Believe it or not, this is the type of Self-Awareness that leads to what Thomas Keating, an architect of contemporary Centering Prayer, called the Gift of Contemplation. The Gift of Contemplation Centers in the Divine. We realize how Divine communication works when we are in silence and we are able to take this understanding with us in everyday life.
A few years ago I spent a weekend at a Christian compound in the Wisconsin north woods where surrenderers of all ages were absorbing what was described as a Green Beret type of advanced spiritual training. An effective prayer circle was in use. Prayer Circles are also used in other spiritual retreats and organizations like A.A. An alchemy dissolves the false-self part of the ego. The individuals (souls) in the group, who are at different levels of awakening to the Divine inside and outside of themselves, merge in a union as one soul or spirit that tells the truth and is as honest with itself as it can be. The Universal Mind or Consciousness or Self emerges. This is Group Contemplation or Meditation however you define it. Remember WORDS ARE TRAPS.
Participants who are guided this way by highly Self-Realized instructors who also participate leave the Circle with an understanding of what a truthful inner life is all about. Mike, in the quote above, was reflecting on his brain chatter. Mike was working on purifying his mind-heart connection as we all are. I have known zealous spiritual seekers who have closed themselves off in silence shut-up in small closets to listen to Divine messages that come after the ego is surrendered. Talk Fasts where a person does not speak for a long period of time are also effective for tuning a person into their brain chatter and releasing or raising the Divine inside. A person can communicate with notes while in a Talk Fast. Whatever methods we use to realize our individual and collective human nature the goal is to be ever mindful of the True Self behind the small or false part of our egos or personalities. With perseverence, the True Self will eventually subsume or alchemize the small/false-self part of the ego or personality and become the ego or personality. The Gift of Contemplation is what Centers us in ourselves. The Gift of Contemplation is the same as Self-Realization.
I was born in Wisconsin to a Roman Catholic family. My mother June was a talented writer and started her own service club. My father Joe was a Right-of-Way agent for Bell telephone. Joe was an avid golfer and overall sports enthusiast. Joe would play sports with me and I became a life-long athlete.
I was known as a rebel and was expelled from the Catholic school I attended at the age of fourteen. I was arrested at nineteen for being a thief and was placed on probation. Around this time, not being happy, I turned inward. I worked at different jobs that did not satisfy my budding inner life. I traveled down south several times reading books trying to find myself. In 1980, at the age of twenty-seven, I enrolled at a local college. I was now in an interesting environment. I was curious about almost everything and I eventually majored in speech and psychology or speaking and thinking.
Many people told me that I was funny. I was able to make them laugh about unusual subjects. In the summers of 1981 and 1982, while still a college student, I traveled to Minneapolis and pursued the art of stand-up comedy. During these summers I would write comedy, run twenty-five miles a week and perform comedy at night. I was also a juggler but did not juggle in my stand-up act. I took up Hatha yoga and studied nutrition. In Minneapolis, I interacted with the local up-and-coming comedians. Minneapolis at that time had a small close-knit comedy culture that produced a good number of comedians and some became quite famous. I was making audiences laugh shortly after I started. During this time I was also performing comedy in other cities. I planned on being a professional comedian.
Catholicism conditioned me to have a clear inner voice. I had to make people laugh and the only way I could see to do it was to be brutally honest with myself. I thought honesty would align me with common reality. The Sisters of St. Agnes, who taught me, always told me to tell the truth. So I was continually examining myself and weeding out delusional thinking. This became my way of life.
One day in 1983, I was alone at my parents house and all of a sudden I had a massive spontaneous kundalini awakening. The awakening of this spiritual energy made me realize my self. I achieved the ability, among others, to see through other peoples egos or read their hearts. I was forever changed. In 1983 there was no internet or otherwise easily accessible information for me to be able to find out what had happened to me. Because of the massive explosion of energy my nervous and digestive system had to rebuild.
Due to what happened to me, I changed my plans and soon moved in with my best friend and her son. We lived together for many years. I hid out in college going on and off for thirteen years. I read one book after another to understand what happened to me. I eventually received an M.A. in Speech/Rhetoric and also amassed many extra college credits. Currently I am an investor and forever a student.
I am repentant of the trouble I got into years ago and the embarrassment it brought to my parents. People that knew me when I was a kid remark that I sure changed my ways. I went through what I call psycho/spiritual/physical alchemy or I transformed myself by healing the past and living in the ongoing present.
View all posts by Gary Hobbins
WORDS ARE TRAPS 