Playful Consciousness

This peaceful guided meditational talk allows us to investigate the space of stillness with no waves of thinking to disturb or distort the playful pure joy of consciousness. If you close your eyes, and relax the body you will open yourself to the wisdom that is beyond the mere words. You will also receive an energy transmission that is part of each of Tony Samara's tracks here on Insight Timer.

Transcript

You Po recording schedule Just finding a comfortable position so that you are open and receptive to natural information that flows through your own very wonderful perception of reality.

As you breathe in and breathe out,

Just being receptive to the information.

It's wonderful just to be peaceful,

Present,

And allow this graceful state of presence to expand into consciousness rather than to expand into another thought or another perception of a situation.

To just let go and to be very aware of the space.

The space of stillness,

But also the space of joy,

The space of playfulness,

The space of just being free,

Understanding freedom from beyond the mind.

It's very interesting when we begin to recognize that such communication is happening within,

Within our experience,

But within the very depth of our awareness in a way that sometimes we don't recognize.

So we think so much that we are so busy with that thought or with the many thoughts that we are thinking that we don't recognize the more subtle information that's been transmitted behind that wall of thoughts or behind the activity of thinking that happens so very naturally that we think that is,

We think the thoughts are just totally normal to have so many thoughts.

Actually someone asked me the other day,

What does it mean to be oneself?

What does it mean to be?

What does it mean to just come back to one's being?

It was a very good question and I sort of wanted to reply in a philosophical way,

But I understood that such an answer wouldn't really help in that moment.

So I answered in this way and it might be helpful for your practice,

Might be helpful for what it means to be engaged in this playfulness that is part of the still space of consciousness.

And so I replied,

Well,

It's very difficult to identify what being means because the question that you're asking is a question that comes from an aspect of yourself that cannot be.

This means that if I reply to that aspect of your question,

What does it mean to be?

Then already I'm helping you not to be yourself because the words will just activate another thought in your mind that will take you to a place which perhaps for a little while feels sacred or feels very special,

But really in the end,

Perhaps that place will just be another deeper perspective of your thinking,

But not really the space where you can be yourself,

The space where you can just let go of all those ideas that you have about yourself and just be that which you truly are in this moment.

So I said to him,

Well,

To be is as easy as not to think.

And I said,

Maybe a good way to test oneself is just to maintain stillness.

This means that there are no other diversions or entertainments or thoughts or preoccupations or belief systems that are being investigated by the mind other than just the space of stillness where you can just be.

And I said,

This challenge doesn't have to be for a very long time.

It can be just 10 seconds,

15 seconds,

Where you just remain in such stillness that the waves of your thinking aren't creating a ripple upon the surface of consciousness whereby that ripple then becomes that which you're engaged in,

The movement that you then become engaged in rather than the movement of stillness,

Where the surface is just still and reflecting consciousness as it is rather than creating a sort of distortion of consciousness because those ripples then create a mirroring effect that reflects very specific aspects of consciousness rather than the pureness of consciousness which is what being means.

And so if one understands that stillness is somehow a very good marker or a very good test,

Very good challenge to help you understand what being means,

Then rather than searching for what being means,

Then the challenge to oneself is not trying to reply on that question,

But the challenge to oneself is really being still enough to be receptive and open to the reflection that happens quite naturally when there is no other aspect of thinking,

Feeling,

Whatever it is that's happening in the background that distorts the picture of consciousness,

The picture that then we can be receptive of in such a way where we can be ourselves within that picture.

So that picture then isn't something that we're looking at or we're assessing from a distant perspective,

But that picture becomes the playfulness that I'm speaking about because once you dissolve into consciousness,

Meaning that there are no thoughts that disturb your perceptions,

There are no thoughts that preoccupy your minds so much that your mind is focused elsewhere than really aligning itself to the picture that's being reflected directly within the structure of the mind,

Then if we allow such a pure experience to happen,

A pure experience meaning that there is nothing else that creates distortion in the background,

Then the natural consequence is that there is a playfulness within consciousness that unfolds in the activity that we've manifested within this world.

So unfolds in our bodies,

Unfolds in our feelings,

Unfolds in our thoughts,

In all aspects of manifestations that happen here on this linear dimension,

Those manifestations that we call me or I then really are not distorted by the pictures that the mind gets preoccupied with when we're thinking,

But rather the playfulness is a direct communication with that which is,

And that which is cannot be defined by that which isn't.

And if you challenge yourself to be still for 10 seconds,

Then that stillness becomes so obvious,

Especially if you're aware of the stillness,

Because sometimes this stillness happens without awareness,

Sometimes we just all of a sudden feel,

Oh,

I'm very,

Very happy,

I'm very,

Very playful,

I'm very creative,

I'm very excited about life,

There is an inspiration,

There is a creative thought,

There is a creative feeling that's happening within me.

And that usually means that you're not thinking,

But you've allowed yourself to fall so much into your state of being that the creative playfulness that happens when you reflect pure consciousness becomes manifest in your thinking.

So your thinking is no longer your thinking.

It's not your thinking about something because you are somehow grabbed by that thought,

And you're disempowered by that thought because that thought pulls you into something rather than allows you to be yourself.

So the thought could be like,

Oh,

I'm late for work,

Or oh,

I have to worry about this situation.

And then that thought pulls you towards itself and out from the realm of consciousness where there is no nothing but the pureness of the moment and into a perspective that usually is not just thought,

But usually is thought that connects to the past or to the future.

So the picture that you begin to focus upon has nothing to do with this moment,

But it has more to do with that thought of the past or that thought of the future.

So then all of a sudden you are lost in that picture,

And that picture creates such a distortion that it becomes heavy.

And so the playfulness,

The energy for playfulness or the energy for creativity is sucked away by the heaviness of the thought that is relating now rather than to this moment relating to the future or to the past or to a memory or to a body sensation or to a physical,

Emotional perspective that has something to do with the past or the idea of the future.

And so this moment then is lost.

On some level it's lost.

Of course the moment can never be lost,

But your perspective or your awareness of the moment is lost.

So sometimes when this happens we become very unhappy with life.

Actually it's a very clear sign that if you are unhappy or if you are upset or irritated or caught in suffering,

Depressed about the world or just feeling typically human,

You know just not well enough to say life is a great thing,

Just life okay,

It's life,

Sometimes it's good,

Sometimes it's bad.

If you have that perspective,

If you have that feeling,

If you have that sort of pain or that suffering or that dilemma,

Usually this means that you are so caught in your thinking that you can't be yourself.

What you are being are those thoughts and those thoughts are manipulating you so strongly,

So powerfully that they are pulling you out of this playful creative moment of bliss and back into the heaviness of thought because as we know thinking usually is focused on problems.

Thinking is usually allowed to happen due to this negative bias structure in the brain where we focus upon problems.

So even if you're not aware that you're focusing on problems,

The mind will focus on problems because that's where it will gravitate to.

Anyway that's how it is inclined to think,

To think about problems.

It's very,

Very unlikely unless you are experiencing bliss because you're being yourself that your thoughts are actually light enough to be happy thoughts,

To be joyful thoughts,

To be blissful thoughts,

To be thoughts whereby you just feel that you are lighter,

Transcending into this space where the heaviness or the burden of thinking doesn't weigh you down so much that it pulls you out of yourself.

And if that is happening to you,

If you go around thinking too much,

You'll find that your mind gets very confused because so many different thoughts that focus on so many different problems creates a sort of confusion in the mind and creates a sort of energy that is too quick for the mind.

So the mind is sort of darting from one thing to another and not really able to focus on anything specific because it's not the nature of the mind when focusing on so many problems to stay with one problem and to be systematic and to understand how to resolve the problem.

It seems that the mind then gets overwhelmed by the fact that the focus is not very creative.

The focus is chaotic because there are so many situations that the mind sort of thinks about,

Oh,

This honor,

This is much worse,

Or this problem needs my attention.

So when we sit and meditate,

If this is what's happening,

I challenge you to sit for 15 seconds in such stillness that those thoughts don't disturb the ripple of consciousness that you're now aligning yourself,

Now connecting to,

Now coming back home to.

And that in itself requires so much energy because we're so used to falling into this perspective of thinking that has become a habit,

Has become automated.

It has become so seemingly natural that the natural joys,

The natural simplicities that bring about happiness,

That bring about a sense of lightness seem like moments that we can just remember,

Moments which we can just hope for sometimes when the remembrance seems so very far away.

So then if this is the case,

There is no need to judge yourself or anyone else for that matter,

Anyone else who's being challenged by their thoughts and being brought down to such heaviness within their mind that they can't actually perceive the joys and simplicities of life.

There is no need to judge because then we know that such an activity is not really an activity that's real,

It's just a projection of the mind.

And if we acknowledge this fact that the mind is creating a lot of perceptions,

A lot of what we think and what we perceive is due to the filtering that happens within the brain and we see things in a certain way,

If we acknowledge that,

Then we are already beginning to challenge the thoughts.

There is nothing wrong with the thought,

But if the thought has pulled you into itself and the thought is a problem,

Then that thought has nothing to do with reality.

It may be one tiny aspect of reality.

Can you imagine?

Consider the universe in experiences and then that one little experience that you're focused on,

How does it compare to the trillion,

Trillion whatever number?

There is no number large enough to show you the possibilities of other experiences that you could be having in this moment and you'll focus just on that little one because the ripple of your thinking has created such a distortion that your mind believes that is your truth,

That is your reality.

So if you see that,

If you challenge your mind and you say to yourself,

Oh,

I'm sitting here in stillness for 10 seconds,

I'm not going to focus on any of those ripples,

I'm just going to allow myself to sink in to this expansive moment,

This creative moment that is so very beautifully expansive that I don't need to contract into a perspective that is just so minute compared to the expansive state of experience.

If you challenge yourself in this way,

Then you're also naming the thoughts that are creating negative ripples.

So you're saying to your mind,

Oh,

Okay,

I know you want to focus on this little problem,

I know you want to remember and try to figure out what the solution is to that little problem,

But at this moment I'm challenging you to just be yourself.

This means to not have to always be activated or be reactive to the ripples of thoughts that come from the past and that come from the future,

But rather to be receptive to the ripples of energy that come from being transcendent in this moment.

And that is quite a challenge for the mind because then it has to restructure itself,

It has to learn to let go of certain ways of doing things or certain habits or certain belief systems.

And that always brings up a lot of other things that go far beyond the mind,

Feelings,

Bodily experiences and also just reorientation in the world that you believe to be naturally real.

So if you begin to question things on such a deep level,

Everything becomes a question.

And you begin to question,

Well,

What does it mean to be myself?

Am I playing a role?

Is that role that I'm playing manipulated by the flow or the thread of thoughts that I'm having that create an identity or a certain belief system or a certain way of perceiving things that then create a role in life?

So then you begin to even challenge those roles that you're playing.

Who am I?

Who am I really?

Am I those belief systems?

Am I those habits that have been played out for so long that they seem natural to me or am I more?

You don't need to answer any of those questions anyway,

But that is what will come up to the surface when you allow yourself to be challenged in such a powerful way.

That's what will come up for every individual.

That is what has come up for many mystics when allowing for such stillness to be present.

The stillness isn't really stillness because when you let go of your thoughts or your addiction to certain thoughts or your addiction to certain methods of thinking or perceptions,

Then what happens is that naturally you're integrating those other aspects of life that have been forgotten and perhaps for the first time you begin to have moments where you don't even realize you're not thinking because you've challenged the mind not to fall into the same old habit of thinking about certain things in that sort of mechanical,

Repetitive way.

So all of a sudden,

Like many people who don't even know what spirituality means,

You will have moments of bliss where you just feel happy,

Where you just feel lighter,

Where you just feel more creative.

And those moments are moments when you are actually not thinking about problems,

When you've allowed for the stillness to be so present within the manifestation of who you are in the physical realm and emotional realm as well as in the mental and energetic realm that those communications become obvious in the sense of happiness.

I'm happy.

My body,

I feel happy.

My body feels relaxed.

My body feels blissful.

My mind feels free,

Light.

My emotional body feels just happy and joyous when such moments happen.

It's not that you are thinking,

Okay,

Now I've managed to be still for 10 seconds because actually when you manage to fall into stillness for 10,

15 seconds,

What you're falling into is timeless.

So you cannot measure it.

You can't say,

Oh,

Now I'm actually sitting in stillness.

I can measure this within my thoughts.

Oh,

Four more seconds to go.

Oh,

10 seconds,

I was still.

How wonderful.

I managed the challenge.

As soon as you begin to play with your mind in this way,

Then it's obvious that its imagination has nothing to do with reality because when you fall into a blissful moment,

As I experienced once when sitting in meditation,

All of a sudden I disappeared.

And I only knew that I disappeared because I reappeared within the mundane.

So all of a sudden I didn't know anything and then I appeared.

So my mind came back to just the mundane everyday worldly thinking and I thought,

Oh,

That was a very interesting experience.

Let me try to understand it.

But as soon as I of course tried to understand the experience,

Then the thinking process happened and it became more intellectual.

It became more heavy and I began to sort of compare it.

Was that really an enlightenment experience or an awakening experience?

Oh,

And then,

You know,

When you begin to think in that way,

You're pulling yourself out of that timeless space.

So really the only way that you know that you're free is the way that consciousness then is reflected in the walk rather than the talk that is happening.

The walk meaning your activity in life,

How your body is responding to the universe,

How your mind is responding to the universe,

Not to your thoughts,

But to the universe.

But at the same time,

Now I realize that you can still have thoughts in the background,

But those thoughts aren't pulling you towards themselves.

Those thoughts are just there in the background and they're light and happy and they're sort of dancing all around the place and saying,

Oh,

Here I am,

Another thought.

And you're thinking,

Oh,

Here it is,

Another thought,

But I'm here.

I'm not there with the thought.

So the thought is just happening in the background and it's not that important.

So my whole life doesn't revolve around that thought.

My whole energy doesn't fall into that sort of perspective of belief system that that thought creates.

You are free just as another aspect of the expansion of consciousness.

So thinking when free in this way is a natural consequence of what it means to be human.

So I'm not saying that you must sort of say to your thoughts,

You are a horrible thing.

Your new thoughts should just go away so that I can experience this 10 seconds of stillness,

Just 10 seconds out of 24 hours.

Please give me that.

If you start speaking to your thoughts in that way,

Then you're already caught with,

In that dialogue that is reactive to the thoughts.

So actually the only way that allows you to be light is the way where you are so detached from the egoic realm of thinking that you let go of the baggage.

You let go of the thoughts,

But the thoughts don't go anywhere.

They just sort of float there around the place,

But they're not pulling you into themselves.

They're not saying to you,

Oh,

This is where you have to put all your energy,

All your focus.

You can't be anywhere else because there is this,

Which is more important than anything else.

The thoughts become unimportant,

But at the same time,

Because they're unimportant,

Meaning that you're not giving all your energy to that mode of thinking,

Then you allow for another reference for your thoughts to sort of connect to an intelligence that sometimes is far beyond the one that is caught in those thoughts.

An intelligence that I call universal intelligence.

So it's almost as if the thoughts have the space to be creative and to connect to other things than the threads that you're used to or that you feel are natural that allow for those thoughts to continue in a certain format.

So it's almost as if you become more creative when you are free,

When you are still,

When you are able to let go of this addictive behavior that we have as human beings,

That we have towards our own ego,

Towards our own ego mind.

And so this is what I explained to this person about what it means to be.

And for you to experience what it means to be,

Why not set yourself challenges throughout the day where you just say for 10 seconds,

I'm going to just not preoccupy my thinking with any specific thing.

I'm just going to be here present absorbing just what it means to be here free of the mind,

To be here totally within myself,

Letting go of all those thoughts,

All those activities that happen in the background,

Letting go of all the noise,

All the pictures,

All the perceptions,

All those other things,

Whatever they may be,

Letting them go and just coming back here to this moment,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Opening myself up,

Being receptive,

Letting go of tension,

Letting go of all the baggage and just opening up to the joy,

The gift of being alive for 10 seconds.

Now if you do this throughout your day,

Not every 10 seconds,

But throughout your day,

Then you begin to challenge that pattern that's happening within the mind,

That sort of addictive behavior that the mind has created within yourself where you fall into the heaviness,

Where you fall into that sort of space that makes you believe that that is the only space that you can exist or that the self can exist within.

That sort of idea of yourself can only exist if you're identified with that thread of thought that sometimes pulls us away from walking our path,

Walking that path where you can just be peaceful,

Let go of that inner dialogue,

That inner fight,

That inner chaos that so very often clouds not only our everyday living,

But also clouds our meditational practice and our spiritual practice,

Clouds the way that we understand the world and perceive the world.

So if we bring moments of transcendence into our mundane everyday activity,

Then those moments of transcendence will help to loosen the addictive behavior that we have towards our ego mind,

Which means that slowly,

Slowly,

Step by step,

Micro steps,

We will begin to shake the foundation whereby the mind is addicted to itself and begin to open to the sunshine that is all around.

So today,

As you breathe in and breathe out,

Let go,

Open up to the inner light,

Breathing in and breathing out,

Letting go,

Stillness,

Joy,

Happiness and bliss as you open up to the beautiful inner light.

Thank you.

Reviews

To enter into that realm that you speak of is the most awesome expansive infinite glorious complete utter bliss !! and it is attainable and you cannot harness this but you can enter there whenever you want basically, but ! to put into words exactly how one does enter is a creative endeavor indeed and you have accomplished that so thank you!!

A wonderful talk, very thought provoking.