Principle #2: Enter The Field Of Infinite Potential, The Divine Mind

This post is second in the series "7 Principles for Consciously Creating Your Life" on cultivating a life of joy, prosperity and abundance.

Some of you may have seen the popular, Oprah-acclaimed movie The Secret which claims to reveal a closely guarded ancient secret - that you are a powerful, volitional co-creator of reality. You manifest your experience directly through your thoughts and intentions, the movie asserts. Your thoughts carry a certain energy which attracts objects and experiences of similar vibration to you through the "law of attraction".

This notion of "attraction" is an imprecise approximation of the mechanics of manifestation as understood by the yogis (we'll come back to that shortly), but the overall conclusion is consistent: you create your reality in every moment.

In fact, it is the very nature of the Self to create. You are imbued with infinite creative potential. "As the great banyan tree lies in the form of potency in the seed, even so the entire universe lies as a potency in the heart of the Supreme," says the yogic text Paratrimsika. Creativity is the essence of divinity. As you awaken to your true divine nature, you can access the vast creative power inherent in the heart of your being.

There's only one problem -- most of us are still operating from individual ego identities. Our minds are cluttered with thoughts, doubts, fears, and worries which unconsciously manifest into frenzied, conflicted and chaotic lives. In order to consciously invoke your creative potential and begin manifesting a life of peace and wholeness, you must be willing to soften your addiction to the rational mind and move your awareness into the "Divine Mind." Let me explain.

The word "rational" comes from the root "ratio", to divide or particularize. The rational mind is particularized into discrete thought constructs which operate at conscious and subconscious levels to create your reality. Referred to as karma in the eastern traditions, this condition of being beholden to habituated patterns and predispositions of thought, limits your free will. Because your thought patterns are relatively fixed, your ability to create a wildly audacious new reality through the rational mind is virtually zero.

Alternately, the Divine Mind holds unbounded possibilities. The Divine Mind is an infinite field of non-dual awareness beyond thought, variously described as the superconscious mind, ultimate reality, source, emptiness, void, no-mind, universal consciousness, etc. by different traditions. It is omniscient, all-powerful and eternal. By relaxing into the thought-free Divine Mind, "you" cease to exist, becoming one with the unlimited intelligence and creative potential of the supreme Self, liberated from the small habituated patterns of ego. In this universal state, individual karma also ceases to exist (think of it as a karma-free zone) and powerful new realities are possible.

Sounds intriguing, you say, how does this work?

Let's return to the misnomer of "attraction". According to the yogis, reality is not "out there" waiting to be attracted to you. Instead, the entire phenomenal world arises from within your own consciousness. While the perception of duality created by your limited sense organs might lead you to believe you are separate from the rest of creation, even our science knows that you are mostly swirling electrons and empty space, non-different from the chair on which you are sitting or the computer screen displaying this article.

Creation is not about attracting objects to you, it's about entering the Divine Mind which holds all things simultaneously in indistinguishable unity. Here you are non-different from that which you desire to create. Thought and form are inseparable, an idea and its physical expression are indivisible. By collapsing subject and object, you become infinite. Now, the true yogic secret is revealed: if you drop a single thought into the thought-free Divine Mind, it will have atomic power to manifest.

"In the Divine Mind, energy and matter are the same. Subject and object are the same. At that level, there is truth without duality," teaches Dattatreya Siva Baba. "Go into this divine state and then visualize what you want to create. By building castles in the air, you build them in reality."

The exercise for this week is to cultivate access to Divine Mind:

Entering the Field of Infinite Potential - This exercise builds upon last week's practice of bringing awareness inward. Sit quietly and bring your attention to the spinal column. Visualize a luminous channel of light running up the spinal column, from the tailbone up to the crown of the head and out into infinite space.

The central channel is called "sushumna" in Sanskrit. It is the primary channel for awakening spiritual consciousness, as well as for distribution of vital life force energy throughout the subtle body. As you practice maintaining your awareness within the sushumna, imagine also a brilliant flame burning in the area between the two eyebrows.

If this feels difficult, you can use a series of tones discovered by the yogis to help purify and awaken this channel. The following sounds can be chanted out loud or silently while moving your awareness up the spinal column as described. Start by focusing your attention on the lower abdomen region, and tone the sound "ahhhhh," (as in "awe"). Slowly move your awareness up the spinal column to the heart center in the center of the chest, and tone the sound "ooooooo," (as in "tune"). Now moving your attention further up the spinal column into the throat region, tone the sound "maaaaaa" (as in "mom"). Finally, imagine a flame burning in the third eye between the two eyebrows, and tone the sound "Ommmmm" (as in "home"). Repeat this cycle as many times as you like. By awakening this channel, you open into the Divine Mind.

Comments

[Wiredwilly]

The problem is we are somewhat like 286 Computers with 28K modems playing " Pong " , trying to comprehend an Intel Dual-Pentium Nano Internet playing " Reality ". The collective intelligence of the Universe may have the ability to understand itself, but individually when we deconstruct the Whole and use terms like " Divine Mind" and " Law of Attraction" we come across as blithering idiots. The Law of Attraction is more a rationalization for bourgeoise Capitalism than a profound statement of truth about the absolute nature of mind. Ultimate perception seems some sort of infinitely transforming unknowable beyond language. " Divine Mind" is by definition theistic, which the Cosmos may or may not be, as it sees fit. Apparently our current evolutionary dilemma is about the transcendence of dualism. Writers like Rimbaud, William Blake, Yeats and artists like Matisse, Picasso, and Van Gogh are too involved in BEING creative while enlightened Masters like Buddha, Milarepa, Christ, Charlie Chaplin, Yogananda, and Harpo Marx are all apparently too involved in BEING Enlightened to go on about it very much. The key word here is "seems ". Everything I've written could be totally absurd. I acknowledge that possibility. At the moment it SEEMS valid but tomorrow I could realize it's total bullshit. Although I think the intent is beneficial, Ms. Lawson's post comes across as a kind of philippic from some humorless Drill Sargent. "OooooMaaaaAhhhhh ! Holy Shit, I see God !!!!!

[stevesrant]

Dear Ms. Lawson - I have been enjoying and (sometimes) commenting on this series of yours since it began, and have noticed the amount of comments it inspires is getting fewer over time. I think this is because it now reads more like a second-hand rehashing of someone elses ideas, rather than resonating with personal experience. This current post is particularly problematic for me. You achieved extraordinary success in the business world before ever being aware of the principals you espose here. In fact, you embraced the yogi way as a means of fulfillment beyond the material, and did so from a very comfortable financial position. You now tell us that we can use this spiritual path to achieve "prosperity and abudance". While I am not questioning the power of mindful creation, or attracting what you truly desire or whatever it is you are trying to explain... this is the problem. It reads like a confused manual for positive thinking, when it should read like a clear and simple approach to discovering one's hidden potential. Spiritual fulfillment and financial success are two seperate things. You achieved your business success with hard work and desire, not meditation. You recieved spiritual insight through yogic practice. My guess is that subsequent business successes were due in large part to your previous contacts and reputation, rather than Divine Mind. The fact that Ms. Huffington asked you to write this series is an example of this. I don't know if Dattatreya Siva Baba is one of the yogis who drives a Rolls, or one who owns only a blanket, but some clarity of expression would be really helpful here; maybe nothing more than a good editor to sort it out? Peace and Love, Be Here Now.

[humanbeinghuman]

what happens when your divine mind actualization conflicts with someone else's?

[SonjaB]

I find this concept fascinating and now see how I unknowingly used this concept in creating high-paying job opportunities. The times I created/attracted my highest paying jobs, was when it was a one-pointed thought in my mind field with positive visualizations.

I didn't know what I was doing at the time. But in my mind and attitude, I would dress, walk, talk, act like I had this new position I was after. There was no other world or thoughts for me, only this new job. An interview came quickly out of the blue and went exactly has I had held in my mind. My career jumps came from applying these principles of somehow accessing Divine Mind.

[Crowhaul]

More senseless, narcissistic drivel....

[wm1066]

'Thought directs energy'

[Pandu]

This is the philosophy of the dungeon prisoner who closes his eyes and pretends to be the king.


(OK censors, now that I've distilled my comment down to one F%&#ing sentence, are you satisfied?)

[Dunnage]

Dont't know about this or that, but glad you wrote column.

[subs99]

Or, if you would like to ignore the mumbo-jumbo and scientifically deconstruct your own Ego, totally and completely, piece-by-piece, you can follow the teachings of The Buddha himself. The best book I have found so far for Westerners is called, "Mindfulness in Plain English" -- it is clearly written, and has an absolutely awesome intro to Buddhism -- as if it were just another science -- in the first three chapters...
http://astore.amazon.com/advaitazen-20/detail/0861713214/102-3260272-5473756

[SadSong]

"Pie in the sky" - Joel Emmanuel Hägglund (Joe Hill)

[ConcernedFriend]

This is one of the most profound postings and best explanations I have read in a long time! It seems to account for science, ancient mysticism and practical techniques. I just google'd Divine Mind and found this YouTube video as well by the yogi you mentioned, Dattatreya Siva Baba:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6SZ_IYDpm4
and here is one more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihgjxtZtnlM

What an amazing concept your bringing Stacey! Can't wait to practice this and read next weeks as well.

[arcangelica]

so what do we do when bad things still happen to good people?