Lesson 7 – The Truth Exposure Exercise
“In the light of truth, everything false disappears and enhances the experience of clarity.” Bentinho Massaro
Where Lesson 6 took your attention by the hand and allowed you to come to realizations through expounding upon the nature of Presence-Consciousness, Lesson 7 is a very practical, hands-on lesson. It is a kind of mini-workshop, in and of itself.
You will learn the Truth Exposure Exercise, which consists of:
- A simple question to help you discover your “not-yet-enlightened” beliefs
- Intuitive logic to extract the “core obstacle” from these beliefs
- The “Truth Detector Test”
You will see that going through this fun process to truth-expose your core obstacles leads to instant clarity of Being and a deeper realization of the Always Already Present nature of Presence-Consciousness.
Nothing false can withstand exposure to the light of Truth.
Step 1 – Find your Not-Yet-Enlightened Beliefs
Take a deep breath and relax your mind for 2 to 5 seconds. Just for a moment, give up your right to hold onto tension and thoughts, and come back to your natural center of Being, which is Presence-Consciousness.
Now, in the clarity of this moment, dig up five of your not-yet-enlightened beliefs, using the question below:
“What do I believe I need to change, remove, do, or become before I am worthy or capable of realizing Presence-Consciousness?”
Action: Ask yourself this question now…
Five common examples of “not-yet-enlightened beliefs”
- I still have thousands of thoughts and emotions every day; someone realized in Presence would not have these.
- I have to meditate every day in order to know what I am.
- My liberation is not up to me; it’s up to God. So I will suffer patiently until Grace sets me free.
- Enlightenment means I will (or should) never experience pain or suffering of any kind, but I still do.
- My conditioning prevents me from feeling free. Presence, I imagine, feels free.
Now move away from the computer for a few minutes (20 minutes, max) to write down your five biggest excuses as to why you believe you are not enlightened yet.
Step 2 – Extracting the Core Obstacles from your Beliefs
Welcome back!
Got your list ready?
To simplify your list, we’re going to extract the “core obstacle” from each of these beliefs. The core obstacle is the root of what the belief suggests is preventing you from realizing Presence/God/Beingness.
The imagined core obstacle is usually one of the following:
- A state of being
- A quality (of the personality)
- The presence of something
- The absence of something
The way to extract the “core obstacle” from a limiting belief is very simple and intuitive. Simply study the following examples and apply the same type of logic to all five reasons on your own list.
- Example reason 1: “I still have thousands of thoughts and emotions every day, which someone who is realized in Presence would not have.”
- The core obstacle: The presence of thoughts and emotions
- Example reason 2: “I have to meditate every day in order to know what I am.”
- The core obstacle: The absence of meditating (every day)
- Example reason 3: “My liberation is not up to me; it’s up to God. I will suffer patiently until Grace sets me free.”
- The core obstacle: The state before (or the absence of) grace
- Example reason 4: “Enlightenment means I will (or should) never experience pain or suffering of any kind, while I still do.”
- The core obstacle: The presence of (physical) pain or suffering (mental/emotional pain)
- Example reason 5: “My conditioning prevents me from feeling free. Presence, I imagine, feels free.”
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The core obstacles (there are two excuses in this case, disguised as one):
- Conditioning
- The absence of feeling freedom
Step 3 – The Truth Detector Test: 4 Questions
Ok got your 5 core obstacles ready?
Now, take one core obstacle at a time (from your own list), and get ready to truth-expose yourself by running it through the Truth Detector Test!
Use the following template but paste your own core obstacles into it. Write or type this out for yourself.
Template
- Question 1: Does [core obstacle] stop (my) existence?
- Question 2: Does [core obstacle] prevent me from recognizing that I exist?
- Question 3: Does [core obstacle] prevent me from being aware of [core obstacle]?
- Question 4: Which existed first, and is thus more fundamental, [core obstacle] or Presence-Consciousness?
Now answer these questions on your piece of paper or in the word processor on your computer. Study the examples below to get a sense of how this works.
- Question 1: Does [the presence of thoughts and emotions] stop (my) existence?
- Answer: No, I clearly see (now) that I exist, even when tons of thoughts and emotions are present!
- Question 2: Does [the presence of thoughts and emotions] prevent me from recognizing that I exist?
- Answer: No. I just recognized that I exist, answering Question 1! And I still exist now. I can recognize the sense of beingness, the sense that “I-AM” at will. Even when thoughts and emotions are present, I can still recognize that I exist!
- Question 3: Does [the presence of thoughts and emotions] prevent me from being aware of [the presence of thoughts and emotions]?
- Answer: No. I am obviously clearly aware of the presence of thoughts and emotions; otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to point them out as obstacles in the first place! So, no, thoughts and emotions do not block (my) existence from being aware.
- Question 4: Which existed first, and is thus more fundamental: [the presence of thoughts and emotions] or Presence-Consciousness?
- Answer: Presence-Consciousness existed first and is therefore more fundamental. How else could there be thoughts and emotions, if existence did not exist first for the presence of thoughts and emotions to then arise inside of? Thoughts and emotions cannot be present without the presence of existence, but existence can be present without the presence of thoughts and emotions.
Again, apply these examples to your own list. If you haven’t already, do it now…
Explanation of Exercise
Hypothetically, if the answer to any of the first three questions above is “yes,” or if the answer to the fourth question is “the core obstacle,” then that would suggest you believe a core obstacle would be a true obstacle to Presence-Consciousness.
Since an experience can never block the energy that created that experience, if the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” or if the answer to the fourth question is the “core obstacle,” this simply means you have not investigated the matter deeply enough, and the belief is still suggesting that something is blocking the obviousness of Presence-Consciousness.
This is great! It just means you have yet to discover a deeper nugget of real freedom in exposing those beliefs to the truth of Presence-Consciousness.
You will find, however, that in most instances the answer to these questions is a clear and obvious “no.” This fact reminds us of the risk of taking this Truth Detector test too swiftly, and answering “no” out of habit, to each of these questions.
The key to success is this: every time you run a core obstacle through the Truth Detector Test, devote the time to take a relaxing breath and let go of your mind for 2 to 5 seconds. Slow down for a moment and take at least 20 seconds per question so you can really feel into each question and answer—allowing the truth to be clearly seen.
This is important because it will deepen your conviction in the freedom of what is always already here, and that’s what we’re going for in Self-Realization.
This is the direct path: to become experientially convinced of the enlightenment that is discovered to be already here, rather than trying to become enlightened through certain alterations of the person, or through decades of practices based on the belief that enlightenment depends on a doing or an achieving, rather than on a re-alignment with what’s already here.
The direct path asks very little of you in comparison, and it gives you amazingly profound and swift realizations in return. What it does ask of you, however, is that you are willing to devote yourself to it full-heartedly and with a sense of excitement and optimism about the minimal “process” involved.
After practicing this Truth Exposure Exercise a few times, you will find that the whole process becomes more intuitive and automatic. Eventually, you will notice yourself spontaneously going through the exercise when a belief comes up, in a matter of seconds, without the need to write things down.
What is offered here is the ability to move from the not-yet-enlightened belief to clarity, in seconds, rather than through years of practice and alterations made to the body-mind.
Homework
1) Read this lesson at least once more, but preferably twice, or as many times as you need to feel totally clear on the process and to feel confident you can repeat it organically, in your everyday life, when you’re not engaged with the course.
2) Grab a notebook or use your computer to:
- Write down your not-yet-enlightened beliefs.
- Extract the core obstacle(s) from each of your five initial excuses for not being realized in Presence-Consciousness yet.
- Run your core obstacles through the “Truth Detector Test.”
Apply the test whenever you run into more excuses, between now and the start of your next lesson.