Going Beyond The Three Dimensional World While Still Living In It

Most people on this planet accept without question communication that is fed to us through the media, be it on the nightly news or in the daily papers or through advertising. They believe what our leaders tell them – be it political, corporate, religious or otherwise - even though corruption and lies are being exposed more and more.

There are some however (and their numbers are increasing) that question what they are told and there are those who just don’t believe it at all.

These are the ones that are waking up and seeking a deeply reality. These are the ones that need to find a way beyond this realm in order to understand a different way of thinking and living.

These are the ones that are changing the world, one person at a time.

If you have read this far, you are one of those brave ones who are attempting to journey onto what M. Scott Peck called ‘The Road Less Travelled’.

If you are one of the ones that find themselves asking more and more questions, the lesson is do not worry about the disorder in the world; you cannot directly change it. But what you can change is YOU.

How can we then wake up and to look more deeply into life? Some of course awaken after a ‘train wreck’ - a shattering accident, a life-threatening illness, the loss of a loved one. Something big that changes everything and turns your world upside down. Such events can shift and shatter your way of looking at life.

After such events some people try to contort themselves and go back to who they were before ‘the train wreck’, or lament in depression for what was. A better way is to look forward, find some silence and begin to ask inner questions. What you’ll do, subconsciously, is begin to spur change around you.

Of course, you can avoid the train wreck before it happens by beginning to look within at yourself, by taking time to find the silence, meditating, by asking questions. By finding a way to go beyond the three dimensional world, in order to live in it in a more honest way. We all wish to find peace but it isn’t ‘out there’ - it can only come from within. Once you’ve found your inner peace, THEN it is ‘out there’ for you project it and create it around you.

In this three dimensional world, we function from a beta brain wave pattern; we are largely operating from the left-brain, thus we work from logic and reason. In order to find the balance and harmony in life that we all seek, we need to open our creative self, our right brain. By regularly accessing the silence through a meditation process, we can go beyond our limited left-brain and engage a different brain wave (alpha) or right brain function. We will then find our selves with the best of both worlds where we will be grounded (left brain) but still reaching for the sky (right brain).

Experiment with different methods of meditating; be bold enough to go beyond the world that you find yourself in, for this is a world that you have been given through the influences that you have encountered along life’s path.

Stop, reassess, find the silence, ask for help and live life in an entirely different manner with awareness. The peace happiness and fulfilment will then come.

Blessings,

Peter.

Asking For Help: How It Works

There will be times in your life when you are in desperate need of help. In order to receive help, you need to actually ask for help – something many people neglect to do. You should not be attached to how the help comes to you - only that it comes - and then you must receive it with gratitude.

The following is a story from my early journey into the spiritual quest, which some of you may remember from my recent podcast about our spiritual helpers on ‘Guides’.

I arrived in what was then Calcutta, India when I was in my early ‘20s. I came off the plane to discover someone needed my baggage more than I did (it was stolen) and I walked out of the airport with only the clothes I stood up in, no ticket home and about $50 dollars in my pocket.

I had come to India in search of truth and a spiritual teacher. I had no idea what I was to find in India but what I saw certainly wasn’t what I had expected. The first person that I encountered as I walked out of Calcutta Airport was a person sitting quietly in a corner just before the outer doorway. He had no arms or legs and no eyes, and was dressed in rags. He had a battered harmonica attached to a piece of wire around his neck and what looked like an old baked bean tin hanging around his neck.

“May I play for you sir?” he asked in clear English.

I turned and stared in disbelief. He too was staring at me, and although he had no eyes he seemed to see me.

“Yes that would be nice,” I mumbled placing a few coins in his tin, later realising that they were Australian coins and were of no use to him.

I have no idea what he played nor how well he played; it didn’t seem to matter. He played, I muttered thanks and stumbled out into the heat ravaged Indian day.

I had really arrived in India.

“Do you need some help?” a soft voice asked. A tall Indian man and his brother offered to assist me to find some accommodation. I must have looked as stunned as I felt.

“I don’t have much money,” I said.

“Don’t worry neither do we,” replied the man.

He introduced himself as Tamil. He explained that he and his brother were travelling to Kerala in the south and if I would like some help, they would me find my way to the railway station the next morning. I accepted. I was on my way to Madras also in the south of India and was grateful to have some assistance getting there.

Some time later the dilapidated taxicab pulled up in a slum area that looked like it was from an ancient era. I opened the door and found I had to step over a bloated dead body lying in a deep ditch in front of our lodgings. To say that by now I was deep in culture shock was an understatement; this was my first trip outside of Australia and my native New Zealand, and I was in total shock.

The next morning, under the guidance of my newfound helpers, I arrived at Calcutta Railway Station and boarded the train to Madras. The station was home for thousands of homeless people, who all seemed to be living in cardboard boxes on the many platforms. There were thousands living like this, all claiming a patch of sheltered space. They surged toward my white western face in anticipation of being given money, but little did they realise that I wasn’t that much better off than them.

My culture shock deepened.

By now I was gripped with fear. I was on the verge of panic. “I’m going to lose my mind,” I thought. It was as if I was having a nightmare but one from which I couldn’t awaken. I felt I had been transported back hundreds of years into another era in which I was stuck.

The train finally departed several hours late, as do all trains in India, and so I began my trip further into the unknown. As I stood in line waiting my turn to visit the bathroom, it all became too much. I began screaming inside myself for help.

Almost immediately, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned and looked in to the clear blue eyes of an immaculately dressed Indian man in khaki shorts and long socks. His long grey hair fell down around his shoulders.

“Why are you here?” he asked quietly.

I mumbled something about searching for my guru and for the truth of life. The man then squarely locked his eyes to mine, looking at me deeply and intensely. It was like he grabbed my soul. Everything went completely still. Suddenly I felt safe, my fear subsided.

“I am glad that you have come,” he said, still holding me with his deep blue eyes. I blinked and briefly looked away. When I looked back around to focus on him, he had vanished.

“Where did that man go?” I asked the young man next to me in the queue.

“What man, Sahib?” he asked.

“The Indian man that was just here… the one with long grey hair and blue eyes,” I replied and continued to rattle off a detailed description of him.

“We Indians have brown eyes Sahib. There has not been anyone here that fits that description.”

I couldn’t believe it. I searched that train up and down, and asked many people but no one had seen him. There was no trace of the longhaired Indian man with the bright blue eyes. Yet to me he was as solid and real as I was. And he brought me back from the edge of madness and fear.

I never saw him again, but I knew I could go on now, and I did.

My call for help had been heard and was answered. I was the only one on that train who saw that man. It was years before I related this story to anyone else; when I did most rolled their eyes in disbelief. But he was there. He was my reality and my help when I needed it most. All you have to do is ask for help and receive it - in whatever shape or from it appears - with sincere gratitude. The Universe and your helpers are always there to assist you.

Blessings,

Peter

Understanding Control Issues: Who Or What Is In Control Of You?

How often do you run into control freaks? Those individuals who have to be in control of everything in their lives? You need to be aware that they will control you if you give them half a chance. And look out, if you let them - they will be telling you how to think and act and before you know it, you will be doing things that they want you to do and not what you want to do.

Controllers are disempowered individuals who seek their lost power through controlling and disempowering others, or controlling situations in their lives. If controllers are able to recognise that they have become a controller and look back into their life, they will find a situation or an individual that was, or has been, controlling them. Once they are free of the influence of that situation, they will then subject others to the unpleasant feeling of being controlled or “getting even” without realising, by subjecting others to what they had been given.

Whatever the extent, it is not appropriate to be controlled, nor is it appropriate to be a controller. In the first instance, you are violated by another; in the second, you are the violator.

The key is to be aware of which side of the fence you find yourself on. If you are able to look at yourself objectively and can see where you sit in the control/controlled spectrum, then you have a chance to set yourself free and be neither the controller nor the controlled. With awareness, you will become free and no one will be able to control you. You will be aware of the damage of being a control freak (or the violator) and you will not go there. If you can relate to this, you may find some regression therapy helps you to understand your pattern and also to release the embedded emotion that sets the whole cycle up.

Control issues can show up in many different shapes and forms. One example is the neat freak. Neat freaks are those people who try to control their space with neatness. While there is nothing wrong with order - in fact it’s positive and shows an ordered state of mind – it naturally becomes a problem when it becomes an obsession.

The obsessive neat freak builds his or her entire world around neatness and order. If you fit in here, look back and you will find either a parent who was a neat freak and you learnt from them, or someone around you was so messy that you became the opposite. Investigate your history and emotions around those situations, and the story of the control behind it will start to become clear.

As with all of life awareness is the key and the ability to laugh at yourself - even a simple “Oh there I go being a neat freak again” - can help to break the pattern. With this awareness, change will come; you will see what a pain you are to yourself and to others.

Another similar example is the perfectionist. Perfectionists are those individuals who set the bar impossibly high for them selves. Because what they aspire to be is either impossible or near impossible, they create tremendous stress within. If not checked and sorted, this stress will lead to continual disappointment and ultimately condemnation of themselves. In time, sickness can manifest with depression leading the way. If these individuals look back in their life - the only way to understand yourself - they will find their self-worth was wounded somewhere back in time.

Case in point is Joe. What ever Joe attempted as a child, it was never good enough in his dad’s eyes and his dad had no difficulty in trying to control the situation by telling Joe that he must do better. While this strengthened Joe’s resolve and he went on in life to achieve a great deal, it was never good enough for Joe and no amount of people telling him how well he had done would convince him that he was a success. Joe was still trying to prove himself to his dad. He had become a perfectionist. Joe had a lot of stomach cramps and digestive issues (i.e., he had difficulty digesting life).

I am reminded of the Japanese tradition when building a house; they always leave some small part of the building crooked just to remind themselves that on this earth nothing is perfect.

As you travel into ever increasing awareness on your journey, you will be shown many indicators of the issues that you carry. If you find yourself running into control freaks and they really bother you, take a look within - you will find that you too are the thing you dislike in them.

Blessings,

Peter.

How To Tame The Monkey Mind To Find Inner Stillness

The monkey mind is the name given to our mind not only when we over think things, but the majority of our daily thoughts. The following are questions I’m frequently asked:

“How do I turn off my mind?”

“I wish my mind had an on off button!”

“My mind drives me mad, I wish I could stop it!”

These are feelings most of us will be able to relate to.

In order to better understand the mind, perhaps we can divide it into three categories:

1) Instinctual mind or simple consciousness

2) Thinking mind or self-consciousness

3) Intuitive mind or cosmic consciousness

The Instinctual Mind: The instinctual mind is best illustrated in tribal societies. In these groups, there is a great connection to the whole; these people work with the interests of the group, not their individual selves. People who have this type of mind operating don’t have monkey minds. Indigenous cultural groups, such as Asians, Native American Indians and Pacific Islanders can often be great examples of the instinctual mind in action.

The Thinking Mind: this is where most of Western people find themselves; these individuals have become aware of themselves, aware of the self. These societies are focused on developing the left hemisphere of the brain, which means that they become very good at logic and reason, but often at the expense of the right side of the brain, where vision and creativity reside.

Without the right hemisphere operating these individuals get trapped in the left side of the brain. This is the home of the monkey mind, which they cannot turn off; it won’t stop, it only knows how to keep going. This means people keep thinking and using logic and reason in order to stop feeling how they really are. They become over thinkers.

The Intuitive Mind: The intuitive mind begins to develop when the right hemisphere of the brain is activated. This mind is beyond the thinking mind and if expanded will lead to the opening of cosmic consciousness, which is an understanding of all things. This is the awakened and enlightened state we all seek and to which we will all one day evolve.

Can you see that in order to get free of the monkey, chatterbox mind, all we need to do is to develop the right hemisphere of our brains?

Here are some handy hints:

1. Be aware of where your mind fits into the above.

2. Understand how modern society encourages left sided brain development at the expense of the right intuitive side.

3. Develop creativity and expand your right brain.

4. Meditate! This will open a door and allow your intuitive mind to begin to activate. The chatterbox monkey mind will then slow and you will begin to have balance in your life. The monkey mind will no longer control you.

The monkey mind, dominated by the left hemisphere, cannot be stopped - it can only be distracted or deadened with medication and or recreational drugs. But when the right hemisphere is awakened and a more expansive consciousness comes into the individual, then the left hemisphere takes it rightful place in a balance with the right side and the monkey mind is tamed.

You hold the key to it all. If you haven’t learnt the art of meditation, learn it and practice it. Develop your creative self. Become the master of your mind so it will find its place within you and not as the master of you. 

Many blessings,

Peter.

The Ways Of The Mystic: Spirituality In A Modern World

The mystics of old lived lives separated from the world, seeking out places hidden from the masses, sacred places often far away from the hustle and bustle of crowds. The modern mystic, however, needs to live in real life, raise families, work and interact with other - these are the situations that provide the challenges and the lessons that enable modern day seekers to grow and develop spiritually.

When I was in my early teens, I found myself always searching for something other than what was in front of me. At first I thought that ‘something’ was outside of me. So I began to travel and seek holy places and holy teachers. I found many wise people, although few true holy ones, and as time passed I found myself searching for the next ‘thing’ that might hold within it what I longed for.

As my knowledge deepened, I came to realise that the key actually lay within ME. This meant I didn’t have to travel out ‘there’ - all I had to do was to go within. My next challenge was to come to understand how I was going to do that. I found meditation helped, yet that didn’t seem to do the job completely either, even though I did find myself a lot more at peace.

It was then that I realised I carried a huge weight of unresolved emotion, which I had accumulated as I travelled along my journey of life.

These realisations came to me over many years of searching. I realised I needed some tools to help me to clear my baggage and unravel my hidden self. I needed to be free of the embedded emotion that was stored deep in my unconscious mind.

I realised if I could clear this old dysfunctional energy then I would have an opportunity to uncover my true self, hidden within.

In a prayer, I asked for some tools to help guide me on my journey into myself. What came to me is what I have called the 12 Qualities of the Mystic.

I list them for you here and hope that they will help you, as much as they have helped me.

1.  The mystic knows that he must honour his truth.

2.  The mystic seeks the stillness, for his intuition tells him that it is the stillness that will speak to him and guide him.

3.  The mystic honours nature.

4.   The mystic learns to master his emotion. He understands guilt and fear and has found freedom from both.

5.  The mystic inspires himself and others; he uplifts the consciousness of those around him.

6.  The mystic understands that thought creates his reality.

7.  The mystic has clear vision. He has freed himself from victim consciousness, has become a student of life, and knows that there is no good or bad - there just is.

8.  The mystic hears the voice of his soul and has learnt to trust it.

9.   The mystic understands that death is a doorway and is not possessed by the fear of death.

10.  The mystic understands that the thing he seeks lies within him.

11.  The mystic follows signs and omens, and he communicates with his guides, guardians and angels.

12.  The mystic has purpose.

This framework has since been expanded into The Soul and The Ego workshop series we facilitate today with The Council Of 12 - an inspirational series of workshops that teach modern day spirituality. We no longer need gurus and holy men to give us the answers we seek; everything you need is inside of you and with the tools and processes we share, the wisdom of the Universe will begin to unfold before you.

Many blessings,

Peter.