Being conscious or aware

Richard Rohr says that "Being conscious or aware means:
  
*I drop to a level deeper than the passing show.
*I become the calm seer of my dramas from that level
*I watch myself compassionately from a little distance, almost as if the 'myself' is someone else- 'a   corpse,' as St. Francis put it.
*I dis-identify with my own emotional noise, and no longer let it pull me here and there, up and down.
*I stop thinking about this or that and 'collapse into' pure consciousness of nothing in particular.  You don't get  there, you fall there--'objectless consciousness,' as some call it." (The Naked Now, p. 135)

And when this happens:

"Your identity comes from within.  You will want to love and serve others, but you do not use them or need them to define yourself either positively or negatively.  This is surely 'the freedom and glory of the children of God' (Romans 8:21).  Such people know how to love you very well, because they are out of the way."  (The Naked Now, p. 137-8).

When my small self gets in the way, I remind myself to be the Witness or notice who is noticing.  I ask myself "Who am I?"  I let go of self-judgment (either positive or negative) and I wait for God to name me.  I remind myself that the world is not my source for good.  God is my source of abundance, love, peace and joy...

I do not want to cling to this self any longer.  I will let go of my attachment to this self a little bit at a time.  I want to know who I really am.  As I type these words I ask myself "Who am I?"  The answer is a mystery.  I am grateful to have been lead to this point where I desire to know the truth of my being.  Thank you God.

 

Divine Union

As I notice myself being drawn back into "self" I return my awareness to the Witness or Observer Self.  Here is how Richard Rohr describes the Witness:

"Christians would call it the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is 'realized' primarily by surrender to and trust of a divine union that is already given.  You will however, need discipline to keep seeing and trusting this Union, because of all the contrary evidence."  (The Naked Now, page 138).

This divine Union is already and always present.  It is just waiting to be known, to be called upon, to be honored and loved.

The self is also waiting to be honored and loved.  The problem with the self is that it has lots of conditions that need to be met in order for me to feel good about my-self.  The self judges everything and everyone, and, only when it feels that it has done a good job (or feels that it is better than others or feels that it has been recognized for doing a good job...) will it be satisfied.

The divine Union has no requirements or conditions to be fulfilled.  It just is.  God and I are One.  It is already done.  This will never change no matter what I say or do.  God is completely and unconditionally in love with me.  

Each time I bring my awareness back to the Witness or the Holy Place Within I am connecting to the Divine Union.

This seems to be the most important thing for me to do with my life---develop the discipline to keep seeing and trusting this Union...until it is the only thing that I see.

"I am nothing and I am everything"

I wanted to take another stab at trying to put into words the meaning that I got out of Richard Rohr's passage that I posted last week. At first I found the passage to be uncomfortable but when a situation arose in my life that was challenging I applied Richard's idea of accepting the weakness of self and the experience shifted me.

We are all familiar with the idea of the egoic, separate self and the idea of the True, Essential Self.  A person who embodies the True Self might experience themselves as "I am nothing and I am everything." When I read Richard's passage it helped me to get in touch with the "I am nothing" part of the True Self.

This hit me strongly because I am aware of how addicted I can be to myself, and, recognizing that this self is actually 'nothing' provides some balance.  It puts into perspective that my opinions, concerns, desires and life circumstances are not who I am.  This feels very freeing.  When I get pulled back into giving meaning to every little thing that happens in my life, I will remind myself that "I am nothing."

I remain confident that there is more to me than this separate, limited self.  And I will wait for God to reveal to me who I really am.

In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus

In The Naked Now, Richard Rohr talks about emptying ourselves of self.  He says that

" 'In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus...'

1.Your "state" is also divine. Hold it confidently (the True Self in God).
2. But do not cling to it with any form of self-validation or importance.
3. Instead, "empty yourself" and refuse to self-name----either up or down, positively or negatively.
4. Enter fully into your humble human state of failure and weakness, even to the point of complete detachment, if called to or if possible.
5. Now God can pick you up at the right time, when God is ready.
6.  God can "name" you correctly, secretly, truthfully, and always lovingly, by Him and as His (Experienced True Self).
7. This Self is indestructible, un-offendable, and already in heaven." ( p. 173)   

(This idea is based on a Christian hymn  from Philippians 2:6-11.)

Since none of us human beings are perfect, accepting/witnessing ourselves with human weaknesses seems like something that would be beneficial.  The self is weak.  It does fail.  Although this weakness is not the Truth of Who we are in the absolute sense, it is who we are in the human sense.  If we do not accept this, then we will be trying to achieve the impossible and trying to be something that we are not.

By accepting ourselves as limited and weak, we will be able to accept the same in others.  We will look upon ourselves and others with soft eyes instead of with judgment.

Not labeling ourselves as good or bad while accepting that the human state is limited can help us to let go of identifying with the false self and open us to the Truth that is at the core of our being.

Allow life to take you deeper into Self by accepting and witnessing your humanness, accepting your divine state without using it to build a stronger ego, and then waiting.  Wait for God to name you.  It is then that you will find your Self, that which is a pure expression of God.