spirituality

156 posts

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 →

Universal Consciousness Awakens Through You

You are a receptacle of life. And, everything is a part of you and you of the totality. Universal life energy flows through you. Therefore, you are influencing and thus responsible for the universe. Does this sound like too much for you to handle? Well, this is happening in every moment, whether you accept being accountable for it or not. I do not wish to imply that you are to blame for what happens. Blame, judgment, fear, etc. are instruments of the mind. Furthermore, we are consciously moving beyond the limits of our conditioned behavior as we awaken to living consciously.

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What this insight suggests is the sanctity of life within your state of being. This refers to your spiritual essence in the universe and has nothing to do with religion or science. Your active and consciously awakened participation, or lack of it, reflects how you observe and experience yourself in this universe. This is your responsibility to the universe and is not truly a liability per se. It indicates how unobstructed you can live when the mind no longer dominates the presence of your being. Continue reading →

I Can’t Go on Living a Lie! How About You?

We often believe that everyone and everything wants something from us. The mind feeds us thoughts that cause us worry, uncertainty, and fear. Likewise, we become frantic with ego-infested thoughts of always needing or wanting something. Also, the mind insists everything it tells us is right. Wow! That is a lot to deal with each moment. But, is it possible that we are living a lie? Furthermore, what happened to free-will?

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Are we pursuing a lie based on conditioned behavior? Yes, most likely. But, strange enough, we identify with this lie. It is a lie based on conformity. Both personal and collective. This untruth starts at a very young age. So, what transpired when we were young? Young children usually experience living without conditioned boundaries. Does the world demand so much that we forget about consciousness? Yes. This would be appropriate to say. Thus, we conform to the mind, people, and situational demands. Hence, conditioned behavior overshadows conscious being. This teaches us to always pursue a mind-made lie. We are self-conscious of the world around us. However, self-consciousness evolves from object-oriented consciousness.

For the most part, object self-consciousness is only from the perspective of our human form. The world seems to be full of demands. And, we start chasing these demands at a very early age. Alas, each day seems to only bring more and more demands. These wants and demands clutter and pollute the space of universal consciousness. This manipulates and even restricts our experience of this space. The mind and this conditioned behavior misguide us. Thus, we mostly live a lie. Continue reading →

Your Existence Is the Gateway to Love

Wouldn’t it be much easier to simply love and live without the reasons why? And no, I am not suggesting the impossible. This is probably the key insight of my latest book and definitely the heartthrob of our existence. It is possible to live in harmony with life and to unconditionally love ourselves and all people and things. It sounds great to write or say this. However, accepting it and allowing it often seems to cause us great difficulty.

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Ask yourself these questions. Is the manifestation of love in my existence usually flowing naturally? Or is it manipulated and restricted by the burden of thoughts, emotions, details, and reasons? It will not benefit your experience of love by saying you love someone because of this or that. In the end it comes down to a universal simplicity.

Do you wish to love? How do you desire to live? It may seem that this is an oversimplification of something that has always been a mystery. However, what do you have when you remove the excess baggage associated with love? This is a weight that has accumulated in our attempts to love and be loved by someone. Nevertheless, it was, is, and will always be within our power to change how we observe and experience love and life. The next stepping stone on this journey involves understanding deeply that because has nothing to do with love. Continue reading →

Isness of Life Is to Live and Be Here Now

Here is an example that we can use to illustrate the benefits of staying in the isness of now. Presence manifests without any reference to the mind storybook or our existence. The following insight relates to the recent article Storybook Experiences of the Mind.

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The isness of the moment is similar to receiving an empty box. You are truly aware that the carton is empty when you are consciously awake. You see the box for what it is in that moment. Whereas the unconscious person will likely say, what do I want with an empty box? Or will say, this box is nothing but garbage. There is usually expectations, frustrations or joy associated with receiving the box.

However, the awakened person will likely experience heightened creativity. There is more conscious space, and even more awareness to the isness of the moment. The empty box offers a doorway to the universe. Many of us have experienced this as children. A child, when given an empty box, often will concentrate solely on what is there. Still, the child does not see just an empty box. Rather, children become the isness of now. What does this mean? This means that they are consciously aware of the moment. Therefore, each experience heightens their awareness. Thus, spontaneous and ongoing creativity occurs. 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 →

Free Yourself from the Mind and Simply Live

The word free in itself is just a word. The universal knowledge of what this entails is something quite different. The human heart, the mind, and consciousness all sense the truth of this word. Being free is something that only you can experience when you are ready. Serenity is there in each moment. The world of humankind will always demand. However, this is basically a mind-created illusion. The mind tells you that this is how you should see yourself and everything beyond your own form. This can change through a shift in self-perspective. The world will continue to demand if you allow it. This, however, does not mean that you must mentally or physically undertake any action or reaction to stop experiencing this feeling that the world wants something from you.

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Awakening consciously involves recognizing and releasing the plaguing thoughts that often dominate our daily activities. The mind confuses the simplicity of oneness with the complexity of life-form existence. A simple shift in awareness and observing how you react to thoughts can open up more and more space in each experience. Continue reading →

Tangled Web that We Weave

Oh! What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

The poem Marion by Sir Walter Scott and moreover his quote can be helpful in the awakening of human consciousness. This is possible through aware observation of our relationship with the mind. Our conversation today relates to Sir Walter Scott’s insight. So, let’s focus our awareness on conditioned behavior. We often blame life for causing difficulties and suffering. However, our unawareness to mind activities causes the tangled web we weave.

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We can compare this to domino’s that fall one after the other. It seems impossible to stop domino’s from falling once the chain-reaction has begun. Likewise, our mind is literally a madhouse of thoughts and emotions. The level of this madness corresponds with a person’s level of conscious awareness or the lack of it. Continue reading →

How to Use the Library Card Catalog of the Mind

There are many consciously awakening people that wish to stop thinking. The desire is to reduce the number of thoughts in the mind. Thus, allowing space. This space nurtures conscious awareness. Meditation is becoming more and more popular for this very reason. Still, the mind is similar to a Library card catalog.

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Thus, the mind can cause frustration for individuals during the conscious awakening process. This is because everyone uses the mind in attempts to create a state of non-thinking. We can logically conclude that this is impossible. Using the mind to reach a state of non-thinking is similar to what Albert Einstein once said about problem solving. We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

But, we can practice going beyond the mind. Does this sound absurd? So, what does this actually imply? The mind always processes information. Countless thought impulses demand our attention each moment. Must we listen? Should we jump when the mind tells us? No, of course not. But this unconscious state is still how the majority of people live life. So, how can we make thoughts stop? We cannot. This is impossible. Therefore, why don’t we simply acknowledge and accept the mind’s activities. This is, with practice, easier than it sounds. The mind’s library card catalog lists everything we experience. The mind readily gives us one or more index cards in the form of thoughts or emotions. But, presence, more so, experiencing presence doesn’t require the mind. (I realize that the mind is now telling you that I am naïve, crazy or both.) Continue reading →