N-lightenment

Something in you already knows.

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

 

The Self That Seeks Awakening

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self-seeking-awakening2A recent post in praise of the ego was a wonderful reminder of something more subtle on the spiritual path. Although far more subtle, even our search for enlightenment and awakening can, and often does, have a self-serving mind state. “I want to awaken because I will be happier.” “I will have less suffering.” “I will be more special than those who are not awake.” “I can become a spiritual teacher.” There are many variations of this self serving approach. It is as if we expect the ego itself to awaken and become a better, more enlightened ego.

 And there is much spiritual teaching that caters to and encourages this. We might call it “the enlightened self” or the “divine self”. And this is not bad or good. It may be a useful transition. When we realize that even the very best, most enlightened and most divine self cannot give us the peace, happiness and love we are searching for, we can begin to see through the dream completely.
 
It is natural for this self-serving to appear on the beginning of our journey. But, at some point, we realize this self-centered approach cannot get us very far. It is like a dog chasing its own tail. No matter how much effort we expend, we just end up going in circles.
 
Awakening is not for the ego; it is from the ego. It is a complete relaxation of all identification with this thought-based sense of a separate self. Because we have been so conditioned to believe this experience of a separate self is real, the undoing of this belief is not always so simple. This is what spiritual practice is for. We are not adding anything. We are simply removing conditioned illusions we have believed our entire life. We have been programmed. Spiritual practice is de-programming. It is not substituting a new and better belief. It is shedding all beliefs, so truth can be realized as itself in each moment.
 
There is nothing wrong with the ego or any illusionary thought. They are simply thoughts. It is only our belief in them as reality, our identification and our attachment that creates so much mischief and suffering in our lives.
 
To experience truth, simply relax all thoughts, all beliefs. Relax into what is always here. No thought, no belief, no ego, no separate self, no matter how “enlightened” or “divine”, can ever give you This. And when you do this, you won’t worry about the ego or the “enlightened” or “divine” self any longer. You will find something much more. And you will find that you and everything that exists have never, ever been separate from This. It is not your ego that has awakened. It it not your separate self that has come Home. It is you. And this you cannot even be imagined. 

Awakened Mind

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awakened-mindIn Zen, we use the words Big Mind or Buddha Mind. In non-dual teaching we may call this Pure Consciousness or Pure Awareness. Both refer to the same Awakened Mind.
 
Big Mind or Awakened Mind is different from small mind. Small mind is simply the mind involved in thoughts, attached to thoughts, addicted to thoughts and living in thoughts. We could also call this thought-mind.
 
If you want to experience Awakened Mind, simply stop thinking for a moment. Stop focusing on your thinking. Stop giving thinking any attention. Because of our strong thinking habits, we will only be capable of doing this for a very short time at first. But here it is. In the space between thoughts, we discover this Big Mind, this Awakened Mind.
 
We may call this Big Mind, because it is infinitely large. It has no limits and no beginning nor end. We may not realize this in our first brief experience of freedom from indulgence in thinking mind. That’s okay. It’s perfect. Awakened Mind is infinite so there is no end to our experience of it. Simply continue these brief moments of focusing on the space between thoughts and Awakened Mind will become clear.
 
Over time, over these brief moments of freedom from the world of thinking, the realization of Awakened Mind will unfold. We will come to realize that Awakened Mind is always here. It is here in this space between thoughts. And it is here during thoughts. It is here when we are happy and when we are sad. There is no time, nor has there ever been any time, when Awakened Mind has not been here.
 
As we sink deeper into this experience, this realization of Awakened Mind, we realize that this is truly what we are and have always been. Previously we may have been convinced we were a series of thoughts, feelings, experiences or sensations we called me. But now we know these were just thoughts, feelings, experiences and sensations. Now we realize that we are the infinite space that all of this appears in. We realize that all things also must be this same Awakened Mind, all thoughts, all feelings, all senses, all perceptions. all people, all things. Nothing can ever be outside of this Awakened Mind. It is that Big.
 
Although no thought can be separate from Awakened Mind, Awakened Mind is never affected by any thought. It neither rejects nor attaches to any thought. Awakened Mind is like space. Everything appears in space, but space is never affected nor changed by anything that appears in it.
 
Realizing this Awakened Mind is very simple. Do not try to understand it or anything written here with the thought-mind. Simply relax the thought-mind for a moment. In this space between thoughts, no matter how brief this may be, here shines Awakened Mind. As you continue these short moments of directly experiencing Awakened Mind, you will naturally spend longer periods of time in this realization. It is too wonderful not to. As you do this, you will come to realize that Awakened Mind is always here. No matter how busy the mind of thoughts may be, Awakened Mind is always here. No thoughts nor anything else can be separate from Awakened Mind. It is the Source of everything we think, feel, sense or perceive. As these short moments grow, you will realize yourself as this same Awakened Mind.

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.

 

 

 

Living an Awakened Life

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complictate-simpleLiving an awakened life is the simplest and most obvious thing in the world. It is brain-dead simple. What is incredibly difficult and complicated is not living an awakened life.

There are few essential, fundamental differences between living an awakened life and not living an awakened life.

Accept Life As It Is

Living an awakened life means you accept every moment of life exactly as it is. You don’t fight and struggle against life wishing it were different. Fighting and struggling with life and wishing it were different makes no sense at all. It is extremely difficult, complicated and creates enormous suffering. Life is always going to be exactly as it is in each moment. When you accept this completely, you don’t suffer. It couldn’t be more simple or obvious.

You Are Not Separate From Life

You don’t believe you are separate from life. You don’t imagine or feel that you are a separate being encased in a body, that you are here inside this body and the rest of life is outside. This is also simple and obvious. How could any person or anything be separate from life?

You Are Much Greater Than A Separate You

You recognize and experience that there is something much greater, infinite and eternal, beyond all thoughts, beyond space and time, without beginning or end and that neither you nor anything or anyone else is separate from this. And, although you could never describe it, you experience this as what you and everything else fundamentally are.

This may not seem as simple and obvious as the first two. But if you try to discover what is aware of seeing these words, what is aware of the sounds in your room, what is aware of everything, and you don’t rely on thoughts, because you won’t find it there, then, in this space between thoughts, you will discover this. And you will realize that this is the simplest and most obvious thing of all.

There are many practices on this website that can help guide you to the direct realization of these most simple and obvious truths. Because awakening is so fundamental to what we are, nothing is added. The practices simply strip away what obscures this obvious truth. Although the Journey to Awakening has a great deal of information, advice, practices and links, all of it is pointing to these three simple truths.

Map of Consciousness – Journey to Awakening

Living Awake

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.