WISDOM 12

An observation:  A number of years ago someone asked Ram Dass to give her some advice on walking the spiritual path. He said very simply and honestly, “Before you start, I want to warn you that any advice I give you will probably lead you in the direction that my life has taken me because that is all I know.” 

            One size does not fit all. We are all unique expressions of the Divine, and each one of us will find our own way or ways of expressing that.  I feel as if a very powerful part of this work we are doing together honors these differences rather than trying to smooth them out or get rid of them. We honor both our knowing and our not knowing. There are no maps because the particular landscape that each one of us travels has never been traveled before and will never be traveled again.  This lifetime and all other lifetimes are a unique contribution to the evolution of Love and Creation.

Spiritual longing is a sort of loneliness for an unknown yet deeply perceived presence. Some call the presence God; some call it peace; some call it consciousness; some call it love. Its source rests in the well of our own hearts. When we slow down, quiet the mind, and allow ourselves to feel hungry for something that we do not understand, we are dipping into the abundant well of spiritual longing. We have grown accustomed to shutting down or blotting out feelings of longing, loneliness, hunger. It’s less challenging to feed the hunger with explanations, concepts, or rules (or drugs, food, or drink) than to rest for a while in the depths of the heart’s longing. But if we want to open the doors to life’s joy and God’s peace, we have to learn how to fearlessly explore the full terrain of our human longing.

Lesser, Elizabeth. The Seeker's Guide . Random House Publishing Group. 

P. 143-145 (for the sake of continuity, I am “repeating” some of what we examined last week. We are beginning with the heading Day Eleven).

I was reflecting that the most memorable teachers in my life, the ones I continually feel touched by, even though I might not have seen them for a long time in the material world, are those who gifted me with their presence, their unspoken acknowledgement of my worth; their affirmation, whether expressed out loud or not, of my goodness, my wholeness, my potential.

I wonder if we could begin to perceive the Guides in such a similar manner. That they are not teaching facts or ideas so much as they are teaching Awareness. Even though this first paragraph(from Day Eleven) seems to be rather clinical, I always wanted to keep in mind that the driving force and really perhaps the only force that matters here is the power of Love. And more than anything else, through energy and vibration, we are being “loved into a higher level of consciousness.” Just sit with that one for a moment, we are being loved into a higher level of consciousness. Not pushed, not prodded, not told we have to do this or have to do that, but being loved into a deeper awareness of the truth of Who We Are.

We visited again this metaphor of standing at a certain level and noticing how our perception changes. Let us take a present-day example that most of us are somehow and someway involved in: It does not take long to realize that in our system of politics, political parties, etc., how easy it is to become lost in the illusion of separateness.

Now when I am standing in the midst of who is right and who is wrong, when I am allowing my outrage and fear to be the primary source of my responses to life, then I am living in a perception that continually reinforces that illusion of separateness. And my sense of who I am, and who you are as well, is certainly affected by the stance I am taking or the level I am standing on. In this example we are using, I see you is either a colleague or an enemy.

Now if I were to stand on another level or a higher level of vibration, I might still be affected by my sense of who is right or who is wrong and yet I would also begin to realize that much of my sense of right or wrong has come about from my history, from what I have been taught or what I have learned. We have seen this happen, especially in Eastern European countries who when they had been given their freedom, found themselves entering back into centuries-old disputes that the present generation had nothing to do with, and yet the learning and the prejudice and the fear and the anger of generations ago were still present. Even to the thinking mind those warlike reactions made no sense and yet here they are.

When A Course in Miracles emphasizes that “I could see peace instead of this,” what it is also encouraging us to do is to prayerfully ask the question “How can I see this differently?” And noticed that the question, by its very nature, opens us up to the possibility, even though we might not know what this is opens us up to the possibility that I cansee this differently; that I can stand at a different place; that my perception can change or even can be transformed.

Take our political scene again, for example, we can begin to perceive that the struggle for power or the necessity of being right even through lies and deceptions, are essentially an expression of fear, that something might be taken away from me. You will also notice how quickly someone else's fear can begin to become your own and how this effect of lower vibration is what we are coming in tune with in more awareness. 

“I know your fear because I have lived there too; I know your fear and I can understand it without judging. And, first of all, I know that I do not have to take it on, but even more than that I can begin to see you, I can begin to see who you are and know who you are without your fear. Now I might not be able to define that, I might not be able to explain that to you but I can still know the truth of it .

Do you see how we are continually working on this one.? How can I see you beyond the limited awareness of my personality self and yours? You will notice that as we explore this, one of the teachings underneath all of this is that you are also raising your perception of yourself to a higher vibration. 

“On this day I choose to lift my mind, to lift my expression, to lift my availability to a higher level of knowing. I will claim the benefit of this choice. I accept my willingness to accept the teachings that are available to me at this new place, and I align my energy field to all that is required to sustain me at this new level of being. I am Word through this intention. Word I am Word.”

When we speak of transforming your perception you will immediately notice the mind creates a picture of what it thinks that should look like. And then what the mind does is to create a form that fits that picture. We would suggest however this is not how the process works. 

When you are open to transformation truly seeing yourself and the world around you differently,  you do not know what is waiting in the wings for you. As uncomfortable as it might be to the thinking mind, you allow yourself to be open to mystery, the Truth that which the Mind cannot define or predict.

That is what Jesus meant when he said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

When we lovingly realize that we are being gently and powerfully guided on this road, on this path, on this journey to the complete realization of the truth of Who We Are, then all conflict begins to fade away or dissolve. 

“what happens when there is a new creation? Something that has not yet been named that would enter into the field? How do you identify it? How do you accept it as true? When you have a new ideal, a new thought, a new possibility that has not yet been claimed or made manifest in form, you idealize the possibility—“There may be great things in the ethers that I do not know yet”—but you do not align to them as a reality because you do not have the tools and the ability to claim them.”

I often make reference to that wonderful scene of Thomas Merton in downtown Louisville when all of these human beings hurrying around on their tasks and their work--and he saw them all as beings of light. Now, it is my fondest desire that I would also like to be able to see other people on that vibrational level, but my understanding is that Merton was readyto see other people like this. Whether conscious or not, he had done his internal work and was in his Knowing, not just a desire to know, not simply open to the possibility of knowing, but in his Knowing. 

Notice the difference.

An observation:  A number of years ago someone asked Ram Dass to give her some advice on walking the spiritual path. He said very simply and honestly, “Before you start, I want to warn you that any advice I give you will probably lead you in the direction that my life has taken me because that is all I know.” 

            One size does not fit all. We are all unique expressions of the Divine, and each one of us will find our own way or ways of expressing that.  I feel as if a very powerful part of this work we are doing together honors these differences rather than trying to smooth them out or get rid of them. We honor both our knowing and our not knowing. There are no maps because the particular landscape that each one of us travels has never been traveled before and will never be traveled again.  This lifetime and all other lifetimes are a unique contribution to the evolution of Love and Creation.

Spiritual longing is a sort of loneliness for an unknown yet deeply perceived presence. Some call the presence God; some call it peace; some call it consciousness; some call it love. Its source rests in the well of our own hearts. When we slow down, quiet the mind, and allow ourselves to feel hungry for something that we do not understand, we are dipping into the abundant well of spiritual longing. We have grown accustomed to shutting down or blotting out feelings of longing, loneliness, hunger. It’s less challenging to feed the hunger with explanations, concepts, or rules (or drugs, food, or drink) than to rest for a while in the depths of the heart’s longing. But if we want to open the doors to life’s joy and God’s peace, we have to learn how to fearlessly explore the full terrain of our human longing.

Lesser, Elizabeth. The Seeker's Guide . Random House Publishing Group. 

P. 143-145 (for the sake of continuity, I am “repeating” some of what we examined last week. We are beginning with the heading Day Eleven).

I was reflecting that the most memorable teachers in my life, the ones I continually feel touched by, even though I might not have seen them for a long time in the material world, are those who gifted me with their presence, their unspoken acknowledgement of my worth; their affirmation, whether expressed out loud or not, of my goodness, my wholeness, my potential.

I wonder if we could begin to perceive the Guides in such a similar manner. That they are not teaching facts or ideas so much as they are teaching Awareness. Even though this first paragraph(from Day Eleven) seems to be rather clinical, I always wanted to keep in mind that the driving force and really perhaps the only force that matters here is the power of Love. And more than anything else, through energy and vibration, we are being “loved into a higher level of consciousness.” Just sit with that one for a moment, we are being loved into a higher level of consciousness. Not pushed, not prodded, not told we have to do this or have to do that, but being loved into a deeper awareness of the truth of Who We Are.

We visited again this metaphor of standing at a certain level and noticing how our perception changes. Let us take a present-day example that most of us are somehow and someway involved in: It does not take long to realize that in our system of politics, political parties, etc., how easy it is to become lost in the illusion of separateness.

Now when I am standing in the midst of who is right and who is wrong, when I am allowing my outrage and fear to be the primary source of my responses to life, then I am living in a perception that continually reinforces that illusion of separateness. And my sense of who I am, and who you are as well, is certainly affected by the stance I am taking or the level I am standing on. In this example we are using, I see you is either a colleague or an enemy.

Now if I were to stand on another level or a higher level of vibration, I might still be affected by my sense of who is right or who is wrong and yet I would also begin to realize that much of my sense of right or wrong has come about from my history, from what I have been taught or what I have learned. We have seen this happen, especially in Eastern European countries who when they had been given their freedom, found themselves entering back into centuries-old disputes that the present generation had nothing to do with, and yet the learning and the prejudice and the fear and the anger of generations ago were still present. Even to the thinking mind those warlike reactions made no sense and yet here they are.

When A Course in Miracles emphasizes that “I could see peace instead of this,” what it is also encouraging us to do is to prayerfully ask the question “How can I see this differently?” And noticed that the question, by its very nature, opens us up to the possibility, even though we might not know what this is opens us up to the possibility that I cansee this differently; that I can stand at a different place; that my perception can change or even can be transformed.

Take our political scene again, for example, we can begin to perceive that the struggle for power or the necessity of being right even through lies and deceptions, are essentially an expression of fear, that something might be taken away from me. You will also notice how quickly someone else's fear can begin to become your own and how this effect of lower vibration is what we are coming in tune with in more awareness. 

“I know your fear because I have lived there too; I know your fear and I can understand it without judging. And, first of all, I know that I do not have to take it on, but even more than that I can begin to see you, I can begin to see who you are and know who you are without your fear. Now I might not be able to define that, I might not be able to explain that to you but I can still know the truth of it .

Do you see how we are continually working on this one.? How can I see you beyond the limited awareness of my personality self and yours? You will notice that as we explore this, one of the teachings underneath all of this is that you are also raising your perception of yourself to a higher vibration. 

“On this day I choose to lift my mind, to lift my expression, to lift my availability to a higher level of knowing. I will claim the benefit of this choice. I accept my willingness to accept the teachings that are available to me at this new place, and I align my energy field to all that is required to sustain me at this new level of being. I am Word through this intention. Word I am Word.”

When we speak of transforming your perception you will immediately notice the mind creates a picture of what it thinks that should look like. And then what the mind does is to create a form that fits that picture. We would suggest however this is not how the process works. 

When you are open to transformation truly seeing yourself and the world around you differently,  you do not know what is waiting in the wings for you. As uncomfortable as it might be to the thinking mind, you allow yourself to be open to mystery, the Truth that which the Mind cannot define or predict.

That is what Jesus meant when he said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

When we lovingly realize that we are being gently and powerfully guided on this road, on this path, on this journey to the complete realization of the truth of Who We Are, then all conflict begins to fade away or dissolve. 

“what happens when there is a new creation? Something that has not yet been named that would enter into the field? How do you identify it? How do you accept it as true? When you have a new ideal, a new thought, a new possibility that has not yet been claimed or made manifest in form, you idealize the possibility—“There may be great things in the ethers that I do not know yet”—but you do not align to them as a reality because you do not have the tools and the ability to claim them.”

I often make reference to that wonderful scene of Thomas Merton in downtown Louisville when all of these human beings hurrying around on their tasks and their work--and he saw them all as beings of light. Now, it is my fondest desire that I would also like to be able to see other people on that vibrational level, but my understanding is that Merton was readyto see other people like this. Whether conscious or not, he had done his internal work and was in his Knowing, not just a desire to know, not simply open to the possibility of knowing, but in his Knowing. 

Notice the difference.

WISDOM 11

“….the goal was a mental flash, achieved somewhere below consciousness. In these ideal instants one did not strain toward an answer as much as relax toward it.” Richard Feynman Nobel Laureate in Physics

P. 143-144   

Perception, perception, perception.  I guess we could say it's all a matter of perspective. Wherever I am standing changes my viewpoint.

Remember the story of the fisherman coming back home after a long unproductive night As he comes closer to shore, the fog moves in. He lights his lamp and is very careful navigating his way to the dock when another boat smacks against him. By this time he is heartily angry, and begins yelling at the idiot in the other boat who not only failed to light his lamp, but also smashed into him as well. When there is no response he rows closer and finds out there's no one in the boat! Who is it that he was angry at?. What happens to us when we realize there's no one in the boat.?

In the back of my mind as I sat with this lesson I imagined the guides singing “I want to take you higher.”(made popular in a very different way by Sly and the Family Stone). I want to take you to a new level of perception, of understanding, and yet in order to be able to do that you must be free of what seems to hold you here. Like a hot air balloon, in order to be able to rise, you must let go of the sandbags. Each moment of this journey I become more and more aware of the sandbags I'm holding onto. Some of them are physical, some are memories, some are pieces of my history that as much as I try to shake them they still remain stuck to my identity. And many of my attachments are not necessarily to negative things either. Some are immaterial or emotional or spiritual. There are many things that bring me joy which sometimes can also be attachments. .

I recall the first time I came in contact with Magnum ice cream bars, especially the ones that were double chocolate. There are three in a package. I remember ecstatically biting into the first one and enjoying it so much I took a second bite. Soon after the second bite I started thinking about how good the second bar was going to taste, and then I thought “I wonder if I can give myself permission to indulge even in a third one.” So here is an interesting thing, I took honest pleasure in those first two bites of the first bar, but after that, or soon after that, I was wrapped up in my own compulsivity. Enjoyment was gone and attachment took its place.

We are probably all aware of how easily we can turn practically anything into a judgment, and this is not what we are attempting to do here. Awareness, and especially now, an awareness of your perception or awareness of how your perception is limiting your reality is a piece of information that you have a choice to do something about. (Judgment comes from the limited personality self--judgment is what it does--it is part of its nature.)

We are opening ourselves to the possibility that when my perception is raised to a higher level I will also be less encumbered by those things or ideas that I think I need to have in order to be happy. Perhaps there will even come a time when my perception is at such a level of high vibration that either I will let go of those things without even thinking or I will let go of them joyfully.

I was reminded again of the channel selector we talked about a while ago and how we could use our Sunday morning gathering as an example of perception on different vibratory levels. On one level we are all separate beings with our own particular agendas, our expectations, our doubts, our fears, our desires. And we bring all of that with our identification with our personality no matter where we are including Sunday morning.

But then an interesting thing happens. Because of our willingness and our intention to perceive differently, even though we do not know what that perception might bring, we literally move ourselves to a higher vibrational level and instead of being just a big conglomeration of personalities, we are all spiritual seekers and even though our methods and meanings might be different we realize as we gather together on Sunday morning that we are all seeking the same thing. 

Then we go beyond the seeker stage. So perhaps deliberately or unconsciously we release the hold then we might have on our personality selves. When we release the hold it might have on us, we begin to become what is sometimes referred to as an “empty shell.” Our agenda does not disappear, but for the time we are together it becomes somewhat irrelevant. When we open ourselves with our willingness and intention we realize that the barriers between us are much more of an illusion than anything else. 

Here is a great example of moving from one vibrational level to the next higher one without a whole lot of effort. Yes, in some ways we are being raised by the words but we are also allowing ourselves to be raised not just by the guides around us, but by the truth of our own spiritual nature. You will notice there are moments out of time when we are held gently and powerfully within the Oneness that we are. And those moments are effortless while also being vast and priceless. 

Here is what the Course would all “the journey without distance.” We have “travelled” from our perception of ourselves  as separate personalities to a sense of Oneness with all Being. That’s quite a trip.

I am beginning to realize I quite often that my perception is either created or influenced by external events along with my identification with my history. 

So the question arises, “How will I see you?” “How will I see myself in this situation?” 

“You each know yourselves through those things around you, through those things that you have discovered, decided upon, accepted as true. You have revealed to yourself your lives thus far and you accept what you have created as what is there. The offering we give you now is to lift you up to a higher vantage point so that your perceptions may change. When you stand on the branch of a tree and you look at the horizon, the vision before you will be what you call to you from that height. When you stand upon a mountain and you call to you the view from that mountaintop, you are in that perspective and in that command of that level of perception.”

The image was shared of exploring the difference between standing on the ground, climbing to a branch halfway up a tree, or standing at the top of a mountain and how each one of those varied viewpoints deeply affects my perception. Nothing else has changed except where I am standing.

And as we continue this work together, we do not deny the paradoxical nature of being in the perception of Truth and perfection, and then on a physical and emotional plane realizing that action might be necessary.

How silly it would be if approached by a homeless person to tell them, “Oh can’t you see that it's all perfect? That this is the path you have chosen. I know you are working out your karma in this lifetime perfectly. Good luck!

Now what you might be called to do could vary from day to day or person to person and this is where it is so necessary to listen, listen, listen to the internal guidance and wisdom that is already present to us all.

“Where we take you next is higher, to a lifting of your own mind to see what is before you from a new vision, a new way of perceiving, so that you may call to you the new knowing that is available from that height. Now height, we speak of as a metaphor for your own vibration, the conscious emanation of your field, the congruence that you hold with truth. And as you lift in this intention:

“On this day I choose to lift my mind, to lift my expression, to lift my availability to a higher level of knowing. I will claim the benefit of this choice. I accept my willingness to accept the teachings that are available to me at this new place, and I align my energy field to all that is required to sustain me at this new level of being. I am Word through this intention. Word I am Word.”

Repeat this prayer, this affirmation, this mantra, as often as you need. As with so much of this work, it is a reminder of the truth of who you are and what already exists for you in the higher planes of perception.

Please do not judge or try to determine with your thinking mind “Where You Are” or “How You Are.” The thinking mind is always seeking definitions, proof of being better or worse than, always stuck on the comparison trip. A much more useful question is “How can I align myself to the divine in this situation I find myself in?”

Or actually a more productive approach would be to declare and to claim, “I am in my Divine wisdom in this situation. I know exactly what to do or to speak that will create the most love, the most compassion and the most truth in this encounter.

PEACE!

WISDOM 8

P. 139-140

"Abandoned to the whims of others, we must wander daily through the wish to be loved and the fear of rejection before we can be productive. Categorized "good" or "bad" from birth (a "good" baby does not cry too much), we become so enmeshed with the tenuous threads of approval that we are creatively paralyzed. We see with others' eyes and smell with others' noses.

--- Viola Spolin, Improvisation for the Theater

*********

“Is wisdom available at a low vibration? Of course. But it is unlikely you will hear it, or know it, because you are being precluded by the lower thought-forms that you are engaged with. And that is always the temptation of the one who goes upward, you know, that you will be caught in a struggle of lower vibration that you have attended to for so long that you believe it must still be there.”

What is the key to enlightenment the student asked? Master replied, “Awareness.” The student said, “But master, I don't understand.” The master spoke louder, “Awareness!” “Yes, master, we've heard you say that before but what does that mean?” Finally, as passionately he could express, “AWARENESS!!!!!!!!”

Last week one of our members spoke to the powerful lesson that is also contained in the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take, “First do no harm.” Now in a worldly sense or to the physical world, that is a directive about our relationship to others. However, in order for this maxim to be in anyway productive, we need to apply the same message to ourselves.

When I am in a place where I can observe without judgement, I become aware of the pervasive anger that seems to be dwelling on both sides of political ailes, nationalities, races and religions. I become aware of the anger and I recognized some of it is mine as well, and I know that is calling me to healing. At the same time I am often overwhelmed with a sense of sadness, and then I am tempted to move into action, but I forget or forgo the necessary preparations for what the Buddhists call “right action.”--Prayer, Surrender, Holding all of this, no matter what my emotions might, as an act of love and devotion. I realize that no matter what my good intentions might be, if my attempted actions towards transformation are fueled by the energy of anger, fear, separation or self-righteousness, not only are they doomed to failure, but they will actually feed that energy, that low vibration which I am desiring to transform.

Last week we ended with the exploration of the false idea that somehow or another gaining wisdom or compassion or truth or self-esteem or a higher vibration in any way somehow or another involved a price or a struggle.

Think of the simple and yet profound words of Jesus when He said “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” No struggle, No requirements to do anything, no price that has to be paid. It is all here. 

The question then remains how come we are not aware of our Truth? And so here is where the “work” is required, if we want to use those terms, and it might be the best way we can describe it in human terminology.(more the “work” of letting go or re-membering) There is a parable that Jesus spoke called “The Pearl of Great Price” which is also a reflection of the Kingdom of Heaven. The gist of the parable is that a man discovered the pearl of great price that he greatly desired and so he sold everything he had in order to be able to gain that treasure. In other words, the awareness of the Kingdom of Heaven became so great that he decided he would let nothing else get in the way of that-- no other forms; no other attachments. 

And so here we are faced with the same dilemma of the rich young man who asked Jesus “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus told him to “obey the Commandments.” the young man said “I do all that,” and then Jesus said, “If you would be perfect (in other words, if you really want to be on the path of Enlightenment; if you really want to embrace the Kingdom within) go sell what you have and give it to the poor and come follow me.” The gospel then states, “the man went away sadly because he had many possessions.” 

Here we are with our many possessions or addictions or attachments or however you would like to look at them-- sometimes willing, sometimes not to let them go, in order to be able to experience the kingdom. 

To align these ideas more closely with the language of the book, 

we can be in conscious awareness of our hearts open in love and compassion; 

Our hearts can also be open in love and compassion without us realizing it very much;

There are also going to be times when I realize how tightly or how protectively I am holding onto my idea of self and I have a choice when I come to this realization of continuing to hold on or to let go.

There are other times when I am so lost in my clinging to this lower vibration and limited perception of myself that it takes some time and energy to realize that it's a choice is available to me. It would almost be like contracting a muscle in your physical body and holding it and holding it and holding it until you finally realize how tight it is, how tight it has become, and in that pain in that discomfort becomes the willingness and the intention to open, release, transform.

Fortunately there are sometimes with each one of us, and I know this is true for me, when these kind of unexpected moments of joy, of openness, of freedom, of spaciousness, of peace, of play come running through me, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and there's a breath, an opening. There it is- this breeze running through me that reminds me what it is like to live in the Kingdom. Then, like most of us, of course, I fall back into my daily routine of thinking. I become enmeshed back into my identification with my humanness and begin to think all over again that I need to  struggle to be able to get this gift that is already here.

“If you can imagine rising up through a thunderstorm on the way to the sun that is above the clouds, you may not know the sun is there while you are struggling within the rain and the wind that is pummeling you. You do see what is above you, and you become so invested in fighting the storm that you believe that no sun can shine upon you again. That is what has happened to Paul some days, and it happens to all students as they elevate their vibration. There are times when you are challenged by what you have known, what you have been expressed through, what you have believed to be true, and there are times when you are not. There is growth in all stages, you know. But much of it means you must pay attention to your consciousness, and your consciousness, we say, is who you are in conscious thought and vibration.”

When I am aware enough I choose not to feed my negative emotions or my depression or my darkness or my whatever other Illusions I might be caught in, but I was remarkably reminded on Sunday morning that there is a huge difference between feeding my anger with more anger and feeding it with love.

Old illusions pieces, of distorted thinking,harmful behaviors or thoughts at whatever level,  physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual can all lower our vibration and our ability to act with love and compassion. In our awareness, however, we can begin to choose to think differently, to gently nurture other thoughts or life-giving behaviors. If we continually do that-- pay less attention to  the old stuff that we might have been attached to, it might still hang around but it has less and less energy to influence us. In other words, the negativity begins to die of attrition, We are not denying it, we are simply acknowledging it no longer serves us.

Going even deeper int the realm of transformation, I was reminded by one of you of something that I had forgotten. How easily that happens! Here is one of my more recent Ram Dass stories.

He was sitting in his home in Hawaii doing a telecast workshop with a couple of other Buddhist teachers. Even though it has been years since his stroke, he still is slow in articulation and sometimes the verbal expression of ideas takes some time, even though his message is quite clear. He asked the question with a slight grin on his face, “What do you do with these seemingly horrible thoughts that you have?” Hinting that we are all capable of the best and the worst thoughts that come flying through our mind, eg. we can be in a place of loving, thoughtful compassion and unity consciousness and then, even a second later, we can be in a place of death and horror and destruction. 

He asked the question and it almost seemed that the Buddhist teachers on his right and his left looked a little bit befuddled about how to answer. So he answered it for them, “You need to love them to death!” You love them to death. You do not have to be controlled by those thoughts or images; you do not have to make them any more real than they seem, and yet you can open your heart and compassion to them just as you would open your heart to someone else who is in pain. Because where else does our negativity come from but our fear and pain. “You love them to death.”

We just began exploring what I might refer to as levels of consciousness because Consciousness or awareness is the theme we were following today. There are times when I am very aware, when I am very conscious, when I am in my truth. Then what usually happens is I begin to take that awareness for granted and without realizing it I just fall into my ordinary everyday thinking and action. It's not bad or evil, it might even be good in some ways, but my consciousness is only working through my personality self and the physical world that I am a part of.

And then there are times when I am really asleep or unaware, when I am caught up in the illusion of depression or separation or fear or anxiety and without realizing and I am making that those sensations of lower vibration more and more real. When it is dark and cloudy and stormy it is much more it is much easier to think of the storm as being real rather than the sunshine. 

We ended up with a model of consciousness offered a number of years ago, of stages or places of awareness and since I did not get the opportunity to really finish that Sunday we will begin with that next week.

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I have a favor to ask of you since we are in a sense beginning a new year kind of “a new school year.” Please let people know, especially those people who are coming to Unity, already that this is an Open Class that people are welcome to it anytime that we will have books they can borrow if they would like and even that is not a necessity. We love having you here to add to the higher vibration of love and peace and awareness that we are all creating. You can let them know, if you feel this is true, that during the 45 minutes we are together, even if we are not terribly conscious of it, that we are creating a Sacred Space that is not only healing for each one of us but also heals the world as well. And if it is true for you as well, I know that I walk out of this room on Sunday morning experiencing myself as being lighter, freer, more open, more healed, more aware of the possibilities of life and for that and for all of you I am extremely grateful. 

I am also touched and honored by those of who who make our Sunday morning gathering your Church. Please know that you can invite anyone who might be interested. They do not need to be connected to Unity to participate in this loving adventure.

My Hope for you and for anyone else who joins us is that this is a form of spirituality I can be practiced by anyone, anytime.  

Thank you.

WISDOM 7

You might recall that last week I offered the example being at a ball game with my grandson fan and being hot uncomfortable in the bleachers was bright hot sunshine coming down and no shade and thinking somehow about how miserable I was. Then it dawned on me that I am here with someone I love dearly and he loves me as well I realized I could shift my focus in the words we use here I could I could move to a higher vibration. The thing about it is is that the external circumstances don't change necessarily but my relationship to them does and my relationship to my thoughts what I am thinking including the external circumstances I find myself in that makes all the difference.

I was reminded of a passage in a book called Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins (Just as an aside when I quote a book or a movie it doesn't necessarily mean that I liked it or agree with it but in most cases I have found at least there are Snippets of wisdom to be found practically any place and I try to pick them up wherever I find them but don't necessarily take them as a stamp of approval or even a recommendation that you should read this book or see this movie.)

(The main character is with a family named Ziller) 

The sky was still blue, the sun still beaming when they locked me up. But during my incarceration it had begun to rain. The legendary Seattle rain. It was a thin gray rain;hard and fast and cold. In it we had to walk four blocks from the Public Safety Building to the Ziller's Jeep--we were at its mercy. As was my custom in such elements I hunkered against the rain, drew my head into my collar turned my eyes to the street tensed my footsteps and proceeded in misery. But my hosts I soon noticed reacted in quite another way. They strolled calmly and smoothly their bodies perfectly relaxed. They did not hunch away from the rain but rather glided through it. They directed their faces to it and did not flinch as it drummed their cheeks. They almost reveled in it. Somehow I found this significant. The Zillers accepted the rain. They were not at odds with it they did not deny it or combat it; they accepted it and went with it in harmony and ease. I tried it myself. I relaxed my neck and shoulders and turned my gaze into the wet. I let it do to me what it would. Of course it was not trying to do anything to me. What a silly notion. It was simply falling as rain should, and I as man, another phenomenon of nature, was sharing the space in which it fell. It was much better regarding it that way. I got no wetter than I would have otherwise, and if I did not actually enjoy the wetting, at least I was free of tension. I could even smile. 

From Another Roadside Attraction Tom Robbins

Along with The changing of the focus the raising of the vibration the transformation of my relationship with the rain comes also this marvelous. That the rain is not doing anything to me. you see I think so often I know for me I will fall into victim consciousness and find myself controlled at least emotionally controlled by the events I find myself in now we could go into a lot of detail about how I might create those events but aside from that I find myself what we call to be a victim of circumstance. it is not a difficult reach when I am in that low vibrational mindset to think somehow that the world or Mother Nature or someone or something else is doing something to me. as long as I stay in that low form of thinking I am going to continually be annoyed unhappy and probably angry.

What would it be like to sink in a moment of seeming struggle or contradiction that the world is not doing anything to me ?

When we speak of wisdom or any other quality of the Divine whether it is love or Compassion or gratitude we are not speaking of something that is created we are speaking about opening ourselves up to what is already there. by doing so we begin to rid ourselves of the conflict of The Thinking mind with a personality self trying to take control or trying to be the spiritual part of our being. in other words we step out of the impossible Realm at the personality somehow or another we'll reach divinity and realize that Divinity is already here and then what my personality can do is open myself up to that possibility.

“Now Paul is already asking, “Are they going to be frustrated? Are they going to be trying to align to wisdom and feel like they are banging their noggin against a wall?” Perhaps they may, it’s an experience that they may choose. But it is not a requirement for knowing. You have all invested such expression in the path of struggle—that nothing is meritful unless it is hard won—that you cannot realize that wisdom is free. Wisdom is an inheritance. It may be called. There is universal wisdom that is all around you that may be tuned in to like a radio. When you align to your own wisdom, you are aligning to yourself as a conduit for wisdom so you may be expressed in wisdom.”

Here is another profound reminder add becoming embraced by the truth of Who You Are does not necessarily me and you have to struggle. I'm reminded of that famous story of Jacob and the angel in the Old Testament where they were wrestling all night and as the sun came up the angel said I've got to go but Jacob says I will not let you go until you bless me. there is much Beauty in that Passage and I am still continuing to learn from it but I can also see how my thought process can become a bit twisted by thinking that there has to be a struggle.

I'm reminded of that wonderful line from an older movie called war games where the computer speaks to its creator and says strange game Professor Falken the only way to win is not to play.

Somehow or another we got to be playing around with this idea of imagination or creative visualization and if I was the one who created that particular diversion allow me to be responsible for it. we talked back and forth about whether or not changes could be made to our imagination that affect the physical world and all of this had opinions one way or the other. I realized that I was a little bit stuck on being right and so I needed to let go of that one and the begin to realize that the heart of the matter that we were discussing was what we referred to above as changing my focus. more simply put a quotation that is attributed to Wayne Dyer when you change the way you look at things the things you look at change. let's keep it that simple for a while.

“When you are reactive, when you are frightened, when you are angry, you are never in your wisdom. You are operating in low vibration and you must attend to that so that you can go forward in a higher way.”

This is a great little piece here. it is not suggesting that we fall into judgment when we find ourselves angry or upset or distracted from the truth but it does suggest third when we discover we are angry or out of balance in any particular way do we need to do a reality check we need to what happened we need to do what happens with a GPS and that is we need to recalculate get back into balance. sometimes it is external events that will trigger this awareness other times I will become aware of it in different ways. it is sort of like Spirit tapping us on the shoulder and saying an adjustment here is necessary for whatever reasons you have become out of balance let's get back to Center. 

I was reminded of the second last directive here. You will forget all this. rather than keep you hanging I decided to include whole list of directors here then you can do with whatever you choose

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's the only thing you are sure to keep for the rest of your life.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "Life on Planet Earth". Every person or incident is the Universal Teacher.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation. "Failures" are as much a part of the process as "success."

4. A lesson is repeated until learned. It is presented to you in various forms until you learn it -- then you can go on to the next lesson.

5. If you don't learn easy lessons, they get harder. External problems are a precise reflection of your internal state. When you clear inner obstructions, your outside world changes. Pain is how the universe gets your attention.

6. You will know you've learned a lesson when your actions change. Wisdom is practice. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing.

7. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" becomes a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that again looks better than "here."

8. Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.

9. Your life is up to you. Life provides the canvas; you do the painting. Take charge of your life -- or someone else will.

10. You always get what you want. Your subconscious rightfully determines what energies, experiences, and people you attract -- therefore, the only foolproof way to know what you want is to see what you have. There are no victims, only students.

11. There is no right or wrong, but there are consequences. Moralizing doesn't help. Judgments only hold the patterns in place. Just do your best.

12. Your answers lie inside you. Children need guidance from others; as we mature, we trust our hearts, where the Laws of Spirit are written. You know more than you have heard or read or been told. All you need to do is to look, listen, and trust.

13. You will forget all this.

14. You can remember any time you wish.

(From the book "If Life is a Game, These are the Rules" by Cherie Carter-Scott)

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Of course we ask why why do I keep going from waking to sleeping from being aware to being unaware why can't I just stay in awareness why do I keep forgetting ?

The best understanding that I have now and this might change is it our forgetfulness is also part of the trip. each time I become aware again I have a choice to either beat myself up for becoming unaware or to be grateful for the awareness that I have again.

Although this directive refers to meditation, I think it can also be a marvelous reference to what we have been calling waking and sleeping or awareness awareness.

Saint Francis de Sales gave his students these meditation instructions: “Bring yourself back to the point (of) quiet intently. And even if you do nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back a thousand times, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed.”

“When you are reactive, when you are frightened, when you are angry, you are never in your wisdom. You are operating in low vibration and you must attend to that so that you can go forward in a higher way.

Is wisdom available at a low vibration? Of course. But it is unlikely you will hear it, or know it, because you are being precluded by the lower thought-forms that you are engaged with. And that is always the temptation of the one who goes upward, you know, that you will be caught in a struggle of lower vibration that you have attended to for so long that you believe it must still be there.”

Here is another directive similar to the one above that reminds us in our awareness if we find ourselves angry lost alone impatient whatever lower vibration we might be somewhat stuck in then we can always use that as a reminder to rise above.

PEACE