Enlightenment Tests

When his student failed to absorb a lesson, Master Choe said: “Deacsan, you think louder than I speak.” How loud is your thinking?

I recall a young man leaving my office. He zipped his jacket and smiled. He said he'd worn the jacket "for three years and never heard the zipper. Now I hear it all the time!"

Have you heard "zips" or other sounds you formerly missed? These aren't important in themselves. They reveal however, dawning awareness. You are coming to life.

How loud is your thinking? Do you hear pages turning? 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.”

Do you agree?

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 the only thing you lack.

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.

Visit a Gallery

Tour an art gallery and eavesdrop. Hear what goes on in people’s heads - a running commentary of names, labels, judgments and opinions.

Is this like your mind's normal everyday routine?

Now walk the gallery in silence. Are you in awe? Can you see what is before your eyes, or are you still running commentary?

Noticing Low Awareness?

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 rarely sense this unless we drive past our exit or stub a toe.

In time you will notice low awareness, but don't be discouraged. Realizing low awareness is awareness itself, a very good sign!

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I hear this in her simple, piercing questions...

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Intermediate Self-tests

Are You Seeing Spots?

Next time you watch a movie see if you notice spots flashing periodically -- round spots 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.

Drugs or Alcohol?

Do you crave drugs or alcohol?

If so you are pleasure-impaired. When pleasure is low you feel a need to get high.

The more aware you become, the less pleasure-impaired you will be. When fully aware, life gratifies fully. Then being alive is a natural high and alcohol feels like the depressant it is. It actually takes the edge off your happiness.

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 his chores, gathering firewood and cooking, but 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.

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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

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STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION:
HOW TO RESTORE AWARENESS AND WHY YOU NEED TO
by Carol E. McMahon, Ph.D. with Master Deac Cataldo

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: 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

Index

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Straight Line Meditation

A Fix for the Wandering Mind