AT Blog Articles

What is the nature of Life? ~ by Christina Layer

November 5, 2020

Life is energy. It is the Divine, moving through all beings. It is the Light within all things.

Life is all. Life is everything. There is nothing but Life. Life is in my body. Life is in my mind. Life is in every being. Every blade of grass. Every flower. Every animal. Every horse. Every tree.

Every fish that swims, swims with Life Itself. The ocean is Life. The hermit crab is Life. Life is you. Life is Me. There is only Life. Life is the Divine Radiance within all things.

Life is the leaf, rustling along the ground in the breeze. The sun kissing the flower in its splendor.

Life is within me. Life is me. Life animates all beings. Life is eternal. There is only Life. Life is beyond all comprehension, for comprehension is of the mind. Life is beyond mind. Life simply is.

Life is everywhere. There is nothing that is not Life. My brother, he is Life. His True Essence, that is Life.

Life is Divine. Life emanates in the Oneness of all things. Life is all. Life is everything.

Life is animated. Life is alive. All things have Life. Appearances are false illusions. The stone has Life. The soil, it teems with Life. The majestic mountain, it is a monument to Life. Life is all and everything. Life is. Life is you. Life is Me.

I am Life. I Am. I Am that I Am. And so It is.

Life is the Divine. It is the Radiance that blesses all things. Life is the Holy Spirit within you and within me.

Life is magnificence. All Life is magnificent This magnificence shines within you and within me. The magnificence is the radiance of the Divine Light that shines eternally within all things. All beings. This is Life. Life is the Divine. Life is vibrant. It is alive. It is animated and loving. It is the Presence that permeates all things.

Life is eternal. Eternity is never-ending. It is the only reality, this eternal Life that permeates all things. All else is illusion.

Life is Love. Love is Life. They are the same, for there is only One Truth, and the Truth is the Divine Presence. It is the Self within all beings. Divinity is alive and ever-present.

Be Life. Bask in the Divine. It is here, where Love abides. All else is not Life. All else withers away and dies. Love abides. Be Life. Bask in the Divine Presence. And so It is

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Seven Steps Contemplation: True Knowledge ~ by Rev. David Hemphill

October 27, 2020

“Why do people call me learned? What is the mark of real learning? Learning that all garnered knowledge of things is empty ignorance and that true knowledge is the search for the knower.” ~ Ramana Maharshi

Contemplation

Real learning is knowing garnered knowledge of things is empty ignorance, and true knowledge is in the search for the knower. All phenomena which arise and fall are empty, while only the unmoving is true. All thoughts, feelings, concepts, ideas, words, and images are phenomena. Infinite-awareness-love-bliss -consciousness (Awareness) is the unmoving. Because phenomena always fall away, learning through phenomena is “empty ignorance;” because Awareness is unmoving, Awareness alone is true knowledge.

The search for the knower refers to Awareness. The search for the knower is an action of inward looking, where attention is focused on the background of consciousness. This practice is sometimes called “Awareness Watching Awareness,” “Inquiry,” “Meditation,” “Contemplation,” or “Prayer.” During this practice, the mind shifts attention away from the ever-changing barrage of mental images and thoughts, and focuses the shifted attention onto the background of consciousness. When Ramana refers to this practice as true knowledge, he is pointing to the result of the practice, which is an (sometimes subtle) awareness of Awareness itself. Ramana acknowledges true knowledge to be awareness of Awareness, or just “Awareness.”

Ramana also explains all learning through phenomena is empty ignorance. All things which arise at some point in time, will again disappear at some point in time. Every visible object of consciousness will fall away, however pure, sweet, and joyful (or raucous, bitter, and sorrowful) the arising phenomenon may be. Because all garnered knowledge is a visible object of consciousness, and thus subject to falling away, the knowledge is empty ignorance. At any moment in time garnered knowledge can become empty. To invest in the temporary is ignorance.

The eternal Awareness alone is true knowledge. Awareness is never subject to falling away, whatever the circumstances, but has always and will always persist as the unmoving reality through which all possibilities occur. Because Awareness is immutable, immune to the rise and fall of phenomena, Awareness can be seen as the only true knowledge.

Real learning is knowing garnered knowledge of things is empty ignorance, and true knowledge is in the search for the knower. The practice of investigating Awareness results in true knowledge, while pining about all other things results in empty ignorance.

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Diary of a True Meditator ~ Part 2 ~ by Susan Telford

August 31, 2020

This is Part 2 of a 2 Part Article. For Part 1, click here.

Day 11

I had a profound realization during this meditation. Because the main focus of my meditation for many, many years has been on watching the breath, staying anchored in the breath and when the mind wanders returning my attention to the breath, I have actually been inhibiting the natural movement of awareness. When awareness moved, I labelled that mind wandering and brought my attention back to the breath. Today I watched as awareness moved, first to my breath, then to my senses, then into stillness, then to the sound of a bird, to the sun on my face, to thoughts of breakfast, and then to a huge sense of spaciousness, of boundaries dissolving of just being a part of this flow of sensation, truly awareness watching awareness.

Just as I am practicing allowing all things to be as they are during my meditation time, I am taking that commitment to allow everything to be exactly as it is into my daily life. Adya says this is the way to make the foundation of our lives one of meditation. Our whole lives become infused with the same quality of acceptance and non-grasping. I have been experimenting with this this week and finding it SOOOOO difficult! I notice how my ego argues with just about everything and so for now I am accepting that as it is, rather than trying to repress it or improve it.

Day 12

I did not meditate today.  We have guests and I have had little time alone. I practised meditative awareness instead. Various things happened today that I normally would have something to say about. I watched my mind’s reaction as I let everything be as it is. My mind has been going nuts! It has been telling me this is crazy, that I will be a doormat, that this is bowing out of my responsibilities, a form of spiritual bypass. I just continue to watch.

Day 13

Today we were asked to contemplate a question, write to the end of our own knowing and wait for wisdom to arise before writing further.

Because my mind has been resisting the idea of allowing all things to be exactly as they are, I chose this question:

What does it mean to allow everything to be exactly as it is?

To answer this question we must first discern what allow means in this context.

The dictionary definitions of “allow” are:

let (someone) have or do something.
give the necessary time or opportunity for.
admit the truth of; concede.

The first definition does not seem to apply, it seems to be an ego that would permit all things to be as they are. After all, things are what they are and need no-one’s permission to be so.

Does the 2nd definition fit? Do we need to give time or opportunity for all things to be exactly as they are? Time is needed to undo the ego’s need to control, to have things be other than they are. Opportunity need not be sought as life brings many chances every day to practice surrendering to what is.

The important word here is “give”. We give the time, the willingness, the opportunity to BE with everything, as it is.

And in so doing we come to definition 3, we admit the truth of everything being as it is. We see the futility of our arguments with reality. We concede that because we do not know what anything is for we can no longer argue with anything. We have had everything backwards -we thought we knew what we are, what everything means and we see now there is no self who needs to allow all things to be as they are, no act of will or gritting of teeth is needed, no sacrifice or martyrdom required!

We come to the joyful recognition that everything IS as it IS, far beyond any sense of allowing it to be so and casting aside that egoic delusion, we rest in the mystery, in the unfolding, in God.

Day 14

Today we are asked to contemplate a spiritually powerful question and write until there is a spark of insight.

What is important for me to know now?

Everything that is happening is for your good. You do not have to be good. You do not have to constantly give. It is time to be receptive. Turn within, listen to the whispers of your soul, follow the breadcrumbs at your feet. Remember you are given daily bread.

Do you remember how you felt when you awoke this morning, before the Susan thought arose?

This is your true nature.

Dwell there.

Be still and know that I AM.

Be still.

You are perfectly guided, perfectly loved.

Trust.

Be still.

Receive

Rejoice

Day 15

Yesterday morning when I first woke up, I was in a space I have only glimpsed before. It is a space of inner silence which feels very, very tender. It seems to be here as a background to whatever is happening. I get involved in the tasks I need to do and then I remember and check in and sure enough it is still there. It seems to be intensifying. When I meditated today, I felt a sense of joy that I was able to fully be there for a while. And that was my meditation experience- deepening and deepening into a bright, alert silence that is both joyful and has room for everything to appear. I had a sense of expansion as if the whole world was held in this boundless compassion that I am. Rage appeared and was honoured, sadness appeared and tears flowed for a while, profound peace and ecstatic joy were still there as the background, the fabric. I realised how much I have judged, held at bay, pushed away.

I welcome all experience, all feelings, each one loved, just as it is.

Day 16

Today we were asked to sit and observe awareness.

This has really changed for me . I used to try to find “my” awareness, to still my thoughts so that I could find a peaceful spacious space of awareness.This is where the words get tricky because what I am experiencing is a peaceful spacious space of awareness! But I am not doing it! This state, feeling, experience has emerged from this practice of letting everything be as it is. Underneath the mind that was trying to meditate to get to the peaceful place is the very peaceful place I was seeking. The “I” thought is not aware of awareness and awareness is not aware of the “I” thought. Awareness IS and is aware of itself . Everything that arises in awareness is a modulation of awareness and is made of awareness.

Day 17

The instructions are to observe awareness and ask “Who am I?”

Honest answer, I do not know. I know what I am not but I cannot find the words to describe the peaceful, silent spaciousness that has arisen. Is this what I am? The question does not even seem to make sense anymore.

Day 18

Today we are asked to journal about how we feel about our personality.

I have such compassion for my personality. I see the good girl aspect, the one who thought she had to please everyone to be loved. I see the one who tries to control, who wants to save others from the consequences of their own actions. I see the one who wants to be loved, who has twisted herself like a pretzel to fit in, to feel wanted, to be loved.

I love my energy and enthusiasm, I love the joy that flows through me, my sensitivity and intuition. I see the shadow sides too – the energy and enthusiasm, that becomes an indiscriminate yes, the compassion taking responsibility for others, even morphing into control.

I love that I am a natural teacher and see also my tendency to teach those who have not asked to be taught!

I am coming into a realisation that all is God – that all aspects of myself are being brought into the harmony of true Identity and a deep deep love is arising for myself and for others. I am being healed of my own contribution to separation, the rejection of the parts of my personality that I thought were bad/wrong/unacceptable.

Yesterday, my spiritual aspiration changed, it suddenly came to me that it is now “See only God” and that that includes my ego, my personality, my body, my thoughts, my feelings – all of it.

I often use the analogy of Playdoh as a metaphor for God, All that is, the quantum field of infinite potentiality.

Everything is made of Playdoh, because that is the only substance that exists! And so to view my ego-personality as something other is a fundamental error.

Day 19

What has been dawning on me more and more is how I have really tried to change my ego-personality and in the trying to change is rejection.

I love how Adyashanti said “Everything starts to be seen as a manifestation of spirit, including your humanness, with all of its strengths and weaknesses and all of its funny little quirks.”

This is the attitude with which I went through the day and I feel a deeper and deeper compassion for myself.

Day 20

Today we are asked to write about our most vivid childhood memory

My most vivid childhood memory was when I was about 6 years old.

I was sitting on the pavement eating an orange ice lolly. It was a blistering hot day and the lolly was melting and running down my arm. I was looking at the sky, bright blue, with pure white clouds. A shaft of sunlight was falling to the earth where I sat. I thought that these shafts were a stairway to where God lived.

I sat licking my lolly and my arms, looking at the sky and I merged into Oneness. I knew that I was part of everything, that there was no separation between me, the sky, the sun, the lolly, God.

Of course I could not have given the experience those words but I knew. I also knew that I could tell no-one about this or they would think I was weird. But I knew!

So, what is different about the woman I am now, compared to that little girl?

It feels as though here is nothing different, apart from being bigger! The awareness that recognised itself in that 6 year old body is the same awareness looking out of my eyes today. I feel as though I am reconnecting with something I abandoned -something that beautiful little girl knew intuitively.

I am the awareness that is changeless, that does not come and go, that is ever-present conscious stillness.

It is the background hum of my daily life, the place I remember and return to over and over again.

Day 21

Over the last 21 days I have reconnected with my natural spacious awareness. I have let go of trying to control and manipulate, I have re-established a daily meditation practice, I have befriended my own ego and come to a deep recognition that everything (including my ego) is made of God stuff (Playdoh!!) My spiritual aspiration has changed to “See only God”.

This has been a training in how to allow everything to be exactly as it is, both on and off the cushion (or more correctly the sunlounger!). It has been a joyful journey of relaxing and letting go of control and when the impulse to control arises, noticing and letting go of that with a smile.

Years of effort have unwound, years of ideas about how things “should” be are melting away as I practise having no expectations and being present with what is.

I have discovered that my years of meditation were actually my attempt to manipulate and control my experience and to make it (and me) conform to a preconceived idea of what the spiritual life/practitioner is. This is exactly what I did in every area of my life and in every relationship – have a preconceived idea of how things “should” be, then attempt to manipulate and control.

These 21 days have been life-changing as the practices got to the very root of how I do everything- exposing a spiritualised ego that was still trying to be in control! It has been met with the love and gentleness and acceptance with which I aspire to meet all things and all beings.

For further discussion of this article visit our Forum.

Diary of a True Meditator ~ Part 1 ~ by Susan Telford

August 24, 2020

I recently did the True Meditation class as part of the Ministerial Preparation Program. As I began the class, I would have described myself as someone with a lot of experience of meditation. To be honest, I had the sense that I did not have much to learn in this area! How wrong I was!

Day 1

Adyashanti says the purpose of meditation is not to stop or try to control the thoughts but rather to allow all things to be exactly as they are, thoughts and all. This is so different from the meditation I was trained in. Sounds more like daydreaming to me!

But the instructions are to have no expectations, to be gentle with myself and cultivate self-discipline, to be patient, commit to a regular practice, be open, quiet and receptive and to bring meditative awareness into my everyday activities.

I am willing to let go of my previous ideas and see what happens.

Day 2

I was introduced to meditation practice in the late 90s at a Tibetan Buddhist temple near my home. I attended meditation retreats and classes and had a daily practice for many years. My definition of a successful meditation (or myself as a successful meditator) was if I could sit for long periods of time, on the floor, cross-legged with a perfectly erect spine and maintain concentration and focus for long periods. My aim was to stop my mind, to stop thought. I thought (ha!) that if thoughts arose in my mind I was doing it wrong!

I often arose from my practice with a much more agitated mind than when I began and I felt like a failure a lot of the time (had to move because foot is asleep, mind is too active, even in the moments of noticing the gap between thoughts, the mind would exclaim “I’m doing it, I’m doing it” which of course put an end to “doing it!”).

After many years of this, I stopped meditating altogether, deciding that it was too difficult and actually counter-productive.

When I began to meditate again, for a while I adopted a technique I had read in a book where I visualized myself sitting in a cave on the side of a mountain and in front of me there poured a waterfall. The waterfall represents my thoughts and I watch them as they pass. In this way, I am the witness of the contents of my mind and success or failure has nothing to do with what arises.

In recent times, I have been (sporadically!) practicing awareness watching awareness and more frequently Bentinho Massaro’s 2-5 second glimpses.

As I began my meditation today I noticed such resistance to the instructions to allow all things to be as they are.

In the beginning I noticed the thought arising that I need to do something, follow my breath, watch awareness, be still. I was conscious of the mind grasping for something to do. I became very aware of my tendency to try to control and manipulate my experience, to put myself into a meditative state of mind. As I continued to sit and notice thoughts arising without either following or suppressing, I felt myself deepen into stillness. I had a sense of my breath moving through the space of awareness as my body relaxed more and more. Thoughts appeared about things I have to do later today and I just noticed. I became more aware of the background stillness, a depth of quietness and peace.

Day 3

I noticed the mind kept trying to exert control, for example when a song I had been listening to earlier started playing in my head. When I allowed it just to be there, I had recurrent thoughts of “this is not meditation”. Because of my previous training, my mind still has the residue of what a good meditator/meditation is!

As I continued to allow the thoughts to come and go, I had the wonderful discovery that when I allow all things to be exactly as they are, I come to rest in my natural state of peace, which is what I tried so hard, for so many years, to attain!

Day 4

I began the meditation by following my breath. As Adyashanti recommended I let go of that technique quickly. I am aware that my mind keeps wanting a job. It felt actually that using the inquiry question “What am I?” kept the mind satisfied, even as it tried to provide answers. By silently repeating that question, I was able to drop into a deeper place of stillness, where no answers were needed. It felt like what I am is the space in which everything rises and falls.

Day 5

At first, the mind tells me that this is not meditation. It wants to manipulate, deepen my breath, manufacture some sense of calm. I realise that I want to achieve an altered state of consciousness. I let go of that idea. The mind chatter ramps up, my son not coming for coffee, too busy to spend 30 minutes with his Mum, I watch the thought arise, gain momentum as I pay attention to it, I see the mind’s tendency to want to jump on the back of the thought, to add to it, to make my son wrong and me wronged. I want to return to awareness of my breath, recognise the meditator trying to step in. I am in my garden, I listen to the birdsong for a while, thoughts come and go, I notice a deepening sense of calmness. The thoughts arise and fall. I become curious about the space between the thoughts, the space between the birdsong, outer silence, inner silence. I want to cry, a sense arises that this peace has always been here, all the time. I have been too busy, too controlling, too manipulative to notice. The thought of letting go of control arises and I feel fear. I watch the fear – what is this for? What am I scared of? The questions arise and fall, no answers. I smile, noticing I want an answer. I let go of that wanting, go back to the silence, rest there until the bell sounds.

Day 6

I spent years thinking about spirituality, reading books about spirituality, attending courses and retreats. I am realizing that what I was doing was accumulating knowledge about spirituality and spiritual practices. I am realising that I have developed a very sophisticated spiritual ego. And although 30+ years of spiritual seeking was undone by one instant of realising I am being breathed, being moved, that I am not Susan, that I have access to Infinite Intelligence, the impulse to intellectualize, to understand, to be good at this, to learn rather than experience is rearing its head again and again.

At the beginning of my practice today, I followed my breath for a few minutes, just to settle. Then I thought about what the restful state of vividness is that Adyashanti mentioned. I thought that this instruction is somewhat contradictory to allowing everything to be as it is. My mind wanted to create this restful vividness. I let go of that and just noticed thoughts arising and falling, without getting involved. I felt a surge of pure joy at one point. My thoughts seemed to have a dreamlike quality. They were just doing their thing and I was not even drawn to do anything with them. They were there and I was there and the sense of joy and peace increased and increased. I felt a real sense of spaciousness and steadiness.

Day 7

The instructions today are to forget everything I know about meditation so I reclined in my garden on a sunlounger and allowed everything to be as it is. It felt like daydreaming. I noticed judgement -this is not meditation. I decided just to let that thought be there – I feel like I am befriending myself in a way I have not done before. I have been such a harsh taskmaster!

Day 8

Adyashanti talks of “effortless effort” as being just enough effort to be vivid, present, here, now, bright.

What I have been noticing is that my meditations have been taking on a daydreamy quality, which is not vivid or bright. Today I am going to make enough effort to be bright and alert and see what happens. I resonate with letting the dog off the leash – I feel I need to let that puppy run around a little because my tendency is to try to control. As in meditation, so in life! Everything is whispering to me, let go, let go, let go.

I sat outside in the garden on my sunlounger and immediately felt calm. It was as if I noticed calmness was just waiting for me. It really is my natural state! However, I soon noticed myself deepening into that daydreamy state and in the noticing became more alert. I spent most of the meditation with the image of a cat sitting alert at a mouse hole. It was an extraordinary experience, because for quite a while, 10+ minutes perhaps, I had not a single thought. Just this sense of alertness, restful vividness! Ha, I asked what that was and today I know and I didn’t try to create it!

Day 9

My mind was very busy at the start of my meditation. I was thinking about everything that needs to be done today. I am annoyed with my husband who has not done something he promised to do which means I have to do it, on top of other obligations I have today. This was very much playing on my mind and without the technique of coming back to the breath, I just noticed what was happening. What happened was intense rage! I noticed how I wanted to attach a story, I wanted to blame, I wanted to make myself right. I watched all of this happening like a violent storm. Underneath the rage is deep, deep sadness. “I do not know if I still want to be married” popped into my mind. I watched this thought with fascination and noticed that just as I am practicing letting go of control in meditation and allowing all things to be exactly as they are, an opportunity is arising for me to practise this in my marriage and at work. As the realization dawned that there is nothing to do, to figure out, to change, a sense of peace came that made me cry. I am so aware of how much I have repressed, how hard I have tried. Wave after wave of love came and I rested in the stillness of my own being until the bell sounded.

Now, in the aftermath I feel very tender and broken open. I am so, so aware of my desire to want to “fix” how I feel, to speak to my husband, to argue with a situation occurring at work. However for today, I am going to practice letting all things be as they are and abide in the awareness of this love and peace at the heart of it all.

Day 10

I had a lovely peaceful meditation today. I just dropped into stillness and felt as though all my senses were heightened. I meditated with eyes open in the garden and felt such a sense of connection to everything. I had a real sense of presence, of birdsong, of machinery in the nearby sawmill, the feel of warmth from my puppy’s belly when she jumped on to my knee, the smell of coffee. I truly allowed all things to be exactly as they are and it was blissful!

To Be Continued …

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The Indefinable Essence ~ by Christina Layer

August 17, 2020

I am. That is all there is. I am the indefinable essence. I am, plain and simple. There is no other. There is only “I.”

“I am that,” says Nisargadatta Maharaj. “I am that I am,” says God to Moses. I am. Through eternity. Through separation. In unity. In war. In pestilence. In peace and love. In harmony. In marriage. In illness. In well-being. In solitude.

I am all. I am everything. Nothing exists without me. I am Mother Earth nourishing her children.

I am the mother loving her babies. I am the father, toiling for bread.

I am the child, innocent in aspect. I am that I am. There is no other.

The winds howl and the thunder roars. I am. The rains pelt down on a parched earth. I am. The majesty of the trees, this is me. I am. The majestic beauty of the sunset. This I am too.

The kiss of a mother on a little child’s face. I am. The mother kitty, nursing her kittens. I am. The patterned cow, in all of its beauty in its pasture. I am. The breath whispering faintly in the warm summer breeze. I am.

I am within you. I am you. I am that I am. I am. There is no other. I am.

The multi-colored array of the autumnal forest. I am. The crystalline frost on the early-morning leaves of grass. I am that too.

The crisp chill air, the evaporative clouds forming a mist over the mountains. This I am. I am the forest reaching deep into the earth with its penetrating roots. I am. I am the trees, touching the sky in exuberant embrace. I am.

The eagle, bridging earth and the heavens. This I am. The turkey vulture, so clumsy on land, so majestic in sky. I am. I soar the heavens. I am. I walk the earth. I am.

I am you. I am. I am you and you are me. I am your brother. I am. I am your sister, here and everywhere. I am.

I am Love, within and around you. I am the embrace that lightens your heart. I am. I am omniscient, I know all. I am. I am the no-nothing. I simply am.

I am Awareness itself. I just am. I am all. I am everything. Omnipresence is my nature. I simply am.

I am that I am. There is only I am. I am the Divine Cosmic Presence. This I am.

I am that I am. And so It is.

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I Am Peace ~ by Rev. David Hemphill

August 13, 2020

I do not have anymore questions inside of me, but I recognize the answers I wrote below and the questions the writings were tacitly inspired from. There was an issue I grappled with for the last 7 years, and I found the answer some weeks ago. The issue: Who am I? The answer: I am Peace. The issue is solved through the following 6 inquiries:

(1) Who are the masters, and what is awareness?;

(2) What mistakes am I making, and how was I created?;

(3) Where is fear, and can fear hurt me?;

(4) What is Peace, and where is it?;

(5) What am I?; and

(6) What is my relationship to my body; Am I the body?

(1) “Who are the masters, and what is awareness?” The masters have all lived before me, each finding supreme Peace in their lives. Peace is an unyielding, untouchable bliss which has existed for eternity. Peace is important because Peace is awareness, and awareness is the lens through which the world is seen. People will always see through their awareness, but when people look out into their inner world of thoughts and beliefs, people become convinced they are their thoughts and beliefs. Millions of people look out of their awareness every day, and those people see their inner thoughts and beliefs. People make the mistake of identifying with those thoughts.

(2) “What mistakes am I making, and how was I created?” I see my mistakes every day. Mistakes are when I place my attention without remembering the lens through which I exist, my awareness, is Peace. Mistakes are important because they created me. When I identify as a thought or belief, I create a personality and a personal history, which I combine to form an identity. Every day, I spend as much time as I can spend in meditation, and I see Peace. However, each day there is time when I am not in meditation, and I make mistakes. I see these mistakes each and every day.

(3) “Where is fear, and can fear hurt me?” I have no fear. Fear is a feeling which arises inside of my body after I have made a mistake. The place fear rises is important, because fear does not arise inside of Peace, but is seen through Peace. Anything which can be seen is always seen by Peace, or awareness. This means even the strongest fear could arise, completely debilitating the body or shattering the identity, but it could never touch Peace. Peace, awareness, is prior to any phenomenon which can arise, and so Peace is untouchable.

(4) “What is Peace, and where is it?” Peace is with me. The Peace which is my awareness is the same Peace which was the awareness of all the masters who have ever lived before me. The Peace unites us, and draws a direct connection between us. Being created entirely and existing entirely through Peace makes Peace the only true, everlasting identity. In my life, Peace is the only immutable truth. In my life, Peace is my everlasting identity. I am Peace.

(5) “What am I?” I am the same Peace each master before me was. The Peace has not changed or altered in any way. I existed then as Peace, and the masters exist now as Peace. Peace is eternal, meaning it always has been and always will be, and infinite, meaning Peace is in every place at every time. My existence is impersonal, not connected to thoughts or beliefs, but to Peace. I am alive now, in the past, in the future, and in all space at all time. I am Peace.

(6) “What is my relationship to my body; Am I the body?” Finally, I am proud of my body, the instrument of Peace. My body is an instrument because it is second to Peace, while Peace is first. The recognition of the relationship between Peace and the body is important because the timeline illustrates how both body and Peace can exist at the same time – how finite and infinite can coexist. Being proud of my body means I love my body and treat it with the utmost regard. Treating my body kindly is crucial because my body is finite, and my body will cease to exist if it is not provided for in love and sustenance. The body is a solider of Peace, fighting every day until the body draws its final breath. In my life every day, my body meditates the most it can and processes emotions the best it can so I may live as a reflection of Peace to myself and to the world. While I make many mistakes every day, I know the body is a solider, and I will never fail because my body will never stop until breathing a final breath, and even then I will live on as the same infinite, eternal Peace I already am, already living as, during all of time.

I am Peace

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Who am I? ~ by Christina Layer

August 3, 2020

I am the sun, the moon and the stars. I am the universe, the earth, the planets, the cosmos. I am the Milky Way. I am all galaxies. I am all plants, all animals, all people. I am the rocks and the oceans, the rivers and the streams. The creeks and the falls, the rainbows and the sky. I am the rain. The sun, in all of its radiant splendor. The moon in all of its iridescent luminosity. I am all. I am everything. There is nothing I am not.

I am the Self within. Eternal. Timeless. Changeless. Omnipotent. Omniscient. I am the Alpha. I am the Omega. I am the Zero Still Point, the Tao. I am nothing. I am everything. I am you. I am me. I am all creation. Holy. Blessed. Full of Light. I am the Light. Bright, luminous, iridescent. I am all things and I am nothing. I am, plain and simply. I just am.

I am eternity. I am beyond timelessness. I just am. I animate all life. I just Am. I am all Life. I just am. I am you. I am me. I am every man, woman, child.

I am aware of all things. I am. I am Awareness. I am. I am Life. Life is Me. I am Life Eternal. Boundless and changeless. Perfect. In Harmony with All beings. In Harmony with All Life. I just Am.

I am the clouds. I am the wind. I am the leaves, rustling in the breeze. I am the creek, gliding effortlessly to its home.

I am Home. There is no other. For I am All. I am Everything. There is no other. I simply Am.

I am the night sky, twinkling with millions of stars. I am the plants, reflecting the light into the cosmos. I am the cosmos. The Universe, far and wide, is Me. I simply Am.

I am the chipmunk scurrying for cover. The great gorilla, protecting his troop. I am the birds, magnificent in their splendor. I fly. I crawl. I swim. I walk. I am. Plain and simple, I just Am.

I am the table. I am the rock. I am the water, flowing gently over the rock. I am the Peace running through all things. I am the Love in all that is.

Love is Me and I am Love. All that is is Me. I am the Love in the hearts of all men. I simply Am. I am that I Am.

Let all thing be. Let the Love shine through. See the Love beneath all that appears. For the reality is the Love. The appearances are brief within the illusion. The Love beneath endures. The Love beneath is real.

See Love. Be Love. I Am that I Am. I simply Am.

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An Exploration of the Concept of “I” in Relation to Awareness.. ~ by Rev. David Hemphill

July 20, 2020

The idea of “I” is absurd. Even “I” fades while Awareness still remains.

There can be no ego without attention. Attention is all of ego’s power, and ego does not exist without attention. Awareness, however, does exist without attention. One, therefore, is sentient and real, the other is an illusion.

Awareness is untouchable. Only the ego can be talked to or hurt. The ego is the cause of all suffering and pain in the world, but ego is also the recipient of all pain and suffering.

The solution to sadness is to choose to end the ego dream.

“I” can’t be ego. “I” can’t be true self. “I” can’t exist on its own. “I” doesn’t linger, “I” disappears. “I” returns from where it came. “I” changes. “I” is malleable. “I” is impermanent.

“I” is the prodding stick for the camp fire of awareness. Mind may identify “I” with true self, and may by doing so rightfully aid the quest in ending the ego illusion, but “I” is not true self and never can be. There can be no “I”. “I” is an ego illusion, dependent on attention. “I” comes and “I” goes. Awareness remains.

Q: Do I place attention on awareness, and never move my attention away again?

A: No. Attention is a tool the mind uses to focus on different external phenomenon. Attention is important because it allows the mind to perceive. Any time the attention is pointed towards a phenomenon, the mind is able to learn and process. It follows, placing attention on awareness would be helpful for learning and processing what awareness is. If learning is the goal, attention on awareness is helpful. Attention on awareness can lead to realization, clarity, wisdom, and discernment.

For the journey of entering into the “fire” of meditation and recognizing the true self, the source of mind becomes important to identify. The source of mind is “I.” The “I” is an impermanent, coming and going, transient pattern of internal movement. The “I” wields attention, and the “I” is responsible for all questions and all answers. (This is why attention comes and goes, and so do questions come and go). As a rule of things which change, the mind will never be settled. Using the mind to focus on attention would be helpful to still the mind and answer the mind’s questions – for a moment. Then, the mind will create new questions. In fact, because things which change are never settled, the mind may focus on awareness, but the mind will never stop moving attention. The mind will never exist in the same state long enough to ever melt into awareness.

To melt into awareness is to end the ego illusion and recognize the true self. The end of the ego dream is the end of pain, suffering, distraction, and identification. The true self is awareness. Through meditation, one can discover awareness as the only instant experience which never changes. The awareness is different from attention because attention is a changing tool of the mind, while awareness is unchanging and instantly, concretely present of its own accord. To awaken from the illusion of the ego dream and the false self, look truthfully to awareness and recognize the eternal, infinite position of awareness. Rest in the awareness. Notice awareness is present even when attention is placed away from awareness. Awareness is unchanging, so awareness does not depend on changing attention – awareness of awareness is not a product of attention. Awareness of awareness is an oxymoron. Awareness of awareness occurs constantly and consistently, because awareness is changeless and does not move, yet is infinite in every place, and eternal existing at every time.

To melt the ego mind into the “fire” of meditation, to meld with awareness and recognize the true self, placing attention on awareness and simply not moving it will not be enough. Attention will constantly move through questions and answers. If the mind is too loud to be still, and learning is helpful, then attention on awareness will lead to clarity and discernment. However, the end of the ego illusion and the recognition of the true self is a product of instant awareness. The mind, “I,” is not part of the solution. The changing actions of the mind are not part of the solution. The solution is already realized in the infinite eternal awareness

Facing My Anger: A Journey From Anger to Re-Awakening~ by Rev. Jennifer Nahulu

July 13, 2020

“Never underestimate your power to change yourself.

Never overestimate your power to change others.” ~Wayne Dyer

Recently I came to my threshold of anger. These times have been intense for many people during the Coronavirus pandemic, with many people being out of work and with having to stay home for much of the time without engaging in our usual social activities. For some, the protests for equal rights have taken its toll, with curfews, riots and protests. I was already dealing with anger that I hadn’t healed or really been looking at. It was slowly rising up to the surface more and more each day. I live alone (with my cat) and so the isolation; the lack of human contact and real communication may have been getting to me. Watching my friends get tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets on Facebook live was also getting to me. I was recognizing more and more, my passion to find justice for people, specifically people of color in our communities who had been assaulted or killed. I have been working on a case for two years for my friend, who was assaulted at Union Station in Denver because he is black.

On a recent night, all the emotions had come to a head in a conversation with my neighbors in which I realized, in my perception that they were all racists. I was livid. I expressed myself in a social networking forum not intending that they would see it but they did. This caused a huge lashing out. I was called names and told to move out of my apartment, even though they don’t have that authority. I basically was told I was not welcome in my home. I felt broken; no longer angry, but just dead inside. It was time for a change. I looked at my declining health, my chronic high blood pressure, my anger, anxiety, constant tension in my body and overall feeling of fatigue. My thinking needed to change. It wasn’t working anymore. I had lost touch with wisdom which once carried me out of these difficult situations or helped me through them.

This is when I faced my anger. I decided to reach out to friends and ask for resources. There were about sixty suggestions including YouTube videos, Books, links and most of which I already owned, knew about and studied before. Oh how easy it is to forget. I was informed of a Choose Again meeting online as well as Byron Katie meetings which I immersed myself in. Lessons from A Course in Miracles came rushing back in. I had surrendered and found that everything I needed, I already had at my fingertips.

I felt lucky on the first day of my “re-awakening” journey to be chosen to do the Choose Again method in the meeting I was invited to. I was reminded of a memory when I first felt angry and the beliefs I had about myself at the time. I believed I was forgotten, abandoned and unsafe. The process led me through these beliefs to realize that they are not true, but I had believed these things so long that I forget that. A woman in the group gave me feedback saying “If I am triggered by something, it is about me.” I can see that anger is a kind of defense mechanism against these beliefs and that if I want peace, I must take responsibility for my feelings and the thoughts from which they stem.

I contemplated for some time on my actions over the previous weeks and how much I was expressing my anger online to people, some of who were total strangers, but also to my friends, family and neighbors. I had seen that in my passion for justice, the purpose was lost. It became more about the argument and getting people to understand than actually working constructively to fix the problems. Mawlana Nazim, a Sufi Shaykh says “When a person gets angry, this is a form of pride. They are saying, ‘I am better than you.’ They are looking at the other person, proudly saying, ‘They are no good, but I am good – I have the right to be angry in this situation.’ We have no right to be angry with any other person on earth. Control of anger comes from our level of humbleness.” So again I see my anger as a defense mechanism. The need to be right shows my need to validate my existence and that I am safe and not forgotten or abandoned.

I do more contemplation and still feel that desire to fight in me. The feeling of being attacked enabled some tendency to have to fight back. The Tao Te Ching says “A good fighter is not angry ….To embrace all things means first that one holds no anger or resistance toward any idea or thing, living or dead, formed or formless. Acceptance is the very essence of the Tao. Every departure from the Tao contaminates one’s spirit. Anger is a departure, resistance a departure, self- absorption a departure.” I see that when I am angry, I am blinded to everything else. Fighting is resistance, a pushing away. My heart is pumping, my breathing is heavy and all I can see is this idea I have made in front of me that is not true. I have left the truth. I have left peace.

What can I do then when I feel triggered? I have joined in on some Byron Katie zoom sessions and had some good takeaways. Byron said “Their words are medicine if you are really listening.” If I really want to grow and learn, I will see that these triggers are only teachers to show me my own unhealed trauma, pain and suffering; the beliefs I have held onto about myself. I think about my neighbors in particular and how uncomfortable it is now to live next to them and how I still feel uneasy around them. Byron says “You would believe this about anyone because it works so good for the ego.” I start to see that it doesn’t matter what the situation is that I am fighting for or who it is that I am fighting, all that matters is that the ego can be seen.

More contemplation reveals memories in my past when I was in middle school and high school and saw people get beat up and didn’t do anything because I felt helpless. The guilt I felt on top of the powerlessness I felt, never left me. This is part of where my relentless desire for justice comes from. I want to help now, I want do something. This is fine, if I find the right way to help instead of just being angry. Now that I have identified the source of my anger and can go deeper into the reasoning, I can channel it into the purpose and find constructive ways to improve the situations I am passionate about.

My anger comes from a very deep need to feel loved, protected and safe. When I see that another is not being loved or protected or safe, I am triggered. It is okay to be angry. Mark Oshiro wrote Anger is a Gift which is a story of resilience, loss, vulnerability and a fight for injustice. It shows how it is a motivator for change. If I choose to “soften instead of suffer,” I can see the beauty in what anger offers us and how it comes up to bring about positive changes if we can learn to channel it in effective ways. If it weren’t for my anger I would never have come to a breaking point and had to re-evaluate myself and be reminded of the truth that I am. Stillness has helped me. Silence has helped me. Contemplation has helped me. Exercise has helped me. Moving the body and getting energy moving and up and out is a great relief. I realized (again) that it is not my job to change the way people think or to “get them to understand,” also, that nobody has to be wrong. I don’t have to find fault or place blame, I can allow people to be as they are, while also working on my path to make changes in the systems that would help people, rather than harm them.

The most important thing I can take away from these last few days is that I always have a choice. I can choose between a grievance and a miracle. I can choose to remember the truth of who I am. I can reach out to others and receive tremendous help back. I can face my anger instead of numbing it, suppressing it or denying it. I am still on a very vigilant path towards healing trauma I have not dealt with, but I hope that this recent short journey can be of some help to someone else who is experiencing anger themselves.

With Love,

Maile Nahulu

P.S. The picture of the flower is a Plumeria from Hawaii that I have been growing for two years that just had its first bloom. Patience is key as well as consistent care for finally watching it bloom. I felt this was a good symbol for this lesson.

There Is Nowhere I Could Ever Be Taken Where Peace Does Not Go With Me. ~ by Rev. David Hemphill

July 6, 2020

There is nowhere I could ever be taken where Peace does not go with me. I can not be separated. Nothing can oppose Peace, nothing can match Peace.

I have been shown fantastic bright lights and light shows, but still, my Peace remains. I care not to watch the light, only to fix my attention on Peace.

I have been given visions and have left the body, but still, Peace remained. I care not enough to watch the vision for a moment. No time to listen to its words. No patience for finding its meaning. No use for returning or not returning to my body. No idea what I was shown. I fix my attention on Peace.

I have heard the voices and reassurance of the masters. I do not acknowledge their consolation. I do not need words, Gods, or gurus. Peace is the Satguru, the only teacher I ever need. I ignore all others.

Nothing can take me from Peace. When I fall asleep, Peace is still there. It has been with me in all places, and at all times, in all my days, eternally. Every day I practice dropping these thoughts and this personality, so I may more clearly see Peace.

Like cleaning off a mirror, I will continue wiping until I see myself clearly. I am Peace. Every day, I practice letting go of thought, and fixing my attention on the absolute. It is only a matter of time until the mirror of mind is clean, and the mind reflects the Truth of the Spirit and Peace within.