Trying to have a Positive Attitude?

Almost everyone wants a positive attitude. Libraries, bookstores and websites are full of methods to attain a positive attitude or to achieve Positive Thinking.

The prudent person heeds the wisdom of Albert Einstein who stated “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them”
We live in a world of duality. Our society is built on hierarchy and it seems that we are relentlessly required to determine if something is good or bad, or one thing is better than another. Every choice we make all day long, from what to eat, what to wear to “paper or plastic?” requires a continual hierarchy of decisions that directs our lives and the focus of our lives.

Proponents of Positive Thinking say, “If we just eliminate the toxic thoughts or the negative emotions, we will produce a better world.” Sounds good, until you remember Einstein’s statement above, or even Newton’s Law stating that, “for every force there is an equal and opposite force”. Have you ever tried affirmations? Why do they work sometimes and don’t work other times? The strategy in affirmations is to identify and combat toxic thoughts by developing affirmations to counteract them. I may or may not believe what I say, but I say it. After all, there’s another law that says, “What we focus on grows”.

But what is really growing? And what are we really focusing on??

Have you ever considered that you may be concerned about some lack? By trying to fix it, you are putting focus on the lack and you may actually increase lack in your life.

In the Enlightenment book, MSI said, “There are a number of different teachings today that encourage a constant repetition of positive or idealized statements. One unfortunate effect of this is a polarization between conscious ideals and the unconscious belief systems of the destructive internal programming. If we fail to recognize, accept and change unconscious emotional and psychological imprints, these forceful tactics of the ego will only serve to create tension and resistance in the personality and can lead to a dangerous split between the conscious and unconscious minds.”

By using the Ascension Attitudes, we are structuring a higher state of consciousness. We are moving the awareness to the Source of All Good. From this state, there is only One…..there are no opposites, there is no good or bad…..there is only Infinite Potential. Every time we use the Ascension Attitudes our consciousness expands. The more we use the Ascension Attitudes, the more we habituate to higher levels of awareness.

Question or choice.."To be or not to be"

In living Life, everything around you in the physical world is constantly changing. You and who you think you are is based on the beliefs of who or what you are, and what the world is.



If you believe that you are a victim to circumstance and that things happen in and around the world that are not of your control and doing, then all you can be is a person in a world amongst the changing experiences waiting for your inevitable human death.



What you focus on grows.



If you become aware of yourself amongst the changing thoughts, desires and experiences and you wish to know more of what or who you are then you will focus on the Self which does not change with the thoughts, desires and experiences.



Once you become aware of the Self and its presence, if you do nothing then you will let your awareness go where it will go without any discipline. The chances of it moving from its immersion in the activity of the senses and outward activity of the world on its own are slim to none. To do nothing in this case means that you will take what you know and experience in this now and project it into the future and your experiences of the future will contain the past impression of your idea of who you are.



Because life is change and the mind follows the ideas it experiences it will pick and choose what it likes in what to identify with. Because we have a habit of distracting ourselves by the beliefs we have been taught it is not an automatic habit to JUST BE.
To the waking state mind to just be means to relax into the experience, but the mind which holds onto past impressions cannot be still and present when it is carrying so many thoughts about the world and itself and is bringing them into the present experience. To be without changing the present experience of the self means you will be what you believe yourself and the world to be and since we know that beliefs inevitably change then who you are being based on a belief is just illusion.



To know the Self means to be intimate with the Self. As you know, in any relationship that you have with anyone it takes a bit of time to know the other person. You must be open to listen and set aside your own beliefs to know another and their beliefs and feelings. To understand how another person thinks means diving into their world and their understandings, their past and their feelings. Otherwise you can only assume that you know the person based on your own experience of life and most probably you will be projecting onto them that they will have the same reactions, thoughts and feelings about each moment as you do.

Excerpt from the Library, continue reading: HERE

Affirmations Research

Did you know that research now confirms what MSI said about affirmations?

In Ascension! MSI said, “Simply deciding with the surface mind that ‘I am well’ is not only useless but potentially mentally deranging. Affirmations repeated by the conscious thinking level of the mind, although occasionally soothing distraught emotional states, are all but worthless for bringing about a deep transformation of perception of Reality. An affirmation repeated a few times a day does little to counteract the intensity of the habitual patterns created by the average adult human’s 50,000 daily thoughts.”

Dr. Joanne Wood at the University of Waterloo examined whether affirmations made students feel better.  68 students were asked to repeat to themselves every 15 seconds, "I am a lovable person."  Those with high self-esteem felt better, those with low self-esteem felt worse.  She theorizes that those with low self-esteem feel worse because they did not believe the statements and also they could not resist negative thoughts.  First, they felt bad because they had not responded to the affirmations as they thought they should, and second, they had negative thoughts. (1)

In Enlightenment MSI said, “There are a number of different teachings today that encourage a constant repetition of positive or idealized statements. One unfortunate effect of this is a polarization between conscious ideals and the unconscious belief systems of the destructive internal programming. If we fail to recognize, accept and change unconscious emotional and psychological imprints, these forceful tactics of the ego will only serve to create tension and resistance in the personality and can lead to a dangerous split between the conscious and unconscious minds.”

Trying to deal with duality from the surface of the mind only divides the mind.  The only “cure” for a divided mind is to Ascend.  Every time we use the Ascension Attitude, which has no opposition, the mind returns to the One Source of Everything.  Even if it is brief, as it may be when one first uses the practice, the mind moves out of duality for that moment.  Unity or duality.  For one who knows how to Ascend, there is choice.

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(1)  Wood, J., Elaine Perunovic, W., & Lee, J. (2009). Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others. Psychological Science, 20 (7), 860-866

The True Nature of the Mind

The New York Times had in interesting article on its Sunday review pages last December. It was titled The Power of Concentration. The writer, Maria Monnikova, brought out meditation – and in particular mindfulness – as a way to increase the effectiveness of the mind and to literally change the neurological connections in the brain.

Monnikova used Sherlock Holmes as an example of a character who is very good at using his mind in a one-pointed manner. The result of this is that he is far superior a detective compared to his contemporaries that rely on the usual method of running around in circles searching for physical clues. Sherlock merely centers his attention on a single element at a time.
If you wish to read the full article you can go here.

As I was reading the article another angle to this subject emerged; by and large there is still a very superficial understanding of the true nature of the mind. Mindfulness does touch the reality of it, but there is another more effective way. There exists an ancient and time-proven method to Ascend the mind to higher levels of functioning through systematically turning it inwards. There, deep inside of us the mind settles into its true nature which is absolute stillness and peace.

This may not strike you as a completely new concept. However, there is much confusion in how to directly experience this still nature of the mind. It is not through concentration or effort. Rather, when one has a vehicle sufficiently powerful for the inward journey of the mind, the mind will gradually and effortlessly settle into its true nature, the Absolute stillness.

The byproduct of having such a mind is what Monnikova described in her article: a one-pointed mind capable of miraculous feats from the perspective of the scattered waking state mind. But that is hardly the beginning to what is the actual potential of a mind that is coherent, one-pointed and focused on a singular object of attention.

If you are intrigued by the potential of your own mind, you might have an interest in the ancient wisdom of the Ishayas and their Teaching of Ascension. They are not merely suggesting a general direction to reach for what we speak of here, but a very simple way to actually practice restructuring your mind, your brain and your consciousness so that it serves you and others in marvelous ways.
We don’t need to run around in the mad chase for solutions (that don’t really exist on the plane that the problems were created). Consciousness acts decisively and with great efficiency. We are that consciousness. We all have the potential to realize the true nature of what we are.

Nataraja Ishaya