Love and Fear
Did you know that there are only two roots to all our emotions? The entire drama of our emotional life stems from either love or fear. The experiences we have can be traced back to their origin and it is very easy to see the difference between experiences born out of fear and those born out of love.
Each moment we choose to water one of the two roots. The root that gets most of our attention is what colors our life. This choice is often unconscious to us due to the deep rooted stress around low self-worth and not being loved. Because we have separated from the Source of Unconditional Love in our own hearts long ago, there is often a deep resentment even toward the creator itself. A feeling of being abandoned is very common in most people.
Our conscious mind can do little about this deep stress. We are not always aware of our choice for fear and yet it is what we do. This is what has created the wars and conflicts of this world we live in.
One can recognize fear when we desire to control others and our experiences. Fear creates limitations and restrictions; complications and difficulty. The ego is fighting a battle inside of us and fear is its weapon of choice. It demands to know how, when and where. The more you Ascend the easier it is to recognize these patterns of fear and choose a different way.
When one chooses for love, it is always expansive and all-inclusive. It is always giving of itself without needing anything back in return. Love does not place conditions nor does it attempt to control anything. Love is the true essence of who we are and it is always present in our lives and in our hearts. Fear can mask it and create an illusion that love is not present, but that is a mirage only. The moment the individual chooses to realign with the underlying reality of love fear disappears like it was a dream, which it is. The key to evolution is to stop judging our feelings as good or bad. It is only by accepting them as they are that we go to a more expanded state and the emotions will evolve. I have found in my own experience that the worst demons inside have often been the greatest allies in pushing me forward into making a clear choice for love instead of fear.
This choice has been made very simple for us by using Ascension Attitudes. No matter how hard the knots of stress may be, how deeply the belief in separation has been engraved in us, no matter how long we have turned away from light, the moment that we choose to focus on love, that is all there is. When the sun rises darkness is no longer there.
Nataraja Ishaya
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Evolution of Emotions
It is not by attempting to force feelings to change that they change. Emotions evolve only when they are accepted exactly as they are. The key to doing this is to stop judging them. Only the ego defines good and bad. This is its primary tool of control: if some desires are good and some are not, life is going to remain split. By separating our feelings from the ego’s belief systems, we can use their powerful energy for personal growth.
There is a story from the Ishayas that illustrates this point. The monks were attacked from time to time by hordes of demons when they were deep in meditation. No matter how hard they worked to be free from them, there was no escape. It was only when they stopped judging them as evil that they would vanish or transform into celestial nymphs or angels. It was only the monks’ interpretation of reality that was giving them trouble. This recognition is a necessary stage of evolution.
As consciousness grows, we naturally learn that whatever comes to us is our own creation, none other’s. With the dawn of this understanding, we stop wasting our energy fighting, resenting or repressing what we created. This enables us to use the energy of our desiring to accomplish much faster growth to enlightenment.
MSI, Ascension!
Question & Answer
Now that I have been routinely Ascending for over a month, my thought patterns during practice are increasing. I find that my experience now is much different than it was at the beginning. At the beginning I would quickly go to a place or peace and restfulness. Now, my mind almost goes right to incessant thought patters from the beginning of Ascending. From what I am learning, this could be a sign that suppressed thoughts, emotions and feelings are coming to the surface and filtering out. I also know how important it is to practice complete innocence when Ascending and let whatever happens be OK.
Thoughts are a natural part of life.....and Ascension. Sometimes there are many thoughts and sometimes there are just a few. Ascension constantly changes in the experience of meditative practice.
Thoughts are there because the mind has moved inward, riding on the Ascension attitude causing the body to settle down and experience deep rest. Because of this deep rest the body becomes active in releasing stress (both physical and psychological). This causes the mind to move again, outward on thought as the mind which is connected to the body is working with the body as it releases stress.
The natural tendency of the mind to experience more of life draws us inward and the natural tendency of the body to heal itself pulls us outward. Both movements are completely natural. So we continue to follow a natural course of action with Ascension.
Unfortunately some people just assume that any practice of meditation is strictly used to achieve a particular experience of peace. When during their practice they do not experience what they want, they drop their practice. Ascension, as I have said before is much more than just a meditative practice. It requires the understanding of the mechanics of both meditation and use of the intellect to both use the techniques and understand the mechanical process that results in the various experiences while ascending.
Ultimately as we approach the Ascendant each time we ascend it becomes more present in both our meditative practice as well as in our activity in every part of our lives.
As long as we are completely simple and natural, Ascension will work for us. We just introduce the Ascension Attitude and then let whatever happens happen. Whatever the subjective experience, we just do it, two or three times a day: before breakfast, before dinner, before bed. We Ascend in the morning so the day will be enjoyable and effective: we Ascend in the evening so the evening will be enjoyable and effective; we Ascend at night so sleep will be deep and restful. We just do it.
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Obviously if we knew what it was like to have complete control over our senses and direction to create, we would not be searching for a way to achieve such a goal.
So the answer is not going to be so matter of fact, for each individual is different in the way they approach goals and the way they take to instruction in both understanding and practice.
I could say for those who have learned to Ascend and have become dedicated to the practice, they find that is has proved superior to the other practices they have tried and given only partial results. But then realistically I personally don't delve into their past and what they have been doing. Why should I make
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a judgment about what they have been doing when I might have no
experience with the techniques or processes they have been using? I can only reflect upon the approach to Ascension if I have some
I guess I'm just wondering if we get to a place where we do experience that deep peace and connectedness on a regular basis? Or do we go back and forth with our experiences based on what is happening in our lives.
Yes. With regular practice, competent guidance and sufficient understanding to move thru the change in experiences, so that you are not attempting to idealize any particular experience of the Ascendant or life, one can achieve a stable experience of the Ascendant in all experiences of Ascension in life. Understanding how we think and act allows us to make choices that can reduce any attachment to an experience in either trying to push them away or even to hold onto them.
Is our experience while Ascending a representation of our current life experience?
It can be. Our experiences in life are understood thru the intellect. If the intellect is clear and we are deeply seated in the Ascendant all experiences are understood and experienced as reflections of the Ascendant. If the intellect is mired with beliefs and stress, then the experiences can be reflective of the layers of belief and stresses that the mind and body have accumulated. Conclusions or assumptions made from the intellect that is not stable in the experience of the Ascendant is filtered thru the personal beliefs of the ego.
Mahadeva Ishaya
We welcome any questions that you readers may have concerning the practice of Ascension so that they can be addressed here as part of the newsletter. You can email your questions to contact@theishayafoundation.org with the title Question & Answer. If you wish to participate in an online dialog about Ascension, we invite you to join teachers on the Ishaya Foundation Forum. Of course you can call or email us at any time for a more immediate personal response.
Translations of MSI Books
The Ishaya Foundation is republishing all the books that MSI wrote. There is also a growing number of them being translated into various languages. Both Ascension! and First Thunder are now available in German, Chinese and will soon be published in Finnish. All of them can be downloaded as free e-books from: http://theishayafoundation.com/download.html
The Danish and the Russian translations of the First Thunder are being worked on and they will be published in the future.
If you have any expertise and wish to help translate or proof read new translations of MSI’s books, please contact us at publishing@theishayafoundation.org. Our desire is to spread the books throughout the world.
The Next Step…
Retreats and Intensives are an excellent way to take a break from the hustle and bustle of life and spend some time discovering the deeper core of who we are.
Our deeper desires and values often get pushed into the background of our lives as we focus our energy managing our day to day concerns. While it is good and necessary to take care of our outer needs and desires, it is also good and necessary to discover our inner desires and strength.
Wisdom comes from connecting the power of the inner with the action of the outer in a balanced and harmonious way.
The rewards of development of consciousness are limitless. Every area of life is beneficially affected by the growth of full human awareness.
Refer often to our Retreat/Intensive schedule at www.ishayaretreats.com. We have several available this spring and summer around the world, with more soon to be announced.
The Science of LOVE
There are many scientists today studying the effects of Love and what happens to the brain when an individual experiences thoughts of love. The studies include all kinds of thoughts about
Love -- romantic or passionate love, maternal love, unconditional love. Scientists from the USA at Syracuse University, combined with other team members in Switzerland and China, used MRI technology to find the commonalities of brain processes that go beyond any cultural conditioning or bias when people think thoughts of love.
How did they do this? Simply by taking MRI scans of people from all over the world who were exposed to pictures of their beloved or their child, which would generate thoughts of romantic love and maternal love; pictures of another person, which would generate another reading of how the brain acts in relationship to others; and by reading the scans of a cognitive functioning task, such as numeric counting backwards, which would generate a neutral brain function. The active and interactive play of the brain was then documented.
These teams of scientists found many different areas of the brain work together during the experience of Love to release many neurotransmitters and chemicals that promote an experience of greater well-being. These chemicals, such as cortisol, dopamine and oxytocin, have been linked to human experiences that include a sense of heightened reward and motivation, a building of greater trust, an increase our cognitive functioning, help with our attention and focus, and also reduce pain, sadness, fear and anxiety.
The MRI research about Love indicated that as many as twelve areas of the brain worked together. The higher order thinking regions of the brain were activated in love. This included the areas of the brain related to Self-representation (this self-representation includes how we perceive ourselves and others in relationship to ourselves), our attention, our body image, and our social cognition (which has to do with our interaction with others). The research showed that the participants did not have just an emotional response to love, but a cognitive process as well. When talking to participants later, the researchers found that their experience of well being went hand in hand with the thoughts about the pictures.
A marvelous network in the brain was observed. Cognitive choice triggered this love network of the brain according to Stephanie Ortigue, head of the team of researchers.
To be honest, as part of this marvelous interaction, other aspects were also observed. Some other chemical levels, such as serotonin levels, went down which indicated that some stress, aggression or obsessive thinking could have occurred as the participants went through their research time in the MRI.
So, how does this apply to the practice of Ascension? When we think a thought of love, such as the Love Attitude, we just used our cognitive abilities - our power of conscious choice. No picture was needed for us just then. No MRI. Just the simplicity of Choice. All the beneficial effects that scientists are looking at would have been generated through our thought, whether we consciously experience it or not.
What about the other aspects of the brain’s response, such as possible stress thoughts? Well, remember that release of stress is a by-product of the mind and the body, resting deeply, working in coordination to bring about improved health and expanded consciousness. If a stress thought comes, it is simply an energy movement resulting from the process of Ascending and the healing that has just occurred.
In other words there may be many experiences during the practice of Ascension. Some will feel good, some not. You don’t have to believe that love has positive benefits, or even that thinking the Love Attitude will have benefits. It will. Hey - even scientists today are excited about the benefits and potentials of the chemical effects of thoughts of love that can occur in all of us. With Ascension we have a simple effective tool to activate it any time or place. It just takes a choice.
Mayasakti Ishaya
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This is the 59th edition of the Ishaya Foundation newsletter.
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