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Being Aware of Awareness Meditation 8-26-2020

August 27, 2020

In this program Anne Blanchard facilitates one of the core practices of the Awakening Together community. This program provides an opportunity to be in community with others who will to find that place of no-place, that attention to our natural attentiveness, that innate humanness that can often be overlooked. Anne Blanchard facilitates this program on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 – 8:30 am ET/5:30-6:30 am MT by leading participants through gently guided Being Aware of Awareness meditation. All are warmly welcome.

Listen to Audio

Why Attend the Awakening Together Online Fall Retreat?

August 26, 2020

The Keys to the Kingdom:
The Ultimate Guide to Freedom

Sep 27 – Oct 2
10am – 5pm ET Daily

With Regina Dawn Akers
& Jacquelyn Eckert

Join us for Awakening Together’s 7th annual Fall Retreat. This year, the retreat will be held online so everyone can participate from the safety of home.

What will we do at this year’s retreat?

We will learn how to access and live from an enlightened part of the unconscious mind instead of being driven by unevaluated egoic programs that are stored in the subconscious.

You see, the subconscious mind is filled with programs that were formed in the past and are reused in the present. Some of these programs are helpful, like the ones that enable us to walk, talk or read without having to think about how to walk, talk or read. However, the vast majority of subconscious programs are not helpful. In fact, it’s fair to say they are damaging.

At the same time, the subconscious isn’t the only “unconscious” part of the mind. The super conscious is also part of the unconscious, but the super conscious is very different from the subconscious. Whereas the vast majority of the subconscious is harmful, the super conscious is pure and not pre-programmed, which means it isn’t stuck in the past. It is intuitive present moment wisdom, which has direct access to absolute (divine) knowledge.

At this retreat you will learn how to
undo the egoic subconscious
& access the unparalleled intelligence
of the superconscious!

This retreat was offered once in 2019. The audience that attended this retreat declared it to be “life changing!” We were told, “It’s a retreat that everyone should attend.” That’s why we decided to offer it as this year’s Fall Retreat.

We invite you to seize the opportunity to take this powerful retreat.

Register for Keys to the Kingdom

All 6 Days for $240
$50 non-refundable deposit at registration

Note: Registration closes September 17, 2020

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 177 – NTI 2 Corinthians 2

August 26, 2020

Yesterday’s reading pointed out that our experience comes from the thoughts we listen to in the mind instead of from the outer appearance. It recommended that we listen to a “true interpretation” instead of a false one. Allowing attention to shift from one interpretation to another is called “changing your mind.”

Today’s reading points out that it isn’t just the act of changing our mind that affects our experience. Our motive, or the reason that we change our mind, is also important.

Today’s reading begins:

Do not change your mind out of fear, but out of love, for Love is the only power that is real.

When you change your mind out of fear, you attempt to change your experience, because you believe your experience is lord.

There are three definitions of fear below this paragraph. Please read the first definition of fear, and then read the sentences above from today’s reading with that definition in mind. Next, read the second definition of fear, and then read the sentences above with that definition in mind. Do the same with the third definition. As you do this exercise, let clarity arise regarding how you change your mind out of fear. If it feels helpful, take time to journal about it. You can ask spiritual intuition, “How do I change my mind out of fear?” After you’ve practiced this exercise, continue reading the tip.

Definitions of fear:

A strong, distressing emotion that arises when we anticipate danger, regardless of whether the threat is real or imagined.
Anxious concern or anticipation that something unpleasant is going to occur.
The desire to escape something unpleasant.

~ ~ ~

Love is emptiness. Emptiness does not have an ulterior motive. While in the process of purification, we can say that love has no motive except for your spiritual aspiration.

When we change our mind out of love, we aren’t trying to change any external or internal experience. We change our mind simply because we want truth. There is no attempt to manipulate experience.

When we change our mind in order to manipulate experience, our motive is fear. If our motive is fear, fear is fed into the creative principle, and fear will continue to be experienced.

Do you remember this loop of experience?

What I think, I see (perceive).
What I see, I experience.
What I experience, I think.

(And the loop continues.)

Ulterior motives are “What I think, …” Ulterior motives feed into the creative principle and the loop of experience.

That means that in addition to watching the overt thoughts in the mind, we need to be alert to covert motives. You can discover hidden motives through root cause inquiry. You can do root cause inquiry through journaling, or you can do root cause inquiry through looking. You can simply look and ask yourself questions like, “What is my motive?” or “Am I trying to avoid anything?”

Today’s reading says:

Choose instead to be independent of your experience.

Independent means “free from outside control.” We typically call that “unaffected.”

One who is independent of outer circumstances has no need to change those circumstances. She can let outer circumstances be as they are.

Likewise, one who is independent of emotional experiences has no need to change or get rid of emotions. He can let them be as they are.

It’s also true that one who is independent is not engrossed in mind’s stories. One who is independent desires only truth, and if that one finds himself listening to stories, he will change his mind simply because he seeks truth. That is changing one’s mind “out of love.”

Thoughts of Awakening # 177

Pause for a moment today
and ask
“What is experience?”
“Where does experience come from?”

Look carefully
until you know you have found
the answer,
for the end of all suffering
is in sight.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 176-182
Read NTI 2 Corinthians 1-7
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 188-191, Consciousness is Self-Luminous
Exercise:The game this week is to spend some time in mediation. Start being aware, without judgment, just notice what you hear, sensations, smells. Just notice and don’t rush it. Allow your awareness to open up and when your mind quiets, ask, “What is aware?” Become aware of awareness.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 176 – NTI 2 Corinthians 1

August 25, 2020

On Day 166, we learned about “points of experience.” We learned that points of experience are thoughts that give us an emotional experience, so we can have an experience that is different from truth. These thoughts typically enter the mind as stories, which we are enticed by. When we believe these stories, we experience the emotion(s) derived from the story’s thought-energy. We can also become addicted to some emotions—such as anger, jealousy, guilt and worry, to name a few—and then we tend to feel strongly compelled to believe stories with those energies as their base.

When we feel compelled to believe stories with particular energies as their base, we feel as if we are at the mercy of situations in the world. For example, if I am addicted to worry, I find many situations in the world that I believe cause me to worry. I think worry is necessary, because of everything that is going on in the world. I don’t realize that I experience worry because of the thoughts I listen to in the mind. I also don’t realize that I could have a different experience if I made different choices in the mind.

Today’s reading emphasizes that our experience comes from the choices we make in the mind, not from the world as it appears.

Every situation in the world can be interpreted through inner spiritual wisdom or it can be interpreted by the ego. The ego is the projection of the wish for experience that is different from truth, so when a situation is interpreted by ego, it will give an experience that is different from truth. However, inner spiritual wisdom’s interpretation points toward truth.

We will experience ourselves as subject to the world’s circumstances or we will see ourselves on a path of awakening, depending on the interpretation we choose in the mind.

Again, it’s not what is happening in the world that affects our experience. It is the interpretation that we listen to that affects our experience.

The empty shell listens to the silent message of truth, and so it experiences the bliss of truth realization. Before we have become the empty shell, inner spiritual wisdom interprets every event in a way that moves us towards emptiness. It interprets every event for the healing of the mind. The mind heals by letting go of what isn’t true while accepting the truth as it is.

Thoughts of Awakening # 176

Fear will hold you back from forgiveness.
Fear will hold you back
from letting go of
a false idea as false.

Fear will tell you
that it protects you from harm
and to let go of the idea in question
is to open up to complete vulnerability
and harm.

But fear is just a story.
Fear is an illusion itself.
It promises to care for you,
but what it says isn’t true.

Look at the idea of fear.
Look at its counsel
until you see it isn’t true.

You are free to practice forgiveness
when you’ve learned
not to listen to fear.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 176-182
Read NTI 2 Corinthians 1-7
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 188-191, Consciousness is Self-Luminous
Exercise:The game this week is to spend some time in mediation. Start being aware, without judgment, just notice what you hear, sensations, smells. Just notice and don’t rush it. Allow your awareness to open up and when your mind quiets, ask, “What is aware?” Become aware of awareness.

Diary of a True Meditator ~ Part 1 ~ by Susan Telford

August 24, 2020

I recently did the True Meditation class as part of the Ministerial Preparation Program. As I began the class, I would have described myself as someone with a lot of experience of meditation. To be honest, I had the sense that I did not have much to learn in this area! How wrong I was!

Day 1

Adyashanti says the purpose of meditation is not to stop or try to control the thoughts but rather to allow all things to be exactly as they are, thoughts and all. This is so different from the meditation I was trained in. Sounds more like daydreaming to me!

But the instructions are to have no expectations, to be gentle with myself and cultivate self-discipline, to be patient, commit to a regular practice, be open, quiet and receptive and to bring meditative awareness into my everyday activities.

I am willing to let go of my previous ideas and see what happens.

Day 2

I was introduced to meditation practice in the late 90s at a Tibetan Buddhist temple near my home. I attended meditation retreats and classes and had a daily practice for many years. My definition of a successful meditation (or myself as a successful meditator) was if I could sit for long periods of time, on the floor, cross-legged with a perfectly erect spine and maintain concentration and focus for long periods. My aim was to stop my mind, to stop thought. I thought (ha!) that if thoughts arose in my mind I was doing it wrong!

I often arose from my practice with a much more agitated mind than when I began and I felt like a failure a lot of the time (had to move because foot is asleep, mind is too active, even in the moments of noticing the gap between thoughts, the mind would exclaim “I’m doing it, I’m doing it” which of course put an end to “doing it!”).

After many years of this, I stopped meditating altogether, deciding that it was too difficult and actually counter-productive.

When I began to meditate again, for a while I adopted a technique I had read in a book where I visualized myself sitting in a cave on the side of a mountain and in front of me there poured a waterfall. The waterfall represents my thoughts and I watch them as they pass. In this way, I am the witness of the contents of my mind and success or failure has nothing to do with what arises.

In recent times, I have been (sporadically!) practicing awareness watching awareness and more frequently Bentinho Massaro’s 2-5 second glimpses.

As I began my meditation today I noticed such resistance to the instructions to allow all things to be as they are.

In the beginning I noticed the thought arising that I need to do something, follow my breath, watch awareness, be still. I was conscious of the mind grasping for something to do. I became very aware of my tendency to try to control and manipulate my experience, to put myself into a meditative state of mind. As I continued to sit and notice thoughts arising without either following or suppressing, I felt myself deepen into stillness. I had a sense of my breath moving through the space of awareness as my body relaxed more and more. Thoughts appeared about things I have to do later today and I just noticed. I became more aware of the background stillness, a depth of quietness and peace.

Day 3

I noticed the mind kept trying to exert control, for example when a song I had been listening to earlier started playing in my head. When I allowed it just to be there, I had recurrent thoughts of “this is not meditation”. Because of my previous training, my mind still has the residue of what a good meditator/meditation is!

As I continued to allow the thoughts to come and go, I had the wonderful discovery that when I allow all things to be exactly as they are, I come to rest in my natural state of peace, which is what I tried so hard, for so many years, to attain!

Day 4

I began the meditation by following my breath. As Adyashanti recommended I let go of that technique quickly. I am aware that my mind keeps wanting a job. It felt actually that using the inquiry question “What am I?” kept the mind satisfied, even as it tried to provide answers. By silently repeating that question, I was able to drop into a deeper place of stillness, where no answers were needed. It felt like what I am is the space in which everything rises and falls.

Day 5

At first, the mind tells me that this is not meditation. It wants to manipulate, deepen my breath, manufacture some sense of calm. I realise that I want to achieve an altered state of consciousness. I let go of that idea. The mind chatter ramps up, my son not coming for coffee, too busy to spend 30 minutes with his Mum, I watch the thought arise, gain momentum as I pay attention to it, I see the mind’s tendency to want to jump on the back of the thought, to add to it, to make my son wrong and me wronged. I want to return to awareness of my breath, recognise the meditator trying to step in. I am in my garden, I listen to the birdsong for a while, thoughts come and go, I notice a deepening sense of calmness. The thoughts arise and fall. I become curious about the space between the thoughts, the space between the birdsong, outer silence, inner silence. I want to cry, a sense arises that this peace has always been here, all the time. I have been too busy, too controlling, too manipulative to notice. The thought of letting go of control arises and I feel fear. I watch the fear – what is this for? What am I scared of? The questions arise and fall, no answers. I smile, noticing I want an answer. I let go of that wanting, go back to the silence, rest there until the bell sounds.

Day 6

I spent years thinking about spirituality, reading books about spirituality, attending courses and retreats. I am realizing that what I was doing was accumulating knowledge about spirituality and spiritual practices. I am realising that I have developed a very sophisticated spiritual ego. And although 30+ years of spiritual seeking was undone by one instant of realising I am being breathed, being moved, that I am not Susan, that I have access to Infinite Intelligence, the impulse to intellectualize, to understand, to be good at this, to learn rather than experience is rearing its head again and again.

At the beginning of my practice today, I followed my breath for a few minutes, just to settle. Then I thought about what the restful state of vividness is that Adyashanti mentioned. I thought that this instruction is somewhat contradictory to allowing everything to be as it is. My mind wanted to create this restful vividness. I let go of that and just noticed thoughts arising and falling, without getting involved. I felt a surge of pure joy at one point. My thoughts seemed to have a dreamlike quality. They were just doing their thing and I was not even drawn to do anything with them. They were there and I was there and the sense of joy and peace increased and increased. I felt a real sense of spaciousness and steadiness.

Day 7

The instructions today are to forget everything I know about meditation so I reclined in my garden on a sunlounger and allowed everything to be as it is. It felt like daydreaming. I noticed judgement -this is not meditation. I decided just to let that thought be there – I feel like I am befriending myself in a way I have not done before. I have been such a harsh taskmaster!

Day 8

Adyashanti talks of “effortless effort” as being just enough effort to be vivid, present, here, now, bright.

What I have been noticing is that my meditations have been taking on a daydreamy quality, which is not vivid or bright. Today I am going to make enough effort to be bright and alert and see what happens. I resonate with letting the dog off the leash – I feel I need to let that puppy run around a little because my tendency is to try to control. As in meditation, so in life! Everything is whispering to me, let go, let go, let go.

I sat outside in the garden on my sunlounger and immediately felt calm. It was as if I noticed calmness was just waiting for me. It really is my natural state! However, I soon noticed myself deepening into that daydreamy state and in the noticing became more alert. I spent most of the meditation with the image of a cat sitting alert at a mouse hole. It was an extraordinary experience, because for quite a while, 10+ minutes perhaps, I had not a single thought. Just this sense of alertness, restful vividness! Ha, I asked what that was and today I know and I didn’t try to create it!

Day 9

My mind was very busy at the start of my meditation. I was thinking about everything that needs to be done today. I am annoyed with my husband who has not done something he promised to do which means I have to do it, on top of other obligations I have today. This was very much playing on my mind and without the technique of coming back to the breath, I just noticed what was happening. What happened was intense rage! I noticed how I wanted to attach a story, I wanted to blame, I wanted to make myself right. I watched all of this happening like a violent storm. Underneath the rage is deep, deep sadness. “I do not know if I still want to be married” popped into my mind. I watched this thought with fascination and noticed that just as I am practicing letting go of control in meditation and allowing all things to be exactly as they are, an opportunity is arising for me to practise this in my marriage and at work. As the realization dawned that there is nothing to do, to figure out, to change, a sense of peace came that made me cry. I am so aware of how much I have repressed, how hard I have tried. Wave after wave of love came and I rested in the stillness of my own being until the bell sounded.

Now, in the aftermath I feel very tender and broken open. I am so, so aware of my desire to want to “fix” how I feel, to speak to my husband, to argue with a situation occurring at work. However for today, I am going to practice letting all things be as they are and abide in the awareness of this love and peace at the heart of it all.

Day 10

I had a lovely peaceful meditation today. I just dropped into stillness and felt as though all my senses were heightened. I meditated with eyes open in the garden and felt such a sense of connection to everything. I had a real sense of presence, of birdsong, of machinery in the nearby sawmill, the feel of warmth from my puppy’s belly when she jumped on to my knee, the smell of coffee. I truly allowed all things to be exactly as they are and it was blissful!

To Be Continued …

For further discussion of this article visit our Forum.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 175 – NTI 1 Corinthians 16

August 24, 2020

Does it matter how we be prior to awakening?

NTI does recommend specific ways of being as we walk this path of awakening.

Why does how we be matter?

Because our way of being either supports and reinforces ego or it ignores ego. The way of being that ignores ego is most helpful in the process of awakening. The way of being that ignores ego abides by conscience and inner spiritual wisdom.

We were first introduced to the importance of our way of being on Day 2 when kindness was emphasized as a way of being. Recently, NTI Romans 16 highlighted ways of being including patience, trust, humility, honoring others and being discerning within our own minds. Today’s reading also focuses on ways of being.

Just as you did on Day 159, takes notes on the ways of being presented in today’s reading. As you do, contemplate the importance of being in a way that emulates the true Self instead of bolstering ideas of division, self-will and self-centeredness. If it feels right for you, review your notes from Day 159 as part of this contemplation.

Thoughts of Awakening # 175

When you look at an idea
that is false,
look at it until you know
it is false.

Do not let yourself say,
“This idea is false,”
when in truth
you believe it is true.

Hold the idea in your mind
for the purpose of looking at it,
trusting that it is false,
until you see it is not true.

When your own recognition
sees the falseness of an idea
that isn’t true
the idea and its mesmerism
will begin to fade away.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 169-175
Read NTI 1 Corinthians 10-16
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 185-187, The Here and Now of Presence
Exercise: This week we have two games. The first is to tune into the sense of hereness. Notice that it doesn’t change no matter where you are. You’re always here. That’s consciousness.
The second is everything is happening now. Even thoughts about the past or the future are happening now. The now is stable and constant. Time happens in the now. Notice it’s always now. No matter when you notice, it’s always now. The same now.

The now and the here and consciousness are all the same thing. It is what you are. That’s why it is always here and now.

Being Aware of Awareness Meditation 8-24-2020

August 24, 2020

In this program Anne Blanchard facilitates one of the core practices of the Awakening Together community which is Awareness watching Awareness meditation. This program provides an opportunity to be in community with others who will to find that place of no-place, that attention to our natural attentiveness, that innate humanness that can often be overlooked. Anne Blanchard facilitates this program on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 – 8:30 am ET/5:30-6:30 am MT by leading participants through gently guided Awareness watching Awareness meditation. All are warmly welcome.

Listen to Audio

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 174 – NTI 1 Corinthians 15

August 23, 2020

On Day 172, we saw that emptiness is Love.

Yesterday, we saw that the qualities we attribute to ourselves are the masks we wear that hide our emptiness.

Today, we get a glimpse of the experience of emptiness, which is being awake to Love. It is being awake to consciousness, which is the second principle of God.

Today’s reading says:

As you walk the earth, you know where you walk, so that the earth is merely a symbol within the mind. You shall not know brothers, but you shall talk to them.”

When one is awake to consciousness, one knows everything as consciousness. This is not an intellectual, learned knowing. It is the seeing that occurs when we are empty. It is as Nisargadatta described:

Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing.’ Between the two, my life flows.

It is through not-knowing, not-defining, and not-judging (not-declaring) that all wisdom arises spontaneously, including the wisdom of being with life as it is joyously.

Today’s reading also says:

What is received when all that is false has been let go is only that which reflects truth. … It is upon this recognition, which is the completeness of recognition within time, that you enter the fourth and final earthly phase of the path of truth with me. …

The purpose of your life in the fourth phase of living on earth shall not be different than the purpose at any other time. Only now, in the fourth phase, the distractions have been erased. … Now, in the fourth stage, your focus is complete.

In NTI Acts, we learned about the first three phases of the spiritual path:

The Search (NTI Acts 19)
Purification (NTI Acts 20 & 21)
Service and Merging (NTI Acts 22)

Up until this point, NTI 1 Corinthians has focused on the third phase by teaching us how to be the servant of inner wisdom. Through service, merging occurs. The fourth phase of the spiritual path occurs when merging is complete. It is the state of true perception. It is the stage of unity consciousness. It is being awake to the ‘I am,’ the second principle of God. However, it is still a “phase” or “stage,” both of which are a period one passes through in a process or development.

What comes next?

Awakening to the first principle of God.

That’s why the reading says:

The purpose of your life in the fourth phase of living on earth shall not be different than the purpose at any other time.

The purpose of the fourth phase is to complete the awakening process by awakening from ‘I am’ consciousness to the absolute.

As the reading says:

The one that seems to be in the fourth stage is but a symbol of the truth that is. So this one must pass away also. But in its passing, you pass from a final illusion of beauty to Beauty that cannot be contained in illusion.

What’s most important for us to know is that we awaken to the second principle of God, which is the bridge to the first principle of God, by becoming empty. Being empty is being egoless. Emptiness is the prerequisite to awakening, so emptiness, which includes empty of self and empty of self-will, is our focus now.

Thoughts of Awakening # 174

False ideas are false ideas
which means
they simply are not true.

Try not to worry
about false ideas.
When you worry
you are stating
the idea has some meaning
to be worried about.

But if it is false,
which means it is merely untrue,
does it merit your attention and worry?

Respond to false ideas
with no attention except this:

Look at the idea.
See it as false,
and realize it does not merit your attention.
Then follow through
by taking a break
and letting the false idea
pass by.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 169-175
Read NTI 1 Corinthians 10-16
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 185-187, The Here and Now of Presence
Exercise: This week we have two games. The first is to tune into the sense of hereness. Notice that it doesn’t change no matter where you are. You’re always here. That’s consciousness.
The second is everything is happening now. Even thoughts about the past or the future are happening now. The now is stable and constant. Time happens in the now. Notice it’s always now. No matter when you notice, it’s always now. The same now.

The now and the here and consciousness are all the same thing. It is what you are. That’s why it is always here and now.

Something Genuine: “Is There a Real You?”

August 23, 2020

Listen to the Audio

The speaker was Julian Baggini.

This group was facilitated by Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert.

Dissolving the Ego~ 8-23-20

August 23, 2020

Sharon Slyter and Michael Deforbes shared from Helen Hamilton’s teachings and books about what it means to dissolve the ego and see all as the already Aware/Self. Join in and listen to the deep teachings of the Northern Guru Helen Hamilton.