Ocean wave, Spiral staircase with people

The Universal Search for Well-Being

Throughout history, human beings have employed a variety of strategies to obtain or magnify pleasant experiences and avoid or eliminate unpleasant or painful ones. Whether breathing deeply to calm an anxious mind or having a few drinks to feel less insecure, the hope is that by engaging in such activities, we will be able to arrive at a better set of experiences, and in so doing, find a greater and hopefully more lasting sense of well-being.

However, from the most sublimely beautiful to the most difficult, experiences are by nature fleeting and impermanent. As a result, human beings find themselves in a predicament—searching for a stable sense of security and well-being in phenomena that are ultimately unstable and insecure.

Is there a way then out of this predicament? Throughout history, diverse teachings and traditions have suggested that there is, that an abiding sense of well-being can be realized, not by obtaining or ridding ourselves of particular experiences but by becoming familiar with the awareness within which all experiences arise and pass away. These traditions point out that regardless of the particular content of experience—pleasant, painful or neutral—awareness is always present for without it there can be no recognition or knowledge of phenomena. Awareness, it is said, is the one constant, the common denominator and most essential dimension of every experience.

The Direct Path

In the past few decades, we have witnessed a tremendous growth of popular as well as scientific interest in meditative/contemplative (awareness) practices and their potential to foster greater health and well-being. However, in most of the approaches that have been studied to date, awareness and the sense of peace and well-being it is believed to give rise to are seen as capacities that must be cultivated and developed, usually through extensive practice and disciplined effort.

In contrast to this view of awareness, and of particular interest to the Baumann Institute, is what is sometimes referred to as “direct path” or “non-dual” approaches to the discovery of awareness and its liberating, beneficial qualities. Rather than viewing awareness as a skill requiring cultivation or practice, in direct path teachings, the invitation is to recognize that awareness is naturally occurring; that it need not be developed or cultivated for it is always and already present as the underlying basis of all perceptual phenomena. For this reason, the direct path teachings (both their traditional and contemporary expressions) state that no effort is required to become more aware, for awareness is already happening spontaneously and effortlessly. While at first glance, the fact that awareness is naturally present may not seem that significant, the recognition of awareness appears in many instances to have a number of profound and beneficial effects.

For example, preliminary investigations (Paul, 2008; Costeines, 2009) suggest a number of significant changes in identity, perception and behavior that appear to result from the recognition of awareness. These include:

Experience of life as a single, non-dual expanse in which objective and subjective phenomena, while appearing separate and discrete, are viewed as having no independent nature or existence apart from awareness itself.
Dissolution of exclusive identification with a separate “self.”
Lessening or total cessation of resistance to phenomena, irrespective of their evaluative content (as either pleasant, painful, or neutral).
Experience of a stable sense of well-being or contentment that is not dictated by the particular nature of phenomenal experiences or circumstances.
Discovery of an uncontrived, natural wisdom and compassion.

The Baumann Institute was established in 2009 to further support such investigations into the nature of human awareness and its role in the alleviation of psychological suffering.

References

Paul, A. (2008). A Grounded Theory Investigation of Awakening in Direct Approaches [Unpublished Dissertation]. Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Menlo Park, CA.

Costeines, M. (2009). What Enlightenment Means: A Qualitative Study of Consciousness as experienced by teachers of nondual mysticism. [Unpublished Dissertation]. Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Menlo Park, CA.