Living Presence A Sufi Way To Mindfulness And The Essential Self – Kabir Helminski (1)

1 627 It is possible to restructure the brain so that there is more conscious awareness. This has been called polish- ing the mirror, awakening from sleep, cultivating the witness, and developing the real “I.” Through changing the en- ergy level of the brain, we can activate a different kind of brain function—a finer attention that stands above routine, habitual thought, feeling, and behavior. This presence—this conscious, listening mind—not only opens a window on our experience, it also connects us to the source of will.

Attention can be called the first act of the will. It establishes the relationship between observer and experience, raising the level of experience and transforming a living automa- ton into a sensitive agent. It is this sensitivity that makes the dif- ference between being nominally awake and experiencing life as the gift it is.

Almost everyone has some area of his or her life in which some sensitive awareness is developed. Some people find it in painting, some in playing softball, others in meeting people, and Still Others in religious worship. But few people manage to sus- tain the fresh edge of sensitive awareness through the circum- stances of their daily life. Instead they settle for routines and habits. A change in energy level occurs when we move from passive to active attention. When our attention is passive, we are reacting to random stimuli from the environment and from within our own psychology.

We are weakened and fragmented by the various demands that occupy our attention. An active attention, on the other hand, allows us to be recep- tive and whole by connecting us to a willing “I,” a more unified and harmonized presence. This active attention, which origi- nates in the will, creates more and more energy of its own kind and brings increasing freedom from the processes within the mind.

It allows us to listen in on our thoughts more clearly and to feel our feelings. It is the beginning of knowing ourselves. Through this process we are freed from the servitude to ha- bitual thoughts and feelings. Many unconscious motivators- such as envy, resentment, and fear—lose some of their power over us. We are taken out of the darkness and brought into the light of awareness, where emotional contradictions can be seen and re- solved, and self-defeating thought patterns can be understood and worked with.

This listening to our inner talking should first be practiced within the context of meditation, where it can be experienced under relatively controlled conditions. Listening to our thoughts is different from commenting on them. Conscious listening is possible only in a heightened awareness. The inner commen- taries with which we are filled are an example of thoughtjudging thought, one part of the intellectual mind commenting on an- other.

The Ruins of the Heart: Selected Lyric Poetry ofJelaluddin Rumi The Drop that Became the Sea: Selected Lyric Poetry of Yunus Emre With Camille Helminski Rumi: Daylight. A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance Happiness Without Death: Desert Hymns of Assad Ali LIVING PRESENCE A Sufi Way to Mindfulness and the Essential Self Kabir Edmund Helminski Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. New York Most Tarcher/Putnam books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs.

Special books or book excerpts also can be created to fit specific needs. For details, write Putnam Special Markets 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. 375 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014 www.penguinputnam.com Copyright© 1992 by Kabir Edmund Helminski All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Published simultaneously in Canada Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Helminski, Kabir, date.

Living presence : a Sufi way to mindfulness and the essential self / Kabir Edmund Helminski. p. cm. ISBN 0-87477-699-6 I . Sufism—Prayer-books and devotions—English. I. Title. BP189.62.H45 1992 297 ‘ .43—dc20 Design by Mauna Eichner Printed in the United States of America II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 92-4974 CIP Contents Presence: An Introduction viii The City of Separation: A Tale of Transformation i Soul Work, Reflecting Spirit 6 Creative Energy and Human Capacities 1 Balancing the Outer and the Inner 23 The Power of Being 29 Voluntary Attention 34 Meditation: The Refinement of Attention 40 The Tyranny of the False Self 46 The Essential Self 57 Befriending the Ego 63 Polishing the Mirror of Awareness 67 Listening Within 74 The Dance of Personality 79 Gathering the Fragmented Self 8 5 Mysteries of the Body .

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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