The Book of Secrets - Deepak Chopra [18]
When your heart grows sick of the violence and divisiveness in the world, starting over is the only choice. You stop looking at the reflections and turn instead to the source. The universe, like any mirror, is neutral. It reflects back whatever is in front of it, without judgment or distortion. If you can trust that, then you have taken the crucial step of renunciation. You’ve renounced the belief that the outer world has power over you. As with everything else on the path to unity, living this truth is what will make it true.
CHANGING YOUR REALITY TO ACCOMMODATE THE THIRD SECRET
Finding a path back to your source is a matter of letting life settle down to where it wants to be. There are gross and subtle levels of every experience, and the subtler levels are more sensitive, awake, and meaningful than the gross. As an exercise, begin to observe when you touch upon subtle levels in your own awareness. Notice how these feel compared to the grosser levels. For example:
To love someone is subtler than to resent or push the person away.
To accept someone is subtler than to criticize the individual.
To promote peace is subtler than to promote anger and violence.
To see someone without judgment is subtler than to criticize the person.
If you let yourself feel it, the subtler side of each experience puts the mind at ease, decreases stress, and results in less restless thinking and less pressure at the emotional level. Subtle experience is quiet and harmonious. You feel settled; you aren’t in conflict with anyone else. There is no overblown drama or even any need for it.
Once you have identified it, begin to favor the subtle side of your life. Value this level of awareness—only if you value it will it grow. If you favor the grosser levels instead, the world will reflect your perception back to you: It will always remain divisive, disturbing, stressful, and threatening. The choice is yours to make at the level of consciousness because, in the infinite diversity of creation, every perception gives rise to a world that mirrors it.
Exercise #2: Meditation
Any experience that brings you into contact with the silent level of awareness can be called meditation. You may have spontaneously hit upon a routine that allows you to experience a deep settling in your mind. If you haven’t yet, then you might adopt one of the more formal meditation practices that appear in every spiritual tradition. The simplest, perhaps, is breathing meditation, as follows:
Sit quietly with your eyes closed in a room with the lights low and no distractions from the telephone or knocks at the door. Shut your eyes for a few minutes; then become aware of your breathing. Let your attention follow your breath as it gently, naturally draws inward. Do the same as the breath flows outward. Don’t make any attempt to breathe with a certain rhythm and don’t try to make your breath deep or shallow.
By following your breath you are aligning yourself with the mind-body connection, the subtle coordination of thought and Prana, the subtle energy contained in the breath. Some people find it easier to stay with their breathing if they repeat a sound: one syllable for the out breath, one for the inner. Ah-Hum is a traditional sound useful for this purpose. (You can also adopt the seed mantras or ritual sounds as described in any text on Eastern spiritual teachings.)
Perform this meditation for 10 to 20 minutes twice a day. You will become aware of your body relaxing. Since most people are storing massive amounts of fatigue and stress, you may even fall asleep. Don’t worry about this, or about any sensation or thought that crops up as your mind grows quieter. Rely on the body’s natural tendency to release stress. This is a gentle meditation that has no negative side effects or dangers as long