Love is a journey
The most dangerous kind
To find your heart
You must lose your mind
-Sahara
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Monday, February 28, 2005
Thursday, February 24, 2005
The Mockingbird Story..
What would the world be like if you dropped all your labels and concepts?
Once there was a mockingbird who would come to my balcony every night at about 2:00 in the morning. His voice was so loud that it would wake me, and I often just lay there listening to his many, varied songs. It seemed that he would go on for an hour or more, singing to the very top of his voice, and he never repeated the same song twice. His songs were magnificent, even though they were often an annoyance too. I loved that bird.
One night, after meditating, I fell deep into a dreamless sleep. Then, long into the night, I was awakened to the sound of the most beautiful angel voices. I heard a choir of thousands of sweet voices all in perfect holy harmony, all creating the most wonderous sound I had ever known. Actually I did not hear them so much as feel them with my whole body. It was not just my ears that delighted in the sound, it seemed as if my whole body resonated in harmony with the voices, as though they were inside me, and I was inside them. I had the feeling there was actually no difference between me and the voices.
Then I began to wake up from my sleep.
In the hypnogogic state, somewhere closer to waking than sleep, I recognized where the sound was coming from -- it was the mockingbird. And, as soon as I labeled the sound "mockingbird" the angel voices were gone; all I could hear was the familiar song of the mockingbird. The angel voices were actually initiated by the mockingbird.
Realizing that I had lost the voices by labeling them, I allowed myself to go back into sleep, just a little, and once again there were the angel voices -- swooning in a chorus so beautiful it made me cry... and then I woke up to hear "just" the mockingbird, once again.
This is when I realized what the masters have taught, about the necessity of dropping our concepts and labels. Life is wonderous beyond belief when we allow it to be as it is. But when we label an experience or try to understand it with our minds, we collapse it into a mental concept that is but a symbol of the truth. Since then I realize, when I hear a bird or see any object, that what I am experiencing is but a symbol of something much deeper, something I can only know when I drop my labels and my concepts about what it is.
Everything is unique, and far more rich than our normal senses can accept. Yet, we have a knowingness that can penetrate to the very divinity of any seemingly separate thing -- even a mockingbird is holy, and far more beautiful than we usually imagine. And everything is intimateloy connected in one Whole.
I have had only a few other experiences like this one since the mockingbird left, years ago. And each one confirms for me the truth of the masters, that we but live in a dream of our own making, that this dream is made of our concepts and ideas. We rarely experience the fullness of anything, directly. We think about things, and believe our thoughts are real. Yet, our thoughts are always conditioned by the past; they are just our symbols of past experiences which we keep recreating over and over again as we recall only the labels we have placed on them. We eat the menu instead of the meal, and wonder why we are still hungry for the truth.
For the first time, when I heard that mockingbird directly, without my concepts and labels, I ate the meal. And, still, to this day, even though I have had a few similar experiences, I still eat the menu most of the time. The experience does not persist for me, and perhaps I could not long live in a body if it did.
Yet, now I now know there is something we can experience that is so far beyond our usual dream that the best description I can find for it is "reality." Perhaps being fully awake is to hear the angels in every voice and to live in awe. Perhaps being fully awake to the awesomeness of life would cause this little life of separation to vanish, as all dreams do when we awaken.
I have chosen not to leave this dream just yet. Many still "live" in fear and suffering, thinking this is all so real. But, only Love itself is real, and fear is always a mistake. We are the perfect arising of a perfect Universe, how could it be otherwise? We are eternal beings. There is no death. If it were otherwise, life would be a cruel joke, and we are all doomed. I choose to believe that which empowers me, and so I believe in eternity, in Love, in Peace, in the perfection of the Universe which is in me as I am in It, and there is only a difference of perspective between us, not a difference of substance.
May we all awaken and live in Love and Peace and Harmony; why suffer any longer? Forgiveness is the way to awaken, because it's only our belief in separation that creates the illusion of separation. True forgiveness brings us all together again, as one. Without forgiveness, we live in fear and suffering. With forgiveness we grant holiness to our brothers and sisters, as being one with us. Forgiveness grants that we are all doing the best we know how at the time, and that we are all here to grow and learn from our mistakes. Forgiveness acknowledges that we do not know the truth of anything, that we are all deep in the dream of separation and we are all trying to awaken, as best as we know how. Yes, some of us have very negative ideas on what life is all about.
You and I can help awaken our Brothers and Sisters by simply granting them forgiveness. You are empowered to do so, and it is the greatest gift you can give, because it leads to acceptance and from acceptance we awaken, naturally.
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Once there was a mockingbird who would come to my balcony every night at about 2:00 in the morning. His voice was so loud that it would wake me, and I often just lay there listening to his many, varied songs. It seemed that he would go on for an hour or more, singing to the very top of his voice, and he never repeated the same song twice. His songs were magnificent, even though they were often an annoyance too. I loved that bird.
One night, after meditating, I fell deep into a dreamless sleep. Then, long into the night, I was awakened to the sound of the most beautiful angel voices. I heard a choir of thousands of sweet voices all in perfect holy harmony, all creating the most wonderous sound I had ever known. Actually I did not hear them so much as feel them with my whole body. It was not just my ears that delighted in the sound, it seemed as if my whole body resonated in harmony with the voices, as though they were inside me, and I was inside them. I had the feeling there was actually no difference between me and the voices.
Then I began to wake up from my sleep.
In the hypnogogic state, somewhere closer to waking than sleep, I recognized where the sound was coming from -- it was the mockingbird. And, as soon as I labeled the sound "mockingbird" the angel voices were gone; all I could hear was the familiar song of the mockingbird. The angel voices were actually initiated by the mockingbird.
Realizing that I had lost the voices by labeling them, I allowed myself to go back into sleep, just a little, and once again there were the angel voices -- swooning in a chorus so beautiful it made me cry... and then I woke up to hear "just" the mockingbird, once again.
This is when I realized what the masters have taught, about the necessity of dropping our concepts and labels. Life is wonderous beyond belief when we allow it to be as it is. But when we label an experience or try to understand it with our minds, we collapse it into a mental concept that is but a symbol of the truth. Since then I realize, when I hear a bird or see any object, that what I am experiencing is but a symbol of something much deeper, something I can only know when I drop my labels and my concepts about what it is.
Everything is unique, and far more rich than our normal senses can accept. Yet, we have a knowingness that can penetrate to the very divinity of any seemingly separate thing -- even a mockingbird is holy, and far more beautiful than we usually imagine. And everything is intimateloy connected in one Whole.
I have had only a few other experiences like this one since the mockingbird left, years ago. And each one confirms for me the truth of the masters, that we but live in a dream of our own making, that this dream is made of our concepts and ideas. We rarely experience the fullness of anything, directly. We think about things, and believe our thoughts are real. Yet, our thoughts are always conditioned by the past; they are just our symbols of past experiences which we keep recreating over and over again as we recall only the labels we have placed on them. We eat the menu instead of the meal, and wonder why we are still hungry for the truth.
For the first time, when I heard that mockingbird directly, without my concepts and labels, I ate the meal. And, still, to this day, even though I have had a few similar experiences, I still eat the menu most of the time. The experience does not persist for me, and perhaps I could not long live in a body if it did.
Yet, now I now know there is something we can experience that is so far beyond our usual dream that the best description I can find for it is "reality." Perhaps being fully awake is to hear the angels in every voice and to live in awe. Perhaps being fully awake to the awesomeness of life would cause this little life of separation to vanish, as all dreams do when we awaken.
I have chosen not to leave this dream just yet. Many still "live" in fear and suffering, thinking this is all so real. But, only Love itself is real, and fear is always a mistake. We are the perfect arising of a perfect Universe, how could it be otherwise? We are eternal beings. There is no death. If it were otherwise, life would be a cruel joke, and we are all doomed. I choose to believe that which empowers me, and so I believe in eternity, in Love, in Peace, in the perfection of the Universe which is in me as I am in It, and there is only a difference of perspective between us, not a difference of substance.
May we all awaken and live in Love and Peace and Harmony; why suffer any longer? Forgiveness is the way to awaken, because it's only our belief in separation that creates the illusion of separation. True forgiveness brings us all together again, as one. Without forgiveness, we live in fear and suffering. With forgiveness we grant holiness to our brothers and sisters, as being one with us. Forgiveness grants that we are all doing the best we know how at the time, and that we are all here to grow and learn from our mistakes. Forgiveness acknowledges that we do not know the truth of anything, that we are all deep in the dream of separation and we are all trying to awaken, as best as we know how. Yes, some of us have very negative ideas on what life is all about.
You and I can help awaken our Brothers and Sisters by simply granting them forgiveness. You are empowered to do so, and it is the greatest gift you can give, because it leads to acceptance and from acceptance we awaken, naturally.
()
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Why Are You Here...?
Along the path to awakening, some of us find that we must actively bring some light (compassion, peace, Love, understanding) to the world so we can progress individually and as a whole. Yet, as we progress we realize that we know nothing, that even our own existance as a separate self is an illusion -- life is but a dream. So, what do we do? How do we row our little boats gently down the stream of life? How do we bring some light to help our brothers and sisters avoid unnecessary suffering? What do we teach? What do we say? What do we do? All good questions, ones I have pondered far too long -- it's time to act.
This blog is for those who feel a calling to teach from Spirit. I am not interested in teaching my beliefs or my good ideas. I want to share only that which is inspired by Spirit, and tested by personal experience. I want to teach teachers, those who feel they are free enough of their past to begin to see a different way, those who see that their next step is on the path of awakening themselves and others.
The trap, of course, is that we begin teaching as a way to strengthen our egos, to "sell" our way of thinking, to quell our own doubts. This is not what we are after. We are after genuine awakening, not the idea of awakening; the transcendance of the ego, not it's glorification; the cessation of our monkey mind, not it's satisfaction. Yet we must begin where we are, realizing that we are not free of the ego. We are not waiting until we are "perfect," to teach perfection (just like we do not need to fully understand quantum physics -- as a rare few do -- in order to teach it.
There is a better way to live, a way to be at peace, in harmony with all of life. This is not my way; I did not invent it. But, this is the way that has been taught throughout recorded history, the way that works when it is applied and lived. Mere talk and written words are not enough to transmit it. The words must be eaten and digested and assimilated into a new body that is filled with light and free of the past. It's not difficult at all; it can be learned -- but it cannot be taught. And thus there is already a paradox we must resolve -- how do we teach what cannot be taught? The answer is simply that everyone already knows what you will teach, but they have forgotten. You will see this as you remember for yourself, and you will remember as you teach -- not before. Thus we have another paradox -- how do we teach what we yet do not know? Again, we know, but we have forgotten too. You will know what you know as you begin to teach, for it is through the giving that you receive; you must give away that which you want to have.
So, we cannot wait to "have it all figgered out" before we begin. That may sound strange, but it's not our own ideas we are to teach. Our job, as teachers, is to connect to Source and allow That to work through us. All we have to do, as teachers, is to let go of our limiting beliefs and everything else that is in the way. What we will teach is not our own, and that is it's beauty and it's power. What we will teach, by word and deed and example, is simply forgiveness. Yet, forgiveness is far from simple to most of us. We often forgive from a sense of superiority -- which is not true forgiveness.
What is true forgiveness, and how can something so easy have such power to heal? If you are here to bring peace to yourself and to the world, read on. More to come...
()
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This blog is for those who feel a calling to teach from Spirit. I am not interested in teaching my beliefs or my good ideas. I want to share only that which is inspired by Spirit, and tested by personal experience. I want to teach teachers, those who feel they are free enough of their past to begin to see a different way, those who see that their next step is on the path of awakening themselves and others.
The trap, of course, is that we begin teaching as a way to strengthen our egos, to "sell" our way of thinking, to quell our own doubts. This is not what we are after. We are after genuine awakening, not the idea of awakening; the transcendance of the ego, not it's glorification; the cessation of our monkey mind, not it's satisfaction. Yet we must begin where we are, realizing that we are not free of the ego. We are not waiting until we are "perfect," to teach perfection (just like we do not need to fully understand quantum physics -- as a rare few do -- in order to teach it.
There is a better way to live, a way to be at peace, in harmony with all of life. This is not my way; I did not invent it. But, this is the way that has been taught throughout recorded history, the way that works when it is applied and lived. Mere talk and written words are not enough to transmit it. The words must be eaten and digested and assimilated into a new body that is filled with light and free of the past. It's not difficult at all; it can be learned -- but it cannot be taught. And thus there is already a paradox we must resolve -- how do we teach what cannot be taught? The answer is simply that everyone already knows what you will teach, but they have forgotten. You will see this as you remember for yourself, and you will remember as you teach -- not before. Thus we have another paradox -- how do we teach what we yet do not know? Again, we know, but we have forgotten too. You will know what you know as you begin to teach, for it is through the giving that you receive; you must give away that which you want to have.
So, we cannot wait to "have it all figgered out" before we begin. That may sound strange, but it's not our own ideas we are to teach. Our job, as teachers, is to connect to Source and allow That to work through us. All we have to do, as teachers, is to let go of our limiting beliefs and everything else that is in the way. What we will teach is not our own, and that is it's beauty and it's power. What we will teach, by word and deed and example, is simply forgiveness. Yet, forgiveness is far from simple to most of us. We often forgive from a sense of superiority -- which is not true forgiveness.
What is true forgiveness, and how can something so easy have such power to heal? If you are here to bring peace to yourself and to the world, read on. More to come...
()
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