The light of the Self is always available but is not experienced when our attention is on the illusory ego Michael Jeffreys
Archive for January, 2017
“The Light of the Self…” new MJ Awakening pic quote
January 31, 2017
“My belief that life should be…” new MJ Awakening pic quote
January 23, 2017
My belief that life should be/look/feel a certain way in this moment in order for me to be happy is the root of my suffering. -Michael Jeffreys
The mind can’t tell you what you are… new MJ Awakening Pic Quote
January 19, 2017
It’s one thing to notice that the “outside” world can’t tell you what you are, but it’s another to notice that your own mind can’t either. Why? Where did your mind get everything it knows from? That’s right, the outside world.
Michael Jeffreys
“You don’t have a Life, You are LIFE” new MJ Awakening Blog
January 13, 2017
Last Wednesday night at the West LA Satsang, I said, “Right here now, look around you. Whatever is presently happening, all of it… the room, the walls, the bodies sitting in chairs, the air, the light, the sounds, etc. is LIFE happening. And there is only one LIFE, however it is appearing.”
At this point I reached behind me and pulled out from behind my desk a box of LIFE cereal to which I had glued on, in black letters, the word: ‘MY.’ I then tossed it in the middle of the circle and continued, “This being the case, the idea that there is this separate thing called, ‘My Life’ is a complete illusion and the cause of my suffering. It’s an add-on, an overlay, a redundancy that has nothing to do with reality, but only exists in my mind as an idea. And it’s this project of trying to manage, protect and grow this imaginary, separate ‘My Life’ that is the source of all my problems.
Life is all there is and all that is ever happening… and there are not two LIFE’s… as Eckhart Tolle said, ‘You don’t have a life, you are life‘.”
It’s the direct realization of this that makes all the difference.
Michael Jeffreys
Q: Why do you begin each week of the West LA Satsang with 30 minutes of silent meditation? New MJ Awakening Blog
January 9, 2017
MICHAEL: To sit quietly and observe one’s mind for an extended period is often uncomfortable. Why? Because when we are engaged in non-stop doing throughout our day, we are not consciously aware of just how noisy/busy our mind is, bouncing from thought, to thought, to thought like a “drunken monkey stung by bees.”
Meditation gives you a chance to notice this. While some report they don‘t like meditation because it’s “too hard,” the point is that it’s not the meditation that’s causing the mind to jump around, but rather it’s already jumping around all the time, you’re just finally becoming aware of it!
What to do? Just observe it. Don’t try to stop your thoughts or change them. Simply observe them. Why? To see they are not you. This is the point. And the more you see they are not you, the less reactive you will become as they lose their hold over you and the more relaxed and peaceful you become. It can also be helpful to repeat to yourself throughout the day:
“I am not my thoughts… I am the witness of them.”
Our topic for this Weds. night’s 1/4/17 West LA weekly Satsang is: “The Power of Noticing”
January 2, 2017
Noticing what? Noticing how you slip into the jiva suit (your illusory identity, the narrative/story/voice in the head that claims it is you, that x,y, and z is a problem and until it gets sorted out you can’t possibly be happy/at peace, etc.) without realizing it. This fear based mind made entity is not you. As Eckhart Tolle says, “You are not the voice in the head, but the one who hears it.”
But Eckhart’s pointer is of no benefit until you see/notice IN YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE what he is saying. In other words, are you your thoughts or do you have thoughts? There is a world of difference between having something and being something. If you believe you are your thoughts, then you have to suffer because every thought is a limitation, and thus not what you truly are.
The thing about noticing is that you have to actually do it. Just reading about or thinking it sounds like a good idea won’t yield its amazing fruits. You have to actually do it, as in notice (and, imo, you cannot notice too much or too often) that there is no hope for the jiva as its death is certain. This is the fact that the jiva doesn’t want to look at head on. However, what if it’s noticed that you are not the jiva and never have been? And once you notice this you keep on noticing until it becomes more and more your direct experience.
Michael
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