2010-09-16T12:04:00.001-07:00

Imagine you live in a house that is always surrounded by cold fog.

You seldom venture outside because of it, and even then it's not for very long. Even inside the house the fog invades the space.

Then one day you find a window in an upper room from which the view is clear. The scene seems infinite after such thick mist. You simply stare and stare, so suddenly content.

A Metaphor

The house in the story is your body, an instrument through which the moment freely pours.

The fog is time --- thinking's realm. Thoughts of the future and the past that obscure the pure moment's view. Creating the memory-fiction of a bubble “self” that keeps you small in your "special somewhere" house. A self-centeredness you mistake for the true you and hesitate to be without.

The window provides a view of the whole sky, an Everywhere the other side of time. Stillness is there, the power to create and the healing it provides. The window will provide the way.

Until then . . . The fog of time is full of gremlins.

Their job is to maintain constant thinking --- and thereby the bubble-trance of the Special Somewhere experience.

The thinking keeps you locked in the fog of time, bouncing back and forth between past and future with little access to the only hope for escape — the Present Moment’s power and opportunity.

What’s to be done?

Fortunately these gremlins have some chinks in their armor you can take advantage of. For example, they are extremely proud of their elephantine memories. Your every action and every thought they have recorded, woven into the Personality by which you esteem yourself as separate from all else — a “me.”

This pride of memory will provide escape!

Have you ever noticed what happens when you’re talking or thinking merrily along and a word or name you know won’t come to mind? The whole conversation is put on hold while the mind-gremlins go huffing off in search of it. Yes?

Have you noticed the sudden stillness? The silence? This interruption of thinking is the window past the fog.

This window is always available, though neglected. Thinking can simply be suspended, like a dream when dawn appears. And you can look out.

So there you are, until the gremlins return with the lost word. Looking out at the infinite. Perhaps you’ve opened the window. Crawled out on the ledge, splayed out in wonderment.

Suddenly the gremlins are back again! “Hey! What are you doing out there on the ledge?! Come in this instant, the missing name’s been found!” So in you go, compliant as can be.

But what if you did not? What if you stayed out a while?

Try it next time. Let the stillness deepen some. And as you linger, ignoring the avalanche of syllables demanding your return, there's a subtle feeling that's arriving like a gentle breeze. It feels calm and good.

What’s out there, a bit farther on? More of the same. Go see.

For propulsion I use the tool of the Silent Gratitude. Not “thinking” the words, “I am thankful for . . .” so much as “feeling” it. This avoids the gremlins' verbal claws and blots out their whining as they stamp their feet at you. It gets you out just a ways. With some practice you'll get out past Time. At the Portal to Everywhere. Here you can relax.

Here you may create dream-scapes to be in. With a wave of the hand there are palm trees on a white sand beach and an azure sea with gentle waves.

You lie back on the sand. Feel the warm sun on the skin. Listen to the waves. Ah, bliss.

You look back toward where you’ve been. You see a mountain stream where a bubble rides the froth on its way down to the sea. In the bubble is a window, where strange little creatures wave their hands and yell.

You smile back at them.

Here in Everywhere it’s always now. You bring into Presence whatever desiring beckons for experience. The sea gives place to the fir trees' quiet.

The vista's wide expanse awaits.

And there’s something no longer so obvious, no longer necessary in the here and now: The idea of being separate. The thing spun out of memory called “Me.”

............

The Return

You'll come back to the body when you wish. Back through the window where the gremlins dwell.

But the "you" won't be the same. Larger now. Brighter. Warmer. And back and forth you go at will, for you know where the window is.

The realization comes: Time has lost its hold on you. The bigger "you" has found its true wisdom state. The fog must keep its distance, and dispels.

As you ponder it, the process becomes clear, the way Time uses words to keep you here. Language, syllables, verbiage. Words, words, words, the stuff of thought.

You see farther down the rabbit hole, and you don't go back so far again.

Oh, you come back to create, perhaps, inside the bubble again once you've been to Everywhere and back. Back from soaring, free . . .

Setting into motion unseen worlds as you make use of thought. For thinking is a tool . . .

The words proliferate . . .

And the Memory-Gremlins arrive, collecting them to snare you with them if they can. To interest you in memories and imprison you in time.

Though you're on to them by now. They won't get far with it. You're free.

............

Basic Gremlin Control

When you notice a past-related thought happening, either,

A: Simply stop thinking it, like waking from a dream, or,

B: Think about the past situation, with purpose, for three minutes. Decide, is there any new information coming available, or is this past thought simply intended to make you feel bad? (For the story about why thinking is designed to "make you feel bad," please see: emofirstaid.blogspot.com)

Give a thank you for any new information or good feelings it has brought. If the thought had no new information or good feelings, instruct it not to come again. Tell it you do not need to feel bad anymore.

If the thought comes again with its bad feeling, apply Emotional Alchemy: Create some good feelings to overcome and replace the bad feeling. Gratitude works well for this. The gremlin will realize that this attempt to make you feel bad is back-firing, and will discontinue it.

With a future thought:

If the thought is about some planning you intend to do, allow it three minutes for a planning session. Set up an internal committee and assign them tasks. Expect reports.

If the future thought takes you into fear or any uncomfortable area, it was not meant for planning, it was to make you feel bad.

When you become aware of the recurring future thought, stop it, like waking from a dream. Tell the gremlin not to bring that thought any more.

If the thought comes again, replace the feelings it brings with positive ones, gratitude, etc. The gremlin hates this and will stop when it sees you are serious.

As you become able to experience wider moments of no-thought you will become peaceful and powerful and able to explore the Portal to Everywhere --- creativity's realm.

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By James Saint Cloud

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(Images are from Koo Wee TV's art, that I find useful for the Metaphor. Their short video is available at:
http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=let%20go&order=9&offset=48&offset=96#/d2y7q8o

The Escape to Everywhere