Many, many people are not awake. Their mind and body are not in sync with each other. Eating and reading, driving and texting, walking and talking, working out and listening to an ipod. The mind is not focused on the task at hand.
I remember when I was 21. I had my real first job as a biologist and my partner was older, about 40. While we were having lunch at a Chinese restaurant one day he told me to slow down and eat one piece of food at a time. He said, "Take one bean and place it on your tongue. Taste it and feel its texture. Roll it around in your mouth for a little while before chewing it. And when you chew it, chew it very slowly tasting every molecule that comes out of the bean." He said, "Think of the bean as the only piece of food you will ever get for the rest of your life."
I thought he was kidding me. What kind of eating is that, to eat one bean at a time? But I did it anyway. That was my first encounter with mindful eating. My tastbuds came alive, and when I bit into the bean every flavor, every essence of the bean came alive and burst open in my mouth. What an awakening that moment was. That first encounter of eating with intention was permanently embossed in my memory.
Last week my wife and I went biking on the Hawthorn Trail. After biking we loaded our bikes on the back of the pickup and drove into Micanopy and had lunch at the Old Florida Cafe. I had a delicious bowl of chili and Nancy had a Cuban sandwich. After lunch we drove home, unloaded the bicycles and went inside. About an hour later a knock came at the door. It was a man who frequently comes around wanting to wash and wax cars. He had a friend with him and I let them wash and wax the pickup. When they finished I paid them and they left. The pickup was still in the driveway where I left it. I got in it to park it under the shade tree and noticed my billfold was not where I usually put it. I immediately thought, "The guy that did the inside of the truck must have taken it." I looked everywhere inside and outside the pickup. I called the Old Florida Cafe to see if I left it there. It wasn't there. I looked in the house, on the bookshelves, in my pants, everywhere. No billfold.
I called the bank and cancled my credit card and ordered a new one. The next day Nancy and I drove to Ocala to the driver license office and I got a new license. I bought a new billfold. I went to AAA and got a new card. I called my health insurance company and auto insurance company and had them send me new insurance cards.
Today, four days later, Nancy walks in the house and says, "Guess what I found," as she holds my billfold in her sweet little hand. "I found this in my bicycle basket." When I took the biclycles off the rack I must have dumped my wallet in her basket with the intention of getting it later. I was not in the moment. I don't know what I was thinking but I sure wasn't aware. I was in waking sleep.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Lost Consciousness
When you are awake, thinking and responding in some why or another to the world around you, you are conscious. You know you are conscious because you have a sense of what's around you and a sense of being present in the world. It's not difficult to understand what consciousness is. But it is a little harder to grasp the idea that there are different levels of consciousness.
Many people spend much of their waking hours in lower levels of consciousness. The lowest level of consciousness is when a person is thinking of something while doing something else. It is easy to get lost in thought and forget what you are doing or what you did while in the lower level. If you have ever lost your keys, forgotten where you parked your car, gone into a room and forgot why you went there, put an item on top of your car to open the door and drove off with the item still on top of the car, called someone on the phone and forgot who you called, or forgot whether or not you took your pills; you know exactly what I'm talking about. You were in the lowest level of consciousness - "waking sleep." We have all done these things or something similar. It's because it takes very little, if any, effort to be in this state of waking sleep.
We can have all the intention in the world to be totally awake and in the moment but for some reason the mind will begin to wander out of the moment and we will lose track of what we are doing. It's like we automatically fall back into waking sleep before we know it. It takes effort to stay in a higher level of consciousness and because of that, the mind will slide into waking sleep before we know it. It most often happens when we become distracted or bored.
I can be driving down the highway in full awareness - feeling my hands on the wheel, foot on the pedal, aware of the traffic and feeling completely in the moment and not thinking of anything but driving. I might be saying to myself, "I am driving down the highway now. The traffic is rather fast this morning. The car ahead of me is passing the car in front of it." And then a road sign appears to the side with a picture of some food, advertising a local cafe. My thoughts turn to, "That was quite a meal we had last night. The salad was superb and the fresh salmon was excellent. I would like to go there again sometime. I especially liked the cute waitress." In a split second my full attention to driving became waking sleep.
Continued
Many people spend much of their waking hours in lower levels of consciousness. The lowest level of consciousness is when a person is thinking of something while doing something else. It is easy to get lost in thought and forget what you are doing or what you did while in the lower level. If you have ever lost your keys, forgotten where you parked your car, gone into a room and forgot why you went there, put an item on top of your car to open the door and drove off with the item still on top of the car, called someone on the phone and forgot who you called, or forgot whether or not you took your pills; you know exactly what I'm talking about. You were in the lowest level of consciousness - "waking sleep." We have all done these things or something similar. It's because it takes very little, if any, effort to be in this state of waking sleep.
We can have all the intention in the world to be totally awake and in the moment but for some reason the mind will begin to wander out of the moment and we will lose track of what we are doing. It's like we automatically fall back into waking sleep before we know it. It takes effort to stay in a higher level of consciousness and because of that, the mind will slide into waking sleep before we know it. It most often happens when we become distracted or bored.
I can be driving down the highway in full awareness - feeling my hands on the wheel, foot on the pedal, aware of the traffic and feeling completely in the moment and not thinking of anything but driving. I might be saying to myself, "I am driving down the highway now. The traffic is rather fast this morning. The car ahead of me is passing the car in front of it." And then a road sign appears to the side with a picture of some food, advertising a local cafe. My thoughts turn to, "That was quite a meal we had last night. The salad was superb and the fresh salmon was excellent. I would like to go there again sometime. I especially liked the cute waitress." In a split second my full attention to driving became waking sleep.
Continued
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Pure Awareness cont'd
Another practice for experiencing pure awareness is one in which you start off by using the power of your imagination. Once you become accustomed to the experience you can let your imagination go and simply be in that space of higher consciousness. The longer you can stay there without using your imagination the better.
To begin this practice you should sit in a comfortable position free from distractions. Keep your eyes open so that you can be open to everyting and anything surrounding you. Take a few secons and observe your body without labeling anything and then begin observing things that are a little further away from you. Observe textures, colors, contours, shadows, etc. without labeling or judging. Fix you gaze on one object and let your eyes rest on it. Take some deep, slow breaths and relax, realx, relax, deeper, deeper and deeper.
Once you are totally relaxed, imagine a gigantic, transparent canopy high in the sky over your head. The canopy contains all of the love and compassion contained in the universe. Stay with this image and continue to relax.
Now imagine the canopy getting larger and thicker like a large cloud that begins to slowly envelope you. The canopy of love and compassion permeates your body but yet it still extends out into the universe and into infinity. Stay with this image and continue to relax even further. You may begin to feel a warmth of love, kindness and compassion being emitted. This is where you want to be.
If you can the feel the warmth, the love and the kindness permeating throughout your body, stay there as long as you like. This is where you want to be. When you can do this, you can go beyond thoughts, beyond ego and into complete and undeniable pure awareness.
Once you have mastered being in this state of higher consciousness you can shed your imagination and take the practice with you wherever you go. To some people, this experience is a portal to the Divine; they experience a sense of complete peace - free from suffering caused by negative thoughts, fears, and worries.
It is impossible to be in this state of consciousness and with the Divine and be hateful, greedy or sad. When you are there, positive energy floods into you very being and negative energy flows out.
Next time we will go further into the practice of pure awareness.
To begin this practice you should sit in a comfortable position free from distractions. Keep your eyes open so that you can be open to everyting and anything surrounding you. Take a few secons and observe your body without labeling anything and then begin observing things that are a little further away from you. Observe textures, colors, contours, shadows, etc. without labeling or judging. Fix you gaze on one object and let your eyes rest on it. Take some deep, slow breaths and relax, realx, relax, deeper, deeper and deeper.
Once you are totally relaxed, imagine a gigantic, transparent canopy high in the sky over your head. The canopy contains all of the love and compassion contained in the universe. Stay with this image and continue to relax.
Now imagine the canopy getting larger and thicker like a large cloud that begins to slowly envelope you. The canopy of love and compassion permeates your body but yet it still extends out into the universe and into infinity. Stay with this image and continue to relax even further. You may begin to feel a warmth of love, kindness and compassion being emitted. This is where you want to be.
If you can the feel the warmth, the love and the kindness permeating throughout your body, stay there as long as you like. This is where you want to be. When you can do this, you can go beyond thoughts, beyond ego and into complete and undeniable pure awareness.
Once you have mastered being in this state of higher consciousness you can shed your imagination and take the practice with you wherever you go. To some people, this experience is a portal to the Divine; they experience a sense of complete peace - free from suffering caused by negative thoughts, fears, and worries.
It is impossible to be in this state of consciousness and with the Divine and be hateful, greedy or sad. When you are there, positive energy floods into you very being and negative energy flows out.
Next time we will go further into the practice of pure awareness.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Practicing Pure Awareness cont'd
The following practices are designed to help you experience pure awareness so you can increase your consciousness over time. The first practice is called Walking with Grace. This is the practice of being an observer of all things that happen to come into your field of vision, hearing, smelling and so on while you are walking.
To do this practice you want to walk in silence and just notice and observe, without giving names and labels to things. You can walk inside or outside but I suggest outside because of the greater variety of objects you can incounter. While you are walking, be alert and open to everything that is such as smells and sounds as well as things you see. If you smell newly mown grass, for example, don't say to yourself, "Mmm, the smell of new mown grass." You want to be able to let labeling disappear and just be in the moment of enjoying the smell of what is. If you hear a bird chirping, just let the name "bird" pass through you and simply learn to enjoy the sound. The makes of automobiles, the structures of houses, people (male, female, thin, fat, muscular), the names of plants (oak, elm, sapling), the names of animals (dog, cat, squirrel), are non-existent while walking with grace.
As you walk, walk as though are seeing the world for the very first time. Everything is bright and new with no names. Have the mind of a newborn child. When someone walks toward you, let the person be a signal to continue walking with grace. Make an effort to notice when your consciousness wanes into waking sleep, absorption and attention. Be like a child, awake, alert and full of curosity. See the world in a new light, full of wonderment and appreciation for everything that it is.
Next, we will take a look at another practice.
To do this practice you want to walk in silence and just notice and observe, without giving names and labels to things. You can walk inside or outside but I suggest outside because of the greater variety of objects you can incounter. While you are walking, be alert and open to everything that is such as smells and sounds as well as things you see. If you smell newly mown grass, for example, don't say to yourself, "Mmm, the smell of new mown grass." You want to be able to let labeling disappear and just be in the moment of enjoying the smell of what is. If you hear a bird chirping, just let the name "bird" pass through you and simply learn to enjoy the sound. The makes of automobiles, the structures of houses, people (male, female, thin, fat, muscular), the names of plants (oak, elm, sapling), the names of animals (dog, cat, squirrel), are non-existent while walking with grace.
As you walk, walk as though are seeing the world for the very first time. Everything is bright and new with no names. Have the mind of a newborn child. When someone walks toward you, let the person be a signal to continue walking with grace. Make an effort to notice when your consciousness wanes into waking sleep, absorption and attention. Be like a child, awake, alert and full of curosity. See the world in a new light, full of wonderment and appreciation for everything that it is.
Next, we will take a look at another practice.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Practicing Pure Awareness cont'd
When I practice pure awareness it becomes easy for me to see the transitions occuring between the different levels of consciousness. When my mind is thinking of something other than what my body is doing, such as walking down stairs and thinking of a conversation I had with my wife yesterday, I am definitely not in pure awareness; I'm in waking sleep. It is easy for me to catch myself in waking sleep now, and when I do, I immediately come out of it and go right into pure awareness.
The other morning I woke up with a sore throat. The soreness was just on one side and stung a little when I swallowed. I immediately thought, "Throat cancer." And then I said to myself, "Where did that thought come from?" I looked deep into my past and remembered my mother calling me on several occasions claiming that either she or my father had cancer of one type or another. Although there has never been anybody on either side of our family having cancer, my mother could turn practically any symtom into "cancer." My thought of throat cancer probably stemmed from either my upbringing or something dredged up from genetics. By the way, the sore throat went away in a few days.
By observing my thoughts I have learned that the connection between thoughts, emotions and reactions is tightly bound like boards glued together with Elmer's. A thought can create an emotion like worry, anger, sadness, happiness, hate, envy, love and so on. Those emotions in turn can cause a reaction in the body either internally or externally. For example, worry can cause ulcers; anger can cause high blood pressure; love may urge someone to hug somebody and hate can start a fight.
By being able to observe my thoughts allows me to become someone or something other than myself - a higher consciousness, if you will. This is what many of the sages and gurus call the "True Self." The True Self is not exactly the same thing as pure awareness because with the True Self there is not necessarily a feeling of connection to a higher Source. The True Self is more or less the same thing as the Witness. When I am the Witness, or the True Self, I am capable of observing the self with all its thoughts, emotions and reactions. Usually when the Witness takes over, the self no longer behaves negatively with thoughts of worry, anger, hate or envy. It becomes a loving, caring and understanding self.
The one who I think I am is an illusion and does not exist except in my mind. The one who I truly am, the Self is beyond thought and encompasses everything. Thre is only one - the Witness. I can now hear the call of a higher center, I listen to it. I don't avoid my thoughts and emotions and I don't go against what once imprisoned me. I am beginning to understand my reality as a whole, and it is the act of seeing my consciousness. It is that which sees and that which is seen blending into a single being, an uncomtaminated energy that is free from negative thoughts and emotions.
It has been a long time coming for me to develop the ability to witness my thoughts. It has taken much practice in meditation, self-observation and self-remembering. I am at the point now where I am beginning to see progress. I am beginning to really understand myself and thoroughly understnad why I react the way I do and do the things I do. The ability to catch a thought before it causes a negative reaction or a negative emotion is a monumental step for me. It is a feeling of freedom and emancipation from being tied down by negative thoughts and emotions.
The other morning I woke up with a sore throat. The soreness was just on one side and stung a little when I swallowed. I immediately thought, "Throat cancer." And then I said to myself, "Where did that thought come from?" I looked deep into my past and remembered my mother calling me on several occasions claiming that either she or my father had cancer of one type or another. Although there has never been anybody on either side of our family having cancer, my mother could turn practically any symtom into "cancer." My thought of throat cancer probably stemmed from either my upbringing or something dredged up from genetics. By the way, the sore throat went away in a few days.
By observing my thoughts I have learned that the connection between thoughts, emotions and reactions is tightly bound like boards glued together with Elmer's. A thought can create an emotion like worry, anger, sadness, happiness, hate, envy, love and so on. Those emotions in turn can cause a reaction in the body either internally or externally. For example, worry can cause ulcers; anger can cause high blood pressure; love may urge someone to hug somebody and hate can start a fight.
By being able to observe my thoughts allows me to become someone or something other than myself - a higher consciousness, if you will. This is what many of the sages and gurus call the "True Self." The True Self is not exactly the same thing as pure awareness because with the True Self there is not necessarily a feeling of connection to a higher Source. The True Self is more or less the same thing as the Witness. When I am the Witness, or the True Self, I am capable of observing the self with all its thoughts, emotions and reactions. Usually when the Witness takes over, the self no longer behaves negatively with thoughts of worry, anger, hate or envy. It becomes a loving, caring and understanding self.
The one who I think I am is an illusion and does not exist except in my mind. The one who I truly am, the Self is beyond thought and encompasses everything. Thre is only one - the Witness. I can now hear the call of a higher center, I listen to it. I don't avoid my thoughts and emotions and I don't go against what once imprisoned me. I am beginning to understand my reality as a whole, and it is the act of seeing my consciousness. It is that which sees and that which is seen blending into a single being, an uncomtaminated energy that is free from negative thoughts and emotions.
It has been a long time coming for me to develop the ability to witness my thoughts. It has taken much practice in meditation, self-observation and self-remembering. I am at the point now where I am beginning to see progress. I am beginning to really understand myself and thoroughly understnad why I react the way I do and do the things I do. The ability to catch a thought before it causes a negative reaction or a negative emotion is a monumental step for me. It is a feeling of freedom and emancipation from being tied down by negative thoughts and emotions.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Art of Practicing Pure Awareness
Up to this point I have talked about how you can find out Who You Are by picking your values and feelings and making your own personal mandala. The mandala reflects your self and from the self the ego is produced. I have talked extensively about the ego and all of its characteristics, how to recognize the five states of consciousness and what pure awareness is. Now we can focus on the practice of staying in that wonderful state of consciousness.
Practice is essential in order to disengage the mind's automatic response of returning to duality. Once you realize you are in pure awareness, you can either stay there or choose to go back to duality. Choosing to go back to duality thinking is different from automatically going back to duality. Once you realize you are in pure awareness, all it takes is practice to remain there.
As pure awareness increases, you will see impartiality increasing as well. Pure awareaness and impartiality are directly correlated. Another way of saying this is, the longer you are able to maintain pure awareness, the more you will transcend the ego, the "I" and discrimination. This will become quite apparent as practice continues because people will become friendlier, happier, more compassionate, and loving. This is not necessarily because they are that way but because you are. People will reflect what you become. If you are friendlier, happier, more compassionate and loving, other people will be friendlier, happier, more compassionate and loving too. Probably one of the most enlightened people in the world, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, had this to say about pure awaraeness:
"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 awareness, beyond the limi-
tations of space and time."
When a friend of mine saw this statement she asked, "Can a person exist in pure awareaness and still go about his or her daily activities?" That is a very good question because as mortal beings with rational minds we find it hard to conceive of a state of pure awareness and still function in everyday life. In my own life, I know people who definitely reside in pure awareaness and live busy and productive lives. They live every second of every day full of joy and love, give lectures and workshops all over the world, and enjoy every moment to the fullest.
Continued tomorrow
Practice is essential in order to disengage the mind's automatic response of returning to duality. Once you realize you are in pure awareness, you can either stay there or choose to go back to duality. Choosing to go back to duality thinking is different from automatically going back to duality. Once you realize you are in pure awareness, all it takes is practice to remain there.
As pure awareness increases, you will see impartiality increasing as well. Pure awareaness and impartiality are directly correlated. Another way of saying this is, the longer you are able to maintain pure awareness, the more you will transcend the ego, the "I" and discrimination. This will become quite apparent as practice continues because people will become friendlier, happier, more compassionate, and loving. This is not necessarily because they are that way but because you are. People will reflect what you become. If you are friendlier, happier, more compassionate and loving, other people will be friendlier, happier, more compassionate and loving too. Probably one of the most enlightened people in the world, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, had this to say about pure awaraeness:
"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 awareness, beyond the limi-
tations of space and time."
When a friend of mine saw this statement she asked, "Can a person exist in pure awareaness and still go about his or her daily activities?" That is a very good question because as mortal beings with rational minds we find it hard to conceive of a state of pure awareness and still function in everyday life. In my own life, I know people who definitely reside in pure awareaness and live busy and productive lives. They live every second of every day full of joy and love, give lectures and workshops all over the world, and enjoy every moment to the fullest.
Continued tomorrow
Friday, July 15, 2011
Pure Awareness cont'd
Pure Awareaness is wider and deeper than any of the other experiences (absorption, attention and awareness) and is a knowing without thinking. It is a sense of everything without mental content. It is when object and subject merge into universal awareness, excluding nothing, so that there is no separation between anything. To put it succinctly it could be said that pure awarenessis a state of non-duality. What is non-duality you might ask. Well, before venturing off into non-duality, let's take a look at duality first.
To the human eye everything exists as individual objects. There are you and me - two people, each one an object, something that can be seen, felt, heard, even smelled and tasted. We detect objects with our senses and that is how we perceive the world. "Seeing is believing" is an oft-heard saying that people rely on for describing the truth. Eye witnesses are considered very reliable in the courtroom and are often called upon to testify. Sometimes hearing witnesses are called upon to testify as well, for example, how many gun shots were fired? Most of the time, it's the eye witness who is the trusted collaborator for truth and justice. In reality, eye witnesses are usually very unreliable and good lawyers show that to be the case every day. Five people can see the same thing, but when they describe what they saw, each one tells a different story. Is it because they are lying? No, it's because they didn't see or hear the same thing they thought they saw or heard.
There is a popular story in the U.S. Navy about a ship that was torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II. As the ship was going down the sailores aboard were jumping overboard in water that was ablaze with oil on top of the water. In order to get away from the sinking ship they had to swim down and under the fire to the other side. At the court of inquiry some of the sailors said they heard two explosions as the ship was going down while other sailors testified they had heard only one explosion. How could this be? Upon further investigation it was discovered that both groups of sailores were telling the truth. The sailors who heard one explosion had already surfaced when the explosion occurred while the other sailors were still under water, swiming for their lives. When the second group surfaced, they heard another explosion, hence two explosions. A physics professor explained to the court that sound travels faster in water than it does in air. Therefore, while the second group of sailors was under water the explosion occurred and they heard it before the first group on the surface did. When the second group surfaced they heard the same single, explosion a second time. In actuality there was only one explosion.
You cannot depend on your brain's interpretation of the world to be accurate. Even though most often the brain's accuracy is questionable, in most cases that's all you have to work with to function in the three-dimensional world. There are objects and there is space between the objects - about 95% more space. Most people interpret the world as a world of dualities - good and evil, up and down, male and female, Republicvans and Democrats, here and there, you and me, them and us, love and hate.
Thinking in terms of duality keeps the body and mind irreducibly distinct. This means that neither mind nor matter can be reduced to each other in any way. Mental and physical properties are categorically distinct and cannot be reduced into one antoher. This allows matter to be labeled, classified and categorized into units and subunits. It frees up the mind, so to speak, allowing you to think objectively; as though everything is separate and distinct from the self.
Duality is an illusion because everything is made out of the same stuff - infinitely small particles and space. Particles and space are known as matter and matter is not as it seems. Reality, or the natural world, as we know it, is merely made up of different concentrations and configurations of quantum energy. How we view reality will always be an illusion because of the inability of our human senses to detect the energy patterns, waves and particles which make up matter. Perceiving and forming mental images is not reality.
Continued
To the human eye everything exists as individual objects. There are you and me - two people, each one an object, something that can be seen, felt, heard, even smelled and tasted. We detect objects with our senses and that is how we perceive the world. "Seeing is believing" is an oft-heard saying that people rely on for describing the truth. Eye witnesses are considered very reliable in the courtroom and are often called upon to testify. Sometimes hearing witnesses are called upon to testify as well, for example, how many gun shots were fired? Most of the time, it's the eye witness who is the trusted collaborator for truth and justice. In reality, eye witnesses are usually very unreliable and good lawyers show that to be the case every day. Five people can see the same thing, but when they describe what they saw, each one tells a different story. Is it because they are lying? No, it's because they didn't see or hear the same thing they thought they saw or heard.
There is a popular story in the U.S. Navy about a ship that was torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II. As the ship was going down the sailores aboard were jumping overboard in water that was ablaze with oil on top of the water. In order to get away from the sinking ship they had to swim down and under the fire to the other side. At the court of inquiry some of the sailors said they heard two explosions as the ship was going down while other sailors testified they had heard only one explosion. How could this be? Upon further investigation it was discovered that both groups of sailores were telling the truth. The sailors who heard one explosion had already surfaced when the explosion occurred while the other sailors were still under water, swiming for their lives. When the second group surfaced, they heard another explosion, hence two explosions. A physics professor explained to the court that sound travels faster in water than it does in air. Therefore, while the second group of sailors was under water the explosion occurred and they heard it before the first group on the surface did. When the second group surfaced they heard the same single, explosion a second time. In actuality there was only one explosion.
You cannot depend on your brain's interpretation of the world to be accurate. Even though most often the brain's accuracy is questionable, in most cases that's all you have to work with to function in the three-dimensional world. There are objects and there is space between the objects - about 95% more space. Most people interpret the world as a world of dualities - good and evil, up and down, male and female, Republicvans and Democrats, here and there, you and me, them and us, love and hate.
Thinking in terms of duality keeps the body and mind irreducibly distinct. This means that neither mind nor matter can be reduced to each other in any way. Mental and physical properties are categorically distinct and cannot be reduced into one antoher. This allows matter to be labeled, classified and categorized into units and subunits. It frees up the mind, so to speak, allowing you to think objectively; as though everything is separate and distinct from the self.
Duality is an illusion because everything is made out of the same stuff - infinitely small particles and space. Particles and space are known as matter and matter is not as it seems. Reality, or the natural world, as we know it, is merely made up of different concentrations and configurations of quantum energy. How we view reality will always be an illusion because of the inability of our human senses to detect the energy patterns, waves and particles which make up matter. Perceiving and forming mental images is not reality.
Continued
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Pure Awareness cont'd
Being in pure awareness brings me into a totally different realm of existence. I automatically turn to the inner world and the outer world by taking less thought and more insight to the Source. I become attuned to the silence deep within the core of my very being - the transforming life force - the True Self. I realize that I am not my body and my mind - I am one with everything that is and everything that isn't - the All.
The inner world is the innermost depths of my body; all the way to the cells, the molecules, atoms and further. The inner world is everything in the body to infinity. When I am in this inner realm I am no longer the body. The inner world is an experience - it is not thinking. The outer world is everything outside the body: the trees, sky, stars and beyond. The outer world is everything outside the body to infinity. The outer world is also an experience and not thinking.
In pure awareness there is no "I" or "me." Even though there may be chaos all around, all is quiet inwardly and outwardly with silince permeating my experience. A friend of mine was recently taking a walk along a lake one sunny afternoon and described his experience this way. "Wow! Everything is so vivid. Everything is just happening - going on - movements and colors are very clear and crisp. Everything is continuous and everything is like a mosaic. No separation. All is continuous in an infinite space that stretches out without boundaries. Movement is effortless and there is a feeling of timelessness - a feeling of space without a self or a location - never ending."
It seems there are various experiences possible in this knowing that you are one with everything. One is that you are the space of awareness that contains everything. Some people say this is the intimate feeling of being in the presence of a higher power while others experience themselves to be part of an impartial and indifferent space called the universe. In other experiences, people feel like they "melt" into and actually become the vast space of awareness.
We may have a variety of labels for pure awareness but our concepts and interpretations do not really matter. These are simply conceptualizations that do not belong in the direct experience. There is no way one can accurately describe their experience of pure awareaness. We are limited in our senses and our knowing but we can experience a profound love and appreciation for what extends beyond whatever we want to call it.
Continued
The inner world is the innermost depths of my body; all the way to the cells, the molecules, atoms and further. The inner world is everything in the body to infinity. When I am in this inner realm I am no longer the body. The inner world is an experience - it is not thinking. The outer world is everything outside the body: the trees, sky, stars and beyond. The outer world is everything outside the body to infinity. The outer world is also an experience and not thinking.
In pure awareness there is no "I" or "me." Even though there may be chaos all around, all is quiet inwardly and outwardly with silince permeating my experience. A friend of mine was recently taking a walk along a lake one sunny afternoon and described his experience this way. "Wow! Everything is so vivid. Everything is just happening - going on - movements and colors are very clear and crisp. Everything is continuous and everything is like a mosaic. No separation. All is continuous in an infinite space that stretches out without boundaries. Movement is effortless and there is a feeling of timelessness - a feeling of space without a self or a location - never ending."
It seems there are various experiences possible in this knowing that you are one with everything. One is that you are the space of awareness that contains everything. Some people say this is the intimate feeling of being in the presence of a higher power while others experience themselves to be part of an impartial and indifferent space called the universe. In other experiences, people feel like they "melt" into and actually become the vast space of awareness.
We may have a variety of labels for pure awareness but our concepts and interpretations do not really matter. These are simply conceptualizations that do not belong in the direct experience. There is no way one can accurately describe their experience of pure awareaness. We are limited in our senses and our knowing but we can experience a profound love and appreciation for what extends beyond whatever we want to call it.
Continued
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Pure Awareness
Like waking sleep, absorption, attention and awareness, pure awareness is a state of consciousness. Let me explain what is meant by consciousness before we go any further into pure awareness.
Consciousness is a state of mind in which you are identified with the body, the mind and have a sense that the outside world is separate from you. This is how you spend your entire life except in deep, non-dreaming sleep and when the mind is between thoughts. There is another time and that is when you are dead. But the rest of the time you are conscious - awake and in dreaming sleep. So, with that, let's proceed on with pure awareness.
The highest state of consciousness is beyond concepts and is often called transcendent consciousness or pure awareness. This is the state of beingness in which you are the world, not of the world or in the world. You are "I Am" - the whole world. Pure awareness can increase to a greater and greater degree of "I Anness" where the loosely connected bonds to the lower levels of consciousness become even more loosely connected. At the outer edges of pure awareness, connection to the higher Source replaces the connection to body and mind. At this point you experience being one with everything.
You can never completely separate yourself from consciousness unless you lose total attachment to your body and mind. This is beyond any state of consciousness and is often called the Absolute. As mentioned above, this happens when you are in deep, non-dreaming sleep, when you are having absolutely no thoughts as during mindful meditation and when you are dead. When there are no thoughts and no body there is no consciousness.
This may all sound a little confusing and even wierd but that's because pure awareness is difficult to describe to someone who has never experienced it. You may have experienced pure awareness at various time in your life and not realized it. It may have been when you gazed at a beautiful sunset in awe. For that brief, tender moment you were not your body and you were definitely not in your thinking mind, but you were immersed in the beauty and wonderment of the experience. At that moment you were one with all that is.
Continued tomorrow.
Consciousness is a state of mind in which you are identified with the body, the mind and have a sense that the outside world is separate from you. This is how you spend your entire life except in deep, non-dreaming sleep and when the mind is between thoughts. There is another time and that is when you are dead. But the rest of the time you are conscious - awake and in dreaming sleep. So, with that, let's proceed on with pure awareness.
The highest state of consciousness is beyond concepts and is often called transcendent consciousness or pure awareness. This is the state of beingness in which you are the world, not of the world or in the world. You are "I Am" - the whole world. Pure awareness can increase to a greater and greater degree of "I Anness" where the loosely connected bonds to the lower levels of consciousness become even more loosely connected. At the outer edges of pure awareness, connection to the higher Source replaces the connection to body and mind. At this point you experience being one with everything.
You can never completely separate yourself from consciousness unless you lose total attachment to your body and mind. This is beyond any state of consciousness and is often called the Absolute. As mentioned above, this happens when you are in deep, non-dreaming sleep, when you are having absolutely no thoughts as during mindful meditation and when you are dead. When there are no thoughts and no body there is no consciousness.
This may all sound a little confusing and even wierd but that's because pure awareness is difficult to describe to someone who has never experienced it. You may have experienced pure awareness at various time in your life and not realized it. It may have been when you gazed at a beautiful sunset in awe. For that brief, tender moment you were not your body and you were definitely not in your thinking mind, but you were immersed in the beauty and wonderment of the experience. At that moment you were one with all that is.
Continued tomorrow.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Awareness cont'd
Be aware of judging. Let me give you an example of what this means. I went to the doctor a few days ago for a checkup. After I checked in at the front desk, I was ushered into an examining room where I waited for 90 minutes. As time crept by, I could hear the doctor talking to another patient in the next room. As I was sitting there, I noticed thoughts that went something like, "There he is talking to her knowing that I am waiting here. How rude of him to keep me waiting like this." Almost immediately I became aware of that thought and that judgment and realized it's okay to have that judgment but there is no need to get upset. I remained cool, calm and collected. "Everything is fine." I felt my presence, remained in the moment and surprisingly, I enjoyhed the wait. It gave me time to practice being aware and in the moment. Moments like this will happen. Take advantage of these preceious moments.
Awareness can be a major source of information that gets to the core of meaningful experiences such as emotons and motivation. This is because when you are aware you can actually notice your thoughts, feelings and even inquire into your beliefs. When you are in absorption and attention its impossible to observe thoughts and emotions.
It is very important to be able to recognize awareness when you are in it because all it takes is a little "jump" to get into pure awareness from there. Pure awareness is a step beyond awareness, but it entails a larger and more magnificent realm of being.
Next, we will explore some of aspects of pure awareness.
Awareness can be a major source of information that gets to the core of meaningful experiences such as emotons and motivation. This is because when you are aware you can actually notice your thoughts, feelings and even inquire into your beliefs. When you are in absorption and attention its impossible to observe thoughts and emotions.
It is very important to be able to recognize awareness when you are in it because all it takes is a little "jump" to get into pure awareness from there. Pure awareness is a step beyond awareness, but it entails a larger and more magnificent realm of being.
Next, we will explore some of aspects of pure awareness.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Awareness cont'd
The reason for talking about the body and how it is nothing more than an organic mass is to convery the fact that you are not your body. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj often told the people who came to hear him talk to understand that fact. At his home in India on June 19, 1981 he told his followers, "You are not your body, you are the consciousness. There is no imprint of personality, it is the manifest consciousness. The very idea that you are the body is ridiculous: the consciousness is experiencing its manifestation. A rare being will realize this."
To know you are not the body all you have to do is sit in quiet mindful meditation and watch your thoughts. Get in the most comfortable position possible so you won't be disturbed by anything causing your body to ache. Focus all of your attention on your breathing and stay there. When thoughts come up simply notice them and let them go. Do not judge the thoughts. Each time a thought appears bring your attention back to your breathing. This is all your do. If you want to, you can set a timer for your meditation period. I like to do 60 minutes. You can set the timer for any length that suits you. The longer you sit the more thoughts you will have and the more thoughts you have the greater the opportunity for larger and larger gaps between thoughts. That's what you want - gaps between thoughts. When you are in a gap there are no thoughts, and if there are no thoughts there is no consciousness. If there is no consciousness, there is no body. The gap period is the experience of the Absolute.
A few posts back I talked about having the sense of presence. Presence is the energy that runs through the body and gives you that sense of being. The sense of being is not the body but the feeling of the energy within and without the body. When you are doing mindful meditation, discussed above, you will probably have the sense of presence. It is a very delightful feeling.
Another interesting thing about being in awareness is you can actually be aware of judging. It has to do with the ability to obsere things and events with impartiality and non-judgment. It is an acceptance of whatever is happening in your experience, whether it is "good" or "bad." This means staying with the experience and allowing it to yield its meaning to you. This includes being impartial of being judgmental - being aware of judging. This is being truly "objective" to your experiences in the best possible sense.
The next post I will give you an example of what I'm talking about.
To know you are not the body all you have to do is sit in quiet mindful meditation and watch your thoughts. Get in the most comfortable position possible so you won't be disturbed by anything causing your body to ache. Focus all of your attention on your breathing and stay there. When thoughts come up simply notice them and let them go. Do not judge the thoughts. Each time a thought appears bring your attention back to your breathing. This is all your do. If you want to, you can set a timer for your meditation period. I like to do 60 minutes. You can set the timer for any length that suits you. The longer you sit the more thoughts you will have and the more thoughts you have the greater the opportunity for larger and larger gaps between thoughts. That's what you want - gaps between thoughts. When you are in a gap there are no thoughts, and if there are no thoughts there is no consciousness. If there is no consciousness, there is no body. The gap period is the experience of the Absolute.
A few posts back I talked about having the sense of presence. Presence is the energy that runs through the body and gives you that sense of being. The sense of being is not the body but the feeling of the energy within and without the body. When you are doing mindful meditation, discussed above, you will probably have the sense of presence. It is a very delightful feeling.
Another interesting thing about being in awareness is you can actually be aware of judging. It has to do with the ability to obsere things and events with impartiality and non-judgment. It is an acceptance of whatever is happening in your experience, whether it is "good" or "bad." This means staying with the experience and allowing it to yield its meaning to you. This includes being impartial of being judgmental - being aware of judging. This is being truly "objective" to your experiences in the best possible sense.
The next post I will give you an example of what I'm talking about.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Awareness continued from yesterday 7/6/11
One time I was asked to examine a dead body that had been found on a riverbank near a salt marsh to see if I could determine how long the body had been in the water. There were barnacles encrusted on the skeleon and since I was a marine biologist, the coroner thought maybe I could tell how old the barnacles were and, therefore, how long the body had been in the water.
When I walked into the morgue I immediately smelled death. The odor, left over from dead bodies through many years, was pungent and lingering. The room where the body lay was windowless with white walls and bright lights and very cold to keep bodies from rapidly decomposing. The body was on a stainless steel table with a plastic sheet over it. At first, I had the feeling of not wanting to be there at all - the feeling of wanting to turn around and go back outside. I felt like I didn't belong there.
When the coroner uncovered the body, it was mostly a skeleton with a little bit of rotting flesh clinging here and there. There were a few sprigs of hair on the head and there wasn't much of a face except for some muscle where cheeks once were. The eyeballs were long gone, eaten away by crabs and small fish. There were no internal organs except for part of a trachea.
Interest overtook apprehension as I began examining the barnacles on the bones. Looking more closely at the skull and down to the dark thin ribs I realized that this once was a walking, talking, breathing human with the same fears, wants and desires that I have. This was once a person who referred to himself as "me," but now this rotting body had nothing to do with the life that once inhabited it. It no longer felt joy and love and could never feel pain again. How could this be? How could a body filled with so much life and energy one minute be nothing more than a curious object the next?
While examining it, I was thinking that this body is nothing more than just a thing that has no permanence at all. Once life leaves the body it is entirely useless and wastes away in the blink of an eye. How closely we identify with the body to the point of trying to keep it looking youthful with all kinds of surgeries, make-up, hair-coloring, diets, clothing and drugs. We adorn the body with jewelry, we exercise beyond the point of exhaustion to keep its muscles firm and yet, much like the self, this is not what we are.
This body, which once housed living energy, helped me realize that how the body looks is not who or what we are. Each body is different but the power, the force, the energy, is the same in all of us. Life is vastly more than matter, physical appearance, and physical process. Although energy appears inanimate and tenuous, there is no denying that it is inherent in all that exists. The vibrating forces of energy pervades throughout space and every galaxy as well as your mind and every cell of your body. The 16th century physician, philosopher and scientist, Auroleus Parcelsus said, "The human body is vapor materialized by sunshine mixed with the life of the stars."
Continued tomorrow.
When I walked into the morgue I immediately smelled death. The odor, left over from dead bodies through many years, was pungent and lingering. The room where the body lay was windowless with white walls and bright lights and very cold to keep bodies from rapidly decomposing. The body was on a stainless steel table with a plastic sheet over it. At first, I had the feeling of not wanting to be there at all - the feeling of wanting to turn around and go back outside. I felt like I didn't belong there.
When the coroner uncovered the body, it was mostly a skeleton with a little bit of rotting flesh clinging here and there. There were a few sprigs of hair on the head and there wasn't much of a face except for some muscle where cheeks once were. The eyeballs were long gone, eaten away by crabs and small fish. There were no internal organs except for part of a trachea.
Interest overtook apprehension as I began examining the barnacles on the bones. Looking more closely at the skull and down to the dark thin ribs I realized that this once was a walking, talking, breathing human with the same fears, wants and desires that I have. This was once a person who referred to himself as "me," but now this rotting body had nothing to do with the life that once inhabited it. It no longer felt joy and love and could never feel pain again. How could this be? How could a body filled with so much life and energy one minute be nothing more than a curious object the next?
While examining it, I was thinking that this body is nothing more than just a thing that has no permanence at all. Once life leaves the body it is entirely useless and wastes away in the blink of an eye. How closely we identify with the body to the point of trying to keep it looking youthful with all kinds of surgeries, make-up, hair-coloring, diets, clothing and drugs. We adorn the body with jewelry, we exercise beyond the point of exhaustion to keep its muscles firm and yet, much like the self, this is not what we are.
This body, which once housed living energy, helped me realize that how the body looks is not who or what we are. Each body is different but the power, the force, the energy, is the same in all of us. Life is vastly more than matter, physical appearance, and physical process. Although energy appears inanimate and tenuous, there is no denying that it is inherent in all that exists. The vibrating forces of energy pervades throughout space and every galaxy as well as your mind and every cell of your body. The 16th century physician, philosopher and scientist, Auroleus Parcelsus said, "The human body is vapor materialized by sunshine mixed with the life of the stars."
Continued tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Awareness continued from yesterday 7/5/11
The goal in feeling presence is to come to the realization that you are neither the self nor the ego but a much higher being. You are a being which is the awareness. You are aware of the body both inside and out - its enery, vibrancy, the prana, the life-force, but you are not the body. You are the witness or the observer of the body and everything that goes along with it. It is not difficult to learn how to feel presence yet it is very rewarding. It's a win-win situation.
After practicing getting in touch with presence in yoga class the other day, I asked if anyone cared to share their experience. One of the students said she experienced "a connectedness that I am seldom aware of." We all sat for a moment and slowly began nodding our heads in agreement. Presence is with us all of the time but we fail to recognize it or be in touch with it because we are too busy with our everyday lives to notice it. What a shame, because if we could, we would feel completely here and now all of the time, not in our heads.
Presence is not imagination or an illusion, it is as real as sunlight. It is formless yet fills every cell in your body from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. Feeling presence is the portal that allows you to break through the ego barrier because by feeling it you become the witness of your body, your thoughts, and the energy within. Once you feel presence you may recognize a connection between your own awareness and the awareness of a higher consciousness. It is truly an enlightening experience.
The process of learning how to feel presence consists of two distinct parts. 1) Being aware of your thoughts and body sensations. As you sit in silence, thoughts will pass in and out of the mind and subtle sensations will occur in your body such as discomforts here and there, the process of breathing, the growl of a hungry stomach, an itchy nose, the heart beathing, and so on. 2) The simple act of just letting all your judgments of those thoughts and sensations dissolve into neutrality - letting your experiences be neither good nor bad but just be.
As you sit in non-judgment of your thoughts and your body sensations, you will probably begin to have a deeper and more relaxed feeling. With practice your ability to let all of the thoughts and sensations go will increase the intensity of your awareness. As you continue to be more and more aware, you will soon realize that what you are doing is becoming the witness of your body and your mind at the same time.
This discussion will continue tomorrow. Please pass by this way.
After practicing getting in touch with presence in yoga class the other day, I asked if anyone cared to share their experience. One of the students said she experienced "a connectedness that I am seldom aware of." We all sat for a moment and slowly began nodding our heads in agreement. Presence is with us all of the time but we fail to recognize it or be in touch with it because we are too busy with our everyday lives to notice it. What a shame, because if we could, we would feel completely here and now all of the time, not in our heads.
Presence is not imagination or an illusion, it is as real as sunlight. It is formless yet fills every cell in your body from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. Feeling presence is the portal that allows you to break through the ego barrier because by feeling it you become the witness of your body, your thoughts, and the energy within. Once you feel presence you may recognize a connection between your own awareness and the awareness of a higher consciousness. It is truly an enlightening experience.
The process of learning how to feel presence consists of two distinct parts. 1) Being aware of your thoughts and body sensations. As you sit in silence, thoughts will pass in and out of the mind and subtle sensations will occur in your body such as discomforts here and there, the process of breathing, the growl of a hungry stomach, an itchy nose, the heart beathing, and so on. 2) The simple act of just letting all your judgments of those thoughts and sensations dissolve into neutrality - letting your experiences be neither good nor bad but just be.
As you sit in non-judgment of your thoughts and your body sensations, you will probably begin to have a deeper and more relaxed feeling. With practice your ability to let all of the thoughts and sensations go will increase the intensity of your awareness. As you continue to be more and more aware, you will soon realize that what you are doing is becoming the witness of your body and your mind at the same time.
This discussion will continue tomorrow. Please pass by this way.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Awareness
The level, and the highest so far discussed, of consciousness known as awareness is unlike absorption or attention. When you are aware you know that you are in the moment. The question is how can you come into this moment of awareness? To come into the present moment, one of the best ways is to get "in touch" with your whole body; the outside as well as the inside, both at the same time. The feeling of the whole body is often referred to as "feeling presence." Once you have felt presence you have found the ultimate teacher and your awareness can expand to include the environment and everything around you. In other words, as your experience of being in the moment increases so will awareness.
When you understand the self and the ego you will realize they are not what you are. As I have mentioned several times, the self is who you think you are - your name, occupation, fears, desires and so on: in essence, all of your personal values and feelings.
Remember your mandala that you made in the previous posts? That represents your self. Don't forget to look at it from time to time. Your mandala will bring you closer and closer to knowing your self better than anything you can use. Learn to use your mandala often.
The ego is an extension of the self; an exaggeration of some or all of these values and feelings. The self is basically innocuous, but the ego becomes more and more pathological as it becomes larger. The relationship between the self and the ego can be likened to the deadly nightshade plant (belladonna). The purple flower of belladonna is harmless but the black seeds it produces can cause hallucinations and even death. The self, like belladonna's flower, is not dangerous while the ego, like belladonna's toxic seeds, can be deadly.
This discussion will be continued tomorrow.
When you understand the self and the ego you will realize they are not what you are. As I have mentioned several times, the self is who you think you are - your name, occupation, fears, desires and so on: in essence, all of your personal values and feelings.
Remember your mandala that you made in the previous posts? That represents your self. Don't forget to look at it from time to time. Your mandala will bring you closer and closer to knowing your self better than anything you can use. Learn to use your mandala often.
The ego is an extension of the self; an exaggeration of some or all of these values and feelings. The self is basically innocuous, but the ego becomes more and more pathological as it becomes larger. The relationship between the self and the ego can be likened to the deadly nightshade plant (belladonna). The purple flower of belladonna is harmless but the black seeds it produces can cause hallucinations and even death. The self, like belladonna's flower, is not dangerous while the ego, like belladonna's toxic seeds, can be deadly.
This discussion will be continued tomorrow.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Attention cont'd
The power of attention can come in handy in certian situations. If you are sawing a piece of wood on a table saw, being attentive to the saw blade and the wood is important, but also to your hands and fingers as well as to anybody that happens to be around you. Your field of vision becomes wider, but you are still focused on the process of sawing. If your attention narrows too much and focuses only on the blade cutting through the board, you no longer notice your immediate surroundings or body. You have become absorbed in the sawing. Or worse yet, you could go into waking sleep. This could be dangerous and a serious accident could occur as a result.
Years ago when I was in high school, a friend of mine, Mark, who worked at the local lumbar yard, was sawing a pierce of wood on a band saw when he ran the blade between his fingers, through his hand and up to his wrist before he knew it. Mark had been sawing wood for most of the afternoon and lost his power of attention and went into absorption without realizing it. Fortunately, he did not lose his had, but he never regained full function of it.
Another very important situation that requires attention is driving an automobile. While driving you want to pay attention to the big picture: the road,the surroundings, the dials on the dashboard and what your body is doing, especially your hands. In the United States 50,000 people are killed on the highway every year. We have to be conscious of the act that we are zooming down the road in a 3,000 lb. machine going 70 MPH. This is not a computer game, this is for real. The U.S. government's highway safety agency released a study on April 20, 2006 involving 43,300 hours of data. The agency researched 100 vehicles in metropolitan Washington, D.C. for one year, tracking 241 drivers. Nearly eight out of 10 collisions involved the lack of attention from the driver just moments before impact. Many people just don't take driving a car seriously. They view commuting to and from work as an inconvenience and try to makeup for the time lost by doing other things such as putting on make-up, combing hair, talking on a cell phone, texting, receiving and answering e-mail, eating, selecting CDs to ut in the player and day dreaming. One woman was videoed "with her knees up on the steering wheel, sheet music in her lap playing the flute."
The fourth level of consciousness, awareness, will be the discussion for the next post. See you tomorrow.
Years ago when I was in high school, a friend of mine, Mark, who worked at the local lumbar yard, was sawing a pierce of wood on a band saw when he ran the blade between his fingers, through his hand and up to his wrist before he knew it. Mark had been sawing wood for most of the afternoon and lost his power of attention and went into absorption without realizing it. Fortunately, he did not lose his had, but he never regained full function of it.
Another very important situation that requires attention is driving an automobile. While driving you want to pay attention to the big picture: the road,the surroundings, the dials on the dashboard and what your body is doing, especially your hands. In the United States 50,000 people are killed on the highway every year. We have to be conscious of the act that we are zooming down the road in a 3,000 lb. machine going 70 MPH. This is not a computer game, this is for real. The U.S. government's highway safety agency released a study on April 20, 2006 involving 43,300 hours of data. The agency researched 100 vehicles in metropolitan Washington, D.C. for one year, tracking 241 drivers. Nearly eight out of 10 collisions involved the lack of attention from the driver just moments before impact. Many people just don't take driving a car seriously. They view commuting to and from work as an inconvenience and try to makeup for the time lost by doing other things such as putting on make-up, combing hair, talking on a cell phone, texting, receiving and answering e-mail, eating, selecting CDs to ut in the player and day dreaming. One woman was videoed "with her knees up on the steering wheel, sheet music in her lap playing the flute."
The fourth level of consciousness, awareness, will be the discussion for the next post. See you tomorrow.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Attention
Like absorption, attention also takes place in the moment, but you are not aware of being in the moment. Unlike absorption, however, there is a feeling of separation between the observer and the observed - you and the object. For example, if you are looking at a tree, you experience being separate from the tree and that there is distance and space between you and the tree. You, as the observer, are not directly experienced as the source of the act of paying attention. The observer is more of a thought of the self than an awareness of the self. This thought of yourself as the observer relates to what you are doing (i.e. observing) instead of what or who you are. The definition of self is how you see yourself as a human being - your name, values, what you do for a living, fears, etc. discussed earlier on this blog. There is no sense of self while in attention.
In this experience, the field of view can be narrow or wide depending on what you are doing at the moment. For instance, you can be paying attention to detail, as in concentration, or you can be "looking around" and paying attention to many objects surrounding you. For example, there is a good deal of difference between looking in a microscope and watching a living, moving amoeba versus looking through binoculars and scanning the horizon for elk. One is a narrow field of vision and the other is wider.
During attention, you are more alert to what is happening in front of and around you than when you are absorbed. "Attention to detail," "pay attention," and "be attentive" are phrases often used to bring a person back into this experience. In attention, you also have no sense of presence. Presence is the feeling of existing - the power of being, rather than a human being - a changeless, formless, desire-less state of undeniable freedom. When in attention, you won't have the feeling of presence. If you have the feeling of presence, you are not in attention any longer, you are automatically in awareness - the subject of the next post.
In attention, there is a sense of voluntary paying attention or observing. This sometimes feels like an act of will expecially when it is related to trying to focus on something that is not interesting to you. I remember when I was in high schoo, I didn't like history. It took all of the willpower I had to stay awake and pay attenion to what the teacher was saying.
Let's go back to the example of watching a movie that was being discussed in the absorption post below. This time, rather than being absorbed you remain attentive to things around you - the person next to you, the person kicking your chair, the frame around the movie screen, people talking and the airplane flying over the theater. You are not disturbed by what's going on around you. You are simply being attentive. This is being in the moment because you are not thinking of the past or the future. You experience what's going on both on the screen and in the room. Attention can shift back and forth to and from the screen and the room. There is a moment to moment attention. You might be more focused on the action on the screen one moment and then the room another moment.
If your focus suddenly becomes narrower and deeper, and you become emotionally involved in the movie you can easily slip back into absorption. This is neither good nor bad, it just is. It is something you can simply experience for yourself. You can experience going back and forth between absorption and attention while doing most anything - running, riding a bike, walking, watching a ball game, watching television, talking to someone, etc.
On the next post we will take a look at how attention can save you from harm.
In this experience, the field of view can be narrow or wide depending on what you are doing at the moment. For instance, you can be paying attention to detail, as in concentration, or you can be "looking around" and paying attention to many objects surrounding you. For example, there is a good deal of difference between looking in a microscope and watching a living, moving amoeba versus looking through binoculars and scanning the horizon for elk. One is a narrow field of vision and the other is wider.
During attention, you are more alert to what is happening in front of and around you than when you are absorbed. "Attention to detail," "pay attention," and "be attentive" are phrases often used to bring a person back into this experience. In attention, you also have no sense of presence. Presence is the feeling of existing - the power of being, rather than a human being - a changeless, formless, desire-less state of undeniable freedom. When in attention, you won't have the feeling of presence. If you have the feeling of presence, you are not in attention any longer, you are automatically in awareness - the subject of the next post.
In attention, there is a sense of voluntary paying attention or observing. This sometimes feels like an act of will expecially when it is related to trying to focus on something that is not interesting to you. I remember when I was in high schoo, I didn't like history. It took all of the willpower I had to stay awake and pay attenion to what the teacher was saying.
Let's go back to the example of watching a movie that was being discussed in the absorption post below. This time, rather than being absorbed you remain attentive to things around you - the person next to you, the person kicking your chair, the frame around the movie screen, people talking and the airplane flying over the theater. You are not disturbed by what's going on around you. You are simply being attentive. This is being in the moment because you are not thinking of the past or the future. You experience what's going on both on the screen and in the room. Attention can shift back and forth to and from the screen and the room. There is a moment to moment attention. You might be more focused on the action on the screen one moment and then the room another moment.
If your focus suddenly becomes narrower and deeper, and you become emotionally involved in the movie you can easily slip back into absorption. This is neither good nor bad, it just is. It is something you can simply experience for yourself. You can experience going back and forth between absorption and attention while doing most anything - running, riding a bike, walking, watching a ball game, watching television, talking to someone, etc.
On the next post we will take a look at how attention can save you from harm.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Absorption
Everyone experiences absorption probably more often than they realize. You are watching a movie and become so caught up in it that you feel as though you are with the actors and experiencing what they are supposedly experiencing. You are one with the action. You are totally unaware of your surroundings. Your heart is beating faster, your palms are sweaty, you are not even aware of the person sitting next to you, the edges of the screen or the theater itself.
There are many other examples of absorption. Imagine being in terrible pain, lost in music, or hanging on the edge of your seat with your favorite team on the one yard line and a chance to win the game. Although you are in the moment, you are not aware of being in the moment. And since you are not aware of your self or the surroundings other than what you are immersed in, you are in a very narrow experience. This might seem to the the same as waking sleep, we talked about yesterday,but it isn't. In absorpltion, the mind is completely immersed in the object and there is no sense of what the boldy is doing or what's going on around you. In waking sleep there is still some sense of what your body is doing and vaguely what's happening around you.
Absorption can also occur while daydreaming, in deep thought, reading a book, staring into a fire, watching an athletic event, television show, a Broadway play, listening to someone giving an interesting speech or just about anything.
In absorption, you may scream a profanity at someone or even hit someone. Later, when you look back at the event you may feel embarrassed or remorseful, and even say "I just lost it, I was not myself." And, in fact, that is true because there was no experience of self present. Drugs such as alcohol and marijuana are very good at getting people absorbed so much so that they completely lose sight of who they are and where they are. The effects of absorption can be recognized best after you have experienced it. Coming out of absorption can be interesting because it's much like having been asleep and oblivious to yourself and the immediate surroundings. Interestingly, when you come out of absorption, it appears as though time as passed very quickly. You may take a look at the clock and say something like, "Where did the time go?"
Absorption can take many forms. We can find that most of our entertainment includes being absorbed as an escape from the drudgeries and demands of the practical world. Even intentional, deep problem solving can be an instance of absorption. An example would be the absentiminded professor who is lost in his head.
When I was in undergraduate school I had a chemistry professor whom we all called Doc. Doc was known for his absentmindedness in school as well as around town. His wife told this story to my mother. Doc drove to town one day with his two children and walked home by himself. When he got home his wife asked him where the children were. He was so absorbed in his head he forgot that he drove to town and has his children with him.
The third level of conscousness is attention. Tomorrow we will take a look at this familiar level.
There are many other examples of absorption. Imagine being in terrible pain, lost in music, or hanging on the edge of your seat with your favorite team on the one yard line and a chance to win the game. Although you are in the moment, you are not aware of being in the moment. And since you are not aware of your self or the surroundings other than what you are immersed in, you are in a very narrow experience. This might seem to the the same as waking sleep, we talked about yesterday,but it isn't. In absorpltion, the mind is completely immersed in the object and there is no sense of what the boldy is doing or what's going on around you. In waking sleep there is still some sense of what your body is doing and vaguely what's happening around you.
Absorption can also occur while daydreaming, in deep thought, reading a book, staring into a fire, watching an athletic event, television show, a Broadway play, listening to someone giving an interesting speech or just about anything.
In absorption, you may scream a profanity at someone or even hit someone. Later, when you look back at the event you may feel embarrassed or remorseful, and even say "I just lost it, I was not myself." And, in fact, that is true because there was no experience of self present. Drugs such as alcohol and marijuana are very good at getting people absorbed so much so that they completely lose sight of who they are and where they are. The effects of absorption can be recognized best after you have experienced it. Coming out of absorption can be interesting because it's much like having been asleep and oblivious to yourself and the immediate surroundings. Interestingly, when you come out of absorption, it appears as though time as passed very quickly. You may take a look at the clock and say something like, "Where did the time go?"
Absorption can take many forms. We can find that most of our entertainment includes being absorbed as an escape from the drudgeries and demands of the practical world. Even intentional, deep problem solving can be an instance of absorption. An example would be the absentiminded professor who is lost in his head.
When I was in undergraduate school I had a chemistry professor whom we all called Doc. Doc was known for his absentmindedness in school as well as around town. His wife told this story to my mother. Doc drove to town one day with his two children and walked home by himself. When he got home his wife asked him where the children were. He was so absorbed in his head he forgot that he drove to town and has his children with him.
The third level of conscousness is attention. Tomorrow we will take a look at this familiar level.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Experiences of Consciousness
"Your experiences are in the realm of consciousness." Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Consciousness is the act of being awake. It is in this consciousness where your experiences occur. Your mind is always in one of five states of consciousness at any one time no matter what you are doing. You can test it out for yourself. What we are going to do is go through these five states of consciousness and you can see them first hand.
The first and lowest level of consciousness is waking sleep. It is also called "mind wandering" or "day dreaming" and it happens to us more often than we realize.
Waking sleep is a period of time when you are thinking of one thing and your body is doing something else. Or, you may not be thinking at all - just "spaced out." You might be driving your car while thinking about arriving at your destination or thinking about something else while reading this paragraph. Most of the time the mind is in the future or past but waking sleep can also happen in the present such as while walking down a flight of stairs, while working a crossword puzzle or reading a road map while driving. It is like being in two different places at the same time. You basically know what your are doing (driving, walking, working) and you are vaguely aware of your surroundings. To see waking sleep from the outside, just watch people walking or driving while they are texting or talking on their cell phones. Just about everyone knows what waking sleep is because they have experienced it firsthand. Most people can tell you about their own experiences of being in waking sleep.
Why is waking sleep so common? Because the mind/brain machine is usually on automatic, like a machine without an operator. It is cranking out programs of beliefs, thoughts, images, perceptions and feelings without anybody home. The self is absent, the house is vacant so to speak. Also, it takes no effort to be in waking sleep, so humans being human, take the plath of least resistance and the mind will "slide" into waking sleep before you know it. It's easier to be in waking sleep than paying attention to what you are doing.
This morning I went into the bathroom to get a spray ointment to put on my dog's paws and when I got there I forgot why I went there. I was thinking of something else while walking toward the bathroom and when I got there the reason for going slipped my mind. About ten minutes later I saw my dog licking his paws and remembered why I went into the bathroom.
Next, we will look at the second level of consciousness - absorption.
Consciousness is the act of being awake. It is in this consciousness where your experiences occur. Your mind is always in one of five states of consciousness at any one time no matter what you are doing. You can test it out for yourself. What we are going to do is go through these five states of consciousness and you can see them first hand.
The first and lowest level of consciousness is waking sleep. It is also called "mind wandering" or "day dreaming" and it happens to us more often than we realize.
Waking sleep is a period of time when you are thinking of one thing and your body is doing something else. Or, you may not be thinking at all - just "spaced out." You might be driving your car while thinking about arriving at your destination or thinking about something else while reading this paragraph. Most of the time the mind is in the future or past but waking sleep can also happen in the present such as while walking down a flight of stairs, while working a crossword puzzle or reading a road map while driving. It is like being in two different places at the same time. You basically know what your are doing (driving, walking, working) and you are vaguely aware of your surroundings. To see waking sleep from the outside, just watch people walking or driving while they are texting or talking on their cell phones. Just about everyone knows what waking sleep is because they have experienced it firsthand. Most people can tell you about their own experiences of being in waking sleep.
Why is waking sleep so common? Because the mind/brain machine is usually on automatic, like a machine without an operator. It is cranking out programs of beliefs, thoughts, images, perceptions and feelings without anybody home. The self is absent, the house is vacant so to speak. Also, it takes no effort to be in waking sleep, so humans being human, take the plath of least resistance and the mind will "slide" into waking sleep before you know it. It's easier to be in waking sleep than paying attention to what you are doing.
This morning I went into the bathroom to get a spray ointment to put on my dog's paws and when I got there I forgot why I went there. I was thinking of something else while walking toward the bathroom and when I got there the reason for going slipped my mind. About ten minutes later I saw my dog licking his paws and remembered why I went into the bathroom.
Next, we will look at the second level of consciousness - absorption.
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