This is a slim book written by the author, mindfulness expert, entrepreneur and seeker Michael A Singer and it contains a wealth of wisdom. Singer begins with telling us how to dissociate with the voice in the head - the mind that is continuously talking - and instead, merely watch it. You are not the voice he says - you are the one watching it. The voice only keeps talking to make the external world more comfortable to your internal world. It's a job we have given the mind to make us feel secure. If we transcend the need to protect ourselves, we can get past this noise - and see the world as it is. The mind is like your inner roommate, who is always complaining, seeking drama and being disturbed and offended and frightened at the slightest opportunity. Now it is time to break free of that.
To change things around and not get caught in the drama of the mind, we need to take the seat of consciousness. We need to change the frame of reference so we transcend this i.e. we must realise that we cannot change the outside, we can only change the inside. The moment we realise that it's our dramatic, neurotic roommate that's upset, we transcend this need to get upset ourselves. Just watch your roommate getting upset. To get a good understanding of how you are different from the roommate he suggests that you give your roommate a separate personality - which is when you realise that you have made your roommate's life yours. Take your own life back. Get out of the roommate's drama as if your life depended on it. I loved this. I know my roommate has fully occupied my space.
Singer addresses the question - who am I? He says we are not the body nor the mind, nor the history we created with our body. We are the consciousness which is the highest mind - nothing's deeper or higher. From that seat of consciousness, a world comes through our senses. Consciousness can focus and make you more aware of certain things than others - so watch where your consciousness is getting drawn to. Meditation is the way to the root of yourself. Singer says you are the answer - not the mind or anything external. Be the answer and everything will change
Consciousness is about inner energy. The same energy that wells up in our heart when we are in love. We don't feel that same energy which fills us up most times - because we block it. We close our heart, our mind and pull ourselves into a restrictive space inside. We need flow of energy always. It is always there, available to us but can't get in because we block it. When we love someone we trust them and our walls come down, We feel high energy when they do things we like and when they do something we don't like, we don't feel the high of love. We have closed our heart. When energy can't flow through we experience darkness - a tremendous disturbance or lethargy.
Since we all have our energy inside us, all we need to do is open up and let it flow. Our energy needs openness and receptivity. Opening allows energy, closing blocks it. Singer suggests that we do the opposite when we typically close our hearts. Keep opening. Our inner energy is the most important thing in our life. It brings us love, enthusiasm, excitement, energy and creates vibes and harmonies.
The heart is an energy centre. Our senses send images of the world, and when we resist them, we block them. Just let them pass through, don't store. When we experience them, we grow. When we resist, it gets stored. These energy patterns get held. When energy can't make it through the mind because of conflict with other thoughts, it tries to release through the heart through emotional activity. It stays as samskaras or unfinished energy patterns. To avoid this, energy must keep moving. Clinging to positive thoughts or memories creates positive samskaras. Release them and create positive energy. Let them pass. Don't cling or push it away. Just allow life to pass through your being. Its a process of purification. Let go. Flow. Open your heart. Don't close.
To grow, there should be only one of you inside. One you that contains all parts. When you're no longer willing to identify with that part of you that separates into a million pieces, you are ready for real growth. The reward for not protecting your psyche is liberation. Freedom. Consciousness has a tendency to focus on disturbances. Thoughts and emotions are just objects of consciousness. Let go when energy shifts to defensive. Relax and release. Letting go means falling behind the energy instead of going into it. Your centre of consciousness is always stronger than the energy pulling at it. Be centred with small things.
If you have a lot of fear, you won't like change. Change can be frightening as well as exciting. We keep our fears safe and try to keep all things that poke that fear away from it. It creates a me-versus-you situation. Our attempts to protect ourselves from our problems create more problems. Don't fight with life. Accept that it's not under control. That which is blocked within you forms the root of fear. Fear is caused by blockages in energy flow. Spiritual evolution is removing the blocks that cause fear. It will defend when you do stuff that disturbs it. If someone stimulates fear in us they did something wrong. You make sure they don't do it again. Let the pain come up and pass through.
Surrender yourself to the process of emptying yourself. When your stuff gets hit, let go right then because later it gets harder to let go. Become aware that there's something in you that needs to be released. You are separate from that presence. If you don't let go immediately it becomes the focus of your consciousness. When a blockage gets hit, open up.
Our spiritual journey is about constant transformation. Don't struggle to remain the same, embrace it. Take out the thorn. It completely ruins your life. Don't keep it and work around it. Don't make allowance for thorns. You don't want the weakest part of you running your life. Sit in the self. The world cannot touch you then. Decide that you don't want to suffer, that you want to enjoy your life. Shut out suffering. Stop having constant issues with your psyche which is always about me me me. Get out of that insecurity, stop protecting yourself. Make a healthy psyche.
External changes won't solve the root of the problem. Success is never having to think of your psyche. Your psyche is an addiction - making demands of you. Live without fear of the psyche. Stop expecting the mind to fix your problems. Don't fight it. Just don't listen to it. Be quiet. Watch the mind. Begin with little things. Just be. You don't have to do anything.
Pain is the price of freedom. Make peace with pain. Don't avoid pain. Psyche wants to avoid pain. If you avoid pain, then pain runs your life. View inner pain as a temporary shift in energy flow. Pull back. Let the disturbances pass through. Accept their pain in your heart. When you are comfortable with pain, you are free.
The inner breakthrough comes when you realise you are only defending your walls - there's nothing else to defend. True freedom is on the other side of the walls. Go past where you are beyond boundaries, limitations. The mind tells you to stay in the comfort zone - inside boundaries. go beyond the borders of the cage. No mental boundaries. Spiritual evolution is when you decide you never stop trying. You end up loving the edges. Let go of false solidity.
Our thoughts, emotions etc are not solid. We live our entire life based on the model we built for ourself. Our only way out is as the witness. no need for false solidity.
Follow the path of unconditional happiness. Be happy - that's all. Commit to unconditional happiness. To stay happy understand your inner energies. Don't close your heart.
When we resist the flow of life. it causes stress. It is the fearful mind that resists. Let go of your resistance. The way to work with resistance is through relaxing. When you have trouble with something - think of death. Appreciate what you have. Live as though you are on the verge of death. You waste your energy in the extremes. When you don't participate in the swings, energies will find their balance. You have no preferences. You are in effortless action. Find the balance of the centre, harmonies.
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Singer puts across the fundamental idea of the cause of our suffering and how to transcend it very lucidly in simple ways. To know you are not the mind, you are not the drama, and be the witness. To not fear and protect ourselves and thereby live in fear all through. To not close our hearts, but open them. To not resist, but to flow and to relax and release. It makes immense sense and can change your life almost instantly if you practice the fundamental ideas.
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