Beyond the Spark: Sustaining Presence

Beyond the Spark: Sustaining Presence

The primary reason people do not make efforts to awaken is because they imagine that they are already awake. — The Teacher

Last week’s topic – Imagination – is one of the main psychological obstacles that distorts reality and prevents us from living more consciously in the present moment. In a day’s time, I observe moments where consciousness is more prevalent, and times when I am completely in the grasp of imagination. These fluctuations feel like “Alice in Wonderland” when there appears to Alice a bottle of liquid labeled, “Drink Me.” She drinks the liquid and shrinks down to ten inches tall. Then, Alice finds a box under the table and in it, a tiny cake with the words, “Eat Me” on the top. She eats the cake and finds herself nine feet tall. Eventually, Alice learns to moderate and control her eating and drinking and use their effects to her own advantage.

Any effort done without presence is waste of effort. If you can focus on one bite of food with presence, that is a real effort. — The Teacher

Learning about the habits of my machine – what causes me to shrink and grow – helps inform me about what takes me away from presence. This knowledge is a starting point for eventually using the machine to reveal higher states of consciousness and sustaining presence once higher states become more familiar. Alice describes her condition as "Curiouser and curiouser!" Her comment conveys an element of detachment, something above her mechanics that observes what is happening and she begins to use it to her benefit.

Detachment or Divided Attention helps me to know and see clearly that I am not able to consistently remember myself – let alone sustain presence. The verification of my sleep is a movement on the journey toward living more consciously in Higher Centers. Divided Attention is the curious state that Alice observed and is synonymous with self-remembering. Ouspensky describes the act of self-remembering to have frequency, depth, and duration. Through intentional efforts, for example, to be out of habitual patterns (an effort as simple as opening doors with the opposite hand) I can increase my chances of seeing the world with newness – as if for the first time – with more awareness.

A lamp cannot be kept burning without oil; nor can the light of spiritual gifts continue to shine unless one inwardly sustains it with actions and thoughts consistent with it. — Philokalia, Maximos the Confessor

Sometimes these new states of consciousness can feel unfamiliar and even frightening, but with more frequency, practice, and familiarity, I can begin to gravitate towards living in the present moment and be less startled by their appearance. Thinking back on my childhood, I experienced higher states a number of times. These moments are etched in my memory and stand out against the preponderance of sleep, as contrasting as night and day. In my childhood, the heightened energy was troubling. As an adult – with the guidance of a conscious Teacher and practical knowledge in the Fourth Way – I am more familiar with the flavor of higher states and can make intentional efforts to sustain presence without retreating into fear of this strange experience. I can learn to prolong presence, adding depth and duration.

The seeker must spend all his time and effort on arriving at the station of divine Presence. — Bahauddin Shah Naqshband

Many of the Fourth Way practices are methods in which I can plug the energy leaks of the machine (imagination, negative emotions, identification, chief feature, etc.) which drain essential energy that is intended to fuel the emergence of Higher Centers. It is a multi-step process to stop the energy leaks of the lower self and pump the reclaimed energy into igniting Higher Centers. To sustain presence, these efforts to self-remember must be continually renewed in each new moment.

The energy rises from below to meet the energy from above so as to form a perfect union. — The Zohar (Kabbalah text)

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Esau Selling His Birthright (detail), Hendrick ter Brugghen, c. 1627