We have to gradually realise that there is a mental landscape, a reservoir which we can all access, but of which we are mostly ignorant, which is the source of that most fundamental conscious awareness.
It feels blissful, but this word is inadequate, it dwarfs our usual experience of sensory pleasure and gratification. It feels like the euphoria of a eureka! moment, it feels like the relief of a major anxiety finally resolved, it feels like the moments following sexual release, it feels like the first glimpse of a grand landscape or a newborn baby. Imagine if these states could be felt for hours at a time.
All of these examples have a common element – the mind is temporarily stunned into stillness.
That is the key. When the mind as a whole is suddenly made still, when the incongruous, habitual mental activity is paused, a blockage is temporarily removed and the reservoir can begin to trickle that pure consciousness into us.
Our ability to stay in that still frame of mind dictates the intensity and duration of our experience, and this is where the real training is required. Conditioning the mind to not latch onto bliss and start thinking again. When you think, the mind regains its control and the babbling dialogue puts the block in place again.
When I was in the outback recently, I was able to experience longer periods of a stunned mind. Raja yoga, meditation, this kind of training gives us freedom to enjoy a still mind and the bliss that flows, without automatically resuming the humdrum of over-thinking.
Enjoy your birth-right, please!