.07

The Glamour of Spiritual Seeking…

Posted in Spirituality, Thoughts at 4:07 pm by Administrator

There are things that grab our attention.  These are sensational and different from our ordinary experience.  They are perceptions that act as sign posts to call us forward. 

It is good to pay attention to these sign posts and follow them.  Too often though, people just want the shiny sign posts and forget about their intrinsic value. 

In my experience most are drawn to spirituality because their lives are not what they ideally want.  I know this was the case with me.  I saw myself as a puny little human and wanted to experience the boundless bliss of cosmic consciousness.  Because really, that was so much more special than my present experience. 

So I read the works and studied with the masters.  I followed the path outlined by them, always looking forward to that day when my little self would vanish into puff of scintillating light.  Meditation experiences rose and fell.  Life continued.  There were still good days and bad days, but in the center of all that calmness descended. 

As time passed, it became clearer that right now I already am and have always been one with the all.  What I am right now is it.  There is no escaping. 

Masters speak of transcending duality, and the dualistic nature of the world.  That IS the nature of this world.  Things rise and they fall.  Things are born and they die.  Moods change.  Thoughts come and go.  That is the nature of the world.  But you see, our real Self is not the world.  It is timeless and the support of all these things. 

To transcend duality does not mean to destroy the world, or to escape from it.  It means to see what really IS, to identify with that which we really are. 

So what does all of this have to do with glamour?  Well, I just wanted to share that it is great to be pulled in a certain direction by sensational spiritual experiences, but don’t mistake those for the source of the experience.  Getting caught up in the sensationalism is no different than getting caught up in TV dramas, or exciting adventures in life.  It’s all entertainment.  In the end, there is nothing special about spiritual discovery.  It is as normal as your day to day existence.  So find peace there, and know that all of that is IT.  Let your worship and your prayer be the remembering that every little thing has the Divine under the surface.  Every little thing is fantastic if you let it be that way. 

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11.19.07

What’s Left of Eternity

Posted in Spirituality, Thoughts at 3:51 pm by Administrator

Well?

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10.28.07

The Source of All Things Part II

Posted in Spirituality, Thoughts at 2:05 pm by Administrator

Finding something to concentrate on is up to you.  It needs to be something that you are interested in and that can absorb your attention.  Let this be a concept or idea that, if you could, you would like to know or become.  This could be a form of the divine, a state of surrender, or oneness with all things.  Or you could simply focus on your self.  Once you have your point of concentration, summarize it in one or two words.  For example, if I wanted to know my self, I would pick the words, “my self”.  Easy.  Right? 

Now, schedule a time once or twice a day to reflect on your chosen idea.  Don’t change the idea, stick with your original choice.  Find a quiet place where you can sit up straight, close your eyes and turn your attention within.  Know that this time of the day you are dedicated to nothing else but contemplating your chosen idea and strengthening your mind.  (Because that is what this will do, get your mind under control.) Once you are firmly established, sitting up right, with your idea of contemplation in your mind, give your attention to your breathing.  As you breathe in, feel the breath coming in to your body and hear the word, “my”.  As you breathe out, feel the breath leaving your body and hear (and feel) the word “self”. 

As you do this, don’t be mechanical about it.  Just repeating words and breathing won’t do much for you, other than calm you down a bit. If you really want to strengthen your mind and know what you are contemplating, when you hear and feel the words in your mind as you breathe really focus on them.  What do they mean?  When you say “my” what is it that you associate with that.  When you “self” what is that you attach to your “self”.  (Here is a helpful reminder:  Anything you can think about imagine to be associated with your self, is not your self.)

Two things are occurring here.  One, you are strengthening your mind.  Thoughts, emotions, sensations, memories, etc. will break your concentration, but you gently bring your awareness back to your breath and contemplation.  With each day and each session of practice your mind grows stronger and you can maintain your contemplation longer.  So don’t give up.  Look at it like training.  If you are weak physically you may need to change a few things to get stronger.  1) eat right.  2) take some time to exercise often.  Eating right one day or exercising once a month won’t do it.  It needs to become part of the routine of your life.  Think about the things that are important to you.  You probably take some kind of action that involves these important aspects of your life daily, or at least often.  What is important to you is reflected in your regular daily routine. 

After you have sat silently for a while just breathing and contemplating, disregard the breath and let go of the contemplation.  Just sit silently observing all that passes through your being.  Observe the silence, and also observe the distractions as they rise and fall.    When your scheduled time is at end, get up and go about your day as usual.

During times when you are simply living and not contemplating, yet you find your self day dreaming or worrying about something useless, use that moment to remember what it felt like to sit in the stillness after your contemplation, and take a moment or two to reflect on your object of contemplation.  This will further train you to keep your attention focused and your mind strong.

Note that strength of mind does not indicate strain or force.  It is more like a habit.  Most people are in the habit of letting thoughts run wild and directing their energies outward.  With practice, such as the one above, you are merely changing your habits.  Instead of wasting energies and depleting your life force on useless thinking and worrying etc, you learn to remain connected to the source of all things.  That becomes your natural state.  A person who has done this would feel just as weird having millions of distractions running through his/her mind as a person who would think it strange to not have to think at all. 

So the only difference between a “master” and someone who isn’t is really the habit of how they live and what they identify themselves with.  A master identifies with the source of all things.  Someone else identifies with the things in life that come and go, and feels that as the things come and go, so do they.  One knows and is the source.  The other is still the source, but has no idea what they really are.  The latter could be likened to a person who has lost a precious necklace and is worried to death about where it might be, when really it is still around the person’s neck and they’ve just forgotten.  The former never forgets where the necklace is. 

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10.26.07

The Source of All Things

Posted in Spirituality, Thoughts at 3:45 pm by Administrator

You are the source of all things.  Any thing which can be observed is an experience.  The experiences in life are supported by you.  When I speak of the “you” I’m not talking about your personality, body, mind or spirit.  I’m talking about the real you, the you that is eternal and changeless, the you that is beyond conditions and conceptualization. 

This “you” cannot be described.  All that can be said about it, is what it is not, and that is really no way to understand something.  To fully grasp your real self requires that you be it.  Since you are it all the time, no effort can bring this about. 

So what’s the problem?  If you are your self all the time, why bother trying to “be” your self?  That in itself is precisely the problem.  People spend their time trying to be themselves or to find themselves.  You are your self.  So there is nothing you can do to be it, nor is there any secret map directing you to its location.  This whole matter isn’t really about being or finding, it is about knowing.  Confusion is the problem.  On one hand there is confusion about what and where you are, and on the other there is the confusion about how to go about getting settled in the knowing of your self.

Many theories and practices have risen to help with this dilemma that affects humanity.  Most of these fall under the umbrella of religion and spirituality.  Let me throw out the idea that although religion and spirituality is very helpful for the beginner, the source of all things goes beyond these two sources of conditioning. 

Part of the process of fully knowing your self requires the shedding of beliefs when the time comes.  When we are children, it is alright to think as children.  As we grow up we learn that certain actions and systems of thought no longer work.  So, hopefully, we evolve, learn what does work and apply the changes to our life situation. 

When first undertaking the task of spiritual growth and self-realization most people have the idea that there is a power or force beyond them that if they appease or worship approptiately will do the work for them.  This is alright at first.  It carries the proper intention, that to go beyond former conditioning.  As the person grows and becomes firm in their worship of this “divine other” the life begins to change.  The original intention of growing to spiritual maturity begins to sprout.  The person may begin to think of things differently.  They may question the way they’ve been living.  All of this is the self becoming clearer and more knowable. 

Sometimes people don’t like this change.  They fight it and try to remain fixed in their way of thinking and living.  Here is where problems first arise.  To know your self requires and openness to change and development.  Because even though you are always your self and you are never lost, there is the wrong identification with what you are.  So the changes that occur are actually the realignment of your attention with what you really are, and not the things you observe. 

The difference between a person who knows what they are, the source of all things, and the person who doesn’t, is that the first person doesn’t get caught up in the observable world and think that when change occurs, something has died.  The first person knows that they are eternal.  They experience that eternal being in all changes.  Changes come and go, the self remains.  The second person is not fully aware of this eternal nature of their real self, so when things change, they freak out.  Why?  Because they are confused.  They think that which they observe is what they really are.  It’s a hallucination really. 

There is also the confusion that what you are is something that can be observed.  Examples to this effect are love, peace, or similar pleasant states.  Remember, that which rises will also fall.  In the beginning it may be helpful to imagine that your true nature is eternal love or eternal peace, but really peace and love are conditions.  If they can come and go, they are not real.  Enjoy them so long as they are useful, but be open to going beyond them.  

You exist free of conditions, and you are the source of all things.  If you want to know what all this means in experience rather than conceptually, good for you.  Thinking about things can only take you so far.  Eventually you will need to start embodying what is understandable with the mind.  Then it goes beyond the mind. 

To do this, one practice common to all authentic “enlightenment” traditions is most helpful.  (Now why did I put quotes around enlightenment?  Because it is just a word.  It’s good for a reference point, but don’t get too hung up on what you think it might mean.)  This is the practice of concentration.  Learning to fix your mind on a thought or idea, strengthens the mind.  When the mind gets stronger, thousands of random useless thoughts no longer invade and run wild.  When this occurs, the mind can in time be fully silenced and you can then more easily know what you are without interference. 

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