Ilchi Lee's Blog, page 45

Instead of Worrying, Do This

[Source: @fryktochka via Twenty20]

Many of us are not strangers to worry. It’s easy to be anxious about the future, even though worrying won’t stop us from getting old or heal us from any disease.

There’s something else you could do besides worrying though—something crucial. It’s discovering your soul. Once you find your soul, you’re able to realize that your thoughts, emotions, and circumstances are just passing things. Your soul, on the other hand, is steady and independent. It’s the awareness serving as the master of your life.

If you can feel your soul, your true self, then your thoughts, emotions, and actions can become independent of your environment. You can create these phenomena instead of being ruled by them, and thereby create your reality.

You can do this by attaining observer consciousness. This is the aspect of your mind that is able to look on without attachment or judgment, that accepts all, and that sees the big picture. It is only present in the moment and only clear when you are centered.

When you find yourself in difficult circumstances, try thinking of your situation as a scene you’re watching in a movie. The stage isn’t fixed. Time passes, and new scenes await. How will you create the next scene? Ask yourself this question and create.

Everything we experience is energy. Consciousness is energy, and phenomena are energy. We can change our experience by changing our energy. Being able to watch ourselves and change our energy is the meaning of choice. It’s true creation.

I invite you to ask yourself: Will I live worrying about what will come? Or am I confident I can feel my true self and choose the energy and the life I want to create?

[Video] Lessons I Learned from Coconuts in Paradise

I’ve been spending some time lately on the beautiful island on Aitutuaki, which is four hours away from the New Zealand mainland by airplane. I’ve had many adventures in nature there, some even as simple as peeling coconuts.

Peeling coconuts was hard to do, and as you can see in this video I made of the experience, it made me think about the first people who came to the island. In a place where there’s no fresh water, coconuts and their milk were necessary for survival. Although the natural environment here is so beautiful and peaceful, they had to work hard for their basic needs. It made me appreciate the bounty of nature once again and how human beings are also nature.

I think when we’re immersed in modern high-tech lives, particularly if we live in a city, we can forget about this fundamental fact pretty easily. We may tend to think and act as if we are lords over nature, even without realizing it or intending to. But before there were humans, the earth and the sun existed; humans are just guests invited to this planet.

If we can feel that we are nature, however, wherever we are, here and now, we can feel the infinite creative power we have because we are nature. Nature is the substance of that power. Worldly prestige, money, and power change like flowers or autumn leaves, wilting and fading away with time. Nature, however, has an absolute value that always exists. Nature is an expression of life itself.

I think we all have come to the earth to realize that we also have this absolute value and to express this value in whatever work we do.

We can feel this value and this power in ourselves through mindful breathing. Life is found in breathing. And if we breathe well, we are peaceful, healthy, and everything gets better. Breathing well means breathing easily in a relaxed way from deep in our belly. We can breathe well when we release any tension in our chest and torso and keep our mind focused on our lower abdomen.

I hope this video brings you back to nature if you’ve drifted away. What do you feel when you watch it? I hope you’ll share it with me.

Your Original Form Is Light

[Source: @GillesBodson via Twenty20]

Your original form is light and life. It’s light and life beyond all harm, eternal life, self-existing in solitude.

That life is conscious of neither guilt nor victimhood. Your original, true nature cannot be trapped in guilt. Any shame or remorse you may have is merely a wound, a memory,

not who you originally and truly are.

Your original nature is not a being that can be injured. The different memories and emotions you have are just shadows.

People often mistake those dim shapes for the real thing. But the false self vanishes when your true form appears.

Those shadows are obstacles that can keep you from pursuing love and peace; they’re dark images ruling the world. Once you know them to be false, you need no longer fear them. If you mistake them for real substance, though, the shadows can dominate you and make you afraid.

All the information you have is your shadow. That’s why I say that we are ruled by information. It’s just information, and information can be created and deleted. The one who does things, who acts, is you, not your information.

Your substance is light, truth, and freedom. They are your true form.

We can escape from all guilt once we realize that we’ve mistaken ourselves for mere shadows. Knowing that, we are reborn.

Like two sides of the same coin, as long as there is light, there is shadow. Don’t hope to be free of shadows. It’s enough to see them for what they are.

Your fear, resentment, and shame are mere shadows. It’s important to choose: “I am light!”

Will you choose light or shadow?

If you choose shadow over light, you can lose your original form. But you’ll have good habits if you keep choosing the light. Please seek to be a child of the light.

Meditating in Daily Life

[Source: @mattmylesphoto via Twenty20]

You’ve probably already heard that the best way to calm your mind is to meditate. However, if your mind is not conditioned, it’s difficult for it to become peaceful. Instead, it may wander or become sleepy. In either case, you can’t maintain your focus to meditate.

Meditation gives us the opportunity to go into a peaceful state and then move into a brighter, clearer awareness. We can experience such a deep state of meditation if we do a lot of physical and mental preparation.

Stretching, tapping, and twisting our body to open up our meridian channels, especially those at the mid-line of the body, can release the rampant energy that makes our mind busy or sleepy. Doing strong exercises such as weightlifting and sprinting burns up this excess energy to help us focus. Abdominal breathing while attempting to keep our mind concentrated on our lower abdomen makes us feel calmer and more grounded. Doing exercises such as these regularly can increase our focus more and more over time.

But even if we exercise regularly, the easiest form of meditation is doing fascinating work with enthusiasm. When we become immersed in our work, we don’t even realize that we’re working. We are fully focused on what we’re doing.

That’s why I always recommend working passionately for a single goal. This is a way to meditate as we go about our daily lives. If we do this, we may become so engrossed in our tasks that we forget about our original purpose. That is the moment of deepest meditation.

No matter how trivial our work may be, if we’ve chosen that work and can immerse ourselves in it with full devotion, our lives are beautiful.

The instant we’re engrossed in work we’ve chosen, we’re emitting our energy to our hearts’ content in a state of deep meditation.

Greet 2020 with Joy and Hope

[Source: @isidoromu via Twenty20]

I hope you have chosen to greet 2020 with bright joy and hope.

This year is the time prepared for you. If you choose to make 2020 for you, it will become just so. Because in every situation and space, your brain can find an answer. Within your brain, there is such a power. But finding an answer requires your choice to find hope. Then the power can be released. Will you make that choice?

If you’ve truly chosen it, every time and environment will be a gift for you. The hope you’ve chosen gives you the power to move bright energy. Hope is the bright light that makes our brain “get bright.”

The way to choose to “get bright” with hope is really quite simple. Make sure the energy of your brain and heart is healthy. First check your heart. Is it open? Or does it feel suffocated with unreleased anger, anxiety, fear, or loneliness? If your heart is closed, then your brain won’t wake up.

You can open your heart by tapping your chest for five minutes or more and then sweeping down as you exhale to release any blockages. When your heart is opened, you can easily breathe, and your life force will awaken through your breath. Healthy energy will flow through you.

If you consistently keep your heart open, you will feel more motivated and hopeful, and your brain will wake up on its own. The possibilities trapped inside your brain will be set free.

Begin 2020 with an awakened brain and a heart filled with hope. This year is the time and space prepared for you.

 

The Heavenly Code: The Chun Bu Kyung

The Chun Bu Kyung is an ancient 81-character text of Korean-Asian tradition, similar to a sutra in Buddhism. It is essentially a numerical representation of the laws of the cosmos and is therefore difficult to interpret literally. The letter “Chun” of Chun Bu Kyung refers to heaven. “Bu” means to fit or to comply with, and “Kyung” means a book or the way. Together, Chun Bu Kyung means sacred text of heaven, or sacred words of the principle of heaven.

One of the key concepts of the Chun Bu Kyung is the triad of heaven, earth, and human. The essence of this trinity is that good and evil, life and death, heaven and earth are not defined as opposites, but as parts of the same cosmic harmony. The text places human beings standing between heaven and earth, saying that our essence is identical to the essence that makes up the cosmos, that our essence is oneness.

Heaven, Earth, and Human are One

One interpretation of this philosophy suggests that mankind’s highest purpose is to bridge the earthly and heavenly realms. Although we are born into a physical body with many attributes similar to those of other living creatures on the planet, we have a special mission to develop our divine aspect and to reconnect to the earthly and heavenly realms. By realizing our innate divine potential, we become one with the essence of the universe and one with creativity, peace, and love. In doing so, we reach the highest level of awareness and consciously return to the Source of all life. This process is delineated in the letters of the Chun Bu Kyung.

The Chun Bu Kyung can be interpreted as an expression of mathematics, philosophy, and even energy studies. Each letter contains its own distinct literal or numerical meaning when read, and distinct energy or musical characteristics when sounded. It combines number/ratio and sound/energy characteristics of the individual components into a holistic effect, which is an actual representation of the principle of harmonious order.

The meaning of the Chun Bu Kyung cannot be fully understood through academic study. When we seek to understand the Chun Bu Kyung intellectually, we run the risk of overlaying its pure, divine message with our own preconceptions and prejudices. The Chun Bu Kyung speaks of the source of all life, which is energy that exists as light, sound, and vibration. Therefore the Chun Bu Kyung needs to be studied by experiencing the energy that is contained within each of the 81 letters.

History of the Chun Bu Kyung

The Chun Bu Kyung is one of the oldest known scriptures of the Korean people. This ancient spiritual text is said to have been created by a sage who realized his own enlightenment through his Shinsundo training regimen, through which he gained insight into the realities of life and death and the operational flow of the universe. Some estimate this occurred around 9,000 years ago in the ancient community of ‘Han Kuk,’ and was orally handed down until around 4,000 BC, when it was first put into writing in ‘Nocdoomun’ characters, which resemble a pattern of deer hoof prints. The contemporary version was translated into the current Chinese letters by Chiwon Choi, a reknown scholar from the Silla dynasty (57 BC – 935 AD) during the Three Kingdoms period of Korea.

Left: Ancient characters, Right: Modern characters

These teachings are what were recorded in the Chun Bu Kyung, which pre-dates Buddhism, Confucianism, and other ideologies now common in Korean culture. In fact, they were later emphasized in the teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism when they were introduced to Korea.

Later, during the Dangun Chosun dynasty (1392 – 1910 AD), Shinji Hyeun-deuk interpreted the Chun Bu Kyung in a way that helped more people understand the essentials of the philosophy, so that they could be spiritually awakened and live in complete harmony. This interpretation exists as the Samil Shingo, a text that explains the principles of the Chun Bu Kyung in simple terms in 366 letters, and provides details about Shinsundo training methods for development of body, mind, spirit, and character. The Dangun Chosun dynasty used the Chun Bu Kyung philosophy as the philosophical and political foundation of the kingdom. They fully incorporated its principles into every aspect of management and daily life.

Translation and Interpretation

Il Shi Mu Shi

One begins unmoved moving, that has no beginning

Everything begins with the One and will ultimately return to the One. One is the ultimate reality that is the origin of all beings. It has no beginning and no end.

Il Seok Sahm Geuk Mu Jin Bohn

Translation: One divides to three crowns, while remaining a limitless mover

Interpretation: One, the ultimate reality, divides to three which represent three different dimensions of existence. The origin of these three, however, remains one and the same from the beginning to the end.

Chun Il Il Ji Il Yi In Il Sahm

Translation: Heaven comes first, Earth comes second, Human comes third

Interpretation: Heaven means the spiritual dimension of existence, Earth symbolizes the material dimensions of existence, and Human represents every form of life and the energy or vitality that animates the life forms.

Il Jeok Ship Keo Mu Gwe Hwa Sahm

Translation: One gathers to build ten, and infinite forms become the Trinity (of Heaven, Earth and Human)

Interpretation: One, the ultimate reality, individuates into beings which gather and organize into higher beings. All through the process of individuation and gathering, each individuated being, while developing its unique peculiarities, has in itself the original three basic elements of Heaven, Earth, and Human.

Chun Yi Sahm Ji Yi Sahm In Yi Sahm

Translation: Heaven gains two to make three, Earth gains two to make three, Human gains two to make three

Interpretation: Heaven gains Earth and Human, and becomes a triad of heavenly Heaven, heavenly Human, and heavenly Earth. The same applies to Earth and Human. These form nine different dimensions or categories of existence from earthly Earth to heavenly Heaven.

Dae Sahm Hap Yuk Saeng Chil Pahl Gu Un

Translation: Three Trinities make six, and they create seven and eight, nine appears, and there comes a turning

Interpretation: As Heaven, Earth, and Human move round in an integrated trinity, the cosmos grows, evolves, and circulates. This represents the life and death cycle for an individual living being, the rise and fall of a nation, and the constriction and expansion cycles of the cosmos. The combinations of Heaven, Earth, and Human produce countless forms and shapes, which will evolve, multiply, and develop before reaching completion and recycling.

Sahm Sah Seong Hwan Oh Chil Il

Translation: Three and four form a circle, five with seven makes One whole

Interpretation: When the three internal dahnjons (energy centers in a human body) and four external dahnjons form an integrative circulatory system and five elements of energy flow through the circuit composed of the seven dahnjons, the energy mechanism of the human body becomes complete. As the three internal dahnjons develop, human beings grow from physical health to enlightenment. The first step toward enlightenment is the completed development of the lower dahnjon. In this state, one’s vital energy is strengthened and one’s physical condition improves remarkably. The next step is the maturity of the middle dahnjon, which results in the heart opening and spontaneous love coming forth from the heart. Lastly, when the upper dahnjon is completed, one is supposed to be fully awakened and recover the integration of the trinity. Also, five, seven, and one represent the fifth, seventh, and first chakras respectively.

Myo Yeon Mahn Wang Mahn Lae Yong Byeon Bu Dong Bohn

Translation: Way less is the way all comes and all goes, features are changing, and change-less is the maker

Interpretation: All things change and move around but the origin, though its application changes, remains unchanging.

Bohn Shim Bohn Tae Yahng Ahng Myeong

Translation: Divine mind is the eternal light, looking towards celestial light

Interpretation: One thing that remains unchanging is the original divinity, which shines like the sunlight, rising high toward its origin, the celestial eternal light. When the human mind is at its proper center, it becomes awakened, or as “bright as the sun.” This activates enlightenment or divinity within humans.

In Joong Chun Ji Il

Translation: Human bears Heaven and Earth, and the three make One.

Interpretation: Humans bear Heaven and Earth inside. And Heaven, Earth, and Human make an integrated whole. Once someone realizes their True Nature, they realize that Heaven and Earth already exist within, and that each individual is One with the rest of the cosmos.

Il Jong Mu Jong Il

Translation: One is the end of all, and there is no ending to the One.

Interpretation: The physical body has a beginning and an end, but the soul is timeless and limitless. Knowing this, one can be liberated from fear, attain peace of mind, freedom of imagination, and infinite creativity of the spirit.

New Year Message: Get Bright and Be Happy Without Any Reason

You don’t need to wait for something to make you happy—like waiting for someone to love you, outperforming your competitors, buying a new house or car, or getting a raise. You can be happy right now without any reason.

Happiness is a choice. It’s about choosing to be open and free, rather than suffering in pain being closed off and restricted. The moment you make that choice, you can just be happy without any reason. This is instant and pure happiness. It is complete happiness because it’s unconditional.

Does it seem hard? If it does, then ask yourself this question: does it take me a long time to get angry and upset? Probably not. Similarly, changing your energy and being happy doesn’t take long at all. It’s possible right now. This is a blessing given to you by your brain’s plasticity, which carries the potential of your consciousness’ infinite spectrum. Your awareness can feel shame, fear, anxiety, and resentment in one instant and love, happiness, compassion, and peace in another.

As life naturally does, the new year will also bring us trials and challenges. Good things will happen, and difficult things will happen too. However, if our consciousness chooses “openness and brightness,” we’ll see hope and possibility in any situation.

Everyone can be a shining star when we choose the brightness within us. You can create complete happiness for yourself without looking for it in anything or anyone else. The world will clearly be a better place when it has more such people. May your light make your surroundings and the earth brighter and more beautiful.

True Peace Is in Your Heart

Pure love and peace come without condition.

Conditional love and peace are imperfect.

True love and peace are found within;

they don’t come from the outside.

Peace comes the moment we smile.

Smiling is the gateway to encountering peace and true love.

True peace is very natural, not artificially created.

Peace itself is a true picture of our lives.

That’s why we want peace.

We humans have lost the peace we once had.

We try too hard to find that peace.

We seek that peace from our neighbors and the people around us.

That’s not the original peace.

The original peace is found in your heart, not in the outside.

Let’s no longer beg for peace.

Let’s not try to get peace from others.

True peace is in our hearts.

Seek and find that peace.

 

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New Free Email Course to Make Your New Year Bright

A new year is fast approaching, and many of us are dragging our old baggage into it, not really paying attention. Ilchi Lee invites you to start the new year mindfully with a free 7-day email meditation course. He’ll be sending a fresh email every day from January 1st through 7th to help all of his newsletter subscribers take a look at the past year, learn from it, let it go, and take in fresh energy for the coming year. This email course guides you to “Make Your New Year Bright.”

Each daily email will include a short message to lift your spirits followed by a guided meditation or detailed action you can take to bring that message into your everyday reality.

By actively engaging in the course, you can:

Reflect on the past year
Purify your body and mind
Fill up on love, hope, and joy
Gear up with tools for change
Set out on your heart’s path

Ilchi Lee often reminds us that “Information in your brain that is unnecessary, the information of the past, must be cleared away quickly. . . . If you don’t tidy and clear things up, it becomes trash, and that trash will think it’s the master and act like it owns the place. . . . You must set the goal that’s your part to do and quickly drive forward towards it.”

What do you need to tidy up from the past year? What do you want to keep? Do you have clear goals, rather than resolutions, in place for 2020? Let this email course help you create the space and time to take ownership over your life, or, as Ilchi Lee likes to say, “Take back your brain!”

If you’re already subscribed to the Ilchi.com newsletter, then you’re all set. If not, you can sign up on the Newsletter Page to get the Make Your New Year Bright 7-Day Email Course. After January 7th, you’ll continue to get Ilchi Lee’s inspirational messages every Thursday. You can unsubscribe from these messages anytime.

You can also sign up using the form field below.

 

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Joy from the Soul

There is a joy that comes from the heart when you do a good deed without being conscious of helping someone, without hoping for any reward. It is the joy of the soul.

With it, you’re joyful in and of yourself, whether or not someone recognizes what you’ve done. That joy is absolute, long-lasting, and makes us grow.

With the joy that comes from personal interest, though, we feel bad when others don’t recognize us.

“I’ll give you an expensive diamond,” someone says, “on condition that you show it to no one till the day you die.” Wanting to brag about it but being told not to, your joy in such a gift would be cut in half. For it is the joy that comes from selfishness and a desire to possess.

Ten gemstones can only be shared with 10 people, even if they get one each. Everyone else who didn’t get one is disappointed.

But the joy of the soul is endless and never runs out, though everyone shares it. It’s not delight that comes from taking what belongs to others, from competing and winning; it’s the joy of a win-win relationship, a gladness felt by helping others do well.

When the joy of the soul grows, we come to know a great love embracing compassion for all things in creation. At first, we develop a desire to help those close to us; when that heart grows stronger, we worry about the whole world and we end up thinking about what we could do to help.

When we have such a heart, the life within us looks up to us with respect.

 

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