2010

Happy New Year! The Supreme Spirit is in everything. To reject things is to reject God. Not being worldly does not mean rejecting the world. It means living in the world without attachment, knowing that the manifested universe is transitory, though from the standpoint of the Absolute it is God.

If you are having difficulty….

December 27, 2010

If you are having difficulty getting into the Heart, then surrender to your head and say, “You win. What do you have to tell me?”. With nothing to fight, it will have nothing to say.

People who hide cannot receive….

December 24, 2010

People who hide cannot receive. Open up and receive the joy and love of the holiday.

Our first “caregivers”….

December 19, 2010

Our first “caregivers” tend to enhance our life lessons, not teach us how to overcome our life lessons.

Through dispassion comes joy….

December 12, 2010

Through dispassion comes joy. Are you willing to have joy?

Assumptions do not mean….

December 6, 2010

Assumptions do not mean you know.

‘Overfamiliar’ is not intimate….

December 1, 2010

‘Overfamiliar’ is not intimate, it is invasive. Watch out.

Be thankful….

November 25, 2010

Be thankful. God gives us everyday everything we need to be happy.

Muktananda used to say….

November 21, 2010

Muktananda used to say “Love everyone, trust no one.”

God is the only one….

November 15, 2010

God is the only one who can and does multitask.

The only way to redemption….

November 12, 2010

The only way to redemption is by giving up our individuality.

Another clue….

November 7, 2010

Another clue we are operating from and in our small self is when we are trolling for pleasure instead of seeking joy and happiness.

Another clue….

November 1, 2010

Another clue we are operating from and in our small self is when we are defensive.

Don’t check-in….

October 29, 2010

Don’t check-in. Be in

Another clue….

October 24, 2010

Another clue that you are in the small self is “processing”. If you are spinning around verbally in order to figure something out, discussing forever the same thing with yourself and everyone you possibly can, you are in the small self. The small self is working through the problem, not you. If you really wanted to work through the problem you would first still and then listen from the depths. Then the small self would not be involved in the process.

The goal of sadhana….

October 17, 2010

The goal of sadhana is not ending up with an all-powerful, all-knowing small self.

What is a big clue….

October 10, 2010

What is a big clue we are ‘in’ our small self? All our energy is in the mask.

We all fall, we all fail….

October 7, 2010

We all fall, we all fail. Since this is a given, the question should be how do we return after the fall? If we do not know the way back we are blown here and there by our small self. Even worse is not knowing the difference between “who we are” when we are fallen and who we truly are. If we do not KNOW the difference, we cannot return home. We must strive to know home; then we must learn the pathway back and forth. That gives us the ability to choose to go home and to stay at HOME.

Why do we allow ….

October 4, 2010

Why do we allow the small self to hijack credit for what the Self does?

Do you control….

September 30, 2010

Do you control the situation to be “out of control”?

Purified desire is….

September 26, 2010

Purified desire is good will. The more we retrace our way inward, the more we are in harmony with God’s Will.

Burn up attachment….

September 22, 2010

Burn up attachment to both good and bad action.

Non-attachment is not….

September 18, 2010

Non-attachment is not the lower self dissociating. Non-attachment is the true Self loving appropriately.

Self esteem is….

September 14, 2010

Self esteem is Chuckie’s opinion of himself.

Live your life….

September 11, 2010

Live your life, not your idea of your life.

We are all equal….

September 6, 2010

We are all equal from the standpoint of the true Self. Let us practice this. We have differences from the standpoint of manifestation. Let us practice this. Do not confuse the two. When we do practice correctly we are all members of the Lords’ Club and we willingly play our different parts.

Don’t let the small self….

September 1, 2010

Don’t let the small self choose Hell for you.

Spiritual Practice is not….

August 27, 2010

Spiritual Practice is not a “lifestyle.” Spiritual Practice is internal. Live your life and practice.

Lose your small self…

August 21, 2010

Lose your small self in pure Consciousness. Jump.

If we want to listen….

August 13, 2010

If we want to listen to ourselves and perceive our authentic answers, we have to be still. We have to be still and at least moving toward the Heart. Otherwise we are just in our Foursquare.

Beware of worship….

August 8, 2010

Beware of worship of the senses. They will end your life in complete misery.

While you are reading this…

August 2, 2010

While you are reading this I hope you are practicing. You are, aren’t you? Good. Continue.

You don’t have to be….

July 28, 2010

You don’t have to be alone to practice. Don’t go live in a cave. Practice with people around you.

Fact: If you want….

July 21, 2010

Fact: If you want your demons to go away, you have to still them. Do not fight them. That only feeds the demons. Then they have a really good time and you do not. Still the demons and they will go away.

Shut up….

July 18, 2010

Shut up. Shut everything up in your head. All quiet. Shut it all up. Now redirect your attention down and in, to the Heart. Now rest there. Thank you.

Until we become human….

July 15, 2010

Until we become human, we don’t live our lives–we live our foursquares.

What we are….

July 9, 2010

What we are controlled by, we use to control others.

Yes, it hurts….

July 2, 2010

Yes, it hurts. Yes, this is hard work. Yes, this brings true independence. Do not be afraid of practice and where we are going. Be afraid of not practicing and therefore where we remain. Keep practicing. Love is there when we still it all.

As we let go….

June 27, 2010

As we let go there will be fear, sadness, and a holding on. If we persevere and continue to let go of our vibrations Love and joy will arise. Keep going, the Love is there. Do not let the fear, sadness and holding on keep us from experiencing the Truth.

We can’t dissolve….

June 25, 2010

We can’t dissolve a foursquare if we are still in it.

Melanie says….

June 21, 2010

Melanie says that the small self is on a stationary bike, telling us we are moving, going somewhere. We are going nowhere. We are just pedaling.

The small self is….

June 13, 2010

The small self is a soup of vibrations. It has no real existence, but we keep those vibrations going. We can’t still those vibrations until we feel them. And most of the time we don’t feel them. We are not conscious of them; we just think we’re being who we are. “I am just being myself.”

In order to dissolve the small self, we must become conscious of those vibrations, objectify them as something outside us, and still them by withdrawing attention and energy out of them back to the pure Subject so that the pure I stands alone.

The small self is both….

June 7, 2010

The small self is both a perceiver and an object at different times. The true Self is only a perceiver, never an object.

When we become conscious….

June 2, 2010

When we become conscious of a vibration as something separate from us, only ten do we have the choice to renounce it.

Don’t let Deception….

May 28, 2010

Don’t let Deception, Unconsciousness and Misery inform your life and actions. Still the small self and you will uncover Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. Then the True Self will inform your life and actions.

We need to practice….

May 23, 2010

We need to practice the containment of the small self, not the contentment of the small self.

The small self’s nature….

May 21, 2010

The small self’s nature is deception, unconsciousness, and misery. Our True Nature is Sat-Cit-Ananda: Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. Truth, Consciousness and Bliss are the solution to our condition. By practicing Truth, Consciousness and Bliss as opposed to deception, unconsciousness and misery, we uncover our True Nature and dissolve the small self. Sat-Cit-Ananda is both the goal and the process.

If you are disturbed….

May 16, 2010

If you are disturbed, if there is mental pain, dispair, or nervousness, it is a clue that you have a distracted mind. Don’t judge your experience, but neither should you “try to be okay with it.” That would be just numbing, and would perpetuate the problem. Once you have recognized where you really are, you must go through the steps to still the mind; then the symptoms will go away. Practice is not trying to be okay with your attachments. That does not work. Why would you want to cling to agitation or depression? Instead, redirect your attention back to God.

Don’t let your….

May 14, 2010

Don’t let your lower self do your sadhana.

We are actors….

May 9, 2010

We are actors, not the parts we play.

We cannot unravel….

May 5, 2010

We cannot unravel our program without hearing our authentic answers. We hear them better when we are “willing” to unravel the small self.

We are loyal….

April 30, 2010

We are loyal to the people who fool us.

The “right” answer….

April 25, 2010

The “right” answer is not always the authentic answer.

We have to choose….

April 22, 2010

We have to choose not to choose Hell.

We have to renounce….

April 20, 2010

We have to renounce to get freedom.

Vigilance does not mean….

April 15, 2010

Vigilance does not mean being fearful or anxious or worried. Vigilance means being conscious and aware.

We are not magicians….

April 11, 2010

We are not magicians. Transform what you actually can: you.

Don’t be an experience junkie….

April 4, 2010

Don’t be an experience junkie. Like anything else, they come and go. Experiences mean only that you are having experiences. God is not an experience. God is.

Our job is not….

March 28, 2010

Our job is not to fight our small self. Our job is to redirect our attention to the true Self.

Stress is not….

March 22, 2010

Stress is not heroic.

The lower self looks….

March 17, 2010

The lower self looks for someone else to love it for its own special individuality. That shrunken love will never satisfy us. We will remain lonely and miserable until we give up substituting drama for Love.

Take the drama out….

March 13, 2010

Take the drama out of the Drama. Then the lower self is no longer special. Our lower selves believe they are so special that their dramas trump everything else, and must be maintained at all costs. And they prefer this to substance and Love.

Homework: choose one incident, person, environment, or other experience that occasions a drama for you, and take the drama out of it. Redirect your attention to the true Self. Get to neutral (nonattached), neither positive nor negative.

Yogas chitta-vritti-nirodhah….

March 8, 2010

Yogas chitta-vritti-nirodhah. Yoga is the inhibition of the vibrations of the field of consciousness. Yoga Sutra 1.2.

This is stilling everything all the way back to the beginning of manifestation. We have to disentangle out of our vehicles and still all vibrations, not just thoughts.

Restrain. Control. Master. Transcend.

If we practice….

March 3, 2010

If we practice to get into the Heart and then rest there, all our problems will be resolved within us. The outer manifestation will do whatever it is going to do. Inwardly, we will know how to proceed, and will act appropriately.

Following our dharma….

February 26, 2010

Following our dharma is the Sacrifice.

Five-Fold-Action….

February 22, 2010

Five-Fold-Action——Learn it.

God emanates, we project. God maintains and relishes, we obsess. God withdraws and dissolves, we dissociate and destroy. God conceals His true nature from Himself, we delude ourselves. God reveals Himself to Himself, we think we know who we are, we have insight.

Stop looking….

February 17, 2010

Stop looking for your path. You have a path already. Walk it.

Challenges on the outside….

February 11, 2010

Challenges on the outside, such as massive snowstorms, test our internal mettle. These challenges show us where we are internally–or how internal we are. Yoga Sutras 2:18–Objective reality exists for the purpose of experience and liberation.

In our delusion….

February 8, 2010

In our delusion, the Seer appears to be the Seen; then the Seen appears to be the Subject.

Be with your experience….

February 5, 2010

Be with your experience. Let whatever comes up come up. And function efficiently and appropriately on the physical plane.

Many believe….

February 1, 2010

Many believe having everything going “our” way is spiritual. No. Being non-attached to pain and pleasure is where we want to be. As we practice, we may find that we handle the issues in our life appropriately and discover them receding from our every day. To then think we are “done” is an error. We are now free to handle the issues remaining in our vehicles, the seeds that will grow again—if we ignore them—into the problems of life.

The goal of spiritual practice is to return to our true nature, not to have everything be our idea of rosy. We are to still “our” vibrations so that God, our true nature, will be living life.

“I need a break”….

January 29, 2010

“I need a break”. What does that mean, a break from what? Does the small self want a break from the discipline, from the practice, from the prison? Does the small self want to be out playing?

What we really need is to break from the small self.

Turn in. Go deep within the Heart, beyond the vehicles that obscure the true nature, and rest. Rest in the Self of All. Now that is a permanent break. A permanent break from hell. Learn to rest there and then learn to live there. We will not need or want “a break” anymore.

Our true nature….

January 25, 2010

Our true nature is Love. We twist it so it comes out distorted and shrunken. When we work back to our true nature, our love becomes pure and limitless.

The small self “wants”….

January 22, 2010

The small self “wants” to be imperfect, separate, and the doer.

The irony is….

January 12, 2010

The irony is that we go outside ourselves to find freedom, only to become limited and contracted. We believe we are expanding when we are outward turned. The truth is freedom and expansion come to us only when we turn within and find that still point. How full we are then, how free, how joyous. Why do we continue to look in the wrong direction? Funny isn’t it, we still do.

Wherever there is pain….

January 17, 2010

Wherever there is pain and disaster, it is our pain and disaster. Our job may not be to go and physically help; we may not have the skill set to do that. Our job is not to use disaster as a conversation topic to show our “compassion”. Our job is twofold.

First, we are to donate money and time (if possible) to people who do have the skill set to help. However, remember St. Barsanuphius and St. John in the Philokalia: “If a man is asked for something he has not got, he will not be judged for not giving what is asked of him….In the same way, if a man has only enough of something for his immediate needs, he must not give it away in alms, lest it happens that later, in time of want, he suffers affliction, being unable to bear privations.”

Second, because these people are in truth us, we can bore deeply within our Hearts to the place where there is no time or space, and redirect our awareness toward the suffering. At first this will do nothing, but eventually, with regular practice, we can actually contribute love as a sustaining force, not just a nice idea. This is done without saying anything to anyone or allowing the small self to take pride in any way. We practice it without looking to see the results. We are learning to give to Us.

The tendency in spiritual practice….

January 8, 2010

The tendency in spiritual practice is to be attached to the “good” qualities and repulsed by the “bad” qualities. Our job is to be non-attached to all qualities. They are relative and temporal, not who we are but how we are. We practice to learn to use our qualities and not be used by them. Remember, we are the perceiver, not the perceived. If you can perceive it, it cannot be you.

In order to win….

January 5, 2010

In order to win we must surrender to God. We believe we have control and free will, but in truth our free will is our ability to choose to do it God’s way, to merge with God’s will. How do we do this? By letting go of all that is not eternal and then surrendering to the eternal, God. We are the Seer not the Seen. Remember no matter how subtle it is, if we can perceive it, it cannot be who we are.

The practice is hidden….

January 1, 2010

The practice is hidden in plain sight. As the veils drop, we recognize that it has always been there.

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