| "Mind is the forerunner of all things," a wise person | | | | from an early age to be competitive and aggressive, |
| once said, and this is very true. If your mind is filled | | | | even in school, because in the world those things |
| with all kinds of words, thoughts, emotions, | | | | seem necessary in order to survive. |
| possessions, worries and concerns, and you fill it | | | | But here we are not talking about the world, which |
| even more by trying to figure out how to simplify | | | | admittedly must be lived in, but are talking about a |
| your life, then what happens is you find yourself | | | | realm or state of consciousness quite different from |
| being disingenuous, and not sincerely simplifying your | | | | the world, and which can be touched when the mind |
| life at all. | | | | is simplified and still. This could be called the spiritual |
| The wants and desires are still there, only temporarily | | | | realm, and is a place that, once truly touched, will |
| submerged by a new idea (I must simplify my life!) | | | | change your life immensely. |
| but this new idea will not hold because the idea was | | | | This is true simplifying. Once a life is simplified in this |
| from the surface consciousness, or logical part of the | | | | manner, i.e. when mind is emptied of all its garbage, |
| mind. Not from direct insight, which is the spiritual or | | | | then a brand new world opens up. And even a |
| intuitive aspect of mind. | | | | glimpse of this world, one time, is enough to convince |
| It's likened to the spiritual seeker who gives | | | | one that life on earth is not what a deluded mind |
| everything away, all his or her possessions, and | | | | believes it to be. Life on earth is a kind of hell. |
| leaves everything behind to find the truth, thinking | | | | John.12:25 "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he |
| that this will somehow instill wisdom and saintliness. | | | | that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life |
| The spiritual seeker, however, takes his or her busy | | | | eternal." |
| mind along, and what happens is that after a certain | | | | Buddhism basically said the same thing 550 years |
| amount of time, if a shift in consciousness, or how | | | | before Christ when The Buddha had realized |
| their mind looks at things, doesn't occur, then, just as | | | | Enlightenment. He was at a loss to convey such |
| water seeks its own level, the seeker returns to his | | | | inexpressible truth, but was eventually persuaded |
| or her old comfort zones and no progress is made. | | | | that there were those with "but little dust in their |
| Once the mind, however, really "sees" the damage | | | | eyes" who might understand his teachings. So his first |
| one can possibly do to oneself with a complicated, | | | | teaching was the Four Noble Truths, of which the |
| busy mind that plays out as stress and uncertainty, | | | | First Noble Truth stated that life indeed involves |
| then that very "seeing" promotes a permanent | | | | suffering. |
| change where life automatically simplifies. The | | | | Of course, a deluded mind sees life as something |
| complications magically and painlessly fall away | | | | different from that, and only when the mind is |
| without any austerities at all. | | | | reminded that it is deluded, usually by a tragic event |
| So how does one begin to see in this special insightful | | | | that the mind cannot cope with or figure out, does |
| way? Again, the busy mind cannot decide to "see!" | | | | mind begin to see with a little insight. Many people |
| Seeing is not a conscious decision. Seeing, in this | | | | have had brushes with death and have come out on |
| special, life changing modality involves an emptying of | | | | the other side a changed person, simplifying his or her |
| mind. Therefore, mind can make a conscious decision | | | | life. |
| to empty itself, but not to "see." Seeing is a result of | | | | Or to put in more succinctly, their life simplifies |
| something else (an empty, alert, alive, creative mind) | | | | automatically because there was a shift in |
| and not a direct involvement. Mind must not practice | | | | consciousness that occurred when the mind lost all its |
| "seeing," but instead practice "emptying," the | | | | footing during a brief moment of trauma and became |
| ingrained habit patterns that automatically engage and | | | | empty of all its conclusions, logic, and thoughts. And |
| make the mind and body react as robots. | | | | for a brief moment, there was true insight as the |
| Only an empty mind can truly "see." A filled mind can | | | | conceit and smugness of a mind, thinking that it was |
| only interpret and react from dead computer files | | | | in control and knew everything, found out that it |
| (which is the past). Seeing "what is," in this present | | | | wasn't.. and didn't! |
| moment, involves removing all the armor and | | | | But it doesn't require a tragic event or great trauma |
| protective layers of the defense mechanisms we | | | | to bring about insight. It can be accomplished with a |
| have developed during our lifetimes, thinking that we | | | | practice, which is non-denominational and non - |
| needed them in order to make it in an aggressive | | | | threatening to one's religious beliefs, which is called |
| and ambitious world. We have programmed ourselves | | | | "meditation. |