THE LIGHT HAS CAST A SPELL UPON ITSELF

By Paul Levi, Awaken in the Dream

When I contemplate what is at the very bottom of the insanity—and evil— that is playing out in out world, I keep on coming back to one and the same thing. the cause—and solution—of the multiple world crises we are facing, when traced back to their very root, all have to do with that we are not in touch with our own creative power and agency. We are powerful magicians beyon—and only limited by—our imagination, but to the extent that we don’t realize this and believe otherwise, our own creative power is wielded unconsciously and boomerangs against us in destructive ways which undermine the fulfillment of our conscious aims and stifles our own creative genius. The collective evil that s playing out in the world’s body politic is reflecting—and revealing—this deeper process of unconscious self-sabotage that is being acted out within each one of us.

It is an archetypal idea, expressed in every spiritual wisdom tradition in a myriad of ways, that the powers of light and dark are mysteriously connected, and that the forces of darkness parasitically feed off of and require the energy and support of the light in order to maintain and perpetuate their seeming existence so as to appear real. This is to say that the powers of darkness have no independent objective existence on their own separate from their connection to the light. When translated back to its deeper implicit meaning, this reveals that the light has for some reason used its own creative energy to constrain and delimit its infinite radiance, as if the light has cast a spell upon itself. We—as potentially both emissaries of light and/or agents of darkness—somehow play a key, participatory role in this process.
Seen as a reflection of a dynamic happening within each one of us, this expresses how something so incredibly powerful (i.e., ourselves as the radiant plenum – the boundless sentient luminosity which is the very fabric of our being) can fall under the spell of a nonexistent phantom appearance that arises from nowhere but the immense creativity of our own mind such that it entrances the light within us into believing that this imaginary, illusory phantom of darkness is more powerful than the light that we are. These apparition-like darker forces have no intrinsic existence or creativity of their own, but can plug into and mimic our own creative power such that they can use our own disowned and unrealized creativity against us. These darker powers can only take on a convincing, apparent existence by tricking us into believing that they have power over us. These darker forces only have power over us, however, to the extent that we don’t see through their illusory nature, but rather, unwittingly give our power over to them by investing them with an undeserved objective reality, making them appear more powerful than is warranted.  
One thing that we are indisputably geniuses at is deceiving ourselves – we are masters beyond compare at fooling ourselves, at tricking ourselves out of our (right) minds and then falling for our own ploy. This is pointing to our unfathomably vast and unrealized latent genius to creatively shape our own experience - both all around us (in the world) and inside of our heads. If used without awareness, however, we have a great propensity, as if hypnotizing ourselves, to fall under our own self-created illusions – which is a chief feature of unconsciousness. This whole process is potentially revealing to us that this same creative energy with which we bewitch ourselves, if used consciously and channeled so as to shed light on itself, can help awaken us from our self-created nightmare to become conscious participatory agents in our own evolution. 
It is as if we are unknowingly in possession of a magic wand that is powerful beyond measure, but not only do we not know how to use it to benefit ourselves and the world at large, most of us do not even suspect that we have such great creative power. Many of us are unconsciously wielding our creative genius to entrance ourselves so as to think that we are not in touch with our creativity—which is then immediately confirmed by the experience we create for ourselves—which ironically, is itself a direct and immediate expression of the enormity of our creative power. Not knowing we possess undreamed of creative power, our power to create then possesses us from beneath our conscious awareness, which then fuels our worst nightmares – both of the sleeping and waking variety.  
To quote the great psychologist William James, our situation is “much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.... We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream.” To amplify James’ metaphor, let us dare to dream. Let us fully incarnate into the rest of our multi-dimensional organism—both material and immaterial—and draw upon the untapped over-flowing reservoirs of creative inspiration that potentially fills us to the brim and surrounds us on all sides. The question arises: why not do this? What is stopping us? And the answer: nothing at all.   

Time to Reimagine Our Waking Dream

I dreamed I was underwater, in a vast garden of green leafy sea vegetables, growing upward endlessly toward the filtering light of day. I understood that there was an endless supply of this delicious, nutritionally dense food, and that earth was designed to give abundantly to all who dwelt upon her. I gathered the stalks as I ascended upward, intending to share this with everyone I could....

Coming out of the depths of that dream, I realized we are enthralled by a  very different dream, one of scarcity, fear, and self-hatred. It’s one that has been taught to us throughout all our cultural experiences, to think of the world and participate in  society according to it’s dictates. Sometimes, if we are lucky, something comes along and pops our bubble, and we are suddenly outside the box, no longer a part of the matrix. Then we see our programming for what it is and can think constructively and originally again, practicing and using our skills and not being obsessed with the contents of our thoughts.

Our thoughts, all of them, are designed by what information we are exposed to and we have been exposed to a world that primarily serves a small smattering of very selfish and dis-eased people who fabricated a social experiment that captured and steered the perceptions of billions. You must not believe a single thought in your head that has no correlation to your present moment reality. It is being mesmerized, an illusionist’s trick. That small glitch between being lost and being found, happens in an instant. 

Practice vigilaxation....be very present and at ease with what is. If you want to learn this technique, study a cat. Discover what is available to you as information by being fully absorbed in the sensation of consciousness-ing. Every bit of truth imaginal is available to you here. It is the only reality where choice is optional because you are no longer operating on automatic. Take a deep dive into a close encounter with yourself.

Then...ACT from that space within that is in harmony with this planet and all that lives upon her...a much deeper knowing than Google AI will ever replícate or express. Billions of years of ancient wisdom reverberate within, a rhythmic heartbeat, the call of the drums of our elder teachers and shamans. We each arise brand new from that place, and uniquely flower when we shake off the shackles and free ourselves.

We are surfing a rough and tumble sea. Find your balance. Relax. BE safe. You are THAT...!

Suzen

Solitude vs Loneliness In Our Pandemic

Commentary by TLB Contributing Writer: Ken LaRive

This virus has taught us something profound, and what that is is a reflection of what motivates us. We have spent some rare moments alone, and some have come away with depression, feelings of negative isolation, while others have found a sense of self-worth, with an elevated and positive revelation. Everything is attitude, isn’t it? While a lot of people ate and drank excessively, becoming a couch potato, others studied, exercised, and lost weight… some stayed at their businesses and tried to save them in methods that had never occurred to them before…

“Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the world of loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.” -Paul Tillich

We all have known loneliness. Those who know it well, know it isn’t just being alone, but a negative state of mind. It can be a dull sense that something is missing, or that something is not quite right, and it saps both joy and happiness from our lives. It is in fact a form of depression.

It can be described as a hungry feeling, and dull empty mood deep inside, and this is the primary reason people gorge themselves with food, take drugs, or smoke. They want to fill that void.

Being alone has nothing to do with loneliness, as we can feel alone in a crowded room, even with friends and family, and this might be the most bitter form of loneliness of all.

So let’s start off with a broad, and yet very unexplored statement that we have been taught: solitude is chosen, and loneliness is not.

We are taught that solitude is a state of being alone, without being lonely, that it can produce a positive and fulfilling state. That with time, it can construct an opportunity to replenish both mind and spirit. It is a state where we can depend on ourselves entirely for both company and motivation, and all of our decisions too. Yes, there is truth here, but an important factor must be considered… both loneliness and solitude are choices.

It is often stated that loneliness is a burden others impose on us, but the reason for this truth mostly alludes us, and it is a very important concept. Loneliness, you see, is the affect of relinquishing responsibility for self, and is the power that we have given to others, trustworthy or not. It is the control we have given them to impose their state of being on us. The old adage, “No one can hurt you unless you let them.” is a classic example of how loneliness can grip our hearts, souls and minds. And just as loneliness stems from the relinquishment of responsibility, so too does solitude create it. Now stop here and take pause…One cannot be lonely and accept responsibility of self. Loneliness is an inability to cope, whereas the responsibility we learn in solitude, if we so choose, is the ability to cope.

Your solitude might suggest peacefulness, an inner dialogue stemming from a state of inner richness, but there is no guarantee. A quiet surrounding does not mean it will quell a noisy and cluttered mind, in fact, it may have just the opposite effect. One might think that solitude is refreshing, an opportunity to renew and replenish ourselves, but there is no assurance this will occur. You see, first off, there must be a place that you have previously developed inside of your mind, a quiet place, a place you can withdraw into or from… It is doubtful that this can be developed in a solitude experience, and those who do not previously possess it, or realize how to access it, may become more confused, and disoriented… Some people are just too dependent on outside influences…

(CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING)

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

pfeldtman@gmail.com

Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds - Parts 1-4

Excellent introduction to all that leads to awakening consciousness. Enjoy!

The Dream of Life - Alan Watts

Transcending Language and the Leap of Faith

by Zen Gardner

Don’t you love dreams, especially the trippy ones where you’re sure you were there? I just had another one, and it brought up so many significant concepts and emphasized something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

Manifesting the next level with all that is in us.

The main impact of the dream concerned communication. Not the message being conveyed, but the more than amazing power of our mode of communication. Both in how it can hamper and contain, or gloriously liberate our spirits.

Something that drastically affects the entire state of humanity.

Into the Library of Light

In the experience I was transcended into this other realm by a series of very touching dream events. It was wonderful. I was transported in that spiritual yet physical kind of way “up” into this other realm. There I was introduced to this modern looking library-ish place with glass walls, and happy people of all kinds and ages. It was hovering over a pristine planet below and filled with awake, beautiful vibrant people, some floating and some walking, with lots of children around this big room with elevated library levels and a hubbub of audibly silent, peaceful activity.

Everyone was effortlessly busy and innately knew what they were supposed to be doing; no pressure, no hurry, and communication was oh so easy and simple.

I was greeted as if I was expected and was immediately accepted and integrated as everyone just kept about their business. I pestered my beautiful “governess” of the outpost guide about contacting my loved ones left behind about what had just happened to me so they wouldn’t worry. I was clearly a novice but even that was accepted blithely and in stride and they were checking out ways of contacting them. If there was “protocol” even that was open for reconsideration.

Cool? It was. But so profoundly, openly communicative.

Conscious Communication is the Key to Conscious Empowerment

The most profound realization and insight of this experience was how everyone communicated. There were many messages and many personal details involved, but the REAL world of conscious communication is NOTHING like what we experience here. Somehow everyone who needed to know something knew it. There was no useless chatter I could “hear”, and it wasn’t silence in between like something was missing.

It was perfectly orchestrated, but naturally.

What struck me as I thought about this experience is that we are all controlled by our very manner of communication more than the content. Because in this life we have this huge buffer called our ego or false self, this mind and voice box controller, we can formulate what we want the other party to hear. This makes for a huge gap in reality and allows for all these false fabrications of projected truth vs REAL truth that we witness every day.

Hence our screwed up world of lies, phony nuances and easy deception. And anyone stupid enough to tell the honest truth gets trampled on like a bug on a city street. Here. But not there.

There Truth isn’t something to strive for, it’s a simple and glorious matter of fact way of loving, vibrant life.

To continue reading CLICK HERE.

Terence McKenna - A New Kind of Time

“We are all, including myself, heavily freighted with linguistic momentum. . .the power of our own metaphors to carry us past the opportunity to listen to what other people are saying. What we are dreaming of is a common language. A linguistic transformation that is not dependent on culturally sanctioned dictionaries, but is in the bones, in the sinews, in the synapses, so that the ambiguity which attends all discussions of reality, will be purged. This is the essence of falling in love, one definition of which is nothing more than lifting the veils of misconception between two entities and still being able to move forward toward some kind of union. We have moved so far from an awareness of the feminine portion of our psyche, that now the thing dearest to us and closest to us must present itself in consciousness under the guise of an extraterrestrial or inter-dimensional invader. It’s a comment on the alienation of our era and the way this schism can be breached, the way this psychic wound can be healed, and a kind of species-wide individuality emerge, is through taking conscious control of the evolution of language. This means paying a great deal of more attention to what we say to each other, to linguistic intent. . .

“The UFO is an expression of our longing for wholeness.

“Communication, which we take astonishingly for granted, is actually the great frontier of our spiritual becoming. . .”

And so much, much more.

All It Takes is Ten Mindful Minutes - Andy Puddicombe

Breaking Study Is The First To Show Link Between Being Present In The Moment And Ageless DNA

by MICHAEL FORRESTER

Scientific studies have suggested that a mind that is present and in the moment indicates well-being, whereas shifting our energy to the past or future can lead to unhappiness. Now, a preliminary UCSF study shows a link between mind wandering and aging, by looking at a biological measure of longevity within our DNA.

In the study, telomere length, an emerging biomarker for cellular and general bodily aging, was assessed in association with the tendency to be present in the moment versus the tendency to mind wander, in research on 239 healthy, midlife women ranging in age from 50 to 65 years.

Being present in the moment was defined as an inclination to be focused on current tasks, while mind wandering was defined as the inclination to have thoughts about things other than the present or being elsewhere.

Many practitioners of spiritual health tell us not to deny the problems we are facing, but to also not get lost in them either. Psychological sciences have shown us that being present brings us greater alertness and inner security, allowing us to face challenges more objectively and with greater calm.

According to the findings, published online in the new Association for Psychological Science journal Clinical Psychological Science, those who reported more mind wandering had shorter telomeres, while those who reported more presence in the moment, or having a greater focus and engagement with their current activities, had longer telomeres, even after adjusting for current stress.

To read more CLICK HERE.

Take A Good Look

You cannot have made the decision to look, because that would mean that reality was split between you and your decision. The present is the entirety of reality. You cannot have something that stands before it, making it happen, because the only time anything in the past existed, it existed as the present.

~ Cieran

“I” does not exist. It is a referential concept only. A way to put our collected memories of experience over time into a handy photo album we can pull out and display at whim. We think it is real. We “think” it into reality and then turn it into a narrative, a story about “me”. It is fiction. It is a fantasy, a fairy tale, no different then pulling a children’s book off a shelf and saying “Here’s the story of my life.”

Have you ever actually looked for this “I”? Where is it here and now, as you sit reading these words? Who is reading? What is reading? Is there an “I” present? If asked, does there appear a roster of qualities, a list of personal attributes, as if by magic? Is there a recitation occurring, is there a voice in your head?

Do you believe that voice is you? Does it speak with your voice, spell out your ideas and beliefs? Has it a point of view you call “yours”? Is it the way you present yourself to “others”? Do you seek validation through it? Is it true?

You probably have never really thought to look at the possibility that there is no self and never was. You might consider the idea preposterous. But there’s no harm in looking, is there, to scientifically examining the possibility that the idea of self is merely conceptual and has no reality? If there is no self, what would that mean? Would that change the way you actually function? Is a separate self necessary to operating in the real world or is it an obstruction, a detriment? Is having a separate self actually helpful, or does it cause arguments, dissatisfaction, and disappointment?

Does this separate self have real needs or are they imagined? Could it be that this separate self is just a thought, a symbol of an idea dressed up as a body? Could it be that this idea has parasitized the life in the body by encumbering it with myriad desires, plans, expectations, feelings, motivations, and more, all in order to perpetuate itself? Has this virus of mental/emotional selfhood so overcome humanity that it has completely forgotten its natural state of freedom and joy?

Have you ever stared into the eyes of a newborn? There is nobody there. Only emptiness. But there is tremendous life force. It silences you completely. It is the state we are born to, before words, labels, ideas, and beliefs become the predominant way we interact with the world. A child has no concept of separation from experience. A child is its experience.  It is fully immersed and one with life, right at the start. And then the parents begin injecting the generally-accepted version of reality into its vulnerable brain, starting with the labels of “boy” or “girl”. Before you know it, the child thinks it’s the label. Identification with labels, words, and beliefs leads to the formation of the fictional idea of “I”.

“I” relates to categorized experience, listed and filed under headings such as good/bad, right/wrong, like/hate, etc. The categories are arbitrary and are not necessarily connected to what happened, only to how it was perceived. This remembrance of experience is not a bad thing when applied to what is actually happening. No one wants to forget what “hot” means, or repeat an action that could cause bodily harm. But when a concept replaces an experience of actual knowing, then life is immediately corrupted, disconnected, and disjointed. It becomes a lie.

Living a lie leads to intense suffering. Living in a world based on this lie spreads the suffering to everyone. And this all begins with the erroneous and false belief in a separate, individualized self.

This lie can be seen through. Prove it to yourself. Look for yourself. There is no “I”. It is only a concept. Concepts are not real things. They can only point to real things. What does “I” represent? What is the sense of it? Take a good look. Take a real good look.  Look into the face of what you fear most, the demise of “you”. What is real cannot die, what is unreal never existed.

Take……….a………..look.

"There is Only Enlightenment, There is Only Unity"

The Myth of Yoga or Integration

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definitions:

Yoga - System of meditation and asceticism designed to effect reunion with the universal spirit.

Integration - The combination of parts into a whole.

Common questions that one sees are 'how to integrate self-realization into one's day to day life?' or 'how to achieve yoga - union?'. However, both of these questions are based on a false premise which is that there is something separate which needs to be reunited, or combined, into the universal wholeness. Now it can be readily seen, on the experiential level, that each moment is just an experience consisting of thoughts/mental- images and sensations appearing in Awareness (I.e. we are aware of them). So that deeper than this flow of objects (thoughts/mental- images and sensations) we are this constant conscious subjective presence - Awareness. For a more detailed exposition of this see chapter two of Beyond The Separate Self or chapter one of A Light Unto Your Self.

Once this self-realization has occurred one sees that there never was any separation, as that which one truly is - pure Awareness, consciousness at rest - can never be separate from the Totality of consciousness. In the same way it can be seen that nothing is ever separate from This (consciousness) which exists in two states, at rest as pure Awareness, and in motion as cosmic energy. Every thing in existence is a configuration of this energy for modern physics has shown that matter is equivalent to energy, and the string theory posits that all matter is composed of strings of energy vibrating at different frequencies.

Now all motion arises in stillness, exists in stillness, is known by its comparison with stillness, and eventually subsides back into stillness. For example, if you walk across a room, before you start there is stillness, as you walk the room is still and you know you are moving relative to this stillness, and when you stop once again there is stillness. In the same way every 'thing' (consciousness in motion) arises in Awareness (consciousness at rest), exists in Awareness, is known in Awareness and subsides back into Awareness. Awareness is still, but is the container of all potential energy which is continually bubbling up into manifestation (physical energy) and then subsiding back into stillness.

Therefore pure Awareness, that which we truly are at the deepest level, is the substratum of all existence, the source, ground, seer and dissolution of all things. So there is, and never was, any thing that needed to be reunited, or combined, with the universal wholeness; for no separation is possible. In the same way our 'day to day existence' is never separate from This (pure Awareness) and thus no integration is necessary. For when examined living is seen to be a series of momentary experiences that seem to merge together to form something we call my life. As previously stated, it can be readily seen on the experiential level that each moment is just an experience consisting of thoughts/mental- images and sensations appearing in Awareness (i.e. we are aware of them).

So we need to be very careful when contemplating reality not to fall into the trap of assuming that we need to integrate ourselves, or achieve yoga (union), as there never was any separation. Any mode of thought that seems to posit a separate self which needs to be integrated, or united, subtly reinforces the myth of separation, and thus should be avoided or treated with care.

~ Colin Drake

Order Colin Drake's books as ebooks or in hard copy at

http://nonduality.com/colindrake.htm

Reality As You Know It Does Not Exist

You Are Avoiding This Moment

If you really look,
you will see
you are avoiding
this moment,
you are avoiding
experiencing
this moment.

It is not that you
are somewhere else
and you have to get
back to here,

it is that you are
actively
avoiding this moment.

If you can really
be honest
and see this reflex
of avoiding this moment,
then you can really begin
to let it go
and drop into this moment.

You can begin
to let go of thinking
and experience what is here.

Our problems
make us important.
Our knowledge
makes us important.

They keep us
separated from this moment.

We hold on to our problems
and what we know
because we are scared
of the nothingness
underneath it.

We are afraid
of being nothing,
of being nobody.

We hold on to hope
and improvement
and 'feel good' quotes
because the present moment
is too vast and empty.

Yet the very thing
we keep avoiding
is the very thing
we are seeking.

The moment
you give it all up
and fully immerse yourself
in what is really here,
there is unconditional peace.

The silence of this moment
completes you.

~Kip Mazuy