Tell me about consciousness. As a field or as people identify with it?

As the Big Om. Ah, actually that is the axis mundi of consciousness. It serves as a central communications nexus. It’s what leads people to symbolism such as the world tree or the sacred mountain.

I can taste it, but I’m not completely able/willing to dive into it. You’re not really supposed to, more like resonate with it.

The tale of Odin on the world tree is helpful here. The Big Om creates a sort of tension in consciousness, feels firm and resistant to your awareness and like the ground beneath your feet it has a vital role to play in your awareness. Your primary sense of self comes from this.

The more I refine, the more faults I see. You are running too fast. As supportive as the Om is, it can’t help you if you won’t keep your feet.

Things are moving very fast now. If you slow down inside, you will begin to sense that the Om offers you a sort of contour, like standing on the side of a hill though in fact, as you explore, you will find it’s shaped more like a big bowl. But while you are feeling the tension, feeling the slope, it is naturally easiest to go downhill.

And I’m pushing uphill. Yes. This won’t help your intended goal. Uphill is not the way. The Om is in the center.

I’m trying to deal with the annoying egoic voice commenting on my every thought, move, and impulse. Good in the sense it shows me where I am but I can’t stand it. Ever watch a wheel closely?

I can’t go back to silence due to ignorance and blindness so the only silence left is the one at the center. That’s the only real silence. The rest is illusion.

I’ve had moments of it. Well, that’s all you’re supposed to have, like bread crumbs they help you keep oriented.

I just want to make a comment without editorializing and judging it in my mind. That is a good goal. Oh yes, those bread crumbs, little trail of treats. What keeps you from following them?

Well, I am following them. It brought me to your talk today which I wondered about because I’m not interested in cryogenics. So I was wondering why I was there.

Take a bowl and spin it. It may seem like the rim is the fastest moving part.

It has the farthest distance to go per revolution. Yes. And that slows it down. Now remember it’s a bowl so the center is broad and open. Now you are in that spinning bowl. Should you try to occupy the rim?

No. Should you try to occupy the center?

It doesn’t look “natural” sitting there. Indeed. The non-spinning center. The center only appears to be non-spinning. It is actually spinning with infinite speed,

There is no point at which it isn’t? Exactly. But it’s a bowl. There is a point of rest for something in it, isn’t there? This is why you can’t maintain the silence. It spins too fast. You came to rest at the foot of the bowls wall like that gyro ride in an amusement park. When you are there things feel still even if they look odd.

I identify with Advaita and Buddhism. I need some common terms. The foot of the master. Be the student and embrace being the student. Be the one who doesn’t know.

What if there is no physical master? The bowl is the master. The spin is the master. The Buddha’s bowl is the Buddha’s soul. He just asks that you sit.

The attempt to refine the soul defeats itself. The way of refinement is in the behavior of the soul itself, but not in going up or down, swinging left or right. It’s at the foot, on your feet. You are supposed to be confused.

Then I’m right on track! You are. You just need to relax, take it all in. That’s what meditation is for.

I just feel such an inner surge, inner pressure. That’s the Om. You feel it loud and clear in this moment.

What do I do with that pressure? What do plants do with stakes?

I need to respond, but can’t figure out how. Let your mind work around it. Don’t direct, let yourself flow with it. It spins so flow is easy. Gravity pulls water downhill. The Om pulls you somewhere. Do you feel it?

Yes!!! That’s how you work with it. Your roots will remain where they belong. What matters is where the branches go.

There’s infinite space at the foot of the master. Yes, freedom to sit, freedom to be.

And all encompassing love for all who sit? Yes. Peace. Acceptance of the now. Everything now, everyone now.

I’ve come from an abusive background and just now realized how needy the “I” is. Everything constricted is needy.

That’s true. The inner pressure I’m feeling is going to break thru the constrictions. Yes.

And it’s scary. Excellent. This means you’re awake. What matters is where the branches go and branches naturally spiral out from the center. If you can’t keep this continuously it’s no worry. Wind blows through the tree, but the tree will still stand. You can come take refuge under the Bodhi tree anyway.

I’ve been through a hell of a lot of wind. So sit in peace beneath the tree, and all you have to remember is where it is. Can you sense that?

Yes. So what do you think? Question answered?

Yes. I see why I came today. I’ve needed someone who knows this, not in theory. I like the tree. I sometimes stray a bit too far but always manage to find my way back.

I am most resistant to that which is best for me. Yes. So, more questions? Not for the present.

Then namaste from the tree, friend.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~