Glossary & Key Themes

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Advaita Vedanta. An ancient school of Hindu philosophy, based on non-duality and the idea that it is possible to realise (become aware of) your true self in this life.

Aliveness. The vibrant energy that animates your mind and body.

APASP (Avoid Pain & Seek Pleasure). One of the most dominant programs in the human mind. An automated, mostly subconscious, process that steers our attention away from anything painful and towards pleasure.

Attention. The projected part of awareness. The focal point of awareness.

Awareness. a) The faculty that enables you to know you exist. b) The still, unmoving sentient essence of Being.

Becoming. a) The journey that your attention is on. b) What happens to the I-thought and the stories it tells. Energy is spent in becoming.

Being. a) The unchanging aspect of who you are. b) Your true centre. Energy is conserved in Being. C) The source of awareness. The true essence of who you are.

Centre or true centre. The place beyond words, the home of your Being, from which the light of peace and truth emanates.

Centred. When your awareness is aligned with its source instead of being projected into the mind and attached to thoughts.

Consciousness. a) The movement of thought. b) The formatting or conditioning of the mind. c) Concepts, ideas, thoughts and emotions. d) In contrast to the stillness of awareness, consciousness is constantly moving.

Deeper Truth. Inner truth that is truer or of more profound significance than the apparent truth.

Duality. The result of the mind dividing what it perceives into ‘this’ and ‘that’, e.g., ‘pleasure and pain’ and ‘likes and dislikes’. Duality is a key element of APASP and The Mind Illusion. Polarity is what occurs when ‘this’ is judged to be better than ‘that’ or vice versa. The majority of human consciousness is characterised by duality and polarity.

Human-created world. As opposed to the natural world, the world of cars, cities, computers and concepts, created by humans.

Idea of individuality. A key element of the idea of separation. The assumption that you are inherently an individual being, separate from others and separate from the rest of Nature.

Idea of independence / treating things in isolation. The idea that you can treat something without affecting anything else – e.g., treating medical symptoms with drugs, without considering the wider effects on the body-mind as a whole.

Idea of separation. The idea that the world is made up of separate beings and components, as opposed to the idea that “All is One”, which states that the entire world is an expression of One Underlying Reality.

Idea of imperfection. The concept that you are tainted, stained or blemished in some way. Once the idea of imperfection has taken root, it activates the idea of redemption, the notion that one day whatever is wrong with you may be ironed out, corrected or healed.

Identification. Attachment of attention to anything other than your Inner Being.

Inner Being or Inner Presence. See Being.

Inner peace. a) A natural quality of Being. b) The lack of any internal conflict.

I-thought. a) The thought “I”. b) The ego, personality or false self (who you think you are). c) The identity at the centre of your personal stories.

Light Within. Another label for the true source of awareness.

Mind-based. a) Identifying with an idea of yourself rather than being who you are. b) Getting caught up in the temporal illusion of duality and polarity. c) Being driven by ideas instead of guided by The Light Within.

Mind Illusion. The collective name given to the set of ideas and programs that combine to deceive you into believing you are someone you’re not.

Non-identification. Giving up attachment to ideas and bringing the projected attention to rest within awareness.

Non-resistance. Your natural state of being when you are not identified with ideas.

Observation without interpretation (also, Awareness without interpretation). Being aware of or witnessing the activities of the mind or the external world, without any kind of interpretive mental commentary or narrative.

One-pointed focus. The state of bringing your attention to bear on one single task, idea or thought (as opposed to the so-called ‘monkey mind’ that flits here, there and everywhere).

Oneness. The state of being in which you feel or ‘know’ that everything in the entire world is connected and born of one underlying reality.

Outer Activity. The name given to the external world and the movement of thought. The Outer Activity is characterised by change and movement in time, whereas The Inner Being is still and unaffected by the changes in The Outer Activity.

Peaceful Awareness. A practical philosophy for rediscovering truth and peace within you.

Place beyond words. See Silence.

Polarity. See Duality.

Practical philosophy. A way of life based on ideas that can be tested for their validity – as opposed to a religion or spiritual teaching, in which you may be required to believe ideas that you can neither prove nor disprove.

Presence. a) The power or life-force of Being. The energy conserved in Being.

Present Emotional Awareness. Being present to your emotions and allowing them to be, without resistance or judgement.

Prism of the mind. A play on words to suggest that the enchanting multi-coloured reflections of the mind create a kind of prison that keeps us from knowing Inner Truth.

Pure Awareness. The blissful state of stillness in which you are aware, without being troubled or affected by the movement of thought.

Self-discovery. The ongoing process of revealing deeper truths about who you are.

Self-enquiry. Tracing the I-thought to its source.

Self-knowledge. The deeper truth of who you are, as revealed through self-enquiry and self-discovery.

Shadow. The collective term for all the parts of your being you have not yet learned to appreciate. The parts that seem ‘dark’ and scary because they have been dismissed and judged to be undesirable.

Silence. The inner state of non-thinking combined with the outer practice of non-talking.

Sri Ramana Maharshi. One of the most influential spiritual figures of the modern age, who lived from 1879 to 1950. David Godman’s book, Be As You Are, is an excellent introduction to Sri Ramana’s teachings.

Stories. The mind’s interpretations that are mistaken for truth.

True Centre. An alternative label for The Inner Being or The Light Within.

Unawareness. The default state of awareness for many humans – pulled into the never-ending conflict of opposing forces in the mind and driven by ideas.

Witnessing. Being aware of something without becoming physically or psychologically involved with it. Awareness without thought or attachment.