The Ultimate Unfolding


Below is the conclusion of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on December 26, 2004. - TG.

Ishvara:

The opening of the rose takes time. Your opening takes time. For some the opening will be quicker than for others, but it comes from within. It is not a matter of confidence or ability. It is not a matter of what you know or what you have learned. Those things are fertilizers. They can assist, but they are not really it. They can help, but you can't get the experience through those things. On the other hand, you may not have the experience without those things, so it is a bit of a paradox. As you become silent and present, you begin to understand the "no way-ness" of Life, that there is not a process, there is not a way, there is just the stillness, being OK with what-is, stopping the struggle.

Accepting what-is is not complacency; it is a kind of surrender, surrender to the unknowingness of existence, surrender to the realization that there is within you an ultimate power, an ultimate place that is pure existence, and from that place comes revelation, connection, awareness of greater connections, awareness of possibilities, awareness and embracing of uniquenesses, the ultimate connection, the ultimate unfolding. You find you have talents and gifts; you have qualities you can share with the rest of Life.

The ultimate sharing is the sharing of yourself, the sharing of the direct experience, which is mostly beyond words, through acts of kindness, acts of inspiration, connection, a supportive awareness of another individual's possibilities. Yes, you see the selfishness, the stinginess, but there is no point in focusing on that when you realize that whatever you focus on, gets the energy. In every human being, there is that core that is often starving to death, in need recognition, and you find that in others AFTER you have found it in yourself. If you haven't found it in yourself, you can't find it in others.

Once again, it is an inside job. Through patience, perseverance, and allowing, you begin to experience the direct knowing of Life, the very core of your existence, and then you begin to dare, to dream, to move, to expand experience in an inclusive outward way, which is different for each unique expression of The Consciousness. You can't compare it to another, because it is so unique to the individual. That is why there is no way. What is good for one individual, may be very disruptive to another. What works for one, may not work for another.

If Life wanted to create itself in sameness, everyone would look alike and talk alike; everyone would have the same feelings, the same problems, and the same experiences; it would be one experience. Yet what could such sameness tell Life about itself? How can something be experienced fully through just one little taste, one little look? Why should Life be any less than unlimited experience? Life has created itself uniquely as expressions, individualities full of possibilities, and these are realized and accessed through silence, through presence, through being.

Be slow to have judgments; be quick to offer praise. It is magic. You can love or you can hate. When you hate, all you really do is slay yourself; you diminish your being. When you love, you expand, you find even more to love, even greater connections.

When you hold an opinion that is separating, in a way you are annihilating; you are destructive. When you hold an ideal that is connective, compassionate, accepting, you expand, you add to Life. It is actually a very simple way of being. You can't really sit still. You are either adding to or diminishing; that is the nature of Life. You may think, "Well, rocks sit still." Not really; you just don't see them move, because they are pretty slow. All of Life is a movement, a dance, and the music is silence. The experience is silent, the sharing becomes the words, the sharing becomes the joy, the sharing is the gift of silence.

You speak from a place of silence that is peaceful, serene, loving, and that establishes greater connections. When you speak from the place of the intellect, it can be conditional, judgmental, opinionated, separating, and very noisy. Silence doesn't mean that the intellect stops, or that there are no thoughts. Silence arises when the intellect begins to serve the awakened Life, enhancing the experience and the gifts that are inherent within beingness. The intellect begins to look for ways to establish a greater connection, greater possibilities. It tries to extend the connections to be more inclusive of these possibilities. So the intellect truly begins to serve the greater awareness, but it doesn't scream or complain about anything; it just serves, it just is there, and you hardly notice it working, because it is silent. There is no argument, no contest, no competition; it just is. That is Life. That is the awakened Life, present as True Nature, and from the place of direct experience of The Consciousness, you find that Life is truly unlimited, that Life has no problems, that Life just has possibilities.

Your resistance, or attachment, or judgment makes Life into a problem; your acceptance, allowing and embracing make it into an opportunity, so it becomes your choice. You can choose to remain in separation, living in consensus reality, doubts, beliefs--all of that; or you can choose to embrace the direct experience and begin to expand with the unlimited possibilities of existence. In that process, you might even find that you love yourself. You might realize that you are not such a bad person after all; you just acted badly, and deep down, at the core of your existence, you remained pure, the Life Force waiting to blossom, waiting to bear its fruit, its gift to the whole universe. It happens in a moment. It happens in a stillness. It is an experience, an experience that changes your life forever, an experience of awakening to True Nature, that unique manifestation of Life, The Consciousness that you are.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.

To learn more about Ishvara and the Alaya Community, visit our website at www.alayanet.org

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The Opening Of The Rose Takes Time


Below is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on December 26, 2004. -TG.

Ishvara:

Intelligence, knowledge, those things that can be learned, are simply rungs of a ladder that lead to something that is priceless, something that is worth your whole life in attaining. Most people cling to the rungs of the ladder, expecting a particular rung to be it, forgetting that they begin this journey at birth, and the journey is about the direct experience of Life. Most individuals manage to escape the experience, living somehow as the other, creating a selfish persona, a "me," that is always in competition with the supposed powers-that-be, always looking for something, wanting something, being sick, diseased, addicted, lonely and separate.

The intellect rationalizes, "Well, I haven't found the right religion, the right practice, the right path, the right teacher; I haven't found the way", or "It's their fault; my parents' fault; the government's fault; the world's fault; karma's fault." If Life were controlling, if Life were an agenda, you could get by with that kind of thinking. "Yes, it's Life's fault that I'm not successful. It's Life's fault that I am diseased. It's Life's fault that I am lonely." But Life does not control. From the perspective of the conditional mind, Life is really indifferent to you. Not too satisfying is it?

Humans are always searching for some "God" that will love them, but they have given up the expectation that "God" will love them unconditionally; it is a very conditional God they have conceptualized. Religions are conditional: God will love you, if you do the right thing; if you do the wrong thing, God will expel you, punish you for eternity. Some believe that if they sacrifice their life, they will get to enjoy a host of virgins on the other side. Some believe that if they live a pure life, they will get to sit at God's feet, play harp music, and walk on golden streets. Some believe that even if they don't live a good life, they will get to come back and do it again. You see, it is all about "outside"; it is all about the other. Very few ever get around to recognizing where it is, or even what it is. It is really an inside job. That is why I said there is nothing out there; the "outside" is all darkness.

Existence is energy waiting to be utilized and manifested in whatever way, whatever mold, whatever process can take place, but it is not usable from the outside. "God," "heaven", "hell", and "the next lifetime" are all concepts which humans have devised about the outside. They are concepts that come from the unknowing; it is like a child, who hasn't the slightest idea of the truth, making up stories. Such stories can be interesting, even exciting, but there is no truth to them. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. The stories that humans feed themselves, in some way to pacify themselves, have a subtle divisiveness to them.

You continue to search, trying to make sense of the world around you, but really the only way to know is to come inside, to come into this place of silence. The place of silence is where you are not reaching out, not striving after something, not using the intellect to calculate or figure out; instead, there is a stillness, and the stillness increases the more you can let go of any concept, any belief, any perception of need or lack or want or don't-want, any judgment, expectation or resistance. The more you let go of these things, the more still you become, until finally there is that moment--actually when you least expect it--when you suddenly have the experience. You have a direct experience of Life. You may laugh, you may cry; you may feel as if you have lost your mind, but you've had the experience; you have experienced Life-as-it-is. At that point, you are no longer concerned with who's there or who's not there. You are no longer concerned with a goal, a should or shouldn't; there is no more judgment, no more resistance, no more attachment.

The intellect thinks, "Oh, that means I will just fall into oblivion and do nothing." No, not quite. Because of the direct experience of The Consciousness itself, the real You, there is a creative explosion of possibilities; suddenly the whole universe opens up to you, and you realize that you can do anything. You can direct yourself in any way. You can move and exist and be all that you can imagine as possible. There is only one requirement: that you remain in silence, that is, you don't let the intellect become activated and start laying shoulds and shouldn'ts on you; you don't fall into judgments about your creation; instead, you recognize, "Oh, that's it; now what?"

There is a movement, a dance, and an unfolding to direct experience. It is like the rose. Most humans go about it backwards: they try to get the rose to open by pulling on the outside petals. What happens? The petals come off. You have to wait for the rose to open from within. There is something within the rose that causes the petals to begin to open, and any amount of prying or forcing just messes it up. You may get it open by prying, but it will be unnatural, deformed, and it won't last very long. The opening of the rose takes time. Your opening takes time.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.

To learn more about Ishvara and the Alaya Community, visit our website at www.alayanet.org

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Something That Is Worth Your Whole Life In Attaining



Ishvara:

As you begin to gain the greater awareness of connection, how can you hold a grudge? How can you be indifferent? How can you be in judgment, when you see the Life Force as it is, seemingly happening--often--in spite of circumstances and conditions? You begin to live with an awareness, in presence and being, of the connections in Life, realizing that the time allotted to human beings is very short compared to the standing universe, to that of existence: a mere spot, a moment in all of eternity. You can spend that moment in suffering, or you can spend it in connection. You can spend a moment in the perception of separation, living in guilt and judgment, fear and survival, or you can spend that moment in celebration, loving what-Is, embracing what-Is, understanding what-Is to the best of your ability.

Is there really any time to waste on guilt or shame or judgment or remorse? Is there any time to waste on "What if?", or "should", or "shouldn't"? From this perspective, at times I can see the foolishness of human beings, so caught up into the selfish agendas, the "me first", the "what about me?", "what's in it for me?", losing sight of what actually is. When you live in separation, you live in a realm of consensus reality, conditions, beliefs, and concepts; you live alone. Even in the midst of crowds of people, you are alone. You search for some identity, some recognition, some connection, but the core of your being, the very heart of existence, seems separate, so there can never be any real connection. You fabricate connections; you try to establish realizations. You have an intellectual awareness of possibilities, but unless the heart is there, unless the core of your existence is awakened, you are like zombies walking around, having "sort of" experiences, but no deep realization, no accessing the unlimited possibilities of each moment, so caught up into the what-ifs, the shoulds, the shouldn'ts, so afraid, absorbed in so much strain, struggling to survive, to hold some ideal, some belief, some concept.

It is really to no avail, for your life can be snuffed out at any moment; it can all come to an end. There is so much written, so much striving--to achieve, to believe, to conceive, to prepare--and so little is done to actually live: to live in presence, to live in connection, to recognize the fleetingness of Life, the fleetingness of your own existence, and to come to grips and awareness of all the time that has been wasted in remorse or guilt or judgment or "should have", all the time spent in being self-centered, alone.

When you think about the whole of your life, when you realize how Life works, you can see that there are no guarantees or assurances. There is no promise, because it is left to each of you to find within yourself the fortitude, the awareness, the power, and the connections. Life does not force or compel you to achieve or to fail. Life is not against you, Life just Is. When you can live in the awareness and connection that Life Is, you begin to realize the true source of existence, the true place of being; whatever you call it is just a word, a label.

This realization involves seeing that it is not outside, that it is inside, that everything you need is inside; every ability, every talent, every awareness, every possibility exists within you already. It is like a gold mine that is just waiting to be found. You keep looking on the outside--to books, to practices, and to systems; you keep looking for solutions, for remedies, for healing, and for enlightenment. You keep looking on the outside. Yet all that is on the "outside" is darkness. There is no existence that is on the "outside." All existence is within. When you realize that, you come to see all the programming, all the ideals, all the judgments, the expectations, and the problems, as non-existent. They "exist" only on the outside. You bring them in by belief; you open the door to separation through belief.

The beauty of it is that a door you have opened, you can also close. You can realize that the source of existence is within. You can realize that the knowledge, the information, is within. You access it from within; not through great clamoring or effort or study or learning, but through presence and being. It is a direct experience. When you have learned that you cannot learn Life, you become full of wisdom. You have to live Life; you have to experience it. Of course, one of the tools that is necessary is trust, trusting that it is possible, trusting that there is something within you that is worthy of discovery, that within you there is that place of the universe where everything Is, all possibilities co-existing side by side, moment by moment, waiting to be discovered.

Humans have been notorious for looking outside, looking with expectations, wants and desires, expecting from the outside some savior, some deliverance, the right word, the right concept, the right program, the right religion, expecting that it will somehow bring a gift of awareness. But really the bottom line is the experience, and if you are afraid to experience, you have already cut yourself off. You will live in programs, beliefs and concepts. You can gain all the knowledge in the world, yet still be the most ignorant individual on the planet. Intelligence, knowledge, those things that can be learned, are simply rungs of a ladder that lead to something that is priceless, something that is worth your whole life in attaining.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

This has been a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on December 26, 2004. - TG.

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.

To learn more about Ishvara and the Alaya Community, visit our website at www.alayanet.org

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The Truth Of Your Being


Below is the conclusion of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on January 9, 2005. - TG.

Ishvara:

In the past, I was in church ministry, but at the height of that experience I recognized that it did not resonate with the core of my being. It was as if a thin shell, a lacquer, was laid over the top. I felt good. I felt alright. I was on my way, but I also felt something was missing. I had done all the right things, I had all the knowledge, but something was missing; something wasn't quite in alignment. That spurred me into a search that opened the door to a bountiful awareness, a deepening, a transcendence. I found the core existence, the truth of Life, transcendent of any belief, any concept, any discipline or dogma. It was a moment of looking into the heart of creation, and understanding what Life is.

It took several years to come to grips with that awareness. It took me out of everything I believed, everything I wanted to believe. It took me away from the concepts, the conditioning, the systems, the structures, and the scriptures. I felt naked. And then there was the moment, the moment where it all made sense. You can call it awakening, illumination, transformation, enlightenment; it goes by all those various words, but words cannot contain the experience. I directly saw Life itself, unvarnished, absolute, clear, no alterations, no excuses, blatant, and everything came together. The intellect just surrendered; it had to let go. It was the birth of this presence, the awakening to this presence, this possibility, and the knowing was to deliver, to give birth to this manifestation of The Consciousness that was ready to go to work, ready to pull all the pieces together for alignment, centering from the very core of Life, not from scriptures, teachings, systems or structures, but from direct experience, applying what is known to every instance of Life, every moment, living the truth, the core existence, proving to those around me that it does work, that it is possible.

Realization involves exemplifying that Life is purpose, that Life is experience. The more you deepen in that, the greater the connection, the more expanded the awareness, and you know something, you see something. It forever changes your life; you no longer go back to a system or a structure or a concept. These things pale in the true light of awareness and presence; nothing can hold a light to that, nothing can outshine it, it is absolute. The only thing left to do is to live, to live in freedom, to live in liberation, to live The Consciousness as it is, moment by moment, living truth, sharing the freedom that comes from this awareness, inspiring others to pursue that core awareness, True Nature, to point to it, to encourage it, to allow it.

In this awareness, you receive an abundance of patience, compassion, and care; sensitivity increases. I was always a sensitive person, and I thought, "I don't need any more sensitivity; I get crushed as it is." But sensitivity plus awareness is transcendence. Sensitivity reveals the things that you can be aware of, and that is very powerful. When you have a sensitivity, and you don't see the connections, it can turn on you, it can be difficult to deal with, but in sensitivity combined with awareness you see Life unfolding, possibilities coming into existence, moments upon moments coming into understanding.

You know Life is not "against"; it is "for." The bottom line becomes: if you know Life is for you, there can be nothing against you. When you really know Life is for you, there can be no obstacle, no resistance; all of it is embraced, and you Know. You will be able to live in this world, to live in connection, to do what is necessary, moment by moment. You consistently will find more ways to be in harmony and balance with everything around you, living without attachment, living without resistance, living as True Nature, the core, that unique expression of Life that you are.

The path is clear: it is a step-by-step, moment-by-moment adventure, and if you resonate, if you hear this, then you know I am here for you. I am here to awaken you to the truth, the core of your being that has been waiting. You do what best serves you, unselfishly, without separation; that is what awakening is. It takes you out of selfishness. You will still be an individual, but not separate. You will recognize how you are a part of existence, the synergy of Life, how you are fulfilling a certain aspect, certain possibilities, and when you embrace that you become very good at it. It becomes very natural. You begin to live naturally, harmoniously; you are in touch with the world around you, with nature. You live in understanding, in purpose, in connection, and everywhere you see opportunities to be more of who you are. You live as The Consciousness, as Life; you understand, you recognize, you awaken to your core existence, and then there is no stopping you. There is no turning back.

You transcend the consensus-reality world, the conditioning, the beliefs, the concepts, and you finally listen. You listen to the truth of your being, and you understand: you finally know that you are, that you are Life, you are It, existence, happening through each experience in each moment. It is your choice: you can live in separation, or you can live in love. You can live in fear, or you can live in love. You can live in lack, or you can live in love. Love is the unconditional acceptance of that unique expression of The Consciousness that you are.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.

To learn more about Ishvara and the Alaya Community, visit our website at www.alayanet.org

To subscribe to this message list, send an email to tgrant@alayanet.org with the word "Subscribe" in the subject of your message.

MESSAGES to the WORLD from ISHVARA

ARE YOU ALL RIGHT WITH YOURSELF?



As I observe the world, I see that there are many moments where people don’t feel all right about their lives. This is normal, because there is a lot of stress, programming, and conditioning about achievement, about becoming. It is difficult to be all right with yourself as-you-are. You look outside and perceive examples and possibilities that you don’t seem to measure up to.

As children you began with the stress and conditions to achieve, to make a mark on the world, and you react to that. You rebel, or you strive for some goal, some believed-in possibility, but ultimately what you are left with is not all right. You don’t have enough of whatever it takes to be what you’re supposed to be. You feel limited, distracted, distorted. This is human nature.

There are such high ideals placed before you, such goals of achievement. Your parents are pushing you to become something. Friends are stirring up desires to become something. When you look at the world, you can see the consequences of that conditioning. There is never enough. You are not satisfied with what-is. You don’t have the right things, but you perceive that other people do. So your existence is filled with the struggle and stress of striving to get the things you want, even if you have to take them from others. You don’t have the talent or the energy for success, and so you have to manipulate and control your environment to get what you want, to get what you need. No wonder there is so much stress in the world. No wonder there is so much dissatisfaction. It’s just not all right. Life is just not all right. It’s not enough.

The conditional expectations create a lot of self-centeredness and selfishness. You are so self-concerned about what is happening to you, that you fail to see that what is happening to you is happening to the whole world. Everyone is the same. Everyone has the same human, conditional motivations and accomplishments. Naturally, there is the projection of a need to get something, to arrive somewhere, possibly to escape the consensus reality of conditional life. Humans have come up with many ways of escape, yet always there is something wrong with their life. Something is always missing. It is never enough. The brain looks to the outside and attempts to achieve some level of connection in order to gain a sense of satisfaction and all rightness, but doing this is manipulation and control.

With human life being such, does it have a purpose? Could Life waste so much of itself in this striving, or is there simply a misunderstanding? Have humans taken a detour, getting themselves caught in various structures and systems and beliefs and conditions? Are humans missing the point?

Maybe people are missing the point that Life is about being with what-is, and when you are totally being with what-is you also recognize the creative power you have. You have power, you have ability, you have inspiration. These too are human aspects. Oh, the intellect may decide that you’re not good enough, that you’re not capable, but that is simply a misunderstanding of Life, a misinterpretation. You are Life. You are existence. You are now, this moment, this being. And sitting with you in this moment are the expectations, the desires, the projections. You resist. You attach. You want. You don’t want. These are human sentiments that come from the intellect; they are conditional, consensus-reality mechanisms.

The trick is realizing that you are more, that you are sufficient within yourself, that you could not have existed or survived without these mechanisms. Realize that you survived in this world of chaos, of indifference, of conditions, of consensus reality, beliefs, the other. Acknowledge that you are quite good at being in Life. You are efficient. You lived. You have brought yourself to this moment, which is an accomplishment. So it’s getting to that place where you are all right with you the way you are. It’s sometimes hard when you look outside and see others who seem to be better, smarter, more aware, who seem to have more. However, you are also honest. You notice that there are those who have less, know less, can do less, are more limited than you. There is a whole gamut of experiences in Life.

Ideally humans could achieve a degree of awareness where each level of existence could be acknowledged and accepted as-is. You could then look at individuals whom you perceive as less fortunate, as fulfilling some gap in your life experience; they don’t have less because they’re inefficient, they simply have what-is. There is so much competition in this world. Competition leads to strife, distress, struggle, and separation. Nations compete against nations. World powers have to act powerfully in order to remain world powers, which means they have to control a lot, and control is energy inefficient. Control consumes tremendous amounts of energy. In the big control game the energy is most likely to run out at some point, and the super power will be no more. The giant is gone. You could become one of those individuals who run dry, who run out of source energy, inspiration.

It is time for humans to wake up. It is time for you to awaken to who you are and find a place of all rightness with that. The greatest gift in Life is to finally become all right with you, not someone else, but you. Oh yes, there are always those perceptions of not being enough, of lacking this, or having too much of that. Those are minor details. I know, the world makes them major details, but they are minor, because what do they have to do with Is-ness, with who you are?

You learn to live within your energy field. You learn to accept your talents. I see so many individuals who have a lot of talent, but they don’t believe that, because it doesn’t look like talent to them; it doesn’t look like someone else’s ability, so they deny their own resourcefulness. There is so much denial in the world. However, if you can bring yourself to accept who you are, unconditionally, you embrace a great gift. You then simply realize, “OK, this is me. I am this manifestation of Life, of The Consciousness. This is me. This is what’s happening. This is what I can do. Who cares about what I can’t do?” You focus on what you can do. I know that is a novel, unique approach, because you have been conditioned to focus on what you can’t do, even though you have to do it anyway. What a long hard life of stress and disappointments!

To live within one’s means is intelligence. You recognize what you have--your abilities, your capabilities--and you own those qualities. You realize that Life has given you just exactly what you need to be you, not to be someone else, not to achieve someone else’s goal, or dream, or expectation, but to be you, to be who you are. You finally move into this position where you are all right with what-is, where you realize that you have power, ability, and purpose, that you are inspired by Life to live your purpose, your beingness.
It is not predestined. You are a synergy of possibilities, and the more energy you have use of, the more these possibilities manifest. If your energy is being squandered on the other, i.e. on the outside, on resistance, on attachments or projections, you can do the math: you just don’t have enough energy left to be who you are; you have already spent it on who you are not. Such a waste. However, the beauty of energy is that once you wake up to what’s been happening, it comes back to you. You can’t squander it forever. The moment you stop squandering it, it accumulates. It starts up again.

So, you can in this moment become all right with you, and realize that what makes you unhappy, what causes dissatisfaction, are simply conditional expectations about Life. When you become all right with you, you become all right with your life, and you find that your life fills up with beautiful reflections. The gratification of knowing that you are you, that you are valuable, that you are everything you can be in this moment, is one of the greatest kept secrets in the universe: you always are all you can be in the moment. The bare bone fact of it is that you are all you can be in this moment. If you can accept that, and move on from there, you’ll find that all you can be is cumulative. You keep becoming more, because there is no stopping place. There is no limit to being. There is no limit to the manifestation of The Consciousness. There are no boundaries.

With awakening, wonderful things begin to happen with the brain. When one begins to move into the natural state of existence, there are changes that take place within the body and the brain. These changes are subtle, but the ramifications are monumental to society, to humanity, to the earth.

© Alaya® 2003 - 2006


Ishvara is the spiritual leader of Alaya®, an independent non-profit spiritual organization dedicated to the ongoing awakening of the highest consciousness. We invite you to visit our website at www.alayanet.org.

How Long Have You Been Waiting?


Ishvara:

I find that much of spirituality today is a means of escape: an attempt to find bliss rather than face one's conditioning, an endeavor to avoid the difficulty of one's existence by dismissing it as just a dream, or by waiting for the hereafter or the "next lifetime."

So much of spirituality involves a subtle intolerance of what-Is. This intolerance usually takes the form of a method, a technique or a practice that is intended to attain some ideal--an ideal feeling, an ideal awareness, a handed-down notion of how life is supposed to be.

People who spend time at Alaya House inevitably come face to face with their conditioning, and for many, that is a great disappointment. Many spiritual practitioners expect bliss; they want to elude the muck of their life rather than embrace it. When they begin to see the stark reality of the deep programming that has been running their life, they often become disillusioned.
In today's message, Ishvara speaks of how authentic transcendence occurs not in trying to escape our existence or in pursuing some ideal, but through embracing all of our life as experience. This is a continuation of a talk he gave on January 9, 2005, which I have transcribed and edited, and the first part of which I sent last week. Because of the length of the talk, I have divided the concluding message into two parts, with the final part to be sent to you next week. - TG.

Ishvara:

I have come for you: you who are alone, you who are separate, you who are lost, you who are stuck, you who are fearful. This has awoken to serve you, to inspire you into the depths of your being, to encourage you to launch out anew. No matter how many times you have been beaten back, no matter how many times you have fallen on your face, you still have the energy to do it again. You have the energy from the core of your existence to rise from the seeming ashes of your life, the problems, the dilemmas, the fears, and the so-called "mistakes." All of these are experiences. How you look at your experiences has a great effect upon the quality of your life. You can immediately change the quality of your life by changing the way you look at all the experiences.

If you recognize the benevolence of Life, how blessed you are to live as this unique expression of existence--the possibilities inherent within you, waiting to happen--you realize that you have not made mistakes; you have just had experiences. It has been the interpretation, the reaction, that has caused more separation. If you can just bring yourself to embrace the experience, to allow the Is-ness of that and go beyond it, you see that there is something bigger happening. You realize greater connections, which brings about a greater awareness. You might even find yourself loving life, loving those past enemies; you might even find that you have actually been doing a great job: you have been living, having experiences.

There is no place for guilt in my teaching. There is no place for judgment, for separation, for control. These do not exist in what I give to you. I come from the heart of inspiration, the core of existence, to reveal to you yourself, to awaken you again to what you are. You were born as awareness, and you quickly lost sight of that, and you may spend the rest of your life getting it back, but in the meantime you have had experiences, gaining a great knowledge of how energy works, gaining knowledge of how people can be the way they are, and possibly understanding why they are the way they are.

Understanding is liberation. When you understand a situation, you move out of judgment or resistance; you begin to see it for what it is, and that is the point where you can let go and allow. It doesn't mean that you like what has happened. Obviously, you can look at a situation and see the alternatives that might have worked better, but it has happened and you can't undo that, so there is no point in being in guilty about it. The best thing you can do with any experience is to place it into the center of awareness and try to see the connections, the inherent possibilities, the points that were not seen. Gaining understanding brings freedom and liberation: you are not a "bad" person, you just had what the intellect has called a "bad" experience.

No being can be diminished; that is the beauty of this Life. You cannot be diminished. You cannot ever be less than your core existence which remains pure. It is a total gift of Life. It is intact. No matter how far you wandered, how lost you feel, you are important, you are on purpose, you are part of a greater whole, you are significant, you are wanted, you are cared for, you are loved.

Love creates beauty. When individuals are in love, they become quite radiant, quite beautiful. Unfortunately, it is often temporary. However, if you can experience it once, if you are beautiful and radiant for one moment, you have realized the True Nature of your being, because in actuality you cannot become anything you are not. Any experience you have makes possible, points to, the core that is there. When you live in separation, when you live in conditioning, you make errors, you have missteps, which cloud the essence of your being. You may appear to be a "bad" person, but that is only an appearance, because there is no Life outside of the core. There is no existence outside of this core, and this core is the heart of all-that-is, the cosmos, and it is on purpose, it is intentional, and, fortunately, it is patient. It waits. Your true essence waits for the moment to spark, to blossom, to excel, to become.

How long have you been waiting? I know it may be difficult to believe this when you are mired in separation, programs, beliefs and concepts, when you feel lost and separate and alone, when you are in fear for your survival, but don't you see? Those are the very ingredients that can propel you into awareness. If your life is running "just fine," and you have insulated yourself from any negative experience, doing and having only what you want, you don't think about the true essence of your being; you live on the outside. There is nothing wrong with that, but I have come for those who are in need of more. I have come for those who recognize that there is more to this Life than the consensus-reality world, the systems, the structures, the religions, and the practices of avoidance. I have come for those who are not satisfied with their lot in Life, those who know or feel they are missing something.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant


(To be concluded next week).


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All rights reserved.
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Deepening And Transcending At The Same Time



Ishvara speaks of how transcendence occurs through deepening in the experience of what-Is. I have transcribed and edited his words from a talk he gave on January 9, 2005. - TG.

Ishvara:

The experience of Life is a teaching of awareness, understanding how energy works. It is your personal experience that counts, that is, what you experience, not what others experience. It is easy to get caught into systems, structures, beliefs, conditioning, where you avoid or deny the direct experience, while accepting some interpretation from a belief or concept.

You have within you that most excellent, comprehensive aspect that knows, and you learn about it through experiences. When you resonate with something, it is because within you something is alive, something is recognized. I have often seen individuals who resonate with something, who feel very empowered, very sure, and then they listen to a concept, a belief, an "other," and they doubt their own experience; they settle for something conditional, an interpretation. It is such a shame. It is as if for a moment that individual has awakened to a great truth, a deep, inclusive awareness, and then a shallow thought, an expectation, a word comes along and knocks it out of place. It makes it seem like this core existence, this deep awareness that you are, is fragile. It is not that it is fragile; it is just that the intellect is the dwelling place of concepts, beliefs, and conditioning. It seems that the body usually follows along with those neural pathways.

One is so programmed to believe and seek validation from the outside, to accept "They say," to look to the perception of authority, because, the thinking goes, if it is old and ancient it must be right. I ask you, if it is so right, why are humans still caught in separation and suffering? If handed-down practices and traditions held the true way to awakening, what happened to it? If the authorities of the past knew the truth, why isn't humanity now free? Mostly, what masquerades as truth has been subtle manipulation, sometimes outright lies.

It is a sad state of affairs when you look at the world and see that the superstitions and conditions that enslave the human mind are establishing stronger holds, greater conditioning. How does anyone ever break free?

Over the years, I have recognized that Life has awakened me to this awareness in order to be of service to you, to assist you in getting back to who you are at the core of your existence. Who-you-are transcends who you think you are, leaving far behind who you have been told you are. It is easier to believe the outside, the stories, because when you come to who you are, you come into responsibility, a direct awareness that you must deal with. The deeper you go into this awareness, the more you recognize how far you have wandered from your True Nature, that place of absolute being. You may have got yourself caught into all kinds of dilemmas and problems, each one bringing about more separation and in turn more problems, far away from your True Nature. But if this state were irreparable, there could be no Life in existence on this planet. The core existence is far stronger than you imagine.

You are more powerful than you think you are. Your power is not recognized in the thinking; your power is in the experience, the experience of being present with what-Is, understanding and seeing the connections, having the realizations. You may not always be able to live up to the realizations. You may see that you can't always act as great as you are; sometimes you just can't quite get there, and that is all right. It doesn't diminish the True Nature of your being; it doesn't subtract from you. It is just blocked temporarily.

I am here for you. I am not here for myself. Myself is totally awake and aware and present. There is nothing else in this experience that can make me more aware of what this is. My work is for you; my presence is for you. I am here to assist you in getting back to who you are. "Who you are" may be a surprise, because it is not held in the conditions; it is not within the systems, the structures, the various spiritual paths, the religions or the psychologies. You are not in those things. Those are all "about"; they are fragments, fragments of possibilities, some of which have outlived their time, some of which never had a time.

The importance of this work is assisting you who resonate, you who can hear this truth, assisting you in getting back to who you truly are: that True Nature, that essence of being, that unique expression of The Consciousness, of Life that you are, and that is very, very deep. This is not a shallow, haphazard adventure. This is an adventure of your lifetime. You were born to know. You were born to experience the very core existence, to access the various possibilities that are waiting within your domain of experience.

You cannot be shallow, you cannot be indifferent, you cannot be distracted. The emotions of the past are simply energies that are misunderstood, misdirected, and compounded over time, because you haven't understood, you haven't truly realized your core existence. You know a lot "about" yourself. There are lots of self-help books, courses, seminars, classes, and groups. Self-help is "about". None of that brings you to the core of who you are.

You can discern much about yourself through the beliefs you have about yourself, through what you say, who you say you are, your story. However, when you really listen to what you are saying, you find that there are many false concepts, many accepted beliefs that you have adopted. What you say about yourself seems reasonable, but when you are asleep and dreaming, your dreams also seem reasonable. You accept the beliefs and concepts, which takes you further and further away from who you actually are.

Sometimes, as you begin to get in touch with your True Nature, you may see no glamour; there may be a sense of the ordinary, the simple, which doesn't fit the programmed expectations of what you are supposed to be. But trust this: If you continue to move deeper into your True Nature, you will find that vein of gold, that essence which permeates every cell of your being, and when you come from that place, you develop a body of knowing, a connected awareness that is transcendent of knowledge, beliefs and concepts. You begin to live from the core of your being, alive, conscious, connected, and then all of the more connective attributes of human existence just start falling into place.

You need no moral direction from the outside. When you live in your True Nature, you know the correct way to be with what-Is; you know it. The whole of the cosmos is founded on relationship, being in order, in the right place. It is very natural; it is harmonious. You have been forced into an unnatural life. It is no wonder you try to accept beliefs, no wonder you live in fear and separation. You have wandered far from your True Nature, the actuality of your existence. You have been misled; you have become lost. It is not that every system and structure is intentionally misleading, but the consequence is misleading: an agenda of control and manipulation. So you recognize that you have to get back to who you are, and when you are back to who you are, your True Nature, you will live abundantly, happily, you will experience the bounty of Life. You will have an abundance of experiences that keep pointing to the deepening.

It is funny to be deepening and transcending at the same time, but the two go hand in hand. The deeper you go, the more transcendent you become. You see beyond the logic, the reason; it is a mystical experience. You see connections where others see separation. You have an understanding of processes; you see how existence unfolds. One of the consequences is that you become fearless; you no longer are afraid of Life. You see that Life is always moving and evolving and becoming greater, and you along with it. At the core of your existence, you become greater; your cells become greater; you neural pathways become greater, more connected.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant


(To be concluded next week).


Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.


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The Best Thing That One Can Do


This is the conclusion of last week's message, but I am hesitating to send it. In this message, Ishvara speaks of the recent natural disaster in Asia, and how it can be seen as part of the intelligence of Life. The problem is that during the past several days, many religious commentators have weighed in on the subject, saying how the disaster can be seen as the act of a threatening or angry God. I am reluctant to send this message because of the risk that Ishvara could be understood as being part of that kind of separative thinking. In an attempt to prevent such misunderstanding, I will offer an explanatory introduction.

Ishvara sometimes uses the following analogy to describe what can occur with the planet: Suppose a young child has parents who are continually in conflict, constantly on edge and bickering with each other. The child in turn becomes a disruptive, even violent presence, destroying physical objects and fighting with other children. The child doesn't know any other way; the child is simply reflecting what he experiences from his parents; his behavior mirrors theirs.

The same dynamic can be seen in the earth; it too can mirror the energy of its human inhabitants. War involves deliberate murder on a mass scale. At the present time, we have seemingly unrelenting war in the world, as well as the accumulated energy of countless wars that have gone before. Some leaders have proclaimed that the current war will be trans-generational, or "never ending." On top of that, there is the escalating harm caused by human greed which is polluting the planet and exhausting its resources. These are just a couple of examples of the devastation being wrought by humanity's belief in separation. How can the planet not be affected by such massively destructive energy? It can't; it will reflect what humans are doing.

Ishvara speaks of the recent disaster in Asia in terms of the planet dealing with the imbalance created by human belief and separative activity. Understood in this way, the disaster is not the act of a controlling or vengeful God, but a reflection of how powerful we are. I have transcribed and edited Ishvara's words from talks he gave on December 28 and 30, 2004. - TG.

Ishvara:

All that exists is intelligence. This is true even of tumultuous events like natural disasters. I have been saying for some time that if humans don't start to wake up, there are going to be some unpleasant shifts. Human beings are stubborn in holding onto beliefs, clinging to division, perpetuating conflict. It sets up an energy field with which the planet must contend. That field is going to erupt somewhere. Nature does not make a choice as to where that will occur; it simply happens where it does. One might wish that Nature would be more selective, and inflict the disaster only on the responsible parties, but it doesn't happen that way. Eventually, the earth will respond to that field, that energy, in some way. When a hundred thousand people are killed by tsunamis, we don't see it as war or murder, but the energy is the same. Essentially, there is no difference between people being swept away by a tsunami, and people being bombed to death in an armed conflict: in both cases there is suffering, despair and loss, there is calamity that causes destruction and death.

The earth is shifting in a natural disaster, in a sense trying to draw attention to the energy it is contending with. The earth will take the necessary steps to bring about transformation, but that could come on the heels of a mass annihilation of human life. Humans have been voracious in their consumption of the earth's resources, but the earth is eventually going to keep that in check. The earth will move to balance the raw materials that are available with the people who are on the planet to use them. If humans don't take the initiative in their use of resources, if they fail to be conscious of how their actions are affecting the planet for thousands of years to come, the earth will take the initiative in the way of earthquakes, volcanoes, disease and other disasters, and thus forcibly bring about a balance. Humans can facilitate a gradual transformation through a sense of connection, or they can continue to blindly go about their life and experience the consequences.

The recent disaster in Asia is like a warning, a red light which says: "Pay attention, or else." More events of this kind will be happening if people don't wake up. I see it as the beginning of a cycle of wake-up calls. Those who are awake will be in the right place at the right time, so it is very important that people begin to put into practice this awareness and presence.

At this level of awareness, we can't direct what Nature does, but we certainly can influence what humanity does. By preventing the disasters--such as war--that humans create, we can better help Nature to prevent natural disasters. Increasingly, Nature reflects the energy that humans generate.

Now, when a natural disaster occurs, it raises people's level of compassion. It causes people to transcend religious boundaries with the result that there can be Christians, Buddhists, Jews and Muslims working side by side to assist those in need. A disaster can cause people to get out of their self-centeredness for a while, and become helpful to those who are suffering; that provides a bit of a reprieve for the imbalance that has been building up. The events of September 11, 2001, brought up a lot of compassion, but a lot of revenge as well. A human-designed catastrophe brings about the need for revenge. On the other hand, a disaster that is caused by Nature tends to leave compassion in tact, so in a way this latest disaster is balancing the sense of revenge that arose earlier, giving people an opportunity to be unselfish, not security-oriented, but compassionate. It is an opportunity for "those who have" to exercise great compassion for the have-not's. It remains to be seen how long this compassion will last. It will require a lot of money, ingenuity, and vigilance to help the people who suffered the disaster to get back on their feet, and the world can become a better place because of that.

Perhaps fewer people will return to being selfish; maybe more people will take the initiative to see what is really happening on the planet. Once a human being experiences authentic selflessness, and sees the possibilities that can arise from that, it is hard to go back to being selfish. Each time a disaster like this occurs, it changes the consensus, the psyche of the world, to some degree.

Also, a disaster can force people to face their mortality and to realize that, try as they might to ensure their survival, there is no security, no assurance that they will continue. It is a strong message from the earth that, "No matter what you are doing to make sure that you survive, it is not working." This can enable people to realize that the preoccupation with creating security is a waste of energy. Perhaps people can realize this; perhaps they can see that "We have to flow with Life, flow with the earth, flow with the energy, make do with what we have, and take care of things." That is the high point of what can come from a disaster. The low point is that people would become more separate, more stingy, more selfish, and in that case they will continue to suffer the repercussions.

It can be helpful to hold the possibility that people will gain from this experience in Asia, that people can wake up because of this, that they will experience greater connection as a result. Yet the most beneficial thing that anyone can do is to be centered in awareness, in The Consciousness, and be a living example of the new species, because it is through example that people learn. Words don't bring lasting change, but example does. To be a living example of higher possibilities is the best thing that one can do. Just a few who make the connection can hold things in place for the rest, giving more time for the rest to awaken. This awakening is a movement of the intelligence, the connectedness, of Life.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.

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The Intelligence That Is Life


If there is no controlling force in the cosmos, then why does there appear to be an order to things? And if there is an order to existence, how can natural disasters, such as occurred this past week in Asia, take place? Ishvara addresses these questions in a two-part message that I have transcribed and edited from talks he gave on December 28 and December 30, 2004. - TG.

Ishvara:

Some people advocate the idea that there is an "intelligent design" to evolution. If the proponents of this idea were embracing the true intelligence of The Consciousness, there might be some truth to the theory, but "intelligent design" is really just a name for "God." They are saying that "God" is behind everything that happens, which entails separation and control.

There is intelligence to existence. Intelligence is creating Life all the time, but not from separation or control.

On the other hand, science has not been able to acknowledge that there is an intelligence to existence. Physicists are seeking to reconcile quantum physics, where the very act of observing something changes what is observed, with physics at the macro level where such results have not yet been detected. Scientists are searching for the theory of everything, but until they acknowledge that Life is intelligence itself, they will not find their answer. Once they realize that even atoms are intelligent, that there is an intelligent flow in the energy fields, in the morphic fields of existence, that all of it is intelligence continually increasing upon itself, scientists will see things quite differently. Science, however, has been skeptical of an underlying force; science often has seen existence more as chaos and accident than as intelligence.

Scientists at times do seem to acknowledge that things are connected, such as in the theory of entanglement.* Perhaps it is a step towards realizing that such a connection is the process of intelligence, that the connection involves gaining awareness from past experiences.

As I look at Life from the Natural State, I see that there is nothing in me that is not of the intelligence that is The Consciousness. That is the connecting link. Knowing and embracing this intelligence brings about transcendence of all religions, all perspectives, all teachers, all masters, all practices, everything; it goes way beyond all of it.

Science is approaching it from a certain way, and spirituality is approaching it from another way, and somewhere in the middle there is a body of intelligence that embraces both, an all-inclusive connected Space. As the new species of humanity continues its evolution, it will be able to directly access that Space. Every component of the new species will live in the Natural State, and in the Natural State there is the supreme intelligence that is connected to everything. That intelligence underlies quantum physics and traditional physics; it underlies all of it. Without intelligence, the universe would cease to exist.

This intelligence has been misnamed and misunderstood as "God," but it is intelligence nevertheless. Molecules are intelligence, physical bodies are intelligence, the earth is intelligence. Intelligence is the supreme force that creates and motivates everything that exists; intelligence is constantly increasing, and thus recreating and adding to itself.

Science will eventually run into intelligence as the connecting link. Once science can get past the idea that everything is solid and capable of being objectively analyzed, it can begin to allow that all-that-exists is energy, intelligence. Because intelligence permeates everything, there is instant communication; that is why, when something happens to one so-called "entangled" particle, the same thing can happen to another particle on the other side of the universe.

At the quantum level--the level of particles--thought affects what is happening. The speed and location of a particle can be changed just by the observer's attempt to take a measurement. Thought affects the quantum. Thought is an aspect of intelligence. So intelligence affects existence at a quantum level, at the level of the foundation, the building blocks of Life. This effect continues as energy builds upon itself and forms larger particles and bodies, eventually to the point where one's thinking creates one's life.

Our thinking process is creating our life. At a quantum level, we are creating our disease, our death. It takes time for that creation to become manifest, but it begins at the quantum level, because the theory of everything is intelligence. Intelligence works at the quantum level, bringing about results that are dependent on the frequencies and conditions that are operating. At a quantum level, this creation happens very rapidly. However, because the quantum level is so small, it may be years before the effect is manifest at the visible level, but it eventually will become manifest.

We can begin to change the quality of our existence by changing our intelligence, our thought-awareness of experiences, and redirecting experience into more of a connected, open process that transcends beliefs and concepts.

People believe in "God" because they see the order of things, the intelligence that is at work, and they posit a directing force behind it. However, I see intelligence not as a directing force but as a learning force. The intelligence that is Life does not have a design or an agenda. It is an intelligence that is spiraling upward on itself; through each experience it is adding to its possibilities. It learns from its experience. Those things that don't work, drop out of the process; those things that do work are added to and continue to increase. There is no direction to the process; it is omni-directional, and can go in any direction at any moment. That is why psychics fail in their predictions: they are trying to put The Consciousness in a realm of predictability, and it is totally unpredictable.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
--------------------
* The theory of entanglement is that two particles that interact can maintain a connection even if separated by a vast distance.

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.

To learn more about Ishvara and the Alaya® Community, visit our website at www.alayanet.org

To subscribe to this message list, send an email to tgrant@alayanet.org with the word "Subscribe" in the subject of your message.

Becoming Alright With Yourself


Below is the conclusion of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk given by Ishvara on November 27, 2004. - TG.

Ishvara:

As I observe humans awakening, I recognize certain problems and obstacles; I also realize these are self-made. They are simply what one has, at some point, chosen to believe, chosen to accept, albeit not very consciously. When you can't see the bigger picture, it is hard to know what something is. It may look quite alright in the moment. You don't see the hidden consequences of certain actions, beliefs, concepts or conditioning. There is no place for blame or guilt in this. The only place there is, is the moment of acknowledgement where you say, "Yes, I did that; yes, I experienced that," and then move on. No sense dwelling on it; no sense trying to fix it. When you can acknowledge the Is-ness of something, you have also accepted the lesson, the energies, the possibilities, the consequences, and it can pretty much stop right there. Life is not a punishing mechanism or a whipping machine. Life is simply a learning experience, increasing your intelligence and awareness of how energy works, of how Life can work and of the various possibilities inherent in the human being.

To live in connection, to live in deep awareness, is to become alright with yourself. You become alright with your past, as you are alright with your present. When you are alright with your present, you continue to create opportunities of alright-ness in presence and in being. It is amazing how Life can work when you are free of the constraints, the conditions, the beliefs, the concepts. To watch the power of the brain accessing even greater possibilities, realizing greater moments, and attaining greater clarity, is amazing.

Mostly, human existence has meant learning things the hard way, getting knocked around, falling over things, tearing things up, destroying things. Those experiences are teachers, but there are other teachers. Wisdom comes from the direct experience of living, moment by moment, which involves living with what-Is, but always holding that there is something even more harmonious, more compassionate, more passionate, more allowing.

If you are going to "compete" in this Life, the only safe competition is the one with yourself: How much more can you be now than you were before? How much more will you become than you are now? That kind of "competition" stimulates greater awareness, greater depth, greater connections. If you compete with something outside, you may lose, but if you compete with yourself, you already have won. When you are the only measuring apparatus of your life, you can see your progress, but if you are using other measurements, you may not see any progress; you may feel like you are going backwards.

Competing with the outside is insidious, yet the program about comparing yourself with others is so intense: Do you measure up to society? Do you measure up to the spiritual disciplines and systems? The only one you can measure up to is yourself, your own uniqueness. That is so individual. That is the nature of uniqueness: it is individual, a unique possibility of information that is happening, that is unfolding moment by moment.

When will you be alright? When will you be able to allow that it is alright? When will you start? Where will you be; how will it happen? It always happens in the moment. At one moment, as you are going along, you are not alright, and suddenly in the next moment you are alright. What happened? What happens is that you stop following the neural pathways of the past, and you establish a new neural pathway of presence and being as you accept what-Is, living with what-Is in each moment.

You may have tried to measure and compare yourself with others. You may feel that because you can't do something a certain way, you are flawed, that because you don't have popularity or a glamorous position in life, because you may not be recognized, you fall short. There are many "becauses" that are great hurdles you place in front of yourself. They are all false measurements, since there are individuals who make it to the "top," who are successful, who are worshipped, adored, and yet they are miserable. Possessions, popularity, or recognition do not add to the quality of your existence. The only thing that can add to the quality of your existence is yourself.

Sometimes, just the fact that you are still breathing is an accomplishment, that you are still taking the next step is an accomplishment. That simplifies Life; it simplifies the process. You can finally be alright, OK with what-Is, always knowing there will be more. Tomorrow is another step, another possibility for a greater experience, for more connections, for deepening awareness. You don't expend your energy in regret or remorse or outside comparisons; you have energy enough for the present, energy enough for the next step.

Continually struggling makes you tired; it wears you out. Resistance takes a lot of energy. Embracing Is-ness, allowing what-Is, takes virtually no energy. It is more economical to embrace Is-ness. That doesn't mean you can't make plans or set goals, but you set these goals from within yourself, not from the outside. You understand your own uniqueness, those qualities, those possibilities inherent within you, and you have a discernment as to which is ready to bear fruit, which attribute is now in place, which possibility's time has come.

There is an inner quality to this existence, which is easily forgotten. It is easy to get distracted by the outside, but there is that inner stillness, that presence which always sees the bigger picture. That awareness is not complacent or passive; it is very active. It is as if a little searchlight is constantly surveying the surroundings, constantly looking and delving into the depths of possibilities. It is a discernment which, when it strikes a possibility, resonates and rings with an enthusiasm, an inspiration, and it arouses a resounding "Yes" within the being: "I can do this now; yesterday it was impossible; today it has become possible. I can do it now." That is not the program or condition speaking; that is the heart speaking. The core of your being knows, moment by moment, where it is, what is available, what step is possible, but you only hear that in stillness and quietness. If the intellect is running a mile a minute, if the comparisons are running all around you, if you are trying and striving towards achieving the consensus, you can't hear the silence of presence.

So you still yourself. You become still, and in that stillness you know. You know what-Is. The various aspects of the conditioned intellect may try to distort and distract, but deep within you really know. When you have the courage, the patience, the compassion to live with that, you remain on course in your life: one step following the next, step by step, moment by moment, you live in clarity, you live in purpose, you have a passion for Life. You see others and understand where they are. You may even understand how they function, and it is alright. Every individual is a laboratory of experiments: experimenting with possibilities, experimenting with energy to gain wisdom and understanding of how things work. It is a constant experiment. There are so many untapped possibilities in waiting that you don't have time to be worried with the past. Every moment offers a new opportunity for new awareness, new connections. Every moment can be transcendent; every moment can renew you in Life; every moment can reveal some secret, some awareness, some possibility that deep within yourself you knew existed but that the intellect was hard pressed to find.

Be still, and know. Be in the stillness, the quietness, the fortitude of The Consciousness. It is a sanctuary. It is the holiest of holy places; it is a temple. It resides within, and you have free access to it moment by moment. You cannot be barred; you cannot be separated, you cannot be lost. Each moment reveals the secret of Life: presence and being.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

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