Notes From a Fellow Traveller

An Audio Meditation -Cutting Through to the Center of Your Being

                                    A Guided Audio Meditation   

 

This guided meditation will offer you a template for your meditation practice that reaches towards the direct experience of your authentic self, which is the essence and center of our being. We progress through the three stages of meditation: Calming the Mind, Resting in Stillness and Spaciousness, and beyond to the Center of our Being, our Natural and Authentic Self. This self, rather than our ordinary "I," is the reservoir of a natural serenity, happiness, wisdom, and compassion.

 

You can use whatever aspects of this guided meditation are useful for you, drop in at any level, or follow the practice as guided. 

 

 

Audio Meditation: Cutting Through To Your Authentic Self - A Lifetime Practice 

 

www.elliottdacher.org

Elliott's 10-Session Audio Meditation Course - Meditation 2.0

Dear Friends ...    

 

The 10 session meditation program in Aware, Awake, Alive has now been recorded and is available on Insight Timer.

 

These short sessions will offer you and your friends both an introduction to meditation - its practices, philosophy and psychology - as well as an ongoing refresher course. Each session contains a teaching and  practice. I have also updated the program to focus on the 3 stages of meditation.  

 

Please share this with your friend who have not been able to take the formal course and consider it as a program and refresher for yourself by using the social links above. 

 

               

 

Best,

 

Elliott 

 

A Condition of Complete SImplicity - Carefree Delight

When we fully experience the moment, without it being altered or compromised by past or future thoughts, there is a feeling of unpretentious delight.

Consider children frolicking in a wading pool, playing with stuffed animals, or enjoying an ice cream cone, experiencing what is as is, in the moment - an innocent yet precious moment. Do you remember that feeling of carefree simplicity untouched by a lifetime accumulation of memories, judgments, comparisons, and related thoughts? Do you remember how to just be with out a running commentary?

The poet Wordsworth expressed it this way:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;—

Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day.

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

Why is it that we can no longer experience that moment of delight once possible, that moment of “splendor in the grass? ”Why has age and the accumulation of knowledge burdened the moment and detached us from a natural, simple, and uncomplicated and innocent delight of being fully alive. Why are we subject to this great loss? As T.S. Eliot states we can no longer live “the intense moment isolated, with no before and after …”

From youth and beyond we accumulate knowledge that brings historical context to our experiences, but similarly enmeshes and envelopes the present moment in thoughts and emotions from times past. We learn to name things, describe them, evolve intricate understandings, ideas, beliefs, likes and dislikes, and so on. We bring to a once innocent and fresh mind a storehouse of factual and psychological knowledge that narrows and limits our experience. As the poet says, “The things which I have seen I now can see no more.”

When we see a tree do we experience the immediacy of this perception, or is the actual perception mingled with the idea of the tree, its biology, its possibilities, its practical use, comparisons, and so on? Can we see our friends or partners as new and fresh in each moment, or do we experience them in the context of a retained mental image formed long ago? Is it possible as adults to see what is as is without distorting it with memory, likes, dislikes, fear of loss, or attachment?

I am not here speaking against knowledge. There is much practical and factual knowledge that is essential to life. I am speaking here of retained psychological knowledge that contaminates how we see the world each moment. Knowing how to drive you car or perform your work does not impede direct pure experience. However, likes, dislikes, patterns of perception, memories, fears, and anxieties do take us from the beauty and actuality of the moment.

Each of us can remember moments of pure delight – a communion with nature, the immediacy of intimacy, beauty, art, and so on. We lose, for a moment, the burden of memory, past history, and future projections. What then is spontaneously revealed is our authentic self, which is the primary and natural aspect of consciousness that is simply and nakedly aware of what is as is, that experiences delight in the moment.

But we are thankful and satisfied with merely a glimpse of the glory of human life. Why, because we believe we cannot retrieve those moments of abandon and carefree joy and simultaneously function as “responsible adults.” This is true if you believe it is. But, in actuality it is only another false notion acquired from a diminished culture that has lost touch with the great wisdom traditions.

All great philosophical and religious traditions hold otherwise. The great sages, women and men, have demonstrated the folly of this belief with their lives, lived to the end in a state of joy and delight yet, not unaware of the difficulties and tragedies of human life to which they often applied their time and effort.

The unfortunate reality is that as modern people we have become deeply conditioned to believe in our limitations, the sobriety of adulthood, and the irresponsibility of carefree abandon. If we wish to regain the capacity to live with joy and delight, we have a bit of learning to do. And this learning is not an outside skill, but an inner understanding.

I don’t want to overemphasize the practice of meditation, particularly with its modern and limited goal of relaxation. Yes we do have to learn to calm our minds and allow for the stability of inner stillness and mental clarity. We must learn that we are neither our mental activity nor an isolated and separate personal identity.

One simple way to augment the usual meditation process is to simultaneously practice living in the “now.” I am not speaking of the now that is between past and future, but rather a timeless now in which we are just present without the reference point of time past, present, or future. The child in the sandbox is not in the “now,” but rather in the timeless isness of life, as it is happening. The mother who jumps in the water to rescue her drowning child is not in the ”now” but in the timeless isness of the moment as is.

I am suggesting you begin experiencing delight, once again, in the timeless now. For this we must undergo a sort of psychological death each moment. Each moment we must let go of our past and future thoughts, beliefs, likes, and dislikes. Each moment we must let go of who we think we are. We must enter the present moment empty of our over filled mind and allow our natural and untouched awareness to reveal itself as it is – fresh, innocent, simple, and untainted by prior experience.

How do we do this? Try for a few moments to empty your mind of past history and future projections until there is nothing left, nothing, except, a simple child-like awareness that experiences without commentary what is happening now. Try to experience without personhood, history, commentary, like or dislike. Let go of any sense of how this should be, any yearning, any expectation Just be here and surrender to the now. Experience the immediacy of what is as is, as it moves in awareness.

And if this does not work for you or if you are uncertain of how to proceed, then do nothing. Stop seeking delight and become silent, inner silence freed from all thought. If you dwell in this silence in the midst of life’s experience you will find delight, right there, right now –and just let it be. That is the supreme “practice” of delight, the direct and simple realization of the essence of each moment every moment.

When there is delight there is a sense of beauty that is simultaneously experienced. With that sense of beauty and delight there is a spontaneously joyful embrace of life. And, that is the most profound love, as it has no object.

                                                      www.elliottdacher.org

                                                  Aware Awake, Alive at Amazon

How Much Reality Can We Bear

“Humankind can not bear very much reality.” These words, words of the poet T.S. Eliot, have echoed in my mind for many years like a persistent Zen Koan. What is this fundamental reality he speaks of? Why can’t humans bear it? If we cannot base our life on a realistic understanding, how can we live an authentic and meaningful life?

Here it is, that stark, true, but unbearable reality: life as we imagine it will come to an end as we enter biological recycling, careers and fame will dissipate, all that is now ours will be owned by others, and our loved ones will disappear. Everything is perishable, impermanent, and subject to the laws of birth and death. In our beginning, writes the poet, is our end. Without further examination and understanding, it is quite evident why humankind cannot bear very much of this reality.

It is not easy, convenient, or socially rewarding to pursue a realistic understanding of life. At any moment I can feel my mind turning away from it as quickly as possible, towards other more palatable experiences. In order to avoid a realistic view, we spend our days immersed in distractions, amusements, and transient pleasures. By anesthetizing our self to the essential truths of life, we gain a certain transient illusory comfort, putting off the inevitable confrontation with truth.

What is the real cost of running from the truth of life? What is the cost of denying the reality of impermanence and perishability? The cost is the lifelong construction of a house of cards that alternates between moments, even prolonged moments, of pleasure and distraction that are always impregnated with the seeds of loss, suffering, and collapse

Whether our temporary remedy is in materialism, fame, self-improvement programs, drugs, and so on, these anesthetics and their denial of a realistic view of human life, are causes of ill health of body, mind, and spirit.

A fully human life, the poet tells us, one that is not subject to the fears and anxieties of perishability or the folly of endless distractions, can only be gained at “the cost of everything.” And what is that everything that must be given up? It’s our distractions, external focus, false beliefs, and inauthenticity. It is the imaginary and man-made fortress of a seemingly autonomous and individualized self and its complex outer world that we have so carefully constructed to avoid what, on the surface and only on the surface, appears to be an unbearable reality.

The problem is that our fear of perishability is a misconception. Human life is neither meaningless nor hollow. It is neither empty nor painful. It is not an abyss. In fact, our perishable human life that is the very source of the peace, happiness, and love we chase after, but never find with reliability and stability in our outer search.

Turning towards human reality reveals its actual nature. Staring right at it, we can see it as it is rather than how we fear it to be. Yes, all is impermanent and perishable. However, we discover that the very reason this is so is that everything relies for its existence on other factors and circumstances. The existence of everything – self, others, and material phenomenon – is dependent on many factors and circumstances.

Milk cannot exist without sun, water, grass, the cow’s physiology, the bottling process, work of the farmer and distributor, and our labeling the final product as milk. That is similarly true for everything else as well, including our self. The result is that everything is inter-dependent and inter-connected. Everything is related. There is one single whole and we are a part of the whole and the whole is a part of us. There is neither disconnection, nor separation - nor actual birth and death, just an ongoing inter-being of life that flows and constantly changes form in the infinite moment of full awareness and presence. It can be better said that life is transformational rather than perishable. And that realization is blissful, not fearful.

When we directly experience our inter-being with all of life, we are released from the fear of emptiness, meaninglessness, hollowness, loneliness, anxiety, and the host of other afflictive emotions that result from running away from the life-enhancing truth of how reality actually is. With a realistic view of life, we can live in complete freedom, wisdom, heart, and connectedness. That is what those who achieved this realization have shared with us. The reality of human life is not to be feared, but cherished. It is not an empty pit, but the very source of human flourishing.

We live at a time of deep confusion about the nature of self and reality. We live at a time when the precious truth of existence is hidden by endless distractions, which we mistake for life itself. We live in a time where even the paths and methods promoted to extract our self from our delusions too often become distractions themselves. For any society at any time it is difficult to turn towards life, towards truth, towards the precious beauty of being. But in modern times we have succeeded better than most in creating and endless array of amusements, activities, and distractions that appear on the surface to be better alternatives to being fully human.

The only way out, as it has always been, is in. It is to dive into our inner being and discover that what once seemed dark and fearful is the true light, the true source of peace, the essence of joy, the elixir of freedom, and the unchanging gold and presence that we have sought everywhere but at the center of the seeker him/her self. What was thought to be a disaster turns out to be our salvation.

How does this unfold in meditation? First, there is the motivation of stress, distress, and suffering. In meditation our outer life begins to quiet down, and the overactive mind progressively becomes calmer. If practiced correctly it will ultimately lead us to truth, to a realistic and accurate understanding of self and life.

Increasingly, awareness drops us into the center of our being, which is found not to be an abyss, but, emptied out of our usual distractions, a place of serenity, ease, connectedness and wholeness. Perhaps for the first time we do not fear the experience of reality. We do not fear who we are and existence as it is. That releases us to from the compulsion of distractions to the freedom and aliveness of life. What a relief to return home to who and what we are. The gift of an authentic meditation and its inner dive is an authentic life lived marked bu ease regardless of the complexity of outer life.

We cannot only bear reality. We can flourish by fully living it. But for this, we must let go of distractions and amusements and discover our inner life and the truths it conveys. Then we can experience the whole of life from truth rather than fear, joy rather than transient pleasure.

                                                         www.elliottdacher.org

                                                  Aware, Awake, Alive from  Amazon    

Awakening

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave we are first presented with the image of individuals chained in place while observing shadowy figures on a cave wall. That is their life experience. For them, the shadows on the wall are true reality. But when released from their chains, they can finally turn around and see the stick figures behind them that are reflected on the wall. These stick figures are now their new true reality. In the light of this larger reality the reflections on the cave wall have now become illusions. Eventually, these individuals leave the cave, stand in unobscured sunlight, and realize that all that that was previously known as truth, as reality, was false. The brilliance of the sun is Plato’s metaphor for the ultimate unchanging truth that is the essence of a fully awakened life.

The same can be said about the seeming reality of a night dream. In that dream – visual images, thoughts, emotions, and dramas – are experienced as truth, as a definite reality. There is no question about it. Only when we awaken from our night’s sleep do we realize that what appeared so true and real in the night dream, was indeed false, another mental illusion masquerading as true reality.

But what about our waking state? From morning until night we experience a panorama of people, objects, beliefs, and emotions. And for us, over days, years, and perhaps a lifetime that is our truth, our final reality. We can touch, smell, taste, and name it so it must certainly be real. Surely we have settled into the true actuality of things. And that is something we can all agree on, don’t we?

Permit me to inquire further. What would happen if we suddenly awoke from our ordinary day-to-day reality of people and things, much as we have from the night dream? What would that be like? What would we discover? Is there a further unseen truth and understanding from which our ordinary daily experiences would as well seem a mental creation, made from the same stuff as Plato’s cave or the night dream? Is this possible? Could our daily world that seems so real and solid be yet another dream-like creation of our mental imagination?

Surprisingly, the answer, we are told, is yes, an emphatic yes! Wise women and men have universally, across time and culture, called this final awakening enlightenment? They have given it many names by which to contrast it from the dream state or ordinary waking state. They have called it Divine nature, Christ nature, the Tao, Buddha Nature, and Satchitananda, among other names. But such names make it seem so mysterious, distant and inaccessible, even though we all have tasted it in our own experience.

At one time or another we have each experienced this place of presence, beingness, and full awareness. It occurs unexpectedly when we awaken from our usual experience and recognize the larger reality that always rests unseen at the center of our being. This can be catalyzed by an immersion in nature, the depths of intimacy, art, beauty, dance, music, meditation, the extremes of exercise, or a sudden unexpected shock.

What do each of these catalysts have in common? For a moment, our ordinary sense of self and daytime reality is suspended. Suddenly and without awareness we lose a sense of who we believe we are. We lose the seeming solidity of our ordinary world. And, we recognize once again who we truly are at the core of our being. We lose separateness, time, and our personal self and discover a natural condition of serenity, flow, and complete ease. For a brief moment, our day-to-day experience appears to be insubstantial, if not forgotten completely. And we don’t even know what is happening.

For that moment we have exited the cave, the night dream, and the daydream and touched the final truth and possibility of the human experience, which resides in the center of our being. And this final, spacious, and impersonal presence is playful, good, serene, joyful, wise, free, and effortlessly flowing. We experience a pervasive release and sense of well-being. And at the time, it all feels quite ordinary, simple, and effortlessly natural.

The next time this happens to you, and it will, observe what is happening, not with your thinking mind but with your heart. Ask who you really are, examine what is most truthful for you in that moment – this larger reality or your more contracted and bounded day-to-day existence.

Because our usual mind-made world is jealous and possessive of its dominance over our lives, it quickly brings us back to our day-to-day “reality.” Oh, that was just a beautiful moment, life cannot be like that, there are things to do, and so on, our ordinary self says. And soon, we find ourselves drawn back to the tenacious daydream of ordinary life, which reassumes its undeserved place in the center of our life while dismissing and denying our true center, which we brush off as a fantastical glimpse or momentary reverie.

Whether we perceive our life from the platform of a transcendent and unchanging truth or our acquired ego self makes all the difference. The latter is more or less our daily usual life experience with its joys and struggles that ultimately leads to an unstable downward cycle – spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The former is the awakened state of the great sages, mystics, and many seemingly ordinary individuals who have overcome a false and conditioned belief in a mind-made self to achieve the unchanging and transcendent well-being of our natural self.

If there is a sincere and unrelenting determination to realize the truth of ones life, we can intentionally wake-up to our natural and authentic self. This can increasingly become the “operating system” of daily existence. Then, everything shifts. The seemingly solid and tenacious daydream is undermined and the true human condition re-asserts itself – here, right now in the present moment. Although it is called divine, sacred, and enlightened, paradoxically, it is actually quite ordinary. It is who we actually are, who we have always been.

So how can we “prime” the transition towards a life lived from the center of our being? This awakening, this realization of our true self should be the singular aim of all meditation practice in and out of formal session. If we can move away from our obsession with meditation as a relaxation technique or as a tool for personal pleasure, comfort, or self-improvement, we can begin to practice and learn in a way that leads to inner transformation.

Awakening practices focus on the direct experience of the moment minus a mental commentary, the unconditioned clear and precise perception of life as it is, and the effortlessness ease of resting in our natural state. Some call these higher teachings, wisdom teachings, or non-dual teachings. That can be a bit intimidating and off-setting. In actuality these teachings and practices are no more than the re-discovery of our natural state of beingness. They are actually quite simple and natural. They are being alive, being a human being.

We are each born into this simple existence and presence. It never leaves us. That is who we are. And that must be the primary aim of meditation. As the poet T.S. Eliot writes, “… the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

                                                       www.elliottdacher.org

                                                Aware, Awake, Alive at Amazon

When Having Everything is Not Enough

In 1961 Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, wrote a letter to Carl Jung, the famed Swiss psychologist. He conveyed to Jung how the origin of AA began with a patient encounter in Jung’s office. It was there, years before, that Jung confronted an alcoholic patient, informing him that there was no medical or psychological cure for his problem. The patient asked if his case was indeed hopeless. Jung replied that the only cure was a spiritual cure. Writing to Bill Wilson Jung further explained, “His craving for alcohol was the equivalent, on a low level, of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness,” … “You see,” Jung said, “Alcohol in Latin is "spiritus" and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison.” The turn toward alcohol is a mistaken effort to experience the wholeness that is naturally experienced through spiritual development.

But this not only a problem associated with alcoholism. There is a profound and deeply troubling hollowness in the Western soul, an absence of a fundamental sense of well-being. Its source lies in the uneducated psyche that mistakenly seeks, under the influence of materialism and unbridled egoism, to remedy this hollowness through the pursuit of outer pleasures. These include possessions, fame, fortune, relationships, drugs and even healthier pursuits such as fitness, self-improvement, yoga, and meditation. The single identifying characteristics of these pursuits – even those that are health oriented – is that they seek outer pleasure, comfort, or security as an antidote to an underlying emptiness. They may succeed in this effort for periods of time, but because these efforts fail to address the underlying wound, the empty soul at the core of our being, they will each, in their turn fail. And even I they succeed, they fail. A spiritual wound requires, as Jung so eloquently stated, a spiritual remedy, not a surface one.

We can easily understand how those who are unsuccessful in their pursuit of worldly pleasures fall into despair. But, we cannot as easily understand why those who seem to have achieved all that is dreamed of in worldly life would similarly fall into despair. Whether one fails in the outer search or succeeds, the same hollowness remains. For some success is illusive and the wound shines through early on. Others who have achieved everything, equally fail to heal this wound, as at some point the pleasures and false antidotes are exhausted. There is no further transient escape. The resulting despair, equal in both instances, can lead to a tenacious depression, isolation, and hopelessness.

Joseph Campbell, author and master teacher, offers us this short parable. Early in life, he says, we place our ladder against a wall and begin the arduous effort of climbing to the top. Those who fail to reach the top suffer the sense of failure with its accompanying emotions. Those who years later arrive at the top of the ladder, look over the wall and to often tragically discover that they have placed their ladder against the wrong wall. What they had sought is not to be found on the other side of the wall. There are then have two choices: collapse in despair or find the right wall. Finding the right wall requires an inner education, a spiritual education, in which we discover the true nature of the inner wound of hollowness and its precise remedy. Then we realize there is no wall and there is no ladder, what we sought has been there, right inside us, all the time.

There are two aspects of the inner wound of hollowness. The more apparent aspect is the unique Western effort to achieve serenity, happiness, security, and the avoidance of suffering through the pursuit of outer pleasures. Rather than learning to reach inward we are taught to reach outward. It is as if we are told to go East from New York if we wish to get to California. Because all outer experiences are transient, impermanent, and thus subject to loss, whether we succeed in the short term or not, we will fail in the long term – and then we are told to try harder, advice that can only lead to the same outcome.

The second aspect of the feeling of hollowness is a bit subtler. It is the underlying “mistake” of consciousness that early on thrusts us out of the heavenly garden of a pure and free awareness into the world of objects, separation, and constant seeking. We forget who we truly are and believe we are our thoughts, feelings, and endless mental activities, and search for our lost home in the outer world. The poet William Wordsworth reminds us of this loss of our authentic and naturally serene and healthy self. In his words:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell'd in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

We have all tasted this experience of wholeness and well-being in our adult life. We have caught glimpses of that “glory and freshness” in nature, beauty, intimacy, dance, music, and the extremes of exercise, yoga, and meditation. We experience a sense of flow, presence, beingness, and heart. For a moment we have lost the “I” we believe we are with its endless mental commentary and touched into the truth of who we are with its deep stillness and aliveness. We have transcended our ordinary world and dropped into our true and essential self. In that moment we realize that the only true antidote to the fundamental wound lies within.

Joseph Campbell famously offered the following advice when asked for guidance, “Follow your bliss.” He didn’t say follow your pleasures. He didn’t say follow the endless desires of your ordinary self. The bliss he spoke of is the deep contentment and joy found in our natural self at the center of our being. When we access that “bliss” we find a timeless and abundant source of peace and delight that then allows everything in common experience to be “appareled in celestial light.” It is not that our inner discovery then causes us to leave day-to-day life, much the opposite, it causes us to see the infinite beauty in others and all daily experience as well as the confusion and suffering that covers this beauty for many. This seeing evokes a deep compassionate desire to use one’s life to be of service and benefit to others.

So now we know why people who lack everything and others who have everything are vulnerable to the same human despair and hopelessness. And, we know the precise antidote. It is the re-discovery of who we truly are through a process of inner education resulting in personal transformation.

In T.S. Eliot’s words:

We shall not cease from exploration,

and the end of all our exploring

will be to arrive where we started

and know the place for the first time.

And when we return home, what we once perceived as a fearful hollowness, will be experienced as a reservoir of serenity, happiness, wisdom, love, and freedom. Our search for “spiritus” will be resolved at the source, and suffering will naturally come to an end. In the joy of a simple being the seeker ceases and there is nothing further to seek in the outer world. It is done.

Meditation 2.0 - From Self-Improvement to Human Flourishing

 

                            (Note: This blog is longer than my usual blog, but it is important)

It has been over four decades since the practice of meditation entered the Western world. We can call this initial effort Meditation 1.0. Those who brought meditation to the West understood its traditional intent and aim. In their wisdom they choose to introduce it to the West by first addressing the tender spots in Western suffering – a relentless overactive mind, personal stress, persistent emotional afflictions, and the scourge of addictions.

Consider this. For a week after the Buddha’s enlightenment in Bodh Gaya he remained silent, contemplating how to teach the profound insights and understandings he had realized. His insight was to first teach about suffering. Everyone can relate to suffering. Everyone wants to avoid suffering. Thus, his first teaching in Sarnath was on the Four Noble Truths – the cause and remedy for suffering. It is in a similar manner that meditation teachings entered the West, first addressing the most urgent concerns of modern times, our unique form of suffering.

Meditation 1.0

As we witness its rapid, successful, and wide spread integration into Western culture, the wisdom of first introducing meditation as a method of addressing stress and distress is now apparent, For example, when I first started teaching meditation in the 1970s, I had to carefully choose the individuals I would introduce to this practice, even though I worked as a physician at a health-oriented organization, Kaiser Permanente. Even there such practices were looked upon as suspicious, when seen from the perspective of mainstream medicine. But now, look in whatever direction you wish and there is a meditation program. Meditation has become fully integrated into our culture largely because of the decision to first target the sore spots of modernity – teaching individuals the methods to quiet the mind and diminish stress and distress. These are the specific and limited goals of Meditation 1.0. - the preliminary phase of an authentic meditation practice.

But these initial goals, however important in advancing the improvement of personal well-being, were only the “teaser.” The real, but initially hidden intent of meditation, is far more subtle and broad-based. Relaxation techniques are only a way to subtly guide and seduce individuals into the authentic aim of meditation. These preliminary techniques cannot overcome the fundamental causes of suffering or emotional afflictions. They cannot lead to a full and authentic awakening that frees us form the relentless habits of perception (that limit the full scope of awareness) and reactions (that are chained to the past, )which are built into the ordinary mind. They cannot take us towards full freedom and human flourishing - a stable serenity, enduring happiness, penetrating wisdom, and boundless freedom.

Meditation 1.0 is self-improvement. The self that is being improved is the ego self. Meditation enhances the quality and capacity of the ego “I.” It helps to create a healthy human life, and that is important. But it cannot go beyond. It cannot transform the fundamental character of our life. Self-improvement neither addresses nor frees us from the limitations and vulnerabilities of the ordinary mind and ego. We can gain a healthier life, but it is unstable and falsely comforts us with an illusory sense that we have realized the great potential of human life, when we have only created, for a moment, a more comfortable and pleasurable life.

The Ordinary “I”

Let’s briefly speak about the ordinary day-to-day ego self. It is quite different than our authentic essential self. The “I” self or ego self is our usual self image. It is an acquired collection of memories, identities, established ways of perceiving, fixed beliefs, and repetitive patterns of reaction. It is shaped by past experience. It is limited, contracted, ruminates on the past, and projects into the future. It is the source of afflictive emotions that are rooted in the past – fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, doubt, and so on. This person/self lives in time and expresses itself as thoughts, feelings, mental images, and shifting identities. It is trapped in a self-contained, self-righteous, self-cherishing and defensive posture. It cannot see outside of itself. We are trapped within its limited world, but we do not know that we are trapped. The only hint is the subtle dissatisfaction which intermittently shows up throughout life and a tenacious itch that quietly suggests there must be something more to life.

Please don’t take this to mean that the ordinary self is incapable of great achievements in its efforts at self-improvement, altruism, or its noble aim of creating a better world. However, the usual “I,” regardless of its achievements cannot alleviate the fundamental sources of human suffering, its expression in global disorder, or its role in creating planetary degradation. For this we must move beyond our ordinary self and its limitations, even the improved ordinary self. We must re-discover, remember, and live from our authentic and essential self, which has always been with us, although long forgotten

The Authentic Natural Self

What about the authentic self? What can we say about its nature? Do you remember a time when you were fully immersed in nature and your usual sense of self was suspended? Do you remember a time when the experience of great beauty, music, dance, or extremes of exercise calmed your mind and a sense of ease and peace permeated your being? Perhaps you have observed that at the peak of orgasm the ordinary self, time, and thought are suspended and the mind is clear, at rest, and open? Each of these experiences is a momentary and unstable glimpse of the natural mind, the natural self. But they are only glimpses.

In each case the mind is temporarily emptied of its usual self – thoughts, feelings, judgments, and identities, sense of time -past and future - and the usual thinking process. One is just present, without commentary, in the “empty” moment as it is. What remains is a state of simple awareness, openness, clarity, ease, and serenity. This natural presence is impervious to fear, anxiety, or negative emotions, which can only arise in the field of our ordinary self and its relationship to past and future.

Our essential self is impersonal. It is absent the memories, beliefs, and habits of our usual “I” and ordinary self-image. It’s a simple and natural moment-to-moment awareness that observes what is without adding anything to it – names, labels, ideas, and so on. It has no content. That is the Self we came into the world with – a simple presence and beingness. It observes, appreciates and cleanly experiences each moment, letting it go as the next moment arises. That is the Self we briefly glimpse when our ordinary self is suspended. The next time you get a glimpse, rest in it, experience it – you now know what you are experiencing, your essential self.

There is a knowing in this awareness, but not the usual sort of knowing. It is not a thought-based knowing that comes from past experience. Rather, it is an “aha” insightful knowing that arises from the capacity to see things as they actually are, unaltered by past experience. When a mother’s child falls off a boat into the water she knows instantly without thought the danger at hand. When you are in immediate danger you also know instantly without thought. Our authentic self has a profound and natural way of spontaneous and precise knowing. Spontaneous because it arises naturally by itself and precise because it experiences what is as is in contrast to being filtered through past experience.

And do not fear that this Self cannot act. It can. But, it does not act out of past history. It does not act out of thought. It does not react. Action from the authentic self is spontaneous and always fully aligned with what is actually called for. The mother jumps in to the water to rescue her child and you run out of the way of an oncoming car. No thought. No reaction. Just correct action based on the ability of the natural self to see what is as is. Remember a time when you immediately knew how to respond to a circumstance without thought – and that knowing was unquestionably right and precise. That is the knowing of your deeper Self.

Once we rest in the natural self we notice that it feels like home. It is effortless, clear, still, and serene. It remains present through the adversities and challenges of human life. It is an unchanging resilient ocean of calm. You experience it as more than close to you. It is you. The acquired self is seen as merely a temporary mental creation, helpful at times, but destructive, if you think it is who you actually are.

Meditation 2.0

Many of us have studied the methods of Meditation 1.0 – calming the mind, mindfulness, and resting in stillness – both in formal practice and day-to-day life. We have seen that this can lead to self-improvement and a healthier life. That is without question a significant life achievement. But, we have also seen that we can spend decades using these practices and methods and neither gain mental stability nor awaken to our deeper self and its qualities of human flourishing.

So it is appropriate to inquire about the methods or approaches related to moving beyond your ordinary self towards your authentic Self. There are many methods or circumstances that briefly silence the ordinary mind with its thoughts, feelings, and images. They offer a glimpse of your natural self. These include: breath holding, the fleeting mental emptiness the follows a hardy cough, the shock of a loud sound, extremes of exercise, immersion in nature, the peak of orgasm, or unexpected experiences that for a moment shock and stop the ordinary mind. If you are aware of these moments when they occur, rest in them and experience a brief glimpse of the emptiness, openness, and stillness of your essential self.

However, stabilizing a glimpse of your essential nature requires more than temporarily stopping the ordinary mind. Living full time from your natural self arises through understanding the two aspects of self, cultivating the ability to maintain attention on awareness rather than on the objects of awareness, the capacity and willingness to dissolve personal identity (who you think you are,) and the ability, born of familiarization, to rest unmoved in a simple, direct, and unconditioned awareness. We cultivate these capacities not only in formal practice, but also in each moment of life.

The understanding I have spoken about is knowing the distinction between the ordinary self and the essential self, conditioned knowledge shaped by the past and spontaneous direct knowing, the contracted self and the expanded divine self. These progressive understandings are achieved through direct inquiry into the workings of ones mind. The still mind is a laboratory ripe for exploration and understanding.

Understanding through observation and inquiry leads to the next aspect of practice - cultivating and stabilizing the capacity to shift ones attention away from the object of experience (material phenomena or mental movements) to awareness itself. Your attention shifts from a mental grasping to the object to an attention to the subject – to the moment-to-moment awareness. This is a movement away from the seductive content of the personal “I” to the impersonal awareness that perceives and observes all experience.

Dropping ones ordinary identity is called the “via negative.” We progressively remove our attention from all that is not our essential self (identities, thought, emotions, judgments, past, future, and so on) until we naturally arrive at an “empty mind. This does not mean that mental appearances cease to arise in the mind, but rather that the mind is still because our lack of attention to mental activity allows them to rapidly dissolve.

Resting in this still, clear, empty, naked awareness, for the first time we know experience as it actually is – unfiltered, unconditioned by the past, and unaltered by mental commentary. Living from this radical presence may at first seem tenuous and strange, as we have long ago abandoned our true self. It may also be difficult because our ordinary “I” has no interest in giving ups its authority over our life. So it will do all it can to resist our return home, dragging us back again and again to ordinary experience.

The sequence in formal meditation practice is quieting the mind, emptying out all that is not our essential self, cultivating an open and unconditioned awareness, and resting and experiencing the peace, wisdom, and freedom of our essential self– no history, no stuff, no drama – just what is as is in the now. At this stage we are no longing doing a meditation. We are experiencing life as a natural - moment-to-moment flow – holding on to nothing and experiencing everything,

Not only do we practice this in formal sessions, but most importantly we do so throughout the day. Each moment we bring our self back to direct awareness of the “now.” We return to an awareness of what is actually happening, drop all commentary, and stay in the moment When we are in the now the ordinary self is not active, past and future are not present, the objects of our experience come and go, and what remains is a pure choiceless awareness. And that is who you are. Finally you are home.

This is the essence of Meditation 2.0 – awakening to the expansive nature of your essential self with all of its excellent qualities. There will be obstacles put up by the ordinary “I” – doubt, confusion, judgments, and so on, but in time you will recognize them and learn to let them come and go. As you progress you will realize through experience your true nature, stabilizing it so it is the “operating system” that you live from. You will have transcended the helpful but limiting effects of relaxation practices, Meditation 1.0, and shift towards the full awareness and potential that is your human birthright.       

Capable assistance is of great help, as with any learning process. That assistance is not as much a transfer of knowledge as it is simple guidance in self-inquiry. As you learn to observe and inquire from the basis of a still mind, you will discover and realize what all seekers before you have learned. Your wisdom and full beingness are within you, now and always. By piercing through the veils that obscure your original nature and abandoning the methods and practices that offer only temporary comfort, you will find the ever-present golden treasure that is no other than your true Self.

                                                        www. elliottdacher.org

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Person to Presence: Beyond Meditation

There can be no greater gift to self, culture, or our planet than to come home to our essential self and know for the first time the truth of who and what we are. It is living from this true center of our being that is the only certain and permanent resolution to personal strife, interpersonal conflict, cultural divisions, and planetary defilement.

The journey home is perhaps the most arduous of all journeys, even though the destination is right here right now. The paradox of human life is that although our essence is always present, we cannot see it. It is densely obscured by the collection of life experiences that we string together, label with our name, and mistakenly consider our authentic self. We live entranced in a self-made dream rather than living the truth of our life.

Our natural self is there in childhood in a rudimentary form. Cognition and thought, as we know it in adulthood, do not enter the world of the child until at least halfway through the first decade of life. At that time the thought process begins to develop and our acquired “I” evolves in tandem with biological maturation and worldly experience. So what can we learn from the mind of the “innocent” young child?

Bereft of a cognitive a matured thought process, the infant and child experience the world directly through their sensory experience without the secondary shaping and coloring of acquired perceptual templates and habitual patterns of reactivity. Their awareness of sensory experiences and rudimentary mental activity is unadorned and radically honest. It is a naked, direct, and accurate perception. Although we can learn from the simplicity and purity of childhood awareness, it is best we don’t over romanticize this early phase of life, as much of importance is beyond the young child’s reach.

 

Here is how Wordsworth describes it in Intimations of Immortality:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;

Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day.

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

“The things which I have seen I now can see no more.” Why is this? What is it that intervenes to cover over this glorious aspect of our natural self? The answer is the psychological aspects of cognitive development. On one side, cognitive development allows the full intellectual and creative maturation of humankind. But cognitive development also results in the dense forest of a tenacious man-made psychological self cherishing “I,” which invariably veils our true nature and fosters emotional disturbance.

Yet, if we are fortunate, we may awaken from this self-inflicted confusion and suffering and return home to a wisdom-based child-like purity of awareness, simplicity, and truth that is absent enslaving conditioning. That will allows us, unlike the child, to know and live fully, freely, and intentionally at the pinnacle of adulthood.

There is an itch in all of us that seeks a reunion with the center of our being, a return to what is imperishable in us, to the “glory and freshness” of a world once known. That itch cannot be satisfied through any logical investigation.

The approach to our natural home must take a different path that does not rely on cognition alone. However extensive our philosophical and psychological endeavors, in the end we must go through the “via negativa” – the slow and progressive emptying out of all that we have become, all that we are not. When we are empty of our illusions and falsehoods, the truth of who we are will naturally reveal itself through its own spontaneous self-expression, and the glory of human flourishing will definitely follow.

How many times have we already experienced a serendipitous emptying out of our cognitive mind and “I” through a communion in nature, the extremes of exercise, breath taking beauty, the majesty of love, the far reaches of meditation? When, unknown to our self, we briefly lose our man-made “I,” we spontaneously experience our authentic self with its peace, vitality, contentment, and freedom that are the perfume of our true nature. That experience may be brief and we may be uncertain what occurred, but it touches deeply. That moment fades as our usual self makes a rapid re-entry, obscuring that brief experience of that ”celestial light.” Do you recall that moment in your life?

As humans, we have only a brief time on this earth. What do you wish to achieve in this lifetime? What would you like to attain that will remain with you to the very end of this human journey? Is it name, fame, and material goods? No, these will not last and their temporary pleasure will invariably give way to inevitable loss. Find what you are truly itching for. Find that which will authentically benefit you and others. Find that which is unchanging, Find the center of your being.

There is not much distance to go, actually there is none. The only obstacle to overcome is the self-made image of who you are and its tenacious and pathetic striving to prop itself up through worldly activities or gain. To traverse this distance we merely have to let go of the illusion that we are our thoughts, ideas, feelings, images – the collection of past experiences that are dead and gone. Then the clouds will pass and the sun will reveal itself. We exit Plato’s cave and experience our full humanity. We return to what has already and always been within us.

Let’s end with a brief practice aimed at revealing our true self. It is quite simple. Right now, bring yourself directly into the moment. Observe your sensory experience – raw, naked, as it is. Experience mental activity, experience everything that arises in consciousness, but remain the experiencer, the observer, the perceiver,the open and untouched awareness. Notice your body’s sensations, the chair, the tree out the window, the plant on the sill – notice it all. But be the observer and allow the freshness of each moment as it comes and goes. Don’t hold on, grasp, or have a conversation with that which is passing. Allow all mental appearances to arise and fall and come and go in the field of your unchanging awareness. Do not be drawn into any of the objects of awareness. Remain the awareness itself – just for a few moments. More will come later.

For the brief moment that you are there, fully present in the now, moment-to-moment, you will have emptied out past and future, ideas and beliefs, and your usual self-image. You will be fully present now, and that transcends all else. And there you will know who you are, because that is who you are. It is that simple. There is no more. That is enlightenment, actually quite ordinary and simple, perhaps that is why it mistakenly appears so illusive. And so in the words of T.S. Eliot:

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

        www.elliottdacher.org

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Intensive Meditation Immersion - A Lifetime of Meditation

Center for Human Flourishing            Intensive Meditation Retreat           Elliott S. Dacher, M.D.              October 22 -28, 2017     Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts www.centerforhumanflourishing.org

An Invitation for Lifetime Meditation An Immersion in Meditation This is an invitation to all individuals seeking to learn meditation for the first time and those who have tried meditation during different times in life, but dropped it when faced with common challenges - a hectic schedule, a restless monkey-mind, a judgmental "inner critic," inconsistent results, etc.   With proper and precise training, it is possible for every individual to fully develop and sustain a lifetime practice. The good news is that  everyone can become a lifetime meditator. And we know that developing and maintaining a meditation practice is vitally important to personal growth, well-being, and quality of life. For many years I have been presenting an 8-week intensive meditation program on Martha's Vineyard. Over 500 individuals have participated in this program and experienced significant changes in their life. Increasingly, individuals whose primary residence is off-island have asked if we could do this program in a format that will allow their participation. For the first time I will be presenting an intensive week-long program that includes all of the elements of our 8-week program.    This program is for individuals interested in learning, stabilizing, and progressing a time-tested approach to meditation. With this as a basis we can then explore the qualities of human flourishing. You will learn strategies for overcoming obstacles and the key points in developing an effective, progressive, and stable practice. You will learn through study, reflection, and practice - through presentation, dialogue, and personal insight. Please join me.                     For Full Information Click Here

 

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A Condition of Complete Simplicity

 

 

In his poem Little Gidding T.S. Eliot calls us home to our most authentic and sublime self, describing it as a "condition of complete simplicity." These are not his words alone. They were written centuries earlier by Saint Julian of Norwich, the 14th century solitary nun. Like most great truths their words are direct, simple, and universal, cutting through time and across cultures.

 

When I hear them, they directly and immediately pierce my soul with a sense of remembrance. I know they express a fundamental truth known by heart that is inaccessible to reason alone. They speak to a deep longing for a once known natural simplicity as a remedy to the stress, strain, and busyness of our day-to-day life. They speak to a home we all remember, or partially remember through the noise that obscures our deeper places. 

 

What truth does the poet and medieval nun speak to this modern day seeker? What eternal truth have they discovered through their travails and explorations? "Look to the source" is their simple yet essential self-discovery. Look, as Eliot says, to the hidden and unseen waterfall at the beginning of the longest river. Look, the mystical nun says to the divine discovered within that is the source of all. Look within, look within, at the center of your being and you will find the source and essence where "all things in their natural simplicity are well and all manner of things are well." It is the message taught by all great religious and philosophical traditions. It is the message of all great healers.

 

In modern times we can see this as the distinction between who we have become, shaped by personal history and conditioned by beliefs, customs, and experiences, and who we are and have always been at the center of our being. In our outer life we may move through many identities, emotional states, patterns of living, relationships over a lifetime. Yet this self, this acquired self never quite satisfies our innermost desires. It is not our natural home. 

 

At our core there is another self, one that has been untouched by the accumulated experiences of life. There is an unchanging self that is present in the beginning, retains its purity, and now and always is our natural home. It is that place of complete simplicity, truthfulness, sweetness, wisdom, serenity, and happiness that surpasses all worldly pleasures. We all know this place through the glimpses life gives us. Whenever we lose our usual self we re-experience our essential Self. It can happen in nature, dance, beauty athletics, meditation, and so on. When we lose our acquired self we gain our deeper self.

 

It is through these glimpses that we remember the glory of our true nature. If our temperament is right and we commit ourselves to the process of re-discovering and living our inner self, we too shall once again return to a condition of complete simplicity and know it with wisdom for the first time. We will not leave life, but actually join it fully in all of its diversity and complexity from a simple, clear, and steadfast center of peace. And it is meditation and inner exploration when properly taught and practiced that gradually allow this return home and the miracle of living in a complex world from a place of inner harmony, peace, and ease.

 

And when this occurs, we become the inner change that catalyzes outer change. Only from this selfless center of our being can we bring forth the clarity, strength, and purity that inspires similar changes in others. It is from this alone that we can most effectively be the force for change in a world that has lost too much of its basic humanity.

 

                    Dr. Dacher Presents an Intensive Meditation Training
                                 Meditation and Human Flourishing
                                       For Information Click Here

Meditation: Starting at the End

When meditation entered the West there was a strong sense that teaching Westerners might best be done by introducing the student, at the onset, to the culminating experience of meditation.

It was clear that the taste of this endpoint – the experience of a pure, serene, and unconditioned consciousness – would not lessen the need for ongoing practice and learning. Yet, this taste could provide an assurance that inner freedom, serenity, and happiness is an ever present and accessible state-of-being and serve the beginner by providing an experience, however brief, of the unique possibility of human flourishing.

There are various methods for introducing a student to the natural and unconditioned state of presence and being. My preference is to begin with a clarification of the difference between our acquired personal sense of “I,” and the impersonal presence and being that is at the center of our being.

They are both contained within consciousness. Our personal “I” is an acquired “cocktail” like collection of past experiences, memories, fixed perspectives and attitudes, and habitual patterns of reactivity. Our natural and unconditioned Self comes before and underlies our acquired ”I.” It is untouched by past experience and lacks conditioned perspectives and reactions. This original Self is a simple awareness of life as it happens. It experiences the present moment as it is rather than how it is shaped by our past.

We all know the conventional ego “I” that we live with each day. At times, this acquired sense of “I” drops away and leaves in its wake a simple being and presence that has no name and no history. There remains a sense of the immediate moment – an acute presence and awareness of life as it is happening. Living in this natural and primary Self with a stable sense of being and presence is the simple and unadorned goal of meditative practice. And in this state of consciousness we experience the seamlessly interwoven qualities of human flourishing.

To introduce this state-of-being one simply sits in a meditative posture, closes ones eyes, relaxes the body, takes a few deep breaths and begin the process of letting go of who you have become, your acquired “I.” For a moment, let’s try this together. Read the instructions and then follow them.

For this brief practice, let go of whatever thoughts, feelings, or images that arise in your mind. Let go of your multiple identities – son, father, mother, etc. Let go of your judgments, beliefs, memoires, ideas, expectations, fears, hopes, stories, and mental commentaries. Let go, piece-by-piece, of the collective contents of your acquired “I.” Just leave them in a drawer where you can pick them up later.

Leave everything aside and become empty of your history and usual sense of self. As parts of memory, identity, and so on reassert themselves, give them no attention. Merely put them aside. Notice what remains when all that you have known as you is placed aside? What is here now, right now, in this moment? What is present when all else is emptied out?

Can you sense a simple isness – a presence and being, a simple sense of awareness that you are here right now, as you are? You, just you, without baggage or history. Is this isness tangible? Does it have shape, mass, color, dimensions? Is there any worry, fear, distress, or suffering? Is there anything missing? How close are you to it? Is it actually you? That simple presence is your natural, original, and ever present self – not your person. It is expansive, complete, unchanging, intangible, formless, ageless, timeless. Rest in this self. Rest in the serenity and ease. Keep your attention on this sense of being, this sense of presence. Bear witness to who you truly are. Every human being can awaken to this natural, effortless, and easefull self.

Sometimes your mind will not allow this state-of-being to reveal itself. Your mind will label it as boring or valueless and try to pull you into the usual ideas, judgments, and reactions. But let those inclinations go and continue to easefully rest in your true nature. When you re-enter ordinary experience take this with you as the center of your being. Be free from the hypnosis of psychological conditioning. Be who you have always been, free from who you have become.

 

Having tasted your true nature by dropping off your acquired “I,” you will know the goal of meditation that is always awaiting you. To stabilize this you will likely require a progressive meditation practice. But, with attention, commitment, study, and practice, you will become accustomed to living in the ease and freedom of your natural state. You may notice the beginnings of this new found freedom and ease within weeks, and it will surely grow over time.

So take this taste and slowly, with help and guidance, make it your life.    

                          Immersion Meditation Retreat and Training

                           October 22-28th Elliott S. Dacher, M.D.

                         For More Detailed Information Click Here