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!

The vanishing observer

 The observer who applies mindfulness to the daily activities and thought processes is a fine methodology for a spiritual seeker just as meditation is—the temporary dearth of thinking—but it is not the real thing. “Being, Consciousness, Bliss” is a good description of the real thing—the screen on which existence is projected. There is observation but no observer!

I find it strange that no one ever mentions this: how is being mindful of the psychological self any different from the strive of modern man to be ethical? The enlightenment movement tried it since the 17th century, Christianity tried it over the last 2000 years, Judaism tried it for 4000 years, but no one succeeded. The ethical, religious and spiritual observer does not work!

“Being, Consciousness, Bliss” is a humming sound, a higher vibration. The statement, “wherever you go there you are” contains a lot of value. If the identity of personality that is perceived is flawed—and it is because it is a product of a corrupt “I perception”—no matter how high the ethical, religious and spiritual aspirations are—every observer will carry it with them.

Many spiritual seekers have experienced the vanishing observer in satori moments, but how to make observing, manifesting, being a permanent fixture of our life? As mentioned before, there is nothing wrong with mindfulness or meditation—these are fine techniques of spiritual doing. Spot the collapse of the identity on the inside, listen to the humming sound of the higher vibrations,

The worst interference is not the dark night of the soul episode where we know that we are caught on the wrong foot. The worst interference is complacency when we feel we have made it, or feel we are a cut above the fellow seeker who chooses a different path. True mindfulness and meditation is observing the observer until only observation remains. 

Choice-less awareness

 There are endless discussions in philosophy, neuroscience, spirituality and biology if we have free will. Why don’t we ask a different question, is there an individual who has free will? If the decision maker is part of the illusion, then how can something that doesn’t exist have anything? 

I once had a satori experience when “I” vanished and only a screen on which “life as is” was projected remained. I felt it, sensed it, knew it. Like every satori experienced, it vanished after some 20 minutes or so, but the knowledge remained, there is no “I” other than the screen. 

When “you” are part of the illusion of separation, keep inquiring and keep listening to the viewpoints of others until Oneness shines through. When the veil of separation has lifted, enjoy being carried by the energy of “life as is. Choice-less awareness then carries the day. Enjoy!

Freedom—Let go, let God (Video)

 We alternate between the materialistic state, the mindful and the meditative state. Freedom is always here now. Faced with the realities of life we can leave the “story of me” behind. Things just happen. There is no “me” around to mind either way. Let go, let God. Video presentation below:

https://youtu.be/sLnXG--VVJ8?is=v0JOoiPDNkETK3ha