The self and the Self

In order to know the true Self you must know the self first. There is no way you can ever get to know the true Self, the ego-less, non-judgmental self, until you know your self.

So, you may ask, "Who is the self?"  The self is who you think you are. You think you are someone who was born and grew up somewhere, went to school, had various interests, developed values, feelings, wants, desires, and dislikes. The self has many labels, names, and titles such as son, father, mother, daughter, doctor, teacher, housewife, brother, sister.  The list is continuous and almost endless.

The best way, and maybe the only way, to know the self is through self observation.  Constantly observing thoughts, emotions, reactions, and actions will develop a thorough understanding of the self. Once the self is understood you don't have far to go in knowing the true Self. You will understand that the true Self is not a who but a what. The true Self is actually what you are. 

Once you know the true Self there is no longer any fear because the true Self is everlasting, always present, and never lost.

Advertisement

Five people have signed up for the Nov. 16-17/2013 Go Beyond Mind-Body Workshop so far.  We need 10 people to make it a go.  You can register at www.gobeyondmind-body.com/

If it makes, we will have more workshops focusing on the importance of meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and awareness. 

Please pass this information on to people who might be interested.

The Human Mind

 Every day you can see on television and read in the newspaper about all kinds of mayhem. The human mind seems to be inherently flawed beyond repair in many people. Wars upon wars, serial killings, mass murders, etc. seem to be the norm over the many millennia. But at the same time there have been remarkable acts of kindness, self sacrifices, heroic deeds, and selfless acts. 

The human mind appears to be either salutary or malevolent with various degrees in between.  Societies have tried to abate "bad" behaviors through the death penalty, imprisonment, punishment, pharmacology, psychotherapy, etc., etc, etc, but they haven't put but a tiny dent on these destructive acts of behavior. 

Scientific research, in just the last two years, show how meditation, mindfulness, and yoga can change the brain and the mind for the better. Psychological problems such as anger, anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, hyperactivity, low self-esteem, and bipolar disorder can be significantly helped through the practices of meditation, mindfulness, and yoga.  

As you know, the simple practice of observing one's thoughts can make unbelievable positive changes in the mind and therefore emotions and actions. It is about time we put this practice into full gear. I am suggesting that those of you who know what meditation, mindfulness, and yoga can do, begin spreading the word by any and all means possible.  Please get involved. The world needs you. 

Be a teacher. Just point the person directly to his own mind and let him see his own true nature.

Transcendence from Person to Human (cont'd)

Vertical, horizontal, and spherical transcendence are the total package. There is nothing more. For this finale what is left but pure joy and freedom from the conscious mind. Existing in the state of pure awareness is experiencing everything as one.

Usually when people speak of being aware they are referring to a lower realm of experience. Awareness is the simple act of paying attention to what's going on. It is basically knowing what your mind and body are doing while cognizant of what is going on around you from moment to moment. Sometimes it is called being in the Now. There is nothing wrong with being in the Now, it fact it is an ideal way of living your life. But it is not all there is.

Pure awareness is wider and deeper than any of the experiences possible. It is a knowing without thinking. Pure awareness is a sense of everything without mental content. It is when object and subject merge into universal awareness; excluding nothing.  There is no separation between anything.

One of my favorite humans, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, said, "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 limitations of space and time."

You might ask, "Can a person exist in pure awareness and still live in the world?"  It is difficult for a mortal being to conceive of a state of pure awareness and still function in everyday life. But it is possible to live in pure awareness and function quite well. In fact, in pure awareness you function better because everything is completely opened and clarity of reality is at its maximum.

Transcendence from Person to Human (cont'd)

Vertical and horizontal transcendence are two very important components for moving from person consciousness to human consciousness, but growth is not complete without the third which is spherical transcendence. Qualitative reflection on yourself moves personal experiences vertically and qualitative reflection in a collective manner moves relationship experiences horizontally.  Vertical and horizontal transcendence allows clarity of the true Self to grow collectively. By adding spherical transcendence to the ingredients maximizes growth to its fullest potential.

Spherical Transcendence 

Looking to the vertical, horizontal, and spherical dimensions of an experience grows one's consciousness multidirectionly. Growth may be slow but it is constant and steady. Patience is indeed a virtue in this case. In working with spiritual growth it must be remembered that what may seem transitive and only temporary actually grows over time.

Interpretations of what it means to be human is tantamount in understanding the whole human experience. That is why spherical transcendence must be included in the understanding. It is very important to be able to describe the fullness of human existence and go beyond the personal to the divine. The human is not static within the divine but is constantly changing with further understanding.     

As pointed out in the last few posts, vertical transcendence is achieved through intrapersonal understanding and horizontal transcendence through interpersonal understanding.  Spherical transcendence, on the other hand, is achieved through extrapersonal understanding. Extrapersonal understanding is growth outward in all directions - beyond the self and the ego. It is freedom from being rooted in consciousness.  Spherical transcendence is often referred to as pure awareness.  

Extrapersonal understanding is not an understanding as in comprehending, discernment, or reasoning.  It is a knowing without thinking. It could be said to be "mind blowing" because it is wider and deeper than any experience. 

Continued on next post.                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Transcendence from Person to Human (cont'd)

Up to this point we have talked about vertical transcendence; the ever increasing growth of consciousness through self-inquiry. It is called "vertical" because it is an adventure of personal upward  growth with greater understanding of the self.  Vertical transcendence requires both subjective and objective inquiry to gain that growth.  First, experiencing one's own self subjectively develops full actualization and comprehension of self reality in the fullest sense. Secondly, the study of the self as an object is necessary for reflecting on that reality. However, vertical transcendence cannot make a person a human by itself. There are other parameters required.

Full transcendence has to be in three planes: vertical, horizontal, and spherical. Full awareness is necessary in order to expand in all three directions. All three are essential for the human to exist. The aspect of an intrapersonal transcendence is characterized by a vertical movement and that of an interpersonal transcendence is horizontal. Not only does personal self growth occur through the vertical and horizontal but also through expansion toward the divine. This is what allows one's consciousness to expand multidimensionly.

Horizontal Transcendence   

Human consciousness is not static but constantly changes with greater understanding of the self and its relationship with others. Once the self is understood and realized it can be revealed to others in a personalized way by focusing on qualitative growth in a collective manner. This in effect makes the ego experience itself as the object.

Seeing the self and the ego as objects allows consciousness to grow outward as well as upward. The bigger Self is revealed and the sky opens into the "We" consciousness. At this point it is clearly understood that consciousness is collective not singular or personal. All sentient beings are connected like drops of water in the ocean. There is no delineation of beings. There is no longer duality. There cannot be one form among many because it is all formless. Everything extends into everything else and it all exists as aspects of itself.

Continued on next post.

Transcendence from Person to Human (cont'd)

Vertical transcendence requires one to observe thoughts as they occur (intrapersonal reflection). To immediately reflect upon thoughts requires conscious effort but has enormous benefits. The benefits include not only being able to sleep better, have less anxiety, and less worry but also to rise above a reflexive lifestyle.

To practice intrapersonal reflection you must be specific without judgment. When you have a negative thought, for example, take time to consciously note your feelings as they occur. This is not an easy thing to do. It takes guts and fortitude, like a warrior of personal mind and body. Write down your feelings in thoughts, actions, and emotions as closely as possible to how you are experiencing them right now in the moment. Yes, this requires having a pen or pencil with notebook at hand, but only for a short time.

Life moves so fast we often get lost in the past and the future and forget to live in the moment. The practice of immediately reflecting on what you just thought and experienced helps you to understand yourself better. The miracle of reflecting is that it creates a current of self-awareness that brings information into your life that you would have otherwise never noticed.

The practice of reflecting is the art of looking at yourself honestly with the basic of attitude of self-acceptance. When a negative thought appears and a feeling arises simply write a sentence or even a few words. If you are the writing type you might write a paragraph or even a story. The sky is the limit. See if you can describe your thoughts and feelings with objectivity. In other words write as though you are observing them as another person. Become the witness. 

Continued to next post.

Transcedence from Person to Human

How do you go from being a reactive person to a conscious, reflective human?  That is the subject of this post.

We live in an objective world and our senses allow us to navigate around, in, and through the objects we encounter every day. This is our normal way of life as a person.  However, without subjective consciousness there is a lot we are missing.

We can tie subjectivity into the objective world because we have a choice. And that choice has to do with transcendence and moving beyond objective consciousness. Transcendence brings understanding to a person about oneself in relation to the objective order of reality. Transcendence is the act of consciously turning toward reflecting on one's thoughts, emotions, feelings, and values. It revises and recasts reality.

Vertical Transcendence

In normal life we experience events happening all the time and react according to our thoughts, values, feelings, and emotions.  An event happens and we observe it. By observing I mean we sense it in some way through our seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. We observe an event happen and almost immediately a thought occurs. And then usually some kind of emotion is produced. For example if you see people being slaughtered, or smell rotting flesh, or hear missiles screaming overhead, the thinking process turns almost instantly into an emotion.  You can use your imagination here.

The process of event, observation, thought, and emotion is normal and there is no way to get out of it except go hide in a cave somewhere. Once an emotion is elicited the next thing usually entails some sort of action. Normally what happens is a reaction. A reaction is a reflexive act that causes one to react to a situation automatically, as in reflex action. Because there is no reflective thought in a reaction the result can be devastating to the reactor or the recipient or both. This is why people hit people, shoot people, go to war, ad infinitum.

There is a solution to this madness. It is called vertical transcendence or intrapersonal reflection.  Rather than taking the course of reacting (reflex action) to a situation unconsciously you can immediately observe your thought before the emotion manifests itself thereby short-circuiting the cascading process that leads to the devastating outcome. Whether to react or reflect is an act of conscious awareness. The ability to do this is constituted through one's own choice and results in self growth toward a higher Self.

Continued on next post.

What does it mean to be human?

To be human is more than meets the eye. We often associate "human" with Homo sapiens, the generic name of a bipedal mammal with a large brain and the capability of speech and somewhat rational thinking. However, there is a difference between being human and being a person. In Sunnie D. Kidd's 1990 thesis The Experiential Method there are three principles that preserve the person as a human rather than the raw basics of nature:

1)  What we are over what we have.
2)  Communion over alienation.
3)  Human freedom rooted in conscious.

A person is nothing more than an organism reacting without awareness. The three principles above are what make a person a human. The three principles are what maintain a proper balance between the human person and the basic nature of awareness.

How do you go from being a reactive person to a conscious human?  That's the discussion for my next post.