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.