KNOW MINDFULLY---IN THE ABSENCE OF KNOWLEDGE

Know the taste of this flavour which consists in absence of knowledge.
Those who recite commentaries do not know how to cleanse the world.

Listen, my son; this taste cannot be told by its various parts.
For it is free from conceits, a state of perfect bliss, in which existence has its origin.

It is the very last segment that remains of the creation of illusion,
Where intellect is destroyed, where mind dies and self-centeredness is lost.
Why encumber yourself there with meditation?

A thing appears in the world and then goes to destruction.
If it has no true existence, how may it appear again?
If it is free from both manifestation and destruction, what then arises?
Stay! Your master has spoken.

Look and listen, touch and eat,
Smell, wander, sit and stand,
Renounce the vanity of discussion,
Abandon thought and be not moved from singleness.

From Saraha’s Treasury of Songs.

Translated from the Tibetan by David Snellgrove.

Saraha is credited with being considered to be one of the founders of Buddhist Vajrayana, particularly of the Mahamudra tradition, and was one of the first practitioners of Mahamudra meditation. He probably lived in the 8th century CE in India. He had a wife who was an arrow-maker who actually first taught him Mahamudra. He wrote three spiritual 'songs of realization' (dohas) on Mahamudra.

The verses set out above, which I first read many years ago in that wonderful anthology The Rider Book of Mystical Verse, encapsulate the essence of mindful living. The ‘taste’ of anything---and we are not just talking about food---can only be known in the absence of knowledge. Further, the ‘taste’ of a thing cannot be told, or known, by its various parts. The thing---whatever it may be---must be tasted in its entirely, in its wholeness. The moment you try to break it down into its supposed component parts, the appreciation of the thing is lost. Gone. The essence of a thing lies in its no-thing-ness, that ‘state of perfect bliss, in which existence has its origin.’ In the words of Swami Vivekananda, 'All the differentiation in substance is made by name and form.' Name and form are constantly chaging, but substance---the self-livingness of life itself---ever remains.

When Buddhists and Hindus use the word ‘illusion,’ they are not talking about something that does not exist. Rather, the word refers to the absence of any separate, permanent, and independent reality. So, when we talk about the ‘illusory self,’ we are talking about a self---or rather a myriad of selves---that we internally generate but which have no separate, permanent, and independent reality. Now, I place great value on the intellect and reason, but I have come to the sad, yet blessed, realization that intellect and reason are ‘conceits’ that veil reality. To again quote Swami Vivekananda: 'To reach truth by reason alone is impossible. ... Reason can go only to a certain extent, beyond that it cannot reach.' When it comes to problem-solving of a legal or business kind, intellect and reason are, for me at least, paramount. However, when it comes to the appreciation of life, wisdom and understanding come when ‘intellect is destroyed, [when] mind dies and self-centeredness is lost.’ One other thing---'illusion' refers to name and form, into which everything is cast. 'Reason is differentiation,' that is, 'limiting something by our own minds' (Vivekananda). Differentiation---just another word for ignorance and belief in duality---is the result of 'egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life' (Vivekananda).

The line ‘Why encumber yourself there with meditation?’ is an interesting one. There are different types of meditation. Only one type---mindfulness or insight meditation---affords insight into things-as-they-really-are. (Note. Mahamudra meditation involves both śamatha ('tranquility', and 'calm abiding') and vipaśyanā [vipassana] ('special insight').) Other types of meditation involve concentration of some kind, that is, concentration, whether by way of repetition or the focus of the eyes or mind, on some object, image, sound or whatever. Those types of meditation have their place, and can assist in calming the mind and relaxing the body, and possibly also in developing one’s powers of concentration. 

Mindfulness is quite different---the presence of choiceless awareness of, and bare attention to, the action of the present moment as it unfolds from one moment to the next. Mindfulness requires just enough attention (‘bare’ attention, it is called) to stay alert, open, deliberate, and curious. The essence of mindfulness is captured in these words:

Look and listen, touch and eat,
Smell, wander, sit and stand,
Renounce the vanity of discussion,
Abandon thought and be not moved from singleness.

The ideas expressed in the very last line are most important. Mindfulness involves a non-critical, non-analytical, non-judgmental, diffused state of mind. You look, you watch, you see, you observe, but you do not ‘stay’ with any one thought, feeling, image, bodily sensation, or external input. You remain---immoveable---not moving or being moved from your mental station of singleness. In so doing, you dis-identify and dis-relate your mind, and your moment-to-moment awareness, from every thought, feeling, image, bodily sensation, or external input, all of those things being 'fetters of self-interest' (Swami Paramananda). None of those things are you---the person among persons that you are. So, 'be unattached, let things work, let brain-centres work ... but let not a ripple conquer the mind ... do not bind yourselves; bondage is terrible' (Vivekananda).

The true essence of life lies not in its arising or vanishing, nor in its ‘manifestation [or] destruction,’ but in its be-ing-ness. The be-ing-ness of a thing---indeed, of existence in its totality---lies not in its form, which is forever changing. ‘A thing appears in the world and then goes to destruction.’ The be-ing-ness of a thing is something that goes beyond time and space. It just is.

'Abandon thought and be not moved from singleness.'

MINDFULNESS ACCORDING TO VIVEKANANDA AND YOGANANDA

‘The world is a demon. It is a kingdom of which the puny ego
is king. Put it away and stand firm.’ – Swami Vivekananda.

'The truth simply is. It cannot be voted into existence.
It must be perceived by every individual in the
changeless Self within.' – Paramahansa Yogananda.

There really is only one spiritual teaching. It is taught, in various ways, and in different words and imagery, by all of the world’s religions. Some adherents of one religion or another will deny that the teaching to which I refer is taught in their particular religion but that is immaterial for present purposes. It would take some time for me to establish that the teaching to which I refer is indeed part-and-parcel of every religion, but even if I were able to demonstrate that fact there would still be many people who would not want to agree with me, largely because they erroneously think theirs is the one, true religion.

So, what is this teaching? It is this---all life is one. Now, I am not saying that all things are one in some monistic sense. That may or may not be the case, and I tend to the view that it is not the case. What I do say is this---there is only one way of being, and that way is common to all persons and all things. There is only one order or level of reality---an Omnipresence (call it 'God,' if you wish) expresing Itself through and as all persons and things---and all such persons and things have their one and common existence and being in or on that plane or level of reality. In addition, a single logic---in the sense of 'law' and 'principle'---applies to, regulates, and governs all persons and things. Here’s another reason why we must insist on oneness---there cannot be two ‘causes’ of the universe … assuming for the moment that the universe was anything other than self-caused or uncaused.

In short, the same life---the very self-livingness of life---runs through all our veins, bodies, and minds, and through the entire fabric of existence.

Now, what has mindfulness to do with all this? Well, a fair bit. You see, mindfulness is a knowing awareness of the flow of life as it unfolds from one moment to the next—an awareness that goes beyond ever-changing forms and rests quietly in the unchanging spirit of life itself.

The teachings of two famous Indians gurus of yesteryear---each a formidable master of world spirituality---have had an enormous impact for good on my spiritual life over many decades. The two spiritual leaders and teachers to which I refer are Swami Vivekananda ('Swamiji') [pictured above left] and Swami Paramahansa Yogananda ('Paramahansaji') [pictured below right]. For the benefit of the uninitiated, Swamiji was a brilliant exponent of Vedanta, having been the chief disciple of the great Indian saint Ramakrishna. Paramahansaji was the celebrated author of the widely acclaimed Autobiography of a Yogi, which has been printed in more than 20 languages, and which is one of the all-time landmark works of spiritual literature. I am very proud of the fact that the Unitarian Universalist denomination of which I am a minister---a denomination that stands for reason, freedom, and tolerance, as well as unconditional love for all---had a great deal to do with bringing these two giants of humanity to the United States of America, befriending them, and helping them to promulgate their teachings to the Western world. 

Both masters had a lot to say about mindfulness, even though the primary focus of each of them was on a quite different, albeit related, theme (Vedanta in the case of Swamiji, and Kriya Yoga in the case of Paramahansaji). Both masters, in their writings, teachings, lectures, and classes, made it unambiguously clear that direct communion with Divinity was possible through a direct, immediate and unmediated experience of life itself. That was not only possible, they said, it was the only real way to go. 

Why is that the case, you may ask? Well, truth---that is, life, reality, God---is very near, indeed it is all around us, and in us, and is us. 'The whole universe is one existence---objectified God,' wrote Swamiji. Problems arise, however, when we identify with the world, our bodies, and the mental imagery of our minds. Those things tend to become all-absorbing for us, and we lose sight of the eternal. Paramahansaji expressed it this way: 'We are hypnotized by our environment and we can't see beyond the horizon of our experience.'

Now, here's Swamiji on the subject of mindfulness. He wrote that the goal of Vedanta---and we might also say that it is the goal of life---is to achieve and maintain ‘an eternal calmness … which cannot be ruffled, the balance of mind which is never disturbed, no matter what happens.’ He also wrote, ‘Neither seek nor avoid; take what comes. This is freedom---to be affected by nothing. Do not merely endure; be unattached.’ So, a mindful mind is a balanced, unflappable and imperturbable state of mind; it does not react to what comes and goes from one moment to the next, but instead remains unattached and unaffected by what happens in or outside of us.

Paramahansaji's advice is as follows: ‘Live quietly in the moment. ... Be detached inwardly from whatever happens in your life and consciousness. ... No matter what happens, look at things with non-attachment.’ He also wrote, ‘Live each moment completely and the future will take care of itself. Fully enjoy the wonder and beauty of each moment. ... To live mechanically is to be dead inside though your body be still breathing!’ 

Then there’s this gem from Swamiji: ‘Retire to the centre of your being, which is calmness. … Remain clam, serene, always in command of yourself.’ And this one: ‘Stillness is the altar of spirit.’ So, as the Bible also says, ‘Be still, and know …’ (Ps 46:10). Note the connection---first, you get still, then you know. True knowledge---or wisdom---comes when we are still. Yogananda wrote, ‘Each minute of life should be a divine quest.’ Yes, a quest for stillness and spiritual knowledge.

Here's a short YouTube video, containing some wonderful archival footage from 1936, in which Paramahansaji gives some advice on how to sleep correctly:

Both gurus made it perfectly clear that true spiritual knowledge was costly. ‘Until we give up the world manufactured by the ego, never can we enter the Kingdom of Heaven,’ wrote Swamiji. ‘None ever did, none ever will.’ In a similar vein, Paramahansaji wrote, ‘To humble the ego or false self is to discover one’s eternal identity.’ He also spoke of the 'old habit-bound self' and ‘false identifications’ with body sensations as well as thoughts, feelings, and other mental images. Elsewhere Paramahansaji referred to these things as ‘false egoistic limitations’---those ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ that we mistakenly and unthinkingly believe are the ‘real’ person each one of us is. Yes, the ego or false self—which we tend to generate almost every moment of the day when we are not living mindfully---stands in the way of our seeing things-as-they-really-are. 

What, then, are we to do? Well, the ego or false self needs to be crucified, with deep humility, on the altar of mindfulness. In the words of Swamiji, ‘Put out self, forget it. … Get rid of the little “I” and let only the great “I” live. … The little separate self must die.’ Or, in the words of Paramahansaji: 'Your beliefs won't save you. ... Salvation means freedom from ego-limitation, which is imposed on the soul [mind] through attachment to body-consciousness. ... Stop dwelling on the thought of "I", "I".' In short, let go.

Of course, the same truth is contained in all sacred scripture. Here's one I like: 'The person of self-control, roaming among material objects with subjugated senses, and devoid of attraction and replusion, attains an unshakable inner calmness' (Bhagavad-Gita 2:64). Here's another---this one from the Bible: 'Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus' (Phil 2:5). And I love this prayer of Swamiji: 'May the Lord ever protect you from illusion and delusion!' That just about says it all.

So, stop holding on to your little separate selves. Let them go. Let them die on you---mindfully.


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MINDFULNESS ACCORDINGTO THE BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ

BIBLE VERSES FOR SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT AND HEALING

'Man's mind belongs to a category of being essentially

different from matter and superior to it, however limitless

the dimensions of matter may be.' - Pope Pius XII.

I have had a long and happy association with the metaphysical churches, including Unity and Religious Science. Although I never joined it, I have also attended many services at Christian Science churches. As a spiritual psychologist, I use many of the ideas, teachings, and practices of these churches not only in my own life but also when counselling others. In recent years, many of these very same ideas, teachings, and practices have found their way---or way back---into more mainstream, if Pentecostal, forms of Christianity, including the Word of Faith movement. I am thinking of the writings of people such as Charles Capps.

Deep down, though, I am ever the skeptic, always aware of the dangers of magical thinking. When asked about Christian Science, in particular, I often joke and say, ‘It works well---when you’re not sick. It doesn’t work so well when you’re sick.’ I also happen to think that spiritual mind treatment works better for mental and psychological conditions than for physical ones, but as the latter are so often the result of psychological maladjustment there is in principle no reason why spiritual mind treatment should not work for all types of conditions and dysfunction of both mind and body.

So, I say this---spiritual mind treatment and healing can work wonders, especially in assisting you to stay well, happy, vibrant and alive. It's much easier to stay healthy and vibrant than to regain healthy and vitality when you have lost them through neglect or other means. If, at the end of the day, it all be no more than ‘mind over matter,’ or no better than placebo, then we are still dealing with a formidable power---and I happen to think that there is a lot more involved than just mind over matter.

Here are some verses from the Bible which encapsulate some important metaphysical and psychological principles for spiritual mind treatment and healing---ideas and teachings that you can use for good in your own life.

‘Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’ (Mt 6:33)

The ‘kingdom of God’ is within you (Lk 17:21) ---within your own mind. Jesus used the words 'kingdom' and 'life' interchangeably. To him, they were one and same. The 'kingdom' is life---abundant life (cf Jn 10:10)---and life renewed, regenerated, resurrected, and redeemed. 

'The eternal God is your dwelling-place' (Deut 33:27). This is, of course, metaphorical language. God is the self-existent and self-sufficient eternal now, the omnipresence of life, and, most especially, the power of your own mind. ‘It is the Father’s [Divine Mind] good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Lk 12:32). In other words, it is your divine birthright. You already have within you---within your mind, that is---everything you will ever need to be happy, healthy, vital, whole, and alive.

'Righteousness,’ metaphysically interpreted, refers to right-thinking, and the right use of one’s mind and thoughts. 'We become what we habitually contemplate,' wrote George Russell. 'The future is your present thoughts grown up,' wrote Divine Science minister, lecturer, and author Dr Joseph Murphy. Thought power is always creative---for better or for worse---according to the nature, emotion, impulse, and conviction behind the thought. And what is 'thinking'? Well, the great Plato put it this way: 'Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself.' I like that.

‘You shall decree a thing, and it shall be established for you’ (Job 22:28)

‘There is no power but of God’ (Rom 13:1), ‘God’ being the ‘all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28), or the action of Mind (infinite Intelligence) upon Itself. 'I AM God and there is none else beside me' (Is 45:5). Thus, God is all there is, and thus all that we are. 'God thinks only one Word---Himself,' wrote the great Catholic archbishop Fulton J Sheen. 'Everything that exists is the realization and concretion of an idea existing in the Mind of God from all eternity. ... Every bird, every flower, every tree, has been made according to an idea existing in the Mind of God from all eternity.' Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore expressed it this way: 'God is the silent voice that speaks into visibility all the life there is.'

The power to change your life for the better lies in your own mind, and in the proper use of that mind and your thoughts. ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’ (Prov 18:21). 'For as you think in your heart [that is, mind], so are you' (Prov 23:7). Thought is the real causative force in life. Indeed, everything owes its existence to an original act of pure, creative thought. Further, that to which we give our attention grows. 'To think is to create,' wrote the founder of Religious Science, Dr Ernest Holmes [pictured left]. 'Thought is the seed of action,' wrote the great Ralph Waldo Emerson. 'The ancestor of every action is a thought.'

One theory is that thought creates a 'mold' in the unconscious mind, into which your thought or idea is 'poured' and then accepted. Then, certain forces are set in motion in accordance with your thought or idea. In the Dhammapada, that great collection of sayings of the historical Buddha, we read this: 'All that we are is the result of what we have thought.' Then there's this gem, also from the Buddha: 'The mind is everything; what you think you become.' The Bible expresses it this way: 'As you sow, so shall you reap' (Gal 6:7). Never forget that.

You would all have heard of the law of cause and effect---that is, all things ('effects') are caused, and are themselves causes of further effects. Metaphysically, we are always becoming cause to our own effects. Also, different kinds of conditions can be expected to have different effects. Finally, things arise dependent on conditions and cease when those conditions cease. A single logic applies to all things, and to how they are related to each other.

Now, although there will always be some things you cannot ‘decree,’ there are many positive things you can ‘decree’ for yourself and others, and if you are prepared to ‘work’ (mentally and otherwise) for those things, then they may well be ‘established for you.’ There are many Bible verses on this theme, including this one: ‘Let the weak say, “I am strong”’ (Joel 3:10). The last mentioned verse encapsulates the nature and technique of affirmative prayer, the aim of which is always the same---to lift one's consciousness to the level of the answer, for the solution is already complete in God-Mind.

‘But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it’ (Deut 30:14)

Your own ‘word’---spoken and deeply held thought---is creative. The Bible says, 'what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart [that is, mind]' (Mt 15:18). A word is simply a spoken or articulated thought. Everything---I mean, every thing---starts with a thought in the mind. According to the Bible, God spoke all things into existence, but first these things began as thoughts in the eternal Mind of God. 

'The world is the outpicturing of human thought,' wrote the well-known Divine Science minister, lecturer and author Dr Emmet Fox. 'Your life is conditioned by your own thoughts, not by the thoughts of anyone else. ... You can only express in experience your own true sense of what you really are.' So, let your word go forth, for it shall not return to you empty (cf Is 55:11).

That is the power of creation in the macrocosm. The rationale behind all spiritual mind treatment is this---that very same creative power is also available to each one of us in the microcosm. Why? Because the macrocosm and the microcosm are, in truth, one. 

But where, you may ask, do we 'go' to find and access that power? In our own individual minds, of course. There is no place else. Many philosophers postulate that all individual minds are simply an incarnation, expression, and agent of the One Absolute Mind. This is what Jesus really meant when he said, 'I and my Father are one' (Jn 10:30). It is a reference to the indwelling presence known as 'Our Father which art in heaven' (Mt 6:9). Now, even if our individual minds are not part or agents of one great Mind---I have an open mind on the matter---the fact remains that thought is creative according to the nature, emotion, impulse, and conviction behind the thought. 'All actions, good or bad, start with a thought,' wrote the much-loved minister and author Dr Norman Vincent Peale. 'We draw to ourselves exactly what we are.'

So, give voice to your desire, hope, or goal, and then ‘hold’ your desire, hope, or goal deeply in your mind (‘heart”). Here’s another relevantly applicable Bible verse: ‘It is true unto me according to the Word of God’ (Ps 119:25).

‘He sent forth his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions’ (Ps 107:20)

Like Jesus, send forth your word. ‘All power is given unto me [that means you] in heaven and on earth’ (Mt 28:18). Your word (‘thought’) must, however, be backed up by both conviction and feeling. Your creative thought needs to be emotionalized---that is, both felt and believed---before it can be accepted by your mind and later come forth as the answer or solution to your ‘prayer.’ ‘Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone’ (Jn 12:24). 'It shall be done unto you as you believe' (Mt 9:29). 'As you believe, so is it done unto you' (Mt 8:13). In addition, there must be a state of expectancy in your mind: 'Whatever you ask in prayer [that refers to your desire or wish], believe that you receive it, and you will' (Mk 11:24). Dr Joseph Murphy put it this way: 'Whatever you think, feel and believe to be true, your subconscious mind will bring to pass---good or bad.'

One other important thing---your conscious and subconscious mind need to be in unison for anything positive to happen. That is the real, inner meaning of the Bible verse, ‘If two of you agree about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven’ (Mt 18:19). The reference to ‘two of you’ refer to your conscious and subconscious mind. When they agree, the creative power (Father ‘in heaven,’ or ‘within’) is then able to bring your desire to pass.

‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me’ (Jn 12:32)

Your ‘I’ is your inner centre of awareness---your core-self. ‘Earth,’ metaphysically interpreted, refers to your present, perhaps limited, state of consciousness, and present lack. It is the realm of all things worldly, physical, and temporal. ‘Heaven’ is the realm of perfect and spiritual ideas (eg perfect health and vitality, true joy, peace, serenity, and abundance)---a ‘kingdom’ not of this world’ (Jn 18:36). 

These spiritual (that is, non-material) ideas---a veritable ‘table of plenty’---are implanted in your DNA and are part and parcel of your phylogenetic heritage. For example, you could never be healthy unless there were the perfect idea (or 'form') of health built into you---into every cell, tissue, and organ of your mind and body. It’s as simple as that. This truth is common to all of the world’s major religions and religious philosophies. For example, Swami Vivekananda [pictured above left], whose teachings have greatly impacted my own life, said, ‘Vedanta not only insists that the ideal is practical, but that it has been so all the time; and this ideal, this Reality, is our own nature.’

So, in the words of the great Plato, 'take charge of your thoughts; you can do what you will with them.' Lift up your ‘I’ from the earth, that is, from everything that is holding you back in your life. Then, if you do what is necessary to bring it to pass, you will ‘draw all men’ [that is, thoughts and aspirations] unto you. Here’s another important Bible verse: ‘Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go unto him that send me’ (Jn 7:33). Stay with your condition (the mental state of lack, limitation, etc) for only ‘a little while,’ then ascend in consciousness to the ‘Father within,’ more particularly, the perfect spiritual image of what you seek to create. Concentrate upon, and contemplate, whatever it is you seek (eg perfect health, freedom from the bondage of addiction, etc).

‘He calls those things which are not as though they were’ (Rom 4:17)

This Bible verse encapsulates the essence and technique of all spiritual mind treatment. You treat the spiritual man or woman. You see things as you would like them to be, for, in truth, those things already exist, in you, as perfect ideas implanted in your DNA and your phylogenetic heritage. All you need to do, metaphysically, is to achieve, by inducing in yourself, a greater capacity to recognize the present existence of what you seek. 

The Christian preacher and teacher Charles Capps makes this very important point in his little book God's Creative Power for Healing: 

'This is God's method of calling things that are not as though they were until they are. There are some who have misunderstood this principle, and they call things that are, as though they are not. In other words, they deny what exists. The power is in calling for healing and health by mixing faith with God's Word.' [Emphasis in the original]

The Bible recognizes that there is, implanted in our DNA, a blueprint for every part of our body and mind: ‘My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and consciously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them’ (Ps 139:15-16). In other words, the infinite Intelligence that created you, according to a spiritual ‘blueprint,’ and fashioned all your cells, tissues, and organs, according to the detail of that blueprint, indwells every part of you, and is therefore capable of refashioning those cells, tissues, and organs when they become damaged, injured, or diseased in any way. ‘The Spirit of God has made you, and the breath of the Almighty gives you life’ (Job 33:4). So, 'attend to my words ... they are life ... and health [that is, medicine] to all their flesh' (Prov 4:20-22).

Now, whether treating yourself or others, the technique is the same---you do not deal with the material or physical man or woman, rather you say (speak the word) that the spiritual person is perfect, healthy, and whole. You envision that state of affairs---seeing yourself as you would like to be---for in truth what is sought and conceived is always available, and presently existing, in and through the perfect ‘forms’ that were instantiated in you when you were in the womb, and through the power of creative consciousness. To a very large extent, what you 'see' is what you'll be. Here's another Bible verse that sets out this wonderful technique for spiritual mind treatment: 

'Every valley [any state of lack, limitation, etc] shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill [any obstacle] shall be made low, and the crooked [any entanglement, disorder, or other difficulty] shall be made straight, and the rough plains [difficult, hard times] smooth' (Is 40:4). 

Again, it's calling things that are not as though they were---until they are.

'Every plant, which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up' (Mt 15:13)

Spiritual mind treatment proceeds as follows. As God is life and all there is, and that life is our life right now, there is therefore no place for anything unlike God. Thus, there is no place for anything that is foreign to God, or in objective contradiction to God (eg illness, lack, and limitation of all kinds). 

In spiritual mind treatment we affirm that everything that contradicts God is passing from us and at the same time we reject opposite and fallacious assertions. We are the 'image of God' (Gen 1:27), and the activity of God-ness is the activity in each of us---right now. Therefore, what is true of God is also true of us---right now. In short, illness, lack, and limitation are 'plants' that the 'heavenly Father' (Life perceived as an indwelling Presence) has not planted, so let all such plants be uprooted---right now! In the words of Swami Vivekananda: 'The greatest sin is to think yourself weak. No one is stronger. ... Deny evil, create none. Stand up and say, "I am the master---the master of all."'

‘Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity’ (Hab 1:13). In traditional evangelical Christianity it is said that Jesus Christ, by his death and resurrection, conquered sin and bought for us a ‘robe of righteousness,’ such that, although we are all said to be dead in sins, if we repent and accept Jesus as saviour and lord, God then sees us clothed in a robe of righteousness. We wear this robe, and God sees us so robed. Another interpretation of the foregoing is that when God looks at the person (you or me), God sees only Christ (God’s Son) in all his perfection, Christ himself being the robe of God’s own righteousness.

What all this means, metaphysically, is quite simple---we need to see ourselves as God’s perfect son or daughter, clothed in a robe of right-thinking, health, and wholeness. The truth is, there are always two ‘images’ of ourselves. One image is of us as we presently are, in all our imperfection, and the other image is of us as we could be, or as we would like to be. Now, if we want to change for the better, we need to envision ourselves as we would like to be---indeed, as we are in Truth. If, for example, we are sick in some way, or in bondage to some condition or state of consciousness, we should see ourselves as healthy or as free, as the case may be, for, in the words of the old Oriental maxim, ‘what we think upon grows.’ 

 

'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom [table of plenty] prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (Mt 25:34).

And so it is.



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MINDFULNESS IN THE BIBLE

PERFECT PEACE CAN BE YOURS---YES, INDEED!

‘Thou wilt keep in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee’ (Isaiah 26:3)

Deep down, we all crave peace of mind. Call it serenity, tranquillity, equanimity, or imperturbability, we certainly know when we don’t have it. Wanting to be happy all the time is, well, silly, and quite superficial, but peace of mind is an altogether different thing.

This verse from the Hebrew Bible contains a valuable formula for obtaining, and maintaining (‘keeping’), peace of mind. It says that God will keep us in perfect peace if our mind is ‘stayed’ on God.

Who or what is this God? Some theological construct? A person, albeit a supra-normal (whatever that means) one? No, not at all. I know many, many people who call themselves atheists---and that they are, at least when one applies traditional theistic definitions of ‘God’---who have perfect peace. They know God, even though they choose not to use that term---and that is their prerogative.

The word ‘God’ is not the 'thing,' rather it directs us to the reality to which the word 'God' refers. What is that reality, I hear you ask? Well, this is it---God is simply a word that some people choose to use (and others choose not to use) to refer to the medium in which all things live, move, and have their being. Time and space---spacetime, to be more correct---are other words that refer to more-or-less the same 'thing.' They, too, are mediums---or rather the medium---in which all things exist and subsist. No wonder mystics have referred to God as the Eternal Now. Yes, God is the All in all. God is not a ‘thing,’ nor a ‘person,’ as we ordinarily use those words. Got that? God is not a thing, but rather ‘No-Thing’ or ‘No-Thing-ness.’

Now, some or all of the foregoing may be hard to understand but, when you think about it, it makes much more sense than believing in a so-called personal God. Actually, the God to which I refer is both personal and impersonal. It is impersonal in the sense of being general, universal, all-embracing, non-discriminating, and infinite, but it ‘becomes’---for want of a better word---personal in and as you and me and all other persons and things as well as being personal to all who are at-one with its indwelling presence, power, and activity.

So many people have a terrible concept of God---anything but the truth. The true nature of the divine, as pure and ever-perfect Be-ing, is revealed in these Bible verses from the third chapter of the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible:

13 Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’

14 And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’’

The words 'I AM' refer to the subject---note that word, 'subject,' not object---of all existence. The Bible says that I AM is God. So, God (that is, the very essence and being-ness of life itself) becomes what God has said that which God is---'I AM THAT I AM.' That is the name by which God is called---at least in the Hebrew Bible and in metaphysics---and it describes the Presence or Power of God (being the spiritual or divine 'image' of each person's creation) declaring Itself---to Itself. This is the Self-knowingness of God, and we, too, can be conscious (or rather self-conscious) of that very same I AM Presence and Power that is the ground of our being, indeed, the ground of all Be-ing. It is the All-in-all. 

Yes, God---pure Be-ing or existence--is the one form-less, essence-less, self-existent, self-knowing, self-giving, absolute, indestructible, and abundant existence that forever takes form, that is, incarnates, as you, me, and everything else, but which is never even for a moment absorbed by the innumerable objects of its Self-expression. In other words, God---if you choose to use the word at all---is the life that is the subject of true existence, the very life that lies within, and otherwise manifests itself through and as objects, being all persons and things---the very livingness, or rather Self-livingness, of life itself. Put perhaps more simply, you are I AM in expression---as you. In the words of the renowned Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth, you are an 'eachness' within the ALL-ness of God. Yes, 'Thou art That.' Whether or not you are aware of it, you are divine and one with this 'God-ness,' being the point---and just one of an infinite number of such points---at which the Great I AM reproduces and experiences Itself. Amazing!

Back to our Bible text. What is meant by the word ‘perfect,’ in the expression ‘perfect peace’? Well, peace is perfect when it is true, real, and substantial, as opposed to being false or insubstantial. Material things, and even intangible things such as status and reputation, are false and insubstantial because they are ‘grounded’—actually, they are not even ‘grounded’ in any real sense---in our false selves that clamour for attention and the approval of others. Peace is ‘perfect’ when it is grounded in the eternal and infinite; this peace is imperturbable, for it subsists at all times and under all events. The great Swami Vivekananda described this state of mind as 'eternal calmness which cannot be ruffled, the balance of mind which is never disturbed, whatever happens.'

Now, if you want perfect peace in your mind, then keep your mind ‘stayed’ in the Eternal Now, that is, in the medium in which all things live, move, and have their being. Keep your mind grounded in the consciousness of the moment, from one moment to the next. For me, mindfulness is the best form of prayer and meditation. It is the primary means by which I stay grounded in the Eternal Now---God, if you like. You don't need to believe in someone else’s concept of God---not even mine, for heaven’s sake. You don't need to use the word God, or think in theistic terms, at all. All you have to do is to stay mindfully aware of, and alert to, the content (both internal and external) of the present moment at all times or at least as much and as often as you can. Angels---assuming there are any---can do no better. 

And how do you know when you are living mindfully? The answer is simple---you are living mindfully when you are no longer fretting about or fighting the past, or fearing the future. You are able to accept, with calm contentment and total equanimity, whatever is. Perfect peace, just like perfect love, drives out all fear, anxiety, anger, and resentment (cf 1 Jn 4:18). Indeed, there is simply no room in a mindset of perfect peace for any negative thoughts or emotions.

The photos in this post were taken by my son

Peter while on vacation in Baja California, Mexico