CONSCIOUS BREATHING
Awareness of your breathing takes attention away from thinking and creates Inner Space.
It is one way of generating Consciousness
(and we are hear to bring Consciousness to this dimension).
Be Aware of your Breathing
Notice the Sensation of the Breath, of your Diaphragm Movement,
- of the Movement of Air Through your Nostrils.
Feel the Air Move Into and Out of your Body -
One Conscious Breath is Enough to make some Space,
where before there was only an Uninterrupted Succession of Thoughts.
One Conscious Breath, Many Times a Day, will create opportunities for Awareness and bring Space into your Life.
One Breath is all you need to be aware of,
IN FACT, IT IS ALL YOU CAN BE AWARE OF
- The rest is MEMORY or ANTICIPATION, which is THOUGHT!
Being Aware of your Breath Forces you Into the Present Moment.
This is THE KEY TO ALL INNER TRANSFORMATION.
Whenever you are Conscious (aware) of the Breath, you are absolutely PRESENT.
You may notice that your cannot simultaneously think AND be aware (of your breathing).
Conscious Breathing Stops Your Mind!
Not talking about Falling Below Thinking, but Rising Above It
(Listen = Can’t Think. Think = Can’t Listen)
COMING FULLY INTO THE PRESENT MOMENT, AND
CEASING THINKING WITHOUT THE LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS ARE THE SAME THING!!!
THE ARISING OF SPACE CONSCIOUSNESS.
FEELING THE ALIVENESS
Take 2 or 3 Conscious Breaths.
By feeling the subtle flow of air in and out of the body,
you are becoming Aware of the Inner Body.
CAN YOU FEEL THE “ALIVENESS” WITHING YOU?
diffused throughout you body?
Many people who do not feel this look for substitutes for that Natural State of Well-Being. Food, Drugs, Sex, Dangerous Activities, even DRAMA in RELATIONSHIPS are used for a substitute for genuine Aliveness.
Take 2 or 3 more Conscious Breaths. Now, see if you can detect a subtle sense of Aliveness that pervades your entire inner body. Go through it, part by part,
then become aware again of the inner body as a whole.
Stillness is another word for SPACE Consciousness.
Becoming conscious of Stillness whenever we encounter it will connect us with the formless and timeless dimensions within ourselves.
That which is Beyond Thought, Beyond Ego.
You are never more essentially, more deeply yourself than when you are Still.
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When you become aware of space, you’re not aware of anything, but of Awareness itself; the inner space of Consciousness.
Through you, the universe is becoming conscious of itself.
You become aware of No-Thing-Ness.
You know the vast depth of Space to be your own depth.
Even naming it “Space” or “Awareness” is false, because by naming it, you make it into an Object.
Human Life is a Dance between the two dimensions that make up reality:
Form and Space.
Most folks are Identified with Form.
The other dimension is “The Kingdom of Heaven”.
EXISTENCE is Form, Content, What Happened.
EXISTENCE is the foreground of Life.
BEING is the Background.
BEING is Prior to Existence.
Humans are so consumed by Form that they have forgotten their essence,
That which is beyond form and thought.
They are so consumed by Time that they have forgotten Eternity.
RIGHT ACTION
From Centered Awareness, ask: “How do I respond to the needs of this moment?”
When you don’t react against, but merge with, the situation, the “proper” solution arises out of the situation itself.
It is the Alert Stillness in you that observes the situation.
Right Action arises from this.
All Creativity arises from Inner Stillness.
IF YOU CAN’T BE STILL, YOU CAN’T MAKE ARTD
Perceiving without naming…
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REMEMBER, YOU ARE NOT THE EXPERIENCE, YOU ARE THE EXPERIENCER
Definition of Meditation:
TO BE AWARE OF THE ABSENCE OF THOUGHT
WHILE NOT THINKING
Can’t know CONSCIOUSNESS, but you can become aware of it….
It means Being Conscious of Being Conscious,
The Undercurrent of Awareness.
Not just conscious of things – which always comes down to sense perceptions, thoughts, and emotions.
What is the greatest impediment to finding the Experiencer?
(to the discovery of inner Space)
It is to become so enthralled by experience that you lose yourself in it.
Consciousness gets lost in its own dream.
This means that you get lost in your own dream; you are, in fact in a dream-like state.
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Your inner purpose is to Awaken. Your outer purpose will change from time to time.
Thinking then becomes the servant of Awareness.
Consciousness, without thought!
JUNG – Inner purpose is Individuation.
How do these relate?
Jung’s idea is more a methodology related to development of the Self.
Tolle is talking about the most fundamental level of Awareness (Beingness)
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As long as you are unaware of Beingness, you will seek meaning only within the dimension of doing and the future – within the dimension of Time.
But the meanings you derive on that dimension will ultimately be destroyed by Time.
No outer purpose lasts forever.
The more you steer toward the Inner Purpose – Awakening –the more your outer purpose is effected (brought into alignment).
Because we are mirrors of the Universe, that means that the Universe also has an outer and an inner purpose, and they are inseparable from ours.
The outer purpose is to create forms and experience the interaction of forms.
The inner purpose is to awaken to its formless essence.
The reconciliation of outer and inner is:
to bring that essence, CONSCIOUSNESS, into the world of form, and thereby, transform the world.
This goes beyond anything we can imagine or comprehend, YET it is the task that is allotted us – the reconciliation of outer/inner, of the physical world and God.
Reality is a unified whole, but thought cuts it up into fragments.
Every perspective is limited, therefore partly false.
Relative Truth and Absolute Truth.
The concept of “My own life” is a Relative truth, since you and Life are not separate.
Used to be that people’s outer life had to begin to break down before the inner life could flourish. Now, old = useless. Previously, “Grandmother” was a term of honor and respect.
In old age, the emphasis shifts from “doing” to “BEING”. Our culture does not know what to “do” with BEING (what do you DO with it?).
Only now coming to be appreciated in our culture.
Old age is an opening into the realm of spirit.
An increasing number of people now come to their inner purpose without having to be shaken up harshly.
CONSCIOUSNESS is already conscious, and therefore does not evolve. It was never born and does not die.
When Con becomes manifest as matter, it appears to be subject to relative Time.
(He doesn’t know why.)
Nothing happens that is not part of the greater whole, and it’s purpose (therefore, “meant” to happen). How does this work?
Consciousness is the organizing principle behind the arising of forms.
The Unmanifested flows into this dimension through the Human Form.
Form and Formless Interpenetrate
– via the Human Form that becomes Conscious and, thus, fulfills its destiny.
Humans were created for this higher purpose.
The Unmanifested flows into this dimension as Awareness, Inner Space.
Consciousness Can (and often does) Lose Itself In the Realm of Forms.
It can Become Identified with Forms.
This could be described as the descent of Consciousness into Matter.
The human ego is the final stage of Universal Sleep (unawakening).
The identification of Consciousness with Form.
But the human Ego was a Necessary stage in the evolution of Consciousness.
The Brain did not create Consciousness, but Consciousness created the Brain
- the most complex form known on Earth
- for its own expression.
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AWAKENED DOING – the outer aspect of the next phase of the development of Consciousness.
Consciousness is awakening from the world of form.
THIS MEANS, IT CAN CREATE FORM WITHOUT LOSING ITSELF IN IT.
How – through Awakened Humans.
They stay awake, fully aware and Present while “Doing”
It’s Not WHAT you Do, but HOW YOU DO WHAT YOU DO that determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny.
And how you do what you do, is determined by your STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
The quality of the current of Consciousness that flows through you is the PRIMARY FACTOR that determines quality.
Your state of consciousness is primary, what you do is secondary.
Future success is based upon how you are doing what you are doing in the present.
THREE MODALITIES OF AWAKENED DOING:each appropriate to certain situations.
ACCEPTANCE
ENJOYMENT
ENTHUSIASM
They may change through the day, and may be fairly constant for long periods of your life.
IF YOU ARE NOT IN ONE OF THESE STATES, you will be creating suffering for yourself and others.
IF YOUR CANNOT AT LEAST ACCEPT A PRESENT SITUATION,
STOP or LEAVE!
By the way, ACCEPTANCE does not mean that you condone negative things,
But you can bring Acceptance to them.
ACCEPTANCE is the BASELINE relationship with what IS
No matter how challenging
ARGUING WITH WHAT “IS” = SUFFERING
ACCEPTANCE = “Surrendering to the Now” “Surrendering to WHAT IS”
Literally, Surrender = NOT FIGHTING
You Are NOT Fighting Against the FACT that things Are As They Are
ENJOYMENT
There’s more meaning in Joy than you will ever need.
Joy can’t be derrived From anything or action, it flows into those things From Our Being. The joy of Being is the joy of being Conscious.
ENTHUSIASM
Enthusiasm never opposes,
It is non-confrontational,
It is Based on Inclusion not Exclusion.
Yet, you don’t lose yourself in Enthusiasm.
ECSTASY Not knowing who you are, and not caring
ENTHUSIASM – knowing exactly who you are and still not caring
The Cure For Fatigue Is Not Rest, It’s Whole-Heartedness!
Focus on Activities, and your State of Being,
Not on Having something or being Recognized for something.
Remember:
Spiritual Teachers = Teachers of BEING
Remember:
When there is Stress, When there is Resistance
It usually means the EGO HAS RETURNED
Remember:
Only the Present Moment Makes us Free: THAT is the AWAKENING