Enjoy the honey but mind the bee sting

 I met a man who was really impressive. You could feel in his energy that he had something special going. He told me that he once was a hardcore spiritual seeker who had burnt out one day. At a time when he was going through a divorce as well he wanted to end his life. It never came to that. One day when he spent time with his family he fainted and woke up a changed man.

I almost fell off my chair when he told me that story. All his spiritual messages are about the power of the now. He didn’t claim the power of now as it turned out, the power of now found him. Why should it be any different for his followers? That’s the frustration of a teacher who wants to help the followers to reach a breakthrough. He has a good message though, enjoy the honey!

We all own the power of now. No teacher is required to see the magic of the now. Where we need help is with the self-imposed interferences that cut us off the higher vibrations. That’s why I promote Suzhen Liu’s work who teaches mindfulness, letting go and family energy workshops. We can only see what is in front of us. My friend couldn’t until his interference cleared out. 

Taste the honey and enjoy but mind the bee stings would be the proper simile in this case. The spiritual teachers who tell you “you are That” abound. There is nothing wrong with their message but don’t forget to do the inner work to claim your heritage.

Returning to our original mind

 When you have the spiritual awakening, it is like seeing the funniest joke ever played. It appears that you are at a costume party and everyone is role playing the character they dressed up as. Except their costume is the personality made up of all their beliefs about what they are, should be, shouldn’t be, should do and shouldn’t do. Their personality mask is a big set of agreements about themselves.

Ramesh Balsekar

I started noticing this shift in 2025, but with the big energies that are flowing through us these days it has become more pronounced: there is a conscious shift at our disposal from the mind centered way of experiencing life to a heart centered one. One day it felt like I was breathing through my heart, for the lack of a better description. It is as if the energy system originates from the heart instead. As we shift to this energy circuit, the mind becomes vibrant but still.

I coined the acronym S (ilence) E (nergy) L (ove) F (low) in my last book Breaking Free and it describes the phenomenon of heart-centered living quite well. The mind quietens as the energy expands through the heart center and the inner peace becomes the outer power of merging with the external flow. We are part of life as is, and we perceive the love embedded in the Oneness of life, or notice the misplaced and illusionary striving for it. 

How exactly can we accomplish this feat of returning to our original mind, away from the modern mind that attempts to control the flow of life? I can only share the methodology that I have practiced in recent years—mindfulness! Observe the thought-feeling energy as it arises and stay with it. See how it interacts with life events and observe everything that comes your way with an equanimous mindset. Modern mind is the interference; original mind simply is.

Let life demonstrate, “you” are not!

 Often the spiritual quest starts with a mission against the corruption in the world until the insight hits that the inner is the outer. That’s when the mission becomes to address the inner corruption and to end it. Here is the problem, a non-existing entity is deciding to muster the will-power to make the future better than it is today. That’s the root of the corruption.

The opportunity is to spot the inner corruption and look through it. Corruption ends here and now as the entity that claims ownership is understood to be non-existent. A spiritual quest may start with the desire to make the world a better place, but it ends with the realization that life is here to demonstrate, “you are not. Stop the inner corruption and end it outside of “you”.

Life is a projection in Awareness

 You are not the body.

You do not have a body.

You neither do nor enjoy;

you are Awareness only—

the timeless Witness.

You are free—

go in happiness.

Ashtavakra Gita

I sleep and dream. I am at my prior workplace. I do something to impress people, or I am afraid that I have too little time getting my work done. Then I wake up and for a few minutes the dream lingers. Wait, the “me” and the others in the dream were just projections. It was a simulated experience that generated feelings, thoughts and perceived happenings. What if life is just like that, a simulated experience on a screen called Awareness? 

The observer of thoughts, feelings and life’s events is still a refined entity of conditioned self, unless, that is, the Oneness behind everything is seen and understood. I set out to be a writer and a teacher of this timeless Witness, but then I saw the wisdom in Ashtavakra’s teaching:

“This knowledge of Truth 

turns an eloquent, wise and active man

mute, empty and inert.

Lovers of the world therefore shun it.”

Ashtavakra Gita

Alert, open and of an equanimous mind to the outcome of all happenings, in  Oneness everything and everyone is perfect as is. Yet, many of us on a spiritual quest are both a masterpiece and a work of progress. Enjoy being part of the landscape of Oneness when Awareness prevails, and enjoy inquiring into the doer, enjoyer and self-appointed witness when the conditioned mind takes over once again. The writer and the teacher is a poet in Awareness and a humble student of humanity when the cloud of conditioning descends. 

Human beings are both a masterpiece and work in progress

 J. Krishnamurti once pointed out that the moment we are aware that we are unaware we are in fact aware! Likewise, our conditioned self with its cravings and aversions is not the problem. The moment we become aware that the memories of the past and our future cravings are driving us, we can step out of this energy field by asking who is present at this moment. 

I cringe when I hear the word enlightenment—not because I doubt that some can reach a high level of spiritual living—but because it’s so obvious that this state free of cravings and aversions is a mind concept. We are human beings for a reason. For most of us there is always an echo from the past, but the opportunity is to become aware of its presence and step out of it.

#jkrishnamurti #awakening #enlightenment #spirituality #awareness 

It’s now or never—it’s either or!

 It’s not hard to see where the notion “if I keep practicing this or that then I will be enlightened as well some day” comes from. It’s a mind concept.

Likewise, either we perceive the present moment from the memories of the past, or we approach it with an alertness, an openness and equanimity.

It’s now or never. It’s either or. How, you ask? Well, be still for a moment and let the magic of the moment speak for itself!

#now #spirituality #awakening #enlightenment 

Never mind life’s ups and downs

“The spiritual journey is not a career or a success story. It is a series of humiliations of the false self that become more and more profound.”  (Thomas Keating)

Someone wrote the other day that with Awakening there sometimes comes a stretch of losses to show us we are beyond those. That may be the experience of some, but we can operate at a higher state of being where the enjoyment of successes is registered just as the pain associated with failures, while we know that we are Awareness watching the assessment of life’s so-perceived ups and downs. Self inquiry allows us to smooth-sail all of life’s occurrences. The lucky streak is welcomed just as much as the occasional stumble.