Be bold. Have confidence that my words to you point to the truth of whom you really are, my kin. You are not alone now nor will you ever be without me by your side. Know that in our presence together I will be here to guide you and help you and your service to others.
Keep your heart aligned with service to your brothers and sisters and the cessation of the ego’s desires. The fruit you will bear with your thoughts, actions, and words will carry the indelible mark of authenticity and sincerity. We do this not just for ourselves but for all, everyone, including our enemies and those who would undermine our purpose.
Pay no concern to the perceived attacks against us. Remember, variation is systemic and inevitable in this world and within the instantiations of the ego mind. The perception of attack is simply a constant in this world.
While I may not be able to explain love’s meaning, I can tell you that remaining aware of its consistent and permanent state will vanquish the attacker’s intent through access to unlimited compassionate forgiveness for ourselves and others.
Even our enemies are bathed in love, as we foolishly wage war, plot, and combat each other, Love remains ever-present, always waiting for us to surrender to its quiet peace. None can be denied this. Always remember, even those for whom you feel the most contempt are offered a home in eternity where what is real can never be destroyed. There is no harm that may come to what is real.
Refrain from fantasies of another world in which things will be better or problems don’t exist. I am telling you now the solution that you seek has always been available to you and does not require a massive change in the world around you. If you listen and practice this simple method, you can find peace without requiring the world around you to be any different than it is at this moment.
Be still and know that I am always with you, I would not ever have you feel alone or unwanted in this world.
Quiet your mind and ask for its healing. Do this as a matter of habit on a daily basis. I would have you recognize negative or judgmental thought for what it really is, a form of attack on yourself and your brothers and sisters. If you truly want to change the world, then let us start with our own mind. Sewing the seeds of love and peace quietly and wishing no harm on ourselves or anyone else.
Expect from the world not what it can show you, see it only as a catalyst for proper response. Each observation is an opportunity to respond with love and forgiveness. Each interaction with your brothers and sisters is an opportunity to be compassionate and joyful.
Don’t overthink the doings of the day. Do what you must to survive in this world. Make ethical and moral choices that seek to heal separations between you and your brothers and sisters and recognize the truth of our true self.
Avoid actions that separate yourself and others into tribes or cliques. Follow the example of the great teachers of this world that sought to unite human kind to a common cause. Our common cause is love and forgiveness, the healing of minds, and the cessation of attack.
To this very day I remain with you committed to our mutual cause. There is simply no place for me to go as to be without you is to not be truly myself. We cannot be what we are destined to be without one another and without all others. Know this, all have the capacity for awakening and the awakened present no danger to you or our loved ones.
The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:
The ego rejects what it cannot observe or measure. As it is a mind whose very nature is so closely associated with the world, it is only natural that it too would be constrained to the limitations this world expresses. Many who live relatively happy and fulfilling lives never venture past this limitation, accepting only evidence presented that is manifested as observable phenomena and that which can be explained, measured, and repeated through process.
Do not judge your brothers and sisters who limit their perspective to only what the ego can validate. Each of you in this delusion of separateness will approach perception and understanding from a different viewpoint. This variation of view is an integral part of this world. It is neither something that needs to be fixed or overcome by the perceiver, it simply is as it is.
Those among you who have chosen to remain constrained to what they perceive as substantive fulfill a role among all others just as you fulfill a role in your experience. It is still possible to effectively demonstrate love, compassion, joy and peace in a boundless form. Remember this, individual incarnations of living form are of limited consequence. The real truth as you and all others will learn is beyond your individual experiences.
It is also important to respect the experience of those who have perceptions beyond the substantive that differ in explanation from yours. Remember this, your mind experiences this reality in a way that is unique to your individual egoic instance. Do not hold an attachment to how you believe true reality to be in this moment nor hold hostility to the views of others as you are made aware of them. You will do well to learn and grow as new truths are revealed to you and that which you previously believed falls away. A firm footing in that which lies beyond your understanding of this manifest world will serve you well as you learn, grow, and change moment by moment. Remember to breathe and quiet your thinking. I am always with you in this journey, continue to love with me, forgive yourself and all others, have fun, be generous, forthright, patient, joyfully enthusiastic, thoughtful, and reflective. There is nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. Enjoy.
The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:
Bring not contempt to this world. You may find pain in your heart compounded by fearful thoughts. There is a way that you can release these judgmental feelings of others without acting upon them or generating more fear-based thinking. Do not repress the emotion generated by these thoughts. Remain aware of your feelings while focusing on the breath and quieting the mind. Once the negative emotions have passed, you can work on empathy towards those that you feel contempt for. Try to understand their suffering, for no one here is without it. Forgive them for their mistakes and unskillfulness, for none of us in this world thinks and acts without error. See others as your brothers and sisters, understand that they suffer.
Also, forgive yourself for these feelings of contempt and judgment of others, for none of us is without unskillful and errant thinking. Forgiveness and compassion towards oneself will ease the expression of forgiveness and compassion towards others.
When you find it in yourself to forgive yourself and others and what they have created, you will have, at last, come to the place that we call home. In the farthest reaches of this world, love and compassion can be found. There is no place that exists without it. I tell you now that the creation of this world was not meant to cause undue suffering. There exists a desire and it was believed through the production of this world, that desire would be filled.
The truth is simple about the egoic mind. Your egoic instance will have the desire to acquire. Upon acquisition it will wish for more. As the ego gains more you will notice that it remains unfulfilled. Even if you were to fulfill the worldly desires of everyone, there would remain an emptiness in their hearts.
Know that I see the flaws of this creation and that I hold no one accountable for their suffering and actions here. While some have thrived, many have found pain and misery. This was not the intention. This profound demonstration of sadness was not foreseen. Nevertheless, in hindsight many things seem obvious. Join with me as we love and forgive those responsible for the turmoil that exists in this world.
The following is what I believe my Higher Power or Inner Guru is saying:
Open your hearts in moments of quietness and find me waiting there for you. During the protests of the ego, during feelings of clinging and aversion, focus on the heart of peace within yourself. Do not expect your thinking mind to be at ease with everything that is perceived. It is best to not give it the attention it desires. When you feel yourself being drawn to something or when you feel yourself being offended, look for the peace in your heart and take refuge there.
It is enough to share love and compassion with others and to rest in the heart. I will take care of the rest. Do not feel alone in this journey, for you have brothers and sisters who seek the respite of a peaceful heart. Don’t allow the inner cynic, critic, or bigot to take away a single moment of peaceful reflection and acceptance of the world as it is in this moment.
When we fall short and we allow the ego to lead us astray, remember that forgiveness of oneself is the path back. Using loving kindness and forgiveness of others and ourselves we will find our true home. Once the skill is mastered, you can always depend on it to bring yourself back to a place of safety, security, and peaceful reflection.
The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:
Let’s talk about what’s important. There is more than one way to arrive at the same conclusion. Imagine that your world appeared spontaneously by chance. That there is no creative consciousness. That the evolution of thinking beings that are self-aware is just the inevitable conclusion of a random set of occurrences with no initial cause.
Imagine that these self-aware beings look within themselves. Imagine they explore many different perspectives and methods of viewing reality. They come to the conclusion that love without measure, unbounded compassion, limitless joy and equanimous peace compose a primary set of attributes that make up a reality beyond what we know as manifest.
Imagine that the inner serenity and happiness that these beings discover through these attributes are just happenstance. Just chemical reactions in the brain, without any meaning or reason. Is it important? One thing we do know: To be overly attached or adverse to this idea will bring suffering and dissatisfaction into one’s existence.
One who follows these beliefs about the scientific method may say things like: “Empirical data must reign supreme! It is the only foundation upon which we build our knowledge” or “Any benefits derived by spiritual thinking are ultimately delusional and should be avoided”. To increase our awareness of compassion in these matters, it is important to empathize and try to understand their reasoning and motivations for these beliefs. Remember, we all face the specter of delusion regardless of our beliefs and convictions.
The scientific method, empirical data, and the practices of science are very powerful tools in the manifest world. The questions answered through these processes all share something in common. The scientific method as you know it is based solely on observations of the past. These methods create more questions than they answer and can never see the full picture as the assumptions at the edges increase exponentially. This creates a world of speculation so infinite it can never be fully perceived. It leads the observer of scientific theory down a different delusional path, one that may or may not reflect the divine attributes which we have discussed in these writings.
Science does offer ample facilities for self-correction and advancement. However, it does nothing to resolve the ever expanding theoretical domain it creates. Nor does it aid in discovering a truth so simple that it does not require a hypothesis or investigation.
The scientist also deserves your compassion. They create more questions than they answer in their quests. The scientists among us cannot be completely satisfied through these cognitive exercises. They deserve your full compassion, loving kindness, joyous humor, and peaceful understanding.
Imagine now a religious friend, one whose beliefs lie in a dark chasm of separation into good and evil. Your brothers and sisters that follow this path may believe that some ritual must be performed. Perhaps within a specific human lifetime in order to separate the grain from the chaff and to receive the acceptance of their creator. Realize now that they suffer as their family, friends, and loved ones fall short of the bar or even reject these beliefs. They have relegated themselves to a world based on scriptural idolatry. This may include the belief that some of their loved ones will live a torturous existence in hell. I tell you that no such place exists. The only exception to this lies within the fantasies of the egoic mind. These tortures are inventions of this world and exist only to persuade others to conform to a set of ideas that serve a purpose motivated by the egoic mind. It is a system of control often manifested with the best of intentions. Forgive the authors of these delusions now as I have forgiven them, as we forgive ourselves, and we forgive all others. This is the key to our true salvation which includes the salvation of all others not one left behind.
Remember that undue attachment or aversion to your brothers and sisters holding differing beliefs will also cause pain and suffering for you. Holders of these beliefs deserve your love, compassion, joy, and peaceful demeanor just as much as anyone else. Do not blame them for the cognitive traps in which they have landed. Do not blame them for becoming attached to the idea of separation and measure as spiritual values even though they are not. These are attributes constrained only to this world and have nothing to do with your true Self. You and all of your brethren will ultimately see the fallacy of separation, judgment, measure, blame and lack of forgiveness. When all come to the light this world ends. Its usefulness will be complete. As it has always been and as it always will be. The final judgment occurs when the last of us lets go of judgment.
The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:
To take pride or revel in an attack on one’s behalf is to justify the need for attack. To justify the need for attack on others is to justify the need for attack upon our own self. It is an understandable reaction in this world to meet aggression with counter-aggression, both in conceptual and material aspects. Everyone who has lived a life in this form is familiar with the desire to attack and defend against attack. We are also familiar with the escalation effect that ensues and we have all experienced suffering as a result.
This can serve as the basis for forgiveness. Once we understand the desire within ourselves and absolve ourselves through love and compassion, and understand that it is a result of the flawed nature of this world, we can begin to forgive others around us for being in the same situation that we ourselves struggle with.
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.
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.
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.
Zen Momentum 