True Refuge

True refuge will never be found in outer things regardless of what the thing is one is using to take refuge in. What’s unfortunate about this is, most people use outer things for their refuge.

The dictionary definition of refuge is a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble, so unless one finds a true place of refuge, the pursuit for it will never end. This means one will always be chasing it and in danger or trouble. I would have to say this is dead on accurate and if you look around or turn on the news, it would be hard to argue this. Many pursue a false refuge and aren’t truly at peace until the day life in this form ends. True refuge will never be found in things regardless of what one is using to take refuge in, unfortunately reaching out for things is where most people look for it. This is not to say there’s anything wrong in things, especially if they’re healthy for you, but just understand regardless of what it is, the thing won’t provide the refuge that it’s being used for.

One’s true place of refuge is in between the constant thought stream that’s in place. There’s a little sliver of space between each thought that isn’t noticed because the mind isn’t settled. It’s as if the mind is a pond and the mud on the bottom is constantly being kicked up. As long as the kicking occurs, the water will remain cloudy, but oh how clear the pond naturally becomes when the kicking stops. This space is the only true refuge. It’s awareness aware of awareness. It doesn’t take one single thought to be in this space, as a matter of fact, thought is the greatest hindrance to being in one’s true space of refuge. It’s unfortunate because as long as one thinks about it, the mind will remain cloudy and one will be unable to see clearly and take true refuge in the space between one’s thoughts.

Mind Agitated Responses

Although it seems outside circumstances are the cause of one’s mind agitations, this is not the case. The agitations that arise are already in place, if they weren’t there’s no way they could arise.

You can only respond to the circumstances of life with what you have in place. Something like fear arises because it has been taught, this also goes for anger, greed, hate, and so on. I know for me most of my responses to the circumstances of life were from the core of”I”. Without this understanding, it kept me locked into a mind agitation and ignorant of the fact that the only reason this occurred was because it was already in place. Simply put, when there was a circumstance that occurred which I didn’t like, whether it was what someone said or did, or something that happened, a mind agitation arose without my permission or knowledge and because of “I” the response was accordingly. What arose was whatever my conditioning deemed appropriate and the only reason this happened was because it was already there; latent, laying in wait.

Understanding this is where knowledge has power. If why a mind agitation arises isn’t understood, there’ll be very little true periods where the agitations are not in control. Through awareness of what arises, one has something that can be seen to get beyond it. Why most people remain as they are and repeat the same responses over and over is because of the total unawareness of why it occurs. To me this knowledge has immense value because when it’s seen, not only can one decipher whether what’s in place is beneficial or not, but discipline can also be developed to change whatever conditioning is in place that’s causing non beneficial responses.

Effect Happens

As long as the effect of whatever cause there is is in place and it’s wanted to be different, it will seem as though life is the one doing to you what you are basically doing to yourself.

Life can only be as it is. It doesn’t label what happens as good or bad, as a matter of fact it doesn’t really care what happens. Mostly what happens is because of cause and effect. If you hit a golf ball with a driver and the face is open, the ball will have a slicing trajectory, there’s no way around this. The slice is the effect of the cause, the face being open. Life just happens this way, run over a nail while driving and there’s a good chance of it puncturing your tire and it going flat. Life doesn’t do this, it’s just something that happens because the conditioning is right for it to happen. Smoke and use tobacco products and the effect this has on a person’s health can be life threatening; at the very least it will hold you in bondage. This isn’t life doing anything, it’s effect is just what’s in place. You can’t put water in your cars gas tank without it effecting how the car runs. So the key to one’s existence is understanding how cause and effect operate and learning how to do things that have an effect that is the most beneficial.

Things will always happen that are beyond one’s control, but it doesn’t have to be taken personally to make it as if life is doing it to you. This is all tied into the attachment one has with the thought of the effects that occur. Make the golf shot or flat tire a problem and it will be one. Or understand that things are as they are regardless if you had a hand in the effect or not and allow it to be. Most of one’s struggled arise not because of what happens, but because what happens is given the label of wanting it different. As long as the effect of whatever cause there is is in place and it’s wanted to be different, it will seem as though life is the one doing to you what you are basically doing to yourself.

Human Clinging

Our human condition is what the Universe uses so our existence can manifest. It shouldn’t be denied or ignored (clung to) because if it is, there will be much suffering as our true essence is missed.

The base of a spiritual life is to embrace our humanness and see it for what it is, so one can learn how not to cling to the things that cause suffering. Why do we cling to things that may seem to be beneficial, but upon further review cause suffering? This all starts with one thought and ends up as whatever one clings to. Notice any thought that pops up, there’s not much of a problem with it initially, but if you don’t have awareness of this, clinging will arise along with the suffering it causes. This is what happens when there’s a thought and one clings to it, but understand the thought itself isn’t an issue.

Thoughts aren’t right or wrong, they’re just thoughts. When you cling to them, it reinforces the conditioning and blocks one from being in touch with their spiritual essence. Therein lies the issue because when one is driven by their human conditioning, you will only look for answers and satisfaction in human solutions, which don’t have a long term satisfaction rate. To cling is human and one will cling that’s a given, but if human solutions are what one clings to, there will be much suffering. What it really comes down to is although our essence is spiritual, our human condition is what’s used to experience existence. This shouldn’t be denied or ignored because if it is, there will be suffering because one is clinging to a false self instead of the true essence of what is.

Results of Actions

In the space of stillness everything arises and unless one remains in the stillness, the energy of wanting it different will arise and the ensuing result will be because of the action in place.

Results always manifest as a direct response of one’s actions, and how those results manifest is determined by the base of those actions. This doesn’t stop anything from happening in your life as far as old age, sickness, and death, but what it does do is it ensures and reinforces what’s in place in you. No one else controls what manifests from within you. Your discontentment is yours alone, it’s not life’s or your in-laws, a boss, co worker, Donald Trump, the Republicans or the Democratic’s, Isis, my writings, or anything else, it’s simply having your actions and results in sync with each other; actions and results will always be in sync. Discontentment only arises when one wants things different and wanting something different creates suffering because the Conditioned Mind is in control.

You can put any spin you want on life, but the bottom line is always the same, if one wants the present moment different, there will be a discontented energy that’s in control. From being diagnosed with an illness, to breaking a finger nail, when the following action is from the discontented energy of not wanting it to be, the results can only be from the same energy. It will take a very settled mind to see how the results of one’s life are directly linked to the energy of one’s actions. I’m not saying be the little engine who could, what I am saying is in the space of stillness everything arises and unless one remains in the stillness, the energy of wanting it different will arise and the ensuing results will be because of the actions in place.

Present Moment Alignment

One is aligned with life when there is alignment with the present moment. When one is pulled out of alignment with the present moment, it is then that the nonsense of the childish mind begins.

Spirituality isn’t magical, it’s life. If we are alive, we are spiritual. Whether we are aware of this or not, it doesn’t take away from the fact that we are spiritual in nature. Lets take a practical approach to our spirituality so we can narrow down our blocks to this awareness. Take a look at one of the most common realities of life; everything that happens does so in the present moment. This is the most common reality of life, but why is it so hard to live in this moment? We hear it all the time ” live in the now, all we have is now, be present” yet it is so hard to remain present. Why?

What I have found to be the one thing that makes living in the present moment so difficult, is our inability in keeping the mind aligned with it. So many things pull us out of alignment which makes one prone to whatever childish conditioning is in place. This conditioning is different for everyone, but the nature of this childish misalignment is the same. If this misalignment doesn’t occur, the opening to be controlled by our childish Conditioned Mind will not occur. This misalignment is so subtle, but this is what makes it so difficult to be aware of it. The point of this is to show the mind will not stay aligned to the present moment without practice. It’s only because of the way it has been developed that the misalignment occurs, but understand it will not align on its own. The mind will have to be redeveloped. This is when one becomes aware of their spiritual nature because when the mind remains in alignment with the present moment, one is aligned with life. If you can develop the awareness of what takes you out of alignment with the present moment, you will discover the secret of what takes you out of alignment with life and the childish mind will simply fall away.

Noticing Your Thoughts

Notice how the same thoughts arise over and over and you just may be able to settle in a place where they aren’t in control. You may also realize these repetitive thoughts don’t really provide much of a benefit.

As long as you’re alive you will have thoughts so thoughts aren’t really about what happens as much as it’s about how much one relates their thoughts to what happens. This is where one’s conditioning steps in and determines the relation to the next thought. Thoughts can arise from love, or from aversion, but for most they teeter between the two. Very few go to the oomph degree of either one of these so the results for most are constantly teetering between the two. When one’s thoughts do hit the level of one of these, the results are contingent on how much one is conditioned; these thoughts are what manifest as the emotions that take you for a ride. If you have love as the main influence in your life, obviously your thoughts will be of love more than a person who has aversion as their influence. This all arises from the individual, so if you’re able to notice the base of your thoughts, you may be able to alter your actions to a degree instead of relying on divine intervention, which will probably not occur. It will take practice to allow the mind to settle so the base of one’s thoughts can be noticed.

The real addictions in our society is to our thoughts and when I is the main subject, it makes one’s existence very irrational. Now multiply that by billions of people and hence you have the world we live in; billions of people constantly having thoughts about themselves strictly for their own personal gain. There’s no one to really blame for this, it just seems as though it arises from what’s in place. From the serial killer, to the person who does volunteer work, it’s the thoughts that causes our emotional twist and everything else in between. So sit often with the intention of developing the ability to notice how much your thoughts are stuck on I and you just may be able to settle in a place where the mind quiets and hopefully you’ll come to realize life isn’t really about anything, you just have thoughts that it is.

A Compassed Direction

A compass is a tool that points in a direction, but it doesn’t tell you what’s up ahead. It will guide you to go in the right direction, which is all one truly needs instead of relying on someone else’s map.

I know many tend to look to a map, a path, or some kind of method as a way to quieting their inner discontentment and finding peace, but to me there is no map, path, or method, to get you to a place of peace because these are someone else’s. The only true tool to be used can be described as a compass, it points you in a direction, but it doesn’t tell you much else. It doesn’t tell you the terrain, or where the detours are that may be encountered, it just points you in a direction. There are so many variables that can’t be accounted for with someone else’s way, this is why following someone else is really useless. This is also why programs don’t really work, you may think they work because some behaviors have changed, but you’re kidding yourself. You are really doing yourself an injustice if you follow someone’s way because you’re not being true to yourself. How can you be if you’re using someone else’s map to discover what’s in you?

The compass is the only tool necessary in your journey because it will get you going in the right direction, but it will not tell you much else. Nine years ago I read many books in a two year period and I came to the conclusion that although they said things their own way, they all pointed in the same direction, inward. My awakening was in the form of a direction, so when my journey began, all I knew was where I was heading, the rest has been an adventure. I have no destination, nor is one needed, but I always have my compass so when the terrain gets rough or there’s a unsuspecting detour, it may seem as though I’m off course, but I’m not. Matter of fact I’m never off course because it’s my journey so how can I be off course when it’s my course I’m on. Also I have my compass and that allows me to always go in a direction that’s true to myself. After all it is my journey so why would I want to use someone else’s map!

Benefitting Others

Loving is the way one reacts to others when their own life is based in love. This doesn’t mean others will return the favor, but the more you love, the less you will react to others in non loving ways.

It’s so easy to feel connected to others when they do what you think they should be doing, but how connected do you feel when they don’t? Our connection to others should never waver regardless of how they respond, but because of our Conditioned Mind, most people have a tendency to think they’re more connected when others are doing what they want. Our connection to others shouldn’t be contingent on the way they act because this will make our unity very unstable. To be controlled by the behavior of others is to be controlled by your own conditioning, which makes one react as if they are a puppet on a string. This can only occur if we ourselves unconsciously allow it; no one would consciously allow this control. If one is conditioned differently the reactions to others would be different.

One way to break the hold of being a puppet on a string is to become aware if the way you react to others is beneficial or not. When there’s awareness of this, it’s your obligation to cultivate it so you can be a benefit to others, but if our reactions aren’t a benefit to others, it’s up to you to change it. Reacting a certain way will not change just because you want it to and although many people have an inkling their reactions aren’t much of a benefit to anyone even themselves, they still react the same. Why do you think this is? It has to do with what conditioning is at the core of our being, if love isn’t at our core, our reactions will be hard pressed to be of love. When there’s awareness of this, there’s a certain responsibility because it’s love that changes the world. With this awareness, there’s an obligation to cultivate love so it’s at the core of our reactions. When this is done, one becomes the change this world so desperately needs because all one can do is love. It’s fairly simple, if love is in place, one’s reactions to others will be of love, if it isn’t, one’s reactions to others will be based to satisfy self, and simply put that benefits no one, not even yourself.

Natural Laws

Natural Laws puts one in harmony with life, so take heed and understand life really never does anything to you, but if you break the law it will be unnatural and it will certainly seem like it does.

Natural Laws are in place that put one in harmony with life and they’re also in place to offer protection against certain behavior. These laws when adhered to within their boundaries, allow for life to be lived to the fullest, but the mind has to be opened and free flowing for the adherence to these laws to take place. There are also man made laws that align to these natural laws, but many of them are broken which blocks the natural laws from being as beneficial as they could be. The more one adheres to selfish behaviors, the less chance there is to be in harmony with the natural laws. When things are used and abused to satisfy self, this blocks life from being natural. The animal realm adheres to natural laws and because of this there’s perfect balance. Unfortunately the human conditioning relies to much on the intellect and not enough on what naturally occurs.

Life will mostly be lived in one of two ways, acting in ways that allows alignment to our natural laws or not. A quiet mind can see this to a degree and slowly stops doing the things that block the natural laws from being adhered to. As long as one is alive, life will be lived, but in what way determines one’s actions and consequences. Go thirty five mph in a twenty five mph zone and regardless if you get a speeding ticket or not, you will be out of harmony with the law in place. So take heed and understand life really never does anything to you, but if you break the law it will be unnatural and it will certainly seem like it does.

Addiction: The Disease Fallacy

Wanting to change the way that you feel goes on in just about every moment of everyday in people’s lives. The things used are only addressed in the way they affect one’s life.

I know main stream society says addiction is a disease, but it isn’t contagious, so how is wanting to use something to change the way that you feel a disease? Everyone does this, it’s just that different things are used. Being addicted to using an assortment of things, the gym, programs, food, money, power, sports teams, work, the spiritual path, and so on is no different than being addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex, or gambling. The consequences may be different, but the bondage is the same. Years ago 1935 to be exact, a man who used alcohol for most of his life to change the way that he felt, stopped drinking for six months. Once he took alcohol into his system, it set off an allergy that caused a reaction which couldn’t be controlled, much like someone who is allergic to peanuts. One day he went to Akron, Ohio on a business deal which didn’t go his way. Because he didn’t like how this made him feel, he wanted to go back to using his pacifier of alcohol to change this. He initially stopped drinking alcohol by creating the distraction of helping others, so this is what he reverted to. Now there’s nothing wrong in helping others, but if you don’t understand why you need to change the way that you feel, you will keep needing to reach for a pacifier, in this case helping others. This means you will always need the suffering of others to appease yourself. And this is a disease in what way?

Grow up, that’s what I say. Stop needing a crutch to live life and face what arises as it arises and stop reaching for a pacifier to change the way that you feel. Feelings aren’t factual, they become real to the individual in the way they’re used to create a story. Change the story, change the feeling, but this will only distract you from the truth that all you’re doing is reaching for something to change the way that you feel. When the story that addiction is a disease is truly investigated, it will be seen only as a story. There’s nothing factual in wanting to change the way that you feel, except that there’s a created story of needing to reach for something and saying this is a disease. It may fit nicely into the story of main stream society, but there’s no actual truth to it because it’s only a story being used because life isn’t the way that you want it.

Hear What Life is Saying

If things aren’t done that put you in cooperation with life, it will be impossible to hear what life has to say. For this to change it’s imperative to learn about one’s own mind which will go a long way in allowing one to hear what life is saying.

Just observe how the mind justifies all that it does. It has never been trained to be still so it creates most of our problems just so it has something to do. It says to do something and turns around and questions why it was done. It should be treated as a separate entity as if it’s one’s enemy, because upon further review it will be seen that it is, but it’s not the mind that’s truly the enemy, it’s the way it has been conditioned, that’s the true enemy.

This conditioning blocks the true nature of the mind from arising. It’s only conditioned to be this way because of all the surrounding influences, but it is we ourselves (unconsciously) who put these habitual mind patterns in place. Learning about one’s own mind is a way to undo what we ourselves have done. This learning of one’s mind is not about the great secrets of the Universe becoming known, it’s more so about getting an understanding of why the things that are done don’t put one in cooperation to hear what life has to say. When this is understood, why one responds to things a certain things will be known, after all if one doesn’t do the things in their life that allow cooperation with it, one will never hear what life has to say.

Understanding Change

Don’t hold onto anything and apply a label to it as being the way it has to be, because regardless of what it is it will change and if you don’t accept that, the ability to truly live your life will not happen.

Everything changes, that’s a given. I know a lot of people likes to focus on being the light and love, but those things arise naturally when there’s an understanding of the nature of change. The more one investigates how life works, the more it will be lived in the reality of what is instead of a made up story. If you are alive today you will experience aging, sickness, and death, your own and those you love. There’s no getting around this, and although these are mostly pushed away by people and not given much thought, they are a spring board to freedom from the bondage they have on you. Just think about it, if these things were faced to the the point where there wasn’t fear attachment associated with them, one would be totally free to be with life as it is without any story whatsoever being needed. The problem with the way these things are taught to deal with, is the exact opposite of how they need to be dealt with so they don’t take away one iota of living energy. Bondage to a story is a self created prison.

There was a man who I once worked with years ago that would tell me he had one fear which was dying from cancer. We’ll unfortunately that’s exactly what happened to him, but not only did he die from cancer, it consumed him while he was living and took away his ability to truly live while he was alive. That’s the true effect of being in bondage to something, it takes away the ability to truly live. It’s not the actually thing that does this, it’s the story created that blocks the ability to truly be free. The main thing here is to not hold onto anything and apply a label to it as being the way it has to be, because I can guarantee you this, regardless of what it is it will change and if you don’t accept that, the ability to truly live life will not happen.

A State of Attention

Everything arises from a state of silence, but not everything’s heard from a state of attention. Freedom from the known can happen, but only when it’s learned how to truly listen from a state of attention.

It matters little what one hears, but how one listens does matter in the sense if it comes from a state of attention. There’s all kinds of noise around us most of the time, but what’s mostly heard is labeled from our impulses and opinions. Freedom from the known can happen, but only when it’s learned how to truly listen, and one can only listen when one is in a state of attention. This is when one can truly hear. This state of attention arises from silence, there’s nothing to think about in a state of attention. A dog barking, a car beeping its horn, a helicopter, a waterfall, the ocean, all sounds can be heard and as with any sound, they can annoy you or the can anchor you in the present moment. There’s so much noise that goes on in one’s head, but it has nothing to do with the sounds that are heard.

Everything arises from a state of silence, but not everything’s heard from a state of attention. As I was sitting in my backyard the other day, listening to the water sprinkler in my pool, (my serene opinion) the neighbors son came out to play basketball in his yard, he also preceded to play his music very loud to where my opinionated serenity was disturbed. I immediately took a deep breath and realized that although I was enjoying listening to my pool sprinkler, I wasn’t in a state of attention. If I was when the sound changed to what arose from the silence, in this case my neighbors music,I wouldn’t have been disturbed. One deep breath showed me this, and it allowed me to be in a state of attention to the sounds that were there in the present moment instead of the mind agitations of my impulses and opinions.

Leaning Support

Grasping gives an arising event control, leaning into it puts the control basically in your hands, not with what occurs, but with how it affects you. Leaning allows life support.

Leaning into what happens in the present moment doesn’t result in an “oh well that’s just the way it is” attitude, the leaning allows freedom to be with it whole heartedly. It’s in our judgements of the present moment that causes resistive energy that wants the moment different and because of the Conditioned Mind, it wants every one of those moments to be pleasurable. There’s no leaning in this, it’s a straight up stand for wanting the moment to be a certain way. One of the biggest misunderstandings of what it means to be spiritual is that it’s linear and it’s takes you to something better. Granted it takes you to something different, but not something necessarily better. It will drag you through the mud so to speak until it’s learned to not to be dragged, but this doesn’t change what happens, it only changes how what happens is dealt with.

Look at it as if the mind is a flame from a candle, when there’s a breeze, the flame will flicker, this is what a mind agitation is like. Without a breeze the flame is still and so it is with a mind that doesn’t want anything different. There’s no agitation in this space so it’s basically just leaning on what’s happening instead of giving it unnecessary energy to cause some kind of conditioned havoc. Each moment will arise and depending on the view, it can be leaned on or grasped. Grasping gives the arising event control, leaning puts the control basically in your hands, not with what occurs, but with how it affects you. Leaning allows support, grasping doesn’t, as it’s in the leaning itself where life becomes our support.