Think Outside the Circle!

A friend asked me today what it is that he needs to "do" in order to "get enlightened." The following is my attempt at describing my understanding, which is based on my own experience.

Let me see if I can splain....

What you need to do is to get underneath all the thinking. The best way to do that is mindfulness meditation. Have you done that before? A really good way to start is by following your breath, but in a specific way. You breathe in for, say, four counts, and then immediately breathe out for four counts. [The actual number you use is not important, so long as it's the same for both the inhalation and the exhalation]. Then, without a pause, breathe in again. This is called "consciously connected breathing." By not pausing between the in and out breaths, you force yourself to stay aware of the present moment, because pausing is what comes naturally. If you can maintain this for at least 15 minutes a day (twice a day would be better), this would start slowing you down enough to see through some of the static.

The reason you want to be present, in the now, and not listening to the static is because the thing that YOU ARE is what is AWARE of the static. You want to dissociate from the thoughts that you currently think are you. Once you disconnect from the noise in your head, you realize that ALL your experiences, all your feelings, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that comes to you through your senses is warped into something it's not by the continual commentary going on in your head. Disconnect from the commentary, and you find out that you've never, ever really seen the real world at all -- all you've ever seen and experienced are your reactions to the world.

My friend then replied:

You see, my problem is that that is precisely what all people who've achieved enlightenment say.. you already have it. But that's never helped me. I *believe* them, and I believe you, but I don't know what I'm supposed to *do* to reach some point where I can say yep, I felt it.

I know exactly what you mean, so I won't tell you that. There IS something you need to do, not to "become" enlightened, but to become aware that you are enlightened. You could be Jesus Christ, but if you don't know it, you're not going to do anyone any good. If you really want to know the answer to this one, you're going to have to work on dissociating from your thoughts.

This is what I meant before. Is it accurate to say you got a glimpse of it, and now it's gone?

No, not quite. It's not gone at all. It's just that the static is back and I need to continually work at staying present (meaning, I need to work at staying dissociated from my thoughts). It's not anywhere near as hard as it used to be. And occasionally, if I allow myself to get overwhelmed by a powerful emotion, I go unconscious again just like everyone else. A fully enlightened person doesn't get overwhelmed by emotions anymore, which are all part of the static.

Think of it this way. Draw a circle and fill it with all the words and pictures you can think of that represent your thoughts and feelings. If you were to do this literally, that circle would be pretty full, and it would take a looooong time to complete. Now, that circle is your mind.

Now put a dot in the center. That's the awareness of all that "stuff." Normally, that little dot's identity (awareness) gets tied up with all the crap in that circle. It forgets that it's its own little "being" sitting calmly and peacefully, right there in the middle. But the thoughts are always pressing down on it, irritating it, making it think this and think that, or feel this and feel that. The dot gets confused, and has to relate to the world around it by peering through all the crap in the circle.

Now bear with me because I'm going to try to put this awesome experience into words....

If you practice mindfulness meditation, like following your breath or just being in the moment, some of the static dies down. It would look like a circle with fewer words in it. The circle begins to clear a bit because, at least for a little while, you're not actively "feeding" all that stuff and keeping it "alive." Now there's some space between the words in the circle. So, now, the "awareness dot" in the middle begins to become aware of space AS WELL AS the thoughts! That space, to the dot, is "empty." In other words, nothing is "happening." The dot can just sit there, being aware of itself for a change. When the awareness-dot isn't listening to the static (thoughts), it's just being.

THAT IS THE KEY.

After some practice at just being aware, NOW, something very cool happens. At some point, it realizes that it's still aware during the spaces IN BETWEEN the thoughts. Before now, it was only EVER aware of thoughts, so it had no way to know that it could exist without them. Suddenly, not being aware of thoughts means that it's aware of nothing in particular. Now, it realizes it's awareness itself, and not the thoughts. That's the moment of dissociation that shows you you're completely free.