Sharing GOD's Secret

It was 2007, and I was on my way to the airport. On a long business trip to Europe or Asia, I always pick up a couple of books to while away some time on the plane. I found "A New Earth" by an author I had never heard of before. The title looked intriguing so I bought it. Later as I passed the security line I saw "The Power of Now" by the same author; it was then when it clicked; yes, I had heard of Eckhart Tolle, the new spiritual author on the block. It turns out the "A New Earth" was a symptom of my own awakening. Today, nine years later, I am one of the millions of initiated light-workers Eckhart Tolle had with his book in mind.

The irony was that when Eckhart Tolle submitted his first book, "The Power of Now", to a publisher it was rejected on the grounds that this idea is as old as spirituality itself. True, how nice that another publisher brought it on the market as it quickly lid a fire in the New Age community. So perhaps we should just remind each other from time to time of the ancient wisdoms that apparently have to be rediscovered by each individual spiritual traveler for herself. GOD's "secret"  has been out there for millennia, ready for everyone to discover it. "The Power of Now" is one catchy phrase, but there are so many others. The Old Testament is full of spiritual insights, as were Jesus' teachings. The Sufis know it, as does Taoism, Buddhists and Hinduism. 

The note below zooms into a little book that is a spiritual master piece, "To Have or to Be", by Erich Fromm. The author was foremost a psychologist, with a passion  for the Talmud, spirituality and socialism as well. Erich Fromm knew GOD's secret, just to fall in love with life; to do something with your life that is both purposeful and passionate; to learn to recognize the distracting whispers of the ego that keep you from the WAY. Erich Fromm also realized that magic tends to happen when we wrestle with life on a path that is of GOD. Lastly I would add that enlightenment is not something that you aspire to get one day; enlightenment is a state that you can enjoy moment by moment, as long as you use some of these insights below as your milestones. Everyone can be a light worker. Hope you join us too!

God's Secret - The Problem Statement

Problem Statement: Separateness 

Adam and Eve, what is the sin they have committed? To face each other as separated, isolated, selfish human beings who cannot overcome their separation in the act of loving union. The sin is rooted in our very human existence. Being deprived of the original harmony with nature. Being endowed with reason and self-awareness, we cannot help experiencing our separateness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Problem statement: Me, Myself and I

Our picture of physical reality does not correspond to what is "really real" and, mainly, in the sense that most people are half-awake, half-dreaming, and are unaware hat most of what they hold true and self-evident is illusion produced by the suggestive influence of the social world in which they live. Knowing , then, begins with the shattering of disillusionment. Knowing means to penetrate through the surface, in order to arrive at the roots, and hence the causes; knowing means to "see" reality in its nakedness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Mental greed - and all greed is mental, even when it is satisfied via the body - has no satiation point, since it's consummation does not fill the inner emptiness, boredom, loneliness, and depression it is meant to overcome. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Everything and anything can become an object of craving: things we use in daily life, property, rituals, good deeds, knowledge, and thoughts. While they are not in themselves "bad", they become bad; that is, when we hold onto them, when they become chains that interfere with our freedom, they block our self-realization. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

But if the greedy person thinks only of money and possessions, the ambitious one only of fame, one does not think of them as being insane, but simply annoying; generally one has contempt for them. But factually, greediness, ambition, and so forth are forms of insanity, although usually one does not think of them as illness. To be driven by irrational passions is to be mentally sick. To the degree that we achieve optimal growth, we are not only (relatively) free, strong, rational, and joyous, but also mentally healthy; to the degree that we fail to reach this aim, we are unfree, weak, lacking rationality, and depressed. (Erich Fromm quotes Spinoza in "To Have or to Be")

Problem Statement: Having, not Being

Greed is the natural outcome of the having orientation. It can be the greed of a miser or the greed of a profit hunter or the greed of a womanizer or the man chaser. Whatever constitutes their greed, the greedy can never have enough, can never be "satisfied". (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

What is fully describable is our persona - the mask we each other wear, the ego we present - for this persona is in itself a thing. In contrast, the living human being is not a dead image and cannot be described like a thing. In fact, the living human being cannot be described at all. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I? Nobody but a defeated, deflated, pathetic testimony to a wrong way of living. Because I can lose what I have, I am necessarily constantly worried that I shall lose what I have. I am afraid of thieves, of economic changes, of revolutions, of sickness, of death; and I am afraid of love, of freedom, of growth, of change, of the unknown. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The fear, then, is not of dying, but of losing what I have: the fear of losing my body, my ego, my possessions, and my identity; the fear of facing the abyss of non-identity, of "being lost". (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

GOD's Secret - The Solution

The Solution:  At-One-Ment

There is but one way to save ourselves from this hell: to leave the prison of our egocentricity, to reach out and to one ourselves with the world. If egocentric separateness is the cardinal sin, then the sin is atoned in the act of loving: "at-one-ment" is Middle English for union. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The Solution: Purpose and Passion

The joy of a mitzvah (the fulfillment of a religious duty) is he only way to get the Holy Spirit. (Erich Fromm, quoting the Talmud in "To Have or to Be")

In order to avoid decay, we must strive to approach the "model of human nature", that is, we must be optimally free, rational, active. We must become what we can be. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Joy is what we experience in the process of growing nearer to the goal of becoming ourselves. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Activity is "wholesome" only when it is rooted in and expresses the ultimate ethical and spiritual demands.  (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Only in the process of mutual alive relatedness can the other and I overcome the barrier of separateness, inasmuch as we both participate in the dance of life.  (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

In non-alienated activity, I experience myself as the subject of my activity. Non-alienated activity is a process of giving birth to something, or producing something and remaining related to what I produce. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The Solution: The Holy Now

The active, alive man is like a "vessel" that grows as it is filled and will never be full. 

(Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Freedom in the sense of being unfettered, free from craving for holding onto things and one's ego, is the condition for love and productive being. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The mode of being exists only in the here and now. The mode of having so exists only in time: past, present and future. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Knowledge is no particular thought but rather it peels off (all coverings) and is disinterested and runs naked to GOD, until it teaches HIM and grasps HIM. (Meister Eckhart in Erich From, To Have or to Be) 

The Solution: Being, not Having

One of the main themes of the Old Testament is: leave what you have; free yourself from all fetters; be! (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Do not lay for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

There exists only the act of loving. To love is a productive activity. It implies caring for, knowing, responding, affirming, enjoying: the person, the tree, the painting the idea. It means bringing to life, increasing his/her/its aliveness. It is a process, self-renewing and self-increasing. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

They respond spontaneously and productively; they forget about themselves, about the knowledge, the positions they have. Their egos do not stand in their own way, and it is precisely for this reason that they can fully respond to the other person and that person's ideas, because they are not holding onto anything. While the having persons rely on what they have, the being persons rely on the fact that they are, that they are alive and that something new will be born if only they have to courage to let go and respond. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

To the extent that we decrease the mode of having, that is of non-being - i.e., stop finding security and identity by clinging to what we have, by "sitting on it", by holding onto ego and our possessions - can the mode of being emerge. "To be" requires giving up one's egocentricity and selfishness, or in words often used by mystics, by making oneself "empty" and "poor". (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

While having is based on some thing that is diminished by use, being grows by practice. The 'burning bush" that is not consumed is the biblical symbol for this paradox. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

We human beings have an inherent and deeply rooted desire to be: to express our faculties, to be active, to be related to others, to escape the prison cell of selfishness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Every new step contains the danger of failure, and that is one of the reasons people are so afraid of freedom. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Master Eckhart taught that to have nothing and make oneself open and "empty", not to let one's ego stand in one's way, is the condition for achieving spiritual wealth and strength. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

We should not be "filled" with our knowledge, or hang onto it, or crave it. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Living structures can be only if they become; they can exist only if they change. Change and growth are inherent qualities of the life process. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The Buddha, the Awakened One, calls on people to wake up and liberate themselves from the illusion that craving for things lead to happiness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

GOD's Secret - Conclusions

What may appear to you as a tour de force was just a little book full of ancient wisdom by a wise man, Erich Fromm. Every single line in it - very quote cited here - can lift you to that state, just as the simple title "The Power of Now" tried accomplishing a few decades later. Having this insight is huge, but living it is priceless. And that is where GOD's mission comes in. Find this path, hold HER HAND every step of the WAY and you are enlightened. If this all sounds all a bit overwhelming right now, why don't you start with a mission statement, to be one of us. GOD will do the rest. Of you only one thing is required, do your best every step of the WAY, and share GOD's Secret with others.

Notes of a Tao Traveler

Walking a spiritual path is quite natural. In fact, it might happen to you that you are already on it and only later discover that you are being synchronized with a higher Force. It is also less glamorous than some might perhaps think. For every Eckhart Tolle there are many spiritual folks who glue the world together unrecognized behind the scenes. A spiritual path will probably be a natural evolution of where you are coming from. It is more a refinement of what you have been doing for a while rather than an earth shattering revolution. You might be surprised to hear this, but every child will understand what you are going through. You know that you are on a spiritual path when you experience peace, love and joy no matter what - this happens to be the birthright of every child as well. We are just returning to our roots.

 You also realize that as a Tao traveler you do no longer have a choice. In a weird way you never really had a choice either before your path started in all earnest, just as you don't really have a choice when you are an experienced traveler. Only in-between there are a few confusing years of soul searching when you don't seem to understand any longer what is going on. You literally learn in these apprentice years to perceive the world with a new perspective.

Walking a spiritual path is like an agreement. Someday something stops you in the tracks and you suddenly feel like a program opened up inside of you and you realize that you have a job to finish. Actually, when you put it like that you realize that in a way everyone is spiritual, whether they believe in God or not. All of us gravitate towards a mission. Some feel they have to build a business, others know that their mission is to raise their children, while some use all their willpower to shake off an addiction or to climb out of a hole. We all have a job to do, whether we are aTao master or not. A Tao master would never look down on anyone. We are all children of God and every voice is sacred.

For us personally, we both hit a wall somewhere on our journey. It is a strange process of falling out of love with old things you used to be excited about and falling in love with people and situations that you never gave a second look before. What was the world you were living in suddenly becomes a desert, but at the same time you can see a breathtaking oasis on the horizon. Mind you, you will likely still operate in the same world as before but everything will get redefined and reevaluated. When the Tao is done with that cleansing process all you will ever see are palms, refreshing waters and flowers while the desert is far out in the distance. All the doubts of the transition period soon make way to an overwhelming feeling of being at home, being loved and being taken care, and being connected to a Force beyond our comprehension. The Tao is everywhere, and where She walks there is peace, love and laughter. Yes, you are literally reborn!

 Sure, there are moments of darkness for us as well, but they tend to be the exception and, painful as they are at the time, we always know two things about them: First, that they will pass like the morning fog pushed away by the powerful sun, and second, that we only have ourselves to blame for it and no one else. In the past that was never the case. These periods of pain were always induced by others without having any visible link to our own actions. Today we see a bearer of pain just as a symbol. Quietly she whispers, "Change your way brother, you are so close already." Pain is easy to bear if it is meaningful, and along the Tao every moment is meaningful.

How did it happen? No one knows. We certainly see a lot of similarities in our journey, but in the end we all come from different starting points and face different milestones along the Way. You probably have had some exposure to spiritual books just as we had. Su  Zhen was really influenced by Eckhart Tolle's " A New Earth", while Christian's spiritual journey was meaningfully impacted by "A Course in Miracles". It always starts somewhere, but it is just that, a starting point. You will have your on mark, you will find your way that brings out your unique perspective and you will share it with others.

We both found that thoughts and emotions are just a layer of our being. You can sidestep them, and we often manage to do that. You become aware of the observer behind the screen and you know that sometimes we just have to sit still and let the energy wave pass without getting involved. It is possible and you can actually become quite good at it. It is  like sitting at a pond and watch disturbed water settle down and after some time the pond is crystal clear again. Peace and love is always at your disposal no matter what. You may have to wait a little, but the Force will always connect with you again if you let your own disturbances pass by.

The biggest confusion for the spiritual community is that they want something. They want to be good, want to be enlightened, want to be loving, peaceful or calm. Yet, the way towards that stage is just be accepting who you think you are. Accept your internal turmoil, your struggles, your split mind. Transcend your judgements and realize that the war with yourself doesn't exist. Accept your so-called flaws and see how they disintegrate in front of your astonished eyes. The Tao is here to make you understand that you don't have to do anything; you are already "here", there is no " there". To get to this realization just embrace anything and anyone life throws at you at this blessed moment. The world that surrounds you was created to help you understand who you truly are. Let life"digest" you and see what "I" emerges in the process. If you experience " I Am" moment to moment, you are way too busy to zoom into the " I". Learn to accept every moment as is and realize that you can be at peace always.

Passing on the secret of the Tao is easy. Show up and get lost in the moment. You have the best teacher in the world at your disposal, so please relax and enjoy the divine stroll!

By Christian & Su Zhen

How to Connect with the Tao

We have often shared our observations of walking the Tao. The big question of course for anyone who likes to join in our journey, so how exactly does one connect with the Tao? Actually connecting with the Tao is more about your willingness and openness to connect. The divine connection always exists moment by moment. As they say, when the student is ready, the teacher is there.

Connecting with the Tao is like a curtain falling and where there was a room before there is suddenly open space for as far as the eye can see. Eckhart Tolle wrote in The Power of Now that after falling into a deep depression he was suddenly caught by a force that seemed to suck him into a vortex and when we woke up the next morning he literally saw and perceived the world with new eyes. Sometimes you can have this transformation when you read a spiritual text, you can have it when inspiration hits you during a conversation, a movie, a sad experience, anything really. When those significant moments occur something shifts within you. It doesn't mean that after this "wake-up call" you don't have an ego anymore, but you do see your Self for a brief moment and have a different relationship with your ego afterwards. In Su Zhen's case, she actually had an awakening when she read Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.

You are the Tao. The holy Now goes by you - you will connect in whatever way it is meaningful to you. For Su Zhen meditation is the way to reconnect to the True Self. She sits quietly, waiting for the rhythmic breathing to go on auto-pilot and then alertness and silence simply descends on her and she is in the Flow again. For Christian it is seeing the signs when "life hits him", seeing magical connections that no one else appears to pick up, discovering symbols in everything we do, say and experience. Connecting with the Tao is like walking a red carpet that is visible to no one but you. The journey is simply beyond imagination. When you walk the Tao you always feel full of harmony, peace, beauty, love and joy!

You may again ask, " Yes, I get that it is cool to be connected, but how exactly do I get there?" Well, given that you are reading these notes you are probably pretty close. That is how the Tao typically works. Just open up to life, appreciate everything that comes your way, whether you initially like it or not. Find your quiet times as well. You can medicate anywhere really. If you are quiet enough, you can always feel that your energy frequency changes according to whatever you are thinking of. Your ego has a very different tune than your Tue Self. Try it. If you truly want to find out hat is going on inside of you, your teacher will show up. He could come as a friend or Her Voice could come from within. This Universe was created just for you to come Home. You cannot really make a mistake. If you are connected you have everything and if you are not, the Tao will always tell you the interference that stand between you and perceiving the holy Now. Just have fun experimenting - enjoy!

I Need Pressure

A friend said this to my wife many years ago. Somehow this expression still sticks to my mind. Saruyi, then a fairly ambitious graduate student, apparently needed the pressure to keep her going in her career. When I heard this statement, I just couldn't relate to it. I have always been a 'middle of the road' kind of guy. Not too much excitement, not too much spotlight, just the steady walking along my merry path. But something has changed in me recently. I now appreciate more the feeling of being out there, of pushing the boundaries a little. Not because I enjoy that feeling per se, but rather, I have realized that my personality, the I, or ego, is more exposed at the extremes. I enjoy the new-found feeling of being aware of the I in action.

What happens when you are not doing well in your career? You are envious of other people's success; you have the desire to attack people. Whenever that feeling comes up in me, an inner voice always comes to the surface, "No, this is not you". I enjoy that perspective very much. In contrast, when I am successful, I feel arrogance creeping up in me when I talk to people. The exact same voice pops up, "No, you aren't that either". I now enjoy living a little (emphasis on little) bit closer to the edge, stepping a little bit out of my comfort zone, just to feel the presence my True Self.

Eckhart Tolle remarked in his recent book, A New Earth, The only thing that ultimately matters is this: Can I sense my essential Beingness, the I Am, in the background of my life at all times? Well, it appears that for now, at least at work, a little extra pressure appears to do the trick for me. Try it!