Nothing stops the aging process and no matter how hard we try we cannot cheat death. I have had my own health issues just like everyone else, but, I have noticed that a relaxed mind and body allows what we each have inside of us to work more effectively. Letting go and enjoying the communication of energy throughout the body contributes to your total well being and helps outside assistance to be more effective
"The Great Death" where the self falls away (in effect dies) and the fruits of the present shower you with the opportunities of the moment. I cannot help but chuckle at the pleasure a scientist might have as he or she discovers something totally new, never before imagined or experienced. Suppose for instance that someone discovered! that we may be entirely different than previously thought. That we are mostly water and space (the great space between atoms and their electron field) but are really beings of light. That the DNA, organic structures, cells and molecules are photon driven. That the eastern energy meridians or paths through the body really exist. That photon resonance is the balance all of us need in order to function as healthy vital human life forms. That the energy from other life is what maintains and balances our internal dialogue of light.
The Great Death is filled with the unknown, scary, and yet transforms the mind and spirit. To effectively "Kill" the "Self" is not something we do lightly. I personally do not like the use of the word "Kill" but it does send a strong message. As long as your identity and self image continue to direct traffic in your life you will not emerge on the other side, your transformation will not be complete. However, I like the softer approach. Invoking the idea of an observer or witness brings our attention more and more on what we are doing, feeling, experiencing without denying the necessity of the existance of our "Self" or who we have grown up to be. The giant difference between killing the self or observing the self in action and not acting on what the self in trying to have us experience or do is simply a matter of perspective.
Millions of years of evolution have brought us to this point. To deny this is to deny our source. To recognize the need to grow beyond what we are today into what we need to become for tomorrow stops all of the arguments and indecision. If we do not change, if we do not take advantage of our gifts for transformation, then we will continue to stagnate, fight, and live separate from all that we have before us.
I have used the word Unity or integration or awareness of our presence and relationship to all that is in this world, but these do not say all that I meant to. Our separate existance exists because we believe in our own boundaries. She or He is over there, God is up there, Those people, that nation, those kids. To begin to believe or imagine living without boundaries and without a defensive, protective and self preservation oriented separate "self" we will more than ever feel the inner space where all things are possible and all things are valued. Not for what we can use them for but valued for what they are.
Discovery and invention is not mans problem, it is the enormous separateness of the human being who because of that separateness allows all things and life forms and people to become objects to be used for its own gain (whatever that gain is).
The capitalistic system allows some people to rise to the top of the food chain, accumulate all of the wealth, exercise all of the power. And yet paradoxically all those below the top of the food chain are needed. By those on top, by those in the middle, by those at the bottom. When this is understood at a deep level some people exercise humility, share what they have and use their power to enhance the well being of all. When this is not understood, the power and wealth become arrogant, abusive and self serving, sometimes to the point of self destruction. "If you kill off those that supply you with food, you soon begin to starve and your world is more and more filled with garbage, heaped with trash and soon to wither and die."
The system is not a bad system, but it can be a poor place to live. Extreme separateness breeds conflict, chaos and war, a sense of connectedness or unity breeds cooperation, sharing, caring. The difference between the two is a vast chasm. A chasm that need not exist. Let the self shift to the background, let the observer move to the foreground, and let the quiet place within be the fertile soil of creativity, invention, problem solving, and caring. We can continue along the old path and slowly die or we can change and live, fruitfully.
It is What it is
We are amazing creatures. We are chucked full of paradoxes, dualities, confusion, fixed beliefs, unwavering loyalties to symbols and rituals, angry, sad, blissful, completely separate from reality, full of expectations and illusions, hateful, loving, stupid, brilliant, misguided and self serving. And all of this exists at the individual level which always migrates into our collective behavior in any organization we create (religious, political, or social).
With all of this it is no wonder that we are a conflicted species. Our Leaders,no matter what their initial intentions, live in a world of barter and compromise. They are us. The result is, the direction our societies take reflects the level of separateness that these individuals each experience. Their consciousness remains at the "self image" or Ego driven level. As we know by now this level of existence is filled with self protective and self serving behavior, emotions and history.
Above all they operate without the awareness that what is is, without the sense of connectedness to life and life forms not them, without an ecological sense of the ECO System we all live in. But they do operate with egos fully intact and operating at peak levels. We all do this followers included. If I am deeply entrenched in my own world, if I cannot feel the misery and sadness, if everything I see is only for my survival or self interest, then can the outcome be anything but tragic?
I and others parade words and concepts like no-self, unconditional love, connectedness, unity, even enlightenment. But these carry no weight in and of themselves. It is the realization that the path is too rocky and too filled with pain that gets us to believing there is a better way. Not a way that will cheat death but a way that will enhance the experience of living.
If today is the experience and tomorrow the result then it seems clear that today is the place to focus, for tomorrow will bring what ever tomorrow brings. It is our job to think, it is what we do, so that tomorrow has all of the flavor of our attention to today. The catch is simple. To be here today requires us to let go of attachments, to our history, our expectations, our desire to have the moment be anything it is not. We let our emotions of the past (happy or sad, angry or loving, fearful or peaceful) determine how we experience today. Today becomes what it "should or should not be", not what it is.
To see clearly, to respond with clarity, to think clearly, to feel at peace does not require enlightenment. It does require the simple practice of letting go of our former selves (what we believe we are) and freeing the moment to exist as it is unencumbered by our attachments, our identity, our shoulds or should nots. This is the essence of freedom, to explore our full potential, to think with a connectedness, to live not separate from existence but integrated with existence. We all by now understand the process of letting go, the catch is nothing works until we do it.
Feeling the Energy and the Absence of Self
Everyone has experienced those moments of intense focus on the present where time disappears and we continue until we stop. Hours may go by without our experience of those hours while we are so deeply involved in what we are doing. This is total focus and for most of us triggered by something we really care about doing. This has happened to me many, many times. Problem solving, writing, defending myself, running, creating, even just thinking. But while these moments are positive, while they deliver unparalleled creativity or productivity or impressive physical or mental feats, they are not all there is if we are trying to experience full awareness and the absence of SELF.
Feeling the energy flows within the body is a very pleasant experience. For me the physical experience is like feeling chill bumps flow over me and within me. By itself this experience just feels good, but it can be useful as well. One, it is very relaxing and can be used to unravel the mind, gentle the soul, and let go of any issues in our minds or bodies. It can also be used to feel blockages within the body . These can be felt as physical dams to the flow of energy or as points of pain signaling an issue of some sort.
On the relaxing and even healing side, the practice of allowing this flow to occur gets us out of our own way and permits the mind and body to do what it was designed to do, fix itself. While you do not magically heal yourself you also do not add to the problem with inteferring anxieties, negative thoughts or emotions. Continuous practice helps the mind and body use the medical assistance you may receive without resistance thus enhancing its value to you.
Now everyone has a different view of how to invoke this sense of energy flow within our bodies. In the martial arts the center of the body is just below the navel. You can raise or lower or redirect this energy for any purpose you need. For me, since I have no martial arts training, I bring the energy from the top of my head to my toes, Sometimes in both directions, often in only the one.
I could give you many examples from my personal experience, none of which would prove anything. You must try it for yourself until the experience is fully yours. For myself I imagine summoning the dark energy of the universe to me, through the top of my head. This often begins the process. Others bring the energy up though the earth. still others feel the creation of an energy ball in their middle and rotate this energy to key points of the body in a rythmic flowing sense of energy touching each organ for relaxation and healing. It makes no difference if what you do brings this energy awareness to you. While the process is interruptable it can easily be restarted. The more relaxed you are the longer the awareness of the flow stays with you. Children can have a lot of fun with this experience.
This experience is to help you let go and relax both physically and mentally. When combined with truly letting go of the Self you can learn to deal with any experience as it is without getting in your own way. One of the key lessons throughout this web site is the necessity of really letting go, increasing your awareness of where you are, what you are doing, and what you are experiencing without interference from excessive fear, anger or insults to your identity and self image.
