I love that the following is true, so I've no problem repeating it: meditative stability—equal to genuine peace and happiness—is your default mode.
But even here at week 5, you may not feel that to be true. And this is okay—you've had 20+ years of conditioning in the opposite direction. 20+ years of "you have to get stuff, do stuff and become stuff if you want to be happy".
But I hope by now you've had enough glimpses of natural meditative stability to feel somewhat confident in it. Confident enough, at least, to keep exploring.
For most practitioners, this kind of glimpse shows up at first during sitting practice, where things are simple and easy. If you're really cooking, you may already have experienced this natural peace and happiness while out on a walk.
What you're going to do now is play with a couple of techniques that "bridge the gaps" between your glimpses.
<aside> 💡 If you still feel challenged by sitting practice or walking practice alone, it's okay to hold back and stick with those. Remember, this course is not a race to the finish line but, rather, an education on how to reach it in your own time.
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You may have heard of mantra. It's a practice that's used religiously, but that's not it's true value.
Superstitious folks think that if they say the name of their God enough times something good will happen. (Spot the dualism?) But the real function of mantra is that when you focus on repeating a sound—aloud or mentalised—you're mindful; you're present.
A mantra can be anything. I almost fell off my chair when my first teacher, a monk of 8 years, told me his mantra was "coca-cola". He chose it because it conjured up the joy he felt as a child when he was treated to a bottle.
I recommend choosing any word or phrase that's easy to repeat, and feels at least neutral if not good. You can play with typical cultural mantras—I spent time with the Hindu "Ram" mantra because I liked the way it rolled off the tongue.
In the Hindu pantheon, Ram is an avatar (a worldly manifestation) of God. The trap for us here is to start asking questions like "is God real? How can God manifest on Earth? Is Ram like Jesus or like actual God?"
But remember, we're interested in the nondual perspective here. In this perspective, those questions don't matter. In this perspective, you, me, Ram, Jesus and God are all one. And if you remove any of those characters from the equation, nothing changes. There's still the single nondual truth of being, known by simply resting as you are right now.
<aside> 💡 Another common trap is to expect fireworks as a side-order with your realization. Grand descriptions of awakening are found all over the place, and they're nothing but trouble.
Some practitioners experience sudden, profound moments of realization. Others make their realization more gradually.
The most important thing to remember is that truth, awakening, enlightenment—whatever you want to call it—is not special. In fact, it's ultimate ordinariness. I know that may not sound appealing, but consider that this ordinariness is without stress, without troubles, without problems and perhaps you'll come back around.
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Practising with the nondual understanding of "God", I used to say "Ram" to all of my experience. This is the deepest practice of mantra.
Wake up feeling groggy? "Ram." The cool of the refrigerator hitting your legs? "Ram." Paying your taxes? "Ram."
Remember when I said we're looking to ditch the mental process of labelling things? Practising mantra in this way replaces all your labels with just one.
This practice multiplies the number of mindful moments you have in a day. Your bell reminder is currently set to 10 minutes. But how many times in a 10-minute period can you say a mantra?! Now you're on rocket fuel 🚀