What If God Comes Calling and You’re Not There? part 1
How to bring mindfulness to a new level through Self-Remembering
As a wide-eyed nineteen-year-old, I first embarked on my spiritual path in the 70s. During my first year at college, I spent every spare minute between classes with my head buried in books. I read books on meditation, astral projection, personal growth — you name it, anything I could find on the shelves of the local occult book store.
Be without leaving yourself — Sri Ramana Maharishi
Out of the many books I read at that time, there was one whose knowledge has stayed with me many years later. The book is *The Fourth Way* by P D Ouspensky. The subject that left the most impact on me in the book is Gurdjieff’s teachings on how to ‘Self-Remember.’
Self-Remember raises your consciousness to higher levels of being
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was a Greek-Russian mystic who taught The Fourth Way in the early 1900s. A core teaching of Gurdjieff was the importance of Self-Remembering to facilitate evolving to higher levels of being.
To remember oneself means to be aware of one’s Self , “I Am.” — P D Ouspensky
Self-Remembering requires you to be aware that ‘I’ exist; to sense the presence of Self in every moment. Being self-present propels the practice of mindfulness and being in the now to a new level of consciousness. Through extended periods of Self-Remembering, you come to recognize your eternal, infinite nature. You tap into the bigger Self you are and become present. This state of being is true self-presence.
You are not something that happens. You are. — Rupert Spira
I loved my life as a college student during the 70s. Some of my classes were challenging, but for the most part, I had the time to read, explore and practice what I loved the most — what I called my personal growth and evolution. Between classes, I would rush back to my dorm room to read, meditate, practice Kundalini Yoga breathing, and experiment with Astral Travel. I often spent weekends ‘expanding my mind’ with one of the readily available hallucinogenics. And, through it all, practiced Self-Remembering.
One of the biggest challenges I had when Self-Remembering was developing the ability to Self-Remember consistently and constantly. I would be in a state of self-presence, aware of my Self existing. Then something would catch my attention, and I would lose being present in a flash.
Gurdjieff called what happened to me identification. Have you ever had the experience of walking into a room where your friend or partner is watching television, and you ask them a question, but they don’t hear you? They are engrossed in what they are watching. Gurdjieff would say they are identified with the television. No one exists to listen to you and answer your question.
When you are in the state of identification, you do not exist
When in a state of identification, you lose self-presence. You are identified with something outside your Self, something in your outer-world. You can also be identified with something in your inner-world. Your inner-world contains your thoughts and emotions. If you are ‘lost’ in thought, you are identified in the thought and no longer exist.
Self-Remembering requires that you are aware of Self-Remembering in the moment. If you lose yourself in a thought, you are no longer present. You are identified in the thought instead of the bigger Self that you are.
When you realize you have become identified with something, you can consciously pull your attention back to Self-Remembering and re-enter the state of self-presence.
When you Self-Remember for extended periods, you move into higher levels of consciousness.
Your intuition opens. Your awareness expands, and you become aware of the subtleties of energy around you. You begin to see through the eyes of the eternal Self that you are.
Try this every day…
- Upon waking, say out loud “I am” three times while sensing your powerful life force.
- Tune into and simply observe the habitual thoughts that come forth upon waking. As you observe, hold your awareness on your life force. Sense the existence of your eternal Self through your life force.
- Set your intent to be present and Self-Remember throughout your day.
- As you go about your day, observe your thoughts, feelings, and actions. While observing, sense the presence of the larger Self that you are.
- If you find yourself lost in something in your outer-world or something in your inner-world, bring yourself back to Self-Remembering.
Remembering Self as you carry out your daily activities, no matter how intense or mundane, triggers an expanded state of consciousness. You become fully present in Self. Be self-present, and perhaps then, when God knocks, ‘I’ will be home(present) to receive the message.
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