Beloved Students:

I greet you this month in the precious coloration of the changing season. May each of you find a brilliant color spectrum in the levels of consciousness with which you discover your true nature. May you be inspired by the richness of the colors that present themselves to you in this “turning” season.

Have you noticed how easy it is to enjoy the seasons without suffering personal attachment to any one of them? Of course, no matter which season you prefer; no matter how much you enjoy a given time of the year, you realize that there is incredible beauty in the changing from season to season. No matter how much you love spring, you are able to celebrate the coming of summer. No matter how much you love summer, you are able to celebrate the coming of autumn. The same is true as autumn dissolves into winter and winter dissolves into spring. The changes are tolerable because you know each is some part of a larger cycle, and none of the larger cycles could happen if the earth were to get stuck in a single season. In fact, even if it were the season you most prefer, you would tire of it were it to go on indefinitely.

Having experienced many seasonal changes in your life on Earth, you have learned that no matter how much you enjoy a specific season, it is pointless to fret or struggle when the time comes for one season to dissolve into another. Perhaps you learned as a young child that all your fretting about seasonal changes were but wasted energy, for “Mother Nature” simply did not pay attention to all your protestations. You learned that you are fine, no matter which season dawns or dissolves.

Indeed, there is value in such learning. For one thing, you learn not to become overly identified with things you cannot control. You learn that you need not suffer over your preferences. Additionally, you may learn that you enjoy the season even more as you realize that it, like you, is time-limited, and will ultimately die to what comes after it. Herein is a profound secret to happiness: the more time-limited something is, the more precious your experience of it becomes. Thus, to enjoy something fully, as if this present moment experience might be your last, allows you to be fully present in that moment, indeed fully happy.

To enjoy something fully - being completely present in the moment without being attached to or covetous of the special moment - is to truly know happiness. When one experiences the happiness of which I am here speaking, the amazing part is that the self (or rather the sense of self, actually) simply disappears. You find yourself completely in the experience that you enjoy, often being aware only of the enjoyment you feel and the object of your enjoyment. Frequently, this sort of experience arises in relationship to a precious pet - both the enjoyment and the attention are single-pointed, and one completely loses touch with the self who is having the experience. Yes, we are talking about a “direct experience,” the same kind of experience that ultimately opens one to enlightenment.

There is one other quality to this type of experiencing that we must note. While one might be highly engaged in a relational experience with a precious pet, one is basically neutral to the outcome of the experience, as well. This attribute is very important because it allows one to be completely open to whatever possibilities arise in the moment without the cumbersome weight of the ego-mind. What allows this focused exchange to arise is not the pet, nor the self, nor even the moment itself. Rather, it is the presence of highly engaged neutrality that is the signature mark of the direct experience. It is also the quality of attention that accompanies openness and prevents suffering.

While most people believe that neutrality is a mental state of not caring, in truth what many think of as “neutrality” is either a checked-out state or some form of resignation – neither of which is a “neutral” state of mind. With either a checked-out state or a state of resignation, one is not fully present, and only minimally engaged. Many would argue, in fact, that being highly engaged and being neutral are exact opposites. However, this is only because they do not fully understand neutrality. When one checks out, or resigns her/himself to a particular situation, s/he does so precisely because s/he is not neutral. Were neutrality possible, s/he could be fully present both for the events that are transpiring and the feelings within that arise from the experience of the events.

The cultivation of highly engaged neutrality is the “stuff” of profound compassion and brilliant wisdom, as well as a great gift of love. It is a gift of love to others because it prevents the emotional reactivity that may result in conflict and/or charged exchanges that reinforce old karmic imprints. But also, neutrality is a gift to one’s self, since it is impossible to experience suffering when one is in a state of engaged neutrality. When neutrality is truly “engaged,” one finds oneself in the near vicinity of a direct experience, and the potential for seeing the true nature of everything is heightened.

Of course, if one is able to experience neutrality in witnessing the change of seasons, or in relationship with a precious pet or little child, one can learn to experience engaged neutrality in all areas of life. Understand that all reactions (both of self and other) arise in response to karmic imprints. Therefore, there is clearly no need to take those reactive points personally, which only creates more reactivity and prevents one from experiencing neutrality. By showing up for the event(s) with engaged neutrality, however, one can open to the infinite possibilities in virtually every experience - even lose oneself in the directness of “no self.”

The cultivation of engaged neutrality is, of course, an exercise in engaged mindfulness. Like so much of the mature spiritual path, engaged neutrality is a result of ruthless investigation of the mind, born of profound compassion and applied wisdom. Such investigation allows one to see beyond the illusion of duality – the apparent split between self and other. However, it is not something that one simply awakens to upon arising one morning. Nothing can serve the spiritual aspirant more powerfully than the application of engaged mindfulness, for such is the real path to personal freedom from suffering.

While all desire that their suffering cease, most are unwilling to expend the effort to break through the projections that bind them to their own repeating patterns. It seems easier to ignore the patterns and their resulting prisons than to actively confront the powerful projections of their own minds. However, ignoring one’s patterns and/or projections only leads to a trance state in which the inquiring part of the mind goes to sleep, and is rendered helpless by the trance. Hence, there can be no deep inquiry into the karmic tendency to sustain the suffering with which all are familiar.

Spiritual awakening, however, dissolves the ego mind, stimulating curiosity and providing a natural opening to the neutrality of essence mind. This opening, while feeling spontaneous, is actually a manifestation of emptiness that gradually arises as one begins to see through the illusion of separation and duality. As it arises, this manifestation of emptiness is completely neutral, although engaged at a level powerful enough to facilitate direct experience.

Thus, as one awakens to the true nature of all phenomena, each and every arising or coalescing pattern of energy provides one with unique opportunities. May you open to the brilliance of the full spectrum of your enlightenment, and may you dedicate your efforts to the liberation of all sentient beings from their patterns of suffering.

Please join me this month in listening to the teaching I gave in Denver on October 3^rd of this year, called Highly Engaged Neutrality. May you find within the words and examples given some particular aid in your personal journey. May you find a deeper way to bless all with whom you have contact, and may you open fully to the profound brilliance of your true nature.

Your loving Teacher,