Which Reality Do You Choose?

We make the choice to be more conscious or less conscious in each moment of every day. Which reality do you choose?

Often, the response to this question is determined by how much discomfort we are feeling and whether the need to 'get away from it' is more important than the need to become more aware of it, its quality, its source.

Consciousness is a great gift and a great responsibility. The feeling exists within the separated state that certain things cannot be looked at too closely or faced without great danger. Within the increasingly present state of at-one-ment, consciousness becomes more possible since the sense of integration with one's larger identity allows more internal space to see what is actually there.

May all beings be blessed with the space created by light to embrace the self on all levels. Amen.

Being Present to What Is

There is a spiritual currency in use now concerning being in the 'Now', the present moment, without exactly knowing what that means. One of the things it is taken to mean is an acceptance of what IS. However, what IS exists in the eye of the beholder until that beholder begins to see clearly. What IS exists outside the self and inside - one not more than the other. Therefore, in order to be present NOW, one has to engage with reality on all levels.

Acceptance can be superficial or it can be deep and filled with love and compassion. A measure of engagement with the NOW is the degree to which the heart is attuned to its natural state, without defenses and without fear. When this state is present, one is here and open to all experience. This engagement of the heart IS the present moment. It is here for all. It is All. Be willing to open your heart further and you will find it. Blessings.

Listening

Listening is a beautiful thing. To hear what someone else is truly saying to you through words, and gestures, and through what is behind these is a revelation of the soul of another.

Listening is a sacred act that allows others to become beloveds. It is a gesture of the heart and of selflessness which allows the other to be as important to you as you are to yourself. Blessings.

Presentness and Emotions

How can you be present with all and wherever you are, when different reactions are evoked by different people and different circumstances?

To be present, one must be aware, not cloudy, within a clear space, not burdened by inner preoccupations. This, however, is not an either-or condition, but rather one that is achieved in degrees and increments. It can also take place in certain situations and not in others. What is important is to note how present you are and to be aware of what holds you back. It is also important to hold the intention to be present to life as a way of life. Without this, the personal and collective emotional field of energies can sweep you away into whatever is going on in the moment.

A question was asked concerning the stabilization of one's energy field that I spoke of in "New Ways of Relating - Part 2." Here is the response, which also relates to the issue of 'presentness'. To be unaffected by the streams of emotional energy that surround you while being able to respond to others with love is a measure of both presentness and inner stability.

Stabilizing One's Energy Field

The Opening of Intuition

Notice that your awareness may be moving in the direction of greater sensitivity at this time. This is light's gift to you - that you may notice more things. One area in which this frequently takes place is that of relationships. Being able to see the deeper meaning or intent of what someone else is saying or doing happens as greater clarity comes into being. It may be that you can feel the energy behind words or within the body of another. This may not be known to your conscious mind, but your intuition has a mind of its own that operates through the heart and the higher senses.

It is a learning process to develop trust in one's intuition, but an important part of regaining your connection with the other levels of your being. Let your senses and awarenesses open, and see what comes to you. Blessings.

Breathing

Paying attention to one's breath is an important way of coming more fully into the present moment. Many people know this, but do not take the time to do it, often because they are too busy with other things to remember to breathe with awareness.

Breath connects us to life-force and to our inner life. It creates a consciousness of what is going on in the body and hear, not just the mind. It opens us to inner guidance. The reasons for not paying attention to breathing at times throughout the day are simple - we are too involved with what is going on in our minds to do so.

Becoming more fully involved in the present moment is a doorway to new experience that cannot happen while one is fully engaged with the mind. What new experience? This depends upon the flow of awareness that is uniquely the inner journey of each soul.

The experience of the present creates a new view of life - one that does not rely on worrying, planning, and thinking, in order to feel safe. Instead, it relies on trusting, allowing, and participating in the flow of life in order to feel safe. This is an important part of the consciousness shift that is happening now and it can happen more fully for those willing to embrace the present moment with love and care, as if it mattered. Each moment matters. Each is sacred. But to perceive this one must be there with one's full self. This is God's invitation to each soul - to show up at the feast of life.

Overcoming Numbness

Television often saturates the senses so that they become immune to responding emotionally and with humanity to scenes of violence or cruelty.

News media also saturate the senses so that they become immune to hearing or seeing people committing atrocities or being harmed.

In the face of sensory and emotional saturation with the pain of the world, it is easy to become numb, just as it is easy to become numb in the face of one's own deep pain. And yet numbness is not the best solution to this problem for it merely suppresses the pain that one feels temporarily; it does not do away with it.

What is more useful for the world at large and for each individual who is growing is to bear witness to pain with a sense of compassion - with a heart that is larger than the pain itself. By bearing witness with a sense of compassion, by making oneself 'an instrument of peace' to use the expression of Saint Francis - "Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace," the pain can be held within the context of an overriding purpose to help. Even a small amount of bearing witness without becoming numb is often a greater help than one ever knows.

"Make me an instrument of Thy peace and love" opens the heart, allows healing to begin, and sends love into the world. In the presence of conflict, suffering, and pain, it creates the full intentionality to bring healing love to all who suffer or are afraid, including oneself.

Honoring Relationships

   Namaste - I bow to the Divine Self within You

To be present in relationships is to honor them - to carry them with us where we go and to not neglect them as we would not neglect a child of our own, or a person who asked for our help, or the needs of our own bodies when they require restoration to health.

Relationships need watering. They are the beautiful expression of love manifesting between souls, often with the purpose of mutual healing and growth. To be faithful to love is to be faithful to relationships - to see that they are not subordinated to other things in life because we do not have the time or energy to take care of them.

If we do not have the energy or time to take care of that which we love, what do we have time for?

Time, in any case, is not the most important thing that relationships need, even though it may appear so. Consciousness is what is needed. Presentness is needed. A person can be apart from us for a very long period of time and we can feel very close to them because the moments of communication are intimate and true. And others can be around us on a daily basis and we can ignore them and not give them the best of ourselves or the caring that is needed.

As we grow in spiritual awareness, we must grow also in accountability to life, to love, and to relationships - for all of life is a relationship with every living thing, all of the time, for every living thing is part of God.


Photo: Claude Renault - Namaste - Tamil Nadu

How to Become More Present in the Present

1. Believe: The most important thing in your life is what is happening right now. 'Right now' includes what is inside you as well as what is outside.

2. Know: God manifests within human experience most readily when the undertow of past memories, thoughts, feelings, and worries are left behind and an empty space is created. The empty space welcomes the Divine.

3. Cultivate simplicity. Being proud to be busy or stressed as a sign of success does not allow for the development of an inner life that flourishes in quiet and in peace.

4. Let go of any belief you carry that you are not responsible if you give time to yourself, time to be alone, time to make contact with the Divine. Your responsibilities to Life include bringing your whole self to it. This is not possible without a deep connection with your own being.

5. Rest. Find a balance between activity and non-activity. Especially now that increased spiritual light is changing your body in ways that you may not be aware of,
rest is needed to reveal the new possiblities that are developing within you.

6. Allow love to be more important than it has been. The transformation of an entire planet is taking place around and because of the vibration of love. Let this be your primary focus.

7. Express gratitude on a daily basis. Gratitude allows you to interact more deeply with life. You can be grateful for each day, and especially for each interaction with others. Each time you show up, a flower opens in God's heart.

Letting Go of Roles

Many people are afraid to let go of roles. Roles create a comfort zone of how to respond to situations, people, and expectations. At the same time, they limit the depth of encounter with life and its possibilities.

Not being in a role is a choice that can be made by each heart. It is a choice one makes in service to life and love, not out of the personal ego. Such a movement places you in unknown territory where your love and desire to connect, embrace, and support others may be met with indifference or fear. It may be misunderstood and turned away from.

Nevertheless, the choice to live beyond roles is a calling of the heart, as deep as any other that God awakens. It only takes one heart to respond to this calling. That heart will seize every opportunity, look for every opening, and experience gratitude for every possibility that steps beyond the limits of the pre-conceived and the stereotyped.

Led by love, this heart will make a deliberate choice to remain open when others are closed, and to remain fearless when others are fearful. It will do this not out of a desire to break down defenses, but out of a desire to uphold, to liberate, and to bring the joy of self-expression and true being to others.

At a certain point in time, the choice to step beyond roles is not even a choice but an inevitability. For the flow of life that is God engages the heart, body, and soul to such a degree that something less than complete presence and complete availability to love's purposes is no longer possible. Then, only love remains, and the myriad ways in which it can come into being.


You may find of interest the video inspired by this post.
Becomimng a Beloved - Letting Go of Roles

Currents of Life

Seeing with new eyes, it is possible to see and feel currents of Divine life moving through the ordinary.

This is especially true in relation to other souls, where the unique expression of the higher being is more often peeking through the ordinary and conventional layer of expression.

As a witness to this, it is possible to aid, enhance, support, and love that greater expression, often both concealed and revealed behind the content of ordinary words. It can be known by the feeling it stirs in your heart.

Be on the lookout for currents of life moving. If you hold as part of your work the support of all beings, everywhere, then you will notice, more and more, what you can do to help.

Two Days of Silence

There are, within each life, moments of deepening awareness, moments of recognizing a more profound sense of one's inner being than normally occurs. These are the moments of contact with one's center - the place within which the deepest identity resides, the place that gives ultimate meaning to one's life. In these moments of greater awareness one doesn't need to pursue a spiritual life. It is already there. And each person has within themselves the point of access, the inner map that leads to that place of deepening.

It is with this in mind that I listened to a radio interview with a woman who had just written a book on the virtue of silence. This woman was not a practicing Buddhist or a practicing anything that had a spiritual name. Rather, she was one who, for sixteen years, had found the merit of setting aside two days each month in which to be completely silent.

Her journey was not spectacular or glamorous. It did not produce spiritual fireworks in any of the ways we typically speak of these. Yet, it fulfilled the quest of her heart and soul to find a point of greater contact with herself, a point of deeper truth. In the stillness, she found herself to be more and more at home. And even though after each day of silence she went back to fully and actively participating in the verbal affairs of life, her two days of silence per month had a profound effect on the rest of her days.

Each embodied soul has, at their disposal, similar choices that can be made. Each can make a choice for solitude, a choice for going within, a choice for establishing contact with inner truth. The world is now ready to discuss the value of such things on mainstream radio broadcasts. It is ready to think about the meaning and value of an inner life. Yet, it is up to each one to find that value within themselves. Such a value defies the temptation to feel one is "too busy." "Too busy" may be a standard for activity for many, it may even be commponplace. But it cannot be a standard for life. For life asks of us something different than activity. It asks us to engage in a relationship of the heart, one in which we involve ourselves with the meaning of each moment - one in which we engage in a dance with both the Giver and the Gift.

Understanding Others

Understanding others does not depend upon having had an identical experience to what another is feeling, nor does it depend upon a course of study that develops conceptual knowledge, though each of these can contribute to understanding.

More than anything else, understanding others comes from living in a clear space where one's own needs, fears, and concerns no longer obscure truth. For the reality of what is shines with a light of its own when it is not covered over by darkness. Then, the truth of another can emerge clearly, be seen, felt, and appreciated.

It is in this way that peace in the world can be born - not through each seeking their own advantage and finding a fragile compromise that may or may not work for a time, but by each developing the capacity to come together in a clear space, in trust, and in the willingness to pursue truth.

How to Have a Conversation - Listening in a Clear Space

A real conversation takes place in a clear space without expectations or projections. This is difficult to do for most people, since fear and need-states occupy a prominent part of what we accept as the basis for speaking with others.

To hear clearly, one must be willing to hear and not afraid to hear. Then, only truth will emerge.

To speak clearly, one must be able to remain connected with one's center and the center of feeling that lies in the heart. Then it will be possible to know what to say.

Listening with openness and without projection is an act of love. It invites reciprocity. It nourishes innocence. It allows Divine love to infuse the conversation. Then, all can emerge that love makes possible.


See the earlier articles on 'How to Have a Conversation':

How to have a Conversation
Being Vulnerable
Letting Go of Defenses

Letting Go

You may be afraid to let go of something because you fear nothing will come to take its place.

You may be afraid because you've been holding on for so long that you've forgotten how to let go.

You may be afraid to let go because the one who has been holding on is who you have been, and who will you be if you're not that?

All questions about letting go have to do with fear.

All answers have to do with love and trust.

The Unknown is not empty. It is a vibrant, alive, full Unknown, filled with love that comes from God and is God.

Instead of picturing an empty space where something was, picture a space that is alive and pulsating. Now, it is covered with a veil. When you enter it, the veil will be lifted.

Then, a new empty space will be created as you continue to move into the future.

This is the path of new creation. It is how one becomes free. It is how humanity will learn to flow with the Divine movement of life.

Art, Spirituality, and Life - 2

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Each person has something they know, something they love, and something they can make or say. Here is the essence of art: not content but process; not talent but vision; not form but emergence.

In this way does one reach the source of art and life together. Not as a 'doing' but as an aspect of 'being'. Out of this 'being' arise both art and life as the graceful flowering of the soul.

* * *

See also: Art, Spirituality, and Life

The Center

Love calls us to be present
out of the depths of ourselves.
No matter where we have been,
it beckons us from the world of worry,
doubt, and brooding
into the world of the Beloved.

It asks us to be faithful to it
through all trials and tribulations,
to give the best of ourselves to love
for love's sake,
for life's sake,
and because it is more real
than all that is not love.

Dance of the Saris

Photo: Claude Renault: Saris. Prayag. Uttar Pradesh.

Choosing Life

This is the moment in time in which all can become new, not from the outside in but from the inside out.

Each moment is a choice made from the eye of the perceiver - how do you hold your life? How do you hold your relationship with God? How do you hold the others who pass by you throughout the day?

These are the choices to make daily, within each moment, within each breath, with the flow of each thought. Let the atoms of your being know that you choose life and love.

Inspiration

Inspiration opens the doors of perception so that truths that were not formerly accessible to the inner knowing suddenly become accessible. Inspiration is like a doorway in the mind that suddenly opens to reveal a room that one did not know was there. In this room are often the deeper truths remembered by the soul that are temporarily unavailable to the outer being. Also, within this room are the expansive connections with the world of Essences in which all things can be known. This is the world of Divine knowledge as compared to human, in which profound mysteries can be revealed.

It was in this way that I came to know more deeply than before, something that is profoundly true about the Earth.

In the midst of contemplating the miraculous healing capacity of the body when there is a skin abrasion due to a fall and the body creates a healing scab under which new skin grows, I realized that this miracle of regeneration applies to the Earth as well. Indeed, the Earth has this same healing capacity and can regenerate itself completely - its biosphere, its physical being, its metaphoric 'fingers' and 'toes' if mankind gives it the time, space, and additional light to do so. Then, like a skinned knee, the Earth will rebound and grow anew. It was not that this knowledge was lacking before, but as the light of God's mind took hold, it became a direct experience of analogy.

May God's wisdom in Creation be eternally blessed, for it has fashioned all things in harmony and balance within themselves. This is the untapped potential and wholeness of life, waiting to be revealed.