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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