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By Jim Hawes January 09. 2015 1:57PM Life: An adventure in consciousness “Oh, no, not another psychobabble,” is how a fellow hiker describes my metaphysical meandering. We all have heard people with good intentions warn us that we should avoid talking about sex, politics, and religion or spirituality. I think it is important to make a needed distinction. First, we must be totally honest with ourselves. We need to ask ourselves: Are we subtlety projecting or telling these other people what to believe on sex, politics or religion? Or is this truly a motiveless, heartfelt sharing? Defining consciousness or being totally present here and now is nearly beyond words, but the best I can do is that 98 percent of our thinking is preoccupied with the past or the future and has to do with doing or having more things in this three-dimensional world. Consciousness or presence has to do with "beingness." We all have these brief moments of no or little thinking. For example, I stood under a huge maple tree yesterday and was fascinated with the beautiful golden yellow leaves plummeting, spiraling, gliding, twisting and soaring to the ground. There was no thinking; just a stillness, silence, peacefulness. Another example is experiences at the coast. Watching and listening to the ocean’s thundering roar and the pebbles or small rocks chattering as the returning waves pull them back to the ocean. Then, just before the next wave pounds the shore; there is a very brief pause, or what Joel Goldsmith calls "the thunder of the silence." Again, this is no thinking; just beingness or presence. One of Jesus’ statements clarifies this consciousness or presence. He said that the meek shall inherit the earth. He was saying that the egoless — or people who have let go of thinking about the past or the future — will be in this present or now consciousness. Even the famous Greek philosopher Socrates said he only knew one thing for sure and that is that he knew nothing. Also, all kinds of spiritual teachers, including my beloved wife, recommend that if you want more of this consciousness, then watch your breathing several times each day. It only has been recently that I have practiced this simple pointer to help me with hiking aches and pains and digestive problems, as well as not getting a good night’s sleep. Amazingly, as I began to really observe my inhalation and exhalation on my 5- to 9-mile weekly hike, I was doing a lot less thinking and saw an incredible amount of beauty at each step. Another benefit of observing my breathing for a few minutes just before I fall asleep has given me a much better night’s sleep. Another advice that my wife and I have followed for the last year is to include this watchfulness of our breathing as we do our daily meditation. For sure, we still have the ego, the mind chatter, but much less and more and more of these precious moments of stillness or silence. Consciousness or presence is actually always with us here and now. It is where we came from and where we go when we go to our return movement (death). No book, spiritual teacher, retreat or You Tube video can bring one to this presence. It is entirely up to each person to decide to become very attentive to nature, one’s breathing and every experience. It is always a choice between being preoccupied with doing or "beingness." Retired Medford school teacherJim Hawes has published "Ageless Child" (Balboa Press, Amazon.com or Barnes and Nobles) and is working on his second book, "Consciously Growing Older."   Share your Inner Peace The Ashland Daily Tidings invites residents of the Rogue Valley to submit articles on all aspects of inner peace, including intuition, inner guidance, mind training, courage, fearlessness, forgiveness of self or others, honesty, gentleness, humor, open mindedness, friendship, tolerance, trust, faith, kindness, gratitude, overcoming and/or accepting life’s challenges of addictions, loss, grief, pain, awareness of presence and more. Send 600- to 700-word articles to Sally McKirgan, [email protected]. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150109/NEWS/150109851 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->