If you are interested in becoming more awake and aware, more attuned to your environment, more peaceful and more alive than you have ever been before, begin a practice that can lead you into pure awareness. Pure awareness is pure and unchanging. It is always present but has been masked over with everyday worries, problems, and distractions. Let the light of Pure Awareness overtake the darkness.
“Neil Crenshaw explains in simple terms how to arrive at pure awareness. Everything you need to know is right here; all you have to do is read it and practice it. Much of the information is brand new to science and psychology such as learning who you really are by designing your own personal mandala and being able to recognize the various stages of consciousness. I hope everyone will undertake this uplifting and enlightening experience.”
—James J. Barrell, Ph.D., Author of Psychology of Champions, The Experiential Method, and People: An Introduction to Psychology.
“You Can Develop Pure Awareness walks you through everything you need to know about how to arrive at that wonderful state of oneness that is often referred to as pure awareness. It is a joy to read such an enlightening book. It certainly opened my consciousness.”
—Catherine E. Price, Ph.D., McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida
“This is a very informative and uplifting book. I believe it may be a new paradigm in the world of psychology.”
—Donald C. Medeiros, Ph.D., Psychology Department, University of West Georgia
First, Be Able to Recognize Awareness
"I stepped off the curb and nearly got crushed by the bus," my wife said when she got home yesterday. "I don't know what I was thinking. I must have been in La-La land," she cried. One thing for sure, she wasn't aware.
Why is it important to be aware? You will find that not only will awareness allow you to go beyond your ego-based mind and fill your life with a clearer view of reality but it will also help keep you out of harm's way. It is not what you are doing (i.e. talking, listening, meditating), it is what you are actually experiencing from inside yourself. - in the mind, that constitutes how you are perceiving reality. So, to be aware is to truly feel and experience the present moment.
Awareness can also bring more peace and enjoyment into your life. This is because you can begin to really choose your experiences and choose feeling good over feeling bad. Not only that, but awarness is also one of the stepping stones to Pure Awareness.
The Five Experiences
Peoples' minds are in one of five places at any given time. They can be driving a car, walking, talking, listening, meditating, reading a book - practically anything and their minds will be in one of five places. Even when they are asleep they will be experiencing one of these five places which are: waking sleep, absortion, attention, awareness, and Pure Awareness.
If you can recognize these five experiences you will be able to recognize the moment you become aware. And when you are able to recognize awareness you can practice staying there. That ability to recognize awareness and maintian is is necessary for Pure Awareness. It's that simple. By closely examing these different experiences you can see how they are indeed individual experiences. Once you are capable of recognizing them, Pure Awareness becomes clear and identifiable.
In The Awareness Group we used the experiential method for determining the common elements that comprise the varous experiences of human consciousness, or being awake, as it is commonly called. We discovered that there are five experiences that makeup the human psyche while being conscous (awake). All of the people in this study were experienced meditators and experts at observing their thoughts. They did self observation while carrying on everyday activities such as eating, walking, talking, driving, listening to others, working the yard, etc. From these descriptions came the discovery and understanding of the common elements that defined each of the five experiences outlined in this chapter.
You can learn more about the book at www.pureawareness.info
About Neil Crenshaw
Neil Crenshaw, Ph.D. taught biological sciences for 27 years. During his career in teaching science he researched and studied meditation and spirituality for the purpose of trying to find the perfect method for reaching pure awareness. After his retirement he continued his search in greater earnest for the state of oneness. What he discovered was that the answer lay right in front of him all the time. The answer had already been written down many times over the past 5,000 years but the instructions were not easy to understand. By taking those instructions, converting them into plain English and combining them with modern-day science and psychology he came up with a practical way for reaching pure awareness.
Neil has published over 30 articles in educational and scientific journals and has written two other books. Neil is currently teaching yoga and in addition to committing himself to pure awareness, tends to a one-half acre meditation garden and practices playing the Native American flute. Neil lives in north central Florida with his wife and two Westies.
If you are interested in becoming more awake and aware, more attuned to your environment, more peaceful and more alive than you have ever been before, begin a practice that can lead you into pure awareness. Pure awareness is pure and unchanging. It is always present but has been masked over with everyday worries, problems, and distractions. Let the light of Pure Awareness overtake the darkness.
Neil Crenshaw, Ph.D. taught biological sciences for 27 years. During his career in teaching science he researched and studied meditation and spirituality for the purpose of trying to find the perfect method for reaching pure awareness. After his retirement he continued his search in greater earnest for the state of oneness. What he discovered was that the answer lay right in front of him all the time. The answer had already been written down many times over the past 5,000 years but the instructions were not easy to understand. By taking those instructions, converting them into plain English and combining them with modern-day science and psychology he came up with a practical way for reaching pure awareness.