Knowledge and Religion

Are You Sure Of Your Knowledge

Self-knowledge is a unique and wonderful study. For instance if you study birds, you do not become the birds. If you study nuclear physics you do not become nuclear energy. But here you become the Self that you always are.

Here knowledge and bliss pull you inward, while intolerance for limitation and suffering push you towards the source.

Once you know that you can be free beyond your wildest dreams, and that suffering is not your normal state, I recommend that you challenge even the smallest amount of suffering and limitation that you face. Why wait till later to gain your natural state of freedom?

Some forms of suffering like those connected with the emotions can seem to hit you over the head. Other forms may seem to be subtler like golden chains instead of iron chains.

I recommend that you look into even subtler forms of limitation like attachment to the intellect. That’s because even attachment to the intellect is a limitation compared to what you are. Remember you see your intellect. It is just an object in your Awareness and not you, because you are not an object.

The intellect is the more definite part of your mind. It is the part that knows. It is the knowledge of mathematics, science, medicine, printing, and all of the other reserves of knowledge that dwell in your mind. When it comes to making decisions your emotions might hem and haw. But your intellect knows; it is decisive. With your intellect you are able to perceive a situation, sum up its parts, and decide the best path of action.

For instance if you were president of the United States, you would listen to your advisors and your own preferences, weigh them, and make your decisions. This is the function of the intellect.

If you are proud of your intellectual knowledge, you should know some of its limitations. First, it is possible to make the wrong decision. This alone can get you in lots of trouble. Just ask a recent president if you can.

Secondly, relative knowledge is never complete. As people discover more information in your field, you constantly have to keep up with your learning so you don’t fall behind. This is a never-ending chore.

And thirdly your mind can change. I know a brilliant scientist who holds many patents. But now he has Alzheimer’s disease. Now, it is as if all his knowledge is gone. Here’s a side note though; his love is still there.

Now I love to read and learn new things. As long as I can in my life I will keep exploring and learning. The more I learn the more amazing I find this universe to be.

But the fact that I know my knowledge as well as my ignorance, and that I see the changes that occur to my mind is even more fascinating. That’s because this indicates that I stand beyond the limitations of my intellect as the seer.

So next we will talk about memory. Is it memory that provides the continuity that we experience in our life? Just continue to follow what I am saying as we trace Awareness back to its source where it is free of limitations.

When we are done with this series of blogs, I hope that you will be standing at the summit of wisdom. That’s because you are that Awareness and not the limitations that you see. So please stay tuned. If you find this series of blogs helpful don’t forget to tell your friends.

And of course, if you find yourself suffering or feeling limited in any way, just ask questions. Then when I talk about the mind, I can talk about the things that bother you, and about how you can be free. And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com.

Best Wishes For a Happy and Healthy New Years,

Michael

Learning to Unlearn

Comment From Chris,

************************************************************************************************************************

These blogs are so great. Such Freedom, Knowledge and Truth. It all flows so naturally. Just like water. I really appreciate your willingness to talk about your own experiences. For some reason I find this very helpful. Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO GO OVER ALL OF THE DETAILS! I find this incredibly important. And thank you for helping us to remember who we really are and what is really true. Not just a theory or thought but the truth its self. All the way. Thank you for reminding us to 'not tolerate anything less than complete freedom.' Your true sincere desire to help all to become completely awake is very evident in your teaching. I am surprised you are not world famous for the truth you so willingly share, and with such love. You really are a true Guru because you help those understand what is already true. Always pointing to the heart. Thank you. Great Blogs. And thanks for your e-mail. You are truly an inspiring truth.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Today I want to continue with the mind. Just a reminder that the theme of this series of blogs is that whatever you see you are not. So when you discover how your mind works, and why you respond to life the way you do, you prove that you are free of the mind’s condition. The only time you are stuck in the mind is when you pretend not to see.

There are two advantages of looking into the reason for your responses to life. First, get out of your ruts by broadening your possibilities for responding to life. Second, you lose the definitions of yourself such as, “This is just the way I think,” or “This is just the way I respond.” Definitions like these keep you limited where you are meant to be free.

So how can you possibly get the perspective necessary to become aware of why you respond to life the way you do? Yesterday we showed you how to look at what you hope to get out of situations when you react the way you do.

Today we will take a look at what we picked up from the past. For instance, I was born into a Jewish family right after World War II. We never wanted to face that kind of persecution again. So I remember seeing films of concentration camps etc. as I grew up. But as I grew older there was a certain fear that I lived by and I just didn’t know why.

This fear was the reason that I took martial arts and kept a wall around myself like a fortress. It also led to awkwardness in my relationships. Then I started having glimpses where the world was actually inside of me. The freer I got the more I felt like a bull in a china shop. This was a call for me to look at something.

Then I saw that much of the fear that I felt was my belief in a hostel world, a world that I had to protect myself against. Because of my fear, I tried to create a shell to keep the world out. The movies that I saw as a child started to flash through my mind as if God wanted me to see them and release them.

I was surprised by how many of my reactions were a responses to the presumption that the world was a hostile place. Even when I was nice it was an attempt to placate people who at best I was unsure of. Once I saw where my fear was coming from I was easily able to release it. I felt waves of bliss and a feeling of closeness to everything. What I had glimpsed in flashes became my experience. 

In truth there are no opposites. When I let go of my fear I was able to see this clearly. Another example from my own practice was relationships. I noticed that I picked up a lot of my views on relationships from my parents, and I acted in relationships just the way they did.

Of course when I was growing up I thought the way my parents related was the only way to relate. But when I took a fresh look I saw that the way my parents related was one possibility, not the only way to relate. Like these examples, I found that looking afresh at the views that I picked up and called my own, was an easy way to see my views and let them go.

Well, I hope that you can use these examples to help you free yourself from those things that keep you in a rut and feeling limited. When you let go like this, you get to taste the wisdom and bliss that you were born with.

There are two reasons that I like to talk about myself. First so you can see that I was not born on a lotus. That I had plenty of concepts to examine and let go of. And second, if I can wake up you can easily wake up too.

The one strength I had was that I was curious. I was willing to ask questions where I really didn’t know the answer. I was willing to explore where their were no guarantees that I would find an answer.

In that light I hope you are curious too, and will ask lots of questions. If you find yourself suffering or feel limited in any way, just ask questions. Then when I talk about the mind, I can talk about the things that bother you, and about how you can be free.

And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com. And if you enjoy reading this blog, don’t forget to tell your friends.

Next we will continue with another aspect of this mind, the intellect, the part of your mind that is very definite in its opinions and conclusions. Is that who you are? Stay tuned.

Best Wishes,

Michael

End Anger and Fear Now

So today I want to continue with the emotions. How to free yourself from the automatic responses that that the emotions seem to provoke. How many times during my practice did I think, “How am I ever going to see why I react to life the way I do? My emotions fire so fast.”

I know that I spend a lot of time with these little details. That's because at the end, I want you to know fully that the consciousness and bliss, that you are looking for, is just who you are. It is not some theory. Self-knowledge really ends suffering. At the end you see that you are that Consciousness and not some thoughts in the mind that thinks about consciousness.

Although looking at these details brings about surprising and freeing changes in your life, you should know that the beauty of this path is that you can wake up at any moment and find freedom. That’s because you are already Consciousness. That, which you will see at the end, is the reality right now.

Now for these emotions that seemed to be the bane of my joy. The key for me was to see why I was responding the way I did. Several things helped me to get enough distance from my emotional states so I didn’t feel totally caught up and identified with them.

First, when I remembered that my most basic desire is to run towards happiness and away from suffering, I started see what I hoped to get out of these emotional states.

I found that my anger towards my boss and my girl friend came from the feeling that they were blocking my path to happiness. In this case the anger was really the energy to find the happiness that I already had by my own nature. Throwing my happiness outside, it then seemed to be blocked by people who had other ideas of where my happiness should be. The anger was pent-up energy resulting from the feeling of being starved for happiness. It was my desire to get back to my natural state.

My other reaction to this feeling of being starved for happiness was to run away from what I thought was an obstacle to my happiness. At that time I had many girlfriends and many bosses. I thought that changing my jobs and changing my girlfriends were the ways to escape my feelings of limitation. By recognizing this I was able to return my happiness to its source. Here the feelings of anger and running away both magically disappeared. Without me even trying.

Here I was purposely a little sketchy because I wasn’t proud of my life at that time. But if you can recognize these patterns holding your life hostage, and if you can use this information to free yourself from these patterns then I am glad I mentioned them.

That’s because unobstructed happiness is your birthright and you should expect nothing less. For more information on the place of happiness go to www.light-up-your-life.com and see, “The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You.”

Tomorrow we will go into how what we learned about the world from the past could affect our present experiences. Just remember that you are meant to be free of suffering. Do not tolerate anything less than complete freedom.

So if you find yourself suffering in any way, just ask questions. Then when I talk about emotions, I can talk about the things that bother you and about how you can be free. And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com. And if you enjoy reading this blog, don’t forget to tell your friends.

Best Wishes,

Michael

Freedom in Your Emotions

Today, as I promised, we are going to get back to the nature of the mind. And our focus will be the emotions. But before you take the mind and emotions too seriously go back to our first blog, “What is my mind anyway”, December 19. When you look for the mind it is even hard to find.

Yet when you feel boxed in by your thoughts and caught in a morass of suffering the mind seem very solid, serious, and real. Just know that when you see limitation and suffering it is not a sign that you are caught in it. It is a sign that you are on your way to freedom. That’s because you are the seer of your mind, and not the limitations that you see.

It is only when you are so sure that you know what life is, what you mind is, and what you are, that suffering seems to continue. Example, when you think, “I know I suffer with these thoughts but this is just the way my mind works and I can’t do a thing about it.”

But then you read that your nature is freedom and not suffering, a little crack appears. The light starts to come in. You wonder, “How can I be free of the limitations that have bothered me all of my life?” Enlightenment is not a theoretical state. It really is the end of your suffering.

We are blessed with a whole range of emotions from love of others, to anger and hatred. Although we usually talk about the biggies like love, anger, fear, lust, sadness, and hatred etc., some emotions are very subtle mixtures of these. For instance anger-love. If your child is about to run out in front of a car you may yell, “No!” in an emphatic voice. But of course love is the main emption there mixed with anger.

Emotions help you to respond to life. So the aim of enlightenment is not to put an end to emotions. In fact when you wake up you may have a richer experience of emotions. When Jesus got angry at the money lenders in the temple it was not a sign that he wasn’t enlightened. It was a sign that he was awake and alert to what was going on.

I hope you see that the aim of enlightenment isn’t to become so dull that you don’t experience your emotions at all. If you wanted to do that you could just take a bunch of tranquilizers. But you don’t have to take tranquilizers. You can just let your cup overflow with the richness of all the emotions that God gave us.

So then, where is the problem. Emotions are meant to be in harmony with the situations in life. If your wife dies, sadness may well up. If someone attacks your family as you walk down the street you may respond with anger. That is fine. But when you find that emotions arise that are not in harmony with life and they seem to keep you bottled up, that’s the time to take a look.

An example may be if you are home in the evening with your wife and you feel angry for no reason at all, or when your emotions seem to carry over from your job to your home. That’s when it’s time to take a look. Now you may say, “These emotions rise so fast that I can’t really see what’s causing them.” But the truth is that you know exactly what’s causing them. If you didn’t see the cause, you wouldn’t have that emotion. So in tomorrow’s blog I am going to give you some hints from my own practice. How to see the whys of the emotions that cause suffering.

Once you get to see the why of these emotions, you will see your life change in ways that you never could have predicted. And in your surprise, you will find your freedom.

So if you find yourself suffering in any way, just ask questions. Then when I talk about emotions, I can talk about the things that bother you, and about how you can be free. And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com. And if you enjoy reading this blog, don’t forget to tell your friends.

Best Wishes,

Michael

Happy Holidays

Here is a quote from the Gospel of Thomas:

(18) The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us how our end will be.” Jesus said, “Have you discovered, then, the beginning that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who takes his place it the beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death.”

This means that you are blessed because you stand before the birth of the body; the life of the body passes through you, and at the death of the body you remain. Find out how you are Aware of the changes to the body and mind. 

The “Good News” is that if you can take your rightful place as this Awareness you are what Jesus is. You then stand as a single one.

Best Wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a joyous new year as you find the freedom that has always been yours.

Comment from Chris:

Thank You Michael. These blogs are great. This is like online Satsang. This is really great. I have a quick question: From my experience Self Knowledge is the most direct, to the point, simple and un-mystifying way to Direct Enlightenment, so how do spiritual aspirants attain enlightenment on other paths? Would it be true to say that while the method may be less direct and perhaps less effective, that ultimately through their practice they will have the experience of Self Knowledge? Almost like doing something else for a while and then kind of stumbling across their own self knowledge?

Yes Chris, it is possible to stumble over your own self-nature but it is very rare. That is because the very assumption of most paths is that you are a limited imperfect person trying to get to a better state.

Even if you stumbled into the peace and wisdom of your own being, you would blame your joy on your path, your teacher, or your goal. As these things change so would your peace and wisdom seem to change.

See, on this path of self-knowledge you are not trying to obtain something new. Remember, what you obtain by your limited effort will surely disappear. If it is the lasting gem of wisdom, it must already be present, ripe for you to harvest. You harvest it by being it.

So the “path” of self-knowledge is not really a path. It is more like a mirror showing you what you are already. Here is a story illustrating this point:

Ten boys on vacation decided to take a walk through the dense forest. They came to a stream and swam across. Just to be sure that all of the boys made it across, the leader counted them. Pointing to each boy the leader counted, one, two, three, four, five etc. up to the last boy, nine. One boy was missing. So the leader counted again and again with the same results.

The boys started to panic. Who was missing, and what could they do to get him back. They searched all over. They dove to the bottom of the stream and looked there. Did a snake eat the missing boy? What were they going to tell his parents. It was getting late and the boys were crying.

Finally an old man walked by and seeing their distress ask the boys what the problem was. As he sobbed the leader said, “There were ten of us and now there are only nine.” In an instant the old man saw the problem. He lined the boys up and said, “As I hit you over the head count.” One, two , three, four, five they counted up to nine and then he hit the leader over the head and the leader counted ten. The old man said, “Good I have found the tenth boy.”

At the news that the tenth boy was found the boys cheered up, and ran home in a happy mood. So what path could they take or what could they do to get the tenth boy back. No action on the part of the boys would work. The only thing that would work is the knowledge that the leader forgot to count himself. The old man just helped them to recognize what was always true.

This is a path where you find the one who is on the path. You get to that one by removing the assumptions of limitation that you may have. This gem of your own self-nature was never hidden or buried. It was always in plane view, you just overlooked it. The symbol of the Buddha with his hand open is the symbol that nothing is hidden.

So tomorrow we will get back to this discussion on the mind. What are emotions like anger and fear. You know the ones that seem to come up and bite us. So stay tuned to your own self-nature. Pay particular attention to these blogs. We don’t want self-realization to be a theory for you to think about. We want it to be your direct experience.

So if you find yourself suffering in any way, just ask questions so that you can be free. And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com. And if you enjoy reading this blog, don’t forget to tell your friends.

Best Wishes,

Michael

Undressing The Spiritual Image

Comments by Chris,

***************************************************************

Yeeeeeeeessssssssssss! FINALLY! THE TRUTH! THANK YOU MICHAEL! THIS

CRYSTAL WATER TASTES MUCH BETTER THAN THE SLUDGE AND MUCK OF INGNORANCE! FINALLY THE TRUTH! FREE AT LAST! WHEW HOO

Thank You so much. I feel awake just by reading this Truth. It feels like cool water. How potent it is. Dispelling the darkness that was never there! I love talking with you and feel so lucky and so happy. Reading your truth is great but actually practicing it is even more fun! I look forward to more practice! Ignorance! Look Out! I AM AWARNESS!

Boy Michael! Self Knowledge is funny! And True! It’s so funny when I take a look at myself! Especially when I look at what I think I am! That is the funniest part! I never knew that truth was so funny! This is funny! And true! What a comedy! Thank you Guru!

Today we are going to undress the spiritual image. You know, how should a spiritual person dress? What should you eat? How should you sit? How long should you meditate? How long should you sleep?

Now I can fold my legs up like a pretzel so in more than one occasion people would come up to me to me and say, “You must be very advanced spiritually.” When I asked why they would say, “Look at the way you are sitting.”

I’ve also heard of Zen schools where they say that in order to advance you have to sit properly. Does that mean that if your knees hurt your spiritual practice is shot? Once again here is an example where when you are old and stiff and need your spiritual practice the most, it would seem to slip away from you.

I found that people put on a spiritual image for a verity of reasons. One is out of love. We are not going to talk about that here, because love is always right. Whatever you do out of love, no matter how others might see it, is perfect.

Other people put on the image because they genuinely feel that these spiritual practices will take them to their goal. If your goal is self-knowledge then knowledge and self-discovery alone will take you to your goal. Action cannot take you to what you already have.

So live a life that is inspiring to you but remember that an unnatural life full of convoluted practices will not take you to the natural state. For instance, if someone advises you to sit and meditate for four hours a day and you find yourself falling asleep then a much shorter meditation, where you are alert, would be in order. It might not look as good to others, but you will discover the waking state by being awake and alert and not by going to sleep. One little note here. If you do fall asleep you do not leave Awareness. Just notice that when you wake up.

Because of my constitution, it is easy for me to eat vegetarian. I like it because it reminds me of compassion for all living beings. But if someone tried to imitate me with a different constitution, they could practically kill themselves with no spiritual benefit at all. Take care of your body and use this life that God gave you to wakeup and be free.

Some people attempt to put on a spiritual image so that they will be accepted buy their fellow aspirants. My teacher used to tell me, “Why do you want an image when you can have the real thing.” When you wake up you will find that you are everyone so you won’t need everyone’s approval then. So why run after acceptance now. Besides the way to gain many people’s approval is remain caught in limitation. But if you think for yourself, you will find unimaginable freedom that comes right from the source. Isn’t that enough of a reward? Or do you also need an award from the charters in last night’s dream?

If you drop spiritual images that you use to run after acceptance, will you lose some of your friends? The answer is probably yes. When you are just yourself people who loved you because of your image will move away; but you will find others who love you for who you really are. Those friendships are a lot more valuable and a lot more relaxing. It’s a lot of work and a lot of tension to try and keep up an image.

Finally some people put on an image so they will look like a spiritual teacher or master. Sometimes they do this to gain power over others. Yes, if you put on the right image, you might fool some people. But can you really fool yourself? I wonder how it must feel when no one is around and you have to face yourself. The ironic thing is that you assume that somehow you are deficient. To compensate for your feeling of deficiency you put on an image. But if you find yourself you will find that there's no deficiency after all.

If you find yourself caught in the drudgery of trying to live up to a spiritual image, take off the image. Undress yourself. Once you are free of the image you will be in a position to find who you really are. The surprise and the joy that you will find when you discover yourself is much better than any image you could put on. So welcome to your new home. Just relax and be yourself.

Tomorrow, I think, we will talk about a verse or two from one of the gospels, probably the Gospel of Thomas. After that we will get back to this thing called a mind and talk about “negative emotions”. You know, those things that seem to come out of nowhere and cause all kinds of problems and suffering. Pay particular attention to these blogs. We don’t want self-realization to be a theory for you to think about. We want it to be your direct experience.

So if you find yourself suffering in any way, just ask questions so that you can be free. And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com. And if you enjoy reading this blog, don’t forget to tell your friends.

Best Wishes,

Michael

I Can’t

When I first started studying Vedanta with Swami Chinmayananda, I understood that happiness could be found inside where you actually experience it, and not in the objects that you see. I also got a sense of where Consciousness must lie. But there was one thing that he would always say that I could never quite grasp, “Get rid of your Vasanas.” For you who do not know Sanskrit, Vasanas are tendencies. I used to think, “What are my tendencies.”

Now for all of you who think that you can’t do this, that waking up to your natural state is much too difficult, you should have seen how I started out. I was a martial artist jock without one introverted bone in my body.

I knew how to bicycle up steep hills, and lift bags of concrete, but I didn’t have a clue about how to look at myself. My first glimpse of looking within came during a college math class. At our first class the teacher talked on and on about all of this intricate stuff, and I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. My first thought was, “I can’t do this.”

But I caught my thinking and I thought, “This is just a thought. How do I know that I can’t?” I also knew that I didn’t want to replace this thought with, “I can.” This would just cause a big unnecessary thought struggle with, “I can’t” fighting, “I can”. So I just left an empty space there and I found that I could understand mathematics.

Although this struggle may seem humorous when you finally see what’s going on, I’ve seen people who are experts in their field, ten times brighter than I am, going through this struggle. And the result is that they feel miserable when they are at work.

“Ok”, you might say, “In relative things I can see your point. But in this Enlightenment, no one gets that. Only a few geniuses like Christ, and Buddha could possibly wake up. And if you read the Buddhist scriptures they talk about how the Buddha spent billions of life times serving other Buddhas. How could I possibly obtain enlightenment? I have plenty of good reason to feel, “I can’t.”

Well if I can be an example for you, I am far from a genius and I didn’t have the least idea what introspection was. If I can wake up anyone can. Many of these stories about the Buddha emitting multicolor lights and Jesus and the virgin birth etc. are written from the perspective of, “I can’t.”

I’ve read the words of many sages in many different traditions throughout history, and I never heard a sage proclaim, “I can but you can’t wake up.” In fact most of them say, “I made it much more difficult than it needed to be.” I am sure that when Jesus talked about, “The good news” it wasn’t that you can’t wake up.

Remember, people in this world have many desires. The reason more people don’t wake up is that they desire other things. But if you hear about Self-Knowledge and if you see the value in waking up to your own self nature, pursue it. You won’t be disappointed. You will also discover what people really desire when they desire the many things.

So finally in my practice I understood what my tendencies were. They were unexamined thought patterns like, “I can’t,” that I took to be true. The joy of searching out and destroying these thought patterns is that you get to feel lighter and freer. So tomorrow we will continue with our talks on the mind with, Undressing Spiritual Images. Here is your chance to really relax. So stayed tuned to your own self nature.

If you find yourself suffering in any way, just ask questions so that you can be free. And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com. And if you enjoy reading this blog, don’t forget to tell your friends.

Best Wishes,

Michael

You Have a License to Kill

Comment from George:
****************************************************************************************************************
BTW (by the way), in your blog of Dec 17, you mention O'Sensei Uyeshiba.  I actually met him and studied at his dojo in Tokyo in 1965-1966 (paving the way for Steven Segall - LOL).  Uyeshiba Sensei was truly amazing, and I agree with you about his subtle powers.  However, I did meet two Aikido masters who had them also, it seemed to me.  One was his student, Yamaguchi Sensei, a 7th Dan, with whom I studied in Kyoto.  The other was my Aikido teacher in Boston, where I studied in 67-68.  These guys all were seemingly able to defy so-called physical reality. (LOL means laughing out loud)

I've never seen 'strange' or 'subtle' powers in anyone else, before or since.  There's another fellow I read about, but never met, who was likewise amazing - named Vernon Kitabu Turner.  Supposedly defeated everyone he's ever fought - get this - with one finger!  (Of course the literature about individuals with extra-physical abilities is outrageously extensive, and virtually never documented.  But somehow, I believe it in the case of Vernon.  Other than that, the supposed clairvoyants and levitators and such just don't seem to exist.)

Well, enough for the moment.  I've got a couple more of your blogs to read now!
***************************************************************************************************************

Now to get into the mind. In this thing that is very hard to find there is a treasury of assumed limitations. We see these limitations anyway and that’s why we live by them, and that’s why we suffer. You should know that the limitations that you see are just thoughts, and not who you are or the way things are.

As long as I thought that the limitations in my mind were just me, or just life, or just the way my mind worked, it was very hard for me to see the conceptual frameworks that I lived by.

But then I discovered this principle. When you see a limitation it is proof that you are not that limitation. Remember you are the seer and not the objects that you see. Thoughts, and constructs of thoughts, called concepts, are just objects in your awareness and not you. So when you see a limitation it is not proof that you are stuck in it. It is proof that you are free of it.

With this understanding self judgment is dead and should be buried. And with the death of self judgment you are given the license to kill. So get out your weapon and let’s find and kill every concept that seems to keep us stuck in limitation.

Your weapon is the awareness which allows you to see your limitations. Remember that the seeing of the concept is the killing of the concept. Once you see the concepts you will see that they are not you, and with that knowledge their sting is gone.

Notice that I am not asking you to replace your concept with a “better one.” The seeing of the concept is good enough. When I would see a concept I would also get a sense of why I was living by it and what I hoped to get from it. Some of them were based on what I thought was self protection.

Once I understood my frameworks, they were dead. Now here’s the best part about this practice. The way you actually change is a surprise. The same situations that would come up and make me feel afraid, or feel awkward, wouldn’t. I would look back after these experiences with awe. Everything about the situation was the same except I felt perfectly at home.

Now I am sure you know of some spiritual practices where you replace the “bad thoughts” with the “good thoughts” or “the negative thoughts” with the positive thoughts”. Not here. Here you step out of thoughts completely and by your very nature you come to balance.

Tomorrow we will get more specific as we help you in your search and destroy mission. We will look into the famous, “I can’t.” and then undress the proper spiritual image.

When I first started my spiritual practice I meditated on where I could find happiness. Then I meditated on what was true. But what turned out to be the most fun part was when I started to search for, and destroy my conceptual limitations. Each time I found a limitation I felt so much freer. I felt like I could practice this way forever. But it turned out I didn’t have to.

So if you find yourself suffering in any way just ask questions, so that you can find your freedom. And of course your comments are always welcome. This blog is yours too. For more information go to www.light-up-your-life.com.

Best Wishes,

Michael

What is Spiritual Practice

I hope you all had fun as you tried to find your mind. Isn’t it amazing, the gap between what we’re suppose to experience and what we actually do experience. The good news is that “You are that”. If you want to shout something from the rooftops this is what you should shout. What you are looking for, you already are.

If you ask someone what’s the good news that Jesus talked about and they say, “You are a sinner.” it just doesn’t ring the same as if they said, “By your nature, you are free.” The most important thing for you to know about spiritual practice is that what you are looking for you already are.

But here’s the mix-up. You get to thinking, “If I am already free why should I practice. Why should I put in any energy? Doesn’t practice itself create limitation?

The answer is that by its very definition, the self is free from limitation and free from suffering. So if you feel limitation and suffering, then you should practice! Practice is not merely thinking about a beautiful philosophy. It is a shift in identity from the limitations of the body, mind, and sense of I, to that which is real.

It is like a character in a dream shifting his or her identity from the body and mind of the character, to become the mind that supports the whole dream. At that point the character wakes up.

Since freedom is not a state of mind, there is no outer sign of your freedom. The only sign is the peace that passes all understanding. That peace that has no opposite, no limitation, and no suffering in it. There you see that the sense of a limited I was just a mistake.

Now how hard should you practice to obtain this state? Ramana Maharshi, a sage from India, said that you should practice like a man being held under water fighting to get to the surface to breath.

He also said the one who practices gets burned up like the stick used to stir a funeral pyre during a cremation. At the end they throw the stick in and it gets burned up too.

Sri Sankaracharya, another great Indian sage said that It is rare to be born a human being. It is rarer to hear the truth of your own Self-Nature. To appreciate the value of this teaching, to find a competent teacher, and to practice this is even rarer. So while you are alive and have the opportunity, put in the energy so that you can have the joy of knowing yourself.

We will continue with the mind tomorrow. So stay tuned to your own Self Nature. And of course you are always welcome to ask questions and make comments. Our conversations make this blog yours too.

For more information go to, www.light-up-your-life.com.

Best Wishes,

Michael

What Is My Mind Anyway

We’ll if you’ve been picking up the theme of my recent blogs they are, what you see you are not. But what exactly do you see, anyway? After all if we are going to deal with this rogue mind, at least we should see what it is, right? How else will you know what you’re dealing with.

There are so many recommended methods of dealing with this mind. Which ones should we use? Should we use, “The Power of Positive Thinking”? Should we quiet our mind or attempt to control it? I think before we attempt to do anything with it, at least we should find out what it is.

When Buddhism first came to China there was a system of Patriarchs that started with Bodi Dharma and ended with the Sixth Patriarch. Here is one of my favorite conversations that they had. 

Student, “Master my mind is bothering me.”

Master, “Then give me your mind and I will cure it.”

Student, “But I can’t find my mind.”

Master, “Good then I have cured it.”

The point of this conversation is that people are so busy attempting to deal with this thing called mind that they never take a look to see what it is. So perhaps before I add more theories to this already overcrowded area, we can at least see what our thoughts are – You know, the thoughts that say, “What is this guy talking about, anyway?”

What color are they, red or green? What shape are they, round or square? Why not take a look and tomorrow when we continue you’ll be ready for any theories that I may put fourth.

And of course you are always welcome to ask questions and make comments. But before you do that, I want to know what color and shape those thoughts are. Our conversations make this blog yours too. So stay tuned for more on the mind, whatever that is.

For more information go to, www.light-up-your-life.com.

Best Wishes,

Michael