Householders Meditation

Is there any moment during the day or night that you are not aware? Is there any activity during your daily chores that is not performed in awareness? Do you need to go to church, the ashram, or the temple to be in awareness? No you do not.

To be in meditation day and night there is only one thing you need to do, be mindful that all your doing is in awareness. Mostly we do our chores routinely and unconsciously. It is no different than our breathing, which we can do consciously or unconsciously. Simply be aware of your movements,  your thoughts and consider if any could be outside of awareness.

To be in meditation at any time, simply be mindful of that activity being in awareness. Every motion, every feeling, every thought is in awareness. Notice that you are that awareness.

The preacher, the priest, the guru is no closer to awareness than the householder or the street urchin.  All are being and doing in awareness. Where could awareness go? It is closer than your breathing and you're seeing, your thoughts and feelings.

If you do this faithfully, a time will come when you see that the person you appear to be is an appearance, an object, in awareness. When you are conscious of this, you know, and you know that you know.

Since all beings are objects in awareness, and you are aware, can you be anything other than that awareness? When you drop your body, only an object has been removed, you, awareness, go nowhere. You were not the doer, ever, but you were always aware.

Be awareness itself in your doing. Your daily chores will then be the meditation that brings you to realization. The coverings of being this or that can be seen through. You are that awareness whatever position or station you may have in life, and none is greater than another. There is nothing more to realization than knowing, I am that awareness.

What Is The Silence

What is the silence that is spoken about. It's really very simple. The personal sense of self dissolves as identity with the Absolute increases. A sense of security develops in proportion to trust in the Absolute. This tends to dismisses personal worries and fears. Peace becomes predominant as the personal self falls into the background.

When the sense of personal will and intent is surrendered to the Absolute, an effortlessness appears. Action becomes motiveless. A knowing arises that is spontaneous, with a sense of following inner direction. Guidance that is not of thought, nor planed.

It becomes simple to follow that inner guidance, without effort, without any personal intent, or will. When one no longer needs to plan, to worry, to fear, thought naturally falls quiet. It has little to do. This is when the quality of non doership arises. You know for a fact that you are not the doer. You are simply following orders of the divine.  

Trust in That

The Absolute is the only thing that is real. As they say, "The real is that which does not change." The Absolute is the subject that projects all form, including forms of apparently limited consciousness. No form is the doer. Every I is but a limited form, a focal point of the Absolute. Rest in that. Trust in that is the only freedom we have.

No Instincts, Just the Still Small Voice

Our instincts have been replaced with culture. Children, open, honest, and believing everything, are easily corrupted. Children adapt to ideas and attitudes that are not true. Those who break free are those who listen to that still small voice, that quiet intuition that says, "There is something else. There is something deeper than this."

Nothingness

No thing, or nothingness means without form. So, realization is realizing that one is not the separate form of an personal individual, but that which is without form, awareness itself. Recognizing all things, awareness itself is not a thing. It may be NO THING, but it does exist.

Time is the Measurement of Change

Time is just a conceptual way to measure change. It's really that simple. The eternal Absolute has always been and always will be. The core of the Absolute doesn't change and is therefore outside of time. To enter time, the Absolute creates form which evolves and decays. Our eternal nature is obscured when we identify as a separate entity. But, when we pierce the veil of separation we realize our eternal nature as timeless, pure, universal consciousness.

The Balance

I may not know who I am, or what I am, but I do know that I exist and that I did not create myself. I am speaking from the human perspective, from the body and mind that I am hard wired to know as myself. As such I have to admit that I did NOT create myself. I find myself here, knowing nothing.

Slowly but surely, with the help of my parents, relatives, and others, I have been indoctrinated into certain beliefs and attitudes. Being totally dependent on the adults in my environment, I must at least fake adoption of the surrounding values in order to survive.

First I had to learn what those around me thought and believed, modified by the actual behaviors of people in the culture. Obviously, people reflect the culture in which they are raised, adopting the attitudes and beliefs so as to survive. Individuation is a must, but this is usually just enough to make a living for myself, and have a few hobbies.

With this in mind, how is it that we come to the conclusion that "I am living my dream. I'm doing it my way." How does one hang on to that idea? Free will? Doesn't this seem a little preposterous?

The greatest freedom one can find, it seems to me, is to search for that which created me. Only that would have the answer as to what and who I am. Isn't this the ground of the search for truth, the holy grail, the corner stone of the religious or spiritual quest?

It seems a fruitless task to take off on this quest, seeing that one is limited, facing the entire created universe which one barely comprehends. Do we stop here because our unknowing is such a great obstacle?

It is very difficult to challenge our cultural and family heritage. None of us like psychological insecurity. So stepping out past the edge of knowing into the unknown is a big step. There is going to be a free fall psychologically. But, to do this willingly, is the beginning of courage.

Once we've stepped off the edge and begun the journey, where do we stop? Isn't there always going to be a huge pit of the unknown, even if we find God, the Absolute, Brahman, whatever?

For myself, the search ended with a shift of identity. It was a move from identity as a small body and mind, to identity with the larger essence of that which created me. This of course leaves much to be desired. There is still the enormous field of the unknown.

But there is a deep satisfaction, a deep sense of coming home.  When one has gone beyond the limited self, to being, and trusting the Absolute, the creator of this small body-mind, a certain peace does arrive. After all, what could the Absolute create with but itself?

Realization is just an apt description of finding that one is more than the little self separate self. It is to find an identify that includes the whole. It brings a sense of security that has been called "The peace that passes understanding."

The paradox is, that the little self remains. It's just not all there is of you. You are the whole as well. The search for satisfaction may end, but a heap of unknown remains. Where does this leave us?

It leaves us with a paradoxical balance. On the one hand we have an expanded identity which we trust. On the other, the free fall into the unknown remains. Both exist in a balance of confidence and unknowing.

Motiveless Love

"Well, it seems to me that the action done without motive is the action that's enduring. The action that's done with a grand motive in mind, even though the motive may be so wonderful as to help all humanity, isn't the lasting wonder that love, just lived, just simply lived is."  ~ William Samuel

I love this quote. It stands out because it points to love being one's very self. Being love itself, one does not need a motive, just as Jesus said, "Why call me good?" David Hawkins repeatedly talks of not doing anything, not planning anything, but just being what one has become. Of course this doesn't make much sense until one arrives at being That, which is all.

The love without motive that William Samuel speaks of, is enduring, because it's not tainted with human ego. That taint which corrupts most doing. To know that "you are not the doer" means your ego, is out of the way. Then, what is done spontaneously, is the love that being is. That love has always been, and will endure. 

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

It's really funny that so many have embraced and believe there is a "Hard problem of consciousness." That is, trying to figure out how consciousness arises out of matter. Sorry, but that problem was solved in ancient times. The Indian sages showed long ago that matter arises in consciousness, just like a world appears in your dreams. William Samuel understood there was no "hard problem of consciousness." Simply put, the scientist examining the brain is using "consciousness" to study it. You can't get outside of consciousness no matter how hard you try. If you're stuck in a material world, try reading a little William Samuel. He explains these issues in simple, yet elegant ways.

Happiness

Happiness is when we get what we want. But there is a deeper peace that is greater than happiness. Then happiness is not necessary. It is just icing on the cake.

Self Forgiveness

The amazing thing about self forgiveness is that if you do it, suddenly, everyone else is sinless and guiltless. Everyone becomes innocent. Makes a much simpler world, with joy to boot.

With the understanding that God is all, the little man, the ego, can be seen as an operating system designed and operated by the Father. There is no effort of surrender if this is seen. One simply becomes innocent, the bystander only, awareness viewing the scene without judgment.

If one admits "I did not create myself, but am a created being, born into a world I did not create," how foolish it is to take on the guilt of this world, blaming oneself and others for the perception of sin. 

When one lets God be God, and gives back responsibility for this world, one can lay the burden of the world down, and take the position of the observer, awareness itself without judgment.

"You are not the doer," is a profound pointer to let go and let God. Doing so leaves you white as snow, and everyone else as well. Then unconditional love is not an effort, just a fact.