At the “micro,” nuts and bolts level, our practices offer nothing that hasn’t already been 
brought forward 5000 years ago by seers and sages, and more recently by scores of scientists and thought leaders. Practices represent a confluence of fields of study and traditions, some of which are ancient and some which emerged in the last 50 years.
We also draw from streams of thought which continue to evolve in the present moment. There is a voluminous body of research available on the modern science and ancient esoteric wisdom that forms the basis of the cognitive restructuring, self-observing/meditation, mysticism, psi, and quality of consciousness enhancing work with which we are engaged. We draw from:
- Neuroscience
- Neurobiology
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Neuroendocrinology
- Epigenetics
- Physics
- Quantum mechanics
- Digital physics
- Theosophy
- Anthroposophy
- Buddhist Sutras
- Yogic Traditions
- Vedanta: Vedas and Upanishads
Practitioners often remark that they have long been aware of many of the philosophical, spiritual, and scientific elements which echo throughout our work. The challenge that our community-of-practice undertakes is to cultivate the capacity to live into that awareness on a daily basis. As we engage in transformative practices we seek to live in the “conventional” world while in constant, conscious awareness of the “ultimate” unified field of universal intelligence simultaneously. Direct, firsthand experience eclipses conceptualization and intellectualizing in our practices.
This is the baseline threshold over which practitioners cross during our orientation session when we discuss the need for a grounded understanding of the:
Pillars of Practice:
- Consciousness is the fundamental element of reality ─ a non-material, unified field of universal intelligence.
- Neuroplasticity is the malleable brain’s ability to change throughout our lives. Neuronal pathways and synapses may strengthen or weaken over time. Brain circuitry is like impressionable modeling clay. We can intentionally direct the creation or deepening of neuronal pathways that serve us, and promote the atrophy/neurological pruning of pathways that do not serve us.
Drivers of Practice:
- Silence – Self-observing/contemplative practice(s) of one’s choosing to strengthen metacognition, work toward sustained still-point consciousness, and,
- Engagement– Active work with avatar brain circuitry so that it serves us rather than hindering our awareness of our vast, non-material true selves. –The Great Unlearning, cognitive restructuring.
Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun. Our intellect —what we THINK we “know,” conceptual knowledge gained through avatar sense perception, is simply a tool to navigate the narrow reality frame in which we orbit around a sun that’s a speck in the scheme of things. We’re on a pathway toward experiencing reality frames which transcend the sun that we perceive with avatar eyes.
It would be more appropriate to state that there is nothing new that isn’t already in the Akashic records, a vast database to which we have access at the “macro level.” We’re arriving at a place where the avatar world of our sun can play in the foreground of our awareness even as we remain attuned to the ever-present backdrop of the larger consciousness frame.
Contemplative Practice
We don’t have to DO anything special. Supports to practice (e.g. spiritual/inspirational readings, incense, candles, asanas, shrines, mantras, alters, quiet space, postures, statuary) are helpful training wheels as long as we don’t identify and lean inordinately on them. Training wheels are meant to come off once we gain our balance.
Contemplative practice is about being, not doing. This is not another technique to learn with one’s intellect to force ourselves to be in a meditative state. Refrain from reviewing experience, reminiscing, analyzing, and planning. There is no need to try hard, to judge ourselves or anything else.
Intent that is colored by beliefs, expectations, and points of reference will produce a correspondingly tainted of fuzzy, out of focus result. Expectations define our limitations. Dispense with preconceived notions about what to expect. Fear nothing. Hope for nothing.
Self-awareness, in stillness and silence ↔ Awareness of consciousness ↔ Awareness of true-self AS consciousness is more natural than breathing. It is our natural state of being with which we temporarily lose contact when we identify with the avatar. We can choose to get out of the way of our true, natural state of being. The larger frame of consciousness is where we live when we’re fully awake.
Still point consciousness – the felt sense of floating in the void where we are aware of, but no longer process sensory data is a goal of many forms of contemplative practice. We view still point consciousness as a gateway through which we’ll pass to explore other reality-frames. We let go of the data stream defining one reality, e.g. the physical realm and intentionally enter another data stream associated with another reality frame.
Relax. Move the intellect and the stream of thought out of the way, rest, and be refreshed in the space of larger consciousness. Dispassionately observe with impartiality and accept whatever happens. We’re ALL students and it’s ALL good.
