P. 263-271
This chapter is a prelude to the next installment--THE BOOK OF FREEDOM.
The crux of this lesson is that “You do not become your Divine Self; your Divine Self becomes who you are.”
The trap or predicament that we continually create for ourselves is that we are attempting to make our personality selves into our Divine Self. And that path can only lead to frustration and disappointment.
The following excerpt was from another class, but I thought the information fit our exploration last night
The diagram to the left is an attempt to illustrate a truth that is often times elusive. Because we are trained to identify more and more with our personality selves, when we are introduced to the idea of spirituality and especially the idea that we are made in the image and likeness of God, that we have within ourselves a Divine self, and that each one of us is a unique expression of the Divine, what happens is that we attempt to reach that divinity, that perfection, through our personality selves. What we have done then is to set up an impossible situation that continually leads to frustration and sometimes despair. (My human nature will never become my Divine Nature--however, as my evolution continues, my human nature will become a more and more perfect instrument through which my Divine self will express itself).
My personality self does not evolve into my divine nature. What happens more than anything else, is that my Divine Nature becomes who I am. In other words, it becomes my identity. Now the work that is done here is done through willingness, intention, awareness, surrender, and imagination. And all five of these elements are continually contributing to our grows and evolution.
The mind would like to think that there is a place or a space I am getting to, and then I will be done, but, you see, our growth and evolution are continuing processes. In a way, they are never done. (that would be like saying, “Well, I think I have loved you enough,” or “I’ve experienced enough love; you can stop now.” Thinking that something is done or finished is the result of living in the illusion of time; in the Eternal now there just is.
*******************
Our personality self, our ego, always has an agenda, a goal or selt of goals, and as long as we have skin that dynamic will probably continue. A beautiful part of this work is that the ego and personality are neither denied nor made into the enemy, we simply realize it is not who we are.
“On this day I choose to release myself from all expectations of how things should be, or what they should look like as perceived by the small self. And in this claim of freedom, I realize myself as the one who is independent from the foils and beliefs of collective agreement that would seek to hinder me from my true expression as my True Self. I know who I am in truth. I know what I am in truth. I know how I serve in truth. I am here. I am here. I am here.”
The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many.
Distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind
is the greatest of all mistakes. From the Hisn hsin Ming
It is emphasized that we are not waiting for something to happen or we are not doing whole bunch of requirements to reach this higher vibration, this higher state of consciousness. We are choosing, whenever we are consciously aware enough, we are choosing to allow the Divine Self to shine through.
As is so often spoken of in spiritual literature all of this happens within the Eternal Now, the present moment. I would suggest that being aware of these “now” moments is probably much more a part of our lives then we give ourselves credit for. Even as we were sitting together in our little circle, there were many instances when we were simply in the moment. Of course the mind was probably doing some chattering, but we might have found it was OK to let it do what it was doing without trying to pound it into submission, and at the same moment, to simply be present with these other beings we are sharing this path with.
The most contradictory energy that pulls us from the now moment is Judgement or its first cousin “being right.”
There have been any number of times when I have found myself being blissful and instead of just completely enjoying that state of consciousness, I would immediately wonder “Why I am experiencing this?” and as soon as I enter into the realm of the intellect, of course, my connection with bliss in the present moment has been extinguished.
Just as the thinking described in the beginning of this lesson is an indication of how we get it all backwards and confused, shows up in this question from Paul. It is an indication of the same kind of limited thinking; I am looking for proof in the outside world for an inner reality that my heart already knows.
We can change our thinking and therefore change our reality, but we are also cautioned to let go of how all of that will be manifested in the material world. We do not know what that might look like nor do we know what time frame might be involved in working through the density of matter to allow that outer transformation to take place.
I've probably mentioned this before but it continues to be rather poignant. I believe this is what Jesus was speaking of when he said “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” In other words, “Blessed are those who know that they know within their hearts and are not looking for external verification of an internal truth.”
“Now, Paul is concerned by the teaching. “We need evidence. We need to know that this is so, or it makes no sense. We cannot know if how we perceive our world informs the world.”
As we closed our eyes and meditated together last evening, we joined together in love and intention and experienced a vibration or level of awareness beyond the five senses and the intellect. In my experience I continue to have an awareness that there were a number of bodies sitting in a circle in the living room at Gerry and Margo's house and yet, at the same time, there was a spaciousness that went beyond physical reality. There was also a flow of this eternal now. The physical world remained the physical world, and yet it somehow became rather irrelevant to the state of consciousness that we shared with one another.
Peace.
Thank you!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment