What is Mindfulness? That’s one question. The other is: how to practice Mindfulness?
Note, we have here a very important subject within the context of our speeches: this issue of Mindfulness. First, let’s lay out what Mindfulness is and how we approach it.
First: what you have as a memory, as a remembrance, as a thought happening, is something that happens automatically in you.
Memory, remembrance, recollection, thought, is something automatic.
In an automatic way, this whole thought process takes place in us. To approach this question of Mindfulness, we must first find out what Mindfulness is not.
All movement within each of us, in this process of thinking and feeling, is something automatic. Thought in us is a reaction of memory to a stimulus, to a challenge.
This challenge can be external – a challenge that presents itself to our senses – or it can be an internal challenge. There is a stimulus and, from that stimulus, from that challenge, a reaction takes place. This memory reaction is how thought works in each of us.
Internally, an impulse can occur from, for example, an internal sensation, some internal stimulus, and this triggers the memory process, the thought process.
We are facing something automatic. Thought is automatic, remembrance, memory, recollection is something happening automatically, as a reaction to a given stimulus.
Externally, the senses come into contact with something – you hear something, you see something… Your contact with an external stimulus, through vision or hearing… This stimulus can trigger a process of memory, recollection, thought, and all this happens automatically. This is how our brain reacts to stimuli; this is how memory in us works; this is how we function in this system of feeling and thinking.
The presence of this is the absence of the Freedom of Mindfulness. The presence of Attention, the full presence of that Attention, that Full Attention, is an internal, psychophysical position, new for each one of us; it is the presence of Freedom. This is the Freedom of Mindfulness, possible for each of us.
When something happens, when something happens, at this moment, there is either a response based on that reactive action of memory, of memories – notice that it is psychological conditioning, that is a pattern of psychological conditioning; this is something physical and also cerebral – or, faced with something present in this moment, you have all the Freedom of that Mindfulness, which is an entirely new response to this situation.
Every movement in us, egoic, every movement of present conditioning, is a movement of reactive conditioning, of memory, of thought, of reactive memories. So, to this present moment, we don't have a real answer, in the sense that this real answer is a full, complete, adequate answer.
That would be an Intelligent response, a response born of this Consciousness – here I mean that Intelligence, that Real Consciousness in each of us, and This is something that is present when there is this Full Attention – a direct response to that moment without the sense of a present “I,” of a present identity, without interference or intervention of the past of that ego-identity.
So, we are facing a free action, an action in Love, an action in Freedom, due to this Full Attention.
So, when someone asks “what is Mindfulness?”, my answer is: Mindfulness is the Freedom of a response to this moment freed from all psychological conditioning, all that background of a present identity, and therefore, an action free from desire and fear. An action like this is an action in Love, it is an action of Intelligence, of Compassion, of Kindness. This is action from the Truth of our own Being, it is the Divine action, it is action free from ego, and therefore, free from suffering, free from that egoic sense, free from the present sense of “I.” This is Mindfulness, an Attention without effort, an Attention without planning, an Attention without a model to happen.
So, when some people ask “how to practice Mindfulness?”, they understand Mindfulness as a state that they need to find through a system, a method, a technique, a practice. In the same way, when they are approaching the issue of Meditation, they also project the very same thing.
People believe that Meditation requires a technique, a system, a model, a practice.
What people practice, what they call meditation, cannot be the True Meditation. When there is True Meditation, there is no presence of the “meditator;” therefore, this cannot be the result of a practice. True Meditation is the presence of Consciousness itself, which implies the absence of the sense of an “I,” of a “thinker,” of an ego, of an identity present in that experience.
Thus, the expression “practicing meditation,” as we put it here, does not fit. Meditation is the Reality of your Being here and now. There is no technique that makes this possible.
There is also no technique that can prevent this. The problem is that the use of a technique is, by nature, mechanical. Imbued with this technique, the sense of an identity will continue to be present. In this sense, there may be silencing, there may be a stillness of the brain, but we are not facing that natural flow that is Meditation.
Meditation is the presence of Consciousness. Consciousness is always present, but while this illusory identity is shown, this presence of Consciousness remains as if asleep, and what prevails, what is shown at the moment, is the ego identity, is the sense of an “I” present in the experience.
So, all these activities born of this “I” are egocentric activities, based on the illusion of a present identity. The practice of meditation requires a method, a system, a path, a formula, a specific way of happening, and therefore the presence of the “meditator,” the presence of the “experiencer,” the presence of the one who will do the work, whereas, when there is True Meditation, what there is, is the discarding of this “thinker,” of this “experiencer,” of the one who can do something.
Here I have called True Meditation – the Meditation that flows, that occurs naturally here and now, when there is this observation of the movement of the mind, the observation without the “observer,” the observation of thought without the “thinker,” the observation of the feeling without the one who feels, the observation of the sensation without this “entity” involved in that feeling. This is present when there is this Full Attention.
Therefore, it is not a technique, it is not a method, it is not a practice, it is a direct verification, at this moment, of whatever is appearing. You don't reserve a specific moment for this, you don't have a specific body posture or breathing technique for this.
This moment here and now is the moment of experiencing whatever is appearing, experiencing without the “experiencer” present; it is the moment of the appearance of a thought or a feeling, an emotion, a sensation.
And right now, there is this Freedom of Mindfulness. This is simply looking at what is here without identifying with it, without getting confused with it.
If you reject experience, present experience, if you fight present experience, or if you identify with present experience, in that moment there is an “I” doing this, an “identity” doing this, and if this is present, there is no Mindfulness.
Note, it is not about a state, it is about Freedom from all states of the egoic mind, from that background of psychological conditioning, from that background of memory reaction, of remembrances.
So, our work together here is to become aware of that. Here, we become aware of the Truth that we are in this moment. Whatever is appearing, showing, you just become aware of it. So, the answer to “how to practice Mindfulness?” is here. At this moment, the only Reality present is Life as It is, and the only thing to do is watch. You don't accept, you don't reject, you don't fight against it, you don't get confused with what comes, you don't get confused with what is leaving. A thought comes and soon it goes away, a feeling comes and soon it goes away, a sensation comes and soon it goes away.
You don't grab it, you don't hold it, you don't identify with it, to react psychologically, to fight against it or to be confused with it, because it is a thought, a feeling, an emotion that gives you pleasure. You don't get confused; you don't place an identity.
In general, we are always wanting – this is the model of egoic unconsciousness, we are always identifying with the pleasurable experiences of this reaction. It’s a pleasant thought, it’s a feeling, it’s an emotion... and we get confused with it, we identify with it. If it’s unpleasant, we want to reject it, we want to get rid of it. This is the model we are constantly giving identity to these experiences, always placing ourselves here as the center of these experiences.
So, our movement in life is the movement of ego-identity. And here, when you approach this Full Attention and ask me what that is… It’s noticing what is arising, whatever is appearing, without giving identity to it. This approach is Self-awareness – looking at what is happening here and now, each and every thought, each and every feeling, each and every sensation. Now we know that this is a reaction from this psychological background, we know that this is a reaction from this egoic conditioning, this “I,” this illusory center… We just pay attention to it, Full Attention.
So, here I prefer to call it Attention in practice, because, you see, it is not a practice of Full Attention, it is Attention in practice! Notice, there is no system, no method, nothing special. Here, it’s just a disidentification with thought, feeling, sensation, perception; To not put a present identity on it. That is Full Attention, that is the principle of Real Meditation.
So, when there is Self-awareness, there is that Freedom for Mindfulness, and in that Freedom for Mindfulness, we have the beginning, the principle, the basis of Real Practical Meditation.
We here, on this channel, have a playlist talking about this Real Practical Meditation and talking about True Self-awareness and also what this Mindfulness represents.
Note that all of this is fundamental for Realizing the Truth of What is You, as Pure Consciousness, as Pure Being. When That is present, Love flourishes, Freedom flourishes, Peace flourishes; there is a breaking of that illusion – the illusion of that “I.”
This “I,” as we have just mentioned to you, is a reaction of thought, it is a reaction in the brain and in the body, from a background of psychological conditioning. The discarding of this psychological conditioning, this mental consciousness, is the appearance of this Real and True Consciousness, where there is no separateness between you and everything, you and God, you and Life, you and the other, because the sense of “I” is not. Then, this nameless Reality, this Reality that words cannot reach or define, which we call God, presents itself. This is Spiritual Enlightenment. This is Spiritual Awakening.
So, our job here is to look at what we are. When there is this look, in the way we are putting it, the end of this ego-identity happens, the discarding of this false center, this false “I,” then Meditation is revealed, Meditation as being your Natural State, which is Consciousness, which is Presence.
So, if it’s clear to you, Mindfulness is not a state and it’s not a practice, it’s not something you do in time in a mechanical way, at specific times of the day and applying some technique, it’s something that’s here and now; it’s always here and now! The opportunity is this instant… this instant of experiencing, this experiencing without the “experiencer,” this instant of observing without the “observer,” of the present thought without the “thinker,” of the present feeling without “someone” in this feeling.
Then, a door opens…This is the door to Reality, it is the door to the Revelation of your own Being, which is Spiritual Enlightenment, which is Spiritual Awakening. OK?
If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your “like” there, subscribe to the channel… Reminder: we have online meetings and also face-to-face meetings, as well as retreats. And it is possible to work together for this purpose. OK?
Here is the invitation and see you soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment