Archive for the 'Truth' Category

The Quickening – The Acceleration of Spiritual Evolution and Consciousness on Planet Earth

The Quickening is a phenomena being used particularly in spiritual circles to describe a building of energy toward a particular destination. This build up of energy could be compared to the build up of an audience before a rock concert or the gathering of energy as an athlete or groups of athletes prepare for an event. In this case the Quickening refers to the direction of the planet’s group consciousness as a whole. This is not to say that it is everyone’s destiny. It is more to say that this is where the biggest “waves” are happening at this part of the galaxy.

The Quickening or for that matter any acceleration of energy is about pressure. It is simply a build of momentum and direction. Spirit refers to a subtler energy and because it is subtler it is able to penetrate into more substances. For example if we were to look at a stone: it’s energy is quite dense it’s structure is unable to mix with dirt very well. Spiritual energy refers to an energy that is finer than air – it is able to mix with and infuse with dirt, stones, humans, this planet and the kitchen sink. For this reason spiritual energy is said to be everywhere and in everything. This is also congruent with the practice of raising our vibration. What we are actually doing is making our density finer. The finer or subtler we are capable of becoming the more options we have to move our consciousness around the place. We also gain the opportunity to shift into a different dimension which is essentially what the Quickening is about.

Alchemy describes everything as being on the path to the original Source – give or take a couple of scenic routes and rest stops. Being true to ourselves seems to minimize the rests stops, decrease time spent in areas that aren’t congruent with the our truth and generally accelerate our journey toward the Source. This is expressed on this planet as more people wanting to realize life purpose, have meaningful relationships and generally waste less time experiencing things that have little meaning to us. This would also be the reason why interest in personal development, spiritual growth and so on is becoming more popular. When people are unsatisfied they either put up with it or look for answers. The growing trend in interest towards personal and spiritual development means that there are more people looking for answers. The really interesting thing is that people are finding them. There was a time where the personal and spiritual development field was looking a little flaky. There was a lot that seemed like pure fantasy and other stuff that people just found too difficult to integrate into their daily lives. The desire for methods which were effective and applicable for everyone, began to manifest the resources that we have available today. In truth the door to the higher self, spiritual realization, emotional mastery and effortless manifestation has always been there for everyone. It is just that understanding how to open that door is becoming easier and simpler. This too is something that is becoming more obvious as we seek to be true to ourselves.

There is a period of adapting where the body and mind in general is “stretching” and getting used to accommodating the expansion of consciousness. The body is learning to be open to the finer and faster frequencies of energy. This energy has always been available to us – the ears and eyes of our body and mind are just learning to see and hear it. It’s part of our truth and so as we seek our truth it is revealed. Energy is a communication – a cause and effect. Whether dense or subtle all energy interacts. Our body and mind is simply learning to interact at another level. We are adding another dimension to our consciousness. We are not necessarily detracting or diminishing the denser realities – we are simply adding more. Hence the term expanded consciousness.

Having issues within relationships, workplaces and so on is not always directly the issue with being true to ourselves – more to the point it is the perception that we are unable to experience certain truths while in those relationships or workplaces. Sometimes we may need to close those doors in order to open up others. Sometimes we may need to work with what and where we are in order to gain the wisdom which is inherent in all experiences. This enables us to experience a part of ourselves that perhaps had been hidden. The external world of experience leads us to the internal world of cause and effect.

Work with this exercise for adaptation to the Quickening:

Observe yourself. Notice your posture, breathing, thoughts and emotions.

Let the thoughts, feelings and emotions come at you as fast as they need.

Grasp nothing. Allow all that comes to ebb flow.

Invite it to come faster. Seek to comprehend nothing. Let comprehension come and go.

Let thought and feeling, sight and sound to move through you at the speed of light.

Intellectualize nothing. Let ideas, thoughts and inspiration come and go.

Let go of letting go.

Allow yourself to be open to the full acceleration of consciousness.

This method is seemingly the opposite of the detailed investigation which occurs in deep observation. In actual practice they are the same. Acceleration and deceleration of energy is happening simultaneously in our consciousness. By specifically following the path of acceleration we are simply directing the mind to one specific stream of what exists in the consciousness. When we come back to our “normal” consciousness we find that our range of motion has lengthened and expanded. It’s all about stretching the mind. With each stretch we explore new knowledge and ground, moving closer and closer to inner freedom. This is what the Quickening is truly about.

Hieu Doan

*Those of us who are experiencing tumultuous times may notice that this exercise helps to create a feeling and aura of inner peace – in spite of the chaos. In essence this is because the practice tunes us into the frequency of the Quickening. We are connecting and moving with the flow instead of resisting it.

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Manifesting God – Awakening the Consciousness of the Universal Creator

Most of my life has been one of independent spirituality. I have believed in divine entities, I have believed in dimensions other than this one, but I have always had a deep belief that God was within me – that true power was within me. Through years of practicing realization and manifestation I began to experience a different, seemingly contradictory yet perfect perspective on this.

My consciousness determines the type of God if any that I experience.

I’ve always been a “prove it” kind of guy which has amused many of my teachers, especially in my younger years who knew that time, practice and experience and nothing else would bear me the answers that I demanded. I’m still that same person, I’m still as stubborn as an ox, yet experiences have humbled and changed me in ways that I could never have imagined.

Although I still count myself as an apprentice on the path of self-discovery, when I look back I realize that in many ways I have worked through a lot. I remember once remarking to a teacher that no matter how far I proceeded that I still felt like I was at the bottom of the “mountain”. His answer to me? “At least you’ve found your mountain!” The realization of this was profound for me. Not only did I feel a natural sense of gratitude for the journey that I’d had the opportunity to walk up until then. I also felt a deep sense of accomplishment that all the years of confusion, trial and error and questions had led to – well, more confusion, trial and error and questions! But the gist of what I’m saying is that I realized the context – a bigger picture into which all of this fits in. From this point on, I skipped along for many more years, confident in the fact that even when things seemed chaotic I had the principles and fundamentals to surf those waves and generally minimize my “wipe-outs.” Well the universe certainly has ways of showing us. Just when we think we’ve seen it all it goes: ” Yeah? You think that’s something? Take a look at this!” But I’m getting ahead of myself. A little bit more on how I came to this juncture.

I’ve gained a lot from a wide variety of spiritual, esoteric and personal development methods and I’ve always felt intuitively that all the esoteric schools and teachings shared core principles. I could just feel it in my bones. There is a particular energy through which is congruent. I’ve never had a problem with belief in connecting to spiritual guides, entities through shamanic healing, meditation and the like. It’s just that I’d always done so on my own terms. I would take what I needed and direct the energy and knowledge myself rather than trust the consciousness of any particular spiritual entity.

During my practice in manifestation and in particular realization concepts I was getting very strong messages from my intuition to connect to a particular energy. I put it off for about a year. The message I was sending back to my intuition was basically: “Life’s good, you’ve given me what I need, I don’t need to go no further!” My intuition’s retort to this was: “If you’re so right then why are you asking so many questions?”

One day I decided to just go up and explore.

In my quest for meditation, manifestation and empowerment I had reached a point where I was seeing profound results yet I wanted to make the process effortless. I knew that it could be easy. My intuition chose to throw me the curve ball at this moment: “What if there is a power that can do all this for you? Effortlessly and easily? This consciousness and power will exist if you realize it. If you let yourself see it. If not then continue doing what you’ve been doing, but stop bothering me with your questions already!”

It was that gap in my belief system that allowed me to experience something that I’d never let myself experience before.

I call it God, because it feels more directed and conscious then the universe at large which is chaotic in it’s order. There is a definite consciousness of unconditional love and deep empowerment that exists within this God Force. The trick is: God exists in the realization of God. Without realization our end of the “phone-line” is turned off. We need to engage our senses and imagine them connecting to God.

This is where our perception and beliefs of God begin to come in. I for one choose not to connect to a God that punishes and chastises me. I’ve chosen to realize a God that fills my body with healing light, clarity, empowerment and knowledge – and so that’s what I get. In a sense there is a similarity in the concept of connecting to God and in realizing the God within ourselves. The difference and this is a pretty big advantage, is that most of us have so many doubts in our own worthiness of love that we do not give ourselves love. On the other hand it seems easier in this world to give our power out to other people, gurus, teachers, masters and Gods. Yes it is interesting that we are less likely to forgive and love ourselves unconditionally as we are to believe that there is a God that will love us regardless of our “flaws.” Just as interesting is that in my work I’ve found that it is often easier to clear beliefs about God than it is to clear deep emotional blocks within ourselves. This little quirk gives us a great opportunity to create an autonomous healing, loving, empowerment “machine.” For those of us who have come from a less religious path, myself included it will be an interesting journey – there is no doubt about that. It took me several weeks to raise and clear several perceptions that I had about God – namely that God was an old man with a beard, realizing that I hated God, ridiculing God and established religion in general and of course that God did not exist. Pretty amazing stuff considering I’d been aware for some time about the effect these types of emotions and beliefs had on the psyche and consciousness in general. Interestingly I had not been consciously aware of my perceptions towards this subject at all until I actively interacted with it.

When I look at the progression of this journey I am beginning to see the trick that I am playing on myself. Namely that I am God – we all are, and yet in the consciousness and personas that we usually play we also are not God. The infinite nature of consciousness encompasses the reality of all dimensions. Being God and not being God. Realizing God and not realizing God. God existing and God not existing. If we believe in God or a God force then we will have access to the power we perceive this force to have. If not, we don’t.

Hieu Doan

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The Power of Mindfulness Pt1 – Creating the Meditation Mind State

Mindfulness means being present right here, right now. To enact positive changes and direction in our life we need to start where we are. We need to be present. A mind that is “playing” the part of being undisciplined will think of the past, fantasize about the future and perpetuate emotional patterns. This is a kind of game that if we allow it to continue, will continue indefinitely. By realizing a mind that is disciplined and directing that mind to being mindful we give ourselves the opportunity to re-program our entire blueprint.

The simplest way to become mindful of the here and now is to begin to observe the sensations and feelings of the body. This is also an effective method to integrating a basic level of mindfulness meditation in everyday life. We can observe our posture, the weight of our body, the feeling of our muscles and facial expression, lungs breathing, the sensation of the air and so on. As we develop this skill we will notice how different experiences trigger different sensations in our body. We notice the cause and effect of external reality and our inner reality. The thing is because we are observing there is a part of our consciousness already that has ceased with the knee jerk reaction that it is accustomed to. Instead of reacting instantaneously there is a part that is simply observing and listening. A certain degree of peace is created simply from this action of this objective observation alone and there is also the opportunity to bring this essence to a deeper level and realize a deep sense of healing and release.

There are two basic methods for mindfulness practice. The seated meditation approach is used in Vipassana develops this principle to a very deep level and in most schools focuses on very little else. Mindfulness is also used in many esoteric schools from Hermetic, Gnosticism and Taoism to modern day methods such as NLP and Transpersonal Counseling. The difference between a deep level of mindfulness and a more gross or obvious level of mindfulness is the degree to which our mind actually experiences the dissolution of our perceptions and illusions. Deep mindfulness allows the practitioner to penetrate their mind into itself and their bodies and observe the very matter that makes us who we think we are. We experience the gap between pain and suffering and pleasure and craving. We observe all the seemingly solidness of our bodies dissolve into a free flow of atoms. The more solid or gross level of mindfulness allows us to observe what we are doing, how we are feeling and thinking, but it has not developed the degree of penetration to show us why and how on an atomic and energetic level we are creating our inner experiences.

To practice deep mindfulness generally requires that we sit in a position that we will be able to stay in for anything from 5 minutes or more. People on Vipassana retreats usually practice for at least 13 hours a day. The practice itself is simple, doing it can be quite a challenge.

This is the structure of basic mindfulness meditation:

Minimize all distractions.

Closed or half closed eyes.

Try not to move during the duration of the meditation.

Beginning at the top of the head or the tips of the toes systematically observe any sensations whatever they may be and slowly make your way through the body. Repeat and repeat again – and again.

If there are any areas where we feel and perceive nothing or seemingly “blank” areas, we simply keep our mind there for a minute or so then continue. There is feeling there it is just that our minds have not realized the necessary degree of sensitivity yet. With practice we give the mind the opportunity to see through this illusion too.

In due time the body or should I say the mind will begin to complain and manifest a perception of suffering in the form of pain, frustration and so on. Thoughts such as “this is ridiculous” and “what am I doing?” are quite common. Keep in mind though that the deeper and louder complaints usually come up the longer you sit. The manifestation of these complaints or aversions gives the practitioner the opportunity to make peace with them. By continually observing these sensations neutrally we begin to stop perpetuating our reaction to them. In time we stop reacting totally. At this stage we experience the sensation for what it is – free from reaction. Many people report that this is the first time that they have ever experienced pain as a separate entity from suffering. It is a powerful experience to realize that we can experience a sensation that we usually associate with aversion and suffering and yet at no level of mind or body do we experience suffering. This is a totally different experience from simply tolerating pain. There is no pretence here.

The separation of reaction from our sensations is not being separate from our experience. We are actually far closer to our experience. We are right next to it because we are without the filter of our perception. The effect on our emotional patterns is also profound. Where we once tolerated or controlled certain emotions we begin to find that we no longer have an aversion or craving for those emotional sensations. We may feel them, yet we do not react to them. Again this is experienced at a level where we do not simply tolerate or control unwanted emotions. There is no pretence. Continuing to observe we begin to experience a subtler level of our sensations. We realize that even the most solid and sustaining pain has a flow within it. We realize that even the most seemingly eternal of emotions is being created, dying and recreated. Going deeper we observe that the matter that we are is all a mass of atoms. We actually observe these atoms buzzing. In the process we have realized a mind that is capable of penetrating to this depth. The truth is that this mind has always existed but we had simply believed that it did not so we never used it or experienced it.

At this most basic level of energy we have the opportunity and the ability to literally let go of patterns at the root level. Working with issues at the intellectual level works to an extent but because the cells of our body still holds the belief or blueprint the issue simply grows anew. Penetrating to the deepest level we let go of the issue and transform at the root level. It is full resolution.

*Part 2 will discuss the second method of mindfulness.

Hieu Doan

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The Power of Mindfulness Pt2

The power of mindfulness is the opportunity it provides us to experience inner peace, but peace can only come from meeting with each aspect and part of ourselves. Often during seated mindfulness meditation we only face certain aspects. Daily life where we are busy, have stimuli that we react to with stress, interaction with people and so on brings up a different type of experience to be mindful to. Often practitioners may experience deep levels of transcendence and as a result peace during seated meditation and then totally lose it in every day life. This experience has been noted from some very experienced meditators, monks and ascetics as well as lay practitioners. What has occurred is that the mind has not yet been given the opportunity to move through the energetic frequencies of everyday life.

When it comes to meditation it is a huge trap to believe that there is nothing to gain from everyday, “mundane” and stressful experience. Our children may be crying and yelling, our boss may be antagonizing us, we may be concerned with finances, traffic and the general state of the world. Even more worrying we look at ourselves and we observe that we have these petty concerns, we are jealous about the neighbor’s new lawnmower, we are still fuming at that red Volkswagon that cut us off and we’re beating ourselves up for not getting all our “stuff” together. This sure doesn’t seem like the spiritual growth that we’ve heard about! The pain seems even larger because our silent, daily meditation seems to be going well. Our practice then feels futile. On the one hand we find peace when we find sanctuary and make time to meditate on the other hand this does not seem to carry out into our every day life.

In our deepest meditations when we experience a sensation we learn to observe it and so we gain the opportunity to move deeper into it. Without the sensation or “object” to observe we lose the opportunity to release our attachment and so the sensation still has power over us. We need to look ourselves square in the eye without flinching. The integration of this into daily life is exactly the same. When we feel petty, jealous, angry, sad or whatever physical sensation, we observe objectively. We feel the feeling of being repulsed with ourselves, we feel the feeling of being angry, or jealous, or sad. We observe the feeling of wanting these feelings to go away, we observe the feeling of being a “bad person.” Meeting ourselves in this way provides the same experience as any meditation experience does. The opportunity to make peace.

Peace allows the “other”, the aspects of ourselves to be as they are.

The basic method of integrating mindfulness into everyday life is to observe your obvious physical movement as you go about your day. Notice how your muscles tense and relax as you drive your car, walk, do the dishes, talk, shower, go to the toilet, watch television and so on. Watch how you feel when you meet friends, when you walk past a stranger on the street and when you are daydreaming. Be sure to include as much as possible all of your different states. There is no state that is not appropriate to apply mindfulness to. They are all after all expressions of you.

Being mindful does not need to be a rigid practice. Play around with it. It’s a tool for empowerment not to make life a chore. Practice being fully involved in a discussion and then just take a moment to observe yourself. Practice eating your food with mindfulness and observe the texture of the food, the taste and how your body is feeling. Allow yourself to be deeply involved in watching a movie and then afterwards observe how your body posture and internal sensations are feeling.

Surrounding your mindfulness practice, it is valuable to remember to come back to the frequency of nurturing, love and generally feeling good. The practice of mindfulness is essentially a method of guiding the mind to realize that our physical and mental states are more than what they appear to be – but let’s remember that in our quest for truth, enlightenment and empowerment we are essentially seeking happiness. So during the journey make sure to refresh the spirit, revive the body and nurture the mind. This will ensure that the journey is one that sustains.

Hieu Doan

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How to Develop Psychic Senses Part 1

Intuition begins as a feeling, moves toward knowing and then certainty. As the five senses are allowed to experience the frequency of intuition we develop what is known as psychic senses.

The biggest cause of preventing realization of the subtle sense is the ego. By this I mean the self image that we have of ourselves. When we hold a perception of how we want to perceive the world and ourselves, we try and often succeed in preventing ourselves from seeing what is. For example just say that we want to be loving and compassionate people and our intuition tells us that someone is being dishonest, fake and manipulative, then because we want to sustain this image of being loving and compassionate, we just pretend that everything is hunky dory – we literally block our vision of what is going on. Sometimes we even make up explanations and justify why this person is acting this way. Intuition and psychic sense is a lot simpler than this. If we find ourselves justifying stuff chances are it’s the ego and intellectual side of things working to balance things out, to try to suit the perceptions that we want to promote. Nothing is wrong with this, but it’s a different ballgame from intuition and psychic senses.

There are many methods and exercises to sensitize ourselves to energy, but the actual interpretation of energy is about awareness and awareness requires sincerity and honesty. What good is it if we have developed the ability to see if we don’t use this sight? In the example of the person who wants to be loving and compassionate, what is it that is destroyed when they allow themselves to perceive a person being manipulative and dishonest? It is their own self-image which is being destroyed. In this moment we see our judgment and criticism and we perceive that we are not the loving and compassionate people we believed that we were. Well it’s about time! The truth is that we’re not seeing anything that wasn’t there before. The truth is that we’ve simply been trying to deny the reality of our ego. Further more we have been denying the existence of real unconditional love that is able to exist regardless of any perceived “flaws” in our selves. We are perpetuating a reality that it is only when we are card board cut-outs of what “loving” and “compassionate” people should be, that we are worthy of love – and we quite literally kick our “shadow” and hidden sides to the gutter. Not only is this slamming the door on our intuition and psychic senses, it is closing our eyes to the real meaning of unconditional love. What ends up being created is a self that is running so hard and trying so desperately to be something else, that we neglect to see who we actually are.

Seeing who we actually are is all that is required, but how hard is it to see when we build up the stakes? When so much is riding on us being this particular image?

So what’s the big deal about truth and all that anyway? Well without truth we never know where and who we are – and without knowing who we are we can’t get to where we want to go. We attempt to feel a certain way and we don’t know why it all feels so fake and unreal. The word “clairvoyance” simply means true sight, the word “clairaudience”, true hearing and the word “clairsentience”, true knowing. These skills essentially are derived through allowing our mind to perceive what is. Many psychics are able to read and interpret what is and through watching and communicating with the stream of cause and effect are able to interpret and predict what will be and what has been. Future predictions don’t always come true simply because a person can choose to move in a different direction and change the course of the current stream. A psychic simply has been born with or developed the skills to read energy that is at a more subtle level than the physical, but the truth is that all people are able to develop this skill to one extent or another. It just starts with being honest.

Observe what you see in other people. Interpret and understand by observing how your own body and mind reacts to them. Allow your judgments to surface, allow your own issues to surface and just observe. Learning to perceive and understand what you see in others will not only develop your intuition and psychic senses, it will give you the opportunity to see and reconcile your own truths. It can be ugly to see the judgments, issues and feelings that we have about others, but it is only in recognizing and being honest that we do in fact have these feelings, that we can heal our own fear and reconcile those perceptions about our own ugliness. The path of truth will take us through whatever lies in it’s way. Truth is not about seeing the light and avoiding the dark, it is about eventually recognizing light and love within all aspects of being – but first we need to let ourselves see all aspects of being.

Hieu Doan

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How to Develop the Psychic Senses Part 2

Psychic sense allows us to communicate with reality and understand how we are perceiving the universe and also how the universe is perceiving us. We can look once at a person and know their level of honesty, their level of denial, hope, dreams and despair. This sensory may develop as a feeling or as an ability to see these feelings in the physical structure of the body. As your skills develop you will be able to see the level of communication a person has with their own intuition, higher selves and the spiritual dimensions. You will be able to perceive where and how they allocated their conscious and subconscious energy, you will be able to see where and how they carry their parent’s and grandparent’s emotions and experiences.

Those of us interested in learning, growth and personal development will be able to perceive how a person is meditating simply by looking at their face. We will be able to see and hear the rate and frequency that a person’s brainwaves are moving and through this understand how to shift and move the mind state into different frequencies and shapes. Teaching meditation and esoteric alchemy at this level requires no guess work – methods are not simply the same system rehashed again and again but instead are developed explicitly and will suit and fit each person like a glove. Connecting to higher consciousness will work at a level that is tangible simply because we can see and hear the frequencies that are holding us back from perceiving – and we can see the exact frequency needed to “dissolve” and transcend this “barrier”. This is an important point for us at this time as the spiritual arena has been fed much disinformation and exploited by many for reasons of manipulation and ego. Learning to directly and tangibly connect to the higher self and intuition will banish any and all control that these systems have had. It is extremely difficult to buy into garbage when you can clearly smell and see with exquisite detail the pungent aroma! This may sound harsh, but the truth is that through the freedom we gain from seeing things for what they actually are, we develop the ability to not be affected by them. Further more because we are developing our own inner resources we gain the stability and strength and we move away from the fear and insecurity which usually asks us to seek external sources of power. As our own inner power is realized we understand that suffering comes through our own reaction to the world and we realize the choice that we have always in truth had – to be free. This freedom is not a mere concept, it is the reality of seeing and feeling what is and understanding the opportunity to choose. When we truly and deeply understand then regardless of our external or internal world we choose empowerment and love every time. This choice is available to us only because we choose to be powerful in spite of feeling fear, in spite of feeling inadequate, in spite of feeling insecure, ugly or doubtful.

In developing true sight we are able to see strength in a person regardless of whether they are currently shaking in their boots. We are able to see desperation in a person even if they are trying to appear happy and self-assured. This sight is not developed because we seek to see a person’s faults – we simply see, listen and feel. We observe and pay attention to our senses. We use the exact same methods on ourselves. We practice sensitivity to energy and meditations. We notice. We look beneath the surface. We listen to irregularities. When we are ready then the teachers will appear. Readiness simply means to see that knowledge and truth is being relayed to us constantly. In this instant we perceive teachings within everything. This is the beginning of psychic sense development.

Hieu Doan

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Finding Yourself, Finding your True Self – Personal and Spiritual Transformation

Finding your “self” is the experience of realizing what is important to you. This may be a many layered process which take us through questioning ourselves, our relationship with people and the world and can lead us to find what some call our “true self.”

Creating life that is based on our true principles, beliefs and values as opposed to carrying the values of other people, society or structures can be a complex thing. As soon as we come into contact physically, mentally or emotionally with anything, be it an ideal, a feeling, a sound, principle or concept our consciousness both physical and mental reacts. Whether our reaction is in the negative or positive we create a link to that experience. This forms part of our relationship with that experience from now on. Over the course of our life we are connecting with experiences at every moment, and so relationships are being formed, moved, transformed and shaped constantly. Each thought that we have elicits a sensory reaction and the first reaction that will arise is the one that has been programmed from similar thoughts we’ve had in the past. In essence while we may think that each thought is new, the reaction to them is actually old. This presents a deeper meaning to the statement “living in the past.” Like wise when we have feelings of emotion and react to them whether we choose to express or suppress we are still “dancing” within a relationship with that sensation. It is still the “past.” This is interesting because often we may believe that we have transcended an old pattern simply because we are choosing a different way to react. In truth the pattern still has influence and control over us, it’s just that we have chosen to react in a different way in order to deal or adapt in a manner that we believe is healthier or wiser.

Transcending a pattern of reaction whether to emotions, thoughts or feelings does actually mean going “higher” or leaving it behind. Transcendence is actually a state in which we have chosen to experience internal freedom in spite of being smack bang in the middle of our patterns. We are the eye of the hurricane but we are also the hurricane itself. The freedom we experience comes not from running away but from facing ourselves and using this opportunity to find true power. The first steps of facing ourselves brings us the experience or perception of being buffeted by the “hurricane” of our self. We get blown around because we are not used to being in the intensity of emotions, sensations and thought. We may feel fear but the truth is that this cannot kill us. We cannot die here – and so inevitably if we stay, remain conscious and allow ourselves to be vulnerable and sensitive, then we will learn to fly within the hurricane. We learn to make our minds and body flexible enough to move with the hurricane and eventually it becomes like walking on solid ground. Another remarkable thing happens at the point that we learn to be the hurricane – we realize that these gale force winds were caused in large part by our resistance to them. Our minds have been like magnetic fields reacting with other magnetic fields which cause chaos. By allowing our own field to become congruent and smooth with what already is two fields become one, and so we experience unity. When we become unified then we gain another opportunity – one of looking into the reflection and seeing our “true” self.

Any description of the “true” self is one that will never compare to the actual experience and in a sense it is almost futile to speak about truth because words being words can carry only so far into the realm of actual feeling. The actual experience of the “true” self is indisputable simply because when something feels so right we are so in the moment the thought to doubt never arrives. It is similar to what one of my first meditation teachers related to me. He said “People only come to meditation when their lives are in pain. Then they look for answers. When life is good they do not need to look for answers – they just live.” Experiencing the “true” self is similar to this. Purists often argue that the “true” self is representative of absolute truth because it is eternal, it never changes. My own experiences of the “true” self do not necessarily support this argument either way, however one thing that I have experienced is that just looking into the window of eternal or infinite is more than I believe I can truly comprehend at this point in my life. Even at it’s furthest reaches, there is more and when I reach that point there is still more. The infinite is an experience that offers literally infinite wisdom and knowledge however I feel humbled by it, not by any means master of it. Through humbling ourselves I believe that the infinite allows mastery to be realized through and inside of us. It’s not something that we develop, it’s something that we allow to be recognized by learning to look and listen.

In order to find we do need to seek, however in seeking we must make sure to observe the seeker, because it is the seeker that transforms and reveals the “true” self.

Hieu Doan

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Illuminating the Dark ~ Part 1 ~ The Essence of Meditation, Purification and Enlightenment

Real mastery of the self can only be realized through meeting all aspects of being with conscious equanimity. In the moment of connecting with these parts unflinchingly and with acceptance, we no longer struggle with the self and we experience unity.

The path of ‘the dark’ means a path where we are lacking awareness. Unconscious, subconscious and spiritual dimensions all have relevance here, but it is also valuable to note the various grey areas. It is possible and common to have an intellectual awareness of certain concepts and principles, but without integration at the level of the body these skills and experiences will not be fully realized. For example we may understand the principle of ‘living in the now,’ but as long as our body still reacts to pre-programmed responses we are still living in the past. The journey of moving from an intellectual idea to an experience that encompasses not only the mental but the physical is a far deeper and more “whole” level of integration.

Mental consciousness generally works at a far greater speed than the physical, but through training and practice we can guide the body to realizing it’s own potential for development and expansion. Keeping the connection between body and mind requires that we do not neglect one over the other. When working with the body we observe the nature of the mind and learn to direct it’s energies through the body. When working with the mind we observe how the body perceives and interprets this level of consciousness and we look for the spaces and areas where it can open to the experience with deeper understanding.

Patience is important when working with an intention for integration because until full integration occurs the mind will almost always be faster than the body. This is especially true for those that are developing their psychic senses as the ability to perceive subtle energies opens a literal floodgate of information. Without integration this information will lead to various levels of agitation, stress and confusion. What is actually happening is that the physical level of consciousness has no idea of what is happening and being realized at the subtler mental and spiritual levels. We could look at it as upper level management not communicating to the middle and lower levels. While it may not always seems as exciting to work at the physical level the revelations and realizations can be just as profound if not more because they can actually be used and implemented into our physical reality. Further more what we experience is solid, tangible and built on a base of emotional, physical and mental strength. On the contrary experiences that try to ignore the body are essentially leaving the foundation or base behind.

Illuminating the dark brings light to all the aspects that we would ignore or pass off as too mundane, boring or not worthy of note. In bringing the light of consciousness we are communicating and understanding. This reciprocal interchange of energies speaks and listens and within time we realize that we understand the meaning of this communication clearly. As our ability to listen increases, so too does our ability to inject meaning into the communication – and so the product of the communication becomes more refined and more meaningful. Many results can be gained from bringing consciousness into these dark parts and each morsel of knowledge and wisdom opens up new opportunities to seek out and explore. In the end however, all paths lead back to the one true path, the path of unity, the path of peace, the path of power.

Hieu Doan

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Practicing Realization ~ Part 1 ~ Awakening Enlightenment Consciousness Through Active Meditation

Realization is the experience of understanding. It exists in the moment that we shift from one perception of reality to another. In that instant, our consciousness is able to exist and open to these two realities and being here, seeing and feeling here, we are able to understand the multi dimensional nature of our mind and body. Through this nature we are given the opportunity to find our true self.

The practice of realization is essentially about controlling the mind, and through the mind being controlled the body is mastered also. As long as we retain a connection and communication with the body and the physical then we retain the opportunity to transcend and evolve these aspects and in the process we develop mastery of our consciousness. This is the reason why our training needs to be challenging. We need to at first get a grip of the basics, learning stillness, movement and control, then we face co-operative challenges in order to increase the depth and level of our mastery. Cooperation works by seeking challenges that stretch us a certain amount, but not so much that we lose ourselves completely or give up the journey. If we were guiding a baby to walk it would be counter productive to knock it down each time it almost gets to its feet. Similarly, we must look for challenges that are appropriate to our level of skill. For this sincere and honest self appraisal is required.

The experience of realization always comes back to the same principles. By practicing the art of moving through illusions we will always find that there is more to reality than what our mind and body would grasp and have us believe. The stability that we all seek can only be found in accepting the unstable and ever changing. With beautiful irony it is through this real experience of acceptance that we can find a peace and stability that is eternal and does not change.

We also need to understand and practice the art of moving through illusions. We need to study illusion and understand what it is that makes an illusion what it is. No illusion can exist without belief in it. The deeper and stronger the belief, the more powerful and effective the illusion. The reason that it is not enough to disbelieve at a purely intellectual or conceptual level is because this level simply stimulates the surface area of the mind and consciousness, it doesn’t even touch the subconscious let alone the unconscious. Working with the senses of feeling, imagery, sound, smell and taste move deeper into the subconscious but must be trained and practiced in order to get deeper still. The deeper we get the further we move through the illusion. We then begin to understand the real nature of illusions. It is not the illusion itself that holds us, it is our grasping and inability to move past it that keeps us attached to it. Deep sensory cleansing purifies the bonds that hold us to illusions. As we move in deeper the awareness and intention of seeing and feeling, recognizing and responding all become refined and sensitive to a more accurate and effective way of finding truth.

Hieu Doan

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Practicing Realization ~ Part 3 ~ Awakening Enlightenment Consciousness Through Active Meditation

The experience of realization can be as simple as reading a newspaper and being aware that you are reading the newspaper. This can involve noticing your posture and the way your body turns the pages. It can extend to observing how your mind and emotions react to the news that you read. Moving deeper involves finding dual and contradictory emotions and learning to access them simultaneously, moving back and forth between them, or entering into one so deeply that the other is for the moment seemingly gone. When we are familiar with the flow of consciousness at this level we may seek a deeper or more elusive space and seek it out, entering in, through and expanding into it. All the while we are still fully in the experience of reading the newspaper. Rather than compartmentalizing experiences we are allowing the mind and body to experience multiple layers and levels of consciousness. This is realization.

As long as we compartmentalize various emotional states, feelings and experiences our consciousness sees these states as solid, individual and fairly permanent. By opening up several states within the one we break this illusion, showing ourselves that emotion, feeling and experience is actually occurring on a multiple level of dimensions. The aim of all this is to train consciousness to understand that it does not need to be trapped in any emotion, feeling or experience. It has real and tangible choices.

By choosing a simple exercise such as noticing body sensations, posture or breathing and being aware of them during routine daily life we need to understand their purpose. Without purpose we are simply performing rote exercises and the mind will totally miss the point. Without understanding the purpose and reason integration cannot occur. Without integration there is no empowerment and the experiences will gradually become hollow and meaningless.

Observing the breath is not done simply to observe the breath. This level of understanding will not bring much benefit because how many of us truly wish to live life observing our breath all the time? It’s like speaking but not understanding that speech is a method of communicating with other people! Similarly observing the breath trains the mind to focus and sensitize to a particular frequency and subtlety of energy. Again simply observing this energy may have some benefits such as calming the mind but there is also an opportunity to understand that a language of communication is being developed here. By understanding that this level of observation is a way of listening to the language we open ourselves to the opportunity for communication! There is a big difference between these levels of understanding. While one is simply aware that energy is present, the other is aware that a communication is occurring and because of this awareness is able to create an intention to learn the meaning behind that communication!

Context, understanding, purpose and reason give way to creating real meaning in our experiences. Start with just observing physical sensation. It could be awareness of the tip of your nose. Just be aware of it at times throughout the day and also spend some time really listening and observing its feeling. Notice the various degrees and types of sensations. Explore and move into anyone of these. See what happens when you keep part of your consciousness attuned to these threads during the day. Become familiar with changes and shifts. Listen to the language and find ways to make conversation. Remember the context in which you are practicing and training. Remember why you are practicing – why did you originally start this type of development? How do those reasons fit in with the practices that you are now doing? How can the practices that you are presently doing help teach you within the context of that which you seek?

All these questions lead to the development of solutions that are relevant for our life path.

Hieu Doan

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