Category Archives: Spiritual path

A little lantern on the path

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  1. The anomaly of suffering is a clear signal that this mind-made reality is failing to fulfill the deep longing for peace, happiness, and harmony embedded in all life forms.
  2. What we consider to be our reality is simply an arbitrary projection of our limited individual and collective state of consciousness.
  3. Our individual and collective state of consciousness is currently driven by a compulsive and unconscious identification to the processes of the mind. The illusion of separation it induces is the main cause of suffering.
  4. Spiritual awakening is the process through which our true nature, the true self, becomes aware of itself as the only permanent and ever-present source of meaning, peace, and happiness, dissolving in the process the illusions of the non-self.
  5. In opposition to the non-self, which is a product of thoughts, the true self manifests itself as pure presence and pure awareness. It is not limited and individualized but “shared” by everyone and everything as a unified field of pure consciousness.
  6. The true self cannot be known by anything else other than itself hence spiritual awakening can only be achieved by the subjugation of all forms of identification to the compulsive mental processes through reasonable self-inquiry and direct experience.
  7. Spiritual awakening is a rebirth to a virgin and pristine state of consciousness which must be stabilized and integrated with the substance of our experience. The embodiment particularities are bound to the color of the personality.
  8. The direct result of the individual and collective awakening to reality is an influx of true compassion, progressively resulting in a complete change of paradigm and a great alleviation of fear and suffering.
  9. The complete three steps process that goes from the sleeping state of complete identification to the mind to the awakening of the true self to itself followed by the final stabilization in a form is clearly illustrated by the following Zen teaching:

” At the first level on the path, he saw mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers. On the second level of the path, he saw that mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers. And at a third level, he saw once again mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers.”

Calwen

No Mountains, No Rivers

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mountains

Most of you must have heard about the old Zen saying about the rivers and the mountains, for those of you who haven’t here is a condensed version of it:

At the first level on the path, he saw mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers. On the second level of the path, he saw that mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers. And at a third level, he saw once again mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers.

That Zen metaphor describes the three important stages experienced by consciousness as it passes through the gate of VISION, COMPASSION, and REBIRTH.

At the first level on the path, he saw mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers
The first stage describes the state of mind-consciousness. Objects are labeled, they have a story attached to them, and seem clearly separated and independent from each other. This is the current state of consciousness of the majority of human beings.

On the second level of the path, he saw that mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers.
As the world and our ego start to appear for what they are, mind constructs, the “contour” of all inner and outer objects starts to blur and the unity of all starts to become our experience. That stage is often considered as awakening. Many individuals are currently going through that process.

At that stage, I would like to add a little note of caution based on my conscious experience of stage 2.

Consciousness can easily be fooled into thinking that stage 2 is the destination. The first contact of the “substance” with Presence can be fascinating. All objects and forms seem to “float” within a pure Presence, Awareness.

The mold of Neo-Advaita, in particular, seems to freeze many seekers into stage 2 through a dynamic of neverending compulsive self-inquiry. They deconstructed their reality and through a form of new spiritualized ego, they tend to compulsively reject all forms and objects that present themselves to their newfound awareness. It is just another form of inverted duality and an exclusive expression of consciousness. Exclusive because the all-inclusive heart is still not included.

And at a third level, he saw once again mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers.
The world of forms and objects has dissolved, the self has acknowledged its essential nature as pure Presence, and the time of rebirth has come.

Strong from its “self-awareness” in the substance, Presence embraces the world of forms once again and it is now an embrace of love with the substance. Mountains are mountains again. Body, emotions, and thoughts are “impregnated” by Presence, and the “little things of life” re-emerge in a newborn awareness. The VISION is now connected to THE HEART, humanity is embraced in its beauty, limitations, imperfections, and fragility. Presence knows itself as the source of all, pure knowing, pure experiencing, and the known, the experienced is not separated from it, it is essentially Love meeting Love.

Calwen

Wisdom is Balance

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2000px-Yin_yang.svgAfter being engulfed by the material world and the world of objects for a long time, the realisation of the impermanence, inherent to the substance, can lead the ego to a new form of excess, the rejection of the world of forms.

When the illusion of the personal identity starts to dissolve, it progressively becomes apparent that all there is energy/substance and consciousness. Everything now seems to emerge from apparent nothingness (words are confusing more than revealing here).  everything is meaningless, actions unnecessary, and thoughts, words and concepts become enemies number one. Those tendencies are particularly pronounced in Neo-Advaita, it is the after-effect of “mental awakening”, the opening of The Eye, and those tendencies will be present until consciousness passed through the 3rd gate.

Contrary to popular belief, awakening from the ego does not mean that you suddenly start growing wings and can live the rest of your life away from your little pre-awakening routine. The world of form is still there. You are now aware it is an impermanent state but it does not evaporate magically. Naming things is still convenient, and using an identity is also useful, it was there before, but it is still there, the only difference is how those things now appear on the screen of Awareness.

Many non-dual “teachers” are living in a permanent state of duality without realizing it. Before they were obsessed with their ego, now they are obsessed with the absence of ego, isn’t that a bit ironic? They were living in a world of objects, now they are hypnotized by the formless. It is essentially a higher form of duality but duality nonetheless. Wisdom is absent here. Wisdom is inclusive, it is Love, and it includes, embraces, and unites. The recognition of the illusion of the ego is not realization, it is just the emptying of the vessel before some new life can rejuvenate it.

Wisdom is the warmth of life in the accepted and embraced the reality of the substance. Wisdom is not achieved by seeking or striving but just by letting go and embracing the Now in its spirit/matter dimension which is essentially One. The source of peace and wisdom is nowhere else to be found.

“I was substance, I was spirit, I Now AM”… Wisdom is Balance.

Calwen

Spiritual Awakening – Into Presence

Searching for TruthI started my spiritual quest when I was a teenager. I remember devouring mountains of books on religions and spiritualities, I was very enthusiastic about it all. I could intuitively feel that there was more to life than what I had been told or shown. I had to find what it was.

I quickly realized that most sincere spiritual approaches were pointing to the same direction, the words were different but I could feel that there could only be one thing behind the multiple appearances, and I would find what it was.

Nature has always been the source of my inspirations, the subject of my meditations and contemplations. The sky, the trees, the rain, everything was a symbol pointing to a living reality, Nature was a gateway.  I eventually came to realize that there was nothing like “me and Nature” but there was just Nature, there was just Nature contemplating itself, it was my first glimpse into Oneness.

One day, as I was watching myself meditating, it suddenly became very clear that there was no need to make any effort to find reality. That reality was directly accessible to me through the realization that there was only What IS and it was just about surrendering to that obvious IS-ness, The Presence of What IS

Another major way point was reached when I realized that it wasn’t me who was experiencing the world, it was Presence experiencing it all, my mind, my body and the world.

That awakening was nevertheless a temporary illusion, a consciousness switch from the form to the formless, from being something to being nothing/everything. A necessary awakening from the ego had happened but it was just a temporary station, there was more to it.

The path to realization goes through the complete integration of the form with the formless, of the born with the unborn, of your human impermanence with What IS, with Presence… and it is an embrace of Love.

This blog offers insights into a spiritual experience, there is no final destination and we all are eternal students, I have nothing to teach, I am only projecting my experience. It might resonate with you, it might not, I am just singing my song in the universal choir 🙂

Calwen