Reaffirmations From The World Around Us

Let us begin with a couple of quotes which will be explained below.

"He [Don Juan] said that for a sorcerer, the world of everyday life is not as real, or out there, as we believe it is. For a sorcerer, reality, or the world we all know, is only a description.

"...A description that had been pounded into me from the moment I was born.

"He pointed out that everyone who comes into contact with a child is a teacher who incessantly describes the world to that child, until the moment when the child is capable of perceiving the world as it is described.

"According to don Juan, we have no memory of that portentous [portentous- of momentous or ominous significance] moment, simply because none of us could possibly have had any point of reference to compare it to anything else.

"From that moment on, however, the child is a member. He or she knows the description of the world. Their membership becomes full-fledged, I suppose, when they are capable of making all the proper perceptual interpretations which, by conforming to that description, validate it.

"For don Juan, then, the reality of our day-to-day life consists of an endless flow of perceptual interpretations which we, the individuals who share a specific membership, have learned to make in common.

"The idea that the perceptual interpretations that make up our world have a flow is congruous with the fact that they run uninterruptedly; and they are rarely, if ever, open to question.

"In fact, the reality of the world we know is so taken for granted that the basic premise of sorcery - that our reality is merely one of many descriptions - could hardly be taken as a serious proposition."

Ah, but some of us DO take this as a serious proposition! The above, at least for me, is self-explanatory. If it's not, please re-read the above and use some critical thinking on the topic. If there is a need (for myself or others) to expand on this I'll do so at a later date.

Now that you (hopefully!) understand that above, at least on a basic level, let's perform a simple exercise.

Stop whatever you are doing right now, unless you are driving or something that requires your attention for your own safety, and perform the following:

Whether sitting or standing, take a few deep breaths in and out. Try and relax the physical body just a bit. Then, become aware of everything around you as quickly as possible and remain alert to everything around you for just thirty seconds without moving. Begin with what’s directly in front of your eyes and focus on that. Then, slowly expand your awareness to everything around you. Focus on what you see and that’s it. Be alert and aware as you possibly can for just thirty seconds.

If this is difficult for you, keep practicing. If this is easy for you, while performing the above, engage your other senses. Listen to what's around you. Touch something within reach. What does your mouth taste like?

What are we attempting to accomplish here? We are breaking the continuous flow of thought. Don't 'think' about anything while performing the exercise above. Don't judge, good or bad or otherwise, what you see, hear, touch or smell while performing the above exercise. Just recognize 'it,' and leave it be. Just reside in awareness. Don't 'think' that what you are looking at is pretty, or ugly or anything of the sort. So, as don Juan stated above, we are attempting to break the "endless flow of perceptual interpretations." Or, we can say we are allowing the endless flow and just not interpreting it, thinking about it, within duality. Good or bad. Soft or hard. Pretty or ugly. JUST OBSERVE and that's it.

Now, with that said, thinking is good. It has its purpose. Yet, with the exercise above, we're just giving it a rest. I'm a huge fan of critical thinking, yet what we need to rid ourselves from is the mindless chatting that's usually always going on in our heads. That doesn't serve us well. Most of us worry about the past and fret over the future. With the exercise above, give the mind a rest and just observe what's 'out there.'

The exercise above is also what I label a premeditation. Most cannot meditate because they don't have any attentive capacity. The ability to focus. The beauty of the exercise above is to learn how to meditate or pay attention for a short period of time. It's also great when we are performing a task and get all stressed out. Take a minute, relax, and perform the above. Voila! Now you are centered and focused. Meditation is great, but I don't that when you're stressed out at work you can tell the boss that you need to run along and go meditate. The exercise above is best used in THE MIDST of stressful situations.

Here's another behavior pattern that all of us get stuck in: Not only do we ramble on with the internal dialogue, we rambling on in regards to OURSELVES. Performing the exercise above gets us 'out of our minds' or continually thinking about ourselves by gazing at external stimuli. So, yes, as don Juan mentioned that 'the world out there is a description,' at least we can sneak out of our own heads and thoughts for just a bit. And guess what? Where IS that description don Juan mentions? In our mind, of course. Let's loosen up that stead-fast belief we have about what we know, how that world is, etc.

Okay, I think that's enough for now. I was going to continue on and tie the above in with the topic, Reaffirmations From The World Around Us, but I'll write a separate post for that. For now, work on the above premeditation. Do it as often as you can throughout the day. I do! Start building up your attentive capacity. Gaze at the world around you. Close your eyes and listen, without judging, to everything around you. Breathe through your nose and see what odors you can differentiate. Touch something and truly feel it without judging it.

Until next time....

TMMK

Reaffirmations from the World Around Us

Let's begin today with a couple questions in regards to the mastery of awareness. 

Are your days ruled by old thoughts, old beliefs, and old stories formed in the past, or do you meet each day with fresh eyes and wonder at the miracle that your life is?

Do you see how holding on to old thoughts keep you trapped in the past?

Do you have any idea how to break your old descriptions of the world?

Can you take an honest inventory of all your beliefs?

Hold those thoughts while we move on to a couple of quotes...

"Plants are very peculiar things," he said without looking at me." They are alive and they feel." At the very moment he made that statement a strong gust of wind shook the desert chaparral around us. The bushes made a rattling noise. "Do you hear that?" he asked me, putting his right hand to his ear as if he were aiding his hearing. "The leaves and the wind are agreeing with me."

"People hardly ever realize that we can cut anything from our lives, any time, just like that." He snapped his fingers. "Do you think that one can stop smoking or drinking that easily?" I asked. "Sure!" he said with great conviction. "Smoking and drinking are nothing. Nothing at all if we want to drop them." At that very moment the water that was boiling in the coffee percolator made a loud perking sound. "Hear that!" don Juan exclaimed with a shine in his eyes. "The boiling water agrees with me."

Then he added after a pause, "A man can get agreements from everything around him."

Thus, our topic for this post. Yet, let me ask you a question before we begin. Without reading back up this page, do you remember the questions asked in the very first lines of this post? If not, then you are not paying attention, your mastery of awareness isn't activated, and you need to go and continue to read and practice some premeditation as described here in this Exploring Awareness blog. 

When we are ruled by our thoughts and beliefs, we cannot truly appreciate the reaffirmations from the world around us. Thus the need for the premeditation as mentioned above. When we reside in awareness only, not caught up in thoughts, especially about ourselves, then we can begin to notice what occurs 'outside' our own thoughts. Understand these reaffirmations are happening to all of us all of the time, yet, are we 'aware' of them? This post is one of the first lessons in regards to the mastery of awareness. 

As to the little test of remembering the first questions at the top of this post, after reading the quotes...Whether you remembered the questions or not, I highly recommend you visit the link above and continue practicing the premeditation daily. And not just daily, but as often throughout the day as you can. Also, begin to pay attention to what is happening around you. Pay attention to your surroundings. Begin the moment you wake up. (You will need to pay attention to your dreams while asleep as well, but that's another blog post for another time.) 

Just gaze, listen, smell, touch, and taste without judgement, criticism, etc. Do it right now while looking around your computer screen. What else do you see? What noise do you hear? What can you touch? You can do this at work as well. Many people work in the city and complain that Carlos and don Juan are out in the desert, thus it's easy for them as they aren't working, residing in the beauty of nature. Bullshit. Stop thinking and comparing everything and just see the beauty of whatever's around you. See the beauty in that old piece of concrete curbing. Listen to the noise of the car driving down the street without analyzing it. 

I can hear you now asking, "But Kris, where are these agreements you speak of? I'm paying attention but I don't see, hear or feel any agreements."

Well, that's because I've not covered the agreements yet. (Grins.) 

So, let's talk about receiving agreements. First, perform the premeditation as described in the link above. This will 'loosen you up' so to speak. Second, you need to voice your intent. You can focus your mind and ask psychically, but I prefer to voice my intent out loud. Thus, the question is, what do you want? What agreement are you looking for? What thought comes to mind after clearing your mind with the premeditation? If your intent is pure, you will receive an agreement. If not, then you are not asking the right question. (Understand there are no answers; only the right questions.) If you do this, and have the awareness to receive the agreement, then you will receive it.

Once again, pay attention. Perform the premeditation, then voice your intent, then clear your mind again, reside in pure awareness and pay attention. Keep an open mind. The agreement may not come as a typical sight, sound or smell. 

On a side note as I re-read the above, the premeditation is not the same as 'spacing out.' You are activating your senses without thought. But hell, what do I know? Try spacing out and see if it works for you. 

So, what's the point in all of this? Several points. First, learn to pay attention without thought, and second, 'life' or 'the world' or whatever, always has messages or affirmations for us. I could tie this in with the law of attention and how that works, but I'll refrain at this time. For now, just practice. Well, I will add one comment. After performing the premeditation I'll usually shout out, "I'm grateful to be alive!" "I'm grateful to be alive!" "I'm grateful to be alive!" This is a 'seal' that holds my awareness, if that makes any sense. 

Lack of practice is the biggest sticking point I see. People complain and say this doesn't work, yet they seldom practice what's mentioned above. This isn't all theoretical. It takes work. The more you can focus your intent, pay attention, the more you will 'see'. 

Until next time...