Slowing . . . emptying . . . alertly present

Listening . . . quietly watching . . . feeling

Attuned with the PERMANENT

Openly at rest . . . the Fullness above identity evident

A spiritually aware person easily recognizes that Spirit is the foundational Reality of all that appears. They unconditionally respect every space they enter and each person, creature or thing they encounter and interact with, regardless of particulars or commonly ascribed worth.

Yoga practice assists in the release of whatever might be inhibiting our receptivity to the ever-present flow of Grace.

It is difficult to know Wholeness and Oneness when steeped in otherness. When the play of opposites is our dominant orientation, Wholeness and Oneness remain conceptual ideals to be realized.

Transcendent of our identification with and investment in this dualistic, yin-yang life experience, Wholeness abides as our ever stable Self, our changeless ground of Being. And, when we experience Wholeness within ourselves we know Oneness with life’s diversified presentation.

From fragrant colors to baren branches and deep snow / from silent snow to green shoots / from budding branches to summer’s expanse and back around.

We have been a child and an elder, perhaps repeatedly, yet in truth we were neither a child nor elder even as We experienced these phases.

We are the Seer, timeless, permanent.

We tend to generate like patterns of thought and behavior repeatedly until intentionally choosing to change them in an attempt to initiate growth and expand our capacities.

Likewise, our chosen spiritual practices (meditation methods, rituals, observances), as useful as they can be, might occasionally be altered to avoid passivity or complacency, then perhaps returned to with refreshed perspective and resolve.

Instances of Divine grace are periods when we are egoless enough to allow

the constant benevolence of Divine grace a more accessible inlet.

A non-tribal member, he was free of adversity with all tribes.

Inwardly contented, he allowed things to take their course.

A gifted prophet, he shared his visions with those receptive as a selfless agent of the Divine, unconcerned with profit (or prophet).

Recognizing life’s omnipresent Source, we acknowledge that in essence, every place is a “sacred space,” regardless of appearance. However, we are likely to regard certain spaces as special, because they seem to nourish us in various ways.

It’s good to acknowledge that in essence, we too are sacred spaces, and we are portable!

Though desire is a primary motivator in our passage through this life, it isn’t the wisest navigator, with discontent often following in its wake.

Spiritually awake individuals remind us that: Our essential Self remains conditionlessly whole-content, while our transitory personality self tends to seek fulfillment outwardly, until sooner or later reorienting primarily/dominantly as the essential Self.

When we live with intentionality and enjoyment of the Present, everything becomes useful spiritual practice, assisting our individualized evolutionary process; our unique spiritual recovery journey.

Enlightenment teaching asserts that “God is closer than your breath,” and that “God indwells you as you.” In other words, the Actor and the character portrayed are inseparable.

Motion and sound are relative, and extend from stillness and silence which are Absolute.

The Source-Origin of this universe (which includes our specialized appearance and individualized contribution), is singular, whole and eternally unchanging, which is also our innermost Essence; our authentic Self.

The notion of ‘separation’ in any form is a misperception. With the dawning of clarified awareness or spiritual enlightenment, we recognize that the Absolute is appearing as all things, or as one contemporary spiritual teacher phrased it: “Everyone and everything is God in drag.”

Teacher, Do I need to surround myself mentally with protective light before entering into meditation?

Friend, You can include this exercise if you want, but it may reinforce the false notion of being separate from the Infinite. It certainly isn’t necessary, because behind the temporary mind-body-personality façade, your authentic Self is the light of pure consciousness. This was so prior to your current embodiment and will remain so following this earthly sojourn. So, since you always, already are the light of pure consciousness, why add stuff to Self? The Infinite is expressing as “you,” and is not in need of creating a mental light of protection.

Dive more deeply in meditation. Devote yourself to quality inward time so you can realize the timeless light that you have always been.

The spiritual path is not about beating the ego-sense into submission through self-denial, in order to become more spiritual. It is an intentional internal search for our changeless authentic Self, leading to the rediscovery of our essential beingness, our true status as Spirit. This awakening is a reorientation in which the transitory ego-sense is not rejected but appreciated as a convenience for relating in space-time, yet no longer viewed as a limitation.

Zen teaching: “To the still mind, the universe surrenders.” “The quiet mind is heaven.”

The influence of egoic awareness predisposes us to color and interpret life by projecting our conditionings onto what we perceive. When we are quiet-minded perception is clarified, and our awareness reflects life as it is.

Paradoxically, it was in solitude that Hu felt closest to, and most united with others and the world. When interacting, he felt most separate and alone. And, though his enlightened Self knew there is no separation; that we all extend from the same infinite Source as specialized expressions of It, Hu preferred the wholesome company of creatures and trees.

Poet-Artist Paul Reps, after meditatively sitting with flowers, wrote: “They are all singing only we don’t hear them.” It seems he was reminding us that, behind mental clamor and churning emotions there is a listening Self ever poised in wholeness. Amidst all arisings and currents of change there is a stable observer Self established in presentness. Within all sensory delights and disappointments a knowing Self peacefully abides. With mental quiescence and physical stillness, this penetratingly perceptive Self naturally reveals what intellect and senses fail to behold.

Psychology sometimes recommends dream analysis/interpretation as a means of recognizing character flaws, unwanted personality traits, trauma, and limitation thinking that can potentially be resolved/corrected through various therapies, toward improved creative functioning, personal interaction, and enjoyment of life.

Though Yoga teaching acknowledges the usefulness and importance of honest self-examination, improving social skills, and applying needed behavior modifications, its foremost emphasis or essential goal in this life is to awaken spiritually from the mortal dream state (conditioned, relative awareness), to discover the eternal, authentic Self, which is above and superior to the temporary dreamer self.

Everything we do, each involvement which we engage, can be “spiritual practice,” when we remain attentive. In addition to meditation and other methods and exercises we may find useful and enriching, our abiding alertness and sensitive attunement with what life is presenting, while also noting our internal responses, provide self-understanding and inform us of our present capacity of functional consciousness, while suggesting how we might elevate our perspective and adjust to align more harmoniously and freely in life. Relaxed attentiveness is the key, and by remaining calmly attentive our appreciation of life can be enhanced.