There is far more to our existence than what is apparent through our physical senses. The vast majority of us live our lives completely unaware of this even though every one of us is capable of perceiving far beyond the limited range of our physical senses. The reasons are many, a number of which I have examined at length in various essays and I will not list them here. A significant one is this: when you focus all your attention on one area it is natural that the other areas would atrophy. We can start to reverse this by spending time doing things that do not involve our physical senses.
We get stuck because we have allowed (and I use that term loosely) our minds to be poorly programmed and as a result manifest needs, wants and desires based on what it, our ego has come to want and desire which has us focusing on the external world. To change this we must start to do things that engage our thinking minds less and which do not allow our physical senses to dominate our perception or attention.
The fact is most of us spend next to no time being mindful or in a state of being rather than always doing (with a goal in mind), to observe without judgments or reactions or in meditation. In order to shift ourselves in this direction we must consciously and deliberately turn our attention away from that which has captured it for most of our lives. This is something each of us can learn to do if we put in the effort to do so.
There is no doubt that turning one’s attention away from the physical and reducing the dominance of our mind or ego isn’t easy because we do not teach such things and so have not developed our non-rational awareness to any significant degree. And by non-rational awareness I am referring to those aspects of our awareness that are not based on either our physical senses or our minds (1).
“I use the term non-rational mind rather than psychic mind or self though both provide an umbrella term for all aspects of us that are not part of the physical world or its “interface”, the rational mind. I use the term “non-rational” to describe these types of aspects of the self. It is a simple way to view aspects that appear separate from one’s physicality.
The thinking mind is full of desires, wants and needs that are personal to us. What we desire, want and need are creations of our mind and not actual requirements for life. The only requirements for life are food, water and shelter. Therefore, simply put, we have made them important and by doing so made the “hidden” world less relevant and essentially unimportant. This is not a trend one is going to reverse by spending a few moments here and there being mindful, observing rather than reacting or in meditation. The external world is mesmerizing and unless we work to break the hold it has change is unlikely.
There are many ways to become more mindful, less subjective and more open to that which has remained hidden behind the glare of our physical existence. All of them require one to not only try to look beyond the physical but to also have thought forms in their minds that do not shut them out. One must believe that there is more to us than our physicality or else the burden of proof is so overwhelming that one’s mind is unlikely to let go of its focus on our physicality.
To enable our non-rational awareness requires that we shift from our ego-centric view based on the notion of each of us being independent from one another to an open one where we recognize that everything consists of energy and the only walls or barriers between “things” are those our minds have created. This is basically a necessity if we want to break the hold over us that we have given to our rational or thinking mind (our ego). Those with gifts of various forms of clairvoyance do not need to do this as much for they already accept orknow this at a core level and their minds are built upon this knowing or understanding. However, anyone can develop these skills to a certain extent by turning their attention to where they have never put it before.
Earlier I mentioned three things, mindfulness, working to simply observe experiences rather than react to or judging them and meditation as ways we can start to open up our natural gifts. As Albert Einstein suggested if one wants to change then they are not going to change by doing the same things they have been doing. The first part of the change is accepting that what our senses tell us and the world our mind paints for us is essentially an illusion and only part of the picture. The second part is to regularly act in a fashion that supports this for if we have it as a casual thought it will not have much if any impact on us or our perception. Assuming you have started to work on the first part let us look at one way to begin on the second part.
To break our minds focus on the physical requires us to spend time where the mind plays less of a role. We can do this through mindfulness and by trying to observe without reacting. However, this remains challenging to do as the mind is still predominantly engaged in analyzing, judging and making decisions regarding everything we observe and experience. The best way to approach such things is through meditation.
One can use meditation for a variety of purposes (3) and is arguably the best way to work on getting beyond the restrictions that our minds create. It is imperative that one begin to do this or the hidden world will remain hidden and obscured from view.
“There are prerequisites for working with higher vibration energies. First, one must develop the awareness required to become sensitive to them. This does not come simply through meditation. This skill develops through the creation of though forms that allow us to open up to them, and takes a great deal of practice and focused intent. The higher the vibrations one seeks to work with the greater the degree of clarity and refinement of thought and self that is required. You do not make a fine steel blade by including impurities that weaken it. One must prepare.
In meditation we quiet the mind so that we slow the cacophony of thoughts down to a trickle. This is a necessity if we are going to start to develop our non-rational awareness. Once one can do it in meditation they can start to develop their minds and awareness so that it can be done without having to meditate. I will not cover meditation here as there are numerous meditation resources on the web and I have also covered the topic in both an essay and an exercise. If you need some tips refer to the essay on Relaxation and Meditation (3) or the Meditation exercise (4). Even if you cannot do a basic meditation with any degree success now, that is you either fall asleep or cannot sit still, there is value in trying because if you don’t start you will never learn how.
The purpose of this exercise is to begin to acquaint ourselves with the energy of our thoughts as well as to acquaint ourselves with how interconnected they are. It is not a test or challenge to be figured out and there are no right or wrong answers. It is an exercise in allowing, in stepping outside the bounds of how we normally apply our attention. It will help you to develop your ability at “being rather doing”, at focusing your attention and your awareness of and sensitivity to energy.
This exercise will also help you to develop your patience, acceptance of and trust in yourself and your will as it is unlikely you will get any “tangible” results for the first few times you do it. Anytime we can do things that train our minds to get out of our way, to develop thoughts that allow our non-rational awareness and improve our sensitivity to energy we benefit.
So, remember that doing this exercise one time or even a few times may not make a significant difference. That only comes by repeating the exercise over a period of time. What we want to do is develop the awareness within ourselves so that it becomes as natural to us as using our hands to grasp an object.