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Raising Your
Consciousness, by David Zimmer, 1999
There are two types of knowledge, the knowledge you have
and that your soul has. Similarly, there is the
knowledge amnesia patients have about themselves and the
knowledge they would like to remember. The knowledge you
have does not assist you in knowing your true identity
and what your soul has done. Likewise, the knowledge
amnesia patients have about themselves does not help
them to remember what they have forgotten. Experiencing
various emotional experiences that stimulate an amnesia
patient's inner-consciousness causes him or her to
remember what they have always known. Similarly, your
soul stimulates various emotional responses within your
inner-consciousness so that you can remember what you
have always known. That is why it important to silently
observe how everything affects you emotionally, as well
as how you respond to those feelings. Doing that assists
you in understanding various cause and effect
relationships. That understanding is "soul knowlege." It
stimulates your inner-consciousness in a manner that
allows you to experience your soul and be consciously
aware of it.
Everything you experience is based upon your perception.
An alternation in your perception changes what you
experience. You soul uses that principle to create
events that emotionally stimulate you to observe and
challenge your perception. Not understanding the
significance of these experiences, thought ignores,
rationalizes or intellectualizes them. Your soul
responds by repeating the experience over and over again
until it gets your attention. Thought perceives that
these experiences are obstacles or road blocks and
either attempts to overcome them or to suppress them.
You soul responds by increasing the amount of
stimulation. Sometimes that intensified stimulation
manifests as an accident, a serious illness or a
devistating disaster. You can assist the soul by
observing and understanding the cause and effect
relationship of these experiences.
Debating, arguing or defending your perception creates
conflict and prevents you from raising your
consciousness. Another source of conflict is thinking,
believing or deducing that you "understand" what you
know. Whenever you do that your query or investigation
ends because thought does not see any sense in examining
what it knows. Whenever you acknowlege that you do not
know something, you instruct the mind to observe and
investigate. It is difficult to observe or investigate
anything for thought is either chewing on the past or
focused on the future. When it is not doing that, it is
rejecting, denying or avoiding anything that conflicts
with its perception. On one hand, thought wants to know
something so it can end its investigation. That is why
it seeks answers and conclusions as opposed to
possibilities and probabilities. Although thought wants
to end its investigation, it accumulates knowlege so
that it can substantiate or prove that its perception is
accurate. Thus, thought is constantly in conflict with
itself or its environment. Conflict creates conflict,
never peace. That is why thought is unable to resolve
the conflict it creates. To have peace, you must begin
with peace. That is why it is so important to set aside
at least twenty minutes a day to allow the mind to quiet
down. Thought will come to an end if you attentively
observe it. Quiet and attentive observation is
meditation. Many who meditate are aware of the fact. It
also helps to schedule your quiet time so that you are
able to do it at the same time and in the same location
every day. The best time is when you can be alone and
nothing will distrub you.
Your desire to protect yourself from being deceived,
used or emotionally hurt causes you to create numerous
facades. The more dependent you are the more fearful you
become. As your fear increases, you create more defense
mechanisms. You have done this so much and for so long
that you have forgotten your true identity and nature.
They are buried so deep within your consciousness that
you are oblivous of them. And, your unresolved fears
prevent you from looking for them. Yet, you think that
you "know" yourself because thought falsely identifies
itself as being one or more of the facades you created.
Like you, thought desires to protect its perception.
Unlike you, thought has had millions of years to develop
thousands of defense mechanisms. Some of them are
blatantly obvious, but most are difficult to see because
they are extremely subtle and cleverly disguised.
Therefore, you cannot use thought, perception or the
condition mind to raise your consciousness or to
discover our true identity. These can only be achieved
by using something that is not an aspect nor product of
thought or perception. Your soul has no relationship
with thought for it is none of these. Consequently, it
is wise to develop a mutual relationship with your soul
so that you can challenge your perception and raise your
consciousness.
Unfortunately, everything I have stated so far is merely
knowledge, words that you can comprehend. Experiencing
the reality of that knowledge transforms it into
understanding. If you allow yourself to embrace the
following ten premises, you will create various
experiences that will alter your perception. The more
you embrace differences, the easier and more rewarding
life is.
1. Questions are more beneficial than answers. Just as
each step begets another, your path through life is
determined by the questions you ask. Each open-ended
"what" and "why" question begets another question rather
than an answer. Thought, in its pursuit for more
knowledge, seeks answers. Answers never resolve anything
because they are more of the same rather than something
new. "How" questions seek knowledge rather than
understanding. Asking "what" and "why" questions changes
our focus and allows you to understand what you are
observing. The understanding gained from one question
causes you to formulate another that assists you in
gaining a deeper and fuller understanding than its
predecessor.
2. Everything is constantly changing. It is impossible
to hold on to anything in life for everything is
constantly changing. Holding on to the past keeps you in
the past and prevents you from experiencing something
new. The past is the known. Challenging the known alters
our focus and allows you to "let go" of the past so you
can experience something new. Open-ended questions
challenge the known and facilitate the detachment
process.
3. You have to stop what you are doing to see what you
were doing. Pursuing prevents you from seeing what needs
to be seen. The slower you move, the less blurred your
vision and the more you see. Quiet and attentive
observation allows you to see even more. Such a view is
free of all distractions, especially thought. All your
senses - every part of your being - is focused on what
you are observing. This qualitative sight is commonly
called meditation. The more you meditate, the more you
function with the soul rather than thought.
4. Everything serves a purpose or it ceases to exist.
Nothing in life is ever really wasted. Everything you
encounter or do in life helps you to grow and evolve.
You unknowingly judge life, others and yourself when you
allow thought to label something good or bad, right or
wrong. Looking at everything as a possibility, a
probability or potential resource alters your focus. In
turn, you cease to judge and begin to discover
opportunities you never knew existed.
5. You learn what is right by experiencing what is
wrong. You live in an imperfect world so that you can
understand perfection. Nothing new would ever be learned
if you never erred. Your errors provide the motivation,
the environment and the resources needed to learn.
Seeing err as a potential learning experience changes
your perception and reality. The more you allow yourself
to err, the less seriously you take yourself. The more
you do that, the more open and flexible you are. In
turn, you learn more and discover how enjoyable learning
can be. Life becomes an exciting adventure rather than
dull and tedious.
6. You are always experiencing what you need to
experience. Problems and undesirable predicaments cause
you to focus on what you perceive that you do not have.
Your pursuit causes you unknowingly ignore what you
have. Focusing your attention on what you have alters
our perception. You cease to pursue and begin to develop
what you have. In turn, you assist the soul in achieving
its objective. Seeing life as your ally rather than your
foe allows you to achieve the impossible.
7. What occurred is not important; what is important is
how you respond. It does not matter what happened to you
or who did it to you. What matters is what you do about
it. Focusing our attention on what happened to you or
who you perceive is at fault does not resolve anything
because it prevents you from observing your response and
what can be done about it. Attentively observing how
everything affects you emotionally and how you respond
to those emotions changes our focus. In turn, you see
what you can do to resolve the problem and prevent it
from occurring again.
8. You learn from observing and embracing differences.
More of the same begets sameness and stifles your
growth. Sameness, the known and routines provide a false
sense of security and cause you to err. The more you
err, the more fearful you are and the more comfort you
seek in the familiar or the known. Disrupting your
routine and embracing differences alters your focus. In
turn, you stimulate your growth and diminish our fears.
The less fearful you are, the more security you find in
the unknown.
9. Everyone is doing the best they can. It is easy to
criticize or judge another, especially yourself. Your
expectations of others and yourself prevent you from
seeing that everyone is doing the best they can. Unless
you can communicate with another's soul, you have no
idea what their soul desires to experience. Allowing
others to be themselves and experience their uniqueness
changes your perception. You cease to critique and begin
to value and respect uniqueness. In turn, you become a
supportive ally rather than a derogatory spectator.
10. You are not alone. In the depths of your depression,
despair or anger it is difficult to see that others have
experienced what you are experiencing for life treats
everyone the same. The more alone or isolated you feel,
the more difficult the task becomes. Your ability to
see, acknowledge and accept that you are not alone
alters your perception. It gives you the motivation,
comfort and reassurance you need to accomplish the task
at hand.
. . . David Zimmer
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