The power of now

Pointing out a problem that needs to be fixed, is a matter of fact not of judgment. it is not the type of criticism I'm talking about. If you don't look for someone to place the blame on, only for a way to make things better, then I don't call it judgment. Even if you decide to replace the man doing the job with someone who is more capable, I don't call it judgment. these are all matters of fact. But terminology can be tricky sometimes.

I am sure the original man who was doing a job (and is being replaced) would call it a judgement! Perspective!

Yes he would, and many times he would be right, for instance: in a case where he should have been given another chance, or if he should have been given more time, but if he is really the wrong man for the job - totally wrong - then what can you do? that is a matter of fact - a matter of true and false.

Yes he would, and many times he would be right, for instance: in a case where he should have been given another chance, or if he should have been given more time, but if he is really the wrong man for the job - totally wrong - then what can you do? that is a matter of fact - a matter of true and false.

I guess if he was "totally wrong" for the job then how you appraise him may be deemed constructive criticism rather than judgement, allowing him insight into his shortcomings for him to take stock of. Even then, constructive criticism may be "received" as judgement, i.e. a personal attack - it depends how open or sensitive someone is.

The new age beliefs perceive criticism as the tendency to see the dark side of things, as opposed to having a positive view on life and seeing the bright side of things. And the promise is that if you give your attention to the positive side, it will draw more positive things it into your life. I've never said that. All I've said was: you should except the facts for what they are, the pleasant ones and the unpleasant ones, the bright ones and the dark ones - and be totally open to your experiences, no matter what they are. Don't ignore problems - it won't make them disappear, just don't look for someone to blame - look for solutions. That's my idea of not being judgmental, as opposed to the new age beliefs.

I used to think that focus attention on a thought gives it power to materialize, but eventually I came to realize that it is not the focused attention that does it, it is the subconscious mind that does the trick. To activate the subconscious mind, you need to deactivate the conscious mind, by stopping or bypassing the critical thought process in your mind, and if you are focusing on one experience more than another, you are still caught in critical thinking, you are still filtering your experiences.

And that is the most important thing I've learned from Paul.

I used to thing that focus attention on a thought gives it power to materialize, but eventually I came to realize that it is not the focused attention that does it, it is the subconscious mind that does the trick. To activate the subconscious mind, you need to deactivate the conscious mind, by stopping or bypassing the critical thought process in your mind, and if you are focusing on one experience more than another, you are still caught in critical thinking, you are still filtering your experiences.

And that is the most important thing I've learned from Paul.

LOA (the law of attraction) is established and true, i.e. that which we focus on will grow, i.e. we get more of. I think you are erroneously just associating this with the power to materalise something but this involves cosmic ordering/manifestation which does use LOA but involves much more than just this process.

I access my intuition to beneficial effect quite often and have done some research into intuition and it's possible link to the subconscious. I got an insight that our intuition springs from the subconscious. I asked what other spiritual members thought of this on 2 spiritual forums and all posts were affirmative. Then I googled it and, lo and behold, found that intuition is indeed a subconscious process! The reason why I mention it is that thinking is suspended to access intuition...you spoke of deactivating the conscious mind so I thought my post might interest you.

There is a bit of a misconception going on here, intuition or inner tuition and guidance comes from our higher self aspect of consciousness, not our subconsciousness mind or memory aspect of consciousness, that will only replay what we already know or have instructed it to do, it will argue with us when we try and put some new information in that conflicts with existing information, but that is about as far as it can go.

As for thoughts, all thoughts are creative in nature, they all have the ability to bring something into our life experience as long as it does not contradict an existing thought pattern or belief.

We connect with all aspect of our consciousness by becoming one with them, we cannot get a full connection within consciousness by ignoring or trying to shut aspects of consciousness out of the equation, acceptance is always the key to wholeness, although we talk about different aspects of consciousness, it is one consciousness much the same as all the aspects of a body collectively make one body. 🙂

Thank you Amy, and if you'll find an interesting link, send it to me. Thanks.

There is a bit of a misconception going on here

Paul, I think we more or less mean the same. Most of the differences are in terminology, for instance: what should we call this entity, which is the source of intuition and inspiration? is it the higher self or the subconscious? depends on what these words means to you, but you see that the concept points, more or less, to one direction. When you say "We connect with all aspect of our consciousness by becoming one with them", how do we do it? how do we open ourselves completely to all of our aspects and experiences? by becoming non-selective. by watching the present moment objectively, by accepting everything, by being totally passive -- that's saying the same thing in different words. In order for such an acceptance to be, what should be done? ... It is not a normal state of being, right? the average person in the street doesn't live like that, so what should be done in order to achieve that state? Which technique should be used? ...

The reason why I made the link (verified from many sources now) that the intuition comes from the subsconscious is that, knowledge accessed this way has a feeling of truth/being self evident and that we have always known it but forgotten it.

When you say "We connect with all aspect of our consciousness by becoming one with them", how do we do it? how do we open ourselves completely to all of our aspects and experiences? by becoming non-selective. by watching the present moment objectively, by accepting everything, by being totally passive -- that's saying the same thing in different words. In order for such an acceptance to be, what should be done? ... It is not a normal state of being, right? the average person in the street doesn't live like that, so what should be done in order to achieve that state? Which technique should be used? ...

In a sense we simply let go of that which we perceive as self, when we stop trying to be something and allow ourselves to simply be, we are then open to stop telling self and start asking self; when we stop judging self and start to accept self, then we are open to become one, take personal responsibility and embrace the fullness of self.

We are then open to embrace the fullness of everything. 🙂

The reason why I made the link (verified from many sources now) that the intuition comes from the subsconscious is that, knowledge accessed this way has a feeling of truth/being self evident and that we have always known it but forgotten it.

If we are assessing what we are perceiving against what we already know, then we are connection with our subconsciousness or memory consciousness, the only thing in there is what we have experienced to date, or have told self, or accepted through what other people have told us. It is directly under the guidance of our core way of being, which is the seat of our underlying thought patterns and beliefs, so everything is clouded though our judgmental beliefs, so yes everything will feel right because we have told ourselves that this is the way it should be.

But if we have a sense of unease about that perception of truth as we put it into action, then that is our higher aspect of consciousness attempting to giving us intuition, it dies not shout or get angry, it does not try and dominate through rightness, it just says it as it is and goes quite unless we stop and take the time to ask it questions and wait for the response to unfold within our consciousness. 🙂

Right now, I'm holding a book written 500 years ago, by a Jewish rabbi, based on the knowledge of the ancients, on the subject of prophecy techniques.. The Jewish meditation technique, which the prophets had used to get visions from above, is basically a repetition technique, like in transcendental meditation. There are a set of holy mantras which you repeat. Interestingly, encrypting of a word is considered a meditative activity, in Jewish teaching of prophecy, just like repetition. The alpha-beth letters, 22 in number, are considered the embodiment of the angels themselves, which all together form the tree of life, which is the Jewish version of the chakras structure. Anyway, in this book, the author asks: When the godly man is in a state of meditative absorption, and his awareness goes up to the spiritual zone, how is it, that his thoughts are materializing instantly? His reply is that in this state you become one with God and therefore inherit godly properties.

You can see that the phenomenon of thought materialization associated with meditation was well known long before the law of attraction was even heard of. I have no doubt that is it true, the question is how it works? I don't think that focused attention is what causing it to happen. Focused attention can bring you to a meditative state, because it is distracting you from thoughts. Once you are in a meditative state, thoughts tend to materialize (not always immediately), but distraction is not a good meditation technique, even if occasionally you might get into a deep meditative state through distraction.

If we are assessing what we are perceiving against what we already know, then we are connection with our subconsciousness or memory consciousness, the only thing in there is what we have experienced to date, or have told self, or accepted through what other people have told us. It is directly under the guidance of our core way of being, which is the seat of our underlying thought patterns and beliefs, so everything is clouded though our judgmental beliefs, so yes everything will feel right because we have told ourselves that this is the way it should be.

But if we have a sense of unease about that perception of truth as we put it into action, then that is our higher aspect of consciousness attempting to giving us intuition, it dies not shout or get angry, it does not try and dominate through rightness, it just says it as it is and goes quite unless we stop and take the time to ask it questions and wait for the response to unfold within our consciousness. 🙂

I am sorry but I have to fundamentally disagree and it does make me wonder whether you have accessed your intuition. (I realise intuition may be mistaken for gut instinct - there is an overlap but there are also differences).

To say that all that is in our subconscious is just our experiences is like saying the iceberg is just what can be seen on top. The subconscious is SO much more...the deepest part of our selves/our soul and, our intuition can tap into a deeper knowledge not within our own making - I call it the divine source. Those who are spiritually focused are familiar with this. There is no unease about perception of such truth at all and I don't understand your explanation/reasoning on this.

To say that all that is in our subconscious is just our experiences is like saying the iceberg is just what can be seen on top

I agree, I think this definition is too scientific -- too rigid and therefore misses the point.

I am not saying that we do not have intuition, for we do but if we are listening to our subconscious (subconscious and unconscious minds are scientific terms) that is under the control of our core beliefs, then it is easy to lead ourselves down the proverbial garden path, we think and we agree with them thoughts as they are in alignment with our core beliefs, these might well differ to the information that comes from our higher self which gives us our intuition.

Our higher self is not influenced in any way by our core beliefs, we are free to believe anything we want to, but our beliefs will not change what we are, they are simply a belief that serves to create an experience, change the beliefs or let go of them and the experience changes.

A typical example is when we choose to judge self and set up a core belief that we are not good enough for whatever, all of our inner dialog will then work to manifest experiences that surround that core belief, the inner dialog will only change when we are ready to change our minds and make a new choice. Because this is a personal choice, our full being sets about manifesting this reality, because we are all one, then other people will also start to make this happen for us.:)

Paul - I do not recognise how you define the procedure for accessing intuition.....it does not involve investigation into core beliefs. Perhaps if I describe what transpires, in my experience, it may shed light on the matter.

The mind needs to be stilled, receptive and without thought. When there is a lull....this allows the space to receive the info. It comes in a blinding flash in a kind of "eureka" fashion whereby there are absolutely no doubts of its validity and truth. It is also hallmarked as not coming from our own mindset.

An example. I have a disturbed neighbour who keeps breaking into my back garden (there is no talking to her, she rants hysterically). She lives 2 houses from me. I have had to erect a high fence because of this but there are still other sides/weak spots that she finds to break entry, trespass and vandalise my garden. I can usually work out where she got in. On this particular occasion I was baffled and at a loss.

My garden backs onto my upstair's tenant garden and I scoured this for a source of entry. So it was that I gave up....I let go...with a blank mind.....then, like an inner voice, I was being urged to look at the branches of a tree next door. I did so and saw that they were hanging uncharacteristically low....they had been bent down so as to clamber from the branches onto my tenant's shed roof! Without this helpful guiding hand/intuition, I doubt that I would have fathomed it out.

Hi Amy

Understanding how our consciousness revolves around our core beliefs and how we use them to create our life experience, is useful to understand how we cloud our perceptions and restrict the type of thoughts that are classified as intuition that we are open to receive, there is a constant flow of information that becomes more accessible as we stop trying to be something, accept self and simply allow ourselves to be.

When we become one though acceptance, all of our aspects of consciousness work as one, we do not have to quieten the mind to perceive what is happening in our other aspects of consciousness, they are all one and function as one within our awareness all of the time. 😉

Paul, on a previous thread you wrote:
"Do you want to become whole or a flame? yes focusing upon a flame will distract you from your thoughts, but your thoughts are what you are, embrace them and accept them unconditionally and non judgmentally and they will become still, remove the inner divisional conflict/argument which create the chatter and we become still, we can then just observe and become aware of what is within the fullness of self and the oneness."

So you yourself said, and I agree with it, that in meditation we need to be non judgmental, embrace and accept everything that happens externally and internally, including thoughts, and as a result, thoughts become still.

All we are trying to do is build another building block, upon this foundation, and ask ourselves why? why is it so important for the mind to be still? and how as a result of this stillness, we get all the benefits of meditation? and how practically, do you become non-judgmental and embracing and accepting? -- the technical details should be clarified, in any type of practice - the clearer things get, the better you get in practicing it. why stick to the first building block? Why rest on your laurels? Why not make another step?

Paul, on a previous thread you wrote:
So you yourself said, and I agree with it, that in meditation we need to be non judgmental, embrace and accept everything that happens externally and internally, including thoughts, and as a result, thoughts become still.

All we are trying to do is build another building block, upon this foundation, and ask ourselves why? why is it so important for the mind to be still? and how as a result of this stillness, we get all the benefits of meditation? and how practically, do you become non-judgmental and embracing and accepting? -- the technical details should be clarified, in any type of practice - the clearer things get, the better you get in practicing it. why stick to the first building block? Why rest on your laurels? Why not make another step?

The reality is that being non-judgmental is a way of being rather than a meditative practice, it is all right being one way when we choose to set time aside to meditate, but do you not think that we should be that way all of the time?

As for stilling the mind, why would you want to stop yourself being yourself? To reharmonise the mind we have to change the thing that is causing the disharmony within our consciousness, which is our selves; basically we chose to think and be one way and it created disharmony, when we choose to think and be another way it will create harmony, everything begins and end with a thought, simples. 😉

The reality is that being non-judgmental is a way of being rather than a meditative practice, it is all right being one way when we choose to set time aside to meditate, but do you not think that we should be that way all of the time?

You don't come out of the meditative state once you finish practicing meditation, not completely. Meditation has a permanent effect on your being after the practice as well. But there is no way for an ordinary man to get to the meditative state, unless he practices meditation, so in the end the technique is very important.

I think you noticed, just like I did recently, that mindfulness meditation contains a factor of distraction no matter how you practice it. You can be the passive-objective witness that stands aside and looks without judging, you can be the watcher on the hill that doesn't take part in any activity, and is detached and distant from all that is happening around him -- only paying attention to the experience of the "now" -- still, no matter how you look at mindfulness meditation, it is about distraction! You said it yourself previously on this thread: "Meditation is a form of distraction, but we cannot be aware of anything without a thought pattern that creates the awareness of being aware, to be fully aware of the now, requires us to focus our thoughts within what is, rather than being distracted by what has been or what might be."

Mindfulness meditation technique is better then the Focused intention technique. You don't stick your attention forcibly on a focal point. You do it indirectly, but it still contains a factor of attention control. And therefore, the only meditation technique that involves no attention control is transcendental meditation, that is way everyone say it takes you the deepest, because it involves no distraction, and therefore stops all critical thought processes in the mind. But you have to learn it from someone who knows it well. Not every mantra meditation is a transcendental meditation. You can use the mantra as a focal point to distract you from thought. Real TM is simply thinking a repetitive thought, while thoughts can come and go freely.

Here is some scientific research made by Dr. Fred Travis
[url] http://drfredtravis.com/Other Meditations.html[/url]

You can see that the lowest brainwave frequency are measured in deep sleep and TM. I read elsewhere that you can even get to the Delta frequency (0.5-4Hz) while doing TM.

The now encompasses our life experience as it unfolds within the now.

Meditation has its uses, it is a lot easier to help someone who is in a relaxed state of being than an agitated one, we utilise a couple of short and simple forms of meditation in our healing practice, one is to help people to become aware of themselves and the fullness of everything, the other is an active form which is used to reprogram peoples underlying thought patterns and beliefs.

Past that it is entirely up to each individual to choose what they want to do, the now is one of many options that are available to the people who are open to choose, the meditation is not the now, the alternative state of being that a meditation induces is not the now, the now is the reality of what is, anything that distracts us from fully engaging and experiencing our life experience in the now, can only be described as a distraction. 😉

In my view, giving your attention to the experience of the "now" is just another way of distracting it from thoughts. I don't see how experiencing the now, by itself, makes you more spiritual, this was the starting point, from which I started this discussion. I guess I can't expect everyone to agree with me, but the discussion helped me see things more clearly.

In my view, giving your attention to the experience of the "now" is just another way of distracting it from thoughts. I don't see how experiencing the now, by itself, makes you more spiritual, this was the starting point, from which I started this discussion. I guess I can't expect everyone to agree with me, but the discussion helped me see things more clearly.

I am not aware that I have said that being in the now makes you anything other than what we are?

To my understanding we cannot actively give our attention to anything unless we choose to think about what we are placing our attention on, that requires thought, even meditation requires a conscious thought to get the process started, if we do not think, then we simply become mindless and unaware and do nothing, like being asleep!

Here is a nice video by Rupert Spira

Like in almost every talk on meditation, he talks about the 'Now', and has his own idea why you can't think about the Now, and it is a very interesting subject to think about, philosophically. And it is a very neat technique to stop thinking, by pointing your attention at something that thought can't grasp, instead of fighting against thoughts that are constantly trying to steal your attention. But meditation is not about being in the now, it is about deactivating your conscious mind, so that the subconscious mind can be activated. One way of deactivating your conscious mind is by being in the now.

Being in the "Now" has no spiritual meaning, but people are longing for meaning, so they find meaning. If you'll look good enough, you'll even find meaning in a Phone book. One should look for truth, not for meaning.

Thank you! Will listen to it while driving.

Goodness that is hard work listening to that, I managed about 10 minutes. 🙂

The answer is quite simply that there is only one now, if we attempt to analyse it we have moved out of the now to analyse what has been rather then being in the now flow of what is.

Trying to relate the now which is a concept of oneness to the concept of diversionary time, where each segment of time is separate from the last segment of time, is pointless exercise, for the two work in completely different ways.

I do not follow your train of thought that to get into the now, require us to deactivate our thinking mind, the now is the reality of our life experience as it unfolds around us, to deactivate our mind so that we are not aware of this life experience, will simply take us out of the now and place our awareness onto something other than the now, much the same as dwelling on what has been or dreaming of what will be, rather than being in the reality of the now does.

I also do not understand why you think our other aspects of consciousness are inactive, rather than us not being aware of the level of activity that is always happening within the fullness of self!

Perhaps you are referring to the other now which belongs to the oneness of consciousness, where everything is now right now because there is not time, that is different to our now reality, in which the only things that are in the now are the things that are unfolding for us right now?

Paul, I don't see how your answers are answering my question... 😉 but thanks anyway 🙂 I've learned some very important insights from you in the past and I appreciate that.

And I thank everyone who participated in this discussion.

That is all right Daniel, but the next time you watch someone who is claiming to be deactivate their thinking mind, please consider how are they managing to stand or sit and how can they can talk when they should be in an unconscious state on the floor. 🙂

Update

Found the answer myself:

I once heard that in zen, there is a common saying: "When you eat - eat, when you walk - walk."

If that is the meaning of "being in the Now", then being in the now is more then another meditation technique, it is the essence of meditation - building up an unshakable awareness, that stays alert even when you drift into the subconscious mind, while you are sleeping or daydreaming.

And is possible without meditation.

I am 49 years of age, I lived all my life without meditation, struggling with stress and anxiety and emptiness and meaningless, without knowing there is a way out, through meditation. I heard a nice definition by a long term meditator: "it's not that because of meditation you don't feel pain, you feel it even more, because of the awareness, but you don't identify with the body, so even though the body aches, you are deep inside, in a place of blissfulness".

Focusing the senses on one thing is a meditation technique, because it is not the goal. it is a means to an end - it causes your attention to focus on one thing. You can focus your attention on one thing even without focusing the senses. And focusing the attention, in its turn, is also only a means to an end - it causes the focus of the self, which is what awareness is all about. You can focus the self, meaning to become aware, without focusing the attention, once you grab the principle.

But this experience of awareness, if I hadn't experienced it - through meditation - I don't think I would have ever come to realize it.