A
Abiding
in Now - Everything that occurs - including all that has ever
happened and all that is yet to happen - takes place only now! It appears
that all events are happening as moments in time, or taking place in
time. But this is only an appearance. In fact, it is what keeps one
insidiously identified with and trapped in time, or in the false Belief
that Time
is real, which it is not. Even to think about a thing, anything - something
that occurred in the past, or is yet to occur in the future - you can
only do so now; you can only think about it now. Now is the only Reality.
The past and the future are no more than Concepts,
held as memories or visions in the present moment, which is always only
now. NOW has no beginning or ending, it is infinite and eternal, the
very Essence
of Being.
Abiding
in Self - is remaining continually in the Awareness
of pure Being,
prior to identification with the body-mind and the mind's conditioning,
and prior to Time and Space. It is abiding here and now, which is living free in the
one and only Reality,
or Truth.
Absolute,
The - is the one ultimate Reality
that does not depend on anything, and is not relative to anything. It
is that which is greater than the Cosmos or Universe containing all
the planets and worlds, including this one in which we all live. It
is the Reality
of that transcendent Being
that we call God,
That unknowable or indefinable Something without which all that we see,
or are conscious of as existing, could not be, or could not even for
a moment remain in existence.
In East Indian
thought, it is called Brahman;
in Western thought it is the Absolute,
because it is the self-existent Whole, which is free of all limitation
or influence by relativities. It is the indescribable and unknowable
"x" factor that always overlays and underlies all that is,
is immanent in and essential to all that we call Existence
or non-existence.
Abstract;
Abstraction - is not referring to concrete objects but expressing
something that can only be appreciated experientially; it is based on
general principles or direct insights rather than specific instances.
Such ideas are not viewed with the aim of depicting specific objects
but are composed from the mind's focus on an internal structure and/or
form used to describe a thing that is intended to have no deliberate
or emotional content; it is a state of being emotionally detached or
distanced from a thing.
Abstraction is
a generalized theory or idea developed from specific concrete examples
or events and thus possibly containing them; it is the forming of general
ideas or concepts from specific concrete examples. It is also a state
in which somebody is deep in Thought
and not concentrating on his or her surroundings; it is the philosophical
process by which people develop concepts or ideas from experience or
other concepts, these in turn usually arising out of pure mind, prior
to concrete thoughts.
The more abstract
an idea the more other ideas it controls, or that are contained within
it. The most abstract idea in the universe is "I," or the
"I"-thought, for it contains and is the very basis of all
other thoughts; without it you would have no other thoughts. Prior to
it is the sentient feeling of I AM,
which itself is not a thought or idea occurring in the mind;
it is one's pure being out of which the mind with all its ideas rises
as "I," or the "I"-thought.
I AM is one's true Self, which transcends time and space. I AM is not a thought in the mind. The mind rises as ego, or the "I"-thought,
appearing in consciousness, or pure I
AM.
Accept
- To receive without resistance
whatever is presently occurring in your world or your experience. It
is to consciously "be with" the situation just as it is, not
passively tolerating or putting up with what is, or is not.
Acknowledge,
To - is recognition of one person by another, or recognition of
a situation.
In AHAM, it is
to recognize and admit or tell the truth about any situation that is
really going on in you, and take responsibility for it actually being
there, not projecting it onto others or someone else, but Accepting
it, as it is or for what it is. [LMT]
"Act"
- As in "putting on an act"; the personal front or façade
you put on, or present to the world. The charade or pretense your life
is when you are not living consciously or genuinely, or with integrity.
[LMT]
Action
- (See: Work
and Action and Service)
Agree
and ask questions - In AHAM's Conscious Communications and
Relationships Training, it is a simple yet very effective procedure
and process for achieving understanding and agreement. It is where you
listen openly and without argument or rebuttal to a person as he or
she freely expresses a Position
or Point of View in disagreement with your own, about his or her particular
idea or experience of the thing or situation under discussion.
You let the other
person state his own idea or experience about the situation, etc., as
you listen without judgment, criticism, justification or defense of
your own ideas, beliefs or views on the matter, and without making him
or her feel wrong. You fully accept what the person is saying, and ask
questions in order to further understand his perspective or points of
view, with the understanding that from where he or she is actually seeing
the situation, this is how it appears to be to him. For, it would also
be your own point of view if it were in fact where you were actually
standing, or from where you were actually seeing it.
Agreement(s)
- A mutual understanding or arrangement about which it's understood
that you are going to do what you say you're going to do. AHAM places
importance on choosing to be responsible for keeping agreements.
In AHAM's Conscious
Teaching, if you break an agreement you are expected to look at what
is in the space between you and fulfilling your agreement. An AHAM maxim
is, "Your life works to the degree or the extent to which you keep
your agreements," or "When you don't keep your agreements,
your life will not (or does not) work."
For example, agreement
is that by which you know that it is dangerous to walk in front of a
fast moving truck; it's the way you know and perceive the physical universe
and how it operates. The universe, being itself a Concept,
is composed of concepts. You conceive and perceive concepts, rather
than experience them. The universe is held together by agreement. Agreements
are concepts; you can't experience a concept, you can only Experience
in Abstractions.
So, without agreement maintaining things - keeping them operational
and in working order - life would be at best difficult if not impossible,
for everything would be in a state of chaos.
For example: time
measured by the clock is itself only a concept, it is not an objective
reality. Most human beings recognize, use and even depend on time. And
yet, it is only by agreement that what we call "time" exists.
Otherwise, to animals and other forms of life, time doesn't exist.
How someone keeps
his or her agreements is in itself a very significant indicator, or
way of measuring that person's integrity. Keeping your agreements is
keeping your word. [LMT]
AHAM
(Capitalized) - An acronym for the "Association of Happiness for
All Mankind," founded in 1978 by Arunachala Ramana (Mr. Dee W.
Trammell), its spiritual director, an enlightened devotee of Bhagavan
Sri Ramana Maharshi.
aham (small
letters) - A Sanskrit word meaning "I," "self,"
or the sense of "I" or self. It is the life principle, the
feeling of "being alive" known and felt by all living beings.
AHAM
Buddy - An advanced or graduate student of AHAM's teaching
who serves newer students as they are taking AHAM's courses, helping
them to better understand and apply in their daily lives the teaching,
and the Conscious Processes they are now newly learning.
Aham
sphurana - (See, Sphurana)
AHAM
Sponsee - An AHAM participant who has agreed - and made a commitment
with him/herself - to live AHAM's teaching as the very basis of his
daily life; has asked another more advanced AHAM participant to be his/her
AHAM SPONSOR in this ongoing endeavor, and to serve as his/her guide
and associate in this firm commitment.
AHAM's
Teaching - is a Conscious Process occurring in and from Awakened
Consciousness or enlightenment. It is a process that if one stays with,
diligently, will ultimately result in spiritual enlightenment; as it
is grounded and based on Self-Inquiry, the one direct and most immediate
way or method to true Self-realization introduced to the world by Bhagavan
Sri Ramana Maharshi.
"Am
I right, or am-I-rilla"- A pun or vernacular expression
referring to a town in Texas occasionally, humorously used by Ramana
that basically means, "Do you see and agree with me, and what I
am saying, or not?"
Ananda
- (Sanskrit) a word closely meaning Bliss
or Delight.
It cannot be adequately defined, only indicated; and that too only in
negative terms such as, "it is not mere joy but something much
deeper and essential to one's nature, it being the essential nature
of one's real and true Being"; the essential nature of the deep-seated
bliss inherent in Christ
or Cosmic Consciousness;
it is the primal or original nature of the true Self,
prior to all experience. It is the bliss aspect of the threefold nature
of the Self (the other two aspects are existence-consciousness) that
is not the result or effect of any outer or inner cause.
Ananda is the beatitude
of the Self. In traditional religion it is "the perfect happiness
and inner peace believed or supposed to be enjoyed by the soul in heaven."
It is the bliss and delight of one's pure Conscious Existence, the life
and energy of pure Being
itself, being more than the desirable, positive sensations and emotions
that occur in one's life. It is the very delight of pure Being itself,
the "Peace of God that passes all understanding." (Philippians
4:7).
And
- Used in AHAM to avoid inviting, stirring or causing conflict, confusion,
contradiction or difference; it replaces the word "but," which
is seldom used in AHAM. (See: "but").
[LMT].
"Ants
on a log floating down the river, Just like" - This is
an expression occasionally used by Ramana in regard to people who think
they are in control of their own lives, minds or emotions. He says,
most people who ordinarily believe and think they are controlling their
own lives, or their minds and emotions, are really like thousands of
ants on a log floating down the river, each one thinking it is directing
the log's course and where it is headed or going.
Anticipation
- is experiencing beforehand, or seeing the situation completed in consciousness,
before the fact or the event actually physically happens. [LMT]
Aspire/Aspiration
- to breathe towards; conventionally, aspire is to seek to attain a
particular goal, to soar to a great height; while aspiration is a desire
or ambition to achieve something. In AHAM, it is the urge to transcend
time, or the breath, to merge with The Divine, the Source
of being or breath. It is an urge in one's being to a higher realization
of truth, to become one with the very source of life or breath, the
essence of which is God, the Supreme Self.
Asshole
- what everyone is before he/she knows what is actually real and what
isn't, but arrogantly acts like or pretends to be knowledgeable, or
"well-informed"; living one's life solely in the mind, and
"at Effect."
One is being "an
asshole" when he/she is habitually putting on an Act.
It's when you habitually rationalize and justify your actions, trying
to "look good" in the eyes of others; it's when you project
the cause of your actions or habits on others outside of yourself, rather
than telling the truth about it and taking full responsibility in yourself
for what's going on with you, in your life, since you are in fact the
source and cause of all your own Attitudes,
Actions
and Experiences.
[LMT]
"Assist"
(as opposed to "help") - is to give aid to others
while assuming they are actually capable, responsible and are at cause.
(See, Being At Cause) In AHAM, this is contrasted to "help," which
sees or places the recipient as incapable or incompetent, and as Being At Effect.
The difference
denotes a distinction in conscious Attitude,
Intention
and/or implication. Help is more negative or debilitating, implying
lack of initiative and resolve on the part of the recipient, e.g., portraying
a dependency or a continuing sense of need. Assist is to supply a boost
or a lift to someone who is fully capable and only behind and wanting
to catch up. Help is more like one has fallen and is prone to stay down,
looking for handouts from others to continue to provide for him, with
a belief or attitude of "I can't manage for myself." Assist
is more like lifting one to his feet who has momentarily stumbled. Help
can or may tend to enable someone in the continuing sense of need. [LMT]
Assume;
Assumption - Traditionally, it is accepting something as true
without proof; taking something for granted. In AHAM, assumption is
seen and understood as the working hypothesis and presumption of the
mind that is the principal law of creation. Things are seen in the world
a certain or particular way, i.e., the way they appear to us to be.
We in turn believe them to be the way they are, because of the way we
see and assume them to be to us. To someone else, even someone standing
right next to us, they can and may be seen entirely differently, and
therefore are then believed to be different.
Ideas
held in the mind with strong feeling, which are assumed to be true,
whether or not they are in fact true, will cause the mind to act upon
them as being true; it will eventually produce them as realities in
our life and affairs.
Assuming
our enlightenment - is the Attitude
or perspective of a Jnani (one who is enlightened) with regard to everyone
he meets or encounters. He sees no "others." A Jnani sees
everyone as always, already the Self.
On all occasions, the Jnani sees the true nature behind or beyond the
appearance of every seeming individual.
Atman
- is the true Self, the spiritual being that ever exists prior
to the Body-Mind.
The Atman is the Self
or Spirit
that remains pure and stainless prior to or beyond the contamination
of experience, unaffected by the conditioned patterns of life - i.e.,
by Desire,
Ego
and Ignorance.
It is realized as the true BEING out of which the apparent individual
seems to rise and exist. It is the very Self of all selves.
Attitude
- is an unspoken opinion or feeling one holds about a thing such as
a person, place or situation. It is an assumed stance or view that one
takes about something, like a physical posture, either conscious or
unconscious, especially while interacting with others. It may be an
assumptive position taken as a challenge or to produce an effect.
Aum
(Om) - is the vibrant universal formula that sums up the entire
combined energy of sound and speech, which produces, contains, blends
and releases all the spiritual power and all the potential of the spoken
word, or the creative power in and of "the Word."
It is the creative
Force in and vibrating throughout the Universe. In the Bible it says
(John 1:1): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God, and without the Word there was not (is not)
anything made that is made." This is the esoteric meaning of "the
Word," the Divine Sound of Aum, or OM.
Awakening,
spiritually - is becoming Conscious
that you are Conscious. It is Re-Cognizing
(knowing again) the Truth, that Consciousness
is all that is, that every thing is in fact only consciousness.
Awareness
- Pure Being, unaware of Itself as the underlying basis of all that
is; pure Existence before any movement in Consciousness or by Consciousness
in the formation of matter. It is the absolute Self
- That out of which pure Consciousness or simple
I AMness
arises.
Awareness
versus Consciousness - Awareness, unaware of Itself, is the
basis for the rising of Consciousness, or pure
I AMness.
Consciousness, as pure
I AM,
is the underlying basis of the mind as the mind arises as "I
and other," or "I and not-I," or "I and the world."
Awareness is primordial;
the original state - beginningless, endless, uncaused, unsupported,
without parts, without change. Consciousness is a state of duality;
it is always of something. There can be no consciousness without awareness,
but there can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep or
swoon.
Awareness is absolute;
consciousness is relative to its content. Awareness is total, changeless,
calm and silent, the common matrix of every experience. Consciousness
is partial and changeful.
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