Each of us has been living within a finite information/knowledge bubble. The information/knowledge within our bubble is changing over time but at any moment of our lives our opinions, attitudes and relationships are all informed by the sphere of information/knowledge to which we have currently subscribed. No one of us has all the information about anything or anyone and, each of us knows only what we currently take to be true. That’s changed over time for all of us. But the fact remains, we experience ourselves and our world and we participate in life on the basis of our current interpretations about who we are, what’s going on and how we want it to be. How could it be otherwise?
This collection of believed ideas and evaluations constitutes a mind-made field of representation within which we experience our selves and our lives. The patterns and processes of our lives are both shaped and circumscribed by these interpretations of our lived moment. We are living the current version of our original construction of a separate identity in this dualistic world of others and things. Essentially, I am saying we have been living in our minds.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Our individual information/knowledge bubbles are a field of energies and information, which we currently take to be real, important and relevant to our lives. Everybody’s personal field of information is distinctly their mind/world mapping of their lives and their experience. When our spheres overlap, we experience connection with one another; the more they overlap the more connected we feel. Conversely, the less our current bubbles coincide, the less naturally connected we feel toward each other.
Our individual information/knowledge bubble is made of what we currently believe is real, true and the way people and things are. Because we see through this lens, this self-world construct is what we experience as reality, currently. The lens shapes our experience and how we react and respond to life and, it also filters and shapes our interpretations of how life is reacting and responding to us. This dynamic mind-made, subsystem of consciousness is self–limiting and self-perpetuating. If we’ve been raised by folks who saw through a filter of duality, reification and separation, that imprint is pretty much how we see everything, including ourselves.
It is conceivable that a newborn within a species of consciousness such as ours could be raised to regard it self as what is called a “holon” – a unique whole being, among other such whole beings, living within the enveloping and infusing, holonic systems of the encompassing Holon that is All-That-Is. The field of representation built on that premise would not construct an experience of reality, which was dualistic, reified and disconnected. Rather, the newborns in this fortunate species of consciousness would each be raised into deeply understanding and directly experiencing shared oneness with one another, with all of life and with all the multi-dimensional diversity comprising this One that is All-That-Is. Naturally, with such a shared field of representation, all would thrive and prosper, together.
There is a way of knowing that happens naturally when anything becomes self-evident to us; it happens immediately and it comes directly out of the silent openness that is the essence of our innate intelligence. An example of self-evidence for me would be: All-That-Is is every sub-system/process of itself. However we might decide to divide This up with our minds, this One-That-Is obviously, is all of Itself. We, each of us individuations of our human species of consciousness and all of us together, are in, of and by This One. Our living and moving and having our being, individually and as our whole human species of consciousness, is a patterned sub-system of This One that is All, living and moving and having His/Her/Its being. Or, as one of my teachers once said, “You are the Universe, experiencing and expressing Itself at a single point!”
Each of us is aware of this world, our mind and our body. Very few of us are aware of this awareness. And yet, no experience, not a single moment of our life ever occurred outside the living sphere of the awareness of now. However, most of us are so engaged with the narrative of our life streaming through our now moment that we’ve never even considered the idea that we can notice, come to rest as and live our lives from being this clear, open, silent presence. It is ¬¬only the presence of awareness that makes our “now,” the living moment of now.
Perhaps, the easiest way to get a glimpse of our awareness of being is to simply interrupt the stream of thought for a moment and just notice what’s already here. This initial brief moment may not last very long because our stream of thoughts has been flowing for quite a while; it has gathered a lot of neural-habitual momentum, it has cut a deep channel in our consciousness.
But, for a moment, we can all choose to interrupt our stream of thought and notice the non-verbal, non-conceptual experience that is already, always here, if we care to notice it. What can be noticed is a quiet, alert presence. If our initial moments last more than an instant we can begin sensing deeper - into the still, peaceful, easy sense of being. Each time we touch into silent, openness of the nature of being, the underlying actuality of our being reveals itself; we can learn a lot by just paying attention.
After our initial glimpse of our non-verbal, non-conceptual awareness of being, the path is to simply repeat the process of turning attention from the mind’s current story to whatever this is that is revealed, each time we stop for a moment in our lives and, we give our attention what is already here. It is said that re-recognition, repeated many times, is the fastest path to freedom and embodiment.
The reason we find we have to return to our natural state many, many times is because we have long been running the neurological subsystems of consciousness which underlie and animate our conditioned ways of being in this world and, by now, they pretty much run on automatic. As we start to wake up, we realize these mind/world enactments have been running us. If we really want to live from the peace and well-being we discover when we stop thinking for a moment, these habits create a dilemma. How do we slow them; thin them; deconstruct and dissolve them?
Initially, we have to become conscious of them. If I am reacting to you; you may have triggered me, but it’s my “stuff” that got triggered. If I ever hope to be free, I have got to unravel my stuff. Therapy, breath work, body work, trauma processing work like TRE, Tapping, EMDR & its new Flash Technique, Cereset, meditation, group prayer/intention and many other approaches are all helpful along the way.
The fastest way I know of, and this one enhances all of the above techniques, relies upon us having at least a little stability resting as being’s awareness of now while allowing the energies of a reaction/interpretation to be as they are in the body. Experientially allowing our separate-identity-and-its-perceived-world construct within our open, alert space of awareness lets it transform and, so to speak, get metablolized. This can be deeply assisted with the energetic support and presence of someone who’s familiar with this process.
If this is not yet possible there are other skillful means. First and foremost is a short moment of non-thought and attentive exploration of the depth and range of the mystery of our being which we find here as often as we can manage to remember to stop and notice. This practice alone strengthens a new set of neurological patterns underlying our natural state. As our natural state becomes, so to speak, more natural for us, we can remain present for the unraveling of our deeper conditioning.
Much of our conditioned identity is psychological/relational baggage from the ways our organism has gotten stuck in its reactions and responses to our life’s stresses and traumas. Therapists and counselors who are also awakening and who have done due diligence with their own baggage, stresses and traumas can be really helpful. Groups of people who are on an awakening path can also be very helpful. (Its always important to retain your own authority and it may be important to set boundaries and opt out of some situations.) Needless to say, wholesome food, reasonable exercise and caring, understanding friends are very supportive.
Here is a brief list of resources with which I am familiar and which you can check out to see whether you find them as useful as I have. Somatic Experiencing (TraumaHealing.com) is a skillful way of releasing trauma from the nervous system. EMDR is a technique renegotiating traumatic events utilizing bilateral stimulation; and it’s often helpful – especially its rather recent development, The Flash Technique (https://flashtechnique.com/). The Emotional Freedom Technique utilizes a particular structure for statements concerning the issue and a sequence of tapping on specific acupuncture points; many people find it helpful (i.e. https://www.emofree.com/videos ). Lastly, Cereset (https://cereset.com/) uses a patented BrainEcho™ technology to reflect back to the brain what it just did, assisting the brain to relax out of its stuck patterns, restoring natural functions.
As we begin to get clearer and we become more able to rest as the awareness pervading whatever is arising as our moment, we not only develop more resilience but we also develop more capacity and skill to resolve our past challenges and rest more deeply in and as our natural state. From my experience I’d recommend that we be patient with ourselves even while we are committed and diligent in our practice. We have all, already been though a lot and we deserve kindness even while we push on.