Knowledge and Religion

Where does peace come from?

Now that the weather is nice in Northern California where I live, it is time to walk the local trails. Yesterday I passed a sign warning hikers that they may encounter rattle snakes and mountain lions. Given the right circumstances, both of these animals can be dangerous. That means that they can attack and kill a human being.

But does this mean that harmony gets destroyed? After all people don’t go walking in nature in order to get killed, do they? The beauty in nature provides us with a chance to find peace and harmony; to come back to a sense of balance. But danger reminds us that if we want lasting peace we have to find it at the source.

Our environment can change at any moment _____________________________________________________________________________________

Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory.

See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Go to Amazon Kindle.
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One thing is for sure: If your peace is based on your environment it won't last. That’s because in the environment circumstances change. While here in northern California beautiful days are the norm, we still have earthquakes, floods, fires, and wild animals. And yet people travel here from all over the world just to enjoy this beauty.

If however you blame your peace on the places that you go for vacation, what happens when you have to face the rest of your life, your family, your job, and the city traffic? Two things here will seem to shatter your peace: when you change your environment like when you move from the country to the city, and when your environment changes due to earthquakes, floods, changes in your state of mind etc.

We do not create peace
Somehow though when we look deeply, we see vacations as a chance to get in touch with peace, not to create it. So how do you get in touch with peace? Like happiness, you get in touch with peace by noticing where you actually experience it. Is it in the oak or redwood trees? What about the rushing streams or the fields full of wild flowers? Is it in the health of your body or the state of your mind? You don’t experience peace over there, do you? You experience it here. The place where you actually experience peace is the place where it comes from.

What this means is that neither your physical nor your mental environment can create your peace, and therefore your environment can't snatch it away; when in the river of life, your environment changes unexpectedly, your peace does not have to slip away.

Peace is what you are, not a thing that you see
When you abide as the source of peace you will discover the meaning of the Peace that passes all understanding. This peace does not behave the way you might expect. When things in your life seem to go a-rye, this peace does not disappear. That’s because peace is closer to you than the events that make up your life. In fact it is so close that nothing can interfere with it, not the health of your body or the state of your mind.

And yet you can look right past your innate peace and blame your environment. That’s why when your environment change your peace may seem to slip away. But when you return your peace to its source, which turns out to be your real nature, you discover that peace is like the depth of the ocean unaffected by the storms above.

Asking Question
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
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.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

What is your identity anyway?

Why do you look for a sign where there is no sign?

I’d like to continue this discussion on identity because it's confusing to many aspirants seeking their own self nature. That's because your identity is not objective. There is no sign that can confirm your identity; not even a state of health or a quiet mind. You have to know your freedom directly because you stand free of the limits that you see. When you experience this, it becomes obvious. But since it’s beyond your capacity to think about it, at first when you hear that you are Consciousness, it may seem incomprehensible.

The mind knows only opposites
However if you want a real adventure in life, go for self-knowledge. Since your mind is incapable of predicting the results of self-knowledge, at each turn, life becomes fresh and new. As for the mind, it can only grasp things that have opposites. You know a good vacation in relation to a bad one, a good day in comparison to a bad one, a small car in relation to a big one. You only know a huge mosquito by comparing it to a small one, and a high mountain in relationship to a foothill. You know sleep by wakefulness and even life by comparison to death.

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Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory.

See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Go to Amazon Kindle.
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The opposites listed above are all objects that you see; but how can there possibly be an opposite to Consciousness, which is the knower of the mind itself. Whether the object is a thought, your body, or a thing in the world, the only proof of consciousness is the fact that you are aware of that object.

Your experience is the real proof
However the word only is a misnomer. There is another proof of Consciousness. You know the nature of Consciousness by standing as Consciousness. By pulling your identity out of the things that you see and standing as the one thing that you are. This is what I call proof by direct experience. So to follow the path of self-knowledge, eliminate every object that you see, until you remain as the self-luminous Consciousness alone. You are the one homogeneous Awareness that lights up the world.

As for limiting identities, you often get to see them and hear them: I’m a mother or father, daughter or son; I am rich or poor, young or old, a doctor, teacher or writer; I’m five foot nine inches, 165 pound man.  Your identity also gets attached to your desires and fears too: I want a new car or house; I never want to see that person again.

Is the thought I really the subject?
When most people question the thoughts going through their mind, they assume that they know who the thinker is. By contrast, when it comes to self-knowledge we don’t care about the thoughts going through our mind. Rather we care about the assumptions that thoughts point to. The most basic of these assumptions is that you are the thinker. For instance when you think, I can’t do math, you assume that the I and the can’t both apply to you. Then you try to replace the I can’t with I can. This is the formula for creating a huge struggle; which one will win? The I can’t or the I can? 
 
But on the path of self knowledge you take a different approach: neither the I nor the can’t apply to you. Remember you are the seer of these thoughts, not the one stuck in them. So you can think these thoughts all you want. You just remain in your natural state of Awareness. Where before you felt limited by two possibilities, you now have open space.

So does this guarantee that you will be able to learn math, of course not. But what you will find is that things will start to happen outside the opposites that your mind conceives including I can and I can’t. I’m sure that you will agree, without struggling with your mind you will have a much better chance of understanding math.

Pull your identity out of the thought I and see what happens
As with I can and I can’t you can pull your identity out of other insidious thoughts that seem to speed through your mind such as: I’m depressed or I’m angry etc. If this is hard to understand, simply pull your identity out of the thought I and see what happens.

It is a pleasant surprise to find a clear space that was once cluttered by suffering. Although you won’t be able to predict the future, you will be very happy living in the present. And life will unfold like a wonderful present, just the way it’s supposed to. All this without having to control your mind. As a bonus you will know that you are the one harmonious Consciousness that's free from the notion of another; just like you always suspected, you are not a collection of thoughts and objects.

Asking Question
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
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.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

How can I possibly get to my real nature?

Often I get questions about what can I do to get to the final goal enlightenment.  With this question comes the assumption that the path to Self-Knowledge is a long path with many difficulties. But today I want to take difficulty and pull it out by the root.  Remember this is the path of Self-Knowledge.  So you are actually asking the question: What can I do to get to myself? Framing the question like this the answer becomes obvious. You can’t do anything. You already are yourself!

Self knowledge is just a matter of setting the record straight. When you mix your identity up with the limitations that you see, then it seems like there’s a long hard path ahead. This is like walking through the woods in the dim morning light. All of the sudden you feel a bite on your leg and then something quickly moves away. You have just been bitten by a poisonous snake and you are about to die! You feel the bite swelling and you recognize that you only have a short time left. Then an old lady comes by, sees you crying and asks, What’s the matter?

Do you really die?
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Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory.

See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:Amazon.com

Also now you can read this book on your Kindle or other electronic device. Go to Amazon Kindle.
________________________________________________________________________

You tell her that you were just bitten by a poisonous snake and you are about die. She sizes up the situation at a glance and says, See that branch blowing in the wind. See the twig jutting out from the end of the branch with the blood on it. You weren’t bitten by a snake. You were scratched by that twig.

What a relief. You are not going to die. Now you can put a band aid on the scratch and happily go on your way. So how did the old lady cure the snake bite? By showing you that the snake was never really there; it was just an assumption. How difficult was it to get rid of the snake and see the branch for what it was. It was just a matter of looking at your situation afresh, wasn't it? The same is true of Self Knowledge.

We assume that we are the things that we see
In the same way that you assumed that you were bitten by a snake and are therefore about to die, you feel that you are limited by the things that you see. The body was born, grows old and dies. So if your identity is tied in with the body, then when the body suffers in illness and death it feels as if you are suffering and dying. Until of course this old man comes along and shows you how you were always free of the condition of the body.

Similarly if your identity is tied to certain thoughts in the mind, when you start to lose control of these thoughts which happens in disease and death, it feels as if you are ceasing to exist. But did you ever wonder where you stand so that you are aware of the changes that occur in the body and mind? The motion that you see belies the stillness that you are.

Self Knowledge is not intellectual knowledge
So what is Self Knowledge anyway? It is taking your identity out of the limitations that you see, and returning to the place where you actually abide anyway. This is setting the record straight.

However, you should know that Self Knowledge is not merely an intellectual pursuit. Intellectual knowledge is a product of thoughts, and thoughts are objects that you see; they come and go and therefore they are not you. If your practice is supported merely by your thoughts, when you begin to fade and you lose control of your thoughts, it will feel as if your lifeline is being cut.

But fortunately you know yourself in a deeper way then by thought. You know yourself because you stand as the Consciousness that lights up your thoughts and makes them seem alive. Standing as Consciousness, you will know by your direct experience where these words point to.

Thoughts come and go not you
The different between intellectual knowledge and direct experience is the difference between reading about California and living there. I think you will agree that no matter how many facts I know about your home town it is not the same as living there.

The same is true of self knowledge. If you attempt to understand yourself by standing as objects called thoughts, this path will seem unduly complicated like a razors edge. But fortunately it’s easier to stand as the Consciousness and Bliss that you are, then to ruminate over this knowledge with your thoughts. Standing here as the self you will see where these words point. It is not to a state of mind; it is to a state of being; this is your natural state.

And most important you will know what I mean when I say, The path of self knowledge is not about what you do, it is about what you are.

Asking Question
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
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.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman

December 2012, will the world come to an end?

I think you would be surprised to know how many people in my radio interviews ask: Will the world come to an end December 21, 2012. Apparently this is the day picked by Nostradamus and the Mayan calendar. So today I am going to put on my psychic hat and predict the end of the world. But first I should tell you that my prediction comes not from knowing the future, but rather from knowing what is going on right now.

More exactly, I know where reality comes from and so can you. You do not know this as a theoretical concept stored in some cavity of your mind.  Rather you know this by direct experience. After all we have plenty of experiences where  the world disappears, don’t we? And yet our sense of reality remains unfazed.

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Give the gift of enlightenment when you give Making Your Wisdom Come Alive. This book points to the wisdom and joy that you find at your center. Here you can find the light that makes life shine in its full glory.

See our fully revised second edition.

For more information go to:
Amazon.com

________________________________________________________________________
 

You experience a different world when you dream
Here are some examples that will illustrate this: as you read this blog you get sleepy and your mind starts to wander. You now live in a palace where you are a king or queen. There are many servants to tend to even the smallest of your needs. Suddenly one of the servants steps forth. He has white hair and a white beard.  He tells you that this world is not real. That you are king or queen of a dream world, and what you see is a figment of your imagination. Reality comes from the mind of the waking one. The other servants react in shock and assure you that you are really awake and that you are really the king or queen of this country.

You wake up with a startle. At that moment the world including all of your servants and all of your wealth disappears and a whole new world appears where you are sitting at your desk reading this blog. Although a whole world came and went it felt like nothing really happened. The sense of reality that you had in the dream survived but now it seems to belong to the waking world. 

When everything disappears what happens?
Then, being tired you go to bed and fall into a deep restful sleep. Although all of the objects are gone, the room, the chair and this blog, reality happily remains the same. The proof is that when you wake up you proclaim, I feel so refreshed; that was a wonderful sleep.

Moreover as your state of mind changes the world seems to change too. Whether it’s a dream, deep sleep or the waking state, we attribute reality to the things that we see. But at this point you might object: Surely the waking state is different from the dream state. We experience the dream in our mind, while the waking state is outside of us, right? First of all when we were dreaming the dream world seemed like it was outside of us too, and it was only when we woke up that we noticed that the dream world was just in our mind.

Take a look and see where you actually experience the world
But here’s the question that I have for you: Where do you actually experience the world anyway? Is it out there or in here? I am sure that if you look closely at your experience you will see that the world is here and not over there. After all if it was over there, you would experience it at all. But let’s explore our experience in a little more detail: First when you experience an object where exactly do you experience it. You experience the world through your five senses, right? But when you trace your sense of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting back to their source I think that you will be amazed at what you actually find.

Take your sense of sight as an example, your eye acts like a camera and the scenery passes through the lens in your eye. Next the objects go through the optic nerve and enter the brain. From the brain the objects enter your mind. And you see your mind.

Sound works in a similar way. The ear captures the sound which goes through the auditory nerve into the brain. It is your mind that puts sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste together to make it seem like you are experiencing one contiguous world. But in reality the mind is the place where you are experiencing the five senses which seem to make up the world. So is the world out there or is it in here? If you look closely at your experience you will begin to notice that you experience the world in here. It is only an illusion that the world is out there. As in a dream, you experience the world in your mind. But overlooking the thing you actually experience you take the world to be outside and separate from you.

It is you that makes the world seem so real
If you are concerned that you will lose the sense of reality that the world seems to have, you can be assured that reality remains the same. You just return your sense of reality to the place where it comes from anyway. Reality comes from you! That’s why when the worlds seem to change your sense of reality remains the same.

Now let’s get back to the original question: will the world come to an end on December 21, 2012? By now my answer should be obvious. The world has already come to an end and things are working fine, aren't they? That's because the thing that is continuous remains, which is of course your sense of reality.

Asking Question
Here questions about this article or other things going on in your life are always welcome; you can write us at michael@ananya.com. I love questions and try to answer them all in this blog. That’s because when you start to question limitation, you are on the verge of destroying it.

Please Tell Your Friends
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.

Best Wishes,

Michael Gluckman