Journey to Self

Margaret Dempsey @ Journey to Self is on Twitter

Sections of Journey to Self can be browsed on Go ogle Books

What Lies Within (blog)

Margaret hopes you will join the discussion on her Amazon page ...

Kundalini Spiritual Awakening (blog)

Kundalini Spiritual Awakening video by Margaret Dempsey

The title of this blog post is also the domain name for my new website which is really happening. I have resisted having a powerful spiritual presence on the web because I have been trying to keep my light hidden under a bushel. I have been selling out on myself and what I can contribute to the world so that I can belong and not stand out. The cost to me of doing this is that I have not been authentic or true to myself.

In the past I used to stand by that old adage 'those who know don't speak, and those who speak don't know' but what I see now is that there comes a point where not to speak out for whatever reason doesn't feel or sit right with me. I stand by the presence of the powerful energy we all have at the base of our spine. This powerful energy that when it transmutes becomes spiritual and leads to spiritual awakening. Until a human being awakens this energy is only experienced as sexual but when it transmutes then a process of spiritual alchemy happens which awakens normally dormant areas of the brain. This has been my experience and as I am a human being, no different to anybody else out there, I hold this possibility out for everyone. If you have time go onto utube and type in kundalinispiritualawakening and look at a couple of the videos. There is one which is a vivid depiction of how this energy travels up the body and how it weaves its way around the spinal cord up to the brain. For me though there is still something missing in these videos in that it shows the energy causing the explosion of awareness in the brain which results in the loss of all boundaries and a sense of being ONE and EVERYTHING but in my case it came down to rest in my heart which is why I experience such compassion for the human condition.

It takes time to integrate this energy when it rises because those areas of the brain which are now activated must integrate, otherwise it can result in a psychosis of some description. Again I can verify this from my own experience. As a witness I experienced mania and then depression as the brain tried once again to find alignment. My stand as a witness of everything that was going on within me just watching without speaking to anyone about any of it meant that gradually integration happened, to the point that I can now write and speak about it as freely as I do.

It is from the rising of the energy and the increased activity in my brain that I have realised the three stages the consciousness goes through to spiritual awakening and enlightenment. The first stage - Know Yourself - this is the hardest and longest for human beings because of the depth of the forgetting and illusion that as human beings we are covered in. There is an intention that it will take something to realize the empty and meaningless nature of this stage of the spiritual path. The natural development of this stage is to construct your identity and then relate to that as who you are. This is why it takes intellectual effort to break out of the maya or distorted reality that the consciousness is in at this stage.

I am completing my last weekend of Kundalini yoga teacher training this weekend before I leave for an eight day yoga camping retreat to end the training and as I come to the end of it I am so grateful that everything I have heard during the past six months or so has all been in alignment with my experiences.

Very often on Facebook someone quotes Ramana Maharshi and what strikes me always is how many 'likes' there always are for his quotes and how few comments. All of the 'likes' indicate to me that there is an intuitive understanding of the truth of what the Maharshi is saying for many many people. I also assert that there are many people searching for the experience of self-realization which Ramana achieved.

In this simple sentence Ramana is making two distinctions. One is the the mind and the other is YOU. Mind is one thing. YOU are another. Where does this separation come from and if it is so obvious why doesn't everyone see it? Let's deal with the mind first. Ramana says 'it is the nature of the mind to wander'. Just think about how many thoughts you have in every minute and how the mind goes first to one and then the other, it doesn't stay still for a moment. You hear a sound and immediately the mind goes to it and some judgement is made about what is heard. The same goes for the other senses. The mind is constantly busy with what comes into it from the senses. The mind is externally orientated. Without the external stimulation the mind is quiet. The constant wandering and restlessness of the mind does not allow the experience of stillness or silence.

Ramana says 'it is the nature'. So it is natural for the mind to do this. If it is natural then all efforts made to stop this wandering are going to be at best futile and at worst exhausting. The mind will do what it is designed to do which is to wander. It is useless to make it wrong or judge or condemn it for doing what is only coming naturally to it. As human beings we have minds and the products of mind are thoughts. In the same way that we have seeing and hearing and the products of these are sights and sounds.

Then Ramana says 'YOU are not your mind'. What does he mean? Anything you can see as separate you cannot be that. You can have a thought (which comes from mind) eg I want a cup of tea and in most cases the power of the thought will send the person off without thinking to make a cup of tea. But if you can stop, recognise the thought that says 'I want a cup of tea' as a thought. Then instead of making tea become very intersted in the 'YOU' who has seen that thought as separate, then something else becomes possible. Slowly and with practice the watcher of the thoughts becomes more important than the mind that is producing the thoughts.

So what Ramana is saying is 'don't give attention to the the mind'. Just watch the thoughts like a disinterested observer, like you would watch clouds going across the sky. In the beginning because the mind has been in such control for so long it won't be possible to see very much blue sky. But if you take this practice on and be vigilant with yourself whilst also not taking it too seriously then the sky which holds the clouds will peek through. Ramana is saying don't give your loyalty to the wrong master.

'It is the nature of the mind to wander.....YOU are not your mind'

I have been on a spiritual path since I was 12 years old and possibly younger and I am now 48. In all those years I have built up a wealth of knowledge and experience to the extent that I have identified three specific stages that our consciousness goes through to become spiritual awakened and enlightened.

Having resisted for so long to have a big global spiritual presence on the web I realise that I am only truly happy when I am either writing or speaking about this path and the results it produces. So..I am creating a website which will have everything on it. I don't have anything to teach because you have all the answers within. What I will be doing is guiding and sharing my knowlege and experiences in a variety of ways so that you can experience who you really are and in that experience have a freedom that lasts.

I have read all of the comments I have received and I know that many have been spam. This post is to ask those of you who would genuinely like to be involved with me and my new website to send me a comment being specific in your request to be added to the mailing list for this website and I will compile a list. You can also send your request to margaretdempsey5@gmail.com

Also, if you have any questions or areas that you would like me to write more on then please let me know these as well.

I am very excited about this. My aim is to make the spiritual path accessible for everyone...by being simple, succinct and clear.

Journey to Self is available in the US. ISBN: 978-1440424816 and

From Ki Publishing. ISBN: 978-0-9559419-1-7

Journey to Self can be partially browsed on Google Books.