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Awaking to Your True Nature http://sarmoung.wordpress.

com/

Volume 1

***This is the first part of the collection of several articles from the Sarmoung's Blog published during the 2010-2011. Special thanks to Sylvie Manley for the accurate correction of each post.

Contents
Part I Awareness
1. Possibilities of Self Development in the 21th Century 2. How a Man becomes a Man (a personal experience) 3. The Meaning of Inner Research 4. The courage to be What we are, As we are 5. Sailing Towards our Freedom 6. Ways to Achieve a Better State of Awareness 7. Through Sincerity Comes Security (and Unity) 8. The Theory of the Four Bodies (a never-ending story) 9. Attention and Concentration 10. Awareness and Continuity of Consciousness 11. Being and the Theory of Reincarnation 12. Conscious Evolution: From Nothing to Objective Reason 13. Mechanicity and the Apparent Impossibility of SelfFreedom 14. Being and the Theory of Reincarnation 15. Levels of Being 16. Swimming Against the Flow 17. Toward our Inner Freedom 18. The Trap of Loneliness 19. The Trap of our Self-Pity 20. The Wish of Revenge 21. The Roots of our Fears 22. Relaxation as a Natural State 23. Lightness: A Quality in Extinction 24. Love and Acceptance 25. The Awakening of a True Mind

26. The Art of Letting Go 27. The Prayer as a Connection with our Being 28. Friendship 29. Gentleness of Movements Gentleness of Mind 30. Ponderings about simple things that are virtually impossible to understand 31. Good Karma Bad Karma 32. Administrating Spare Time 33. An Integral Approach to Overcome Harmful Emotions 34. Clairvoyance (Seeing Clearly) 35. Discerning the False Personality from our True Self 36. The Art of Pondering 37. Self-Development through Facebook!

Part II

Exercises
1. Self- Observation 2. Self Observation Exercise in Third Person 3. Breath and Navel Technique A Taoist Practice 4. Few Steps Towards a Stronger Will 5. Developing Awareness during Sedentary Jobs 6. An Easy Centering Exercise 7. An Integral Approach to Overcome Harmful Emotions 8. Conscious Love as Help for the Mate in SelfDevelopment 9. Awareness and the Tone of the Voice 10. A Tibetan exercise for Discerning the True from the False Self 11. A Practical Experiment with Thoughts 12. Developing Awareness during Sedentary Jobs

Part I (Awareness)

Possibilities of Self Development in the 21th Century

In 1991, something happened to me. Ill never forget this year and I have never been the same after that. Since I was a child, I have possessed a feeling, a knowing, that during my lifetime there would be extraordinary experiences for humanity. I have never seen visions, angels or Ascended Masters of Light who announce the coming of a New Era: none of these characters visited me I just had that feeling. This feeling has accompanied me during the last nineteen years of my life and is still here, present and felt with all my being. Even as I waited for the inevitable, the war in my country (Croatia) surprised all the people who were involved in it. Everyone in this country had a clear perception of having lost something very important for every human being: the freedom of living a normal, everyday life . Growing up with this limitation is a complex proposition. But this tragic situation was a turning point in crystallizing some concepts, if I can call them that, which before were dormant in some unknown area of my being. I became aware of the fact that I couldnt immerse myself into the patterns of ordinary existence, and every attempt to follow the flow of the river commonly known as social life, with all its implications and roles, made me always uncomfortable and forced me to move in another direction, leaving behind whatever Id established. I was compelled each time to start over again in a search without any object of searching, not knowing how to define what I was searching for. The only thing I knew was that this was a frequently frustrating experience.

I realized in some mechanical way , that I was not unified in my search, that there were a multitude of persons within me, many of whom were not at all interested in the search. I was legion. Every part of my fragmented character wanted different things a good livelihood, relationships, success, money, friends, and much more. The possibility of pleasing all the people within me, often in contradiction between them, was practically impossible. And every time I returned to the search for something different that could free myself from this frustrating situation. Fortunately, that need never left me.

I had started to search with other friends in many fields such as psychology, philosophy, literature, eccentric lifestyle, meditation, and others. Each of these enriched my life experiences , but had given me only fragmented pieces of something I was not able to perceive coherently. I hadnt found anything which I could devote the rest of my life to. I had become depressed. Maybe, after all, the surface of life was all there was, that there was nothing to find, only to live the life that accident or destiny gave us. Maybe the deeper meanings of life didnt exist, that this knowing that had nagged me was just nave nonsense. Maybe all there was to life was money, good sex, and alcoholic drinks to alleviate the sense of emptiness perceived in moments of solitude. Then, on April 1991, things radically changed. I met the person who changed my life. This man gave me practical directives towards the possibility of changing my state of consciousness, and showed the way to another level of existence. The core of this teaching was similar to that given by the Caucasian master George I. Gurdjieff, known as The Fourth Way. I finally found the proof of the existence which I suspected, and the method to assemble it within myself. The years that I spent on this Work constitute a Peak Experience. It is impossible to explain in a few words, the experience and the rate of personal growth facilitated by this man

and the other teacher who came after him. It was intensive, and continued for 19 years and still continues: Fourth Way teachings, Western and Eastern practical Alchemy, Integral Tibetan and dram Yoga, Taoist concepts and practices, Esoteric Symbolism The anxiety and depression became inner peace and better emotional balance, and the awareness acquired set me in the social life, which before escaped me, without falling into the flow of society. Then I met some persons involved in the study and practice of the methods of self development known as The Work, that had become a deeply ingrained part of our inner lives. Today, I am not a master, but I am sure that I am a better person than I would have been without this teaching. And, the most important thing is that I have found the aim of my life. Last February, my first teacher gave me the last directives about that aim, and now it is crystallized in the Sites and happenings organized in the last two months. The aim of this link is to share the eternal principles learned in the Work as one of the effective possibilities of the 21st century to all interested in an effective self-development with the hope that it will be of benefit to greater numbers of people in their path to awaken. The age we live in is the moment when many individuals are experiencing the opening of their hearts to new perspectives. So then, the task I have set for myself here is to connect the seemingly intellectual principles of The Fourth Way with the emotional experience of life. The society in which we live is too stifling. We approach most things through our minds, leaving behind, like some forgotten relics, our intuitive processes. The true aim of The Work is to establish a connection to the power of our emotional life, called by some, the eighteen inch gap. True understanding lies not in knowing, but in living what you know. It is my hope that this site will be a place where any truly interested seeker would find and share new insights, assistance and love in the creation of a true understanding.

How a Man becomes a Man (a personal experience)

It was very strangeafter almost eight years of apprenticeship, I was feeling so strong, so determined..I had the perception that I had finally realized something and, that for the first time in my life, I was really able to change myself. Butsome situation was enough to bring my life back to the beginningall my effort vanished. Indeed, the love relationship with a girl I considered the Love of my life broke off. After a few weeks, my mentor was involved in a car accident where he survived, but with a broken neck, but miraculously alive and able to walk. In a short period, all my good intentions and efforts, the result of all my work, vanished. My life was becoming worse than before. The more I was trying to apply in my daily life what I had learned, the more I felt confused, inadequate, discouraged. Power, ethics, desires, needs, willall vanished. The same thing with intentional efforts, resistance, patienceI stopped trying to escape the situation that was crystallizing in myself. Without friends, without any external support, I had the feeling that events were sweeping me awayso, I lost hope. I had begun to do in that moment, the only thing I felt I was able to do: I started drinking hard to forget and destroy all what I had understood and achieved during these years of work on myself.

This was one of the worst moments in my life. And this situation lasted for months. Everyday, I was drunk..to forget what I was unable to forget. My behavior was only a teasing toward myself: one moment aping a safe man, another moment, falling into self-pity, criticizing the behaviors of others, telling myself a lot of fibs. I was angry with my parents who werent able to give me a right education, with my friends who started to elude my company, with all of society and the whole world who gave to me only an unbearable suffering. That was mein that period of my life. Things maybe would not have changed if not for one evening when something happened. I was at a table in a bar, drinking a beer, when my mentor (teacher) entered and sat with me. As if it were nothing unusual, he ordered a beer and started to drink with me. I felt shame, anger, and at the same time, astonishment in such a situation: the man who tried to teach me to be a better man, and I, trying to throw away all of what he had taught me. But he held a particular kind of gentleness, so unusual and absurd in such a situation. I started to speak in a convulsive and agitated way, speaking about all my worries and disappointments towards all, showing all my selfpity and the mood of a defeated man to all intents and purposes. Briefly, I explained my situation to him. He kept silent for a long time, hearing what I had to tell. The he simply said: All you need are two things: first, stop with that self-pity, you arent more a teenager or less. Second, you need a rule, my young brother.

A ruleI didnt like that word very much. I immediately associated it with the concept of morality, school days, and all that had conditioned my whole life. But I decided to keep silent and hear what he had to tell me. He laughed, perceiving my astonished and fearful face: What arises in your mind now? School and family education, loss of freedom, or when as a child the older imposed some rules without giving you any explanation? All your life obeying someone who had an ascendancy toward you in that moment of your life? Or, are you too drunk to be able to catch something in your mind? (another laugh). He continued with saying: The world is full of rules, some of civil cohabitation and others which attack us with their moral impositions, which taught us to be judging and criticizing, which harms and influences a human being psychologically. But believe it or not, such rules derive from ancient ages, even if they are the shadow of what they once were. I looked at him astonished and irritated by his speech. My life was falling to pieces and he was speaking about something concerning a sociological or philosophical field. Altered by the alcohol and my idiotic emotional state, I started to become nervous and angry towards him. As usual, he noticed this, and stopped my words before they arose from my mouth: What do you think, stupid monkey, that you are the only one who suffers in this world? That you are the only poor child who feels the weight that this consumerist society throws on our back? What do you think, when you look at me? That I am enlightened? I also cry, I have my own problems and also bear the weight of everyday life. Stop crying for your misfortunes, and make a step forward. I knew he was right, but he didnt give me any new information, any new advice.

Every event, he continued, happens in accordance to laws so complex, which in our eyes can assume the form of casualty, because in our smallness we can understand it. Laws keep us stuck, because we dont understand nor can we change them. They are as they are. The Universal processes are beyond our comprehension, and the only way to overcome our mechanical situation is to establish an even partial order which could give us a particular place where we focus all our actions. What was he speaking about? Probably, in that moment, I had a dazed expression, or maybe that man knew me better than I knew myself. He laughed again and continued: Ill translate this so that you, mortal (and marked jokingly this word) could understand. Ill make a simple example. You have a chaotic life behavior: you wake up everyday at a different time, while you go to work, you eat something, maybe a sandwich, if you have the time, and take a lunch break when others do the same. In any case, you dont choose anything. You dont choose even when and what to eat. You live, eat, sleep, laugh, and cry out of habit. You dont decide anything! But, just to make an example, if you decide to choose that everyday at 10 a.m., youll have a snack, and not only decide the time, but even the place and the quality of what youll desire to eat. Then, this would be a choice, your choice, because free from every habit conditioning or every kind of external event. What is important is that YOU decide before you act. Otherwise, this would be another reaction, and in this field, you are a specialist (laugh). This, my dear monkey, is a method, a way which could be applied even in serious life matters. Do you remember Ksatrya, the Sumerais? Even if they were conscious of the moment they had to die, they were able to choose the place, time, and circumstances to make their sacred sepuku, facing the enemy straight in the eyes. So, in this way, they died with honor, consciously, not as poor devils.

There was a short pause. I had the feeling that I couldnt add anything, nor to counter. But there was some restlessness in myself, some kind of rebellion towards this argument. Now, I ask you: discipline? wouldnt it be better and more efficient a self-

Of course, he answered, It would be better. But can you do that in this moment? You need a maturity to do this, and as I see (pointing his finger at my beer), you havent such kind of attitude. So, how can you develop such maturity? Thats what you have to ask yourself. You know, at the beginning, a discipline must come from the external through a rule, a genuine rule, not an imposition, from a person who has passed through that process. Its relative to the education of children given by their parents. Ponder on that. You go to the doctor for some eating disease. After having identified the problem, he gives you some prescriptions- a diet- that you will have to follow step-by-step if you want to recover. Successively, once you will be able to recognize the needs of your body, you will be able to manage by yourself what, how much and when you will eat. This is the same even in the ethical, existential field. Only after having experienced such rules, is one able to develop a self discipline, intended as an effective attitude which permits you to apply a decision without impositions toward your life. Reorganize your life rhythms, decide to introduce some intentional actions in your daily routine make a ritual of all your routines. Exercise your will, patience, and the capacity of feeling your positive and negative emotions without remaining involved, identified. This will allow you to be centered, able to direct both mind and actions. This is the power of being able to do. You love artistry, so become a good sculptor and shape your life through YOUR decisions, and not self-pity or external conditioning. Thats what you have to do. Move your ass, my young monkey, so one day youll be able to enjoy

drinking a beer for your own pleasure, and not to cover, and suffocate your inertia and fears. Thats what he told me. And, fortunately, I followed his instructions.

The Meaning of Inner Research

Sometimes, what arises in my mind is a question that I consider common with those who are involved in a work of self development. After all the successes and failures, good and bad moments, and doubts, one discovers that there is no reward at the end of every stage of the Path. The question which arises in myself is: What is the meaning of my inner research.Why am I doing this? Explaining this in a few words and in a comprehensive way is almost impossible. Thousands of texts have been written through the centuries, and this topic is common in all cultures. It is important to understand that we dont search for only those things we recognize which we dont possess, but its also fundamental to understand that if we are searching for something, we do this because we have an expectation, a vision of what we will find. This last aspect is basic, because it describes a fact that is often unnoticed. In some intuitive way, or by knowing, the inner researcher already knows that what exists in himself is a hidden reality that he wants to achieve, understand, and live. One who does not have this intuition will never begin an inner search, for the simple fact that one does not search for something whose existence is not suspected. Many enlightened minds describe the inner search in the following terms: if we dont know ourselves deeply and integrally, we cant live a satisfying, happy, and conscious life, because we do not understand what, who, and why we are here.

Therefore, inner search is the path which leads to the ultimate answer, to the core of the meaning of our lives. When we feel the need to understand the meaning of human existence and why we dont live forever with the fullness we may have once experienced in some rare moments, we begin to seek these answers in an unknown space from where we cannot be excludedand that space is the only thing we have.ourselves.

The courage to be What we are, As we are

The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage. Thucydides

It is a common saying that the truth hurts, but it is at the same time, what allows us to be as we areunconditioned, without anger, resentment and dissatisfaction, despite lies, false beliefs and half-truths which characterize our society. But, why is it so difficult to be true and sincere? And why, when we permit the expression of our true self, of our Being, of what we really are, that we remain uncomfortable with others to be with? Truth is one of the few things that save us from suffering. But, what truth are we searching for? Our truth? Everyone has a subjective and false perception of the truth. Being oneself is not entirely easy, or rather, it is not easy to see if what we call ourselves, is really what we think it is. It is easy, however, to incur the error of being misunderstood and marginalized, just because others do not clearly accept what we say, think , and do. This does not always coincide with what we are on our deepest levels. Being true, more real, more what we really are, does not lead us to any emancipation. Indeed, a degree of integrity is what enables us to earn through time, a degree of respect from other persons,

even from those who think differently from us. The core of the problem is not the result of the freedom we eventually achieve, but rather our deeply rooted need to be understood and accepted by others. Being ourselves doesnt necessarily mean to be accepted. In fact, an objective or subjective truth has a philosophical value which must be kept separate from the attitude of being accepted. If we are honest, sincere, and upright towards ourselves and others, this has a value that lies in the field of ideas, an uncontaminated sphere without any interference from the external needs of achieving some social acceptance. Indeed, this is the place of ethics, where lies the perception of what is right and good. Although this concept is subjective to changes through time, and cannot be objective, it remains uncontaminated, more pure and sincere, therefore, of positive value.

This noble attitude loses all its purity and positive values when driven by the presumption of being understood, of being acknowledged and recognized as good or intelligent, at whatever the cost. Suffering does not arise from the misunderstanding of others, but exclusively from our compulsive need to be understood and accepted. If we search the causes of our dissatisfaction, they have not to be searched in an outside world which creates suffering through ignorance, but by the need to be recognized and accepted by that world. So, the cause lies in ourselves, not in the external world. Being what we are, as we are is an expression of the inner freedom deeply rooted in the field of philosophical principles uncontaminated by every human need. Being and having may be compatible, but Being and to covet possessions, not!! So, what must we do? Taken from my personal and subjective point of view, the answer to this question is quite simple: be ourselves, if we can and as we can, without any pretension of

attracting the attention of the external world which surrounds us. Love without any additional feeling, only for the purpose of Love. Express your points of view without any pretense. Express your inner needs without too many pretensions. If we do this, perhaps we will discover that the world is not as dull as it seems. But, to do this, we must be captivated by the thirst for knowledge, knowing who we really are, and what we really want. The only right question , is to ask if we have the courage to do it.

Sailing Towards our Freedom

What means being really free? Freedom is a state of consciousness, or better said, it depends on our level of being. Its a state of Being! Freedom doesnt depend on what we do, but from the way we live. In fact, being free doesnt mean doing what we want at a determined moment, but rather having the privilege of feeling what our real needs are, and what we want from our life, despite of all the conditionings, guilt feelings, and various fears. So, a free man/woman is one who doesnt have a sense of guilt, fear, or preconception which could prevent him from feeling his real needs and desires, without influences which could block its expression. We are all slaves until we are prevented from finding the true meaning of our existence. And anyone can achieve this aim (even partially), bringing the baggage of fear to make some mistake, or fearing others or his own judgments. How could a human being live according to his true nature in such conditions? It is impossible. In the condition we are in, in todays society, freedom is a thing that must be conquered. This can be achieved only through overcoming the obstacles which prevent us from looking into ourselves and by living in accordance with what we find within. The key to begin this conversion from slavery to freedom is admitting that we are still slaves, that freedom is only a word, not a fact.

Of course, choosing a true freedom is a very difficult task. We feel like a prisoner who had been confined for years and is afraid of being free, so he prefers the safety of his jail. A man/woman who chooses to be free is in a similar position. He has to face all his fears of making some mistake, an emotion inculcated by many years of social conditioning, and enforced by the consequent sense of guilt. It is very difficult to slip the moorings, and this causes a sense of trembling because he/she has the sense of losing all the illusionary, but well-known sense of safety. But the only way to achieve this safeness is to enter the unknown this deep and strange sea, escaping from the isle which drives us to slavery, and sail towards our freedom.

Ways to Achieve a Better State of Awareness

Sometimes, many persons, new seekers along the path of inner development, dont understand what it really means to observe themselves. What does it mean to make a space between them , to take a look and see what they are as they are, such as they observe some other person, a friend, or a strangersomeone who is not themselves? They do not know the correct way to understand how to perform such a challenging task. How to begin? It would be useful to observe a dog, a cat or a bird moving between people. Its a simple thing to do. Observing them, we become more aware of the fact that their degree of attention is nonexistent. Their attention is directed to someone, then, at the first external sound or movement, their attention moves to the new object of their identification. It is also worth observing the dogs eyes: they are so expressive that we can perceive the exact moment they change their emotional state. In the animal realm, it is so simple to perceive fragmented attention, always susceptible to the reactions of the external world. After having performed such experimental observation, if we are able to maintain even such low degrees of attention to do this, lets try the same observation with the persons around us. A crowded bar would be a good laboratory to perform this experiment. So, observing with attention and patience, we will be astonished by the similarity between human and animal behavior in this field of

consciousness. We can notice a persons mechanicalness in their manner of walking, the vacuity in their gaze and the fact that their center of attention constantly changes. Looka shop window!! The new Armani collection for this winter!! Waitwaitlets stop here for a momentI would like to seeNomaybe another time, Ive remembered that I have to do one thingbut, now I would like to drink a good coffeeno, maybe an ice cream is betteroh, that itch on my backwhats on tv this evening? Their gazes pass from one thing to another. It seems that these two lovers at the next table are speaking. But, they dont communicate. They are speaking without any interest, each of them distracted by what is happening around them. Absence in their eyes, absence in their heartsthey arent really together. Sitting in a popular bar among others: such a marvelous and horrible thing. The more we develop the ability to observe, the more we become aware of the fact that persons cant really do anythingnothing...everything happens. What they are speaking is accidental, such as the various things which attract their attention from moment to moment.

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Now, with such a new point of view, with such new consciousness of what surrounds us, lets make another step: let us observe ourselves! Maybe, we stand up and start walking such as the others do. Yes, walking, looking at a shop windowsome new PC, a shirt, a blouse, what we have to do during this dayWait! Didnt we say that we have to observe ourselves? So, why do we astonishingly catchourselves looking at the new Armani collection,

sticking our nose on the shop window? When did it happen that we have lost the attention of our purpose? Is it a joke? An exaggeration? Try it on yourself. Its a very interesting fact, something that everyone who has performed some work on himself could testify. Amazing! At the beginning, when we catch ourselves in such conditions, when we notice that we dont have a continuity of consciousness, we feel a sense of fear. Not panic, but a slight sense of discomfort. But this emotion vanishes once we realize that all those who surround us live their lives in the same situation, but never assumed or perceived the problem. Progressively, we begin to see things and persons with different eyes: an angry or altered friend, an impulsive reaction of a mate, our attitudes towards all those to whom we felt a sense of embarrassment, authority, and all the rest. When we start to perceive the things from this different point of view, then, this fear of our condition begins to vanish. Progressively, if we are lucky, in us arises a desire to know and understand more and morewe develop the wish of becoming more awake, more aware, freeing ourselves from all those people and situations who treated us as foolish. Butits not so simple, thats true. Probably, the day after, waking up from sleep, well forget our purpose to continue such work. Thats our loss of continuity...continuity in our purposes, continuity in our consciousness. Maybe, instead of continuing this work, a different part of our fragmented personality will choose to drink coffee, or making a trip to Alabama.

Through Sincerity Comes Security (and Unity)

Just a short pondering about relations between human beings. The question about sincerity is almost a daily topic in a persons mind. Are others sincere towards us? Are we sincere towards others? Are we sincere with ourselves? There is another question which may arise in our minds: is it possible to establish a friendship or a relationship on reciprocal Loyalty, Trust, and Freedom, maintaining the same relations as pure, innocent, unharmful? Loyalty, Trust, and Freedom are qualities that should be the foundation in every type of relationship, both in friendship and in love. It should also provide the fundamental basis in the relationships between all human beings. Such relationships are surely possible. Eventually, we may meet someone who shares the same ethical points of view, or someone who has a different point of view that deems them as fair and highminded. However, to require these qualities of loyalty, trust and freedom in a relationship may mean that we may be solitary for a very long time. Perhaps the world in which we live, is a kind of crossroad. I think never more than the present time, we need people capable of believing in universal values based on true love, who can never be separated from freedom and fairness.

To achieve what we need and want, we should do one thing: to continue to be honest with ourselves, and at least, with whom we say we love. Who dares, wins!

The Theory of the Four Bodies (a never-ending story)

.The following text is a short consideration of a never-ending researchso, be patient, receptive, and open-minded. According to ancient teachings, a man has four bodies: physical, emotional, intellectual, and causal. Different from many other esoteric disciplines, the Fourth Way system says that a mechanical man normally has only the first body the physical. The other three bodies are only a possibility. This concept often causes confusion among the seekers, and this theory is often ignored or even ridiculed by the followers of the various factions of the New Age movement. Let us put aside the considerations of these individuals who follow only beliefs instead of the effort of creating an objective reason a healthy function of their intellectual center. Let us also put aside the purely theoretical considerations. Lets begin to think with a clear mind. So, does a man have the subtle bodies or are they only a possibility? In my experience, the answer for both questions is yes and no. It would be better to say that the superior bodies exist as a possibility. I dont consider the sentence they are only a possibility, because this omits the existence of something that is possible to develop in a concrete body. But to understand something about this argument, it is best to start from the beginning. What is a body? What does it mean? And the core question- what is a subtle body?

Ordinarily, when we speak about the subtle-higher bodies, we create an image related to our physical vehicle and assign to them the same form: two hands, two legs, eyes, head and so on. Is this a correct interpretation? Maybe! But, if we search to the etymological meaning of this word, we see that the body has its concrete meaning: this word derives from the Latin corpus, and it means agglomerate, a whole. Now, we can suppose a bit objectively, that the body means a whole of something, of some substance. The physical body is the ensemble of all the flesh, the bones, the organs, and all that is part of him. In the same manner, we can say that the emotional body is a whole of all we perceive as emotions. The intellectual body is the whole of our thinking and thought system. We, or better said, I, can say nothing about the causal or spiritual body, because I cannot perceive the substance that can model it. So, this is a possible answer to the above mentioned the subtle bodies are only a possibility. We have all the necessary stuff to make a superior body, but it remains useless if we dont use it. First of all, we cannot recognize nor administer our emotions, so these emotions remain scattered and disconnected. One moment we feel peace, the other moment, anxiety. This may change a thousand times during one day. This consideration can be applied for the intellect: we cannot control nor administer our thoughts. They change steadily. So, the subtle bodies exists in all of us as a possibility, but they are like an atrophied muscle: they need to be trained to become concrete and efficient. The training to achieve this aim is well-known by the seekers on this path: selfobservation, constant efforts, discipline, intentional sufferings, and objective faith. This is the only way Ive perceived it in my experience, and I ponder that an experience is better than a thousand theories.

Attention and Concentration

Attention is a state of conscious presence, most important for those who want to achieve a better state of awareness. This ability can and may be constantly trained. As known, the individual degree of focusing capacity differs from person to person. For example, we enter a room, stay there for a few minutes, and once we leave it, we can remember very little of what weve seen inside the room. This is an example of a lower degree of attention. The more we develop the capacity for observation, the more we increase the state of attention. There are no limits and there are no specific targets. This is a state of watchful presence to 360 degrees, which can vary in duration, amplitude, and intensity. Concentration is ones ability of focusing his/her attention on one specific point. We can train our concentration in keeping us engaged in a technique, in performing a task, or fixing the mind on solving a determined problem (in this case, I recommend the practice of pondering). Exercising our attention in our everyday life being aware of our gestures, actions, words, thoughts and emotions (our own and others emotions), as well as environments and situations related to the development of concentration (trained through meditation or while learning something intentionally), is the best and most effective way to achieve a higher degree of awareness. Through such education, this state becomes natural and spontaneous, and we achieve the rare ability of focusing intentionally on everything that surrounds us.

Awareness and Continuity of Consciousness

Awareness is a part of the extraordinary and single immaterial manifestation of our nature, which cant be measured and weighed. The mind, evolved through the sensory and material perceptions, cannot perceive something that is outside time and space, so it cannot understand consciousness. The degree of individual awareness cant be evaluated from the outside, it can only be experimented on by the subject who experiences it. The only valuation that can be done is when we observe another subject who has a lower degree of awareness. What is awareness? It is the conscious perception of us in the world. The intelligence, sensibility, wisdom, the emotional balance, the capacity for love and other things, are aspects related with selfawareness. When this aspect expands over the normal degree, man transcends the natural consciousness and enters into the spiritual sphere: this is the aim of the inner path. In the late nineteen nineties (1997-1998), I had been involved with my teacher and some other students in experiments about awareness, where the aim was to evaluate individual awareness. In this occasion, we had learned in practice that awareness can be defined in three degrees: duration, frequency, amplitude. Through these three parameters, we had the possibility to observe our degree of awareness and its increase. Duration means how long we can maintain the state of awareness. Our mentor gave us a simple exercise based on the observation of the breath dynamics (inbreath-outbreath) without modifying

anything, while accomplishing our daily tasks. The beginners of this group, without education on concentration, were capable in maintaining a voluntary and unified awareness at least two to three minutes before a thought or an external mechanical dynamic diverted their attention. The capacity of the other expert students was a little bit higher. Two or three minutes of intentional attention is too little time to accomplish a serious task such as trying to change ourselves. The second aspect of the experiment, the frequency, was how much we were able, during one day, to recover the awareness of ourselves; in brief, how many times during a day we were able to remember ourselves. Our mentor gave us a practice: to keep in our pocket a string and to make a knot every time we remembered to recover the attention on ourselves. At the end of the evening, we had the exact number of times that we remembered to observe ourselves during the day. Those two aspects are very important to become aware that we lose constantly, the attention on a specific object. The exercises explained above are simple and useful tools to work on our awareness. The duration of voluntary consciousness is brief, but if we can increase the frequency of recovering our attention during the day, our intentional awareness can be increased. The problem, in fact, is not only that the duration of ones awareness is too brief, but even that we are aware just a few times during a day. The third aspect to determine ones awareness is the amplitude. This aspect allows us to reach the possibility of inner growth, emancipating ourselves from the mechanicity of daily life. Different from the duration of awareness, when we must bring our concentration to a single object, the amplitude involves the expansion of the same process how many things we can consciously perceive at the same time.

This was the experiment: we had to enter a room, look around for 15 to 20 seconds, then exit and write on a paper, the objects we had memorized. Then, to verify how many objects we had perceived. Those who tried this experiment, knows how only few of the objects one is capable of remembering the first time. This is the basic amplitude of ones awareness. Awareness means continuity, and this isnt a natural quality of human beings, but it can be acquired through serious training. We lack integrity; normally, we pass from one to another I of our fragmented personality, and the fact of assembling together some minor events of the day, gives us the illusion of continuity. We are sure that we remember all the facts of one day in all their segments. Actually, we fix only the essential features of one circumstance, those who have attracted our attention more and produced a higher degree of attention. Even this theory can be proven: the evening before bed, try seriously to switch back to the events of the day without cheating. I am lying in bed and closed my eyes. Before, I entered the room and I turned on the lightand back with memory to the morning when I woke up. Youll be surprised of how little you can evoke the situation of the day just passed.

Being and the Theory of Reincarnation

Knowing ourselves doesnt mean recognizing what makes us different from others, such as enjoyments, desires, ambitions, and personal abilities. It means understanding the functions and structure of the human machine with the aim of obtaining perfect control of ourselves and our lives. As written in the previous posts on this and other blogs, on many web pages, and, of course in many good and useful books, the means to achieve this goal is the development of the capacity to observe. One of the main and often most misunderstood fields on selfdiscovery, is what the ancient traditions called by the name Being or Essence, which is the immaterial and permanent reality. Every human being is composed of two parts: the real and the unreal. The illusory is the non-permanent and imaginative part. This illusory part of ourselves, is the personality, and we are almost totally identified with this field. The real, genuine part of ourselves is the Essence, which is with us from our birth, before the formation of the personality. The personality is acquired through time. The Essence is innate and does not change with education and external circumstances. Instead, the personality changes according to the changes of the external environment. The Essence is the immaterial part of us which survives physical death, almost always wrongly called by some religions as Soul. Affirming that the Essence is a part of

us is incorrect, because We are the Essence! Personality is the temporary form which we use to experience material life. To better explain our deep identification with the personality, we will use here the example of the Greek legend of Narcissus, who, upon looking at his image in a pond, falls in love with the image he sees, and dies drowned in the waters of life. So, he loses his selfconsciousness. Personality is a term which derives from Greek, and it means mask. Indeed, this is a mask intended as a superimposed form which covers our Nature. Below the color, form, and consistence of this mask, there is a concrete and real substance; the Essence. For a better understanding of the concept of being or essence, we will take water as an example, a perfect analogy to help in forming a better idea of what this complex, and infinitely more fascinating part of us, than what we would ordinarily claim to be. We can find water in various forms: liquid, solid (ice) and gas (steam). It moves from one state to another, changing quality and consistency. By boiling water, it becomes steam, which then condenses and becomes liquid. When exposed to lower temperatures, it becomes ice. So, what is water? A gas? A liquid? A solid? Or all of the qualities which enable it to change form without losing its essence? What is its essence? It is a set of qualities and not the forms through which it manifests itself. Similarly, the Essence is related to human life as is the essence of water with the various forms it takes. The true man and true woman is the Being. Bodies, race, personality, thoughts, emotions, and functions of the human machine are the temporary constants that we use to understand, learn, and feel, in order to experience the environment in which we live. By identifying with the form, we forget our true nature. This depends on the lack of an education which would allows us to recollect what we really are. What we ordinarily claim to be teachers, artists, writers, accountants or otherit doesnt

matter, its all false, thus, irrelevant. Everything we think of as us, is in principle, false. In the ancient cultures, the concept of reincarnation is deeply related to the concept of Essence. It doesnt matter if we believe or not in reincarnation. Its a subjective thing, therefore irrelevant, such as any other thing which we believe without direct experience. We will handle this concept according to eastern philosophy which begins from the point of Essence. According to these teachings, this principle our true nature, tries to understand the nature of the Universe through a long process of experiences, achieving this through many lives, different forms, cultures and so on. The goal of these experiences is to achieve the Divine Consciousness, and this means achieving the higher state of consciousness and the powers which characterize it. The ancient knowing, hands down the existence of different planes or worlds, more subtle than the material matter which composes our Universe. The Essence, our true nature, is consciousness, not substance. Such as water, the Essence assumes a specific substance to experience its own evolution in a specific way, which ideally ends with complete conscious enlightenment. For every human being, experiencing matter represents an important step in the evolutionary path, and it is repeated through various cycles of lives. At every birth, all the memory of the past life experiences arise only if an individual achieves the complete control of his psycho-physical machine, reconnecting consciously with the memories hidden in the deepest parts of his true self. The fact that we forget our true nature- what we really are, is due to the bad and incomplete education acquired, and from the absence of a valid teaching which would enable us to return to ourselves (Awakening).

Conscious Evolution: From Nothing to Objective Reason

According to ancient knowledge, men have the possibility to experience four basic states of consciousness basic, because every one of these states have different degrees. Two of them are naturalthat means experienced by everyone. The other two cant be spontaneous, and represent the result of a conscious evolution developed through a path dedicated to inner research. The fours states of consciousness are the sleep, walking state, selfconsciousness and objective consciousness. Sleep and the dreaming state is the main argument of many texts. We usually think that we live in a condition of conscious awakening because we can perceive the different degrees of consciousness when we are dreaming or when we are awake, and this leads us to the illusion that we can really perceive ourselves and life in general. Sleep is a subjective and passive state. While sleeping, we are involved in dream dynamics and our psychic functions work without any logic, continuity, or cause. Echoes from the past and vague perceptions such as noises, physical perceptions, muscular contraction and pain passes through our mind without leaving any coherent input. It must be said that what happens during our sleep is strictly related to our individual awareness: the degree of awareness during the dream state reflects our level of awareness during our daily life. There is a possibility to experience different experiences

from those described above, but only one is for developing a higher state of self-awareness. There are some practices which offer this opportunity, e.g., the tantric Buddhist tradition has a practice of the Milam or Nylam, the practice of the Illusory Body, commonly known by the West as Dream Yoga. This practice permits an increasing clarity and lucidity to both waking and sleeping, removing the hindrances and obstacles for a higher awareness. It is important to warn that this practice, if not related to a mindfulness practice during the walking state, can make emotional discomforts. In fact, during the lucid dreaming, there is a lengthening of the R.E.M. phase, increasing the production of serotonin and provoking depressive states. In the group I was part of in the early nineties, some of the practitioners were spellbound by this practice to the degree that they left the daily practice and dedicated all their attentions to the dreams: this had harmful consequences to their emotional states, and some of them still bear today, those consequences. So, if you are interested in such practices, be careful. The walking state does not differ much from the sleep state. A man conditioned by his identifications and fragmented personality constantly loses his awareness, and he cant perceive this because he has the illusion of continuity determined by memory. When we wake up in the morning, we perceive a state of awareness as a result of yesterdays memories, a continuum that creates the image of our life. It is correct to say that, during our daily routines, we experience states of sleep and partial awareness: in fact, we lose our awareness approximately every two minutes but often even after a few seconds when we change the object of our partial attention, varying mechanically the emotional states and mental processes. Similarly, during the sleep state, our consciousness has similar variations, because the quality of our memories depend on the

individual degree of awareness. What we remember of our dreams is not very relevant. The absence of a qualitative awareness prevents the recording in our memory of concrete images, with the exception of very intensive dream experiences which happens in the walking state, that can momentarily increase our level of attention. During our sleep, emotions, thoughts, and desires corresponding to our aspirations, fears, and needs, ordinarily covered in our subconscious mind, arises. During those moments, it is very difficult to distinguish which are the reflections of our real needs, and which comes from the external impressions. The second state is the walking state, and this happens when we wake up, speak, work, imagining that we are awake. This is a state of relative consciousness, or dream-like state, when the sleep degree of attention remains. But now, we achieve a critical attitude towards situations and impressions, a better administration of our thoughts, higher reactions to sensory impressions, feelings, and desires. Walking state is less subjective than the sleep state, because we have the possibility to distinguish what we are from what we are not, our body from other objects. But, nobody can affirm that this is a real state of awareness because all the perceptions perceived are illusory, contradictory, more similar to the illusory perceptions of the dream states. We act in a state of sleep of consciousness, but we dont know this. Generally, this is a concept that is difficult to accept, but let us consider how many times during our life experiences, someone has told us, or we told someone: Hey! Wake up! Are you sleeping? This is only an expression, or the unconscious perception of a reality we are not commonly aware of. The ancient traditions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, Yoga and others, defined this the ordinary waking state as sleep of consciousness, to accentuate the fact that human beings experience a not very high perception of reality and themselves

during sleep. Even the Gospels have many references to this situation: e.g., Jesus answers to Peter when he asked him to linger to participate at the funeral of his parent: Peterfollow me and let the dead bury their dead. Still, our illusory life loses its meaning when we become aware of the fact that we havent the qualities we think we have. Its my subjective opinion that the meaning of life might be to attain at least the third state of consciousness, or self-awareness, and this state is not often a subject of our experiences; it can be naturally experienced for few and rare moments as a result of external influences such as when we feel a real danger or during intense, unexpected or traumatic situations. But these experiences are only a low degree of the awareness one can achieve with conscious labor. Self-remembering is the empirical understanding of what we really are independently of the conditioned ideas we have of ourselves. Its an I am said with a full and conscious understanding of its meaning, not an illusory perception of a small I, but the perception of our unity in a real I behind the appearances and conditioning acquired during our past experiences. The main feature of this state of awareness is its non-mechanical reaction to external stimulus. A man becomes objective in regard to himself. He perceives the reality of his emotions, thoughts and aspirations. When someone tells us about this level of consciousness, we usually say that this state is well known: that happens because in every moment we confuse the intense identification with an I or a group of Is to our true nature. Society doesnt provide education about the fragmented personality. We are not aware of a possible existence independent of the identifications. Honestly, human beings in general, havent any idea of what they really are nor the fact that they have the possibility to develop a stable and permanent center of wakeful awareness in themselves.

In ancient times, the East substantially accepted the idea of the ignorance about ones nature. Ancient disciplines such as IndoTibetan Yoga had the aim to lead the practitioners from a walking state to self-remembering and, from this state to the objective consciousness, the fourth and last state known. This state is as far as possible of what we can imagine by our ordinary situation, and is almost impossible to explain in words. But, perhaps we can define the meaning of the term objective. So, objective iswhat it is as it isan immutable reality that is not interpreted by ourselves, and it remains as it is independently of our opinions. Everyone can have some subjective conception of existence, determined by his subjective experience, research, and education. But the real sense of life continues to be what it was from the beginning- immutable and independent from mans subjective opinions. We can believe, that when we die, well fall into total emptiness, nothing, that well continue our existence in Heaven or Hell depending on our actions during our physical life. We can also believe that we will be transferred into new dimensions where well learn new things, before we return to continue our existence on Earth, lost in a never-ending cycle of rebirths to realize the absolute truth, or that we must struggle to achieve a Soul. Or we can believe that the Archangel Michael from the Pleiades will come with his flying source and take our astral body to bring us to a place where beings live in the Fourth Dimension. It doesnt matter what our opinion is, because it is influenced by our culture, tradition, beliefs, or the specific sensing: an objective reality exists, and if our heart stops pumping, something objective would really happen Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation, our life taken by the Moon, a cheerful brigade of Pleiadians or the Nothing. The objective would manifest itself despite of all our opinions, hopes, and beliefs.

Thats objective! The true nature of things, more ancient and vast of human theories and subjective concepts. Objective means real. We can change terms and philosophical conceptions, theories, religion, systems, or expound our truth on Facebook or Twitter or on other networkswho cares? Reality would not change. Objective remains what it is as it is. In such an objective state of consciousness, a man can enter into the Real World, detached by the dreams and subjective thoughts that bring us far from the reality that is here, now, one inch from our noses. So, this is a state in which one can perceive the reality of all phenomena, of ourselves and the world which surrounds us. This is the real transcendence of all our illusions about wholeness. This is not my opinion, Im not so arrogant and pompous to speak about such things, as some described in my posts, without any sense of remorse. This is what people who have relatively reached this state who explained to me, andhow do I know that those individuals have reached such a state? Anyone who has made some contact with similar persons can understand how, and can also understand the real meaning of getting in contact with what is defined in the Fourth Way System C-Influence. This is a contact with the real source of real Knowing. C-Influence means a source of objective knowing that, as explained by the same term, can influence our state of consciousness and bring us to the possibility to achieve a better state of awareness and consciousness. You can really feel for the first time in your life some glimpse of truth (and this can be reached only by those who have developed an attitude of an empirical nature). It is not a School that allows contacts with such influence, but who teaches in that school: it doesnt matter if this is a Fourth Way, Buddhist, Taoist, Yoga, or other qualitative ancient system. The source is important, and this source is related by who teaches, not by the name of a school. And, the last thing I wish for all of us

(including myself) is to not fall into illusions shared by fictional Gurus or Prophets, able only to sell illusions to those who follow them. Not one of us need this. I dont wish for anyone such an experience. Some of you could take this as a sort of Heresy, and put to me every kind of Anathema. Whos that nave child that writes such idiocy? But, again, this would be only a subjective reaction, but the truth remains always the same. I would like to finish this text explaining the meaning used when I wrote above about individuals who reached relatively some degree of that consciousness. Yes, there are logically different degrees of Objective Consciousness. Discover empirically (from first hand experience) the causes covered behind the phenomena of life, knowing the real human nature in his Universal, and not personal meaningthese are different levels of objective experience. Objective consciousness depends on the broadmindedness of ones experimentation. Once we have an approximate idea of such a state, we understand that the limits of this experience depends on the individuals capacities to expand it. There are many stories about ancient masters capable of travelling to higher dimensions of consciousness completely strange to common men, and entered into contact with other forms of life. Theres the story explained by Fritz Peters about an experience after the Second World War when he was healed in a moment by Gurdjieff from a nervous breakdown. The master sent to him some kind of blue energetic ray, and all his pains disappeared in a moment. Belief or not in those things is irrelevant, because the reality remains always the same: as it is. Those who could live in states of awareness might not really be interested if we believe or not. Seeking the truth means stopping to give importance to our ideas, stop to identify ourselves with the safeness of our opinions: its the development of an Objective Reason despite of all dogmas imposed

from religions, philosophies, society or many development systems. Reality never changes, it is always there, always one, always the same. Its our choice if we decide to discover this reality passing from the field of effects to the field of the causes, or to remain as we are now, immersed in our subjective beliefs, at the mercy of a reality that shows to our beliefs, the same interest we show to insects.

Mechanicity and the Apparent Impossibility of Self-Freedom

The evolution of man can be taken as the development in him of those powers and possibilities which never develop by themselves, that is, mechanically. Only this kind of development, only this kind of growth, marks the real evolution of man. There is, and there can be, no other kind of evolution whateverIn speaking of evolution it is necessary to understand from the outset that no mechanical evolution is possible. The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness. And consciousness cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and will cannot evolve involuntarily. The evolution of man is the evolution of his power of doing, and doing cannot be the result of things which happen. P.D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous, pp.56,58

One of the peculiar characteristics of human beings is to defend their preformed and crystallized thought and opinions. Everyone of us EVERYONE!!! , without exception, has a tendency to not recognize that he had missed something and, maybe misunderstood things and situations, and this characteristic comes from a doubt about our identity. In fact, we perceive ourselves through the convictions and information acquired during many years of

existence. Without those convictions, we feel unstable, like a ship lost at the mercy of the waves of the sea. Ordinarily, we dont know another method how to be conscious of ourselves, but this method, unfortunately, is not self consciousness. This is a state of constant fear that we live in every day. We fear all that comes from the outside, that is seen (or felt) as a potential factor of disaggregation of all the opinions we have about life and ourselves. Such kind of mechanicity is the source of all love conflicts, the end of friendships, and all the ideological and religious wars we witness in the modern world. Another harmful aspect of this attitude is the total impossibility to develop an open and healthy intellectual growing process. The rationality developed in the last centuries contributes to increasing the idea that we are our thoughts and our ideas; the consequence of this is that we have the tendency to protect and justify our ideas, and that means the protection of what we think we are (mechanical self-preservation). I said that this is a tendency common to all of us, even more for the followers of the Fourth Way system (me included). If you dont believe this theory, then just take a look at the blogs, texts, and replies: to be honest, ninety percent of the replies seem to be a sort of clash of ideas about this or that other concept, instead of a constructive exchange of ideas (I hope this will not be the case of this network, because it is my opinion that such manifestations of self-importance have no utility and are very harmful). Another problem is that men generally think that our psychophysical structure is stable and developed, and that we have all the necessary requirements to learn how to develop ourselves: we think we are complete. But the ancient systems of self-development tell us another story. In different kinds of ways, with different words, Yogis, Buddhists, Taoists, Zen, Kabbalah, Zoroastrians, alchemists, and ancient philosophers recalled and recall even today to take an accurate and

practical examination of the human condition. The human being is a being in a state of evolution, and that development is not automatic. It requires a conscious effort and an understanding of the dynamics one has to change. Different from the animal and vegetal realm, we have psychic, emotional, and spiritual potentials which may allow us to realize and achieve higher spheres of consciousness, much different than the reality we ordinarily perceive. But this is only a possibility, a choice, because ordinarily, we are not educated to recognize and use our potentials, so we lose the possibility of perhaps, a better life. To use common and adequate terms, we can call this possibility a conscious development, because ones nature can only be of a conscious source. But, such development cant be a sort of d.i.y. method, as many New Age followers believe. Its true, we are all different individuals, but to achieve a possibility for self-growth, we need external help, because without a sober and adequate system, we cant escape the mechanicity and unconscious state we experience in everyday life. Everyone claims freedom, authority and control of his life, but when someone disagrees with our illusory convictions, we became irritated. This is our pride. When I first met my mentor (teacher), he told me that I am a monkey, that all I can do is peel bananas when Im hungry, and the only thing I can do is to take my baggage of convictions and flush them into the toilet and start from the beginning. Likeable, isnt it? Of course, my reactions were anger and frustration, but this helped me to begin to understand that maybe he was right. This is true, almost all human beings cant administer and have control of their life. There are many businessmen, artists, researchers that have many social and economic successes, and those individuals are certain that they have total control of their life, but, whats the price of that success? In most of the cases, loss of health, no private life, nervous diseases

On the other side, there are individuals capable of creating a harmonic and calm life, a sort of inner space, a privacy, taking care of their health and convinced to have achieved a stable emotive balance. But they are absolutely incapable to fight for themselves, to take care of their families and achieve a minimal economic stability. Two opposite situations, the same source. Everyone can be successful in one or some field of their life, but in another field, they are always victims of accidental events. We dont know ourselves, but the most serious problem is that we ignore this. One of the greatest causes, the source of all our emotional pains, is our mechanicity, and this is a concept that is ignored by the majority of people. We have the tendency to have mechanical reactions when stimulated by external situations according to welldefined schemes, determined by ones birthplace, century, education, social conditioning and life experiences. These are the individual reasons for our mechanicity. There are also reasons concerning humanity determined by centuries of collective consciousness. The common fear of the dark is an instinctive reaction present in our genetic code, and derives from ancient ages when life was put at risk by aggressions by animals, other tribes, bandits. These are all mechanical reactions typical of mans nature, recorded in our genetic code. So, we act almost exclusively through reaction. Every situation makes us react in a different manner: when one criticizes us, when we strain our habit with coffee, with climatic conditionsalmost every thing we do, feel, think during the day is mechanical. Every one of those situations causes a different emotive state. And the majority of men consider this natural. This is the mechanicity, the tendency to modify our behaviors dependent on external situations. Every action has its reaction.

The struggle against our mechanicity and loss of consciousness is one of the first and most important steps in the field of inner work. First, one must realize his loss of autonomy, not only intellectually, but in practice. We react as a machine. Only if we realize this, we may change something. The mechanical is also a state of irresponsibility, a state of unconsciousness that can have very harmful consequences: in fact, in this state, we can have the most terrible reactions, such as offensive language, physical violence, mobbing, or even homicide. The ancient teachings use the term Conscious Evolution to describe the possibility of de-mechanization, and underline the necessity of a concrete system, because without such help, one cannot overcome the deep state of unconsciousness and mechanicity.

Being and the Theory of Reincarnation

Knowing ourselves doesnt mean recognizing what makes us different from others, such as enjoyments, desires, ambitions, and personal abilities. It means understanding the functions and structure of the human machine with the aim of obtaining perfect control of ourselves and our lives. As written in the previous posts on this and other blogs, on many web pages, and, of course in many good and useful books, the means to achieve this goal is the development of the capacity to observe. One of the main and often most misunderstood fields on selfdiscovery, is what the ancient traditions called by the name Being or Essence, which is the immaterial and permanent reality. Every human being is composed of two parts: the real and the unreal. The illusory is the non-permanent and imaginative part. This illusory part of ourselves, is the personality, and we are almost totally identified with this field. The real, genuine part of ourselves is the Essence, which is with us from our birth, before the formation of the personality. The personality is acquired through time. The Essence is innate and does not change with education and external circumstances. Instead, the personality changes according to the changes of the external environment. The Essence is the immaterial part of us which survives physical death, almost always wrongly called by some religions as Soul. Affirming that the Essence is a part of

us is incorrect, because We are the Essence! Personality is the temporary form which we use to experience material life. To better explain our deep identification with the personality, we will use here the example of the Greek legend of Narcissus, who, upon looking at his image in a pond, falls in love with the image he sees, and dies drowned in the waters of life. So, he loses his selfconsciousness. Personality is a term which derives from Greek, and it means mask. Indeed, this is a mask intended as a superimposed form which covers our Nature. Below the color, form, and consistence of this mask, there is a concrete and real substance; the Essence. For a better understanding of the concept of being or essence, we will take water as an example, a perfect analogy to help in forming a better idea of what this complex, and infinitely more fascinating part of us, than what we would ordinarily claim to be. We can find water in various forms: liquid, solid (ice) and gas (steam). It moves from one state to another, changing quality and consistency. By boiling water, it becomes steam, which then condenses and becomes liquid. When exposed to lower temperatures, it becomes ice. So, what is water? A gas? A liquid? A solid? Or all of the qualities which enable it to change form without losing its essence? What is its essence? It is a set of qualities and not the forms through which it manifests itself. Similarly, the Essence is related to human life as is the essence of water with the various forms it takes. The true man and true woman is the Being. Bodies, race, personality, thoughts, emotions, and functions of the human machine are the temporary constants that we use to understand, learn, and feel, in order to experience the environment in which we live. By identifying with the form, we forget our true nature. This depends on the lack of an education which would allows us to recollect what we really are. What we ordinarily claim to be teachers, artists, writers, accountants or otherit doesnt

matter, its all false, thus, irrelevant. Everything we think of as us, is in principle, false. In the ancient cultures, the concept of reincarnation is deeply related to the concept of Essence. It doesnt matter if we believe or not in reincarnation. Its a subjective thing, therefore irrelevant, such as any other thing which we believe without direct experience. We will handle this concept according to eastern philosophy which begins from the point of Essence. According to these teachings, this principle our true nature, tries to understand the nature of the Universe through a long process of experiences, achieving this through many lives, different forms, cultures and so on. The goal of these experiences is to achieve the Divine Consciousness, and this means achieving the higher state of consciousness and the powers which characterize it. The ancient knowing, hands down the existence of different planes or worlds, more subtle than the material matter which composes our Universe. The Essence, our true nature, is consciousness, not substance. Such as water, the Essence assumes a specific substance to experience its own evolution in a specific way, which ideally ends with complete conscious enlightenment. For every human being, experiencing matter represents an important step in the evolutionary path, and it is repeated through various cycles of lives. At every birth, all the memory of the past life experiences arise only if an individual achieves the complete control of his psycho-physical machine, reconnecting consciously with the memories hidden in the deepest parts of his true self. The fact that we forget our true nature- what we really are, is due to the bad and incomplete education acquired, and from the absence of a valid teaching which would enable us to return to ourselves (Awakening).

Levels of Being

In Classical Ancient Teachings, it is said that there are four levels of consciousness that the human being can perceive: the sleep state, the walking state, the state of self-awareness and the state of objective awareness, but he ordinarily lives in the first two states and only in special situations when great emotions are involved, he can experience the third state, but almost never the fourth. This is a well-known topic for the practitioners on this path. But, there is also a division that generally is ignored or placed apart, but is even more important to the harmonious development of a man, a knowledge that can improve the achievement of the third and fourth state: the level of our being. The difference between understanding the four states of awareness and the level of our being has to be reached to the particular degree we use to understand them. The theory of the Four states is mathematical, scientific, and admits no exceptions: there are four, and only four states, and every mans awareness can be placed in one of them: so this is a type of global law, as it must be. But, if we speak about the level of being we can suddenly perceive that we cant use any mathematical or scientific system to place ourselves in a determinate degree; the reason is that every man has his degree of being! This is a fact! Even two persons with the same state of consciousness does not have the same degree of being. It is not a law. It is a personal thing. So, if on the earth there are 7 billion people, we have 7 billion different levels of being. As in fingerprints, there are not two same levels of being.

So, lets explain the meaning of level of being.

Levels of Being We all know that there are different social levels, we can see people submerged in politics and there are church people, business people, country folk, etc. In the same manner, there are different levels of being for each individual: magnanimous, petty, generous, mean, violent, peaceful, chaste, lustful, etcThese are the different degrees of the level of being. If our aim is self-development, we must understand and assimilate that concept. There are many levels of being and we are not an exception. This level of being determines the situations that we attract in our daily life. An alcoholic will attract other alcoholics and will always find himself involved with pubs and bars. This is a fact. A lustful person will attract and will be involved in situations of lasciviousness and suffer the consequences that his acts will create. Similarly, each person will attract the situations related to his level of being. This is one of the reasons why what happened to us yesterday will happen again today and will happen again tomorrow. We are creatures of habits, so we always repeat the same things, and when we speak about our mistakes, we never learn the lessons of life. Thats the situation we live in. We always say and do the same things, complain about the same things, and this is like as we wake up every morning on the same Sunday, as we live every day the same day: we are fixed-habit animals who live boring repetitions of our daily dramas, comedies and tragedies. This will continue as long s we carry within all the undesirable elements of anger, greed, lust, envy, pride, laziness, gluttony, and so forth.

So, once we become aware of our situation, how do we escape this miserable condition that harms our life? First of all, we have to ask ourselves a concrete question: What is our level of Being? To escape these repetitions, we must radically change our level of being. We must understand that everything, all circumstances that occur outside of ourselves, on the world stage, are, without exception, the reflection of what we carry within: the exterior is the reflection of the interior. So, when we change internally and the change is radical, then the exterior circumstances of life also change. Where is our level of Being? Have you ever reflected upon this? It is impossible to move to another level if we ignore the state we find ourselves in.

The Scale of Beings First, we must understand that each of us, independently of his social status, work, role, sex,and health is at one or another level of Being. We can imagine a stairway that ascends vertically from beneath us with very many steps. This is the figurative representation of the scale of Being. As said, each person is different, and each person has his level of being: we find ourselves on one of these steps. On the other side, there is a horizontal line that represents the mechanical life of men: the time and years, that of being born, growing, developing, marrying, reproducing, aging and dying all this represent the linear mechanical part of our life. All our life is centered on this horizontal scale that doesnt represent any kind of change. At this level, all things are repetitive, nothing changes. We are slaves of the Law of Randomness.

The scale of being has nothing to do with linear time; on the rungs of such a ladder, we find only levels of Being. The only thing that can change here is the level of being. In fact, instant to instant, immediately above us theres a higher level of Being. There is no time, no past, no future, only the eternal here and now, within ourselves. This is the vertical scale of our life. Personality develops and unfolds on the horizontal line: it is born and dies within its linear transitory time. The levels of Being and the Being itself, doesnt belong to the Law of time. It has nothing to do with the horizontal line, it is within ourselves. It is Now, on the vertical line. It would be useless to search for our own Being outside of ourselves. Neither titles, grades, promotions or money can develop our Being in any way, allowing us to pass to a higher step on the levels of Being. These horizontal and vertical lines meet from moment to moment in our psychological realm and form symbolically, a cross. The level of our Being is here and now, inside of us, in the center of this cross where the horizontal meets the vertical line. So, if we wish to understand our level of Being, we have to search for it in the present moment.

Development of the Being There is a chance to change the level of our being. There is a chance to develop and ascend to a higher step on the vertical line. When we struggle to remember ourselves, when we work on ourselves, when we escape the trap of identifications with all the problems and sorrows of life, we start to walk on the vertical path. Certainly, it is not easy to eliminate our negative emotions, to lose all identifications. There are so many problems in every field of our life in our business, financial situations, emotive situations, etc.

We suffer every moment of our life at every breath we take, and even moment s of happiness are seen with sadness because in some degree of our understanding we know that they are transitory. When we are involved in our own problems, we lose ourselves, our real Being, completely identified with our momentary tragedies. The work on oneself is the fundamental characteristic of the vertical path. Nobody could walk the path of the vertical way if he were never to work on himself. This is a work of a psychological nature; that we need to learn how to live from moment to moment. Anyone who is depressed for emotional, economical, or other problem, obviously doesnt feel himself: he isnt. But, if he would stop for a moment, observe the situation and try to remember himself and then make an effort to understand the mechanics of his attitude, maybe some things would change. It is possible to transform mechanical reactions through logical confrontation and intimate self-reflection on Being, stopping our mechanical reactions to the circumstances of life. Again, this is not a simple task. It needs discipline, and the discipline requires perseverance: those two qualities are the qualities of the real seeker, the walker on the path of his Being. And, the Realm of Being is the only possibility we have to live a real life.

Swimming Against the Flow

The resistance against any kind of change is not only psychological. It drags its roots from the deep and ancient connection between the individual and the environment surrounding him. We can say that all that exists moves in a sort of flow determined by a specific evolutionary process towards the Oneness, with which it will be merged. Our life moves inevitably in this flow. Sometimes, an obstacle slows this progress. Sometimes a chink will accelerate it. This process, which is determined by specific laws, is called by us humans, history. Looking from a Universal point of view, this flow is life itself. But in the eyes of human beings, all this appears so abstract, a sort of mystic vision, because their whole attention is captured by the stones, sand, and shallows of this Universal River. However, some humans have an intense craving to achieve the source of this river, that they prefer to find the source of this immense river by swimming upstream to reach it. This isnt fighting against these laws, but rather, a forcing of some mechanics to generate a possibility contained in some hidden way in the Laws themselves. This is the path of the Seeker. Who seeks cannot stop his progress. The flow drags him at the beginning. This is a voluntary effort, a long and hard path, determined and fed by the individual wish for change. During his swimming against the flow, he will experience inevitably the resistance against his aim in thousands of ways,

because the same flow will claim him under its control. All this is written in the lifes code of this planet. One must replace the old ideas with the new. This is a sort of conscious dying which the seeker chooses every moment of his daily life. But, when one tries to virtually kill himself, his beliefs, his old points of view, the past set of a real conflict, shouting for help, the preconceptions, doubts, fears, and expectations, to avoid the dissolution of what is old. Every pure teaching shows the way and the manner to reach this goal. But this is a distant possibility, because personality has to leave the place to the Being, and when personality feels its end, it begins a war against the Being, whispering that it is still weak in the seeker. All will begin with a rebellion, drawing him to the inertia, to the doubts, to the judgments which generate a sense of powerlessness. But, some have made it, reached the source of this great flow. And if those few had realized this aim, we can do it, also. And if we can do this, many other humans will be able to do it, too. If it is possible for a single individual, this possibility is realizable to some others, and maybe, one day, this possibility would be of public domain. An individual effort to develop is also a part of a much larger, global development. We are driven by those who preceded us to drive those who will begin this path, with our example.

Toward our Inner Freedom

How could we act concretely in everyday life in order to achieve a state of increasing freedom? This is a question which I am sure many of us have in mind almost a few times a week, if not everyday. And this drove me to some considerations I hope will be of some value for some others, as they are of value for me. A true freedom depends primarily on the ability of knowing ourselves, our tendencies and desiresand often our desires replace the needs we have, and our freedom and happiness begin to depend on the degree of satisfaction we achieve during our daily life. If I wish some attention from a girl who sits near me on the bar chair, and I get her attention, then, I am satisfied, happy. I feel more freeotherwise, not. This is the way we usually operate. To understand what freedom is, we must first understand the difference between needs and desires analyzing these two factors is not so simple, but we can outline briefly the following differences: a need is the result of a drive from which we cannot escape. They are natural, primary needs, such as the need to eat, drink, sleep, breathe, and so on. These needs are imposed by our nature and do not harm our inner freedom. Similarly, there are many secondary needs, not dictated by our natural being, but by society, from the culture and conditioning in which we live, and these needs affect our whole life, preventing every kind of real freedom.

Just to make an example: we would need to buy new shoes to fulfill an emotional emptiness, and this is a conditioning, a habit given to us from the consumer society in which we live. Or, the compulsive idea that we must at all costs find a mate, because it is the only way to feel happiness and fulfillment. That is another conditioned need which can lead us to a harmful emotional prison and which comes from the acquired culture and not from our Being. The desires, however, are an expression of our unconditioned nature, which wants to feel and recognize through direct experimentation, the melding of oneself with the world. So, to need a new car or shoes just because otherwise we wouldnt feel realized to others, is a conditioned need. A desire is when we are really and deeply impressed, excited, and attracted by a car which seems to resonate fully to our nature (maybe because it has a determined form or color which attracts our being), or with an object that seems truly wonderful for us because it affects our qualities and makes us emotionally resonate. A desire doesnt imply any attachment. It is a bright and strong driving of our true nature, corresponding to life. So, through the understanding of the difference between our unconditioned desires and social needs, it is fundamental to achieve the possibility of developing our freedom progressively. A free person is really free from any external needs and lives only driven by his desires. Discovering the cruel truth that we are almost totally pervaded by conditioned needs, induces us to search what our real desires and inclinations are, and this helps us to get rid of every conditioning. So, freedom requires a degree of self-knowledge (Know Thyself!). Without self-knowledge, a true freedom is impossible. Being free doesnt mean doing anything we want, at any cost. Indeed, the impossibility to say no to some drive is a symptom of our inner slavery. Freedom lies on the other side: it is connected with the concepts of Will and Knowledge, moving through our lives,

recognizing and understanding our real needs, free from every kind of external interference. This is freedom! Our Inner Freedom!! When we ignore and repress a need or a desire because we are driven by our own limitations (conditionings), then we are slaves of convention. Observing and studying ourselves; finding through meditation practice, a space of silence which makes us closer to our real and unconditioned nature; recognizing the opinions and limitations acquired by society in which we live; developing a Will which could gain some authority over our needs and give us a freedom of choice in accordance with our conscience and reason; dont act exclusively for personal egoism personal, subjective needs. These five points are surely good training to achieve a better freedom

The Trap of Loneliness

What is solitude? It is the total absence of communication with the outer world, one of the most common sicknesses of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is the feeling of the absence of others near us, and the worst thing is when this is perceived amidst a mass of thousands of people. Loneliness is not only the absence of contact with others, but also the absence of contact with ourselves. In fact, communication between two persons requires at least one conscious communicator. Without a deep self-consciousness, even with all the good will of this world, any true and sincere communication is impossible. This is the main cause of the decline of communication between mates. Men and women know almost nothing about their sexuality, their masculinity and femininity. Without a clear perception of being a part of, or of representing one of these principles, it is impossible for any fusion with a partner. And that is the reason why most people are satisfied with a mechanical, stagnant sex, or an undefined mix of feelings and emotions which drive their relationship towards further misunderstanding and solitude. Solitude brings further solitude. Parents are unable to make productive communication with their children, and children are unable to establish communication with their parents. The same happens between love and work partners, politicians, professors, and priests. In reality, all the fields of human life are corrupted by this sickness. But it is logical that it must be so: to perform open communication, we need first to understand and know ourselves, at

least partially. This means that to overcome the pain of solitude, we must first become good friends with ourselves, understanding ourselves more deeply, discovering ourselves and learning to Love ourselves. Thats the focal point, the only good point, to be able to understand and establish a communication with others. When we recognize that other persons suffer our same sickness and weakness, then, we establish the first possibility to communicate, and the weight of solitude begins to vanish. One of the main reasons of incommunicability derives paradoxically from our fear of being misunderstood, being judged, and being rejected. So, manifesting our desires and points of view becomes difficult. Through observing ourselves, we become more able to identify, to understand, and to overcome our fears. Once we achieve the capacity and habit of observing ourselves deeply, we also come to understand relatively better, other people, because everyone in his manner shares the same fears, blocks, and needs.

The Trap of our Self-Pity

Self-pity is one of the worst psychic viruses which harm mens mind. We have all experienced it, its inevitable. It is also one of the often used tools for individual and social blackmail. Everyday we are all victims and often executors of such behaviors. A clear vision is not regarded, and all the sensible persons feel a sense of guilt. We meet a poor person on the road and we have the freedom of giving him money or not. The problem is that in most cases, we are unable to make a choice. We are conditioned to act in a determinate way, so we give him money. We are conditioned by the idea of making something good, but we make something wrong, because acting unconsciously means acting wrongly. I understand that this is perhaps difficult to digest, but an unconscious act is like a gun in the hand of a child: the results are unforeseeable. Its a bad thing even if we dont see the results immediately. Society is a whole of complexes and false and hypocritical behaviors based on the sense of guilt, conditioned by a false love toward another. Loss of interest, egoism, self-ambition, are often covered in such behaviors. It is a common thing saying that our parents are guilty for our behavior, our personality, our fears, and conditioned attitudes. Thats true, they built the first foundation of our lives, made of various you can, you cant or thats good or thats wrong, etc. But childhood, for most of us, has passed many, many years ago, and we still keep this baggage with us. Ive noticed behaviors in myself, my friends, here on Facebook, even in my parentsthats a comical and sad thing at the same time. I have

problems because my father (or mother) was so protective or authoritarian toward me. This is a common alchemical formula of this topic: our parents are guilty and we are only poor, innocent victims (re)acting as a child, even if we are 35 (like I am) or 46 or 53 years old. And we often forget that our parents acted for our good they were unable to do otherwise such as we are unable to do the same: conditioned minds educated by conditioned minds this is the situation. Searching as adults for the guilt in our parents is a perfect example of self-pity. Our parents were unable to change the education they gave us, because they were unable to do otherwise. The real problem (once again), is that we cant make a choice, because as most of us know (not theoretically, but in practice), we cant reach the capacity of being and acting. Self-pity is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving these attitudes. How can we pretend to be able to make some changes if our minds are conditioned? We react, not act. This is the terror of the situation. Another reality is that there is a concrete universal (common) law, which functions for those who are more or less conscious: for every action corresponds an exact reaction. This is not a theory, this is a fact, so it would be better to keep it in our mind as a treasure. This law is of value both for the individual and the collective fields. To get the best results in our lives, we might become able to understand what reactions would bring every action we do, and this requires a better awareness and comprehension of the dynamics which determine our lives. We must be awake. And to become awake we must achieve the faculty of looking at things without masks and other identifications which make many distortions in perceiving reality as it is. Self-pity is one of these masks, or identifications- maybe the most harmful. All men (or women) are the same, I cant live in such conditions, Look what youve made of my life, Hes the worst person Ive ever

met, You cant understand what Im going momentthere are many examples of self-pity. being a little bit aware and of self-critical mind, examples of self-pity in our daily discourses and friends, parents, at work.

through at this Everyone of us, could find many interactions with

Asking for help is not self-pity. Knowing when we really need to be helped is very important. Life is based on interactions, helping each other, understanding each other. Understanding this, means being mature and open-minded. No one can live a healthy life without interacting with others. We survive because we receive help from these realms which provide us the food for our body, mind, and Being. How could we live without food for our emotions, which is derived from nature and the relations with other members of our species? The vision of some kind of Superman who can live without any help from the outer world is unnatural, and the aim of any sober self-development system is exactly the opposite: openness, not closeness. A healthy equilibrated and mature society has its roots in its collective of individuals who have reached the balance between giving and receiving, not for personal and egoistic purposes, but as the result of the statement that all is maintained by unity, a reciprocal collaboration. Self-pity doesnt mean asking for help when we really need it. And it doesnt mean moaning. Sometimes, we have an urge to release our baggage, confessing to a friend who we know can understand our problems, doubts, fears, etc. This can be an expression or a need of our Being. Otherwise, self-pity means enjoying our frustrations, physical or emotive sufferings and discomforts, doing this without any purpose to find some kind of solution to overcome what afflicts us at this moment. If we analyze ourselves and others, well discover that human beings have a tendency toward the behavior of self-pity, and sometimes this becomes a real pathological problem. Human beings are really and deeply attached to their suffering, and this tendency is visible in the fetishistic habit of maintaining alive in

their memory, the ghosts of the individual past, fragments of memory of what was beautiful and fulfilling for them, and which they have lost. We remain morbidly attached to these memories. Persons love to suffer the pain generated by remembering what they have lost: they label such states as melancholy and even love. But, if we look a little deeper and objectively (we dont need any special skill to do this, only sincerity), well see that this is only a kind of fetishism. Nothing more, nothing less. The most curious thing is that these remembrances do not arise to make a sort of joy, but a suffering. Men are very strange animals. Now, how is it possible that people enjoy suffering? This is an important thing to ponder on. Self-pity represents our wish to not free ourselves from pain, and it becomes a sort of nutriment. Generally, this behavior needs external support, the attention of another person is needed. Attracting the attention of the other is the purpose of this kind of self-pity. But, sometimes, this behavior becomes pathological, and the outer attention is not required yet. It becomes an inner dialogue, and the conviction of a suffering that cant be overcome is enough to feed the emotive. This is a very dangerous behavior, and the individual isolates himself from the world, loses every contact with reality, nourishing himself only with suffering. There is another cause for this cancer of the mind: the desire to feel ourselves. This would perhaps sound strange, but almost all people are unable to feel themselves in a natural way. No one has taught us to feel ourselves and we cant do this because we are not awakened. We sleep constantly. But feeling ourselves is our biggest need. If a person does not have a perception of himself, even if false, he is bound for self-destruction. This is the main reason why we wear many types of masks, to feel something, however illusory, of ourselves. The pleasure and pain are the two energies through which we can be conscious of ourselves. They are the most intense expressions in our life. One who feels a pleasure or pain

has a self-presence experience of a different, intense kind. Since childhood we are not educated to feel pleasure, so we dont know how to achieve the intensity of every drive and need. I dont want to say that a man doesnt know how to feel pleasure in his life, but rather that he doesnt know how to make pleasure an art capable of keeping him in a state of constant mental vigilance and emotive intensity. So, he is forced to sense himself through pain and suffering. Maybe these affirmations might seem absurd, but they represent the real condition of every man, and this can be demonstrated through a serious and constant self-observation of ourselves in our daily lives. Observation is the only tool to demonstrate something in a more objective way. The other is dreaming and living our illusory life. So, the tendency to feel suffering and pain develops a false individual center and we achieve the illusory perception of being. The majority of persons are more conscious of the agglomerate of their problems and difficulties and less of the joyous and the beautiful. The tendency for suffering is a common thing for humans in general. Have you ever noticed that the most interesting news in various newspapers are always negative? Have you ever noticed that when an incident happens, every witness has the morbid curiosity to see what has happened, even if they know that what they will see would upset them? They search for a negative shock to live an intense emotive experience. But, how to live an intense emotive experience that is positive? This would be a gift for everyone, but no one has taught us how to do this in this morbid society we live in, based on a repressive religiosity that preaches fear and sense of guilt. To become able to better manage our life, we must free ourselves from the culture of suffering and pain, and discover all the masks of our self-pity. If we dont do this, we will transform our difficulties into a narcissistic from of self-glorification of our misfortunes, blocking every possibility to act efficiently and decisively.

The Wish of Revenge

This is really another main problem along the path toward selfdevelopment. Revenge towards life in general, a response towards the thousands of humiliations we have suffered during our life. Its a reaction related exclusively to our past which prevents us to live our life freely, to be settled right now, in the present moment and our personal inner research. A great and aggressive flow of energy which drives us in the direction of a compensation, a reward we think is our right, a sort of revenge to a presumed failure to transform a serious work directed to achieving a condition of joy and truth, to a recrimination toward what was until now, denied to us. Then, here is the main obstacle on our personal path: our relations toward the material objects, the objects of our desires. A seeker cant escape the problem of living in a materialistic world, filled by the dichotomy produced by the social influences which divide the spiritual from the material. This is really a big problem. Ordinarily, a seeker must convince himself that in order to keep his research pure, it is useless to spend time with things that he considers ephemeral. So, in this way, he develops a snobbish attitude against all material things. This is typical of a person who considers himself too spiritual to descend to human miseries, a sort of intellectual racism which divides progressively, the seeker from his own life,

driving him to live in an illusory world, whose destiny is to fall down with devastating results. Often, this false pureness is a mask to cover our fear to face a real life, which is also material. Indeed, we live in the matter and are made of matter. This incapacity to confront with material life problems, makes the seeker demonize them, labeling as impure which, on the contrary, with its own existence, is the proof of the Divines existence. It is obvious that all the spiritual teachings suggest a detachment, but the reason for such a suggestion is that our behavior remains attached, identified to all things we consider we desire. The practice of self-observation permits the seeker to notice appearances, and to understand how they produce in human beings, a compulsive attachment towards all things which could provide him acceptance by others. But, the guilt does not have to be searched in matter, but in the individual slavery of every nondeveloped human being. All objects are the result of human intelligence, and when they reach a high level of refinement, they become expressions of the human capacity to reach an absolute perfection. The objects are human dreams translated into matter, the best we can do in this limited terrestrial dimension, so they must be accepted, understood, and used in the best way we can without being used by them: they are means, not aims. The quality of an object depends on our desire for Being. They make us slaves addicted to a wish to possess something. consider these objects object of Power, as individual capacity and if we accept to remain This happens when we are goals, aims.

Otherwise, we can use the same objects to emancipate ourselves from all attachments, to burn the Karma which lead us to remain attached to matter.

We might use the objects, choosing those that best represent our individual sensibility, and disregard them when they become useless, without regret, because, although they were ours, we dont belong to them. This is the way of using objects as a means.

The Roots of our Fears

Zen stories are very wise, and every one of them hides a deep teaching for those who can read between the lines. So, lets read this one, trying to put aside our logical mind. This is the story: There was once a man who was terrified of his own shadow and lived in fear of the sound of his own footsteps. Walking along one day, he entered a panic and tried to flee at top speed. But as fast as he ran, his shadow and footsteps kept up with him and made him run all the faster, until he finally collapsed of exhaustion and died. If he had only sat down in the shade of a tree, he would no longer have been able to see his shadow or hear his own footsteps. What is the origin of fear? Why does it exist? Sometimes, why do we find ourselves living this emotion? Is it possible to overcome, transcend or transform? It is really very difficult, almost impossible, to answer such complex questions. This is an argument which represents one of the crucial points of the whole of humanity. Its a legacy of our past, when the environment appeared as a dangerous reality from which we protect ourselves, finding every kind of trick and ploy to survive. Through millennia, all this has evolved from the physical field (the need to survive), to the emotional and mental, permitting the rise of

various emotional insecurities. Through centuries, the human brain had evolved, society became more complex and rich of hints,so even fear has assumed new, more complex and refined forms. Fundamentally, and almost without doubt, we can affirm that fear is the result of the unconscious perception of our smallness. Even if we pretend to not know anything about that, every human being knows that he has no control of his life and knows almost nothing about it. Formerly, religion as seen in its deepest aspect, had the task of exorcising that sense of inadequacy. Today, science has taken the place of religion: we try to exorcise our fears by convincing ourselves that we are able to control Nature and the Laws which manage its existence. However, this isnt an act of doing, or conscious doing, but only an attempt to be reassured. The feeling of having almost no control of our destiny makes us feel unsafe in all aspects of our existence. Many of us try to overcome this sense of inadequacy through achieving psychological and material safety. But, this fact that we are less than a flicker in the whole Universe, is still present. This knowledge generates fear and insecurity which reflect themselves in all the possible fields of our life: fear of robbery, of abuse, of illnesses, of being misunderstood by those who love us, and so on. There is only one positive and effective response to overcome every kind of fear: knowing ourselves and the true meaning of birth and death. Every other system is only palliative and temporary. In fact, they vanish towards the stupor of the unknown. There is only one way which can drive us to the realization of ourselves and our life: the Inner Search.

Relaxation as a Natural State

Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. (Gn 2, 26.27) Since my early childhood, from the first time Ive asked my grandmother who or what is God, Ive never considered the above mentioned quote from the Bible as an anthropomorphous vision of God with hands, head and legs. Rather, I considered this statement as a reflection about human perfection. I still believe in this interpretation. I dont speak here about a biological perfection intended as the extraordinary function of the human machine billions of cells with different functions which work harmoniously together to maintain our life. I speak here about a fundamental concept which is almost always ignored, even by those who claim to research this process: the possibility of perceiving and becoming truly aware of ourselves. Let me emphasize the fact that, from one side, we have all the necessary equipment to achieve consciously a state of Unity with the Whole; on the other side, we have the harmful and childish tendency to complicate our life trying to do everything so that this is not realized. According to the theory of reincarnation (but it is not necessary to implicate such belief), the process of embodiment provides the formation of an I, who becomes the core identification of our existence, the illusion of being separate individuals So, the problem is defined from the beginning.

Life, with its social rule, its education (??!!?), the ideas acquired from those who are older and wiser than us, along with all the external factors we encounter during our life path, make the rest: we gradually form a personality. We begin to consider it as what we are, existing with us until our death, convinced to live an objective life as coherent individuals. Freeing ourselves from the Egos requests requires much work, so often an extraordinary and terrifying work which is known as self discovery. Know Thyself.this is the path one must walk at this period of human history. It has been so for many centuries, and will be for much longer. Evolution has brought us to a point that has special features: we live in an obscure period of human history, characterized by many conflicts and spiritual ignorance. During this period we are witnesses to an abnormal development of materialistic technology resulting in contrast, to a great spiritual regression. In this period , or using the terms of the Ancients, Era, human nobility is determined by the material wealth of a person. The poor become slaves of corruption, the possibility of emancipation from ignorance, intelligence, knowing, and wisdom are considered of less value. Although respect is much claimed, no one sincerely respects others. Everyones belief is that the ultimate aim of life is obtaining acceptance through power based on wealth and physical power. Indeed, this is an evolutionary condition that humanity had to reach for evolving towards another Era. So, here we are and this is the field from where we have to start our work. Today, we live and face such conditions, and our struggle for emancipation must consider the complexity of this historical period.

As mentioned by a legion of books, posts, blog pages and teachers, we, as human beings, are composed of body, mind, and emotions (remember Gurdjieffs impressive metaphor: carriage, coachman, horse..) and the harmonious relationship between these elements has altered. Our life is unnatural and mentalized and the natural harmony is lost. Here one can start with the work on himself. In fact, it is fundamental first to establish again the bodys natural rhythms. Knowing it, understanding its functions begins to rebuild its potential, and returning to it, its appropriate functions. A stressful body, conditioned by unnatural rhythms, altered diets, medicines and various chemical cocktails, is a body from whom we are almost totally separated. So, here lies the (brief) explanation of the reason why relaxation is a natural state: and this means the capacity of feeling, hearing, and expressing our body freely, giving us the possibility to be able to use our tools in the best, or at least, in a better way. So, the assumption of this text, in a few words, is: Without a natural (permanent or relatively permanent) state of relaxation, there is no Awareness.

Lightness: A Quality in Extinction

The world is becoming more and more a heavy place to live: economical and emotional crises, money troubles, tensions, laws that prevent you from doing everything (almost even to breathe). The guilt of this loss of lightness is not to be assigned to people. Life is becoming really indigestible, and you want to think about the existence of something better, that life isnt only that material mud which seems to keep all and everything caught up in its tentacles, a never-ending story about how to draw forth till the end of the month. A very uneasy situation which almost all of us are experiencing. But its very important and fundamental to not lose hope, having a wish to continue to do, to make things better, at least in our closest environment. Namely, if you manage to cultivate a sort of lightness, even your life would in some way acquire similar qualities such as a drunkard attracts similar people and the consequent situations. In the same way, lightness attracts light things (I mark here the word attract, because I dont wish it to be understood as a New Age style Law of Attraction type, but as a figurative example). We need to nourish our Soul with lightness, with good and pleasurable things, as best as we can. Usually, in the hopes of releasing ourselves from the burden of daily life, we turn on the TV or read a newspaper, and what we find there is always the same

mud: problems, wars, death, various superficialities, problems amassed onto other problems Why not speak about something else? Something simpler and more pleasurable? Even if it seems impossible to believe, there are many things around us able to bring some pleasure: the beauty of something in Nature- a tree, an ocean, or at least, a fountain little things. But it is important to nourish ourselves with positive, pleasurable impressions. Dont misunderstand me, please. I dont preach that we have to transform ourselves to foolishly laugh. On the contrary, serenity is something other than this. One thing is being as heavy as stones, gloomy and disharmonious. Another thing is being attentive and aware - indispensable requirements to be able to cultivate a degree of serenity. Have you ever noticed how it is easier to remember a negative experience than a positive one? Try it yourself and make your own conclusions. If you do it so, you will begin to understand the secret: our brain is accustomed to function in such ways and it is up to us to change our attitude. No one else can do it so, except ourselves.

Love and Acceptance

Love is a topic that is never discussed or treated enough, but it has been previously addressed on this blog. Not only a Universal Love, but also a more earthly (but not less important) kind of Love: a Love between two mates. And this is very important. Sometimes we claim we are able to share a Universal Love, but we find ourselves unable to share a Love with someone close to us. This of course is nonsense, because even those close to us are part of the whole; things result in more complication when we enter the field of loving ourselves. It could maybe seem an absurd statement but almost no one loves himself. Of course, this kind of self-love has nothing to do with a type of vanity or egoistic point of view about ourselves, but something related to a total acceptance of ourselves. Now, I would raise a question: how is it possible to accept (so, to love) someone, if we are unable to accept (so, to love) ourselves? The answer is obvious and predictable not possible. We do not understand that life, even if it seems a terrible thing which brings us sufferings and delusions, is a gift. And, accepting a gift without looking a gift horse in the mouth, is one of the most difficult things to do. Once more, we are unable to accept; and here, we are unable to accept and appreciate even those gifts we claim we are desperately in search of: the gift of being loved. Indeed, if we are so shrewd, and if we have enough of the gift of observation to see what is happening, when we speak of love between two human beings, namely, two mates, then, we are

witnesses to a very interesting and absurd manifestation of mechanisms. For most people, being loved implies to have the responsibility towards whom they love, namely, the responsibility of returning that feeling. On the other hand, even he who loves has this expectation that the feeling he/she shares is reciprocated. And, only for this little thing, an expectation, a love relationship becomes so chaotic that, in most cases, it is destined to fail from the beginning. All this, a Love Relationship, with all its promise, good intentions, deep feelings...vanishes such as a shadow under the first ray of the sun. Love doesnt mean that it must be reciprocated. To Love means to Love, that is all. Of course, we dont mean here a love based exclusively on a physical or momentary attraction. This is not Love and doesnt mean to love someone: its a simple hormonal cocktail. This topic is related to something much deeper, sincere and genuine. Many people consider the fact of being loved by someone with whom they dont share the same feeling, a factor of disturbance. If we ponder a bit, well understand the reasons for this attitude: its all because we consider (more or less consciously), that Love must be reciprocated. This is a wrong concept, deeply rooted in ourselves, deriving from a catholic moralistic point of view says: if someone loves us, we feel immediately guilty if we dont share the same emotion or feeling. And just this point of view, this fictional responsibility keeps us paradoxically far from being sincere towards others; even to heat our heart near someone who does not ask anything, except than to be loved. What is important, is to respect the others feelings and be able to reveal what we feel (or we dont feel): then, all becomes clearer and simpler.

Of course, a feeling such as Love between two mates, when it doesnt find correspondences, can fade, end. But its an experience which could allow us to learn how to accept the other and how to love. Maybe, we could discover that such an experience is more pleasurable than we have expected.

The Awakening of a True Mind

What we call mind ordinarily is not what it should be. It appears more a burden than a gift, because it is susceptible to external random situations, and that is the main cause of our mechanicity. We are uneducated as to how to use our mind. Indeed, a trained mind, a mind under the control of its owner, is a light which allows us to see things, and not just to look at them. This is what the Ancient Teachings used to call True Mind. This True Mind has almost nothing to do with what we usually call mind. It is not a thing we possess. It is a possibility, not something certain, but something we could acquire with our own efforts. It is a state of consciousness deeply related with what one has realized in oneself, and it never happens/appears before one has achieved a certain degree of objectivity. Before this moment, there is no True Mind, only a storm of conditioned thoughts which pass through our mind, conditioning every moment of our life, our every decision, our every act. Ordinary mind happens. Contrarily, True Mind does not happen; it manifests itself after a determined amount of training, specifically when we have acquired enough understanding of ourselves. I dont want to enter the argument about what understanding or knowing ourselves means, because on this blog, there are enough pages dedicated to this argument.

So, differently from what people ordinarily think, a True Mind cannot happen. This belief is a subjective point of view, exactly what prevents access to the True Mind. This is not a fairy tale nor a spiritual legend. This mind exists. It could be achieved by everyone who truly wish to achieve it; What one needs is to become and one hasnt to wait for a sort of Samadhi or Nirvana or other enlightenment to see this manifestation in oneself. What one needs is to become one in himself. And this, contrary to what many think, is not far from our possibilities. Unify all the fragmented fields of our personality, that sneaky multitude of ourselves which constantly alternate giving us the illusion of continuity, building an illusory and surreal life. What we require to achieve this higher mind, this True Mind, is to completely realize our human potential, ceasing to live as a dummy, and begin to be a little more human. So, the True Mind will manifest itself as a result of work, of effort, which would then lighten our life path and bring us further to higher experiences, the existence of which we could never have suspected.

The Art of Letting Go

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place Saying

Zen

Life on earth includes suffering, thats obvious. We have relationship problems, we lose our loved one, experience the separation of death, we experience loneliness, sickness, accidents, we are haunted by guilt, experience phobias and fears and unfulfilled desires. We experience this distress because we would like things to be different from what they are. In short, its the resistance to what causes suffering. To be sure about what I mean, when I say suffering, I mean everything in ones life that doesnt work. To immediately see changes in our lives, we should begin with stopping the resistance to what is. Gravity exists, and that is what is. Our mate is quiet or nervous, and that is what is. We can change our life by trying to change what is, but there is not much to do about it. Instead, it would be better to concentrate all our efforts upon that which we can change. A Christian prayer says the same thing: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference. (Serenity Prayer)

We can perceive that resistance in almost all fields of human life: people want things to change; they want everything they dislike to change. I am not preaching of passive acceptance of what is. This is not the case. In fact, there are things we have the potential to change right now, so we have to do everything in our power to change them. There are other things we cant change immediately, so we have to work through time to make them change. And, there are things that we cannot change, so here is the recipe: it is as it is, work that must be applied. We have to recognize such kind of things and stop wasting our efforts with trying to change what we cannot change. One of the things that cannot be changed is other people. When we try to change someone, we force him to repress his basic human right: freedom of being as he is (independently from as he is). We cant and havent the right to make people be as we want them to be. This kind of repression is not only illegitimate, but also, in the long term, impossible, because the forced change is temporary. It would result in a new eruption of dissatisfaction. So, waiting for the day when the things with our mate, beloved, or friends will become different from what they are right now (and will be different as we want them to be), is certainly ill-advised. We resist what is. The only thing we can really and surely change, is ourselves, if we want to. And this is the field where we might be focused if we want any kind of positive and productive change. Concerning dissatisfactions, we cant change outer things as we want, but we have the choice in how we respond to what happens. We have the right to be as we are without changing ideas or behaviors to satisfy someone else. This is our right, so we have to understand that this is also the others right, independently if this other is our friend, mate, father, or someone else close to us. We can help him to change in accordance to his needs, if he wants and accepts our help, but nothing more. Applying the Buddhist, Taoist, and Zen art

of Letting Go means exactly this. Everything is what it is, as it is, and we have to accept this statement, at least with persons or various situations such as weather conditions (it is a very absurd thing that we complain about this, but we almost all do this its too hot, too rainy, too cold). Now, maybe, we would better understand the popular Zen aphorism: Sitting peacefully doing nothing/Spring comes/And the grass grows all by itself Recognizing these situations in various fields of our life is the first fundamental task if we want to apply the concept of letting go in our everyday life. The second fundamental step, isLetting Go.

The Prayer as a Connection with our Being

..year BC: Hes a lonely man, walking the forests and the deserts of the ancient times. Around him, an unknown nature, overlooking and terrorizing him. He is a lonely man: with his fears and doubts, lonely with his unanswered questions. He doesnt know himself, why he is here, whats happening around him, and he also doesnt know his destiny. His only aim is to survive, waiting for the dawn, walking in a fearful night. That man has only a sky above his head; a sky with a lonely hot sun, lonely just like him. A sun that gives Life, burning by itself. That man, looking upon the sky, feels a sense of relief. He senses that there, hidden above the sky, lives his never known Father. He senses that there, in that deep blue sky, he can find his real home. That man lifts his arms toward the sky, kneels down and expresses an invocation. Its a scream, a silent question and, at the same time, a request and a declaration. Thus, he expresses the first objective sound in his life: his first prayer.

Forgiveness It has been said that we are born alone and that well die alone. Its a simple truth: thats the only certainty we can believe in, just as it is equally certain that this solitude accompanies us throughout our life.

Not much has changed since man took his first steps on this Planet. To overcome atavistic fears, he built safe and organized societies, and created myriad philosophies to answer many questions. But many fears and many questions remain unanswered. Today, the man is still lonely, wondering about the meaning of his existence and what will happen the day hell die. Existence threatens him, thus he seeks a refuge, a protection from that sense of precariousness of life. Thus, the word prayer in the history of mankind is connected to the anguish of facing death, the insecurity and the understanding that he cant administer his destiny. Mans life is full of solitude and lack of understanding, and like the men of thousands of years ago, he cries, looks up to heaven, and feels the need to be forgiven, to deposit, for a moment, the burden of all the insecurities, fears, suffering and injustices endured. This is the first meaning of Prayer: the need for a short pause, a relief from a burden which disturbs his existence. Birth, suffering, disease, injustice, death anything that inhibits his existence is placed in an invocation at the foot of the highest authority, able to justify the meaning of all and alleviate the burden. He asks forgiveness to the divine to release the weight of his sufferings, anxieties, and fears. For the first time, he finally feels comfortable and can quietly close his eyes, relaxed and in complete abandonment into the arms of the endless Father.

Contact Its amazing how the meaning of prayer has remained completely unchanged despite centuries and millennia of progress: even today, man feels the need to communicate to establish a contact with its original source, with his origin, with a thousand-named transcendent Entity, ultimately identified with the concept of God.

Even when he says that God doesnt exist, man testifies His existence, at least as a term of opposition. Why lose time in asserting the absolute non-existence of God? A truth is confirmed when its opposite can be affirmed: isnt it? It is really incredible how much energy is still spent trying to prove a concept that is believed not to exist! Ordinarily, no one spends his time to deny the existence of what he sees as non-existent. It seems that, even when a man talks to God in the negative way, he is simply expressing a desperate attempt to communicate with what he feels a reference, perceived as father, mother, child, a will that governs all things, or even, as a principle which summarizes all these forms.

A way to pray A man feels the need to pray, a practice instinctively done for thousands of years to alleviate the burden of his life, relying on the only one who knows the meaning of all things. Through the history of mankind, great beings became servants of a long-sought truth. Each of them, in their own way, experienced, learned and understood. Each of them had left his own experience providing a way of interpretation according to the time and the place they lived. Zoroaster, Rama, Toth, Krishna, Elijah, Hermes, Moses, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Lao-Tse, Plato, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, and many other teachers and seekers of truth, have left a way a path to explain the Only Truth. And what they taught was a way of praying. Thus, over time, the act of praying has acquired a nuance that had evolved, acquiring the color and passion of so many hearts that, over millennia, they had practiced with truth and sincerity. And for every question that might be contained in mans heart, they gave a special prayer.

The prayer as a request Even if over the centuries, the act of praying has evolved and gradually became more sophisticated, more technical, it is still something strange and inexplicable. When he prays, man, of course, asks to be relieved from the burdens of life, but at the same time, he adds other claims to the divine source, simple or complicated questions, recommendations for themselves or their loved ones, and requests for help and comfort. However, in thousands of years of praying softly or mentally, or even yelling alone in a desert, the man could only hear the echo of his own demands: today, as thousands of years ago, God has never answered. Nevertheless, the man continues to pray. It is obvious that he doesnt pray because this pleases God, but rather because the act of praying improves himself. Indeed, God doesnt need human prayers: that Infinite and Perfect being cannot be confined in a finite part of himself (the man) who invokes It. On the contrary, its the man who needs to hear God through his own prayers. The same invocation defines and gives form to one who has not a form and allows him a connection with an essence knowable and finite that otherwise, remains infinite and unknowable.

A small space in the heart Hearing God through Prayer, gets us in touch with our own source, with the essence of existence, so that we can touch it at least with our heart, instead of through an intellectual speculation thats the meaning of the prayer. The heart is at least the real place of the act of praying. The mystics taught us that the reason and the heart should be kept separate for a long time before the heart may subject reason. The

mystic is prayers last explorer. He is the scholar, the sage, the Borderlands walker that has to be an example when a deep need for contact with the divine emerges. Often, we are surprised when we see this need for praying emerging above our being. It is a kind of internal call, which opens the way for new spaces, which leads us quickly into a state of meditation. Then, we suspend any action, sit apart in silence, turn to listen in, give free flow to our inner space and, magically, we enter into another time, or rather, access to a space that resides in us.

Prayer as listening to oneself Prayer is the focal point in the interaction between matter and spirit: it is the request to the divine, who is the bearer of human suffering, since suffering is the same product of the separation from the Truth as saying that the distance from God, separation from it becomes so unbearable as to be transformed into demand for closeness , or in prayer. Left to itself, to its source, a man feels entitled to ask for anything, even the most trivial, since in the timeless value of this communication there is no reason, or no logic, but only feeling. It is the requirement to externally shape our inner space because we talk to ourselves. In doing so, we hear a voice within us, that slowly makes its way inside, above the noise and educates us to an understanding. Prayer is to ourselves, because it makes us grow. It is a school of the interior bearing towards the exterior. Its a need that brings us to talk, to express the truth about ourselves and, at the same time, educates us, even to listen.

Prayer, in fact, opens an inner space of inquiry where you can admire the expression and listening, as co-existing terms of a single action, coming from the man to himself. We are made of the same substance of dreams, said Shakespeare, and indeed, the man really lives the fear of a type of deception, as if waking up every morning, he had to be sure he was still the same as the day before. The man lives above the need to confirm his existence, but once it is perceived and noted, then he is also able to listen. Once the flame is grafted, there arises the power of listening, the individual begins to change what is outside. At this point, the heart as the mystics teach us-overcome the mind and brings the human experience to a spiritual. Because the transcendent is the bridge, it is the real point of contact between the human emotion and spirit. Is is an I that evolves, as self-expression, which knows how to receive inwardly and outwardly, the harmony of the universe.

Beyond the experience of feeling A harmonized and self-expressive I is a great blessing, and is a valuable experience for others, for all those who come into contact with this kind of man. But for him, the experience is good up to a certain extent, it becomes too sterile, as if it is not enough. And yet again, he needs to press on as if to take another step, another point of contact, even more tenuous that its predecessor, even more in the field which lies beyond senses. Now, the individual feels he exists. He no longer has doubts, understands clearly his inconsistency. Its not being compared to the unknown, compared to God, exactly. Thus, in him, there is the profound need of a discipline that educates the transcendent and that might lead to understanding the Truth, from the inside-out. In this moment, in this blessed moment, right through the pain given

by the perception of unbridgeable distance from the Father, lights the flame of desire. Only now we can say we see the emergence of true prayer, ascetic discipline that is made of knowledge achieved which will bring the individual to a growth, no longer isolated, but in unity with the Father. There is no longer the need to push the man toward the search for God, but toward the fire of desire, namely, the sum of needs. It will inevitably lead to the silence of his mind. Desire leads to detachment, the space between living the experience and feeling it intimately, where it has always been. But now, at this moment, it is revealed, coming from above. Something that takes the color of the emotions, arises. The mind cant recognize what happens and slips back, in silence. The breathing stops, and there right there a small point is born and develops the profound mystery that perhaps more than any other should be investigated. Like a small light, like a flame, comes on and connects us to the immensity of the universe. That happens in us, infinitesimally small beings! From infinity to the finite, this contact takes shape and everything becomes magically calm. Everything outside becomes less important a bitter, and at the same time, sweet feeling flows in our heart. A grateful warmth envelops everything, motionless as the night on the lake. In the time that this feeling flows, everything remains immobile, as in the faint light of childhood memories. Then, finally, something speaks to us, and that sound gives us warmth, like the embrace of a mother, of her breathing, beside and within us.

God as the witness of our existence We can see a deep human desire to communicate, to get in touch with that energy which we perceive as its origin: a requirement that all of us both men and women feel as a need which has to be externalized in terms of action. Prayer is the action that becomes manifested as a profound need for an inner feeling that, as we have seen, needs to arise: first to produce relief (even if mostly unconscious) in the lodge before God, the burden of our existence and then, to the emergence of spontaneous requests for help that has remained over the centuries so nave, so human, although the thought has evolved in complexity and sophistication: a mans request to the divine, who in fact, is still exactly the same today as it was, two thousand years ago. But why do we have a need to pray, why should we continue to ask even if we have neither experience nor any memory of any response from God, who, apart from sophisticated intellectual ruminations, is defined by our wisest mystics and thinkers as Unknowable, the immeasurable, the indescribable? The answer must be sought in the attitude of the man who prays with the unconscious request that underlies the very act of prayer. When we deposit the bundle at the feet of the divine, there arises a heartfelt request which has driven man from the beginning of his existence: Hear me, and for a moment, please, look at me. Show my existence as real. The man, even before a pardon or a favor, asked for a moment of personal observation, a recognition of his own individuality: and he is doing this act not to believe in the existence of God, but to confirm his own existence. We believe further that the question of his very existence accompanies the man from the very beginning: the comparison with nature, work, relationships, with other men, and strong

emotions, that he continually tries with no other reason than to feel the need to define himself in relation to something external to himself. But that is not enough: in fact, the man exists, maybe only in relation to his creator: If You, who has created me, You, the architect of everything that exists, are looking at me even for a moment that will mean that I really exist, that Im a concrete point different from the rest In this appeal, we find the seed, the basic unit of prayer, a sort of ancient code left on this ancient planet. He longs for the gaze of the Father, as a baby needs attention. That glance, that moment of contact, is everything to him, and for that, he is willing to pray for his entire existence. It is the hand that stops before stroking, that Zen was able to raise the ancient art of zan-shin, the thought of not thinking. When this happens after long suffering, we experience the light of an explosion from the experience that some Zen poets and mystics have called the sunshine in the rain. So, who can say right now where the man ends, and where the divine begins? The whiteness of the light falling snow lights the being that looks and listens. With this simple Haiku, we are going to close our free analysis of one of the most significant growths of a man in the bosom of his existence: prayer.

Observation In this troubled time, with changes so large and fast, the time when social divisions are more apparent, it would be desirable to have a better understanding of this great opportunity that man has gained over time!

Prayer is not the only answer, but it is certainly a way to bring the issue at the heart of man and of his fears, his loneliness, his still unanswered questions.

Friendship

A True Friendship and a True Relationship are really very special feelings, because more than any other motion of the human soul, it doesnt move towards any fulfillment of some subjective goal. In the love between a man and woman, in addition to a biological driving, there is also a search for fulfillment, a fusion, a need to become One. This is related to a high and important Cosmic (therefore, natural) Law. Indeed, all the Laws existing in our Universe tends to move towards this point: we have been created for this aim. Its an unstoppable motion which involves all of us. It is not our decision to search this fusion, but it is driven with all in the Universe toward this goal, towards the Oneness, the Divine. Friendship, however, is a different thing it isnt driven by any natural Law, (at least, any Law related to the above mentioned), but it is a sort of will or wish, a feeling that is not given a priori, but is inherent with the maturation of a human being. It is something new, an instance facing, in terms of possibilities, what is desired, pursued, capturedlived. Indeed, friendship is a means for overcoming fears through emotion, a great opportunity to use our emotional energies and channel them to overcome critical limits in the path of selfdiscovery our life.

We could speak about friendship as a sort of education for achieving the Higher Emotional sphere, an opening to a possibility otherwise almost impossible for us. For a seeker, friendship is a very important and fundamental experience. Without such experience, there is not a possibility to develop the habit to share with others, so its impossible to develop the principle of Compassion. So, not only love relations, but also friendship is more than a human feeling, its a magical act, made of courage, selflessness, generosity, ability to overcome the limits that alone would never be addressed. In this situation, all our best qualities arisea good object, as said by Socrates. In its essence, friendship has the strong capacity of separation between what is selfish, driven by fear, and what is the Universal Source, which drives us towards the overcoming of any differences, boundaries, towards a principle of Unity. A friendship relation encourages us to be opened to what is new. In fact, a true friend almost never shows the same habits and the same behavior as ours. Its something different than what is usual, mechanical for us, a diversity which stimulates characteristics of intellectual curiosity, attraction, involvement, and desire to understand other approaches. Friendship in its maximal expression affirms a unique concept of respect. So, the research of any seeker is to persevere in this feeling, in this sacred field with the aim of dissipating the germ of the ignorance which keeps us so blind, so poor.

Gentleness of Movements Gentleness of Mind

Soft sinews are a special characteristic of the infant. If people who are not far from death (old people) are to have any hope of returning to youthfulness, it is only through concentrating on the chi and becoming soft. This quote from the Tai Chi Chuan master Cheng Man Ching evokes a concept of softness of the body movements, and it expresses a concept that surpasses the practice of a martial art. The words express a concept of softness that we often ignore during our daily physical movements. And, softness implies also a concept of gentleness. Our physical body is anything but rudimental, and its potentials are far from being expressed by humans as we know them. Its a matter of fact that no one has taught us how to use our physical mean in the best way we can, and this is perhaps the main reason why most of social influences bring us to a significant reduction of health. We are so convulsive and disharmonic while moving our body, and this physical attitude reflects a condition of inner disharmony. It is enough to observe ourselves during any action, even the most simplest, to perceive that. How much is our body relaxed during an action? How much energy do we use during the same action? How much does our thought-emotional field harm the harmony of our body?

If we perceive that this is our case and in most cases, it is so this means, that if we want to become and act in a more relaxed way, we have to change our behavior starting from the most touchable mean that we have our physical body. There is a strict connection between our body and our feelings, so, if the feelings can change our physical state, harming even the movements, then an intentional movement can influence our feelings. It is said that if we dont love ourselves, we cant love others a true statement! But its also right to say that, if we are not gentle with ourselves, we cant be gentle with others! And, gentleness towards ourselves means just this: become more relaxed and harmonious, to achieve a state of relaxation that should be a state of Being, not just as a moment of release from daily stressful situations. How to perform such conversion? Through a conscious, intentional use of our physical body: this means to develop a gestural aesthetic that should reflect gentleness. For example, while walking, we could pay attention to how we place our feet on the ground, how we move in the space like a dance, like Tai Chi Chuan movements. The simple act of intentionally putting a glass on the table, becomes a ritual to achieve more relaxation, more gentleness. In Japan, there exists a discipline that is enhanced to the rank of Art, called natural awareness, and the well-known Tea Ritual is only one example of this Art. So, becoming more aware of our movements, brings us to a development of a more relaxed state. Be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul, said the American writer, Max Ehrmann. A very wise quote! Maybe, we all have to learn from these words, and take a look at the movements of a child, the harmony of these movements,

the gentle interaction a child has with the environment which surrounds him. Its true..our life gives us many more possibilities of being stressed than to be relaxed bills, work and family problems, problems with friends, etc. But, maybe, we should have to take the life situation in a different, less rigid way. In fact, even this rigidity doesnt change anything. Something I find myself thinking about is that the Buddhist Middle Way fits like a glove for us, modern men who take their lives so seriouslybut not too much.

Giving too much weight to our life problems, makes us also weighty

Ponderings about simple things that are virtually impossible to understand

A human is a tripartite being. He is composed of mind, body and emotions. During his life on earth, these three components are fundamental for his development, and each of these parts have the support of the other. Every objective development must be done with the participation of all these three components: if one wants to develop some physical skill, this must include the intellectual and emotional component. These three components as tools for human inner development are symbolized in the ancient cultures by the triangle shape. The Intellectual component is all the impressions recorded in life and transformed into thoughts. Logic, reasoning and reflections, independently if results are of something we have learned from imitation, or based on our experience, are all parts of the intellectual sphere. Its bases are in our experience, and the past experiences of others Therefore, we can say that our mind is always conditioned by the past. So, it is important to develop an open and flexible mind, which could accept new theories and experiences; a conditioned and conservative mind is unsuitable for possible individual development. The Emotions are all the sensations and feelings that arise when something is experienced by us. Feeling the beauty of a landscape or a body, feeling compassion and loving kindness for another, falling in love or being attracted by someone, are all emotive reactions. Eating and even reading this post could produce emotive reactions in all of us. Without emotions, every kind of development would be impossible. Releasing all the emotive constraints is

crucial for a harmonic development of a man. The negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, and envy have to be eliminated, because they have a kind of vibration that is deleterious for our mind and body. The Physical body is obviously intended as the whole of what we can see (exterior form) and the organs, nervous system, and the vital energy that feeds all the physical systems. Even if we can see this material part of us, its functioning is almost unknown and ignored, and this is clear when we observe our relations with the physical machine. Behind these functions, there is what we know as Being. In all the ancient traditions even the early Christian the being is what transmigrates from life to life is to acquire new experiences with the aim of achieving Spiritual Consciousness. The being is what we really are our natural I. The Being needs as tools for this evolution, the physical body and the mind: with the first he experiments with the material world, and the second tool, the processes of the data of what it has experienced. The emotions are the other manifestations of the being and its perceptive tool. The emotions are also important to fix remembrance. To suppress the positive emotions a usual thing in contemporary society, is to inhibit the development of the being. All our power resides in the being that is practically unknown by the majority. The ancient traditions always said that for a possible development, one must first know himself (NOSCE TE IPSUM). This means to realize our true nature, what we really are, the being that is suppressed by the personality developed by cultural conditioning and the limits imposed by social life. We must develop the awareness of our true nature, the being. This can be achieved only by a conscious and mathematical process of working on ourselves, developing a stable center of consciousness that resides in our being, and not in the personality. So, the being will influence the body, the mind and the emotions which otherwise, in a normal state of consciousness are under the slavery of the external influences. Through a specific system of learning, the being becomes the master and manifests its powers and qualities through the mind,

emotions and body which cease to be under the influences of the outer world. The emotions become the true expression of the being, and the personality that must not be destroyed is guided exclusively by our true nature: our Being.

Good Karma Bad Karma

Often we hear others say or we, ourselves say, this is good Karma or you have a really bad Karma. its your Karmic baggage.., etc. One of the main principles which governs our life is for every action, follows a reaction.the principle of Karma, if you prefer. Is it possible to change our Karma? First, we have to know that the term Karma finds its verbal roots in the term kr and it means doing, acting, or causing something. Among westerners, this concept is deeply related to our personal and global destiny. And, we can affirm without doubt that there is nothing in a human being that cannot be changed. Nothing! Often, we perceive things and events as if they cannot be changed, but this is not a bad Karma as we are used to sayingKarma is neither good nor bad. It is that we lack in motivation (which we ordinarily label as will) to perform a real change in a specific situation. Thats all! As an example, there are many persons who have the habit to drink, and often this behavior brings them sickness. They lose their physical and mental health. They could stop this behavior, but they dont. Is it their destiny? No, of course not! It is only passive mechanical behaviors and lack of determination. There are, of course, many situations and conditions which a human being cant face alone a very painful experience. And he/she requires external help, because they keep within, the

baggage of suffering of many years, aspect of life.

and this is of value in any

However, there is not a situation which cannot be modified. There is no emotional disease or suffering that cant be relieved, nor absurd destiny that cannot be changed. It depends on us, by our good will. We need motivation to change something, and we also need to learn and understand how to perform such change. To do this, we often need an external reference, a sort of external assistance. In ancient times, these references were seen in the figure of spiritual teachers. But today, situations and needs have changedso everyone must understand what he needs, according to his personal needs and sensibilities. Yes, performing such work alone is very, very difficult, and if we have an external reference, it is better. Alone, it is also possible. It depends on ourselves and our motivations.

Philosophers, Theorists and Mystifying Mystics

Sometimes, to find the answers to the present question, we must investigate the past, not only our personal past, but also the historical past. Time doesnt change the essence of things, but changes the names and details. There are not many differences between modern man and the man of four thousand years ago. Indeed, the only difference is that now, we are in some way refined, and certainly barbaric in other ways. To overcome our boredom, we use internet or a cell phone, rather than a sober and healthy walk. The ancient Eastern civilizations, for example ancient India, knew very well the difference between philosophers and scholars. Dont forget that they expounded philosophy at least 2,500 years before Socrates ! The Rishis applied the principles they had investigated practically in their own life, experiencing, undergoing intense practices, and sometimes, teaching students who were eager to gain access to such knowledge. On the other side, there were the pundits who were interested in philosophy and studied it, but without experiencing it in their lives. They were full of knowledge, but without any kind of practical experience. So, the philosophers and scholars! The same difference was understood also in the ancient Western world, and most of those philosophers who laid the foundations of our thinking, in turn, were ascetics, deep and genuine researchers inquiring about universal laws. They were maybe a little more rough and some centuries younger than their Eastern colleagues,

but even here in the West, the difference between those who lived the knowledge acquired, and those who simply studied and talked about this knowledge, was well-marked. Even today, after millennia, things are almost the same, with the slight difference that todays society gives more value to the scholars than to the philosophers. They are not a special type: they dont produce income or new points of view. Those scholars wave a title, are labeled as expert on their matters, sometimes elected by the masses as stars of the media. But the genuine people who live free of preconceptions and patterns are almost ignored and sometimes viewed with suspicion and scorn. Scholars have taken control: talk without having experienced, to know without knowing, pontificating superstructures, metaknowledge, manipulating effects without having the slightest idea of the causes. Much smoke, no fire. We can say that scholars have taken control: they talk about everything without having any kind of experience. They say they know without knowing, managing the effects without knowing the causes. But this isnt a new thing. In the last few years, a new category has arisen. This is the field of those who havent studied anything, but they speak as if they know every segment of the matter, interpreting and manipulating an illusory knowledge. We can find this third category in almost all fields of our society: journalists, commentators, spin doctors, drivers, self-styled experts, fanatic New Agers, UFO spans, investigators of various mysteries, compilers of Celestinos and Da Vinci Code truths the great overview of our inner weakness. I cant say if they really believe in what they claim, probably do not know if they believe, but certainly many believe their words. How to define these new kind of people? Dont underestimate or ignore such individuals: their picturesque and empty theories

become real food, truth for many desperate followers, and this is a real risk of our civilization. In our uneducated and ignorant civilization, they have sold and still sell air , making it seem like true knowing.

Conscious Love as Help for the Mate in SelfDevelopment

Conscious love evokes the same in response. Emotional love evokes the opposite. Physical love depends on type and polarity. G.I. Gurdjieff

Loveyou are the love of my lifewith or without youMy heart is burningthe only wish I wish is your loveIll die for you But what is love? What is that power that evokes so much intensive experiences, so much struggle with emotional storms, what is its meaning? Is there only one love that we can perceive, feel? Poems, romance, movies, and paintings draw that themebut we loved with a love that was more than love/in this kingdom by the sea So, maybe it is correct to say that love is the fuel that feeds our life. We feel that we cant live without love. So, if this seems to be food of our life, why must it recall so much pain? Is every kind of relation motivated by love? Or specifically, is the love of the luxurious, the same love of a priest or of a politician? Some recent research by Italian scientists have discovered that the brain pattern of a person that falls in love is the same as a person who is distressed by a maniacal possessive syndrome, and this is a serious paranoid compulsion that can be healed only in a psychiatric institution. So, when we are in love, are we really sick?

To answer those questions, we must first understand that there are some differences between love and Love! We must learn to distinguish among at least three basic kinds of love: instinctive love, emotional love, and conscious love. We may all know and experience the first two, but the third is rare and depends on the level of being and consciousness, intelligence, and emotional development. So, this is an experience we cannot feel (if it is correct to use this term here), in the normal mechanical conditions. Chemistry is the basis of Instinctive love, and biology is determined by chemistry. This kind of love manifests in the attractions, repulsions, mechanical and chemical combination we call love with the consequential marriage, children, and family. It is a sort of chemistry or alchemical laboratory product driven by what we call Nature. Instinctive love is a product of chemical reactions and is as strong, and lasts as long as the substances and qualities which it manifests. These can be known and measured only by one who understands the laws of progression of heredity. Many have remarked that happy or unhappy marriages are hereditary. So, too, are the number of children, their sex, longevity, etc. The so-called science of astrology is the only science of heredity over long periods. Emotional love is the opposite of the instinctive, because it is not rooted in biology. Instinctive love obeys the laws of biology, so it proceeds by affinities. Emotional love is often the mutual attraction of dis-affinities and biological incongruities. A pure emotional love rarely results in offspring, and when it does, biology is not served, and the results are the birth of mermen and mermaids, Bluebeard, etc. Emotional love is not only short-lived, but it evokes its slayer. Such love creates hate in its object, if hatred is not already there. The emotional lover soon becomes an object of indifference and quickly thereafter, of hatred. The following story is a good example of such a kind of love:

There was once a little boy, who was deeply saddened to find his turtle lying on her back, motionless and lifeless near the pond. His father did his best to console him, Dont cry, son. Well prepare a nice funeral for Mrs. Turtle. Well build a little coffin, all silk-lined for her. And well ask the gravedigger to make her a gravestone with the name, Mrs. Turtle written on it. Then well bring her fresh flowers each day. And we can even put a little fence up all around her grave. When everything was ready, the father, the mother, the maid and the little boy walked in procession, with solemn faces, towards the pond where the tortoise was lying. But she had disappeared. Suddenly, they saw Mrs. Turtle emerging from the bottom of the pond, swimming merrily. The little boy glared at his friend the tortoise in great disappointment, and exclaimed, Lets kill her. This is the tragedy of emotional love. Conscious love rarely arises between humans, but it can be explained in the relations between man and his favorites in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The development of the horse and the dog from their original state of nature, the cultivation of flowers and fruit these are examples of a primitive form of conscious love primitive because the motive is still egoistic and utilitarian: man has a personal use for the domesticated horse and the cultivated fruit: and his labor upon them cannot be said to be for love alone. The real developed conscious love, is the wish that the object should arrive at its own native perfection, regardless of the consequences to the lover. I will struggle with all my being and sacrifice myself so he/she could develop him/herself. This is

conscious love, and this kind of love, if true, always evokes a similar response in its object. Conscious love begets conscious love. It is rare among humans because, in the first place, the vast majority are children who look to be loved, but not to love; secondly, because perfection is seldom conceived as the proper end of human love, though it alone distinguishes adult human from infantile and animal love; thirdly, because humans do not know, even if they wish, what is good for those they love; and fourthly, because it never occurs by chance, but must be the subject of resolve, effort, and self-conscious choice. Conscious love is an art, and one must work through an apprenticeship to become a master in this art. He perfects himself with the wish and the effort to aid his beloved to become perfect. This is a work of service, devotion with all of ones being. So, what kind of man or woman is it who can love consciously? What kind of perfection might he/she realize to the blessing of the beloved and his/her Endless Creator? Service deserves detachment, so he isnt jealous or possessive. He must also cultivate humility and conscious tolerance. One must know the necessary needs of the mate to permit and help their development: if he is not sure of the needs of the mate, he allows him/her to go on their own way. One must know the needs of the mates essence, needs which cannot find a name and anticipate today his/her needs for tomorrow. Objective altruism. That is needed. And always without a thought of what his/her needs may mean to him. Its a way of strict self-education and discipline. Conscious love is Gods love because they love each other consciously. So, the conscious lovers become Gods. Remember the Tantric axiom: Ham Sa Shiva-Ham Sa Shakti I am Shiva I am Shakti): it is the realization of the divine nature of the mate with all his needs. It is an objective devotional act. And, if and when this relation becomes harmful to the other mate, the conscious lover will leave him/her to permit his/her development. Passion is also a

term used related with unconditional love (even if today it is used for explaining the instinctive or emotional mechanical dynamics we call love). The etymological meaning of Passion derives from the Latin patire (suffer), so it is a sacrifice, a conscious sacrifice to permit the others development or redemption. The most known sacrifice of this type in the highest degree is the Passion of Christ who sacrificed himself to redeem the sins of all human beings. Never forget conscious love means conscious sacrifice to the beloved (be it a mate or a son, or a friend, it doesnt matter). It is always a conscious sacrifice. As my mentor wrote in one of his poems: Ill cut the thread of memories: so, maybe, Ill save you. Without shame, people will boast that they have loved, do love, or hope to love. As if love were enough, or could cover any multitude of sins. Unfortunately, this is the human hypocrisy, an attitude that has become part of his nature. So, can we love? Without a conscious effort, (the greatest gift of love to the mate), we will never really say that We love. This is not an intellectual concept nor a hypothesis: look at the world surrounding you and verify it for yourself. The experience is the only way to really learn something.

Administrating Spare Time

There is an important topic I would like to share with you thats fundamental for those who are interested in self-development, not only theoretical, but also in a practical way: the question of our daily time. Nearly all the glowing comments sent to me via mail such as Who do you think you are?, Your posts are simple sh..t, You are such a childish snotty kid, (and again), Who do you think you are?. It often happens that someone asks me if there are more people who work on what I post, if there are other persons who stand behind my posts: no, there is no one except, of course, for the texts of other authors or Great Masters that are regularly and diligently mentioned as authors of the topics (Gurdjieff, Orage, Krishnamurti, various quotes, etc). Yesterday arose the same question How many of you are there? I wont mention who asked that NOMINA ODIOSA SUNT! Its all written somewhere in the various comments, and those who had asked those questions are friends that I love and respect as brothers. Now, this topic is not to glorify myself (it would be a loss of time and energy), but to introduce an argument, that as I had mentioned above, of great value for those interested on work on themselves, and its related to the ability of doing. How could we administer or expand our time? Our daily routines are divided into two fundamental fields: the time for our daily work and obligations and the spare, free time. The

first is obvious, we have to do something to survive and maintain ourselves and our beloved family. The second is a great problem. In fact, the spare time results in more of a problem than a pleasure. Many persons dont know what to do during the free time between two obligations, and others are too tired to take some advantage. As I perceive the reality, is that persons dont want to have free time for the simple but fundamental reason that they dont know how to organize themselves during these hours of freedom. When they return home after work, they search for something to do, an employment which could keep them concentrated on something .and often these occupations are not useful, but they have the result to keep these persons far from themselves. As a shark who cant stop floating because otherwise it will die, men fear the silence and inactivity for the simple reason that this makes them perceive their loss of centering, their non-identity: people fear to see and recognize their emptiness, that they are not. If you dont believe or doubt what Ive said, try this: sit in an armchair, and simply remain there. Dont do anything dont read a newspaper or a book, dont be on Facebook, dont meditate, dont wonder about something to think about, dont expect anything. Just sit and thats all you have to do. What happens? A subtle discomfort arises from the inner self, forcing it to some occupation. The more we are tired, deprived from emotive vitality, the more well search some passive or simpler occupation, such as looking at our beloved TV series or some movie. Why does this discomfort arise? From the impossibility to feel ourselves. We identify ourselves in every action, or better said, in the emotions produced by what we label as acting, doing something, even now, when reading or writing on Facebook. Without identifications, we dont feel ourselves. This is the main demonstration of our incapacity of self-perception.

Having spare time means being able to administer that time. We have to reformulate one common conviction: men are not slaves because they work, but they work because they are the slave of their inner emptiness. If we would fill this emptiness, work wouldnt be synonymous with duty, but conscious activity. We would discover that free time is an inner thing and not the opposite of the work time. Many people suffer for the loss of time. They claim to have not much time. But, if they could understand that they lose themselves in a labyrinth of identifications and stop to identify themselves with all what they do, realizing a lucid awareness, they would understand that time is an inner fact its a mental fact. If we would be sincere with ourselves, we should admit that we lose so much time and energies in useless activities, and for these reasons, we are always identified with something. We would like to be more effective, but we constantly lose ourselves. Time is an inner fact, not outer. Society has organized our days according to a subjective rhythm, but this rhythm isnt the same as our inner rhythm: they have different time zones. It is not a theory, it is a fact. Anyone who has experienced a higher level of awareness can confirm this fact: time expands and we are able to act better and faster than ordinarily. Theres a method to live at the same time on different levels of being, and to multiply our possibilities of doing at the same time. But, first we must Be, and this means to perceive ourselves. Please dont say that this is impossible to realize: there are so many topics, and practices for achieving that state, at least partially, that what we miss is only a little dose of good will to spend some time on these practices. Look for the various blogs my blog, Dennis Lewis Blog (more useful than my blog), other blogs with exercises, suggestions and other things. Dont remain on the stage of reading: Ouspensky, Gurdjieff, Nicoll, Krisnamurti and Buddha. They have very big and noble insights, but their words wouldnt change your state of being:

practice, practice, practicelive your life, its the only thing you have! To begin, its always suggested to spend our spare time in some occupations which would really permit the development of our Being and first in all self-study: making ourselves an object of study means essentially TO LIVE. Living our life without useless baggage, and its not important what we do, what activity we are occupied with: what is of value, here, is that we must do what we want to really do. We must learn TO BE!

An Integral Approach to Overcome Harmful Emotions

The emotive field is the sea in which we swim every moment. Even the perception of a color, a sound, a physical sensation , is possible by the emotive. What is ordinarily labeled under this name, is only the surface of a deeper ocean, a momentary oscillation which manifests itself in the superficial levels of the emotional plane. Today we can find on the vast spiritual and psychological market, various techniques, more or less ,or definitively not efficient. In the Western countries in the last century, many methods have been produced, in which the aim is to remove the emotional barriers and to achieve a control of the negative emotions. In any case, we have to remember that a human being is a very complex, structured being. Namely, a human being is composed of a physical body, an intellect, and emotions. Each of these parts interact with one another. Intellect with its dual conception, rigidly fixed by convictions and conditionings, constantly influences emotions. The body also influences emotions, though not as much as the intellect does: for example, the dysfunction of a physical organ can change totally and radically, the emotional state of a person. Body, mind, and emotions are deeply connected, and it is practically impossible to achieve a permanent balance of one of

them without working on all three fields at the same time. If we want to overcome a fear, a phobia, a sense of insecurity, it is not enough to try to control the emotions. To achieve this aim, a deep process of conversion of the intellectual and emotional field is necessary, with the purpose of transforming the deep-rooted unconscious habits which drive us to perceive life in terms of danger. Almost all the psychological and development systems created to remove emotional blocks and mental problems, have a limited effect, both in terms of intensity and time, and they leave the real source of these problems untouched. That is the reason of why, if we want an effective and permanent self-transformation intended for self-development, we have to opt for an integral approach which must involve in our work, the body, the intellect, and the emotions at the same time. A work of impartial self-observation is a very effective tool. On this blog, we have shared some examples of how to begin a work on self-observation, and all of them give the possibility to approach the problem in an integral way at the same moment when the problem arises. Even meditation is a good tool, but only if it is put in a concrete, well-structured system for the understanding of the Universal Laws which govern our life, without which knowing it , is impossible to overcome the harmful emotional baggage we bring along every moment of our lives.

Clairvoyance (Seeing Clearly)

A few days ago, I witnessed a discussion between friends about the theme of Clairvoyance. This was, of course a superficial and disinterested discourse between friends during coffee. One of them spoke about the siddhis (the occult powers developed by yogis as a result of many years of struggles and practice), and claimed to possess this ability. This was, of course, enough to understand that this person was speaking rubbish. But it reminded me of an ex-fellow of the group who once asked our mentor what Clairvoyance is. This opened a discussion which brought a clearer understanding of its possibility. The word Clairvoyance has the meaning seeing clearly. So, it is a capacity to see what others usually are unable to see. Obvious, of course! But there are many persons, especially in the field of the New Age, who claim to have this ability, to be able to see a parallel reality. Indeed, some of them explain that this is a natural ability. But, if it is natural, why is it so rare? This brings me to the only possible answer: they are (consciously or unconsciously) lying. Thats all!! In the last few years, this word clairvoyant has been used in dozens of different ways, but essentially a clairvoyant is an individual capable of activating his physical senses, to see an immaterial reality. There are many pages on internet related to this topic, so well reveal here an alternative explanation related to the above

mentioned discussion with our mentor. He brought us to draw the explanation by ourselves, and this was the common answer we achieved beginning from the meaning of the words: seeing clearly: from this point of view, the higher, deepest and objective form of clairvoyance is the true vision of reality. The ability to take a look into the world of the so-called paranormal field can be an interesting and unique experience, there is no doubt. And this also demonstrates that the human brain has incredible and not yet explored abilities. But such ability does not lead necessarily to some greater wisdom or to a better understanding of reality. A true Clairvoyance could be considered the minds enlightenment, or better, the enlightenment of consciousness. If an individual realizes himself and achieves an objective view of reality, he is also able to see clearly beyond the mists of any illusion. That is all. This is Clairvoyance as interpreted by me. Any other kind or form of such ability could be understood as having two sides, as the two sides of the same coin: one can ease the path to a greater understanding, and the other to the path of a greater illusion. The so-called opening of these hidden faculties without an appropriate human spiritual and inner maturity, is often a cause of sufferings and confusion. But, of course, there are not absolute rules, even for this topic.

Discerning the False Personality from our True Self

Subhuti was Buddhas disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity. One day, Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness, was sitting under a tree. Flowers began to fall about him. We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness, the gods whispered to him. But I have not spoken of emptiness, said Subhuti. You have not spoken of emptiness, we have not heard emptiness, responded the gods. This is true emptiness. And blossoms showered upon Subhuto as rain.

A question which often arises in the mind of the researcher is how to recognize the expressions of our Essence-Being when they arise. This takes the seeker to the often wrong attribution of many actions and emotions to their True Self, when they are only products of the mind which wants to keep alive its positions and strengthen convictions by denying any kind of change. Attributing to our Essence every action gives us two obstacles: on one hand, we remain deepened in the illusion of Being. On the other hand, this behavior allows our personality to keep alive all the conditionings, which imprison our True self.

Many Masters taught and still teach that we can recognize the expressions of our Essence-Being, all which is free from fears, anger, sense of guilt, egoistic thoughts. The legitimate question which arises in the mind of the practitioner is how to recognize the rare moments when he can be sure, without doubts, that he is witnessing the expression of his Essence. Fortunately, this is not the main problem. Indeed, we cant recognize such moments until we have achieved a higher state of consciousness and awareness. We must follow sincerely what we feel as right and true at a determined moment, accept it temporarily, and then, overcome it when we realize a Higher Truth. Briefly, we must train ourselves to discern what is part of the field of Being (True Self), and what is part of the field of Appearances (Ego-Personality). Sincerely, we cant be totally sure that what we feel, desire, or believe is free from every conditioning. The most important thing is to live coherently with what we sense, feel, and consider what represents us, and to maintain both heart and mind open to change the course each moment that we realize we have run up against a previously unseen conditioning. Of course, we are speaking here of what a seeker would have to do in the path for self-development. The most important thing is to assume all the responsibilities for our actions and for our thoughts, and live with the utmost integrity. Moreover, despite of what we usually think, the fact that a tendency or behavior is assignable to our deepest Self, doesnt necessarily mean that its correct and objective. This is something which should be considered. The most important thing is to live our life in the most coherent and sincere way, so that we can achieve this state of emptiness, nonmanifested, which represents us, instead of struggling with doubts about our False and True Self. Of course, this is only my subjective consideration, so take it in this way subjectively. In addition to a life lived more consciously, the practice of meditation is surely the most efficient medium to enter the deepest realm of ourselves and to recognize, field by field, what really

represents us as part of our True Self and what represents the mere conditioned surface.

The Art of Pondering

I would like to speak here about an interesting, but almost ignored practice in self-development, and also largely used by myself in my daily practice for years: Pondering. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, pondering is described as to reflect or consider with thoroughness and care, a type of contemplation. Gurdjieff gave a large importance to this practice and encouraged his pupils to use it while considering what he had taught them. Pondering is also included in the Sufis practice (such as the Silent Zikr), which was used in late Christianity, and is still used by the Orthodox Christians. Its a fantastic practice which is simple to explain in brief, especially in Facebook notes. It has a large impact on the practitioner: Pondering is one of the main factors in developing an Objective Reason.

Alfred Richard Orage also described pondering with the following words: Pondering is answering questions from essence and answering them practically. One -half the energy of a human being must be spent internally pondering. One -third of ones time should be spent in pondering.

Pondering is a self-interrogation which consists in stripping off all the answers of association until you finally come to your own essential answer.

When I started my own path for Self-Development, my mentor taught to my group, the practice of pondering. We had first to ponder about a determined problem, and once found the answer, we could speak with him about it. His aim was to teach us to use , or better said, to train our mind, to find the answers correctly, instead of having the impulse to ask him first. My first impression about this practice was that it is similar to the Japanese Koans, and below well see why So, how is Pondering in practice? First of all, we start to question an idea inherent in the Work on ourselves using our Intellectual Center (Mind): What value are the impressions I acquire during my daily life?. What is the meaning of Being Awakened? How does a particular situation affect my emotional state?, etc. Every answer that arises is intentionally put aside or accepted as temporarily correct for a determined time, but susceptible to further change. During this practice, automatic thoughts are gently excluded. While pondering, the practitioner should involve the feeling-sensation of his body, his emotional state has to remain neutral, and this emotional setting allows the emotional expressions from the Higher Emotional Center. Its a Three-Centered Action, because it involves all our centers to be active, and this means all to our Being. The aim is not to find an answer to the question, but rather a deepening of the argument we are questioning. Pondering needs a certain period of practice to reach some results. Its not complicated, but we are so entangled in our rational thoughts, that it is difficult to renounce them.

Try it, if you wish, and inform me about your experiences and results.

Self-Development through Facebook!

How many hours do we spend against the PCs monitor? How many useful and useless things do we do during a day on various pages such as, in this case, on Facebook? To what degree does this attitude harm our state of consciousness? And the most important question, can the act of surfing on web pages such as Facebook become a sort of training for our self-development? First of all, of course, staying against the PC all day cant be healthyin this way, we miss the most important part of the dayliving our life. But, maybe, even an ill-famed eater of consciousness such as Facebook could become a good gymnasium for developing our attentionbut, dont overdo this practice !! When we use the PC, the best method for maintaining a state of awareness, and not falling asleep against the monitor, is to focus our attention on the body. If we strive to keep the back straight, we achieve naturally, a better state of attention. Indeed, a straight posture produces a better state of awareness, and this is one of the main reasons that such posture is suggested during the meditation. Staying for hours on the computer, it avoids much physical damage typical for those who sit for most part of the day. Also, a good suggestion is to often check the legs and shoulders to notice if they are constrained, and, if they are constrained, let us relax them!

A calm and relaxed natural breathing is also very useful: in this manner, mind can be engaged with the work on the PC and, at the same time, we can divide our attention by maintaining, relaxing, and adjusting our body posture and breath slightly. After some time of such practice, we will notice the development of a greater awareness and transform our time spent on Facebook or other web pages, into moments of relative nerve regeneration and mental health. Try itit needs some practice, because when we are on the computer, there are many subjects to identify ourselves with, but I found practice useful.

Few Steps Towards a Stronger Will

Almost all of us carry an intolerance to which we are unable to give a name. Who searches deeply in this field recognizes what it is, and only from this point begins a real path to self growth. In fact, once we have realized that our inertia is the cause of our condition, we start to give more attention to a skill that almost all claim to have, but actually, almost no one has the Will.

But, what is Will? What must we do to develop it? And is it really possible to develop? What must we do when the wish for further development pushes to one side, and from the other, mental and physical laziness bring us constantly bring us back to the starting point?

The Will is surely a skill that can be trained and developed. It can be defined as the ability to maintain a fixed decision, even if many obstacles arise to deter it. Will allows us to realize the aims we feel we must achieve, even if this is difficult or unpleasant. It is a skill which allows us not to be deflected from our goals. Once, my mentor (teacher) said, There is no simpler thing in the world than to train our will. Even if this statement seems absurd and senseless, the development of the will is relatively easy, but it demands a great

effort. The recipe is to decide one thing and not betray this decision. Many people believe that training the will is to do something which is driven from a passion, something we really love to do. But, it must be said that the most effective way to develop the will is precisely to do something that doesnt impassion us. When we do something we like, it is easy to follow the steps, but this develops nothing in us, except a less strong and less determined Will. It is more useful to decide to do small things that we are indifferent to, or that give us difficulty which doesnt turn us away from the decision, creating various excuses. From this point of view, washing dishes or cleaning house, overcoming laziness, is more efficient in developing the will, than to do great things which are motivated by our passions or desires.

Part II (Exercises)

Self Observation

Self -observation is the focal point in the field of inner research. Through this practice, placed in a well-structured environmental system, there are practically no limits to what we can discover about ourselves, our life, and the world in general. To effectively carry out this practice, we must take into account two factors: energy and awareness. An intentional, non-superficial and not accidental observation requires an intensive and focused energy. The only fuel source we have to perform such a challenging task is the energy we have to live our daily lives: losing this energy in mechanical, unconscious, and unintentional actions make such kind of observation impossible. The first difficulty which the practitioner encounters is the fact that almost no one understands in practice what observation is. Generally, although we admit that we arent conscious of ourselves, we have the tendency to consider we still possess this ability. Only through serious work on self- observation can we reach some concrete results, taking it only as information is not enough. A well-structured and organized work on observing ourselves and the environment surrounding us, brings us progressively to the third state of awareness called Self -Consciousness or Self Awareness. This state can be achieved only through a theoretical study, but even only through a practice without any theoretical knowledge, one must first know how and what to observe. So, theoretical study and experience (practice) are two indivisible key

factors in order to proceed in an effective way. Thats the recipe for getting results from the ancient axiom, Know Thyself. Another important factor is sincerity, or the rare and great ability of being honest. Humans have the habit to eyewash themselves and others, with the only purpose of maintaining alive an illusory and non-existent image of themselves, emerging from the various fragmented parts of the personality. We must be honest toward ourselves and others. It is very important in the field of the development of a higher consciousness that we admit our lack of self-observation. Otherwise, any chance of further development is lost from the beginning. At the beginning, the education to observe ourselves and others has the aim to make us aware of our absence, and this is a point that mustnt be underestimated: who presumes to have understood his ordinary condition without having seen with his own eyes and touched with his own hands the situation, almost never achieve any results. There are very many methods of observation, but first we must understand what it is, aside from the techniques one decides to use. In order to observe, an observer who drives this action is needed. We can see an object because it is external to us. We cant see our face (of course, we can see it in a shadow, but I didnt mean this case). At the beginning, we might extend the field of observation to what is more external to us, and this is our physical body. Observing the physical body has also another advantage: our thoughts and emotions change at every moment, according to the external situations which influence them our body is less susceptible to radical changes. That is the reason why almost all the serious inner disciplines begin the path of self development with the physical body. We can observe our gestures, our physical postures, our interaction with objects, reducing progressively the habitual and mechanical movements. Even breath, as part of the

instinctive center, is a focal point to develop our attention, and very useful to develop the ability to observe. Once we become able to maintain such kind of observation for longer periods during our daily life, we can start to observe the intellectual and emotional functions and the corresponding centers. Through the practice of self-observation, we also reach the ability to understand others, to build better relations and help those who need help. There is a traditional form of natural awareness, whose mechanical gestures and acts aesthetic and doing every act , education for self-observation called aim is to struggle against the and developing a conscious gestural feeling the body while doing it.

Self Observation Exercise in Third Person

On this topic will be explained in details how to do a constructive self observation in accord to the Ancient teachings. There are more writings about this topic, but I released that each of them gives only fragments of a real self observation practice. Also, there are many practicies to develop the skills for self observation: this practice is one of the moste simple and useful both for "beginners" and "advanced" practitioners. So, here is a technique called Second Line Attention that Im sure would be helpful for all the practitioners as it was helpful for me and all who practiced her. This exercise is very similar to the practicies suggested in the Buddhist text Maha Satipetthana Sutta, but developed a littel bit for the necessities of the modern life. Here is a part of the originaol text: ...And again, bhikkus, a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk who has received full ordination) while walking knows I am walking, while standing, he knows I am standing; while sitting, he knows, I am sitting; while lying down he knows, I am lying down.... It important to understand that in this text the concept know (ie. he knows I am sitting) is related to the proprety of feeling: if you dont feel yourself sitting, then you dont know. So know = being aware. Remember that feeling is a core of self observation and self remembering. The explanation of this exercise is simply: we use two tools- our birth name sayd in third person and our body. How? During the day, when we do some action, we must feel ourselves doing that determinate thing and, at the same time, repeat mentally our name

and the action we are doing in the third person. Example: When I pick up a glass I feel my body doing this action and I say mentally: "Andrea takes the glass" when I walk I feel my body in motion and say mentally: "Andrea walks" and so on. In this way, observing the action, and mentally repeating what we are doing in that moment, we can start to observe better ourselves. Also, when we do this practice, is more important to feel-sense our body in motion. Similarly, we can do the same things with emotions: When I feel happy I say: "Andrea is Happy" when I m tired, "Andrea is tired," when I'm angry "Andrea is angry "..... The simple repeating the actions we do in third person help us to be a little more detached from what we do or feel. Thats all. This action has to be done during the all day. Observe yourself in every moment and, when you notice youve forget doing this practice, just focus your attention on what you are doing right in that moment. Practice with patience, dont get angry when you notice youve forget yourself- at this stage of the Work, its a normal thing!

Breath and Navel Technique A Taoist Practice

Breath and Navel Meditation is the oldest meditation method on record in China, as well as India. It is the method usually taught to beginners. Breath and Navel Meditation works directly with the natural flow of breath in the nostrils and the expansion and contraction of the abdomen. This Taoist meditation is a good way to develop focused attention and one-pointed awareness. It is suggested to practice it twenty or thirty minutes once or twice a day.

Exercise: 1. Sit cross-legged on a cushion on the floor or upright on a low stool and adjust the bodys posture until well-balanced and comfortable. Press tongue to palate, close your mouth without clenching the teeth, and lower the eyelids until almost closed. 2. Breathe naturally through the nose, drawing the inhalation deep down into the abdomen and making the exhalation long and smooth. Focus your attention on two sensations, one above and the other below. Above, focus on the gentle breeze of air flowing in and out of the nostrils like a bellows, and on exhalation, try to follow the breath out as far as possible, from 3 to 18 inches. Below, focus on the navel rising and falling and the entire abdomen expanding and contracting like a balloon with each inhalation and exhalation. You may focus attention

on the nostrils or the abdomen, or on both, or one and then the other, whichever suits you best. From time to time, mentally check your posture and adjust it, if necessary. Whenever you catch your mind wandering off or getting cluttered with thoughts, consciously shift your attention back to your breath. Sometimes, it helps to count either inhalations or exhalations, until your mind is stably focused. If you manage to achieve stability in this method after ten to twenty minutes of practice, you may wish to switch over to one of the other two methods given above. These methods may be practiced in a single sitting in the order that they are presented here, or in separate sittings.

Developing Awareness during Sedentary Jobs

How do we maintain a higher state of attention during the day, even if we have a sedentary job? How do we observe ourselves even when we work eight or more hours a day on the PC? When working with the PC, the most useful and efficient method is to focus the awareness on the body field. Firstly, keep the back straight, which avoids a lot of damage more typical for the sedentary jobs. Secondly, constantly check the shoulders and legs, making sure to keep them relaxed and not contracted. In addition to this, a slightly deep breathing and learning how to control its flow in a calm and relaxed manner, is very useful. So, we can maintain the mind engaged with the job we are doing, and simultaneously adjust the breath and the body posture to remain relaxed. Once this practice becomes familiar, it develops a better awareness and transforms an unhealthy sedentary job to a period of relative nerve regeneration and mental health. But, even this simple exercise needs practice.

An Easy Centering Exercise

This exercise is an easy and practical tool to utilize your body to change the state of your mind. The mind-body link allows changes in the body to positively affect the mind. Centering our awareness on the body and its functions, we can release troubling and uncomfortable emotions through the use of the breath to modulate consciousness and emotion in the body. The method uses diaphragmatic breathing or deep breathing. (for more information about the diaphragmatic breathing, take a look on the Dennis Lewis Blog Page). Its a fact that the body releases about 80% of the toxins in our body through the use of breath. The oxygen works to release the toxins usually through our largest surface, our skin. A deep and natural breath enhances this process.

The Practice: Take a comfortable position (even the horizontal position is good), in which you can relax easily. Begin the practice by stretching your stomach. Practice inflating your stomach to the limit and then contracting it to its maximum. Do this about 20 times slowly, and you will notice that the breathing process is a little easier. Now that your muscles have relaxed slightly, think of a troubling emotional situation and keep it in your mind. Try to return to that

situation. Feel that emotion as strongly as you can. Intensify the feeling as much as possible. While holding that feeling in your body and mind, begin to breathe with your belly. Inhaling a breath expands your stomach out as far as possible, and breathing out collapses your stomach to the maximum. Take in as much air as possible with each breath, breathing at a normal pace. Practice such kind of breathing for at least five minutes. If you lose track of your breathing and your mind wanders, bring it back to the situation you were focusing on. You want to breathe through that emotion. This will release you from this troubling emotion.

An Integral Approach to Overcome Harmful Emotions

The emotive field is the sea in which we swim every moment. Even the perception of a color, a sound, a physical sensation , is possible by the emotive. What is ordinarily labeled under this name, is only the surface of a deeper ocean, a momentary oscillation which manifests itself in the superficial levels of the emotional plane. Today we can find on the vast spiritual and psychological market, various techniques, more or less ,or definitively not efficient. In the Western countries in the last century, many methods have been produced, in which the aim is to remove the emotional barriers and to achieve a control of the negative emotions. In any case, we have to remember that a human being is a very complex, structured being. Namely, a human being is composed of a physical body, an intellect, and emotions. Each of these parts interact with one another. Intellect with its dual conception, rigidly fixed by convictions and conditionings, constantly influences emotions. The body also influences emotions, though not as much as the intellect does: for example, the dysfunction of a physical organ can change totally and radically, the emotional state of a person. Body, mind, and emotions are deeply connected, and it is practically impossible to achieve a permanent balance of one of

them without working on all three fields at the same time. If we want to overcome a fear, a phobia, a sense of insecurity, it is not enough to try to control the emotions. To achieve this aim, a deep process of conversion of the intellectual and emotional field is necessary, with the purpose of transforming the deep-rooted unconscious habits which drive us to perceive life in terms of danger. Almost all the psychological and development systems created to remove emotional blocks and mental problems, have a limited effect, both in terms of intensity and time, and they leave the real source of these problems untouched. That is the reason of why, if we want an effective and permanent self-transformation intended for self-development, we have to opt for an integral approach which must involve in our work, the body, the intellect, and the emotions at the same time. A work of impartial self-observation is a very effective tool. On this blog, we have shared some examples of how to begin a work on self-observation, and all of them give the possibility to approach the problem in an integral way at the same moment when the problem arises. Even meditation is a good tool, but only if it is put in a concrete, well-structured system for the understanding of the Universal Laws which govern our life, without which knowing it , is impossible to overcome the harmful emotional baggage we bring along every moment of our lives.

Awareness and the Tone of Voice

Through the improving of the tone of our voice, we can improve even ourselves. The human voice is not only a language medium, but also a sounding-board able to show ones emotional states. A small child doesnt necessarily understand the meaning of his parents words, but he instinctively responds to the vibration of their voices. Sound is very important in our life. By removing the audio from a movie, we cannot absolutely follow the story line, but, if we leave only the audio and remove the images, the movie may still involve our attention. To observe and control the tone, rhythm and oratory vibration of our voice, can lead us to a better degree of awareness and harmonization of our emotional statesa valuable tool for deeper communication with others. There are many classes and ways to learn how to use our voice, for example, in the theater. It all depends on the teacher and the depth of his knowledge concerning the argument. But, we can develop by ourselves, the habit of speaking in a quiet, calm and confident way, trying to reproduce, while speaking, voice vibrations which represents a relaxed and fixed degree of attention. Not a sort of De Niros You talkin to me?, but a more natural way of using our voice.

A Tibetan exercise for Discerning the True from the False Self

I would like to introduce here a very interesting practice which belongs to the Tibetan Tantric-Buddhist tradition. It is very useful in learning how to overcome a negative emotion when it happens. We witness almost everyday in ourselves and in others, the manifestation and the results of such emotions, and we also know the consequences they leave after they have happened, both for those who express negative emotion and those who suffer the reaction of the person who expresses such emotions. So, I believe this practice will be of interest. Similar to the usual sensing and awareness exercises, this practice also uses visualization which improves the effects of the practice.

Preparation: Begin this exercise by taking just a minute or two to focus on your physical body, finding the most beneficial position with your spine straight and erect, a position in which you can be aware and awake, but not stiff or rigid. Feel the weight of your body, its substantial, earthy character. Become present in the moment and place where you are. Step 1: Now, perform the so-called nine round breathing exercise. This is a pre-tantric purification practice in which you visualize the main 3 energy channels in the body. In Tantric Buddhism, it is used at the beginning of a meditation session to calm and clear the mind in only a minute or so. Make your breath

somewhat longer and deeper, but dont exaggerate, if possible. One should not hear the breathing. If you have a cold and one or both nostrils are clogged, just imagine breathing through the different nostrils. Visualize the body as being completely empty and transparent, then inside it appears the Central Channel (visualize this channel). The Central Channel starts between the eyebrows, continues back just under the skull, and from the crown of the head it goes straight down to the level of four finger widths under the navel. It stays a little in front of the spine. It is like a transparent blue tube, about the thickness of a thick drinking straw. To the left and to the right are two side-channels, both transparent and the thickness of only a drinking straw. The right channel is red, the left is white. The three channels are flexible and just below the navel, they connect with each other. During the first round of breathing, INHALE through the LEFT nostril, keeping the right nostril closed with a finger. We imagine the air going from the left nostril into the left channel, up near the crown and way down to below the navel. There, the left channel is connected to the right channel , and we BREATH OUT through the RIGHT CHANNEL by closing the left nostril with the same finger. Imagine breathing in pure white light, and when exhaling, imagine that all DESIRE AND ATTACHMENT which pollutes the left channel collects at the navel and leaves via the right channel as black smoke. The black smoke disappears beyond the universe. Repeat this 3 times. Then, the next round we INHALE white light via the RIGHT nostril, and all ANGER and HATRED which pollutes the right channel collects below the navel and is EXHALED via the LEFT channel as black smoke. Again, do this 3 times.

The third round we INHALE white light via the LEFT and RIGHT channel together and imagine them both being connected to the central channel below the navel. This CENTRAL CHANNEL is polluted by IGNORANCE and CONFUSION which is breathed out as black smoke. Imagine that you BREATHE OUT via the POINT BETWEEN the EYEBROWS. Normally, this preparatory practice is performed 2 or 3 rounds during which you might let all thoughts go as you focus on the breath as you inhale and exhale through each nostril, breathing in white light and breathing out black smoke. Step 2: When the mind is calm and focused, create an altruistic motivation for the meditation session. Think that you are meditating not just for your own well-being or peace of mind or good reputation, but you are taking the time now to meditate and develop the wisdom of emptiness in order to attain the state of enlightenment where you can most skillfully benefit all beings and lead them as well from suffering and to enlightenment. Step 3: Now, focus your attention to the concept of I: namely, repeat inwardly I, I, allowing the feeling of I to grow. Focus on the sense of I or me. One way to bring up this sense of I is to generate a strong emotionfor example, bring to mind an instance in which you felt strong anger or strong fear. Now, allow a small part of your mind to subtly act as an observer, observing this sense of I. That observer must be very sneaky and subtle, otherwise, this sense of I tends to disappear. Investigate: How does the I appear? As one with the body? As completely separate from the body? As one with the mind? As completely separate from the mind? Often, the I appears as something independent, separate from the mind and body. Is this appearance accurate and true?

What is this I? Is it the body? The whole body? A part of the body? Is it the head? The heart? The brain? If it is any of these things, how could we then say my head or my heart, or my brain, or even my body? Contemplate this for awhile. Now think: Is the I the same as the body, or is the I the possessor of the body? If the I is not the same as the body, is it completely different? If the I is the possessor of the body, does that mean it is completely independent of the body? Something separate? Contemplate this for awhile. Can the I exist without the body? Think about this. Is the I the same as the mind, that which perceives and thinks and experiences, both perceptually (through the five senses) and conceptually (through thinking)? Is the I the same as the whole mind? As every moment of the mind? If the I is the mind, which moment of the mind is it? Which part of the mind? Contemplate this for awhile. If the I is the same as the mind, why do we say my mind? Is the I the possessor of the mind? Is the I completely different from the mind? Completely independent of the mind? Something separate? Contemplate this for awhile. Can the I exist without the mind? Think about this. The I is neither one with nor completely separate from the body. The I is neither one with nor completely separate from the mind. What is it then? How does it exist? The appearance of the I as something completely independent of the mind and body is a complete illusion. It is a completely false appearance. And this appearance gives rise to all the afflictions of the mind, all the delusions and resulting karmic actions. This false appearance is the root of our samsara and our suffering. This false appearance is completely deceptive, and the I that appears to exist in this false way DOES NOT EXIST AT ALL. Thus, the very

subtle I that does exist (conventionally) is COMPLETELY EMPTY OF THIS FALSE WAY OF EXISTING. The I is completely empty of independent existence, or of inherent existence. The I is a mere imputation, a mere label, that depends on the base of the body and mind. Contemplate this strongly. Once you have come to this conclusion, allow all your thinking processes to stop and merely concentrate on this understanding with single-pointed focus, so that it can penetrate into the deeper levels of your mind.

A Practical Experiment with Thoughts

We are like a vessel without a helmsman at the mercy of the waves of our thoughts. The storm happens around us, and we are pushed in every direction by the wind of our emotions, of our thoughts. The only thing we hope is not to bang against a rock which could harm us. The most common thing about this is that we almost always forget that these thoughts are just thoughts, a product of our mind: namely, we are not our thoughts, but thoughts arise in our mind. Ordinarily, people have from sixty to eighty thousand thoughts a day, and every thought gives an emotional response. So, it would be useful to achieve some experiential knowledge about that, and become more responsible for them. Every thought has its beginning, its time of duration and its end. We can imagine them like a movie projected on a white cinema screen. Who is looking at the movie? As a mirror cannot reflect itself, so also a thought cannot observe thought. Thats a good starting point to understand, something new about how and what happens in our mind. Lets try a simple experiment! 1. Sit comfortably or lie down on your bed, and take the necessary time to relax a moment. Make some gentle abdominal breaths to increase that relaxation. 2. Then, say mentally to yourself the word marmalade and take a minute to notice all the associative thoughts which arise in your mind. You just notice them, without judging or doing

anything to influence them. Just take a look at what is happening. Enjoy this movie. 3. After a minute, take note of all the mental associations that happened during this minute in response to the word marmalade. Maybe you thought that this is a stupid word, or evoked something related to your childhood. Also, notice if and how the thought association went away from the word in question, producing thoughts about our everyday life, what we have to do, etc., that we are unable to do such experiments. 4. Now, also notice that between two thoughts, there was a gap, a pauseand that you are that pause between these thoughts, and that this gap exists even during the thought process. Realize that you are not your thoughts, you are what/who observes them. Doing such an experiment every day for a determined period could help you to be a little more detached, unidentified, and less susceptible from what happens in your mind.

Developing Awareness during Sedentary Jobs

How do we maintain a higher state of attention during the day, even if we have a sedentary job? How do we observe ourselves even when we work eight or more hours a day on the PC? When working with the PC, the most useful and efficient method is to focus the awareness on the body field. Firstly, keep the back straight, which avoids a lot of damage more typical for the sedentary jobs. Secondly, constantly check the shoulders and legs, making sure to keep them relaxed and not contracted. In addition to this, a slightly deep breathing and learning how to control its flow in a calm and relaxed manner, is very useful. So, we can maintain the mind engaged with the job we are doing, and simultaneously adjust the breath and the body posture to remain relaxed. Once this practice becomes familiar, it develops a better awareness and transforms an unhealthy sedentary job to a period of relative nerve regeneration and mental health. But, even this simple exercise needs practice.

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