Understanding the Definition of Mindfulness: Part 2
In the previous post, I mentioned that mindfulness, or at least the version of mindfulness taught by Jon Kabat-Zinn, involves paying attention in the following three ways.
1. On purpose
2. In the present moment
3. Nonjudgementally
The main topic of the previous post was paying attention on purpose. The main topic of this post is paying attention in the present moment.
To start off, I want to say that I actually think it's only possible to pay attention in the present moment. I don't think it's possible to pay attention in the past or to pay attention in the future, since the past and the future don't exist. Therefore, the phrase "in the present moment" might seem redundant.
That said, I still think this part of the definition is valuable, because even if paying attention always means paying attention in the present moment, it can be helpful to be reminded of this fact, and also to think about why being in the present moment is important. That's what I really want to discuss in this post. In the previous post I explained what it means to pay attention on purpose, and in the next post I'll explain what it means to pay attention nonjudgmentally. In this post, I don't want to explain what it means to be in the present moment, but rather why it is important to be in the present moment. Everyone has experiences of being in the present moment, but not everyone understands why such experiences are important and should be maintained.
As a starting point for understanding why being in the present moment is important, I strongly recommend reading this article by Frater Acher. Please do that before continuing on with the rest of this post. I'll wait...
Alright, hopefully you read the article. Now let's think about a big question - "Why did we incarnate?" Isn't it vital that we answer this question? If, at the end of my life, I find I've done what I incarnated to do, then my life will not have been wasted. But if I find that I haven't done what I incarnated to do, then my life will have been wasted. So why did I incarnate? Why did you incarnate? Why did anyone incarnate?
If you've read the article by Frater Acher (and seriously, please do if you haven't), then you already know the answer to this question. What Frater Acher explains is that the reason we incarnate is to experience life in the best way. And of course life can only be experienced in the present moment. That's why it's so important to be in the present moment, to be mindful. You can't experience life in the best way if you aren't experiencing it at all.
Many people get into occultism because they want certain things. They want the ability to use spells, talismans, rituals, and other occult tools and techniques to obtain money, a girlfriend, a good career, etc. But, from Frater Acher's perspective (and I do think this is a useful and insightful perspective), we didn't incarnate in order to obtain money, a girlfriend, a good career, or whatever else we're trying to obtain via various occult techniques. We incarnated in order to experience life in the best way. So let's start by experiencing life. Let's be mindful. Let's remain always in the present moment.
Just because you are experiencing life doesn't mean you are experiencing it in the best way. Part of experiencing life in the best way is experiencing life with a nonjudgmental attitude (note Frater Acher's use of this word in his article). But that's a topic to be discussed in the next post.
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ReplyDeleteHello! I came across your blog from the "Virgil - Esoteric Author" site.
ReplyDeleteI'm an aspiring Bardonist who first began getting into this path back in January 2023. At the outset of my practice, I was definitely one of the typical Bardonists you refer to in a lot of your writings -- stuck on Step I, ignoring present-mindedness, endlessly distracted by shiny things like Kabbalah, etc. Skipping ahead to exercises I'm not ready for. These days I'm a regular reader of your books, and am trying to adopt a stricter mindset towards equilibrium and sequencing of exercises.
I mainly want to thank you in as direct a way I can for your writings and the impact they've had on my practice. "Spirit of Magic", "Elemental Equilibrium", and "Gift to be Simple" have all been so helpful in learning to better integrate and master the elements of the six-pronged attack into my soul mirror work. I also feel I understand the foundational importance and role of present-mindedness in magic so much more thanks to your work.
I'd also like to thank you for all your book recommendations from other authors. Instead of wandering down unrelated Kabbalistic and Golden Dawn-esque writings, you've really helped me understand why more foundational literature from Jon Kabat-Zinn, Eckhart Tolle, and Emile Coue are more applicable to my current phase of training and life in general. Very much appreciate your work having introduced me to these authors.
I read this article and it feels timely at what is a very difficult time in my practice as I try to master present-mindedness and finally close out Step I. There is constant internal conflict in this work and a persistent nagging temptation to tamper with the elemental work in Step III, knowing that I haven't really achieved elemental equilibrium and that I'm not ready. It's as if every time I feel I've moved past anger or vindictiveness, Divine Providence finds a way to remind me that I have more work to do. At times, it is hard to keep going because there is the question of, will this ever end... will I ever achieve the equilibrium in this life?
There is always the almost greed-fueled desire to want more, to feel as though I should be further long. Equal parts guilt and entitlement.
In a rational sense I know each day brings progress and evolution. But it's slow, hard work. In this way I'm beginning learn the importance of faith itself. Now beginning to get into your books on prayer, I'm also coming to understand that this work is near-impossible without "getting right with God", becoming comfortable with the idea of prayer and faith. So... thank you as well for your guidance towards faith itself.
All in all, your writings have had a really positive impact on my life, Bardon work notwithstanding. So again, thank you.
I also read in your more recent "Built Different" book that you're a fellow Philadelphian! I live around Manayunk myself. It would be awesome to correspond further with a fellow local Bardonist if you're open to it?
In any case, thanks again, and God bless 🙏
Hello, how are you? I needed to ask you some questions about the reality of the soul in Non-Duality.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my understanding of the subject, the soul or ego is the personality, a set of thoughts, feelings, and experiences, an emanation of the Spirit. Our true essence is the Spirit. When a person dies, the Spirit returns from where it originated, and the soul passes into the astral plane. Over time, it dissolves, and then the Spirit reincarnates with fragments of what was the soul to create a new soul. Depending on the level of the soul, the Spirit either reincarnates or transcends. The Spirit is immutable and timeless; the soul basically exists to live experiences and transcend.
Now, everything the soul experiences is through the Spirit, it exists thanks to it, and it comes to fulfill a purpose or purposes. As Bardon said, this world is a school. It comes to learn and live experiences, but all of that dissolves into the astral, or wherever it dissolves.
The only one who shows up and works, learning and suffering, is the soul, to "evolve," while consciousness watches comfortably on the couch, learning nothing because it is immutable. The soul learns and suffers, only to then dissolve into nothingness, justifying with a supposed "divine purpose" that it never had any inherent purpose or need. They demand love and empathy for their neighbors, but the universe doesn't seem to care about their neighbors, "souls/ego/astral body/atman," because only consciousness/spirit is important. We are the very temporary, disposable result of something eternal.
The Spirit doesn’t need any of that, neither to learn nor experience anything. It doesn’t need Duality. But as I understand it, it still comes to experience all this we call existence or life. But in the end, everything spiritual or experiences or learning or transcendence is totally irrelevant and unnecessary. There is no justification, reason, or need for the Spirit to create souls to experience Duality or to gather experiences. Only the soul has to live and face them. The soul is the one who faces reality and is the one who has to live everything. The Spirit, in its absolute nature, only sees; it is only there, and it is irrelevant to it because they are only moments without the need to experience them in its timeless existence. In spiritual traditions, empathy and love for others are demanded, but it seems that the Spirit, the Universe, or Divine Providence feels no love for souls or egos. We have to go through processes and paths structured in a chronological format of years or lifetimes, and in the end, nothing matters because the soul who learns dissolves, and the Spirit doesn’t need any of that. The universe doesn’t seem to care about souls, and no matter how “inconsequential” they may be, they are souls, and they are people who dream and feel, and who didn’t ask for or choose that; they were simply created that way, to then end up in Nothingness, from where they previously emerged.
The more I read about all this, the less sense it makes. I don’t see the purpose or need for so much suffering, or processes, or learning, because if we are the Spirit, we don’t need that. Nor is it necessary to forget who we are, nor to be forced into Duality to have to go through a process to become aware of Non-Duality, if that’s where we emerged from in the first place. My question is: Am I misunderstanding this, or is this the way reality is, and do we simply have to accept it and endure it, enduring until we reach Nothingness?
Why does magic and the possibilities of so much power exist if, in the end, we disappear and are imposed limits and conditions, if, in the end, we are all one and the same?
I think this is the dark night of the soul: losing meaning and losing faith in what I believed to be right