Contemplation

Adyashanti has a new book "The Way of Liberation" which can be downloaded for free.  See the description below ** of the book and how to download a copy.

This Christmas I received a deeper awareness of the fact that this human identity that we strive to build and maintain (both for ourselves and for others to see) is illusion.  We spend soooo much time and energy trying to form an identity that we think will bring us happiness yet it never works.  Even when the ego gets what it wants, then we have to keep it...and even if we can keep it, most things that bring us happiness end up losing their appeal over time.

I am more deeply aware of the farce and the folly involved with all of this human efforting to create something out of nothing.  It is not real.  It is not who I am.  It is a front that I use to try to get what I want out of life.  

There is another way and that is to discover and connect with Who I Really Am.  This starts with witnessing the ego and letting go of attachment to it.  It is about Being, Presence, Awareness.  

On this New Years Eve we have a great opportunity to let go of that which keeps us hooked in to the false self and to suffering.  There is a section in Adya's book (The Way of Liberation) where he talks about contemplation...which is asking a question or holding a phrase in mind, then moving into the silence, and then bringing the question back to conscious awareness...I contemplated the question "What am I to let go of this New Year's Eve in order that I may make space for Truth to show up as my Reality?"  What came to me is to let go of feeding or stroking the ego. I will spend more time contemplating this question and letting Spirit guide me.

May you have a Joyous and Blessed New Year.  You are not who you think you are.  You are so much more.  You are the Light.      

**"The Way of Liberation: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment"

Download your complimentary copy! (http://e2.ma/click/m0z6d/iheiwc/il5dac)

The Way of Liberation is Adyashanti’s stripped-down, practical guide to

spiritual awakening. With a profound simplicity it outlines the Foundations,

Orienting Ideas, and Core Practices that are essential in the process of waking

up to the absolute nature of Reality and living it to the fullest extent

possible.

The 53-page softcover book will be available to purchase in the online

Bookstore in January, 2013.

Christmas - A Celebration of Light and Life

Jerry Downs wrote:

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Today, we celebrate the Light. More than a mere celebration of a birth, we honor and acknowledge the Light that has given birth to all births, be it a star or a human child. We set aside this day to actually say the words that are spoken in each and every instant by the Light that has given us each instant and every word.

We say thank you for finding Us in You. We say thank you for allowing us to find You in Us. We celebrate our connection by exchanging gifts. We say, “We love you,” and know that it is you who forms the words and uses our ears to hear it for yourself. We touch one another and feel your presence. We see by the reflection of your Light. We smell a rose and your essence rises to greet Us. We taste a kiss and you bloom in every taste bud. We thank you for our body. We thank you for our senses. We thank you for our sense of self. We thank you for our earth. We thank you for our birth.

Today, we thank you for the opportunity to celebrate Our birth in You.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  I hope that the Christ Consciousness was born in you today, stronger than ever.

I have been working with two ideas this week.  One from Adyashanti who says that sincerity is absolutely essential to spiritual awakening yet being completely honest with ourselves and others is very difficult for most people.  One of the things that can help reduce the tendency to hide from ourselves is to let go of self-judgment.  Self-judgment keeps us from being able to be honest with ourselves.

I have also been working on "not closing" or keeping myself from running away from discomfort (think about the inner thorn analogy and the apparatus used to keep the tender area from being touched).  Instead of trying to fix (and therefore run from) inner discomfort when it comes up I have felt it and stayed with the feeling (allowing the energy to pass through me).  I then choose to let the feeling go...surrendering it to God has helped a lot in the letting go.

In order to let the light in, we need to let go of what is blocking us from realizing Truth.  Please join me this week in letting go of self-judgment and allowing uncomfortable feelings to make their way through.

contemplate these things in your heart

What a difficult week this has been with the tragic shootings in Connecticut.  Reverend Carolyne at Unity of Tustin (www.unitytustin.org/category/podcasts/  See the talk on January 16th) gave a beautiful talk last Sunday about going within and contemplating such events in our hearts.  It isn't possible to make sense of the Connecticut shootings with our heads, yet we can stay present with our experience by going into our hearts and allowing what needs to be healed to come forth.

In addition to feeling heart-ache for everyone involved in the shootings, I find myself wanting to commit more deeply to raising my own consciousness and waking up from the dream of separation.  It is only by raising consciousness that we can move into a significantly new experience of life on this planet.

Along these lines, I have been noticing the tendency to escape from discomfort (whether it be the discomfort related to last weeks events or any other discomfort) instead of being present with and accepting what is right in front of me.  It happens so quickly.  An uncomfortable thought arises and before I even realize it I have figured out how to avoid the discomfort...calling someone, eating something, thinking it through to "fix" or "prevent" the uncomfortable situation...

For example, how often do our attempts to connect with others stem from not wanting to feel alone, or wanting to make sure that we are maintaining the relationship, or needing reassurance that we are loved, or wanting someone to vent to...

Being present often throughout the day in an open and honest way gives me the opportunity to notice how I am letting the psyche dictate my life.  This psyche is based on the illusion of separation from others and from God.  When I think of those innocent young lives which were lost because to a large extent humanity is lost, I am motivated to let the illusion go.   I can't change the world but I can change myself and the best way to do that is to let go of that which is false.  Please join me this holiday season in letting go of what no longer serves us and allowing the magnificence that we are to shine forth as Beauty, Truth, Love and Peace.

the inner dialogue

I attended a beautiful meditation retreat last weekend, during which I felt grounded in Spirit.  Returning to the "real world" this week has allowed many opportunities for me to get pulled back into ego.  I've watched myself get hooked by events, people, and mostly by my inner dialogue about what is going on.  It is the inner dialogue that causes me to get hooked.  

Young children do not yet have an inner dialogue.  An event happens (John takes their shovel) and they feel the emotion but they let it pass through them without attaching meaning ("people always take my shovels," "what is wrong with me that I can't ever hold onto a shovel"...) and they go back to the moment with joy.  Young children are experts at practicing the path of non-resistance (which I described in my last blog) and the path of unconditional happiness (2 blog posts ago).    

Jesus said that “Unless you become like little children you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Do I really need to attach meaning to situations?  Would I deal more effectively with what is right in front of me if I wasn't stuck attaching meaning to the present based on what I have experienced in the past?

At each moment I have a choice as to what I put my awareness on.  I can choose to be aware of what the ego is saying or I can be aware that I am much more than what the ego is saying.  I can choose to not attach to events, to let them go, and allow that which God intended me to be to show up as me.

an untethered soul

Some painful feelings this week lead me to read "pain, the price of freedom" in The Untethered Soul.  What I read moved me and inspired me to face my pains (all of them, the little pains and the big pains). In a nutshell, there is pain inside of us (Adya says that we were very open and vulnerable as children and we got wounded so we learned to close up around the pain).  Most of us go to great efforts to try to avoid the pain (by looking a certain way, talking a certain way, having enough people around, keeping busy...).  Instead of letting this need to avoid pain run our lives (remember the "inner thorn" analogy with the complicated apparatus to keep from getting hurt in TUS?), we can choose to face the pain.

"To live at this level of freedom, you must learn not to be afraid of inner pain and disturbance.  As long as you are afraid of the pain, you will try to protect yourself from it.  The fear will make you do that.  If you want to be free, simply view inner pain as a temporary shift in your energy flow."  (TUS, p. 103)  

The pain is just temporary...if we allow ourselves to feel it, it will pass.

"If life does something that causes a disturbance inside of you, instead of pulling away, let it pass through you like the wind."  (TUS, p. 104)

Remember that "On the other side of the pain is ecstasy." (TUS, p. 105)  

"You must be willing at all times, in all circumstances, to remain conscious in the face of pain and to work with your heart by relaxing and remaining open." (TUS, p. 106)  

I have been noticing numerous fleeting situations that have touched my inner pain.  Some examples are: watching my son do (scary) dives during his spring-board diving class, worrying if I "said the right thing" during a recent conversation, financial concerns... There are so many opportunities to notice and release pain throughout the day.

I remind myself that the pain is only a shift in my energy.  The energy flow will return if I relax my heart.  This is how you untether your soul.