REMEMBERING TEMPORARINESS

Going from dream state to waking I find myself wondering about the temporariness of it all. How lives when surrounded by things like war or when death is regularly discussed or shown openly – it must be easier to see the transitory nature of life and imagine how soon our own end will unfold.

DEATH IS ALWAYS JUST A BREATH AWAY

I think we live with the illusion that we have “some” number of years stretching out before us before we even have to consider the prospect of an ending. To remember that death always exists, even if its just a breath away from some accident or disease – is paramount.

How can we function and create something of significance in this life when at the same time we are in recognition that this life will surely end?

GOAL SEEKING ONLY FOR INDIVIDUAL COMFORT OR STATUS IS SILLY

I think the answer came out before I even finished – live with the idea that the individual self is temporary and that its goal seeking for recognition or comfort is of the most ridiculous sort. Be focused instead on leaving something behind for the next generations of humanity. Be focused on passing the baton instead of building a home.

LEAVING SOMETHING BEHIND

What would you like to leave behind to the next generation coming up behind you. What will make their passage smoother or more enlightened? How can you raise the consciousness of the coming generations to raise the overall consciousness of the planet as wave upon wave of life passes through it? Indeed these are the questions you should be asking your self.

HIGHER ENERGY IS ETERNAL

By aligning with the greater idea of serving humanity you connect with a higher, more eternal source of energy. You are no longer operating as a single individual. Though you may die the true nature of your goal lives on and may be carried out by individuals aligning with the same source. The only thing that dies is the physical sense perception of the individual. On Earth, thoughts, dreams and ideas live on in the minds of the living. And the higher energy of “mind” is not Earth bound – it operates in the dimension we know as thought. Thought energy is boundless and eternal, though it may be accessed by mortal brains. Higher truth may only be accessed in the realm of thought energy.

For example the inventions of the past on Earth and the many inventions of the future have their home in thought energy. The difference between what arrives in this lifetime or not is the ability of the receiver (the imagination of the visionary) to discern or extract thought energy in a clear and usable form during a period in which the resources for its construction are available. A cave man could not construct a rocket ship, though the possibility for its construction existed as evident by its later construction, the probability of its construction during the Bronze age was nil. Leonardo Da Vinci worked up inventions on paper that would become a reality hundreds of years later. He was able to discern and extract them from the thought dimension as his creativity operated there most of the time, but he wasn’t able to construct them on the Earth plane since most of the resources and knowledge did not yet exist on the Earth plane yet.

HIGHER ENERGY LIVES ON BEYOND PHYSICAL DEATH

The goal of your higher energy may still be carried out. What dies is not “you” its your lower energy, the energy that is on such a lower wavelength it has become matter. That physical matter, or lower energy is what dies on Earth. The higher energy is released and continues on in other forms, in higher thought. At the spiritual level higher energy has a tendency to transcend individualism – it can see and feel through multiple physical bodies or, in the terminology of individuals, it can appear as “one” spiritual entity. But higher energy is boundless in form and therefore it cannot be placed and labeled in a single box.

LIVING IT

The purest expression of an individual human being is the serving of now and future generations – sharing information and creating environments that will serve them best in their temporary journey across the Earth plane. What will you leave behind?

THE INTENTION BEHIND OUR INTENTION

The world is a temporary place and our lives in it, incredibly temporary! There must be a spirit greater than what is observable in this world – it must reside in each of us, it must move us with an intention greater than we know. We must tune in to know this intention – we must be consciously seeking it to find it and it must be given permission to direct our lives. It must be the same intention that gave birth to us and all forms of life before we ever came upon the scene. As a human being it was impossible to have choice upon the matter for we were never in the world, so before we were born there was the intention of our parents and their parents and their parents and so on down the line of a mind boggling succession of intentions that eventually gave birth to the life that now walks the planet today. But what before them? What ultimately intended life in the first place? Surely there was a great intention prior to life even existing – even the concept of life, where does it come from? It surely stands apart from matter – and even if all atoms in this world are alive what gives it life? What is life and why do we exist?..I’m not just asking this question for humanity but asking it for all life forms. Let’s explore.

EVIDENCE FOR A CAUSE

The reason of our existence may not be easily comprehended in this short life-time, but the observance of a cause that precedes all life gives us almost an undeniable evidence for an intention that precedes that of all individual intention. This intention is what we not only can have faith for but that we can rely on for existing. Just as one might look upon the ancient Pyramids or temples and know beyond a doubt that an intention preceded their existence – even though their creators are nowhere to be found.

A HANDS-OFF OR HANDS-ON CREATOR?

Now begs the question: Were we and the laws of the universe created and now we’re running on our own power? – As there seems to be no God really intervening in our every day affairs. Or were we created and now the creator hides behind a thin veil of energy that we cannot see with our physical eyes nor hear with our physical ears, but we can still surely feel it and be guided by it (therefore it still intervenes albeit indirectly) by purely tuning into it with the quieting of our minds and the directing of our own individual intention? If so, this gives rise to a third question – why? Why must we be so vigilant in our seeking this creator. Like a child forced to find it’s parents – seemingly ill equipped for a world full of delusion, distraction and temptation.

WHY MUST WE SEEK IT?

If this creator does exist behind a thin veil and one of its laws is not to intervene with the affairs of life or man – then the individual intention to seek it out is then perhaps a test? Or a gift of love? If you do not seek it out, you are not wrong or judged by the creator – you are simply running on your own power and must be doing well enough without it. But if you are in trouble or suffering, by seeking out the creator you are then given comfort and love. Like a child perhaps steadying itself to walk – the creator chooses not to intervene so that the maximum growth and development of the child is not hindered. But when the child cries out for help the parent is there to offer comfort. Still not sheltering the child or doing the works it must do, but offering it a place of rest to renew and recharge, and a source of guidance to help it be maximally efficient with its use of limited resources such as mortal time and energy.

POSSIBLE ONGOING INTENTIONS OF A CREATOR

The final resolution being that if indeed a creator exists, evident in that an intention MUST precede all life forms in order for there to be a cause of life, and that creator is not a visible part of our every day affairs it must be behind a veil of some sort:

• testing us

• awaiting our call for help and guidance

• or both.

WHAT THESE INTENTIONS MEAN FOR EVERY DAY LIVING

If a creator is testing us – we should make the most of this life through the development of our character and the sincere concern for the impact our daily actions have on our core self or Soul, and the impact it has on all other life forms (not just human) - since these were also intended by the creator and we must not be so arrogant as to judge them to have been made for solely humanities enjoyment or consumption.

If it is awaiting our call for help and guidance – then we should seek it out daily, in earnest – for the source of power it must provide would dwarf any and all visible creations, since it is the root power of all creations.

WHAT IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN A CREATOR?

If you don’t believe in a creator, the first consequence is that you won’t seek it out – and you will learn what little your own power has to offer in face of entropy (chaos, darkness) in this world. In this case lack of faith is not bad or evil, but as a consequence it cuts you off from its power and guidance, which magnifies suffering and may lead to actions considered bad or evil, for as you stumble in the dark of ignorance you are bound to trip up others in their journey towards the light.

POSSIBLE REASONS FOR YOUR NON-BELIEF AND WHY IT MIGHT BE WORTH A SECOND LOOK

If you have sought out a creator with great expectation and been disappointed with the vicissitudes that have come in spite of your faith – then consider what you gain by non-belief? The heart may harden as you determine that you are on your own. You curse an invisible creator and you forever cut yourself off from perhaps a more divinely inspired plan. Perhaps the suffering you experienced in spite of your faith is the loving hand at work, showing you what you needed to learn – a painful whip that was meant to help you let go of your unnecessary attachments. But if upon the first whip you cry, hang on to your attachments even tighter (as if they were permanent) and curse the creator, believing there is none – you turn away from the guidance that was perhaps lovingly guiding you with the most fundamental tools of life – pain and pleasure.

MY PERSONAL POSITION

All of this said, I don’t know if there is a creator because I have no other evidence than the conclusions I’ve formed above and a few personal experiences with a feeling of love that seems to transcend anything I have experienced in this life, which came only when I was earnestly seeking to know myself in relation to a creator. I certainly feel as though there is a strong possibility for a creator and even great probability that one exists, but I don’t know with absolute conviction, which I think is healthy – history has shown that those who have felt certain about their faith have dictated and crusaded to prove others wrong with severe consequence.

I do know that when I’m not seeking to know the creator of this universe that I feel so distant from a source of love and guidance within myself that I dare not consider any other alternative. I follow no religious doctrine nor have any agenda other than this: consider the possibility.

CLOSING THE MIND TO POSSIBILITY IS NEVER A SMART IDEA

Like anything in life, unless you know for sure, closing your mind to the possibility blinds you from seeing opportunities that could pass right in front of your closed eyelids, figuratively speaking. Keep an open mind. No matter what you have suffered, consider the possibility that the creator exists, it’s testing you and its waiting to be sought daily for guidance. Consider the possibility that in order to hear it, you’ll need to take time out in silence to quiet the chatter of the mind, which normally acts as a great noise drowning out the more subtle energy vibrations whispering inside you. If you’re still alive, you still have time to gather more evidence – the trial is still on.

Life is like a book, you don’t rush through the chapters to find out at the end if its good. Enjoying each chapter is what makes it good.

So often we get attached to the achievement of some goal, or the outcome of some project – and we forget that all the little moments leading up to the conclusion are the “meat” of life and, conclusions are only a very small part of it. If we hunger for the outcomes we so desperately seek – we rush through the most important part and arrive at the end only wishing we could do it all over again, a little slower this time.

By not fully choosing to know it, by default you are making the choice to not know it. Liberate yourself from the preconditioned patterns of thought and beliefs about how to meet your desires. Transmute all sense desires into a desire to know God.You might have massaged the concept of God around in your head like imagining a good meal,but have you ever really made a committed effort to know God? Have you ever really consumed God with a relish? Make a commitment to try it for a time – what’s one year in an entire lifetime? Maybe after you get a taste you will not want to stop.

To regain control you must move yourself back to the center of the wheel, where it is calm – but how? You must first free yourself centrifugal force – and to do this you must slow down the wheel of the mind. Slowing down the wheel of the mind requires two things:
1) Stop spinning the wheel
2) Hit the Brakes

WHEELS, MONKEYS AND ELEPHANTS
You stop spinning the wheel when don’t let your mind run with whatever thoughts it wants. In Buddhism they refer to the random wandering of the thought as the monkey mind. You have to stop your monkey from spinning the wheel. You do this through conscious intention.

To illustrate intention, there is a story of elephants in training. As babies the elephant trainers put a stake in the ground and chain the baby elephants to it. The baby tries to get away but after many futile attempts it stops trying. The same little stake and chain are used even when the elephant grows up as a full sized adult with the power to rip the stake out of the ground. Now as a powerful adult the elephant doesn’t try to escape. Why? -Because the elephant has been conditioned to accept the stake and chain as limits on its freedom.

The stake in this story represents your intention. Once you put a stake in the ground you stop your elephant from wandering. Now unless you are learning this as a child, your elephant has developed habits of wandering freely that will require more effort to condition.

Do you see the similarities between the elephant metaphor, the monkey mind and the wheel? The elephant and monkey wander, the wheel spins. To control the elephant or monkey you must put a stake into the ground. To slow the wheel down you must create an intention.

THE HARDEST PART IS IN THE BEGINNING
Do not get discouraged the first time you try to put a stake down or slow the wheel down. The run-away elephant will inevitably rip the first few stakes you put down. But each time you put another one down you slow it down just a little bit more. The wheel will inevitably keep spinning the first few times you attempt to hit the brakes, but each time you hit the brakes you slow it down just a little bit more. In the beginning when you create a conscious intention the wheel of your mind will keep spinning – causing you to lose focus and forget your intention. But each time you remember your intention and make an effort again you will be successfully slowing the mind down. It may not be noticeable at first but over repeated attempts you will begin to sense you are regaining control of the mind, the elephant is being conditioned by the stake. Awareness is regaining its position at the calm center of the wheel.

CREATING INTENTION
How do you create intention? Creating intention is quite easy; it’s remembering to do it that’s the hard part. You can say in your mind that you are going to lift your hand and touch a wall – that is creating an intention. You carry out that intention when you do it. The act might seem simple but it’s the process behind the act. You didn’t just touch the wall or act on impulse – you touched the wall with conscious intention. Intention always happens in the now. That is why being present is so important. The breath is one of the best way to maintain presence and keep planting a stake in the ground. The breath is always present. But there’s a big difference between breathing automatically and breathing consciously. Take a deep breath right now – you just created and acted out an intention. You just planted a stake in the ground, the wheel of your mind just slowed down a little bit. You hardly noticed it and you will soon forget, or not – depending on how much you desire to take control of your mind. If you do it again with another breath, and another and another you will soon reach a state of centeredness.

REMAINING VIGILANT LIKE A NIGHT WATCHMAN
The moment you release your intention the elephant will start wandering, the wheel will start spinning. Slowly at first and controllable – but don’t be fooled. Within usually a day the speed and strength will have reached uncontrollable levels again. To make things easier on your Soul you must maintain the stake, you must apply the brakes and keep the wheel at controllable levels at all times. This is very important to remember!

THIS IS SO HARD..
Once you begin to maintain intention for longer periods I can hear you saying right now that this is difficult. Yes it is a real challenge. Buddha says that you must seek enlightenment like you seek air when drowning.
Spiritual desire cannot be taught. Whether it is through enough lifetimes (if you believe in reincarnation) or simply enough frustration in this lifetime, at some point you reach the desire threshold for committing the necessary effort to slow things down and take control. The question is not whether you can. It’s how much effort are you willing to invest?

GET STRONG IN 30 MINUTE ‘WORK OUT’ SESSIONS
One final thing to remember is that while it may not be possible to be consciously intending ALL of the time, just like it’s not possible to work out in a gym ALL of the time – its not completely necessary. To be strong you can work out hard in a gym for 30 minutes a day and maintain that strength throughout the day. You can do the same thing with setting intention: concentrate on your intention hard for 30 minutes a day and you’ll benefit from that mental strength all through the day. But much like what happens if you don’t go to the gym, you can easily lose your strength in focus if you let more than a day or two pass.

SUMMARY:
1) To re-center your awareness you must slow the wheel of the mind down.
2) You can slow the wheel down through creating conscious intentions.
3) Aware breathing is a great way to hit the brakes and regain centeredness.
4) By concentrating on intention for 30 minutes or so you can gain strength and clarity throughout the day.
5) Do not let more than a day or two pass or you lose centeredness and make regaining it more difficult than it needs to be.

The universe (IT) is a series of complex relationships (ITS) from the very tiny to the very large. Vibrating waves in other dimensions (according to string theory) form neutrons, protons and electrons. Neutrons, protons and electrons form atoms. Atoms form elements that make up the physical universe as well as life in the form of molecules that form DNA chains. The DNA has the intelligence or inherent knowing of life creation. The (presumed to be unconscious) elements of the universe come together to form a profound new living reality within it; the observing energy of the universe (I). The observer that must have been there all along comes to life. Together the (I) and the (IT) form an experience of observer and observed; the (I) reality within the (IT) reality.

Out of the (I) the observing energy gains a sense for �me� or my body or my things; individual perception is born.

When you bring together more than one (I) it creates a social (WE) reality. Individuals experiencing thoughts and feelings need some way to communicate desires or dangers and so a technology known as language is born.

With language it�s now possible to communicate more efficiently with the self and so a deeper inner reality evolves; logic is born. As the inner reality evolves so to does the need to communicate it. This process creates a loop between deepening social relationships and deepening individual relationships. Humans become the most dominant species on Earth not through strength but intelligence as a result of their joint social (WE) and (I) reality evolution. As these groups of (I) grow in intelligence they form tribes which become complex societies, as they work together and form specialized labor groups and organizations a new reality known as culture or civilization.

Civilization is now on the brink of a new reality, one in which technology merges with the individual and the borders of �me� and �my� become fused in the virtual domain with others. The boundaries of the old individual nervous system begin to melt away as individual consciousness and communication begins to overlap in space. There may still be a sense of individuality as long as there is a physical body but the virtual domain is evolving its own state of consciousness which will become most evident when emotion and logic is duplicated in technology. What is �I� but a field of organized sensory perceptions? What does �I� become when those sensory perceptions overlap with other fields? It becomes one �I�

Of course the potential for all four realities existed before they came together in the physical domain so the question is for the sake of experience does the individual ‘I’ fragment itself again or evolve into something higher that we cannot grasp?

(Excerpt from the upcoming book: Full Potential: Genesis )

I’m not defining progress as economic or technological advancement though surely there will be great advancement in these areas as well; there is a direct correlation between creativity / innovation and introspection; between prosperity and asking the right questions. The kind of progress I’m talking about however in the realm of peace and love. A spiritual unity that will arise as greater understanding of the self increases. An awakened consciousness on mass scale will allow people everyone to have open discussions about their Ego / personality and it’s curious nature at an early age.

New generations will take for granted the fact that confused Ego’s used to grow up and dominate society. That there was a time people used to sit and stare outwardly for hours at a TV, rather than sit and staring inwardly for hours at their self. That there was once a time children didn’t receive an education on how to understand their self as early as possible. That there was once a time when perceptions were distorted by labels – and people actually believed the story of their life to be the foundation of their true identity.

Rather than feeling isolated and alone defending the Ego self, they will be united by a common understanding that the same awareness flows through them no matter what their appearance, background or class. They will no longer operate from Ego-centric, Group-centric, Nation-centric or even Human-centric perspectives – but rather take up a Universal-centric perspective that takes into account the actions the individual has on any and all life forms, over the long term.

New generations will view their individual existence as a curious thing. They will view their individual lens as a temporary, blink of the eye perspective where all things beheld are temporary glimpses of the infinite. No thing will be mistaken as permanent. No lost love will cause pro-longed torment. Death will come as expected, not as a surprise. And all things joyful will be enjoyed, knowing that for every peak there is a valley. Never rushing. Silently aware within themselves, knowing that even the journey through valleys can be appreciated through the window of an undisturbed mind.

You won’t see this advertised on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines or on the internet because there is no financial incentive to get you to do it.

And you won’t see any religious guru or organization behind this because only you can initiate it yourself so there’s no ‘mind control’ or tithing potential here.

The only reason why everyone doesn’t do it is because it takes a strong commitment and lots of effort – and that’s not usually something you see on books, tapes or pills packaged to appeal to your lazier side in order to sell more.

So what is it and how does it work?

~~

If you can just sit and focus on your breath – you will notice lots of little daily thoughts pop up. Things you need to do etc. But then as you keep refocusing your attention on your breath your life begins to fall away. You have to let go of all these concepts. Concepts like who am I, what time period am I in.. what stuff do I have to do today. There’s just no room for it in the now. That’s what I think it really means to not be attached. You cannot truly just be aware if your brain is constantly reaching (attached) to stuff in this life.

To detach doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, it just means that when you sit down and decide not to think about it – you do it. You can free your mind to simply be in the moment.

Now what’s the point of being in the moment? You don’t actually get anything done when you’re there. The moment is the point. Now some believe you should live there all the time – I personally find it difficult to live there ALL the time. In fact its more of a space for renewal. This view might change in time but for now it works to simply dip into the now.. okay dive, because you cannot be attached to shore (this life)!

I notice that simply existing in the now does something to the body’s energy. The intention becomes very important at this point. You cannot simply say you’re going to focus on the breath and be in the now. Breathing deep doesn’t count. Because if you are not noticing your intention in those seconds while you’re breathing you are only half doing it. And half focusing is not really focusing.

Now it might take some time to sit and really focus your attention on the breath. Approach the task as if you’re going to watch TV or play a game. Block off an hour or two so you don’t feel like you have to be anywhere -otherwise that thought will keep popping up while you’re trying to focus on truly being in the now. You have to detach from everything including agendas in order to fully immerse yourself in the moment.

Now I realize if you’ve never done this before it might sound a little strange. So I’m really going to try to explain the process and then have you do it. Because you really won’t know what flying is like until you fly.

Sit down on your bed or somewhere comfortably with the back straight. A straight back means you are lifting your back up as if your head is being pulled up to the ceiling. Now begin by simply breathing deep and notice what your brain does. All sorts of thoughts will now enter the space you have created. Remember, REMEMBER to keep creating the space. Remembering is the most important thing to re-assert your attention. That’s so hard to do when your mind keeps straying because you will actually become the new thoughts and memory is just another thought. So remembering your previous thought (to focus on your breath and be in the now) is important to getting the other thoughts out of your head to create the space again. Every time new thoughts enter – focus can only entertain one thought at a time. So the new thoughts will occupy your thought space and will play around until you REMEMBER that you had another intention IN mind. Keep reminding yourself, don’t get discouraged, just keep reminding yourself you intended to focus on the breath and be aware.

Now the more intent you are on really doing this exercise the better it works. It’s real easy to get lazy and decide that you’ve ‘sat long enough’ and go do something else. Don’t let boredom set in. You almost have to bring a work-out like intensity to your meditation. Every time your mind strays turn that frustration into a mental intensity – really notice what it feels like to focus on the IN breath and then the OUT breath. Mental intensity is very different from simply saying you’re going to focus on your breath. Mental intensity FEELS very different. I have noticed real mental intensity makes my inner ear sound like wind blowing through it. Sometimes I can focus on this sensation alone and it grounds my awareness in the present.

But create a real mental intensity to get to 10 breaths without thinking of anything else. If you think of something else, start over to the count of one. Do this only in the beginning until you can get to 10 breaths without thinking of anything else. When you do you will have sufficiently slowed the brain down enough to now simply be aware. Be aware of your awareness – it’s kind of cool. Your mind will keep sneaking thoughts in – but then REMEMBER your intention to simply be aware .. be aware of awareness.

At the point where you can say to yourself I am right here right now and truly FEEL yourself in that moment – you will find yourself at a loss for who you are. When you are simply being you will not be able to carry the concept around of ‘I am’ .. it’s just you aware of yourself and nothing else.

Now this might sound like a cool mind trick – except there are some benefits that come into play. First – you are taking control of your brain and what it creates and it’s not taking years to do it. This step is huge. If this is your first time focusing on the 10 breaths it may either take more time to train your brain to relax OR more intensity. I prefer intensity. Imagine a wheel has been spinning for so long and now you’re going to hit the brakes.. you can either hit the brakes slowly over a long time or really hit the brakes hard and sparks go flying out the side of your head (okay not really, but a useful metaphor!).

Once you’ve hit the breaks hard and the wheel has come to a stop you can observe your awareness. You can be in the moment and remind yourself more easily to simply be and observe breath. And although it sounds boring or abstract – there’s something energetically stimulating about being. There is like a portal there to the spiritual realm and you are standing inside it when you’re in that state of being.

The moment your intention strays from it you move away from it. It doesn’t matter if your body is sitting in the same place and you are still breathing the same.. if your intention strays you move away from it. Everything about this creative energy has to do with your INTENTION.

Buddha once said that you must seek enlightenment as a drowning man seeks air. Now I understand. It’s the intensity behind the intention that really matters.

It will take great effort in the beginning to slow your mind down. That usually becomes the stumbling block for most people because they FORGET their intention to focus on breath, relax and be when their mind barrages them with idle thoughts, worries and concerns. I’ve been meditating for years and it never fails my mind keeps doing what it must have been programmed to do for millions of years. It serves me in this realm, on this shore – but I have to disconnect from it when I dive in. And I can do that with my intention. When I commit to dive away from shore and REMEMBER that intention. When I commit to breath, focus on my breath and TRULY exist in the moment, truly, truly in this moment, in this moment, in this moment, in this moment… breathe … in this moment, in this moment, in this moment.

After an intense mental work out where you have slowed the mind down – it sort of sticks with you through the day. It’s almost like the wheel is now slowing down on its own. Even if it speeds up a little it’s easier to re-enter that state of being and slow it down. That’s why the wheel metaphor is so useful – it’s mental inertia: an object at rest tends to stay at rest – it requires an outside force to get it going again.

If you do this exercise at the start of your day (if you don’t have time wake up earlier) you will notice you feel more alive.

As I write this I notice my head feels very clear. I notice my feet, my groin, heart and head are tingling a bit. I feel happy but in a mellow sort of way.

I decided to write this in a very intimate sort of way, just as I experience it. Because the experience is very subjective. I suggest you attempt to do this exercise in the following manner and experience it for yourself:

1) DECIDE to slow the mind down, focus on the breath and be more aware. This is your first intention.
2) Sit down somewhere comfortable and decide to focus on 10 breaths without thinking of anything else, if you think of something else you will start back at 1.
3) Keep REMEMBERING your intention. Even ask yourself “why if I decided to get to 10 breaths am I thinking of anything else? What is more important?” Your brain will fight for the thought-time. You need to commit even more effort to the exercise. Ask yourself, “Am I being lazy with my effort right now, could I focus even more, even more in this moment.” You will find that you can always commit more effort in that moment.
4) After you’ve successfully reached 10 breaths let go of that exercise and make the decision to simply observe yourself. This does not mean you are allowing the brain to think. You are disconnected from the shore remember? Now you are observing the one who is observing, second by second, moment by moment. Exist in this space for a while.

These four steps are a good start:

1) Commit your intention to the exercise
2) Do the 10 breath exercise
3) REMEMBER your intention while doing the exercise above else
4) Disconnect from everything and make a connection with the highest spiritual energy possible your intention. Then notice how you feel.

All in all if you’ve never done any of this before you better be ready to block off a good hour or two. If that sounds like a lot of time sitting with your eyes closed – just think of all the movies you’ve committed the same amount of time to, the only difference is your eyes are open. If you’re in a hurry remember and you need to get this done in less time, you’ll need to come to the table with an even stronger intention and maintain that intention throughout the exercise.

Nobody ever taught you as a child to be curious – you were simply OPEN to what reality could be and because you didn’t really know – anything was possible. A young reality is a magical place.

From the time you were a child your greatest quest has been about discovering what is true. As time goes on you discovered what you considered to be ‘hard truths’ about reality – people dying, people lying and people hurting… you formed beliefs about these truths and that became your new reality. The more beliefs you established about your reality the more this became your internal reality.

After early adulthood – most early formed beliefs become like hardened concrete and change relatively little over the course of life. There are two exceptions: If the life experience shatters hardened beliefs to rubble or if a person continues to seek truth and keeps their belief structures ‘wet’ so to speak, they are always open to change.

Another word for beliefs is rules. You setup rules to help you navigate reality more effectively. For example the first time you see something drop to the floor (instead of float) you setup a rule that says IF I let go of an object, THEN it will fall. (Rules are generally framed if IF–THEN / cause-effect scenarios. IF = Cause, THEN = Effect) You setup rules for your internal reality that correspond with what you observe in your outer reality. This system is quite efficient when it comes to unchanging events such as gravity or sunsets, but what about the variables in reality?

For example if a dog bites you as a child then your brain might associate danger with ALL dogs, until you encounter enough friendly dogs to change that belief. If a man hurts you, then it will associate danger with ALL men or at least until you meet enough friendly men that help you change that belief. If someone from a religious group or foreign country commits a radical act and you don’t know much about that religion or country, your brain will associate radical acts with EVERYONE in that religion or country.

Ultimately the brain’s biggest limitation is that it cannot be in all life, in all places at all times – which is the true definition of reality. And so what does it do? It fills in a lot of blanks with beliefs about reality. The beliefs create the illusion of knowing reality without actually having had the experience of knowing reality.

HUMANS ARE COMPLEX BECAUSE OF THEIR RULES

As you can imagine creating rules for every interaction with the exterior reality (including other people) makes us very complex! If you think about it rules are the very basis of human relationships. Most of our time in communicating is spent understanding other people’s rules and expressing our own.

IF we care about them THEN we will attempt to understand and honor their rules. IF they care about us THEN they will attempt to understand and honor our rules. IF someone doesn’t honor our rules THEN we are upset.

We have rules for love:
IF he loves me, THEN he’ll tell me often
IF he loves me, THEN he’ll buy me nice things
IF she loves me, THEN she’ll call more often

We have rules for hate:
IF someone insults my family, THEN I will take revenge
IF someone kills my dog, THEN I will kill him.
IF someone is from a certain country or religious group, THEN I will hate him.

We have rules for jealousy:
IF my lover looks at another in a certain way, THEN I will feel jealous.
IF my lover gives something more attention than me, THEN I will feel jealous.
IF my lover compliments another on their beauty, THEN I will feel jealous.

We have rules for giving:
IF they aren’t missing arms and legs, THEN I won’t give them money.
IF someone has a good plan, THEN I will volunteer my time.
IF someone proves they are persistent enough, THEN I will give them my heart.

We have rules for happiness:
IF I have a million dollars in the bank, THEN I am happy.
IF I am healthy, THEN I feel good.
IF I am in control, THEN I am happy.

The list can go on. The point here is that you have established rules for nearly every cause imaginable. And they are not always the best rules. In fact some rules are self defeating. For example if you have to wait until you have million dollars in the bank before you can be happy – you have created a rule that may never be filled, or it might take having a million dollars in the bank before you realize that your rule wasn’t true. So then you will have to create a new rule for happiness – and that might be, IF I have TEN million dollars in the bank, THEN I am happy. (It’s easy to imagine rules that you cannot prove.)

Because the process of rule creation is often unconscious – it’s easy to build your own prison and live in it the rest of your life without ever having realized what happened to the magical reality you lived in as a child. Many times you adopt the rules of your parents, or your close associates, of society. You adopt the image of what success is, what beautiful is and what love is and you setup rules that say unless you are living the ideal image of success, beauty and happiness then you can never be fulfilled. The rules in your head can put happiness out of reach!

The most amazing thing is about rules is this: they are of your own creation! Yes, you may have created them unconsciously, but if you become conscious of them you also have the power to REWRITE them! Why not? Just because you may have been living with some stupid rules for a long time doesn’t mean they are permanent unless you say they are – because that would be another one of your rules! (IF I have lived a certain way long enough, THEN that must be the way things will always be.) As you begin to become more aware of the rules you’ve setup in your head you’ll discover just how complex your rule structure goes. You’ll find that you even have RULES BEHIND RULES. Like the last example – IF my rules have existed long enough, THEN they will always exist; this is a rule behind a rule.

WRITING RULES DOWN DEFINES THEM

Now until you actually put your rules into simple sentence structures like IF / THEN, they are actually not so quite easily defined, in other words most rules are at the level of emotional energies that you CANNOT consciously define. And many rules are in conflict. This is why sometimes you behave in ways that you do not understand. But when you become aware of how you’re behaving and then you finally translate that emotional energy into a sentence such as: “IF I am not getting attention, THEN I do not feel loved.” You can look at it with clarity and realize the absurdity of the rule. Now if the rule were that clear in your head to begin with you would have obviously realized it – but it wasn’t until you did the exercise of becoming aware of your rules and writing them down that you actually become aware of how absurd many of them are. As emotional energies rules will seem very real and very important. This is how in extreme cases people can kill or die for their rules! But when you finally put them down on paper in a form that your conscious mind can understand a simply written IF / THEN statement.. you then have an ‘AH-HA” moment of realization that will help you take conscious control of the rule – keep it if makes sense or discard it if it’s silly.

Now here’s the exciting part – if you want to create new rules you easily upload them into your brain. First you create IF / THEN statements you feel are much more empowering and your brain will quickly adopt them. If for example you want to be happier, create EASIER RULES for happiness. IF I am alive and breathing, I am happy. If I am smiling, I am happy.

HOW DO YOU DISCARD, KEEP OR CREATE RULES?

The very act of becoming aware of your rules is enough. You may not think you’re ‘doing anything’ just because you can’t manipulate them with your hands – but a mountain of evidence suggests that awareness alone can actually rewire the brain. Think about it – even though you read these words no physical interaction takes place between your eyes and these words. It is the conscious reflection upon these words that drives the change in your brain.

CREATE RULES THAT ARE INTERNALLY DRIVEN

The most important part about creating rules is that they MUST be internally driven. You cannot control a million dollars in your bank account – but you CAN control the work you do to create a million dollars. If the end goal is happiness, the million dollars is the outcome of something more important. IF I am serving the marketplace with a valuable product, THEN I am happy. You control what you bring to a marketplace – you don’t control how the marketplace responds.

Rules that are internally driven are easier to control. Examples of internally driven rules:

Internally Driven Rules for Love
IF I am giving unconditionally, THEN I feel love.
IF I grateful for the relationships in my life, THEN I feel love

Internally Driven Rules for Happiness
IF I do my work with integrity, THEN I am happy about who I am.
IF I do work that I choose for myself, THEN I am happy about my freedom.
IF I can bring value to a marketplace, THEN I am happy about my contribution.

Internally Driven Rules for Peace
IF I remember my breath, THEN I feel at peace
IF I remember how short life is, THEN I can let go of petty things

WHAT IS TRUTH?

Truth is what the best rules are for a given scenario. That’s what you really seek, that’s what everyone really seeks – the ‘most true’ rules for navigating reality. Contrary to what you might believe, people love rules; not rules that imprison or limit, but rules that set free. Yes, rules that create rather than inhibit freedom – these are the most sought after. What is freedom? It is unbound awareness. You, the soul as awareness want to escape the boundaries of your container and you must take control of your brain power to create the rules that enable you to escape! Set yourself free.

Like a plane alternating between higher and lower altitudes, higher consciousness is dictated by how well you choose your thoughts. You fly up and down your scale of consciousness all the time. From discussing the latest movie (low altitude) to discussing the purpose for living (higher altitude); as you entertain these thoughts notice what it feels like in your mind. Awareness of these fluctuating mind states enables you to choose the higher path more frequently if you wish.

Though you might come down to live life which often takes place at a lower level of consciousness – you may also re-choose a higher level of consciousness as often as you remember to. Exploring higher levels of consciousness takes time. It takes a willingness to ponder the ‘big’ questions. It takes a willingness to connect with the energy of your creation as much as possible. And at higher levels, it requires an extremely open mind. This is because labels, prejudices and false beliefs can become like anchors to your consciousness – only allowing your awareness to reach heights its familiar with. An open mind however, allows awareness to soar as high as it wants to go.

WHY IS HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS IMPORTANT?

The Soul (The energy known as Awareness) is inherently driven towards the energy of its creation, just as the body is inherently driven towards pain, pleasure, survival & procreation. There is no conscious choice in the matter. These core desires (both physical and spiritual) manifest themselves in a myriad of ways.

BEGINNING WITH THE BODY

For example the body’s natural desire to procreate requires that one be a suitable mate. On the surface level this creates competition, materialism, envy, anger and jealousy. Human beings aren’t ever taught to be competitive, envious, and angry or jealous – they are part of the genetic arsenal developed over eons to achieve the goal of survival. They have served a primitive purpose even if we ‘consciously’ no longer find them as relevant today.

Shyness in approaching the opposite sex is also an example of a ‘tool’ that has grown less useful in a larger society. You could enter a roomful of people, make a complete fool of yourself and never see them again for the rest of your life. This is far different from earlier times when humans existed in small tribes their entire lifetime and ‘what people thought’ was extremely important to finding a quality mate. In small tribes, one act perceived to be of ‘low mating value’ would have resulted in no sex (or genetic death), a hefty penalty if you ask me!

In a larger society with a larger selection – finding the right mate is no longer just about doing what is safe, but is now more of a numbers game. We know this consciously if we live in large cities – but because city living has only existed since over the last few thousand years our genetic programming has not caught up and adapted to the cultural shift.

SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE

But see – until you become knowledgeable of your ancestors, your behaviors might be a mystery to you. You question, “Why do my behaviors sometimes get in the way of what I want?” Your rational mind can only go so far in answering that question, until you learn about your ancestral background and realize that fear of rejection for example was useful thousands of years ago but is not as useful today. You no longer use a rock with a chiseled edge – something our human ancestors used for hundreds of thousands of years. Why? Because it’s not useful for today’s society, you look around and you see that times have changed so your tools must adapt. So why not look at the tools of your personality in the same way.

Personality itself is simply a tool for functioning in a society full of individuals. If we were all ‘one’ person – basically a body floating in outer space with no need for interaction, there would be no personality. The personality develops as an individual necessity. Two individuals cannot interact without a personality. Human beings honor personality or identities in the form of roles (family, friends, foe), titles (work, political), castes (social, economical), leagues (skill, appearance) etc.

HOW DO YOU IMPROVE THE PERSONALITY

Typically the more aware someone is of themselves, the more work they can do on themselves. Personal development inevitably leads to greater success in society. Why? Because through ‘knowing thyself” you can adapt your personality to suit the environment for the greatest pleasure, least pain and optimum chance for survival & procreation.

DESIRES ARE NOT A CHOICE

Although we sense we have some degree of ‘free will’ we do so within the box known as the human experience, you do not choose what you desire. You make the choice of what desires you will tune into (on a physical, mental or spiritual plane) and feel the need to take action on that desire – but the root desire was not a choice. It came from somewhere else.

WHERE DOES DESIRE COME FROM?

At the root of the human species is genetic programming. When you understand the genes you understand a great deal more about the human experience.

Genes appear to have basic desires: to survive and replicate. These basic desires take on the form of ‘strategies’. These strategies in the human domain consist of pleasure and pain. That which is pleasurable is ‘good’ that which is painful is ‘bad’. Because the environment is always changing, so too must the tactics; this is known as evolution.

Scientists have revealed that at point a long time millions of years ago binary replication became the ‘in thing’ for survival. This simply means that more than one sex (23 chromosomes sperm + 23 chromosomes egg) was required for replication to occur. This explains why we have sexes like man and woman. Why not a third sex? Apparently a third sex wasn’t necessary for survival.

IS GOD A MAN?

Now that science can tell us more about our genetic history than we ever knew before, this also aids our understanding of a creator or God. For example if God is an all powerful creator why would ‘he or she’ require a sex? Is God up there replicating? If he needs a woman to create – wouldn’t that mean he’s not all powerful?

I think there’s a more logical explanation for God being a sex. For religion to be effective it requires humans being able to relate with the object of their worship. If God was given a sex it is because primitive societies could understandably only relate to a man or woman. Unless God a fan of binary replication, God is not a man or a woman it’s an IT. And ‘ITs’ are harder for humans relate to but that doesn’t mean IT doesn’t exist.

NOW WE COME FULL CIRCLE

If God is an IT – this explains how he could assume the role of man or woman in the human experience. Or assume the role of the computer you are reading this on. Or the chair you are sitting on. Or be whatever and wherever spirit could possibly exist. God is not confined by labels – It is in the labels and outside the labels. It is in the religion and outside the religion. It is in human beings and outside human beings. It is in the terrorist, it is in the righteous. It is in the Tsunami that wipes out hundreds of thousands of human lives and it is in the ‘victims’. It is in your dearly departed and it is in you.

Because God is without label IT is harder to relate to – but that doesn’t mean we should only try to analyze him inside a label. That’s like scooping up water in a cup so we can analyze the ocean. On some level it makes sense, but just because it makes sense doesn’t mean we should do it.

The very vessel you are contained in is only a fragment of the greater IT. IT will always exceed your understanding because you are not IT – you are apart of IT. The more you earnestly you attempt to know IT through an open mind – the more fully you become IT.