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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Greatest Medicine...


Over the last 5 days I have had the great good fortune of spending a lot of the time in Meditative Silence, re-discovering that the best medicine is experiencing the awareness of Being (Essence, Living Spirit), that Living Presence that exists within all of us beyond the egoic consciousness.   For me this awareness happens through Meditative Silence. 

Last week I started feeling a pull into Meditative Silence that continued into the weekend – which gave DH a lot of time to prepare for his interview today. J  And it did not mean that there wasn’t any “doing” – as there was laundry and meals to make, phone calls to family to be made, conversations with DH to be had, etc.  Yet, I was continually drawn inward beyond the egoic functioning, the scaffolding of the self, into the open space of Being - to the awareness of Presence beyond the mechanism of the “me.”  Some days I felt a soft presence of Love surrounding me, other days it was the felt sense of the vast expanse beyond form, and other days just an awareness of The Silence of Being that is the thread through all life.  Even so, feelings arose, emotions emoted, but there was still this Essence of Being that made Its Presence known through the veils of thought, feeling and “doing.”

Most psychologies and some forms of “spirituality” focus on “fixing”, putting the emphasis on *self*-improvement, *self*-empowerment, on gaining *personal* power, offering to make life better by fixing, or bolstering the surface self – the ego, the personality - neglecting to see the root cause - the underlying “connection” with and awareness of our Essential Being.  Directly experiencing the inner flow of Being on a regular basis will do more for us than any quick-fix methods, as helpful as they may be initially.  I had forgotten this, under the strain of years of life’s twists and turns in unexpected directions, falling back into the egoic fear of survival again and again.  When we are able to reach a deep state of awareness of Being, the protective scaffolding of the ego begins to collapse, or becomes transparent, as we discover that we ARE That Silent Presence of Being – that there is no separation from our Essential Being, and never has been – the key to any kind of lasting transformation.

This is not to say that the “ego” needs to be transcended, or gotten rid of, as if that were possible. J   It is part of the whole package and needs to be embraced as such.  But it is not *essentially* who we are.   We can learn to keep bringing our awareness back to the silent space of Beingness and see our life experiences through the lens of Being, and not the ego/persona: the constellation of ideas, beliefs, opinions, judgments, thoughts, identities and definitions about who we *think* we are, and what we *think* reality is, and how life “should” be happening…  To see through that scaffolding to the incredible vast Aliveness that we are changes our perspective – even momentarily.  I am currently re-acquainting myself with the awareness of this “core” Being again, re-experiencing it as a part of my daily practice of awareness…  Becoming aware of Being (no matter how many times) is like becoming aware of our Essence before we were born – returning to the Innocence of Being.  Delighting in that…  Abiding in the felt sense of Being.  The Greatest Medicine. 



Resources:
Adyashanti – The Way of Liberation on-line course
Ram Dass – Paths to God
and my own experience
J




Photo:
Rainbow light on wall
zoom blurred


10 comments:

  1. Yes! . . . "Directly experiencing the inner flow of Being on a regular basis will do more for us than any quick-fix methods, as helpful as they may be initially."

    Thank you once again. . .

    Chris

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    1. Hey Chris! Good to see you again :) Glad you liked it :) Hope your Shamanic studies are going well! Feeling the Flow :)

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  2. Our "essence before we were born"...I love that line, it gives me a great sense of lightness and relief! What a lovely place to keep returning to indeed! And that photo is spectacular, wow!

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    1. Thanks Uma :) I would imagine that your chanting and Kirtan take you into the same space - the mystery of the Divine - the place of just Being... :)

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  3. I like that practice can simply be coming back to who we are (whether sitting on a cushion or in activity) over and over throughout the day.

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    1. Yes, me too... One does not need to be in a cave to practice it :) It seems I am re-learning this, starting over again, daily...

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  4. I am a person 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'. Meditation is something I started about five or six years ago when under severe stress. I don't think it is easy to get the hang of but with perseverance I have definitely reaped! Sometimes I go back to wanting to think my way out of fears and the like and can forget the benefits of just sitting and being! That's not to say that we can't help ourselves with personal development, not quick fixes! Sometimes my revelations come out of the sitting and being, then my brain helps with the implementing the way forward.

    Thanks as always for such good advice. x

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    1. Thank you Dear Sue for your thoughtful comment. Yes, a person and much more! We/you are Living Spirit (Being) in form - some call it the Divine, or God-Consciousness. The practice of meditation (according to spiritual teachers/gurus) is to get us in touch with that level of Consciousness of our True Being beyond form; which does not exclude form, or methods, but always turns us back to our Eternal Beingness - the Living Being that lives and breathes us. And we all have a different frame of reference on the subject.

      Ultimately meditation is a remembering, a recognition, an acknowledgement of this Essence Being that we are. Some also call it the True Self. But it's not about just sitting and being quiet. Arjuna said we meditate to allow our Natural State to be revealed to us" - through becoming *aware* of our Being. Eckhart Tolle talks of it as the Inner Being. I meditate to *commune* with the felt sense of this Being - a vast open spacious Divine Presence. (Words do not convey the fullness of this.) We can all use whatever tools and methods to help us remember our True Infinite Self until they are no longer needed. It really depends on what we really want, where we put our attention. Do we want to know the Truth of Existence, or do we just want to develop our egos... Part of my "journey" at one time was self-empowerment, self-improvement, etc, but there is so much more! And our own journeys unfold the way they need to... Thank you again for your in depth comment...

      Blessings - Christine

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  5. Once again, for your wisdom shared, Christine--I offer much thanks! I, too, love that line, "essence before we were born"...Somehow we lose sight of that in our ego trips don't we?! I also liked what you said about, "
    falling back into the egoic fear of survival again and again"... I fallen over my own "self" in this way many a time over the years! But you are right in that was simply must return to who we our, our essential nature and work with that. Work with what we've got! If ind that for me meeting myself each day feels like at once a new thing, and familiar--like a friend. I think I'm getting to a point where I don't feel like I have to "fix" or change myself so much for a "better" model. ;o) Happy Day ((HUGS))

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    1. Thank you Tracy! Oh yes, it is soooo easy to contract into that little self again and again, needing to continually bring our awareness back to the Essential Nature - "working with"/becoming aware of who we really are; not needing to change or improve anything - just falling back into that Awareness over and over again. That is my experience as well, that meeting this True Essence is very intimate, like meeting an old friend, until we see that we ARE that old friend meeting Itself. It's quite amazing actually when the seeing happens. We are communing with ourSelves! It's such a lovely, *loving* Presence isn't it - that Hugs back! :) that embraces all of who we are...

      Heart Hugs - C

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