power of now

This is the egoic mind, and this is where
considerable dysfunction sets in.

They began to disassociate
from their body.

Compulsive thinking has become a collective disease.

They point to the transcendence of the egoic mind and the possibility of living in an
entirely new state of consciousness.

Attention is like a beam
of light - the focused power of your consciousness that transmutes everything into itself.

I have already spoken of the Truth that is hidden within your body, but I will summarize
for you again the lost teachings of the masters - so here is another signpost.

In the sea, on land, in
the air - and then each life form is replicated millions of times.

If you find it easy to visualize,
dose your eyes and see yourself surrounded by light or immersed in a luminous substance - a
sea of consciousness.

Jesus attempted to convey directly, not through discursive thought, the meaning
of presence, of self-realization.

What you felt was a lingering emotion that you were probably unaware of, until you started
putting some attention into the body.

It really is no more than an obsessive attachment to a signpost, a mental idol.

It is a Zen-like statement of great
profundity.

In the Bible,
God declares: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, and I am the living One."

Already for most humans, the only respite they find from their own minds is to
occasionally revert to a level of consciousness below thought.

So place your attention on feeling the emotion, and check whether your mind is holding
on to a grievance pattern such as blame, self-pity, or resentment that is feeding the emotion.

It not only raises the degree of presence of each member of the group but also
helps to free the collective human consciousness from its current state of mind dominance.

This process is explained by Jesus in his parable of the lost son, who leaves his father's
home, squanders his wealth, becomes destitute, and is then forced by his suffering to return
home.

If the
student had been fully present and in a state of alertness, if he had "kept his loin girded
and his lamp burning," which is one of the analogies that Jesus uses for presence, he
would have noticed the master coming up from behind and stopped him or stepped aside.

In the timeless
realm where God dwells, which is also your home, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and
the Omega, are one, and the essence of everything that ever has been and ever will be is
eternally present in an unmanifested state of oneness and perfection - totally beyond anything
the human mind can ever imagine or comprehend.

Can you feel the subtle energy field that pervades the
entire body and gives vibrant life to every organ and every cell?

If a fish is born in your aquarium and you call it John, write out a birth certificate, tell
him about his family history, and two minutes later he gets eaten by another fish - that's
tragic.

Free from fear in its countless
disguises as the inevitable consequence of that illusion - the fear that is your constant
tormentor as long as you derive your sense of self only from this ephemeral and vulnerable
form.

If the
student had been fully present and in a state of alertness, if he had "kept his loin girded
and his lamp burning," which is one of the analogies that Jesus uses for presence, he
would have noticed the master coming up from behind and stopped him or stepped aside.

All this is, of course, intrinsically connected with being identified with your mind.

When we talk about watching the mind we are personalizing an event that is
truly of cosmic significance: through you, consciousness is awakening out of its dream of
identification with form and withdrawing from form.

Many people are so imprisoned in their minds that the beauty of nature does not
really exist for them.

If the
student had been fully present and in a state of alertness, if he had "kept his loin girded
and his lamp burning," which is one of the analogies that Jesus uses for presence, he
would have noticed the master coming up from behind and stopped him or stepped aside.

Of the ancient teachings concerning the body, only certain fragments survive, such as
Jesus's statement that "your whole body will be filled with light," or they survive as myths,
such as the belief that Jesus never relinquished his body but remained one with it and
ascended into "heaven” with it.

BEAUTY ARISES IN THE STILLNESS OF YOUR PRESENCE
What you have just described is something that I occasionally experience for brief
moments when I am alone and surrounded by nature.

Open your eyes and see the fear, the despair, the greed,
and the violence that are all-pervasive.

Even the men who wrote the Gospels did not understand the meaning of these
parables, so the first misinterpretations and distortions crept in as they were written
down.

However,
unless at least one member of the group is already firmly established in it and thus can hold
the energy frequency of that state, the egoic mind can easily reassert itself and sabotage the
group's endeavors.

Because we live in such a mind-dominated culture, most modern art, architecture, music,
and literature are devoid of beauty, of inner essence, with very few exceptions.

Even the Buddha is said to have practiced body denial through fasting and extreme
forms of asceticism for six years, but he did not attain enlightenment until after he had given
up this practice.

That may
get you closer to the truth, the reality behind the word, than a long-misused word like sin,
and leaves little room for guilt.

See the heinous cruelty and suffering on an
unimaginable scale that humans have inflicted and continue to inflict on each other as well as
on other life forms on the planet.

To test their degree of presence, some Zen masters have been known to creep up on
their students from behind and suddenly hit them with a stick.

Consciousness takes on the disguise of forms until they reach such complexity that it
completely loses itself in them.

Free from fear in its countless
disguises as the inevitable consequence of that illusion - the fear that is your constant
tormentor as long as you derive your sense of self only from this ephemeral and vulnerable
form.

Because of the narrowness of that gap and a
lack of vigilance and alertness on your part, you were probably unable to see the fundamental
difference between the perception, the thought-less awareness of beauty, and the naming and
interpreting of it as thought: The time gap was so small that it seemed to be a single process.

I do understand what you just said, but it seems to imply that Being, the ultimate
transcendental reality, is not yet complete, that it is undergoing a process of development.

With subsequent erroneous interpretations, the real meaning was completely lost.

These are parables not about the end of the world but about the end of psychological
time.

When you are not in your body,
however, an emotion can survive inside you for days or weeks, or join with other emotions of
a similar frequency that have merged and become the pain body, a parasite that can live
inside you for years, feed on your energy, lead to physical illness, and make your life
miserable. (see Chapter 2).

§
The feeling of your inner body is formless, limitless, and unfathomable.

There was a
feeling of agitation and some nausea.

This foreshadows, but is already part
of, an event that is probably still in the distant future as far as chronological time is
concerned.

Shame and taboos appeared around certain parts
of the body and bodily functions, especially sexuality.

To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself;
otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild
river.

It is not a waiting in which your
attention is focused on some point in the future and the present is perceived as an
undesirable obstacle that prevents you from having what you want.

Free from fear in its countless
disguises as the inevitable consequence of that illusion - the fear that is your constant
tormentor as long as you derive your sense of self only from this ephemeral and vulnerable
form.

It is particularly effective if used when you feel the first
symptoms of an illness, but it also works with illnesses that are already entrenched if you use it at
frequent intervals and with an intense focus.

If only your master is an incarnation of God, then who are you?

It will also counteract any disruption of your energy
field by some form of negativity.

Underneath your outer form, you are connected with something so vast, so immeasurable and
sacred, that it cannot be conceived or spoken of - yet I am speaking of it now.

Of the ancient teachings concerning the body, only certain fragments survive, such as
Jesus's statement that "your whole body will be filled with light," or they survive as myths,
such as the belief that Jesus never relinquished his body but remained one with it and
ascended into "heaven” with it.

Since Being,
Consciousness, and Life are synonymous, we could say that presence means consciousness
becoming conscious of itself, or life attaining self-consciousness.

It seems that spiritual seekers have
always regarded the body as a hindrance or even as sinful.

This
"illusion of the self," as the Buddha calls it, is the core error.

This is because the gap between that state and the influx of
thought was too narrow.

Even a stone has rudimentary consciousness; otherwise, it would not be, and its atoms and
molecules would disperse.

This is what the ancient seers of India asked
themselves.

With subsequent erroneous interpretations, the real meaning was completely lost.

Your identity, as it is no longer rooted in Being, becomes a
vulnerable and ever-needy mental construct, which creates fear as the predominant
underlying emotion.

Even a stone has rudimentary consciousness; otherwise, it would not be, and its atoms and
molecules would disperse.

So he stays awake, alert, poised, still,
lest he miss the master's arrival.

This took the form of denial
of sense pleasures and of sexuality in particular, fasting, and other ascetic practices.

It seems that spiritual seekers have
always regarded the body as a hindrance or even as sinful.

Yes, but only as seen from the limited perspective of the manifested universe.

The latter protects you from the negative mental-emotional
force fields of others, which are highly contagious.

Silence is an even more potent carrier of presence, so when you read this or listen to me
speak, be aware of the silence between and underneath the words.

Your identity, as it is no longer rooted in Being, becomes a
vulnerable and ever-needy mental construct, which creates fear as the predominant
underlying emotion.

The body can become a point of access into the realm of Being.

The accumulation of time as the psychological burden of past and future greatly impairs
the cells' capacity for self-renewal.

In Christianity, this used to be called mortification of the flesh.

Nonforgiveness
is the very nature of the mind, just as the mind-made false self, the ego, cannot
survive without strife and conflict.

I do understand what you just said, but it seems to imply that Being, the ultimate
transcendental reality, is not yet complete, that it is undergoing a process of development.

This has already
happened in a few individuals, and it seems destined to happen soon on a much larger scale,
although there is no absolute guarantee that it will happen.

Because of the narrowness of that gap and a
lack of vigilance and alertness on your part, you were probably unable to see the fundamental
difference between the perception, the thought-less awareness of beauty, and the naming and
interpreting of it as thought: The time gap was so small that it seemed to be a single process.

So he stays awake, alert, poised, still,
lest he miss the master's arrival.

Furthermore, there may be
some mind activity around what you are hearing or reading, some mental commentary.

Because we live in such a mind-dominated culture, most modern art, architecture, music,
and literature are devoid of beauty, of inner essence, with very few exceptions.

Your conditioned reaction will then be
involuntary, automatic, and predictable, fueled by the one basic emotion that underlies the
mind-identified state of consciousness: fear.

Your identity, as it is no longer rooted in Being, becomes a
vulnerable and ever-needy mental construct, which creates fear as the predominant
underlying emotion.

You have already had significant glimpses of
Being, but the mind will always try to squeeze it into a little box and then put a label on it.

I must admit that this is way beyond my comprehension, and yet on some deeper level I seem to
know what you are talking about.

But this also happens to some extent through sex, alcohol, and other drugs that
suppress excessive mind activity.

To say that Christ was or will be is a contradiction in terms.

Furthermore, there may be
some mind activity around what you are hearing or reading, some mental commentary.

Their widespread use
only delays the breakdown of the old mind structures and the emergence of higher
consciousness.

But do not turn away from the body, for within that symbol of
impermanence, limitation, and death that you perceive as the illusory creation of your mind is
concealed the splendor of your essential and immortal reality.

At first, you
may only get fleeting glimpses of it, but through them you will begin to realize that you are
not just a meaningless fragment in an alien universe, briefly suspended between birth and
death, allowed a few short-lived pleasures followed by pain and ultimate annihilation.

The collective
egoic mind is the most dangerously insane and destructive entity ever to inhabit this planet.

When you resume thinking, it will be fresh and
creative.

Attention is like a beam
of light - the focused power of your consciousness that transmutes everything into itself.

The sun, the earth, plants, animals, humans -
all are expressions of consciousness in varying degrees, consciousness manifesting as form.

Or to the song of a blackbird at dusk on a quiet summer evening?

Attention is
the key to transformation - and full attention also implies acceptance.

In the timeless
realm where God dwells, which is also your home, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and
the Omega, are one, and the essence of everything that ever has been and ever will be is
eternally present in an unmanifested state of oneness and perfection - totally beyond anything
the human mind can ever imagine or comprehend.

This is the mind's refusal to accept uncertainty, to accept that the future is
ultimately beyond its control.

So place your attention on feeling the emotion, and check whether your mind is holding
on to a grievance pattern such as blame, self-pity, or resentment that is feeding the emotion.

But this also happens to some extent through sex, alcohol, and other drugs that
suppress excessive mind activity.

This is why
no true master has ever advocated fighting or leaving the body, although their mind-based
followers often have.

In our world of seemingly separate forms,
however, timeless perfection is an inconceivable concept.

The words I am used in a sentence that starts in the past tense indicate a
radical shift, a discontinuity in the temporal dimension.

To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself;
otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild
river.

It only reveals itself to you when you are
present.

Some emotions are easily
identified: anger, fear, grief, and so on.

The alternatives are pain and suffering, a greatly restricted flow of life
energy, and in many cases physical disease.

There was a
feeling of agitation and some nausea.

Thus, the man Jesus became
Christ, a vehicle for pure consciousness.

SERMON ON THE BODY
What you perceive as a dense physical structure called the body, which is subject to disease,
old age, and death, is not ultimately real - is not you.

I believe that, if deprived
of their drugs, a large part of the population would become a danger to themselves and
others.

That takes attention away from
thinking and creates a still space that enables you to truly listen without the mind interfering.

Can you feel the subtle energy field that pervades the
entire body and gives vibrant life to every organ and every cell?

Look at our
urban landscapes and industrial wastelands.

The words I am used in a sentence that starts in the past tense indicate a
radical shift, a discontinuity in the temporal dimension.

But do not turn away from the body, for within that symbol of
impermanence, limitation, and death that you perceive as the illusory creation of your mind is
concealed the splendor of your essential and immortal reality.

At this
higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new
circumstances that reflect this higher frequency.

This has already
happened in a few individuals, and it seems destined to happen soon on a much larger scale,
although there is no absolute guarantee that it will happen.

This foreshadows, but is already part
of, an event that is probably still in the distant future as far as chronological time is
concerned.

With subsequent erroneous interpretations, the real meaning was completely lost.

At first, you
may only get fleeting glimpses of it, but through them you will begin to realize that you are
not just a meaningless fragment in an alien universe, briefly suspended between birth and
death, allowed a few short-lived pleasures followed by pain and ultimate annihilation.

Countless people in East and West throughout the ages have tried to
find God, salvation, or enlightenment through denial of the body.

But do not turn away from the body, for within that symbol of
impermanence, limitation, and death that you perceive as the illusory creation of your mind is
concealed the splendor of your essential and immortal reality.

They may just be
vague feelings of unease, heaviness, or constriction, halfway between an emotion and a
physical sensation.

These five stand in contrast to the five wise women who have
enough oil (stay conscious).

Because we live in such a mind-dominated culture, most modern art, architecture, music,
and literature are devoid of beauty, of inner essence, with very few exceptions.