Great Teachers on Getting Rid of Your Stuffed Stuff!

 It is always beneficial to be near a spiritual teacher. These masters are like gardens or medicinal plants, sanctuaries of wisdom. In the presence of a realized master, you will rapidly attain enlightenment. In the presence of an erudite scholar, you will acquire great knowledge. In the presence of a great meditator,  spiritual experience will dawn in your mind. In the presence of a bodhisattva, your compassion will expand, just as an ordinary log placed next to a log of sandalwood becomes saturated, little by little, with its presence.

Dilgo Khyentse. 

Hmm! That is a beautiful passage, a sweet compelling argument for seeking out a guru as is the tradition for many Eastern wisdom practices.  I, in my western skepticism, however, am still a bit skeptical about guru seeking and devotteeship. I watched too many cult shows, I guess. Still I do seek and discover great teachers as I progress along this path.

Whenever I hear Michael Singer speak I have this sense of connecting with someone in the most inexplicable way.  It is like the epitome of "like-mindedness"...I just feel we are on the same level. I totally get what he is saying and I believe he would totally get what I am saying.  (Does that make me sound grandiose? Not my intention.)  So much of what I write here comes after I listen to his podcasts. His message and delivery inspires a sense of knowing already in me. At the same time, so much of what he speaks about seems to come after I write or speak about a certain topic or idea. I am fully aware that he doesn't have a clue, on this green earth, that I exist and that I am writing this blog. We just seem to be on the same  wavelength of thought somehow( No ...I am not speaking about anything "woo-woo" like telepathy) ... We just think so much alike at the same time. It could be that we are both yogis, and that we both studied and practiced ancient teachings.  I don't know...but the term "kindred spirit" comes to mind. The first time I read a page of his thoughts, it was a,"Aha! I get you!" 

Say what, crazy lady? He is a well known spiritual teacher and you are not.  You are thinking pretty highly of yourself aren't you?

No...it is isn't that I am thinking highly of myself.  I am aware that I am not in that league of external notoriety he is in. I have yet to publish anything acclaimed and there is a good chance I never will. I accept that and the more I grow the less I desire this notoriety. Fame and fortune are not motivating me to learn or share my learning. I am not attracted to either.  Nor am I attracted to teachers who have or need such things.  In fact, if anything, I am more inclined to shy away from so called "gurus"  for that reason. Humility touches me more than anything else.

I do not see him or any other living being as my "guru". Even though I listen to every podcast, and learn so much from him I can't call him my guru. I mean...he is a great teacher in my mind. When I listen I take notes, reflect upon what he said, and I take his messages deeper by reviewing the ancient teachings related to what he is saying or by reviewing more contemporary stuff like poetry, great literature, psychology, philosophy, and science that also echo the same messages in one way or another.  Most importantly, I practice what he teaches!   He inspires me to learn more about my yoga practice. For that reason, I respect his teachings and his mission. I have been practicing what he teaches, though,  long before I ever knew he existed. When he came into my life...unbeknownst to him, he gave what I was doing more context and meaning. I truly appreciate that.  Still...I don't call him my guru. Actually when I reflect on what I get from him there is little to no "my". It feels more like a yogi to yogi thing. Maybe? I really don't know what that connection I feel is. I do consider him a great teacher. 

Is he the only teacher that you listen to or read and to whom you feel connected? 

No, there are many, many teachers in my life. Few of them are still breathing. :) One great late teacher who so perfectly fits the above quoted description was/is Thich Nhat Hanh. 

I have also been inspired by Eckhart Tolle whom I knew longer( in the reader/learner sense) than both Thich Nhat Hanh and Michael Singer. Strangely, his message didn't click with me on the intellectual level when I first read him way back in 2007? I was studying ACIM at the time not knowing that he was once a teacher of that as well.  (ACIM was also way over my head when I first began to study it. )  Something deeper within me connected with his teachings though...otherwise I wouldn't have kept reading. I couldn't conceptually understand what he was saying at that point of my learning.  It wasn't until half way through his first book that I had that "aha!" moment where intellect caught up with higher Self and I "got it!" I really got it!  Then I was able to grasp with eye opening realization the teachings in A Course in Miracles as well. Eck. hart Tolle is partly responsible for one of the biggest steps I took in my spiritual evolution

I do not think of him as my guru either though.  An important teacher in my life for sure...but not a guru.  I have hundreds and hundreds of pages of notes from what I learned from him ( as I do of Michael Singer's and Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings). I do value his teaching and him as a fellow human being very much. 

So I digress: Back to what I learned from these three wise men on the importance of "Getting Rid of Your Stuffed Stuff". I have been trying to articulate what I mean about expanding the pause between what Life gives us and our recativity...in order to delay and eventually get rid of reactivity all together. We need to acknowledge that which is holding us back...our samskaras, our stuffed stuff.  As serendipity often does, it led me to these three teachers and their teaching about the need to be free and spacious inside. The following  is an example of what I do when I am listening. I take notes. Most of this will be paraphrased.

From Michael Singer:

• There are three states humans can live in. The first sate is one of non well being -" I am depressed.  I am not well.  I am not happy in this life". The second, is a state of conditional well being- "dependent on conditions matching my expectations and desires"...And the third is a state few of us know about: unconditional well being -feeling and experiencing everything with ups and downs but accepting and honoring all of it...finding beauty and joy  in everything.
• Psychiatry [and psychology] don't even believe that unconditional well being can exist. They focus on working with the conditional well being.
• Unconditional well being is what the yogis work to attain and teach
• That unconditional state of well being exists inside us
• 1.3 million earths fit inside the sun...the sun is one of a few billion stars in this galaxy and there are trillions of galaxies...yet we are busy focusing on "me and my drama".
• Most of us are not okay inside. We want to be okay inside. Mind is always thinking about creating or recreating situations that we  stored the memories of inside so we can be okay, or we do what we can to avoid recreating those things that made us the opposite of okay.
• There is a state of total well being inside us already
• There is a difference between remorse which leads to learning and growth and guilt which leads to shame and constraint.
• "your consciousness is on the wrong side of these blockages"
• What we resist persists.
• Samskara: a pattern of energy stored inside
• We let that thing that happened fifty years ago to a five year old determine our life.
• "unless you let that stuff go...and you become open and clean...you will not interact with the present moment"
• We are not the psyche but that which watches the psyche=the sum of learned experiences
• All decisions are based on how it makes us feel=how it matches our insides= how it matches our blockages= preferences in conditional well being living.
• preferences
• We have all the conditions we need to be happy already inside us[ The Buddha taught this in many of His sutras].
• When we live unconditionally we are living to simply express the unconditioned within us...joy for joy's sake...love for love's sake.
• It gets nicer and nicer as we let go of our stuffed stuff. We get higher and higher and more and more living with unconditional well being takes place.
• We need to practice letting go...of the stuff that happens outside that we normally react to 
• [Letting go of our reactivity is expanding or working the pause...stop storing more and allowing the store stuff to come up and eventually we let go of that.]
• The sun is 93 million miles away and we can feel its heat. Wow! That's amazing yet we complain about it being too hot.
• When we can handle the stuff outside and we are not shoving stuff down on top of it...the stuff on the inside will start coming up
• [I feel the fear coming up...my belly especially...feel the energy there.]
• instead of saying, These are the conditions where I can be okay", how about saying, There are no conditions"?....Use every situation from life to let go of yourself...let go of the me =growth
• Every single experience is your teacher; ..pulling you down into your stuff but eventually it will pull you up away from yourself.
• Anything is doing better than doing something that doesn't work

From Thich Nhat Hanh:

• ...if we bury worries and anxieties in our consciousness, they continue to affect us and bring us more sorrow. page 2
• To be mindful means to look deeply, to touch our true nature of interbeing and recognize that nothing is ever lost. page 2
• Understanding the origins of our anxieties and fears will help us to let go of them. page 4
• if you make a habit of mindfulness practice, when difficulties arise, you'll already know what to do. page 6
• When we suppress our fearful thoughts, thy continue to fester there in the dark. We are driven to consume (food, alcohol, movies etc.) in an attempt and to keep those thoughts from resurfacing in our conscious mind. Running away from our fear ultimately makes us suffer and makes others suffer, and our feras only grow stronger. page 31
• The Buddha taught that when we call up and get in touch with the truth...our fear -and the foolish things we do to try not to feel it-will cease. We no longer act out our fears unconsciously and fuel the cycle that makes them grow even stronger. page 31
• Death is a reality we have to confront...Our defense mechanism pushes us to forget; we don't want to hear about it.But in the back of our minds, the fear of Death is always there, pushing on us. page 31
• If we practice and are able to release, we can be free and happy right now, today. If we can't let go, we will suffer not only on the day when we are finally forced to do so, but right now today and every day in between, because fearwill be constantly stalking us. page 35

From Eckhart Tolle: 

• Inner resistance always pulls you back into unconscious doing
• "I am never upset for the reasons I think I am" ( Lesson 5, ACIM)
• Stillness is a return journey to Source/ Acting and Doing is a backing away from Source...We need to create harmony between the two :
• Let the person become transparent to the Light of Consciousness
• Stillness happens without the traditional sense of doing
• Be a nobody...be a presence...Our ultimate goal is to shed the person
• A "frequency holder" doesn't have to do anything but embody presence
• Judging others as not being enough, gives ego a false sense of superiority

Hmmm! All is well.

Thich Nhat Hanh (2012) Fear. New York: Harper One

Michael A. Singer/Temple of the Universe ( February 16, 2024) Attaining Unconditional Well Being.https://tou.org/talks/

Eckhart Tolle (January, 2024) New Year, New Goal: Eckhart Tolle on Transforming Desire into Fulfillment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rGipsgBfQY&t=5s

Singapore bots are still infesting this site.  Well, infesting is a strong word...but you know what I mean. I just don't understand why? Why do they keep coming back...why do they crawl all over these pages if they are not getting anything from them? What is the purpose? I don't know...I just don't know.

Looking Deeply at Fear to Expand the Pause

 

The first part of looking at our fear is just inviting it into our awareness without judgment. We just acknowledge gently that it is there. That brings a lot of relief already. Then, once fear has calmed down, we can embrace it tenderly and look deeply into its roots, its sources. Understanding the origins of our anxieties and fears will help us to let go of them. Is our fear coming from something that is happening, right now or is it an old fear, a fear from when we were small that we kept inside? When we practice inviting all our fears up, we become aware that we are still alive, that we still have many things to treasure and enjoy. If we are not busy pushing down and managing our fear, we can enjoy the sunshine, the fog, the air, and the water. If you can look deeply into your fear and have a clear vision of it, then you can really live a life that is worthwhile.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Fear, page 4 

I talk alot, lately, about that pause between the stimulus and our reactivity, about karma, and about the need to create a spacious expansion between what Life hands us and what we do about it ( physically, mentally, and energetically).  Part of creating this spaciousness in that pause, as we work to dig up the roots of our resistance, is recognizing our samskaras that often get shook loose by actual or potential challenging outer circumstances. They are the source or root cause of our resistance and reactivity. Being free of them will create the space needed to respond to Life in a healthy and wholesome way.

One of the biggest energetically charged human aspects that we stuff, and which later becomes a samskara blockage... keeping us from experiencing light, joy, peace etc, is our fear. Fear, I believe, is at the basis of most of our reflexing and reactivity and therefore it is the thing that most often keeps us from living the full and free lives we are capable of living. Thich Nhat Hanh obviously felt the same way when he wrote Fear: Essential Wisdom For Getting Through The Storm.

I also say again and again that all paths lead to one truth.  Though I study and relay what I have learned about yoga...I also study Buddhism and other forms of ancient eastern wisdom.  I study psychology, philosophy, literature, and science. I see the one truth all are pointing to: Our healing from the root cause of suffering will bring us spaciousness, and inhabiting this space will bring us to the Source of everything which really cannot be named or explained adequately. 

Hmm! Fear is too often in the way of our happiness.  Fear often leads to us reflexing and reacting when Life presents us with difficult circumstances or people....or when we assume it will present us with such. We often follow the direction of our overactive ( conditioned to be so) amygdalae over the calm inspiration of our higher Selves.  We respond to Life unconsciously without exploring the pause between stimulus and response. This is reflexing or reacting. This is resisting that which we judge and deem "unpleasant". This is not living fully. Living in fear is the opposite of living fully. 

Stuffed fear is one of the many things that may arise to be seen and later released during that space. In order to be free of fear we cannot keep stuffing it back down when it comes up.  We cannot keep running from it.  We cannot keep resisting it.  What we resist persists and that is especially true when it comes to fear. We need to be willing to allow the fear to come up into conscious awareness when it gets loosened by outside triggers. We need to be willing to look deeply at our fear ...examine it, explore its roots in an objective, nonjudgmental but caring way.

When we are willing to look at our stuffed fear we are no longer putting all that energy into resisting it. Without our focus there, we can pay more attention to the beautiful world and life we have been given to explore. We will see that it was never fear itself that was creating the blockages to our happiness and freedom...but our resistance of it that was. 

Without these blockages created by stuffed and resisted fear...we will open up the space between what Life offers us and how we respond. We will therefore respond to life in a joyful and wholesome way. 

All is well.  

Thich Nhat Hanh (2012) Fear. New York: Harper One

Consciousness with Limitations

 

Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limits and become the mind. 

Ramana Maharshi

Singer teaches, in the below podcast, how our thoughts and feelings are not who we are. It is just that consciousness is pulled down into them and we begin to believe that is who we are.  It isn't.

All is well. 

 Michael a. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 12, 2024) What do you define as success in life. Trading Personal with Universal. https://tou.org/talks/

 

Expanding Beyond the Personal Mind

 

You know what you know but you don't know what you don't know.

Michael A. Singer

Say what crazy lady?

This is not a how much wood can a wood chuck chuck...type of statement.  The above line is just to remind you, as it did me when I listened to yesterday's podcast again,...that most of us are living from a very restricted and contracted frame of reference. We are using this amazing tool of a mind with its unlimited potential and focusing its light down on this tiny speck(me) stuck to a grain of rotating dust by the powerful force of gravity as it spins around  in a galaxy of over a million stars, in a universe of over a trillion known galaxies, and as it shouts out with great disgruntled righteousness after stubbing its big  toe, "Why is this always happening to me?" 

We only know what we experience, right?  What the five senses  bring in to us from the tiny section of earth we are standing on? Most of us, don't even experience that because we are too busy observing and experiencing the dramas of our minds that have nothing to do, possibly, with what the senses are bringing in at this moment. It is so limited! Yet, we build our experience of Life on this very limited reference.

The vast majority of what you experience is the yackety-yack of your mind....Singer.

The human mind is absolutely amazing.  Just think of all the great things it was able to discover, create, do over the eons humans existed and evolved. Absolutely amazing! Yet we narrow this powerful consciousness down to the "personal" and blur out all the impersonal.  We get lost n this drama of "me and my story" ...a drama that takes place in the personal mind and not in reality.  The personal mind is so distracting with all its thoughts and feelings, we get swept away by our addiction to it. We contract, and restrict our focus of Life down to this speck on this speck stuck to this speck of dust when there is so much more we could be experiencing with impersonal mind.

We listen to, believe, and follow the mixed up directions of  personal mind as if it is our master and we are the chained servants.  That is ridiculous when you truly think of it.  What personal mind is telling us is nothing more than some offbeat assumptions it has made based on its very limited experiences ( most of which were just snippets in a loop recording of old video footage playing over and over again in the head). We really do not feel good inside when we we allow personal mind to call the shots. Yet, we call this reality and "my life". We are not experiencing Life and the world around us when we do this...we are simply experiencing what the personal mind is doing. Yet, most of us spend the 80 or so years we have on this amazing planet doing just that..."living in our heads". We are using this amazing tool we have been given to experience Life fully with and using it to ruin our lives.  How sad is that? 

There is no limit to the capability of our minds, except what we are doing with it (contracting it). Let's stop contracting and start expanding it.  Let's lift our gaze, the light of consciousness, away from the dramas of personal mind and start shining it on the glorious revelations of impersonal mind. Let's expand beyond "me" to "all".  Let's start living while we can. Let's get beyond ...

Our ignorance, and it is based on the egos we have. It is the unwillingness to go beyond the ego. 

Edgar Mitchell (Former astronaut, awakened human,  and Founder of IONS)

You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics [and most human drama] looks so petty. Edgar Mitchell

All is well. 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 11, 2024) Expanding Your Frame of Reference Beyond the Personal Mind.https://tou.org/talks/

Penetrating the Mystery of Reflexes, Reactions, and Responses

 Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origins.

Ivan Pavlov

All is well! 

Working the Pause

 Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Victor e. Frankl

All is well!

Personal Mind Versus Intellectual Mind

 

There is no difference between the purified mind and the true Self of man. The mind is pure when it is single, that is when it it is devoted to one. If you wish to see God, the only way is to get rid of all selfish desires and make the mind single. 

Ramakrishna

In his podcast this morning, Michael A. Singer spoke of the two parts of our minds: the personal mind and the nonpersonal/ intellectual mind.  Hmm! What part of your mind are you using most? 

Once again we need to make the distinction between the brain and the  mind.  The brain is an organ in the body. It is not the maker of thoughts, feelings, concepts, ideas etc.  It is simply a filter for processing this energy. And thoughts are energy. If I dissected your brain right now under a high powered microscope I would not find one thought. There would not be one visible memory, belief, or concept showing up in that tissue that I could point to. Yet, you know thoughts, feelings. beliefs etc are part of the  human experience. Where does this energy come from, then, if not the brain? The mind. 

The mind, according to many yogis including Michael Singer , is just a field of energy on which the thought forms are created.  It is consciousness. I am reminded of Thich Nhat Hanh's beautiful teachings on  store consciousness and mind.  We have, he taught, seeds for thoughts and feelings and all other types of mental formations housed in our store consciousness just waiting to grow up into the  mind. I kind of see it, now after listening to Singer, ( and I could very likely be way off base) as store consciousness being universal, intellectual mind with so much potential and what Hanh referred to as "mind" being personal mind...what we are aware of as "me". 

Anyway, I digress. Michael Singer tells us that most of us are so focused on our personal minds...those things related to "me and my story"... that we fail to see and use all the potential of intellectual mind. We are using our will to focus this amazing power of consciousness down on the inner and outer dramas of personal mind: our feelings, our thoughts, our beliefs, our samskaras, etc and using this mind in an offbeat attempt to protect and preserve the idea of "me". If we were using intellectual mind, however, we would see and experience so much more than "me drama". We would see and seek to understand the magnificence of the universe... the perfect order of its apparent chaos. We could be more inspired to create, and to experience all the gifts we have been given. And there would be nothing personal about it...no "me" in the way.  We would see that we are a part of it all but in the most wholesome and singular of ways.

Hmm! Wouldn't that be something? 

All is well.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 8, 2024) How Empty Mind Creates Personal and Impersonal Thoughts. https://tou.org/talks/

Looking Up

 

Yoga does not transform the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.

B.K.S. Iyengar

806 views in the last 24 according to the stats page, one according to Google analytics lol.  Or man these bots are like a bad case of cyber lice crawling all over my page...annoying, sucking blood so they can keep going, growing in numbers but relatively harmless as they lay their eggs. Are they harmless? As long as they maintain the  symbiotic relationship contract, they will be harmless....annoying as heck, but harmless.   I assume it will be a painstaking process to be rid of them. Need to get rid of all the nits in order to be free of lice but that is a long and tiring process. Do I have the energy for that right now?  The other alternatives include using a strong force against them that potentially harms other things besides them or  to shave the head by removing  my blog from this site...but those means are pretty drastic when it comes to things like lice. Lice? Man...what an analogy. I don't know why, but it came to my mind as soon as I saw the numbers on my stats page this morning.  I will have the one reader I do have scratching their head, for more reasons than one, as they read along.lol. 

Okay Singapore bots...(now infiltrating to countries around you, it seems), what do you want with this tiny obscure site that I barely publicize?

The Ups and Downs of Negativity

Anyway, watching my mind the last few days.  (When am I not watching it?) I observed the up and down motion of it.  When it was down (recovering from illness, dealing with some stuff I feel I have no control over, a lack of sleep etc) the external world seemed to reflect that negativity. I was still not feeling 100% physically. The pain started again and I had to deal with that and all the questionable story around it.   I automatically "assumed" things about people's reaction and approach to me...thinking they meant something they didn't....assuming they were viewing me negatively.  I viewed myself negatively, noticing my mistakes more than the things I was doing right, thinking I was not reaching out enough or helping those who needed me enough...that I wasn't enough. I was so sure others were mad at me for my mistakes that seemed so big. The world also seemed a little callous, chaotic, and "out to get me" with one little annoyance after another: sleeping in, missing the garbage collection when the bin was full to capacity and knowing we have to go another two weeks, a meditation practice where I just couldn't focus,  not being able to find what I needed to wear when I am in a hurry to get to work, the cat getting sick on my bed, noticing the yoga studio needing an extra amount of cleaning before class when I was so tired, people approaching me with their problems ++ but not heeding the advice they demanded I give them, people not responding to my hellos as I walked by.  Everything seemed negative!

Inside not Outside

My mind was super sharp at zooming in to the negative...to these apparent mistakes, to my faults and failings...to the world's. In this narrow focus all the rest was blurred out.  When I reflect on this "down" that lasted a little more than 48 hours, I see how it had little to do with what was going on "out there", about what life or other people were doing.  In fact, most, if not all, of what I was  perceiving was based on an "assumption" and not fact. It was based on an old belief that arose to the surface to obscure reality, an old habit I was looking through.  Why did it arise?  Hmm!  Maybe, the belief and negativity  didn't rise up? Maybe, my consciousness was pulled down to it. What I think of as rising up...may simply be a focusing down. Positivity is up...negativity is down. Positivity doesn't go down, negativity doesn't come up...but that which is observing and experiencing Life can look up or look down. 

Looking Up or Down?

So how do Samskaras fit into this idea of looking up or down?   I always imagined samskaras ( our stuffed and stored emotionally charged memories and mental habits) having this natural intention of rising up with the flow of Shakti beneath them to be released? Isn't that negativity rising up?  Hmm! 

Maybe when the attention is narrowed downward into the stored past painful experiences...consciously or unconsciously (as in suppression and repression...consciousness is always fully aware of the stuff we stored, even if we are not...) it becomes a force...the force of consciousness' attention or conscious awareness ...that creates a lid over the Shakti flow. That lid is there blocking light, holding Shakti flow down,  because attention is pulled downward. When consciousness moves its attention upward, it pulls the lid up, open, and away from Shakti flow, unblocking it.

Opening and Closing the Third Eye

 I imagine an eyelid drooping and closing somewhat when we look down and opening when we look up  Let's imagine the third eye (whether you are into chakras or not) opening and closing as we look up and  down.  When you look down, the lid drops and much of the light (positive energy)  is blurred out. Vision is narrowed and there is not a lot of photons getting to the eye. Things appear darker. When we look up from there, we are observing and experiencing light, we are experiencing the positive energy that has always been there. Light and positivity is up, darkness and negativity ( which is merely an absence of light) is down. The world outside has not changed...the direction of our gaze or our focus has.  According to many yogis, including Michael Singer, it is "will" which determines what direction to point our gaze...up or down.  Though habit mind is addicted to the downward pull, we can learn to break that habit and look upward in the way we were intended to. Most kriya yogis, like Yogananda, stress the importance of keeping the attention on the third eye chakra...that space between your two physical eyes and not dropping the internal gaze down to the lower chakras during kriya practice. This is done to allow the Shakti to resume its normal flow upward. Shakti...what we would call positive energy ( joy, bliss, peace, and love) is always flowing and on the move upward. The only reason we do not always experience it, is because we are using our will ( the power of focused attention) to stare downward....therefore dropping the lid over this flow, blocking it.

 So, when I was feeling down a day ago...I, as conscious awareness, was looking down, pulled into a little mental drama by habit mind ( which is a form of will). I was not seeing reality fully in my dropped lid perspective.  I wasn't seeing much in this darkened gaze but that which was dark. It was not the world or the people in it causing me problems.  It was the focus of my gaze downward.  I, as that which was observing and experiencing, always had the choice of using my will to draw my attention back up...away from old beliefs and tendencies toward negativity ( the lower chakra stuff). Hmm!

Suddenly, it seemed , after this realization, I was up again.  Feeling more energetic and peaceful and happy without anything out there changing.  Oh, at first mind was trying to tell me..."Oh you are just feeling better because circumstances have changed."...but I realized they hadn't.  My perceptions about what was going on out there changed.  I realized how most of my perceptions were incorrect assumptions.... how they were coloring my view of the world.  I could see so clearly that thing in me wanting to pull the gaze downward into taht perspective but I knew it was just habit. I decided to use my will to look up instead of down...and almost instantly the world became this amazingly pleasant place to be in. Not because it changed...but because I chose to keep  my attention up rather than down.Shakti flowed in the way it was meant to and I felt it.

Anyway, I am rambling as I ponder these new "aha" realizations.  I am probably not articulating clearly.  I will come back to this.  For now...let me leave you with a bit of insight.  Do your best to look upward! Life is a lot nicer up here. 

The highest spiritual habit by which the devotee can maintain a watchful awareness of the inner presence of God is to keep the consciousness always centered on the spiritual [third]eye. 

Yogananda 

All is well!

Find the Barriers Inside

 Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that  you have  built against it.

Rumi

What is wrong with us that we are not okay...not happy, peaceful, joyful and loving all the time? Sat Chit Ananda is our birthright.  The question is not: "What can I do or get to be okay inside?"  It is:  "Why am I not open to this experience that is in me? What am I doing to bother myself?" 

All is well.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 6, 2024) The Key to Happiness: Stop Bothering Yourself.https://tou.org/talks/

Snags in the Closet of Your Mind

 Snagged

I see you ...

barring the closet door shut 

with all your might, 

your breath heavy 

and your knuckles white with effort.

 I see you , 

leaning against the door

with a quiet determination, 

a perfect image in the finest fashion, 

forcing a smile for normalcy's sake.

I see you ...

tensing up,

squeezing your eyes shut

whenever you open that door 

just enough 

to pull things out,

or push things in.

I see you,

assuming no one is watching,

wince in pain, 

as you pull back 

your bloody limbs and torn sleeves

from the insides of that closet.

I see you...

pull the tattered sleeve

over the scars you now bear

after pushing  the unpleasant down

away from view and

 before reaching again  "out here" 

for more pleasant things 

to store "in there."

I see you,

 collecting,

stuffing and storing.

So much you collect,

so much you stuff inside...

both the ugly and the beautiful.

I see you,

turning away from what is inside.

You dare not 

view the contents of your collection

in fear of what  you will see

if you open the door. 

I see you,

trembling to be free

of the heaviness inside,

not seeing a way through.

I know it is frightening,

but open the door wide 

and look inside.

The answer is inside.

Look inside.

Can you see ....

how the once empty and pure space,

once bright and well illuminated,

is now darkened

by a  tangled mess of knots 

made by these snags?

Can you see...

 Threads of all different 

colours and textures,

plucked, and snapped, 

pulled or snipped  

from the garments 

Life has given you to wear

hanging awkwardly and messily inside.

Can you see...

how these snags

obscure the  hungry splinters 

that impatiently wait 

to pierce your clothing

and scratch the skin beneath

whenever you blindly reach in

to push down or to pull out. 

Can you see...

there is a way to stop the pain

that comes with reaching and stuffing?

Can you see...

you are so much more than this cluster

of loose threads, snagged  over time,

on  the rough splinters that line

the closet of your mind? 

I understand your fear

and your desire to protect 

both the fine garments and your flesh 

but

... can you see that

your attempt to protect and preserve

that which is meaningless

is what is causing you your suffering? 

The snags are only there 

to catch your attention...

recognize them,

honor them. 

The more you cut yourself off 

 the more rips and tears 

you will make in the outer surface,

the more menacing and determined

 these splinters become, 

the more they will snag,

and  the more messy and dark 

the insides

of this space will be? 

Can't you see....

that the material

you cling to is not you...

you are simply the wearer of it?

Let it unravel if it must.

Open the closet door wide.

Push past the threaded fragments 

to see a second door 

hidden in the  back

behind the mess you made

of your mind,

a door that has always been there,

waiting for you to discover it. 

Open that small door too,

to allow the experience of Life to enter. 

Create a pathway 

for breeze and light 

to flow through.

Let it blow right through you.

Stand there and watch 

as the light exposes

what needs to be exposed

and as the breeze

smoothes each splinter, 

lifts and carries away 

each tiny knotted thread

until there is no more there

to obscure your vision. 

Release and let go 

of all that held you back.

Purify this mental closet

once and for all.

Embrace the healing freedom 

purification offers.

Then when the room is empty of all

but light and space,

allow yourself to fall back

through the second door

into all that is. 

Refuse to be snagged

any more.

© Dale-Lyn (Pen), February, 2024

Being Willing to Let Go of Your Stuff

 If you can let go of your stuff, you can get along with anyone. [And you can handle anything.]

Michael A. Singer

Letting go of our stuff; cleaning out our insides; purifying; removing the blockages/samskaras; and getting beyond our habit tendencies is the healing path yoga and other practices encourage. Any change or cleansing process begins with something called "will". Will is focused attention.  Are you willing to focus the  amazing light of conscious attention away from the "little me and its drama" it is too often focused on and point it in the direction of your own healing?  Are you willing to let go and release all that which you erroneously kept stuffed inside and preserved because you thought it was who you were? 

I often say to a loved one I am trying my best to support and coach into healing, "Don't begin your affirmations for healthier choices with "I want ...", begin them with , "I am willing to...".  When we are willing to...we are not fighting against anything and we are not preferring.  We are simply allowing what is and surrendering to a better way. We are willing to let go of that which is holding us back.

Our samskaras, the  stored and stuffed emotionally charged memories we use to define ourselves  in this story we are writing  called, "My Life, " have to go.  They are in the way of us experiencing what is real.  Without them we will be pulled up rather than down. We will no longer be disturbed by other people or other things that are happening around us. 

Are you willing to let go? 

If so ...focus your attention on that willingness rather than on what is in the way.  Let go of or simply allow whatever is stuffed inside to come up and be released. With everything we let go of, we open up more and more to what is. We feel lighter, less attached to the outer world. We get higher and higher. We free ourselves from the confining absorption on "me".  Use your will and your willingness to get you there.

All is well. 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 4, 2024) Understanding the Source of Will. https://tou.org/talks/

 

Being Pulled and A Sign

 Therefore when I considered this carefully, the contempt I had to fear because of the novelty and apparent absurdity of my view, nearly induced me to abandon utterly the work I had begun.

Nicolaus Copernicus

I copied this quote from one of yesterday's viewed articles, (according to my stats page...more than likely  bot skimmed not read). It was kind of significant. 

You see, I asked in meditation this morning...(I have been adding a practice of listening to my meditations, in hope of gaining better clarity as to how to best use the remaining time I have left on this planet) this question: "Am I making the most of my time or am I wasting it on things like the hours I spend in the morning listening to wise people speak and writing  on these topics  most people think are woo-woo? [These  novel and apparently absurd views?] 

I then did the woo-woo thing of asking for a sign.  It gets pretty frustrating at times to heed that inner calling everyday and to never know if you are doing what you are supposed to do. ...to see, possibly, that the only things you are reaching with your words  are web crawlers . One has to wonder if this overwhelmingly strong compulsion is misguided.  I need a sign every now and again that I am going in the right direction. So, I asked for one. 

Well, I  didn't get a phone call or text message with a thumbs up from above during the meditation lol. When I came out here and opened my page, however, viewing what was read by all the Singapore bots out there in the last 24 hours, this entry from March 16, 2017 was the first one that came up, encapsulating this quote. 

When the quote was originally shared here I was just switching the focus of this blog to "Waking up" and I was wondering if it was the right thing to do. I knew, like Copernicus did when he was trying to convince the scientific world in the 1500's that it was the earth that rotated around the sun, not vice versa,  how absurd I must be sounding to all those who read. At the same time I was convinced of the truth in this very scientific finding. ( Yoga is a science of examining objectively the human mind and human experience, of collecting data, and of testing the data findings in everyday life). 

The question arises when we face the prospect of contempt from others, "Should I abandon my work?" Well, centuries later people have come to see Copernicus's claim as truth, and though it has taken centuries, maybe the world will start to see the claims made by ancient yogi's as truth too. 

I got a clear sign this morning that I shouldn't abandon my work. Hmm! Probably couldn't if I wanted to.  I am pulled here every day by a force as strong as the magnetic  pull that keeps the earth rotating around the sun. Like the earth, I am nothing more than a speck of dust heeding the pull of something greater I have yet to fully understand.

Pretty cool! 

Psychology May Tidy Up the Mind...but Yoga Does the Heavy Cleaning.

 Psychology talks to you like you have no choice, yoga talks to you like you do. 

Michael A. Singer (somewhat paraphrased)

I often talk about karma, samskaras, reactivity, and every challenge we face in Life being  something we are responsible for.  

What you sayin, crazy lady? I 'm to blame for the shitty things that happen in my life?

That sounds harsh, I know. You are not to "blame" but,  yes, I believe you are responsible for your life. As I am for mine.

Beyond Psychology

I studied psychology for years and though I probably have enough credits to pursue one, I do not have a graduate degree in psychology.  Over the years of my life, I simply soaked up university courses and independent learning in many areas, including this one, in what ever way I could out of interest and a keen desire to learn. I was seldom focused on the outcome. Like all the learning fluttering around in my mind, I now have a mish mashed and confusing collection of transcripts that point in many different directions.  I absolutely loved what I learned about psychology and I added that "knowledge" to a cup already pouring over with many things. It is a very messy cup lol. I am a very messy learner. Therefore, I am not an expert in any field (other than nursing, maybe) and  have no valid academic credentials to rightfully  entitled to say that you are responsible for your life. Many would also argue that I have  no right to say that psychology is limited in its ability to explain the human condition. 

Still, I continue to say, with great faith, that it is limited and that you are totally responsible for your experience of Life.

Psychology Limited by Its Tidying up Focus 

Through my own examination of psychology, I have come to see its  limitations. I have come to see how it is focused on the psyche...(psychology is actually translated from its latin origin into English to mean...the study of the mind) and not the whole. It does not see beyond the "me" to who we truly are. Its goal is to help people cope with the problems and troubles of this psyche, this "personality", this "personal mind".  Its duty is to soothe and make life better for this "me", or the personal sense of self as if that is who we are.  It doesn't look beyond the veil of the mind to examine the "whole picture".

Psychology tends to say when it views the mess inside us , "There, there. It is not your fault. You didn't put that stuff in here and you cant get it out.  We will help you to "tidy up" the mess, make it neater and more orderly so you can get by." It recognizes suppression and repression as sometimes useful ways of coping and encourages them to a degree in its tidying up tendency. 

Yoga Unlimited by Its Purification Focus

Yoga, on the other hand does not stop at the mind.  It goes beyond the mind. Yoga helps us to see the "whole picture" because it is all about the whole picture. It is all about not only seeing Life and that which we really are  clearly but about experiencing it fully. It doesn't try to solve the problems of the personal self so it feels better. It sees the personal sense of self as the problem. It sees the "me"as being  in the way of us experiencing who we are. 

 Yoga doesn't just tidy up our insides...it attempts to allow for heavy cleaning. Its goal is to clear the mess out completely so there is nothing blocking that which is who we are , so the joy that has always been within us has a clear pathway to flow.   Yoga is a way of removing all that is in the way...to purify. It teaches that whenever we repress or suppress we are just adding to the mess and to the blockages; we are  resisting the cleansing yoga can offer us. 

And unlike psychology yoga teaches that we are responsible for the mess inside.  We created it and we are adding to it everyday.   Being responsible doesn't mean we have control over what Life hands us in terms of what is unfolding in front of us...it simply means we are responsible for our reponses ( which in too many cases are reactions).  It teaches that the suffering we endure is directly and indirectly caused by our messy insides.  Life has little to do with it. We are responsible for the stuffing, therefore the mess. We are responsible for the way we are constantly bumping into this mess, and therefore reacting. We are responsible for the consequences of our reactions and therefore our life experiences.  reacting as a result. We are, therefore, responsible for our life experience. 

Responsibility is not "blame". No one is doing anything wrong here as we learn.  Suppression and repression are common defense mechanisms most of us use.  I use them all the time by habit. They are "normal" and conditioned ways of coping with our human experience.  Yoga, though,  doesn't care about normalcy and conditioning. It is concerned about what is healthy and freeing. It teaches that  we do not have to be trapped in these normal human habits.  We can transmute them and transcend them.  Responsibility is simply our ability to respond. Yoga is about taking back the power over our  responses to life, our habitual human tendencies. We do not have to stuff more down on top of that which we stuffed and we can let the old stuff come up and be released. We do not have to stop at tidying up with psychology.  We can go deeper and start cleaning up with yoga. We have that choice, we have that power; we have that responsibility!...

Hmm! All is well in my world.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 2, 2024) Exploring Methods of Inner Work. https://tou.org/talks/

Under Observation

 

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life. 

Marcus Aurelius

I am sitting here with a mixture of "stuff" ebbing and flowing inside me. This little bug that is taking longer than expected to recover from is leaving a dark cloud in the mind. Some negativity and samskara leakage is resurfacing.  It is a little challenging to be all enthusiastic and energetic right now.

The body and mind are so connected,  remember. When the mind receives a shock, as in trauma say, the body absorbs these reflex warnings and emotions. It clings to them for self preservation reasons. There is such an automatic connection there. This works both ways. When the body receives a shock as in illness...it sends messages to the mind. These messages ...seem to say, "Okay I need to get better here.  I need rest. So don't be all perky and energetic like right now, k? Just kind of go into a funk somewhere so I can take care of business, alright?" These messages  fatigue and depress the mind a bit. 

So, when the body is down, we are down mentally.  And when we are mentally down, we are down physically. Of course, the opposite is true.  If I am up mentally, I seem to have more physical energy.  If I am feeling on top of my game physically, I tend to be happier and more positive mentally. Just watch yourself to verify that connection between your body and your mind. It really is a truth that goes beyond the "woo-woo" teachings of a western yoga teacher lol

Investigate; Observe

So anyway, I am observing my body through this bug and I am observing my mind.  I watch when I slip into negativity and old conditioned ways of thinking and feeling.  I watch how my body wants me to say no to extra work while my mind drags up old messages "You cant say no!  You can't displease people etc. Take care of others...not yourself." I watch the self deprecation tendency, that still lingers a bit inside me, arise  and flitter about in my psyche.  I watch as it dissolves when the body gets louder. I watch the desire for self care emerge, I embrace it, and then I watch as it too flitters away.  Up and down I ride the samskara wave triggered by this little virus.  And a lot of time, I just find myself leaning back watching what the world around me is doing, watching what the body is doing, watching what the psyche is doing, and saying from the position of awareness, "Wow! Look at what I am observing and experiencing. Isn't this all amazing?" 

When I catch myself there, I realize how far I have come on this journey. I truly am detaching and disidentifying. It is an amazing feeling to watch the body and mind react in whatever way they are reacting and to know that you are just watching and experiencing it.  If you are observing and experiencing, you are not that which you are observing and experiencing, are you?  You are that which observes and experiences. Wow! 

So cool! All is well. 

Not Having Problems

 

You are not having problems.  You are thinking you are having problems.

Michael A. Singer

Most of us pray to God to solve our problems. But where are the problems?  In the mind only. 

That line above seems to be crucial to understanding things as they are.  Yet, most of us with our narrow focus on "me and my life" view the world through the eyes of our stored stuff.  That stored stuff or samskara layer (personal mind) gets triggered, arises, and distorts our perceptions of the world.  We react in turn. More "problems" seem to arise "out there" that we store "in here" and we assume it is the world that is the problem. 

It looks like the world is dirty and problematic when it is simply our mind that is. From this problematic personal mind we pray.  We pray, "I want this.  I don't want that. Please help me with my preferences." Hmmm! Our prayer, our relationship with God, is based on a self concept.

Why would you have a self concept.  You are the Self. You are the universe staring at this cage of your mind. 

Michael A. Singer

All is well. 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe (January 29, 2024) Exploring Prayer and Beyond. https://tou.org/talks/

Letting Things Flow Naturally...

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them.  That only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in any way they like. 

Lao Tzu 

Speaking of flowing naturally....

I am sitting here trying to write through eyes that are swollen and constantly running while I reach for a tissue every two seconds. I can't see....the pressure in my sinuses is so annoying, even my teeth and jaws ache.  I caught a common cold...well by the fever and body aches maybe it is a flue...regardless I have a common virus making inself at home in my body. My mind tells me that it is not a good time for this uninvited guest to show up, in the sense I have important plans at work tomorrow ( the little job I have taken on two mornings a week)...Yet, I know unless it gets miraculously better by tomorrow morning, I will not be able to bring this into the school, nor will I be able to function effectively if I do. Much to mind's annoyance, I have to utter the dreaded words..."I am sick!"  Well let me rephrase that, "I am presently dealing with a cold or flue."  (We are not our temporary or even chronic illnesses, we are simply experiencing them). 

Anyway, I have learned through my practice to handle such bodily experiences.  Instead of resisting and pushing myself past symptoms, as I have done for years...I now stop, notice, allow, observe, and experience what my body is doing in response to things like this  initially "unwelcome" guest.  I get curious, almost fascinated at times. I observe and I experience. 

As Daniel J. Seigel writes in, Becoming Aware...observing and experiencing are two totally different actions of consciousness. When we observe we witness and narrate our way through, as if at a distance, and when we experience we allow and sense the entire illness. We  "become a conduit directing the flow [of sensation]into consciousness." page 5

I Observe

I begin by taking the "unwelcome" label away from this unplanned for visitation. I chose to refer to the virus as a "guest", and my body as the host while I simply observe the process. I do not resist it or deny its presence.  Afterall, I cannot change the reality of this situation. I cannot turn back the clock to the beginning of its incubation period and stop the exposure from happening. The reality is, I was exposed. The body may resist the invasion, as it is programmed to do, but "I" do not resist. I accept the fact that the virus found a way into this body and it proliferated through the prodromal period. And now, becasue of my very active immune system's intention to make my body inhospitable for this virus, the body is now experiencing the illness stage. I am aware the illness stage, like all phenomena in Life,  is only temporary and that there will soon be a stage of decline, followed by convalescence.  It is pretty darned interesting, don't you think?  "I" witness and observe the process with great curiosity. 

 Then I experience what this bug and my immune system are doing to this body "I" am in, without thought. I allow myself to feel the symptoms. When mind is not in the way of saying, "Oh no this shouldn't be! This is awful!" the experience is not so bad.  Not "pleasant", for sure, but I find, without resistance, the experience of acute illness goes from "unpleasant" to " almost "neutral".  (Not completely neutral for me yet, lol...but getting there). 

I am seeing through this observation and experience of a common ailment all human bodies are prone to, that I am learning to handle reality.  Everything in life, including illness, is a learning opportunity. What are we here to learn?  Everything...but mostly how to handle reality so we can evolve and go with the flow of Life while we are here. 

Wow!

All is well

Daniel J, Seigal (2021) becoming aware. New York: Tarcher/Perigee.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe (January 29, 2024) Why We Ignore the Rest of the Universe. https://tou.org/talks/

Space Inside the Cup?

 

In order to learn about Zen, you must first empty your cup.

Zen Koan

There is an old story, relayed by Tolle and many others, about a university professor, well studied and versed in the Buddhist sutras and texts, who wanted to learn more about Zen from an actual Master. He visited Nan-in for an interview.

He was graciously invited in and, as was Japanese tradition, offered tea which he accepted somewhat reluctantly. He really just wanted Nan-in to jump in right away to give him more knowledge about this ancient Buddhist tradition that had become his learning obsession. But not wanting to offend his host, he sat himself down on the floor beside Nan-in and waited for Nan-in to pour the tea. Nan-in pulled up his long sleeve, picked up the steaming kettle, and began to pour tea into the professor's cup. He poured, and poured, and poured. Before long the tea, much to the professor's astonishment, was pouring over the side of the cup. Just as the tea was pouring over the saucer and onto the bamboo pad  beneath it, the professor shouted, "Stop! Can't you see the cup is full?  It can't hold anymore." 

Nan-in quietly and gracefully put down the kettle and turned to the  professor, "Yes", Nan-in said."It is just like your mind. It is too full.  It is flowing over.  In order for me to teach you Zen, you must first empty your cup."  

Wow!

How empty is your mind right now? Is it as full of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, assumptions, judgments, doctrine, dogma and learning as mine is? Most of our minds are already too full of information  to absorb more. Yet, many of us are on a never-ending quest for more knowledge to stuff into these minds. We fail to realize, we can not truly learn anything new ...especially about Zen, which is the understanding of Shunyata or emptiness/spaciousness....until we empty our minds to make more space in there.  Spirituality, in fact, is all about removing mind stuff...not adding to it.

Let's make space inside for what is truly important.

Hmm!  Anyway, love this little tale that Eckhart Tolle shared today.

All is well. 

Eckhart Tolle ( January, 2024) The Journey to Spiritual Awakening: Beyond Thinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3kcOM3eDDE

Ariel and Shyla Kane/Inspire Me Today ( November, 2014) The Zen Master and the College Professor: Letting Go of What You "Know". https://inspiremetoday.com/blog/zen-master-college-professor-letting-go-know/

Gloveworx (March, 2017) The Story of a Simple Cup of Tea.https://www.gloveworx.com/blog/simple-cup-of-tea-

Stop Personalizing...

 You are the one that is making it personal...

Michael A. Singer

Are you okay with what is?  Are you okay with what might or might not happen up ahead? Most of us are not okay with reality. We spend most of our lives creating and attempting to preserve this false little idea we have of who we are, assuming that the world out there should make us feel comfortable in here as we do that. The world cannot and should not live up to these huge expectations we place upon it.  We erroneously believe the world is here to serve  "me and my story"and when it doesn't we get upset. We think there is something wrong with the world.

Michael Singer reminds us that we will know that we have awakened when the world and all that is in it runs right through us. When we are not stopping it with our clinging or our resistance to what is and our foolish notion that the world is here to serve us, we will experience something amazing.  When we put away the personalization tendency and see, and accept the world as it is, we are awake. 

I was asked a question in the video exercise I have been doing related to this topic.  The main point I make in that video echoes what Singer shares in his podcast below..."Stop personalizing the Universe! It isn't here for "me".  

The "I" ,"I  am" beneath this notion of "me"....is simply here to experience everything about the small speck of universe it gets to experience.  Wow! How lucky we are to be able to do that.  We experience this Self when we stop focusing on this this little "me and my story!" and embrace the all of reality.

All is well. 

Michael Singer/ Temple of the Universe (January 25, 2024) During the Real Work for Spiritual Evolution. https://tou.org/talks/

One

 

"That which exists is One; sages call it by various names." 

A 9000 year old Indian phrase shared by Vivekananda in his Complete Works

Those are words Vivekananda stressed over and over again.  He wanted us all to know them.  They were written in a Vedanta text over 9000 years ago, at a time before man was "civilized as he is today", before man learned to cut the throat of his brother, or shed blood for the sake  of a belief system or religion.

What is so cool about this is, that One is in all of us...we are extensions of it. We are drops of the ocean of consciousness.  Every drop of ocean is the ocean.  Every drop of consciousness is consciousness. It doesn't matter what sages call it.  Some use God, or other names, even many names ( Indra, Mitra, Varuna)...what matters is the direct experience of it. We can all experience that One through Self realization.

Self realization is all about finding the secret of the whole universe. "Who are you and where do you come from?"  These are answerable questions but not to the mind, through direct experience. Singer

All is well. 

Vivekananda (n.d.) The Complete Works of Vivekananda. Kindle Edition.

Michael Singer/ Temple of the Universe (January 25, 2024) During the Real Work for Spiritual Evolution. https://tou.org/talks/

Concentrated Consciousness

Will is the power of consciousness concentrating.

Michael A. Singer

Though there are many forces at play in the movement of your arm up and down...there is one power beneath all that which is determining that motion. This power is not talked about in science because it it isn't biophysical.  That power however determines everything.  That power is will. 

Michael A. Singer eloquently defines and describes will in the below linked podcast.  It is certainly worth a listen.

Will is what happens when we take the high, elevating power of consciousness/awareness/attention and  focus it on something.  That something could be as expansive as the night sky or as narrow and small as the scratch on our car, a scratch we just happened to notice as we are staring up at the night sky.  When we look up at the stars in the sky our conscious lens is wide and we are taking in the vastness of the universe. We are probably not thinking too much of "me and my story" in those moments, or if we are, we are realizing how small and puny this "me and my story" is in the big scheme of things. When eyes drift down enough to notice the scratch on our prized possession, however, consciousness may automatically switch from a wide angle lens to a zoom one. The rest of the universe is blurred out while we stare at "me and my story" once again getting lost in it. We went from the focus of spaciousness, to the very concentrated focus of me...filled with thoughts, feelings , and the censored information we are taking in through our five senses. Hmm! We are using our will to narrow our awareness. What we see and experience in this narrowed view is so addictive. It becomes, once again, who we think we are. We become the car owner with a bunch of feelings and thoughts about this scratch and the unfairness of it.  When we get lost in the "me and my story" we forget the spaciousness that is still around us, and we forget the aware being that was once observing that spaciousness, and who is now focused in on this tiny scratch.  Same being, same scene, different focus. 

The thing is, we have a choice.  We, as this wise being (whether we know we are that or not),  can use our will to focus on the spaciousness or on the scratch.  It seems like we do not have a choice.  It seems like we were pulled against our will into the drama of life but that is just because we have somehow trained the mind to habitually focus down and get lost in these small things. It has become a habit.  Will created the habit and will can break the habit. We have the will to choose what we focus on.

This may require some practice.  Patanjali came up with three steps that can help us to use this will to focus on Self ( the spacious awareness) rather than on self ( "me and my story"). These limbs of Raja yoga include Pratyahara ( learning to eliminate distractions and what the senses take in); dharna ( learning to focus on a single thing other than this "me or my story" ), and dhyana ( meditating on the Self...on that conscious awareness that we are.)  It is a practice but a very worthwhile one.

All is well. 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( January 23, 2024) Consciousness and the Power of Will. https://tou.org/talks/

Getting Beyond the Thinking Mind

 ...Develop the ability to always have your presence, attention, anchored in the present moment rather than in your thinking mind.

Eckhart Tolle

That is what we need to do to transcend this sense of suffering so prevalent in most of our lives. We need to realize it is not the life situation causing the problem, but the thinking that is happening around it.  

When it comes to the thinking...it is more our attachment to what we are thinking, our identifying with it, that leads to suffering...not the actual thinking  or challenge we are facing.  Life is simply doing what Life does.  The mind is simply  doing what the mind does. The "Me and My story", that you created around this life event and this accumulation of thought,  is not real. Awakening is not about changing Life and getting this or that out there in order to eliminate challenge or to enhance this "me-ness". It is all about transcending this identification we have with that which we created and called "Me and My Story." 

When you awaken spiritually it doesn't mean it is the end of challenges but you no longer transform the challenges of life into ...an unhappy sense of self...into a dissatisfied person. Eckhart Tolle

Two questions we need to ask, according to Eckhart Tolle in the below linked video, when we are experiencing a sense of suffering as we face a life challenge:

• Could it be that the narrative I created around this situation is causing the unhappiness and not the situation?  
• How would I experience this situation if I did not add the unnecessary burden of thoughts to it?

Hmm! Something to think about.

All is well.

Eckhart Tolle ( January, 2024) Navigating Life's Challenges with Spiritual Awareness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUsxlR2RSeQ

Particularly Efficient Publishing Technology?

 Blogging is just writing-writing using a particularly efficient  type of publishing technology.

Simon Dumenco

Particularly Efficient?

I don't know about that.  It is efficient for writing, offering a quick way of getting ideas down and out there but for reaching readers? I don't know.  Well, at least not in my case and truth be told I do little here but the writing.  I am not actively trying to promote this blog. It is all on me.

Numbers spiking in the stats page, but only one viewer in the google analytics page. What do these bots do?  Do they take material? ( Why would they take material lol?) or are they just searching and crawling?  I have a lot of entries showing up read...is that because of this one person truly doing a read through of my blog?  Or is it bot activity randomly creeping?  The big numbers are from Singapore again and that is not showing up on Google...the second biggest is "Other" and I don't know how that would show up on Google. Then there is the random reader who may be actually reading...or maybe not? ...showing up on Google. How does one determine the publishing efficiency of the blogging experience ?  And does it matter?

I guess, my question is, how does one determine if the publishing technology is not only inefficient, but unwholesome for the writer.  Is it possible, as I ask every time I see this spike in numbers...that something less than wholesome is happening and I should do something to protect my material? Well, I know it is mine and I can prove it in a flash if it comes to copy right infringement but...I don't want to have that thought in my head as I come here everyday.  I just want to write lol. This is not the type of stuff a scraper would want is it? I don't know...it is all confusing to me. 

Regardless...beautiful day out there.  And I open up and come here every morning, regardless of the efficiency of this technology. 

All is well

He, Beneath it All

 God is still, established upon His own majestic changeless Self. You and I try to be one with Him, but plant ourselves upon nature, upon the trifles of daily life, on money, on fame, on human love, and all these changing forms in nature which make for bondage. When nature shines, upon what depends the shining?  Upon God and not upon the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars. Wherever anything shines, whether it is the light in the sun or in our own consciousness, it is He. He shining, all shines after Him. 

Vivekananda, Complete Works ( Kindle Edition) Location 6718

He who is the colouring in the wings of the butterfly, and the blossoming of the rosebud, is the power that is in the plant and in the butterfly. He who gives us Life is the power within us. 

Vivekananda, Location 6728

So Close! so Close!

 

The spiritual progress of the aspirant is measured by the extent to which he[she, they] receives inner tranquility.

Sivananda

Contemplating  where I am on this spiritual path is something I often catch myself doing. It seems to be a slippery slope I am climbing.  I want to go up as high as I can and reach the peak.  I do.  I see myself progressing upwardly, and I see myself slipping back into unconsciousness...I pull myself back up or away only to soon realize I fell back again and again. I do not know how close I am to the summit.

I practice all limbs of yoga, I do, committedly and devotedly if not perfectly. I study and listen.  I write and I teach (as a part of my practice...again imperfectly and without ever knowing to whom I am teaching or reaching with my words.) I serve in other ways...sometimes with ego ( I know it is ego when I say "I serve") and sometimes with Self ( I know it is Self when whatever I do happens naturally, despite "me",  as if I am pulled to do it without any attachment to outcome or this idea of "service"...like with what I do here.) I know what I want: to reach that summit and at the same time I know there is no reaching, no getting anywhere, because I am already there. It gets confusing.

Anyway, I had a dream last night.  And as I often dream, I dreamt about being in some type of school with some type of test to write.  (I, because I spent so many years in the school system, personally and professionally, often dream of school or relate my awakening process to the learning done in academia.) Someone next to me is showing me their test result that they are quite proud of...a "B-" , and explaining that they just worked on the take home exam a few hours before it was due and were not expecting such a mark.  They relay to me that the teacher is not  as difficult as we thought she was. In my heart, I know I am willing to put more work in and therefore get a better mark than B-, and at the same time I know, in the dream, it isn't about the mark...it is about the learning.  I am willing to try harder than this person beside me did because I truly want to learn. I also discovered from this person with the B- that I have a teacher that is not there to make my life difficult but  only to encourage my learning. Just as I realized that, I heard out of nowhere the familiar female voice that often speaks to me in dreams.  "You are so close!  You are so Close!" It was so clear and I instantly knew, as I do now, that the speaker was talking about my spiritual progress. 

Hmm! 

Spirituality isn't about getting somewhere else.  It is about falling back into that which was always there. It is not something "I" do.  It is something "I am." We do not need to go anywhere. The process is simply a realization and remembering the inner tranquility of who we are.  "Me" and its need to do, fix, control, climb, and get somewhere is often in the way. Without this "me" and its drama that pulls our consciousness down, we would realize that we are already at the summit; we have always been at the summit. We just forgot that because we were  looking down at that which we are not, becoming addicted to the play it was performing in, becoming identified with it. 

The spiritual process is about looking away and remembering that the "me" and its drama is simply an object of consciousness.  We are the consciousness that is staring down at it...we are not it.  When we fall back into this consciousness we will find the inner tranquility we are seeking .

All is well in this world I erroneously refer to as "mine." 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe (January 18, 2024) Understanding Levels of spiritual Growth. https://tou.org/talks/

Out of the World of Relentlessly Ticking Clocks

 Although the rhythm of the waves beats a kind of time, it is not clock or calendar time. It has no urgency. It has no urgency. It happens to be timeless time. I know that I have been listening to a rhythm which has been just the same for millions of years, and it takes me out of the world of relentlessly ticking clocks.

Alan Watts

From Where We Desire

Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe, to know what he ought to desire, and to know what he ought to do.

Thomas Aquinas

I am more inclined to believe that we need to know from where we desire.  Ego or Self?

Just as the universe does, humans participate in life's s desire to create. Desire is simply the wish, conscious or unconscious, to bring into the world of form something that was not here before.  The ego motivated desire differs from the Deeper Self's motivation.  Ego wants to get, and "Deeper I" wants to give.

Hmm! Where is your desire coming from?

All is well

 Eckhart Tolle (January, 2024) What is the True Nature of Desire? /Ego vs Presence with Eckhart Tolle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p53Xet8fAT0

How High You Really Are

 

Thus, in this body the soul is reflected.  The soul is God, and every human being has a perfect divinity within himself, and each one must show his divinity sooner or later.

Vivekananda Location 6624

Michael Singer, and many of the great spiritual teachers of the past, teach that we are very high and  great beings staring down at something that is not so great. We are focusing all this amazing consciousness down on  the dramas of a self created "me" with all its thoughts and feelings, its endless  and fruitless quests to make everything "out there" okay so we can feel good "in here". We are constantly trying to distract ourselves from the mess we created and we erroneously believe those distractions that lift us up a tiny bit to be our "highs" in Life. We become so focused on our inner drama, our quests for distraction and more highs; we get so  pulled in by our thoughts and emotions, that we get lost  in them and start to identify with them,  

The amazing powerful and very high consciousness that we are gets narrowed and constricted to a tiny little beam of light as it looks down, way down, onto this tiny speck of a thing we are focusing on. We believe we are that which this light is shining on. We do not see we are actually the light that is shining. We do not see the natural, inherent high state within us, that which we are. Then something starts to wake us up.  We realize what we have been doing isn't working. We just can't stay high.

 As we start to wake up, we begin to want more and our quest becomes all about getting out of this low energy state...of moving up a bit from our conditioned way of approaching Life.  As we begin to move up and away from the mess, disidentifying with the drama of "me" a bit...we certainly feel better.  But there is still so much more to us that we cannot grasp or understand. 

It is isn't until we let go of this "me" and fall back into the seat of Awareness that we get to experience what we truly are.  What we truly are is so much more than what we imagine ourselves to be. Realizing Self  is a process, a beautiful process. 

Vivekananda puts the process of spiritual growth  this way (and it may or may not include a religious practice): 

First, we see God in the far beyond, then we come nearer to Him and give Him omnipresence so that we live in Him; and at last we recognize we are He. 

Once we reach this state we will experience Sat Chit Ananda ( which is also a name for God in some translations)- Eternal-Conscious-Bliss

All is well!

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe (January 14, 2024) Learning to Maintain Your Center. https://tou.org/talks/

The Complete Works of Vivekananda. Kindle Edition

Striking the Light and Cleaning Out the Mess in the Way

 The only way to realise the light above you is to strike the spiritual light within you, and the darkness of sin and impurity will flee away.  Think of your higher self, not of your lower. 

Vivekananda Location 6580. 

Why does life feel so dark and heavy?

You are having a problem with your mind. (Singer) It is focusing on the lower self...the personal mind and this entity we call "me." 

Say what, Crazy Lady? 

We are allowing our mind to run the show and the mind is just not capable of doing that. It is in the way of us experiencing the Light of the Higher Self.  

The personal mind is  a closet full of stored  junk ( all the sensory impressions we cling to, most of them very painful, emotional experiences we are doing whatever we can to not experience again.  And some of this junk is also made up of  very pleasant experiences or impressions we crave experiencing again).  This chaos of stored junk forms the personality, the sense of "me" that the mind is intent on protecting, the lower self,  and it is a mess! We, as awareness, or the Higher Self, jump behind this closet of junk. We identify as the "me" and say, "Okay protect me, be my shield! Only allow what I want in.  Life has to go through you before it gets to "me" ".  

We attempt to experience Life from there.  For the average, "normal" person...this  mind they allow to run the show is a completely disturbed mess, leading to great suffering. 

Besides being a complete mess, with a habit tendency of picking up more and more junk and stuffing it inside this mental closet, the mind is suffering from "delusions of grandeur."  It believes it can control, manipulate, grasp from and push away life events as they pass before us. It actually thinks it has that ability to control Life so we can feel comfortable inside. We fail to realize that  Life has been doing what it has been doing for billions of years before our puny little personal minds have come into existence.  We fail to realize that we cannot control Life!

The Buddha taught that we all suffer ( all of us) because we desire.  We desire how the world should be and the messy, and disturbed  mind we have given the reins to, tries to give us what we want.  So it constantly tells us, besides the stern instructions not to open the closet door more than a crack to stuff new things in,  we have to go out  and fix, manipulate, cling to the pleasant that soothes  the junk in this closet, and push away the unpleasant that rattles the junk in this closet. We are instructed to open the door only a crack for the pleasant, and bar it shut for the unpleasant. The mind's instructions creates a never ending and never successful mission for us. We suffer, suffer, suffer. 

If the door is closed most of the time and we are hiding behind it...how is Life and Light going to get through to our awareness.  How are we going to experience it? All we are going to see is the mess in this dark and heavy closet. We will become obsessed focusing on the "me" and the drama the mind creates by attempting to manipulate Life based on the junk in this closet. We will become so focused on what is in front of us...we will not see the Light that shines behind us. We will live in darkness.  We will suffer.

Yoga teaches we do not need to live this way. Without the junk filled closet in the way we can experience an amazing life. All we have to do is open the door, "strike the light" and clean up the mess in this mind.  We cannot, of course, keep stuffing  more in if we want a clean closet. We need to put away our preferences, our meager and fruitless attempts to fix it out there, so it suits us in here,  and accept and allow Life as it is.  We need to stop stuffing and clinging to the good, the bad, or the ugly. Let it all just pass by. If we stop stuffing more in, the stuff inside will keep rolling out until someday the entire closet is clean and purified. Until there is no junk between Life and who we are. 

Without the mess, all there is is light. 

Our desiring and expecting the world and Life to be the way that soothes the disturbed mind is not the way to go . To end suffering...let it go. We don't want to get what we want...we need to get rid of the reason we want so we are healthy and okay no matter what. (Singer)

Explore the essence of your being. This is the spiritual path.  Spend your life purifying and freeing yourself from this messy closet mind. You are not the disturbed and messy mind. You are not the events it is trying to control. You are the One behind, observing it all. Stop focusing on the dark and heavy in front of you.  Light the match that will allow you to focus on the part of you that is okay no matter what...the higher Self, not the lower. Clean out the mess inside...purify...and be free!

Heaviness and darkness belong to the messy mind, not the Light of who you really are.

If the room is dark, do you go about beating your chest and crying, "It is dark, dark, dark!" No, the only way to get the light is to strike a light, and then the darkness goes. 

Vivekananda, location 6580

Michael A. Singer/ Sounds True ( January, 2024) Everyday Gets Lighter When You Let Go of Yourself./ Michael Singer Podcast: New Year's Special Season 3: Episode 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qd_oz0krVI

Vivekananda (n.d.) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Kindle Edition.

Sitting in the Deeper Seat

Spirituality is simply sitting in a deeper seat within and observing Life from there...how can anything be a problem...all that is asked of you is to be aware of it..you don't have to do anything...everything is happening by itself ...

Michael A. Singer (Somewhat paraphrased)

Hmm!  I want to remove the woo-woo from the word spiritual.  I have always had a bit of a problem with the connotation that people tend to attach to that word. They either see it, (and the person who talks about it),  as religious, (even evangelical).  And they, if they are not religious, or evangelical, shut down and resist. Even if they are religious, they judge the person talking about the spiritual  as being blasphemous or crazy  if what they are saying differs greatly from the doctrine or dogma of their religion. Or they see "spirituality"  as referring to the supernatural, magical, and mystical..,dealing only  with things that are "non-scientific miracles"  like astro-projection, talking to ghosts, or reading people's energies. I am not saying these things are not possible...not at all ...but they do not define the word spirituality,

 Spirituality is just a word used to describe something that isn't woo-woo or "mambo-jumbo" as Singer, in the below video describes the way it is erroneously thought of as. It is simply the process of viewing the world and experiencing Life from from a deeper seat of consciousness, from a higher awareness. It isn't restricted to  supernatural phenomena  It takes place in the everyday natural world. It isn't a one time happenstance  experience.  It is an everyday practice of developing a greater understanding. A so called "spiritual" person  is simply committed to observing the outerworld and the inner world and noticing how the two are relating. 

They ask these questions: 

"What is happening inside this " me",  when that is happening outside this "me"?  Why? "

"What is happening outside of this "me", when this happens inside this "me"? Why? "

Yoga is a spiritual practice that isn't woo-woo or "mambo-jumbo".  It is not there to teach you how to leave your body so you can float around the room ( though it could lol...but a true yogi doesn't seek those powers or cittis).  It is to teach you to live peacefully  and with a sense of Oneness. It is going to teach you to live life freely, undisturbed by any of it....as you allow it to be exactly what it is. It can show us that Life is not the problem, how we respond to it is. And if we learn to stop reacting and resisting it...we can be at peace and be free. 

Spirituality is a solution to the problematic way of living like we have to fix, control and do so much in order to find peace inside.  It teaches us we do not have to do anything but "be" as we observe and experience  this amazing and miraculous Life we have been given. 

All is well! 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( January 12, 2024) Seeing Past It All. https://tou.org/talks/

What We Are Truly Longing For

Without knowing it people are longing to become free of themselves...there is a longing...and this is built into the evolution of the human being. This longing for self transcendence is built into the evolution of human consciousness. Every person experiences this but they look for the solution for this longing in the wrong way, in completely the wrong places. 

Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle echoes what I have been saying about the need for getting beyond the personality in the below linked video. Not that he has been listening to me and regurgitating what I say, lol, but I over the course of my long awakening, have been regurgitating what I was learning, and assimilating after  listening to him and many others. It just so happened that what I wrote in the last few weeks was echoed in this video that came out yesterday, and that I happened upon today.  All in perfect timing. You may not listen or trust what I say, (and that is truly okay) but I am sure when it comes from Tolle, it  will resonate with you. 

Self transcendence involves taking our obsessive attention away  from our conditioned focus on  what the little me, the "surface I" , the problematic personality is experiencing to what the Deeper I is experiencing.  It involves going from our obsession with focusing on thought, emotion,  word, and object to noticing the space that surrounds these things of form. It involves removing our fixation  from the clouds in the sky, so we can see the blue sky behind them. It involves recognizing that this surface I is just a little ripple on the ocean of Deeper I. It isn't who we are.

As the quote above reminds us what we really want, what we are on a mission to attain whether we know it or not, cannot be found out there.  It can only be found in here.  Many of us are trapped in this identification with the personality and spend our lives trying to serve it by getting from the outer world what we assume it needs to be comfortable and safe.  We fail to see beyond the personality which is built on thought, and conditioning...to that which is real and can only be experienced. Awakening is all about falling back from the grip of personality with its problems, needs and incessant seeking...to the only thing that is truly real and important ..higher consciousness or what Tolle refers to often in this video as "space consciousness." 

Hmm! Have a listen.

All is well.

Eckhart Tolle (January 10, 2024) Transcending the Ego for Lasting Fulfillment/ Eckhart Tolle Wisdom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_wTckHOyeE

Snow Day

Nature is our greatest teacher of surrender, of allowing, of simply being....This moment, this present...this is where Life is.

Alexandra Domelle

 Getting our first real snow storm, which is a latecomer in this Canadian climate. It was a snow day at school.  I had forgotten how much I love snow days. It is like nature is whispering, "It is okay.  You don't have to go out and "do" today.  You just have to stay comfortable and warm inside ( that is until you have to go out and shovel and snow-blow lol) .  For now, just be!"

There is just such comfort in surrendering to the what is of  nature.

All is well.