Power & Grace 1 Liners - till 28 july 2007

“We must not wait for a year or more to measure the success of our strategy but must develop a system to do so monthly, weekly, even daily.”
(Rudy Giuliani.)

Revising your objectives alters subsequent results. Wisdom
is born of sound judgment.

Paying attention means noting the consequences of past actions
and adjusting your intentions for future deeds accordingly.
This creates wisdom.

The awakened one integrates One Mind with all aspect of everyday life.P
The ogre (the ego) unrealistically glorifies the source of wisdom,
prompting you to strive towards an image of wisdom
that is divorced from the outcome of your actions.


Ineptness and confusion frequently replace the
repercussions of true wisdom.

Frequently, the faculty of perception is hopelessly attached to the past.
This condition seriously curtails a joyous life.


Because wisdom is based on that which has passed or has been experienced,
it is differentiated from creativity, which is the process of manifesting
that which has yet to come into being.

Intelligence does not necessarily engender wisdom. The application
of knowledge without consideration for its consequences is the
antithesis of wisdom.

A wise person knows that who she is, is not constrained within
her thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.

The wise observe, yet remain unidentified with the passage of
cognitive and emotional states.

Wisdom denotes a higher level of consciousness, which animates
your words and deeds with passion, enthusiasm, and direction.

Wisdom reveals a direct connection between intention and outcome.


Wisdom is constantly evolving, therefore, ultimate wisdom is unattainable.

Developing your acuity for wisdom eliminates your existing interpretation
of “reality”. This is the paradox of volitional wisdom.

The doorway to wisdom is constantly presented to you.
Learn from your experiences.

Ferreting out apparent ego-motives frequently stirs up a stipulation to brand wisdom as heresy.

The awakened one takes no refuge in knowledge, memories or possessions.

The awakened one witnesses the lesser- mind with dispassion and detachment.

The awakened one concludes all personal conflict in relevant relationships.

The awakened one is the ever-present awareness of stillness.

The awakened one abandons the myriad meanings of mankind.

The awakened one is a living example of the promise of perfection.

The awakened one gives the world the greatest gift: the ego-less self.

The awakened one acts with fervent determination.

The awakened respects those who are yet unaware of the power of choice.

The awakened one regularly passes judgment.



To judge: To form an opinion, evaluation or estimation of after careful consideration: judge heights; judging character.

From an absolute perspective, each of us is already awakened.
When we hold a relative perspecitive, the awakened life may not be our experience.

To go from an "unawakened" to an awakened life sometimes requires that we make judgements.


We may have to judge suggestions, concepts, books, teachers, our choices, and sometimes the choices of others.

The awakened one must judge because he or she knows that the "unawakened" are unable to trust themselves.

For instance, an awakened one may have to judge the character of a person whom he wishes to hire as his Chief Financial Officer.


The awakened one forgives the selfish or unconscious acts of others.

The awakened one nourishes wisdom by remembering significant indiscretions.

The awakened one honors the place where he is, yet never rests there.

Wisdom denotes a higher level of consciousness, which animates
your words and deeds with passion, enthusiasm, and direction.

Meditation is an easeful yet alert awareness of who you are.


Meditation melds separateness and individuality in Oneness.

Meditation allows the decisive essence to become fully conscious of itself.

Meditation is akin to cosmic vanity; awareness simply watching itself.

Meditation is your consciousness resting lightly on consciousness itself.

Meditation is the recognition that who you are is only that pure consciousness

Meditation is to look your Creator in the eye and see your Self.

Meditation joins created and Creator.

Meditation reveals that the one who experiences is the only One.

Meditation reveals that experience and the Creator of experience are One

- Meditation uncovers the space of infinite possibility.

The awakened one loves conditionally.

The awakened one plays unconditionally.

The awakened one embodies enthusiastic spontaneity.

The awakened one is passion emancipated.
The awakened one is autonomy incarnate.


Meditation unites the observer and that which is observed

Meditation is the tangible recognition of that conscious subjectivity.

Meditation is the Self losing itself in the ground of being.

Meditation is practice for living, dying, and re- birth.

Meditation reveals that birth and death are occurring simultaneously.

High states of consciousness can co-exist with low stages of moral and ethical development in the same individual.

(being there) Lower Consciousness

Chapter 6.


This is the reality that is commonly created by most people. When you operate from lower levels of consciousness, you create a world dominated by matters of security, sensation and power. The dynamics (patterns of emotion and behavior) that occur in these levels are unconscious. These levels of consciousness are driven by the emotional skill of denial, with the purpose of survival.

The first three levels of consciousness are referred to as the lower levels because they are driven by imprints in your unconscious and allowed to run on automatic. They usually do not occur in pure sequence, but rather as a cycle of consciousness that is employed as your survival needs, and other unconscious motivations, dictate.

Level one consciousness, Security, leads you to create what you believe you need in order to be comfortable. You pursue acquiring “enough”: enough food, enough shelter, enough companionship, enough money and so on. Of course, the definition of how much is “enough” is usually unconscious.

Level two consciousness, Sensation, unconsciously leads you to seek more of what you think you want and better versions of what you have. “More and better” are the keywords for this level of consciousness: more money, better possessions, more stimulation, better sex, more companionship, better spouse, and so on.

Level three consciousness, Power, leads you to try to control others to assure your survival, your security and sensations. You see others as the keys to meeting your needs and desires, so if you are to survive you must control them. This behavior can show up in an infinite number of styles: cajoling, arguing, intimidation, sweetness, self-sacrifice, withholding and passive-aggression are just a few of the myriad of power tactics.

The pursuit of Higher Consciousness begins with learning to identify your own lower level dynamics so that you can begin to claim self-responsibility. These dynamics are most obvious in interpersonal relationships and their underlying emotional issues. In other words, relationships can be some of your most useful learning tools. But you must learn how to structure your relationships for this purpose.

This is the last chapter of Part 1 of the Short Course in Enlightenment. Part 1 has been an overview of the pursuit.

Part 2 will give you an understanding of what the work entails. And Part 3 will describe the specific process.

A new short course is available each month at BEingThere.net.

(being there 5) Higher Consciousness

Chapter 5. Higher Consciousness


Higher Consciousness is what most people think of when they think about the kind of world they wish they could live in. It is in Higher Consciousness that you begin to consciously create what you truly want, by continuously connecting to your Personal Truth and deliberately acting in accordance with it. This requires learning specific skills and practicing them, always. There are still many lessons to be learned, as there are four levels of consciousness that are categorized as “higher”.

As you deal with your issues and learn the lessons, you begin to get small fleeting glimpses of what it feels like to completely live in your next level. You work to increase the amount of experience you have in that level of consciousness. Eventually you will learn to maximize the experience. By then, you will be recognizing some of the lessons coming up in the next level of consciousness.

Higher levels of consciousness are available to anyone who seeks them and is willing to learn the lessons required for their personal growth. There are two governing principles involved in being able to create higher levels of consciousness. First, you must deal with each and every issue as it arises. Second, you must put into practice the skills you have learned.

As you practice Higher Consciousness skills, you encounter new versions of your old issues. As you see the trend in how your issues change with added consciousness, then you can begin to identify the specific lessons involved in those issues. High levels of emotional skills allow you to work at the level of lessons, where you deal with whole categories of issues at a time, and the speed of your growth is magnified.

Higher levels of consciousness are available to everyone who learns and practices the skills of higher levels; regardless of education, economics, race, religion, gender or gross measures of ability in physical, mental or spiritual aspects.

Higher levels create a world where you can create experiences of true intimacy, unity, union and Enlightenment. If you want to experience true intimacy, for example, you must learn and practice the skills of that Level of Consciousness. You create the world you live in by the level of consciousness you practice. Consciousness precedes BEing.

(being there) Levels of Consciousness

Levels of Consciousness


Consciousness is the way in which we experience the world. We have the ability to develop our consciousness, and thus create different experience. Its level is determined by the skill levels of the four aspects of being: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. All four aspects of being are equally important, and skills must be progressed on all four aspects. Your spiritual aspect is not more important than your physical aspect. Your mental aspect is not more important than your emotional aspect. They are all equally important to the development of consciousness.

Even though most individuals are very skilled on one or two of their aspects, it is the skill level that is common to all four aspects that determines their level of consciousness. You may be highly trained mentally. You may have a profound sense of faith spiritually. And physically, you may manage your life force with expertise. But if you neglect dealing with your emotional issues, your level of consciousness will always remain undeveloped.

We have had encounters with several masters, who possessed great knowledge, awesome discipline, and saintly faith, but were acting out their emotional issues all around them. Their lack of emotional skill prevented them from realizing a very high level of consciousness, and consequently, Enlightenment. They were very impressive people. But until they learn the skills of the emotional aspect, they will continue to create their universe from a lower level of consciousness.

For everyone, the limiting aspect to their level of consciousness will always be the aspect of least development. For most people, the emotional aspect is the aspect of least development. Therefore, it is the determining factor in their level of consciousness. This is true simply because very few people receive training on the emotional aspect. When you learn and practice emotional skills, you can grow in consciousness. Growth will continue up to the aspect with the next lowest skill level. Then the skills of that aspect must be addressed, along with continuing development on the first.

Most us would prefer to enhance our skills on the aspects where we already excel. We try to use our strengths to pursue our self-development. But it is exactly where we do not excel where we need to encounter our next set of lessons. This requires practicing a sincere sense of humility. We are mere children in our aspect of least development. We all must learn to embrace this vulnerability if we are to grow.

.

Thrill Seeking: Mick Quinn

22) Thrill Seeking:

The little-self likes that you feel alive so it often has you engage in adrenaline- soaked activities. Such extreme excitement and thrill seeking temporarily interrupt the deep, unanswered questions that rest in your conscious or subconscious and also help distract you from the inevitability of the ego's fate in physical death.
The consistent stimulation of adrenaline eventually has the effect of breaking down your immune system. The inevitable is then unavoidable.

#23 of 24 next

Chapter 3. Aspects of BEing

Body-Mind-Spirit is an archaic paradigm. Yet, it continues to be errantly served up as an expression of new age holism. This is a 700-year old concept (in the western world) that continues to retard our development today.

In the history of man, first there was a model of self that included no more than the corporal being, body. Then it was clear that we needed to include a spiritual connection to understand ourselves more fully. Many philosophies and religions were born, and we knew ourselves as body and spirit. Then the importance of the mind became evident in the western world during the Renaissance, leading us to seek its training and development. And we understood ourselves as body-mind-and-spirit. This model of self-understanding has had six or seven hundred years to become axiomatic.

Each level of self-understanding has served the evolution of humankind. And evolution now demands a further step in our model. You are a physical being, but this is not all you are. You are a spiritual being too, but you are more than just physical and spiritual. You are also a mental being, and you must continue to address your mental development. But until you realize that, in addition to being body-mind-and-spirit, you are an emotional being, you will not claim the level of self-responsibility needed to be able to “consciously create” what you truly want.

Individual cultures have previously assigned emotions to one of the other aspects. The western world is fond of locating emotions in the mind. Eastern cultures are more prone to assigning emotions to specific organs of the body. And aboriginal cultures often assign emotions to spiritual influences. None of these views gives credence to the perfection of our emotional aspect in guiding us toward our Enlightenment.

Consciousness is a description of the collective level of skills we have on all four aspects of our being: physical, mental, spiritual and emotional. To grow in consciousness, you must begin to integrate the practice of emotional skills into your self-development.

The next chapter will begin to describe the different levels of consciousness and how the consciousness you practice determines the reality you live in.

(being there) Chapter 2: Consciousness

Consciousness is the way each of us defines reality out of the infinite data and experiences we encounter in every moment. Since we can experience the universe only through our own consciousness, it is difficult to imagine that there are other ways to experience the universe and all of its events.

But the first lesson of Enlightenment is to begin to comprehend that, since you are employing your consciousness to make sense of the chaos of the universe, you are the creator of your universe. And if you are the creator of your universe, then you are also the creator of everything you experience.

It follows then, that if you are the creator of your experience, you have within you the power to create "what you truly want." This concept is the essence of personal power. You are the creator of what you truly want, whether you are aware of it or not.

You do not need to fully understand this maxim in order to begin the journey to Enlightenment. Its profundity becomes increasingly evident as greater levels of consciousness are realized. If you are unhappy, displeased, confused, dissatisfied, unfulfilled or dismayed over what you have created, then the first task becomes one of understanding how you got to be in this reality, which you created.

All that is required to begin the journey is to be willing to crack open the door of awareness. This is done by making a choice for consciousness, the first choice, in each and every moment. This first choice of consciousness is the willingness to feel all that you feel, no denial and no avoidance. By becoming aware of all of your inner experience, you will be moved to learn the subsequent, and necessary, set of skills.

(beingthere) Enlightenment 1

Chapter 1. Enlightenment

Enlightenment is a level of consciousness; level seven, the highest level known to humans. It is a level that is often referred to, but rarely seen or understood. Since a higher level of consciousness cannot be comprehended from a lower level of consciousness, any description will be misunderstood. We can only understand realities of which we have experience.

Enlightenment can be imagined. It can be assumed. It can be named. But to comprehend this level of consciousness, or any level, it must be realized.

The authors do not claim to be enlightened beings, and thus can only point to the experience of Enlightenment. Having realized level four consciousness, Intimacy, and having worked on many lessons of level five consciousness, Unity, and having encountered some of the lessons of level six consciousness, Union, the authors can only map the course and extrapolate where it leads. As the view becomes clearer, the descriptions will become more precise.

Consciousness skills are usually learned one at a time. As we confront our issues and practice basic skills, we arrive at new lessons, which then deliver greater skills. Issue by issue, lesson by lesson, we build consciousness. It is pleasant to think that Enlightenment can be acquired suddenly, easily, magically.

This is childish thinking, much like when a young child dreams of greatness. As with anything else in life, greatness is the sudden result of a lifetime of work.

Rather than focusing on what seems to be an ultimate goal, we must all start the process of learning the skills that will eventually take us there. No one can instantly play a virtuoso violin. Instead, we must let our desire to know the learning process guide us in our development. We learn how to learn, and thus we become students of the process.

Enlightenment is not a destination, nor an ending; any more than playing the violin is a destination. It is a high level of practice of all of the skills of consciousness, some of which can be understood and learned now, and many of which will be encountered as you progress. You simply cannot learn it all at once. What you can do is begin the process of learning. And with practice, devotion and diligence you will be encountering ever-greater challenges, a reflection of your achievement.

Next, we will introduce you to consciousness and then its many facets. Be sure to watch your mailbox.