Phase Three
Rejoice! We've made it through the tough part. Self-inquiry is not something that is standard-issue in our society and culture. We've made a huge leap towards a greater understanding.
In this phase, we build the mechanisms which we will combine into a mindfulness practice in future phases, so the groundwork we lay here is essential. What may seem tedious at first will become the catalyst which enables us to move beyond the physical world into higher dimensions. In other words, its important.
The next step in the journey, the sixth if you've been counting, is the practice of non-attachment non-aversion. To achieve this we find the middle ground of willingness. We have had a glimpse into the fear-based thought system, so now we watch for it and as it surfaces, we become willing to move beyond it. We don't fight it or push it away, we do not latch onto the things we discovered. We allow them to rise as they may and become willing to release them. And if on some aspects we lack the willingness, we pray for the willingness.
Many times we latch onto even the negative aspects of the fear-based thought system. Since it is what makes up the ego mind, it may feel it is losing its identity if those things are released. But we are replacing it with something better. So tell the ego that it is going to be OK, send it love, and find the state of release which is willingness.
As we do this, we are building the mental framework to be in the world, but not of the world. We are releasing the “s”elf.
As we reach the state of willingness, we turn to the next step. We use the breath to center our awareness into the heart space. As we release our focus on the fear, we breathe into the heart chakra. We merge our thought process into the energetic presence there. This is what is meant by heart-mind coherence.
The HearthMath Institute has been doing research into the state of heart-mind coherence for several decades. What they have found is that the electrical and magnetic fields produced by the heart are many times more powerful than the brain and that the heart actually sends much more information to the brain than vice versa. Through experimentation they have determined that the heart is intuitive, it reacts to events before they occur. It is within this space that we connect into Higher Awareness.
With practice of this dynamic, the heart and mind reach a state of entrainment, in which they begin to function as one. In this state we find emotional and physiological balance. The various wave functions of our bodies begin to function in an integrated way. And, since the heart's field extends out from the body, our coherent state extends out into the world around us.
I'd like to take a moment here to discuss probably the single most effective tool I have discovered along the path, the practice of gratitude. At times, establishing the coherent state can be challenging, especially when there are strong emotions involved. This is where the practice of radical gratitude enters the equation. Gratitude for the experience we are having, no matter whether we judge it good, bad or otherwise.
“Thank you Father for this anger”, “Thank you, Father, for this depression”, “Thank you Father, for this pain”, whatever the situation. Gratitude is a bridge into the balanced state.
The heart-mind coherent state grounds our awareness into the present moment. It is the key to Tolle's Power of Now. The energies we contact within the space of the heart chakra, be it called love, bliss, joy or the Holy Spirit, those energies align into the state of presence. This is key to moving beyond fear-based thinking attached to the past to the love based thinking that is ever-present within the moment.
from the Lachlen Paul French translation of The Gospel According to Thomas, passage 27
Unless you Abstain from the world and its ego-driven pursuits,
you will not find the quiet, yet expansive awareness in your Center.
Unless you honor and live the Sabbath Rest in everyday life –
resting from fearful worry, worldly lusts and the pursuit of “things”—
you will not see your Divine Soul as your living cause;
nor will you see your Holy Breath as it is –– a Nurturing Expandingness.
Both Soul and Breath, work In you As you to create True Self awareness.
Soul-Consciousness … is the Divine Father Life within.
Spirit-Breath is the Divine Mother – a moving constructive life force
within. Meditation makes us one-with the Mind of Father God.
Divine Breath work makes us into Divine beings on Earth in true awareness.
This pure awareness will take dominion over your “appetites,”
instead of your appetites taking dominion over you.
Performing daily the simple sacred acts of Love with your Inner, does it.
This activity will transform the Entirety of your life experience.