“Go Within, Stay Within” I keep saying to myself.  I’m writing this the day before the election of 2020.  I have my clear preference for the kinder, gentler of the two candidates.  But I am determined that my life is not going to be determined by who wins.  Come January 20, when one of the candidates will be inaugurated, we will all be able to sigh a sigh of relief, hopefully.  In the meantime, it will probably get uglier before it gets prettier.

In the meantime, I have a life to live, stuff to do, places to go, people to see, and my Awareness to take care of.   Whoever occupies the White House will have little or nothing to do with that.  If my candidate doesn’t win there is always next year (when the next election will start all over again).  My growth and evolution will continue to be my preoccupation, along with teaching my grandsons to play tennis.

What Does This Mean, “Go Within, Stay Within?”

That is what this article will discuss, along with how to do just that, and work with it.  One morning my Spirit said to me “To Within, Stay Within”.  I rushed to write that down on one of the 3×5 notecards that I keep handy for such occasions.  This was written in 2016, interestingly, and became one of my frequently revised sayings that I say to myself.  “Go Within, Stay Within”.  Suggesting that one way to live a life filled with Elevated Awareness is to realize the value of pulling back from the world a bit and going Within to gain a larger than ego/mind perspective on this world.  Whether to do this during a meditation or to do this while engaging in my life while it is in the process of unfolding.

This saying is a takeoff on Jesus’ words in Luke in which he says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you”.  With this simple yet profoundly complex saying he swept all notions that God is to be found outside of ourselves in the many inventions of man to try to find God/Spirit/The ALL.  Instead he suggests that to find the experience of the Divine we must go where that Divine is easily accessed–inside of us where that experience is most available.  Within.

Different from How I Used to Live

This so contrary to the many notions that existed in 0 BC, and present-day time, of God being “out there” somewhere, needed to be sought and placated in some fashion in order to find favor. In order to be given the good things we desire as a reward.  No such God exists.  Instead, to find Him, to experience Him/IT the seeking must be where IT can be found and experienced.  Within.  

One of the quickest, easiest, most dependable routes to this Experience is meditation.  For what better way to get the ego/mind out of the way so that the experience of Heaven can be had than becoming quiet Within and allowing The ALL to reveal Itself to us?  Sounds simple, but without a helpful process to pursue like Higher Consciousness Meditation (Book 2 Higher Consciousness Meditation for a full explanation of the process) finding this Place can be very frustrating.  

Even many of the contemporary meditation practices, which focus on trying to wrestle the mind to the ground and miss out on the Experience of Heaven altogether unless you reach a place few reach—Enlightenment.  It doesn’t have to be that hard.  Finding the Within place from which to live out into the world is such an easy, natural place from which to do that.

Or worse.  I used to look outside for my clues about how to live and used my ego/mind to figure out how to best be as a person.  No there’s a proposition doomed to fail, as it turned out.  But, who knew?

What’s to be Found “Within”

It’s by going Within and staying Within for a while that Heaven can be reached.  An even more challenging endeavor is to try and maintain the experience of Heaven that can be reached and touched and enjoyed when in meditation, to then to maintain or return to that experience while engaging with daily life.  To maintain this State of Mind, this Christ Consciousness, while driving my car, brushing my teeth, or engaging with another is hard.

However, by going Within as often as possible strengthens has strengthened my ability to take a Soul dive.  It’s like lifting weights, the more you do it the stronger you get.  Over time I have learned to reserve enough of my State of Awareness in almost any situation that I don’t get so caught up, co-opted, hypnotized by my experience of this very compelling outer world we live in.  I like it this way.

The second step in this activity is to not only to go Within, but to stay Within.  And be there longer.  Grow in the ability to stay There for longer and longer periods of time.  To luxuriate in Now.  To have being there become more and more the new normal.  This is the realm I am peeking into at the moment.  Longer and longer periods of time in Illumination.  I suspect this going within is an aspiration of a lifetime.  Perhaps for lifetime after lifetime, spiraling upward.  Can’t say.

And Then There’s “Go Within, Stay Within”  

“Go Within, Stay Within” implies that permanent staying is possible.  Inevitable, perhaps, once we truly have our feet securely on the Path.  The greatest number of such I accounts that I have encountered occur in the writings and stories passed down from Indian chroniclers of such things.  The Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa (a title meaning “one who has attained the highest spiritual realization”) Yogananda, is replete with accounts of Hindu spiritual masters finally reaching the State of Mind where permanent Awareness and Christ Consciousness was achieved. (For truly it is the highest achievement a human/Eternal Being can reach).  

Tantelizing.  I can only take it a day at a time this Enlightenment unfolding.

That’s Why I Want to Pursue Life This Way

What’s going on within me is much more compelling than what’s going on “outside”.  Especially US elections.  We should shift to a parliamentary system, like England, and limit ourselves to 6 weeks of campaigning.  That is a much saner way to determine who should lead.  And if he/she doesn’t do a good job, turn the rascal out for a better model.  And leave citizens to their own, personal pursuit, instead of having a White House Reality Show, 24/7 for 4 years at a clip.

A Personal Story–Trying to Go Within and Stay Within in New Orleans, 2016

Here’s what I wrote at four years ago about Go Within, Stay Within in New Orleans to illustrate.

Reflecting on the past 5 days, I witnessed the many distractions that come the way of humans living and visiting “The Big Easy”.  My wife’s from “N’Olens”, as is my mother.  We were there to take part in the bringing together two clans, ably represented by my wife’s niece from New Orleans and a young man from a tribe from Philadelphia.  Fabulous wedding.

The best that love and money could produce.  My favorite part was the “second line” march/dance from the Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, to Brennan’s restaurant, one of the best in the world.  (“Second line” being the New Orleans term for the return from the cemetery to the accompaniment of a rollicking jazz band).  White handkerchiefs were waved by the wedding party, traffic stopped, the crowd on Bourbon Street took pictures, and a dazzling time was had by all.

We saw two other parades go by where we were staying near the French Quarter,  meandered through Halloween revelers on Saturday, were aware of the Voodoo Fest happening close by at City Park, glimpsed Tulane, the Saints, and bare breasts through barroom windows everywhere.  And more drunk people in a concentrated few blocks than I had seen in the rest of my lifetime put together.

The phrase “Go Within, Stay Within” as a mindfulness saying came to me again from my Higher Consciousness (HiC) only days before we left for the wedding.  It is hard enough to grock and employ such a mantra in ordinary daily life.  In New Orleans, it is particularly difficult.

The distractions were many:  the symbols of death and evil spirits, the dancing of the living on the way back from burying the dead, life and the continuation of the species through pledged bonding, children, grandchildren, clans from different parts of the county coming together, love, sex, New Orleans jazz, gladiators, Tigers and Saints, Catholics, Protestants, Voodoo Queens, priests, hobgoblins, spidermen, the Old South, the new South, a revived port city, rivers of alcohol in all directions, and more.  A feast for all senses, and the imagination.

I Was Determined

I was determined to “Go Within, Stay Within” to the best of my ability.  Doing so paid off, though I would have to admit that the patterns were more like “Go Within, Stay Within”, for a few minutes, “Go Within, Stay Within” for an hour or so, meditate despite the crowd of rowdies going by, “Go Within” to view the passing parade of human activity with Higher Consciousness eyes.  Then catching myself going “unconsciousness” and sinking into an ego/mind point of view, getting dazzled by the glitter and the glitz.

The interesting thing about taking a mindfulness phrase like “Go Within, Stay Within” and working with it is that it helps to define the filter through which to view and digest life’s details on the fly.  With continuous stimulation coming at me, seemingly from all quarters and on all channels, reminding myself of what my intention was helpful.  When I would go down, the remembrance of and the repeating of the phrase buoyed me up.  The more buoyed up I became the better I was at staying centered.  The more centered I became the less mentally judgmental I was and the more of an observer I became.

Nothing threw me off for too long.  Keeping my discipline of yoga, meditation, and going for a run helped tremendously.  Temptations to run off down rabbit holes became sources of giggling at myself and where my thoughts go darting off to sometimes.  My practices helped me stay focused on the experience I wanted to have, Staying Within, rather than being at the dictates of circumstances and the lure of the 3-dimensional world.  

Ya know, it was more fun this way.  Seeing the illumination of the scene, enjoying the Higher Selves of those around me, allowing the wonderful sights and sounds to ramp up my vibratory rate, taking in the buzz of the City, and, as much as anything enjoying being surrounded by music.  Music permeates New Orleans, and “NO” has its own particular type of music like no other.  Soul jazz bop. With Cajun thrown in.  Wonderful weekend.

“Go Within, Stay Within” Applies to Today More Than Ever

Tonight, this nation is atwitter.  Literally and figuratively.  Twitter is ablaze.  We are titillated beyond belief.  Broadcast news is obsessed by the state of the “battleground states”.  Tomorrow the voting will be completed, and we will hold our breath until about Friday, when the winner will be determined, unless things get legal.  Saturday and Sunday will be days to recover from a hangover.  A national political hangover.   Monday we will go back to work and our lives.

I, for one, do not intend to become giddy if Joe B. wins or morose if he loses.  Washington is a long way from California, in so many ways.  The dishwasher will still need to be emptied, the cats and dog will still need to be fed, the dog, and Book 3, Six Second Mindfulness Meditations,  and 6, Homage to Spirit,  need to be launched this week and next.  Book 4 and 5 won’t write themselves. This nation and this world are in the midst of a major transformation that only adversity can stimulate.

I’ve got things to do and people to see.  

What do you think?  Does these ideas resonate?  Any questions about “Go Within, Stay Within”?  Comment below.

Blair is a published writer, poet, and consultant who developed a new meditation technique called Higher Consciousness Meditation after many years of meditation and yoga, and a traumatic job loss at the hands of an abusive boss.  His emerged a deep dive into his meditation practice with new and vibrant ways of coping with life’s challenges.

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/authormeditation

Website link:  HiCMeditation.com, Book link:  Higher Consciousness Meditation

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