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Insights: Talks On The Nature of Existence

When Rama - Dr. Frederick P. Lenz recorded these talks, he was developing an approach to self realization that, while emphasizing meditation and enlightenment, drew from a variety of traditions including Vedanta, Tibetan Buddhism and American mystic teachings.

The Sorcerer's Explanation

"A person is made up of awarenesses. These awarenesses all exist in the unknown -- now we're moving into what don Juan calls "the sorcerer's explanation". It's the explanation of life. All of the awarenesses that have ever been or will ever be, exist, he says, like barges floating in the ocean. It's a nice analogy. They're all just floating out there, the only difference is they're not solid barges, and as they're floating in that ocean out there they can actually pass through each other. So you can have 20 barges and they're floating along, but they're so light and so fluid that they can actually go through each other. They are all the time, but they're not in any fixed order. There is no order, it just is, and that's what reality is. It's just infinite awareness, infinite consciousness." Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

Spiritual Crossroads

In this talk given on July 5, 1983, Rama outlined the stages, challenges and crossroads his students could expect to encounter in their study with him, particularly in years 1-5.

Modular Mysticism: Dress for Power

“One's progression along the spiritual path is a very, very intricate matter. This evening I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the structure of your being and how this process actually works, with specific recommendations as to what you can do to radically alter your current state of knowledge and awareness….

"Let us begin with clothing. It doesn't really matter where we start because the rule will apply to everything we discuss. We could discuss the orderliness of your room or your house or your career. But let us begin with clothing, because once you understand the principle, you can apply it to any aspect of your life.“ Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

Sophisticated Sexuality

"I've had hundreds of lifetimes as a spiritual teacher. Yet, even as a spiritual teacher, I continued to have relationships. I continued to love people. The quality of the relationships of course changed as I changed, and I think that you'll find this will happen to you too. What will become important will be to do your very best for someone in every way, to be a servant of another individual, without one impure thought, action or motive. "It's not a question of what we do, but of intent. Sexuality is essentially unimportant in the spiritual process; Love is totally important in the spiritual process, in any form -- it is the spiritual process." Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

Modular Mysticism: Seeing

“Nothing is or is not, unless thinking makes it so. We all know the words. Therefore the only way you can tell what is beyond, what is or is not, is to stop thought. Seeing is the process of stopping all thought.” Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

"You know, the question comes up all the time. Why does one person see more than another? Why can you sit there and see red auras and blue auras and the person next to you won't, if the auras are in fact there? Well, the reason is very simple. The only reason all of you don't see more than you do is because you're held back by your description (of the world). Because in your description, certain things happen and certain things don't, and your description won't bend." Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

Modular Mysticism: Storing Power

"In the practice of mysticism there are four stages. The first stage is gaining power. The second stage is avoiding the loss of power. The third stage is storing power. And the fourth stage is giving power.

"I've talked a great deal about gaining power and losing power. But one subject I haven't dealt with is how to store power. That's what I'd like to talk to you a little bit about….When I say, "store power," what I mean is you are going to take awareness and consciousness and go into another plane of reality with it and leave it there and draw on it. There are many, many ways to do this. Tonight I'd like to allude to a few of them." Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

The Truth

"Self-discovery tries to take you beyond reason. A reason is a terrible trap—because you will be satisfied with answers. And if you're satisfied with answers, you'll never come to know what life really is. Life can only be known through direct experience—direct experience in meditation, where you're tasting the water or feeling it, which is far removed from simply talking about it or hearing someone else's experiences. The next step, of course, is to become it." Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrine

"The Tibetan Book of the Dead is thought by many to be a very archaic book that describes what happens to you after you die.... That is the popular understanding of the book. The real use of the book though, the esoteric use of the book and the secret teachings, has nothing to do with that at all. The idea that death changes anything is laughed at by the enlightened teachers. This is death... Life is the bardo. The bardo is not something that you experience after death (it's that too): everything that's present after death is present now. All of the dimensions, worlds, planes of existence and, of course, nirvana, exist now, and one does not have to wait for death to experience the alternate realities or to grow towards enlightenment or be absorbed in nirvana. All of that is now, since there is no time and there is no dimension. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not correctly named: rather, it's a Book of the Living ... or a Book of Life. It's a book that teaches you about inner states of awareness." Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz

Love - The Fourth Level of Ecstasy

"It seems to me that it's essential to know about love. Love comes in many forms, and to not love is to not live. Many people talk about meditation and self-discovery and bringing themselves to higher levels of consciousness, yet they seem, for all their knowledge and ability, for all the various terminologies that they can utilize ...to not know very much about love. So this evening I'd like to place you a little bit ahead of the game, if I can. I'd like to save you about ten or twenty lifetimes, and I'd like to talk to you about love." Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz