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Jan. 8th 2009
I have the original. Interested?
- I have finally found the video that keeps appearing in my blog, only to me and only in Safari, not IE, not FireFox. Here it is: Here it is.
Jan. 5th 2009
- One of the important things to remember when you work with the Course (in Miracles)
(and this will always help keep you out of trouble with the Course so
that you don't distort what it says) is that this is not a course in
form. This is not a course in effect. This is not a course in
anything that has to do with the world of behavior. This is a course
in content, in cause. It is a course only in changing your mind. Even
more to the point, and directly relevant to this workshop, this is a
course in helping you change your teacher or your adviser: moving
from the ego as your guide, to the Holy Spirit or Jesus as your
guide. What will hurt you is not what is outside you, not what you
believe will hurt you. What will hurt you is your thought system that
tells you that you can be on your own, that you should be on your
own, that it is a fact you are on your own. That thought itself,
which is the concept of decision, will reinforce your sense of
separation and sin, which automatically will lead to your experience
of guilt, and that in turn will always demand you be punished. There
is no way out of this. That is why the concept of choice in this
Course is so critically important. We really have to recognize what
we are choosing and with whom we are choosing it, so that we can then
make another choice.
-from:
RULES FOR DECISION
Text - Chapter 30 - Section I
Excerpts from the Workshop held at the Academy & Retreat Center of the
Foundation for A Course in Miracles®
Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.
Rule 1
Sept. 9th 2008
- Person Across the Ocean
7:04 PM
great....its about one of your posts
7:04 PM
here:
Even only ONE of us needs to wake up from this Dream in order to awaken all of (apparent) us.
John Stankiewicz
7:05 PM
indeed
Person Across the Ocean
7:05 PM
yes .... its a paradox
John Stankiewicz
7:05 PM
because one of us is ALL of us. As there are no multiple folks.
7:05 PM
no, not at all.
7:05 PM
re-read that.
7:07 PM
You see, you are projecting all folks, and all things, in this dream.. it is all coming from your split mind but in reality... it is all one... and YOU are EVERYONE using dualistic language... but using non-dualistic language there is ONLY ONE and that ONE has never split into all kinds of shards and folks and things. Has never happened.
7:07 PM
to put it another way... in dualistic terms ALL Minds are linked... so if one Mind awakens? All awaken
7:08 PM
in non-dualistic terms there is only ONE Mind. When it awakens the Dream and Universe and Universes... disappear.. or you will have realized that they have never appeared.
7:08 PM
so not a paradox... Only a paradox if your mind is bent on thinking in dualist terms.
7:08 PM
cool?
Person Across the Ocean
7:18 PM
yes.... i needed some time to read it and understand it
7:18 PM
indeed
7:19 PM
so here comes my question
John Stankiewicz
7:21 PM
ok
Person Across the Ocean
7:21 PM
yes but i dont know what to ask you
John Stankiewicz
7:21 PM
you're funny
7:22 PM
no problem
Person Across the Ocean
7:22 PM
what is going on john ? are you trying to tell me that i am the only one who is dreaming and that all awaken Gurus are in my dream?
7:22 PM
and are just projections
7:22 PM
thanks
John Stankiewicz
7:22 PM
yes, told you that before
Person Across the Ocean
7:22 PM
but why me and not you
John Stankiewicz
7:23 PM
from your right mind or where the Holy Spirit resides.. a memory of Heaven or tghe Divine
7:23 PM
see? You are speaking in dualistic terms, me andyou
7:23 PM
all that you see and hear and so on... are projections from either your right mind or your split/wrong mind... including myself
7:24 PM
there is only ONE, really. You are just one Mind, but it appears to you as if it has shattered into multiple shards, or minds, or individuals.
7:24 PM
that's all.
7:24 PM
so there is not "me and not you"
Person Across the Ocean
7:25 PM
right!
John Stankiewicz
7:25 PM
because there is no me and you... there is only YOU.... having an illusion, a bad Dream.
Person Across the Ocean
7:25 PM
get it. its really like the dreams you have while sleep
John Stankiewicz
7:25 PM
exactly!
7:25 PM
I've been saying that for years!
Person Across the Ocean
7:25 PM
OMG really.
7:25 PM
sorry
John Stankiewicz
7:26 PM
but it is one of things that you don't get, until one day
7:26 PM
like being hit by a truck, for real.
Person Across the Ocean
7:26 PM
hehe.... i am looking forward
7:26 PM
i agree with you
John Stankiewicz
7:26 PM
you are just more ready right now to entertain this....
7:27 PM
and soon things may get better or more difficult because you are starting to no longer believe in the lie of the ego
7:27 PM
you just need to keep at it and eventually you will be more and more aware of the HS and awaken further.
7:28 PM
but you need to ask the Holy Spirit to enter your Right Mind and help you. Then take direction from the Holy Spirit or Jesus, up to you, matters not which.
7:28 PM
remember, this is NOT a Christian Church Teaching.
Person Across the Ocean
7:30 PM
i know that . i understand you .
John Stankiewicz
7:30 PM
good man, makes me happy.
Person Across the Ocean
7:32 PM
nice ... glad to hear that
John Stankiewicz
7:32 PM
if I can only help one person! You know?
7:32 PM
Makes all the difference.
Person Across the Ocean
7:33 PM
exactly ....
7:33 PM
its very good thing
John Stankiewicz
7:33 PM
Person Across the Ocean
7:34 PM
hehe..... you are thinking in dualistic manner
7:34 PM
you are not helping me
7:34 PM
you are helping yourself
John Stankiewicz
7:34 PM
yes, because while we appear to be here? It's good to start with dualistic terms, that's why the Course, being non-dualistic at it's core? Speaks to you in dualistic terms, and folks need to understand why that is. Right?
7:35 PM
True.
Person Across the Ocean
7:35 PM
aha
7:35 PM
thats a good point
John Stankiewicz
7:35 PM
Right, else you will never be able to connect with them and help them.
7:35 PM
You can't just tell them that none of this is happening. They will just dismiss you and your idiot ideas.
7:36 PM
So that's why the Course starts out with dualistic language, and eventually draws folks into non-dualistic ideas.
Person Across the Ocean
7:38 PM
amazing
John Stankiewicz
7:38 PM
If you want to really get into these ideas?
7:39 PM
Order the book "The Journey Home" by Kenneth Wapnich, PhD, the number one Teacher of ACIM from facim.org and it's only $17.
7:39 PM
I talk about that in my blog http://9-planetreviews.blogspot.com
Feb. 27th (Wednesday)
- You Are Not Even Conscious!
Remember that who you really are is the clear light of consciousness which shines on all the feelings and thoughts that arise, but the thoughts and feelings are not themselves conscious.
You – the person you believe yourself to be – are not even conscious!
Consciousness is conscious, but the objects within it are not. The body that you think of as your “self” is an object. There is no consciousness residing in that object. There is no consciousness residing in those thoughts and feelings. There is no one home in that story!
Feelings come and go and are attached to, but they need not be. Above all, none of that nonsense that arises needs to be acted on. There is no one there for any action to affect!
The only “one” in the universe is already all taken care of for all eternity, and that one is you, the light of consciousness itself.
It is often asked: “Why aren’t I having the experience of pure awareness?”
You might hear in response, “There is no one to experience anything.” That is true in absolute terms, but we all know full well there is some experience happening, so we may as well talk about it.
The important thing to remember is that we are not talking about having a mystical or blissful experience. The experience of being a human being in a body continues just as before, and while bliss and mystical feelings may pass through from time to time, this is not what is being pointed to.
What is being pointed to is the fact that…well, you’ve heard it all before: there is no separate person, no separation at all; there is only this impersonal, un-owned consciousness, which is peaceful, eternal, never changes, and needs nothing. It is always here right now, and it is what you are.
But this is not something that you experience! If you can get it out of your head that you are looking to have a particular experience, you can allow for what’s really going on to reveal itself. But you’re blocking out the possibility of seeing what’s real about you by insisting that it has to be an experience. It’s not.
The truth is happening behind the scenes of your human experience – hidden in plain sight, you might say. The experience of being a human with a body goes on exactly as before. But that is not to say that it does not go through some interesting changes. It does change. Your thought patterns will change, and your actions will change. The whole experience as a person does change.
For example, let’s say I have the thought, “I really have to call Terry because…,” and of course there are a million reasons why I have to call Terry, and they all have to do with me thinking I am a separate person who is vulnerable and needs to control all aspects of the life. But the thing is, I don’t want to call Terry.
So in the meanwhile, I followed some sagely advice and did some self-inquiry, and I discovered that I am not a separate person. That had some consequences: now that I know I am not a separate person, and there is just this impersonal consciousness, which is fine right now and needs nothing, I see that I don’t have to call Terry. I don’t have to do anything in the life to protect my interests ever again! So this time, the calling of Terry doesn’t happen. And then that has consequences. And so it goes.
Sometimes people report losing interest in things they used to like to do. That’s to be expected, since much of what we “like” to do is that which makes us feel safe, in control, loved, accepted, approved of, successful, worthy, impressive, smart, attractive, and so on. When the need to have any of that vanishes – when it is clear that no separate person exists – then the interests of the apparent “person” living a life will change. The thoughts don’t go this way anymore: “What can I do to feel safer and more loved?” Now they go like this: “What do I feel like doing?” And then even that goes, since it is seen there is no doer, no one making those decisions!
So now what happens? You lie on the couch all day? It’s possible, but it’s more likely that the living in the body goes on very closely to what it was like before, but without any sense of obligation, guilt, regret, or urgency. The body is allowed to simply move towards anything, without judgment, and without trying to steer, plan, or control.
The sense of doership diminishes, reinforced by the recognition that nothing falls apart when the “doing” is relinquished. Everything works just fine – better, in fact – when I don’t plan it. The life goes on, but more and more there is just a sense that it is being watched, not planned or decided.
And as it is seen more and more that the life is just being watched, the sense of doership, ownership, and a personal “self” diminishes even more. We may watch and like what the “person” is doing, or we may not like what the “person” is doing. But we know we have no way to fix that, and if we did, we see that it would only have an effect on the person that we are no longer believing in so much. And so the idea of doing or fixing is just given up, after a while.
Seeing that there is nothing to do or fix, pretty soon the experience is just one of being carried along like a leaf down a mountain stream. Effortlessly living, watching the changing scenery, goalless, having no opinion about how it goes, and having no cares at all. We get the distinct sense that nature is just taking care of us, and that there is nothing that can go wrong. The body can get sick, or feel bad, or get hurt feelings, or die, but that is all seen as nature’s way, and nothing to be worried about. All cares are gone.
This is probably the “experience” that people are referring to when they talk about bliss. It can’t really be described as blissful, though, because any separate person who would be having this bliss is just not identified with at all anymore. It is more of a relinquishing of any grasp on this whole “world” and what happens in it.
This doesn’t happen right away. People tell me they are happier than they have ever been, but that it hasn’t really gelled for them yet. Well, this is a start. But it also has to be pointed out that it is a start in a direction that is not where you end up. You don’t end up happier and happier; you end up not interested at all in the world of happy and not happy.
You may find that you couldn’t care less if you are interested in the world or not. Who cares? The life may go completely off the rails! Who cares! So you just have to watch and see what happens. You can’t predict where it will go. It’s all unexpected, surprising. You won’t believe how little you will care about your “self.”
But let it unfold in its own time. You can’t force the disintegration of belief in the person. It all starts with the inquiry – am I really this person? The recognition that you are not a person is slight at first, and then cascades by reinforcement through your experience.
Pretty soon the recognition is greater, but still experienced as a conceptual understanding that you are not a person. But before long, there is nothing left to have an experience – you’ve stopped feeding it, and it died! And what is left? Consciousness, which has been here all along. What is in consciousness? Nothing. There is the witnessing of a life unfolding, but you aren’t in it, you are it – you are that life, that consciousness, that witnessing – you are all of it.
This is not what you will experience, however. The experience still feels like being human, probably until the body dies, is my guess. But there is an in-the-background knowing that there is only this consciousness, and that knowing gradually informs the activity of the life. The life stops striving. The life stops suffering. The life stops seeking.
But do you stop seeking? You never were seeking in the first place! There never was a seeker, there never was a separate you. This is the paradox. Don’t try to grasp it. It’s not a job for the mind. It's not a job for the human being.
Just inquire and see if there is really a separate “you,” and see if you can find anything other than this consciousness. This is available for the seeing, right now. Nothing more is needed to learn. Just look now and see: What is here right now? Just consciousness.
And yet, here is this human experience, being had, apparently. It’s okay.
There is a story we tell. The story is that human beings are able to imagine themselves separate, vulnerable, and independent of their source. In the story, imagining that we are separate and cut off from our source is the trouble, and the trouble needs to be undone. Keep in mind that all of this – imagining oneself to be separate, undoing the trouble – isn’t really happening.
It is only the mind of the creature that imagines an apparent, interior world that it believes to be an actual, exterior world. But there is nothing there – no “exterior world” ever existed. That only exists in the mind of the creature. There is no actual, exterior world where a person can imagine himself to be separate. It never happened.
Turn your attention from the imagined, interior world that is projected outwardly from your mind, and instead notice that which makes these imaginings apparent. Look at this directly: this attention, or awareness, without which nothing would appear at all! Without this awareness, these imaginings could not even be noticed. Not a single thought would be noticed. You could think all day long and not know it.
This awareness is not spiritual, and it is not for special people only. Think of it as the normal, working attention that you are using right now to notice these words. If I say, put your attention on the window, you know just what to do. This obvious, clear attention is the only thing that you know is not projected, because it notices the projections. This normal daily attention is before your imagined world.
What can you do, in the story? Is there something you can do?
Yes, there is. But only right now, in real time. It all begins and ends right now. You can’t practice something now, or learn something now, hoping that it will affect your future in a positive way. There is no future. So whatever you do, it has to be now or never.
So what can you do NOW?
It’s so easy. It’s so simple. And there is not another thing you need to learn or know to do it. There is no “truth” to be sought that will help you do this. There is no more spiritual growth needed to do it, no more “heart opening” needed to do it. Not one more satsang, not one more teacher, can possibly add anything to your ability to do this. Nothing is needed to do it.
Here it is: Pay attention to attention itself. That’s all this is.
It is the practice of – right now, in the immediate present – turning your attention 180 degrees from the outer world, and aiming it inward, to put attention on the attention itself. All that is needed is to put current attention on the attention itself, and to ignore the rest. Actually, you don’t even need to ignore the rest: when you put attention on attention itself, “the rest” disappears. It just isn’t there.
It’s not like you don’t know what attention I’m talking about. If I say, put your attention on your heartbeat, you wouldn’t think to ask me what attention I mean. We all know “attention” intimately, as if it is our right arm. This is really what we mean when we are talking about ordinary, everyday awareness. Awareness is attention.
Putting attention on attention itself is the opposite of what you are usually doing, by habit. You usually pay attention only to the content – the thoughts, feelings, objects, people, activities – and not to the fact that you have attention at all. This is an inward, not outward, attention. This is attentiveness to attention, not to objects or thoughts, bodies or minds.
“Turning inward” is not what we have believed all these years. We thought it meant: look at your thoughts, your feelings, what makes you tick. Not true. Thoughts and feelings are found by looking outward. Everything that “appears” is found by looking outward. Turning inward means literally to look at what is looking. It means looking at attention itself.
Notice right now that when attention rests on the simple attention that is being given to these words, there is stillness. Not attention to the words themselves, but attention to the attention that makes them noticeable. When current attention moves away from itself, and turns outward, then these words appear; the self, the body, the thoughts, and the world appear, and all the suffering that is borne in these things. These things appear to you when you put attention on them. They don’t have to appear at all. Keep attention on itself, and nothing ever appears.
Why does it seem hard to put the attention on the attention? It’s because your mind will instantly and immediately reject attention, because attention has no qualities. So don’t try and do this with your mind. Just put attention back, on the attention itself, where it started. You will notice the mind disappears.
Nothing else is needed. No activity is needed to make this better, because when attention is on attention, there is no activity. All activity, objects, bodies, and egos appear only when you put attention on them.
Do you see why there are those who say, Just look now and be done? Now, when you look – when you put the attention inward, on the attention itself, and not outward, on the objects in attention – is there anything? Can you find “I” in there? Can you even find a body, or a mind? Can you find suffering? Can you find a seeker? So if you can’t find one now, was there ever one? What was all your seeking about?
You don’t have to do self-inquiry. Self-inquiry implies looking with a mind, in a mind, to see if you can find the origin and seat of the “I,” and finding there is nothing there but a bunch of thoughts. You don’t have to do all that. Look inward, at attention itself, and it is immediately clear that there is no “I” and there never was one. It’s all clear right now, and every time you look.
You don’t have to sit and meditate on this. This is a walking/working non-meditation. It is part of your day. As you walk around, doing your chores, doing your job, chatting with people, turn your attention to attention itself. What happens?
Do it now, do it once, and you’ll never need to be convinced again. It is immediately seen that you and the world do not exist. Nothing is but This, Itself.
And you are This!
Feb. 8th, 2008 (Friday)
- A post by Sergio:
JUST THIS
There is knowing, and there are beliefs. Right now you think there is no difference, and it all belongs in the same pot labeled “What I know.” It doesn’t. There is what you know from your own direct looking, and there is what you believe because you heard it, read it, were taught it, and became deeply conditioned to it over the years.
Why does it matter? It matters because suffering is only in that which you believe. There is no suffering in that which you directly know. In order to be free of suffering, the requirement is that you sort this out. So let’s do it.
What you believe includes everything you think about yourself, who you are as a person, your name, your personality, your body, your history, your memories, your thoughts, your feelings, your opinions, your relationships, your philosophy, your spirituality – in fact, what you believe even includes the world of time and space that you see around you.
What does “What I believe” not include? What it does not include is your direct knowing of what is, of who you are. You cannot “believe” your direct knowing. Your direct knowing is the absence of all that is believed. It is the negation of all that is learned and conditioned. It is what remains when all ideas and thoughts are stripped away. And it is always here, and therefore cannot be added in, nor can it be taken away.
So how do you identify this direct knowing of who you are? By habit, your idea of who you are is that which was taught to you: you are a separate person in a body, and all that entails. If you had never had a single idea taught to you and ingrained in you, what would you know about yourself?
Directly looking, the first thing you know is that you are conscious. Don’t take my word for this – we’re done with learning and beliefs. Do you see for yourself that consciousness is here? Do you see that it underlies all else? Let’s say you would like to tell me that the first thing you know is that you are this body. How would you know that? There would have to be some consciousness for that knowing to be. So do you see, there is nothing that can come “before” this consciousness? Anything else you think you “know” could not be known without first there being consciousness for it to be known in.
To this “first” thing you know about yourself – “I am conscious” – all else can be held up and examined. The one thing you know is that you are conscious, and that is the place you can rest as all the other ideas are questioned. Consciousness itself doesn’t have to be questioned, because it is known directly – Are you conscious right now?
Don’t make the mistake of going after your direct knowing as if it is a belief – that’s a trick the mind loves to play. Just look right now and see if you can deny that you are conscious, and tell me whether that is direct experience, or a belief. And then ignore the mind as it tries to complicate the matter by making you define consciousness, state where it goes when you sleep, or quibble about the wording. Pure distraction! Don’t bother with the mind’s drivel – Are you conscious, yes or no?
So, just notice this point of pure consciousness that you are completely sure of right now. You don’t have to learn it or believe it. It is always here. The body’s systems may fall asleep at night, but when they restart in the morning, there is consciousness, already present and waiting. You know and trust this. Feel the solidity of your direct knowing. Notice that there is not any suffering here. It is peaceful.
Now that you are sure of the first thing, “I am conscious,” you are free to try out adding on various thoughts and beliefs about yourself, and testing them out for validity. But it will be helpful to notice that the starting point – the bottom line – is always simply this pure point of consciousness. You know it for sure. It’s not something you can lose or forget. Try to forget to be conscious! You can’t do it.
This is not a teaching: there is nothing to learn, nothing to believe. There is no practice required for this knowing, no time required for this to be known. See it as you’re reading these words: You are conscious, right now. Don’t get “I am conscious” mixed up with your beliefs; see that there really is a knowing that is not a belief. I know I am conscious, and I know this is not a belief. Do not mistake your beliefs for knowing, and do not mistake your knowing for a belief!
You keep trying to add to the pot of “What I’ve learned,” thinking that more is better, and that there will finally be enough, or there will be just the exact right piece of information that will set you free of suffering. But there is only suffering in that pot! So adding to the pot doesn’t do anything to relieve suffering. You aren’t dealing with anything you directly know, you are only adding more beliefs. And all suffering is caused by beliefs. The one thing you are ignoring in this recipe is what you really do know. And that, you know already. It can’t be added, because it’s not missing.
We tend to reject direct knowing in favor of beliefs, because we have come to cherish our beliefs. We are attached to them. This is why we suffer and struggle with confusion and frustration. But when we look for ourselves, all doubt about who we are vanishes, and it all becomes perfectly clear. Negating all but what you know by directly looking, your suffering disappears. And all you know by directly looking is “I am conscious.” Notice it now.
The beauty of this is that what you know directly contains no suffering. Suffering only exists in that which is clung to by habit, believed and not known. If you follow your own knowing, you will always be free of suffering. So this is the gift; this is why it is sometimes said that there is only Love. Love is the fact that there is no suffering in the only thing you know for sure!
You. Right now. Knowing. Do you see that this is not in the future, that it is not an attainment? That which you know is right here, all the time, and always has been. You didn't learn it, and you don't "believe" it. It can’t be shaken, it can’t be threatened, it can’t be taken away. Right now, by looking for yourself, this everyday, ordinary consciousness is here. All else is learned, believed, unreal, and causes suffering.
Simply notice the one thing you know, “I am conscious.” In that, you are free.
Perhaps you have heard many masters speaking this non-duality message and you can ask “If I am not the doer, how can "I" do anything to bring about "Realization"? How can "I," a non-existent dream character, do self-inquiry? There is no "I" that can do anything! If I inquire "Who am I?" isn't that coming from the character in the play that is being lived, and if so, isn't that just another part of the story? Why do "teachers appear" if there are no students? Why are books written, if most teachers agree one cannot get it from a book?
I know your frustration and I sympathize. I’m not going to give you the stock neo-Advaita “who’s asking?” answer, because it’s not helpful. I’ll try to give you something practical to go on, although there is a paradox at the center of it all, and so at some point, all practicality fails.
You are exactly right if you say that there is no one to do any of that. But also notice that “you” are still “doing” all kinds of stuff – reading this right now, for example. The difference is, that to a person who believes they are a separate entity residing in this body, this appears to be an act of someone doing something. To one who knows themselves not to be this body, or a separate entity, the reading is simply happening as part of the unfolding of one life. To take it even further, to one who knows they are not separate, nothing is seen to be happening at all.
So it is to this gray zone – where it still appears to a seeker that there is a doer, even after that seeker has grasped the concept that there is not – that most Advaita teachings are directed. To those who still believe that they are this body, and that they are separate, independent entities, it all appears to happen, and they appear to be the doer. So for teachers to help you, they have to talk to you inside that dream in which you create the “self” character. They are addressing a dream character, knowing full well you are not a real character! But since you think you are real, they will address you as such.
So this is the answer to your question “why all the books, etc.?” There is real practical purpose – in the dream – in pointing to this and carrying on the tradition of the sages of the ancient past. Of course, the pointing points to: get out of the dream entirely! The end of seeking is not finding, the end of seeking is getting out of the dream that includes seeking! But this has to be pointed to in the dream, do you see what I mean? If you weren’t mesmerized by the dream, then you would immediately see that you are not a person, and there would be no need to say a word.
So the pointing is ultimately telling you to find your way out of the dream somehow. But the dream is powerful and hypnotic, and tricks need to be employed to see your way out of it. Ideas are offered: examine the sense of self that you identify with and see if there is any substance to it, watch your mental process and see if there is any free will, don’t follow your thoughts, etc. This all drives a wedge between your falsely created “self” and the truth of who you are. That wedge widens, and eventually you can’t make the connection any longer to this “you” you believed yourself to be.
But without any direction, at first, we are just searching aimlessly for years and years, with all our practices and new age spirituality, trying so hard to “get” something “for me.” It’s not until we encounter some authentic Zen or Advaita that we begin questioning the very premise that we are basing our whole search on – the premise that there is a “me” to get something. Once this starts being looked at, it’s a house of cards and it will fall sooner or later. Once the idea that you are not a separate person is even entertained, the end of the dream is inevitable. It can’t support itself. But this all happens on its own time.
Of course there are those who, in their dream, love the story and don’t want to let go of it. And so they go to satsang every week for years and feel that they are accomplishing something, growing spiritually, and that’s just part of the dream. And they can’t help it! It’s just what is happening in that particular organism – it’s acting the way it’s been programmed. So, no, there isn’t really anything you can do. And yet, you’re doing stuff anyway!
So it is right: there is no teachers, no sages, no enlightenment, no anything at all. But because of the paradoxical nature of this, you have to come to knowing this in a roundabout way – you have to sneak up on it from the rear. Rather than a frontal assault, like bashing yourself over the head until you see that nothing exists, you have to go in and remove the underpinnings until the falseness of the separate self that depends on those underpinnings can’t stand up anymore, and crumbles under its own weight.
This is what the pointers – all the repetitive “who’s asking the question?” – are all about. The pointers are trying to show you that your “self” only occurs within the dream that you are dreaming, and that what you are looking for cannot be found by a dreamed self. “Who is asking the question?” is pointing to the fact that the self is dreamed.
Expose the “self” as merely a learned belief based on other learned beliefs, and you’re out of the dream. That’s done by looking at this “self” directly and seeing if it is real. No one can do that for you. You might say no one can do it at all, but you can, as long as you believe you are capable of doing stuff! How will you know when you no longer believe you are capable of doing stuff? When you don’t even have to ask that question.
Just keep letting go of your ownership. You can believe me when I say that there is nothing worth owning. Let it all go. Let go of your ideas of the person you are, the life you lead, and how this is somehow “you.” Let go of the seeking to find the ultimate answer for this imaginary, made-up character.
Just don’t bother trying to know something – or, if you already feel that you know this “intellectually,” don’t bother trying to identify with it. Trying to identify with something is simply the activity of a false character. The activity is noticed; look to see if you can find a separate entity doing this noticing. If you cannot, and it is seen that the character is false, watch as all reference points regarding the activity vanish. Who will identify with the witnessing when the "who" has vanished?
There may be a desire arising right now, saying that this fictional character wants to identify more often with awareness. Nevermind it. Any change you want to make would simply be movement of a fictional character. A memory of a conversation, a thought of a fantasy future – what do they amount to?
Even if you have "got" this understanding, give it away. Let it go. Right now there is empty, ownerless being. It’s free and you don’t have to do a thing. I call that a good deal.
With my brain, this appears as consciousness.
Without my brain, I don’t know what this appears as.
My brain is like a radio. It comes home from the store, I turn it on, it picks up what is, and broadcasts it. It “tunes in” to what is already there. If I never turned on my radio, it wouldn’t make any difference to “what is.”
What is “what is”? I might call it that which is prior to consciousness. Before it is “tuned into” by a brain and is interpreted as consciousness, what is it?
Does it have anything to do with human beings? Do it have anything to do with you?
Dec. 21st (Friday)
- In the higher densities, the Name of the Game is Consciousness. This simply means that the higher densities of existence, whether positive or negative in orientation, all recognize that the business of all being and existence everywhere is always that of Consciousness... becoming more and more "Aware." Awareness is related to "density" of consciousness, so to say. The STS (Service To Self) way of achieving "density of consciousness" is to "gain weight" by assimilation of other consciousness units. This is generally promoted as "All is One" and refers to "evil" as a "rebellion" or a fault or something that will ultimately be "done away with."
STO (Service To Others), on the other hand sees "gaining weight" in a different way. It sees that an acknowledgement of the consciousness of "other self" as equal to its own consciousness, in spite of completely different manifestation of that being, is the way to "network" the consciousness so that the Whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
The difference is that the STO guys recognize consciousness as being an "integrative" activity of mutual networking and interdependence because they view all others as self, even if they are different, and therefore seek to help and assist because the other IS self in an absolute internal sense. In this way, Absolute Consciousness, or God is "glorified" by a marvelous diversity of being if you wish to put it in those terms.
The negative guys, on the other hand, play the game in terms of domination, subjugation and absorption of other consciousnesses into "One." . But, they too, understand that the rules of the game posit that in order for them to truly "absorb" into their being these other "consciousnesses," that the "other" must choose to become part of their "self-aggrandizement." An unwilling "food" is, in essence, not "nutritious" so to say. If the consciousness does not choose, it becomes a "poison" to the consciousness that seeks to "eat it." And so they must promote "Oneness" in a very particular way.
Note that both sides acknowledge "Oneness," but in very different ways.
So, we have to understand here that the true Negative Realm agenda is to "eat consciousness." So, this actually prevents an overt "take-over" in literal, physical terms. If an "invasion" was detected, this would mean that the veil would be lifted and all would see the "man behind the curtain" and would be disgusted and turn away. Just as in the "Wizard of Oz," those Ruby Slippers have to be obtained VERY CAREFULLY!
Gathering the essence is an art of great subtlety! The "negative alien plan" is, in its purest sense, STALKING.
The aim of Stalking is to create a completely controlled artificial environment composed of thoroughly predictable human behaviors - made predictable because they have been programmed to respond to cues of conditioning [inculcated through centuries of lies and obfuscations presented in the form of religions] and all of this revolves around a ’story’ that is actually untrue, and wholly misrepresentative of the real negative aim.
For centuries these programming signals have been being set up - either because of time travel capabilities, or because of actual historical presence. Various prophets or religious leaders have been influenced to preach, or teach or prophesy philosophies designed to lay a foundation for later take-over - possibly in our present time. When people begin to get wise, the Negatives simply go back into the past, add something more to the soup to "cover up" the new awareness. This then act as a domino effect and influences our present. Time loops and all that. A lot of people think that the "alien invasion scenario" is a ruse concocted by the government to create the impression that there is a forming "threat," thereby enabling the institution of a New World Order. But, this idea is based on a misrepresentation of the process just described.
The important thing to remember is this: there is NOT a "unified conspiratorial activity" going on here in the hierarchy of government. The "divide and conquer" effect is also manifest at this level and suits the alien purposes to a "T." Such activity at ALL levels is consistent with their program of STALKING, in which confusion and cross-purpose prevents a clear perception on the part of the Stalkees.
Yet, at some deep level there may be a direct conspiratorial interaction between the "secret government" and the negative aliens... but it is unlikely that any name of those involved would be recognized by anyone, no matter how "in the know" regarding the subject. These "secret superiors" are just that: SECRET. Any organization you can name, or about which you are AWARE, are merely "outer circles."
What is the designed objective of this STALKING? It is two-fold.
Read more!........
- Ok, this site contains a lot of Michael Topper's material. His essays will blow your mind! Besides the Matrix V material, Adi Da, and ACIM, I have found this particular material to be of the highest kind. But MT and AAA have disappeared in 1993 during an occult siege. So be careful. You may not want to read what he has revealed.
Up to you.
If you do... check these sources out: Tribe.net.
"This is drawn from a series of articles written by a fellow named Michael Topper, who uses the nom de plume "Marshall Telemachus" or even "Mother Terasu" and others. After producing a great deal of material, most of which was published by Val Valerian in his series of Matrix books, he sort of disappeared from the scene.
The series is long and complex, and the complex language usage makes it almost inaccessible to the average reader. I am sure that this was intended, because it is hard work to read it. There is no free lunch in the universe. In this series, he gives away incredible secrets of reality; but you still have to work to "get it."
I have here synopsized and condensed a portion of one section of this series with great effort to assure that I have retained the content intact."
Precis on The Good and The Evil
by Michael Topper
Excerpts from an article in which Topper discusses the higher realms in terms of economy! We thus see the Hermetic connection: As above, so below, and vice versa. We can surmise the agenda above, by observing the dynamics below! [Edited for clarity and brevity]
In the case of both positive and negative beings of 4th Density, the negotiable currency of their transactions is a bio-psychic energy; the mode of both is accumulation, in the sense of storing and putting such biopsychic energy-capital to work in powering or transforming the centers toward deeper integration and functional unity.
Due to the character of our traditional spiritual and esoteric teachings, we may have a conceptual difficulty understanding how a being of a higher density manages to acquire its status without benefit of any basic heart-development.
Positive beings at 4th density have achieved the necessary intensity and developmental alignment through conscious decisions based on recognition of the abstract propriety of identifiable divine law. […] Such beings display a recognizably "scientific" approach to spiritual considerations; they openly regard Divine Light as a mensurable magnitude. […] Their apparent "coldness" or objectivity is only apparent. They register the distress of others and modify their approach accordingly. […] One need only compare the behavior of truly negative beings to appreciate the difference. In the famous account of Whitley Strieber [there is] an adequate example. […]
In Strieber’s account, we witness the astonishing effort to transmute those horrific experiences into a positive outline. Thus Strieber, with almost excruciating transparency invokes the standard "humanistic" saw to the effect that dichotomies of good-and-evil are too simplistic and medieval, truth always being some "gray" blend of opposites; in this way he shields from himself the obvious implications of his ongoing ordeal.
But more importantly, he demonstrates to perfection the procedure of how one "falls into the hands" of the Negative Beings and, by the denial mechanism of 3rd density psychology, creates the belief that "good" things, developmental things, positively proceed from such ordeals. […]
His conclusions, his distillates of what he’s learned, insist almost schizophrenically that these entities must in some way have the "good of mankind" at heart, but that through the apparent terrorism of their utterly unworldly appearance and vile behavior they function something on the order of "cosmic zen masters," taking a stick to our stubborn skulls. […] As "proof" of the actually liberating work they’re performing, Strieber invokes the fact that owing to his jarring experiences he’s "come loose" and is able to sample in waking consciousness the phenomenon of astral travel.
read more....
But folks? This is even better!
Dec. 4th (Tuesday)
- Ok, you need to launch this video and then watch it and follow my step by step commentary on it. What a farce! Enjoy!
“watching
7:19 PM
she's got the proper symbol there, it means peace, not war.
Reader of BLOG
7:19 PM
yes i noticed that as well
7:20 PM
its the sun symbol
John Stankiewicz
7:20 PM
it's the swastika reversed
Reader of BLOG
7:20 PM
yes
7:20 PM
its the proper way though
John Stankiewicz
7:20 PM
reversed from Hitler's
7:20 PM
right
Reader of BLOG
7:20 PM
yes
John Stankiewicz
7:20 PM
and it is Arien
7:20 PM
those are the true Ariens
7:20 PM
not what he proposed.
Reader of BLOG
7:21 PM
but the sun is a symbol used to suppress us
John Stankiewicz
7:21 PM
actually, the black sun
Reader of BLOG
7:21 PM
oh really
7:21 PM
ok
John Stankiewicz
7:21 PM
but also the sun was used to rule over folks.
7:21 PM
so misused.
7:22 PM
vajriana budhishm! Wow, impressive.
Reader of BLOG
7:23 PM
what is that
John Stankiewicz
7:23 PM
notice he is carressing something in his left hand.. .that's a
reminder to himself about his Guru.
Reader of BLOG
7:23 PM
oh yes
7:24 PM
i noticed it
John Stankiewicz
7:24 PM
It's a non-dualistic type of buddhism, similar to non dualistic vedanta.
Reader of BLOG
7:24 PM
i see
7:24 PM
but what is the thing on his right hand
John Stankiewicz
7:24 PM
from the Hindu/Sanscrit/Vedanta... 5000 years old or more.
7:26 PM
jews always win? what kind of Guru is this guy? Har!
Reader of BLOG
7:27 PM
what ?
i just asked what is the thing in his right hand
7:27 PM
oh
7:27 PM
you quote Him
John Stankiewicz
7:27 PM
it's a device used to remind oneself of one's Guru.
Reader of BLOG
7:27 PM
hah
7:27 PM
yeah but that the one in his left hand
John Stankiewicz
7:28 PM
that's some kind of Buddhic device.. am not sure about it.
7:28 PM
but concentrates the mind in any case.
7:28 PM
he's right about a living master though.
7:29 PM
and they are NOT completely transcendental.. Gurus are at various
stages of life.
7:29 PM
there are very few that are in the 7th Stage of Life.. if any...
7:29 PM
Raman Maharshi is a well known one that was in the 6th stage of life
and had 7th stage intuitions.
7:30 PM
Am just commmenting as I view the video.
7:31 PM
he wante to have his own? what an ego!
7:31 PM
wanted
7:31 PM
did not wanted to bathe in His energy and stay in that kind of high?
Wanted his own? Now this is an excellent example of a Spiritualized ego.
7:32 PM
he has not need to transcend the ego.. he wants his own disciples.
7:32 PM
And he worships the world! Shit! Worships this dream! Ok, grounding
is good, but not that way!
7:33 PM
he is talking about himself!
7:33 PM
whe he talks about the ego wanting to survive. Watch the video again.
7:34 PM
see, he tells some truths, spiritual sadhana (which is relationship
to the Guru) and so on... and then talks about egoic stuff.
7:34 PM
So if your mind is clear, you will see that this guy is basically not
the real thing.
7:35 PM
And Sound is a fifth stage realization.. hearing the Sound of the
Spheres and so on.
7:35 PM
There are quite a few Gurus out there that are promoting the path of
the Sound. But that's less than even the sixth stage samadhis and
realization.
7:36 PM
He clearly shows a fifth stage Realization.
7:37 PM
By the way, the TM mantra is the same mantra given to EVERYONE! Har!
7:37 PM
At least that is what I found out.
7:38 PM
actually, Ivan, you will be amused by my new master: Puppet Ji.
Search that on youtube.
7:39 PM
ok, now it is clear, he is using a Mala in his left hand.
7:40 PM
it is a device for saying mantras.
7:40 PM
just like in the Christian tradition.
7:40 PM
the Mala has 108 beads from a rare ... bean? Something like that.
7:41 PM
and it is known to hold potent spirtitual force, over time.
7:42 PM
Rudraksha beads.
7:42 PM
Traffic direction... again, fifth stage.
7:42 PM
thousands of people lost their bodies... you see?
7:43 PM
soul retrieval.
7:43 PM
that's even a 4th stage or 4th density experience.. in the Astral.
7:43 PM
there you go a tibetan prayer wheel.
7:44 PM
but he has not real attention to it!
7:44 PM
something like chewing gum!
7:44 PM
something that automatic has no effect!
7:44 PM
this guy is a fool!
7:45 PM
this guy is just a circus priest.
7:45 PM
Oh well.
7:45 PM
So ends my review.”
Nov. 27th (Tuesday)
- No Story, No Person, No Suffering - a post by Sergio
I hear from many people who say they are in a place of understanding, but are not feeling "done." They say they are frustrated and want to know what to do to end the frustration.
And I don’t think it helps much to tell them, “Who is frustrated?” It’s true that there is no one to be frustrated, but I think this is said so many times that it begins to fall on deaf ears. You need more than that.
What are teachers saying when they tell you, “There is no one to be frustrated”? They are really referring to the story you have to be making up all the time in order for there to be a person, and in order for there to be frustration. It’s the story that is at the root of the belief in a person. You’re making up the story, and so you’re making up the person, out of your own imagination. No story, no person.
A story needs to be told for there to be frustration. Without telling a story, is there frustration? Where? How? Look for the story you are telling. Look for the narrative you create for the frustration to thrive in. This narrative creates the person out of thin air. This is something you're doing all the time – you’re creating the person all the time with your inner narrative. And this is the center of every problem, every speck of suffering and seeking.
So what can you do? What is needed is not action, it’s inaction. Stop making up a story. Having no story amounts to the same thing you’re asked over and over: Who is frustrated? Where is the person? But, “getting” that there is no person is not something you just have to wait around until you "see" – making up the person is actually something you are actively doing all the time. You don't have to do it. You don’t have to make up a story. And without the story, "This is so frustrating" has no place to take hold, no place to bloom. It just blows away like dust. Nothing has any place to take hold. Nothing can harm you. You are at total peace.
If you don't tell a story right now, there is just a watching, a peaceful noticing of the current moment. No problem arises, no frustration, no irritation, until you start constructing the narrative. Until then, it doesn't exist, and it's just pure consciousness, you, peace, that's all.
You Can Call it Free Will, But It’s Not
One thing we really take for granted all day long is the experience of free will and self-determination. We go through our day believing that we are controlling our thoughts, controlling our actions. We feel like we direct our thoughts, we know what we want, we plan our day – our whole lives, in fact – and we act on those plans. We have goals, we choose the actions that will lead us to that goal, and thus we are in control of our destinies. Wow, life should be great all the time!
Why isn’t it? If you are in control, why isn’t your life great all the time? Well, first, what you think of as your life being “great” is when things are going according to plan. After all, you know best, and having your plan be met is the only way you’ll be happy, right? Wrong. You’ve seen over and over in your life, in painful abundance, that this clutching and clinging to the fantasy of your “ideal” life or experience always fails, always disappoints. So if there is actually freedom from this pain, as is promised, there must be some other way of looking at this. Am I saying you must give up control? Not at all. I’m saying you never had it.
What is this “I control things” experience, actually? You say, “I feel like I am deciding to read this right now.” I challenge that. I say it feels like what it is, but that you are, by habit and definition, calling this very feeling “I decide.” Your words are lying to you about what is really going on. There are thoughts and actions taking place. Your day unfolds and you appear to be making split-second decisions to keep it all on track. It happens quickly, and everything seems to be going fine, so you have no reason to stop and doubt whether it is really you deciding and controlling.
No reason, that is, except for this one thing: It sucks. All day long, having to know, decide, analyze, plan, figure, project, second-guess, wager, risk, plot, and think think think think. Do you like it? Think it all through, make sure it’s good or they’ll come get you, it will all fall apart, they’ll stop loving you, you’ll be humiliated, you’ll die, you’ll be on the streets, you’ll have to move in with your mother. It’s all up to you! Don’t mess up! Not a single misstep or you’re screwed! Guess what? None of this is true. You are all taken care of already. You don’t have to do – indeed, you cannot do – a thing. Sit back, relax, have an iced tea, and watch the life happen. As essence, you can’t be harmed. It’s all going to be fine.
Is it okay to actually do this? Can you kick back and just watch, without making things happen? Won’t all the wrong things happen if you stop trying to control? Well, look and see if you are controlling in the first place. If you find that you aren’t and never were, and things have been going along fine so far, then there is no worry, is there? So let’s try an experiment.
Stand in the middle of a room and wait, without any plan. Just wait and see what you do next. Will you still be standing there twenty-four hours from now, without a plan? That’s one of the possibilities, but it’s not likely. Something will probably have moved you off that spot by then, like hunger, or fatigue, or the need to walk the dog. If the phone rings, you are likely to walk over and answer it. If you have an appointment, the thought will probably enter your head and you will automatically get your things and head out the door.
As you stand there, watch for the moment that the movement happens, without a plan. There might be a thought that precedes the action and there might not. If there is, watch the thought arise without a plan. Did you plan on that thought arising at that particular time? Did you plan what the thought contained?
Notice how automatically this happens. Observe how mechanically you are moved around. Once you stop naming this action “I am deciding to do this,” and observe what is really happening, you will see that all your actions are automatic. Even the thoughts coming to you are automatic. The feelings that arise are automatic. This is a mechanistic, apparitional world, and you are part of the apparition. You are a stimulus and response machine. Everything you do is based on all the other things in the apparitional world that led up to it. You can’t make it be any different, because you’re not even controlling your own thoughts.
Watch this in action throughout your day. If you can’t “decide” what to do next, just wait. You’ll do something. And the best part of this is, it will be effortless. It’s effortless! Life without planning is life without effort. Without planning, you’ll suddenly find yourself in the middle of a task you’ve been dreading for weeks, having fun and accomplishing more than you thought possible, effortlessly.
It is the false sense of control that causes most of the suffering in the life. Without the belief that you have to make everything happen just right, all the tension in the body drops away. All the frantic searching in the mind for the right action, the right move, several steps ahead all the time, anticipating all possible responses from others, the guilt and second-guessing afterwards, etc., it just stops. So how do we get rid of the “sense” of control? Well, it’s not really there in the first place. The “sense” that you control things comes from your label, not from the experience itself.
You have an experience of being in your day, wherein thoughts arise, feelings arise, actions arise. You can see it all happening. This is the experience you have. This is the experience that you have learned to label “I think,” “I feel,” and “I do” (or “I decided to do”). Those are simply labels – words alone, nothing but words. Look at what is happening, without labeling it. If you don’t say, “I decided to get out of bed,” is it possible that getting out of bed just happened, and your label colors the experience for you?
Do you think you would stay in bed all day if you didn’t decide to get up? Try it. Just lie there without a plan, and see what happens. You might indeed stay there all day. But you also might just get up. Wait and watch for the first sign of movement. Wait and watch for a thought to arise that says to get up. Getting up happens, and we have learned that the name of this action is “I decided to get up.” And then we go around insisting that this is what is really happening! It’s only a name!
What if you learned as a kid that water was a solid. And whoever tried to point out to you that you could put your hand right through it, you would argue, “Yes, I see that, but it’s a solid.” It’s the same thing happening. I’m not pointing out that you see something different from what is real. You’re seeing reality. You’ve simply mistakenly labeled it something else: “I control my life and actions and thoughts.” It’s a false label for the experience of reality that you have.
So it’s just a belief that has you living in this limbo with the burden of responsibility. Do you need to change your belief? No. None of this has anything to do with you. Just be with what you know, right now. Pay attention to what is going on right now. There is seeing with no seer. There is feeling with no feeler. There is action with no actor. There is knowing with no knower, and this whole imaginary world of you and your free will appear to take place within that knowing. And the knowing is what you are, not the person.
The stimulus-and-response machine is noticed by you. The person masquerading as “you” is observed in awareness. The thoughts in your head belong to no one. The pains and aches in your body belong to no one. The sense of control belongs to no one. These things are free-floating, smack dab in the center of awareness, and are attached to nothing and no one. If it feels “personal,” check and see if that is not just the name you put on it, and not the actual experience. How can something feel personal when there is no person? Reality does not lie. Your words and labels, however, are very good at lying.
Just be, without calling it “I control this.” You never did, so you’re not giving anything up. Watch the actions, observe the thoughts, without imagining that you are making them happen. Enjoy the movie. Float downstream.
Be without a center of control, be without a body, be without a history, be without an opinion, be without all the traits that make you special. Just be. Be no one, in no one’s body. What a blast! Living, with no body! Sensing and experiencing, thinking, feeling, with no person! No harm can come to you. No worries, no fear, no needs.
Just aliveness. Alive. Aware. Here. What more do you need? Stuck in traffic? Late for your appointment? You're not missing anything. No dates? Sitting home alone on Saturday night? Oh well, you're not missing anything. Made a bad decision, which caused you to lose a great opportunity? Nope, you're not missing anything! Busy at work? Too much business and not enough play? Not missing a thing.
This is it, my friends. There is nowhere to go. You are exactly where you are, aren't you? And in my world, that means that that is exactly where you are meant to be. Why? Because it's where you are! You haven't missed a thing.
You can't miss what you already ARE. And whatever you are looking for is what you are. No doubt about it, everywhere you turn, there you are, so how could you miss something important? You think this "missed thing" is going to make a difference to what you are? Not possible. This "missed thing" is YOU!
There is nothing that you need or want that is not already what you are. Therefore, no mistakes, no missed opportunities, no "could haves or should haves" make any difference at all to what you are.
This moment is as it is, and thinking that it shouldn't be is just another vibration of the Isness....it doesn't change anything. And you can't miss what you are. Just try!
There is only this point of present consciousness. It occupies no time and takes up no space. Everything that is apparent appears to take up space, and exist over time. But this apparent existence is all taking place now, within this single, simple point of consciousness. The consciousness itself occupies no time nor space. Experience this yourself, right now: does consciousness take up any time or space?
Everything that happens – is thought about, is felt, is observed – all takes up time and space. There is nothing in your world – mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual – that does not take up time and space. But consciousness does not take up time and space, so consciousness is not “in your world”; consciousness is that within which your world appears.
It is with this present consciousness that you know anything to exist. So it is as if there is an explosion of existence, once you move one tiny step away from the reality of the single, dimensionless, timeless point of consciousness, and move toward the thought-created forms that you imagine in your mind. Once a time and space “stage” is given credence in the mind, then anything and everything can appear on it.
The universe is imagined to be spread out over time and space, and therefore “existing.” But it is only existing, or apparent, within consciousness, which has no “room” for these things to occupy. They can only occupy imaginary time, and imaginary space. The consciousness itself, which has the capacity to give rise to all of it, is the only thing that is real. And this you know, right now, as your normal, knowing sense of being. It is who you are.
Consciousness is not localized, in the apparent “world,” because consciousness is the source of the apparent world. Everything in the apparent world springs from the single, dimensionless, timeless point of consciousness, which you know right now as the one witnessing the reading of these words.
There is no part of the universe that is not simply this consciousness, non-localized, the seed point of all existence. This seed point is all there is, and this is what you know, and have always known, not because the mind has labeled it and named it, but because there is existence, and you are always the witness of it.
Nov. 7th (Wednesday)
- A post by Sergio for your enjoyment and consideration: with commentary by js
“From: Sergio Cettour <tuscarito@yahoo.com.ar>
Date: November 6, 2007 11:37:47 AM EST (CA)
To: admin@9planetreviews.com
Subject: For_Spirit
What Is Awakening And Liberation?
Awakening for most characters is a split second event [js: for most characters? What does that mean? Most characters do not awaken!]. In that split second what is seen clearly is that there is no-one, there is no person. The personal identity simply drop away suddenly and completely and what is left is awareness without any person mediating it.
This is an astonishing event because however old you may be when this happens, for however many years there’s been self-consciousness, there has always been a person present [js: no there has not, there has no one been here]. Every phenomenon that has been registered by consciousness [js: Consciousness implies EGO, Consciousness has never arisen, the ego does not in fact exist] has been mediated and experienced by a person, a person who has coloured each moment of awareness. That sense of a person will not have been noticed precisely because it has been ever present. It’s like living in an environment that you’ve lived in all you life without noticing the scenery because it’s always been there. It’s just taken for granted. This is only a metaphor but in a way that’s what the sense of being a person is like. It’s taken for granted to such an extent that it isn’t even noticed until it suddenly drops away.
When the person drops away nothing changes. What is suddenly seen has always been there. Everything remains as it is, so in a sense this is much less interesting than taking hallucinogenic drugs, or even getting drunk or stoned. These all produce quite interesting phenomena. But when the person drops away there’s no change in the phenomena whatsoever and yet it is a staggering event. Suddenly it’s seen that the person and their personal experiences are completely irrelevant. There is the sudden seeing that your whole life has been an illusion, a kind of conjuring trick. Oneness plays a trick on itself to convince itself that it’s separate, that it exists in one place which is separate from all other places.
I’m describing awakening as if it’s something that happens but it’s important to stress that, however paradoxical or mysterious this sounds, actually nothing happens. I mean that in both senses of the phrase. For the first time ever in this apparent life nothing is seen to be happening. Nothing is seen to be creating all of this. And so although it has to be talked about as an event that appears to happen in time let me emphasise that it’s not a personal experience because there is nobody there having the experience.
In that split second of awakening it is seen that this is timeless eternity. This is nothing manifesting as everything in timeless eternity. Then a split second later in the story of time the person is back and everything is just as it was before. Except that the person’s mouth may be hanging open in astonishment and they may be thinking “What the hell was that?” And that’s it, it’s over. That’s awakening.
Sometimes when there is awakening there seem a moment in time when there is a difference between knowing that ‘I’ am nothing and knowing that ‘what I am’ is everything. It is like wandering around an empty house when you are moving and all the furniture has been taken out- the walls are still standing but this is no longer home. There was no owner but the house was still there with its empty rooms. So you realise you are ‘nothing’ but do not realise that what you are, is ‘everything’. In this case there is an awakening but the whole isn’t seen because there is still a subtle, nearly invisible ‘me’ seeking [js: the “I”, or the ego]. The experience shows there can be a preliminary seeing of this but also a subtle someone still there. Finally comes liberation and that part of that seeker drops away and there is just everything. Until there is no one it can never be seen that all there is is everything because there is still somebody looking [js: The so-called Witness Consciousness Position or the Ground of Being, in Buddhism, or the Observer in ACIM]. This is the case for most people that there is a residue that eventually drops away. It is occasionally possible that some people do not have this residue and go straight to liberation. [js: There is no such residue that you speak of... that IS the Realization, eventually.. and then you wake up!]
As a tiny child when the ‘me’ is simulated there is a weaning out of ‘being’ which the child will remember for some years. Then that is lost in the over layer of the ‘me’. So awakening is a weaning back into being. [js: all this presumes that this dream is real!]
Because of various spiritual traditions and their stories about enlightened masters, we may think of a person after liberation who manifests complete equanimity no matter what happens, a person with no likes, no dislikes and no preferences. We may have an idealised concept of a person who never feels anger or fear or sorrow, living in an undifferentiated state of bliss. This is just an invention of the mind. Its purpose, if we can speak of it as having a purpose, is to keep us seeking by reaffirming our own sense of inadequacy by comparison. We know that we don’t live in a state of constant bliss so we feel inadequate and we go on seeking.
What happens when searching ends is simply that searching ends. We could say that the person ends, the person dies. That’s quite a dramatic way of putting it but it has a certain accuracy about it. But there is still a character and also feelings, preferences, likes and dislikes. It is just that these are seen no longer to belong to anyone. So rather than there being a person who gets angry, it’s seen that anger simply arises. Rather than there being a person who likes coffee and doesn’t like tea, it’s now seen that a liking for coffee and a dislike of tea arises, but for no one.
However it is likely that the seeing of liberation may bring about changes in the character that is left. It’s likely, although not inevitable, that what may remain after liberation is a character who manifests less neurosis than they did before. Neurosis arises out of dissatisfaction and searching. When dissatisfaction and searching end and it is seen that this is all there is, that this is already paradise, there’s not much scope for neurosis to arise anymore. Of course anything can manifest in liberation so it’s certainly not impossible for neurosis to arise. But it’s not likely that it will. It’s the same with boredom. It’s possible for boredom to arise in liberation but when this is seen to be paradise everything becomes fascinating, so it’s unlikely that the character will be bored.
Neurosis and boredom are experiences of the personal mind and in liberation these phenomena are likely to die away. But you still might have a character who gets angry if they phone up a company and they are put on hold for fifteen minutes by an answering machine. You still might have a character who feels sad when their children leave home. All of these things may still arise but they don’t arise for a person anymore. They are just seen to be phenomena happening in awareness.
What also tends to be felt is a kind of continuous wonder at the miracle that is everything, the miracle that is a cup of coffee or a leaf falling from a tree in the park or the sound of a car going by. When this is experienced as a continuous miracle, neurosis can’t really get a grip. One way I’ve heard this put which I like is that, although anything can arise in liberation including uncomfortable thoughts and uncomfortable feelings, there’s nobody there who is taking any interest in these things anymore. So they just tend to arise and quickly die away again. Nisargadatta says that the world is full of hoops but the hooks are all ours. And in liberation somehow those hooks simply dissolve.
Now you may ask, is there a process that can lead us to liberation?
This is a very important question because it really confronts the whole notion of spiritual seeking and the addiction of the seeker to the belief that there is a state that can be attained and that there are methods which can enable you to reach it. Let’s call that state ‘personal enlightenment’. The spiritual seeker tends to believe in the possibility of personal enlightenment and has as an idea that there is a person who can eventually reach this through a process of self-improvement. He or she may believe that this process might take a few years or it might take a few life times. This is the notion that fuels a great deal of spiritual seeking, no matter which path or method is being followed.
The core impulse behind this notion is the feeling that right now I am inadequate [js: NO! It is the feeling that I am separate, from God, from everyone else, that seems to appear in this realm or dream]. I recognise [js: to recognize means to know again, which implies that you knew before! So you are misusing this term.] that I am not enlightened and of course I’m correct in this because nobody is enlightened [js: why would you say that? Do you really know, for sure? Are you all-knowing or just pissed off?]. There is no such thing as an enlightened person [js: Again, how do you know that? Have you pursued all avenues, have you searched far and wide, or are you just making a conclusion?]. Neither you nor I nor anyone else will ever be an enlightened person [js: Why is that?]. But the seeker has this belief that there is something called personal enlightenment and that there are holy figures out there, perhaps wandering around in robes looking ascetic, perhaps with long beards or with shaven heads, who have achieved that state.
[js: Ok, am tired of this. It’s a diatribe. So be careful about what you will conclude on reading the rest of it. If I get some further energy? I will perhaps edit the rest of it. By the way, no harm meant to Sergio, ok Sergio? You posted, I had to comment. No one is right or wrong. In fact I find much of your post here, below, very instructive. So thanks Sergio! js]
If I am a seeker I will probably believe that there is a process whereby I, a person who is not yet enlightened, can become one of these saintly beings. Usually there will also be the belief that when I become enlightened I will get great rewards. I will become all knowing, wise and deeply compassionate. I will have an enormous golden aura. I nearly said “golden ego”. I will have an enormous golden aura which will attract people to me and they will revere me and sit at my feet and I in my turn will be able to guide them along the path to enlightenment. Perhaps more importantly I will be tremendously envied by all my friends.
Some version of this story is held as a core belief by many seekers. This is the story of becoming, of the treadmill of spiritual paths, of spiritual evolution. The story is that there is a person here and this person, through their efforts, through wiping out their past karma, through their great humility and through the grace of the guru can attain this state of enlightenment.
Actually even in a split second of awakening, if there is complete accuracy in reporting what is seen, without a doubt it is seen that there is no one, that the person is an appearance, a kind of illusion. But when the person comes back they can reject this. Very often they will reject it and go back to their spiritual seeking. Nevertheless what is seen in awakening is that there is no person who has ever done anything.
No person has ever followed a spiritual path because there is no one. No person has ever earned grace because there is no one. No person has ever followed a true guru and received the mantra that will raise their spiritual vibration to the level of enlightenment because there is no one. This is seen absolutely in that split second of awakening. But when the person comes back they can deny this and very often they will deny it. Then they may return to their spiritual path, their guru and their devotion. There’s nothing wrong with this but there’s no person who is getting closer to liberation because of it. This is seen in awakening and after awakening, when the person comes back, it can be acknowledged or it can be denied. It’s completely meaningless which happens. It doesn’t matter which happens but those are the two possibilities.
Then when liberation is seen there is an end to all searching. In liberation there is no possibility any more of there being a person who believes themself to be inadequate and who believes that they can make themself adequate through spiritual work such as meditation or devotion or study or any of the other yogas. What is seen in liberation is that there is no one who could do any of this and there is no one that any of this could have an effect on.
As there is no person, thirty years of meditation cannot purify the person. There is no one to be purified. Liberation brings about the absolute end to searching because it’s seen that there’s no person, there’s no separation and there’s nothing to search for. There can’t be anything to search for when it’s seen that this is all there is. There’s nowhere to go, there’s nothing to find, this is already it. This is already paradise.
I have said before that as long as there’s a person there must be searching. What do I mean by that? When a baby is born it has no sense of separation but it also has no self-consciousness. At a certain point, as soon as self-consciousness arises, the baby becomes a person. They become a person because with self-consciousness a sense of separation arises. From then on there’s also personal fear and vulnerability. As soon as I perceive myself to be separate I can feel threatened by other people or by circumstances. So I need to begin to protect myself, to protect my autonomy.
From the moment of separation it is felt that there is something missing and this is because there is something missing. What is missing is the sense of oneness into which I was born, the sense of unity. And so the person starts searching. What they are searching for is an end to the feeling of separation, an end to the feeling of personal vulnerability and fear. But this search can take many different forms and most of these forms won’t involve a conscious spiritual search or a conscious search for unity.
Instead the search will arise out of a sense of dissatisfaction with whatever is seen to be going on in this, in presence. There will be a search for some kind of comfort and if that comfort is found, dissatisfaction will arise again fairly quickly and then the search will start again for something else. For example the search might be for physical comfort, security, wealth, excitement or a relationship. Most people will go through the standard ways of trying to make their life feel o.k. The fact is that once there is the sense of a separate person, it will be felt that this isn’t it. Everything might even be going along pretty satisfactorily and in that case it will just be felt that this isn’t quite it. It’s almost it but if only I could just tweak it a bit then it would really be it.
We could describe the unfolding life of a person as simply a number of attempts to turn a life which is felt to have something missing into a life which is felt to be full and satisfying. And that never happens. At least it never happens for long. One reason for this is that we have contradictory and conflicting impulses. If life somehow arranges itself so that one of my impulses is satisfied this will more or less automatically mean that another of them won’t be satisfied.
For example at some point in my life I may become aware of yearning deeply for a relationship. There may be a feeling of incompleteness and of wanting to unite with another person. If I manage to achieve this it probably won’t be very long before another yearning makes itself felt which might be a yearning for more independence or to unite with a different person. As long as I’m fulfilling my need for closeness with someone my sense of independence may be threatened. And as long as I’m fulfilling my need for independence I may not be fulfilling my need to be close to someone. You could say that there’s an inbuilt dissatisfaction in the very game itself.
The person will always be searching in different ways to overcome their sense of dissatisfaction or separation. The usual ways of searching include acquiring an education, getting a job, making money, getting into a relationship, creating a home, having children, seeking out adventures of one kind or another, travelling, acquiring goods like clothes and cars. We may go through periods in our lives when we feel that our sense of dissatisfaction can only be healed if we find the perfect sofa or if we trade in our Ford and buy a BMW instead.
For some people however separation is felt more as a sense of dissatisfaction with their internal state. These people might try to heal this through psychotherapy or personal development. There are so many means on offer now in the personal growth movement and the psychotherapeutic bazaar. The same people at a different time in their life, or other people, might be drawn to following spiritual paths; to meditation, to devotion, to chanting, to sitting with gurus. The list is endless. The list of things that we will try in the hope that they will bring about an end to the sense of separation, this core dissatisfaction with whatever is actually the case, is absolutely endless. They are legion, the methods that the mind will invent, the paths that the mind will tell stories about.
In a way the only difference between my trying to end my sense of dissatisfaction by finding the perfect sofa and my trying to end it by following a spiritual path is that the second involves a more self-conscious searching. In the second there may be an awareness that I have a desire to heal the core sense of separation within me, whereas if I’m buying a sofa there’s usually not a great deal of self-conscious searching in that. I am probably just aware that I want to make my bum more comfortable. But they are both equally valid and invalid, meaningful and meaningless. It makes no difference which I do because neither of them will bring about the healing of the sense of separation.
I’m hesitating over saying the next bit because I don’t want it to sound like a method. I should issue a health warning about it. If we are self-consciously seeking and we’ve had our psychotherapy and our spiritual healing, devoted ourselves to a guru, practised Buddhism and danced our way around the New Age bazaar, then it’s possible that out of the continual sense of frustration and disappointment that arises and out of the realisation finally that none of this works, that none of this does heal the sense of separation, there can be a giving up arising out of that. And out of that giving up perhaps the simple seeing of this can happen.
But of course it’s unwise for me to say this because it could be taken as a suggestion that there is a method, which is that you immerse yourself in as many spiritual paths as you possibly can until you discover that none of them work and then maybe awakening will happen. And that’s not true. This isn’t a method because there is no person who can choose to immerse themselves in lots of different spiritual paths. All we can say is that meditating on the grace of the guru may arise or it may not. There is nobody who can choose that.
So there is dissatisfaction, the feeling that this isn’t it. There is the sense that this is not the promised paradise, the promised paradise is always sometime in the future. This leads to searching. There’s nothing wrong with any of the different ways of searching. Indeed within the story of a person living a life many of these ways of searching can make that life much more comfortable, whether it’s shopping for a sofa and then finding that your bum feels more comfortable while you’re watching television, or doing psychotherapy and then finding that your emotional life feels more comfortable after you have forgiven your parents, or following a spiritual path and then finding that your daily life feels more comfortable when you’re in touch with the love of the Divine Mother or the grace of the guru.
Any of these ways of searching may lead to a person being more comfortable. But that is all you get. You get a person being more comfortable in their prison. If you are in prison, it’s far better to be comfortable, for your prison to have a soft sofa and incense burning in the corner. But that doesn’t get the person out of the prison they perceive themselves to be in.
Nothing will get the person out of their prison because the person is the prison. When the person drops away then it is seen that there never was a prison in the first place.
Now I must say that it is impossible to describe non-duality using language. The problem with using language is that language is by its nature dualistic. Language can only refer to phenomena - to thoughts, emotions, sensations and objects. Language describes the world of the appearance in which everything is perceived to be separate. There is no language which can describe non-duality and there’s no possibility of there being such a language. It’s not a limitation of the kind of language we use, it’s a limitation of the nature of language itself. The best that language can do is to describe duality and then say that non-duality is not that. But of course that doesn’t get us very far.
The seeing of non-duality, that there is no separation, cannot be expressed in language. Language can only hint at it. However concepts about non-duality can be expressed endlessly in language with ever-evolving complexity. The more subtle the mind that is expressing these ideas, the more evolved and complex they tend to become. Many of these ideas are profoundly misconceived. The most common of these misconceptions is the idea that there is someone who can do something to heal their sense of separation; in other words that there is a person who is able to discover that they are not a person.
The complete absurdity of this idea is often camouflaged by highly complex and subtle thinking. So you can have a communication which expresses very seductive ideas about non-duality, presenting it as something which can be realised through an evolutionary spiritual path. These ideas have no actual connection with non-duality but they may offer us a very convincing, although completely meaningless, story about it.
Of course most people have no interest in non-duality or in communicating about it. They prefer to get on with things which are more interesting such as studying Buddhist philosophy or working out which horse might win the 3.30 race tomorrow. And where non-duality is talked about, miscommunication is far more common than clear communication.
This is partly because miscommunication about non-duality is often more interesting because it can involve wonderful stories about spiritual processes and a person gradually becoming purer and wiser in all sorts of fascinating ways. There is simply a lot more to talk about in the miscommunication of non-duality. We can discuss all the techniques for evolving spiritually, purification through work and devotion, the development of compassion and how to be here now - all the usual stories of spiritual becoming.
If we bring in Tantric Sex or beings from other realms such as spirit guides, gods and angels, these stories become even more interesting. We can fill an entire imaginative universe and this seems much more fascinating than a simple cup of coffee or a leaf falling from a tree in autumn. But of course it is only filling an imaginative universe. There’s nothing wrong with this and there’s nothing right with it. It is simply what it is. It is just what arises for some people.
But none of the paths of spiritual development which it is recommended that a person follow in order to discover that they are unreal has anything to do with non-duality. One of the problems with communicating about non-duality clearly is that there is not very much in it for the mind to find interesting or to get hold of and so the mind is quite likely to find it rather dull. The mind would much rather listen to magical stories about spiritual evolution and adventures on the path towards an imagined personal enlightenment.
”
Nov. 2nd (2007)
- THE DREAM OF SEPARATION, a post by Sergio! One of my BLOG readers. And wow, is it packed or what?
All there is is No-thing Being Everything and what appears as part of that everything is the belief and experience of being a separate self — an apparent individual with its own free will, choice and ability to act. This happening is uniquely human and is called self-consciousness. To most people it is the reality. That apparent feeling of being separate is at the root of the suffering, inadequacy and sense of loss that drives people to search for escape or resolution. It is Being dreaming that it is apart from itself, looking all over the place for that which is already Everything. It is the hypnotic dream of separation which, for the dreamer, is very real. The dilemma for the dream seeker is that the feeling of separation drives the seeking for resolution, which further fuels the sense of separation. The development of an intelligent understanding 'mind' apparently brings with it the ability to make choices and take actions in an attempt to negotiate with 'the world' lived in. These negotiations are not always successful and the individual seems to experience its own pain and pleasure. It also develops a great respect for the guidance and control apparently emanating from the understanding 'mind'. However, as long as there is a sense of separation, there is a sense of disquiet or loss and there is a seeking to dispel that sense. It seems logical that the much respected understanding 'mind' must be capable of investigating the cause of this disquiet and discovering ways of dispelling it. The separate entity can only try to imagine or project an idea of what it must be like not to be separate. What is sought is the possibility of a future goal or state that can be realised and therefore, logically, must be approachable. Consequently, the function of seeking and the teaching of becoming locks the seeker into a state of continuously approaching something that it cannot comprehend. All of this is the expression of Being, arising as the good, old, dependable and reliable understanding ‘mind’ functioning as it can only function . . . in continual movement and anticipation. It is this activity of becoming which very effectively keeps the seeker in the hypnotic dream of reaching out for something it cannot grasp. Of course, Liberation can apparently happen despite all of this effort. The only other hope for the dream seeker is to believe that another benevolent energy (say God, Consciousness or a so-called enlightened teacher) would be motivated to guide and influence the seeker along a path which would eventually lead them to fulfillment. All of these ideas of becoming, purpose and destiny arise in the dream. But the paradox is that although Being appears as the dream seeker, Being is not a state that can be imagined, conceived of, attained or even realized by the seeking of it. Being requires absolutely nothing … it is the Nothing and Everything that is already immaculate fulfillment and wholeness. Nothing needs to be changed or attained, lost or found, for Being to simply Be. The appearance of separation is simply the expression of Being. The very idea of something needing to approach that which it already is, is wonderfully futile. Being is a comedian with an audience which never laughs.
The dream seeker feels a sense of loss and unworthiness, and so is very attracted to dream teachings which involve purification, hard committed effort, surrender, devotion and the development of renunciation and detachment. There is a kind of logical inevitability and worthiness about these ideas which resonates with the sense of lack. The almost endless path of striving happily ensures the continuation of the individual experience. These ideas seem to arise out of a very substantial and reliable history of traditional wisdom which surely must be respected, even though it is only available as words on bits of paper. Two traditional ways which seek resolution, or escape, from the sense of separation are meditation and self-inquiry. In meditation it seems possible, through apparent choice and guidance, to reach certain states of stillness or bliss which seem better than feeling separate. The belief is that continuous effort with meditation will solidify the state and eventually make it permanent. But these states are only refined personal experiences happening within the dream-story. So like all other time-based activities they come and go away.
Self-enquiry is a similar process in that the goal is for the individual to choose to take action or make the effort to reach a place called awareness which, its teachers promise, will bring personal peace of mind, happiness and the end of all suffering (?).
There is a great emphasis on the need for properly carried out investigation of thought processes etc, and the necessity for vigilance from “being distracted by self-centred thoughts”.
All of this activity is based on the principle of the enquirer “getting oneness” and maintaining personal possession of it.
The effect of the state of awareness is apparent movement into a place of detachment which at first feels very freeing, powerful and safe . . . rather like being in a glass box from which life can be watched without the watcher being affected. It is still a subtly dual personal experience within the dream-story of separation and so it is transitory.
Awareness of life happening is not 'Being life'.
Predictably the state of awareness (Buddhist mindfulness) is easily forgotten or mislaid, or it can be overwhelmed by dream thinking or any powerful emotional situation, for instance. The glass box shatters and the place you seemed to be in seems lost again. The dream seeker either starts self-enquiring again, for another boost, or it is realised that awareness is just another refuge from within the dream of separation. All of this is simply the expression of Being.
Another way for the dream seeker to avoid simply Being is to try to understand or develop clarity about its own nature. It is very easy to get stuck in ‘Advaita’ or ‘non-dual’ concepts. The singular and unrelenting reiteration of such ideas as “all there is is Being", “everything is the expression of Being” or “there is no one” are an arid and simplistic form of communication. It doesn't address or illuminate the dream seeker’s apparent dilemma and it obviously ignores the primary energetic essence of the implicit aliveness of simply Being.
To continuously say that being awake or being asleep is not relevant because “Being is all there is” is like telling a blind person that it’s OK to be blind because “seeing is all there is”. This is pure idealism. Of course, there is no such thing as being asleep or being awake, but this is not seen until there is no one looking.
This message communication is not dependent on clear concepts, however much they may expose confused concepts. Speaking happens and words can only point to another possibility which is beyond verbal expression. It is the eternally new message which is hidden within the scriptures and either overlooked or rejected in the ‘mind’.
The idea of prescriptive teaching, guidance or the offer of any kind of help simply does not arise. This is a message without hope or comfort of any kind for the individual, but invariably the dream seeker will still believe that something is on offer … this is the function of seeking. It is also possible that all that will be left is nothing, and then another possibility could arise. However, there is no agenda or motive because nothing is for sale.
It is possible that clarity could arise, but absolute understanding is not liberation. Nevertheless, all of this conceptual communication is secondary to the primary element that is most illuminating. That primary element is energetic, impersonal aliveness … the implicit, vibrant wonder of simply Being. It is an energetic shift, apparently out of contraction into boundlessness. This boundlessness cannot be owned and so cannot be given. Its simplicity utterly confounds the ‘mind’, but what arises is an impersonal recognition that there is no-one and nothing to be liberated. All ideas of separation, individual suffering, free will, choice, meaning and purpose, destiny, hierarchy and tradition, are simply seen by no-one as the dream-play of Being.
It seems that the seeking ‘mind’ is fascinated by struggle and complexity. The whole fabric of seeking is full of stories of great edifices, seemingly arising out of simple beginnings. Buddhism, Christianity and so many other dogmas, arise and grow and fight each other over having better gods. Catechisms of sin and worthiness, degrees of awareness and levels of enlightenment are investigated, dissected and struggled over.
The mind loves the idea of enlightenment being some kind of distant, virtually unobtainable, perfect place of permanent bliss, free from suffering and full of omniscience, omnipresence and lots of other important ‘omni’s’ stomping around, shouting the odds and saving the world. And of course, because all this glory and specialness has to be attained, it seems there has to be a long haul through the dark night of the soul, endless past karmas, original sin, right-thinking, right action and preparation for the bardos. “It is a tale told by a fool, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Yet Natural Being is such an ordinary and gentle constant. When it is seen it is. When it is avoided it is. It requires no effort and demands no standards. Being timeless there is no path to tread, no debt to pay. When this is heard and confusion collapses, when the contraction of struggling to get something falls away and the vibrant energy of being aliveness becomes apparent, something else is seen, very naturally of course, because it is already all that is.
Seeing and Not Seeing
A simple, direct, but fundamental shift in perception reveals that all there
is is liberation. But oneness does not become apparent through
something gained, rather through something lost. Many will come across
this rare and radical message and quickly shuffle back to that which they
think they can know and do. But there are those with whom this
communication will resonate . . . and there will be a sudden seeing and
falling away of all seeking, even for that which they have called
enlightenment.
All there is is this. Oneness is being this . . . whatever is apparently
happening . . . reading these words, breathing, blood coursing through the
body, sounds being heard, thoughts coming and going and feelings in the
body the sense of sitting on a seat maybe. Here is oneness being
aliveness as this.
No effort is needed for that aliveness to be. Nobody is doing aliveness. Is
anybody doing sitting on a chair? Thinking is oneness thinking "I don't get
where this is going", or "this is too simple". All is simply aliveness,
oneness, being. It cannot be taught or achieved. Who is apart from being
to achieve being? Who can lose or gain this when this is all there is?
Resisting oneness is oneness resisting. Seeking oneness is oneness seeking
itself.
Aliveness is oneness apparently happening. Aliveness is being alive. There
is only being and the nature of that being is emptiness and fullness,
nothing and everything, movement and repose.
In that wholeness arises the idea "I am a separate individual". This seems
to be the beginning of a dream called "me being someone in a world with
which I have to negotiate".
Here in this separation is the root of all fear and feeling of disquiet coming
out of a sense of loss. Again it is the appearance of oneness, and in that
appearance we embark on a journey in which we meet parents, teachers,
maybe priests, bosses and lovers, and learn how to get what we think we
want seemingly through personal choice and effort. The pursuit of
pleasure and the avoidance of pain generate transient experiences of
gratification and disappointment. The whole manifestation that we call
life is simply the drama of oneness looking for itself, for all desire is the
longing for oneness.
For some the idea of enlightenment seems to offer the promise of
fulfilment. However, the separate individual can only dream individuality.
That is its function. Inevitably in the search for enlightenment, the dream seeker is attracted to a dream teaching that promotes and reinforces the idea of individual choice and effort, which, through discipline and sacrifice, can lead to the promised ultimate experience of enlightenment. But this teaching
reinforces the illusion that there is such a thing as an individual who has
free will and the choice to become.
What is inseparable from the dream of individuality is the idea of
ownership. "What is happening is happening to me. I have a life called me
and I can, or even should, do something with my life in the time allotted; I
have to succeed; I am an individual and personal endeavour can bring me
what I need." This misconception promotes the continuation of the dream
of personal enlightenment.
The idea that presumes the possibility that dualistic practices can lead the
apparent seeker to the nondualistic perception is similar to the idea that
with sufficient effort and determination you can teach a blind man to see.
To quote "Doctrines, processes and progressive paths which seek
enlightenment only exacerbate the problem they address by reinforcing
the idea that the apparent self can find something it presumes it has lost.
It is that very effort, that investment in selfidentity that continuously recreates the illusion of separation from oneness. This is the veil which we believe exists. It is the dream of individuality."
Out of all the many awakenings that have been described to me, it is
continuously confirmed that one of the first realisations that arises is the
seeing that noone awakens. And yet we see that the majority of teachings,
both traditional and contemporary, are constantly speaking to an apparent
separate seeker (subject) and recommending that in order to attain
enlightenment (object) they should choose to meditate, selfenquire,
purify, cultivate understanding, still the mind and the ego, surrender, be
honest, seek earnestly, give up seeking, do therapy, do nothing, be here
now, and so on . . . the ideas are as endless and as complicated as the mind
from where they are generated.
These recommendations arise from the belief that the "enlightenment" of
the "teacher" has been attained or earned through the application of
choice, effort, acceptance or surrender, and that other seekers can be
taught to do the same.
Of course there can be nothing right or wrong with earnest seeking,
meditation, selfenquiry, understanding and so on. They are simply what
they appear to be. But who is it that is going to choose to make the effort?
Where is the effort going to take the apparent chooser to? where
is there to go if there is only oneness?
If there is no separate individual there is no volition, and so how can an
illusion dispel itself?
There is no person that becomes enlightened. Noone awakens. Awakening
is the absence of the illusion of individuality. Already there is only
awakeness, oneness, timeless being, radical aliveness. When the dream
seeker is no more it is seen (by noone) that there is nothing to seek and
noone to become liberated.
Here is oneness, the realisation of wholeness that cannot be attained or
owned. This is the awakening in which the awareness of what is arises
together with the dreaming of that which cannot be known. There can be a
dance between dreaming and being, and in that dance there can be a
return to the fascination of personal ownership.
However, the realisation that the dream seeker is also oneness is
liberation, the uncaused, impersonal, silent stillness which is the
celebration of unconditional love. This is all there is.
There is no me or you, no seeker, no enlightenment, no disciple and no
guru. There is no better or worse, no path or purpose, and nothing that
has to be achieved.
All appearance is source. All that apparently manifests in the hypnotic
dream of separation the world, the life story, the search for home, is one
appearing as two the nothing appearing as everything, the absolute
appearing as the particular.
There is no separate intelligence weaving a destiny and no choice
functioning at any level. Nothing is happening but this, as it is, invites the
apparent seeker to rediscover that which is . . . the abiding, uncaused,
unchanging, impersonal silence from which unconditional love overflows
and celebrates. It is the wonderful mystery.
March 9th, 2007
- Here is a site to visit. Remember: each of you has your own particular path that you will resonate with. So there is no one path back to God, or the Divine. So just explore, ok?
December 9th (Saturday)
- Here is a great link that has an explanation on a non-dualistic teaching: Advaita-Vedanta, one of the oldest Teachings on this particular planet.
October 23rd (Monday)
- The below was sent to me by a reader of mine: Karen.
It is for your discernment.
I would also urge you to go to your bookstore, or go to
amazon.com and order the two books by Gary Renard:
"The Disappearance of the Universe" and "Your Immortal Reality
or How to Break the Cycle of Birth and Death". Yes, go
see the movie, but then read the two books. Seriously.
For the Spirit page and your new yahoo forum....Karen
A SPIRITUAL CLASSIC COMES TO THE SCREEN
CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD opens in theaters this coming Friday,
October 27, 2006 and in Canada, November 10. I highly
recommend that you go see the film this weekend. We need
more films like this in theaters and the best way for us to
support the filmmakers is to show up on opening weekend!!!
Lets show the media and the studios that we will turn out to
see a movie about love and compassion, not the Hollywood
formula of fear and violence.
The film chronicles the dramatic journey of a down-and-out
man who becomes a spiritual messenger and bestselling
author. Adapted from the books by Neale Donald Walsch that
inspired and changed the lives of millions worldwide,
CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD tells the true story of Walsch
(brilliantly portrayed by Henry Czerny) who, at the lowest
point in his life, asks God some very hard questions. The
answers he gets become the foundation of an internationally
acclaimed book series that has sold over 7 million copies
and been translated into 34 languages.
"An incredibly emotional journey."
--Deepak Chopra
Watch the trailer: www.cwgthemovieonline.com
"This movie is a marvelous illustration of how a life can
transform, from something so seemingly hopeless to something
miraculously good."
-- Marianne Williamson
MORE HIGH PRIASE:
"Conversations with God is a movie that allows one to
re-discover their relationship with God. This movie is
passionately directed, passionately acted and passionately
delivered. It will force you to have your own Conversations
with God."
- John Kerhli
"Brilliantly and poignantly illustrates how life's greatest
gifts can arise in our darkest hours."
--Debbie Ford
"Conversations with God is a movie that will touch your
heart in a very deep way. It's a story about the power of
the soul to
triumph over any adversity and it's a beautiful reminder
that we are all
connected and that our willingness to relinquish pride for
humility will give us the gift of knowing we are never
alone. I highly recommend you see this movie."
--Cheryl Richardson
Watch the trailer: www.cwgthemovieonline.com
Please feel freee to forward this to your friends and
family.
www.TheMasterKeySystem.us
- Update from Joe Vitale...
The Secret movie, it is here: http://www.TheSecret.tv
This is so exciting!
NEWS FLASH: Dates for Larry King Live Show!
I just moments ago learned when my appearance on Larry King Live will air.
Get out your calendar and mark down the following --
Larry King Live airs on CNN at 6 p.m. pacific and re-airs at 9 p.m. pacific and 12 midnight,
which is 9 p.m. eastern, midnight eastern and 3 a.m. eastern.
Part 1 to air Nov 2nd
Part 2 to air Nov 16th
Guests on Part 1 (Nov. 2nd) are -
Bob Proctor
John Assaraf
JZ Knight
Rev Michael Beckwith
Dr. John DeMartini
Guests on Part 2 (Nov. 16th) are -
James Ray
Jack Canfield
Joe Vitale
George Pratt
Jayne Payne
www.TheMasterKeySystem.us
October 19th. (Thursday)
- "The Decision for God
Do you really believe you can make a voice that can drown out God's?
Do you really believe you can devise a thought system that can
separate you from him? Do you really believe you can plan for your
safety and joy better than he can? You need be neither careful nor
careless; you need merely cast your cares upon him because he careth
for you. You are his care because he loves you. His voice reminds you
always that all hope is yours because of his care. You cannot choose
to escape his care because that is not his will, but you can choose
to accept his care and use the infinite power of his care for all
those he created by it." T-5.VII.1
"Decision cannot be difficult. This is obvious, if you realize that
you must already have decided not to be wholly joyous if that is how
you feel. Therefore, the first step in the undoing is to recognize
that you actively decided wrongly, but can as actively decide
otherwise. Be very firm with yourself in this, and keep yourself
fully aware that the undoing process, which does not come from you,
is nevertheless within you because God placed it there. Your part is
merely to return your thinking to the point at which the error was
made, and give it over to the Atonement in peace. Say this to
yourself as sincerely as you can, remembering that the Holy Spirit
will respond fully to your slightest invitation:
I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace.
I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace.
I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the
consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.
I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me." T-
5.VII.6-7
This is not magic or wishful thinking, this is God's will for His
children. When you have turned your thoughts back to your own
reality, your life will never be the same.
I am praying for you, and I am praying for myself. Together we will
remember the truth.
October 3rd. (Tuesday)
- Some interesting reading for you. Not the highest Teaching... but some facts nevertheless.
“Another Time And An Inner Place Pt 5
By Peter Farley http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4truthseekers
This knowledge of the gods had been handed down from time
immemorial through the mystery schools, the secret societies, the
Emerald Tablets of Thoth, and even the crystal-like computer wisdom
of the `An-gug stones'—the Tablets of Testimony spoken of earlier.
These are what Gilgamesh, the hero of one of the earliest surviving
works of ancient Sumeria, circa 2900 BC, finds in "an enclosure of
the gods" wherein there was a garden made up entirely of
artificially carved precious stones: "All kinds of thorny Prickly
Bushes were visible, blooming with gemstones; Carnelian bore fruit
hanging in clusters, its vines too beautiful to behold. The foliage
was of lapis lazuli; and grapes, too lush to look at, of. . stones
were made." The partly damaged verses go on to list other kinds of
fruit-bearing trees and the variety of precious stones—white, red
and green—of which they were made. Pure water also runs through the
garden, and in its midst he sees "like a Tree of Life and a Tree of
[Knowledge]. . . that of An-gug stones were made."
Spiritual knowledge comes in layers or levels of achievement and
learning. This is the idea between walking the labyrinth--processing
learning through the various layers of one's being. These are the
same layers opened by the ritual of initiation.
In the chapter Rosslyn Chapel and Spiritual Fulfillment, Tim Wallace-
Murphy & Marilyn Hopkins explore how the Gothic cathedrals fit into
this initiation process. The path to enlightenment they speak not
the true enlightenment of Spirit, but rather that one `outlined' by
the secret societies and mystery schools who built such initiation
temples.
"Rosslyn Chapel is the natural starting point in any rational search
for clues to the methods of initiation used in the late medieval
era. Created as a superbly carved reliquary [strongbox] for the
Grail, which in itself is nothing less than an allegorical
description of the path to enlightenment, it is also the ultimate
pinnacle of the pilgrimage of initiation which was sacred to the
memory and beliefs of the Knights templar, and tradition tells us
that their heirs used a hidden room under the chapel as an
initiation chamber (*much as was used in the Great Pyramids) . . .
"It has long been recognized that the chapel was site of special
veneration and pilgrimage. Folklore recounts how pilgrims in their
thousands traveled there after completing the arduous trek to the
shrine of St. James of Compostela. Tim had suggested in an earlier
work that this may have been because of some relic kept at Rosslyn,
a Black Madonna perhaps, though other authors do not agree with him.
In The Hiram Key this possibility was dismissed (*much more likely
the Ark of the Covenant itself).
"In describing their research into ancient Israel for The Hiram Key
the authors did not mention the esoteric significance of the name
Israel itself. It is held to stand for IS-is, RA and EL-ohim, thus
recording the three divine Egyptian and Canaanite roots of Hebraic
Gnosticism; the very foundation for the hidden streams which pervade
and illuminate Judaeo-Christian spirituality. But why did such
knowledge have to remain hidden?
"The medieval Christian Church was the most intolerant and
repressive authority that Europe has ever experienced. After the
suppression of the templar order, their spiritual heirs had once
again to disguise their initiatory processes under the cloak of
acceptable Christian ritual and practice. What better than for its
novices to make a series of ostensibly devout Christian pilgrimages
to the cathedrals built on the seven sacred sites of the prophetic
configuration?"
Is this any different from walking the seven-layered labyrinth for
the very self-same reason of unfolding ones awareness of the seven-
petalled Lotus, an initiation in and of itself? Such labyrinths
were integral parts of the Gothic Cathedrals constructed by the
Knights Templar and their followers, the most famous being the grand
labyrinth on the floor of Chartres Cathedral.
Initiation is perhaps best defined as an event in which higher
energies are received into the person, permanently changing the
energy frequency and functioning of that personality.
In one of her books, Barbara Clow describes a past lifetime of hers
as "a Druid priest in secret and a Roman priest in public." She
describes going to a sacred site in Avebury, England and walking
along the "ley lines" leading to it that "crackle with magnetic
energy." As an Anasazi shaman in one of my own past lives, we were
able to harness these electro-magnetic ley lines with our
own `alien' technology, to power vehicles that levitated above the
ground and moved by harnessing this energy, like something out of
the TV cartoon Jetson's.
When an energy collector such as the Ark of the Covenant is situated
at a major sacred site along these lines, the power that can be
harnessed is incredible –enough o wipe out a whole region such as
was described in the destruction of Jericho, or of the ancient city
in India.
Trevor Ravenscroft had often suggested that even before the advent
of Christianity, Celtic pilgrims who worshipped the Earth goddess
journeyed from Iberia to Scotland via the seven planetary oracles,
associating the alignment of the spirit senses within themselves to
the corresponding alignment of the earth chakras. The sequence of
sites corresponds to that of the planets in our solar system; the
Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. There was
no arbitrary choice involved in which seven cathedrals were an
integral part of this apocalyptic configuration in stone.
”
Sept. 28th (Thursday)
- Another Time And An Inner Place Part 1
by Peter Farley
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4truthseekers
"According to John Lear, William Cooper, and several other
researchers
the U.S. government may have made a 'pact' with a non-human race
as early as 1933. According to some this 'race' is not human as we
know it,
yet it claims to have it's origin on earth several thousands of
years ago."
As a novelist, H. G. Wells made his debut with The Time Machine in
which the narrator, Hillyer, discusses with his friends the theories
of time travel. A week later their host has an incredible story to
tell - he has returned from the year 802701. The Time Traveler had
found two peoples: the Eloi, weak and little, who live above ground
in a seemingly Edenic paradise, and the Morlocks, bestial creatures
that live below ground, who eat the Eloi.
The Traveler's beautiful friend Weena is killed, and he flees into
the far future where he encounters "crab-like creatures" and
things "like a huge white butterfly" that have taken over the
planet. In the year 30,000,000 he finds lichens, blood-red sea and a
creature with tentacles. He returns horrified back to the present.
Much of the realistic atmosphere of the story was achieved by
carefully studied technical details, the basic principles of the
time machine itself containing materials regarding time as the
fourth dimension years before Albert Einstein published his theory
of the four dimensional continuum of space-time.
The Time Machine was followed by The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896),
which we have already seen is a very accurate depiction of
Mankind's `creation' by the Annunaki. The story is told in flashback
by a man named Prendick, who concludes the tale: "Even then it
seemed that I, too, was not a reasonable creature, but only an
animal tormented with some strange disorder in its brain, that sent
it to wander alone, like a sheep stricken with the gid.".
The history of planet Earth goes back far beyond where we picked up
the story 100,000 years ago. The Alien Energy Forms I have found
that are spreading throughout the foodchain and infesting human
beings with a Mad Cow-like disease, particularly in upstate NY where
I first researched them, were here long before we were ( I am told)—
whatever that means. They feed upon a human's energy form and `grow'
the longer they are inside the person's energy field. Some of them
seem more sentient than others—not too different from Wells' version
of the Morlock and the Eloi.
Throughout his long life Wells was deeply concerned with and wrote
voluminously about the survival of contemporary society. For a time
he was a member of the Fabian Society, envisioning a utopia in which
the vast and frightening material forces available to modern men and
women would be rationally controlled for progress and for the equal
good of all.
His final novel, Mind at the End of Its Tether (1945) expressed the
author's doubts about the ability of humankind to survive under such
technological advancement.
As we have seen, it is indeed the technological advancements made
by `the scientists' that are both killing us, and imprisoning us,
even though media has a penchant for telling us we are all living
longer and healthier lives.
Time itself, is a neutral force like all of the energies of
Creation. It has been one of the central themes of this first five
volumes, whether the word has been used or not –for is that not what
history is, a record of time? The powers that seek to control
Mankind have used Time as a weapon, both to use the past to create
their image of a Future, and to use the Future to alter the
undesirable Past. These are the things that happened in truly pre-
`historic' times—the times the New World Order do not wish us to
know about in their falsified telling of history.
Many of us too have come `back from the Future' to heal this past in
which we now find ourselves. This is the inspiration for many many
movies about time and `coming back from the future," not the least
of which is '12 Monkeys'—recommended viewing for those reading this
series.
Time is an intricate puzzle. As we said in another chapter, time is
a slinky, but it's also a Maze. Some of these movies talk
about `different timelines,' and this is where most of us get lost.
I have met people who were a part of the Montauk experiments in
Time, others besides Al Bielek, `people' whose travels through time
have created separate timelines that needed to be brought back
together (remembering Time is circular) before they could go on with
what might be called, 'normal lives.' Others who seem schizophrenic
may be people who are in fact `lost in Time.' And, like others I
have worked on, Al Bielek still has a time warp around him which
allows other entities to access through this gateway into this time
and this dimension.
The end of the Mayan calendar in 2012/2013 represents a crossroads
in Time where some will go one way and others another, depending
upon their choices.
Sept. 13th (Wednesday, 2006)
- I received this e-mail from one of my readers and I totally agree with it,
because A Course In Miracles (http://acim.org) reveals the same thing.
HO'OPONOPONO
by Joe Vitale
"Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a
complete ward of criminally insane patients--without ever seeing any
of them. The psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look
within himself to see how he created that person's illness. As he
improved himself, the patient improved.
"When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend. How
could anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could even the
best self-improvement master cure the criminally insane? It didn't
make any sense. It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.
"However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the therapist
had used a Hawaiian healing process called ho 'oponopono. I had never heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave my mind. If the story was at
all true, I had to know more. I had always understood "total
responsibility" to mean that I am responsible for what I think and do.
Beyond that, it's out of my hands. I think that most people think of total
responsibility that way. We're responsible for what we do, not what
anyone else does--but that's wrong.
"The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill people would
teach me an advanced new perspective about total responsibility. His
name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spent an hour talking on
our first phone call. I asked him to tell me the complete story of his
work as a therapist.
He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years.
That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous.
Psychologists quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot
or simply quit. People would walk through that ward with their backs
against the wall, afraid of being attacked by patients. It was not a
pleasant place to live, work, or visit.
"Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an
office and to review their files. While he looked at those files, he
would work on himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to heal.
"'After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being
allowed to walk freely,' he told me. 'Others who had to be heavily
medicated were getting off their medications. And those who had no
chance of ever being released were being freed.' I was in awe.'Not
only that,' he went on, 'but the staff began to enjoy coming to work.
Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended up with more staff than we needed because patients were being released, and all the staff was showing up to work. Today, that ward is closed.'
"This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: 'What were
you doing within yourself that caused those people to change?'
"'I was simply healing the part of me that created them,' he said. I
didn't understand. Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for
your life means that everything in your life- simply because it is in
your life--is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world
is your creation.
"Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or
do is one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says
or does is quite another. Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete
responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste,
touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is
in your life. This means that terrorist activity, the president, the
economy or anything you experience and don't like--is up for you to
heal. They don't exist, in a manner of speaking, except as projections
from inside you. The problem isn't with them, it's with you, and to
change them, you have to change you.
"I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live.
Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr.
Len, I began to realize that healing for him and in ho 'oponopono
means loving yourself.
"If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you
want to cure anyone, even a mentally ill criminal you do it by healing
you.
"I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he doing, exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?
"'I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over again,'
he explained.
"That's it?
"That's it.
"Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve
yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world.
"Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day, someone sent me an email that upset me. In the past I would have handled it by working on my emotional hot buttons or by trying to reason with the person who sent the nasty message.
"This time, I decided to try Dr. Len's method. I kept silently saying,
'I'm sorry' and 'I love you,' I didn't say it to anyone in particular.
I was simply evoking the spirit of love to heal within me what was
creating the outer circumstance.
"Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He apologized
for his previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward
action to get that apology. I didn't even write him back. Yet, by
saying 'I love you,' I somehow healed within me what was creating him.
"I later attended a ho 'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Len. He's now 70 years old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is somewhat reclusive.
He praised my book, The Attractor Factor. He told me that as I improve
myself, my book's vibration will raise, and everyone will feel it when
they read it. In short, as I improve, my readers will improve.
"'What about the books that are already sold and out there?' I asked.
"'They aren't out there,' he explained, once again blowing my mind
with his mystic wisdom. 'They are still in you.' In short, there is no
out there. It would take a whole book to explain this advanced
technique with the depth it deserves.
"Suffice It to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your
life, there's only one place to look: inside you. When you look, do it
with love."
The words of Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len:
" Ho'oponopono is really very simple. For the ancient Hawaiians, all problems begin as thought. But having a thought is not the problem. So what's the problem? The problem is that all our thoughts are imbued with painful memories, memories of persons, places, or things.
The intellect working alone can't solve these problems, because the intellect only manages. Managing things is no way to solve problems. You want to let them go! When you do Ho'oponopono, what happens is that the Divinity takes the painful thought and neutralizes or purifies it. You don't purify the person, place, or thing. You neutralize the energy you associate with that person, place, or thing. So the first stage of Ho'oponopono is the purification of that energy.
Now something wonderful happens. Not only does that energy get neutralized; it also gets released, so there's a brand new slate.
To do Ho'oponopono, you don't have to know what the problem or error is. All you have to do is notice any problem you are experiencing physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever. Once you notice, your responsibility is to immediately begin to clean, to say, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
Sept 6th, 2006
- You will have to use copy and paste with the urls below.
Well, at this level of understanding some or most of the below may indeed be true and turn out that way. But understand that if your level of understanding and awareness and consciousness is higher than that? None of the below is true for you. This is cryptic. But you must learn, find out. Be self-aware. I will post more on that a bit later on.
From; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/circle2012dreams/
http://www.fromthes tars.com/ _printed% 20pages/page159p .html
A.D. 2012
IS SOMETHING BIG COMING?
"A birthing planet vibrating at a lower tone than evolving Earth is preparing itself to receive beings who prefer to embrace greed and power, those who desire to control, possess and destroy that which is not rightfully theirs. The awaiting planet is far from Earth, but it is not altogether unlike Earth."
Arcturian Songs of the Masters of Light
Patricia L. Pereira
There have been many prophesies for us to think about over the ages. Some have materialized while others have not.
All prophecy is fluid and changeable. The future is not set in stone. The reason is simple. We create our own reality through our collective thinking (mass consciousness) . What a prophet "sees" is one of the probable outcomes of our future. If we don't like what the prophet has to say, we have the power to change it.
Cosmic cycles are nothing new to our ancestors and are a part of the lore and history of many ancient civilizations. For example, the Mayans studied them with a passion and they formed the basis of their sky religion.
This is also the end of the 2160-year Age of Pisces, the beginning of Aquarius, the close of the Mesoamerican fifth world and the ending of the Kali Yuga of the Hindus. The sacred scriptures of the Indian Vedas describe cycles of creation spanning millions of years in the past including civilizations that flourished and those that decayed and perished.
The momentous crossroads in cosmic time we are fast approaching at 2012 has been prophesized by the Hopis, the Mayans, the Aztecs and many others. Some of that information is briefly summarized below.
In addition, I've also excerpted below fifteen different sources of channeled transmissions that I take seriously. All are saying the same basic thing. And I find it hard to ignore.
Here is the information that has influenced my thinking...
The Maya
The Maya mysteriously appeared out of the mist some 4,000 years ago. To this day, no one knows where those ancient people came from. Nor do we know where they suddenly disappeared to around 800 A.D. Edgar Cayce says they came from the Pleiades.
Nevertheless, the Mayan artifacts tell us in no uncertain terms that they were master astronomers with an intimate knowledge of the heavens. And they were obsessed with recording cycles of cosmic time.
The Maya described five different ages that existed in the distant past, each lasting some 5,125 years. They have also told us that each of those ages ended in cataclysmic cleansing of the negative karma that was created by mankind. Then, with the start of each new era, the evolution of mankind would begin again from the seeds of the survivors left behind.
According to the Maya, the fifth and final age began approximately 5,125 years ago. One has to wonder why their calendar, constructed more than two thousand years ago, mysteriously ended with the fifth age at "zero point," on the winter solstice of 2012? Is there no next age?
The Hopis
The Hopi, whose name means "people of peace," have sacred traditions that go back thousands of years. Their time-honored teachings point to certain prophecies that would manifest just before a great purification takes place on planet Earth.
It would be a time when the world would shudder and tremble causing much destruction, in order to cleanse the planet of the karmic negativity we have created while serving as its caretakers.
Not too long ago, the Hopis have said that those prophecies have now completed. It appears that the time for purification is upon us, as we approach 2012.
Here are some of the signs heralding the coming purification telling us that it is near...
Trees everywhere will be dying (it's going on right now).
People will build a house a throw it in the sky (Skylab, Mir, the current space station)
Cold places will become hot and hot places cold (that is happening with global warming, global weather patterns are changing)
Land will sink beneath the sea and rise above it (such changes have already begun)
The appearance of a blue star (in 1987 a blue star made its presence known when a hot blue super-giant exploded and made world history as a spectacular supernova)
There will be paths in the sky (airplane contrails and chemtrails)
There will be cobwebs in the air (power lines all over the United States)
A "gourd of ashes" will be dropped from the sky to burn the land and boil the oceans (atomic bomb)
These signs are pretty obvious and all have come to pass.
On the Hopi Reservation there is a picture story carved into a rock that is so sacred to them no one is allowed to photograph it. Some outside the Hopi tribe have been allowed to see it and have drawn pictures of what they remembered. That picture story is a diagram of a life plan that would guide us through this time in history. A time when there will be much turmoil and destruction.
The simple picture prophecy says there are two parallel paths for humanity to walk as we make our choices. One is a path of darkness, while the other is a path of Light. We can move freely back and forth between each one for a long time (many lives) because the Great Spirit wants us to explore and experience different ways of life. But, a moment in history will arrive when we must make a final choice between the two. That moment has arrived.
Those who choose the path of darkness are shown in the pictograph as people whose heads hover above their bodies, while walking a path that turns into a broken zigzag and leads to nowhere. These people will experience the great purification (shift) as a time of confusion and chaos that leads to destruction. Those who have chosen a way of Light have a clear, strong path ahead of them as they live to advanced ages.
The Hopis are also briefly mentioned in Shirley MacLaine's latest book, "The Camino." She says that "I had friends in the States who were involved with the Hopi Indian tribe. The Hopis said that the last decade of the twentieth century and after the turn of the millennium, it would be necessary for man to 'tie himself to a tree.' In other words, 'big wind.'
The Hopis also said the weather would become unpredictable and would 'cleanse away many things with wind and rain.' They said we must each be self-sustained and go back to growing our food from Mother Earth. Above all, they said, man needed to go within himself in order to gain spiritual understanding of what would be happening. Their prophecies matched the Mayan prophecies."
Fingerprints of the Gods
In his best selling book, Fingerprints of the Gods, Graham Hancock conducted an exhaustive investigation into mankind's remote past. This effort took him all over the world from the Great Sphinx, to the Hopis, to the Andean ruins and to the monuments of many ancient civilizations, including the Maya.
Hancock believes that within the records and monuments of these ancient civilizations there is an important message for us.
Graham concludes that in our distant past there were others who were very advanced technologically, but not spiritually, such as the Atlanteans. This imbalance led to their demise. The "fingerprints" of information that our ancestors left for us to discover and contemplate warn of terrible Earth changes that periodically afflict our planetary home. And the end of another cycle appears to be upon us.
The Transmissions
As mentioned above, there are 13 different sources of channeled information I've seriously considered that say we are about to experience a profound and radical change (shift) on this planet.
It appears we have been at this point before without successfully balancing the material and the spiritual aspects of our lives. As a result, Earth went through drastic physical changes to cleanse the negative karma we've created and we had to start all over again.
However, there appears to be an additional twist to what is coming. Not only is a cleansing expected, but along with the upheaval, a fork could occur in the road of human destiny around the year 2012.
One fork represents the continuation of the 3rd dimension, the dimension of physicality in which we now find ourselves. The other will be a newly opened path to a higher dimension, which will lead to the Golden Years the ancients spoke of long ago. The choices we make, and the quality of life we lead, will determine which path opens for us.
Here are some channeled transmissions for the coming changes that have influenced my thinking. Many of them reference the year 2012.
Revelation
David Spangler (1970s)
"Great changes have occurred in kingdoms beyond yours and they are also moving into a new heaven and new earth."
"My power has been liberated and all now move swiftly toward their appointed destinies as their consciousnesses have chosen. Your world shall become - and swiftly it shall become - two worlds. You will call one light and one dark, but I am in both of them"
"Increasingly, the worlds will move apart in consciousness until they are absolutely separate and perceive each other no more. For it is written that two will be at work in the vineyards; one shall be taken and the other remain. I shall snatch you up to me."
“Seek me and you have found peace... Let no man who would be of me have fear."
"The old will disappear. Human level consciousness by itself can no longer resolve the complexities it has created."
"I have come to shepherd the old into a place of its further outworking. I have stated that no sheep that is lost shall go unsought."
"The old must pass away. It has served its purpose in the cycles of evolution and must now make way for a new, more expanded and more fruitful manifestation. "
"Always be prepared for change. I have stated that all may change in the twinkling of an eye and you may find yourselves in another world of consciousness, opportunity, and behavior entirely."
"In terms of physical personality relationships, I can be a sword that divides and separates. Release them to me, no matter where their destiny leads them."
Flight Into Freedom
God Spoke To Me
Eileen Caddy
Cofounder of The Findhorn Community
(1970s-1980s)
"Wake up to the turbulent state of the world. Humankind is drawing further away from the source of all good into the darkness. You can feel the unrest, the disquiet, everywhere.
Humans have brought this upon themselves by their free will. The have made the choice of power, greed, hatred, jealousy and envy and must take the consequences. There is no hope of averting the landslide, but exactly how it is to be brought about can be sped up or slowed down by the behaviour of the human race."
"This is the turning point for every soul. The die has been cast, and each soul has to make a choice: a turning towards the light or the dark. The day many have been waiting for is over. The cosmic power released at that appointed moment, felt by you and many others, has begun to reverberate around the universe. Nothing will stop it."
"Great changes are about to take place in the whole universe. It will not be a comfortable time. It is important that each one has no fear, no concern, knowing that this great upheaval is necessary before the next step can be taken."
The Ra Material - Book 1
Don Elkins, Carla Rueckert
& James Allen McCarty
(1970s)
"There is going to be a Harvest, as you might call it, a harvest of souls that will shortly occur on your planet. We are attempting to extract the greatest possible harvest from this planet. This is our mission, for we are the Harvesters."
"In order to be most efficient, we are attempting to create first a state of seeking among the people of this planet who desire to seek... We offer them no concrete proof, as they have a way of expressing it. We offer them Truth. This is an important function of our mission - to offer Truth without proof. In this way, the motivation will, in each and every case, come from within the individual."
"I am Ra. One major cycle is approximately 25,000 of your years. There are three cycles of this nature during which those who have progressed may be harvested at the end of the three major cycles. That is, approximately between 75 and 76,000 of your years. All are harvested regardless of their progress, for during that time the planet itself has moved through the useful part of that dimension, and begins to cease being useful for the lower levels of vibration within that density."
"I am Ra. This inconvenience (Earth changes) or disharmonious vibratory complex, has begun several of your years in your past. It shall continue unabated for a period of approximately thirty of your years (this transmission was given in 1981. Thirty years later would be 2011).
The Starseed Transmissions
Starseed - The Third Millennium
Return of the Bird Tribes
Ken Carey (1970s-1980s)
"Our mission is to bring a pre-Fall state of awareness to all human beings who are able to respond, however different they may be, whatever background they may have come from..."
"You are being given an opportunity to enter a new reality. It is already here for those with eyes to see. Soon it will be the only reality to be seen. Those who tune into the new frequencies (of love) will find life growing more wondrous every day. Those who tune into fear will find things falling apart. The worlds of consciousness will begin to form ever more distinctly; the world of Love and Life, and the world of fear and death."
"... you will think of all the years of your history up until The Coming shortly after Second Millennium A.D., as being years of darkness, years in spent the womb. You will remember nothing about them."
"As the twentieth century draws to a close, a new generation - your own - finds itself settled along the very banks of the river. Already pioneers have set out from among you to explore the other shore. Soon there will be a massive crossing of human beings from one side of this river to the other, from the subconscious realms, where fear is the primary source of motivation, to the conscious realms, which know only the motives of love."
"Those few who may choose to remain behind will not be uncared for. They will experience an age of further history, much like the history that humans have experienced in the past."
"Five Centuries before the dawn of the present era, in the jungles of the Yucatan, we brought to the Awakened Ones of that age a timetable, which they carefully recorded in stone. The Mayan Calendar is recovered now from moss, fern, lizard and leaf. In it are chiseled the dates of the Great Purification, dates that correspond to your years, 1987 to 2011. The winter solstice of the last year of this intensified twenty-five year cycle will see the purification complete, the era of human history brought forever to a close."
You have brains in your head, and feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
--Dr. Seuss
http://www.tsginfo. com/index. php?rc=JN4729
www.watkinsonline. com #358857
www.segalstudios. com
www.mplayerlive. com
July 8th, 2006
- One of my readers, Karen, has put up an interesting website: Innovative Ideas for Health,Wealth and Well Being. One of the systems that she covers has been studied by Bill Gates and his success is attributed to having followed its precepts and direction.
May 30th, 2006
“There are many ways presented to us along this path. Some I resonate with and many I do not. However, I do appreciate all viewpoints and everyone is encouraged to discover the path they wish to travel. Personally, the journey for me, begins within. Meditation, foucus, and intention.
Some things that have helped me are the writings of Eckhart Tolle. Practicing the Power of Now is an excellent book to help you discover who you are. It is an easy read and it makes a great deal of sense to me. A New Earth is another of his books that falls in line with his take on life and spirituality.
Another author that I have seen in person and found his speaking amazing is Wayne Dyer. He can talk for hours without referring to a note. Much of his work can point you in the direction of finding your purpose. The first book of his that I read was Real Magic. Early on, I affectionately referred to him as my buddy. A short while ago, one of my friends met someone who said exactly the same thing, she called him her buddy.
Here is a story that ties in with this.
"The universe works in mysterious ways. You may recall the fascinating story Wayne Dyer told about the butterfly. He told the story on PBS where he featured intention. I found a recording here:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/189/story_18945_1.html
To get the full effect of what I am about to tell you, first listen to the message above, you will need real player to listen to it.:
http://www.download.com/RealPlayer/3000-2139_4-10255189.html
On Monday I went to a thrift and picked up a couple of books. One was The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer, in mint condition, it is published by Hay House.
Today I went up the mountain for a walk. I took the book with me in case I wanted to read while up there. There are some interesting trails and even picnic tables up there. At one of the benches I took a stop and pulled out the book to read the beginning.
All of a sudden a butterfly came by, looked like a monarch, it pearched a few feet from me, left for awhile, then back again. It did this several times. I thought to myself, this is amazing.
A coincidence? Notta chance!"
Cheers, EV.”
May 18th, 2006
The gross body, or the physical body, or the physical body, is annamayakosha, the food sheath or the food body.
The subtle body, or the internal personality (or group of functions), is made of three functional parts. The first (which may be contacted inwardly, but which is really surrounding the gross body) is pranamayakosha (or the pranic sheath, or the pranic body, or the body of personal life-energy). The second is manomayakosha (or the sheath of lower mind). The lower mind includes the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the unconscious mind, and the functional activity of the lower mind (or brain-mind) is generated from a position that stands above and senior to the pranic body. The third (and most senior) part of the subtle body is vijnamayakosha (the sheath of higher mind, the sheath of superconscious mind, or the sheath of intellect). At the core of the higher mind is the central will and discriminative (and naturally observant) intelligence of the conditional “I”, or the limited self, and its functional activity is generated from a position that stands above and is central and senior to the sheath of lower mind.
Finally, there is anandamayakosha, the sheath of conditional bliss, or the causal body, which is the causative root of conditional selfhood. The true causal body is associated with the right side of the heart (which is itself the Ultimate Passageway to Transcendental Self-Consciousness). The ego-”I” is the Illusion of Relatedness, pp. 45-46)
Even though the five sheaths are an accurate description of the inherent structure of the human body-mind or total being, to have direct awareness and experience of all five sheaths is an exceedingly rarer capability. Historically, it has been humanity’s Yogis, Saints, and Sages who have achieved conscious participation in the sheaths or dimensions of experience beyond the gross physical, the pranic sheath, the lower mind. To become aware of and responsible for the vijnamayakosha is to be associated with truly mystical vision, ecstatic transport, Yogic sublimity. To funciton consciously as the anandamayakosha is to cut to the causal root of all experience, exposing and going beyond the separate “I”-feeling, to rest in the Ultimate Sourced of that feeling and of all that arises, Which is the unalloyed Bliss of Consciousness Itself.
To attain these degrees of Realization is to make an exceedingly rare evolutionary leap--and history has taught us that such growth is possible only through real Spiritual practice under the direct guidance of a Spiritual Realizer.
But Sri Da Avabhasa’s Wisdom relative to the five sheaths is unique. While many schools and traditions seek to perfect the expereiences particulally associated with one or another of these sheaths, or dimensions of existence, Sri Da Avabhasa Calls us to see that they are all a limit on Who and What we trulyl Are. The experiences that can be attained in each of these aspects of our existence are temporary, and they tend to distract us from the Realization that our true Nature is Eternal, and cannot be contained in any experience-- gross, etheric, lower mental, higher mental, or causal.
Therefore, in the Way fo the Heart, all the conditionally manifested bodies (or sheaths) are to be submitted to the Divine Spirit (and transcended in that submission). In this, the Way of the Heart stands in contrast to many of the world’s religious and Spiritual traditions, wherein these bodies (or potentials for experience) are (often) developed for their own sake and presumed to be Spiritual (in themselves), as are their experiences (themselves). On the basis of this (erroneous) view, the development of these bodies (or their conditional experiences) is therefore presumed to be the Spiritual Process Itself.
The Divine Spirit is prior to (and is not to be equated with) the mechanics of conditional Nature...
Truly, only the Spirit Itself is Spiritual. And the real Spiritual Process is the submission of the conditional (or conditionally manifested) bodies (or sheaths), and all experiences and relations of the conditional (or conditionally manifested) bodies (or sheaths), to the Spiritual (and Transcendental, and Divine) Reality, so that they are transcended in (progressively) self-transcending Identification with the Divine Spirit Itself (or the Transcendental and Inherently Spiritual Divine Itself). Ultimately, in the Way of the Heart, the Divine Spirit is Realized to Be Consciousness Itself, Self-Existing and Self-Radiant, Prior to all apparent motions. (The ego-”I” is the Illusion of Relatedness, pp. 54-55)
May 4th, 2006
- Here is yet another link that will help you to understand the ego. Or the Ego. Enjoy! But you know? At first, discovering this ego is not very pleasant, but it is necessary! Understanding the nature of the ego and it’s plans for you is essential in waking up!
April 12th
The Duck and the Devil
There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was
given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the
woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged,
he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet
duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square
in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved.
In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister
watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes."
But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the
kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did
the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go
fishing and
Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally
just smiled and said," Well that's all right because Johnny told me he
wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally
went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's ... he
finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed
that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and
said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I
saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just
wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you." Thought
for the day and every day thereafter?
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps
throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits,
hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) ...whatever it is....You need to know
that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing..... He has
seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that
you are forgiven.
He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.
The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not
only forgives you, but He forgets..... It is by God's grace and mercy that
we are saved.
Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today. Share this
with a friend and always remember:
God is at the window.
April 6th
I just received this in an e-mail from a list am on. The fellow, I think, gets the point across pretty darn well, even if you don’t know the context. Why do I post this one? Folks? You need to keep your minds open! Your minds are like parachutes! They work best when....open!
“listen kid the bible was written hundreds of years after the fact by people
who werent there that is a fact that bible scholars know very well. and men
decided what would go into the "bible" and what would not, those texts that
didnt make it were left out for various reasons usally political and
remember there wasnt a book untill 1500 years after jesus died there were
writing all around but not condenced into a book, in1945 in nag hammadi in
egypt 50 some texts were found in a sealed jar and so these books or
writings could not have been up for concideration into the bible cuz they
were not around at the time the bible was constructed so they are untampered
with (do you see the point?) these texts contain the book of thomas wich
have the secret sayings of jesus himself, so if you want true info from the
man himself (thomas book dates to the time when jesus was alive so was
written by thomas who most probably knew jesus! also the texts contain a
letter from Adam to his son seth, now that is earth shattering in itself but
what it contains is even more exciting and may support what the ancient
summarians say when they talk about the gods who made us, so if you are a
big bible thumper type (no offence) then you are going to want to read these
in detail ok.
or maybe you are a sheep who follows the main stream in wich case you would
piss off jesus anyway
since he didnt like sheeple either. in either case do your research before
you smugly announce you believe in a thing you dont know anything about
except be nice be polite and dont piss on your neighbor bah you missed the
boat so here is a life raft for you to sit in its called nag hammadi google
it and change your lif ok, sorry for the rant but jeeeeeeez...............
dan c” Oh and you should read the Davinci Code, wherein is revealed who or what
is the Holy Grail! Kid you not!
March 23rd
“You are a sender and receiver like a radio crystal. You can actually place your consciousness on a wavelength and project your thoughts by modulating and demodulating your brain signals according to the communications network.”
March 12th
Can you feel His approach? Sometimes you can feel His descent as a pressure on the top of your head. Just relax, focus on your breath, and you will soon feel it. He is raining down, always. Now it is up to you to open up. You can go to the ocean with a thimble, or you can go with a bucket! What will you do?
Feb. 14th
Sri Da Avabhasa: Let me tell you about a place I visited today. I went up to one of the very high places. I did not want to get too far up because I knew I might not come back, but, even so, I went up to one of the very high places.
It is difficult in some ways to describe such a place, because it is bereft of certain personal and environmental circumstances that make sense of life in your present form. The Place I visited is, in the realm of manifested form, the transition Place into the Ultimate Domain. in this Place you are in the Environment of Love-Bliss Itself, aware of countless other beings through most intimate and loving contact. Everyone there acknowledges to one another the profound Love-Blissfulness of this circumstance. It is something like being up in the sky in a mass of cumulus clouds and looking up at the sun, about to be drawn up into it.
When you look around at others there who are also involved in this Enjoyment, you see them in bodily form in some sense, you notice them as individuals, but you do not notice that you are in bodily form. You cannot see your form. You cannot stretch out your hand. Your body does not mediate between you and experience. Nevertheless, you are present in a form of a kind. Others observe you to be present in a form just as you observe them, but you have no sense of being embodied. In other words, there exists no medium in your conscious awareness between yourself and the Divine. There is simply participation in infinite Love-Blissfulness, absolute Joy, and you are drawn up closer and closer into the absorptive Power of the Divine.
Se there I was, enjoying the Living One, enjoying the Divine Self-Condition with all the other beings there, and rejoicing in the fact that this Place exists even now; even as we sit here in this circumstance, which is quite different from that Place in many ways, although at its Core it is the same circumstance.
You are Called to practice [your path or religion, ed/] and Realize that Circumstance, that same Disposition. If you do that, then a remarkable progress is initiated in your experience.
This transition Place suggests that the process in which you are involved could be described as a process of forgetting the body--not of dissociating from it, but of transcending it. This transition Place is a Place of Transfiguration and Transformation by the Divine Light. It is the Place approaching Translation into he Divine Self-Domain, Which is indescribable.
The beings I saw in the transition Place and with whom I enjoyed My Self were at this threshold, not aware of their own embodiment, not limited by any kind of mind, existing in the State of absolute Joy, yet aware of one another and constantly glancing to one another just to acknowledge that extreme pleasure, becoming more and more transparent, drifting out of this Circumstance as clouds disappear in the sky. They become vaporous and disappear, passing into a Condition That is beyond description.
How do you think I was able to visit these people? I am the One Whom they are Enjoying. They are simply in the last stage of embodied existence, and they are coming to Me, coming into the Domain of Unqualified Happiness. I Gave them My faith and participated in their Enjoyment. [wow! js, this boggles the mind and warms the heart] - The Free Daist, Da Avabhasa (The "Bright")
Feb. 3rd
Q: Who is the Holy spirit and what is the Holy Spirit's relationship to the ego?
HS: Once upon a no-time, there was God. Then God's child, an aspect of God, a part of the whole, had the thought that it could do something on it's own, that somehow it could be separate from the whole. In that instant the ego was made, which is ultimately just a way of thinking that supports that part of God in believing that it is separate from the whole.That is all the ego is, and the only purpose it fulfills is the constant reminder of the illusion that that piece of God is separate from its Oneness, that there is no Oneness, and that it is on it's own.
"As God noticed this aspect of Itself holding this thought and saw the ego coming alive to reinforce that thought, God simultaneously created the Holy Spirit, not as a counter to the ego, but as a cure......to hold truth within the mind as well, so that either would be available at any given time. There cannot be an opposite to what does not exist, but there can be truth to prove the inexistence of what is not, and that is the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the ego.
"God in His perfection, is not capable of recognizing the ego and the errors in thinking that go with the ego, yet God can be aware of a need in His Child. God had the understanding that at some point that aspect of Itself would tire of the thought that It is separate from the whole, and when It did, when It became so tired from that thought, it would have the Holy Spirit to gently guide it back to the Truth of its Oneness.
"The ego has a full-time job holding the perspective that one can be separate from its Creator. The ego's full time job is to convince you that you are on your own, alone, roaming the world, and that you are never truly connected, united or one with anything. You may be born into a family, and yet that family will come and go. You may be from a marriage, and that marriage will come and go. You may have children, and they will come and go. You are never ultimately at one with anything, no matter what you do to try to attain that. That is the ego's number one job. The ego might even discourage you from having unity with you family, a true sense of union in your marriage, and a deep connection with your children to reaffirm your aloneness and your separation. The ego is diligent, hardworking, and loyal to it's purpose. It will fight to the end to do it's job to convince you that you are separate.
"The Holy Spirit is ever present and vigilant in it's belief about your Oneness. The Holy Spirit cannot intrude upon your dream and attempt to wake you up before your sleep is done, but the Holy Spirit never leaves your side, watching over you, loving you, and reassuring you that ultimately there will be a happy ending.
"By creating the Holy Spirit, God created a way to bring his Voice into each of His children as they go out into the world so that they could always remember the Truth of who they are. The Holy Spirit's function and purpose is to bring God's voice to each of God's children, guiding them, directing them, loving them, and restoring their thinking to Right-Mindedness and Truth. Truth is the bridge to God.
"Little by little as you hear, recognize, understand, and become aware of the Holy Spirit in different ways.....through your thinking, through correcting a thought with the Holy Spirit, through recognizing the Holy Spirit in another, through sharing the Words of the Holy Spirit with someone, through hearing the the Holy Spirit in another when they speak, and so on......the Holy Spirit is brought into the world and given to each of God's children, recognized in each of God's children, and used as a reminder for God's children of the Truth so that they can overcome the world.
"The Holy Spirit was given to each of God's children by God, put within each one, and is now part of them. It is not to think that the Holy Spirit is separate from you, is really only a part of God, or will one day be separate because, in Truth, the Holy Spirit is now part of you. It has now been blended and melted into you. That is why it is important to recognize the Holy Spirit in everyone you meet because the Holy Spirit is a part of them, and in the world the Holy Spirit represents your connectedness, your family ties to God.
"The Holy Spirit is within each of God's children and cannot be extracted. It is there as a constant resource, companion, and speaker of Truth no matter what you think you have done, what you think you are doing, and what you think you might do. The Holy Spirit holds no judgments, never condemns, and only remembers your true Perfection. In that is the impossibility of sin or anything related to it.
"It is not possible for the Holy Spirit to judge you in any way because the Holy Spirit can only see truth of who you are and not what you think you are. The Holy Spirit can also see who you think you are and not believe it. The Holy Spirit can see what you think and does not join you in on that sinking ship. The Holy spirit only knows one truth and that is your Perfection, regardless of your insistence to prove otherwise. The Holy Spirit cannot join you in any thinking about yourself other than your Perfection, though the Holy spirit can love you while you think insane thoughts.
"When you are suffering, it is because of the belief in separation while simultaneously having the hope of oneness. There is the hope but not the proof, and then there is fear and suffering. The Holy spirit is within your mind and is ever available to you to restore your thinking to Truth. In any moment that you decide that you do not want to participate in the belief of separation....if you decide you want peace, if you decide you want to remember who you are and what you are....the Holy Spirit is there waiting to join with you in Truth. The Holy Spirit has been within you since your first step into the world and offers you an alternative to pain and suffering, to fear and loathing, to vengeance and death. The Holy Spirit offers Peace, Oneness, truth and everlasting Life.
"The ego, on the other hand, has invented all of the thinking that the would have you belive in the body. There is the idea that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.....that alone may be one of the bigger misconceptions going. The body is the temple of the ego . Everything that is eternal is God. The ego is temporary. The body is temporary.
"If you see another person in the world and think anything other than they are beloved and whole Child of God, then that is the ego feeding you that thought. The only Truth about the one in front of you is "There is God's beloved and holy Child."
"As you come across the people in the world, the ego would convince you that this one is this and that one is this and the judgments go on and on and on, and none of that is true. The world is made out of thoughts of the ego. God did not make the world. The thoughts of the ego made the world. You may look upon the world and think it is a beautiful place, certain areas are beautiful, certain things are beautiful, certain people are beautiful, then you are looking through the eyes of the ego.
'If you look upon the world and see fear, loathing, hatred, separation, death or destruction, these are what the ego would convince you are happening in the world to keep you in fear and to keep you distracted from god. If you were to overcome the beliefs that you have about the body, that alone would change everything. As long as you belive that you are the body....you need the body, you are dependant upon it, you need it's health, you need it's well being, you need it's limbs, you need it's mental faculties, and so on.....you are in quicksand. God's hand is stretched to you, but the more you struggle in your beliefs of what you have been told about the body, the deeper you sink. And God's hand is waiting to pull you out at all times.
"The ego would have you believe there are special relationships, such as families, lovers, children, friends, and other special people in your life. Though if you do not see all people as equal, then you are being deceived from seeing the truth that everyone upon the earth is a Child of God and that you do not have a special relationship with any of them but in fact have a Union with all of them because each one of God's children is part of your Oneness.
"When each one is not received in that way, then you deny yourself Oneness. Anytime you act in a way that you do not like, that you do not feel loving or kind, anytime you act in a way that is a result of fear or control, anything that is other than understanding and accepting, it is of the ego.
"Every time you look at your mate and want him or her to be different, or judge something about them, or are annoyed at what they are doing or how they are doing it, that is the ego trying to convince you that you are separate. Those thoughts keep you from remembering that the one in front of you is a Child of God, your brother and part of your Oneness. Without that one in front of you, your Oneness is not complete. You will need the one in front of you to attain your ultimate goal of Oneness even though you have forgotten it in this moment. Without the one in front of you, the puzzle is not complete and your Oneness will never be restored. You need the one in front of you and everyone behind them to be restored as children of God, that the Oneness Amy be complete. At that time the ego will cease to exist. Just as your body's survival instinct is strong, so is the ego's. It will fight for it's life. How it does that now is to continue to convince you of your separation."
Jan. 31st
- IS THAT SO? - this is an excerpt from the book "A new Earth" by Eckhart Tolle.
The Zen Master Hakuin live in a town in Japan. He was held in high regard and many people came to him for spiritual teaching. Then it happened that the teenage daughter of his next-door neighbor became pregnant. When being questioned by her angry and scolding parents as to the identity of the father, she finally told them that he was Hakuin, the Zen Master. In great anger the parents rushed over to Hakuin and told him with much shouting and accusing that their daughter had confessed that he was the father. All he replied was, "Is that so?"
News of the scandal spread throughout the town and beyond. The Mater lost his reputation. This did not trouble him. Nobody came to see him anymore. He remained unmoved. When the child was born, the parents brought the baby to Hakuin. "You are the father, so you look after him." The Master took loving care of the child. A year later, the mother remorsefully confessed to her parents that the real father of the child was the young man who worked at the butcher shop. In great distress they went to see Hakuin to apologize and ask for forgiveness. "We are really sorry. We have come to take the baby back. Our daughter confessed that you are not the father." "Is that so?" is all he would say as he handed the baby over to them.
The Master responds to falsehood and truth, bad news and good news, in exactly the same way: "Is that so?" He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. To him there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is. Events are not personalized. He is nobody's victim. He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power overf him anymore. Only if you resist what happens are youo at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness.
The baby is looked after with lving care. Bad turns into good through the power of nonresistance. Always responding to what the present moment requires, he lets go of the baby when it is time to do so.
Imagine briefly how the ego would have reacted during the various stages of the unfolding of these events.
Jan. 27th
Continuing A Course in Miracles due to popular demand! Read the previous ones first, below, from bottom to top. Today’s topic: Prayer.
1. PRAYER
Introduction
S-1.in.1. Prayer is the greatest gift with which God blessed His Son at his creation. 2 It was then what it is to become; the single voice Creator and creation share; the song the Son sings to the Father, Who returns the thanks it offers Him unto the Son. 3 Endless the harmony, and endless, too, the joyous concord of the Love They give forever to Each Other. 4 And in this, creation is extended. 5 God gives thanks to His extension in His Son. 6 His Son gives thanks for his creation, in the song of his creating in his Father's Name. 7 The Love They share is what all prayer will be throughout eternity, when time is done. 8 For such it was before time seemed to be.
S-1.in.2. To you who are in time a little while, prayer takes the form that best will suit your need. 2 You have but one. 3 What God created one must recognize its oneness, and rejoice that what illusions seemed to separate is one forever in the Mind of God. 4 Prayer now must be the means by which God's Son leaves separate goals and separate interests by, and turns in holy gladness to the truth of union in his Father and himself.
S-1.in.3. Lay down your dreams, you holy Son of God, and rising up as God created you, dispense with idols and remember Him. 2 Prayer will sustain you now, and bless you as you lift your heart to Him in rising song that reaches higher and then higher still, until both high and low have disappeared. 3 Faith in your goal will grow and hold you up as you ascend the shining stairway to the lawns of Heaven and the gate of peace. 4 For this is prayer, and here salvation is. 5 This is the way. 6 It is God's gift to you.
I. True Prayer
S-1.I.1. Prayer is a way offered by the Holy Spirit to reach God. 2 It is not merely a question or an entreaty. 3 It cannot succeed until you realize that it asks for nothing. 4 How else could it serve its purpose? 5 It is impossible to pray for idols and hope to reach God. 6 True prayer must avoid the pitfall of asking to entreat. 7 Ask, rather, to receive what is already given; to accept what is already there.
S-1.I.2. You have been told to ask the Holy Spirit for the answer to any specific problem, and that you will receive a specific answer if such is your need. 2 You have also been told that there is only one problem and one answer. 3 In prayer this is not contradictory. 4 There are decisions to make here, and they must be made whether they be illusions or not. 5 You cannot be asked to accept answers which are beyond the level of need that you can recognize. 6 Therefore, it is not the form of the question that matters, nor how it is asked. 7 The form of the answer, if given by God, will suit your need as you see it. 8 This is merely an echo of the reply of His Voice. 9 The real sound is always a song of thanksgiving and of Love.
S-1.I.3. You cannot, then, ask for the echo. 2 It is the song that is the gift. 3 Along with it come the overtones, the harmonics, the echoes, but these are secondary. 4 In true prayer you hear only the song. 5 All the rest is merely added. 6 You have sought first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all else has indeed been given you.
S-1.I.4. The secret of true prayer is to forget the things you think you need. 2 To ask for the specific is much the same as to look on sin and then forgive it. 3 Also in the same way, in prayer you overlook your specific needs as you see them, and let them go into God's Hands. 4 There they become your gifts to Him, for they tell Him that you would have no gods before Him; no Love but His. 5 What could His answer be but your remembrance of Him? 6 Can this be traded for a bit of trifling advice about a problem of an instant's duration? 7 God answers only for eternity. 8 But still all little answers are contained in this.
S-1.I.5. Prayer is a stepping aside; a letting go, a quiet time of listening and loving. 2 It should not be confused with supplication of any kind, because it is a way of remembering your holiness. 3 Why should holiness entreat, being fully entitled to everything Love has to offer? 4 And it is to Love you go in prayer. 5 Prayer is an offering; a giving up of yourself to be at one with Love. 6 There is nothing to ask because there is nothing left to want. 7 That nothingness becomes the altar of God. 8 It disappears in Him.
S-1.I.6. This is not a level of prayer that everyone can attain as yet. 2 Those who have not reached it still need your help in prayer because their asking is not yet based upon acceptance. 3 Help in prayer does not mean that another mediates between you and God. 4 But it does mean that another stands beside you and helps to raise you up to Him. 5 One who has realized the goodness of God prays without fear. 6 And one who prays without fear cannot but reach Him. 7 He can therefore also reach His Son, wherever he may be and whatever form he may seem to take.
S-1.I.7. Praying to Christ in anyone is true prayer because it is a gift of thanks to His Father. 2 To ask that Christ be but Himself is not an entreaty. 3 It is a song of thanksgiving for what you are. 4 Herein lies the power of prayer. 5 It asks nothing and receives everything. 6 This prayer can be shared because it receives for everyone. 7 To pray with one who knows that this is true is to be answered. 8 Perhaps the specific form of resolution for a specific problem will occur to either of you; it does not matter which. 9 Perhaps it will reach both, if you are genuinely attuned to one another. 10 It will come because you have realized that Christ is in both of you. 11 That is its only truth.
II. The Ladder of Prayer
S-1.II.1. Prayer has no beginning and no end. 2 It is a part of life. 3 But it does change in form, and grow with learning until it reaches its formless state, and fuses into total communication with God. 4 In its asking form it need not, and often does not, make appeal to God, or even involve belief in Him. 5 At these levels prayer is merely wanting, out of a sense of scarcity and lack.
S-1.II.2. These forms of prayer, or asking-out-of-need, always involve feelings of weakness and inadequacy, and could never be made by a Son of God who knows Who he is. 2 No one, then, who is sure of his Identity could pray in these forms. 3 Yet it is also true that no one who is uncertain of his Identity can avoid praying in this way. 4 And prayer is as continual as life. 5 Everyone prays without ceasing. 6 Ask and you have received, for you have established what it is you want.
S-1.II.3. It is also possible to reach a higher form of asking-out-of-need, for in this world prayer is reparative, and so it must entail levels of learning. 2 Here, the asking may be addressed to God in honest belief, though not yet with understanding. 3 A vague and usually unstable sense of identification has generally been reached, but tends to be blurred by a deep-rooted sense of sin. 4 It is possible at this level to continue to ask for things of this world in various forms, and it is also possible to ask for gifts such as honesty or goodness, and particularly for forgiveness for the many sources of guilt that inevitably underlie any prayer of need. 5 Without guilt there is no scarcity. 6 The sinless have no needs.
S-1.II.4. At this level also comes that curious contradiction in terms known as "praying for one's enemies." 2 The contradiction lies not in the actual words, but rather in the way in which they are usually interpreted. 3 While you believe you have enemies, you have limited prayer to the laws of this world, and have also limited your ability to receive and to accept to the same narrow margins. 4 And yet, if you have enemies you have need of prayer, and great need, too. 5 What does the phrase really mean? 6 Pray for yourself, that you may not seek to imprison Christ and thereby lose the recognition of your own Identity. 7 Be traitor to no one, or you will be treacherous to yourself.
S-1.II.5. An enemy is the symbol of an imprisoned Christ. 2 And who could He be except yourself? 3 The prayer for enemies thus becomes a prayer for your own freedom. 4 Now it is no longer a contradiction in terms. 5 It has become a statement of the unity of Christ and a recognition of His sinlessness. 6 And now it has become holy, for it acknowledges the Son of God as he was created.
S-1.II.6. Let it never be forgotten that prayer at any level is always for yourself. 2 If you unite with anyone in prayer, you make him part of you. 3 The enemy is you, as is the Christ. 4 Before it can become holy, then, prayer becomes a choice. 5 You do not choose for another. 6 You can but choose for yourself. 7 Pray truly for your enemies, for herein lies your own salvation. 8 Forgive them for your sins, and you will be forgiven indeed.
S-1.II.7. Prayer is a ladder reaching up to Heaven. 2 At the top there is a transformation much like your own, for prayer is part of you. 3 The things of earth are left behind, all unremembered. 4 There is no asking, for there is no lack. 5 Identity in Christ is fully recognized as set forever, beyond all change and incorruptible. 6 The light no longer flickers, and will never go out. 7 Now, without needs of any kind, and clad forever in the pure sinlessness that is the gift of God to you, His Son, prayer can again become what it was meant to be. 8 For now it rises as a song of thanks to your Creator, sung without words, or thoughts, or vain desires, unneedful now of anything at all. 9 So it extends, as it was meant to do. 10 And for this giving God Himself gives thanks.
S-1.II.8. God is the goal of every prayer, giving it timelessness instead of end. 2 Nor has it a beginning, because the goal has never changed. 3 Prayer in its earlier forms is an illusion, because there is no need for a ladder to reach what one has never left. 4 Yet prayer is part of forgiveness as long as forgiveness, itself an illusion, remains unattained. 5 Prayer is tied up with learning until the goal of learning has been reached. 6 And then all things will be transformed together, and returned unblemished into the Mind of God. 7 Being beyond learning, this state cannot be described. 8 The stages necessary to its attainment, however, need to be understood, if peace is to be restored to God's Son, who lives now with the illusion of death and the fear of God.
III. Praying for Others
S-1.III.1. We said that prayer is always for yourself, and this is so. 2 Why, then, should you pray for others at all? 3 And if you should, how should you do it? 4 Praying for others, if rightly understood, becomes a means for lifting your projections of guilt from your brother, and enabling you to recognize it is not he who is hurting you. 5 The poisonous thought that he <is> your enemy, your evil counterpart, your nemesis, must be relinquished before <you> can be saved from guilt. 6 For this the means is prayer, of rising power and with ascending goals, until it reaches even up to God.
S-1.III.2. The earlier forms of prayer, at the bottom of the ladder, will not be free from envy and malice. 2 They call for vengeance, not for love. 3 Nor do they come from one who understands that they are calls for death, made out of fear by those who cherish guilt. 4 They call upon a vengeful god, and it is he who seems to answer them. 5 Hell cannot be asked for another, and then escaped by him who asks for it. 6 Only those who are in hell can ask for hell. 7 Those who have been forgiven, and who accepted their forgiveness, could never make a prayer like that.
S-1.III.3. At these levels, then, the learning goal must be to recognize that prayer will bring an answer only in the form in which the prayer was made. 2 This is enough. 3 From here it will be an easy step to the next levels. 4 The next ascent begins with this:
5 What I have asked for for my brother is not what I would have. 6 Thus have I made of him my enemy.
7 It is apparent that this step cannot be reached by anyone who sees no value or advantage to himself in setting others free. 8 This may be long delayed, because it may seem to be dangerous instead of merciful. 9 To the guilty there seems indeed to be a real advantage in having enemies, and this imagined gain must go, if enemies are to be set free.
S-1.III.4. Guilt must be given up, and not concealed. 2 Nor can this be done without some pain, and a glimpse of the merciful nature of this step may for some time be followed by a deep retreat into fear. 3 For fear's defenses are fearful in themselves, and when they are recognized they bring their fear with them. 4 Yet what advantage has an illusion of escape ever brought a prisoner? 5 His real escape from guilt can lie only in the recognition that the guilt has gone. 6 And how can this be recognized as long as he hides it in another, and does not see it as his own? 7 Fear of escape makes it difficult to welcome freedom, and to make a jailer of an enemy seems to be safety. 8 How, then, can he be released without an insane fear for yourself? 9 You have made of him your salvation and your escape from guilt. 10 Your investment in this escape is heavy, and your fear of letting it go is strong.
S-1.III.5. Stand still an instant, now, and think what you have done. 2 Do not forget that it is you who did it, and who can therefore let it go. 3 Hold out your hand. 4 This enemy has come to bless you. 5 Take his blessing, and feel how your heart is lifted and your fear released. 6 Do not hold on to it, nor onto him. 7 He is a Son of God, along with you. 8 He is no jailer, but a messenger of Christ. 9 Be this to him, that you may see him thus.
S-1.III.6. It is not easy to realize that prayers for things, for status, for human love, for external "gifts" of any kind, are always made to set up jailers and to hide from guilt. 2 These things are used for goals that substitute for God, and therefore distort the purpose of prayer. 3 The desire for them <is> the prayer. 4 One need not ask explicitly. 5 The goal of God is lost in the quest for lesser goals of any kind, and prayer becomes requests for enemies. 6 The power of prayer can be quite clearly recognized even in this. 7 No one who wants an enemy will fail to find one. 8 But just as surely will he lose the only true goal that is given him. 9 Think of the cost, and understand it well. 10 All other goals are at the cost of God.
IV. Praying with Others
S-1.IV.1. Until the second level at least begins, one cannot share in prayer. 2 For until that point, each one must ask for different things. 3 But once the need to hold the other as an enemy has been questioned, and the reason for doing so has been recognized if only for an instant, it becomes possible to join in prayer. 4 Enemies do not share a goal. 5 It is in this their enmity is kept. 6 Their separate wishes are their arsenals; their fortresses in hate. 7 The key to rising further still in prayer lies in this simple thought; this change of mind:
8 We go together, you and I.
S-1.IV.2. Now it is possible to help in prayer, and so reach up yourself. 2 This step begins the quicker ascent, but there are still many lessons to learn. 3 The way is open, and hope is justified. 4 Yet it is likely at first that what is asked for even by those who join in prayer is not the goal that prayer should truly seek. 5 Even together you may ask for things, and thus set up but an illusion of a goal you share. 6 You may ask together for specifics, and not realize that you are asking for effects without the cause. 7 And this you cannot have. 8 For no one can receive effects alone, asking a cause from which they do not come to offer them to him.
S-1.IV.3. Even the joining, then, is not enough, if those who pray together do not ask, before all else, what is the Will of God. 2 From this Cause only can the answer come in which are all specifics satisfied; all separate wishes unified in one. 3 Prayer for specifics always asks to have the past repeated in some way. 4 What was enjoyed before, or seemed to be; what was another's and he seemed to love,–all these are but illusions from the past. 5 The aim of prayer is to release the present from its chains of past illusions; to let it be a freely chosen remedy from every choice that stood for a mistake. 6 What prayer can offer now so far exceeds all that you asked before that it is pitiful to be content with less.
S-1.IV.4. You have chosen a newborn chance each time you pray. 2 And would you stifle and imprison it in ancient prisons, when the chance has come to free yourself from all of them at once? 3 Do not restrict your asking. 4 Prayer can bring the peace of God. 5 What time-bound thing can give you more than this, in just the little space that lasts until it crumbles into dust?
V. The Ladder Ends
S-1.V.1. Prayer is a way to true humility. 2 And here again it rises slowly up, and grows in strength and love and holiness. 3 Let it but leave the ground where it begins to rise to God, and true humility will come at last to grace the mind that thought it was alone and stood against the world. 4 Humility brings peace because it does not claim that you must rule the universe, nor judge all things as you would have them be. 5 All little gods it gladly lays aside, not in resentment, but in honesty and recognition that they do not serve.
S-1.V.2. Illusions and humility have goals so far apart they cannot coexist, nor share a dwelling place where they can meet. 2 Where one has come the other disappears. 3 The truly humble have no goal but God because they need no idols, and defense no longer serves a purpose. 4 Enemies are useless now, because humility does not oppose. 5 It does not hide in shame because it is content with what it is, knowing creation is the Will of God. 6 Its selflessness is Self, and this it sees in every meeting, where it gladly joins with every Son of God, whose purity it recognizes that it shares with him.
S-1.V.3. Now prayer is lifted from the world of things, of bodies, and of gods of every kind, and you can rest in holiness at last. 2 Humility has come to teach you how to understand your glory as God's Son, and recognize the arrogance of sin. 3 A dream has veiled the face of Christ from you. 4 Now can you look upon His sinlessness. 5 High has the ladder risen. 6 You have come almost to Heaven. 7 There is little more to learn before the journey is complete. 8 Now can you say to everyone who comes to join in prayer with you:
9 I cannot go without you, for you are a part of me.
10 And so he is in truth. 11 Now can you pray only for what you truly share with him. 12 For you have understood he never left, and you, who seemed alone, are one with him.
S-1.V.4. The ladder ends with this, for learning is no longer needed. 2 Now you stand before the gate of Heaven, and your brother stands beside you there. 3 The lawns are deep and still, for here the place appointed for the time when you should come has waited long for you. 4 Here will time end forever. 5 At this gate eternity itself will join with you. 6 Prayer has become what it was meant to be, for you have recognized the Christ in you.
Jan. 21st.
Ok folks, here is something that may seem very radical to you. But you will notice that it speaks to your heart, no matter which Religion you are in, or which path you follow. So please do not take offense. But take this with an open mind and an open heart! (It’s not my writing.)
“The Great Confession
In the Radiant Presence of our Eternal Master, Self, and God, and in the present company of all beings, I now freely and heartily Confess the Truth.
There is neither one God nor many Gods.
There is only God.
All the one and many Gods are Idols of the One that is God.
God is the Radiant Transcendental Life-Consciousness, in Whom all places and beings and ideas appear and disappear.
There is no God but God, Who is the Transcendental Consciousness and Eternal Energy that Radiates in Man and in the world of Man.
That One Pervades and Transcends the world and Man.
That One is my God and my Eternal Self.
Every possibility, whether full of pleasure or full of pain, arises in God.
Every experience is a spontaneous and temporary modification of the Radiant Transcendental Life-Consciousness.
If I surrender to Experience, I merely enjoy and suffer, according to the mood and complexity of my various thoughts, desires, and acts.
If I seek within my body-mind for God, I am confronted and deluded by states of body and mind.
If I seek outside my body-mind for God, I am confronted and confounded by the experience of all relations and events.
But if I surrender body and mind in the Radiant Transcendental Life-Consciousness, all experience Reveals the Living God.
God is not an Object of the mind or of bodily experience.
God is Transcendentally Present.
God is to be Realized as the Transcendental Subject or Eternal Self in Whom all knowledge and all experiences arise and dissolve.
Therefore, to Worship and to Realize God in Truth is to transcend the world and body-mind of Man.
I am not separated from God.
Only my reflective and thinking mind seems to separate me from the Eternal Self or Transcendental Consciousness that is God.
I am not separated from God.
Only my reactive and loveless heart seems to separate me from the Divine Person, the Infinite Love-Radiance that is God.
I am not separated from God.
Only my bodily recoil from the universal demand of all relationships seems to separate me from the Eternal Domain, the All-Pervading Life-Power that is God.
I am not separated from God.
I must love, and trust, and surrender to the Infinite Consciousness that is beyond and prior to the world, the body, and the mind.
I must love, and trust, and surrender to the Eternal Life-Energy that is beyond and prior to the world, the body, and the mind.
God is the Living Truth.
God is the Way of Salvation.
God is the Eternal Master of Man.
By our acceptance of the Mastery of God, the Way of Salvation through God-Realization is revealed.
The Way that my Spiritual Master has Revealed to me is the Divine Way of self-transcending Love-Communion with the Living God.
The Way that my Spiritual Master has Revealed to me is the Way of the Translation of Man into the Radiant Transcendental Life-Consciousness, Who is the Ultimate Domain of the World.
I acknowledge and affirm my inherent and eternal commitment to the Way my Spiritual Master has Revealed to me.
(Note: Full gesture here, before continuing recitation with hands raised)
I worship and bow down.
I surrender body and mind and all self-attention to the Living God,
Who may be called upon by Name Da, the Giver of Life,
Who is the Universal Life-Current and the Transcendental Self of all beings,
Who Radiates as Love in all directions,
Who is without center or circumference,
Who pervades and supports all the worlds,
Who consents to Awaken as Man by rising up in the lower roots of the body-mind, releasing all obstructions to the evolutionary Flow of Life,
Who Shines above the heads of those who are Awake, Transforming every part of them with Heart-Light,
Who is the Transcendental Heart, the Eternal Mystery, the Wonderful Truth, the Unyielding Paradox that finally Outshines the souls of all beings, every part of the body-mind of Man, and all possible places in the worlds of experience.
(Note: Full gesture and then return to upright position with hands raised)
Radiant God and Master of this body-mind, Eternal Self of this mortal self, be pleased to accept my Confession of Truth. Have Mercy on my heart. Purify and transform this body-mind through my Love of You, my surrender to You, and my heartfelt service to all beings.”
“We have already been together since our youth. Now all of you are approaching middle age. Time has passed, and you are still here confronting me. What is the difference? You are all under sentence. You do not know the hour of your death. you experience the fullness of Being, and you are immortal in your Realization, but you are waiting for end-time. you must understand this and allow this lifetime to be nothing. This is the theater of comprehension, temporary, no time, an illusion. you must learn to laugh at this. You must base your existence on this understanding. This understanding is the difference. You must learn to laugh at this life.
....
Soon you will be dead! Every day you go to sleep, every day you dream, and then this---have you not noticed? I speak to you in every state. I call you to the Divine Domain prior to humanity, prior to mind, dreaming, sleeping, waking. I call you to meditation. You must realize meditation in the waking state.”
--- from Crazy Wisdom, Vol. 4, No. 11.
Jan. 15th
Divine Distraction
(Now this may be a bit too contraversial for some folks, and that's fine... just go on with your life. When you're ready you will be apprised of this information yet again....)
We are all so involved with our lives that we fail to have any real attention for the Divine. You may have also heard or read that you should transform all action so that it is in service to God or the Divine (no matter what your relgious practice is or Path), but few of us know what that means or how to do that.
The principle is quite simple. Right now you are distracted by everything in your life. So the Divine appears in the form of a Spiritual Master and He/She attracts your attention. Over time, as you contemplate the Mater, as you practice, as you serve Him/Her, you will become more and more distracted by Him/Her, rather than by all your problems and all your searching for happiness. And by falling in love with Him/Her the things that you used to be distracted by fall away. Not because you have put out an effort to release those things, but because you were distracted by something greater, by God.
The Spiritual Practice need not be complex. You need not exert effort to change your life. All you need to do is to put your attention on the Spiritual Master more and more and your life will become simplified. There is no effort involved. Any path that involves an effort that is counter to something, does not produce God-Realization. Only complete attachment to the Divine Person avails.
When you have fallen in love with someone, then you are always thinking of that one, even while cleaning the dishes! Think about it. There is no effort involved in thinking of your beloved, is there? None. So this is the principle that Great Masters (such as Jesus, Gautama Buddha, and others) elaborate in their talks. Once you have recognized that the Guru or Master is your Beloved, you will always think of Him or Her, and always recognize Him or Her in everything that you do. It is truly without effort.
So what about the various disciplines?
You will take on disciplines not because you want to straighten out your life or that you are supposed to do it, but because you start realizing that without the disciplines your attention is being taken away from your Beloved. Anything that lessens your Communion with the Divine you will not want to engage in. And therefore you will be happy to take on a discipline, wherever necessary. It will be obvious to you.
True Masters and Teachers are not here to present you with some philosophy that will improve your life. He/She is here to live a love-relationship with you, so that you are distracted beyond yourself more and more. Without this distraction by your Guru/Teacher/Master your sadhana (Spiritual Practice) of the Way of the Heart cannot be initiated.
This is what I have come to learn, so far. And, of course, I resist it. But I thought I'd let you know. js
Continuing A Course in Miracles Definitions of Terms, as it is very revealing. Read the Jan 9th Entry first! And then go backwards. Sorry!
5. JESUS – CHRIST
C-5.1.There is no need for help to enter Heaven for you have never left. 2 But there is need for help beyond yourself as you are circumscribed by false beliefs of your Identity, which God alone established in reality. 3 Helpers are given you in many forms, although upon the altar they are one. 4 Beyond each one there is a Thought of God, and this will never change. 5 But they have names which differ for a time, for time needs symbols, being itself unreal. 6 Their names are legion, but we will not go beyond the names the course itself employs. 7 God does not help because He knows no need. 8 But He creates all Helpers of His Son while he believes his fantasies are true. 9 Thank God for them for they will lead you home.
C-5.2.The name of <Jesus> is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. 2 So he became identified with <Christ>, a man no longer, but at one with God. 3 The man was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from Self, as all illusions do. 4 Yet who can save unless he sees illusions and then identifies them as what they are? 5 Jesus remains a Savior because he saw the false without accepting it as true. 6 And Christ needed his form that He might appear to men and save them from their own illusions.
C-5.3.In his complete identification with the Christ–the perfect Son of God, His one creation and His happiness, forever like Himself and One with Him–Jesus became what all of you must be. 2 He led the way for you to follow him. 3 He leads you back to God because he saw the road before him, and he followed it. 4 He made a clear distinction, still obscure to you, between the false and true. 5 He offered you a final demonstration that it is impossible to kill God's Son; nor can his life in any way be changed by sin and evil, malice, fear or death.
C-5.4.And therefore all your sins have been forgiven because they carried no effects at all. 2 And so they were but dreams. 3 Arise with him who showed you this because you owe him this who shared your dreams that they might be dispelled. 4 And shares them still, to be at one with you.
C-5.5.Is he the Christ? 2 O yes, along with you. 3 His little life on earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that he learned for all of you. 4 He will remain with you to lead you from the hell you made to God. 5 And when you join your will with his, your sight will be his vision, for the eyes of Christ are shared. 6 Walking with him is just as natural as walking with a brother whom you knew since you were born, for such indeed he is. 7 Some bitter idols have been made of him who would be only brother to the world. 8 Forgive him your illusions, and behold how dear a brother he would be to you. 9 For he will set your mind at rest at last and carry it with you unto your God.
C-5.6.Is he God's only Helper? 2 No, indeed. 3 For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized. 4 But Jesus is for you the bearer of Christ's single message of the Love of God. 5 You need no other. 6 It is possible to read his words and benefit from them without accepting him into your life. 7 Yet he would help you yet a little more if you will share your pains and joys with him, and leave them both to find the peace of God. 8 Yet still it is his lesson most of all that he would have you learn, and it is this:
<9 There is no death because the Son of God is like his Father. 10 Nothing you can do can change Eternal Love. 11 Forget your dreams of sin and guilt, and come with me instead to share the resurrection of God's Son. 12 And bring with you all those whom He has sent to you to care for as I care for you.>
6. THE HOLY SPIRIT
C-6.1.Jesus is the manifestation of the <Holy Spirit>, Whom he called down upon the earth after he ascended into Heaven, or became completely identified with the Christ, the Son of God as He created Him. 2 The Holy Spirit, being a creation of the one Creator, creating with Him and in His likeness or spirit, is eternal and has never changed. 3 He was "called down upon the earth" in the sense that it was now possible to accept Him and to hear His Voice. 4 His is the Voice for God, and has therefore taken form. 5 This form is not His reality, which God alone knows along with Christ, His real Son, Who is part of Him.
C-6.2.The Holy Spirit is described throughout the course as giving us the answer to the separation and bringing the plan of the Atonement to us, establishing our particular part in it and showing us exactly what it is. 2 He has established Jesus as the leader in carrying out His plan since he was the first to complete his own part perfectly. 3 All power in Heaven and earth is therefore given him and he will share it with you when you have completed yours. 4 The Atonement principle was given to the Holy Spirit long before Jesus set it in motion.
C-6.3.The Holy Spirit is described as the remaining Communication Link between God and His separated Sons. 2 In order to fulfill this special function the Holy Spirit has assumed a dual function. 3 He knows because He is part of God; He perceives because He was sent to save humanity. 4 He is the great correction principle; the bringer of true perception, the inherent power of the vision of Christ. 5 He is the light in which the forgiven world is perceived; in which the face of Christ alone is seen. 6 He never forgets the Creator or His creation. 7 He never forgets the Son of God. 8 He never forgets you. 9 And He brings the Love of your Father to you in an eternal shining that will never be obliterated because God has put it there.
C-6.4.The Holy Spirit abides in the part of your mind that is part of the Christ Mind. 2 He represents your Self and your Creator, Who are One. 3 He speaks for God and also for you, being joined with Both. 4 And therefore it is He Who proves Them One. 5 He seems to be a Voice, for in that form He speaks God's Word to you. 6 He seems to be a Guide through a far country, for you need that form of help. 7 He seems to be whatever meets the needs you think you have. 8 But He is not deceived when you perceive your self entrapped in needs you do not have. 9 It is from these He would deliver you. 10 It is from these that He would make you safe.
C-6.5.You are His manifestation in this world. 2 Your brother calls to you to be His Voice along with him. 3 Alone he cannot be the Helper of God's Son for he alone is functionless. 4 But joined with you he is the shining Savior of the world, Whose part in its redemption you have made complete. 5 He offers thanks to you as well as him for you arose with him when he began to save the world. 6 And you will be with him when time is over and no trace remains of dreams of spite in which you dance to death's thin melody. 7 For in its place the hymn to God is heard a little while. 8 And then the Voice is gone, no longer to take form but to return to the eternal formlessness of God.
EPILOGUE
C-ep.1.Forget not once this journey is begun the end is certain. 2 Doubt along the way will come and go and go to come again. 3 Yet is the ending sure. 4 No one can fail to do what God appointed him to do. 5 When you forget, remember that you walk with Him and with His Word upon your heart. 6 Who could despair when hope like this is his? 7 Illusions of despair may seem to come, but learn how not to be deceived by them. 8 Behind each one there is reality and there is God. 9 Why would you wait for this and trade it for illusions, when His Love is but an instant farther on the road where all illusions end? 10 The end <is> sure and guaranteed by God. 11 Who stands before a lifeless image when a step away the Holy of the Holies opens up an ancient door that leads beyond the world?
C-ep.2.You <are> a stranger here. 2 But you belong to Him Who loves you as He loves Himself. 3 Ask but my help to roll the stone away, and it is done according to His Will. 4 We <have> begun the journey. 5 Long ago the end was written in the stars and set into the Heavens with a shining Ray that held it safe within eternity and through all time as well. 6 And holds it still; unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable.
C-ep.3.Be not afraid. 2 We only start again an ancient journey long ago begun that but seems new. 3 We have begun again upon a road we travelled on before and lost our way a little while. 4 And now we try again. 5 Our new beginning has the certainty the journey lacked till now. 6 Look up and see His Word among the stars, where He has set your Name along with His. 7 Look up and find your certain destiny the world would hide but God would have you see.
C-ep.4.Let us wait here in silence, and kneel down an instant in our gratitude to Him Who called to us and helped us hear His Call. 2 And then let us arise and go in faith along the way to Him. 3 Now we are sure we do not walk alone. 4 For God is here, and with Him all our brothers. 5 Now we know that we will never lose the way again. 6 The song begins again which had been stopped only an instant, though it seems to be unsung forever. 7 What is here begun will grow in life and strength and hope, until the world is still an instant and forgets all that the dream of sin had made of it.
C-ep.5.Let us go out and meet the newborn world, knowing that Christ has been reborn in it, and that the holiness of this rebirth will last forever. 2 We had lost our way but He has found it for us. 3 Let us go and bid Him welcome Who returns to us to celebrate salvation and the end of all we thought we made. 4 The morning star of this new day looks on a different world where God is welcomed and His Son with Him. 5 We who complete Him offer thanks to Him, as He gives thanks to us. 6 The Son is still, and in the quiet God has given him enters his home and is at peace at last.
Jan. 10th - Continuing A Course in Miracles Definitions of Terms, as it is very revealing. Read the Jan 9th Entry first!
4. TRUE PERCEPTION–KNOWLEDGE
C-4.1.The world you see is an illusion of a world. 2 God did not create it, for what He creates must be eternal as Himself. 3 Yet there is nothing in the world you see that will endure forever. 4 Some things will last in time a little while longer than others. 5 But the time will come when all things visible will have an end.
C-4.2.The body's eyes are therefore not the means by which the real world can be seen, for the illusions that they look upon must lead to more illusions of reality. 2 And so they do. 3 For everything they see not only will not last, but lends itself to thoughts of sin and guilt. 4 While everything that God created is forever without sin and therefore is forever without guilt.
C-4.3.Knowledge is not the remedy for false perception since, being another level, they can never meet. 2 The one correction possible for false perception must be <true perception>. 3 It will not endure. 4 But for the time it lasts it comes to heal. 5 For true perception is a remedy with many names. 6 Forgiveness, salvation, Atonement, true perception, all are one. 7 They are the one beginning, with the end to lead to oneness far beyond themselves. 8 True perception is the means by which the world is saved from sin, for sin does not exist. 9 And it is this that true perception sees.
C-4.4.The world stands like a block before Christ's face. 2 But true perception looks on it as nothing more than just a fragile veil, so easily dispelled that it can last no longer than an instant. 3 It is seen at last for only what it is. 4 And now it cannot fail to disappear, for now there is an empty place made clean and ready. 5 Where destruction was perceived the face of Christ appears, and in that instant is the world forgot, with time forever ended as the world spins into nothingness from where it came.
C-4.5.A world forgiven cannot last. 2 It was the home of bodies. 3 But forgiveness looks past bodies. 4 This is its holiness; this is how it heals. 5 The world of bodies is the world of sin, for only if there were a body is sin possible. 6 From sin comes guilt as surely as forgiveness takes all guilt away. 7 And once all guilt is gone what more remains to keep a separated world in place? 8 For place has gone as well, along with time. 9 Only the body makes the world seem real, for being separate it could not remain where separation is impossible. 10 Forgiveness proves it is impossible because it sees it not. 11 And what you then will overlook will not be understandable to you, just as its presence once had been your certainty.
C-4.6.This is the shift that true perception brings: What was projected out is seen within, and there forgiveness lets it disappear. 2 For there the altar to the Son is set, and there his Father is remembered. 3 Here are all illusions brought to truth and laid upon the altar. 4 What is seen outside must lie beyond forgiveness, for it seems to be forever sinful. 5 Where is hope while sin is seen as outside? 6 What remedy can guilt expect? 7 But seen within your mind, guilt and forgiveness for an instant lie together, side by side, upon one altar. 8 There at last are sickness and its single remedy joined in one healing brightness. 9 God has come to claim His Own. 10 Forgiveness is complete.
C-4.7.And now God's <knowledge>, changeless, certain, pure and wholly understandable, enters its kingdom. 2 Gone is perception, false and true alike. 3 Gone is forgiveness, for its task is done. 4 And gone are bodies in the blazing light upon the altar to the Son of God. 5 God knows it is His Own, as it is his. 6 And here They join, for here the face of Christ has shone away time's final instant, and now is the last perception of the world without a purpose and without a cause. 7 For where God's memory has come at last there is no journey, no belief in sin, no walls, no bodies, and the grim appeal of guilt and death is there snuffed out forever.
C-4.8.O my brothers, if you only knew the peace that will envelop you and hold you safe and pure and lovely in the Mind of God, you could but rush to meet Him where His altar is. 2 Hallowed your Name and His, for they are joined here in this holy place. 3 Here He leans down to lift you up to Him, out of illusions into holiness; out of the world and to eternity; out of all fear and given back to love.
To be Continued???? Up to you. Yes, please continue.
Jan. 9th - A Focus on A Course in Miracles.
This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. 2 It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. 3 The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. 4 The structure of "individual consciousness" is essentially irrelevant because it is a concept representing the "original error" or the "original sin." 5 To study the error itself does not lead to correction, if you are indeed to succeed in overlooking the error. 6 And it is just this process of overlooking at which the course aims.
C-in.2.All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. 2 Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. 3 They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. 4 Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. 5 A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. 6 It is this experience toward which the course is directed. 7 Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends.
C-in.3.This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. 2 It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. 3 Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols. 4 It is merely the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts. 5 The course merely gives another answer, once a question has been raised. 6 However, this answer does not attempt to resort to inventiveness or ingenuity. 7 These are attributes of the ego. 8 <The course is simple>. 9 It has one function and one goal. 10 Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can <be> consistent.
C-in.4.The ego will demand many answers that this course does not give. 2 It does not recognize as questions the mere form of a question to which an answer is impossible. 3 The ego may ask, "How did the impossible occur?", "To what did the impossible happen?", and may ask this in many forms. 4 Yet there is no answer; only an experience. 5 Seek only this, and do not let theology delay you.
C-in.5.You will notice that the emphasis on structural issues in the course is brief and early. 2 Afterwards and soon, it drops away to make way for the central teaching. 3 Since you have asked for clarification, however, these are some of the terms that are used.
1. MIND–SPIRIT
C-1.1.The term <mind> is used to represent the activating agent of spirit, supplying its creative energy. 2 When the term is capitalized it refers to God or Christ (ie, the Mind of God or the Mind of Christ). 3 <Spirit> is the Thought of God which He created like Himself. 4 The unified spirit is God's one Son, or Christ.
C-1.2.In this world, because the mind is split, the Sons of God appear to be separate. 2 Nor do their minds seem to be joined. 3 In this illusory state, the concept of an "individual mind" seems to be meaningful. 4 It is therefore described in the course <as if> it has two parts; spirit and ego.
C-1.3.Spirit is the part that is still in contact with God through the Holy Spirit, Who abides in this part but sees the other part as well. 2 The term "soul" is not used except in direct biblical quotations because of its highly controversial nature. 3 It would, however, be an equivalent of "spirit," with the understanding that, being of God, it is eternal and was never born.
C-1.4.The other part of the mind is entirely illusory and makes only illusions. 2 Spirit retains the potential for creating, but its Will, which is God's, seems to be imprisoned while the mind is not unified. 3 Creation continues unabated because that is the Will of God. 4 This Will is always unified and therefore has no meaning in this world. 5 It has no opposite and no degrees.
C-1.5.The mind can be right or wrong, depending on the voice to which it listens. 2 <Right-mindedness> listens to the Holy Spirit, forgives the world, and through Christ's vision sees the real world in its place. 3 This is the final vision, the last perception, the condition in which God takes the final step Himself. 4 Here time and illusions end together.
C-1.6.<Wrong-mindedness> listens to the ego and makes illusions; perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death as real. 2 Both this world and the real world are illusions because right-mindedness merely overlooks, or forgives, what never happened. 3 Therefore it is not the <One-mindedness> of the Christ Mind, Whose Will is One with God's.
C-1.7.In this world the only remaining freedom is the freedom of choice; always between two choices or two voices. 2 Will is not involved in perception at any level, and has nothing to do with choice. 3 <Consciousness> is the receptive mechanism, receiving messages from above or below; from the Holy Spirit or the ego. 4 Consciousness has levels and awareness can shift quite dramatically, but it cannot transcend the perceptual realm. 5 At its highest it becomes aware of the real world, and can be trained to do so increasingly. 6 Yet the very fact that it has levels and can be trained demonstrates that it cannot reach knowledge.
2. THE EGO–THE MIRACLE
C-2.1.Illusions will not last. 2 Their death is sure and this alone is certain in their world. 3 It is the ego's world because of this. 4 What is the <ego>? 5 But a dream of what you really are. 6 A thought you are apart from your Creator and a wish to be what He created not. 7 It is a thing of madness, not reality at all. 8 A name for namelessness is all it is. 9 A symbol of impossibility; a choice for options that do not exist. 10 We name it but to help us understand that it is nothing but an ancient thought that what is made has immortality. 11 But what could come of this except a dream which, like all dreams, can only end in death?
C-2.2.What is the ego? 2 Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. 3 In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real. 4 Yet could God's Son as He created him abide in form or in a world of form? 5 Who asks you to define the ego and explain how it arose can be but he who thinks it real, and seeks by definition to ensure that its illusive nature is concealed behind the words that seem to make it so.
C-2.3.There is no definition for a lie that serves to make it true. 2 Nor can there be a truth that lies conceal effectively. 3 The ego's unreality is not denied by words nor is its meaning clear because its nature seems to have a form. 4 Who can define the undefinable? 5 And yet there is an answer even here.
C-2.4.We cannot really make a definition for what the ego is, but we <can> say what it is not. 2 And this is shown to us with perfect clarity. 3 It is from this that we deduce all that the ego is. 4 Look at its opposite and you can see the only answer that is meaningful.
C-2.5.The ego's opposite in every way,–in origin, effect and consequence–we call a miracle. 2 And here we find all that is not the ego in this world. 3 Here is the ego's opposite and here alone we look on what the ego was, for here we see all that it seemed to do, and cause and its effects must still be one.
C-2.6.Where there was darkness now we see the light. 2 What is the ego? 3 What the darkness was. 4 Where is the ego? 5 Where the darkness was. 6 What is it now and where can it be found? 7 Nothing and nowhere. 8 Now the light has come: Its opposite has gone without a trace. 9 Where evil was there now is holiness. 10 What is the ego? 11 What the evil was. 12 Where is the ego? 13 In an evil dream that but seemed real while you were dreaming it. 14 Where there was crucifixion stands God's Son. 15 What is the ego? 16 Who has need to ask? 17 Where is the ego? 18 Who has need to seek for an illusion now that dreams are gone?
C-2.7.What is a <miracle>? 2 A dream as well. 3 But look at all the aspects of <this> dream and you will never question any more. 4 Look at the kindly world you see extend before you as you walk in gentleness. 5 Look at the helpers all along the way you travel, happy in the certainty of Heaven and the surety of peace. 6 And look an instant, too, on what you left behind at last and finally passed by.
C-2.8.This was the ego–all the cruel hate, the need for vengeance and the cries of pain, the fear of dying and the urge to kill, the brotherless illusion and the self that seemed alone in all the universe. 2 This terrible mistake about yourself the miracle corrects as gently as a loving mother sings her child to rest. 3 Is not a song like this what you would hear? 4 Would it not answer all you thought to ask, and even make the question meaningless?
C-2.9.Your questions have no answer, being made to still God's Voice, which asks of everyone one question only: "Are you ready yet to help Me save the world?" 2 Ask this instead of what the ego is, and you will see a sudden brightness cover up the world the ego made. 3 No miracle is now withheld from anyone. 4 The world is saved from what you thought it was. 5 And what it is, is wholly uncondemned and wholly pure.
C-2.10.The miracle forgives; the ego damns. 2 Neither need be defined except by this. 3 Yet could a definition be more sure, or more in line with what salvation is? 4 Problem and answer lie together here, and having met at last the choice is clear. 5 Who chooses hell when it is recognized? 6 And who would not go on a little while when it is given him to understand the way is short and Heaven is his goal?
3. FORGIVENESS–THE FACE OF CHRIST
C-3.1.<Forgiveness> is for God and toward God but not of Him. 2 It is impossible to think of anything He created that could need forgiveness. 3 Forgiveness, then, is an illusion, but because of its purpose, which is the Holy Spirit's, it has one difference. 4 Unlike all other illusions it leads away from error and not towards it.
C-3.2.Forgiveness might be called a kind of happy fiction; a way in which the unknowing can bridge the gap between their perception and the truth. 2 They cannot go directly from perception to knowledge because they do not think it is their will to do so. 3 This makes God appear to be an enemy instead of what He really is. 4 And it is just this insane perception that makes them unwilling merely to rise up and to return to Him in peace.
C-3.3.And so they need an illusion of help because they are helpless; a Thought of peace because they are in conflict. 2 God knows what His Son needs before he asks. 3 He is not at all concerned with form, but having given the content it is His Will that it be understood. 4 And that suffices. 5 The form adapts itself to need; the content is unchanging, as eternal as its Creator.
C-3.4.<The face of Christ> has to be seen before the memory of God can return. 2 The reason is obvious. 3 Seeing the face of Christ involves perception. 4 No one can look on knowledge. 5 But the face of Christ is the great symbol of forgiveness. 6 It is salvation. 7 It is the symbol of the real world. 8 Whoever looks on this no longer sees the world. 9 He is as near to Heaven as is possible outside the gate. 10 Yet from this gate it is no more than just a step inside. 11 It is the final step. 12 And this we leave to God.
C-3.5.Forgiveness is a symbol, too, but as the symbol of His Will alone it cannot be divided. 2 And so the unity that it reflects becomes His Will. 3 It is the only thing still in the world in part, and yet the bridge to Heaven.
C-3.6.God's Will is all there is. 2 We can but go from nothingness to everything; from hell to Heaven. 3 Is this a journey? 4 No, not in truth, for truth goes nowhere. 5 But illusions shift from place to place; from time to time. 6 The final step is also but a shift. 7 As a perception it is part unreal. 8 And yet this part will vanish. 9 What remains is peace eternal and the Will of God.
C-3.7.There are no wishes now for wishes change. 2 Even the wished-for can become unwelcome. 3 That must be so because the ego cannot be at peace. 4 But Will is constant, as the gift of God. 5 And what He gives is always like Himself. 6 This is the purpose of the face of Christ. 7 It is the gift of God to save His Son. 8 But look on this and you have been forgiven.
C-3.8.How lovely does the world become in just that single instant when you see the truth about yourself reflected there. 2 Now you are sinless and behold your sinlessness. 3 Now you are holy and perceive it so. 4 And now the mind returns to its Creator; the joining of the Father and the Son, the Unity of unities that stands behind all joining but beyond them all. 5 God is not seen but only understood. 6 His Son is not attacked but recognized.
To be Continued???? Up to you. Yes, please continue.
Jan. 7th 2006
“Love” is perhaps the most abused word in at least the Westernized world. The ego wants to call lust “love”. Lust is not love. Attachment is not love. Liking what somebody does to you is not love. Do you not know this? True love is an expression of going beyond your separate and separative self, going beyond what consoles you. Ultimately such love is magnified universally. It goes beyond your house, your castle, your egoic “self-possession”, your underwear. Do you know this?
You do not love someone because you are attached to the person and like what the person does for you. That is not love! Do you not know this? All such consolation must be understood and gone beyond. Then there is love. Then you serve another’s sacrifice, another’s Realization--and that is “true intimacy” in the Way of the Heart. -- Sri Adi Da.
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Those who Fail To Practice The Sadhana Of Love In their intimate emotional-sexual relationships, and In human relationships Generally, Will, By That Failure, Turn Away (or Contract) From God (or The Great Condition That Is Reality Itself). -- Sri Adi Da
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Be manly, man or woman. This is My advice--you do what you will. Believe that every moment of life is on the edge. Wake up! You do not want to, because to be on the edge, to be truly mortal, means you must suffer pain in your heart in very moment of your existence here in this body--every moment. And there is no relief. None. Not with sex, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, politics--nothing can relieve you of this heart-pain that is true to life. Nothing. Only this devotion to Me, to My Sign here, only you embracing Me, wakes up the capability for love with all your friends and lovers. That is the great love. All your faces will be eaten by worms like the faces of all the millions that came before you. Do not be stupid! No one is protected! NO ONE! Everyone is dying. Everyone is threatened. Wake up at heart. Truly! Truly!
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You can never truly be anyone’s friend, or lover, or husband, or wife, or father, or mother, and you can never by My devotee, until you decide to surrender to Me. Until that time, you are wandering in your attention, and you cannot really be trusted. You cannot be faithful, you cannot make agreements, you cannot love, you cannot persist as love.
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What you call loving people very much does not amount to much. Real loving changes your life. It changes your action. It eliminates your patterning, your egoic tendencies, your game.
And you cannot avoid pain. The avoidance of pain is a primary part of the motive to be superficial and mediocre. you do not want to feel the difficulty, so you will never address it. Therefore, you just smile and say [Sri Da Avabhasa speaks in a very squeaky, superficial voice and forces a superficial smile] “I love you.” Devotion must be suffered. Intimacy must be suffered. A unique kind of suffering Awakens you. It is joyous if you suffer it most profoundly. If your life is to be transformed by it, then you must go beyond pain.
Love has a wall of pain in it. If you do not endure that pain, then you make love into a social convention and your so-called loving does not amount to anything. Everybody is smiling at one another and shaking hands and speaking pleasantries. That is not love. Love is very serious, even when it laughs.
Divine Self-Realization is not the avoidance of the pain of life but it is to suffer it to the nth degree, to the point of Awakening, to the point of Freedom, to the point of being utterly transformed, in effect, by love, to murder the murderer, to be Free of limitations--but not by evading them.
Before Jan. 7th, 2006
- "We do not know what even a single thing is.
Therefore, let us Feel the Mystery.
Let us Breathe the Mystery.
Let us Behold and Be the Mystery. "
p 21. Crazy Wisdom, Vol. 6, no. 6
- You must become turned on by Infinity, by the Mystery of Life, by your own Ignorance. You must let that Mystery turn on your entire being. Every moment that you contemplate It, you should feel that your hair is standing on end. Do you know what I mean? You can make yourself feel something like that if you really deeply think about and feel the existence of everything.
Well, you must constantly practice that technique of ecstasy. It is good to turn on that sensation. It is orgasmic, in a way, but not in the degenerative sense. It is a regenerative excitement in the body. It is the body's signal to be blissful. Your hair should always feel as if it were standing on its end. To contemplate existence that deeply means that you must pass beyond your superficial feelings, reactions, thoughts, and so forth, into the deepest, most profound consideration of existence.
Have you ever imagined being alone in the desert? Completely alone in the desert, with nothing in any direction but desert and the movement of the sun and moon and stars? Just imagine it. There is nothing visible but desert, and you know only that there is nothing but desert, that it does not come to an end, that it is infinite in extent in all directions from the point where you stand. There is no way out of this desert, and you are completely alone in it. No one else is there. -- Da Free John
- Is the following not Perfectly Clear?
“The Destiny, After death, Of the Apparent individual Is Determined By The Response (While alive, and In The Event Of death) To The Divine Person (or The Revealed, and Inherently Perfect, Self-Condition), and Even To The Apparent White "Brightness" Of The Divine Reality (Which Is Nearly Always Revealed, At Least Temporarily) In The Event Of death. And The Response To The Revelation Of The Divine Person and Reality During The death-Process Is Generally Determined By The Total Complex Of conditional Tendencies That Are Developed During life, or Otherwise By The Degree Of self-Transcendence Demonstrated During life.
Unless Divine Translation Occurs In The death-Process, the conditionally Manifested being Moves By Tendency After death Into a form and a Cosmic plane that Are Structured (By The Cosmic Design Itself) To Satisfy Those Tendencies and Also (By Inherent Divine Grace) To Provide conditions For Further self-Transcendence (and Growth Into The Divine Self-Condition).
Death Is Simply The Relinquishment Of Association With the present Cosmic plane, and the personal form in that plane, Just As birth Is The Initiation Of Association With plane and form. Birth Occurs When Particular conditional Tendencies Create The Opportunity For Association With particular conditons. Death Occurs, By The Intervention Of Structural Laws Of Cosmic Nature, When present conditions Are No Longer Sufficient For Basic Support Of the conditional life-functions.”
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