“observe the movements of their own mind”
The fundamental behavior in Transcendence is making one’s life a meditation, in other words, becoming an observer (a witness). “For it is not the individual self which the seer sees in this pure inward seeing; that the individual self is but a series of brain and mental states, it is merely the body seen from within.”[i]
Mingyur Rinpoche explains “if you don’t try to stop whatever is going on in your mind but merely observe it, eventually you’ll begin to feel a tremendous sense of relaxation, a vast sense of openness within your mind—which is in fact your natural mind, the natural unperturbed background against which various thoughts come and go.”[ii]
According to Eckhart Tolle, “identification with the mind gives it more energy; observation of the mind withdraws energy from it. Identification with the mind creates more time; observation of the mind opens up the dimension of timeless. The energy that is withdrawn from the mind turns into presence [awareness].”[iii]
“Through our disciplines of meditation and the Point of Power Practice we become the observer of our P-B experience [both physical and mental] and transcend conventional experience into P-A. Then we have the profound experience of being able to distinguish between the story of P-B which involves continuous suffering and the narrative of P-A, the timeless experience of freedom, joy, compassion and peace.”[iv]
Insight # 103 comes to us from Marcus Aurelius (121-180), a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. He symbolizes the Golden Age of the Roman Empire.
“[Those] who do not observe the movements of their own mind must of necessity be unhappy.”[v]
__________
Additional Reading:
- Meditation, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
__________
[i] Durant, Will. Our Oriental Heritage. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954, p. 412.
[ii] Rinpoche, Mingyur. “Rest in the Sky of Natural Mind.” Shambhala Sun. Boulder, Colorado, July 2007, p. 79.
[iii] Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now. Novato, California: New World Library, 1999, p. 46.
[iv] Henry, Roy Charles. “Experience and Meaning.” The ABC’s Of Simple Reality, Vol 1. May 2018, p. 174.
[v] Aurelius Marcus. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. New York: Avon, 1993, p. 12.
