Knowledge and Religion

Your Mind is not Your Enemy

2010-07-26T16:36:08-07:00

Bernard had the follow questions and comments:

Hello Michael,

     Slowly reading through the second part of your book and recognizing the same message coming through all the time.

I guess where I get stuck sometimes is the constant need it seems to use the mind. Just being the Self for a Picean like me is always restful and awesome at the same time but then comes a difficult patient that demands an answer or a challenge from my son or an old irritation that comes up or the need to make a decision around a contract. Now it seems the mind needs to make a decision or runs through a whole story stirring up emotions.

I see the story the mind is concocting and its limitation in making decisions and at this point there comes in a dilemma that goes something like this….

I can just let the mind run itself out but that can take forever especially if it managed to get an emotion going or I can just see the limitation of mind, the illusionary nature of its game and that everything is actually one and that this little self or ego and the other ego are all self and eventually the hold of the mind seems to dissipate.

Then the question comes up who was doing all this. If the Self is ‘non moving’ and just awareness who is involved in this whole story of dealing with the game of mind. There is still the sense that ‘I’ am doing something to deal with the Mind story .
I am trying to understand my own dilemma as I write this.
The Self is not on any journey because it is already home but there is still this ‘I” that seemingly needs to deal with the mind stuff, make decisions, decide on choosing a more creative approach than a self destructive way.

If my wife says something that is irritating to me. The Self is not really interested in the irritation but I can feel the irritation which does not feel great. I guess the truth is that I am not the irritation or the one that is irritated . To stay as Self unattached to the charge is perhaps the secret. I see how difficult that is because I tend to identify with the world of sensation , emotions and thought. From the place of awareness these are all illusionary and appear and disappear.

So the question left is the tricky one of decision making which I still have not resolved. Mind as you say must become a friend so that decision making is somehow a reflection of and inspired by awareness. Is that it!!

            Warm greetings,
                     Bernard

Hi Bernard,

Thank you for your comments and questions. Are still assuming that there are two of you in there? The Self, which is your real home and at peace, and this other thing called a mind, which is full of reactions and tricks. And it still plays out as which one is going to prevail: the heavenly self or the hellish mind. Now look again and consider if using the mind is opposite or different in any way from abiding in your Self Nature.

What makes you think that using the mind is so powerful that it can overcome the all pervading Self and bring your real nature to its knees? Did you ever notice that the sense of reality that the mind has comes from you, and not from the mind? In fact, without Awareness the mind wouldn’t even exist. It would just return to the place where it really abides anyway as no particular thing. One proof is that in deep sleep the mind is completely gone without even a trace. But it doesn’t feel as if anything is really missing, does it?

What is mind in its natural state?
It is worth spending some time in your meditations considering what would happen if you just let the mind go back to its natural state without making any effort to restrain or control it. Would it become a monster that destroys everything in sight, and with all its reactions and fears send you to the hell realms? Or would it return to its natural state of peace.
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Remember, your assumption about the natural state of your mind will determine how you practice. If it’s a monster then you would have to spend your spiritual practice restraining it. On the other hand if it is not different from your own Self-Nature, then it returns to its natural state of peace. When necessary, it becomes a tool that you can use to deal with the situations you face in the world. This is a clearer view of the mind as there is nothing that is opposite or outside the Self. So consider the mind a wonderful tool, here to do your bidding. It helps me to write this blog and you to read and understand it. When your patient has a question, it helps you to formulate a good answer, and when your wife irritates you it helps you to communicate with her so that you can resolve the problem.

The Mind partakes of the same Harmony as the Self
In fact as part of a great harmony when there is a job to do, the mind helps you to accomplish it. Just let the mind do what it's meant to do and you will find that the mind is your friend. It helped you to become a doctor and everyday it helps you to make decisions and resolve challenging cases.

When problems arise, the mind is a wonderful tool that helps you to find the best solution. You don’t struggle with your tools, do you? You don’t fight with your stethoscope, and scuffle with your EKG machine. When the need arises, you just use the proper tool, right?

The Mind is just another Tool
The same is true with your mind, it is a wonderful tool that can help resolve many problems if you are willing to let it do its job. The struggling part is optional. Whether you struggle with it or not, the mind will still attempt to do its job. But it is much more efficient to give up the struggle part. Then you will begin to appreciate how your mind isn’t different from the all-pervading Self, which is in perfect harmony.

And do you know the best part of changing your approach to your mind? When you work out some of life’s most difficult problems, you will have the same feeling as when you take a walk in a beautiful forest. This wonderful sense of harmony comes from your own Self-Nature. And since there are no opposites for the Self, this harmony underlies everything that you see and think.

Tranquility is a state of being; not a state of mind
Now here’s another important question: Do you really want to eliminate the reactions of the mind? If the aim of meditation is just to eliminate the reactions of your mind, then a tranquilizer pill would be a lot more efficient than spending hours in meditation.

But remember that part of practice is becoming aware of the frameworks that seem to keep you in limitation so that you can free yourself from their grasp. This means that when you feel suffering you have the perfect opportunity to look into its cause by asking, “What am I assuming about the nature of my mind, my self and the world?” Once you become aware of these assumptions you will be in a perfect position to experience your mind afresh.

The mind is your friend
Once you see the assumptions behind your suffering, you will be free to approach your mind in the most harmonious way possible. Not in your usual way, where the mind seem to send you tail spinning into the realms of struggle and suffering. From here you will know what I mean when I say, “The mind is your friend.” And most important, it will not make the slightest difference if you have to think a lot or if you get to spend hours in a thoughtless state. That’s because you will be the underlying Awareness that pervades any state that you may find yourself in. For more information on this reread "What is my mind anyway?" in "Making Your Wisdom Come Alive."

Feel free to ask questions
Right now we are redesigning Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a book that provides a step by step approach so that you can find your natural freedom. It also gives you plenty of inspiration for your practice. Because we are doing a publicity campaign, there is a good possibility that I will have some radio and TV interviews. So look for them, and if you are allowed to, call in and ask questions. Remember, inner development is for the curious and this may be your opportunity to practice curiosity.

Now I want you to experience your true identity in its full glory. So please feel free to continue asking questions. I’m always glad to hear your reactions and clarify my answers. Unlike the path of faith, on the path of Self-Knowledge it is curiosity that destroys limitation and allows you to abide in your natural freedom.

If the comment section of this blog doesn't work, please send your questions and comments to michael@ananya.com. To find out where this all leads go to, www.light-up-your-life.com. And finally, if you enjoy these blogs please tell your friend

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

Examine the Examiner

2010-07-23T10:24:39-07:00

I’m fascinated by science. I like to know the latest theories on how space looks, how the universe was created, how energy and matter relate, and the most basic substance in the universe? I am also fascinated by the way people think and why they think the way they do.

But when I look out into the universe I also recognize that the most important thing to examine is the nature of the examiner himself (or herself). Otherwise how can I know the bias that I bring to my examination and understanding?

It is Important to Know our Bias
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This bias is based on an assumption of what I am. From there follows assumptions on what my mind is, what the world is, and what the universe is. This means that when I change my view of the experiencer, the nature of the universe experienced also changes in ways that I could not have predicted.

An example of this is that when I take myself to be limited to a body, then the universe appears to be made of a different substance that’s outside of me. But when I begin to see that I am much more than a body, which is just another thing that I am aware of, the universe, comes right inside. Here differences disappear into oneness and universe becomes a much friendlier place. It is from here that the beauty of the universe really shines.

The assumptions that limit our view of things
There are two types of assumptions that seem to limit our view of the experiencer. There are the public assumptions that until we wake up, we all hold. These include the assumption that we are limited to a body and that the mind is inside the body and the universe is outside of it.

Then there are the private assumptions. These are the personal frameworks that we live from. But these framworks seem so close to us that we barely know that they are there. And yet these assumptions also limit our view of the universe and what people really are.

The advantage of becoming aware of both types of assumptions, as just our ideas, and not necessarily reality is that we are then in a position to decide whether they are valid or not. Otherwise, without our knowledge, they influence how we think, see, and what we experience in the world. Furthermore being limited these assumptions are the root of suffering.

Becoming Aware of our View of the Universe
As an example of letting go of limiting frameworks, what if we held the assumption that the universe is a scary place that is inimical to us, and if we don’t look out, it could harm us at any moment. With this as our underlying assumption how would we live? What would we be afraid of, and how would we have to protect ourselves?

Now let’s switch the view. What if we looked into our identity and discovered that we weren’t limited to the person that we thought we were? In fact we discovered that our Consciousness, which we thought was limited to the inside of a body, actually encompassed the whole universe. How would things look then?

Everything that we see and experience would be our own identity, not different from us in any way. Then, instead of defending ourselves, we could join in the natural harmony of the universe. This would be a massive relief and a wonderful celebration. Instead of viewing life as the survival of the fittest, we would view it as the opportunity to discover the wonderful harmony that underlies our life in the universe.

Let go of Limitation and Find the Heart of the Universe
So when we examine and let go of limiting assumptions, we find ourselves expanding until we get to just the right size, which in infinite. Here, we feel right at home. It is also here where we get to see things just as they are. Then all of the detailed knowledge that we have of the universe and the people in it becomes even more meaningful and beautiful.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

You are Awareness is free from your thoughts

2010-07-14T10:31:27-07:00

Here is an important insight that Bernard reported:

Hello Michael,

Last night my wife fell asleep at the fire (it is the middle of winter right now) and I took out your book and read through the first half again. You said something about the mind and awareness that suddenly struck a real note of understanding. I know that in retrospect you have said this to me already but something in the way you wrote it this time helped me to realize a small/major error I was allowing to happen.

I have been practicing awareness for so long that I have taught the mind to be aware as it were. The mind and the ‘I’ have created a nice cosy relationship and kept me from just being. I realize now that the I and the awareness are operating from mind. What a trick of the mind!!

This has left me in a bit of a predicament. If I try too hard to be aware I sense that it shifts into the ‘mind being aware’ with an ‘I’ just another part of the mind.

So just letting go after 30 years of trying hard to be aware is suddenly not so easy. Today on my walk in the forest I realized that in letting go of awareness it did not just disappear and that awareness is just the way I am and I no longer need to try be aware. I see also that the mind goes on playing its games and this new realization allows me to just let it be. It feels like I have a beast running around trying to be noticed and I don’t need to do anything because awareness is enough and as you say is my true self.

Decision making does seem to need mind but it feels more like I am using the mind as I would a computer.

If its okay with you I would like to keep this conversation going as it is enormously helpful to have you comment on my journey. Please don’t feel obliged to be nice to me.
Warm greetings,
Bernard

Hi Bernard,

This is a good insight. It means that I and Awareness are one and the same. Awareness is your real identity, your natural state. The “I” that tries to become aware is just another thought in your mind. It is not your real identity. The proof is that you are Aware of this “I” thought too.

Ramana Maharshi called this “I” thought a thief dressing up as a policeman and then struggling to catch the thief. Can you see why it never succeeds? So the practice is not to struggle to become aware. It is not even to stop the tricks that the mind plays. These tricks are just the mind’s attempt to do something that it just can’t do; to define who you are. Your knowledge of what you are is much deeper than just thoughts in your mind.

There is no need to cleanse your mind
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Rather the practice is to notice that you are already Aware. When the mind attempts to play tricks you are aware of these tricks too, aren’t you? When the mind attempts to split itself up, where one side is supposed to be awareness and the other side is your thoughts, you are aware of both sides of this split.

The aim of this practice is not to cleanse your mind and get rid of the bad thoughts either; rather you want to return to your natural state of Awareness, which is free of any thought that might pass through your mind. Then these “tricky” thoughts will become your friends. They will remind you of this simple truth: just because you think a thought, doesn’t make it true. A good example of this is the thought, “I can’t.” Just because you think the thought, “I can’t” doesn’t mean you can’t, right?

Awareness stands on its own
If you stop your attempts to cleanse your mind and just notice that you are Aware, you will quickly eliminate thirty years of bad habits. Then out of relief you may find your mind becoming your friend. It is a great help in organizing this essay and weighing the factors necessary to make a decision. But you drive the mind crazy when you ask it to do the impossible and define who you are.It might try, but like a computer, its garbage in and garbage out.

One final caution here: You don’t want to rely on the state of your mind as proof of your realization. As a doctor you know that many things can affect the thoughts in the mind including chemical imbalances in the body and Alzheimer’s disease. In fact you may have the experience to know that the smallest effect on the chemistry of the body can have a huge affect on your mind.

Know Awareness by Awareness
So you want to know Awareness by Awareness without the use of any external signs. Remember the quote from Jesus, “Why do you look for signs where there are no signs.” Yes, you might notice that the nature of the universe is different than you think too. After all, the world is not a separate thing. But this is just optional fun. The essence of realization is to abide as you are. Standing here, everyday life is a walk in a beautiful forest.

Of course we can keep this conversation going. For a sage, the greatest enjoyment in the world comes from watching someone grow and wake up to the beauty of his (or her) own being. It is here in your natural state that you find lasting peace and the cure for old age, disease, and death.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

Try Working From the Place of Oneness

2010-07-11T09:59:31-07:00

The last three blogs are based on a conversation with Bernard. This conversation and exploration shows the benefits of curiosity and of continuing to question until you are completely satisfied. So if you have burning questions notice Bernard's example, and use this blog to its full advantage. Below is another leg of this conversation.

Thanks Michael.
   Over these few days I have worked with your suggestions and my experience has been that I am not my body and not my mind and that the mind is a thought machine which keeps throwing up stories, viewpoints, philosophies etc. and takes positions on all kinds of things and positions an ‘I ‘to give the impression that some entity is involved in all this clever thought processes.
In ‘staying out of the way’ as it were the sense of I disappears and there no longer appears to be a centre but then a decision has to be made and then the sense of “I need to make a decision” comes back.
There is also the work of wanting to change the medical paradigm.
From that place of unknowing/Soul/ higher self there does not seem to be a need to do anything and even making decisions about anything feels just a lot of hard work.
Is the passion to do… not just another mind story based on conditioning, past experience etc and a even decision making can relate to past conditioning ….like I must brush my teeth because that is what is healthy and my mother always wanted me to do that.
Perhaps I am just struggling with these issues right now because this shift from mind to ‘soul’ feels quite new and that these issues will sort themselves out as I just relax into the process of being and let the doing expose itself. I really no longer feel attached to outcomes and this has helped enormously to relax me and my approach to life and let go much more and watch the Great Mystery roll out in front of me in the most astonishing way.
Thanks for allowing this conversation to go on and keep pointing out how the mind play one game after the other. I must say that right now the mind feels like a hat I wear rather than who I am .
        Warm greetings,
                 Bernard

Hi Bernard,

It seems like your’re coming to grips with the most important thing in life, and that is knowing your self. You are the seer of limitation, not the one caught in it. You are right that from here there is nothing that you have to do. You can just rest in completion as the substance of the whole universe. Yet if you have a passion and mission in life, it is by standing in your natural state that you are in the best position to accomplish it. Remember as a sage, you are really free. There are no rules that govern a sage and so you are free to live the life that best suits you. And from this side of the “pond” it looks like changing the medical paradigm is a wonderful mission.

You give the mind its power
However I have a question for you: Are you assuming that you have to re-identify with a limited mind in order to make decisions and accomplish the thing that you want? This is giving the mind too much power. You should know that the mind is just an imposture. It is awareness that makes the mind come alive and without awareness the mind is just dead matter. It is like a computer with its power turned off.
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In fact, as an imposture, the mind doesn’t really make decisions and accomplish things. We just give it credit for something that is incapable of doing. Moreover, it is not just the mind that you identify with. Usually you identify with some specific ideas about the world and your mind. For instance if you feel that working on your mission is like trying to move a huge boulder up a steep hill, you probably have some ideas about the me over here and the out-of-whack resistant world over there. If you can become aware of the frameworks that you live in when you act, you will put an end to past conditioning in a hurry. Becoming free of these frameworks, you will enter a whole new territory. But this territory will seem very familiar. It will feel like a long lost friend.

The One Self Encompasses the Whole Universe
Then meditation and action will feel exactly the same. And you will have a sense of harmony that comes from the feeling that the you, the mind, and the world are made out of the same substance. Although you will appear full of passion as you attempt to accomplish your goals and deal with the obstacles that you face, on the inside you will be at peace. In fact even if you were in the midst of a huge battle, fighting for your life, you will still be at peace. That’s because this peace is not a state of mind; it is a state of being.

Ramana Marharshi talked about a passenger on a train who carried his suitcase on his head. Finally a master came along and suggested that he put his luggage down and let the train carry it. In the same way, put your luggage down and let the same God that gave you this passion carry it on through. Then you will feel at ease even in the midst of decision making and action.

Right now we are redesigning Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a book that provides a step by step approach so that you can find your natural freedom. It also gives you plenty of inspiration for your practice. Because we are doing a publicity campaign, there is a good possibility that I will have some radio and TV interviews. So look for them, and if you are allowed to, call in and ask questions. Remember, inner development is for the curious and this may be your opportunity to practice curiosity.

Feel free to ask questions
Now I want you to experience your true identity in its full glory. So please feel free to continue asking questions. I’m always glad to hear your reactions and clarify my answers. Unlike the path of faith, on the path of Self-Knowledge it is curiosity that destroys limitation and allows you to abide in your natural freedom.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

You are not a thought

2010-07-07T09:47:42-07:00

Since we are used to looking for objects to tell us about life and its meaning, looking to the subject, your real identity, may seem very subtle. But once you discover your natural state of being, things get very simple; then it becomes obvious that what you really want is what you already are.

For this reason I encourage you to continue asking questions until you get to your very core. Bernard’s questions are great examples of this questioning. He is persistent and continues to examine his experience until he finds the ultimate subject. Here we get a peek into this dialog so that we can deepen our own spiritual practice too. So here is another question from Bernard:

Okay Michael let me run through this as I understand from your writing
I have come to understand that the map maker is the mind but can never enter into the territory so every time I think I have a decision to make it is really the mind being prompted by The Great Mystery and coming up with thoughts, ideas of decision making. These will always be limited because mind is always limited. So while it seems like a big deal to make this decision’ life itself unfolds just as it will unfold and mind will either say whoopee I was right or become dejected because it perceives that it was ‘wrong’.

So mind is always attaching interpretations, linear thinking, words etc to the prompting from Spirit but in the end any decision making is all mind stuff and life just rolls out anyway in front of us.

Limited mind is just map making but the map is not the territory and while useful it can never go anywhere with the maps. Somewhere along the way I need to let go of the maps and recognize that to enter into the territory the mind needs to step aside or more correctly I must stop paying so much attention to the games of the mind and its limited way of seeing the world.

So decisions may come up but they are all minds interpretation of the Great Mystery and not the Great Mystery. Useful but limited and I should not pay more attention to it than I would to a pain symptom. Pain is a symptom but not the problem. It’s talking to me and telling me about something deeper.

So interesting how my mind keeps finding ways to bring me back into mind consciousness rather than just staying in awareness. Clearly it is a bad habit. Now that I am only working two days per week with patients it has become so much easier to relax into ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’.
Warm greetings,
Bernard

Hi Bernard,

Your understanding that your thinking process only comes up with a partial view of the situation is good. The mind attempts to make a map or define your experience. But don't mistake your thoughts about your experience for the actual experience itself, the territory.

As an example, there is no way for the mind to define changeless Awareness, which is really what you are. That's because the mind needs change and differences to come up with a definition. So in its attempt to define what you are, your mind may come up with garbage like, "I'm a purple kangaroo."

Believing your thoughts, you get to struggle with them
As you can see, there is no harm in the mind thinking that you are a purple kangaroo. Even if you make, "I'm a purple kangaroo," into a mantra, repeating it again and again, you will not become a purple kangaroo. You can even try it if you want. The only harm might come if you identify, or stand as the thoughts in your mind. Then you might think, "Oh no, I am becoming a purple kangaroo!" Then believing your thoughts you get to struggle with them.

So here's where you can take your meditation one step deeper. You want to let go of the idea that you have a separate mind that you can either accept or reject; a mind that when you are not looking will surely trip you up with its games. This is giving the mind a power that it really doesn't have. It is also setting up an endless struggle, me against my mind.
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This struggle that you seem to have has two sides, doesn't it? There is me, the thing that you assume is you, and there is the enemy, your mind the thing that you struggle with. And, as I mentioned in the previous blog, the problem becomes which side is going to win. Is it the "me" or is it the thoughts.

You are the knower, the mind is just an object that you know

Now before I go on I should mention, the thing that you call unknowing is actually the real source of knowing. What you are doing is taking Awareness, which really is the knower and superimposing it on the mind. Then it appears that the mind is a separate knower. This is like calling a rope a snake or a log a crocodile.

All of your fears and struggles are based on taking your mind to have a power that it really doesn't have. So what I am asking you to do is return the power of knowing to the place where it exists anyway. That is in your own identity, the place where you really stand. This is Awareness, where Knowing really comes from.

Splitting the mind in two, you have a struggle
Now here's an easy way to step out of the mind for good: Notice that both sides of the struggle are just thoughts in your mind. What I jokingly called the "me thought" is a thought that you mistakenly take to be you. Then there is the other side of the struggle, which you call mind.

What you are doing is bifurcating your mind, and then one part is struggling with the other. This is like pushing one hand against the other and wondering which hand will win, not knowing that both hands belong to you.

Awareness is not an object that you see; it is what you are
You can't see Awareness as a separate thing. But you will notice that you can see both sides of your struggle; neither side applies to you. When you notice this you will automatically be standing in your natural state where you are one without a second.

Standing here free of both sides, you will end this struggle for good. In fact it will be so ended that you will not have to worry about it coming back again when you are not looking. So you are right that the mind is not good at defining your experiences. Now step out of both sides of your struggle and remain in your true state of oneness.

Return your identity to its rightful place and finish off your practice
This understanding could finish off your practice for good. Continue meditating on these words until you find the place that they point to. If your struggles seem to continue, or if other hooks appear that seem to pull you back into limitation, just continue asking questions until you are completely free.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

Finding your identity will change your life

2010-07-05T10:34:28-07:00

Bernard has the following question on how to make decisions:

Today I realized on my dog walk that there is still one question that I have not resolved and it is about decision making. While awareness is always present and I understand that this is the overarching activity during the course of the day I must still make decisions. Some are minor like deciding to brush my teeth and others are major like deciding what advice to give patients with major difficulties or business decisions regarding partnership. According to Ester Veltheim (apparently an enlighten being) and many other masters we have no control. While my experience is that the mind is what I call ‘the thought machine’ and that my any decision I make is ‘felt’ first as something even outside the mind it still requires the mind to translate it into a thinking process . This seems to suggest there is still someone ‘feeling’ the process. I call this feeling being the ‘soul’ . Then it begins to seem like there is a centre called the soul which brings me to my understanding of the soul …. The eye of the soul is awareness, the body of the soul is inner peace, the heart of the soul is unconditional love, the mind of the soul is wisdom and non judgement and with these faculties the soul can make decisions which are translated in the mind as thought.
So the personality (mind/emotions as separate lower self) does not really have control but the soul is motivated all that is. The soul uses the mind to think with.
Please let me know your view on these ravings.
Thanks so much,
Bernard

Hi Bernard,
Thanks for continuing to question. Here is a simple way to sort through all of the confusion that seems to go along with the path of Self-Knowledge: As you change the place where you stand, all of the objects that you perceive like the mind, body and world appear differently.

For instance when you stand as the body the world appears to be physical and you affect the world by your physical actions. When you stand as the mind, the world seems mental and you affect the world with your mind and by the decisions you make. When you stand as Awareness, there is one unified Awareness, and not really two substances in the universe.

When you wake up you see what unifies everything
From Awareness, the appearance of many objects and thoughts is like in last night’s dream. When you wake up you see that all of the thoughts, no matter how you divide them up, and all of the objects are nothing but your mind.
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Right now we have 10 copies on sale for $9.65 plus shipping. To get a copy call us at Ananya Systems
(408) 353-3000.

For more information go to: Amazon.com

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In this waking state the thing that makes your thoughts, the people, the dogs, and objects seem so real is Awareness. When you take thoughts and physical objects to be separate substances, you are taking the sense of reality that belongs to Awareness and lending it to objects. When you are on the path of Self-Knowledge you take the sense of Existence, Awareness, and Happiness that you have and return them to their rightful place, which is the singular Awareness that you are.

When you stand as the real subject, Awareness, you finally get to see what the sages mean when they say, “One without a second.” This is just a description of your real state; this is what you really are. Anything less is too limited to be your real home.

You are much greater than a thought
You started off your question with, “While awareness is always present and I understand that this is the overarching activity during the course of the day I must still make decisions.” When you make this statement what are you doing? You are taking awareness to be another object that you see, and you are taking your identity to be a thought in the mind called “I.” Then in effect the thing that you call “I” is at the center of your meditation. This “I” seems to be the doer and the decision maker.

Standing here you begin to divide up the soul into different parts and can come up with many theories on how these parts interact. If you want to verify either your theories or the theories of someone you read, return your identity to its rightful place and look from here. Then you will find that something magical happens. You will know the reality behind the world and your mind. This will not fit neatly into words and thoughts, but by your identity you will know for sure what “the everything” really is.

Ok, so what about making decisions?
And now standing here we can tackle the sticky problem of making decisions. From here there is a vast harmony and the world with its trillions of parts will seem even more beautiful and amazing. You and the decisions that you make will not in any way be apart from this vast harmony.

At the same time you will have a feeling of detachment. You will know that a great doctor making great decisions is nothing compared to what you really are. You may also find that it is advisable to get help from others. For instance you may be an expert in medicine but not in business. Or you may know about the heart but not the brain etc. But standing here, you will notice that there is no one separate from you. So the help you get from others is really help that you get from yourself. You can make decisions, but God is responsible for the outcome.

You will also notice that you and your decisions are only one of the many factors that make for a successful outcome. While when standing here you are in a great position to make an appropriate decision, things may happen that you did not anticipate. So in the end you have to leave the outcome to God and that’s where the outcome belongs anyway. Besides when you look from the perspective of cosmic time, what appears to be a bad outcome may turn out to be just right.

What seems reasonable depends on where you stand
And in the end, you will find that what seems completely reasonable when you stand as the thinker and doer, seems much too limited and unreasonable when you stand as your real identity. And what makes perfect sense when you stand as the Self, which is the Existence, Consciousness and Bliss at the core of your being and of the universe, makes no sense when you stand as the doer and the thinker. That’s because when you stand in your original identity, your experience of life, the world, and your mind changes completely. You no longer see many different things. You see the one unifying substance that makes them up.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

Declare Complete Independence

2010-07-03T08:22:36-07:00

I am writing this blog a day before American Independence day. Today I hope that you too can declare independence; not over a government but over limiting concepts that seem to govern your life and keep you stuck in limitation. I hope that you too can gain your God given rights to life, liberty, and happiness.

The Declaration of Independence has a great description of the freedom that you find by looking within. But there are two exceptions. First, looking within does not depend on political freedom. In fact you are so free that you are even free of the condition of the government. That means that whether the government seems restrictive or if it seems free, you can still look within and find the freedom that lies at your core.

And second, this freedom requires separating out limiting ideas so that you can stand unbounded, as the unity of all things. Self–Knowledge is not a state of standing separate but equal.

Here are a few lines from the Declaration of Independence:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Freedom that cannot be snatched away
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Inalienable Rights means rights that you are born with, and which cannot be taken away. This is a great description of the state that you were born in, and the underlying state that exists even now. In fact, the freedom that you find within is so immutable that nothing can take it away, nothing physical, mental, or environmental. When you discover the freedom that wells up from the inside, you gain independence from everything that can destroy it. In other words, the fabric of your being is greater than any limitation that dances on the surface. This fabric is your identity, which cannot be scorched by limitation.

Here is another paragraph from the declaration:

….. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

We are so used to living in limitation that we just take suffering to be normal. Here we are inviting you take up the cause of liberation by destroying your assumed limitations and returning to the state that was before you were born. This state is so vast and so free that it is even beyond the imagination of the founders of the United States. Yet this is just what you are.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

You are One, Not Two

2010-06-27T09:46:18-07:00

In the last blog Bernard asked a question about an experience that he had and what followed. Here is a follow up question:

Hello Michael,

Thanks Michael. I think you are confirming my experience. I recognize clearly that the mind has its own reality and story using thought and often stirring up emotions to give colour to those thoughts. I see clearly that I am not the mind but use the mind for thinking. It sometimes feels that I live two realities. The one reality is when I identify with the mind, thought and emotions and another reality when even the sense of I disappears and there is just walking or writing or having fun or even getting angry and recognizing that the anger has a place in the context of things and needs to be honoured rather than allowing the mind to grab this energy and use it for emotional charges and becoming a victim.
So where to from here? It almost feels that I am running out of questions or have at last run out of questions and that it is just about making this truth my life and allowing the great mystery of who I am/am not emerge more and more.
Warm greetings,
Bernard

Hi Bernard, you are right; I wanted to confirm your experience. I also wanted to warn you that sometimes after a high experience assumptions come up with a little more intensity. But once you recognize what is happening, you can use this intensity to cut the strings that seem to pull you back into limitation, and remain in your natural state of peace. For more information on this read, “What does it mean to question assumptions?” in “Making your Wisdom Come Alive.”

One typical assumption is that there are two persons in you, one battling with the other. First there is me, and I’m the good guy. But then there is that other entity called my mind with its own story colored by all of its emotions and problems.

Do you get caught in a battle with your mind?
In this battle, which one is going to win? Is mind going to overwhelm me, or am I going to tame my mind? This battle seems to go on and on without any resolution.

This battle has many names. It is sometimes called God verses the devil, or me fighting my ego, or the ego fighting the id, or the ego fighting with the super ego. Whatever the name, these battles are unceasing. Every time you think you are making progress you get ambushed from behind by unwanted emotions and thoughts. What are you going to do?

How many I(s) are you anyway?
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Fortunately there is a way out of this quandary. It comes from the most basic sense that there is really only one I here and not two. In fact both sides of the battle, the good me, and the bad mind are not you at all. They are just objects that you see. You are Awareness, not limited by either of these objects.

When you have the feeling of freedom that you describe in your question, you are abiding in your natural state, free from both sides of this battle. But then almost imperceptibly you identity begins to shift out of your natural state of Awareness and into the “good me” thought as it were.

Identifying with a thought in the mind, duality appears
Once you identify with the “me thought” the other side of the battle, “my mind,” appears. The quickest way out is to notice that you are free of both sides of the battle. When you see this, you will naturally return to your real home, Awareness. From the point of view of practice, you want to notice that you are the witnessing Consciousness and both sides of your struggle are merely objects that you see.

What’s next?
Now you ask, “What’s next?” Awareness is your real home and if you abide here your practice is done and you are free. Just remain as you are.

But if you find yourself coming back to this battle again and again, try to determine what you are taking to be your home. Is it beliefs about what I am, or what my mind is? Do you miss the underlying harmony that pervades the world, and then get stuck in certain views where it’s me against the world? Remember, when you recognize the conceptual patterns and frameworks that you come back to, you are free of them. Seeing them is all that is necessary. That's because when you become aware of them, they are no longer automatic. So you need no other step.

Freedom is unpredictable but in perfect harmony.
Once you get a feeling for this type of practice you will see your life and mind change in ways that you could not predict. Everyday life will become a real adventure. That’s because you are changing out of the usual patterns that make up your life and into freedom. Freedom is unpredictable but is in perfect harmony.

This practice is a skill that you develop. But since the results are so amazing, once you see through one concept, you will want to destroy them all. But long before you get to the last concept, you will come face to face with the idea of a separate I. On the deepest level, you will see that the assumption of a separate I is untrue. That’s the last string and when cut, there is no place left to come back to. Then you just remain as you are: in you natural state of eternal Awareness and Bliss.

The direct Experience of your own Being; One without a Second
Just a quick reminder here, the description that the mind gives about the experience is not the experience itself. You have to appreciate the experiences that you have from within the experiences, and not by standing separate. This is the way you would taste a fine wine. Just reading about the wine is not the same as tasting it yourself.Similarly, the way to fully appreciate your own Self-Nature is by standing there and experiencing it for yourself. At the most, these words can point you to the right place. But you have to stand there and taste reality for yourself. To get a fuller application of what we are saying here, look at “Thinking from Within,” in “Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.”

Right now I am redesigning Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a book that provides a step by step approach so that you can find your natural freedom. It also gives you plenty of inspiration for your practice. Because we are doing a publicity campaign, there is a good possibility that I will have some radio and TV interviews. So look for them, and if you are allowed to, call in and ask questions. Remember, inner development is for the curious and this may be your opportunity to practice curiosity.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

The Direct Experience of Your Spiritual Nature

2010-06-20T11:08:51-07:00

Here is a question from Bernard that will interest all spiritual aspirants who want an experiential answer to grow out of their quest.

Hello Michael,

It must be more than a year ago since we last had contact. Good to know that you are still answering questions.

About 6 months ago I took some LSD with a psychotherapist who works in this way. I sat in meditation with my eyes closed for about 5 hours. When the therapist came to sit in front of me and asked if I was ready to talk I was about to tell her that I had not had any experience and could not therefore say anything but as I sat there it was as if food gates opened up and suddenly a whole lot of realizations started to pour out of my mind.

What I realized though was that the words I was using and the experience I was talking about had nothing to do with the 5 hours which was really a non-experience but somehow that non experience was informing the experience that the mind was talking about. It was something like intuition. When the mind says it has a good idea that good idea has emerged from the unknown.

So it seemed to me that the LSD experience took me into a deeper level than I had actually been conscious of before.

I now recognize that the mind creates ideas, philosophies, patterns of thinking and colors it with emotions and that is the experience that everyone talks about but has nothing to do with the SELF which is not the thoughts, words, ideas and even experience. The latter is generally nothing more that thoughts and stirred up emotions.

So clearly the self is nothing to talk about or can’t be talked about and even the experience is outside mind therefore again difficult to find words for because the words are not the SELF.

The other day I got angry with an organization that was not treating me with the respect I felt was due to me. The great thing was that I just could acknowledge the anger and the energy that had emerged and knew instinctively that this was exactly the energy I need to respond with. The anger seem to emerge as I very seldom get angry and this surprised me but rather than let the mind play games with it I allowed the anger to move and write the email that I don’t think I could have written without this energy.

I would like some feedback of these experiences as I recognize the trickster who is always around.
Warm greetings,
Bernard

Hi Bernard,
It is good hearing from you again and learning about your experiences. Congratulations on these experiences. Your intuitive knowledge was coming from a space that was deeper than your mind. The words and thoughts were just following your direct experience.

These experiences can also help you to step out of your everyday views, and get a broader view of the nature of your experience. We often assumed that we are centered in the mind, and that what it tells us must be true. That means when you think, “I am a purple kangaroo,” you must be a purple kangaroo, right? My point is that your thoughts don’t really comprehend what you experience.

The mind is like a one dimensional object that plods along thought after thought, trying to understand a four dimensional space. It never quite gets it right. But if you assume that you are centered in the mind, then what you think seems correct. And then you end up looking right past your most profound experiences as if they never happened. That is probably why at first you called it a non-experience. It was a real experience that the mind couldn’t comprehend.

By your direct experience you know more than the mind can grasp
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Then when you got a glimmer of what happened you saw that the mind couldn’t grasp what you actually experienced. In fact many times when a person has trouble with his (or her) mind, it is because he (or she) is trying to use the mind to define something that it can’t quite grasp. So it just spews out a bunch of babble, which the person takes to be true.

That’s why the purpose of Self-Knowledge is not to change your mind; rather it is to change the place that you stand in relation to the mind. In this way you can experience the profundity of life directly, without the need for the captions that the mind provides. In other words when you go deeper in your meditations, you have to stand centered in the place where the experience actually occurs. If you attempt to analyze it by standing separate and thinking about it, you will seem to bring that experience to an end. Furthermore when you attempt to filter your experiences through your mind, you will miss much of the beauty that life presents to you. For more on this you can read, “Thinking from within,” in “Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.”

You feel right at home when you stand in your own Self-Nature
When you stand as the Self that you are, you will be free from any definition in the mind. But you will know that you have found this freedom because you will feel right at home in your real identity. You will know the Self by the Self, without the need for a separate thinker. But out of relief, when you stop asking the mind to do something that it is incapable of, like defining what you are, there is a good chance that even the mind, out of relief, will come to balance.

When you say: “So it seemed to me that the LSD experience took me into a deeper level than I had actually been conscious of before,” the question becomes what is the nature of “me”? Is me the noise in your head that you call thoughts, including the subject, which is nothing more than the thought “I”? Or is “me” the unseen pristine Awareness that lights up the mind?

Consider your nature deeply
If “me” is the thoughts in your mind, then the Awareness will seem to come and go. As a consequence you will have high experiences, but they will seem to disappear leaving you back in your assumed home, which is the thoughts in your mind.

On the other hand, if “me” refers to your real home, the unseen changeless Awareness, then the thoughts will seem to come and go, but you will remain in your pristine home. Then what is sometimes called the highest experience in the universe will be your everyday experience.

As far as eyes open or closed, if you ever have a similar experience, try meditating part of the time with your eyes open. You’ll be surprised how a tiny change in your mind will make a big change in the seemingly solid world. If you start to feel seasick, just close your eyes again. Also remember that whatever goes through your mind, whether it seem amplified or not, you are the witnessing Consciousness, not the fellow caught in it.

Now resolve the little conceptual frameworks that seem to bring you down
Sometimes after high experience you will notice little sparks of suffering coming up, maybe in a more intense way than you're used to. That’s because when you become clearer by contrast the suffering seems more intense. When this happens just know that this is God’s way of saying, “Look here.” When you resolve this bit of suffering, you will never have to return to it again.

Self Realization will not always eliminate anger. Sometimes anger is the perfect tool to deal with a situation. But if the “me” who is being treated unfairly is based on an old limited identity, clouded in conceptual thinking, use the energy that came up with the anger to destroy those concepts. This will cut one of the strings that pulls you back into limitation. Then what you thought was a profound experience will turn out to be your natural state. And if because of their short-sightedness the organization treats you unfairly, it may be time to get angry. Use anger as a tool and then let it go.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman

Remember Your Aim

2010-06-13T11:32:47-07:00

Shankara, an Indian sage, said that the most important qualification for liberation is the desire for liberation. God is very shy; if you want something else you will get it. But if you just want liberation, you will end up with freedom from limitation and the source of happiness. Not a bad deal for single minded desire, is it?

But don’t overlook this: if you want liberation, you have to remember your aim. Liberation is not like products at Macy's; first you desire one thing then you desire the next. But it takes follow-through and energy to get to the core of life.

Prevent your life from going around in circles
At one time I studied with a student of the spiritual teacher Ospensky. On of his main teachings was to remember your aim. If you just leave your practice to chance, you will tend to go around in circles like a person lost in the forest. That means that you will die without accomplishing the things that you wanted to.

In the course of your spiritual practice you will find that there are times when you feel like meditating, and times when you don’t. You will find that if you don’t always believe your mind and continue with your practice, your mind will change very fast. That’s why I set up a regular time for my mediation practice. Once I was in the habit of meditating, I would meditate at that time no matter what my mind was telling me.

Your practice will turn out different than you think
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What happened was at times when I thought I would have the most dragged out, dull meditation, I ended up having the best insights into the nature of my mind, the world, and that thing I called myself. I learned one thing from this: just because you think it, doesn’t make it true. Of course you know what I mean, don’t you? No matter how many times you think, “I’m a purple kangaroo,” it will not make you a purple kangaroo. Similarly, if you think, “I don’t feel like meditating,” it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t meditate.

If you practice one thing, like meditation, for a long period of time in your life, you will experience the ups and downs as you continue to learn and grow. If you can persevere even when the going seems to get rough, you will discover some valuable insights that will change your life.

Pick a worthwhile goal and stick with it
You will start to feel that you are centered in a place that is deeper than your mind. This is the first step in your pursuit of freedom; when you take the first step you are very near the end. So in your life, pick a worthwhile goal like Self-Knowledge and stick with it. Then the beginning, middle, and end of your life will be perfect.

Best Wishes for Your Practice,

Michael Gluckman