MEDITATION ...

"God The Organic" by Peter Van Straten

The following is a Q&A from a Humanities class taken at College of the Siskiyous in Weed, CA.

HUMANITIES Question:  Elucidate the link between meditation and spirituality. Why are spiritual disciplines, of which meditation is one, so often deemed necessary for spiritual development? How might meditation affect one’s thinking and sense of self?

In Truth there is no separation between Meditation and Spirituality, however, how it is being worded, or how it seems the question is asked, is as if they are separate. 

To have a link means that something isn’t connected.  However, the practice of Meditation, can reveal that all of life is in Stillness, that there is no separation, that there is only One (“Less than one because even the word one implies two.” ~Wayne Austin.)

The practice of Meditation is useful in quieting the mind enough for it to realize what it is in, and ultimately, to realize that there is no such thing as “mind.” 

If the practice of Meditation is to show up in your life than that is the tool that is used to point that one in the direction of itSelf.  However, Meditation is not the only tool, one can Awaken to theirSelf in any situation, “Truth uses whatever is available to reveal itSelf.” ~Wayne Austin. 

For the one typing this, Meditation was the tool used to place the crack in reality, however, in looking back there were many things, events, like using Mescaline as a teenager before the mind had become too rigid with beliefs, so many things had revealed about the world and how it is not how it appears.

Things that are frowned upon in the mainstream society - for this one were the exact things that came/showed up to open this one.  So if you find that the things that have opened your mind are not things you are able to casually talk about, you are not alone.  There are various different ways it will and can happen if it is supposed to happen.  No one can do anything to make Awakening happen, but what Awakening requires for it to happen, will.

So when one says “Awakening,” that is the same as saying “Spiritual.”  The Spiritual Awakening will happen and there is really nothing to do about it, your reading this is part of it, just like everything that shows up in what you call “your” life is all in the direction of Awakening to the Self.  It doesn’t matter where you are on the planet, what you do for a living (or don’t do) what music you listen to or make or what movies you watch, whether you like sports or don’t, whether you are in jail or a Caribbean island, when it is time for your Awakening, you will Awaken and it will not be like anything you thought.

After the Awakening here, during a quick 15 minute Meditation on a lunch break from work, it was so frightening that all practice of Mediation was stopped for almost 6 years, for fear of what had happened.  The “mind” could not grasp it’s undoing so quickly and what was the most beautiful thing that can possibly be offered was turned and flipped into something that one spent years running from. 

Why would one run from theirSelf?

Because the thoughts about who one is, are so solidly believed in, that the Truth of who they are seems too Big, too Beautiful and too Brilliant to be True.  

So the crack may show up for some and frighten them, some it happens to in Meditation, some in near death experiences, some hanging over a toilet in a drunken stupor, or as a mundane as writing a check, but if you have found that something happened that you cannot explain, but frightened you because you did not understand and didn’t know where to go or who to talk to, then know that Truth is kind, it is ruthless and brutal in its Wake, but it is kind in it’s unfolding and the undoing of what you have thought will begin to happen and those that will help to reveal it to you will show up. 

It’s like an earthquake and then everyone comes to clean up the rubble, except we are not rebuilding a “new” you.  What is cleaned up is removed and you are left with what you have always been.  What was there before you were born, what was there looking out of your eyes when you were a baby and didn’t have an “I” thought and it is what you are right now, before the thoughts “I am.”  It is there and it is not an it and it lives through the mask that is you until the mask drops and is left on the floor (whether that is in life or as you discard the body through death one way or another the mask comes off).

Nothing is wasted, so practice Meditation, but do it knowing that you already are whatever it is that you are attempting to be.  Begin to pay attention to the Stillness that everything appears in, as often as possible, continually be vigilant and redirect the attention back onto Stillness.  As this becomes a way of life, will begin to see that all of Life appears in Meditation.

Namaste.

WISDOM HAS NO PATH...

The following is a written Essay for Philosophy where we were asked to share what came up for us while reading the Bhagavad Gita and this is the in response to Chapter Four on Wisdom.

The Bhagavad Gita is written on two levels, one that speaks to the mind and one that speaks to the Heart.  Although, ultimately, there are not two separate things, for the purpose of this writing, we will imagine that there are.  One cannot know why some are “touched” by the Truth, while others seemingly are not.  It does not make one better than the other; only more Aware. 

When one is touched by Truth, the mind begins to be pushed to the backburner.  This is not always a simple process, and depends on how deeply one relies on the mind as its tool to receive information.  If one uses the mind only to process (or release what comes through), then the transition is much smoother because the jump from mind to Heart is not as far.   If one relies on the mind to understand the process, then one begins to go in circles, because the mind cannot understand what it is IN, and all attempts to understand creates a kind of insanity (which then creates fear, and fear; breeds fear). However, it will only go on for as long as one resists and continues the attempt to bring Heart to mind, instead of relaxing mind into Heart.  Sounds simple, and ultimately it is, however, one is wise not to underestimate the power of mind to remain in control (the mind thrives on complexity; and the Heart Reveals itSelf in Simplicity).  The good news is that there are not two separate things (Heart and mind) because the mind is IN the Heart.  One does not have to fear insanity or anything at all; because no matter what, you are always in yourSelf.  However, the cycle of attempting to understand can get out of hand for a while, again depending on whether one begins to accept that they will not ever understand.  If that is the case then one naturally relaxes and lets go of understanding, and begins to Know.  What is the difference between understanding and Knowing (with a capital “K”)?  The difference is that understanding comes from the mind and is something that can be explained and understood by the mind (it is proof of something).  “Knowing” comes from what the mind is IN and is Revealed.  When you “Know” something you do not require proof (you don’t need proof of air to breath and you don’t need proof of knowing; to Know).  Words will not ever explain this, but if you Know or are at least willing to know where you are being pointed, then you will need no words. 

There can be no other way, direction than towards Truth.  Action and in-action are both in Truth. When the Self falls asleep too deeply … it Awakens out of the call through the mind from the Heart.  The dream that one is in is meant to “feel” real.  That is the Gift for Self to experience itself as something “appearing” as other than what it is.  However, when it gets too dark, too serious, a call is sent out to Self, which Awakens itself, and brings the Light unto the world. 

Self is not a person, it does not think, yet all thinking is in it.  It understands everything without understanding, its intelligence is so great that there is no way to comprehend or describe what intelligence even is.  Self is before your own breath, it is beyond anything that can be imagined, because imagining is in Self.  It cannot be used, but it uses everything to reveal itSelf to itself.  It is the only thing that lasts and it is not a thing.  All paradoxes point to it, but will not ever help you to understand it (and IT is not an it).

One does not need to be smart to be wise.  Wisdom is not learned in books or in schooling; it is not something that is taught.  You are born Wise and then it is covered over by ignorance and learning.  Wisdom is available to all who seek it, however it cannot be sought in the world.  The world will lead one away from wisdom, because wisdom is not in the world.  However as one becomes Realized in Wisdom the world then begins to point one back into itSelf.  Prior to that, the world teaches separation and that everyone is an individual.  Wisdom is the discovery that “we” are all ONE (less than One) and the Same and that it is only “in the world” that we appear to be different.  (Talks With Ramana Maharshi, Video.)  

Behind the face, behind the thoughts about who one is, is the Still Wisdom of who you are.  No one can give it to you, however you can use these words as a reminder to begin to look.  To become Wise, you must begin to question everything you believe in, everything that you hold dear, and nothing is held onto more tightly than the thought “I.”  (Austin 31.)

When you are truly ready for Wisdom and Knowledge, you will begin to question who you are.  One does this by asking one simple question and it is the only question one ever need ask, in any situation, it is first person singular, the question; “Who am I?”  Ask it with all sincerity and accept no answer that comes.  Dig and dig and when you tire of digging, dig some more.

Wisdom has no path.  However self-interrogation leads one Home.

Works Cited

 Austin, Wayne, Dialogues with a Master, The Spider, Create Space, Print.

(or http://www.endofthesearch.com/the-spider--who-am-i-really.html)

            Austin, Wayne, First There is a Mountain, Who Am I? Really, Create Space, Print.

(or http://www.ftiam.org/57-who-am-i-really.html)

Cinefx Productions, “Talks With Ramana Maharishi,” Talk 146, Internet Video.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weXKuURMgMs&feature=youtu.be)

"Who Am I?" A Strategy For Self-Realization." Hinduism Today 30.2 (2008): 52-53. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 May 2013.

TIME AND THE "I" THOUGHT

This morning the thought appeared "there is no you."  Took a look and was like wow … yes there is emptiness here and was able to see something that is being pointed too.  As a kid two things seemed very strange to me that everyone else agreed was absolutely real.  One is "time" and the other are "words." With a child's mind everything is much more simple and the simplicity pointed to the obviousness that both "time" and "words" were man-made.  From that realization it has formed to what can now be shared (seemingly) many, many years later with a more educated way of saying it (though not much more,  heh).

So, what was seen is that if one said the word "car" (was in one at the time) over an over again … it begins to lose it's meaning.  Without knowing it's meaning it could have meant anything …  as long as someone else agreed that whatever it was named it is what it is … however … and … just because something is "named" doesn't make it what the name is  (like humans).  That was what was revealed about words … the seeing that they are only "real" because we agree with others that certain sounds represent what we see with our eyes.

Then there was time … this took more time (heh) to grasp.  It was actually more of a wondering of "how could time be real?"   This image appeared of just space (not even that really) but just this vast Emptiness and then a grid is laid upon that Emptiness and it is called "time" but there really is no "time" or another way of saying it is … it is only and forever  Now.  


Time (the grid) is just another man-made thing that we all have agreed upon.  So "time"  is the grid that is laid on Emptiness/Space ... that drove the investigation even deeper.  A question arose "what is the universe laid on? ... what is behind the universe?"  Well the Gift was/is received and there is no word for what was/is Revealed ... could call it … Light or Energy, Brightness,  Emptiness, Space, Stillness (see picture above for vague concept the yellow is the backdrop or the screen that all appears on)...but it's not really that … what is before time and before words and before bodies and before the Universe and is right Now forever Now … it is Everything and everything is in IT … it animates everything and yet is not an IT (obsoletely indescribable).

So that created a bit of a freak out for a good 10 years … with bouts of paranoia that still arise (don't underestimate the power of beliefs).  However, the Universe and Time (don't say this to a scientist that hasn't dug all the way through) do not actually exist.  Which brings us back to the original thought that appeared this morning "there is no you."

Thoughts are just like the grid above and like words, they aren't actually there … go ahead and look for a thought … see if you can make one appear ... perhaps they are just echoes in "time."  (Cosmic Joke.)

Most things that are written here on this site/blog you will have to investigate for yourself.  All these hands can do is type and point ... but no one could have looked for me (well actually there was no one that actually looked) ... but that is a bit advanced in unlearning … until you begin to see that you have believed in something that isn't ... just like Santa Claus.

Most people would not find any of this helpful … but one will.   ;o)