sound current
A Spiritual Tribute, Part 2
“It is the energy of consciousness that one has come here to collect. This energy that drives all the parts of our being. Study it, pursue it, learn how to store it and conscious life will be eternal, and you will come to remember who you are and why you are here…” — Bruce K. Avenell
Well, I thought one posting about my meditation teacher who passed into the spiritual world more than three months ago would wrap that all up. But apparently there may be more to be said here. Funny thing though, if he knew I was doing this he’d probably scoff at me and tell me to knock it off. A few years ago I mentioned to him that he would make for an intriguing documentary film subject. He laughed, rolled his eyes, and only said, “Please, do not do that.” I of course will honor that request. However, he said nothing about his writings and teachings. And since I do not intend to write about him specifically anyway, as I said in the last post, I will only quote more excerpts from some of his other writings. Enjoy!
“Your beliefs hold you a prisoner in this realm’s dreams of TIME, ILLUSION and PARADOX…
A Spiritual Tribute
“You, a traveler on the road to life, but no longer afraid of death, no longer afraid of life. Knowing who you are and what you are about, perhaps even understanding what you did that suckered you into incarnating here on this most insignificant planet in a very plain galaxy, far from home and the mainstream of life…” — Bruce K. Avenell
An amazing spiritual being who I was lucky enough to know for almost 45 years passed from the physical and into the spiritual just a little more than six weeks ago. He left behind his failing physical vehicle so he could once again fly among the stars, where he seemed to truly belong. This posting will not be specifically about him, for I could not do him much justice in all that. I will leave that business to others. No, it will be about what he has left behind. And by left behind, his many wise writings and teachings for us to read, ponder, and consider. I will only quote excerpts from some of them, and leave it up to you in searching out anything more that may interest you about him and his teachings.
“Understand, this place is not our home. The being you are did not grow to the human level in the very short time that the planet Earth has been hospitable to this physical human life form. We are all wanderers in the great school of life. Some wander aimlessly, not realizing at all they are in a school. Some are assigned here to learn this. All in school, all learning. All learning to be yourself.
That Ringing Sound
“The audible life stream is the cardinal, central fact in the science of the masters … the supreme fact and factor of the entire universe … the very essence and life of all things … less known than any other important fact of nature, yet it is the one determining factor of all nature.” — Dr. Julian Johnson, ‘Path of the Masters’
Got Sound? I certainly hope so. If you are reading this, then you definitely do, but you may not know that you do … unless you have been medically diagnosed with a condition called tinnitus.
For those of you that do not know what that is, Webster’s dictionary defines tinnitus as, “any ringing or buzzing in the ear not resulting from an external stimulus.”
The medical community reports that approximately 20% of the people in the USA suffer from tinnitus, which means over 60 million of us. Wow, that seems like quite a lot, but how serious is it really? Well, those reports say things that bring it on are allergies, head injuries, loud noises, medications, infections, tumors and diseases. Treatments are offered to treat those symptoms, but they are not completely sure what causes it. There are four main treatments currently available; prescription drugs, maskers (devices one wears that produce soft sounds to drown out the inner sounds), behavioral modification training (learning not to listen to the inner sounds) and surgery in the most chronic cases of all.
My Spiritual Adventure, Part 3
“In the great silence within your being, creation ever sings its song of life for you.” — Bruce K. Avenell
As I write this third (and final) part to this 3-part blog posting, I realize this is nowhere near any type of end, as I’m sure I could write a book or two on this all encompassing subject. But this is not the time or place for that … yet. So, as I try to wrap this up to some type of point, I want to stress that what follows is just a general condensing of what my spiritual path has been these past 40 plus years. Of course, there will always be other blog postings that reflect what this has all been about. After all, that is the main point of this blog. Anyway …
I think the best way to go into this is to write about what I may have actually learned these past four decades, meditating under the system taught by The Eureka Society, which is called Audinometry. It is an advanced system of sound current meditation founded by Bruce K. Avenell, who had been a student of both Dr. Baghadt Singh Thind, a Sikh guru, and Kirpal Singh, of the Sant Mat tradition, both interesting characters in their own right. You can do research about both of them if you like, as there is plenty of material out there.
My Spiritual Adventure, Part 2
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”― Aristotle
That very next weekend after that life-altering class I went to a potluck where everyone there was no one I knew, and was hosted by the organization that this teacher ran. I have never been the best at small talk, especially around people I did not know at all. I mostly kept my mouth shut, and just watched and listened. I was invited to this potluck by the people who had put on the class, since I had expressed an interest in learning more about this inner sound. I spent most of the afternoon getting to know some of the people there. Most of them had already started some type of meditation program that involved this sound, but a few others were in the same boat as I was. Just kicking a few tires and seeing what was what.
After we had chowed down some really great food, mostly of the healthy and organic type, our ‘spiritual mechanic’ who had given the pretty amazing lecture spoke for a while. He was very low key and unassuming, but I was enticed by what he had to say. A few people asked him questions, but overall it was pretty laid back. Apparently he had been meditating on this ‘sound current,’ as he called it, for more than 20 years and had started teaching it just a few years ago. He wanted to make it clear that he was not a guru or master, and that he didn’t want anyone’s devotion. In fact, if anyone tried that, he would not teach them. He would probably get up and leave the room, thus leaving you to your own thoughts. He had learned in the eastern devotion schools, but then left them behind once he started his own school. He preferred to just be a simple teacher, a coach, a friend, a confidant if possible, and at times he could be coaxed into working as a spiritual mechanic. In essence, helping people fix some of their spiritual problems that were holding them back.
My Spiritual Adventure, Part 1
“Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation.” — Jalal ad-Din Rumi
I have previously mentioned several times that I would write here about the particular meditation system I have been practicing for more than 40 years now. Well, since I recently finished an annual retreat hosted by this organization, I figured this was probably a good time to spill it. But be warned, there is a lot to communicate here so it may be written in several posts.
I shall start at the beginning, as it should be …
I found myself in the early 70’s at the University of Texas, after several of my unexplained experiences when I was growing up, which I have already mentioned some of here in this blog. This offered up an environment to help me explore my ‘predicament,’ trying to figure out what the hell had been happening to me.
I spent more than a year reading volumes of material on anything related to this. Back then it wasn’t like today. Nowadays, you can find all kinds of metaphysical books in most bookstores. Then you really had to seek them out, because most bookstores didn’t carry those types of titles.
Still, they weren’t very satisfying. A good portion of them were all theory and philosophy. Some were about experiences the authors or others had, but didn’t really say how or if those experiences were repeatable by anyone else. What I wanted was the nuts and bolts of this greater reality.
The Sound of Silence
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
“The sound is the source of all manifestation … The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe.”
“Learn to listen to the voice within yourself.”
“In the beginning was OM …”
“For in the beginning of the times so did we all share in the Holy Stream of Sound that gave birth to all creation.”
“The kingdom of heaven is within you.”
“The Tao is the source of all things … existed before heaven and earth … eternal … pervades everywhere…”
“May the force be with you.”
The Greek philosopher/mathematician Pythagoras called it “Music of the Spheres”, another Greek philosopher Heraclitus called it “Logos” (which means both sound and word), the Bible calls it “The Word” and “Voice of Many Waters”, the Upanishads call it “Shabda Brahman” (the cosmic sound of Lord Brahma), the Vedas call it “Anahad” (unlimited tone), the Sufis call it “Saute Surmad” (the tone that fills the cosmos), the Sikhs call it “Nam” or “Naam” (name or spiritual sound), and the Hindus also call it “AUM” and the Buddhists “OM”. Some Native American traditions call it “Song of the Creator”, in reference to the force that created life and sustains the universe.
Creation’s Elevator
“Who are you? … How have you joined creation?” – The Watcher Rock, ‘Dreams Awake’
The first time I truly experienced the elevator I had a little over ten years in. Meaning I had been meditating on the inner sound current that long. By this point I had had some pretty intriguing experiences, but nothing like ‘the elevator’. Now yes, I had been lucky enough to taste a bit of it. In meditation, when I finally got relaxed enough and out of the mind raps, I would feel like I was starting to go up in an elevator. And just as I would anticipate what was going to happen, the elevator would stop abruptly before it really got started, and there was no more going up. Basically because as I did the anticipation routine, that tension locked me up. So I did learn early on that tension was a buzz kill for meditation. Which was a bit of a catch-22. You needed to relax to get into meditation, but you needed to meditate to relax. It seemed there was a balance somewhere in there to find.
So, when that grand elevator day came, I wasn’t expecting it. Ha, see…no anticipation. It was one of those days that you could never forget. If I live to be a hundred and my great grandkids hop upon my knee, I would still be able to speak coherently about the first time I traveled up inside creation’s elevator. I have since had the experience numerous times, and even in more expansive, exciting ways. But you always remember the first time, so I was no longer a spiritual flyer virgin.
No Other Film …
“Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.” – Henry David Thoreau
… is like “Dreams Awake.” Like it, love it, hate it, indifferent about it, whatever … you will never ever come across another film that has the elements this film does. I personally guarantee it. That may seem like a boastful statement, but I firmly believe it. If anyone wants to challenge me on it, come right ahead. Because right here, right now, I am coming out of the closet about the content of this film.
This film is not completely fiction. Some of these things have happened, are happening, will continue happen. I know, another crazy bold statement to make. But I can back it up. People I know, as well as myself, have had many of the experiences referred to in the film, and many other similar types of experiences. Without the dramatic story that ties it all up, this could actually have been a documentary.
When I got the very first inklings of this story, I actually did not intend for it to go in that direction. It was as if the film had its own life, its own momentum, and its own magic. I cannot completely explain it, but I can attempt to relate it to you. Right here. Right now.