2023 New Year Enlightenment Intensive

Dear Friends and Lovers of Enlightenment and Truth,
This is the 2023 New Year Enlightenment Intensive Completion Letter

The enlightenment contemplation technique will roll on in an informal manner after the 2023 Enlightenment Intensive completes.  
Depending on your ‘worldly’ responsibilities, focus of attention and intention it can stay with you for days, weeks and months.
So in light of that, here’s a short review of the technique.
You’ve heard me say this more than a 100 times in a variety of ways.  
Have you experienced how your ‘hearing’ of this changed or evolved each time?  
Did you notice your perceptive mind got out of the way and ‘hear’ it rather than interpreted it based upon the impressions in your mind?

Here it is:
Having accepted the instruction, you are to set out or intend to Consciously Directly Know who you are.  
Then you are to be OPEN to a Conscious Direct Knowing of who you are, 
while keeping your intention to have a Conscious Direct Knowing of your self.

Conscious
Though you already know who you are, it’s not in your field of consciousness.  You are not aware of it.
You want to bring it into your consciousness.

Direct
Direct means not through a via or way.  Not through perception or thinking or figuring it out.

Do you notice when you engage the ‘figuring it outness’ way in your thinking?  

It’s very habitual in us humans. It’s been a very useful ability that has become a predominate world view the world over.  

That’s why Hafiz says:  
"Forget every idea of right and wrong that any classroom ever taught you,
Because an empty heart, a tormented mind, unkindness, jealousy and fear 
are always the testimony.
You have been completely fooled!”

Knowing
It’s an ability you have.  You have the ability to know anything.  It’s like knowing your name or where the bathroom is in your house.  You don’t have to figure it out.  You just know.  It requires no thought process.

When you consciously directly know your self, you don’t use your mind.  You just know.  
It’s just too simple for the complicated egoic mind.

Being in a state of conscious, direct knowledge of yourself is a special state that is called enlightenment.

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A few days have passed now since we completed the New Year Enlightenment Intensive.
Several of us came down with covid during the retreat, my self included.
In respect to the covid virus and the Enlightenment Intensive I’ve learned some things.
One of the most important being “THE MASK”.

Vipassana Australia has everyone wear a mast until the third day, when they covid test again and can then de-mask if covid is clear.
I think that’s a prudent approach.
I was hoping we would not have to do that but after this Enlightenment Intensive, it seems like a good idea.
At this time I know of 8 covid cases that occurred.  That’s 8 out of 18.  Not great odds!

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My email address ([email protected]) crashed and died so I don’t know if any one else has come down with covid.
If you have, let me know.

This is my NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]

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Here’s a dyad for improving your relationships with others. It's  called the RELATIONSHIP EVOLUTION DYAD.
It has three parts.
a:  Tell me something you like about me.
b:  Tell me something you think we agree on.
c:  Tell me something about yourself you think I should know.

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Here’s a self reflection used as a dyad or contemplation that is most useful in situations where you are triggered:

What is it about myself with regards to this upset/feeling/emotion that I want another to know.
 
Taking responsibility for what is arising in consciousness means no criticising, blaming, abusing, making the other wrong or trying to change them.  In fact, get your thought across without even referring to the other.  Most of the time ‘the other’ that you want to get the communication across to is not the one who seemingly ‘triggered’ you.  Your partner can be a ‘physical’ Other as in a dyad or a non-physical Other (god) as in a meditation.  Actually the ‘physicalness’ of another is an illusion.  But that’s for another retreat contemplation.

As I’ve said, your problem is not about life and not about others.  It is something about yourself that has arisen from the unconscious that you want another to know.