Month: April 2017

People tend to define things in relationship to other things. Forms somehow gain apparent meaning because of how we relate them to other forms. In order to understand our reality, we “borrow” relationship after relationship, until we reach some subjective level of satisfaction that reality has been identified. In so doing, we automatically narrow reality down to the meaning that we have assigned it.

In fact, the Truth fully transcends all the relationships we have identified between its apparent parts. Reality is much, much bigger than the local meaning we have assigned.

As Rupert Spira says, “Objects do not have existence. Existence has objects.” Existence may be equated with the word “consciousness.” Consciousness beholds objects; objects do not exist independent from awareness of them. Thus in order to truly understand things, we need to look not primarily at the things themselves, but at the consciousness that is beholding them. That consciousness transcends all of the relationships between the forms that it is beholding, and is much more than all of them.

Awareness is inherently joyful! It can only experience pain as a temporary illusory experience. Resisting that experience tends to perpetuate it, because it is not allowing “what is” to be. True happiness and freedom is available in completely allowing “what is” to be, exactly as it is, without the judgments of the ego-mind. This is because by releasing the forms of the ego-mind, the consciousness naturally takes a step back towards its native state which always fully transcends the forms that it is beholding. In relinquishing all resistance and simply being present with “what is,” awareness naturally “sees past” the forms that were distracting it, and it is once again known that joy is always there!

Awareness is formless and unlimited! When awareness gets lost within the illusion of form and believes form is what it is, it temporarily believes something contrary to its true nature: it believes it is limited and separate when in fact it is unlimited and connected to everything. In so doing, it naturally experiences suffering. Suffering is a sign that awareness has bought into something that is not fundamentally true. Suffering is a sign that awareness has bought into an illusion, and thus temporarily forgotten its true nature. When awareness knows its true nature, which is beyond form and totally free, suffering is not possible.

Creation is very, very vast. It is so incredibly huge, so unbelievably complex, and so amazingly diverse that it is not even possible for you to even remotely imagine its scope with the human mind. Our reality alone has over 100,000,000,000 galaxies (some now say twice that), each with an average of approximately 100,000,000,000 stars. That’s more than 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 star systems. The universe is so big that it would take light more than 13,800,000,000 years to cross it- while in that time, it would “expand” even further! And yet, all of this scope is our universe only: our entire physical reality is in fact just one of many. Within that unimaginably vast context, how can any of us humans on Earth expect or believe that we truly grasp the nature of reality?

And yet many on Earth ascribe to simple human ideas passed down to them, enshrine those ideas as belief, and swiftly conclude that they more-or-less “have things figured out.” Most humans believe they generally have a pretty accurate view of the world at any given time. We commonly claim knowledge where there is actually ignorance. Our basic assumptions about reality fade into the background, invisible to us, even though they color everything we are doing and experiencing in our daily lives.

One of those assumptions is that physical matter is what is most real. Many ponderers among us assume that materialism must be sound because we have been able to achieve certain physical accomplishments with our (currently) materialistic science. Many believe that our physical universe is “all there is.”

And yet, a true investigation yields a much, much vaster “big picture” reality than the cold basic experience of matter conveys. In fact, the experience of other reality systems can be more rich, more wonderful, more vibrant, and more absolutely astounding than any physical experience available to us! How can this be, when we remember nothing but the physical world in which we were raised? How can such an investigation be pursued?

In order to have the physical experience, you had to adopt a sort of “amnesia” for a while so that you could completely focus on being differentiated as a human. The entire you is so great, so vast, so connected to everything else, that functioning as a seemingly separate human would be quite impossible if it were not for the “amnesia.” Never-the-less, you are still what you truly are: you are still spirit. You can’t not be what you truly are. And thus if you truly wish to investigate reality, you need to be willing to fully look into what you are beyond the human mind. You need to spend time and focus with your awareness itself– because that does always transcend the physical experience. Consciousness is the common denominator to every experience, so if you want to truly explore Creation, start by looking there! For indeed within the realms of Creation, there are realities far more immense and far more real than this illusory physical universe that we are so focused in- and your spirit is fundamentally connected to all of it!

For a long time humans have relied on belief to explain that which was unexplainable. Humans have generously extrapolated that which they perceive and understand into that which they do not perceive or understand. This is a common practice of the ego: we draw conclusions about that which we actually do not understand and proclaim our conclusions as truth.

Yet it would not be accurate to categorize religion strictly as a phenomenon of ego and belief, because in fact religious phenomena also arises from the individual’s very real personal experience with the greater reality and with the divine. God is real (whatever you call God or don’t call God), the spirit is real- in fact, whether they are recognized or not, they are more real than the objects that appear to be around us. And as the individual processes experience, including the very common and natural personal interaction with the spirit, the physically oriented portion of one’s awareness seeks to intellectually and emotionally secure form for that experience. The form that one seeks to secure then is sought within the context and history of what one has experienced in the physical, including what one has learned or been taught, which can include a religious context.

We might say then that our physical religion has two parts to it: first, the human-derived mythology (comprised of ideas, which are a type of form experienced within the physical universe); and second, the individual’s interaction with the transcendent loving substance of the spirit (the divine in and through all of us which transcends the physical universe). (In fact these two elements are intertwined and not ultimately separate, but to the human intellect which seeks to understand reality through dualistic ideas, the distinction may be helpful.) Differentiating the former from the latter has proven to be very challenging for humanity! This is understandable considering that the divine can seem invisible, unless we personally equate it to one or more forms (words, ideas, beliefs, etc.). In truth, the spirit transcends all of the forms of this universe, including our many objects, words, and ideas.

It is natural that we seek answers within the form, for we are indeed immersed in an experience of form. The experience of dualistic form is the very nature of the physical experience. And as experiencers of form, form is often very important to us- sometimes it even seems necessary- as we reach for the divine. For instance, revering a name, book, idea, or any set thereof can in fact be deeply meaningful and genuinely important to the individual along his or her spiritual walk. Yet eventually it can sometimes also benefit one to recognize that the form itself does not hold the answer, because form only exists within and is completely transcended by the realm of the spirit. Put another way: conscious awareness itself exists, and the forms it entertains are secondary, so the forms will never truly hold the answer.

Regardless of the forms (or lack of forms) we utilize to pursue the divine, the spiritual walk of the individual is indeed very important and very real. Your relationship with the divine is real. YOU are real! You are more real than the forms that you are lost within. And that which stirs your soul, your truest self of selves, also dwells and exists beyond the ideas that you have temporarily adopted.

So how can we who are so bound to the experience of duality differentiate between the mythology of form, and the true substance of spirit?

It is important to recognize that the realm of the spirit is not far away. In fact distance itself is not fundamental and exists as an experience only! Spirit is the most real thing you know: your awareness is spirit. YOU are spirit. The awareness of being here now, reading this blog with your intellectual mind of form, is an exercise ultimately being undertaken by spirit (your awareness). You may have gone very deeply into the dream of form, so deep that you don’t remember how you got here- but you still have the ability right now to exercise your most inalienable spiritual power: your power to intend, your power to choose.

What can you intend or choose to help you separate the substance from the illusion? While the answer is complex and cannot truly be articulated with words, and while the path for every individual will most certainly be special and unique, we might say the following: be willing. Your intent is your most fundamental inalienable power. Point it towards LOVE!

Humble yourself. Face your fears. Let go of your power, and choose love. Rather than listening primarily to your rehearsed beliefs, admit to yourself all that which you actually do not know. Intend to open yourself up to what the spirit is saying to you. Intend to let everything fall away that may wish to fall away, even if it causes you fear, even if it be your very life. Listen humbly to your intuition. Be willing to be wrong. Encounter what you feel. Feel what you feel. Feel what you are! Be willing to challenge anything, yet be gentle with yourself, for nothing can ever truly be wrong.

Humanity is ready to grow. We are ready to move away from fear-based dogma, self-righteousness, competition, anger, and the “survival of the fittest” mindset that has dominated much of our collective past for so long. We are ready for a more loving future!

It is time to stop fearing. In order to stop fearing, we need to be individually willing to actually face our pain, and process it. We need to take individual responsibility for all aspects of ourselves. We need to be willing to challenge and change our beliefs as our personal experience, reason, and intuition actually guide us. That path is a very personal path for each individual: it is sacred, and no one can walk it for us. But as you walk your unique path today, please know this: you are LOVED! You are full of light! You are free, and powerful, and good! And the power of our incomprehensibly loving Source is always with you, no matter what metaphor set you may use to seek or serve it.