Tagged: oneness
Contemplation: Beyond Meditation
The Google definition of contemplation is: 1) Profound thinking about something. 2) The action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time. 3) Deep reflective thought.
As we will see, Contemplation has nothing to do with thought and the mind.
The dictionary could give a deceiving meaning for lack of inner observation.
Beyond Meditation, there is Contemplation.
Meditation as taught in mainstream is about the mind. To focus the mind, to control the mind.
What should come out of the “technique”, is a moment of tranquility as the mind has been slowed down if for a few moments, from its own “rat race.”
I am amazed as how little we know about the mind. I am not talking about some theory, some explanation. I am talking about “real knowing” that is, to be aware of it.
The mind is a filter. That filter is full of conditioning based upon what we believe to be the world. We look at the world through that filter. What is in the mind becomes our reality.
The mind is used as a repository of data, a hard drive; just like a computer. What is recorded in the hard drive becomes our “Operating System”, the way we perceive the world, Life. Thus, we rely in that filter to “make sense” of the world.
Question: What happens if the hard drive is empty? That experience is Contemplation. It is a temporary “format c:” (In computer jargon.) In that way, we practically could know that we could install different Operating Systems in the hard drive. Then, we could be open to Observe beyond the parameters of our own conditioning. This is a great tool for deconditioning.
Can we observe the world, a tree in Nature, without the filter of the mind, without the “little voice” telling us that we have a “tree” in front of us?
Can you look at the world without spoken language in your mind?
How could we be aware if the mind continuously interrupts with chattering?
We forgot where we put the car keys. Why? The mind interrupted with some unrelated thoughts, the moment we left the keys by the night stand. Are we aware of that?
Why is contemplation important?
Because “Oneness” is only a talk until we have the experience itself of not being the mind. Oneness is in no-mind but meditation is in mind, there is an “I” meditating.
The Greeks had a word for “Oneness.” That was known as “Henosis.” When we Observe without mind, there are no thoughts, no divisions, there is no “I.” That is the description of Contemplation by Plotinus (Greek philosopher writer of the “Eneidas”) and the one that I subscribe to.
We are certainly individuals, but at the same time, a Totality. Oneness with all, when we become aware of our “nothingness.”
The above will not be of consequence for the majority caught up in being an extraordinary “I.”
These individuals want the reassurance to be themselves in this Life and the next one. These are the individuals concerned in resurrecting in front of “God”, to be “saved” for the afterlife, and in being someone in this Life by achieving all the human made up games, to be “better” than others.
That is the way most understand Life. It is a fight for supremacy of “I” rather than living Life.
However, FEAR will be with them throughout their lives and especially when approaching death.
But Meditation is “good enough” for them, as the “I” stands solid, unchanged through the mind.
To be fearless is not “achieved” through the mind, for that is a state of no mind.
That is Contemplation.
Thinking on Thoughts
If we could just observe a thought as if it was the opinion of someone else, we could learn the art of knowing who we ARE through the conditionings of what we have learned.
It is that simple, but the idea that “my thought is mine, “ is destroying the opportunity.
“I wanted” to write something today. “I” did not know what to write. Most of the times “I” don’t. The thoughts are merely flowing. It would be a lie to say: “These are MY thoughts.” This awareness allows for what some call “creativity.” When “I” am not, there is… creativity.
It is not “I” being inspired, but merely catching the thoughts and putting them in writing.
Many times “I” get surprised that “I” could write “religiously” in 2 blogs. “I” wouldn’t be able to, if “I” thought that it was “I.”
Am “I” some sort of medium or channel? Everyone is. It is just that we don’t realize it.
We are “ONE.” Right? We like that “concept.”
That ONE is expressed in many ways through many people. That oneness is expressed through many individualities to go back to the source, ONE. That journey is what makes up Life.
A thought is what connects us with everything, to that changing oneness at any given time. It is only a connector but most believe that to be “I.”
OBSERVE the thought in a non-judgmental way, so it goes through “you.” That is all. Reject it or show favoritism to it, and it will stick around.
Both ways (rejection or favoritism) help to build our ego. We will build a personality framed by ideas of what is “good or bad.”
What is the source of that discrimination?
Conditioning.
A 3-year-old child does not know what “good” or “bad” means. He learns though the conditioning of his parents. If he touches his genital, he may see disapproval from his parents, he may feel the rejection coming from them, their conditioning. That is the starting point.
In “Spirituality” for the masses, thoughts are separated as “good/bad, wasteful, neutral, etc.”
All that labeling is meant to give the seeker a way to “choose” what he should think.
It cannot happen.
Despite the efforts of the seeker, thoughts will come in unfiltered. However, the individual may impose a thought in top of the natural one, to make himself believe that he is “changing his thinking.”
That is an illusion.
In a world conditioned to DO things to “change the world,” we cannot DO a thing to change “our” thoughts from the root. Have we observed that?
As we ARE so our thoughts shall BE.
However, we do not know who we ARE, for we are busy DOING changes to look like someone else: The guru, the saint, the angel, the artist, the star, the rich and famous, etc. That is what we call to be “creative,” to copy someone who is accepted, deemed to be worthwhile, “successful.”
Every time we hold on to a particular thought, we become defined by it. It is that definition which will confine us, through the security and comfort of beliefs systems and ideas to preserve that thought.
Living through thoughts we forget what is “real.”
Are you connected with “social media”? through “virtual communities”?
That is the world of the mind and ideas. Because I write a note or post a picture to others, I believe that I am connected, that I have a relation with others.
That is not so. It is only superficial.
It is like watching the Ocean through a camera and being able to hear the sounds of Nature through a CD. There is no presence. No reality.
However, our minds have been trained to believe that this is the “real” thing. It is less satisfying and fulfilling, but for the mind; there is no difference.
It is when we go beyond the mind, when “reality” has a different shape.
Beyond the mind is “no-mind.”
That is meditation. That is to feel life rather than to verbalize it with another thought…
Are you a monkey or a man?
…Lord Ram gave Hanuman a quizzical look and said, “What are you, a monkey or a man?” Hanuman bowed his head reverently, folded his hands and said, “When I do not know who I am, I serve You and when I do know who I am, You and I are One.” -Valmiki from the Ramayana.
The above has no meaning for many. For those who know about Ram (God) and Hanuman (ardent devotee of Ram) the above shows how much “love,” Hanuman has for Ram. The typical devotee longing to be “one” with God.. and while that devotee is not one with Him, then he is a servant of God…
The above quote from the “Ramayana,” is much deeper. It is the essence of the journey of a seeker.
It is not the question “are you a monkey or a man?” what matters. It is the response:“When I don’t know who I am, I am your servant” But… “When I know who I am, then we are ONE.”
A monkey… A man… A soul… that is not “who i am;” those are only labels, intellectual answers giving information but never experiential knowledge.
Thus, many people looking for God become servants of an ideal, a label, a religion. That is part of the journey. Until that KNOWING is BEING, then there is no servant nor master, the dualities vanish.
Oneness.
How to explain Oneness to intellectuals?
It is like peeling the layers of an onion. Because the journey is internal, there is nothing to add, but rather peel off. The layers are all the fluff which we believe to BE: Beliefs, Emotional Traumas, Taboos, Hang ups, Morals Do’s and Don’ts…
What do we find at the end of peeling the onion?
The bulb! That is who truly I am!
No! Peel that bulb, go deeper… If you find something you will call it something and believe to be that… go on until there is nothing…
It is empty!!!
That is exactly how everything is ONE.
Your gods, Your devils, your angels, humanity… The Uni-Verse… all ONE.
Valmiki has given the 2 states of consciousness of a seeker: The “I” playing servant to “lower his ego,” by acting humble and the “No-I,” which is emptiness, voidness, sunyata…
Two sides of the same coin.
So the truth is that there are 2 states of consciousness and answers will depend on the state of consciousness of the seeker?
NO!
It is the drop of the Ocean and the Ocean… not 2 sides of the coin.
Make up your mind!!!
Understanding is in “no-mind.”
What are you looking for?
To look outside is a way to look inside… but the thing is neither outside nor inside. There is no-thing.
As many individuals gather to celebrate the “new thought” that we are all One, we could wonder if that “new thought” is not just another fashion, something that will keep us busy into a new direction to follow, to believe and to teach “others.”
Destiny is already made. That is a simple but deep axiom of knowing that we are all ONE.
One in destiny. Sharing the experience of being in relationship in the space of Life.
It is in that game how the perception of individuality arrives: “I want to do this in Life. I want to teach others about love. I want to go to the moon when I grow up.”
Nothing wrong with that.
Because that perception of “I-ness” is all pervasive, we could assume that it is the truth, even though; it is just a perception.
That is how the search for meaning in Life arrives to our minds. That is how the search for something greater than ourselves becomes paranoia, as we seek for protection, comfort and love. Something that could take away our own sense of pettiness when we separate from what it seems to be hostile; the “other,” Life itself.
Fear is born and with that, all imaginable beliefs to “save” us from ourselves.
A seeker is born.
The journey is to go away from us just to come back.
Away from us, there are so many experiences to taste and enjoy.
Religions, Gods, Devils, Angels… all waiting for your unconditional love in exchange of “conditional” love, promises, etc.
The “office world” seeks believers as well. We could get busy in so many political directions, social inequalities and economic laws. Science is a good preacher, when all we know is thought, logic and reason.
Have you tried all of those avenues in your search for meaning?
I have.
Those are part of my experiences to expand my horizons, until there is no other way but to come back…
It is said that peace, happiness, joy and all happy dictionary words are “inside.”
I tell you, there is no “inside” as there is no “outside.”
But… there is an “I” making that division, there is a perception of “inside,” because there is a “Me.”
That “Me” changes, evolves, continues on; but our static minds will not allow for that to happen. It will fight to continue “status quo,” even though destiny has defined change as the way of Life.
Transformation is change, isn’t it?
The idea of “self-transformation” is misleading. Life transforms and so are we. We are One.
Dear seeker, once your journey takes you back into “Me,” then you are a step closer to find out who you may be. Allow for Life to peel the layers off that “Me.” The “I” cannot do that to itself.
What do you find?
Nothing? Eureka! The eye of the hurricane.
What is that made of?
Nothing… and because of that, there is everything.
You found Oneness.
Fulfillment is. 🙂
Looking into meaning behind “Spiritual” words
Spirituality is a deceitful word.
Forget that word and you may find Life. By finding Life, you may start living it. By living it, enjoying it. By enjoying it, finding the meaning of spirituality. It is not a concept.
To find honesty within ourselves, sooner or later we may learn to forget everything we have been taught, only to find who we ARE.
Every experience in Life only will show us who we ARE at that moment in time.
When we learn to accept ourselves as we ARE in an unconditional way, then we may be able to accept “others;” not as an idea, a concept, a “spiritual” virtue to practice, but as genuine, unrehearsed, unlearned, natural way of being.
Want to practice empathy?
Want to work on being more loving?
Want to practice detachment?
Do you have sainthood as an objective?
Want to teach peace to others?
Yes?
Then your mind is engaged in the intellectual world of ideas, concepts and “spiritual” words.
When the mind empties itself from the intellectual world, there is knowing in BEING.
Does not make any sense?
Wonderful! That is a step forward.
Forget the “practice.” Forget to label virtues. Forget all dictionary words defining Love.
Unlearn all of those concepts.
“To surrender,” is not to give up something in Life. It is effortless openness when the “I” dilutes itself.
“To love someone” is not just a mushy feeling. It is to allow that one to be, without conditions. To grow together in joy.
“To be detached” is not to be insensitive, aloof. It is to acknowledge the process of another, knowing that we have our own.
“To go with the flow” is not to follow what Life offers for there is no option to choose from. It is to BE one with Life.
If you “practice” any of my “definitions,” you will deceive yourself. If you repeat any of my definitions, you will not be honest with your own findings.
Know that your own definitions will need to change in time, just like mine. That is what we have in common. Change.
It is said that to know “Spirituality” there is a need of a teacher to teach.
I am assuring you that none of the “spiritual values” can be taught.
It can only be found in your own walking path. As you place one foot in front of another in your Life journey, you will recognize the teaching that Life offers, only because you already know it. Concepts can be taught, not Living Life.
To teach “spirituality” is deceitful. We can only share our experiences as a friend shares with another.
When that one is ready, your words can only inspire, allow for a different perspective, but words are not meant to teach in the realm of Life.
Life is the teacher, without being appointed for that.
Thus, we can only teach when we are ONE with Life…. and at that moment, there may be nothing to teach. 🙂
Being, becoming and non-being
Obtaining the things that we want.
Not obtaining them. Both are Life.
Labeling one side as “good” and the other as “bad” is to delve into duality.
There is no “good” without going through the “bad.”
Thus, “good” and “bad” are the same rope but different ends. The extent of the rope is the journey. We can only go up and down the rope of Life.
Day and Night. We label both occurrences as Day. The Day is made of day and night.
Words get in the way of understanding.
We call day the opposite of night. We talk about their differences, our preferences, likes and dislikes.
If the day is different than night, could they be complements of each other?
A difference complements. Because they are complements, they are One. A Day.
Because they are different, they are opposite at the same time.
Every human being is different than another even though the same human being, thus we complement the Totality.
Logic tells me that 2 things, which are different, cannot be One.
However, opposites complement each other. Thus, they are One.
Male is different than Female, but they long to be One. It is their difference, which complements each other.
We may look for differences and forget about complements, Oneness.
Every issue has 3 sides. The one that you see, the one that you don’t see and the one made up of what you see while it is changing into something that you don’t see. The process, becoming.
The static perception of “yes and no,” and the continuous “live” process of change of “yes into no.”
There is “having” and not-having, but also having while becoming “non-having.”
Every time we think we have the “truth,” we say: “ The truth is this…”
We are forgetting that “this” has also “non-this,” and “this” becoming “non-this.”
Makes sense?
Here, the example:
“God is the truth.” He said.
Who is non-truth?
The opposite of God. The Devil.
Do opposites complement each other?
Yes. They are One. God is one with its opposite.
Your belief will no accept the above. Your belief is made to separate complements.
The process is God becoming the Devil and the Devil, God. One, not many.
Truth becomes non-truth.
How?
What is static cannot change with Life. When Life changes, that which remains static, becomes non-truth.
“Life is truth.” He said.
Life cannot be “truth” for it changes. It is not static.
“Change is truth; then.” He said.
It cannot be, for change is…. Change.
“Truth” is just a meaningless word.
But also, a word with meaning.
And… a meaningless word changing into meaning…and meaning changing into meaningless.
Confused?
No worries. It is “normal.” That is the issue when our consciousness is trapped in duality.
When a human consciousness is caught up with only 2 states such as “day” and “night,” that person is unable to look at the journey, the change.
“The means justifies the end.” It is a well-known phrase denoting “wisdom” that many like to use.
That is how reaching “Paradise” in the future, becomes more important than living the “now.”
That is how killing in the name of “peace” to win a war in the future, becomes more important than all the suffering that individuals are going through to reach the “goal.”
It is that mentality used to reaching goals, stressed out to achieve something, which is so self-centered that it is unable to perceive something besides himself. That mentality is unable to stop, to take the time to smell the roses…
Violence cannot end in Love. It may end in dependency, but not love.
The end is the consequence of the means. It cannot be otherwise. It is continuity.
Enjoy the process of change. It may be slow, it may have many turns but there is no reason to speed it up.
Throw your logic away. Get rid of your reasoning.(But keep it for the “Office world” and the paycheck.) Life is not lived by thinking about Life and by knowing intellectual answers.
Knowledge is not the most important factor to live Life in joy.
Your feelings are. To understand your feelings is to know enough.
Knowing enough, we could enjoy living.
Being in joy, we could know what love is.
To know Love is… Being it.
Being it means… not being… 🙂
It is the process of being into non-being what we call living Life.
The world of Spirits and other entities
A dove is supposed to be a dove. Nothing less or greater than a dove. Likewise, is with human beings. A human being is meant to fully live the experience of being a human being. Not to be a spirit, an angel, or a demon. Just to be fully a human being.
In this “Oneness” there are many kinds of beings.
Every being brings its own type of energy.
From yesterday, we could see the importance of the family tree. There are particular types of energy that every family brings into this Oneness.
For example, in Peter’s maternal side of the family there is the energy of resourcefulness on the “positive” side but sadness on the “negative.” Peter’s grandpa was devastated when his wife passed away. Peter’s grandpa survived for another 15 years full of sadness. He even attempted suicide a couple of times without “success.” Sadness was there to stay.
As a youngster, Peter became acquainted with that energy as he had a close relationship with his grandpa. Later on in Life, that energy appeared through spirits in his Life. The purpose was to enhance that energy of sadness so it could be dealt with, without the “karma” exchange with another human being.
Peter’s father’s side has the energy of joy on the positive side but pride on the negative. Peter’s life has been about the exploration and settlement of all of those energies through different situations in Life.
Another example?
Mary may have an extreme need to feel loved in her Life. It is part of her family tree, her ancestors. That energy could appear as a need to be loved but may be disguised in her awareness. A situation in an intense relationship, a roller coaster of ups and downs, the search of the “perfect” partner in Life, could be the theme in that Life experience.
If that energy is remaining in Mary’s Life and there is no opportunity for settlement through a human being, spirits will present the necessary experience.
When it is time to deal with something inside ourselves, Life will present the opportunities at the right time and in many unusual ways.
How do these spirits come into contact with human beings?
First, “spirit” is a general term. There are many types of entities to name, which cannot be perceived through human senses; nevertheless, they exist when they come into our experience. We affect each other. It is not just “them,” but also “us,” humans.
Some entities will be attracted to someone who has a similar type of energy. Sadness will attract sadness. Neediness to feel loved will attract that neediness.
When there is a rupture in the human energetic field which acts as a “shield,” those entities will arrive and they will act as in a symbiotic relationship where the “host” is the human being.
That rupture in the energetic field could arrive through many ways: Exchange of energy with other human beings, sometimes by using the pendulum or the Ouija board or any other “door” to the spirit world. Once the energy field of the human is repaired through an energetic healer or through a process of trial and error, then the spirit will go away because it has no way to enter or “live off” the host again.
In the spirit world there are many types of energies just like the diversity of human beings.
“Lower” types of energies will represent a challenge for a human host. “Higher” types of energies are helpful for the development of humanity as a whole.
Nevertheless, whether a “higher” or a “lower” type of energy is part of our experience, we can be sure that it is exactly what we need in our development at a particular time.
Typically a lower energetic form will thrive in creating a dependency or in robbing the energy of the host. That energy could be emotional, Life force, sexual or to enhance the primary energy of the host. (i.e.: Sadness with greater sadness.) For this purpose, that entity could present itself in a suitable way for the host to avoid conflict. Many times, the host may not be aware of the spirit existence; but when there is awareness and consent a “relationship of dependency” will be built.
Sometimes, that spirit energy could create an addiction in the human host, making it very difficult to get away from it.
Energetically the host and the entity are bound together, they get used to each other, thus when rupture of that symbiotic relationship happens, there will be suffering in the human being as there could be emotional involvement. Just like a “normal” relationship between human beings.
On “higher” energetic forms, the aim is to help for a determined task or purpose and then once the task is over (the common good) that spiritual being will go away without creating a dependency. Beings of light typically proceed in that way.
When a person “dies” residual energies of that person, could create an entity with some characteristics of the person when he was alive. Some humans could perceive that energy. That is the reason why in some cultures, they burn the body of the deceased.
Why am I sharing this information?
Because it may be needed.
Those who have dealt with spirits in their experience will understand what I am conveying here. Those who haven’t can use this article as simple information.
Oneness is more than beings living in the material world. There is a relationship with spirits as well, which typically influence the human world. “Older” cultures knew about this relationship. “Newer” cultures, only laugh about that “joke.”
To each its own.
Exploring the Depth of Living 