When you follow a teacher or a teaching, you will, eventually, encounter limitation. If, rather, you learn to follow your own voice, you will find Source and limitlessness.
Part Two: Remembering
You may recall that our objective here is to affect a shift from the subjective to the objective life experience. To shift from being subject to circumstance, emotion, and our thoughts, to having these things, and their source, becomes the object of our alert observation. This shift, as we will see, not only frees us from our status as subject, but, also, informs us as to whom we really are. It allows us to step outside of the seeming urgency of the I into the peace and wisdom of the I Am.
It is my hope that for some who have begun to be conscious of awakening, this shift can ease much of the difficulties of transition. For others, my hope is that the experience of this shift we speak of may form the spark or pre-condition for the experience of awakening.
In part one; our preparation consisted of allowing for possibility, and choosing to participate in some simple exercises. Before we begin this section proper, then, let us begin with a simple meditation to prepare us for what is to follow. It is somewhat important to take a moment to do this. Our mind is alert. It is ready to engage. But that mind is of little help here. You may recall that we spoke of the idea that these words do not seek to convince the mind, but rather, call something forth within you to remembering. These are two very different things that happen in two very different centers. Thusly, our meditation focuses around beginning to shift our attention from one to the other.
For those with meditation experience that includes allowing for "no thought" alertness, you may begin. For those new to meditation, or having no experience at all, just follow the simple instructions below. At the beginning you may only wish to apply yourself for a few minutes at a time. As your experience grows, you may find yourself wishing to spend more time in this process. If you are anything like I was, it might be helpful to remember that reading about a thing, and doing it, are very, very, different things. And so, let us begin.
A Simple Clearing Meditation:
Begin by finding yourself a comfortable place where you will feel relatively free of possible interruption. (Hint: If you live in a busy house, you may wish to walk to a park, or even sit in your car.) Sit upright, with your back straight and both feet planted firmly on the ground. Close your eyes. Insofar as possible, just relax. Feel how your feet connect you to the ground. Feel how your spine roots you to where you sit, whilst your head reaches toward the sky. You may wish to occupy yourself, at first, by becoming present in your body. Remaining very still, start at your toes concentrating until you can feel them. In this way, move slowly up your body, becoming aware of the energy in each part, your calves, your knees, your thighs, pelvis, stomach, chest, back, neck, lips, etc., until you reach the very crown of your head. Take your time. Let this observation absorb all of your attention. Feel the life in you.
When you have completed this scan, you may wish to just rest for a while. Breathe deeply and regularly. Take note of your breath. Concentrate your attention on it. Let your attention be completely on your breath. Watch and feel as it enters. Follow it into your chest and abdomen. Exhale slowly, feeling it move through your body and past your lips. In this way, continue to let your attention be absorbed by your breath.
Your "thought mind" may wish to jump in (it usually does). Don't fight it. Neither is it helpful to become engaged in the content of those thoughts. Instead, see the thoughts, not as content, but as "thought things". Observe them like you would a cloud, distant, amorphous, then let them drift away. They are not you. They are not important. Let them drift by. Return your attention to your breath.
You may sense feelings arise. Observe them as if you were watching a boat on the water. Do not become attached to them, just note them, and return to your breathing. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Whenever you feel ready, we will begin.
You will recall that the purpose of our time here together, this very moment, is to be reminded of, and to experience the shift in our consciousness from the subjective (or unconscious) to the objective (or conscious) life experience, and, in doing so, begin, or strengthen, our awakening.
Let us begin with a plain statement. Most of human existence is experienced as thoughts, or feelings, regarding the future or past. When those thoughts are present, the actual moments of your life, are spent in an abstraction, about other moments. In this way, the moment itself is never fully experienced. We are truly lost in our thoughts and feelings. We are constantly subject to this never ending stream of "noise". The spiritual, or awakened life, is one that is experienced in the moment, the Now. It requires neither thought, nor feelings, just our alert, undivided attention. That attention can arise, be brought to bear, only when we are not distracted by the seemingly endless noise of thoughts and feelings.
Much of our human experience is spent in avoiding, mitigating, processing, rehashing, coping with, or planning for a moment other than the one we have. In this way, we experience life as a management issue. We are getting through the best we can. Life, at least the one we want, is something just ahead, or in some cases, lamentably, just behind us.
The forms that these lives as thought or feeling abstraction take fall into a number of broad, general categories we will examine here. What they all have in common is a certain unreality, in the sense that they are abstractions, ideas, or lingering feelings, about sometime other than the one you are breathing now. The future, whatever we may wish to hold on to as comfort, is not knowable, and certainly not experienced, now. Stop for a moment. Consider your life today. Now think back, five, ten, or twenty years ago. Is it what you thought it would be? In the same way the past is largely just stories or feelings we have hung on to, largely to reinforce our general "concept" about our life. We remember selectively. We remember interpretively. In fact, the narrative of our past is just as unreal as our thoughts of the future.
Why is it then that we spend all of our time in the past or future? Or, put another way, why is it that we spend all of our energy imagining rather than being able to experience what is here and now? Why are we so attached to life as an abstraction rather than life as an experience? What exactly is so wrong with us, or the moment, that drives us to spend all of our energy seeking another one?
In our next three sections we will examine the three main things that so bewitch and bewilder us. We will examine our attachment to circumstances, thoughts and feelings. We will see how they conspire to define and subsume us. We will observe these things in a simple and rational manner. We will discover that we are not our circumstances, we are not our thoughts, and we are not our feelings. It is possible that in the process of doing so, we will, by observing these things as outside of ourselves, experience our true self, the Higher Self, that is subject to none of these things. We will begin to have the experience of who we are.
Exercise:
Practice the above meditation. Take special note of what it feels like to be Present in the moment you are in. (Do not be discouraged if you experience difficulties. Engage in this meditation to the degree that it feels helpful.) Practice. I assure you, without exception, that whatever your mind may wish to tell you, by engaging in this practice, you are progressing.
Until we meet, in these words and space again, may your every breath be Peace.
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