A universal assembly for true discernment
Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert shares with honesty and passion about the ups, downs, and all-around of the spiritual journey. Jacquelyn is transparent as she shares about the impersonal awakening process we all experience. She moves us with stories from her own journey, with direct insight from inner wisdom, and with guidance from spiritual masters, both contemporary and legendary.
Anne Blanchard shares her experience of purification and awakening, unfiltered and as it happens. Raw, reflective, brave, and infused with clarity, Anne’s open honesty inspires us all to dive deep into the spiritual journey instead of simply skimming the surface. She continues to share deeply from various non-dual teachings and teachers.
What do you want? What do you really want? What is the aim of your spiritual practice? What is the purpose? What is your purpose? We ask because we are embarking on a new weekly practice in the sanctuary, the purpose of which is for you to have a direct experience of the truth of what you are. The very good news is that you cannot, not be the Truth of what you are. Truth doesn’t go away because we don’t know it, can’t see it, or don’t presently experience it.
If you are interested in exploring your own blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, to the Truth of what you are, you are warmly invited to join us.
The practice is intensive, direct self-inquiry. The format is partner assisted contemplation, commonly referred to as dyads, which means two.
The day is Saturday and the time of the practice is 1 to 3 PM ET. You can join for either the first hour, the second hour, or for both depending on the time available in your schedule.
No prior experience is necessary. An introduction and overview will be given at the beginning of each hour.
This program will be facilitated by Anne Blanchard who welcomes any questions or inquiries. You may email her through Awakening Together at [email protected]. We look forward to embarking on this new practice with you.
Day 60 AssignmentThis evening (or tomorrow morning):
Tomorrow:
Whenever I am upset, it is because I am looking at the inside of my box. There isn’t a single exception to this statement. Some ideas may be drawn inside my box in bold colors, and I mistake them as important because of their boldness, but I am looking at a colored box. The box deceives me.
Some people may have a few ideas written on the inside of their boxes that are similar to some ideas I have written inside mine, and if we get together and compare what we see, we agree that we are right; but that does not change the fact that we are each looking at a limited colored box. Our boxes deceive us.
If we took our boxes off, cut them open and laid them flat on the ground so we could see everything written on them, and then we took all of the boxes on everyone’s heads and did the same, we would be amazed at the ideas and stories that colored the vision of each individual person. Instead of being angry at those who disagreed with us, we would have compassion. “Oh,” we would say, “That is why you felt that way. I see the writing on your box. I understand now.”
The writing inside my box started with a single idea scratched upon its surface. “I.” As I stared at the one idea inside my box, I bumped into someone, and another idea was scrawled inside my box. “Other.” I held something soft and pleasurable in my hands, and then felt the “other” take it from me. “Mine,” “victim” and “defend” appeared on the box. And in this way, the ideas multiplied until a complex web of ideas colored the inside of my box, all birthed out of the original idea, “I”.
This box has become its own little universe. It is filled with so many ideas, that it entertains me all day everyday and all night every night. With so much entertainment coming from the box, I have lost the sense of curiosity about the outside world. I have become so accustomed to the dark that I no longer crave the light.
With the box on my head, I see only what is scrawled upon the box. That is blindness. Because I have accepted the box as my universe, and because I have become comfortable in my own little world, whether I am happy, upset or suffering because of what is written on the box, I feel sheltered by it. I don’t know what is outside of my box, and I don’t really want to peek outside to see. To me, the known is better than the unknown. I have become accustomed to the familiar scribbles inside my box.
Common sense can see that this spell, my fascination with my box, needs to be broken. It isn’t healthy. It isn’t true. … It isn’t true. … That’s the problem. I fooled myself into thinking that the world inside my box is true, but it isn’t true. The box deceives me.
The instructions for Review 1 are fairly flexible. For example, you are told that “if any one of the five ideas appeals to you more than the others, concentrate on that one.”
The flexibility in the instructions allows you to develop a personal relationship with the review lessons.
When Helen scribed the review lessons, she also wrote a paragraph below each lesson. We do not know if this paragraph was fully scribed or if it is a reflection of her personal relationship with the lesson. In the instructions, you are asked to read these paragraphs, but you are also told that it is “not necessary to cover the comments that follow each idea either literally or thoroughly in the practice periods. Try, rather, to emphasize the central point, and think about it as part of your review of the idea to which it relates.” This might be because the comments are Helen’s personal relationship with each lesson. Rather than emphasizing her personal relationship, it is more helpful for you to develop your own personal relationship.
One way to develop your own personal relationship with the lessons is to contemplate each lesson and then write your own comments, comments that reflect your relationship with the lesson.
My intention for the review period is to spend time each morning contemplating the day’s review lessons and writing my own comments. Throughout the day, I will spend at least two minutes each hour deeply contemplating one lesson and the comments I wrote for that lesson. At the end of the day, I will reread the lessons and comments in the workbook along with my own comments.
If this feels right for you, please feel free to do the same. Developing your own relationship with the lessons as we do the review can be extremely, extremely helpful.
I will post my comments for Lesson 51 as an example.
Regina’s personal comments for Lesson 51:
1. Nothing I see means anything. I do not see with the body’s eyes. I see either with the mind or the heart. It is not what I see, but what I see with that gives meaning. When I see with the mind, I am lost in an individualistic illusion that has no meaning at all. When I see with the heart, I am in communication with my true Self. When I am in communication with my true Self, I know my real thoughts. My real thoughts are meaning.
2. I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me. This is true when I see with the mind. When I see the world through my individual point of view, I see an individual world. No one else sees a world exactly like the world I see when I see through the mind. When I see with the heart, however, it is different. When I see with the heart, meaning is not supplied from the outside or by thoughts. The meaning is my Self. What I am, I see. If I see anything that is not what I am, it is as thin as aging gauze.
3. I do not understand anything I see. When I see with my mind, my seeing is colored by my thoughts. Sometimes my thoughts are so dense, I walk about in the world without seeing the world at all; all I see are the thoughts in my mind. My thoughts are an obstacle; they hide or distort everything I see. Things that are hidden or distorted are not understood. Far from it. They are missed entirely.
4. These thoughts do not mean anything. My unique point of view is 1 out of 7,376,000,000 unique points of view in the world today. It is as if each of us is walking around with a box on our head. Our unique worlds are drawn on the inside of our boxes, and that is all we see. We argue that we are right about our points of view, but we are not right. We are blind. In order to see, we need to take the boxes off of our heads.
5. I am never upset for the reason I think. When I am upset, it is because of the box on my head. I will know peace-life-love if I remove the box, because peace-life-love is what I am.
Please read The Mind that Thinks it is Lord from The Teachings of Inner Ramana and contemplate it with your inner teacher. Follow inner prompting regarding the best way to contemplate the reading with the inner teacher. If you don’t feel a specific prompt, ask the inner teacher to share whatever is most important for you to know, see or realize regarding this message.
If prompted, review the tip from Day 316.
For the remainder of Year 2, use each day’s Thought of Awakening as a prayer that you return to throughout the day in order to remain in a state of devotion.
~358~
How do I know if I walk the path of awakening?
I know by its effects.
How shall I know if I will continue?
The effects themselves call me forward.
~A thought of awakening
*If you don’t already have it, order The Seven Steps to Awakening. That will be our text for Year 3.
Day 59 AssignmentThis evening (or tomorrow morning):
Tomorrow:
One error that creeps into the minds of many spiritual students is “magical thinking.” Magical thinking is believing that spiritual practice protects us and makes us happy by correcting the things in the world that we think need correcting. This error is fairly common and is fiercely protected by the ego, so it isn’t always easily let go.
Why is this error protected by the ego? Lesson 50 answers that question. “All these things are cherished to ensure a body identification.” Valuing magical ideas is the same as valuing pills, money, etc because the emphasis is on valuing form.
Everything that is born will die. Each one of us does well to accept this fact. When we accept that the body-personalities that we perceive ourselves to be are temporary and can end at any time, we are ready to seek for our eternal Self. Our eternal Self is beyond everything temporary and is affected by none of it. The realization of our eternal Self as our truth is ‘salvation’, ‘awakening’, and ‘eternal life’.
“Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances. It will lift you out of every trial, and raise you high above all perceived dangers of this world into a climate of perfect peace and safety.” This refers to truth realization. When you know what you are, you are not affected by the ups and downs of this world because you know yourself as beyond it.
A perfect illustration of this is the story of Ramana Maharshi’s death. When his body was dying of sarcoma, his devotees were in great sorrow. They thought they were losing their master. But Ramana responded to them by saying, “Where can I go? I shall always be here.” He knew himself AS eternal life. He identified with eternal life, not the temporary body.
Contemplate Lesson 50 carefully today, and watch your mind for every scrap of magical thinking. “Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless, and forever unfailing.”
Here is a link to a song that may help you in this contemplation: Click Here
p.s. Because magical thinking is such a strong ego defense (to keep us identified with the body), people often ask me questions like, “Should I take medication?” I resonate with Byron Katie’s response. She says that the body is the doctor’s business, not hers.
Let the doctor play games with the body. If the doctor says to take a medication or go through a certain procedure, go ahead, but watch your mind for the idea that this will save you. Identification with the body is an error. You are not the body.
Ramana Maharshi allowed his devotees to call a doctor, and he submitted to the doctor’s operations. His attitude seemed to be the same as Byron Katie’s. His body was not his concern or his business. He let those who saw the body as important make decisions about the body.
Please read Extinguishment of the “I” Thought from The Teachings of Inner Ramana and contemplate it with your inner teacher. Follow inner prompting regarding the best way to contemplate the reading with the inner teacher. If you don’t feel a specific prompt, ask the inner teacher to share whatever is most important for you to know, see or realize regarding this message.
If prompted, review the tip from Day 315.
For the remainder of Year 2, use each day’s Thought of Awakening as a prayer that you return to throughout the day in order to remain in a state of devotion.
~357~
I see all things as one
and accept all things as love.
~A thought of awakening
*If you don’t already have it, order The Seven Steps to Awakening. That will be our text for Year 3.
