Steps Toward Awakening

Realization of unity with all of life can come in a blinding flash of insight or in gradual stages of development. Each soul grows in its own way, and each must find the path to its own deepest truth.

Along the way, it is common to feel that one is not moving as fast as others toward awakening, or, at times, to feel one is not moving at all. In relation to 'unity-consciousness,' for example, it is relatively easy to feel love and harmony when love is all around us. It is more difficult to feel it when emotions are being challenged by challenging situations and when selfishness or fear rise into a more prominent focus.

At some point in the future, the power of spiritual truth will be strong enough to no longer be influenced by negative or separating emotions. This has not happened yet, and for many, emotional states still prevent the acquisition of constancy in maintaining love and connection.

In the presence of these emotional states – eg. fear, selfishness, self-absorption - an understanding must be held that the origin of selfishness is often self-protection – the feeling that one is on one’s own in caring for the self. This feeling flourishes in the absence of an experience of the Divine. Self-protection can generate an exclusive interest in meeting one’s own needs without consideration for the needs of others. It has a direct bearing on one’s ability to join with others.

Neverthekess, even while such tendencies are still present within us, intention, the will-force of the self, remains a powerful tool of the spirit. It creates a bridge between where we are and where we wish to be. It activates both mind, heart, and will around a goal that the whole self longs for. It directs energy and attention toward the aim that is being pursued.

In the presence of selfishness, self-seeking, or fear, unity can still be sought. Beyond need, beyond want, unity with others involves allowing another to be as real to us as we are to ourselves - allowing them to be seen and to make a claim upon our heart simply because they exist.

The intention toward unity is a spiritual practice that can be undertaken at any time. It is not the practice of the future in which all will be given through the higher vibrations of light. It is the practice of the present while things are still not clear.

The ‘intention toward unity’ takes the human self beyond the separating ideas of 'like' and 'dislike' to a different way of relating to life. 'Like' and 'dislike' regarding others are natural during the early stages of spiritual growth. They are natural as long as one is limited to identification with the physical self. However, beyond these distinctions is the awareness of “I am my brother’s keeper” – the motivation toward compassion and helping. And beyond “I am my brother’s keeper” is “I Am that I Am,” the essence of the Divine, perceived to exist within each created being. It is this awareness of the divine Essence within each that becomes the basis for unity, bringing an end to the sense of separation from others and an end to the illusion that there is anything but God at our deepest Source.

The New Consciousness

What I do to another I do to myself.
What I give to another I receive for myself.

In this way does the world awaken
to the single Essence that has always been.

Photo by: Claude Renault

Eyes of the Soul - 2

I look into your eyes and see, there,
where you have been
and what it has taken
for you to be where you now are.

What courage, what willingness to take the noble
path of truth commands your heart.

This truth which compels you to want to be yourself
is a burning fire within you.

It tolerates no falseness, no self-abandonment
in the ways that it once did.

Now, all excuses are becoming transparent
as it commands your heart
to speak plainly,
to live truthfully,
to follow the path that God
has laid out within you.

May this path be blessed.

Opening the Doors of Perception

Each soul is created with a Divine fragment of the One within themselves. Each is therefore capable of feeling the Source of life within. This Source, the One Creator of all, is both transcendent and immanent, without and within, universal and personal. There is no duality that this Source does not encompass.

Yet, the lens through which we view the reality of the Divine has become darkened over time. It has become darkened due to doubt and disbelief, the result of the movement away from the sacred toward the secular. This movement has shifted what was in the beginning an engagement with the Divine, toward an engagement with the attractions of physical life. Such a shift created an energetic barrier for most, preventing the direct experience of sacred reality and the direct knowing of the power of God's light and love.

Today, the lens of perception is becoming clarified so that it is possible to see more. It is possible to know more. Clarification comes from the increased light that is infusing the Earth’s atmosphere. This increased light makes all that is spiritual more visible. It also comes through the change in consciousness that is opening the hearts of all to their deeper longings. The longing for spiritual, mental, and emotional truth is growing stronger each day as light illumines the consciousness of mankind.

To live in the presence of Divine and holy light within and without is the sacred destiny of being human, no longer separated from God or from the truth of oneself. No longer struggling alone. Today, a bridge is being created to other dimensions of self and of the Divine through spiritual openings that are bringing new awarenesses to many. For some, these openings come as an unexpected act of grace. For others, it is a matter of focusing on one's intention to go deeper and of searching for the place of truth within that is no longer covered but awaiting disclosure. If you have not yet had an experience of light, it is yours to have now.

If you have not had an experience of the spiritual realms, they are waiting just beyond the doors of ordinary perception. Let your mind and heart believe that you are capable of knowing more, of seeing more, of feeling more, and the doors of perception will open to allow a new view and a new hope.

Often, it is the ongoing belief in separation and in the impossibility of breaking through the barrier that has been that influences thinking in the present. Therefore, let go of the thoughts of the past and choose to believe that the spiritual realms are open to you. For indeed they are, and even negative beliefs will soon no longer prevail against the direct experience of Divine reality.

The vehicles of prayer and meditation separate the ordinary daily thought process from those thoughts that seek the sacred, and so these practices should be cultivated as part of an ordinary regimen of maintaining spiritual health.

If we are immersed in the practical all day, then the concerns of the practical will seem like all there is. To counter this, sacred thoughts must be given time to establish roots and to strengthen their reality – time to reveal their relevance to the practical and ordinary. Ultimately, such a duality will no longer appear real, for in the end, the sacred and the practical will be seen as two sides of the same thing - the manifestation of God's being within the realm of form. This unique realization is to be given to all of humanity and awaits those who can now step through the doors of ordinary thinking to see and grasp what is beyond.

Namaste

I am meeting a stranger today who comes garbed in a role of
the workplace - a functional role - a sturdy way
of operating in the world where each knows how to
be with the other.

He comes to consult about a service.
I come to greet a friend.
He comes to augnment his income.
I come to see what might be possible beyond roles.

This work needs to be done, it is true.
But which is more important, the service to be performed
or the soul to be met.
Which is more important, the money to be spent, or not,
or the love to be given.

Flow

Inside each of us is a perpetual flow, a changing landscape of sensation, feeling, and awareness that represents itself as our inner truth. This flow has been with us since birth and priot to that as well. It is an inner matrix, a perceptual grid through which we view the world. Our perceptions of outer events and inner as well are governed by this flow which constitutes the substructure of what we call 'personality'.

It is a great learning to discover the deeper level of being that is not part of this flow - that can make itself known when we go beyond it or when we penetrate it to its core. Then, we find our transcendent self, our self that just is, beyond thought and feeling.

It is hard, however, especially when feelings run high and the tasks of daily life are challenging, to believe that there are alternatives to the specific feeling state that we find ourselves in. This feeling state, connected as it is with both the history of previous occurrences and the presence of physical sensations that define the emotion for us, seems very credible. Credible and inevitable. In the face of repeating emotional states it is often very difficult to believe that something else is possible.

Meditative practice for thousands of years has endeavored to assist with the recognition that the inner flow of thought and feeling is not the deepest layer of being. Today, we have another way of accessing this truth, namely, through the power of light and through aligning with the light within ourselves. We can invoke this light, we can anchor in it, we can return to it when we find that we have left it. In each case, a new kind of spiritual gravitation is now possible, allowing us to move back toward the center of ourselves which remains present and constant, even while the flow of emotion may carry us here and there.

Anchoring in light creates a new kind of 'flow' - a flow of connection with the Divine source of our being. It is uplifting, positive, tranquil, reassuring, comforting, and real. During the moments in which we are truly within this Divine flow, we know ourselves to be safe and we know ourselves to be alright.

Which 'flow' we align with is a choice that each must make - whether to remain attached to the emotional swings that appear to be generated by valid and definitive external circumstance, or to be anchored in what is permanent and beyond the influence of the external. The Divine flow of light moves through the core of our being at all times or we would not be able to live. Today, we are able to access this truth more easily because of the greater proximity of spirit and matter. All that is needed is to search for it within.

We open the doors to spiritual anchoring through our practice of alignment and through our trust that letting go of the familiar way of feeling will allow something new and better to come into the picture. This is the magnificent opportunity that is being given as a result of the influx of God's light.

May all awaken to the truth of their inner being beyond circumstance. May all find peace and the source of peace within. Amen.

Becoming Larger

There is a simple turn-around that the mind can recognize, though the heart may resist when pain is great, namely, the asking of another: "How can I help you right now?"

This asking need not take place externally, though it might. It can be an inner asking, a shift from focusing on meeting one's own needs, to meeting the needs of the situation, of the moment, of what God has placed before you.

Often, one feels too small to locate this kind of generosity, and yet feeling 'small' is a belief like any other. One can replace the idea of 'smallness' with the idea of the largeness of one's pure divine inner Being that knows more, loves more, and can respond more. All human beings are created in this way.

Blessed are those who can make this transition in feeling, for generosity does not just gratify others, it opens the heart to the richness of love.

How to Listen

Those who know each other well tend to anticipate each other's words and thoughts. Habitual communication creates a sense of almost-certainty about how the other is thinking and feeling. Often, these assumptions are not correct.

To take back projections and assumptions, one must become un-knowing. This is the basis for starting anew in relationships. One must un-know and ask, rather than assume.

Un-knowing and listening can be undertaken anytime, anywhere. To hear, attention must be directed to what another is saying and feeling, not to what the voice within one's own head is saying and feeling.

Here is the basis for moving beyond the ego. It is why religious orders, especially of the past, have taken vows of silence, namely, to separate from the motives that give rise to much common speaking and to improve the faculty of listening to both the human and the Divine.

Today, few take actual vows of outer silence, but many strive to take vows of inner silence. This is the silence of the mental process, the silence in which truth and compassion can emerge. The vow of inner silence reduces the power of the ego. It enables us to listen and to hear the voice of truth.

'Making a point' is not listening, it is striving to have one's own voice be heard.

'Being right' is not listening. It is assuring the ego that self-esteem and self-worth are still in place.

Being outwardly silent may involve listening, but it also may not. It may involve withdrawal and inattention.

To listen, one must let go of striving and let go of withdrawal. Pay attention. Hear with your heart. Hear the voice that speaks to you through the lips of another. Hear the pain and the beauty that lie within.

To join with another in their depth you must see them first and know who they are. Then you will know how to respond.

Pain

The fear of pain is often as great as the pain itself,
the fight with pain leading to additional tension and distress.

Let go of fighting and allow a space in which pain can just be.
It is not you, it is something you are carrying.
It is also healing you of things known and unknown.

Let peace replace fighting, and love soothe

your tired heart.

Integrity of Being

Integrity of Being - to be one in One,
united within oneself, united with God.

This is the basis for a seamless life
where one is oneself everywhere.

Steps along the way -

commitment,
clarity,
truthfulness,
love

Four pillars of a unified consciousness.

Honoring and Saying Goodbye

There are ways of parting with things and people that give honor to the sacred in life. Sometimes these movements of leave-taking can be made internally through attentiveness and prayer. Sometimes a gesture is needed to express to the universe and God the gratitude one feels toward what has been given. These gestures of honoring can be made in relation to objects, plants, animals, people, places - all things that we give value to.

I was inspired to write this by my saying goodbye to a very modest wooden box that had served as the platform for an altar for many years. Though its muted carving had been hidden by an altar cloth and so was invisible to others, I knew that this carving had been handmade with love a long time ago and that the box had served a most sacred purpose. Despite the fact that it was a 'thing,' with a consciousness limited only to its cells and the vibrancy of life within it, I felt its value as I parted from it at the local Transfer Station where wood gets recycled or disposed of.

Always, in parting, the gesture of gratitude mitigates whatever sadness might exist about saying goodbye to something loved. And so it was at that moment when I left this box there with many other pieces of wood and took my leave of it, giving thanks for its existence in my life.

All things ask this of us, all people, all places, all that we encounter in life - the small and the large. The inner wisdom of the moment must override whatever conventional sense we have that is produced by society's estimation of what is important and what is not, to allow the heart to express its love in full measure. This is the basis for honoring - gratitude and love toward what has been given. And in all things, we can make the gesture of reciprocity, especially when saying goodbye.

Here is a a simple prayer of closure upon parting - even parting from a box:

Thank you for being in my life.
Thank you for bringing your existence into it.
Thank you for serving so well.
I give you back to the universe with gratitude and love.

Time as a Gateway

To be human is to live within the experience of time passing. To be fully human is to become a bridge between time and the timeless.

From the standpoint of what we are used to, time flows more slowly or quickly depending on our relationship to what is taking place. Happy or sad, anxious or peaceful - these typically determine how we experience time's passage and with what degree of pleasure or regret.

By contrast, to live timelessly is to feel part of the flow of God's life in each moment, recognizing the everpresent eternal that marks the passage of days. With this in mind, all moments become significant as a witness to Divine Intention; all become part of the sacred flow that emanates from the Divine.

Timelessness within time gives meaning to all things. No thing is wasted or too small, for all are part of the Oneness.

Such is the gift of a life in which personal Will has joined with the Universal so that there is only One who is will-ing. It is that One that we become as the personal self lets go of needing and having, in keeping with the understanding: "God is more me than I am myself."

To become fully human - this is the goal of time itself - to receive, to know, to feel the Divine heritage.

The passage of time, then, can be, for humanity, a gateway - the arena of holy surrender in which the embodied self becomes purified and the soul or higher Self steps forth in grace and beauty.

May it be so. Amen.

Photo - Andromeda Galaxy - From Star Poems - Light Omega

Inner Measures of Time

Some pairs of words describing actions and feelings connected with time that reflect individual predispositions as well as states of balance or imbalance:

waiting - acting impulsively
slowing down - speeding up
being still - keeping busy
patience - impatience
TRUST - FEAR
feeling at ease - feeling hindered or blocked
letting be - taking control
hope - despair
being present - being preoccupied
fullness - emptiness
engagement - withdrawal
aliveness - deadness

Of all of these, trust in the Divine in and through the passage of time is key. It allows us to wait, to hope, and to be at peace.

Falling Out of the Box

In times of difficulty, new ways of thinking are needed,
ways that fall outside of the 'box'.

Inside the box are all the familiar patterns and pathways
that mind and emotions have taken.

Outside of the box are new possibilities

for thinking something different,

for feeling something different.

To fall out of the box, one must have the courage

to exercise freedom of choice - the freedom that comes

from letting go of the familiar emotions.

To fall out of the box, one must imagine something
that has not yet become possible,
one must hope for something that has not yet appeared.

Inside the box fear may prevail,
the familiar companion of uncertainty.
Yet uncertainty need not lead to fear.
It can lead to the Unknown in which God resides
and in which new potentials for expression

can come into being.

Fall out of the box,
Let something new come to be.
Let a new thought replace the old and a new heart

beat to the rhythm of Divine certainty

instead of one's own.

Whispers of the Divine

Guidance comes in many forms and many ways.

Sometimes in words that appear out of nowhere.

Sometimes in the inspiration of the heart that leaps in response to the joy it feels, or to the love that bubbles up from the invisible well within.

Some guidance is given through a sense of rightness that creates a feeling of flow in a certain direction and an aversion to alternative directions.

Some, makes itself known during the peaceful stillness of going within, where a new thought is found, a new hope, a new path to follow.

There are other kinds of contacts with the Divine associated with beloved beings of the higher realms who guide humanity. These beings assist both those on a conscious spiritual path and those who are not. Each person who begins to awaken has such guides and helpers associated with their journey, and whether recognized or not, increments of spiritual light, love, strength, and truth are added by these helpers to what the embodied soul already contains so that more becomes possible. Especially when one asks for help and guidance is this true.

Beyond specific streams of help offered and help received is the light available to mankind that may be termed the Breath of the Divine. This Breath is a flow of light that moves through all creatures, maintaining life, sustaining hope, creating the wish to live in a state of oneness and love - the natural state of the soul.

Sacred and holy Breath moves within the very air we breathe. It pulsates through the body with every heartbeat. Penetrating the crown chakra and moving throughout the human body, this light stream is the link between the human individual and their higher Self and between the body and the spirit. It does not replace the connection with God. It is the vehicle for that connection.

When times are hard, it is easy to think that the benevolence of God and of the higher realms has vanished, and that what remains is only the possibility of taking care of things oneself. However it may appear, this is never true. Even in the midst of great difficulty, strengthening from within can come, the heart can be given new hope, and endurance can be supported, even when outer circumstances cannot be changed.

Whispers of the Divine are meant for human ears. Animals and plants feel these whispers as part of their natural biorhythms. Human beings are meant to experience such contact in a more conscious way. Blessed are those who learn to know the inhalation of Divine Breath and light and the exhalation of Divine purpose through the joining of the human Will with the Divine. When such is the case, whispers of the Divine become part of the movement of life itself, pointing the way, illuminating the path of truth, creating the possibility for living life as part of the sacred Oneness.

The Practice of Alignment

Spiritual practice: Breathing in light.
Connecting to the Source through
the holy Breath.

Imagine: Each physical breath the transporter
of the spiritual.
All dimensions forever interacting,
Connecting the body with the spirit.


See - The Practice of Alignment. A gateway to remembrance.

The Search for Significance

Each person deems significant in life what derives, fundamentally, from the soul qualities that form one's essential self. This does not mean that significance corresponds to the pure motives of the soul. Rather, that no matter what the outer shape or form of one's life, every person, however misguidedly, is pursuing an ideal.

Such an ideal, of course, is not necessarily known to the embodied self. The embodied self, indeed, may not recognize having a soul-purpose at all, and yet one's tastes, preferences, and the things one takes delight in correspond, on a vibrational level, to something that at its root is positive and related to one's Divine self.

When an ideal in its pure form seems unattainable, it often happens that the embodied self will choose other substitutes, some faithful reflections of the original ideal, some poor, distorted, or corrupt reflections of the original. These distorted versions can be very far away from the original purity.

Nevertheless, every person is seeking their ideal self in manifestation all of the time. This is another way of saying that each person is seeking wholeness and completion. The ideal self, in its pure form, represents that state which is at one at the same time the Divine Presence within, and a portion of the Godhead in its qualities.

Even when one has abandoned the path of seeking goodness and truth in a conscious way, even when one has turned away from the light and become hopeless, cynical, disbelieving, or angry, there still is often underneath the wish that trust were possible and that love and truth were attainable. Disappointed idealists live all around us and their quest to be disabused of their cynicism is a poignant one.

What gives life significance?

Some would say the things we do that make us happy.
Some would say the people we love that love us in return.
Some would say the work we do that is of benefit to others.
Some would say the fact that we are alive.

To meditate on significance is to open the heart to what it holds to be most true. To realize significance is to live a life in keeping with that truth.

Significance

Who or what we give our hearts to is a mystery

that cannot be penetrated by the mind.

Only the deeper self knows the secret wishes of a heart

that seeks beauty, innocence, love, and truth.

Only that deeper self knows where it will find them.

Undaipur Street With Cow

The personal in the Universal,
The Universal in the personal,
The sacred essence of a life that is holy.

Nothing too small,
Nothing too large,
All is held in God, as God.

___________________

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Photo by Claude Renault