Head or Heart Living

Head (intellect) living knows love only through a story, heart living knows love through the peace that passes all understanding. The head will never understand what the heart knows intuitively.

The contrast between head and heart living is simply because the head is from the intellect and the heart is from love. If you’re truly aware of this you will pick up on the difference from something as simple as a FB response from someone. The heart connects and the head separates and it’s because the heart only knows unconditional love and the head only knows how to put conditions on everything, hence this is where one’s struggles stem from. It doesn’t mean when you live from the heart you won’t be troubled by things, they just won’t have the same adhering effect that living from the head creates. I notice head living immediately from the way a person responds to one of my post, this isn’t to say my post can’t be debated, but since I write from my heart when someone responds from the head it’s immediately picked up on because it creates some conflict.

Head living knows love only through a story, heart living knows love through the peace that passes all understanding. There’s very little if any “I” attachment living from the heart, living from the head there’s nothing but “I” attachment. All conflict with oneself and others come from the head, it’s impossible to have conflict when living from the heart, you may not enjoy everything that happens living from the heart, but you will accept it because that’s how the heart works. The love of the heart is from the energy of the Universe, it connects one to all that is. We are the energy of all creation and cannot truly be separated from it, but it can seem like one is separated because that’s what the energy of “I” (the head) does. When a person states there’s a void in their life, it’s because the head is causing a story of separation from the heart, but since everyone who is alive has a heart there’s no true separation, there’s only the contrast between the head and heart because the intellect and not the heart is running the show.

Believe if You Must

Every belief is formed for one reason and that’s to make life seemingly better. If it was this easy one could just go around making up belief after belief whenever life wasn’t going the way one thought it should be.

What is a belief and why are they needed? There are very few hard line facts in a belief. So what makes a person think a belief is needed to make life better? The only reason beliefs are made up to begin with is because of the way our minds have been conditioned. They’re used to keep the mind in a state of agitation by making one believe things need to be different for life to be better. It’s what the ego uses to keep one in bondage to a self that doesn’t exist. This is why most wars are started, because of an ego that forms beliefs, and whatever the belief is in, whether it’s in a God that’s going to make things better, or a superior race or the annihilation of one that will make things better, or if it’s a belief that if I didn’t write my post on this site things would be better, it all stems from one’s own conditioning of believing if things were different, life would be better.

So, to believe or not to believe, that is the question. It really has nothing to do with the belief, but it does have everything to do with arranging life and thinking if things were different, it would be better. This is what needs to be discovered if the falseness of a belief is to be revealed. If attaching to a belief is found to make life better, by all means believe, but for me I would have to say life is better without forming beliefs, especially that they probably exist only in my mind. If beliefs are seen to be real and have some facts to back them up, believe them, attach to them, use them, but in truth don’t be surprised if when they are needed to fall back on to make life better, they don’t do what was believed they were going to do.

A Fictitious Self

We don’t give names to wild animals, they’re categorized by their form, but humans are given names for identification purposes and this is the beginning of one’s fictitious self as an individual.

There are so many stories that go into the making of who you think you are that your true self gets blocked and is seldom noticed. Think about it, from the time you’re a child you’ve been conditioned by parents, relatives, teachers, friends, religions, all media, and whatever is in your DNA. Can you truly say this isn’t so? So I ask where is the true you in this identity of self? Existence in this form begins as an egg inside a women labeled mother and with Universal conditions being right, this eggs energy is transformed into human form. This form is then named for identification purposes and the rest of one’s existence is spent shaping the identity of a fictitious self, there is a self that does exist, it’s just not in the way that it’s perceived. We don’t give names to wild animals, they’re categorized by their form, but humans are given names for identification purposes and this is the beginning of one’s fictitious self as an individual. We attach to the things we think will benefit this fictitious self identity and so much of this comes from someone else’s idea. Every book that’s read is someone else’s idea of how they think life should be and if we like what they have to say, it’s taken as gospel as we follow them and take what they say and apply it to make up our self.

So much nonsense goes into the making of fictitious self and it’s the reason why there are issues when one is self centered. If your focus is constantly on self and your self is a story of made up nonsense, how may I ask can there not be issues when your self is the focus? An apple tree can only produce apples, as the made up self can only produce self created nonsense. This is the self that’s mostly perceived by humanity, but there is another self that’s been with you your entire existence, there’s just not awareness of it because of the focus on the fictitious self. Some say the self doesn’t exist, but I say it does, it’s just doesn’t exist in the way that most people think it does.

Evaluating Yourself

Evaluating and learning from your practice allows for one who was once lost, to now be found and one who was blind, to now see, but only because of having a practice in place that allows this.

If there’s not some kind of an evaluation process in place for your practice, it will be difficult to proceed in a direction where there will be any expansion in your life. The first thing to evaluate is if you even have a practice in place that’s practical and beneficial. I don’t mean a practice of belonging to certain groups, although there’s nothing wrong with that, but if it’s in place to just keep you busy, it’s not really a beneficial practice. Although it is a practice, the evaluation of how it is working to quiet the mind or how it keeps the mind agitations in place is what one needs to be aware of to allow for the continuous expansion of life’s process. I’m sharing this because this is what has allowed me to be as I am today. There’s no magic to this, a beneficial practice has to be in place if one is to experience beneficial results, this is as simple as one plus one equals two.

Evaluate your behavior, reactions, attachments, annoyances, and whatnot and see what is the driving force behind them. This driving force is the block to expanding beyond the nonsense of the Conditioned Mind. Without a solid practice in place that allows this to be seen, you might as well not practice at all because it’s just a waste of time and energy. Either do it right (beneficial) or don’t do it at all. One can only be free by being free and only a practice that puts you in harmony with life allows harmony with life, makes sense right? I practiced wrongly for many years and it produced results that weren’t beneficial, but I’ve evaluated and learned from this and because of this evaluation, where I was once lost, I’m now found and where I was blind, I now see, but only because of having a practice in place that allows this.

Out With the Old

Although the old may be firmly in place and it may be true that you don’t know what you don’t know, if this isn’t investigated what you don’t know will be the only thing that you know.

When a snake sheds its skin it’s because the snake is growing. If the old skin doesn’t fall away, growth will not occur. It’s the same with us, just substitute the skin of the snake with our ideas. Life is a natural process of learning and growing, but the base of one’s growth is dependent on the what the new is that’s replacing the old. For years I drove an old car in constant need of repair just to keep it up and running, and isn’t this how many live their life, constantly making adjustments and repair just to keep it running; not many truly live. It wasn’t until I purchased a new car that it was realized just how broken down the old car was. This goes with the saying ” you don’t know what you don’t know.” This is also what happened to me when I finally let go of the old ideas I had in place, I started to realize just how out of sorts my old thinking was, I began the process of shredding my old skin per se.

Although learning is a natural process of life, learning to grow spiritually is not automatic. It does seem to take some effort even if it’s only the willingness to head in that direction. There are many intellects in the world who don’t have a clue as to what it means to live spiritually in the space of growth; they never seem to shed their skin. The mind loves the familiar and will always try to convince you it’s better to stay in that space then to go to the space of the unknown. So it may be true that you don’t know what you don’t know, but if this isn’t investigated, what you don’t know will be the only thing that you know. And because nothing new is being allowed in, the old skin will remain in place and new growth will not be allowed to occur.

Conditioned to Self Destruct

Looking at yourself takes more courage then most people will ever exhibit, but only because the conditioning in place doesn’t allow it, and until your life isn’t about you anymore, your conditioning prevails.

Everyday I’m more and more amazed at the things that people are ok holding onto with the emphasis totally on satisfying themselves. This is without much consideration for anyone else and it’s strictly from an “I gots to get mine” attitude. I know it’s because they know not what they do, but the suffering this causes and how it cements the conditioning in place can be truly disheartening. Notice I said can be disheartening 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 cements the conditioning in place. I’m writing about this because it’s heart breaking, when you have answers and not many are willing to hear, 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 why this is, at least from my experience, it’s much easier because of the way one is conditioned to justify self destructive behavior than to look at yourself. Truly looking at yourself takes more courage then 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 to possibly assist them because of something they may be going through and 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. So this means people would rather remain in their suffering then to go beyond it, that’s the part that’s heart breaking. I don’t say this because I’m a know it all, but I have been released from the grip of my Conditioned Mind to a degree and was provided answers to strictly share my experience with others. How do I know that I’ve truly broken free from the Conditioned Mind, because my life isn’t about me anymore.

Conditioned Mind Antics

Peace is the natural process of awareness because when one is aware of their Conditioned Mind antics, the antics lose their hold as the need to do falls away and one is naturally at peace.

If you have to be doing something, this is because of the subtleness of how the Conditioned Mind is in control without you even realizing it and until this is realized so you can apply the brakes and stop doing, the antics of your conditioning will remain in place. These antics of the Conditioned Mind will not be seen by a mind that’s attached to the antics. I woke up this morning and my postings for the day were done because I did it at night, so my mind began to look for something to do. This is the value of awareness because instead of blindly following the antics of doing, I was able to look down at my feet and say shhhhhh, which immediately stopped the antics energy of having to do something. You cannot put a price on this awareness because life is so much different then when it’s full of the antics of the Conditioned Mind.

Do this, do that, look over there, if only, I should, I wish, I want, I need, why did I do that, these are just some of the antics of the Conditioned Mind and they literally wreck havoc on life. Without awareness, this havoc is the controlling energy of life and unfortunately this is the energy of most lives. What makes this so damaging is because most people are oblivious that the antics exist so it’s one antic after another. When there’s awareness of the antics one can say stop, this immediately transforms one’s energy from needing to do something to peace. Peace is the natural process of awareness because when one is aware of their Conditioned Mind antics, they lose their hold as the need to do falls away and one is naturally at peace.

A Surface Stranger

What’s seen on the surface of life is all a facade and until it’s seen that below the surface is what truly matters, one will be living as though you were a stranger unto yourself.

It’s very easy to live a surface life and get caught up in what society presents as the best way to live, and although this may benefit society as a whole, one will need to sit and contemplate if surface living is truly beneficial to them. There are many traps provided by society to keep surface living in place, from politics, religion, social and the regular media, and so many others, these are used to keep one attached to form and blind to the impermanent nature of all things. Surface living makes everything seem as though it’s in solid form, but upon further investigation the fallacy of this may be seen. When you look in the mirror you see what’s on the surface, but what’s not seen is your blood pumping, breathing, the heart beating, and whatever else is going on beneath the surface of the image in the mirror. It’s easy to attach to form because it’s what’s on your he surface, but one must go beneath the surface to see the true nature of the emptiness of form. Only the Conditioned Mind makes everything solid, thus one’s view sees everything that’s upon the surface.

To get to a place where the emptiness of form can be understood, the mind will have to settle enough to allow this. This isn’t understood, nor is it a desired state that most people want to go to because to the Conditioned Mind it’s a scary place. Going beneath the distractions of the surface, one encounters their true self not the made up character who lives on the surface. When this happens one comes face to face with a stranger. The Conditioned Mind will try to keep you distracted from this by using what’s familiar, but you can get beyond the familiar with awareness. What’s on the surface is a facade and until it’s seen that below the surface is what truly matters, one will be living as though you were a stranger unto yourself.

False God Bondage

There are many “False Gods” out there that are used as idols that keeps one in bondage, and although it may appear that the “False Gods” create the bondage, the bondage is to I that attaches to the idol.

There are many traps that induce bondage in the world, the Bible uses the description of “False Gods” and there’s no difference if it’s an idol as stated in the Bible or simply attaching to a self image, to me the “False God” description is right on. Here’s where this gets tricky because anything that is made into a story and is attached to is a “False God” because it becomes a prison to the one who is attached to the story. Even God is made into an idol by most people and becomes a prison although most don’t see this. Just look at the different religions and how all the followers of a particular one think theirs is the right one. Many of these religions have beautiful teachings, but it’s in the way they’re attached to that actually takes away from them. This isn’t to say there isn’t value in them, but there’s never value in attaching to something because it enforces an I am right and you are wrong aura.

I found this “False God” attachment happening to me yesterday, someone didn’t agree with my article, so right away I felt I had to defend it, after all I wrote it so it has to be right, lol. I always have to look at myself so I can identify what form my “False God” is taking on. I’m not saying there is or isn’t a God, this is just to show how attachment to anything becomes bondage and blocks the heart from remaining open to allow everything its freedom. “False Gods” take over when they get control of I as I become one’s idol. I am right is an idol, as is anything one reaches for. The world presents many “False Gods” disguised as idols and until these “False Gods” are identified, the idol of I will remain and so will one’s bondage.

The Space of Truth

Truth isn’t a made up story, it’s not something that can be held onto, it’s only known when it’s realized there’s nothing to know and it’s in the not knowing that the truth will set you free.

To me it’s clear what truth is and here’s why: Nine years ago when I started to look into a different way to live my life, at the core of this looking was an urge to find peace. I didn’t know much about anything, but I did know I needed a different way to view life. I understood one thing, that my own mind was the cause as to why I wasn’t at peace, so I set out to find out why this was and if it was possible to be at peace. As this process of self inquiry proceeded, my view was slowly becoming different and as this happened my life become less and less about me. It didn’t become about anyone else, it just wasn’t all about fulfilling my wants and desires anymore; when this happens qualities associated with love naturally arise. This doesn’t mean everything goes the way that it’s wanted, but it’s does mean it doesn’t matter how it goes because if it’s not all about me then there’s no story of wanting and needing things a certain way and without a story one is at peace.

Truth is difficult to describe in words because it’s interpreted differently by everyone, but I have found truth in the space of what is; not what is itself, in the space of what is. What is is given many labels depending on what’s occurring at the time. It can horrible, beautiful, or neutral, the label doesn’t change what’s actually occurring, being in the space of what’s occurring changes it and that’s because without a label there’s only space. In this space there’s no story and without a story is when truth is revealed. It’s not a made up truth, it’s the truth of just being with what’s here right now and not needing to add a label or story to it. In this space is where one finds truth, but it has nothing to do with you or anyone else and this is when one will clearly see the truth that will set you free.

Changing Direction

Not many people will change something in their life unless they see a reason for it, but even if it’s seen, without some sort of understanding of the Conditioned Mind, it will be difficult to do the things that allow change to take place.

There has to be an understanding of what you’re trying to do so you can at least head in that direction. Without some sort of understanding of this, it will be difficult to do the things that will allow change in your life, if that is what you’re looking for. Not many people will change something in their life unless there’s a reason to change and for me the reason was because the tools I had in place weren’t allowing me to do the things that were beneficial to me or anyone else. So I reached a point in my life and not a favorable one, where I wasn’t doing things that were producing results conducive to love. Tools are developed over a course of one’s life and they may have worked for your entire life, but if for some reason life becomes more and more of a struggle and you want the struggle to cease, new tools will be needed.

Even though I didn’t realize it growing up, the tools I developed were leading me to my own destruction. A person has to see this to stop it from occurring. The tool of reaching for something is what was causing this destruction and it was because the tool of noticing the mind agitations was never developed. This is the only reason a person reaches for anything, the mind becomes agitated and the tool to reach is attached to. To change this, a new direction is needed so a new tool can be developed and I’ve found the tool of sitting to be helpful in the endeavor. Today I understand the Conditioned Mind enough that I do things that allows for the mind agitations to be noticed. By noticing I can use a developed tool that doesn’t attach to them and lo and behold with no need to reach, there in lies one’s peace.

A Gap of Paradise

Thousands of hours of time and money are spent on trying to fill a gap that doesn’t need filling. The nature of the gap is emptiness and it will always be there. It’s not your enemy; in its emptiness one is filled.

People spend thousands of dollars to go on vacation and at the time it seems to be a great idea, and in a way it is because when you are there everything seems like paradise, but the first thing to understand is wherever you go there you are which could be scary and second because of the Conditioned Mind, not only is the fantasy better than the reality, but before you know you are back home. This is not to say don’t go on vacation, but the stark reality is you can always be on vacation if your mind finds your place of peace. I’m talking from experience here because for forty nine years my life was exactly how I wanted it to be and yet I had to always reach for something to fill in a gap I didn’t understand. This gap equates to always needing to be on vacation (reaching for something), but I didn’t understand the part of wherever I went there I was. My own mind was an enemy not an ally and I had no idea this was occurring, so basically to my conditioned mind, I always needed to be planning a vacation because life was never good enough in the moment I was in; regardless of how it was there was always a gap.

Here’s the real irony in this, I was trying to fill a gap of emptiness that is still there today, but what I have come to understand is it doesn’t need filling, in its emptiness there’s fulfillment. And this is the issue with most people, they’re trying to fill a gap that doesn’t need filling because the nature of it is emptiness. That’s what a gap is, empty. So regardless of what’s used to fill it, it never gets filled, it can’t because it doesn’t need filling. Today I understand this gap is not my enemy nor does it need filling and although there are times when I do go on vacation, it’s not because I’m trying to escape to paradise, I’m in paradise everyday that I’m alive and it’s the gap of emptiness that provides this.

Hate Despises Itself

Hate will never be driven out by hate, so if it’s not observed that hate is in place, hate will remain and the energy that one despises in another will be the same energy that’s controlling their life.

Many things will cross your path throughout the day, some will be liked, some will not, and others you couldn’t care less about, but the key to the things that arise, is being aware of them and observing which ones grab you, which ones are pushed away, and which ones naturally come and go without attaching to them because there’s nothing there to adhere to. These observations become more and more important as one becomes more aware of them. Things occur all the time, but they’re not noticed, very few people are in touch with observing them which allows the things that occur to be in control. Many things occur in life that aren’t particularly cared for as demonstrated by the recent election, but all the energy that’s going in to not accepting the results and trying to change it with non loving actions, generates the same energy one is protesting against.

Unloving energy will never be changed with unloving energy, especially when the driving force behind it arises because one didn’t get their way. If this isn’t observed it will keep the unloving energy in place. Hate will never be driven out by hate, so if it’s not observed that hate is in place hate will remain and the very thing that one despises is the very thing that one becomes. This is the way it is when one is unconscious and allows things to affect you. There’s nothing wrong with being disappointed for a second, but after that it becomes attachment and suffering begins. And this suffering isn’t because things didn’t work out the way that is wanted, no the suffering arises because one has no clue the energy that’s despised in another is the same energy that’s controlling your life.

Conditioned Mind Insanity

Only the Conditioned Mind really cares about winning and losing and it’s because when it applies one of those labels, there’s attachment to the emotional energy of being happy or sad.

The insanity of the Conditioned Mind was in full swing on this day after the election of 2016 in the USA. The smugness of the winners, the bitterness of the losers and why this is insane is because it’s all created from within each individual and it keeps us divided. We think our division is with others, but it’s only with ourselves that we’re divided. In truth there is no such thing as a winner or loser, there’s only the applied label that makes this so. One person got more electoral votes than the other, so they got the position that is being vacated in January. The labels that one applies to the circumstances in all of life is what causes the insanity because it makes one attach to the situations, and since attachment is the root of all suffering, even if the one you labeled as your candidate was elected, you will still suffer. Suffering is the natural energy of attachment. Smugness is suffering as is bitterness.

This insanity goes on all the time not just at election time. The presidential election just makes one’s attachment deeper because the campaigning has been going on for a long period of time. This is why issues within families often arise because the attachment has been in place for a very long time. There’s very little attachment with a stranger so there’s very little issue with them and this is because there’s very little time spent with them. This awareness is a very valuable tool to use in understanding the insanity of the Conditioned Mind, without it one’s conditioning remains the main reason the day after the election people are still holding onto all their unloving energy. It doesn’t matter who won except to those who attach to the candidate of their choosing and it’s only the Conditioned Mind that really cares because it applies the label of winner or loser and it attaches to the emotional energy of being happy or sad.

Your Life is Yours

Your life is yours and as easy as it may be to follow someone else’s path, if they didn’t live the life that you’re leading, their tools just may not be the most beneficial for the way your life is.

There are many people that came before us who left directions to follow a path that they used to show how to bring peace into your life. An example can be when one is in the forest, it’s very easy to follow a path that’s been laid out before you, but to me there’s much more that can be learned by looking at things through your eyes and carving a path which is more beneficial for your life. Follow Jesus, Buddha, or some others, but the thing to ask yourself is did they live the kind of life that you live, if not although their teachings may have immense value, unless they can be applied to the life you live, their significance may not apply. This isn’t to down play anyone’s path, but I’m a parent, a husband, I have a career and haven’t been out sick for nine years. I also own a home which requires constant maintenance amongst all the other responsibilities that come along with this kind of life. I don’t know of many that came before me that led this kind of life, so although I studied many spiritual teachers (not followed), I’m carving my life with tools that apply to what’s being revealed to me, leaking roofs and all.

What happens when a person blindly follows someone is they remain blind to the experiences in their own life that truly allows one to learn and grow. It’s very nice to say I’ll just let it go, but unless this is truly understood, when the boiler stops working in the middle of the winter or the AC is blowing hot air when it’s 95 degrees outside, let’s see if who you are following went through that and how easy it is to let go, especially when your family is involved. Like I said this isn’t to down play anyone’s path or not to utilize the tools that others left behind, but carve a path that’s practical to YOUR life and since everyone’s life is different and a person can only share their tools as they apply to their life, stop following anyone and start using the tools that are practical and beneficial to your life.