Contents
Introduction
1. Thinking — Feeling — Observing — Witnessing
2. The Self
3. Meditation
4. The Zen Approach
5. Conclusion
Appendix — Further reading
Introduction
The question of mind and that of its control has been at the forefront of nearly all human thought throughout millennia. Though it is exceedingly rare for an individual to have a intense curiosity aimed at understanding how their own mind and emotions function, many are there throughout the ages who have sincerely investigated and thus deconstructed the very mechanism by which they think, feel, move, hear, speak and see. In this essay today I look to submerse you with information on this subject and my goal is to give you a more comprehensive perspective of what it is exactly driving your thinking/feeling mechanisms and hopefully provide you with some informed insights that you can apply to your reality so that you are able to make those subtle changes that have the ability to drastically change your direct experience of this existence for the better.
It would make sense that considering the magnitude of what life entails combined with the enormity of the pitfalls that face us on a daily basis, that this very subject would be at the very forefront of every human walking upon this earth, however, as can be quite obviously seen, this is not the case. The underlying reason for this is the fact that the primary, unborn mind is actually totally unconscious of itself as it begins is journey in life totally unaware of its own existence. This is fundamentally the inherent ‘flaw’ of all life forms as it always begins in unconsciousness and then slowly trickles into consciousness. The problem with this is that you are totally unaware of all that you are unaware until it is bought into awareness. Meaning that, you are unable to see that which you cannot see until you have seen it. The consequence of this is that you will continue to fall prey to illusions until you have become aware of the Truth. Few are there fortunate enough to break through this ‘barrier of truth’ whereby for the first time in their existence, do they ask the questions — “Who am I? What am I doing here?” Simple questions they are but sure do they come with a dramatic impact on the consciousness of the individual asking them. These implications act almost like a snowball that has been catapulted down the mountain increasing exponentially in both size and speed as it falls. The journey itself leading you onto what seems like an infinite spiral that leads ever further into the depths of the psyche bringing with it a mix of ecstasy and absolute terror in its wake. Eventually, once you have matured into the journey itself and have had time to reflect upon the process as a whole, you realise that there was and is so much complexity and complications to be found along the way that it’s no wonder we end up falling into total chaos both circumstantially but also mentally and emotionally. There comes a point when we realise that we don’t actually know much at all which then acts as the underlying cause for much fear and trepidation in our ability to make the correct decisions both in our thinking and also in our choices. As the great psychologist Carl Jung put so eloquently… “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”
So then, where do we start? How do we move forward amongst the labyrinth of complexity that our thoughts/emotions subject us to, so that we can be confident in our abilities to chose and have faith that we are travelling in the right direction? Well, this is exactly the purpose of this dissertation and I aim to begin by providing you with the underlying insights necessary to move forward with assurance and then begin to equip you with the tools essential to master the entire biological system we call our body/brain/nervous system.
1. Thinking — Feeling — Observing — Witnessing
To become a master of the mind we must first understand what it actually is that makes up our mind and then seek to apprehend the thoughts/feelings/sensations and how these functions actually operate and intertwine with eachother whereby we are able to act in harmony with the greater being that we call our world, the universe.
If we inspect these thoughts very closely, we can begin to notice many strange and illusive qualities that otherwise go amiss without taking a deeper look. The first thing to take note is the fact that each thought is actually totally independent of every other thought and that the moment they arise, so too do they pass away. What this means is that, the thoughts in and of themselves have absolutely no capacity to ‘linger’ but what actually lingers is the feeling that is either the product of the thought itself or the priory that gave rise to it. There is, intertwined amongst this apparatus, also what could be seen/understood as a witness/observer which is able to view the thoughts almost as if you are ‘outside’ of them and therefore have the capacity to choose as to how you want to deal with the thoughts themselves. The ability to do this comes as a product of deep meditation practice whereby you are essentially trying to shift your identity from the thinking and feeling to the witness that is able to observe but not get involved. This is the first and most important step to mastery in any sense of its meaning as without knowing that you are able to ‘step out’ of the realm of thinking, then you will always be trapped in the maze of complexity since you will always be relying on one thought to combat another, only continuing to tip the scale from one side to the other without ever actually finding the harmonious center.
The witness/observer can be sought through the means of coming into ‘contact’ with the present moment. The present moment is the direct momentary experience which is the fundamental quality of experience/existence itself. The best way to do this is to use the breath and essentially allow it to lead you to the source. The source being synonymous with the momentary beingness itself. What makes this process most difficult, especially if you are new to these mental games, is that, thoughts are ever taking your attention and unless you are ultra aware of them to begin with, then you will most likely find that you will continue to have your attention ‘hijacked’ leading you down useless trains of thought when trying to maintain this presence. This is natural, and like any skill, it takes time to master the ability to notice when a thought has taken your attention and to then instantly show it dis-interest and thus gain the ability to let it go. Letting it go is a product of refusing to follow that thought train any longer and thus bringing your attention back to the breath which is the most common and effective means of maintaining presence. As you journey along this process you will notice that it actually becomes easier and easier to ‘catch’ the thought in its wake and can get it down to a just a couple seconds of attention deficit before you realise what has happened and are able to bring your consciousness back to the center. The longer you are able to remain present without the interruption of thought, the more control you will gain over your thoughts/emotions since you are no longer consumed by them but are able to willingly chose which thoughts you want to provide with your attention and that which have no inherent value to your existence and can thus go on their way.
It is important to note at this point that the process above is by no means, no easy feat. Since thoughts, by their inherent nature, are very enticing to say the least. As it is actually your emotions (feelings) that are the driver of thought (emotions = energy in motion) it can and does feel like nearly every thought that arises is actually ‘you’ thinking it, therefore making it extremely hard to refuse it your attention since it feels like you were the one who thought it up. Hard this might be to grasp but essentially your emotions play yourself by making you believe that you are their propagator and are thus necessary since they were ‘your’ choice. The dance of thinking and feeling is totally intertwined as the ‘feeler’ feels like the thoughts are ‘theirs’ and the ‘thinker’ is convinced the ‘feeler’ is him/herself, however by making the shift to the witness/observer mentioned above, this understanding actually falls to pieces as it is seen that ones true identity is neither, as both are merely being watched and none are inherent to the beingness that you are. The Tibetans called this beingness, the “Naturally Radiant Empty Awareness”.
Everything within consciousness is witnessed and it can be understood that the witness itself is totally immaterial and essentially exists ‘outside’ the confines of time and space.
The witness was never born and can thus never die as it is not a product of matter/energy but is actually the priory that gives rise to both. We will get into this aspect of yourself in more detail later but for now it is only necessary to realise that the real you is not your thoughts/feelings but is the constant unwavering empty observation of them.
Moving on then, going back to where we begun this chapter, thoughts themselves arise and pass away in the exact same moment but it is the feeling that accompanies them that lingers. We are revisiting this fact since we are now going to take this thought train even deeper.
Even though it may seem as if it is ‘we’ who gave rise to the thoughts, it can actually be observed that thoughts are arising out of ‘nowhere’ and do they also pass they back into that same void. With enough meditation on the rising and passing of thoughts themselves, you are able to see that they are a product of a spontaneous intelligence which is inherently unconscious and it is actually only a sensation that accompanies the thoughts that makes them feel as if they are ‘your own’. What this means is that, your thinking processes, although very much guided by your own intent, are actually totally spontaneous and unknown. Since if we ‘knew’ what we was going to think prior to thinking it, then there’d be no reason to think. If we dissect this deeper, we are able to see that our thinking is actually a product of our brain and all its contents. The brain primarily being a pattern recognition system alongside a information storage system. The brain automatically sorts and synthesizes large amounts of data so that it is comprehensible to the psyche (witness) that is then able to abstract upon that data to make assumptions/conclusions which then form the foundation for action. What is important to note here is that, the brain is automatically making these connections and bringing to light these observations but without any inherent ‘guiding principle’ that directs it. The direction that the brain takes is determined very much by the overall context which is a product of our lifelong programming by experience. What this means is that, the actual route that thoughts takes is largely, if not entirely determined by the circumstances that have shaped them to begin with and that we are at the peril of this programming until we make the conscious decision to change it. Until we come to this understanding, we are for the most part at the peril of illusions that we mistake for truths. This is the root cause of disharmony and all the underlying problems that we as humans currently face. The circumstances and interactions throughout our entire lives shape our thinking patterns and our emotions then imprint these into the brain/nervous system. The brain/nervous system then outputs based upon previous inputs but does so unconsciously of this entire operation. What must be understood with this all is that, the emotions set the tone and the thoughts mirror this but the emotions themselves are unconscious patterns running in the ‘background’ without any inherit guidance except the environment and subsequent information/teachings we inherit. If your emotions are the result of circumstance (data/information) and your thoughts are a product of emotions, and both are unconscious mechanisms, then how can we possibly trust what we believe/think until we have inspected this process to determine if what we actually think and feel is… well… ‘true’.
So how do we digest this information then, what do we do with this understanding. Well, to begin we must start with reprogramming the driver of thoughts which is the emotions themselves. The emotions can be programmed in many ways but first and foremost we need the knowledge so that we know what to programme them with. The knowledge needed to do so is a product of attaining a clear perspective of what reality is and is not. This, like nearly everything in life, takes time to be done properly and requires discipline and patience.
There are two main ways to acquire this knowledge and I am to explain them to you here. The first is through comprehensive knowledge, this is knowledge like that you are reading here but also that which you can attain anywhere in books/blogs/articles/videos/podcasts etc. This knowledge is the theory of the operation of the universe and the mechanisms which drive it, alongside what constitutes its parts. Contained within this type of knowledge is things like the foods that are most optimal, the routines that are most valuable and the laws which govern all your movements (ie — you can’t eat through your nose).
The second type of knowledge is experiential knowledge. This knowledge is of a higher order than that of the previous we just spoke and is actually what goes missing for most in the world at large. This knowledge is attained by looking at the underlying mechanisms that govern reality itself and thus seeing into the correlating aspects of all life that is what keeps the universe orderly and livable. This knowledge is attained through a special type of sight which I will call here your ‘higher vision’. Your higher vision is your ability to see into the inner workings of reality rather than looking at it at a meer surface level. The ‘inner workings’ could be best described as the invisible principles that drive all aspects of universal functioning. Bare with me here, as this is where it gets really interesting…
The inner workings are that which operate beneath the veil of appearance. It is the unifying force that drives all life forward in a manner which is in harmony with the whole. What this means is that, the way you move is entirely correlated with the movement of the universe and vise versa. The very intelligence that fashions a baby out of womb is also the same intelligence that fashions a universe out of the void and its the same underlying principle that guide that process. An very simple example of this would be that just as each hand washes each other, so too does each leg catch eachother as we step. What you can gain from this insight is to look for the conformity that drives all of natures operations and then allows you to see how an infinite intelligence is able to bring order to this chaos. What you will begin to realise is that these conformities are everywhere to be seen and can be applied to all aspects of life. An application of this would be to see that if the universe moves in cycles, the earth in seasons then so too will you, and to try and go against this natural flow will only cause more problems than what can seemingly be gained from trying to do so. To learn more about these inner workings, I would highly recommend reading the ‘Tao Te Ching’ by Master Lao Tzu.
The combination of the two types of knowledge listed above is absolutely necessary to reach the peak of mental performance as attaining only one half will lead to a lop sided view and not allow you to see what is needed to attain unto clarity. However, it must be duley noted that the attainment of the knowledge is only one step in the process and the next step that must accompany it is that of reflection and comprehension of that knowledge so that you are then able to alchemise it into the wisdom that will then allow you to programme your emotions so that they are aligned with the Ultimate Truth.
The Ultimate Truth here refers to the core of the matter, the essence of the circumstance, the reality of what is taking place. This is fundamentally a perspective of the world that allows you to see that certainty in any situation is flimsy and that one must at all times remain open to new perspectives to enter their field of vision. What this does, is train the nervous system (emotions) to not attach to any ideas/beliefs that could be obscuring his/her ability to see clearly. Seeing clearly is the knowing that there is always some information that you may not be aware of at the time which could drastically shift your perspective of what you believe. This is extremely important to grasp as if you attach to your beliefs as if they are absolute, then you will continue to believe that particular thoughts that are given rise too within your awareness are truth and thus, you then lose the ability to let them go. And as mention earlier, if you cannot let the thought pass, then you may be a victim to the illusion of which it pertains to.
Okay so… before we move any further, lets backtrack slightly and bring all the information above into a simplified elucidation so that we can move forward with confidence in our overall understanding.
As mentioned earlier, the first step is a movement from identification with thoughts/feelings/emotions themselves to witness/observer. This takes place through the means of meditation which is the constant application of awareness on the mind to see that one is able to simply watch the thoughts pass on by without actually believing them to be ‘yours’. This allows you to remove yourself from the melodramas that thoughts are continually giving rise to and thus reach a place of peace and clarity. Clarity allows you to see circumstances exactly as they are since you are no longer gripping to certain perspectives/belief systems that are construing with the truth. Once you have the truth at your disposal, you are then able to start the process of re-programming your emotions so that they are aligned with nature and the universe itself. The emotions are what sets the tone for thoughts therefore if you can be confident that the emotions are harmonious with the whole then you can be confident that your thinking processes are not going to be leading you down pathways of despair. It is important that during this period of re-programming that you not only take in knowledge both in the form of theory but also experience. Of more significance is to ensure that you apply this knowledge through comprehension and reflection so that you are able to form the right connections by breaking it down and thus drawing a coherent picture in your minds eye.
Once you have got to a place where you are able to think in harmony with all life and that of the universe itself, you have reached the first milestone in mastery of your entire biological system, as you are for the first time able to know that you are acting inline with the infinite intelligence that is what fashioned all of life itself. It is at this point that you are able to move onto the next step in the process which is to understand your true identity on a deeper level so that you are to never again fall prey to the illusions of mind by always acting from ‘outside’ its confines which are in-fact the ‘walls’ that bind so many.
2. The Self
Now that we have discerned the mechanism behind the thinking/feeling apparatus, we can now look to understand and attain a more comprehensive view of ourselves by seeing exactly who/what it is that is the underlying aspect of our existence.
The mechanism which I am referring to here is what we briefly mentioned above as the witness/observer but we will now hereafter refer to here as the Self, or our True Self. As we touched upon previously, the Self is actually the immaterial aspect of who you are and is actually the unconscious totality that acts as the intelligent driving force behind all of existence. It is impossible to fully comprehend this, as to do so, we will be using our mind to try and comprehend ‘no-mind’ which is an impossibility. What is important to understand here though, is that, your true identity is ‘no-mind’ and it is ‘a mind’ that is then born/conceived. What is born is not actually ‘you’ but could almost be seen as an overlay on-top of what you actually are. The mind is a reflection of no-mind and the paradox is, that it is ‘no-mind’ that’s actually who you truly are. What this means is that, the space in which all things have their home is also the witness/observer/awareness and with enough introspection, you can come to see this as the very presence by which you know anything to be at all.
The benefit of coming to this knowing is that, the true you, your True Self, is not in any way affected by the contents that run through the mind. Since the true you is actually ‘no-mind’, there is absolutely nothing for it to imprint upon. To better understand this, you could imagine how a TV screen is what displays the movie but the contents of the movie have no impact on the screen itself. The screen is naturally black and totally void and only lights up certain area’s necessary to create the picture programmed in. After the movie is finished, the screen turns off but doesn’t actually ‘go anywhere’. It stays exactly where it is. The movie itself could be likened to the contents of the mind and the storyline is its programming. What is important to note here is that the movie does not fear the end since it has no conception of itself or what its doing. The mind however, if under a faulty perspective, identifies with the contents as if it is ‘itself’ but really they are just passing packets of information that hold no true reality in and of themselves. What is true however, is the very screen that they are being played on.
In coming to this understanding, no longer will you be operating from a faulty perspective, believing yourself to be the mind (body/brain) but rather you are now able to see that at the very core of its functioning, that there is an Naturally Radiant Empty Awareness that is effortlessly watching the unfoldment of consciousness, which is flowing through the world, but is not of it. As a product of this, you will naturally loose the fear of bodily death as now you know that you no longer are at the peril of this body since the true mind is not a product of it and since it is immaterial, it cannot ‘go anywhere’ after the body perishes. Just like how the screen doesn’t go anywhere after the movie ends. The Self, otherwise known throughout history as the Soul, is what endures beyond the material realm as it has existence in the unfathomable depths of eternity, the infinite boundless unconscious intelligence that is the priory to all creation. Not for one moment it is confined by what seemingly is, but is only unconscious of this great truth until fortunate enough to stumble upon this divine knowledge that allows it to begin its journey back to its ‘true home’.
The necessity of coming to this understanding cannot be understated as without it, you will always be identifying with an illusion which only exists by an incomprehensible magical feat of impossibility which is not fundamental to what you truly are. Modern science is slowly starting to figure this out for themselves through the discovery of the Quantum Realm but even that in itself is a fabrication of mind and is only a reflection of the Great Void which is the only real living ‘thing’ in all of creation itself.
What this shift of identity does most importantly is that is sets the context for your entire life whereby you no longer feel as if you ‘need’ to achieve certain milestones since you are now able to see that the world in which you walk is one of a light-hearted nature and is but a dream in the realm of infinity. Therefore, you can begin to let go of all that which binds your Soul as it is no longer necessary for your fulfillment. You will then begin to see with true clarity as your beliefs are now based upon the truth of the matter and no longer will you be as a paper plane in the wind but rather you have become the wind itself.
Our perspective of the world is what determines our beliefs and this is exactly what governs our thoughts and actions. When we shift our perspective so that it is aligned with this Ultimate Truth, you will begin to notice that overtime, you will naturally begin to make the right choices as it is now intelligent life living through you. This results in a life filled with an abundance of joy and happiness and there is no longer any internal conflict between what it is and what you feel it should be. The combination of aligning our perspective with the understanding of how our brain and emotions actually operate is all that is truly necessary to live a life full of love as you will have ascended above and beyond all that has been dragging you down up until this point.
3. Meditation
As we lightly touched upon in the first chapter, meditation is the means through which you are able to shift your identity from the thoughts/feelings (ego) to the witness/observer (Self) and is absolutely necessary to do so. Without meditation it will be almost impossible to make this transition as you will never bring yourself into a state of stillness needed to be able to observe the thoughts exactly as they arise, and not after the fact.
In this section, my goal is to give you some deeper insights into what exactly you are to do in the meditation and some guiding principles on the process overall.
Meditation actually comes in many forms, in a way you are never not meditating, but just like standing, walking, running and sprinting, even though in all cases you are upright in the same vertical position, there are different stages of movement in this position that can easily be distinguished from one another. The same for meditation. So lets break down each of these stages and give you a more comprehensive analysis of each.
The first stage of meditation, analogous to standing, is essentially your everyday natural flow of mind. It just happens, it cannot not happen and is consistent. It is ‘there’ from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep and is best known as ‘consciousness’. Like I said above, you are actually never not meditating since thinking/feeling is the mind in operation with awareness. However, as also stated, meditation deepens by intentionally enacting certain programmes to bring about desired outcomes.
The next stage, analogous to walking, is bringing the mind into a relatively relaxed and peaceful state, usually in a seated position, you simply let the flow of thoughts arise and pass without any intervention at all. People will do this unconsciously alot of the time and is known as ‘day dreaming’. When day dreaming, very little can be taken from that state as the subject is totally unaware it is happening until it has finished, however, if you are to consciously enter into this state of meditation it can be a great means of bringing the body/brain back into homeostasis and as a product of this, it can have many health benefits since the body/brain is no longer in the flight or fight state, which, as can be quite easily deduced, is a super high energy state to endure in.
The next stage is analogous to running and is the meditative state whereby you are actively seeking to retain your attention on the present moment, again, usually whilst in a seated position, you will intentfully sit totally still for a prolonged period of time whilst looking to concentrate your focus to only this present moment, allowing thoughts to arise and pass and actively trying not to get your attention taken by them.
The final and most intense stage of meditation is analogous to sprinting and is the state whereby you are doing all that you was doing above, but you remain totally still and do not move until you have attained a concentration which is totally unobstructed by any thoughts/emotions/sensations at all. This final state is know most famously as Samadhi/Nirvana which is the 8th and final step to Enlightenment outlined by the ‘Godfather of Yoga’, Pantajali. (Nir -> not / Vana -> moving)
There is a time and place for all of these types of meditation as there is a time and place for walking instead of running and vise versa. However, the more intense types listed in the latter part of the previous paragraph is what will bring with it the most benefit and bring you closest to the goal of mental and emotional mastery.
It is only after a breakthrough into Samadhi and your ability to retain that state are you then beyond any doubt as to your true identity since you have then experienced first hand what it is like to be totally aware but without any sense obstructing that awareness.
The process of meditation begins with an intent to move beyond your thoughts and emotions and therefore understand ‘what is left’ once you do so. You can start by sitting yourself down in a calm, quiet environment with no distractions. From here you have the choice of keeping a fixed posture with a erect spine or a more relaxed posture up against a rest. For those who are more prone to falling asleep I would recommend the former but for those who struggle to relax with any tension in the body then I would recommend the latter. From here you want to begin by relaxing your mind by utilising the breath. Breathing through the nose with the tongue resting on the top centre of the mouth and mouth shut, you start by taking slow long breath’s into the diaphragm and releasing slowly out holding a pause at the top of the breath and at the bottom of the out breath. Depending on your level of experience in this stage it may take you 10–15 mins to properly calm the mind or just 1–2 mins. The first step is creating a calm mind because if you try to instantly retain concentration in every moment when the mind is totally irractic then you will be up against a strong unrelenting current that may lead to a feeling of despair in the process as a whole. During this initial relaxation period you are simply trying to maintain a regular rhythmic pattern with the breath and just allowing any and all thoughts to flow.
Once you notice the body/mind has drastically slowed down, and the breathing has now almost become totally automatic and effortless, you are no ready to begin with the active work.
From this point forth, you want to actively seek to deny any thought attention. This means that the moment you realise that you are thinking about something and are not totally attentive to the slow rise and fall of the breath then you are to bring it right back to the breath. This process needs to be repeated over and over and is a product of both surrender to the moment and intentionally focusing in on that moment too. Remember, that the witness/observer is what you naturally ARE, therefore you don’t need to ‘do’ anything to ‘be it’, you just simply need to be and there you are.
What will happen after continuing this process for some time, is that as you become more and more disinterested in your thoughts, the less they will begin to arise and thus distract you. After time you will begin to remain totally centered by which your awareness will be totally empty of any contents but there will still be a full lucidity of consciousness in that you are fully aware of the totality of the field around you but there is nothing ‘filling’ it, so to speak. At this point you will experience the state of which I speak above where both the body and mental contents have nearly entirely faded into the ‘background’ and you are left with the very core essence of what you are which is the witnessing and thus total allowance of what is without any intervention. It is a this point you realise that the true you is not actually ‘doing’ anything but rather just watching and allowing life to flow through you. It is this very point that you come to finally see that the body is not actually necessary for experience but is just a means through which experience can occur. It is a this point you also notice that you are not confined to the body or mind but actually you are what is ‘prior’ to it and therefore exists ‘outside’ of it and it is actually the body/mind that is contained within you.
I would recommended making this sort of meditation practice a lifelong daily practice as it has innumerable benefits not only psychologically but physiologically to. Entering this ultra concentrated state taps the body into a pool if infinite power that allows it to rejuvenate all your cells and recalibrate anything that has an error in its coding. It is the perfect means of realignment for any ill conditions and can really perform miracles in doing so.
4. The Zen Approach
Before we finish with this dissertation, I want to bring your attention to one more key insight which will hopefully be the ‘nail in the coffin’ in your understanding of how to attain total mastery over your mind and emotions.
You may be thinking at this point “Okay… all the above is great, but I still experience fear, I still get angry and I still get stressed, I still have a job that I dislike and nothing about my life is going to drastically change as a consequence of just changing my perspective.” At which point… I would like to agree with you, which is why I intend now to attempt to rectify this problem below.
Here, I would like to introduce you to the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, but specifically the ‘Zen’ part. See, all that I have pertained to up until this point is extremely effective and can be the reason for a huge shift in the way you feel about yourself and your life as a whole. However, there comes a point in this process whereby you can gain so much control that you almost lose control as you have become ‘too controlling’. What this means is that, as I discovered for myself along this journey also, you enter a state where you have achieved a level command over the mind that you can in some sense, if you really wanted, bring it to a complete stop. The reason why you may ‘want’ to do this is because you realise that almost every movement of the mind is in some way a lack of control as in an absolute sense, no movement at all is necessary and therefore you see that the most ‘practical’ way to overcome it would be to void it of all contents (which there are many ancient schools of thought who see such as the highest attainment). However, it goes without saying, that in our modern world this is almost an impossibility as we all lead very busy lives with many responsibility and dependents. Therefore, the above, in our current environments, would not be at all practical so to solve this issue is a tricky one indeed but one that is entirely possible using the Zen approach and that is what I would like to explain to you here.
The Zen approach is one of simplicity but one that can only be enacted once the emotions have been properly programmed so that they are aligned with truth (natural being). This is why all of the steps mentioned in the previous chapters are absolutely necessary before you get to this stage. Now, as I mentioned previously, once your emotions are aligned with truth (harmony with all life) then you can allow them to effortlessly express themselves without any intervention. The way this is done is to remove the ‘judge’ that lingers deep at the core of the mind giving commentary and opinion about almost every action that occurs and is usually driven by the emotion of guilt. The judge is to be removed since it is the cause for conflict in almost every situation. To get beyond the judge you must absolutely accept every aspect of your own humaneness and all of its natural failings that come with it. The most effective tool to do such is the use of humour. Humour allows us to laugh away at all of our failings because we realise the light of meaning its just ‘not that deep’. The ability to laugh at your own shortcomings is actually the first step to overcoming them as it will take away all the pressure you currently feel towards trying to ‘transcend’ them and thus actually give you back the power you need to do so. Once you have re-attained this natural inherent power, you can then look at your current circumstances in a light hearted manner and no longer will you feel as if they are against you but are the consequence of existence and the reality of living. Adversity is not an enemy but rather just what all life entails. The Zen approach to this is to ‘put on your clothes and eat your food’. What this exactly means is that, you do exactly what is required of you without any judge or opinions lingering in the process and then step back. This by no means that you cannot desire to better your circumstances nor overcome any hurdles with which you currently face but rather to accept them fully, embrace them as apart of life itself and just do all that is necessary everyday without complaint or dismay. This approach will drastically change your reality as you can see that all that you are currently ‘battling’ is just a product of being alive and it can actually be loved and cherished for it is only through the contrast of pain and pleasure that we are able to know either.
Whether it be fear, anger, anxiety or heartache, you can take the approach of accepting every emotion for what it is and thus appreciate it for the what it can bring about. Fear is necessary for survival, anger can be channeled into positive means, anxiety is just thoughts on rocket fuel and heart ache is a consequence of ones ability to love. There is no need to avoid what makes us human as the humaneness is what we are here to experience as a whole.
The methods listed above and the perspectives that I have shared throughout this essay are to help to diminish the frequency and intensity of these negative emotions by allowing you to see them for exactly what they are as soon as they arise and thus, begin the process of letting them go. However, as I mentioned, feelings are what ‘linger’ which means that the letting go process doesn’t happen instantly and thus you will have to continue to feel these emotions no matter how good you become and noticing them as soon as they arise.
The Master is able to observe all these emotions without letting them consume her/him. Overtime you will drastically decrease the frequency of the emotions listed above if you continue to follow the steps outlined as you will realise that for the most part, that are not serving any real value/reason. Therefore, you will enter a state that is totally unobstructed by negativity and thus continue to rise up to ever new heights in the echelons of consciousness.
To reach the ‘Ultimate State’, one must paradoxically give up trying to be a perfected human being. The ultimate comes as a product of realising your own frailty and accepting that with open arms. The truth is that you can never not be human but the reality is that you don’t need to feel like you have to be otherwise. As you embrace what naturally arises and falls each day, no longer will there linger the feeling on lack since you don’t want anything more than what comes naturally (without any added effort), therefore you can you let the currents of life flow as they do and know that the direction that is chosen is fundamentally as it has always meant to be. As a great Zen master put it “We freely chose our Destiny that has already been chosen.”
5. Conclusion
Now all that is left is for you to apply the knowledge attained above to your moment by moment experience. This means that you intentfully apply all the principles listed above until you discover for yourself, beyond any doubts, the truths that I have ascertained to.
No easy feat for any adept since the nature of the mind is totally ignorant to these truths unless fortunate to be exposed to them early on in life and to then apply them so that it comes without need for any further intervention.
What will begin to occur in your consciousness is a huge shift from feeling like a victim to thoughts/feelings and circumstances to one that now is in total control. Total control that is, attained through realizing that you are neither apart of it and nor do you have to do anything with it but let it occur as it does. The more you programme the mind/emotions to be aligned with the primal universal force, the more effortless life becomes since you will automatically choose the most optimised decision in every moment as it has become totally spontaneous. This is the great blessing of mastery in that you not longer need to elicit any effort to live since you are letting life live itself.
One can then be in the world but not of it as you are no longer attached to the outcome but rather are an unbiased witness which is continually amused by the natural intelligence that spontaneously unfolds before your eyes and there’s absolutely nothing needed for you to do about it. What a miracle.
Further Reading
*Below is a list of further reading material to better help you understand all of the information shared above and thus help you programme in the light of truth into every cell of your being.
-> Becoming Supernatural — Dr. Joe Dispenza
-> Isolated in Oneness: Returning to Divinity — Genie
-> Reality Transurfing — Vadim Zeland
-> Transcending the Levels of Consciousness — David R. Hawkins
-> Tao Te Ching — Lao Tzu
-> Seeds of Consciousness — Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
-> The Hermetica — Freke & Gandy
-> The Secret Oral Teachings — Alexandra David-Neel
-> The Bhagavad Gita — Eknath Easwaran
-> Freedom from the Known — Jiddu Krishnamurti
-> Raja Yoga — Swami Vivekananda
-> Turiya: The God State — Santana Gamana
-> Stalking The Wild Pendulum — Itzhak Bentov
-> The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma — Red Pine
-> The Way of Zen — Alan Watts
-> You Are The Placebo — Dr. Joe Dispenza
