Recognizing Awareaness

Why is it important to be aware? You will find that not only will awareness allow you to go beyond your ego-based mind and fill your life with a clearer "view" of reality, but it will also keep you out of harm's way. Awareness can also bring more peace and enjoyment into your life. This is because you can begin to really choose your experiences and choose feeling good over feeling bad. Not only that, but awareness is also one of the stepping stones to pure awareness.

To recognize when you are aware and stay there sounds easier than it really is. Once you attempt to become aware a problem arises. That problem is being able to know when you are aware. Without knowing what awareness is, you cannot begin to recognize it. And if you can't recognize it, you can't maintain it.

As humans we experience life in five different states of consciousness. People's minds are in one of five places at any given time. They can be driving a car, walking, listening, meditating, reading a book - practically anything and their minds will be in one of five places. Even when they are asleep they will be experiencing one of these five places whih are: waking sleep, absorption, attention, awareness and pure awareness.

If you can recognize these five experiences, you will be able to recognize the moment you become aware. And when you are able to recognize awareness you can practice staying there. That ability to recognize awareness and maintain it is necessary for pure awareness. It's that simple. By closely examining these different experiences, you can see how they are indeed individual experiences. Once you are capable of recognizing them, awareness becomes clear and identifiable.

Next, we will explore the five experiences of consciousness. Check back tomorrow.

Transcend the Ego

When you are able to recognize the ego as simply an attachment to your values and feelings, you can transcend it. To transcend the ego doesn't mean to get rid of it - it means to see it for what it is, an illusion, a manifestation of the mind. This is why knowing the self is so important. The technique of being able to observe yourself while talking and listening is one of the best ways to self-observe. The knowledge of one's own identify releases the ego from the self. Your ability to recognize the ego for what it actually is depends upon how far you are willing to go in developing awareness.

A friend of mine recently had an experience of transcending the ego. He said, "I was at the airport last week waiting for my wife and some of her garden club friends to arrive from Georgia. While I was walking around inside the terminal, I was intentionally observing how the self would vacillate from being awake and aware to being egocentric. I was walking down the hallway and saw a drinking fountain and decided to go get a drink of water when a young woman walked in front of me heading for the fountain. My ego took hold, and I began walking faster. Observing this little reaction in the self led me to slow down, smile and graciously motion for her to go ahead. She smiled back and accepted my offer to go first. A feeling of well-being enveloped me with the knowing that it is possible to observe the self."

This was one simple gesture of tolerance between two beings that occurred by simply being awake in the moment. One wonders if that tolerance could occur between nations; it's nice to think that it could.

The ego as well as the self, is an illusion, pure and simple. They are both obstacles that stand in the way of becoming purely aware. Ideas about yourself and concepts of the outside physical world keep you from realizing that you are the same energy that is everywhere and in everything. By understanding how your ego works, you can slowly and steadily move further into the reality of what you truly are.

Next, we will take a look at how you can recognize awareness.

Let go Ego!

Sit comfortably in a chair and take a few deep, slow breaths. Place you attention on your breathing and imagine a soft, white light coming down from above enveloping your body giving you more love and kidness than you have ever had. Feel the light and the love and just let it be absorbed into your very being while you relax and breathe.

Slowly allow the light to enlarge and encompass anybody who happens to be nearby. Let the soft, white loving-kindness light fall upon you and the other people. Think of someone you love very much and envision what they might be doing at this very moment. Allow the loving-kindness to shine down on them giving them all the love and kindness the light has to offer. Sit for a while and just enjoy watching them receive the love.

Now think of someone you really don't like. Envision what they look like, what they might be wearing and doing right now. Allow the loving-kindness to shine down on them. Be contenct and watch them receive the love and kindness. Let the light get larger and completely envelop the entire world, giving everyone and everything loving-kindness.

As long as you are in loving-kindness the ego will stay at bay. You can practice as often as you like. Don't be concerned with how long it takes because the amount of time is not important. It could be an hour it could be a minute. The important thing is to be able to visualize and feel the light and the love.

Next - how to transcend the ego.

Evolution of the Ego

Why does the human have an ego? What good does it do to see yourself as separate and distinct as well as better or worse than someone else? Even though the ego is not tangible, it is something that is interwoven into your personality much like habits, dialect and mannerisms. The ego is the expresssion of all your values and feelings that have filtered down from thousands of generations in addition to all of the various environmental interactions that have occurred in your lifetime.

The human brain has taken a long time to evolve to its present day reasoning ability. No other animal on the face of this earth has the ability to see cause and effect like the human. Not only that, no other animal can speak and articulate thoughts like the human.

Humans have no defensive mechanisms such as scales, hooks, barbs, faings, claws, etc. Humans had a difficult time surviving in the hostile world thousands of years ago. Can you imagine having to live in an environment with large carnivorous predators that could rip your head off, no quick-stops or supermarkets, no ready-made clothes, no schools, none of the many conveniences we take for granted today. People back then had to survive on their own ingenuity, intelligence and capabilities. Those that survived passed their genes on to their offspring. As time went on the human brain became larger and smarter.

The cerebral cortex became the lifeline to living in the hostile environment of that ancient civilization. Humans became capable of performing complex cognitive functions such as thinking in the abstract, tool making and language. The brain became the organ of defense as well as offense. Humans soon were able to imagine, visualize and come up with ideas. They could now understand cause and effect and take control of their own destiny. The age of reasoning was born and humans became the hunters rather than the hunted. With this larger brain they saw themselves as separate from the world and all the other species that inhabited it. They now had a past, a present and a future - an identity they called self.

With the capacity of reasoning, conceptualizing and abstract thought, humans now had the ability to compare and judge. Humans could see one thing happen, then another thing happen and put the two together and formulate a cause and effect. They could compareand judge and predict the future, a tremendous advantage over all the other creatures. This ability to see one's self as not only separate and distinct, but also as better or worse, is what modern man calls the ego. The ego is impossible to isolate and describe because its roots go deep into the very fabric of our ancestral heritage. The ego is polygenic - reaching far and wide encompassing all humans that have ever lived - all of their fears, desires, relationships and pleasures - all of the values and feelings. The ego became an extension of the self.

Next, we will take a look at how you can lessen the hold the ego has on you, and transform negative thoughts into positive thoughts.

Ego Characteristics

By studying the ego in myself and talking to others I have come up with seven characteristics of the ego. Do you agree or disagree and can you think of some others?

1. The ego maintains the world as an illusion. The ego doesn't allow you to see the world in awe and wonderment. It keeps you isolated and separate, biased, and judgmental. This is why the ego is often said to be an illusion.

2. The ego defends. When someone gives you constructive criticism you might start explaining to them why you did what you did. When you try to defend your actions, that is the ego talking. The ego takes everything personally. You may even come back at the person, telling them what they did wrong. The ego can be offensive as well as defensive. The ego must maintain a positive self-image.

3. The ego is never satisfied. When the ego gets what it thinks it wants, it wants more. A person can have a big house, an expensive car, fine clothes, money, and still not be satisfied.

4. The ego is who you think you are. When you are identified with your name, your past, your values, your desires and feelings - these things are who you think you are. In other words, the ego is the exaggereated expression of your values and feelings - the personification of your personal mandala.

5. The ego needs thought to exist. Without thinking, the ego cannot exist. You can experience this by simply concentrating you your breath and nothing else. You will have no thoughts and no other experiences, except for breathing, and, therefore, there will be no ego.

6. The ego is elusive. When you think you have gotten rid of the ego it will reappear as something else: another thought, another concept, another bias. The ego will do everything in its power to remain alive and well.

7. The ego is time-limited. The ego believes that death is the end of the person - the being that inhabits the body. The ego needs to see the body, the name, the past and the future as real in order to be real itself. The ego must defend and protect this identity at all times and at all costs.

As TKay and MBeloved point out, the ego is not always a bad thing. Go back down and look at the third paragraph under Deadly Ego. However, the ego is neither good nor bad - it just is. For the most part, the ego is an illusion - a manisfestation of the mind.

Next, we will look at the evolution of the ego. Where did it come from and what purpose does it serve?

Deadly Ego

In the last post we saw how a negative ego can cause an outward effect and possibly harm others. Next we will see how a negative ego can harm the one with the ego.

I had a good friend, whom I'll call Justin. His number one value was achievement. Justin got his bachelor's degree at 20 and his master's degree at 22. He married a beautiful woman and they had two lovely children. When Justin was 30 years old he began work on his doctorate. He finished all of his coursework for the degree but was having trouble writting his dissertation. It seemed every time he submitted his thesis to his committee they would reject it for some reason or another. His wife found him slumped over his desk at home one evening with a suicide note. Justin had shot himself in the head. He was so attached to achieving his Ph.D. that he completely lost sight of everything else in his life. It was a tragedy for everyone concerned.

This doesn't mean that the ego is always expressed in negative and unhealthy ways. There certainly are situations where the ego is expressed in positive ways. Single donations of one dollar are given by unknown donors to all kinds of needy causes every day adding up to millions of dollars a year. Even single donors giving millions of dollars is not uncommon. All of this is okay because there is nothing wrong with feeling good. This type of ego is healthy for both the donor as well as the recipient. Gift giving is done worldwide and among all cultures. It has been going on for thousands of years and will probably continue for a thousand more because it feels good for everybody concerned.

Next, we will take a look at the seven characteristics of the ego.

Ego Out Of Control

Let's take a look at someone's mandala and see how the mandala expresses the self and how that in turn can produce a negative ego.

Sally's number one value is intimacy when it comes to relationships. She believes that intimacy is really the only way two people can stay together. According to Sally, anything else is purely artificial and could never last. Tom and Mary, on the other hand, value acceptance and take separate vacations every year. Sally can't understand how Tom and Mary can stand to be apart for two whole weeks. Sally's attachment to her values is being projected outward to other people. She expects other people to have the same values that she has. "Surely something must be wrong with their marriage," she thinks. She begins telling other people about Tom and Mary and how their marriage is on the rocks. This begins a vicious rumor that spreads within the surrounding community. Before too long everyboey is talking about how Tom and Mary can't get along and are having trouble with their marriage. This is just one little example how someone's attachment to the values can become an ego and, in turn, harm someone else.

Next, we will take a look at how an out of control ego can have even a more drastic effect on a person.

Observing the Ego

The ego is an illusion and can change from one form to another in a fraction of a second wthout realizing it. I was talking to a yoga student after class not long ago about how people tend to put labels on things. I mentioned to her that I watched Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey on their live telecast and how Tolle brought up a good suggestion on how to talk to children about the subject of staying in the moment.

Tolle gave an example of how one might talk to a child about an oak tree. He said rather than simply telling the child "It is an oak tree," say something like, "It is called an oak tree," and then help the child look at the tree in an apprciative way by observing how the sun shines through the branches into the leaves, the coolness of the shade it provides, the texture of the bark, and so on. By doing this rather than just putting a label on the tree and letting it go at that, the child can learn to observe and appreciate things for what they truly are.

As I was talking to her, I felt realy in the moment, no ego, no biases. I had no reason to feel better or worse than anybody else - I was just talking to her about the telecast. And then, for some reason, I said, "But there really are radicals out there who want to do us harm." And then she said, "Don't you know you just labeled them?" It was truly a humbling experience to realize that I went from being non-biased to being biased with an ego in a matter of a second without realizing it.

For the next day be on the lookout for your own ego. While talking to someone or writing a message to someone, reflect on what you are saying. Can you observe yourself talking or writing as though you are the witness? How many times do you use the words "I", "me" or "my"; and when you do, is it for the purpose of making yourself look better than someone else? When you speak about someone else do you have a tendency to make them look better or worse than yourself? This is what is meant by observing the ego. Be on the lookout for biases in your self. Be on the lookout for the ego.

Next we will see what can happen when the ego gets out of control.

The Ego

When a baby is born it has no ego but it does have a sense of the self. It has a desire for some milk and comfort. As time goes on the baby learns its name, the name momma and a few other names. It begins to develop a larger view of the world and its self. As the child grows it begins to believe that the self is separate from the world. At that point the ego begins developing and the separation between self and the world widens.

Before long the self has all sex petals on the mandala. The young child now has values and feelings and begins to make judgments about him/her self and the outside world. The child begins to believe that some of its values are better than some other people's values and the ego grows even larger. The ego grows out of the self (mandala) and becomes interwoven within it.

The ego has everything to do with comparing one's self with others. In order to feel good or bad someone has to be "better" or "worse" than someone else. Continue to study the mandala you made from the last session and as you study it see if you can connect the dots. Can you see how your values and feelings are connected to the outside word? For example, if someone cuts you off in traffic how are your feelings affected. How does the situation affect pleasure, comfort and fear. Does the situation affect your way of being? Use the mandala to not only get a sense of your self but also a sense of the ego.

On the next post we will talk about how to observe the ego.

Using the Mandala

Once you have written your values and feelings on the mandala you can see how it expresses the self. Carry it around with you to remind you how your values and feelings affect you as you go about your daily activities. This is the way to use your mandala - as a reflective device for things that press your buttons.

Using the mandala to look at yourself, you can begin to see why you do the things you do and react to the things you do depending on what happens outside and inside of you. It is important to remember that the mandala (the self) is not what you are but is the way you react to various situations that you encounter every day.

Next we will take a look at the ego and how the mandala relates to the ego.

The Mandala

By now you should have decided on your values and feelings from the six choices mentioned earlier. These choices come from: l) how you seek comfort, 2) how you seek pleasure, 3) your greatest fear, 4) how you do things, 5) your way of being and 6) your relationships with others.

The mandala illustrates your self. The self is that individual whom you call yourself. The self is who you think you are. In other words, it is all of those values and feelings that you have accumulated over the years of living on this planet.

When you refer to yourself it is almost always the small self you are talking about. On the other hand, the Self (big "S") usually refers to that which is always present, formless, pure and unchanging. The big Self is also known at the witness. The father of yoga, Patanjali, probably said it best, some 5,000 years ago: "Thoughts are always changing but may be witnessed by the True Self, which is never changing."

Along the right side and the bottom of this blog is a diagram of the mandala. Place your chosen values and feelings on the appropriate petals with your name in the middle. You might want to recreate the mandala by either printing it out or drawing it.

Tomorrow we will see how we can use the mandala to go further into exploring the small self and how it relates to the ego. From there we will venture into the True Self.

Comfort

One of the best ways to figure out who you are is to make a mandala of your values and feelings. A mandala is a circular geometic pattern that contains petals relating to one another in one way or another. The center of the mandala is usually reserved for an object or the name of something or someone to which all the petals refer. The subject of the mandala and how to make one will be the topic for tomorrow. For now we will focus on the comfort petal of the mandala. The object is for you to figure out what you do to find comfort.

Everyone wants to be comfortable in his or her own way. Comfort is the freedom from hardship; mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It is tranquility, serenity, contentment and well-being of he entire energy system. The type of comfort a person likes depends on many things and it is practically impossible to get a handle on the why in any case.

There are three types of comfort: peace of mind, relaxation and security and not everyone seeks all three with equal vigor. One usually stands above the other two. Which one is it for you? Being able to connect with your desires plays a very important role in recognizing your major comfort type. This is the key to opening the self box.

Peace of mind has to do with being mentally comfortable. People who seek peace of mind are looking for he absence of mental stress and anxiety. They want the presence of serenity, calmness, quietness and inner peace.

Peace of mind comes when the mind is quiet, comfortably focused, undisturbed and free from distractions. Life is not stressful. Thoughts are collected and emptied out. Quiet and calm thoughts are necessary for peace of mind.

People may seek peace of mind through meditation, reading a book, watching TV, being with a loved one, lying on th beach listening to the waves roll in, listening to soothing music, taking a vacation to some peaceful venue away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Relaxation is another form of comfort. Being relaxed refers to being physically comfortable more than mentally comfortable. You can be physically comfortable and not mentally confortable. The two are not necessarily mutually inclusive.

You could be swinging in a hammock with your body completely relaxed and the mind having all kinds of disturbing and obsessive thoughts. This scenerio is easy to understand because we have all been in this situation - body comfortable and mind disturbed. It's hard to imagine the reverse though where the mind is comfortable and the body disturbed because of the close connection between body and mind. If the body hurts it is usually difficult to have a peaceful mind. However, through meditation you can learn to have a calm mind and an aching body.

The difference between relaxed and peace of mind depends on whether you are seeking mental refuge or physical comfort. This is sometimes a difficult discernment to make given the fact that they seem similar in the etiology. To make a clear distinction between the two simply reflect on what makes you uncomfortable and then decide what you would do to ease that discomfort. If it is something that would make your mind calmer, it would be peace of mind. If it is something that would make your body calmer, it is relaxation. If peace of mind and relaxation don't seem to be what makes you truly comfortable then take a look at the next one - security.

Security means that you can put the future to rest. You may feel financially secure, have job security, a trusting relationship, protection against danger, protection against loss of life and or money and belongings. It is the ability to feel safe even if something "bad" were to happen. Security is essentially having what you need to feel secure in your life.

Much like peace of mind, security has to do with being mentally comfortable. It is a projection into the future feeling ready for any crisis or catastrophe that might happen. If you spend a lot of time planning to keep yourself, others and material things protected from what might happen so that you can have peace of mind then you are more into security than you are peace of mind. In other words, security is primary and peace of mind is secondary. You would not be able to have peace of mind if you didn't think things were safe and secure from danger.

If you have insurance to cover the cost of your house and car, health insurance and enough money in the bank to make you comfortable if the economy collapses and these things give you peace of mind, then security is definitely primary for you when it comes to being comfortable.

The next thing we will do is help you put together your personal mandala. Please come back.

Pleasure

Today we want to look at plesure and try to figure out exactly what kind of this positive feedback mechanism you like the best. There are three different kinds of pleasure all of which excite the emotional as well as the physical senses.

When the hypothalamus of the brain is stimulated by an electrical current dopamine and endorphins are secreted and pleasure is experienced. These two chemicals are different but in subtle ways. Dopamine produces a feeling of enjoyment while endorphins produce a sense of well-being. Eating, sexual intercourse and exercise will stimulate the hypothalamus similar to an electrical current. A natural rewarding positive feedback mechanism is at work. "I like it, it feels good, I feel fine" are statements you might say or think while experiencing pleasure. The reward is the sense of pleasure you get from the experience. It becomes a positive feedback motivating you to recreate the experience. This is what makes you want to continue eating, procreating and getting stronger. It has everything to do with survival of the species.

Pleasure is like an aphrodisiac, a feeling of euphoria making you yearn for more. It is positive energy which is more primitive than mental energy and because of that it can override the thinking and intellectual process of the mind. There is no desire in the mind to stop pleasure, so moving toward the feeling of enjoyment and delight encounters little resistance.

Pleasure is strictly subjective and one person's pleasure may be another person's experience of shear boredom. Other activities and events like eating chocolate, looking at a sunset, listening to music, meditating, receiving recogniton and accomplishing a task can also produce pleasurable feelings. The list of things that can engender pleasure is never ending. However, having said all that, all aspects of pleasure can be lumped into three general categories: stimulation, novelty and aesthetics. See if you can pick the one from which you derive your pleasure.

If you are into stimulation, you love things happening around you and even to you. You like it when you are moved or affected. This might be lots of loud music, social activities, conversations, an exciting television program or movie, almost anything to fill an empty space of experience.
Sky diving, bungee jumping, base jumping, rock climbing, cave diving, big-wave surfing, bull riding and bull running are all stimulating activities but they don't necessarily mean that one who takes up the activityh is into stimulation. A person might consider sky diving or cave diving peaceful and soothing for instance. On the other hand, if a person pursues such activities for the stimulation of it, he/she is definitley into stimulation. It's hard to tell what another person's motive is for seeking pleasure. The only one who really knows is the person doing the activity.

If stimulaton doesn't seem to be your cup of tea, then possibly novelty is your pleasure. Novelty can include stimulation, but it must be new and different. Doing things out of the ordinary is important to someone who is into novelty. Finding out what's behind the next door is interesting and intriguing. This could mean taking risks or experiencing things that are taboo or anti-social or even immoral. The key is experiencing the unusual. You might enjoy going on an intense roller coaster ride for the first time but repeating it might lose its value. For one who is into stimulation, however, repeated rides can still bring the "rush."
A person who likes novelty usually is going from one thing to the next, seeking the pleasure of diversity. If a person robs a bank one day, goes to church the next day, has illicit sex the following day and then takes a trip to a country he has never been to could be into novelty. But the only person that would really know would be that person.

If stimulation and novelty are not who you are, you might prefer aesthetics. Those who seek aesthetics enjoy beholding things that are beautiful such as a work of art, music, a landscape, animals, other humans, etc. The thing that you consider beautiful gives you a good feeling and you could behold it for a long time wihout becoming bored.
The old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is true when it comes to the pleasure of aesthetics. Do you like Bach or Rapp, Picasso or Rembrandt, oceans or mountains, sunset or sunrise? None of these may appeal to you and that's okay, but as long as you seek pleasure in the form of what you consider beautiful, you are definitely into aesthetics.

So what is your pleasure? Is your pleasure stimulation, novelty or aesthetics?

Tomorrow we will take a look at how you seek comfort.

Fear

Fear is a distressing negative emotion induced by a perceived threat to the self. The perceived threat is usually one which can cause harm or even death, and death is from where all other fears originate. The world in which we live is challenging and uncertain and death is a constant factor.
The fear of death is the mother of all fears and all other fears can be grouped into three types: loneliness, helplessness and nothingness. By recognizing and understanding which one these you fear the most will help unlock the door to pure awareness.

Loneliness is a very subjective experience. You can feel lonely in a crowd of people, at a party, with friends and family as well as in isolation. The feeling is usually one of emptiness and meaningless. If you feel lonely you are lonely.
If you love the stimulation of conversation and social interaction, the thought of no social interaction would be very fearful. Almost everyone feels lonely at one time or another but loneliness is not everyone's biggest fear. If one of your values is belonging or acceptance (discussed in earlier posts), chances are your biggest fear is loneliness. No one to talk to, to confer with or to exchange energy with would be the closest thing to death.

Another fear, helplessness, emerges when you feel contrained, locked in or out, trapped and unable to be free. Being unable to take care of yourself would give you a feeling of helplessness. If you value being in control (discussed earlier) helplessness would probably be your biggest fear.
Some people describe helplessness as a "feeling of being restrained, powerless, like a sinking ship, an animal in a trap." You might say that if you are helpless you might as well be dead.

Finally, there is nothingness. Nothingness is the great space where you evaporate into nothing at the end of your life. Nothingness has everything to do with what comes after death rather than the experience of being helpless or lonely prior to death.
In the Never Ending Story nothingness is described as "drowning in the swamp of sadness." This is a good analogy because when you fear nothingness there is a sadness which prevails in the mind - there is nothing after life, so why make an effort to do anything? Nothingness is the fear that death results in a dark, evelasting void with no soul, sense of being or consciousness - a state of nonexistence - a vacuum.

So, considering all three fears: loneliness, helplessness and nothingness, which one would you least like to experience?

Tomorrow the topic will be pleasure.

Going beyond the small self

The small self is who you consider yourself - all of your past experiences, your present desires, thoughts, emotions and future goals and fears. By dissolving all of those beliefs about who you are you can uncover your True Self and begin to merge into the space of pure awareness.

By making a diagram of all your values and feelings you can actually see who you are. One type of diagram is called the personal mandala. Below this post are some posts that lead you through finding your own personal values. There are three major values and each one of those in turn have three personal values. When you figure out which three are your values you have half of your mandala completed. To complete your personal mandala you will need to pick out what you fear the most, how you seek comfort and what gives you pleasure. Fear will be the topic for tomorrow.

So, if you haven't done so already, go on down to the earlier posts and pick your personal values. Keep an open mind and remember there are no good or bad values.

Path to Pure Awareaness

Pure awareness is your very nature. The problem is it has been covered over with desires, fears, values, emotions and on and on. One of my favorite gurus, Nisargadatta Maharaj, was asked, "What is a fact?" Nisargadatta replied, "What is perceived in pure awareness, unaffected by desire and fear is fact."

Self discovery and awareness are very big parts in the path to pure awareness. One's values (being unique, special, important, etc.) are all about ego. It is the ego that keeps getting in the way of pure awareness. Once you know who you are on the lower self level and can see your ego at work you have become the witness - the big Self.

Who are you?

Knowing and understanding who you are is an important step in getting in touch with your self. That is the small self - the person you call I, me and my. Why is getting in touch with your self so important? It's not important unless you (small self) want to go beyond it and into a higher realm of being - the big Self or, as the wise ones that came before us called it, the Witness.

Finding out who you are is like opening the door to an old musty house that has been locked for many years. When the door is open, new fresh air and sunshine come streaming in bringing new life into the hold house. Many people live their whole life as an old house and never know there is something beyond it.

The first step in getting to know your self is to understand exactly what your values are in life. These values are how you (small self) go about living your life in the old house. When you can see these values and how you react to life you can then become the Witness. There are three major values which every one on earth have. They are: 1) how they Do things, 2) their Way of Being, and 3) their Relationship with others. These three values in turn have three values making a total of nine interacting values giving 27 different combinations. The next three posts go through these values. See if you can figure out who you are.

What is your value for Doing?

How are you designed for getting things done? In other words how do you like to do things? There are three personal values which depict a person's approach to where they direct their energies for getting things done and for managing their life. These three values come from how you were raised and want kind of genes you inherited. The three values are control, compentence and achievement. See if you can figure out which one you are.

If you value control it doesn't necessarily mean that you are a controlling person, it means that you like staying on top of things. You like to keep things neat and orderly, make lists and generally just want to know where everything is. You like symmetry and clarity. Doing things thoroughly and mastering them is important to you - even if it takes longer. Quality is emphasized over quantity. It is not how much you do but how well you do it. You may or may not like doing many things at the same time but when you do you do them methodically and well.

If you don't value control maybe you like being able to do many things well, but not necessarily perfectly. If so, then you value being competent. For example, you may learn how to play the guitar but once you can play it well enough to your satisfaction you feel there is no need to go further. Striving to be the best is not for you, and neither is conquering something and then making a big deal out of it. Competence means being confident about what you can do. If the plumbing breaks down you can repair it. If there is an electrical problem you can deal with it, and so on. Competent people like to feel as though they are people of many talents but masters of none.

If control and competence don't seem to be who you are then you are probably an achiever. You set a goal and work at achieving that goal step by step. You like building success one small goal at a time. You may have plaques on your wall that display your conquests toward those goals. You like to take things to the next level. There is no end point for you. Achievement follows achievement.
Achievers usually become specialists in whatever they do. They have a goal and take the necessary steps to get there. Achievers may become doctors, lawyers, hairdressers, computer programmers, airline pilots. specialized mechanics and so on.

Where do you see yourself when it comes to doing? Are you into control, competence or achieving?

What is your Way of Being?

You inherited your way of being and there isn't anything you can do about it. Although you can't change your way of being you can learn to recognize it and understand it if you want to unravel the mystery of the total package called the 'self.'

There are three different ways of being, one of which is more like you than the other two. The three ways of being are: unique, special and importance. Let's take them one at a time and see which one is most like you.

Do you consider yourself to be one of a kind, with noobody in the world like you? Do you really value being different and you look at yourself as being in a class all by ourself? If you do then you value being unique. You like being unique because you can be as carefree as you want, be whatever you want and to heck with what anybody thinks. You may dress or wear your hair like no one else and that's okay because that is who you are. You may also drive a unique car or live in a anique house and that is okay too because these things make you fell good.

If you don't consider yourself unique then maybe you see yourself as special. As a special person, others make you feel like you matter. If it weren't for the admiration that someone or some people have for you, you might feel worthless. You may consider yourself a jewel - a person of high value and great worth because of what others say and think about you. As a special person you are indeed a diamond in the rough.

If you don't consider yourself unique or special maybe importance is more like you. People who consider themselves important usually have a positive self-image. You really don't care about being unique nor do you need other people to make you feel like you matter. All you need is to feel good about yourself. You take pride in accomplishment, awards, trophies, etc. that make you stand out or feel good about yourself. When you do something you do it for the satisfaction of pleasing yourself and not necessarily to please someone else. The fact that you can run faster or jump higher than someone else is all you need to feel good. You don't need to have others tell you that you are special or unique.

So, what is your way of being? There is no good or bad about a way of being. It is simply the way you are.

How do you value relationships?

The many differences between people and their relationships is one of the strongest bonds existing in the cosmic energy field. The power of association with other people as well as other beings is a living bond mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Some relationships are stronger than others but all relationships, no matter what their strengths, create awarenes toward others as well as yourself.

When people come together singly or in groups there is always some kind of energy flow. This is the power of association. Some people may harmonize like two magnets coming together, others may be repulsed while some may have no reaction at all.

One type of relationship is having the affinity for belonging - belonging to a club, church, gathering and so on. The thought of going to a family reunion, for instance, would bring a smile to your face. You might like to talk to others about their travels, work, family and hobbies and you like telling them about yourself as well. Being part of something means a great deal to you. When you are walking along with your significant other you are usually holding hands for instance. A feeling of close connection exists between you and that person.

A second type of relationship is the value of being allowd to do your own thing and being allowed to be yourself. In this type of relationship you value independence but still like being with your mate or someone special. This type of relationship is called acceptance - you don't like to be smothered with attention or affection all the time. You value your space, as it were. When walking side by side with your loved one, you are usually not holding hands. In fact one of you may be walking ahead of the other. Sometimes you might even like being left alone to do what you like by yourself but other times you like to be with that someone special and share times together.

A third kind of relationship is intamacy. This is a relationship where you love to share deep feelings with your significant other whether it's your spouse, lover, friend, relative or whomever. You like to tell that special person what is bothering you, how your day went, what you want to do with your life and all kinds of intimate details that you might not want to share with anyone else. You also like to hear the same things from them. You like knowing that you can share your feelings without any kind of repercussion from them because what you talk about never leaves the two of you. When walking side by side you usually have your arms around each other. There is no feeling of separation when you are in the moment of "we." There is a tight connection between you and your significant other.

So, which type of relationship do you value the most; belonging, acceptance or intamacy? Knowing this is one of the first steps in getting to know your self. It is important to understand that there is no good or bad in any of these relationships. They are what they are. If we judge ourselves as well as others according to our preconceived ideas and values, it is the ego talking.

John Hooper said. . .

"You cannot deny your own awareness. If you have no awareness, you cannot
respond to what I am writing. The imaginary ego, conceptual thought, beliefs, individuality -- all of these things can be denied. Awareness is not a construct of the mind. Drop everything else, every thought, belief, preference, and all of your knowledge. Awareness is not effected in the least."

Be Happy

I woke up this morning and decided I would be happy all day long. I have a choice. I can either be sad or happy, so I decided to be happy. This is a new day - there has never, ever been a day like this one in the history of earth. Good Morning. Have a Great Day.

jlcfarina said. . .

"What am I supposed to be aware of? The material-immaterial? I understand that human sight does not see all wavelengths of light. So, we are not aware of that realm. Or does being aware of its existence constitute awareness? How many more are there? Am I me? What is real?"

Neil says. . .
These are good questions and they have been asked many times over thousands of years.

In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali talks about finding the answer through intensity and quality of love. He says relax and look inside with passion and compassion and focus on one thought - "Who am I?" Use passion to hold onto the experience. Don't choose bliss or suffering but choose compassion toward all others.

The Yoga Sutras is 5,000 years old.

Today, this philosophy still holds true. These questions can be answered by looking inside of your self - not yourself. The self is who you think you are - your name, past experiences, future thoughts, desires, fears and on and on. Sit quietly and meditate on "Who am I?" Become the witness of your self. Learn to self observe.

What is pure awareness?

Pure awareness doesn't arise from anywhere, stay anywhere, or go anywhere - it is always here.

Jesus said

"The kingdom is inside of you and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

Yogi Remacharaka said

"This Being - Reality - Spirit - Absolute - the Thing that IS - The Real Thing - of course is inconceivable to the finite human intellect. Man's higher state of consciousness, as they unfold, help him to understand the matter more fully, but none may understnad the Absolute fully, unless he be the Absolute himself. The final secret is insoluble to our ordinary consci0usness, or any consciousness outside of the Absolute consciousness. But as our consciousness unfolds, we may obtain further and fuller knowledge - as sheath after sheath is thrown off, and the rays of the spiritual mind beat upon our consciousness, we are able to know many things formerly thought to be unknowable."

Yes, why don't we investigate if there are levels of pure awareness?

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj said this

"To be a living being is not the ultimate state; there is something beyond, much more wonderful, which is neither being nor non-being, neither living nor not-living. It is a state of pure awaraeaness, beyond the limitations of space and time."