If there is only One, then choice or no choice, free will or no free will, has no ground. There is only this.
When you speak, I hear it over here. So where is the separation?
When I turn and see you, I experience the seeing here, so how can you be over there?
When I touch your body, I experience it in me. So where is the boundary?
Unconditional love is simply the recognition that all emanates from the One Essence, expressing itself without judgment.
All that the apparent person can experience is nothing other than the One Essence experiencing a focal point.
Only the body mind sees good and bad. And there is nothing wrong with that. But it is a limitation!
Right and wrong have their place. It lets one protect the body. Remember that only the body, and the desire to keep and enjoy it, create right and wrong.
Right and wrong keeps culture intact and markets functioning. All to keep our bodies sheltered and fed. The mind is just a memory bank of how to do that.
But the mind gets stuck in its culture, in its milieu, and in protecting itself, comes to believe it is the only game in town.
There is nothing wrong with this self protection. There is nothing wrong with right or wrong. It's just a condition imposed by the body. A limitation, a contraction of the One.
Knowing this, one acknowledges right and wrong, but one also knows that it is not the truth of the One. Awareness knows no right or wrong. It is unconditional. It is always love.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
I am Everywhere
I am is everywhere, yet sometimes thinks it's this or that. All the personal work has its use in undoing conditioning.
First there was contraction, then openness. The yin and yang of experience.
We were before we thought, and are after thinking is done. Curiosity killed the cat, and curiosity took this one down as well. So what was the harm in thinking?
The true mind knows it's limits. The true mind knows something is beyond. The true mind knows it can relax and let things be. The rest is just play.
I was the one before I knew I was the one. So who was I when I thought I was someone? The One of course. Who else could I have been?
Personality thought it was the root, but turns out it wasn't. Resonance lead elsewhere.
When chaos and randomness fall into Being, nothing is left out of place.
First there was contraction, then openness. The yin and yang of experience.
We were before we thought, and are after thinking is done. Curiosity killed the cat, and curiosity took this one down as well. So what was the harm in thinking?
The true mind knows it's limits. The true mind knows something is beyond. The true mind knows it can relax and let things be. The rest is just play.
I was the one before I knew I was the one. So who was I when I thought I was someone? The One of course. Who else could I have been?
Personality thought it was the root, but turns out it wasn't. Resonance lead elsewhere.
When chaos and randomness fall into Being, nothing is left out of place.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Liberated Mind
What is the state or non state when seeking for deeper understanding is going on, but there is no one doing the seeking?
Who is doing the search for deeper understanding when there is no sense of someone doing the seeking?
When there is seeking, or non seeking, and in either case there is no one seeking, who is seeking? Is anyone seeking, or is this just the mind tripping along trying to understand, because it is it's nature to do so?
Does the mind, when liberated, go on seeking its limits, exploring the boundaries of its limitation? Can it actually enjoy this search for the boundary and limit of itself? Or is there something deeper, some wholeness, that enjoys the mind finding it's limit?
That is the sense here. There is not seeking for The Answer. But there is enjoyment of letting the mind play, watching the mind play. This mind thing likes to play with thought, likes to watch it soar and crash.
That is the sense here. That there is joy in creating a deeper facility through the mind with words, in order to describe the indescribable, to describe what is, with no one here.
It's just a game. The mind knows only so much. It knows that it is limited, but it still enjoys the push to see deeper, to describe more adeptly what cannot be captured.
So it is a game. The end is already assured, whether the mind gets a final answer or not. This character is playing the tune it hears, that it likes sometimes, and not others.
This character is playing the part of its conditioning, while knowing it is conditioned. It also knows that the character is only part of a painting. Yet what I am is the painting, and the wall, and the building, and the city, and the world, and the universe.
Who is doing the search for deeper understanding when there is no sense of someone doing the seeking?
When there is seeking, or non seeking, and in either case there is no one seeking, who is seeking? Is anyone seeking, or is this just the mind tripping along trying to understand, because it is it's nature to do so?
Does the mind, when liberated, go on seeking its limits, exploring the boundaries of its limitation? Can it actually enjoy this search for the boundary and limit of itself? Or is there something deeper, some wholeness, that enjoys the mind finding it's limit?
That is the sense here. There is not seeking for The Answer. But there is enjoyment of letting the mind play, watching the mind play. This mind thing likes to play with thought, likes to watch it soar and crash.
That is the sense here. That there is joy in creating a deeper facility through the mind with words, in order to describe the indescribable, to describe what is, with no one here.
It's just a game. The mind knows only so much. It knows that it is limited, but it still enjoys the push to see deeper, to describe more adeptly what cannot be captured.
So it is a game. The end is already assured, whether the mind gets a final answer or not. This character is playing the tune it hears, that it likes sometimes, and not others.
This character is playing the part of its conditioning, while knowing it is conditioned. It also knows that the character is only part of a painting. Yet what I am is the painting, and the wall, and the building, and the city, and the world, and the universe.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Bus Line Meditation
ATA Bus line Meditation
I recall a conversation with a guru in which a student complained about wanting to meditate, but a car garage was below his flat, so there was constant noise. The guru told him to move.
Perhaps the guru had this guy figured out and wanted him to move out of the neighborhood so he wouldn't ask any more stupid questions. Easier to get him to move than throw him out.
For this one, the place I am most alone is riding the bus to work. There is no place that is quieter for me. But the bus is noisy, and there is banter among the talkers that congregate at the back.
No one has created a pattern of sitting next to me, and no one has decided I was the one they needed to talk to. Perhaps I have an aura that says, "Leave this guy alone."
So the bus ride to work is the best meditation time I have. Since I don't really know anyone, any judgments I have are surface only, they have no roots. The scenery I know by heart. Car lanes don't particularly inspire me to keep my eyes open.
I can read the paper on the bus before it starts to move, but once it gets going, reading is not very pleasant. I close my eyes, and begin to meditate. Before I experience two minutes passing, the thirty-five minute bus ride is over.
Meanwhile, during the lapse of time, I have traveled inside my body, pronounced it healthy, forgiven my fellow bus riders for being superficial, and blessed my enemies. By the time the bus stops downtown, I am forgiven. What a blessed way to begin the day.
Riding the bus has provided me more meditation time than anything I've ever tried. I don't like to sit and meditate at home. There was always something else I'd rather do, like get up and have some coffee.
So providence (the word for today) provided the bus; my personal vehicle just for meditation. I've begun to suspect though, that providence is efficient, because I've noticed a few others, head bowed, eyes closed, but not asleep. Perhaps they're praying the heart out too.
I recall a conversation with a guru in which a student complained about wanting to meditate, but a car garage was below his flat, so there was constant noise. The guru told him to move.
Perhaps the guru had this guy figured out and wanted him to move out of the neighborhood so he wouldn't ask any more stupid questions. Easier to get him to move than throw him out.
For this one, the place I am most alone is riding the bus to work. There is no place that is quieter for me. But the bus is noisy, and there is banter among the talkers that congregate at the back.
No one has created a pattern of sitting next to me, and no one has decided I was the one they needed to talk to. Perhaps I have an aura that says, "Leave this guy alone."
So the bus ride to work is the best meditation time I have. Since I don't really know anyone, any judgments I have are surface only, they have no roots. The scenery I know by heart. Car lanes don't particularly inspire me to keep my eyes open.
I can read the paper on the bus before it starts to move, but once it gets going, reading is not very pleasant. I close my eyes, and begin to meditate. Before I experience two minutes passing, the thirty-five minute bus ride is over.
Meanwhile, during the lapse of time, I have traveled inside my body, pronounced it healthy, forgiven my fellow bus riders for being superficial, and blessed my enemies. By the time the bus stops downtown, I am forgiven. What a blessed way to begin the day.
Riding the bus has provided me more meditation time than anything I've ever tried. I don't like to sit and meditate at home. There was always something else I'd rather do, like get up and have some coffee.
So providence (the word for today) provided the bus; my personal vehicle just for meditation. I've begun to suspect though, that providence is efficient, because I've noticed a few others, head bowed, eyes closed, but not asleep. Perhaps they're praying the heart out too.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Helpful Gurus
There are a number of enlightened folk around these days. Some are more helpful than others.
There are many that say we are all enlightened and there's nothing to be done. At a certain level of awareness this may be true? But is it helpful?
The non dual police will now say, "Helpful to who?" They know there is ultimately no one to help?
However, there are still millions of apparent poor souls out there searching, wanting help. Who will help them?
In this body-mind's search I can only say that of the hundreds of books I've read, and the teachers I've met, some were helpful, some not.
I can hear it again. Helpful to whom? Helpful to this apparent body-mind, this illusion, this seeker, this whatever you want to call it.
Pain can be helpful. Granted. But pain and anguish can also demoralize and destroy, and where pain can be assuaged, or sidestepped, it's a good thing.
Where pain is already established, and can't be ignored, then it's necessary and good to feel it. And it must be felt and experienced down to the core.
I have wailed and cried, and screamed till I was horse. I have felt pain that I did not think I could bare. But this body-mind, this apparent self, this illusion, did benefit.
From intense therapy, and intense feeling of pain, I was able to leave it behind. Suffering to a large degree stopped. Would I like to have avoided it, yes! Could I be who I am if I had not felt it? No. If I had found a way around it, would I have benefited? Who knows?
Real or unreal, illusion or not, I avoid suffering where I can. To those who helped me avoid further suffering, by helping me get in touch with my pain so I could feel it, I am ever grateful.
As much as I like abstract theory, esoteric spirituality, and enlightenment, I also like what works! I'll take what works over non dual theory any day. Call it practical enlightenment if you wish.
Some teachers are helpful and some aren't. A suffering person can be called an illusion, an apparent energy field, whatever. That doesn't lessen the suffering. It doesn't help.
If there is suffering, help is called for. If there is suffering and I can help, I want to help. I could care less whether the suffering person is illusory or not. I could care less if the sufferer is only an illusory energy field.
Duality and non duality are part and parcel of the same oneness. There is no separation. But if separation is felt, and someone is in pain, those that are helpful, seem to me, more in touch with the One Love.
There are many that say we are all enlightened and there's nothing to be done. At a certain level of awareness this may be true? But is it helpful?
The non dual police will now say, "Helpful to who?" They know there is ultimately no one to help?
However, there are still millions of apparent poor souls out there searching, wanting help. Who will help them?
In this body-mind's search I can only say that of the hundreds of books I've read, and the teachers I've met, some were helpful, some not.
I can hear it again. Helpful to whom? Helpful to this apparent body-mind, this illusion, this seeker, this whatever you want to call it.
Pain can be helpful. Granted. But pain and anguish can also demoralize and destroy, and where pain can be assuaged, or sidestepped, it's a good thing.
Where pain is already established, and can't be ignored, then it's necessary and good to feel it. And it must be felt and experienced down to the core.
I have wailed and cried, and screamed till I was horse. I have felt pain that I did not think I could bare. But this body-mind, this apparent self, this illusion, did benefit.
From intense therapy, and intense feeling of pain, I was able to leave it behind. Suffering to a large degree stopped. Would I like to have avoided it, yes! Could I be who I am if I had not felt it? No. If I had found a way around it, would I have benefited? Who knows?
Real or unreal, illusion or not, I avoid suffering where I can. To those who helped me avoid further suffering, by helping me get in touch with my pain so I could feel it, I am ever grateful.
As much as I like abstract theory, esoteric spirituality, and enlightenment, I also like what works! I'll take what works over non dual theory any day. Call it practical enlightenment if you wish.
Some teachers are helpful and some aren't. A suffering person can be called an illusion, an apparent energy field, whatever. That doesn't lessen the suffering. It doesn't help.
If there is suffering, help is called for. If there is suffering and I can help, I want to help. I could care less whether the suffering person is illusory or not. I could care less if the sufferer is only an illusory energy field.
Duality and non duality are part and parcel of the same oneness. There is no separation. But if separation is felt, and someone is in pain, those that are helpful, seem to me, more in touch with the One Love.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
A Permanent State of Bliss
Ah, to have that permanent state of bliss. Don't you want it?
We want that unshakable assurance that we know. The kind of assurance that can't be questioned because the authority of it is so profound, and the experience so subjectively felt, that we cannot doubt it. An experience that is so far beyond logic, that no argument could even begin to lap at its feet.
We may be programmed to want this - to search for this. We don't get this desire from reading books. However, books or a teacher may make us aware that such a desire was already nascent in us.
A touch of spiritual insight just uncovers that desire. Then the search is on! We don't get this desire for profound assurance from reading. It is our true nature. Our true Self wants this. Our true nature is sure. Somehow, that allness wants to experience itself through through us.
As for such high experiences coming and going? It appears to be a normal progression. Cyclical, like most of nature.
There are gurus who express what they know from an assurance of permanence. Mooji often says "I don't understand how you say you got it, and then..., and then.... What is this and then?" Obviously Mooji is implying, if you get it, it should be permanent.
My own experience is that I have had the complete and total experience of oneness and meaning so profound that all normal feeling and experience is meaningless in comparison. And yet that state, experiences of that state, don't remain permanent in this body/mind.
This doesn't mean that I am not changed radically from having had such experiences. I had to let these states go because I just couldn't function in this world and remain in such states. More likely it wasn't a choice. I just couldn't stay there. And I couldn't stay there because there was no "me" there.
Would I like to be able to stay in a state of bliss, without fear, in total oneness, and assurance that it was permanent? Of Course I would. Could I? Who knows?
What helped me a lot with this question of states of bliss and oneness and their lack of permanence was reading "The Experience of No Self," by Bernadette Roberts. She describes high states that come and go. Then even higher states that come and go. Her point is that once one is in a new experiential state for awhile, one gets used to it, so it is no longer experienced as a "high." It becomes the norm.
The bottom line is to know what you know, but remain in the unknowing of what you don't know, even acknowledging that you don't know what you don't know.
If extremely high states are not permanent, then there is more work to do, or such a permanent state is not in the cards for you. It's the journey that matters.
Our intellect does want as much understanding of the mystical as possible. Even though spiritual experience is beyond the intellect and logic, the intellect does want as much understanding as possible.
It seeks a level of satisfaction. If it can get a level of understanding, it actually relaxes. And that relaxation may allow the spiritual seeker to really let go, since with enough feeding, the intellect sees its own limits and accepts them.
Permanence and impermanence are in a dance. We are the dancers. Enjoy the dance.
We want that unshakable assurance that we know. The kind of assurance that can't be questioned because the authority of it is so profound, and the experience so subjectively felt, that we cannot doubt it. An experience that is so far beyond logic, that no argument could even begin to lap at its feet.
We may be programmed to want this - to search for this. We don't get this desire from reading books. However, books or a teacher may make us aware that such a desire was already nascent in us.
A touch of spiritual insight just uncovers that desire. Then the search is on! We don't get this desire for profound assurance from reading. It is our true nature. Our true Self wants this. Our true nature is sure. Somehow, that allness wants to experience itself through through us.
As for such high experiences coming and going? It appears to be a normal progression. Cyclical, like most of nature.
There are gurus who express what they know from an assurance of permanence. Mooji often says "I don't understand how you say you got it, and then..., and then.... What is this and then?" Obviously Mooji is implying, if you get it, it should be permanent.
My own experience is that I have had the complete and total experience of oneness and meaning so profound that all normal feeling and experience is meaningless in comparison. And yet that state, experiences of that state, don't remain permanent in this body/mind.
This doesn't mean that I am not changed radically from having had such experiences. I had to let these states go because I just couldn't function in this world and remain in such states. More likely it wasn't a choice. I just couldn't stay there. And I couldn't stay there because there was no "me" there.
Would I like to be able to stay in a state of bliss, without fear, in total oneness, and assurance that it was permanent? Of Course I would. Could I? Who knows?
What helped me a lot with this question of states of bliss and oneness and their lack of permanence was reading "The Experience of No Self," by Bernadette Roberts. She describes high states that come and go. Then even higher states that come and go. Her point is that once one is in a new experiential state for awhile, one gets used to it, so it is no longer experienced as a "high." It becomes the norm.
The bottom line is to know what you know, but remain in the unknowing of what you don't know, even acknowledging that you don't know what you don't know.
If extremely high states are not permanent, then there is more work to do, or such a permanent state is not in the cards for you. It's the journey that matters.
Our intellect does want as much understanding of the mystical as possible. Even though spiritual experience is beyond the intellect and logic, the intellect does want as much understanding as possible.
It seeks a level of satisfaction. If it can get a level of understanding, it actually relaxes. And that relaxation may allow the spiritual seeker to really let go, since with enough feeding, the intellect sees its own limits and accepts them.
Permanence and impermanence are in a dance. We are the dancers. Enjoy the dance.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Let's Go Play
If one knows that one is Source appearing, and Source is eternal, what does that do to time? Sort of makes it irrelevant. Well, in the Big picture anyway.
So, here we are, sitting in the Big picture. The eternal has no beginning and no end. With no beginning, and no end, there is only now. So time becomes irrelevant.
Who cares? The apparent body cares. It is programmed to want to live, and therefore to eat and sleep and have shelter, and few other joys.
Can there then be peace while the body-mind goes about getting its needs met? Perhaps, if one actually grasps the fact of being eternal. If the mind acts on that, perhaps it can do all the things necessary, to be on time, for work, dental appointments, etc., and yet do it all peacefully, because ultimately, we have all the time in the world.
But, if we have a soul, and that soul also has a place in eternity, then perhaps it does make a difference in how we go about getting our food and shelter. Perhaps if we do so lovingly, our eternal place may be different.
Some say this is a school, some say only a playground. Perhaps it's a playground for Source, but a school for us.
Perhaps Source doesn't care how we perform, but does reward accordingly. Perhaps not. Some say we are punished by our sins, not for our sins. Seems fair to me.
If we can see that some people are far more conscious than others. If we can see that some are at peace with everything. And if, as Hawkins points out, there are levels of consciousness, and those with a higher level of consciousness are more at peace. Then perhaps it does make a difference here, and in the ever after.
I certainly see growth in myself and in others. I certainly prefer to be around people who are more highly evolved, more conscious, more loving, more peaceful, more open, more forgiving. And if that's a higher level of consciousness, I prefer to be around those.
As to the consequences of this (levels of consciousness) in the afterlife, why would it be any different there than here? If we can have one life in a body, it makes sense that we could have another, unless of course, if we are just a body.
But, if we are spirit, and just inhabiting a body for a time, then we could inhabit another one here, or another one in some other dimension. And if we are individuated here, we probably will be individuated there.
Of course, this doesn't mean that we are not all one and all Source only. It's just that if we can appear separate here, we can appear separate there, or anywhere. This dimension or any other.
If we are not individuated in the next life as well. Who is going to play? How else does the play of Lila go on?
I suspect that in all this play, there is also growth. I suspect that the growth of the individual spirit does happen. I suspect that I am spirit and not just a body. And I suspect that in the next dimension (since life is actually eternal) I will also have the opportunity to play and to grow.
Most games have rules. We just don't know what the Big rules are. I do know that it's a lot more fun to play when you know you really can't die. It's certainly less stressful.
I have only found one Big rule, and that is love. OK, boys and girls, lets go play!
So, here we are, sitting in the Big picture. The eternal has no beginning and no end. With no beginning, and no end, there is only now. So time becomes irrelevant.
Who cares? The apparent body cares. It is programmed to want to live, and therefore to eat and sleep and have shelter, and few other joys.
Can there then be peace while the body-mind goes about getting its needs met? Perhaps, if one actually grasps the fact of being eternal. If the mind acts on that, perhaps it can do all the things necessary, to be on time, for work, dental appointments, etc., and yet do it all peacefully, because ultimately, we have all the time in the world.
But, if we have a soul, and that soul also has a place in eternity, then perhaps it does make a difference in how we go about getting our food and shelter. Perhaps if we do so lovingly, our eternal place may be different.
Some say this is a school, some say only a playground. Perhaps it's a playground for Source, but a school for us.
Perhaps Source doesn't care how we perform, but does reward accordingly. Perhaps not. Some say we are punished by our sins, not for our sins. Seems fair to me.
If we can see that some people are far more conscious than others. If we can see that some are at peace with everything. And if, as Hawkins points out, there are levels of consciousness, and those with a higher level of consciousness are more at peace. Then perhaps it does make a difference here, and in the ever after.
I certainly see growth in myself and in others. I certainly prefer to be around people who are more highly evolved, more conscious, more loving, more peaceful, more open, more forgiving. And if that's a higher level of consciousness, I prefer to be around those.
As to the consequences of this (levels of consciousness) in the afterlife, why would it be any different there than here? If we can have one life in a body, it makes sense that we could have another, unless of course, if we are just a body.
But, if we are spirit, and just inhabiting a body for a time, then we could inhabit another one here, or another one in some other dimension. And if we are individuated here, we probably will be individuated there.
Of course, this doesn't mean that we are not all one and all Source only. It's just that if we can appear separate here, we can appear separate there, or anywhere. This dimension or any other.
If we are not individuated in the next life as well. Who is going to play? How else does the play of Lila go on?
I suspect that in all this play, there is also growth. I suspect that the growth of the individual spirit does happen. I suspect that I am spirit and not just a body. And I suspect that in the next dimension (since life is actually eternal) I will also have the opportunity to play and to grow.
Most games have rules. We just don't know what the Big rules are. I do know that it's a lot more fun to play when you know you really can't die. It's certainly less stressful.
I have only found one Big rule, and that is love. OK, boys and girls, lets go play!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Advaita Round Robin
Advaitists tell us that:
Enlightenment means realizing that, "You are not the doer."
Enlightenment means realizing that, "The Absolute is the only doer."
Enlightenment means realizing that, "You are That."
So - enlightenment leaves you back as the doer after all!
~ John Wren-Lewis ~
So, we are back again, in the world, as the doer. How does that feel? Does it feel enlightened?
Any way you look at it, you end up being the doer. It's just that depending on the level of awareness, one is either a personal doer, or an impersonal doer.
One could say, "Whatever I do is the will of Source," and absolve oneself of any responsibility. Notice however, that this absolution is aligned with the small self, making excuses for the small self to do whatever it desires to do.
Perhaps, as awareness increases, one surrenders the little doer for the bigger one. One may find oneself repeating lines from the Lord's Prayer. "Thy will be done."
Would not a true sense of the larger self ask, "What is thy will?"
The higher level of awareness actually takes more responsibility, not less. Whereas the gang-banger selling drugs on the street corner, does not think about what is good for anyone else.
So perhaps one needs to consider the level of responsibility one takes for oneself, and the world, as an indication of how enlightened one actually is.
This of course, does not preclude surrender, as in "Thy will be done."
Thus one is in the position of "Thy will be done," and here is my contribution. I give what I can give, without taking on responsibility for the results.
Enlightenment means realizing that, "You are not the doer."
Enlightenment means realizing that, "The Absolute is the only doer."
Enlightenment means realizing that, "You are That."
So - enlightenment leaves you back as the doer after all!
~ John Wren-Lewis ~
So, we are back again, in the world, as the doer. How does that feel? Does it feel enlightened?
Any way you look at it, you end up being the doer. It's just that depending on the level of awareness, one is either a personal doer, or an impersonal doer.
One could say, "Whatever I do is the will of Source," and absolve oneself of any responsibility. Notice however, that this absolution is aligned with the small self, making excuses for the small self to do whatever it desires to do.
Perhaps, as awareness increases, one surrenders the little doer for the bigger one. One may find oneself repeating lines from the Lord's Prayer. "Thy will be done."
Would not a true sense of the larger self ask, "What is thy will?"
The higher level of awareness actually takes more responsibility, not less. Whereas the gang-banger selling drugs on the street corner, does not think about what is good for anyone else.
So perhaps one needs to consider the level of responsibility one takes for oneself, and the world, as an indication of how enlightened one actually is.
This of course, does not preclude surrender, as in "Thy will be done."
Thus one is in the position of "Thy will be done," and here is my contribution. I give what I can give, without taking on responsibility for the results.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Perfectionism
Perfectionism is an ego position that makes oneself and others imperfect. The bad news of your judgment travels fast, condemning all who come in contact.
Only the perfectionist knows how poorly we all perform. The perfectionist's glasses are not rose colored, they are black. The world becomes black and white, right and wrong.
Perfectionism is a form of limitation. It sees lack everywhere. And where there is lack, there is suffering. It keeps one from trying anything new. We are such a failure already.
The perfectionist sees the imperfection of everything, in family, friends, and nature. The imperfect flower, the broken tree, the potholes in the road.
I will leave the perfectionists to count the potholes. I will enjoy the bouncing ride and the completeness of the rose in half bloom.
Only the perfectionist knows how poorly we all perform. The perfectionist's glasses are not rose colored, they are black. The world becomes black and white, right and wrong.
Perfectionism is a form of limitation. It sees lack everywhere. And where there is lack, there is suffering. It keeps one from trying anything new. We are such a failure already.
The perfectionist sees the imperfection of everything, in family, friends, and nature. The imperfect flower, the broken tree, the potholes in the road.
I will leave the perfectionists to count the potholes. I will enjoy the bouncing ride and the completeness of the rose in half bloom.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Message
You can't keep from sending out the message of who you are. You are broadcasting the truth of you 24/7.
There are energy fields, many as yet unnamed, picking up and returning to you, what you send out. Your sending is 24/7 and your receiving is 24/7. And what you send will come back to you, yeasted and risen, ten fold.
The bigger part of your broadcast is not even seen, but the message is sent anyway. It is broadcast in unseen ways, beyond your facial expressions, beyond your body language.
The energy fields of your mind and heart signal silently, like a beacon, bringing to you like signals only. And you wonder why you keep getting the same response.
The grid knows what signal you are sending, and it will pick up signals from the other side of the world, and drop them in your lap.
You don't need to worry about your doing. Who you are, what you have become, will take care of that. For who you have become is the broadcast, and the interchange with what comes back determines the scope of what you will do.
Who you are, and what you have become, will be doing the truth of you 24/7. It will take care of all your doing. You may think the world is limiting you, but it is just responding to your signal.
You do not need to shout your message. You only need whisper, because who you are is shouting all the time. And those whose antenna is tuned to your frequency, will find you, and give it back to you, full, and running over.
The grid, the matrix, connects us all. No barrier exists. It is all a matter of tuning. Each antenna broadcasts at its frequency. Before the signal is even sent, those tuned in, are already receiving it. Your reply will be swift.
The messenger who arrives is only bringing your message back to you. Don't begrudge him, revile him, or disparage him. Receive the message you have sent.
The grid moves all thought, feeling, attitude, around the globe outside of time. It has no barriers. Those with a grand view, an open landscape, and taller antenna, get the finer bandwidths, receiving the finer messages.
The message is only limited by the receiver. And it was limited by the message you sent. The field of messages is infinite, and the choice is yours.
The open channel broadcasts to all, but the high message is heard by few. The returning signal from those few, brings the messages from higher beings, and the music is celestial.
There are energy fields, many as yet unnamed, picking up and returning to you, what you send out. Your sending is 24/7 and your receiving is 24/7. And what you send will come back to you, yeasted and risen, ten fold.
The bigger part of your broadcast is not even seen, but the message is sent anyway. It is broadcast in unseen ways, beyond your facial expressions, beyond your body language.
The energy fields of your mind and heart signal silently, like a beacon, bringing to you like signals only. And you wonder why you keep getting the same response.
The grid knows what signal you are sending, and it will pick up signals from the other side of the world, and drop them in your lap.
You don't need to worry about your doing. Who you are, what you have become, will take care of that. For who you have become is the broadcast, and the interchange with what comes back determines the scope of what you will do.
Who you are, and what you have become, will be doing the truth of you 24/7. It will take care of all your doing. You may think the world is limiting you, but it is just responding to your signal.
You do not need to shout your message. You only need whisper, because who you are is shouting all the time. And those whose antenna is tuned to your frequency, will find you, and give it back to you, full, and running over.
The grid, the matrix, connects us all. No barrier exists. It is all a matter of tuning. Each antenna broadcasts at its frequency. Before the signal is even sent, those tuned in, are already receiving it. Your reply will be swift.
The messenger who arrives is only bringing your message back to you. Don't begrudge him, revile him, or disparage him. Receive the message you have sent.
The grid moves all thought, feeling, attitude, around the globe outside of time. It has no barriers. Those with a grand view, an open landscape, and taller antenna, get the finer bandwidths, receiving the finer messages.
The message is only limited by the receiver. And it was limited by the message you sent. The field of messages is infinite, and the choice is yours.
The open channel broadcasts to all, but the high message is heard by few. The returning signal from those few, brings the messages from higher beings, and the music is celestial.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Ripples of I AM
"I am," he said, "forevermore."
"I am this, and I am that, and I am everywhere."
All of natures speaks "I am." Silently as the fish glides, loud as a lion's road, laughingly as a hyena.
I am is here, and there, and everywhere. All the lands express I am, silently. Here and there are different textures only. The land and sea know no here and there.
The wind howls about the globe, flickering in the leaves, and on the grass, breezily whispering, "I am. The wind knows neither here nor there.
The sea rises and falls, touching every land. It powerfully knows and shows, "I am." But the sea knows neither here nor there.
Children seem to know "I am." They're just not very good at knowing who. Imagination calls them into being anything they wish.
Who and where are just ripples on the surface of "I am."
"I am this, and I am that, and I am everywhere."
All of natures speaks "I am." Silently as the fish glides, loud as a lion's road, laughingly as a hyena.
I am is here, and there, and everywhere. All the lands express I am, silently. Here and there are different textures only. The land and sea know no here and there.
The wind howls about the globe, flickering in the leaves, and on the grass, breezily whispering, "I am. The wind knows neither here nor there.
The sea rises and falls, touching every land. It powerfully knows and shows, "I am." But the sea knows neither here nor there.
Children seem to know "I am." They're just not very good at knowing who. Imagination calls them into being anything they wish.
Who and where are just ripples on the surface of "I am."
Who's Looking
Who designed the way we imbibe stories? Who made the innocent hardware that writes the stories' bits to memory?
Who is the I that has to live the bits prescribed? Am I the organizing principle, the result of the script titled "ego?"
When I look at the hardware and software of who I am, who's looking?
When I think of revising the script, am I the ego?
If I don't like what the ego is doing, how it looks, and how it feels, who is the I that doesn't like what it sees? Who's the boss here anyway?
"Whooo, whooo, are you?" screeches the owl, as it flies off silently without answering.
Down the road the rain has stopped. The sun is glimmering through a rainbow. The beauty is self evident. No one sees the beauty, but it is there.
Who is the I that has to live the bits prescribed? Am I the organizing principle, the result of the script titled "ego?"
When I look at the hardware and software of who I am, who's looking?
When I think of revising the script, am I the ego?
If I don't like what the ego is doing, how it looks, and how it feels, who is the I that doesn't like what it sees? Who's the boss here anyway?
"Whooo, whooo, are you?" screeches the owl, as it flies off silently without answering.
Down the road the rain has stopped. The sun is glimmering through a rainbow. The beauty is self evident. No one sees the beauty, but it is there.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Stand and Wait
"He also serves who only stands and waits."
~ John Milton ~
Why is this one standing? Why is this one waiting? What is he waiting for?
One cannot stand patiently without hope. One cannot wait without faith. Hope and faith stand and wait because that which is unseen is being born. The unseen will soon become seen.
Standing and waiting in faith and hope brings forth things unseen into the dream, manifesting in ways unknown. You are the dreamer within the dream, the play within the play. And just as all that Is, came by word out of nothing, so you too create.
Those who stand and wait do not go out into the world to save it. The world is changed by what they have become, not by what they do. Doing is like praying in the public square, but standing and waiting is done in private.
Those standing and waiting, the awakened ones, know all is One -- all is consciousness.
What one places in consciousness himself has its appointed hour, its appointed time. It will come.
All that is, was brought out from nothing when the Word went out. The unseen became seen. Just so, he who stands and waits brings forth as well. He stands in waiting for the blossoms at their appointed hour.
The world reflects what you are. All your thoughts, memes, attitudes, and positions, create the world you live in. They produce after their kind. They are more powerful than armies.
The few who are cleansed in mind and thought, who stand and wait, serve well, for what they have changed within themselves is working, day and night, in unseen ways.
Receptive souls in every land, receive that helping hand; lifting them, and holding them in the light.
Consciousness creates and sends that which is held in mind, faster than light, faster than time. Though the sender seems to be standing and waiting only, the unseen is seen. He who is standing in hope and faith knows the bloom will manifest.
This world is a dream, and within the dream, we also are dreamers. We have freedom unknown, yet sleep. To awaken within the dream is enlightenment.
In this awakening, what we have become does all the work. Stand without moving, waiting, for the quickening is happening.
"Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind." ~ John Milton~
-------------------------------------------------------
Memes: Definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
~ John Milton ~
Why is this one standing? Why is this one waiting? What is he waiting for?
One cannot stand patiently without hope. One cannot wait without faith. Hope and faith stand and wait because that which is unseen is being born. The unseen will soon become seen.
Standing and waiting in faith and hope brings forth things unseen into the dream, manifesting in ways unknown. You are the dreamer within the dream, the play within the play. And just as all that Is, came by word out of nothing, so you too create.
Those who stand and wait do not go out into the world to save it. The world is changed by what they have become, not by what they do. Doing is like praying in the public square, but standing and waiting is done in private.
Those standing and waiting, the awakened ones, know all is One -- all is consciousness.
What one places in consciousness himself has its appointed hour, its appointed time. It will come.
All that is, was brought out from nothing when the Word went out. The unseen became seen. Just so, he who stands and waits brings forth as well. He stands in waiting for the blossoms at their appointed hour.
The world reflects what you are. All your thoughts, memes, attitudes, and positions, create the world you live in. They produce after their kind. They are more powerful than armies.
The few who are cleansed in mind and thought, who stand and wait, serve well, for what they have changed within themselves is working, day and night, in unseen ways.
Receptive souls in every land, receive that helping hand; lifting them, and holding them in the light.
Consciousness creates and sends that which is held in mind, faster than light, faster than time. Though the sender seems to be standing and waiting only, the unseen is seen. He who is standing in hope and faith knows the bloom will manifest.
This world is a dream, and within the dream, we also are dreamers. We have freedom unknown, yet sleep. To awaken within the dream is enlightenment.
In this awakening, what we have become does all the work. Stand without moving, waiting, for the quickening is happening.
"Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind." ~ John Milton~
-------------------------------------------------------
Memes: Definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
Monday, March 2, 2009
Creation, Freedom, and Responsibility
Freedom and responsibility are always in perfect balance. You can't escape it. Those who try to live with license find that others will take care of their freedom for them. Balance wins every time.
This creation was imagined into being. Freedom and responsibility came with the manifestation. For in the beginning was the Word, and it did not come back empty handed.
So where is the creator now? Is he just watching the show, set in motion like the pendulum of a clock? Or is he participating? Perhaps we are carrying the creation forward, creating consciously or unconsciously, as the case may be. For don't we carry the Christ consciousness within? Being those he created in his image.
Why do we take the creation to be only as the five senses portray it, forgetting our own creative power? Why do we accept the physical manifestation as the only reality? Why do we proceed to manipulate it physically, taking lots of energy? When did we forget the power of the Word?
We forget what we were imagined into existence. We forget that we are created in God's image. And then we go about creating unconsciously. We proceed to do with our hands what could be done with the internal Word.
We spend much time undoing what we create unconsciously with our thoughts. For
we have forgotten that we are the sons and daughters of the Great Creator. We create as well. And it is our freedom that allows us to create, project and manifest into this world we live in. When do we wake up?
God is not a passive creator, but an active one. He is creating through us day and night, and we do not know it. We just live with the effects, and wonder what the hell happened. We are not the unjust recipients of bad effects, but the unknowing creators and reapers of our thoughts.
We are not punished for our sins, but by our sins. As ye sew, so shall you reap. We look for the evidence in the world of our senses, and try to discern the cause in the physical world. But what we see is just the effect. We created it with our thoughts, or seemingly innocent thoughts.
We look in the physical world. But the cause is not there. The physical world is the world of results, not the cause. I once heard that if there was enough love in the world, there would be no accidents. Perhaps she was right.
Where is the cause? Where do the effects come from? It is in our own unconscious thoughts pouring out in a stream from us as that creates the effects. We are enormous creative beings, forming what we expereince every day. We are the energy that creates our world.
Since we do not recognize ourselves as the source, we look for the cause out there in the world. Being unconscious of own creations, we become experts in the blame game. We point our fingers across our living room, across town, and to our neighbors overseas. But the cause is closer than our breath, nearer than our chakras. It is our own unconscious stream of thought, imagining the world we live in 24/7 that is to blame.
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word is in us, and its creative power does not come back empty handed. It comes into manifestation full blown with great effect. We can point and we can blame, but it only points out how unconscious we really are.
If we knew our own freedom, do you think we would have wars? If we knew our own freedom, would we project hate all around us? Would we bring death and destruction upon ourselves and our neighbors? It is our very freedom that creates this world as we know it. Yet we do not own our freedom. For we do not know our freedom. We are unconscious of it.
Responsibility and freedom go together. We remain unconscious of our responsibility at our own peril. We must become conscious to raise the Christ Consciousness. We must take ownership for the world daily, as we create it, minute by minute.
When we wake up to what our thoughts create, and take responsibility for what we create, we can begin to question what we are doing. If we watch what is going on in our minds, and take into account that they are the creative Word, we will soon know why the world is the way it is. When we see it, we can change it. Then our freedom will be known.
The world does not have to be the way it is. The world does not have to be full of our hateful effects. We have the power to change it. Our freedom and responsibility are tied together hand and foot. Only as long as we refuse to acknowledge our responsibility, can we not see our freedom.
For the Word went out and it did not come back empty handed. No, it came back with all the effects. We are created in the image of God, and our Word goes out, consciously or unconsciously. Which will it be?
This creation was imagined into being. Freedom and responsibility came with the manifestation. For in the beginning was the Word, and it did not come back empty handed.
So where is the creator now? Is he just watching the show, set in motion like the pendulum of a clock? Or is he participating? Perhaps we are carrying the creation forward, creating consciously or unconsciously, as the case may be. For don't we carry the Christ consciousness within? Being those he created in his image.
Why do we take the creation to be only as the five senses portray it, forgetting our own creative power? Why do we accept the physical manifestation as the only reality? Why do we proceed to manipulate it physically, taking lots of energy? When did we forget the power of the Word?
We forget what we were imagined into existence. We forget that we are created in God's image. And then we go about creating unconsciously. We proceed to do with our hands what could be done with the internal Word.
We spend much time undoing what we create unconsciously with our thoughts. For
we have forgotten that we are the sons and daughters of the Great Creator. We create as well. And it is our freedom that allows us to create, project and manifest into this world we live in. When do we wake up?
God is not a passive creator, but an active one. He is creating through us day and night, and we do not know it. We just live with the effects, and wonder what the hell happened. We are not the unjust recipients of bad effects, but the unknowing creators and reapers of our thoughts.
We are not punished for our sins, but by our sins. As ye sew, so shall you reap. We look for the evidence in the world of our senses, and try to discern the cause in the physical world. But what we see is just the effect. We created it with our thoughts, or seemingly innocent thoughts.
We look in the physical world. But the cause is not there. The physical world is the world of results, not the cause. I once heard that if there was enough love in the world, there would be no accidents. Perhaps she was right.
Where is the cause? Where do the effects come from? It is in our own unconscious thoughts pouring out in a stream from us as that creates the effects. We are enormous creative beings, forming what we expereince every day. We are the energy that creates our world.
Since we do not recognize ourselves as the source, we look for the cause out there in the world. Being unconscious of own creations, we become experts in the blame game. We point our fingers across our living room, across town, and to our neighbors overseas. But the cause is closer than our breath, nearer than our chakras. It is our own unconscious stream of thought, imagining the world we live in 24/7 that is to blame.
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word is in us, and its creative power does not come back empty handed. It comes into manifestation full blown with great effect. We can point and we can blame, but it only points out how unconscious we really are.
If we knew our own freedom, do you think we would have wars? If we knew our own freedom, would we project hate all around us? Would we bring death and destruction upon ourselves and our neighbors? It is our very freedom that creates this world as we know it. Yet we do not own our freedom. For we do not know our freedom. We are unconscious of it.
Responsibility and freedom go together. We remain unconscious of our responsibility at our own peril. We must become conscious to raise the Christ Consciousness. We must take ownership for the world daily, as we create it, minute by minute.
When we wake up to what our thoughts create, and take responsibility for what we create, we can begin to question what we are doing. If we watch what is going on in our minds, and take into account that they are the creative Word, we will soon know why the world is the way it is. When we see it, we can change it. Then our freedom will be known.
The world does not have to be the way it is. The world does not have to be full of our hateful effects. We have the power to change it. Our freedom and responsibility are tied together hand and foot. Only as long as we refuse to acknowledge our responsibility, can we not see our freedom.
For the Word went out and it did not come back empty handed. No, it came back with all the effects. We are created in the image of God, and our Word goes out, consciously or unconsciously. Which will it be?
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Play within the Play
Creation is already finished because there is no time in eternity. There is no time in eternity because there is no beginning and no end.
All is in this moment now. The sequence of events is just a story. A story dependent on time. The story is created by limits of perception, and whatever assumptions you carry. This defines the range of your story.
It is all the same story, just different versions. The creation is finished. All possibilities are already made. What you pull from the hat is up to you.
The hologram contains itself in all its parts. The Big Magician and the little magician are mirror images. It is up to you to decide what piece you play. For it is all a play.
You are the stage and the actor, the stagehand, the set designer, and the costume director, the writer and the audience. What part don't you play?
It is a play within a play. The big stage and the little stage are one and the same. The yin and yang are all in balance. The entry and exits, stage right or left are provided. What entry, what exit will you take? What part will you play?
You audition every day with every thought and every feeling, writing the text that is yours to play. You the star. What did you write today?
For you will act the part of every thought and every feeling, if not today, tomorrow. And as the author of the play, you will reap the joy or pain of being in it, reading every line, acting every part.
The world's a stage, but we are not just actors in it. We are the play within a play. Having written our part, today, or yesterday, consciously or unconsciously, we will play it. Every entrance, every exit, we rehearsed it, and we will play it to the bitter end.
And if you do not like the play, and you do not like your part? And if you say, "What did I do?" Be patient. You will see the play from every angle, of every part, and from every member of the audience.
At play's end, on your last exit, your life will play in golden light, and you will know every assumption you ever held, every fleeting thought, every feeling, and what effect it had.
Now and forever your story will be told, revealed in eternal light.
All is in this moment now. The sequence of events is just a story. A story dependent on time. The story is created by limits of perception, and whatever assumptions you carry. This defines the range of your story.
It is all the same story, just different versions. The creation is finished. All possibilities are already made. What you pull from the hat is up to you.
The hologram contains itself in all its parts. The Big Magician and the little magician are mirror images. It is up to you to decide what piece you play. For it is all a play.
You are the stage and the actor, the stagehand, the set designer, and the costume director, the writer and the audience. What part don't you play?
It is a play within a play. The big stage and the little stage are one and the same. The yin and yang are all in balance. The entry and exits, stage right or left are provided. What entry, what exit will you take? What part will you play?
You audition every day with every thought and every feeling, writing the text that is yours to play. You the star. What did you write today?
For you will act the part of every thought and every feeling, if not today, tomorrow. And as the author of the play, you will reap the joy or pain of being in it, reading every line, acting every part.
The world's a stage, but we are not just actors in it. We are the play within a play. Having written our part, today, or yesterday, consciously or unconsciously, we will play it. Every entrance, every exit, we rehearsed it, and we will play it to the bitter end.
And if you do not like the play, and you do not like your part? And if you say, "What did I do?" Be patient. You will see the play from every angle, of every part, and from every member of the audience.
At play's end, on your last exit, your life will play in golden light, and you will know every assumption you ever held, every fleeting thought, every feeling, and what effect it had.
Now and forever your story will be told, revealed in eternal light.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
I Subjective
I. The first cause. I, the awareness of infinite potential, the first cause of all things. I, awareness in which all things appear.
I am. I am that which is all things. I am all things seen and unseen. I am that.
I subjective, the only One, decree all that follows into form. And all that flows from me into consciousness, I am.
All that flows from I, says, I am. All created beings say I am. Yet all remain only the One I am. I, having created all that is, give my "I am" to each.
The great sages know I am. They do not crave for this I am, or that I am, but only I. Like Moses, they can say, "I am has sent me."
All that appears, I created. And all that appears, appears within my consciousness. Your interpretation is but an angle, a cut portion of what I have made, of what I am.
Everything that is seen appears in my consciousness. For I alone am all consciousness, whether it be abstract thought, or physical manifestation, I am its creator.
You who say, I am man, have forgotten who I am. The feast is on the table and you are satisfied with taking crumbs.
Do you wonder from where your longing comes? Do you? It comes from me, the I of you. For at your very heart, I am.
Before you were, I was. Before time, I was. Before now I was. In the future, I am. For I Am always. For me time does not exist.
Your longing is to know I. The I of your I am. Your longing is to know I deeper than this or that form. For your true I, is formless awareness. I am that Awareness.
As there is only one cause, all that follows is of the same substance. Like is attracted to like. So your longing is mine. Your longing is to return to I. The One.
Your longing is justified. I hid myself in you. And you could not have this longing if you could not find me.
I am I. And that I is hidden in you. I am hidden as not this, not that. For I am formless, and everywhere. Closer than your breath, nearer than your heart, I am.
Your longing is but the proof of my existence. Trust your longing. Trust the proof. You have run from your longing long enough. Know your longing is me. I am here.
I am. I am that which is all things. I am all things seen and unseen. I am that.
I subjective, the only One, decree all that follows into form. And all that flows from me into consciousness, I am.
All that flows from I, says, I am. All created beings say I am. Yet all remain only the One I am. I, having created all that is, give my "I am" to each.
The great sages know I am. They do not crave for this I am, or that I am, but only I. Like Moses, they can say, "I am has sent me."
All that appears, I created. And all that appears, appears within my consciousness. Your interpretation is but an angle, a cut portion of what I have made, of what I am.
Everything that is seen appears in my consciousness. For I alone am all consciousness, whether it be abstract thought, or physical manifestation, I am its creator.
You who say, I am man, have forgotten who I am. The feast is on the table and you are satisfied with taking crumbs.
Do you wonder from where your longing comes? Do you? It comes from me, the I of you. For at your very heart, I am.
Before you were, I was. Before time, I was. Before now I was. In the future, I am. For I Am always. For me time does not exist.
Your longing is to know I. The I of your I am. Your longing is to know I deeper than this or that form. For your true I, is formless awareness. I am that Awareness.
As there is only one cause, all that follows is of the same substance. Like is attracted to like. So your longing is mine. Your longing is to return to I. The One.
Your longing is justified. I hid myself in you. And you could not have this longing if you could not find me.
I am I. And that I is hidden in you. I am hidden as not this, not that. For I am formless, and everywhere. Closer than your breath, nearer than your heart, I am.
Your longing is but the proof of my existence. Trust your longing. Trust the proof. You have run from your longing long enough. Know your longing is me. I am here.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Comparative Notes to Ron Marson's Observations
1. Ron: Loving 'nothing' paradoxically places me in the flow of life, serving the need of each new moment. Attending to 'nothing' serves up a beautiful, conscious, creative, joyful dream.
Maury: What is joyful, loving, of good report, why not? It's better than the alternative. If everything is a dream, then the dream is reality. What is realty other than what is? So, if all is a dream, then the dream is reality. If God is love, then that is the truth, and anything that strays from that is untruth.
2. Ron: 'Nothing' first appeared to come and go as peak experience. Now it appears as continuous background, always here. These are ways my mind experiences 'nothing' in translation. Perhaps it is better to say 'nothing' simply IS, neither continuous nor discontinuous.
Maury: I don't often have the experience of nothing. In an ecstatic state I experienced that I was not there, and because I was not there, I did not know how I could stay there and still have me? I had to let it go.
That state was absolutely ecstatic. I certainly saw no way to remain in that state and be in the world. I knew that I would not be able to work. There would be no reason. All was already complete. When the state left, I felt an emptiness, but not nothingness. I felt the absence of the Oneness, in which, I as Maury, was not.
What you describe as nothing is similar to what Nisargadatta spoke of, "the nothing that is everything." Nisargadatta said something along the lines of "When I am nothing, then I am everything, and when I am everything, there is love."
What I experience is either more or less of The Presence. When there is more presence, I feel good. When there is less Presence, I have doubt, uneasiness. I Am is complete presence.
3. Ron: My experience of self (mind) is of discontinuity, a blinking off and on within 'nothing'. 'Off' is free attention untranslated by mind. 'On' is conditioned attention mediated by mind. Off/on can be noticed cycling up to several times a second, and over much longer periods too. Free attention (off) of short duration it is more subtle than subtle. Free attention (off) of longer duration is flow ('doing' God's will).
Maury: I don't know about blinking on and off. I do know that years ago my mind was very, very busy. I wanted nothing more than to slow my thoughts down, but I could not. It was painful. I believe I was trying to outrun my painful emotions by out thinking them -- an impossible task. After rigorous Gestalt work, and the experience of the pain, my mind quited down. Now my mind is mostly quiet.
My meditation has always been reading. When I find a book I resonate with, it is a joy. As I've progressed, fewer and fewer works do that. The pathless path does have levels of understanding and awareness. The path is unique to each, and each must travel their own path. And yet, there is the Presence that travels with you, and beside you, until you realize that it is within, and never left.
4. Ron: Everything moves in and out of 'nothing'. Everything turns out to be the dream. 'Nothing' turns out to be reality. This is immediate and obvious anytime I STOP (turn off) and look.
Maury: Again, if everything is a dream, then the dream is reality. I am willing to agree that all is in the mind of God, his dream, his dreaming. And we are in God's dream. And as we are part of the hologram, we also are the Sons of God, and our dreams become reality as well. We are one and the same. The same substance, the same dream.
5. Ron: In 'nothing' (stopping, off) there is no story of I, no past, no present, no future, no opposites, no guilt, no fear, no experience, no becoming, no drama, no life, no death, no nothing. Everything still appears, moving in and out of 'nothing' (as quantum physicists say).
Maury: At some level we get the sense of no past, no future, nothing to do -- we are touching the stillness of the ground of being. If we are in that state permanently, ready to stay there, I am not sure that one would remain in the world for long. That merging would probably be the signal that we were done with this personal drama in apparent physical life. At that point, most would just leave the body as there would be nothing more here to do.
6. Ron: The way I seemingly choose to suffer these days is wanting more of 'nothing.' How sweet these never-ending antics of my mind, working to keep me safe and secure and separate.
Maury: I think the longing for God is not a chosen suffering. I don't think we purposely choose suffering. I think we suffer because we don't know how to let go and let God. It takes awhile to get there. I do think that we are born with the pull towards God. It's like we come here in a cloud of forgetting. It's designed that way.
The longing is inborn as we know we have forgotten something. But we don't know what we forgot. We don't even know where to look, or how to look. But, we can't help looking. It's like thirst. If we didn't need water, there wouldn't be thirst. If we didn't need food, there wouldn't be hunger. How is the longing of God any different? The longing is the proof!
As we find our unique path, we begin to know the way. Each person's path is different. Just as all roads lead to Rome, so all paths lead to God. We, each of us, just need to find our path, our way, and put all that we have into following that path. And when we get to the end, we find that we are the path, the truth and the light.
Maury: What is joyful, loving, of good report, why not? It's better than the alternative. If everything is a dream, then the dream is reality. What is realty other than what is? So, if all is a dream, then the dream is reality. If God is love, then that is the truth, and anything that strays from that is untruth.
2. Ron: 'Nothing' first appeared to come and go as peak experience. Now it appears as continuous background, always here. These are ways my mind experiences 'nothing' in translation. Perhaps it is better to say 'nothing' simply IS, neither continuous nor discontinuous.
Maury: I don't often have the experience of nothing. In an ecstatic state I experienced that I was not there, and because I was not there, I did not know how I could stay there and still have me? I had to let it go.
That state was absolutely ecstatic. I certainly saw no way to remain in that state and be in the world. I knew that I would not be able to work. There would be no reason. All was already complete. When the state left, I felt an emptiness, but not nothingness. I felt the absence of the Oneness, in which, I as Maury, was not.
What you describe as nothing is similar to what Nisargadatta spoke of, "the nothing that is everything." Nisargadatta said something along the lines of "When I am nothing, then I am everything, and when I am everything, there is love."
What I experience is either more or less of The Presence. When there is more presence, I feel good. When there is less Presence, I have doubt, uneasiness. I Am is complete presence.
3. Ron: My experience of self (mind) is of discontinuity, a blinking off and on within 'nothing'. 'Off' is free attention untranslated by mind. 'On' is conditioned attention mediated by mind. Off/on can be noticed cycling up to several times a second, and over much longer periods too. Free attention (off) of short duration it is more subtle than subtle. Free attention (off) of longer duration is flow ('doing' God's will).
Maury: I don't know about blinking on and off. I do know that years ago my mind was very, very busy. I wanted nothing more than to slow my thoughts down, but I could not. It was painful. I believe I was trying to outrun my painful emotions by out thinking them -- an impossible task. After rigorous Gestalt work, and the experience of the pain, my mind quited down. Now my mind is mostly quiet.
My meditation has always been reading. When I find a book I resonate with, it is a joy. As I've progressed, fewer and fewer works do that. The pathless path does have levels of understanding and awareness. The path is unique to each, and each must travel their own path. And yet, there is the Presence that travels with you, and beside you, until you realize that it is within, and never left.
4. Ron: Everything moves in and out of 'nothing'. Everything turns out to be the dream. 'Nothing' turns out to be reality. This is immediate and obvious anytime I STOP (turn off) and look.
Maury: Again, if everything is a dream, then the dream is reality. I am willing to agree that all is in the mind of God, his dream, his dreaming. And we are in God's dream. And as we are part of the hologram, we also are the Sons of God, and our dreams become reality as well. We are one and the same. The same substance, the same dream.
5. Ron: In 'nothing' (stopping, off) there is no story of I, no past, no present, no future, no opposites, no guilt, no fear, no experience, no becoming, no drama, no life, no death, no nothing. Everything still appears, moving in and out of 'nothing' (as quantum physicists say).
Maury: At some level we get the sense of no past, no future, nothing to do -- we are touching the stillness of the ground of being. If we are in that state permanently, ready to stay there, I am not sure that one would remain in the world for long. That merging would probably be the signal that we were done with this personal drama in apparent physical life. At that point, most would just leave the body as there would be nothing more here to do.
6. Ron: The way I seemingly choose to suffer these days is wanting more of 'nothing.' How sweet these never-ending antics of my mind, working to keep me safe and secure and separate.
Maury: I think the longing for God is not a chosen suffering. I don't think we purposely choose suffering. I think we suffer because we don't know how to let go and let God. It takes awhile to get there. I do think that we are born with the pull towards God. It's like we come here in a cloud of forgetting. It's designed that way.
The longing is inborn as we know we have forgotten something. But we don't know what we forgot. We don't even know where to look, or how to look. But, we can't help looking. It's like thirst. If we didn't need water, there wouldn't be thirst. If we didn't need food, there wouldn't be hunger. How is the longing of God any different? The longing is the proof!
As we find our unique path, we begin to know the way. Each person's path is different. Just as all roads lead to Rome, so all paths lead to God. We, each of us, just need to find our path, our way, and put all that we have into following that path. And when we get to the end, we find that we are the path, the truth and the light.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Conscious Creativity
I felt some conundrums immediately after writing the piece "The Reflective Universe. Just so you know, I had been reading Neville Goddard during the previous days. http://nevillegoddard.wwwhubs.com
I can only respond by saying that duality and non duality are aspects of the same One. Perhaps I am beyond ego to a great extent. I have less suffering than when I was completely identified with my ego. Either way, as long as I am on this earth, I have a body to deal with. It requires food, shelter, and some satisfaction of desires. With less ego, my desires may be less, but none the less, some remain.
So, being that there is a body here, and desires, why not the best possible existence? Even if this is a dream, an illusion, why not the best dream, the best illusion possible?
If this is all in the mind of God, and I am part of that mind, then like the Source, I also have the ability to create. In fact I can do nothing but create! The problem is whether I do it consciously or unconsciously.
The major issue for me is that the creating is continuous, God's creation, and by extension, my creation. What I believe tends to manifest, whether it is believed consciously, or believed unconsciously! Since the creation appears, created by both my conscious intention and unconscious intention, hadn't I better create to the best of my ability, rather than passively let what still is unconscious in me create willy nilly all kinds of crap.
Most of this world is created by our unconscious. Why? Because we are mostly unconscious! The creating doesn't stop because we're unconscious! It's there and it creates. In fact, I may not even know what all I project from my lack of consciousness.
I could of course, spend all my time trying to bring up everything in my unconscious. I could spend all my time observing the effects "out there" so I could see what is "in here."
But, it seems to me, that the easier way to affect my life in the world, would be to at least spend time creating what I do know to be good, know to be true, know to be kind, know to be helpful, etc. Why not actively create all the good I can, rather than passively accept what I may be creating unconsciously.
I think anyone that has gone deep spiritually, realizes that "all there is, is Consciousness." In the case of me and you, there is also the unconscious. The curse of all of us is the "unexamined life." To know thyself is the great commandment. I suspect though, that we could pursue this commandment all our life and not get to the bottom of it.
Meanwhile, I could regret what I was still creating due to what remains in my unconscious. But I feel that rather than being harsh with myself for what I still do not know about myself, my time would be better spent consciously creating what I have come to understand as good. "Whatever is kind, whatever is just, whatever is beautiful, think on these things."
I can know that all is One. Being human, I don't necessarily always behave with that knowing. I can know that duality and non duality are aspects of the One. But I can still behave as if duality was the only truth.
If God is the creative force of the universe, and I am made in God's image, then I too am a creator. I do not believe that God is an unconscious creator, and I don't want to be an unconscious creator either. Am I not more Godlike if I create? Am I not more Godlike if I consciously create?
Duality is a way of experiencing the world. Non duality is a way of experiencing the world. I experience both, mostly on the duality side. I do however know that both are experiences. Since I experience physically being here, and I can experience both good things and bad things, why not create the best I can? Why not choose all the conscious good that I can, to the best of my ability and understanding?
To passively accept whatever my unconscious creates doesn't seem like freedom. If I create my own world, consciously or unconsciously, I choose to do it consciously -- at least to the best of my ability, and with humility.
I can only respond by saying that duality and non duality are aspects of the same One. Perhaps I am beyond ego to a great extent. I have less suffering than when I was completely identified with my ego. Either way, as long as I am on this earth, I have a body to deal with. It requires food, shelter, and some satisfaction of desires. With less ego, my desires may be less, but none the less, some remain.
So, being that there is a body here, and desires, why not the best possible existence? Even if this is a dream, an illusion, why not the best dream, the best illusion possible?
If this is all in the mind of God, and I am part of that mind, then like the Source, I also have the ability to create. In fact I can do nothing but create! The problem is whether I do it consciously or unconsciously.
The major issue for me is that the creating is continuous, God's creation, and by extension, my creation. What I believe tends to manifest, whether it is believed consciously, or believed unconsciously! Since the creation appears, created by both my conscious intention and unconscious intention, hadn't I better create to the best of my ability, rather than passively let what still is unconscious in me create willy nilly all kinds of crap.
Most of this world is created by our unconscious. Why? Because we are mostly unconscious! The creating doesn't stop because we're unconscious! It's there and it creates. In fact, I may not even know what all I project from my lack of consciousness.
I could of course, spend all my time trying to bring up everything in my unconscious. I could spend all my time observing the effects "out there" so I could see what is "in here."
But, it seems to me, that the easier way to affect my life in the world, would be to at least spend time creating what I do know to be good, know to be true, know to be kind, know to be helpful, etc. Why not actively create all the good I can, rather than passively accept what I may be creating unconsciously.
I think anyone that has gone deep spiritually, realizes that "all there is, is Consciousness." In the case of me and you, there is also the unconscious. The curse of all of us is the "unexamined life." To know thyself is the great commandment. I suspect though, that we could pursue this commandment all our life and not get to the bottom of it.
Meanwhile, I could regret what I was still creating due to what remains in my unconscious. But I feel that rather than being harsh with myself for what I still do not know about myself, my time would be better spent consciously creating what I have come to understand as good. "Whatever is kind, whatever is just, whatever is beautiful, think on these things."
I can know that all is One. Being human, I don't necessarily always behave with that knowing. I can know that duality and non duality are aspects of the One. But I can still behave as if duality was the only truth.
If God is the creative force of the universe, and I am made in God's image, then I too am a creator. I do not believe that God is an unconscious creator, and I don't want to be an unconscious creator either. Am I not more Godlike if I create? Am I not more Godlike if I consciously create?
Duality is a way of experiencing the world. Non duality is a way of experiencing the world. I experience both, mostly on the duality side. I do however know that both are experiences. Since I experience physically being here, and I can experience both good things and bad things, why not create the best I can? Why not choose all the conscious good that I can, to the best of my ability and understanding?
To passively accept whatever my unconscious creates doesn't seem like freedom. If I create my own world, consciously or unconsciously, I choose to do it consciously -- at least to the best of my ability, and with humility.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Reflective Universe
The reality of our universe seems very static, unmovable, until we discover that our beliefs work at a deeper level than Newtonian Physics.
Beliefs can remain unconscious for years until life brings them into focus. Our life as it is, is a reflection, like a mirror when we walk in front of it. When we see what life is reflecting back to us, and we don't like it, it's a wakeup call.
We often don't know what we believe until they are reflected in the reality around us. Beliefs are abstract, often unconscious, and therefore not ponderable, until our actions bring them into sharp focus.
Perhaps Newtonian Physics is only the base structure on which we begin our journey. We learn the basics quickly. We see quickly the basic laws of gravity, and the simple concepts of up and down. We learn to manipulate physical objects with our hands.
The world changes slowly when we use force. Force uses a lot of physical effort. But when we learn that there is a deeper reality, which works at a deeper level than Newtonian Physics, we enter the Quantum world, a world of possibilities.
The world of possibilities begins with belief and imagination, with faith in things unseen. We learn to create with imagination and feeling, another world, alternate situations, with different results. Persistence in this moves the physical universe around like a play thing, a toy.
We are given a perfect example of the user's manual every night when we go to sleep. The dream state is very real and entirely believable. It is the perfect reminder every single night that a virtual world is possible and entirely believable. No different, while we are in it, than our waking state.
We wake up once every morning, but we forget to wake up during the day. Day to night is no different than birth and death. Only the length of time is different. Yet we open the manual every night, experience the truth it, and immediately forget it upon waking in the morning. Just as the dream state is virtual, so to is our so-called daytime life.
We simply don't wake up as easily from our daytime dreaming. We are still asleep in our daylight ours, and the days turn into a lifetime, with death the only waking from the dream.
But do we have to wait that long? Can we become awake in the dream, and like lucid dreaming, create a life that is not unconscious, not the program we inherited unconsciously from our parents, our family?
The world seems very real, and normal consciousness knows it takes a lot of energy to change it even a little bit.
But there is another power available if we wake up that takes a lot less effort. It is conscious imagination, conscious creativity. It works at the Quantum level, and has a power multitudes greater than Newtonian physics.
So, what is our responsibility when we begin to have glimpses into the actual state of affairs: to the virtual reality that is our life? Our responsibility is to wake up. And the only way to wake up is to use the manual.
Some people play with lucid dreaming. But this doesn't go far enough. If we are in a dream state, believing it entirely different from our sleeping dream state, then we are missing the message. We need to wake up to the fact that our daily life is a second dream state, and that the our nighttime dreaming is just a hint.
So our responsibility is to play with our waking dream state and learn the rules? There are a few.
1. Use your imagination to create an alternate picture for the universe to mirror. You don't have to discover and change all your old beliefs, just make new ones.
2. Get into and experience the feelings of newly imagined results. Make the feelings real.
3. Expect your new result. Relax, you do not need to know how the new results will come about. Just watch for the signs. They will appear everywhere, out of the blue.
4. Know that the mirror is flawless. As the signs increase, and the results increase, you know that the power of belief is real, and that the virtual world is yours.
Beliefs can remain unconscious for years until life brings them into focus. Our life as it is, is a reflection, like a mirror when we walk in front of it. When we see what life is reflecting back to us, and we don't like it, it's a wakeup call.
We often don't know what we believe until they are reflected in the reality around us. Beliefs are abstract, often unconscious, and therefore not ponderable, until our actions bring them into sharp focus.
Perhaps Newtonian Physics is only the base structure on which we begin our journey. We learn the basics quickly. We see quickly the basic laws of gravity, and the simple concepts of up and down. We learn to manipulate physical objects with our hands.
The world changes slowly when we use force. Force uses a lot of physical effort. But when we learn that there is a deeper reality, which works at a deeper level than Newtonian Physics, we enter the Quantum world, a world of possibilities.
The world of possibilities begins with belief and imagination, with faith in things unseen. We learn to create with imagination and feeling, another world, alternate situations, with different results. Persistence in this moves the physical universe around like a play thing, a toy.
We are given a perfect example of the user's manual every night when we go to sleep. The dream state is very real and entirely believable. It is the perfect reminder every single night that a virtual world is possible and entirely believable. No different, while we are in it, than our waking state.
We wake up once every morning, but we forget to wake up during the day. Day to night is no different than birth and death. Only the length of time is different. Yet we open the manual every night, experience the truth it, and immediately forget it upon waking in the morning. Just as the dream state is virtual, so to is our so-called daytime life.
We simply don't wake up as easily from our daytime dreaming. We are still asleep in our daylight ours, and the days turn into a lifetime, with death the only waking from the dream.
But do we have to wait that long? Can we become awake in the dream, and like lucid dreaming, create a life that is not unconscious, not the program we inherited unconsciously from our parents, our family?
The world seems very real, and normal consciousness knows it takes a lot of energy to change it even a little bit.
But there is another power available if we wake up that takes a lot less effort. It is conscious imagination, conscious creativity. It works at the Quantum level, and has a power multitudes greater than Newtonian physics.
So, what is our responsibility when we begin to have glimpses into the actual state of affairs: to the virtual reality that is our life? Our responsibility is to wake up. And the only way to wake up is to use the manual.
Some people play with lucid dreaming. But this doesn't go far enough. If we are in a dream state, believing it entirely different from our sleeping dream state, then we are missing the message. We need to wake up to the fact that our daily life is a second dream state, and that the our nighttime dreaming is just a hint.
So our responsibility is to play with our waking dream state and learn the rules? There are a few.
1. Use your imagination to create an alternate picture for the universe to mirror. You don't have to discover and change all your old beliefs, just make new ones.
2. Get into and experience the feelings of newly imagined results. Make the feelings real.
3. Expect your new result. Relax, you do not need to know how the new results will come about. Just watch for the signs. They will appear everywhere, out of the blue.
4. Know that the mirror is flawless. As the signs increase, and the results increase, you know that the power of belief is real, and that the virtual world is yours.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Buddha Mind
That we are all "Buddha Mind" is true. Many understand this intellectually, but have not felt the touch of "Buddha Mind?"
The touch of that is Satori, it is an "Aha," experience. It is subjective, for there is only One. The touch of that aha is a world of difference from the mere mental knowledge of that.
The aha is a direct knowing, a unitive experience of oneness with Buddha mind though no more in the Buddha Mind than before. With aha, one is no longer just in it, but one with it.
While knowledge about is a beginning, joining is the goal. Understanding with the mind, is just an itch. The bitten will scratch until there is direct knowing.
What seekers are seeking is not just intellectual understanding. They sense that. The true teacher knows that intellectual understanding is not enough.
It may be easy for a teacher to say, "If you would just stop seeking, you would be free." Yet there are thousands who do not search, they don't know, and they do not itch. The student knows that these do not have what is being sought .
Those not seeking may be divided into two camps: those who don't know that seeking exists, and those who have sought and found. The first group doesn't know that they don't know and does't care. The second group knows that that they know.
Students are not searching for those who don't know that they don't know, and never looked. Students are looking for the ones who have sought and found.
Seeking seems to be a precursor to Buddha Mind. Recall that Jesus said, "Seek and you will find." And Nisargadatta said, "Be earnest."
The student is looking for the rare ones who know they know. There is something intuitively felt around those who know that is not experienced around others. In the end having sought, or not sought, all are in Buddha Mind. But some know and experience that, the rest do not.
It is the direct, subjective, unitive experience that establishes the knower. Yet this does not change the fact that those who never sought, and never found, are also in Buddha Mind.
Metaphorically, a fish that doesn't know he lives in water cannot help. The fish that knows he is in water can. Most of us are like fish, not knowing; not knowing what water is. The herd follows itself just fine.
The stragglers, those outside the school, know they are in water, and before they follow the school, they want to know, "What is this water I find myself in?
The blind man and the sighted man see differently, yet both are in the same physical world.
All men are in Buddha Mind. Most function just fine, but few are they that know they are home.
Only the one who has asked will find. Only the one who has found can teach.
The touch of that is Satori, it is an "Aha," experience. It is subjective, for there is only One. The touch of that aha is a world of difference from the mere mental knowledge of that.
The aha is a direct knowing, a unitive experience of oneness with Buddha mind though no more in the Buddha Mind than before. With aha, one is no longer just in it, but one with it.
While knowledge about is a beginning, joining is the goal. Understanding with the mind, is just an itch. The bitten will scratch until there is direct knowing.
What seekers are seeking is not just intellectual understanding. They sense that. The true teacher knows that intellectual understanding is not enough.
It may be easy for a teacher to say, "If you would just stop seeking, you would be free." Yet there are thousands who do not search, they don't know, and they do not itch. The student knows that these do not have what is being sought .
Those not seeking may be divided into two camps: those who don't know that seeking exists, and those who have sought and found. The first group doesn't know that they don't know and does't care. The second group knows that that they know.
Students are not searching for those who don't know that they don't know, and never looked. Students are looking for the ones who have sought and found.
Seeking seems to be a precursor to Buddha Mind. Recall that Jesus said, "Seek and you will find." And Nisargadatta said, "Be earnest."
The student is looking for the rare ones who know they know. There is something intuitively felt around those who know that is not experienced around others. In the end having sought, or not sought, all are in Buddha Mind. But some know and experience that, the rest do not.
It is the direct, subjective, unitive experience that establishes the knower. Yet this does not change the fact that those who never sought, and never found, are also in Buddha Mind.
Metaphorically, a fish that doesn't know he lives in water cannot help. The fish that knows he is in water can. Most of us are like fish, not knowing; not knowing what water is. The herd follows itself just fine.
The stragglers, those outside the school, know they are in water, and before they follow the school, they want to know, "What is this water I find myself in?
The blind man and the sighted man see differently, yet both are in the same physical world.
All men are in Buddha Mind. Most function just fine, but few are they that know they are home.
Only the one who has asked will find. Only the one who has found can teach.