Consciousness; its ALL about consciousness.  Now, I do not act as I am presenting something that has not been mentioned hundreds of thousands of times before.  But like so many things repetition is the key to awareness.  It is like battering a wall until it final crumbles to pieces letting in the light of reality.  What is reality?
Reality is only what you make it.  "True" reality is the void.  When you can be nothing you can be everything.  We are in a ruthless, exhausting effort to define ourselves.  In other times we are just as fervent protecting ourselves from what we are not.
So where do we not understand the great Masters and Teachers of the past:  "True self is no self." "A man must die in the watery grave of baptism and be raised a new man."  It is ALL the death of the ego and surrendering to the higher power that will best serve us.  An argument generated between a friend of mine and I when she said, "What about my core values."  "Really, who defined what you core values are?"  Are not core values just "likes?"  I like chocolate cake.  I like honesty.  So?
These are only limiting factors and blind us to the larger vision of reality. That vision meaning we identify with non-identity which leads us to the void, the beginning of all creation.
As the Buddhists describe in the Heart Sutra-" No old age and death, no end of old age and death," or the Taoists in "High defines low and cold defines hot."  Definitions and identifications only limit who we are.  Open your mind, open your heart, open your soul and seek the expanse of nothingness to find who you really are...

Attack like St. Paul? Not really...

     One of the most interesting ideas is to assess what actually works in the spiritual world of man/womankind and what does not by putting it into the personal litmus test of time-experience.  So, with knowledge we move forth to an experiential phase followed by wisdom.  The wisdom answers the question of whether it worked or it didn't work.
     What we notice today is the exploding spiritual maneuvers by entrepreneurs everywhere  to take your money via seminars, CDs, books, tapes and what have you. We are whisked away to the next vibrational nexus of evolution-at a price. The caveat here is that if you don't "evolve" YOU were not doing something right. Yes, unlike traditional schools of wisdom YOU are at fault and blamed for not being a success but still padding their wallets.
      Is there one popular "teacher" who gives all their money to the poor, environmental groups, war torn countries, disease cure foundations and lives a very modest middle income life?  I have not heard of one.  So if you know one such teacher clue me in. This is a multi-billion dollar industry.  Yes, it is an industry making the "teachers" wealthy as they send others out with "feel good" sensations and hope of transformation and not much success. But lets put the responsibility on the "teachers" and not the student.  As Mr. Miagi states in The Karate Kid, "No such thing as bad student. Only bad teacher."
     I have had "teachers" and then I have had teachers-Buddhist, Taoist and Christian.  All whom pointed to the standard model of successful practice- simple diligent practice and belief in the self. Now that gets a little confusing because of the 3 a fore mentioned there is the belief in the "death of the self"(ego) to grow. Lao Tzu- "True self is no self."  Jesus taught we must die to the self "In the watery grave of baptism."  Putting jewels on a pile of feces only makes for pretty shit.  Transform the feces to "a new creature" and viola you have life giving fertilizer.  Similar to grass urinated on by the dog.  The grass quickly dies.  But once transformed by the Earth the urine facilitates the growth of verdant plumes of grass where once brown, dead leaves laid.
     Where do we begin?  I personally have tried pyramids, quartz crystal crowns and adornments, binaural generated wave forms to alter my brainwaves, The Gateway Experience and Phasing for extended periods of time.  It has lead me to the conclusion-for myself only- that these are simply "things" we rationalize to allow us to grow; like an excuse.  We do not believe we have the power to grow and evolve ourselves.  We need a crutch, an excuse, fallacy laden directive to allow ourselves the permission to grow.  This is personal responsibility folks.  We all have the power and sitting within the quiet of the current "self" is the only way I have found it.  "God" speaks not in words but in insights and actions within me and between me and others. How is it that "God", "The Creator", the "void" whatever greater "thing" there is beyond us would not give us the necessary tools to evolve?
     In the great motivational video by Mateusz on Youtube called Unbroken there is a statement I agree with, " Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."  This quote is attributed to Marianne Williamson
     It is our time to let go and go inside.  Meditation and contemplation have survived a myriad of years and brought forth many to claim their rightful place in the cosmos as true, quiet, unassuming teachers.
Need an example of what to look for?  Look to the quiet, peaceful, unassuming, truth speaking individuals that draw you in, preferring to listen instead of speak. There will be a draw to them as they treat you like a loving grand mother or grandfather, a partner in your growth as a wise and respected teacher.  These great teachers will not be flamboyant, flashy or charismatic on the outward but you WILL feel their presence. Why is this so?  Because it is not their duty to have you draw them into you but to have you be drawn out.

The Creator of this world has something to say to us; "You are all being lied to by yourselves and those around you.  Money is the ruler of your world.  Greed and comfort are the measures in your world of a successful life."  The current election cycle is a perfect representation of the fight for the soul of this country.  Mega rich for the few or generalized money distribution for the masses. Which do you believe to be a more life sustaining approach?
     We are all assailed by the presentation of what is true.  One truth that is causing the most despair and taking the most damage is , "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."  Yet what do we do?  We try to "cure" every disease on the planet but largely ignore prevention because it takes what a cure does not-personal responsibility; action vs. reaction. The sinister reason, "Where is the money in a cure for cancer?"  A cure for cancer is JUST LIKE alternative energy sources are to big energy. It threatens the world of money and comfort where the few ride on the backs of many. Cure cancer and where do the people go to work from hospitals, oncology centers, imaging centers, drug companies and every staff member associated with the treatment of cancer-if there were a cure.
So where do we attack first.  As Les Brown would say of anything, such as a cure/prevention for cancer: "It's possible." We must develop the drive to grow and excel in growing.  Turn off the nightly narcotic of distraction and numbing, the TV, and grow.
     Exercise, meditation, prayer, volunteering, loving our neighbor are a few small things we can do to distract ourselves from the drug dealers of false promises of Madison Avenue. It does not take much for us to change our lives at all.  Commitment to making the world a better place is simple.

Occam's (or Ockham's) razor is a principle attributed to the 14th century logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. Ockham was the village in the English county of Surrey where he was born. The principle states that "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily."

You may be more familiar with the colloquial term; "The simplest explanation is usually the most correct."(Paraphrased)  Yet somehow we believe the more complex the better.  Again, another lie we are fed. Simple solution:

Walk 30 mins a day
Meditate 20 mins a day
Eat only food grown by the Earth in its whole form.
1 Random act of kindness everyday.

An avalanche starts with one rock.  A journey starts with one step. We do these simple things and the world will change immediately and dynamically. There is only one catch, we have to do it.

What is reality?  Is reality the sensory experience our bodies create and define with feedback?  Is reality really just a choice between endless multiverses and attention?  Maybe the questions are bigger than the answers. Perhaps Occam was right; The simplest explanation is the most correct.  Meaning?
There is no reality, there is only consciousness.  What the physical world calls matter and energy is only consciousness. If nature is the codex to "life" in this dimension then truth be told there is way more "nothing" than something.  Or perhaps the Buddhists gave us the key- Mu- meaning  the Buddhists are looking for "no thing."
The Taoists would also point us out to the obvious. The "void" is the beginning of the beginning before the beginning.  Call it the unspoken potential.  Where whatever can be imagined is somewhere, in the universe, real and abiding; wonderful and terrible at the same time that we made for our perception.
So there in lies our friend and truth the paradox. The human cell is not the human and it is.  We are (sons of God -meaning as God)God  and not God.  The list can go on in adfinitum.
So there can be only one course of action foreseeable; grow consciousness and evolve.  For only in the growth of consciousness are the solutions approachable for the next evolutionary jump in the Self.  After all, how can I prove that anything exists outside of myself with fallible sensors and programming. David Hawkin's MD PhD in his book Letting Go says it best(paraphrased)
, "If you think reality is anywhere else other than between your ears, you are insane already." The world's problems are simple illusions that can be very painful to an ego that "won't let go."