Recognize the nature of intelligence

Many people ask, what is intelligence?  Answers sought outside self differ from those offered at soul level.  Where do you look?

In the global marketplace, the economics of supply and demand suggest intelligence is quantifiable.  Participating soceties create imagined needs.  In this way, a person is viewed as intelligent according to practical utility of or marketability of skills or inventions. 

In realms where beliefs reign, intelligence is grounded in principles and value judgements.  Assumptions emerge like those who are more intelligent necessarily have more or less material wealth, health or specific conditions that are not equally accessible, yet widely desirable. 

From another vantage point, intelligence is something earned through experience in this and other lifetimes.  Consider societies that revere elders, reincarnated spirits, cultural history, or rituals and traditions which are practiced and mastered over time. 

Ultimately, people can say things about your body or mind, but does this truly reflect intrinsic value? Who can say anything about soul? What if everyone is gifted with the same infinite, inner knowing, yet accepts this to greater and lesser degrees? Only soul echoes the truth.

Feel the impact

When you are not doing anything in particular, existence flows silently through you.  It is more noticable when you expect nothing and await nothing.  Remember a moment when you feel no motive.  Imagine you are a tree swaying in the wind, a flat stone sitting beside a babbling brook or a cloud nestled amidst rolling hills.  In this moment, you exist outside the mind.  You sense an unparalleled freedom with no boundaries. The presence you merge with is indescribable.  You sense it is always there, and grow aware of Cosmic Synchronicity

Develop deeper understanding

It is said no person is born bias-free.  You may dream of nurturing perspectives other than those which focus the mind.  You may wonder how to work through your perceived belief systems and discard ingrained assumptions.  To be aware you have them may compel change. After all, you are self-determined and have power to shift the focus of your life.  Everything is a matter of perception and choice.

It can be helpful to explore and learn about people and situations.  Personal contact with people, traditions and ways of life that seem to differ from your own offer additional insight and realizing individuals are more than representatives of a stereotypical group reminds you of a common humanity.  Choose to sense deeper connections beyond distance and opposition.  Consider factors that can help you eliminate your own bias.  Reflect on your taste preferences and choices.  What do they reveal? How does it serve you to revise perception?

Be aware

One perspective is that different stages of awareness exist.  If you perceive and experience life in terms of past, present and future, then you can be aware after you have done something, as you are doing something and before you are going to do something.  Reflecting consciously on an experience allows you to be more fully  awake.  You gain insight and understanding. Whenever awareness penetrates deeply, you grow more mindful, foresee possibilities, and recognize you shape what unfolds.  Take responsibility to Transform your Life.

Notice opportunities for freedom

In between emotions and, even before any emotion arises, you can notice a gap of emptiness.  This is a period where one is aware of the true nature of mind and everything, where ignorance does not exist, where one feels the reality of timeless stillness and peace. Then, something happens. The spell is broken by the conditioning of everyday distractions.  What can be done to awaken more fully?

The mind would have you believe you have to do something to get somewhere or to awaken.  Watch what happens as you stop thinking and doing.  As you step back, you begin to realize you spend enormous amounts of energy thinking and doing and rarely step out of the prison of the mind. 

Every moment, new levels of self-awareness are open.  You walk through or disregard the opportunity.  Depending on how you choose to experience life, you notice patterns and gain some measure of control over the mind, or not.  Recall what truly serves you and do that.

"If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also light your own path." -Zen saying