…bring opportunities for unexpected benefits
This reflection includes 3 sections: 1 a brief discussion of mind and awareness; 2 clarification of how hints, clues, signs and signals can become messages in awareness for each life’s journey; and 3 real world examples of the dharma wanderer’s direct experience and benefits from taking action based on key messages that arose in his awareness.
1 —> Mind and Awareness
Consider LIFE. First comes the breath, then awareness, then the final breath. Between the first and final breath traverses life of the body/mind. The body is believed to contain the mind, but actually the mind extends beyond the body.
How can this be so? The mind is the vibratory consciousness present everywhere and every when, permeating the all, into the Great Beyond. This is the One Mind, fractured into many small minds, all eventually wondering: who am I, why am I here, what is there for me to do, and why should I do it. These are questions from a confused “I/me/mine” being. They arise from the ever-present mystery about the nature of existence for each being.
This nature of existence can actually be clarified by understanding the nature of mind. For the mind, awareness is all there is. This includes awareness of beliefs, wants, needs, desires, wishes, hopes, attachments, aversions, thoughts, feelings, memories and more.
This awareness is ever-present during wakefulness. When deeper more penetrating clarity begins to dawn for confused beings, smidgens of wisdom may begin to appear. These come in the form of hints, clues, signs and signals that appear in micro-moments of wisdom awareness.
This becomes an unfolding path for those beings who are awakening. Once a being has awakened, there is no other path. This path evolves with increasing clarity, sometimes bringing gentle nudges that may sometimes become compelling urges. These compelling urges are not born of passion or pleasure. They are instead messages from the Great Mind that comes forth from the Great Beyond for momentary Guidance.
There are varied names for this Guidance, but the different names are irrelevant and a source of confusion. It is what it is. This Guidance comes from emptiness and emerges as knowing in awareness.
As this Guidance emerges, it can be followed. As this unfolds, each being’s life journey has an opportunity for expanding kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. These four immeasurables arise from decisions and actions taken by awakened beings amidst the surrounding samsaric chaos and turbulence that has been ever-present from the beginning of time.
Awareness can thus become an unending gift for each precious human life. Consider below how AWARENESS reveals hints, clues, signs and signals for each being’s life journey. 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
2 —> Messages
👇 Perplexity.AI’s answer to the dharma wanderer’s query:👇
In the context of a life journey, the terms hints, clues, signs, and signals are often used to describe the subtle guidance received as each being navigates life’s choices and decisions. While these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they have nuanced differences that can be important in understanding how beings perceive and interpret life guidance.
Hints
- Subtlety: Hints are often the most subtle form of guidance. They might come in the form of a fleeting thought, a gentle nudge, or an intuitive feeling that suggests a possible direction without being overtly obvious.
- Intuition-Based: They rely heavily on one’s intuition and inner sense of knowing, often requiring us to be attuned to our inner voice or feelings.
- Personal Interpretation: Hints require personal interpretation and reflection, as they are not direct messages but rather gentle suggestions or possibilities.
Clues
- Breadcrumbs: Clues can be thought of as breadcrumbs on a path. They provide pieces of information or experiences that, when pieced together, reveal a larger picture or direction.
- Pattern Recognition: Recognizing clues often involves noticing patterns or recurring themes in one’s life that point towards a particular path or decision.
- Active Engagement: Engaging with clues requires active participation and reflection to connect the dots and understand their significance.
Signs
- Clearer Messages: Signs tend to be more explicit than hints or clues. They are often seen as clear messages from the universe or spiritual guides indicating a particular direction or choice.
- External Validation: Unlike hints, which are internal, signs often manifest externally, such as through synchronicities or unexpected events that align with our thoughts or questions.
- Confirmation: Signs can serve as confirmation of our thoughts or decisions, providing reassurance that we are on the right path.
Signals
- Direct Communication: Signals are direct forms of communication from the spiritual realm. They can be seen as strong indicators that demand attention and action.
- Immediate Attention: Signals often require immediate attention and response, as they are meant to guide us away from danger or towards an important opportunity.
- Physical Sensations: They may also manifest through physical sensations or emotional responses that alert us to pay attention to something significant.
Understanding these distinctions can help individuals better interpret the guidance they receive on their life journeys. Each form of guidance plays a unique role in helping beings navigate life’s decisions with greater clarity and purpose.
3 —> Examples
An example of each type of message from the dharma wanderer’s direct experience is described below. These are the most noteworthy examples in his life that illustrate the real world value of what mighty be termed “messages” from the universe. Some Tibetan Buddhists might consider some of these to be isolated examples of primordial wisdom emerging from nothingness. From a risk management perspective, some of these particular examples illustrate the strategic benefit of paying attention to hints, clues, signs and signals.
HINTS — When hiking in a forest, the dharma wanderer has on numerous occasions noticed beams of light streaming through tree branches and leaves. Sometimes he followed these light beams, even though they took him off an established visible path. After doing so, he often discovered interesting land formations and scenes when he followed the light, rather than the established path. This reinforced his confidence that such hints could be interpreted as messages for guidance.
In 1984 after cutting the umbilical cord of paid full time employment as a consultant, he was on his way to pick up a standard computer that ran on the difficult to learn MS-DOS operating system. He knew that it would be very hard for him to remember the DOS commands given his particular memory weaknesses, but he thought there was no other option available. Even though he had checked the Apple shop several weeks earlier, he got the hint of an internal message to check the Apple shop again as he was driving his car to the MS-DOS computer shop. He even said aloud, “But I’ve already checked that shop,” as if speaking to an external guide. Despite his belief it would be a waste of time, he felt the message guidance strongly enough to go by the Apple shop again. He was delightfully surprised to discover the first version of the Apple Macintosh computer. He became a “first 90 day user” of the first Mac and built two successful consulting companies that relied heavily on the Apple Macintosh system over the next several decades. That single decision enabled the informational infrastructure for the businesses.
CLUES — After years of following subtle intuition-based hints that were personally meaningful for him, the dharma wanderer shifted his focus to finding a lifemate. He began using aerobic reprogramming via the affirmation: “I am meeting the woman with whom I will live, laugh and love.” He had been repeating this goal in rhythm with his breath in rhythm with his aerobic movement for about a year when he noticed a potential clue. In January of 1987, the local Greensboro NC newspaper had an announcement about a Chinese New Year [CNY] celebration at a local Catholic church. The idea arose in his awareness to attend the celebration to possibly meet a Chinese girl. He was attuned to this possibility because he had been reading different translations of Lao Tsu’s Tao Te Ching before sleep for several years. He noted this clue, but he might not have followed it without a concurring sign [described below],
SIGNS — The dharma wanderer happened to attend his first Tai Chi class the same week of the upcoming CNY event. The leader of the class told him they would be giving a demonstration at the CNY celebration on the following Saturday. This became his second clue, which he interpreted to be a definite external sign, so he firmly decided to attend the event. When he arrived, he was surprised to see an older married couple who had previously attended his only workshop on aerobic reprogramming. Even more surprisingly, they had brought to the event the young Chinese woman who would become his future lifemate and partner. He engaged her in conversation and asked her to teach him Tai Chi the next day for what became their first date. One month later on their fourth date, he proposed in a poem on Valentine’s Day. She accepted his proposal a year later. They were married in 1988. The next year, she took him to Xiamen to meet her parents, but they toured major cities first.
SIGNALS — There have been three occasions on which dharma wanderer experienced an intense internal signal that he should take alternative action for safety reasons.
- The first occasion was reported briefly in a previous post. While traveling from Denmark to Norway on a ferry, he felt a compelling urge to run for his life on the ferry deck because he imagined the ferry crashing into a fjord before it docked. Instead, the ferry turned sharply to avoid a crash and began the docking process. At that point he was shaken by a vertical beam of white light penetrating the heavy gray cloud cover and landing on the ferry dock. In retrospect, this seemed to stimulate an enduring transformational expansion of the dharma wanderer’s consciousness.
- The second internal signal for safety occurred while hiking with his lifemate in a national forest in the spring of 1988. He had never felt unsafe while hiking before, but on this occasion at a particular point in the hike he felt quite strongly uncomfortable. He began feeling there was an unexpected risk at a point in the trail ahead where trees and heavy brush were blocking out the light. He decided to take the unusual decision to turn around and return to the trail head. After he and his lifemate had taken only a few steps, three men came over a ridge carrying rifles and shotguns. Their leader warned the dharma wanderer that a bear had mauled someone nearby. This was strong validation for him to pay attention to such feelings in the future.
- The third internal signal for safety occurred after his wife graduated from Duke University Business School. They were touring the Middle Kingdom’s capital city during the sixth month of the year when there had been months of public unrest. After tragic violence occurred on the main square, the dharma wanderer interviewed an eye witness to the violence as well as a nearby bystander. When his lifemate was in line to send a fax advising her new employer in Boston to delay their trip to the capital city, the dharma wanderer noticed an old beat up typewriter in the corner of the hotel’s business office. He immediately began pounding out a report of his interview and observations. It was fortunate that the timing worked out for the staff to send his fax without reading it. He folded the thin rice paper up tightly and put it in the lens paper compartment of his camera bag. The next day was like the fall of Saigon as everyone was headed for the capital city airport. Their tour group stopped for lunch and as their van began moving to depart for the airport, the dharma wanderer felt an intense sense of risk. The feeling became a compelling urge to destroy the hidden fax in his camera bag. He yelled for the van driver to stop, procured a lighter, disembarked the van and burned the fax. The next three airports the couple went through, his camera bag lens paper compartment was searched by airport security personnel. At the time, rumor mongers were being imprisoned and some were executed. Burning the fax could have saved his lifemate’s life and kept him out of prison.
Each of the examples above is based on the fundamental importance of being mindfully aware. Meditation enhances mindful awareness. Discernment of hints, clues, signs and signals must be combined with responsive action for their benefits to be realized.
May all readers be mindfully responsive to the hints, clues, sign and signals that arise in their awareness. As their consciousness continues to evolve may they expand their arenas of concern to include all beings and the world.
🙏💕🌎
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