The spiritual path is not always straight and smooth, especially if we become deeply immersed in it. We can encounter pitfalls along the way. Many of them can be quite seductive because mind is trying to figure out the highest truth with its old habit of grasping anything that comes before it. We have to be aware of that fact. One of those pitfalls, which ancient masters warned about, is to mistake a pleasant, altered state of mind for pure consciousness. There is nothing to be discovered as ultimate truth beyond pure consciousness. That’s all there is. Every other notion of truth is simply an elaboration of ideas and concepts. Pure consciousness is not the effect of any cause. It is the ground of our being and who we are in the ultimate sense. It is a realm untainted by concepts and belief systems. It doesn’t belong to any religious doctrine or school of thought. It is utterly peaceful and it is also insightful, so it sees through illusions. When we just pause and relax, we find a gap between thoughts. When we reside there, we find the very thing we have been seeking all along. This is the nirvana for those who are longing for spiritual liberation. The sign of authentic spiritual awakening is that we don’t want anything else…..Anam Thubten

the dispelling of ignorance and illusion is the work and the joy…..the paradox….the letting go….we are our own teacher….mind and knowing are completely separate and the union is the unconditional intoxication of loving life…ever feel like you are living in a dream?

The visionary perceives possibilities, envisions wholeness and embodies the quality of clarity. One who has attained stability of attention and experienced inner stillness may access a transformative vision of human possibility. Spiritual vision inspires and informs all activities of the spiritual warrior, the healer and the teacher and perceives the relationship of the archetypes to each other. Vision sees things as they are, by seeing through appearances and understanding the nature of illusion. Clear vision is a function of intuitive discernment that sees through illusion and offers guidance on the spiritual path. It is closely related to spiritual empowerment and depends on training attention, quieting the mind and opening the heart…..Frances Vaughan

our warrior heart dictates the inner quest of seeking origins…

Our sense of alienation, so widespread in Western culture and so particularly acute in 20th century consciousness, can be seen as the inevitable and perhaps necessary starting point for personal transformation. Estrangement leads to questioning, searching, and wondering. The quest or search may lead, if we are graced, to an awakening: the journey homeward may lead to the source of our beingness….Ralph Metzner