Tuesday, March 29, 2005

One

This, my doing and
that, your doing-all sacred motions,
words, deeds, and thoughts.

I’m watching the flames dance up into the darkness.
I hear the crackling of the fire and the tumbling stream singing.
There is a call of a night bird across the way on a distant shore.
The night sky is black and the stars cut through as if scattered opals.
My thoughts are that I am alone at my camp.
My heart warms and then glows at this foolish reflection.
Together, by fire and stream, we watch and we listen to silence speak.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Finding It All

"Wonderful it is to train the mind
so swiftly moving, seizing whatever it wants.
Good is it to have a well-trained mind,
for a well-trained mind brings happiness."
The Words of the Buddha, Dhammapada 35

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
The Words of Jesus, John 14: 1,17

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Siddhartha Gautama, Jesus of Nazareth, and Henry David Thoreau are brothers, each speaking to us and reminding us that it's not what happens outside in our world that determines our happiness and well being, rather what we choose to hold in thought that becomes our reality. Once the truth of this becomes apparent there is a transformation that takes place and we become co- creators of our universe in a way we could never have imagined.

For me, like Thoreau, I can most easily find my center inside when I am in the outdoors and in the natural setting walking mountain trails or gazing hypnotically at the ocean waves. But is it really the setting that provides the calm peace which allows me to transcend the troubles of the world outside? Not really, but for me the nature trails, the mountains, the ocean side, open fields and rivers that I love allow my mind to be at ease to where I lose myself and creation takes hold. My mind is naturally trained and in tune, I am the peace the world cannot give, and I am deliberately fronting the essential facts of life- becoming the answers I seek.

I know of those who can transcend the outside world right in the midst of swirling New York City. I've read of soldiers transcending the battlefields, sports figures finding the zone and playing the perfect game, artists lost in their works discovering greatness. Victor Frankel transcended the horrors of the prison death camp during the Holocaust by one mere thought; his determination to tell others of his experience.

You and I, right now in this very moment are peace personified. We only need look to our center and be still and quiet. Why are we waiting for that which is not waiting, that which simply is and will always be? If we cannot find peace right now, in this very moment no matter where we are, no matter what is occurring- will we ever find peace at all?

The trained mind, the peace above all others, the answers found in living deliberately all speak of Unity and are found inside our being.

Until we are able to step back from our self-limited perspective and fully realize that whatever we hold in thought appears in reality, we will constantly be frustrated, disappointed, and under- mind by the very force we seek to utilize. The simplest way to train the mind and discover the peace inside is to live deliberately with the abundant peace of mind we already posses. It has never left us and never will.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Where The Path Leads

We are all heroes in our own little worlds when, day to day we choose to consciously move into the void on faith, surrendering to the path only we may walk. We must walk this wilderness path by ourselves, but we do not have to walk it alone, for with us is a guiding light and inborn compass fashioned in eternity and instilled in us at our birth. It is the very act of taking the first step on our journey that ignites the spark of light and orients the compass showing us our way, but only a few choose to leave the comforts of all they have ever know to seek that which is calling. We are fearful of all that is beyond us but there is no other way for us to go. Courage comes when we enter the way and grace rises up to meet us when we begin.

So we journey into the bliss of our unknowing. What appears to us as answers along the way most often are illusions testing our resolve to walk the edge, for we may choose at anytime to leave the trail we are on and return to safety. We must decide at each perilous crevice and outreach where we are forced to leap into the void whether to accept certain answers and continue on or challenge the semblance of what is right or wrong. There is no escaping that leap into the void, but the power of our inner voice propels us to firm ground and looking back we discover how much smaller the leap seems from our newfound perspective.

Resolved in our confidence and with a brighter light now gleaming we see that our way is still true and struggle on until we reach that which is ours to discover. It has been waiting for us; undisturbed, pure, and hidden in open view. It is sweeter than any words can describe and has more value than a mountain of gold. It is larger than the rolling sea and yet small enough to hold in the center of our being.

We return to the world outside of ourselves and bring with us all of our experiences and the fullness of our treasure. We now have answers as to what lies beyond our confines but we know we cannot share the truth of our journey fully with others, we know that those who seek must journey for themselves. We do, however, let this truth and treasure live inside of us and in doing so, we become a beacon that reveals itself in the way we live our lives. The greatest thing we can do for ourselves and all of mankind is to take this journey, return, and live fully knowing our truest and highest self.

_____________________________________

Excerpt from "Joseph Campbell- The Power Of Myth, with Bill Moyers”

MOYERS: But aren’t many visionaries and even leaders and heroes close to the edge of neuroticism?

CAMPBELL: Yes, they are.

MOYERS: How do you explain that?

CAMPBELL: They’ve moved out of the society that would have protected them, and into the dark forest, into the world of fire, of original experience. Original experience has not been interpreted for you, and so you’ve got to work out your life for yourself. Either you can take it or you can’t. You don’t have to go far off the interpreted path to find yourself in very difficult situations. The courage to face the trials and to bring a whole new body of possibilities into the field of interpreted experience for other people to experience – that is the hero’s deed.

Monday, March 07, 2005

I'm OK, You're OK

Just wanted to share a thought:

It's really OK to be in the present moment, whatever that moment may be. If you're angry, sad, happy, jubilant, lonely, scared, questioning, ambivalent, shocked, sick, hungry, rich, confused, bitter, offended, ashamed, peaceful, lethargic, or totally fulfilled- it's OK to just simply be with this emotion and feel whatever you're feeling.

"How Am I Not Myself?"



"How am I not myself?"
from I Heart Huckabees

I am reminded by an intense and marvelous dream last night that as spiritual beings we are comprised of both light and darkness. Denying either the light or darkness brings us into conflict where there is no lasting peace or happiness. I know sometimes we tend to shy away from the darker sides of our being, rejecting the possibility we could harbor such emotions- but it’s very much an important part of our well being, otherwise this presence would not resonate so powerfully with us.

Call it uncertainty, loneliness, infirmity, apathy or whatever you will that brings out the darkness, one thing is sure; all these emotions can be bundled up in one word: fear. It is what we fear will happen, what we fear will come to be, what we fear that is beyond us that comprises our darker selves. There is fear somewhere in us all and it can cripple our thinking and growing if we allow it to.

There is, however, a larger truth; a truth that cannot be shattered if we only quiet ourselves of our shaking in fearful thought, listening for the voice that is ringing true at the very depths of our being. That voice says, “There is nothing beyond you but an ever returning to that which you came from.” That which we emanate from can be called many things: source, the creator, spirit, inclusion, God; all of these too can be summarized in one word- Love.

We must experience the dark in order to see the brilliance of our light. How else can we know ourselves? How else can source recognize itself?

In the ancient symbol of Yin Yang there is both light and darkness and separating the two is a thin line where neither the light or the darkness exists. It is such a small space where each ends and the other begins, where one blends into the other that sometimes we fail to recognize this important feature that very much exists.

This fading, one into the other is the ego and our ideas of what is and is not. It is of such little significance and yet it is the space that divides us from ourselves. We are the whole; light and darkness, and we simply cannot waste any more time on the edge of recognizing our true nature and higher consciousness.

Sometimes it seems a long, hard way to the lightness of our inner being but it is only a breath away, waiting until we choose to turn our face to the luminosity of all- being. When we experience all-being it becomes no-being and we no longer recognize our self as separate from any other thing. This is the dream where we are awake. Everything that ever was, is presently, and will be- you are.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Tonight

How is gravity to clothe itself, if jest goes around in dark veils.”
Schumann

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Consciousness of Love

"What a place for trials and transformations did my lover place me...all we do in this world, whatever happens, is bringing us closer to God."
Rabia

In a conversation with my brother-in-law last night we discussed some of the fears holding us back from making decisions and how we knew, how we sensed inside, that if we would just step from the edge of our fears and leap into the infinite all things would begin to work together and lead us to where we would find a sense of greater happiness and peace.

I know his frustration because I have my own- everyone does. There's an old saying that goes, "Be kind to each person you meet because everyone is fighting a battle inside." I tried to reassure him that he was far ahead in his quest because he was asking the right questions and was on the edge, ready to take that leap.

The right and perfect answers are waiting- inside. We simply must be still and listen to hear...and then we must leap. This plunge into the void is a leap into the arms of Love. It is waiting, right now in this very moment- this moment is all there is and all there will ever be.

Today, I choose to leap into the arms of Love, which is my higher consciousness, knowing all things are in divine order.

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