Yesterday I realized with a sickening jolt to my stomach that I am more interested in proving that I am right about my brain theory and spirituality than I am about enjoying my spiritual transformation. This obsession with wanting to be right about this is limiting what is possible for me. What I have been doing though is no different to what we all do as human beings and that is that we all have to be right about our view, opinion and we make being right more important than being happy. Is this why both the scientific and the spiritual community in their own ways have distanced themselves from me. Both communities cannot believe that given the gift of grace that I have without any doubt been given that I should dare to look for a scientific reasonable, rational explanation to account for it.
Yes, there are certain facts about me which can be verified to be true. I have been born with an uncorrected lazy right eye but everything else I have made up as a story and then I have systematically gathered the evidence to support the story. This is also what we do as human beings. We make a decision about something or someone and then the rest of life is spent gathering the evidence to support the story. But the story by virtue of it only being story is not real and yet I have lived my life like my story that the lack of sight in my right eye was the cause of all the profound spiritual experiences and insights I have had was the truth. It wasn't and isn't....it's just a story I made up to give what happened to me meaning. But any story no matter what it is about limits what's possible. It limits what's possible because a story can never be the truth. A story is fiction....it has no basis in reality.
So what is possible for me if I give up my story and stop trying to find evidence in the way that I have? The first thing that comes to mind is complete freedom around the experiences I have had. The experiences are real and I will never deny that they happened but what I can be responsible for is the story I made up about what they meant and then I lived my life from this story. The story limited me because I was always trying to fit it with whoever I may have been writing to or speaking with. If I can let it go and just be with what happened, without making it mean anything then I can be totally myself. I can tell my story from the facts and deal with the facts of what happened and this will give me a level of ease and freedom that up to now I haven't experienced.
Where did I get this revelation. Many readers of my blog will know that from 2005 I have been participating in a transformative education which has been run by Landmark Education. I am presently doing a seminar on Excellence which is where the revelation came from last night. What I saw was that I have a story around why I can't be excellent and that is because I haven't got two proper functioning eyes and therefore I can't be excellent which is a total story. As I said there is a fact there that I have been born with only one functioning eye but all the rest of it is a story and it limits me from being excellent. A story also takes up the space for excellence; the two cannot co-exist, there is either story or excellence.
From my spiritual journey I have identified three distinct stages. The first is conversion and there are many examples of this. It is when the consciousness shifts from the outer to the inner. The second stage is transformation which is why I am so heavily involved in the programmes offered by Landmark. It is the only education I know that offers transformation. It is why I unreservedly recommend its flagship programme the weekend Landmark Forum. And the final stage which I am clear that I am working towards is Enlightenment. Transformation is not Enlightenment, but without Transformation Enlightenment is not possible. Transformation is putting the past back into the past, recognising that a story is just a story, not the truth; giving up the right to be right for what is possible. Transformation creates the space for something new to be created. For me that space is for Enlightenment but I fully appreciate that it's not the space for everyone, nor does it have to be.....
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Evidence is mounting.....that my theory about the right brain....might not be the entire story..
It is slowly occuring to me that the powerful experiences and insights that I have experienced since beginning a spiritual path when I was 12 may have little or nothing to do with my theory that I have accelerated right brain development. That in some way that I still find incredibly hard to believe that my intention made at the age of 12 that I was going to be spiritual and not religious has been like rocket fuel for everything that has happened. It is impossible to underestimate the power of a decision made in childhood and early adulthood. These are the decisions that go on to shape who we become as individuals. They are what make up our ego/identity/personality and they come about as the result of the development of mind. Mind is the structure that holds all the decisions that we made when we were growing up.
Why have I suddenly gone less than certain on what was for me a definite reason for why I was the way I was. Well the strongest reason is that I have come across the work of Dr Mario Beauregard who has written a book called 'The Spiritual Brain'. In it he suggests that mystical/spiritual experiences involve the brain but are not limited to it. In my theory I had completely limited what happened to me to the workings of the brain and more particular to increased activity in the right side and nothing else. A couple of weeks ago I put pen to paper and sent him an email briefly outlining the experience where I experienced the rising of an energy from the base of my spine to my head and the transformation that happened afterwards. I explained about the lack of sight in my right eye and the link between the eye and the brain and asked him about the possibility of having some brain scan done on my brain to see the level of right brain activity vis a vis the left. He replied to me the next day which I was really grateful for and told me that spiritual activity involves both sides of the brain and gave me some advice on how to go about getting a brain scan. There was no indication that he wished to be further involved with me.
I am used to this reaction by now because of all the experts in this field I have spoken to and I have a great deal of respect for Dr Beauregard. I have only just begun his book but I want to copy a sentence which has resonated. There is an old Sufi saying that says 'I thought about you so often, that I completely became you; little by little you drew closer; And slowly but surely I passed away' What this is saying is that to be focussed continuously on something is to bring it about. Now in Dr Beauregard's book, he says on page 33 when he is speaking about the field of quantum mechanics 'Experiments have shown that because the brain is a quantum system, if you focus on a given idea, you hold its pattern of connecting neurons in place. The idea does not decay as it would if it were ignored. But the action of holding an idea in place truly is a decision you make' So here we have a sufi and a scientist saying more or less the same thing. I think this is why also that when we focus on what we don't want in life, we get more of the same. The key to effortlessly manifesting is to focus continuously on what we do want.
For me from the age of 12 I wanted nothing more than to be spiritual. I had no idea what that looked like. I was born into an Irish Catholic family so I knew religion but I had no idea of spirituality yet I knew that there was a fundamental difference between being spiritual and being religious. I could also look at it like the continuous focus on being spiritual has driven my brain to develop in the way that it has. In this way we have a chicken and egg scenario, what came first, the brain development or my desire to be spiritual? The truth is that I don't know. One thing I am committed though is to be true to myself no matter what the experts try to tell me.....
Why have I suddenly gone less than certain on what was for me a definite reason for why I was the way I was. Well the strongest reason is that I have come across the work of Dr Mario Beauregard who has written a book called 'The Spiritual Brain'. In it he suggests that mystical/spiritual experiences involve the brain but are not limited to it. In my theory I had completely limited what happened to me to the workings of the brain and more particular to increased activity in the right side and nothing else. A couple of weeks ago I put pen to paper and sent him an email briefly outlining the experience where I experienced the rising of an energy from the base of my spine to my head and the transformation that happened afterwards. I explained about the lack of sight in my right eye and the link between the eye and the brain and asked him about the possibility of having some brain scan done on my brain to see the level of right brain activity vis a vis the left. He replied to me the next day which I was really grateful for and told me that spiritual activity involves both sides of the brain and gave me some advice on how to go about getting a brain scan. There was no indication that he wished to be further involved with me.
I am used to this reaction by now because of all the experts in this field I have spoken to and I have a great deal of respect for Dr Beauregard. I have only just begun his book but I want to copy a sentence which has resonated. There is an old Sufi saying that says 'I thought about you so often, that I completely became you; little by little you drew closer; And slowly but surely I passed away' What this is saying is that to be focussed continuously on something is to bring it about. Now in Dr Beauregard's book, he says on page 33 when he is speaking about the field of quantum mechanics 'Experiments have shown that because the brain is a quantum system, if you focus on a given idea, you hold its pattern of connecting neurons in place. The idea does not decay as it would if it were ignored. But the action of holding an idea in place truly is a decision you make' So here we have a sufi and a scientist saying more or less the same thing. I think this is why also that when we focus on what we don't want in life, we get more of the same. The key to effortlessly manifesting is to focus continuously on what we do want.
For me from the age of 12 I wanted nothing more than to be spiritual. I had no idea what that looked like. I was born into an Irish Catholic family so I knew religion but I had no idea of spirituality yet I knew that there was a fundamental difference between being spiritual and being religious. I could also look at it like the continuous focus on being spiritual has driven my brain to develop in the way that it has. In this way we have a chicken and egg scenario, what came first, the brain development or my desire to be spiritual? The truth is that I don't know. One thing I am committed though is to be true to myself no matter what the experts try to tell me.....
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Had my kundalini class.....and now I'm irritated.....
Irritation seems to be a common and lasting feeling at the moment. Am doing my practice of being aware of it but I feel like a coiled spring in danger of springing out. I am feeling a build up of tension which is increasing in pressure and intensity. Regular readers of this blog will know that things that can't be seen with the eyes, I don't have much time for. This goes for reincarnation, past lives and stories of people appearing in subtle energy bodies. I deal with what I observe and experience and that is all. I feel this gives me a level of groundedness when so many in this field don't seem to me to be connected to reality. This goes also for authorities in this field.
Today in my class the teacher started speaking about it being the birthday of a famous guru over the weekend and how he (the guru) appeared many times in his subtle body after he died. The woman who was with me was really fascinated with all of this and I listened to it with mounting irritation. Finally when I could bear it no more I said 'surely if the mind wants to see something enough, a form will be created, desire will create a form in the imagination'. There was this uncomfortable silence for a minute and then my teacher who is so great started to speak about the field of quantum mechanics which is something I have trust in. That this phenomenon of a particle appearing in two places is a recognised and proven phenomenon. This stopped me somewhat in my tracks but I still found it too much of a leap to go from the qantum physics to an actual human being. That awkward moment passed and we got on with the class but all during the class I was irritated. The length of time I had to hold my arms up at an uncomfortable angle irritated me. I know that this is the purpose of these exercises to feel the pain and go beyond but I was just irritated. What was revealing for me was that the last meditation was one to do with cultivating trust and it was this exercise that I found the hardest of all to do. I had to stop many times to have a rest during the exercise. I think my teacher was trying to show me something in a very subtle way.
After the class the conversation moved onto reincarnation and past lives. This was just too much for me. There is so much to uncover and create in the present life, what on earth is the point in going back over past lives. What purpose can it serve. I see it as just more attention to that which is not-self. The conversation came up because of a fear my teacher has of spiders and he found that in a past life he had been killed by a spider!!! How on earth am I going to train to be a kundalini yoga teacher if this is the way I am about common spiritual conversations. And yet if there was nothing for me to learn I wouldn't be having this reaction around these conversations. I have been on this path long enough to recognise that anything where the behaviour is a react and not a response is an area where I am not being totally honest with myself......hm.....more work to do.....
Today in my class the teacher started speaking about it being the birthday of a famous guru over the weekend and how he (the guru) appeared many times in his subtle body after he died. The woman who was with me was really fascinated with all of this and I listened to it with mounting irritation. Finally when I could bear it no more I said 'surely if the mind wants to see something enough, a form will be created, desire will create a form in the imagination'. There was this uncomfortable silence for a minute and then my teacher who is so great started to speak about the field of quantum mechanics which is something I have trust in. That this phenomenon of a particle appearing in two places is a recognised and proven phenomenon. This stopped me somewhat in my tracks but I still found it too much of a leap to go from the qantum physics to an actual human being. That awkward moment passed and we got on with the class but all during the class I was irritated. The length of time I had to hold my arms up at an uncomfortable angle irritated me. I know that this is the purpose of these exercises to feel the pain and go beyond but I was just irritated. What was revealing for me was that the last meditation was one to do with cultivating trust and it was this exercise that I found the hardest of all to do. I had to stop many times to have a rest during the exercise. I think my teacher was trying to show me something in a very subtle way.
After the class the conversation moved onto reincarnation and past lives. This was just too much for me. There is so much to uncover and create in the present life, what on earth is the point in going back over past lives. What purpose can it serve. I see it as just more attention to that which is not-self. The conversation came up because of a fear my teacher has of spiders and he found that in a past life he had been killed by a spider!!! How on earth am I going to train to be a kundalini yoga teacher if this is the way I am about common spiritual conversations. And yet if there was nothing for me to learn I wouldn't be having this reaction around these conversations. I have been on this path long enough to recognise that anything where the behaviour is a react and not a response is an area where I am not being totally honest with myself......hm.....more work to do.....
Monday, 11 October 2010
To take on a spiritual path it is not necessary.....to take oneself away from the world..
What I am realizing more and more is that the spiritual is not a path as such but a way of being. It is a declaration that I am a spiritual being who is having human experiences. When this is the context then everything that happens is fodder for spiritual growth and development.
To pay my bills, I work as a fundraiser for a number of charities. Each call presents itself as an opportunity for me to choose who I am going to be on each call. As you can imagine given the nature of the work some calls are more harmonious than others. What is invaluable about this job for me given my self-declared path towards self-realization and enlightenment is that when the energy of anger is there I can watch it impassively, like an observer. I don't get identified with it and I certainly don't project it onto the person I am speaking to. I just watch it rising up. Everything is energy and anger is just one form that the energy takes. In another instant that same energy can transform into love or compassion. What is important is not the form that it changes into but to be aware of its presence and to watch its rise and more importantly its fall. To follow it back until it dissolves into the formless. Only then will it result in a deep and abiding peace.
The person who caused me to get angry has no part to play. The anger was within me and it is only when we take responsibility and own that we have anger, but anger is not who we are that a level of ease and freedom can be experienced around anger and indeed around any energy whether this is hate or love. It is all the same energy but the form in which it is expressed is different. But the principle is the same for whatever form it takes. Become aware of its presence, don't act out or project and follow it back to its source.
I feel blessed that at least once each day I am given the opportunity to engage with this process and it has led to deepening peace and calm. In this way there is no need for me to take myself to an ashram or even have a teacher. The willingness to take myself on at every moment is enough.....
To pay my bills, I work as a fundraiser for a number of charities. Each call presents itself as an opportunity for me to choose who I am going to be on each call. As you can imagine given the nature of the work some calls are more harmonious than others. What is invaluable about this job for me given my self-declared path towards self-realization and enlightenment is that when the energy of anger is there I can watch it impassively, like an observer. I don't get identified with it and I certainly don't project it onto the person I am speaking to. I just watch it rising up. Everything is energy and anger is just one form that the energy takes. In another instant that same energy can transform into love or compassion. What is important is not the form that it changes into but to be aware of its presence and to watch its rise and more importantly its fall. To follow it back until it dissolves into the formless. Only then will it result in a deep and abiding peace.
The person who caused me to get angry has no part to play. The anger was within me and it is only when we take responsibility and own that we have anger, but anger is not who we are that a level of ease and freedom can be experienced around anger and indeed around any energy whether this is hate or love. It is all the same energy but the form in which it is expressed is different. But the principle is the same for whatever form it takes. Become aware of its presence, don't act out or project and follow it back to its source.
I feel blessed that at least once each day I am given the opportunity to engage with this process and it has led to deepening peace and calm. In this way there is no need for me to take myself to an ashram or even have a teacher. The willingness to take myself on at every moment is enough.....
Sunday, 10 October 2010
10th October 2010 - 10.10am - highly significant for humanity....
Some weeks back I received notification of a workshop which was being given by a Clairvoyant called Edwin Courtenay who I rate highly. He says this about this date today 'On this day, at 10 minutes past 10, the masculine and feminine Christ energies will descend strongly on the planet downloading their codes and energies into the hearts of those ready to receive them. Some people have these already but even they will have their existing Christ Codes updated!
Now I had completely forgotten about this until just before I fell asleep last night. This morning I found it very difficult to wake up and when I did had this overwhelming compulsion to meditate from just before 10am to 10.30am. Since then I have felt this incredible restlessness and agitation. I am writing now because I have a strong inner urge to do so, it seems important. Wearing my right brain hat I can speculate that what may have happened is that there has been more of a shift to the right side of the brain in which case I don't think I can be any more brain lateralized to the right than I am! What I would have hoped has happened is that new neural pathways have been built between the right and left brain. There is no doubt that some more left brain activity for me in terms of going out and making things happen for myself either personally or professionally would be a good thing, but for those who operate solely from the left brain consciousness the shift today is going to be welcome for some and bewildering and unsettling for others. Ironically I seem to be in the latter category!
However this is also a golden opportunity. I wrote a few days ago about being a witness of everything that happens, just like a rock is steady when the waves are crashing around it. Well in my mind everything is crashing, there are crazy thoughts, agitation and yet there is also that which is watching all of this going on. I know all there is to do is rest in that which is watching but then why do I feel like there is something I should be doing. And why doesn't this shifting of my consciousness to that which is watching disappear all of this agitation and restlessness. But this is the test of the spiritual path to have trust, faith and most importantly surrender to that which watches.
I must also issue a word of warning about pursuing a spiritual path seriously. Firstly the spiritual is real and achievable I hand on heart can state this from my experience. Yet one must be careful because on this path certain experiences happen whereby it's very easy to lose one's perspective. I was reading the story of a man who for years was a life and business coach and a very successful one at that. However on the side he had been pursuing some powerful spiritual practices without guidance. Then he had this experience which I cannot write too much about and his third eye opened which gave him supernatural powers. However when he tried to speak to his landlord about all this his landlord said to him 'I don't care what happened to you, you are two weeks late with the rent'. For some reason this resonated very strongly and shows the paradox of this path. The experience of bliss and all knowingness that comes along with this kind of experience is a lonely experience because it is for oneself only. Ultimately the experience cannot be explained or shared only hinted at and in this is the acute aloness of the spiritual path. I say 'aloneness' and not 'loneliness'. There is no loneliness, there is much uncertainty. Experiences of this nature throw the consciousness from the known to the unknown and the unknown is always uncertain but there is no loneliness - how can there be the consciousness has come home to itself....the search is over...in fact it never was...
I will be one year living where I am at the end of this month and it is time for me to move on yet the thoughts of all that 'doing' just makes me want to curl up and retreat into my spiriutal books and writing but life is about balance and so finding somewhere else to live has to be my project for the next couple of months. My conventional life in London seems so far away now. I will be starting my training as a yoga teacher in December. Maybe it is this that is at the root of my restlessness. The inner energy bursting for the kind of expression that can only be expressed as a teacher.....my right brain.....is demanding expression..
Now I had completely forgotten about this until just before I fell asleep last night. This morning I found it very difficult to wake up and when I did had this overwhelming compulsion to meditate from just before 10am to 10.30am. Since then I have felt this incredible restlessness and agitation. I am writing now because I have a strong inner urge to do so, it seems important. Wearing my right brain hat I can speculate that what may have happened is that there has been more of a shift to the right side of the brain in which case I don't think I can be any more brain lateralized to the right than I am! What I would have hoped has happened is that new neural pathways have been built between the right and left brain. There is no doubt that some more left brain activity for me in terms of going out and making things happen for myself either personally or professionally would be a good thing, but for those who operate solely from the left brain consciousness the shift today is going to be welcome for some and bewildering and unsettling for others. Ironically I seem to be in the latter category!
However this is also a golden opportunity. I wrote a few days ago about being a witness of everything that happens, just like a rock is steady when the waves are crashing around it. Well in my mind everything is crashing, there are crazy thoughts, agitation and yet there is also that which is watching all of this going on. I know all there is to do is rest in that which is watching but then why do I feel like there is something I should be doing. And why doesn't this shifting of my consciousness to that which is watching disappear all of this agitation and restlessness. But this is the test of the spiritual path to have trust, faith and most importantly surrender to that which watches.
I must also issue a word of warning about pursuing a spiritual path seriously. Firstly the spiritual is real and achievable I hand on heart can state this from my experience. Yet one must be careful because on this path certain experiences happen whereby it's very easy to lose one's perspective. I was reading the story of a man who for years was a life and business coach and a very successful one at that. However on the side he had been pursuing some powerful spiritual practices without guidance. Then he had this experience which I cannot write too much about and his third eye opened which gave him supernatural powers. However when he tried to speak to his landlord about all this his landlord said to him 'I don't care what happened to you, you are two weeks late with the rent'. For some reason this resonated very strongly and shows the paradox of this path. The experience of bliss and all knowingness that comes along with this kind of experience is a lonely experience because it is for oneself only. Ultimately the experience cannot be explained or shared only hinted at and in this is the acute aloness of the spiritual path. I say 'aloneness' and not 'loneliness'. There is no loneliness, there is much uncertainty. Experiences of this nature throw the consciousness from the known to the unknown and the unknown is always uncertain but there is no loneliness - how can there be the consciousness has come home to itself....the search is over...in fact it never was...
I will be one year living where I am at the end of this month and it is time for me to move on yet the thoughts of all that 'doing' just makes me want to curl up and retreat into my spiriutal books and writing but life is about balance and so finding somewhere else to live has to be my project for the next couple of months. My conventional life in London seems so far away now. I will be starting my training as a yoga teacher in December. Maybe it is this that is at the root of my restlessness. The inner energy bursting for the kind of expression that can only be expressed as a teacher.....my right brain.....is demanding expression..
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Go.....where there is no path.....and leave a trail....
The spiritual path is a tried and tested path where everything hinges on the words of sages and gurus who have left this life. These sages and gurus are dead and have taken their enlightenment to the grave. There is little to be gained by following dead sages. All these writings can do is provide a guide but the guide is not the experience. In every field new paths are blazed. I'm thinking of quantum mechanics and nanotechnology in science and yet in the field of spirituality everything has stayed the same and then we wonder where there are so few enlightened beings.
I assert that the grace of the guru is only obtained by following a living teacher. By writing this I am going against the grain of my beliefs because unashamedly my most influential teachers have been Sri Ramana Maharshi and Osho and of course beloved Buddha and from these I have learned so much but if I am to achieve the ultimate goal then I have to go where there is no path and leave a trail. This doesn't mean re-writing spiritual literature. The goal has always been the same spiritual enlightenment but all the past teachers have done is to offer devices or techniques to reach enlightenment.
Enlightenment for all is not an 'if' but a 'when' and I am a hundred percent sure of this. What makes me so sure? Every one of us born a human being has an inner centre which connects us to the whole of existence. No training can be given to develop this centre it has to be discovered or uncovered. Every enlightened master uncovered this centre and then taught from another centre which they developed. For some the centre they taught from was the heart and so the teachings contains the importance of being devoted. Others developed the head centre and then taught from there so the method that was advocated was self-enquiry or reason. But all first uncovered and immersed themselves in this inner inborn centre and from this centre everything else came. The really great thing abut this and what is to be celebrated is that this centre cannot be developed it is inherent to all of us. So there really is nothing to do. This is why for me the advocates of the thinking, we are already enlightened we just haven't had the experience yet is so true. I have to stress again because it is so important and I am so excited that I want to repeat that this centre cannot be trained or developed, only discovered.
One way of looking at this centre is to think about the Witness consciousness. The Witness is that which watches everything that goes on in the mind dispassionately and objectively. To see this - consider what is it that knows you have a thought or a feeling. When you say 'I have a headache', who is it that knows you have a headache, something is watching you have the headache. If you were the headache, you wouldn't be able to see it as something separate to you. But the fact is that we do see a headache as separate to us which is why we reach for nurofen.
This inner centre is like the rock in the ocean. In the ocean waves crash around the rock, but the rock remains stable, unattached and uninvolved. For me this rock is the same as our inner centre. When we operate from this centre, events of life happen but we don't lose our balance and also from this center we respond and not react to these events.
I have allowed for comments on this post and apologies I always mean to but often I forget....
I assert that the grace of the guru is only obtained by following a living teacher. By writing this I am going against the grain of my beliefs because unashamedly my most influential teachers have been Sri Ramana Maharshi and Osho and of course beloved Buddha and from these I have learned so much but if I am to achieve the ultimate goal then I have to go where there is no path and leave a trail. This doesn't mean re-writing spiritual literature. The goal has always been the same spiritual enlightenment but all the past teachers have done is to offer devices or techniques to reach enlightenment.
Enlightenment for all is not an 'if' but a 'when' and I am a hundred percent sure of this. What makes me so sure? Every one of us born a human being has an inner centre which connects us to the whole of existence. No training can be given to develop this centre it has to be discovered or uncovered. Every enlightened master uncovered this centre and then taught from another centre which they developed. For some the centre they taught from was the heart and so the teachings contains the importance of being devoted. Others developed the head centre and then taught from there so the method that was advocated was self-enquiry or reason. But all first uncovered and immersed themselves in this inner inborn centre and from this centre everything else came. The really great thing abut this and what is to be celebrated is that this centre cannot be developed it is inherent to all of us. So there really is nothing to do. This is why for me the advocates of the thinking, we are already enlightened we just haven't had the experience yet is so true. I have to stress again because it is so important and I am so excited that I want to repeat that this centre cannot be trained or developed, only discovered.
One way of looking at this centre is to think about the Witness consciousness. The Witness is that which watches everything that goes on in the mind dispassionately and objectively. To see this - consider what is it that knows you have a thought or a feeling. When you say 'I have a headache', who is it that knows you have a headache, something is watching you have the headache. If you were the headache, you wouldn't be able to see it as something separate to you. But the fact is that we do see a headache as separate to us which is why we reach for nurofen.
This inner centre is like the rock in the ocean. In the ocean waves crash around the rock, but the rock remains stable, unattached and uninvolved. For me this rock is the same as our inner centre. When we operate from this centre, events of life happen but we don't lose our balance and also from this center we respond and not react to these events.
I have allowed for comments on this post and apologies I always mean to but often I forget....
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Why be special.....when you can be yourself..
In May 2010 I went to Satsang with a teacher called Mooji. I had a specific question I wanted to ask him which was around a woman ever being a spiritual master. My belief is that a woman can be a devotee, mystic, even spiritually awakened, but a Master..no, no that's a job for the boys. It took me two hours to get to ask my question and when I finally did I was amazed at Mooji's response to me. He totally understood where my question was coming from and he spoke about the desire to be a Master and the title of this post is one of the most profound that he said to me. Being myself is something I have now taken on and am so committed to.
So what does it mean to be 'yourself'. It means to be completely natural. To live in the present and to be self-expressed about your feelings in each moment. The latter is a challenge for us as human beings because for the most time we hide behind 'I'm fine' when asked. But to be natural and authentic demands that we are honest about our feelings in every moment and are honest about how experiences with ourselves and others are for us. This is also to live the way of the Tao - effortless action.
My spiritual journey has moved from effort where I put so much in when I was studying and practicing Mahayana Buddhism to now being completely effortless. I have a spiritual practice which I do every morning now not because it's effort or I feel I have to do it to sustain the state of peace, calm, bliss that I have permanently but because I enjoy it. The mornings that I don't do it, I acknowledge that I didn't do it and am straight with myself about why - I don't hide behind excuses, reasons and explanations. To be authentic and natural it is vital that the consciousness is always in the present. Past and future do not exist. The past was once the present and the future will one day be the present so all there is the present, THE NOW. With this naturalness with nothing forced the state of enlightenment will reveal itself in the way it is meant to....naturally and effortlessly.
So what does it mean to be 'yourself'. It means to be completely natural. To live in the present and to be self-expressed about your feelings in each moment. The latter is a challenge for us as human beings because for the most time we hide behind 'I'm fine' when asked. But to be natural and authentic demands that we are honest about our feelings in every moment and are honest about how experiences with ourselves and others are for us. This is also to live the way of the Tao - effortless action.
My spiritual journey has moved from effort where I put so much in when I was studying and practicing Mahayana Buddhism to now being completely effortless. I have a spiritual practice which I do every morning now not because it's effort or I feel I have to do it to sustain the state of peace, calm, bliss that I have permanently but because I enjoy it. The mornings that I don't do it, I acknowledge that I didn't do it and am straight with myself about why - I don't hide behind excuses, reasons and explanations. To be authentic and natural it is vital that the consciousness is always in the present. Past and future do not exist. The past was once the present and the future will one day be the present so all there is the present, THE NOW. With this naturalness with nothing forced the state of enlightenment will reveal itself in the way it is meant to....naturally and effortlessly.
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