[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by Emm

I had wondered lately of what use Bliss was in this physical realm? Yes its wonderful to be in that state but I really couldn't see how life can continue if we all went around on this blissful high every minute of the day, how would the human race function. I feel the same way about meditation too. There had to be something more to it that I was missing. So I began looking into my own experiences of these moments to see if I could find some patterns that might be helpful.


The Bliss always faded with time, but looking back I realised that the onset of bliss had always been at a point of giving up...of totally releasing the idea that I could thinkmy way into a higher spiritual state...to cease a continuation of thought without expecting that it would have a consequence...to come to a point where knowledge had no place to go...it wasn't of any use. At those points its there, whether its a powerful force or just a felt quickening of the heart, its always then that it happens.

But then why does it fade? Because I begin to dissect it in my mind, thinking my way through it trying to figure it out. I love to analyse things, and I've now realised you can't do that with bliss. So the mind with all its accumulated knowledge was of no use to get to this blissful state but we still need this mind to negotiate our physical world...it was then I realised that it was a blending of both, knowing when thought had its place but to also allow space for the bliss to present itself. It doesn't always come in a powerful mind blowing shower but can also be felt as a constant trickling stream.

Present spiritual teachers talk of following your bliss, your joy or highest excitement...so what if this Joy, this Bliss was actually our pathway, our guiding instrument for a better way of living. A bit like street lights highlighting the road before us...if we can live with a quieter mind we get to feel those moments when our hearts quicken telling us this is the way to move forward, the pathway to where you want to go for a greater sense of well being. I've found that following your bliss clears any previously thought based obstacles if we take it one step at a time...just following the breadcrumbs.

I went on holiday once, fell totally in love with the country I was in so much so that I was compelled to up sticks and move. There were so many obstacles I felt that needed to be hurdled...finance, convincing family, visa's, friendships ..so many reasons not to go but I felt I had no choice but to follow this blissful state I was feeling ...I had to go. The family were no problem, they all were up for the challenge, even my elderly mother who I couldn't leave behind. We got a good price for our house and sold within two days at the sudden rising of the housing market, not only that but the exchange rate was at the highest in decades in our favour and our residency visa's came through approved in record time. By the end of the same year we were all settled in a new home on the other side of the globe. It was a life changing move and proved to be a good one for all concerned.

So on a daily level, bliss doesn't have to be all consuming but if we are able to quieten the mind enough for us to feel what this energy within is guiding us towards it can change our lives in an instant. That to me is my meditation now, to constantly be aware of where my bliss, whatever level, is taking me. Imagine a world where we're all doing this.

Nice sharing Emm. I enjoyed your perspective.

I just wanted to add that the journey within the state of being is an inclusive movement as one. So the by product of awakening such as bliss or joy, peace or love, whatever one experiences through the awakening process never leaves as I see it once awake and aware of yourself as that. It doesn't have to be at the forefront in any one thing, but rather the presence of you as all those things. What moves from all that for self purpose is your life experienced and lived from that being awareness. What moves outside of you will move as it only can experience itself as all that.

For me awareness is more presence of being. It is neither that or this in being. I am just being, what flows is the awareness I can flow through any or all of those by products of awakening, they are already opened in me, I can dance in any or all of them as the need arises... If you are awakened you are present with what is aware of yourself aware and dancing. If you are trapped in the by product of awakening, you will be still awakening to your own presence aware of itself dancing with itself aware of its by product state..Hence talking about it all the time as most who are experiencing themselves do.

I tend to lean towards Adyashanti's view more so...mostly because that is my experience beyond the by product of awakening. Its all within me, not needing to know, it knows and it is being itself as it is aware of itself. It doesn't need to point to what it knows, aware. It just is..moves as that aware and open moving through life.

When your trapped in the by product of awakening, your still awakening..When your moving awakened, your aware and moving through your life awake.

Equanimity comes into this for me as I experience myself now.

Equanimity is one of the most sublime emotions of Buddhist practice. It is the ground for wisdom and freedom and the protector of compassion and love. While some may think of equanimity as dry neutrality or cool aloofness, mature equanimity produces a radiance and warmth of being. The Buddha described a mind filled with equanimity as “abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without ill-will.”

The most common Pali word translated as “equanimity” is upekkha, meaning “to look over.” It refers to the equanimity that arises from the power of observation, the ability to see without being caught by what we see. When well-developed, such power gives rise to a great sense of peace.

Upekkha can also refer to the ease that comes from seeing a bigger picture. Colloquially, in India the word was sometimes used to mean “to see with patience.” We might understand this as “seeing with understanding.” For example, when we know not to take offensive words personally, we are less likely to react to what was said. Instead, we remain at ease or equanimous. This form of equanimity is sometimes compared to grandmotherly love. The grandmother clearly loves her grandchildren but, thanks to her experience with her own children, is less likely to be caught up in the drama of her grandchildren’s lives.

The second word often translated as equanimity is tatramajjhattata, a compound made of simple Pali words. Tatra, meaning “there,” sometimes refers to “all these things.” Majjha means “middle,” and tata means “to stand or to pose.” Put together, the word becomes “to stand in the middle of all this.” As a form of equanimity, “being in the middle” refers to balance, to remaining centered in the middle of whatever is happening. This balance comes from inner strength or stability. The strong presence of inner calm, well-being, confidence, vitality, or integrity can keep us upright, like a ballast keeps a ship upright in strong winds. As inner strength develops, equanimity followshttp://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/equanimity/.