Friday, January 18, 2013

We Shall Overcome With Powers of Mind

Today it's difficult for many of us to have a workable perspective on life. Many of our beliefs and values are too limited to understand what's happening in the world. Yet we continue to search within the illusions for the answers.

Similarly, in growing numbers, the illusions have become too complicated for our desultory minds. The more illusions we see, the more heuristic our approach to life. So we continue to chase the illusions hoping, even praying, they will bring us the clarity we seek.  

During our chase for clarity, we forget that which we seek relief from is actually what's responsible for our suffering. The illusions are what keep us dependent on others to guide us to the clarity we are searching for.

One of the greatest challenges we face is acceptance of our powers of mind. Some of us cannot believe this power actually exists in our mind. This disbelief causes us to despise who we are now, and to search in the illusions for the clarity to make us better people.

Whenever we decide we don't like how we're living, we turn to the illusions for our clarity. We believe enlightenment exists in the beliefs and values we used to create the illusions responsible for self-flagellation.

Nevertheless, our beliefs and values created the illusions in our lives. They are responsible for the darkness that's overwhelming the light in our minds. And this darkness is the source of our suffering.

Many of us have conditioned our minds to live with suffering. We have incorporated it into our beliefs and values in much the same manner as ones that we believe are sacrosanct.

There are too many of us who don't understand suffering. We find it too difficult to believe it comes from our beliefs and values. In other words, we create our own suffering according to our beliefs and values.

When we understand suffering, we know that it comes from our beliefs and values. This means we are responsible for feelings of incomplete, powerless, and for our constant searching for something new to make us feel better. 

For most of us, our lives are always in flux. We are constantly moving from one thing to the next expecting to find completeness. It's unfortunate, but this constant searching is the perspective or vision we use to express how we live in this world.

As more of us begin to trust our powers of mind, we become conscious of the role our beliefs and values play in our lives. We know they are responsible for the distortions preventing us from seeing the world as it is, not the way we have been taught to see it.

We also know the more we trust our Guides to lead us to enlightenment, the less we trust our powers of mind. And the more reluctant we become to emancipate  our minds from our existing beliefs and values.

Powers of mind mean we already have within us that which we are seeking from our Guides.  Our emancipation comes from our unconditioned consciousness, not from the illusions.

The illusions teach us to seek accomplishments. So we work fervently for more and more accomplishments without ever satisfying ourselves. Regardless of how hard we strive, we never find that one accomplishment that makes us feel whole, perfect, and complete.

Nevertheless, most of us will continue to ignore our powers of mind and search for more accomplishments, and seek  the ancillary praise and acceptance we get from them.  At some point in our lives, we will wake-up enough to realize that we cannot give ourselves something we already possess.

Meanwhile, for those of us who ignore powers of mind, and after we sink deeper into the abyss of suffering and powerlessness, some of us will wake up.  And even if it's for only a few seconds, or when we are on our death bed, we will know that enlightenment has always been available to us.

Meanwhile, on the enlightenment path, we know that our accomplishments do not add to our existence. We know that powers of mind frees us from our dependency on our Guides to tell us how to live our lives. And we know we are born and endowed with all the power we need to live in this world free of suffering.


"Therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The Power of our Beliefs and Values

Today, it's difficult to believe we were born into a world that relies on illusions. And from these illusions, we have filled our minds with beliefs on religion, language, philosophy, government, psychology, economics, race, gender, marriage, family, and so forth.

These are the beliefs we used to build our minds and create the individuals we are today. Unfortunately, many of us are confused about the tools we used to complete our minds.

Some of the confusion about our beliefs and values comes from our lack of understanding about the person we have created. We find it strange, almost surreal, to believe our beliefs and values are not our own, but belong to our societies.

Similarly, when our minds are confused, we are unaware of the reasons responsible for our decisions to become doctors, lawyers, social workers, stockbrokers, bus drivers, street sweepers, cooks, ministers, motivational speakers, and even writers. It's difficult for us to believe our choices didn't come from our own individual beliefs and values.

Nevertheless, when we dig deeper into our minds, we are able to see that our choices were already established by others. We simply selected one according to our beliefs and values.

Regardless of the choices we make, we expect them to enhance our egos or individuality. We don't spend time wondering whether or not we are making them in the miasma of our illusions.

Our illusions are invisible. So are our beliefs and values. This means we don't perceive them as being responsible for our actions. And we surely don't think about them when we are learning the alphabet.

Since we can't see our beliefs and values or the illusions, it's natural for us to believe they don't really exist. So when we search for enlightenment, we believe it's found within the illusions. This is why we  rely on our intellect, which was born of the illusions, to guide us on our inner-mind journey.

 The inner-mind journey is an individual one. It is a lonely journey. It's a journey where our greatest fears exist. And it's a journey where those who are committed to powers of mind discover enlightenment.

Our commitment to enlightenment is not negotiable. It is a complete surrender of the mind's existing beliefs and values to the invisible intuitive-unconditioned consciousness.This means we must be "born again." And it also means we must "lose ourselves (powerlessness) to find ourselves (enlightenment)."

Today, some of us on the enlightenment journey interpret this teaching to mean a psychological rebirth. Our minds must die to our existing beliefs and values so that a new mind (person) is born in the world.

When we complete this psychological rebirth, we can clearly perceive the illusions as illusions. In other words, we are no longer searching for enlightenment within the illusions.

This teaching is not a religious one, but a psychological one. It's an understanding of the powers of mind we have over our existing beliefs and values. And it's our confirmation that the power we seek is found in our minds.

Meanwhile, regardless of what our illusions tell us, we are greater than what we have been taught by others. This means we have the power to do more for ourselves than what we are receiving from others. And that our enlightenment is found in our minds, not in the minds of others.

So it is important to for us to remember that we are not here to be penalized or punished by the illusions (beliefs and values); we are here to understand and conquer them.

"Therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."