spirituality quotes

18 posts

Stop Doing What You Are Doing

Stop during what you are doing. Have you heard this sentence before? Parents often use this statement with their children. Thus, as a conditioned behavior, we learn to always focus on doing instead of consciously being. I recently overheard a conversation that illustrates this behavior.

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Don’t waste time by spending too much time doing non-productive things. The individual I mentioned above made this statement. Stop doing what you are doing. You’re wasting time. Instantly, I saw and felt confusion and frustration in the second person. Why? Because her focus was only on the details of the experience. Let’s be clear about something. Losing focus to your state of being in any moment insures mind dominance through thoughts or emotions. Continue reading →

Peace Is not a Place to Find

You can’t travel to a place called peace. Please, don’t even try. And, you won’t find it by looking, wishing or hoping. Peacefulness is, just like presence is presence. Likewise, enlightenment is enlightenment. These are one and the same. And, your state of being is not something you have, either you are it or you are not. (This last sentence is a useful stepping stone to conscious awakening.) So, what happens when you walk into a forest on a spring day? Strangely enough, 😊 you often relax and feel peaceful in the forest. But, why? Ask yourself these questions in such a moment. Am I being peaceful? Or, do I just think I am peaceful? There is a profound difference between thinking and being. Active awareness to the latter allows you to simply be peaceful and live in enlightenment.

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Additionally, ask yourself these questions. Do I always think/feel happy when I walk in the forest? Furthermore, and importantly, must I first walk into the forest before I can relax? Foremost, how you answer the second question will reveal your overall state of being. Furthermore, ask this question. Am I always thinking and dreaming about how to be peaceful? Continue reading →

One Is the Loneliest Number or Is it?

Object consciousness is an expressing of life. Universal consciousness is ultimately the experience of being one. On the other hand, the mind overshadows the evolution of self-consciousness. Thus, mind dominance manipulates and restricts our conscious awareness. This lack of awareness contributes to our conditioned behavior. Furthermore, this development simulates separation and duality. Thus, to illustrate in words, we overlook the totality of being. Pause for a moment and reflect on this insight. Logically and ultimately, there is only presence(being). And, this is universal.

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But, the mind manipulates our consciousness into playing a game. Likewise, the mind insists it knows the game rules. But what about rules that the mind doesn’t know? Here the mind insures that it will sooner or later tells us what it doesn’t know now. Alas, the weight of mind conditioning is a heavy burden on our personal and collective experiences. Additionally, belief structures have the destructive impact of a runaway locomotive. Detachment from the mind, likewise our awakening to consciousness, can change everything. Then the two, object and universal consciousness, suddenly become one. Continue reading →

Friendship Is Being True-Blue!

Do you have many friends? We use the word friend too often. Thus, it has no real significance or depth. Furthermore, this mannerism is a conditioned behavior. Thus, we have expectations and there are attachments. Wikipedia defines friendship as “A relationship of mutual affection between two people.”

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Also, this affection can include relationships between more than two people. We base friendship, even love, on thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Likewise, and more often, we establish friendship through mutually conceived ideas, desires, and needs. This behavior causes attachment. Attachments and expectancy cause imbalance in the simple act of being. Being suggests simply living to live. Therefore, base an unconditional alliance, whether friend, family or partner on simply being. Continue reading →

Body, Mind, and Your Belief in Believing

Body and mind seem to be one, and they relate to each other on levels that few people are able to comprehend. We have been shown so much from the moment we are born. We have been told and taught by example what is right and wrong. This has caused the body to accept what the mind has told it. Is this really how life should be?

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Do you often experience confusion, anxiety, and fear? Please realize that you are much more than what the mind has conditioned you to think or believe. Having a belief or believing in something has no substantial significance in life. But it seems to take on significance and meaning in our existence. This, though, does not validate it as being necessary. Life does not need to believe in something. Life is entirely indifferent to believing or not believing. Traditional thinking tells us that you must first believe in something, and then you must have faith in it. Otherwise, something will not happen nor will you get something unless you believe. However, believing in a belief does not validate its authenticity.

Furthermore, we are to accept this type of behavior as the one and only path to use when wishing for something to manifest. It does seem that we can associate better with the term believing, but only, when used strictly in human context. Conditioning causes us to accept that a belief (believing) is necessary before we can receive something. Continue reading →

Change How We See Ourselves

A change in how we live is unfolding worldwide. Living life consciously was not always obvious. A deafness has muffled the constant roar of life. Moreover, we often misunderstand how to live after the awakening of consciousness. This is because the mind experiences no satisfaction in being consciously aware. Thus, the mind keeps us looking. But, we will never find something that we already are in essence. Therefore, we use words as an attempt to explain the unexplainable. Spiritual sounds great. Spirituality even better. Enlightenment is at the top of the list.

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But, let’s consciously and impartially reflect on what this implies. We consciously awaken. Great! But usually we then begin to think that we are spiritual. This type of thinking gives us temporary experiences of contentment and happiness. But, then the next thing happens and we become frustrated and unhappy. Furthermore, the mind then says that we have failed and are not yet spiritual. The mind will encourage you to continue reaching for enlightenment.

So, we go back to the spiritual drawing board in the hope of finding the cause for our failure. We think of what to do to be spiritual. There is always an expectancy that accompanies thoughts about what enlightenment means. I can let you in on a secret that is not really a secret. We will never know enlightenment by using the mind as a springboard to experience it. But, the mind is relentless. It is always very helpful in reviewing a game plan to reach spirituality. Continue reading →

Dwell Within Life and Be Fully Alive

You live and then you cease to live. This is the simplicity of our existence. Therefore, we can say that you are now alive. Also, this seems logical and plausible. Basically, it is everything in a nutshell. Then why is it difficult to accept how life manifests in our existence? After all, believe it or not. You are responsible for how something unfolds. Or, at the least, you are responsible for how you observe something when it manifests. Are you consciously aware or unconsciously unaware? Do you dwell fully within life? This suggests living regardless of the form in which it manifests. Or are you a spiritless existence?

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(Spiritless adj: Lacking energy or enthusiasm; listless. Lacking liveliness, charm, or surprise. I.e. “Complaining and anxious to suit your own thoughts, feelings, and opinions or those of others.”)

You are an object that experiences life. This means that you can mentally and self-consciously live life. Therefore, you will experience happiness, sadness, sickness, and death. However, this is not really you. The true you (universal self) is now manifesting through a temporary doorway called mind and body. Furthermore, what happens to this life-form does not define you. Unless you choose and allow it. This does not mean that you should resist what occurs. Rather, accept and dwell within everything because this nurtures conscious awareness. This suggests that simply living life is the grandest experience. Trust me, the sudden spaciousness and freedom within the acceptance of life will be awesome. Just let everything be. Continue reading →

Storybook Experiences of the Mind

Stories, stories, and more stories. Everyone loves a good story. We (mind) love to tell a good story. Furthermore, the stories we tell are part of our own personal storybook. The stories are a combination of every person’s experiences. A conditioned mind orchestrates these experiences according to its own design.

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There would normally be no story or storybook if we were able to live in the moment. Likewise, anything other than the isness of now is a story. We create the paragraphs, the chapters, and the book itself. It is a book of fiction. But, the mind insists it’s real. Alas, it seems very tangible. However, most of what the mind tells us is not what has or what will happen. Nothing in this storybook is as it seems unless we decide that it has or will happen.

You may ask, Steve, what are you saying? I am not responsible for the people, situations or experiences that take place in each moment. It is true that any individual cannot truly change the behavior of a person. Nor, the details of a situation. However, it is possible for each person to change his or her point of perspective in each moment. It is very difficult for the mind to accept that nothing and everything is happening each second. Still, the key is in realizing that it is each person’s conscious awareness that determines the outcome of an experience. Continue reading →

Salvation or Enlightenment! Why Do We Search?

We strive for a predetermined salvation. It is the mind that self-imposes behavior and thinking patterns onto our experience of life. Thus, we willingly and unwillingly play the role of a fool. We must not suffer. But the mind tells us that to reach redemption requires sacrifice and suffering. However, thoughts, beliefs, and suffering, are solely mind based misunderstandings of how to live life.

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After all, we are the source of everything we seek. Correspondingly, we are and always have been a part of the totality. Still, we fear and hate in addition to many other conditioned factors. Thus, we search in the hope of finding redemption. Now, let’s focus on the word enlightenment. However, as we have often discussed, remember that words are only words. Therefore, let words, definitions, and beliefs only have a practical purpose for you. These signposts can be beneficial on your inner path. Nonetheless, they are only signpost and no more. Hence, salvation is a product of the mind. The experience of living and being conscious is beyond words. Continue reading →

Is Life Obligated to You? Does Life Owe You?

Do these questions seem odd to ask? Still, we expect life to give us something every day. Whether we are aware of it or not. We demand that life be fair. We assume living means getting what we want. Yes, indeed! Life is obligated to do our bidding. You may say that I am generalizing and the majority of people don’t think this way. However, we all do, at some given level. It is, so to say, in our blood. Life owes us. But, life is not here to fulfill our desires. Or, is it?

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We must first burst this illusion bubble before we can truthfully answer this question. The origin and implication of this conditioned thinking started long ago (clock-time). But, when these expectations started is irrelevant. We attach ourselves to thinking patterns and belief systems. These dictate that everyone should live in paradise. Hence, Life has an obligation to give us the ideal circumstances to obtain nirvana. Thus, we are apprehensive about living. This causes us to await something from life. This is actually a self-inflected dependence. Continue reading →