Accessing pure consciousness at any moment (with Loch Kelly)

Feb 23, 2022 1h 35m 11 insights Episode Page ↗
Locke Kelly discusses awakening as freedom from suffering and perpetual dissatisfaction, introducing a five-level model of mind and a direct path to access awake consciousness, emphasizing its availability and embodiment.
Actionable Insights

1. Heal Root Suffering

Understand that suffering (dukkha) is often perpetual dissatisfaction or existential anxiety stemming from identification with a limited, small sense of self (ego identity or rational doer). The goal is to awaken from this limited self to heal suffering at its root.

2. Access Awake Consciousness

Shift your awareness from the small, thought-based ego identity to “awake consciousness” or “true nature,” which is a larger, more spacious dimension of mind prior to thought. This allows you to experience difficulties without feeling essentially hurt or perpetually dissatisfied.

3. Choose Direct Awakening Path

Instead of a gradual path of extensive concentration training, adopt a “direct path” approach by recognizing that awake consciousness is already installed within you and can be accessed intentionally and immediately. Practice “unhooking awareness, letting it drop into your heart space, opening to that awareness, and then including everything” to quickly access this state.

4. Integrate Awareness with Life

While realizing pure awareness is a step, avoid stopping halfway in a “spiritual bypass” where you detach from your body and everyday life, becoming “spaced out.” The goal is to integrate awake consciousness with relative reality, experiencing “same taste” where ultimate reality and everyday life are not separate.

5. Map Mind Levels

Understand the five levels of mind: 1) everyday ego consciousness, 2) subtle mind/body (mindful witness, energetic states), 3) pure consciousness (timeless, boundless awareness), 4) same taste/awareness energy (unity of awareness and aliveness), and 5) heart mind/bodhicitta (subtle unconditional love and friendliness). Aim to progress through these levels for full awakening.

6. Leverage Flow for Awakening

Recognize that activities you love and that induce “flow” or “being in the zone” (like martial arts or walking in nature) are doorways to awake consciousness. These activities allow you to access a state of being that can eventually be accessed intentionally at any time, not just during specific activities.

7. Inquire “What’s Here Now”

Practice the inquiry: “What’s here now, just now when there’s no problem to solve?” This helps relax the thought-based problem solver and allows awareness to open to a spacious, pervasive, alert, and wordless background state, shifting perspective from a contracted self to a broader awareness.

8. Progress Through Glimpsing

Expect awakening to unfold developmentally, starting with rare glimpses, then intentional shifting, remaining for shorter periods, becoming more readily available, and eventually becoming the default mode of your life. Even when covered over by difficult situations, you can learn to return to this state.

9. Re-recognize After Losing State

When practicing awakening, expect to lose the state of spacious, embodied, open-hearted awareness. Do not judge yourself; instead, simply re-recognize it, using the phrase “no big surprise, just re-recognize” to consistently return to and train in remaining in the awakened state.

10. Synchronize Brain Networks

Aim to synchronize your brain’s default mode network (daydreaming, creative) and task mode network (focused attention). This balance, observed in advanced stages of awakening, allows for seamless awareness of both internal states and external activities simultaneously.

11. Adopt Scout Mindset

When your cherished views are challenged, catch the impulse to prove you’re right (soldier mindset). Instead, cultivate a “scout mindset” by identifying as someone who is good at changing their mind when wrong and who cares about figuring out what’s right, not just proving themselves right.