Awakening to the Self
“The truth of the Self cannot come through one who has not realized that he is the Self. The intellect cannot reveal the Self, beyond its duality of subject and object. They who see themselves in all and all in them help others through spiritual osmosis to realize the Self themselves. This awakening you have known comes not through logic and scholarship, but from close association with a realized teacher.”
–Katha Upanishad
Your Two Selves
This is an interesting notion, though I’m not sure that Colin is quite right in saying that it is the cause of “most” mental illness!
“We might liken the ‘two selves’ to Laurel and Hardy. Ollie is the objective mind, ‘you’. Stan is the subjective mind, the ‘hidden you’. But Stan happens to be in control of your energy supply. So if you wake up feeling low and discouraged, you (Ollie) tend to transmit your depression to Stan, who fails to send you energy, which makes you feel lower than ever. This vicious circle is the real cause of most mental illness.”
–Colin Wilson (English Novelist and Writer on Philosophy, Sociology and the Occult, 1931-)
“Super Consciousness: The Quest for the Peak Experience” (Colin Wilson)
Awakening to God Consciousness
“That higher awakening is called God-consciousness. In that condition, you will see that all the objects of the world are your own universal self.”
–Swami Krishnananda (Indian Spiritual Teacher and, from 1961-2001, General Secretary of the Divine Life Society, 1922-2001)
Your Secret Source of Power
“There is deep down within us, in the Ancestral Mind, a more grounded Self with a powerful instinct for well-being – an instinct that can help us overcome imbalances. That Self is the source of a will with which we can exert control over our own thoughts and redirect them toward a healthier worldview.”
–Gregg D. Jacobs (American Psychologist, Author and Faculty Member of the University of Massachusetts Medical School)
The Timeless Self
“The Self doesn’t live forever in time, it lives in the timeless present prior to time, prior to history, change, succession. The Self is present as Pure Presence, not as everlasting duration, a rather horrible notion.”
–Ken Wilber (American Philosopher, 1949-)
“Grace and Grit: Spirituality and Healing in the Life and Death of Treya Killam Wilber” (Ken Wilber)
Seek the Self
“Look within. Seek the Self. There will bean end of the world and its miseries. The inquiry “Who am I?” is the only method of putting an end to all misery and ushering in supreme Beatitude.”
–Ramana Maharshi (Indian Hindu Mystic and Spiritual Teacher, 1879-1950)
Some Profound Thoughts on Happiness
“Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different.
There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects.
When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, Samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness.
Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it.
Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.”
–Ramana Maharshi (Indian Hindu Mystic and Spiritual Teacher, 1879-1950)
The Silent Secret Self
“The silent secret part of the self is forever there, forever asking a little surrender of attention. But few give it.”
–Paul Brunton (a.k.a. Raphael Hurst, English Philosopher, Traveler, Spiritual Teacher and Author, 1898-1981)
Happiness Is the Nature of the Self
“Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different.
There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects.
When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, Samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching.
A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool.
A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.”
–Ramana Maharshi (Indian Hindu Mystic and Spiritual Teacher, 1879-1950)
Becoming Someone
“How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.”
–Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (French Fashion Designer, 1883-1971)
