Self-Knowledge
Introduction
This blog is about insight, transformation and unconditional love. It is not a formal methodology nor is it a way to gain advantage over others. It can unburden your mind, resolve emotional conflicts and subtly connect you more deeply with yourself and others. In short, by reading this blog (regardless of how much or how little of it you initially understand) you will become more lucid, personal and self-aware.
Note that the structure and language of this blog first appears random or lacks cohesiveness but gradually begins to be woven into elements that can open spaces within your awareness that will elevate or transform your consciousness with new energy. This new energy is more than the words themselves. It is energy that can connect you beyond conventional human involvement with a higher quality of consciousness. It is also important to note that no individual section of this blog is complete in itself. True knowledge of anything demands that there is an understanding of the whole not just its parts.
1. Inner change must contain elements that cannot initially be understood, elements that astonish and fascinate the conscious mind into working on them until it comes to terms with a new level of awareness. Should the primary information in this blog be prematurely presented it will be quickly rationalized to become another common product of the conscious mind and not a principle basis for a deeper understanding of human nature and awareness.
2. There is nothing sacred about the use of words or definitions. We can use or define words how we like for our own purposes, provided we do so in a clear fashion. We know that words are far from complete when trying to relate what we think, especially when we are trying to express something unique, original or formless. The true power of words is not in their literal meaning but in the qualities or intentions that they conceal from our view. We use words because even in their shallowness, they can be used as a turning point to cause a person to look deeper within the depths of their being.
3. Truth is that which does not contaminate or harm us, but empowers us. A union with truth is intrinsic to our well being. If a belief were true, it would be true even if no one believed it. Beliefs are agreements about reality which form the structure and parameters that envelop the world we choose to live in. The world we choose to live in is self-created and protects us from the essential risk and paradox of existence. Reality is identical with experience and whatever we believe to be true has little value if it cannot be actively experienced in the present.
4. Our idea of the universe is based on our idea of ourselves. When we see the world, what we see is our mind. When we experience the idea of how things are we actually perceive a condensed version of reality that fits our idea of truth, not the truth itself. Truth is what we are in this moment, without the least trace of the last moment or any expectation of the next moment.
5. Mathematical truth in formal terms is mainly interpreted in absolute static terms. In dynamic terms, it represents a useful form of agreement reduced to absolute terms. However, real understanding is inherently dynamic and involves the interplay and responses of both cognitive and affective modes, objective and subjective directions, conscious and subconscious processes.
6. Life needs nothing to occur accept that which is occurring. The universe needs nothing to occur accept that which is occurring. We may have imagined something else needs to occur but this would be false. We have only believed it to be true. What we believe produces experience and when we experience our existence only through what we believe, we may have inadvertently imagined uncertainty, which in turn has created fear. When we fully understand this, we begin to understand our inner domain and our whole reality begins to change. We start to realize that our happiness is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our happiness. Love in our life is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our love. Compassion is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our compassion, et cetera. Because we may not have understood this before, we may have only imagined certain things must occur in order for us to live a more meaningful life.
7. We are free to believe what we choose. Moreover, what we do attest to what we believe. Some people believe we are separate from one another and this allows them to do unthinkable things to others that they would have normally never dreamed of doing to themselves. By failing to see that they are also indirectly doing these unthinkable things to themselves, they produce and reproduce unwelcome results every day in their lives. Therefore as human beings, we are not, and cannot be, separate from each other. Separation is only an illusion.
8. Intelligence can only be perceived by another form of intelligence attuned to it. As awareness from intelligence, each one of us is actually trying to experience the same reality. This truth cannot be threatened by any error in belief or judgment. Only an error in belief or judgment is vulnerable to this truth. Those who project errors in belief and judgment imprison themselves and others, but only to the extent in which they reinforce the errors they have already made. This would also make them vulnerable to the distortions of others since their own perceptions are distorted and as human beings, we respond to what we perceive, and as we perceive, so shall we behave. We cannot behave correctly unless we perceive correctly. We should try and simultaneously look from the perception of our own well being relative to the well being of others. Well-being resides not within an individual but within a social context.
9. When life has meaning, it has intensity and harmony simultaneously. To think about life is not participating in life. Life is a fluid process of letting go of everything that attempts to capture and control the ceaseless flow of being. As we participate in being, we participate in life itself.
10. Our purpose in life should be to make responsible choices that advance our whole being to its maximum potential. When awareness is focused in the present moment, we experience everything in a fluid reality unfiltered by concepts or past preferences. By living in the present moment, we directly experience the answers we seek. By just letting go and relaxing in the moment, learning becomes more natural and unconstrained. In other words, we meet everything without a preconceived image diminished by its imitation of reality. There is only this moment to acknowledge and this instant to live. There is nothing to judge and everything to notice and yet our reaction to life can limit our openness to what life comes next. The key to participating with the present moment is to realize that everything is changing which means every moment realized is now a moment that does not exist. As fear surfaces, we turn away. As doubt surfaces, we turn away. As anger surfaces, we turn away. As reality arises, we turn away. If only we would acknowledge the things that make us turn away and allow ourselves to soften them with the presence of mind that defines our identity in the only time that is real which is now in the present. If only we would allow ourselves to understand that life itself, has to be in the moment where consciousness is expanding not static or illusion.
11. Life is not an illusion. We are not an illusion and what we experience within any illusion is not who or what we are as human beings. We must understand that the illusions in life are only illusions we created for purposes that were very real, but that the illusions themselves were not real. Illusions may appear real only because so many of us think they are real. We cannot escape illusions but we can be liberated from illusions. We can step outside illusions while continuing to live with illusions, but now with this realization we are free of their ability to control our reality. We have choices. We know that the illusions we live with as individuals are being created by ourselves and not for us by someone else. The illusions in life are meant to be our tools not some kind of burden or sorrow. The illusions in life are meant to provide a space or context within which to experience every aspect of being, an opportunity to choose the highest aspect of that which we can conceive at any given moment in the reality we exist within. The right way to live with any illusion is without fear, including the inevitable outcome of our physical lives, which is death. Whatever prepares us for death enhances life.
12. Every single feeling we have must be acknowledged and allowed to exist in a clear and non judgmental manner so that each feeling may be seen for what it is, an impermanent state of mind passing through the essence of mind itself.
13. No event in our life exists in isolation. Everything we go through has a purpose. Nothing happens in life that is not ultimately beneficial to our growth. Everything we do is part of a process that we experience in order to become more aware. Eventually, everything we do guides us to success, positive or negative, good or bad. We can never fail to succeed.
14. Composed of our earliest childhood feelings and memories, our basic internal references were formed in response to the stresses of our environment. These basic references were mainly non-logical and primitive due to the survival nature exercised in their development. Once these basic internal references formed, they became the filters through which all our experiences would have to pass. This may explain why some of us repeatedly choose the same kinds of behaviors that cause us to relive our lives through a series of recycled actions and reactions. It can also explain why so many of us fail to learn from the mistakes we have made in the past. We need to do something to break this limiting cycle. We need to start a process that requires us to think about or even relive the traumatic life-saving responses we built, in order to redefine our lives and fully experience reality. Once we do this, we become conscious of the truth of our experiences, which in turn enables us to focus on what lies beyond any negative repeat patterns. It is the truth of our past that will enable us to move forward for this truth tells us who we are, the direction we are going, what we are doing and why we are the way we are in the present. It also allows us to become more open, allowing us to see the best in other people rather than just trying to manipulate or control other people. When we let go of control, only the truth remains.
15. If we are ever going to stop the compulsive cycles of reliving our pain that is hard wired into our thinking, we need to start the healing process sooner rather than later. Trust is a motivation directly relevant to self-healing. We need to trust ourselves. We need to trust others. We need to trust ourselves to trust others. Once we begin to move towards trust, we start the healing process by connecting with our real feelings. When we make a connection with our real feelings we start to express and release our feelings. Only then are we able to find closure to unfinished events and only then can we start to move forward with more energy for living and forgiving.
16. Forgiveness takes us on a journey that enables us to understand self-healing. When we forgive, we circumvent a situation that could become unbearable. Forgiveness empowers us to eliminate anger and resentment, allowing enormous amounts of positive energy to change our mental and physical well being to dispose of stress, nervousness, restlessness, sadness, anger or any associated trauma. Forgiveness and healing are aspects of the same reality. Forgiveness removes all energy blockages that prevent healing energy from flowing. Forgiveness is essential and possible under all circumstance, regardless of how much we hurt. We have the power to free ourselves and to free others of any interpersonal guilt. Commit to forgive and the surfacing of freedom and empowerment will lead towards a positive future with others. For this to occur it is necessary for us to let go of our identity as victims or prisoners of destructive energy. All forgiveness is an act of unconditional love. All forgiveness is self-forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there is no future. Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past. Forgiveness is reclaiming power over our own life. If we hate anyone, we dislike a part of ourselves. We receive from the world what we give to the world. As we give the gift of forgiveness, we ourselves are healed.
17. We only need a basic understanding of light in order to recognize that there is another form of awareness underlying ordinary consciousness. Physical light is a reflection of nonphysical light. Light is mental energy, fundamental insight, and introspection of our very nature. Light is the accepted and sometimes misunderstood instrument of consciousness, a means of making the visible and the non-visible understandable to the human mind. One way to understand light is to realize it is a two-phase process. First, the recognition, that light is everywhere. This step usually entails acceptance. Secondly, the recognition that everything comes from light. When we are willing to embrace and accept light beyond logical inquiry, we will be able to understand our true consciousness, a consciousness that gives us our essential power of being and the reflex of existence in our mind.
18. Light is both a particle and a wave. It is a part of something and the whole of something. We see light but we never know light directly. The light that hits our eyes is known only through the energy it releases. This energy is translated into a visual image within our mind and the image seems to be composed of light but the light is only a quality of our mind. We never know the light itself. Light underlies every process in every present moment. Any exchange of energy between any two atoms in the universe involves the exchange of photons. Every interaction in the material world is determined by light. In this way, light penetrates and interconnects the known universe. Yet, physical light has no mass, and is not part of the material world. Without light as the source of everything, there would be no experience.
19. Light allows us to feel and embrace a more complete awareness of the intrinsic harmony of the universe. Light has no unique properties for light is an intervening substance through which our conscious expressions are transmitted. It is the force or impulse of our vitality, energy and strength. It is the same as the creative power and intelligence of the universe. From light all things emerge and manifest into consciousness, giving us a connection to everything. Through this realization there are many mental states created by a fundamental process of perception within our thought patterns or core energy patterns, providing us concrete, experimental or intellectual data to form or deform reality, internally or externally. This is what allows us to live in an energy conscious universe. It is the light within our essential being which is striving to know and fathom itself beyond the censoring role of an inflated ego (i.e. personality) and beyond the external world. In understanding this one point, we understand the essence and true nature of our existence beyond the physical and intellectual influences that surround our physical life. Understand this truth within our being and we recognize ourselves within the truth.
20. Every time our mind contracts with thought, it draws attention to itself and delicately reminds us to let go of the relationship we have with our true nature. It is this same logical, reduced state of mind that obstructs the possibility for any major change when it deviates away from its wholeness. In order to reconnect or experience our true nature we need to let go of thought. In order to let go of thought we need to go beyond personal identity and imagination for behind the restless movement of the mind is the stillness of being that has no name or reputation to protect. This stillness of being is our true nature and natural state of mind.
21. Thought does not produce existence, it only interacts with the energy of existence in order to alter or manipulate its form. Thought can never fully embrace reality, because it is only a small part of reality. When the light of awareness becomes a conscious thought, the light from that thought is reflected in our perception. Every aspect of light by its very nature follows its own laws, making light a form of ultimate truth. When light is present, knowledge and wisdom are revealed in proportion to its abundance. Light is a good representative of our universe and its core. The core being the entire universe expressed through its interconnections with all matter and its assembly or as a continuous creation by the cause of its nature, a nature expressed through its prevailing light. This understanding allows our reasoning of reality to include light to be something more. Something many describe as the cosmic flame of life or the primal stuff of creation where there is never any separation from light and where light becomes a fundamental part of understanding a higher consciousness that manifests and fixes itself upon the deepest essence of our identity as awareness from intelligence. Higher consciousness is where individuality is an illusion and subtle fields of energy unite all life in a continuum resembling light. This quality of our higher consciousness as awareness from intelligence transcends our relationship with the outer world. It allows us a deeper understanding and sense beyond every pattern and form, where a new quality of consciousness can provide us the ability to recognize any subtle sign or expression of a higher level of awareness in our daily lives. However, there are false perceptions that can camouflage any sign or expression from ever reaching our awareness. Most false perceptions come from the outer or external world. Others come from our fanciful distortions or twisted perceptions of reality. These distortions are generally vane attempts at controlling reality according to unnecessary desires or projections by an inflated ego. The ego in its natural form is best suited to harmonize or give unity to the mind. The ego in its simplest form is best equipped to organize and provide balance to the mind. Balance means that one is harmonizing with and not resisting the forces that begin to alter perception and the sense of self. However, a complex or inflated ego can block us from understanding the source of any fundamental truth.
22. We have pushed aside so much of our life that when we begin to experience life without resistance we start to notice how much our expectations, concepts, and preconceptions have limited our experience of life. We must be willing to embrace the life we have now, in the present, in order to navigate the shifting currents of human consciousness. When we stop pretending to be whole, we become whole.
23. The rational temporal framework of cause and effect only stands in the outer world of our reality. Physical existence is only a form of communication in which truth is conveyed and imparted by our awareness from intelligence back into the material world. The material world itself is not self-caused; it is brought about by a preceding situation, which is its cause. Physical existence is the essential structure of reality. However, the same does not apply to our existence in reality. Something initiates and underlies our appearance while simultaneously staying dynamically independent of its form.
24. Constant discontent for the most part is rooted in our animal impulses of self-preservation. Our interest and passion for self-revelation must rest on a foundation of truth and compassion, without illusion or exception. Our true nature is in harmony with itself and the gateway to this harmony is in our ability to be truthful with ourselves.
25. There is nothing we can do to avoid any moment of experience but we can cultivate an openness to be present for each moment we experience. We must not conceal or deny anything in order to know truth.
26. When desire is present in us, it constricts the ability of our mind to think clearly. Desire is an incomplete way of experiencing life. Desire clouds the mind and obscures the depth of its awareness. When desire is present, the heart is not. We know that the very nature of desire is a feeling of incompleteness or wanting to fill a void inside us. Desire is the pain of not having, a craving for something more. Desire is the present moment ambushed by an inflated ego grasping at the shadows of happiness, yearning for something other than what is real. The difficulty with desire is that it is always about what we want, not who we are as human beings.
27. Light in essence is a simple vibration without parts. Each vibration of light must be different from every other light vibration, for there are never two of anything in nature precisely the same since it is precisely their difference from each other that makes their independent existence possible. Things that make other things unique are a quality of everything. Therefore, every light vibration is subject to change and this change must be continuous. This would make the natural changes of light vibrations come from an internal principle because an external cause can have no influence on the true nature of our understanding of light. In addition to this basic principle of change, there must also be something within light that changes. This something must be the specific nature of light for there must be something that changes and something that remains unchanged. Consequently, there must also be a plurality of conditions and relations in light although it has no parts. Light is everywhere in our universe. It carries information from the inner and outer worlds yet light is a perplexing phenomenon when we try to understand it. The existence of light can only begin or end all at once through its creation or through its destruction. Light has no openings through which anything may enter or exit. Still, light needs to have some qualities otherwise it would not exist. If light did not differ at all in its qualities, there would be no means for us to perceive it. These variations must involve an intricacy in their composition. Light must also have a variety of conditions and relations within itself although it has no parts. All light has an undeniable inner perfection whether we accept this fact or not. In any state, light can recover for light is always something more. If light is more and we are conscious of it, then we have become aware of its perfection through our rational imperfect human senses even if the reasons cannot be fully known by us now.
28. We see what we want to see when it comes to defining our perceptions with language; but within the depths of our thinking, we crave the sensation of knowing the fullness and source of our thoughts. We do not receive reality we perceive or preconceive reality. The passing condition that involves and represents a multiplicity in the unity of light can be nothing more than perception to a human being. All light has a certain perfection and sufficiency that makes its source infinite within our elementary understanding and definition of infinity or perfection. Every present state of light is a natural consequence of its preceding state. Therefore, the ultimate reason for light must be a necessary vibration in which the detail of all changes must be present. We can conclude that light is unique, universal and necessary, with nothing that is independent or outside of it, making it incapable of limitation, so it must contain as much reality as possible. Light must therefore be perfect within the context of human understanding. Accordingly, perfection would be understood as a magnitude of positive reality in the strictest sense, especially when limitations or boundaries are removed. Where there are no limits, perfection is absolute or infinite. A logical deduction at this point could be that within perfection we can find not only the source of all existence but also the essence of all that is real. If light is perfect and infinite, then light could be a core element of something unequaled because created things can only derive perfection through the influence of something infinite. Whereas, imperfections in created things come from there own nature, which cannot exist without limits.
29. Light is a whole and unconditional certainty of life that stands independent of it self, even while in the process of moving toward merging with itself. Light alone is the ultimate vibration and all light is a product that reaches out to or from the infinity of one ultimate vibration, for everything in our universe is influenced by everything else. Therefore, everything in our universe must be connected by a mysterious form of subtle non-manifest pure energy (an absolute substance which is present in everything), even if we are unable to physically see it, feel it or understand it. We could say that everything comes from an origin in which there is no doubt of some deliberate formation, making everything in the universe fitted to one other by virtue of a prearranged harmony among all vibrations. Alternatively, we could say that the universe is a feedback system that continuously recycles forward into a greater state of complexity and structure (beyond every existing structure, there is a structure) or that the universe continuously recycles forward into a greater mode of being and consciousness. The immeasurable or infinite universe is measurable only if we understand the universe to be a conscious universe for measurement suggests some form of consciousness.
30. There is nothing known more intimately than conscious experience but there is nothing harder to explain than the thoughts that make us aware of consciousness. Consciousness is more than information and the brain; the very expansion of the universe generates information that enters consciousness. Consciousness is a form of energy essential to all existence. It is a nonphysical energy of infinite magnitude and it is unique in its capacity to change one pattern of existence into another pattern of existence. Where there is an organized state of existence there is an interchange of consciousness. Consciousness enables ordered states of existence to understand other states of existence. Consciousness is awareness of existence, universal and essential to existence, but it does not create existence. To have consciousness there must be existence. To have existence there must be consciousness. Human consciousness is the basic nature of one's being. It is an awareness of oneself as a fundamentally conscious being. When consciousness emerges, it emerges simultaneously inside space-time and outside space-time to form and awaken the human genius within us. As conscious beings, we are simultaneously emerging from profound forces that emanate from many levels of consciousness which operate over different time frames and span patterns that are both individual and collective in nature and expression. This multidimensional union links human consciousness and cosmic consciousness with metaphysical form and physical form to create a window of reality between worlds. It allows us to personally experience the world of nature and the world of the metaphysical as illuminated beings in the openness of a shared reality.
31. We cannot actually translate clearly the whole framework of why we think and feel the way we do or what it is our inner being is really feeling or experiencing, but everything we know and experience is a universal expansion of consciousness. This universal expansion of consciousness provides the essential unrestricted quality that is always in a perpetual state of underpinning human thought. The human mind in general cannot focus directly on the universal expansion of consciousness without instinctively changing and shifting into a continuous succession of seeking reason. Our mind is a dynamically productive creator of visions and interpretations of reason based on our personal way of thinking which is dependent mainly on our capacity to evaluate information. However, if the mind can be momentarily suspended from the chaos of the physical world, subtle harmonies of perfection begin to entrance its state. A more tangible glimpse of a perfect order begins to focus our thoughts and feelings to awaken our perceptions while shutting out the rampant extension of both sense and imagination. Conducive to a feeling of cosmic equilibrium, we soon become intense emotion and ultimately transcend into the rapture of the metaphysical. Our whole perception changes our internal experiences enough to activate and confuse the rational function of our mind with the intent of revealing a more deeply felt state of consciousness that is based on a single pattern that underlies all consciousness. This universal state of consciousness is a matter of ultimate consideration when its value begins to exceed our expectations. The more universally conscious we become, the more we realize the ultimate value in expanding consciousness in its contribution towards helping us transcend the realm of ordinary experience in power and meaning. To transcend the realm of ordinary experience in power and meaning we only need to focus our energy on crossing a cognitive threshold that leads us to a place where we can experience the absolute intensity of unconditional love without illusion or concern.
32. Our brain is set up to deliver the visual presentation of the world we are experiencing right now. We have the power to alter this visual presentation of the world we receive from our brain anytime we decide to make an adjustment in our daily physical or mental routines. Some people choose to do this by simply being more open-minded. Just having the willingness to change causes us to change within the context of our view of the world. It also causes a form of revitalization of hope for a world that can be deeply rational even as it makes clear there may be limits to our reasoning. The only real difference there is between us is the type of language we use in expressing ourselves or the level of effort we are willing to provide to change our mind with new information. Language is actually a way to reflect on language. It is our way of self-reflection where by each symbol, rule or meaning reflects a part of our inside or outside world in its own unique way. As language reflects itself, it gradually changes itself, evolving not only new meaning but also new information. The basic root of language is mental abstraction, which can lead our mind to create symbols, signifying conceptual patterns that actually do not physically exist in the world but give us an idea of the world. Language creates an inner reality that is capable of competing with our outer reality, therefore separating our mind from the physical world. If we merely watch and feel the expansion of language in and around us, we can begin to understand our own continuous journey within time towards infinite time. However, our life will never exceed our beliefs. Our mind is a dynamically productive creator of beliefs based largely on its capacity to evaluate new statements or propositions of truth, regardless of how many other truths it may have already accepted. Our beliefs and attitude towards life affects our feelings and physical body. In exercising the power of our mind in a conscious and positive way, we are actually making change and taking charge of our mental and physical well being. When we resist change, we are resisting life itself.
Copyright © 2009 by Doug Snedden. All rights reserved.
Introduction
This blog is about insight, transformation and unconditional love. It is not a formal methodology nor is it a way to gain advantage over others. It can unburden your mind, resolve emotional conflicts and subtly connect you more deeply with yourself and others. In short, by reading this blog (regardless of how much or how little of it you initially understand) you will become more lucid, personal and self-aware.
Note that the structure and language of this blog first appears random or lacks cohesiveness but gradually begins to be woven into elements that can open spaces within your awareness that will elevate or transform your consciousness with new energy. This new energy is more than the words themselves. It is energy that can connect you beyond conventional human involvement with a higher quality of consciousness. It is also important to note that no individual section of this blog is complete in itself. True knowledge of anything demands that there is an understanding of the whole not just its parts.
1. Inner change must contain elements that cannot initially be understood, elements that astonish and fascinate the conscious mind into working on them until it comes to terms with a new level of awareness. Should the primary information in this blog be prematurely presented it will be quickly rationalized to become another common product of the conscious mind and not a principle basis for a deeper understanding of human nature and awareness.
2. There is nothing sacred about the use of words or definitions. We can use or define words how we like for our own purposes, provided we do so in a clear fashion. We know that words are far from complete when trying to relate what we think, especially when we are trying to express something unique, original or formless. The true power of words is not in their literal meaning but in the qualities or intentions that they conceal from our view. We use words because even in their shallowness, they can be used as a turning point to cause a person to look deeper within the depths of their being.
3. Truth is that which does not contaminate or harm us, but empowers us. A union with truth is intrinsic to our well being. If a belief were true, it would be true even if no one believed it. Beliefs are agreements about reality which form the structure and parameters that envelop the world we choose to live in. The world we choose to live in is self-created and protects us from the essential risk and paradox of existence. Reality is identical with experience and whatever we believe to be true has little value if it cannot be actively experienced in the present.
4. Our idea of the universe is based on our idea of ourselves. When we see the world, what we see is our mind. When we experience the idea of how things are we actually perceive a condensed version of reality that fits our idea of truth, not the truth itself. Truth is what we are in this moment, without the least trace of the last moment or any expectation of the next moment.
5. Mathematical truth in formal terms is mainly interpreted in absolute static terms. In dynamic terms, it represents a useful form of agreement reduced to absolute terms. However, real understanding is inherently dynamic and involves the interplay and responses of both cognitive and affective modes, objective and subjective directions, conscious and subconscious processes.
6. Life needs nothing to occur accept that which is occurring. The universe needs nothing to occur accept that which is occurring. We may have imagined something else needs to occur but this would be false. We have only believed it to be true. What we believe produces experience and when we experience our existence only through what we believe, we may have inadvertently imagined uncertainty, which in turn has created fear. When we fully understand this, we begin to understand our inner domain and our whole reality begins to change. We start to realize that our happiness is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our happiness. Love in our life is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our love. Compassion is not created as a result of certain conditions. Certain conditions are created as a result of our compassion, et cetera. Because we may not have understood this before, we may have only imagined certain things must occur in order for us to live a more meaningful life.
7. We are free to believe what we choose. Moreover, what we do attest to what we believe. Some people believe we are separate from one another and this allows them to do unthinkable things to others that they would have normally never dreamed of doing to themselves. By failing to see that they are also indirectly doing these unthinkable things to themselves, they produce and reproduce unwelcome results every day in their lives. Therefore as human beings, we are not, and cannot be, separate from each other. Separation is only an illusion.
8. Intelligence can only be perceived by another form of intelligence attuned to it. As awareness from intelligence, each one of us is actually trying to experience the same reality. This truth cannot be threatened by any error in belief or judgment. Only an error in belief or judgment is vulnerable to this truth. Those who project errors in belief and judgment imprison themselves and others, but only to the extent in which they reinforce the errors they have already made. This would also make them vulnerable to the distortions of others since their own perceptions are distorted and as human beings, we respond to what we perceive, and as we perceive, so shall we behave. We cannot behave correctly unless we perceive correctly. We should try and simultaneously look from the perception of our own well being relative to the well being of others. Well-being resides not within an individual but within a social context.
9. When life has meaning, it has intensity and harmony simultaneously. To think about life is not participating in life. Life is a fluid process of letting go of everything that attempts to capture and control the ceaseless flow of being. As we participate in being, we participate in life itself.
10. Our purpose in life should be to make responsible choices that advance our whole being to its maximum potential. When awareness is focused in the present moment, we experience everything in a fluid reality unfiltered by concepts or past preferences. By living in the present moment, we directly experience the answers we seek. By just letting go and relaxing in the moment, learning becomes more natural and unconstrained. In other words, we meet everything without a preconceived image diminished by its imitation of reality. There is only this moment to acknowledge and this instant to live. There is nothing to judge and everything to notice and yet our reaction to life can limit our openness to what life comes next. The key to participating with the present moment is to realize that everything is changing which means every moment realized is now a moment that does not exist. As fear surfaces, we turn away. As doubt surfaces, we turn away. As anger surfaces, we turn away. As reality arises, we turn away. If only we would acknowledge the things that make us turn away and allow ourselves to soften them with the presence of mind that defines our identity in the only time that is real which is now in the present. If only we would allow ourselves to understand that life itself, has to be in the moment where consciousness is expanding not static or illusion.
11. Life is not an illusion. We are not an illusion and what we experience within any illusion is not who or what we are as human beings. We must understand that the illusions in life are only illusions we created for purposes that were very real, but that the illusions themselves were not real. Illusions may appear real only because so many of us think they are real. We cannot escape illusions but we can be liberated from illusions. We can step outside illusions while continuing to live with illusions, but now with this realization we are free of their ability to control our reality. We have choices. We know that the illusions we live with as individuals are being created by ourselves and not for us by someone else. The illusions in life are meant to be our tools not some kind of burden or sorrow. The illusions in life are meant to provide a space or context within which to experience every aspect of being, an opportunity to choose the highest aspect of that which we can conceive at any given moment in the reality we exist within. The right way to live with any illusion is without fear, including the inevitable outcome of our physical lives, which is death. Whatever prepares us for death enhances life.
12. Every single feeling we have must be acknowledged and allowed to exist in a clear and non judgmental manner so that each feeling may be seen for what it is, an impermanent state of mind passing through the essence of mind itself.
13. No event in our life exists in isolation. Everything we go through has a purpose. Nothing happens in life that is not ultimately beneficial to our growth. Everything we do is part of a process that we experience in order to become more aware. Eventually, everything we do guides us to success, positive or negative, good or bad. We can never fail to succeed.
14. Composed of our earliest childhood feelings and memories, our basic internal references were formed in response to the stresses of our environment. These basic references were mainly non-logical and primitive due to the survival nature exercised in their development. Once these basic internal references formed, they became the filters through which all our experiences would have to pass. This may explain why some of us repeatedly choose the same kinds of behaviors that cause us to relive our lives through a series of recycled actions and reactions. It can also explain why so many of us fail to learn from the mistakes we have made in the past. We need to do something to break this limiting cycle. We need to start a process that requires us to think about or even relive the traumatic life-saving responses we built, in order to redefine our lives and fully experience reality. Once we do this, we become conscious of the truth of our experiences, which in turn enables us to focus on what lies beyond any negative repeat patterns. It is the truth of our past that will enable us to move forward for this truth tells us who we are, the direction we are going, what we are doing and why we are the way we are in the present. It also allows us to become more open, allowing us to see the best in other people rather than just trying to manipulate or control other people. When we let go of control, only the truth remains.
15. If we are ever going to stop the compulsive cycles of reliving our pain that is hard wired into our thinking, we need to start the healing process sooner rather than later. Trust is a motivation directly relevant to self-healing. We need to trust ourselves. We need to trust others. We need to trust ourselves to trust others. Once we begin to move towards trust, we start the healing process by connecting with our real feelings. When we make a connection with our real feelings we start to express and release our feelings. Only then are we able to find closure to unfinished events and only then can we start to move forward with more energy for living and forgiving.
16. Forgiveness takes us on a journey that enables us to understand self-healing. When we forgive, we circumvent a situation that could become unbearable. Forgiveness empowers us to eliminate anger and resentment, allowing enormous amounts of positive energy to change our mental and physical well being to dispose of stress, nervousness, restlessness, sadness, anger or any associated trauma. Forgiveness and healing are aspects of the same reality. Forgiveness removes all energy blockages that prevent healing energy from flowing. Forgiveness is essential and possible under all circumstance, regardless of how much we hurt. We have the power to free ourselves and to free others of any interpersonal guilt. Commit to forgive and the surfacing of freedom and empowerment will lead towards a positive future with others. For this to occur it is necessary for us to let go of our identity as victims or prisoners of destructive energy. All forgiveness is an act of unconditional love. All forgiveness is self-forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there is no future. Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past. Forgiveness is reclaiming power over our own life. If we hate anyone, we dislike a part of ourselves. We receive from the world what we give to the world. As we give the gift of forgiveness, we ourselves are healed.
17. We only need a basic understanding of light in order to recognize that there is another form of awareness underlying ordinary consciousness. Physical light is a reflection of nonphysical light. Light is mental energy, fundamental insight, and introspection of our very nature. Light is the accepted and sometimes misunderstood instrument of consciousness, a means of making the visible and the non-visible understandable to the human mind. One way to understand light is to realize it is a two-phase process. First, the recognition, that light is everywhere. This step usually entails acceptance. Secondly, the recognition that everything comes from light. When we are willing to embrace and accept light beyond logical inquiry, we will be able to understand our true consciousness, a consciousness that gives us our essential power of being and the reflex of existence in our mind.
18. Light is both a particle and a wave. It is a part of something and the whole of something. We see light but we never know light directly. The light that hits our eyes is known only through the energy it releases. This energy is translated into a visual image within our mind and the image seems to be composed of light but the light is only a quality of our mind. We never know the light itself. Light underlies every process in every present moment. Any exchange of energy between any two atoms in the universe involves the exchange of photons. Every interaction in the material world is determined by light. In this way, light penetrates and interconnects the known universe. Yet, physical light has no mass, and is not part of the material world. Without light as the source of everything, there would be no experience.
19. Light allows us to feel and embrace a more complete awareness of the intrinsic harmony of the universe. Light has no unique properties for light is an intervening substance through which our conscious expressions are transmitted. It is the force or impulse of our vitality, energy and strength. It is the same as the creative power and intelligence of the universe. From light all things emerge and manifest into consciousness, giving us a connection to everything. Through this realization there are many mental states created by a fundamental process of perception within our thought patterns or core energy patterns, providing us concrete, experimental or intellectual data to form or deform reality, internally or externally. This is what allows us to live in an energy conscious universe. It is the light within our essential being which is striving to know and fathom itself beyond the censoring role of an inflated ego (i.e. personality) and beyond the external world. In understanding this one point, we understand the essence and true nature of our existence beyond the physical and intellectual influences that surround our physical life. Understand this truth within our being and we recognize ourselves within the truth.
20. Every time our mind contracts with thought, it draws attention to itself and delicately reminds us to let go of the relationship we have with our true nature. It is this same logical, reduced state of mind that obstructs the possibility for any major change when it deviates away from its wholeness. In order to reconnect or experience our true nature we need to let go of thought. In order to let go of thought we need to go beyond personal identity and imagination for behind the restless movement of the mind is the stillness of being that has no name or reputation to protect. This stillness of being is our true nature and natural state of mind.
21. Thought does not produce existence, it only interacts with the energy of existence in order to alter or manipulate its form. Thought can never fully embrace reality, because it is only a small part of reality. When the light of awareness becomes a conscious thought, the light from that thought is reflected in our perception. Every aspect of light by its very nature follows its own laws, making light a form of ultimate truth. When light is present, knowledge and wisdom are revealed in proportion to its abundance. Light is a good representative of our universe and its core. The core being the entire universe expressed through its interconnections with all matter and its assembly or as a continuous creation by the cause of its nature, a nature expressed through its prevailing light. This understanding allows our reasoning of reality to include light to be something more. Something many describe as the cosmic flame of life or the primal stuff of creation where there is never any separation from light and where light becomes a fundamental part of understanding a higher consciousness that manifests and fixes itself upon the deepest essence of our identity as awareness from intelligence. Higher consciousness is where individuality is an illusion and subtle fields of energy unite all life in a continuum resembling light. This quality of our higher consciousness as awareness from intelligence transcends our relationship with the outer world. It allows us a deeper understanding and sense beyond every pattern and form, where a new quality of consciousness can provide us the ability to recognize any subtle sign or expression of a higher level of awareness in our daily lives. However, there are false perceptions that can camouflage any sign or expression from ever reaching our awareness. Most false perceptions come from the outer or external world. Others come from our fanciful distortions or twisted perceptions of reality. These distortions are generally vane attempts at controlling reality according to unnecessary desires or projections by an inflated ego. The ego in its natural form is best suited to harmonize or give unity to the mind. The ego in its simplest form is best equipped to organize and provide balance to the mind. Balance means that one is harmonizing with and not resisting the forces that begin to alter perception and the sense of self. However, a complex or inflated ego can block us from understanding the source of any fundamental truth.
22. We have pushed aside so much of our life that when we begin to experience life without resistance we start to notice how much our expectations, concepts, and preconceptions have limited our experience of life. We must be willing to embrace the life we have now, in the present, in order to navigate the shifting currents of human consciousness. When we stop pretending to be whole, we become whole.
23. The rational temporal framework of cause and effect only stands in the outer world of our reality. Physical existence is only a form of communication in which truth is conveyed and imparted by our awareness from intelligence back into the material world. The material world itself is not self-caused; it is brought about by a preceding situation, which is its cause. Physical existence is the essential structure of reality. However, the same does not apply to our existence in reality. Something initiates and underlies our appearance while simultaneously staying dynamically independent of its form.
24. Constant discontent for the most part is rooted in our animal impulses of self-preservation. Our interest and passion for self-revelation must rest on a foundation of truth and compassion, without illusion or exception. Our true nature is in harmony with itself and the gateway to this harmony is in our ability to be truthful with ourselves.
25. There is nothing we can do to avoid any moment of experience but we can cultivate an openness to be present for each moment we experience. We must not conceal or deny anything in order to know truth.
26. When desire is present in us, it constricts the ability of our mind to think clearly. Desire is an incomplete way of experiencing life. Desire clouds the mind and obscures the depth of its awareness. When desire is present, the heart is not. We know that the very nature of desire is a feeling of incompleteness or wanting to fill a void inside us. Desire is the pain of not having, a craving for something more. Desire is the present moment ambushed by an inflated ego grasping at the shadows of happiness, yearning for something other than what is real. The difficulty with desire is that it is always about what we want, not who we are as human beings.
27. Light in essence is a simple vibration without parts. Each vibration of light must be different from every other light vibration, for there are never two of anything in nature precisely the same since it is precisely their difference from each other that makes their independent existence possible. Things that make other things unique are a quality of everything. Therefore, every light vibration is subject to change and this change must be continuous. This would make the natural changes of light vibrations come from an internal principle because an external cause can have no influence on the true nature of our understanding of light. In addition to this basic principle of change, there must also be something within light that changes. This something must be the specific nature of light for there must be something that changes and something that remains unchanged. Consequently, there must also be a plurality of conditions and relations in light although it has no parts. Light is everywhere in our universe. It carries information from the inner and outer worlds yet light is a perplexing phenomenon when we try to understand it. The existence of light can only begin or end all at once through its creation or through its destruction. Light has no openings through which anything may enter or exit. Still, light needs to have some qualities otherwise it would not exist. If light did not differ at all in its qualities, there would be no means for us to perceive it. These variations must involve an intricacy in their composition. Light must also have a variety of conditions and relations within itself although it has no parts. All light has an undeniable inner perfection whether we accept this fact or not. In any state, light can recover for light is always something more. If light is more and we are conscious of it, then we have become aware of its perfection through our rational imperfect human senses even if the reasons cannot be fully known by us now.
28. We see what we want to see when it comes to defining our perceptions with language; but within the depths of our thinking, we crave the sensation of knowing the fullness and source of our thoughts. We do not receive reality we perceive or preconceive reality. The passing condition that involves and represents a multiplicity in the unity of light can be nothing more than perception to a human being. All light has a certain perfection and sufficiency that makes its source infinite within our elementary understanding and definition of infinity or perfection. Every present state of light is a natural consequence of its preceding state. Therefore, the ultimate reason for light must be a necessary vibration in which the detail of all changes must be present. We can conclude that light is unique, universal and necessary, with nothing that is independent or outside of it, making it incapable of limitation, so it must contain as much reality as possible. Light must therefore be perfect within the context of human understanding. Accordingly, perfection would be understood as a magnitude of positive reality in the strictest sense, especially when limitations or boundaries are removed. Where there are no limits, perfection is absolute or infinite. A logical deduction at this point could be that within perfection we can find not only the source of all existence but also the essence of all that is real. If light is perfect and infinite, then light could be a core element of something unequaled because created things can only derive perfection through the influence of something infinite. Whereas, imperfections in created things come from there own nature, which cannot exist without limits.
29. Light is a whole and unconditional certainty of life that stands independent of it self, even while in the process of moving toward merging with itself. Light alone is the ultimate vibration and all light is a product that reaches out to or from the infinity of one ultimate vibration, for everything in our universe is influenced by everything else. Therefore, everything in our universe must be connected by a mysterious form of subtle non-manifest pure energy (an absolute substance which is present in everything), even if we are unable to physically see it, feel it or understand it. We could say that everything comes from an origin in which there is no doubt of some deliberate formation, making everything in the universe fitted to one other by virtue of a prearranged harmony among all vibrations. Alternatively, we could say that the universe is a feedback system that continuously recycles forward into a greater state of complexity and structure (beyond every existing structure, there is a structure) or that the universe continuously recycles forward into a greater mode of being and consciousness. The immeasurable or infinite universe is measurable only if we understand the universe to be a conscious universe for measurement suggests some form of consciousness.
30. There is nothing known more intimately than conscious experience but there is nothing harder to explain than the thoughts that make us aware of consciousness. Consciousness is more than information and the brain; the very expansion of the universe generates information that enters consciousness. Consciousness is a form of energy essential to all existence. It is a nonphysical energy of infinite magnitude and it is unique in its capacity to change one pattern of existence into another pattern of existence. Where there is an organized state of existence there is an interchange of consciousness. Consciousness enables ordered states of existence to understand other states of existence. Consciousness is awareness of existence, universal and essential to existence, but it does not create existence. To have consciousness there must be existence. To have existence there must be consciousness. Human consciousness is the basic nature of one's being. It is an awareness of oneself as a fundamentally conscious being. When consciousness emerges, it emerges simultaneously inside space-time and outside space-time to form and awaken the human genius within us. As conscious beings, we are simultaneously emerging from profound forces that emanate from many levels of consciousness which operate over different time frames and span patterns that are both individual and collective in nature and expression. This multidimensional union links human consciousness and cosmic consciousness with metaphysical form and physical form to create a window of reality between worlds. It allows us to personally experience the world of nature and the world of the metaphysical as illuminated beings in the openness of a shared reality.
31. We cannot actually translate clearly the whole framework of why we think and feel the way we do or what it is our inner being is really feeling or experiencing, but everything we know and experience is a universal expansion of consciousness. This universal expansion of consciousness provides the essential unrestricted quality that is always in a perpetual state of underpinning human thought. The human mind in general cannot focus directly on the universal expansion of consciousness without instinctively changing and shifting into a continuous succession of seeking reason. Our mind is a dynamically productive creator of visions and interpretations of reason based on our personal way of thinking which is dependent mainly on our capacity to evaluate information. However, if the mind can be momentarily suspended from the chaos of the physical world, subtle harmonies of perfection begin to entrance its state. A more tangible glimpse of a perfect order begins to focus our thoughts and feelings to awaken our perceptions while shutting out the rampant extension of both sense and imagination. Conducive to a feeling of cosmic equilibrium, we soon become intense emotion and ultimately transcend into the rapture of the metaphysical. Our whole perception changes our internal experiences enough to activate and confuse the rational function of our mind with the intent of revealing a more deeply felt state of consciousness that is based on a single pattern that underlies all consciousness. This universal state of consciousness is a matter of ultimate consideration when its value begins to exceed our expectations. The more universally conscious we become, the more we realize the ultimate value in expanding consciousness in its contribution towards helping us transcend the realm of ordinary experience in power and meaning. To transcend the realm of ordinary experience in power and meaning we only need to focus our energy on crossing a cognitive threshold that leads us to a place where we can experience the absolute intensity of unconditional love without illusion or concern.
32. Our brain is set up to deliver the visual presentation of the world we are experiencing right now. We have the power to alter this visual presentation of the world we receive from our brain anytime we decide to make an adjustment in our daily physical or mental routines. Some people choose to do this by simply being more open-minded. Just having the willingness to change causes us to change within the context of our view of the world. It also causes a form of revitalization of hope for a world that can be deeply rational even as it makes clear there may be limits to our reasoning. The only real difference there is between us is the type of language we use in expressing ourselves or the level of effort we are willing to provide to change our mind with new information. Language is actually a way to reflect on language. It is our way of self-reflection where by each symbol, rule or meaning reflects a part of our inside or outside world in its own unique way. As language reflects itself, it gradually changes itself, evolving not only new meaning but also new information. The basic root of language is mental abstraction, which can lead our mind to create symbols, signifying conceptual patterns that actually do not physically exist in the world but give us an idea of the world. Language creates an inner reality that is capable of competing with our outer reality, therefore separating our mind from the physical world. If we merely watch and feel the expansion of language in and around us, we can begin to understand our own continuous journey within time towards infinite time. However, our life will never exceed our beliefs. Our mind is a dynamically productive creator of beliefs based largely on its capacity to evaluate new statements or propositions of truth, regardless of how many other truths it may have already accepted. Our beliefs and attitude towards life affects our feelings and physical body. In exercising the power of our mind in a conscious and positive way, we are actually making change and taking charge of our mental and physical well being. When we resist change, we are resisting life itself.
Copyright © 2009 by Doug Snedden. All rights reserved.
