Finding Your Path

Energy and consciousness form the fundamental polarity of phenomenal existence.  Energy affects consciousness and consciousness affects energy, both give rise to each other.  The dynamic interplay of the two ends of the experiential spectrum engenders the shared reality we live in.  Given their fundamental importance, one must cultivate their own energy and consciousness.  To do this, a rigorous scientific approach must be taken.  One is at once the experimenter, the experiment and the result.  The goal is a fullness of one's energy, to be used in the expression of Love, with a conscientious awareness, to direct one's energy as one wills.  To do this, the scientific method must be applied to every aspect of one's life.  Advice from teachers may be considered, but what is good for one, may bring harm to another.  There is no way but your way.  May you walk your path guided by Grace.  It is prudent to begin with the cultivation of consciousness, as this will be the instrument by which one's results will be observed, measured and incorporated.  First, one must undergo an unlearning and decondition oneself of everything.  This unlearning must include all preconceived notions, values and knowledge that have been impressed by one's society, family and peers.  Such knowledge and values are used in order to form one according to zeitgeist and groupthink, but they have little to do with Truth.  During this unlearning, one must reexamine everything from a position of unbiased objectivity, keeping in mind the inherent shortcomings of language and symbols, neither of which are capable of fully expressing Truth.  One must study every aspect of life from this newly found vantage point, unobscured by one's old ideology.  Life is the best teacher as long as one is willing to seek out and learn its lessons.  Both the rational and the intuitive must be given equal exploration and evaluation.  The sciences, both hard and soft, in tandem with philosophy and all of the faith traditions, will serve as a starting point from which a new worldview can arise.  Rational thought and intuition must serve as the guardrails, allowing one to incorporate Truth and discard ignorance.  The ineffable nature of existence can never be approached by words or thoughts, and one must defer to their heart and intuition when doubts arise.  Such an endeavor is more akin to a remembering, rather than a learning.  Pure awareness is one's inherent nature and one must return to this state.  As one's new worldview arises, it becomes necessary to take absolute control of one's faculties.  The body and its cravings must be completely subservient to one's will.  Practices that I have found helpful include sobriety, fasting, sexual continence and other exercises of willpower.  It is important to be pragmatic and such practices are worthwhile only insofar as they are useful.  With such practices, the goal is threefold: complete control over the body, strengthening the willpower and the experimental results that are obtained.  One must pay careful attention to what does and does not work towards the cultivation of one's energy.  Objective introspection must be used to evaluate the effects of every action one undertakes.  Try different things, in different combinations, until suitable practices are found.  It is important to seek out the balance that is optimal for oneself.  During this experiment, the body must be well cared for: adequate sleep, proper hydration, nutritious food, sufficient exercise and ample sunlight, are critical in the development of one's energy.  Next, the mind and its wanderings must also become subservient to the will.  In this endeavor, meditation is invaluable.  In the search for Truth, one pointed mediation on a particular thing is undoubtedly useful.  The practice of stilling the mind is even more essential.  One can begin by focusing on the breath and allowing thoughts to come, without clinging to or pursuing any of the thoughts in particular.  Eventually, a stillness of mind can be reached in which one's awareness is entirely present in the moment, no particular focus is applied to any particular thing and wandering thoughts do not intrude.  Like anything, meditation takes diligent practice for one to become proficient.  With time one may progress from sitting or lying mediation, to walking meditation, to working meditation, to a living meditation.  Eventually, one is able to enter a meditative state as one pleases.  In such a meditative state, one returns to pure awareness and acts with harmonious spontaneity.  Conversely, the imagination must also be nourished and the mind's eye must be exercised.  One must be able to visualize any image, smell, taste, sound, or touch as one pleases.  Similarly, the cultivation of the imagination takes practice. One may begin by looking at something simple and familiar, closing one's eyes and then bringing the object to mind. Expanding one's efforts from there, more complicated exercises of the mind's eye can be undertaken, involving more senses and more intricate imaginings.  With these efforts, one will come to have a worldview founded on Truth, as well as a body and a mind under one's control.  With these assets, one can undertake practices and methods of living which will nourish and cultivate one's energy.  However, all of this require constant practice and reexamination.  One must seek a dynamic balance in both understanding and action.  A liberated consciousness that direct the fullness of one's energy towards the expression of Love.  May you live with a clear mind and an open heart.