 I’ve devoted most of my life exploring the inner science of meditation. It initially began as a pastime and hobby, as a way to help me cope and understand my circumstances. Over the years it has helped me arrive to a deeper awareness and appreciation of the human condition. Though each person’s experience is unique, important, and worthy of respect and compassion, the underlying truths for how and why we all suffer and how we can transcend it, is thankfully universal. In my professional life, I’ve devoted the past 20 years to the practice of Western and Far Eastern medicines. What is an emerging and consistent pattern is that no matter what people are seeking a cure, advice, or counsel for - the real reason is always the same. Each of us is seeking to become whole, healed, and thus to feel complete and at peace. I’m probably very late in arriving at this insight and I won’t be the last. However this is a real game changer to everyone at any stage of life. So what I’ve come to know, and continue to deepen appreciation for, is that a human being is composed of a physical body and a non physical, formless, consciousness or mind. What I also know is that it’s not matter vs consciousness split, but actually it’s that consciousness is the ground being of all of creation. This is not a religious or philosophical assertion but a personal, spiritual truth that I’ve come to understand. For me it’s the underlying, basic, principle that underpins how life works. It is inclusive of all the knowledge and discoveries in the material and spiritual dimensions of being. At this level there are no contradictions, and everything that appears is infused with this quality of vibrancy and aliveness. We are never separate from the awareness of the appearance of things. It seems so obvious that it's not even something that needs so much attention or perhaps to be stated. Yet this simple insight will revolutionise your life when we learn to live from this space. Also that there are limitless depths of mind. Each level includes the previous levels, and also reveals another dimension of consciousness. At each of these levels, mind functions to know, create and experience, mainly through thoughts and feelings. Every moment of our life is pervaded by our mind. It’s certain that, as Michael Neill puts it, we live inside the feeling of our thinking. The Inner Space of Knowing Whenever we leave the fixation of thinking for a moment, and pay attention to the space beyond thoughts, we notice and experience that mind is naturally peaceful. Take for instance this moment as you’re reading this blog. What are you aware of? The words.... Are you aware of what the words are written upon? In this case the white background…it's the backdrop upon which the words are written. If you shift your attention beyond the words and into the space behind, you’ll notice that there is a lot more space than written words. Similarly, the contents of our mind - thoughts, feelings, images, memories - arise within the space of our mind. Most of the time our attention is fixated on the contents of the mind. Now and then, when we’re not caught up, we experience a moment of freedom. A lightness, even peace of mind that arises from within. This can occur even in the midst of very difficult circumstances. A Simple Practice Try this for a moment… So what do you notice when you shift your attention from thoughts to the space beyond the thoughts? So you don’t need to try to control the thinking, just let them come and go, simply choose to shift your awareness and pay attention to the space behind the thoughts. Play with this and feel what you feel… At certain points you may experience a more settled sense of peace and stillness arising within…you’re actually glimpsing the inner space of knowing that is your mind - the knower and creator of your thoughts and feelings. Eventually with gentle and relaxed practice, not pushing for any outcomes, you’ll begin to notice more and more of this space... Your mind’s activity won’t necessarily cease, yet your attention isn’t so fixated on the contents and is actually resting in the space beyond thoughts - awareness itself. At some point you’ll start to feel that you’re arriving to the home you’ve been seeking for so long. This is the boundless and limitless potential of the space of knowing within you. You’ll begin to feel more alive, more sense of possibility, peace… The Presence of Mind and Restoration of Health You’ll begin to awaken to the present moment as complete and perfectly whole. Your sense of wellbeing improves and is less determined by the ebb and flow of external circumstances nor your emotions. You’ll notice that beneath all of this is a constant, steady and boundless dimension, a deeper resource - the peace of mind - ever present. In short you’ll simply function better and just be more comfortable with being yourself. Your physical body will begin to restore itself and begin to heal. The sympathetic nervous system (fight and flight) eases and the parasympathetic system (rest and restore) will kick in. This has a rejuvenating effect on the rest of your body. The more aware you become of this space within, the greater the impact you’ll notice Of course you’ll need to do the things to maintain physical health such as exercise, eat well, and take the medicines, supplements and so forth that you’ve been prescribed or you find helpful. However you’ll no longer have to do these things out of a fear of not getting sick. Your reason will shift to doing these things because you enjoy maintaining your health. You’ll notice that it will not be so much of a chore to enjoy maintaining your health, rather than the pressure of not getting sick. You'll want to do things that remind you of your innate wellbeing. Aside from the restorative effects of being in this space, your mind becomes so spacious that fresh and new thinking can arise, your innately abundant creativity and resilience will become more evident. What's more there's no need to adopt an other kind of life than the very one you already have. You'll begin to know how truly wonderful it actually is. It's a place of limitless possibilities, in fact where miracles can occur, and with greater frequency. References How To Solve Our Human Problems, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso The Space Within, Michael Neill The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle Comments are closed.
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