Enlightenment is the end of suffering – Buddha
I found the above quote being used in the status of a friend on myspace recently, and, from what I have learned over my years of seeking that elusive thing called enlightenment, I believe that the quote is pretty accurate. Though, upon first glance, any such notion can be thought of as impossible.
In the past decade or so, I have gone from a complete skeptic to an avid student of much regarding this process and even still take this concept with a grain of salt. But, from the standpoint of looking at the true nature of what the concept means, it is clear to see that when someone becomes enlightened, they truly do end their suffering.
Now, what does it mean to be enlightened? And, how does the average person achieve such a state? I used to really believe that the notion of enlightenment was kind of pointless to say the least. When I did not understand what it was, I suppose, it seemed so far away.
Over the past year or so I have become an avid practitioner of Centerpointe’s Holosync Solution Program and I am currently working my way through the second level of the Awakening series. I have been studying the support materials, which are truly vast, as well as the Big Mind, Big Heart and Path of the Human Being dvd and cd sets which came along with level one of the series.
I suppose I have mentioned my experience with Holosync in passing. But, it truly has been pretty life changing. I actually had my initial experience with Awakening Prologue around mid 2006. And, I noticed significant changes in my ability to control my states of awareness and, as I noticed while using the Wild Divine Biofeedback software, my ability to see and catalyze noticeable changes in my state of relaxation.
To explain a bit of what it is, I would say that the Holosync Program uses technology that effects the states of the brain through music. Its a binaural beat technology that enables the brain to enter into certain rhythms or states.
I have used other brainwave music soundtracks before, but the reason I settled on Centerpointe’s Holosync Solution program, is simply because Bill Harris has really designed a very structured and progressive way of strengthening your mind and enhancing it’s ability to deal with higher and higher levels of stress.
By enabling you to deal with more stress, you react less to the situations in life that, under normal circumstances,would have really bothered you.
What happens then? Whats the point?
Well, this process of enabling you to deal with ever increasing levels of stress, helps you to create a space inside your mind that grows between your emerging and expanding self and the stress that used to control you.
To be honest, what the technology actually does is provide a stimulus that is similar to stress, and that stress forces your brain to develop in such a way that actually makes it stronger. It is kind of like the stress that exercise places on us but applied to the functioning of the brain.
It creates a kind of subtle chaos in your brain and by continuing to use the soundtracks, your brain eventually is forced to “escape to a higher order” and it grows to be able to deal with higher levels of stress. When you deal better with stress, what then happens?
Well, simply put, you suffer less than you once did. You develop a greater peace, by increasing awareness of your states of mind or consciousness.
Isn’t this what meditation is supposed to do? I like to think that meditation in conjunction with shadow work enables me to realize that we are not really living in a world that is dualistic….but that everything that arises in our conscious mind is in fact of the same nature as anything else. Depending on our perception, anything can go from good to bad.
Zen, Taoism, and just about any other justifiable self help technology or religion, teaches that nothing exists exclusively from anything else. They teach us that what is good cannot exist without what is bad. Or that light cannot exist without dark. Men cannot exist without women, and up would not be knowable without down.
In all of the wisdom traditions, it is explained that balance in mind and emotion is what is needed to find lasting personal growth?
I think what is most confusing about that idea is that no one is ever truly able to explain how that growth really manifests. What does it mean to achieve balance? And, why does it have a correlation with enlightenment and the mind?
When you begin the process of meditation, growth, and spiritual development, you begin to see how hard life is. Awareness is the ability to see and experience the difficulties in life, and NOT REACT to them. And, as awareness begins to increase, many aspects of our lives which were once hidden from us begin to come up.
It is when we react to the difficulties in life that we cause ourselves emotional and mental pain. In other words, the pain we experience in life, the suffering that we typically blame on external circumstances, comes from within our own minds and from our reactions to life!
Balance is the ability to have good or bad circumstances come our way and not overtly react to them in a way that creates stress. It is the ability to go through life and no longer require those things that typically distract us from ourselves.
Television, drugs, video games, unconscious and unloving sexual activity, anger, depression, self loathing, binge eating, are all there to distract us from ourselves and prevent us from finding ( or deciding on) our higher purpose.
Everything in life, we are finding, is brought about as a direct manifestation of things that are inside of our own minds.
Life is what you make it. Or, rather, life is what you perceive it to be.
Life and the universe are simply reflections of our ego. They are mirrors of our own consciousness. Just as a computer is only as good as its programmer, the results of your life will only be as good as the input you knowingly or unknowingly provide.
And the ego, what is this ego? It is a grouping or map of the unconscious habits that we have developed in order to keep us safe in, what we perceive to be, an unsafe world.
Everything we do unconsciously is a reflection of the patterns that we have solidified within our ego.
Wouldn’t meditation, time spent in contemplation, time spent in conscious love communion with your partner, in all actuality, be better and more functional ways to decompress than grabbing a beer and turning on the television?
The whole point, is to develop your awareness, to the point that you can stay conscious throughout your day of your self and your interactions with others and with your world.
Do the work to expand yourself consciously!
Watch yourself as you go throughout your day. Open up the dialog with the voice in the back of your mind.
This is far from an easy process but, trust me, it is worth it in the end.
Peace, Love, Light!
