They will open their Section II packs, and begin to learn the Perception Exercises, that will get them all the way out of their heads, and into sensing the world around them, directly.

With these exercises, the mind quiets on its own. Centuries of seekers have hammered away, trying to get the mind to quiet down–chatter chatter!–this technique does it so easily.

Underneath all the worrying, fretting, and trying to figure things out that we humans do, we discover this presence that just is, has always been… Life is simply becoming lighter, easier.

In the morning, some will scratch their heads, trying to figure out how to do this (I was one of these–always needing a mental formula for things!). Other people will just dive right in.

People who were closed off for years, will start to remember what it feels like to feel really alive again. People who have felt alive, will feel a lot more alive, as the resistances to life are shed.

But in not so long, there becomes a flow–a calm, clear presence, in this huge conference room–as people begin to experience the power of this profound, yet simple tool.

On the first two days, ReSurfacing^®, we were intimately with our table mates, who became our friends, and companions on this exploration. As Section II unfolds, people spread out. Everyone goes at their own pace. They start to meet their neighbors at other tables, and around the room. Connecting happens.

A while longer, and they will begin exploring their labels–how have they been seeing the world? What filters have they been putting, unknowingly, onto the world? What–that they thought was just real–do they now see was just beliefs?

Judgments are let go of; perception is increased. A space of understanding emerges. How hard we have worked to make things work, when things often work so well on their own, when we take off our judgments.

And lest I forget: This is a space of great happiness.

Moving into the latter part of Section II, people begin to really reclaim their power–resistances, fears, doubts, all the “I can’t do it’s” that we’ve held onto, or not known how to get rid of. They bring them out, usually laughing, humorously, and wipe them away.

A glow begins to form in people’s hearts, as they realize, I Do It! I am the one creating it all.

A lot of the people here will have read about this as an idea already, that they create their reality; that their beliefs affect what they experience. What they will go away with here, in the course of a few days, is the experience of it. It is the difference between studying a photo of a beach in Hawaii, and bathing in its blue waters–the warm sun, the air, the blue sky.

It is worth more than gold. And this is why they will come, some of them from halfway around the world quite literally (New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, …).

That is why some have waited months for visas; have bought plane tickets far in advance; will travel for 3 hours, or 7 hours, or 22 hours; just to get here.

That is why, they will stay in a hotel room for 9 days, bringing themselves every morning–and giving, all they have to give, to this amazing, most miraculous of experiences.

And I cannot remember a one, in my 5 years, who brought themselves to it, and who didn’t think it was the best investment they’d ever made.

Previous: Part 1 | Next: Part 3

Credit: Brian in Cleveland

As I walked in to the Avatar Course on the first day, in the La Fonda Hotel on the town square in Santa Fe, and sat down—name badge and registration form in hand, my “b.s. meter” was on high alert.

At 38, I had been through 24 years of promises by self-help gurus, promising that this—finally—would be “the” answer that would solve all my problems. I had been inspired, uplifted, and enticed by the possibility.

“Maybe this time,” I had thought—over, and over, and over again. The answer, the solution, the key I knew was missing.

Not only that—I was terribly suspicious of groups. What were all these people doing here, doing the same thing? Reading from the same book, saying the same words?

In my life, the world had seemed divided between the majority, who played by the rules, and did what they were told—and the iconoclasts, the “weird” ones, like me, who insisted—and worked hard—to think their own thoughts, do things their own way, and pursue their own purpose in life.

Thousands of experiences had taught me that a group coming together, all doing the same thing, was a sign of people who were not thinking for themselves.

And… they were all smiling so much—what was that all about? “Don’t let these people get to you, just in case their weird in the bad way,” I thought.

As the morning wore on, we did exercises—so simple, some familiar. We stared at an object for a minute. We walked around and looked at things. We had some interesting discussions.

But years and years of training had taught me to be very protective of what I let in. What were these people about? What were they doing here?

As we continued, I started to have more and more fun. I started to enjoy myself more. An amazingly simple exercise that made a past memory lose its power. Intriguing ideas about awareness, and how things worked.

Sometime after lunch, I began to notice—hmm… nothing showing up on the bullshit meter.

“All the people seem to be speaking from their heart? Check.”

“Everyone feels real and genuine? Check.”

“They’re not telling me what to think or believe? Check.”

“Hmm… Interesting.”

“But wait,” I thought to myself.

“I thought groups of people all saying the same thing was a sign of the mindlessness of our society—or worse, of a mindless cult.”

New possibilities began to form in my mind.

“What if,” I thought, “a group of people could choose to come together for a common purpose?”—As a loner type, this was a new concept to me. I had defined the world in terms of loners, and automatons. But… I was having so much fun! I was feeling better. This was so simple!

I had to re-frame my thoughts a bit. I relaxed. By the end of the workshop on Sunday evening, I felt so great, so full of possibility! I wanted more, I wanted to do the next step [Section II].

I had read Living Deliberately a few days before, and something struck me about the way he explained the ability to create beliefs. I wanted to know how to do that!

The following morning, I dove in to Section II, and after a lifetime of thinking about spiritual matters, I was inside it. I felt it. This was different.

One of the great many gifts I have gotten from Avatar, is that I would say I no longer have a “bs meter.” I mean, that I don’t have to worry about whether or not somebody is real or not. I can just feel whether they’re real or not. I can decide what kinds of people and ideas and attitudes I want to be around, and decide whether someone matches this, or doesn’t.

So it’s no longer a wall, it’s just a series of choices. Who do I want to be? What will help me get there? What won’t? All very fast, very simple.

I invite you to come, and test it out for yourself. Come, and explore past your assumptions of what’s happening, and see what’s really here. Because this is really amazing!

Photo by jez.atkinson

There are word lessons, and there are world lessons. A word lesson is an effort to convey an experience via spoken or written symbols. A word lesson can be informative or enjoyable or inspiring. A word lesson is an expression of someone’s belief. A word lesson should not be confused with a world lesson.

—ReSurfacing^®: Techniques for Exploring Consciousness, by Harry Palmer

My awareness can become so attached to I, that I forget that I am not it!

We can become so attached to our minds that we forget that we are not it.

If you have read a lot of enlightenment literature, from Zen, to Eckhart Tolle, to many others, this concept (the thought) should be familiar to you.

This morning, doing one very simple perception exercise taught in the Avatar^® Course, outside on my street, I experienced it, again.

Yet another layer deeper. Yet another life lesson.

I am life;

I am the play of shadows on a sun-dappled street in early April;

I am a field of presence.

I remember when I would study the great teachers, and I would read about how I was not my body…

I was not my mind, and awakening was not going to come through my mind.

I was bigger, brighter, and more beautiful, than I knew myself to be.

I was not even any idea I thought of as “me”.

Outside of all definition, outside of all time and space and everything, I was this definitionless presence.

Those notions were beautiful and comforting. Something they had witnessed, and were charged with bringing back to the rest of us.

Of course, what they wanted more than anything to help us experience it. “Don’t get captivated by my words,” they would always say. “Seek to find the experience.”

Condsider:

What is the difference between eating an apple and studying what an apple tastes like?

—ReSurfacing

Yet, as much as I tried to understand this with my mind, this did not get me all that far, all that fast. Worrying, struggling.

Meditation came the closest. It was so powerful. But it was so hard, too. If I was honest!

Sit there, and notice your breathing.

“But, I just remembered, I have to make a phone call…”

Meditation gives you a powerful respect for the strength of the mind.

One of the main things that is so special to me about Avatar, is that it is a path directly in to this state of awakening. Through the simplest of techniques, that takes only a day or two to learn, I am able to shift out of myself (as I have defined myself to be), and realize that I can be anything.

There is a gentleness to it, like softening in to a yoga posture, or a hot tub.

If you would like to know more about the tool I mentioned, or The Avatar Course in general, you might want to come to an introduction. It’s all about tasting that apple, and seeing what it tastes like!