1. Peanuts smell like peanuts, but the smell starts to loose its potency if you
focus on it for too long.
2. The airport train smells like dry carpet.
3. Atlanta smells like thick humid heat.
4. Nitrous gas smells like bubble gum.
5. Hot leather car seats smell like meat cooking slowly in the sun.
6. The smell of lavender irrigates my lungs.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
SPEECH
I haven’t had to communicate that much with many people. I have been mostly with close friends and haven’t needed to say much. I am traveling now to the airport, so I will see what’s in store for me the rest of the day. When I was most conscious of my speech was this morning while praying. I tried to pronounce the words very clearly and listen to them. First, I did yoga. Then, I prayed. Yoga includes meditation and often times prayer is included silently into the yoga practice through silent intention, the breath, the meditation, and quiet thoughts to both ourselves and to that something greater, our creator. But there is a difference between that and actually speaking the words of prayer out loud. There is something actualizing about speech. Speech is less tangible than an object, but more than a thought.
Another exercise for this day is to try and be comfortable in silence. Don’t rush to fill the space with talk. The world expects us to joke, to tease, to be light without speech, but what does it feel like when we only use speech for the absolutely necessary and in a one hundred percent honest way, to express and communicate those less tangible thoughts rather than to use speech to mask them. We use speech to greet, thank, to be respectful of others, to express love, to resolve conflict, to ask a question, to give an answer, to help us with out avodat Hashem (Service of God), to pray, etc.
My Hebrew is okay. It is not great, but I can get by. Today however I feel tongue-tied. The Hebrew feels less accessible than usual and I realize how precious language is. Without language, our interpersonal communication must occur through means other than speech. When I cannot use my voice by manipulating it into a language to speak to others, what else can my voice be for? Sometimes I feel spontaneously inspired to use my voice by humming a tune that expresses the emotions of my heart. The melodies are little prayers. They express gratitude mostly, also yearning, and sometimes sadness or pain or happiness that is rooted in gratitude and in knowing that Hashem in guiding me. This knowing I feel even as I feel heaviness at the knowledge that I am on the way to the airport in order to leave Israel for a little while. I feel gratitude that I came, that I was able to listen, that I learned what I learned and met who I met. So many gifts. I feel gratitude because I know that by leaving here I will go somewhere else and see other people and learn and share more things.
Speech is different than writing. Speech is quicker. We can speak faster than we can write, hence, “speaking without thinking.” At least when writing, even in free-flow writing, it takes a second to write out the letters. An exercise is to speak as if it were writing. That is to say, think before speaking. At least take the same amount of time that it would have taken to write out the letters before speaking. Write it out in your head. Also, speak positively. Realize that our speech is the expression of energy vibrations. The vibrations (via tone and words) can carry a negative or a positive energy. By speaking only the positive, we ensure that our speech is only transmitting positive energy.
Another exercise for this day is to try and be comfortable in silence. Don’t rush to fill the space with talk. The world expects us to joke, to tease, to be light without speech, but what does it feel like when we only use speech for the absolutely necessary and in a one hundred percent honest way, to express and communicate those less tangible thoughts rather than to use speech to mask them. We use speech to greet, thank, to be respectful of others, to express love, to resolve conflict, to ask a question, to give an answer, to help us with out avodat Hashem (Service of God), to pray, etc.
My Hebrew is okay. It is not great, but I can get by. Today however I feel tongue-tied. The Hebrew feels less accessible than usual and I realize how precious language is. Without language, our interpersonal communication must occur through means other than speech. When I cannot use my voice by manipulating it into a language to speak to others, what else can my voice be for? Sometimes I feel spontaneously inspired to use my voice by humming a tune that expresses the emotions of my heart. The melodies are little prayers. They express gratitude mostly, also yearning, and sometimes sadness or pain or happiness that is rooted in gratitude and in knowing that Hashem in guiding me. This knowing I feel even as I feel heaviness at the knowledge that I am on the way to the airport in order to leave Israel for a little while. I feel gratitude that I came, that I was able to listen, that I learned what I learned and met who I met. So many gifts. I feel gratitude because I know that by leaving here I will go somewhere else and see other people and learn and share more things.
Speech is different than writing. Speech is quicker. We can speak faster than we can write, hence, “speaking without thinking.” At least when writing, even in free-flow writing, it takes a second to write out the letters. An exercise is to speak as if it were writing. That is to say, think before speaking. At least take the same amount of time that it would have taken to write out the letters before speaking. Write it out in your head. Also, speak positively. Realize that our speech is the expression of energy vibrations. The vibrations (via tone and words) can carry a negative or a positive energy. By speaking only the positive, we ensure that our speech is only transmitting positive energy.
Exercise for Elevating Consciousness
The first thing to realize is that we are asleep. That is the first step to waking up. We want to live consciously and intentionally. We want to see and to know the true reality that is beneath what we sometimes believe is reality. We want to know the truth about existence and being. We want to live in a way that is so conscious and intentional that every single action, every breath, every step, every single chew of a food, every blink of an eye, every word spoken, every glance given, every single thing is for the service of God, for the purpose of being closer to BEING. That (being closer to God) is chukat hatorah/ point of torah. The chuk( unexplainable law of torah) is being closer to God. The parsha entitled “chukat” is the parsha that talks about the red hefer. The red hefer is basically that which (or rather her ashes) can purify the impure. Impurity implies distance from God, whereas purity is closeness to God. Therefore, the chuk/purpose of torah is closeness to God. (See Nitivot Shalom for a deeper explanation of this concept).
Since we are put on this earth in order to do work, to awaken consciousness and awareness, we do not want to waste time. Rather, we want every action to be the conscious placement of another piece of glass in the mosaic of our life, and each of our personal mosaics come together to create the mosaic of true Reality with a big R. When complete, the mosaic of Reality will be like a stained glass window to the world. The stained glass depicts a picture of Reality, of Oneness, of God, of the truth of where we all came from and where we are going. Before the stained glass mosaic is completed, however, the window is clear. The clear window means that Reality is transparent, and a person could easily look through the window without noticing the glass/ a person could easily look at the world and look through the existence of a greater purpose, of a creator, of the interconnectedness of all, and think that what he sees through the window is all there is… just a bunch on lonely trees blowin’ in the wind… The mosaic that we create via our actions reveals the beautiful design through which the world exists, and it reveals to us that there is a creator, and that the creator is that which was, that which is, and that which will be forever, without restraint of time. The creator is every thing and no thing at the same time. It cannot be described. It is the creative energy, the flow, the force, the soul, the name, etcetera. It (the creator) hid itself and pulled back a little in order to create a space in which creation could exist. Now, through billions of years of evolution (from human perspective) we have come from being with It (the creator) as the only existence, to becoming mineral life, plant life, animal life, and finally human life. As humans, on the one hand, we are farther from God than the rock because the rock is only BEing. The rock is constantly present. As humans, we are distracted by and caught up in physicality, our ego, our emotions, and our intellect. But as humans, we can reach a higher consciousness than the rock due to the very intellect that sometimes can distract us. We have the ability to elevate physicality and use our minds to bring us, as humans, back up to the place of BEing, and to wake up from our sleep and from the distractions of the world, and to realize that it is all One. We must realize that on the one hand, everything is perfect and nothing needs to be changed, and on the other hand, we have so much work to do here in order to reveal the truth about the Oneness.
But HOW DO WE WAKE UP? Spiritual practice is necessary. For me, I practice yoga. Many people also use mantra. Sometimes I use the mantra, “I release everything to Hashem (the universe, the creator, God); I own nothing.” And also today when I was being tortured at the dentist for three hours, “There is no pleasure. No pain. It’s just a sensation.” These are my two examples. I also am Jewish and practice Judaism. I use the teachings of torah and their wisdom to help direct me. I use the teachings (for example, Shabbat) as a spiritual practice to help elevate my awareness of God and of what my work is here in this world. But I want more. I want ooooober consciousness. We have come up with an exercise to help elevate consciousness.
The exercise
The exercise is one week long. After one week, it should be repeated again for three more weeks to equal one month, at least. Each day of the week is dedicated to one of the five senses, sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste, and also breath and speech.
The weekly schedule is as follows:
Sunday – Breath.
Monday – Vision
Tuesday – Speech
Wednesday – Smell
Thursday – Touch
Friday – Hearing
Saturday – Taste/ eating
The daily schedule is as follows: I will use Sunday as an example, but the basic structure is the same each day. Sunday is breath. For five minutes in the morning (you should set an alarm) before going out, spend five minutes on focused breathing. Watch the breath while sitting down with your eyes closed. If you know any other breath exercises, you may want to practice them. Notice what part of your body you are breathing from/into (belly or chest) and where you send your breath. Practice sending your breath to every part, every cell, of your body. Send the breath to your kidneys and to any place that is in pain or seems to lack a flow of energy. At one o’clock and five o’clock, continue doing whatever you happen to be doing, but for the next twenty minutes, also focus on the breath. As you continue doing whatever you were doing at that time, notice how you are breathing. Are the breaths full and deep or short and shallow? After twenty minutes, you do not have to focus on the breath as much, but ideally the awareness will linger with you. Then, at night before going to bed, do another five minutes of focused breathing like in the morning.
On Monday, the day to concentrate on our vision, the daily structure is the same. Five minutes in the morning and before bed of focused concentration on vision, and twenty minutes of heightened awareness at one and five, while continuing to do whatever you were doing. For vision, notice the things around you, objects and people alike, and see them without judgment. Try to see the soul of the object. See the object as it is without its name and connotations. Notice colors. See things as a collection of colors. Colors are reflections of light. See the object as a collection of reflected light. Also look at your own body and see it for what it is, without judgment and with gratitude.
Tuesday is speech. In the morning, pronounce your prayers aloud and clearly or pick a spiritual writing or teaching or even poetry to read out loud. While you should be focused on speech the entire day, you may set the alarm at one and five to remind yourself and refocus. Try to avoid idle speech and talking badly about others. Notice how you speak to people. What is your tone? How do you react to what others speak to you? Do you use words to fuel or diffuse conflict? Are your words honest or misleading? At night, again read something out loud or pray out loud.
Wednesday is smell. In them morning before going out, take a spice or essential oil or herb and focus on smelling it for a few minutes. Smell without judgment or preconceived notions. Perhaps you will grab a spice from the cabinet without reading which spice it is. At one and five, remind yourself to notice smalls. When you eat, smell the food first. Notice what different places smell like, etc. At night, do a few minutes meditating on the same spice as in the morning.
Thursday is touch. In the morning and at night, the five minutes should be spent touching your body and some natural object like a seashell, a plant, water, or a stone. Touch the object with your eyes closed. Touch your face with your eyes closed. Notice the subtle details of texture. At one and five again remind yourself to refocus on touch. Notice throughout the day when you catch yourself touching (an object, your hair, scratching your skin, etc) unconsciously. Notice what your body is touching as well (your tush on the seat, for example). When touching a person, do it with intention and not mindlessly.
Friday is hearing. In the morning, step outside or open the window and be quiet and spend five minutes just listening to what your hear. Don’t judge. If it is very quiet in your room, then notice what does your breath sound like? What does the silence sound like? During the day, notice different sounds. What does your voice and others’ sound like? What does it sound like when you eat?
Saturday/ Shabbat is taste. On this day, the structure changes a little. On this day, at lunch, just be conscious of eating at the beginning of the meal, especially be very focused when you eat the first thing of the day. Concentrate on where the food has come from and what had to happen for it to get to you to nourish you. Concentrate on how it will nourish your body and help you to continue to live and do your work on this earth. How will you use the energy from this food? Eat slowly and chew the food well. Put the fork down between bites and don’t eat blindly. Taste the food, etc.
It is a good idea to log your feelings and experiences from the day before going to bed. Notice if the five minutes at night feels different than the five minutes in the morning. Each week, notice if the way the exercise feels changes for you.
Since we are put on this earth in order to do work, to awaken consciousness and awareness, we do not want to waste time. Rather, we want every action to be the conscious placement of another piece of glass in the mosaic of our life, and each of our personal mosaics come together to create the mosaic of true Reality with a big R. When complete, the mosaic of Reality will be like a stained glass window to the world. The stained glass depicts a picture of Reality, of Oneness, of God, of the truth of where we all came from and where we are going. Before the stained glass mosaic is completed, however, the window is clear. The clear window means that Reality is transparent, and a person could easily look through the window without noticing the glass/ a person could easily look at the world and look through the existence of a greater purpose, of a creator, of the interconnectedness of all, and think that what he sees through the window is all there is… just a bunch on lonely trees blowin’ in the wind… The mosaic that we create via our actions reveals the beautiful design through which the world exists, and it reveals to us that there is a creator, and that the creator is that which was, that which is, and that which will be forever, without restraint of time. The creator is every thing and no thing at the same time. It cannot be described. It is the creative energy, the flow, the force, the soul, the name, etcetera. It (the creator) hid itself and pulled back a little in order to create a space in which creation could exist. Now, through billions of years of evolution (from human perspective) we have come from being with It (the creator) as the only existence, to becoming mineral life, plant life, animal life, and finally human life. As humans, on the one hand, we are farther from God than the rock because the rock is only BEing. The rock is constantly present. As humans, we are distracted by and caught up in physicality, our ego, our emotions, and our intellect. But as humans, we can reach a higher consciousness than the rock due to the very intellect that sometimes can distract us. We have the ability to elevate physicality and use our minds to bring us, as humans, back up to the place of BEing, and to wake up from our sleep and from the distractions of the world, and to realize that it is all One. We must realize that on the one hand, everything is perfect and nothing needs to be changed, and on the other hand, we have so much work to do here in order to reveal the truth about the Oneness.
But HOW DO WE WAKE UP? Spiritual practice is necessary. For me, I practice yoga. Many people also use mantra. Sometimes I use the mantra, “I release everything to Hashem (the universe, the creator, God); I own nothing.” And also today when I was being tortured at the dentist for three hours, “There is no pleasure. No pain. It’s just a sensation.” These are my two examples. I also am Jewish and practice Judaism. I use the teachings of torah and their wisdom to help direct me. I use the teachings (for example, Shabbat) as a spiritual practice to help elevate my awareness of God and of what my work is here in this world. But I want more. I want ooooober consciousness. We have come up with an exercise to help elevate consciousness.
The exercise
The exercise is one week long. After one week, it should be repeated again for three more weeks to equal one month, at least. Each day of the week is dedicated to one of the five senses, sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste, and also breath and speech.
The weekly schedule is as follows:
Sunday – Breath.
Monday – Vision
Tuesday – Speech
Wednesday – Smell
Thursday – Touch
Friday – Hearing
Saturday – Taste/ eating
The daily schedule is as follows: I will use Sunday as an example, but the basic structure is the same each day. Sunday is breath. For five minutes in the morning (you should set an alarm) before going out, spend five minutes on focused breathing. Watch the breath while sitting down with your eyes closed. If you know any other breath exercises, you may want to practice them. Notice what part of your body you are breathing from/into (belly or chest) and where you send your breath. Practice sending your breath to every part, every cell, of your body. Send the breath to your kidneys and to any place that is in pain or seems to lack a flow of energy. At one o’clock and five o’clock, continue doing whatever you happen to be doing, but for the next twenty minutes, also focus on the breath. As you continue doing whatever you were doing at that time, notice how you are breathing. Are the breaths full and deep or short and shallow? After twenty minutes, you do not have to focus on the breath as much, but ideally the awareness will linger with you. Then, at night before going to bed, do another five minutes of focused breathing like in the morning.
On Monday, the day to concentrate on our vision, the daily structure is the same. Five minutes in the morning and before bed of focused concentration on vision, and twenty minutes of heightened awareness at one and five, while continuing to do whatever you were doing. For vision, notice the things around you, objects and people alike, and see them without judgment. Try to see the soul of the object. See the object as it is without its name and connotations. Notice colors. See things as a collection of colors. Colors are reflections of light. See the object as a collection of reflected light. Also look at your own body and see it for what it is, without judgment and with gratitude.
Tuesday is speech. In the morning, pronounce your prayers aloud and clearly or pick a spiritual writing or teaching or even poetry to read out loud. While you should be focused on speech the entire day, you may set the alarm at one and five to remind yourself and refocus. Try to avoid idle speech and talking badly about others. Notice how you speak to people. What is your tone? How do you react to what others speak to you? Do you use words to fuel or diffuse conflict? Are your words honest or misleading? At night, again read something out loud or pray out loud.
Wednesday is smell. In them morning before going out, take a spice or essential oil or herb and focus on smelling it for a few minutes. Smell without judgment or preconceived notions. Perhaps you will grab a spice from the cabinet without reading which spice it is. At one and five, remind yourself to notice smalls. When you eat, smell the food first. Notice what different places smell like, etc. At night, do a few minutes meditating on the same spice as in the morning.
Thursday is touch. In the morning and at night, the five minutes should be spent touching your body and some natural object like a seashell, a plant, water, or a stone. Touch the object with your eyes closed. Touch your face with your eyes closed. Notice the subtle details of texture. At one and five again remind yourself to refocus on touch. Notice throughout the day when you catch yourself touching (an object, your hair, scratching your skin, etc) unconsciously. Notice what your body is touching as well (your tush on the seat, for example). When touching a person, do it with intention and not mindlessly.
Friday is hearing. In the morning, step outside or open the window and be quiet and spend five minutes just listening to what your hear. Don’t judge. If it is very quiet in your room, then notice what does your breath sound like? What does the silence sound like? During the day, notice different sounds. What does your voice and others’ sound like? What does it sound like when you eat?
Saturday/ Shabbat is taste. On this day, the structure changes a little. On this day, at lunch, just be conscious of eating at the beginning of the meal, especially be very focused when you eat the first thing of the day. Concentrate on where the food has come from and what had to happen for it to get to you to nourish you. Concentrate on how it will nourish your body and help you to continue to live and do your work on this earth. How will you use the energy from this food? Eat slowly and chew the food well. Put the fork down between bites and don’t eat blindly. Taste the food, etc.
It is a good idea to log your feelings and experiences from the day before going to bed. Notice if the five minutes at night feels different than the five minutes in the morning. Each week, notice if the way the exercise feels changes for you.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Upon Meeting Someone New
What if, when we met people, instead of asking, "where do you live?" "where are you from" "what do you do (for a living)?" we asked, "what makes you laugh so hard that your knees buckle, you fall to the floor, and tears pour out of your eyes?" "Who do you love very much?" "What makes your heart sink heavily and why?" What if instead of shaking hands, we simply look into each others' eyes with a gentle nod. Do you feel the difference between hands meeting and eyes meeting? There is a difference. What if instead of, "what is your name?" we said, "who are you?" Maybe we should try. Awaiting your reply to... shiframash@gmail.com
Friday, June 11, 2010
Feeding a piece of bread to every single person
What are you DOing here?
There is so much to do in this world. We want to do something real, fix something, feed someone, and actually see how we have positively impacted the world. How do we know what to do? There are billions of people on this earth. How do I, one person, take on such a big task as to help every single person? There are two ways that we can "give a piece of bread"/ help the other members of this world. The first way is that God acts through us, and in this way, which I will explain further, we really can reach and affect the lives if every single human being. The second way we act in this world is more contained to who I will physically help, who I can physically reach out to and hand a piece of bread, be it through writing, music, cooking, care-taking, educating, or whatever your particular medium of choice may be. I want to look closer at the first way that we can affect others in this world. God acts though people. What does this mean? Through our actions we can be feeding every single person in this world a bite of bread or a bite of poison. Through our actions, when we at good, kind, and generous, God responds by judging the world with an equal amount of kindness and generosity, but if someone acts badly, hatefully, or immorally, so then through that person's actions, God is judging the world harshly. That man is created in God's image means hat God acts in this world through our actions. When we act properly, our actions add a positive energy into the world, and that is God responding with positive judgment. That man is created in His image means that we, in our microcosm of existence, which is this world, are like miniature 'gods' with limited ability, but with abilit to act in this world none-the-less. God wants to see how we will rule, how we will judge, how we will act, and He will rule, judge, and act accordingly. That man is created in God's image means that God gives man the opportunity to be mini-creators by joining with Him in the act of creating a child. Then, as a parent, man acts as a pseudo 'god' over that baby, over man's atmosphere, over this world. God responds through man's actions. If we care for each other and the world, so then God judges kindly through our very actions of kindness, but if we treat each other harshly and hatefully, God judges harshly, through our harsh actions. Therefore, every action we do is extremely important, even if it is just a matter of how will I speak to my family members in the privacy of my own home where no one will hear me because even though no one else may hear, if I speak kindly, I am adding an energy of kindness to the world and to God's response in His own judgment. If I speak harshly, I am adding that much severity to how God will judge. If God is judging the world with kindness, love, and generosity, then every person will be effected positively. If God is judging with more severity, then every person will also be effected accordingly. If I do my best to tilt the scale to the positive side with every action that I do, every thought that I think, and every word that I speak, then I am doing what I can to give a bite of bread to every single human being, even those who I cannot reach with my own physical two hands.
There is so much to do in this world. We want to do something real, fix something, feed someone, and actually see how we have positively impacted the world. How do we know what to do? There are billions of people on this earth. How do I, one person, take on such a big task as to help every single person? There are two ways that we can "give a piece of bread"/ help the other members of this world. The first way is that God acts through us, and in this way, which I will explain further, we really can reach and affect the lives if every single human being. The second way we act in this world is more contained to who I will physically help, who I can physically reach out to and hand a piece of bread, be it through writing, music, cooking, care-taking, educating, or whatever your particular medium of choice may be. I want to look closer at the first way that we can affect others in this world. God acts though people. What does this mean? Through our actions we can be feeding every single person in this world a bite of bread or a bite of poison. Through our actions, when we at good, kind, and generous, God responds by judging the world with an equal amount of kindness and generosity, but if someone acts badly, hatefully, or immorally, so then through that person's actions, God is judging the world harshly. That man is created in God's image means hat God acts in this world through our actions. When we act properly, our actions add a positive energy into the world, and that is God responding with positive judgment. That man is created in His image means that we, in our microcosm of existence, which is this world, are like miniature 'gods' with limited ability, but with abilit to act in this world none-the-less. God wants to see how we will rule, how we will judge, how we will act, and He will rule, judge, and act accordingly. That man is created in God's image means that God gives man the opportunity to be mini-creators by joining with Him in the act of creating a child. Then, as a parent, man acts as a pseudo 'god' over that baby, over man's atmosphere, over this world. God responds through man's actions. If we care for each other and the world, so then God judges kindly through our very actions of kindness, but if we treat each other harshly and hatefully, God judges harshly, through our harsh actions. Therefore, every action we do is extremely important, even if it is just a matter of how will I speak to my family members in the privacy of my own home where no one will hear me because even though no one else may hear, if I speak kindly, I am adding an energy of kindness to the world and to God's response in His own judgment. If I speak harshly, I am adding that much severity to how God will judge. If God is judging the world with kindness, love, and generosity, then every person will be effected positively. If God is judging with more severity, then every person will also be effected accordingly. If I do my best to tilt the scale to the positive side with every action that I do, every thought that I think, and every word that I speak, then I am doing what I can to give a bite of bread to every single human being, even those who I cannot reach with my own physical two hands.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Hidden in our vision
SO that's how it works! The world. ha. Our eyes give it away in the way that they function. I am laying on the earth, and my chest is on the ground. I am in love with it. In Love. With the earth, the world, with life, with existence. In love. I am laying on the ground and looking in front of me. There is my hand and a ring on my finger, right near my face. Beyond the hand, there is a wildflower, and beyond that, a tree. My eyes can focus on the ring, the wildflower, or the tree. I simply have to adjust something in the way my eye is perceiving. It is an easy switch. I just have to change what the eye is focusing on. If I focus on the ring, the wildflower and the tree are still there, but they are blurry. Although I cannot really see them clearly or well, I am aware that they are there. If I focus on the tree, the same is true but of the wildflower and the ring, etc. It's an easy switch. That's the way the world works. We may be focused on the obvious or the less obvious, on that which is right in front of us, or on that which is broader, bigger, or more distanced from us. We may be focused on the minute details of our life in this particular moment, or we may be focusing on big spiritual concepts like God and existence or the future. Whatever we are focused on, all of these things are still there. When I focus on the ring, the wildflower and tree are still there. When I focus on God, I am still here, and when I focus on the details of my life like cooking food and showering my body, God is still there. Also, despite what our focus may be on in the particular moment, we should keep everything else within our consciousness, just like when I am focused on the ring, the tree and wildflower are still within my perception, even though they are not the focus at that time.
We should all practice to be able to switch our focus/ mode of consciousness as easily as we can switch the focus in our vision. As easily as I can change my focus from the ring to the tree, I should practice to be able to shift my focus from that which is right in front of my face, the ring, the mundane tasks of life, to the bigger picture behind it all, the tree, to the God energy force that runs through everything.
We are so free. If we can just tap in to the Truth behind it all, and if we can only be able to consciously be aware of all layers of consciousness simultaneously, even when we are in one, be aware of the others, even when I'm looking at the ring, know that the flower and tree are just as real, then we are so free. Because once we can tap into Truth, anything else that anyone tells us to do, a friend, enemy, or acquaintance, a teacher or a student, society, the fashion industry, the fads, etc, no one can have any hold on me, and if they want to persuade me to do something, I can check in with that Truth that I am able to reach, and if what they tell me to do conflicts wit that Truth, then I won't even feel tempted to give in, because once we are aware of Truth, we are free. But how do we become aware? Simple (well, not so simple), but it starts with a simple eye exercise. Try it: focus on something right in front of your nose, then without moving anything, switch the focus in your eyes to notice what is just behind, and then again to what is in the background. Got it? Now try it with life and existence. Keep practicing ;)
Another thing I noticed that runs along the same vein as what I wrote above: you know how sometimes even when a light bulb is turned off, it still has a slight glow against the darkness? I was laying in my bed and noticed this phenomena with the light bulb that hung from the ceiling. Ok, another thing, have you even noticed how sometimes, when you are star gazing, if you look directly at one of the distant shining dots, it seems to disappear, but if you look just to the side of it, you can see it again? There is a tiny blind spot in the very center of the eye, and so if we look at something that small straight on, we can't see it at all. So, to tie these two thoughts together, I was noticing the not-completely-dark, turned-off light-bulb, and I was having the distant-star-blind-spot effect with the not-completely-dark, turned-off light-bulb. It was bizarre. I had never noticed the blind-spot effect with something so big! A star is a tiny dot so far away, but this light-bulb is not so small, and it was very close to me, almost right over my head. What was so strange is that I was one hundred percent certain that the light bulb was there. If I looked to the side, I could see it. The light bulb was right there, so close I could have touched if if I had stood up! But if I looked right at it, I could not see it at all, not one bit, not even a hint. It was as if the light bulb was not there at all. The point is to say that what is reality is more than simply what the eye can see. There is more to reality that what we can pick up with our eye. Our eye sees only a certain amount, and then our brain filters what the eye sees so that we register even less. When we look around, we don't see the tiny micro-particles floating around in the air. When we look outside, maybe we don't see it so obviously that there is a Creative Energy Force that is flowing through every single thing, but we should remember this lesson, that there is more to reality than what the eye can capture. Even though I could not see the light bulb, I did not doubt for a moment that it existed and that it was there right in front of me the entire time. So, even when we hit a dark spot in our lives and cannot see the light bulb, the camouflaged but ever present Godly force flowing through creation, we should never loose faith and should always remember that it is always there, right there in front of us, even if we cannot see it clearly.
We should all practice to be able to switch our focus/ mode of consciousness as easily as we can switch the focus in our vision. As easily as I can change my focus from the ring to the tree, I should practice to be able to shift my focus from that which is right in front of my face, the ring, the mundane tasks of life, to the bigger picture behind it all, the tree, to the God energy force that runs through everything.
We are so free. If we can just tap in to the Truth behind it all, and if we can only be able to consciously be aware of all layers of consciousness simultaneously, even when we are in one, be aware of the others, even when I'm looking at the ring, know that the flower and tree are just as real, then we are so free. Because once we can tap into Truth, anything else that anyone tells us to do, a friend, enemy, or acquaintance, a teacher or a student, society, the fashion industry, the fads, etc, no one can have any hold on me, and if they want to persuade me to do something, I can check in with that Truth that I am able to reach, and if what they tell me to do conflicts wit that Truth, then I won't even feel tempted to give in, because once we are aware of Truth, we are free. But how do we become aware? Simple (well, not so simple), but it starts with a simple eye exercise. Try it: focus on something right in front of your nose, then without moving anything, switch the focus in your eyes to notice what is just behind, and then again to what is in the background. Got it? Now try it with life and existence. Keep practicing ;)
Another thing I noticed that runs along the same vein as what I wrote above: you know how sometimes even when a light bulb is turned off, it still has a slight glow against the darkness? I was laying in my bed and noticed this phenomena with the light bulb that hung from the ceiling. Ok, another thing, have you even noticed how sometimes, when you are star gazing, if you look directly at one of the distant shining dots, it seems to disappear, but if you look just to the side of it, you can see it again? There is a tiny blind spot in the very center of the eye, and so if we look at something that small straight on, we can't see it at all. So, to tie these two thoughts together, I was noticing the not-completely-dark, turned-off light-bulb, and I was having the distant-star-blind-spot effect with the not-completely-dark, turned-off light-bulb. It was bizarre. I had never noticed the blind-spot effect with something so big! A star is a tiny dot so far away, but this light-bulb is not so small, and it was very close to me, almost right over my head. What was so strange is that I was one hundred percent certain that the light bulb was there. If I looked to the side, I could see it. The light bulb was right there, so close I could have touched if if I had stood up! But if I looked right at it, I could not see it at all, not one bit, not even a hint. It was as if the light bulb was not there at all. The point is to say that what is reality is more than simply what the eye can see. There is more to reality that what we can pick up with our eye. Our eye sees only a certain amount, and then our brain filters what the eye sees so that we register even less. When we look around, we don't see the tiny micro-particles floating around in the air. When we look outside, maybe we don't see it so obviously that there is a Creative Energy Force that is flowing through every single thing, but we should remember this lesson, that there is more to reality than what the eye can capture. Even though I could not see the light bulb, I did not doubt for a moment that it existed and that it was there right in front of me the entire time. So, even when we hit a dark spot in our lives and cannot see the light bulb, the camouflaged but ever present Godly force flowing through creation, we should never loose faith and should always remember that it is always there, right there in front of us, even if we cannot see it clearly.
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