Okay, so just a little jibber jabbering. I figured this whole “go out and live the life of your dreams” thing was gonna be a big epic adventure, and in a way it is, but honestly that seems to be a bit idealistic. People keep saying “Oh man! That’s so amazing what you’re doing! It looks so cool and so fun!” and yeah, I suppose it looks that way from the outside. At times it is, for sure, but perhaps the best word I can think of to describe it is RAW.
It’s not so much about experiencing life as I’m finding out, but experiencing YOURSELF. It’s basically about coming out of hiding and being more honest with myself and authentic than I’ve ever been…
Okay, first of all a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who donated the past few days. I am tremendously grateful to each and every one of you and I’d like you to know that yes, your gift makes a big difference. Not only that, it’s been really cool to hear some of the stories that have come forth after donating. For example, one reader/friend donated to me and also wanted to get a new pair of dance shoes. She then shared with me that the very next day, her dance teacher flat out gave her exactly the dance shoes she wanted and wouldn’t let her pay for them. Get this… the cost of the dance shoes was exactly the amount she’d donated! It’s really cool to see this flow of giving and receiving, how it works in both directions, and it’s on this note that I’d like to begin this post.
It seems like a big part of “being in the flow” is not only being open to receiving abundant blessings from the universe, from other people, and from every which way, but also being open to give what you have to offer. It’s important for both ends of the giving/receiving pipe be open for the best experience of flow. Now by giving, this doesn’t necessarily imply giving physical stuff like money or your possessions, although that’s certainly just as much a part of it as anything else. Less tangible things like a helping hand, a kind smile, an encouraging word, or even your time… these things can all be HUGE gifts… It seems like the greatest gift you can give is the gift of yourself in whatever form you show up. I don’t mean to make this sound like “I’m all that” or “I’m God’s gift to humanity” in an egotistical sense or any of that nonsense, but it seems like when you just naturally show up and shine your light, that seems to impact people more than anything you could possibly do by trying to give for whatever reason. It’s pretty surprising to me still to see over and over that life, for whatever reason, simply works best when I just give up trying to manifest this or make that happen or get this person to respond that way or any of that effort-based stuff… When I say “enough already” and just be myself and enjoy and appreciate what I already DO have, life is FAR more enjoyable, new things and people show up much more easily, and everything just works BETTER.
Since I’m enjoying just being myself more and more these days as opposed to trying to deliberately play the role of teacher or student as if this was all so serious :lol , let’s have a little fun here. Let’s tell a little story today… and since we’re playing like children, let’s make this story like a picture book. How ’bout that?
Have you ever heard of the term “monkey mind?” It’s basically when your mind is running amok and your thoughts are going crazy. When that happens, what to do? What to do?
Well there’s two schools of thought (no pun intended) that we can discuss:
1) Quiet your mind
2) Direct your mind deliberately towards better feeling thoughts
Both techniques are designed to help you release resistance, experience your true self, and express your natural radiance as you live your life from moment to moment.
That said, there are some key differences such as the nature of free will, as we will explore some of these differences below:
So the usual definition of enlightenment would include something along the lines of seeing reality as it actually is in its undivided state, seeing the One in the All, returning to one’s natural state of unity rather than separation, recognizing your true nature to be present moment awareness, or quite simply being who you really are.
To add another perspective to the mix, let’s look at Abraham-Hicks’ definition of enlightenment, which is basically being a blended being and being in the vortex by aligning to the energy of Source energy, but not necessarily in every moment of every day. This is somewhat different than the Advaita, Zen, and Buddhist perspectives of enlightenment.
There’s this idea that once you’re enlightened, you will no longer experience any negative emotion and you will be in a place of permanent happiness, and yet what I have from my own experience (which was very confusing at first), from those I have talked to, and even from well-known teachers like Adyashanti, Papaji, Mooji, Nisargadatta, and numerous other enlightened teachers, it’s not about a lasting experience of happiness or peace, but recognizing the well-being that is present from the eternal Self that you are, regardless of any emotional state.
In the video above, Abraham points out that while the well-being of Source is eternal and unchanging, the experience of that and the manifestation of that here in this time/space reality is not how any of us are designed to live our lives in physical form. We’re designed to experience the contrast as a way to continue the unfoldment of creating. By seeing what we don’t want, that helps us know what we do want and thus can be used as a positive way, even if the focusing on what we don’t want takes us out of the vortex momentarily. To experience the negative emotions that result from that is very much okay. It’s by design. It’s not a sign of failure or not being spiritual or enlightened enough. It’s just a sign that thoughts are arising within us in the moment that are out of alignment with Source energy/Love/Truth. That’s ALL.
Living It
It’s easy to get into a discussion about nonduality, consciousness, awareness, oneness, and all these topics which to me honestly feel kinda heavy at this point to talk about. Very seri0us almost.
And yet what I’m coming to find is the more I surrender, let go, reach for thoughts that feel better, perform self-inquiry, do some releasing work like The Sedona Method or The Work, or allow things to be as they are, which are all basically ways to release the ego’s resistance to what is which is the foundation for the separate self that for so long has been a part of the human experience, the more I both expand my awareness of All That Is (the light and the dark) as well as discover this eternal bliss that is always present, and the more I live life as an expression of and celebration of joy and love. Heck, I find myself just not really caring about “enlightenment” anymore and instead enjoy living this life experience in this moment, here and now, fully as I AM.
What is being discovered is that, as so many masters have said, YOU are the point, YOU are the Divine, and the Kingdom of God is within YOU. YOU are the gift. YOU are what you have been looking for. The I AM is IT!! Just to BE what you ARE is already a tremendous blessing, and to be that in living expression by having this life experience which allows us to both know and EXPERIENCE who we really are… MAN that’s so good… That’s grounding the spiritual energy into the physical, uniting the up here with down here, and bringing heaven down to earth as is often said. And so the point is just to enjoy the love that is you, the joy that is you, the well-being that is you, here and now. EnJOY it! In Joy.
“If you really want enlightenment, just lighten up!”
True Enlightenment is moving to the rhythm of the internal inspiration that is coming in response to the individual desire.
Enlightenment is allowing my connection to the Source that is me for the fulfillment of the things that I have individually defined in my time/space reality. That’s as good as it gets, you see.
-Abraham
We can talk about going with the flow, and from a place of Oneness, there is only the flow of life. There are no separate parts, just this one harmonious flow of many apparent individuals. To paraphrase the Sufi poet Rumi, you are the entire ocean, and the entire ocean is contained in each drop, expressing itself as each drop. We can allow everything to be as it is and find that there’s this natural intuitive movement within us to flow this way or that, as if we have an inner sense of what the next step is and how to respond spontaneously in any moment. No rules. Just natural flow. Simple. Light. Ease.
For the first time since starting this blog, I feel a sense of completion in terms of writing about spirituality, consciousness, nonduality, and the nature of the egoic mind. The recent post Want to Wake Up? Focus Upon the “I Am” sealed the deal. There are so many fun things to explore in the spiritual arena including chakras, past lives, the law of attraction, and all that jazz, but when it comes to waking up from the dream of separation, that post goes right to the heart of enlightenment. It is what I had heard many times while passionately seeking and yet continually overlooked and what what shines clearly today as the seeking energy is seen through. The sheer simplicity of the I AM, the I AM that’s ALWAYS here.
How then shall I live?
Something that Adyashanti once said has really left an impression upon me. He said that the first and primary question of the spiritual journey is Who Am I? Once that is discovered, the next question is How then shall I live? It is this second question that takes an internal realization and expresses it as an external manifestation. It is this second question which helps our internal transformation permeate all aspects of our being. It is this second question that allows you to come back and be in this world, but not of it. It is this second question that shifts us from simply knowing and being the Truth to LIVING the Truth, from realizing to experiencing, and to letting go of all that is not in harmony with the infinite being that we have realized ourselves to be. This is what this physical experience, from my perspective, is all about: experiencing more and more of who you really are. Since you are All That Is, what else is there to experience?
So one of the big buzzwords floating around in the Law of Attraction community these days is the idea of being the creator of your reality.
I see a number of people claim to be awake once they learn about this, but really all that’s being done is the transformation from a traditional egoic identity to another more spiritual identity. This is not truly waking up beyond the dream.
“I” am the Creator of “MY” reality. So you’re suggesting there is supposedly both a creator and a reality that this creator is creating? This is a classic case of Subject/Object duality. From the perspective of awakening, it’s utter nonsense. It’s part of the illusion, not what’s actually happening.
False Identification
What are you?
Are you your job? “I am an investment banker.”
Do your actions define you? “I am a basketball player.”
If you were to stop doing those things and start doing something else, would you cease to exist? Of course not. So your current job is not literally what you are. Neither are the actions you take. You are here regardless of what job you have or what actions you take. Identifying with your job, or any activity for that matter, is yet another case of false identity.
So to identify with what you do is a case of mistaken identity. Classic ego.
I feel like I can literally extend my consciousness into a higher dimension.. consciously and deliberately. It’s a cool feeling, like stepping into more of myself without really going anywhere.
Moving in a Higher Dimension
Imagine you were a 2-dimensional flat person for a moment, spending your whole life moving forwards and backwards and side to side in a totally flat world. Suddenly one day you discovered this ability to turn your arm “upwards” and reach up and out into the third dimension. Reaching up into the 3rd dimension would feel very much like reaching into one of the 2 dimensions you’re familiar with, wouldn’t it? It’s not really a wildly new technique to develop, just a new direction to reach into.
An interesting point to note is that you don’t have to move in 2D space at all when reaching farther out into 3D space. You could be bouncing up and down in the 3rd dimension and as long as you didn’t move front to back or side to side, you’d look perfectly still in the 2nd dimension. Movement in each dimension is independent, though not separate.
Reaching out into 4D is a lot like this. This 3D physical being doesn’t actually move when accessing the 4th dimension. It is consciousness itself that accesses higher dimensions, not the physicalized being.
On the You Are Truly Loved: Enlightenment Forums, one of the topics of discussion is the idea of how there is no controller. Another level of understanding recently came to me and so I’m going to share what I wrote in the forum post here as a blog post as well.
From the typical enlightenment perspective, the separate self / conscious mind / ego / “me” surrenders control and allows existence / God to guide the physical expression of what is. The “me” is not in control and doesn’t make the decisions. Heck, there isn’t even a “me” who is in control of thoughts! Ideas simply pop into awareness.
From the Law of Attraction perspective, EVERY idea arises from the Higher Self. Not one idea you can have originated in the limited conscious mind. It originates in the Higher Self. (More information here.) The physical you is not in control and doesn’t figure out how anything works. That’s not its role, at ALL!
So the physical mind relaxes and lets go of needing to figure everything out, lets go of figuring out the “how” for the future.
When the mind tries to figure out “how” and plays a role it’s not designed to, suffering arises as the physical self feels overburdened with lugging the baggage of all the stuff it’s not designed to carry. The body begins to feel stressed out and exhausted.
Surrender is basically a way to let the various aspects of yourself play their proper roles and so you’re being your WHOLE Self. All parts of the Self work together performing their intended tasks.
So when we say surrender to God, that’s simply another way of saying let go of figuring out how things work with your mind and allow the superconscious non-physical “mystical” knowingness that may come in the form of the Higher Self or spirit guides or guardian angels or what-have-you… all of whom communicate via synchronicity and intuition, let all of those higher dimensional aspects of God play their role in guiding the physical aspects of us.
Yet we understand that at a deeper level, it’s all us anyways for it’s all One. You are that. It’s all you.
So, the physical you is not in control. There is no controller here in 3D physical reality. There is no doer. There is simply action being done.
Check out these quotes and see if they make a little more sense now.
You Are Truly Loved features content designed to guide people towards enlightenment, unconditional love, and living a life of joy through Self-realization and proper application of the Law of Attraction.
That’s grounding the spiritual energy into the physical, uniting the up here with down here, and bringing heaven down to earth as is often said. And so the point is just to enjoy the love that is you, the joy that is you, the well-being that is you, here and now. EnJOY it! In Joy.
So one of the big buzzwords floating around in the Law of Attraction community these days is the idea of being the creator of your reality.
Imagine you were a 2-dimensional flat person for a moment, spending your whole life moving forwards and backwards and side to side in a totally flat world. Suddenly one day you discovered this ability to turn your arm “upwards” and reach up and out into the third dimension. Reaching up into the 3rd dimension would feel very much like reaching into one of the 2 dimensions you’re familiar with, wouldn’t it? It’s not really a wildly new technique to develop, just a new direction to reach into.