How to support yourself in this act of self-love?

How to support yourself in this act of self-love?
 
We come to a master or a spiritual life because we want to be free of the chains that bind us to our past. That hinder us to be spontaneous, alive and passionately present in our own life. Mostly we want to feel better and finally be happy.
 
Then we hear the teacher say it all the time: “Let meditation be on top of your laundry list”. “Make meditation your first priority”.
Why does it seem so important to have a daily regular practice of meditation? And why does it appear so difficult for many?
 
Every human being has a consciousness but unless it is nourished, unless it is awakened, nourished and supported it will not grow. It will remain only a seed, a possibility.
An average person may have only a few seconds a day of consciousness, of being aware of himself.
A seeker seeks to be conscious every moment of the day.
So our consciousness is not something that grows automatically as we grow older. It is not part of our biology. Existence leaves that up to us.
We either expand it or not. We either spend time to nourish it or not.

In our society there is hardly anything that supports this endeavor.
We are constantly pulled out, the collective is full of fear and violence and we are constantly invited to consume.
 
Most people that I know, are pretty clear that they want to be more conscious and that it is a very good idea to support themselves on a daily basis. Yet many report that they do not manage.
They say things like:
“I don’t have the discipline, I don’t find the time, My partner does not let me, I don’t like to be forced”, and other things like that.
All sorts of excuses, that sound reasonable and with which they can convince themselves.
Yet they suffer all kind of troubles and difficulties that could easily be reduced or eliminated would they find the key to support and love their daily meditation.
 
What are those keys?
In the first place become clear about what it is that you really want and get a realistic picture of what it takes to achieve that.
We are dreamers and we love to hope that someday some miracle will happen and our life will change. But reality is different.
Some understanding is needed.
We cannot change ourselves but awareness WILL change us.
Presence will bring more space into all of our activities.
We don’t realize that WE are the miracle makers. If we don’t make the effort to expand, the collective effort to dominate us takes over.
Now effort is a dirty word for many, which only points to misunderstanding.
 
If you could experience that if you take  time, every day, to expand your awareness, so that all of your goals will be achieved in an easier and smoother way, wouldn't you naturally choose that?)
We are intelligent beings, when we notice the difference between pain and no pain we will choose no pain. So we need to have an extended experience so that we know from deep within.
 
Here is a suggestion from one meditator to another.
Make an experiment, make a commitment that is realistic. E.g. set a time to sit every day for 15 minutes for the next three weeks or whatever is reasonable for you.
Do it first thing when you wake up. That is proven to be by far the easiest moment in the day, before you have time to listen to the objections in your mind.
Don’t look for bliss in meditation, just be present to whatever it is that is going on. It is not about feeling good (even though often you may experience peace and quiet) but about being aware of what is here.
 
 
A commitment, when taken from the right place, will hold you and support you in spite of the difficulties that may arise. Perseverance is needed, that is a fact we cannot skip which brings us to the next step.
 
Begin to observe what are obstacles to your perseverance and commitment (without following them).
We have an inner program that runs 24 hours a day which tells us what to do, which wants to keep us in place. Which is really objecting expansion and change.
This is the part in us that has absorbed the voices of our father and mother and society and has transformed them into what we call the inner judge or inner critic.
This is a fully mechanical mechanism that is part of the ego and not personal at all. In other words it is not our fault, nor the fault of our parents that it runs our life. This is how the system functions in this time and age.
Often this is running unconsciously so we do not recognize that there is a force within that tries to prevent us from change.
We don’t realize that first there was a voice telling us something like:
“You will never manage cause you never finish what you set out to do”
or “ Why would you meditate? You know it does not lead you anywhere” or “ You have something much more urgent to do”. That voice came before we believed that this is true.
This inner judge is the glue that keeps our conditioning and our beliefs in place.
It makes us feel weak, incapable and postponing.
It makes us sabotage our own dreams and plans.
It wants to keep us forever within the chains of the past, within the boundaries of the ego.
 
Usually we do not like to confront this inner tyrant and saboteur, we rather complain about someone else.
There are however simple ways to look it straight into the face and reclaim our birthright to be a free and unconditioned human being.
 
Meditation is a direct threat to our conditioning as well as a direct way to liberate our energy and be free.
And what needs perseverance now will eventually change into an unconditional effortless support from within.
But we have to start where we are.
It is really up to us.
That is the very good news!
 
Even the impossible is not impossible if resolution is there, and even the possible becomes impossible if one lacks will.
The world we live in is our own creation.
Osho

 
 
As rivers seek out the ocean, so man if he wants to, can find the truth. No peak, no mountain can stop him, in fact their challenge awakens his sense of adventure.
 
As the river finds the ocean, thirsty souls find the temple of God.
But the thirst must be intense and the work tireless and the waiting without end and the calling with the whole heart.
 
. Whatever is, observe it. Just be a witness. Just watch. If there is ego then watch ego. What else to do? Only watch and by watching the transformation happens.
 
Trust in matter and you will live in hell.
Trust in consciousness and you have the key to open the doors of the Kingdom of God.
 
Escape is futile. Only transformation can help, and transformation needs deep acceptance of your being as you are.
 
Published in German Osho Times 2006