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This Sunday in the Sanctuary ~ September 6, 2020

September 3, 2020

Join us at 10:15 am ET/ 8:15 am MT for Our Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Gloria Wells

Title: “Creating Space Without Content”

Reading: Rubye Nasser will read Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly effective People Chapter 1.

*Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15 am ET/8:15 am MT in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. Join us after the Gathering for our Fellowship Time, hosted by Rev. George Maddox.

Enter Sanctuary Here.

Join us at 1:30 pm ET/ 11:30 am MT for The Freedom Practice Sangha

Following the recent Awakening Together online retreats it has become clear that many feel called to dive into intensive follow-up work. While the practice of unearthing and looking directly at our individual beliefs is primarily solitary in nature, we all recognize that the sharing of that work with others who are undergoing the same process can be enormously beneficial and supportive. This will be a time of sharing our inquiries, insights and challenges, listening to others, or just knowing that we are in community as we find that undefended place within ourselves that longs to be free. This program will be facilitated by Anne Blanchard. She also will be acting as admin since this is the time the Sanctuary Director normally takes a break.

If you feel called to dive deeper into this work, please join us weekly on Sundays at 1:30 pm ET. All are warmly welcome.

Join us at 6:00 pm ET/ 4:00 pm MT for Something Genuine with Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert

Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert facilitates this program, in which Awakening Together members and friends join together to watch and discuss TED talks that reveal the Truth of ourselves and our universe based on the actual experience of ordinary people. Their insights are genuine—not based upon theory or dogma—and give us a “man on the street” perspective on what we are coming to learn through Awakening Together.

Join us at 7:00 pm ET/ 5:00 pm MT for The Guiding Light with Rev. Regina Dawn Akers

Regina Dawn Akers reads selections from the book Perfect Brilliant Stillness by David Carse. The purpose of this inspired book study is to learn to stop focusing on words and concepts. Look where the pointers point! Be still and realize Perfect Brilliant Stillness just as it is. Join Regina as she dives deep into this enlightened book study which isn’t a book study at all! Here’s a link to the book here: Get the book for free

Join us at 9:00 pm ET/ 7:00 pm MT for Dissolving the Ego with Sharon Slyter & Michael DeForbes

Sharon and Michael will be sharing from Helen Hamilton’s teachings and books. They will be exploring deeply what it means to dissolve the ego and see all as the already Aware/Self. Join in and listen to the deep teachings of the Northern Guru Helen Hamilton.

Here are direct links to join us in the Sanctuary:

Enter the Sanctuary Here: Click Here

Awakening Together Internet Broadcast: Listen Live on AT Radio

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 185 – NTI 2 Corinthians 10

September 3, 2020

Today’s reading begins by saying:

The question that you always ask is: How are you to live in the world without being a part of the world? … When you are thinking this way, you are listening to the voice of confusion. … You are looking at the world as if it is real, and you are looking at actions as if they are actions.

If awakening to truth is our goal, it is important that we remember truth and live by truth to the best of our ability. If we continue to live by falsehood, falsehood is strengthened in us. When we live by truth, falsehood weakens until it passes away.

Truth is represented by the four principles of God. Everything in the fourth principle is illusion; it is consciousness appearing as something other than consciousness. The appearances are created by declaration. When we declare something meaningful by believing it and giving it attention, that value is reprocessed by the creative principle, and the energy from the appearance creates more appearances with the same energy.

The energy that I am speaking of is also called “thought.” As mentioned on Day 183, “thought” is broadly defined to include general attitudes and ways of being. Action is an expression of thought. That means that every part of how we be in the world is fed into the creative principle and creates the world, including its characters and their thoughts.

Most people are completely unaware of the four principles of God. They do not know truth, and they do not know that we are all a part of the creative process. They live from ignorance. That’s why Jesus said:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.
(Luke 23:34)

Most people are completely unaware of truth, but we are not completely unaware. That’s why yesterday’s reading said:

This service that you perform of not believing the world and of not acting as if the word is real, is a service you provide for yourself and for the entirety of the one mind that you are.

Those of us who are not entirely ignorant serve everyone by living from the wisdom we’ve realized.

How do we do that?

Actively remember your spiritual aspiration.
Actively remember the wisdom you’ve realized.
Act based on your spiritual aspiration and the wisdom you’ve realized instead of acting from ignorance.

The best way to act based on wisdom is to stay focused within. Ask inner wisdom, “What am I to do now?” and let it guide your perception and your actions.

Thoughts of Awakening # 185

One can live within the story,
while being aware of reality.
This is what is meant by
“awakened.”

One who is awakened
does not fear,
because that one knows
what he looks upon
and lives within.

To hold to the story as true
is not to awaken.
To awaken
one must be willing
to let go of all appearances
as not true.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 183-189
Read NTI 2 Corinthians 8-13 & NTI Galatians 1
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 192-193 Consciousness Only Knows Itself
Exercise: Pay attention that anything you see, hear, taste, smell, is IN consciousness, awareness.

MPP Understanding Purification Begins October 5

September 2, 2020

This class is 4 weeks long.

Whether this is your first exploration of inner space, or you’ve devoted your life to the inward journey, this course can transform your relationship with yourself and the world around you. By tapping into the tradition of mindfulness, discover how the development of conscious awareness can enable you to dwell in the present moment and heal the painful thoughts and memories that block Self-realization. You’ll discover what you can do to purify from habitual energy patterns that limit your consciousness.

In this class you will:

1. Discern purification practices that are helpful whenever you feel upset.

2. Practice purification in your daily life, as applicable.

Specific Information:

This is a forum based MPP Course.

Course begins October 5 and continues until November 2.
Cost is $80.
Textbook needed is The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.
Registration closes on October 1.

Click to register

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 184 – NTI 2 Corinthians 9

September 2, 2020

Yesterday’s reading said:

You give through thought.
There is literally no other way to give.

Today’s reading asks us to take discernment beyond thought. It asks us to practice discernment regarding the actions we take in the world.

That brings up a question:

If we give through thought and there is no other way to give, do actions matter?

Today’s reading teaches that our actions do matter, because all action is an expression of thought.

For example:

On Day 165, I mentioned that I used to parent through yelling. When I practiced inquiry, I found that I yelled because of a mind-made law that said, “Daughters are supposed to always happily obey their mothers.” Yelling was an expression of that untrue idea. If I had said, “I see that idea, and I don’t believe it anymore,” but continued to yell, that would not have been honest. I yelled, because I believed the thought. My action demonstrated the belief.

When we practice discernment regarding the actions we take, we are practicing discernment regarding thought, because action is an expression of thought.

For example:

Imagine a woman wants her son to accept one job offer over another job offer. She notices she feels a lot of anxiety about her son’s decision, so she practices root cause inquiry to discover the cause of the anxiety. She discovers that she is embarrassed when she thinks about telling people her son is a trash man, and she feels better when she thinks about telling people he works for the state highway authority. As she inquires further, she realizes her anxiety is caused by her own sense of unworthiness.

The next day, her son calls to let her know what he’s decided. As he explains why he is going to accept the job as trash collector, she notices a strong desire to change his mind. She wants to point out the disadvantages of that job and emphasize the advantages of the job with the highway authority. If she follows that temptation, she will enliven the idea of her own unworthiness, since the belief in her unworthiness is at the root of the temptation. If she chooses to stay quiet, listen to her son and practice rest-accept-trust with her feelings, she permits a false idea to weaken in her mind.

It is important to note that changing what we do because we want truth and changing what we do because we think we are guilty for doing it are not the same motive. The first is genuinely helpful. The second continues to clog the creative principle with untruth, since guilt is an untrue idea.

Thoughts of Awakening # 184

Appearances are like stories.
They only seem more real
because they seem to be outside of you.

But just as you noticed
that stories are merely stories,
you can see
that appearances are stories too.

Start by observing appearances
without immediately investing belief in them.

Withhold belief even a little,
and see if you don’t start to see
appearances as stories.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 183-189
Read NTI 2 Corinthians 8-13 & NTI Galatians 1
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 192-193 Consciousness Only Knows Itself
Exercise: Pay attention that anything you see, hear, taste, smell, is IN consciousness, awareness.

Jacquelyn Eckert – As It Is, “Let Your Following Lead You.” ~ 9/2/20

September 2, 2020

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.

Listen to the Audio

Being Aware of Awareness Meditation 9-2-2020

September 2, 2020

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.

Listen to Audio

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 183 – NTI 2 Corinthians 8

September 1, 2020

Today’s reading says:

You give through thought.
There is literally no other way to give.

In that statement, “thought” is broadly defined to include general attitudes and ways of being. “All is well” is one example of an attitude that gives. Seeing all experiences as having the purpose of helping you awaken is another attitude that gives.

One definition of “give” is to cause or allow someone or something to have something, especially something abstract. That definition comes close to the meaning of “give” as it is used in today’s reading.

To give is to allow truth into the creative principle by not clogging the creative principle with untruth. Of course, we clog the creative principle with untruth by giving our attention and belief to ideas of illusion.

For example:

When we judge the world and others, we clog the creative principle with untruth.

When we accept all things as they are, we allow truth into the creative principle.

When we believe that we are defined by specific qualities, we clog the creative principle with untruth. (Reference Day 173.)

When we see ourselves as open-silent-watching and when we practice awareness-watching-awareness, we allow truth into the creative principle.

Today’s reading says:

What you give is what is experienced,
so your experience is a measure of what you give.

The more we give the general attitudes of truth, the more we experience those attitudes. The more we give thoughts of falsehood, the more we experience falsehood. In other words:

What I think, I see.
What I see, I experience.

Because this is true, we can discern what we are giving by noticing how we feel. If we do not feel free, open, relaxed, happy and trusting, we can look at our minds to see where our focus is. If we are not giving in the way we want to give, we can use thought differently in order to give in harmony with our spiritual aspiration. (Reference Day 179.)

Thoughts of Awakening # 183

Appearances are like a stop.
When you believe in them
you are limited by your belief.

To experience your Self
and the all
as unlimited
let go of the limits of appearances.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 183-189
Read NTI 2 Corinthians 8-13 & NTI Galatians 1
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 192-193 Consciousness Only Knows Itself
Exercise: Pay attention that anything you see, hear, taste, smell, is IN consciousness, awareness.

Something Genuine: “Plug Into Your Hard Wired Happiness”

September 1, 2020

Listen to the Audio

The speaker was Dr. Srikumar Rao.

This group was facilitated by Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert.

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.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 182 – NTI 2 Corinthians 7

August 31, 2020

When we learn that we are the unaffected Self, but we still feel affected by things that happen in the world, we often think we are guilty for feeling affected. Today’s reading says that is not true. We are not guilty.

The idea that we are guilty for not being fully awake to Self is simply another false ego idea. Since it is a false idea, it is an idea we can let go of.

Instead of believing you are guilty when you feel affected by something in the world, simply watch your emotional reaction. Practice rest-accept-trust. When you watch an emotional reaction or practice rest-accept-trust, you are abiding as the true Self. When you feel guilty, you are falling for another ego shenanigan.

Thoughts of Awakening # 182

Aliveness has a Voice.
It is the Voice for all,
because Life
is the one unifying field.

When appearances are seen
as having no meaning,
the Voice for Life is clear.

When appearances are seen as meaningful
and requiring a response for salvation,
the Voice for Life may seem weak,
or it may not be heard at all.

Let go of appearances.
Trust what your eyes cannot see.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 176-182
Read NTI 2 Corinthians 1-7
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, 188-191, Consciousness is Self-Luminous
Exercise:The game this week is to spend some time in mediation. Start being aware, without judgment, just notice what you hear, sensations, smells. Just notice and don’t rush it. Allow your awareness to open up and when your mind quiets, ask, “What is aware?” Become aware of awareness.