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Since a lot of people may not be aware of the teachings of Leonard Jacobson, Adyashanti, or Eckhart Tolle I thought it would be a good idea to lay a bit of a foundation.
Some definitions:
Mind/Ego - This is a term that is used in relation to our Neural Net.. or our stories if you will. The ego develops over time as we grow, and becomes who and what most of us believe we “are”. As a general rule it's pretty much in place by the time we're five or six. However, it actually has nothing to do with “who we are”. In reality it is nothing more than the result of input from our parents and the world in general, and how our ego responded to that data. There's an old computer programming term that goes: “Garbage in, garbage out”, and is a great way to describe how we become dysfunctional.. or develop the “shadow self” as some call it.
“Doing the Work” - This term is all about rooting out the shadows.. or cleaning out the closet as a friend of mine calls it. This is the critical part of awakening and becoming conscious. You must do the work if you intend to live consciously. “Doing the Work” really means becoming conscious of who you are at the level of your mind. Who have you become.. what are your stories.. your beliefs.. your judgements? All of this has to be brought to the light of day and examined. The process of doing that is the process of becoming conscious. Whether it's done pre-awakening or post.. it has to happen or you will never change.
When we identify with our ego as who we are, we are out of alignment with our divine nature, “Source Energy” if you will. The ego is effectively “blocking” our knowing of our True Self. Also, when we have egoic “constructs” in place, they act as vortexes of energy, that actually take a great deal of energy to sustain. Energy doesn't flow in our lives when we have constructs because we are constantly spinning around in the same cyclical patterns. There is also a quantum field relationship to these constructs in that they actually exist in our energy field as holographic (energetic) entitites. (For more on this see “The Holographic Universe, by Talbot, and “Holodynamics”, by Vernon Wolf). Once we see the patterns however, the energy can and will either diminish, or collapse altogether.. and suddenly we are free.
There are other ways that these patterns can completely disappear in an instant also. One is in the case of a Burn Up. These types of experiences are relatively rare, however from what I have read and heard from people who have experience them, they do completely fry neural circuitry and it takes years to recover. Generally speaking, having an Awakening will do this to an extent, but not to the degree that a burn up will.
The other way that a pattern can completely collapse is through the use of Self Inquiry. This method is an extension of Ramana Maharshi's “Who Am I” inquiry. The way it works is that when you discover a pattern running you ask the ego “Who is it that believes this?” This is an extremely powerful question, because you are asking the ego to come forward and reveal itself. I also recommend doing it while meditating for maximum effect. Some people report actually seeing some type of representation of that part of the ego in their minds eye.. or hearing a response like “It's me.. or it's us!” At this point you simply as it “Who Are You?” This question is of course impossible for the ego to answer, because it has no real identitiy and so has no answer. This can cause a total burn up of that pattern, and has in me several times.
Be aware however that if you do experience a total collapse of a long held belief of the ego.. the psychic energy that was sustaining it will suddenly be freed up and you may feel jittery or like you're plugged into a 220 socket for a couple of days afterward. You need to sit with this energy and let it assimilate back into your Being or you run the risk of it either re-establishing itself back into the same pattern (yes it can do that..) or into some other one.
“Pain Body” - This term relates to suppressed emotions from childhood. The pain body develops because we were either unable to deal with the intensity of emotion in our childhood, or we consciously stuffed it because we were taught to do so. In my experience, pain body issues are twofold, the first is that they also exist in our energy field as holographic (energetic) entitites as do egoic constructs. Second, the pain body also relates to our physical body with respect to our chemical makeup. When we grow up in a difficult situation, the chemicals our body produces are far different than someone who might have been in a loving home. What happens then is that our body develops and re-develops new cells with the need for more and more of these peptides over and over again unless we do something to change it. So in essence, we become addicted to the chemicals we grew up with.
It's important to note here that the ego and pain body cannot be looked at as separate entities when it comes to the body needing it's “fix” The reason for this is that when our body becomes addicted it sends a signal to the brain that it needs to have it's favorite chemical(s) and that causes the ego to turn on. This is why a person finds themselves sabotaging a great new relationship, or raging for no apparent reason. It's just the body crying for it's drug of choice and causing the ego to do fire up.
Because this is the case, it's entirely possible to uncover an aspect of the ego.. the “story”.. and still not resolve the issue completely if there is an associated pain body aspect still there. What will usually happen in this case though, is that once the story is uncovered, the person will soon discover that there is a pain body to deal with.
“Sitting with or Expressing Pain” - This is about the process of allowing yourself to feel the pain that you have suppressed. It describes two techniques (and not the only ones) for allowing “expression” of the pain. This is the axiom here.. “If you're going to heal, you have to feel”. It cannot be done by just knowing you have an issue, you have to actually allow it to come out. Because it was suppressed in the first place and is now an energetic “construct:” floating around in your energy field, it has to be freed.
The first technique is to “sit” with your pain. This cannot be done with anger. It can also only be done if it isn't extreme. Generally speaking, when you sit with your pain body, you just drop down into the feeling nature and allow yourself to be with your hurting.
The second technique is Expressing. For most people this is absolutely necesary, particularly if there is anger covering the pain. First the anger must be expressed (get a nerf bat and a pillow and beat the hell out of it and yell and scream.. it works great!). Once the anger is released then the pain will come up and then it can be released. For most people it's probably going to be necessary to do this work by yourself unless you're in a Gestalt group or know someone who will support you without interfering and trying to “make you feel better”.
Doing this part of the work is a very difficult thing for a lot of people. In some it requires re-training the mind to recognizing that it's not only safe to cry or scream or rage or whatever, but it's absolutely necessary.
One other point that I want to address with respect to this aspect of “the work” is that when a pain body issue is released or expressed it's important to be loving and gentle with yourself afterward. Expressing deep childhood pain can be very traumatic and usually affects the heart chakra in the form of a massive release of blocked energy. Often people report feeling like they have a giant hole in their chest afterward, because where there previously was locked up energy in the form of pain, there now is nothing but an empty feeling, so it's important to fill that with love.
“Being or Establishing the Witness” - There is a common misconception that this means to create some sort of new ego construct to “watch” the ego. This of course is silly. What is necessary is to go within and connect with your own internal “Witness”.. which is your own Awareness. It's that part of your Self that witnessess life in the background. To connect with your witness first meditate before you start your day and then again before you sleep.. and remain Present and in the moment as you go about your activities during the day. You cannot witness the mind and it's activity if you're engaged in it.. so both Presence and meditation are important.
“Surrender” - I think we all understand what the term surrender means, although maybe not necessarily with respect to doing the work. Surrendering the ego was what brought about my first Awakening, and has caused several breakthroughs since.
To begin with it's absolutely necessary to surrender the entire process to God, Being or whatever you call “It”. This allows that the process will be handled by Divine Intelligence.. and it's the equivalent of putting a powerful intent out into the universe to Awaken and then letting the Universe bring it about. The dynamic is about the same as using the Law of Attraction in any other way as far as I can tell. It all comes down to “Ask and Ye Shall Receive”.
Surrender also becomes necessary when you're doing the work. You might come upon a situation that seems impossible.. ie.. you know there's a pattern somewhere.. or that there's a pain body situation somewhere.. but no matter what technique you try or what you do nothing seems to work. This is the point where surrendering is critical. Let go and let God.. and you will find your answer.
more later as they come to me..
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