The story of the struggling swing coach

 There was once a golfer who was really good at the game. His swings were effortless, elegant, occasionally even magical. There was only that much money he could earn on the pro tour and the endless travel was hard on his family so he decided to take up coaching as well. He was a good coach and helped many people remove the swing mistakes they made, but his game suffered. After all the swing analysis he was suddenly thinking too much. One day he just went for a game with his son, and suddenly, his magic swing was back.

The story of the swing coach is a good analogy of the spiritual path. With Awakening—at least that happened to me—there was no path. From one day to the next the world I was living in changed. All that I remember of this time was the innocence and the Light and seemed to be everywhere, but then came the avocation to share this Light with others and suddenly obstacles popped up. “God” can’t be understood and can’t be explained, but we can bathe in “His” Energy that is everywhere when we stop looking for it.

One day the magic returns. Teaching is not the obstacle, the teacher is.

When two become One

 If you know me, 

you know that I reside 

in the hearts of all beings.

Just summon me and I will return!

Now until the dualistic identity mind melts 

and dissolves,

it may seem that we are parting.

Please be happy.

When you understand the dualistic mind,

there will be no separation from me.

May my good wishes fill the sky.

(Yeshe Tsogyal)

If “you” see two, look again—

the inner is the outer; so,

there must be something off.

Dualistic mind covers Original Mind

like the clouds cover the sky.

Look again and the mirage lifts.

Peering through the veil

 This bio-robot—conditioning such as prior memories, the weight of humanity’s evolution, the self-inflicted neurological damages and pain-body—is not us. A Course in Miracles reminds that the weight of the world was a dream that never was and one day it falls off like a veil.

We might not be completely innocent yet, especially because this entity that maintains this bio-robot reminds us daily of the weight of our missed opportunities, but we can already peer through the veil and—mostly—not be affected by it. 

Can a bio-robot uninstall itself? Probably not, but can an energy source infinitely larger than this self-created entity, outshine the darkness of our self-inflicted blindness? Absolutely! The bad news, we are doing this to ourselves. The good news, there is no one around to do it.

Can you feel the difference between being and being a person?

 Our perceived dissolution of the “me” identity into the sea of Oneness can be compared to the drifting of an iceberg into warmer waters. In time it melts and merges with something infinitely more vast, but on a day to day basis, this entity still has the power to sink ships with its impressive underbelly in violation of the harmonious world of Oneness.

It has happened more than once to me that our boys say something and I responded, “hold that thought until you are fifty or sixty; your perspective may change by then.” What no one wants to realize—what seems to be impossible to realize—is that it is the subconscious underbelly that drives things, not the entity that declared itself as captain of the ship.

An entity decides to do better next time around, not knowing that this self-created entity is the aberration from Oneness that created the problem in the first place. If you mention this fact to anyone it falls on deaf ears because the self-created entity doesn’t want to hear that it is illusionary. Sit with this statement. The reader of this post is just a conditioned thought!

The heart wants what it wants until it is pure, that is, no longer influenced by pain bodies of the past and illusionary mental concepts that tell it where to go. The iceberg analogy works because we are already swimming in what we are. Insight and letting go are the answer: insight in the illusionary nature of mental concepts and letting go of existing pain bodies. 

If you want to speed up the letting go process, S (stillness) E (nergy) L (ove) F (low) contain the answer. Be still for a moment, sense that energy that advances to the crown chakra, feel how the inner energy system switches from head-centered to heart-centered and submit to the flow of life. Emily Snow asked, can you feel the difference between being and being a person? 

Well, can “you”?

Recognize “the space” and stay with it!

 In the early morning hours I observed an inner tension. I stayed with it. For the first time the “teacher” wasn’t looking for gems of wisdom to share with others. I stayed with this tension and recognized the call to be Home. 

What we call “soul” is a cleverly outlined path in time to counterbalance this self-programmed entity called “ego” to catapult us Home in time. Where we came from and what it took to get here doesn’t matter. 

The only thing that matters is the fact that there is a “space” and a whisper “be still and know I am God!” that is available moment by moment. Recognize this space. Stay in it and a journey of a lifetime is completed. 

Happy At-One-Ment—welcome Home!

Awareness

 A zen master wanted to retire and asked his monks to write a koan to find out who the most promising student is. Only the student who was apparently next in line dared to compose one:

Our body is the bodhi tree

and our mind a mirror bright.

Carefully we wipe them

and let no dust alight.

An unknown monk—Huineng—saw it and wrote his version at night when no one was watching:

There is no bodhi tree

nor stand of a mirror bright.

Since all is empty 

where can the dust alight?

The zen master didn’t dare to announce Huineng as the winner as he feared a mutiny amongst his students, even though Huineng was obviously the more advanced practitioner. Huineng left the monastery soon afterwards.

Both koans have their importance and downside. If you dust the mirror you don’t realize Awareness’ emptiness as Huineng rightly stated, but dusting may help the students discover emptiness for themselves.

Everything is connected. Who knows, maybe the runner-up may have inspired Huineng to write this well-known koan which has inspired zen practitioners for 1400 years. See the story in its entirety, that’s Awareness.

The imaginary mountain, the master, the competition, the striving participants and the awe-struck students are all part of a divine play. See the play for what is and there is no ego around to take issue with anything.

Every day is Easter!

 Resurrection takes place after the crucifixion. The real meaning of Easter is resurrection—and enjoying the sweet chocolate—not death. 

The spiritual quest is over once you stumble on “the space.” It’s not another fancy concept to project into—like the Holy Spirit or God—it’s real!

After the resurrection there is only S (ilence) E (nergy) L (ove) F (low) with no self around to do anything. Being is calling the shots outside of “you.”

Before resurrection there is the agony, the drive, the wanting and escaping, but there is also “the space” that opens up and invites us to let go.

Viktor Frankl described “the space” beautifully when he found: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Properly understood, Easter is every day, just as long as we remember to pause and “be still and know I am God”—let “the space” do its magic!