MEANING AND ENLIGHTENMENT
BY Ross Bannister Todd 1998
We give meaning to what we think will make us happy and or what we think is important or big, and or perhaps we ascribe meaning out of fear, worry or doubt.
We may give meaning to church not because we enjoy the refreshing or energetically uplifting service, but because we fear not going, fear not dying without God. We may feel guilty for our sins or that we are bad and need to make amends by going to church and/or giving money to church/religious organizations.
We attribute meaning to what we THINK/ASSUME is important. Perhaps, what is bigger than ourselves, what we do not understand and/or perhaps fear.
We are searching for meaning with our mind, our ego mind and we are searching for it outside of ourselves, outside of our body, searching in physical reality, in the world of objects and things, in the physical, material world.
We are searching the physical world for our meaning because we are identified with our physical bodies, we assume we are our ego mind and body, the conversation in our head, the feelings of pain, discomfort, hunger, etc.
We are looking for meaning in the world of objects., people places and things which is a natural or logical outcome if we assume we are only a body and a mind. If we assume we are a body and a mind then we would look for meaning with our mind and expect it to be physical or mental.
MEANING IS MENTAL. MEANING IS APPEARS TO BE A MENTAL DECISION.
MENTAL IS ONLY MENTAL, TRANSITORY, FICKLE, IMPERMANINT, AND, FOR THE MOST PART, A PROJECTION.
You are projecting your reality [feelings] onto physical reality and calling that real, or reality. This is an illusion. The reality you see/feel is an illusion created by your projections, it is a composite of what you see, what you think you see and what you are currently feeling which are most likely memories of feelings. Try and imagine life without thinking, without mental noise just for a moment. Can you imagine how quiet it would be? How peaceful you could be with a quiet mind, whither or not the world around you was noisy or quiet, busy or serene.
Most of our conflict is in our mind, which is also the source of most of our dis-ease and problems. If the person in front of you is upset and your are not it, is a very different experience than if you are upset too. But their upset can’t actually get into your mind and body, it can’t physically travel to you.
We are usually living in a mental reality and pretending it is the same as the shared physical reality, so we naturally are trying to ascribe meaning mentally. We can’t think of any other way to go about it.
THE TRUE MEANING OF LIFE CAN ONLY COME IF YOU TRANSCEND YOUR THINKING MIND AND SIT IN THAT EXPERIENCE! THIS IS A DEEP WORDLESS EXPERIENCE OF KNOWING. IT IS NOT A MENTAL CONSTRUCT.
"THE PEACE THAT PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING" Understanding is a mental concept, therefore this means the peace that is beyond mental or thinking.
ENLIGHTENMENT IS NOT A MENTAL CONSTRUCT, IS NOT VAST AMOUNTS OF KNOWLEDGE OR INFORMATION. IT IS THE ABILITY TO BE IN A BODY, WITH A MIND AND NOT BE IDENTIFIED WITH THAT BODY AND MIND.
But we can attempt to describe the process in words: When you transcend your mind you have an experience of your higher Self, your God-self, your Spirit, Soul, or essence. YOU ARE SPIRIT, TEMPORIALY HOUSED IN A BODY, THAT HAS AN EGO MIND.
SPIRIT IS IMMORTAL, BEYOND TIME, MADE OF THE SAME ENERGY THAT IS GOD, THAT IS THE UNIVERSE. I have no proof, but I know it.
It would follow that the only MEANING there is, is that you are an Immortal Spirit and you can create any"thing" you want. Things have meaning because you say they do, decide they do, or not decide, they have meaning.
Meaning may be what makes you happy, but you are deciding what makes you happy. Satisfaction is a quality of meaning but satisfaction is only available permanently if you accept or choose the world as it is, NOW. Satisfaction is not needing or desiring anything in this moment, then it is perfect, you are perfect, life is perfect, God is perfect...
Meaning is an experience of being fully present in the moment, totally at choice, no conversation in your head, no old emotions, no judging, and no fear. Being in the moment is to be in love [without and object and god may be the object].
MEANING IS KNOWING, ABSOLUTELY-BEYOND DOUBT, THAT YOU ARE GOD IN YOUR PERSONAL UNIVERSE AND THAT THERE IS A GOD AND HE, SHE OR IT IS PRESENT INSIDE YOU. HE, SHE, OR IT IS THE CONSCIOUSNESS LOOKING OUT OF YOUR EYES, WATCHING YOUR MIND, EXPERIENCING YOUR EXPERIENCE-BEING ...YOU.
The search for meaning must be an internal search. But it is an active, non-doing search. It is a search that you conduct in meditation. A search that culminates in the actual, literal experience of yourself as the god within an experience of your higher self, GodSelf. This is a deep wordless experience.
Then walking in the world in this experience, walking in love, walking in the knowledge that peace, love and freedom are inside of you and they are in your current experience, they are you, you are peace love and freedom. Not to mention wonderful to be around.
It is simple, peaceful, accepting, patient, forgiving, and grateful and it is you. Because it is your experience, you do not doubt it, you know it, without any external proof in the physical world, it is simply faith. Faith based on an experience inside your body, mind and spirit.
Then you can see the evidence all around you, in flowers, trees, sand, ocean, sun and stars. The evidence that their is an intelligent, loving, peaceful, generous and powerful Infinite Intelligence which you can call God or "I am" or Central Energy Force. Just as the Infinite Intelligence or God is present in the beauty of a rose, "He/It" is present in you. Eventually "He" is your experience and then you realize that you are actually "His" experience, you are "Him" pretending to be you. You are not separate, you are not your mind and your body and you have a mind and a body. You are ONE, whole complete and perfect. Being One with something doesn’t mean you identify with it or think it is you, Oneness is a deep wordless spiritual connection.
"I and my Father are One and my Father is greater than I".
This is the only meaning, the only truth, the one truth. It is an experience a deep wordless experience. Faith is beyond words, beyond doubt, beyond understanding, transcends the mind, yet is more real that the "real/physical" world.
The Hermetic Principles state that "everything is mental" but the mental they are referring to is the peaceful, loving, quiet mental of enlightenment, not the noisy mental of the chattering/thinking ego mind.
8/7/98
Faith can only be internal, if it is dependent on any person, place, thing or situation it is externally based and all this [physical reality] shall pass away. You [your spirit] are good, are God. Faith has to be a deep internal, knowing or it is based on the false assumption that physical reality is all there is, and that physical reality is important. But important/meaningful is being decided by your mind. Valuableness is a mental decision based on money, sex, power, looks, friends, mate, which are all external, and are all mind-body dependent.
It is not so much that physical reality is an illusion it is the importance/meaning that you are attaching to it that is the illusion. It is again all based on the false assumption that you are matter/material [body/mind, is physical/matter].
Our whole culture is based on the belief that matter is more important that health, happiness and love which are a function of peace of mind. In other words, stuff is more important that experiencing inner peace [God].
Knowing Spirit/God may not be possible it you are attached to the physical world including your mind and body, your knowledge and perceptions, your accomplishments, experience is all there is, living a safe life can block experience, block joy, block immortality, block love-fear blocks love.
Spirit is not limited to this reality but we don’t usually see that or have that experience and our culture says physical reality/matter is the only reality and therefore king.
Our western culture is also based on speed, movement, busyness. Our bodies are always rushing from place to place and our minds are always focused on the future or the past. We never stop and just experience the present moment. We only stop when we are drunk, stoned, stuffed, or exhausted then we watch videos/TV or computers or sleep.
Meditation is practice not thinking, not being busy, being present in the current moment. Being here NOW. Out of this is born inner peace, Self-love, health and happiness. Many of my clients cannot stop long enough to meditate once a day. I agree mediation is hard, but that is because meditation is a small, temporary ego death.
Enlightenment cannot be figured out, or thought out. Those are still activities, still busy in the head/mind. You must totally stop, don’t do anything but breathe. Don’t think, don’t move, don’t use your ears, don’t look with your eyes, don’t feel, don’t use your senses or your mind. Just breathe, just BE -present.
Buddha sat under a tree for 6 or 7 years, that is a lot of stopping, being, breathing, meditating. When He got quiet enough He saw the deep meaning of the Universe because it was inside of Him, He got out of the way, He surrendered, mentally. He didn’t search in physical reality, He just sat under a tree, He surrendered and everything became Self-evident. This is simple and appears, feels very hard. You don’t have to buy anything, learn anything, give up anything, or change, just STOP. IT IS NOT EVEN COMPLICATED, JUST STOP THINKING, MOVING, TALKING AND BREATHE, JUST BREATHE
ENLIGHTENMENT RESOLVES ALL PROBLEMS. Miracles become a way of life, immortality is a given, and Grace becomes a priceless gift. You are whole, complete, perfect, and humble. You posses a power to move mountains, but rarely choose to use it because you see the perfection and beauty of everything the way it IS.