The Big Picture as I See It

I started this series of talks defining mindful awareness in terms of 3 components concentration power sensory clarity and equanimity then I talked about how those?

3 components would.

Lead to

For these 4.

Forms of happiness.

Ordinary extraordinary happiness for yourself, as sort of the route.

And then they also foster ordinary happiness for yourself and they lead you to.

Bring both ordinary and extraordinary happiness to others so these are like sort of the four quadrants of the picture of total happiness.

And I would claim that you need all 4 quadrants to be a total E happy person. We started with the definition of what mindful awareness is and there were 3 elements needed for that then.

We talked about well why do you want it? What good is it and we thought I got these 4 quadrants of total happiness that I mentioned the five things that you need in order to be successful, with mindfulness practice when the concepts get one good technique.

Be willing to apply online and regular rhythm updated a practice periodic retreat practice. Day-to-day self practice and then those 4 plus time.

Are sort of the factors that lead to mindful elevation? Of the base level of mindful awareness?

There is mindfulness practice.

Takes a little time to acquire a few concepts acquire one good technique.

Then you apply them in the concepts and technique in your life.

And you do a regular practice if you can daily practice, I recommend at least 10 minutes a day.

Question can be much longer and then periodic retreat practice. I recommend 4 hour. At least a 4 hour mini retreat per month.

So.

Those 4 things plus time.

Not necessarily a lot of time, I'm just saying time itself.

Constitutes sort of the practice and so the mindfulness practice elevates the base level of mindful awareness.

And that leads to something that I've been calling extraordinary happiness for yourself.

A happiness independent of conditions and experience of body and mind.

That no longer limits you in identity to the body and mind and external behaviors that improve with time it's an interesting thing.

A paradox a

A deep mystery.

How?

The experience of.

Going beyond the body mind identity.

Which is an experience of dissolving into the source which is an impermanent?

Dynamic but vacuous doing.

And quite impersonal.

How contact with the impersonal how when a human?

A human who has feelings and behaviors feelings being pleasant and unpleasant behaviors being good and bad.

A human who has feelings and behaviors constant Contacts that which has no feeling.

Now pleasant or unpleasant.

No good or bad.

That as the result of that that human becomes more more deeply nurtured in terms of their fulfillment.

And refined in terms of their behaviors that's the central mystery of the Mystical Path.

How that happens because it sort of is strange you wouldn't expect it?

Why should contact with that which is not good or bad?

And isn't human and doesn't have feelings so nurture us at the level of feeling and refine us at the level of skillful and unskillful and our behaviors. It sounds paradoxical. But that's what's happened that's what happens and that's what I'm talking about as extraordinary happiness for yourself.

It's also interesting that.

Contrary to what you might think.

The more you trance end conditions.

The.

Better it is to improve conditions you might think Well, you transcend conditions. So you become indifferent to conditions.

And therefore you know things fall apart, but actually as you become extraordinarily happened happy a happiness. That's beyond this world so to speak, but.

Outside of time and space your experience inside in time in space your ordinary happiness for yourself, statistically tends to improve not inevitably. It isn't true for everyone always but as a general principle that is true.

And then from this trend sentence.

Comes a contact with.

The womb.

Of consciousness and from that womb is.

Where?

Self and others arise so there is this concern for the well being of others both that they have ordinary happiness.

So that's sort of ordinary service.

And also that they have extraordinary happiness as you have begun to experience which is teaching and supporting teaching of this path.

So that's sort of the big picture as I see it.