Insights into 'Spirituality'

Think again

2010-11-17T20:14:00.003Z

It is fundamental to recognise that we have been taught not to trust ourselves...

We have been taught to create a split between 'me' and 'Life'... between 'me' and 'Source'...

The basis of this split is an idea. It is an idea that we picked up by observing all the 'separate-feeling' people around us - their actions, their words, their interests, their fears...

We have been taught to deny the peace that is right here in the Silence, between the thoughts, behind the thoughts, before, after and even during the thoughts... We have been taught to ignore this Witness that is Pure Consciousness... that is always Here.

No-thing is in the way of Understanding. No-thing needs to be removed or added. It's just that idea of separation that distracts us...

It's JUST an idea.

It's not important. It doesn't justify all that effort that we make to find wholeness again.

It's just an idea.

'Think again' ... or not.

It's just an idea.

"Even the means of doing actions should be pure"

2010-05-11T17:15:00.003+01:00

"It is true that we are not bound and that the real Self has no bondage. It is true that you will eventually go back to your Source.

But meanwhile, if you commit sins, as you call them, you will have to face the consequences of such sins.... Whatever is done lovingly, with righteous purity and with peace of mind, is a good action. Everything which is done with the stain of desire and with agitation filling the mind is classified as a bad action...

Therefore even the means of doing actions should be pure.... What is the use of merely saying with your lips, 'I am free'?"

- Ramana Maharshi

'Individual' truth and 'Universal' Truth. Conditioned mind and Unconditioned Consciousness

2010-04-21T02:45:00.002+01:00

As individuals - as a window for consciousness - we are each uniquely positioned in space and time...

But in essence, at the roots of 'our' Being, we are consciousness itself - undifferentiated and unconditioned.

The deepest mystical revelations and spiritual insights amount to nothing more than this.

Self-realisation is a living knowledge of one's essence - not abstract or theoretical - inherently embodying the infinite creative potential as our very Presence.

Theoretical self-knowledge tends to inhibit inspired action - whereas, on the contrary, the awakened Presence is ever flowing with it.

Words cannot contain these truths... but inspired poetry can evoke them...

The 'Truth of our Essence' is world-shattering - it destroys all our beliefs about reality which are based on our sense of 'separate self'.

The Freedom that is sought while there is a constricted experience of separative-existence cannot be found by trying to 'understand' spiritual teachings. There is nothing the mind can do to alleviate this primordial suffering of existence.

But the struggle of the mind to find peace can be seen for what it is, and in that moment there is a lightning bolt of understanding that destroys the fixation on 'separativeness'.

The struggle of the mind to find peace is a symptom of the negation of our essence. While this negation continues the mind will not grasp spiritual truth - it will either reject it or intellectualise it.

There is no freedom found through the mind. There is Freedom in 'seeing through' the mind.

The play of mind is the basis of ignorance (about our essence).

Do not struggle with the mind!

This is mind's struggle! It belongs to the mind.

If you sincerely wish for and are open to Freedom, you must renounce this struggle.

It is not the mind's function to grasp 'reality'.

The mind's function/essence is to interpret and organise experience from an 'individual' (i.e. 'separate') perspective.

But renounce this struggle with mind.

It is not mind that is the problem. It is attachment to 'mind-ness' that brings the feeling of psychological or spiritual bondage.

Let mind be.

Awareness is vast enough to swallow mind with no effort at all.

New Spiritual Coaching blog

2010-04-19T01:49:00.004+01:00

http://spiritualcoachingwithpeter.blogspot.com/

Shibendu Lahiri in Portugal - April 2010

2010-04-16T03:10:00.003+01:00

Shibendu Lahiri at Quinta dos Milagres, Lagos.

Shibendu Lahiri is giving a lecture tomorrow night (16th April 2010) in Lisbon at 9pm, and Kriya Yoga initiations over the weekend and then a retreat in Fátima.

You can also find information about this and his upcoming events (UK, Germany, India, USA, etc.) at:
www.kriyayogalahiri.com/htmluk/program.htm

He is a true Advaita master - a voice for the Infinite.
His teaching is not 'comforting', it is profoundly disarming and dissolves the 'I'-centred illusion of separation...
If you meet him or 'his' teaching, prepare to be 'blasted'.

Spiritual Coaching in Sintra

2010-04-16T03:03:00.002+01:00

Sintra is one of the most picturesque and magical places on this planet.

Walk and meditate in the forests, visit initiatic gardens and labyrinths, have a picnic on the cliffs looking over the Atlantic, savour the local foods and unique sweets, visit organic farms, or learn to surf, and each day receive an hour (or more) of coaching while soaking in the magic of Sintra.

Now is the time. What better place to unwind and to open your Self?

Coaching with Peter Littlejohn Cook

information:

Tel: +351 967 045 411

panmandala@gmail.com

'Purification'

2010-04-15T03:02:00.001+01:00

'Purification' is a shedding of what is not necessary and an alignment with/recognition of the flow of life. It is not a process of gaining favour with (the) 'Supreme Being'.

It is a release of self-contraction and self-doubt. It is dropping the negation of the source.

Creation is taking place now. Recognising this, one recognises the ever-present Source.

When your 'work' becomes play and your play becomes 'worship'... 'Dharma Kriya' - the real 'Karma Yoga' - Action that Liberates

2010-04-14T18:14:00.001+01:00

"A real creator is not a creator at all. A real creator becomes instrumental; he is possessed of the great forces. Wild forces of God possess him, wild seas and skies of God possess him. He becomes a mouthpiece. He utters, but the words are not his. He paints, but the colours are not his. He sings, but the sounds are not his. He dances, but he dances as if possessed — somebody else dancing through him.
... The question is, if your ego disappears into meditation, what will happen to your work? If it is a profession, it will disappear, and it is good that it disappears. Nobody should be a professional. Your work should be your love; otherwise the work becomes destructive. Then somehow you drag it and your whole life becomes dull. Your whole life becomes empty in a negative sense, unfulfilled. You are doing something which you never wanted to do in the first place. It is violent. It is suicidal — you are killing yourself slowly, poisoning your own system. Nobody should be a professional. Your work should be your love; it should be your prayer. It should be your religion, not your profession.
There should be a passion flowing between you and your work. When you have really found your vocation, it is a love affair. It is not that you have to do it. It is not that you have to force yourself to do it. Suddenly, you do it in a totally different way which you had not known before. Your steps have a different dance, your heart goes on humming. Your whole system functions for the first time at the optimum. It is a fulfilment. Through it you will find your being — it will become a mirror; it will reflect you. Whatsoever it is — a small thing.
It is not a question that only great things become vocations, no. A small thing. You may be making toys for children, or making shoes, or weaving cloth — or whatsoever.
It doesn't matter what it is, but if you love it, if you have fallen in love with it; if you are flowing with no reservation, if you are not withholding yourself, if you are not dragging — dancingly moving into it— it will cleanse you, it will purify you. Your thinking, by and by, will disappear. It will be a silent music and, by and by, you will feel that it is not only work, it is your being. Each step fulfilled, something in you flowers.
And richest is the man who has found his vocation. And richest is the man who starts feeling a fulfilment through his work. Then the whole life becomes a worship.
Work should be a worship, but that's possible only when your being starts to be more meditative. Through meditation, you will gather courage. Through meditation, you will gather courage to throw the profession and to move towards the vocation."
— Osho (Yoga: the Science of Living)

The 'Energy of Understanding'*

2010-03-20T12:53:00.016Z

Whether information be the conclusion of experts, a declaration of the pope, or the revelation of angels, prophets, extra-terrestrials, ascended masters, the 'Higher Self', a guru, or God, it is not the source of information and its reputation that determines whether something is valuable or true...

It is always our understanding alone that determines whether information, or 'wisdom' or 'spiritual teachings' are 'valuable' and 'true'.

No authority can substitute our own understanding.

When we allow ourselves to be led by an authority figure or an authoritarian belief system (or 'dogma'), we may believe that we are on a Spiritual path, but really we are simply denying our 'God-given' capacity for deep, individual, alignment with Life.

A Spiritual practice - a 'spiritual life' - is supposed to bring out the best in us, to help reveal the infinite richness of our Divine heritage as Spiritual Beings. (The words 'Divine' and 'Spiritual' can be substituted with 'Original', 'Real', or 'unconditioned' if we do not identify with spiritual/religious terminology.)

If we follow an 'authority' instead of being guided by our own understanding, we are denying our heritage - our roots.

To be deeply rooted/grounded, is to be guided by our understanding - not 'intellectual understanding', but the 'energy of understanding' - the Living Intelligence, the Creative Source.

The essence of Spiritual teachings has usually been Love - God's Love (or 'Life's Love') of humanity, and Love of each other... the 'Brotherhood of humanity'.

If a teaching, even one that is given by 'God', is not understood it is, at best, useless. In many cases, it is actually dangerous because of the fervour with which it will be (mis)applied.

A tradition that emphasises faith in a teaching or doctrine and affiliation with a group, if it leads to alienation of other groups or individuals, will tend towards disrespect of those who are outside of the group (which tends to lead sooner or later to violent abuse).

This is why religion has developed such a bad reputation, especially the religions 'of the Book' (which refers to Christianity, Judaism and Islam).

Understanding is what distinguishes wisdom from dogma.

It is only in our understanding that Spirituality can be truly alive and real.

But ultimately even 'understanding' becomes irrelevant as the sense of 'I' dissolves in the Graceful flow of Life.

*'The Energy of Understanding' is an expression frequently used by Shibendu Lahiri in his spiritual discourses.

Walk, picnic, meditation, music and sacred chant in the Sintra countryside - Saturday, 10th of April, 2010

2010-03-19T11:20:00.001Z

Walk, picnic, meditation, music and sacred chant in the Sintra countryside

Retiro na Quinta da Enxara - 'Pára.... observa o Silêncio.... - ' com Atmananda e Peter Littlejohn Cook

2010-03-10T20:15:00.000Z

http://prematmananda.wordpress.com/retirosworkshops/

The 'secret' of Enlightenment/Self-Realisation

2009-09-12T12:14:00.003+01:00

"Enlightenment is a secret that very few people know about and even fewer people understand.

Why is it a secret? Because Enlightenment does not exist in time. That's why it's a secret and that's why it will always be a secret. Enlightenment is a vision that cannot be held or grasped in any way.

... It's a fire that a person is either going to jump into or run away from. This fire burns beyond the mind. No-time is the place where this secret abides. Realise that and you realise the Self you are when there's no mind and no time. Realise that, and cling to that alone as your own Self."

- Andrew Cohen

2009-07-18T19:53:00.003+01:00

o
"The Heart is another name for the Reality, and it is neither inside nor outside the body. There can be no in and out for it, since It alone is."

- Ramana Maharshi

Presence

2009-07-09T12:23:00.001+01:00

Being born now

as All

Not reborn as 'my''self',

but as no-thing...

No-body,

Yet, all things, all selves...

Embodying all things

and the space between them...

Yet utterly free of time

and space

Wearing them like a frown,

a smile

And releasing them like an old skin,

or a sigh.

I am nothing

I am freedom

Just like you

2009-07-08T10:51:00.002+01:00

"When you have come to your innermost core you have come to the innermost core of existence itself."

- Osho

2009-07-08T10:46:00.002+01:00

"The sum total of all minds in the Univerese is one."

- Erwin Schrödinger

How will the mind become quiescent?

2009-07-07T00:33:00.002+01:00

"By the inquiry 'Who am I?'.
The thought 'Who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts,
and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre,
it will itself in the end get destroyed.
Then, there will arise Self-Realization."

- Ramana Maharshi

Yoga Sadhana

2009-06-28T15:54:00.003+01:00

"The amount of happiness in life is proportional to our discipline ('sadhana')."

- Siddha dictum

"Discipline ('Sadhana') in the context of yoga, is simply to remember who we are, and to let go of what we are not."

- M.G. Sachidananda

'Causeless' awakening

2009-06-17T14:37:00.004+01:00

"Of course, the vast majority of people who have an experience of awakening have had some energy, some yearning, to awaken to a deeper sense of reality. That’s true, but the problem is, anytime we say “this” is necessary or “that” is necessary, there will always be examples to the contrary. Awakening is a mystery. There is no direct cause and effect, really. It would be nice if there were, but there really isn’t a direct cause and effect."

- Adyashanti

'karma' is unconscious action (unconscious creation)

2009-06-16T16:06:00.007+01:00

Be conscious of yourself, watch your mind, give it your full attention - What you are (at present) is the result of inattention and what you will become, will be the fruit of attention.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj

Nothing is required to 'achieve' Liberation or to 'become' Liberated.

2009-06-15T02:36:00.013+01:00

It is the divided and divisive mind that makes an effort. The best it can do is place one higher on an imaginary ladder of 'steps to realisation' – but this is just self-delusion – just a way to go on restricting the definition of one's self – and it is precisely this – the definition – the delineation of one's self – that is ignorance (ignore-ance) of one's Liberated nature – one's Liberated Being.

Realisation of the Self – Realisation of the True Nature of the Self arises by all else falling away – including the search for, or striving for, the attainment of our true nature.
The one who seeks is engaged in a futile activity as long as there is any striving. The seeker does not become a Liberated being. The seeker dissolves like a dream upon awakening, and what remains is not 'a Liberated Being' – but 'Liberated Beingness'.

"There is no such thing as 'Enlightenment'.

Understanding this is Enlightenment itself."

"All paths lead to unreality."

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

2009-06-15T02:32:00.005+01:00

Be aware of being conscious and seek the source of consciousness - that is all.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

2009-06-14T16:40:00.001+01:00

o
“Anything you want to ask a teacher, ask yourself,
and wait for the answer in silence.”
-Byron Katie
o

2009-06-14T16:32:00.002+01:00

o
“You move totally away from reality
when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer.”
- Byron Katie
o

2009-06-14T16:31:00.001+01:00

o
"Who would you be without your story?
You never know until you inquire.
There is no story that is you or that leads to you.
Every story leads away from you.
Turn it around; undo it.
You are what exists before all stories.
You are what remains when the story is understood. "
- Byron Katie
o

2009-06-14T16:29:00.000+01:00

o
“Thoughts are just what is.
They appear. They’re innocent. They’re not personal.
They’re like the breeze or the leaves on the trees or the raindrops falling.
Thoughts arise like that, and we can make friends with them.
Would you argue with a raindrop?”
- Byron Katie
o

2009-06-14T16:23:00.001+01:00

o
“So, how do you get back to heaven?
To begin with, just notice the thoughts that take you away from it.
You don’t have to believe everything your thoughts tell you.
Just become familiar with the particular thoughts you use
to deprive yourself of happiness.
It may seem strange at first to get to know yourself in this way,
but becoming familiar with your stressful thoughts
will show you the way home to everything you need.”
- Byron Katie
o

The origin of suffering

2009-06-14T13:09:00.002+01:00

"All suffering comes from believing our thoughts."
- Byron Katie
o

Ever-present Grace

2009-06-12T18:00:00.010+01:00

o
There is nothing
for 'us' to 'do'...
There is no need
to gain favour with the Supreme Being
(for 'salvation' or 'liberation')...
When the experience of separateness
is truly enough...
when it holds no more interest,
all that will remain
is Supreme Being.
o

2009-06-12T12:05:00.003+01:00

Separateness exists until

the experience is satisfactory

and holds no more interest...

Then, only Beingness remains.

2009-06-12T11:57:00.004+01:00

Every 'soul'

is a point of consciousness

in the kaleidoscopic hall of mirrors

that is the 'self-reflexive' universe –

The One Being

Meditating

upon its Infinite Nature.

2009-06-12T01:52:00.004+01:00

o
Every perspective has its own 'truth'.
'Spriritual' truth is what remains
when we drop all postures and perspectives
and experience the nameless and wordless...
'That' which simply 'Is'.
o

2009-06-10T16:54:00.008+01:00

o
Here is a link to an article about the various ways to relate to the 'Absolute' or 'God'...

Click here

A quote on Enlightenment (from Andrew Cohen)

2009-06-09T01:20:00.003+01:00

"Traditionally, enlightenment has been defined as a profound awakening to the Ground of Being - an awakening in which the seeker finds liberation through transcending the world of time and space.

But in the new enlightenment, which is redefined in an evolutionary context, the discovery of this primordial ground is not an end in itself. It becomes the essential foundation from which the individual is freed to participate wholeheartedly in the evolutionary process.

What arises out of that ground is an impulse to evolve, which I call the Authentic Self, and the goal of Evolutionary Enlightenment is to liberate this creative principle in human consciousness so that it can transform us and the world around us."

- Andrew Cohen

Integrated spirituality

2009-06-08T02:48:00.003+01:00

If you open yourself to inspiration in all that you do, you will realise that you can be at peace with life, without resorting to the renunciate life of a monk, a nun or a sadhu.
n

The 'Mystique' and 'Mystification' of Enlightenment and Liberation - Enlightenment in 'No Time'

2009-06-07T15:26:00.007+01:00

The mystification of spirituality has left us culturally-conditioned to believe that spirituality is something that requires special and different conditions from the ones that we have here and now.

Enlightenment is not about developing, or improving yourself or attaining some state…

Enlightenment is an idea… that falls away when we drop the search, in peace and acceptance of the fullness of all that Is.

"There is no such thing as 'Enlightenment'... Understanding this is Enlightenment itself."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
o

Union through whole-hearted surrender

2009-06-07T15:12:00.005+01:00

Usually we may live experienceing the dualities of Love and fear, Union and separateness, Compassion and lack of empathy...

But giving oneself fully to anything - wholeheartedly - i.e. true devotion, leads to Union ('Yoga', in sanskrit). Anything less than a full surrender keeps us experiencing duality.

A divided mind has space for thoughts of self/'Ego'. An undivided mind is selfless...
o

Spirituality and the future of Religion

2009-06-07T15:09:00.001+01:00

Nowadays there is some reservation concerning anything that is associated with religion and it is often stated that religion is responsible for war and the abuse of human rights. It ought to be pointed out, however, that it is the misrepresentation of religious teachings for selfish purposes that has led to justification for wars, persecution, abuse, etc.

We live in an age when the nature of religion and the nature of its spiritual foundations are being re-evaluated, but let’s not ‘throw out the baby with the bathwater’. New understanding can lead us onwards to new levels of global spiritual culture and to a new vision of the ‘brotherhood’/ ‘sisterhood’ of humankind and of all beings.
o

Meditation, Spiritual Awareness, Personal Transformation & Cultural Transformation

2009-06-07T15:05:00.001+01:00

Forms of meditation have existed in all spiritual traditions as there is a clear connection between a state of receptivity and a state of Inspiration. ‘Inspiration’ means literally: ‘the inflow of Spirit/Divine Breath/Divine Awareness’. The word ‘inspiration’ has been used to describe all sorts of manifestations of ‘genius’ – from art to prophecy and even spiritual healing. Inspired individuals often experience deep personal transformation and have sometimes been responsible for great social, cultural transformations and even technological innovations.
o

Living with 'karma' and 'samsara'... or, 'abiding as the Self'

2009-06-07T14:21:00.002+01:00

As the Self, you are free.
As anything else, you are just a character in a story that you are making up again... and again... and again...

"It is you that decides which 'I' you refer to, when you say 'I'"
- Ram Dass
o

"Connectedness"

2009-05-04T21:16:00.001+01:00

The feeling of "connectedness" is an energetic resonance with the truth that transcends material/physical appearances, and leads naturally to 'virtue' and 'selflessness'.
o

'From Relationship to Relating - Love as a State of Being' (quote from Osho)

2009-01-29T18:01:00.006Z

“The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it is not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of the other person – without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other. They allow the other absolute freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now. Their happiness cannot be taken by the other, because it is not given by the other.

Then why do they want to be together? It is no longer a need; it is a luxury. Try to understand it. Real persons love each other as a luxury; it is not a need. They enjoy sharing: they have so much joy, they would like to pour it into somebody. And they know how to play their life as a solo instrument.

The solo flute player knows how to enjoy his flute alone. And if he comes and finds a tabla player, a solo tabla player, they will enjoy being together and creating a harmony between the flute and the tabla. Both will enjoy it: they will both pour their richness into each other.”

(Osho – from the book ‘Being In Love’)

Meditation - Easing yourself into Blissful Beingness

2006-09-22T22:17:00.003+01:00

You do not need to directly restrain the mind or try to oppose its movements at all. The thinking mind tends to function like a mechanism that has been wound up and which consequently is impelled to follow its train of thought. To struggle with this - to try to control it - is pointless. This is where many experience the frustration of attempting and failing in their practice of meditation.
We are habitually identified with the mind and its movements - with its thought-content. It is a cliché because it has had to be repeated so often by spiritual teachers, but it is an essential truth: we are not the mind. We are the source of mind. We are consciousness, we are pure Awareness. We are the 'Being' - the 'I Am'. Dwelling in that pure awareness is Meditation.

Click here for information about my meditation classes in Alvalade, Lisbon

... on Earth as it is in Heaven...

2006-06-21T23:45:00.002+01:00

“True spirituality is not the rejection of (earthly) life, but the art of perfecting life.”
Rudolf Steiner
o

Mastery, Awareness & Non-dualism

2006-06-21T23:40:00.002+01:00

“Each soul is potentially Divine. The goal of life is to manifest that Divinity within by controlling nature internal and external. Do it by philosophy or psychic control or work or worship, by one or more or all of these and be free.”
Swami Vivekananda

What is meant by ‘control’?
Control does not here imply ‘struggle’ and ‘conflict’, but simply gaining power over nature through awareness. This awareness overcomes the divisions between inside and outside, between conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious and brings about a natural ability to control without struggle or manipulation. This is Mastery. This is the secret of the Siddhas (Self-Realised Beings).
o

Light & dark

2006-06-21T23:31:00.001+01:00

Why is there dark?
Because we do not put our full attention there…
Why do we not put our full attention there?
Because we are afraid.
The Light of Love eliminates fear and darkness, because it brings Light to the ‘dark spaces’.
Darkness exists only as a ‘reflection’ or shadow caused by our ignore-ance.

Darkness is not the opposite of Light. It is the shadow of Light – caused by us (‘I’ or ‘Ego’) standing in its way.

When we become translucent and radiant there will be no darkness.

Integrating the darkness turns it into Light.
o

Yin, Yang & the 'balance' - Divine harmony

2006-02-01T01:06:00.001Z

'Brahma' - the Creator or 'creative force' exists in the balance beween the poles of preservation and dissolution.
'Brahma' exists in the harmonious interchange between hot and cold, light and dark, wet and dry, masculine and feminine, as the impulse for the expression of life.
('Brahma' was born out of 'Vishnu' and not vice versa)
Brahma is the point of origin but he 'himself' is found in the fusion/ the perfect interplay of 'Vishnu' and 'Shiva'.
'Heaven' is 'Brahma' ('Akasha') and is present. We 'fall' from 'heaven' whenever we are out of balance.
o

"Two types of madness"

2006-02-01T00:55:00.003Z

According to Plato:
"... there are two types of madness, one arising from human disease, the other when heaven sets us free from established convention."
(from 'Phaedrus')
o

Meditation - Notes from the 'Complete Reality School' of Taoism - a synthesis of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian wisdom

2006-01-29T14:39:00.004Z

Meditation Practice:
In Taoist practice it is necessary to embrace the breath with the mind and the mind with the breath. With practice one becomes balanced and the practitioner becomes able to plunge into deeper and deeper meditative states where " there is no sky, no earth, no body. "This advanced state of meditation is what is referred to in the saying 'Knowing the white, keep the black, and the illumination of the spirit will come of itself." White refers to everyday life and the rational mind. Black means the intuitive side of the brain and the mystical realms. This distinction was a basic part of the teachings of the Complete Reality School.
The purpose of meditation practice, then, is to center and calm the mind for it is said: "When the ordinary mind is calmed, the shining mind of Tao comes forth." This saying was attributed to Chang San-Feng, one of the famous adepts of the Complete Reality School. "The mind of Tao" refers to the primordial real consciousness. The all-too-human way of mistaking the ego or the ordinary mind for our true self or buddha-mind is called "putting the servant before the master."
Quoted from: 'The Online Journal of the I Ching, Yi Jing'
http://www.fortunecity.com/business/influence/1805/taoism.htm
o

Click here for information about my meditation classes in Alvalade, Lisbon

Meditation - stillness and movement. A Taoist perspective

2006-01-29T14:05:00.004Z

People tend to regard meditation as extremely difficult - if not altogether impossible...
But very often people have a concept of meditation that complicates its practice.
In a Taoist commentary on the I Ching*, there is a reference to the text, 'Directions for Blessings' where Lu Tung-Pin says the following:

"If you have your heart set on the universal Tao, you should certainly practice concentration in stillness. However, concentration in stillness is not a matter of intentionally keeping the mind on something while remaining quiet. If you intentionally seek stillness while quiet, once you move or act your mind will again be aroused. When stillness culminates, there is spontaneous movement - this is the force of potential. If you can seek stillness while active, your mind stays on truth, so you can act without error. Then there is no further concern when quiet."
"(Other) Taoist teachers also affirm that the real stillness and openness which they esteem as a method for breaking through the bounds of conditioned subjectivity and opening up objective awareness cannot necessarily be accomplished simply by arresting or inhibiting the movement of the mind, as this can leave intact the clutter of ingrained habits, only to reassert themselves again on arousal. The classical Chan master Pai-Chang, speaking of the need for insight as well as calm, said, "That which is held by the power of concentration leaks out unawares, to arise in another context."
Also,
"If the mind remains unmoved, and sees as if not seeing, being like open space, not dwelling on anything, (these visions) will naturally disappear."
__
* 'The Taoist I Ching', translated by Thomas Cleary; Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1986; p. 12-13
________________________________________________
o

Click here for information about my meditation classes in Alvalade, Lisbon

Science and Consciousness

2006-01-27T12:13:00.002Z

Science centers always around the human being, no matter where it puts its focus. Human consciousness is the first and last instrument of science regardless of how powerful the microscopes, telescopes or other instruments that we conceive of, construct and apply in the pursuit of science.

Consciousness is the eternal subject of science, and yet science is said to be 'objective'. This is a grand illusion that arises because too often we take consciousness for granted..
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Insights into 'Spirituality'

Think again

It is fundamental to recognise that we have been taught not to trust ourselves...

We have been taught to create a split between 'me' and 'Life'... between 'me' and 'Source'...

The basis of this split is an idea. It is an idea that we picked up by observing all the 'separate-feeling' people around us - their actions, their words, their interests, their fears...

We have been taught to deny the peace that is right here in the Silence, between the thoughts, behind the thoughts, before, after and even during the thoughts... We have been taught to ignore this Witness that is Pure Consciousness... that is always Here.

No-thing is in the way of Understanding. No-thing needs to be removed or added. It's just that idea of separation that distracts us...

It's JUST an idea.

It's not important. It doesn't justify all that effort that we make to find wholeness again.

It's just an idea.

'Think again' ... or not.

It's just an idea.

"Even the means of doing actions should be pure"

'Individual' truth and 'Universal' Truth. Conditioned mind and Unconditioned Consciousness

New Spiritual Coaching blog

Shibendu Lahiri in Portugal - April 2010

Spiritual Coaching in Sintra

'Purification'

When your 'work' becomes play and your play becomes 'worship'... 'Dharma Kriya' - the real 'Karma Yoga' - Action that Liberates

The 'Energy of Understanding'*

Walk, picnic, meditation, music and sacred chant in the Sintra countryside - Saturday, 10th of April, 2010

Retiro na Quinta da Enxara - 'Pára.... observa o Silêncio.... - ' com Atmananda e Peter Littlejohn Cook

The 'secret' of Enlightenment/Self-Realisation

Presence

How will the mind become quiescent?

"By the inquiry 'Who am I?'.The thought 'Who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts,and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre,it will itself in the end get destroyed.Then, there will arise Self-Realization."

Yoga Sadhana

'Causeless' awakening

'karma' is unconscious action (unconscious creation)

Nothing is required to 'achieve' Liberation or to 'become' Liberated.

The origin of suffering

Ever-present Grace

A quote on Enlightenment (from Andrew Cohen)

Integrated spirituality

The 'Mystique' and 'Mystification' of Enlightenment and Liberation - Enlightenment in 'No Time'

Union through whole-hearted surrender

Spirituality and the future of Religion

Meditation, Spiritual Awareness, Personal Transformation & Cultural Transformation

Living with 'karma' and 'samsara'... or, 'abiding as the Self'

"Connectedness"

'From Relationship to Relating - Love as a State of Being' (quote from Osho)

Meditation - Easing yourself into Blissful Beingness

... on Earth as it is in Heaven...

Mastery, Awareness & Non-dualism

Light & dark

Yin, Yang & the 'balance' - Divine harmony

"Two types of madness"

Meditation - Notes from the 'Complete Reality School' of Taoism - a synthesis of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian wisdom

Meditation - stillness and movement. A Taoist perspective

Science and Consciousness

"By the inquiry 'Who am I?'.
The thought 'Who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts,
and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre,
it will itself in the end get destroyed.
Then, there will arise Self-Realization."