Highlights From STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION
These sample self-tests are graded in difficulty to the highest level.
See where you stand, and where you could be!
Beginner Level Self-tests
How "loud" is your thinking?
As he left my office a young man zipped his jacket. "I've worn this for three years," he said, "and never heard the zipper. Now I hear it all the time!"
Have you heard "zips" or other sounds formerly missed? The sounds aren't important in themselves. They reveal however, dawning awareness. You are coming to life...
When his student failed to absorb a lesson, Master Choe said: “Deacsan, you think louder than I speak.” How loud is your thinking? Do you hear pages turn? Read on and see.
Are You “One thought away from life?”
I heard someone say: “Our memories are all we have and all we are.”
If so, you are far from "awake." If memories are all you have and all you are, you're missing the present completely! You are, as Ram Dass put it: “always one thought away from life.” With this comes a feeling of emptiness.
Awareness, and only awareness fills that emptiness. It is more gratifying than even the fondest memories. As you awaken, memories become a progressively smaller part of "what we have and what we are."
"Time to smell the flowers?"
It’s often said you need “time to smell the flowers.” Check to see if time is all you really need.
Recall the last time you were in a room with flowers. If you had you not seen them, would you have known they were there? Were your senses open to the fragrance?
Having time is good, but first and foremost we need the capacity to small the flowers. We need awareness.
Is Your Life A Running Commentary?
Tour an art gallery and eavesdrop. Hear what goes on in people's heads - running commentaries of names, labels, judgments and opinions.
How like this is your mind's everyday routine?
Now walk the gallery in silence. Can you see what's before your eyes? Are you in awe, or are you still running commentary?
In the course of the day, do you notice low awareness?
On an average a day we range from low awareness to none at all. We don't sense this until we drive past our exit or stub a toe.
Soon you will notice low awareness, but don't be discouraged. Realizing low awareness is awareness itself, a good sign!
"Carol McMahon says 'I will speak directly to you.'
I hear this in her simple, piercing questions...
I feel that I'm in a live session--a coaching, a training"
Intermediate Self-tests
Next time you watch a movie, see if you notice round spots flashing at the corners of the screen. These spots signal projectionists to switch reels and are most easily seen in old, black-and-white films where frames move slowly. If you can't see these spots, you literally can't see what is before your eyes.
In time you will see them. Once you do you'll be amazed you ever missed them. You will see how lost in thought we actually are.
Make a Sandwich Imagine a frog on a lily pad thinking: “Next fly that comes along, I'm going for it!” Imagine a dog carrying a bone thinking: “I'll take this bone home now and chew it later.” Such talk seems absurd compared to just doing it. Such talk however, is exactly what we fill our lives with.
We make a sandwich at noon preoccupied with “making a sandwich in order to have it for lunch.” As a result we miss ninety percent of the pleasureful experience: the bread’s softness, the jam’s glistening color and sweet fragrance. Slaves to a "sandwich" concept, we run a “sandwich program” that blinds us to other possibilities. That's why making a sandwich is no fun and why it's always the same old thing.
Next lunchtime, be silent. Taste life.
Do you have a Match? (I)
Take a moment to picture yourself happy, deeply, lastingly happy. Get the whole picture: the place you are in, who you are with, what you are doing, how it feels.
Now form another image. Picture yourself successful. Get the whole picture. Imagine the place, who you are with, what you are doing, how it feels.
Do your "happy" and "successful" images match?
As awareness grows, these images will come to agree more and more. When fully aware you'll have one perfect match.
Wonder and Awe?
Through a portal of silence, as awareness deepens, a new world enters. You may experience something you've missed since childhood: the state where “a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars… a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels (Whitman).”
Are you feeling awe and wonder?
Why the Broom?
An eager student and a renowned Zen Master lived together in the woods. The student did chores, gathered firewood and cooked, but he was frustrated at receiving no instruction. All the Master did was sneak up from behind and hit him with a broom.
The student was receiving instruction. Do you know what it was?
He was being taught to attend (lest he get hit). He was being trained in awareness.
"The book's discussion regarding accountability is excellent,
reminding readers of their active role in improving meditation skills..."
Kirkus Review
Advanced Self-tests
Compulsive Reading?
Open a book to any page. Find an “o” and focus on it. Can you attend to “o” without reading the words around it?
If you can't help reading words, can you at least keep from being carried away by their meaning?
Compulsive reading means your mansion of awareness has an out-of-control tenant. Turn the page and try again.
A Clean Break?
Recite in imagination “Mary had a little lamb,” but stop short before “lamb.”
For beginners “lamb” comes loud and clear, like it or not. Later you can stop a thought mid-sentence. At the highest
practice level you can stop a word mid-syllable. When you can say: “Mary had a little lamb,” without the “lamb,” your
tenant is thoroughly subdued.
Try again. “Mary had a little--."
"He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.” Proverbs 16:32
"Crystal clear Zen in a how-to manual..."
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: A Breakthrough; A New Tool; A Guarantee
Chapter 2: A Beginner Exercise
Chapter 3: “Original Perfection:” A Baby’s Awareness
Chapter 4: Confusion and Illusion: How Concepts Blind Us
Chapter 5: Self-Interest and the Illusion of Love
Chapter 6: Straight Line Meditation: The Feedback Method
Chapter 7: How to Use and Prevent Pain
Chapter 8: Trouble-Shooting
Chapter 9: How to Stay Motivated
Chapter 10: Advanced Practice
Chapter 11: Breakthrough!
Chapter 12: Facets of the Jewel
Chapter 13: How to See God
Chapter 14: Being Love
Bibliography
Appendix: Exercise
Index