By Yari

Enlightenment is the ability to consciously connect to a certain quality of light or energy and to be able to channel that for yourself at will. This is done by hooking one's energy body up to those source rays of light or energy.

I use the term Point of View (POV) in a similar way that Don Juan in the Castaneda books used the term Assemblage Point. At any moment in time we are at a certain POV, which is the sum total of our sensory perception, subtle impressions, thoughts, and emotions at that moment. All spiritual practices are methods of teaching us how to shift our POV to that of a more radiant and resonate POV. Every spiritual tradition has its own favorite POV's. The practices they teach are devices used to obtain these POV's. Mantras, mudras, meditation, movements are all such devices. They only work if they are done with intent to connect. They don't work at all when they have become a boring routine or when they are engaged into with a defeatist attitude. If you are doing your practice because you "should" do it, rather than because you want to do it, it certainly will not work for you. This is why I am pessimistic about methods that focus on the quantity rather than the quality of relationship to the practice. You can chant a certain mantra a million times and it won't help you at all if your attitude towards chanting it is wrong.

I recently heard a meditation teacher state that after 20-some years of meditation he doesn't feel that he is any more radiant--only perhaps more peaceful. Peaceful is OK but if you want to tap into the pure delight of divine radiance at will, well there is no reason you can't. And there is no reason it has to take 20 years. My point being, if something is not working for you, don't keep banging your head against the wall. Try other methods.

Some people are afraid of becoming a basket case or some sort of blissful zombie if they are find a method to tap into radiance. This fear is unfounded. You can be in your ordinary state all day long--even hold a mean and nasty POV, and if you are able to tap into that source that feeds your soul whenever you want to, well let's just say then "you have arrived". You are in effect a shapeshifter. You don't have to be able to change your physical form to be a shapeshifter, just your energetic form.

You can easily shift your POV with psychotropic drugs, but these experiences will not help you have control for yourself, in your normal state. They will give you a taste of what is possible at the far end of the POV scale--an end you probably have little reason to visit, although I am personally not against experiencing these, as long as it doesn't become a habit to use drugs.

The following is a task to start learning to consciously shift your POV: First find a person that can exude radiance. You know what I mean, one of those really shiny, glowing people that can warm you up with a smile. Even if you cringe when you meet this type of person, just hear me out. This is a "stalking" task so drop your judgements and try it. When I say "stalking" I do not mean it in the sense of "search out, follow, and destroy". I mean it in the sense of "search out and find" for a positive, specific purpose.

Where will you find this type of person? I suggest you look in a spiritual study group. I suggest this because you will find that people in these types of groups are at their glowing best. You will have enough contact with them on a regular basis to complete your task but you won't have so much contact with them that you see them at their worst. It doesn't matter what religion or tradition the group is connected to. You are not there for the teachings. Don't look for smart people--this is not an intellectual exercise. The person you are looking for can be of quite low intelligence and still know how to exude radiance. Maybe they don't know what they are doing and cannot really control their own POV, but as long as they can hold it long enough for you to get a fix on their energetic print, it's long enough.

If the study group seems intellectually childish to you, all the better. You won't then get lost in the mental realm and risk losing the focus of your task. Don't stalk a guru or leader of any kind for this task. In fact, it is better if the person you are stalking is younger and without any type of authority at all. Children are sometimes good for this, but since their POV's are usually out of control, it is better to find a young adult. Also don't use a study group connected with your own religion for this. Find one you are unfamiliar with and where you don't know anyone. This means go to the group alone. If you want to learn to shift your POV, you must stretch beyond your habitual comfort zone.

Now when you find this person treat her or him with the utmost respect. Do not be energetically, or in any other way, condescending. That means don't push down on her energy field. The POV you hold towards him is something like "alert and observant appreciation." Address her often by his name and look at her as though he is a precious golden egg--your golden egg that you can never possess. Imagine that this golden egg is very fragile and if you do anything to crack it, even a tiny crack, you lose. Don't play games, don't trick or try to possess him. Don't befriend her. God forbid don't seduce him. The exercise will be ruined if you do this. Treat this person as though if you make a single wrong move towards her, everything you are trying for will be destroyed and you will have to start over again with a different group. That means be careful and don't lose sight of the task goal.

Now that you have found him, feel what her energy body feels like. Feel that sort of glowing, radiant, joyful feeling. Now make your own energy body feel like that. Let his energetic field seep into your energetic field just enough so that you can match hers. You are in fact copying his on an energetic level. But don't take anything from her. Be sure you don't allow yourself to take on his mannerisms in this process--you are not becoming her. This exercise functions on a very subtle level.

Have you ever gone to spiritual groups where the teacher has certain distinct mannerisms, modes of expression, and voice inflections and you notice that certain students have taken these on? This is an example of this type of exercise that has gone too far. Don't lose your identity in this. This is one reason I don't suggest finding a teacher for this task.

Let's say you wake in the morning and you feel basically bad. Maybe you had bad dreams or you just have a habit of waking up in the "feeling bad POV". Now lie in your bed and focus on what a luxury it is to be able to lie in bed. What a blessing to be able to take a few moments to lie there and enjoy it. Feel how good the mattress and the sheets feel. Put one hand on your navel and the other on your heart. This creates a circuit for energy flow. Focus on your heart as you breath in, and your navel as you breath out. Do this for a minute or two. Now imagine your golden egg person. There he is near you (not in bed with you!) just close enough so you can feel her energy. Now let your own energy becomes like his; not in any sort of invasive way, but with total delicacy and respect. If you have a hard time with this, try colors. Imagine she is there and his aura is blue. Now make your aura blue. Imagine her aura is yellow. Now make yours yellow, etc. Don't force anything, just allow it to be so and let yourself completely enjoy the allowing of it being so. Whatever you do, don't turn this into any kind of sexual fantasy. If you do, you lose.

In this practice you are exercising the flexibility of your POV. You cannot shift if you are not flexible. This should be obvious, but it is amazing how many people take a rigid POV when they are doing their spiritual practice. They are the "serious practitioners" who know somehow they will never make it in this life. Didn't everyone always tell them it takes lifetimes? These types even take perverse pride in thinking how difficult the path is that they have undertaken. Well the good news is that it doesn't have to take lifetimes, or even a single lifetime, or even more then a moment. Just do it. Your energy body already knows how. Just allow it to be the case.

In this exercise you are practicing shifting your own POV to be very close to that of someone else--a powerful practice. You can also do it with animals, plants, even rivers or rocks--it is just easier with people.

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