I noticed there were quite a few new people present Sun. morning. IF you know someone who is listening into out=r Sun. school class, please have them email me with their address so I can sned along our class reflections and recordings.
P. 243-244
Our work is taking us into a deeper and deeper awareness of Who We Are and how what we do, think, feel touches everyone and everything.
At first we look at ourselves as being this individual self who is striving for spiritual knowledge and awareness, but little do we realize that the more deeply I am attached to this individual or personality self that I am setting goals for myself that cannot be reached. I confuse doctrine with knowledge and the sense of self-importance or personal acheivement with humility.
So an aspect of the first lesson here is one that we have often repeated and that is to become aware and we have sort of a dual identity. We have an ego or personality consciousness which has been defined and encouraged by all of the other personality consciousness around us. And because this learning is so pervasive, we come to believe, like so many others around us, that this is Who We Are. In essence the way this looks is that God is out there someplace and I'm over here someplace, and in order for me to interact with the divine that somehow or another I must humble myself, judge myself, look at myself as being a bad person or a sinner. That seems to be the only route to follow.
Then I become aware, through my work, through my observation, through my awareness, through teachings that I've come across-- I become aware that the Kingdom of Heaven is within me as Jesus reminded us time and time again. I know what I am seeking for is not out there somewhere but in here. (When we speak of “in here” we are not referring to your spiritual body. we are referring to the shelf that you truly are. I recall Matthew Fox give me image of instead of thinking your soul your spiritual nature is inside your body to imagine that your body is inside your spiritual nature.)That is a huge paradigm shift, and because we have been indoctrinated so much with identifying with our limited self it is easy to fall back into the old paradigm of somehow or another being separate from God. So I am not suggesting that once we reach this stage of awareness it stays with us all the time because it does not. We all will fall into forgetfulness we all will fall into forgetfulness of knowing Who We Are.
But once that awareness comes true for us it always remains true even in our forgetfulness.
And then we are stretched to another level-- if the Divine, the creative power of God, the power of unconditional love is within me, then it must also be in you too you as well. There is no other choice for that one. So often our formal religions will claim the light and the love and the truth of God, but condemn you for believing in another way. “I've got the light and you don't.” Again there is a continual necessity for reminding ourselves of being in this state or stage of awareness of having the kingdom within us, and knowing that the kingdom is within you as well, no matter how or what it might appear on the outside.
Now the ego or the personality wants to turn that into judgment. So you ask questions such as “How could it possibly be for the Kingdom of Heaven to be within that child molester that murderer?” And here again we are asked to go back to the initial learning: we are not saying the Divine exists in violence or perversity because it cannot. But that there are some on planet Earth, many in fact, who are so wrapped up in their identity of their limited personality selves that it seems almost impossible for them to see beyond all of that into their true nature.
I can hold them in compassion because I was certainly in that place myself. I can also nurture a sense of gratitude that I am not so stuck in my limited identity.
Now the next stage is when we begin to become aware that anything we do, taste, sense, feel, touch, even think--any feeling did we hold or create, anything at all affects all of creation. Not just our little group of believers but everyone and everything.
When I say that I am reminded of the Buddha's rendition of the Golden Rule when he said very simply very lovingly, “See yourself in others who then shall you harm?”
Do you get a sense of all of that? How our sense of the universe has expanded over these past months to include all beings. I'm not even suggesting that we can understand that with our thinking mind because sometimes we cannot. The picture is too vast is to huge, but here we are.
And then if you want to take it a step further, and we do this as part of our study although it doesn't get pushed on you, imagine that you are experiencing one lifetime out of many, and what you do and what do you experience not only affects this particular lifetime and all the beings that exist in this time, but all creation a all timed is touched and influenced--All of creation
I don't know about you, but that one blows my mind and I can only sit with it for a while before I am overwhelmed.
But again, can you sense the movement from the identification with the small limited personality self to this Divine being that Embraces lifetime after lifetime and allows itself to be responsible for all of its thoughts and actions because we are never alone?
“How you live your lives collectively will be what changes in the years to come. You are all having to rediscover the brotherhood of man, and you are all having to discover the inherent divinity in all things. The massive change that will occur on this plane in time will be the remembrance of love as the only truth that may be attended to.”
I'm reminded of a quote by one of my favorite Mystics:
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” ― Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
Being called upon to believe that the Transformations our hearts desires are happening right now even if they are not necessarily manifest yet in the material world. They are happening. And one of the major ways we contribute to that is by opening ourselves up to the possibility-- the possibility then you can discover the inherent Divinity in all things.
That again is a continual teaching of these works. Instead of trying to be The Little Engine That Could, instead of huffing and puffing and trying to manifest something that you think you need to manifest, what is suggested for each one of us is opening ourselves up to the possibility that Oneness and unconditional love is a state of consciousness the can be reached. Somewhat similar to the prayer of Jesus when he prayed “Father that they all may be one just as you and I are one.” Or to paraphrase that a bit “May they all recognize their Oneness with all creation.”
“A structure that is built in high vibration will be built in love and, consequently, will be in accord with love—the manifestation on this plane moves into alignment with what we speak of.”
Now its structure could be anything. It could be a physical object like a home, it could be a pattern of thought or behavior. What is being suggested here is that anything that is built in higher vibration in accord with love, the created force field or the energy can affect and even heal. Most of us already know this. We have experienced this in different ways. A simple example is being in nature, which for many of us almost automatically raises our level of vibration and our sense of the sacred, and when we allow ourselves to experience that it offers all other beings the same possibility to experience the sacredness of that space.
Another wonderful example of the cathedrals of Europe. You can enter into them with a sense of wonder at the architecture and the beauty, but also, if you are open to it, you can be overcome by the depth of the awareness of Spirit that is being expressed through this physical building. Whenever I choose to look at a person, place or thing in wonder I am raising the level of vibration of love and all life. It’s that simple.
Of course the other side is true that when I am wrapped in negativity or separateness or anger or outrage I not only am inviting you to be part of that, but, just as I have shut myself off from the alignment to love, I've also contributed to shutting you off as well. Is that really what I want to do?
“Now, what do you need to know? “How do I embark on a new journey in this awareness of my worth?” “How do I sing my song in the face of challenge?” “How do I trust this new awareness that I am coming to?” That is what we will attend to now as we continue our teaching.”
“Align to the possibility, please, that the God that you know has more power than you do to teach you what you need to learn, and the God within you, the Christ as you, is the finest teacher you will ever have.”
I do not know what each one of you experiences at the end of our Sunday morning gatherings, especially at the end of one of our meditations, but I do know that for me I have a sense of I can only call its ‘spaciousness; an openness. The knowing and sensations are connected with joy and our inner sense of being aware of one another, but it goes beyond that as well, in ways that I cannot define. And so in some ways, perhaps in many ways, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
I often wonder why can't I create that Sacred Space by myself. Now I realize that even by asking that question I am putting myself in a certain level of limitation, but rather than staying in a place of judgment I allow myself to move to a sense of gratitude that together we can create a space, a Healing Place, far beyond what each one of us might be able to do individually. And for that I am grateful.
If you cannot afford money take a moment or so each week to hold us all in light and love and to know that effort and willingness is priceless.
As a way of honoring this work and giving back to the place where you receive your spiritual nourishment, we ask that you send your love offerings, donations to
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Thank you—Grateful for your love and support
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