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Spirituality and things

Monica Timbal1 Comment

Many people are turned off by the concept of spirituality; images of witches, voodoo practices or weird worshiping come to mind. Some ‘otherworldly’ activities and beliefs. Well, what exactly is “spirituality”? The great Ramana Maharshi explained the whole thing very simply “Consciousness alone exists. In its unmanifest form, it is experienced as pure beingness (awareness). In its manifest form, it is the appearance in consciousness of the universe.” So “spirituality” is nothing else than consciousness becoming aware of itself. Going back to the roots of what we truly are.

Because everything we experience, including the world and even our own thoughts, occur within consciousness, it remains hidden and unseen. Very much like a canvas serves only as a background to bring out the paint and forms of the painting, but it is empty by itself. Until we direct our attention inwards, back to the source of consciousness, we remain unaware, and confuse our true being with superficial layers.

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flow, river soul

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flow, river soul, flow back home
and carry nothing with you
let it all go.

We often think that something needs to be done, to be achieved, or polished in order for us to be ‘complete’ and fully at peace. But in reality, we need to undo and deconstruct all the false beliefs we have carried with us. Our society is not supportive of an enlightened life. It reinforces false beliefs and limiting ideas before we are even able to think: ideas about who we are and our relationship with the world, what happiness is, what life is. When these ideas start contradicting our own feelings and discoveries, it sparks the search for truth.

You have always been truth itself. It only needs to be revealed under the layers of falsity.

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the Om

Monica Timbal4 Comments

vibration of creation
still echoes in the caves of my soul
who can translate your secret song
and fathom the mystery of Om?

Everybody has some knowledge of the Aum, but few people know exactly what it all means. This primordial sound, Aum, encompasses all the states of consciousness that man can experience: the letter ‘A’ (large, bottom curve) represents our waking state, the letter ‘U’ (right-side curve) represents the dream state (sleep with dreams) and the letter ‘M’ (smaller, upper curve) represents the unconscious state or deep sleep state.

The fourth state is a transcendental state (Turiya) achieved by liberation from all illusions of life and death (Maya) and is represented by the one dot separated by the comma. Turiya is the background that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness. It is pure consciousness, or god, if you can digest it that label. The awakened being is established in this pure consciousness and will remain fully aware of himself during all the the other three states, even deep sleep. That is the meaning of being fully aware of one’s true nature.

This is a most simplistic description of the meaning of the Aum. In the largest sense, it is that which is “mysterious and inexhaustible”, or “the infinite language, the infinite knowledge”, or “essence of breath, life, everything that exists”, or that “with which one is liberated”.

The Aum is by no means a human creation. It is first mentioned in the Upanishads but it is said to have been given, though meditation, to the seven ancient rishis (seers).

Most commonly, the Aum is used as a mantra (a repeated sound) as its vibration is calming for the mind and healing for the body. Chanting the Aum is aligning ourselves with the most essential and powerful vibration in the universe.

Poems

children’s vision

Monica Timbal2 Comments

give me back my children’s vision
to see the world anew –
colored pebbles, playful butterflies!
timeless age that this soul knew.

Childhood captures a rare dimension that is a doorway into eternity. Children don’t think about yesterday or tomorrow, they live in a continuous moment where everything is always fresh. As we become adults, worries, regrets and too much mind analysis obscure that child-like spontaneity, and we soon forget what joyful living is all about. May the exuberance of childhood always stay with you!

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anchor in eternity

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going in, going out
this breath now holds our only truth
a bridge between two worlds
separated by illusion
an outer and an inner world
arising from within. 
my breath, my life commander 
the cord that bonds mind to matter
my anchor in eternity.

As long as we are alive, the breath is always there. While everything else might change, including our body, thoughts, vision, desires, the breath remains the same. That is why many meditation techniques use the breath as a grounding method for the practice. “Just follow your breath” is the mantra. As our thoughts, so our breath. When we are excited, it goes faster. As we relax, as we go deeper into consciousness, the breath becomes more and more subtle. Breath is an unmistakable anchor into the present moment, into reality.

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Karma and Samskara

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Karma and samskara, two important concepts on the path of self-knowledge.

Very simply, karma refers to the results of your actions. If you hurt someone, you too will suffer in some way.

Samskara are “impressions” left by past actions. For example, a child growing up without the love of parents, could spend all his life looking for validation/love from people around. His confidence is low, and his need for reassurance is high. All his actions are based on getting people’s approval. Samskara are usually results of trauma. They work from the unconscious and they can influence our actions and decisions, if they are not revealed and dealt with. It’s easy to see how they can rule and direct our whole life.

We all have some samskara to deal with. Until they are healed, our lenses are not clear, and our vision of reality will be tainted and skewed.

You can see how, if we are unaware of such “hurts” and do not solve them, we continue to act on samskara. How we react to the world, how we interact with it, could be shaped by this persistent impression.

Everything that happens, we can only judge through the lenses of what we know, and what we have experienced. Anaïs Nin said perfectly “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are”.

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my heaven, my hell

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heavy stones pave my way to hell,
stones of hate, anger and deception
stones of separation.
heaven’s ladder I build with deeds of love,
in patience, giving and acceptance
both I build with my own hands.

Heaven and hell are states of our own making. When love accompanies our actions, then life responds and we live in a state of harmony. When dissatisfaction and negativity is our nature, we live in a state of constant turmoil.

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‘Butterfly Flutters’

Monica Timbal5 Comments

Today, I’ll shamelessly advertise the kindle edition of my first poetry book, ‘Butterfly Flutters‘. If you enjoyed my poetry so far, you can get your own copy here:

https://amzn.to/2YPXFKs

My second poetry book, ‘Stories of Creation and Destruction’ is scheduled to be released in December, after which I decided to stop writing poetry, and become poetry myself. 😁

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behind the form, the formless

Monica Timbal1 Comment

behind the form, the formless
behind the named, the nameless
behind the multiplicity, the One
gives birth to all and none.

Lucky the person whose vision is so clear, that he sees the same essence under all manifestations. Just like waves forming on top of the ocean, so consciousness gives rise to all the different forms and experiences we have, to all life and death. But consciousness itself remains unchanged, untouched, undying. The change occurs only on the surface, as the bottom of the ocean is forever unaffected by the waves on top.
Are waves not also the ocean?