Forever Expanding Awareness In Liberation

It is interesting to note that many people take up what is called an Avatar in the virtual realm we has available to us through the Internet. Avatar is a Sanskrit word that essentially refers to a Being who is in all effects and purposes God incarnate. A fully God-realised Being incarnated as a human. Some might say that the story of the Christos is the story of an Avatar.

So in this virtual Kingdom of the Internet we have the experience of incarnating there as an Avatar. From the perspective of the virtual Kingdom we (our human/non-virtual self) is in Heaven and is fully conscious of its nature as a human. The online Avatar is a mere projection of our full and true (human) self into a virtual world were we take on a role and interact with the Avatars (digital incarnations or indigiations [to coin a new word]) of other fully conscious human beings. The online Avatar is completely ignorant of its true nature as a projection of a human. It is “asleep” to this fact. Asleep to its origins.

What I see here is a metaphor for life on Earth. This human self we have is merely a projection of our true Divine Self. It is an Avatar. I know for a fact that most of the Avatars I meet out in the world are all asleep to their true nature and source. They are yet to wake up.

The human self is our id-entity. Id is Latin for “it”. So our human identity is nothing more than an “it”-entity. An entity that arises through our identification (id-entification / it-entitication… entering the “it”). We can remove the “d” and we end up with an I-Entity. Making a quasi mathematical formula we could perhaps say that:

Id – d = I
Whereby d = dimension or density, or more specifically 3D or the 3rd Dimension.
I = the Supreme “I” that is the “I” (or Eye) of God.

It is not my intention to say anything conclusive in this blog post, rather to simply provide some food for thought and further self-investigation.

It has been a many years since I listened to or read any discussion and information pertaining to the contemporary notion of Enlightenment. It is a topic I explored extensively as a teenager and a little in my early 20’s. After that, well what can I say, it just hasn’t interested me in the same way as it use to.

Yesterday I was reminded of one of the reasons why modern information pertaining to the topic of Enlightenment I not something I am attracted to. What I have found is that nearly every spiritual teacher I have come across, and particular those teachers who claim they are Enlightened, is that their teaching establishes a situation that is both impractical and impassable to a human being seeking freedom. The aspirant is told he or she must transcend his or her current experience of reality as if to step over it or around it. On the one hand the aspirant is told he is imperfect and unenlightened as he is and thus must strive toward his enlightenment, and on the other hand he is told that Enlightenment is the end of all striving. You must seek a state of non-seeking. You must search for a state of non-searching. How is the aspirant ever meant to reconcile this dichotomy?

What I also find is that time and time again enlightenment related teachings come across as being so anti-life. They consistently manage to dismiss the magnificence of life and the perfection of all that is. It is as if life here on Earth was one massive mistake that we must now figure out way out of. This again sets up the aspirant with an impossible situation. On the one hand she experiences her emotions, her challenges, her personality complexes and so forth, yet on the other hand she is instructed to go beyond these things. But who is it that is going beyond them? It’s as if to say, "Get over yourself."

I find this approach lofty and ungrounded. I don’t know what the word is to describe the opposite of pragmatic, but this approach is just that.

The Path of Freedom as I experience it is an approach to reality that fully embraces life. It fully embraces the aspirant’s experience in every regard. Nothing is brushed aside, nothing is ignore, and nothing is seen as anything less than the means to that person’s liberation and total empowerment right now. It uses the combination of the aspirants total experience and their total innate awareness to bring about a shift in perception. This shift in perception results in Inner Peace.

The book I am about to publish will explore this topic in full.

The following is from a dialogue with a friend… who wanted to rid of her ego. Nothing unusual about that… most of the people I meet on some kind of "spiritual path" make the same claim… "I want to be free of my ego" or something along those lines.

The ego, a much misunderstood aspect of the human being, is not in my experience something to be got rid of.

Ego is simply the "I" within us. The same "I" in you that wrote the message you sent me, and expressed and felt the things you wrote in that message.

Our challenge at this time in human history–humankind’s challenge–is in discovering/uncovering the true nature of that "I".

Most people live under an illusion of misidentification of "I" with the world. "I" am defined by the world I perceive around me. Such people are blind to the fact that world they perceive around them is in fact a projection, and apparition, in the mind of the "I" within them or perceiving through them. The true and essential "I" is not of this world… it is in fact the dreamer of this world.

This is what the Christus was presenting to the world when he said "I Am that I Am"… this is the "I" free of identification with the world… the "I" awakening to its own true nature THROUGH this world. Similarly "I AM the way the truth and the light… none shall pass through to God except through me"… this "I" was not referring to some person, an individual human being, to Jesus and so forth… it is referring to the I AM… within Jesus, within you, within me… that "I" is the "I" of that which some call "God". That "I" is directly accessible to each and every human being, right now.

I Am the fish in the sea… I am the wind in the trees… I am the ocean… I am the waves… and I am the one reading these words here on this computer right now!

In-joy…

Wednesday, March 25th, 1998
Some notes written during a Yoga Teacher Training Course at Aio Wera, Waitakere, New Zealand.

Fear, anger, hatred, blame, and the myriad of other states manifesting at this level of being, are mechanisms that arise in order to protect my false sense of separate self. They arise both to protect this and as a product of this sense of separation. My illusions are self-fulfilling and self-sustaining. I fight to maintain this false sense of separate self to feel that I exist as some independent entity that can then objectively experience Unity / God / Love.

Yet I already am Unity / God / Love, though totally unaware of this reality within the body-mind. Through believing in the illusion of separation I sense that I need this experience in order for it to be real.

If I throw off and deny the ego-personality and all its mad emotions and thoughts then I simultaneous deny God the experience of being Unity / God / Love and having AWARENESS of this reality through experience, through direct perception.

Through letting go of attachment to and identity with the ego-self yet not denying it I become more aware (experientially) of my True and Natural state of Being — Unity / God / Love.

Thusly, God experiences God.
God aware of God.

Just to be aware.
Awareness is the key.

Ultimately the individual — as a unit of Awareness — discovers their self as God.

This leads spontaneously to to discovering that All-Is-God, that all is one.

One can easily stop here and seemingly cease to exist. Evolution comes to a holt. One’s universe ceases to expand. For the Self, in its usual sense, has nothing left to do.

Yet ultimately the purpose of individualized selfhood is not just to experientially be aware of God as God ones for its own sake but rather to be the full expression of that in its totally, for only then is that awareness of God as God complete. Even this has no finality, for we are, of course, dealing with Infinity when we speak of God.

Self is literally transformed into an absolute expression and simultaneous experience of God, the totality, Infinity. At this point, only, does the ego-self illusion truly cease to maintain and experience itself as a reality unto itself. The Boddisatva returns not through some kind of altruistic volition to save and help all beings. That’s a very personal way of relating to it from the mind of those who thing they are being saved. Rather the Boddisatva is all beings, in one particular expression or aspect, moving in whichever way happens to be most conducive for the totality of all beings to sustain the evolution of awareness.

This is God being ABSOLUTELY AWARE of God as all that God is.

This is total illumination. This is the end of separation – and of self. Evolution at the level of self ceases to Be, and yet paradoxically Awareness continues to evolve in ways unfathomable to Man at this point in our development. Creation ceases. It just is. As it always was. Yet now eternally aware of That.

The following is some discussion I’ve had with Albert over at The Urban Monk…

I post it here as Part Two in an exploration of new perspectives on Ego. Part one is over here.

——————–

June 17th, 2007 at 6:22 PM

Thanks Albert for sharing as you do.Interesting I should stumble upon this blog entry on becoming egoless, for in the last few months I’ve been realising another perspective on the ego that differs from the one I’ve been familiar with.

The perspective I have been familiar with is the one most prevalent in most of the so-called “New Age” and many “old-age” spiritual traditions and views on the nature of the human being, reality, etc. This is the one that describes ego as some sort of mistake (mis-take) and implies it has a separate existence from who and whatever we (as humans and consciousness) are. Like it is some kind of entity in its own right… or at the least some kind of separate “thing” within the human consciousness. It’s as if we are all suffering from multiple personality disorder. Yet do all these multiple “parts” really exist in the way most people think they do?

On one level the status-quo perspective on ego has rung true, to a degree… it’s made sense. Yet, I’ve also had this inkling inside that says “hang on a minute, in the perfect Unity of all that is where is there room for this mad ego that is apparently running amuck?”. Infinity knows no error.

Ego is derived directly from the Latin word of the same spelling. It refers to the “I”. We say “I” in English, where one would have said “ego” in Latin.

In my experience the ego is not something we can overcome or get rid of. This is further misperception. Rather it is about expanding my sense of “I” to be more inclussive to the vast infinity that my limited sense of “I” (my limited sense of ego) typically relates to. It’s also commonly proposed that one can enter into a state of self-lessness. Yet that is not my experience. I have realised it is more accurate to say that one can expand their sense of self to a point that is so inclusive of what was previously perceived as “other” and “non-self” that the perception of the self as an independent entity separate from the rest of all-that-is dissolves. If I eradicate the self — or the ego — what is it that remains to say it is so; to know it is so? What is it that has eradicated the ego or the self?

There is, in my experience, an essential I-ness within, and I feal this “I” is the same “I” in you, and me, and the same “I” that some people refer to as “God”. The I that I Am is the “I” that is God.

Attempting to eliminate the ego is, I suspect, another ego-trip. It is again a limited sense of self/ego attempting to manipulate the experience of self and reality based on the perspective afforded to one from that limited sense of self. As far as I experience, in Truth, the Path of Freedom is one of becoming forever more inclusive. The “heart” (the spiritual heart centre) is the inclusive faculty within the Human. The rational / thinking mind is the reductive and deductive faculty. As the heart opens and integrates into the human experience, I have experienced that there is less and less a sense of this mad ego I must over come. Rather I have found that it was more a matter of expanding into a far vaster perception of That which is I.

Is it about human beings dropping their ego or is it really about human beings evolving (as we are) in such a way that what we experience as ego / I / self expands? And I don’t mean in some sort of ego-inflation and self-aggrandisement… no, what I refer to is at the level of the profundity of Man/Woman, not the superficial.

I will be exploring this in more detail on my blog some time soon.

With love and blessings…

————————-

Albert Says:
June 17th, 2007 at 7:25 pm

, thanks for that great entry. It is brilliant! At the same time, I’m finishing off a post on some of what you’ve mentioned (removing the ego is actually more ego), but what you are saying on “Expanding” your consciousness and perception is admittedly new to me – I shall have to explore this.

I think you’ve just put a name to some of the experiences I’ve had in recent times – I’ve been discussing this expansion feeling with a few of my fellow bloggers but I have had nothing concrete yet – I still don’t know what exactly is happening to me – hence I’m sticking with what I’ve personally experienced with this blog. Once I consolidate that expansion thing I’ve been experiencing I’ll write about it. Thank you so much for that, I’ll be keeping a close eye on your blog for further insights. Thanks again!

————————-

FEAL Says:
June 17th, 2007 at 8:06 pm

Albert,
Thanks for the affirming and passionate response.
As I read your reply, the following analogy came to mind.

The human ego in its current state of e-volution (energy spiralling forever outward as form manifestation, and inward as awareness) is like a seed. To the external observer the following process can be seen: The seed dies to the germ within the seed as it begins to germinate (which takes place under the right conditions of moisture and temperature). The germ dies to the seedling. The seedling dies to the sapling. The sapling dies to the mature tree. The flower buds die to the flowers. The flowers die to the fruit. The fruit die to the seeds.

So, from one perspective, one thing dies to the next, just as we might say the ego dies to the true Self. One could also say the catepillar dies to make way for the butterfly.

Yet from another perspective the seed in fact already contains the tree. The seed already contains what is within the umpteen million seeds that tree will produce. Yet with each generation the potentiality of the seed evolves into something more aptly suited to the present conditions, as part of Life’s intelligent response to itself. Thus awareness evolves and expands. From this perspective the seed does not die (it is not got rid of), rather it simply incorporates from the formless side of Life (the unknown) a greater and greater expression of the Intention represented by this seed into the form side of Life (the known). The mature fruit baring tree is simply the full expression or manifestation of the potential inherent to the seed.

Our ego is like this too.
It is simply the seed of that fuller potentiality inherent to the hu-man being. We live on a planet we call Earth. Which is an anagram for Heart (we only have to put the tail round to the mouth of the word Earth to get that).

…….H
…T…….E
…..R…A

(The spiralling process I referred to earlier and also an ancient symbol for the mystery of life… the snake eating its own tail). [Ignor the dots... spaces didn't work so well so put dots instead]

I shall enjoy reading more of your blog soon. Diner time now.

Arohanui,

————————-

Albert Says:
June 17th, 2007 at 11:36 pm

Hmm…you seem to be coming from a very different perspective…I mostly know the ego as a psychological construct, but you seem to be talking about it as more a metaphysical thing? Thank you for taking the time to type up such a great response, I’ll have to look more into it, as I am coming from a completely different perspective than you are.

————————-

FEAL Says:
June 19th, 2007 at 8:57 pm

Yes, indeed. A different perspective.
Thanks for popping over to my blog at www.feal.org. Happy reading. My editor tells me there is 300 or so pages of writing on there.

From where I stand I would say that every “thing” we experience is a construct of one kind or another. We can call it a psychological one, and yet I am inclined to say that the human psyche is also a construct within the empty “space” of the Mind.

If I overcome or eradicate the ego, who is that knows this has taken place? Who is it eradicating the ego?

Further to what I have said already, as I typed the above and considered your above reply, I realised the following:
This “thing” we call the ego and experience as the ego is in fact some “thing” that within time and space (within the human scheme of things) has taken rather a long time to come about. It is the beginnings of the totality (call it God if you like) coming into an even fuller state of Awareness. As already mentioned, the “I” within me (and you) is ultimately the “I” of this totality we call God. I shall add that in my experience God is not an entity in its own right, independent and/or separate from you, me, and all that is.

This seed we experience as the ego has arisen out of the void into the form side of life. All the issues, problems, complexes, challenges, traumas, dysfunctions, etc. that we label and experience are in fact the very basis of our liberation into the Grand Perfection of all that is. These are not “things” to be fixed and/or got rid of, rather they are again the seeds of a vast and mysterious Power (one which most humans not yet even tried to fathom) coming into being — incarnating… stepping into the flesh.

From the lucidity of my True, Pure, and Omnipotent Nature there is no error. There is no faulty aspect within Creation that must be fixed or some how eliminated. There is an infinite perfection playing out… dancing through time, space, and beyond. Our human tendency to perceive that there is “something wrong with me”, which for the spiritual aspirant turns into “this ego and all that goes with it is an error I must correct or overcome”, this tendency arises out of out limited sense of self, our limited sense of ego or “I”.

For aeons I have watched people, and my own self, try to overcome these perceived human problems and conditions, and what we call ego. I’ve also seen beings of relatively great “spiritual accomplishment” (an oxymoron at best, but I think you know what I mean) — let us say these are people who are very conscious on many planes and of a great many spiritual/subtle realities — who were in my experience still being tripped up by a wounded and non-integrated human ego that had most likely been abandoned along the way side some where early on in their journey of spiritual awakening. It simply doesn’t go away. Human ego becomes spiritual ego. Human dysfunction simply becomes spiritual dysfunction. And that too is part of the journey into greater awareness. That too is part of the perfection. Yet that too is something I am equipped to discus and perhaps just one person will hear that discussion and something will click. The fight will end, and a new and more empowering battle will begin. The battle or challenge we were all Intended to face in the journey of Forever Expanding Awareness in Liberation.

With love,

In many spiritual teachings and also through the words of people I know and meet, I discern what I would best describe as  form of multiple personality disorder in relationship to the ego. What I observe is a split between the apparent “self” and the so-called “ego”. Yet what is this ego that is talked about as some kind of entity separate to the self that is identifying it and talking about it? Often I hear the ego being talked about in third person — this is me and that is my ego.

In my experience this is a slightly distorted way of relating to the ego and I question the long term benefits of such an approach. The ego is simply our sense of “I”; our sense of self; our sense of I-dentity or what I sometimes call the I-entity. The word entity comes from entitas, which relates to character/nature of being also a relation establishing that a thing exists. The I-entity (our identity) is that character of self that we use to establish that “I” exists. On planet Earth the existence of the “I” is, as far as I know, unique to human beings.

Is there something wrong with people having a sense of self existence? Is there something life-taking about a person having a sense of the “I” within their awareness? In my experience, many religions and spiritual paths and New Age teachings suggest there is, yet I disagree.

I think that where we get into problems is not so much that we have ego (a sense of self) but rather that at our present level of evolution in consciousness we (the vast majority of human beings) have a relatively limited and oftentimes distorted awareness of what the “I” actually incorporates. I don’t see this as some sort of error or fault in the human psyche but rather a natural consequence of the present state of development within humanity. Would we condemn the caterpillar for identifying with the particular form it takes in that stage of its development, ignorant of the butterfly that is yet to come? Of course not.

What I would like to suggest to you is this. The ego is not something to be suppressed, denied, controlled, condemned, or destroyed. This is as mad as trying to destroy the caterpillar in order to bring about the butterfly. I’ve seen much reference to the notion of transcending the ego, and again it is so often suggest that this is done through some form of separating from the ego (in some way), possibly squashing it (in some way), and voila, we go beyond it. Yet how effective is this? Really?

Would it not be more sensible to heal the ego in its present state–to heal our sense of self in out present state–so that this sense of sense may evolve into an even higher, fuller, and more spiritually integrated Being? The problems the ego appears to create in this world are the natural result of where it is presently at within its evolution. Just as the monarch caterpillar completely ravages the Swan plant before it establishes its chrysalis and eventually emerges as a butterfly, the ego is also ravaging its world. I’ve seen caterpillars ravage a Swan plant to the degree that the chrysalis’ already formed are chewed off, so they drop to the ground and die. Just this past summer I had a Swan plant which started out with about 15 caterpillars. Eventually only one chrysalis remained hanging, to eventually produce a butterfly. Many other rotted on the ground. Each of these caterpillars was behaving selfishly (moving toward the self) yet at their present state of evolution (in terms of consciousness) their appreciation of what that self is is rather limited. Human beings have the inbuilt capacity to operate at a level well beyond that of the caterpillar.

As I was saying, the key is to heal the ego–to heal our limited, dysfunctional, and disfunctional sense of self. Our ego in its present state is setting us–individually and collectively–up with the exact challenges we require in order to evolve to the next natural state of the Human being. The question is, will a few consume the Swan plant at the expense of everyone else or will we do it some other way that incorporates the life, development, and evolution of all beings?

I think that separating from what we call the ego is a mis-take, just as much as it is a mis-take to think that our limited egoic self is the sum total of what it means (or could mean) to be human. I think one only has to look at India and America to see an example of each of these extremes playing out and the pain and suffering each approach to reality brings about. In a place like India one can find the height of development of spiritual tradition and exploration along with the denial or at least the devaluation of the ego-self. The result is a country that is on the one hand immensely “spiritual” and spiritually enriched and yet on the other hand in deeply impoverished with people suffering and dying through starvation, poverty, abuse, caste segregation, and exploitation.

In a country like America we find a very different and yet paradoxically a very similar situation. The ego rules. The ego is it, the be-all and end-all of what life is about. The resent popularity of the movie The Secret is just one tribute to this, where spiritual principles are being promoted (at great financial profit) as a means to the ultimate satisfaction of the ego’s many delude desires and addictions. I think the capitalization and commercialization of materialism in America is the commercialization of the ego in its present state of evolution–that of being identified with a purely physical (even machine-like) body and the emotions, thoughts, and desires experienced within the framework of that body. Yet here in a country of ego-maniacs and ego-gratification we again find the same situation. People dying not of starvation but of greed and obesity and health degeneration that results from such greed. Oddly, death by starvation and death by chronic gluttony are both caused by malnutrition! In the USA we find a nation of people living in relative luxury yet at the same time impoverished with debt, the relatively absence of heart, and a level of consciousness devoid of true spirituality.

Of course, in both situation there are exceptions. If you’re reading this it’s probable you are one of those exceptions. I don’t wish to nullify the reality of those are an exception to the norm in either of these nations. I fully acknowledge I am using two generalizations to make a point. Generalizations that I think have a great deal of basis in reality.

So, in my experience I observe that neither of these approaches is in itself the answer. Denial of ego and worship of the ego both represent a limited approach to the reality of the Self and the evolution of awareness. Each is a stepping stone along the path we are all on–”we” being humanity. Each brings important lessons in the form of challenges that move the human collective toward something that is evolving toward a greater embodiment of awareness, and a fuller expression of Divinity.

The key is to expand our sense of self–our I-entity–so that it incorporates more of what is real and less of what is unreal. What I am referring to is not about the inflation of the ego the results in egomania, but rather in each human being expand their awareness of “That which I AM” beyond the limitations it is presently faced with. Just like the caterpillar must answer the call to let go of its present sense of identity so that it might arise from that chrysalis as a butterfly.

From some thoughts written down on  25th March 1998

GOD

 Fear, aggression, and judgement are mechanisms that arise in order to protect our false sense of separate self. I, as ego, fight to maintain this false sense of separate self to feel that I exist as some independent entity who can then experience Unity / God / Love.

Yet, in reality, I Am already Unity / God / Love, though totally unaware of this reality. Through believing in the illusion of separation I sense that I need THIS experience in order for it to be real.

If I throw off and deny the ego-personality and all its emotions and thoughts then I deny the totality—God—the simultanious experience of Being Unity / God / Love and having Awareness of this through direct experience.

Through letting go of attachment to and identity with the ego-self yet not denying it, I become more aware of my True and Natural state of Being—-Unity / God / Love.

God experiencing God. God aware of God. Just to BE Aware. Awareness is the key. Ultimately the individual discovers him or herself as God—the totality.

This leads spontaniously to dis-covering that All-is-God—that all is one.

I can seemingly stop here—in this state of being, this state of Mind—and seemingly cease to exist. Evolution comes to a halt. Ones universe cases to expand. For the Self, in its usual sense, has no-thing left to do.

Yet ultimately the purpose of individualisation of self—of God—is not just to experientially be aware of God as God, but to be the full expression of that in its absolute totality.

Self is literally trans-formed into an Absolute expression of God. At this point, only, does the ego-self illusion truly cease to maintain itself as a reality.

The is God being Absolutely Awarenes of God as all that God IS.

The is total illumination of That which I am. This is the end of seperation, and the end of self-hood. Evolution ceases. It just is. As it always was. Yet now eternally aware of THAT.

Money, money makes the world go round…

Money is an extremely important topic for any person wishing to even remotely get along in this world. Money impacts on most of us in one way or another. Yet it is perhaps one of the most misunderstood “things” in this world. Money, sex, love, and power… are perhaps all as misunderstood as each other. Oddly enough, all of these things are intricately connected within the human story.

In this article we will first briefly explore the nature of money, and then move on to healthy and unhealthy relationship to money. Let’s start with the most obvious question…

In this article we shall explore a few aspects of establishing a healthy relationship with Spiritual Teachers, Gurus, Masters and Healers. Many of the people I meet carry distorted perceptions of what it means to be in relationship with people who are apparently there to help them with their spirituality. For some it is an innate fear of being taken advantage of, for others it’s co-dependency, whilst for some there is an unhealthy sense (or lack of sense) as to what a fair and reasonable exchange of energy might look like—issues pertaining to money, time, service, and even sex.

Every moment is filled with mystery,
Here and Now no-thing is known,
No-thing is understood,
It simply is as it is,
Experienced,
Timelessly,
Now.

To be present and aware to this moment is to be present to the mystery of life.
What is this mysteryI am referring to?

The mind—specifically the ego-mind—will always strive toward the known. It will always hold onto the known… or at least that which it believes is known. The ego-mind always turns away from the unknown and particularly the unknowable. The true nature of who and what I Am is always unknowable, in that it is something that I can only Be in the moment. Whilst Being That there is no way to know that.

The other day a friend asked me if I considered myself to be enlightened. The only honest answer I could find is that in my experience there is no way to know that. I also realised in that moment that many of the self-proclaimed enlightened people I see on posters here and there have some how missed the point entirely. In my experience the more I dissolve into the true nature of Self and reality the less there is any worldly “I” there to even consider whether ” is enlightened” or not. The more “I” dissolve into my own non-existence the less attachment to (and infatuation with) “being enlightened” I experience. My point here is this: Be wary of any person that claims to be a “self-realised enlightened master/being” etc. The very nature of True Mind does not afford he who is awake to such nature the capacity to say whether he is Arthur or Martha. A person awake to the true nature of Self simply is. Anything else is just an ego-trip (or should I say “ego-trap”?).

So… the mystery.
There is profound mystery in all things.
There is profound mystery in every moment… in the Now.
The trick is not to try and solve That mystery, but rather to rediscover how to live within the tension of such mystery.
It is in that tension that one moves into a place of in-tension / in-tention. Here each moment is filled with intent… the Will of God, so to speak.
To solve the mystery is to again diverge into the ramblings of the ego-mind and to therefore miss reality entirely.

Breath is a key to living the mystery. To remain aware of breathing in each moment is a great way to stay present with Now. I feel blessed that an injury to my chest when I was a teenager has resulted in my having to remain constantly aware of my breathing. If I don’t then discomfort builds up in the chest (it was impacted inward) and it is only clear and precise breathing following a correct pattern than will keep things moving along. My experience of this is that remaining aware of the flow of breath is a powerful way to stay present with Now.

It is the nature of the Masculine to try and define the unknown. This is the act of creation. Delving into the unknown and defining what is there—thus making it known. Yet the unknown is a very feminine place, so Man (the embodiment of Masculinity) must embrace his femininity (and the women in his life) in order to fulfil this function. He must also be mindful not to fixate his attention on anything in particular that he has drawn forth from the unknown. To get attached to the known is to again fall asleep and disengage from the mystery.

To live the mystery means to live from a place that is non-attached. The ego is most attached to “what I think I know”. Yet there is little or no power in the known. All power resides in the unknown, in the formless essence of what is. The known is not now. It is old and its power has been expended in the process of drawing it forth from the unknown.

The known always feels very comfortable. Well, the ego makes it seem that way—when in fact we all endlessly suffer as a result of trying to unnaturally and habitually fixate our attention on the known. The ego has a incredible way of convincing us that the known is comfortable when in fact the opposite is true. There is no peace in the known. Peace is a quality of the unknown. To be in human embodiment whilst remaining present to the mystery—to the unknown—can be incredibly intense, and the ego will say that this intensity is uncomfortable. Actually this intensity is the experience of Life and being truly Alive. Again… to be in this tension (the dynamic forces of relationship that arise within the Dream of life) is to be in-tention.

Living the mystery is about embracing the unknown. It is about constantly releasing attachment to fixed ideas, fixed perceptions, fixed behaviour patterns, in order to make room from the mystery to unfold in your life and world. Only then is it possible to be truly alive, awake, and aware.

With love and blessings to you in this moment…

I have stated previously that my only “need” as a Divine Being is a mirror.

At times that mirror comes in the form of feedback, projection, and remarks from the people I am in relationship with–the people in the world around me with whom I have contact and interaction. For the purpose of this article I will put all of these under the umbrella of “feedback”.

Feedback may come from someone without being asked for; it might also be given to me upon my request, or after I agree to someone’s offer of feedback. It may also come passively through my observation of the stories the people in my world tell about me. When I have actively sort out feedback or agreed to someone else’s offer of feedback then I refer to this as proactive feedback or proactive mirroring. When it comes more passively simply through people stating/projecting what they think of me, or my being aware of the stories people maintain about me, then I would refer to this as passive feedback. What I have found is that it is vital I know how to discern what feedback is of value and which is not. Put another way, what feedback is actually mirroring to me something I need to see about myself and what feedback is not. In my experience most of it is of some value and should not be too readily discounted. Yet, contrary to this, I have also found that the value can be missed or distorted if I don’t discern the appropriate way to receive and relate to each piece of feedback.

Feedback is essentially just information. Most of the time there will be an element of projection taking place when a person gives feedback—in that the person giving feedback is actually projecting toward me the story their ego-mind comes up with in reaction to my presence. I have learnt that it is essentially none of my business what other people think of me, and therefore it is a waste of energy to take personally that perceptions other people have of me.

What I have also found is that when I do take certain feedback personally then at some level this feedback represents an externalisation of something I already hold on to internally as part of my persona. Another way of putting this—and this is a way to spot feedback that has immediate relevance to my ego-perception of myself—is to take note of when the data I am hearing arouses energy within me. As mentioned, it is just data… just words that symbolise a perception someone has of their experience of me. Yet if hearing that external data brings about the movement of internal energy (e-motion) then there has to be an element of what I have just heard that I am already carrying within me. This e-motional energy might be felt as feelings. It might also be experienced as mental activity that was not there previously. The essentially point is that a change of state has resulted from my hearing that feedback. This change of state—however that is experienced—is the red flag to look out for.

So, let’s say this red flag goes up, what is the most life-giving way to relate to this feedback?

In my experience it is still vital not to take it personally. It is my taking it personally—i-dentifying with it—up until now that has prevented me from clearly seeing this perception in the past, and why it is now being presented to me for evaluation (determining its value). I am first and foremost a Divine Being—perfect, whole, and loving in every way. As a Divine Being I am choosing to experience and express through an ego-mind that interprets/creates reality through beliefs, thought-forms, and perceptions. Someone has shared with me their perception of who or how I am to them. This has triggered a change of state within me. That change of state comes about because the perception they have shared has just mirrored to me a perception I also carry—a perception my ego-mind holds about who and what I am, which is then projected out into my world through my actions. It is these actions that this other person has experienced and then felt to give me feedback on.
I can in this moment make the choice to determine:

• how this self-perception plays out in my life
• the choices I make under the influence of this self-perception
• the ways in which I have denied or ignore this self-perception
• the actions I do or don’t take under the influence of this self-perception
• whether these choices and actions are life-giving or life-taking to me and the people/world around me

If I determine that the consequence of this perception is life-taking I am then faced with the choice of whether or not to maintain this perception or to let it go. Letting it go may involve a process that includes any of the following:

• Forgiveness—what is it I need to forgive (release my story around)?
• Looking at what role this perception has played for me—what purpose was it serving in my life?
• Looking at why I took on such a belief or perception about myself—was there a root experience that anchored that perception into my self-image?
• Exploring whatever else comes up when I ask Spirit to show me the gift this perception (and its release) holds for me

Another situation I might face is one where the feedback I receive (passively or pro-actively) does not arouse any energy in me at all—so my state does not change. In my observation this may mean that what this person is expressing is purely their own unresolved stuff and I am simply here to transmute it through an act or state of love and forgiveness. It might also be showing me a way in which my actions give an impression of who and what I am to the world that is not accurate. Put another way, it might be showing me how I am not being authentic in my relationship with this person (or people in general). For example, let’s say I am truly a very caring and deeply feeling person, yet people consistently mirror to me that they believe I am unfeeling or cut off from my feelings. In receiving that feedback it is unlikely it will arouse a much energetic reaction in me, because I am deeply aware that it is not true and I don’t hold that perception of myself. I should not, however, be too hasty in completely disregarding this piece of information that has come to me. What it might be showing me is that although I am a deeply feeling person I choose to act in such a way that my true feelings remain hidden from the world. Hence my actions and way of being is the world (perhaps all the time or just under certain circumstances) is not congruent with my character. I am not being authentic with my feelings in my relationships with the people that give me this sort of feedback that I am “unfeeling”.

So, even though this feedback didn’t result in a change of state, it is still telling me something important and valuable. Through receiving this feedback I am now able to become aware of how the self-image I project into the world is not congruent with my true nature or my character. I can then ask myself why that is so and process it accordingly.

The other situation that may arise, which I have just touched on above, is the one where this feedback really has nothing to do with me. It is purely another person’s story which they are not owning and are projecting to me. Actually nearly all feedback people have is in some way a projection of something that hold within themselves, yet in this last situation it goes not further than that. What I wish to say to this is that this is when I am being gifted with an oppertunity to help heal the world—through holding this person in a place of love and forgiveness within my heart and my perception. Their projection toward me is a call for love, and I can therefore choose to respond with love. The beauty of this is that even if this issue they have brought to me is in fact something I contain yet I am deeply in denile of it and hence had no reaction to it (no change of state) then by responding with love to this other person I will also be loving that part of myself. Eventually it will feel safe enough for that part of my ego-mind to come to the surface and dissolve.

To be accurate I must add that all of these situations are a call for love. Love of of self and love of another. Whatever the case may be I am being presented with a call for love and forgiveness.

In summary we have looked at three scenarios:

1. Feedback that is mirroring something I hold within my own self-image
2. Feedback that is showing me how my external image is not congruent with my internal state of being (namely, I am not being authentic)
3. Feedback that is actually not feedback but is rather just a call for love which I am being asked to silently assist a person to heal

In conclusion I will say that in my experience I am able to make a choice which is life-giving in response to all forms of feedback, projection, and mirroring from the people and world around me.

With love and blessings,

FEAL

Having taken a look at the , where I did also touch on the nature of failure, I’d like to now take a quick look at the illusion of failure in more detail.

Failure is defined in the dictionary as:

• Omission of occurrence or performance
• A lack of success or adequacy
• A decline in strength or effectiveness
• The condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends
• The condition or fact of being insufficient or falling short

Obviously a failure is something that fails. The word fail is derived from the Latin word fallere , which means “deceive, be lacking or defective.”

I see from these word origins that failure was never a descriptive word (i.e. “I am a failure”), rather is is a verb or an action / state. When I am deceived by the ego-mind as to my true identity then I am in a state of failure. Yet my true nature will always remain the same, so failure is an illusion.

Failure is an omission; a condition of being insufficient; a lack of success.
As we know, every choice is succeeded by an outcome. So a lack of success is truly not possible. So we are left with being in a state of omission, and a condition of insufficiency. The Truth is, however, that the Universe / God is entirely self-sufficient. In every moment the perfect conditions exist in order to maintain the perfection and integrity of what is. So it is really not possible to experience true insufficiency. I can only do that whilst under some spell of belief cast forth by the ego.

That leaves omission. Yes, it is possible that in this moment I will omit to see the true nature of That which I Am. Omit comes from the Latin word omittere, which means “to lay aside” or “disregard”. If I lay aside the Truth of what I am, and disregard the reality that is before me (extending through me into what I experience as the world/life) then I will experience the illusion of failure. I will in that moment fail myself—yet only in illusion.

I would say that the key to avoid failure for the rest of eternity is to simply remain aware, alert, and attentive to the now. With total awareness focused on this moment then it is not possible to be in a state of omission. If I am not in a state of omission then I surely can not fail. If I can’t fail then I can only succeed. One other definition given above for success is “The condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends”. In my experience the Soul (if I may call it that for a moment) has only one desired end—namely the absolute experience of Love. If your ego has you desiring all sorts of things that are contrary to this end then it is quite possible you will experience failure and disappointment. Again, the answer is to remain alert and aware. With awareness here now you will know what you are to seek in this moment—and rest assured you will be moved to seek higher and higher expressions of Love.

Be well…

With love…

FEAL