Bernard has the following question on how to make decisions:
Hi Bernard,Today I realized on my dog walk that there is still one question that I have not resolved and it is about decision making. While awareness is always present and I understand that this is the overarching activity during the course of the day I must still make decisions. Some are minor like deciding to brush my teeth and others are major like deciding what advice to give patients with major difficulties or business decisions regarding partnership. According to Ester Veltheim (apparently an enlighten being) and many other masters we have no control. While my experience is that the mind is what I call ‘the thought machine’ and that my any decision I make is ‘felt’ first as something even outside the mind it still requires the mind to translate it into a thinking process . This seems to suggest there is still someone ‘feeling’ the process. I call this feeling being the ‘soul’ . Then it begins to seem like there is a centre called the soul which brings me to my understanding of the soul …. The eye of the soul is awareness, the body of the soul is inner peace, the heart of the soul is unconditional love, the mind of the soul is wisdom and non judgement and with these faculties the soul can make decisions which are translated in the mind as thought.
So the personality (mind/emotions as separate lower self) does not really have control but the soul is motivated all that is. The soul uses the mind to think with.
Please let me know your view on these ravings.
Thanks so much,
Bernard
Thanks for continuing to question. Here is a simple way to sort through all of the confusion that seems to go along with the path of Self-Knowledge: As you change the place where you stand, all of the objects that you perceive like the mind, body and world appear differently.
For instance when you stand as the body the world appears to be physical and you affect the world by your physical actions. When you stand as the mind, the world seems mental and you affect the world with your mind and by the decisions you make. When you stand as Awareness, there is one unified Awareness, and not really two substances in the universe.
When you wake up you see what unifies everything
From Awareness, the appearance of many objects and thoughts is like in last night’s dream. When you wake up you see that all of the thoughts, no matter how you divide them up, and all of the objects are nothing but your mind.
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In this waking state the thing that makes your thoughts, the people, the dogs, and objects seem so real is Awareness. When you take thoughts and physical objects to be separate substances, you are taking the sense of reality that belongs to Awareness and lending it to objects. When you are on the path of Self-Knowledge you take the sense of Existence, Awareness, and Happiness that you have and return them to their rightful place, which is the singular Awareness that you are.
When you stand as the real subject, Awareness, you finally get to see what the sages mean when they say, “One without a second.” This is just a description of your real state; this is what you really are. Anything less is too limited to be your real home.
You are much greater than a thought
You started off your question with, “While awareness is always present and I understand that this is the overarching activity during the course of the day I must still make decisions.” When you make this statement what are you doing? You are taking awareness to be another object that you see, and you are taking your identity to be a thought in the mind called “I.” Then in effect the thing that you call “I” is at the center of your meditation. This “I” seems to be the doer and the decision maker.
Standing here you begin to divide up the soul into different parts and can come up with many theories on how these parts interact. If you want to verify either your theories or the theories of someone you read, return your identity to its rightful place and look from here. Then you will find that something magical happens. You will know the reality behind the world and your mind. This will not fit neatly into words and thoughts, but by your identity you will know for sure what “the everything” really is.
Ok, so what about making decisions?
And now standing here we can tackle the sticky problem of making decisions. From here there is a vast harmony and the world with its trillions of parts will seem even more beautiful and amazing. You and the decisions that you make will not in any way be apart from this vast harmony.
At the same time you will have a feeling of detachment. You will know that a great doctor making great decisions is nothing compared to what you really are. You may also find that it is advisable to get help from others. For instance you may be an expert in medicine but not in business. Or you may know about the heart but not the brain etc. But standing here, you will notice that there is no one separate from you. So the help you get from others is really help that you get from yourself. You can make decisions, but God is responsible for the outcome.
You will also notice that you and your decisions are only one of the many factors that make for a successful outcome. While when standing here you are in a great position to make an appropriate decision, things may happen that you did not anticipate. So in the end you have to leave the outcome to God and that’s where the outcome belongs anyway. Besides when you look from the perspective of cosmic time, what appears to be a bad outcome may turn out to be just right.
What seems reasonable depends on where you stand
And in the end, you will find that what seems completely reasonable when you stand as the thinker and doer, seems much too limited and unreasonable when you stand as your real identity. And what makes perfect sense when you stand as the Self, which is the Existence, Consciousness and Bliss at the core of your being and of the universe, makes no sense when you stand as the doer and the thinker. That’s because when you stand in your original identity, your experience of life, the world, and your mind changes completely. You no longer see many different things. You see the one unifying substance that makes them up.
Right now we are redesigning Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a book that provides a step by step approach so that you can find your natural freedom. It also gives you plenty of inspiration for your practice. Because we are doing a publicity campaign, there is a good possibility that I will have some radio and TV interviews. So look for them, and if you are allowed to, call in and ask questions. Remember, inner development is for the curious and this may be your opportunity to practice curiosity.
Feel
free to ask questions
Now I want you to experience your
true identity in its full glory. So please
feel free to continue asking questions. I’m always glad to hear your
reactions and clarify my answers. Unlike the path of faith, on the path
of Self-Knowledge it is curiosity that destroys limitation and allows
you to abide in your natural freedom.
Best Wishes for Your Practice,
Michael Gluckman
