On Being Ordinary

Don't try to understand what I'm saying. These are just pointers. I don't understand what I'm saying either. Pointers point to the state of direct realization but they're not a substitute for it.

~ Eckhart Tolle

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“The nice thing is that when you stop waiting for the mind to stop doing what it does, you start to realize it doesn’t matter how long the mind does what it does. There’s still this direct taste, this sense of being. So waiting is unnecessary. It’s just another concept.”

~ Adyashanti

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To say something meaningful,
Get in the circle of silent ones
And be silent.

~ Rumi

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I felt in need of a great pilgrimage
so I sat still for three
days

and God came
to me.

~ Kabir

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The desire to find the self will be surely fulfilled, provided you want nothing else. But you must be honest with yourself and really want nothing else. If in the meantime you want many other things and are engaged in their pursuit, your main purpose may be delayed until you grow wiser and cease being torn between contradictory urges. Go within, without swerving, without ever looking outward.

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

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In Master Linji's time, some Buddhist terms were used so often they became meaningless. People chewed on terms like “liberation” and “enlightenment” until they lost their power. It’s no different today.

What is a True Person?

“As I see it, there isn’t so much to do. Just be ordinary—put on your robes, eat your food, and pass the time doing nothing.”

~ Master Linji

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Insight can’t be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal expression, or —isms. Liberation and awakened understanding can’t be found by devoting ourselves to the study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha and the patriarchs as living realities right in this moment. The person who has nothing to do is sovereign unto herself. She doesn’t need to put on airs or leave any trace behind.

The true person is an active participant, engaged in her environment while remaining unoppressed by it. Although all phenomena are going through the various appearances of birth, abiding, changing, and dying, the true person doesn’t become a victim of sadness, happiness, love, or hate. She lives in awareness as an ordinary person, whether standing, walking, lying down, or sitting. She doesn’t act a part, even the part of a great Zen master. This is what Master Linji means by “being sovereign wherever you are and using that place as your seat of awakening.”

We may wonder, “If a person has no direction, isn’t yearning to realize an ideal, doesn’t have an aim in life, then who will help living beings be liberated, who will rescue those who are drowning in the ocean of suffering?” A Buddha is a person who has no more business to do and isn’t looking for anything. In doing nothing, in simply stopping, we can live freely and true to ourselves and our liberation will contribute to the liberation of all beings.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Simple Enlightenment

Enlightenment is not about words and thoughts and concepts which can be doubted. Enlightenment is always Here.

By "Here" I don't mean this present space. Here is somewhere within where mind cannot reach. Presence is always Here and you are always That. This Here is not the opposite of "there." This Here is nowhere, it is your Heart. When mind is still all comes back to the Heart. All the cosmos is but a speck in your Heart.

Turn mind over into This Here and it is lost. Then only Light, Wisdom and Love remain and This you are not different or apart from.

~ Papaji

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I love Jesus, who said to us:
heaven and earth will pass away.
When heaven and earth have passed away,
my word will still remain.
What was your word, Jesus?
Love? Forgiveness? Affection?
All your words were
one word: Wakeup.

~ Antonio Machado

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Ninth Duino Elegy

Praise the world to the angel: leave the unsayable aside.
Your exalted feelings do not move him.
In the universe, where he feels feelings, you are a beginner.
Therefore show him what is ordinary, what has been
shaped from generation to generation, shaped by hand and eye.
Tell him of things. He will stand still in astonishment,
the way you stood by the ropemaker in Rome
or beside the potter on the Nile.
Show him how happy a thing can be, how innocent and ours,
how even a lament takes pure form,
serves as a thing, dies as a thing,
while the violin, blessing it, fades.

And the things, even as they pass,
understand that we praise them.
Transient, they are trusting us
to save them - us, the most transient of all.
As if they wanted in our invisible hearts
to be transformed
into - oh, endlessly - into us.

Earth, isn't this what you want? To arise in us, invisible?
Is it not your dream, to enter us so wholly
there's nothing left outside us to see?
What, if not transformation,
is your deepest purpose? Earth, my love,
I want that too. Believe me,
no more of your springtimes are needed
to win me over - even one flower
is more than enough. Before I was named
I belonged to you. I seek no other law
but yours, and know I can trust
the death you will bring.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

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I clean my teeth in water drawn from a cold well;
And while I brush my clothes, I purify my mind;
Then, slowly turning pages in the Tree-Leaf Book,
I recite, along the path to the eastern shelter.
...The world has forgotten the true fountain of this teaching
And people enslave themselves to miracles and fables.
Under the given words I want the essential meaning,
I look for the simplest way to sow and reap my nature.
Here in the quiet of the priest's temple courtyard,
Mosses add their climbing colour to the thick bamboo;
And now comes the sun, out of mist and fog,
And pines that seem to be new-bathed;
And everything is gone from me, speech goes, and reading,
Leaving the single unison.

Liu Zongyuan
773–819

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The Art of Seeking

"Time is ticking. Fast, hurry, seek what you are trying to find!"

That is what I said to myself when my seeking hit the roof. I had to do something in order to achieve enlightenment.

It all started when I was 18 years. I started doing meditation after listening to a new age program on the Dutch radio station. I am 33 now and I did not know anything about enlightenment or spirituality or whatever you want to name it. So there I was, meditating for 5 minutes each day. Thoughts were all over the place, scattered as if they came from a bombshell. I read about Buddhism online and I did not understand anything about what they said.

I didn't know anything about God/Brahman/ Life itself. I was never a believer in the catholic God and thought going to church was kind of ignorance.
Going to heaven after I die? Was it my fault that I was born?
So I turned on the TV one night and Osho (an Indian mystic) said the following words 'you are not the doer, you are a watcher'. This trying to figure out who the doer was started right there that night.

So time flew but enlightenment and Self realization did not make any sense. When I was 27 or so, I typed the question on Google "who am I?" I came to an advaita site of Ramana Maharshi. It sounded good to me. As I went to YouTube, I found other advaita/non- duality teachers talk about it. When I listened to Tony Parsons saying 'everything just happens for no one', something clicked. Surely, hearing, smelling and feeling were happening on their own accord. If ever enlightenment was that easy! I couldn't believe it. I thought I had it. I thought that it happened to someone.

Darkness, separation and no Brahman/Source/ Life to be found anywhere!

Help! I saw myself as a separate doer, doing stuff in life, not knowing that that very thought of being a doer also was just perfectly happening on its own accord. SO I believed in this whole seeking mind game and all of its diverse thoughts. One day the mind started to talk in the 'you' form. So I wondered. Are there two separate selves?

But very recently things started to change. I had glimpses. They went away as fast as they came. I should be happy knowing that I was enlightened. I had it in my hands! I finally arrived.

Reality check!

Who is it that becomes enlightened?

Who is it that wants to get rid of the doer?

Who is it that seeks?

Isn't it so that all of these divine things are also happening perfectly?

So yes, writing this post is happening on by itself. And there is something still 'knowing' that it happens that doesn't require effort and pain. It is there.

This/Life itself is a knowing which knows:

- itching sensation on my left leg
- deep inhalation
- sounds
- tapping
- legs crossed on the ground
- coldness on the nose
- a thought saying ' if there is no one, who or better say what knows that this very thought is happening'
- smile
- humming of the PC
- moistening of lips
- blinking
- another thought saying why I wasn't aware of the blinking before
- laughter
- another thought saying that there is a noticing/ knowing that knows that I wasn't aware if there is an I!

So all of these things seem to happen and the 'you' cannot figure out this doership. You cannot surrender either or let go. It happens or not. In my case seeking was an obsession, like a day-job. The pre-thought 'I am going to wiggle my toe whenever I want' was my seeking experiment for 2 years but step by step in the story of Javier (if there is a step by step), there was an understanding that subtle actions were happening too, including concentration, sending imaginary signals to the toe, closing the eyes and forcing it to move the toe. Hilarious really but just OK. So there seems to be a process here NOW of dismantling subtle layers of belief and subtle thoughts of identification. So self inquiry into the doership can be the way. Or more correctly, there is no way ... there is only 'waying' by no one.

Life is living you. You are not having a Life. Of course, don't say this to an apparent anyone who believes they are separate. 'You' might end up in a separate isolation room!

It couldn't have happened in another way. So trust what you know or don't know. It is one big paradox!

~ Javier

http://beyond- advaita.blogspot .com/2011/ 04/art-of- seeking-by- javier.html

No Thoughts, No Words - Benjamin Smythe

Find your mute button. Ben calls it "find the thinker". Others might call it something else. Does it really matter? When thinking ends, all that is left is the One looking at itself in the mirror, laughing. And then the mind starts up with a discussion about the proper word to use to describe it. Too funny! Enjoy these two videos, Ben really simplifies the whole business of awakening to its primary, primordial components. It ain't rocket science, folks!

Eric Whitacre - Sleep (Virtual Choir 2011)

This is beautiful...astonishing...amazing!

Be uplifted and enjoy!

Dear Woman - by Consciousmen

On one level we are all responsible for everything that has ever happened on this planet, either by collusion, delusion, or confusion, whether we have played the part of victim or perpetrator.

"I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
I love you.
Thank you."
~ Ho'oponopono Prayer

Maybe now we can co-create a planet of harmony and balance, with love and respect for all Beings regardless of gender or form.

Not For The Faint Of Heart - From the Council of 12

An excerpt from http://lightworkers.org/channeling/127630/not-faint-heart

"...We come to You today with this Message because it is time for the Truth and it is time that You awaken to the world of darkness You have created. There are dark forces of energy at work, playing in the realms of Your mind, and because You have allowed this to be so for so long, You have forgotten that You are only dreaming. There was a time, long ago, when most of You knew You were only dreaming this dream so that God could experience Itself as Love… but over time, corruption has happened, and so many of You have fallen into a deep, deep slumber.

The dark energies of this earth are being called into the Truth of The Light. They are being held accountable for what they have created. And now this can be seen as many of You are waking up to what has really been allowed to go on in Your world. You are all being held accountable. This is what karma is. You are not being punished, no, that is never a word a Being of Love would use. You are simply being held accountable, on every level, for every unloving thought You CHOOSE TO HOLD. This is the reality of what is happening on Your earth, in truth. There is nothing more or less going on here. You can sugar-coat this all You like, but the truth of the matter is this: what You are experiencing is as a direct result of the thoughts and feelings each and every one of You has individually and collectively chosen to hold in place of love. Plain and simple.

When You talk about Gaia and “Her” transition and “Her” shedding You take the heat and accountability off of Yourselves. You displace all of that and act once again as though You have no part in this. You seem to either look at this as being detached from Mother earth and what ‘She’ is going through… or You seem to feel You are being violently punished because ‘She’ is angry for what You have done to the earth. The truth is, neither of these are actually what is happening. You have created this all by Yourselves, and now when everything is coming back in reflection for You – in such a way You cannot run and hide—You all want to blame someone else. ‘It’s the Gov’t. It’s the greedy corporate people, it’s the people who don’t care about the environment.’

Let Us say now, there is not one of You who is completely innocent from what has now become of Mother earth. Why? Because all of You have feelings of negativity to overcome. That is why You came to the earth. You have created martyrs of Yourselves in many ways, rather than stopping to look at how You played a role in creating the current state of affairs.

Do not mistake Our speaking to You about dark energies as [if] We are blaming or judging. This is not true. We are pointing the finger at each and every person on the planet who has not taken a personal account of what he or she may have put out in terms of thoughts, words, and actions to create this state of destruction and chaos. And this finger isn’t an angry and condemning finger, it is simply to say, before You spend one more moment looking around Yourself for someone to cast blame and throw stones at, perhaps You should look at how You think and speak every day.

Because this is truly it, Dear Ones. This is where You are powerful and have given up Your power to the dark energies of which We speak. Every word You utter out of anger is an energy that strengthens the forces that seek to destroy this planet. You have the choice right here and now to make a change. You do not need to change the world, in fact, You shouldn’t even be focused on changing ANYTHING other than Your own thoughts. We mean this most seriously. The life of this planet and every living thing upon it is in a state of peril, let Us help You by illuminating, without question, where the real problem lies…within You-YOUR mind. The world You see is a world You have co-created. God, the Loving Being of Graciousness and Free Will has given all of You the ability to use the very gift of thought to create. It is with this thought You paint upon the canvas of Your individual and collective lives what You truly want to see.

Your thoughts, not aligned with God, produce hell on earth. Your thoughts, aligned with God and Love, create Heaven on earth. And all of this starts WITHIN. No one should be focused on any other living soul’s change until they have fully and completely mastered their own mind. If You are focused on Your brother’s negativity, and have not yet mastered Your own, then You are a hypocrite and nothing more. We want to release You all to Love, knowing that You ARE powerful enough to make this happen for the world, as a Whole. But, You must understand that You are sitting with the keys and do not know what to use them for. You have the power, but are just giving it away out of ignorance.

There doesn’t need to be any violence or protest, that again, re-enforces the power of the dark. So many of You do not get this. You think if You go out, highly charged with emotion You will create change. You are creating NOTHING more than more of the same. Do You hear Us? You are empowering what You do not want and giving Your energy over to the darkness You want so much to vanquish. That which You resist persists. If You say “NO!” the Universe doesn’t hear this. It just hears I want more of this please because I haven’t learned how to control my mind.

The greatest power You all have is stillness and turning within. If You were to stop the mental chatter for just one hour a day, Your world would change dramatically, if not over night. But instead, You chatter, chatter, chatter, feeding the ‘beast’ more of Your energy by sharing negative dreams all around the internet. This is not true for all of You, for We cannot make a blanket statement, but, for the most part, in an act to wake people from the dream, You are only empowering it. This is what We wish to illuminate here to day."

Click HERE to continue...

Openhand: "Five Gateways"

Beautifully done guided tour through the stages of awakening and enlightenment.

More info at: http://www.openhandweb.org

The Wayseer Manifesto - ROCK ON!

Just in case you've forgotten....

and have been taking your role in the cosmic drama a little too seriously....

Relax!

It's OK to just sit back and enjoy the show!

The whole thing's on automatic anyway, remember?

Some End Game Thoughts - Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

By cosmic design, we are living in an age of tremendous social upheaval, technological change and abundance of destructive natural phenomena. Many are concerned that this is the end of days; an ever present fear of death grips their daily life.

Travelers forget that in every moment we live and die. This moment is here and then it is gone. Is this not a small death? The secret is to make each moment a celebration.

The celebratory journey begins by changing your world view and realizing we came here to experience this hour. On a journey, we are spiritual travelers who have come to this realm to experience it all, and help those we can. Embrace each moment. Use each opportunity to rise higher.

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Let us suppose for a moment, everything we see about us is an illusion; and the things we come in contact with will no longer be there when we awake from our dream like state.

What will we do? Will we cry or laugh? Will we be happy for this experience or will we want more? Will we have sweet or bitter memories? How will this multi-level experience prepare us for our real lives?

O traveler, give thought to this proposition; it is not very far from the Truth.

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As the hour glass drains
What is important to you?
Each grain is a precious moment
That cannot be reclaimed.

What have you left undone?
What else do you wish to accomplish?
Who have you forgotten to embrace?

Consider your answer well.
We are not promised another day.

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O the pain of death. The moment of bitterness as the soul separates from the body. What parent wants this for their child?

Yet, while the death of a loved one is a heart rending experience, we are not thinking in the proper way. In many respects, this life is a prison term for the soul and the moment of physical release is a joyous one. The soul is returning home. Also, learn to think of this release as a return to a greater freedom. For a moment, forget the worldly consciousness and focus on the transcendent.

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O traveler, of what are you Created? Flesh and bone is only part of the answer. Remember you are a child of Spirit and will wake-up one day to find you have joined the morning sun- shinning across the universe.

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Did you think this world of takers could go on forever? Governments and takers- lying to and stealing from the most helpless; takers filling their pockets with their neighbor's gold.

O spiritual traveler, you are on a journey; a grand adventure of sorts. Prepare for the next phase with its magnificent ports of call.

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When the potter is forming a bowl and it has a defect which cannot be repaired: what does the potter do? Keeping the clay, the potter starts anew.

O traveler, the hour of change is upon us. That which will be kept is essential to the new form.

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When the child cries, why must it be so? I have not been given the opportunity to reach my full potential. Answer with kindness. This destruction is necessary to the new form and that which you will be given will far exceed that which you lost.

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And so the Prophecy must be fulfilled. You did not create this world and are not responsible for its decay. Yet, you are a child of flesh and have participated in the pain.

And as you chose this life so have you wished for this cup. Drink deep, my fellow travelers, we helped press the grapes.

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You ask: why must it be so? I tell you our mind cannot understand. We must experience the answer; which is all part of the Creator's Plan.

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The book of your life is filled with many blank pages. You are free to write on them whatever you choose.

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Sit down and number all the things you are concerned about. Make a list and leave nothing out. These things, which make-up your list, are your gods. They are the things and people that fill your mind- instead of the Beloved.

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The hour of a traveler's death is fixed. What is not fixed is how we spend our life. Use these hours well. They are as precious as any treasure you will ever find.

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What bit of advice to offer your children? Love God and serve your fellow travelers.

~ Dr. Stewart Bitkoff - http://stewartbitkoff.com/

Another Great Video from Benjamin Smythe

Who Are You?

“It really doesn’t matter.
Here goes nothing.
It will be interesting to see what happens.”

~ Sloan Wilson – The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

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I mostly do not write on my own blog, because I figure everything that needs to be said has already been said a million times, and why add to the cacophony? But I’ve just come out of a rather intensive self-imposed retreat, and there is something that wishes to explore its findings to itself. After all, there’s only this One Thing talking to itself all the time, attempting to get its own attention, wanting to remind itself of its true nature.

There’s only one story ever told and it goes like this: first, there is harmony, then chaos ensues, and then there is a successful (or sometimes unsuccessful) attempt to resolve the chaos in order to return to harmony. All stories have this same central theme, though the details vary.

This is the story that all of Life is telling itself, as it attempts to resolve the appearance of separation. What has been forgotten is why this world was created in the first place.

Consider a vast nothingness, an infinite womb, and then out of nowhere, an idea, a spark of creativity appears, the possibility of nothing knowing itself as something. The essence of this appearance could be called love, this sudden desire for nothing to become something and look upon itself. And Life begins to multiply upon itself in its vastness and create more and more diverse and fantastic depictions of itself.

Fast forward to this moment. The experiment has turned in on itself, so successful in its degrees of otherness that it no longer recognizes itself as one. The story has become so vast and complex that the One is completely distracted from the only story, which is the one that returns it to harmony. This is your story. Everything and everyone who you seek out to help you resolve your lack of harmony, every teacher, book, workshop, whatever, is you looking in a mirror to find yourself. The trick is to turn around and look at who is looking.

The battles within and without are an attempt to continue the story of separation. Why? Why do you want to continue to live a fragmented version of yourself? You say you want wholeness and healing, peace and freedom, love and harmony, but who are you kidding? If you truly wanted it you would have it. You are still somewhat entertained by all the craziness and chaos, admit it. All the loneliness, all the suffering, all the pathos, you’re making it up as you go along.

On the other hand, this story has been played out in so many versions over the millennia, in some ways it has become tiresome and rather ho-hum. Really, I mean how much more violence and mayhem, the self against the self, this holding onto a concept of otherness, how much longer do you want to hold out? Aren’t you tired of it all? Maybe not…..

Because the ET’s might come, and the Ascended Masters will show up, and there will be heaven on earth, and no more struggle for survival, and yada, yada, yada. More story, keep it going, play some more. That’s OK. It’s all perfect. It’s your story (satori).

Well, in my version of this story, the One finally recognizes itself as Not Two, never was never will be. And in the final gazing, One into the eyes of the One, the love is so huge and tremendous that it bursts the boundaries of creation and dissolves back into absolute Nothingness from which it all arose in the first place. End of story. Wow!

And then I woke up this morning, and the cats were meowing to get in, and the phone rang, and I made coffee, and I sat and watched the wind blow the leaves and branches of this giant tree in my backyard, and this idea began to form in my brain as to writing something on my blog. Go figure.

So will this little missive change anything? Probably not. Maybe. I think there are only two people in the entire known Universe who read this thing, who knows?. In turning to look upon what is inherently true in one's consciousness, perhaps what arises is a sense of responsibility for everything, a realization that outside is only a projection of what has become unacceptable inside, and even the very idea of inside and outside becomes erroneous. The enemy is whatever you have said no to. Neti, neti, not this, not that. But how can that be, when everything that exists is you? Everything! Even the idea of an enemy exists because we wish to annihilate whatever stands in the way of Oneness, we just made the mistake of thinking it was out there! As if that were possible…

Every conflict is the resurrecting of the same story, over and over, countless scenarios, one after the other, always seeking something more. I guess resting in sublime contentment seems rather blasé in comparison. But not for this one. I can’t seem to find anything that wants something other than what’s right here. The addictions have fallen away. I know where it all leads. It no longer interests me. My attention keeps turning to what is looking through these eyes and stopping there. Even food is a distraction. I don’t even care why this is so. This questioner has no questions left.

There is still a narrative playing in this mind, but it is its own merry-go-round of entertainment, slowly winding down because the ticket booth is closed. It’s closing in on itself, no where to go but a leap into the void. Like a caged animal it paces, the mind seeking some escape, but all the avenues are shut down and there’s no place left to land.

Why am I writing this? The invitation is for all parts of myself to enter this exploration of what has always been and forever will be the only truth, and that is YOU ARE IT!

Got it? Good.

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One of the strange properties of being me
is I don’t want to be ignored,
but I don’t want to be seen either.
Sometimes I am my only witness.
I AM a mirror within which
I reflect myself;
my own mind and consciousness
a vast and fascinating playground
where I dance for myself
and engage myself
in scintillating conversation.

I argue with my ghostly
and mostly imaginary past,
shaking my fist at the inner critic
who boasted its way
into becoming a feature of my brain,
and while I drag my neural sea
for the anchoring point,
and practice eroding new paths
into presently pristine fields,
my own voice narrates.
Each corner turned, each breath taken,
each mundane and extraordinary task is
noted, verified, examined, reiterated,
some flushed, some filed,
some deified, others exiled.
It is constant,
my rambling and eloquent
talk with myself.

If I found a way
to package, publish, and exhibit
this artistic performance and
masterpiece of life,
I would be no different
than all the other needy, greedy
children crying for worldly attention,
and I would miss the lone applause
that only I can gift myself.
I would forget that
in closing my outer eyes
I see everything,
have everything,
am everything,
and opening them again
just brings into sharp focus
the state of the romantic interlude
I’m having with me.

I remember now.
The rest doesn’t matter.
Solid things are more ephemeral than
soap bubbles
when the attention shifts.
Only looking closely
makes it real and tangible,
brings it to human life,
a form through which I may
caress my skin,
kiss my lips and breasts,
and make my heart pound wildly
until passion, exhausted,
closes again my eyes,
and I surrender, smiling,
into luxurious sleep.

I dream of new ways to awaken
while the old familiar faces/places
appear once again on the horizon,
imploring me to continue my line of thought
for one more day.

I comply.
If only to follow the story line
and take in the surprise ending.
For as many things I think I know
I don’t.
As far as I may have come,
every point in eternity is
a beginning place.
I might as well be a child forever,
in wonderment at my own fingers
and the timeless pace of snails.
Today I am fresh as tears,
watching from the center of everything,
and no one is here but me.

~ Suzen

Authentic Inquiry

What is inquiry, really? This is a good question. And like most really good questions, it is very basic. Authentic inquiry is allowing yourself to care, to take on the weightless burden of caring. Everyone knows what it’s like to inquire out of intellectual interest—asking for the sake of asking or because you think you should. This is not caring. When you care about something, it gets inside of you. It gets inside the shell that keeps you from being affected or bothered, the shell that keeps anything really new from happening.

So in the beginning, to deeply inquire about anything, you have to care about it. You have to care enough to allow it to get inside that shell. What do you really care about? What pulls you into here and now, this minute? What is the most important thing to you? For real inquiry, it is important to be asking about something you sincerely care about. The question needs to be personal, not about a spiritual teaching or something that’s outside of your experience. It needs to be something that’s coming from the inside.

When you care, you care from the inside. Many people impose ideas from the outside upon themselves, but this isn’t inquiry. When you really care, you enter a love affair with what you care about. Sometimes it draws you into bliss, sometimes into confusion. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know where you are going. You feel a bit out of control. You’re letting this caring get under your skin. To find out that you care like this is the most important thing; otherwise you can spend your whole life caring about what someone else says you should care about.

Like many people, you may be afraid to find out how much you care because that caring could just steal you away. What is the one thing that will matter the most at the end of your life? Without it, you would say: “That’s what it was all about and I missed it.” If you had the best job, lots of money, the perfect lover, or whatever your ideal is, and suddenly your life was over, what would still be left undone? That’s what it’s all about.

When you find that kind of caring, inquiry has some power behind it. You also find your own inner integrity. You find something inside that’s stable. There’s a place inside you that is willing to be a little crazy—crazy enough to take inquiry seriously and hold nothing sacred. Holding nothing sacred means that nothing is assumed to be true and all of your assumptions are fair game. The more spiritual they are, the more they are fair game. Ultimately it is your most sacred and unquestioned assumptions about yourself, others, and life that are most important to question.

Many people find their spirituality taking them outward. They think they are going inward because they have heard the spiritual teaching, “Inquire and look within.” Meanwhile, they are out in the stars somewhere looking for someone else’s experience, looking for the right experience, or looking for the experience they believe they are supposed to have. This is spirituality going entirely in the wrong direction. Inquiry is a means of taking you back to yourself, back to your experience.

When inquiry is authentic, it brings you into the experience of here and now, bringing you to the full depth of it, pulling you into it. The question pulls you back into the mystery of your experience. “What am I?” takes you right back into the mystery. If your mind is honest, it knows it doesn’t have the answer. You ask, “What am I?” and instantly, there is silence. Your mind doesn’t know. And when it doesn’t know, there is an experience right here, right now, that is alive. You bump into nothingness inside—that no-thing, that absolute nothingness which your mind can’t know.

The answer does not come in the form of a description or phrase; it is a direct experience. And this experience, your livingness, always transcends any words or intellectual answer. In fact, the truth of your being is eternally transcending itself. As soon as it projects itself out as something, even as a profound insight, it has already transcended it. So eventually the inquiry wears itself out. You wear yourself out. You wear your ego self out. You wear your spiritual self out. You wear it all out. You’ve inquired yourself out of this whole thing, and you’re disappearing faster than you can put yourself together.

As Nisargadatta Maharaj said so brilliantly and beautifully, “The ultimate understanding is that there is no ultimate understanding.” When it’s in the head, it’s an impressive piece of understanding; when it’s in the heart, as the Buddha said, it’s extinguished. You find a living experience of being, empty of content, empty of you. This is where spiritual awakening begins. This is the living answer of authentic inquiry.

© Adyashanti 2007

http://www.adyashan ti.org/index. php?file= writings_ inner&writingid= 32

World Freedom Day -- Pura Vida From Costa Rica!

I greatly admire the work of Steve Beckow (The 2012 Scenario), especially his ability to consolidate current events with spiritual material. When he began sharing his vision of World Freedom Day, I was instantly inspired to somehow be involved, yet here where I live in Costa Rica, I wasn't sure in what manner that would present itself. Since Life always guides me correctly when I allow it to do so, I knew that if there was a way to serve it would be made effortlessly clear. Sure enough, right there on the World Freedom Day website update, it listed a gentleman by the name of Geoffrey West giving a talk at the University of Peace right here in Costa Rica and planning a Free Hugs event. I immediately left a message and comment for Steve requesting contact info for Geoff. I was very impressed that Steve found the time to immediately put me in touch with Geoff, and after exchanging emails, we agreed to meet.

Geoff relayed to me his plans for his lecture at UPEACE on March 1st and expressed a wish that there was someone available to film his presentation. How exciting it was for me to offer my assistance having bought a very nice digital camcorder last year thinking to allow one of my son's to use it for a project, and now not knowing for what purpose it might serve. So I accepted the assignment of chronicler of Geoff's talk and, though I am not a professional by any means, it all was such a great learning experience. Though not many students showed up because administration had scheduled Geoff the last day of the semester, the energy was high, and those of us aware enough to do so, just sent love and light everywhere! There being no time/space limits in reality meant everyone got the message. Geoff basically gave a rudimentary introduction to what is really going on right now in our corner of the universe, the raising of energies in preparation for humanity coming into full Awakening and how that is reflected in different events occurring across the globe. Some had never been exposed to this information, and you could just see how their minds were starting to process and assimilate the new ideas.

Unity of Costa Rica has been a favorite gathering spot for those interested in expanding awareness and raising consciousness, and Juan Enrique Toro, our beloved minister, gave a wonderful talk today about consciously choosing to turn the gaze of awareness inward and take full responsibility for those places in ourselves where we still harbor the belief in separation. If we engage in inner wars in our own psyches, then we are complicit in helping planetary conflict to continue in all its forms. This automatically changes when we shine the light of our own awareness into the dark corners of our mental/emotional closets and reclaim our freedom from the influence of the seeming darkness. It is only a mirage anyway, an illusion we bought into, so freedom in truth, is only a breath away.

This afternoon, several of us gathered at the Multiplaza Mall in Escazu to pass out Free Hugs to anyone willing to partake. No proselytizing an agenda, no need to educate, just love in action. Again, I was privileged to capture the event on film, which we hope to make available on You Tube after editing. Just to witness the looks of surprise, curiosity, smiles, laughter, tears, as well as those of concern and disbelief....well it was all incredible, every moment! We are all on this amazing journey towards Oneness together, and everyone holds a divine spark reflecting this Oneness. The heart inherently KNOWS this, and when it gets a chance to shine, the world becomes paradise instantly! I saw this happen over and over again today.

Thank you Steve, Geoff, Vicky, Vicki, Bonnie, Heather, and everyone else who showed up today, for your inspiration, and for doing your part. I am pleased to be in the company of those who serve Life's Awakening.

What Is It All About? -- by Swami Beyondananda

http://www.wakeuplaughing.com

In this dogma-eat-dogma world where fear is fueled by terrorism – not to mention anti-terrorism – I say it’s time to declare all out peace. Those of us who’ve been developing inner peace all these years, time to let it all out. Time to affirm everyone’s right to bear arms – provided those arms are used for hugging. Instead of giving in to “fear gnomes” – those little gnomes of gnawing fear that have been injected into the body politic – let’s get right to the heart of the matter.

Let's declare an emerge 'n see. Time to emerge from beliefs that no longer serve us and see how we humans have been tricked into behaving foolishly. Time to emerge 'n see beyond the dueling dualities to find solutions bigger than the problem. Time to emerge n' see there's no escape. God has us surrounded. Might as well surrender. We are all part of the inescapable Oneness.

One Spirit, many paths. One Planet, great diversity. One humanity, each of us totally unique ... just like everyone else.

I have often said that if we keep doing what we've always done, we will only get what we've always gotten. It stands to reason that if we try doing something new, we increase our chances of getting different results. So while it makes no sense to take up arms against warfare, it makes all the sense in the world to lift up arms and embrace anything that nourishes peace.

Now in this shrinking world that could definitely use a good shrink, it is understandable to look upward in hopes of the Messiah. But I say, we need to look at each other instead, and face the truth that we are looking the Messiah in the face. We have met the Savior and he is us! Here are all these children of God praying for Jesus to intervene, but we cannot expect to be fed intravenously forever. Time for children of God to grow up, for Goodness sake, and become adults of God instead. It turns out both the creationists and the evolutionists are right. The Creator created us to evolve in consciousness. Otherwise Jesus would have said, "Now, don't do a thing until I return."

I have a dream, so allow me to tell a vision. Each year at Passover, the Jewish people affirm the possibility of the Messiah: "Next year in Jerusalem." Next year always comes, and the Messiah never seems to come with it. Maybe it's time to make a break with the past and actually act as if the Messiah is already here. You know, fake it till you make it. So put it on your calendars. Next year let's celebrate Past Over in Jerusalem, and declare that the past is over and a new day has begun.

Hold this vision with me please: Leaders of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths together in celebration – doing the Hokey Pokey. They put their whole selves in ... that is commitment. They pull their whole selves out ... that is detachment. They turn themselves around ... that is transformation. And that's what it's all about!

Note: To sign up for Swami Beyondananda's hilarious, yet poignant emails, click here.

"The Heart Jewel of the Fortunate" Dudjom Rimpoche's Personal Advice on Dzogchen Praxis

"The Great Master of Oddiyana once said:
Don’t investigate the root of things,
Investigate the root of Mind!
Once the mind’s root has been found,
You’ll know one thing, yet all is thereby freed.
But if the root of Mind you fail to find,
You will know everything but nothing understand."

When you start to meditate on your mind, sit up with your body straight, allowing your breath to come and go naturally. Gaze into the space in front of you with eyes neither closed nor wide open. Think to yourself that for the sake of all beings who have been your mothers, you will watch awareness, the face of Samantabhadra. Pray strongly to your root teacher, who is inseparable from Padmasambhava, the Guru from Oddiyana, and then mingle your mind with his. Settle in a balanced, meditative state.

Once you are settled, however, you will not stay long in this empty, clear state of awareness. Your mind will start to move and become agitated. It will fidget and run here, there, and everywhere, like a monkey. What you are experiencing at this point is not the nature of the mind but only thoughts. If you stick with them and follow them, you will find yourself recalling all sorts of things, thinking about all sorts of needs, planning all sorts of activities. It is precisely this kind of mental activity that has hurled you into the dark ocean of samsara in the past, and there’s no doubt it will do so in the future. It would be so much better if you could cut through the ever spreading, black delusion of your thoughts.

What if you are able to break out of your chain of thoughts? What is awareness like? It is empty, limpid stunning, light, free, joyful! It is not something bounded or demarcated by its own set of attributes. There is nothing in the whole of samsara and nirvana that it does not embrace. From time without beginning, it is within us, inborn. We have never been without it, yet it is wholly outside the range of action, effort, and imagination.

But what, you will ask, is it like to recognize awareness, the face of rigpa? Although you experience it, you simply cannot describe it – it would be like a dumb man trying to describe his dreams! It is impossible to distinguish between yourself resting in awareness and the awareness you are experiencing. When you rest quite naturally, nakedly, in the boundless state of awareness, all those speedy, pestering thoughts that would not stay quiet even for an instant – all those memories, all those plans that cause you so much trouble – lose their power. They disappear in the spacious, cloudless sky of awareness. They shatter, collapse, vanish. All their strength is lost in awareness.

You actually have this awareness within you. It is the clear, naked wisdom of dharmakaya. But who can introduce you to it? On what should you take your stand? What should you be certain of? To begin with, it is your teacher who shows you the state of your awareness. And when you recognize it for yourself, it is then that you are introduced to your own nature. All the appearances of both samsara and nirvana are but the display of your own awareness; take your stand upon awareness alone. Just like the waves that rise up out of the sea and sink back into it, all thoughts that appear sink back into awareness. Be certain of their dissolution, and as a result you will find yourself in a state utterly devoid of both meditator and something meditated upon - completely beyond the meditating mind.

"Oh, in that case," you might think, "there’s no need for meditation." Well, I can assure you that there is a need! The mere recognition of awareness will not liberate you. Throughout your lives from beginningless time, you have been enveloped in false beliefs and deluded habits. From then till now you have spent every moment as a miserable, pathetic slave of your thoughts! And when you die, it’s not at all certain where you will go. You will follow your karma, and you will have to suffer. This is the reason why you must meditate, continuously preserving the sate of awareness you have been introduced to. The omniscient Longchenpa has said, "You may recognize your own nature, but if you do not meditate and get used to it, you will be like a baby left on a battlefield: you’ll be carried off by the enemy, the hostile army of your own thoughts!" In general terms, meditation means becoming famiIiar with the state of resting in the primordial uncontrived nature, through being spontaneously, naturally, constantly mindful. It means getting used to leaving the state of awareness alone, divested of all distraction and clinging.

How do we get used to remaining in the nature of the mind? When thoughts come while you are meditating, let them come; there’s no need to regard them as your enemies. When they arise, relax in their arising. On the other hand, if they don’s arise, don’t be nervously wondering whether or not they will. Just rest in their absence. If big, well-defined thoughts suddenly appear during your meditation, it is easy to recognize them. But when slight, subtle movements occur, it is hard to realize that they are there until much later. This is what we call namtok wogyu, the undercurrent of mental wandering. This is the thief of your meditation, so it is important for you to keep a close watch. If you can be constantly mindful, both in meditation and afterward, when you are eating, sleeping, walking, or sitting, that’s it – you’ve got it right!

"The great master Guru Rinpoche has said:
A hundred things may be explained, a thousand told,
But one thing only should you grasp.
Know one thing and everything is freed-
Remain within your inner nature, your awareness!"

It is also said that if you do not meditate, you will not gain certainty: if you do, you will. But what sort of certainty? If you meditate with a strong, joyful endeavor, signs will appear showing that you have become used to staying in your nature. The fierce, tight clinging that you have to dualistically experienced phenomena will gradually loosen up, and your obsession with happiness and suffering, hopes and fears, and so on, will slowly weaken. Your devotion to the teacher and your sincere trust in his instructions will grow. After a time, your tense, dualistic attitudes will evaporate and you will get to the point where gold and pebbles, food and filth, gods and demons, virtue and nonvirtue, are all the same for you-you’ll be at a loss to choose between paradise and hell! But until you reach that point (while you are still caught in the experiences of dualistic perception), virtue and nonvirtue, buddhafields and hells, happiness and pain, actions and their results – all this is reality for you. As the Great Guru has said, "My view is higher than the sky, but my attention to actions and their results is finer than flour."

So don’t go around claiming to be some great Dzogchen meditator when in fact you are nothing but a farting lout, stinking of alcohol and rank with lust!

It is essential for you to have a stable foundation of pure devotion and samaya, together with a strong, joyful endeavor that is well balanced, neither too tense nor too loose. If you are able to meditate, completely turning aside from the activities and concerns of this life, it is certain that you will gain the extraordinary qualities of the profound path of Dzogchen. Why wait for future lives? You can capture the primordial citadel right now, in the present.

This advice is the very blood of my heart. Hold it close and never let it go!

~ Taken from Counsels from My Heart by Dudjom Rinpoche, Chapter 7
Shambhala: Boston, 2001

(Thank you, Jeannie!)

The Agony of the Search - Benjamin Smythe

The search is over. You can see it in his eyes.

http://benjamintsmythe.com

World Freedom Day is Sunday, March 6th, 2011

By Steve Beckow

As a sovereign citizen of Planet Earth, I invite humanity to observe Sunday, March 6, 2011, as World Freedom Day.

I invite us, on that day, to join together, actually or mentally, physically or spiritually, to celebrate the desire of every man, woman and child on Earth to live freely, to live a life without oppression, anxiety and fear, a life of love, unity, and peace.

I invite us to join together in whatever way we can. I ask those who are able, to walk down to their town square and experience together their unity by assembling and looking each other in the face and affirming to each other that the world will be free. I ask them to assemble at 12 noon local time and celebrate each other’s company. No organization is necessary, no agenda, no ritual. Mere presence is enough.

Let all look around themselves on that day and know that the mere act of gathering is the message itself, that by being there everyone is saying that the world will be free. Let their presence in that square communicate to the world the desire of people everywhere to walk free, speak free, and be free.

At 12:30 p.m., let the assembly of people enter a moment of silence and bless the sacrifice of those who have died or been injured that the world may breathe free. Let them thank those who have paid for world freedom with their blood and their lives.

...to Wisconsin

Let them silently acknowledge themselves and their assembled brothers and sisters, all gathered to tell the elites of the world, the despots, the military dictators, all those who are not friends of freedom now, that freedom has been reborn in the world.

Let all this be done peacefully, with no intent to harm to another, not even a harmful wish. Let it be done with love and goodwill. Let the people say silently with goodwill and compassion that the world is free, has always been free, and will be free again and no other way.

At the end of this universal minute of silence, let the people cheer, around the world, in celebration of freedom, which can never be lost spiritually no matter what their situation is. Let them declare the freedom of the entire human race, its unity, and its commitment to peace.

Those who live in a society where assembly is not yet permitted, where there is not even that measure of freedom, let them stop where they are, at 12:30 p.m., or if they cannot even stop lest they be punished, let them simply observe inwardly, a minute of silence. Or if even silence is not permitted, let them observe in their hearts a thought for the people of the world who have gathered to be free and who have suffered that freedom may be. And silently if they can, at the end of it, let them join with their brothers and sisters everywhere in building a common sentiment, a common thought form, which circles the globe and empowers the thought of world freedom. read more…

2011-2012 5th Dimensional Shift - David Wilcock

ONLY LOVE PREVAILS

"Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que sera, sera."

******* ******* ******* *******

The prophecy of Peter Deunov regarding the end of our old civilization and the beginning of the Golden Age on Earth

Also known under the spiritual name of Beinsa Douno, the Bulgarian Master Peter Deunov (1864-1944) was a being of a very high level of consciousness, at the same time an incomparable musician, that gave during his whole life an example of purity, wisdom, intelligence and creativity. For years he was established close to Sofia where he lived surrounded by numerous disciples, he, by his radiance awakened the spirituality of thousands of souls in Bulgaria as well as the rest of Europe.

Some days before his departure to the other world, he was in a profound mediumistic trance, he made an extraordinary prophecy in regards to our troubled epoch that we are crossing today, a prophecy about the “end of time” and the coming of a new Golden Age of humanity.

Here is this deeply moving testament. It is current and so vibrant that one doubts that these words were spoken almost 60 years ago.


“During the passage of time, the consciousness of man traversed a very long period of obscurity. This phase which the Hindus call “Kali Yuga”, is on the verge of ending. We find ourselves today at the frontier between two epochs: that of Kali Yuga and that of the New Era that we are entering.

A gradual improvement is already occurring in the thoughts, sentiments and acts of humans, but everybody will soon be subjugated to divine Fire, that will purify and prepare them in regards to the New Era. Thus man will raise himself to a superior degree of consciousness, indispensable to his entrance to the New Life. That is what one understands by “Ascension”.

Some decades will pass before this Fire will come, that will transform the world by bringing it a new moral. This immense wave comes from cosmic space and will inundate the entire earth. All those that attempt to oppose it will be carried off and transferred elsewhere.

Although the inhabitants of this planet do not all find themselves at the same degree of evolution, the new wave will be felt by each one of us. And this transformation will not only touch the Earth, but the ensemble of the entire Cosmos.

The best and only thing that man can do now is to turn towards God and improve himself consciously, to elevate his vibratory level, so as to find himself in harmony with the powerful wave that will soon submerge him.

The Fire of which I speak, that accompanies the new conditions offered to our planet, will rejuvenate, purify, reconstruct everything: the matter will be refined, your hearts will be liberated from anguish, troubles, incertitude, and they will become luminous; everything will be improved, elevated; the thoughts, sentiments and negative acts will be consumed and destroyed.

Your present life is a slavery, a heavy prison. Understand your situation and liberate yourself from it. I tell you this: exit from your prison! It is really sorry to see so much misleading, so much suffering, so much incapacity to understand where one’s true happiness lies.

Everything that is around you will soon collapse and disappear. Nothing will be left of this civilization nor its perversity; the entire earth will be shaken and no trace will be left of this erroneous culture that maintains men under the yoke of ignorance. Earthquakes are not only mechanical phenomena, their goal is also to awaken the intellect and the heart of humans, so that they liberate themselves from their errors and their follies and that they understand that they are not the only ones in the universe.

Our solar system is now traversing a region of the Cosmos where a constellation that was destroyed left its mark, its dust. This crossing of a contaminated space is a source of poisoning, not only for the inhabitants of the earth, but for all the inhabitants of the other planets of our galaxy. Only the suns are not affected by the influence of this hostile environment. This region is called “the thirteenth zone”; one also calls it “the zone of contradictions” . Our planet was enclosed in this region for thousands of years, but finally we are approaching the exit of this space of darkness and we are on the point of attaining a more spiritual region, where more evolved beings live.

The earth is now following an ascending movement and everyone should force themselves to harmonize with the currents of the ascension. Those who refuse to subjugate themselves to this orientation will lose the advantage of good conditions that are offered in the future to elevate themselves. They will remain behind in evolution and must wait tens of millions of years for the coming of a new ascending wave.

The earth, the solar system, the universe, all are being put in a new direction under the impulsion of Love. Most of you still consider Love as a derisory force, but in reality, it is the greatest of all forces! Money and
power continue to be venerated as if the course of your life depended upon it. In the future, all will be subjugated to Love and all will serve it. But it is through suffering and difficulties that the consciousness of man will be awakened.

The terrible predictions of the prophet Daniel written in the bible relate to the epoch that is opening. There will be floods, hurricanes, gigantic fires and earthquakes that will sweep away everything. Blood will flow in
abundance. There will be revolutions; terrible explosions will resound in numerous regions of the earth. There where there is earth, water will come, and there where there is water, earth will come. God is Love; yet we are dealing here with a chastisement, a reply by Nature against the crimes perpetrated by man since the night of time against his Mother; the Earth.

After these sufferings, those that will be saved, the elite, will know the Golden Age, harmony and unlimited beauty. Thus keep your peace and your faith when the time comes for suffering and terror, because it is written that not a hair will fall from the head of the just. Don’t be discouraged, simply follow your work of personal perfection.

You have no idea of the grandiose future that awaits you. A New Earth will soon see day. In a few decades the work will be less exacting, and each one will have the time to consecrate spiritual, intellectual and artistic
activities. The question of rapport between man and woman will be finally resolved in harmony; each one having the possibility of following their aspirations. The relations of couples will be founded on reciprocal respect and esteem. Humans will voyage through the different planes of space and breakthrough intergalactic space. They will study their functioning and will rapidly be able to know the Divine World, to fusion with the Head of the Universe.

The New Era is that of the sixth race. Your predestination is to prepare yourself for it, to welcome it and to live it. The sixth race will build itself around the idea of Fraternity. There will be no more conflicts of personal interests; the single aspiration of each one will be to conform himself to the Law of Love. The sixth race will be that of Love. A new continent will be formed for it. It will emerge from the Pacific, so that the Most High can finally establish His place on this planet.

The founders of this new civilization, I call them “Brothers of Humanity” or also “Children of Love” They will be unshakeable for the good and they will represent a new type of men. Men will form a family, as a large body, and each people will represent an organ in this body. In the new race, Love will manifest in such a perfect manner, that today’s man can only have a very vague idea.

The earth will remain a terrain favourable to struggle, but the forces of darkness will retreat and the earth will be liberated from them. Humans seeing that there is no other path will engage themselves to the path of the New Life, that of salvation. In their senseless pride, some will, to the end hope to continue on earth a life that the Divine Order condemns, but each one will finish by understanding that the direction of the world doesn’t belong to them.

A new culture will see the light of day, it will rest on three principal foundations: the elevation of woman, the elevation of the meek and humble, and the protection of the rights of man.

The light, the good, and justice will triumph; it is just a question of time. The religions should be purified. Each contains a particle of the Teaching of the Masters of Light, but obscured by the incessant supply of human deviation. All the believers will have to unite and to put themselves in agreement with one principal, that of placing Love as the base of all belief, whatever it may be. Love and Fraternity that is the common base! The earth will soon be swept by extraordinary rapid waves of Cosmic Electricity. A few decades from now beings who are bad and lead others astray will not be able to support their intensity. They will thus be absorbed by Cosmic Fire that will consume the bad that they possess. Then they will repent because it is written that “each flesh shall glorify God”.

Our mother, the earth, will get rid of men that don’t accept the New Life. She will reject them like damaged fruit. They will soon not be able to reincarnate on this planet; criminals included. Only those that possess Love in them will remain.

There is not any place on earth that is not dirtied with human or animal blood; she must therefore submit to a purification. And it is for this that certain continents will be immersed while others will surface.Men do not
suspect to what dangers they are menaced by. They continue to pursue futile objectives and to seek pleasure. On the contrary those of the sixth race will be conscious of the dignity of their role and respectful of each one’s liberty. They will nourish themselves exclusively from products of the vegetal realm. Their ideas will have the power to circulate freely as the air and light of our days.

The words “If you are not born again.” apply to the sixth race. Read Chapter 60 of Isaiah it relates to the coming of the sixth race the Race of Love.

After the Tribulations, men will cease to sin and will find again the path of virtue. The climate of our planet will be moderated everywhere and brutal variations will no longer exist. The air will once again become pure, the same for water. The parasites will disappear. Men will remember their previous incarnations and they will feel the pleasure of noticing that they are finally liberated from their previous condition.

In the same manner that one gets rid of the parasites and dead leaves on the vine, so act the evolved Beings to prepare men to serve the God of Love. They give to them good conditions to grow and to develop themselves, and to those that want to listen to them, they say: “Do not be afraid! Still a little more time and everything will be all right; you are on the good path. May he that wants to enter in the New Culture study, consciously work and prepare.”

Thanks to the idea of Fraternity, the earth will become a blessed place, and that will not wait. But before, great sufferings will be sent to awaken the consciousness. Sins accumulated for thousands of years must be redeemed. The ardent wave emanating from On High will contribute in liquidating the karma of peoples. The liberation can no longer be postponed. Humanity must prepare itself for great trials that are inescapable and are coming to bring an end to egoism.

Under the earth, something extraordinary is preparing itself. A revolution that is grandiose and completely inconceivable will manifest itself soon in nature. God has decided to redress the earth, and He will do it! It is the end of an epoch; a new order will substitute the old, an order in which Love will reign on earth.”

http://www.disclose.tv/forum/peter-deunov-1944-prophecy-t36573.html

Nothing To Be Gained From Enlightenment

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.

~ Chuang Tzu

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Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.

~ Ramana Maharshi

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"Popularity among the soundly asleep may not be the best criterion by which to judge a method for waking up."

~ Jed McKenna

--------- --------- --------- ---------

"Speaking of Self-realization is a delusion. It is only because people have been under the delusion that the non-Self is the Self and the unreal the Real that they have to be weaned out of it by the other delusion called Self-realization; because actually the Self always is the Self and there is no such thing as realizing it."

~ Ramana Maharshi

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Nothing is Gained with Enlightenment

I once lived in an apartment so small I had to step outside into the adjacent hallway to open my oven door. There was room only for a bed, a radio, and a cardboard carton of books. I kept my clothes in a closet down the hall. Even in this confined space, there was housework to be done. Indeed, the demands of maintenance follow us wherever we find ourselves, from palaces to prison cells.

The Italian poet Cesare Pavese wrote in his journal that we never remember days, we remember only moments. And Zen teachers tell us that this moment is the only one we’ll ever have. Perhaps this is a better way of looking at enlightenment. It’s not achieving or gathering something. Nor is it losing or overcoming something else. It’s simply stepping outside of the room you’re in and allowing the oven door to open. It’s checking the ceiling overhead and cleaning up the spills beneath your feet.

~ Gary Thorp, "The Dust Beyond the Cushion"

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"In Kisagata,
The flowering cherry trees
Vanish under waves ---
Until an old fisherman
Rows out across blossoms.

Whatever it is,
I cannot understand it,
Although gratitude
Stubbornly overcomes me
Until I'm reduced to tears.

My final desire ---
That I be allowed to die
Under flowering cherries,
On the fifteenth evening
Of the second month."

~ Saigyo, "The Poetry of Zen"

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So really what it comes down to, it's God. Wherever you look, it's God appearing as this, that, and what you really love and appreciate in each form is the divine formless out of which each form comes. But to be able to sense that you have to sense it in yourself first. And that is seeing the beauty in everything, that's really what it means.

~ Eckhart Tolle

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A Message from Space

Everything that happens is the message:
you read an event and be one and wait,
like breasting a wave, all the while knowing
by living, though not knowing how to live.

Or workers built an antenna -- a dish
aimed at stars -- and they themselves are its message,
crawling in and out, being worlds that loom,
dot-dash, and sirens, and sustaining beams.

And sometimes no one is calling but we turn up
eye and ear -- suddenly we fall into
sound before it begins, the breathing
so still it waits there under the breath --

And then the green of leaves calls out, hills
where they wait or turn, clouds in their frenzied
stillness unfolding their careful words:
"Everything counts. The message is the world."

~ William Stafford

2011: Year Of Illumination

Earth Stands on the Threshold...

The excitement is becoming palpable. You are probably sensing it already.

Do you feel it?

We are about to enter a brave new world. A world that will never be the same again and there is no turning back. As it stands now, there is nothing that will be able to stop an array of dramatic events from occurring over and over again.

We as a human species have reached the point in our history where the most monumental transformations ever seen upon planet Earth are about to unfold.

Literally and figuratively, we are standing at the doorstop to a great new future that is opening up before us in the year 2011.

World events are accelerating at such a warp speed now that the pressure coming to bear upon the old paradigm of negativity, deceit and oppression is about to collapse in upon itself. Behind it will unfold the most wonderful and the most profound times ever in the entire history of the human race.

From major world-wide economic reform, to the fall of tyrannical leaders, to a return to constitutional government in the US, to the release of suppressed technologies, to extra-terrestrial disclosure, to the massive awakening of human consciousness, the internet is aflame with various reports of impending revolutionary changes. We are indeed living in the most exciting times ever in our history!

We know with absolute certainty that we are in a period of great change due to the consciousness evolutionary timeline we have been on for some 16.4 billion years. And now we are about to move into the fast lane heading straight for the finish line this year.

CLICK HERE to read more...

The Nature of Silence

Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.

~Wendell Berry

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There is a way between voice and presence
where information flows.

In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes.

~Rumi

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The beauty of the heart
is the lasting beauty:
its lips give to drink
of the water of life.
Truly it is the water,
that which pours,
and the one who drinks.
All three become one when
your talisman is shattered.
That oneness you can't know
by reasoning.

~Rumi

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"Deep in my looking, the last words vanished.
Joyous and silent, the waking that met me there."

~Lalla (India, 14th Century)

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Our hands imbibe like roots, so I place them on what is beautiful in this world. I fold them in prayer, and they draw from the heavens light.

~St. Francis of Assisi

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If I spent enough time with the tiniest of creatures, even a caterpillar, I would never have to prepare a sermon, so full of God is every creature.

~Meister Eckhart

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Look deeply: every second I am arriving to be a bud on a Spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

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"If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark."

~St. John of the Cross

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The Sowing of Meanings

See the high birds! Is their’s the song
That dies among the wood-light
Wounding the listener with such bright arrows?
Or do they play in wheeling silences
Defining in the perfect sky
The bounds of (here below) our solitude,

Where spring has generated lights of green
To glow in clouds upon the somber branches?
Ponds full of sky and stillnesses
What heavy summer songs still sleep
Under the tawny rushes at your brim?

More than a season will be born here, nature,
In your world of gravid mirrors!
The quiet air awaits one note,
One light, one ray and it will be the angels’ spring:
One flash, one glance upon the shiny pond, and then
Asperges me! sweet wilderness, and lo! we are redeemed!

For, like a grain of fire
Smoldering in the heart of every living essence
God plants His undivided power –
Buries His thought too vast for worlds
In seed and root and blade and flower,

Until, in the amazing light of April,
Surcharging the religious silence of the spring,
Creation finds the pressure of His everlasting secret
Too terrible to bear.

Then every way we look, lo! rocks and trees
Pastures and hills and streams and birds and firmament
And our own souls within us flash, and shower us with light,
While the wild countryside, unknown, unvisited of men,
Bears sheaves of clean, transforming fire.

And then, oh then the written image, schooled in sacrifice,
The deep united threeness printed in our being,
Shot by the brilliant syllable of such an intuition, turns within,
And plants that light far down into the heart of darkness and
oblivion,
Dives after, and discovers flame.

~ Thomas Merton

And The People Stand Firm, Unafraid, and Listen

This is the essence of what is happening and unfolding, moment by moment. The only thing we can do is allow, breathe, accept, say "Yes." Life is in motion, coming into balance on its own, and we are moved by this naturally into awakening. And so it is.

********* ******* ********* ******* *********

In the face of rising warmth and light, a flower opens to the new day's Sun.

In the face of rising light and love, a planet's population wakes from sleep emerges from control, and reclaims its freedom.

It wakes from fear, throws off paralysis, and reclaims its power.

It wakes from hate, throws off suspicion, and reclaims its love.

It wakes from violence, throws off control, and reclaims its peacefulness.

And the people stand firm, unafraid, and listen.

And all around, the forces that controlled them lash out with every weapon they possess – police, provocateurs, military, water cannons, tear gas, guns. They issue threats; warn of reprisals; unleash storms and earthquakes; rain chemicals from the air; disrupt their travel, business, education, families.

But the people join together not as citizens of Iran, Tunisia, Myanmar, or France; not as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, or Jews; but as citizens of the world. They recognize how they've been carved up into nations, classes, religions; had language differences and class divides imposed on them; and in every other way been divided and conquered. They reject all division and join together as one - men, women, and children.

They raise the banner of light and love, peace and harmony. They tell the truth and seek more of it. They declare the freedom of all people and the right to health and choice and learning. They reject the use of force and control, censorship and manipulation, indebtedness and impoverishment.

They set their faces against fear and hate. They refuse to harm or kill or cooperate with those who do. They lay down their weapons everywhere. They walk away from bombs and poisons, warships and warplanes.

They depart from organizations that produce pandemic viruses and tainted vaccines, plot to overthrow democratic regimes, issue threats and carry out assassinations, suppress new technologies, and pollute the Earth.

They liberate the halls of power, courts of justice, places of confinement, and mediums of communication.

And the people stand firm, unafraid, and listen.

They learn of their part in bringing on their own subservience and in throwing off their chains.

They wonder how this could have happened and what is next.

They hear how this new age has been expected and anticipated, fostered and nurtured. They learn how this awakening, emergence, and rebirth are supported by a cast of millions, who until now have worked in the shadows and behind the scenes.

They learn how these people are our families from other places, dimensions, and even ages. They learn how these people have come here to end our impoverishment, debilitation, and subjugation.

They learn how these people have seen to it that the light of freedom was never quenched or servitude imposed on us as a planet.

They learn how these people have in hand the means of abundance, freedom, and fulfillment and give it freely.

And the people stand firm, unafraid, and listen.

They hear how our controllers intended to depopulate the globe and retain a fraction of us to serve them. They hear how fear has been used to control and exploit us. They drop their anxiousness of terrorism, Armageddon, starvation, catastrophe, and annihilation.

They rejoice at what awaits us - freedom from suppression and control. They realize the future is ours to decide with no new master looming; They see that no one seeks to place us under heel but to liberate us.

They breathe in new energy, share new abundance, look upon new technologies, and see the Earth being newly cleansed. They realize the sleep of millennia is over and a new day has dawned, a day without barriers, fear, or control.

And the people stand firm, unafraid, and listen.

And the people laugh and shout for joy, in loving anticipation.

~ Steve Beckow - The 2012 Scenario

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

Awaken from your slumber, friends...
Open your eyes!

Of Black Hats, White Hats, and Mad Hatters

Excuse me while I slip outta this old paradigm and into something more comfortable.

The first law of wingwalking is: Never leave hold of one branch before taking hold of another. I now declare the first law of wingwalking null and void.

Again, the first law of paradigm shifts, as Thomas Kuhn suggests in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (or did he not suggest it and I just made it up?), is to allow cognitive dissonance to build until the old paradigm breaks under the weight of it, revealing the new.

I now declare the first law of paradigm shift as having itself been superseded. No new paradigm is visible; none has emerged; I look for none to emerge. We are the new paradigm.

Here I am, left without a dime, a paradigm or even a plugged nickel. Just as we cannot take anything with us into the afterlife, so we also cannot take anything of the old into the new world we face today, brave or otherwise. But I can laugh!

As a sovereign citizen of Planet Earth and a conscious co-creator, I let go of the branch called the old paradigm without having a hold on anything else. I know not truth or space. I am truth and space.

The new paradigm is to have no new paradigm – not if it’s conceptual, explanatory, a belief or a framework. It’s none of these.

Conceptual framework is superseded. Belief system is abandoned. Explanations have become outmoded..”

The new paradigm can only be lived and I can only describe it, dropping all pretense to “knowledge” and “explanation

Nothing I knew before can explain anything I will meet hereafter.

Wittgenstein said, “whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” But he then stepped away from the mystery and entered an everyday world of which he doubtless felt he could speak. I face an everyday world that is rapidly becoming the mystery itself, whereof I cannot speak.

Ah, but my suffering is illusory! Goodbye to all that. I gladly take up the challenge.

Mad hatter, indeed!

Let novelty reign! The old strangeness is dead! Long live the new strangeness!

~ Steve Beckow - The 2012 Scenario

Be Still and Know Thy Self

"A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live."

~ Thomas Merton

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“The dawning of Self-recognition is the end of isolation, the end of separation, the end of feeling cut off from life, from others. It’s to know the heart of all beings.”

~ Adyashanti

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Buddha In Glory

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet--
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

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"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which has been shown!"

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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When it's cold and raining,
you are more beautiful.
And the snow brings me
even closer to your lips.
The inner secret, that which was never born,
you are that freshness, and I am with you now.
I can't explain the goings,
or the comings. You enter suddenly,
and I am nowhere again.
Inside the majesty.

— Rumi

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The Confirmation

Yes, yours, my love, is the right human face.
I in my mind had waited for this long,
Seeing the false and searching for the true,
Then found you as a traveler finds a place
Of welcome suddenly amid the wrong
Valleys and rocks and twisting roads. But you,
What shall I call you? A fountain in a waste,
A well of water in a country dry,
Or anything that's honest and good, an eye
That makes the whole world seem bright. Your open heart,
Simple with giving, gives the primal deed,
The first good world, the blossom, the blowing seed,
The hearth, the steadfast land, the wandering sea.
Not beautiful or rare in every part.
But like yourself, as they were meant to be.

~ Edwin Muir

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The raft across the ocean of samsara
is the strong decision to be free.
This intense desire is absolutely necessary.
The intensity of this desire is itself the Satguru,
the pain in the heart is the Self calling.

~ Papaji

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A Dream Unfolding

Time is very precious. Do not wait until you are dying to understand your spiritual nature. If you do it now, you will discover resources of kindness and compassion you didn’t know you had. It is from this mind of intrinsic wisdom and compassion that you can truly benefit others.... Moment by moment, we should look at life as if it were a dream unfolding... .In this relaxed, more open state of being, we have the opportunity to gain the infallible means of dying well, which is recognition of our absolute nature.

~ Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

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So Cheap

I am all hollowed out now
Like a reed.
I gave everything for this.
And still I laughingly wonder:
How could it have been so cheap?

~ Adyashanti

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"Without concepts, leave your awareness, just as it is, in the steady vision of appearances. If you can do so, that is the best of meditations. In terms of recognizing the nature of awareness, the spiritual mentors of the
past stated that it could be ascertained in the interval following the cessation of one thought and prior to the arising of the next thought. In that interval there is an emptiness. How long is this interval? It's a mistake to think it is short in duration. Rather, it is the very nature of both samsara and nirvana. In the very steady vision of appearances, right in the instant, in the instantaneous vision of the instantaneous moment of appearances, you can recognize the essential nature of the mind."

~ Han Shan

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"Most seekers exacerbate their itching, scratching esoteric maps and dimly pondering weighty conundrums until the light falls flat from warm eyes to cold ground, leaving themselves in a yet deeper dark, wondering how in hell they got there. Truly, what's so difficult about simply standing still and watching this luminous darkness rise and fall in perfect harmony? The more one fusses with doctrines and dogmas, the further one roams from their own cozy hearth. Conniving with alchemy's elixirs and potions, they end up fouling their own nest. All night long, again and again, they disturb the family peace with pointless droning debates, poisoning the air with stale breath and drowning out the nightingale' s melancholy sonority. Were they to quietly open their ears and listen, true to that soulful sound, they could finally close the book on heaven and hell, blissfully, and let the relatives relax.

~ Gyatrul Rinpoche