Part III:

(An attempt to understand some lectures by Dr. Depok Chopra, with apologies to him and to any person whom I have misquoted or whose name I have misspelled.)

In the Ancient tradition of healing, we look at different levels of awareness:


1. Universal Consciousness...pure potentiality ...the ultimate ground of creation... spirit (this is our unified field)

2. Causal...soul...information gives rise to form

3. Subtle: (transformation)

a) Mind...emotion, feeling, desire
b) Intellect...ideas, concepts, beliefs
c) Ego...the state of objective referral (refer to something in order to identify self)

4. Physical...3-dimensional space/time...matter/energy ...prana, chi, ki, ru (different names for very subtle forms of energy)


The universe is lots of energies, but it is really only one experienced as many. A thought is non-local in space, but it is local in time. We define ourselves by referring to objects, for example our jobs, our houses, our relationships. We relinquish our Selves for self image...the ego. We sacrifice spirit for the image which identifies with objects.


Since the birth of time, we have a continuity of memory that uses the ego or self image as the internal reference point. We must break the barrier of the ego, which is offended most of the time, and enter the timeless domain, which is non-local. Discover the causal level. The physical body has an even shorter life than the ego. It recycles atoms. It takes energy from the information field, processes it, and gives rise to emotion and thoughts.


At the level of Universal consciousness, which is Bohm's implicate order, the observer and the observed are one. It is the level of the unmanifest from which everything emerges. On the Causal level, the observer dominates. On the Subtle level, the level of the ego (or intellect), the process dominates. We are controlled by how we observe through the filter of our thoughts and emotions and objective referrals. On the Physical level, the object dominates. These are all different manifestations of the same thing. The observer, the process of observation, and the observed; the seer, the process of seeing, and the scenery; the knower, the process of knowing, and the known; the lover, the process of loving, and the beloved.


We can experience unity consciousness and be transformed. An ancient seer said, "I am not in the world, the world is in me. I am not in the body, the body is in me. I am not in the mind, the mind is in me. It happens to me because I curve back within myself and create again and again and again."


The ultimate goal of spiritual tradition is the meaning of wholeness. Silence in the mind will bring us to the space between thoughts. We need not do anything except listen, and wait. Be quiet, still, solitary and the world will offer itself to be unmasked. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet. It has no choice. Pascal said, " All of humanity's misery stems from its inability to sit quietly." We are human beings, and the ability to think is great. But the ability not to think, to get in touch with the immortal soul, is even greater. Jesus said, "Be still and know that I am God."


Try an experiment. Observe the breath. When thoughts appear, let them go and come back to breath. Feel the awareness of the whole body at the level of being. Be conscious of every cell. There is a lively self interacting field of consciousness, of bliss. Being is in every cell...perfect balance, harmony. Keep your consciousness in the body. It bubbles with energy and bliss.


We can use attention and intention for transformation in the body. When we drift off to sleep in relaxation, there is a prelude to awareness. We can eavesdrop on cosmic mind. We can have awareness of the source of biological information and energy in everything alive. It filters through the body and creates the world. Put your attention on something at that level. At that level there is transformation, an activation of energy and information...an energy rush, a tingling, a warmth. Experience the body as a bundle of energy and information and yourself as the source of the spaces between thoughts. There is infinite flexibility.


Attention is energy. Intention is transformation. In the healing traditions, there is an ability to influence energy and information states as different expressions of consciousness. When you recognize this, you can move toward active mastery of it. Maslow says that the self actualized person is a Self referral person. He/she is not bound or imprisoned by the hypnosis of social conditioning (everyday experience, what is considered average, or normal).


Some characteristics of a Self realized person:

1. The internal reference point is Spirit, not ego. Spirit is a real force, abstract and mysterious. We can have direct experience of it.
2. He/she knows how to deal with the toxins in life...food, drink, stress, emotions, relationships.
3. He/she sheds the need for approval. The ego needs control, external power, and approval. These are fear based compulsions. They are rooted in fear and threat.
4. He/she uses the mirror of relationships for his/her own evolution of consciousness. What we love and hate are mirrors of ourselves.
5. He/she is aware of the body as an experience of spirit. We live in a sensuous universe full of joy and alive with consciousness...birds, stars, flowers, children playing. If you cannot find God in a flower, a blade of grass, a rainbow, a persons eyes, then you won't find Him in any books about religion.
6. He/she has a life centered in present moment awareness. The past is gone.
7. He/she has a need to shed the burden of judgment. Divine/diabolical, sinner/saint, victor/vanquished...embrace the different disguises. Know the dark side and be intimate with it if you want to release it.
8. He/she replaces fear based behavior with love based behavior.

Recognize the whole universe as an expression of Self. That is all there is, curving back within itself to create again and again. Our desires are seeds in the ground. They wait for the proper time and blossom into manifestation. There is immeasurable potential. Why believe this? Why not?