Category Archives: Enlightenment

Spiritual Realization ~ Part 3 ~ Awakening Enlightenment Consciousness Through Active Meditation

The experience of realization can be as simple as reading a newspaper and being aware that you are reading the newspaper. This can involve noticing your posture and the way your body turns the pages. It can extend to observing how your mind and emotions react to the news that you read. Moving deeper involves finding dual and contradictory emotions and learning to access them simultaneously, moving back and forth between them, or entering into one so deeply that the other is for the moment seemingly gone. When we are familiar with the flow of consciousness at this level we may seek a deeper or more elusive space and seek it out, entering in, through and expanding into it. All the while we are still fully in the experience of reading the newspaper. Rather than compartmentalizing experiences we are allowing the mind and body to experience multiple layers and levels of consciousness. This is realization.

As long as we compartmentalize various emotional states, feelings and experiences our consciousness sees these states as solid, individual and fairly permanent. By opening up several states within the one we break this illusion, showing ourselves that emotion, feeling and experience is actually occurring on a multiple level of dimensions. The aim of all this is to train consciousness to understand that it does not need to be trapped in any emotion, feeling or experience. It has real and tangible choices.

By choosing a simple exercise such as noticing body sensations, posture or breathing and being aware of them during routine daily life we need to understand their purpose. Without purpose we are simply performing rote exercises and the mind will totally miss the point. Without understanding the purpose and reason integration cannot occur. Without integration there is no empowerment and the experiences will gradually become hollow and meaningless.

Observing the breath is not done simply to observe the breath. This level of understanding will not bring much benefit because how many of us truly wish to live life observing our breath all the time? It’s like speaking but not understanding that speech is a method of communicating with other people! Similarly observing the breath trains the mind to focus and sensitize to a particular frequency and subtlety of energy. Again simply observing this energy may have some benefits such as calming the mind but there is also an opportunity to understand that a language of communication is being developed here. By understanding that this level of observation is a way of listening to the language we open ourselves to the opportunity for communication! There is a big difference between these levels of understanding. While one is simply aware that energy is present, the other is aware that a communication is occurring and because of this awareness is able to create an intention to learn the meaning behind that communication!

Context, understanding, purpose and reason give way to creating real meaning in our experiences. Start with just observing physical sensation. It could be awareness of the tip of your nose. Just be aware of it at times throughout the day and also spend some time really listening and observing its feeling. Notice the various degrees and types of sensations. Explore and move into anyone of these. See what happens when you keep part of your consciousness attuned to these threads during the day. Become familiar with changes and shifts. Listen to the language and find ways to make conversation. Remember the context in which you are practicing and training. Remember why you are practicing – why did you originally start this type of development? How do those reasons fit in with the practices that you are now doing? How can the practices that you are presently doing help teach you within the context of that which you seek?

All these questions lead to the development of solutions that are relevant for our life path.

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Spiritual Realization ~ Part 2

The first step of practicing realization is always observation. Observation is what allows us to know where we are, and it is only in knowing where we are that we can begin to move. Movement is the essential key for transcending illusion, because through movement of the mind illusion can no longer exist as it was. When the mind becomes aware of that world outside illusion the walls effectively begin to crumble!

Movement begins by focus. It is through focus and concentration that we pull our mind toward a goal and attract that goal toward ourselves. The stronger and more intense our focus the greater our steps toward that goal. The more patient and sustaining our focus the longer we can maintain our journey. Intensity provides depth and patience provides continuity. In the long run patience and persistence by their very nature will bring depth, knowledge and understanding so it is important to develop these abilities even if all others are lacking.

It is important to understand and investigate what movement of the mind is. The truth is that the mind is always moving, however it tends to move within set patterns of thought, emotion and feelings. These patterns are what we know as our personalities and the stronger they are, the more sure we are that we are who we are. The type of movement that we want to develop is one where we are in control. That is to say that the mind does not simply flit back and forth between thoughts and emotions at its own will, but that we are able to directly move and hold it on particular thoughts, feelings, images and sounds as we desire. In the beginning our level of control may well be weak, but through continuous practice all beings are capable of mastery.

In the beginning it is unimportant what methods we use for concentration, but in time if we are to improve we need to assess what it is that our practices are developing in us. For example if we are wishing to develop receptive and sensitive movement and control, we may not gain much from focused and hard breathing exercises. On the other hand if we are seeking to elevate our energy levels we may well choose these. By remaining alert and paying close attention to what and how consciousness is being formed and shape as we practice, we will begin to see the bridges that link any and all meditations. This is essentially what realization is about – finding, crossing and linking spaces, gaps and bridges. This mental and physical development is what allows us to shift from a low energy state to a high energy state or vice versa. It allows us to shift from anger to peace, hatred to love or shame to compassion.

While the ability to shift through emotions is valuable what is of far more worth are the processes and attributes developed by doing so. It’s like training ourselves to ride a bike and in the training finding that not only can we ride, we can fly! Gradually we discover that the faculties and expanded senses that we have developed provide opportunities for knowledge and experiences beyond what we had imagined. Moving into these we find deeper and higher paths of potential. What is being explored and discovered is our own consciousness, and it is the experience and realization of its whole and true nature that brings us empowerment.

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Spiritual Realization ~ Part 1 ~ Awakening Enlightenment Consciousness Through Active Meditation

Realization is the experience of understanding. It exists in the moment that we shift from one perception of reality to another. In that instant, our consciousness is able to exist and open to these two realities and being here, seeing and feeling here, we are able to understand the multi dimensional nature of our mind and body. Through this nature we are given the opportunity to find our true self.

The practice of realization is essentially about controlling the mind, and through the mind being controlled the body is mastered also. As long as we retain a connection and communication with the body and the physical then we retain the opportunity to transcend and evolve these aspects and in the process we develop mastery of our consciousness. This is the reason why our training needs to be challenging. We need to at first get a grip of the basics, learning stillness, movement and control, then we face co-operative challenges in order to increase the depth and level of our mastery. Cooperation works by seeking challenges that stretch us a certain amount, but not so much that we lose ourselves completely or give up the journey. If we were guiding a baby to walk it would be counter productive to knock it down each time it almost gets to its feet. Similarly, we must look for challenges that are appropriate to our level of skill. For this sincere and honest self appraisal is required.

The experience of realization always comes back to the same principles. By practicing the art of moving through illusions we will always find that there is more to reality than what our mind and body would grasp and have us believe. The stability that we all seek can only be found in accepting the unstable and ever changing. With beautiful irony it is through this real experience of acceptance that we can find a peace and stability that is eternal and does not change.

We also need to understand and practice the art of moving through illusions. We need to study illusion and understand what it is that makes an illusion what it is. No illusion can exist without belief in it. The deeper and stronger the belief, the more powerful and effective the illusion. The reason that it is not enough to disbelieve at a purely intellectual or conceptual level is because this level simply stimulates the surface area of the mind and consciousness, it doesn’t even touch the subconscious let alone the unconscious. Working with the senses of feeling, imagery, sound, smell and taste move deeper into the subconscious but must be trained and practiced in order to get deeper still. The deeper we get the further we move through the illusion. We then begin to understand the real nature of illusions. It is not the illusion itself that holds us, it is our grasping and inability to move past it that keeps us attached to it. Deep sensory cleansing purifies the bonds that hold us to illusions. As we move in deeper the awareness and intention of seeing and feeling, recognizing and responding all become refined and sensitive to a more accurate and effective way of finding truth.

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Recognition and Advanced Manifestation ~ Part 3

Mastery of the skills of manifestation comes through intensive practice and work. We must develop the ability to continuously confront and respond to what is required. This practice must be cultivated until courage, sensitivity and awareness becomes natural.

All masters who have developed the ability to manifest instantly have progressed through the ranks of first expending massive amounts of energy, focus and will in training. The furnace of training involved in this type of practice is what tempers and conditions the consciousness and enables it to move and create. There is no avoiding this if we are to gain these skills. The very fears, doubts, lack of patience and confusion that would prompt us to find an easy route to manifestation are the exact same aspects that will strengthen and develop our consciousness. We need these aspects to develop strength and sensitivity, a type strength and sensitivity that enables us to control our consciousness. This is what manifestation is and requires.

There are types of manifestation that are like puffs of wind and to those of us that can perceive this energy we can see that it is instantly dispersed. There is quite literally not enough energy or effort to hold it in our reality. The type of energy that we need to develop is of the mindset that is resolute and fixed in its determination to achieve its goals. If we have the mindset that we wish to manifest but only if we need not do any real hard work, then this is the exact intention that is expressed and projected. If we have the mindset that we will do whatever is required, that we will find a way and that even if we meet a wall we will climb over or find a way around it – then this is the type of energy and intention that we will manifest. At the mental level this type of consciousness looks for opening and opportunities everywhere. At the physical level the body is prepared and sensitive to respond.

Mastery of manifestation has never been about producing reality effortlessly. This has simply been a byproduct. The aim of manifestation is just that – to manifest exactly what we want, using whatever tools and knowledge we have and can get our hands on. This mindset creates that of an inspired, disciplined and dedicated explorer, on the lookout for new and better ways to do what we do.

It is this mindset that creates effortless power.

By finding ways in which first and foremost we achieve our goals we find better ways to succeed. If we simply seek to find easy ways and forgo making achievement our priority then we will find that what we create are ways of ease but not a lot in the direction of success. Finding ways that lead to our goals provides an opportunity to know and understand the destination. Then we can find paths of lesser resistance and effortless power. The ironic beauty is, that in achieving effortless power we have already transcended the need for it.

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The Power of Recognition ~ Part 1

Real, tangible empowerment exists when we train our physical and mental consciousness to recognize it. Recognition is the development of listening, seeing, feeling and perception. It is our senses that provide us with the opportunity to judge and perceive our experiences, and thus it is our senses that determine what empowerment truly is. Without the ability to hear it would not matter how beautiful sounds might be as we would not be able to appreciate them. Without the ability to see it would not matter how beautiful sights might be as we would not be able to see them. Without the ability to feel it does not matter how beautiful a feeling may be as we are not able to feel them.

Understanding what to recognize at the intellectual level provides us with a road map of what it is that we are seeking, but this is all it is – a road map. Intellectualization does not provide us with the feeling, sight and sound of the actual experience. We may read all there is to know about enlightenment, empowerment and awakening, but without actually experiencing it we are simply reading and relating a story.

The gift of the intellect is that it acts as a gatekeeper to deeper knowledge. By understanding at an intellectual level we give permission and allow ourselves to explore a more dedicated level of experience.

For all intents and purposes intellectual recognition affords us two things: the ability to see that a certain path will lead us somewhere and a certain level of confidence in our ability to manifest this direction. This is a level of vision and insight which by its very realization provides us with the opportunity to recognize ability. It is ultimately the confidence and insight which comes from this which allows us to move.

Intellectual recognition will lead many of us to taking the first steps to experiential, physical and spiritual recognition. For some it will be the first step, for others a foundation of faith or inspiration may provide the base in which to move. What is important is that we learn to use this energy in a way to sustain the direction of our consciousness. It is this continuity of direction, intention and energies that ultimately creates and manifests our life in a way that is meaningful.

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The Spiral Path – Unlocking the Mysteries of our Karma and Past Lives

Becoming masters of our own spiritual destiny requires just that – that we be masters. This means moving our consciousness more and more in the direction of listening to our own inner voice, developing our psychic senses, knowledge and wisdom – all the faculties that provide us with the ability to make our own choices. It’s about being responsible for our own choices, progress, knowledge and intuiting. It means being in control of seeking.

It’s important to differentiate between learning and acknowledging teachers and placing all our faith in teachers and outside knowledge. It needs to be remembered that all beings have their own path and even when this path is one of teaching and sharing knowledge, it is expressed in a particular way that is specific to that being’s own journey. Tools and techniques can be given and knowledge can be imparted on how to integrate information, however the feeling of it must be done and experienced ourselves. Furthermore it is the actual process of learning to trust our own power and wisdom that opens the way for communication and a relationship with our true self. During this process we develop the ability to listen and speak, mutual trust born from learning to give and take and understanding and respect.

For a “teacher” to transcend their own ego’s need for adoration from students they must recognize that a “student” is only passing through. In this the teacher gains the opportunity to confront their own ego at the juncture where it is most powerful and in moving through the illusion of this power they find real empowerment.

At the same time as the student learns that no teacher or being can bring them liberation if they do not take the steps themselves, the teacher is also learning that no student or being can bring them power if they do not realize this power themselves. This journey of learning is a weaving and twisting, shape shifting movement of mind, body and spirit that at its depths reveals the true teacher which is always within ourselves. In looking for the lessons in every moment and place we follow the leads, the flows and spaces and find this inner teacher. For a time consciousness makes sense. Then it is lost as a new expansion occurs and the grasping mind recognizes that the unknown has met what was for a time familiar. Stretching the mind once again we come to know the unknown intimately and once again there is integration. This weave of chaos becoming order then back again is a gift that allows us to understand the real essence of integration, unity and connectedness. The journey at times may seem infinite, but realization occurs to the one taking the journey, not the journey itself. As our consciousness learns to see itself, it begins to understand that each step has removed a thread of division that separates perception from truth. The journey has come full circle.

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Spiritual Integration

Integrating spiritual realities into our lives requires at least in principle two things. The first is to send our consciousness through the window that opens and allows exploration of the spiritual realms and then we must train our physical body to experience and open up to this reality. Developing the psychic senses is a clear way to look through the dimensional windows, but in many ways this is simply the gathering of knowledge. The opportunity that a psychic sense such as clairvoyance offers us is to see clearly and truly how energy and entities are interacting and so understand how to affect the result. Likewise a skill such as clairaudience allows us to listen to the guidance of entities and energies and so understand how to create and manifest in a particular direction. The development of these skills is not by any means mandatory for spiritual development, they are simply extra tools for enhancing the journey. All of us have the ability to feel and observe and this is the most important principle of all.

In seeking peak experiences, spiritual realizations and empowerment we are actually seeking union with the true self. The true self is the peak, it is empowerment and it is spiritual realization. The process of observing and feeling allows us to move through the layers that obscure the true self from perception. This is the experience of realization and it is also the experience of true peace. When it comes down to it, it may be said that what we are truly seeking is inner peace and although the paths to realizing this experience are often different the principle is always the same. It is about meeting each atom of experience and allowing it to be exactly as it is. This reality of allowing an internal experience to be exactly as it is, is the energy of peace. We feel and perceive any particular energy and we do nothing. In doing nothing we allow these entities or energies to be exactly as they are. We ask nothing of them and so they experience peace and that peace is being formed and realized from within us. It is being created and shaped within us. The reason why we train our minds to become formless is so that we can take the shape of whatever form is manifested within us. When we hold our form there is a clash as two forms meet. When we allow our form to move and shift then there is no clash, only peace. As our consciousness is directed to connect with more and more energies and is given the opportunity to create peace, less fear arises simply because we know that we can meet and experience whatever comes our way. Without fear our mind and body becomes clear. Through this clarity the experience of our true self becomes effortless and furthermore because the experience has come through directly connecting with everything that comes our way integration occurs at the deepest levels of our being. There is no gap between spiritual and “normal.”

Since the accelerated way is through developing the psychic senses and then turning them within, we need to be aware of times when the development of these senses requires balancing with the physical body grounding and integration. In short I would recommend at least 3 times a week practicing grounding work. The essence of grounding work is connecting to the physical body, feeling and observing it and bringing the mind fully into it. The easiest way is to just observe the body during physical movement. Anything from walking, doing the dishes, showering or doing up your shoe laces. Observe your posture, the way you hold your weight and balance. Notice and objectively observe any physical tension and areas of relaxation. All physical manifestations are connections to consciousness and it is through these connections that the mind integrates with the body. The process of experiencing the physical and alternately experiencing the spiritual and subtle allows the realization of a consciousness that is expanded. Directing the mind to move between the spiritual, mental and physical provides the opportunity to observe the movement, the landscape and the spaces interwoven beneath and through these elements. Within these spaces and flows exist the essences that connect spirit, mind and the physical. Experiencing these paths of power allow us to find a unity between what we have previously perceived and experienced to be separate levels of consciousness. This unity and integration opens up the experience of spirit within the body, the physical within the mind and the mind through the spirit.

Integration is where real empowerment exists because it brings the experience back home to where we live. It is perhaps the most sustainable and realistic means of spiritual life because it does not seek to leave a single iota of being behind. All is met, the dark, the light, the ego, the personality and the higher self. With each meeting there is an opportunity for mastery through the experience of looking straight in the eye of whatever energy it is that exists there. We feel and choose to be open and the feeling and experience is allowed to be as it is. What is gained is a consciousness that is opening to a realization of truth.

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The Quickening – The Acceleration of Spiritual Evolution and Consciousness on Planet Earth

The Quickening is a phenomena being used particularly in spiritual circles to describe a building of energy toward a particular destination. This build up of energy could be compared to the build up of an audience before a rock concert or the gathering of energy as an athlete or groups of athletes prepare for an event. In this case the Quickening refers to the direction of the planet’s group consciousness as a whole. This is not to say that it is everyone’s destiny. It is more to say that this is where the biggest “waves” are happening at this part of the galaxy.

The Quickening or for that matter any acceleration of energy is about pressure. It is simply a build of momentum and direction. Spirit refers to a subtler energy and because it is subtler it is able to penetrate into more substances. For example if we were to look at a stone: it’s energy is quite dense it’s structure is unable to mix with dirt very well. Spiritual energy refers to an energy that is finer than air – it is able to mix with and infuse with dirt, stones, humans, this planet and the kitchen sink. For this reason spiritual energy is said to be everywhere and in everything. This is also congruent with the practice of raising our vibration. What we are actually doing is making our density finer. The finer or subtler we are capable of becoming the more options we have to move our consciousness around the place. We also gain the opportunity to shift into a different dimension which is essentially what the Quickening is about.

Alchemy describes everything as being on the path to the original Source – give or take a couple of scenic routes and rest stops. Being true to ourselves seems to minimize the rests stops, decrease time spent in areas that aren’t congruent with the our truth and generally accelerate our journey toward the Source. This is expressed on this planet as more people wanting to realize life purpose, have meaningful relationships and generally waste less time experiencing things that have little meaning to us. This would also be the reason why interest in personal development, spiritual growth and so on is becoming more popular. When people are unsatisfied they either put up with it or look for answers. The growing trend in interest towards personal and spiritual development means that there are more people looking for answers. The really interesting thing is that people are finding them. There was a time where the personal and spiritual development field was looking a little flaky. There was a lot that seemed like pure fantasy and other stuff that people just found too difficult to integrate into their daily lives. The desire for methods which were effective and applicable for everyone, began to manifest the resources that we have available today. In truth the door to the higher self, spiritual realization, emotional mastery and effortless manifestation has always been there for everyone. It is just that understanding how to open that door is becoming easier and simpler. This too is something that is becoming more obvious as we seek to be true to ourselves.

There is a period of adapting where the body and mind in general is “stretching” and getting used to accommodating the expansion of consciousness. The body is learning to be open to the finer and faster frequencies of energy. This energy has always been available to us – the ears and eyes of our body and mind are just learning to see and hear it. It’s part of our truth and so as we seek our truth it is revealed. Energy is a communication – a cause and effect. Whether dense or subtle all energy interacts. Our body and mind is simply learning to interact at another level. We are adding another dimension to our consciousness. We are not necessarily detracting or diminishing the denser realities – we are simply adding more. Hence the term expanded consciousness.

Having issues within relationships, workplaces and so on is not always directly the issue with being true to ourselves – more to the point it is the perception that we are unable to experience certain truths while in those relationships or workplaces. Sometimes we may need to close those doors in order to open up others. Sometimes we may need to work with what and where we are in order to gain the wisdom which is inherent in all experiences. This enables us to experience a part of ourselves that perhaps had been hidden. The external world of experience leads us to the internal world of cause and effect.

Work with this exercise for adaptation to the Quickening:

Observe yourself. Notice your posture, breathing, thoughts and emotions.

Let the thoughts, feelings and emotions come at you as fast as they need.

Grasp nothing. Allow all that comes to ebb flow.

Invite it to come faster. Seek to comprehend nothing. Let comprehension come and go.

Let thought and feeling, sight and sound to move through you at the speed of light.

Intellectualize nothing. Let ideas, thoughts and inspiration come and go.

Let go of letting go.

Allow yourself to be open to the full acceleration of consciousness.

This method is seemingly the opposite of the detailed investigation which occurs in deep observation. In actual practice they are the same. Acceleration and deceleration of energy is happening simultaneously in our consciousness. By specifically following the path of acceleration we are simply directing the mind to one specific stream of what exists in the consciousness. When we come back to our “normal” consciousness we find that our range of motion has lengthened and expanded. It’s all about stretching the mind. With each stretch we explore new knowledge and ground, moving closer and closer to inner freedom. This is what the Quickening is truly about.

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*Those of us who are experiencing tumultuous times may notice that this exercise helps to create a feeling and aura of inner peace – in spite of the chaos. In essence this is because the practice tunes us into the frequency of the Quickening. We are connecting and moving with the flow instead of resisting it.