Every moment is special

 The idea that enlightenment will make us happy is the ego’s fantasy -

a misunderstanding.

It wants awakening to be a spiritual reward.

 

But awakening isn’t an experience.

It’s the death of the one who was seeking.

 

Freedom isn’t about feeling good -

it’s being free from the one who wanted to be free.

 

You don’t wake up to be happy.

You wake up from the one who could ever be happy or unhappy.

 

“Through the door of the heart I entered the truth -

and now I live without distinction”

~ Lalla (Thanks Baerbel Marlena Simon for sharing)

 

How can I be that my memories regarding the children are all happy? I was there. I know that the past is not any different from today. I know that there were good days as well as not so good ones.

 

The problem with our concept of enlightenment is that we picture ourselves just as we are without the suffering. This is not so. It’s a completely different state altogether: engulfed in serenity but without today’s passion.

 

We are Consciousness manifested in a body, mind and world realizing Itself. Every moment is special. Falling in love is beautiful even if the bond breaks eventually. Following a dream is special even if it doesn’t come to fruition.

 

The good comes with the bad. It’s about the moment at hand. No matter what we do, there will always be an occasional boredom, disappointment, restlessness and annoyance sprinkled around the happy moments. It’s what keeps us going.

 

Happiness Is When the Love in Your Heart Appears

 What is happiness?

In summary, it can be said like this: I am loved. I feel a sense of belonging and safety.

 

Perhaps I think happiness means doing what I love with the person I love, or that my child gets into a good school, or that my partner treats me a certain way.

But when we trace it all the way back to the root, it comes down to just two words — being loved.

 

When we want to be loved, our eyes naturally turn outward, searching for it from others.

With that attitude, in relationships, we may experience brief moments of joy, yet rarely do we feel truly loved or happy.

 

Is it because we’ve done something wrong? Or not done enough?

 

No.

 

It’s because we’ve missed one crucial point — happiness is not something outside of us. Happiness is when the love in your heart appears.

 

Inside each of our hearts lies a vast treasure.

Resentment, pain, anger, grievance, sorrow, helplessness — all the wounds we’ve experienced are stored within this treasure.

 

When we begin to understand these feelings of sorrow and pain — no matter what our conclusions may be — through that attitude and process of understanding, happiness will naturally find its way to us.

 

Because in that moment, your heart becomes calm and harmonious — you understand.

 

So happiness is understanding,

It is realization,

It is insight,

It is the awakening of your heart,

not something you achieve by doing.

 

Let us call this state Love.

 

Suzhen Liu

If you like Suzhen Liu’s writings, please check out her latest book, “Discover Love Within—Release Your Suffering” available at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Discover-Love-Within-Release-Suffering-ebook/dp/B0G4L29MVN

“You” do the best, and God does the rest

 We are only free when 

                                      S (tillness) prevails,

the kundalini                  E (nergy) reaches the Crown Chakra,

the heart chakra opens  L (ove) is complete, and when

and we perceive the       F (low) of life.

 

Until then we are just bumped around like marionettes, with moments of actual freedom, moments of illusionary freedom, and moments of bondage. The opening of our energy centers is a subconscious event that can be helped with conscious spiritual work, while the experience and learning opens us up to the flow of life. 

 

When we are free we experience an “I Am” that connects us to the creative life energy that manifests moment by moment that catapults our self out of the “Way.” What can be actively done to break free? Follow that spiritual path that resonates with you and just keep going! “You” do the best and God does the rest!

The Tipping Point in Spirituality

 After Awakening we get a glimpse of what true freedom is all about. A friend described his satori moment while hiking in Texas in the following way—the backpack felt like carrying feathers; everything became effortless; there was a silence of being.

 

Awakening is a first glimpse of what is to come but there is a little work ahead. For some time it feels like we are being bumped around between different states of conditioned mind, “I Am” and our awareness of being conditioned which is an in-between state of sorts. Sure, we can consciously choose to meditate, hang out with a higher vibrating crowd or engage in activities that nourish our life-force, but at the end of the day we still have little say in when and how these “I Am” states manifest themselves. They seemingly appear by the Grace of God.

 

The tipping point is when the entire energy system shifts—mostly—towards the higher prevailing energies. The energy centers of the body are balanced, the mind is still and the heart is wide open, allowing life’s creative energies to flow through us without our self-induced interference. There is no telling when this switch occurs other than quoting Matthew 7:7-8 in the New Testament. “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” 

 

 

Falling into the field of infinite possibilities

We cannot suppress a thought-feeling energy that rises into our awareness. I mean, we may be able to but then this energy will only materialize in a more distorted form later.

 

What we can do is to look at this energy with the same curiosity as we look at a rope on the dark ground that we mistook for a snake after jumping a few feet away from it first.

 

Spiritual living is straightforward in the end. On the outside we are part of the happening with a still mind and an open heart, with a “not my will but Thine” life philosophy.

 

On the inside, most thought forms have little staying power as we bathe in the sea of infinite possibilities. We cannot consciously reach for it, but we can always fall back into it.

 

Create in the stillness of being

 In the early 17th century, a German shoemaker had a conversation with God. Jakob Boehme claimed that “reality” is a divine drama unfolding within Consciousness. Light and darkness, good and evil, unity and division, all arise from within a Void. This universe and the soul are the means through which “God” knows Themselves. A limitless potential precedes all beings and manifestations and we activate it. God longs to reveal Themselves, and we long to return Home. Dualities are the instruments of awakening.

 

A little boredom, restlessness, disappointment, and annoyance will always accompany us until we have broken free. The experienced friction of being human is what keeps us going. The stream of illusions changes into the River of Consciousness which one day becomes the Ocean of Oneness. Is there something we can do to minimize the travel time? Yes, connect with that limitless potential of possibilities. Be still, open your heart and allow “life as is” create itself through this stillness of being here and now.

 

You are “That”!

 Question: “Please tell me the method of reaching the eternal Truth.”

 

Ramana Maharshi: “You are That. Can you ever remain apart from the Self? To be yourself requires no effort since you are always That.”

 

If you are Jewish, your spiritual belief tells you that you are a part of God’s chosen people. Yet, in your DNA you also carry centuries of persecution. If you are German like me, you are from a country that was once called the land of poets and philosophers. Yet, the German people also carry the cross of fascism and aggression in WWII. Likewise, every tribe has its calling and guilt.

 

Above the field of nationality, there is the belonging to a particular ancestry, just as beneath the field of nationality there is humanity. We are all part of a common heritage that spans eons, if not millions of years if we include our animalistic evolution. We may compare our life experience to the waves in the ocean, our family connection to the current, and our human roots to the deep sea.

 

From a human perspective it seems impossible to reach “That” without Grace. Yet, we are “That” and claiming our birthright is as easy as closing our eyes and diving into the Ocean of Infinite Possibilities which manifests life as is through us when our mind is still and our heart is open. Is there something “you” can do to swim in the Ocean of Bliss? Yes, bow to our ancestors and open your heart of compassion.