Purification and Healing

Lead me from dreaming to waking.

Lead me from opacity to clarity.

Lead me from the complicated to the simple.

Lead me from the obscure to the obvious.

Lead me from intention to attention.

Lead me from what I'm told I am to what I see I am. Lead me from confrontation to wide openness. Lead me to the place I never left, Where there is peace, and peace - The Upanishads

*note* one more post from Aziz Kristof (from the http://kriptodanny.blogspot.com/2010/06/aziz-kristofone-wise-man.html post)

This time from his fresh new name..he calls himself Anadi(why that?..he is still from Poland..you know any polacks named Anadi?..anyway..)

Nice insights of the nature of reality,worthy of reading(but a polack is always a polish..too bad for him..I liked his former name as Kristof...what's the matter with him? he don't like the polack sousages anymore and calls himself indian now?..ridiculous)

-added by danny-

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Purification and Healing


The human personality is no more than the totality of its past experi­ences. It actually cannot move into the present — it can only circulate within the prison of its own history. That which blocks the positive movement of personality is the presence of negative impressions, emotional wounds, energetic blocks and psychological dysfunction. For most human beings it is essential to go through the processes of cleansing and healing in order to come closer to the experience of love, joy and peace. Indeed, even without spiritual awakening, the personality has the potential to reach a certain, if limited, degree of balance and harmony.


Awakening represents a positive movement towards a higher state of being and understanding; purification is the liberating cleansing of the mind. Although the processes of purification and healing are indivisible from our evolution, for a person who has not yet entered the inner path they occur only within the sphere of per­sonality. However, for someone who has already reached a level of inner awakening, purification and healing, while still associated with the personality, take place within the realm of the soul. It is essential to understand that even with inner awakening, expansion beyond the mind is not sufficient to reach complete emancipation. Until the mind has become pure and the heart is healed, the burdens of our past will not allow the soul to achieve true freedom.
the weight of the past


The past manifests in our present as the force that shapes our thoughts, emotions and perceptions. Despite our unchanging essence, as dynamic beings endlessly engaged in the process of becoming, we are the result of both the individual and collective unfoldment of time. The concept of freedom from the past should not be viewed in a simplistic way, for the evolution of intelligence is rooted in all the past stages of its progressive understanding. Our present is created not only by our individual past, but also by the past of the whole of humanity and all other species inhabiting the planet. We are all interconnected. The notion that one can and should entirely discon­nect from the past is a fallacy. The past should not be rejected, but outgrown and transcended, so that the power of the now can fully manifest the truth of the present.


Freedom from the past on the personal level refers mainly to those elements of our past that are not aligned with our present — all that pulls us away from the now with the dead weight of limited ideas, conditioned behaviors, negative emotions and memories. Everyone carries a heavy load from the past that cannot easily be dropped. Only by awakening the soul can one initiate the process of releasing oneself from this burdensome yoke and dissolve all that stands in the way of the creativity, wisdom and freedom of the now.
subconscious tendencies


All of our past impressions, as well as the information of our past actions, thoughts and emotional responses, are permanently stored beneath the level of the conscious mind in the unconscious. The subconscious mind is like a computer endlessly processing the mate­rial that enters our consciousness from the unconscious in order to protect our delicate inner balance and sanity. However, the subcon­scious mind is not able to process incoming negative experiences and thought forms to the extent that they are fully transformed and healed. Consequently, over time, countless unresolved thoughts, emotions, and impressions form energetic nodes that lock parts of our psyche into the negative past. This is the common origin of psy­chological difficulties, neuroses, and even mental illness.


A human being has countless subconscious tendencies that disturb his peace and ability to function in a positive way. Some of the most deep-seated are fear, anger, attachment, greed, envy, pride, self-centeredness, arrogance, self-pity, insecurity, lack of self-worth and self-victimization. We call these subconscious tendencies nega­tive because they are not in harmony with the peace, kindness, and balance that are both natural and essential to our well-being.


Because it actually rules the life of the personality, we must bring more consciousness and understanding into the subconscious in order to understand how it operates. By using a very sensitive type of mindfulness we can get in touch with this subtle area and become aware of various psychological patterns and habitual behav­iors. We can also begin to see how our subconscious tendencies are connected either to an imbalance in our relationship with the world or to ourselves.
working with the subconscious mind


Work with the subconscious can only begin under the condition that we become conscious and present to our true self. Prior to the awak­ening of consciousness, we cannot deal with our subconscious reality constructively, for we have no integral identity upon which to base the inner work. There is simply no space within the subconscious reality for intelligence to counteract the automatic and unconscious functioning of the mind. The mind cannot be transformed by the mind, only by the one who exists beyond it.


We can divide the work with the subconscious into three basic stages: first, we go beyond the mind by awakening pure awareness and the inner state; next, we embrace and transform the mind from the position of the soul; and finally, we surrender the purified mind so it can merge with our higher self.


It is not our intention to delve too deeply into the psychologi­cal intricacies of the mind, but rather to portray a general picture of the essential work with the subconscious. The following nine steps represent the basic process of how to relate to and transform the mind. This model as a whole is relevant only for those who have the potential to awaken awareness. For others, practice should be limited to work with mindfulness and non-identification.


1. Awakening to I am


2. Non-identification with mind


3. Awareness of mind


4. Awareness of emotions


5. Acceptance


6. Understanding


7. Embracing negativity


8. Intention to change


9. Surrender


Awakening to I am: Since we cannot effectively work with the mind unless we are able to step out of it, we must first awaken to our real center. In order for this awakening to occur, we need not yet be concerned with the transformation or pacification of the mind. Such is the liberating power of self-knowledge and sudden awakening. The mind, with all its countless problems, can indeed be bypassed through the internalization of consciousness. Through the awaken­ing to I am, one can move to a place within oneself that is unaffected by the coming and going of thoughts. The I am that we refer to here relates primarily to pure awareness, although in a larger sense it con­notes the entire inner state and the soul.


Non-identification with mind: Although after the awakening of I am one can dwell in a reality beyond thought, the bonds of our identi­fication with the mind still have to be severed. The mind has many different ways of holding our attention and keeping us confined to its territory. This explains the confusion of many seekers who cannot understand why, in spite of their initial awakening, they remain so strongly identified with their mental self. This situation is natural, however, because regardless of whether or not we are awakened, the mind is an integral part of our multidimensional reality.


The mind does not exist in opposition to our true self. Creating distance from the mind is simply a necessary intervention that makes the process of reclaiming our true autonomy possible. By exercising non-identification with the mind we learn how to regain control over our compulsive attraction to thoughts. Non-identification allows us to transcend the split between the freedom of I am and our defense­lessness against the pull of the subconscious, thus empowering the soul’s independence from the mind.


Awareness of mind: Although through non-identification we can move away from the mind, its negativity remains unresolved. Therefore, the work that follows non-identification initiates a movement of turning back towards the mind in order to face its reality directly.


Awareness of mind is a directionless seeing of arising thoughts. We do not judge the mind’s content, nor attempt to analyze or understand it. We just watch the mind with a choiceless yet attentive awareness. This transitional phase of our work between disidentifi­cation and understanding is essential to bring more consciousness into the mind and develop the quality of detached observation. By practicing awareness of mind we learn how to maintain distance from thought and gradually begin to understand the nature of our mental reality.


Awareness of emotions: Many meditators experience that it is much easier to distance themselves from their mind than their feelings. This is natural, for every human being is more identified with emo­tion than thought. Since our experience of reality is primarily based on feelings, the emotional body is existentially much closer to us than the mind. Unless they are linked with feelings, thoughts are emotion­ally neutral and therefore easier to observe.


Practicing awareness of emotions is similar to practicing aware­ness of mind. However, in awareness of emotions one has to be more sensitive, and often more firm, in order to maintain a space of non-identification. What makes the work with emotions more difficult is the fact that to be aware of them does not necessarily make them dis­appear. A thought cannot sustain itself longer than a moment if we do not fuel it with our attention, but deep emotions, such as sadness, have a continuity that is independent of our conscious involvement. Emotions are present on the energetic level and, unless shallow, cannot be dissolved through observation. In our practice we should maintain a calm, uninvolved consciousness within the presence of emotions. At times, deep breathing combined with surrender to the inner state can discharge and relax disturbing emotions, creating a space within which the weight of our being can become more pro­nounced than the emotional body thereby supplanting our habitual identification with arising emotions.


Acceptance: The next step in our work with the mind is acceptance. In this practice we begin to see the mind as it is without any particular desire to change it. We do not take the mind too seriously, but relate to it with gentleness and a sense of curiosity. We let the mind be as it is, and in this act we relax. The moment we relax, the grip of the mind loosens, for without our involvement it has no one to control. Acceptance is not psychological abnegation or indifference. It is a pro­found affirmation of the mind as an indivisible part of who we are.


One of the pitfalls in the work with the mind is aiming for perfection. Psychological sanity is not based on having a flawless mind, but on being at ease with its imperfections. In truth, the mind can never reach perfection. What it can achieve is relative harmony, purity and wisdom. In the very act of accepting the mind, we can actually transform a large portion of its unconscious energy into an open space of well-being.


Embracing negativity: The acceptance we apply to deal with nega­tivity is characterized by an absence of struggle. The mind has to be seen as a part of our existence that needs not only to be accepted, but also embraced with love and forgiveness. It is not the enemy, but an aspect of our identity that has been corrupted by the dust of nega­tive impressions gathered along our journey through time. We tend to view the mind horizontally as something that exists in front of the observer, but to embrace the mind is to see it as contained within the soul’s body. By embracing the mind with the light of I am, one creates an environment of non-violent transformation and healing.


Understanding: Having embraced its negativity, the next positive movement towards the mind is our attempt to understand it. That which we do not understand will naturally rule us. For example, if we do not recognize that the root of our envy is our own sense of deficiency, there is no real way to transform it. The role of under­standing is to illuminate the mind with a non-judgmental conscious­ness that sees through and beyond the causal forces that create our thoughts and subconscious tendencies.


The term ‘understanding’ as it is used here should not be seen to suggest an excessively psychological approach that is overly self-analytical and introspective. We can easily become mired if we delve too deeply into the complexities of the mind. Rather, we require a gentle yet penetrating understanding that will help us to gain clarity about the mind’s nature and mechanisms, as well as the psychologi­cal roots of our thoughts and emotions.


Intention to change: Cultivating the intention to change is the next step in the transformation of the negative tendencies of the mind. Non-identification and awareness of mind, accepting and embracing the mind’s negativity, and seeking to understand the mind, are all strategies that gradually saturate it with the higher consciousness of the soul. It is upon this foundation that we can finally begin to align the mind with the soul’s intelligence. Our sincere intention to change is the ground of our real transformation.


Most often we cannot do anything about our disturbing state of mind. When all other relative means prove insufficient, we find our deepest power in the strength of our intention. The intention to change is more than an honorable wish or intellectual gesture we make while moving on with the rest of our lives; it is an act by which we can actually alter the past.


Surrender: Transcendence of the mind does not occur through negation, control or repression, but through transformation and surrender. Only a mind that has reached a high level of maturity, wisdom and purity can be renounced. Surrender of the mind, unlike non-identification, is a vertical release that signifies our true absorp­tion in reality. It is the final stage in the intricate process of moving beyond the mind.
cutting through ego-image


Cutting through the lower tendencies of the ego is an essential part of the spiritual path and a critical step in the process of purification. The core of all negative ego tendencies is an obsessive attachment to one’s own image that is based on self-concern and a total fixation on how one is seen by others. Suffering a permanent inferiority com­plex, the ego constantly checks itself and fashions its performance for the eyes of other people to try and confirm its self-worth. The less it trusts itself, the more it tries to prove itself.


As we have already pointed out, preoccupation with ego-image can even slink into high levels of spiritual realization. An example is a seeker who competes with others on the path in an effort to surpass their states of attainment; he feeds his pride and craving for recogni­tion from his spiritual environment rather than nourishing his inner self. The way the ego operates is truly embarrassing. Its exceedingly immature inclinations are so deeply rooted in the human psyche that their removal presents a lifetime challenge.


To deal with the addiction to one’s ego-image appropriately, one must apply discriminative wisdom and bring real understanding into the workings of the mind. Without humility, honesty and purity, one cannot drop egomania. Going beyond the ego-image is primarily a function of our spiritual awakening, and indeed a flowering of true understanding.
the purification of the mind


Although our lower tendencies are undeniably the cause of our suffer­ing and ignorance, not all negative reactions — for instance, justified anger or fear — are expressions of an impure mind. Many such auto­matic emotional responses are in fact perfectly natural. One actually cannot function in the complex reality of the earth-plane without ‘nega­tive’ emotions, for they very often safeguard our survival and reflect the need of the moment. However, negative emotions that originate from our lower nature and express our basic impurity do not serve the necessity of the now, as they are entirely conditioned by our past ignorance.


How does the mind become cleansed? Because of its unknown nature, purification is often believed to be a function of grace. This is true provided we take grace to be an organic process intrinsic to evolution rather than a miraculous event. Purification occurs natu­rally, in accordance with our evolutionary timing, karma, destiny and blueprint. Grace is eternally present in the heart of the soul, and progressively manifests as we mature to the point of transformation. As the amount of light increases in our being, all that is not of the light gradually dissolves.


So while our cooperation is the most critical condition for puri­fication, it does not in itself result in complete purification. Rather, it is a preparation for higher energies and consciousness to enter our being. What supports our cleansing the most is having an open heart that can bridge our human psyche with the plane of the soul and serve as a portal to the grace of the divine. Since our unconscious has been formed by countless previous births, only higher intelligence, the aspect of universal consciousness that links our evolutionary now with our future self, can transform the totality of our past. The force of universal intelligence, which is based on the wisdom and grace of the creator, naturally responds to the sincerity of our intention to seek purity and freedom, and manifests the necessary assistance.
healing the heart


Healing is another aspect of purification. Whereas cleansing is a transformative process that occurs in the mind, healing is experi­enced solely in the heart. Over the course of the infinite past, we have accumulated an enormous burden of suffering and traumatic experiences that manifest as emotional wounds in our subtle bodies. Because life on earth is an existential struggle on all levels, the experi­ence of emotional hurt is universal. However, it is not the experience of pain itself, but our inability to heal and transform it that scars us.


Instead of learning from our lessons, we ignorantly presume that we are victims of circumstance or blame the merciless nature of life for our misery. When we feel that we have been treated unfairly by others we respond with self-pity and resentment. The experi­ence of being hurt renders us fearful, vulnerable and helpless. Our healthy relationship with ourselves is compromised and our positive perception of life dims. We develop anger, animosity, distrust and bitterness towards the world and others, and damage our primal connection with the reality of love, tenderness, beauty and openness.


Because unhealed emotions stand in the way of our positive expansion, it is essential to let go of past wounds and courageously face our unresolved issues. As much as possible we need to bring all that blocks our positive experience of life to the threshold of the conscious mind. To do this, we must be introspective, conscious and sensitive. When we become more aware of what needs to be healed, we can consciously initiate healing in the heart. The function of the mind is only to recognize what needs to be healed and direct aware­ness to those areas. Ultimately, the heart heals itself. Its incredible capacity for self-healing is activated the moment we embrace the denied aspects of our past self with the light of love, consciousness and understanding.
spiritual awakening: the foundation of transformation


As we have made clear in our discussion about the subconscious mind, the transformation of personality cannot be achieved through psychological means alone. Therapeutic models can help us become conscious of what needs to be changed, but do not actually provide the means to make any changes. On the whole, psychological thera­pies are based on the false assumption that we can be transformed by manipulating the subconscious, or by becoming more conscious of the unconscious. They fail because they give too much power to the past. By overemphasizing our personal history, they perpetuate our dependence on it rather than freeing us from it. For example, by delving too deeply into childhood issues we can actually reactivate memories that are no longer relevant to our present identity. If we put too much energy into the past we resurrect it and make it stron­ger and more real than the present.


It is certainly important to address past issues, but only produc­tive if we are empowered by the now. The strength and autonomy we derive from abiding in the inner state enable us to face our inher­ent tendencies in a new way. In truth, we are both dependent on the past and independent from it. Psychological therapies believe in the former, traditions of enlightenment in the latter. Only by combining these two viewpoints can we gain a balanced perspective on our human evolution. We must see that by sensitively incorporating psychological work into our expansion beyond the mind, we can create a positive, holistic base for our growth into awakening and completion.


The more deeply we enter the realm of awakening, the more power we can generate for the transformation of our personality. It is indeed the inner self that governs transformation. The light of the soul gradually envelops the shadow of personality, transmuting and merging it into her wholeness. The same energy that created the mind eventually returns to the integral consciousness of our original I am.


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"To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-