Any Prayer may be heard by the Higher Powers and a corresponding answer obtained if it is uttered thrice:
Firstly- for the welfare or the peace of the souls of one's parents.
Secondly- for the welfare of one's neighbor.
And only thirdly- for oneself personally.
~ Gurdjieff
Nothing in existence perishes, nor does anything new come into being. Forms change, appearances change, but the deepest mysteries of life remain ever the same. Individuals come and go, waves in the ocean rise and disappear, but that which is hidden in the individual, in the wave is eternal.
We have to look at ourselves in two different ways. We exist at two levels – one at the level of waves and another at the level of the ocean. And as the waves we are individual human beings, and as the ocean we are the supreme being.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
~ Gautama Buddha ( c . 563–479 BC )
Who Am I is a meditation based on self-enquiry for attaining enlightenment which is closely associated with the Indian Sage Sri Ramana Maharishi.
I’ve been meditating on the question of “Who Am I?” and from my personal experiences I have come to believe that “The Self” is none other than Source or God.
In the past when I was meditating on the question of “Who Am I?” I always found it difficult to perceive an answer to the question as I found it impossible to answer. I would begin by asking myself Who Am I? and then this would be followed by more questions: Am I The Body? Am I The Mind? Am I My Thoughts? Am I My Emotions? Am I My Feelings? And there would come a point where I could no longer go any further with the questions as I felt like I had hit a brick wall.
Usually meditation teachers will tell you that obstacles are not distractions to the meditation; they are the meditation. And so blocks aren’t blocks to creativity. They are the creativity. The blocks arise for a reason but regardless you need to persevere on the spiritual path.
By continually asking yourself Who Am I? I have feelings, but I am not those feelings. I have thoughts, but I am not those thoughts. So then Who Am I? I have desires, but I am not those desires. Paying attention to the technique, you may realize that thoughts appear out of nowhere – out of empty space thoughts miraculously appear. But there is a further line of enquiry which I must ask myself: Where did that thought come from? Who is thinking those thoughts? Thoughts appear spontaneously, they seem to be transitory and are always fleeting. And as soon as one thought arises and disappears, another thought arises.
With the “Who Am I?” meditation you push back into the source of your awareness – the witness.
But then people usually make a rather unfortunate mistake with regards to self-enquiry. They think that if they rest in the Self or Witness, they may see something special, or feel something special – see something spiritual. But you won’t see anything. And if you see something, then, that is just another object – another feeling, another thought, another image. But all those are objects; those are not what you really are.
Now as you rest in the witness – realizing, I am not feelings, I am not thoughts, I am not desires. You will notice a sense of freedom, a sense of liberation, a sense of release – release from identifying with the body, mind and ego. All of which are objects that can be seen, and thus are not the true seer, the real self, the pure witness, which is what you really are.
So you won’t see anything in particular. Whatever arising is fine. Clouds float by in the sky, feelings float by in the body, thoughts float by in the mind – you can effortlessly witness all of these, just observe them. They all appear effortlessly. And this witness is not really seen. It is just a vast background of Emptiness, Openness and Freedom.
Through this method of self-enquiry and attentiveness it may begin to dawn on you that there is a source within you that is far deeper and more mysterious than you originally thought.
Christ is the “Ego.” The cross is the body and when the “Ego” is crucified, it perishes. And then what survives is the Absolute Being, and this glorious survival is called Resurrection.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
Streams of Consciousness often called Automatic writing or free-intuitive writing is a psychological technique. Sigmund Freud popularized a verbal Stream of Consciousness with his free associative-psychological technique.
The purpose of Streams of Consciousness writing is to invite the subconscious and unconscious aspects of your mind to empty their contents before you so that you can sift through and look for hidden patterns and thoughts that may have been forgotten, overlooked or simply been discarded. It is quite an intuitive journaling technique.
With Streams of Consciousness you can begin with any word, phrase, sentence, dream character, symbol or a song lyric. And if there is anything frustrating you, making you angry or upset you can begin with that.
You can experiment with Streams of Consciousness writing by starting with the process of Writing itself.
Writing flows, the written word, expression of being, flow of consciousness, the words appear, movement, motion, being, sense, nonsense.
Can you get a sense of the meditative quality, the slowing down that is derived from the Stream of Consciousness entry above. Yes, one of the values of this technique is its ability to bring you to state of inner balance and serenity.
Overcoming Obstacles
Another benefit of Stream of Consciousness writing is that its ability to show you the barriers you may perceive in any given situation, and perhaps some routes over, around, or through the barriers, as the next entry demonstrates.
Blank, nothing, fog, confused, not knowing, frustrated, nothingness, hitting a brick wall, thick wall, high wall, bricks, no doorway, hidden, treasure, bright, shiny, valuable, quite, serene, joyous, flying, soaring.
This entry started out as a picture of the unknown before me as I was eagerly awaiting word on a job I had previously applied for. I feel like my destiny is in someone else’s hand while I wait to hear. It makes the waiting easier in a sense.
So now you can use Stream of Consciousness in a similar way. When you do find yourself confronted with an insurmountable obstacle, let your imagination float freely around, over, and through it.
I recently came across this technique from the ancient Hawaiian shamanic practices which I thought was interesting enough to write about.
What really intrigues me is that shamans often draw their wisdom not only from traditional and direct experiences but from what the mystics call the invisible reality.
A Hawaiian shaman is called a kahuna which means “keeper of secrets.” In the old days there were kahunas who kept the sacred wisdom of everything from seed sowing to canoe building; as well as of course, healing and spiritual illumination.
This method called the “Indigo Bowl” can help solve problems of any kind. It is best performed twice a week before retiring at night. Imagine placing all of your problems – to do with your self, your family, friends, ancestors, cars, pets, animate or inanimate things – into an indigo bowl, which is suspended over the center of the crater of Haleakala volcano in Hawaii.
Allow whatever you have placed in the bowl to turn from indigo to ice blue, then finally to white. Then the Divinity will finish the treatment and the situation will change.