would call these patterns vasanas and say, “Get rid of your vasanas.” Indeed one of the most amazing feelings of freedom on this path comes from releasing these patterns. They tend to dictate so much of our lives and our experiences.
When you release them, all of a sudden instead of clutter, you have an open space. Furthermore, when you no longer live by the patterns in your mind, your life seems a whole lot less predetermined, and you seem to have a lot more free will. The feeling of automatic goes out of your life and you have choices that you didn’t know were there.
So how do you release these patterns? As you can probably see the whole movement of this meditation is towards the subject. When you become aware of something as objective, you become free of its limitations. When you can see it, you are free of it. That’s because what you see is just an object in your awareness. It is not your identity.
But here there is a quandary. What about the subconscious or the unconscious? If something is unconscious how can you ever become aware of it? I argue that you are already aware of it. If you did not know the thoughts that cause your moods then you wouldn’t have those moods. The same is true of your behaviors.
Right now, however, you may be so close to these thoughts that they come under the category of, “This is just the way I am.” But as you step more into your own Self–Nature, you will begin to see the thought patterns that control your life, and you will step free of them.
Here’s a hint: These thoughts are often masked under the guise of “This is just the way I am,” or “This is just the way my mind works,” or “This is just the way the world is,” or “This is just the way life is.” Later I will show you how to use these guises to catch these patterns.
One of the magical things that happens on this path is that you become aware of these little assumptions, and when you become aware of them, they are no longer the way you are. Yes, just by becoming aware of your assumptions about your mind, the world, life, and your identity, you open up a space that was once clouded over.
The effect is that where you once felt heavy and bound, you now feel light and free. Where you were once predictable in your responses to life, you are now free to experience life, and respond to life in a completely different way. It is at this point in your practice where life becomes fascinating.
I call this the art of introspection. When you master this art, you will know the difference between the theory of self-realization and the experience of your own Self-Nature.
In the next few chapters we will go further into this art of introspection so you will get a better idea what it is. We will start off with “Self Judgment.”
Self Judgment
In a moment I will give you specific examples from my own life so you will see how to pin down and destroy assumptions. I will also show how this will enrich your life and your meditation practice. But first let’s discuss how to gain freedom from self-judgment.
When you first see these thought patterns you might think: “Yuck, did I really live by this? Am I really that bad?” If you feel like this, remember that when you become aware of these thought patterns, you are free of them. There is no other step necessary. Awareness equals freedom. If they are painful to see, they are a lot more painful to live by.
There was a point in my practice where I was anxious to see every yucky thought pattern in my mind, from why I lied to how I though about sex. I had the feeling that the more I could see, the more freedom I could experience.
And sure enough, with awareness as my weapon, I destroyed much of the yuck that kept me in fear and limitation. Finally when I stood as my bare bones self, I saw the good news: I was not a sinner. You too are intrinsically free from sin!
Notice, I didn’t say replace these thoughts with better ones, or resolve to live by a new “better” pattern. For example, you see the cause of your anger as the big obstacle to your freedom, like anger at your boss, who makes you stay late at work when you really want to meditate at home.
Here you might ask, “What is the difference between a thought and an emotion?” An emotion is a series of thoughts that seem to go through you mind so fast that you don’t notice them. These thoughts could trigger or be triggered by a belief that you hold about who you are, what the world is, what your mind is, or what life is.
Now I said that you apparently don’t notice these thoughts. But you do notice them. If you didn’t notice them, you wouldn’t react to them by getting angry or afraid etc. If you think, “Here they go again,” there is obviously a belief about who you are, who your boss is, and what he can do to your happiness and freedom. The reaction might be anger or fear. We discuss this more in the chapter, “Freedom from the grip of anger.”
Once you see that real freedom comes from within you, you will see these thoughts clearly and laugh at them as if they were a joke. By shining your understanding on them, you will release these thoughts naturally. You may think these thoughts again. But the hook, the sting goes out of them. Then they become like the thousands of thoughts going through your mind that you don’t react to.
So when you see one of these thought patterns, don’t resolve never to get angry again. Just leave an open space where the pattern was and life will flow in ways that you never expected.
Free from these patterns, life gets very interesting. Then your emotions become responses to life, part of the variegated responses that makes life beautiful. If anger in itself was bad, would Jesus have manifested it when he kicked the moneylenders out of the temple?
This also applies to any other thought pattern that seems to trigger suffering; the suffering comes from the automatic emotional reactions that seem out of sync with your life.
Most important, when you notice these thought patterns, which up to now seemed to be automatic, you are on the verge of freedom; so don’t bring in self-judgment.
In the next chapter, “The New Radar that Finds Freedom,” we will show you a quick way to ferret out your freedom. With a little practice you will never again be fooled into thinking that limitation is normal.
Your New Radar that Finds Freedom
As we discussed on our website www.light-up-your-life.com, and the first chapter of this book, the source of happiness is inside. Now we are showing the same thing in more detail, this time by taking off the coverings that seem to limit us. We are working our way towards expansive freedom.
We also discussed the guises such as, “This is just the way I am,” or “This is just the way life is.” Finally we discussed how to do away with self-judgment.
With this background, it is time to unveil our new radar that seeks and finds freedom; that quickly and efficiently gets rid of suffering and limitation. You can find this radar by adjusting your definition of life.
Our radar is that life does not equal suffering in any way shape or form. If you find yourself suffering or feeling uncomfortable, or feeling that something isn’t right, in any way or to any degree, remind yourself that life does not equal suffering. Once you know that you can be completely free, then suffering becomes God’s way of saying, “Look here.” Suffering is the opportunity to eliminate limiting assumptions so that you can remain in freedom.
How
