I Heard There Was A Secret Chord

The first line from Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”
stirs the spirit and ‘plucks heart-strings’.

Speechless, one can only say “Hallelujah”, and
it says everything! The mind cannot decode
this.

The mind can hypothesize, and imagine many things,
but when the “spirit” and “heart” move in full vibrancy,
the mind is dumbfounded. It can only “babble”.

Where are YOU when this happens?
Who are you? What are you?

This “stunning of the mind”, is like the blast of bright
sunlight that hits your eyes when you quickly throw
open heavy window curtains. The “heavy curtains of
inhibiting concepts” have suddenly parted transporting“you” into non-local reality.

In that instant of non-local disorientation, where is the "personal" you? Your mind/thoughts, self-image, opinions about who
you are etc. are incapable of entering the dimension beyond mind.
That “you”, the “personal” you, the self-image you, are all constructs
of mind. They are limited ephemeral images that are always changing
with no concrete substance.

That YOU that you ‘think’ you are, had a beginning
and will come to an end when the body/brain/mind
passes away. But, there is a YOU that is not bound
by the limitations of body/mind. That YOU, knows
that it exists.

The body/mind “you”, the “you” that you normally think of
when you refer to yourself, your ideas, your feelings, your plans,
your desires, your fears, etc., that “you” is constantly changing.
It was once with a baby body; next “you” were associated with
the feelings and body of a school youngster; later “you” became
a teenager – then an adult.

Which “you” was the real you and not a conceptual mental
image-based “you”? Through all those “life experiences” of “you” there was
a steadfast, consistent YOU that was there “witnessing” all those
characters that you thought were “you”.

Begin with small steps, with little things of everyday experience.
Observe the activity of mind, the thoughts that cross your attention.
Notice how certain thoughts ‘grab’ your attention in such a way
that you feel helpless in reacting to the demands and stimuli affecting
body and mind.

Become a “witness.” A dispassionate witness. Do not get involved in the
thoughts parading before your awareness. Do not give them your attention.
Just watch them with curiosity. These thoughts cannot harm you, they
cannot move you to do anything undesirable – unless you let them.

These are the initial steps to Mastery of self. That “self” that is the
image of the mind. Go slowly, gradually. Note that you cannot really
define the real YOU which is not of the mind. That YOU might be
labelled as the “Self” as opposed to the “self” of the mind.

As you begin to be Master of self,
the greater Self has more and more opportunities
to guide you through life experiences.
There will be a lessening of inner conflict and turmoil.
You are on the road to the peace.

Not peace from something, but the peace that you naturally are.
Mastery of self is the road to freedom – not freedom from something,
but freedom itself, which is a state of being rather than a condition.

And then perhaps you might say
that you “heard a secret chord”
that the “holy spirit” played
on your “heart-strings”.

Hallelujah