STAY

Stay a bit longer in un-comfortableness.  This goes against the grain of what we are conditioned to do.  Usually when we become uncomfortable we want to run and get away from that which makes us feel that way.  However, "Staying" is a great Teacher.  Staying breeds compassion.  To begin to see that what you are trying to get away from, is something that you have either done yourself or are currently doing and accepting that...seeing that and then acting from that, are all Great Tools in beginning to know who you Are.  This goes back to the writing the other day on "The Same" once one sees their own hypocrisy they are a bit less judgmental (or not at all) a bit more compassionate (or completely) a bit more open to new ways of seeing and being in the world.  You are not running towards or away from anything, you are just in the moment you are in, and you may have ideas or opinions about that moment, but you are willing to sit through them.  You don't have to agree, you just have to sit.

THE SAME

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The world wants conformity, your neighbors, your family, your friends all want you to conform.  You know this, you know this because you know the ones that want it and so you find yourself with a few options, one you move away from them, two…they move away from you, three you try to be what they want and dance until you drop, or four you stand True in yourSelf discovering who you are moment by moment. 

What scares those that demand or impose conformity… about your not conforming… are two things, one that they realize they cannot control you, even if they threaten your life ... they lose ... because you are willing to die to be who you Are. The other is because they do not know who they are and you are a reminder that frightens them. They want you to conform and be like they are being (believing) so that there are no ripples in the pond, so that they can pretend that they know who they are.  In this they feel safe, that if you are like me (actually it is “if you believe like me”) then we will be safe, but the funny thing is that what we are all IN is the same for everyone, but the conformity comes from the one that thinks it is an individual and that everyone should be like “it.”

If you look at the Great Teachers that have appeared in our world, they did not conform to the world, to any dictate, doctrine or religion, they walked, in a sense away from the world, discovered the Truth of Who they Are and returned to the world and relayed, pointed what they had Found/Discovered until they were either killed or died.  Yet they were all willing to be killed or die. That doesn’t mean they were looking to be killed or die, they were only willing.

People want to be told what to do so that they do not have to make any decisions for themselves.  Ultimately, you do not need anyone to tell you what to do or what you should do, or what you will do, all you have to do is wait and see what you do.  But to be willing to be who you are at all cost, is the Greatest Freedom one can have in this world. 

Now the only thing left is whether you are thinking you are the “individuality” (which is not who you are, but contained in who you are) or the SELF, which all is contained in.  This is the Gift  of Freedom, the only True Freedom we have is ... where the attention is at (the noise of the world/thoughts/mind or the Stillness that all of that appears IN). 

Who you Are is not individual, divisible, destroyable or touchable, it is the Greatest Freedom because it cannot be touched by this world and yet you can Know it while in the world.  It is the discovery of our SAMENESS and then the enjoyment of our individuality.  Yes it is a paradox one of GREAT JOY (pun intended)!

A little over a year ago something shifted in me and I no longer was interested in eating animals at all, all desire or whatever it is that one has that makes them want to eat animals left me. Since then I got a chicken, she isn’t a chicken to me anymore she is a bird and she not even a bird she is just what she is in the moments we spend together. She makes a good example of SAMENESS and individuality.  

Marma (that is her name) is the SAME as I am … the Same whatever that animates her animates me, which is the same for everyone and everything.  However, in this world, she appears as a bird and I appear as a human, but through my time with her there has been a discovery of our SAMENESS, you could call it Light, God, whatever. Maybe I would not have known this without my time with her and she has deepened it for me with all of life.  She has shown me that being a chicken is not being "chicken" and I am less of a "chicken" because of knowing her, I'd say more like a "free bird."  :o))))

GIVING UP...

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The other day I received a book in the mail from a friend of mine, I was actually surprised by the title because it seemed a bit out of the norm from the person that was sending it.  It’s called “Life After Death” by Dinesh D’Souza and the first page is an introduction written by a Dr. Rick Warren and already just by reading the first few pages there is just this funny watching of how easily we can mislead one another about things that are very simple, but we make super complex. 

This Dr. Warren is speaking about how there must be life after death because and this is a direct quote from the book “If this life is all there is, there is no basis for any meaning, hope, purpose, or significance to life.  Everything in your life would simply be a random change of fate at best or an accident at worst.  Your life, and your death would not matter at all.  The logical end of such a life is despair.  Moreover, we can forget about being decent or ethical, with no basis for human dignity, rights, or liberty.”

Is this what many believe? Isn’t this how religion is created.  But is he right in his assumptions?   Because this is it (period).   This life is all there is (can you prove it isn’t?).   And it is so easily overlooked, by searching for questions that are unanswerable, yet everything one needs is here in this moment to experience this moment.  All the meaning, hope, purpose or significance to life…is RIGHT NOW.    And actually one doesn’t even need meaning, hope, purpose or significance to be in the moment they are in. 

Heaven (our world Heaven) is overlooked and destroyed in search for something that will come when we are compost in the ground (oy vey!)  That is hilarious and sad at the same time.

The author D’ Souza goes on to speak about death and the afterlife and I am not going to say anything about that because I also know that whatever get’s one in the door is great and by that I mean that if it takes searching for what comes after life to get you to begin to see the life you are in, then it’s all good.  

But someday people will be very amused (maybe right now) that they thought that the body (that they claim that they look at from out of the body during a near death experience (which if it is near death…is not death) will follow them into some afterlife and even if they believe that they are not the body, then they think that the personality will be in some kind of afterlife.  And what is a personality but all the things that kept you for getting along with others in this life (CHEEZY SMILE HERE). 

So obviously the only way that one can begin to see that they are in Heaven NOW is to begin to slowly and gradually watch as “who they think they are” begins to disappear while Heaven appears. 

Even though I am still on the first Chapter he speaks of surviving death and it is basically the personality that he would like to see survive and maybe he will spend his whole life hoping that it will happen only to find that it was the personality that kept him from SEEing Heaven while he is in IT.  Either way it makes no difference, but maybe it will to you reading this right now. 

You are not the body, you are not the personality, they can be enjoyed and are enjoyed but they are not who you are and for some this is great news and for others it is a bit scary because if you have identified with either then you might be wondering who you are right now.  But you are who you always have been, who you are before you are born and who you will be after you die and who you are right now, it is not the personality, it is not your beliefs, it is not the body, those are all distractions to keep you from discovering who you are, however they do not last, all of them change and so if you begin to start asking, what does not change, what is permanent.

I was looking at possibly starting a bet, one where I pay a person $10 if they can prove to me who they are (which must be something that cannot be changed) or they pay me $10 if they cannot prove to me who they are (something unchangeable).  It might be entertaining and informative at the same time.

Wanna be the first to try it?

THINKING ...

My Teacher used to say to me “And that’s a thought.”  When I would come to him with all these thoughts that seemed so important and it would stun me momentarily.  Sometimes I would wonder how he could say that to the important information that was going to impact my life and the lives around me and he could be so calm and although he would listen to my plight, he would eventually again point to me and say “And that’s a thought too.”  And he would smile and I would frown and stomp away wondering “what have I done wrong that I don’t see” (not seeing that that was just a thought too). 

He did this for many years, I would come to him again and again with problem after problem and in his infinite patience, he would listen or he would do whatever the moment called for which sometimes was a scolding or a praise, there was not a time, even to this day that I could predict what he would/will do, but that is another of His Great Teachings.  Many times I would go thinking I would get a praising, only to hear I had done something wrong, and then other times thinking I would get the scolding of my life, only to find him praising me for something I had done.  This over time became the blessed teaching of “not knowing.”  

Which leads to the title of today “Thinking.”  Thinking is knowing, even if you don’t know ... you think you can know by thinking.  But thinking is not real…it is not part of reality.  See these words come on the screen by the fingers not by thinking.  This is not always easy for one to see, for like I shared above, I knocked on my Teachers door with question after question and problem after problem, until one day the draw to Stillness became the Answer.  Even in moments now there is “thinking” and there is thinking that there was/is an answer and there is …but the answer is in Stillness/Silence. 

Now that can be even more infuriating to the mind that wishes to know reasons and answers for all things … to hear that they are all answered in Stillness, is to negate the “mind/thoughts.”  Again it all boils down to a frown or a smile, sometimes even a laugh or a punch in the face…depends on how serious one is in knowing answers. 

Since life is just happening and all you get to do is watch it, then living with unanswered questions is actually the gift.  To let things be as they are and watch as them appear is the gift and the answers do come, not in your time or your way, but naturally they appear.  Recently, a Friend of mine said she stays informed on my life through the writings I send her, and I wrote that I was annoyed because how do I stay informed on her life when I don’t receive any writings from her.  Then lo’ and behold, she appears on the street the very next day sharing with me what is going on in her life.  (((Smiles)))

Be willing to be surprised.  I know sometimes it doesn’t seem easy to do … especially since the thoughts usually say you know what is going to happen and it’s not going to be good.  But see how silly it is to think that you know the answer and that the answer “isn’t going to be good” wouldn’t it just be better to wait and see ... if the alternative is shitty anyway :o)

All you have to do is look at that your life has worked out perfectly this far, you are reading this right now and all is well right :o)  Even if you are thinking it is not LOL!

LIVING WITH UNANSWERED QUESTIONS...

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In a world where there is instantaneous everything, for most, living with unanswered questions can be a beginning step in the discovery of who you are.  Many may ask the question “who am I?”  And then like with all things of the world, expect an immediate answer and not only immediate, but one that is completely understood and explainable.  However, this is not the domain or way of the Truth of who you Are.  Even this writing will mislead you. 

The way of the Truth of Who you Are, is filled with twists and turns and paradox, inconsistencies and incongruent (ness), hypocrisy and ludicrousness.  It is not a straight road … except it is.  How do you tell someone you are on a road to nowhere (now here)?  You don’t, but your life being lived will reflect it and those that are paying attention will begin to see through you, that it is true. 

So next time you need an answer to anything that comes up, take a pause, don’t be so quick to find the answer.  See if you can hold out and see whether or not the answer shows up in a way you could not have predicted.  This is the fun of beginning to See.  You begin to See that everything you have ever needed shows up.  But you overlook it when you are searching for the answer, you don’t get to see all the many ways it comes … because you are looking for something specific.  When you put your search down for an answer, it allows for all possibilities to that question to arise … it’s like opening a box and then just leaving it open … not looking inside, just leaving it open, you might even begin to allow the possibility that you don’t even know what a box is … this is not becoming an idiot, it is seeing that we have labeled everything to the point that we actually don’t know what anything is, we just assume we do because it has a label…that is actually being an idiot as opposed to allowing for not knowing. 

So just for today, be the box with the open top and allow that you don’t know who or what you are, but you are interested.  And wait and see.