Beginning Anew...

How to breathe new life and compassion into your relationships.
By Thich Nhat Hanh

As human beings, we all make mistakes. Our unskillful thoughts, words, and actions cause harm to ourselves and those around us. Often, when we hurt others or are hurt by them, because of our pride we make no effort to reconcile or renew our relationships. Without reconciliation, we cannot deepen our understanding and we only cause more suffering.

Our practice is to renew our relationships on a regular basis. Every week we have time to go to concerts, cinema, shopping, and many other activities, but we rarely find the time to renew our relationships with the people who are close to us, our family members, friends, and colleagues.

The practice of Beginning Anew is a practice of reconciliation. Beginning Anew can be practiced between two people or as a group. As one person speaks, the other person practices deep listening without interrupting, allowing the first person to speak from the depths of her heart.

In Beginning Anew we have three steps: sharing appreciation, expressing regret, and expressing hurt and difficulties. In the first step, sharing appreciation, we practice to recognize and acknowledge the positive attributes of the other person. Every one of us has both wholesome and unwholesome seeds. When we express our appreciation for the other person's positive qualities, we give him the opportunity to recognize the positive qualities in our own consciousness.

For instance, perhaps our son is very kind and hardworking. He studies well and often helps us out. But once in a while he makes a mistake, and we correct him strongly right away. Yet because we have not told him how much we appreciate him, when we correct him, he hears only our criticism and blame. In this situation our relationship will be difficult. To improve the situation, we practice sharing our appreciation. If our son is doing well in school, we compliment him. We practice in the same way with our partner, husband, wife, friends, and other people in our life. We can share our appreciation with each other at any time.

The second step of Beginning Anew is expressing regret. We take this opportunity to share with the other person our regrets for the things we have done or said that might have caused him pain. This requires humility and the willingness to let go of our own pain and pride.

In the third step of Beginning Anew, we express our own hurt with mindful, loving speech, without blaming or criticizing. We speak in such a way that the other person can listen and receive our words. If we blame and condemn the other person, his heart will close and he will not be able to hear us. We ask the other person to help us to understand why he has spoken as he has, acted as he has to cause us so much pain. Perhaps at a later time he can share with us so that we can understand more deeply. If a strong emotion arises in us while we are expressing our suffering, we should simply stop and come back to our breathing until the emotion subsides. The other person can support us by following his breathing until we are ready to continue.

We can enjoy practicing Beginning Anew with our partner, our family, or our colleagues regularly. By doing this practice we will prevent small misunderstandings from accumulating. Rather, we will take care of them as they arise. At the same time, we cultivate our awareness and appreciation for the positive qualities our loved ones bring to our life. With understanding, all things become possible.

From 'Creating True Peace' by Thich Nhat Hanh. Copyright (c) 2003 by The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. Reprinted by permission of The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Philosophers....

..Philosophers commit their gravest error when they are misled into the fallacy of abstraction, the practice of focusing the attention upon one aspect of reality and then of pronouncing such an isolated aspect to be the whole truth.... P.42 - §6

Truth, Beauty & Goodness
from The Urantia Book

Today...

Today, I intend to focus my full and undivided attention on all the
resources that are presently on hand and available with deep
appreciation, while recognizing the flow of resources is unlimited in
nature. Thank you, Creator Father, Source, for empowering me with
attention, gratitude, and appreciation. I believe in the creative
power of Thought. I am eternally grateful to be so empowered that I
may now spend "time" appreciating the unfolding diversity on this
journey, and no longer choose or desire or implement manifestations
that I do not want to experience, due to fear and resistance to my
power, and misplaced attention. As a unique part, a focused,
individual Thought of the Infinite, I share in the power of the
Infinite. Eternity is given "now", in this Holy Eternal Instant that
I live and move and have life in Eternal Love, always returning the
nature of my desire, that I may come to desire Well- being and
appreciate the truth that health, wealth, and happiness are God's
goodness extending to me, through me, as me. I am joy. I am created
to live a full and creative life. I am created to be happy and
fulfilled. I am grateful that this is so. I am grateful that I was
wrong when I believed that a Loving Creator even intended less than
everything for His Own, and I am grateful I was wrong when I believed
I deserved less than perfect Well-being.

Linda Kay Mottet

The True Destiny of Humanity..

God surveyed the tragedy of the rebellion of Lucifer and realized that God could only trust God. After the War of the Angels, God started over after repairing the Earth. With Adam and Eve, God began a grand plan to reproduce God through mankind. Beginning with Adam and Eve, God is creating an eternal God Family and mankind is destined to become eternal sons and daughters of the Almighty God. This is why Paul called those who are led by the spirit of God, the "sons of God."

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. KJV,

The language Paul used in Romans 8 is not taught in mainstream christianity today. "What do children become after they grow up?" The answer is, "They become like their parents." Paul states that mankind's destiny is to be heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ. The children of God grow up to become God! Christ said that he was one with the Father. Christ made himself to be God and was considered by the Jews of his day as a blasphemer for such a statement. It was blaspheme during Christ's time and is sounds like blaspheme today. Mankind's destiny is to become God and this was the true message that Christ brought to this world.

John 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. 26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and my Father are one. 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? 37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. KJV

Christ came to this Earth to be the first to be born into the family of God. The scripture states that Christ was the firstborn of many brethren. Paul, by equating Christians to being brothers or sisters of Christ, was stating that a Christian's ultimate destiny is to be God just as Christ is God. John 1 makes it plain that Christ is the creator God.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. … 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. NIV

In Romans, Paul states it is mankind's destiny to be glorified as Christ is glorified.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. KJV..........from the Reluctant Messenger

The Two Brahmans...

At one time when the Blessed One was journeying through Kosala
he came to the Brahman village which is called Manasakata.
There he stayed in a mango grove. [1]

And two young Brahmans came to him who were of different schools.
One was named Vasettha and the other Bharadvaja.
And Vasettha said to the Blessed One: [2]

"We have a dispute as to the true path.
I say the straight path which leads into a union with Brahma
is that which has been announced by the Brahman Pokkharasati,
while my friend says the straight path which leads unto a union with Brahma
is that which has been announced by the Brahman Tarukkha. [3]

"Now, regarding thy high reputation, O samana,
and knowing that thou art called the Enlightened One,
the teacher of men and gods, the Blessed Buddha,
we have come to ask thee,
are all these paths paths of salvation?
There are many roads all around our village, and all lead to Manasakata.
Is it just so with the paths of the sages?
Are all paths paths to salvation,
and do they all lead to a union with Brahma?" [4]

And the Blessed One proposed these questions to the two Brahmans:
"Do you think that all paths are right?" [5]

Both answered and said:
"Yes, Gotama, we think so." [6]

"But tell me," continued the Buddha,
"has any one of the Brahmans, versed in the Vedas,
seen Brahma face to face?" [7]

"No, sir!" was the reply. [8]

"But, then," said the Blessed One,
"has any teacher of the Brahmans, versed in the Vedas,
seen Brahma face to face?" [9]

The two Brahmans said: "No, sir." [10]

"But, then," said the Blessed One,
"has any one of the authors of the Vedas
seen Brahma face to face?" [11]

Again the two Brahmans answered in the negative and exclaimed:
"How can any one see Brahma or understand him,
for the mortal cannot understand the immortal."
And the Blessed One proposed an illustration, saying: [12]

"It is as if a man should make a staircase
in the place where four roads cross,
to mount up into a mansion.
And people should ask him,
'Where, good friend, is this mansion,
to mount up into which you are making this staircase?
Knowest thou whether it is in the east,
or in the south, or in the west, or in the north?
Whether it is high, or low, or of medium size?'
And when so asked he should answer, 'I know not.'
And people should say to him,
'But, then, good friend, thou art making a staircase
to mount up into something - taking it for a mansion -
which all the while thou knowest not,
neither hast thou seen it.'
And when so asked he should answer,
'That is exactly what I do;
yea I know that I cannot know it.'
What would you think of him?
Would you not say that the talk of that man was foolish talk?" [13]

"In sooth, Gotama," said the two Brahmans,
"it would be foolish talk!" [14]

The Blessed One continued:
"Then the Brahmans should say,
'We show you the way unto a union
of what we know not and what we have not seen'.
This being the subtance of Brahman lore,
does it not follow that their task is vain?" [15]

"It does follow," replied Bharadvaja. [16]

Said the Blessed One:
"Thus it is impossible that Brahmans versed in the three Vedas
should be able to show the way to a state of union
with that which they neither know nor have seen.
Just as when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other.
Neither can the foremost see, nor can those in the middle see, nor can the hindmost see.
Even so, methinks, the talk of the Bhramans versed in the three Vedas is but blind talk;
it is ridiculous, consists or mere words, and is a vain and empty thing." [17]

"Now suppose," added the Blessed One,
"that a man should come hither to the bank of the river,
and, having some business on the other side, should want to cross.
Do you suppose that if he were to invoke the other bank of the river
to come over to him on this side, the bank would come on account of his praying?" [18]

"Certainly not, Gotama." [19]

"Yet this is the way of the Brahmans.
They omit the practice of those qualities
which really make a man a Brahman, and say,
'Indra, we call upon thee; Soma, we call upon thee;
Varuna, we call upon thee; Brahma, we call upon thee.'
Verily, it is not possible that these Brahmans,
on account of their invocation, prayers, and praises,
should after death be united with Brahma." [20]

Defeat without Despair...

"I will tell you of a strangely wonderful way to live. It is to live
in defeat without despair. Think about this idea very attentively.

What would your day be like if you were defeated at every turn,
but reacted with no despair? It would be the same as if there was
no defeat, wouldn't it?

You go through your day, defeated by one event after another. You
spill coffee on your clothes, the car breaks down, you feel lost,
you cannot come to a necessary decision, the thrill you thought
would last has faded and left you empty.

If you will let these things happen to you without reacting to
them with a conditioned mind, there will be neither defeat nor
despair. Both are merely reactions of the conditioned mind to
an event."

Vernon Howard The Power of your Supermind, p. 73

Jesus and his disciples go into a retired place to pray. Jesus teaches Lazarus how to pray.

NOW, in the evening Jesus, Peter, James and John, with Lazarus, went out beyond the village gates to pray. And Lazarus said, Teach me to pray. 2 And Jesus said, The prayer I taught the twelve to pray while we were up in Galilee is one acceptable to God; and when you pray just say, 3 Our Father-God who art in heaven; holy is thy name; thy kingdom come; they will be done on earth as it is done in heaven; 4 Give us this day our needed bread; 5 Help us forget the debts that other people owe to us, that all our debts may be discharged; 6 And shield us from the tempter's snares that are too great for us to bear; 7 And when they come give us the strength to overcome. 8 And Jesus said, The answer to your prayer may not appear in fulness in a little time. 9 Be not discouraged; pray again and then again, for God will hear. 10 And then he spoke a parable; he said, A housewife was alone at night and, lo, some guests arrived, and they were hungry, having had no food for all the day. 11 The housewife had no bread, and so at midnight she went forth and called a friend and said, Loan me three loaves of bread, for guests have come, and I have naught for them to eat. 12 The friend replied, Why do you trouble me at midnight hour? My door is shut; my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise to give you bread; to-morrow you can be supplied. 13 The housewife asked again, and then again, and then because she pled, and would not be refused, the friend arose and gave her bread. 14 Behold, I say to you, Ask firmly and you shall receive; seek trustingly and you shall find; knock earnestly, the door will open up. 15 All things are yours, and when you ask, not as a begging man would ask, but as a child, you shall be satisfied. 16 A son may ask his father for a loaf of bread; the father will not give to him a stone; 17 Or he may ask him for a fish; he will not give a crab; or he may ask him for an egg; the father will not give a pebble from the brook. 18 Behold, if men of flesh know how to give abundantly to children of the flesh, will not your heavenly Father give abundantly to you when you shall pray?

,,,,,,,,,,, from the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi........

Excerpts from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's I AM THAT ..

I am not an object in Consciousness but its source,
its Witness, pure shapeless Awareness.

You are and I am. But only as points in consciousness; we are nothing apart from consciousness. (92)

The source of consciousness cannot be an object in consciousness. To know the source is to be the source. When you realize that you are not the person, but the pure and calm witness, and that fearless awareness is your very being, you are the being. It is the source, the inexhaustible Possibility. (65)

I am not my body, nor do I need it. I am the witness only. I have no shape of my own. You are so accustomed to think of yourself as bodies having consciousness that you just cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. Once you realize that bodily existence is but a state of mind, a movement in consciousness, that the ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal, and that, when in touch with consciousness, you are the witness only, you will be able to withdraw beyond consciousness altogether. (327)

No happening affects your real being - that is the absolute truth. (333)

When there is a self, self-awareness is the witness. When there is no self to witness, there is no witnessing either. Awareness becomes consciousness when it has an object. The object changes all the time. In consciousness there is movement; awareness by itself is motionless and timeless, here and now.

Psalm 121....

I look deep into my heart,
to the core where wisdom arises.
Wisdom comes from the Unnamable
and unifies heaven and earth.
The Unnamable is always with you,
shining from the depths of your heart.
His peace will keep you untroubled
even in the greatest pain.
When you find him present within you,
you find truth at every moment.
He will guard you from all wrongdoing;
he will guide your feet on his path.
He will temper your youth with patience;
he will crown your old age with fulfillment.
And dying, you will leave your body
as effortlessly as a sigh.



(A Book of Psalms, trans. and adapted by Stephen Mitchell)

~ Emotions and the Awakened ~

There has been a total misconception of the spiritually
awakened person as a man or woman of perfect equanimity -
immune to emotions like anger, grief or fear.

There is a distinct difference between the anger, grief or
fear of one who is awake and that of an ordinary person.
The awakened person's emotion is not based on any selfish
motivation; and their emotion is always in the present moment,
and therefore, very short lived. No residual impression remains
in the mind that could lead to involvement in horizontal time.

It is for this reason that various sages have had varying
temperaments: mild (Ramana Maharshi),
quick-tempered and gregarious (Nisargadatta Maharaj),
loving solitude and literary (J. Krishnamurti),
poetic (Jnaneshwar),
intellectual (Swami Vivekananda),
devotional (Eknath or Tukaram).

As a general statement, one could say that emotions arise
in the moment in the body-mind organism. But the awakened
person's ego has emotional maturity. His or her emotional
quotient (EQ) would be very high indeed while his or her
intelligence quotient (IQ) could be average.


~ Ramesh S. Balsekar
From: 'Nuggets of Wisdom'

Karma by Paul Brunton...

Karma comes into play only if the karmic impression is strong enough to survive. In the case of the sage, because he treats life like a dream, because he sees through it as appearance, all his experiences are on the surface only. His deep inner mind remains untouched by them. Therefore he makes no karma from them, therefore he is able when passing out of the body at death to be finished with the round of birth and death forever.

[The_Now2] Eckhart Tolle quotes...

The present moment
has always been available to spiritual seekers,
but as long as you are seeking
you are not available to the present moment.
"Seeking" implies that you are looking to the future
for some answer, or for some achievement,
spiritual or otherwise.
Everybody is in the seeking mode,
seeking to add something to who they are,
whether it be money, relationships, possessions,
knowledge, status.. or spiritual attainment.

~~~~~~~~~

All cravings are the mind seeking salvation
or fulfillment in external things and in the future
as a substitute for the joy of Being.
As long as I am my mind, I am those cravings,
those needs, wants, attachments, and aversions,
and apart from them there is no "I"
except as a mere possibility, an unfulfilled potential,
a seed that has not yet sprouted.

~~~~~~~~~~

Your mind is an instrument, a tool.
It is there to be used for a specific task,
and when the task is completed, you lay it down.
As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent
of most people's thinking
is not only repetitive and useless,
but because of its dysfunctional
and often negative nature,
much of it is also harmful.
Observe your mind and you will find this to be true.
It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Internal and external are ultimately one.
When you no longer perceive the world as hostile,
there is no more fear,
and when there is no more fear,
you think, speak and act differently.
Love and compassion arise,
and they affect the world.

~~~~~~~~~~

Direct your attention inward.
Have a look inside yourself.
What kind of thoughts is your mind producing?
What do you feel?
Direct your attention into the body.
Is there any tension?
Once you detect that there is a low level of unease,
the background static,
see in what way you are avoiding, resisting,
or denying life — by denying the Now.

~~~~~~~~~~~

What a liberation to realize
that the "voice in my head" is not who I am.
Who am I then?
The one who sees that.

~~~~~~~~~~

"How" is always more important that "what."
See if you can give much more attention
to the doing
than to the result
that you want to achieve through it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason why some people
love to engage in dangerous activities,
such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on,
although they may not be aware of it,
is that it forces them into the Now --
that intensely alive state that is free of time,
free of problems, free of thinking,
free of the burden of the personality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Choice implies consciousness -
a high degree of consciousness.
Without it, you have no choice.
Choice begins the moment you disidentify
from the mind and its conditioned patterns,
the moment you become present....
Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain.
Nobody chooses insanity.
They happen because there is not enough presence
in you to dissolve the past,
not enough light to dispel the darkness.
You are not fully here.
You have not quite woken up yet.
In the meantime, the conditioned mind
is running your life.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Always say "yes" to the present moment.
What could be more futile, more insane,
than to create inner resistance to what already is?
What could be more insane than to oppose life itself,
which is now and always now?
Surrender to what is. Say "yes" to life --
and see how life suddenly starts working for you
rather than against you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True freedom and the end of suffering
is living in such a way
as if you had completely chosen
whatever you feel or experience at this moment.
This inner alignment with Now
is the end of suffering.
Is suffering really necessary?
Yes and no.
If you had not suffered as you have,
there would be no depth to you as a human being,
no humility, no compassion.
You would not be reading this now.
Suffering cracks open the shell of ego,
and then comes a point
when it has served its purpose.
Suffering is necessary
until you realize it is unnecessary.


~ Eckhart Tolle

Non-Dual Awareness/Nirvana

Lama Yeshe: When you contemplate your own consciousness with intense awareness, leaving aside all thoughts of good and bad, you are automatically led to the experience of non-duality. How is this possible? Think of it like this: the clean clear blue sky is like consciousness, while the smoke and pollution pumped into the sky are like the unnatural, artificial concepts manufactured by ego-grasping ignorance. Now, even though we say the pollutants are contaminating the atmosphere, the sky itself never really becomes contaminated by the pollution. The sky and the pollution each retain their own characteristic nature. In other words, on a fundamental level the sky remains unaffected no matter how much toxic energy enters it. The proof of this is that when conditions change, the sky can become clear once again. In the same way, no matter how many problems maybe created by artificial ego concepts, they never affect the clean clear nature of our consciousness itself. From the relative point of view, our consciousness remains pure because its clear nature never becomes mixed with the nature of confusion.

From an ultimate point of view as well, our consciousness always remains clear and pure. The non-dual characteristic of the mind is never damaged by the dualistic concepts that arise in it. In this respect consciousness is pure, always was pure and will always remain pure. We can compare positive states of mind to water at rest and deluded states of mind to turbulent, boiling water. If we investigate the nature of the boiling water we will discover that, despite the turbulence, each individual droplet is still clear. The same is true of the mind: wether it is calm or boiled into turbulence by the overwhelming complexity of dualistic views, its basic nature reamains clear and conscious.

The conclusion, the, is that we all have the capacity to move from the confused, polluted state of ego-conflict to the natural clean clear state of pure consciousness itself. We should never think that our mind has somehow become irreversibly contaminated. This is impossible. If we can train ourselves to identify and enter into the natural, unaffected state of our consciousness, we will eventually experience the freedom of non-dual awareness.

Silence - Jean Klein

Silence is our real nature. What we are fundamentally,
is only silence. Silence is free from beginning and
end. It was before the beginning of all things. It is
causeless. Its greatness lies in the fact that it
simply is. In silence all objects have their home
ground. It is the light that gives objects their shape
and form. All movement, all activity is harmonized by
silence.Silence has no opposite in noise. It is beyond
positive and negative. Silence dissolves all objects.
It is not related to any counterpart which belongs to
the mind. Silence has nothing to do with mind. It
cannot be defined but it can be felt directly because
it is our nearness. Silence is freedom without
restriction or center. It is our wholeness, neither
inside nor outside the body. Silence is joyful, not
pleasurable. It is not psychological. It is feeling
without a feeler. Silence needs no intermediary.
Silence is holy. It is healing. There is no fear in
silence. Silence is autonomous like love and beauty.
It is untouched by time. Silence is meditation, free
from any intention, free from anyone who meditates.
Silence is the absence of oneself. Or rather, silence
is the absence of absence. Sound which comes from
silence is music. All activity is creative when it
comes from silence. It is constantly a new beginning.
Silence precedes speech and poetry and music and all
art. Silence is the home ground of all creative
activity. What is truly creative is the word, is
Truth. Silence is the word. Silence is Truth.The one
established in silence lives in constant offering, in
prayer without asking, in thankfulness, in continual
love. "

Did Jesus Die for Our Sins ?...

When one studies the teachings of Christ, as recorded in the New Testament, he never claimed that he came to die for the sins of mankind or even that he came to save everyone at that time. In actuality, he purposely cloaked his teaching in parables to prevent the masses from understanding the true meaning of his teachings.

Matthew 13 10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. NIV

When he did discuss his death it was to show that by being dead exactly 3 days and nights would prove he was the Messiah.

Matthew 12:39-41
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. KJV

So what was Christ's Message if it wasn't "I have come to die for your sins?" His true message about who he was and who we are is more amazing than you can imagine. The message Christ preached was not new. It was a very old message about who Christ was and who we are....................... From "the Reluctant Messenger"..

Confusion...

.."in Zen practice, we don't ignore confusion when it appears;
we actually welcome it. When confusion arises in our practice,
it means that we have discovered something new.
The feeling of confusion is an indication
that we are trying to understand something.
So welcoming confusion is actually an expression of wisdom."

~ Les Kaye

The Second Birth...

Those who believe in the Short Path of sudden attainment, such as
the sectarian following of Ramana Maharshi and the koan-puzzled
intellectuals of Zen Buddhism, confuse the first flash of insight
which unsettles everything so gloriously with the last flash which
settles everything even more gloriously. The disciple who wants
something for nothing, who hopes to get to the goal without being kept
busy with arduous travels to the very end, will not get it. He has to
move from one point of view to a higher, from many a struggle with
weaknesses to their mastery. Then only, when he has done by himself
what he should do, may he cease his efforts, be still, and await the
influx of Grace. Then comes light and the second birth.

— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 2:
Pitfalls and Limitations > # 65...Paul Brunton

Pain...

Pain is a warning device placed by Universal
Consciousness to tell us that something is wrong and you must correct
the problem.. this refers to both body and mind... When your thoughts
are centered on the Ego (Self-ishness), then the fruit of this
thought will bring pain... When your thoughts are on Self-lessness
(non-ego)(Love), then you will attain the State of Bliss...What you
believe is real is just an illusion that is created by thought..this
is the material world... Reality, is the realization that you and God
are One... this state requires no creation, It is the knowledge that
you really exist in a state of Pure Consciousness that is known by
the feeling of Complete Love, which is Complete Un-Self-
Ishness............................namaste, thomas

Freedom and Happiness..

As long as you derive
inner help and comfort from anything,
keep it.
~~~~~~~~
Freedom is not worth having
if it does not include
the freedom to make mistakes
~~~~~~~~
Happiness is when
what you think,
what you say,
and what you do
are in harmony
~~~~~~~~
Hate the sin, love the sinner
~~~~~~~~
You must be
the change you want to see in the world.
~~~~~~~~
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
~~~~~~~~
The weak can never forgive,
forgiveness is the attribute of the strong
~~~~~~~~
I think it would be a good idea.
(when asked what he thought of western civilisation)
~~~~~~~~
Mahatma Gandhi

Attitude...

"Here I am" is to be his attitude, "humbly receptive in the silence, submissively waiting with restrained ego and stilled mind for whatever guidance comes and however distasteful to personal emotion or however unwelcome to personal judgement it may be."

— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7: Contemplative Stillness > # 275 ..... Paul Brunton

Two Selves...

You have two selves, the False Self that you believe that you are
and the Real Self that you are.. The False Self is the illusion of
separation from each other and from the total Energy, that we call
God.. the realization that you are not the negative false self and
the realization that you are part of the energy of God is the goal of
Mystics... this realization is found through meditation.. when you
have sacrificed the false ego completely,which means that you have
surrendered the illusion, then you find yourself in the Mystical
Union with God... which is finding yourself with yourself... I have
found this energy called God to be a force of Complete Love and
Unselfishness..............namaste, thomas

Thoughts...

Thoughts have incredible power, especially if you have total belief
in the outcome of these thoughts.. all thoughts have outcomes,even if
you do not see the fruition immediately... If you are aware, you will
notice that negative thoughts originate from the Ego and positive
thoughts originate from a mental state of Love (Un-Self-ishness)...
The interesting part of not believing in a personal God, is that
their is no more personal being than yourself... Once, you understand
that you are the Divinity and the Divinity is not outside you, then
you will not need a personal God as you are indeed God...this
statement will not be understood by most humans, but those that have
traveled beyond the body will understand....As Jesus said;" The
Kingdom of God is within You"..and He also said;" I and the Father
are ONE"...He understood that We are indeed
ONE......................namaste, thomas

Negativity...

The negative is not of God's creation, It is the creation of
the "False Ego", this is the power of "Free Will" that we have been
given.. negativity is Selfishness, The "Power of One"(God) is
Complete Unselfishness,otherwise known as "Love"...... Reality has
always existed, but we have chosen to ignore Reality and create our
own experience due to the false ego... This is the Fall of Souls that
you have read about... The entry into reality is gained when we have
defeated the false ego, which is the illusion of duality... you can
sit and do nothing because you believe that their is nothing to do
except know Reality.. If this works for you, then continue, but for
the mass of humanity, work is required to "Wake Up" and begin to
abolish the illusions that keep us in darkness,pain, and
duality..................namaste, thomas

~ Does God Exist? ~

Does God exist? The only answer to this question would be:
God is all that exists. It is you and me (as separate entities)
who do not really exist. "I Am that I Am."

There can only be a mystical awareness of God that can never be
proved scientifically for the simple reason that any external or
indirect proof can only be something separate from That (Source)
which is proved. Any external proof could only be circular logic --
a dog chasing its own tail!

In a word, you cannot truly 'think' about God, because it is He who
is the thinker and the thinking. The fact of the matter is that there
is indeed a Reality that exists, but it cannot be reached. That
Reality can reach you.

Therefore, there is an extraordinary consistency in the assertions
of the mystics through all time and space. Their assertions were
totally in agreement with one another, however far apart they may be
in time, distance and culture. Reality can only be experienced.

~ Ramesh Balsekar
Nuggets of Wisdom

I Am God...

If you develop within yourself the sacred and lofty idea, "I am
God", you will not be bothered by anything; nothing can come in your
way. Of course, it is of no use to merely utter these words. You
must first overcome your body consciousness and maintain a firm
control over your senses. At the same time, you must develop an
intense love for God and live it by continuously identifying
yourself with the divine. This will lead you to the supreme wisdom.
Or, you can express your love for God by following the path of the
servant. This will quickly remove the egoism from your heart and
fill you with bliss.

There are three successive stages on the way to God-realization. In
the very beginning you will declare, "I am a devotee of God." Here
there are two entities, one is God and the other is you, the
devotee. God is believed to be away somewhere, and your approach
will be to try to find God, to get closer to him, and become very
near to him. Gradually you progress along this path and, in time,
you will come face to face with God. Then you say to him, "Dear
Lord, I belong to you." In this second stage, you stand erect before
God and declare yourself as his own, very close to him. Then in the
third stage you know yourself to be one with God and you state, "You
and I are one."

The first stage, which is characterized by the declaration, "I am
the servant of God," and where God is cognized as a faraway form, is
dualism. The second stage, where you say directly to God, "O Lord, I
am your devotee", and feel him inside your heart, is the stage of
qualified non-dualism. The third stage, in which the ultimate truth
dawns within you and you say to God, "I am you and you are me", is
non-dualism. At that point there is no distinction between you and
God.

mukundan

(saibaba gita)

Sin...

Sin is an ancient hebrew archery term that means "Missing the
Mark"......It has been misused for so long that we no longer know what
it means... It is the Ego remaining and springing up to perform selfish
activities.. It is missing the mark in becoming One with God... It is
the wall that keeps us from happiness and freedom... It is false and a
lie, It is ego.......................namaste, thomas

The Voice...

Many years ago while I was in a state of deep meditation, I found
myself in a place of pure white light.. I was surrounded and filled
with the energy of Love.. while in this state, I asked a question to
whom ever controlled this sphere of existence... I asked:" What is the
most important knowledge that I should learn,while in the physical
body?", Suddenly, a Voice answered me saying "You must treat others, as
you wish to be treated".. the fact that a voice without any physical
appearance spoke to me did not surprise me, what surprised me, was that
I was told to follow what I had heard as a boy, and forgotten....How
simple the message, and yet how powerful....... I then found myself
back in the body, fully alert..............namaste, thomas

I Am - transcribed Adyashanti talk

To me one of the greatest teachings of the whole Christian message in Christ's life himself centers around a very very simple idea. It's the idea called I am. If you get I am, you get the whole message. If you don't get I am, you've missed the entire message. So to the human consciousness, I am always refers to a historical figure. Something in time and space. Something you can point to. Most human beings in their human state of consciousness, even when they think of I am about themselves, they think about the body, the mind, what they think, what they feel, what they imagine, what they believe. Human consciousness always takes the I am and makes it into something concrete. And of course, this is what is really meant by the I am becoming historical. It becomes about something you can grasp and think about and talk about. To me, when I started my sort of love affair, in a certain sense, with Christ, it was sort of this historical way too. It was very much tied to a particular person at a particular place in time because that would fit my consciousness as a very young child. It was reflective of where my consciousness was and we are all only capable of seeing things from our state of consciousness. Very important to remember that. You're only capable of seeing things based on and from your current state of consciousness. That's why we tend to interpret everything down to our level. We interpret everything down to our own consciousness because really we don't have any choice until our consciousness changes and then everything looks different. An yet, the whole Christian message, in a sense, is this message that's based around "I am." Understanding. Not just understanding with the mind, that's of very little value. Understanding in the sense of a direct realization. Literally an awakening out of human consciousness to spiritual consciousness, one could say.



Jesus himself mentions this many many times. One of the great wonderful sayings from the Gospel of Thomas is Jesus saying this: "One who knows everything else but does not know himself, knows nothing." That's a pretty good summation of modern times. We know so much, at least we think we know so much. The modern human mind now has so many facts stuffed in it than it did 2,000 years ago. I mean it had a lot then, you realize nothing much changes, you know, just the scenery. But there is so much knowledge and of course, even many in the world of spirituality have this thought "if I could just understand more, if I could cram more spiritual knowledge into my brain then that will help me find God, or awaken to my true nature, awaken to the One and here it is, you know, 2000 years ago Jesus saying "One who knows everything but who does not know himself, knows nothing." It's quite a statement. It's another thing that happens when we do not see this gift of teaching of Christ in its true light. Christ has been made, by and large, to fit what is comfortable for human beings. Which makes Christ into a nice comfy God illuminated guy being. But if you really look at the message of Christ, this is not true at all. This was a full blooded sage, an absolute spiritual and cultural revolutionary of the highest order. It does not fit in well and it never did fit in well as his life proved never did fit in well and never does fit in well with the conventional ideas of the limited human consciousness. We keep dummying down Christ to our level. To a human level. When we miss, this was somebody that was out to awaken humanity. Make no mistake about it, this was a being who was out to awaken humanity and it got him killed. So when we see the power that is actually inherent there, in the teaching, in who he was, this was someone of great great spiritual vitality. This is someone as true spiritual awakening often is didn't fit in, as I say, it ended up getting him crucified. Because it didn't fit into the conventional human understanding of who we are and what God is. This is someone who was actually pushing outside that boundary, pushing outside the conventional boundary. Someone who actually work up from the conventional boundary who had realized the truth of their being and was speaking about it.

Duality...

Everything comes in pairs as death with life and darkness with light. Whatever seems to be necessary to existence is so only because its opposite is equally necessary. Duality is a governing factor of the world and everything within it including ourselves. That alone is outside the world, is nondual, which is the untouchable Reality. This is the Chinese idea of yin and yang, and the Bhagavad Gita's expression "the pairs of opposites" conveys the same idea. Duality is a fact. It is here. But it is also an illusion and the opposite truth which completes it is the nondual. We may deplore the illusory nature of our existence, but we need not get lost in it for it is fulfilled, completed, and finalized in its complement the Real.(P)

— Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea > Chapter 3: Polarities, Complementaries, Dualities of The Universe > # 10............Paul Brunton

A Thought...

Not only is the world an appearance-in-Consciousness, but so is the ego. It is in the end a thought, perhaps the strongest of all; and only the Consciousness-in-Itself is the Reality from which it draws sustenance, existence, life.


— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 5: The Key To the Spiritual World > # 138
Paul Brunton

The Holy Man...

There was once a holy man who died and went to heaven. He approached the Pearly Gates and knocked. God came out and asked, "What do you want?" The holy man replied, "I am your servant. I have come." God said, "I'm sorry there is no room for you here. You can't come in. Goodbye."

The holy man sat down and started to gaze in silence to ponder this. "Why won't God let me in? I've been good. I've practiced the scriptures." He pondered this for six months. Finally, he said to himself, "I've got the answer." He knocked again and God came to the gate. He said, "Let me in. I'm your humble servant. The one who has chanted Your name for centuries, who has bowed to You, who has prayed to You."

God said, "I'm sorry there is no room for you here." Again, he closed the door. This time the holy man became completely upset. He didn't' know what the problem was. He'd been a good person, a holy person. Why won't that guy let me in? He said to himself, "I'm going to sit here forever if I have to, until I come up with the right answer."

Centuries passed and he pondered. Remember, he was dead anyway, so it didn't matter. After this long period of pondering why he hadn't been let in, paused and asked himself? "Wait a minute, who is this I who wants to get into heaven? Who is the I that chanted God's name? Who practiced the scriptures? Who am I?"

All of a sudden, he started laughing. The answer came. He got up and knocked on the door or heave. God came to the door and said, "Who is this?" The holy man said, "It is Thou." God opened the gate and said, "Come in, my son. There never was enough room in here for both Me and you."

So it is with us. We claim we want to be Self-realized. We don't realize we are already Self-realized. We just have to let go of the belief that I am the doer.

~ Robert Adams

What is Love ?....

Much has been written about Love ,but what exactly is Love ?.....
The best thoughts that I can come up with are, that Love is complete
unselfishness... It is the complete vacation of Ego... Therefore, the
source of Love, which we call God is actually an energy that is
completely without Ego... Is this why we find God so attractive ?...
How can you not love a person that is without an ego, that is
completely selfless, that is completely in a state of Love... To
witness someone who suffers because they wish others not to suffer is
acting from the state of Love.. this will actually cause us to weep in
empathy, perhaps, because for a few seconds we witness the presence of
God...................namaste, thomas

Seeing People As They Are -- Not As I Wish Them To Be

Come home to yourself. Observe yourself. That's why I said earlier that self-observation is such a delightful and extraordinary thing. After a while you don't have to make any effort, because, as illusions begin to crumble, you begin to know things that cannot be described. It's called happiness. Everything changes and you become addicted to awareness.

There's the story of the disciple who went to the master and said, "Could you give me a word of wisdom? Could you tell me something that would guide me through my days?" It was the master's day of silence, so he picked up a pad. It said, "Awareness." When the disciple saw it, he said, "This is too brief. Can you expand on it a bit?" So the master took back the pad and wrote, "Awareness, awareness, awareness." The disciple said, "Yes, but what does it mean?" The master took back the pad and wrote, "Awareness, awareness, awareness means -- awareness."

That's what it is to watch yourself. No one can show you how to do it, because he would be giving you a technique, he would be programming you. But watch yourself. When you talk to someone, are you aware of it or are you simply identifying with it? When you got angry with somebody, were you aware that you were angry or were you simply identifying with your anger? Later, when you had the time, did you study your experience and attempt to understand it? Where did it come from? What brought it on? I don't know of any other way to awareness. You only change what you understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you repress. You don't change. But when you understand it, it changes.

I am sometimes asked, "Is this growing in awareness a gradual thing, or is it a 'whammo' kind of thing?" There are some lucky people who see this in a flash. They just become aware. There are others who keep growing into it, slowly, gradually, increasingly. They begin to see things. Illusions drop away, fantasies are peeled away, and they start to get in touch with facts. There's no general rule. There's a famous story about the lion who came upon a flock of sheep and to his amazement found a lion among the sheep. It was a lion who had been brought up by the sheep ever since he was a cub. It would bleat like a sheep and run around like a sheep. The lion went straight for him, and when the sheep lion stood in front of the real one, he trembled in every limb. And the lion said to him, "What are you doing among the sheep?" And the sheep-lion said, "I am a sheep." And the lion said, "Oh no you're not. You're coming with me." So he took the sheep-lion to a pool and said, "Look!" And when the sheep-lion looked at his reflection in the water, he let out a mighty roar, and in that moment he was transformed. He was never the same again.

If you're lucky and the gods are gracious or if you are gifted with divine grace (use any theological expression you want), you might suddenly understand who "I" is, and you will never be the same again, never. Nothing will ever be able to touch you again and no one will ever be able to hurt you again.

You will fear no one and you will fear nothing. Isn't that extraordinary? You'll live like a king, like a queen. This is what it means to live like royalty. Not rubbish like getting your picture in the newspapers or having a lot of money. That's a lot of rot. You fear no one because you're perfectly content to be nobody. You don't give a damn about success or failure. They mean nothing. Honor, disgrace, they mean nothing! If you make a fool of yourself, that means nothing either. Isn't that a wonderful state to be in! Some people arrive at this goal painstakingly, step by step, through months and weeks of self-awareness. But I'll promise you this: I have not known a single person who gave time to being aware who didn't see a difference in a matter of weeks. The quality of their life changes, so they don't have to take it on faith anymore. They see it; they're different. They react differently. In fact, they react less and act more. You see things you've never seen before.

You're much more energetic, much more alive. People think that if they had no cravings, they'd be like deadwood. But in fact they'd lose their tension. Get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding, you will be yourself. Relaxed. You wouldn't be driving with your brakes on. That's what would happen.

There's a lovely saying of Tranxu, a great Chinese sage, that I took the trouble to learn by heart. It goes: "When the archer shoots for no particular prize, he has all his skills; when he shoots to win a brass buckle, he is already nervous; when he shoots for a gold prize, he goes blind, sees two targets, and is out of his mind. His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him. He cares! He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of power." Isn't that an image of what most people are? When you're living for nothing, you've got all your skills, you've got all your energy, you're relaxed, you don't care, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose.

Now there's HUMAN living for you. That's what life is all about. That can only come from awareness. And in awareness you will understand that honor doesn't mean a thing. It's a social convention, that's all. That's why the mystics and the prophets didn't bother one bit about it. Honor or disgrace meant nothing to them. They were living in another world, in the world of the awakened. Success or failure meant nothing to them. They had the attitude: "I'm an ass, you're an ass, so where's the problem?"

Someone once said, "The three most difficult things for a human being are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third, admitting that you are wrong." But these are the easiest things in the world if you haven't identified with the "me." You can say things like "I'm wrong! If you knew me better, you'd see how often I'm wrong. What would you expect from an ass?" But if I haven't identified with these aspects of "me," you can't hurt me. Initially, the old conditioning will kick in and you'll be depressed and anxious. You'll grieve, cry, and so on. "Before enlightenment, I used to be depressed: after enlightenment, 1 continue to be depressed." But there's a difference: I don't identify with it anymore. Do you know what a big difference that is?

You step outside of yourself and look at that depression, and don't identify with it. You don't do a thing to make it go away; you are perfectly willing to go on with your life while it passes through you and disappears. If you don't know what that means, you really have something to look forward to. And anxiety? There it comes and you're not troubled. How strange! You're anxious but you're not troubled.

Isn't that a paradox? And you're willing to let this cloud come in, because the more you fight it, the more power you give it. You're willing to observe it as it passes by. You can be happy in your anxiety. Isn't that crazy? You can be happy in your depression. But you can't have the wrong notion of happiness. Did you think happiness was excitement or thrills? That's what causes the depression. Didn't anyone tell you that? You're thrilled, all right, but you're just preparing the way for your next depression. You're thrilled but you pick up the anxiety behind that: How can I make it last? That's not happiness, that's addiction.

I wonder how many non-addicts there are reading this book? If you're anything like the average group, there are few, very few. Don't look down your nose at the alcoholics and the drug addicts: maybe you're just as addicted as they are. The first time I got a glimpse of this new world, it was terrifying. I understood what it meant to be alone, with nowhere to rest your head, to leave everyone free and be free yourself, to be special to no one and love everyone- because love does that. It shines on good and bad alike; it makes rain fall on saints and sinners alike.

Is it possible for the rose to say, "I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? Or is it possible for the lamp to say, "I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people"? Or can a tree say, "I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? These are images of what love is about.

It's been there all along, staring us in the face in the scriptures, though we never cared to see it because we were so drowned in what our culture calls love with its love songs and poems -- that isn't love at all, that's the opposite of love. That's desire and control and possessiveness. That's manipulation, and fear, and anxiety -- that's not love. We were told that happiness is a smooth complexion, a holiday resort. It isn't these things, but we have subtle ways of making our happiness depend on other things, both within us and outside us. We say, "I refuse to be happy until my neurosis goes." I have good news for you: You can be happy right now, WITH the neurosis, You want even better news? There's only one reason why you're not experiencing what in India we call ANAND -- bliss, bliss. There's only one reason why you're not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it's because you're thinking or focusing on what you don't have. Otherwise you would be experiencing bliss. You're focusing on what you don't have. But, right now you have everything you need to be in bliss.

Jesus was talking horse sense to lay people, to starving people, to poor people. He was telling them good news: It's yours for the taking. But who listens? No one's interested, they'd rather be asleep................ Anthony de Mello, SJ

(C) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spiritually_Speaking .........from Lisa Day
Permission to share freely as long as credit is given.

" I and the Father are One "....

It does not feel good to say that I am God,, It is possibly the
most difficult to say and to believe... This is the pain of Duality
that most humans are stuck in.. They truly do not know God and they
truly do not know themselves... this revelation of non-duality is
only achieved through meditation and the achieving of enlightenment,
which is the dissolution of the belief in the false ego... This is
why Jesus said that "You must be born again", as the enlightenment
experience is merging with God and feeling as though you have just
been born at the moment of this experience... I cannot convince you
of these Truths,, they can only be known by your own personal
experience................namaste, thomas

You must lose your life to find It....

Those who try to grasp Tao, lose it, declared Lao Tzu. Why? Because they are using willpower, personal willpower, instead of becoming passive and letting the Tao use them, their minds and bodies, as if they were its instruments. This elimination of the self-will is what Jesus meant when he counselled his followers to lose their life in order to find life................paul brunton

Can We Really be Attacked ?

A verbal attack meant or unmeant means absolutely nothing to a soul
that has conquered their Ego.... the main purpose of spirituality is to
identify and destroy the false perception of separation from Universal
Consciousness... this perception is called the false ego... once you
have conquered this false idea of separation from each other and from
Universal Mind (God), you never feel the pain of personal attack again
because there is no one to attack... when we feel pain at any verbal
attack, we must recognize that the problem lies within us.. stop
blaming others for deficiencies within
outselves.................namaste, thomas

Where is God ?

God is in your very being. To know him as something apart or far-away
in time and distance or as an object outside yourself, separate from
you--that is not the Way--impossible. Jesus gave away the secret: He is
within you...........Paul Brunton

Does God have a sense of humor ?

Love has no ego, therefore, there is no pain felt when humor is
directed at Love.... this also applies to humans, a human only feels
embarassment or anger when they are still slaves of the false ego...
Humor is the sudden realization of Truth.. this sudden realization
causes the body and especially the lungs to act in a spasmatic manner
that we call laughing... a human cannot laugh with someone that they
dislike or hate, this means that humor shared with another is
actually a sharing of Love.... I assure you that the Universal Spirit
that we call God is filled with laughter and
Love......................namaste,
thomas

Does God Exist ?

A man went to a barber shop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they began to have a conversation.They
talked about various subjects. When they eventually touched on the
subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go
out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God
exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned
children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I
can't imagine a loving God who would allow these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't
want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the
customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barber shop, he saw a man in the street with
long, stringy, dirty hair and untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and
unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop and he
said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I
am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they
did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed
beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come
to me."

"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!

That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him
for help.

That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Enlightenment Which Stays ...

The actions of a man who has attained this degree are inspired directly by his Overself, and consequently are not dictated by personal wishes, purposes, passions, or desires. They are not initiated by his ego's will but by a will higher than his own.

Since there is no consciously deliberate thinking, no attempt at ordered logical formulation of ideas, there is also no hesitation, no broken trends. There is only spontaneous thought, feeling, and action, all being directed by intuition.

— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 88.............Paul Brunton

INFINITE DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS....

From: Iamwithin
To: mysticalprinciples@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:31:55 PM
Subject: [mysticalprinciples] INFINITE DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS



INFINITE DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS....by Bill Skiles



Wednesday night, at 1:00 a.m. , I lay down on my bed and said, “Speak Father, thy servant heareth.” When I can remember to do that, the last thing at night, often something is revealed and no sooner had I rested in that statement, something came to me with such force that I couldn’t fall asleep. I sat there pondering it and looking at it. Is this true? Could this be? My God! And yes, yes, this scripture, that scripture; everything seemed to verify and corroborate what had been revealed. And that simple revelation, just really one line, four words; was quite startling and this talk today is going to be that which was revealed in that split second of receptivity. I consider this talk to be one of the most important I have ever made. And I ask that Consciousness guide the words so that the Word may be revealed.



Let us begin here. There are two types of flesh. There is the flesh that is grass which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven and perishes and that of course is our physical body. We come to the end of our days here on earth, the body is laid aside and it perishes. This is one type of flesh, physical flesh, matter it is called. And in this flesh, the scientists tell us, are whirling atoms. They tell us that atoms make up everything and so this physical form, this flesh is made up of atoms.



I tell you something quite interesting to me, way back in 1978-79, I hopped into a jet airline and I flew across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and then I took a smaller plane over to Kauai and then I drove up to Hanalei Bay and I pulled into the driveway of Herb Fitch’s house. I did this because when I heard one of his talks, I knew I had to spend some time with him. I knew that this was Spirit revealing itself through this individual, through this individual’s consciousness or through Consciousness appearing as this individual. So I walked into his house and we went back to his study and we had a meditation. I did not tell him that I was thinking about atoms and their relationship to things. After the meditation he said, “I feel I must show you something.” He pulled a book down off of his shelf and it was a book about atoms. He opened the book and showed me some pictures. In the first picture there was what is called a nucleus or a neutron and a proton, and in the next picture there was an electron whirling around the nucleus. And in the next picture it was shown how most of what makes up an atom is empty space. This electron whirling around at unmanageable speeds creates the illusion of substance. It creates an illusion of matter. I can’t remember the exact conversation or what Herb said exactly, but I remember the feeling and it was: atoms are an illusion.



Since then I have taken that and looked at it every which way and pondered it and meditated, asked for guidance and I see clearly now, I understand. Mind appears as atoms. It is mind appearing as flesh; mind appearing as form. But there is no substance to that form. It is simply mind showing us an image. Even the scientists know that this is correct.



I have a book on my shelf called “The Zen of Quantum Physics” and I may get some of the terms wrong because I am not a quantum physicist but I have the general sense of what that books says and it states that when they sent some, I believe it was protons, part of an atom, down a tunnel, when they did not watch, it turned to the left; it went down the tunnel and forked to the left, took the left channel. But when they observed the movement, it took the channel to the right. Scientists, quantum physicists, to their great amazement, discovered atoms and protons and electrons, they respond to the observer. Because they tried this experiment several times and every time it was the same result. The mind looking at them had an effect, they responded to the observer. This scientist that wrote this book put forth the hypothesis, ‘that which we see in life responds to our awareness or our unawareness.” In other words, it responds to our state of consciousness.



From this I gathered that mind appears as atoms which are essentially space; very minute particles which are really mental images and respond to the mind. So mind appearing as flesh is the body that dies. In Texas , there is a huge machine, a huge building, and in it there is an atom smasher. This is how we know that atoms were not created by God. Because you could not smash one nor could you split one with an atomic bomb.



I knew a physicist when I was a young man and he was the man that gave me the first book I ever had of The Infinite Way called, ‘The Art of Meditation.’ Don was his name. Don was quite an interesting fellow. He was a physicist. He worked for the United States Government. He helped work on the project—the Manhattan project,—anyway, he helped work on the first atomic bomb and as a physicist, he told me—and I looked into his eyes, he was not lying—he told me that they were divided. Half of the physicists that worked on that project felt that if they split the atom there would be a limited effect, it would have a stopping point. It would have a chain reaction in other atoms in the universe but it would stop at a certain level. However, the other half of the physicists—and Don was one of them—were convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that if you split the atom, it would have a chain reaction throughout the universe until every atom was split. In other words, you would vaporize this entire world of matter. He was convinced. He suggested that they do not set off the nuclear explosion. But he was overruled by some government people, they set off the nuclear explosion and it was limited to whatever radius it was at that time; a mile radius or whatever. And he told me, he is still convinced, it should have vaporized the universe. And I said, “Well, why hasn’t it?” He said he did not know. He thought that maybe God limited it.



Well, be that as it may, the point is, atoms are not eternal. They come to an end. Why? Because they are mind-formed, mind appearing as form. There are two types of flesh and one type of flesh is mind appearing as atoms which is then appearing as a physical body or matter formed. And everyone knows that this material body comes to an end, it is grass, it is dissolved, it goes back into the elements. That is the first type of flesh.



But there is another type of flesh and it is called the Word. The Word is made flesh and dwells among us. This type of flesh is eternal. We read in the original Infinite Way book, “the Word becomes flesh but it is still the Word.” It does not change its substance. Out of infinite Consciousness comes the Word and the Word appears as flesh. But when the Word appears as flesh, that flesh is eternal. Consciousness formed, Consciousness appearing as form is eternal life. This is the form that can disappear from inside the temple and reappear outside. This is the form that can walk on the water. This is the form that can levitate; rise above the tree line. This is the form that can disappear in India and appear in Africa . This is the form that Consciousness can lay down and pick up again at will. This is the form that Joel referred to in the Wisdoms when he said, “If you understood the real nature of life, you could lay down this form and pick it up again at will.”



This week some new and strange and wonderful insights have come and I would like to share them with you today. So we’ll do our best to get this across. Let’s start with the 1959 Letters, a portion of it.



There are certain principles of The Infinite Way which an advanced student should know and which will aid in freeing him from the wheel of life.



Now because of our previous talks, we should understand that the wheel of life is being incarnated into the mind’s mental image of a physical life. One of our recent talks called “The Impersonal Life” has to do with stepping out of that mental image and into an impersonal eternal life. So that is what he is referring to here: an advanced student should know these principles which will aid in freeing him from the wheel of life.



One of the most important of these principles is the principle that we are not in the body.



Do you remember that exercise that he gave us? He says it is the only exercise in The Infinite Way and that is the exercise where you look down at your toes and you say, “Am I in these toes? No. Am I in these feet? No. Am I in these ankles, these shins, these knees?” And you go up your body. “Am I in these thighs, am I in these organs, am I in the stomach? Am I in the waist, the chest?” Do you remember that exercise? He says to meditate on this until you get the feel that you are not in this body. So he is assuming that you have done that when he says, One of the most important of these principles is the principle that we are not in the body.



At this moment, that may not seem to be of too much importance, but sooner or later it will be realized that this is the ultimate and the deepest secret of life, and I am going to show you why today, and the one which produces the highest demonstration of spiritual living.



We do not live in our bodies, nor are we the body. I do not inhabit this body.



When the first glimmer that you do not live in your body comes to you, it causes you to look yourself up and down, in and out, when you are in meditation, and ultimately it will bring you to the realization, “Of course! I am not in these knees, in this stomach, in this chest, nor am I up here in the brain. I know that I am somewhere else.



Eventually you will begin to realize the nature of that word I and you will see that you have been finitizing the word I: You have been using it in a purely limited personal sense as if there were an “I” separate and apart from the I which is you, as if the I which is you were something separate from the I which is my identity.



When you catch a tiny glimpse of this truth that life is not entombed in the body, you will understand the meaning of the Resurrection. It is true that Jesus was entombed, that is, confined in a tomb, just as today it appears that human beings are confined to their bodies. But when the tomb was opened, was Jesus there? No, he had risen. The Christ, the divine Self, could not be entombed: The Christ, your divine Self, cannot be entombed in a body, and some day the realization must come to you, “I am not entombed in a body; I never was entombed in a body. I live and move and have my being in God—not in the tomb of a material concept. I abide in the word of God, and the word of God abides in me—not in the body.”



I received a talk this week from someone on Mystical Principles that had been typed up and it fell in beautifully with all of this. It is a talk by Herb Fitch and he gave another little exercise which is similar to the one we just looked at. I would like to repeat that because I tried it and it was wonderful. So, I am assuming you have your eyes closed and you are resting back in and on a Sea of Consciousness .



Lift your hands up over your head just for a moment and leave them there. Get a feel of this body, from the end of your fingertips to the bottom of your feet, the end of your toes. You see this body? You feel this body? This body was not made by God. This body cannot receive the things of God, is not under the law of God, neither indeed can be. This body that you are feeling right now; this is the mind appearing as form. This is a mental image which today is and tomorrow is cast unto the oven. This is the body in which you do not dwell.



You can put your arms down and now you have a sense of this body, don’t you; this mind appearing as a physical form? But this body, we have already agreed that I am not in this body. I—you can say this to yourself—I am not in this body. I am not in this form. I am not in this mental image. I am not in this mind picture.



Joel told us, “The single most important word in The Infinite Way is Consciousness.” In one of his books, ‘The Realization of Oneness’, he says this—and you need to listen as you have never listened before. He says:



I, myself am infinite divine consciousness. This is just as true of you as it is of me. So you can say it to yourself: I, myself am infinite divine consciousness.



There is a book out titled: “Consciousness Is What I Am.”



I myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I am not in this mental image of a body. I have never been in that body. That is a mental image. I am infinite Consciousness. That mental image is being presented to my consciousness but I am not in that body; that body is in me, in my consciousness.



Infinite divine Consciousness; one with the Father; one with infinity. Consciousness, which is what I am, is Omnipresence Itself, I am Omnipresence.



This week it has been revealed to me, Omnipresence does not mean I am everywhere. There is another meaning. Omnipresence means everywhere is I. Everywhere is right here in I. Not that I am everywhere but everywhere is in I. Right here, everywhere is right here, right now in I.



So what do we have? We have: I, myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I am Omnipresence and everywhere is right here, right now in I. This little mental image, I am not in that; that’s made up of nothingness. God did not create it; it was not made. I am not in that. I myself am infinite omnipresent divine Consciousness.



Several years ago when I had the first glimpse of this, I was attending an Infinite Way class and we were on a break and I stepped outside. I looked and I saw the waves of the ocean, the Pacific Ocean and I felt the waves—all of them—inside of my consciousness and I felt my consciousness inside of the waves. Since there is only one consciousness, it is your consciousness also that is inside the waves and has the waves inside of it. You as consciousness, are inside of all that is and all that is, is inside of you. You as consciousness are right where that tiny leaf appears to be on the ground looking up at the clouds far above. You as consciousness are up over the clouds looking down at the patchwork quilt of our towns and cities.



Farther out, you are up above the earth looking down, as you have seen pictures from the space shuttle and the Hubble space telescope. Consciousness is Omnipresence and everywhere is present right now in the I that I am and I am looking down at planet earth and I see the seas and the land and I see the clouds floating past. I see almost an aura around the planet and I see the stars in the background and I see the moon off there on the side. I myself am infinite divine Consciousness.



Pulling back farther, I see the entire galaxy known as the Milky Way and I see Mercury and Venus and Earth and Mars and I see Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto and Planet X. I see the sun and I see the meteor belt. I myself am infinite divine Consciousness and all of this is within my Consciousness.



I pull back farther and I look and I behold galaxies; different shapes and sizes, millions, billions of suns and planets. I see Alpha Centauri, I see Pleiades, I see galaxies I’m not even aware of their names and yet I know their name—I. All of this is in my Consciousness and I am seeing all that I am.



I pull back farther and I discover there are multiple universes, parallel universes and I am in each and each is in I. I myself am infinite divine Consciousness—infinite! There is no end to what I am. I look and behold there are dimensions and I am on this plane, this plane is contained in my Consciousness and so are the other planes; the astral plane, spiritual planes, heavens.



“I knew a man once,” says Paul, “whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell but he was in the 7th heaven.” There are a multitude of states of heaven, states of consciousness. In my Father’s house are many mansions and all of these mansions are in my Father-Consciousnes s; the Consciousness that I am.



I discover that there is no space because all of this is contained in my Consciousness right here, right now. Omnipresence from one point of view means that I am everywhere but from this new point of view everywhere is here in the I that I am. Before I can even take this much of infinity in, I make the discovery that “Before Abraham was I am.” And I discover that this does not mean once upon a time I was. Oh, no! No, Omnipresence means everywhere is right now in my Consciousness, everywhere, right here, right now and it means every when is right here, right now in my Consciousness, before Abraham was, I am right now. Right now, before Abraham was, I am.



Right now in my Consciousness is the 17th century, the 15th, the 12th, 300 A.D., 200 B.C. Oh God, reveal to me the glory I had with Thee before the world was for I am there right now. Before the world was, before these mental images, before this mind creation of an earth, of matter, before this was ever made, before this was ever thought of, the glory I had with God is right now in my Consciousness.



I, right now, in my Consciousness am before the world was and I shall be with you unto the end of the world and after the end of this world, I am; not I will be. Before the world was, right now is in my Consciousness and I am standing there, and after the world ends I am right now and I am standing there in my Consciousness. I myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I am infinite.



Everywhere is present right now within my Consciousness. Every when is present, right now within my Consciousness. Every one is present right now, within my Consciousness. The consciousness that appeared as Moses is right here in my Consciousness for we are one. The consciousness that appeared as Paul is right here now in my Consciousness for we are one. The consciousness that appeared as Yeshua, Jesus, is right here, right now in my Consciousness. The consciousness that appeared as Joel is right here, right now in my Consciousness. I am everywhere, I am every when, I am every one. My oneness with Consciousness constitutes my oneness with all that is, all that was, all that ever will be is right now in my Consciousness for these are one Consciousness. I myself am infinite divine Consciousness and Omnipresence is in my Consciousness, everywhere, every when, every one, I am.



Wednesday night, as a lay down to go to sleep, I asked, “Father speak for thy instrument heareth,” and this came to me: I myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I am everywhere, I am every when, I am every one and these are all one and that one is I am. And then so quietly I almost missed it, I heard this: I am not in a body, a mental image. I am every where, I am every when, I am every one. I am Omnipresent and I am infinite and I am not incarnated!



I sat up and I stared into the darkness. Oh my God! I am not incarnated. I am not incarnated. I am not incarnated. I have never incarnated, I cannot reincarnate. Everywhere, every when, every one, I, infinite I, cannot be confined in the tomb of mortality. I am not in that tomb. I am outside of that tomb. I have never been entombed. I cannot be entombed. I cannot be incarnated. I myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I cannot be entombed. Look, look again. I am outside of that.



I was never born, I cannot die. It’s time to rise up into that which I am. I myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I am not in a tomb called mortality. That is a mental image; a nothingness. I am outside of it. I am everywhere, I am every when, I am all that is. I Am that I Am. I am the Word appearing as form and my form is eternal, made of My substance, of the substance that I am and I can lay it down and pick it up again. I can move it outside of this building. I can move it through walls. I can move it to other planets. I, yes even I, am God. There is no other.



Now, your job, my job, as the awakening ones, is to step out of mortality and into the immortality of our own Consciousness.



Let us look at something I saw for the first time this week. This is from a 1980 class given by Herb Fitch and he says:



Everything up to this moment has been all a part of your preparation to make a decision so earth-shattering, so unexpected that only the most dedicated student of Truth would even dare to accept the challenge that this decision requires—the supreme gift of all—the transition from a temporary creature to the full realization of the eternal Son of God while walking the earth.



This mortal illusion is a stone that must be rolled away. It is the paradox that prevents you from living now in your infinite kingdom, the Kingdom of God. You must realize your identity is Spirit, you are now Spirit and Spirit does not and cannot live in a human body. (Spirit we know is the ancient’s way of saying consciousness. ) Your identity is spiritual consciousness. You are now spiritual consciousness. Spiritual consciousness does not and cannot live in a human body. Spirit lives in a spiritual body and so until you are living consciously in your spiritual body (which is everywhere, every when, and every one) then you are rejecting your identity as spiritual consciousness and the result will be division, duality and separation, which is a violation of divine rule and from it flows the absence of the Power of God.



Finally, after problems that seemed endless, after mountains and valleys that will bring you the experience of death and reincarnation. Seems like a rather stupid end to life, doesn’t it? You may wonder about it, about why we have persisted in living in this wheel of reincarnation and ask ourselves what can we do about it and why has the world not done it up until now?



We must admit to ourselves that there are very, very few teachings on this earth that dare to face the cause of human failure and human death. But to you it must become as plain as the nose on your face. There’s only one reason: Man does not live in the body that God gave him and you and I have the option to do something about that.



We are discovering why God is no respecter of persons. Why they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Why the flesh profiteth nothing. To live in a body of flesh that dies or to live in spiritual consciousness that is imperishable, this is your decision. It’s either accept or reject your own spiritual consciousness and until you make that decision, you should know you are walking on a high trapeze with no netting below. Human beings who have not developed the capacity to live in their spiritual consciousness are called dead, dead branches which are cut off and withereth. For them the transition is impossible for they have no realized spiritual consciousness.



So you see the choice between transition or reincarnation is up to you. You have been given the power to decide whether you will be a dead corpse, which reincarnates or whether you will make your transition into the Kingdom of God.



Now, we are seeing, finally, at last, that Joel, that Herb, that Jesus, Paul and John have all told us: that we must make this transition. We must step out of the belief that we have ever been entombed in a mortal existence and we must come now, up higher into the conscious awareness of infinite divine Consciousness, everywhere, every when and all one. This is what I am—and you can say it to yourself—I myself am infinite divine Consciousness.



Now in your meditations, it is time to consciously step out of the mind appearing as form and come up into the Spirit, spiritual consciousness, the Word forming Itself. One is mortal and comes to an end; one is eternal, right here, right now on earth as it is in heaven. Which one do you want to live in?



I tell you another secret that was revealed to me this week. I say it is a secret but I am sure there are many that have known it. It has been a secret to me because I didn’t see it until this week, not consciously, and that secret revealed to me this week is this: We are making the transition, coming out of the mind and into spiritual consciousness. We are moving from the mind to Spirit.



If you recall in “Beyond Words and Thoughts,” in the chapter, “Truth Unveiled”, we were told plainly that the ascension is always the same; rising above the mind to the experience of Truth itself. So the transition, my friends, for all of us is moving out of the mind’s mental images of mortality into Spirit’s recognition of infinite divine Consciousness appearing as eternal forms. This is the transition. It is done within you. You must lay down this false life and pick up your immortal identity and you must do it consciously. So in your meditations, in my meditations, let us begin to do just this.



Let us start with the recognition that this body is a mental image not made by God. It is already nothingness. Let us move to the truth that I, myself am infinite divine Consciousness, everywhere, every when, all one I am.



Let us be still and watch I am reveal Itself. Let us be quiet and listen to the I am speaking the word. Let us enter the Silence. Let us take and really practice ceasing from this image of man whose breath is in his nostrils and enter the Silence, completely empty of that mortal existence. Let us stand still and see the I am reveal itself.



This is what came this week and I tell you it startled me to make the discovery that I myself am infinite divine Consciousness and I am not incarnated. That was an experience like John told us would come in Revelation where he said everything will be shaken out of its place. I’m telling you it was an earthquake. If you catch this, it will shatter some things. It will shatter the belief in mortality. I, myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I am Omnipresence, I cannot incarnate, I am not incarnated. Right now, right here, I am not incarnated.



Oh my God! Then what is this, if not I? I myself am infinite divine Consciousness. I am Omnipresence itself. I am Omniscience. I am Omnipotence. I am that I am. I am not incarnated. I have never incarnated. I never will incarnate. Now be done with that. Be done with that and accept who you are. I am Consciousness.



Those who have attained this level of consciousness have left us the records we have so that we may go and do likewise. It was said also in this letter from Herb that this is receiving the Purple Robe of Christ Consciousness and that Joel received this purple robe just before he disappeared from sight. All of us must receive the purple robe of Christ Consciousness. This is our only destiny. This is our one goal. This is our inheritance.



Thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine because all that I am, thou art, because now you know thou art I am.

--


Oneness in Christ
www.mysticalprincip les.com

A New Earth ...

When you think, feel, perceive, and experience consciousness is born into form. It is reincarnating—into a thought, a feeling, a sense perception, an experience. The cycle of rebirths that Buddhists hope to get out of eventually is happening continuously, and it is only at this moment—through the power of Now—that you can get out of it. Through complete acceptance of the form of the Now, you become internally aligned with space, which is the essence of Now. Through acceptance, you become spacious inside. Aligned with space instead of form: That brings true perspective and balance into your life.



Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth

P252-3

Gospel of Thomas ...

'"Jesus said to them, 'When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside... then will you enter the Kingdom.'

life without a center ...

The self arises. Let it be. It is an illusion, after all, a construction of thought. You are prior to that construction, you are the awareness in which the construction arises. You are the awareness in which "you" arises. This is not clever wordplay but the actuality of things--look for yourself right now. Meditate on it. Come back to the present experience (this is true meditation). Is there anything solid there called self? Is there any clear distinction between you and not you? Where is the boundary? Are "you" contained in the skin surrounding the body? Is that what you experience yourself as?



Come back to the present experience! Without reference to the past, can you know who you are? Can you say who you are, really?

p.83

The primary delusion of human consciousness: "I am a person, in the world."

I am not in the world. Rather the world is in me. But to say, "The world is in me" implies that there may be things, events, places outside of me. No, all things are inside me. There is nothing, no thing outside. And so no inside either because outside can only be known in reference to inside.

And so there is no me (because I have no inside and no outside), and no things. Only this. There was never any separation in the first place. There was never any "me" separate from all things. That was an illusion.

p.139
life without a center
jeff foster
nonduality press 2007

God and man....

God is never identified with any man, nor incarnated in him. For God alone is uniquely the Unindividuated whereas all men are individualized creatures. Even the highest type of man, the sage-saviour, is a particular light, whereas God is the light itself..............Paul Brunton

The Outrageous Myths of Enlightenment...

There is this absolute, infinite, undivided awareness until the first
thought is born: the thought 'I'. When the I-thought is born, the
world is born. The world is 'not I'. The I-thought is the birth of
fear and desire. Before I am, All is. Who is there to have fear and
desire before I am? Truly, what I AM is before, during and after the
arising of the I-thought. Are there any words for it? The body is a
flowing series of sensations. The mind is a flowing series of images.
What is witnessing these sensation and images? What is witnessing
this body and mind? You are. Who are you?

The Outrageous Myths of Enlightenment
Stephan Wingate
P18-19

The Allness of God...

"I and my Father are one and ALL that the Father hath IS mine"

All -- all of thy presence, all of thy love, all of thy wisdom, all
of thy grace -- not just a tiny bit of it, all of it!

From the Art of Meditation: p. 21

"Any meditation that has within itself a single trace of a desire to
get something from God or to acquire something through God is no
longer meditation. Good is to be REALIZED, yes, but not to be
achieved: the infinity of good is already where I am; the kingdom of
God is within me. Locked up inside of our being is the presence and
power of God, the whole of the Godhead, just as perfume is locked up
in a flower. As the flower opens the perfume or the fragrance
escapes. Everyone has the allness of the Godhead locked up within
his own being--not just a part of it. God cannot be divided; God is
indivisible. God is infinite but God is indivisible. The allness of
God is in one tiny leaf--in every leaf: the allness of God is in
every individual on the face of the globe. Were this not true, there
would have been less of God on earth when the population was only 10
per cent of what it is today, and by the same token, there would be
twice as much of God on earth when the population is double. No,
there was just as much of God in the world a million years ago as
there will be a million years hence. THE INFINITE ALLNESS OF GOD IS
WHEREVER ONE INDIVIDUAL IS. That is why it is said that one Christ
Jesus can lead a million people into heaven, because one Christ Jesus
is the infinite individual Son of God and shows forth all that God
is. "Son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine" is not
addressed to a group but to an individual. God in Its infinite
allness, is embodied in the Son of God, in whom is our spiritual
identity. As we learn to turn within and let this imprisoned perfume
escape-this activity of the Christ, this beauty of God-then does it
come into visible being.


*******************

I once read somewhere that the original meaning of INDIVIDUAL
is "unable to be divided."

Love Kim