Our lives and our behaviors are much more profoundly affected by the beliefs we hold unconsciously than by the beliefs we hold consciously. It is apparent that to reach the breakthrough state we must make a fundamental shift in consciously and unconsciously held beliefs we all hold about our own limitations. Even more deeply held and less consciously sensed beliefs about one’s most basic identity as a human being, and sense of one’s relationship to the rest of the universe, may be formed early in life and remain essentially unchanged throughout life; if they are altered, it is likely to be in the context of a life trauma of major proportions. We are ambivalent about our desire to know ourselves. We will resist that knowledge which we most deeply desire. The illusions we harbor are part of an unconsciously held belief system. We may truly desire to discover and actualize our highest capabilities. Yet to the extent that removing illusion is essential to that discovery, we will resist that which we truly desire……W. Harman & H. Rheingold

there is no evidence for unrelenting truth or enlightened mind or simplicity or inner fulfillment….we move on faith and deep intuitive wisdom and random experience….our mysterious competence invites introspection on the spectrum of our lives….how is it we move from the day-to-day hardness into the mystic?

Once we push the gate of the mind slightly ajar and let the light stream in, the meaning of life becomes silently revealed to us. The gate may be open, for one minute or for one hour, but in that period we discover the secret and neither weary time nor bitter woe can tear that priceless knowledge away from us. Those of us who have taken this peep through the door of our own being, are dumbfounded. We draw back, surprised, at the inscrutable possibilities of the Overself. Man as a spiritual being possesses a capacity for wisdom which is infinite, a resource of happiness which is startling……Paul Brunton

finding truth

I lounge on the grass, that’s all. So
simple. Then I lie back until I am
inside the cloud that is just above me
but very high, and shaped like a fish.
Or, perhaps not. Then I enter the place
of not-thinking, not-remembering, not-
wanting. When the blue jay cries out his
riddle, in his carping voice, I return.
But I go back, the threshold is always
near. Over and back, over and back. Then
I rise. Maybe I rub my face as though I
have been asleep. But I have not been
asleep. I have been, as I say, inside
the cloud, or, perhaps, the lily floating
on the water. Then I go back to town,
to my own house, my own life, which has
now become brighter and simpler, some-
where I have never been before.
…..Mary Oliver