awakening
BE, Just BE
07/19/24 05:00 PM
BE, Just BE
Contentment vs happiness. The mind seeks spirituality because it thinks this will bring happiness. Contentment is just our natural state without the mind seeking happiness.
There used to be a bookstore in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago called Transitions Bookstore. Transitions’, specialized in transformative and spiritually awakening books with a homey atmosphere. I remember in 1996 picking up Neale Donald Walsch’s book Conversations with God, Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue, first published 1995. Now I am not confirming if Mr. Walsch did speak with God, but since all is an expression of Source, why not. At the end of the book and I am paraphrasing, God says ‘Just Be’.I was flustered at ‘Be’. Be what? What a conundrum! Here was my answer and I didn’t have a clue what this meant. I wasn’t that happy being who I currently was, that’s why I was at Transitions’ looking for books to enlighten me. Such disapointment!
Now let’s fast forward to 2024 and a modicum of knowledge and wisdom has sunk in. Being is in the present moment. Being aware of the sights, smells and sounds. Noticing the inner dialogue, feelings and emotions and seeing what’s behind it all. Being aware of the thoughts that pass by. Where before I thought these thoughts were mine, now I realize these thoughts are as much mine as the clouds overhead. All part of my awareness of all that is.
Being is the “I Am’. It is what notices our normal selves. Being recognizes the usual feelings and activities of the little ‘s’ self. Being recognizes focus and attention. Yet Being is not dependent on focus and attention. Being is much deeper.
Being is the reality of Self. We tend to say we are spiritual beings having a physical experience, but in reality, the whole consciousness is available. This consciousness of Being is outside the mind, yet the mind is within Being.
Day to day we are engaged with focus on activities. Activities are changing. Activities can be outside or inside activities. Thinking, running, astral projection, meditation, waiting, changing the world and understanding is an activity. Being is stable, activities are always changing. Noticing is Being. All happens within Being.
Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy
-Simon & Garfunkel "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"
To Cultivate and Allow Being
I can only share my experience. Being is already present, but like the oxygen we breath, we don’t notice until we become aware of it.
Relaxing is a good first step. Take moments in your day to relax your mind and body. Notice the thoughts and feelings in the moment you relax. In that moment, notice who is noticing. What is being aware?
Utilize an Awareness Presence Meditation. A meditation I like to use to establish the day is an Awareness Presence meditation. An example I use goes like this: Once you have done your first steps in meditation, my first steps start with a body relaxation and light body infusion*, I then become aware of select parts of the body. First right and left big toes, then notice the right and left knees, then right and left elbows and then right and left shoulders. First, just one at a time as you run through becoming aware of each. Then put combinations together such as right and left shoulders, do this with each pair. Next start mixing in right big toe with left knee and so on with the others. At a certain point as you go through doing this, combine more and more of the mentioned body parts until you are aware of all of them at once. Hold these body parts all in awareness. Sense the space you’ve now created. Hold this space and notice the thoughts that come through this space. Notice the noticer, the awareness present.
This space is Being and can be cultivated in meditations as you go forward to play with and discover Being. I like to go through the day when relaxing mind and thoughts to feel the presence of being by holding awareness of my big toes, knees, elbows and shoulders and be in that space. That space is Being. Feel the presence of that space. The more you do this, Being becomes more apparent and thoughts then just roll through without much interaction. This space of Being has no bounds.
As the activities such as thoughts start to slow down you have access to your Being. There will be that one or many thoughts that can take you out of this awareness of presence. Recognizing what engages you in activity, what captures your attention and focus can start to be observed. Especially if it is repetitive and continuously shows up. Being can see what’s behind thoughts and feelings as the unconscious becomes conscious. Bringing the unconscious conscious expands consciousness. It may seem like a small step, but keep in mind, losing one atom changes hydrogen peroxide H2O2 to water H2O. Water being lighter has a lower boiling point. Once you bring a feeling to the conscious mind, it can now be looked at with Being to see what’s behind it and stay with it all the way to fruition and freeing oneself from it.
Being is just who you are, your true Self. Life lives through Being. There can be multiple experiences in Being such as presence or as an observer for instance. Yet awakened, as freeing as it is, there is expansion in consciousness as one awakes to their true self.
Being as cultivating awareness with the knowing-ness that you are one with source gives you a bright beam of light energy to shine on your life on earth and allow your intention for this lifetime to come through.
*Visualizing white light entering from the top of your head and through your body
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Could Forgiveness Be a Superpower in Our Lives
01/19/24 12:40 PM
Could Forgiveness Be a Superpower in Our Lives
I've been trying to get down to the Heart of the Matter Because the flesh will get weak And the ashes will scatter So I'm thinking about forgiveness Forgiveness
Don Henley, The Heart of the Matter
If a person’s intention is to wake up from this dream of a life, live truth and being our authentic self, there are two courses of work, opening oneself to what is and cleaning up the debris of what isn’t. In cleaning up of what isn’t, forgiveness should not be overlooked as an important tool in awakening.
What is forgiveness? From Psychology Today: Forgiveness is the release of resentment or anger. Forgiveness doesn’t mean reconciliation. One doesn't have to return to the same relationship or accept the same harmful behaviors from an offender.
We see in forgiveness’ basic form, it is a release of resentment and anger towards someone who did us harm in some way. It also doesn’t let the offender off the hook, just a way for us to clear out some emotions tied to the event that precluded it. The good part of this is we’ve moved on from the incident in our minds. As a society we don’t have to accept the actions of people that cause harm.
Yet is forgiveness complete, aside from the Psychology Today perspective? Let’s look at A Course In Miracles (ACIM) interpretation of forgiveness. From Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. ²It does not pardon sins and make them real. ³It sees there was no sin. ⁴And in that view are all your sins forgiven. ⁵What is sin, except a false idea about God’s Son? ⁶Forgiveness merely sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go. ⁷What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God. (ACIM, W-pII.1.1:1-7)
With ACIM we go a bit farther in our interpretation of forgiveness. No sin has occurred according to ACIM teachings. Let’s use the Merriam Webster definition of sin, ‘to commit an offense or fault’. According to ACIM there was no offense or fault committed. With ACIM’ interpretation, no fault occurred. The important part is to forgive yourself as nothing occurred.
Ho'oponopono, an ancient Hawaiian practice of forgiveness can help those who struggle with forgiveness. The word ho’oponopono roughly translates to “cause things to move back in balance” or to “make things right.” It’s a very zen-like concept. Accordingly, chanting this phrase over and over is a powerful way to cleanse the body of guilt, shame, haunting memories, ill will, or bad feelings that keep the mind fixated on negative thoughts. As a forgiveness practice, it is also deeply resonant, as it tends to penetrate our inner monologue over time.
Ho'oponopono utilizes a simple phrase that can be repeated many times as wanted. The phrase can be used in any order. The phrase is: I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.
A Big Picture Perspective
Let’s do some background on what is going on from a larger perspective. As souls on this planet, we come from Love/Light. A good book to give you an extensive background on this is The Michael Handbook. We are an extension of All That Is or God if you prefer. According to the Michael Handbook, we are in soul groups of 800-1200 souls. We live many incarnations/lives on different planets as extensions of All That Is’ reach of knowing. As Love/Light we don’t have an the identity like we perceive on earth. To make our entry to incarnation on earth we set up a base role, personality and choose traits that have strengths and if used negatively, perceived weaknesses. We have a purpose for this life that we are coming to incarnate in. We set up our families and friends from our soul group and other soul groups. We must also consider a soul’s experience level of incarnating on earth. A soul’s experience of incarnating on earth is important on a soul’s ability to understand this third dimensional distorted existence. Every incarnation’s experience of life on earth holds through future incarnations. So, as we interact with the people we meet on earth, we must consider soul experience, purpose, personality, and traits that we are interacting with.
The Curve Ball of Incarnation
As the planet earth has evolved, the consciousness of earth has distorted to the point of total forgetfulness of who we are when we incarnate. Earth has a consciousness that is of perceived duality that includes base instincts, relating to others and relating to oneself. This is the nature of this third dimensional planet.
At one point in Earth’s consciousness, there was an open ability to oscillate between the Love/Light portion of who we are and our earthly experience. This is a nature of many planets’ evolutionary development. One step in, one step out, always in unity with who we are.
So, what happened? A negative influence was introduced to the mix of earth’s consciousness. A sense of reasoning that subtly took the planet toward self and away from who we knew we are. We slowly over time forgot who we are, one with ‘All That Is’ and became self-centered here on earth. Fear became a reality as we forgot who we are. People on this planet tend to react out of fear and create a Service to Self (STS) attitude of existence.
Let’s face it, this experience on earth is all encompassing, immersive and things go awry from the plan we had intended on.
Where Forgiveness Can Come In
To ameliorate this situation in our minds is to forgive all we think we know, and this includes what is perceived as people doing us wrong and ourselves doing wrong. To choose the path of awakening is to remember who we are.
According to Vernon Howard, a Non-Duality teacher, forgiveness has nothing to do with anything outside of yourself or an exterior God. True forgiveness is to forgive yourself. I’ll add to this, forgiveness is forgiving yourself in believing in the illusion of life on this third dimensional planet. There is no exterior God, there is only ‘All That Is’ that one is a part.
Understanding the situation here allows one to start undoing the beliefs associated with the false premise we tend to live in. Forgiving yourself and others is a freedom of waking up to Truth.
What About These Thoughts
These thoughts that appear to us as passing clouds in space are not our thoughts. Ask yourself sometime ‘What’s the next thought?’. You’ll be waiting a while. The thoughts come from beliefs we hold and are the direct entry of the ego/distortion system of Earth. Understanding that thoughts aren’t yours is another way to put space between the ego and the awareness you give thoughts. If thoughts aren’t mine and not necessarily true, why am I giving thoughts attention? Exactly! Forgiveness gives us the space from the emotions and thoughts. Creating this space moves us away a bit from the ego towards our true self.
Forgiveness/Surrender
Forgiveness and I’ll add another term I like to use, surrender. “Surrender is the willingness to let go. To realize that your thoughts, your emotions, and even your body are not you. You are the indwelling consciousness witnessing it all.”-Michael Singer
Forgiveness/Surrender brings a moment into focus for undoing the beliefs that keeps the false narrative in our minds alive. Besides shifting our awareness to recognize not truth, this is a good premise for allowing presence and the current moment coming alive. Take a moment and feel the quiet presence in the background as forgiveness takes place. This takes a bit of practice and can subtly shift your awareness to recognize the always present presence of true self.
Universal Love and Karma
Forgiveness can alleviate the karma of the oneself and the one being forgiven. Forgiveness is part of the principle of universal love. Moving to forgiveness of oneself and others is moving toward love and positive karma.
Forgiveness Lightens Your Life
Consequently, I began looking for a way to become emptier and more willing to let go. Indeed, we have to arrive at that point of realization, where we acknowledge that we do not need all that stuff. -Sat Mindo Damalis
Why carry all these grievances, protests and beliefs that don’t serve our well-being? As the saying goes, lighten your load. Part of awakening is letting go of this world that doesn’t serve us in love/light. A lot of beliefs we have and uphold are in defense of the ego. Beliefs that can feel righteous play right into the ego/distortion on planet earth and do not serve you in awakening to the true self.
Work With Your Guides
We all have guides willing to help in any way possible. These guides, if one is open, can speed up understanding and show you the way to awakening. Forgiveness/Surrender is a way to let your guides take over any misunderstandings and release them and allow truth to take hold.
What Would Forgiveness Look Like
Forgiveness must include self as we are forgiving the whole event and the situation we are now aware of, surrendering it at a conscious level. Let’s take an example of a bully from the past that still has a hold on us. First get your thoughts wrapped around what happened and how your view of the world now understands much of what is going on. Even if you are having a hard time with this, go ahead and leap forward with all the understanding you can muster at this point in your development. We are forgiving the person and ourselves. Why forgive ourselves? Because we carry this grievance of a moment forward in many aspects of the present. We need to let this go so we can free ourselves of the bindings of the pain we carry.
A Sample of a Forgiveness/Surrender Statement
“I give up, I surrender, I let this go. I know the world is full of distortion. This distortion is projected on my brain and my mind thinks it’s real. I give this up to you (name of guides if known or religious/spiritual figures) so you can heal my mind and take me to truth.” You can go into more detail on what you are letting go, but a simple conscious statement and feeling of release will suffice.
It Can Take Time
“Do not be impatient with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not. A traveler walking the road in the darkness of night is still going forward. Someday, some way, everything will break open, like the natural unfolding of a rosebud.” ― Vernon Howard
It can take time to let go all the emotions associated with any forgiveness/surrender event. This is where work on knowledge and wisdom can pay off. Understanding the situation on earth and working on being aware of who is aware and allowing presence to surface. Work with your guides help in quiet understanding of what is true can bring great insight.
In Conclusion
Forgiveness/Surrender is a personal understanding and allowing that helps one become aware to who they really are by reducing beliefs about the world. People on Earth have a distorted sense of selves that can be frustrating to understand and let’s face, be around. Family, coworkers, significant others, and the person in the other car are all opportunities to wake up to who we are. Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily change the other person, but it can be an inside job with great benefits. It can take time based on the beliefs one has stored up. I like to keep this in mind, we came to this planet in the middle of the action that is going on here. We knew what we were getting into. To think we can impose our wills on the world is ridiculous at best. An easing and allowing of the truth and love/light of oneself is the way to make a difference in the world, have some peace and enjoy the time here we came here to experience.
Some Sources Used
The Michael Handbook
RA, The Law of One Session 34.17
Ouspensky Today Non Duality and Forgiveness Study Group
A Course In Miracles
Vernon Howard
Michael Singer
Psychology Today
Sat Mindo Damalis
