A universal assembly for true discernment
Participants came together to discuss the Andrew Harvey Satsang. The purpose of this Sangha is to share what was most impactful, hear from others about what they took away, and deepen into the teaching from the previous day’s Satsang interview. Come to share or just listen to others. All are welcome!
This installment of Roundtable Sangha will be to share what was most impactful, hear from others about what they took away, and deepen into the teaching from the Satsang with Andrew Harvey where he was interviewed by Anne Blanchard and Lin Castaldo.
Roundtable Sangha will be facilitated by Rhoda Makled. You are invited to come and share or just listen to others. All are welcome!
We hope you can join us live, but if not, fear not. The Roundtable Sangha will be recorded for broadcast and replay on all of Awakening Together’s platforms including the website, radio, and podcast.
Day 135 AssignmentThis evening (or tomorrow morning):
Watch the following 12-minute video (below).
Tomorrow:
The ego resists truth.
Why does the ego resist truth?
It’s because the ego is mental identification with a specific body-mind-personality as what I am.
I say that again:
The ego is mental identification with a specific body-mind-personality as what I am.
The truth is:
The body-mind-personality is not what I am. The body-mind-personality is a temporary manifestation that has come about through the Third Principle of God, the creative principal. Like all temporary manifestations, it had a beginning, and it will have an end.
The ego, being mental identification with the body-mind-personality, does not like the truth. It wants to believe that some part of what it is identified with—the body, the mind, or the personality—will in some way continue forever. The idea of an eternal soul is the ego’s wish, a hope for something that is ‘me’ that continues beyond the body’s physical death.
But that’s not the truth.
That’s why the ego resists truth. It doesn’t like the truth. When the ego looks at the truth, it can’t find itself. It doesn’t like that at all.
What is the truth?
The truth is we are life itself.
Temporary manifestations come and go. They always have, and they always will. However, as everything else comes and goes, there is one thing that always remains—life. As today’s reading says:
… all that can be final is that which lasts when all else has ended …
Let’s imagine being at a funeral. There is a body in the casket. It is a friend that you’ve known for several years. Your friend died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
If you focus your eyes and thoughts on the body in the casket, death seems very real. However, in order for death to appear real, you have to narrow your focus to the casket. You have to ignore the life that you are as you look at the casket. You have to ignore the life that is present in all of the other people at the funeral. You have to ignore the life in the plants that fill the room and in the birds singing outside the window. In order to believe in death, which is the end of life, you have to ignore so much!
The truth is that you are not the body-mind-personality that your thoughts currently identify with. You are life—that which was before this body, that which is while this body is present, and that which continues when this body ends.
Look with open eyes. See that life never ends!
Look at nature. Specific plants and animals come and go, but nature itself remains.
Consider Ramana Maharshi’s statement to his devotees, as they gathered around him mourning his impending death:
I am not going anywhere. Where would I go?
Look. Does life die, or does it recycle, reorder and rearrange into new and different forms? Can you find the end of life, or do you find only ongoinginess?
Mental identification fears the end of a specific form that it is identified with. It wishes for a “truth” that will give it eternal life. Many people believe different religious stories about continuation of the ‘me’ in one way or another. Do you know why there are so many different religious beliefs about continuation? Because those beliefs are stories; they are not truth.
The truth is beyond any specific form and beyond mental identification with it.
Awakening is the end of mental identification with a specific form. When that identification ends, one sees one’s Self as life itself. In that realization, fear is impossible, because ‘end’ is impossible.
Letting go
of seeing fear as knowledge,
is letting go
of investment in ideas.
That is letting go
of investment in ego.
~From our Holy Spirit
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Listen to Roundtable Sangha Discussion
Anne Blanchard and Lin Castaldo interviewed Andrew Harvey. Harvey shared about the latest book, RADICAL REGENERATION: Birthing the New Human in the Age of Extinction, that he has co-written with Carolyn Baker.
“If ever we needed a guidebook that truly addressed the crises of our times while inspiring us with guidance and wisdom, this is that book. Talk about Divine timing. These authors provide readers with hope and practical insights, the perfect combination that calms inner chaos. It’s a must-have book.” ~ Caroline Myss, Author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Intimate Conversations with the Divine.
Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed writer, poet, translator, and mystical teacher. He is the author of over 40 books, including Son of Man, The Hope, Way of Passion, Turn Me to Gold, and Savage Grace with Carolyn Baker. He has taught all over the world, given over 20 courses for The Shift Network, and is the founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism. His website is: andrewharvey.net
In this program, we watched and discussed a selected TED talk. TED talks follow a unique format. Speakers at TED events have a maximum of 18 minutes to share their messages, which are delivered in highly polished, succinct speeches. TED talks are delivered by people from all walks of life on a multitude of subjects. A great many of these talks are about the insights gained by ordinary people–insights gained through extraordinary experiences or based on their contemplation of the ordinary events of their lives. Either way, their insights are genuine—not based upon theory or dogma, but experience.
The title was “How your emotions change the shape of your heart.” The speaker was Sandeep Jauhar. This group was facilitated by Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert.
In this program Anne Blanchard facilitates one of the core practices of the Awakening Together community. This program provides an opportunity to be in community with others who will to find that place of no-place, that attention to our natural attentiveness, that innate humanness that can often be overlooked. Anne Blanchard facilitates this program on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 – 8:30 am ET/5:30-6:30 am MT by leading participants through gently guided Being Aware of Awareness meditation.
All are warmly welcome.
Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Gloria Wells Title: “Thought Is the Linchpin”
Description: Rev. Gloria shared how our thought life and hidden beliefs keep us mired in suffering/separation.
Reading: Rubye Nasser read from The Possibility Principal by Mel Schwartz.
or
Day 134 AssignmentThis evening (or tomorrow morning):
Read NTI Luke 6 (v43-45) to the end of the chapter.
Tomorrow:
(You may always select another meditation video from this playlist.)
Yesterday, we looked at fear. We learned that fear is resistance, which means the way to overcome fear is willingness.
Resistance avoids change.
Willingness is open to change.
What is the change that we fear?
Ultimately, we fear losing our self. However, as today’s reading points out, the self we are afraid of losing is not our true Self. It is an imagined self. It is a collection of ideas about who we are. It’s thought, and nothing more than thought.
Our true Self is much more than thought.
In today’s reading, Holy Spirit says:
If I am to help you release your fear, I must teach you there is nothing to fear.
Holy Sprit does this in two primary ways:
1. Holy Spirit helps us become aware of thought. We notice that thought comes and goes. We notice that thought changes constantly, sometimes quite dramatically. We notice thought isn’t consistent. For example, thought takes a side and then changes sides. We notice that thought pretends to represent our best interests, but when we inquire more deeply, we see that isn’t true.
2. Holy Spirit helps us become aware of our true Self. We notice our true Self is always present. It is peaceful, naturally clear and wise. It is constant, changeless and consistent. When we focus on our true Self deeply, we realize inherent joy.
As we become more aware of both the false self and the true Self, we see more clearly which one we want and which one we don’t want. That strengthens our willingness, which simultaneously weakens resistance. In other words, increased awareness is the path of gentle healing.
Note: Today’s reading interprets the story about Jesus being sentenced to crucifixion. If you’d like to read that story in the Bible, click here.
Do not deny your fear,
but also learn to look at it differently.
You listen to fear
because you believe it is knowledge.
It is not knowledge.
Look at fear and realize
it is not knowledge.
Knowledge is reflected in
the true desire of your heart.
Listen to it.
~From our Holy Spirit
