Knowledge and Religion

On The Death of Your Child

One of the most painful experiences for parents is the death of their child. Pippin, the child of my friends, was at the beach for his eleventh birthday party. He was playing in a sand cave when it collapsed. He suffocated in the sand and passed away.

You may be wondering, where you can find an answer that is deep enough to bring relief from the emotional pain caused by the death of your child, without numbing yourself to this experience of death. I am sure that you can see an answer, limited to the thoughts in your mind, could never take you deep enough to face this shock.

Finding a resolve in the depths of meditation
The only way to find a resolve for this experience is in the depths of your meditation, and in your spiritual practice. Here you can stand in your original nature and see the essence of life itself. Here you can see from where life springs forth and into what it returns. Like the depths of the ocean, you stand below the waves of the mind, where the storms above are just a speck in the substance of your being.

It is standing in the place where you intuitively feel that you were never born and that you will never die. Even now this is what you are. You just looked right pass the Consciousness and Love that you really are and took yourself to be an object that you see: a body and a few thoughts in your mind. But objects are too small, they just don’t fit. Besides, they are born and they will pass away.

Can you find the still essence that sees the changes to your body and mind; that was there before you were born and will be there long after your body is committed to the ground? You cannot see this place like you see an object or thought. So you have to know your essence in a different way. You know it by taking off the limitations that you see, like worn out clothes. These limitations are just objects in your awareness; they are not you. You then let your identity return to its original place, which is space-like Consciousness and Love.

Your connection is by love
From here you will see that birth and death do not occur to you. They are just specks in that which has no limits. You will see that the substance that binds you to your child is the love that comes right from your heart. The form of the child may come and go, but this connection remains the same. That love is what you are. It pours out from your own being and can never be limited to a form.

 Love is not the opposite of thoughts
Also, it is not the opposite of the shock waves in your mind. So you can allow yourself to morn and still be a peace. But I am sure that the child would never wish you to spend the rest of your life in misery. So you can become a little more like the child that you lost, and remain as the love that comes right from your heart. You can never maintain the connection with your child in your mind; after all your thoughts are always changing. But here, abiding as the still Consciousness and Love that you really are, this connection will never pass away.

Your child is just a visitor that comes and stays for a small moment in time. Your body and mind are the same. But here, even in the direst of circumstances you can celebrate what you really are and what your child really is too. In this essence you will find oneness that will never pass away. This is what every situation, whether it seems to be good or bad, points to. This is the real fulfillment of life.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Question everything
Here I always encourage questions. People take too much for granted about the world, their body, mind, and their nature. Questioning encourages you to take a fresh look. Looking afresh, once again life becomes fresh and a real adventure. Without changing a thing, everyday experiences become completely new. If you need help with your questions you can write me at 
michael@light-up-your-life.com.

Please join us
Every Tuesday we hold a meeting here in our house in Los Gatos California. All too often it is only my wife and I that attend. But we still have a wonderful time. If you find yourself in this area and would like to attend here is a link where you can find more information

www.light-up-your-life.com/talks.html

Other resources available to you
If you need a more basic understanding of this Self-Knowledge or if you just want support for your practice, go to www.light-up-your-life.com and read down the main column. Also check out the different links that we provide as resources. They can help you to sharpen the focus of your meditation practice.

Another resource that we offer is the book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a step by step guide taking you from your everyday experience to the highest wisdom and truth. To find out more, click on the link below:

wisdom.light-up-your-life.com

To join our mailing list go to: http://www.light-up-your-life.com/join.html

Please Tell Your Friend
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

You have my best wishes,

Michael Gluckman

A meditation on happiness, a natural relief for stress

Since many people are finding life quite stressful these days, I thought I would share this note that I wrote to Sabir:

Hi Sabir,

It is good to hear from you again. When you ask a question about the materialistic world and how people are distracted and worried about their daily problems and their mind, it shows that you have a good sense of where happiness comes from.

Achievements do not guarantee happiness 
This is the Self calling you back to the source. What people achieve in the world will only last for a short period of time. Not only that, their achievements cannot guarantee their happiness. That's because achievement cannot provide what it doesn't have. Happiness comes from the inside, the place where you actually experience it, not from what you achieve.

Stress comes when you are afraid of failing. Now you can't always control if you succeed or fail, but you can always abide in the peace and happiness that's at your core.

Where do you experience happiness
So when you feel happy and at peace, meditate on where you actually experience this happiness. Does it come from the world and what you see, or does it come from what you are?

Peace is closer than a state of mind
And when you feel tense and stressed out know that peace is not far away. You can find this peace faster than you can change your mind. That's because peace is not a state of mind. You are not trying to get your mind just right. That's an endless task. Awareness is the source of this peace. The very fact that you are Aware of the stress means that you are free of it, not caught in its grip.

So meditate like this: When you are happy and at peace, note where you actually experience this happiness and peace. And when you are stressed out, notice that you are Awareness and not a state of mind. Stand here and see if stress can really bother you.

The nice thing about this meditation is that you can do it all of the time, whether sitting, standing, walking or lying down. It does not require any particular posture. Still spend some time meditating on what's really important.

Find lasting peace right in this lifetime
Remember, life is short and death comes sooner than you think. So find the state that is unaffected by the changes in your body and mind. It is your real identity. Finding this place, you will find a freedom that lasts forever, right in this lifetime.

If you find that there is a specific set of thoughts or events that seem to trigger your stress tell me. Perhaps I can help you to untangle yourself from that too.

Question everything
Here I always encourage questions. People take too much for granted about the world, their body, mind, and their nature. Questioning encourages you to take a fresh look. Looking afresh, once again life becomes fresh and a real adventure. Without changing a thing, everyday experiences become completely new. If you need help with your questions you can write me at 
michael@light-up-your-life.com.

Please join us
Every Tuesday we hold a meeting here in our house in Los Gatos California. All too often it is only my wife and I that attend. But we still have a wonderful time. If you find yourself in this area and would like to attend here is a link where you can find more information

www.light-up-your-life.com/talks.html

Other resources available to you
If you need a more basic understanding of this Self-Knowledge or if you just want support for your practice, go to www.light-up-your-life.com and read down the main column. Also check out the different links that we provide as resources. They can help you to sharpen the focus of your meditation practice.

Another resource that we offer is the book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a step by step guide taking you from your everyday experience to the highest wisdom and truth. To find out more, click on the link below:

wisdom.light-up-your-life.com

To join our mailing list go to: http://www.light-up-your-life.com/join.html

Please Tell Your Friend
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

You have my best wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Finding what is truly present

Bernard has the following questions and comments:

Hello Michael,

In my meditation and walk today the following thoughts came up which I would like to share and get your comment.

It started with the thought ‘ who am I’ . It is an old question that often comes up and helps me go deeper.

I very quickly raced through the usual stuff like I am not my body, emotions and mind and that because I am aware of all these aspects I must be deeper and be the awareness. I remember also your statement to me some time ago that even when this body/mind being is asleep , awareness does not disappear.

So this is where my meditation started.
 
If awareness is primary and never disappears even at death then body, emotions, mind and personality or ego which is attached to these functions is also not who I truly am………….so why do we make such a big fuss and get involved with our emotional reactions which clearly don’t even belong to who I am.

If all I am is awareness and awareness is not even personal then awareness is everywhere and clearly is what I like to call the ‘eye of God’.

Then if that’s who I am then I AM GOD and not this personal being called Bernard.

While I seem to be getting closer to the reality of all this I can’t deny the fact that I still also feel quite human. I still do have great pleasure in eating good food , in making love to my wife , in walking in the mountains etc and find that I still can get stressed by difficult situations even when I know that it is not who I am.

So what the above seems to be saying is that while I AM GOD I don’t really know that because my experience of being God is not really complete and I probably would not know this experience because it is not an experience.

 My experience right now is that I recognize that I am not the ego even though I can’t help having an egoistic experience.

 That what happens around me is the consequences of my God self singing its song and showing up in all the ways that my life exposes itself to my awareness. So I am in awe of the way my God Self is presenting itself to my ego self. I keep my ego self under surveillance so that it doesn’t take itself too seriously and allow the joy of this magical process be with me as often as I can.

              Warm greeting,

                      Bernard

Hi Bernard,

Thank you for all of these questions. Just remember that your Self-Nature cannot be held by words or thoughts. At the most the words can point to an experience that you have before the words are even formed.

The answer to questions like: “Who am I,” comes from being very present. Everybody knows what they are supposed to experience: a person with a body and mind, who lives in a world with a family, and has a job as a doctor etc.

Self Inquiry lets you look afresh
Self inquiry gives you the opportunity to look afresh and see if that’s what you actually experience. So when you meditate on a statement like: “I am not the body,” take your time with it. You might ask questions like, “When I close my eyes do I really sense a body in a world.” For instance everyone knows that when you close your eyes the world is there but you don’t see it, right?

But what is your direct experience anyway? When you aren’t looking, is the world there but you don’t see it, or is the world gone? Go by your own experience and not by what’s supposed to be true. See, it’s not that your sense of reality disappears. That’s because reality comes from your Awareness and not from the body or the world.

Does a thought really exist?
A great Buddhist example of this type of presence comes from a student in China talking with his master, the Second Patriarch. He asked, “Master my mind is bothering me.” The master replied, “Give me your mind and I will cure it.” The student said, “But I can’t find my mind!” Good then I have cured it,” replied the Second Patriarch. At that moment the student woke up and became the Third Patriarch.

Isn’t it ironic that so many people are bothered by their mind, but so few people look to see if they actually have one? Thoughts are very illusive; when you look to see what they are, they disappear. The thing that makes the mind seem so real is Awareness and not thoughts.

When you enjoy life what are you actually enjoying?
When you enjoy good food, or making love with your wife, or walking in the mountains, aren’t you actually enjoying this sense of presence? Isn’t the enjoyment coming from something that is deeper, more immediate, and more intimate than you can put your finger on, something that you can’t quite grasp with your mind?

On the other hand if you are walking in the mountain on a beautiful day and all of the sudden you realize that you forgot a very important appointment at the office, your experience will change. As you rush back, thoughts and fears are rushing through your mind about what people will think when you don’t show up on time.

Remember you are still walking through the same beautiful mountains but now your experience is completely different. So does your experience of peace come from an object, the mountain, or is it coming from deep within you? Moreover, as you grow spiritually you will find that the experiences that are supposed to be stressful are not stressful at all. The big stress eliminator is recognizing that you are what you are looking for. Then you will see that there is nothing outside your Self-Nature that can add to your happiness, and nothing that can snatch it away. This is one of the results of the magic of spiritual practice.

Is there really a thing called an ego?
The whole time that you think you are experiencing a person with a separate ego you are actually experiencing God. In fact in reality nothing stands apart from God. The feeling of separation is just imagination, like the perceptions of separate people in a day dream.

Ramana Maharshi talked about the screen in a movie. No matter what goes on in the movie like wars, love scenes, and bustling cities, when you reach out to touch the movie, you touch only the screen.

In the same way, no matter what you experience, the thing that makes it seem so real is Awareness. In reality there is no separate person experiencing events in a world. There is only God experiencing God or the Self experiencing the Self. There is not a big self at war with a little self, or God at war with an ego, only God.

Then what is self inquiry?
When you inquire, “Who am I,” you do not bring forth a brand new self; you only discover what you were experiencing the whole time. When you look to see what the ego or ‘I’ thought really is, you find that nothing was really there. Your Self-Nature is so close that you just looked right past it and assumed that reality belonged to the objects that you see. But now you see that the eye of God is really your eye, and with the eye of God, you can return reality to its source.

The magic of this process is that since things are different than you think, your experiences become fresh and new. It is as if you are experiencing life for the first time just as it really is. That is the presence I am talking about here.

Please let me know if this answers your questions or if it raises more questions.

Question everything
Here I always encourage questions. People take too much for granted about the world, their body, mind, and their nature. Questioning encourages you to take a fresh look. Looking afresh, once again life becomes fresh and a real adventure. Without changing a thing, everyday experiences become completely new. If you need help with your questions you can write me at 
michael@light-up-your-life.com.

Please join us
Every Tuesday we hold a meeting here in our house in Los Gatos California. All too often it is only my wife and I that attend. But we still have a wonderful time. If you find yourself in this area and would like to attend here is a link where you can find more information

www.light-up-your-life.com/talks.html

Other resources available to you
If you need a more basic understanding of this Self-Knowledge or if you just want support for your practice, go to www.light-up-your-life.com and read down the main column. Also check out the different links that we provide as resources. They can help you to sharpen the focus of your meditation practice.

Another resource that we offer is the book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a step by step guide taking you from your everyday experience to the highest wisdom and truth. To find out more, click on the link below:

wisdom.light-up-your-life.com

To join our mailing list go to: http://www.light-up-your-life.com/join.html

Please Tell Your Friend
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

You have my best wishes,

Michael Gluckman

Getting to the source of reality

The joy of meditation is that it allows you to dive under the surface of the world, and experience the substance that makes it seem so real. You might ask, “Why do you say that it is something else that makes the world seem real? Isn’t it self evident that the world is real?”

Yes, at any moment when you experience the world it appears to be real. But you would have to agree that the world is constantly changing. Houses are built and houses are destroyed. The animals and people are born, grow, get old and die. The stock market is going up and down.

Not only is the world changing, but the one who seems to perceive the world changes too. For instance, your mind and senses are changing. They are sometimes sharp, sometimes dull, and sometimes in a completely different world like a day dream. But for all of this change the feeling of reality stays the same, doesn't it?

But pain seems very real
But you might object, “If I hit you in the head you will feel it and say: “Ouch!” doesn’t that prove that the world is real?” Yes, but if you hit me in the head in last night’s dream I would also say ouch. When the pain finally disappeared though, reality wouldn’t disappear, would it? And furthermore if you hit me hard enough, the world would disappear completely. But I wonder, “Would reality disappear along with the world?” This is what you can find out directly by your meditation.

The world changes, but what about reality?
Despite all of the changes that you see, the sense of reality doesn’t seem to change. This intuition comes from a very deep source. If in your meditation you can fathom the depths of reality you will find an answer that holds in old age, disease and death. It will hold no matter what the state of your body and mind; it does not depend on the situations that you find yourself in either.

Reality comes from what you are
Here is a hint that will help: Reality comes from what you are, not from what you see. If you can find the meaning of these words you will find yourself sitting in reality without the least possibility of separation. So good luck with your meditations and in your search for that which supports the whole universe.

Question everything
Here I always encourage questions. People take too much for granted about the world, their body, mind, and their nature. Questioning encourages you to take a fresh look. Looking afresh, once again life becomes fresh and a real adventure. Without changing a thing, everyday experiences become completely new. If you need help with your questions you can write me at 
michael@light-up-your-life.com.

Please join us
Every Tuesday we hold a meeting here in our house in Los Gatos California. All too often it is only my wife and I that attend. But we still have a wonderful time. If you find yourself in this area and would like to attend here is a link where you can find more information

www.light-up-your-life.com/talks.html

Other resources available to you
If you need a more basic understanding of this Self-Knowledge or if you just want support for your practice, go to www.light-up-your-life.com and read down the main column. Also check out the different links that we provide as resources. They can help you to sharpen the focus of your meditation practice.

Another resource that we offer is the book, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a step by step guide taking you from your everyday experience to the highest wisdom and truth. To find out more, click on the link below:

wisdom.light-up-your-life.com

To join our mailing list go to: http://www.light-up-your-life.com/join.html

Please Tell Your Friend
Please tell you friends. Although we don’t have an advertising budget, we hope that everyone who wants to can find out about and wake up to this wisdom.

You have my best wishes,

Michael Gluckman