Observing the Drama Below

 Everything below you is holding you down including you.

Michael A. Singer

First Step: Becoming Aware of Being Aware of Being Aware

According to Michael A. Singer our spiritual evolution takes place in stages or steps.  The first step is becoming aware that we are aware of being aware. That entails observing our outer world events and how we are reacting to it with  thoughts, emotions, energies and behaviours. As long as we are aware of what the body is sensing and experiencing, (or that the body is sensing and experiencing); as long as we are aware of what we are thinking, (or that we are thinking); as long as we are aware what we are feeling, (or that we are feeling); as long as we are aware of how we are acting/ or reacting to the events unfolding in front of us,(or that we are reacting);  and as long as we are aware that we are in lower energy states or higher energy states, (or that we have energy states)...we have transcended.  We have detached  from these objects of consciousness that we were once all caught up in enough to observe them. That is a crucial step.  In that instant of awareness we have stopped being pulled around by them; we are no longer lost in them; and we no longer identify as them. We have fallen back/ risen up and away, even if it is only for a second, into the Seat of consciousness. 

From Character  to Observer

Instead of an actor lost in the character they were playing, we become the Observer of the drama.  What is going on inside the actor is a big part of the observation but it is not who we are. We are the Observing Awareness.

This is challenging enough, for most of us, to get. So lost are we in these parts we are playing we often forget that it is just a part, just a role. We forget that what we are wearing as a physical body is just an ever changing costume that is easily shed; that what is happening to the character on stage is just a part of the script the actor has no business in creating; and that what the actor is experiencing is just a temporary part of this scene that will soon pass.  The actor is just our psyche, full of thoughts, emotions, reactions, actions, energies, and not who we are. 

The Box Seat

Becoming aware means pulling back away from that which we have become so attached to. It means getting off the stage and going back to some box seat up above so we can look down at it all clearly.  Most of us are so convinced we are the main characters in these dramas and are so tangled up in it all we are not even aware that there is an awareness watching. That we are that awareness.  So, disentangling ourselves and making our way back to those box seats is not always easy. 

Sometimes we make it back there but only stay for a second before being pulled back on stage again. (The drama is so convincing and compelling). But even if we just have a second of "Oh...I am not up there.  I am back here watching. I see what is happening.  My body is feeling this; my mind is thinking that; my heart is feeling this; my energies are here; this is what this actor called "little me" is doing because of all that; and then that is what is happening up on stage because the character reacted in that way...wow!" Just a second of that awareness...and we have transcended.  We have become aware of being aware that we are aware.  That is a crucial step.

The Second Step: Maintaining the Seat of Awareness

With steady commitment and practice, seconds of awareness will soon lead to moments of awareness, followed by hours of awareness and days etc.  The second stage goal is to be able to maintain this Seat of awareness. This is the stage I am working in now...

I am aware of how all that stuff below that I have spent my life lost in is holding me down. I don't want to be held down by it any longer.

I am able to stay aware for longer and longer periods even through some scenes and acts with very challenging plots but I still slip so often as well.  I still find myself pulled by the actor to the stage and I still get lost in that compelling nature of  external and internal drama again, thinking and believing  it is all so problematic and real.  I still get lost in character from time to time and forget that I am actually the Observer up in the box seat watching. 

Then, suddenly I will remember again.  I will drop the swords or the other props I am holding and drag myself off the stage, up the stairs, and back to the box seat to observe again. It is a process.  It really is. I am probably spending more time back here than I ever did but I am still very much attached to what is going on down there on the stage. It is easy to get pulled into it.  I am aware, however, how easy it is to get pulled into it.  I am catching myself lost in the drama more and more. 

The beginning and end of yoga is awareness

To increase the time spent in the Seat of Consciousness, I keep renewing my commitment to yoga, and  making  my sadhana the most important part of my day.  I read, I listen, I  study, I share (so I process the learning and possibly help others along the way), I meditate, I do many mindfulness practices throughout the day, I practice Hatha and Kriya yoga, I try to serve ( Karma yoga) and I do my best to embrace this moment, here and now, and everything that is in it, exactly as it is. I constantly detach from the drama and do my best to observe it while I maintain a Seat up and away from it. 

It is a process, but I am learning. This learning is the most important thing in my life right now. 

What about you? How committed are you to becoming aware and maintaining the Seat of Consciousness?

All is well

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( November 6, 2023) The Seat of Consciousness. https://tou.org/talks/