Spirit

Monday, April 26, 2010

What is Awareness?

WHAT IS AWARENESS?
Awareness is a state which emanates from the divine part within us. It is the perception of the now, of the present moment in all of its reality. In a state of awareness, we are not necessarily thinking – we are just being there, doing what we are doing, walking, working, talking etc. Experiencing and perceiving everything with clarity and objectivity.
When we are aware we are simply in the moment, using all our senses, perceiving everything that is around us and within us. Time seems to stand still. We start to experience happiness and awaken our true intelligence because we feed our divine aspect, our consciousness, that which we generally completely neglect.

ARE WE REALLY AWARE?
We may think we are aware, how could we not be…? What we do not realize is that our awareness is only a fraction of what it could be and, although a natural state, it takes will and effort to remain in awareness, in a state of perception.
Imagine a simple thing like walking home from work. Which would be the most typical scenario for us:

a) Walking, being aware of ourselves within our environment – that may encompass other people, trees, cars, buildings, sounds, smells etc. etc.
Or
b) Walking home in a hurry, thinking about what we are going to cook for dinner or how unfair our boss or colleague was at work today, etc. Totally unaware of what is around us.

It is most likely for us to be in scenario ‘b’. This is the way we have learned to behave. We normally know little or nothing else. The majority of us are lost in thoughts and would not know what is happening around us, unless we suddenly heard a loud sound or came across a dangerous situation.

Our moments of awareness come and go randomly and, when we are aware, we are still only half so because we are not experiencing the full potential of Awareness.

 
INCREASING AWARENESS
Most people have at some time in their lives experienced briefly a measure of their potential. During a moment of peace and tranquility, perhaps while in the wilderness people can experience sensations of peace with the environment – with the world. Walking in the woods, enjoying the play of sun rays falling on the blades of grass dancing with the wind! And the Awareness is activated and you enjoy the bliss of the moment! But if your mind is active, these times, instead of “being”, the “exception” can become our normal state!

Athletes have exercised their bodies so that they are more developed than those who don’t. So too we need to exercise our awareness to make it stronger. A muscle not used wastes away – it is the same with awareness. The more we use our awareness the greater our capacity to use it grows.

This is not all however. We also need to get rid of all the negative states we have within to truly open up our awareness. It is these negative emotions and thoughts that cloud our awareness and make us almost asleep during our waking moments. Observing within we can see all these states and can understand and gradually eliminate them. This increases the amount of consciousness that we have while at the same time decreases the subconscious. This brings about a lasting increase in our level of awareness.

A person with full awareness is a person who is leading a very spiritual life and has none of this anger, jealousy, fear, hate etc in their lives. They are not distracted by those random thoughts which just seem to come upon us without purpose; they have mental and emotional discipline.

REASONS FOR AWARENESS
We activate the divine part within us, our consciousness; this provides the basis for spiritual and psychic growth and development.
Latent faculties within such as clairvoyance, telepathy, intuition, ESP etc, have a chance to be activated.

True intelligence is awakened.
We conserve our energy.
Directing the awareness within at the same time as we perceive the external world, we can observe thoughts, emotions and feelings; this enables us to achieve self-knowledge and to change.
We can practice self-observation without being quickly re-absorbed into the mind.

We can be in the correct inner state for any event or situation that we go through.

Our sense of Awareness gives us a connection with other people – with the world. If we feel that connection with the environment then we would not pollute it.
If we all had that union with other people we would not start fights or wars. Anyone who is seeking a more spiritual life needs to become more aware.

 
PRACTISING AWARENESS
Look at the place that you are in, use your five senses to perceive it, then at the same time look inside at thoughts, feelings or emotions, you will notice that these change the perception of reality which you perceive with your five senses, they color it or even make it disappear.
Now observing these within, come back to the observation of the place you are in. You need to do this with everything that appears within, again and again, so that you perceive where you are clearly, without that perception being altered by thoughts, emotions or feelings. Learn how to watch inwardly and outwardly at the same time.

You can do this with any activity during the day, try it when for example you are punching the keys on your computer, you will notice how it takes an effort to be aware of what you are doing and how little time is spent actually being aware in the normal course of a day.
To increase this properly and ultimately unite the consciousness with the Divine, producing bliss, you will need to do further practices which are explained during Awareness development Program.

Author of this article, Prem Nirmal regularly conducts “Awareness Development Program” for those who are interested in self growth and self mastery. Prem says, “Awareness is the ultimate key to unfold the secrets of your conscious Self, the deepest recesses of your being and let you know, who you are!” Awareness activation is the ultimate adventure you can take up to explore your Self. The process lets you understand your unconscious habit and behavioral patterns and relieves you from such patterns to know your real Self.

To know the author of this article, visit www.premnirmal.com

Are you interested in more such Articles and Inputs? Visit www.eesworld.org

For those of you who are interested in academic aspects and scientific research, here are the additional inputs.

Wikipedia definition of Awareness:
Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of something. In biological psychology, awareness is defined as a human’s or an animal’s perception and cognitive reaction to a condition or event.

Awareness is a relative concept. An animal may be partially aware, may be subconsciously aware, or may be acutely aware of an event. Awareness may be focused on an internal state, such as a visceral feeling, or on external events by way of sensory perception. Awareness provides the raw material from which animals develop qualia*, or subjective ideas about their experience.

Also used to distinguish sensory perception is the word “awarement.” “Awarement” is the established form of awareness. Once one has accomplished their sense of awareness they have come to terms with awarement.

 
Popular ideas about consciousness suggest the phenomenon describes a condition of being aware of one’s awareness or, self-awareness. Efforts to describe consciousness in neurological terms have focused on describing networks in the brain that develop awareness of the qualia* developed by other networks.
*Qualia mean subjective quality of conscious experience.

Meditation…Meditation…Meditation…
Meditate so deeply that you disappear completely!!!

Posted by Prem Nirmal at 1:11 AM

You are that!

a message from Leonard Jacobson

Saturday, 17 April, 2010

That which you seek, you already are. Just wake up and be that. Then you will be in the truth of life. You will be enlightened. You will be in Oneness and timelessness and so there is no soul, no journey, no separation, no seeking and no finding. Everything dissolves into the moment of NOW. Everything is revealed in Oneness.

The dimension of you that has been seeking enlightenment is the ego and the ego will never arrive at that which it is seeking. There needs to be a relaxation, a letting go. The seeking and striving and trying keeps you goal oriented and away from the doorway of the truth, which is the present moment.

When you are fully awake, there is nothing left of you from the past and nothing of you projecting into the future. Your are utterly here now.

This is the awakened state. It is an exalted state of consciousness.

At the deepest level of this state, separation dissolves and you enter into Oneness. Occasionally, through Grace, the sense of your self as an individual dissolves completely and all that exists is perfect Eternal Presence, Silence, Love and Oneness.

Occasionally, the nothingness at the heart of everything is revealed.

This awakened state of consciousness exists at a level that is transcendent of the mind and ego. When the ego is exposed to this information, it creates a desire in the ego for something that is impossible for the ego to achieve. But the ego will not give up its quest. This has the effect of strengthening the ego, which thrives in an environment of fear, rejection, and struggle. The ego can never awaken. The ego can never arrive at the goal. Awakening occurs when the ego is transcended.

So the question arises as to how to awaken into Oneness. If you cannot do it, then how is it accomplished? How can we still our thoughts and open into silence. A relaxation must occur. Simply bring yourself out of the world of the mind and the ego by becoming fully present. The key to being present is to bring yourself fully present with that which is already present. If you can see it, hear it, feel it, taste it, touch or smell it in this moment, then you can be present with it. The moment you are truly present with something that is here in the moment with you, thoughts will stop. Your mind will fall silent. You will know yourself as the one who exists in this moment and no other. Then you are awake in the truth of life.

But who is awake?
I AM.
No more words.
No more thoughts.
No more concepts.
No more understanding.
Just silence.

Just full, awakened, all embracing Eternal Presence. It is the Presence of pure consciousness. If you awaken into this level of fully awakened consciousness, you cannot function in the world. Quite literally, there is no time. And there is no YOU to function in the world. You would need a team of caretakers to take care of you. I am speaking from personal experience. I have been in this exalted state of consciousness for weeks at a time.

But sooner or later, a sense of individuality will be restored, so that you can function within the world of time. Restoring my sense of individuality took several months, and it was not easy. This does not mean that the ego was restored to dominance in my life. I still have an ego, but it is surrendered. There is nothing wrong with the ego. In fact, to deny the ego its place in your life is to invite it to function unconsciously.

This has happened to many who have had powerful experiences of awakening. They have identified with the enlightenment experience, which then catches them back into the mind.

Beyond all experience is the one experiencing.

To anyone who declares themselves enlightened, I would ask, “Who is enlightened?” The answer is “I AM.” And then only silence remains. Pure consciousness is your true nature. The I AM Presence is your true nature. It is silent. It is eternal. It is impersonal.

But that does not mean that you cannot also exist at the personal level. I do not mean to imply that life at the level of mind should cease. That is not possible, nor desirable. What is possible however is that you become so awake and deeply grounded in the present moment and the awakened state of Presence that you never lose your connection with the present moment, even when you do venture into the world of the mind. In other words, you no longer believe in your thoughts, memories, ideas, beliefs and opinions as the truth. You are no longer identified with any of it. You recognize that life at the level of mind is simply play. It is sometimes happy and sometimes sad, because it is a world of duality. You relax and accept the dual nature of the mind and the world of experience within time. You are no longer for or against anything. You have transcended judgment. Life is accepted fully and so too is death. Joy is accepted fully and so too is pain. But you are so deeply grounded in the moment of now, that you no longer get caught in the movements of the mind and its world of thought and emotion. You are deeply grounded in Oneness. You are able to return to silence and Presence at will. In fact, silence and Presence is always there as the foundation of your existence, and your sense of yourself.

It is time for humanity to awaken at a collective level. Enlightenment can no longer be for just a select few, who no longer participate in the world. If there is to be an awakening at a collective level, we will have to learn to function within the world. This means that we will have to find a balance between the timelessness of the fully awakened state and the world of time.

-Leonard Jacobson

http://spiritlibrary.com/leonard-jacobson/you-are-that

Tales Bounced off the Lonely Road
Stuart Wilde – February 2nd, 2006

Some years ago I mounted my high horse of indignation and I went out to fight evil: human evil, transdimensional evil, demonic ghouls, black magicians, anything satanic. I’d plough in like there was no tomorrow.

I scored some fantastic successes – humdingers, but I suffered many more defeats. And I took endless etheric hits, thousands of them. In the end I got tired and sick and I nearly died a few times along the way.

My soul got wet wading through rivers of injustice, maybe you have done the same? Eventually a weight of helplessness and futility hung over me forming a shroud like a wet blanket. I could no longer see which way to go. I was one of those soggy Kleenex heroes, lost in the fog of a thousand things I had no power to fix.

So I got off my high horse and I realized fighting evil is stupid. I took to an idea I call, ‘cheesy denial’. You smile and pretend everything is just fine. But in the end cheesy denial becomes painful because it endorses a lot of lies. So as a cure for cheesy denial I tried isolation for three and a half years, but I got lonely. So now I’m twiddling my fingers waiting for a new formula. I think it’s called surrender.

When you sit down and quit it feels a lot better. But it is also rather scary as life passes you by and I also found it confusing; I didn’t know where to put my mind. I can well understand why in the olden days the Knights Templar suffered hardship to go off on crusades to fight the infidels.   The problem is that in the end you realize you are the infidel and while rumors of war are true, the war is always inside you.

I can’t see the answer, there is an agony in fighting with your eyes shut; beauty lies in surrender. It’s a feminine humility that calls to wounded souls from beyond the mists of Avalon.

Late at night I’d called to the mist saying, “Help me, my heart, she cry.”

And the Spirit of Surrender she’d talk to me in visions and dreams and she’d tell me to quit and sit and wait. So to while away the time I breathed love into the hearts of liars and crooks and pedophiles and the embezzlers of human souls, and I waited.

It’s going to work: surrender that is.

Certainly, plans A, B, and C were glorious flops. This new tactic might turn out the perfect solution. Once you quit fighting it helps you enormously. I found the injustice of the world overwhelming but there must be an important reason why we are all here watching it. Perhaps in watching we learn what it is that we don’t want to become.

© Stuart Wilde 2006 – www.stuartwilde.com

Excerpt from the welcome email I received when I subscribed to the Era of Peace newsletter.   I know how true this message is. 

To sign up for newsletter go here. Web site: http://eraofpeace.org

…"When the focus of your attention is stuck on the negativity that is coming up to be healed instead of the Light of God that is pulsating with all of the patterns of perfection and solutions contained in the Causal Body of God, you empower and sustain the negative things that are surfacing. Instead of eliminating the problems, you actually intensify them. This creates the situations that make you feel desperate, overwhelmed and hopeless.

People are so used to accepting the physical plane as their true reality, that they have forgotten it is merely a reflection of their consciousness. No matter how real your life challenges seem or how entrapped you are in the grip of poverty, disease, low self-esteem, loveless relationships, hatred, corruption, ignorance, war, etcetera, those distorted expressions of life can only be maintained in your life if you sustain them through your thoughts, words, actions, feelings and beliefs. If you choose to empower the Light and all of the patterns of perfection contained in that Light instead of choosing to empower the things that cause your pain and suffering, your Earthly experiences will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye.

Never has there been a more opportune time for you to change your course of direction. Never has Humanity received more support from the Heavenly Realms than we are receiving at this moment. Focus on fulfilling your dreams, and miracles will happen."

THE WAY WINGS SHOULD

What will
our children do in the morning?
Will they wake with their hearts wanting to play,
the way wings
should?

Will they have dreamed the needed flights and gathered
the strength from the planets that all men and women need to balance
the wonderful charms of
the earth

so that her power and beauty does not make us forget our own?

I know all about the ways of the heart – how it wants to be alive.

Love so needs to love
that it will endure almost anything, even abuse,
just to flicker for a moment.  But the sky’s mouth is kind,
its song will never hurt you, for I
sing those words.

What will our children do in the morning
if they do not see us
fly?

~ Rumi ~

(Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky)

I subscribe to daily messages "Notes from the Universe", they never cease to delight me.  Here is today’s.

Your physical senses give you many perks, Debby: smelling the flowers, sipping the cocoa, reading the funnies, and feeling the velvet, to name just a few. But perhaps their greatest gift lies in presenting you with the opportunity to assess the world around you at any given point in your life, to compare what you think you’ve been thinking, to what you’ve really been thinking.

WOW!
    The Universe

Thoughts become things… choose the good ones! ®
© www.tut.com ®

Nice how I made thoughts so easy to change, huh, Debby? On a dime.