My new spiritual direction didn’t get off to a good start: To search within I could use thought-free meditation, but however deeply I meditated there always remained a very faint trace of the observer. I found it completely impossible to glimpse beyond the Sense of Self …
My second year in India was now up and I returned to London. I had left the spiritual culture of India behind and no longer had any connection to the outer world of spirituality, but I was totally stuck and couldn’t even take the first step on my new inner spiritual path.
Flashbacks?
A few times a day, however, I’d experience brief spontaneous periods of deep thought-free awareness: They could happen whatever I was doing – shopping, watching TV, washing the dishes, chatting, etc. This wasn’t meditation as my eyes were open and they didn’t interfere with whatever I was doing. Inwardly, however, I would suddenly become a detached point of observation, just witnessing whatever my body was doing.
I assumed they were flashbacks to when I used to meditate. They were expansive and uplifting spiritual highs and I certainly enjoyed the extra dimension they brought to my daily life.
Subtle change
Some time after they started, a subtle but very fundamental change took place: Instead of me switching into the deep thought-free state and becoming a deteched observer there would only be the thought-free state, and only the observing. In other words the Sense of Self was pausing.
In the absence of the Sense of Self thoughts cease and only pure consciousness remains. I don’t mean this in a philosophical or metaphysical sense – I’m just accurately describing what happened.
I eventually discovered that this unique state has a profound effect on the human organism – it leads directly to the sense of inner peace and happiness that’s the subject of this brief guide.
If you would like to pause the Sense of Self and access the state of pure consciousness you can try the exercise in the Spiritual Enquiry section.
Wishing you a happy and successful journey.
Spiritual enquiry
Stumbling into it
Some extras
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