You do not need to directly restrain the mind or try to oppose its movements at all. The thinking mind tends to function like a mechanism that has been wound up and which consequently is impelled to follow its train of thought. To struggle with this - to try to control it - is pointless. This is where many experience the frustration of attempting and failing in their practice of meditation.
We are habitually identified with the mind and its movements - with its thought-content. It is a cliché because it has had to be repeated so often by spiritual teachers, but it is an essential truth: we are not the mind. We are the source of mind. We are consciousness, we are pure Awareness. We are the 'Being' - the 'I Am'. Dwelling in that pure awareness is Meditation.
o
Friday, September 22, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
... on Earth as it is in Heaven...
“True spirituality is not the rejection of (earthly) life, but the art of perfecting life.”
Rudolf Steiner
o
Rudolf Steiner
o
Mastery, Awareness & Non-dualism
“Each soul is potentially Divine. The goal of life is to manifest that Divinity within by controlling nature internal and external. Do it by philosophy or psychic control or work or worship, by one or more or all of these and be free.”
Swami Vivekananda
What is meant by ‘control’?
Control does not here imply ‘struggle’ and ‘conflict’, but simply gaining power over nature through awareness. This awareness overcomes the divisions between inside and outside, between conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious and brings about a natural ability to control without struggle or manipulation. This is Mastery. This is the secret of the Siddhas (Self-Realised Beings).
o
Swami Vivekananda
What is meant by ‘control’?
Control does not here imply ‘struggle’ and ‘conflict’, but simply gaining power over nature through awareness. This awareness overcomes the divisions between inside and outside, between conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious and brings about a natural ability to control without struggle or manipulation. This is Mastery. This is the secret of the Siddhas (Self-Realised Beings).
o
Light & dark
Why is there dark?
Because we do not put our full attention there…
Why do we not put our full attention there?
Because we are afraid.
The Light of Love eliminates fear and darkness, because it brings Light to the ‘dark spaces’.
Darkness exists only as a ‘reflection’ or shadow caused by our ignore-ance.
Darkness is not the opposite of Light. It is the shadow of Light – caused by us (‘I’ or ‘Ego’) standing in its way.
When we become translucent and radiant there will be no darkness.
Integrating the darkness turns it into Light.
o
Because we do not put our full attention there…
Why do we not put our full attention there?
Because we are afraid.
The Light of Love eliminates fear and darkness, because it brings Light to the ‘dark spaces’.
Darkness exists only as a ‘reflection’ or shadow caused by our ignore-ance.
Darkness is not the opposite of Light. It is the shadow of Light – caused by us (‘I’ or ‘Ego’) standing in its way.
When we become translucent and radiant there will be no darkness.
Integrating the darkness turns it into Light.
o
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Yin, Yang & the 'balance' - Divine harmony
'Brahma' - the Creator or 'creative force' exists in the balance beween the poles of preservation and dissolution.
'Brahma' exists in the harmonious interchange between hot and cold, light and dark, wet and dry, masculine and feminine, as the impulse for the expression of life.
('Brahma' was born out of 'Vishnu' and not vice versa)
Brahma is the point of origin but he 'himself' is found in the fusion/ the perfect interplay of 'Vishnu' and 'Shiva'.
'Heaven' is 'Brahma' ('Akasha') and is present. We 'fall' from 'heaven' whenever we are out of balance.
o
'Brahma' exists in the harmonious interchange between hot and cold, light and dark, wet and dry, masculine and feminine, as the impulse for the expression of life.
('Brahma' was born out of 'Vishnu' and not vice versa)
Brahma is the point of origin but he 'himself' is found in the fusion/ the perfect interplay of 'Vishnu' and 'Shiva'.
'Heaven' is 'Brahma' ('Akasha') and is present. We 'fall' from 'heaven' whenever we are out of balance.
o
"Two types of madness"
According to Plato:
"... there are two types of madness, one arising from human disease, the other when heaven sets us free from established convention."
(from 'Phaedrus')
o
"... there are two types of madness, one arising from human disease, the other when heaven sets us free from established convention."
(from 'Phaedrus')
o
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Meditation - Notes from the 'Complete Reality School' of Taoism - a synthesis of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian wisdom
Meditation Practice:
In Taoist practice it is necessary to embrace the breath with the mind and the mind with the breath. With practice one becomes balanced and the practitioner becomes able to plunge into deeper and deeper meditative states where " there is no sky, no earth, no body. "This advanced state of meditation is what is referred to in the saying 'Knowing the white, keep the black, and the illumination of the spirit will come of itself." White refers to everyday life and the rational mind. Black means the intuitive side of the brain and the mystical realms. This distinction was a basic part of the teachings of the Complete Reality School.
The purpose of meditation practice, then, is to center and calm the mind for it is said: "When the ordinary mind is calmed, the shining mind of Tao comes forth." This saying was attributed to Chang San-Feng, one of the famous adepts of the Complete Reality School. "The mind of Tao" refers to the primordial real consciousness. The all-too-human way of mistaking the ego or the ordinary mind for our true self or buddha-mind is called "putting the servant before the master."
Quoted from: 'The Online Journal of the I Ching, Yi Jing'
http://www.fortunecity.com/business/influence/1805/taoism.htm
o
In Taoist practice it is necessary to embrace the breath with the mind and the mind with the breath. With practice one becomes balanced and the practitioner becomes able to plunge into deeper and deeper meditative states where " there is no sky, no earth, no body. "This advanced state of meditation is what is referred to in the saying 'Knowing the white, keep the black, and the illumination of the spirit will come of itself." White refers to everyday life and the rational mind. Black means the intuitive side of the brain and the mystical realms. This distinction was a basic part of the teachings of the Complete Reality School.
The purpose of meditation practice, then, is to center and calm the mind for it is said: "When the ordinary mind is calmed, the shining mind of Tao comes forth." This saying was attributed to Chang San-Feng, one of the famous adepts of the Complete Reality School. "The mind of Tao" refers to the primordial real consciousness. The all-too-human way of mistaking the ego or the ordinary mind for our true self or buddha-mind is called "putting the servant before the master."
Quoted from: 'The Online Journal of the I Ching, Yi Jing'
http://www.fortunecity.com/business/influence/1805/taoism.htm
o
Meditation - stillness and movement. A Taoist perspective
People tend to regard meditation as extremely difficult - if not altogether impossible...
But very often people have a concept of meditation that complicates its practice.
In a Taoist commentary on the I Ching*, there is a reference to the text, 'Directions for Blessings' where Lu Tung-Pin says the following:
"If you have your heart set on the universal Tao, you should certainly practice concentration in stillness. However, concentration in stillness is not a matter of intentionally keeping the mind on something while remaining quiet. If you intentionally seek stillness while quiet, once you move or act your mind will again be aroused. When stillness culminates, there is spontaneous movement - this is the force of potential. If you can seek stillness while active, your mind stays on truth, so you can act without error. Then there is no further concern when quiet."
"(Other) Taoist teachers also affirm that the real stillness and openness which they esteem as a method for breaking through the bounds of conditioned subjectivity and opening up objective awareness cannot necessarily be accomplished simply by arresting or inhibiting the movement of the mind, as this can leave intact the clutter of ingrained habits, only to reassert themselves again on arousal. The classical Chan master Pai-Chang, speaking of the need for insight as well as calm, said, "That which is held by the power of concentration leaks out unawares, to arise in another context."
Also,
"If the mind remains unmoved, and sees as if not seeing, being like open space, not dwelling on anything, (these visions) will naturally disappear."
__
* 'The Taoist I Ching', translated by Thomas Cleary; Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1986; p. 12-13
________________________________________________
o
But very often people have a concept of meditation that complicates its practice.
In a Taoist commentary on the I Ching*, there is a reference to the text, 'Directions for Blessings' where Lu Tung-Pin says the following:
"If you have your heart set on the universal Tao, you should certainly practice concentration in stillness. However, concentration in stillness is not a matter of intentionally keeping the mind on something while remaining quiet. If you intentionally seek stillness while quiet, once you move or act your mind will again be aroused. When stillness culminates, there is spontaneous movement - this is the force of potential. If you can seek stillness while active, your mind stays on truth, so you can act without error. Then there is no further concern when quiet."
"(Other) Taoist teachers also affirm that the real stillness and openness which they esteem as a method for breaking through the bounds of conditioned subjectivity and opening up objective awareness cannot necessarily be accomplished simply by arresting or inhibiting the movement of the mind, as this can leave intact the clutter of ingrained habits, only to reassert themselves again on arousal. The classical Chan master Pai-Chang, speaking of the need for insight as well as calm, said, "That which is held by the power of concentration leaks out unawares, to arise in another context."
Also,
"If the mind remains unmoved, and sees as if not seeing, being like open space, not dwelling on anything, (these visions) will naturally disappear."
__
* 'The Taoist I Ching', translated by Thomas Cleary; Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1986; p. 12-13
________________________________________________
o
Friday, January 27, 2006
Science and Consciousness
Science centers always around the human being, no matter where it puts its focus. Human consciousness is the first and last instrument of science regardless of how powerful the microscopes, telescopes or other instruments that we conceive of, construct and apply in the pursuit of science.
Consciousness is the eternal subject of science, and yet science is said to be 'objective'. This is a grand illusion that arises because too often we take consciousness for granted..
o
Consciousness is the eternal subject of science, and yet science is said to be 'objective'. This is a grand illusion that arises because too often we take consciousness for granted..
o
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