Knowledge and Religion

A fundamental shift in our outlook

2013-06-11T05:10:19-07:00

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If you’ve followed this blog for a while you may know that I often talk about the place where you actually experience happiness. Although this sounds very simple, when you discover where these words point, you find where lasting happiness comes from. In other words lasting happiness comes from the place where you actually experience it, not from the things that you see.

When you notice this place, your life will transform in ways that you could never have imagined. Instead of trying to find happiness in places that seem to recede before your eyes, you will be able to rest at the very source of happiness. You will find that as you change, the whole world will change too. With this as an introduction let’s see what happens when a whole society looks for happiness in places that just can’t deliver, and then what happens when the vision of its leaders starts to change.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama

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Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.

IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________

When corporations make the rules
Today I heard an interview with George Packard about his new book, “On America’s Unwinding Equality.” He states a concern that I have heard over and over again. In the United States there is a suspicion that the government is no longer run by the people and for the people as it says in the Declaration of Independence. Rather the government is run by corporations and large economic interests and for their economic interests.
The result is that there is a wider and wider divide between the rich and the poor. And the optimism of the people here, which made the United States so unique, is starting to disappear. What many people feel is left for them is to attempt to acquire more wealth. The result is that people and corporations will do whatever it takes to get ahead, whether it is moral or immoral; legal or illegal. Even though there are still people in the country who have different values and want to live a good life by helping others and working with them, they are being left behind by this craving for wealth.

Cut the root of society and it starts to wither
The next question of course becomes what’s wrong with the system. I don’t think that anything is wrong with the system. The system in the United States is probably as good as any alternative that we could create. But remember, the system is run by people; the people aren't run by a mindless system. So when there is a breakdown in society it is caused by a breakdown in the vision of the people. When a country starts to worship money and power, and loses sight of the natural goodness and cooperation of its people, it is on its way to a downturn. That’s because money and power cannot nourish the spirit of a person or of a nation. As when you cut the root of a tree, when you cut the root of a country, it starts to wither away.

And of course when the system seems to get better it’s because the views of the people become more expansive and inclusive; where the energy of the people and their drive for improvement comes from the engine of love.

When we say, “Let the markets decide,” it appears that we are giving the system a life of its own. But in reality the system can only serve our perceived needs. It is only the product of our collective vision and desires. Right now corporations spend billions of dollars on advertising, trying to convince us that their products will give us the happiness that we want. On the other hand, I spend a few hundred dollars a year on this blog, where I ask people to look at their own experience of happiness and to discover where that happiness actually comes from.

Wisdom is more powerful than money
But I am optimistic. I feel that no matter how much money is involved, in the end wisdom is more powerful than money. I feel that if we can nudge the conversation that this country is having away from the markets and wealth, and towards wisdom and the source of joy, the people of this country will do the rest. In the end, by wisdom we will right the ship and help to bring this country back on course to the freedom and optimism that we all hope for.

But you should know that you can change faster than a whole society, and regain the wisdom and joy that’s rightfully yours. Your joy does not depend on the condition of society. It only depends on finding the treasure buried right in your heart.
Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

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Why we will never trade our mind for a computer

2013-06-04T12:21:34-07:00

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Despite all of the things that a computer can do we intuitively know that there is a big difference between a computer and our mind. Moreover, I don’t know of anyone who would rather switch places with their computer. Did you ever wonder why?

After all, compared with a computer our memory is puny. A computer can remember billions of unrelated facts while we can’t even remember what we had for lunch two weeks ago. And while a computer can recall facts in less than a second, it could take us minutes or even hours to remember a person’s name. And then when it comes to calculation power, our abilities don’t even come close to that of a computer. A computer can solve problems in days that would take a whole team of experts lifetimes to solve.

Computers don’t have emotional crises
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
On top of that, except in movies like 2001, computers don’t have emotional crises. They never have problems with relationships and they just do exactly what you tell them. They don’t need prozac for depression or aspirin for headaches. A computer doesn’t even worry about getting sick and dying. So on the surface it seems like trading in our brain for that of a computer would be a no-brainer.
But even with all of these abilities, we sense that something is missing. A computer has a mind that isn’t all there. Although we can’t quite put our finger on it, we sense that there is more to life than just the ability to manipulate data. So even with all of its apparent imperfections, we prefer having our mind just the way it is. Here are two reasons why:

Joy does not compute
First we have the capacity to experience the heights of joy and connection, while to a computer joy does not compute. When we are happy we feel alive. For this reason we value joy even more than our ability to solve complicated problems.

Another little secret: our happiness does not depend on our thoughts. When happy, we can think any random thought and we will still be happy. This is something that you should try. The next time you feel a deep sense of joy, see if you can find a thought powerful enough to destroy your happiness. Make it into a game; which thought has the power to destroy your happiness? Even if certain thoughts remind you of misery like sickness and divorce, see if they have the power to destroy a state of peace that is deeper than thought.

Furthermore, we sense that true happiness is even deeper than the ups and downs that we call emotions. That’s why when we experience happiness, we feel that it won't end; when it does, we’re surprised and frustrated. In fact when we start to think, “I wonder if I will lose this happiness,” happiness is already starting to disappear. Then when we notice that just because we think a few thoughts, it doesn’t make them true, we are again on our way back to our natural state of peace and joy.

We are aware of our mind
Then there’s a second advantage that we have over a computer. Although we sometimes overlook this advantage, we experience it all the time. So here’s the secret: We are aware of our mind while a computer is not. This awareness is not a thought in itself. In fact it is the thing that makes our thoughts come alive. Without awareness thoughts are nothing at all.

Now you may think that awareness is thoughts being aware of other thoughts, which are aware of other thoughts…..and on and on to infinity. If that were the case you could program a computer to be aware. But you are aware of all of these thoughts as they attempt to imitate awareness, aren’t you? In fact you are the awareness; you are not limited by any thought, no matter how expansive it may seem. But while you are aware of your thoughts, your thoughts cannot grasp the steady awareness that lights them up. For this reason you cannot program a computer to be aware. You can only program a computer to imitate awareness, and an imitation is not nearly as good as the real thing.

Our real value comes from our identity
So for all of the wonderful things that a computer can do, there are two things that it is missing: bliss and awareness. These are really two words for the same thing and that is our identity. In the depths of our heart we know that if we give up our identity we would give up the thing that is truly valuable and makes our mind come to life. For this reason people will gladly remain as human beings and not trade places with their computer.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How to make lasting changes to your life

2013-05-27T19:03:07-07:00

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Hi Scotty,

Thanks for participating in “The best of my blogs.” You feel that you are facing stories that you impose on life based on self-judgment and fear. You want to catapult out of these fears so that you can transform your life. But you don’t want another intellectual approach to change. Rather you want the long-lasting change that occurs at your core.

The secret to lasting change is to discover what is always here. After all if you didn’t create this thing, you don’t have to worry about accidently destroying it. So what is the thing that is always here? Is it a thought? No it couldn’t possibly be a thought. A thought is here for a few microseconds and then is gone. There is nothing long-lasting about a thought.

What is always here?
Maybe it’s whole framework of thoughts like self-criticism, fear, or those about graphic arts. But you’re not always in fear or in the midst of self-criticism, are you? And you’re not always thinking about graphic arts either. So even whole frameworks of thoughts come and go and are not always here.

Well you may think, this thing must be the physical body. After all, the body seems to hang around a lot longer than a bunch of thoughts. But if you notice what you actually experience as opposed to what you’re supposed to experience, you will find that even the body comes and goes. For instance, this is a long blog and as you read it your mind starts to drift. You dream that you are a bird and can soar to enormous heights as you fly through the sky. The other birds ask, “How do you like your new body?” You answer in protest, “What do you mean new body; I always had this body.” At that moment you wake up and that’s when Scotty’s body reappears.

Even the physical body comes and goes
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
So the experience of your body comes and goes. But like thoughts, even this waking body is constantly changing. At one time Scotty was a baby, then a young boy, a teenager, and now a grown man. Each of these bodies seems to be different. And yet despite all of these changes there is something about Scotty that did not change. If you can discover the thing that is the same now as it was then, you will discover the changeless platform on which change takes place. You can call this platform the witnessing consciousness or the source of love. But in reality this changeless platform cannot be captured by words and thoughts. All they can do is point to that which has to be experienced to be known.

But the good news is that you experience this platform already and just overlook it. This platform is your self-nature. It is the thing that lights up your mind and makes it seem so real. The reason that you believe reality comes from your thoughts is that you see your mind, but your mind cannot see you. That’s because your mind can’t grasp that which doesn’t change. So you have to know yourself in a different way. You know yourself by being yourself. You cannot know yourself as a separate thing. That's because you are not an object; you are the ultimate subject.

You can’t predict the ways you will change when you stand here
So now that you know that you are deeper than your thoughts can comprehend, explore a little. Don’t attempt to refine your thinking; that would be an endless process. Rather shift your center out of your mind and return it to its original place as the witnessing consciousness. Did you know that the witnessing consciousness is so nonjudgmental that it doesn’t even judge your judging. So feel free to judge yourself as much as you want. Just know that the judge and the one being judged are both imposters. Neither of them is the real you. They are just thoughts attempting to measure thoughts while the real you stands silently as the witness, free of all this chatter.

So don’t spend your life struggling with your mind. Just let your real home reveal itself by itself. If the mind wants to pretend that it is you, let it. If your mind has stories to tell about you, let it. Just find your original center and rest here. From here you will experience freedom in ways that you cannot predict. So all you can do is stand here and see what happens. View your life from here with eyes wide open as if you were a newborn child. Then if you have any leftover mental frameworks that still bother you, like those pertaining to your relationships or other aspects of your life, we can destroy them specifically. But first it is best to establish a nonjudgmental place to look from. And a little humor doesn’t hurt either.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How can I step beyond the fears that hold me back?

2013-05-21T16:03:57-07:00

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Hi Wynne,

Thank you for your questions and your patience. Sometimes when people ask questions it takes us a while to answer them. But we take your questions seriously and attempt to answer them fully. The sense we get from your questions is that there are things you want to do in your life. These are things that you feel will make your life worthwhile. But there are certain fears that seem to hold you back. Instead of running away from your fears you want to embrace them and use their energy to propel you in the direction that you want to go with your life.

If I need clarity about my life, I like to start at the end. I pretend that I am lying on my death bed and am looking back over my life. What are the things that really made my life worthwhile? And then, what are my regrets, the things that I thought were important and never got around to doing. I then take a look to see what held me back from accomplishing these things. In the end was it worth living by fears and distractions, when I could have enjoyed living life without regrets? Of course I can now come back to the present, and with my new perspective, start to live the life that I really want.

If fears keep you stuck in the same old rut
But now Wynne, what if you run into old fear and because of it, remain stuck in the same old rut? How can you step beyond this obstacle that you call fear, when it seems to limit you and keeps you from living the life that you want?
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
First here are four principles that you can use to step out of your fears. We will follow them with an example so you will get a sense of how to apply these principles.

1)      The first thing you should note is that fear is not your enemy. It helps you to see the assumed limitations that you live by. So instead of pushing your fears away, welcome them.

2)      Your nature is freedom. Another name for Wynne is boundless wisdom and bliss. Fear only feels confining and suffocating when you take it to be a valid definition for your self-nature, and then start to believe what your thoughts tell you. When you return your identity to its rightful place your regain your freedom.

3)      While to resolve it you may have to take a direct look at your fear, this is not a time for self-judgment. You should know that when you are finally ready to examine your fear in the light of your innate freedom, you are on the verge of destroying this fear. So even if it seems easier to run away from fear, in the long run it is much better to face it and resolve it for good.

4)      The final thing to know about resolving fear is that it is a one step process, not two. This means that when you stand as awareness and not as the one caught in fear, the fear resolves. There is no other step. The changes that affect your life will come as a surprise.

On the other hand, in a two step process first you try to resolve your fear and then you attempt to change your thoughts or behavior. The problem with the two step approach is that you are still stuck in the old frameworks. You haven’t returned your identity to its original place. Consequently your view point is too limited and you will still struggle to line up your thoughts, which are naturally in motion. Even if you think you can control your fear, at some point when you are not looking it will come back.

Bringing these principles together
Ok, now let’s bring these principles together with a specific example so you can see how they work. Let's say you are a teller at a bank. You find this job boring and unsatisfying. You feel that you have a natural talent as an artist and want to spend your life expressing yourself through your art.

But you’re afraid. What if you run out of money? Then you fear that you will lose your home and your family will have to live on the streets. Besides that, you're afraid that your family will starve to death. You might think: “The sign that I am free of these fears is that I will quit my job anyway and just do what I really want.”

Half the battle is just taking a fresh look
First notice that you are living by fear. In fear your mind will tend to exaggerate your situation and all of your thoughts will seem amplified. But despite the commotion in your mind, you are willing to take an honest look. Now if you can just put aside self-judgment, you are on the verge of finding your freedom.

So poke around a little. What exactly are you afraid of? Where did this fear come from? The more you can learn about this fear, the clearer you can see a point of view that you took to be reality. For instance your view might have come from the belief in an inimical world where you had to protect yourself against encroaching hostile forces. Or maybe it was your family against the world. Did you pick it up from your schoolmates or friends? Now remember the basic principle of self-knowledge: whatever you can see you are not. So attempt to understand your view of the world, as if it belonged to someone else and you will automatically detach yourself from that limiting view.

How does your fear resolve?
So how does your fear resolve. Now remember, you thought the resolution would be to quit your job and become an artist. But to your surprise, you start to see the harmony and beauty in the world that up till now you missed. And in place of fear you start to feel love that comes from a deep connection to the universe. Now you get to experience the deep meaning of oneness.

The fear is gone and is replaced by a deep love that encompasses everything. But what happened to your bank teller job? All of the sudden a job that seemed boring becomes a great meditation. In each customer you serve, you can sense a new love and connection. Now each interaction has a fresh and new feeling to it.

Instead of two possibilities there are many
While there is not the immediate need to quit your job, in your newfound freedom your art gets better too. You resolve to learn more about the business of art so that in a few years you will be able to quit your job and devote yourself to artwork. Or you quit your job and take a part time one that allows you to put more time into art. Did you notice, instead of two possibilities, there are many possibilities for you to explore.

I think you can see from this case that when you resolve fear, things turn out different than you envision. In fact your life turns out better than you could possibly have imagined. So put these four principles to work, and watch your life blossom in ways that you never thought possible.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How much do you desire freedom?

2013-05-13T08:47:06-07:00

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Hi Chinna,

Thank you for your comments and questions. While you practice various forms of yoga meditation like pranayama, you don’t have much ambition to accomplish things in the world. So you want to get a better sense of who you are and what you were born for.

There comes a point in your spiritual practice where you start to notice that no matter what you accomplish in the world, it won’t give you what you really want. You notice that great fame and vast wealth will just end up with death. You see that Steve Jobs, who had billions of dollars and was known over the whole wide world, in the end died from a painful illness. You see rich people who have exactly the same problems that you might have. Tiger Woods, for example, had problems with his marriage. Moreover when you are rich, people like you for what you have, not for what you are. So when the money goes away, so do your friends.

When you want more from life than
things can give
That’s when you hope to find a deeper meaning to life. So you ask, “Is there such a thing as finding lasting happiness?” “What happens to me when the body passes away?” “Is there a deeper meaning to life?” Or “What am I anyway?” When your curiosity reaches an intense feverous pitch, you become a candidate for liberation.

Ramana Maharshi said that you should have the same desire for liberation as a person held under water has for getting air. You should note here that liberation is not for the lazy. If you feel dull then live an active life. As in my case, it is possible through activity to lose the sense of being the doer, and then wake up. If fact when you lose the sense of I do and then after the job is done I can enjoy, activity becomes a great meditation.

Curiosity is another name for desire
for liberation
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
Another name for the desire for liberation is curiosity. It is the ability to look at your experience afresh and notice what you actually experience, as opposed to what you are supposed to experience, or what your friends think you should experience.

For instance inhibitions and feeling of limitation are often dressed up as, “This is just the way I am,” “This is just the way my mind works,” or “That’s life.” In dullness you just bumble along holding on to the same old assumptions. With the energy for liberation however, you are able to challenge these views of life, your mind and yourself.

Challenge your feelings of limitation
Note here that liberation is not a quiet or blank mind. The very nature of the mind is change. So how long can it remain blank before thoughts rise again? So rather than blanking your mind, become curious and challenge the assumptions that seem to cause feelings of limitation and suffering. Then you will start to view life with wonderment, as if looking through the eyes of a child. You will no longer know what your mind is, what you are, and what life is.

Now you are in a perfect position to find out; not as some theory but by your direct and immediate experience. You will then die to the limitations that you thought belonged to you and you will wake up to the reality that pervades the whole universe.

Please Join Us
If this sounds like what you want from your life then please join us. This forum is not really a club. It is a group of people glued together simply by their curiosity and desire for liberation. So to get a better sense of what we are talking about, read through these blogs and if you wish my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. Don’t attempt to memorize these words. Rather use them as a pointer to that which is at the core of every human being.

Then in your meditation practice attempt to find the meaning of these words. Use your own direct experience as a guide. Remember, these words are just another name for what you really are. They point to that which is deep and at your very core. But because they point to your essence you can discover their real meaning. This discovery is knowing by being.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Sending peace and light

2013-05-09T11:30:06-07:00

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Hi Aisha,

Thank you for your wonderful questions and comments. You would like us to send you peace and light from our wisdom. It is our joy to do so. We send it to you by pointing to the place where we are one. If you can take a peek behind the curtain that we usually call life, you will find that this peace and light is not a gift from us to you. It is a gift straight from God. You can find this gift right in your heart.

My wife, Brigit, calls this gift, “The Source of Love.” This love is so deep that it is not dependent on the condition of your body or mind. Minds and bodies appear to divide us. Bodies are born, grow up, are healthy, then get sick, and finally pass away. Minds are constantly changing. Sometimes they are awake. At other times they disappear into sleep; at times they are sharp, at other times they are dull.

Compared to the mind and body, love is like the depths of the ocean
But compared to the depth of this love, minds and bodies are just on the surface. They are like the waves of the ocean. This love is like the depths of the ocean, so still that it is unaffected by the storms above. So you should know that we do not wish you a quiet mind. Rather we wish you the love that comes from your own being, a love that is so deep that it is unaffected by the thoughts in your mind.

Like a cat however, we tend to focus on the things that change. We look right past the stillness that allows us to see all that changes. This stillness is the light that lights up the world and illumines our mind. But while we can know our mind and body, they are incapable of detecting the still light of our being. But fortunately we can abide in our heart as the light of love — by love we can know this stillness directly. Who would have thought that we already have the peace that we are looking for?

Abide in the stillness and security of your own being
Although the body will continue to grow old, abiding here in the stillness and security of our being, we will remain at peace. And even the mind will breathe a sigh of relief as it can finally rest in the bliss of its original nature.

Not being limited by the mind and body, we discover the ancient meaning of oneness. It is oneness with your family and children. It is also the oneness that connects us all by love.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How can I destroy bad habits?

2013-05-06T14:53:50-07:00

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Hi Frank,

Thank you for your questions. Curiosity is the first step to finding your freedom. When you question limitation, you are no longer taking it to be reality, and that allows you to change. Now for the purpose of this blog I’m going to assume that your bad habits are little self destructive things like smoking or drinking etc. that you want to get rid of. If on the other hand you are talking about criminal behavior or behavior that affects others in a negative way, that would take a different type of response or practice, which I’m not going to talk about here.

Rather in this blog I am going to talk about how to destroy bad habits by transcending them. From the tone of your questions it seems like you’ve been struggling with these habits for a long time. It sounds like just as you are about to get rid of them, these habits come around and hit you from behind. And that’s why you wonder if freedom from the past is possible.

Stop self-judgment
So the first step that I would recommend is to stop the self-judgment. The mind tends to work in opposites. You may think, “Now I am bad; when I finally get rid of these habits then I will be good.” If you stand as the mind, and see things as opposites, you are setting up an endless struggle. So have a little compassion on yourself. As you explore this teaching more, you will begin to notice that your essential nature is good. If you’re essentially good, then the tiny habits that occur in a vast mind cannot make a dent in that goodness.

Truth is not a reward for good behaviour, nor a prize for passing some tests. It cannot be brought about. It is the primary, the unborn, the ancient source of all that is. You are eligible because you are. You need not merit truth. It is your own. Just stop running away by running after (that which is limited). Stand still, just be –

Sri Nisargdatta Maharaj

In freedom there are more than two possibilities
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
Now the next step is a bit harder to express. I know that your goal is to change a habit or two. So you may be surprised when I tell you to put less emphasis on the result and more on the process. In fact the results that you get may be different than you think. Remember in freedom there are more than just the two possibilities for change that your mind comes up with. So if you find yourself thinking in opposites like you either have the habit or not, or you are either good or bad, know that there is more than you are seeing at that moment. You should know that you could start out to change a habit and end up with complete enlightenment, which comes from what you are, not from what you do.

So before you attempt to change a habit, explore a little. While in the midst of this habit, notice what you hope to gain from it. Then notice where you actually experience this satisfaction. Does your satisfaction come from the habit? Or does the satisfaction that you experience come from a deeper reservoir that was there the whole time?

Your habit does not equal happiness
Look at what you actually experience and contrast it to what you think you should experience. When in your life you feel the satisfaction that you are looking for, whatever its cause seems to be, get in the habit of returning that happiness to its source by noticing where it actually comes from. You will find that the source is in the place where you actually experience happiness; not the thing that supposedly caused it.

After all, you don’t want to deny yourself happiness, do you? In fact it is very difficult to deny happiness because bliss is another name for your self-nature. That’s why as long as you connect your habit to the satisfaction that it seems to give you, the habit will be difficult to break. In other words, if the habit contains happiness then breaking it will be like denying your nature.

Consciousness does not judge
Now here’s where the teaching of self-knowledge is unusual; can you eliminate your habit by just looking into the actual source of happiness? Maybe or maybe not. But this practice will take the focus of your life off the habit, and put it on finding the source of the satisfaction that you hope to gain from your habits.

As you attempt to find the source of happiness, do you know what will happen? You will step out of both the good and the bad side of your mind completely. Instead of identifying with a few thoughts in your mind, you will return your identity to the consciousness that sees the mind. This space-like consciousness does not judge. It is here that you will find the boundless freedom and bliss that you are looking for.

As for your habits, some of them will go and some won’t. But compared to the expansiveness and freedom that comes from your identity, these habits will be inconsequential. Remember, Nisargadatta Maharaj smoked till the day he died from throat cancer. But he knew that he was not born and didn’t really die. Just become like Maharaj and we will see if you have to worry about your habits.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How to destroy the frameworks in your mind that seem to cause suffering

2013-05-02T12:56:02-07:00

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Hi Andy,

Now as promised in the last blog, your other comment:

I still see the world as a real and dangerous place.

In the blog, How to remain as the light, even at work, I talked about the natural harmony of the universe. Additionally, just about all of the news stories today are consumed by people’s animosity towards each other. But that’s far from the whole story. The vast majority of people in this world act out of love, and when the opportunity arises, they want to help each other. This is certainly a part of this natural harmony.

But today I would like to talk about your questions from a different angle that particularly applies to a more advanced aspirant. You said that you see the world as a dangerous place. I am sure that it doesn’t feel natural to live in fear of people and events in the world. What I noticed from my practice is if it didn’t feel natural, I was viewing life or the world through “a lens darkly.” This lens was a framework of thoughts glued together by my belief in them. I call this framework of thoughts a concept.

Conceptual frameworks are too limited
From within this concept the view seemed normal. I would think, “That’s life,” or “That’s just the way the world is.” It almost seemed like to question this concept would be to question the air that I was breathing.

But there were certain signatures that alerted me that there was more to life and the world than I was seeing. First of all this concept would feel too limited or like plain suffering. Then I would hear myself thinking: “That’s life,” “That’s just the way I am,” or “That’s just the way my mind works.”

When you question the concept, it falls apart
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
So like you are doing with your comments, if I was alert enough I would start to ask questions like, “Is that really the way the world is?” Questioning this concept is the most important step in destroying it. It allows you to see limitation as limitation and not as reality. One other comment here, this is not a time for self-judgment. Even if a concept is painful to look at, you should remember that you are on the verge of finding your freedom. In the long run it is less painful to look at what is going on in your mind than to try and ignore it.

Get to know the why and how of limiting views
Once I noticed that I was viewing the world through a conceptual framework I started to explore. Why do I see the world the way I do? Where did I pick this idea up from? How has it been affecting my life?

For example I also had a view of the world as a hostile place. Once I noticed that this view of life wasn’t normal, I traced it back to when I was very young. Growing up in a Jewish family right after World War II we saw movies of the German concentration camps and of the war. The theme of these movies was we can’t let this happen again.
I saw how this view of life was the root of my desire to become a martial artist. This concept about the world also affected my relationships. It felt like I was running towards and running away from people at the same time.

This is a one step process
Now remember this, your job is to see a concept as an idea and not as reality. This is a one step process. There is nothing else for you to do. You cannot predict how you will change. If you think you can predict the changes that will occur, then you have not yet fully seen the concept as a concept. For instance if you think, “When I see through a concept, I won’t have those thoughts or I won’t do that,” then take a deeper look.

Real and effortless change comes as a surprise. For example in a relationship you may encounter the same situation and even have some of the same thoughts. But to your surprise the desire to react in the same way might be gone.

Having experiences that you never thought possible
Moreover, you may have experiences that you never thought possible. For instance you could start to see that the world as just Consciousness or the One Mind; that the world is made of the same substance as you; when you deal with the world, you are really dealing with your own being — that there is nothing out there to be afraid of. Of course these words provide a poor description of that which is beyond words. Just be aware that as you change, your experiences will change in ways that are impossible to predict.

One last thing that you should know: I was a martial artist into physical activity. I would be the last person you would think of as being introspective. So if I can discover the meaning of this introspective practice, anyone can. This practice is a skill that you develop. So have a little patience and persistence and you will see your practice start to fly. And your freedom will become visceral.

Where does reality come from?
Ok, now for the last part of your question. You say that you experience the world as real. So where does this sense of reality come from? Does it really come from the world or does it come from you? When you look at your experience closely, you will find that when your mind changes your world changes. But does your sense of reality change?

For example as you read this blog with all of its information, you start to drift off into a daydream. You are in a park with a bunch of friendly ducks. So you ask them, “How do like being in this dream.” The ducks then answered, “What do you mean, this is our waking state!”

While in the dream, the waking world is gone as if it had never even existed. And the dream world seems real. If you then fall into the deep sleep state all of the worlds disappear. But it doesn’t feel as if reality disappeared, does it? And then after a few years of being in the dream, which translates into a few minutes of waking time, the waking world again appears. But does it feel as if your sense of reality came back, or was that sense of reality there the whole time.

Look at what you actually experience
In other words, reality comes from you and not from the world. That’s why when you discover what you are, you discover reality. It’s not like when you know yourself the world seems less real or fuzzy. In fact without the usual filters, the world may seem sharper and more in focus. Look into your actually experience as opposed to what you are supposed to experience. See if you can discover where the experience of reality comes from. When you return reality to its source you will know if the world is real, unreal or none of the above.
Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.
Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.
Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.
Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Where is the I AM anyway

2013-04-29T04:58:06-07:00

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Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your excellent comments and questions:

I spend as much time as I can watching the I AM sense, I "believe" that's what self-inquiry is about and it seems to "me" that the less complicated it is the better.

These comments show your intense desire to find your being and waking up. You are right to keep it simple. If even Ramana Maharshi’s cow, Lakshmi, could wake up, I am sure that it is not complex.

First, you spend as much time as you can watching the I AM sense. I have some good news for you. The practice of Self-Inquiry is easier than that. For all of the words that I use, do you know what I am really saying? “You already are the self − period.” If per chance you take the self to be less than you really are, I give you a few pointers to get you back on track.

The point of self-inquiry is that whatever you can see you are not. You are however the one thing that the mind and the senses cannot see or know. So you have to know yourself in a different way. Know yourself by being yourself. You might call this practice knowing by being.

Mind tries to find your identity in objects
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
But what happens is that the mind, by its nature, latches onto objects. So you ask, “Who am I,” and the mind attempts to be helpful by looking for some answers. But there is one thing that the mind doesn’t know: The real you is not centered in the mind at all. You are space-like Consciousness that was not born and will not die. When the mind is present, consciousness sees the mind. This is sometimes called the witnessing consciousness. But, like your eyes do not see themselves, your mind cannot perceive the consciousness that knows it.

Not knowing the secret location of consciousness, aspirants for liberation make a critical mistake. In their practice they split their mind into two parts. One part, which they call "I", attempts to witness the other part, which they call "not I". Then one part of the mind tries to get the other part into whatever state it conceives as a liberated state. This could be the place where it thinks the "I AM" arises from; it could be a quiet mind, or having just the right thoughts, and certainly not having bad thoughts however it defines them. And that’s where the struggle starts, me against my mind.

Keep your practice simple
Then it gets even more complicated. These aspirants attempt to witness their mind while they are in the midst of activity. Could you imagine if I attempted to write this blog while half my mind was attempting to watch the other half, or if you attempted to read this blog while in that state? I do not know how clearly I could write or how much you could understand. Whatever state we would manufacture would be far from the natural state.

Do you see how complicated and convoluted this practice gets? Ramana’s cow could never have figured it out. In fact Ramana called this type of practice, a thief dressing up as a policeman and then attempting to catch the thief. Will this fake policeman ever succeed?

The thief is just a group of thoughts dressing up as consciousness; this thief is not the real you, the consciousness that lights up your thoughts, but is not a thought in itself.

You are aware without the need for a separate I
Now let’s get back to your question “I spend as much time as I can watching the I AM sense.” Who is watching and what is the "I AM?" Neither of these is the real you. The proof is that you are aware of both the "I" and the "I AM." Your Awareness is natural. It is aware by itself without the need for a separate you. That means that even while you read this blog and concentrate on what I am saying you are still aware. Without shifting your attention away from this blog, if there are noises in the background like a bird singing or a child crying, you will be aware of that too. Whether you remember to watch the I AM sense or you forget, you are still aware. This is your natural state; this awareness is not a mental state.

Meditation on the I AM is shifting your identity out of the objects that you see and returning your identity to its natural place, where you are free from the limitations of those objects — and one of those objects is the "you" that's supposed to be watching.

In the next blog I am going to take up your second comment, I still see the world as a real and dangerous place. I am going to show you how to examine and let go of the frameworks in your mind that seem to keep you stuck in limitation and suffering. This is the secret that caused my meditations and my life to change in ways I never could have imagined.

We will also have some fun with where does reality actually come from.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.
Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.

Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How to remain as the light, even at work

2013-04-25T21:35:03-07:00

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.

Hi Andre,
Thank you for your important questions:
First: How can I share the light so that when I have contact with people my experience enhances the stillness and light in others?

And second: “How can I stay in the light when in the midst of my daily activities?”

These questions are good ones and they apply to many aspirants. They also take me back to my own practice where I had to answer them for myself. After having very high sitting meditations where I felt that I was the light of consciousness and not anything separate, I had to go to work or talk with my girlfriend. That’s when old limitations would start to come up and I would feel nervous and out of sorts. I knew that I was supposed to be the light all of the time; so I had a strong desire to find out what was causing me to come down with a thud.

You are the other person
First of all you should know that you are the light; it is your true home. You will find that the light is even closer to you than the feeling of being a man. This means that there is not a separate you who can do anything with the light. All you can do is be the light and see what happens from there. Standing as the light you get to experience oneness first hand. Standing here you connect with others because you are what they are.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive is a guide to waking up to your innate freedom. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory. See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also, now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Please go to Amazon Kindle.
IPad and all ebook formats: EBookIt.
___________________________________________________________________
As long as you take others to be different from you or in some cases inimical to you, relating to other or dealing with them will feel a bit out of whack. But if you can discover and tune into the basic harmony that pervades the whole universe you will feel free, even while you communicate and relate with others.

The light is the harmony that pervades the universe
Now for this harmony that pervades the universe: This is a harmony that comes directly from the light. We did not create it and we cannot destroy it. It is the same harmony that fulfills our need to eat by providing food, our need to breathe by providing air, our need to see by providing sights, and our need to hear by providing sounds. If we feel that there is something wrong with the universe so that we have to get in there a do something about it, our view of the universe is too small.

This means that we do not have to provide others with the peace and light that comes right from their nature. Just recognize that even before you relate to a single person, in the depths of their being they are perfect. Some people may be inspired by the wisdom and light that you share. Other people may reject it completely. But all of this accepting and rejecting goes on, on the surface. Real change takes place on a deeper level than the mind can comprehend. At this level the light is communicating with the light, and you don’t have to do a thing.
Just remember the story of Jesus. Some people where inspired by his wisdom and love; other people wanted to killed him. The same is true of Socrates. If they couldn’t do anything about this acceptance and rejection, why do you think you can? Enjoy the company of everyone who stands as, or aims to find the light. Let everyone else go their own way in peace.

How to be free, even while working
You also asked,

“How can I stay in the light when in the midst of my daily activities?”

Here is a story from my own life that illustrates this: I had a chance to experience the life changing effects of this wisdom at my job in Santa Clara, California about twenty years ago.

I worked in the pre-press department of a medium size print shop. This shop was very busy. I had lots of detailed work and I was pressed by tight deadlines as customers needed their work yesterday. As usual I was panicked, rushing around making mistakes.

Then the Vedantic quote, "Our real nature is happiness", flashed through my mind. "Why", I thought: "if it's true that happiness is really inside, can't I be happy even now while I am working?"

This question struck a chord within me. My view of life expanded and I started to enjoy my work, not because the work changed, but because the place where I was doing it from changed. I was then able to enjoy each moment of the day. I lost the idea that I could only be happy when the job was finally done. I no longer had to wait for quitting time or the weekend where I could sit and meditate. This was my first experience where my meditations had a direct effect on my life.

Daily activities provide for a great meditation
I found in my practice that my daily activities where the best meditation of them all. My activities forced me to look at what I really knew as opposed to what I merely thought was true. They offered me the perfect opportunity to release limited views of myself, the world, and my mind so that I could live in the light all of the time.

The key to using activities as a meditation is to be curious. Don’t assume that life and work are equal to suffering. Try to find how no matter what circumstances you encounter and how you have to react to them, you can still be at peace. Since this peace is not a state of mind, you can fully concentrate on what you are doing. And even if you appear to do hundreds of actions every day, you are still the infinite light of consciousness and nothing less.

If you reflect on this deeply you will know how you can remain as the light forever.

Please fill out our questionnaire and get your free copy of The Best of the Blogs on Wisdom.
Asking Questions
If this blog seems a little theoretical to you, ask questions. Then you will see how the explanations in this blog apply to your life. And the freedom that you find will be real. Questioning is the key to your freedom. You’ll see that when you question limitation, it falls away.
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it. When you can ask, you are well on your way to freeing yourself from the limitations that seem to cause your suffering. Of course, to preserve confidentiality your name will be left off.

Also for more detailed explanations and examples read through these blogs or get my book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.

Please Tell Your Friends
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman