Intuisdom Guide to Meditation

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INTUISDOM

GUIDETO MEDITATION

ANTON ELOHAN BYERS

INTUISDOM INSTITUTEPORTLAND, OREGON


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This document may be freely distributed aslong as it is kept intact in its original form.

You may visit the Web site or blog for more

information.www.intuisdom.com

www.becomingthenaturalself.blogspot.com
http://www.intuisdom.com/http://www.becomingthenaturalself.blogspot.com/http://www.intuisdom.com/http://www.becomingthenaturalself.blogspot.com/


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Silence is the language of God; all else is poortranslation

~Rumi*

*Whether Rumi used the word God to mean a theisticentity or just everything as a whole is completely

irrelevant. Once you have uncovered the natural self,the meaning behind this quote will become self-

illuminated.


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As is the case with all my work, this material isdedicated to you

and to the planet on which we all live.


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About the Author

In most senses I am as much like you as anyrandom person walking around is. I was born

into a family with parents who in no waypracticed any kind of religion or spiritual pathand did not acknowledge or force upon theirchildren any belief systems or practices at all.I raised myself atheist on intellectual groundsfor most of the first thirty years of my life,even though I did read occasional books on

mysticism and the occult and a few books onBuddhism and shamanism. I suspected deeplybut in a very hazy way that I was missingsomething critical from very early on, butnothing around me spoke to that void. Tostart with, theistic religion simply seemedsilly, since it couldnt be verified and seemedtenuously based on ancient beliefs andinterpretation rather than experience.


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While I was in college studying social science

(primarily anthropology and psychology), Irealized that the sciences have a muchweaker grasp than I had assumed they did onreality, particularly the human component. Ieventually realized that if religion was silly, sowas atheism and, ironically, for exactly thesame reasons.

At that point I opened my possibilities up withan agnostic, but proactively-seeking,approach. I was sick of the silliness of thetheism/atheism debate on both sides and Icouldnt be honest with myself if I didntattempt to resolve my suspicions. I was willingto give just about anything a try to see if itcould produce results.

Unfortunately, with some very mildexceptions, not much did. This left me solelyto my own devices and by myself. In the endit was the agnostic position that provided theopen field to allow the answers to show up.

Having, by chance, been taught basic single-point meditation in my late twenties for thepurpose of stress reduction, I continuedtoying with that practice on and off for severalyears. During that time I didnt have anyfurther instruction that really aided thatspecific process so all I could do was stab at itin different ways and with differentperspectives.


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It took me nearly fifteen years of doing this tostart to yield results. Sometimes I would stopfor long periods and then start again with adifferent approach. But, eventually I strucksomething. It came out in a trickle at first andI spent quite a while sifting through theresults analytically. Finally, I realized that theanalysis itself was getting in my way. Andthats when it came out the way drillers strikeoil, like a geyser, like an all-consuming river ofknowing and connection.

When that happened it became immediatelyclear that I could have discovered this yearsand years earlier if I had only had the rightinstruction. This realization left me no choicebut to teach it myself.

For the record, I dont fault any teacher I triedto work with or any other path for my ownslow awakening, and if there is blame to belaid, Ive got a mirror just down the hall. Butwhat I discovered is an extremely simple pathif it is identified the right way. Nothing can besimpler or closer than the natural self in themoment.

That is all of who I am that matters. The restis in the pudding.

Anton Elohan ByersJanuary, 2010


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Contents

About the Author 11Introduction 191~Orientation to Intuisdom 252~Objectives of Meditation in Intuisdom 273~Schedule and Time 294~Environment and Body 31

5~Lets Begin 356~Post-Meditation Application 397~Problems 41Coda 45Resources 47Donations 49


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Introduction


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Introduction

The word Intuisdom refers to an organicmodality of personal and spiritual

development that starts with the observationthat access to ultimate truth, potential andconnection to everything around us residesnaturally within every individual. WhileIntuisdom is more broadly discussed in thecontext of seeking fulfillment in my first book,Finding Fulfillment with Intuisdom, this book

more deeply explores and explains thepractice of meditation as a primary tool forbecoming the natural self. I will discussobjectives, how meditation is practiced andused and why it is used.

The reason Intuisdom was developed was

because it seemed so difficult to digest theculturally-entangled pathways of traditionalreligions, paths and practices without
http://www.intuisdom.com/IntuisdomBooks.htmlhttp://www.intuisdom.com/IntuisdomBooks.html


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spending an enormous amount of time

unraveling their time-encrusted metaphors,allegories and mythologies. There is plenty ofreason to suspect that there is indeed truthburied within those paths, but getting to itseemed unnecessarily difficult. Intuisdomattempts to bypass that difficulty by going asdirectly as possible to truth in plain languagewhenever and wherever possible from aperspective and practice of experienceinstead of intellectual study.

What Intuisdom boils down to is a set ofsimple observations about reality, a way toteach them as directly as possible and a set oftools to allow anyone ready to truly take thesteps necessary to find their own path andactually feel it and follow it.

If you have practiced meditation from otherdisciplines or paths before, you may findsome similarities between the way meditationis practiced in Intuisdom and those practices,but any similarity is because of naturally-occurring perspectives of truth, not becauseIntuisdom or the way meditation is practicedin Intuisdom is derived from any other path.Indeed, Intuisdom is really just a name for aself-illuminated path that comes from within.In the end, if you practice meditation with theinstructions from this guide you will find thatit doesnt matter what name the practice orpath uses to identify itself. At some point the


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name and the path will disappear and only

the truth will remain.


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The finger that points at the moon is not themoon.

~Nagarjuna


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1

Orientation to Intuisdom

This tiny guide is not meant to substitute for

my book Finding Fulfillment with Intuisdom orany other work that describes Intuisdom in afuller and more comprehensive way.However, it is important that you at leastknow that Intuisdom is a path composed ofthe observations that the self you believeyourself to be is a false self in a false world in

place of the reality of your natural self in anatural world, that you dont know there is adifference and that the path to get there isextremely simple. Intuisdom lies in theunearthing of the natural self, what itsrelationship is with reality, what can comethrough it, finding fulfillment and participating

in the world in a way that gives back what youreceive.
http://www.intuisdom.com/IntuisdomBooks.htmlhttp://www.intuisdom.com/IntuisdomBooks.html


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2

Objectives of Meditation inIntuisdom

1. Allow the false self and false world todissipate

a. Recognize abstractions as falseb. Perceive between abstractions

2. Fully inhabit the natural self

a. Orient to the perceptual mode ofthe natural selfi. Resonanceii. Receivingiii. Potentialiv. Emerging awareness

b. Engagement, participation &

giving.c. Fulfillment


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Now, having provided that list, let me make it

clear that none of these objectives guide yourperspective during meditation. Theseobjectives are only why we meditate whenfollowing the path of Intuisdom.


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3

Schedule and Time

Meditation must be done on a fairly regularbasis in order to allow you to become thenatural self, to have an affect on your day-to-day consciousness, to shift your perceptualmode. Without repeating the process ofmoving to the perceptual mode of the naturalself over and over, the false self and the false

world will continue to beat down on you withincessant abstraction and fill your life withbelief and abstraction instead of experience.

A minimum threshold to be more useful thanspending your time doing something elsewould probably be to meditate more daysthan you dont. Beyond that, the more thebetter. But if you fail to meditate for severaldays in a row or even a week, just get back onthe horse and move on. Chastising yourself or


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stopping because of that gap would be to

distract from the point. Simply return to theprocess.

The amount of time you spend in each sessionof meditation is actually not quite asimportant as how often you do it, but youcertainly need enough time to begin to buildthe skill of automatically orienting to thenatural self within your normal life. How muchtime is necessary to do that will dependentirely on your particular condition and yourwillingness to commit to the practice ofregular meditation and the internal process ofreturning the focus once abstraction isrecognized. This could mean anything fromfive or ten minutes at an absolute minimum toan hour or more.

Now, in order to plan how long you are goingto be in meditation, you may want to set atimer, but theres nothing wrong with havinga clock nearby and checking the time nowand again. Opening your eyes wont magicallydestroy your meditation and you may evenenjoy the experience of seeing the everydayworld in a different state of consciousness.


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4

Environment and Body

Meditation does not need a specialenvironment other than something relativelyquiet and moderately comfortable. Thereshould be minimal chance of being disturbedby something that requires your attention.

You can meditate at home, in a field, in theforest, on a bus, in your car or whereveras

long as you are not putting yourself orsomeone else in any danger.

All non-natural sources of sound within yoursphere of control should be turned off (e.g.radio, TV, etc.). While it may be tempting toplay soothing music, you need to keep your

early experience in meditation from too muchstimulus that can encourage your mind towander. However, naturally-occurring sounds(sounds outside your control) are just a part of


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what is going on around you and provide an

appropriate context.

While meditation can be practiced in otherpostures or even while walking, it is best tostart in a seated and relatively motionlessposition. This is traditionally done on the flooror on a pillow, but this is not required by anymeans. What is important is that you arerelaxed without being tempted to slump overor sleep. Your position should lend to youbeing able to maintain alertness and focuswithout stressing your body unduly.

To that end, it is not necessary to sit in a fulllotus position with your arms stretched out sothat your wrists are resting on your knees likeyou see pretty people doing on the covers ofglossy magazines. Meditating in this posturedoes not confer any benefits whatsoever. Youmay sit on the floor if comfortable, but feelfree to sit on a sofa or chair with your handsfolded in your lap or wherever is comfortable.If your back feels strained after practicing inthis position a few times, try placing a pillowon your lap and resting your forearms on it.

This can reduce the stress on your back.

Breathing should be done with the diaphragm,which simply means that you allow your bellyto expand as you breathe in and contract asyou breathe out. This is the most natural wayfor the body to breathe, though we have often


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been taught to breathe into the chest. It may

take a little practice if you are not familiarwith this, but your body will remember it soonenough and it will become the normal way foryou to breathe whether you are meditating ornot.


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Now, take a deep breath, let it out and allow

your focus to be just the now dark and emptyspace of your consciousness. As thoughtsenter your mind, allow them to be, but moveyour focus back to the emptiness. As soundsoccur, allow them to be and move your focusback to the emptiness.

This process of recognizing that we aredistracted away from the emptiness ofconsciousness and returning our focusto that emptiness is the core ofmeditation. What we perceive asemptiness is the doorway to the naturalself and returning to it strengthens ourorientation to its perceptual mode.

Each distraction that pulls us away from ourfocus in meditation is an abstraction,something that only points to something else,but is not that thing. By following thispractice, we allow the sound to be only the

sound and not our concern or worry about thesound; we allow the thought to dissipate as itrepresents nothing real in the moment. We donot push these things awaywe allow themto be what they are. If they are real, they willremain with us only as long as they trulyexist; if they are not real, our focus on theemptiness will allow them to disappear. Wedo not analyze these thingswe allow themto be what they are


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We return our focus as we are distracted. We

allow what is to be. We allow what is not tonot be. We do not push and we do not pull.We merely allow.

When your allotted time is over, allow yourconsciousness to prepare for your eyes toopen before you actually open them. Andwhen you do open your eyes, keep yourbreathing and your posture as they wereduring the meditation. Part of the point ofmeditation in the long run is to allow thenatural self to be your orientation at all times,not just during meditation.

The transition from meditative state to normalconsciousness should be smooth and give youtime to recognize the false self as you start tore-enter it (if you choose to).


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6

Post-Meditation Application

The natural self is what we encounter duringthe practice we have described in the lastchapter. The natural self is the uncloudeddoorway that the natural world moves intoand through as we allow our normalorientation to become that of the natural selfin place of the false self. It is uncovered when

we change the way we perceive to be themoment we are in rather than abstractionsabout other things that are really not in themoment but appear to be from an untrainedconsciousness.

In order to follow through with the experienceof meditation as application to our normallife, we must continue with the same practiceof allowing abstraction to be only what it is.

To that end, we must avoid analysis or even


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much reflection. The state of consciousness

that results from the practice of moving thefocus back to emptiness and allowing what isto be what is functions at all times as thedoorway to and of the natural self, whichallows our potential and our connection tobecome known and move through us. Makingthat process or what comes through thatprocess abstract by judging it or analyzing itworks against the process.

The natural self is a way of life, a state ofexperience of vast openness. As we encounterit and it moves into and becomes ourconsciousness, we allow it to move and growthrough us into emerging awareness andeventually into engagement and participation.

It only stops when we question it or when wehold on to abstraction in place of reality. Weopen the door through the process ofmeditation and everything beyond that is justthe natural world unfolding through us...


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7

Problems

Almost all problems in meditation can beattributed to just a few things.

The most common problem is that peoplecome to believe that they have failed theprocess because they have not achieved theirown expectation that meditation is some kind

of pure state of consciousness that is free ofany distraction. Lets be clear: meditation isjust the practice of moving back to the focusof emptiness over and over. If it werent forthe distractions, there wouldnt be anymeditation.

This process is quite a bit like lifting weightsor any other process that requires repetitionto build something. At the end of any workoutwe dont expect to have a perfectly formed


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body and at the end of meditation we should

not expect to have a perfect state ofconsciousness. We do the process and moveon. We repeat the process and move on.

A related problem is in the expectation ofchange without actually putting time into theprocess. The threat here is that we will stopthe process for lack of results even though wehave really not put much effort into it. Thereis no real threshold of time or effort I candescribe that will fit all people, but a rule ofthumb that I find applies in many endeavors isto give it three weeks of real effort before youcan expect to see any meaningful change.

The last problem I will discuss here is theappearance of auditory or visual effectsduring meditation that catch our attentionand keep us from shifting our focus as wewould normally. As odd or even alluring asthese may seem, they are only the samekinds of abstractions as any other, albeitperceived, perhaps, in a more realistic orfantastic way. Indeed, all things that enteryour consciousness in a way that is notemerging consciousness is an abstraction andnot worthy of your time. Continue theprocess.


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Coda, Resources & Donations


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Coda

The instructions in this guide have beensomewhat loose. But that is because theprocess has to be somewhat flexible while stillretaining a basic core. Rest assured that theinstructions are more than adequate to allowyou to find and become your natural self in afairly short period of time. You may find thatthere is much room for your natural self tobecome more fully realized at that point, butwhat is most important is that you find thedoor, that you experience the natural selfeven in rudimentary form, that you feel thebasic sense of movement from the naturalworld through you.


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Resources

I am presently writing more material, but asof this writing, my first book and current blogare the only existing sources of moreinformation on Intuisdom. The book isprimarily designed for those seekingfulfillment as their entry point to growth andoffers the essential descriptions of theobservations of Intuisdom. The blog is meantas a daily tool of orientation to the natural selffrom various angles of distraction.
http://www.intuisdom.com/IntuisdomBooks.htmlhttp://www.becomingthenaturalself.blogspot.com/http://www.intuisdom.com/IntuisdomBooks.htmlhttp://www.becomingthenaturalself.blogspot.com/


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Donations

Much, if not most, of my material is free. Ihave taken limited steps toward marketing,but I feel that my work should both speak foritself and provide a path for those who seekwithout a great economic burden. So manyexisting paths and teachings seem to requirea massive amount of time, steps and moneythat I would prefer that those who find valuein my work donate whatever they feelappropriate if they are able, which can bedone on my Web site. But it is not required inany way for you to pay for this value. Themost important thing you can possibly do is tobecome your natural self and find fulfillmentby giving from what you find in yourself backinto the world. That would make me smile.
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Intuisdom Guide to Meditation

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