A Sun-Filled Room

Eckhart Tolle tells a wonderful story about a candle in a dark room. Because the room is dark, whether or not the candle is lit is all-important. By the candle flame, we can find our way round and are reassured, but without that feeble flame we are totally lost.

If, however, the room is flooded with sunlight, the candle becomes irrelevant. We are no longer dependent upon its light.

Tolle suggests that in our current state of consciousness, most of us live - metaphorically - in a darkened room. We are dependent upon the ups and downs of the material world to illuminate our darkness. As long as things are going well, we are happy enough. But when bad things come along - as is bound to happen from time to time - we lose sight of the light.

If, instead, we can learn to live in sunlight, we can be free of our dependence upon the material world. In the brilliance of the sun-filled room, even when things go wrong, we can still be happy.

So how exactly can we learn to live in sunlight?

It is said that once this came naturally to us. When we were babies, we were in touch with a natural sense of joy. OK, so things would come along from time to time to cloud that joy: a touch of indigestion, for instance, or if we flung our rattle away. But these upsets were swiftly forgotten. There were tears - and then our smiles returned. Our connection to joy was never far away.

As we grew older, however, we lost that connection to joy.

It seems to me that there were two main reasons for this.

First of all, we were taught the importance of thinking, to such an extent that we eventually became so preoccupied with this new pastime of ours that we no longer took much notice of what was going on around us. So we ceased to notice if the connection to joy was there or not.

Fortunately, this can be easily corrected. Just stop thinking and there it is: the connection to joy is still there. Or else, the connection is there if you give it half a chance. You will probably have experienced it from time to time: as a sudden sense of peace while out for a walk in the country perhaps. Or else suddenly realizing that you are inexplicably happy for no apparent reason, absence of thought having caught you unawares for a moment or two. Stopping thinking isn't really so hard. It's just keeping it up for more than a second or two at a time that's the difficult bit...

Rather more troublesome is the other habit you were taught that got in the way of that connection to joy: learning not to cry if you threw your rattle away. Or if your best friend moved out of town. Or your dog got run over. Or you lost your job. Or your marriage broke down. Until eventually you were going through life carrying around a load of suppressed emotions, because somehow or other you got the idea that it wasn't OK to express your feelings any more.

And all this stuff that you are carrying about is a double whammy. First of all because it makes you unhappy and gets in the way of your present day relationships - as you may have already noticed - but also because it blocks that connection to joy, which is something which may have been less apparent.

This was something which was made very clear to me last summer. I wrote a post then about a process called the Quantum Light Breath which allowed me to release some of my suppressed emotions and seemed to open me up to what I can only describe as 'light energy', reconnecting me with that sense of joy. The impression I got was that the connection had been there all along but had been 'clogged up' with the debris of my emotions. It was literally like a dirty flue being cleared!

I have had similar - though less spectacular -  experiences since then, and I have to tell you that being connected to that joy, even for brief periods, is every bit as wonderful as it sounds. That 'sun-filled room' is real, and I am sure that it is attainable by us all.

I've posted previously (here and here) about other ways to clear these suppressed emotions and I intend to post about more of them in the coming months. I have come to realize that it is vital to deal with these emotions if we're to break through to that 'sun-filled room' and start to live our lives there. The good news is that we don't have to analyze all our stuff, but we do have to face those feelings to allow them to be released.

As for stopping thinking, well joking aside, this can also be quite a task, though perhaps a rather less painful one.  Meditation is useful here, as are the teachings of Eckhart Tolle - though I also suspect that as the emotions are cleared, unnecessary thought is also quietened. When there is less hurt, there is less need to go round and round in endless circles of thought.

Please note that by 'stopping thinking', it's this constant pointless mind chatter to which I'm referring, the 'what ifs' and 'if onlys' and just plain gibberish which chunders on and on in our brains for most of the time. So the brain surgeons and air traffic controllers amongst you can relax - it's still OK to think when we really need to! - but you might be surprised at what a small proportion of the thinking which most of us do that actually is.

With the New Year upon us, what I've tried to do in this post is to clarify what the shift in perspective which underpins this blog is all about and the steps we may have to take if we wish to allow it into our lives. Spiritual awakening, self realization, enlightenment, call it what you will, doesn't interest everyone, but if you feel drawn to it, or are tired of the pain which our habitual state of consciousness tends to produce - or a combination of both! - then perhaps you will start to prioritize making that change.  If you choose to do so, then the road before you may be a bumpy one, but the glimpses I've had of the way ahead suggest that it will be worth it in the end. I'll place as many signposts as I am able to find on this blog, and of course there are many more to be found in other places...

The good thing is that you don't have to believe anything in particular to make this change. If you already subscribe to a belief system, that's fine. If you don't, that's fine as well.  All you have to do is to clear the emotions and thoughts which get in the way of that natural connection to joy.

And, as I've mentioned before, this is not just a personal thing to help ourselves as individuals. A glance around at the state of the world is enough to show that the human race is sorely in need of a shift to a higher state of consciousness. As we make that connection to joy and start to live our lives in the 'sun-filled room' to which Eckhart Tolle refers, we will come to realize that we are not after all separate beings but an integral part of the human race, a part of the universe: that we are all in this together. As we move into 2008, that is a realization which is long overdue for us all.

Happy New Year! It looks like it might be a challenging one. May it be a time of positive transformation!

 

These may also be of interest:

What if I Lose This?

The Image Within

Quantum Light Breath

Between One Moment and The Next

Comments

[Mares]

Hello
I would like to link to this in one of my future posts and would like to add you to my friend's list. Your blog is so enriching, insightful and empowering. Thank you.

[Chad Grmaling]

Outstanding post. I just finished reading Tolle's "The Power of Now" and have added it to my exclusive list of "Books Everyone Has to Read." Wonderful insights. Thanks.

[Liara Covert]

Eckhart Tolle's writing is incredibly mind-opening. I appreciate the opportunity to remind myself about the value of the 'here and now' and the implications for who I am. So often, people are compelled to search outside themselves for what they already have inside. We can all benefit from teaching ourselves to remember this thing we forgot.

[Secret Simon]

Mares - It's great to hear from you and thanks so much for your comments! I shall take a look at your blog...

Chad - It's great to hear from you too! It's interesting that you should put Tolle's 'The Power Of Now' on your 'books everyone has to read' list because I do think it's one of the best ways into spirituality for people who are new to the subject.

Liara - Happy New Year! It's lovely to hear from you, as ever. Tolle can indeed make it all seem very simple. Just fall still and pay attention.... and everything is there.

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Hi Simon!

I've got a couple of weeks before I go into surgery again. The 3rd time is the charm as the saying goes.

Yes, I would rather not BUT...there is something in this experience for me. It's simply one of my peculiarities that I can relax and allow myself to feel vulnerable in only a hospital setting. So I will be going there to receive.

It'll be like a 'vacation'. I'll have a 'doctor's note' excusing me from any and all responsibilities while I'm there.

And by being around the doctors and nurses, it will help heal me of my ideas of being a failure, for they will not whip me with blame, like I have a tendency to do to myself, imagining that I messed up, *f--ked* up somehow and somewhere and if only I had disciplined myself enough I wouldn't be in this shape.

These thoughts do more to hurt me then my physical problem. Shame almost stopped me from mentioning anything to anyone. But I dealt with it and told the necessary people this morning.

So happy, happy, joy, joy...I head to the hospital, knowing everything will turn out alright.

Most of the time we won't allow ourselves to feel the negative emotions we have stored within us. But it is in allowing ourselves to feel them, without judging, that we are lifted from out of their depths.

Love & Blessings,

Sue Ann

[pete]

Hi Sue Ann,
Thank you for creating this sign post for we fellow travelers.

You are a gift to all of us.

In appreciation,

pete

[Secret Simon]

Hi Sue Ann - Thanks so much for sharing this. You are ahead of me on this road (the one that leads back to where we started!) and it's interesting - though I guess not surprising - for me to learn that you still have these 'negative' emotions coming up. From what I know of your life, you are not in any sense a 'failure', nor have you lacked discipline, but I can understand what you're saying because I've had similar feelings coming up myself. Some very deep-seated issues of self-worth tend to be awakened by the process of spiritual development. In the next post, I'm going to give a link to a valuable web site which touches on this, and I'll give a sneak preview of it here: http://www.deekshafire.com/?Deeksha:Journey_of_Endarkenment

As you say, the trick is to allow ourselves to feel these emotions without judging them - and indeed, without getting into a long, convoluted mental conversation about them, which is all too easy to do. They are simply energy which has arisen to be released.

I hope you enjoy your 'vacation' - and come back safe and well to us!

[Secret Simon]

Hi Pete - Just to clarify: Sue Ann has a great blog too, but it's me, Simon, running this one! Thanks so much for your comment, though - I'm delighted you like the post. I hope to hear from you again...

[Sue Ann Edwards]

{{smiling REAL big}}

These things that are deeply buried within us are like layers. We peel one layer at a time, because if they came off all at once it would drive us into insanity or suicide.

I've just been at it for quite some time. As a matter of fact, I answered a question just yesterday, "what makes you an authority on the subject?" and, my answer was: Years of experience.

It doesn't mean I'm ahead. It means we have an agreement. When you chose to put on the veil, I promised to come and help you wake up. We had a deal.

And the only way I could honor that agreement, is as you see.

I know how and what I think of myself. I also know I'm a hard ass. EXTREMELY self disciplined. It's not only what got me to 'here', it has also been the bane of my existence.

Now I'm THROUGH with it. THIS is my LAST layer. I know you'll understand me when I say that I am ready, as an author, to support a large platform. And you also know and understand what kind of inner work saying something like that, truthfully and genuinely, takes.

It isn't easy to integrate our magnificence when it scares the hell out of us.

{Grinning}

[Sally]

How I agree with you Sue Ann when you say "it isn't easy to integrate our magnificence when it scares the hell out of us".......I felt so much of that recently and even sent my post to Simon rather than post it on the blog ......cos my mind was telling me it was Ego speaking......how hilarious is that! Simon may post some of my ramblings to him on the blog.
I was on retreat with Eckhart in September and he urged us to take the message out there but from time to time the mind still gets in there and says "you couldn't possibly do that......what would people think?"
I am now working with individuals and groups and putting the mind to one side ......and feel that the time has come when people are ready to change their old conditioned patterns which have brought nothing but suffering.
The thing with that onion is you peel it and there will be tears ......but its like the kids game pass the parcel ......the last layer is peeled and the prize is there! Yet the mind may still disbelieves it for a while.....until you notice a contentment which nothing can touch.
So the mind still has its momentum ......like a water wheel when the stream has stopped it still spins for a while......which is something Eckhart talked about in Practising the Power of Now.....like many things he wrote I didn't see it at the time but do now.
Happy New Year to you all .....know it will be a great one
Sally

[Marion]

Super post, Simon, and very timely.Sometimes I feel as if I'm slogging through water to reach the joy, however, although I know it is there.

Happy New Year and a great 2008 to you and your family!

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Gee Marion, you're lucky! I mean REALLY. Honestly. It says something for your inner sight and achievement that it feels like you're slogging through water. It felt like slogging through jello to me a lot of times. You've made your path to be easier then I did. I wasn't that smart.

Sally our 'egos' are insiduously clever and will trip us up everytime. The way I learned to tell the difference which voice was which within me, was to be especially on the lookouts for Fear.

I might present a sort of comical figure like the cowardly lion saying "i do believe in spooks,i do believe in spooks, i do, i do, i do" but I'll screw up my courage, clamp my eyes shut and head straight into whatever my fear is trying to inspire me to run away from.

Once voice loves us. The other has no love for us. One of us desires us to expand, the other to stay limited and small. They both speak in our voice. The only way I've determined how to tell one from the other is to ask my heart. Making sure it is my heart and not my gut. For all fear, including fear of death and dying, is gut centered and not heart centered.

I know how hard is it to get our mentality to stop. That's why I claim my strokes were strokes of luck. Like a poison pill programmed to go off in order to make sure I expanded past this pattern.

Sure, I can still think. But I don't compute math formulas instantaneously anymore. And if I even try to go back to that sort of pattern, I feel ill. That's good motivation for not going there.

Our Spirit knows how to work around our egos. KNows how to 'herd' our egos exactly where Spirit desires to go. Even if our egos choose kicking and screaming all the way. I know mine did. And all I can say iis it was futile.

Smiling.

[Secret Simon]

The original comment which Sally mentions above got swallowed by the blogosphere monster before she could post it, but she gave me some of the gist of it in an email:

"Part of my message," says Sally, "had been that Eckhart says that 98% of our thoughts are totally repetitive. Also: you said that the new year could be a challenging one and my response to this was total acceptance of what is because it is.....then things no longer feel such a challenge (wow I was a bit pompous there!!?)"

We later both agreed that on reflection Sally wasn't being pompous or talking from her ego at all but sharing the ultimate secret of human existence. (So close but no banana, Sally!) In other words, if you literally accept whatever is then you have cracked it. If you are willing to accept - and indeed embrace - even the most painful feelings then you no longer have anything of which to be afraid. Then you can live your life in total freedom.

A blog post on this subject had already been simmering away in my mind following an experience I had a week or so ago, so I'll talk more about this then...

[Secret Simon]

Marion - Happy New Year to you too - and I hope your planned moved goes well! Though like Sue Ann, I think you're lucky to be only through slogging through water.

Mind you, on reflection, I think Sue Ann is pretty lucky, too, to have only slogged through jello. In our house, we're having to use treacle...

Thanks for your valuable insight about recognising when the ego is talking by noticing that you're coming from fear, Sue Ann. That rings very true to me.

Thanks for all your comments!

[oldgeezer]

It's so true and to bad we sometime lose that conection babies have to be happy. Something to think about.

[lb]

This morning i wrote an entry on my blog which started out as my thoughts on NASA's 13th Zodiac article..my piece ended up with ecclesiastes and Nirvana as we align with cosmic matter. Then i went to bed thinking what of what had just moved me...I woke up and clicked your link on blogosphere..strange how that child within me is moving in me lately...i'm reading all of your stuff for awhile...thanks.

[AngelBaby]

I love your site! You have done a great job. There is something special for you at my site. You are #11. It’s for all the love and support you have given to me.

Lots of Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby

[Lynda Lehmann]

This is an excellent and inspiring post, well expressed in clear, concise writing. I've just discovered your blog and am going to link to you!

I call those peak moments of which you speak, "lucid moments." They are moments full of light, acceptance and quiet joy that usually come on (for me) during phases of transition in both my life and my thoughts.

And doing art quiets my mind as well, as thoughts cease and the creative process takes on a life of its own. I start to "become" my painting. For many, creativity in any form, is a great path to meditation and joy.

[Secret Simon]

Oldgeezer - Welcome to my blog. Thanks for dropping by!

lb - Welcome to you too! I'm glad that you find my blog interesting. I was intrigued to read on your site (in the post you mention) about the helium rich cloud which recently passed through our solar system. I sometimes wish I'd done that physics degree...

AngelBaby - Lovely to hear from you - and thanks for thinking of me!

[Secret Simon]

Lynda - Welcome to you too - and thanks so much for your encouragement! As you say, any form of creative expression is a great way to be in the moment, as indeed are other forms of expression. Like teaching, for instance - you can't teach a class full of children if you're mind isn't right there in the present! And physical activity too. It is no coincidence that the martial arts, for instance, are associated with spiritual development. You have to be there in the moment as you move...

It is interesting that you get those "lucid moments" during periods of transition. I wonder if they help to show you the way ahead?