by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, November 8, 2016 | Meditation, Spirituality |
Huffington Post just published one of my new articles. It begins:
“There are people who spend decades lifting weights in an effort to build a good physique. But there’s a subtlety to it which is why so many fail. In the case of weightlifting, we have the physical body to prove whether or not it’s working. In the case of spiritual growth, it’s not so easy to prove because spiritual development is an internal and subtle phenomenon. Let’s take a look at the different approaches used by people for their spiritual growth to understand what works and what doesn’t”…
Read more:
“5 ‘Exercises’ To Skip During Your Spiritual Workout”
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, September 27, 2016 | Meditation, Personal Growth
I just published a new article on Medium.com. It begins:
“Inspiration comes from the depth of your being. Something is inspiring when it touches and awakens that depth. The process of the mind touching into the depth is called “transcending.” The mind has a natural tendency to transcend, to go to the depth of one’s being, which means to go to the source of intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, insight, and fullness of one’s heart”…
Read more:
“Want to Live an Inspired Life? Access Inspiration at Its Source”
(Comments, likes and shares are welcome.)
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, September 20, 2016 | Meditation |
I just reviewed again my latest short, but sweet, YouTube videos on how to meditate and must say I am very happy with them. I would encourage long time meditators and beginning meditators alike to watch them.
Likes and comments on the videos are welcome!
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, August 27, 2016 | Meditation
HuffingtonPost.com just published another one of my new articles. It begins:
“The association that gets tied to a word can take on more significance than the actual meaning of the word. The word “meditation” is a prime example. Many people hear the word “meditation” and think of a person with dreadlocks sitting in some sort of trance. Fortunately, society is coming to realize that this connotation is far from the truth…”
Read more:
“Benefits of a Natural Meditation”
(Comments are welcome – click “Comments” at the end of the article)
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by Michael Mamas | Friday, July 15, 2016 | Meditation, Spirituality |
Isn’t it a wonder! Without any scientific proof of the existence of God, huge temples, cathedrals, and churches have been built throughout the ages in His honor. Such mammoth efforts require tremendous commitment and devotion. Such resolute dedication is attributable to something far beyond blind faith…
Read the full article on Medium.com.
You are welcome to share the article on:
View all my Medium.com articles.
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by Michael Mamas | Thursday, March 17, 2016 | Meditation, Spirituality |
Deep within every individual is Divinity. As awareness expands one becomes more and more fully conscious… more and more aware of the Pure Consciousness that underlies and structures existence. When awareness is limited, it does not clearly experience that structure, that intelligence. Unclear echoes of that structure are reached for in attempts to understand life, to understand this world. Those echoes form impressions on the mind. Those impressions are identified with as truth.
The spiritual path is the path to freedom from those impressions. It is called the path of discernment. Surya Ram Meditation provides the most powerful, most fundamental form of discernment.
Transgradient Counseling cultivates discernment. Discernment means integration of the surface with the depth, alignment of the surface with the depth… freedom from echoes.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, March 15, 2016 | Chinese, Meditation
Question: You said earlier that when you are meditating and you have thoughts, just kind of let it go?
問題：前面您所提到，靜坐時若有念頭，不與理會，是這樣嗎？
Response: You don’t try to push the thoughts out. It’s fine that the thoughts are there. Only when it is effortless to go back onto the mantra, then you go back.
回覆：不要試圖排除念頭，有念頭是正常現象。唯有毫不費力就能回到經文時，才繼續默唸經文。
Question: During this retreat, when I am awake, I tend to have thoughts about what I’m thinking about when I’m not meditating, which has a lot to do with work, and things I’m working on, and I was told that this was purification. So, if it is, why is it when it comes out during meditation, it’s purification, but it’s not purification when I’m just thinking about it while I’m not meditating?
問題：在閉關期間，在清醒的靜坐狀態下，我常常有許多與工作有關的念頭，例如思考我正在計劃的方案，有人告訴我那是在淨化身心。假如這個說法是正確的，為何在靜坐的時候有念頭是淨化，而沒在靜坐時就不是？
Response: It’s a very good question. The reason for that is meditation is like a different state of physiology. What happens is the awareness, the whole consciousness, and with that, the physiology goes to subtler levels. So, when you go to subtler levels, stress gets released and bubbles out. But, it bubbles out along the same pathway that thoughts come out. You see, there is a pathway, a pathway of awareness. Thoughts start deep in consciousness. In fact, you could say, they start at the very source of thought. Maharishi, early in his introductory lectures, talked about the Transcendent as the source of thought. You can compare it to the bottom of the ocean. You know how a bubble will come up? Tiny. Then, when it comes up, higher, higher to the surface of the pond or ocean or whatever, the bubble gets bigger and then it bursts at the top. Thoughts are like that. The Transcendent is much more accessible than you might think. It’ much more present than what people think. So, the source of thought it there. But, when there are distortions in the physiology, then the bubble, the thought as it comes up and comes out, does so in distorted and twisted ways and gets convoluted.
回覆：非常好的一個問題。其中的道理是，靜坐時你是處在一個更深層更細微的生理狀態，當你處在這樣的狀態下，身心壓力自然沿著思想念頭浮現的管道釋放出來，那是覺知的管道。念頭起源於深層意識。早期Maharishi在他初級入門課程談到純意識是思想的起源，可以海底來比喻。你知道氣泡是如何上浮的嗎？剛開始很細小，愈往上浮會變得愈大，最後冒出水面。念頭的浮現也是如此。進入純意識領域其實比你認為的還容易，也比大家所想的還實際，思想的源頭就在那裡。但若是你的整體生理狀態有扭曲的地方，當氣泡也就是說念頭出現的時候，也隨之以扭曲的方式浮現，並且變得更複雜。
In meditation, the physiology goes to a deeper level. The whole thing goes to a deeper level. So, those thoughts are experienced along the same pathway from the depth to the surface. But the distortions are being released and so those thoughts are stress-releases that are unraveling at levels that are a function of the depth of rest that you are getting. There is a deeper level of rest, so the unraveling is coming from a deeper place inside. You are not picking the thoughts up here, you are starting to receive them, so to speak, into your conscious mind at a deeper level. But, they are still thoughts. They don’t feel any different. They feel like, “I’m just sitting here thinking.” Believe me, I can relate to that. How many people, everybody, have had meditations where it feels like all I am doing is sitting here thinking? It feels like nothing is happening.
靜坐時你整體身心靈進入更深的層次，所以思想也是在同一條路線上從深處浮現到淺處，但扭曲的思維與能量藉此淨化釋放出去。這些念頭的浮現是因為你經歷著更深度的休息才有的釋放。你並非用腦筋在思想，可以說你開始接獲從深處出來的念頭。兩者感覺起來並沒有什麼差別，感覺上就像坐在這裡胡思亂想，這一點我感同身受。感覺上好像沒有在靜坐一樣。
That’s why they call it the razor’s edge. The path to enlightenment is like the razor’s edge. And, people are addicted to the sensation of what’s happening: I want to feel like something is happening! So then, they come up with these techniques, not based on purification of the physiology, but they come up with techniques so that it feels like something is happening. There are all kinds of techniques like that. Listen to this gong: Gonnnggggg, Gonnnggggg, Gonnnggggg… It’s like, wow, something is really happening! Gonnnggggg, Gonnnggggg… Woa. Gonnnggggg, Gonnnggggg… Yes, something is really happening, but what does that have to do with release of stress and purification of the physiology so that thoughts are picked up at deeper and deeper, and more and more profound levels, to the point that thoughts are in harmony with the source of all existence?
有人形容見性之路就像是在一把刀的鋒面上一樣。一般人沉迷於那種身理有反應的感覺，於是想出一些靜坐技巧來達到這個目的。例如，靜坐時聽鐘聲， 的確，那樣是會讓人覺得有變化的感覺，但那樣的感覺和實際上身心整體壓力的釋放與淨化進而達到接獲越來越深處浮現的思想，最終達到 天人合一 又有什麼關係呢？
It’s a really beautiful question, and a very important thing to understand. Because if you don’t understand that, then you are going to sit there and say to yourself, “All I’m doing is sitting here thinking. I’m not meditating, this is pure torture.”
這是個非常美的問題，也非常重要，需要了解的問題。因為你若不了解，你會告訴自己”我只是坐在這裡胡思亂想，並非在靜坐，這簡直是在受折磨。
Tonie: Yeah, that’s what I thought!
是啊，我就是這種感覺！
That’s why they call it the razor’s edge. Highly elusive. Enlightenment is as elusive as moving through the eye of the needle, which is why in Mesopotamia, the doorways are shaped like the eye of a needle. Or, as elusive as traversing the razor’s edge. Because somebody sits there and they meditate, “Ugh, it’s not working, I can’t do it. Nothing is happening. I’m just sitting there thinking.” And, they quit. They just fell off the razor’s edge. That’s why knowledge is so important, some understanding of the mechanic of evolution. For people who want it, they have done physiological studies of people who do this kind of meditation. They find that the rest, oxygen consumption, skin resistance, all sorts of things, the physiology is receiving a level of rest that is far beyond the level of rest that people attain during deep sleep. It is so ridiculous that is all there is to it. All you need to do to get enlightened is to afford the physiology sufficient rest. Then, all the stresses and strains just go away.
為何以刀鋒來形容見性之路，因為極度難以捉摸。見性如穿針孔一樣的難以捉摸，同樣的道理，美索不達米亞古文明的門道形狀像針孔。若有人因為靜坐沒什麼特別舒服的感覺，並且心猿意馬，索性放棄了，此人已從刀鋒上跌落下來。所以為什麼知識是如此重要，需要多少了解其中的原理。若想了解更深入些，有人針對靜坐時生理狀態如休息深度，氧消耗量，皮膚抗菌等等做科學實驗。結論是，靜坐時所得到的休息遠超過深度睡眠所得到的。道理竟是如此簡單的令人感到滑稽。要想見性，只要讓自己的身心得到充分的休息，一切壓力和勞損便得以釋放消除。
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Friday, February 5, 2016 | Announcements, Meditation, Social Media |
I’m pleased to share that elephant journal just published another article, “How Meditation Opens Our Minds.”
This is the seventh article of mine they’ve published! They’ve also given me an author page.
elephant journal is an online magazine that features articles about mindfulness, “non new-agey spirituality”, green living, and more.
To share the article, it’s most helpful to share my social media posts about it, rather than sharing directly from the article. The links below take you directly to my posts:
Thanks, and enjoy!
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, September 26, 2015 | Meditation, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Question: About a month ago, I saw Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in my dreams twice, once during meditation, and the other in the middle of that same night. The second time I dreamed of him, I felt something burst out of my heart, and a gust of pain went all over my body. Something like this happened to me a few years ago. Could you please explain what happened to me?
Answer: Interestingly enough, I had a dream about Maharishi just about the same time you did. We associate Maharishi with the Transcendent, certainly someone who is spiritually very high. It is possible that you had a moment of transcendence during sleep and the dream was a symbolic representation of the experience of transcending, namely a dream of Maharishi.
With such a powerful transcendence, a deep-seated stress in the heart could have been released, explaining your experience. Having said that, though we can’t help to wonder and try to understand what happened when we have profound experiences, it’s best to be easy with it and not even hope to have a definitive answer about its nature. It is enough to know that your heart is in the right place and you are on a rapid evolutionary path. Rejoice in that and set all concerns aside.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, September 5, 2015 | Meditation, Spirituality |
The notion of mindfulness has different meanings on different levels. Let’s start with the highest and go from there. The underlying basis of everything in existence, including you, is pure unbounded Consciousness. As your awareness evolves, you become increasingly awake to that level. When fully awakened to it, it is experienced as a backdrop to everything in existence. I guess you could say it is similar to how a TV screen is the backdrop to all images, stories, and melodramas projected onto it. Mindfulness exists in a place beyond space and time – eternally present. The true state of mindfulness then is a physiological state, the culmination of evolution.
A state of true mindfulness is sometimes referred to as the witness. In the state of witnessing, you are awake to the level where nothing is really happening. This is what is referred to as maya in the Vedic tradition, the idea that reality is all about change, things, relativity, and action. In the state of pure mindfulness, the backdrop, the underlying reality, transcends relativity, duality, action, etc. When first experienced, it is rather a strange experience. It is as if when you are walking, you are not really walking. The body is walking, and the you, your being, your deepest awareness, is just witnessing the body walking. There is, in fact, an entire approach to spiritual growth sometimes called karma yoga where people try to witness. It is remarkable that thousands, if not millions, of people practice that as a spiritual technique, when in fact it doesn’t work. It is like pretending you are a millionaire. It doesn’t make you a millionaire.
This state of true mindfulness, sometimes called enlightenment, is cultivated over time, primarily through proper meditation. Proper meditation, for example the Surya Ram Meditation, has nothing to do with pretending or trying to be in the eternal present. Sadly though, many meditation techniques do exactly that.
It’s important to note that experiencing pure Consciousness as a witness is temporary. The reason it is experienced as a witness is because there is initially a huge gap between wakefulness to pure Consciousness (the Transcendent) and one’s relative experience of life. They coexist, but are experienced as quite distant from one another. As one lives in that state, over time the physiology refines and the gap is reduced and ultimately disappears. This is all a very profound and beautiful experience, the description of which goes beyond the bounds of this article. I have lectured and written extensively about it in other places *.
The term “mindfulness” is often used as a practice of attempting to keep your awareness on the present, trying to be completely mindful of what is going on in the moment – in the room, in the conversation you may be having, in the activity you may be doing, or what have you. In actuality, that is neither constructive nor healthy.
This all takes place on a more superficial level of life. But by superficial, I do not mean unimportant, I just mean different. On the superficial level of life, past, present, and future exist. Even when the awareness and physiology are functioning properly, there are times when the mind’s attention is absorbed in thinking about the future or the past, having little to do with what is going on in the present moment. In the state of true mindfulness, attention on the past, future, and present are all quite healthy and natural. Trying to force the mind to stay in the present moment does little more than cultivate a state of neurosis, compromising the evolutionary process.
Having said that, at times it is of course important to be able to pay attention to what is going on in the moment. That is just common sense. However, attempting to do that as a spiritual technique is misguided.
The bottom line here is that spiritual growth is a normal and natural process. It seems that many think of it as just the opposite, expecting spiritual leaders to be somehow other-worldish and quite different from what most would deem normal behavior. Personal evolution is a subtle process, a normalizing process, a sublime process. Looking for radical differences on the surface of life in an attempt to believe that you are attaining spiritual progress is largely misguided. There are, of course, certain parameters to stay within on the surface of life, like not becoming an alcoholic, getting a reasonable amount of sleep, eating healthy foods, etc. However, attempting to manipulate your life on subtle levels is unnatural and undermining of your spiritual growth. That is like taking the petals of a rosebud and peeling them back one at a time in an attempt to make a blossom. It is the natural unfolding of the bud that births the beautiful flower.
If you take only one thing from this article, remember that whatever techniques you employ to facilitate your spiritual growth, they must be natural.
*
What Is Enlightenment?
How to Get Enlightened
Integrating Unboundedness and Boundedness
Spiritual Evolution Q&A
The Self is Revealed to the Self by the Self
Two Motivations
What is Enlightenment?
The Golden Frog
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
