Be one with the obstacle and Awareness shines through

 You hear that often from the masters, turn your mind inwards and let your heart shine instead. Easier said than done!

I have been a spiritual seeker—on and off—for most of my life. The most intense period was in graduate school, following an amazing church experience just after I graduated in economics in Germany and was headed for a PhD in the US. While advancing my studies in economics in Providence, RI, I stumbled on the Bhagavad Gita, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna and J. Krishnamurti in the library, and did not rest until I had convinced myself that the power of Christ was real and has manifested again and again. Then came work, my family and I lost touch with spirituality until I reached my early 40s when a spontaneous kundalini Awakening experience found me. It was a magical time and I wrote a couple of books in my free time as I wanted to share the magic of the Way. 

The stagnation really happened when I tried practicing spirituality full time. Getting my arms around non-duality, Ramana Maharshi’s self inquiry and Nisargadatta Maharaj’s “I Am” way of living was harder than expected. Even though this had been a fact of life since Awakening started, I suddenly realized that I had one foot in the real world and the other in the magical world of Oneness. I was halfway there so to speak. What to do? I experienced stuck energy until I realized that spiritual searching and the desire to teach was the obstacle. It was the mind trying to keep itself in business wrapped up in spiritual clothes. So what do you do when you find that the quest and the teaching is the obstacle? Do you stop and throw in the towel? It’s actually quite simple. Awareness is, moment by moment—a restless mind, stuck energy, a frozen heart or a perceived obstacle imply that we have gone for a walk while God is at Home. Be one with the obstacle and Awareness shines through. 

#awakening #spirituality #mind #quest

Inquire into the good, the bad and the ugly

 Someone in the Buddhist community shared a story of Ajan Chah where a monk had a run-in with another monk and felt agitated, but his day turned around when Ajan Chah greeted him with a big smile. Later that evening monks meditated together and he was singled out to meditate with the master exclusively and he reached the deepest depth being next to the master. Suddenly Ajan Chah kicked him in the chest and he fell to the ground confused.

A total embrace of the moment at hand is all that we can do consciously along a spiritual quest. Aware of being angry at the colleague monk, aware of being happy when the master smiles at us, etc. The opportunity is always to bring it back to ourselves:

We fight with the colleague—what inner pain body is triggered here? 

The master smiles at us—Awareness is within, not with the master.

Happiness with the deep meditation result—perhaps I enjoy exclusivity.

Kick in the chest—thank you for making me aware that I am unaware!

The power of now is always here and now, in the holy, the good, the bad and the ugly. “I Am” remains a concept when we are owned by our mind, but the moment is always happy to demonstrate our mind interference because it is the mind that generates the perceived moment. The mind would title this post “go to by going through,” but that’s the interference, you see? We focus on the here and now with the intent to reach the “I Am” state. Inquire without having any expectations and Awareness shines through.

Be one with the holy, the good and the ugly!

 During the European crisis an Italian banker remarked, “Everyone told me, ‘don’t panic, don’t panic!’ Well, I should have panicked!”

We all have experienced the magic when life confronts us with obstacles and we go within and connect with that magnificent Presence that restores pure being instantaneously. Keeping the lesson of the Italian banker in mind though, when we face life and the discontentment and restlessness linger or even intensify, be one with it and see what happens. Be One in the holy, the good, the bad and the ugly. That’s what Oneness is all about. 

Freedom can be sensed, known, felt and seen

 If you meditate every day 

you notice the mental noise pollution.

When you work with a spiritual master 

you taste the power of her vibrations.

Every bit of conscious spiritual work

—unless an escape to look within—

fans the urge to be free of conditioning.

Freedom is known, sensed, felt, seen

moment by moment by facing life 

and by keeping an open mind and heart.

The step is the Way!

 The first best world is the power of now—

pure being without any self interference.

The second best world is life itself—

knowing that conditioned self is in the Way,

the Field of Infinite Potential manifests a path 

that helps us to awaken to our conditioning.

“The step is the Way,” describes the power of now.

“Life sets you free,” describes our life story.

The power of now calls out moment by moment, but

even if we occasionally sleep walk, a higher intelligence

helps us get the self out of the Way!

#spirituality #awakening #powerofnow

Life wakes “you” up!

 The “world” by its nature is the separateness of species. It will never function smoothly. Any fruit except for the Self is futile. Please think this over deeply.

Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj

Many of us are on a conscious spiritual quest where we aim to inquire into the nature of being; methods differ—meditation, mindfulness, yoga, religion, self inquiry, work with a guru, non-dual reflections, etc. The quest is noble and even necessary since effortless being requires a little self restraint in order to get our arms around the conditioning we have been burdened with for ages. Still, those who aspire do not have, otherwise they wouldn’t aspire to be somewhere else but being here and now!

There is one trusted method to live the power of now and that is to welcome the here and now with open arms, the holy, the good, the bad and the ugly. Pleasure and pain is the residual in this approach—as the saying goes, pain is unavoidable but suffering is. It’s not about facing life’s ups and downs as a stoic; that would be another identity we would proudly cling to; it’s about seeing life’s ups and down as they are, not as we wish them or fear them to be. 

Let’s say boredom descends, or anxiety rises. Let’s watch it just like holding a gem in our hand. We feel guilty because once again we missed our mindfulness practice— let’s look at this too! Every move when the thought-feeling energy attempts to form a center that defines us is watched. Some moves we catch, other moves we only realize hours or days later—it’s ok. It’s all part of spiritual practice.

Life is very helpful that way. When we deliberately or carelessly overlook something, life will be happy to tell us about it. All that is necessary is to look, to sense, to feel and to be.

Either way, the Way has its way

 What is all-encompassing can have no opposite.

A Course in Miracles

I had a satori moment once when I was that screen that displayed life as is. There was no conscious and subconscious to speak of—no self identity other than the notion “I exist”—just viewing, manifesting and Oneness.

Many of us are on a conscious spiritual quest where we aim to inquire into the nature of being; methods differ—meditation, mindfulness, yoga, religion, self inquiry, work with a guru, non-dual reflections, etc. The quest is noble and even necessary since effortless being requires a little self restraint in order to get our arms around the conditioning we have been burdened with for ages. Still, those who aspire do not have, otherwise they wouldn’t aspire to be somewhere else but being here and now!

Every thought, feeling and occurrence that is not in alignment with “being, consciousness, bliss” is tainted, but identification is key here. In a second best world the thought-feeling energy that rises, lingers for a short moment and then fades can be compared to the passing cloud that never really interferes with the blue sky. Only the thought-feeling energy that we identify with—consciously or subconsciously—is the rain cloud that renders the blue sky scenario meaningless. It has to be faced, investigated, understood and let go of in order to allow the brilliant blue sky on the next morning. 

The All-Encompassing has been guiding us on the path for eons. In the famous yin and yang symbol we might consider the white area surrounding the black dot as the satori moment; the black dot in the white area as the passing interference we have outgrown; the white spot in the dark area as the interference we recognize as such but still the ongoing attachment or aversion invites us to inquire further, while the black area outside the white dot denotes the conditioned self engagement we are not even aware of.

We are this creative Force that sends us on this self-dissolution quest in time. In the words of the Tao Te Ching (Chapter 29 in the Steven Mitchell translation) it reads: “The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle". Let’s enjoy the mystery in the blue sky days as they present themselves and engage with and inquire into the manifestation that we are part of as best as possible on the rainy days. Either way, the Way has its way. The power of now has it that we can always enjoy the spectacle from the center of the circle.

#awakening #spirituality #taoteching #yinyang