Most can probably remember the old proverbial… once I was lost… now I am found. We spend most of our ‘waking’ hours in this rather semi-conscious dream or illusion about who and what we are as a separate and solid “self” mired in repetitiveness, habitualness, and the reflexiveness of our conditioning. For many of us, we are stuck in a certain way of thinking, feeling, perceiving, and behaving- often in ways that condition our suffering. When do we step back, pause, and take stock of the causes and conditions that dominate our lives as cyclical, endless, and fundamentally dissatisfying?

It is our mindfulness practice, and more specifically meditation that can help us to cultivate a better perspective into our moment-to-moment happenings. We come to know and to understand what is going on by stabilizing our situation. We pause and slow down- to open our senses and get a feeling of who we are and what we’re doing- sensually & experientially. Through the practice of meditation… and of just being… we can learn to penetrate with free attention and open awareness (i.e. mindsight) the confusion and bewilderment of our mind’s workings.

We begin with mastering the roots of our attention training through “shamatha” or “peaceful & concentrated abiding” practice. From here, we continue to emerge into our new Way or process of being in the moment with free attention and open awareness by curiously exploring and examining the true nature of our humanity. “Clear seeing” or “vipassana” (“vipashyana”) meditation is the work of true spiritual and psychological warriors- those who have real intent and purpose to “see” and “penetrate” the confusion that holds them back from a more honest and fulfilling life of clarity and well-being.

The afflictions of the mind-body experience come to be revealed as the manifestation of our conditioned perspective. We misunderstand mainly because we are so scattered and unaware (i.e. ignorant) of how our minds perpetuate so much illusion, delusion, and confusion of our sense of being. For many of us, we connect and relate to others and to the world out of a projection of the “egoic self” rather than the nature of our true being. Our fixations and aggressions manifest from the illusion of “separateness”. A prideful “me” is separate from “you”, and “I” will do what it takes to protect what is “myself” and “mine”. We are closely territorial of our own being.

Mindfulness meditation, attention and awareness training helps us to cultivate the necessary mindsight for a shift in consciousness… a transmutation arising in less “selfishness” and greater “selflessness”. From an integrated and universal perspective, we are all part of a larger process that takes significant care and discipline to come to see and to know. Our practice is simply a means or a tool to help uncover what is already inside of us all. We till the soils and nourish the seeds so that this change or shift in consciousness may flourish. By taking the time to step back and pause, we slowly and abidingly release the grip of our reactionary forces and begin to notice our patterns.

Our intention to change flows from our intention to sit. Without calmness and stability, there can be no real clarity. The subtleties of mind and of being can only be seen in the ‘light’ of clarity. The truth will reveal itself when we are quiet and stable enough to receive it. In the ‘light’ of inquiry and reflection the mystery of our humanity may be uncovered. Are you curious, open, disciplined, and caring enough to step into the ‘light’… the ‘light’ already within you?

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