N-lightenment

Something in you already knows.

The World’s Greatest Magic Trick

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magic-trickIf you love magic tricks the way I do, you may also be fascinated with figuring them out. How did they do that? Magic tricks are illusions and, if they are done skillfully, they appear absolutely real. I think it is natural to be intrigued with magic tricks because the clever magic tricks professional magicians perform actually point to a much deeper and more fundamental magic trick that is a big part of our every-day life. When we watch stage magicians, even though the illusion appears very real, we know it’s not. That’s the fun of it. If you actually believe the magician pulled a card out of your ear, it wouldn’t be fun at all. You’d probably seek medical attention. But this other illusion I’m thinking of we do believe is real. And that’s where the trouble comes in.

Most magic tricks use distraction as a fundamental tool. While we’re watching the right hand, the left hand is setting up the illusion. And the magic trick that is continually going on in your daily life also uses distraction. You might say both the illusion and the magician is the internal thought of the separate self, what you commonly call I, myself. While your attention is riveted to this thought of me, you’re distracted from seeing what life and reality are constantly showing you – there is no me. There is no separate self.

In this way, you are actually living in this magic trick, this state of perpetual illusion, without even knowing it is a trick of the mind. It feels exactly like reality to you. That’s why I say this is the greatest magic trick there is.

Just as the stage magician has a number of assistants, both seen on stage and behind the scenes, your mind magician also has many assistants. Those assistants – friends, family members, colleagues, teachers, society, language – all reinforce this illusion, which they also believe completely. Without these tireless assistants, the trick would fall apart. The mental distraction alone would not be enough without this constant reinforcement.

Because this particular illusion is nowhere near as much fun as the ones you see in a magic show, and, unlike the magic show, actually create suffering in your life, at some point you develop a strong desire to peek behind the curtain. You begin your spiritual search. You begin doing spiritual practices, like meditation and self-inquiry. And, eventually, if you are diligent and focused, you do get to peek behind the curtain. And you discover that there is no separate self there. There is no separation at all. That was just the smoke and mirrors of distracting and heavily reinforced thoughts.

You may never be able to create a mental concept of what you do find behind that curtain, other than the same analogies and metaphors other finders have used. But these are just pointers. What you discover cannot be described in a language or thought that is incapable of describing it. But it doesn’t matter. You are free. You have discovered the greatest magic trick of all time. You’ve broken through the wall of illusion and the sun of reality is shinning brightly.

Is it surprising you want to tell others about it?

Effortless Meditation

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effortless-meditation2In previous stages of awakening consciousness, we spent a lot of time and effort in our spiritual practices. We developed discipline. We began to meditate regularly and incorporated meditation into our life. We learned to focus our attention and witness our thoughts. We abandoned interests detrimental to our spiritual growth and picked up new interests and friends that encouraged it.

All this effort paid off. We experienced moments of great freedom, peace, love and bliss. They may not have lasted long, but we definitely experienced them. It was proof that we were making progress.

Now that we are in the fourth stage of awakening, it is time to draw your attention to something very important. Think very carefully about these questions. What was the cause of these transcendent experiences? How did they come about? Yes, all that effort and time spent meditating and doing self-inquiry and other practices helped. They were like plowing a field before planting your crops. But what was the actual cause? This is very important.

If you look carefully, you will see that the actual cause was nothing. It took no effort at all for these deep experiences to happen. In fact, it was the opposite of effort. It was the relaxation of all effort, of all doing, of all your thoughts and beliefs that allowed these experiences to naturally arise by themselves. Freedom, peace, love and bliss are all experiences of your natural True Nature. There is nothing you can do to attain them. They are already always here. It is the relaxation of your efforting and of your conditioned resistance to your Natural Self that allows your Natural Self to shine through. And this is wonderful.

First Make Effort to Realize No Effort

Because of all our conditioning, great effort may indeed be necessary in the beginning to reach this stage of no-effort. But now is the time when this can become clear. All the efforts you have done in the beginning are a subtle mind-set that is telling you you are not already here. You are not already your True Self. There is still something to gain, something to attain. That was necessary in the beginning to create the discipline, the focus, the concentration to realize what has always been here. If you heard this too early, you would simply lie on the couch, crack open a beer and watch television. You would completely waste your precious life. Now the fruits of all that effort have ripened. Now is the time to taste this precious fruit.

Do Not Struggle

Do not try to make these short moments of Awakened Mind longer than they are. Do not wish a previous moment of Open Awareness will return. These are just thoughts telling you that your True Self is not here right now no matter what you are experiencing. Whenever possible simply fall effortlessly into the great space of Awakened Mind. This happens as soon you relax your thoughts and let go of resistance. It is always here, so simply by relaxing your thoughts, which are the only things keeping you from experiencing what you are, brings you home. At first these short moments may only last for a few seconds. This is perfect. Don’t worry if thoughts immediately return and distract you. This is normal. Just relax again and repeat. The more you taste the unlimited expanse and freedom of your True Self, the more you will gladly return to it by simply relaxing your thoughts in these short moments.

Don’t make a big deal out of it. It’s not a big deal. Yes, it feels wonderful, but it’s simply what you are. The more you relax your thoughts and fall into this infinite spaciousness, the more you will realize this.

Short moments of Awakened Mind lead you to longer moments. And these longer moments lead you to continuous realization. It all happens naturally and effortlessly. Don’t push it. Don’t wish for longer moments. Simply accept what is in each moment. Welcome to effortless meditation. Isn’t it wonderful. It probably wouldn’t have happened, or at least not with this continuity or reliability, if you hadn’t put in all that effort to create a foundation for it. But you have. So now enjoy the fruits.

The Map of Awakening Consciousness

Stage 4 – True Love and Something More

 

Thoughts and Emotions

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thoughts-emotionsNormally we have three ways to deal with our thoughts and emotions.

We Indulge

We indulge in them. We let the completely take us over. If we have angry thoughts and emotions, we may shout or slam the door. If they are sad thoughts and emotions, we may cry or sulk or feel like a victim. If we have fearful thoughts and emotions, our body may tremble and our heart race. When we indulge in our thoughts and emotions, it feels like we have become the thought and emotion. We become lost in the thought or emotion and in this way thoughts and emotions rule our life.

We Resist

We may also resist thoughts and emotions that are unpleasant. We may avoid people or places that might trigger these thoughts and emotions. Or we repress the fact that we are even having this particular thought or emotion. This repression may offer limited temporary relief, but it doesn’t actually free us from these unpleasant thoughts and emotions. It simply stores the unpleasant thoughts and emotions in our body and in the unconscious part of our mind. This repression tends to have a very detrimental effect on our body, health, mind and life. You may have heard the expression, “What you resist persists.” Resistance actually only makes these unpleasant thoughts and emotions even stronger. Because we feel we need to resist them, we give them even more power over our life.

We Substitute

In New Age thought, it has become popular to substitute more pleasant thoughts and emotions for the negative ones. Create and repeat positive affirmations to change the negative affirmations that are already in place. Although this is a healthier and more pleasant way of dealing with unpleasant thoughts and emotions than repression, it still only offers limited and temporary relief. We are still avoiding the negative thoughts and emotions. When we do this we never learn the gifts these negative thoughts and emotions are bringing us. And we never really become free from their influence. No matter how many positive affirmations we repeat, these negative thoughts and emotions are still lurking around in the background.

It Takes Great Energy

Each of these three ways of dealing with thoughts and emotions takes enormous energy. And yet in spite of all the energy expended, these thoughts and emotions continue to affect our lives in negative ways. None of these three typical ways we deal with thoughts and emotions are effective.

The Fourth Way

And yet there is a fourth way to deal with thoughts and emotions that is highly effective, effortless and obvious. That is the Awakened Way.

The Awakened Way

The Awakened Way to deal with thoughts and emotions is simply to allow thoughts and emotions to be exactly as they are in each moment. We don’t repress, avoid, hide from or try to change anything. We also don’t get lost in the thoughts and emotions. We neither attach to the thoughts and emotions as we do when we indulge in them, nor do we resist them as we do in avoidance, repression and substitution. We simply be with all thoughts and emotions exactly as they are in each moment. We let them be what they are. That is the Awakened Way.

The Awakened Way neither attaches to nor resists anything. It lets everything come and go exactly as it is. In this way all thoughts and emotions become a great gift, teaching us the truth of what they are. By simply allowing all thoughts and emotions to be as they are in each moment, we realize that all thoughts and emotions are created from the exact same energy and cannot be separate from this energy that is their very substance. We may interpret this energy in many ways, such as fear, anger, sadness, joy or love. But the true substance of these emotions is always the same. It is none other than the infinite expanse of Pure Consciousness itself. Use any word you like for what I am calling Pure Consciousness. It is beyond all words. And yet it is the truth of what we and all beings are.

When we allow all thoughts and emotions to simply be exactly as they are in each moment without attaching or resisting, this relaxed allowing and seeing itself leads us back to the Pure Consciousness that we are. This is why all thoughts and emotions are a gift entirely for our benefit. If we get lost in thoughts and emotions or attempt to resist them, we can’t see this. None of them are anything but the pure infinite energy of Pure Consciousness. It is only our interpretation that makes them appear so different and sometimes very unpleasant.

The other great benefit of simply allowing all thoughts and emotions to be as they are is we clearly see there is no need to be attached to them or resist them. They come and go naturally as everything in nature does. In this way thoughts and emotions, which may have troubled us for years, no longer do. They simply come and go in each moment as all nature does. And their substance is none other than Pure Consciousness which is what everything that exists is. Thoughts and emotions can lead us back to this realization of Oneness. Instead of a burden, they are now seen as a gift.

Because we are neither attached nor resisting, we realize we are always free. Because we can never be separate from anything, including thoughts and feelings, we live in love with all of life.

 

 

 

Simple Advice for a Happy Life

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happiness-guaranteedAccept life in each moment exactly as it is. That’s it. That will guarantee you a happy life. Simple, right? What most of us want is for life to accept our preferences and behave as we want it to. And if it doesn’t, we’re disappointed. If we really look objectively at this approach, we realize it is quite insane and can only lead to suffering.

In every moment, life is always simply what it is. This can never change. Life doesn’t care and will never care what we want it to be. So get on board. Join the winning team. Leave those preferences, shoulds and wish-it-were-differents behind. You are not a victim. You have never been a victim. Life is neither fair nor unfair. That’s just another thought that creates suffering.

Your judgments about what is good and what is bad are also just judgments. They have nothing to do with life or reality. Life is simply what it is in each moment and it cannot be other than that except in our fantasies.

When we don’t accept life as it is in each moment, we’re swimming up stream and the current of life is not only strong it always wins. So relax. Flow with it. If life were wrong or bad, or occasionally wrong or bad, or ever wrong or bad, or even not always working for your absolute and ultimate benefit, then you would not even be alive to read this right now. It was not your enormous skill, talent and brilliance that enabled you to live long enough to read these words. It was life itself, always entirely for your benefit. Your being alive in this moment is proof of this. If you stop resisting, I think you can discover a lot more proof if you simply look.

It doesn’t mean we can’t act, can’t improve our situation or the situation of others. Of course we can. But we will be far more effective if we stop resisting life and flow with it. Life is always working for the benefit of all. Joining life in this endeavor creates not only great effectiveness, but effortlessness. We call this being in the flow, flowing with life rather than struggling against it. Struggling against life, we can’t win … ever. It may be our conditioned habit to do this, to complain, to wish things were different. Has this ever worked? Has this ever made us or anyone else happy? Of course not. How could it? We’re simply fighting reality.

Recognize that life is really on your side, totally on your side. It always has been, no matter how it may seem to you. As you relax your resistance, your fear, your fighting and struggling, this will become more and more clear to you. And your life will become increasingly more effective and happy.

 

Map of Consciousness – Introduction

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Map of Consciousness – The Journey of Awakening
Map of Consciousness – The Journey of Awakening

Introduction to the Map

If we are to set out on a journey, it’s a good idea to have a map of where we want to go. If it is a new journey, there are places on the map we have not yet discovered. These places are completely unknown to us. Friends may have described some of these places, but all we really know is that they sound interesting and seem worth directly experiencing. Other places on the map we know pretty well. We’ve spent some time there. And still other places we have only briefly glimpsed through the car window as we passed by.

This map of consciousness is like this. Some places you are very familiar with. It is where you live or where you have lived before you moved on to this new place. Some places you have just had short glimpses of. And other places you have not yet experienced at all.

On our spiritual journey it is important to know where we are and where we used to be. Where we used to be is the state of consciousness we transcended to get to the state of consciousness we live in now. Where we are is the state of consciousness we live in now. There are also states of consciousness we have had brief glimpses of in meditation, on retreats, while reading a spiritual book or just in daily life. These are brief glimpses of a higher state of consciousness but they have not yet become the state of consciousness we live in. And then there are still higher states of consciousness we have not yet experienced at all.

This map is useful to show us where we are, where we have been and where we are going. States of consciousness are more dynamic than physical places on a map. But even so, a map can be useful.

It should be obvious that we can only describe where we are and where we have been. Where we have yet to be we cannot describe, just as on a physical map. We can describe the brief glimpses we had through the car windows in passing, but these will be limited and superficial. We’re actually pretty good at describing and understanding where we used to be from the higher vantage point of where we are now. We’re actually not that good at describing and understanding where we are now when it comes to consciousness. And we’re much less capable of understanding those brief glimpses. Limited as it is, this makes a map, created by one who has been down this same path a little further than you have, quite useful.

Don’t think of these as hierarchies or any form of judgments. Higher and lower are just words. To the awakened mind, they have no meaning. I use the words higher or lower because it makes it easier to understand. At some point in consciousness, the meaning of language falls away. Certainly in Oneness, all hierarchies must dissolve.

Wherever you are on this Map of Consciousness, think of it simply as where you are without any judgment about it. If you wanted to travel to a location one hundred miles from where you currently are, you would not condemn yourself for being one hundred miles away. After you traveled fifty miles, you would not condemn yourself for being fifty miles away nor feel special because you were fifty miles closer. You would simply be wherever you are at that particular point in time. And so it is with this map. You have a destination and right now you are at a certain location moving toward it. That is all.

You Are Already at the Final Destination

And here’s something very important to realize. You are already at the highest state of consciousness. In fact, you are this highest state of consciousness. This is what you truly are, your True Self, although you may not be aware of it yet. And that’s what the map is for, to show you what you already are but simply are not consciously aware of yet. The truth is you are already at the final destination. The map is just one of several tools to help you realize this. Even this map cannot show you what the final destination actually is if there even is one. Like all journeys, the spiritual journey is an ongoing process that has no end.

You can view this map in two ways. You can see it from Stage One, Pure Instinct, to Stage Seven, Pure Consciousness / Oneness, as the progression you are taking to realize what you truly are. Or you can view it from Stage Seven to Stage One to begin with what you truly are and see the various stages that obscure this but are always included in it. Look for where you currently are on this map and where you have already been. It will be easy to see where you are because where you have been will be very clear. Where you are may be a little less clear. We always see the previous stage in our evolution with more clarity than the stage we are on. Also notice the stages you have had brief glimpses of from time to time but do not live at yet. Everything comes from pure consciousness, so it is natural to have glimpses of higher stages of consciousness even though that is not your normal day-to-day experience. These brief glimpses show you where you are heading.

At each higher level of consciousness you will experience greater freedom, spaciousness, inner silence and stillness, peace, love leading to unconditional love and happiness leading eventually to bliss. Each higher level of consciousness comes from surrendering the limitations and restrictions of the current level of consciousness. The path of awakening is a continuous letting go. Beginning in Stage Two, Consciousness as Ego, specific meditation practices help us move to the next stage. By Stage Four, Consciousness as Love / Something More, meditation becomes a natural part of living rather than something we do. It becomes more of our natural state.

Click here for the Map of Consciousness

The Gap – An Advanced Meditation Practice

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mind-the-gapAt the later stages of awakening, when you have become freer of attachment to thoughts and stories, there is another practice that will become available to you.

When you awaken from deep sleep in the morning, there is a gap between the experience of no stories in deep sleep and the recurring stories you create in the waking dream. In earlier stages of Consciousness, you probably didn’t notice this gap. It just appeared that you woke up to who you are and what the world is, same as always.

But, as you become freer of your attachment and belief in these stories, you may begin to notice this gap. The practice is simply to stay here. Just don’t let the recurring stories of the waking dream in yet. In this way, you continue the thought-less, story-less, free experience of deep sleep into your waking experience.

Keep your eyes closed at first. The eyes often trigger the stories of the world and self more than the other senses. Notice the experience of freedom and bliss here in this gap, no thoughts, no stories, just great freedom and bliss.

As you sink deeper into this story-less bliss and stabilize here, open your eyes. What do you see? Everything is completely new. It is the same ceiling, the same room, the same walls, windows and pictures. And yet you have never seen them before. They are completely new. Without a story, everything is always completely new in each moment. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? You are seeing this world without a story about it.

If you like, practice this gap meditation every morning. Begin with brief five or ten minutes. You may like to increase this to an hour or more if you have the time. Or simply get up an hour earlier if that’s convenient. I usually begin my day with two hours of this gap meditation if I don’t have a particularly early appointment. It’s just too beautiful not to. Deep sleep has already started it. Why not continue it for a while when you are fully conscious? It’s a wonderful way to start your day.

At first it will be a little challenging to function in this way more than simply continuing to lie in bed. You won’t really feel any motivation to do anything else without a story other than just lie here in this great bliss. It is very much like Samadhi. The only difference is you’re lying down instead of sitting. But eventually you realize you can get out of bed, walk around, even make breakfast and begin your day. You will realize how many things trigger a story. You’ve lived your entire life as a story so this shouldn’t be a surprise. But at this stage of your awakening and freedom from stories, you now know what to do about this. You simply let the story go and return to this story-less state of presence, freedom and bliss.

Not knowing is a helpful part of this practice. It is natural. Without a story you know nothing. You have nothing to know. Knowing anything was always just another story. You only knew a story. So recognizing that you don’t know anything cancels out any stories that might arise.

Welcome to a life free of stories. Enjoy this great presence, freedom and bliss.

To see the entire Map of Consciousness – the Journey to Awakening click here.