We all need a clean install

Those literate in the language and ways of computers know the difference between software applications and operating systems. An application, like Word, is a tool to do something; and operating system, like Windows or MacOS (the two major systems), is like the mind that holds the tool.

We can have problems with the tool or the mind. We can reinstall the tool, which is like going back to the store and getting a new one; or we can do a clean install to the mind, which is like having all our thoughts and accumulated experiences, our entire personal and collective history, erased. We go back to where we started as a the pure mind of a child. The mind works beautifully when it is fresh our of the factory.

Isn’t it interested how the computer reflects us? It is like the human mind invented an electronic replica of itself, which can do everything but create something that has never been thought of before. That feat we reserve for ourselves.

One would think that now, since we have created this perfect slave, we would have more space in our lives to be creative...to be more present. But our computer has not freed us because the computer operates in time, just as our mind does. It takes time for a computer operation, even though these operations are getting faster and faster. Even a millisecond is time. So the computer has not freed us from time, from thought, which is time (it takes time for thought to operate), because the computer is not free.

Ah, but where did the insight, the creative moment which is the seed idea of the computer, come from? It could not have come from thought, which is always a form of past experience and knowledge which is always old. Insight is always entirely new. An insight comes from an intelligence that is far greater than the human mind, and when it rises in the mind, it takes the form of thought. If we are an artist, it takes the form of our art. If we are a spiritual master, Intelligence takes the form of our life.

But insight does not come from thought, which is the accumulation of past knowledge in the mind. In only comes when the mind is still enough for that intelligence to break through. ”Aha! I’ve got it!” we exclaim when the conception takes place. The egg, our mind, receives the spirit, and something new is born.

During this holiday season,all my thoughts seems to come back to Christmas. That “Aha!” moment is our Holy Night, and that idea that can change our world is the Christ child.....but first...we have to have a virgin mind. And to become a virgin, we have to have a clean install...which is...the practice of meditation.

When we suddenly realize that we are larger than our thought, that we are not separate and alone, and that we are an expression of the vast intelligence of life itself, our spiritual journey begins. The path to the Resurrection is clear before us, and our practice is one step of surrender at a time. With each step we become lighter, and we are filled with joy as the Christ child grows within.

May you all have a Merry and a very long Christmas. See you at Easter.

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Yoga classes will be taking a vacation next week, but they will be here starting the new year for those who want to jump start their spiritual battery after an exhausting holiday. It's a great way to start the new year. Make this a gift to your self.

Just a reminder: classes are at 7:30 Tues and Wed., and at 2 P.M. Wed. afternoon. And don't forget Eckhart Tolle on Thurs. night at 7 P.M. We play DVD's of his retreats, which are in themselves a meditation on being present.

I want to open Monday evenings for a stress removal class called "Relax and Let Go." This will be an 8 week workshop of how to apply the practice of yoga and meditation to one's everyday world, which is where the stress is. The premise of this approach is paradoxical: Stress is good...when it is great enough for us to want to find a way to remove it. When stress is moderate (which we call normal), then we seldom to anything to find our natural self (which is without stress.) So for those of you (and we all know some) who are tired of being stressed, this is the class for you. The class will start January 15, after an ad in the Courier-Record.

Please remind those who might be interested in yoga that the yoga classes are now open for walk ins. You don't need to call because I'm here, whether it's a class of one or of nine (the max)....or of none. My New Year's resolution is that I'm just going to be here.

Thank you,
Om Peace
Ed Conley

12/23/06

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