Non-blog Blog

Re: Welcome!

Being present.... hmm.... I suppose we can't help but to be present, as much as we can actually be anything.  But are we self-aware; that's the question.  Is our attention here within the closest thing human experience can get to reality, the present moment, or are we in fantasy world, aka the future or past?  Are we thinking of something that isn't here and now? 

The past and future drain energy away and the present fills us up. So if we wish to live an energized life, it certainly pays to spend as much time as possible with our attention focused in the present.  How do we do that?

For me it's about quieting my conceptual mind (which is why I created a pod called Lose Your Mind) and living a simple enough life that I don't need to use time oriented thought that much.

For losing my mind, I employ a number of methods I've learned from traditions specifically aimed at helping people do that, such as Dzogchen meditation, A Course in Miracles exercises, and Byron Katie's "The Work" questioning methods.  I also do a form of dance called ecstatic dance which involves using movement to transcend the idea of a separate body. Basically I work at not believing any of my thoughts, particularly the thought that I exist as a separate being with it's own body and it's own mind. There isn't really my mind, but rather the Mind, and when I lose my mind really I'm just losing my belief in the lie that says I have a mind to begin with. So I do practices that help me de-program myself from societal and karmic conditioning that cause me to believe I do exist and that my thoughts about you are real too.

As for getting free of time, well that one takes real commitment, especially for someone like me who loves comfort. I once had a prophetic dream in which I was told point blank "it is your comfort that has chained you."  The more we maximize our material comforts in life the more we are chained to obligations for maintaining those comforts, and usually that pulls us into the world of material productivity for a considerable percentage of each week.

When I live simple I don't have to work as many hours and the work I do can be more of the mindless variety, which then frees up my energy for engaging in on-going meditation throughout each day, such as witnessing my present moment experience as a continual stream of present moments, each savored while it lives then released as another rises. When I need more money I have to take jobs that require a lot of creative engagement with the details of this illusion. I have to be extremely concerned with cause and effect and trying to get things to come out a certain way, reaching for future success on behalf of the organization or goal I serve.

Yes, I know. Zaadz is about changing the world, to many even saving the world, and here I am saying "forget about succeeding at any meaningful goals." Certainly, this mind losing business isn't for everyone. But it is for me. It is my take on being present.

If you develop an amazing level of skill at being effortlessly present, then you won't have to do what I'm describing. Then you will be able to be emersed in the present moment even while reflecting on past experience and planning for future success.  But for most of us, we don't have that level of skill. What we have is a habit of getting lost in the past and future and identifying with the contents of our minds so that we miss the experience of most of our life. We miss the experience of the present moment and since we only live in the present moment, we miss our lives!  So until you can recondition yourself, I think the best thing to do is avoid the situations that force you to deepen your current conditioning. Make it easier on yourself while you're learning and later when you're strong and skilled you can do whatever you want.

I suspect few of you are going to agree with this advice, or even if you agree, you aren't going to be willing to set aside your striving long enough to take it. You may already feel the press of things undone and a responsibility that simply can't wait for you to ________ (fill in the blank).  God bless you. May you find quick success and more importantly may you find quick fulfillment. Sometimes the easiest way to transcend the desire to achieve something is simply to go ahead and achieve it so that you can become disillusioned about it. So go ahead and save some portion of the world, then come back and sit with yourself in silence. Whenever the day comes, I promise you, there you will be. There is no hurry to stop your hurrying. You are always there to be found, within the present moment.