I'm Back....

So....it's been a rather long hiatus. I don't know if I am going to be doing this on a regular basis again, but I felt to check in for some reason. Maybe it was the ayahuasca journey, maybe the increasing insanity on the planet, maybe it's the desire to make a positive contribution....probably all of the above. I know nothing about anything, really. It's all conjecture, a conversation I have with myself.

This is what I have come to realize....it's all in my head. Except that I really have no head to speak of, only this vast space wherein things come and go. As perceived, so appears. There is the conditioned mind constantly interpreting the data from the senses into this holographic reality according to preconceived expectations....one thing leads to another, and another, a seemingly endless panoply unfolding in time. And then there's the aware void, the still point, before anything begins, untouched, unsullied by all of it. When grounded in this awareness, it is more like a movie than anything else, something this "I" simultaneously watches and participates in. There is no investment in any outcome. But "I" am all in.

Oh, there are many opportunities to numb out and attempt to escape and certainly it is understandable why anyone would want to. In so many ways, it's all too much.  Even the spiritual stuff depends on us believing we are NOT THAT, even though we ARE THAT which we seek. So the marketplace lures us on, even in our attempt to escape this matrix mind-control hologram.

it's such a small step, so easy to miss. But you have to STOP. Stop seeking, stop buying, stop wanting something ELSE. Be here...now...as if you came to the end of the road and there was just a deep abyss, and you turned around to find where you had been no longer existed either. Think about it....what if NONE of it is real? What if it is just a story we tell ourselves over and over again because to stop is to face our fear of annihilation? What if we just let ourselves get swallowed by the nothing that we fear? The thing is, the fear itself is just part of the story, part of the script. It's the door to the way OUT. Sort of. Because all that happens is the bubble pops, and you are free.

Don't just take my word for it, try it! You'll be surprised....

One Buddha Teaching That Will Tell You More About Yourself Than Anything Else

 

by Andrew Barker in Collective Evolution

No Self

In Buddhism one of the ‘Three Characteristics’ is No-Self (the other two are impermanence and suffering which are closely associated with this). This refers to the illusion of reality having a permanent and separate self.

There is this notion that there is a permanent “I” or “me,” which is a separate entity that can be found. The obvious assumption of we are our body sounds good until we look at it and say “this is my body,” which implies at that moment that whatever owns the body wasn’t the body. The observer and the observed; duality denies our body being what we are. It is also in a state of impermanence, and at a sensate level it is made up of energy flickering at a similar rate to reality.

Perhaps thoughts are the “I.” They may seem more like the true “me” than the body does. But they come and go and are changing constantly too, as well as the majority of them not being under our control at all. They too aren’t something solid enough to assume they are the “I.” The ego is a process of identification with reality (physical and mental phenomena), not a thing in and of itself; it is like a bad habit. Not being a thing, it cannot be destroyed as some people say, but by understanding our bare experience, our mind, the process of identification can stop.

There is also something frequently called the “watcher” or “observer,” which is observing all of these phenomena. Strangely, the watcher can’t be found either, as it seems to sometimes be our eyes, sometimes not; sometimes it’s images in our head; sometimes it seems to be our body and sometimes it’s watching the body. It seems odd that this watcher to which all of this is being perceived by, which seems separate from reality and which seems in control of “us” is constantly changing and completely unfindable.

One of the biggest clues in solving this mystery is that if we are observing it, then by definition it isn’t us. Reality is made up entirely of sensations, and to begin to unravel this mystery is to begin to awaken. Reality with a sense of a separate watcher is a delusion. So who or what is it that awakens?

What Awakens?

In short, it’s all of this transience that awakens! Here’s an explanation, keep in mind this is an attempt at summarizing something quite complicated. (Not really!)

No-Self teachings directly counter the sense that there is a separate watcher, and that this watcher is “us” that is in control, observing reality or subject to the tribulations of the world. These teachings stop the process of mentally creating the illusion of a separate self from sensations that are inherently non-dual and utterly transient.

 

There are physical phenomena (everything we perceive with our senses) and mental phenomena (thoughts, feelings, emotions). These are just phenomena, and all phenomena aren’t a permanent, separate self as they are completely impermanent and are intimately interdependent. These phenomena arise and pass as we venture through reality, i.e. the sound of a bird singing comes into existence and then dissipates.

There is also awareness of these phenomena, but awareness is not a thing or localised in a particular place, so to even say “there is awareness” is already a large problem, as it implies separateness and existence of it where none can be found. Awareness is permanent and unchanging, and it is said that all things arise from it, and all things return to it. It could be called God, Nirvana, The Tao, Allah, the present moment, the Buddha nature or just awareness.

While phenomena are in flux from their arising to their passing, there is awareness of them. Thus, awareness is not these phenomena, as it is not a thing, nor is it separate from these objects, as there would be no experience if this were so.

True-Self

True-Self teachings point out that we actually are all these phenomena, rather than them being seen as observed. As phenomena are observed, they can’t possibly be the observer. Thus, the observer, which is awareness, cannot possibly be a phenomenon and thus is not localised and therefore doesn’t exist. Duality implies something on both sides: an observer and an observed. However, there is no phenomenal observer, so duality doesn’t hold up under careful investigation. When the illusion of duality permanently collapses in awakening, in direct experience, all that is left is these phenomena, which is the True Self.

There’s a great little Buddhist poem by Kalu Rinpoche that sums all this up:

We live in illusion and the appearance of things.

 

There is a reality, we are that reality.

 

When you understand this, you will see “you” are nothing.

 

And, being nothing, you are everything.

Spiritual Deconstruction - What Is "I" ?

Here is the newest video in my spiritual deconstruction series. This is a social experiment to see what it takes to awaken from the induced virtual reality forced upon us by the institutions of government, education, and mainstream media. Are you awake? Or are you still dreaming......?

David Icke - The X Factor

http://www.davidicke.com
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.tv/
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.tv/watchnow

GRATITUDE

Spiritual Deconstruction: What is "Mind"?

This is the third video in my spiritual deconstructions series. This material is meant to present the possibility of liberation occurring in this lifetime, as is your birthright. It is a matter of re-identifying oneself with non-localized consciousness itself instead of the content of one's personal "mind". By questioning unexamined assumptions, one can open the door to this realization and be a conduit for the evolution of consciousness expressing through humanity on this planet.

Quantum Simplicity

... Quantum Simplicity ...

The universe, high and low, is really a "Divine-Make-Work" project. Everything runs on Universal Energy most people call God or TIL - The Infinite Light.  It's a Vibration of Energy and it's Neutral. The actual "Divine-Work-Makers" are Beings equivalent to what we could call animal-trainers. They control or program the lower worlds. Naturally, they are a few steps higher than the average lion tamer, for they are Divine Beings or Co-Creators. Meanwhile, all things are relative...

All worlds are similar to global size circuses and all the "Make-Work" is created so that Souls or Universal-Energy-Units are able to have experiences. Actually, many of these Units create their own experiences since all Units are Holograms of the ICU - the Infinite Creative Universe...

The ICU is The One Mind imagining that it is The Many and it lets its imagination run free within, or throughout all of its aspects. The trick is to enjoy this imagination, including the experiences it creates, without comparing them to others. If it was not for the Divine-Work-Makers, loosely called the Programmers, the universe would be totally stagnant or dead. It would be an infinite Computer without Software!  This way - all Aspects are busy and most have the idea that they are going some place...

Naturally, no one Being or Entity goes any place, because all happenings are dreams that take place in their own infinite Mind or Imagination. By design, no Being can pop out of its own dream at will. However, this does occur when True Awakening takes place. This happens to all dreamers or co-creators when they have reached the end of their Creative-Program or when they fully realize that the entire universal activity is nothing but a Divine-Make-Work project. All Beings or Entities cycle within the universe from Top to Bottom and up again. One cycle is called an Infinity. The universe is a Structered-Movement within Awareness or Consciousness. It is on an Infinite Journey without a specific destination - except the final goal of Full Awakening! We are Unborn Awareness cycling up and down as well as sideways...

Most Beings (and especially Human Beings) who speak to their fellow Beings about the Divine-Make-Work project are declared insane immediately! As a rule the masses are too busy to notice that they have been hit by the Truth. Most people, for example, hate the Truth and shun it like a plague. Yet, all of them are looking for it without realizing that they Are The Truth. All are very self-involved by trying to fix or save the world. They work the Light so to speak. Fixing and saving the world is a selfish addiction I call Feeling Important! Notwithstanding this nasty addiction - the allover effect of the Divine-Make-Work project gloriously declares the universe a win-win proposition. In other words - there are no losers...

It is mandatory for all humans and other creatures to be subjected to the Divine-Make-Work project. It's an automatic or a default situation!  Eventually, all of them move up and become Divine-Work-Makers themselves. There is lots of room and work at the Top. All Beings and Entities are basically Creative Energy Units raising themselves. If one becomes really good at it, one is promoted to Divine-Work Programmer or Co-Creator. All Galaxies are full of them...

The work at hand in the universe is divided according to the ability of forgetting OneSelf and playing any role convincingly without revealing the secret that "anything goes" or "flipping out" like I did by telling you all this (Please Grin). In the mean time, very few actors make universal history by becoming a Christ or a Buddha immediately. Some already were when they landed - but no Master will tell that s/he is a Master! Last but not least, it is useful to mention again that the entire Universe is... 

! A Divine-Make-Work-Project of Love !

 
To read more, CLICK HERE.

*Quantum Physics* Welcome to the Matrix!

2013 A Message of Realization to Humanity

Great visuals......Enjoy!

INSIGHTS

by Anamika

Insights. 

Are they true?  

Or they seem clear and we just assume that 

they are true because there is clarity?

How do we know?   

How do we know anything?

And how can this passion for truth lead to anything anyway, 

as at the end of everything,  when one really goes to the end,  there is nothing.   

Emptiness  

Everything falls apart,  returns to source.  

Void.   

At the end of everything is Nothing.   And at the beginning as well.

All expressions,  all intimations,  insights,  come up and disappear.  

Born out of Emptiness and returns.   

Only Emptiness remains.

Insights can point to the direction of truth at the moment of expression,   

but then they are instantly passed their prime. 

Their moment of glory is immediate, never to return.
 

The pointing to what Is, eternal and unchanging is true,   is real.

Is the golden grail all through the ages,  the alchemist gold,  

the description of nirvana,  the diamond of the sutras.  

But the language used to express becomes 

archaic and out dated in no time.  

As This is ever fresh and new,  and cannot be captured by any word,  

not even the most sublime as it defies all descriptions. 
  

Its beyond the known,  

beyond language,  

beyond labels,  

its always pristine,  

always experienced in the ever present Now.   

Its the ever ongoing open experiencing of all that is. 

 

Try as you might,  
you will never not be this, 

As this is All there.

 

http://noname-allthereis.blogspot.ca/2013/04/insights.html

You Are What You Seek - Nonduality and the Awakening You Are

pfeldtman@gmail.com

We're All In This Together

by Ryan Moore

I need to know you're with me

It seems a simple choice -
succumb, or overcome?
Succeed, or fail?
Winner, or loser?

The english language is riddled with dualities,
each one of them cheapening
the fascinating variegated integrity
of creation itself.
(I.E., us.)

Many of us are force-fed these notions
and our mind, fulfilling it's function, digests them -
integrating yes/no understandings into our identity.

Are you fat, or skinny?
Stupid, or smart?
If you're not pretty you must be ugly,
and if you're not a 'have'
you must be one of the unfortunate 'have-nots.'

Are you good at dancing? Bad at sports? Can you sing, or not?
Do you have your shit together, or don't you?

Are you living up to your potential? Yes or no?

Think positive!
(Don't think negative, don't think negative, don't think negative.)

Be courageous!
(But what if I'm afraid?)

Happy people are successful!
(Great, now I'm sad and unsuccessful.)

Truth is not an either/or,
truth is terrifyingly brave
and grievously joyful.

Life is radiantly monstrous
and perfectly, perfectly fucked up.

I have been depressed for the past 24 hours,
and in my depression have found hope unconquerable -
for it has already been conquered, has already surrendered.

I would see humanity expand,
and slip loose of all the dualistic shackles
attendant to the experience
of being consciousness incarnate.

We are a phenomenon of consciousness itself, and so innately unconstrained.
We do not succumb or overcome, win or lose.

It may appear that way to those taken in by the scoreboard's simple illusion:

"Oh well, good game... we lost."

Did you?

It can be a horrifyingly ecstatic sensation, to surrender to the truths that lie beyond the boundaries of either/or.

As I commit more and more fully to abandoning myself to what is, something new seems to be happening. I sense the subtle emergence of a crystalline quality in myself, a quality that seems to suffuse everyday life with a moment-to-moment ability to be peacefully, attentively, alertly, and contemplatively present.

I don't find it easy, I find it a challenge to completely surrender the widely-held belief system which insists that there's a right way and a wrong way to do, a right way and a wrong way to be.

Often I find myself desperate for some evaluative criteria the same way I'd be desperate for air underwater - there is a similar sense of losing myself.

Often I race back to dualistic standards like a child fleeing back to mom and dad - the playground is too noisy, too confusing, too chaotic and I don't know what to do, don't know how to play, don't know what the rules are... at least with mom and dad I know if I'm doing it right or not.

When this happens, I can be pretty hard on myself - I've had a lot of practice establishing unrealistically high expectations and then berating myself when I fall short.

I find it hardest when I feel isolated.

Although I can be quite articulate here in blog-world,

in the face-to-face interactions of everyday life I'm often at a loss

when asked to speak about what I'm doing with my life.

People ask me questions like:

"What did you do today?"

or

"What are you working on?"

and I don't know how to answer. Once I tried saying:

"I'm intentionally outgrowing the dichotomy of polarity, because I'm utterly inspired by the vision of what humanity will inevitably collectively accomplish once we all do the same."

...and the conversation sort of stalled at that point.

To continue reading CLICK HERE.

The Enlightenment

THE ENLIGHTENMENT.PDF

Click on the link above ...
 
Remember who you are, dear friends...

Walk As a Universal Being on Earth

by Eileen Meyer

Angelic Transmission in 2004, Published in Sedona Journal 2009

People say that they want to transcend, that they want to meet and know God. And then when God begins to rattle around in their consciousness the fear erupts, for there is no “known” identification with this frequency. There has been a loss of memory. For most have been invested for so long, for so many cycles, in the human world – in this disconnected state from the rest of themselves.

This is the cycle that is ending. And in this process, in order to stay in form and rejoin with Creation, or the Universal, there is a complete loss of identity - a complete surrender, as you say, to allow the form to be governed by the Universal Self. It does not mean that all relationships perish - all of your persons, places and things - it does not mean that they all perish, never to be seen again. It is that you press the restart button, and from that point forward you are relating in actuality with others, versus to relating to an image that you have designed within this human construct.

Why would one want to resist becoming Universal? There is no marker; there is no book; there is no story on your planet that prepares one for the actual meeting of the Unknown. Therefore, it is feared and resisted. There is no way to prepare for this, except gradually. And even those who have been preparing for years to allow this transformation – the full reversal from separation to Universal – even with these persons there can be resistance in the end, for they have had but glimpses of the Universal. For some it has been longer than glimpses - but the primary foundation of their life, in order to keep consistency with those around them, was to be focused in the conditioned world with the memory and the understanding that this is not all there is.

You see, they carry that knowing for a time. And you call these people "enlightened", by the way. They know, yet they still primarily operate within the human construct. They may pass on what they learn… report on what they have learned of the More, but your next step in your evolution is to BE that MORE – in all ways – including in physicality, in relationship with the earth, in relationship with what is actual.

The guidance at this time is to continue in your present-moment interactions, whatever that may be for you. Whether it is in words in this way or in a strictly feeling experience of it, you will be guided through this process to actual demonstration. Some of you have been consciously requesting and recalling portions of your overall intention for the life – to demonstrate the Universal on Earth… to be That Which You Are in form. In the past this has been theory, strictly theory, for how many examples have you experienced of the Universal Consciousness awakened on Earth? You have your stories about those characters long, long ago who seemed to have achieved this. This is not sufficient for you obviously, to make the transition yourself. For you have your examples embedded in your stories, icons, archetypes, but how often have you thought... how often have you wondered about That which is in you? How often have you asked to become That which you have projected onto others as beautiful; as loving; as powerful; as compassionate? That is the next leap for all of humanity and the opportunity, as we have said many times in the past, is to achieve and integrate this consciousness while in form; while maintaining your physicality. It is possible. And the possibilities are growing due to the willingness of some humans on Earth to take this next evolutionary step. Your dramas that you are experiencing now on the various stages throughout your human world, they will dissolve and there will be little memory of them when this choice is acted upon - to become That Which You Are - Heaven on Earth as you say.

To continue reading CLICK HERE.

FREE YOUR MIND!

washyourbrain.org

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.

Sovereignty (noun)

• supreme power or authority • a self-governing state

Sovereignty is the quality or authority of being independent and in charge of the conditions you live under.

Please note: that sovereignty carries with it responsibility. Meaning... if you take your life in your own hands you also take upon yourself to act responsibly and with integrity in regards to your own life... your family, your community, your fellow human beings and the planet as a whole.

We have been courageous in our choice to enter this level of density with complete AMNESIA!

Our collective consciousness on the planet creates a thought field that is very dense. The resulting density of these thought patterns carries a level of frequency equivalent to a force or object with mass.

Bill Hicks: All matter is merely energy condensed into a slow vibration.

It is the collective consciousness that holds this holographic/virtual reality in its present existence. Human thoughts trapped within lower frequency waves results in human confinement to this matrix.

Put away those bad feelings. Prevent those bad thoughts from happening. Please. They are the bars of your prison. Or more simply, the 'bad' in your bad days.

Running here and there to find freedom is a sign that we have not grasped the true understanding of sovereignty. When we continue to find ourselves plagued by fear, jealousy, guilt, shame, doubt, attachment and all the adverse emotions that prey on the mind, it is evidence that we are not free. We are ultimately held captive within our own minds.

We exist in our minds. So free your mind and the rest will follow.

Bruce Lee: Knowing is not enough we must apply, Willing is not enough we must do.

To simply be aware of the illusion of separation will not be sufficient. We must passionately invoke the will to move beyond the illusion. Should we fail to invoke this level of passion, we will continue to exist based solely on the old experiences being stored in the brain. All thoughts are then formed from the old programming. Why not hack into your mind... and re-write your program? It is of great significance that we focus on our own transition and uphold the understanding that every moment is divine. In doing so, we can begin to rid ourselves of the lingering judgment of others as well as of ourselves.

Morpheus: It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell, or taste, or touch... a prison for your mind.

As we stumble through this game with amnesia for the event...the key to remember is that transcendence requires sovereignty of mind.

Agent Smith: I must get free, and in this mind is the key, my key.

If we stand in certainty of our connection with source and detach from the need for a go-between or third party... we would discover truth. And through this realignment we let go of the dependency on guides, religion and gurus, and know...All things are you.

Until we can consciously reclaim this hidden knowledge and transform our minds, we will remain imprisoned to all things external to us.

We spend so much time struggling to achieve freedom in an external manner, but true freedom can only come from within, through freeing the mind... and TO GET OUT WE MUST GO IN.

As long as human beings continue to return on the wheel of reincarnation they can easily be redirected to new experiments (times, civilizations, races, etc...) within an old game. If all souls were to awaken to their greatness there would be no souls to participate in these experiments. The overpopulation of Earth is evidence of the many souls locked into the karmic wheel. Karma means cause and effect, not fate.

For those who believe that they are here for a grand reason, such as assisting in ascension or to hold the energy... realize that becoming all that you can will greatly assist the evolution of this species. In so doing, we impart to the whole the energy of alignment through the process of our personal alignment.

BE ALL YOU CAN BE!

What is the only thing that could keep you from doing that? What is the number one tool for keeping us bound and controlling and entire population? Fear.

Frank Herbert: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

For the controllers, fear is the real black gold.Fear does one thing... it denies freedom. Fear is the result of imagined lack. It's the manipulative emotion witnessed in attitudes reflective of jealousy, hatred, anger, envy, doubt, distrust and the enslavement of and to all things, people and places.

Morpheus: You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind!

War. Poverty. Violence. Human misery. Fear and uncertainty have become ways of life.You may argue that it is society that needs fixing, not you... don’t treat the symptoms, cure the disease. But you alone can’t solve the world... it's a collective effort... and it must first START WITH YOU.

To continue reading CLICK HERE.

The Looking Glass: Language as Mirror

by Fred Davis

Notice that you are already awake. 

Right now, this moment, the only reason you can read these words is that you're awake. You're already awake. You're as awake as it gets. You're already fully awake.

 

Given that you're already fully awake, how then could you wake up further? Since you're already awake, does that idea even make sense? You can't wake up more from where you are right now. And you can't wake up again.

 

If you want to read a book through that body, or watch a video, or send it to a retreat for further clarity or to get some context that has the potential to open to the door to further clarity, that's great. But before you do, notice that you don't need to read another book, watch a video, or go to a retreat in order to wake up, because you're already awake. 

 

If you want to do meditation, drum, dance, chant, or what have you, for the sake of grounding yourself in that present human experience you're having, or calming that unit's mind so that you can better hear yourself talk to yourself, and better watch yourself dance for yourself, terrific. Have at it. But, be absolutely aware that you can't practice yourself into awakening. You can't achieve what you already are.

 

You're just not who you think you are; that's the only issue here. You're undergoing a case of mistaken identity, and all you need today is a little light reflected from this mirror, this mirror of clear language that is also you. There is only you, but you tend to get a bit cloudy sometimes, and forget that. It comes with the territory when your spaciousness contracts around human beings, and it's no big deal. It's fine. When you're ready to be clear you find a bright mirror, so here you are, back in front of the vanity mirror.

Vanity, vanity, all is vanity! This is all you, every bit of it--you dancing for you, you preening for you, just you showing off for yourself, to yourself and loving it.

You think you're the human being reading these words. 

You're not. Well, you actually are that human also, but you're not that person exclusively. You're the awareness that's reading these words through that human being. The human is not reading the words; you are. The human is a reading tool for you just as reading glasses are a tool for the human. Reading glasses never mistake themselves for being the reader; humans almost always do. 

 

You think you need to wake up. You don't. All that has to occur is for you to recognize yourself as what you are. "Awaken" makes it sound like something really new and different needs to happen. It doesn't. Recognition, on the other hand, is simply about noticing what already is. See how much lighter the idea of recognition is versus the idea of waking up? Why make it hard on yourself, when you're clearing longing to see/be your true nature again.

 

Be easy on yourself. How much effort does it take for that human to recognize itself in a mirror? None. The same is true for you. You just have to be willing to look in the mirror and see the reflection instead of the projection.

~ ~ ~

Read the rest of Fred's article here:

http://awakeningcla rity.blogspot. ca/2013/03/ the-looking- glass-language- as-mirror. html

Mastery of the Expanded Self

By Chris Bourne

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

To truly realize the depth and majesty of our expanded self, we have to master the direct confrontation of the moment. It’s all about performing inner alchemy. There’s essentially two forms of consciousness that make up our existential being: the separation consciousness that forms the bodymind, and the unity consciousness that forms the soul. If you include various disruptive energies of society’s matrix, everything we experience from thoughts, to emotions and feelings are caused by the interaction of these various flows of consciousness. How might ‘we’ – as presence – be able to positively influence the internal dynamic?…

Creating Your Own Reality?

Some speak of shaping the thoughts in order to master beingness, but to me, this is simply a case of the tail wagging the dog. The same goes for ‘creating your own reality’. Sure, we do create our own reality, but what do we mean exactly by ‘our’? In most cases the identity doing the manifestation is just a more subtle form of ego – a spiritual identity – that wants to control the situation in some particular way because it cannot accept what is already unfolding.

We are already shaping and creating everything we experience. Either the true self - the soul - is shining through and creating harmonious experiences or else the false self is influencing the show, by resistance to what’s currently happening, denial or just plain insensitivity. We might feel a creative impulse for something to happen, only for the flow to get derailed by internal eddy currents of life’s conditioning.

In which case you can’t simply ‘paper over the cracks’, by manipulating the outer pieces on the game board without first uncovering and unwinding what’s really happening inside. To do so, is simply to perpetuate the disharmony through our lives. Even though the circumstances may change – our jobs, relationships or location – the patterns remain the same. Instead, we need to look deeply into the outer mirror we’re already creating. This includes our most intense and intimate feelings towards it, no matter how challenging or painful. Then there’s a requirement to notice the blind spots, the grey areas in these points of attachment where presence closes down and gets drawn into the fray through identification.

Grasping the Hot Coals

The only way out is through. We have to feel the fullness of these retractions from the moment. You have to grasp the hot coals and feel the heat before you drop them. If you retract in the face of the heat or the pain or the heartache, be it emotional, physical or mental, then in that moment, you have reconfirmed your identification with the heat and with that your separation from the all that is. You have made yourself a victim of the sense of separation and crystalised that as your reality.

The key is transcendence: feeling through the heat of the moment until the coals define you no longer. You become the heat, the pain, the tension, the discomfort and soften into it. You become so totally at-one with it, that you no longer build internal references, structures and judgments around the situations. It is in these totally lucid moments you become absolutely authentic and free. You have transcended the limitation of identification and dropped into the void of infinite potential. From here, anything can happen. The authentic flow of the soul ignites, fueled by the unstoppable force of the universe.

To master such transcendence is to increase our inner intimacy – to bring absolute attention into our bodily field, to know when we retract, resist and deny. Bringing presence into these blind spots automatically begins to unwind them, liberating the soul as a free flowing spontaneity through the moment. There is nothing that feels better, more harmonious or complete. This is truly living.

The Path to Bodhidharma

It is the Openhand Approach to life and I’ve found it very aligned with some of the ancient eastern teachings such as that of the monk Bodhidharma. I came across his work some years ago through a lovely synchronicity and felt to share a glimpse here…

In the old days in China there was a priest called Master Tozan. A monk asked him “how can we escape from this severe heat and cold?” This is not just a question about severe heat and cold. It is a question about the reality we are always facing – a melancholy and difficult reality, a reality that is full of suffering. People are sick and in pain: people have lost their homes in disasters and wars and have nothing in which to believe any longer and are suffering in their despair. For those whose belongings have all been destroyed, their refuge in the material world has been shown to be empty and meaningless. This kind of pain is always occurring all around us.

Master Tozan answered the monk, “You have to go where there is no hot and no cold!”

The monk continued, “Where is that place where there is no hot or cold? Where is that true place of refuge for the mind?”

The priest answered, “When it is hot, become that heat completely! When it is cold, become one with that cold completely and totally! When it is painful, become that pain completely and totally, and when you are miserable, become that misery totally and completely! In the very midst of that, go beyond all the thoughts you hold in your mind, let go of all the ideas of good or bad or gain or loss – let go of all of these thoughts – and from there grasp that place of your very own vivid life energy! That which directly experiences that ‘ouch’ – feel that life energy directly, grasp that life energy that feels that pain and sorrow.” More important than finding a place out of pain and suffering, or trying to find a place where there is no pain or suffering, is to go directly to that place where the pain and suffering are being experienced, to go where you feel that pain and sadness directly and totally. Touch that life energy directly and with your own experience. Use that actual direct experience which you have grasped as your base, and stand up strong and firm. This is how the master answered the monk.

Phoenix from the Ashes

Of course this advice is not just for the metaphoric physical feeling of hot and cold. We may apply it to every aspect of our lives. Especially in relationships for example where we might suffer emotional or psychological trauma.

As it’s happening, we must not deny it, but rather go into the very heart of the contraction and become as one with it – to soften into it – in the way described above. Then the bubble of identification bursts, the void of silence is touched, the soul rises like a pheonix from the ashes and a new, more harmonious reality takes shape.

Finally, the majesty of the expanded self is realized.

What Do You Want?

TRUE ABUNDANCE

You don't really want what you think you want
You only want your wanting to end
To no longer want for anything
To be existentially full and complete

But isn't that just another want?
Perhaps the biggest want of all?

Do you really want your way out of wants?
What do you really want?

"Want" actually means "lack"
So now the question changes:
What do you really LACK?
Do you really lack anything in this moment?

Thought says YES
Thought lists all the things that are missing
Thought advises that certain objects, people, experiences would complete this moment
Thought is always a seeker
It is always comparing

Thought says:
If you get what you want
The lack will disappear permanently
And this moment will be completed

Get what you want!
No more lack!
Do you see the trick here?
A mechanism perfectly designed to keep you away from what you really want

What is true abundance?

It's not about getting what you want
It's not about filling a lack
It's about realising that the present moment never lacks anything
It's already full to the brim with sights and sounds and smells
With thoughts and feelings
With colours and shapes beyond imagination

A thought or feeling of lack
A sense of 'something missing'
Is actually part of this moment's completeness
Not a threat to it
Part of the richness of Now
Not an enemy
A welcome visitor in the vast open space that you are
An old friend, come for tea

Space lacks nothing
For it is full with everything
Pregnant with possibility
Rich with potential

The mind confuses peace with 'absence'
Space with 'emptiness'
And unlimited capacity with 'lack'
And the game is on
The search for opposites
The longing for goals

You don't really want what you think you want
And that's why getting what you want
Doesn't satisfy 'you' for long

Who you really are does not 'want'
It has never heard of 'lack'
It is already satisfied with this moment
For it is this moment
Exactly as it is

This is true abundance:
Remembering who you really are
Prior to time and change

These are the unparalleled riches of the universe:
A breath
The simple feeling of being alive

Getting what you thought you wanted
Acquiring all the material and spiritual riches of the universe
Doesn't even come close

This moment is a strange and unexpected jackpot

And when nothing belongs to you
Everything is yours 

A SORRY AWAKENING

Many years ago
When I believed I was "enlightened" and "beyond ego"
(How ironic!)
I had a mantra:
"Never Say Sorry. Never Apologise".

I secretly believed that I was perfect
Beyond humanity
Beyond reproach
And there was "nobody here"
who ever needed to apologise for anything
(since everything was "perfect", of course).

If anybody ever had a problem with me
If anybody was upset with something I'd said or done
It must have been their projection
Their ego
Their un-enlightenment
Their ignorance
Their suffering
That's what I believed, anyway
(I also believed that I had no more beliefs).

I was attracted to "radical" spiritual teachers
Who acted unkindly
And never apologised.
How awakened they seemed!
How cool and detached!
How unaffected by life!
How radical!

But when did saying sorry
And making amends
And listening deeply to the one in front of you
And truly meeting in humility
Ever become the Original Sin of enlightenment?
When did awakening lose its humanity?
When did enlightenment become an excuse for a raging ego?

Back then, I held 'others' at a distance
With my lack of humility and refusal to engage
And then I claimed that there were "no others"
Like a well-trained Advaitically-correct robot.
Perfectly denying the perfectly imperfect human heart.
A disconnected Oneness.
A recognition with no love.
A fire without warmth.

I'm sorry.

Jeff Foster - Life Without A Centre

The Elephant in the Living Room Is Standing On My Foot

by Robert Cinque
Contributor

Question:  What is your relationship to Life?  How do you feel about being here?  Do you trust it, or are you suspicious, bitter, and withdrawn?

In my casual ego mind, I am emotionally withdrawn, absent, shut down, bewildered, disengaged, and confused.  I endlessly complain about my plight in this world and am ungrateful.  The ugly truth is that I routinely default on myself and others and on Life itself.  Life doesn’t betray me, I betray it.  When I entertain thoughts of betrayal and abandonment, I rape Life, then blame the bitch.  Life gets raped and blamed for it.

By now, I’m choking to death, but by my own hand.

This is important to recognize because, if it’s my hand, then I can remove it myself, don’t need anything or anyone to do it for me.

This is the first Office of Authentic Spiritual Practice: Recognition of and responsibility for the emotional withdrawal from Life and Love.

The Second Office is when I sit down and shut the Fuck up in the Face of the Cosmic Enormity of Life, and recognize Its Innocent, Fierce, Infinite, egoless Nature, my truest self.  I stop disassociating emotionally into my fantasies of separateness from this Profound Wonder and vomit out all the repression, the avoidance, the trauma of real and imagined disease and get into Bed with this Great Lover.

The Brilliant, Unbroken, seamless Presence of Life circulating through all creation, the Current that oscillates between the cycles of birth and death, through infinite stretches of fathomless space, that one, that Very One, is the Only Existing Reality and I am completely, always, already inherently one with It, just like a whirlpool in a River. It has always been this way.

There is only One Life living all things and It became me and you.  When we meet on that level, big things happen, because ego, the dramatization of betrayal and abandonment has been made obsolete by Noticing and Being Intimate with the One who shows up as Two. This produces emotional and spiritual intimacy between us because we are standing on what is Real.

When the whirlpool sees the River and its place in it, it swoons and falls intoxicated into bed like a lover, ready, willing, able, open, fully engaged, deeply pleasurized, intensely passionate.

Now, you are aware of the Elephant on your foot.  It hurts.  God becomes man, even poor little you and me, a painful and bloody affair. The infinite Life consents to be you and me and everything else, fully surrendered to us all, and I miss it.  The Word becomes flesh, the infinity of Life fractalizes into mortal human beings who are all going to die, and I hide my face even though I am obligated to somehow love and trust in the face of this great contradiction.  We were born with the impulse to love, and everyone we love is going to disappear.  Does this make sense?  Does it produce trust or doubt in you?

Authentic spiritual practice, true religion, begins with this:  Recognizing my emotional recoil from the Incandescent Event of Existence and overcoming it by being responsible for it.

I thereby stand before it, not as it.

Spiritual practice has exactly nothing to do with beliefs, it has everything to do with the moral obligation to face the truth, to face Reality, to tell the truth about my lies, to own my own refusal to be that which I so obviously am:  the full bodied, red blooded incarnation of Infinite Life, in spite of my mortality and all my many faults and shortcomings.

This is an Ordeal, coming to terms with the simultaneity of my infinite and mortal nature.  It’s an impossible, contradictory situation, but here I am anyway.  When I make friends with it and stop making it into a problem, my eyesight clears up, the Obvious is now Noticed, this is simply the Way God Is.  Coming to terms with this involves staring into the Paradox long enough for the light and heat to burn through the rational and metaphysical assumptions I constantly plaster onto Life, ideas like “consciousness comes from neurons firing in the brain” (scientific materialism) and “Original Sin separates Man from God” (religious psychosis)

These completely unfounded and theoretical assumptions  reduce Life to the level of a concentration camp.

We are not isolated individuals, we share a dynamic unity with literally everything. Scientism, the religion of science, as well as religious fundamentalism are maps masquerading as this Territory of the Heart.  It doesn’t matter if the whole world believes it, belief has never changed the truth, not once.

Ego ideas about life are just not equivalents to Life Itself.  No map ever could be equal to the territory it describes.  The Radiant Core of Conscious Light, Existence Itself, the Infinitely Intense Current of the Heart, is the fundamental Nature of Reality.

When human culture is based on the Recognition and Appreciation and Exploration of this Wonder, this Impossible Treasure buried in the Field, when we as individuals and nations overcome our recoil, our lack of confidence in Life, in Actual God, we will return to the disposition of the Radiant Core and humanity will become the birthplace of Real Life, not materialistic, industrialized consumerism and disaster capitalism, not fundamentalism and fascism.  Tyrants will be laughed off the planet, having no exploitable hosts to dominate. Priests will go broke for lack of work.  The searing Obviousness of Utter Unity with all Life will overwhelm the petty differences within the human family and profound gratitude for and empathy with all others will be the dominant social meme planet wide.

This will come about when Reality is met on it’s own terms and is no longer held hostage in the dungeons of ego mind.   That will be accomplished when we have had quite enough of self strangulation, capitulation to lies, collusion with saboteurs, empowerment of tyrants, belief in false gods and completely wake up to the liberating Facts of Life:  Freedom and Light and Happiness is our very nature, now.  We share the nature of That which originated us, which is Free, Self Existing, and Radiant, Intelligent Light. We are not orphans born in sin.  We are inherently blissful incarnations of love and truth (Reality) radiant fractals of eternal Light, now as always. This is the demonstrable Truth, is not a belief, an idea.  It’s Real.  See for yourself.

This is cause for great celebration and will one day be the basis of human culture.  The Recognition of the Free, Ecstatic nature of Life and our inherent unity with It will unleash the most powerful forces ever seen on planet Earth.  When we identify What is fundamentally True and live in alignment with It, everything else falls into place.

Responsibility for Love, for Life, for What is True is the only realistic way to live.  Conventional religious and scientific beliefs are like junk food, it looks good, but has no real nutritional value.

Only Truth and Love can provide Light and Life. Truth is Real, is not an opinion.  If Truth is an ocean,  belief is a ripple on its surface.

Belief systems are virtual facsimiles of this Reality, canned versions of fresh food.

Why settle for a virtual reality when you can have the Real Thing?

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ZenGardner.com

Confronting the Matrix - Synchronicity Wins

MAX IGAN