By your faith you are healed

From Adya's book "Resurrecting Jesus":

"To have faith is to let go of control; it's to release the ego's instinct to always be in charge.  So faith opens up that aspect of ego that wants to control everything and think that it has all the answers.  This is what faith is: an opening of the heart, an opening of the mind. Jesus knew from his own experience that when you open your heart and mind, you literally open yourself to the healing presence.  You open yourself to that which can transform you, physically, spiritually, and psychologically."  (p. 98-99)

Despite our better judgment, how often do we turn to our mind/ego to try to fix our problems or make our life run more smoothly?

Adya and Jesus remind us to surrender all things to God and by our faith we will be healed (i.e., transformed or made whole).

Witnessing, being mindful, meditating, letting go...are all acts of faith (choosing to not attach to the ego and letting Something Else steer the ship).  They are techniques for getting our bloated nothingness out of the way so that our true nature can be experienced and expressed.

Let us open our hearts and minds and allow the healing presence of Spirit to pour forth.  As Richard Rohr says in the Virgin Prayer, there is nothing to change or fix...we just need to let go in faith.

being Part 2

April 25th posting Part 2.

Just had an experience at Starbuck's this AM where I saw myself react from ego instead of presence.  I was trying to "make a presence in the world" instead of just "being presence."  This happens when we become concerned with things like "Am I being noticed?" "Am I being funny enough (or smart enough or attractive enough, or spiritual enough, or kind enough...)?"  The list goes on and on.  It is so easy to get trapped in the desires of egoic mind when we are around other egos.

Be watchful. Be alert to whether you are attaching to ego or just being aware in each moment that life is happening and you are experiencing it.  When we are present, that Presence that unites all of us will show us the way.

being

We have been talking a lot about getting out of the head and becoming aware of the presence within or just 'being'.

Here is an exercise that I heard at a Unity service on Sunday which helps me to get out of my head.  Think of a concept that you are holding onto such as "If I could let go of fear then my life would be harmonious."  Now this is not a bad concept to have, nonetheless, it is limiting. It is dualistic.  It is linear. God (or our God Self) is not limiting, nor dualistic, nor linear.

Can you let go of both aspects of this concept...the part about letting go of fear and the part about having more harmony once there is less fear?

To challenge the above concept ask yourself:  Even though I still have some fear is there not already harmony in my life?  So harmony can exist even if there is fear.

If we hold on to these "if-then" beliefs we are limiting what shows up in our lives. God acts in mysterious and miraculous ways, not according to what our little egoic minds tell us is true.

As we begin to let go of attachment to egoic concepts we begin to awaken to the truth of our being.  In his new book Resurrecting Jesus (Which talks about Jesus's life as a metaphor for awakening): Adya describes awakening as:

"a shift from seeing ourselves as a separated, isolated human being to seeing ourselves as that which we all share.  You can call it consciousness, divine being, spirit, God."  p.41 

We are not who we think we are and it is imperative that we begin to find out who we really are and to live from that place of being.  Why live in illusion and a false and limited identity when our True Nature is so much more?

Easter

Most of us are so attached to the egoic self that it feels real...it feels like home.  The neutral zone that comes from witnessing (i.e., letting go and sitting in the seat of Self) can feel unfamiliar.  It can require effort to get to and stay in this awareness.  However, as we spend more time in meditation, and, more time witnessing and letting go of our attachment to ego the seat of the Self begins to feel more comfortable (more real) than the egoic self.  It is like moving to a new city.  At first everything in the new place feels unfamiliar and strange, but as we spend more time in our new home, neighborhood, and community they begin to feel like home.

The key is to practice sitting in the seat of the Self until it feels like your natural state.

Practice by:
...meditating,
...asking "Who am I?"
...noticing that you are the one who is aware of what is happening.
...choosing the path of unconditional happiness or the path of non-resistance (part III of the Untethered Soul)

Easter is symbolic of Jesus letting go of the human self and resurrecting as the Eternal Self.   During this Holy week resurrect yourself by resting in the Higher Self as often as possible and letting go of attachment to what is happening in your life.  It is only stored energy from the past that is being triggered by current situations.  Let it all die away and allow a newer and Higher Self to emerge.  You will begin to feel at home as your true Self.

Sweet blessings during this time of New Life!

Loving God

Regardless of what is or isn't happening in my life, I can always connect with God.

When this "Divine Union" within is not so easy to access I pray and ask God for help.

I ask God to remove whatever is blocking me.

I wait in hope knowing that God the good is always available to me.

I remind myself that my preferences are not going to bring me lasting joy, and, that honoring and loving God will always bring me joy.

If I want to be happy then I can choose to be happy in this moment no matter what.  I can choose to love God and that always makes me happy.

   

Letting Go Into Freedom and Fulfillment

Michael Singer's latest CD: Letting Go Into Freedom and Fulfillment Part 2: Living in Your Natural State of Being talks about transcending the self by witnessing thoughts and feelings. It is the simplest and clearest explanation of witnessing that I have heard: (Go to tou.org to order the CD).

Here is the general idea:  When our eyes are closed and then we open them we are the witness to what we are seeing.  This is the same process that occurs when we witness what we are thinking and feeling, it is what we do naturally...we notice what it is that we are thinking and feeling.  There is a part of us that is the neutral observer to what our mind is thinking and what our heart is feeling and when we access this neutrality we are witnessing.  

Visual witnessing is easy because we usually feel objective about what we are seeing in the world so we can easily 'just observe.'  The reason that we have difficulty being the witness to our thoughts and feelings is because we have preferences, either positive or negative, and these preferences cause us to lose our perspective as the witness.  We identify with the thought or emotion instead of just noticing it.  Michael says that the way out is to let go of preference as soon as it begins to happen by relaxing and leaning back into the seat of the witness. 

Michael gives a beautiful description of how our consciousness is pulled up towards higher and higher states once we have learned to reside in the witness awareness.  

These ideas remind me of the Virgin Prayer...choose to be a blank slate with no preferences (the neutral witness) and wait for God to name you (let Spirit carry you to higher states of consciousness).


I recommend listening to the CD...Michael goes into greater detail and provides examples to drive the point home.

A side note:  Watch Adyashanti’s interview with Oprah Winfrey on her program "Super Soul Sunday" -- Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014. Adya and Oprah will explore the meaning of grace, and how grace shows up when and where we least expect it.

Watch online:
11am Eastern Time and 11am Pacific Time
http://www.oprah.com/app/super-soul-sunday.html

Find out what cable channel it’s on in your area:
http://www.oprah.com/channel_finder.html