The Seer

‘Stillness’ — An Interview with Mukti by Renate McNay of Conscious.TV in the UK.

Mukti, a Californian spiritual teacher of Irish descent is married to Adyashanti. Their teaching in Australia in 2007 is still much appreciated.

Mukti had an early yearning to know God. She felt a fire in herself to find a direct experience of the Divine. This led to her discovering her true nature — an awareness that recognised itself as ‘emptiness’.

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You can read more about Mukti and what she has to say on ’spiritual marriage’, >>>HERE

The real search isn’t a search into tomorrow, or to anywhere other than now. It’s starting to look into the very nature of this moment. In order to do that, you have to “stand in your own two shoes,” as my teacher used to say. What she meant by “standing in your own two shoes” is you have to look clearly into your own experience.

Stop trying to have someone else’s experience. Stop chasing freedom or happiness, or even spiritual enlightenment. Stand in your own shoes, and examine closely: What’s happening right here and right now? Is it possible to let go of trying to make anything happen? Even in this moment, there may be some suffering, there may be some unhappiness, but even if there is, is it possible to no longer push against it, to try to get rid of it, to try to get somewhere else?

I understand that our instinct is to move away from what’s not comfortable, to try to get somewhere better, but as my teacher used to say, “You need to take the backward step, not the forward step.” The forward step is always moving ahead, always trying to attain what you want, whether it’s a material possession or inner peace. The forward step is very familiar: seeking and more seeking, striving and more striving, always looking for peace, always looking for happiness, looking for love.

To take the backward step means to just turn around, reverse the whole process of looking for satisfaction on the outside, and look at precisely the place where you are standing. See if what you are looking for isn’t already present in your experience.

So, again, to lay the groundwork for awakening, we must first let go of struggling. You let go by acknowledging that the end of struggle is actually present in your experience now. The end of struggle is peace. Even if your ego is struggling, even if you’re trying to figure this out and “do it right,” if you really look, you might just see that struggle is happening within a greater context of peace, within an inner stillness. But if you try to make stillness happen, you’ll miss it. If you try to make peace happen, you’ll miss it. This is more like a process of recognition, giving recognition to a stillness that is naturally present.

We’re not bringing struggle to an end. We’re not trying to not struggle anymore. We’re just noticing that there is a whole other dimension to consciousness that, in this very moment, isn’t struggling, isn’t resentful, isn’t trying to get somewhere. You can literally feel it in your body. You can’t think your way to not struggling. There isn’t a three-point plan of how not to struggle. It’s really a one-point plan: Notice that the peace, this end of struggling, is actually already present.

The process is therefore one of recognition. We recognize that there is peace now, even if your mind is confused. You may see that even when you touch upon peace now, the mind is so conditioned to move away from it that it will try to argue with the basic fact of peace’s existence within you: “I can’t be at peace yet because I have to do this, or that, or this question hasn’t been answered, or that question hasn’t been answered, or so-and-so hasn’t apologized to me.”

There are all sorts of ways that the egoic mind can insist that something needs to happen, something needs to change, in order for you to be at peace. But this is part of the dream of the mind. We’re all taught that something needs to change for us to experience true peace and freedom.

Just imagine for a moment that this isn’t true. Even though you may believe that it’s true, just imagine for a moment: What would it be like if you didn’t need to struggle, if you didn’t need to make an effort to find peace and happiness? What would that feel like now? And just take a moment to be quiet and see if peace or stillness is with you in this moment.

~ From: Falling Into Grace: Insights on the End of Suffering, by Adyashanti

Zen Biology Lesson for Enlightenment

If you can’t see the video above, >>>Click Here

It’s neatly set to background music from Vivaldi’s beautiful Four Seasons ~ Spring, 3rd movement (Allegro) — with John Harrison on violin. Enjoy.

~ Shared by Rick Carr; thanks RIck.

Have you ever felt that there must be something more to life, something beyond our mundane experience of the everyday world? From our childhood on we are programmed to conform to the reality we perceive around us, the reality that our family and friends perceive.

We are conditioned to believe that we are only our personality, our thoughts. Yet, this is not so. The conditioned mind and structured personality are just a set of energies that overlay the original Self. Then how do we discover the nature of this original Self?

Jnana yoga (pronounced nyah-nah yo-gah) is a system of Self-inquiry whereby we gradually let go of our identification with the personality until the true Self is revealed. Just as Hatha yoga stretches and opens the body, jnana yoga stretches and opens the mind.

As we dissolve our description of reality, we realize the world is different to what we had imagined before. Life becomes new, fresh. We become more discerning, more peaceful inside. Insights and clarity arise more readily and our lives become balanced and filled with Grace.

There are three main methods used in this Self-inquiry.

The first is called “activating the witness consciousness”. Our witness is our unbiased, neutral, eternal Self. It is who we really are. In order to cultivate our witness we consciously and deliberately examine how we feel, think, and behave.

With this, we gradually strip away our layers of social conditioning and identification with the ego. We discover that the mind and awareness are not the same and that there is an intelligent part of us that can observe our mind dispassionately.

The second method is to ask the question “Who am I?” The approach used here is normally a stripping away of who we are not, which leads us to a place beyond the mind where nothing remains to describe the individual being but the true, essential nature of the Self.

The third technique involves bringing what has been unconscious into consciousness. It is important to uncover and dissolve the hidden patterns wedged in our unconscious in order to be free of them, as the newness and freshness constantly coming to us from Source is blocked by these patterns.

Here we look at aspects of ourselves such as our unconscious behaviors, habits and addictions. We bring what has been in the dark into the light. It’s as though we have to understand the functioning of this human system fully before we can move beyond it. We own all of our parts, and then we let them go.

As we progress in our practice of jnana yoga, we take a step back and observe ourselves on the stage of life, playing our role, like watching a movie on a screen. We are the actor, yet we also get to write our own script. Our witness is really our Divine Self watching the ego living life in this way.

The more we strengthen our identification with our witness and the less with our egoic personality, the more we grow spiritually. As this process continues, we experience an emptying out, a letting go of our attachments, desires, fears, and stories.

The more we empty, the greater our Presence and our love; the less we attach, the greater our delight and joy in the mystery of life; and the more we cultivate acceptance, the greater our contentment. We experience a “lightening up”. Indeed, this is the process of achieving “en-lighten-ment”.

Even a little bit of jnana yoga practice goes a long way to bringing more consciousness into daily life and along with it more clarity, peace and joy. The invitation here is to celebrate the process! How far down the road of awareness are you willing to tread?

The 10 Principal Aims of Jnana Yoga

• To activate our witness consciousness, so we are at once the observer and observed, noticing that when we shine the light of awareness on something it changes.
• To cultivate a habit of gracious acceptance for life as it is rather than resisting the things we can’t change.
• To let go of our attachments to outcome and surrender up our preferences to God.
• To come fully into our feeling nature, so we can be more present with our experiences and move through our lessons more quickly.
• To know that we are totally responsible for the quality of our experience of life and that how we respond in any situation is always our choice.
• To realize that we can have no peace in the present without healing our past.
• To appreciate the sacredness of life just as it is.
• To feel what it is to be a person of integrity, speaking truth and being authentic.
• To surrender our habit of control, so we can explore the frontiers of life’s mysteries, rather than remaining in the safety of our known.
• To realize that true joy is in living out our life’s purpose as an instrument of God.

~ From: Twenty Questions for Enlightened Living, by Julia Tindall, www.juliatindall.com/

Death ALWAYS Delivers ~ Jed McKenna

If you can’t see the video above, >>>Click Here

The teaching is based on nondual wisdom. It is called nondual because ultimately, there is no difference between the spiritual and the material. It is all one reality. The nondual approach is also known as the direct path to awakening. It confronts the one obstacle to true inner freedom — the belief in the sense of “I” or “me” as having a real, separate existence apart from consciousness—and reveals it to be the illusion that it is.

The world between our ears, in other words, the world of “I,” “me,” and “mine” is not real. It is a fabrication, a story we have spent a lifetime making up and believing. By inwardly examining our thoughts, beliefs, reactions, and ideas about ourselves, we begin to realize our personal stories are always changing.

The more we see this, the more the internal drama falls away. When we are simply present with our breathing, our body sensations and feelings, and our immediate environment itself, the story lets go of us. We start to know ourselves as the pure, luminous awareness which sees and experiences reality here and now, including the stories we tell ourselves.

This knowing may be somewhat intellectual at first, but gradually it becomes embodied. More and more frequently it becomes our lived experience, and manifests as a feeling of ease, flow, and relaxed yet alert presence. As our head clears and our heart opens further, we awaken to the true beauty and meaning of life. The mind is then no longer a distraction, but a powerful ally. Our life purpose becomes clear and love ultimately guides us in everything we do.

My upcoming Perth workshop (see below) will support you in making the shift toward inner freedom. Much of the content is drawn from actual dialogues I’ve had with countless truth seekers, both privately and in workshops, over many years. In addition, I tell many stories to clarify my meaning, as well as offering short mini-meditations in each chapter.

Woven into each session is the entire, seamless, nondual approach to awakening, which states that realization is a matter of seeing you are neither your story nor your thoughts. You are the clear, ever-present consciousness which is aware of everything, including the contents of your mind. Throughout this book I will emphasize this teaching, repeat it in many different ways, from many different angles, again and again. This is the way to have it sink into your mind and consciousness.

For each participant, it should become very clear as to what is involved in seeing through your own “story” and letting go of whatever beliefs, ideas, or concepts of “self” you may still be holding onto. The more you are able to simply be present and release all you inwardly hold onto (by seeing it is not real), the more you will find yourself relaxing into the awakened awareness that is your true nature.

Then your times of inner peace and freedom will occur more and more often, and the periods of conflict, stress, and suffering will be fewer and shorter in duration. Increasingly, a heartfelt sense of love and gratitude for life will be your predominant emotional reality. Then you can share the gift of awakening with others. You can share the new story you are creating for your life. In this way, our world will gradually be made whole.

Eventually, the day will come when you will pass through the final door of self-knowing. A profound and unshakeable sense of ease, presence, and beauty will then be yours.

~ Jim Dreaver, author of End Your Story, Begin Your Life.

~ Jim, originally from Auckland and now living in Los Angeles, is coming to New Zealand and Australia in November. He will be leading a workshop in Perth Fri. Nov 18 (free) Sat Nov. 19 & Sun. Nov. 20. To book, see:
Jim’s Website or contact Pete on 08 9336 4737 or via peter@peterspearls.com.au

In our world, nothing stays the same for very long.

We’re taught to rely on the advice of experts, but their opinions seem to change with the breeze. If you knew that something had remained unchanged for the last twenty-five centuries, and had continued to help people find the peace and joy they were

seeking for that entire time, would you be curious?

The perennial philosophy is a golden thread of spiritual thought. It’s a group of harmonious spiritual concepts that are free of dogma and ritual. It can be found in virtually all cultures, time periods and areas of the globe. It’s been a part of so-called

“primitive” and pagan belief systems as well as the mystical branches of almost every organized religion.

The perennial philosophy is not a formula for enlightenment; its simple concepts have helped countless seekers reach spiritual mastery. In a world that’s severely lacking in harmony, we can ill afford to disregard a message that’s united many of the world’s

greatest minds. Although the perennial philosophy has much more to offer, we’ll look at four of its most basic and helpful concepts:

• There is a Divine Ground that permeates the universe. The world we think we see is a temporary projection that originates from that Divine Ground.
• A change of consciousness is required to become aware of, and experience, the Divine Ground.
• Everyone has the ability to experience the Divine.
• Experiencing the Divine is life’s highest purpose.

Life-giving intelligence permeates everything in existence. This intelligence wants to be known and can be known.

Most of us have been taught that spiritual mastery is a nearly impossible goal. The perennial philosophy does not agree. No secrets, methods, formulas or spiritual practices are necessary to experience the Divine. Knowing the Divine does require a shift in

our awareness, but everyone is capable of making that shift. Thousands of spiritual seekers have made that shift, and you can too.

How do we shift our awareness? Successful spiritual seekers share a certain mindset. They are:

• “Pure in heart.” This does not mean we need to “clean up our act.” It refers to our motives. A pure heart is looking for a connection with the Divine for the sheer joy of that connection. A pure heart isn’t asking for material blessings.
• “Poor in spirit.” This has nothing to do with poverty. It means that we understand that the world can make us rich, but it can never enrich us. We’re poor in spirit when we understand that our life will be empty unless we have a direct connection with the

  Divine.

• “Empty hands.” Seekers with empty hands are willing to let go of all mental conditioning, preconceived notions and the desire for a particular outcome. They are willing to be instructed by the Divine instead of trying to fit the Divine into their own belief

  system.

These qualities are free and available to everyone, no matter what our circumstances might be. Most of us have been taught that we learn about God by studying a holy book or attending church or Bible classes. Spiritual masters have never been interested

in learning “about” Divine Presence; they expect to “know” the Divine through personal experience.

The perennial philosophy tells us this is not only possible, it’s our highest purpose. Best of all, experiencing the Divine is the beginning of a life of fearlessness that you can enjoy.

~ Lee and Steven Hager www.thebeginningoffearlessness.com/

~ To learn more about the perennial philosophy, read The Beginning of Fearlessness: Quantum Prodigal Son >>>Click Here

Jesus said, “Those who have beome oppressed within themselves will be honored. It is they who have truly come to know the Giver of Life.” (Gospel of Thomas 69)

“Those who are in longing will be honored, because they will receive what they long for.”
(T. 69, Sayings Gospel QS:8)

For Jesus, self-oppression here is actually self-scrutiny. The self-awareness that is necessary to become spiritually aware is difficult and can initially be quite uncomfortable. It requires being totally honest with one’s self and recognizing the negative as well as the positive.

Developing spiritual awareness is also uncomfortable at first, because one has to question and ultimately abandon beliefs about religion and about the nature of physical and spiritual reality. In the second half of this saying, Jesus is recognizing that people who become spiritually aware begin with a sense of longing. The longing is for a truth that is missing. The longing is the cause for the search and for the satisfaction when the truth is found.

The self-awareness that is a necessary step on the way to spiritual enlightenment is not easy. We must see ourselves at every level as who we are rather than who we hope to be. Beyond simple behavior, we must examine our thoughts, feelings and motives. Only then are we ready to fully connect with our own spirits.

The quest for spiritual enlightenment begins with a hunger. Something is missing. Something about who we are or what we are to do feels urgent and yet vague. The explanations we have been given regarding life, death, heaven and meaning are insufficient or simply feel wrong. This longing is the beginning of spiritual searching, which leads to spiritual development and can result in spiritual awareness.

Jesus said, “If they say to you, ‘Where did you come from?’ Say to them, ‘We came from the light, the place where the light created itself. We come in the image of the Giver of Life, The One.’ If they say to you, ‘is it you?’ Say, ‘We are the children, and the chosen of the Giver of Life.’ If they ask you, ‘What is the sign of the Giver of Life in you?’ Say to them, ‘It is movement and stillness.’” (T. 50)

Although all spirits and, therefore, all people come from the Giver of Life, those who have become spiritually aware know where they are from and that knowledge makes them different. The difference is visible. A spirit is energy. Energy is movement. The energy of spirit moves visibly within them.

At the same time, the spiritually aware exhibit a calm stillness. They are not worried about what will or will not happen next because they know they are immortal. In fact, being still and alone (as in meditation) allows them to become aware of their own spirits, of The One and of the Universe….

The spiritually mature person stands with a foot in each world. One foot is in the physical realm, concerned about paying the bills and the frailties of our human bodies. The other foot is in the heavenly realm, aware of eternity, God and how physical concerns fade in the light of heaven.

To put it simply, the spiritually mature person is not frightened. We become scared when we believe that if a certain thing happens, we could not survive or could not tolerate the pain. When faced with potential tragedy, the spiritually mature person does a big “Yes, but.” “Yes, that terrible event might occur. I don’t want it to, but everyone concerned will ultimately survive. We all do.”

This is the movement and stillness. The movement and activity of a spiritually aware person is not stopped by anxiety. Instead, there is a calm stillness in this person.

~ From: The Original Teaching of Jesus, by Michael Buckner M. Div. Ph. D.

VIDEO: The ‘non-event’ that led an Irish woman to the discovery of the kingdom of heaven, seeing the Light, Awakening and the mysterious disappearance of the old self, An arresting Interview by Renate McNay with Tess Hughes.

If you don’t see a video clip above, go directly to youtube.com

More about Tess: >>>Here

One question we get asked quite a lot is “What actually happens in your gatherings and workshops? What is the point of attending a gathering or particiapating in a workshop?”

UK spiritual teacher and author, Jeff Foster, says that awareness meetings and retreats are like musical concerts — if you’re drawn to the music, if you are moved by it, you may find yourself coming along and listening!

On the simplest level, he says, they’re a chance to sit together, as friends, sharing this message of total freedom. They are an opportunity to deeply explore present experience together, not with the aim of fixing it, but of seeing the wholeness inherent within it.

The gatherings and workshops aren’t about getting something or somewhere in the future, they aren’t about seeking or indulging our personal stories — they’re about seeing what’s here right now, and finding the deeper sense of ‘okayness’ inherent in what’s actually happening.

Here are just a few of the topics and questions that are frequently addressed our gatherings and workshops:

• What goes to the root of all our suffering and seeking? Why do we continue to search for love, happiness, freedom and enlightenment in the future? Is there an end to seeking?
• Who are you, beyond the image of yourself?
• What is spiritual awakening? Is it possible to ‘become awakened’? Who awakens?
• How do spiritual awakening and enlightenment relate to addiction, to conflict in relationships, to physical pain, to therapy, to the search for love?
• What is meditation? Who meditates?
• What role does therapy have? What is depression? What is true healing?
• From a nondual ‘perspective’, what meaning have concepts such as evil, sin, guilt, and forgiveness?
• What is creativity? Who creates?
• What is the role of spiritual practice? Is a spiritual teacher necessary? What is a guru? Who is an authority on life?
• What are words such as consciousness, awareness, presence, Being, aliveness, really pointing to?

~ There’s an article on Jeff Foster’s website with a full description of his meetings and retreats, and if you’re interested you can view it >>>Here.