-2- The method

The principle of trust consists of a deepened awareness of an experience we are going through. This principle may be applied to inner experiences only. Regarding the phenomena by themselves, selectivity should be the case.
Now, what is a practical application of the principle of trust to the five groups of senses?

1. Do not strive to hold or to produce the joyous peace of the surface. This may cause the appearance of a “well” – a state of fixation, that builds a wall between our perception and objects. Experience is transient. Seek to widen your realization until it comes into contact with those phenomena that you’d like to perfect. For the same reason, it makes no sense to stay in bed in the mornings. A moment of silence ,however, is very valuable: discover; do not suppress it.
2. When diving, swim without forming dependency by clinging to sensual (outer) objects. Clinging produces the sense of stability at the cost of independence.
   Move in a chosen direction, not being distracted by the analyses of phenomena. We find an example of this in tales, where one should pick an apple without touching the leaves and so on.
   If you have difficulty choosing a direction, realize with clarity that everything is subject to change, but everything may change for the better. Then you can perceive and realize the changeable nature of existence as a slow but ever existing movement of all phenomena in space, very steady in its width.
3. With the appearance of an ascending flow one must have a high level of skill to avoid clinging and repulsion. If we cling to a stimulus (sex, food, or emotions) when approaching the surface, the current will turn, throwing us down. That is why the stimulus is usually talked about as a “temptation”. However, the true temptation is our attachment to the stimulus. (That may come even in the form of thought).
   When the ascending flow of energy is unconsciously suppressed, a phenomenon of an absence of “communication” arises. This means that our emotions are still absorbed with the feeling of a rejected opportunity and that one does not feel a connection with higher sources and with people who direct his/her spiritual path.
   A trust of the ascending flow is expressed by recognizing the following experiences:
   - here the ascending flow opened up my consciousness and made it active and clear;
   - here are these phenomena, which I perceive in a clearer and deeper way (we are to apply the technique of alert observation);
   - here the current stopped carrying me up; I start to perceive the heaviness of my body and all the emotions in my heart in a more distinctive and attentive way.
4. The stormy descending current is not to be confused with the process of resolving the ascending current and being drawn down by one’s own heaviness. It is a state of mind, characterized by obsessive ideas and thoughts or by anxiety and fear which one is unable to control. These conditions, being manifested either as excessive joy or as excessive sorrow, usually lead to depression, as one’s energy becomes suppressed by an uncontrollable flow of thoughts.
   An escape from the descending current brings one to “the mist” – a loss of orientation. When encountering the stormy current be aware: here the stormy current that brings one down has appeared. Recognize this current as a confusion of the mind, looking for support. If you not look for it, the strength of the current will subside. Realize this confusion as the co-existence of two different opinions in your heart. Separately investigate the influence coming from your intellect and the influence coming from your emotions, forbidding any discussion between them. Be the third.
   The spiritual success of such self-investigation depends on how much an analysis and its conclusions are based upon the two following axioms:
   1. the cause-and-effect connection between the actions and their results (the law of karma);
   2. the attainment of liberation by means of the purification of the mind.
5. When the bottom is sensed, to trust would be to use that physical sense of being grounded, which accompanies a limitation of perception. The bottom may also be the result of falling under the influence of a downward-moving current. This may be followed by the recognition of a mistake. This recognition is best way of correcting it and will begin your ascension: if you walk on the bottom of the sea, sooner or later you’ll come to the surface near the shore.
   When we suppress the direct realization of the bottom, there appears a “pit” – a feeling of disappointment and guilt that turns into bitterness and depression.
   To avoid this, recognize the lowering of self-appraisal as a sense of value of the surrounding world, which deserves your loving warmness.
   Obsessive tiredness is a consequence of our defeat in struggles. Value ordinary existence and your senses will open up again, this being similar to holidays in the countryside. Avoid an inclination for clambering, which is the result of the objectification of a “pit”. A pit is just an emotional experience, no different from our mind. So clambering arises together with a “pit”.
   This experience may also arise as the result of the idea of spiritual progress being misinterpreted as a run on the celestial staircase. The staircase will always lack the lower stairs.
   Spiritual ascension is an increase in our ability to give. An experience in the raising of energy develops into the openness of the all-containing emptiness. The idea of ascending to the higher realms is correct only when it is followed by the realization of the openness of these realms and by the uninterrupted, compassionate attention to the entire existence.