Your Sacred Self Page 15

  This is the fundamental essence of the field of all possibilities, which has been called by many names, including the unified field, the field of infinite love and the place where all things are possible.

  Imagine that within you is a field, deep in the pond, where the pebble has fallen all the way to a resting point. When you are able to go to this place, through the power of your witnessing, you discover that you are not the wave but the entire sea. And remember that it is what you bring back from this center that is significant to your sacred quest.

  The Great Spirit that Black Elk speaks of is within each of us. Discovering the unified field is your experience of it. In this unified field where the pebble comes to rest, you are at one with all of life. You are unified with God and the energy of love that is at the center of all. You will not be convinced of this by reading these words. You must create this as a knowing rather than a belief that I am handing to you.

  I have a knowing about the unified field. The one thing I know about quantum mechanics is that space predominates throughout the universe. Everything, when broken down to its tiniest element, is not particle but space. All of us share this unified space in one way, and this experience of sharing our unified space is what it is like at the center of your being.

  Rather than focusing on a single thought, I am able to put my inner awareness on the space that exists between my thoughts. This space is a mental formless thing, just as all inner considerations are. Only the focus of your awareness can shift away from a single thought and go to that space in between the thoughts.

  As you begin to see yourself witnessing your mindspace rather than the thought particles, you will have a sensation of knowing God. As you experience the unified field in your daily “shutting down of the inner dialogue” practice, you will bring back a knowing about the purpose of your daily life.

  The field of all possibilities is what Saint Matthew was referring to when he said “…with God, all things are possible.” This is a magical place of miracles that you have to experience within yourself to know. “All things are possible” leaves out nothing. Within this realm of the unified field, one can manifest what previously were believed to be impossibilities.

  This is my metaphor for how the mind works and what you can begin to visualize as you work toward shutting down the ceaseless, monotonous inner dialogue. The storms will continue in your life, as they do on the pond. Serenity will no longer be defined as freedom from storms but will be known as peace during that wild weather.

  You can call this practice meditation if you like. Or you can call it mindfulness or simply quiet time. Some choose to call this inner serene experience prayer. Whatever name you choose, I strongly recommend that you give serious consideration to taking time each day to let that pebble come to rest in your unified field of all possibilities.

  PRAYER AND YOUR INNER DIALOGUE

  I recently completed reading one of the most remarkable books I have ever come across. Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine is written by a man I respect immensely. His name is Larry Dossey.

  Dr. Dossey is a practicing physician who has discovered the healing power of prayer. He has compiled an amazing amount of research and presents his case for the scientific value of prayer. Studies are presented in which some patients are the recipients of prayers and others are not. Prayers seem to be the independent variable in which healing takes place. The point of this excellent and readable book is that in the future, science and religion can find in prayer a common ground for exploration and dialogue.

  When we think of prayer, we generally assume that it is an activity between the person praying and God. And we generally place God both outside of the prayer and outside of the recipient of the prayers. But this does not turn out to be the case.

  As Larry Dossey points out rather emphatically, “There is no evidence whatsoever in any kind of experiments on prayer that anything is ‘sent,’ or that energy of any kind is involved…. This strongly suggests that prayer does not involve any conventional form of energy or signal, that it does not travel from here to there, and that it may not ‘go’ anywhere at all.” Of course this becomes very difficult for us to understand if we are trapped in our old belief systems from our early conditioning.

  To understand the power and value of prayer we must throw out our old way of processing and look beyond cause and effect as well as time and space. The realm of God is undivided. It is not dependent on beginnings and ends. The realm of spirit is involved with wholeness, with everything existing at all times everywhere.

  The quotation that I love the most concerning this phenomenon comes from the legendary author Hermes Trismegistus: “God is a sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.” Try to imagine this within the framework of your personal space/time consciousness and you will find yourself stumped.

  God’s center (and yours as well) is everywhere, free of any external boundaries. Thus, prayer, or talking with God, puts you in touch with your center. But it is not some thing that you are forwarding out of your body and into another.

  Dossey’s conclusion is, “If prayer does not go anywhere, then it may simultaneously be present everywhere, enveloping sender, object, and the Almighty all at once.” This is extremely important for you to digest because it will help in shutting down your inner dialogue through the use of prayer.

  The practice of prayer puts you in touch with the truth that is within yourself. That innermost center is the unified field that I mentioned earlier. It is there that truth abides in fullness, and it is this center that you touch when you pray. You touch eternity, which is a magical invisible space wherein healing can occur and you know your inner divinity. Prayer is a fabulous method for shutting down that inner dialogue. It gives you a space to quiet your mind and to make contact with God.

  The essence of the third key to higher awareness is simply giving yourself permission to have inner silence. If you want to call this practice meditation, by all means do so and find the bliss through your private practice. If you choose to call it prayer, and see it as a dialogue with God that excludes extraneous noise from your inner being, then by all means, pray.

  The key is not in the method or the label. The key is in the practice of letting the pebble drop from the surface of your mind where you experience all the chatter, down through the depths of your mind into the field of all possibilities. Here is where we are all one, and where you will know God as a personal experience.

  SUGGESTIONS FOR SHUTTING DOWN THE INNER DIALOGUE

  When going within, use the metaphor of the pebble dropping through the various levels of your mind. While the pebble drops, be the witness. Observe compassionately all your chatter and thoughts as you descend to the unified field.

  When you notice your mind overly crowded with thoughts, practice not focusing on anything just for a few moments. You want to catch yourself and bring some stillness into the inner chatter. Tell yourself, “My mind is full of the disturbance of chatter and thoughts. I’m going to try to spend five minutes without any thoughts bombarding me. I’ll dismiss every thought, just for a few minutes.”

  Use your breath as a means to keep your mind from chattering away ceaselessly. You can do this by focusing your compassionate witness on your breathing. Breathe in deeply, excluding any thoughts as you concentrate on the in-breath. Then exhale slowly and fully with the same concentration. When thoughts appear, as they will, know that they are signaling you to return to mindfulness of your breathing in and out.

  Your heartbeat can also be used as a focal point for the witness. Return to the steady rhythmic beat of your heart when you notice thoughts intruding.

  When you find your thoughts just below the surface in the analyzing level, think of a rose. As you replace the analyzing with the beauty of a rose, you might recall this verse by the poet Rabindranath Tagore:

  Do not carry a rose to our beloved

  because in it is already embodied a message which


  unlike our language of words, cannot be analyzed.

  This is a reminder that the habit of analyzing or picking things apart in a judging fashion keeps you from knowing the truth that is at the center of your being. The rose needs no analyzing. It simply is. The same is true of you.

  At the synthesizing level when you are feeling the beauty and unity of life, you may discover that you are entertaining thoughts of pleasure about enjoying this spiritual space. Let go of those thoughts too. You want to shut down all inner dialogue that muddies the way to the field of all possibilities.

  The ego enjoys convincing you that you are better than others because you are more spiritual or have deeper understanding. It swims through your consciousness with thoughts like those. When it does, gently send it elsewhere for this time of meditation or prayer.

  Make an attempt to put your awareness in the space between your thoughts. This might sound impossible, but I assure you that you have the ability to experience this.

  When you are on a thought, slip into the gap that preceded that thought and put your awareness right there in that emptiness. In Quantum Consciousness, Stephen Wolinsky says this about the space between your thoughts: “Experiencing the space between our thoughts eventually leads to a loosening of all the boundaries we put around things, ideas, people and so on. And as the boundaries loosen, our level of comfort increases.”

  That unrestricted space between your thoughts is the gap beyond your physical and mental prowess wherein you experience the bliss of your spirituality. When you put your inner awareness there purposely, you will feel a strong sense of comfort. When you return to a thought, which is inevitable, do not judge yourself. Gently but firmly try to slip back into the gap between this thought and the next one, or this one and the previous one.

  Sign up for a martial arts course that teaches the art of centering. There are many forms of this activity available. T’ai chi and t’ai kwando are but two of many that are enjoying popularity because of their effective combination of physical and spiritual discipline. They actually take you through the process of centering yourself, which is another term for shutting down the inner dialogue and becoming one with your divine presence.

  Make a call to your local Transcendental Meditation center (listed in the phone book of every major city in the world) and sign up for their introductory course. This is a magnificent introduction to finding inner peace and shutting down the inner dialogue, conducted by highly qualified instructors.

  The purpose of TM is to teach you firsthand how to get to that unified field and to learn what your resistance to the process means. I recommend it strongly. I’ve practiced TM for many years.

  In any moment of stress, go within for just a few moments and allow the pebble to drop, even if it is only a few seconds. You can actually practice quieting inner dialogue any place. I’ve found the technique useful even in the middle of a tennis match. When I’ve done this I’ve discovered that some of the most important moments in athletic competition are between the points.

  That space is like the space between your thoughts where you approach a higher level of functioning. In situations like a tennis match you can stay centered by concentrating on your breathing between the points. You will become immune to external distractions this way. Try to make your activities into meditations rather than stressful competitions.

  Shutting down the inner dialogue does not have to be something you practice alone in a quiet place. You can do it in any location regardless of the external circumstances.

  Stand in front of a mirror, look yourself straight in the eye and say out loud, “I love you, I value you, and I know there is much more to you than what I see staring back at me.” Then close your eyes and repeat the same thing. You will find yourself going beyond the physical you and removing many of your inner intrusive thoughts about defending yourself and attempting to prove your worth.

  You are worthy by virtue of the fact that you have a divine eternal essence. Period. You need prove nothing. So any thoughts that you repeat which are contrary to that are keeping you from experiencing your loving presence.

  When you make the decision to pray, rather than directing your prayer outward and seeking special consideration from God, make an attempt to be in the mind of God that Saint Paul wrote about in his letters to the Philippians. Instead of making special and personal requests, listen for the voice of God which is present in the center of your being.

  If you are praying for someone else, have your witness focus on divine energy surrounding the person. Do not allow your thoughts to stray from the image of divine healing light. See God as your eternal divine guidance, always available to you. Make that a knowing rather than a belief.

  Visualize a large clock whose second hand pauses ever so slightly each time it marks off a second. I think of an old Seth Thomas clock in school classrooms that seemed to stutter each time a second went by. First focus your attention on each second, then shift your attention to the space between the seconds.

  Or visualize yourself running through a large crowd without touching anyone. Imagine you are running through the gaps between the people. The gaps represent the space between your thoughts that symbolizes the Tao, the quiet inner empty space, surrounded by form.

  Marsha Sinetar, writing in Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics, summed up this process like this:

  Were the “average” person to take time to turn inward, to develop himself in the way under examination, his behavior, choices, activities would then also become motivated from within. Each act and choice would have more meaning, more fluidity. Such authentic actions are the result of a conversion process which can be experienced whether or not an individual is a grocery clerk, a grade school drop out, a nuclear scientist or a “bum.” This process, happily, is the great equalizer which has little to do with where and how a person lives.

  We are all ordinary people, and we are all spiritual mystics as well.

  Take the time each day to turn inward and allow that pebble to drop through the levels of your mind until it settles in the place of all possibilities. All the inner noise keeps you from knowing the silence, which is the voice of God.

  You can, at your own discretion, know this third key to higher awareness the moment you are willing to acknowledge yourself as a divine being. Your sacred quest is apparent in your moments of celestial silence.

  As you gather the spiritual force within you in these joyous moments of silence, you will direct your ego to take a back seat to your higher self. It is this final key to higher awareness that awaits your attention.

  7

  FREE THE HIGHER SELF FROM THE EGO

  I come not to entertain you with worldly

  festivities but to arouse your sleeping memory of

  immortality.

  —PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA

  I know that my highest self is always ready to lift me up beyond the world I experience with my senses.

  The little three-letter word ego has had various meanings applied to it. In Freud’s system, the ego is the conscious aspect of the psyche that chooses between the base instincts of the id and the morality of the superego. A person with an “ego problem” is considered to be centered on the self. He is thought of as boastful, self-centered and generally obnoxious. The stereotype is usually male and popularly referred to as being on an ego trip.

  There are many other interpretations of the word ego. Some view it as the unconscious part of ourselves, primarily involved with hate, malice and destruction. Ego has also been described as something that is always with us, controlling our daily lives, but which we can do little to change. Others define ego as the exclusive physical aspect of our reality as opposed to the spiritual or higher part that we define as soul.

  None of these are what I mean by ego. I look upon the ego as nothing more than an idea that each of us has about ourselves. That is, the ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one.

  VIEWING THE EGO

  No one has ever
seen the face of ego. It is like a ghost that we accept as a controlling influence in our lives. The reason no one has seen the ego is that the ego is an idea.

  The ego is a mental, invisible, formless, boundaryless idea. It is nothing more than the idea you have of your self—your body/mind/soul self. Ego as a thing is nonexistent. It is an illusion. Entertaining that illusion can prevent you from knowing your true self.

  As I see it, ego is a wrong-mindedness that attempts to present you as you would like to be rather than as you are. In essence, ego, the idea of yourself, is a backwards way of assessing and living life.

  You’ve probably noticed the word AMBULANCE written backwards on the front of a vehicle so that a person seeing it in their rear-view mirror can read it. Think about it. When you look into a mirror, what you see is backwards. Your right hand is your left, your eyes are reversed. You understand that this is a backward view that you are seeing and you make the appropriate adjustments. You do not confuse reality with the image in the mirror.

  The ego, this idea of yourself, is very much like the mirror example, without the adjustments. Your ego wants you to look for the inside on the outside. The outer illusion is the major preoccupation of the ego. The way of your higher self is to reflect your inner reality rather than the outer illusion.

  The description given by Sogyal Rinpoche in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is a wonderful explanation of this discovery: “Two people have been living in you all of your life. One is the ego, garrulous, demanding, hysterical, calculating; the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose still voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to.” He then goes on to discuss what he calls your wise guide.