: From CGI's Morgan.
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We've all heard the phrase, “As a man thinketh, so is he.” As we have mentioned in the past, the name Adam means, 'namer of things'. From this it is, or should be, easy to extrapolate into the idea that we all create the world we live in, according to how we define it. Look around you and you can see this is so. What might not immediately occur to most people is that if they are unhappy with the world they live in, they can redefine it. Another feature of this is that their world gets redefined for them as a result of experiences but they play the critical part by deciding what it means to them. We don't pay as much attention to ourselves as we should because we are too close to the subject. We are around ourselves all of the time and much of the time we behave and act out within the confines of habit. We become automatic and the unfortunate thing is that in this chronic looping we cease to be alive in any true sense. Another unfortunate result of this is that it makes us easier to control by those who mean us no good.
It might come as a surprise to most people but there are those who make a study of how to control people and besides that, people try to control each other, often. You see this in all the forms of relationship that there are. In some cases it is to be expected and it is even a good thing, depending on the way it is expressed, of course, because sometimes the particular relationship is toxic and it can mess people up for life. I'm talking about the parent/child thing. Very often in any relationship, one party might seek to control the other. Sometimes both are engaged in this; a kind of never ending tug of war, push me pull you thing. Then there are the bigger control systems, like the government, one's place of employment, religions and so on. Then there are the laws of nature and the laws of the cosmos. They control us in all sorts of ways.
Very few of us are free and those of us who are, have endured tremendous struggles to achieve that state. Seldom does one acquire any sense of freedom without some amount of self inquiry. That term gets used around here fairly often but... what does it mean? How does one go about something like that? I would think and... this is just me... the first thing you would do is begin to study yourself and fairly soon you will discover that this is not as easy as you might think. You find that your attention strays and you forget to be doing it... you lapse back into the predictable habitual. One has to build their sense of self awareness a step at the time. Another aspect of self inquiry is reflection. We do this anyway, unless we are a dimwit and there are more and more of those all the time. Materialism turns people into non reflective individuals. It does it for its own reasons. It does it as a matter of survival and to grow more powerful. It feeds off of those that it has captured in its thrall. It goes by various names, depending on the culture it is operational in and it is operational in all cultures. Sometimes it is called Mammon and sometimes Maya and sundry.
Here is an example of disciplined reflectiveness; when you go to bed at night, you remember all of the events of your day and you analyze them, according to whether something you did or said was something you regret or do not regret, understand or do not understand, etc. You will find that initially you cannot remember periods of your day. The reason is that you weren't even there some of the time. Mr. Automatic and Mrs. Habitual Patterns were there instead of you because you weren't living consciously. And they were cohabiting. Or maybe you were there but you were cohabiting too.
A person who engages in conscious reflecting is going to find some interesting results and this is going to lead to other things as well. I won't go into it because I think everyone has different effects, although some of them are general for everyone. Along with this, one can employ dream memory retention and the best way that I know of for that is to keep a dream journal and record the dreams. This also leads to interesting results.
Lucid dreaming is an amazing experience. I have had this happen on numbers of occasions and you get to where you can control the dreams and dream as you like. It's a great way to release certain complexes and blocks in the subconscious.
As far as self inquiry goes, one can begin to study other people in the pursuit of discovering similarities in human kind. You might then discover some of the features that make you unique. The most powerful effect of self inquiry is the discovery of the presence of the ineffable. We should point out that the ineffable exists in all of us. In fact, the ineffable exists, after one fashion or another in everyone, in every creature and in everything. The entire universe is composed of the ineffable. Everything is composed of the ineffable and the ineffable is also apart from everything. The life of the ineffable is expressed in the lives of all of the manifestations of this plane and every plane, where the ineffable dwells as a silent witness. In some cases, rare cases, the ineffable is no longer silent but uses the sounding drum of the human mind and aspects of the human mechanism to communicate with the individual he/she is speaking to from within, or to others who exist without. The ineffable can communicate through and across anything, like a burning bush for instance (grin) or upon the ether, or out of any of the elements.
If one is seeking the ineffable, it is most important to exist on a high plane of awareness because the level of your consciousness determines who or what will be attempting to communicate with you. There are exceptions to this, such as Aghoras and types of Shaivites and individuals from other systems of spiritual experience like Rasputin. I am not going to say here whether Rasputin was or was not evil. There are many indications from the stories that remain about him that suggest that he might not have been. The ineffable can express very differently through different people and we have many examples of this... of remarkable men and women, who do not always behave the way traditionalist expect it to happen. Consider the naked holy men of India, who were called Masts and whom Baba considered god-intoxicated. Here we come to an interesting consideration. The effect of the awakened and indwelling divine can have a powerful intoxicating effect on the human mind. I have experienced this, rarely and not nearly as often as I would like (grin). This is why any number of people who have experienced it have been considered mad by the so called rational members of society. It is my belief that one must go mad to get the full effect. I mentioned 'awakened indwelling divine'. The 'Man on the Beach' told me that; “God is sleeping and this is his dream.” He also told me that; “God is a serpent.” From this, I later understood that he meant that when God awakens in a human consciousness, he/she becomes active in the ascending serpent power that is usually asleep in the pool of the kunda, or the Muladhara Chaka at the base of the spine. If this force finds its way all the way up, one becomes a conscious immortal, or god-man, man-god.
The force of the Kundalini can be awakened through an intense yearning, as it was in my case, or through conscious efforts to ping off of it through breath work or mantra work, prayer without ceasing and various ways, not the least of it being the Shaktipat of a realized master, as it was in my case. As you can see, sometimes it is a combination of influences. Sometimes it is simply Karma or Grace.
The plane of human consciousness at this time is collectively at a low level, while being potentially at a much higher level ...but the force of Materialism and the activity of the representatives of Material control are at such a low level that most of humanity is imprisoned in the matrix of their mesmeric power. Keep in mind that the two chakras above the base chakra, are the sex chakra and the personal power chakra, or the acquisitive and egoic chakra. You see this everywhere in the world today. Here is aninteresting combination of expressions that are presently going on. Henry Makow and I don't agree all of the time but I have come to respect his insight and courage. I am convinced he is a bonafide truth speaker and I admire him and his simple eloquence in expressing what he has to say. He also fell out with alternative media honcho, Jeff Rense but... at least he knew why. At this time, so do I but... I did not for a long time. Digressing...
If one were to practice self inquiry correctly and efficiently, they would develop an objectivity that is sorely lacking in these times and exceedingly valuable. You will know this when you possess it. Materialism works tirelessly to make us subjective and turn us into pod people, drudges and drones where we become the labor force and food of demonic entities. There is an animated movie called, “Monsters Incorporated”. This is a very prescient film. It says that the ones who feed on us, feed on our fear... and that is true. Feeding on our fear gives them access to feeding on our vitality. You can see this all around you too.
My friends, as you know if you come here often enough, you know I make no claims of exceptionalism. I learned this early on through having the good fortune to be around people who were far more advanced than me and whose humility was a wonder to behold. Guru Bawa referred to himself as an Ant Man. If anyone had claims of spiritual magnificence, he did, yet... he was as humble as dirt. I am in no position to place any importance on myself, considering the comparison between myself and certain luminous beings I was profoundly lucky enough to meet and I never shall. I am aghast at the presumptions of some who consider themselves to be exceptional, or important, or imagine that they are as powerful as they think they are. No one who thinks they are, is. The beauty of service is the joy that one can take from it; the incredible release of one's letting go of self and engaging in the finest occupation the world has ever known and that is the extreme privilege of being allowed to serve...\ however imperfect our efforts might be at times. Forget your true place in the scheme of things and you will be reminded in ways you would rather not have happened.
