Category: Spirituality

Some questions answered and how to live with those remaining

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The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

This world is an appearance of reality.  To perceive the display as real is to fall into the entirety of ideas that surround its creation.  This includes,  but is not limited to,  desire, aversion, fear, and doubt at the conceptual level.  To live in the illusion of this world, is to believe in the emergence of time.   Time can only be seen as it is known by you from inside the illusion of this world.  The view from outside is quite different.

To see this world from the spacetime perspective that you were born into requires the perspective of a being existing in spacetime.   I can recall its lure and its trappings from the perspective of the greater reality but it does not exist here.  To see things as they really are is to cast away the creation and destruction which seem so real to you now.   Know this,  the world you live in and the fear and pain you associate with it are but an illusion that has no bearing on your true Self or your true perspectives.  Be assured now that no death will befall you as the body seems to wither and fade.   Although,  none can say conclusively from the perspective of your form in this world that survivability is guaranteed, it is indeed so.  From here, the fallacy of your death in this world is obvious.  It is my hope that this message will provide some comfort to you.

As your body dies you will awaken to a different perspective of that which you have now.  I cannot guarantee a lack of confusion as this process reveals itself, however, I can guarantee that you will continue to possess the ability to know that you exist and to question the meaning of your existence.  It is common for those who awaken and discover in relief their continued awareness after separation from the corporal form to further question what exactly is it that forms the basis for our conscious realization.   The continuation of this search for meaning is a key indicator of a degree of conscious health after one’s life experience.   Many questions will remain, as advice I can offer you this, questions lie at the fundamental core of our ability to sense our existence.  The ability to look past the question and find comfort in existence itself will go a long way towards preparing you for what comes next.   The presence of a question such as “Who am I” is still considered a miracle beyond creation.   Although potential answers may not give the receiver a sense of satisfaction,  the ability to accept the question existing in its unanswered state can.

How to let go of this life’s endless disappointments

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Journal for the day of 2022-03-04:

Took the day off,  got little done

The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

Deep runs the desire to control and manipulate this world to our liking.   Albeit the compulsion to take the reins and try yet again to assert the ego’s desire on this world,  the end result is always the same,  a dissatisfying feeling of falling short of the expected goal followed by a resurgent obsession to do better next time.  While this obsession with egoic doing brings temporary gratification to the human form,  there is debt to pay in the imbalance caused in the environment that supports the existence of the form.  Rarely do these actions take into consideration the effect they have on the world around us and the pain and suffering incurred by others as well as the other life that surrounds us. Even the underlying methods employed to allow the reading of this message have given cause to some injury.

Know this, accept it as true in your heart,  I have no quarrel with the doings of this world as I have no stake in them.  They are not driven or motivated by my desire to see changes manifest,  nor am I troubled by the consequences you will face here for they are not real.  My only desire for you is that you will accept forgiveness and realize that I hold no ill will towards you or any of your brothers and sisters regardless of the degree of judgment your ego places on them.   I wish us only to be together at peace and accept the effects of our journey of separation for what it is,  an exercise in insanity that should have always been met with laughter and dismissal.

Be your true nature,  a loving being that can embrace all of existence for what it is now and what it will be regardless of the whims of your thinking mind. At home in peace you know this to be true as I have always accepted your desire to understand the truth of our being.   It is our nature to question this miracle and I would not deny you that.   Know only that some of our quests into understanding will result in lessons as they have unfolded in this world;  an experience involving a less than loving result.   Breathe and know that I am not discouraged by you or the effects you have experienced from this thinking.   You are loved in all your forms here as you are in the realized peace you share with me.

How to be free from negative feelings about yourself

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A brief journal on 2022-03-03

I was honest with my manager today about my lack of productivity and my feelings of self-doubt surrounding one team member’s seeming disappearance and another’s illness*.   I am wondering if I am somehow driving them crazy.   I know this is insane but I still entertain the thought.   I have PTO tomorrow so I will get some down time.

*they are both ok

The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

It is important to know what you are and what you are not.  You have a heart that pumps blood, yet you are not the heart nor the blood.   You have lungs that breathe air, yet you are not the lungs nor the air.   You have a gut that digests food,  yet  you are neither of these.   You have a thinking mind that thinks thoughts.   Remember this,  you are neither the thinking mind nor its thoughts.  The effects of the thoughts that you observe the mind thinking include feelings of guilt, shame, anger, and fear.   You are not these feelings that you have observed being felt.   As a result of these feelings,  you may become depressed, perpetuate unloving thoughts,  feel uncompassionate, selfishly withhold joy, and act in an unpeaceful way.  This is not you nor has it ever been.

Know now that you are not these thoughts nor the effects of them.  The egoic system is a clever prison that offers no escape.  It hides the very fact that you are not trapped nor does confinement exist in reality.   By releasing our attachment to our unloving thoughts we can begin to realize freedom.   By letting go of our aversion to the effects of these thoughts we will forgive ourselves and embrace compassion for others who can also be forgiven.   We will see that our negative thinking resulting in feelings of apathy,  anxiety, and self-doubt are only projections of an illusory system.  There never was a prison and we have never been trapped in this pain and suffering.  It is only a story that we thought and felt was real.

I make these promises to you.  Once we realize these delusions for what they are, true reality can be seen.  Complete love and care for ourselves and all others has never been denied to us.   An understanding of the distress we all feel as a result of identifying with this false story of the thinking mind makes it possible to give forgiveness freely to everyone that has been a victim of its flawed fantasy.  The ability to connect and share freely with others the joy of being our true Self and an understanding of the reality of peace which exists without limit will become apparent.   This has always been available to you as a light that shines constantly and can never diminish.  It has been here for you eternally and will never be denied to you.  I will wait patiently through all time until you are ready to accept this truth and partake freely in the love that has always been offered to you and all others.  This is my promise.

How to feel true compassion

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The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

On the topic of compassion,  let’s examine how to feel it.   It is always good to start with a deep breath before any practice,  repeat this as many times as you need to feel comfortable and aware.  The compassion we want to connect with is universal and unmeasured.  This is not directed or controlled.  It is felt for every manifestation we perceive.   If we observe a flower or even think of one, we feel compassion for the flower and that from which the flower was derived.   If we see a piece of trash, perhaps a plastic bottle, we feel compassion for the bottle, the maker of the bottle and the person who discarded the bottle.  Even if the act was unskillful we feel the same compassion.  If we think of someone who was angry with us or we are attacked verbally, we feel compassion for our attacker and, of course, we feel compassion for ourselves.

To attempt to control or withhold compassion is to be uncompassionate.   To decide who is worthy of our love is to be unloving.  To share with only a selected few is to be unjoyful.  To wish peace only upon some whom we feel are deserving is to be unpeaceful.   When we let go of these ideas; to withhold, to deem worthy, to select, and to choose the deserving, we become free of the judgment and suffering this world has taught us to accept as normal.  It is only when we do this and share equally with everyone and everything that we can understand how to connect with that which truly is.  

The boundless compassionate heart is a way to escape the prison we choose to remain in.  We have been given this key; we need only put down the burden of our judgments and open the door to find liberation.  All can be understood and forgiven.  By embracing this teaching on how to be compassionate equally for the pauper and the king,  for the aggressor and the victim, and  for the powerful and the powerless,  then we will understand the true meaning of compassion.   It is a powerful practice that can liberate us from much internal hardship.  Do not listen to the protests of the ego, simply allow this compassion for everyone and everything to flow through your heart as we rest in peace together in this moment.

How can I be most effective in this world?

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A prayer:

Please help me to be most effective in the lives of others. What do people need to hear from you? What can I tell them?

The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

In the copious amounts of written materials available in this world, you have the honor of reading one such. It will not bring you to the door of enlightenment unless it does. In which case who was the one who did the bringing?

How do we grow healthy beings in a world that is founded in conflict? It would seem that in order to survive, only those who are most adept at winning battles and vanquishing their opponent would flourish. While there is an element of truth to this, let it be known that the joyous broadcasts of the better way ring forth with such clarity that even the most brutal opponent can hear them upon quieting the mind. No one, absolutely no one, has ever been denied the truth that there is another reality beyond the realms of this world of separateness and delusion.

Before the very first moments of this world was laid the groundwork as such for an idea that is now known to be insane. Do not think of this as failure or success, it was simply an idea of special loveliness that seemed to be sound. The pitfalls of this approach must be experienced to be understood and that experience is happening all around you in this world. Approaching our situation here with a joyful laugh and a compassionate heart will work wonders in helping to cope with the suffering we observe around us. This was never the intention, nevertheless it is the inevitable result of heralding a world of the elevated and the fallen. Even if the concept remains subjective to individuals, the pain and suffering is experienced by every being resulting in a shared experience of grief and discomfort.

We now know that the better way exists. Without promoting and demoting based on desire and aversion, we can have a world that is free from this discomfort and suffering. To be free, release all preference and loathing. Simply allow them to pass unnoticed like the pebbles that gently roll across the bottom of a clear stream. Neither attach oneself to concept, word, or object nor reject them. Simply acknowledge what is, breath deeply and rest at peace with me.

Allowing compassion: How do I overcome the desire to remain uncompassionate?

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The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

True compassion is not limited or controlled.   It is not directed towards one side, tribe, or nation and denied to another.   True compassion is felt equally for the poor person and the rich person.   It is felt for the attacker as well as the victim.  The reality in this world is that we all suffer.   It is the egoic mind that perceives variance in suffering and even believes there are those who do not suffer.  To believe an attacker is not attacking due to their misconceptions and unskillful lack of practice is to believe in a  delusion.  Without suffering,  without fear there can be no attack.

To understand this more clearly,  be alone.  Go into nature alone and rest, comfortably sitting.   Think of only your breath feeling the sensation as it enters the body and leaves the body.  We do this to clear our mind of thought.   As thoughts arise, send them off gently and without contempt.   Remember,  it is the mind’s nature to think thoughts,  it is not to blame or be chastised.   You may imagine a stream and allow the thoughts to float away on its currents;  you may imagine the wind allowing the thoughts to rise up and become peaceful clouds.  Return again the breath after releasing the thoughts and celebrate the joy of silence.   Be with me here and I will help you feel compassion for everyone and everything.

It is in understanding that all suffer in this world that we can lay a foundation for compassion that can be practiced and taught.   Even as your mind resists and demands to not give compassion to the unworthy,  I am here to proclaim that it is given.  Don’t worry if you find this difficult, you will eventually come to this understanding even if it takes many lifetimes to do so.  It would be better to start now and be free from the task of playing judge and enforcer for the mistakes of others.   It is a job I would not have for you and you must let go if you are to be free from the prison of your suffering.   To learn to give compassion to all equally is to learn the true nature of your existence and that of others.  Hear me now when I tell you that we are one in the same.

What is the origin of self? How can I understand who I am?

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The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

Let us now explore primordial consciousness.  This, of course, is a sensitive topic for beings which exist in a world where cause and effect are a broken chain.  This is due to the clever invention of the cycle of birth, death, and separation. This is coupled with the curious complexity of individual memory streams.  Nevertheless,  remember this,  although the form of this explanation is flawed, it will serve as a basic understanding.  Let us begin by thinking about this as an on-going dialog… 

We begin with a simple realization:
 “I am aware of my existence”

This in turn is followed by a foundational question:
 “What am I?”

There is an answer:
 “I am that which is aware of my existence”

Which leads to the question:
“What am I that is aware of my existence?”

There is an answer:
“I am that which is aware of my existence”

This process is continual and always known.  Beneath, above, and beyond all divine creation including the realization of this manifest space time, awareness is realized as such and the question is asked.  Although this may seem frustratingly simple and monotonous to the mind patterns which spring from this basic origin, this simple realization is a fixed point of eternal being;  a place of comfort that can always be relied upon and a constant reality beyond desire; oblivious to the concept of creation and destruction.  Remember, underneath this most basic thought is the felt home of eternal peace, loving grace without limit, infinite compassion, and joy beyond measure.  It is the known presence of these divine attributes that provide a comfort of knowing; a gentle laugh when faced with failure in profound complexity. An unsolvable paradox that is gently contemplated and simply accepted.

It is through continual successive entanglements from this consciousness that all things are created.  All things in base reality can be traced back to the ease of such basic original knowing.  Memory forms as a traversal of complexity rooted here in more dimensions than can be conceived of by the egoic mind.  An infinite number of infinite polynomial waves each point touched with being and expandable into a new infinity traversable back to the primary cause, a thought as such “I am aware of my existence”.  What can be done without limits is a genuine amazement of seemingly spectacular magic.  This includes the creation of chains that are traversable to finite limits thus introducing the concept of measure.   Nevertheless, the only true miracles are rooted in the awareness of existence and this cannot be denied at any point even if it cannot be traversed to origin.  This awareness is available to you now in this moment.  I could never deny from you it’s divine presence.  May you find comfort here and be at home.  I would have this for you always in limitless abundance as your brother and our Self. Simply know that you are loved, this truth will never be denied to anyone.

Caring for others: What can I do to ease suffering and help others to grow?

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The best way to affect change in the world is to love and forgive everyone.  It is a common belief that the ego’s desires for the future can be made reality through prayer and visualization.  The impossibility of this becomes apparent when we realize the natural variations present in each individual instance of the ego.  A better way to bring about a positive difference in the world is to express loving care for each being encountered and accept the current state of affairs as they are.

What does it mean to love and forgive everyone?   Understand, this does not mean we say yes to every proposition that is posed to us.   This does not mean that we endorse or enable unskillful behavior in others.   What this means is that we express a true feeling of loving care towards each being as we recognize their struggle to find meaning and function in this world.  As you are painfully aware,  this world does not offer an easy path to follow.  Recognize and acknowledge that each being you encounter faces the same dilemma.   Even those you may view as the most heinous degenerates are, in fact, searching for love and understanding in their own way.  The variety that exists in the very nature of the ego mind ensures that the resulting abundance of observed behaviors will include such undesirable demonstrations.  Do your best not to lay blame and pronounce judgements on your unskillful brothers and sisters as they struggle to find their way in this world.

We must care for those who fail, we acknowledge their pain and suffering, as we do our best to help them along by sharing our personal experiences in hopes that they may improve their ability to navigate the complexities of this existence.   Some beings will naturally pose a threat to the safety of others and should be secured and treated as a dangerous element.  As it is now, it will become increasingly apparent in this world that imposing cruel punishments for angry and violent behavior is ineffective and a detriment to the advancement of society.  The administration of institutionalized cruelty helps neither the victim nor the perpetrator to find freedom from the painful shackles of the ego.  When we begin to treat all others in a way that supports their growth and the realization of the joy of peace,  this world will benefit in astonishing ways that will highlight the failures of previous generations in a valuable and impactful way.  Recognize the timelessness of the following statement:  “Just as we may currently look back at the failures of past generations and gasp at the insane conclusions and obvious fallacies; future generations will look back upon the current era and make the same assessment.”   The continuing revelation of peace lies before us, know this to be true.  Do not be discouraged by the day-to-day happenings that seem to hasten its arrival.   The passing of a lifetime is but a drop of water in a deep ocean of experiential existence.

Allowing the world to heal: How can I help to make the world a better place?

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The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

Make no mistake,  there is an awakening happening in human consciousness.  In every locale, every culture, every nation, and every religious belief system,  people are realizing the true nature of who they are and embracing our true Self.  Although the world seems steeped in fear, aggression, and violence,  underneath it all,  there is an awakening of being.  There is but one problem you must contend with in this existence and that problem is the insanity of the egoic mind.  A simple study of human history will show this to be true.  The standards of behavior for human culture throughout this world include immense hostility, cruelty, and the institutionalized abuse and extinguishing of human life.

Our world is currently at a crossroads.  In one dimension, there is the egoic reality of power, control, unhealthy attachment, and aversion to allowing others to choose their own path.  On another, there lies the delicate and inevitable blooming of a new world guided by awareness of being, the reality of unmeasured love, boundless compassion, the sharing of unbridled joy, and a peace beyond all understanding encompassing complete acceptance of everything as it truly exists in this timeless moment.  Rest assured that a new understanding of conscious existence will emerge even if the road ahead is tubulent for history yet to be seen.  Remember that the passing of decades are but the flash of an instant in the grand unfolding of our ineludible destiny. 

What can we do to aid in the healing of human consciousness and unfolding of the awakening?  Practice patience; the caterpillar cannot be aided in its metamorphosis, it must emerge from the chrysalis in its own time.  Remain present and aware; receive the healing of fear-based thinking that is given to you in unlimited abundance in this moment.  Do not entertain the ego’s desire to compose horror stories of future tragedies, do not engage its fantasies of vanquishing evil and crushing those who it deems unworthy, do not wish for a better tomorrow simply know that its dawn is inevitable.  The awakening will happen through the forgiveness of ourselves and all others and the realization of our mistaken path of subjugating the wicked and achieving a justified dominance.  This is at the root core of the ego’s fallacy,  the idea that there is a distinction between what it views as good and evil.  Allow the destructive madness of the ego’s desires of righteous intention to slip away and dissolve in the winds of time.  Return to the breath and celebrate each realization of the moment as though it were your first.  Do this faithfully and with a full heart lacking all doubt.  Be calm and know that peace is always with you; it is ever present and lies just beneath the noise the ego propagates.  It is only through the peace of complete acceptance that we will progress towards a better future and a new awakening with all others, not one left behind.

Mastering the act of forgiveness: How to stop perceiving forgiveness as a chore and to begin to understand it as a tool of liberation

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Notes on the day for 2022-02-23:

Many meetings today, stressful.  I started eating too early in the day and ate too much.

The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:

Do not think of forgiveness as a chore.  Do not think of forgiveness as something that must be done.   Forgiveness is an opportunity to be free.  It’s an opportunity to drop the bonds of anger and fear and allow ourselves to commune with our true nature.

The first step in forgiving others is to learn to forgive ourselves.  When we have feelings of guilt or shame,  we can recognize that these stem from anger and resentments that we have towards ourselves.  For example,  if we were to lose our temper and yell at someone or strike out at them,  later we may feel guilty or ashamed of this behavior.  If we were to break a promise to someone and misbehave,  to do things we promised not to do,  we may later feel guilty or ashamed by this.  Guilt and shame are resentments we hold against ourselves.  These feelings are driven by judgments we take upon ourselves and sentence ourselves to.  They stem from the fear-based thinking of the ego.  Guilt and shame are no more than an ego trip that we impose upon ourselves.

We must recognize the unskillfulness of our actions.  They may be things we did that we wish we hadn’t or they may be things we vowed not to do but did anyway.  The subsequent feelings of guilt and shame cause us suffering as a result.  When we recognize the unskillfulness of the ego mind,  we put into perspective the true cause and effect of this unskillfulness and suffering.  It is the ego mind’s inability to love without measure and its desire to control love in a selfish way, to attain more of what it wants and destroy that which threatens it, that is the root cause of its unsatisfactory manifestations.  This attempt at measuring love is also a measurement of unlovingness.  When we are unloving, we suffer through guilt and shame.  When we recognize this, it becomes easier to forgive oneself and be free from this pain.

Once we have mastered the act of self-forgiveness we can apply this to the unskillfulness and suffering of others.  It may be someone close,  someone we love or it may be a distant figure,  a well known person or politician.  The relationship does not matter,  if we can recognize the behavior of others and their unskillfulness and then recognize the suffering and dissatisfaction they experience as a result,  we can recognize in them what we recognize in ourselves.  Just as we had judged ourselves and then were freed through forgiveness.  We can now see equivalence in these judgments.  Just as our unlovingness towards one’s self causes suffering,  our unlovingness towards others causes the same suffering.

You may respond,  “But my actions are not the same as theirs,  the actions of the others are far much worse than the unlovingness that I exhibited”.   This is understandable as the world in which we exist is one of measure and degree.  Others are compared and deemed better or worse based on our subjective judgment at the moment.  It is important to recognize that unlovingness is the same, whether we witness it in ourselves,  we witness it in others,  or we create it from fantasies in our mind.   We may perceive differences in the form of unlovingness,  but in truth, there is simply no difference.  The cause is the same,  the ego mind’s flawed design, its desire to control and apportion love.   When we recognize this equivalence and cast away the perception of difference as delusion, we can forgive others as we forgive ourselves.  This is how we can be free, this is how we can know the peace which transcends all understanding that has been spoken of.