Accessing Higher States of Consciousness

Accessing higher states of consciousness is often mistakenly believed to be something only mystics, sages, monks, gurus and shaman are capable of, but the truth is, we all are capable of accessing higher states of consciousness. All of us have had some experience with higher states at some point in our lives. Metaphorically speaking, we are all bouncing along like a wave in an ocean of consciousness, constantly in motion between various states, some higher, some lower than the previous ones, and sometimes just shifting sideways on even ground. Depression is a very low state of consciousness compared to joy. Gratitude is a much higher state than envy. Deep concentration, intense learning, or problem solving are much higher states of consciousness than wallowing in self pity, self doubt, or being lost in fantastical thinking and daydreaming. Some states are driven by emotions and others by mental or thought activity. Since thoughts and emotions react and interact with each other, both have easy influence over the lower states. The higher states tend to be more immune from internal or external influences than lower states. Higher states are governed by attention and concentration. The lower states are prone to distraction and wandering minds. They are frequently immersed in self destructive or self impeding behaviours, operating from outside of conscious awareness, by the sub-consciously driven Ego.

The states of consciousness that the mystics, sages, monks, gurus and shaman refer to are at the upper end of our consciousness spectrum. They are highly stable, free of non-essential thought and mental activity, abiding in pure, calm, sublime, tranquillity and equanimity. When the mind is no longer wandering off reliving past events or imaging future ones, it becomes fully immersed in the present moment, regardless of the pleasantness or unpleasantness that exists in that moment. This mind is free from the habit of passing judgements on everything, instead, simply observing from a place of detachment. These states are completely free from Ego, because Ego itself is nothing more than a collection of thoughts that a person has about their self, so if the words and pictures in the mind fall silent, so does the Ego.

As elusive as these higher states may sound, they are not as rare and difficult to access as they may seem, and odds are that you have already experienced glimpses of them before. If you have ever had a moment that 'took your breath away', such as seeing a falling star, or seeing some magnificent wonder of nature, you have experienced a state of higher consciousness. At that moment, you were not thinking about your grocery list, or the local gossip, or worrying about tomorrow, or feeling fear or anxiety, or any other lower state of being. You were fully engaged in the present moment, and at peace with that moment.

Artist, musicians, and athletes access some of these higher states routinely. Artists can become deeply absorbed, almost entranced in their work. Intense focus on detail and perfection causes them to become so deeply connected with their artwork that nothing else exists at that moment.

Creativity is a higher state of consciousness, and creativity is a manifestation of inspiration. Merriam Webster defines inspiration as: "a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation; the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions". The origin of the word inspiration is 'in spirit' from the Latin word inspīrāre, which in turn is from spīrāre which means "to breathe".  It's not hard to see the connection between spirituality, breath meditation, and higher states of consciousness.

Musicians not only rely on creativity but must also have strong intense focus and concentration while engaged in their craft. If they allow their mind to wander off into a daydream, they can quickly lose concentration and drop their rhythm, or miss a note, and their music will be negatively impacted.

Athletes, who are always looking for a competitive edge, have come to recognise a phenomenon they call 'Being in the Zone'. Wordnik.com defines 'In the Zone' as "a mental state of focused concentration on the performance of an activity, in which one dissociates oneself from distracting or irrelevant aspects of one's environment." What this translates to is, being fully immersed in the present moment without the distractions of a wandering mind. Meditation and Mindfulness have become routine practice for many athletes who want to learn to stay 'in the zone'.

Common to all of these higher states, the creativity of the artist, the intense concentration of the musician, the athlete's 'zone', and the states the mystics speak of, is that they are all rooted in the present moment, and operate outside of conventional or fantastical thought. The higher the state of consciousness, the more rooted in the present moment, the less influenced by the Ego, and the quieter and more peaceful the mind becomes.

All of the lower states of consciousness share some common traits as well. They are Ego driven, disconnected from reality in varying degrees, and the mind is almost continually being engaged in endless loops of mental chatter and monkey mind theatrics. The lower the state, the greater the disconnect from reality, and the bigger the Ego. An example of this can be seen in thought disorders such as psychopathic or narcissistic behaviours, both of which are associated with 'big egos’ and a disconnect from reality, and both are clearly very low states of existence. The implications of learning how to gain control over our own minds and states of consciousness are quite profound. If a person could learn to manage their own thoughts and mental states, they could regain control over their own thought disorders and drastically improve the quality of their life.

Among the lowest of states that we can can encounter are those that hijack our consciousness and completely disconnect us from reality. Daydreams and fantasies are the playground of the Ego and can cause us to indulge in unrealistic expectations of life, setting us up for even lower states of suffering when reality does not live up to our expectations. When mystics speak of quieting the mind, it is daydreams and fantastical thinking they are referring to, not skillful uses of thought. For many people, a wandering mind has become the default state that consciousness falls into when the mind is not engaged in intentional purposeful activity. Putting the brakes on fantastical thinking leads to an end to our self created mental suffering and allows the mind to migrate toward resting silently whenever it is not being intentionally put to skillful use.

Bridging between higher and lower realms of consciousness are states that still involve using imagination and conventional thought, (words and pictures in the mind) but are rooted in the present moment, and used for skillful purposes such as problem solving, learning, concentration, deep listening, and includes any states that are free from Ego.

What mystics teach are various methods of focusing our concentration and attention inward with the intention of understanding our own mind for the purpose of mental self healing. From this simple activity we can learn to recognise and consciously shift away from self harming, self defeating, and self limiting states, and gravitate toward higher ones. They teach methods of honing concentration and awareness through practices like Samadhi meditation, training the mind to stabilise and not constantly wander off aimlessly. Concentration and attention put the mind into learning mode. Every student has heard a teacher exclaim "Pay attention or you will never learn anything!"

Practices like Vipassana meditation consciously engage the mind in the activity of simply paying attention to itself. This is done for the purpose of learning more about ourselves, and uncovering the real causes of our lower states of consciousness and self created suffering, and then developing mental skills that allow us to consciously choose to let go of and disengage from any mental activity that is not serving in the best interests of our selves or of others.

Through simple non-judgemental observation of our mental activity we start to notice how thoughts and emotions influence each other, and ultimately influence our actions, reactions and interactions with the world around us. We are literally seeing our own Kharma. When we objectively observe the mind without judgement from a higher state of consciousness like learning, our mind starts to connect the dots, and we start to recognise harmful thought patterns, and we learn to take responsibility for harmful thoughts by not indulging in them. By letting go of them we are not giving them any of our energy. When we indulge in thought patterns, we are feeding them with our energy, and they will keep coming back for more in repetitive loops that can quickly spiral out of control. When we stop feeding them, they wither and die off. We are signalling the mind that these thoughts are not important enough to waste energy on, which starts to break down the feedback loops and the lower states of the repetitive monkey mind. As these repetitive patterns of Egoic thought start to break down, quiet space in the mind starts to open up, and the mind shifts naturally into higher states.

Advancements in the fields of psychology and neuroplasticity continue to validate the millenniums old teachings that the mind is not fixed and rigid, but rather, that it can be moulded and reshaped. It can be re-trained to avoid harmful states of consciousness, states that many people seem to almost wallow in, states that are really nothing more than mental bad habits that have become addictive. Like any bad habit, breaking it starts with bringing awareness to the problem, recognising when it is occurring, and letting go, re-directing consciousness to some other activity that is rooted in presence, such as mindfulness or watching the breath. Repetition, vigilance and diligence are key to breaking the bad habits of the mind. Developing introspective self awareness carries the power to bring about the type of profound inner changes that lead to true trans-formative enlightenment and an end to our self harming and self created suffering.

Michael L. Fournier

Daydreams Influence Kharma

When we allow our minds to wander off in thought, we become disconnected from the present moment and from the reality that exists around us. We enter a sort of pseudo-reality dream-like world within the mind, as we reflect upon past events, or try to imagine our future. The simple fact is that most of our mental activity distracts us from reality and since it is not reality, can be classified as fantasy, or daydreams.

Daydreams and fantasies imprint upon our memory in the same way as any external event. Some will produce stronger imprints than others. Some will be forgotten, Others will feed and shape our Ego. Just as it is with events in reality, those that stir or invoke emotions leave the strongest imprints on our memory.

Because we live in a society that practically worships big Egos, we are never really taught the importance of inner reflection and self awareness. Without self awareness, the Ego is free to operate without any checks and balances and this free reign of our unobserved Ego often leads to clashes with other Egos.

In our fantasy versions of reality, where we are script writer, director, and star of the play, we have complete control and dominion over everything, and usually create versions of realities that inflate and reinforce our Ego. Events that occur in physical reality seldom bend completely to our wishes, and when our Ego does not experience reality the way it thinks things should be, we suffer.

When we anticipate future events, the mind likes to play out various scenarios searching for what seems to be most favourable to our own desires and will. In this fantastic reality, we can always say just the right thing to fit the circumstances, and of course, we can always achieve the results we want. We exist in a universe of infinite possibilities, and physical reality does not bend so gracefully to our will or our wishes as we would like. No matter how many scenarios we run through in our minds, we can not possibly imagine every outcome in a sea of infinite possibilities.

When we encounter an anticipated situation in physical reality, the Ego (which has unrealistic expectations of control, since it has become accustomed to having control of it's inner fantastical reality), will sub-consciously try to manipulate the situation into playing out as close as possible to our preferred fantastical reality. Since other people's Egos are doing the same thing, the likelihood of our Ego clashing with other Egos increases. Our responses, actions, reactions and interactions with physical reality are influenced by a combination of our life conditioning (memories of similar prior experiences), our views of who or what we believe we are or should be (Ego), and unconscious programming from our fantastic reality. We are indeed creating our own kharma.

The way to break free of this cycle of Kharma is to learn to observe the inner workings of the mind by paying attention to what is going on inside at all times. Attention is the mind's learning mode. As every grade school teachers says, "Pay attention or you will not learn anything".  As Carl Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Driven by fear of the unknown, fear of making a mistake, fear of not being in control, fear of saying or doing the 'wrong' thing, or any of many different fears, the Ego will most assuredly defend itself with flawed logic to justify all of its daydreaming as being necessary to be prepared for whatever may arise. Ego wants to say or do just the right thing at just the right time. After all, this is precisely what the Ego can do in fantastic reality. We convince ourselves that with enough preparation we can somehow control physical reality like we do with fantastical reality. More suffering.

So where is the flaw in this reasoning? In fantasy, thoughts seem to flow effortlessly into words during mental conversations where we can always say or do just the right thing. If the circumstances of physical reality played out exactly the same way in physical reality as they do in fantastic reality, this might actually be useful. However, in physical reality, there are far too many other variables for our limited minds to be able to consider or compensate for. Driven by a fear of saying or doing something less than ideal to our Egoic expectations, we become reluctant to just allow that same easy natural flow of thoughts to manifest outside of Ego's control. The simple truth is that if we can just let go of our preconceived ideas and conditioning, and our need to be in control, opting instead to trust in pure present moment awareness, then our thoughts, speech, actions and re-actions can arise from a place of purity and truth. Some aspects of conditioning (inherited kharma) may still be there, and may not be what the Ego desires, but our actions, re-actions, and interactions with reality will certainly be much more appropriate, genuine and authentic when we let go of our need to control reality and trust in the natural flow of life instead.

Michael L. Fournier

Does fantasizing cause suffering?

Daydreaming and Fantasizing cause us to suffer!

                                             

Any time our mind is left to wander unattended, without being engaged in an activity that is rooted in the present moment, (such as learning, problem solving, planning, creating, etc.), it will tend to revert to a default state of daydreams and fantasies, a place to keep itself occupied and amused. It seems almost as though the mind itself is afraid that if it ever stopped, it would never start up again. Instead, it drifts off into repetitive, endless mental projections of past and future. This state is comprised of nothing more than fantasies, daydreams, mind theatrics, inner dialogues, re-inventing the past, or imagining the future. It is not reality, it is our imagination running away unsupervised. Imagination is a very powerful tool when used skilfully for creativity, but can be very harmful to our psyche when allowed to run away unsupervised.

This default state of mind is often called 'monkey mind' because of the way it is constantly jumping from one fantasy to the next. These fantasies have little or nothing to do with reality as it occurs in the present moment. Daydreaming can actually hijack your consciousness and cause you to miss out on reality. When your consciousness is hijacked (fully submerged in a daydream, or 'lost in thought'), you actually become disengaged from the present moment. It is a common experience to be driving along in a car and suddenly realize that you don't know if you stopped at that last stop sign or not. Or to sit down to eat a meal, and suddenly find it's gone, and barely remember having taken a bite. Or having a conversation with someone, and your mind wanders off, until suddenly you realize with embarrassment, that you have no idea what the other person just said. You were not present for these events, you were lost in Fantasyland. Not only can this be embarrassing, it can endanger your life and the lives of others. Truth be told, the root cause of most car accidents is a wandering mind, not paying attention, not being rooted in the reality of the present moment.

The majority of our mental suffering, stress, worry, fear, anxiety, depression, anger, etc., etc., can be traced back to too much indulgence in daydreams, fantastical thinking and mind theatrics. In Fantasyland, we are the script writer, director, producer, and star performer of our own self choreographed version of the world as we would like it to be. Because we are writing the script, the outcome is always exactly as we wish. We can be the hero, the villain, the victim, or whatever else we may choose. We have absolute control over how things unfold and what the outcomes will be. In our fantasies, everything is completely within our control, even if we imagine it to be out of control. Its our choice as to how the fantasy unfolds. We have absolute power and dominion over everything, and it is precisely this level of control that causes our mental suffering and dissatisfaction with the real world, where power and control over the unfolding of events is much more elusive. We have created an internal conflict between the way things are and the way we want them to be.

We also have a rational mind that operates by making constant comparisons. We compare self with others, others with others, things with others, things with things, discriminating between safe and unsafe, right and wrong, good and bad, etc.. Everything we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, sense, or interpret is being compared to our memories, knowledge, and past experiences. Comparing is how we determine what is safe to eat, what is potentially harmful to us, and what brings us pleasure or respite. It is part of learning, and is basic to how we navigate our way in the world. Whether we realize it or not, we are also comparing reality, and life as it unfolds, to our fantasy versions of the way we think life should be. In reality, we do not have the same level of control as we do in our fantasy worlds. We find that in reality, we actually have very little control over anything beyond our choices and how we interact with the world. This lack of control causes us to seek further refuge in our fantasies and turn away from reality. When we don't get what we want or what we feel we deserve in life, when life doesn't play out as smoothly as it does in our fantasies, we suffer. We become depressed, anxious, nervous, fearful, stressed. We all have our own unique combination of mental pain we inflict upon ourselves. Even when we do get what we want, we only end up wanting more of the same, more money, a bigger house, a faster car. We get what we want and yet, we still suffer, because even getting what we want does not bring us any lasting happiness, peace or tranquillity.

Because our thoughts are linked to our emotions, mental suffering can lead to some very real physical problems as well. Emotions are physical and chemical responses to events that are experienced in the mind, either in reality or in Fantasyland. Our minds do not discriminate between fantasy and reality. We experience very real emotions in response to our mind theatrics. This can be easily proven to yourself. Remembering the loss of a loved one, even years later can still invoke grief, but remembering good times spent with that loved one can still invoke joy. Emotions are experienced physically in the body as a result of chemicals and hormones that are released by the brain into the body. Different emotions have their own chemical cocktails. If we experience fear, real or imagined, our bodies release adrenaline, if we are nervous, anxious, worried, or stressed, cortisol is released. These chemicals are supposed to help our body physically deal with critical and dangerous events. The fight or flight response is an adrenaline boost to give extra energy to muscle tissue to either fight, or escape as quickly as possible. When these chemicals are released into the body, and there is no corresponding physical response, (such as fighting off a threat or running away from danger), these chemicals are not burned off. Instead they accumulate in the body with negative health effects like weight gain, high blood pressure, increased risk of cardio-vascular problems, and many other health problems as well.

Daydreaming is nothing but a bad habit, and like any bad habit, the key to breaking it is to bring awareness to the problem. Not just awareness on an intellectual level, because this will not solve the problem any more than reading a book about flying a plane can make you a pilot without any practical experience. The bad habit of allowing the mind to wander off has to be broken at an experiential level, by paying direct attention to what is going on inside, seeing how our thoughts influence our actions, recognizing the consequences of our actions, then deliberately choosing to disengage from thought patterns that are not serving in our best interest. A good starting point is simply paying attention to the activity within your mind, by actually 'listening' and hearing the 'voice in your head'. With determination and resolve, practice catching yourself whenever the mind wanders, and redirecting your attention to a present moment task. Try focusing on the breathe, placing your full attention into one of the five senses, such as deep listening, or focusing intently on a body part or movement, or any mindfulness task that can hold the attention for a little while. If this is done with full attention, thoughts will subside momentarily in anticipation of what might happen next.

With consistent repetitious practice, catching the mind when it wanders, and constantly pulling it back to the present, the mind will gradually experience increased concentration and longer attention spans, and grow to become more peaceful, tranquil, and quiet. Eventually this new peaceful state of the mind being at rest will become the new default state that the mind falls back into when it is no longer actively engaged in skillful legitimate tasks.

Paying attention is the first and most important step in learning anything, which is why teachers always tell students 'Pay attention or you won't learn anything'. This simple act of self awareness with full attention allows the mind to 'do the math' and 'connect the dots', becoming directly aware of how our thoughts affect our emotions, which in turn affect our actions, reactions, and inter-actions with our external environment, and also to see the impact this has on the world around us. In other words, we are learning to see our own karma. We see first hand how our outer world is a direct reflection of our inner world. Direct observation leads to understanding and learning in a way intellectual knowledge can not provide us. With practice we learn how to uncover thought patterns that are harmful to ourselves and others, and to disengage from them by simply 'letting go', and refusing to allow our consciousness to be hijacked. We see repetitious patterns and recurring themes to our thought patterns, which operate like feedback loops. Those we indulge in grow stronger, and those we learn to let go of, wither and die. It is this direct observation of our karmic creation that allows space for choice to open up, choice to stop indulging in thought patterns that are harmful to ourself or others. The sanest thing a person can do is turn their attention inward and observe their own insanities with the intention of purifying and freeing their own mind.

"Mental excretion is represented by imagination, that is, a continuous production of waste images, the by-product of past perceptions, which flow through and out of the brain in a meaningless and unbroken stream. In fact, dreaming goes on night and day, without a break." -- Rodney Collin (20th c. Fourth Way spiritual teacher) The Theory of Celestial Harmony

Michael L. Fournier

Deep Introspection, the True Path to Enlightenment

The true path to enlightenment is a journey of deep self awareness, being the watcher of one’s own thoughts. When watched closely and consciously, over time one comes to understand that the Ego has two primary purposes, first is self preservation or survival, and second is the pursuit of happiness. Survival takes priority over happiness. It is extremely difficult to be happy when you feel threatened. Ego tries to provide self protection by trying to predict your future, so you can avoid what you don’t want and pursue what you do. This is accomplished by relying on past experiences and conditioning as a starting point to create and generate all of the discursive mind theatrics, daydreaming, and inner dialogues that constantly play out in our heads. We are deluding ourselves with the belief that we can somehow control what has yet to unfold in our lives. We imagine multiples of scenarios, sometimes to the point of obsession, generating a version of our world either as the way we want it to be, or the way we don’t want it to be, and completely biased by the way we interpret our environment. Despite our best efforts at forecasting the future with our fantasy versions of reality, we discover that life never quite plays out exactly the way our Ego expects it will. How can it, when we live in an environment of infinite possibilities? 

The only basis our Ego has for making its predictions, is memories of our past experiences. These memories have been filtered and distorted by our perceptions, judgements, preferences, and reactions to the various life events we felt were worth remembering.  The thought patterns we generate are also strongly influenced by our system of beliefs. Most of us go through life defending but rarely Questioning Beliefs. How often do we ever examine our beliefs to see where they came from and why we choose to accept them, especially when there is no basis to support them? Blind faith is faith that has absolutely no basis in reality, yet many of us chose to cling to our beliefs anyway. We hold sometimes hidden fears or aversions to a reality that might be different than the one we prefer to believe in. This is called cognitive dissonance.

When the hopes, desires, or beliefs of the Ego are out of sync with reality, we experience internal disharmony and inner conflict, consciously and/or subconsciously, and this leads to mental suffering. When things don’t turn out the way we think they should, we allow ourselves to wallow in whatever unique blend of self imposed mental suffering we have chosen for ourselves; anger, depression, greed, self hate, anxiety, fear, regret, just to name a few. 

The Ego’s excessive, non-stop thought processes have tipped the body/mind/soul trinity out of balance. Our body must rest when it is tired or it will damage itself. The spirit already naturally abides in a state of contentment. Usually we are unaware of it this peaceful state because it is masked from our view by the constant chattering of a mind that never seems to rest unless we are sleeping.  

If the Ego is supposed to be protecting us, then why is it causing us to suffer?  Despite all of its self preservation instincts, where the Ego runs amok, paradoxically, is in looking out for its own best interests, both survival and happiness combined or by running away from happiness and pursuing safety first. 

Self preservation with the best possible outcome, and with all of our favourite preferences being met, in a perfect world ‘according to Me and the way I want it to be’ seems perfectly logical to the mind. Otherwise it would not imagine it that way. If Ego is going to create and control a reality, even if it is only a fantasy, then why not create the best possible outcome, one that is in Ego’s best interest, as Ego chooses to see it. But when we don’t get what we want, we suffer.

Since we live in a dualistic world of opposites, good/bad right/wrong happy/sad yin/yang, and you can’t experience one without the other, it can also occur that the Ego chooses to flee from happiness, in search of safety first from some perceived threat. A person holding a negative view of the world, or of the way they feel they have been treated within it, may find themselves experiencing depression, fears, or anxiety. Either of these two extremes can spiral out of control, or as in bipolar, bounce back and forth.

Since our emotions respond to fantasy and imagined realities with the same physical responses and the same hormonal and chemical releases from the brain that real events trigger, such as Cortisol (the stress hormone), or Adrenaline (the fight or flight hormone), our mental suffering can actually cause physical harm to the body in the long run. The mind that is trying to protect us is actually doing us harm. If this sounds like a form of insanity, its because it is, but it goes unnoticed because so many of us experience it, that we accept it as normal until it becomes too problematic to endure. Any type of self inflicted suffering can not possibly be considered to be sane. And any thought based disorder can be overcome by paying attention to what is going on inside. 

When the mind is quiet and at rest, it can heal and regenerate its energy instead of constantly expending energy with its incessant inner chatter. Quieting the mind helps to restore the body/mind/soul back into harmony with each other. Quieting the mind allows spirit to reveal its peaceful, contented nature. However, as any meditator can tell you, trying to force the mind to stop thinking is like shoving a large bully, you may knock him off kilter for a bit, but he will come right back at you. So how then does one learn to quiet the mind and put an end to self harming thoughts? By developing an Awareness of Thoughts, through deep introspection, by becoming the watcher,the observer of thoughts. 

The default state of mind for most people is discursive thought, the so called monkey mind that is constantly jumping from one thought to the next, always wandering off and hijacking our consciousness. We can become so deeply lost in daydreaming that we may not even remember if we stopped at the last stop sign or not. We were not actually consciously present in our own bodies as we drove through the intersection. 

The deep introspective self awareness process is about learning to regain control of our attention through mindfulness and meditation practice, and then turning that attention inward to watch the flow of thoughts and emotions, as well as the results those thoughts and emotions have on our interactions with others and with life itself. In other words, we are observing our own Kharmic Creation. 

The self awareness process is one of learning what the mind is doing to itself simply by paying attention. Attention is the state of consciousness the mind must be in to learn. Every school child knows that if they want to learn something, they have to pay attention and observe what they are being shown. Simply inquiring ‘I wonder what my next thought will be’, then looking closely for the answer, is a simple way of developing this skill. 

Bringing the discursive wandering monkey mind under control requires developing two essential skills from within meditation, and combining those skills with a mindfulness practice outside of formal sitting meditation.

The first essential skill is to learn to steady the mind by developing strong concentration skills and increased awareness. This can be accomplished by simply paying attention to what is going on inside, with the intention of catching the mind whenever it wanders off, and continuously pulling it back to an object of meditation, such as the breath. With diligent practice we can retrain the mind not to wander off in discursive thought and mind theatrics. Over time the mind learns to become steady and controllable. It is not difficult to see how beneficial to everyday life it would be to build and develop a mind that stays focussed without constantly wandering off.

The second essential skill to develop is to take those increased awareness and concentration skills and turn them inwards, to observe the flow and patterns and content of thoughts and emotions, as well as the cause and effects thoughts have on yourself and others. In other words, learning to observe your own Karma. The goal is to 'Know Thyself' thoroughly and intimately, but to do so in a completely objective, non-judgemental way. Simply allow the thoughts to happen without allowing the mind to become engaged and lost in them, like what happens when we daydream. Practice being  the observer of thoughts rather than becoming lost in them. Listen to the inner dialogue and observe mind theatrics by being aware of and paying attention to them.

Observing the flow of internal events, thoughts, emotions, feelings, and physical sensations, allows the mind to see and learn what it is doing to itself. Totally objective and non-judgemental observation is extremely important, because judgements can prejudice and influence the learning mode by pre-supposing outcomes based on our past experiences and conditioning. 

Simple observation is sufficient for the mind to learn what it is doing to itself some contemplative reflection, such as The Bug in the Jar Method of capturing and examining, then releasing a thought, may help in seeing some of our self inflicted suffering quicker.

These essential skills develop symbiotically, each helping the other to grow and strengthen. Increased concentration helps the mind to remain on the task of self observation. As self awareness develops, the mind starts to connect the dots between the thought patterns, and the effect our thoughts have on our inner states and emotions, as well as our interactions with others and the world around us. We will soon discover that we have the choice and ability to stop indulging and blindly, subconsciously, following in thought patterns that are not serving in our best interests. When we stop indulging in them, we stop feeding them. When we stop feeding them, they die off. They are no longer consuming our energy. We are sending a message to the brain that says they are not important enough to deserve our full undivided attention. This process eventually brings about a reduction of mental activities and discursive thoughts, which in turn makes it easier to maintain concentration and awareness. 

As this codependency develops, the practice begins to sustain itself. If we begin to slip back into old patterns of thought or behaviour, because the practice of watching and being aware of our inner world has become a habit, the Karmic result of those patterns becomes so obvious that any re-emergence of uncomfortable inner disharmony and turmoil will quickly steer us back on course.

The key to developing these skills is sustained attention (concentration) and awareness. Attention is simply the act of close observation. Awareness is a silent knowing. Knowing when you are thinking, knowing what you are thinking, what emotions you are experiencing, and what is going on within your five senses. 

This practice will eventually bring about a calming effect on the mind, allowing quiet space between thoughts to open up. When you observe this silence between thoughts, allow your attention and awareness to shift toward sustaining the silence. This is not done through any forceful means, but by simply allowing the mind to rest and abide comfortably in that state, holding the intention that when the mind drifts, to keep pulling it back, in the same way as pulling back to the breath in Breath Meditation. Allow this silence to become your meditation object. From this silence, be on the watch for the earliest beginnings of any mind movements. Observed from this vantage point, the beginning of a thought can be easily dropped, returning to silence. Missing the beginning of a thought can allow the discursive processes to hijack consciousness again. As this practice develops, the duration of the silent periods will increase and eventually begin to appear spontaneously.

These periods of quiet mind need to be transitioned into everyday life, otherwise all of this work will have served little purpose. This is where mindfulness practice kicks in. Going about your daily activities of life, use the skills learned in meditation to maintain concentration and awareness, and to keep the mind focused on the five senses, as well as any mind activity. When walking, pay attention to the physical sensations of the muscle movements; when eating, pay attention to the taste buds; notice smells, sights, and sounds as they occur around you. Ground yourself in the present moment. When you find yourself without any place to put your attention and the mind wants to begin to wander, place it on your breath, just like in the breath meditation practice. When holding a conversation, give full attention to listening instead of trying to think of a response. If it does start to wander, maintain awareness and observe the content.

Keep training the mind in this way until it becomes second nature, just like the breath itself. There is a direct correlation between the amount of time and effort put into this, and the amount of results and benefits you experience. Poor effort equals poor results, great effort gives great results, 100% effort yields 100% results. Therefore, the goal is to train the mind to maintain awareness of itself 100% of the time. A mind that can abide in silence is a mind that is contented, at peace, free, and therefore a truly open mind. When the mind is quiet, it is free of all insanities and therefore is possessing perfect sanity. To strive for anything less than perfect sanity can only arise from a place of insanity.

Freeing the mind in this way will not prevent unfortunate events from occurring. Conditioned responses to those events may also still occur, especially if one has never learned of any other way of responding to the event. What does change, with enough practice, is a sort of disconnect from those responses. An event may still trigger anger for example, but from a position of observing, the identification with the response is lost. It no longer feels like ‘Me’ that is doing the responding. Without this conscious disconnect, the mind becomes absorbed into the anger, and in doing so can stimulate further releases of brain chemicals. Since there is no distinguishing between the real event and the mind’s reaction to it, this negative state of consciousness can spiral out of control, deepening the anger into rage. Disconnected observation, over time reduces the intensity and frequency of similar reactions to similar events. Eventually, the practitioner reaches a point of being able to see the event, feel the chemical release associated with the response, take control of the mind by diverting its focal point to something neutral, such as the breath, and watching the chemicals quickly dissipate and dissolve.

Understanding all the Ego’s inner workings and nature from an intellectual level is not sufficient to bring about any real inner change. It must be observed and experienced first hand by practising and developing these skills. As all great teachers have said, ‘You must do the work yourself’. You are the only one who can experience what goes on inside your own head, therefore, you are the only one who can do anything to change it. Watch what goes on inside, see through all of your self created illusions and delusions, and make some space for the peaceful contented nature of spirit to blossom from within.

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” -The Buddha

Michael L. Fournier

Hallmarks of a Successful Mindflness Meditation Practice

From Zero to Enlightenment in ??? Days

Human nature dictates that when we enter any sort of practice or discipline, we feel the need to gauge our results, to know how well we are doing, or even if we are practising properly. Traditional wisdom has been that trying to keep track, to compare, to figure out ones position in relation to the goal we seek, whether full enlightenment, or simply just a calmer, more peaceful mind, is nothing but a distraction and hindrance to the practice. For others however, not knowing what to expect or how to even know if they are making any progress can be a deterrent. 

Throughout most of the last few thousand years that meditation has been practised, it would have been very difficult to prove or disprove much of the benefits or progress that a practitioner was making simply because it is a highly subjective and mostly inward experience that can not easily be viewed or measured externally. However, this does not mean that progress is not capable of being measured. In fact, science and medicine are both studying and proving that the physical and mental benefits that result from prolonged mindfulness practice are not only real and measurable through brain scan technology, but also are extremely beneficial to one's happiness, health, and well being.

First time meditators frequently find the experience unnerving since this is often the first time they have had to sit quietly in a way that allows them to fully notice just how busy their mind is, and to sit with it and try to become comfortable with it. With the realization that they don't seem to have the ability to quiet their own mind at will, they may feel as though their mind is uncontrollable. The sudden realization of not being in control of ones own mind can be extremely uncomfortable and may even scare some people away from meditation.

For those who are brave enough to weather the storm of thoughts that must be faced in all of the early meditation sessions, the first hallmark quickly becomes self evident, the realization that the free flow of discursive thought is of such volume and intensity as to have become an impediment to ones own well being.

For the practice of mindfulness and self awareness to develop at a pace with which one can observe real progress within themselves, there are two essential skills that need to be developed. The first is to learn to steady the mind, to develop strong concentration skills through increased awareness, by simply paying attention to what is going on inside. With diligent practice, we can  retrain the mind not to keep wandering off in discursive thought and mind theatrics by learning to notice when it does and to keep pulling the mind back onto task. With continued practice, the mind learns to become steady and controllable. It is not difficult to see how beneficial to everyday life it would be to build and develop such a skill.

The second essential skill to develop is to learn to take those increased awareness and concentration skills and turn them inwards, to learn to observe the flow and patterns and content of thoughts and emotions as well as the causality and effects of those thoughts, or in other words, to observe our own Karma. The goal is to 'Know Thyself' thoroughly and intimately, but to do so in a completely objective, non-judgemental way. Simply allow the thoughts to happen without allowing the mind to become engulfed and lost in them like happens when we daydream. 

Sustained attention is the mind's learning mode, we learn by paying attention. Paying diligent attention to the flow of internal events, thoughts emotions, and physical sensations, allows the mind to learn what it is doing by becoming aware of itself. Objective and non-judgemental observation of ones thoughts is key, because judgements prejudice the learning mode by pre-supposing outcomes based on our past experiences.

Both of these essential skills develop symbiotically, each helping the other to develop. Increased concentration allows the mind to remain on the task of self observation, and as self awareness develops, and the mind starts to connect the dots between the thought patterns, and see the effect those thoughts have on our inner states and on our interactions with others, it will naturally stop indulging in thought patterns that are not serving in our or others best interests. This results in a reduction of mental activities and discursive thoughts, which in turn makes it easier to maintain concentration and awareness. In other words, the practice begins to sustain itself. Even if one does begin to slip back into old patterns of thought or behaviour, because of the practice of watching and being aware of the inner world, the Karma of those patterns becomes so recognizable that any re-emergence of uncomfortable inner disharmony and turmoil will bring the practitioner back on course, and in this way the practice becomes self correcting.

The key to developing both of these skills is sustained awareness and attention. Awareness is a silent knowing, knowing that you are thinking, knowing what you are thinking, knowing what emotions you are experiencing, and knowing what is going on in your five senses. This skill is developed simply by paying attention and being aware of everything that is going on inside at all times. 

Formal meditation is the training ground for learning these skills, and everyday life is where the training is put to use. As the ability to be aware of ones inner self develops and increases during meditation, it then becomes essential to transition these skills to everyday life, otherwise all of the training will have served no real purpose.

 Increased concentration, awareness and attention allows the inward reflecting mind to stay on the task of self awareness, and self observing. As a result, this increased self awareness allows one to recognize and to stop indulging in thought patterns and behaviours that are not serving in our own best interests. This process of self observation allows the thought patterns that generate our self created disharmonies, regrets of the past and worries and fears of the future. to become obvious and thus easier to simply let go of.

The process of repeatedly noticing thought patterns and behaviours that do not serve our best interest, and dropping the habit of indulging in them causes them to gradually become less frequent. These thought patterns require our indulgence in order to exist. If we indulge them, we are in essence conditioning the mind to consider them as important and therefore they will persist. When we form the habit of letting them go over and over again, we are retraining the mind to understand that they are not important, and eventually will stop arising.

With ongoing persistence, the mind will find itself ever increasingly abiding in a silent, peaceful, quiescent state. This state is the true state of being fully present. Even the slightest mental activity of noting or judging ones surroundings or outer world can only occur after an event since the mind takes time to form thoughts. Therefore, any form of reflection serves to take one out of the present moment. This does not mean that skilful reflection should not be engaged in. Rather, any skilful reflection must occur with complete mindfulness and not allowed to spin off into discursive mind theatrics.

As this process of being fully present, through silent observation of internal and external events develops, it becomes obvious to the practitioner that this mind state is one of true freedom, free from any self created disharmony. This in turn allows one to realize that the feedback loops of thought that are generated are not really an essential part of our existence.

To the beginning practitioner, this may cause some confusion, since it is easy to think that we can not exist without thoughts. We are not loosing or inhibiting any ability to reason, plan, learn or problem solve. We are simply learning to stop allowing conditioned thought patterns to colour our judgements and reasoning, and to stop engaging in mind theatrics and the mental role playing of the Ego that seems to spontaneously spin off from legitimate uses of the mind.

A mind that can abide in silence is a mind that is at peace, content, free and therefore a truly open mind.

So how long does this process take? That depends on the practitioner, and on how conditioned the practitioners mind is, and how much effort, dedication and diligence the practitioner is willing to put into their practice.

Although there are stories of individuals reaching enlightened states in relatively short periods of time, this is more of an exception to the rule than anything else. Expecting the mind to flip spontaneously into an enlightened state is a lot like expecting to win the lottery the first time you buy a ticket. Realistically, the benefits of the practice are developed over months, years, and often over a lifetime. Quite simply, it is a function of the effort that is put into it. Poor effort yields poor results, great effort reveals great results, 100% effort produces 100% results.  You get out of it what you put into it.

You have to do the work!

Michael L. Fournier

Stopping Thought

Learning to stop thoughts in their tracks can be a very useful tool to have in your arsenal of mindfulness/self awareness techniques. Keep in mind however, that gaining the ability to stop and even hold thoughts at bay for some amount of time is not a complete solution to the long term goals of ending discursive and unnecessary thought processes. In the early stages of this journey, the discursive, monkey mind Ego is strong, so when you push it or try to force it, it will push back. That is to say, that you can likely expect a flurry of activity to follow. 

However, using thought stopping techniques combined with being actively engaged in objectively, and non-judgmentally, paying attention to the thought processes, thought content, mind theatrics, emotional states, etc. by bringing full attention and awareness to them, in the present moment, as they occur, not by reflecting on them afterwards, will prove to be very effective. As one continues the practice of objective non-judgmental thought observation, patterns begin to reveal themselves, along with the consequences that follow, as well as any physical sensations that may appear, such as from the brain releasing fight or flight chemicals into the body. These patterns, when left to spiral out of control, are the various thought based disorders we all seem to inflict upon ourselves to varying degrees, such as stress, anxiety, fears and phobias, depression, anger, or any of the other thought based disorders. Through this continued observation of these patterns and thought loops, those that are no longer serving in ones best interest begin to become very evident.

It is in combination with the recognition of these thought patterns that are no longer serving in either our or societies best interests, that thought stopping techniques are most useful. Halting a thought in its tracks that you have just recognized or identified as part of a self destructive behavior can prevent the situation from escalating any further. It can stop one from saying or doing the wrong thing or doing something harmful. With sufficient practice, it can stop a fit of rage in it's tracks or halt addictive behaviours.

The simplest way of temporarily suspending thought is through taking control of your awareness and using it to control where you place your full attention. This is not as hard as it seems, there are many easy ways to do this. Simply place your full attention and full awareness into one of the five senses. Pick an object in your immediate vicinity, or an imaginary spot on the floor or wall, preferably low to minimize other visual distractions, and stare at it as intently as possible, as though you were expecting something to jump out at you and you don't want to miss it. Place your full attention and awareness into your hearing, without judging or trying to identify or name the sounds, just listening for perhaps the faintest possible sound, or trying to single out just one sound out of the many. Any of the senses will work, the faint odours that surround us that we usually ignore, the physical sensations of sitting, standing, walking, movement, etc. Focusing complete attention on the complexities of the breath is another way, what does it feel like as the air passes through the nostrils, fills the lungs, as the abdomen rises, and as the process reverses to the out breath. This is one of the practical applications of practicing breath based meditation. 

Any time your full awareness and attention are captivated completely, thought halts naturally. This pause in thought can now be used to regroup, and consciously choose not to indulge in or follow that pattern any further. As the mindfulness/self awareness practice advances, and as the stability of sustained concentration increases, it becomes easier to use the mind activity itself as an object of awareness. 

For those engaged in the full path to Enlightenment, (Nirvanna, Buddhahood, Christ Consciousness or any of the other names this misunderstood mental state is referred to as) or more simply the complete freedom from self harming discursive thought patterns, this state can be induced through the development of long term sustainable concentration trained to remain focused on the continuous movements and activity of the mind until all un-neccesary, unwanted, harmful mental activity and illusion has been seen through and by consciously choosing to no longer indulge in them. Just like un-used muscles, these patterns atrophy and start to die off eventually no longer presenting themselves.

For the brave, practicing sustained no thought states for prolonged periods of time, as long as you realize that there may be a burst of thoughts later, also has it's advantages. This helps to build sustainable concentration, which is another tool that has to be sharpened. There is nothing wrong with allowing the thought flow to burst forward afterwards. First, this whole process is about learning to regain control of one's own mind, rather than letting it run wild, so this allows some degree of control by choosing to allow the space for the discursive free flow that may follow. Besides, these free flows occur less and less frequently over time as one continues to break down and stop indulging in thought patterns that no longer serve a higher purpose. As well, it provides a somewhat controlled jumping off point, controlled in that you are now expecting thought flow, and from which you can return to objectively observing your thoughts.

Michael L. Fournier

An Overview of the Mindfulness Path

 

One of the things that make this practice seem so difficult is that it feels a lot like a box full of puzzle pieces thrown at us, because of the large number of teaching methods, traditions and interpretations. We are left to try and solve the puzzle when we haven't a clue as to what the picture looks like. To make matters worse, it is often steeped in mystery, the mysteries of the spiritual world. This comes about quite naturally because it is all but impossible to describe experiences that occur outside of thought using conventional language and thoughts. It's like trying to describe the smell of a flower to someone without a nose.

Fortunately, with advances in science and psychology, a very practical approach to the practice begins to emerge. The practical benefits of a meditative mindfulness practice can be scientifically proven and measured, which in turn allows for a greater interest in learning and sharing and understanding of which techniques are most productive. It basically boils down to retraining the neural pathways we build in our brains. Those that fire together, wire together. Our monkey mind thought patterns have wired together as a result of the habit of allowing our minds to wander. The Buddhist path is literally about breaking the habit of allowing the mind to wander off, by learning to pay attention to it and recognize the disharmony an unsupervised mind left running wild can cause.

As the Buddha predicted, anyone who truly wants to, can free their mind from all stress and suffering, and science is enabling us to better understand and validate methods to do so. So the talk tonight is an overview of the process from as practical of a viewpoint as I can. The more we study, learn and understand how the process works, the more we can help each other to free their minds. We need to understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we go about it.

So to start off I would like to define just what it is that we are trying to accomplish, what the ultimate goal is, and to demonstrate some of the techniques that can be used.

We often hear of the practice as being about getting rid of Ego. To get rid of something, we must first clearly understand what it is that we are trying to get rid of. So lets define Ego from a practical standpoint.

Ego is simply a collection of thoughts, judgements and perceptions about ourselves, and our environment that we have chosen to accept and cling to. Because we never question the validity of our own thoughts, they have acquired the habit of running free, un-checked, un-supervised and un-neccessary. We allow those thoughts to define our sense of self, who we think we are, who we want to be, and how we remember ourselves as having been in the past. It is not who we really are.

Who we really are is that part of us that knows and is aware of our own existence in the present moment. Present moment experiences are like that awestruck moment when the mind quiets briefly to watch a beautiful sunset. Thoughts spoil such moments, don't they? Thoughts and judgements keeps us from truly experiencing the present moment by keeping us engaged in mind theatrics and judgements. Isn't it obvious that our mind created fantasy worlds are not real?

We don't need our Ego consciousness thoughts to tell us right from wrong, to to help someone in need, we can do so on instinct, we know how to do that. The reality is that far more often we allow our thoughts to prevent us from helping someone in need, we are afraid to get involved, or we don't like the way the person looks.

Most of our physical movements and actions are guided from outside of conscious thought, but when we are absorbed in thought, we fail to notice this. We don't have our Ego dictating to the foot a detailed set of instructions on how to walk. We KNOW how to do this. We learned how to do this by paying attention to what we were taught.

Every single wrong doing any of us commits, whether as an individual, or as a group, including countries committing genocide or war (which is really the same thing), always begins with a single thought in someones head. Everything that stops us from being who we want to be, from being the best person we can be, begins with a thought. Every fear, worry, anxiety, regret,or mental stress we place upon ourselves, always begins with a thought that we have entertained in our head.

These thoughts are formed from the perceptions we have of the world around us and the experiences we have, from how we think, perceive and believe that the world is treating us. We allow our thoughts to create division between us and the world. We view life in a “Me against the world” way, as we struggle to fit in, to learn what we are taught, to work hard and to pay our bills.

The Ego mind speaks to us in words and pictures, inner dialogues, in fantasies, daydreams, always with “me” as the central character, and carries us off into all sorts of apparently fascinating places that mind seem to wander to. The monkey mind neurons have become so strong that we easily become hopelessly lost in our thoughts. We become so lost that we miss out on most of what is going on around us in the present moment. It is only when we are NOT lost in thought that we can truly experience the present moment.

The present moment is not something as elusive as it may seem to be. The present moment is characterized by the mind being so completely absorbed in reality that thought subsides. When this occurs it is usually accompanied by pleasant feelings. We have all experienced being fully in the present at one time or another, such as watching a shooting star in the night sky, or an overwhelmingly peaceful moment in nature, perhaps staring at a waterfall. It can even happen in tragic moments like in the events of 911. Such an event is so shocking that it stops the mind as we try to make sense of everything we are seeing and hearing. These events have captured your attention and awareness.

Egoic thoughts, monkey mind, are where attention wanders to when you do not have control of it. This is just a bad habit, and all bad habits can be broken. This entire practice is about learning how to regain control of your attention and to free your self from the ever wandering Ego, by learning to observe and understand how your own uniquely programmed mind works.

The ultimate goal of getting rid of the Ego means retraining the mind, out of its habitual practice of wandering off into inner dialogues and fantasy worlds. It means learning how to recognize and curb thoughts that are not serving you in your best interest, by no longer indulging in them. When you stop indulging in them, they begin to occur less frequently. Just as neurons that fire together wire together, the ones you ignore and don't indulge in, atrophy, they wither and die. This is characterized by a mind that abides in silent awareness rather than being lost in thought. In the present moment. The ultimate goal is to completely break the habit of allowing the mind to wander off unsupervised.

This does not in any way inhibit your ability to think constructively, or creatively, it does not inhibit the ability to reason, problem solve, learn, or understand. It does not give you a new personality. It is simply learning how to shut off the free flowing repetitious monkey mind. In freeing the mind this way, awareness grows of the senses and the world around you. It is as though you begin to merge with reality instead of the fantasies and mind theatrics.

Because everyone's journey through life is so unique, the teachings can get confusing for some. Every person alive has undergone a completely unique set of experiences, and a completely unique set of personal judgements about those experiences. Every Ego is unique. This in turn means everyone's solution to solving the Ego problem is also unique. This is why objectively, observing thought is so important. You are the only person capable of figuring out what is going on in your head because you are the only person capable of seeing it.

To learn and understand the mind, it has to be put into learning mode....paying attention mode........and learning how to maintain and sustain that attention through concentration, and without judging. Judging only creates new neural pathways by making use of the ancient survival mechanism that the Ego developed from.

So in terms of the teachings, one size does not fit all. It is important therefore to always monitor your progress, by paying attention to your reactions to changing situations around you in daily life, especially the unexpected or unwanted ones, and observe what works and what doesn't. Use what is useful and discard what is not.

The Ego is the basis of our entire world view, but it is created from incomplete, biased and usually flawed information. Our judgements are tainted by our beliefs, which by their very nature have little or no basis in truth. They lack any substantial proof, but we choose to accept them as truth. None of our beliefs should ever be beyond questioning. Blindly accepting a belief can only lead to inner disharmony especially if it is ever proven wrong.

Beliefs are a symptom of a closed mind. Only an open mind can be free.

Our 5 senses can not possibly perceive every bit of information available in the moments we form our judgements from. Especially considering that the mind is far more likely to be lost in thought anyway, since that seems to be where it usually is, and thereby misses out on even more of the information that was available to us because we weren't paying attention.

Our judgements are tainted by other peoples opinions and ideas. They are tainted by our judgements of similar experiences. And there is always much more going on than we can possibly be aware of. As a result, our judgements are often severely flawed. Yet we still want to be able to trust our own thoughts, and rarely ever examine how trustworthy they really are. It is only through paying attention to our thoughts objectively that we can start to understand them. This means we have to learn how to separate ourselves from our thoughts. Objective observation. Observing them as though they were objects separate from us, which they are! Otherwise, how could you be aware of them.

This is a difficult concept to explain, the best way is with an analogy. Being absorbed or lost in thought is like watching a movie or TV show that has you so interested, so captivated, that you completely forget that you are sitting in your chair watching it. You forget that you are in your living room. You loose yourself in the drama and become completely absorbed in the show. It is almost as though you become part of the movie or show. This is similar to the state our thoughts take us to when we become lost in them. Learning to observe your thoughts is like remembering that you are still in your body, and in your living room, watching TV objectively, you are separate from the show, and no longer mentally absorbed into it. When you are no longer mentally absorbed into thought, you fall back into the position of being an objective observer. You become aware of your thoughts by actively placing your attention on them rather than passively being absorbed into them.

The Ego developed as a self preservation and survival technique, and is most assuredly responsible for our very existence today. It formed as an ability to judge our surroundings and activities, and decide if they were safe or not, is it a snake or a stick? They look similar, but one might bite. Our judgements, then combine with our perceptions of our 5 senses, and a memory signature of the chemicals that washed through our body, such as adrenaline, and store this into a very quick reacting part of our memory. In this way, when we recognize danger, the same chemical wash is released causing us to experience the fight or flight response.

In today's world, the sort of things that cause us stress worry, anxiety fear or whatever personal blend of mental suffering you choose to impose upon your self, neither fight nor flight is usually a practical response. You make a mistake at work or knock over Grandma's antique vase. You can't fight it, you can't flee, so instead you are afraid or worried or anxious, and since you did not engage in a fight or run away in terror, your body has no means of burning off these chemicals. This is the physical manifestation of stress and this takes a physical toll on the health of the body.

Just to be clear then, this practice is about eradicating the Ego, the fantasy version of the sense of 'I'. In other words, putting and end to the discursive free flow of thoughts that sit at the root of all mental disharmony. This is what is meant by the Pali term Niroda, or cessation. And to repeat again, it does not in any way inhibit your ability to think constructively, or creatively, it does not inhibit the ability to reason, problem solve, plan, learn or understand.

The practical path is twofold, first to develop concentration by learning to sustain awareness and attention, and to use that concentration to observe and understand how our mind works, by turning that sustained attention and awareness inwards, in learning mode, without judgements, observing thoughts as they occur, without allowing ourselves to get drawn into the inner drama, learning to regain control of the mind, and to keep it from wandering off into useless trivial inner mind theatrics. Concentration then can be defined as the ability to maintain attention through sustained awareness. We are learning how to be aware of where our mind is, and if it wanders, pull it back by controlling where you place your attention.

For most of us, the habit of allowing our attention to wander into mind theatrics began in our most formative years, our early school years. How many times did the teachers have to repeat the phrase 'pay attention'. Attention is the minds learning mode, and if we didn't feel like learning, we allowed our mind to wander off into our imagination instead. You can not learn anything unless you are paying attention to it, and that includes the mind itself. When you are paying attention to something, you are learning. If you want to understand your mind, you have to pay attention to it. When you place all of your attention onto one of your 5 senses, or perhaps switching from one to the other, giving them your full attention, you are in learning mode. You are learning what it feels like to experience your environment.

Now lets look at what awareness is. Awareness is that part of you that knows without the need for thoughts to run through your head to validate it. You know you are in this room, because you are aware of your surroundings, and you can know that without the mind having to hold an inner dialogue with you about it.

A simple easy practice that can develop the ability to sustain the attention is by focusing your attention directly and intently onto one of the 5 senses and sustaining it by means of awareness, by knowing when your attention is there, and holding it there as long as possible, and pulling it back whenever you recognize that it has wandered. When the mind wanders, pull it back to awareness. You will have to do it over and over and over again, as patiently as you can, until the mind becomes accustomed to staying where you put it.

Thought is always suspended whenever you place all of your awareness and attention totally, and completely on any of the senses. Pick an object in the room, or a spot on the wall, or on the floor and stare at it very intently, as though you were expecting something to happen at any moment and you don't want to miss it, and you will notice thoughts subside momentarily. Give it a try.

That moment of silent mind was free from Ego and completely in the present moment.

If you listen very intently to sounds around you, perhaps picking out one dominant sound, or perhaps trying to pick out the faintest sound you can hear, and thought will again subside. Give that a try as well.

This also applies to physical sensations, which is one of the reasons breath meditation and walking meditation work so well, but only so long as sustained concentrated attention and awareness is held there. When you are eating, know that you are eating, when you are sitting, know that you are sitting.

Other physical sensations such as pain or an itch can also be used as a meditation object to help quiet the mind. The same applies to odours and tastes. When you place all of your attention and awareness into a sensation so intently that the mind quiets, you often become aware of some of the more subtle aspects of the experience that you would have otherwise missed. Like eating pizza and noticing the subtle hints of the different spices, or picking out the individual flavours of the toppings. You become aware of the more subtle levels of the experience that would otherwise be missed or ignored.

You might try staring intently at a candle flame. Anything that helps you develop and strengthen the ability to sustain concentration and awareness.

The second part of the practice is to learn how to turn that awareness and concentration inward. To observe all of the minds movements, thoughts, emotions, reactions, feelings, sensations. Again, it is important that this is done in a completely non-judgemental way. You do not want to start building new thought patterns, and creating new karma.

Remember, concentration and awareness place the mind into learning mode. All the mind has to do is pay attention and observe without judging. Judgements are flawed and will taint the learning process. With sustained practice, the mind starts to connect the dots. It experiences with pure attention what a silent peaceful mind feels like, and it also experiences what the thinking mind feels like, and begins to recognize and learn from the repetitious thought patterns and the emotions that accompany them, and compares this with the quiet peaceful states of concentrated awareness.

As the mind begins to discover and uncover the negative effects of an Ego that runs wild, wisdom begins to develop. Wisdom manifests itself as the ability to discern useful thought patterns from harmful thought patterns. And as wisdom begins to emerge, you gradually stop indulging in your impulse reactions to your thoughts, you stop entertaining thought patterns that are no longer serving in either your or someone else's best interests. You start recognizing what your thought patterns are doing to you, you see clearly how your thoughts are the sparks that ignite the fires of mental stress, and you become aware of your reactions to your thoughts, and your reactions to life, and the impact that your actions and reactions have on you and the world around you, and the impact this has. In other words you start to see your own karma in action.

There is one thing however, that has not changed throughout the entire history of spiritual teachings and practice. And that is the one simple fact that it makes no difference how many books you read or how many talks you listen to, none of it matters, unless you actually do the work yourself.

Formal sitting meditation then, can be thought of as the classroom. It is where you sit and figure out how to develop concentration, practice sustaining quiet minded awareness, teach yourself how to observe thought objectively, and practice diligently observing thought objectively until no thought passes unobserved. Formal meditation is really just removing yourself from as many worldly distractions as possible so you can spend some time alone, just you and your mind, exploring your inner world.

But in order to gain any benefit from these skills, they have to be developed into a new habit, the habit of paying attention and always being aware of where your attention is at. This skill has to be transitioned into all facets of life, every waking moment, building new neural pathways that will develop into long lasting inner peace, tranquillity, and happiness. They have to be practised in the real world, in every waking moment that you can possibly remember to practice. Practice makes perfect.

What I have explained to you is the relationship between samadhi meditation, the concentrated sustained awareness, and vipassana meditation, the inner objective observation of thought. These two practices work hand in hand and compliment each other. You need the skill of sustained concentrated awareness to reflect inward and observe the mind movements, and the more time spent figuring out the mind, the less time the mind becomes willing to spend engaged in harmful, wasteful, or useless thought patterns. This results in a natural calming and quieting of the mind, in turn allowing greater concentration and better sustained awareness. They work hand in hand, complimenting each other. Which one should you develop first? Conventional teachings usually recommend training in samadhi first, but experiment with both and go with what provides the best results for you. Ultimately, both need to be developed.

Michael L. Fournier