MUSIC: “The Cry” by Alexander Bell

I invite you now to go deeper than words, than thoughts and remember something very important. In fact, it is the most important thing you can remember: It is who you are and what is real. In truth, they are the same thing. But this remembering does not happen through thinking, through words or conceptual understanding. So I invite you now not to focus upon the content of the words you are reading, (which will just give you more conceptual understanding), but to allow your attention to be with something deeper, something beyond the words. What is it?

Well, to explain everything in words is not so helpful, because it can give more energy to thought – people call it “food for thought”. But society is full of food for our thoughts, far too much, so much that we become ill from it. So what we need is food for the deeper part of our being, for our heartfelt feeling, for our Peace.

By bringing attention down from the mind into the body, we remember experientially who we are, through stillness, silence and meditation, and we allow the deeper part of our being to become active; our essence, our heart.

Our thinking mind can only present us with a very shallow version of reality, it is almost 2 dimensional, yet it is detailed, and appears so real when we consider it all in our mind, just like a film projected onto a cinema screen, which can absorb our attention completely. But there is no depth. So consider the alternative, to be deeply in your body, relaxed but vibrantly alive, feeling fully. It is literally sensational, and completely ecstatic. But only when we experience this aliveness, can we know for ourselves what is real. The mind (also present in other people) will try and convince us of what is really true. But truth is beyond belief, beyond the mind.

To feel the energy of life flowing through our veins, our muscles, our heart in a very calm way, is to be fully alive.  But the mind just wants to know, and sit back on the sofa. Do you really want to sit on the sofa, staring at the screen of your mind, when there is such a beautiful and magnificent world waiting to be experienced, to be felt by you. This is where you will come into contact with the Divine, with God. Not in thoughts. They are the veil that keep us separate from awareness of god, and they are very convincing.

But once you have had a taste of union with the divine, the mind has no chance, because you just keep choosing – moment by moment – what is real, what feels deeply nourishing. It is an easy choice, but t is important to slow down to do this, as the mind has a much more hurried energy to it, and will whisk you along to try and keep you busily thinking. It will tell you that stillness is ‘boring’ or ‘uneventful’. So we must slow down and remind ourselves of our Peace. The emotions must settle, and become calm, like a beautiful still lake, because they are directly affected by the restless energy of the mind. A restless mind means a restless body. A calm mind means a calm body. And when the lake is calm and still, we can go deeper into consciousness, deeper into the profound beauty of this moment, which is the present, given to you by God, in order to experience heaven. 

So let us experience this right now. Bring your attention to the fact of your being in the present moment. Sense your presence. Let all thoughts become totally unimportant – just take a holiday from them for a while, and notice how you feel. Relax your muscles, your face, your shoulders, and take a few gentle, steady and deep breaths. This alone aligns your consciousness with a more peaceful energy. 

Continue to relax, and observe any attempts your mind makes to get you back into thinking. The easiest way to maintain a perspective on the mind is to keep your attention on your breathing, as it rises and falls. Let the air you breathe fuel the sense of aliveness in your body, your tangible life-force energy, which can remain in the background of your awareness, no matter what you do. It is always there, like safe ground, on which you can feel your connection to Life, and to Peace. Continue to observe your breathing, as if you were watching the tide wash in and out on a calm sunny seashore. You can relax in this space for as long as you want – a space beyond time, beyond thought – a space of effortless being, warm and nourishing to the soul.

www.AlexanderBell.org