TAO  IS  MOVING

 

It's been a while since my last posting

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There and back with Meditation

Meditation in my back garden

Now, where did I go . . . .

While at an MBS Show at Birmingham over the weekend I got chatting to another exhibitor about the benefits of meditation, and it's long term effects and practices. Even though I have done a lot of meditation, I no longer practice it, preferring another method of Direct Awareness, mentioned elsewhere in my blogs and on my website taoiching.com ,which only takes 2 minutes but has a lasting and powerful effect.
Anyway, this person had been diligently practicing for a number of years and was wondering whether they were on the right track, and what more would transpire. In my own experience, based on Buddhist meditation practices, I can only add a few comments.

The first stage of meditation starts with a withdrawal from the ordinary world, to be alone to experience on a sensory level what is happening to, or in, your body and mind. Just observing. Thoughts will arise, and if you just observe without getting involved and following conclusions, imaginings, and scenarios, these thoughts come and go all the time. Through quiet practice you can now discern different levels or areas of attention. There are sensations (sensory experiences), feelings (which may or may not be memories or associations), and thoughts (which may, but are probably not, related to your experience now). So, you can see that meditation is not about sitting around with a blank mind.
This is not about separating, classifying, or stopping these activities, but simply observing them and letting them be, to rise and fall as they will on their own, seemingly without your permission or control. After some time 'doing this' , meditation now provides a heightened awareness and introduces a focus or 'intention'. For most people, that focus and intention is applied solely on the real world, or reactions in the world. Techniques or ways of 'doing this' include concentrating on a single thing, or on the breath. This is called "one-pointed focus", and it has certain benefits or effects. By taking charge of your centre of attention all other discursive thoughts start to fade. Saying that, you will find that there are lots of things out there and 'in there' to distract your mind and hold its' attention on everything else that's going on.
So, this is some discipline to acquire.

A note here about the energy you will be using, in the notions, states, or actions, containing effort or ease. There is a correct use of energy that is essential, otherwise you will defeated by your own mind and long practice. It's as if there is a default setting which you must switch off before you can continue. You may know about this, or come across it in meditation, but the introductory chapters of my book "TAO I CHING ~ The Mystic Gateway" will explain it all. This kind of energy is a blend of intention and focus which is NOT based on earthly or natural impulses, desires, status, or satisfaction, or, indeed, to 'attain' anything ~ but to simply express or 'find out'. It has a certain ease or 'quiet joy' (manifested in meditation, and in normal life) when the energy is right. The opposite is of course, effort, discomfort, or conflict.

At this point you are practicing for many months, usually years, sitting with back straight, holding your attention on the breath, and using or experiencing your energy in a directed/confident way, which becomes, for short periods, easy, without effort. That 'rightness' of approach, avoiding or letting go thoughts and impulses, "just so", is the second stage of meditation.
The third stage of meditation is an 'effortlessness' that develops { you can't practice it ~ it creeps up on you }. Distractions, restlessness, or rigidity, are slowly put to rest. That 'effortlessness' provides extra benefits in a sort of 'detached quiet' (carried on from your meditation session into your normal life), and compassion (without the need for reaction). You are no longer carried away by your involvements, desires, and thoughts, and can see them (they are still there) for what they are. In this third stage of meditation is the Buddhist concept of 'mindfulness'. There is another side-effect in your unexpected and enhanced awareness of objects and things, places, and people, conditions of weather and light. You begin to find yourself in a world that is wonderfully sustaining. You see, feel, and know, the wonder of being here.
[In my own case further wonderful complications were introduced through another side effect of Lucid Dreaming].

What arises next is a faith, or trust, or inner peace, as an inner strength. This awareness of "Being Here" could develop naturally through expanded awareness, and at rare times everyone might experience the sensation, if only for a brief magical moment. Regular meditation practice develops into a sort of habit of mind and heart, which will automatically provide a deeper sense of peace and clarity (not normally present in the world).
In the forth stage of meditation, something else happens, and is the cause of a lot of mystical speculation and introduces notions of 'levels of attainment' and prolonged practices, which could either be a singular obsession, or a disincentive to those that think they will never get there (without a lot of practice). When you let go of the five senses, while noticing (focusing on) your breath, and when you let go of the breath, you enter a peaceful state, without a body or personality, in silent awareness and become aware of a "blissful state of the inner light". Attempts to gain this, as a sort of end result, will lead you into all sorts of diversions and practices. This 'enlightened' state can happen naturally when you quietly persist with meditation, but it can also be 'an impossible dream' if you persist too much, or give up.

That's meditation for you. I would prefer to stay in the world (illusion or not) and gain an immediate experience through The Four Gateways of Light, Sound, Movement, and Space.
Either way, there is a jewel to be found, which the Buddhists might call Wisdom or Insight. This is the result of heightened awareness or meditation, but it's not automatic or consequential to practice, and has to be added in, as it were. This is based on The Five Spiritual Principles of Optimism, Enthusiasm, Encouragement, Generosity, and Humour. These don't exist - you add them in to the world and mix of life. A profound state of awareness and compassion becomes almost second nature with the 'side effect' of great faith and inner peace. The 'correct' use (or other uses) of these is explained in "The I Ching ~ The Book of Chance and Change", available to download from my website.

What happens then is a spiritual transformation.

IAN WALLACE AT WHITBY MBS FAIR SEPTEMBER 2010

Ian Wallace ~ 'completing the circle'

Ian Wallace's stand was on the opposite side to mine at the recent Mind Body Spirit Fair at Whitby, and it did amuse me to see his ladder to the heavens complete the circle of the mural on the wall. I've never spoken to Ian, except a 'hello' in passing, so I was tempted to leave my stand for ten minutes to catch his talk and demonstration on Clairvoyance and Mediumship on the Sunday morning - just to see what he's about.

What a pleasant, unassuming, chap. In this talk he gave a demonstration of clairvoyance while at the same time explained how he was doing it. This was fascinating, honest, and 'down to earth'.

It seems Ian uses his five senses (hear, see, feel, etc.) in a mental and intuitive way to locate and process information that may be present, or given to him. That is, he is totally open to the possibility that such information is there, and can be interpreted. He does have to interpret what he sees or feels, to put it into (the) context (of the person or situation he is dealing with).

This is classic 'symbol interpretation' [accessing, working with, and manipulating , symbols], and he's very good at it. He's using it like a 'free-hand' conversation with himself and the symbol, which, with his running commentary, is a joy to watch. I suppose, if you wanted to be a Medium or Clairvoyant and wanted training or advice, this is certainly the chap to go to.

My only question to Ian would be (and I didn't get a chance to speak to him), "Where do the dead people come in ?". I'm sure the answer would be 'guidance' or 'spirit' or somesuch, as Ian said at the beginning of his talk that 'a connection had been made', and that all he had to do was read the signs.

The strange thing about this 'open state of the imagination' is that you do see stuff, and, using speech and sight ('in your head' as Ian would say), you can 'interrogate' or interpret what you see, and take it a stage further and manipulate it, or talk to it. That's a pretty active imagination.

Just go for a walk in it. If you are open enough, there the 'dead people' are, sitting around or standing next to you, or behind you. Dead people, spirits, or whatever. You could miss them because you don't think it's possible to see them, or your looking instead of seeing what is.

It's a strange place, and even stranger when you get to 'symbolically' see it all here in this world.

GAUNTS HOUSE SUMMER GATHERING August 2010

GAUNTS HOUSE SUMMER GATHERING from where I was sitting.

For those who stayed over the 4 or 5 days this was a full gathering, of tents and vans, sitting around fires, music stages, over 40 free workshops each day, an occasional rain shower, and warm nights. There were a lots of groups, and family groups, who got together again, after years of coming here, and a few who turned-up on their own, either to re-acquaint with previous friends, or make new friends with total strangers. The whole gathering was at ease with itself, and the space it was in. All of this, to those who camped, was a collective and friendly, layed-back, EXPERIENCE over a few days, away from the conventions of routine and work.

From where I was sitting I could look out 'symbolically' at the scene. A view of trees and grass, tents and people, sun and sky. A scene without involvement or emotion {how to look 'symbolically'}, and yet full of presence. Why bother to leave the world of relationships and involvements just to view this ?

The biggest sensation is of you looking, and in that observer, if you let it, a silence and settled peace. The inner peace doesn't come from the peaceful scene around you, (although lots of people look there for it), but from within. And the 'symbolic looking' ? Just imagine your life and involvements as a group of large letters, maybe 6 or 10 feet high, such is the prominence of this word EXPERIENCE. Now look between the letters, and I'm sure you'll see.

O.K., so the large letters aren't actually there, so just look between the tents, and in that space beyond the things we've added in, with our attachments and involvements, is the world waiting to be seen. It's a strange place. Faraway, so close.

Buried in the Earth.

On a clear Spring morning, after we had done the Whitby MBS Fair, Rachael and I went for a walk in the countryside (about 4 miles above Whitby) to visit an ancient tumulus burial site. Even though we had a map we couldn't find this archaeological site, and after walking about in the woods, returned to the car. Only on our way back did we notice the tumulus, which we had walked past earlier, but Nature and Time had taken its' toll. The Earth reclaims its' own.

Burial grounds are the place where we try to hold-on to our ancestors, to the past, to what we loved, but within a generation loved ones are gone, and after many generations stones are worn down, and bones turn to dust. We tread past unaware. Occasionally there is a glimpse of the forgotten past. But it wasn't the past that I didn't notice, but the present.

I was expecting something else. The impression I had in my mind of what I should have seen was nothing like what was actually there, and because of that I walked straight past it. The surprise to me was that such an impression was so strong, even though I knew it was fanciful, it conditioned my expectation and perception. So half of me lives in a fantasy world, and the other half walks through the material world looking for a confirmation, a recognition, an expectation,

of what is not there.

I walk through the world looking and listening, feeling and sensing, and I did notice that it was a lovely day. This may have been the same thought that occurred to someone a few thousand years ago, before they had to drag these stones across the landscape, to the spot marked on my map. Apart from the expectation, and the 'religion', we might have wondered 'How on Earth did we end up HERE ?'

Stephanie J King at Gorton Monastery

Stephanie J King at the BSSK Mind Body Spirit Show at Gorton Monastery 17 -18 April 2010. Stephanie was a few tables away from my TAO I CHING stand at the Gorton Monastery Show. At 3.15 pm on the Saturday the pillar behind her was caught in a soft but intense light which lasted for about 5 minutes before dissolving and disappearing. I could see that the energy and light was not coming down from above, but from Stephanie, upward. This only confirmed my view that Stephanie herself is the influence and the inspiration, momentarily glimpsed in light.

Amazing what you can see in a monastery.

A Walk to The End of The Earth

The Path at the Edge of The Earth.

I went for a walk the other day. It was a sunny Summers' day, and after about an hour or so a thought struck me. Actually, not a thought exactly, more like a sensation. Here I was walking along this path, but as much as I walked I didn't seem to be getting anywhere. I was on this seemingly endless path that continually afforded me the same view ahead. Around me there were the sights and sounds, the trees, sunlight, birdsong, cover from the hot sun, and a dry path underfoot. It struck me as rather strange, to have all these sensations, and yet not to be at any particular destination.

It brought to mind an experiment I tried when I was in one of my early Lucid Dreams. While in the dream I thought I would try and walk to the edge of the dream. A silly notion really, since a dream isn't really a place, but even so I gave it a go. Obviously, no matter how far, or fast, I went I always had another horizon in front of me. I concluded the experiment with the conclusion, that is probably obvious to everyone else, that the dream is a state of awareness not a place. To get to the end you'd have to wake-up, but in the process loose all the sensations of the dream, and that place in the dream.

Five or six hundred years ago, and before that, there was the notion that if you could journey far enough you would reach the end of the Earth, at which point you'd probably fall off the edge. Early explorers had to contend with this possibility, and with so many 'lost at sea' this was probably quite a reasonable and terrifying fear. So much for the Flat Earth Theory.

There is no edge. There is no end. No matter how far you go, you won't get out of the dream ! Some say that you can be awakened, and some are. But for the rest of us, we only have to know one thing [at this point] - this is a dream of reason, experiment, and sometimes fear. With that knowledge you know you can't fall off the edge, because there isn't one. There is always 'another horizon'. Some, who dream, have gone much further and seen other places, or maybe realised that it's all a bit of an emotional ride [and to make it really work, don't be swayed by the emotions] on a perceptual, even existential, trip.

So much for The Reality Theory.