THE PRECIPICE 1

Our world is not an erroneous one but rather that the universe in which we live is the realm of reality about wish man entertains a false concept. The work of bringing health and harmony into our experience is not then getting rid of four even changing immortal material universe but correcting the finite concept of our existence.   The Infinite Way by Joel Goldstein

P. 117

Let us begin with a few ideas it came up in class this morning. You might recall that we left off last week with the image of standing on the precipice and an aspect of that “growing edge” is being willing to release our histories or our over identification with our history.

What that does not mean is that we leave our learning behind. We are aware, as we grow in awareness, we learn how to respond to life situations differently. We also learn that our sense of who we are is continually evolving and expanding. We are not letting go of that learning, what we are letting go of is the continual unconscious movement of doing what we are doing without any idea all of our motivation.

Yes, we are all influenced by our history and not only by our own personal history but we can also be influenced and take on the history of others especially our parents/family/ethnic origins, etc. All of this learning can influence our actions, beliefs and attitudes.

“We would like you to know things about why you do what you do unconsciously, why you make choices that you don’t understand, and why you don’t consider the options that may be made available to you if you learn to trust yourself in a true way. Many of you act on principle, “This is the right thing to do,” “This is the wrong thing to do,” but you do not consider that principles are inherited behavior. You do not ask yourself why you adhere to them because you were told not to ask. Now, we are not telling you not to do things in a certain way that you have become accustomed to. But we are also telling you that you must know that when you act in principle without understanding why you are doing what you are doing, you are merely adhering to your history.”

Often times through our religion of origin we also take on another deep form of History about what is right and what is wrong, most often without any reason why simply because I said so. We can also be tremendously influenced by dualistic thinking, right/wrong; good/bad, along with creating a role or identity for ourselves as a sinner, someone separate from God. Most of us are quite aware of how deeply imbedded some of these illusions can be. 

Often times attached to our old religious beliefs is an old internal sense that I have carried with me for a long time. It translates something like this, “I feel good, everything seems to be going my way, therefore I must be good and God must be smiling on me.” On the other hand, I might be feeling bad and things might not be going my way and so I translate that as “There must be something wrong with me” or “God is frowning on me for some reason.” Although many of us, in different ways, with different words have adopted these beliefs as part of our history we come to realize the message is just not true. It no longer serves me.

My feelings have nothing to do with how close God is to me. In fact, there is nothing that can separate me from the love of God. 

Romans 8:38-39 New International Version (NIV)

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.

Even though that is true many of us including myself still do not live in the Presence of that unconditional love. We could go through all sorts of reasons why or why not, but what is most important, to remember and to practice, is that by living in and choosing and becoming in alignment with those thoughts and actions which are of higher vibration, I become more and more open more and more receptive to the Truth of the love that I am. Which includes the love I accept as well as the love I give. “And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

Even though Unconditional Love remains unconditional love, I do have choice insofar as how I am open or receptive to it. Eventually, however, all blocks and barriers will be gone. The way Marianne Williamson expressed it was “God will ultimately out with your self-hatred.”

 I would like to add that being on the precipice is not a bad thing. In fact, if we were truly aware we would realize that every moment we are on that precipice of choice to be in love or to be in fear. Essentially all that we are leaving behind are all of those things, those thoughts, ideas and patterns of behavior, which no longer serve us. We are leaving behind an unconscious existence and opening ourselves to a higher consciousness, higher vibration, a deeper sense of receptivity to the truth of Who We Are.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ― Anais Nin

My personality self would like to create the drama of struggle around being on the precipice/being in choice at this present moment, but this does not have to be so. Here again is our choice, “How am I going to hold this present moment as a struggle, as a difficulty, as something wrong with me, as God taking away taking away his grace or do I hold it as a moment to choose love beyond all human understanding. You see that latter choice is a reflection of my worth. Think about that one for a moment.

I was really struck the other day as I was reading this over, the title of our book is The Book of Knowing and Worth. What caught my attention was “When I know my worth, when I fully embrace my worth as the truth of who I am, that's it. That's what the whole trip is all about--working through and letting go all of this stuff that might get in the way of that truth until I am at the point where I know my worth and there is literally nothing else that needs to be done.

Our lesson today--we are being encouraged to ask ourselves--”What is motivating me here (in this moment, in this action)?” This is not about moral judgment. We are not even being asked to change our behavior, but to become more aware of why I am doing what I'm doing. 

The book gave the example of lying. Why would I choose to tell an untruth? Most of the time it would be to protect my own butt. But then I am being asked to delve deeper. “Why do I need to protect myself?” Well, if you found out I did such and such, you might not like me. You might be angry at me and because I am so attached to who you think I am I am afraid of that vision becoming tarnished or all sorts of other fearful reasons. 

Then, if we even want to delve deeper we might ask ourselves, “Am I willing to tell the truth even though there might be consequences; it might not be comfortable.” I shared with you the example of telling the truth because I did not want a lie or an untruth to get in in the way of the integrity of a relationship. You will notice if you examine situations like that in your life, sometimes choosing a higher vibration does not always necessarily feel good emotionally. As we talked about above that is a tremendously important distinction to be able to make.

This work is not about emotional comfort although sometimes that comes. 

This feels a bit open-ended for me, which means that I could probably ramble along for a few more pages but I also sense it's a good time to close and so I will end with one of my favorite one-liners from a song by Harry Chapin called Circles:

“There’s no straight lines make up my life and all my roads have Ben's there's no clear-cut beginnings and so far no dead ends.”

In love and peace Grace and acceptance in Truth. Thank you.

THE PRECIPICE 2

P. 119-120

I keep being reminded that “you teach what you want to learn.” THANK YOU!

And so here I am again face to face with this paradoxical dilemma. I could say it is continually asking the question “Who am I,” but perhaps a more profitable question might be “Through what lens am I viewing myself and my world?” Even hear our language breaks down, but for a moment imagine that I am perceiving myself and my world, which includes you as well, that I am perceiving through the lens of my limited personality/egocentric self. And let us say we even drop other people and all the comings and goings of the outside world and focus very simply on my perception of myself through the lens of my personality.

I ask myself “What do I need? What do I want?,” and when I finally work through all of the desires, all of the ambitions, all of the things that I think will make me happy, I am left with the essential notion that what I desire more than anything else is to be at peace. And here is where the Paradox or the seeming contradiction becomes most relevant because what the ego or personality self seeks it cannot find. What I am being asked to do with that  limited part of me to hold it in love as I would a child and let myself know that God/Spirit/ my Divine consciousness knows what I do not or cannot know with I'm my mortal mind. My intellect is created to always question; the small self is created to continue to search. it is made to be restless it is made to be dissatisfied.

What we essentially realize, which has been taught in so many spiritual works is that we are attempting to address our spiritual needs through our mortal or material self. (The dalai lama pointed out that the most common misconception in the West is the attempt to fulfill our spiritual desires by material means) And here is the cusp about our deepest lesson that it is only through Spirit that we can find an embrace the longing of our hearts. Agustin expressed it this way, “Lord you have made our hearts restless and they will never rest until they rest in Thee. But what that means and what we often miss is that resting in God or in the Truth of our being means surrendering all of those thoughts and ideas and beliefs and patterns of behavior that we think are going to solve our problems.

You see, with the thinking mind/the ego/the personality self or whatever way we choose to describe it, whatever we get is never going to be enough. the paradox continues as we recognize with the Tibetan philosopher and mystic Chogyam Trungpa: “Enlightenment is the ego's ultimate disappointment.” The ego thinks it knows what it needs and what it wants in order to be at peace and yet as we said above whatever it gets is never enough. The Divine self or the Truth of Who You Are does not need or want anything. It is absolutely perfect and complete in it's knowing and in its connection to the Divine Source from which it flows.

 What I would encourage all of us to do, certainly myself included, is when questions arise from this book or from any aspect of our study of spirituality, that we sit with the question for a moment and ask ourselves, “Is this question or is this thought  that I am conemtplating at the moment, does it come from my limited personality consciousness or does it come from my Divine self?” There is no rule book for this one, but quite often the answer will come. If it is a question is flowing from my limited consciousness then I can begin to identify it more with a sense of fearfulness or separation or anxiety or the need to be right, and then what I am being asked to do is to embrace this neediness or this question and to hold it again as I would hold frightened child and to realize that my Divine self/ the God within knows the answer or the direction or the guidance or the nurturing in ways that my limited mind cannot comprehend. That what is in charge here is the essence of unconditional love.

Now that whole reflection brings us to another place in this work we are doing which centers in Awareness. it has been mentioned before that a very essential aspect of this journey on planet Earth will involve us moving from a state of unawareness to awareness and then falling back into forgetfulness and becoming aware again. We will do this until we do not need to do it any longer. Very similar to Peter asked Jesus how many times should I forgive my brother Jesus answered 70 x 7 which essentially is a mystical number that means you keep doing it unto you don't need to do it anymore.

Being awake or being aware or being asleep and being unaware is not a matter of judgment or something wrong with us. It is a learning, a continual learning. It was observed in class this morning that there are some people or situations in life that might tend to trigger that sense of separateness or limitation more so than others. it is good to be aware of that and in some cases it might mean that there are situations or individuals that for a while in life perhaps we might choose to avoid. Most often than not, however, that might not be possible. Here again is the possibility of some deep learning --instead of blaming the other person, perhaps being able to ask ourselves “What is it about my relationship or my perception of someone that keeps getting me hooked and what do I need to do with that one.” Again not judgment but awareness.

When we fall into unawareness that is what the book might refer to as being controlled or guided by our history. In other words we respond to a person place or situation without thinking. We respond unconsciously in robot mode. When we awaken however, when we become aware again, we now have another decision to make. I can beat myself up for falling asleep or I can rejoice in being awake and aware again.

Another way of perceiving this or holding it is it when I am unaware or asleep I am out of touch or out of alignment with the Divine truth of who I am it is that simple and that profound.

 “Now today we would like to teach you some things about your obligations, your adherence to forms, and those things that you think are so that may be so or may not be so. The alignment that you each have to date brings you to where you stand. There can be nothing in your reality, for better or for worse, that you cannot agree with. So, consequently, how do you choose what you call to you as your inheritance—your inheritance being your worth as expressed by you in all ways?

The decisions that you make that are born in form, that are born in agreement with history, continue to perpetuate what you have known. The willingness that you must each take now to go forward is to realize that when you walk toward the unknown, you must align to it as a place of infinite choice.”

We are reminded of what ACIM states: “When you bring the past it into the present, you create a future Jesuit like your past.” This is a profound description of being lead or controlled by our history. 

It might be important here to examine what I ma going to call somewhat of a missing piece here. 

My personality self is not a separate identity that lives inside me, it is simply a limited form of perception. WAe do not want the ego or the personality self to be the bad guy here because the personality or the ego self is also a creation of the Divine mind and is part of our chosen vehicle here on planet Earth. So it might be helpful every once in awhile to ask ourselves “What does my pride have to teach me? What does my sense of separateness have to teach me? What does my fear of this or that have to teach me?” With this understanding there is nothing outside of the realm of our learning. As we embrace that, we also learn lovingly that all is in divine order. Although my small self might rebelled against that, still another truth becomes revealed and that is that the ego the small self the personality also grows and evolves.

You will notice in yourself perhaps that your separate identity which is also another way of naming your personality or your ego has become more transparent over time, has become less fearful or less rebellious. It has become more aware that your spiritual search is not the enemy here either, that all can be approached lovingly even in its imperfection. 

The following are some quotes from the book The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament. My sense is that a major teaching of this work concerns itself with what we are calling “being awake/aware and being asleep/unconscious.

“Think of the world as a dream, for it seems real while you are here. But think of Heaven as awakening. Upon reaching Heaven, you will realize that the world, and all you thought there, was never true and so it mattered not.”

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“Do not feel guilty about your distractions, for distractions cause no loss in the Will of God. God’s Will is truth, and so it remains always true. Distractions can have no affect on it. Distractions only distract you from what is true, so that your focus is on distractions, which distract you from the awareness of truth.

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But then the awakened willingness within comes, and it calls you to turn away from distractions. It calls you to return your mind fully to the awareness of truth. In this calling, your distractions can serve the purpose of truth. For all things given to your willingness will be used by your willingness to further awaken the call within you. This will continue until your distractions are no more, and you are fully awake to the singular thought of God without distraction of any kind.”

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You, who are reading these words, are the sleeping Son of God. You are sleeping, because you believe in the world. And you are the Son of God, because you are the extension of the Light that is God.”

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“When you awaken to the truth and remembrance of reality, there shall be great rejoicing within Heaven. Not because you were lost, for you never were, but because you have found your Self again.”

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“When you find willingness, clasp hands with your Holy Spirit in joy! Walk forward in trust and willingness. This is your desire awakened, and it is leading you Home.

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This next one is so beautiful!!!!

“(v 6 – 9)1Let Me tell you what I see when I look at you. 2I see faith and willingness and love. 3I see a heart that is so strong, not even the heavens of your universe can contain it. 4I see a mind that is awakening to its own Heart. 5I see gentleness through awakening, and I am grateful to have come to welcome you back unto your truth.”

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“Listen to Me and what I teach you now. I am the holy Voice of Wisdom, and I teach your process for forgiveness:

As you think, you experience.

It is through your thinking that illusion is made.

It is through awareness of thought that you see what I teach.

It is through releasing thought that illusion is let go.

This is the process of awakening. As you let Me, I take your hand and lead you through this process now.Everything is according to your own willingness.

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Awakening comes from the Heart, so let the Heart lead in all things. The mind is the great receiver.But with the Heart, sort through that which is received. Let the Heart and mind together give to spirit, so that the deliverer receives, always, through the Heart. Let the Heart be the test of all that is delivered, and you shall deliver only from the Heart.”

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Let the awakened mind dance within your awareness, and the sleeping mind shall rouse itself within your hymns of joy. This is the miracle of awakening:

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Gratitude is the way, as is resting. Have gratitude for the state of awakening, and rest peacefully any murmurings of dreams. 3In this way, sleep may be finished, and awakening may joyously be received.

In Love, Grace, Gratitude and Peace

THIS INCARNATION 18

P. 113-114 

So let us begin with an aspect of these lessons that has been mentioned before and will probably be mentioned again--That is the difference between what we are referring to as the personality self or the ego structure or the knowing of the intellect, all of which are similar although not exactly identical-- the difference between them and what we are referring to as your Divine self, the Christ Consciousness, the consciousness of unity, non judgement and non separation.

We are all familiar with the ego and the personality self. Although we might not be able to define them, we know what they are. We have an awareness of when we are acting out of this limited consciousness, not necessarily when we are doing it, but at least after the fact. We are also aware that there are moments and times when either we consciously choose to be in our divine nature and then sometimes when it just simply happens. When we find ourselves loving even though we might not want to, when we find ourselves taking the path of non-judgement even though my mind might be screaming to make somebody else wrong.

We bring this up today because one of the major goals of the personality self is to be safe, and most, if not all of its choices, are a reflection of that need for safety. As we set ourselves on the path of deeper knowing or as the book calls it “Knowing and Worth.” since both are connected with one another, we find ourselves entering into uncharted waters. And whenever we do this, it is quite natural for the personality self to object or resist because it does not feel very safe.

(Remember Peter walking on water?)

So we are not pretending that there will be no resistance or that the personality or ego self will not experience any fear as we walk into the territory of the unknown or the undefinable. What we are suggesting is that, although the personality self will experience fear and resistance that we can also recall that is not Who We Are. Nor is this trip about overcoming our resistance or our fear by brute force. Since all that comes up, all that arises, even our resistance and our fear, is a creation of our divine self for learning, we are encouraged to embrace and accept even our fearful and resistant thoughts. That does not mean we need to give into them, but it does mean we embrace them and hold them in the light as best we can, and realize that by accepting where we are begins to give us the opportunity to move forward into that realm of Soul and Spirit.

We might also add another piece here that can also enlighten the path of bit more, and that is there is only One Truth-- “you are a Divine Child of God; you are a unique expression of the Divine and part of that unique expression comes from your physical being as well as the ego and personality you have created for yourself.” Along with that knowing, however it comes to you, however you honor it, comes also the realization that you are, practically all the time, working from a sense of perception, a perception of who you are or who you think you are. So even when you decide you are resistant or afraid, that is a perception of yourself coming from your limited awareness. We are not denying its reality, but we are denying its truth, so that even though those feelings are there they are not who you are.

Take a breath 

We began this morning with part of the meditation coming from a book called “Conversations with JC.”

“Here” is the place of absolute joy and “now” is the only time there is. You think you move in and out of absolute Joy. You perceive yourself on some sort of roller coaster moving from one emotion to another. I say to you Joy is the only emotion, the only feeling. All the other emotions are merely judgments of joy. As you have just studied releasing judgment is practicing your Perfection. You are never out of the high Joy vibration

You will allow events to trigger judgments hus you experience a perception which you attach to Joy and call it anger, fea, pain or distrust. Perception is a judgment about what you see. Little ones, you always see Perfection yet you are choosing to judge it and are experiencing the perception of your judgment. Do you see?

We have talked about being on the path. Your perception of this has led you to think you are moving upward to some great spiritual understanding. I say to you, here and now, you are perfect. I say to you here and now you are aware of that perfection. I say to you your purpose here and now is to practice your already existing total perfection. Here and now I love you I am with you I am your Christ expressing Here and Now.

“We understand that your histories inform your daily lives, and the surrendering to the new feels, at times, impossible when the shadows of the old creep upon you and tap you on the shoulder and say, “Don’t forget us.” You will not forget them. You will not need to know them anymore because the light that you hold as you claim your vibration in truth and create a consciousness in this intention, “I am Word,” you will align to the new, and the old will not be permitted to that level of creation.”

I love that idea of the old patterns pleading to us almost “don't forget us.” What all of us have realized to some extent is that even though this work we are doing here together is challenging that there have been Transformations that have taken place within us far beyond those we might have imagined. We are called to be aware of these Transformations again and again. They are proof that something is happening here. We might not be able to Define it and yet here it is.

What we are saying here is that the thoughts of old patterns or the memory of old patterns might stay with us for a long time, perhaps even longer than the patterns themselves, but as we grow in higher vibration, and not simply recognizing it, but being in that higher vibrational state, that the old patterns just have nowhere to stick. They are like keys that are trying to get into a lock that has been changed. They just don't fit one another anymore, and so each of us might find, in our own way, that the keys we held on for safety no longer fit the locks of higher vibration that we are living in. It can be that simple.

“Now the walk that you are on, and the walk that you are each on, has been prescribed by your soul in your own awareness of your worth. The teaching you are being given now of worth and knowing is to support you in accelerating this process in significant ways. The trajectory you are choosing is one to benefit not only you but all that you encounter. And the choice to sing, to be your frequency in full incarnation, is what we are attending to now.”

The title of this chapter is “This Incarnation” and so it is speaking to the truth of our perception in this lifetime, but we also know we are more than simply this lifetime. The Buddhists might ask the question, “What breaks the wheel of Samsara? This Karma of lifetime after lifetime. We might ask the same question. It is answered in the above sentence which states “your soul in your own awareness of your worth.” Once you realize who you truly are and live in that realization, this stage of the work is done. Now we did not suggest that you go to heaven and everything stops; we are suggesting that the work of this human lifetime of yours ends with that complete honoring and acceptance of your Worth the truth of Who You Are. 

Impossible you say? Not so, you have already experienced pristine moments of peace, of joy, of non-judgement, of perfection. if you can experience it for one second who is to say you cannot experience it for a minute or 5 minutes or an hour. it is only your perception or your sense of unworthiness it keeps this away from you.

Again we remind you this is not about a struggle with your limitation. so Instead of asking a question such as “How do I get rid of these limitations that I keep putting on myself?” A better question might be, “What would it be like to experience myself in my perfection? What would it be like to be aligned to my Divine self?” 

The next section of this book is called “The Precipice.” We might suggest that you don't simply stand on the edge of these choices once, but that this is happening all the time. And, as we suggested above, there is a difference between how your personality self handles the challenge and how your Divine self handles the challenge.

All of us are moving from older limited states of awareness to states of vibration and consciousness that goes far beyond our perception and our thinking mind. To move into these higher realms requires that we leave some of our old stuff, our old methods and means of protection behind. To realize that they no longer serve us. They might have served us in the past, and so we bless them and release them and let them go because we recognize today they are not who we are 

“You all are protecting yourselves from your own beauty, from your own light, and from your own infinite design. As you release the safety that you have known, as you say “Yes” to this possibility, the bells will ring and the resonance of the bells will be the song you hear and that you attend to. We say the decision is yours. What do you want? If you want this, say “Yes,” and say it now, and we will return shortly with the news of the day.”

A closing thought: 

When you get to the end of all the light you know and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. Edward Teller

 A reminder: We never suggest and you should drag your personality self kicking and screaming into the next spiritual chapter of your life. Love and honor wherever or however it is you perceive yourself at this moment. By loving and honoring, and even realizing that perception is limited, you open yourself up to deeper understanding and give yourself the ability to gently and lovingly move forward.

THIS INCARNATION 15

p.110-112 

 “It is only with the heart that one sees rightly what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

The Little Prince  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

We have created a world that lives in duality, and that is the continuing challenge of living in the density of planet Earth. To be aware that practically all that we encounter is defined in terms of opposites. Good/bad; right/wrong; black/white; short/tall; and even Truth/illusion. The list is seemingly endless. Even the language you have given your computers is a continuing series of opposites 0’s and 1’s.

Now the challenge is to see beyond the dualities. That does not mean they disappear on the material plane, but what it does mean is that we do not look upon them as being the truth. (As Dr. Seuss pointed out, “Life’s a great balancing act.”

What Jesus spoke in his prayer is the absolute truth:”That all of them may be One, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us.” See, our words have reached a limit here, even though He speaks of Oneness He has to use the language “You; me; us.”

When we live in non-judgment, when we are in the moment, we are in Oneness; holding a child; watching a sunset; that moment right before you go to sleep; (claim a few others for yourself).We have all encountered moments such as this. The mind somehow thinks we created these moments and so it becomes possessive of them and tries to define them. It attempts to recreate all of the factors and situations that seem to contribute to that moment of Oneness. From these mistaken notions comes all sorts of attachments and distorted ideas of luck and superstition.

You do not create these moments of Oneness, you simply have a realization of the only Truth there is-- what exists in reality beyond illusion-- that there is only Love that there is only Oneness.

And yet here you are seeming to struggle and wondering, “How can I possibly know myself in Oneness and still live and learn in this world of duality?

The following two passages are from Khalil Gibran’s wonderful book called The Prophet. In poetic and spiritual terms he describes living in duality, but not being attached to one side or the other. In fact, to be able to comprehend and embrace the beauty of both sides, so that we rise above comparison and rest in The Wonder of our experience.

On Pain

 Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

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On Joy and Sorrow

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. 

Some of you say, "Joy is greater thar sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. 

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

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The story goes that the student was struggling. He was overly attached to the concept of enlightenment, and, of course, because of  this attachment, was blocking his own process. His teacher looked upon him with compassion and said, “Brother, look at those bamboo plants over there. Are they short or are they tall?” With that simple question the student was overcome with laughter and released his attachment.

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“Now we say yes, it can be, it is so, for the simple reason that mankind’s true essence is to be expressed in love, in freedom, in choice, and in gratitude for all that has been gifted to him. If you can be in gratitude, if you can move your awareness to a place of wonder, to new possibilities, you will, you will, you will claim them and call them to you. But you must trust the possibility that this is happening even when you cannot see it. Even when it is not seen, it is so. The sun is alight somewhere when all you perceive is darkness. You can understand this. The sun is shining somewhere and you must see the sun as in its return in the darkest moments of your life.”

We have all experienced dark times, difficult times, times even when we might have been in despair and yet again here we all are. What if, even in our darkest times we became aware, beyond reason, that there was a part of us or an aspect of us or an awareness within us beyond all thought or emotion, that continued to dwell in the Light. It is not something we could know with our minds, but we could be aware of it with our hearts, our inner knowing. This awareness did not make the darkness disappear nor did it necessarily make the sun shine through the clouds, but this knowing beyond knowing allowed us to realize that despite everything to the contrary, we were still able to put one foot in front of the other, to move, even through this muddy, sticky swamp until the fog was lifted. I have no way of explaining all of that.

“Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.”― Meister Eckhart

Here again we are asked to embrace the POSSIBILITY-- with the human mind and heart-- this is as far as our limited sense of self can take us-- to the realm of embracing the possibility. When we do this the soul opens in surrender and the Divine Self takes over. It takes over both the teaching and learning.

And then again, we realize on deeper and deeper levels of consciousness that we are continuing and continually creating our lessons AND within their learning comes our continuing evolving in creation and the essence of love.

This next paragraph is such a powerful teaching; i would encourage us to sit with it a bit, and let it sink in. 

“As you are taught by your creations, your creations being those things that you have chosen to learn through, you encounter yourself in each interaction. And as you learn who you are, as you are re-created through these encounters, you claim an ideal, an identity of who and what you say you are. But nothing that you choose is infinite because your soul knows better than you do. What you choose in fear may be re-created in love. What you have known in pain may one day be known in love. What you have been imprisoned by may, indeed, be the way you find your freedom.”

Paul’s mind and human consciousness are in rebellion for a moment, Just as we are attempting to grasp these teachings with our human intellect and personality consciousness. Listen to the answer.

“Paul is saying, “What does this mean, our name—I know who I am?” I am who I say I am, and I know what I am. And as I know, I encounter you in your worth. There is no Christ but you. There is no Christ but me. There is only Christ in the manifestation of God and seeded in each of you. It has come to be, it has come to be, it has come to be.”

We all have choices here, to hold onto the old--ideas, beliefs, systems of thought, that might have served us very well in the past, but are no longer either necessary or useful. In other words, they no longer serve us. And for a while we do not even realize that our holding onto these useless and sometimes even destructive ideas is much more painful than we could imagine.

If we are willing to persist in our embracing of the possibility of knowing the truth of Who We Are then we get to what I would like to call a “Popeye” moment when he says, “I can't stands no more!”

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anias Nin

“We will tell you this, Paul. You are a teacher of the Word. And there are many teachers of the Word coming into their own awareness through these times of change. A teacher of the Word is a teacher of embodiment. The Christ has come in man to be expressed as man as man aligns to the vibration of it. But when you decide in advance that you cannot be forgiven, or he or she cannot, you close that door until you are willing to open it again. When you judge your fellows, you judge yourself. And we have said this many times: What you judge, you fear. So why do you fear yourselves and why won’t you allow us to teach you a new way: a new way to be, to freedom, to sing, to align, to create, and to know who and what you are?”

Sunday morning our group consciousness created a profound space of silence and stillness. It was/is a remarkable gift. Reminding me that Resurrection does not require noise or drama--it is in the Stillness that we KNOW.

In Love and Gratitude