We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the
end we become disguised to ourselves.(1)

Intuiting Oneness

MQ: Life is a process of suffering propelled by the illusion of true free will.

P: Truly understanding and accepting the illusion of true free will provides me with the keys of release.

MQ: Yes. Now, ask yourself this question: Would you bequeath your current state of spiritual health upon those you love?

P: Right now... I am not so sure I would.

MQ: Would you confer that condition upon your children?

P: I don't think they would be too happy with that!

MQ: You are not alone. These questions are challenging for many people to conclude.

P: So why is it that after all of my attempts to find direction, I am certainly wiser, but not truly at ease with bestowing the level of my attainment to others? Is it possible that there is a part of me that covertly enjoys the anguish of endless questioning?

MQ: I don't think you choose to suffer. But, because you correctly intuit your essential Oneness you are constantly driven to greatness and to finding purpose.

P: Purpose... I've always wondered what my purpose is. How many of us die without truly knowing? There are many things that I'm good at, but little I seem to have done is of much social value. Purpose implies social value, doesn't it?

MQ: Absolutely. Purpose is what calls you to spring out of bed before dawn to get to work, on whatever that might be. Purpose is what makes you strive through all sorts of obstacles, sometimes with little concern for your personal comfort. Purpose allows you to combine all your most important relationships in life as one toward a goal, which you honestly don't really know you can ever reach. Purpose is the smile you wear, the hand you hold out, the glint in your eye, it's the wind in your sails, the breeze on your face.

P: I sometimes know what you speak of here.

MQ: Yet, despite your finest intentions, you are frequently unable to stabilize a consistent expression of purpose in your life, or peace and unity in your most cherished relationships.

P: True. My intentions are great, but the outcomes of my decisions are rarely aligned with those objectives.

MQ: This is because there are essentially two ways in which you can make choices about your spiritual development. Throughout our conversation, we will examine the differences between conceptual-free-will and conscious-free-will. We will be looking at the ways in which you can include this liberating distinction so as to express the Oneness you most correctly intuit.

P: So with clarity on this distinction I can surpass the circles of conflict and confusion?

MQ: Yes. When conceptual-free-will has been transcended and included as an essential aspect of conscious-free-will, your glorious purpose is revealed. Otherwise life may continue to be a process of suffering propelled by the illusion of true free will.

P: But, will this always be so?

MQ: Consider this: What if the range of options available to you in regards to consistently accessing peace, purpose, and potential were entirely limited by individual and collective conditioning; locked within conceptual-free-will, and that you are not aware of this fact?

P: Okay. Good point.

MQ: Then, where is your true free will?

P: Are you saying that I have choice, but only up to a certain limit?

MQ: Yes, and that edge never extends beyond pre-set conditioned boundaries, let alone affords you the opportunity to awaken to Presence.

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: To access and apply conscious-free-will means you must have already developed objectivity on the root cause of suffering.

MQ: Only this perspective guarantees your success in awakening to inherited restraints. Otherwise, there is no way you can be sure that concealed conditioning is not enthroned as the charismatic director of your quest to be free from unnecessary anguish.

Untangling Free Will

P: Is free will, by definition, not constrained by forces, physical or divine?

MQ: Correct: however, what is generally considered to be 'my' free will exists within such a narrow array of options put forth by your conditioned past. This is what I will refer to as, conceptual-free-will. So without objectivity on your immersion in that conditioned past, it should come as no surprise to discover that your access to true free will is fully restricted.

P: But, there are many people who say that free will doesn't even exist in the first place.

MQ: Yes. But, resilience in the face of chaos always usurps such false humility.

P: So is free will at the level of conceptual mind sufficient to satisfy most people?

MQ: Mastering conceptual-free-will is a necessary level of development that we all must go through. It can, however, be troubling to acknowledge that significant choices from your past were not so much a reflection of your individual volition, but of your selections from the alternatives offered by concealed conditioning.

P: So attempting to sustain a consistent course of spiritual development by using the selections of the conceptual-mind is futile, not to mention frustrating!

MQ: Yes. And this is exactly how concealed conditioning stifles your potential and drains your vitality. If you believe that you can be free, without first identifying and transcending hidden habituation, it has you right where it wants you!

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: When concealed conditioning is crafting your motives and values, you will remain lost in phases of peace and conflict, pursuit and achievement, gain and loss. When the ego-identity is the only one seeking enlightenment it commonly misnames that itinerary as your conscious spiritual path.

P: And if my conscience does not permit me to bequeath the current state of my spiritual health, I know that hidden habituation may be restricting my growth and development!

MQ: Indeed. Let's start with these two distinctions:

• Conceptual-Free-Will: Conceptual-free-will first appeared when you became self-aware. It stabilized as you developed and matured. The range of options it offers to you is naturally constrained by the average level of consciousness in the culture from which it emerged. Though you use conceptual-free-will to survive and thrive in this world, it encases you in conditioned limitations, albeit as an accomplished member of that community. Conceptual-free-will offers no possibility of liberation.
• Conscious-Free-Will: Conscious-free-will begins to unfold as you identify the ways in which conceptual-free-will has been restricting your spiritual development. It stabilizes to the degree that you have transcended and included conceptual-free-will as an object in your awareness. Once the culturally-created-self is objectified, conscious-free-will enables you to access and unleash your full potential. By the application of conscious-free-will, you become a living bridge between the manifested and the unmanifested dimensions of existence.

P: I don't really understand transcend and include and culturally-created-self.

MQ: Recall a series of thoughts, decisions, and responses you had to a situation in your teens. Perhaps it was with a sweetheart or a friend at that time. See how you can now view that entire dynamic as a single entity. It has become an 'object' in your awareness. To transcend is to let go of or go past. So in the case of this particular event, you have let go of your attachment to those teenage ways of being, but you have not entirely abandoned the tools you used or what you experienced and learned. In other words, you have included all those experiences in that object as part of your new perspective. We will have more on the culturally-created-self in Chapter Three.

P: Thank you.

MQ: Cognitive discomfort often acts as an indication that you are allowing growth to occur. To be able to think clearly about your own experience is an essential aspect of your ability to free yourself from unnecessary misery and to develop yourself morally and ethically.

Concealed Conditioning

P: So, what if concealed conditioning is running my spiritual quest?

MQ: If unconsciousness is plucking at the heartstrings of your freedom pursuits, unnecessary suffering will be rife and impossible to escape. So, despite a mind-boggling selection of therapies and personal improvement programs, something will be gravely amiss: evidence of simple ease and fulfillment. By evidence, I mean not sterile statistics, but the joy of awareness and the ability to consistently come together with other people in the absence of unnecessary conflict.

P: Otherwise, the struggles will persist and the crowd just gets older, and those who were not born when I started on my quest now fill the front rows of the lecture halls in wide-eyed anticipation.

MQ: A sad state of affairs indeed.

P: Could it be worse than this?

MQ: What if the single greatest discovery you make on your quest for true happiness is the extent to which concealed conditioning has been directing that search away from contentment?

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: Your path will seem endlessly arduous when you are erroneously convinced that you have accessed one that leads to the end of suffering.

P: Is this why lasting happiness is so elusive?

MQ: Correct. In fact, many people who are certain that they are advancing toward liberation have yet to take their first step on a path that is not entirely constricted by individual and collective habituation. They remain lost in the pursuit of freedom, unaware that concealed conditioning is leading their quest. Without clarity on this hidden habituation and the origin of the ego-mind that created it, living a conscious life is next to impossible.

P: So to create the conditions for my awakening, I must first identify the life I have unknowingly constructed and am sustaining because of concealed conditioning.

MQ: Indeed. To awaken is to discover those dialogues and self-conversations, relationships, and responses to life that curb the expression of your most natural Self. That's what this work is all about.

P: But, isn't every effort toward sacredness to be encouraged and celebrated?

MQ: Of course, and at every level. But, because the conceptual mind paints a convincing picture of the way, you seldom question if your current path can lead to victory. These unseen influences of hereditary habituation are so forceful that a significant portion of your attention is frequently unavailable. When unconscious motives are constantly appearing in your words and deeds, you commonly manifest fleeting states of purpose and fulfillment, interspersed with periods of great doubt and confusion. Is this your experience?

P: Yes, it often is like this.

MQ: So let this rollercoaster act as a first sign that concealed conditioning may be at work.

P: And you said that my attention is unavailable because...?

MQ: Because it is unsuspectingly consumed with supporting and defending the beliefs, lifestyle, and choices of the culturally-created-self.

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: Surpassing the covert reins of conditioning exposes your eternal motives resting just beyond those inherited agreements.

P: You mention 'hereditary habituation' and 'inherited agreement'. Are you suggesting that I unsuspectingly acquired them from past generations, just like physical attributes?

MQ: We will look at this in much greater detail in Chapter Two, but yes, because of the accumulated unconsciousness of the world into which you were born, you absorb and express conditioning just as readily as you do your dress style preferences. It's not so bad, at least now you are beginning to wake up to this likelihood. You can't find your way until you realize your compass has been compromised - not maliciously - but without you or your ancestors' knowledge.

P: So the awakened one is sure that every aspect of his life is included as his path?

MQ: Yes, every aspect and all of the time.

P: Can you summarize how he might have achieved this?

MQ: Yes. It all happened by itself with no effort whatsoever on his behalf!

P: Really?

MQ: Just kidding! That's just what the unhealthy-ego likes to think. By purposeful discipline, the awakened person has identified concealed conditioning in his words and actions. He also integrated the parts of himself he had denied - his shadow. This prepared him to see past the illusion of separation, first through meditation and contemplation, and now at all times. He knows that from an absolute point of view, we are all One, and from a relative point of view, we all are different, and he can truly appreciate that magnificence. He sees we are individuals who can also come together in relationships of Oneness.

P: So the awakened person is aware of both perspectives: The beauty of Oneness and individual exclusivity of the fully functioning human being. And he can manifest both in this world.

MQ: Yes. He is a fully functioning human being.

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: The glorious expression of your full potential is not going to be a matter of accumulating more knowledge or techniques, but of objectivity on what you already are - yourself and your Oneness with the Self. Then freedom emerges from where suffering once thrived.

P: Is this why some folks seem to be more aware than others?

MQ: Yes, of course. They are more aware of who they are cognitively, emotionally and as form. They are also more aware of who they are as joy, creativity, potential and as the formless.

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: A fully functioning human being consistently responds to life from the apex of form and formless.

P: All of this talk of perspectives and concealed conditioning reminds me of the fable(2) about an eagle who was raised by chickens and so she grew up believing she was not an eagle.

MQ: Yes, and when this mistruth was revealed to her - by another eagle - what do you think she did? Did she listen to the limitations put upon her by the average level of consciousness of the chicken culture in which she was reared? Or did she spread her wings and soar to her full potential beyond the mediocrity to which she had unknowingly succumbed?

P: I hope she had the courage to fly into her full potential.

MQ: Indeed. Understand, however, that your awakening reveals that you are born of majestic potential, and for inconsequential reasons, you may elect to stay in the safety of the 'coop'. Therefore, as you work to awaken, which voices do you habitually pay attention to?

P: But, there are so many voices!

MQ: Which is perfectly normal, so then, first ask: Who's listening?

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: To awaken, become aware of the context in which your desire to soar as your full potential appears.

What is Consciousness?

P: Consciousness is that context?

MQ: Yes, it is the 'background' in which the world of form arises. Consciousness is also the ability to be aware; the untouchable awareness of your being. What can you be aware of? You can be aware of your thoughts, values, emotions and of physical items - also known as the manifested state. You can also be aware of the unmanifested, or original state, from which all phenomena appear and ultimately return - pure consciousness.

P: If it's my natural state, why is it that I can't access the Presence of being whenever I want?

MQ: We need to go back to before the beginning of time for the answer to that question.

P: Okay. So, what was there before the beginning of time?

MQ: There was only consciousness. Then, about fourteen billion years ago, something came from nothing: the big bang. This is consciousness taking shapes, from thoughts, to intentions, to actions, to material objects, which if you notice is still happening today. The big bang hasn't stopped. Then, between 4000 and 1500 BC(3), as part of the unfolding of consciousness into form, there commenced the evolution of a rigid reality of images, symbols, concepts, beliefs, superstitions, heavens, hells, ghosts, goblins and Gods in the collective thought of human beings. This is what is called the conceptual-mind or the dualistic-mind. And then another amazing development occurred. A thought-based 'self' emerged in the mind's-eye of every human. Then each person had access to a separate sense of self, which was simultaneously identified with, yet somehow separate, from all of these ideas and the material universe in which it found itself. This separate sense of self could also think about itself and so distinguish one individual from another. The ability to make decisions, at the level of conceptual-free-will, emerged shortly afterwards. Then along came 'you' and 'me'.

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: Along the way consciousness lost itself in a pantheonic polygamy.

P: So for a long time consciousness in me has only been identified with my separate sense of self, the ideas and notions of the conceptual-mind and the material world.

MQ: Yes, and the various fears and desires as conditioned by your culture.

P: Is this separate sense of self what most of us refer to as 'me'?

MQ: That's correct. A person alluding to 'me' has mostly mistaken who they truly are for the culturally-created-self. For instance: Look at the amazing diversity in belief systems that exist in our world today. The existence of the concept-based mind in different cultures allowed for the emergence of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and so on. Then depending on where you were born, you were naturally inclined to identify with the tradition that was most popular to that geography and that included that as part of your individuality.

P: Each religion has its own versions of heaven and hell. Which heaven is the right one? Which hell is the right one?

MQ: The answer to both of your questions is all of them. They are all equally correct at that level of development. Now, humankind has started to transcend and include the ideas of 'heaven' and 'hell' offered to us by the mythic traditions. Our full potential is only beginning to become known to us.

P: So my role as a person who is interested in awakening is to recognize my desire to consciously evolve beyond my own individual and collective conditioning so that I may discover and express my full potential?

MQ: Yes.

The Two Sides of Narcissism

MQ: Therefore, it is best to identify and let go of the malevolent aspect of the ego-mind that may have you caught up in heaps of unneeded conflict.

P: So not all aspects of the ego are unhealthy?

MQ: No, not in the least. The healthy aspects of the ego are invaluable because they help us make important distinctions and navigate this world.

EVOLUTIONARY POINTER: An unhealthy attachment to the ego you causes you to be obsessed with defining yourself as only the separate sense of self.

MQ: We will be coming back to this in the second chapter, but as you can see there is a huge difference between these two aspects of the ego. The part of yourself that you seek to indentify in your spiritual practice is this malevolent side of narcissism. From now on, I will use the term unhealthy-ego to refer to the part of each one of us that is exclusively fixated on sustaining the separate sense of self. The unhealthy-ego accomplishes this by having you believe that you are only the separate sense of self, which is simply untrue. You are not just that. And remember, the ego does not care about how much you suffer because of this identity. It only cares about itself. The unhealthy-ego is a most brutal element of the conceptual-mind that is only concerned about conserving superfluous anguish and staying in charge of your life. It is important that you do not deny the ego completely. To acknowledge its existence in you prevents you from become a living example of its covert manifestations. As we will see in subsequent chapters, it is only by identifying and owning it's many manifestations, that you can take full responsibility for its presence in you. Then you can use true individuality for your sake and to benefit others.

P: Is the unhealthy-ego the same as what Eckhart Tolle(4) describes as the pain-body?

MQ: Only in some ways it is the same.

P: Is this because Tolle doesn't really distinguish between the healthy aspects of the ego-mind and its pathological aspects?

MQ: This will become clear as we progress in our conversation, so for now, look to your own experience. If you completely disown the ego you would be unable to function as a normal person. So, it is good to know there is a difference between its useful parts and the part that just feeds on suffering - the unhealthy-ego.

P: So the ego has two sides to it.

MQ: Yes.

P: Then, if consciousness in me is unknowingly fixated on the separate sense of self, I will also be manifesting the unhealthy-ego in my life.

MQ: Exactly! Ignorance abounds whenever your attention is distracted from consciousnesses, and this always results in unnecessary emotional and psychological suffering.

The Vice-Grip on Your Spirit

P: So the question is never my personal level of development or my individual beliefs?

MQ: Correct, but instead, the inherited attachments you may have unsuspectingly ascribed to and the social and cultural structures that are holding those agreements in place. This vice-grip on your consciousness can exist unnoticed from cradle to grave. So it's not the things you want or do not want, have or do not have, that keep you separated from peace of mind and ease of being. The root of suffering rests with the motives for those cravings and also your attachment to the unhealthy-ego that suggests only its conditioned desires are valuable. And the wonderful news is that the development of your consciousness - your ability to be aware - is always up to you, whether you are currently awake to this potential or not.

P: So a key part of my development is to reclaim my mistakenly misplaced consciousness.

MQ: Yes. First to find out how Presence in you is lost in the matrix of the unhealthy-ego and then to release that misplaced attention. Can you see now why it is so important to determine who might be leading that particular quest?

P: Yes. To know that I am headed in a wholesome direction, I need to find out who's in charge. If the unhealthy-ego is running my spiritual quest, I won't get very far. And, though conceptual-free-will is phenomenally useful in this world, its scope only extends to the brink of the conditioning into which I was born, never beyond. So by using only conceptual-free-will for the decisions about my spiritual development, I will stay stuck, so to speak!

MQ: This is true. To bring freedom from all unnecessary suffering within the scope of your decision-making process calls you to transcend and include conceptual-free-will.

P: So that I may access conscious-free-will?

MQ: Yes.

Click on the thumbnail of the book cover below to purchase
THE UNCOMMON PATH Of Awakening Authentic Joy

© 2009, Mick Quinn, All Rights Reserved
Excerpted from The Uncommon Path, by Mick Quinn, © 2009. Reprinted with permission of O Books, Winchester, UK and Washington, USA. Available at all bookstores or online.

References
(1) Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680).
(2) A story by author Jamie Glenn.
(3) Ken Wilber: The Atman Project, Quest Books, 1980 and Up From Eden, Quest Books, 1996.
(4) The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, New World Library, 1999.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mick Quinn is an Irish-born author and educator is a former Wall Street company director and clinical hypnotherapist. He has been studying the evolution of consciousness and perennial philosophy since 1991. The author is also a marketing expert and a serial entrepreneur starting, running, and selling four successful multi-million startups in seven years. His work has been quoted in newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post, ADD Magazine, and Woman's World. Mick participates in radio shows, most recently with Brad Swift on Exceptional Wisdom Radio and as part of a six-hour broadcast marathon that will include Deepak Chopra, Ken Wilber, and Andrew Cohen. He currently lives near Barcelona, Spain along with his lovely wife Debora and their big woolly dog named Shiva.