Enlightenment Through Self Awareness: May 2012

Awareness of Thought

Zen Master Suzuki Roshi, who is credited with bringing Buddhism to America was approached by a student after a meditation retreat. The student expressed to the master that he felt his retreat had been a waste of time because his entire time meditating was totally consumed by a constant flow of thoughts. The Master responded, "How do you know?"

This question is a very important question that anyone trying to approach a self awareness path should ask themselves. In order to know that the mind has or has not stopped its constant flow of thoughts, some part of ones consciousness must be aware of the thoughts. To be aware of the thoughts then implies a separation between the part of ones self that produces the thoughts and the part that is aware.

To one who thinks in terms of words, like a conversation in the mind, this entails shifting perspective from being the one doing the talking to becoming the listener. For one who thinks visually, in terms of pictures, this means shifting perspective from being the "projector" to being the viewer.

This shift of perspective is a critical first step in developing self awareness. Investigation of self begins with asking ones self who is doing the thinking, and what is it that is aware that thinking is taking place. How do I know that I am aware that thinking is taking place?

Michael L. Fournier

Evolution of Consciousness

Just as a caterpillar goes through an evolution process, so too can the human consciousness. However, for humans it is not an automatic process that we all go through, but rather an evolution that we must consciously choose to undertake.

When the caterpillar is ready to undergo its metamorphosis it builds a cocoon around itself. Within that cocoon begins a process whereby the caterpillar digests itself from the inside out, causing its body to die. Using its digestive juices, the caterpillar turns his old larval body into a food source. A few of the caterpillar's old cells begin a regenerative process to rebuild itself into a new body, and finally it is reborn as a butterfly.

The metamorphosis of the butterfly provides a good analogy for the process of Enlightenment through Self Awareness, and transcending the Ego. Meditation can be thought of as our cocoon. This is where we enter our process of dissolving ourselves and our ego from within. We learn to become aware of our thought processes, and the ways in which those thoughts produce harm to ourselves and to others. We learn to recognize the many ways we create our own suffering and in doing so can bring about a change within our own consciousness.

This change amounts to a letting go of, or a kind of death, to the ego. We learn to recognize that our many selfish wants, desires, preferences, and views are never truly being fulfilled in a way that brings about happiness. We realize that our Ego is really nothing more than a collection of thoughts we have about ourselves, thoughts that we have allowed ourselves to use as a way of defining who we think we are. Thoughts of no real substance, nothing more than bits of energy floating through our mind.

When we allow this sense of who we believe we are, and all of our preferences, and desires to fall away into a sort of death of the self, what emerges is a completely different, more evolved state of consciousness. One that is whole and complete and no longer defined by a false view of the self. This new state of consciousness is nothing the Ego can properly comprehend, just as a caterpillar has no way of comprehending that it will one day be reborn as a butterfly.

The single greatest hindrance to this process for most people is fear, the fear of losing our sense of self. Our very identity is for most, every bit as fearsome as death itself. Unlike death however, which is unavoidable, if we let fear dominate our ego, this transformation will not ever manifest. Like most fears, when we actually face them we find them to be of little to no real substance. Our sense of self, our story of who we think we are, is really nothing more than a collection of thoughts we buy into so deeply that we believe them to be the very core of our selves.

It is only once we have completely dissolved the Ego that we come to realize our true nature. We become the butterfly. Our true nature emerges.

Michael L. Fournier

Dynamic Meditation

No matter how good we get (or think we get) at meditation, and no matter how still we can bring our mind to be while sitting on our meditation cushion, if we do not ever learn to transition this quiet mind to the real world, it serves very little purpose.

There are several methods for bringing our meditation practice into our daily life. All of these fall into what can be termed "Dynamic Meditation". Walking meditation may be one of the more widely known and practiced methods of dynamic meditation amongst traditional meditators. Mindful eating is another. Yoga, and Tai Chi, if practiced mindfully, are also forms of Dynamic Meditation.

The method of practice is to displace our discursive thoughts by placing our attention and awareness onto each and every body movement we make, while simultaneously being aware of our five senses and any perceptions of those senses. With practice we learn to maintain this awareness from moment to moment to moment. When we maintain an intense level of focus on our senses and movements there is no time, space, or energy left over for discursive thoughts. Maintaining an intense focus and awareness in this manner deprives the discursive thinking mind of available mind real estate and energy resources, in turn weakening it. Conversely, when the discursive mind runs free, it robs our consciousness of its resources and energy and tends to grow stronger over time, so we are merely turning the tables.

When practiced properly, we become acutely aware, simultaneously or individually, of any or all of our movements, sensations, sights, sounds, physical feelings, and even smells or tastes if they are present. This type of awareness can be practiced with any activity at any time. This is what is meant by the term mindfulness. Being mindful of eating, for instance, will cause us to slow down our eating, becoming aware of subtle flavours and undertones in the foods we eat that we were most likely overlooking before.

We become more aware of the world around us, hearing things we ignore, seeing things we overlook, experiencing things we never knew existed. We become more alive to the world around us, and much more present in the world. With continuous practice we condition our mind to operate in this way rather than the discursive "monkey mind" that never stops jumping from one thought to another.

The practice of Dynamic Meditation is so effective that one very famous Buddhist Monk from Thailand, Luongpor Teann, advocated a method he called Mahasati Meditation as being so effective that is was capable of bringing one to enlightenment without the need for conventional meditation. His method consisted of a set of rhythmic motions of the hands that could be practiced sitting, standing or lying down, and even while walking. The key to its effectiveness is maintaining the level of intense awareness described above, and for those who practice it properly, it has proven to be highly effective. For more information on this technique, visit the website of one of his students at http://www.mahasati.org/ .

If you are serious about following a self awareness, or meditative path toward enlightenment, and are not practicing some form of dynamic meditation, you are missing out on an essential ingredient.

Michael L. Fournier