Meditation by yourself or in a group is absolutely necessary if you are ever going to make any progress, whatsoever, in liberation from any kind of suffering. But meditation is not enough. You must also practice mindfulness with every waking hour, minute, and second of your life.
Sitting in meditation is insufficient in becoming enlightened. Meditation must also be coupled with the act of staying in the moment no matter what happens - driving, walking, working, talking, listening, or whatever you are doing. You must be awake and actively vigilant to the present moment. It is some of the hardest work in the world to just be present in the moment and open minded.
When the mind is in the future and the past you cannot be living a full life. Something is missing when that happens. Life is the unknown, unrecognized and under appreciated teacher because it is the present-moment. It is really all there is. So, begin your practice right now, this very moment.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Sitting to Meditate
When you sit to meditate you are settling into a quiet place and time to "observe." From the outside meditation looks simple and easy. "There she sits with her eyes closed, not moving, and hardly breathing. How hard can that be?" But from the inside the mind is thinking all kinds of things, the body is trying to get comfortable, and the breath is trying to smooth out. "I don't know how long I can sit here. My mind is too agitated and my knees hurt."
Meditation is very personal and there is no one particular way to do it. Meditation evolves with the person and the person evolves with the meditation. When I first started meditating the most I could do was 10 or 15 minutes. That was about fifteen years ago. Today I sat for 2 hours with no problem. I look forward every day to sitting and meditating. It is the pause that refreshes. It gives me new life and it restores my ability to stay in the moment during the day. It calms my mind and I sleep better at night.
Meditation is very personal and there is no one particular way to do it. Meditation evolves with the person and the person evolves with the meditation. When I first started meditating the most I could do was 10 or 15 minutes. That was about fifteen years ago. Today I sat for 2 hours with no problem. I look forward every day to sitting and meditating. It is the pause that refreshes. It gives me new life and it restores my ability to stay in the moment during the day. It calms my mind and I sleep better at night.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Cosmic Consciousness
Try using your imagination to view the vast universe in which you live as being not only outside your body but inside as well. The smallest, most infinitesimal unit of energy, matter, mass, or whatever it is exists in you and expands out into infinity. And you are just a teeny, weeny part of that whole continuum. Can you imagine that? Okay, so far so good.
If you can imagine infinite smallness and infinite largeness simultaneously, you are experiencing what is known as cosmic consciousness. It is the knowing, the feeling, the realization that everything within you and outside of you is infinite. There is no limit either way. If you can do this, your mental imaging can link you with the cosmic mind beyond space and time and allow you to experience what the five senses can never do.
Stay with that image of infinite smallness and infinite largeness with nothing in between for as long as you can. What do you experience? Can you describe it?
If you can imagine infinite smallness and infinite largeness simultaneously, you are experiencing what is known as cosmic consciousness. It is the knowing, the feeling, the realization that everything within you and outside of you is infinite. There is no limit either way. If you can do this, your mental imaging can link you with the cosmic mind beyond space and time and allow you to experience what the five senses can never do.
Stay with that image of infinite smallness and infinite largeness with nothing in between for as long as you can. What do you experience? Can you describe it?
Friday, March 28, 2014
Famous Quotes?
Not everyone sees the same thing the same way. Duh.
What I believe you should believe too. Or die.
There is no way you can lift that barge.
But maybe you can tote that bail.
Keep doing it until you get it right.
Even if you keep getting the same results.
I will follow you 'til the end of time,
even if it kills me.
We should all come to our senses; sooner or later.
What I believe you should believe too. Or die.
There is no way you can lift that barge.
But maybe you can tote that bail.
Keep doing it until you get it right.
Even if you keep getting the same results.
I will follow you 'til the end of time,
even if it kills me.
We should all come to our senses; sooner or later.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Just Be
When you walk in the garden you feel warm, kind, and at ease.
When you eat with your dog you know humility.
When you listen to a tree you understand life.
And when you jump for joy you see energy.
There is no need to ponder these things
for they are free and readily available.
Just open your heart and let them come in.
When you eat with your dog you know humility.
When you listen to a tree you understand life.
And when you jump for joy you see energy.
There is no need to ponder these things
for they are free and readily available.
Just open your heart and let them come in.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Warm vs Cold
This is off the subject of pure awareness but I feel like writing about a subject that has bugged me for some time now. Whenever someone pulls a muscle they almost always put ice on the injured area to alleviate pain and swelling, but it has been my practice over the years to do the opposite. Years ago I used ice but for the last 15 years I have used warmth.
It is my contention that pulls, strains, and sprains need to be flooded with a fresh new supply of blood, nutrients, water, and oxygen to the damaged tissues as soon as possible and for as long as possible, until complete healing has occurred. Putting ice on living tissue relieves pain but it also constricts blood vessels that supply necessary nutrients to the tissue. Ice also causes the tissue to become inflexible and subject to more damage. For example, if you take a rubber stick and place it in ice it becomes hard and brittle and will break easily. But if you place the stick in a warm bath it becomes limber and supple. The same is true for muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
Damaged tissues release large amounts of sodium, calcium, potassium, and phosphate ions as well as creatine kinase and uric acid from the breakdown of purines and DNA. Inflammation is the result of all these toxins flooding into the damaged tissues. It is important to get these byproducts out of the cells as quickly as possible. Putting ice on the area will only prolong their stay. Not only that, white blood cells, especially neutrophiles, enter the damaged tissues to try and defend against foreign invaders. In doing so they release reactive oxygen which can further cause swelling and further compromise blood supply to the area.
When I pull a muscle, tendon or ligament I quickly put something warm on the area, rest it for a couple of days and take an anti-inflammatory, like ibuprofen, during those two days. I wrap a warm heating pad around the damaged tissue for an hour before going to bed. I never sleep with a heating pad on the area because its impossible to regulate the temperature when asleep. If it gets too hot it could damage the tissue even further. It is important to maintain a comfortable warmth on the damaged area. I also drink lots of water to help flush the kidneys. The kidneys are where the toxins from the damaged tissues end up. It is important to get the toxins out of the kidneys as quickly as possible.
After two days I continue keeping the damaged area warm but I begin to stretch and massage it as well. It is my belief that mild stretching and massaging help to increase the flow of water and nutrients (glucose, amino acids, and oxygen) into the tissues and pull out toxins (positive ions, uric acid, and creatine kinase). I have done this first aid practice many times over the past 15 years, on myself, never anyone else, and I find that I heal much faster then when I used ice.
It is my contention that pulls, strains, and sprains need to be flooded with a fresh new supply of blood, nutrients, water, and oxygen to the damaged tissues as soon as possible and for as long as possible, until complete healing has occurred. Putting ice on living tissue relieves pain but it also constricts blood vessels that supply necessary nutrients to the tissue. Ice also causes the tissue to become inflexible and subject to more damage. For example, if you take a rubber stick and place it in ice it becomes hard and brittle and will break easily. But if you place the stick in a warm bath it becomes limber and supple. The same is true for muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
Damaged tissues release large amounts of sodium, calcium, potassium, and phosphate ions as well as creatine kinase and uric acid from the breakdown of purines and DNA. Inflammation is the result of all these toxins flooding into the damaged tissues. It is important to get these byproducts out of the cells as quickly as possible. Putting ice on the area will only prolong their stay. Not only that, white blood cells, especially neutrophiles, enter the damaged tissues to try and defend against foreign invaders. In doing so they release reactive oxygen which can further cause swelling and further compromise blood supply to the area.
When I pull a muscle, tendon or ligament I quickly put something warm on the area, rest it for a couple of days and take an anti-inflammatory, like ibuprofen, during those two days. I wrap a warm heating pad around the damaged tissue for an hour before going to bed. I never sleep with a heating pad on the area because its impossible to regulate the temperature when asleep. If it gets too hot it could damage the tissue even further. It is important to maintain a comfortable warmth on the damaged area. I also drink lots of water to help flush the kidneys. The kidneys are where the toxins from the damaged tissues end up. It is important to get the toxins out of the kidneys as quickly as possible.
After two days I continue keeping the damaged area warm but I begin to stretch and massage it as well. It is my belief that mild stretching and massaging help to increase the flow of water and nutrients (glucose, amino acids, and oxygen) into the tissues and pull out toxins (positive ions, uric acid, and creatine kinase). I have done this first aid practice many times over the past 15 years, on myself, never anyone else, and I find that I heal much faster then when I used ice.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
I Wonder!
I sometimes ponder the question - Why is my consciousness in this body? To me it is bewildering that among 7 billion people on earth there is a single consciousness within this body which I refer to as "me." And it stays here and doesn't go anywhere, except when I am in dreamless sleep or meditating.
The possibility of any one particular sperm from my father fertilizing any one particular egg from my mother calculates out to be one in 800 million, and that's during just one sexual encounter. That one sperm and that one egg produced an embryo that metamorphosed into a baby and became me. At some point along the way the being (me) became conscious - aware of self and the surroundings.
I don't think that my consciousness is any different than anybody else's consciousness. Consciousness is simply being aware of the fact that you are alive, functioning, thinking, moving, responding, and so on while at the same time aware of what is going on around you. Humans are not the only animal to possess consciousness. Many animals are aware of themselves and the environment. If they weren't they wouldn't be around very long. They would be fodder for something that is conscious. Which brings up another interesting question.
Why couldn't my consciousness have ended up in another body? Could my consciousness have gone into some other person or another life form rather than ending up in me? If not, why not? And why is it happening right now at this very moment rather than one thousand years ago or a thousand years from now?
One thing for sure; nobody knows the answers to these questions. Science offers answers to many things but one thing it can't answer is the perplexing enigma of consciousness. Is it important to know what consciousness is? Not any more than it is to know the distance from earth to the sun, the speed of light, or the human genome.
That's what is fun about science. You see something intriguing, have a question about it, and try to find out what it is all about. It is simply a game and by playing the game all kinds of things can be learned. To be human is to be curious, inquisitive and keep asking questions.
The possibility of any one particular sperm from my father fertilizing any one particular egg from my mother calculates out to be one in 800 million, and that's during just one sexual encounter. That one sperm and that one egg produced an embryo that metamorphosed into a baby and became me. At some point along the way the being (me) became conscious - aware of self and the surroundings.
I don't think that my consciousness is any different than anybody else's consciousness. Consciousness is simply being aware of the fact that you are alive, functioning, thinking, moving, responding, and so on while at the same time aware of what is going on around you. Humans are not the only animal to possess consciousness. Many animals are aware of themselves and the environment. If they weren't they wouldn't be around very long. They would be fodder for something that is conscious. Which brings up another interesting question.
Why couldn't my consciousness have ended up in another body? Could my consciousness have gone into some other person or another life form rather than ending up in me? If not, why not? And why is it happening right now at this very moment rather than one thousand years ago or a thousand years from now?
One thing for sure; nobody knows the answers to these questions. Science offers answers to many things but one thing it can't answer is the perplexing enigma of consciousness. Is it important to know what consciousness is? Not any more than it is to know the distance from earth to the sun, the speed of light, or the human genome.
That's what is fun about science. You see something intriguing, have a question about it, and try to find out what it is all about. It is simply a game and by playing the game all kinds of things can be learned. To be human is to be curious, inquisitive and keep asking questions.
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