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.

Leaving the bio-robot behind

 How does a diabetic feel in a Lindt chocolate outlet, or a recovering alcoholic when his friends meet in a local pub? That’s the struggle of conditioned self in a nutshell. Certain desires and aversions are seemingly stamped into our DNA and once the trigger gets activated, we react like a bio-robot to our environment. 

Maybe one day diabetes can be healed; certainly, no recovering addict needs to perceive this prior compulsive affliction as a lifetime sentence. Everyone has the power to step away from that limiting energy for good. Conditioned automatism is not stamped into our dna, and if it is, then our dna can be changed by conscious living.

Be alert without and spot the thought arising, the feeling bubbling to the surface or the external trigger being activated. Stay with the energy. See how it is received by the inner bio-robot and see the root-cause of the mechanism that was downloaded sometime by someone in the past. It’s alien energy and as you spot it, it fades into nothingness. 

Discovering the Root-cause of our Problems

 Why study Family Energy and meditation? Because to truly and thoroughly resolve our problems, we need to loosen them from many different angles. For some people, the key lies in family energy; for others, it is hidden in the deeper layers of consciousness; and for still others, meditation is the path. When taken together, all of these approaches ultimately lead us back to the heart.

 

Family Energy is a very important practice because the obstacles rooted in family energy are often extremely difficult to resolve through individual effort alone. Through the workshops we hold, these family energy blockages are given the opportunity to move, unfold, and transform.

 

The anger we feel, the constant need to strive, feelings of guilt, shame, and many other struggles and difficulties are not always entirely our own. Sometimes we are carrying unresolved energies from our family system. These unseen forces can influence much of our emotional life, relationships, health, and destiny.

 

Because we are born into these family systems, we often take them for granted and remain unaware of their influence. When problems arise, we tend to focus only on the symptoms and outward results. While making changes at that level may bring temporary relief, the same problems often return again and again.

 

If we can learn to work with the causes of our problems—family energy itself—then it only takes one person within the family to begin seeing and moving these forces for transformation to occur. What once seemed like an unchangeable difficulty can be transformed into insight and understanding. At the same time, other members of the family may also be positively influenced and uplifted.

 

As family energy begins to move, personal obstacles—our attachments, beliefs, and habitual patterns—are often revealed as well. This is why combining Family Energy work with meditation offers such a rare and valuable opportunity deep healing, cleansing, and growth.

 

Suzhen Liu

 

If you find Suzhen Liu’s helpful, please check out her latest book, “Discover Love Within—Release your Suffering,” available on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Discover-Love-Within-Release-Suffering-ebook/dp/B0G4L29MVN

Effortless Awareness

 It’s easy to assume there’s a little thinker sitting behind the scenes choosing, producing, and managing our thoughts, but as the great sages of Non-Duality consistently point out, this assumption is the very illusion that perpetuates the sense of separation. What we call a “self” is just a bundle of thoughts claiming ownership over other thoughts. 

Yet no such owner is ever found—only thoughts, rising and falling like waves with no wave-maker in sight. When this is truly seen, the burden of trying to control, identify, or fix the thinker dissolves. In its place, there’s a quiet spaciousness—an effortless Awareness in which everything comes and goes, including the idea of “me.” And that, beautifully, is freedom.