A Walk in the Physical

Our deepest personal beliefs that are fueling our experience don’t appear to be beliefs at all. Instead they appear to be “obvious observations about how reality is.” When it appears “obvious” to us (while physical) that reality is “a certain way,” that is often our own belief about it. And that belief about it is significantly contributing to our own personal experience, both in how we interpret what we experience and also in how reality itself physically manifests our experience to us.

In fact, this physical reality is neutral, and we are each imposing our own meaning upon it. For the soul, this is a critical aspect of why the physical experience is so valuable: it permits us to expand and experience our deepest powers of interpretation.

And yet, let us not confuse the current experience of personal reality with a lack of an absolute reality. Indeed, absolute reality exists! That absolute reality contains and greatly transcends the personal reality. It’s just that living a personal reality in the physical necessitates that our perspective temporarily not include the perspective of the larger reality.

In other words, we are here for the full experience of “being human.” Thus while we are here we should fully embrace our current personal experience with all its confusions and limitations, for there are great treasures available to us when we do so!

At the same time, we can also always relinquish ourselves and choose to surrender- even by a few steps- back into the ever-present and much greater reality of the love of God. For even as you embrace the experience of personal reality, you are never, ever outside of the transcendent larger reality of God’s love. Existence itself at its root is creative joy, even as in its creativity it has chosen to exercise its power to transcend personal darkness.

The “ego mind” is the portion of the mind that is devoted to defining reality in a way that will protect us. The ego mind protects us through presenting to us beliefs, justifications, and stories. We “buy in” to those beliefs, justifications, and stories. Why? Because we seek to avoid confronting the fears that those beliefs, justifications, and stories cover up. We withdraw ourselves from the experience of the darkness by building facades of light.

Sometimes when something threatens us, or our facade itself is threatened, we grip onto the facade even harder, even tighter, desperately demanding shelter within it. Sometimes the facade is all we’ve ever known.

The problem is not the facade itself. The problem is our unwillingness to face the darkness. If we let go of everything that is protecting us, and simply surrender to experiencing the present moment in all of its gory glory, it will mean that we will have to be open and willing to feel everything. We call that willingness to feel, “vulnerability.”

Contrary to what our culture has taught, vulnerability is not a weakness. In fact, spiritually speaking, vulnerability is a profound strength! It is through the willingness to fully experience ALL of what we are, ALL of what we feel, ALL of what is around us and within us, that we can fully grow and mature in the way that God intended: toward Love. Love, the most powerful force in existence, is vulnerable.

It is OK then to relinquish your control. If you let go, the spirit will always be there to catch you! God is not a fairy tale or belief, but a real conscious force of profound love that dwells within and beneath every single thing in this universe- including you. That power is always on the other side of the fears and pains you may engage when you drop the facade and choose to be vulnerable, no matter how long those pains or fears may last, no matter how long you may experience the illusion of your own powerlessness.

We live in a jungle of confusion. The veil of amnesia and the illusion of separation cause a profound state of “limited information” in which each individual must use limited data to decide what is true. 7 Billion people on Earth each have their own perspective, most think they generally have the world figured out, and many spend an incredible amount of energy trying to tell each other what to think. Advertising, religion, social media: all add to the cacophony of individual or group messages to other individuals or groups. As technology proliferates, the volume of the jungle increases.

Yet, so very much of it is confusion because none of the messages sent in metaphor or word can successfully communicate the full scope or “deeper truth” of What Is. Form (words or ideas) cannot fully describe that which is beyond form.

Since conscious awareness is fundamental, the only way that the individual can encounter “deeper truth” is by personal experience. Striving to experience “deeper truth” is a very individual and unique process that certainly cannot be articulated in words to you by someone else. But one important channel can be identified: the unadulterated experience of the Now (rather than the consideration of some idea). The more one is able to be fully present with one’s entire actual experience of the present moment, the better one will become at being able to see past the deep construct of one’s own thoughts, judgments, and beliefs. The more one is able to see past one’s own thoughts, judgments, and beliefs, and simply experience the Now itself, the closer one will be to allowing themselves to be touched by glimmers of the ineffable truth which transcends all the metaphors of the world. The sounds of the jungle can be very distracting: but fortunately, nothing can thwart your free will ability to choose to focus inward to the silence, rather than outward to the noise.

Often when we wish to “make change” in the world we perform tasks that seem pertinent, but may in fact not be very effective. For instance, perhaps we care about a local cause, so we join a committee or fill some leadership role to support it, only to find that instead of effecting great change, much time and energy is spent bogged down in procedure or politics. Or perhaps we are sick and wish to be healed, so we go see a doctor- when in fact the doctor may have limited understanding of what may actually help us. While our actions are of course always meaningful to some degree within the big picture, in the physical arena sometimes our allocation of time and activity may actually be pretty inefficient at effecting change. This is a natural part of living within a system of limiting constraints.

It is important to recognize however that the very real all-powerful source of our entire reality itself is always present. In a fundamental sense, the power of physical action is crude and paltry in comparison to the power of the spirit, and the power of the spirit is mobilized by intent. Intent is deep at the root of all events. The entire rule-set of this experience on Earth- this experience that seems physical- derives from God’s awesome intent, which we are connected to. We are connected to the source of the most awesome change- and within our own consciousness itself always lie the keys to unfolding a new reality around us. Rather than some abstract idea, and despite how it might appear on the surface, this is a real and practical engine for change. In fact, it is the primary and most powerful one.

Yet collectively in consciousness space, we have “dug this reality deep.” There is a humongous precedent, a monumental amount of vibrational history, that has set us to where we are, both in how our physical world has evolved, and also in how the human psyche typically expresses itself. But we can change it. We, collectively, have the power to bring the light of the higher realms into this reality frame.

How do we do this?

First, we relinquish old ideas that make us fearful or powerless and embrace the power that is inherent to us- for even as we do so in mind-space, we automatically begin to do so in the world.

Second, we change our focus toward celebrating the light instead of accepting and feeding the negative systems and ideas of our world.

Third, we accept responsibility for exactly who we are and what the world is.

Fourth, we recognize that how we see the world is primarily a reflection of us – not a statement about how the world actually is.

And fifth, we work on ourselves to conquer our own fears, to bring forth our own love, so that the world shines back to us the love that we are. Real change comes through love- for when the spirit loves, the physical solution naturally unfolds through and around us.

In Near Death Experiences it is often reported that the most prized and celebrated accomplishments of our lives are moments motivated by love. The smallest of actions, when motivated by concern for another with no thought of personal reward, are the greatest triumphs. Accomplishments that society may deem as successful are not necessarily seen by spirit as important at all.

Yet often we go through our lives thinking that our success is rooted in material prosperity, social status, or physical impact. We celebrate CEOs, politicians, surgeons, and actors. We hope to be “successful” too.

The entire realm of the physical is subordinate to the realm of the spirit. You are in both right now- you’re just focused on the physical, which is the one that will pass away. In the realm of the spirit, where you will always exist, love is what matters. The physical will pass away; love will never pass away. The physical dirt or money that you moved around will not last; the spirit that you moved through love will last forever.

Recognize then today that your true success resides not in your great physical achievements, but in the small matters: in making selfless choices, in helping others in small ways, in facing your own failings in simple quiet moments. Great spiritual work is done even when nothing is seen in the physical world. Follow where your spirit leads, and embrace the wonderful treasures that are the smallest decisions- for indeed in the Big Picture, even though we cannot see it, the small stuff is the big stuff!

We live in a world of imperfect human systems. The political systems, economic systems, legal systems, and nationalist systems all end up failing countless individuals in many ways. One fundamental reason is: our systems are primarily driven by self-interest rather than love. Most human systems are built to protect one’s self or one’s group at the expense of other individuals or other groups. Capitalism is a clear example of this: it is a system that capitalizes on selfish motivation to produce economic output. It generates tremendous activity- but the motivation of the activity is often selfish rather than loving.

Love supports the optimal way that individuals can interact and support one another; selfishness does not.

Because the fundamental motivation is not optimal, the human systems themselves can never function optimally in support of the experience of their participants. The systems themselves are not the problem: the quality of our intent is the problem. The answer to the world’s problems is not a new leader, new laws, or even a new financial system. The answer is love.

Love means full individual accountability and commitment to act with loving intent (intent that supports others over the self) in all things- even (and especially) in how one deals with one’s own weakness, fears, and needs. While the universal application of loving intent would heal the world, it has also proven to be the very hardest thing for us to do. In fact, as a species we have a pretty long and dark history of how we have neglected one another, the animals on our planet, and the planet itself. But learning how to actually embody loving intent in such a constraining environment is not something easily mastered by any given individual, let alone a few billion of them! Indeed, the mastery of selfless loving intent is not something that typically can be experientially learned even in several lifetimes! Fortunately, all of us are beyond time, and have been graciously given all the time in the world to really grow up and get it right.

All the time aside, though, it is important to recognize that our power to grow up is happening right now. Our power to change the world is right now- by actively working on the quality of our intent towards being more loving with whomever is around us and by confronting our own fear and ego. Every single one of us needs to own the responsibility. Every single one of us can take a hard look at where we have been selfish and can strive to put another above ourselves. That step is a step toward healing the entire world! You are an incredibly important piece of the solution. You do have the power to advance the entire world one step closer to love by the choices you make! So next time you turn on the news and see something challenging out there, instead of worrying about it, look to yourself to take just one step toward grace and love. The power to heal the world exists- and it is through your love, right now!

In our modern society, when we succeed in making money, others tend to respect us. Our system of capitalism holds up those who can earn and spend material wealth. Collectively we tend to admire those who have been “successful” – note the word “successful” typically means “financially successful.” It is even the very basic tenet of Customer Service that the customer, who is controlling the money to be spent, is to always receive respect.

The entire capitalism system of our society exists within a reality of constraints. Physical resources are required for survival, and they are limited. We have evolved within a stark “kill or be killed” environment in which stealing food from the other guy meant survival and the success of one’s self and one’s progeny. Our capitalist system is a more sophisticated version of the same process of controlling resources. As the system pushes most individuals to work hard in order to acquire the resources they want and need, the total physical output is relatively great (great relative to living in the wild), and thus many can survive or thrive. However, it is still a system of force and aggression. It may be subtle force, but the lives of billions are very heavily influenced by this system’s power over physical resources. Since control of physical resources has historically meant success and survival, our culture has evolved to applaud it as successful.

Yet success in the larger reality has very little to do with material success. Indeed, we are not even physical beings, but beings of conscious awareness who can take many forms! Our success is not derived by the material possessions or even the bodily survival of any of the avatars that we play. Ownership of physical objects or the power to allocate physical resources is almost totally insignificant in the Big Picture.

True success goes much deeper, to matters of the being: to matters of selflessness, to the conquering of fear, to creativity, to Love. As we grow on our spiritual journeys, we should take note of this, so that we might gently re-direct what we ourselves value in our lives. As we all begin to do this, we will begin to respect each other for what matters- for Love- and not primarily for our ability to control the allocation of a bunch of transient physical objects.

We are integrators of experience. Here in the physical we have experience (receive sense data), interpret the experience (attach thoughts and judgments to the data received), and then react to our own interpretation (even if we’ve forgotten it’s our own interpretation). Through that process we grow as “successful experiencers of experience.”

Some experiences are more challenging than others. In general, this physical reality offers to us uniquely challenging constraints: the fact that this reality around us “stays firm” and appears to not yield when it pushes on us makes the “force” of the circumstances very strong. As the consciousness seeks to integrate such a challenging circumstance-set, the stress of the experience can potentially enable profound spiritual growth.

Alternatively, it can also potentially stress a consciousness to a “breaking point.” Psychological trauma cases are examples of where a personality has been “forced” to experience a constraint-set and resulting interpretations that are too severe for what it can handle in its current form. Often the consciousness “buries” the experience somewhere so that it does not have to fully confront what it felt as a result of the experience.

Yet in the long run the consciousness always seeks to integrate- always seeks to “assimilate” the experience and its interpretations- into its own “big picture” of experience. For trauma sufferers, the old fears, “unanswered whys,” negative self-perceptions, and pains may continue to come up time and time again- often very disruptively- in an effort to be “processed.” I myself have experienced this, and it can be unspeakably painful and challenging.

But ultimately, eventually, any experience can be fully processed and healed. In order to do so, though, we must be humble enough to admit our many weaknesses and negative self-perceptions, and we also must be brave enough to be willing to fully feel what we feel in the now. We must actually feel our feelings in the present moment, as they come up, no matter what they are, without judgment! Healing always takes place in the now; our power is always in the present moment.

You can always “now” decide to face and feel your old wounds- especially during the precious opportunities when those negative feelings have risen to the surface for you to process. It can take years, decades, even lifetimes to heal certain old wounds- but when you truly commit to undertaking such a process, the powers of the higher realms themselves come to your aid!

There is a natural way that events tend to unfold. From the highest orders of magnitude to the lowest, life follows similar patterns of development at every level. Seasons, cycles of birth and death, cycles of development from low-complexity to high-complexity: patterns emerge and repeat under the ultimate direction of the universal laws that God has laid out in His incredibly deep wisdom.

Those laws include feedback mechanisms both “outside” of us and “within” us. When we listen to those mechanisms, we live life more smoothly. When we resist those mechanisms, we experience struggle and difficulty. Oftentimes we choose the latter, and we do so with great effort and resolve! We do this because we think we know in our minds what will be best for us. We deeply trust the intellect to lead us toward the situation that we believe, for one or many reasons, will be optimal.

In fact, we are far more than our limited human intelligence, and the knowledge and wisdom of the spirit from which we come is far greater than that of our Earthly intellect. Spirit has a much better vantage point.

Furthermore, the universal laws established per the will of God are ultimately perfect in their operation- and so, properly and honestly interpreted, they can be trusted.

Thus when making decisions in our own lives, it can be beneficial to recognize the “place” of the intellect- and instead try to listen to what life itself is telling us. We can always listen with the “being level” and turn to God for guidance. Oftentimes in silence and genuine humble surrender, the divine will indeed reach out to us. But even if we cannot hear it, we can still look at the “currents” in our lives for guidance. Which way is the current flowing? It might be easier to recognize than you may think: God’s way is the way of love, stresslessness, creativity, understanding, forgiveness, acceptance, and joy!

God does not require you to believe anything. He/She/It is All That Is- the profoundly loving conscious foundation of reality that has given you the opportunity to make choices, including the choices about what you believe. You are not punished for making the wrong choices or for believing this thing or the other. Countless reports from the other side (NDEs) reiterate this.

Love, on the other hand, is paramount to our reason for being here. We do always inevitably experience the results of our choices- whether they be loving, or unloving. The true nature of our intent is never hidden from God. We often tell ourselves that we have loving reasons for doing things, but often our motivation is rooted in fear rather than love.

Being able to successfully navigate this phenomenon sometimes requires taking a hard look at what one believes. This is because belief often rises out of the need of the ego to protect the individual (or group) from their fears: fear of the unknown, fear of powerlessness, fear of worthlessness, fear of death. This is not always the case, as often beliefs can be used to root and motivate a person in loving action as well. Beliefs can be profoundly valuable- and oftentimes necessary- to many who seek to rise above the brutal nature of our world, to grow spiritually, and to seek God. But the beliefs themselves are not the “active ingredient.” The active ingredient is the quality and direction of one’s intent: whether it be motivated out of genuine love, or selfish fear; whether it is pointed toward God, or to self. When one seeks God truly, God always responds, regardless of the physical metaphor or form used by the individual. The consciousness is primary; the symbols used by it are secondary.

It is very important to recognize that many are not ready to question their beliefs to their foundations. That is totally acceptable! Re-establishing a lifetime’s worldview can be an incredibly personally destructive process, and many simply do not need such a radical belief-overhaul to successfully pursue their relationship with God (whatever they call it). Do not try to push over someone’s apple cart with new ideas when they are not ready- rather, respect and uphold each person’s place and beliefs. The spirit will always work with each individual as they are ready, and the individual will always eventually utilize their actual experience to grow in their own way.

Others, however, can benefit greatly by permitting themselves to examine the nature of their beliefs so as to throw out what does not serve love and so as to better understand their own “next steps” on their genuine spiritual walk. Oftentimes the individual is greatly benefited by releasing old fear-based ideas such as the ideas of condemnation, group favoritism, shame, and sin. Such ideas are, in fact, OK to release when the individual is ready- because in the larger consciousness system, belief itself is not fundamental. Genuine Love, however- that is the stuff universes are made of!