Be still and let God

 In accordance with the latent tendencies of each, the One whose function it is to ordain makes each to act. What will not happen will never happen, whatever effort one may put forth. And what will happen will not fail to happen, however much one may seek to prevent it. This is certain. The part of wisdom therefore is to stay quiet. (Ramana Maharshi)

 

Conditioned mind cannot be overcome with the help of conditioned mind. No matter what “I” do in order to step out of the ego plane, it will be still part of the ego plane. So, what can we do when we don’t like the outcomes we see when we interact on the ego plane?

 

Albert Einstein once postulated that we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them. Imagine the following challenge. A square appears on a piece of paper, and the task is to leave this square without touching any of the surrounding paper area. What to do?

 

The answer is quite simple when we have access to a three-dimensional cube that is invisible on the two-dimensional paper level. Instead of moving south-north-west-east on the paper—the ego level—we stay still and let the energy of the three-dimensional plane take us places.

 

Ramana Maharshi often quoted the Bible, “Be still and know I Am That I Am” as the path out of the ego plane. We take care of what needs to be done, but we are still on the inside and are therefore not carried by the energies of conditioned mind as we access the manifesting energy of “I Am.”

 

The Tao Te Ching proposed that we can be part of the mystery, and we can be part of the manifestation. To be part of the mystery we have to look through the illusion of the ego ownership and have to come to a rest of our own accord. Let go, be still and let God. It is as simple as that.

 

The Wheel of Creation

 The (wo)man who sees Me in everything

and everything within Me

will not be lost to Me, nor

will I ever be lost to him or her.

Bhagavad Gita 

 

Three friends approached the Blue Lord and asked Him what they could do to merge with Him. The Blue Lord asked them what their obstacle was.

 

The first friend said, “Blue Lord, I know what my mission is, I also know the practices I have to do. I often fall short. I waste my time instead or get annoyed about the things I have to do and take it out on others.”

 

The Blue Lord spoke, “The Wheel of Creation has been designed to pull you in. Lethargic energy can be overcome and let go off. I am everywhere encouraging you to join the serene energy that is always at your disposal.”

 

The second friend stepped up and said, “I know what my mission is, but I still get restless and bored. Sometimes I feel fulfilled doing my mission, yet sometimes I do my mission because I am running after name and fame. What can I do?”

 

The Blue Lord spoke, “The Wheel of Creation has been designed to pull you in. Your mission is specially designed to help you burn the driven energy and to awake to the serene energy source in you that calms your mind.”

 

The third friend said, “I am serene. I have already outgrown any mission. I am at rest when the situation allows it, and peacefully get the job done when life duties call. Still, I have not merged with You. What can I do?”

 

The Blue Lord spoke. “The Wheel of Creation has been designed to dig a little deeper. It is true that you are already serene, whereas your friends still deal with lethargy and drive, but you wear your accomplishment as a badge of honor.

 

The Blue Lord turned to everyone now. There is no time required when it comes to “I Am.” The Wheel of Creation is designed for everyone to join here and now. Recognize Me where you are and understand that we are the Wheel of Creation.

 

The trick to leave the “body, mind, world matrix” behind is by recognizing the “I Am state” precedes the manifestation of thought, sensation and experience. Rest in the “I AM state” and let us spin the Wheel of Creation together.

 

Let the pregnant moment take care of “you”

 There is no entity who awakens.

Awakening is simply the recognition

that there never was such an entity.

Francis Lucille

 

Psychologists are right when they say that we have to start at what is—the insanity, the dysfunction, the lack of love. Psychologists are mistaken in their desire to get this “me” into a wholesome state—one of sanity and compassion. This “me” cannot be reformed, but it can be looked through, just as the insanity and dysfunction is just a mistaken program to spot. Love and compassion reign before the “me” materializes. The “me” will always be a mess.

 

How to get to Awareness? “Being, consciousness, bliss” is the pregnant pause that manifests the present moment with or without our conscious participation. Being aware of the interference—our understanding of what we think we are all about—is all we can do. As J. Krishnamurti put it, the moment we are aware of the fact that we are unaware we are in fact aware. Be aware of the mess and let the pregnant creative moment demonstrate how to clean house.

 

Be good rather than aiming to be good

 In a maze we often need to travel south in order to reach an exit which is located in the north. Likewise, when a negative feeling pops to the surface, such as

“I hate that guy!

“I couldn’t disagree more!”

“You are greedy once again!”

 

it’s not about wanting to return to the state of serene and compassionate being, it’s about riding this energy wave until it dissolves into nothingness. Awareness and discernment are very different from judging. If anything, the desire to return to the serene and loving person is the obstacle.

 

We had an offsite at work which was devoted to the theme spirituality. The meditation teacher we had hired for this occasion was good at what he did but something was off. Maybe he disliked the fact that he was teaching folks in the greedy financial industry in order to earn some money himself. My boss remarked at the time, “this serene teacher seems pretty stressed to me.”

 

We own all rainbow colors of human emotions. We have to first acknowledge the seven sins and virtues before we can connect with a dimension that is beyond both. Be good, don’t try to be good. Being good is born in the moment when we own who we think we are, stay with it and let go as we discover the alien energy does not belong to us.

 

 

Can it really be so simple?

 How do you end an addiction? You simply walk away from it.

How to you break free from an abusive relationship? You walk out.

Clearly, you can’t say this to someone who struggles with compulsions or co-dependence and hope for success. These energies have to be understood and let go off. Sometimes these connections, triggers, longings and fears reach back lifetimes and require inter-generational healing. Still, there comes a time when this energy loses its grip, and we simply turn our back on it. As Nisargadatta Maharaj once put it, “the fruit falls when it is ripe.”

 

The inner war cannot be won. One sees it, recognizes it, shrugs one’s shoulders, and walks away from it. Actually, there is no one around to walk away from this conflict. The purpose of the conflict is understood in the first place to recognize the entity that claimed it had a problem, but this entity does not exist. That’s when the quest is finished. All personal energies—just like the longings for some artificial escape or the presence of an abusive partner—are recognized as empty. That’s when the “I Am” energy moves in and takes over.

 

What to do until this final breakthrough has occurred? Enjoy the “I Am” and when the personal energies and interferences take over once again, see them for what they stand for. The realization of Jesus in the desert was depicted as an inner war when good won over evil. It’s deeper than that. Jesus saw his cravings for power to manifest bread, the ability to fly and to rule over people, and stepped away from it. That’s how the inner war is won. You recognize its non-existence. In the presence of “I Am,” there is no one around to have an inner war.

 

Can it really be so simple? Change may be perceived as hard, but the solution to the problem is simple in the end.

 

There is nothing but “I Am”

 Who to blame for your struggles?

Maybe all the economic up and down?

One country for mistreating another one?

Maybe a colleague or a boss undermined you,

or was it a childhood encounter or a lover who hurt you?

Maybe it’s the poor fate that robbed you or your loved ones,

or is it the politician or the billionaires who make you worse off?

 

Unless we dig inside and learn how to let go, we don’t have the maturity to face the inner war, fears and longings that most of us project onto the outside world. We can’t dispose of all baggage though. There comes a time when we recognize fear, greed, hate, jealousy, etc. as it presents itself without repressing and projecting anything. We just sit with this pain body or the recycled guilt and fear that presents itself as a longing. We sit with it and watch it dissolve. The ego is so tricky. It even presents itself as a spiritual longing or the need to teach others our spiritual insights.

 

Strip off everything and face the present moment naked. In the “I Am” moment the aversions and desires of this entity are gone with the wind, and if you feel the personal energies returning, sit with them once again. Soon the realization hits, there is nothing outside the “I Am”—certainly nothing worth living and striving for.

Let the Light in

 Poonjaji was quite arrogant when he met Ramana Maharshi for the first time. After all, he had regular exchanges with Lord Krishna who appeared before him on occasions. Ramana Maharshi smiled and asked him, “Is Krishnaji here with us right now?” Poonjaji had to admit that he wasn’t. “What kind of God is only present some of the time?” Ramana asked. This resonated with him, and he went back to the drawing board and had a more lasting breakthrough soon after.

 

The same can be said about the “I Am” moment. We all have been in these serene moments when life simply flows through us. Yet, how come that the interferences and distractions return? Maybe we can never completely step out of conditioned mind, but we can look at the interference in the present moment and see conditioned mind as is. How do you bring light to a building that had been in darkness for decades? You open the door and the windows!