Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind
to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-Being by Deepak Chopra and Rudolph Tanzi
I haven't quite finished the book yet but it has wisdom that would benefit all and with scientific backing. Linking the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience with aspirations for health, well-being, and spiritual realization. The book demonstrates that through increased
self-awareness and conscious intention, you can train your brain to reach far beyond its present limitations. The book shows you how to:
self-awareness and conscious intention, you can train your brain to reach far beyond its present limitations. The book shows you how to:
- Use your brain instead of letting it use you.
- Create the ideal lifestyle for a healthy brain.
- Reduce the risks of aging.
- Promote happiness and well-being through the mind-body connection.
- Access the enlightened brain, the gateway to freedom and bliss.
- Overcome the most common challenges like memory loss, depression, anxiety,
and obesity.
Losing My Religion by William Lobdell
Good book! I love reading people's stories. I enjoyed reading this book as I remember when growing up, we were not allowed to question our religion. That was always frustrating for me as many religious things and teachings were very confusing, and we were just to accept things "as is". I feel it is healthy to question one's religion. It is important to know why you believe what you believe instead of accepting things at face value. I accepted things at face value and was hugely betrayed. However, that betrayal was not as deep as my own betrayal of not listening to myself and having the courage to ask why.
A Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck
I first started reading this book when I was divorcing in 1989. The title pretty much represents what my life has been...walking a path that main stream America wasn't on. At the time, I was trying to make sense out of the tremendous amount of grief and betrayal in my life, what marriage is really about as well as religion. This book changed a lot of things for me in a positive manner. When I reread it a second time, I was in a much different place spiritually and emotionally and understood things in the book that I could not the first time I read it. (I love knowing that I'm making progress!) I consider this book a classic must read for anyone with even an inkling of a spiritual yearn. I still have my well-used tattered copy.
Some of my favorite passages from the book
"To fail to confront when confrontation is required for the nurture of spiritual growth represents a failure to love equally as much as does thoughtless criticism or condemnation and other forms of active deprivation of caring".
"It is true that love involves a change in the self, but this is an extension of the self rather than a sacrifice of the self."
"The reason people lie is to avoid the pain of challenge and its consequences."
"There is no such thing as a good hand-me-down religion. To be vital, to be the best of which we are capable, our religion must be a wholly personal one, forged entirely through the fire of our questioning and doubting in the crucible of our own experience of reality."
Some of my favorite passages from the book
"To fail to confront when confrontation is required for the nurture of spiritual growth represents a failure to love equally as much as does thoughtless criticism or condemnation and other forms of active deprivation of caring".
"It is true that love involves a change in the self, but this is an extension of the self rather than a sacrifice of the self."
"The reason people lie is to avoid the pain of challenge and its consequences."
"There is no such thing as a good hand-me-down religion. To be vital, to be the best of which we are capable, our religion must be a wholly personal one, forged entirely through the fire of our questioning and doubting in the crucible of our own experience of reality."
The Path to Empowerment by Barbara Marcinaik
When I first saw this book in a bookstore in Taos, I was attracted to the title. However, underneath the title was the words "pleiadian wisdom for a world in chaos". Then I thought, oh great!, another channelled book! So I didn't buy it. But everytime I went back to the book store, there the book was and I kept going back to it so I finally bought it and read it. Good book, and, yep, it has empowering information.
As to the source of this information, I couldn't verify its authenticity, but that is not what is really important to me. What is important to me is the information in the book and how I can apply it to my life. Maybe we might have to have access to information that is "out of this world". I don't know, but the information in this book has helped me. Some of the information very well may be similar to what is found in other books and to me, is common sense. Unfortunately, I have found that in the busyness of life, I am often too fatigued to readily remember some of these common sense philosophies. Reading (more so than listening, for me) brings the information back to awareness for me. It is also a form of confirmation, that others are writing, and hopefully living, life in a positive and empowering manner. Below is an excerpt from the book.
"Remember that your beliefs decree your availability, and your attitude reveals your beliefs, Offering thanks and gratitude demonstrates a strong sense of responsibility and a willingness to see unexpected change as a opportunity for spiritual growth. You must remember to be very clear about what you want. Proceed with confidence, common sense, and courage, utilizing your own unique style and grace. Trust yourself to create harmonious resolutions and remain calm with all that unfolds, affirming that everything will work just fine. After all, life is a grand lesson in living."
As to the source of this information, I couldn't verify its authenticity, but that is not what is really important to me. What is important to me is the information in the book and how I can apply it to my life. Maybe we might have to have access to information that is "out of this world". I don't know, but the information in this book has helped me. Some of the information very well may be similar to what is found in other books and to me, is common sense. Unfortunately, I have found that in the busyness of life, I am often too fatigued to readily remember some of these common sense philosophies. Reading (more so than listening, for me) brings the information back to awareness for me. It is also a form of confirmation, that others are writing, and hopefully living, life in a positive and empowering manner. Below is an excerpt from the book.
"Remember that your beliefs decree your availability, and your attitude reveals your beliefs, Offering thanks and gratitude demonstrates a strong sense of responsibility and a willingness to see unexpected change as a opportunity for spiritual growth. You must remember to be very clear about what you want. Proceed with confidence, common sense, and courage, utilizing your own unique style and grace. Trust yourself to create harmonious resolutions and remain calm with all that unfolds, affirming that everything will work just fine. After all, life is a grand lesson in living."
Sight hound by Pam Houston
I was introduced to this book by my partner, Thomas. It is a book about wolfhound with cancer written from the dog's perspective.
Probably the most famous dog story, Old Yellow, most of us know. However, I haven't read a lot of books about dogs so here's a web site that might offer some resources regarding dog
books.
http://www.workingdogweb.com/wdreview.htm
Probably the most famous dog story, Old Yellow, most of us know. However, I haven't read a lot of books about dogs so here's a web site that might offer some resources regarding dog
books.
http://www.workingdogweb.com/wdreview.htm
Hanna Kroeger
Hanna Kroeger was ahead of her times. When I first learned about her and what she taught, it was truly transformational for me, as well as others whom have been introduced to her work. Hanna taught a very simple premise of the 7 physical and 7 spiritual causes of ill health. She also taught how to help our self and others when we become ill as well as how to stay healthy. She taught methods that even children can master. She truly taught her truth and from her heart. She had a profound caring for mankind. The knowledge I learned from her remains truly priceless and I have helped numerous people and they, in turn, have helped others in the same manner. Anyone can learn from her books and/or her classes which are still taught at Peaceful Meadows Retreat in Boulder, CO. You can learn more about Hanna, her work, and purchase her books at www.hannasherbshop.com
Books by Hanna Kroeger
Ageless Remedies from Mother's Kitchen You will laugh and be amazed at all that you can do in your own pharmacy, the kitchen. These time tested treasures are organized into an easy to read cross referenced guide.
Alzheimer's Science and God This little booklet provides a closer look by presenting Hanna’s unique and religious perspectives.
Arteriosclerosis and Herbal Chelation A booklet containing information on arteriosclerosis causes and symptoms
Free Your Body of Tumors and Cysts Hanna brings together many natural techniques, including diet, herbs, vitamins, hands-on healing and more in a practical, understandable approach to growths and their relationships to parasites, cancer, and leukemia.
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves This work is a beautifully comprehensive description of the seven basic physical causes of disease. It is holistic information as we need it now. A truly valuable volume. If you get only one book, start with this one!
Good Health Through Special Diets This book shows detailed outlines of different diets for different needs. Dr. Reidlin, M.D., said, “The road to health goes through the kitchen, not through the drug store,” and that’s what this book is all about.
Help One Another, An Anthology of the Teachings and Remedies of Hanna Kroeger An anthology of the teachings and remedies of Hanna Kroeger. Based on the 7 physical and 7 spiritual causes of ill health
Instant Herbal Locator This is the herbal book for the do-it-yourself person. This book is an easy, cross-referenced guide listing complaints and the herbs that do the job. Very helpful to have on hand.
Instant Vitamin- Mineral Locator A handy, comprehensive guide to the nutritive values of vitamins and minerals. Used to identify bodily deficiencies of these essential elements and combinations thereof, and what to do about these deficiencies. According to your symptoms, locate your vitamin and mineral needs. A very helpful guide
New Book on Healing A useful reference book full of herbal, vitamin, food, homeopathic, and massage suggestions for many common health difficulties
New Dimensions in Healing Yourself In Hanna's words, "this book is meant to give you some real confidence and practical information on healing and how you can truly help yourself and others.” Almost every page is a recipe or hands on procedure. This is simply a must have!
Old- Time Remedies for Modern Ailments A collection of natural remedies from Eastern and Western cultures. There are more than 20 fast cleansing methods and many ways to rebuild your health. A health classic.
Parasites: The Enemy Within A compilation of Hanna’s years of studying parasites. A rare find and one of the efforts to expose the truths that face us every day.
Pendulum Book, The A guide booklet for learning to use a pendulum. Explains various aspects of energies, vibrations, and forces. Formerly called The Pendulum, the Bible and Your Survival, this revised and expanded version has 13 new pages and a flip- out page for the "witness" for testing purposes. If you don't know how to use a pendulum, buy this book and learn!
Seven Spiritual Causes of Ill Health This book beautifully reveals how our spiritual and emotional states have a profound effect on our physical well-being. It addresses fascinating topics such as karma, gratitude, trauma, laughter as medicine . . . and so much more. A wonderful volume full of timeless treasures.
Books by Hanna Kroeger
Ageless Remedies from Mother's Kitchen You will laugh and be amazed at all that you can do in your own pharmacy, the kitchen. These time tested treasures are organized into an easy to read cross referenced guide.
Alzheimer's Science and God This little booklet provides a closer look by presenting Hanna’s unique and religious perspectives.
Arteriosclerosis and Herbal Chelation A booklet containing information on arteriosclerosis causes and symptoms
Free Your Body of Tumors and Cysts Hanna brings together many natural techniques, including diet, herbs, vitamins, hands-on healing and more in a practical, understandable approach to growths and their relationships to parasites, cancer, and leukemia.
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves This work is a beautifully comprehensive description of the seven basic physical causes of disease. It is holistic information as we need it now. A truly valuable volume. If you get only one book, start with this one!
Good Health Through Special Diets This book shows detailed outlines of different diets for different needs. Dr. Reidlin, M.D., said, “The road to health goes through the kitchen, not through the drug store,” and that’s what this book is all about.
Help One Another, An Anthology of the Teachings and Remedies of Hanna Kroeger An anthology of the teachings and remedies of Hanna Kroeger. Based on the 7 physical and 7 spiritual causes of ill health
Instant Herbal Locator This is the herbal book for the do-it-yourself person. This book is an easy, cross-referenced guide listing complaints and the herbs that do the job. Very helpful to have on hand.
Instant Vitamin- Mineral Locator A handy, comprehensive guide to the nutritive values of vitamins and minerals. Used to identify bodily deficiencies of these essential elements and combinations thereof, and what to do about these deficiencies. According to your symptoms, locate your vitamin and mineral needs. A very helpful guide
New Book on Healing A useful reference book full of herbal, vitamin, food, homeopathic, and massage suggestions for many common health difficulties
New Dimensions in Healing Yourself In Hanna's words, "this book is meant to give you some real confidence and practical information on healing and how you can truly help yourself and others.” Almost every page is a recipe or hands on procedure. This is simply a must have!
Old- Time Remedies for Modern Ailments A collection of natural remedies from Eastern and Western cultures. There are more than 20 fast cleansing methods and many ways to rebuild your health. A health classic.
Parasites: The Enemy Within A compilation of Hanna’s years of studying parasites. A rare find and one of the efforts to expose the truths that face us every day.
Pendulum Book, The A guide booklet for learning to use a pendulum. Explains various aspects of energies, vibrations, and forces. Formerly called The Pendulum, the Bible and Your Survival, this revised and expanded version has 13 new pages and a flip- out page for the "witness" for testing purposes. If you don't know how to use a pendulum, buy this book and learn!
Seven Spiritual Causes of Ill Health This book beautifully reveals how our spiritual and emotional states have a profound effect on our physical well-being. It addresses fascinating topics such as karma, gratitude, trauma, laughter as medicine . . . and so much more. A wonderful volume full of timeless treasures.
Liquid Light of Sex by Barbara Hand Clow
This book is not what you might think! I really enjoyed reading this book as well as many other books by Barbara Hand Clow. I had the opportunity to meet her at a book signing in Santa Fe a couple of years ago. You can learn a lot about an author just by meeting them.
This book was a very interesting and fun read. Barbara's books are thought provoking which is one of the main reasons why I read....to have literature stretch my mind and challenge what I think and believe. The book discusses many things among one of the most interesting was about the Key Life Passages. Key Life Passages are associated with astrological signs in which there are several charts in the back of the book to note dates for comparison. It was a lot of fun for me to check out my Key Life Passages dates as well as those of my friends which we found to be fascinating and accurate as to what was transpiring in our lives at that time. To me, this book offers another source of information in understanding energy, life, and people. I recommend you check it out!
This book was a very interesting and fun read. Barbara's books are thought provoking which is one of the main reasons why I read....to have literature stretch my mind and challenge what I think and believe. The book discusses many things among one of the most interesting was about the Key Life Passages. Key Life Passages are associated with astrological signs in which there are several charts in the back of the book to note dates for comparison. It was a lot of fun for me to check out my Key Life Passages dates as well as those of my friends which we found to be fascinating and accurate as to what was transpiring in our lives at that time. To me, this book offers another source of information in understanding energy, life, and people. I recommend you check it out!
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
This is a great book! Not an easy read, but has many pearls of wisdom about being present. The nice thing I have found about being present is that it is less stressful...the future and the past just doesn't matter.
Below are quotes from the book.
You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are!
Enlightenment is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being.
Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.
You usually don’t use your mind at all. It uses you.
If you can’t stop thinking altogether, then the mind is using you. You are unconsciously identified with it, so you don’t even know that you are its slave. The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity - the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.
Worry is when the mind often imagines things going wrong and negative outcomes.
When you listen to that voice in your head, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You’ll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises beyond the mind.
One certain criterion by which you can measure your success in this practice: the degree of peace that you feel within.
So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind.
The more you are identified with your thinking, your likes and dislikes, judgments and interpretations, which is to say the less present you are as the watching consciousness, the stronger the emotional energy charge will be, whether you are aware of it or not....A strong unconscious emotional pattern may even manifest as an external event that appears just to happen to you. For example, I have observed that people who carry a lot of anger inside without being aware of it and without expressing it are likely to be attacked, verbally or even physically, by other angry people, and often for no apparent reason.They have a strong emanation of anger that certain people pick up subliminally and that triggers their own latent anger
If you really want to know your mind, the body will always give you a truthful reflection, so look at the emotion or rather feel it in your body. If there is an apparent conflict between them, the thought will be the lie, the emotion will be the truth. Not the ultimate truth of who you are, but the relative truth of your state of mind at that time.
An emotion usually represents an amplified and energized thought pattern, and because of its often overpowering energetic charge, it is not easy initially to stay present enough to be able to watch it. It wants to take you over, and it usually succeeds - unless there is enough presence in you. If you are pulled into unconscious identification with the emotion through lack of presence, which is normal, the emotion temporarily becomes"you". Often a vicious circle builds up between your thinking and the emotion: they feed each other
One of the main tasks of the mind is to fight or remove that emotional pain, which is one of the reasons for its incessant activity, but it can ever achieve is to cover it up temporarily.
Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind.
There are two levels to your pain: the pain you create now, and the pain from the past that still lives on in your mind and body.
The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some from of judgement. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity.
Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have....Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with practical aspects of your life situation....What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?
It is as it is.
Accept - then act.
If you were truly conscious of it, the pattern would dissolve, for to want more pain is insanity, and nobody is consciously insane.
The pain-body doesn't want you to observe it directly and see it for what it is. The moment you observe it, feel its energy field within you, and take your attention into it, the identification is broken. A higher dimension of consciousness has come in. I call it presence. You are now the witness or the watcher of the pain-body. This means that it cannot use you anymore by pretending to be you, and it can no longer replenish itself through you. You have found your own innermost strength. you have accessed the power of Now.
The moment your thinking is aligned with the energy field of the pain-body, you are identified with it and again feeding it with your thoughts. For example, if anger is the predominant energy vibration of the pain-body and you think angry thoughts, dwelling on what someone did to you or what you are going to do to him or her, then you have become unconscious, and the pain-body has become "you".
Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body.
Accept that it is there. Don’t think about it - don’t let the feeling turn into thinking. Don’t judge or analyze. Don’t make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present...
Psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now. You are in the here and now, while your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap...
You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection - you cannot cope with the future.
Once you have disidentified from your mind, whether you are right or wrong makes no difference to your sense of self, so the forcefully compulsive and deeply unconscious need to be right, which is a form of violence, will no longer be there. You can state clearly and firmly how you feel or what you think, but there will be no aggressiveness or defensiveness about it. Your sense of self is then derived from a deeper and truer place within you, not from the mind. Watch out for any defensiveness within yourself. What are you defending? An illusory identity, an image in your mind, a fictitious entity. By making this pattern conscious, by witnessing it, you disidentify from it.
The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identification. None of these is you.
For so many people, a large part of their sense of self is intimately connected with their problems. Once this has happened, the last thing they want is to become free of them: that would mean loss of self.
When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. The mind in itself is not dysfunctional. It is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are. It then becomes the egoic mind and takes over your whole life.
To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be.
The more you are focused on time - past and future - the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is. Why is it the most precious thing? Firstly, because it is the only thing. It is all there is . . . the other one factor that remains constant . . . Secondly, the Now is the only point that can take you beyond the limited confines of the mind. It is your only point of access into the timeless and formless realm of Being.
The mind cannot understand the NOW. Only you can.
Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever
happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.
The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities....is that it forces them into the Now - that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.
Suffering needs time; it cannot survive in the Now.
Make it your practice to withdraw attention from the past and future whenever they are not needed...If you find it hard to enter the Now directly, start by observing the habitual tendency of your mind to want to escape from the Now....The moment you realize you are not present, you are present. Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it.
Nonforgiveness necessarily implies a heavy burden of psychological time.
Hope is what keeps you going, but hope keeps you focused on the future, and this continued focus perpetuates your denial of the Now and therefore your unhappiness.
Your life situation exists in time. Your life is Now. Your life situation is mind-stuff. Your life is real.
Ask yourself: Is there joy, ease, and lightness in what I am doing? If there isn’t, then time is covering up the present moment, and life is perceived as a burden or a struggle. If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change how....completely accept what is.
The moment your attention turns to the Now, you feel a presence, a stillness, a peace. You no longer depend on the future for fulfillment and satisfaction - you don’t look to it for salvation. Therefore, you are not attached to the results.
In the absence of psychological time, your sense of self is derived from Being.
The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life’s challenges when they come.
Make it a habit to monitor your mental-emotional state through self-observation.’Am I at ease at this moment?..."what’s going on inside me at this moment?
Either stop doing what you are doing, speak to the person concerned and express fully what you feel, or drop the negativity that your mind has created around the situation and that serves no purpose whatsoever except to strengthen a false sense of self. Recognizing its futility is important
Is there the slightest trace of resentment, unwillingness? If there is, observe it on both the mental and emotional levels. What thoughts is your mind creating around this situation? Then look at the emotion, which is the body’s reaction to those thoughts. Feel the emotion. Whether your thoughts and emotions about
Whether this situation is justified or not makes no difference. The fact is that you are resisting what is. You are making the present into an enemy. You are creating unhappiness...
You can drop negativity by recognizing that you don’t want to suffer the pain or carry the burden anymore and then letting go of it.
To complain is always nonacceptance of what is.
If you find you’re here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself form the situation, change it, or accept it totally.
If there is truly nothing that you can do to change you’re here and now, and you can’t remove yourself from the situation, the accept you’re here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance. The false, unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself can then no longer survive. This is called surrender. Surrender is not weakness. There is great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has spiritual power.
Stress is caused by being "here" but wanting to be "there", or being in the present but wanting to be in the future.
As you move, work, run - do it totally. Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of that moment. Now you are no longer stressed...
Does the past take up a great deal of your attention?... Then you are not only reinforcing a false sense of self but also helping to accelerate your body’s aging process by creating an accumulation of past in your psyche.
Waiting is a state of mind. Basically, it means that you want the future..
There is nothing wrong with striving to improve your life situation. You can improve your life situation, but you cannot improve your life. Life is primary. Life is your deepest inner Being. It is already whole, complete, perfect. Your life situation consists of your circumstances and your experiences. There is nothing wrong with setting goals and striving to achieve things. The mistake lies in using it as a substitute for the feeling of life, for Being.
Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is true prosperity.
Give up waiting as a state of mind. Come into the present moment. Just be, and enjoy being...enjoy yourself - in joy in my self.
Journey’s inner purpose has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how.
Whatever you need to know about the unconscious past is in you, the challenges of the present will bring it out. If you delve into the past, it will become a bottomless pit: There is always more.
To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even is there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in between the sounds
As you become more conscious of your present reality, you may suddenly get certain insights as to why your conditioning functions in those particular ways. That is fine and can be helpful, but it is not essential. What is essential is your conscious presence. That dissolves your past. That is the transformative agent.
So don’t seek to understand the past, but be as present as you can. The past cannot survive in your presence. It can only survive in your absence.
To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself.
The teacher and taught together create the teaching...the words in themselves are not important. They are not the Truth; they only point to it.
Listening to the silence immediately creates stillness inside you. Only the stillness in you can perceive the silence outside.
The Being cannot become an object of knowledge. In Being, subject and object merge into one.
Of course there is something wrong with you - and you are not being judged. I don’t mean to offend you personally, but do you not belong to the human race that has killed over 100 million members of their won species in the 20th century alone?
As long as you are run by the egoic mind, you are part of the collective insanity.
To become conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind....A very effective way of doing this is simply to take the focus of your attention away from thinking and direct it into the body, where Being can be felt in the first instance as the invisible energy field that gives life to what you perceive as the physical body.
Do not fight against the body, for in doing so youare fighting against your own reality. You are your body. The body that you can see and touch is only a thin illusory veil. Underneath it lies the invisible inner body, the doorway into Being, into Life Unmanifested. The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes, much like a light that grows brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the flow of electricity. At this higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency.
So when such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much s you can on the inner energy field o f your body. This need not take long, just a few seconds. But you need to do it the moment that the challenge presents itself. Any delay will allow a conditioned mental-emotional reaction to arise and take you over. When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If a response is required in that situation, it will come up from this deeper level. Just as the sun is infinitely brighter than a candle flame, there is infinitely more intelligence in Being than in your mind.
When you are not in your body, however, an emotion can survive inside you for days or weeks, or join with other emotions of a similar frequency that have merged and become the pain-body, a parasite that can live inside you for years, feed on your energy, lead to physical illness, and make your life miserable.
Most illnesses creep in when you are not present in the body. If the master is not
present in the home, all kinds off shady characters will take up residence there.
It is not only your physical immune system that becomes strengthened; your psychic immune system is greatly enhanced as well. The latter protects you from the negative mental-emotional force fields of others, which are highly contagious. Inhabiting the body protects you not by putting up a shield, but by raising the frequency vibration of your total energy field., so that anything that vibrates at a lower frequency, such as fear, anger, depression, and so on, now exists in what is virtually a different order of reality.
When you are unoccupied for a few minutes, and especially last thing at night before falling asleep and first thing in the morning before getting up, "flood" your body with consciousness. Close your eyes. Lie flat on your back. Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly at first...Feel the life energy inside those parts as intensely as you can. Stay with each part for 15 seconds or so. Then let your attention run through the body like a wave a few times, from feet to head and back again. This need only take a minute or so. After that, feel the inner body in its totality, as a single field of energy. Hold that feeling for a few minutes. Be intensely present during that time, present in every cell of your body. Don’t be concerned if the mind occasionally succeeds in drawing your attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought. As soon as you notice that this has happened, just return your attention to the inner body.
Whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your inner energy field. Become aware of the stillness. When you resume thinking, it will be fresh and creative. In any thought activity, make it a habit to go back and forth every few minutes or so between thinking and an inner kind of listening, an inner stillness. We could say: don’t think with your head, think with your whole body.
As you go about life, don’t give 100% of your attention to the external world and to your mind. Keep some within..Feel the inner body even when engaged in
Your task is not to search for love but to find a portal through which love can enter.
Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.
The end of illusion - that’s all that death is. It is painful only as loing as you cling to illusion.
True salvation is fulfillment, peace, life in all its fullness. It is to be who you are, to feel within you the good that has no opposite, the joy of Being that depends on nothing outside itself. It is felt not as a passing experience but as an abiding presence.....It is freedom from compulsive thinking, from negativity, and above all from the past and future as a psychological need.
You think that you can’t get there from where and who you are at this moment because you are not yet complete or good enough, but the truth is that here and now is the only point from where you can get there. You "get" there by realizing that you are there already. You find God in the moment you realize that you don’t need to seek God.
On the physical level, you are obviously not whole, nor will you ever be. You are either a man or a woman, which is to say, one-half of the whole....Sexual union is the closet you can get to this state on the physical level.
Intimate relationship do not cause pain and unhappiness. The bring out the pain and
unhappiness that is already in you. Every addiction does that.
First you stop judging yourself; then you stop judging your partner. The greatest catalyst for change in a relationship is complete acceptance of your partner as he or she is, without needing to judge or change them in anyway. That immediately takes you beyond ego....This is also the end of all codependency, of being drawn into somebody else’s unconscious pattern and thereby enabling it to continue. You will then either separate - in love - or move ever more deeply into the Now together - into Being...It is that simple.
Love is a state of Being.
The bond that connects you with your love relationship person is the same bond that connects you with the person sitting next to you on a bus, or with a bird, a tree, a flower. Only the degree of intensity with which it is felt differs.
Relationships between men and women reflect the deep state of crisis in which humanity now finds itself.
With the acknowledgment and acceptance of the facts also comes a degree of freedom from them...When you know you are not at peace, your knowing creates a still space that surrounds your nonpeace in a loving and tender embrace and then transmutes your nonpeace into peace. As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.
So whenever your relationship is not working...be glad. What was unconscious is being brought up to the light...Every moment, hold the knowing of that moment, particularly of your inner state. If there is anger, know that there is anger. If there is jealousy, defensiveness, the urge to argue, the need to be right, an inner child demanding love and attention, or emotional pain of any kind - whatever it is, know the reality of that moment and hold the knowing. The relationship then becomes your sadhana, your spiritual practice. If you observe unconscious behavior in your partner, hold it in the loving embrace of your knowing so that you won’t react. Unconsciousness and knowing cannot coexist for long - even if the knowing is only in the other person and not in the one who is acting out the unconsciousness. The energy form that lies behind hostility and attack finds the presence of love absolutely intolerable. If you react at all to your partner’s unconsciousness, you become unconscious yourself. But if you remember to know your reaction, nothing is lost.
If you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness that wants to be born into this world. For those who hold on to the old patterns, there will be increasing pain, violence, confusion, and madness.
Sanity - consciousness - can only come into this world through you. You do not need to wait for the world to become sane, or for somebody else to become conscious, before you can be enlightened. You may wait forever. Do not accuse each other of being unconsious. The moment you start to argue, you have identified with a mental position and are now defending not only that position but also your sense of self. The ego is in charge. You have become unconscious. At times, it may be appropriate to point out certain aspects of your partner’s behavior. If you are
very alert, very present, you can do so without ego involvement - without blaming, Accusing, or making the other wrong.
When your partner behaves unconsciously, relinquish all judgment....To relinquish judgment does not mean that you do not recognize dysfunction and unconsciousness when you see it. It means"being the knowing" rather than "being the reaction" and the judge. You will then either be totally free of reaction or you may react and still be the knowing, the space in which the reaction is watched and allowed to be. Instead of fighting the darkness, you bring in the light. Instead of reacting to delusion, you see the delusion yet at the same time look through it. Being the knowing creates a clear space of loving presence that allows all things and all people to be as they are.No greater catalyst for transformation exists. If you practice this, your partner cannot stay with you and remain unconscious.
If you both agree that the relationship will be your spiritual practice, so much the better. You can then express your thoughts and feelings to each other as soon as they occur, or as soon as a reaction comes up, so that you do not create a time gap in which an unexpressed or unacknowledged emotion or grievance can fester and grow. Learn to give expression to what you feel without blaming. Learn to listen to your partner in an open, nondefensive way. Give your partner space foe expressing himself or herself. Be present.
Giving space to others - and to yourself - is vital. Love cannot flourish without it. When you have removed the two factors that are destructive of relationships: When the pain-body has been transmuted and you are no longer identified
with mind and your unconsciousness, instead of satisfying your mutual addictive ego needs, you will reflect back to each other the love that you feel deep within, the love that comes with the realization of your oneness with all that is. This is the love that has no opposite.
If you can feel your emotions, you are not far from the radiant inner body just underneath.
Another indicator is how a person behaves in difficult or challenging situations or when things "go wrong"
Once you understand the root of the dysfunction, you do not need to explore its countless manifestations.
Instead of "being" the pain-body, the woman could be the knowing that watches the emotional pain in herself, thus accessing the power of the Now and initiating the transmutation of the pain. This would remove the compulsive and automatic outward projection of it. She could then express her feelings to her partner. There is no guarantee, of course, that he will listen, but it gives him a good chance to become present and certainly breaks the insane cycle of the involuntary acting out of old mind patterns. If the woman misses that opportunity, the man could watch his own mental-emotional reaction to her pain, his own defensiveness, rather than being the reaction. He could then watch his own
pain-body being triggered and thus bring consciousness inot his emotions. In this way, a clear and still space of pure awareness would come into being - the knowing, the silent witness, the watcher. This awareness
does not deny the pain and yet is beyond it. It allows the pain to be and yet transmutes it at the same time. It accepts everything and transforms everything.
Whereas mind-energy is hard and rigid. Being-energy is soft and yeilding and yet infinitely more powerful than mind.
As a general rule, the major obstacle for men tends to be the thinking mind, and the major obstacle for women the pain-body.
A victim identity is the belief that the past is more powerful than the present.
So do not use the pain-body to give you an identity. Use it for enlightenment instead.
Whatever it is, catch it before it can take over your thinking or behavior. This simply means putting the spotlight of your attention on it. If it is an emotion, feel the strong energy charge behind it. Know that it is the pain-body. At the same time, be the knowing; that is to say, be aware of your conscious presence and feel its power. Any emotion that you take your presence into will quickly subside and become transmuted. If it is a purely physical symptom, the attention that you give it will prevent it from turning into an emotion or a thought. The continue to be alert and wait for the next sign of the pain-body. When it appears, catch it again in the same way as before.
Later, when the pain-body has fully awakened from its dormant state, you may experience considerable turbulence in your inner space for a while, perhaps for several days. Whatever form this takes, stay present. Give it your complete attention. Watch the turbulence inside you. Know it is there. Hold the knowing, and be the knowing. Remember: do not let the pain-body use your mind and take over your thinking. Watch it. Feel its energy directly, inside your body. As you know, full attention means full acceptance.
In Being, male and female are one. Your form may continue to have certain needs, but Being has none. It is already complete and whole. If those needs are met, that is beautiful, but whether or not they are met makes no difference to your deep inner state. So it is perfectly possible for an enlightened person, if the nees for the male or female polarity is not met, to feel a sense of lack or incompleteness on the outer level of his or her being, yet at the same time be totally complete, fulfilled, and at peace within.
Being an outsider to some extent, someone who does not "fit in" with others or is rejected by them for whatever reason, makes life difficult, but it also places you at an advantage as far as enlightenment is concerned. It takes you out of unconsciousness almost by force.
When you are enlightened, there is one relationship that you no longer have: the relationship with yourself. Once you have given that up, all your other relationships will be love relationships.
And when you live in complete acceptance of what is - which is the only sane way to live - there is no "good" or "bad" in your life anymore. There is only a higher good - which includes the "bad".
Forgiveness of the present is even more important than forgiveness of the past. If you forgive every moment - allow it to be as it is - then there will be no accumulation of resentment that needs to be forgiven at some later time.
The ultimate effect of all the evil and suffering in the world is that it will force humans into realizing who they are beyond name and form.
Through forgiveness, which essentially means recognizing the insubstantiality of the past and allowing the present moment to be as it is, the miracle of transformation happens not only within but also without. A silent space of intense presence arises both in you and around you.
You cannot have an argument with a fully conscious person. AN argument implies identification with your mind and a mental position, as well as resistance and reaction to the other person’s position...You can still make your point clearly and firmly, but there will not be no reactive force behind it, no defense or attack. SO it won’t turn into a drama.
Failure lies concealed in every success, and success in every failure.
The cyclical nature of the universe is closely linked with the impermanence of all things and situations.
I have learned to offer no resistance to what is; I have learned to allow the present moment to be and to accept the impermanent nature of all things and conditions. This I have found peace.
To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness.
Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease.
Yes, recurring negative emotions do sometime contain a message, as do illnesses. But any changes that you make, whether they have to do with your work, your relationship, or your surroundings, are ultimately only cosmetic unless they arise out of a change in your level of consciousness. As far as that is concerned, it can only mean one thing: becoming more present. When you have reached a certain degree of presence, you don’t need negativity anymore to tell you what is needed in your life situation. But as long as negativity is there, use it. Use it as a kind of signal that reminds you to be more present.
So whenever you feel negativity arising within you, whether caused by an external factor, a thought, or even nothing in particular that you are aware of, look on it as a voice saying "Attention. Here and Now. Wake up." Even the slightest irritation is significant and needs to be acknowledged and looked at; otherwise, there will be a cumulative build-up of unobserved reactions. As I said before, you may be able to just drop it once you realize that you don’t want to have this energy field inside you and that it serves no purpose. But then make sure that you drop it completely. If you cannot drop it, just accept that it is there and take your attention into the feeling.
All this can be transformed into spiritual practice. Feel yourself becoming transparent, as it were, without solidity of a material body. Now allow the noise, or whatever causes a negative reaction, to pass through you. It is no longer hitting a solid "wall" inside you. As I said, practice with little things first... Instead of having a wall of resistance inside you that gets constantly and painfully hit by things that "should not be happening", let everything pass through you.
Somebody says something to you that is rude or designed to hurt. Instead of going into unconscious reaction and negativity, such as attack, defense, withdrawal, you let it pass right through you. Offer no resistance. It is as if there is nobody there to get hurt anymore. That is forgiveness. In this way, you become invulnerable. You can still tell that person that his or her behavior is unacceptable, if that is what you choose to do. But that person no longer has the power to control your inner state. You are then in your power - not in someone else’s, nor are you run by your mind.
Coming from Being, you will perceive another person’s body and mind as just a screen, as it were, behind which you can feel their true reality, as you feel yours.. So, when confronted with someone else’s suffering or unconscious behavior, you stay present and in touch with Being and are thus able to look beyond the form and feel the other person’s radiant and pure Being through your own. At the level of Being, all suffering is recognized as an illusion. Suffering is due to identification with form.
Compassion is the awareness of a deep bond between yourself and all creatures.
Your primary task is not to seek salvation through creating a better world, but to awaken out of identification with form.
It is only at this point that you begin to make a real contribution toward bringing about a better world, toward creating a different order of reality. It is only at this point that you are able to feel true compassion and to help others at the level of cause. Only those who have transcended the world can bring about a better world.
Your healing influence is primarily based not on doing but on being...When you are fully present and people around you manifest unconscious behavior, you won’t feel the need to react to it, so you don’t give it any reality. Your peace is so vast and ddep that anything that is not peace disappears into it as if it had never existed. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction.
If you feel called upon to alleviate suffering in the world, that is a very noble thing to do, but remember not to focus exclusively on the outer; otherwise, you will encounter frustration and despair. Without a profound change in human consciousness, the world’s suffering is a bottomless pit. So don’t let your compassion become one-sided. Empathy with someone else’s pain or lack and a desire to help need to be balanced with a deeper realization of the eternal nature of all life and the ultimate illusion of all pain. The let your peace flow into whatever you do and you will be working on the level of effect and cause simultaneously.
Once you get involved in working on the level of effect, it is all too easy t lode yourself in it. Stay alert and very, very present. The casual level needs to remain your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose, and peace your most precious gift to the world.
Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life.
You know that things "go wrong" quite often, It is precisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced of you want to eliminate pain and sorrow from your life. Acceptance of what is immediately frees you from your mind identification and thus reconnects you with Being. Resistance is the mind.
You accept the "isness’ of the moment. Then you take action and do all that you can to get out of the mind.
If you find your life situation unsatisfactory or even intolerable, it is only by surrendering first that you can break the unconscious resistance pattern that perpetuates that situation. Surrender us perfectly compatible with taking action, initiating change or achieving goals. But in the surrendered state a totally different energy, a different quality, flows into your doing. Surrender reconnects you with the source-energy of Being..Through nonresistance, the quality of your consciousness and, therefore, the quality of whatever you are doing or creating is enhanced immeasurably.
It is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that is the main determinant of what kind of future you will experience, so to surrender is the most important thing you can do to bring about positive change. Any action you take is secondary.
Ask yourself, "Is there anything I can do to change the situation, improve it, or remove myself from it?" If so, you take the appropriate action. Focus not on the 100 things that you will or may have to do at some future time but on the one thing that you can do now.
Start by acknowledging that there is resistance. Be there when it happens, when the resistance arises. Observe how your mind creates it, how it labels the situation, yourself, or others. Look at the thought process involved. Feel the energy of the emotion. By witnessing the resistance, you will see that it serves no purpose. By focusing all your attention on the Now, the unconscious resistance is made conscious, and thta is the end of it. You cannot be conscious and unhappy, conscious and in negativity. Negativity, unhappiness, or suffering in whatever form means that there is resistance, and resistance is always unconscious.
When you say "no" to a person or a situation, let it come not from reaction but from insight, from a clear realization of what is right or not right for you at that moment. Let is be a nonreactive "no", a high-quality "no", a "no" that is free of all negativity and so creates no further suffering.
If you cannot surrender, take action immediately. Speak up or do something to bring about a change in the situation - or remove yourself from it. Take responsibility for your life. Do not pollute your beautiful, radiant inner Being nor the Earth with negativity. Do not give unhappiness in any form whatsoever a dwelling place inside you.
The ego is cunning, so you have to be very alert, very present, and totally honest with yourself to see whether you have truly relinquished your identification with a mental position and so freed yourself from your mind. If you suddenly feel very light, clear and deeply at peace, that is an unmistakable sign that you have truly surrendered.
If you cannot accept what is outside, then accept what is inside.
When there is no way out, there is still always a way through.
Full attention is full acceptance, is surrender.
So your friend, being identified with her mind, amy be re-creating a pattern learned in the past in which intimacy and abuse are inseparably linked. Alternatively, she may be acting out a mind pattern learned in early childhood according to which she is unworhty and deserves to be punished. It is possible, too, that she lives a large part of her life through the pain-body, which always seeks more pain on which to feed. Her partner has his own unconscious patterns, which complement hers. Of course her situation is self-created, but who or what is the self that is doing the creating? A mental-emotional pattern from the past, no more. Why make a self out of it? If you tell her that she has chosen her condition or situation, you are reinforcing her state mind identification. But is her mind pattern who she is? Is it her self? Is her true identity derived from the past? Show your friend how to be the observing presence behind her thoughts and her emotions. Tell her about the pain-body and how to free herself from it. Teach her the art of inner-body awareness.
Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They ahppen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet. In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.
"Forgiveness" is a term that has been in use for 2,000 years, but most people have a very limited view of what it means. You cannot truly forgive yourself or others as long as you derive your sense of self from the past. Only through accessing the power of the Now, which is your own power, can there be true forgiveness. This renders the past powerless, and you realize deeply that nothing you ever did or that was ever done to you could touch even the slightest the radiant essence of who you are. The whole concept of forgiveness then becomes unnecessary.
Below are quotes from the book.
You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are!
Enlightenment is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being.
Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.
You usually don’t use your mind at all. It uses you.
If you can’t stop thinking altogether, then the mind is using you. You are unconsciously identified with it, so you don’t even know that you are its slave. The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity - the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.
Worry is when the mind often imagines things going wrong and negative outcomes.
When you listen to that voice in your head, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You’ll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises beyond the mind.
One certain criterion by which you can measure your success in this practice: the degree of peace that you feel within.
So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind.
The more you are identified with your thinking, your likes and dislikes, judgments and interpretations, which is to say the less present you are as the watching consciousness, the stronger the emotional energy charge will be, whether you are aware of it or not....A strong unconscious emotional pattern may even manifest as an external event that appears just to happen to you. For example, I have observed that people who carry a lot of anger inside without being aware of it and without expressing it are likely to be attacked, verbally or even physically, by other angry people, and often for no apparent reason.They have a strong emanation of anger that certain people pick up subliminally and that triggers their own latent anger
If you really want to know your mind, the body will always give you a truthful reflection, so look at the emotion or rather feel it in your body. If there is an apparent conflict between them, the thought will be the lie, the emotion will be the truth. Not the ultimate truth of who you are, but the relative truth of your state of mind at that time.
An emotion usually represents an amplified and energized thought pattern, and because of its often overpowering energetic charge, it is not easy initially to stay present enough to be able to watch it. It wants to take you over, and it usually succeeds - unless there is enough presence in you. If you are pulled into unconscious identification with the emotion through lack of presence, which is normal, the emotion temporarily becomes"you". Often a vicious circle builds up between your thinking and the emotion: they feed each other
One of the main tasks of the mind is to fight or remove that emotional pain, which is one of the reasons for its incessant activity, but it can ever achieve is to cover it up temporarily.
Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind.
There are two levels to your pain: the pain you create now, and the pain from the past that still lives on in your mind and body.
The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some from of judgement. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity.
Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have....Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with practical aspects of your life situation....What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?
It is as it is.
Accept - then act.
If you were truly conscious of it, the pattern would dissolve, for to want more pain is insanity, and nobody is consciously insane.
The pain-body doesn't want you to observe it directly and see it for what it is. The moment you observe it, feel its energy field within you, and take your attention into it, the identification is broken. A higher dimension of consciousness has come in. I call it presence. You are now the witness or the watcher of the pain-body. This means that it cannot use you anymore by pretending to be you, and it can no longer replenish itself through you. You have found your own innermost strength. you have accessed the power of Now.
The moment your thinking is aligned with the energy field of the pain-body, you are identified with it and again feeding it with your thoughts. For example, if anger is the predominant energy vibration of the pain-body and you think angry thoughts, dwelling on what someone did to you or what you are going to do to him or her, then you have become unconscious, and the pain-body has become "you".
Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body.
Accept that it is there. Don’t think about it - don’t let the feeling turn into thinking. Don’t judge or analyze. Don’t make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present...
Psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now. You are in the here and now, while your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap...
You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection - you cannot cope with the future.
Once you have disidentified from your mind, whether you are right or wrong makes no difference to your sense of self, so the forcefully compulsive and deeply unconscious need to be right, which is a form of violence, will no longer be there. You can state clearly and firmly how you feel or what you think, but there will be no aggressiveness or defensiveness about it. Your sense of self is then derived from a deeper and truer place within you, not from the mind. Watch out for any defensiveness within yourself. What are you defending? An illusory identity, an image in your mind, a fictitious entity. By making this pattern conscious, by witnessing it, you disidentify from it.
The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identification. None of these is you.
For so many people, a large part of their sense of self is intimately connected with their problems. Once this has happened, the last thing they want is to become free of them: that would mean loss of self.
When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. The mind in itself is not dysfunctional. It is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are. It then becomes the egoic mind and takes over your whole life.
To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be.
The more you are focused on time - past and future - the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is. Why is it the most precious thing? Firstly, because it is the only thing. It is all there is . . . the other one factor that remains constant . . . Secondly, the Now is the only point that can take you beyond the limited confines of the mind. It is your only point of access into the timeless and formless realm of Being.
The mind cannot understand the NOW. Only you can.
Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever
happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.
The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities....is that it forces them into the Now - that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.
Suffering needs time; it cannot survive in the Now.
Make it your practice to withdraw attention from the past and future whenever they are not needed...If you find it hard to enter the Now directly, start by observing the habitual tendency of your mind to want to escape from the Now....The moment you realize you are not present, you are present. Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it.
Nonforgiveness necessarily implies a heavy burden of psychological time.
Hope is what keeps you going, but hope keeps you focused on the future, and this continued focus perpetuates your denial of the Now and therefore your unhappiness.
Your life situation exists in time. Your life is Now. Your life situation is mind-stuff. Your life is real.
Ask yourself: Is there joy, ease, and lightness in what I am doing? If there isn’t, then time is covering up the present moment, and life is perceived as a burden or a struggle. If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change how....completely accept what is.
The moment your attention turns to the Now, you feel a presence, a stillness, a peace. You no longer depend on the future for fulfillment and satisfaction - you don’t look to it for salvation. Therefore, you are not attached to the results.
In the absence of psychological time, your sense of self is derived from Being.
The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life’s challenges when they come.
Make it a habit to monitor your mental-emotional state through self-observation.’Am I at ease at this moment?..."what’s going on inside me at this moment?
Either stop doing what you are doing, speak to the person concerned and express fully what you feel, or drop the negativity that your mind has created around the situation and that serves no purpose whatsoever except to strengthen a false sense of self. Recognizing its futility is important
Is there the slightest trace of resentment, unwillingness? If there is, observe it on both the mental and emotional levels. What thoughts is your mind creating around this situation? Then look at the emotion, which is the body’s reaction to those thoughts. Feel the emotion. Whether your thoughts and emotions about
Whether this situation is justified or not makes no difference. The fact is that you are resisting what is. You are making the present into an enemy. You are creating unhappiness...
You can drop negativity by recognizing that you don’t want to suffer the pain or carry the burden anymore and then letting go of it.
To complain is always nonacceptance of what is.
If you find you’re here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself form the situation, change it, or accept it totally.
If there is truly nothing that you can do to change you’re here and now, and you can’t remove yourself from the situation, the accept you’re here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance. The false, unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself can then no longer survive. This is called surrender. Surrender is not weakness. There is great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has spiritual power.
Stress is caused by being "here" but wanting to be "there", or being in the present but wanting to be in the future.
As you move, work, run - do it totally. Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of that moment. Now you are no longer stressed...
Does the past take up a great deal of your attention?... Then you are not only reinforcing a false sense of self but also helping to accelerate your body’s aging process by creating an accumulation of past in your psyche.
Waiting is a state of mind. Basically, it means that you want the future..
There is nothing wrong with striving to improve your life situation. You can improve your life situation, but you cannot improve your life. Life is primary. Life is your deepest inner Being. It is already whole, complete, perfect. Your life situation consists of your circumstances and your experiences. There is nothing wrong with setting goals and striving to achieve things. The mistake lies in using it as a substitute for the feeling of life, for Being.
Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is true prosperity.
Give up waiting as a state of mind. Come into the present moment. Just be, and enjoy being...enjoy yourself - in joy in my self.
Journey’s inner purpose has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how.
Whatever you need to know about the unconscious past is in you, the challenges of the present will bring it out. If you delve into the past, it will become a bottomless pit: There is always more.
To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even is there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in between the sounds
As you become more conscious of your present reality, you may suddenly get certain insights as to why your conditioning functions in those particular ways. That is fine and can be helpful, but it is not essential. What is essential is your conscious presence. That dissolves your past. That is the transformative agent.
So don’t seek to understand the past, but be as present as you can. The past cannot survive in your presence. It can only survive in your absence.
To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself.
The teacher and taught together create the teaching...the words in themselves are not important. They are not the Truth; they only point to it.
Listening to the silence immediately creates stillness inside you. Only the stillness in you can perceive the silence outside.
The Being cannot become an object of knowledge. In Being, subject and object merge into one.
Of course there is something wrong with you - and you are not being judged. I don’t mean to offend you personally, but do you not belong to the human race that has killed over 100 million members of their won species in the 20th century alone?
As long as you are run by the egoic mind, you are part of the collective insanity.
To become conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind....A very effective way of doing this is simply to take the focus of your attention away from thinking and direct it into the body, where Being can be felt in the first instance as the invisible energy field that gives life to what you perceive as the physical body.
Do not fight against the body, for in doing so youare fighting against your own reality. You are your body. The body that you can see and touch is only a thin illusory veil. Underneath it lies the invisible inner body, the doorway into Being, into Life Unmanifested. The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes, much like a light that grows brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the flow of electricity. At this higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency.
So when such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much s you can on the inner energy field o f your body. This need not take long, just a few seconds. But you need to do it the moment that the challenge presents itself. Any delay will allow a conditioned mental-emotional reaction to arise and take you over. When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If a response is required in that situation, it will come up from this deeper level. Just as the sun is infinitely brighter than a candle flame, there is infinitely more intelligence in Being than in your mind.
When you are not in your body, however, an emotion can survive inside you for days or weeks, or join with other emotions of a similar frequency that have merged and become the pain-body, a parasite that can live inside you for years, feed on your energy, lead to physical illness, and make your life miserable.
Most illnesses creep in when you are not present in the body. If the master is not
present in the home, all kinds off shady characters will take up residence there.
It is not only your physical immune system that becomes strengthened; your psychic immune system is greatly enhanced as well. The latter protects you from the negative mental-emotional force fields of others, which are highly contagious. Inhabiting the body protects you not by putting up a shield, but by raising the frequency vibration of your total energy field., so that anything that vibrates at a lower frequency, such as fear, anger, depression, and so on, now exists in what is virtually a different order of reality.
When you are unoccupied for a few minutes, and especially last thing at night before falling asleep and first thing in the morning before getting up, "flood" your body with consciousness. Close your eyes. Lie flat on your back. Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly at first...Feel the life energy inside those parts as intensely as you can. Stay with each part for 15 seconds or so. Then let your attention run through the body like a wave a few times, from feet to head and back again. This need only take a minute or so. After that, feel the inner body in its totality, as a single field of energy. Hold that feeling for a few minutes. Be intensely present during that time, present in every cell of your body. Don’t be concerned if the mind occasionally succeeds in drawing your attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought. As soon as you notice that this has happened, just return your attention to the inner body.
Whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your inner energy field. Become aware of the stillness. When you resume thinking, it will be fresh and creative. In any thought activity, make it a habit to go back and forth every few minutes or so between thinking and an inner kind of listening, an inner stillness. We could say: don’t think with your head, think with your whole body.
As you go about life, don’t give 100% of your attention to the external world and to your mind. Keep some within..Feel the inner body even when engaged in
Your task is not to search for love but to find a portal through which love can enter.
Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.
The end of illusion - that’s all that death is. It is painful only as loing as you cling to illusion.
True salvation is fulfillment, peace, life in all its fullness. It is to be who you are, to feel within you the good that has no opposite, the joy of Being that depends on nothing outside itself. It is felt not as a passing experience but as an abiding presence.....It is freedom from compulsive thinking, from negativity, and above all from the past and future as a psychological need.
You think that you can’t get there from where and who you are at this moment because you are not yet complete or good enough, but the truth is that here and now is the only point from where you can get there. You "get" there by realizing that you are there already. You find God in the moment you realize that you don’t need to seek God.
On the physical level, you are obviously not whole, nor will you ever be. You are either a man or a woman, which is to say, one-half of the whole....Sexual union is the closet you can get to this state on the physical level.
Intimate relationship do not cause pain and unhappiness. The bring out the pain and
unhappiness that is already in you. Every addiction does that.
First you stop judging yourself; then you stop judging your partner. The greatest catalyst for change in a relationship is complete acceptance of your partner as he or she is, without needing to judge or change them in anyway. That immediately takes you beyond ego....This is also the end of all codependency, of being drawn into somebody else’s unconscious pattern and thereby enabling it to continue. You will then either separate - in love - or move ever more deeply into the Now together - into Being...It is that simple.
Love is a state of Being.
The bond that connects you with your love relationship person is the same bond that connects you with the person sitting next to you on a bus, or with a bird, a tree, a flower. Only the degree of intensity with which it is felt differs.
Relationships between men and women reflect the deep state of crisis in which humanity now finds itself.
With the acknowledgment and acceptance of the facts also comes a degree of freedom from them...When you know you are not at peace, your knowing creates a still space that surrounds your nonpeace in a loving and tender embrace and then transmutes your nonpeace into peace. As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.
So whenever your relationship is not working...be glad. What was unconscious is being brought up to the light...Every moment, hold the knowing of that moment, particularly of your inner state. If there is anger, know that there is anger. If there is jealousy, defensiveness, the urge to argue, the need to be right, an inner child demanding love and attention, or emotional pain of any kind - whatever it is, know the reality of that moment and hold the knowing. The relationship then becomes your sadhana, your spiritual practice. If you observe unconscious behavior in your partner, hold it in the loving embrace of your knowing so that you won’t react. Unconsciousness and knowing cannot coexist for long - even if the knowing is only in the other person and not in the one who is acting out the unconsciousness. The energy form that lies behind hostility and attack finds the presence of love absolutely intolerable. If you react at all to your partner’s unconsciousness, you become unconscious yourself. But if you remember to know your reaction, nothing is lost.
If you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness that wants to be born into this world. For those who hold on to the old patterns, there will be increasing pain, violence, confusion, and madness.
Sanity - consciousness - can only come into this world through you. You do not need to wait for the world to become sane, or for somebody else to become conscious, before you can be enlightened. You may wait forever. Do not accuse each other of being unconsious. The moment you start to argue, you have identified with a mental position and are now defending not only that position but also your sense of self. The ego is in charge. You have become unconscious. At times, it may be appropriate to point out certain aspects of your partner’s behavior. If you are
very alert, very present, you can do so without ego involvement - without blaming, Accusing, or making the other wrong.
When your partner behaves unconsciously, relinquish all judgment....To relinquish judgment does not mean that you do not recognize dysfunction and unconsciousness when you see it. It means"being the knowing" rather than "being the reaction" and the judge. You will then either be totally free of reaction or you may react and still be the knowing, the space in which the reaction is watched and allowed to be. Instead of fighting the darkness, you bring in the light. Instead of reacting to delusion, you see the delusion yet at the same time look through it. Being the knowing creates a clear space of loving presence that allows all things and all people to be as they are.No greater catalyst for transformation exists. If you practice this, your partner cannot stay with you and remain unconscious.
If you both agree that the relationship will be your spiritual practice, so much the better. You can then express your thoughts and feelings to each other as soon as they occur, or as soon as a reaction comes up, so that you do not create a time gap in which an unexpressed or unacknowledged emotion or grievance can fester and grow. Learn to give expression to what you feel without blaming. Learn to listen to your partner in an open, nondefensive way. Give your partner space foe expressing himself or herself. Be present.
Giving space to others - and to yourself - is vital. Love cannot flourish without it. When you have removed the two factors that are destructive of relationships: When the pain-body has been transmuted and you are no longer identified
with mind and your unconsciousness, instead of satisfying your mutual addictive ego needs, you will reflect back to each other the love that you feel deep within, the love that comes with the realization of your oneness with all that is. This is the love that has no opposite.
If you can feel your emotions, you are not far from the radiant inner body just underneath.
Another indicator is how a person behaves in difficult or challenging situations or when things "go wrong"
Once you understand the root of the dysfunction, you do not need to explore its countless manifestations.
Instead of "being" the pain-body, the woman could be the knowing that watches the emotional pain in herself, thus accessing the power of the Now and initiating the transmutation of the pain. This would remove the compulsive and automatic outward projection of it. She could then express her feelings to her partner. There is no guarantee, of course, that he will listen, but it gives him a good chance to become present and certainly breaks the insane cycle of the involuntary acting out of old mind patterns. If the woman misses that opportunity, the man could watch his own mental-emotional reaction to her pain, his own defensiveness, rather than being the reaction. He could then watch his own
pain-body being triggered and thus bring consciousness inot his emotions. In this way, a clear and still space of pure awareness would come into being - the knowing, the silent witness, the watcher. This awareness
does not deny the pain and yet is beyond it. It allows the pain to be and yet transmutes it at the same time. It accepts everything and transforms everything.
Whereas mind-energy is hard and rigid. Being-energy is soft and yeilding and yet infinitely more powerful than mind.
As a general rule, the major obstacle for men tends to be the thinking mind, and the major obstacle for women the pain-body.
A victim identity is the belief that the past is more powerful than the present.
So do not use the pain-body to give you an identity. Use it for enlightenment instead.
Whatever it is, catch it before it can take over your thinking or behavior. This simply means putting the spotlight of your attention on it. If it is an emotion, feel the strong energy charge behind it. Know that it is the pain-body. At the same time, be the knowing; that is to say, be aware of your conscious presence and feel its power. Any emotion that you take your presence into will quickly subside and become transmuted. If it is a purely physical symptom, the attention that you give it will prevent it from turning into an emotion or a thought. The continue to be alert and wait for the next sign of the pain-body. When it appears, catch it again in the same way as before.
Later, when the pain-body has fully awakened from its dormant state, you may experience considerable turbulence in your inner space for a while, perhaps for several days. Whatever form this takes, stay present. Give it your complete attention. Watch the turbulence inside you. Know it is there. Hold the knowing, and be the knowing. Remember: do not let the pain-body use your mind and take over your thinking. Watch it. Feel its energy directly, inside your body. As you know, full attention means full acceptance.
In Being, male and female are one. Your form may continue to have certain needs, but Being has none. It is already complete and whole. If those needs are met, that is beautiful, but whether or not they are met makes no difference to your deep inner state. So it is perfectly possible for an enlightened person, if the nees for the male or female polarity is not met, to feel a sense of lack or incompleteness on the outer level of his or her being, yet at the same time be totally complete, fulfilled, and at peace within.
Being an outsider to some extent, someone who does not "fit in" with others or is rejected by them for whatever reason, makes life difficult, but it also places you at an advantage as far as enlightenment is concerned. It takes you out of unconsciousness almost by force.
When you are enlightened, there is one relationship that you no longer have: the relationship with yourself. Once you have given that up, all your other relationships will be love relationships.
And when you live in complete acceptance of what is - which is the only sane way to live - there is no "good" or "bad" in your life anymore. There is only a higher good - which includes the "bad".
Forgiveness of the present is even more important than forgiveness of the past. If you forgive every moment - allow it to be as it is - then there will be no accumulation of resentment that needs to be forgiven at some later time.
The ultimate effect of all the evil and suffering in the world is that it will force humans into realizing who they are beyond name and form.
Through forgiveness, which essentially means recognizing the insubstantiality of the past and allowing the present moment to be as it is, the miracle of transformation happens not only within but also without. A silent space of intense presence arises both in you and around you.
You cannot have an argument with a fully conscious person. AN argument implies identification with your mind and a mental position, as well as resistance and reaction to the other person’s position...You can still make your point clearly and firmly, but there will not be no reactive force behind it, no defense or attack. SO it won’t turn into a drama.
Failure lies concealed in every success, and success in every failure.
The cyclical nature of the universe is closely linked with the impermanence of all things and situations.
I have learned to offer no resistance to what is; I have learned to allow the present moment to be and to accept the impermanent nature of all things and conditions. This I have found peace.
To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness.
Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease.
Yes, recurring negative emotions do sometime contain a message, as do illnesses. But any changes that you make, whether they have to do with your work, your relationship, or your surroundings, are ultimately only cosmetic unless they arise out of a change in your level of consciousness. As far as that is concerned, it can only mean one thing: becoming more present. When you have reached a certain degree of presence, you don’t need negativity anymore to tell you what is needed in your life situation. But as long as negativity is there, use it. Use it as a kind of signal that reminds you to be more present.
So whenever you feel negativity arising within you, whether caused by an external factor, a thought, or even nothing in particular that you are aware of, look on it as a voice saying "Attention. Here and Now. Wake up." Even the slightest irritation is significant and needs to be acknowledged and looked at; otherwise, there will be a cumulative build-up of unobserved reactions. As I said before, you may be able to just drop it once you realize that you don’t want to have this energy field inside you and that it serves no purpose. But then make sure that you drop it completely. If you cannot drop it, just accept that it is there and take your attention into the feeling.
All this can be transformed into spiritual practice. Feel yourself becoming transparent, as it were, without solidity of a material body. Now allow the noise, or whatever causes a negative reaction, to pass through you. It is no longer hitting a solid "wall" inside you. As I said, practice with little things first... Instead of having a wall of resistance inside you that gets constantly and painfully hit by things that "should not be happening", let everything pass through you.
Somebody says something to you that is rude or designed to hurt. Instead of going into unconscious reaction and negativity, such as attack, defense, withdrawal, you let it pass right through you. Offer no resistance. It is as if there is nobody there to get hurt anymore. That is forgiveness. In this way, you become invulnerable. You can still tell that person that his or her behavior is unacceptable, if that is what you choose to do. But that person no longer has the power to control your inner state. You are then in your power - not in someone else’s, nor are you run by your mind.
Coming from Being, you will perceive another person’s body and mind as just a screen, as it were, behind which you can feel their true reality, as you feel yours.. So, when confronted with someone else’s suffering or unconscious behavior, you stay present and in touch with Being and are thus able to look beyond the form and feel the other person’s radiant and pure Being through your own. At the level of Being, all suffering is recognized as an illusion. Suffering is due to identification with form.
Compassion is the awareness of a deep bond between yourself and all creatures.
Your primary task is not to seek salvation through creating a better world, but to awaken out of identification with form.
It is only at this point that you begin to make a real contribution toward bringing about a better world, toward creating a different order of reality. It is only at this point that you are able to feel true compassion and to help others at the level of cause. Only those who have transcended the world can bring about a better world.
Your healing influence is primarily based not on doing but on being...When you are fully present and people around you manifest unconscious behavior, you won’t feel the need to react to it, so you don’t give it any reality. Your peace is so vast and ddep that anything that is not peace disappears into it as if it had never existed. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction.
If you feel called upon to alleviate suffering in the world, that is a very noble thing to do, but remember not to focus exclusively on the outer; otherwise, you will encounter frustration and despair. Without a profound change in human consciousness, the world’s suffering is a bottomless pit. So don’t let your compassion become one-sided. Empathy with someone else’s pain or lack and a desire to help need to be balanced with a deeper realization of the eternal nature of all life and the ultimate illusion of all pain. The let your peace flow into whatever you do and you will be working on the level of effect and cause simultaneously.
Once you get involved in working on the level of effect, it is all too easy t lode yourself in it. Stay alert and very, very present. The casual level needs to remain your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose, and peace your most precious gift to the world.
Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life.
You know that things "go wrong" quite often, It is precisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced of you want to eliminate pain and sorrow from your life. Acceptance of what is immediately frees you from your mind identification and thus reconnects you with Being. Resistance is the mind.
You accept the "isness’ of the moment. Then you take action and do all that you can to get out of the mind.
If you find your life situation unsatisfactory or even intolerable, it is only by surrendering first that you can break the unconscious resistance pattern that perpetuates that situation. Surrender us perfectly compatible with taking action, initiating change or achieving goals. But in the surrendered state a totally different energy, a different quality, flows into your doing. Surrender reconnects you with the source-energy of Being..Through nonresistance, the quality of your consciousness and, therefore, the quality of whatever you are doing or creating is enhanced immeasurably.
It is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that is the main determinant of what kind of future you will experience, so to surrender is the most important thing you can do to bring about positive change. Any action you take is secondary.
Ask yourself, "Is there anything I can do to change the situation, improve it, or remove myself from it?" If so, you take the appropriate action. Focus not on the 100 things that you will or may have to do at some future time but on the one thing that you can do now.
Start by acknowledging that there is resistance. Be there when it happens, when the resistance arises. Observe how your mind creates it, how it labels the situation, yourself, or others. Look at the thought process involved. Feel the energy of the emotion. By witnessing the resistance, you will see that it serves no purpose. By focusing all your attention on the Now, the unconscious resistance is made conscious, and thta is the end of it. You cannot be conscious and unhappy, conscious and in negativity. Negativity, unhappiness, or suffering in whatever form means that there is resistance, and resistance is always unconscious.
When you say "no" to a person or a situation, let it come not from reaction but from insight, from a clear realization of what is right or not right for you at that moment. Let is be a nonreactive "no", a high-quality "no", a "no" that is free of all negativity and so creates no further suffering.
If you cannot surrender, take action immediately. Speak up or do something to bring about a change in the situation - or remove yourself from it. Take responsibility for your life. Do not pollute your beautiful, radiant inner Being nor the Earth with negativity. Do not give unhappiness in any form whatsoever a dwelling place inside you.
The ego is cunning, so you have to be very alert, very present, and totally honest with yourself to see whether you have truly relinquished your identification with a mental position and so freed yourself from your mind. If you suddenly feel very light, clear and deeply at peace, that is an unmistakable sign that you have truly surrendered.
If you cannot accept what is outside, then accept what is inside.
When there is no way out, there is still always a way through.
Full attention is full acceptance, is surrender.
So your friend, being identified with her mind, amy be re-creating a pattern learned in the past in which intimacy and abuse are inseparably linked. Alternatively, she may be acting out a mind pattern learned in early childhood according to which she is unworhty and deserves to be punished. It is possible, too, that she lives a large part of her life through the pain-body, which always seeks more pain on which to feed. Her partner has his own unconscious patterns, which complement hers. Of course her situation is self-created, but who or what is the self that is doing the creating? A mental-emotional pattern from the past, no more. Why make a self out of it? If you tell her that she has chosen her condition or situation, you are reinforcing her state mind identification. But is her mind pattern who she is? Is it her self? Is her true identity derived from the past? Show your friend how to be the observing presence behind her thoughts and her emotions. Tell her about the pain-body and how to free herself from it. Teach her the art of inner-body awareness.
Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They ahppen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet. In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.
"Forgiveness" is a term that has been in use for 2,000 years, but most people have a very limited view of what it means. You cannot truly forgive yourself or others as long as you derive your sense of self from the past. Only through accessing the power of the Now, which is your own power, can there be true forgiveness. This renders the past powerless, and you realize deeply that nothing you ever did or that was ever done to you could touch even the slightest the radiant essence of who you are. The whole concept of forgiveness then becomes unnecessary.
"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robret B. Cialdini, Ph.D.
I'm not done but what an interesting and eye opening book. In it he discusses how people are and have been manipulated by salesman, governments, advertisers, conmen (or I should say con people).
The most recent thing I read is about the concepts of committment and consistency. He writes that "we all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided." This automatic consistency can function, often on a level that we are not aware, as a sheild against thought. In such circumstances, "it should not be surprising that such consistency can also be exploited by those who would prefer that we not think too much in response to their request for our complaince."
He writes and explains much better than I can in this limited amount of space.
I especially see this process and it seems to be more pronounced when we are fatigued, hungry, and busy with life. Especially if those around us are making the same decisions, it seems to validate our "consistency" with our decision for compliance.
Before you make any major purchase, go get this book and you'll save yourself some serious money by understanding the powers of persuasion. Furthermore, you save yourself money along the way with other purchases and/or decisions that could be potentially costly on many levels.
I'm not done but what an interesting and eye opening book. In it he discusses how people are and have been manipulated by salesman, governments, advertisers, conmen (or I should say con people).
The most recent thing I read is about the concepts of committment and consistency. He writes that "we all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided." This automatic consistency can function, often on a level that we are not aware, as a sheild against thought. In such circumstances, "it should not be surprising that such consistency can also be exploited by those who would prefer that we not think too much in response to their request for our complaince."
He writes and explains much better than I can in this limited amount of space.
I especially see this process and it seems to be more pronounced when we are fatigued, hungry, and busy with life. Especially if those around us are making the same decisions, it seems to validate our "consistency" with our decision for compliance.
Before you make any major purchase, go get this book and you'll save yourself some serious money by understanding the powers of persuasion. Furthermore, you save yourself money along the way with other purchases and/or decisions that could be potentially costly on many levels.