Positive Health Online

Life is change. Nature teaches us many things: beauty, vitality, creation, destruction – nothing ever stays the same in this universe.

Indeed if we are vigilant we can see that this world is made up of the natural laws of grace and fluidity, the essence of Mother Earth.

All infants are born in a state of freedom. A state that is as natural as the rising and setting of our great Sun. Look deep into a child's eyes. Can you not see the spark of unlimited joy? Can you not see a silent wisdom, an invincible innocence that speaks not only to the mind but to the soul? There is Truth in this. A great and marvellous Truth that has been whispered into our hearts since the dawn of time. A Truth that humanity's natural state is not one of striving or suffering, but one of a Divine nature, one filled with true peace, true joy, true fulfilment.

Growing up as an ordinarily intelligent human being I knew this was the case deep within my heart, but more often than not my world reflected something otherwise, something that was often painful and boring. There was always hidden within me a deep unease. I simply couldn't fathom the root of this unease, but I knew it was there silently lurking, as if tomorrow held the promise of complete contentment and fulfilment. This is true for most people. Most experience a deep sense of being lost. After all, how many of us search for a perfect object to answer our silent prayers to be worthy and loved fully? Most do, whether it be consciously or unconsciously.

It is a state that we as humans have been playing over and over since we all can remember. Yet the reason we all search for that special something, the reason we are secretly acknowledging that something is missing from our being, is that we are searching for something that we all know exists deep in our heart of hearts, something we as infants experienced all the time: a complete return to innocence. We are the essence of all that is good, all that is healthy, all that is abundant, all that is joy: we know this, yet most have forgotten.

Dance of the Ancient Spirit

For all human beings everywhere at all times good and evil are connected to the one source of all life, the one fundamental reality that exists. It is forever pure, completely untainted, absolutely sanctified by its own living radiance. It burns forever in everyone's heart, as every person's and every object's true essence. It is the vibrant silence of pure creativity awaiting to burst forth in a wild joy that is the true human spirit. It is the dance of the ancient spirit, dancing to a tune that everybody searches for.

As we grow into manhood and womanhood we gradually lose touch with that experience. We gradually become deaf to that universal tune that is our birth right. We gradually and quite innocently adopt beliefs and judgements from our family, friends and society. We exchange the wonder of life for the limitation of false beliefs, most of which are negative. This is like throwing away a million pounds and finding a penny.

The average adult walking around the planet right now has 120,000 thoughts moving through the mind every single day. Interestingly enough these thoughts were the same thoughts that we had yesterday and they were same thoughts we had the day before (this was a study conducted by the Stanford Research Institute in the US).

They may look slightly different on the surface yet at the core they are fundamentally the same – 120,000 thoughts daily all based on the past and projections off into the future. If we look closely at our mind we can see that it is made up of individual thoughts. Since thoughts are constantly moving, from one thought stream to another, we can deduce that the mind is movement. As most people innocently identify with their thoughts as being who they are, then one is never stable, as the thoughts move us on to the chaotic waves of change and flux. One is happy one moment then sad the next, at the weekends happy, come Monday feeling down again. We constantly identify with our thoughts and habitual behaviour patterns, which is unfortunate as this takes us completely out of the experience of the present moment, a place that is pure stillness and sacred. Since the mind is the master and the body the servant any thought or pattern entertained long enough in the mind will trickle down and directly effect the health of our bodies. With such chaotic patterns flowing through the mind, it is small wonder that diseases and premature aging seem a fairly common phenomenon today. Indeed there is an old saying 'thoughts are always ok, thinking isn't'. Can you tell the difference?

Matters of Mind

You could try this for yourself. Close your eyes and relax. Then simply become aware of your thoughts flowing through your mind. Don't judge them as being bad thoughts or good thoughts. Don't be alarmed if there are a thousand thoughts or one thought. Simply stay impartial to what is flowing through your mind. You try and give every thought a number. Simply count a thought and let it pass, then again then let it pass. The key to this exercise is to treat it like a game. A higher level of awareness is activated by becoming a witness to your thoughts. This is a very simple process yet the implications are boundless.

The mind moves continuously doesn't it? This is its nature, yet the reason it does this is because it is searching for its perfect happiness. It jumps from one plan to another, from one idea to another, from one thought stream to another because it is searching for its ultimate experience of joy. Unfortunately, as most have been educated to believe that their joy is outside of themselves, most attach labels and objects to themselves in order to bring about true joy. No one can hold onto joy; it seems as soon as we do, it slips out of our hands and what we are left with is a hole that cries to be filled. The ultimate joy for any human being anywhere is the experience of the unbounded potential that exists within. It lies always within waiting to be acknowledged once again. The mind is always moving because the mind is searching for this Source. This Source, this unlimited reservoir of infinite intelligence, creativity, joy and love is never changing. It lies beyond the chaos of thinking as an eternal experience of pure stillness.

The stillness of mind is not a difficult thing to experience. It is not a long drawn out process. You don't have to beat the movements of the mind into submission in order to experience peace, or sit in any specific posture that most find challenging. Stillness is the natural state of being human. All that is required is the willingness of the individual and a suitable technique to turn the awareness within and effortlessly sink into the silent depths of one's being. All true meditation, all true prayer is designed to take you back inside beyond the mind to stillness. Again this is not an effortful process. Only when one relaxes completely can one start to experience the natural state of being.

A Special Something

The natural state of being is like dropping an anchor into the crystal clear depths of the unbounded ocean. Movement continues on the surface but you are no longer affected by the change in your life and the world. This is like being in the eye of the storm. It is like being an eternal witness to the simple and complex dance of the universe.

From this standpoint we are free to play with our creation from an experience of praise, gratitude, love and compassion. Home indeed is where the heart is.

I was always searching for that special something, something that would give me contentment and peace. Something that would give me back the sacredness of what it means to be human again. Intellectual study was not enough, I wanted to taste the experience that the few had expressed so beautifully for countless years. I was for many years a depressed young man. I always felt there was something lacking from my experience of life. I would socialize like everyone else, but more often than not I felt that something was wrong. Didn't these people experience the same thing as I? They seemed contented and happy, yet I soon became aware that most had covered up the feelings of separation of wrongness by relationships, objects, careers etc. Often life didn't make sense to me. I searched high and low for something that had become an echo in the back of my awareness.

My path revealed itself to me through an ancient teaching called the Ishayas' Ascension. The Ishayas are a group of committed people who are dedicated to the healing and serving of humanity through the expansion of conscious ness through the individual. The Ishayas claim that Truth exists within everyone at all times. It is not a belief system but a direct living experience just waiting to be remembered. My life has been touched by an unseen blessing that I will be eternally grateful for. I knew that Truth was peace and joy and I knew it was effortless, but thinking this and experiencing this are universes apart. The techniques of the Ishayas are like lifeboats on the ocean of the mind. They are pure absolute statements of Truth that one thinks from the surface of the mind as simply as one thinks 'fish and chips'. The techniques are based upon the upward emotions in creation – praise, gratitude and love. As the techniques are designed, they gently move the mind beyond the most subtle thinking process and transcendence from habits takes place. Then we rest more and more in our essential nature. Really the techniques are vehicles to take one from the surface of the mind into the centre in one's heart. It is here we have turned to face our true beloved inside. Where else can it be?

Taking our awareness repeatedly back into our self to cultivate the connection to the Source is required if we are to experience higher states of consciousness. It is by this repeated practice that one becomes more accustomed to the subtle mechanics of the mind and more familiar and intimate with the experience of stillness. In effect we are simply cultivating a new and healthy habit. Using the techniques with your eyes open is invaluable in taking the experience of peace and joy and moving it out into our everyday life. We all have responsibilities to perform in life, for true spirituality is not about hiding away from life but fully engaging life from the standpoint of being a conscious creator as opposed to a victim of any situation. This is an intelligent way to live life. Indeed both meditation and activity are needed to bring one to fulfilment permanently.

The expansion of consciousness is so vital to establish in everyone today. It is something that is as fundamental as life its Self. Yet expansion lies in fully connecting back with the One reality that permeates all of life. Cultivating this experience inside one's Self is the purpose of all religions, of all that is spiritual, of all that is good and holistic in this universe. The Ishayas' Ascension stands as one lighthouse in the misty world of chaos.

Further Information

The International Society of Ascension is a non-profit organization committed to the expansion of consciousness through each individual heart. They have a centre in the UK and in most countries around the world. Garuda Ishaya is a monk and teacher of the Ishayas' Ascension techniques. For more information about the Ishayas' Ascension please call Tel: 07771 870455, or contact us at england@ishaya.org www.ishaya.org