Energy Body Ways

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Is there spiritual evolution?  I was recently responding to the post  here.

My thoughts were:

Interesting question, but one very hard to determine. Our egos will always get in the way.

One observation I have is that anytime a natural disaster, war, or any form of unexpected death ends up killing people those who survive are being selected for their intuition or luck.

So over time there may be a progress of consciousness based on a subconscious ability among survivors to see into the future or be lucky.

This would take a long time but eventually evolution would select for quantum consciousness, i.e. minds able to transcend space and time.

Evolution looks like it selects for consciousness, specifically quantum consciousness (which would show up as luck).

If this is so can you move more in line with evolution selecting for luck and transcendent mind by using your mind in specific ways?

Two known ways to enhance the mind’s functioning in these ways are 1) meditation and 2) guided imagery type exercises.

So you’re in the right place!

I am going to reveal the single greatest mind exercise ever, the one written about for thousands of years as the key to meditation, enlightenment, and even psychic powers.

This will probably seem entirely too simple.  Nonetheless it is true that this is it.

The key, the secret exercise, is called one-pointed concentration.

In the ancient Yoga sutras one-pointed concentration was written about as the key to achieving relaxation, siddhis (psychic powers), and enlightenment.  Each step along the way leads to the next:  concentration-meditation-samadhi (enlightenment).

Here is how you do it:

First, focus on one thing.  This can really be anything but often people choose a flower, a symbol such as a black circle on a white background, a color such as violet or yellow, or a candle flame.

Keep focusing on it for awhile.  Then close your eyes and hold your attention on it.

At first you will focus and everything will be fine… then you’ll suddenly snap to attention realizing your mind has shot off in another direction altogether, wandering for the last 3 minutes.

Bring your attention back to the object of your attention.  And again hold it there.

Again your mind will wander.

Bring it back.

This is the training.  Train yourself to again and again bring your mind back.

Realistically, just like with sports training you won’t achieve this right away.

Set a timer and start with only a few minutes a day.  Gradually increase the time you spend doing this each day.

Over time you can increase the time you spend on this practice, which will soon lead to a meditative state.

Of course I am making this sound so easy.  Most people will quit in just a few days.

But if you stick with it you will find yourself becoming more and more aware of how your attention is not under your control.  It wanders like a wild, untrained horse.

Train it, have patience, allow it to do what it must (you won’t have any choice anyway), and keep bringing it back.

Over time you will realize you can control your attention. As you control your attention in this specific way you will find you will notice things.

It may seem minor at first but over time your abilities will grow.  You will find you are not plagued by endless, pointless thoughts and worries.

Your body will release beneficial hormones, your mind will clear, and you will be following in what the Yoga sutras say awakens intuitions and insights and psychic powers and enlightenment.

I know, it sounds so simple.  But it is one of the hardest things to do.

So that’s it.   Too easy?  Try it.  It’s all you need to know to become enlightened.

Meditation can be complex subject.  Many people are selling it instead of teaching it as a progression of awareness that is supposed to set you free.

The main problem is that the practice of it often ends up the goal, instead of the state of mind.

Did you meditate today?

Is that what really matters?

The thing is that meditation, like physical or hatha yoga, is something that is designed to get you into a state where you let go of a certain kind of thinking.

You let go of a certain kind of thinking and experience the world as it is.

When you are experiencing the world this way you recognize there is

• happiness and sadness
• love and hate
• pain and pleasure
• peaks and valleys
• and everything in between

You realize that you can focus your mind, control your attention, and by doing so get a different perception of reality and your consciousness.

Unfortunately, meditation and yoga and prayer and spiritual systems can become a crutch.  They are not supposed to be a crutch, they are supposed to be training wheels. When you reach a certain point you need to let go of the training wheels.

Like with training wheels how do you know you’re ready to ride on your own?  You have to start riding naked.  You have to start doing it without the training wheels.

If you’ve been meditating for years you’re ready to expand your meditation into your everyday life and try new approaches.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the practice is the doing.  It’s not. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re not ready.  You are.

This week spend some time without the training wheels.

Try something that is a moving, waking meditation.  Examples require staying present in the moment while remaining flexible and open.

Here are some possibilities:  play hacky sack; play music with some friends free-style (not from a set song – in other words, jam); go somewhere for awhile and don’t know where you are going – make it up as you go along; meet with people with no expectations; just go with the flow.

If you don’t need to practice this… that’s great.  But most meditators or spiritual devotees need to spend less time on a rigid practice and more on expanding that practice out into their life.

Either way, enjoy yourself.  Watch it all coming and going.

That’s what should be your meditation: existence itself.

In my earlier posts I explored how to develop siddhis according to ancient yogic texts, and siddhis as evolution.

Siddhis are fascinating.  There is a perspective in Tibetan Buddhism that enlightenment is itself a form of siddhi.  This neatly flips on its head the assumption that enlightenment and siddhis are separate.

What counts as a siddhi has at times been extraordinarily broad.  For example, savant like counting abilities, as with Dustin Hoffman’s character in the movie Rain Man, have been regarded as a kind of siddhi. So has a gift with making money!

All the parapsychological phenomena – psychokinesis, telepathy, energy healing, clairvoyance or remote viewing, etc – would all be classed as siddhis.

Contemplation, concentration, and meditation are the means to acquiring siddhis in the ancient texts.  Many modern techniques are similar, involving prolonged visualization.

To explore siddhis control over and use of imagination is key.  Imagination can sound unreal, which is unfortunate, because controlled or creative visualizatioin is essentially the same as imagination.  The term ‘visualization’ can also be a problem because actually generating visual imagination is not important – you can use imagined feelings, sounds, tastes, or smells, too.

Use your imagination to begin building the foundation to developing siddhis.