Friday, December
28, 2007
QueQui QuintanaRoo
Newspaper
Positive Mind
ENLIGHTENMENT:
RISING ABOVE THOUGHT
Isn’t thinking
essential in order
to survive in this
world?
Your mind is an
instrument, a tool.
It is there to be
used for a specific
task, and when the
task is completed,
you lay it down. As
it is, I would say
about 80 to 90
percent of most
people’s thinking is
not only repetitive
and useless, but
because of its
dysfunctional and
often negative
nature, much of it
is also harmful.
Observe your mind
and you will find
this to be true. It
causes a serious
leakage of vital
energy.
This kind of
compulsive thinking
is actually an
addiction. What
characterizes an
addiction? Quite
simply this: you no
longer feel that you
have the choice to
stop. It seems
stronger than you.
It also gives you a
false sense of
pleasure, pleasure
that invariably
turns into pain.
Why should we be
addicted to
thinking?
Because you are
identified with it,
which means that you
derive your sense of
self from the
content and activity
of your mind.
Because you believe
that you would cease
to be if you stopped
thinking. As you
grow up, you form a
mental image of who
you are, based on
your personal and
cultural
conditioning. We may
call this phantom
self the ego. It
consists of mind
activity and can
only be kept going
through constant
thinking. The term
ego means different
things to different
people, but when I
use it here it means
a false self,
created by
unconscious
identification with
the mind.
To the ego, the
present moment
hardly exists. Only
past and future are
considered
important. This
total reversal of
the truth accounts
for the fact that in
the ego mode the
mind is so
dysfunctional. It is
always concerned
with keeping the
past alive, because
without it – who are
you? It constantly
projects itself into
the future to ensure
its continued
survival and to seek
some kind of release
or fulfillment
there. It says: “One
day, when this,
that, or the other
happens, I am going
to be okay, happy,
at peace.” Even when
the ego seems to be
concerned with the
present, it is not
the present that it
sees: It
misperceives it
completely because
it looks at it
through the eyes of
the past. Or it
reduces the present
to a means to an
end, an end that
always lies in the
mind-projected
future. Observe your
mind and you’ll see
that this is how it
works.
The present moment
holds the key to
liberation. But you
cannot find the
present moment as
long as you are your
mind.
I don’t want to lose
my ability to
analyze and
discriminate. I
wouldn’t mind
learning to think
more clearly, in a
more focused way,
but I don’t want to
lose my mind. The
gift of thought is
the most precious
thing we have.
Without it, we would
just be another
species of animal.
The predominance of
mind is no more than
stage in the
evolution of
consciousness. We
need to go on to the
next stage now as a
matter of urgency;
otherwise, we will
be destroyed by the
mind, which has
grown into a
monster. I will talk
about this in more
detail later.
Thinking and
consciousness are
not synonymous.
Thinking is only a
small aspect of
consciousness.
Thought cannot exist
without
consciousness, but
consciousness does
not need thought.
Enlightenment means
rising above
thought, not falling
back to a level
below thought, the
level of an animal
or a plant. In the
enlightened state,
you still use you
thinking mind when
needed, but in a
much more focused
and effective way
than before. You use
it mostly for
practical purposes,
but you are free of
the involuntary
internal dialogue,
and there is inner
stillness. When you
do use your mind,
and particularly
when a creative
solution is needed,
you oscillate every
few minutes or so
between thought and
stillness, between
mind and no-mind.
No-mind is
consciousness
without thought.
Only in that way is
it possible to think
creatively, because
only in that way
does thought have
any real power.
Thought alone, when
it is no longer
connected with the
much vaster realm of
consciousness,
quickly becomes
barren, insane,
destructive.
The mind is
essentially a
survival machine.
Attack and defense
against other minds,
gathering, storing,
and analyzing
information – this
is what it is good
at, but it is not at
all creative. All
true artists,
whether they know it
or not, create from
a place of no-mind,
from inner
stillness. The mind
then gives form to
the creative impulse
or insight. Even the
great scientists
have reported that
their creative
breakthroughs came
at a time of mental
quietude. The
surprising results
of a nationwide
inquiry among
America’s most
eminent
mathematicians,
including Einstein,
to find out their
working methods, was
that thinking “plays
only a subordinate
part in the brief,
decisive phase of
the creative act
itself.” So I would
say that the simple
reason why the
majority of
scientists are not
creative is not
because they don’t
know how to think
but because they
don’t know how to
stop thinking!
It wasn’t through
the mind, through
thinking, that the
miracle that is life
on earth or your
body was created and
is being sustained.
There is clearly an
intelligence at work
that is far greater
than the mind. How
can a single human
cell measuring
1/1000 of an inch in
diameter contain
instructions within
its DNA that would
fill 1,000 books of
600 pages each? The
more we learn about
the workings of the
body, the more we
realize just how
vast is the
intelligence at work
within it and how
little we know. When
the mind reconnects
with that, it
becomes a most
wonderful tool. It
then serves
something greater
than itself.
-Eckhart Tolle
The beauty of
this process
Diksha=Oneness
Blessing is a
transfer of Divine
energy which helps
us to
dis-identify from
conflict and
suffering, taking us
to states of inner
peace, joy,
happiness and
Oneness
Diksha energy is
universal & useful
in all spiritual
traditions.
It enhances our
ability to connect
from the Heart with
the Divine & with
all of the people
that we love.
Many report that
after receiving
Diksha = Oneness
Blessing they
experience healing
on all levels, as
well as powerful and
ongoing spiritual
awakening. Most
people are seeking
harmony and joy. We
have discovered that
it is possible for
everybody to live in
that state of inner
freedom, even
permanently.
Oneness Blessing
initiates a process
of awakening the
Divine Presence
within you; taking
you towards Oneness,
and enabling you to
see the reality of
what you are in
every moment. Also
healing your body,
your relationships,
and recognizing the
divinity in the
experience of the
present moment….
Conscious awakening
is the ability to
see reality as it
is, without the
layers of
interference and
interpretation
imposed by the mind.
It is a simple
neurobiological
event, and can
happen
instantaneously.
Conscious awakening
is peeling off the
layers of
interpretation from
any given event. To
the enlightened
person, life becomes
very ordinary. You
walk, and you are
walking. You eat,
and you are eating.
Enlightenment is not
about having
extraordinary
experiences so much
as recognizing that
each ordinary moment
is extraordinary in
itself.
Before, there were a
thousand
interpretations in
the mind for
everything you
experienced. Now,
there is only the
experience.
In this Divine state
you consciously
experience your
divine self and
become one with God.
This can be
experienced as a
great explosion of
love or joy, which
is much more
profound than any
worldly pleasure.
When someone reaches
this state of being,
this connection with
God, the Divine, the
Absolute, they will
surely have achieved
the ultimate that
being on this earth
can offer.
You, your freedom
and your liberation
is what is most
important to me.
Experiences
These are
experiences from a
few people who have
received Diksha =
Oneness Blessing:
My experience in
this exercise was
feeling an intense
electrical energy
that ran all thru my
entire body. It
relieved me of a
huge
burden/heaviness
that had been so
overwhelming that it
made me cry in
relief at the end.
I felt very hot and
sometimes I even
felt cold. My hands
felt as if they were
swelling up. I saw a
vision of an eye
with a sad
expression that
slowly faded away
little by little.
I also saw the
colors purple and
yellow. Blessed is
the heart of Jesus
for giving me signs
with your light that
he is always with
me. R Armida Vega
Vazquez
