Lack of Awareness

Truth makes a person look at themselves. All sorts of things arise when there’s awareness this happens and because of this the mind becomes agitated and creates a lie to avoid the truth…

It’s unfortunate, but most people live a life consumed by lies more so than truth. They believe they’re living by truth, but upon further investigation this fallacy can be seen. On the outside the lies seem so much better and this is what keeps a person locked into them, but this is only because your conditioning makes the lies seem better. The truth makes you look at yourself; all sorts of things arise when this happens. Without this understanding the truth will be avoided as if it was a plague. Becoming aware of the lies so truth can be revealed is essential in understanding yourself. Sit with the assumption that you will sit in stillness and watch how little stillness there is. Just sit and be with whatever’s there, that’s where truth is. When the mind isn’t looking for anything, truth arises.

Lack of awareness causes the mind to create lies, being with this lack is when the mind settles. This doesn’t mean you don’t make changes, but when changes aren’t needed the mind is settled. This is why I don’t share about positive versus negative, because if it’s negative and you want something positive, it’s no different than if you’re positive and you don’t want anything negative. An agitated mind is a mind that needs things to be a certain way whether it’s positive or negative. This is a lack of awareness lie, the truth is nothing needs to be different and your mind will settle when life is accepted as it is, positive, negative, or indifferent…

Awakened Base

Awakening from the dream of an egoic I is as if an entirely new base to view the world is made available; a base that was always there, it just wasn’t in place because of being lulled to sleep…

Many things contribute to the way things are in our society, this is not to say it’s necessarily right or wrong, but you needn’t look too far to notice that something’s awry. Between all the divorces, the shooting sprees, big pharma, terrorism, politics, wars, porn being a billion dollar industry, the whole structure of our entertainment and sports venues, the salaries of CEO’s, taxes on the middle class, need I keep going, but there is a common factor as to why things are as they are, it’s because at the core base of life for many people is from an egoic I that can only think of itself.

When there’s divorce one of the partners usually strays to satisfy the egoic I and it’s usually justified by making some excuse as to why it’s being done; this is just part of why things are as they are. The families that stay together are usually based in we, not I, and this can be said for just about every situation that is chaotic and not harmonious with others and with life. The nature of chaos is based in the egoic I, and it responds accordingly to decision made by individuals that are also based to satisfy a self known as the egoic I.

A gauge to see if an awakening has at least begun is by how much or not how much your thinking is controlled by an egoic I. When all is said and done this is what has been at the core of what I have awakened to; to me it’s all that’s needed.

As it states in the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. To me enteral life is being in harmony with the energy of love that has an everlasting effect on life, which is only possible when you’re not controlled by an egoic I…

No Labels Needed

Life doesn’t label itself, we apply what we think is the appropriate label to what occurs. Without the label life would still occur, but as it is, not as it’s labeled…

A true understanding of your own mind is the only way that you’ll ever understand your life. It’s the only way to truly see the beauty of a sunrise, or to feel the breeze of a crisp fall day. What do you see when there are ducks swimming in a pond or a star filled sky? If you just see what’s on the surface there’s a great sadness because what’s seen beyond the that cannot truly be described. It can be labeled, but that is not what you truly see. Does the sunrise describe itself? Does the breeze know it’s blowing? How about the ducks, are they aware of what they’re doing in the pond and the stars, so many stars, do they know what their function in all of this is?

Without one single label everything would still be. Without the labeling conditioned mind life still is; it doesn’t need a label to be. If you died right now, life as YOU know it would be over, but understand life wouldn’t miss a beat, it would go on. Dying is just a part of life, it’s just the way it is; dying is a natural as birth so in death life just continues as if you never were; geary doesn’t affect life one bit. Life doesn’t label you, you label life. Understand yourself so you can understand life, but as stated earlier not in the form of a label, but by allowing life to do what it does and seeing what is truly going on beyond the labeling process of a Conditioned Mind. To be or not to be, life doesn’t care either way…

Duality/Separation

A view of duality causes inner and Universal separation because it creates a you, me, and them. Whenever this is the way life is viewed there will be separation because there’s a self that’s perceived…

An awakening is a shift from being caught up in an I Self world to seeing what’s really going on beyond all the distractions of duality. The phrase higher self is often used to explain what being awake is, but attachment to self causes duality anyway its looked at. You must go beyond any thought of self to truly awaken because any thought of self whether higher or lower is a distraction that keeps you locked into the I Self distractions. Any thought of self creates duality; oneness (no thought of a self) is the only true state of being. I’m old enough to have seen the old cartoons where an angel and devil would pop up on someone’s shoulders when they were about to make a decision, to me regardless of which self won out it was still a decision made by self. A belief of a higher self as opposed to a lower one makes for a nice story, but it just creates more separation.

This form that has manifested for humans to experience life only does what it does because of the conditioning in place. If there is less of this conditioning to not be controlled by the I Self count your blessings because most people (form) will die consumed by their I Self. It makes no difference whether it’s labeled higher or lower as self is self and until self is truly let go of, duality and not oneness will be the controlling energy of life. This duality causes inner and Universal separation as it creates a you, me, and them. Whenever this is the way life is viewed there will be separation because there’s a self that’s perceived…

Uncluttered View

An awakening provides an uncluttered view of your actions and the associated mind state. With this uncluttered view you become aware if the results of your actions are beneficial…

By having an uncluttered view you’re able to decipher the immediate affect of your actions in association to your current mind state. This doesn’t mean greed, hate, and delusional won’t be one of the mind states that arise, but you see the affects of these actions for what they are and the controlling characteristic of the associated mind state. If this isn’t seen with an uncluttered view these characteristics will continue their control as if you were a puppet on a string.

Some mind states to observe would be greed, hate and delusion and their polar opposites, generosity, love, and wisdom. These are the mind states most people fluctuate between, but with an uncluttered view it’s seen how the actions and the associated mind states are linked. What happens is first you can decipher what mind state is associated with your action and second it’s seen if the action is beneficial. It’s very easy to see resentment and its association with the mind state of hate, it doesn’t take much intelligence to see how this action isn’t beneficial to anyone, but without awareness of this you’ll remain entrapped to the mind state of hate and hence the associated actions. Intelligence has no bearing on this whatsoever. It also works this way with the action of giving. Giving with no expectations attached is an action associated with the mind state of generosity, you can definitely see how this action is a benefit; to me this is what an awakening is. One isn’t rendered white as snow because of becoming awake, but by the mind being uncluttered you’ll see clearly and become aware of your actions and the associated mind state of those actions. That’s when you’ll see if how you’re acting is truly a benefit not only to yourself, but to all beings…

Life's Essence

Formed concepts keep you in a conditioned prison, this blocks you from seeing in the stillness of non labeling there’s no lock on your prison cell there’s only the beauty of life that non labeling reveals…

The essence of life can only be seen when it’s viewed from a non labeling perspective. Labeling life does nothing to enhance its beauty. It exist without the label, actually labels limit you from seeing life’s beauty because by labeling it it becomes conceptual and in your formed concepts are your limits. This is how it is with most things that exist in life, they don’t need labels. In the case of life itself, it gets all it needs from the Universe. It doesn’t think about how it can enhance its own beauty, this is a natural process. It’s like this with everything, but it’s only seen once conceptual living begins to slow. No label enhances anything, there’s usefulness in categorizing things, but this doesn’t enhance whatever’s being labeled.

This is why it’s said “In stillness all truth is revealed” because when the mind is free of conceptual labeling, there’s an understanding of things that’s very difficult to explain with words. It’s the reason I often write “it is seen as it is seen” in response to some people who post on my articles, because no matter how much I try to convince someone to see what I see, it’s almost impossible, almost. Because of the conditioning in place people have a hard time with someone possibly knowing more than them, so they close down and miss the true essence of what’s really happening. As with the all of life you will know truth when it‘s seen that something exist without needing to label it. Our formed concepts keep us in a conditioned prison, this blocks out seeing that in the stillness of non labeling there’s no lock on their prison cell there’s only the beauty of life that non labeling reveals…

State of Awareness

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

It matters little what you hear, but how you listen does matter in the sense if it comes from a state of awareness. There’s all kinds of noise around us most of the time, and what’s mostly heard is labeled from our conditioned impulses. Freedom from the known can happen, but only when it’s learned how to truly listen, and you can only listen when you’re in a state of awareness; this is when you truly hear. This state of awareness arises from silence, there’s nothing to think about in a state of awareness. A dog barking, a car beeping its horn, a helicopter, a waterfall, the ocean, all sounds can be heard and as with any sound it can annoy you or anchor you in the present moment. There’s so much noise that goes on all around, 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 awareness. As I was sitting in my yard the other day listening to a guided meditation of a water falls the neighbors son came out to play basketball in his yard, he also preceded to play his music very loud to where my serenity was disturbed. I immediately took a deep breath and realized that although I was enjoying listening to the guided meditation I wasn’t in a state of awareness. If I was, when the sound changed to what arose from the silence, in this case my neighbors music, I wouldn’t have been annoyed. One deep breath showed me this, and it allowed me to be in a state of awareness to the sounds that were there in the present moment instead of the mind agitations of my conditioned impulses…

A Worthwhile Path

With so many paths to choose from, how can it be known if the one chosen is the most worthwhile? One way would be if there’s inner contentment even though things may not be as they are wanted…

If you don’t choose your path it will be chosen for you. The way you can distinguish whether it’s one you have chosen or one that’s chosen for you is by the love that’s emitted outward. There are many paths to choose from in life and where most err is choosing one that suits their desires instead of choosing one that focuses on healing yourself and others; what is meant by this is choose a path that’s worthwhile to all beings.

The path I have found to be the most worthwhile to all involved is the path of meditation. To me why it’s worthwhile is because it’s a process that makes you whole and when you’re whole the natural instinct of love arises; if you see meditation as worthwhile this is the path you will choose. It has to be worthwhile to you and all beings in the path that’s chosen, if it’s isn’t it won’t last. Most paths chosen are based in the material world, this is a path of reaching out there. People will even use a path of God like this; as though there’s something out there that’s making things happen. The path of love is what makes things happen and it’s an inward one that needs nothing to sustain it. Love arises from stillness and doesn’t take thought for it to occur, it arises from stillness itself and is self sustaining. This is why the path of mediation is worthwhile.

Process life from the path that you’re on, but if that path isn’t based in love it will cause disharmony, and many other dysfunctional results; for yourself and others. So you may not know which path is for you, but if you look around you’ll see which one isn’t for you and eventually all you will be left with is one that’s worthwhile, not only to you, but also for all beings…

Lies of Beliefs

Living from a true base of love is useful to the entire Universe, but until it’s understood that your life has nothing to do with you, not much that you do is going to be useful…

This article’s focus is on how not to get locked into a belief and to expose the lie of a beliefs need. Believe what you may, but if a belief is formed from some external source there’s no way it can truly be a benefit. All that I know today has come from within, not from some external source that creates the lie that life needs to be a certain way.

Most beliefs have been formed many years before our existence even began and I have found it’s not really a benefit to try and prove someone’s beliefs as right or wrong. They are being held onto for a reason and probably nothing short of a nuclear explosion will dislodge a person who is anchored to them, but that’s their own conditioned limit. I don’t find it useful to be anchored in something that isn’t really understood or isn’t factual. To me this is leaving my reactions to chance and life has enough chance associated with it that I don’t find there’s a need to add anymore.
The attachment to words are a limit. T

he attachment to beliefs are a limit. Faith is a belief in something, if it’s proven to be true that’s one thing, if not then it becomes wishful thinking. I have faith in discipline because I know it works. If my mind is controlling me and I repeat a mantra or some saying, I know it will stop the squirrel cage mind in its tracks. If this wasn’t known I probably wouldn’t do it; this truth known doesn’t happen because of a mind made deity. It hasn’t been my experience there‘s something up there controlling my life. I’m strictly speaking on my own experience.

Life has to be based in love if it’s to be useful, this is factual. Anything else that happens is based on a conditioned lie. When life is struggled with it’s because it isn’t the way you think it should be; it will be useful and beneficial to no one. So see the lie created by believing life needs to be a certain and maybe, just maybe you will see that your life really has nothing to do with you; believe it or not…

Storied Dreams

If you truly want to follow your dreams simply look down at your feet. Unless the mind settles and there’s awareness of this, life will never be truly lived because you’ll be caught in the story of needing a dream…

Many attach to the saying “Follow your dreams” but if this is looked closely you would see how this holds you in captivity to the thinking that the dream is needed for happiness. The issue with this is when you‘re following the story of a so called dream, the reality of what’s happening  right now just passes you by. This doesn’t mean you can’t have dreams, just realize a dream is nothing but a story and even if it happens exactly as it’s wanted, thinking the dream will make you happy not the dream itself is the story. This falls in line with the grass is greener on the other side, until it’s realized there is no other side.

How many people make their life how they think it should be only to turn around and complain about it. You made it a certain way because you thought it was your dream and yet when it becomes your reality it’s not long before you realize it isn’t as fulfilling as you thought it was going to be. Or you were okay with certain aspects of it, but there were other parts to complain about. If you truly want to follow your dreams look down at your feet and realize good, bad, or indifferent you are your dreams. Unless the mind settles and you become aware of this, life will never be truly lived because you’ll be caught up in needing the story of following a dream instead of simply living your life…

Understanding Your Process

The mind is beautiful, but it must be understood the mind that loves is the same mind that hates. If this isn’t seen it will be very difficult to live life where it’s beneficial to all beings, including yourself.

This article is about me in the context of what happened and how a process was revealed to me that changed my entire existence. It’s not something I did, but without me in this form it would not have occurred. I know today at the core of what I share is a settled mind, but this was not always so and although meditation and concentration are a major part of my process, I had to learn first why these two things weren’t already in place; especially since without them I couldn’t get off the Conditioned Mind merry-go-round. Meditation and concentration are important tools in developing the necessary discipline that allows the mind to settle, but before these disciplines begin there should be a period of preparedness so there’s an understanding of why these are necessary.

Many people meditate but don’t really get what they should out of it because of the lack of understanding of their own mind. It would be best to study what exactly is the nature of a Conditioned Mind and how does it effect the way you live before pursuing a practice that allows the mind to settle. If you’re meditating for any other reason but to develop the necessary discipline that allows the settling of the mind, it probably will not happen.

The mind is beautiful, but it must be understood the mind that loves is same mind that hates, if this isn’t seen it will be very difficult to get anything out of meditation. Studying yourself is vital to the eradication of the conditioning in place; it will occur only when you stop thinking about yourself all the time. A true and honest understanding of yourself is needed to go beyond this self which exist whether you love or hate. Just understand love is so much more beneficial to all involved, but it will take a settled mind to see this, and it will only be seen when the discipline is developed to know your own mind…

Mind Congestion

A congested mind won’t clear up on its own regardless of what system you hold onto. Systems hinder the quieting because they’re just a response to mind congestion that blocks clarity…

If your mind congestion is in control and running your life, it doesn’t matter much what’s going on, it’s going to be difficult to be in a place of clarity. It’s such a congested world and what makes it so is most people are looking for an answer outward when the answer is within. What the congestion actually is and how it’s created is by not being aware that you already have your answers. With a mind that’s conditioned to want answers you have to constantly look for them, hence the mind congestion. This is how the congestion of a Conditioned Mind is formed and how it blocks awareness to clarity. It’s mind congestion created because if you knew you had your answers the need to look for them would be non existent and so would the mind congestion.

Everyone has the ability to consciously remove the mind congestion, but it’s just not something that’s going to happen on its owns. Isn’t it beautiful that your clarity is in your hands, that it’s totally up to each individual how much peace is brought into your life. A little practice equates to littlle clarity so it’s up to each individual to do what’s necessary to stop the mind congestion. As you practice being in the moment the mind congestion quiets and you’re left with clarity. If you‘re waiting for anything else you’ll be waiting a very long time and it’ll probably not happen while you are alive in this form…

Life Hurdles

Life happens, it’s not personal. When its made personal it creates a hurdle. When you find a center to just be there’s nothing personal because you become sheltered from creating your own hurdles…

It may seem as though life creates hurdles so you can learn from them, but the hurdles faced come from within ourselves. Life doesn’t create hurdles, that’s not its nature, it just is. Things happen because of certain Universal Laws, these laws produce certain results, this is just life being life, it’s not personal. There’s a place within every person that you can go when life seems over bearing, but life isn’t ever truly over bearing, it’s just what the Conditioned Mind creates; stories of hurdles.

Our center of being is a place, a shelter, an inner sanctuary, from the self created hurdles of life. If this place isn’t known when the Conditioned Mind creates these hurdles, you’ll be left unprotected and exposed to face your own suffering for not finding your shelter; you are the creator of your own misery. This shelter is the true essence of being. It’s the center of Universal Love or God if you’d like.

When you can stay centered there will be shelter from creating your own suffering. This is regardless of what happens in life unless it’s made personal. But life does nothing to no one, it’s each individual alone from the way they‘re conditioned that makes life seem it creates hurdles and this occurs because without a center of being everything that happens in life is put upon your shoulders and makes it something that has to be done. Just understand whatever is going on between your ears is about what you think needs to be done, it’s totally on the individual, created within one self.

Don’t blame life for not staying centered and being left unprotected and exposed for all kinds of mischief to arise. Find your center so you are sheltered and stay there as much as possible. The more you stay there the fewer hurdles there will be in your life and the less it will seem like life creates hurdles…

False Identity

The more attachment there is to I, the more this creates a false identity. When this false identity is exposed, it doesn’t lead to seeing the truth of who you are, it exposes the lies of who you are not…

As I was sitting in meditation the other day, in the silence arose how it took nearly fifty years to form an attachment to a delusional self, along with all the tools I thought were needed to make me who I thought I was suppose to be. For the last nine years I have be undoing this attachment to this delusional self which was thought to be the most beneficial way to live. This delusional self began at the time of birth when my parents named me for the purpose of having a way to identify me. This name was then attached to and the delusion began by a self that wasn’t even formed yet, but it was slowly being developed into a delusional identity.

I had an inkling of this throughout periods of my life although it was strictly on an intellectual level, but on this day there was a shift and this inkling went from my head to my heart and the delusional lie of self was exposed for me. For most people this delusion will remain in place until the time of death and although for many death itself will be the time that this lie is exposed, they may never be aware of it. For those who do awaken to the fallacy of this delusional identity, there’s a freedom that occurs that can only be known in the space of non attachment to this made up delusional self.

One’s bondage is in the belief that you are what you think, freedom is in knowing you are not. The more the lie of this delusional identity is exposed, the more exposure there will be to the truth that this self doesn’t really exist. In this truth there’s a knowing, not of who you are, but of who you are not, and it’s in the awareness of this lie that sets one free because one is no longer locked in to the identity of a false self…

Focused Attention

Your focused attention determines how your existence plays out. If it’s constantly focused towards self you will be self-ish. If you possess the whole world, but aren’t liberated from self, you remain in captivity…

For me the key to being liberated from the captivity of self, is turning my energy away from greed and lustful thoughts. When the mind gets stuck in these thoughts to be liberated it needs to become unstuck. What makes it get stuck is your attention is mostly focused on satisfying self in some way. Pay attention to the sensations of the body, mind, and mental formations. This is a direct path to how one becomes liberated from suffering.

Liberation from suffering is not pain free, it’s learning to be with the pain that arises. You cannot hide from what’s happening, you can only divert your attention away from it. To no longer have your attention engaged in satisfying the self is where the path of liberation leads to. How this is done is by stopping the focused attention of self and focusing towards what will liberate you from it. The self is there and it has been given a name (for me Michael) but it has many different labels attached to it; this creates bondage because of the mere fact of the attachment it has to itself. Liberation is in understanding the lies of self, it isn’t in creating a concept or belief in something.

You can only be free by paying attention to what allows freedom, but it’s tricky because of the conditioning of the self. Constant vigilance is needed for the liberation from self. You’re alive so you exist, but it will be your focus attention that determines the extent of the liberation one’s has from self and that will be the determining factor in how your existence plays out.