October 19th

Action

Yesterday's reflection discussed the great unknown - a realization in which the one who knows is seen to be an illusion, leaving only This.  The thought-based self that reads that last statement may believe that, in allowing the great unknown to be realized, it will be paralyzed into inaction or an inability to use the mind for practical purposes.  This is a common misunderstanding.

For example, take the act of fixing a computer.  When there is a belief in the thought-based self doing the fixing, frustration can arise very quickly.  This frustration is then held onto - played out in a story of time.  Pretty soon the mind is complaining within a dream of time.  It might say, "My son should have fixed this yesterday" or "I will never get this damn thing fixed!"  Do you see the story of separation and suffering in that dream?

When the thought-based self is seen through and life is lived in the unknown, there is no one doing the fixing.  There is still conceptual knowledge being used to fix the computer.  Action is still taken.  But there is no one demanding life to happen in a certain way.  If frustration arises, it arises to no one.  There is no carrying that frustration over into a story of time about how the computer should have been fixed yesterday or about how it may take days before it's fixed.  There is only life fixing a computer.

Michael Brown

From PART V: 3. 

Why is it necessary to continue our breathing        practice after Session 10?

(Continuation...)

  Even though we complete The Presence Process, it may still be challenging for some of us to comprehend what is being accomplished when we attend to our 15 minutes breathing twice a day. Sometimes the best way to integrate what the breathing accomplishes is by not attending to it for about a week or two. Sometimes, despite our intent to keep up with our practice, our Inner Presence facilitates us into entering this experience so we achieve this level of integration. When we cease our practice for a while, we notice that the resonance of our life experience changes; it is heavier, more unconscious, and decidedly less joyful. We also forget to wield our perceptual tools, we forget they even exist, and consequently re-enter reactive behavior. The majority of souls on earth operate in a time-based paradigm; when we do not maintain a frequency enabling us to ride above these unconscious waves, the current of the majority drags us under again. We remain vulnerable to these collective currents until we accumulate a powerful level of present moment awareness. We remain vulnerable until we activate emotional body awareness.   

Chapter 87  

Keep the Mind Silent And You Shall Discover

(Continuation...)

Q: On the verbal level it sounds all right. I can visualize myself as the seed of being, a point in consciousness, with my sense 'I am' pulsating, appearing and disappearing alternately. But what am I to do to realize it as a fact, to go beyond into the changeless, wordless Reality?

M: You can do nothing. What time has brought about, time will take away.