Something to Die For!

Monday 14 Apr 2014

My wife Heidi suggested that this may be a good title for a verse or poem that I had been playing around with. I had just finished writing a poem about Belief, Proselytising and Fighting for Truth, then “Knowing the Present”. (You can find the poem in my poetry list for Volume two or see it performed on You Tube. (See the cascade on the home page.)

What is worth dying for? The poem mentioned above, I think succinctly points to any belief or opinion being a very doubtful reason to do such a thing. You might also think why worry about dying for something when we are all going to die in the end anyway, so what is the point? The trouble with this view is that as knowledge and wisdom grows in the mind, it starts to become clear that to really die is not as straight forward as we first might think.

As our minds mature with practice and as the mind stream of consciousness gradually starts to come into view, it is clear that this consciousness does not die with us at our mortal death. One can train and condition the mind to see this stream of consciousness very clearly by itself, without it being attached to the body. Deep states of meditation make this very clear. For those who wish to train themselves in the skill and art of meditation they will see that an “Energetic Phase Transition” can be known when the mind becomes more still than what the universe requires to keep the physical body intact. The Buddhist term for this phenomenon of concentration is Jhana. The body simply drops out of existence. The practitioner at this point is starting to approach the very heart of the present moment. Ironically they are starting to notice the empty nature of their being. They are starting to see that there is nothing of substance there at all, that what they once experienced as a personality or ego is really just a belief that relates to the perception of the movement experienced. This perception has no reality as the present moment is approached.

As this Energetic Phase Transition is approached, the mind can become very unstable. It is incredibly peaceful and concentrated, but the energy being used to identify who the practitioner is starts to unify, and as it progresses, the physical form will eventually just drop out of the mix. The mind will become too refined to identify with such a coarse state of being.

Within this transition period though, many strange things can happen. All sorts of psychic events can take place as the universe starts to open up to its very limits. We are heading to the realm of pure consciousness. A wise practitioner will not allow themselves to become fascinated with these happenings however. They will see that they are still just playing with mind movements, perceptions and feelings.

Stabilising the mind at this point and allowing the stillness to become more so, eventually allows you to see how even the consciousness itself will drop out into pure knowing where there is no conditioning what so ever. When a person dies into this complete unity there is no potential left for conditioning to give birth to anything. We are seeing or knowing what the Buddha experienced with the same knowing that explained the enlightenment experience he knew, without any words to really describe it, because it is unconditioned. That is, it lies outside the realm of the conditions we all identify with.     

At this point it may be useful to talk about the past and future in the context of the present moment, because when we are in our “divine like”, self-reflective mode, it may seem obvious that the present moment is the most likely place for truth to reside, but most often we are at the mercy of our basic animal instincts. This means we are constantly pulled back into the world, into time and space, past and future and all the baggage that we carry with that. This instinctual balance is very course and never allows enough clarity to see deep into the moment. Unless we can practice to refine our perspective, we can never have the clarity of insight to see deeply enough. This is where we need to refine our morality and develop our meditation to give us a mind that can relax and be concentrated and mindful to the levels required.  When this perspective is developed we can see very clearly that the past is finished and done and that the future is speculation or a hope and wish.  We notice that will power is an illusion and that letting go is the pathway to this pure knowing. This self-reflective platform needs to be developed beyond any doubt. We need to be able to balance our minds to the point of being able to accept and let go of not only ourselves but the world and indeed the whole universe.  

When we have this sensitivity and perspective, life can be seen truthfully as it is lived in the movement of mind. When our consciousness moves, perception and feelings aggregate thus changing the still consciousness that exists in the heart of the present moment. The belief in our lives is formed in the undertones that that aggregate from the energy that stems from this purest of conditioned consciousness. This consciousness can be really known when it appears in our minds as stillness emptiness or spaciousness. Our mortal lives exist in the fallout of these energetic phase transitions that build up and resonate in lower energetic frequency states. This creates the sense of movement, perception and feeling along with matter, which then conditions the sense of time passing. In pure space or stillness there is no time because there are no aggregations.

So knowing what pure consciousness is becomes very important in understanding the enlightenment process. We do need to know what consciousness is and how it resonates beyond any shadow of a doubt. It is only here, way beyond all the conditions of the world and universe that we can bring our fully concentrated mindful gaze onto the nature of consciousness. At first it is a shocking experience, beyond belief, to know that this consciousness also has the nature to finish. To see it break up and leave no trace for anything at all to be embedded. Like the cat in Alice in Wonderland disappearing and leaving its smile, or in this case, leaving the peace and beauty of this pure knowing.

Then when consciousness itself is allowed to finish, the conditions all finish and we are left with the absolute purity, peace and beauty of the unconditioned. Being born into this “state” really is “Something to Die For”.