Universal recognition of the natural world such as water, earth, trees, animals etc. is a learned process taught to every new generation. These basic thoughts of recognition are the platform from which you experience the world. When you encounter something you have never seen before, there is a sense of wonder about it. You try to identify the object in relationship to your previous experience and knowledge. This is the process of inquiry and learning new information about your experience.
True power is when you can examine your thoughts as they rise with no stress. A clear mind can see its thoughts as they are without negative judgments. With awareness no thought can create conflict or stress. Thoughts in themselves do not carry any power until they are coupled with a belief. Beliefs are organized thought patterns that are stored in memory just as you store memories of past events. Beliefs are learned thought patterns from your family and society. As you grow and mature beliefs shape your individuality and personality.
Look closely at why you believe something to be true. People believed the world to be flat at one time and thought the sun revolved around the earth. These beliefs were changed by inquiry and understanding of the solar system. It is the same for your beliefs about yourself and your relationships; they can be met with inquiry. Start with any belief that creates stress or conflict in your life. Whether they are about your self-image, your work or relationships, just begin to look at why you believe something to be true. This is the process of resolving negative beliefs in your life.
All people have the opportunity to question beliefs in order to gain more awareness about themselves and their relationship to others. Anytime you make negative comparisons you create stress by those judgments. The world is a reflection of your understanding any confusion you see is the confusion you still feel in yourself. All clarity begins with your own thoughts. There is no other place to start. When a clear mind meets the world, there is no more confusion, there can only be peace. What is your relationship to the world?
How do you feel about yourself and your life? These are big questions and will have many answers as to how you perceive yourself. The key is to start somewhere, wherever you may feel stuck or have conflicts. Ultimately all stress is self generated. When you take responsibility for your own feelings and reactions, you can stop believing you’re a victim of circumstances. You may experience difficult or adverse situations, but the awareness you bring to any situation determines its effect on you. If you lose your job for any reason, how do you feel about what just happened? Whatever feelings come up such as fear, resentment or anger; start asking yourself why you feel that way. Be patient and look closely at your answers, because there may be many layers of beliefs to resolve. Anger may be coming from a belief that you were mistreated. Your reaction to any event is guided by your beliefs about it. Without those beliefs the event will be neutral. The only stressful part is your not being able to accept the situation gracefully. When you can accept life as it presents itself with an open mind and heart, peace and harmony will be your experience.
Your conscious mind is like a flashlight in a darkroom, it can only see where the light is focused, and everything else is hidden in the dark. Your beliefs are likewise showing you what you believe to be true. If your mind is unable to accept thoughts outside of your beliefs, they simply don’t exist for you. Your waking consciousness is filtered and guided by your beliefs and thoughts. If you want to explore other parts of the darkroom, you have to turn up the power of the light or at least point your flashlight to another part of the room. This is the development of awareness, being aware that there are other parts of the room to see. Awareness comes in different ways to each individual. Whatever resistances you may have is where your growth is most likely to occur.
Awakening can be dramatic due to extreme stress or depression or it can be a steady process unfolding gradually as you are able to resolve your stressful beliefs. The evolution of spiritual growth is an individual pursuit. Each person has equal opportunity to learn about their connection to the creative energy field of all life. As each of us gains more understanding of ourselves and our relationship to others, consciousness expands. Collective beliefs are changed when enough individual beliefs are resolved. Evolution of culture is based on the evolution of each person within that culture. All major turning points in history can be traced back to individual beliefs changed in to collective beliefs until the enough people agree to change society. Start with small decisions, with every day interactions and see where you can start making a difference in your life. Bring joy to work, bring harmony to relationships, bring peace to conflicts, the difference will amaze you.
Awareness is subtle; it resides in the background of everyday activities. It works in concert with your mind and body. In meditation it is the feeling of joy in unseen consciousness. Awareness resides in the gap between thoughts. Awareness is the supporting presence of the unified energy field. You can experience the sweet peace of awareness and feel the serenity of being in a state of knowing. Awareness becomes your conscious companion, always there, always available. You can discern what thoughts create conflict and which thoughts create peace. Best of all is the ability to resolve stressful thoughts as they arise. As awareness becomes your dominate experience, it will fill your heart with love and joy.
“The Nature of Awareness” is a comprehensive study of the Mind, Body and Spirit Connection. Visit http://thenatureofawareness.com for more information and free download of sample chapters.
This book is an expression of my spiritual journey. When the thought of writing this book came to me, I wanted to explore individual and collectively held beliefs and test them against my understanding or awareness to see what new awareness could be gained by this inquiry. I found that any subject could be met with inquiry and a lot of beliefs fell by the way as I pushed the envelope of understanding. The journey always led back to the truth that the source of all life is also the final answer to all questions. The creative energy field of all creation, the source of all life, is the alpha and omega. Without the spark of consciousness we call life, there would be no evolution. The journey back to unity with the creative energy field is the path of self awareness. Once a topic was examined there was no barrier to peeling the beliefs away to get to the understanding of where those beliefs came from and if they were rooted in stressful ego identification.
William Lovett, author, email info@thenatureofawareness.com for questions or comments.
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