Have You Lost Your Senses?

"The invitations are now going out bulk rate and not just to the monasteries! Evolution has kicked it up a notch. Our Presence is NOW required."

One of my richest memories is watching my daughter, as a toddler, wandering around our simple living room in Lincoln, Nebraska. She was joyfully intent on experiencing everything she could lay her tiny hands upon. And she didn't stop with sight and touch. Everything went to her nose and mouth for a thorough examination; every sound piqued her curiosity as well, drawing her attention like bee to clover.

The key to joy and peace of mind is single - mindedness. Young children don't reason this, they live it. They haven't yet opted into the compulsive noise loop of thinking about past and future. They're far too busy investigating what is, using full attention to blissfully absorb the smorgasbord of sensory delight. Priorities are clear: sensation before reflection, doing that serves being.

As children grow up, they adopt the addiction of compulsive thinking. Very few are guided within the continuing awareness of him/herself as Observer of the world experiencedand, even so, it may be that Being, true freedom, can only be truly appreciated from an experience of its lack.

Sensing reveals presence. Thinking masks it.

"There's so much speculating going on that a lot of us never get around to living. Life is always walking up to us and saying, 'Come on in, the living's fine,' and what do we do? Back off and take its picture." . . . Russell Baker

We've reached the point on evolution's curve where thinking has become both the problem and the pathway to freedom. By identifying with our minds, we've attached to the belief that our thinking tells us who we arepsychological selves in becoming. This false sense of identity defies natural dissolution back into the nothingness of pre - formed thought by its maintenance through non - stop affirmation from the blabbering, bully of (mostly unconscious) self - talk that spawned it. It has become an entity and it clings to its existence in the shadows of our minds, insisting that its irrational premises remain hidden, tenaciously threatening the host with unimagined pain, suffering, and confusion unto death over any real inquiry of or challenge to its absurd authority. We defer to it and allow it to think us.

And now this shared, thinking compulsion finds itself butting heads against an active, unhindered evolutionary imperativethe immediate opportunity for present moment awareness of what is (i.e., Being and the dissolution of mind identification). It is an evolutionary next step in illumination of consciousness and resulting transformation of the earthCollective Awareness in Being: that is, the global realization of "I Am" within one and all simultaneously. It is helpful to realize the impetus and impact of this macrocosm upon our microcosm. For me, it's where faith is strengthened in the face of the darkness and confusion that I can experience through my resistance to surrender, understanding that providence or evolution and I are always "joined at the hips" so to speak, and that where I self - will blindness or hesitancy, evolution remains on tracknot only unimpeded by my will, but inclusively orchestrating my resistance within its larger purpose.

So, why cooperate with evolution and how? Why? Simple: to release the experience of human suffering that forces our cooperation. How? Simple as well: practice being present by seeing and accepting what is. The good news is that this isn't as difficult as our thinking would have us believe. History points to centuries of disciplined meditation and spiritual practice as a powerful way, often under the tutelage of an enlightened mastera rite by special invitation.

Well, the invitations are now going out bulk rate and not just to the monasteries! Evolution has kicked it up a notch. Our Presence is NOW required; thus, windows into Being are presently opening within all human experience.

One of the clearest evidences of this expansive opening unto Being is the wide portal that has manifested by sensing the body and the world. Prior to this, the primary portal was focused in the mind through the direct discipline of stilling it in meditation using mantras (rote and/or sacred words) and mandalas (images). By focusing attention repeatedly on these words or images, it is possible to stop the mind from thinking. However, it has often taken years of practiced discipline to do so. Why? Because the mind is the noisiest place in town where all the non-stop chatter is raging. But you don't need to go there.

The mind cannot think and sense at the same time impossible. When I feel the breeze blowing across my face, I sense or notice it. If I then relate it to a similar time and place or choose to treat the chill, I am thinking. It may appear that I am sensing and thinking simultaneously; however, when closely observed, the switching back and forth is apparent. Sense and stop thought. Think and stop sensation.

The Secret is out! The Pearl of Great Price is no longer hidden! The place where the incessant chatter stops within the Bliss of Being is NOW available and you don't need a master or an initiation to find it. Evolution has opened it for you, released it mainstream. And it is so simple. It's your ability to use your mind to sense what is. In so doing, you throw the 'Stop Thinking switch' inside and Being is present. Get this: Sensing opens Being; thinking masks it. Even with a little practice of sensing/noticing/observing the moment (Reality), the mind chatter around past and future (Illusion) stops. You can experience Being right now. In fact, Now is the only time to Be!

A suggestion: start with the body. It's close, sensory and personal. And here's a simple exercise.

Sit in a straight - backed chair or lie on your back. Direct your attention slowly into each part of your body. Sense (instead of think) about each part. Some pointers: Close your eyes and think of your right shoulder. Notice where your mind goes. Now close your eyes and ask yourself without verbally responding, "How do I know my right shoulder exists? Without moving or looking at it, how do I know that I even have a right shoulder?" Notice how your attention moves into your shoulder.

The language you use to guide will also help. Directing with words like "notice my toes," "find my foot," "sense my wrist," draws attention to sensation. Use words that work for you.

Slowly work your way through each part (toes, feet, ankles, lower legs, etc.) of your body while noticing and sensing each part. Take five to ten seconds in each area. After reaching the head, go through the body from top to bottom and back up again two times, only more rapidly, taking time to notice/sense each part. Then sense your whole body as one unit. Now, drop the image; sense the energy. Can you sense the One who is sensing? Don't look; just sense.

If you wander, simply catch yourself and come back to task. Sensing stops thought. Silence and stillness, at first, may enable thinking. Don't give your "self" the moment to think. Relax and trust yourselfand Beyond. One moment of notice will reveal Being.

Remember, Being is not something you gain: it's a gift already received. In one moment your thinking drops. You are left with Heaven looking back at you, with a perfect eye for precious detail.

Editor's Note: This article is Part Two of a five - part series. Next issue: How Being restores sanity, dissolving the psychological- identification matrix wherein all suffering, trauma and addiction is formed and stored.

~ ~ ~

The Reverend Warren Dale Blackford is an author, speaker, teacher and Spiritual guide.