Getting Deeper Into The Experience

Surface level experience of life comprises less than 1% of potential elevation. Materialism (attachment) is a major component of this small fraction of the experience of reality. We see many people making surface level attempts at a connection to a deeper reality, but they tend to dig no deeper than that. They buy lifestyle adornments and self-help or new thought spirituality books and engage in all the cliche spiritual materialism. It all feels good. It's quick and easy- spirituality lite. These things can act as triggers to a beginning for deeper intentions, but many people get stuck at the start line. The surface level spiritual materialism is comparable to McDonald's, it's quick and convenient, but even though it may fill the belly it offers very little good nutrition. I like modern day spiritual teachers such as Eckhart Tolle. They do great good in a confused world such as ours, and they act as starting beacons for the newly awakened, but the buck doesn't stop there. All of these modern spirituality principles are not new. They reach back into our primal souls.

So where can deeper spirituality be found?
Once you have entered the surface level it is important to remember that the method is the tool and not the experience itself. The tools are varied and peculiar to the individual. One may find the deeper experiences in meditation, nature, science, yoga, psychology, philosophy, mantras, drugs, music, art, sunsets, laughter, creative expression, exercise, good deeds, mathematics, space travel, knitting, fishing, or any of the many paths up the mountain. These acts are not the transcendental experience itself, but may act as a unique path into the richness of life that transcends the method. It is also important to remember that transcendental experience is nothing mystical. It is a natural state of being that has been lost in the complex clutter of the human condition.

Life is full of rich experiences found within common phenomena. There is never boredom but to a mind trapped in confining thought cycle. The expansion of the mind can allow an openness that allows for the emptiness that transcends thought. Buzz words, catch phrases, pendants, dogmatisms, clothing, trendy books, and other lifestyle attachments are only starting points, like diving boards to be jumped from into a deep pool. It is a process of letting go after the climb.

"Talk of mysteries! - Think of our life in nature, - daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, - rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! The common sense! Contact! Contact! Contact who are we? Where are we?" -Henry David Thoreau

Books act as supplemental study to the experiences. Memorization of facts is only acquired knowledge that may lead to wisdom if applied and transcended. Just as an athlete can transcend conscious thought in action, we can transcend conscious thought in mind and experience and touch a deeper reality. This is the basis of skill, to be able to perform actions without thought, to be in the moment. We may see the tree as it is rather than what it is. We can see ourselves as we are rather than what we will be or what has happened to us. Transcending thought and time brings the human experience into now. A rich color repairs the world that has been dulled by our attachment to thought.

Almost every human being has an ability for higher purpose and experience. We are meant for our natural state of existence. Let every moment be something rich rather than a reactionary method of the hijacked mind. There is beauty in even the murkiest pond. Transcend the attached mind. See more than is obvious. The answers are simple and natural.

Some books to dig deeper:
"Walden" by Henry David Thoreau
"Critical Path" by Buckminster Fuller
"Quantum Psychology" by Robert Anton Wilson
"The Vedas"
"Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The Universe in a Single Atom" by The Dalai Lama

Acts of deeper experience:
Meditation (sailing beyond the battering waves of the mind)
Walking in nature (a sensory experience our minds absorb well)
Listening to music with a deep mind
Experiencing art beyond its imagery
Creating art (visual, music, writing, performing)
Studying great minds and philosophies (to gain an understanding of deeper mind and its relation to reality)
Study of Quantum Physics, relativity, fractals, and the golden ratio (to gain an understanding of deeper reality)
The study of poetry and prose (to gain an understanding of the expression and experience of metaphysical reality)
Love (to give and receive purpose)


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Laren Grey Umphlett
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"THE POWER OF PERCEPTION"