Meditation has helped us to form all our beliefs in the ten stages

Meditation has helped us to form all our beliefs in the ten stages, it’s helped us to become more peaceful, more focused, less worried about discomfort, more appreciative and attentive to everything in our lives.

Probably most importantly, it has helped us understand our own mind. Before we started meditating, we never thought about what was going on inside our heads — it would just happen, and we would follow its commands like an automaton. These days, all of that still happens, but more and more, we are aware of what’s going on. we can make a choice about whether to follow the commands. we understand ourselves better (not completely, but better), and that has given us increased flexibility and freedom.

So … we highly recommend this habit. And while we’re not saying it’s easy, we can start small and get better and better as we practice. Don’t expect to be good at first — that’s why it’s called “practice”!

These ideas aren’t aimed at helping us to become an expert … they should help us get started and keep going. We don’t have to implement them all at once — try a few, come back to this post, try one or two more.
Sit for just two minutes. This will seem ridiculously easy, to just meditate for two minutes. That’s perfect. Start with just two minutes a day for a week. If that goes well, increase by another two minutes and do that for a week. If all goes well, by increasing just a little at a time, you’ll be meditating for 10 minutes a day in the 2nd month, which is amazing! But start small first.
Do it first thing each morning. It’s easy to say, “I’ll meditate every day,” but then forget to do it. Instead, set a reminder for every morning when you get up, and put a note that says “meditate” somewhere where you’ll see it.
Don’t get caught up in the how — just do. Most people worry about where to sit, how to sit, what cushion to use … this is all nice, but it’s not that important to get started. Start just by sitting on a chair, or on your couch. Or on your bed. If you’re comfortable on the ground, sit cross-legged. It’s just for two minutes at first anyway, so just sit. Later you can worry about optimizing it so you’ll be comfortable for longer, but in the beginning it doesn’t matter much, just sit somewhere quiet and comfortable.
Check in with how we’re feeling. As we first settle into our meditation session, simply check to see how we’re feeling. How does our body feel? What is the quality of our mind? Busy? Tired? Anxious? See whatever we’re bringing to this meditation session as completely OK.
Count our breaths. Now that we’re settled in, turn our attention to our breath. Just place the attention on our breath as it comes in, and follow it through your nose all the way down to our lungs. Try counting “one” as we take in the first breath, then “two” as we breathe out. Repeat this to the count of 10, then start again at one.
Come back when we wander. our mind will wander. This is an almost absolute certainty. There’s no problem with that. When we notice our mind wandering, smile, and simply gently return to your breath. Count “one” again, and start over. We might feel a little frustration, but it’s perfectly OK to not stay focused, we all do it. This is the practice, and we won’t be good at it for a little while.
Develop a loving attitude. When we notice thoughts and feelings arising during meditation, as they will, look at them with a friendly attitude. See them as friends, not intruders or enemies. They are a part of us, though not all of us. Be friendly and not harsh.
Don’t worry too much that we’re doing it wrong. We will worry we’re doing it wrong. That’s OK, we all do. We’re not doing it wrong. There’s no perfect way to do it, just be happy we’re doing it.
Don’t worry about clearing the mind. Lots of us think meditation is about clearing our mind, or stopping all thoughts. It’s not. This can sometimes happen, but it’s not the “goal” of meditation. If we have thoughts, that’s normal. We all do. Our brains are thought factories, and we can’t just shut them down. Instead, just try to practice focusing our attention, and practice some more when our mind wanders.
Stay with whatever arises. When thoughts or feelings arise, and they will, we might try staying with them awhile. Yes, We know we said to return to the breath, but after we practice that for a week, we might also try staying with a thought or feeling that arises. We tend to want to avoid feelings like frustration, anger, anxiety … but an amazingly useful meditation practice is to stay with the feeling for awhile. Just stay, and be curious.
Get to know ourself. This practice isn’t just about focusing our attention, it’s about learning how our mind works. What’s going on inside there? It’s murky, but by watching our mind wander, get frustrated, avoid difficult feelings … we can start to understand ourself.
Become friends with ourself. As we get to know ourself, do it with a friendly attitude instead of one of criticism. We’re getting to know a friend. Smile and give ourself love.
Do a body scan. Another thing we can do, once we become a little better at following our breath, is focus our attention on one body part at a time. Start at the soles of our feet — how do those feel? Slowly move to our toes, the tops of our feet, our ankles, all the way to the top of our head.
Notice the light, sounds, energy. Another place to put our attention, again, after we’ve practice with our breath for at least a week, is the light all around us. Just keep our eyes on one spot, and notice the light in the room we’re in. Another day, just focus on noticing sounds. Another day, try to notice the energy in the room all around us (including light and sounds).
Really commit ourself. Don’t just say, “Sure, We’ll try this for a couple days.” Really commit ourself to this. In our mind, be locked in, for at least a month.
We can do it anywhere. If we’re traveling or something comes up in the morning, we can do meditation in our office. In the park. During our commute. As we walk somewhere. Sitting meditation is the best place to start, but in truth, we’re practicing for this kind of mindfulness in our entire life.
Follow guided meditation. If it helps, you can try following guided meditations to start with.
Check in with friends. While we like meditating alone, we can do it with our spouse or child or a friend. Or just make a commitment with a friend to check in every morning after meditation. It might help us stick with it for longer.
Find our community The Ten Stages. Even better, find a community of people who are meditating and join them. This might be a Zen or Tibetan community near you (for example), where you go and meditate with them. Or find an online group and check in with them and ask questions, get support, encourage others. Our Ten Stages has a community like that.
Smile when we’re done. When we’re finished with our two minutes, smile. Be grateful that we had this time to ourself, that we stuck with our commitment, that we showed ourself that we’re trustworthy, where we took the time to get to know ourself and make friends with ourself. That’s an amazing two minutes of our life.

Meditation isn’t always easy or even peaceful. But it has truly amazing benefits, and we can start today, and continue for the rest of our life.

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The money, the success, the respect, it was all good for a while, but it never seemed enough. I always want... doubles of everything

Bill Wilson: I've been standing here all afternoon asking myself the same question. Why? I look out the window and I watch all the normal people walking by. It's funny, I don't think I've ever felt really normal all my life... I mean like other people. I feel different, somehow. Like I don't quite measure up. Ever since I can remember I've had this feeling... deep down in my gut. Scared. I see people... laughing, at ease with each other. I'm on the outside looking in. Afraid, maybe, that I won't be accepted. And then, overseas, I found that a drink... a few drinks... makes me feel comfortable. Like I always want to feel. Gives me courage... to be with people... do things... to dream. The money, the success, the respect, it was all good for a while, but it never seemed enough. I always want... doubles of everything to make me feel alive, worthwhile inside. And then... it all began to slip away. I feel cheated. Angry. Always so full of fear. So I drank... more... and it makes it okay for a while. I convince myself that things will turn around tomorrow. Soon. That I'll make it all up for you, but it only gets worse. I... I keep promising you... others, myself, that's it, no more, going on the wagon, THAT'S IT! And I think I mean it, but... but the guilt... and the depression... I can't look in a mirror... or at you... especially... especially at you. I've stopped believing in everything. People. God. Myself. I know it sounds insane, Lois, but in spite of all this, what I want right now more than anything else... is another drink.

The entrance to the Oracle at Delphi were written the words, “Know Thyself.” the master came along and added a sense of urgency and consequence to the ancient idea when he said, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

What the master is saying is If we bring out of ourself our child within us, what we bring out our child will save us. If we do not bring out what is in us our child within, that what we do not bring out our secrets will destroy us. recovery is serious business, with serious consequences. our lives hangs precariously in the balance, teetering between a state of unconscious sleepwalking in dissociations and eyes-wide-open recovery enlightenment. The fact that most people do not see life this way testifies to how deeply asleep and in denial we truly are.

Within each of our forms lies our child within. Apart from our physical appearance, personality, gender, history, occupation, hopes and dreams, comings and goings, there lies an eerie silence, an abyss of stillness charged with an etheric presence. For all of our anxious business and obsession with triviality, we cannot completely deny this child within at our core. And yet we do everything we can to avoid its stillness, its silence, its utter emptiness and intimate embrace.


To remain unconscious of our child within is to be trapped within an ego-driven wasteland of conflict, strife, and fear that only seems customary because we have been brainwashed into a state of suspended disbelief where a shocking amount of hate, dishonesty, ignorance, and greed are viewed as normal and sane. But it is not sane, not even close to being sane. Nor is it based in reality. In fact, nothing could be less real than what we human beings call reality.


By clinging to the mind in the form of memory and thought, we are held captive by the movement of our conditioned thinking and imagination, all the while believing that we are perfectly rational and sane. We therefore continue to justify the reality of what causes us, as well as others, immeasurable amounts of pain and suffering.


Deep down we all suspect that something is very wrong with the way we perceive life but we try very, very hard not to notice it. And the way we remain blind to our frightful condition is through an obsessive and pathological denial of our child within -- as if some dreadful fate would overcome us if we were to face the pure light of truth and lay bare our fearful clinging to illusion.


The question of our child within is everything. Nothing could be more important or consequential -- nothing where the stakes run so high. To remain unconscious of being is to remain asleep to our own reality and therefore asleep to reality at large. The choice is simple: awaken to our child hidden within or sleep an endless sleep. 


What Jesus is saying is If you bring forth what is the child within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is the child within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. recovery is serious business, with serious consequences. our lives hangs precariously in the balance, teetering between a state of unconscious sleepwalking in dissociations and eyes-wide-open recovery enlightenment. The fact that most people do not see life this way testifies to how deeply asleep and in denial we truly are.


Within each of our forms lies our child within. Apart from our physical appearance, personality, gender, history, occupation, hopes and dreams, comings and goings, there lies an eerie silence, an abyss of stillness charged with an etheric presence. For all of our anxious business and obsession with triviality, we cannot completely deny this phantasmal essence at our core. And yet we do everything we can to avoid its stillness, its silence, its utter emptiness and intimate embrace.

To remain unconscious of our child within is to be trapped within an ego-driven wasteland of conflict, strife, and fear that only seems customary because we have been brainwashed into a state of suspended disbelief where a shocking amount of hate, dishonesty, ignorance, and greed are viewed as normal and sane. But it is not sane, not even close to being sane. Nor is it based in reality. In fact, nothing could be less real than what we human beings call reality.

By clinging to the mind in the form of memory and thought, we are held captive by the movement of our conditioned thinking and imagination, all the while believing that we are perfectly rational and sane. We therefore continue to justify the reality of what causes us, as well as others, immeasurable amounts of pain and suffering.

Deep down we all suspect that something is very wrong with the way we perceive life but we try very, very hard not to notice it. And the way we remain blind to our frightful condition is through an obsessive and pathological denial of our child within -- as if some dreadful fate would overcome us if we were to face the pure light of truth and lay bare our fearful clinging to illusion.


The question of our child within is everything. Nothing could be more important or consequential -- nothing where the stakes run so high. To remain unconscious of being is to remain asleep to our own reality and therefore asleep to reality at large. The choice is simple: awaken to our child hidden within or sleep an endless sleep. 

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Truth wipes out all fixated points of view

 

Truth wipes out all fixated points of view, it wipes out inner contradictions as well, and we begin to move in a whole different recovery. Recovery flows from a place of non-contradiction—not from good and bad. Much less damage tends to be done from that place. Once we have reached the phase where there is no fixed self-concept, we tend to lead a selfless life. The only way to be selfless is to be self less—without a self. No matter what it does, a self isn’t going to be selfless. It can pretend. It can approximate selflessness, but a self is never going to be selfless because there is always an identified personal self at the root of it.

Being selfless isn’t a good, holy, or noble activity. It’s simply that when there is no self, selflessness happens. This selflessness is very different from having a moralistic standpoint. When action is selfless, it tends to do no harm. It tends to be the salvation, the secret alchemy that awakens and removes conflict. It’s a byproduct of not having a self. It just so happens that reality is overflowing with goodness and love.

This is radical emptiness—where everything is arising spontaneously. There is no more need to discriminate with the mind between what seems to be the right thing or the wrong thing to do. In ego-land it’s helpful to have an ego that can discriminate between right and wrong, but at a certain point, that’s not what you are operating by. You are operating by the flow of the child within, which is a higher order of intelligence. You don’t need to intellectually discriminate anymore because the child within discriminates without discriminating; the child within knows without knowing; it moves without moving. There is no sense of being recovering or being recovered. Since there is no self, there is nothing to be recovered from.

We can talk about recovered and non-recovered , and conceptually that has a use. But when there is no self, when there is radical emptiness, the whole recovery thing is sort of irrelevant because reality has become conscious of itself, which is true recovery. That’s what is often missed. People believe that recovery is an improvement on reality, like becoming a super human being or God-knows-what. But true recovery of our child within is when reality is awake to itself as itself within itself.

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The loss of a cherished pleasure is not necessarily the loss of true happiness and well-being.

“Sometimes we must undergo hardships, breakups, and narcissistic wounds, which shatter the flattering image that we had of ourselves, in order to discover two truths: that we are not who we thought we were; and that the loss of a cherished pleasure is not necessarily the loss of true happiness and well-being.”
― Jean-Yves Leloup

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Who amongst us has not been convinced at one time or another that obtaining that new car, house, job, new lover etc., would fulfil us?

Who amongst us has not been convinced at one time or another that obtaining that new car, house, job, new lover etc., would fulfil us? And who, two, three or six months later, has not been just as seemingly unhappy and unfulfilled after obtaining our heart's desire? And who amongst us has not struggled with the existential struggle over the inevitability of our own death? All these struggles, blind alleys, and frustrations are a result of our unexamined desires.
If, as is possible, we "master" desire, writes William Irvine, "we will experience what . . . has been the goal of most of those who have thought carefully about desire - a feeling of tranquility . . . marked by a sense that we are lucky to be living whatever life we happen to be living - that despite our circumstances, no key ingredient of happiness is missing."
"With this sense, comes a diminished level of anxiety: we no longer need to obsess over new things - a new car, a bigger house, a firmer abdomen - that we mistakenly believe will bring lasting happiness if only we can obtain them. Most importantly, if we master desire, to the extent it is possible to do so, we will no longer despise the life we are forced to live and will no longer daydream about living the life someone else is living; instead we will embrace our own life and live it to the fullest."

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A backward-and-forward-at-once vision

"Consider the difference
in our actions and God's actions.
We often ask, "Why did you do that?"
or "Why did I act like that?"
We do act, and yet everything we do
is God's creative action.
We look back and analyze the events
of our lives, but there is another way
of seeing, a backward-and-forward-at-once
vision, that is not rationally understandable.
Only God can understand it."


[Coleman Barks, "The Essential Rumi," page 28.]

Let that Higher Power do what is inevitable and let us act only according to its dictates.

Referring to the Bhagavad Gita, Ramana Maharshi observed, "We must realise that we are not the doer, but that we are only a tool of some Higher Power. Let that Higher Power do what is inevitable and let us act only according to its dictates. The actions are not ours; therefore, their results cannot be ours, either. If we think and acts so, where is the trouble?"
"Be fixed in the Self and act according to nature without the thought of doership" he notes, "then the results of action will not affect us. That is manliness and heroism."
Thus," he concludes, "'inherence in the Self 'is the sum and substance of the Gita's teaching."
[Talks with Ramana Maharshi, Inner Dimensions, pp. 48-49.]

You are the Child Within. You are already perfect.

Ramana Maharshi: Self-Inquiry, Ego and One's True Self


Sri Ramana Maharshi
(1879-1950)
"What we find in the life and teachings of Sri Ramana," wrote the great psychologist, Carl Jung, "is the purest of India, with its breath of (a) world liberated and liberating humanity. It is a chant of millenniums. In India, he is the whitest spot in a white space."
A modern-day sage, Sri Ramana Maharshi lived and taught a path of radical self-inquiry in order to realise one's true nature and self. "Whatever the means adopted, " he observed, "you must at last return to the Self."
"So," he asked, "why not abide as the Self here and now? What is not permanent is not worth striving for. You are the Self. You are already perfect."
"Meditation," he observed, "is your true nature. You call it meditation now because there are thoughts distracting you. When these thoughts are dispelled you will remain alone in the state free from thoughts, and that is your real nature."

A human being,is part of the whole called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space.

"A human being,is part of the whole called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness."

"This delusion," he remarked, "is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"The true value of a human being," he observed, "is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive."

(Albert Einstein, 1954)

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Who determines what it means to be a success?

Who determines what it means to be a success? This stupid society! 

The main preoccupation of society is to keep society sick! And the sooner you realise that, the better. Sick, every one of them. They are loony, they're crazy. 

You became president of the lunatic asylum and you're proud of it even though it means nothing. Being president of a corporation has nothing to do with being a success in life. Having a lot of money has nothing to do with being a success in life. You're a success in life when you wake up! 

Then you don't have to apologise to anyone, you don't have to explain anything to anyone, you don't give a damn what anybody thinks about you or what anybody says about you. You have no worries; you're happy. That's what I call being a success. Having a good job or being famous or having a great reputation has absolutely nothing to do with happiness or success. Nothing! 

It is totally irrelevant. All he's really worried about is what his children will think about him, what the neighbours will think about him, what his wife will think about him. He should have become famous. Our society and culture drill that into our heads day and night. 

People who made it! Made what?! Made asses of themselves. Because they drained all their energy getting something that was worthless. They're frightened and confused, they are puppets like the rest. Look at them strutting across the stage. Look how upset they get if they have a stain on their shirt. Do you call that a success? Look at how frightened they are at the prospect they might not be reelected. Do you call that a success? 

They are controlled, so manipulated. They are unhappy people, they are miserable people. They don't enjoy life. They are constantly tense and anxious. Do you call that human? And do you know why that happens? Only one reason: They identified with some label. They identified the "I" with their money or their job or their profession. That was their error.

master mindfulness makes its task to systematically destroy every doctrine

master mindfulness makes its task to systematically destroy every doctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for these things, which were originally intended as pointers, are now taken as descriptions.

We love to quote the Eastern saying: "When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger."

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