A Place of Love

Our human form is used to experience life so we should never deny our humanness, but non attachment to it is the key if one is to truly experience living from a place of love.

When life begins there aren’t any blocks developed to our place of love. Slowly though as we age we develop these block by attaching an identity to our human form. Our human form is how we experience life so we should never deny our humanness, but non attachment to it is key to truly experiencing our place of love. The more thought that’s applied to our humanness, the less in touch we are with this place. What exactly are these blocks? It would be easy to say “that’s just the way I am” but no one is just the way they are, we are all influenced and conditioned to become the way we are. It’s nice to say things like our true essence is to love, but with all the tragic behavior that goes on day in and day out, it’s really difficult to see our true essence as anything but insanity.

Many people go around forcing their will on others and it’s done so in the name of love, but our place of love never forces anything, it doesn’t need to. The conditioning to the identity of self goes very deep and why this is so is because it’s the foundation of most human forms. It’s why people reach outside themselves for fulfillment; all to satisfy self. This is the only block one will encounter to their place of love and until there’s awareness of this, one will never truly understand love. I’m not saying people don’t love, but there’s a lot of selfish attachment to the way most people love and until the mind settles, the Conditioned Mind will remain in control and living from a place of love will be difficult at best. So sit and be still and you just may see how it’s only in this moment that a place of love can truly be.

Understanding Conditioning

If there isn’t some sort of quietness in one’s life, the Conditioned Mind will run the show, and although life will be lived because you are alive, it will mostly be so in a state of unconscious suffering.

If the root cause of why one behaves as they do isn’t understood, one will never get beyond it. This understanding is what has led to my waking up from a sleeping walking state that kept me entrapped to causing my own suffering; not intentional, but I suffered nonetheless. This has to be understood in order to alleviate the mechanisms in place that cause it. Suffering is caused by an unconscious conditioned mind state and unless this conditioning ceases to exist the behavior results have to follow. Every effect is because something causes it and this occurs whether the cause is understood or not.

The importance of learning what the Conditioned Mind is enough, it’s truly life altering, but only if it’s deeply understood. One’s life cannot be anything but what the conditioning in place dictates it to be. Every life is made to be what it is, this is why sitting is necessary to allow the mind to settle. If there isn’t some sort of quietness in one’s life, the Conditioned Mind will run the show and although life will be lived because you are alive, it will mostly be so in a state of unconscious suffering. As subtle as it may be, a mind conditioned to suffer will always do so because it’s what’s in place. Change the conditioning, change what’s in place, and that’s when one’s behavior will change.

Touching Hearts

One of life’s greatest gifts is when we touch another heart because this energy not only touches one heart it touches many hearts, and it’s this transforming energy that makes a real difference.

What does it matter if you gain the whole world but in the process you lose yourself. What happens if this occurs is by losing yourself you lose your connection to others and without this connection, one’s connection to life is lost; you could be a billionaire, but you would still be lost. A person cannot truly live without a connection to others, they can only exist. There’s a touching of every heart when one is connected, this is the energy of unconditional love; to give freely with no attached expectations. One of the greatest gifts bestowed upon a person is touching another heart and making a difference in a person’s life; no material possession can compare to this.

This doesn’t mean you will automatically be touched back, but if someone is truly touched by you to the core of their heart, their transformation has begun, there will be transforming energy emitted and one will never be as they previously were. Touching another’s heart and making a difference in their life is a gift bestowed upon a person because it opens one to the energy of a fulfillment that only comes from the connection to another heart. This energy is not a doing of the human will trying to attain something, it’s a love that’s not truly understood, but it’s so freely given that it has to be shared. Love’s energy transforms hearts so when you give love and someone is touched, it makes their life different and their transforming energy of love is returned to you. This is why and how it becomes one of life’s greatest gift because it not only touches one heart, it touches many hearts and this transforming energy truly makes a difference.

Mindfully Present

A peaceful life begins and ends right now. You can be mindful that you’re thinking about the past or future, but you will never actually be there and as long you’re thinking about it, peace will be eluded.

When mindfulness of the present is in place, it allows what’s actually happening to be experienced. Being mindful of Now as opposed to being pulled in by it or pushing it away and applying a label to what’s happening is what will dictate the amount of peace there is in your life. Life is mystical in its essence, but there’s nothing mystical about becoming aware of this. A peaceful life begins and ends in the present moment and being mindfully present provides what’s necessary to allow this.

Take a step, be mindful of it, now take another, be mindful, this is an anchor as is the breath to the present. One can not be mindfully present of something in the past or future. You can be mindful that you’re thinking about something in the past or future, but you can never actually be there. Every step you take or breath can only be taken as it is happening. The more there is mindfulness of this, the more anchored one becomes of the body being in the present moment as opposed to grasping for straws in the story of what’s going on between your ears. Be mindfully present as you read this and watch what arises, just be with it, no pulling or pushing it, just be mindfully present of your reaction. It’s in this space of mindfulness that you will find peace and this is because this space is the only place that truly exist.

I Emotions

Emotions arise when there's attachment to I not to something that occurs, and as long as I is in control, the roller coaster of emotions will continue to take you for a ride...

No emotion arises by itself, there has to be the reaction of I to something that occurs. There are many different emotions that do arise, but at the core root of them all is I and this has to be realized to best get a handle on them when they do arise. Emotions arise when there's an attachment to I, not to something that occurs. Nothing inherently makes an emotion arise, there has to be a personal attachment to something. Emotions only arise as I assigns meaning to something. There isn't much emotion when you hear of a stranger dying, but attach the word Mother, Father, sister, brother, and so on to it and just watch the emotional onslaught and this is because I is who attaches. 

Emotions simply do not exist until one attaches I to what occurs, this is what gives the emotion energy. Example: anger is only a word until one attaches "I don’t like what was done" to it, then look out because depending on how deeply I is attached determines the level of anger. Same thing with happiness, something happens and now I attaches pleasure (like) to it and therein lies the emotion of happiness. Here are just some emotions that can arise, fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, trust, happiness, to name a few, watch for yourself when these arise and see where their root is from. With awareness of this you should be able to get a better grip on just how the Conditioned Mind keeps you under its control by weighing you down to the deeply embedded attachment of I as an anchor.

The Slightest Push

The initial awakening can be compared to a stone on top of a mountain. The slightest push gets it rolling, and it will just keep on building momentum until something (conditioning) gets in the way to stop it.

Once a stone that’s sitting at the top of a mountain is given the slightest push, it naturally begins rolling in the only direction it can go and its momentum builds without one ounce of effort. It does take some effort in the beginning to get it going, but not much more than the slightest push. It’s this way when one wakes up from the sleep of unconsciousness. There’s not much that needs to be done for one’s awakening to expand, as a matter of fact most people don’t fully awaken because of trying to hard. If you are awake the slightest push has already occurred so all effort is now futile. So many books, programs, videos, and whatnot and although they make one more knowledgeable, none of it makes one anymore awake than the first push. “Knowing all about the apple doesn’t make it taste better”

This is one of the reasons I emphasis using the body as an anchor in the awakening process because this doesn’t take effort, it only takes being with what is here, which is the present moment. All kinds of stories can be made up about what needs to be done, but it doesn’t expand the push one bit. Either you are awake in the quietness of the present moment or you are unconscious in the noise of somewhere else. The slightest push reveals this truth, and as with the stone, nothing else is needed than the slightest push to get it rolling, and it will just keep on building momentum until something (your conditioning) gets in the way to stop it.

Reliable Tools

Looking within to see if the tools you have in place are reliable allows you to love yourself unconditionally and thus love all beings. The key here is love because that’s what a truly reliable tool produces.

For years I used tools that I considered reliable to my well being, but after forty nine years of using them I found myself at such a low point and I wasn’t sure if I was going to pull out of it. There was much confusion and despair at this time and the insanity is my own mind developed these supposedly reliable tools that brought me to this place. I know not many get to this place of total despair so it’s difficult to understand how low I was, but I was fortunate beyond words and I will tell you why. When I was twenty eight years old there were ten of us still hanging in a bar in Newark, all of us were using alcohol as a reliable tool to cope with life, or do we thought. Out of those ten individuals, eight are no longer alive. What’s tragic about this is the tools that each of us considered reliable to live life is what was causing of our own demise. Think about how insane this is and how often this is repeated today; insanity to say the least.

When I look back at what I thought were reliable tools to live by, I see nothing but insanity. I alone although not intentional, caused all my own suffering by having these tools in place. Now you may not think this applies to you, but every negative thought one ever has comes from within themselves. It may have been put there by some outer influence, but it was attached to by you as reliable which gave it energy to arise. Negative and positive are not my thing, my experiences have been more in line with quietness as a reliable tool to live by, but as stated earlier it wasn’t always this way. To me the question to ask yourself if you can muster up the courage to do so is, are you willing to face yourself to see if the tools you have in place are truly reliable to allow you to love yourself unconditionally and thus love all beings. The key here is love because that’s what a truly reliable tool produces.

Mind Agitations in Place

It does seem like what occurs in life causes the arising mind agitations, but this just isn’t so. The agitations that arise are already in place, if they weren’t there’s no way they could ever arise.

You will only react to life’s arising mind agitations with what conditioning you have in place. Something like anger arises because it has been put there, this also goes for fear, greed, hate, and so on. For me there was constant reacting for years which kept me locked into my mind agitations without any awareness that the only reason they were arising was because they were put in place. To simplify this, when something occurred that I didn’t like regardless if it was what someone said or did or if it was something that happened, a mind agitation arose and there was an automatic reaction. This occurred without my permission or knowledge as to why this was so. What arose was whatever my conditioning cultivated as appropriate. The only reason this happened is because the reaction was already there laying in wait: like a tiger waiting to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

Understanding these mind agitations is where there is power in knowledge. If why an agitation arises isn’t understood, there will be very little true periods where the agitation isn’t in control. Through awareness of what’s arising (thoughts), one has something tangible to use to go beyond the mind agitations. Why most people remain as they are and repeat the same reactions over and over is because of being uninformed as to why this happens. To me this knowledge has immense value because when it’s seen one can truly decipher whether what’s in place is beneficial or not. It is then that a course of action can be developed to change whatever’s in place that’s causing the non beneficial agitation to be in control.

No Real Void

When you reach for something to fill a void, it’s used as a protection technique so you don’t have to look inward. The greatest lie you will ever tell yourself is you need something to be complete…

Constantly reaching for things on the outside keeps one in the grip of the need to fill a void, but it’s the reaching itself that actually keeps the void in place regardless of how often it’s filled. The reason why anyone reaches for anything is to try and fill a void, but the reaching itself is what keeps the reaching in place, thus the void always remains; this is the dog chasing its tail syndrome. Only by looking inward does the void begin to filled, but what really happens is it simply collapses because the outside hold weakens. Years of conditioning makes the void almost impossible to fill and it’s unfortunate because many never get beyond it; I did say almost impossible because the slightest turning inward is all that’s needed. Once reaching ceases because its lies are revealed, looking inward becomes the technique of choice. This has a snow ball rolling down a hill effect as looking inward naturally picks up momentum.

Reaching to fill a void is used as a protection technique so one doesn’t have to go inward. The greatest lie that you will tell yourself and constantly reinforce it is you need something to be complete, but there’s nothing further from the truth. Everyone begins existence complete, it’s just that not many really know this, hence the need to reach. Whether it’s known or not most people have a sense of lack in their lives so the reaching seems natural, but it’s not. We’re not meant to have a void and it’s only so because of the conditioning we develop. Once the slightest inkling of this occurs, everything changes because the inward view reveals truth, and although we live a lie for most of our lives, when truth is revealed the void vanishes as needing to fill it falls away.

The Fear Illusion

The illusion that the past or future is a better place then what’s occurring right now creates fear of the present. This fear manifest as needing to reach for something because of the illusion of incompleteness.

This is my understanding of how a person becomes conditioned to create fear throughout their life without permission. It’s because we use the past and future which is done so because of the created fear of the present moment; this fear is created by the Conditioned Mind (our ego). When we understand we are complete just as we are and nothing added will ever make us more complete, we stop being controlled by fear and using the past and future as a means for our fulfillment. The illusion created is we need something for our completeness, whether it’s an object, a created purpose, or whatever else our Conditioned Mind conjures up, and we’re led to believe by s fear based mind that it will be found in the past or future. When one is present, there’s nothing needed so the fear ends because there’s the realization you are complete; in stillness is our completeness because in stillness we are present. The illusion that the past or future is a better place then now creates our fear and in the process our incompleteness.

One’s created fear is dependent on the way Conditioned Mind Patterns rule our life. The more controlled a person is by these Mind Patterns, the more fear is generated and the more there will be a need to reach for something that isn’t conducive to one’s spiritual well being (love). Learn to change the conditioning so there isn’t any fear created and you will always be filled with love, which is the essence of stillness. The fear doesn’t have to be there, but that’s dependent on how much one practices living by principles that allow you to be filled and guided by love instead of constantly living in and being guided by the fear of the past and future.

Aligning With Life

If one acts in ways that doesn’t allow there to be cooperation with life, for it to change it’s imperative to know why this is so. Knowing your own mind and doing things that align you with life is what allows this to change.

Observe how the unconscious mind justifies everything it does. A mind that has never developed discipline to be still creates most of its own problems just so it has something to do. The undisciplined mind says to do something and turns around and questions why it was done. It should be treated like it’s a separate entity and as if it’s an enemy because upon further review it will be seen in a way it is, but it’s not the mind that’s an enemy, it’s the conditioning of I, that is the true enemy.

This I isn’t the true nature of the mind, it’s only conditioned to be this way and it’s we ourselves consciously or unconsciously who put the I based habitual mind patterns in place. Getting to know your own mind is a way to stop doing what we ourselves put in place. This knowing is not about the great secrets of the Universe becoming known, it’s more so about getting an understanding of what are the things done that don’t allow cooperation with life. When this becomes known, why one responds to things as they do will be revealed as the mind settles. After all if one doesn’t do the things in their life that allows cooperation with it, it should at least be known it doesn’t have to be this way.

Trying to Fix Yourself

A mind that doesn’t love can’t fix itself with self help methods. Only through the quietness of the heart can one be set free from the bondage of self that holds the mind in captivity to trying to fix itself.

A do it your self help mentality to a better life is like having an atlas of maps for a different trip then what is being planned. The atlas in hand has its purpose, but its usefulness is limited as it will never get you to your destination. Its not that there isn’t value in the atlas, but it becomes useless if you’re not traveling to where the maps in the atlas are pointing to. Do not many of the self help methods produce these same useless results? We are constantly trying to arrange life, thinking we can fix ourselves by trying to fill an inner void with all kinds of things (maps) from the outside, and regardless of the fix, the void never gets filled. This is not some theory I made up, it’s factual and this is what happened to me. Just look around and see how the world is full of people doing this same exact thing (reaching) and if you’re honest with yourself you’re probably doing it too.

Think of this, the mind that creates the need for self help is the same mind that’s going to be used to fix it. Is this plausible? If this mind didn’t create problems to begin with, the need for self help wouldn’t be required. It’s like changing a flat tire and putting the same flat tire back on and expecting it to be repaired. Something that’s broke cannot be used to repair itself. It would take a miracle for this to happen, if one wants to rely on miracles, so be it.

The mind that tells you to do something is the same mind that questions why it was done and this is the mind that self help relies on. It’s no wonder we humans are in the state that we’re in. Humans have created the way the world is and the same humans are trying to fix it and get this, with the same mind that made the world the way it is. A mind that is broken cannot fix itself, if it could it wouldn’t have a need to be repaired to begin with. Just sayin.

Learning to Love

Love is measured by the way a person behaves and by the way a person treats other people. It’s impossible to act selfishly or in a self serving manner if the base of your life is to love.

It’s often said that love is the true nature of life, but that doesn’t mean it will be the base of every life. Look at some people like, Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, and Ted Bundy to name a few, ask their victims family if love was their true nature. Even myself prior to waking up, but not to that degree. I was very selfish, and most of my decisions made were to satisfy myself. It’s not this way today because I learned the valuable lesson of what it means to love thy neighbor as thy self and I truly don’t want to hurt anyone today, including myself. Love emanates as behavior and it can be measured by the way people treat each other. It’s impossible to act selfishly or self serving if the base of one’s life is to love.

I’ll use a story about my daughter to illustrate how I began to love. About nine years ago I was taking her on an overnight stay to a friends at the Jersey Shore. Thirty miles into the trip she told me she forgot here bedding. When the anger arose as it always had when things didn’t go my way, the one thing that stuck out more than anything was I didn’t want to hurt my daughter; I also knew if I hurt her I would be hurting me. So because of this awareness there wasn’t the normal yelling, we just turned around and headed back home to get her bedding. When I didn’t react in anger, I knew my view of life was different and I knew the difference was I was learning how to love. When you can truly be with life as it is and accept yourself blemishes and all, you will know you are truly on a road not only less travelled, but one that leads to loving thy neighbor as thy self.

Blind Reactions

No reaction occurs randomly. If the conditioning in place that allows the reaction to arise isn’t understood, one will blindly react to situations as if they were a puppet on a string.

Understanding the conditioning in place is what allows one to understand what’s truly going on in their life. It’s very difficult to know what is real and what isn’t, but it’s not all that difficult to understand the conditioning that make you react to life as you do. Most people are led around blindly without understanding their reactions and this is the reason it’s nearly impossible to break free from the Conditioned Mind; we get stuck in the same energy patterns. If something has you in its grip, if you don’t understand the conditioning in place that causes this, you will not have the resolve or awareness to break free from it. The unawareness of this conditioning makes one pursue things that are not beneficial to your own well being, and as stated before this is strictly because the conditioning in place will not allow it.

No one reacts randomly. Reactions manifest in the way that they do because it’s what’s in place, you can only get apples from an apple tree. Certain Universal Laws are in affect throughout life and regardless if the reactions associated with them are wanted or not, they will arise depending on the deep seeded conditioning that’s in control. If the conditioning in place makes one see things from any place other than love this will cause problems. This is exactly why the world is as it is because the conditioning in place makes people act as they do. Until the conditioning changes that makes it this way, one will continue to react as they do even though the reactions may not truly be beneficial.

Self Investigation

Self investigation takes more courage than most people will ever exhibit. This is because the conditioning in place doesn’t allow it and until life isn’t all about you anymore, your conditioning prevails.

More and more I’m amazed at the things that people hold onto with the emphasis totally on satisfying self. There is little or no consideration for anyone else and it’s strictly from a me, me, me, mind. I know it’s because they know not what they do, but the suffering this causes and how it anchors the conditioning in place can be truly discouraging. Notice I said can be discouraging because if one is truly awake, there’s the understanding that the way things are is the way things are and wanting them different also anchors the conditioning in place. I’m writing about this because the conditioning in place is heartbreaking, when you have answers and they are ignored by most, it’s like having a cure for cancer, but nobody will listen. Without going into specifics, the conditioned unconsciousness runs so deep that people will justify doing all kinds of self destructive behavior without blinking an eye; drugs, alcohol, gambling, porn, rioting, protesting, total defiance for any authority, murder, rape, assault, and robbery and this is only the tip of the Conditioned Mind iceberg. Here is my understanding of why this is, it’s much easier because of the way one is conditioned to justify self destructive behavior than to look inward. True self investigation takes more courage than most people will ever exhibit, not because they can’t, but because the conditioning in place doesn’t allow it.

I offer to talk to people all the time to possibly assist in the waking up process because the conditioning in place keeps one as a dog chasing its own tail as all kinds of excuses are made not to connect. I get it, but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch people suffering when there’s a way out. The insanity of this is people would rather remain in their suffering then to go beyond it, which is truly heartbreaking. I don’t say this because I’m a know it all, but I have been released somewhat from the grip of the Conditioned Mind and was provided answers that are shared strictly from experience. And how I know that I’ve truly broken free from the Conditioned Mind is because life just isn’t all about me anymore.

Pleasure Perception

Until one can be with things as they are without seeking an escape that’s thought to provide pleasure, a made up perception will continue its control and unfortunately so will the suffering it causes.

Even though certain thoughts arise that are perceived as truth, it doesn’t mean they have anything to do with truth. They may be perceived as what is thought to be truth, but if you look into it deeper it’s probably just a made up story providing you with the way you think things are needed for pleasure. Don’t we use the story of helping others in this way, it’s really used to kind of pat ourselves on the back because we make up the story that helping others is good, and we get pleasure out of anything we label as good. We use God in the same way, it’s strictly used to provide pleasure, nothing more; like there’s really something out there that really cares about what a person does. All these made up stories block one from really seeing the underlying true nature of what is. Truth as it is with love needs no story, and if a story is being used to formulate a perception of what truth is thought to be, I guarantee you it’s not truth, it’s only your perception.

Truth is not something to know. It can’t be defined correctly with words because it’s only seen when the mind is settled. When you judge someone regardless of what they do, you are applying a perception of truth of how you think they should be acting. This is the same with life situations, and these perceptions are only there to provide yourself with the pleasure of the way you think things should be. Life and the people in it are always as it is and until one can just be with things in that capacity instead of always wanting them in a way that provides pleasure, truth will never be experienced. Hence your made up perception of truth will continue its control and unfortunately so will the suffering it causes.

Truth Uncovered

When truth is uncovered, no longer is the mind blindly listened to because it’s understood you shouldn’t believe everything your mind tells you because most of the time it just isn’t true.

Don’t believe everything your mind tells you because it will tell you things that just aren’t true. It will tell you the past is real yet the past doesn’t truly exist. It will tell you to fear, yet the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. It will tell you to hold onto the belief that there’s a self that’s a solid entity, but the form that’s being occupied needs no such attachment to exist as it’s constantly changing. It will also tell you I think therefore I am, but thinking has nothing to do with I am. It will make up beliefs that everything desired on the outside is needed, but if none of those desires come to pass, life simply goes on. Even if the desires do get fulfilled, the satisfaction is fleeting at best. This thing called mind (ego) can never be grabbed, it’s like the bogeyman under the bed, it exist until one looks under the bed. There’s also not a need to get rid of it because it doesn’t truly exist, except in the mind.

There’s the image in the mirror who was given a label for identification purposes, we think we are that label. If the label is different we think we are someone else, but that’s only to the mind because the form remains the same. There will be many lies held onto that just aren’t true, but unfortunately the more those lies are attached to, the truer they seem. To truly be free, the lies will have to be uncovered, this doesn’t mean you find out you don’t exist, you just find out you just don’t exist in the way your ego tells you. When this truth is uncovered, no longer does one listen to the mind because it’s understood, you shouldn’t believe everything it tells you because it just isn’t so.

The Thought to Reach

When the need to reach for something arises it’s because the mind is in bondage to the reaching thought. Until this is seen, one will remain in bondage to the thought that fulfillment is in the next thing reached for.

You will never find the fulfillment you’re seeking if you’re in bondage to the thought of being fulfilled. Fulfillment is something that’s already within everyone, but because of the way our minds are conditioned, we get bound up in our thoughts that fulfillment is something outside of us. Unfortunately this bondage makes the very fulfillment we are seeking impossible to grasp. This bondage is the reason one is constantly reaching for something from the outside and until this is seen one remains bound to the thought that fulfillment is in the next thing reached for. Alcohol, gambling, drugs, sex, social status, programs, therapy, self help books and on and on, this reaching is proof that one is in bondage, is it not? I can’t stress this enough as this bondage to your thoughts has to be seen if one is to experience true fulfillment in their life.

It’s impossible to think your way to fulfillment, but what does have to happen if fulfillment is to be experienced is there has to be an understanding of why you’re not fulfilled; that one isn’t fulfilled is only because of the inability to just be. When the need to reach for something arises, the bondage to the reaching thought begins. This bondage is a vicious cycle that’s very difficult to break free from. Fulfillment isn’t something attained or achieved so it’s in doing less that one is fulfilled. To many people get lost in trying to find fulfillment, but since it’s something that’s already within, the binding thought about finding fulfillment needs to be discarded so you can see. This is not easy to grasp, but it’s why I write. Understand though, I don’t write to help anyone find fulfillment, I simply write so the bondage of our thoughts can be seen for what it is; the reason why there isn’t fulfillment.

Forgiveness Story

If you truly loved yourself wounds that need healing would never be produced and because you can only do what you are conditioned to do, there wouldn’t be a need for a forgiveness story.

This article is on the topic of forgiveness. To me the biggest misconception of this word is people think its needed and that’s where the problem lies. If you understood your own mind, you would understand this. I ask you, is forgiveness real or is it just a story created by your Conditioned Mind to hold you in captivity to the wounds of the past? Wounds that are held onto which are only there because they’re created by the lack of self love, and because of this lack these wounds aren’t allowed to heal. It all stems from not allowing yourself to truly love who you are. You think the past should be different, if you didn’t there wouldn’t be the need to forgive. We all can only do what we are conditioned to do, if this truth was seen where would there be a need for forgiveness? And if it isn’t true then why do you do what you don’t want to do and don’t do what’s in your heart? So do what you do and if you don’t like what you do, learn to stop doing it so you can do something different.

If you understand the Conditioned Mind and you are aware of the control it has over you, you will
see there is no need for forgiveness because you and others behave in the way your own mind tells you to behave. So where is the need to forgive if you are just doing what you have been conditioned to do? Understand this, it’s your own mind that tells you what to do, and the same mind makes up the story that what it told you to do now needs to forgive. Who behaves and who forgives? It is one in the same. So my question is, is the need for forgiveness real or is it just a story? If you truly loved yourself your wounds would have never been produced so there wouldn’t be a need for healing and because now you understand that you just did what you were conditioned to do there isn’t a need to forgive.

Limiting Results

No perspective is wrong, but if you only have one way of seeing things it does limit your view of life and in the process it doesn’t allow you to have any other result except from that perspective.

Changing views is what makes life different, it doesn’t make what happens in life different, it only makes the way something is seen different. If you’re locked into a certain view, this only allows one way of seeing things. To me the more one’s view is based in the intellect the harder it will be for there to be a shift in perspective to see things another way. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with the intellect, it just doesn’t allow for much space. When one sees things from a view of only one way, it limits their entire life to that one view. Most times this view isn’t even one’s own, it’s formed from someone else; their opinion, teaching, book, video, belief, idea, or philosophy.

To be fixated on one way of seeing things keeps you entrapped to the results of that way; think about how limiting that is. No possibility of other views, always going down the same path, never allowing anything new, this is so limiting, and unfortunately with only seeing things one way how limiting this is will not be seen. Sitting and developing discipline allows a one sided view to fall away and it also assist in the possibility of altering the current view; this is very important is one is to even have an inkling there’s another way to see things. It’s not that your way is wrong, it’s just that having only one way to see things limits your view of what occurs in life and in the process it doesn’t allow any other results except those from the one view; very limiting indeed.

Shelter From the Storm

Existence is based in the energy of love, but this energy is not a preventer of tragedies. It’s simply a place to dwell to get shelter from the so called life storms, and they will come, but one doesn’t have to be overcome by them.

Our world is one of tragedy and pain just as it’s of joy and fulfillment. An omnipresence is what’s common regardless of what happens, but we cannot escape the tragedies of life. Our beliefs or our faith do not make us immune to them. We were never promised that life would be without tragedies, but there’s an omnipresence that’s there no matter what we face. Someone once wrote that “Peace does not come with the absence of troubles, but with the conscious realization of adequate resources.” The omnipresence is the supplier of all the resources we need to get through life’s tragedies. Jesus said, “In this world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He went to the Father often, the omnipresence of his place to dwell.

All our victories belong to the power of love. Many came to bring us this message. Something abides beyond the tragedies and it’s the omnipresence of love. This is the place to dwell for without it we are left to deal with the tragedies with our own created devices. One’s entire existence is based on love, and it’s this awareness that makes us realize we are always on Holy Ground. To understand this there has to be an understanding that there’s a power greater than ourselves, an omnipresence that provides us with the resources we need. Without this understanding it will be difficult to get through life’s tragedies so one can find shelter and walk in the light of our Divine nature.

Nobody Watching Honesty

Nobody watching honesty means what you do when nobody is looking is the same as what you do when someone is watching. If this isn’t the level of your honesty, it’s because there’s a lack of self awareness.

One way to alleviate suffering is to develop honesty with yourself. Here’s a definition of honesty “the quality of being truthful” to me this is strictly about being true to yourself because when I’m true to me, there’s no way I can’t be true to you. I’ve learned a lot about self honesty in the last ten years and it’s something that eluded me for most of my life. Honesty isn’t about what is shown to the world, it’s about what is done when no one is watching. The world is easily fooled because of the conditioning in place; what does it matter if one gains the whole world, but loses themselves.

Honesty is a huge hurdle in breaking the chains of the Conditioned Mind, without it truth cannot be revealed. If I don’t know what blocks me from being honest with myself, the blocks will remain. Without establishing what I call “nobody watching honesty” one remains stuck in their old habits because there’s no room for anything new. Certain things trigger certain thoughts and if those thoughts are attached to it’s usually because self honesty has been compromised. Although there’s no right or wrong in this, this does make someone act in ways as if nobody’s watching which they wouldn’t necessarily do if someone was watching.

To thine own self be true because it’s only yourself that keeps you in bondage. This self honestly is tied in with loving yourself; when you’re honest with yourself, you’re truly loving yourself because you’re making room for the mind to expand. This allows for the honesty to do what you do when no one is watching just as you would in front of others. Difficult yes, but only because nobody watching honesty isn’t what’s in place.

A Quiet Mind Sees

Truth is seen when the mind becomes quiet. The thought of truth which is noise, is a created distraction that blocks you from seeing beyond the story that’s conjured up in your head.

If you want to know what truth is, a quiet mind will have to be at the base of where life is lived from. Anything else is just a distraction that keep one’s mind from settling and thus it keeps one from truth. There is never a story attached to truth. How can there be, when the story is but a distraction? Life isn’t truly about anything in particular, the Conditioned Mind will make it about something and with a quiet mind this will be seen. It’s probably the only way it will be seen because it’s the only way one’s created distractions will not block truth from arising. So what you see is what you see and if you think it’s truth it probably isn’t. This is because only when the mind is quiet beyond the thought of truth will one see the truth that sets you free.

If you follow the way of the world, it will be your master. There will be very little truth in your life because the distractions of the world will not allow your heart to open to the love of the Universe. There’s no way around this, until there’s some semblance of quietness in one’s life there will be very little truth. It’s pretty simple, conform to the worlds way and you will be enslaved to it, or learn to be quiet and you will see.

Making Room

As far as the mind is concerned, if the old isn’t cleared out there won’t be room for anything new to replace it, but it won’t happened until it’s seen there’s a need to replace the old.

From the time one begins their life in this form, the mind is constantly processing and storing information. The incessant mind never stops this storing process and constantly draws on its familiarity, but this leaves very little room for anything new to become known. One’s instilled foundation needs something close to a miracle to dislodge it, but when the mind does settle, it creates room and the world as it is known ceases to exist.

Think of it this way, when a room is to be redesigned in a house, the first thing that needs to be done is to clear it out so the new furniture can fit in where it’s wanted. If one has to work around the old furniture it would make placing the new furniture much more difficult, it wouldn’t fit properly and it probably wouldn’t match either. Matching the new with the old takes a skill that most people don’t naturally possess. This usually has to be taught., this is where the process of sitting helps to clear out the mind (the room). If this isn’t done, the mind, as it is with the room, will remain cluttered with the old. Although the new may be put in, it will not add any enhancement to the design of the room. After all, this is what we are doing, trying to enhance life. No one changes anything just to change it, it’s changed because a philosophy or a belief isn’t working any more, so clear out the old and make room for a redesigning that will allow in the new.

Expansion of Love

Love is the true energy of life. It won’t be denied as its expansion is inevitable because it’s what we are made of. As our heart is unblocked and opens to love, love becomes the energy of existence.

Hate is far reaching and it doesn’t stop instantly when it’s energy source is taken away, but it does dissipate over time. Love is different, love keeps expanding even without its energy source. A perfect example of this is the love of Jesus; it is stronger today than the day it was written he was on earth. The energy of the love that was in his heart is what lives on, expands and generates more love. This is the nature of love, to expand. Hate doesn’t do this, not that it doesn’t grow, but when it’s source energy is taken away, the energy generated doesn’t expand, it wanes. People will hold on to its trace energy, but it becomes a pocket of hate that is isolated, as opposed to love which expands because it’s Universal.

Although Jesus’s made the ultimate sacrifice in spreading love, there are many others who have the same love in their hearts and are spreading it. Some of his followers got killed for spreading the love that was in their hearts and some dedicate their entire life to spreading love. The Buddha, Martin Luther King Jr. Mother Teresa, Gandhi, to name a few, but there are so many people unnamed people like you and me who spread the seeds of love as much as the heart is capable. Love is the energy of the Universe, it will not be denied.

All we can do, is what our heart is capable of. We all possess a fully capable heart of love, but because of our Conditioned Mind we fall short of reaching our full capacity. With practice our hearts will keep expanding and we’ll be the spreaders of love like those that came before us. We may be one unit on this planet, but it isn’t our love that we are spreading, it’s the love that came before us, which is the love of all creation. We are expanding on that love and no matter how much hate there was that came before us or is here now, it will never keep the energy of the love that’s in our hearts from expanding to our entire planet.

Surface Noise

When you think you have life all figured out, you are more disconnected than ever. One connects with life when the voice in the head stops and there is oneness with your own inner stillness.

I remember a time last summer as the sun was going down, I was on the beach looking out into the ocean. As I watched seagull after seagull dive into the ocean to grab another fish, it got me to wondering how there is a whole world beneath the surface of the ocean that really isn’t given much thought, that is until there is something that happens to get our attention. The seagull instinctively knows of this world because it doesn’t have all the noise going on in it’s head.

This reminded me of my own body and how I don’t really give much thought as to what is going on inside of me, that is until something happens to bring attention to it. Many of us are so conditioned to listen to the voice in our head that it is nearly impossible to get in touch with what is truly going on in our life. It’s the surface noise that blocks out our connection to our inner stillness, it will be beneath the surface of this noise that you will be exposed to a whole new world.

Inward Truth

If you’re not looking inward when questions arise, answers aren’t going to be revealed. You’ll just bounce around making up answers which only distract you from looking inward and revealing truth.

Truth is beautiful and when we look for our answers inward, the beauty of truth is revealed. This occurs naturally, we only need to inquiry within to discover this; this is the only way truth will be revealed. It has always been there, but unfortunately we have been conditioned to look in the wrong places or not look for it at all. Our outward conditioning justifies so much of our behavior and blocks truth from being known, that is until one looks within.

Lie to yourself, justify whatever it is you want to justify, but the sad truth of our society is most people’s existence isn’t based in truth. If you’re not looking inward for your answers, you are living a lie. Truth will only be discovered when it’s sought from within. Why most don’t look inward is because the Conditioned Mind tells you it’s not necessary, that you are doing okay with the way things are. Besides it’s much easier to point the finger at someone else, but the truth is people aren’t doing okay with the way things are and this is because most think their answers are outside of themselves.

Our politicians look outside, the judicial system looks outside, religion looks outside, the economist look outside, drug and alcohol counselors, psychologists, psychiatrist, and on and all look outside. There are no answers outside, there are only distractions to keep you from looking inward and getting real answers, and those answers when looked for inward are based in truth. Most people live the lie that their answers are outside and to look inward is unnecessary, know this truth and it will set you free, but only if you are looking inward.

A Limited View

When you say you feel a certain way, it’s strictly your own judgement of that moment that produces the label. The moment doesn’t make judgements, it only provides the setting for it to be labeled.

Through our senses we label each moment and those labels are constant. Everything is judged, even labeling a coffee cup on the counter is a judgment. Not a harmful one, but a judgment just the same. When it’s learned to not judge and apply a conditioned label, you will then become aware of the distractions that keep you from going beyond surface living. With this new awareness, your mind finally settles enough to notice the deeper view. This is the initial awareness, but it will require much more practice to go deeper still. The deeper one goes, the more the material world will be let go of because it will not be needed. And the more the material world is let go of, the more one will understand the deeper view and the freer one will be.

The senses are directly linked to the bondage of self as is one’s surface view. If you really want to understand life from the spiritual realm, you will have to get very quiet and become aware of how subtle the bondage to the delusional self really is. This bondage is the only reason life is viewed the way it is by so many people as the quietness that allows it to be viewed differently isn’t practiced. This isn’t something that’s right or wrong, it’s just limiting. Without the discipline to understand the difference between surface living and the deeper view, there will be no difference and the surface view will be the only view that one will have. Again this isn’t right or wrong, but it is limiting and what is limited is the way one views life.

Putting Spirituality First

The main dilemma in our society is people are putting their humanness first and are being controlled by their thoughts. When spirituality is put first there’s a connection to the universal heart of love.

Living strictly from the human (thought) realm is the main reason why there is constant seeking and why one is disconnected from the sun light of the spirit. With putting being human first, one is living through thought so there has to be a disconnect from the spirit. Thought separates, love (the heart) unites. Our humanness is a direct disconnect from the spiritual when it’s put first because of its base (the senses). The Spirit doesn’t ever need, therefore when the spirit is put first the senses (desire) isn’t in control.

When being a spiritual entity is put first, a connection to all of life occurs, not through thought, but through the universal heart of love. The main dilemma in our society is people are putting their humanness first and are being controlled by their thoughts. Just follow the news and see this for yourself. It’s nothing more than human desires being put first and running amok.

Here is a tool called the 12 Steps to Freedom which are from my book It’s Monday Only in Your Mind: Your Are Not Your Thoughts. They offer the possibility for one to become aware of the sunlight of the spirit within so life may be lived from the heart as a spiritual being who is having a human experience. They are offered for free on my website www.mondayinyourmind.com Use this tool and develop this awareness or not, that’s the choice, but the results of that choice will be to either remain in the control of the Conditioned Mind or to break free of its tantalizing devious grip.

Changing 2017 Conditioning

Vows, pledges, and resolutions aren’t needed when it’s realized what you are giving up (changing) is being done because its causing a bondage that doesn’t allow you to be in harmony with life, yourself, and all beings.

Although vows, pledges, and resolutions are made in all sincerity, it’s very difficult to sustain them as a permanent change of a behavior pattern because of the way our conditioning controls our life. Many of the things we try to change are the very things we’ve used as coping mechanism throughout our life; they’ve been in place for many many years. Breaking their hold will take much more then simply saying “I will give up __________. ” Things of this nature are deeply engrained in the subconscious mind and will take much discipline to undo the conditioning that is there. This is the reason many New Year resolutions fall by the wayside in a short time.

Announcements aren’t needed to make changes in your life. If you want to change something learn why the thing is there in first place and what you need to do to break the cycle of that particular Conditioned Mind Pattern. The practice of quietness allows for the triggers of these mind patterns to be recognized and thus their hold tends to lose its grip. This takes willingness, time, and perseverance if breaking this bondage is to occur, but the alternative is for the behavior patterns to remain deeply engrained in the subconscious mind. Going forward if something needs to be changed because it’s not allowing harmony with life, yourself, and all beings, make it a point that this change is going to happen by doing the necessary practice that will allow it. Not because of some vow or resolution, but because you realize what you are changing is being done simply because its causing a bondage that doesn’t allow you to be in harmony with life, yourself, and all beings… Happy New Year