How to Experience Pure Joy
Location; Lake Winneconne, Wisconsin, Gene Kuhns’ dock, Sunset 9-19-22
Do you have trouble accessing pure joy? I did until I began practicing a new type of meditation called Pure Conscious Experience (PCE). This is just one of many powerful techniques I learned in Dr. Jeffrey Martin’s 45 Days to Awakening course. Now, multiple times a week, I am able to tap into the most wonderous pure joy. Last night, I had the most intensely joyful, exquisite experience with a sunset.
Dave and I sat on the dock watching the sky transform, radiate, and reflect on the water for about an hour. The sunset started out rather ordinary-looking: a small red sun with some clouds low on the horizon. The sun dipped below the horizon. At this point we’d normally walk away, but I was enjoying the light on the calm lake, so we lingered longer.
Soon, the sunlight began streaming up in defined rays in a semi-circle above the horizon. The light on the water became even more mesmerizing. The red spread across the horizon of the lake and over the hour the red crept forward toward us.
There is no way for me to adequately capture what we saw on film. The photos do not begin to do this sunset justice. As darkness grew imminent, the red burst thicker across the horizon. I sank deeply into a Pure Conscious Experience (PCE) and felt the most exquisite joy. Tears formed in my eyes. I felt on the verge of sobbing for joy, but it came out as a gentle laughter.
I count on one hand the times I’ve felt such an intensely joyful, wonderous combination of emotions. I let the feeling sink in and noticed how I was absorbing the experience. My gaze was a bit diffused. Yet my eyes scanned the horizon, the water, the patterns, the lighting and colors — taking it all in. At the very end before darkness fell, the shimmer on the water just below the red looked like rain drops streaking, drizzling down a window pane.
I felt an immense gratitude to God for His wonders. The thought occurred to me that all along, nature’s treasures have been free and available to me. This exquisite joy was freely available, yet I’d spent the bulk of my life working and seeking flickers of happiness and joy in a way that required long hours at a computer screen. I’d spent years looking for happiness and joy by earning it — expecting it to come with financial security.
I’d been trying to earn or achieve bliss when it was there all along for the receiving – freely attainable in God’s majestic creations. All I had to do was really see it, be conscious, and experience it – free of charge!
How to Have a Pure Conscious Experience of Joy and Wonder
A Pure Conscious Experience (PCE) begins by focusing in on the attributes and perfections of something, observing all aspects of it with your senses.
If thoughts arise, no big deal, just release them and keep focusing on the object.
Sink into the experience, open yourself to immersing yourself in the object and the feelings that may arise.
If a feeling of joy, wonder, gratitude, love or compassion arises, sink into that feeling… release any urge to push it aside. Allow yourself to feel it, swim in it.
Once you’re good and immersed in the experience, note how you’re observing the experience. What are your eyes doing? your hearing? etc.? No need to get scientific about it, just casually note it without pulling yourself out of the feeling. This can deepen the experience and also help you learn the physiology of your body when you’re experiencing a PCE. This can help you move into future pure conscious experiences more easily.
For example, I’ve noticed I look at whatever I’m observing with an open single-eye vision and even diffuse my gaze a bit and shift my eyes to different aspects of the object.
You may notice as you practice PCE meditation that certain things are doorways into a joyous experience. For example, for me, water and lighting are like wormholes to joy and wonder. When I’m out in the canoe near sunset, I can experience this type of thing a lot, but last night was the most intense experience I’ve had yet.
To experience a persistent state of fundamental well-being and learn more techniques like this one, I highly recommend Dr. Jeffrey Martin’s “45 Days to Awakening” Course.
Sunsets Over Winneconne – with Calm Music and Photos
The video below is one I created using sunset photos I took on Lake Winneconne, Wisconsin and set to piano music I composed. I hope you enjoy it. Try using it for your own pure conscious experience!
